SwRI's Burch receives Rice distinguished alumni award SAN ANTONIO -- April 9, 2019 -- Rice University is honoring Dr. James L. Burch, vice president of Southwest Research Institute's Space Science and Engineering Division, as a distinguished alumnus at its 2019 Laureates Awards ceremony. "Dr. Burch's leadership has been instrumental to the growth of SwRI's internationally recognized space science and engineering programs," said SwRI President and CEO Adam L. Hamilton, P.E. "In addition, Jim's research has had, and continues to have, a profound impact on our understanding of the interaction between the solar wind and Earth's magnetosphere, which can affect daily life on the planet." Burch is a renowned experimental space physicist who founded the first space science group at SwRI in 1977. That division, which now includes 380 staff members, is recognized as one of the preeminent space research organizations in the world. He has served on many panels and committees for NASA, the European Space Agency, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Geophysical Union and the American Institute of Physics. As principal investigator of the current NASA Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, he designed a new plasma composition analyzer. The four MMS spacecraft fly in formation at the boundary of the Earth's magnetosphere, performing experiments on magnetic reconnection. This explosive process converts magnetic energy to particle energy and is responsible for magnetic storms and auroras as well as solar flares and numerous other energetic phenomena throughout the universe. Previously, he was principal investigator of the first medium-class NASA Explorer mission, Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration. IMAGE performed pioneering global, multi-spectral imaging of the Earth's magnetosphere. He has also served as principal investigator for instruments on NASA's Dynamics Explorer spacecraft, the space shuttle and ESA's Rosetta comet mission. Burch earned a bachelor's in physics from St. Mary's University, a master's in research and development management from George Washington University and his doctorate in space science from Rice University. Following his service as an officer in the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1971, he joined NASA as a space scientist. He began his career at SwRI as a senior research scientist in 1977. Burch has endowed undergraduate scholarships at Rice. The Laureates Awards Program, created by the Association of Rice Alumni in 1937, recognizes highly distinguished individuals for extraordinary achievements and contributions to their professions, local communities and the university. The 2019 honorees will be recognized at the Laureates Awards Dinner May 11 at the River Oaks Country Club in Houston. For more information about SwRI's space research program, visit https:/ / www. swri. org/ industries/ space-research-technology . ### This story has been published on: 2019-04-09. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Hong Kong: CE meets Thai princess Chief Executive Carrie Lam met Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand and hosted a lunch for her at Government House today. Mrs Lam welcomed Princess Sirindhorn's visit to Hong Kong to participate in the Lui Che Woo Prize Council meeting, and thanked the Princess for her staunch support for the prize. The Chief Executive said she has visited Thailand three times since she took office, including a February trip to attend the opening ceremony of the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office in Bangkok. With the establishment of the office and following the completion of the ratification process of the Free Trade Agreement and the Investment Agreement signed between Hong Kong and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Mrs Lam believes relations between Hong Kong and Thailand as well as ASEAN will be deepened. This story has been published on: 2019-04-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. The meeting was co-chaired by Vietnamese Deputy Prime, Minister Trinh Dinh Dung and Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management, Cora van Nieuwenhuizen. It is under the framework of the ongoing official visit to Vietnam by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. At the meeting, the two sides reviewed the implementation of previous agreements and collaborative activities in the fields of higher education, strengthening trade relationships, addressing agriculture and water issues, cooperation with Ho Chi Minh City and the construction of water infrastructure development. They also reviewed the implementation of Resolution No.120/NQ-CP issued by the Government of Vietnam on the sustainable development of the Mekong Delta in adaptation to climate change. Speaking at the meeting, Deputy PM Dung said that the cooperative relations between the two countries are developing effectively and dynamically in all fields. In particular, the two countries' Strategic Partnership on Climate Change Adaptation and Water Management in 2010 was an important milestone. After the previous six sessions, a range of specific programmes and projects within the framework of the Strategic Partnership on Climate Change Adaptation and Water Management have been effectively implemented in Vietnam, contributing significantly to its adaptation to climate change and water resource management. Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung speaks at the meeting. (Photo: NDO/MINH DUY) According to Vietnamese Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Tran Hong Ha, the Netherlands is an important partner of Vietnam in addressing the challenges of water resource management and adapting to climate change, and is also an opportunity for bilateral cooperation. Since the two sides officially signed the Strategic Partnership Agreement, Vietnam and the Netherlands have come a long way to maintain their bilateral cooperation. In recent years, multiple cooperation agreements have been signed and implemented by the two sides with the active support from the relevant Dutch ministries, research institutes, universities and technical advisers. Minister Ha also proposed that the Netherlands cooperates and participates in the design of the Development Fund for the Mekong Delta, as well as the strengthening of regional coordination, the development of an Integrated Data Centre, the control of land subsidence and erosion, the drafting of the Floodwater Retention Strategy, and the collaboration in an ambitious agricultural transformation programme in the Mekong Delta. Dutch Minister van Nieuwenhuizen said that her government highly appreciated Vietnam in giving priorities to climate change and water sources management. Climate change mitigation and adaptation need to be higher on the political agenda, she said, adding the both Vietnam and the Netherlands can learn from each other and be part of a global spearhead group of nations that increase their ambitions and accelerate their early action. Dutch companies and investors are looking for opportunities to provide solutions to Vietnam and to make a profitable business case at the same time so that the relations will be sustainable, she added. At the meeting, members of the Intergovernmental Committee also discussed the situation of cooperation, promoting and developing sustainable development projects in the Mekong Delta, assessing cooperation agreements implemented under the minutes of the previous sixth session of the Intergovernmental Committee, as well as discussing potential cooperation proposals for the next phase based on the needs, potentials and strengths of both sides. POTTSTOWN If you commute on Route 422, you may have wondered as you sat in traffic; or turned off the ridiculously early alarm necessary to beat that traffic, if there isnt a better way to get to work. There may be. And, if youre in the community room of Montgomery County Community Colleges Pottstown campus Thursday evening, you can learn more about it. From 7 to 8:30 p.m. state Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-146th Dist., will host a discussion with Australian professor Peter Newman who specializes in urban design, sustainable cities and sustainable transportation. Newman, a professor of sustainability at Australias Curtin University who is in the U.S. for a visit to the University of Pennsylvania, accepted an invitation from Ciresi to speak in Pottstown Thursday, according to Mike Hays, a staffer for Ciresi. The discussion will focus on a new technology called trackless trams, now being used in Europe and China, that combine the best aspects of light rail with fewer of the obstacles. Trackless trams are based on technology created in Europe and China by taking innovations from high-speed rail and putting them in a bus, Newman wrote in a 2018 article titled Why trackless are ready to replace light rail for a website called The Conversation. Light rail had many success stories of competing with cars and attracting denser development, so commentators like me did our best to make them policy-relevant, wrote Newman, who has authored 20 books and more than 340 papers on sustainable cities. Trackless trams can avoid the worst features of light rail disruption and cost. It can take years to lay rail tracks, causing major disruption to local economies, as is happening in Sydney, Newman wrote. While they are usually successful in spurring redevelopment, light rail also often ends up costing much more than originally estimated. Newman wrote that the cost of Sydneys light rail project has jumped far beyond original expectations, costing more than $120 million per kilometer. Here in Southeast Pennsylvania the proposed 62-mile Schuylkill Valley Metro light rail project to connect Reading to the SEPTA regional rail system and thus Philadelphia ballooned from $700 million into the billions and ultimately died as federal funding withered. An ill-fated Route 422-toll proposal to raise funds died under a storm of opposition. By contrast to Sydneys $129 million-per-kilometer light rail price tag, the trackless tram costs around $6-$8 million per kilometer. And it can be put into a road system over a weekend, Newman wrote. And because it runs on existing roadways, it does not need the cooperation of the Norfolk-Southern Railroad, which owns the tracks on which any passenger rail would have to run. The standard trackless tram system, if there can be said to be a standard on something so new, is three carriages that can carry 300 people, but it can take five carriages and 500 people if needed. In three years of trials no impact on road surfaces has been found, Newman wrote. The big test is whether the trackless tram can attract development around its stations as light rail can, Newman wrote. That is the missing link in our cities. Hays said the discussion Thursday is just that. Its more of a visioning of what a system like that would look like in this area, and how it might help with Pottstown revitalization efforts, he said. Brussels Tough-guy France softened its stance Tuesday and showed willingness to accept yet another delay in the long-awaited Brexit, diminishing the chances that Britain would crash out of the European Union this week without any future plan. But British Prime Minister Theresa May still has a rough day ahead of her as she heads to an emergency summit in Brussels on Wednesday to plead for a new Brexit extension for the second time in three weeks. Such gatherings aren't getting any friendlier. With nearly everyone fully resigned to Britain's departure from the European Union, two questions took center stage Tuesday: How and when to get the U.K. politely out the door. EU countries, especially France, have become increasingly exasperated with the political turmoil in Britain. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. The bloc's leaders have tried to help May over the past two years of negotiations, even after she missed her hand-picked Brexit departure date on March 29 because of a parliamentary revolt. After obtaining a delay until Friday, she will be asking for another postponement that lasts until June 30 at the special EU summit. An official in President Emmanuel Macron's office said Tuesday that France was ready to accept a new delay. While Macron still has a long list of conditions, it was a notable shift in France's tone compared to last week. The reason for the change was unclear, though concerns have been growing about how badly a hard Brexit would hit the French economy, too. Albany-based archaeologist and anthropologist Bradley Russell will be a featured expert on the world premiere of the new Discovery Channel series "Mummies Unwrapped." In the series' first episode, titled "Mayan Mass Grave Mystery," Russell will discuss a cenote, or sinkhole, in Mexico's Yucatan region that, in 2013, Russell found to contain the bones of about two dozen individuals that dated to about 1350, a period of war and strife in the Mayan civilization. The discovery was part academic research for Russell, who teaches at the University at Albany, is on staff at Hartgen Archeological Associates in North Greenbush and formerly was a faculty member of the College of Saint Rose in Albany. ALBANY The young couple at the center of "Shakespeare in Love" illustrate the title in moving and genuine ways. He's Will Shakespeare, it's 1590s London, angry theater owners are demanding new plays, and he's got writer's block, at least until he meets the smart and lovely Viola. Finding a genuine muse, even on a road to true love as bumpy as this one, helps Shakespeare find his voice, and thus is born "Romeo & Juliet." Which Shakespeare originally intended to call "Romeo & Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter." Or so it goes in "Shakespeare in Love," adapted for the stage by Lee Hall ("Billy Elliot") from the Tom Stoppard-Marc Norman screenplay for the Oscar-winning 1998 movie of the same name. The production that opened Tuesday at Capital Repertory Theatre is by turns visually appealing, cheerful, funny, romantic and frustrating. Because Maggie Mancinelli-Cahill is directing, it's easy to get swept up in her flowing pace and lively comedy. And, as played out on a two-level set by Lawrence E. Moten III, with a background of near-continuous period music from a three-piece band given percussion assistance by five cast members (kudos to frequent music director Josh D. Smith), the production has the look and feel of something accomplished with great effort toward trying to appear effortless. But, too much of the time, the show also seems like too much overall. Hall's busy script borders on frantic the cast numbers 24, plus a dog and is not always clear in its storytelling. Drawing heavily from the screenplay, the script is at its best when its star-crossed lovers try to celebrate the little time they have together while also helping a theater company rehearse and perform "Romeo & Juliet." Christian Ryan is outstanding as Shakespeare, creating a hero who would be dashingly handsome were he not tripped up by writerly haplessness and insecurity. Writing is normally a lonely, slow, boring business to dramatize, but it's handled deftly here, and as the full depth of Viola's appeal becomes manifest in Jenny Strassburg's vibrant, honest performance, we get to see the creation of some of literature's greatest lines as inspired by someone who deserves them. Ryan and Strassburg are surrounded by many faces familiar from The Rep and other area stages, and each offers a particular pleasure or two. Ever-reliable vets John Romeo and Kevin McGuire are blusteringly funny, Benita Zahn does an almost unrecognizable turn as a self-important royal functionary, David Kenner is the boo-hissable villain whom Viola is forced to marry, Tom Templeton has the right mixture of elan and earnestness as a top actor, and Laurie O'Brien is slyly, imperiously funny as Queen Elizabeth I. (Her regal dress is the pinnacle of much fine work by costume designer Evan Prizant.) As intricate as the screenplay and the stage script are unsurprising, given that the brainy Stoppard was involved they at times seem forced, like they're showing off their virtuosity, and there's a great deal of attention paid to rewarding audiences who know just enough Shakespeare to get the jokes and allusions. Knowing Shakespeare, however, may also make you relate most powerfully to scenes that are almost exclusively comprised of the Bard's words. Amid all the noise and scurry, the cross-dressing and dueling, the dog jokes and in-jokes, the self-aware asides that call attention to the play's cleverness amid all that frippery we have a story we want more of, Shakespeare and Viola in love. sbarnes@timesunion.com 518-454-5489 blog.timesunion.com/tablehopping @Tablehopping facebook.com/SteveBarnesFoodCritic Construction Jobs 2019 In UAE United Arab Emirates Latest Lime Light International Company Construction Posts UAE 2021 A well known and reputed construction company required energetic and strong persons for the posts of Shuttering Carpenter, Steel Fixer, Tile Mason, Block Mason, Plaster Mason, Labor, Helper in UAE 2019. How to Apply on Lime Light International Company Job Advertisement Apply as per details in job advertisement. In some cases, you may apply online at vacancies after registering at https://www.jobz.pk online. 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. Does poetry matter? It's a big question. A heavy one. In days of rampant cynicism, maybe a strange one. But there's no better time to ask it than National Poetry Month, and no better person to answer it than Alicia Ostriker, poet laureate of New York state. "Poetry matters right now as much as more than it ever has in America," says the lauded and prolific poet, on the phone from her home on Manhattan's Upper West Side. "Because people feel that we are in a crisis in our society. And when that happens, poems start pouring out." Americans are reading them. A lot of Americans are reading them. According to the National Endowment for the Arts, almost 12 percent of adults read poetry in 2017 that's 28 million people, the highest share of the adult population ever over a 15-year span. "People read poetry," Ostriker says. One reason is ease of access, both online and in real-world readings and poetry slams. "It's one of those facts that is little known, except to the participants and maybe not even to the participants that there is more poetry in America than ever before. More little presses, more readings, more young people, more people of color. It's just everywhere. We're never going to be movie stars, but there's a renaissance and explosion of poetry in America today. And a lot of it is really, really good." In the Capital Region, open mics, slams and other locally nourished platforms abound especially in April. Among the many events scheduled for National Poetry Month is Word Fest, Albany Poets' annual weeklong celebration of the spoken and written word. (See accompanying box.) "There is less and less distinction between poets who write for performance and poets who write for the page. There's more and more crossover," says Ostriker, also a critic, biblical scholar and professor emerita of English at Rutgers University. She started out as a poet of the page: Her first collection, "Songs : a book of poems," was published in 1969; her most recent, "Waiting for the Light," in 2017. Somewhere between the two, she became a performer as well. It took a while. "When I was starting, if I had to give a public reading, I read into my collar bone to make sure that nobody would hear me." Including her husband, who urged her to speak out. "It was hard for me. Because I was shy, and I was afraid of making a fool of myself." Her inspiration in overcoming that fear was beat poet Allen Ginsberg "who read to the rafters and was unafraid of making a fool of himself. In fact, he made a practice of it. And seeing Allen perform and levitate any room he ever was in made me realize that you have to make a fool of yourself. That's the job." With Ginsberg as her model, "I did learn how to be a fool for poetry." Is she still? "Yeah." Those who shy from poetry come from a place of fear, Ostriker says. "It's partly bad teaching. And that would mean teachers who are themselves afraid of poetry and convey that fear to their students." Little kids love poetry. In their early years in school, they're exposed to it. Then it drops out of the curriculum for several years until, sometime in puberty, "somebody hits them with Shakespeare." Announced as state poet in August and inaugurated in September, Ostriker hopes to use her position to "revive" Edna St. Vincent Millay, the 1923 Pulitzer Prize-winner whose feminism, activism and open bisexuality challenged the buttoned-down norms of the era. (Her Steepletop home in Austerlitz is now an arts colony.) Millay "was the most-loved poet in her lifetime," Ostriker says. "The most-read poet in her lifetime. And she gave sold-out poetry readings all over the country. She read on radio. She wrote about love and sex and politics as well as the natural world. And she was basically swept under the rug by mainstream critics, who were prejudiced against women in the first place, and especially women who were sexually not respectable and, as well, poets who wrote about politics. So, you know, three strikes." As a result, Millay "more or less disappeared from the anthologies. So I think it's a good time to revive her, as we have revived the reputations of other forgotten women writers." Once they entered the conversation, women's voices changed it. "Women write about the body. Women write about motherhood. Women write about love and anger in ways that were taboo until an eyeblink ago." As women altered the course of poetry, men hopped on. "Men now write about fatherhood in ways they never did before." That was just the start. Subsequent waves included "poets of color, gay poets, native American poetry," Ostriker says. "All that was at the margins of the literary culture has come into fullness." Her own poems are filled with humble little markers of everyday life. Biking. Childhood. Garbage bags at the curb. Happy dogs at the beach. At the same time, they touch on physics, mythology, dark corners of the psyche and profound epiphanies. "Insomnia" buzzes with agitation ("You call yourself a coward / you wake at 2 a.m. thinking failure, / fool, unable to sleep, unable to sleep"). "Laundry" links a mundane chore with the horrors of Abu Ghraib ("The bleaching of the news. The rinsing and spinning"). Several Ostriker poems reference Walt Whitman, one of her greatest influences. "I have tried to make the case that everything that is American about American poetry that distinguishes it from English poetry comes out of Whitman," she says. Whitman freed American verse, cracking open the closed-form approach. "Which does not mean formlessness. It means you're improvising the way a jazz soloist improvises," she says, citing an innately American musical genre. "You know what the last line says, and the next line has to come out of that in some way but not predictably. So there's improvisation. ... And the reason that it is so congenial to Americans, I believe, is that we are a nation of improvisers. That's in the American character." Think of the frontier. Or the dream of unfettered movement that drives our national psyche. "Our society improvises and has class mobility. We're not bound as much by what we had been. Our future is not as constrained by the past as it is in more tradition-bound cultures." That holds true for Ostriker's own process. When she's writing prose, she says, "I pretty much know what I want to say before I start to write. When I'm writing poetry, I have no idea where it's going to go. A poem is calling into the dark. ... If I'm not surprised, I suspect it's not a good poem." What comes clear, in talking to Ostriker, is her regard for poetry and the arts as a cause for hope and almost a form of salvation. "When I ask myself what, right now, makes me proud of my country, it's the arts," she says. "It's the arts." More Information Albany Word Fest For festival info, see albanypoets.com/albany-word-fest; for other Capital Region poetry events, see albanypoets.com/events/ 7 p.m. Friday, April 12: Readings Against the End of the World, 24-hour open mic to benefit the South End Children's Cafe Husted Hall Cafe, University at Albany downtown campus, 135 Western Ave., Albany. Sign up at albanypoets.com/albany-word-fest/sign-up. 2 p.m. Sunday, April 14: 2nd Sunday @2. Arts Center of the Capital Region, 265 River St., Troy. 7 p.m. Monday, April 15: Night of Features, with Avery Stempel, Karen Fabiane, Luis Pabon, and Danielle Pouliot. Hudson River Coffee House, 227 Quail St., Albany. 7 p.m. Monday, April 15: Poetic Vibe, featuring poet Kareem Ture. Troy Kitchen, 77 Congress St., Troy. 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 16: Brass Tacks, featuring Influence; followed by open mic. The Low Beat, 335 Central Ave., Albany. $3. 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 17: Up the River, launch of seventh issue of the Word Fest journal, with readings by contributors. Restaurant Navona, 289 New Scotland Ave., Albany. 7 p.m. Thursday, April 18: Third Thursday Poetry Night, featuring Caroline Bardwell. Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany. 7 p.m. Friday, April 19: Word Fest Invitational Slam, Troy Kitchen. Saturday, April 20: Word Fest Book Fair. Location TBA. See More Collapse She wrote her dissertation on William Blake, "my first guru," and quotes him in her conversation from Manhattan. "He says somewhere, 'When I tell any truth, it is not to convince those who do not know, but to encourage those who do.' So part of what's so important about poetry is that all of us are often discouraged. We lose hope. We lose faith." Poetry, she says, is "composed and shared by people who are like us, who have a world of feeling, a world of language to go with it, to shape it, to bring it into articulation. We try to share courage. We get courage. We give courage." That's one reason poetry matters, she says. It brings solace and insight. It speaks to us intimately and, in so doing, reveals the universal "the world in a grain of sand." And it helps us understand ourselves. "The voice of my poetry," Ostriker says, "is the voice of my most deep, most real self." abiancolli@timesunion.com 518-454-5439 @AmyBiancolli SCHENECTADY Ellis Medicine is attempting to make its emergency department a friendlier place for people with autism and sensory issues. After about a year of discussion with state Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, the Schenectady-based hospital system will begin the process of transforming its Nott Street emergency room to better accommodate individuals with disorders such as autism that make them prone to over-stimulation and sensory overload. Others include post-traumatic stress disorder, sensory processing disorder and schizophrenia, to name a few. "We have long worked to ensure our physicians and staff are prepared to meet the needs of diverse populations, and we are constantly striving to both improve patient experiences and enhance the quality of care we deliver," said Ellis President and CEO Paul Milton. "That's why we've made autism awareness and specialized communications for patients with autism spectrum disorder a key priority." Exactly what the transformation will entail will be the subject of an upcoming meeting with hospital officials, said Santabarbara, who helped secure $30,000 in the recently approved state budget for the project. But the lawmaker, whose teenage son has autism and who frequently advocates on the issue, said he drew inspiration from a recent visit to Nemours Children's Hospital in Orlando, which implemented a sensory-friendly program in its emergency room in 2015. Nemours provided private, quiet waiting areas for families and headphones to drown out noise, removed unnecessary loud equipment and installed dim lighting and calming colorscapes in certain patient rooms, and began using an intake process that sped up wait times for individuals with sensory issues. "In one of the rooms, they had these columns filled with water and bubbles that changed color something their local autism society helped come up with," Santabarbara said. "Things like that address sensory needs." State pilot New York provided funds for the pilot program, with hopes that it will ease agitation and reduce the length of hospital stays for such patients. Depending on the outcomes, it could be reproduced in hospitals statewide. "Once this pilot is off and running we will start collecting data to see what works and what doesn't," Santabarbara said. "People can come and visit to see how it works." Research shows that adolescents with autism are four times more likely than those without autism to use emergency services. But for many, the loud noises, bright lights and constant rushing about can overload their senses, causing them to become agitated and difficult to treat. "I went in there with my son when he was younger, and between the beeping noises and the buzz of fluorescent lights, he just couldn't take it," Santabarbara said. "It was too much. Those things might not bother you and I, but for someone with these issues it all gets compounded. It's traumatizing. They don't want to come back." Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. National trend A growing number of emergency departments nationwide are making efforts to go "sensory friendly," as the number of people with autism continues to climb. In 2014, about 1 in 59 children were diagnosed with autism up from just 1 in 150 in 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Children's hospitals in places like Tennessee, Virginia, Delaware and Washington, D.C. have led the way, providing everything from soundproof rooms, weighted blankets and specialized lighting to tablets with autism-specific apps that held patients communicate and sensory kits containing self-soothing toys and textures. The closest sensory friendly ER to the Capital Region is located in Kingston, at HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley's Broadway campus. Their program uses iPads that allow patients to communicate with staff and providers to assess a patient's pain and discomfort level. More important than the "gear," however, is the training component, Santabarbara said. Ideally, hospital staff would undergo training in how to deal with individuals with autism, sensory and communication issues, and then adjust to a new intake process that prioritizes such individuals. "The chances that we're going to see a patient with autism in our ERs has greatly increased over the years," he said. "The question is, are we going to be prepared for it?" ALBANY Some of New Yorks freshman senate Democrats have clashed with Gov. Andrew Cuomo on a number of fronts, including taxes, spending and whether or not the failed Amazon deal was a good thing or a bad thing (Cuomo was in the second camp). On Wednesday, another disagreement was in the spotlight during a Senate Higher Education Committee hearing on for-profit colleges and schools. Cuomo in his budget plan had proposed that for-profit colleges be subject to new regulations which would govern how much of their revenue should come from tuition as opposed to taxpayer monies, and how much they should spend on marketing and advertising. That plan fell out of the budget however. Several Senate Democrats during Wednesdays hearing said they thought such moves would be redundant. What the governor has proposed may not be totally necessary, as well as unnecessary, said Queens Democratic Sen. John Liu. There are good schools, as well as poor ones in the for-profit world, added Yonkers Democratic Sen. Shelley Mayer, who referenced (o)ur strong opposition to the governors proposal. We are dealing with a national conversation, Mayer added, referring to the Trump Administrations weakening oversight of the for-profit college sector on the federal level. Representatives of for-profit schools noted that they must follow many of the same regulations that apply to private and state-run colleges and universities. What problem are we being asked to solve? asked Chrisopher Barto, vice president of government relations at LIM college. "The divisiveness that we witness nationally has come to New York and has resulted in proposed legislation that is uninformed and irrational," added Marc Jerome, president of the Bronx-based Monroe College, a school that has employed Assembly Democratic Majority Speaker Carl Heastie as a part time instructor. Not all of the lawmakers were so supportive of the for-profits. Syracuse Democratic Sen. Rachel May, who has worked as an instructor and administrator at private non-profit colleges, said she was horrified by the faculty facilities at an unnamed private college she had visited. May also said she worried that for-profit colleges may be underpaying faculty and, therefore, undercutting salaries at not for profits schools. Cuomo spokesman Jason Conwall said the governor stands by the budget proposal, citing studies that say students from for-profit schools tend to borrow more money, take on more debt and default at higher levels than students in public and private not-for-profit schools. The administration's proposal is similar to how New York regulates other businesses that target low-income communities such as payday lenders and check-cashing institutions, Conwall said. Michael Hatten, chairman and CEO of the New York Automotive and Diesel Institute said his diesel instructors average $85,000 annually. Both sides offered statistics on graduation rates, earnings records after graduation and college debt as reasons for or against more regulation. State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia noted that six-year graduation rates at for-profit colleges run almost 36 percent, which is higher than the approximately 29 percent rate at the City University of New York system. For the State University of New York, its just under 42 percent. But far fewer students attend for-profits than CUNY. More for you In New York, scrutiny of for-profit colleges will increase with key defender gone Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Metrics are complicated. You will probably never have a perfect metric, said Kirsten Keefe, senior attorney with the Empire Justice Center, a group that advocates for the poor, disabled and other disenfranchised people, and which has called for regulations. Jerome had added that one measure worth watching could be sharp drops in enrollment. Such declines could be a sign of looming financial instability. While noting that there are good and bad actors in the for-profit sector, Keefe said one of her biggest concerns centered on the loan repayment records of graduates from these schools. She drew an analogy between student loan debt and the real estate crash of 2008, which followed years of banks offering mortgages to people who couldnt afford them. This problem was particularly acute with minorities. Among African-Americans, for example, Keefe said that within 12 years of leaving a for-profit school, 72 percent of borrowers were in default of their loans. That number for non-profit schools was only 24 percent, however. The average homeowner believed there was oversight and regulation, Keefe said. It turned out there was far less mortgage oversight than people thought, thus the financial crash. One area of particular concern centered on veterans, who advocates said are heavily sought after by for-profit colleges. Thats due to the GI bill, which provides tuition money. That makes veterans into veritable cash cows, remarked Raymond Curtis, of Veterans Education Success, an organization that researches and advocates on those issues. They are singled out, said Gary Schacher, commander of the state American Legion, about marketing campaigns aimed at veterans. rkarlin@timesunion.com 518-454-5758 @RickKarlinTU Washington A congressional hearing on online hate turned into a vivid demonstration of the problem Tuesday when a YouTube livestream of the proceedings was bombarded with racist and anti-Semitic comments from internet users. YouTube disabled the live chat section of the streaming video about 30 minutes into the hearing because of what it called "hateful comments." The incident came as executives from Google and Facebook appeared before the House Judiciary Committee to answer questions about the companies' role in the spread of hate crimes and the rise of white nationalism in the U.S. They were joined by leaders of the Anti-Defamation League and the Equal Justice Society, along with conservative commentator Candace Owens. Neil Potts, Facebook director of public policy, and Alexandria Walden, counsel for free expression and human rights at Google, defended policies at the two companies that prohibit material that incites violence or hate. Google owns YouTube. "There is no place for terrorism or hate on Facebook," Potts testified. "We remove any content that incites violence." The hearing broke down into partisan disagreement among the lawmakers and among some of the witnesses, with Republican members of Congress denouncing as hate speech Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar's criticism of American supporters of Israel. As the bickering went on, committee chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., was handed a news report that included the hateful comments about the hearing on YouTube. He read them aloud, along with the users' screen names, as the room quieted. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Democratic Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island grilled the executives about their companies' responsibility for the spread of white supremacist views, pushing them to acknowledge they have played a role, even if it was unintentional. Potts and Walden conceded the companies have a duty to try to curb hate. But the challenges became clear as Cicilline pushed Potts to answer why Facebook did not immediately remove far-right commentator Faith Goldy last week, after announcing a ban on white nationalism on the social network. Goldy, who has asked her viewers to help "stop the white race from vanishing," was not removed until Monday. On Wednesday, a Senate subcommittee will hold a hearing on allegations that companies such as Facebook, Google and Twitter are biased against conservatives, an allegation leveled by political figures from President Donald Trump on down. The companies have denied any such bias. ALBANY Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he would support legislation enabling terminally ill people to request life-ending medication. In his first public comments on the issue, the governor told WAMC's Alan Chartock on Tuesday that he would sign legislation if lawmakers were to pass it, and encouraged the Legislature to take up the issue. "I say pass the bill," he said. "It's a controversial issue, it's a difficult issue, but the older we get and the better medicine gets the more we've seen people suffer for too, too long." A bill to legalize medical aid in dying, also known as physician-assisted suicide, has kicked around the Legislature since 2016 but had been opposed by the Republican majority in the Senate. The Democratic takeover of the chamber last fall has given some hope to proponents of the law. Sponsored by Amy Paulin in the Assembly and Diane Savino in the Senate, the New York Medical Aid in Dying Act would allow terminally ill adults with a prognosis of six months or less to request life-ending medication from their physician. The request must be documented before two witnesses, and at least two doctors must confirm the patient is eligible for medical aid and capable of making an informed decision about their own health care. Additionally, the patient must be able to take the medication themselves. In discussing his support, Cuomo noted that his father, former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, started a Death in Dying commission. "Way ahead of his time as usual," Cuomo told Chartock. "I think it's a situation we have to address, definitely," he added. The governor's comments elicited both positive and negative reactions Tuesday. Compassion and Choices, a nonprofit that advocates for aid in dying, said the governor's endorsement should "turbocharge" lawmakers' efforts to pass legislation this session, and pointed to the recent passage of a bill in New Jersey to legalize the practice. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. "There's no reason New Yorkers should not have the same option to peacefully end needless suffering this year that New Jerseyans will have in just a few months," said Corinne Carey, New York and New Jersey campaign director for the group. Seven states and Washington, D.C., have laws on the books safeguarding the practice. The New Jersey bill is awaiting the governor's signature. The Catholic Church remains opposed to the practice, saying it sends a "dangerous message" to society that suicide is OK at a time when youth suicide rates are climbing. The New York State Catholic Conference has argued that a law could also threaten seniors and individuals with disabilities, who may be pressured by family or others to end their lives once deemed a "burden." The conference used the governor's comments as a rallying cry on its Facebook page Tuesday. "It is more important than ever for Catholics to fight this dangerous attack on the sacredness and dignity of human life," it said, sharing a link to its advocacy page. SARATOGA SPRINGS Five colorful horses returned to their position on the Congress Park carousel on Tuesday after spending the winter months in away in Connecticut, getting refurbished. The five horses, with their elaborate heads and highly decorated bodies, are among 28 that will be full restored by WRF Designs over the next several years. It is first restoration of the ponies since the carousel opened in the historic park. A state agency that compensates victims of dishonest attorneys paid out nearly $7 million across New York last year, including $29,600 to ex-clients of four Capital Region lawyers. The Lawyers' Fund of Client Protection reimbursed $6.9 million to 164 clients, according to its annual report for 2018. The payouts included $15,100 to two ex-clients of disbarred Albany defense attorney Gaspar Castillo; $10,000 to an ex-client of late Albany attorney Scott Davidoff; $3,000 to a former client of Albany lawyer Richard D. Abbott; and $1,500 to a former client of Niskayuna lawyer Jerrold W. Bartman, who resigned from the bar. The lawyers were all registered in the Albany-based Appellate Division of state Supreme Court's Third Department. Michael J. Knight, the executive director of the fund, said the fund is to reimburse clients who were victims of misappropriation or willful misapplication of funds. The fund cannot reimburse for neglect, malpractice, damages or out-of-pocket losses, he said. Trustees of the fund have consistently found that most losses are to clients of solo practitioners, the majority of whom are male and middle-aged, the annual report said. It said causes of misconduct are often traced to alcohol and drug abuse, gambling, economic pressures, mental illness as well as marital, professional and medical problems. The report found the vast majority of lawyers in New York maintain high standards when entrusted with clients' money. "A tiny percentage of New York's legal profession remains responsible for dishonest conduct in the practice of law," said Knight, who took over in July following the retirement of Timothy J. O'Sullivan, who had been executive director since 2000. "These few who disgrace the legal profession cause significant harm to law clients." The most common loss has been theft of real property escrow funds -- with nearly 40 percent of all money reimbursed related to it, the report said. It said last year, more than $1 million (14.7 percent) of the amounts paid out involved real property escrow thefts. Castillo, who was a fixture in Capital Region courtrooms and well respected as a defense attorney, was first suspended in June 2016. At the time, he was defending Michael Chmielewski, who later pleaded guilty to the Aug. 21, 2015 murder of 32-year-old Jacquelyn Porreca. Chmielewski stabbed her during a robbery at the Recycled Hair Salon in West Albany. Castillo was disbarred in January 2018 after he admitted he converted nearly $47,000 of a client's money that was supposed to be used as collateral for his client's bail. He took months to repay this money to his client despite the client's repeated requests. Castillo also accepted a $5,000 retainer and an additional $5,000 payment to buy transcripts for a client's appeal but performed no work and bought no transcripts. The latter case involved one of the clients who was reimbursed. Davidoff, an Albany lawyer who died in June 2017, was admitted to the bar in 1986. The claim to the fund involved a retainer for an estate matter, Knight said. The court system's attorney look-up listed no public discipline. Abbott, a lawyer in Massachusetts and Rhode Island since 1983 and in New York since 1991, had an office in the city of Albany. He was suspended in 2001 for "failing to diligently pursue post-conviction relief for his client, intentionally misrepresenting the status of the case to bar counsel, misrepresenting the contents of a document to the client to induce the client to sign it, and fabricating evidence in order to mislead bar counsel," according to the 2009 Appellate Division decision suspending him. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Bartman, who was admitted to the bar in 1994, was initially censured in 2005 because of a public reprimand he received from a state Supreme Court in Florida two years earlier for "neglecting client matters, assisting in the unlicensed practice of law, failing to respond to clients' communications and failing to respond to inquiries of the Florida bar." In December 2017, Bartman agreed to resign from the bar amid an investigation by the Third Department's grievance committee into allegations "concerning the neglect of client matters, the failure to return client retainers and escrow account violations." The report also offered an addendum on the legal career of William Nojay, a Rochester-area Assemblyman who died by suicide on Sept. 8, 2016. The fund reimbursed one of Nojay's clients $337,966. Nojay was under federal investigation at the time of his death. More than 325,000 lawyers are registered in New York. The fund, which started in 1981 and is financially supported entirely by lawyers' registration fees, financially reimburses clients of lawyers who caused them losses through dishonest conduct. Since it started, the fund has paid out 8,840 awards totaling $215.9 million, the report said. Last year, the figure was $10.6 million statewide and nearly $36,000 in the Capital Region. A 35-year-old old fugitive who State Police said they caught with 10 pounds of marijuana is among the people the troopers are trying to track down as part of their Warrant Wednesday initiative. Homeil D. Rose, 35, is wanted by State Police in Malone on felony marijuana and drug possession charges. A warrant was issued for Rose's arrest in September. It follows his arrest, troopers said, after they caught him with the haul of marijuana and hallucinogenic substances during an April 6, 2018, traffic stop on State Route 11. SARATOGA SPRINGS When a mental health counselor from Saratoga Springs met a Guatemalan teenager in a downstate migrant children shelter, he had already been in government custody for a year and a half. He crossed the U.S.-Mexico border alone, seeking asylum, and was transferred from Texas to the Children's Village in Dobbs Ferry, Westchester County. That was in November. The now 17-year-old is still in custody. The boy can be released to a sponsor to care for him while his immigration case is ongoing. But his uncle in Texas, who is undocumented, was living with people who didn't want to be fingerprinted in the background check process especially as Immigration and Customs Enforcement began detaining undocumented sponsors last year. Now that his uncle has his own apartment, his chances of being released from custody have risen. On Monday evening, Judy Beck, a Saratoga Springs counselor and mental health provider for the Backstretch Employee Assistance Team, shared the boy's story before an audience of around 200 at Skidmore College's Filene Hall. At the Children's Village, Beck said, as many as 200 kids many between the ages of 12 and 18 - live in small cottages painted with murals, eat meals together, get education in a one-room schoolhouse setting, and can call their parents once a week. Beck said many of the children she interviewed broke down. "Children come to our country having fled violence ... and incredibly traumatized," said Cory Shindel, deputy director of policy at Washington D.C.-based organization Kids in Need of Defense, which represents unaccompanied children. "They need time to open up about their stories. They are reliving traumatic experiences that many of us can't even imagine." Monday's event, hosted by the Saratoga Immigration Coalition, brought together child welfare, immigration law and mental health professionals to talk about why children leave home alone, the complicated process to stay in the U.S., the challenge of limited legal representation and recent changes in policy. The Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is responsible for unaccompanied children, aims to create a safe and healthy environment in shelters with access to nutritious food, clean clothes, education and medical services and to place children with a sponsor while immigration cases are pending, the agency said. There were 12,500 unaccompanied children in ORR custody as of April. At the latest count last year, hundreds were being held in 11 residential centers in New York state, the closest to the Capital Region in Kingston. The number of families crossing the U.S. border has skyrocketed this year. The panel took place a day after the government announced it needed two years to reunite children separated from their parents at the border last summer. Under the government's "zero-tolerance" policy last summer, adults who crossed the border were prosecuted criminally for illegal entry. Their children were separated from them and counted as unaccompanied minors. Sally Steinberg, a New Jersey attorney at Monday's event, said she saw a two-year-old girl in immigration court in New York City separated from her father and ordered deported back to her mother in Honduras. "You can't deter a refugee crisis. You can't deter asylum seekers from coming to save their lives. You can't deter someone from saving their life, you need to offer them protection," Shindel said. Most unaccompanied children come from the Northern Triangle in Central America last year 54 percent from Guatemala, 26 percent from El Salvador and 12 percent from Honduras. Others travel from as far as India or Ghana. They're fleeing gang brutality and gender-based violence, attorneys who hear their stories said. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. "A lot of children say it's not a choice to take that journey, it's not a choice to leave family, friends and a community behind, but they see no other choice when they're facing all these other issues they can't control," said Leandra Naranjo, associate program director for the Center on Immigration and Justice at the Vera Institute of Justice in New York City on Monday. Under federal law, unaccompanied children who cross the border should be transferred to the care of ORR within 72 hours. If a sponsor is available, they should be contacted to care for the child outside of custody. Meanwhile, the child's legal case is ongoing. Most unaccompanied children are eligible to apply for asylum or special immigrant juvenile status, a visa for kids who have been abused or abandoned by at least one parent, but both can take years to get. Children, like all immigrants in civil proceedings, aren't entitled to a lawyer and if transferred to a different residential center in another state, could lose their representation. Naranjo said research shows an immigrant with an attorney by their side is 10 times more likely to win their case. Meanwhile, Capital Region lawyers told the Times Union that policy changes to expedite cases increase the risk that undocumented children will be deported while their applications for immigration relief are being decided. Audience members, a mix of older community members and college students, asked what they could do and offered suggestions including pressuring politicians to resist imperialism that destabilizes Central American countries. Panelists recommending giving input into public comment periods on federal law changes, voting for and writing elected officials, and donating to or volunteering with organizations. "These children are citizens of this world," Beck said. "Our charge is to do better by these kids." General Worker Job 2019 For Manufacturing Sector in Malaysia Latest Farishta Enterprises Oversea Employment Promoters Labor Posts Malaysia 2021 Experienced, strong and energetic person for the position of General Worker required urgently for a well known and established Manufacturing Sector in Malaysia 2019. How to Apply on Farishta Enterprises Oversea Employment Promoters Job Advertisement Apply as per details in job advertisement. In some cases, you may apply online at vacancies after registering at https://www.jobz.pk online. 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. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation and Virginia's Community Colleges Partner to Fight Student Hunger A $100,000 grant from the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation will allow more than a dozen rural Virginia community colleges to expand food emergency offerings to students, including the creation of three new programs, to address the growing issue of food insecurity on campus. The announcement of the grant and expanded student support was made in Roanoke during an annual faculty conference for Virginia's Community Colleges. This significant grant is part of Anthem's continuing commitment to addressing Social Determinants of Health, such as food insecurity, as part of its commitment to improving the lives of the people in the communities it serves. According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released in January 2019, estimates of food insecurity among college students ranged from 9 percent to more than 50 percent, but food insecurity hits students hardest on community college campuses. Virginia's Community Colleges are working with community partners, such as Anthem, to eliminate barriers to academic attainment and more importantly, better long-term health outcomes. "Anthem's mission is to improve lives and communities and to make healthcare simpler. To help us accomplish this we work with local organizations to develop community-specific approaches that remove barriers and improve health," said Jennie Reynolds, president, Anthem's Virginia Medicaid Plan. "Food insecurity is associated with some of the most serious and costly chronic health problems, and it's important we continue to identify ways to address this serious issue in our communities where help is needed and can be readily accessed. That is why we are excited about this unique partnership with Virginia's Community Colleges, which allows us to not only address this critical issue, but also helps to bring greater awareness to the problem of hunger on campus." The Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation's $100,000 grant will help expand 11 existing food pantries on rural community college campuses, and allow three campuses to open pantries benefitting more students and their families. Currently, 32,563 enrolled students and their families have access to food emergency programs at the 11 rural colleges. Based on current enrollment data, this support will allow another 8,658 families to access food emergency programs. "Student success is not just a matter of what occurs inside a classroom," said Glenn DuBois, chancellor of Virginia's Community Colleges. "Being hungry, uncertainty over where you are sleeping tonight - these are real world challenges for many of our students, who need our help. This grant is an important step as we continue to seek partners and resources to help students address the social challenges that threaten college dreams." Community colleges that will benefit from the grant include: About Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation Through charitable grant making, the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation LLC, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, promotes Anthem's inherent commitment to enhance the health and well-being of individuals and families in communities that Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield serves. The Foundation focuses its funding on strategic initiatives that make up its Healthy Generations Program, a multi-generational initiative that targets: maternal health, diabetes prevention, cancer prevention, heart health and healthy, active lifestyles, behavioral health efforts and programs that benefit people with disabilities. The Foundation also coordinates the company's year-round Dollars for Dollars program which provides a 100 percent match of associates' donations, as well as its Volunteer Time Off and Dollars for Doers community service programs. ANTHEM is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield names and symbols are registered marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. About the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education (VFCCE): The Virginia Foundation for Community College Education (VFCCE) is the supporting arm of Virginia's 23 community colleges. The VFCCE works to broaden educational access, support student success, and provide innovative solutions to workforce needs. Our mission is "providing access to education to all Virginians," with a focus on expanding access and programs for underserved populations. To ensure access to high quality, affordable education, the VFCCE provides statewide leadership in raising funds for community college education, supplementing and supporting the activities of the 23 individual colleges, and securing support for major system-wide initiatives that could not be undertaken by any single college. For more information, please visit www.vfcce.org. About Virginia's Community Colleges: Since 1966, Virginia's Community Colleges have given everyone the opportunity to learn and develop the right skills so lives and communities are strengthened. By making higher education and workforce training available in every part of Virginia, we elevate all of Virginia. Together, Virginia's Community Colleges serve more than 241,000 students each year. For more information, please visit www.vccs.edu. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005897/en/ [April 10, 2019] Avenu Insights & Analytics Adds Talent to Cannabis Compliance Practice SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CALIFORNIA CANNABIS CONTROL CONFERENCE -- Avenu Insights & Analytics (Avenu), has named Brad Rowe as the company's leader in helping jurisdictions manage the introduction and regulation of legal cannabis. Rowe is based in California at the company's MuniServices subsidiary and will participate in the April 10-11 Cannabis Control Conference. Rowe brings to the role extensive experience in the field based on his work with early-adopter state California. He has helped many cities and counties there set regulations, staff departments, select and award licensees, and develop effective tax and enforcement policies. He also has supported these jurisdictions build backing for the programs by convening community groups and facilitating discussions about public health and safety. "Brad is one of the pioneers in helping governments djust to the increasing acceptance of legal cannabis usage," says Avenu CEO Paul Colangelo. "With him on the team our government clients know they are getting the most informed guidance possible on how to address cannabis in their communities." In addition to his experience in cities and counties, Rowe's credentials include: Adjunct Professor of criminal justice, cannabis and other drug policy at Pepperdine University School of Public Policy School of Public Policy Lecturer on Public Policy at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs Member, board of advisors for the UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative Member, board of advisors to the Los Angeles County Health Impact assessment on cannabis Since 1996 when California legalized medicinal and recreational use of cannabis, Avenu has been supporting jurisdictions with methodologies and programs for managing the growth, manufacture, sale and delivery of the product. About Avenu Insights & Analytics Avenu Insights & Analytics has a long history of helping state and local governments boost revenue, optimize operations, and deepen community trust. Avenu's revenue enhancement and administration solutions enable jurisdictions to provide truly digital government that meets expectations of citizens, employees and elected officials. Avenu is a portfolio company of Mill Point Capital. About Mill Point Capital Mill Point Capital is a middle-market private equity firm focused on control-oriented investments in the business services and industrial sectors. The firm works with executive partners to leverage its investment professionals' experience, while providing strategic and operational guidance designed to drive long-term value creation in its portfolio companies. Mill Point is based in New York, NY. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/avenu-insights--analytics-adds-talent-to-cannabis-compliance-practice-300829718.html SOURCE Avenu Insights & Analytics [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Bell Let's Talk supports Indigenous mental health programming at Behavioural Health Foundation $240,000 donation to expand culturally relevant services WINNIPEG, April 10 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - Bell Let's Talk today announced a donation of $240,000 to the Behavioural Health Foundation (BHF) to support Indigenous programming as a core component of holistic residential treatment for adults and families affected by addictions and co-occurring mental health issues. "Bell Let's Talk is proud to support Behavioural Health Foundation's Indigenous programming and the vital support it offers people living with mental health issues," said Mary Deacon, Chair of Bell Let's Talk. "Behavioural Health Foundation is making a real difference in Winnipeg's Indigenous community and we look forward to working with them to help expand their mental health programming for more people in need of care." Indigenous healing at BHF incorporates a wide range of culturally-relevant programs including naming and healing ceremonies, full moon and pipe ceremonies, spring, summer, fall and winter ceremonies, sweat lodges, women's sweats, grieving sweats, medicine picking, drumming, traditional teachings, sharing circles, Ghost Dance, and Sundance, as well as mentoring, traditional counselling and support for adults and families. Traditional programming offers meaningful help to those members of the community who, for many reasons, are not comfortable or well-served by mainstream therapy. "We recognize the importance of providing the opportunity for individuals and families to receive culturally-relevant services," said Jean Doucha, Executive Director of BHF. "Our sacred grounds in St. Norbert allow people to learn, grow and heal. We are very thankful to Bell Let's Talk for providing funds for this important work to continue and expand." With the support of Bell Let's Talk, BHF will be able to offer services to approximately 150 people annually. Bell Let's Talk funding will also allow 50 BHF staff members to take part in Indigenous cultural training. longside the launch of Bell MTS in Manitoba in 2017, Bell Let's Talk announced it would be expanding in the province with a new dedicated fund for Indigenous mental health. Today's announcement is the fourth major commitment from the fund, following donations to Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata in 2017, Ogijiita Pimatiswin Kinamatwin in 2018 and Bear Clan Patrol in early 2019. The Bell Let's Talk team continues to consult with leaders from Manitoba Indigenous communities on plans for future program funding announcements. About Behavioural Health Foundation Behavioural Health Foundation (BHF) has roots dating back to 1967, as Canada's first residential treatment facility for families. BHF continues to honour the tradition of providing a safe and structured environment for holistic addiction and co-occurring mental health treatment services. BHF provides two distinct long-term programs, Addiction Treatment Services and the Breezy Point program for women, providing 110 beds and outreach services. For more information, please visit http://www.bhf.ca/. About Bell Let's Talk The Bell Let's Talk mental health initiative is focused on 4 key action pillars: Anti-stigma, Care and Access, Research and Workplace Leadership. Since its launch in September 2010, Bell Let's Talk has partnered with more than 900 organizations providing mental health services throughout Canada, including major donations to hospitals, universities and other care and research organizations. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk. For more information: Behavioural Health Foundation Jean Doucha Executive Director 204-269-3430, ext. 118 [email protected] Bell MTS Morgan Shipley 204-391-2849 [email protected] @Bell_LetsTalk @Bell_News SOURCE Bell Let's Talk [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Black Pearl Mail Moves Headquarters to Arizona; Handpicks Key Executives to Further Company's Growth Black Pearl Mail, the provider that transforms email into a smart digital marketing tool, today announced they have finalized the move of their headquarters from Wellington, New Zealand to Scottsdale, Arizona. Black Pearl is hiring and expanding in the Valley while also growing their R&D hub in Wellington, New Zealand. The company is backed by the venture capital fund AZ Crown, who has worked alongside Black Pearl Mail to assemble a seasoned leadership team. Most recently, the company welcomed aboard Cherryl Pressley as Chief Executive Officer and Corey Frank as Chief Revenue Officer. "Black Pearl Mail is not just another email platform; it's a powerful marketing analytics technology that transforms email from simply a 'dumb' tool with minimal actionable data insights into a 'smart' hub that delivers optimal experiences for an organization's customers," says Tim Crown, principal of AZ Crown Investments & Chairman of the Board of Black Pearl Mail. "This technology helps customers maximize email use as a digital marketing channel, something they use every day but hasn't historically yielded much in the way of marketing results. I'm also extremely pleased about the additions of our CEO and CRO to our executive team, and am eager to see just how far we go from here." Black Pearl's new CEO Pressley comes from a strong leadersip background, having spent the last 14 years at Microsoft (News - Alert) in various senior leadership roles. Her most recent role was leading strategy and sales for Microsoft's global distribution partner network. Frank, the company's new CRO, is known for co-founding KnowledgeNet, which was acquired by Thomson (News - Alert) Reuters, as well as co-founding two other venture funded tech companies in the valley, The 41st Parameter (acquired by Experian) and StormWind Studios. The Black Pearl Mail executive team also currently includes Black Pearl founder Nick Lissette, now in his new role as Director & CTO, and Tim Crown as Chairman of the Board. "Our founder, Nick Lissette set an aspirational vision when he created Black Pearl Mail, and now we're perfectly positioned to realize that vision," says Cherryl Pressley, CEO of Black Pearl Mail. "The move of our headquarters to Scottsdale has opened up numerous possibilities for the company and allowed us to work with wonderful partners such as AZ Crown. While my role as CEO is new, I've served on the board of Black Pearl Mail for the past 18 months and I've been extremely impressed with the product and company potential. We now have the key players in place and I'm confident great things are to come." To learn more or request a demo, please visit https://www.blackpearlmail.com/signup-request/. About Black Pearl Founded in 2014, Black Pearl Mail is a software-as-a-service (SaaS (News - Alert)) product that helps companies increase their brand and grow revenues. Black Pearl has been engineered to integrate with Microsoft's O365 as well as G-Suite and on-premise email systems. It is a true force-multiplier for traditional works on any email system and integrates with marketing & sales integration tools like Marketo and Salesforce.com (News - Alert). By providing companies with powerful email signatures, simplified email signature management and the ability to use every day email as a digital marketing channel, Black Pearl Mail is amplifying what companies can do with email, one of their most-used, and least-utilized tools. The company is now headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, also has a growing R&D hub in Wellington, New Zealand. To learn more, please visit www.blackpearlmail.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005624/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Cleartronic Inc.'s Subsidiary ReadyOP Communications, Inc. Receives praise from Green Bay, Wisconsin Police Department and School System BOCA RATON, Fla., April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cleartronic, Inc. (CLRI:OTCPINK) announces that its subsidiary ReadyOp Communications, Inc. was featured on two different television newscasts in Green Bay, Wisconsin. ReadyOp worked with the Green Bay Police Department, Green Bay School District and the Green Bay Fire Department to develop a cellphone app that provides real-time information and updates for emergency responders in any emergency situation. Included in the ReadyOp app is an overlay grid layout for every school in the school district that is available for access by all first responders on their cellphone. An important feature is that the information and displays can be easily updated and available during an event, thereby providing the first responders with the most accurate and current information. Cleartronic, Inc. (CLRI:OTCPINK) announces that its subsidiary ReadyOp Communications, Inc. was featured on two different television newscasts in Green Bay, Wisconsin. ReadyOp worked with the Green Bay Police Department, Green Bay School District and the Green Bay Fire Department to develop a cellphone app that provides real-time information and updates for emergency responders in any emergency situation. The Green Bay Police Department and Green Bay School District security personnel provided immediate feedback and praise on the usefulness of the app. The ReadyOp app is simple to use and the real-time updates provide the responders detailed information on both victims and survivors. New Wisconsin regulations, School Safety Act, require schools to provide floor plans of schoolsso emergency personnel can plan and respond if an emergency situation occurs. Now, those floor plans can be accessible by incorporating the floor plans and other important information for each school into the ReadyOp emergency app. TV 2 WBAY, the ABC affiliate station in Green Bay, Wisconsin recently televised the importance of the ReadyOp Communications app and the reason on Green Bay School District implementing the technological app. The televised story can be viewed here: https://www.wbay.com/video?vid=507968432 or https://www.wbay.com/content/news/Blueprints-and-live-video-new-high-tech-system-being-used-to-respond-to-active-shooters-507966121.html ReadyOp CEO Marc Moore, states, The successful use of ReadyOp with the new blueprint overlay provides an extra level of real-time knowledge that can be extremely helpful to first responders in any emergency situation. The app can give police and other first responders a real-time knowledge on locations, pictures and other information, helping to save lives and defuse emergency situations more quickly, safely and with the main objective, less casualties. ReadyOp provides a single, secure location for organizations to consolidate incident and emergency plans, rosters, tasks, roles, groups and more. Each agency through its secure website provides plans, personnel, and roles, emergency operations, callout teams and other groups that may be needed. ReadyOp enables users to communicate and interact quickly and efficiently with each other using voice, text, video, emails and two-way radios regardless of their location. About Cleartronic, Inc. Cleartronic, Inc., a diversified holding Company, creates and acquires operating subsidiaries with the goal of manufacturing and selling products, services, and integrated systems to government agencies, business enterprises, and the general public. In addition to its ongoing research and development projects, Cleartronic currently has two operating subsidiaries, ReadyOp Communications, Inc. and VoiceInterop, Inc.- www.cleartronic.com , www.voiceinterop.com and www.readyop.com. Safe Harbor Statement This news release contains statements that involve expectations, plans or intentions (such as those relating to future business or financial results) and other factors discussed from time to time in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. These statements are forward-looking and are subject to risks and uncertainties so that actual results may vary materially. You can identify these forward-looking statements by words such as "may," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "intend," "plan" and other similar expressions. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements because of certain factors not within the control of the company. The Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company disclaims any obligation subsequently to revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events. Contact and Inquiries for Investor Relations: Larry Reid 561-939-3300 Ext 143 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at //www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6e4a69dd-2a8c-4b28-a1fc-a3be3dfcf240 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Dematic To Establish Global Headquarters In Midtown Atlanta Tech Hub ATLANTA, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Dematic recently announced it will establish its global headquarters in Atlanta, securing approximately 40,000 square feet of space in the Coda complex in Midtown's Tech Square. The move will add an estimated 230 additional jobs as the company grows its Atlanta presence. "Technology is at the core of what we do," said Hasan Dandashly, Dematic President and CEO. "We are the leading supplier and partner in the advanced automated logistics and materials handling industry. Our solutions combine the latest advancements in software, robotics and mechatronics to drive optimal performance for our customers. Innovation has enabled us to be a market leader through the first three industrial revolutions. Establishing our headquarters in Atlanta reflects our commitment to remaining a world leader in technology and innovation in the supply chain solution space through industry 4.0." Coda, the revolutionary 750,000 square foot mixed-use complex, sits right in the heart of one of Atlanta's most desirable neighborhoods, and offers companies like Dematic the opportunity to co-locate with similar companies embedded in technology and Georgia Tech's innovation ecosystem. Being a member of Georgia Tech's Supply Chain Innovation Network helped drive Dematic to the location as the majority of the company's professional workforce are engineers. "We have partnered with Dematic for many years," said Tim Brown, Managing Director, Georgia Tech SupplyChain and Logistics Institute. "We are excited to have them as a neighbor with a long-term investment to grow here along with Georgia Tech's Supply Chain and Logistics Institute. I look forward to our continued partnership in driving innovations in supply chain and intralogistics technologies." Dematic's global HQ will support operations in 27 countries and more than 7,000 employees across the globe. With a long history in Atlanta, Dematic currently employs over 100 people in several locations in the metro area including Peachtree Corners and Griffin. "We are really excited to grow in Tech Square," said Michele Longo, Dematic Chief HR Officer. "Not only does the location give us access to rich thought leadership in industry and academia, it allows us the opportunity to collaborate with other technology-minded firms, and most importantly to attract and retain the best talent in our industry." With aggressive growth targets, Dematic is hiring for a variety of roles to support the business. Prospective employees should visit Dematic's Career Page for additional information on current job opportunities in Atlanta and across the globe. About Dematic Dematic is a leading supplier of integrated automated technology, software and services to optimize the supply chain. Dematic employs over 7,000 skilled logistics professionals to serve its customers globally, with engineering centers and manufacturing facilities located around the world. Dematic is one brand under the KION Group of companies and has implemented more than 6,000 integrated systems for a customer base that includes small, medium and large companies doing business in a variety of market sectors. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Dematic is a member of KION Group, a global leader in industrial trucks, related services and supply chain solutions. Across more than 100 countries worldwide, the KION Group designs, builds and supports logistics solutions that optimize material and information flow within factories, warehouses and distribution centers. The company is the largest manufacturer of industrial trucks in Europe, the second-largest producer of forklifts globally and a leading provider of warehouse automation. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dematic-to-establish-global-headquarters-in-midtown-atlanta-tech-hub-300829710.html SOURCE Dematic [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] EC Infosystems Successfully Converts Atlantic Energy for EDI and Billing/CIS Services EC Infosystems, a leader in Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Billing/Customer Information Solutions (CIS) for companies in the deregulated energy industry, has announced that they have successfully converted Florida-based retail supplier Atlantic Energy for both billing and EDI services. The transition included Atlantic Energy's entire deregulated footprint, spanning 10 states and 46 utilities for both natural gas and electric. The company will leverage EC Infosystems' leading products and services to continue to provide a unique suite of services to those consumers including traditional deregulated electric and natural gas services as well as a suite of energy-efficient devices. "We are excited to partner with Atlantic Energ on elevating their technology platforms," says Mohan Wanchoo, President and CEO of EC Infosystems. "With our industry-leading software and services behind them, the Atlantic team can shift their focus to providing unparalleled customer service and even more cutting-edge technology to their valued customers." Coupled with their migration to superior technology platforms and services, Atlantic Energy recently unveiled a credit facility deal with Signature Bank and V3 Commodities. Signature Bank and V3 Commodities have committed a combined $25 million working capital facility to the retail energy supplier. "Our strategic decision to partner with industry leading companies like EC Infosystems and our credit lenders uniquely positions us for unprecedented growth," explains Patrick Linden, Co-CEO of Atlantic Energy. "With expanded technology and financial stability, our goal is to focus on enhancing the customer experience through additional value added services and energy efficiency devices." "With another migration successfully implemented, it has become clear that UtiliBill has become the platform of choice throughout the energy industry," says Ananda Goswami, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for EC Infosystems. "Our proven track record of security, stability, and conversions make us the perfect partner for any energy provider - start-up or established." Atlantic Energy current employs a team of 115, serving a diverse customer base of residential and commercial accounts. In addition to electricity and natural gas deregulated consumers, Atlantic Energy also supports their customers in energy-efficiency projects such as LED lighting and residential smart home bundles. About EC Infosystems EC Infosystems is a market-leading Software as a Service (SaaS (News - Alert)) provider of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and UtiliBill (Billing/Customer Information Solutions (CIS)), serving more than 300 clients in the deregulated energy industry across the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe. The company's sophisticated software platform is user friendly, improves efficiency and operating performance, and provides clients with a strong competitive advantage. For more information, visit www.ecinfosystems.com About Atlantic Energy Atlantic Energy LLC is a licensed retail energy supplier focused on value added energy supply plans, residential smart home bundles and energy-efficient LED Lighting Program. Custom built logistical software, timely delivery, and a dedicated customer service team help Atlantic Energy better serve its diverse customer base building brand awareness. For more information, visit www.atlanticenergyco.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005115/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Europe VFDs Market Worth $6.4 Billion by 2024 - Exclusive Report by MarketsandMarkets CHICAGO, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Europe VFDs Market by Application (Pump, Fan, Compressor, Conveyor, Extruder), Power Rating (00.5, 0.520, 2050, 50200, >200kW), Voltage (Low and Medium) And Countries (Germany, Russia, UK, France, Italy, Spain) - Global Forecast to 2024", published by MarketsandMarkets, the Europe Variable Frequency Drives Market is projected to grow from an estimated USD 5.2 billion in 2019 to USD 6.4 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 4.13% during the forecast period. The growth of this market is driven by the increasing investments in the energy and construction industries. Ask for PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=220609858 The pump segment, by application, is expected to be the fastest growing market during the forecast period The pump segment is the largest market at a CAGR of 4.61% from 2019 to 2024. The increasing pump exports and its use in various industries are likely to drive the pump segment of the Europe Variable Frequency Drives Market. The 0.520 kW segment, by power rating, is expected to be the largest market from 2019 to 2024 The 0.5-20 kW segment is expected to reach USD 755.3 million by 2019, at a CAGR of 4.90% from 2019 to 2024. The high energy savings at a low capital cost increases the demand for the 0.520 kW segment. The 2050 kW segment is the second largest segment. It is expected to reach USD 1,346.8 million by 2019, at a CAGR of 4.28% from 2019 to 2024. Browse in-depth TOC on "Europe VFDs Market" 65 Tables 33 Figures 116 Pages The low voltage segment, by voltage, is expected to be the largest market from 209 to 2024 The low voltage segment is expected to reach USD 4,245.5 million by 2019, at a CAGR of 4.21% from 2019 to 2024. It is the largest European variable frequency drives market, by voltage, as the usage of variable frequency drives in mining, pulp & paper, water & wastewater, and oil & gas industries is increasing. Germany: The largest market for Europe variable frequency drives during the forecast period In this report, the Europe Variable Frequency Drives Market has been analyzed with respect to 6 major countries, namely, Germany, Russia, the UK, France, Italy, and Spain. Germany is estimated to dominate the Europe Variable Frequency Drives Market in 2018, owing to increasing investments in the energy and construction industries. Other countries in this region are also investing in energy. Increasing demand for renewable power generation inhemical and food & beverage industries is expected to boost the Europe Variable Frequency Drives Market in this region. The Government in this region is focusing on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Such initiatives are the major drivers for this market. Request For Sample pages of the Report: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=220609858 To enable an in-depth understanding of the competitive landscape, the report includes the profiles of some of the top players in the Europe VFDs Market. Some of the key players are ABB (Switzerland), Eaton (Ireland), Schneider (France), Siemens (Germany), Danfoss (Denmark), Fuji (Japan), Rockwell (US), Yaskawa (Japan), CG Power and Industrial Solutions (India), Hitachi (Japan), WEG SA (Brazil), and TMEIC (Japan). The leading players are adopting various organic and inorganic strategies to increase their share in the Europe Variable Frequency Drives Market. Please Explore Relevant Report: Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) Market by Type (AC, DC, and Servo), End-Users (Industrial, Infrastructure, Oil & Gas, and Power Generation), Application (Pumps, Fans, Compressors, and Conveyors), Power Range, Voltage, and Region - Global Forecast to 2023 About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Shelly Singh MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: [email protected] Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/europe-vfd-market.asp Visit Our Website: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Fortegra Announces Partnership With University of Delaware Horn Entrepreneurship Fortegra Financial Corporation ("Fortegra"), a leading international specialty insurer and subsidiary of Tiptree Inc. ("Tiptree"), today announces a new partnership with Horn Entrepreneurship, a unique student development initiative at the University of Delaware. During the weekend of March 1-3, Fortegra staff offered industry expertise and support at Horn's Innovation Sprint (News - Alert), a case competition featuring a business challenge relating to a corporate acquisition. The challenge asked students to analyze a business problem, employ product positioning, marketing strategies, and customer service tactics, and work to recommend a solution. Student teams then presented their conclusions to a panel of qualified judges, including Fortegra CFOs past and present, investment bankers, and board members. Events like the Innovation Sprint and other Horn challenges help prepare participating students to adapt, thrive, and lead in future management roles. "When these young entrepreneurs start their own company one day, some may encouner an acquisition opportunity. This challenge offered a real-world scenario that provided guidelines for how to build an acquisition strategy," said Scott McLaren, CMO and Executive VP at Fortegra. "Not only is this partnership terrific for Fortegra, but it also presents an opportunity for UD students to Experience More in an educational setting." A worthwhile experience for UD students and Fortegra employees alike, the authentic business challenges and access to C-level insurance execs offered by the Innovation Sprint helped lay valuable groundwork for successful professional careers. To learn more about Fortegra products and services, visit fortegra.com. For details about Horn Entrepreneurship at the University of Delaware, go to www.udel.edu/research-innovation/horn. About Fortegra Fortegra Financial Corporation (a Tiptree Inc. company) and its subsidiaries comprise a single-source insurance services provider that offers a range of consumer protection options including warranty solutions, credit insurance, and specialty underwriting programs. Delivering multifaceted coverage with an unmatched service experience for domestic and international partners and their customers, Fortegra solves immediate, everyday needs, empowering consumers to worry less and Experience More. About UD Horn Entrepreneurship Horn Entrepreneurship serves as the University of Delaware's creative engine for entrepreneurship education and advancement. Built and actively supported by successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders, Horn Entrepreneurship empowers aspiring innovators and entrepreneurs as they pursue new ideas for a better world. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005073/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Pakistan Air Force PAF Base Malir Cantt Job 2019 Latest Pakistan Air Force PAF Teaching Posts Karachi 2021 Pakistan Air Force PAF Base Malir Cantt requires the services of highly qualified, experienced and well educated individual for the position of Qari. Interviews will be held on 19th April 2019. How to Apply on Pakistan Air Force PAF Job Advertisement Apply as per details in job advertisement. In some cases, you may apply online at vacancies after registering at https://www.jobz.pk online. 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. [April 10, 2019] Freudenberg Group Continues to Grow in North America The Freudenberg Group completed another year of solid performance, ending 2018 with global sales of $11.14 billion (9.45 billion). North American sales in 2018 rose 2.5 percent in U.S. dollars. The Group's global sales represented a strong organic growth of 4.3 percent. After including the effects of acquisitions and disinvestments, significant negative exchange-rate impact, and the effects of the new International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS 15), sales increased by 1.2 percent over the previous year. "Our strong strategic and operational planning are the keys to Freudenberg success, along with the team spirit of more than 49,000 employees as well as agile cooperation with our customers," said Dr. Mohsen Sohi, Freudenberg Group CEO. "With continued year-over-year investment increases in innovation (4.7 percent of sales in 2018) paired with strategic acquisitions, we want to ensure an equally successful future." In North America, Freudenberg's 11 business groups generated sales of $2.89 billion (2.45 billion) in 2018, a 2.5 percent increase over 2017. The number of employees rose to 10,783, up 4.8 percent compared to 2017. Freudenberg also continued to invest in both manufacturing and R&D facilities in North America, spending $98.4 million (83.4 million). Those invstments were spread across different business groups in California, Ohio, Michigan, New Hampshire, and in Mexico. They also included the start of activities around the establishment of a new global headquarters and plant for Freudenberg Medical in Beverly, Massachusetts. Freudenberg's North American investments also included the acquisition of a minority stake in XALT Energy in Midland, Michigan, which has since increased to a majority stake. "Investments in North America, as in previous years, were made in capacity increases, new equipment purchases and other improvements necessary to meet customer expectations," said Bob Evans, president of Freudenberg North America. "They also included forward-looking investments in future technologies such as lithium-ion battery technology. These investments will continue in 2019." In 2018, Freudenberg companies in North America represented 26 percent of global sales, maintaining the region's status as the second most important market for the Group after Europe. About the Freudenberg Group Freudenberg is a global technology group that strengthens its customers and society long-term through forward-looking innovations. Together with its partners, customers and research institutions, the Freudenberg Group develops leading-edge technologies and excellent products and services for about 40 markets and for thousands of applications: seals, vibration control components, technical textiles, filters, specialty chemicals, medical products and the most modern cleaning products. Strength of innovation, strong customer orientation, diversity, and team spirit are the cornerstones of the Group. The 170-year-old company holds strong to its core values: a commitment to excellence, reliability and pro-active, responsible action. In 2018, the Freudenberg Group employed more than 49,000 people in some 60 countries worldwide and generated sales of some 9.5 billion. For more information, please visit www.freudenberg.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005145/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Gartner Says Worldwide PC Shipments Declined 4.6 Percent in First Quarter of 2019 Worldwide PC shipments totaled 58.5 million units in the first quarter of 2019, a 4.6 percent decline from the first quarter of 2018, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. "We saw the start of a rebound in PC shipments in mid-2018, but anticipation of a disruption by CPU shortages impacted all PC markets as vendors allocated to the higher-margin business and Chromebook segment," said Mikako Kitagawa, senior principal analyst at Gartner. "While the consumer market remained weak, the mix of product availability may have also hindered demand. In contrast, Chromebook shipments increased by double digits compared with the first quarter of 2018, despite the shortage of entry-level CPUs. Including Chromebook shipments, the total worldwide PC market decline would have been 3.5 percent in the first quarter of 2019." "The supply constraints affected the vendor competitive landscape as leading vendors had better allocation of chips and also began sourcing alternative CPUs from AMD (News - Alert)," said Ms. Kitagawa. "The top three vendors worldwide were still able to increase shipments despite the supply constraint by focusing on their high-end products and taking share from small vendors that struggled to secure CPUs. Moreover, the constraints resulted in the top vendors shifting their product mix to the high-end segment in order to deal with the constraint - which, along with favorable component price trends, should boost profit margins." The top three vendors - Lenovo (News - Alert), HP Inc. and Dell - accounted for 61.5 percent of global PC shipments in the first quarter of 2019, compared with 56.9 percent of shipments in the first quarter of 2018 (see Table 1). These top three vendors continued to gain share in the PC market as scale becomes a bigger factor in industry dynamics. Intel's (News - Alert) CPU supply constraint accelerated this trend. Table 1 Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 1Q19 (Thousands of Units) Company 1Q19 Shipments 1Q19 Market Share (%) 1Q18 Shipments 1Q18 Market Share (%) 1Q19-1Q18 Growth (%) Lenovo 13,196 22.5 12,343 20.1 6.9 HP Inc. 12,826 21.9 12,727 20.7 0.8 Dell (News - Alert) 9,989 17.6 9,841 16.0 1.5 Apple 3,977 6.8 4,078 6.6 -2.5 Asus 3,603 6.2 3,887 6.3 -7.3 Acer (News - Alert) Group 3,322 5.7 3,829 6.2 -13.2 Others 11,610 19.8 14,671 23.9 -20.9 Total 58,523 100.0 61,375 100.0 -4.6 Notes: Data includes desk-based PCs, notebook PCs and ultramobile premiums (such as Microsoft Surface), but not Chromebooks or iPads. All data is estimated based on a preliminary study. Final estimates will be subject to change. The statistics are based on shipments selling into channels. Numbers may not add up to totals shown due to rounding. Source: Gartner (April 2019) Lenovo remained in the top spot in the first quarter of 2019 with the largest year-over-year growth among the top vendors. However, Lenovo benefited from the inclusion of Fujitsu's shipments from its 2Q18 joint venture. Lenovo's shipments increased in EMEA and Japan, where Fujitsu had a larger presence. HP Inc.'s worldwide PC shipments increased 0.8 percent in the first quarter of 2019 versus the same period last year. The company saw an increase in desktop shipments while mobile PC shipments remained flat. HP Inc. recorded a small increase in shipments in EMEA, but experienced a decline in all other regions. Dell recorded its fifth consecutive quarter of PC shipment growth in the first quarter of 2019. Dell increased PC shipments in EMEA, Latin America and Japan, but declined in North America and Asia/Pacific. Desktop PC shipments continued to be strong for Dell in all regions, showing Dell's strength in the business segment. Business PC Demand Remained Strong Business PC demand remained strong throughout the first quarter of 2019 across most key regions. The PC refresh driven by Windows 10 has been a driving force of business PC growth over the past three years, but Gartner forecasts that 2019 will be the last year in which shipments will be impacted by this refresh. "While PC shipment results in the first quarter of 2019 indicated that the business PC segment still showed strong demand, weak mobile PC results could be the indicator that the Windows 10 refresh has nearly peaked," said Ms. Kitagawa. Regional Overview In the U.S., PC shipments totaled 11 million units in the first quarter of 2019, a 6.3 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2018. HP Inc. took the top spot in the U.S. based on shipments, as its market share increased to 29.4 percent. Dell took the No. 2 position as its shipments declined 7.1 percent, and its market share totaled 28.7 percent in the first quarter of 2019 (see Table 2) Table 2 Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 1Q19 (Thousands of Units) Company 1Q19 Shipments 1Q19 Market Share (%) 1Q18 Shipments 1Q18 Market Share (%) 1Q19-1Q18 Growth (%) HP Inc. 3,243 29.4 3.404 28.9 -4.7 Dell. 3,162 28.7 3,404 28.9 -7.1 Apple 1,437 13.0 1,489 12.6 -3.5 Lenovo 1,497 13.6 1,619 13.7 -7.5 Microsoft 449 4.1 458 3.9 -2.0 Others 1,237 11.2 1,400 11.9 -11.7 Total 11,026 100.0 11,773 100.0 -6.3 Notes: Data includes desk-based PCs, notebook PCs and ultramobile premiums (such as Microsoft Surface), but not Chromebooks or iPads. All data is estimated based on a preliminary study. Final estimates will be subject to change. The statistics are based on shipments selling into channels. Numbers may not add up to totals shown due to rounding. Source: Gartner (April 2019) Japan was the only region to experience PC shipment growth in the first quarter of 2019 with a 6.8 percent increase year over year. This was primarily driven by a surge in business PC shipments. Latin America experienced the largest decline in the quarter with a 16.6 percent decrease in PC shipments. This decline was due to a lack of stability in political and economic environments, as well as the CPU supply constraints, which severally impacted the small system builders in the region. PC shipments in EMEA totaled 18 million units in the first quarter of 2019, a 2.2 percent decline year over year. Enterprise shipments increased as many companies moved ahead with Windows 10 deployments. However, consumer PC demand remained weak as users are not replacing older PCs and are not migrating to hybrid systems, which have not gained wide adoption in EMEA as users continue to prefer larger screens. PC shipments in Asia/Pacific totaled 20.1 million units in the first quarter of 2019, a 5.1 percent decline from the first quarter of 2018. This decline was largely due to weak PC demand in China. The consumer market across Asia/Pacific continued to see some growth driven by demand for thin and light ultramobile premium devices. Vendors such as Huawei and Xiaomi are pushing thin and light mobile PCs into the consumer market with aggressive pricing. These results are preliminary. Final statistics will be available soon to clients of Gartner's PC Quarterly Statistics Worldwide by Region program. This program offers a comprehensive and timely picture of the worldwide PC market, allowing product planning, distribution, marketing and sales organizations to keep abreast of key issues and their future implications around the globe. About Gartner Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT), is the world's leading research and advisory company and a member of the S&P 500. We equip business leaders with indispensable insights, advice and tools to achieve their mission-critical priorities today and build the successful organizations of tomorrow. Our unmatched combination of expert-led, practitioner-sourced and data-driven research steers clients toward the right decisions on the issues that matter most. We are a trusted advisor and objective resource for more than 15,000 organizations in more than 100 countries - across all major functions, in every industry and enterprise size. To learn more about how we help decision makers fuel the future of business, visit gartner.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005846/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Global Oilfield Crown Block Market Will Grow at a CAGR of 6% during 2019-2023 | Technavio Technavio has announced the release of their research report on the global oilfield crown block market for the forecast period 2019-2023. This global oilfield crown block market analysis report segments the market by application (onshore and offshore) and geography (APAC, Europe, MEA, North America, and South America). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005567/en/ The global oilfield crown block market will grow at a CAGR of nearly 6% during the period 2019-2023. (Graphic: Business Wire) Global oilfield crown block market size will grow by almost USD 2,112 thousand during 2019-2023, at a CAGR of nearly 6%. To safeguard the operating conditions of oilfield crown blocks, several monitoring systems are developed to overcome failures and poor judgment by workers. These monitoring systems backed with several features ensure accurate measurement of the oilfield crown block position and enhance safety. Several sensors are fitted in the rig derricks that deliver real-time data about the oilfield crown block. This growing trend improves the safety of various components and will contribute to the growth of the market during the forecast period. Request for a free sample and get illustrations, table of contents, list of exhibits, and example pages from this report Increase in active rig count The increase in onshore and offshore oil and gas drilling projects and deepwater drilling activities is attracting large investments from the oil and ga companies. This has led to a rise in the demand for oil and gas drilling rigs. Recently, TRANSOCEAN LTD. and Chevron (News - Alert) Corporation signed a rig design and construction management contract. Saudi Arabian Oil Co. too recently entered a JV with National Oilwell Varco to increase its operations in Saudi Arabia. Also, the steady recovery in global crude oil prices has led to an increase in a number of active rigs deployed in onshore and offshore drilling activities. Many such factors will drive the growth of the global oilfield crown block market. "North America will witness a faster growth in the market during the forecast period. The US Government promotes the exploration of unconventional energy sources such as shale oil and tight gas to produce oil and natural gas. This has led to a significant increase in drilling activities in the US. APAC has the highest demand for crude oil and gas globally. The improved economic conditions among the APAC countries are increasing the demand for energy. To support the demand, both onshore and offshore projects are observing strong growth in the region. These factors will collectively push the growth of global oilfield crown block market", says an analyst at Technavio. Recently, Halliburton signed a deal with Saudi Arabian Oil Co. to support oil and gas production in Saudi Arabia. The deal supports the country's long-term goals of increasing its natural gas production to meet the domestic demand for petrochemicals. Royal Dutch Shell Plc has announced to resume its deepwater oil and gas exploration in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Egypt. The growth in the demand for oil and gas production is encouraging many companies to invest in the oilfield crown block market. View snapshot of the report for a more detailed overview of the market and the segmentation covered in this report This global oilfield crown block market industry research report provides an in-depth analysis of the major drivers, upcoming trends, and challenges that will impact market growth over the forecast period. The report analyzes the competitive landscape and offers details on several oilfield crown block manufacturers including - American Block Inc. CHENGDU ZHONGHANG MACHINERY CO. LTD MHWirth Puyang Sida Petroleum Machinery Co. Ltd The Crosby Group Some of the key topics covered in the report include: Market Landscape Market ecosystem Market characteristics Market segmentation analysis Market Sizing Market definition Market size and forecast Five Forces Analysis Market Segmentation Geographical Segmentation Regional comparison Key leading countries Market Drivers Market Challenges Market Trends Vendor Landscape Vendors covered Vendor classification Market positioning of vendors Competitive scenario About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. Technavio's report library consists of more than 10,000 reports covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. Please contact our media team at [email protected] for more information. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005567/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Isola Appoints Sean Mirshafiei As New Chief Sales And Marketing Officer CHANDLER, Ariz., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Isola Group, a market leader in copper-clad laminates and dielectric prepreg materials used to fabricate advanced multilayer printed circuit boards (PCBs), announced it has promoted Sean Mirshafiei , formerly Vice President, Global Marketing, to Chief Sales and Marketing Officer. "Sean has over 20 years' experience in the electronic and plating chemicals industries with roles in strategic marketing and product management," said Travis Kelly, Vice Chairman and CEO of Isola (Global Chief Operating Officer of Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company). "Sean's knowledge and experience coupled with the respect he has garnered within the industry will certainly serve to strengthen our management team and our focus on continuing to drive profitable growth at Isola." Sean was initially with Isola from 2000 to 2009. He left in 2009 to fill various roles in product management and marketing strategy at Rogers Corporation and MacDermid Enthone. He returned to Isola in 2017 as VP Global Marketing. Sean has a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the California State Polytechnic University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Southern California. About Isola Isola Group, headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, is a global material sciences company focused on desgning, developing, manufacturing and marketing copper-clad laminates and dielectric prepregs used to fabricate advanced multi-layer printed circuit boards. Isola's high-performance materials are used in sophisticated electronic applications in the communications infrastructure, cloud computing, automotive, military, medical and aerospace markets. Isola has over 1600 employees with technical support, sales, manufacturing and R&D facilities in Asia, Europe and North America. For more information visit our website at http://www.isola-group.com/. Please contact Dennis Flynn, Isola Group Director of Communications with any questions: [email protected] 480-521-4511 WEBSITE: ( HTTPS://WWW.ISOLA-GROUP.COM/ ) PRODUCTS: ( HTTPS://WWW.ISOLA-GROUP.COM/PRODUCTS ) SERVICES AND SUPPORT: ( HTTPS://WWW.ISOLA-GROUP.COM/SERVICES -SUPPORT/ ) NEWS & RESOURCES ( HTTPS://WWW.ISOLA-GROUP.COM/NEWS-RESOURCES/ ) ABOUT US ( HTTPS://WWW.ISOLA-GROUP.COM/ABOUT-US View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/isola-appoints-sean-mirshafiei-as-new-chief-sales-and-marketing-officer-300830120.html SOURCE Isola Group [April 10, 2019] Medical Clinic of the Future Now Open Inside Casa Grande Safeway Access to healthcare just got easier for Casa Grande residents. The Safeway store on Trekell Road now has an Artificial Intelligence-powered medical clinic. Akos Med Clinic operates the clinic, and a grand opening celebration is planned at the site for April 18 at 10:30 a.m. Demonstrations of the AI technology and tours are planned. The Casa Grande store joins 10 other Akos Med Clinic AI-enabled Safeway locations in Arizona, including Ahwatukee, Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, Laveen, Phoenix, Scottsdale (2), and Tempe, plus a 12th in Boise, Idaho. Expansion plans are in the works to bring more stores to other parts of Arizona, including Tucson next month, and to other states. So what makes a visit to this healthcare clinic different from the norm? Patients experience a completely automated health encounter using Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality: Patients are greeted by the medical assistant/phlebotomist and given a tablet to engage with the Artificia Intelligence. The AI guides them through registration, insurance validation, payment, and information collection regarding their chief complaint, which is required for diagnosis. At the end of the Q&A, the patient is guided to an exam room where they sit in front of a computer screen and a rack of simple-to-use, FDA-approved medical devices. Augmented Reality guides the patient on how to use the devices to collect objective measurements such as weight, temperature, blood pressure, and blood oxygen content, as well as ear, nose and throat images, and chest, lung and abdomen sounds. A complete patient work-up is sent electronically to an Akos medical provider (physician or nurse practitioner) with a breakdown of potential illnesses and treatment options. Through a video consultation, the provider engages with the patient to review the AI-collected information, verify the diagnosis, and confirm or modify the treatment plan formulated by the system. The provider may also order lab tests that are collected by the medical assistant/phlebotomist. On average, the clinic visit will take about 20 minutes. After the visit concludes, required follow-up tests and/or prescriptions are ordered by the provider and sent electronically to the appropriate healthcare partners. The AI also automatically charts the visit into the patient's electronic health record, and bills the patient's insurance. After the patient finishes their visit, the medical assistant/phlebotomist cleans and sanitizes the instruments. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005630/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] News from World Summit AI 2019 - Axionable Opens an Artificial Intelligence Research Lab in Montreal The company has selected Quebec's largest city for its first expansion and plans to create 50 jobs in the next two years MONTREAL, April 10, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - France-based Axionable, which specializes in data and artificial intelligence (AI) strategies for business, is taking advantage of Co-founder and CEO's Gwendal Bihan's presence at the World Summit AI to announce the opening of a laboratory in Montreal. The company plans to hire some 50 new employees over the next two yearsa rate of growth comparable to that of its Paris team since it began operations in 2016to carry on the lab's activities, which will focus exclusively on applied research and implementing AI projects. "Opening a facility in Montreal was a natural choice for us," said Bihan. "The city is now one of the top global centres of AI research. We are eager to work alongside the world's most renowned researchers and to be part of a booming ecosystem that includes industry leaders as well as promising start-ups." A business that caters to businesses Axionable helps its clients and partners harness the full value of their data through best practices in AI and the latest industry innovations, including image and video analysis, natural language processing, stand-alone devices, predictions and recommendations. The company's expertise focuses on banking and insurance, media, distribution and industry applications. The company also offers businesses a full range of support services, from needs identification to delivering AI solutions that have a real impact on their performance and business models. Axionable's mission is to provide lasting, responsible solutions that take ethical and societal issues into account. Axionable has already started talking with potential partners in the Montreal ecosystem and taken steps to recruit the necessary talent, particularly experts in AI (automatic learning, deep learning), information technology and communication. Their mandate will be to define and implement effective and responsible AI and data strategies for the company's clients in Europe and North America. "We are undertaking this international expansion phase not long after the comany was founded, and it would not have been possible without the support of organizations like Montreal International, Investissement Quebec and Business France. This is a wonderful opportunity that will enable us to pursue our phenomenal growth, and it marks the dawn of a very exciting new era for the entire team," added Bihan. Montreal International, Greater Montreal's economic development agency, welcomes the arrival of this new AI player that will strengthen a one-of-a-kind collaborative ecosystem and support the digital transformation of Quebec businesses. "Quite a number of foreign companies are investing in the area. The team has supported over 30 AI projects in the past two years, totalling $500 million. Montreal stands out not only due to its concentration of deep learning researchers, but also by how much consideration it gives to the social and ethical impacts of AI," said Hubert Bolduc, President and CEO of Montreal International. "It is with great enthusiasm that we welcome Axionable's arrival in Montreal, a development that speaks to the solidity of Montreal's AI ecosystem," stated Investissement Quebec President and CEO Pierre Gabriel Cote. "This new lab will provide further stimulus for the technological revolution taking place in Quebec and create a great many highly specialized jobs. We are proud to have played a role in showcasing the advantages of choosing Montreal for this key player in the AI industry and to have provided help and guidance with investing here." "The Quebec government is pleased to welcome Axionable's arrival in Quebec," said Nadine Girault, Minister of International Relations and La Francophonie. "The government is working to increase its economic influence abroad in order to attract more direct investments like the one announced today. We will continue to build on these successes." About Axionable Axionable specializes in turnkey data and AI strategies for business. Its team of consultants and technology experts helps businesses harness the full potential of data and AI to make effective and sustainable improvements to their performance and business models. It provides large businesses in banking and insurance, retail trade, media and industry with end-to-end support, drawing on its human-centred, pragmatic vision coupled with an industrial approach that allows it to successfully tackle large-scale projects. Founded in 2016 by four experts with backgrounds in consulting, digital marketing and data strategies, Axionable has experienced continuous strong growth and built a solid client base (Credit Agricole, Auchan, M6, Michelin, etc.), making the independent firm a top name in AI strategy. About Montreal International (www.montrealinternational.com) Montreal International is a non-profit organization funded by the private sector, the governments of Quebec and Canada, the Communaute metropolitaine de Montreal and the City of Montreal. Its mandate is to attract and retain foreign investment (companies and start-ups), international organizations, skilled workers and international students in Greater Montreal by providing support services tailored to their needs. About Investissement Quebec (www.investquebec.com/quebec/en) Investissement Quebec's mission is to foster the growth of investment in Quebec, thereby contributing to economic development and job creation in every region. The Corporation offers businesses a full range of financial solutions, including loans, loan guarantees and equity investments, to support them at all stages of their development. It is also responsible for administering tax measures and prospecting for foreign investment. SOURCE INVESTISSEMENT QUEBEC [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Research Reveals Companies Are Struggling to Support Employees as New Workplace Trends Emerge Emerging workplace trends like remote employees and "gig" economy workers, as well as health issues including family and elder care and drug addiction continue to challenge employers, according to new research from Standard Insurance Company (The Standard). The Standard's Absence and Disability Readiness Index found that less than half of those surveyed were confident in their organization's ability to address such challenges, especially in light of changing workplace trends and employee health needs. The findings show how collaboration between medical, disability and employee assistance partners can address the lack of support for these issues and help affected employees stay productive. Respondents noted they were having trouble addressing the following trends specifically: only 38 percent felt ready to support remote workers just 16 percent felt ready to address part-time employees and "gig" workers 27 percent felt ready to support family and elder care issues only 1 in 4 felt ready to support drug addiction "We often consider only the more immediate needs employees have, such as medical care, which are what traditional benefit plans have primarily been designed to address," said Dan McMillan, vice president of Employee Benefits at The Standard. "In reality, employee circumstances and needs are far more complex. Our research suggests there's an unmet need for all partners who support employee health and productivity to work more closely together." The Readiness Index also found that fewer than half of employers surveyed are confident in helping accommodate employees with chronic health problems, involving mental health and musculoskeletal conditions, even though half of those surveyed receive requests to do so annually. "HR managers are constantly juggling long-term planning with daily program oversight and responding to urgent requests which can leave little time to assess and respond to employee health trends affecting the leave and disability space," said Melissa Oliver-Janiak, HR director of benefits at The Standard. "At the same time, understanding and addressing these trends is important for the health of both employees and the organizations they support." Having programs in place that support both absence and disability needs can help with accommodations and have a positive effect on employee engagement. Of employers with formal programs, 32 percent averaged better employee productivity, 36 percent averaged higher workplace morale and 40 percent averaged improved employee retention. The investment in proactively addressing these employee needs tends to outweigh the costs. Nearly 70 percent of HR decision-makers at large companies and one-third at small companies say they've experienced complaints or lawsuits related to their disability management practices. Overwhelmingly, 92 percent of all respondents said that formal employee disability programs had helped control costs and reduced exposure to risk. "The competitive economy is putting increased pressure on organizations to bolster support programs and their talent management approach," said Jung Ryu, National Accounts practice leader at The Standard. "Comprehensive support programs are the most cost-effective way for employers to address employees' health needs. Unless they're willing to lose valuable talent, employers can't afford to sleep on this." About the Absence and Disability Readiness Index All insights are from an online survey of 501 participants conducted by Versta for The Standard in April 2018. About The Standard The Standard is a marketing name for StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., and subsidiaries. Insurance products are offered by Standard Insurance Company of Portland, Oregon, in all states except New York. Product features and availability vary by state and are solely the responsibility of Standard Insurance Company. For more news from The Standard, visit: https://newsroom.standard.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005072/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] The Start-up Nation to Host the World's Prime Water Event 'WATEC Israel 2019' Focused on Water Stewardship and Innovation TEL AVIV, Israel, April 10, 2019 /CNW/ -- The 8th biennial WATEC international event will be held this year, from the 18 until the 21 November 2019, at the Peres Center for Innovation and the David InterContinental Hotel in Tel Aviv, with hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of visitors from all parts of the world. According to experts, the world is on the brink of a global water crisis, which can only be prevented through advance preparation. Therefore, the upcoming WATEC conference will not only address the latest water innovations, but will also look forward at the future of water around the world and how the impending crisis can be managed. Israel's reputation as the startup nation is already well-established as a global leader in a range of water usage and technology, such as desalination, monitoring and irrigation. This year the emphasis will be on True water technology development and execution (Digital Water; Water Urbanization; Innovation as a Policy and Innovative Policy Making; Women and Water Industry; Multi-Disciplinary Collaborations; Water Pricing; Water Ownership; The war over water from different sectors, Water Security and much more. Furthermore, WATEC is introducing a first-of-a-kind interactive display area, to showcase the latest developments and technologies: Digital Water; Solutions 360 and Mainstream. Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4aAfsS162M&feature=youtu.be Oren Blonder, chief commercial officer at Dorot Control Valves Water Systems, and Ari Goldfarb, CEO at Kando Environment Services, the co-chairpersons of WATEC, commented, "WATEC 2019 will mark an exciting departure from previous conventions. We are joining forces with the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Israel Export Institute to bring you Water Week - four days of international and local focus on water management, with WATEC 2019 featuring proudly as the flagship event. Sessions will incorporate workshops, roundtables and panel discussions with much interaction from all participants. The only conference that truly addresses the future of water and the water industry worldwide and does not simply exhibit pipes and other equipment, regardless of how large and lovely they may be." This year, Cleanvest, an Investor Summit will be held on the 18th November, which will bring together investors, entrepreneurs, technology providers, users, consumers and integrators, while uniting all with the goal to create a new eco-system through unique roundtable discussions, workshops and brain-storming sessions where water transformation occurs every single day in the water field. This Investor Summit will provide a unique platform to leverage these opportunities to accelerate water technologies for providing fresh water to future generations. During the Event, participants will be given a real and hands on experience of the Israeli solutions deployed on sites with customized tours. Access to safe water has a tremendous impact on the world. According to studies it's the 5th global risk facing the world today. In the last century, water consumption was increased by 600%. By 2050 water demand will grow by a further 55% leaving 40% of the global population in "water stressed areas"*. *https://water.org/our-impact/water-crisis/global-water-crisis/ WATEC 2019 will do its part in creating the community needed to face the challenges ahead of the world population. http://watec-israel.com Contact: Eran Yoels | Rimon Cohen & Co | +97252-440-8020 | [email protected] Tomer Hambursky | Rimon Cohen & Co | +97254-637-1105 | [email protected] Itamar Bitton | Rimon Cohen & Co| +97253-531-7343 | [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-start-up-nation-to-host-the-worlds-prime-water-event-watec-israel-2019-focused-on-water-stewardship-and-innovation-300829854.html SOURCE WATEC [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Thunderbird Foundation for the Arts Commemorates the 150-year Anniversary of the John Wesley Powell Expedition on May 18 in Kane County, Utah May 2019 marks the 150-year anniversary of John Wesley Powell's famed 1869 expedition exploring the Green and Colorado Rivers. The Thunderbird Foundation for the Arts, housed in the historic Maynard Dixon Living History Museum in Mt. Carmel, Utah, is celebrating this historic event and the impact that it had on the land and the people with a special event on May 18, 2019. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005280/en/ Photograph of Taw-gu, Great Chief of the Paiutes, with John Wesley Powell, as featured in the new book "The People: The Missing Piece of John Wesley Powell's Expedition." (Photo: Business Wire) The Museum that is positioned near key expedition sites currently displays 116 original albumen photographs taken by Jack Hillers during a second Powell expedition between 1872 and 1875. The rare images, the result of a long association of mutual trust between Hillers, Powell and the local Paiute Tribe, depict native Americans in the region surrounding Powell's base camp in Kanab, Utah, and nearby areas of Southern Utah, Northern Arizona, Southern Nevada and areas along the Wasatch Front. To commemorate Powell's explorations and the Paiute Indians who were instrumental in the success of John Wesley Powell's expeditions, Git 'er Done Books, in a joint venture with The Thunderbird Foundation, has published a new book written by Carol Ormond, "The People: The Missing Piece of John Wesley Powell's Expeditions, A Photographic History of the Southern Paiute Tribes". The book, available for purchase on Amazon, Kindle and http://thepeoplebooks.com/, features the 116 rare photos that are only available for viewing at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. and at the Maynard Dixon Museum in Utah. "We are so pleased to present our new commemorative book that shares these rare photos and the incredible story of how the Paiutes helped John Wesley Powell and his party survive in very inhospitable conditions," said Paul Bingham, executive director of The Thunderbird Foundation for the Arts. "While both Powell and Hillers have been celebrated, the Indians who contributed to their successes have been largely unknown and unrecognized. Through this book we hope to honor the Paiutes who helped Powell, and their descendants who live among us today. This is an important story that needs to be told in schools and through local libraries." Beginning at 11 a.m. on May 18, 2019, the public is invited to visit the Maynard Dixon Museum, 2200 State St., Mt. Carmel, Utah, to see the rare photos featured in the new book. Visitors can also enjoy lectures, live music and other activities throughout the day. A symposium and book signing with "The People" author Carol Ormond will take place at 1 p.m. at the Old Rock Church in Mt. Carmel. A private Powell Expedition Anniversary Reception from 6-9 p.m. at the museum will culminate the celebration and serve as the grand opening of "A New Perspective," a new exhibit of 37 vibrant, original paintings by Robert Goldman highlighting important geographic landscapes of the Powell expedition. A percentage of the sales of the book and the paintings will support The Thunderbird Foundation for the Arts. Tickets for the reception are available online. For the latest information about The Thunderbird Foundation's May 18 celebration visit https://www.thunderbirdfoundation.com/. To learn more about the many related events and activities taking place in Kane County, Utah, in May visit https://www.visitsouthernutah.com/. About The Thunderbird Foundation The Thunderbird Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Since 1999, The Thunderbird Foundation for the Arts has been committed to preserving Maynard Dixon's Utah property and educating the public about his contributions to American art through educational tours, internships for working artists, art workshops and day camps for people with special needs, and a vigorous artist retreat program. Gifts to The Foundation may be made in cash, securities, art, real estate and other forms of personal property. Naming and memorial giving opportunities are available as well. Gifts may be made either unrestricted or directed specifically to the needs of The Foundation or goals of the donor. Additionally, deferred giving options are available which may provide significant income and tax benefits to the donor(s). For information visit https://www.thunderbirdfoundation.com/. About Kane County Mt. Carmel is located on Utah's historic Highway 89, in Kane County. The area boasts lush, green cottonwoods and majestic red mesas in a beautiful setting just 30 minutes from Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon. For more information visit https://www.visitsouthernutah.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005280/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Xi'an Releases One-stop City Services Platform XI'AN, China, April 10, 2019 /CNW/ -- The city of Xi'an in China's Shaanxi province has launched a one-stop civil service program. Online and offline, the program will enable the sharing of databases across departments and allow residents and companies to avoid repeatedly submitting documents, reducing document requirements by 60%. The program aims to deliver time- and cost-saving services by boosting the data and information flow, lowering communication barriers and eliminating information isolation across government sectors. By integrating government functions and services, more than 70% of city services can be ordered and processed through a single office, eliminating the need for citizens to submit documents to different departments. "We've launched this program to tackle the problems of slow response times and inefficiencies of city service delivery," said Bo Wei, Deputy Director of Big Data Source and Management Bureau of Xi'an. "By solving internal workflow issues, we can create a one-stop civil service experienc, which will be a model of smart administrative process and a crucial element of Xi'an's larger smart city project." Xi'an has established a central hub for data storage, exchange, sharing and use, creating a fast and efficient system for data sharing, document verification and service pre-ordering and processing. A one-stop city services app was released in March as a hub for more than 500 of the city's most popular services. In addition, self-service machines and mail boxes will be deployed in crowded areas, enabling 24-hour document reception as well as service ordering and delivering. The app will connect to a national and provincial administrative service platform by the end of the year to form a one-government network between cities and surrounding communities. To bring more convenience to citizens, the program will apply a 15-minute service delivery standard at community centers and local administrative offices. 50% of services can be ordered through community centers this year, with the amount set to increase to 70% by 2020. For people who need intermediary services, the Xi'an government will also introduce an online "intermediary service supermarket" on its administrative service network, further lowering regional boundaries to avoid monopoly issues in the industry. The approach is expected to create open, fair and just market competition with an agreed standard. About Xi'an The capital of China's western Shaanxi province, Xi'an is an international tourist destination with its over 3,000 years of history and world-renowned attractions such as the Terracotta Warriors and Horses and its ancient City Wall. The city, dubbed "China's Outdoor Museum," was the starting point of the Silk Road, an ancient network of trade routes established during China's Han Dynasty that linked East and West through commerce. Xi'an now marches further to smart city construction to build the international metropolis. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/xian-releases-one-stop-city-services-platform-300829702.html SOURCE Xi'an Municipal Government [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Icelandair's Buddy Hotline Connects Passengers to Trusted Locals for 'Insider' Knowledge and Personalised Travel Recommendations Service puts travelers in direct contact with an Icelandair Buddy to help alleviate the stress of trip planning LONDON, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Four in ten Brits feel 'stressed' and 'under pressure' when planning a holiday, due to the amount of sources of reviews and recommendations feel 'stressed' and 'under pressure' when planning a holiday, due to the amount of sources of reviews and recommendations One in five even feel 'overwhelmed' and many others 'confused' and 'anxious' about what they should and shouldn't book even feel 'overwhelmed' and many others 'confused' and 'anxious' about what they should and shouldn't book Over 50% of Brits have a desire to get more information first-hand from locals as they believe they have more knowledge than any other source have a desire to get more information first-hand from locals as they believe they have more knowledge than any other source New Buddy Hotline allows passengers to directly speak to or message an Icelandair Buddy for personal travel advice and recommendations when planning or on their trip All Buddies are Iceland locals and members of the Icelandair team Transatlantic airline Icelandair has launched its new Buddy Hotline service to connect passengers with Icelandair Buddies for personalised travel recommendations. The service aims to support travelers during or in the planning of their trip by providing trusted advice from locals. Travelers can connect directly by phone or message a Buddy, via an online messenger, who will be on hand from today to offer the ultimate 'insider' advice to help travelers make the most of their time away. From where to find the best fish restaurant in town, to where to discover a beautiful hidden spot for a picnic or enjoy a secluded geothermal hot pool, Icelandair's Buddies will have the answer. All Buddies are members of the Icelandair team who are knowledgable and passionate about promoting responsible tourism in the country. A new global study of holidaymakers conducted by Icelandair revealed that rather than enjoying the process of planning a trip, the volume of sources for travel advice can make the process confusing and daunting. Consequently, almost a third of Brits (30%) feel overwhelmed and many others 'confused' and 'anxious' about what they should see or do during their trip. Almost two thirds said they had experienced not being able to fit all their plans into a trip, which left one third feeling disappointed and as though tey'd missed out. Travelers' feelings of stress, pressure and being overwhelmed are further exacerbated with trust in reviews and recommendations at a new low. Research reveals that 60% of Brits are more aware of the existence of fake reviews than five years ago, which has resulted in four in five now trusting reviews considerably less. From discovering hidden gems to experiencing authentic local culture, there is a growing appetite amongst travelers to explore the 'real' location they're visiting, with more than half of Brits interested in having direct access to local knowledge for a more authentic experience. As well as seeking advice from locals, many like to feel like a native while in another country, with one third eating like a local and 40% shopping locally in an attempt to travel more sustainably. Birna Osk Einarsdottir, CCO, Sales & Customer Experience, Icelandair Group, comments, "We know travelers are seeking more unique experiences guided by advice from trusted local sources. The research also shows that the increase in travel reviews and recommendations has brought an added pressure to consumer's holiday planning to fit everything in. Our new Buddy Hotline service feeds this consumer appetite for 'insider' knowledge and is a great fit with our staff who, as Icelanders, have such a passion for warmly welcoming and hosting travelers from across the world." The Buddy Hotline launches today and is available to all Icelandair passengers to enjoy from 10th April to 8th May. To find out more about Icelandair's Buddy Hotline and to take advantage by booking now visit icelandair.com/BuddyHotline. www.icelandair.com https://twitter.com/Icelandair https://www.facebook.com/Icelandair http://instagram.com/icelandair/ Notes to Editors *The global report included a survey of 16,000 of holidaymakers across North America, Europe and Scandinavia, including a survey of 2,000 respondents from the UK. It was commissioned in March 2019 by Icelandair. Icelandair Buddy Hotline The Buddy Hotline is a new service from Icelandair, which connects passengers of the airline directly by phone or via an online messenger with a 'Buddy' for trusted personalised 'insider' advice and recommendations to help them make the most out of their time away. The service will be available from 10th April to 8th May, and will be accessible before and during their holiday, for travelers who want tips and advice on the go or for those planning in advance. Icelandair Icelandair is a transatlantic airline and offers an opportunity for passengers to take a stopover in Iceland at no additional airfare. Since the 1960s, Icelandair has encouraged passengers to enjoy an Icelandair Stopover and now there's more choice and variety on offer than ever before, with the service available on all transatlantic routes from 24 European destinations to 18 North American gateways (including latest additions San Francisco, Kansas City and Dallas). Icelandair also offers flights between Iceland and the following destinations: Canada: Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver Europe: Reykjavik, Akureyri, Amsterdam, Bergen, Berlin, Billund, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dublin, Frankfurt, Geneva, Gothenburg, Glasgow, Hamburg, Helsinki, London, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Oslo, Paris, Stockholm and Zurich USA: Anchorage, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, Minneapolis, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa and Washington D.C. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/859008/Icelandair_Buddy_Hotline.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/859009/Icelandair_Buddy.jpg [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] As Brazil's New President Jair Bolsonaro Takes the Top Spot as the Most Engaged World Leader on Facebook, Others Pay to Play to Make an Impact on the Platform Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is by far the most popular world leader on Facebook (News - Alert), with more than 43.5 million likes on his personal page and 13.7 million likes on his institutional Prime Minister of India page, according to the newly released 2019 World Leaders on Facebook study, part of the Twiplomacy series by leading global communications agency BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe (News - Alert)). The study also found increased use of paid posts by world leaders. U.S. President Donald Trump is in second place, with more than 23 million likes on his personal Facebook page and Jordan's Queen Rania is in third position with 16.9 million likes, reaching an Arabic and English audience well beyond the 5.8 million Facebook users in Jordan. However, Brazil's new President Jair Bolsonaro, who took office on January 1, 2019, has dominated the rankings of World Leaders on Facebook over the past 12 months, taking the top spot in terms of interactions. His Facebook page has registered more than 145 million interactions, almost twice as many as U.S. President Donald Trump, who has 84 million total interactions and 2.5 times as many followers. The study, using aggregate data from Facebook's CrowdTangle tool, analyzes the activity of 962 Facebook pages of heads of state and government and foreign ministers, 50 more than in the 2017 study. As of March 1, 2019, the pages have a combined total of 345 million page likes and published 449,739 posts in the past 12 months which have garnered a total of 767 million interactions (comments, likes and shares). With Facebook's change of algorithm, favoring posts from friends, family and groups, it has become more difficult for pages of governments and world leaders to reach their audiences. Followers of world leaders' Facebook pages grew by 10 percent year on year but the interactions on their pages have dropped significantly. While world leaders registered 1.1 billion interactions in 2016, that number has decreased by 32.3 percent compared to their interactions in 2018. To counter the changes to the algorithm, many leaders are promoting their posts and pages with Facebook ads. In early March 2019, 50 pages had been running ad according to Facebook's Ads Library, a new transparency feature which is now available on each page. President Trump's Facebook page has posted more than 50,000 ads since its inception, while UK Prime Minister Theresa May's page posted 74 paid ads in December 2018 to promote her Brexit plan. "Our latest Twiplomacy study confirms that even among political figures who easily attract the attention of the public in social media, a paid strategy is still essential to secure reach and make a serious impact," said Chad Latz, Chief Innovation Officer, BCW. "Additionally, we see how some leaders are very successful by being personal and approachable on the platform using all the tools at their disposal, from Facebook Live to Facebook Stories, to engage their audiences." Other Key Findings Include: Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta is the most popular leader in Sub-Saharan Africa with 3.6 million likes, ahead of Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo with 1.6 million likes. Jordan's Queen Rania has been topping the list of the most popular leaders in the Arab world for several years. With 16.9 million likes she has twice as many followers as Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (7.3 million likes) and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, with 3.8 million likes. Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro has become the most popular leader on Facebook in Latin America ahead of Mexico's new President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador with 5.6 million likes and Argentinian President Mauricio Macri with 4.4 million likes. The page of the British Royal Family is the most followed of world leaders in the European Union with 4.1 million likes ahead of French President Emmanuel Macron with 2.3 million likes and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis with 1.8 million likes. The Facebook page of the government of Botswana is the most prolific, with an average of 37 posts per day. The presidential administrations of the Dominican Republic and of Ghana both average more than 20 posts per day. In early February 2019 German Chancellor Angela Merkel deleted her personal Facebook page @AngelaMerkel, which had 2.5 million fans, after stepping down as leader of the Christian Democratic Union, and in mid-March 2019, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta temporarily deactivated all his social media profiles including his Facebook page which has 3.6 million followers. About the Study World Leaders on Facebook is BCW's latest research into how world leaders, governments and international organizations communicate via social media. The research builds on BCW's highly acclaimed annual Twiplomacy study, which is now in its seventh year. In 2016, the Twiplomacy study was expanded to cover all key social media platforms and has massively enhanced BCW's digital reputation worldwide. For more information, visit www.twiplomacy.com. About Burson Cohn & Wolfe BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe), one of the world's largest full-service global communications agencies, is in the business of moving people on behalf of clients. Founded by the merger of Burson-Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe, BCW delivers digitally and data-driven creative content and integrated communications programs grounded in earned media and scaled across all channels for clients in the B2B, consumer, corporate, crisis management, CSR (News - Alert), healthcare, public affairs and technology sectors. BCW is a part of WPP (NYSE: WPP), a creative transformation company. For more information, visit www.bcw-global.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005324/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Nerds on Site Lands First USA Cannabis "IT" in a Box Customer TURN KEY TECHNOLOGY SOLUTION WILL BE IMPLEMENTED IN WASHINGTON STATE WITH ORCHARD HEIGHTS FACILITY TORONTO, April 10, 2019 /CNW/ - Nerds on Site Inc. (the "Company" or "NERDS") (CSE: NERD) (FSE: SUB.VTG.) (QTCQB: NOSUF), a mobile IT solutions company servicing the SME marketplace, having introduced Cannabis IT in a Box, the "Go To" solution, delivered, installed and serviced for SME businesses in the cannabis in March, announces its first customer in the US at the Orchard Heights facility in Wenatchee, Washington. Orchard Heights is located in Wenatchee, Washington. The Orchard Heights 7- acre property is located strategically on the Columbia river, in Central Washington where a majority of commodity producers converge strategically to expedite distribution to the metropolitan markets. Orchard Heights is a Weekend Unlimited Washington facility (CSE: POT). "In our B2B market here in Washington, the IT solution that we are designing with NERDS will provide a tremendous advantage as we scale this business," said Orchard Heights Director, Grant Guelich. "From seed to sale, the Cannabis IT in a Box solution will allow us to focus on cultivation with our licensees, production and distribution, knowing that the information we need is accessible and reliable so that we can operate at the highest standards and serve our licensees, customers and partners." "With our recent retail client in Alberta, Northern Lights Supply just announced, the NERDS team's ability to prototype the Cannabis IT in a Box solution with Orchard Heights, a grower in the B2B space in Washington will ensure we have ready to go solutions for all applications in the thriving Cannabis industry, both in the Canada and the USA," said Mr. Charles Regan, CEO, NERDS on Site. The NERDS on Site Cannabis IT in a Box solution will provide the following services to Orchard Heights Growers: IT support for existing sytems Development and provision of inventory tracking and sales systems Security systems and video systems maintenance and monitoring (access card or fob solutions with multi-level access function, timer and alarm features) IT systems regulatory compliance management Network monitoring and management In store network security and ransomware protection Corporate and multi store network support, management, and ransomware protection Website development e-commerce ready, from simplest to most complex systems Mobile in person support if required, with back up capabilities, remote access and remote support The Cannabis IT division of NERDS delivers the most experienced and agile IT solutions company, serving small and medium sized businesses, to new and existing operators in the Cannabis space. The turn key Cannabis IT in a Box solution is designed to get businesses up and running efficiently, in full compliance, and with instant access to the information they need to serve customers. About Nerds on Site: Nerds on Site, a company founded in 1995, specializes in providing cost effective, leading edge solutions to Small and Medium sized Enterprise (SME), serving as the complete SME IT solution specialists. Nerds on Site was established in London, Ontario with current annual revenues of approximately $10,000,000. The company services over 12,000 clients per year with a superb 96.5% customer satisfaction rating. NOS's business model is based on Nerds sub contracts in Canada and a Franchise model for USA expansion. NOS was hand-picked by Apple Inc. in 2016 to become its mobile enterprise partner, pilot project is ongoing. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward Looking Statements - Certain information set forth in this material may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding future financial position, business strategy, use of proceeds, corporate vision, proposed acquisitions, partnerships, joint-ventures and strategic alliances and co-operations, budgets, cost and plans and objectives of or involving the Company. Such forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause the actual results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions and dependence upon regulatory approvals. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by securities laws. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nerds-on-site-lands-first-usa-cannabis-it-in-a-box-customer-300829534.html SOURCE Nerds On Site Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] eSentire's Award-winning Channel Program Underscores Strong Market Position and Partner-of-choice Rank with Leading Security Companies Strong Channel Relationships and Programs Create a Solid Foundation for Growth and Recognition CAMBRIDGE, Ontario, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- eSentire, Inc., the global leader in Managed Detection and Response (MDR) , today announced it has achieved year-over-year global growth of 50 percent, with 40 percent growth attributed to channel bookings in 2018. The company also announced an award-winning partner program and notable industry recognition, all positioning the company for further scale, productivity and ongoing dominance in the global MDR market. As organizations embrace digital transformation, they look to MDR to protect the wide distribution of critical information across the cloud, network, endpoints and devices. eSentire enables its partners with the following key advantages for their clients: A 24X7X365 Security Operations Center (SOC) running AI-assisted detection with expert analysts to rapidly hunt and contain threats that prevention misses Robust channel enablement programs, portals and platforms offering best-in-class resources to its partner network, including a new global Cyber College launching in May 2019 Rapid and focused investment to drive automation, effectiveness and efficiencies Chris Braden, VP of global channels and alliances, eSentire, said: "eSentire recognizes the vital and dynamic role that partners play in our strategy, and we work hard to ensure their success. Our partners play a key role in enabling us to achieve scalable growth and reach new markets. We always look to drive innovation in our program, so our partners can continuously create value for their customers. We will continue to provide powerful, channel-ready MDR solutions and services to help our partners address their customers' evolving security needs." The evolution of eSentire's Channel Program within the MDR market has led to significant growth and recognition for the company. eSentire is rapidly adding parners across North America and the UK. The interest from prospective partners in the company's Channel Program has been strong and is coming from across the globe. Industry and Partner Recognition eSentire is proud to be recognized as a top company to partner with both by industry and partner companies, which speaks to its ability to deliver and partner-of-choice rank: eSentire received a five-star rating in CRN 's 2019 Partner Program Guide. The five-star rating recognizes an elite subset of companies that offer solution providers the best partnering elements in their channel programs. 's 2019 Partner Program Guide. The five-star rating recognizes an elite subset of companies that offer solution providers the best partnering elements in their channel programs. CRN also named Chris Braden , eSentire's vice president, global channels and alliances, to its prestigious list of 2019 Channel Chiefs after his first year in this role. , eSentire's vice president, global channels and alliances, to its prestigious list of 2019 Channel Chiefs after his first year in this role. In 2019, Carbon Black named eSentire as a Strategic Partner for the third year in a row. Additionally, eSentire was named Partner of the Year by key strategic alliance partner Sumo Logic, which speaks to the company's partner-first commitment. Tom Barsi, SVP of business development, Carbon Black said: "We've named eSentire a Strategic Partner for three consecutive years, a clear testament to the value they're bringing to the market and to customers. I continue to be very excited about this partnership and the expanding set of security services that will leverage Carbon Black's Predictive Security Cloud (PSC). Congratulations to eSentire for its continued success in the MDR space." Jabari Norton, vice president of global partner sales and alliances, Sumo Logic, said: "It's an honor to recognize eSentire as our 2018 Partner of the Year for their innovative use of Sumo Logic's cloud-native machine data analytics platform. Today's modern architectures such as DevSecOps have created a broad attack surface and a tremendous amount of data that legacy SIEMs and MSSPs struggle to support. By combining our capabilities for real-time, continuous intelligence with their own proprietary technology, eSentire has created an industry-leading MDR solution that provides rapid threat detection and response across premise and cloud environments. This approach has not only demonstrated fast time to value for our joint customers but also resulted in tremendous growth in the partnership overall." To learn more about eSentire's partner program, the advantages to partnering with the company and other leading partner brands that eSentire works with, visit: https://www.esentire.com/company/partners/ About eSentire: eSentire, Inc., the global leader in Managed Detection and Response (MDR), keeps organizations safe from constantly evolving cyber attacks that technology alone cannot prevent. Its 24x7 Security Operations Center (SOC), staffed by elite security analysts, hunts, investigates, and responds in real-time to known and unknown threats before they become business disrupting events. Protecting more than $5.7 trillion AUM in the financial sector alone, eSentire absorbs the complexity of cybersecurity, delivering enterprise-grade protection and the ability to comply with growing regulatory requirements. For more information, visit www.esentire.com and follow @eSentire. PR contact: Kim Cumpson eSentire Inc. 519.497.1354 [email protected] Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/829547/eSentire_Logo.jpg [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] FreshBooks' 3rd Annual Report Reveals 24 Million Americans Want to Become Self-Employed by 2021, But Face Barriers to Making the Leap Toronto, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FreshBooks, the #1 accounting software in the cloud designed exclusively for service-based small business owners and independent professionals, today released results from its third annual study, Self-Employment in America Report 2019. The report reveals that 24 million Americans want to leave traditional employment to become their own boss by 2021, but face barriers to making the leap. The full report is available here. FreshBooks partnered with leading market research provider Dynata to collect data from more than 3,700 Americans who work full-time - either as traditional employees, independent professionals or small business owners. Tens of millions of Americans have told us that their dream job is to work for themselves, said Mike McDerment, Co-founder and CEO at FreshBooks. But this is a scary proposition for most because the world is in many ways not ready for them. The good news is that the payoffsboth financial and otherwiseare real. Its a big part of our job, for those just starting out and those whove been at it awhile, to help entrepreneurs realize their full potential. Key findings from the report include: Self-employment is the new American dream - but millions are stuck on the sidelines. Whats holding them back? 24 million Americansmore than the population of Floridawant to work for themselves by 2021. There is no doubt a significant mindset shift underway; however millions of aspiring entrepreneurs say they face barriers to making the switch: 35 ercent worry about inconsistent income 28 percent dont have the cash to invest or need to pay down debt first 27 percent lack a complete business plan 27 percent worry about earning less money 20 percent dont want to give up health benefits Self-employed Americans are happier, healthier and have no desire to return to a regular job anytime soon The study sheds light on why so many want to be their own boss. Currently, Americans who work for themselves report high levels of satisfaction and well-being: 96 percent have no desire to return to a regular job 7 in 10 (or 70 percent) say they have better work-life balance 61 percent would be happy with their achievements if their career ended today 55 percent say they have less stress 54 percent say they are healthier 27 percent spend more time outdoors and travel more Career control is the #1 reason driving people to self-employment What is it exactly, that motivates people to abandon the security of a 9-to-5 job and a regular paycheck? The majority of people aspiring to work for themselves are seeking freedom, flexibility and control: 65 percent want to choose when they work 56 percent want to choose how hard they work 48 percent want control over their own career development 47 percent want control over where they work 1 in 3 (or 31 percent) simply dont like reporting to others Small businesses (and their owners) are getting younger Two years ago, the typical self-employed professional was a tail-end Baby Boomer, but were fast approaching the point where Millennials become the dominant self-employed workforce. This is not simply due to changing demographics, but also because Americans are choosing to become entrepreneurs earlier in their careers. The age of new business owners in the U.S. has dropped by 4 years (from 38 to 34 years old) since 2017. College education is becoming less of a prerequisite Should current trends persist, we might soon see the majority of self-employed Americans thriving without the benefit of a college degree. Over the last two years, the number of self-employed professionals with a college degree dropped by 8 percent. Among small businesses founded in the last two years, theres no difference in revenue comparing those with and without college degrees. Self-employed Americans typically earn more money and are more productive after making the switch While 63 percent of self-employed Americans believe money is less important than quality of life, 55 percent say theyre earning more of the green stuff working for themselves. 4 in 10 work fewer hours but are more productive. A Small Business Brain Drain might be on the horizon Whos most likely to be eyeing self-employment within the next two years? Contrary to popular belief, those most eager to leave traditional work are not looking to escape large corporations or cubicle farms. Actually, the opposite appears to be true. A much higher proportion (35 percent) of employees working at companies with less than 50 employees want to work for themselves within the next two years, compared to only 25 percent of employees at larger companies. This corresponds with another key research finding: small business owners currently struggle with finding talented staff or contractors more so than any other challenge, including finding new clients. Survey Methodology FreshBooks conducted this study in collaboration with leading market research provider Dynata. More than 3,700 people who work full-time either as traditional employees, independent professionals, or small business owners were surveyed online in November of 2018. Samples have been weighted (as required) to reflect various characteristics of their target populations (e.g., age, gender and industry) leveraging data from the U.S. Census, U.S. Small Business Administration, the NAICS Association and other sources. The studys margin of error is +/- 2.3% at 95% confidence. About FreshBooks FreshBooks is the #1 accounting software in the cloud designed exclusively for service-based small business owners and independent professionals. The company has helped more than 20 million people worldwide process billions of dollars with its ridiculously easy-to-use invoicing, time-tracking, expense management, and online payments features. Recognized with nine Stevie awards for best customer service in the world, the companys mantra is to execute extraordinary experiences everyday. Based in Toronto, Canada, FreshBooks serves paying customers in 160 countries. Lindsay Lapchuk FreshBooks 1-888-705-1218 [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] CNN TV18 and CNBC TV18 Profile Story on Ebix CEO Robin Raina ATLANTA, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ebix, Inc., a leading international supplier of On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries today issued a media advisory that its CEO Robin Raina was featured in a profile story by CNN TV18 and CNBC TV18 channels, a few days back. The CNN interview and the entire coverage can be seen on https://www.ebix.com/robin-raina-speaks-on-business-and-philanthropy-cnn.html The CNBC TV18 coverage of the story can be seen on https://www.ebix.com/robin-raina-speaks-on-business-and-philanthropy.html About Ebix, Inc. With 50+ offices across 6 continents, Ebix, Inc., endeavors to provide On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries. In the Insurance sector, Ebixs main focus is to develop and deploy a wide variety of insurance and reinsurance exchanges on an on-demand basis, while also, providing Software-as-a-Service ("SaaS") enterprise solutions in the area of CRM, front-end & back-end systems, outsourced administration and risk compliance services, around the world. With a "Phygital strategy that combines 320,000 physical distribution outlets in many Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, to an Omni-channel online digital platform, the Companys EbixCash Financial exchange portfolio encompasses leadership in areas of domestic & international money remittance, foreign exchange (Forex), travel, pre-paid & gift cards, utility payments, lending, wealth management etc. in India and other markets. EbixCashs Forex operations have emerged as a leader in Indias airport Foreign Exchange business with operations in 32 international airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata, conducting over $4.8 billion in gross transaction value per year. EbixCashs inward remittance business in India conducts approx. $6.5 billion gross annual remittance business, confirming its undisputed leadership position in India. EbixCash, through its travel portfolio of Via and Mercury, is also one of Southeast Asias leading travel exchanges with over 2,200+ employees, 212,450+ agent network, 25 branches and over 9,800 corporate clients; processing an estimated $2.5 billion in gross merchandise value per year. Through its various SaaS-based software platforms, Ebix employs thousands of domain-specific technology professionals to provide products, support and consultancy to thousands of customers on six continents. For more information, visit the Companys website at www.ebix.com CONTACT: Darren Joseph or Gautam Sharma at Ebix IR [email protected] or +1 678 281 2027 David Collins or Chris Eddy at Catalyst Global [email protected] or +1 212 924 9800 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] HERE launches XYZ: Mapmaking and geospatial data management made easy for developers and non-coders alike Extends the HERE Freemium plan for developers by adding new tools to build location-aware applications. Empowers users to create maps without writing code. Delivers ready-made tools for staging, editing and publishing live geospatial data. Combines command-line cartography with an enterprise-scale API. Berkeley, CA HERE Technologies, a global leader in mapping and location platform services, announces the general availability of HERE XYZ, a cloud-based service that provides software developers as well as novice and professional mapmakers with the tools needed for effortless map publication and data management. HERE XYZ aims to maximize ease of use, flexibility and interoperability by leveraging the best of the open source ecosystem and tools from the companys long history of building standard and high definition maps at global scale. This approach allows developers to maintain their workflow while incorporating XYZ to address the challenge of managing large and unwieldy geospatial datasets. Data journalists, cartographers and geospatial data providers will find the real-time nature of HERE XYZs dynamic tiling capability to be indispensable for publishing maps that require live updates. HERE XYZ is about flipping the fundamental challenge of mapmaking on its head, said Achal Prabhakar, Vice President of Engineering at HERE Technologies. Weve built the largest SD and HD mapping platform in the world and we know that eighty percent of mapmaking is time spent wrangling and managing geospatial data. HERE XYZ solves this problem by delivering the pre-requisite building blocks for data management and map publishing, so users of all levels can focus on creating the insights and context that only the concept of location can provide. HERE XYZ is included as part of the market-leading HERE Freemium developer plan, offering users generous entitlements for data transfer and database storage and seamless integration of HERE Location Services APIs such as geocoding, routing, search and more to build full-featured, location-aware aplications. Developers can invoke the XYZ Hub API directly or via the HERE Command Line Interface (HERE CLI). Non-developers can use the XYZ Studio to invoke the same XYZ Hub API but using an intuitive web application. For Interline Technologies, a San Francisco-based startup that improves transportation networks digitally, the HERE XYZ Hub API is accessed via a custom connector that enables push updates for live datasets. HERE XYZ is a great addition to Interlines toolkit for our team and for our users, says Drew Dara-Abrams, Principal at Interline Technologies. The command-line interface has become part of our regular workflows for visualizing and inspecting our work-in-progress and other miscellaneous geodata. XYZ Connectors are opening even more interesting possibilities for our production systems and real-time data updates. Theyre a powerful hybrid of managed-cloud services, open-source components, and common data formats like GeoJSON and GeoJSONL. HERE XYZ will continue to evolve in response to developer and user feedback, GitHub pull requests for the HERE CLI and QGIS plug-in, and needs articulated by leading providers of public datasets. For all mapmaking and data management needs, head to HERE XYZ: https://explore.xyz.here.com/ Media Contacts Jordan Stark +1 312 316 4537 [email protected] Dr. Sebastian Kurme +49 173 515 3549 [email protected] About HERE Technologies HERE, the Open Location Platform company, enables people, enterprises and cities to harness the power of location. By making sense of the world through the lens of location we empower our customers to achieve better outcomes from helping a city manage its infrastructure or an enterprise optimize its assets to guiding drivers to their destination safely. To learn more about HERE, including our new generation of cloud-based location platform services, visit http://360.here.com and www.here.com. HERE XYZ: Mapmaking and geospatial data management made easy for developers and non-coders alike Attachment IMAGE_HERE XYZ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] The World's Leading Online Impact Marketplace Just Re-wrote the Rules for a Better Global Economy SANTA MONICA, Calif., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- NOVICA , the world's leading online impact marketplace, is approaching its 20-year anniversary and launching "Cause of the Week" initiatives with global charity organizations. Each week, NOVICA will partner with global non-profit organizations, like UNICEF, F*ck Cancer, and Love Button, who will receive 25 percent of sales from select categories across NOVICA's marketplace to support their causes. "NOVICA was founded with a mission to cut out all the traditional middlemen in order to connect artisans directly with customers around the world," says Roberto Milk, CEO of NOVICA. "Along the way, we discovered something very important: as we empowered global artisans through greater access to international customers, freedom to set their own prices, and the ability to focus on their craft, we could see a visible and profound impact on the communities around them." This realization helped define the next step in the evolution of NOVICA: the launch of its new Impact Marketplace. Over the years, customer purchases from artisans have been directly and indirectly providing for education, helping with health care, funding basic needs, supporting childrn, preserving disappearing arts, spreading happiness around the world, and so much more. NOVICA's Impact Marketplace allows customers to take that one step further and visibly support specific causes through their purchases -- including Women's Empowerment, Overcoming Cancer, Caring for Children, Working with Disabilities, and Supporting Conservation. "In order to be live on the marketplace, every single product must provide some demonstrable positive impact - that's our new bar for entry," says Milk. "On the eve of our 20th anniversary, we're excited to be partnering with high-impact organizations to help us amplify the good we can do around the world." As NOVICA approaches $100M in funds sent to artisans, they have their sights set on $1B and have been building the global infrastructure to make that happen. Achieving that goal would generate a tremendous positive impact for artisans and causes globally. About NOVICA Founded in Los Angeles in 1999, NOVICA.com is an online, fair-trade marketplace based in Los Angeles, with sourcing and direct-shipping offices in eight developing nations. At any given time, NOVICA features more than 60,000 limited-edition handmade works of art, including jewelry, apparel, handbags, rugs and tapestries, home decor items and a variety of collectibles. To date, more than $90.7 million has been sent to artisans through the NOVICA marketplace. For more information, visit www.NOVICA.com . Media contact: Ronjini Joshua [email protected] 949-295-9779 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-worlds-leading-online-impact-marketplace-just-re-wrote-the-rules-for-a-better-global-economy-300829821.html SOURCE NOVICA [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Kaspersky Lab Discovers Gaza Cybergang Cyberespionage Operation SneakyPastes Hitting Middle East Related Targets in 39 Countries Kaspersky Lab today announced its research on the Gaza Cybergang cyberespionage operation, SneakyPastes, which targeted individuals and organizations with Middle-Eastern political interest in 39 countries worldwide. In 2018, the campaign made use of disposable email addresses to spread the infection through phishing attacks, before downloading the malware in chained stages using multiple free sites. Kaspersky Lab's (News - Alert) research was shared with law enforcement and has resulted in the takedown of a significant part of the attack infrastructure. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005150/en/ Countries targeted by Arabic-speaking Gaza Cybergang for its SneakyPastes operation in 2018, according to Kaspersky Lab detection data. (Graphic: Business Wire) The Gaza Cybergang is an Arabic speaking, politically motivated collective of interrelated threat groups actively targeting the Middle East and North Africa, with a particular focus on the Palestinian Territories. Kaspersky Lab has identified at least three groups within the gang, with similar aims and targets - cyberespionage related to Middle Eastern political interests - but very different tools, techniques and levels of sophistication. The groups include the more advanced Operation Parliament and Desert Falcons, known since 2018 and 2015 respectively, and an underpinning, less complex group, also known as MoleRats that has been active since at least 2012. In the spring of 2018, this basic group launched operation SneakyPastes. SneakyPastes began with politically themed phishing attacks, spread using disposable email addresses and domains. Malicious links or attachments that were either clicked or downloaded then installed the infection on the victim device. In order to avoid detection and hide the location of the command and control server, additional malware was downloaded to victim devices in chained stages using a number of free sites including Pastebin and Github. The various malicious implants used PowerShell, VBS, JS, and dotnet to secure resilience and persistence within infected systems. The final stage of intrusion was a Remote Access Trojan, which made contact with the command and control server and then gathered, compressed, encrypted and uploaded a wide range of stolen documents and spreadsheets to it. The name SneakyPastes derives from the attackers' heavy use of paste sites to gradually sneak the RAT onto victim systems. Kaspersky Lab researchers worked with law enforcement to uncover the full cycle of attack and intrusion for the SneakyPastes operation. These efforts have resulted not just in a detailed understanding of the tools, techniques, targets and more, but also in the actual takedown of a significant part of the infrastructure. The SneakyPastes operation was at its most active between April and mid-November 2018, focusing on a small list of targets that comprised diplomatic and government entities, NGOs and media outlets. Using Kaspersky Lab telemetry and other sources, there appear to be around 240 high profile individual and corporate victims, in 39 countries worldwide, with the majority located in the Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon. Victims included embassies, government entities, media outlets and journalists, activists, political parties and individuals, as well as education, banking, healthcare and contracting organizations. "The discovery of Desert Falcons in 2015 marked a turning point in the threat landscape as it was then the first known fully Arabic speaking APT (News - Alert)," said Amin Hasbini, head of Middle East Research Center, Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) at Kaspersky Lab. "We now know that its parent, Gaza Cybergang, has been actively targeting Middle Eastern interests since 2012, initially relying most on the activities of a fairly unsophisticated but relentless team - the team that in 2018 launched operation SneakyPastes. It shows that lack of infrastructure and advanced tools is no impediment to success. We expect the damage exerted by all three Gaza Cybergang groups to intensify and the attacks to extend into other regions that are also linked to Palestinian issues." In order to avoid falling victim to a targeted attack by a known or unknown threat actor, Kaspersky Lab researchers recommend implementing the following measures: Use advanced security tools like Kaspersky Anti Targeted Attack Platform (KATA) and make sure your security team has access to the most recent cyber threat intelligence. Make sure you update all software used in your organization on a regular basis, particularly whenever a new security patch is released. Security products with Vulnerability Assessment and Patch Management capabilities may help to automate these processes. Choose a proven security solution such as Kaspersky Endpoint Security that is equipped with behavior-based detection capabilities for effective protection against known and unknown threats, including exploits. Ensure your staff understand basic cybersecurity hygiene, as many targeted attacks start with phishing or other social engineering techniques. All Kaspersky Lab products successfully detect and block this threat. A report on the Gaza Cybergang's operation SneakyPastes can be found on Securelist. About Kaspersky Lab Kaspersky Lab is a global cybersecurity company, which has been operating in the market for over 21 years. Kaspersky Lab's deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into next-generation security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company's comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialized security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky Lab technologies and we help 270,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com . View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005150/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Star2Star Named Master Citrix Service Provider SARASOTA, Fla., April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Star2Star Communications, provider of the Worlds Only Full Spectrum Communications Solution, today announced their new role as a Master Citrix Service Provider (MCSP) with Citrix Systems, Inc. Among the first in the world to achieve this designation, this relationship opens a new channel for Star2Star Partners and other Citrix Service Provider (CSP) partners to sell an enhanced virtual desktop solution that includes cloud communications, exclusively through Star2Star, to their customer base. Star2Star will package their award-winning StarCloud system, including multiple UCaaS applications such as video conferencing and messaging, with the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop solution to create a one-of-a-kind user experience. Both Star2Star and CSP partners will be able to offer this unique package to their customers. The bundle will also be available through Citrix Ready which hosts over 30,000 verifications and an extensive list of verified products, trusted solutions, and enterprise-enabled apps. As part of the program, Star2Star completed a rigorous verification process to ensure its solution works seamlessly with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. Thisalliance is truly unique and differentiating in the marketplace as it allows businesses to easily deploy a desktop with all the productivity applications they need including our industry leading UCaaS solution, StarCloud, in a high quality, consistent and secure manner that ensures an unparalleled user experience, said Michelle Accardi, President and Chief Revenue Officer at Star2Star. We are proud to be the first communications providers to offer a solution like this with Citrix, and are eager to present this new offering to our Partners and customers. Working with Star2Star was a 2019 priority. Master Citrix Service Provider designation is reserved for only a select few, and we are honored to welcome Star2Star to this initiative, said Carlos Blanco, Senior Director of CSP and MSP at Citrix. We are very much looking forward to launching this new pilot program with Star2Star. About Star2Star Communications Founded in 2006 in Sarasota, Florida, Star2Star Communications empowers global business success with a Full Spectrum Communications Solution. With options ranging from pure to on-premises cloud, Star2Star offers unparalleled value, reliability, quality, and scalability. Star2Star unifies business communications including voice, video, fax, mobile, chat, and presence management. Merged with Blueface, the leading pan-European UCaaS provider, Star2Star possesses a global influence and customer base. Star2Star's award-winning, patented Constellation Network overcomes the reliability and quality limitations of other communications technologies and enables companies to choose the deployment methodology that aligns best with their needs. For businesses who require high-quality voice, redundant networks for continuity, and ultra-reliable communications, Star2Star's StarCloud+ architecture offers the highest guaranteed SLAs in the industry at an affordable price. Businesses with less complexity, who seek the best communications capabilities for their employees and customers, can consider the StarCloud solution the optimal choice. With a customer retention rate of 99.85%, Star2Star has been recognized by a multitude of leading analysts. Star2Star was named to the Forbes Most Promising Companies list, the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 five times, and the Inc. 500|5000 seven times. The company was also named by IHS as a Top 10 Hosted Business VoIP/UC Provider and has been in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for UCaaS, Worldwide for the last four years. Casey OLoughlin [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Servers: Market Intelligence, Procurement Research, Supply Market Forecasts, Cost Drivers, Trends, Category Management Insights Now Available from SpendEdge SpendEdge, a global procurement market intelligence firm, has announced the release of their Global Servers Category - Procurement Market Intelligence Report. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005363/en/ Global Servers Category - Procurement Market Intelligence Report. (Graphic: Business Wire) In this era of digitization and increasing penetration of the internet, countries are observing a pressing need for data localization to protect the national and economic interest. This is resulting in the development of multiple data centers that require servers as one of their integral components. Telecommunications, software and cloud services, healthcare, manufacturing, and BFSI, and government institutions are among the significant users of data centers and will account for an impressive spend momentum for the servers category during the forecast period. Request a Free Sample of this servers market intelligence report here! The growth of the servers category is set to receive a significant boost in the US as some of the technology giants reveal an investment of over USD 10 billion in establishing and maintaining data centers in the next five years. The advent of hyperscale data centers will primarily drive the category spend momentum in North America, Europe, and in some of the regions in APAC. Hyperscale data centers typically use a bulk of servers and are mainly leveraged by social network companies and cloud service providers. Insights offered in this servers procurement research report include supply market forecasts, major cost drivers, and category management insights. Such insights are relevant for both the buyers and the suppliers who seek a risk-free and a cost-effective procurement strategy. The category spend segmentation done in this market intelligence report will guide the investors in identifying the best investment areas as well as help them in identifying cost-saving opportunities in the market. Get free customization of this servers market intelligence report to get information tailored to your every requirement. "Onsite support, 24/7 support, and fixed resolution time are some of the critical supplier selection criteria that buyers must consider prior to finalizing their deal with the supplier," says SpendEdge procurement expert Tridib Bora. This servers procurement research report has estimated the following cost drivers to influence the category growth in the coming years: Growing market share of ODMs is a threat to established suppliers in the market Assessing in-house IT capabilities will help buyers maximize cost savings Purchase the full servers market intelligence report here! SpendEdge is now offering limited-time discounts on report purchases. Buy two reports and get the third one for free. SpendEdge's procurement market intelligence reports for the information technology category provide detailed supply market forecasts and cost drivers that impact category growth. Such information will help procurement managers as well as the suppliers to determine the total cost of ownership and change their procurement strategies accordingly. Additionally, SpendEdge's reports provide category management insights and information on the procurement best practices for the category. Report scope snapshot: Servers Category pricing insights Pricing outlook Total cost of ownership analysis Supplier cost structure Interested to know more about the scope of our market intelligence reports? Download a FREE sample Cost-Saving Opportunities Supplier-side levers Buyer-side levers Quantifying cost savings by negotiation strategies Want customized information from the servers procurement research report? Get in touch Category ecosystem Competitiveness index for suppliers Buyer power Supplier power score To view the table of contents of this market intelligence report, Download a FREE sample Do you purchase multiple reports in a year? Our subscription platform, SpendEdge Insights, provides ready-to-use procurement research reports for multiple categories. Now access the latest supplier news, innovation landscape, markets insights, supplier tracking, and much more at the click of a button. Start your 7-day FREE trial now. Related Reports: About SpendEdge: SpendEdge shares your passion for driving sourcing and procurement excellence. We are the preferred procurement market intelligence partner for 120+ Fortune 500 firms and other leading companies across numerous industries. Our strength lies in delivering robust, real-time procurement market intelligence reports and solutions. To know more, https://www.spendedge.com/request-free-proposal View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005363/en/ [April 10, 2019] EPAM Wins Google Cloud North American Breakthrough Partner of the Year Award NEWTOWN, Pa., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE: EPAM), a leading global provider of digital platform engineering and software development services, today announced that it has been recognized as the 2018 Google Cloud North American Breakthrough Partner of the Year. Google Cloud presented this year's award at the Partner Summit at Google Cloud Next '19 in San Francisco. "This award represents a new page in our longstanding relationship with Google, built on our shared software engineering heritage over the last decade, which has enabled us to do great work together for joint clients," said Arkadiy Dobkin, CEO & President, EPAM. "Today, EPAM is much more than an engineering partner. We are an innovation partner, a go-to-market partner and a real business partner for Google Cloud." A Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Premier System Integrator Partner and a Google Advanced Solutions Lab Partner, EPAM was recognized for its achievements in the Google Cloud ecosystem, helping joint customers become more agile and reduce costs by migrating and optimizing cloud-based solutions. EPAM's GCP expertise includes infrastucture consulting and migration, cloud-native application development, cloud optimization, data strategy and consulting, and machine learning and automation. EPAM currently has over 700 Google Cloud certified professionals and continues to host certification drives to increase its number of certifications. "We're thrilled to recognize EPAM as the 2018 Google Cloud North American Breakthrough Partner of the Year," said Carolee Gearhart, Vice President, Worldwide Channel Sales at Google Cloud. "EPAM has proven their expertise in Google Cloud and has demonstrated their commitment to customer success over the past year. We're excited to keep building on our partnership with EPAM as more and more customers look to our ecosystem to help them succeed in the cloud." To learn more about EPAM's expertise Google Cloud, visit www.epam.com/google-cloud . About EPAM Systems Since 1993, EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE: EPAM) has leveraged its software engineering expertise to become a leading global product development, digital platform engineering, and top digital and product design agency. Through its 'Engineering DNA' and innovative strategy, consulting, and design capabilities, EPAM works in collaboration with its customers to deliver next-gen solutions that turn complex business challenges into real business outcomes. EPAM's global teams serve customers in over 25 countries across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. EPAM is a recognized market leader in multiple categories among top global independent research agencies and was one of only four technology companies to appear on Forbes 25 Fastest Growing Public Tech Companies list every year of publication since 2013. Learn more at http://www.epam.com/ and follow us on Twitter @EPAMSYSTEMS and LinkedIn . Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes statements which may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the accuracy of which are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied include general economic conditions and the factors discussed in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. EPAM undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities law. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/epam-wins-google-cloud-north-american-breakthrough-partner-of-the-year-award-300829889.html SOURCE EPAM Systems, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] IP Counsel Cafe Conference Addresses Increasing Globalization of Intellectual Property Law and Introduces New Woman Law Leaders Program Intellectual property (IP) law continues to be one of the most dynamic and challenging areas of law practice, as companies of all sizes realize they are inevitably part of an ever-shifting global economy. On May 6-9 in Palo Alto (News - Alert), California, IP Counsel Cafe presents its 11th Silicon Valley Annual Meeting entitled "Parts Unknown: Global IP in an Increasingly Connected Yet Foreign World". The Conference will provide a concentrated series of cutting-edge panels and networking events to help attendees uncover emerging trends and navigate the highly volatile world of IP. IP Counsel Cafe features distinguished IP Counsel speakers from more than 70 companies. Topics range from emerging litigation trends in the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions, navigating government regulations, impact of evolving IP practices in China and the EU, and more. After a Welcome Dinner on May 6, the educational agenda kicks off on May 7 with power-packed panels featuring IP law leaders from Facebook (News - Alert), Google, HP Enterprise, IBM, Intel, Samsung, Uber, and more. Also, IP Counsel Cafe launches its first-ever Woman Law Leaders Program on May 8, delivering insights from top women in IP. The Program will cover issues such as the new California law requiring publicly tradedcompanies to include women on their Boards of Directors. Senior Women Law Leaders will also share personal branding best practices and strategies to manage work/life balance. On May 9, Judge Randall Rader (ret.), former Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, leads a breakfast workshop entitled "Comparing Chinese and U.S. Company Perspectives". Protecting IP in China continues to perplex foreign companies, industry veterans will share tips for navigating the market. IP Counsel Cafe Executive Director and General Counsel Sandy Chan remarked: "IP protection is governed by territorial jurisdiction, yet the use of IP is increasingly international without borders. Companies are partnering with inventors and manufacturers all around the world, while selling their products in foreign markets. We must navigate cultural differences and diverse government regulations, as our IP and markets evolve. In our innovation culture, women IP law leaders are also emerging and shaping the landscape. We are incredibly proud to offer a stellar speaker lineup for this year's IP Counsel Cafe, including our first Women's Program. Overall, the 4-day Conference will deliver top quality, state-of-the-art IP law education to keep IP leaders at the industry forefront." The IP Counsel Cafe Silicon Valley Annual Meeting will be held at the Sheraton Palo Alto on May 6-9, 2019. Space is limited and registration will close on May 1. Attendees are eligible to earn CLE credit. See event details at www.ipcounselcafe.com or email [email protected] for more information. About IP Counsel Cafe IP Counsel Cafe (www.ipcounselcafe.com) is a 3,000+ member organization for the IP law leaders of today and tomorrow. Established in 2008, we are lawyers committed to creating a dynamic forum for today's IP industry. Empowering our community through knowledge and information sharing, we conduct extensive research and work closely with our peers to gather market intelligence that meets our professional and business development needs. Join us in leading the industry's most provocative dialogue. Follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005289/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] FASTSIGNS International's Ross Cartwright One of 37 Selected to Join International Sign Association's Elite Program for Emerging Leaders CARROLLTON, Texas, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ross Cartwright, a Business Consultant with FASTSIGNS International, Inc., has been invited to join the International Sign Association's (ISA) Elite program, recognizing the next generation of sign, graphics and visual communications industry leaders. Cartwright is among only 37 professionals worldwide chosen for this year's program. The ISA Elite program brings selected participants to the International Sign Association event in April and provides them with unique networking opportunities with fellow professionals and industry leaders. A two-day follow-up leadership retreat will be held in the Fall. "Being selected as one of 37 to join the ISA's Elite Program for Emerging Leaders is an incredible honor," said Mark Jameson, Executive Vice President of Franchise Support & Development at FASTSIGNS International, Inc. "We are so proud of the work Ross has done and the impact he will continue to make at FASTSIGNS from his experience in the program." "Our association, tradeshow and industry have been transformed by the energy that the ISA Elite bring each year," said Lori Anderson, ISA president and CEO. "Past Elite members are already giving back by serving on committees and boards of the ISA and ISA regional affiliates. We're excited to have Ross Cartwright join this prestigious group, and we look forward to the insights that each member of the 2019 class will bring." Ross Cartwright began his career with FASTSIGNS in 2010, working in a franchised location in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio doing production and installations. Ross came into that position with sign experience, having learned to operate wide format and flat-bed printers, manufacture sign cabinets and channel letters, and also to install many different types of sign projects. "I remember being hooked after the first week working in the signage business," said Cartwright. "I wanted to learn how to do everything. It was very cool to see these big projects come to life and being a part of the creation process. I really couldn't wait to get to work every day." From there Cartwright moved into the lead sales role where he helped grow the location's revenue. After working in the FASTSIGNS center for four years, Cartwright took a job with the franchisor (FASTSIGNS International, Inc.) and relocated to Carrollton, Texas to become a Training Manager. Ross' hands on sign experience and knowledge prepared him to train new franchisees who would soon be operating their own FASTSIGNS locations. Four years later, Ross is now a Business Consultant in the Operations Department where he continues to help and support Franchisees across many areas of their business. The ISA International Sign Expo takes place April 24-26, 2019 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV, with education events starting on April 23. Learn more at www.signexpo.org . Photo: Click Here to download a high resolution photo of Ross Cartwright, Business Consultant at FASTSIGNS International, Inc. About FASTSIGNS FASTSIGNS International, Inc. is the leading sign and visual communications franchisor in North America, and is the worldwide franchisor of more than 700 independently owned and operated FASTSIGNS centers in nine countries including the United States, Canada, Chile, England, Grand Cayman, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Australia (where centers operate as SIGNWAVE). Locations are slated to open in two additional countries - Malta and Spain - in 2019. FASTSIGNS locations provide comprehensive signage and visual graphic solutions to help companies of all sizes and across all industries attract more attention, communicate their message, promote their products, help visitors find their way and extend their branding across all of their customer touch points. FASTSIGNS centers provide architectural and interior decor graphics, fleet vehicle graphics, digital signs and digital signage content, event graphics, displays, banners, posters, ADA signage, safety and identification signs and much more, as well as handle everything from design to project management to installation. FASTSIGNS International, Inc. is a recipient of many awards, including being ranked the #1 franchise opportunity in its category in Entrepreneur magazine's Franchise 500 for the past three years, and Best-in-Category in the business services sector on Franchise Business Review's list of the top 200 franchises for multiple years. Learn more about sign and visual graphic solutions or find a location at fastsigns.com . Follow the brand on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/fastsigns , Twitter @FASTSIGNS or Facebook at facebook.com/FASTSIGNS . For information about the FASTSIGNS franchise opportunity, contact Mark Jameson ([email protected] or call 214.346.5679). About ISA The International Sign Association (ISA) represents manufacturers, suppliers, and users of on-premise signs and sign products from the United States and 60 countries around the world. ISA and its Affiliated Associations work to support, promote, and improve the worldwide sign and visual communications industry, which employs more than 200,000 American workers and has an economic impact of $37.5 billion. About ISA International Sign Expo ISA International Sign Expo is the on-premise sign and graphics industry's largest expo. Held each spring, the event features the latest products that showcase the breadth of the industry along with education and networking events. The event has been named to the Trade Show News Network's List of Top 250 Trade Shows and ranked in the Top 100 Largest Events by Trade Show Executive three consecutive years. Learn more at www.signexpo.org . View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fastsigns-internationals-ross-cartwright-one-of-37-selected-to-join-international-sign-associations-elite-program-for-emerging-leaders-300829913.html SOURCE FASTSIGNS International, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Zurich Insurance Group and CoverWallet Launch Online Platform for Small and Medium-Enterprise Insurance in Switzerland Zurich Insurance Group (VTX:ZURN), one of the largest global insurance companies, and CoverWallet, the tech company that is the easiest way to understand, buy, and manage business insurance online, today launched a platform for small and medium-enterprise (SME) insurance in Switzerland. The expansion marks the second European country where the online platform is available, building on the momentum of the release in Spain in 2018. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005565/en/ ZurichBusinessInsurance.ch is available in Italian, French, German, and English. (Graphic: Business Wire) "Thanks to the partnership with CoverWallet, we offer small businesses a new type of easy-to-deal with online insurance coverage. Our target group are micro-enterprises and startups, which usually lack the time and resources to deal with the topic of insurance protection," said Juan Beer, CEO Zurich Insurance in Switzerland. Through the platform, which is powered by CoverWallet and offers Zurich's insurance policies, SMEs can quickly learn about the types of coverage they need, get real-time quotes, purchase insurance, and manage their policies online, in minutes. Following the launch in Spain, Zurich deepened its relationship with CoverWallet in May 2018 and invested in the company, acquiring a minrity stake. "Zurich is one of the most renowned insurance companies in the world, and our partnership underscores the value they see in making small business insurance available online," said Inaki Berenguer, CEO and Co-Founder of CoverWallet. "The partnership in Spain exceeded our goals, and we are excited to expand into additional countries to make insurance easier for businesses around the world." As CoverWallet continues to grow, the company is also announcing Courtney Leimkuhler has joined its Board of Directors. Leimkuhler was an executive at Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) from 2013 to 2017, serving as the CFO and interim COO of Marsh as well as the CFO of the Risk and Insurance Services segment. Prior to joining Marsh in 2013, she spent nearly a decade at the New York Stock Exchange where she was Executive Vice President and Head of Corporate Strategy during a period of transformation in the capital markets. Leimkuhler began her career at Goldman Sachs and earned her bachelor's degree and MBA from Harvard University. "There are tremendous opportunities in the insurance industry today driven by the application of new data science and technology. CoverWallet is seizing this opportunity and dramatically modernizing how small business insurance gets done," said Leimkuhler. "I'm looking forward to working with the team as they continue to scale their technology platform, grow CoverWallet for Agents, and expand internationally." For more information about the platform in Switzerland, which is available in German, Italian, English, and French, please visit www.zurichbusinessinsurance.ch. About Zurich Insurance Group Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) is a leading multi-line insurer that serves its customers in global and local markets. With about 53,000 employees, it provides a wide range of property and casualty, and life insurance products and services in more than 210 countries and territories. Zurich's customers include individuals, small businesses, and mid-sized and large companies, as well as multinational corporations. The Group is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, where it was founded in 1872. The holding company, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd (ZURN), is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and has a level I American Depositary Receipt (ZURVY) program, which is traded over-the-counter on OTCQX. Further information about Zurich is available at www.zurich.com. About CoverWallet CoverWallet is the leading tech company reinventing the $100 billion U.S. commercial insurance market for small businesses. Based in New York and launched in 2016, it has received more than $35 million in funding from renowned investors including Union Square Ventures, Index Ventures, Two Sigma, and Foundation Capital, as well as Zurich Insurance Group and Starr Companies. Powered by deep analytics, thoughtful design, and state-of-the-art technology, the company is the easiest way for small businesses to understand, buy, and manage insurance online. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005565/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Clean Water Here UN World Water Day Social Voice Tops 650 Million People DENVER, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Clean Water Here social-media initiative to promote safe drinking water was launched on March 22, 2019, celebrating UN Water World Water Day. The overall social-media voice of the campaign exceeded 650 million people. Thanks to the support of Ellen DeGeneres, Pitbull, Kesha, Red Hot Chili Peppers, LL Cool J, Ryan Seacrest, Angela Bassett, Sia, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, Seal, Niall Horan, Daddy Yankee, Cyndi Lauper, Hailee Steinfeld, Andra Day, Christina Ochoa, Alessandra Ambrosio, Yolanda Adams, Pentatonix, Eric Paslay, Carlos Vives, Eve, Robin Thicke, Sasha Pieterse Sheaffer, Sabrina Carpenter, Eric Balfour Julianne Hough, and Little Big Town, this campaign encouraged and empowered the public to lend their social voices to help people understand the nature and scope of the global water crisis by promoting safe drinking water in the United States and abroad on UN World Water Day. "I want to thank the celebrities and the public who used their influence through social media to support Clean Water Here," said Lani Dolifka, Founder of Clean Water Here and President/CEO of Watermill Express. "Solving the world's water crisis is a universal concern. Nearly 1,000 children still die every day of waterborne illness. If this statistic was related to famine, disease, or war, the general public would be demanding solutions," said Dolifka. Clean Water Here is focused on improving the world's acces to sustainable safe drinking water by raising awareness, supporting research and education, and advocating for underserved communities in the US and abroad. Research indicates worldwide risks are associated with unregulated contaminants, infrastructure, sanitation, and universal and equitable access for all. As implementing partner, World Vision is the world's largest non-governmental provider of clean water in the developing world. "World Vision is thankful to Clean Water Here, the many celebrities, and the public who participated in the successful campaign, to shine a spotlight on the need for clean water both here in the US and abroad during World Water Day," said Greg Allgood, Vice President of World Vision. ABOUT: CLEAN WATER HERE Founded by Watermill Express Co-Founder Lani Dolifka, Clean Water Here's mission is to improve the world's access to sustainable safe drinking water by raising awareness, supporting research & education, and advocating for underserved communities in the US and abroad. For more information visit www.cleanwaterhere.org UN WORLD WATER DAY World Water Day has been observed since 1993 when the United Nations General Assembly declared March 22 as the annual "World Day for Water." Coordinated by UN Water in support of the 193 member states of the UN, this day is devoted to implementing recommendations and promoting concrete activities within their countries regarding the world's water resources. In addition to the UN member states, a number of NGOs promoting clean water leverage World Water Day as a time to focus public attention on the critical water issues facing the world. For more information visit www.worldwaterday.org UN-WATER UN-Water is the United Nations inter-agency coordination mechanism for all freshwater related issues, including sanitation. Building on a long history of coordination in the UN System, UN-Water was formalized in 2003 by the United Nations High Level Committee on Programmes. It provides the platform to address the cross-cutting nature of water and maximize system-wide coordinated action and coherence. UN-Water promotes coherence in, and coordination of, UN system actions aimed at the implementation of the agenda defined by the Millennium Declaration and the World Summit on Sustainable Development as it relates to its scope of work. For more information visit www.unwater.org WORLD VISION World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision is the largest non-governmental provider of clean water in the developing world reaching one new person with clean water every 30 second. A recent UNC study showed water wells in Ghana continued to function at high levels even after 20 years. For more information, visit www.WorldVision.org View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/clean-water-here-un-world-water-day-social-voice-tops-650-million-people-300828453.html SOURCE Clean Water Here [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Global Radar Level Transmitters Market Will Grow at USD 210 Million During 2019-2023 | Technavio Technavio has announced the release of their research report on the global radar level transmitters marker for the forecast period 2019-2023. This global radar level transmitters market analysis report segments the market by end-user (oil and gas, chemical and petrochemicals, water and wastewater treatment, food and beverages, power, and other end-users) and by geography (APAC, Europe, MEA, North America, and South America). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005520/en/ The global radar level transmitters market will grow at a CAGR of nearly 5% during the period 2019-2023. (Graphic: Business Wire) Global radar level transmitters market size will grow by USD 210.51 million during 2019-2023, at a CAGR of nearly 5%. The growing need for an uninterrupted flow of information even in remote places is driving the demand for wireless radar level transmitters. These transmitters come equipped with Bluetooth connectivity and improved battery life. Many vendors are providing such wireless radar level transmitters to power the industries. For example, Emerson (News - Alert) Electric recently launched Rosemount 3308 GWR Wireless Level Transmitter. The transmitter can transmit readings and set parameters such as the data update rate and other functions remotely. Such emerging trends among vendors are expected to increase the demand for the wireless radar level transmitters during the forecast period. Request for a free sample and get illustrations, table of contents, list of exhibits, and example pages from this report span >Increased focus toward accuracy and reliability in level measurement process Accuracy and reliability of measurement are the significant challenges faced by both mechanical and electrical measurement devices. Most of these devices are insensible to change in dielectric constant and require frequent calibration. The NC radar and GWR level transmitters are immune to dust, vapor, and overcome the challenges faced by other electric measurement devices. They require low calibration and have high accuracy that make them suitable for level measurement in end-user industries. The increasing focus toward accuracy and reliability in level measurement processes will drive the growth of the global radar level transmitters market. "The radar level transmitters market will witness a massive growth in the APAC region. Increased expansion of food and beverage companies in the region has increased the use of automated level gauging solutions. In Europe, the increasing cross-border pipeline projects to supply oil and natural gas has led to a rise in the demand for radar level transmitters. Furthermore, there are plans to expand the pipeline network in Europe to supply natural gas. Many such advancements across geographies will fuel the growth of global radar level transmitters market over the forecast period," says an analyst at Technavio. Many chemical and petrochemical companies are investing heavily to expand their business. For instance, Mitsubishi (News - Alert) Gas Chemical recently announced its plan to build two hydrogen peroxide plants in Oregon and Texas. The plant will have an annual capacity of 70,000 tons. Cargill, a leading F&B company, has announced its plan to build a new HM pectin production in Brazil. These factors are expected to increase the demand for radar level transmitters. View snapshot of the report for a more detailed overview of the market and the segmentation covered in this report This global radar level transmitters market industry research report provides an in-depth analysis of the primary drivers, upcoming trends, and challenges that will impact market growth over the forecast period. The report analyzes the competitive landscape and offers details on several radar level transmitter manufacturers including - ABB Emerson Electric Co. Endress+Hauser Management AG Siemens (News - Alert) VEGA Grieshaber KG Some of the key topics covered in the report include: Market Landscape Market ecosystem Market characteristics Market segmentation analysis Market Sizing Market definition Market size and forecast Five Forces Analysis Market Segmentation Geographical Segmentation Regional comparison Key leading countries Market Drivers Market Challenges Market Trends Vendor Landscape Vendors covered Vendor classification Market positioning of vendors Competitive scenario About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. Technavio's report library consists of more than 10,000 reports covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. Please contact our media team at [email protected] for more information. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005520/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Sandhills Publishing to Host Parts Forum on April 17th in Lincoln, Nebraska LINCOLN, Neb., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Sandhills Publishing, the Nebraska-based tech company behind such brands as Machinery Trader, TractorHouse, and Truck Paper, will host a dealer forum for equipment and parts dealers from across the country on April 17th. The forum will include presentations, round table discussions, and one-on-one consultations focused on providing dealers with strategies for improving online visibility, enhancing customer engagement, and increasing parts sales. The forum will be held at the global headquarters for Sandhills Publishing in Lincoln, Nebraska. Presentation topics will include building high-traction parts listings, the benefits of using premium websites and e-commerce storefronts, implementing marketing best practices, streamlining payment processing, and leveraging Sandhills' proprietary platforms and tools to increase traffic and drive more sales. Dealers can also participate in one-on-one consultations focused on building premium websites, understanding search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) in action, using integrated financial and payment solutions to benefit customers and increase sales, capitalizing on e-commerce, increasing customer engagement with in-store kiosks, using the Fast Track Parts Network, and many more. "The most successful equipment and parts dealers are always looking for new and innovative ways to reach more customers and improve sales," says Fast Track Parts Sales Manager Kirby Cunningham. "This forum provides an excellent opportunity to learn more about new technologies and solutions that will help them stay ahead of their competitors and increase revenue in entirely new ways." Register for the upcoming dealer forum through your Sandhills sales rep, or by contacting Sandhills directly. About Sandhills Publishing Sandhills Publishing is an information processing company headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. Our products and services gather, process, and distribute information in the form of trade publications, websites, and online services that connect buyers and sellers across the trucking, agriculture, construction, heavy equipment, aviation, and technology industries. Our integrated, industry-specific approach to hosted technologies and services offers solutions that help businesses large and small operate efficiently and grow securely, cost-effectively, and successfully. Sandhills Publishingwe are the cloud. Contact Sandhills www.Sandhills.com [email protected] (402) 479-2181 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sandhills-publishing-to-host-parts-forum-on-april-17th-in-lincoln-nebraska-300829916.html SOURCE Sandhills Publishing Company [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] CentralSquare to Showcase First Turnkey, Cloud-Based Public Administration Software Solution for Mid-Tier Government at National Planning Conference CentralSquare, a leader in public sector software, will participate at the American Planning Association's National Planning Conference (NPC), April 13-16, 2019, in San Francisco, CA (News - Alert). Presenting from booth 315, CentralSquare will showcase its Public Administration Enterprise and Pro software suites which include Community Development and Asset Management, among others. "We're pleased to have this opportunity to showcase CentralSquare solutions at this year's National Planning Conference," said Tom Amburgey, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Public Administration at CentralSquare. "As one of the first in the industry to offer our entire public administration suite in the cloud, we're looking forward to connecting with NPC 2019 attendees and showing them how we can help their agencies keep pace with emerging technology while reducing costs, complexity and risk, which creates a significant and measurable impact for citizens." Trusted by communities across the United States and Canada, CentralSquare's products deliver a consistent, fully scalable experience through smart integrations that span across multiple applications both in the cloud and onsite. For example, CentralSquare Public Administration Suite Pro - the world's first end-to-end, cloud-based software for mid-tier government - delivers a unified, end-to-end enterprise suite for finance, asset management, community development, human capital management, municipal services, utilities and citizen engagement. With nearly three quarters of government workloads expected to be in the cloud by 2021, CentralSquare Finance Pro provides numerous benefits, including secure and resilient environments, ongoing and automated updates for leveraging the latest functionality and lower cost of ownership. For example, Tehama County, CA, an early adopter of Finance Pro, gains an extra level of security and reliability by eliminating the need tomaintain potentially vulnerable servers onsite. Additionally, the county saves limited budget dollars with updates that previously were handled by outsourced IT services but are now delivered automatically on an ongoing basis. CentralSquare Community Development, an integral component of Public Administration Suite Pro, smartly embeds analytics for unified business reporting and intelligence across multiple datasets in a single user interface. Additionally, a smart workflow engine automates projects completely through the flow of operations-from application to inspection to documentation to results. Powered with a GIS-centric database, the software enables users to visualize where activity is happening within the community by creating a project or permit directly from the map, which results in faster permit turnaround time-nearly 70 percent faster in some cases. Also available as part of Public Administration Suite Pro, Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software helps local governments understand which physical assets they own and need repair, how the assets are performing, how long they will last and how much it costs to replace or renew them. This helps agencies to understand the full scope and lifecycle of their assets so they avoid costly spikes in unplanned expenditures and build capital improvement plans for the long term. In two specific examples, for every dollar increase in preventive maintenance spending, the Department of Nebraska Roads is saving more than $50 in reactive maintenance, resulting in savings of more than $3.6 million on breakdown costs in one year. Similarly, in Volusia County, FL, operational efficiencies supported by EAM software have saved the county $30 million since 2008. With their organizational procedures and citizen-service delivery transformed by these CentralSquare solutions, local governments have the tools they need to create safer, smarter communities. CentralSquare encourages conference attendees to visit booth number 315 for personal demonstrations and to engage with company leadership and subject matter experts. About CentralSquare Formed by the merger of Superion, TriTech along with Zuercher, and the public sector and healthcare business of Aptean, CentralSquare Technologies is an industry leader in public safety and public administration software, serving over 7,500 organizations from the largest metropolitan city to counties and towns of every size across North America. Its technology platform provides solutions for public safety, including 911, computer-aided dispatch, records management, mobile, citations, evidence management, and corrections. For public administration agencies, CentralSquare provides software for finance, human capital management, payroll, utility billing, citizen engagement, asset management, regulatory compliance, and community development. For hospitals and clinicians, it provides patient information, compliance, and analytics software. CentralSquare's broad, unified and agile software suite serves 3 in 4 citizens across North America. More information is available at www.CentralSquare.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005588/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Physician-researcher awarded federal grant to bridge evidence and practice for clinicians via electronic medical record MANHASSET, N.Y., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The US Department of Health & Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has awarded Thomas G. McGinn, MD, MPH, with a three-year, $1.14 million grant for a clinical decision support (CDS) system that reduces frontline providers' complications and frustrations. While clinical decision support has been widely available for years, healthcare providers have not adopted it widely because the systems are unwieldy and time-consuming for practitioners who are trying to access personalized clinical information and guidance in the real-time setting of patient encounters. For more than a decade, Dr. McGinn, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research professor and Northwell Health senior vice president and deputy physician-in-chief, and his team at the Feinstein Institute's Center for Health Innovations and Outcomes Research (CHIOR) have been studying, testing, and disseminating CDS in electronic health records. They focus on clinical prediction rules (CPRs), a form of CDS that uses a variety of data, mechanisms, and patient-specific information to calculate patient-specific probabilities. CPRs increase diagnostic accuracy, reduce unnecessary testing and treatment, and enhance quality and safety. To date, however, critical variations in electronic health record systems between and even within institutions have severely limited dissemination of CDS and its adoption into provider workflow. The CDS system under development by CHIOR builds on widely validated CPRs for detecting blood clots in the lungs and for bleeding risk in hospitalized patients. The system's ability to impact care in emergency medicine and inpatient medical care settings will be assessed. "When available at the point of care, clinical decision support allows physicians to blend medical acumen and evidence in real time," said Dr. McGinn, who also oversees Northwell's medicine programs and service line. "With AHRQ's support, we can design a system that targets and triggers the appropriate clinical prediction rules for the right people, at the right moment, incorporating patient-specific information and bringing evidence-based medicine directly to the point of care." In December 2018, Safiya Richardson, MD, MPH, an assistant professor at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and junior faculty researcher at the Feinstein Institute mentored by Dr. McGinn at CHIOR, was awarded a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to support her work in creating tools that help doctors make evidence-based clinical decisions. In the project's initial phase, Dr. Richardson will develop tool prototypes and test these with doctors. "Evidence based medicine is the best medicine," said Kevin J. Tracey, MD, president and CEO of the Feinstein Institute. "Dr. McGinn's work advances this field by using the vast clinical information technology here at Northwell." Dr. McGinn will be working closely with his co-investigators, including Sundas Khan, MD, administrative manager for research, and Jeffrey Solomon, Northwell's director of project clinical information systems. Northwell's key internal collaborators will include Michael Oppenheim, MD, VP and chief medical information officer, and John Chelico, MD, chief research information officer. This project is funded under grant number R18 HS 026196 from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), US Department of Health and Human Services. About the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research The research arm of Northwell Health, the Feinstein Institute is home to 50 research laboratories and to clinical research throughout dozens of hospitals and outpatient facilities. Its 4,000 researchers and staff are making breakthroughs in molecular medicine, genetics, oncology, brain research, mental health, autoimmunity, and bioelectronic medicine a new field of science that has the potential to revolutionize medicine. For more information about how we empower imagination and pioneer discovery, visit FeinsteinInstitute.org. About Northwell Health Northwell Health is New York State's largest healthcare provider and private employer, with 23 hospitals, nearly 700 outpatient facilities, and almost 15,000 affiliated physicians. We care for over two million people annually in the New York metro area and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Our 68,000 employees include more than 16,000 nurses and 4,000 employed doctors. In addition to making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, we're training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Graduate Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu. Contact: David Robbins 516-465-8325 [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/physician-researcher-awarded-federal-grant-to-bridge-evidence-and-practice-for-clinicians-via-electronic-medical-record-300829937.html SOURCE The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] INVESTIGATION REMINDER: The Schall Law Firm Announces it is Investigating Claims Against The Boeing Company and Encourages Investors with Losses in Excess of $100,000 to Contact the Firm The Schall Law Firm, a national shareholder rights litigation firm, announces that it is investigating claims on behalf of investors of The Boeing (News - Alert) Company ("Boeing" or "the Company") (NYSE: BA) for violations of 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The investigation focuses on whether the Company issued false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose information pertinent to investors. Following the October 2018 crash of a Boeing 737 Max 8 airplane operated by Lion Air, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled ''Boeing Withheld Information on 737 Model, According to Safety Experts and Others," whic alleged that the Company ''withheld information about potential hazards associated with a new flight-control feature suspected of playing a role in last month's fatal Lion Air jet crash." Over the next 11 days, Boeing's stock fell by 12.5%. A second 737 Max 8 crash involving an Ethiopian Airlines plane on March 10, 2019, results in further significant drops in the stock. On March 13, 2019, the FAA ordered all Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 9 planes to be grounded in the United States, and the planes were grounded by authorities in many other countries as well. If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate. We also encourage you to contact Brian Schall, or Sherin Mahdavian, of the Schall Law Firm, 1880 Century Park East, Suite 404, Los Angeles, CA (News - Alert) 90067, at 424-303-1964, to discuss your rights free of charge. You can also reach us through the firm's website at www.schallfirm.com, or by email at [email protected]. The class in this case has not yet been certified, and until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. If you choose to take no action, you can remain an absent class member. The Schall Law Firm represents investors around the world and specializes in securities class action lawsuits and shareholder rights litigation. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and rules of ethics. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005639/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Expedient Wins VMware 2018 Regional Partner Innovation Award PITTSBURGH, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Expedient today announced that it has received the 2018 VMware Partner Innovation Award for Americas Regional Cloud Partner of the Year. Expedient was recognized at VMware Partner Leadership Summit 2019, held in Carlsbad, CA. "We congratulate Expedient on winning the Partner Innovation Award for Americas Regional Cloud Partner of the Year category, and look forward to our continued collaboration and innovation," said Jenni Flinders, vice president, Worldwide Channel Chief, VMware. "VMware and our partners will continue to empower organizations of all sizes with technologies that enable digital transformation." "We are thrilled to be honored as VMware's Americas Regional Cloud Partner of the Year," said Bryan Smith, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for Expedient. "This recognition underscores Expedient's business and technology commitments to VMware, including our development and deployment of Expedient's Enterprise Cloud platform, which leverages VMware vSAN, vCloud Director, NSX and vRealize Operations Suite, as well as the increased year over year growth in Expedient's VMware practice in 2018; and our recent achievement of the VMware Cloud Verified designation, enabling hybrid cloud architecture. We look forward to our continued VMware relationship and the value it provides to our clients in their business transformation pursuits." Recipients of an Americas VMware Partner Innovation Award were acknowledged in 11 categories for their outstanding performance and distinctive achievements during 2018. Americas Partner of the Year Award categories included: Cloud Distribution Emerging Markets Hyperconverged Infrastructure Solution Mobility Management Solution Network Virtualization Solution Partner of the Year Services Solutions VMware Cloud on AWS Solution VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud Solution About VMware Partner Leadership Summit 2019 VMware Partner Leadership Summit 2019 offered VMware partners the opportunity to engage with VMware executives and industry peers to explore business opportunities, customer use cases, solution practices, and partnering best practices. As an invitation-only event, it provided partners with resources to develop and execute comprehensive go-to-market plans. About Expedient Expedient helps companies transform their IT operations through award-winning cloud solutions and managed services including disaster recovery, security and compliance, and more. Acknowledged in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Disaster Recovery as a Service and ranked as one of the Top 10 managed services providers worldwide on the Channel Futures MSP 501 list, Expedient's converged solutions enable clients to focus on strategic business innovation, while the Expedient team handles operation of the information technology needed to support it. In addition to its headquarters and two data centers in Pittsburgh, PA, Expedient operates data centers in six additional cities, including Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; Cleveland, OH; Columbus, OH; Indianapolis, IN and Memphis, TN. Expedient data centers are compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as well as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Service Organization Control (SOC) reports are published annually for all locations. Learn more at expedient.com. VMware, VMware Cloud, VMware SD-WAN, and VeloCloud are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other jurisdictions. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/expedient-wins-vmware-2018-regional-partner-innovation-award-300829987.html SOURCE Expedient [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Copper Deepens Strategic Google Partnership with the Release of G Suite Add-ons SAN FRANCISCO, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Copper , a Google Cloud-recommended CRM for G Suite, announced today it's deepening its strategic partnership with Google Cloud and is now offering rich functionality and recommendations in emails, documents and calendars via the recently announced G Suite Add-ons. Copper is the first CRM that enables productivity and collaboration across teams so selling and relationships can be easier. This news is timed with Google Cloud Next '19 and marks the next step in Copper's four-year collaboration with Google Cloud. Copper's integrations with Google have deepened over the years to include: Data Studio, SaaS Alignment Program, plug ins with Gmail , Docs , Hangouts Chat and more. Copper organizes all customer data to make it useful and accessible in G Suite so that all employees can collaborate and build better customer relationships. Copper operates natively within G Suite so that users never have to leave Gmail or interrupt their everyday workflow, thereby eliminating the tedious, time-consuming data entry that causes sales and marketing teams to abandon CRM deployments. "This marks our continued efforts to provide a CRM system where users can collaborate, share and invite others to access important customer data in real time," said Morgan Norman, Chief Marketing Officer at Copper. "We're continuously looking for ways to empower users with automated data entry and collaboration opportunities when it comes to managing important customer relationships and data." Copper recently made the move to Google Cloud Platform and has the tools and infrastructure to scale globally with more than 12,000 customers in 110 countries. Copper is continuing to add more machine learning and AI-driven features in its products that boost productivity and user experience. "Creating great customer experiences has become a crucial source of differentiation for any business. Companies that understand this also realize that to do so, they must do more than manage customer data," said Nicole France, Principal Analyst & VP at Constellation Research, Inc. "They need to equip their employees with the tools and information that enable them to make the best decisions to serve customers. As a result, we're seeing a convergence of collaboration and workflow tools with CRM and customer information systems. Putting the right information in context for employees, at the right moment in time, forms the foundation of insight-driven experience design, and that's what powers great experiences." For more information visit: https://www.copper.com/blog/g-suite-addon . About Copper Copper is the CRM that works for you. A recommended CRM for G Suite by Google Cloud, Copper puts the productivity of its users first by providing a seamless integration with G Suite, a beautiful user experience, and by helping teams and businesses build long-lasting relationships. Copper services more than 12,000 paid businesses in more than 100 countries. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company has raised $87M in venture capital financing from leading investors like GV, NextWorld Capital, Norwest Ventures and True Ventures. For more information or to sign up for a free trial, visit www.copper.com. Stay in touch on Twitter: @CopperInc Media Contact [email protected] View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/copper-deepens-strategic-google-partnership-with-the-release-of-g-suite-add-ons-300829773.html SOURCE Copper [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] WhistlePig Rye Whiskey Obtains Additional $55 Million Revolving Line of Credit From JPMorgan Chase WhistlePig, the No. 1 distiller in the fast growing, ultra-premium and luxury rye whiskey category,1 today announced that it received a $55 million revolving line of credit from JPMorgan Chase, extending the existing $40 million line with JPMorgan Chase, which was received in April 2018. The credit facility will provide the company with incremental funding to accelerate the production and aging of premium rye whiskey. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005672/en/ WhistlePig Rye Whiskey (Photo: Business Wire) "We're excited to extend our strong relationship with JPMorgan's talented credit and beverage banking teams. This credit facility will allow us to further scale our business," said Alex Roberts, WhistlePig's Chief Financial Officer. The credit facility will support all aspects of WhistlePig's business, in addition to increasing the company's production capabilities. The company is building new warehouse facilities, which will increase its in-house storage capacity. "This additional investment comes at an exciting time for WhistlePig. Our company continues to lead the resurgence of the ultra-premium and luxury rye whiskey category, we look forward to continuing to introduce new products and innovate across the category," says WhistlePig CEO, Jeff Kozak. Most recently, WhistlePig debuted PiggyBack Rye Whiskey to the US market. Several years in the making by WhistlePig's celebrated Master Distiller, Dave Pickerell, alongside WhistlePig's Master Blender, Pete Lynch, PiggyBack comes in at a more accessible price-point. WhistlePig will expand and bolster its involvement in events, sponsorships, and activations on both a regional and national level. PiggyBack will be supported in the market via an all-encompassing marketing campaign, under the tagline "Together We Ryed." "WhistlePig has been a valued partner since 2017. We have had the opportunity to work closely with management, understand their needs and find solutions to best achieve their goals," said Vernon Studer, Executive Director at JPMorgan Chase. "Given our robust industry expertise and Investment Banking coverage, we have become a trusted partner, while providing treasury services and ongoing working capital support. We were thrilled to provide this latest round of growth capital. We are fortunate to be able to partner with WhistlePig, and help support their continued growth." About WhistlePig Founded in 2008, WhistlePig is the premier aged rye whiskey, featuring the bold and often untapped flavor of rye. WhistlePig is leading a surge of innovation in the emerging field of North American whiskey. As the most decorated rye whiskey - having received the coveted 'Best in Show Whiskey' title from the 2017 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, WhistlePig is widely viewed as the world's finest Rye. With the opening of its distillery on its 500-acre Vermont farm in the fall of 2015, WhistlePig has also become one of the leading farm-to-bottle rye whiskeys in the world. www.whistlepigrye.com (1) Ultra-premium and luxury rye category defined as all rye whiskies in the U.S. sold at $75 or higher per 0.75L bottle at retail (Source (News - Alert): IWSR 2016) View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005672/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] RES Receives Two Project Merit Awards from EBJ Environmental Business Journal (EBJ), a strategic business intelligence provider to the environmental industry, has honored RES and its partners with two awards for Project Merit, Natural Resource Management, for 2018. The awards recognize two separate ecological restoration projects. The first project, funded by global energy firm BHP, restored a coastal marsh that serves as part of the natural infrastructure protecting a vulnerable community in southern Louisiana from future storm surges. Envisioned and implemented by RES, in partnership with the America's WETLAND Foundation (AWF), the BHP Terrebonne Biodiversity and Resiliency Projects comprise two sites, located alongside a local levee system, where saltwater intrusion had destroyed the original bald cypress forest. The projects provide resiliency to Terrebonne Parish citizens by protecting and stabilizing the levee systems. RES restored 125 wetland acres in total, including creating 2.25 miles of marsh terraces, planting 35,000 bald cypress trees and conducting invasive species management. Benefits to the local community include an estimated annual economic value of $1.2 million, as well as carbon sequestration, improved water quality (phosphorus/nitrogen reductions), enhanced biodiversity, and community awareness via planting events and updates. Project details are discussed in the project overview and volunteer planting day videos. "BHP believes that giving back to the communities where we operate is a key factor in doing business," Myron Protz, BHP Gulf of Mexico General Manager, said. "Through this project, we know that strengthening the ecosystem provides a wide range of benefits at a time when te region is challenged and needs the cooperation of all sectors." For the second project, RES leveraged its site selection and restoration expertise in challenging environments to produce compensatory mitigation complemented by land donation, in coordination with local environmental stakeholders, achieving large-scale, perpetual conservation in Louisiana's Maurepas Swamp. The Maurepas Swamp has been a priority area for Louisiana conservationists, having been in decline since the 1930s, when the area was heavily logged for cypress timber. RES developed permittee-responsible mitigation (PRM) sites comprising 7,511.6 acres of critical habitat in support of the Maurepas Pipeline project. Portions of the project crossed the Maurepas Swamp Wildlife Management Area (MSWMA), owned and managed by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. RES preserved some 6,793 acres and enhanced 475 acres of bottomland hardwood habitat. The project also enhanced and preserved more than 166 acres of cypress/tupelo swamp. This afforded RES the opportunity to coordinate with multiple stakeholders in support of area conservation priorities, and to donate thousands of fully protected acres to the State of Louisiana for incorporation into the MSWMA for public use. "RES is excited to do its part as restoration projects enter into the mix of corporate social responsibility efforts," says Elliott Bouillion, CEO for RES. "BHP really stepped up to support the Terrebonne Parish coastal resiliency plan, and we were delighted to be their implementation partner." "The Maurepas Swamp project was gratifying for us, because we believe every mitigation opportunity is also a chance to magnify the overall gains for a regional ecosystem," Bouillion continued. "We are always seeking sites for mitigation that adjoin areas already under conservation. In this case, we were able to donate land to achieve this broader benefit." About RES RES is the nation's only fully scaled operating company providing ecological restoration and water resource solutions to the public and private sector. Its unique operating-company model is scaled to cover the project lifecycle from end to end, all with in-house teams and project financing capacity. RES delivers turnkey, land-based projects that build natural resilience into ecosystems, enabling them to thrive in step with economic growth. For more information, visit www.res.us. About the EBJ Business Achievement Awards: In October-December 2018, Environmental Business Journal solicited nominations for the EBJ Business Achievement Awards. Nominations were accepted in 200-word essays in specific categories. Final awards were determined by a committee of EBJ editorial advisory board members. (Disclaimer: company audits were not conducted to verify information or claims submitted with nominations) About EBI: Founded in 1988, Environmental Business International Inc. (San Diego, Calif.) is a research, publishing, and consulting company that specializes in defining emerging markets and generating strategic market intelligence for companies, investors and policymakers. EBI publishes Environmental Business Journal and Climate Change Business Journal. EBI also performs contract research for the government and private sector and founded the Environmental Industry Summit Series, four annual conferences event for executives in the environmental industry. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005680/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Hungary Animation, VFX & Games Markets, 2018-2020 DUBLIN, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Hungary Animation, VFX & Games Industry: Strategies, Trends & Opportunities" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Istvn Kat Kiszly created the first animated cutout cartoon in 1914, named Zsirb dn. The next film Kat Kiszly directed was Rme s Jlia in 1921. Key animation schools such as Jaschik School played a key role in animation training in fine and applied arts. In Hungary, the animation studio Pannnia Film Studios was known internationally as one of the five major cartoon studios world-wide at the end of 1970s. The greatest changes to the industry came in 1990 with the withdrawal of state support for the country's largest studio, the Pannnia Film Stdi. This, along with the newfound access to a free market, provided the impetus for many Hungarian animators who had worked with the company to branch off and form studios of their own. In 1992, Magyar Rajzfilm was formed, establishing connections between the European Union's media program and Hungarian animation studios. The Hungarian games market is growing at a fast pace and revenues touched US$ 115 million in 2018. The total value of Hungarian games industry was US$ 115 million in 2018 and is projected to reach US$ 139 million by 2020. Key Topics Covered: European Animation Industry DEMAND FOR TV CONTENT Feature Film Industy in Europe MARKETING AND MERCHANDISING Trends in Europe COLLABORATION AMONG EUROPEAN STUDIOS DRIVERS FOR SUCCESS ANIMATION COST STRUCTURES IN EUROPE Animation Movie Budgets in Europe Strategies and Models for Animation financing in Europe ANIMATION FUNDING AGENCIES CENTRALISED ANIMATION FUNDING AGENCIES IN EUROPE Television Series Development in Europe PITCHING TELEVISION SERIES TO BROADCASTERS Copyright Chain in Europe Co-Production Strategies in Europe CONTRACTUAL ISSUES KEY RIGHTS IN CO-PRODUCTION AGREEMENTS CO-PRODUCTIONS AND OUTSOURCING Distribution Strategies in Europe PRODUCER-DISTRIBUTOR CO-FINANCING PATTERNS 3D Market in Europe ADVANTAGES OF 3D DISADVANTAGES OF 3D Industry Constraints and Challenges Market size of European Animation, VFX & Games industry Animation Content demand by TV Channels in Europe European Animation & VFX industry Market Size European Games industry Market Size Animation, VFX & Games industry in Hungary Value of Animation Industry in Hungary Size of Animation Industry in Hungary Government Support Industry in Transition CO-PRODUCTIONS FULL LENGTH FILMS NATIONAL FILM FUND Video Games Industry in Hungary KEY TRENDS IN THE HUNGARIAN VIDEO GAMES INDUSTRY HUNGARIAN VIDEO GAMES INDUSTRY STRUCTURE VIDEO GAME BUSINESS MODELS IN HUNGARY ONLINE VIDEO GAMING BUSINESS MODELS IN HUNGARY HUNGARIAN VIDEO GAMES INDUSTRY VALUE CHAIN MOBILE GAMES INDUSTRY VALUE CHAIN IN HUNGARY Key Opportunities & Strategies for Hungarian Video Games Industry Video Games Market Segments in Hungary MOBILE VIDEO GAMES SEGMENTS & GENRES IN HUNGARY Hungarian Video Games Market Size & Opportunity Companies Mentioned Magyar Rajzfilm Pannnia Film Studios For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ln5exw Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact: Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hungary-animation-vfx--games-markets-2018-2020-300829932.html SOURCE Research and Markets [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Genesys Extends Google Cloud Contact Center AI Integration Across All Three Customer Experience Platforms SAN FRANCISCO, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Genesys ( www.genesys.com ), a global leader in omnichannel customer experience and contact center solutions , is enabling businesses using any of its platforms Genesys PureEngage, PureConnect and PureCloud to integrate with Google Cloud Contact Center AI beginning this quarter. Differentiated by native telephony, omnichannel orchestration and agent desktop offerings, Genesys provides businesses the rare advantage to implement bots and automation using Google Cloud Contact Center AI without introducing the complexity of third-party integrations. The company is already working with existing customers running on each of its platforms to integrate Google Cloud Contact Center AI, including a leading global ridesharing company, one of the world's top five largest automobile manufacturers and a Fortune 500 U.S. department store. As showcased last year at Google Cloud Next '18 , Genesys was one of the first partners to integrate with Google Cloud Contact Center AI. Genesys is now helping multiple enterprise-level organizations leverage this technology through its early adopter program . In fact, Genesys is one of the only vendors to support an integratedend-to-end Google Cloud Contact Center AI solution for small, medium and large enterprises across both cloud and on-premises deployments. "The launch of Google Cloud Contact Center AI was a game-changer for the industry," said Paul Lasserre, vice president of product management for artificial intelligence (AI), Genesys. "Businesses leveraging Genesys solutions have already identified hundreds of use cases for this powerful technology to provide holistic value across marketing, sales and services contexts." The Genesys integration with Google Cloud Contact Center AI enables AI-powered virtual assistants to intuitively handle routine calls and chats or escalate an interaction to an employee when needed. Lasserre added, "Now any business using our customer experience platform can easily put their AI strategy in motion leveraging Google Cloud and Genesys. Our AI capabilities, including Predictive Routing, coupled with Google Cloud Contact Center AI enables businesses to better support employees and care for customers." "Contact Center AI empowers enterprises to use AI to complement and enhance their contact centers," said Rajen Sheth, the director of Product Management for Google. "Google Cloud's goal is to make it as easy as possible for our customers to use AI for contact centers through our relationships with key partners like Genesys." See Google Cloud Contact Center AI and Genesys in action during Google Cloud Next '19 in San Francisco from April 9 to 11. Visit Genesys booth S1723 to learn how to leverage natural language processing to rapidly help customers and employees in real-time. About Genesys Genesys powers more than 25 billion of the world's best customer experiences each year. Our success comes from connecting employee and customer conversations on any channel. Every day, 11,000 companies in more than 100 countries trust our #1 customer experience platform to drive great business outcomes and create lasting relationships. Combining the best of technology and human ingenuity, we build solutions that mirror natural communication and work the way you think. Our industry-leading solutions foster true omnichannel engagement because they perform equally well across channels, on-premises and in the cloud. Experience communication as it should be: fluid, instinctive and profoundly empowering. Visit genesys.com on Twitter , Facebook , YouTube , LinkedIn and the Genesys blog . 2019 Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved. Genesys, the Genesys logo, and Genesys PureCloud are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Genesys. All other company names and logos may be registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies. Media inquiries: Rachel Faulkner Public Relations Director Genesys [email protected] +1 317-715-8109 Adriana Saldana Sterling Communications [email protected] +1 408-395-5500 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/genesys-extends-google-cloud-contact-center-ai-integration-across-all-three-customer-experience-platforms-300830012.html SOURCE Genesys [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Adaptavist positions itself as the largest independent Atlassian Solution Partner committed to digital transformation Adaptavist, an Atlassian (News - Alert) Platinum Solution Partner and Top Marketplace App Vendor, is strengthening its position as the digital transformation industry leader with its increased market footprint, unprecedented portfolio growth, and new partnerships and services. At the Atlassian Summit in Vegas, April 9-11 (booth 1131) Adaptavist will showcase its latest products, services, and partnerships with Atlassian ecosystem heavyweights ALM Works, Riada and Tempo. "The past twelve months have been an incredibly exciting time for Adaptavist. In the past year, we've increased overall revenue 40+ per cent, our employee base by almost 50 per cent, and widened the breadth of our product and services to help our customers gain a competitive edge in the age of perpetual change," explains Simon Haighton-Williams, CEO of Adaptavist. "As digital transformation becomes the new norm across borders, teams, and industries, Adaptavist has leveraged new technology, the concept of continuous integration and cultural disruption to meet the needs of enterprise customers." At Atlassian Summit, Adaptavist will be highlighting: Automation power to the people: Introducing AutoBlocks for Jira AutoBlocks for Jira is Adaptavist's visual, low code tool, based on Google's (News - Alert) open-source Blockly technology, that allows all users of Atlassian tools (business or technical) to create complex automations and customisations to mold Jira to meet their needs. "Automation is critical to modern IT success so we're thrilled AutoBlocks now makes it easy for both technical and non-technical users to tap into the power of automation and enable agile workflows across the entire company running on Atlassian," says Joff Redfern, VP of Product at Atlassian. "It's great to see top Marketplace vendors team up, think customer-first, and solve challenges together. This open and collaborative approach shows how Atlassian's culture transcends into its thriving ecosystem." In the spirit of DevOps and continuous integration, Adaptavist has partnered with leading Atlassian Marketplace vendors, ALM Works, Tempo and Riada to enable the use of this powerful technology with other apps that have a presence across Atlassian's customer base. "We are happy to support our long-time partner, Adaptavist, in their effort to make automation simpler and accessible to a larger audience," says Igor Sereda, CEO, ALM Works. "Our app, Structure for Jira, is perfectly fit for integration with AutoBlocks. The combination should provide greater flexibility for sers and enable a wider range of solutions for our customers." "When it comes to providing better customer experience and remaining on the forefront of innovation, we at Tempo are glad to have Adaptavist as partners to spearhead that movement," adds Ingi Brown, Project Management Lead at Tempo. "We are always aiming to make things easier for our customers and Autoblocks can provide an easier way for our customers to tailor the Insight automation framework. We're therefore looking forward to work with Adaptavist to enable Autoblocks for Insight," says Tommy Nordahl, CEO at Riada. Disruptive digital transformation offerings to be showcased at Atlassian Summit VisualScript Studio launches to provide data visualisation for Jira and Confluence. Now development teams can track and create visual reports and dashboards to see complex relationships and create transparency across departments. And customers are already finding value. "We have always used a physical whiteboard to visualise team structure, sprints dependencies, features and relevant milestones during our Scaled Agile (News - Alert) Program Increment Planning (SAFe planning)," outlines Rob Negus, Director of IT Product Delivery, Delivery Management and Agile CoE at Arm. "VisualScript Studio has provided us with a real-time dashboard in Jira to visualise this data. As a result, we have seen a huge improvement in collaboration and efficiency across globally distributed implementation teams." Introducing best practice-as-a-service to the Atlassian ecosystem Assist is Adaptavist's on-demand Atlassian administration offering, which brings 'best practice-as-a-service' to the Atlassian ecosystem. The service was designed in response to growing demand from customers looking to supplement existing in-house capability or fully outsource day-to-day Jira and Confluence administration. Scaled Agile Framework for Enterprises implementation via the Atlassian toolset Adaptavist is launching a new best practice solution for implementing SAFe with Atlassian tools. This out-of-the-box solution provides the framework for global enterprises to leverage SAFe methodologies and agile development practices. Adaptavist hits many company milestones, experiences unprecedented growth and becomes the go-to solutions provider for digital transformation Scales global footprint to provide 24/7 support and enable securing the best talent in an era of remote working. 2019 will be the year of global expansion for Adaptavist as new offices are set to open in three new countries in the next quarter: Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Tartu and Tallinn (Estonia), and Madrid (Spain). This supports Adaptavist's current growth trend of 50 per cent employee growth year on year. 2019 will be the year of global expansion for Adaptavist as new offices are set to open in three new countries in the next quarter: Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Tartu and Tallinn (Estonia), and Madrid (Spain). This supports Adaptavist's current growth trend of 50 per cent employee growth year on year. Hyper growth in cloud business. Adaptavist is seeing massive revenue growth from cloud alone. Revenue has increased 300% year on year and overall adoption (cloud licenses) has increased 70+ per cent. Adaptavist is seeing massive revenue growth from cloud alone. Revenue has increased 300% year on year and overall adoption (cloud licenses) has increased 70+ per cent. Award winning for scale and culture. Adaptavist recently won Deloitte 100 Fastest companies and The Sunday Times top 100 companies. ENDS About Adaptavist Established in 2005, Adaptavist helps the world's most complex enterprises optimise their application lifecycle using Atlassian software. Working in over 60 countries with more than half of the Fortune 500, Adaptavist is the leading Atlassian partner globally for professional services, managed services, training and Atlassian Apps. In addition, Adaptavist is an Atlassian Platinum Top Vendor, an Atlassian Platinum Solution Partner for the Enterprise and an authorised Atlassian Training Partner. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005431/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Blue Sage Solutions Integrates with Optimal Blue's Real-time Pricing & Locking APIs to Streamline Loan Origination Process Optimal Blue, the leading provider of secondary marketing automation and services in the mortgage industry, announced today the certification of multiple integrations with Blue Sage Solutions' sophisticated, multi-channel digital lending platform. Through seamless integrations with Optimal Blue's product eligibility and pricing platform, Blue Sage now enables wholesale, correspondent, and retail lenders to receive real-time, compliant pricing scenarios regardless of their business channel. Enabled through Optimal Blue's highly unique and advanced RESTful API endpoints, these integrations provide "lights-out" automation for any type of lender to deliver a modern, timely and personalized experience that meets the expectations of today's mortgage consumer while improving transparency. Without ever leaving the Blue Sage Solutions platform, loan officers can easily generate individual scenarios, quickly launch an application, and lock the loan when appropriate. The integration also streamlines the mortgage process, enhances loan officer productivity, and reduces costs along the way. "Partnering with an industry leade like Optimal Blue is an opportunity to drive mortgage process automation through our combined, best-of-breed technologies and resources," explained Joe Langner, CEO of Blue Sage Solutions. "Because Blue Sage handles multiple loan channels, this integration delivers the right information to today's borrowers at the right time in the loan process and does it for a wider range of lenders than competing mortgage platforms. Our partnership also reflects Blue Sage's steadfast commitment to ongoing innovation, modernizing the mortgage process through lights-out technology." "We are proud to announce the certification of multiple pricing and lock integrations across the Blue Sage Solutions platform," said Bob Brandt, Vice President of Marketing and Alliances at Optimal Blue. "Our partnership with Blue Sage furthers our goal of system-to-system automation with the industry's leading solutions, bringing a single source of pricing for every client and user, across every system." ABOUT OPTIMAL BLUE Optimal Blue, a financial technology company, operates the nation's largest Digital Mortgage Marketplace, connecting a network of originators and investors and facilitating a broad set of secondary market interactions. The company's technology solutions include product eligibility and pricing, lock desk automation, risk management, loan trading, and data and analytics. More than $750 billion of transactions are processed each year across the Optimal Blue platform. For more information, visit www.optimalblue.com. ABOUT BLUE SAGE SOLUTIONS Blue Sage is an innovative, cloud-based digital lending platform for retail, wholesale and correspondent lenders that provides a superior lending experience for every borrower. The company's technology is 100% browser-based and provides end-to-end functionality for the entire lending and fulfillment process, regardless of channel. All Blue Sage solutions include mobile applications and are delivered through a secure, fully managed cloud service. The company's technology was developed over the past four years by the founders of Palisades Technology Partners, developers of Impact, the first end-to-end web-based loan platform which was used by five of the 10 largest U.S. originators. Blue Sage Solutions is headquartered in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. For more information, visit www.bluesageusa.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005712/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] "Lunches With Leaders" Announces Third Year Lineup One of the nation's most renowned presidential historians, the President, Worldwide Hotel Operations of one of the world's most respected luxury hotel companies, and the man who oversees one of the largest public pension funds in the country will be the speakers for the third iteration of "Lunches With Leaders," Diversified Search's acclaimed speaker series. In "Lunches With Leaders," top executives and experts share lessons and insights with business leaders around the nation in intimate, invitation-only luncheons. "Given the strong reaction to our first two years presenting this program, we knew there was a real hunger from executives looking to hear firsthand from leaders across the spectrum about the issues facing American business and society today," said Dale E. Jones, President and CEO of Diversified Search. "We feel our 2019 lineup brilliantly advances the mission of Lunches With Leaders." The 2019 series will kick off with a speech and book signing at The Harvard Club in Boston on May 13th featuring Doris Kearns Goodwin, the presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the New York Times bestsellers Leadership in Turbulent Times and Team of Rivals: The Political Genius (News - Alert) of Abraham Lincoln, the latter of which served as the inspiration for the Steven Spielberg film Lincoln. In 2016, Goodwin became the first historian to receive the Lincoln Leadership Prize from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation. She is also a frequent commentator for major network and cable television news programs, including Meet the Press and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The series will then shift to the fall, when on October 29th Christian Clerc, President, Worldwide Hotel Operations, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, will address a lunch at the new Four Seasons Hotel in Philadelphia. At Four Seasons, Clerc oversees global hotel operations ensuring that each Four Seasons hotel and resort in the company's growing portfolio represents the highest standards of quality and service. Clerc joined Four Seasons in 2000 as Hotel Manager in one of the company's flagship locations, Four Seasons Hotel Washington, D.C., and subsequently held posts in New York, Chicago, and Punta Mita, Mexico, before returning to Washington; in 2012, he took over leadership of the legendary Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris, with regional responsibility for Florence, Milan, Geneva, and Marrakech. He was promoted to President, Hotel Operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa in 2014, and to his current position in 2016. The 2019 series will conclude November 7th in New York with remarks from Jarvis V. Hollingsworth, who leads the public/education law practice group at Bracewell, a leading global law and government relations firm primarily serving the energy, infrastructure, finance, and technology sectors, with ten offices worldwide. Based in Houston, Hollingsworth was reappointed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), a state agency that manages a nearly $147 billion pension trust fund, as well as an array of benefits, for the more than 1.5 million active and retired teachers and education employees in Texas. One of the most distinguished lawyers in Texas and a former regent on the board of the University of Houston System, where he served as Chairman of the Board, Hollingsworth served as an officer in the U.S. Army and Army Reserve prior to beginning his law career. ABOUT "LUNCHES WITH LEADERS" Diversified Search launched its "Lunches With Leaders" series with a pilot program in December 2016, featuring a speech by Stuart E. Jones, the former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and Jordan. That was followed by three successful lunches in 2017, featuring Randall Lane, the editor of Forbes magazine, in Philadelphia; Rajiv Shah, the new CEO of The Rockefeller Foundation, in New York; and Indra Nooyi, the CEO and Chairman of Pepsico, in Miami. In 2018, the firm presented three more "Lunches," featuring Courtney A. Kemp, executive producer of Lionsgate Television and creator of the award-winning Starz network drama Power, in Philadelphia; Glenn A. Youngkin, co-CEO of the Carlyle Group, in Chicago; and Steve Case, CEO of Revolution and founder of AOL (News - Alert), in Washington, D.C. ABOUT DIVERSIFIED SEARCH Headquartered in Philadelphia, Diversified Search has additional offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Southern California, and Washington, D.C. Diversified Search is the exclusive U.S. partner of AltoPartners, an international alliance of more than 60 independent executive search firms that spans the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. Diversifiedsearch.com Altopartners.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005602/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Poland Animation, VFX & Games Market to 2020 DUBLIN, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Poland Animation, VFX & Games Industry: Strategies, Trends & Opportunities" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Poland's animation can be traced back to before the First World War when Wadyslaw Starewicz made the early stop-motion films with insects. Funding support for film production in Poland is available from private as well as government sources as well as from industry associations. The two key sources of funding are the Polish Film Institute (PFI) and the network of regional film funds. All Polish funds provide support to about 50% of the film budget, although, in the case of animation productions, the subsidy could be higher. The total value of the Polish games industry was US$ 567 million in 2018 and is projected to reach US$ 686 million by 2020. Key Topics Covered: European Animation Industry DEMAND FOR TV CONTENT Feature Film Industry in Europe MARKETING AND MERCHANDISING Trends in Europe COLLABORATION AMONG EUROPEAN STUDIOS DRIVERS FOR SUCCESS ANIMATION COST STRUCTURES IN EUROPE Europe Strategies and Models for Animation financing in Europe ANIMATION FUNDING AGENCIES CENTRALISED ANIMATION FUNDING AGENCIES IN EUROPE Television Series Development in Europe PITCHING TELEVISION SERIES TO BROADCASTERS Copyright Chain in Europe Co-Production Strategies in Europe CONTRACTUAL ISSUES KEY RIGHTS IN CO-PRODUCTION AGREEMENTS CO-PRODUCTIONS AND OUTSOURCING Distribution Strategies in Europe PRODUCER-DISTRIBUTOR CO-FINANCING PATTERNS 3D Market in Europe ADVANTAGES OF 3D DISADVANTAGES OF 3D Industry Constraints and Challenges Market size of European Animation, VFX & Games industry Animation Content demand by TV Channels in Europe European Animation & VFX industry Market Size European Games industry Market Size Animation, VFX & Games industry in Poland Recent Movie Trends in Poland Successful Polish animations INDUSTRY EVOLUTION AND KEY ANIMATION PRODUCTIONS Key Animation Production Companies in Poland Animation Funding in Poland Industry Drivers, Challenges & Opportunities Strategies for Animation Studios in Poland Value of Animation Industry in Poland Size of Animation Industry in Poland Key statistics about the Animation industry in Poland Games Industry in Poland KEY TRENDS IN THE POLISH VIDEO GAMES INDUSTRY VIDEO GAME BUSINESS MODELS IN POLAND ONLINE VIDEO GAMING BUSINESS MODELS IN POLAND Key Opportunities & Strategies for Polish Video Games Industry Video Games Market Segments MOBILE VIDEO GAMES SEGMENTS & GENRES Polish Video Games Market Size & Opportunity For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/v77qb2 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] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/poland-animation-vfx--games-market-to-2020-300830047.html SOURCE Research and Markets [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Novra Group Announces New Digital Signage Order: Wellness Network Upgrades and Expands LAS VEGAS, April 10, 2019 /CNW/ - Novra Technologies Inc. ("Novra") (TSX-V: NVI) announced today that it has receivedthrough Wegener, one of its Novra Group companiesa new initial order and a three-year Master Services Agreement to supply The Wellness Network with digital signage-enabled media players and services to consolidate and expand their large scale network using the Compel2 management system. The network operates over both Satellite and IP and provides enhanced, customizable media delivery to health care providers across North America. The first batch of media players shipped in March 2019. Harris Liontas, Novra President and CEO said, "This project builds on the current digital signage success that we have enjoyed with networks in Latin America and military bases around the world. We are pleased to be expanding our digital signage footprint in North America. For customers with national networks in the thousands and networks spread around the globe, the Compel2 platform has provided the reliability they can trust and the powerful, precise control they need to distribute and manage both media and messaging. Our competitive advantage in this fast-changing field is the combination of our 35 years of broadcast-quality control systems expertise with a new generation of cost-effectivemedia players. We remain committed to providing flexible, tailored solutions to meet both current and future requirements." Jim Lyons, CTO The Wellness Network said, "We have a longstanding, solid track record working with this product provider and solution-focused integrator, and we are pleased to further expand on that well-established relationship. The ability to leverage their new products into our existing network and media delivery platforms, while taking advantage of new, advanced features made this decision an easy one. Our priority is to continuously integrate the most advanced technology available into our media delivery systems in order to service the very sophisticated and ever-changing needs of our customers." The Novra Group manufactures the key hardware and software components required for satellite-distributed signage networks including: IP Encapsulators, file distribution software, data encryption, management software (to drive flexible ad insertion and background music), satellite receivers and video player software. The Compel2 system provides operators the ability to control systemsranging from small to very largeover satellite and/or IP networks. These differentiators offer flexibility, customization, and innovation that competing alternatives typically lack. The announcement was made at the 2019 National Association of Broadcasters Show in Las Vegas, the largest annual media technology event in North America. The new iPump Pro 762 for digital signage has been nominated for the prestigious NAB Product of the Year award at the show. This and other new products and solutions from Wegener, Novra, and International Datacasting will be on display at the NAB Show through April 11 at the International Datacasting/Novra Group booth SU3621. About Novra Technologies Inc.: Novra (TSX-V: NVI) is an international technology provider of products, systems and services for the distribution of multimedia broadband content. The Novra Group of companies includes Novra, International Datacasting Corporation, and Wegener Corporation. The companies in the group are known for a strong focus on applications including: broadcast video and radio, digital cinema, digital signage, and highly reliable data communications. For more information visit: www.novragroup.com SOURCE Novra Technologies Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Global Biometric Authentication and Identification Market: Focus on Modality (Face, Eye, Fingerprint, Palm, and Vein), Motility, Application, and Technology Trends Analysis and Forecast: 2018-2023 NEW YORK, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Biometric Authentication and Identification Market Projected to Grow Over $51.98 Billion by 2023 Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05764025/?utm_source=PRN The report presents a detailed market analysis including an in-depth study of the market drivers, opportunities, challenges, and growth trends mapped across segments.The market is segmented based on modality, motility, application, and regional presence. The increasing risk of data breaches along with privacy concerns among consumers, is one of the crucial issues to be looked upon in the current scenario. The effort to deliver such solutions, along with the growing demand of handheld devices, is acting as one of the major drivers for the global biometric authentication and identification market at present. The increased usage of deep learning techniques for big data in biometrics, has been identified as the key opportunity that could escalate the market growth in the coming years. However, latent fingerprint and spoofing coupled with concerns of cyber threats, continue to remain the pain points of the market. The modality chapter is divided into eight broader categories including fingerprint, vein pattern, facial, eye, palmprint, voice, handwritten, and others. The information supplied in the report includes key market players, market size, key restraints, and growth opportunities. The classification of abovementioned different modalities into fixed and mobile motility, provides an in-depth analysis of the market statistics, key trends, and opportunities across regions. The extensive research in various modalities by major players such as Fingerprint Cards AB, Fulcrum Biometrics, and Anviz Global, among others, has provided a plethora of applications including commercial, healthcare, government, and banking and financial. The report provides an exhaustive application analysis including the market statistics for different verticals and enumerates various use cases with a futuristic roadmap for each industry vertical. Being an extensive research study on the leading as well as developing regions in the biometric authentication and identification market, such as Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe, and Rest-of-the-World, the report provides the market statistics, drivers, challenges, and opportunities across these regions. The report also formulates the entire supply chain of the market, along with industry trends of biometric authentication and identification, technology trends, and competitive scenario with emphasis on market timelines and technology roadmaps, and market dynamics. Some of the key players identified in the report are Fulcrum Biometrics (India), Anviz Global (China), Fingerprint Cards AB (Sweden), M2SYS Technologies (U.S.), and Aware Inc. (U.S.). Key questions answered in the report: Why is fingerprint recognition so widely adopted, and which biometric recognition system is expected to grow at the fastest rate in the forecast period? What are the technology trends present in global biometric authentication and identification market? In the supply chain, who are the major stakeholders and how they are related to each other? What are the strategies and initiatives adopted by the existing market players to make a mark in the biometric authentication and identification market? Which biometric motility category of the global biometric authentication and identification market is dominating in 2018 and which category is expected to dominate in 2023? What is the revenue generated by different applications, and whic application category is currently dominating the global biometric authentication and identification market? Which country is expected to be dominant in adopting the biometric authentication and identification market during the forecast period 2018-2023? What are the major restraints inhibiting the growth of the global biometric authentication and identification market? What major opportunities do the major players foresee in the biometric authentication and identification market? What is the competitive scenario of the key players operating in the global biometric authentication and identification market? Executive Summary Biometric based system plays a crucial role in the global industrial ecosystem and is regarded as a significant technology in the present scenario.Biometrics has helped to deliver secure services in various circumstances and is considered to be a deterrent to people with malevolent intentions. It has helped to identify known suspects traversing crowded security areas, such as airports, railway stations, and other locations. With the development and implementation of advanced innovative technologies and concepts such as biometrics in field of anti-terrorism protection, terrorist attacks have been somewhat reduced. The global biometric authentication and identification market is expected to witness a significant growth during the forecast period (2018-2023) registering a CAGR of 22.54%. This growth in the biometric authentication and identification market is due to an increasing demand of enhanced safety and security of the personnel. Among the changing paradigm of the consumer as well as enterprise market, a significantly higher demand of biometrics from the consumer goods segment such as from smartphones, laptops, and tablets is majorly impacting the growth of the biometric industry. However, latent fingerprinting spoofing, coupled with the risk of data breaches and privacy concern, are some of the pressing matters to be looked upon in the current scenario which is restraining the overall growth of the global biometric authentication and identification market. The biometric authentication and identification market has been tracked along the lines of modality (facial, fingerprint, eye, vein, palmprint, voice, and handwritten), motility, application, and regions.Revenue generated from various application segments, namely, banking and financial institutions, government, enterprise, healthcare, commercial, and others, have been analyzed. The report also covers the biometric authentication and identification technology market on a global scale and consequently provides revenue data of the key regions. A separate segment specifically has been dedicated to the key global regions: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific (APAC), and Rest-of-the-World (RoW). The use of biometric systems widely finds its application in areas such as high security forensic laboratories, banking and financial institutions, and other similar areas.Based on the end-user requirements, different modalities are preferred for user identification, such as recognition based on facial, fingerprint, eye, and palmprint, among others. The fingerprint authentication and identification modality is widely used due to its high flexibility and reliability.Moreover, government institutions (law enforcement, border security, ID issuance, and homeland security), healthcare, enterprises, banking and financial institutions, commercial, and other sectors have adopted this user authentication technique to ensure an overall protection to the population from any impeding global crisis. The current drive towards cashless economy has compelled people to switch to digital banking or electronic transfers. Also, a gradual rise in cashless transactions has led to an increase in digital threats and fraud in the last few years. The global biometric authentication and identification market has been further classified into mobile and fixed biometrics devices. The fixed devices constitute the larger share in the biometric authentication and identification market due to the large-scale biometric infrastructure used for the purpose of time management and attendance system, such as in the enterprise sector. On the basis of application, the global biometric authentication and identification technology market is segmented into banking and financial institutions, government, enterprise, commercial, healthcare, and otherss.Government segment is the highest revenue generating segment among all the applications of biometric authentication and identification; whereas enterprise is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period. In the government application segment, biometrics are primarily used in the law enforcement agencies, governmental organizations, and defense establishments. Integrating biometrics in the existing access control and authentication systems holds the potential to largely increase the reliability of existing solutions. The market study has identified North America as the leading region in the global biometric authentication and identification market accounting for almost 31.02% of the net revenue generated by the biometric authentication and identification. APAC is also anticipated to be a promising market with a multi-fold rise in demand expected from China , South Korea , Japan , and other Asian nations in the coming future. Countries Covered North America The U.S. Canada Mexico Europe U.K. Germany France Rest-of-the- Europe Asia-Pacific India China Japan South Korea Rest-of-the-APAC Rest-of-the-World Middle East and Africa South America Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05764025/?utm_source=PRN 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 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-biometric-authentication-and-identification-market-focus-on-modality-face-eye-fingerprint-palm-and-vein-motility-application-and-technology-trends-analysis-and-forecast-2018-2023-300830180.html SOURCE Reportlinker [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Fortune Brands Sets Date for First Quarter Earnings Announcement and Investor Conference Call Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc. (NYSE: FBHS), an industry-leading home and security products company, will release first quarter financial results after the market close on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. At 4:30 p.m. ET, Chris Klein, chief executive officer, Patrick Hallinan, chief financial officer, and Brian Lantz, senior vice president of communications and corporate administration, will host a conference call to discuss first quarter results. A live Internet audio webcast of the conference call will be available on the Fortune Brands website at https://ir.fbhs.com/upoming-events. It is recommended that listeners log-on at least 10 minutes prior to the start of the call. A recorded replay of the call will be made available on the Company's website shortly after the call has ended. About Fortune Brands Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc. (NYSE: FBHS), headquartered in Deerfield, Ill., creates products and services that fulfill the dreams of homeowners and help people feel more secure. The Company's operating segments are Plumbing, Cabinets, and Doors & Security. Its trusted brands include Moen, Perrin & Rowe, Riobel, Rohl, Shaws and Victoria + Albert under the Global Plumbing Group (GPG); more than a dozen core brands under MasterBrand Cabinets; Therma-Tru entry door systems, Fiberon outdoor performance materials, and Master Lock and SentrySafe security products in the Doors & Security segment. Fortune Brands holds market leadership positions in all of its segments. Fortune Brands is part of the S&P 500 Index. For more information, please visit www.FBHS.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005789/en/ [April 10, 2019] Council for Citizens Against Government Waste Statement on House Passage of the Government Takeover of the Internet Today, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) President Tom Schatz issued the following statement strongly criticizing the House of Representatives for passing H.R. 1644, the "Save the Internet Act": "Today's vote in the House of Representatives to pass H.R. 1644, the 'Save the Internet Act,' would enable the federal government to take over the internet and is a dangerous step toward socialism. The legislation would cost hundreds of thousands of jobs, halt the expansion of broadband access in rural America, and stall innovation that would improve services that businesses and consumers desperately need to succeed and grow. "The internet is unquestionably an information service, not a telephone service, and should not be governed by ancient Title II regulations from the Communications Act of 1934, which would occur should H.R. 1644 become law. That would cause serious damage to the economy and the entire internet ecosystem. "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has deemed this legislation dead on arrival in the Senate and President Trump has issued a veto threat. CCAGW agrees that H.R. 1644 should not go any further in the legislative process." Background: The Democratic proposal would enact into law the Open Internet Order from the Obama administration, which was a two-year anomaly in the history of the government using a light touch in regulating the internet. It would overturn the Restoring Open Internet Freedom Order (RIFO) adopted by the Federal Communications Commission on December 14, 2017. The RIFO restored the status quo and has led to a significant increase in investment and innovation. The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005836/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] American Financial Group, Inc. Announces Its Conference Call and Webcast to Discuss 2019 First Quarter Results American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: AFG) expects to release its 2019 first quarter results after 5:00 p.m. (ET) on Wednesday, May 1, 2019. The release will be available shortly thereafter on AFG's website at www.AFGinc.com. In conjunction with its release, AFG will hold a conference call to discuss 2019 first quarter results at 11:30 a.m. (ET) on Thursday, May 2, 2019. There are two communication modes available to listen to the call. By Telephone Toll-free access will be available by dialing 1-877-459-8719 (international dial-in 424-276-6843). The conference ID for the live call is 2099628. Please dial in five to ten minutes prior to the scheduled start time of the call. A replay will be available approximately two hours following the completion of the call and will remain available until 11:59 p.m. (ET) on May 9, 2019. To listen to the replay, dial 1-85-859-2056 (international dial-in 404-537-3406) and provide the conference ID 2099628. Via the Internet The conference call and accompanying webcast slides will also be broadcast live over the internet. To access the event, click on the following link: https://www.AFGinc.com/news-and-events/event-calendar. Alternatively, you can choose Events from the Investor Relations page at www.AFGinc.com. An archived webcast will be available immediately after the call via the same link on our website until May 9, 2019 at 11:59 p.m. (ET). An archived audio MP3 file will be available within 24 hours of the call. About American Financial Group, Inc. American Financial Group is an insurance holding company, based in Cincinnati, Ohio with assets over $60 billion. Through the operations of Great American Insurance Group, AFG is engaged primarily in property and casualty insurance, focusing on specialized commercial products for businesses, and in the sale of traditional fixed, fixed-indexed and variable-indexed annuities in the retail, financial institutions, broker-dealer and registered investment advisor markets. Great American Insurance Group's roots go back to 1872 with the founding of its flagship company, Great American Insurance Company. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005829/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] SAIC Wins NASA Safety, Mission Assurance Engineering Contract NASA awarded Science Applications International Corp. (NYSE: SAIC (News - Alert)) the Safety and Mission Assurance Engineering Contract (SMAEC) II worth up to $292 million. Under this contract, SAIC will continue to provide safety engineering, reliability engineering, quality engineering, quality assurance, and software assurance in support of NASA programs and projects at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston and White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. "SAIC has a proud legacy of providing NASA with the services and solutions they need to keep our astronauts safe and ensure their mission-critical needs are met," said SAIC's Bob Genter, executive vice president and general manager of the Civilian Markets Customer Group. "NASA has entrusted our team for more than 20 years and we are grateful for the confidence they placed in us to help enable the future of space exploration." Under SMAEC II, SAIC will provide services to the International Space Station, Orion and Commercial Crew Programs, and the Extravehicular Activity Project Office. Services also may be provided at other NASA centers, government facilities, contractor or subcontractor locations, or vendor facilities in the U.S. and abroad. SMAEC II is a single award, cost-plus-award-fee contract that includes core, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, and level of effort elements. The contract has a two-year base period, followed by two-year option one and one-year option two. About SAIC We are a team of 23,000 strong driven by mission, united purpose, and inspired by opportunity. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, SAIC has annual revenues of approximately $6.6 billion. For more information, visit saic.com. For ongoing news, please visit our newsroom. Certain statements in this announcement constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties and a number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements, or industry results to be very different from the results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of these factors include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in SAIC's Annual Report on Form 10-K and other such filings that SAIC makes with the SEC (News - Alert) from time to time, which may be viewed or obtained through the Investor Relations section of our web site at www.saic.com. Due to such uncertainties and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005757/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] One Night Signs The Hoxton Hotels One Night, the fastest growing mobile app for last-minute hotel bookings, continues to partner with the best independent, lifestyle hotels by signing The Hoxton hotels in the U.S. and London. To celebrate the partnership, One Night is teaming with The Hoxton to host a series of next-generation speed dating events at The Hoxton hotels in Williamsburg, Portland, Chicago, and London. The events will be open to all sexual orientations with the first taking place at The Hoxton, Williamsburg on April 23rd, 2019. Jimmy Suh, President and Co-founder comments, "We chose to celebrate the signing of The Hoxton with a series of speed dating events that showcase how we can use technology to foster IRL connections, further highlighting the spontaneous nature of One Night and the incredible experiences our hotels offer." Kevin Osterhaus, executive Vice President of Hoxton states, "We're very excited to be working with One Night. hey have a unique ability to drive assured incremental revenue while heightening the hotel brand's equity with their creative design and marketing. The Hoxton is also is featured on One Night this month with an exclusive $99 rate for all its U.S. hotels and 99 GBP for its London hotels. The offer expires on April 23rd, 2019. About One Night: Launched in late 2016, One Night is a same-day hotel booking app operating in 17 cities with a curated list of over 200 experientially driven hotels. Each and every hotel on the app has been hand-selected for having the most unique experiences in their city. One Night guarantees its users the lowest rates at its hotels, plus a chance to maximize their hotel experiences with hour-by-hour timelines of insider travel tips. One Night was created to be the most trusted distribution channel for both hotels and travelers alike. By the end of 2019, the app will be in 30 cities with over 300 hotels and in its next iteration, One Night Inc. plans to capitalize on its growing network of hotel partners and customers to launch a new distribution channel that will produce the next generation of travel agents. www.onenight.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005854/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP Announces the Filing of a Securities Class Action on Behalf of First Choice Healthcare Solutions, Inc. Investors Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP ("GPM"), a national investors rights law firm, announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of investors that acquired First Choice Healthcare Solutions, Inc. ("First Choice" or the "Company") (OTC: FCHS) securities between April 1, 2014 and November 14, 2018, inclusive (the "Class Period"). First Choice investors have until May 28, 2019 to file a lead plaintiff motion. If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate. If you wish to learn more about this action, or if you have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Lesley Portnoy, Esquire, at 310-201-9150, Toll-Free at 888-773-9224, or by email to [email protected], or visit our website at www.glancylaw.com. On November 14, 2018, both a criminal indictment and civil action were filed by the U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission respectively against then-Chief Executive Officer, President, and Board Chairman Christian Romandetti, Sr., along with other alleged co-conspirators. Romandetti was charged regarding his connections with the arrangement of a multi-million dollar pump-and-dump scheme in which the price and volume of First Choice shares was falsely controlled through artificial generation of trading volume and price movements, as well as materially false representations and omissions in communications with investors. On this news, shares of First Choice fell $0.66 per share, or over 65%, to close at $0.35 on November 15, 2018, thereby injuring investors. The complaint filed in this class action alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) defendants retained Elite Stock Research, Inc. to falsely promote the Company to materially inflate the price of First Choice stock; (2) the Company's CEO participated and personally profited from a scheme to materially inflate the price of First Choice securities through an unlawful, paid promotional campaign; (3) defendants were in violation of First Choice's internal compliance policies by participating in the pump and dump scheme; and (4) a primary cause of fluctuations in First Choice's stock price was the unlawful campaign, in which Romandetti directly participated, that caused the price of First Choice stock to be inflated while at the same time allowed others to dump their First Choice stock for profit. Follow us for updates on Twitter (News - Alert): twitter.com/GPM_LLP. If you purchased shares of First Choice during the Class Period you may move the Court no later than May 28, 2019 to ask the Court to appoint you as lead plaintiff. To be a member of the Class you need not take any action at this time; you may retain counsel of your choice or take no action and remain an absent member of the Class. If you wish to learn more about this action, or if you have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Lesley Portnoy, Esquire, of GPM, 1925 Century Park East, Suite 2100, Los Angeles California 90067 at 310-201-9150, Toll-Free at 888-773-9224, by email to [email protected], or visit our website at www.glancylaw.com. If you inquire by email please include your mailing address, telephone number and number of shares purchased. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005860/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Eastmain Resources Announces C$3 Million Bought Deal Private Placement Eastmain Resources Inc. (TSX:ER, OTCQX:EANRF) ("Eastmain" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters led by Laurentian Bank Securities Inc., pursuant to which the underwriters have agreed to purchase, on a "bought deal" private placement basis, C$3,000,000 of securities of the Company (the "Offering"). The Offering consists of a minimum of C$1,000,000 of units of the Company ("Hard Units") at a price of $0.135 per Hard Unit. The remaining balance will be comprised of any combination of Hard Units and flow-through shares of the Company in any combination of charity flow-through common shares of the Company (the "Charity FT Shares") at a price of $0.235 per Charity FT Share, Quebec flow-through common shares of the Company (the "Quebec FT Shares") at a price of $0.175 per Quebec FT Share, and Federal flow-through common shares of the Company (the "Federal FT Shares" at a price of $0.170 per Federal FT Share, together with the Charity FT Shares and the Quebec FT Shares, the "FT Shares"). Each Hard Unit will consist of one common share of the Company and one-half of one common share purchase warrant (each whole common share purchase warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one common share of the Company for 2 years from the closing of the Offering (the "Closing") at a price of $0.17. The Company has also granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional C$450,000 of Hard Units and/or FT Shares, in such proportion as the underwriters may determine, exercisable at any time until 48 hours prior to Closing, to cover over-allotments, if any. The net proceeds from the sale of the Hard Units will be used to fund the exploration and development of the Company's Quebec mineral concessions and for general corporate and working capital purposes. The gross proceeds received by the Company from the sale of the FT Shares will be used to incur Canadian Exploration Expenses ("CEE") that are "flow-through mining expenditures" (as such terms are defined in the Income Tax Act (Canada)) on the Company's properties in Qebec, which will be renounced to the subscribers with an effective date no later than December 31, 2019, in the aggregate amount of not less than the total amount of the gross proceeds raised from the issue of FT Shares. The Offering is scheduled to close on or about April 25, 2019 and is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary regulatory and other approvals including the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange and the securities regulatory authorities. This press 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 or for the account or benefit of a U.S. person (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available. About Eastmain Resources Inc. (TSX:ER, OTCQX:EANRF) Eastmain is a Canadian exploration company advancing three high-grade gold assets in the emerging James Bay gold camp in Quebec. The company holds a 100-per-cent-interest in the Clearwater property, host of the Eau Claire project, for which it issued a preliminary economic assessment in May, 2018, and the Percival discovery made in November, 2018. Eastmain is also the operator of the Eleonore South joint venture, located immediately south of Goldcorp Inc.'s Eleonore mine, which hosts the Moni/Contact trend discovery (2017). In addition, the company has a 100-per-cent interest in the Eastmain mine project, where the company prepared an NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate in January, 2018, and a pipeline of exploration projects in this favourable mining jurisdiction with nearby infrastructure. Forward-Looking Statements - Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or timing of future plans, and include, but not limited to, statements with respect to the potential success of the Company's future exploration and development strategies and completion of the Offering. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of Eastmain, including, but not limited to the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, dependence upon regulatory approvals, the availability of financing, timely completion of proposed studies and technical reports, and risks associated with the exploration, development and mining industry generally such as economic factors as they affect exploration, future commodity prices, changes in interest rates, safety and security, political, social or economic developments, environmental risks, insurance risks, capital expenditures, operating or technical difficulties in connection with development activities, personnel relations, the speculative nature of gold exploration and development, including the risks of diminishing quantities of grades of Mineral Resources, contests over property title, and changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update such information, except as may be required by law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005880/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Media Invited to Final Competition of NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge HUNTSVILLE, Ala., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In the final level of competition for NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, three teams will combine creativity and cutting-edge technology to manufacture sustainable shelters for deep-space habitation, including the Moon and Mars. The teams competing in Phase 3, Level 5 of the challenge are: AI. SpaceFactory of New York Colorado School of Mines / ICON of Golden / ICON of Golden Pennsylvania State University of College Park The challenge, which began in 2015, is structured in phases, each with multiple levels. It has a total prize purse of $3.15 million, with $800,000 to be awarded at this final stage. Teams will use several facets of 3D printing including modeling software and material development to construct large-scale structures using recyclables and/or materials found on the Moon, Mars or other destinations. Technologies developed for use on the Moon could help with future robotic and human missions to Mars, as well as offer benefits on Earth, like lower-cost housing solutions. Media are invited to watch as the participating teams 3D-print subscale habitats May 1-4 at Caterpillar Edwards Demonstration and Learning Center in Edwards, Illinois. Habitat testing and the awards ceremony will take place May 4. NASA subject matter experts will be available for interviews. Portions of the competition will also be livestreamed May 3-4 at nasa.gov/live. Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, is partnering with NASA on the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. Caterpillar Inc is a sponsor and site host. Bradley and Caterpillar with NASA support will host a three-day event alongside the competition at the same facility. Educators, middle- and high-school students are invited May 2-3 to hear presentations by astronauts, tour exhibits and watch the competition in the arena. A Community Day with the same activities will be open to the public May 4. Schedule of events (all times are CDT): Wednesday, May 1 First day of competition from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. : Teams will begin printing their habitat structures in the arena : Teams will begin printing their habitat structures in the arena Thursday, May 2 Second day of competition from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. : Teams will continue printing their structures : Teams will continue printing their structures Bradley University and Caterpillar will host an Education Day for middle-school students and Caterpillar will host an Education Day for middle-school students NASA astronaut Don Thomas will speak and be available for interviews will speak and be available for interviews Friday, May 3 Third day of competition from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. : Teams will finish printing their structures : Teams will finish printing their structures Bradley University and Caterpillar will host an Education Day for high school students and Caterpillar will host an Education Day for high school students NASA astronauts Don Thomas and Scott Altman will speak and be available for interviews and will speak and be available for interviews NASA subject matter experts will be available for interviews Saturday, May 4 Testing on the structures will be held from approximately 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Bradley University and Caterpillar will host a Community Day, with more than 600 visitors expected to attend and Caterpillar will host a Community Day, with more than 600 visitors expected to attend NASA astronaut Scott Altman will speak and be available for interviews from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. will speak and be available for interviews from NASA subject matter experts will be available for interviews The awards ceremony will be at 3:30 p.m. Teams and other challenge personnel will be available for interviews after the ceremony News media interested in attending the events should contact Jena Rowe at 256-544-3400 or [email protected] by Friday, April 19. The 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge is managed through a partnership with NASA's Centennial Challenges program and Bradley University. Bradley has partnered with sponsors Caterpillar, Bechtel, Brick & Mortar Ventures and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to administer the competition. NASA's Centennial Challenges program is part of the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate, and is managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. For more information about the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/3DPHab View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/media-invited-to-final-competition-of-nasas-3d-printed-habitat-challenge-300830297.html SOURCE NASA [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] SIGGRAPH 2019 is Ready: Marvel Studios' Victoria Alonso to Keynote Fresh off of a history-making awards season, SIGGRAPH 2019 announces Marvel Studios Executive Vice President of Production Victoria Alonso as its keynote speaker. SIGGRAPH 2019 will run 28 July-1 August in downtown Los Angeles, and registration is now open. Known for its diverse, global, and innovative community, the annual SIGGRAPH conference is a melting pot for researchers, artists, and technologists, among other professionals. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005885/en/ Executive Vice President of Production Victoria Alonso Image credit: Marvel Studios 2019 In its 46th year, the SIGGRAPH conference looks to inspire the next generation, inclusive of gender, race, ability, and beyond. "Victoria is the ultimate symbol of where the computer graphics industry is headed and a true visionary for inclusivity," said SIGGRAPH 2019 Conference Chair Mikki Rose. "Her outlook reflects the future I envision for computer graphics and for SIGGRAPH. I am thrilled to have her keynote this summer's conference and cannot wait to hear more of her story." One of few women in Hollywood to hold such a prominent title, Alonso's dedication to the industry has been admired for a long ime, leading to multiple awards and honors, including the 2015 New York Women in Film & Television Muse Award for Outstanding Vision and Achievement, the Advanced Imaging Society's first female Harold Lloyd Award recipient, and the 2017 VES Visionary Award (another female first). A native of Buenos Aires, her career began in visual effects and included a four-year stint at Digital Domain. Alonso's film credits include productions such as Ridley Scott's "Kingdom of Heaven," Tim Burton's "Big Fish," Andrew Adamson's "Shrek," and numerous Marvel titles - "Iron Man," "Iron Man 2," "Thor," "Captain America: The First Avenger," "Iron Man 3," "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," "Captain America: Civil War," "Thor: The Dark World," "Avengers: Age of Ultron," "Ant-Man," "Guardians of the Galaxy," "Doctor Strange," "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," "Spider-Man: Homecoming," "Thor: Ragnarok," "Black Panther," "Avengers: Infinity War," "Ant-Man and The Wasp," and, most recently, "Captain Marvel." "I've been attending SIGGRAPH since before there was a line at the ladies' room," said Alonso. "I'm very much looking forward to having a candid conversation about the state of visual effects, diversity, and representation in our industry." She added, "At Marvel Studios, we have always tried to push boundaries with both our storytelling and our visual effects. Bringing our work to SIGGRAPH each year offers us the opportunity to help shape the future of filmmaking." The 2019 keynote session will be presented as a fireside chat, allowing attendees the opportunity to hear Alonso discuss her life and career in an intimate setting. Access to the keynote session is available to Full Conference Platinum, Full Conference, Business Symposium, and Select Conference registration levels. Learn more about SIGGRAPH 2019 registration: s2019.SIGGRAPH.org/register. About ACM, ACM SIGGRAPH and SIGGRAPH 2019 ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources, and address the field's challenges. ACM SIGGRAPH is a special interest group within ACM that serves as an interdisciplinary community where researchers, artists, and technologists collide to progress applications in computer graphics and interactive techniques. The SIGGRAPH conference is the world's leading annual interdisciplinary educational experience for inspiring transformative advancements across the disciplines of computer graphics and interactive techniques. SIGGRAPH 2019, the 46th annual conference hosted by ACM SIGGRAPH, will take place from 28 July-1 August at the Los Angeles Convention Center. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005885/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Dahua Technology's Product Integration with Control 4 Announced at ISC West Dahua Technology, a provider of world-leading, video-centric smart IoT solutions, has announced a new integration with Control4, a leading global provider of automation and networking systems for homes and businesses, today at ISC West. Dahua Technology's North American models of IP cameras, Pro and Lite series NVRs and HDCVI XVRs are fully integrated with the Control4 Composer HE 2.9.0 automation system. This marks the first full integration between Dahua Technology and a home control and automation platform. Dahua NVRs support motion detection, if enabled on the camera, to trigger events on the Control4 system's watch menu and alert a user of suspicious activity. The Dahua NVR driveralso provides MJPEG and H.264 video feeds, allows selection stream quality, and more. Integrations with home automation platforms cater to industry demands for a single portal to control security and household features in users' homes and businesses. These steps towards simplification and system unification will make interactions with smart homes easier and more convenient for Dahua Technology and Control4 customers. "This product integration furthers our commitment to provide smart home and security integrators with a complete platform for home control," said Tim Wang, president and CEO at Dahua Technology USA. "We are excited to offer solutions that shape how businesses and homeowners can use, access and control their security systems." About Dahua Technology USA Dahua Technology USA Inc. is a subsidiary of Dahua Technology, the world's second-largest manufacturer of video surveillance equipment by market share, according to a 2018 IHS (News - Alert) report. Dahua Technology USA brings high-value, total security solutions to the North American market by focusing on integrity and personal relationships to enhance the customer experience. Dahua Technology's surveillance solutions, from award-winning cameras to video management software, deliver unparalleled quality, reliability, and stability. Dahua Technology USA provides sales and support throughout the U.S. and Canada. The North American region is led by Tim Wang, president and CEO, and several industry-experienced executives. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005895/en/ [April 10, 2019] QuEST Recognizes Engineering Talent in Japan Through its Engineering Innovation Contest 'Ingenium' Spatiotemporal Information Science team from Doshisha University emerges as winners emerges as winners Doshisha Daigaku Senshingijyutukaihatsu from Doshisha University and Kindai Data Miningers from Kindai University emerges as runners-up TOKYO, April 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- QuEST Global, the pioneering engineering services provider, has concluded the Japan chapter of QuEST Ingenium, a global initiative aimed at fostering innovation among engineering students. Striving towards building enthusiasm and passion for engineering among the academic community, the annual applied engineering contest encourages students to come up with innovations that help solve real-world engineering problems across the globe. The grand finale of this one-of-a-kind of event was held at Tokyo where the Spatiotemporal Information Science team from Doshisha University emerged as winners. The first edition of QuEST Ingenium in Japan, received registrations from students across various engineering colleges in the country. The project ideas submitted by students were around solutions based on data engineering and Industry 4.0. The winning project 'Human Evolution Simulation' was the brain-child of Kishimoto Toshifumi, Osawa Ryoya and Okubo Takaaki from Doshisha University. It demonstrated an innovative way to evaluate cultural changes during the transition from the Jomon period to he Yayoi period in Japanese history. The team used anthropogenesis simulation and data analysis to solve the problem. The runners-up from Doshisha University and Kindai University showcased projects on heat transfer in the space using magnetic fluid and an idea to visualize the risk of side effects of medicine using big data. Through this global engineering innovation contest, QuEST was able to identify the engineering acumen and problem solving abilities of the students in the country. The winners of Ingenium have been rewarded with exciting prizes that include a visit to the QuEST's global delivery centers in India, prize money of a whopping JPY 100,000 and an opportunity to work with QuEST. Kentaro Takagi, General Manager, Thermal Power Service Business Unit, Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation, said, "The product engineering ecosystem is undergoing significant shifts due to digital disruptions. As a pioneer in the engineering services space, QuEST has been leading innovation and disruption for the benefit of end consumers. Global platforms like Ingenium are an outstanding initiative that will help solve some of the complex challenges in the product engineering ecosystem. It will also encourage students to innovate and offer engineering solutions that will transform and nurture the engineering ecosystem in the country." "Our global engineering innovation contest was introduced in Japan after we had successfully concluded eight editions of the event in India. By bringing Ingenium to Japan, we were able to encourage engineering students in the country to think from our customers' perspective and solve some of the problems faced by them. This event also provides us the perfect platform to recognize and nurture the best engineering talent in Japan. Ingenium is one among the several global initiatives wherein we work with the academia to make the next generation of engineers 'future-ready'," said Harpreet Wasan, Business Head APAC, QuEST Global. About QuEST Global QuEST Global is a trusted engineering services and solutions partner to many of the world's most recognized Fortune 500 brands in aero engines, aerospace & defense, automotive, medical devices, oil & gas, power, hi-tech, industrial and rail with 10,000+ associates. For more than 20 years, QuEST has been a trusted partner providing comprehensive support across the complete engineering lifecycle to help our customers improve efficiency, increase quality, create new products and open new markets. Through a collaborative and customized approach, QuEST enables its customers to manage traditional engineering requirements as well as convergence of digital and mechanical technology to help them create safe, dependable and high quality products and services. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 10, 2019] Medicrea Reports First Quarter 2019 Sales The Medicrea Group (Euronext Growth Paris - FR0004178572 - ALMED; OTCQX Best Market - MRNTF), pioneering the transformation of spinal surgery through artificial Intelligence, predictive modeling and patient specific implants with its UNiD ASI (Adaptive Spine Intelligence) proprietary software platform, services and technologies, publishes its sales for the first quarter of 2019. ( millions) Q1 2018 Q1 2019 Variation Variation at Constant Exchange Rate USA Rest of the World 3.6 3.4 4.1 3.6 +15% +4% +8% +4% Total Sales - Comparable basis Non-strategic activities Total Sales 7.0 1.2 8.2 7.7 - 7.7 +10% - (6)% +6% - (9)% Sales for the first quarter of 2019 amounted to 7.7 million euros, up 10% (+6% at constant exchange rates) compared to 2018 on a pro-forma basis, thanks to the growth in the USA, the Group's priority market. Sales in the USA increased by +15% (+8% at constant exchange rates), maintaining the positive trend observed since the second half of 2018. Two non-strategic distribution activities of third-party products (mainly biologics) and services (surgical motor repairs), generating gross margins well below the normative level of 80% targeted by the Group, were discontinued in 2018. They contributed 1.2 million euros to revenue in the 1st quarter of 2018, thus accounting for the 6% overall decline in sales compared to prior year. The discontinuation of these European market related activities will no longer have an impact on the comparability of sales as of the second half of 2019. The number of patient-specific UNiD surgeries is increasing strongly, mainly in the USA, up 68% in Q1 2019 compared to the same period in 2018. Over 3,500 UNID surgeries were performed to date, of which 60% performed in the USA, with 40 new US surgeons having adopted UNiD ASI technology over the last twelve months. "The relevance of personalized treatment adapted to each patient is now obvious to all players in our sector. Medicrea was the pioneer and the first spine company to develop patient-specific implants and offer surgeons associated data analysis services to support their practice. This strategic vision has led us to file patents early on, largely protecting these innovations, thus giving Medicrea a very important competitive advantage in a market that will continue to consolidate," commented Denys Sournac, President and CEO of Medicrea. Since the beginning of the UNiD ASI project, MEDICREA has filed 5 patent families comprising 35 titles (25 have already been issued), in the USA, Europe, Australia and Japan. Through the use of artificial intelligence and predictive models, these patents cover a wide range of tools and means whose objective is to transform the medical care and the surgical treatment of patients with spinal pathologies in order to improve clinical outcomes. Outlook According to its plan, in the first quarter of 2019, the Company filed with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the 510K homologation file for a new high-end Tulip type pedicle screw system, which will be launched commercially during the second quarter. Combined with patient-specific UNiD rods, this new implant, which primarily addresses degenerative spinal pathologies and adult deformities, is eagerly awaited by current users of the UNiD ASI technology and is expected to increase the overall procedural revenue for hospitals already using this technology. Next publication: 2019 First Quarter Results: May 16th 2019, after market. About Medicrea (www.medicrea.com) Through the lens of predictive medicine, Medicrea leverages its proprietary software analysis tools with big data and machine learning technologies supported by an expansive collection of clinical and scientific data. The Company is well-placed to streamline the efficiency of spinal care, reduce procedural complications and limit time spent in the operating room. Operating in a $10 billion marketplace, Medicrea is a Small and Medium sized Enterprise (SME) with 200 employees worldwide, which includes 50 who are based in the U.S. The Company has an ultra-modern manufacturing facility in Lyon, France housing the development and production of 3D- printed titanium patient-specific implants. For further information, please visit: Medicrea.com. Connect with Medicrea FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | WEBSITE | YOUTUBE Medicrea is listed on EURONEXT Growth Paris ISIN: FR 0004178572 Ticker: ALMED LEI: 969500BR1CPTYMTJBA37 Medicrea is traded on OTCQX Best Market Ticker: MRNTF View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005917/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Best home security cameras in 2021: Top wireless, indoor and outdoor models Here are the best home security cameras that allow you to watch the inside and outside of your home from anywhere. GLADSTONE, MO (KCTV) -- One man is hospitalized Tuesday night after being struck by a hit and run driver in Gladstone. Police said the accident happened shortly after 7 p.m. on Northeast 74th Street just west of North Oak Trafficway. Police blocked off 74th Street to traffic for over two hours so they could investigate the incident. Kansas Gov. Kelly blasts Trump, Brownback, Colyer | The Wichita Eagle Kansas governor Laura Kelly covered many topics during a town hall in Wichita on the same day she signed legislation to better fund public schools. Gov. Laura Kelly mocked President Trump's stance on renewable energy Tuesday night at a town hall meeting in Wichita. The Granny Guv in the Sunflower State wasn't so mild-mannered in this town hall where she cut loose on her opposition. Checkit: From the EditorFriday Reflections The Two Gatherings of Verona A Non-Meeting of Minds on Life & the Family Tweet April 5, 2019 I planned but failed last Friday to file a report from Verona, Italy. Blame it on not having a wi-fi connection at the right time or travel fatigue by the time I did. The World Congress of Families in which I was participating was intense. After all, according to CNN, this "international alliance of far-right politicians, conservative activists and religious leaders have united in hate." Hate can just tire a man out. The Congress of hate was supported by Verona's mayor, Federico Sboarina, one of the speakers on the program, which also included Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, Lorenzo Fontana, Minister for Families and Disabilities, and Education Minister Marco Busetti. Verona, the "City of Love," home of Romeo and Juliet, began its descent into hatred last fall when, with the support of the city council, it declared itself a pro-life city. Father Fortunato Di Noto, from Sicily, spoke of the children who are aborted, trafficked for organs, or trafficked for sex. He has been fighting child pornography for 30 years. There are "child-lover" and "little boy lovers" websites where users vote on their favorite videos. The numbers of videos of child porn: 415 (up to 2 yrs); 449,237 (3-7 yrs); 670,312 (8-12 yrs). For his trouble, the priest is under police protection. The audience gave him a standing ovation. Reportedly 20,000 protestors from all over Europe rallied against this Congress on Saturday. They were kept at a distance from the Palazzo della Gran Guardia, the Congress's venue, by police barricades. A police helicopter circled the area Saturday afternoon monitoring the unfriendly crowd. Inside, the Congress heard unplanned speeches by a gay politician and a radio talk show host who supported abortion and gay marriage. They said that, while they disagreed with the views of the congress, they vigorously supported its right to present traditional views on the family, sex, marriage, and abortion, and to do so without interference. They respected our views and our right to speak about the "natural family." That's liberty and freedom of speech, so they disagreed with those who had denounced the conference and called for its suppression. Indeed, the emphasis of the conference was on the blessing of children, on not killing them in the womb, and the beauty of family life for the flourishing of culture and society's vitality. (I would flee an angry mob, a hateful gathering. Demons, they say, are usually present.) Much of protest, really, boils down to sex. "Sex" may be viewed as something to "get" or to "give." Man may either be primarily a consumer or a giver. The Christian is called to be a giver. Sex is the means for giving life. One of God's greatest gifts is each human person, who is made in the image of God. In "the least of these" we are given a blessed task to fulfill, the care of a child. Disposing of such a creation of God is a grave rebellion and insult to our Maker. On Sunday afternoon, at least 20,000 people joined a march to say Yes, Pro Vita & Famiglia, beginning at the plaza near the Congress. There were young men and women and children, grandmothers and grandfathers, and single people. No barricades were needed to protect others from the marchers. I neither saw nor heard anger or hatred. Afterwards, in a Cineplex on the plaza, we attended the first European screening of Unplanned, the true story of Abby Johnson, pro-life activist and former director of a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Texas. In the film, Johnson's character expresses genuine concern for women while serving as director and more concern for women after she fully realizes what she and Planned Parenthood have been doing. At no point is hatred a driving force. She sees, then speaks, the truth, because of love. Unplanned is worth watching, but it is not for impressionable children. It is powerful for young people and adults who need to see the truth about life. If you can, see it soon. It's unforgettable. Just like children, most of whom are truly unplanned, yet unforgettable. 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. The assessment was provided at a roundtable discussion on the development of offshore wind power in Vietnam with Dutch experience, held by the Dutch Embassy in Vietnam in collaboration with the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) in Hanoi on April 9. Speaking at the event, Do Duc Quan, Deputy Head of the MoITs Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority, said that the demand for energy in Vietnam, especially electricity during 2020-2030, would be huge, as energy demand is increasing, while energy supply is and will be facing challenges, amidst traditional energy sources such as hydropower, coal, oil and gas that are gradually depleted and difficult to develop. In such context, considering the exploitation of renewable energy sources, the Vietnamese government aims to produce 10.7% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030. It targets that the total wind power capacity will reach about 1,000 MW by 2020 and 6,200 MW by 2030. Currently, Vietnams total installed wind power capacity is about 190MW, with four wind farms onshore and near shore with a capacity of 6 MW to 100 MW each, while an additional of 263 MW of wind power is under construction and 412 MW is in the process of appraisal approval. Approximately 4,236 MW have been approved, raising the total registered wind power capacity to 10,729 MW. Delegates at the event share opportunities and challenges in developing offshore wind power in Vietnam with Dutch partners. (Photo: NDO/Dieu Ha) With great advantages in wind power, especially the sea area from Quy Nhon city, in Binh Dinh province, to HCM City, offshore wind energy in Vietnam has yet been fully exploited. Meanwhile, the Netherlands is one of the top five countries in the world in research and development of offshore energy. The Dutch experience would be useful to Vietnam in selecting the optimal solution for the development of offshore wind power in the most appropriate way, Quan emphasised. Praising the wind power potential in Vietnam, Hans De Boer, President of the Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers, said that large-scale offshore wind projects are an opportunity to reduce pressure in the power system. The Netherlands can share its experiences, knowledge and skills to study the design and construction of offshore wind power stations in Vietnam, he affirmed. At the event, representatives from over 80 Vietnamese and Dutch companies, as well as experts in the field from both sides, provided relevant content on the recently updated legal framework and related requirements for offshore wind in Vietnam. They also discussed insights on the Dutch experience in the offshore wind power network, supply chain and technology. The Dutch delegation will be in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City until April 12 to exchange with the Vietnamese partners in the field to share information and seek cooperation opportunities. This series of events is part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2011 on energy cooperation between the MoIT and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation at that time. Within the MoU, the two sides agreed to promote cooperation between government agencies, companies, institutes and other organisations from both sides in the field of wind energy, with the aim of sharing knowledge, experience, data and best practices related to wind power development. New Yorks John F. Kennedy (JFK) Airport Terminal One Group and Vision-Box have signed a cooperation agreement to modernize passenger processing and roll out one of the largest biometric boarding airport platforms in the USA. Passengers will board without needing to show their passports or boarding passes. (TRAVPR.COM) NEW YORK, USA - April 9th, 2019 - The JFK Airport and TOGA have taken a visionary approach to passenger experience, welcoming the adoption of a seamless biometric-based passenger management platform as a strategic long-term growth pillar. The cooperation agreement has been signed earlier this week with Vision-Box. A self-service biometric boarding solution will be implemented in Terminal 1 to offer a more convenient, faster boarding process. International Travelers will be allowed to board their aircraft in just a few seconds using biometric eGates, which will recognize them by their face. The platform will match the live faces with previously enrolled and stored ones. No need to present their passport or boarding pass at the gate. TOGA Executive Director Steve Rowland was enthusiastic about the development with the very experienced partners at Vision-Box. He said: Biometric self-boarding is one of our top priorities improving the passenger experience and enhancing security and safety for all those who travel at JFK Terminal One. We are proud to pilot this unique, paperless, biometric boarding process, and CBP and Vision-Box have been tremendous partners in this effort. After taking part in the Miguel Leitmann, Vision-Box CEO commented: We believe JFK Terminal One is another leading example of delivery of a contactless travel solution able to modernize key aviation processes through our Orchestra platform. We empower airports to provide a seamless travel experience to their passengers and offer real value to their airline partners. Vision-Box is delivering to the US Government the data required to control a safe and secure border. Amsterdam, Bangalore, Dubai, London-Gatwick, Lisbon, Montevideo, Los Angeles, Sydney, and now JFK Terminal One are all supporting the OneID vision and are role models of our network of over 80 airport partners worldwide. I am particularly proud of the team at our new Americas Vision-Box Technology and Solutions Director for Americas, Igor Oliveira, added: The new solution at JFK Airport will mean significant improvements in efficiency, capacity expansion, security and guest experience. This comprehensive solution includes self-boarding eGates, smart cameras and a secure orchestration platform that connects all assets, data and stakeholders to guarantee a seamless, frictionless process. We are grateful for the outstanding support by the partners of the initiative, namely the carriers. Travel will become as seamless and attractive as collaboration in the broader aviation ecosystem gets this active and prolific. ### Treehugger and our third-party partners use cookies and process personal data like unique identifiers based on your consent to store and/or access information on a device, display personalized ads and for content measurement, audience insight, and product development. To change or withdraw your consent choices for Treehugger.com, including your right to object where legitimate interest is used, click below. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page. These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data. List of Partners (vendors) A step in the right direction, considering that flame retardants don't actually do that much. A few years ago I was invited to visit the site of a new school being built out of Cross-Laminated Timber on a media tour day, when usually they pick up the garbage and tidy up the joint. It was perhaps the messiest firetrap of a site I had ever been on and I thought at the time, "Now I know why they put flame retardants in foam insulation." It turns out I wasn't far off the mark; Paula Melton writes in BuildingGreen that, as of January 2020, California will allow flame retardant-free insulation below grade. It's the one place I never really worried about flame retardants; they aren't likely to get into the home, and as builder Michael Anschel once noted, "The poor worms, what will endocrine disruptors do to them?" But according to Paula Melton who spoke with Robert Agnew, who wrote the California study on its safety, there was still a concern. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 9 Two women thieves have been arrested by the UT police. The accused had recently committed a theft at a doctors clinic in Sector 21. The police said they had received secret information about two women roaming suspiciously in Sector 19. A team of the Sector 19 police station went to the spot and rounded up two women carrying goods in their bags. The women were identified as Usha (30) and Nita (34), alias Anita, both residents of Dadu Majra Colony (DMC). Cops searched their bags and found a drill machine, a marble cutter and a woodcutter in it. The police said further investigations revealed that the women had recently committed a theft at a doctors clinic in Sector 21 on the intervening night of April 1 and 2. The women had stolen Rs 18,000, two silver glasses, a computer, two headlights of a car, 10 taps, a drill machine, a wood cutter, a marble cutter and various other articles. The police said an interrogation of the accused revealed that they had committed thefts in Sector 20 on March 12 and Sector 7 on April 7. Have criminal past Air Marshal Brijesh Jayal (retd) Air Marshal Brijesh Jayal (retd) Former Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, South Western Air Command WITH the recent filing of a supplementary chargesheet by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter purchase scandal has again hogged the limelight. If the past is anything to go by, it is safe to assume that after a few political brownie points being scored, the issue will fade from public memory. It will be business as usual, with the case meandering its way through our interminable investigative and judicial process. Along the way, much like the Bofors episode, the case will outlive many of the personalities involved, leaving behind a defence procurement system further bruised, where defence modernisation remains a casualty and many become richer. The scam first hit the headlines domestically in 2013, not due to any diligence within our own defence procurement or vigilance systems, but because of the expose overseas. A report filed by prosecutors in Italy in connection with the arrest of the chief executive officer of Finmeccanica (the parent company of AgustaWestand Helicopters), Giuseppe Orsi, had alleged that the then Indian Air Force chief was instrumental in swinging the Indian VVIP helicopter deal by tweaking technical requirements to enable the Italian helicopter to qualify in return for gratification and also named three of his relatives as intermediaries. Later, in 2018, however, the Italian appeals court in Milan had found no evidence of graft. When the scandal came to light, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had issued a statement outlining in detail the sequence of events and facts of the case. The MoD release had also stated that the procurement case was progressed in accordance with the established procurement procedure in a transparent manner with all stages of procurement being followed meticulously. However, as the unfolding of this unfortunate saga reveals, this is contrary to the facts. Had extraneous forces not intervened at the time, the EC-225 Eurocopter of France, having been found suitable for acquisition during evaluation, would have been processed through the Defence Acquisition Council in the normal course. But, contrary to the well-established procedure, the then Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister intervened. Chairing a meeting in November 2003, he expressed concern at a single-vendor situation, questioned the IAF operational requirement of the helicopter altitude ceiling of 6,000 metres and asked for it to be lowered to 4,500 metres. He followed this with a letter to the Chief of the Air Staff. By this unconventional intervention and with both the IAF and MoD remaining mute spectators, the AgustaWestland AW-101 helicopter unexpectedly entered the race through the back door and was finally contracted for by the new government. Having for many years worked in the Plans & Procurement section of the Air HQ, one finds it hard to believe that the entire system could so easily be manipulated, unless very powerful extraneous forces were at work. Judging by the notes and despatches of British national Christian Michel, who was extradited to India from Dubai, some of the fog surrounding this case now appears to be lifting. That there are to be no agents dealing in weapon systems has been the mantra of the MoD for decades, yet their existence must be the worst-kept secret in New Delhi. Not only does this faceless tribe exist, but it also moves around in high circles and has access to the Capitals elite bhawans and social circuits. The unspoken truth is that the system demonises them in public, but flirts with them in private. If the apex levels of our national security and defence management are either unaware of their existence or unable to defang them, the question that naturally follows is whether national security itself is in secure hands. The supplementary chargesheet names Michel, the alleged middleman who is reported to have used his companies as a conduit for receiving the bribe money, and states that further investigation was going on over the role of politicians and bureaucrats involved in the case. Ever since his name first featured in the media, various reports have indicated the influence he wielded in New Delhi. What, however, this chargesheet reveals is that there are far graver challenges facing the national security edifice than mere monetary greed and associated criminality. Where arms lobbyists appear to have access not just to high government functionaries, but to the high security decision-making processes as well. Michels communications with his principals and others indicate access to the whos who of Indian security decision-making, knowledge of plans and agenda points for the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meetings and worse, the likely positions the Cabinet members will take. Considering that the agenda for Cabinet meetings carries the highest security grading, these despatches make for frightening reading. At a time when issues of national security are being debated in public, the revelations of Michels access and activities merit public attention far greater than mere corruption and criminality. The lapses amount to the selling of national security secrets and border on treason. Such lapses within the highest levels of governance cannot be left to the vagaries of our slow investigative and judicial pace of work as integrity of the system is vital for the survival of the nation. Let this be a wake-up call. harinder@tribunemail.com Even a month and a half after the aerial combat in Jammu and Kashmirs Nowshera sector, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is being forced to prove that it had shot down an F-16 fighter jet of Pakistan. This should have been done the very next day. The IAF showed images captured by an airborne warning and control system at a media briefing on Monday, reiterating that it had credible evidence that the Pakistan Air Force lost an F-16 during the skirmish in the skies on February 27. However, the IAF spokesperson hastened to add that due to security and confidentiality concerns, we are restricting the information being shared in the public domain. It is this lack of transparency that has given Pakistan a fresh opportunity to contest Indias claims. Last week, the IAF had issued a statement on downing the F-16 after a leading American magazine reported that a US count of the F-16s with Pakistan had found that none was missing and all aircraft were present and accounted for. Soon, Pentagon issued a statement saying that it is not aware of any such audit of F-16 aircraft in Pakistan. Whatever Pakistan has said so far about the Balakot-related events has been taken with dollops of salt by the international community. Unfortunately, Indias credibility is at stake in view of its mishandling of the media. After the airstrike, Pakistan had claimed that no F-16 jets were used, forcing the IAF to display pieces of an AMRAAM missile to call the neighbours bluff. On April 1, Pakistan military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor finally admitted that F-16s might have been used to hit Indian fighter jets during the dogfight. The unsavoury, protracted controversy has eaten into the gains achieved by India through the Balakot operation. Whats made things worse are the selective leaks to a section of the media that is favourably inclined towards the government. The incontrovertible truth should have been made public weeks ago. The belated and half-hearted efforts to nail Pakistans lies are nothing but a disservice to the armed forces. shalender@tribune.com Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar believes the May 12 elections will be a direct contest between the Congress and the BJP. Speaking to The Tribune reporter Geetanjali Gayatri, he says that anti-incumbency factor will go against the BJP and the ground support to the Congress is swelling, as is evident from the various public contact programmes of the party. Excerpts: How is Congress placed in the 10 Lok Sabha seats of Haryana? The Congress is fighting to win all 10 seats. We have been consistently raising issues that affect the masses and exposing the government failures. The people have suffered five years of misrule and will not forgive the BJP for tearing apart the social fabric of the state. The BJP stands exposed and the people have made up their mind to bring back the Congress at the Centre, sending 10 MPs from Haryana. What is the strength of the Congress? We have always worked for all-round development of every section of society. We believe in taking everybody along Pakdo haath, chalo saath. In line with our commitment to inclusive growth and upliftment of the poor and downtrodden, we promise to implement Nyuntum Aay Yojanathat will ensure a life of dignity to 5 crore families. A separate Kisan Budget, 34 lakh jobs in public sector, universal healthcare, simplifying GST, providing quality education, gender justice, end to hate crimes, right to homestead are among the slew of measures we propose to implement. The voter is very intelligent and cannot be fooled by jhooth and jumlas every time. The people have witnessed the development carried out by successive Congress governments, be it the Green Revolution, IT & communications revolution, industrialisation or welfare of women and youth. Will an alliance with regional parties work for anybody? As the adage goes politics is the art of the possible. However, speaking of the Congress in Haryana, we are pretty confident of our strength and do not need a partner. Alliances have been struck in the state in the past, but people have always borne the brunt of power struggle between the parties making up the coalition. How does the Congress plan to improve upon its tally of one MP? The past does not define the future. These five years have further strengthened the Congress. People would be voting on performance and the BJPs performance, to say the least, has been dismal. My paidal and cycle yatra and our recent bus yatra witnessed a huge support. Will the upcoming election be multi-cornered? How will the JJP/AAP/INLD fare in this election? The elections in Haryana are going to be a direct fight between the Congress and the BJP, which will finish a distant second. After the split, the INLD has become irrelevant in the state. Aam Aadmi Party never had any foothold in Haryana. shalender@tribune.com Shiv Kumar Sharma Tribune News Service Yamunanagar, April 9 The mining mafia has damaged a large section of the right lower down-stream embankment (RLDSE) along the Yamuna at Tajewala village by carrying out illegal digging up to 50 feet deep along the embankment. The illegal mining poses a threat of breach in the RLDSE during the rainy season and may further cause damage to Hathnikund Barrage besides wreaking havoc in villages of the area. Sensing the gravity of the situation, an officer of the Irrigation and Water Resources Department of Yamunanagar district has written to the higher authorities demanding a blanket ban on mining activity in the area. An 11,000 feet long, 20 feet wide and 25 feet high RLDSE had been constructed on the right bank of the Yamuna on Haryana side the left bank of the river falls in Uttar Pradesh close to old Tajewala Barrage to protect villages from flooding. The Irrigation Department also spent Rs 34 crore to strengthen the RLDSE from 2010 to 2016. Sources said the bed level of the Yamuna was around 35 feet deep from the upper end of the RLDSE. However, the depth of its other side had gone down to around 50 feet due to illegal mining along the RLDSE, posing a strong threat of breach. Besides, the mining mafia has carried out illegal mining on hundreds of acres close to RLDSE in connivance with landowners. The involvement of authorities of irrigation, mining and other departments cannot be ruled out. The RLDSE area falls under the Water Services Division, Dadupur. When Executive Engineer Haridev Kamboj was transferred to this division a few months ago, he wrote twice (on March 14 and April 1) to Yamunanagar DC Amna Tasneem, apprehending a breach in the RLDSE, damage to Hathnikund Barrage and loss of human life and property in the future. Sources say the local administration has held very few meetings in the past and taken no concrete step to curb illegal mining. The state government had constructed Hathnikund Barrage in 1999, 3 km upstream on the Yamuna, replacing the old Tajewala Barrage, which was constructed in 1873. Yamunanagar Assistant Mining Engineer Sanjay Simberwal said he had taken steps to stop illegal mining after being transferred here recently. Social activist advocate Waryam Singh said the government should take stringent action against erring officers. Digging up to 50 feet at Tajewala village editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Karnal, April 9 The Piccadilly sugar mill, Bhadson, was closed on Wednesday in the middle of the crushing season, forcing hundreds of farmers to protest. The mill authorities claimed they had taken the step in compliance with the order of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) and the National Green Tribunal (NGT), while farmers are demanding relaxation of one month for the sale of the remaining produce. Under the banner of the Bharatiya Kisan Union and the Ganna Sangharsh Samiti, the farmers started a dharna at the gate of the mill and threatened to intensify the protest on Wednesday. Darpan Kamboj, Indri tehsildar; and Randhir Singh, DSP, tried to pacify the farmers, but to no avail. The HSPCB had warned us of dire consequences if the mill was not closed. We had no other option. We are with the farmers, but we cannot go against the NGT order, said Karam Singh, adviser to the mill. He said 52.75 lakh quintals of sugarcane had been crushed in the current season, while 69 lakh quintals were crushed last year. Rampal Chahal, president, Ganna Sangharsh Samiti, said they were assured by the authorities a few days ago that the mill would continue to operate, but it was stopped on Tuesday without any prior information. Farmers came with sugarcane and were stopped from unloading their crop. We are only demanding relaxation of one month, so that farmers can sell their produce, he said. Later in the evening, the authorities informed the farmers that their remaining crop would be adjusted in other mills, which sparked anger and they blocked a road. They were pacified by farmer leaders, following which they removed the blockade. They, however, announced to hold a kisan panchayat on Wednesday at the mill to discuss their future course of action. We have been informed that the sugarcane of the farmers will be shifted to other mills, which is not acceptable to farmers. We will approach CM Manohar Lal Khattar, said Chahal. A group of farmers later reached the district headquarters to meet Deputy Commissioner Vinay Partap Singh. monicakchauhan@gmail.com New Delhi, April 10 The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, is doing fine after he was admitted to a New Delhi hospital with a chest infection, an aide said on Wednesday, as social media users prayed for the Buddhist monk's fast recovery. The 83-year-old Dalai Lama, who fled to India in early 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, lives in exile in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamshala. "His Holiness is doing fine now," Tseten Samdup Chhoekyapa, the Dalai Lama's press secretary, told Reuters without giving details. The Dalai Lama was admitted to hospital on Tuesday after complaining of discomfort and was later diagnosed with a chest infection, his personal secretary said, adding he would spend a few days in hospital. A hospital official declined to comment on his medical condition, citing patient confidentiality. Many of his supporters posted messages on social media wishing him a speedy recovery. "Concerned that he has been hospitalised," tweeted Naveen Patnaik, chief minister of India's eastern state of Odisha. "The world needs him." About 100,000 Tibetans live in India and many worry that their fight for a genuinely autonomous homeland would end with the Dalai Lama. Reuters editorial@tribune.com Mandi, April 9 Senior Congress leaders took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minster Jai Ram Thakur here today. In Mandi to to chalk out a strategy for the victory of Congress candidate Ashray Sharma, HPCC chief Kuldeep Singh Rathore urged the party workers to sink all differences and unite to defeat BJP candidate Ram Swaroop Sharma. He targeted Sharma, saying the tenure of BJP MP Ram Swaroop was full of failures. He could not bring any development project for Mandi. Ram Swaroop had promised expansion of the rail line, setting up of salt mines at Darang and Guma to generate employment, construction of the Jalori Pass tunnel, Bhubhu Jyot tunnel and airstrip in Lahaul-Spiti, but he could not keep a single promise. The BJP believes in caste politics. The Modi government has failed on every front. It could not bring back black money or provide jobs to the youth. Farmers committed suicides as the BJP could not keep its promise of doubling their income, he said. Rathore urged the party workers to work at the grass-roots level to ensure the win of the Congress candidate. Former Telecom Minister Pt Sukh Ram also appealed to the public to support his grandson Ashray. He said after winning the elections, Ashray would work for the development of Mandi. He praised Virbhadra Singh for his contribution to the development of the state. Senior leaders Kaul Singh Thakur, Thakur Singh Bharmouri, Prakash Chaudhari and others also addressed the party workers. TNS editorial@tribune.com Lalit Mohan Tribune News Service Jaisinghpur, April 9 Anil Sharma will have to campaign for BJP in Mandi if he wants to stay in party, said Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur. The Chief Minister reacted when asked to comment about Anil Sharmas recent statement that it was for the Chief Minister to take action against him. Anil Sharma cannot continue like this and I would take action against him if he fails to campaign for party. However, I want Anil Sharma to himself clarify his position, the Chief Minister said. This is for the first time that the Chief Minister has hinted that he might take action against Anil Sharma for not campaigning for BJP in Mandi where his son Ashray Sharma is contesting as a Congress candidate. Ever since his father Sukh Ram and son Ashray Sharma have joined the Congress and the latter has been declared a Congress candidate from Mandi, Anil Sharma has been in a fix. He has issued statements that he would not campaign against his son but can campaign for the BJP in other parts of the state. However, his assertion has not go down well with the BJP leaders in the state. Sources here said that in case Anil Sharma himself resigns from the BJP, anti-defection law could be invoked against him and he may have to re-contest as an MLA. However, if the BJP ousts him from party Anil Sharma can continue as an MLA. The Chief Minister, when asked about social media post of Congress MLA and former CM Virbhadra Singhs son Vikramaditya that ED or income tax might conduct raids on his family, said that the cases against Virbhadra Singh and his family have been going on for the past several years. The Chief Minister today campaigned for party candidate from Kangra parliamentary constituency Kishan Kapoor in Jaisinghpur and Palampur Assembly constituencies. While addressing a public rally at Jaisinghpur, the Chief Minister praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for surgical strikes. The previous UPA government, he said, resorted to just writing letters to Pakistan as it happened after the Mumbai attacks. However, now Pakistan knows that India might take fight to its territories in case proxy war was carried out against India, the CM said. Former CM Shanta Kumar, while speaking on the occasion, said that the present NDA government had started so many schemes for the poor in the country. He urged people to vote Modi back to power so that the good work carried out by the present NDA government could be continued. Kishan Kapoor, the BJP candidate, said that he was seeking votes to strengthen the hands of Narendra Modi and re-elect him as the Prime Minister of the country. editorial@tribune.com Sumit Hakhoo Tribune News Service Jammu, April 9 As the campaigning for the Jammu-Poonch parliamentary constituency drew to a close on Tuesday, the BJP and Congress made last-ditch efforts to woo voters before the polling on April 11. The parties organised scooter rallies and held door-to-door interaction with the people on Tuesday. With two regional parties National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party not fielding any candidate, the BJP and Congress are in a direct fight here. Many areas of the constituency are located along the highly volatile International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LoC). While BJPs sitting MP Jugal Kishore Sharma is contesting to retain the seat, the Congress has fielded former minister Raman Bhalla who is fighting parliamentary poll for the first time. Rebel BJP leader and Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan chief Choudhary Lal Singh and PoK refugee leader Rajiv Chuni are two other notable candidates among the 24 left in the fray. There are a total 20,00,485 voters in the constituency who will seal the fate of candidates in electronic voting machines at 2,740 polling stations established at 1,932 locations. About 219 hyper-sensitive polling stations are located close to the IB and LoC. In the last two weeks, high-profile leaders have visited the area. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP president Amit Shah were the star campaigners for the BJP. The Congress relied on stature and expertise of former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and veteran leader Karan Singh to attract voters. None of the senior national Congress leader campaigned in the state. Much of the campaigning has been restricted to rural areas rather than towns, including Jammu city. The seat comprises four districts Samba, Jammu, Rajouri and Poonch. While Hindu voters are in a majority in plain areas of Jammu and Samba, Muslims dominate two border districts of Rajouri and Poonch. A clear polarisation was visible during the campaigning with the BJP focusing on Hindu-majority Assembly segments while the Congress reached out to Muslim-majority areas. Jammu district Total voters: 10,68,245 Polling stations: 1,380 Assembly segments: 11 (Gandhi Nagar, Jammu East, Jammu West, Bishnah, RS Pura, Suchetgarh, Marh, Raipur-Domana, Akhnoor, Chhamb, Nagrota). Samba district Total voters: 2,04,388 Polling stations: 295 Assembly segments: Two (Samba and Vijaypur) Rajouri district Total voters: 4,20,515 Polling stations: 614 Assembly segments: Four (Nowshera, Darhal, Rajouri and Kalakote) Poonch district Total voters: 3,07,337 Polling stations: 451 Assembly segments: 3 (Surankote, Mendhar and Poonch Haveli) Total voters. 20,00,485 MALE: 10,38,497 FEMALE: 9,61,960 Transgender: 28 Specially abled: 2,986 pardeepdhull@gmail.com Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 10 Emphasising that the national highway in Jammu and Kashmir is restricted for public for a limited period to facilitate movement of security forces, a Ministry of Home Affairs official said alternative routes, including old national highway and internal roads, are available for civilian traffic. Refuting as deliberate and mischievous disinformation being spread about the recently imposed traffic restrictions on the national highway, a senior Home Ministry official said an impression is being created as if it is closed for civilians, which is farthest from truth. The state government has already clarified that out of seven days in a week, only reasonable restrictions is for 12 hours two days a week to ensure safe movement of forces and at the same time minimising the inconvenience to public. The total duration of prohibition is for 24 hours, out of 168 hours in a week, which amounts to only 15 per cent, the official said, adding that restrictions were in place in J&K earlier too and imposed from time to time in other parts of the country, for movement of the convoys of security forces. While regulations for movement of civilian traffic were in place during convoy movement, the J&K government came out with a planned movement of security forces for 15 days till May 31 keeping in view convoy efficiency and security of the personnel, in the backdrop of Pulwama attack and a similar unsuccessful attempt on March 31. The restrictions have been re-imposed after taking into account the requirements of students, patients, etc., and ensuring minimum public hindrance. A robust mechanism to facilitate the public by the administration for exceptions and emergencies has been ensured, the official said. A periodic review of these restrictions mechanism is also in place. These planned restrictions, which came into force from April 3, 2019, have by and large stabilised and are being properly implemented by the state government without any inconvenience to public at large, the official said. pardeepdhull@gmail.com Srinagar, April 10 Former Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday asked people to defy highway ban in Jammu and Kashmir and also warned the Centre of a Palestine-like situation in Kashmir. Protesting against the ban on civilian traffic on the national highway on Sundays and Wednesdays, Mufti said in Pantha Chowk area of Srinagar on Wednesday: Jammu and Kashmirs relation with New Delhi is not like a Palestine-Israel relation. If New Delhi wants to convert our relation like the Palestine-Israel, then they have to be ready for a Palestine like situation as well. She told people to defy the highway ban order as it amounted to subjugation of Kashmiris and their economy. People should drive their vehicles on the highway to defy the order. We will see who takes action against them, she said during the protest. The decision to ban civilian and public transport on the national highway on Sundays and Wednesdays was taken by the state government to ensure safety of security forces convoys on the highway. The decision was taken in the aftermath of February 14 terror strike on the highway in Pulwama district in which 40 CRPF troopers were killed. Authorities have said the ban would not apply to medical emergencies, movement of lawyers, doctors, tourists, government employees, school buses and agriculturalists. Authorities said magistrates have been deputed on all crossings on the national highway to permit bona fide civilian movement. The decision to selectively allow civilian movement has not been able to address the common mans anger. Local traders dealing in perishable items like vegetables, mutton and other such items argue their goods perish on storage as they are unable to carry on normal business during Sundays and Wednesdays in markets on the flanks of the national highway. IANS monicakchauhan@gmail.com New Delhi, April 10 The National Investigation Agency on Wednesday arrested JKLF chief Yasin Malik in connection with a case related to the funding of terror and separatist groups in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said here. Malik was brought to the national capital on Tuesday evening after a special NIA court in Jammu gave the go ahead for his custodial interrogation by the probe agency, they said. The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief, who was shifted to Tihar jail under police protection, was taken into preventive custody in February by the Jammu and Kashmir police and shifted to Jammu's Kot Balwal jail. Malik, whose organisation JKLF was banned last month by the Centre, is also facing two CBI cases. These relate to the kidnapping of Rubaiya Saeed, daughter of then Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, in 1989, and the killing of four IAF personnel in 1990. The NIA registered a case on May 30, 2017, against separatist and secessionist leaders, including unknown members of the Hurriyat Conference, who have been acting in connivance with active militants of proscribed terrorist organisations Hizbul Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and other outfits and gangs. The case was registered for raising, receiving and collecting funds through various illegal means, including hawala transactions, for funding separatist and terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir and for causing disruption in the Valley by way of pelting stones on the security forces, burning schools, damaging public property and waging war against India, the probe agency said in the FIR. Hafiz Saeed, the Pakistan-based chief of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the front for the banned LeT, has also been named as an accused in the FIR. PTI editorial@tribune.com Azhar Qadri Tribune News Service Srinagar, April 9 National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, who is contesting the Lok Sabha poll from the Srinagar constituency, on Tuesday raised the issue of plebiscite and said Article 370 was permanent till the right to self-determination was not franchised. He said the people of the state were seeking a political solution to the Kashmir issue as he, for the first time in recent years, raised the question of plebiscite. The accession was done on three conditions that defence, foreign relations and communication (will remain with the Union). All other things were kept with people till plebiscite is not done, he said while addressing an election rally in the city on Tuesday. The former CM also linked Article 370, which guarantees the states special status, with plebiscite, the United Nations promised vote for the people of J&K to decide whether to merge with India or Pakistan. Plebiscite is temporary, yes it is, but till you do not go for it, Article 370 is permanent, Farooq added. It is rare for a mainstream political leader and a former Chief Minister to raise the issue of plebiscite, which is the cornerstone of the separatist politics. However, the campaigning for the upcoming Lok Sabha election, which begins from Thursday, has seen politicians in the Kashmir valley strongly advocating the soft-separatist agenda. We dont want anything from you. We want you to solve our issue. This state should have a political solution and it is still pending with the United Nations, Farooq added. The NC chief said he does not do double speak, he has said it in the Parliament and was repeating it in Srinagar that accession was conditional. Farooq Abdullah will die one day but these things will not die, he added. rchopra@tribunemail.com Jammu, April 10 A surrendered militant was arrested after remaining at large for 17 years in Jammu and Kashmirs Reasi district, police said. He was an accused in a murder case, they said. On specific inputs, a special team raided a place and arrested Mohammad Irfan alias Babloo of Gandoh belt in Doda district, police said. Irfan had been evading arrest in a 2002 case registered against him under Section 302 of the Ranbir Penal Code, they said. The accused was working as a labourer with a private contractor at Gran Morh Reasi, they added. PTI ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM Pervin Malhotra Q. Our son is very keen to study Hotel Management abroad after Class XII. Since he has not prepared for SAT etc, we are now thinking of sending him to Australia. Do you think its a good decision? Are we too late for applying for the current years session? TK Laroya A.Both Australia and New Zealand have continued to strengthen their position as the top choice for Indian students outside of North America. In fact, Australia is the second favourite choice for Indian students after the US their numbers rose by 24.5 per cent crossing 1 lakh in 2018 (which is 12.4 per cent of the overall international enrolments). Moreover, seven Australian universities feature among the Top 100 in the in the Global QS Rankings 2018-19. After doing his bachelors Down Under, your son has the option of studying further or working anywhere in the world. Should he wish to work in Australia after graduating, the Au government has just recently announced an Additional Temporary Graduate visa with an extra year of post-study work rights for international students who graduate from the regional campus of a registered University the idea being to decongest popular urban areas (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane & the Gold Coast) and attract more international students Even UG & PG students currently holding the two-year Temporary Graduate Post-Study visa can get the additional year if they reside in a regional area. After graduating from a regional campus, students need to reside in a regional area to qualify for the visa. So this will kick in for 2021 grads. And, to answer your last question, no its not too late. For the July session, you can apply by May. For the February session, apply before December to get your confirmation date 6-8 weeks before the starting date. Allow at least 8 weeks for visa). IELTS (6.0 score) compulsory for all students. How to apply for Canadian universities? ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM Arindam Das MBA has a long history of equipping individuals with technical skills that were ideal to serve the ever-evolving business requirements. However, this has changed over time. Today, the corporate world is looking for individuals who are not only technically strong but who can also offer something more. Employers all over the globe have said that being book-smart is not enough; individuals also need to be prepared for a rapidly changing and complex future. This is where soft skills come into the picture. Soft skills may be job-specific, however, generally, employers everywhere are looking for professionals who possess excellent life-tackling skills. The following are a few statistics that best explain why soft skills are on the rise when it comes to MBA graduates. Do soft skills hold any real value in the market? To examine the skills that are highly sought after by employers and those that are hard to find in MBA graduates, The Financial Times conducted a survey called 2018 FT MBA Skills Gap Survey. Almost 70 per cent of leading employers all over the globe were a part of this study. According to the results of this survey, soft skills are the most important factors for employers. These include the ability to work in a team with a wide variety of people; solve problems; sustain and expand a network; and manage time efficiently. The participants of this survey also stated that business schools are great at teaching the theory behind a subject, but lack the ability to inculcate skills such as self-awareness, communication and integrity in their students. While aiming at the development of the theoretical aspects of the course, MBA colleges also need to focus on helping students experience and explore real-life dilemmas, challenging choices and relationships at work. This study elucidates that soft skills are valued in the corporate world globally. The non-cognitive aspect of the soft skills that move beyond the parameters of quantitative IQ-based analysis has been able to salvage the labour market from the high-end automation and technological developments. Machines are still no substitutes for qualitative open-ended tasks such as creativity, negotiation, team-dynamics, social skills, etc. Skills that matter Now that the importance of developing soft skills is clear, lets take a look at how an MBA can enhance these highly demanded skills. Today, colleges have started designing MBA programmes that enable students to become a domain expert with sound interpersonal and social skills. Business schools employ various methods to develop a students technical and soft skills. For instance, MBA students are often required to work in groups to complete a project, and this helps them learn how to be open to new perspectives, listen, share, understand and work together towards the common goal. When it comes to communicating effectively, students are taught the different ways of presenting an idea or a concept. Whether a student is presenting a corporate proposal, or writing a memo, he will know the right way to address his audience. Another way in which an MBA course helps students become self-aware is by offering constructive criticism. Constructive feedback helps students take a step back and identify where they need to put in more effort. Further, an expected multicultural set-up of an MBA school, with regards to its members of faculty and the students, make the students ready for the global industry that incorporates a dynamic variety of cultural-mix. All in all, students and business schools alike need to understand that traditional mediocrity will no longer be accepted in the corporate world. Also, technical expertise alone is not enough to succeed in this competitive world. The modern workplace functions well with the help of listening, sharing feedback, presenting ideas, thinking critically and working within a team. By pursuing an MBA programme that offers a challenging curriculum, experiential learning, and ways to enhance soft skills, students will evolve into proficient leaders of tomorrow. The writer is Associate Professor, Alliance University Why focus on soft skills? Management schools aim to create business leaders of the future. MBA is a training programme for aspiring CEOs, entrepreneurs and managers. To work as a CEO, an entrepreneur or even a manager, its important to know how to lead, manage and delegate to a team by creating effective strategies for the betterment of the business. This is where leadership and strategic planning go hand in hand. Only when an individual possesses sound leadership skills (a combination of people skills and decision-making capacity) will he be able to implement and execute a strategy. Therefore, its easy to understand that both these skills are extremely crucial for a companys success. Its no surprise then that among the best soft skills that employers look for in MBA graduates, leadership tops the list. Leadership is just one example that demonstrates how a soft skill can benefit any company. Followed by leadership, individuals need to know how to communicate effectively, think critically, act creatively, negotiate perceptively, work in a team of multicultural people and be self-aware. An effective solution or idea quickly turns inefficient when professionals lacking soft skills enter the picture. shriaya.dutt@tribuneindia.com Tribune Web Desk Chandigarh, April 10 The girl, who rose to fame thanks to social media, sure gets targeted a lot by it. Priya Prakash Varrier has once again received severe trolling and this time it was for a caption goof-up. With over seven million followers on Insatgram, Priya is pretty active on all her social media accounts. But, currently she is having a nightmare after her now-deleted post that went viral for all the wrong reasons. The young diva shared a picture promoting a new perfume brand. Instead of the picture being the focus, the goof-up that she made with the caption gained all the attention it needed. The cut, copy and pasted caption caught the attention of her all her followers and stirred a lot of savage comments on social media. The actress was quick enough to realise her mistake and rectified the caption, netizens swiftly started trolling her. On the work front, Priya will soon be making her Bollywood debut with Prasanth Mambully's 'Sridevi Bungalow', which is already in the centre of a controversy. harinder@tribunemail.com Washington, April 9 India retained its position as the worlds top recipient of remittances with its diaspora sending a whopping $79 billion back home in 2018, the World Bank said in a report. With this, India has retained its top spot on remittances, according to the latest edition of the World Banks Migration and Development Brief. Over the past three years, India has registered a significant flow of remittances from $62.7 billion in 2016 to $65.3 billion in 2017. In Pakistan, remittance growth was moderate (7%), due to significant declines in inflows from Saudi Arabia, its largest remittance source. In Bangladesh, remittances showed a brisk uptick in 2018 (15%). According to the report, remittances to low and middle-income countries reached a record high of $529 billion in 2018, an increase of 9.6% over the previous record high of $483 billion in 2017. Global remittances, which include flows to high-income nations, reached $689 billion in 2018, up from $633 billion in 2017. The bank said remittances to South Asia grew 12% to $131 billion in 2018, outpacing 6% growth in 2017. The upsurge was driven by stronger economic conditions in the US and a pick-up in oil prices, which had a positive impact on outward remittances from some GCC countries, it said. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a regional inter-governmental political and economic bloc of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE. However, the bank in its report rued the global average cost of sending $200 remained high, at around 7% in the first quarter of 2019. Reducing remittance costs to 3% by 2030 is a global target under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10.7. Remittance costs across many African corridors and islands in Pacific remain above 10%. On ways to lower costs, Dilip Ratha, lead author of Brief and head of KNOMAD, said, Remittances are on track to become largest source of external financing in developing countries. The high costs of money transfers reduce the benefits of migration. Renegotiating exclusive partnerships and letting new players operate through national post offices, banks, and telecommunications companies will increase competition and lower remittance prices. PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com Islamabad, April 10 Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that he believes there may be a better chance of peace talks with India and settling the Kashmir issue if the BJP wins the general election. India will go to polls in seven phases beginning from Thursday. Perhaps if the BJP wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached, Khan told a small group of foreign journalists in an interview. He said other parties would be afraid of right-wing backlash in case of settlement on the Kashmir issue. Khan said Kashmir was the central issue between the two countries. India maintains that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the country and Pakistan is in illegal occupation of a part of the states territory. Tensions flared up between India and Pakistan after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) killed 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmirs Pulwama district on February 14. Amid mounting outrage, the IAF carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured an IAF pilot, who was handed over to India on March 1. Khan has said that Pakistan was taking action against all militants groups, including the JeM. Khan said groups like the JeM were being disarmed under a serious drive to eliminate militancy from Pakistan. We have taken the religious schools of these groups under state control. It is first serious effort to disarm the militant outfits, he said. Khan said action was taken because it was important for the future of Pakistan. He also rejected the impression that Pakistan was compelled by the world to taken such an action. PTI monicakchauhan@gmail.com Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 10 Congress president Rahul Gandhi On Wednesday used the Supreme Court decision allowing examination of new documents on alleged corruption in the 2015 Rafale deal to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi and dare him to a debate on the issue. I dare the PM to a 15-minute debate. Let us engage in discussion in a cordial manner. PM can decide when to come and let us debate Rafale corruption for just 15 minutes, Gandhi said after filing his Lok Sabha nomination from his parliament segment of Amethi. In Delhi, the Congress officially claimed its first victory in the fight for justice in the Rafale matter saying the SC has agreed to look at Rafale purchase documents for their evidentiary value rather than their source. The PM has been stripped naked of his lies, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said today. The PM consistently lied to the court about CAG report on Rafale being submitted to Parliament. PM didnt tell the court that NDA Government paid Rs 208 crore extra per Rafale jet as against the UPA which had paid lesser for India specific enhancements. PM also didnt tell the court that the Indian Negotiation Team told the government that Rafale jet cannot be delivered until 10 years due to Dassaults 82 pending jet orders, Surjewala said. The Congress said the SC has today taken the first steps towards justice in the Rafale matter and the next logical step is the joint parliamentary committee probe. The Congress also attacked the PM for hiding documents from the court and not informing the court that PM as head of cabinet Committee of security waived the requirements of sovereign bank guarantee from Frace for the 36 jets which are to be bought in a fly away condition. Why did the PM do away with a clause to penalise Dassault for corruption, asked Congress hailing the SC orders. shalender@tribune.com Shiv Kumar Tribune News Service Mumbai, April 9 Addressing a joint rally with Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray in drought-hit Latur today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi played the Pakistan card. I want to tell the first-time voters to dedicate their votes to the brave jawans who carried out the air strikes in Pakistan. Will you dedicate your first vote to the martyrs who lost their lives in Pulwama? Modi asked the audience. He then went on to blame the Congress for the creation of Pakistan. Pakistan would not have been born if the Congress had done the right thing at the time of Independence, Modi said. He further accused the party of behaving in the same way in present times as well. The Congress manifesto speaks the language of Pakistan... Today the Congress and the NCP are standing with people who want a separate PM in J&K, Modi said. The PM said unlike the Congress, which was questioning the valour of our forces, in BJPs new India, terrorists would be killed in their hideouts. The PM also accused the Congress of working against national interests by working towards fulfilling Pakistans agenda. The Congress wants to do away with laws against sedition. This is exactly what Pakistan wants. Can you trust these people? the PM asked. Modi also used the occasion to praise Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray. Calling Uddhav his younger brother, Modi thanked Bal Thackeray for not occupying the Chief Ministers chair. Parties like the Congress which believe in dynastic rule should learn from Balasaheb, Modi said. He then went on to remind the voters that the government provided water to farmers and provided healthcare to all under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. Accusing the Congress of corruption, Modi said the authorities were recovering stashed currency notes from the houses of its partys leaders. The partys candidates are buying votes. This is their culture. EC seeks report on PMs Remarks The EC has taken cognisance of PM Modis remarks asking first-time voters to dedicate their vote to those who carried out the airstrike and sought a report from poll officials in Maharashtra. Sources said the chief electoral officer has been asked to submit a report at the earliest. Deal PAK a Severe blow: Sena chief monicakchauhan@gmail.com New Delhi, April 10 A Delhi court on Wednesday framed charges against journalist Priya Ramani in a defamation case filed by former Union Minister M.J. Akbar. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal framed the charges. As Ramani pleaded not guilty and claimed trial, the court listed the matter for May 4 for recording of evidences in the case. "I plead truth as my defence, made in good faith in public interest and for the public good. I will prove my defence during trial. I plead not guilty," Ramani told the court. Ramani was the first in a long list of female journalists to accuse the former Minister of State for External Affairs and journalist of sexual harassment. Akbar has denied the allegations made against him saying they were imaginary. The statements of seven witnesses, including that of Akbar, who is now with the Bharatiya Janata Party, have been recorded in the defamation case. IANS shriaya.dutt@tribuneindia.com New Delhi, April 10 The Election Commission (EC) has stopped Bollywood biopic PM Narendra Modi from releasing on April 11, when the Lok Sabha election begins, but a web series on the Prime Ministerreleased just over a week ahead of the pollshas been playing on. The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea seeking a stay on the film's release over concerns it may tilt the balance during the elections, and put the ball in the EC's court. And the poll panel on Wednesday ruled that any material which disturbs a level playing field should not be displayed, stalling the film's release until the elections end. PM Narendra Modi, directed by Omung Kumar B, stars Vivek Anand Oberoi as Modi. The film, granted a 'U' certificate for unrestricted exhibition by the Censor Board, narrates the story of Modi from his humble beginnings to becoming the Prime Minister. The trajectory of Eros Now's Original Series Modi: Journey Of A Common Man, helmed by OMG - Oh My God! famed director Umesh Shukla, is also similar. It quietly made its way to the OTT space, but there has hardly been any brouhaha over its content or timing, save its mention in a letter penned by 66 ex-bureaucrats to President Ram Nath Kovind raising questions on how the EC did nothing besides seeking more details on the series. But Shukla made light of it. "The content of my series is not such that there will be complaints to the EC unnecessarily. It's a normal human's story. Maybe it has to do with the medium of Internet. Maybe the code of conduct is different... I don't know the rules, but if there was something (a complaint), we would have heard about it," Shukla told IANS. Five episodes out of 10 went live on April 3, just over a week before the first phase of polling begins. It tells the story of Modi's life from when he was all of 12, and traverses through his youth to becoming the Prime Minister. Defending the timing of the show's release, Shukla said: "It was not planned this way. It is a coincidence. I was working on it since 11 to 12 months. It could have come out one month earlier as well, but it got delayed owing to some technical glitches. "And it doesn't make a difference to me if people say it is coming at this time, because even when I came up with 'Oh My God!', people said it was too controversial (as it was a film about a case against God and it was releasing around the Ganpati festival). But I don't give too much attention to all this. "All I am saying that it's a back story of the PM. I have to say that I changed as a person when I read about him, and I always feel he is a combination between Swami Vivekananda and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The web series is my tribute to him. "My web series is not about politics. It is more about a character and his journey." The response to the show so far, according to Shukla, is best described in one word. "Brilliant". "It is more than I expected. People are really liking it because it is very detailed and realistic. It is relatable. It includes few stories people never knew about Modi, so the untold stories are leaving the audience surprised," Shukla said. He said there is no "fiction or fabrication" in the show, and the remaining five episodes of which may go live later this week. Written by Mihir Bhuta and Radhika Anand and based on Kishor Makwana's Modi: Common Man's PM, the show stars Faisal Khan, Ashish Sharma and Mahesh Thakur depicting different phases of Modi's life. "It took us 11-12 months to bring this show to life. The project was shot extensively in Gujarat... In his village Vadangar, in his school, in Palanpur, Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad. We shot in Uttarakhand, Kolkata and Mumbai too," he said of the 45-day shooting schedule. As for the casting, Shukla said he never wanted to rope in actors caught in an image trap. "I always wanted someone with good acting skills and limited exposure. I found that in Ashish, Faisal and Mahesh... I had told them we didn't want any mimicry. We wanted them to observe and adapt mannerisms as we didn't want a caricaturish portrayal." IANS uttara@tribuneindia.com Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 10 Delhi Commission for Women, an NGO and Delhi Police rescued four minor sex workers in a late night raid conducted at a Paharganj hotel, a commission official said on Wednesday. A man, allegedly the agent, has been arrested, the official said. The NGO, Mission Rescue Operation, tipped DCW chairwoman Swati Maliwal off about the suspect identified only as Sahil, who is believed to be the agenttrafficking minor girls, the official said. The NGO used decoy customers to lure the suspect and paid him in marked currency notes. Two of the rescued girls are from Nepal, one from Assam and one from Bihar. They will be sent to a shelter home. They are believed to have told DCW councilors that they earned Rs 500 from a customer, half of which went to the agent. More and more minor girls, especially from Nepal, are trafficked in the country. Unless police do something to check the crime, one can never be sure of how many girls are still in the grips of traffickers, Maliwal said, adding that a clear rehabilitation policy for victims of human trafficking was needed. monicakchauhan@gmail.com New Delhi, April 10 The Left parties on Wednesday hailed the decision of the Supreme Court allowing 'leaked' documents to be relied upon by petitioners seeking review of the Rafale judgment and alleged that Narendra Modi government was compromising on national security. Continuing his attack on the ruling party, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said that through the Rafale fighter jet deal with France, the government promoted cronyism. Modi and his govt have compromised national security for corruption and cronyism in an important defence deal. They tried to evade accountability, denied a JPC, hid price from CAG, tried to first mislead, then stall any hearing in Supreme Court. Important that culprits are booked, he tweeted. In a setback to the Modi-led government, a day ahead of the first phase of the Lok Sabha election, the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed leaked documents to be relied upon by petitioners seeking review of its Rafale judgment and dismissed the governments preliminary objections claiming privilege over them. Modi and his minions have falsely claimed that they have a clean chit in the Rafale scam. But the proofs have come tumbling out one after another. It has been the most corrupt and most compromised govt in Indias history. Now is the time to throw it out, he said. CPI National Secretary, Atul Kumar Anjaan said the Supreme Courts decision has completely exposed the Modi government. The Modi government has been exposed layer by layer in the Rafale scam. The SC has rejected the claims made by the Centre that the documents related to the deal had been stolen. Now, it is clear that the Modi government has done some scam in the Rafale deal, he said. PTI Trucks wait to cross the border with the U.S. in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Tuesday, April 9, 2019. Reassignments of border inspectors at land crossings with Mexico have exacerbated wait times for truckers. (AP Photo/Christian Torres) shriaya.dutt@tribuneindia.com New Delhi, April 10 The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Reserve Bank as to how GPay, Google's mobile payment app, facilitating financial transactions without its authorisation. A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice A J Bhambhani posed the query to RBI while hearing a PIL which claimed that Google Pay (GPay) was operating as a payments system provider in violation of the Payments and Settlements Act as it has no valid authorisation from the central bank to carry out such functions. The court issued a notice to Reserve Bank of India and Google India seeking their stand on the issue raised in the plea by Abhijit Mishra, who contended that GPay does not figure in RBI's list of authorised 'payment systems operators' released on March 20, 2019. "How are they (GPay) operating without permission," the bench asked RBI, and listed the matter for further hearing on April 29. Mishra has also raised privacy concerns by claiming that "GPay through its unauthorised operation in India as a payment and settlement systems has un-monitored and unauthorised access to the personal information such as Aadhaar, PAN, (financial) transactions etc. of the public". The petition has sought a direction to RBI to order Google to "immediately" stop GPay's "unauthorised operation" in India. In response to a query about payment system operators, RBI has said that its authorisation was mandatory for setting up such a mechanism in India, the petition stated. RBI also said that GPay was not on the list of authorised payment system operators, the plea stated, adding that "as on March 30, 2019, GPay is not a listed partner of the Bhim Aadhaar app as per the official website of Bhim Aadhaar". Bharat Interface for Money application, also known as 'BHIM app', has been developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for facilitating payments through mobile phones, the petition said. It has further said that RBI's master circular of April 6 last year on storage of payment system data states that all such entities should ensure that the entire data related to payment systems operated by them are stored only in India. "Google Pay by virtue of unauthorised access to the BHIM Aadhaar Unified Payments Interface (UPI) can have serious detrimental effect on the privacy and personal liberty of Indian citizens as the data might be stored in servers located outside India. "This is in gross violation of the principals enshrined under the purview of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution by letting an unauthorised private company to access the personal account details of the Indian citizens," Mishra, who claims to be a financial economist, has claimed in his plea. The petition has also contended that GPay was operating in "complete defiance" of the RBI's scheme to constitute an ombudsman for redressal of complaints against deficiency in services related to digital transactions. The petitioner has sought a "compliance audit" of GPay under the Payments and Settlements Act and to impose penalties on Google India for GPay's unauthorised operation in contravention of the laws, regulations and procedure". PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com New York, April 10 In an innovative outreach, an imposing mural on the premises of Indias Permanent Mission to the UN depicts a multi-pronged theme of environmentally sustainable green jobs, Mahatma Gandhis 150th birth anniversary, the International Labour Organisations centenary celebration and India leading the global greening effort as documented recently by NASA. The mural, on the sidewall of the Permanent Mission of India to the UN here, was created by French artist, originally from Portugal, Victor Ash, to commemorate the centenary celebrations of the ILO as well as Gandhis 150th birth anniversary. The mural, an innovative collaboration with the ILO and non-profit organisation Street Art for Mankind, was inaugurated on Tuesday. The imposing white, black, grey and green mural depicts a gigantic weightless astronaut, floating in space, a green lndia visible in the astronauts helmet visor. Gandhis portrait and the number 150 are on the astronauts spacesuits left arm while a patch with the ILO logo and the numeric 100 is on the right arm. Indias Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said the ILO worked with Indias Permanent Mission to promote a global concern--environmentally sustainable green jobs. He said the murals theme also had other elements of India--green jobs, the NASA report and Gandhis 150th birth anniversary. Rare is an occasion that you can get so many themes together, Akbaruddin said as the mural was inaugurated in the presence of ILO Director-General Guy Ryder as well as top UN diplomats. We hope this innovative outreach, which goes beyond diplomatic outreach, reaches out to people on the street in a form that is comprehensible to them. We diplomats work on resolutions, outcomes, documents but this is our combined effort to promote green jobs in a much more sustainable manner, he said. Looking down on earth, the astronaut in the mural sees that the world is a greener place than it was 20 years ago. India is amongst those contributing in significant measure to this increase in the greening on earth and the same was corroborated by the recent data from the NASA satellites. A recent NASA study had said India and China are leading the global greening effort. The NASA study, which observed that the world is a greener place than it was 20 years ago, was based on data received and analysed from its satellite. The greening in India is mostly from croplands (82 per cent) with minor contribution from forests (4.4 per cent), the NASA study, published on February 11, said. Akbaruddin voiced appreciation for Ash for being able to artistically depict the multiple themes in a way that all of us can comprehend. Ash said he was honoured to participate in the project, which gave a message that its important for nations to work together for a greener future. I painted the astronaut because astronauts are also workers; they carry all the machines and tools when they go up in space. I think the future of workers will also be space, he told PTI. He added that astronauts often said that when they were in space, they didnt see borders when they looked down at earth. There are no borders; its only in our minds. Ash, who has been doing street art and murals since the 1980s, finished the mural in one week. Big murals like this are a good way to give messages. Very often art is not understood by most people. I use very simple message in what I do so people can understand very easily, he said. The mural also depicts the ILOs objective of transformation to a greener and low-carbon economy with the potential to create around 24 million new jobs globally by 2030, contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. The Green India in the mural represents the importance of green jobs to sustainable development and responds to the global challenges of environmental protection, economic development and social inclusion, the Permanent Mission of India to the UN said, adding that with the Green Jobs Initiative, the ILO and its partners sought to promote economies and enterprises with reduced environmental impact while generating meaningful employment and the regenerating natural resources. There is a growing acknowledgement that the strategy of grow first, clean up later is not sustainable, economically, socially or environmentally. This has led to an awareness and willingness to act, the Indian Mission said. India was one of the first countries in Asia Pacific to collaborate with the ILO on the Green Jobs Initiative. Some may consider this counter-intuitive, given our large population. To us, it is no surprise. The leader of Indias struggle for independence, Mahatma Gandhi, whose 150th anniversary is being celebrated, always held that The earth, air, land and water are not an inheritance from our forefathers but on loan from our children, it said. PTI shalender@tribune.com Kottayam, April 9 A special investigation team of the Kerala Police today filed a chargesheet against Bishop Franco Mulakkal, seven months after he was arrested over allegations of raping and sexually assaulting a nun. The chargesheet was filed in a magistrate court at Pala. Mulakkal is a former Bishop of Jalandhar diocese and a senior member of the Roman Catholic clergy in India. The nun, who belongs to Missionaries of Jesus congregation under the Jalandhar diocese, had accused the 55-year-old clergyman of repeatedly raping and having unnatural sex with her between 2014 and 2016. He allegedly committed the offence when he was the Bishop of the Jalandhar diocese. He has been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 376C (sexual intercourse by person in authority), 377 (unnatural sex) and 506(1) (criminal threat). In her complaint to the police in June, the nun had alleged that Mulakkal raped her at a guest house in Kuravilangad in May 2014 and later sexually exploited her. She said she had to approach the police as the church authorities did not act on her repeated complaints. Mulakkal, however, claime-d he was absolutely innocent and falsely implicated with an ulterior motive and vexatious intention. Five nuns, who led a public protest seeking Mulakkals arrest, said they were satisfied with the investigation. They expressed hope that the accused Bishop will get maximum punishment. According to sources, the chargesheet names 83 witnesses, including top clergymen of the Catholic church. Ahead of his interrogation and arrest, the Vatican had relieved him temporarily of all pastoral responsibilities. Mulakkal was arrested in September last amid mounting public outrage. He was released from a sub-jail on October 16 after the Kerala High Court granted him bail. Meanwhile, in Jalandhar, Mulakkals lawyer Mandeep Sachdev said, We have not got a copy of the chargesheet. We can comment and pursue the case only after we get it. This even as some priests demanded appointment of a regular Bishop. PTI/TNS harinder@tribunemail.com Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 9 Lt Gen DS Hooda (retd), who was Northern Army Commander during the 2016 surgical strikes across the LoC, has backed limited military action against Pakistan-based terror groups. He has said that India must keep building global pressure on Pakistan to see that it desists from supporting terrorists. In the Indias National Security Strategy document submitted to Congress president Rahul Gandhi recently, Lt Gen Hooda warned against growing radicalisation of youth in Jammu and Kashmir and said contentious issues (read abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A of the Constitution) be kept on the backburner till political consensus is evolved. The document, commissioned by Rahul Gandhi, is silent on the review of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) something the Congress 2019 Lok Sabha manifesto promises. Submitted post IAF strikes in Pakistans Balakot in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, the report endorses limited military action against Pakistan when needed and says, When required, India must be prepared for unilateral, limited military actions against terror groups in Pakistan. Lt Gen Hooda, while taking note of the fact that Pakistans attempts to bring India to the negotiating table by destabilising Kashmir had failed, adds, The events following the Pulwama bombing have established new redlines in Indias response to terror flowing from Pakistan. The international support to Indias airstrikes at Balakot have also reinforced our policy on cross-border operations. However, there is also no doubt that military actions carry the risk of escalation and this needs to be factored into our future plans. There is a need to have a long-term strategy to build consistent pressure on Pakistan to desist from supporting terror. When required, India must also be prepared for unilateral, limited military actions against terror groups in Pakistan. The report defines national security as all encompassing and says true security cant be achieved if large sections of Indians are faced with discrimination and inequality. On Pakistan, Lt Gen Hooda says while India must not rule out dialogue, talks must progress only on the basis of visible results. The former General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Armys Northern Command, Lt Gen Hooda, warns against growing recruitment of J&K youth into terrorist ranks and says India should draft a policy of surrender and rehabilitation to check this trend. Importantly, Lt Gen Hooda calls on the government to solve the outstanding problem of the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community. harinder@tribunemail.com Islamabad, April 9 Pakistans top investigative agency has approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to seek cancellation of the bail of LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has filed an appeal in the IHC, seeking cancellation of the post-arrest bail of Lakhvi. Hearing the appeal, a Division Bench on Tuesday asked authorities to provide the record of the Mumbai attack case in two weeks. The record of the case is currently with an Islamabad-based Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC), holding the trial of Lakhavi and other accused arrested in the case. Seven LeT suspects Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum are facing charges of abetment to murder, attempted murder, planning and executing the Mumbai attack since 2009. The ATC on December 18, 2014, granted post-arrest bail to Lakhvi and set him free. Lakhvi has been living in an undisclosed location since then. The FIA argued that it has enough evidence against Lakhavi and his post-arrest bail should be cancelled so that he can be re-arrested and probed. Some 166 people were killed in the attack carried out by 10 LeT men. Nine of the attackers were killed while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was caught and hanged after being handed down the death sentence by an Indian court. The Mumbai attack case has entered into its 11th year, but none of its suspects in Pakistan has been punished yet. PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 10 The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of fodder scam convict RJD leader Lalu Prasad, foiling his attempt to seek freedom during poll season. A Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi dismissed Prasads bail application after the CBI said he was likely to indulge in political activities during the Lok Sabha polls. It means the former Bihar chief minister, known for his wit and oratorical skill, will not be available for poll campaign for his party RJD and its allies during the general election. Vehemently opposing Prasads bail plea, the CBI had said, It is a case where grant of bail would set a very wrong precedent in cases involving serious corruption in high offices. Grant of bail to Prasad would be against the Zero Tolerance Policy on Corruption of the Supreme Court, it had said. Lodged in Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi, Lalu Prasad (71) has challenged the January 10 verdict of the Jharkhand High Court dismissing his bail application. He has been in jail for the past 22 months following his conviction in the three fodder scam cases of fraudulent withdrawal of money from Deoghar, Dumka and two Chaibasa treasuries in Jharkhand. He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years, 14 years and five years in prison in the three cases, respectively. He is facing trial in another fodder scam case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of money from Doranda treasury. Lalu had cited old age and poor health condition for grant of bail. He had said that he was suffering from diabetes, blood pressure and other ailments and that he had already obtained bail in one of the fodder scam cases. He has been undergoing treatment at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi, for the past few months. But the CBI pointed out that simultaneous raising of pleas for bails on medical grounds and bail to guide the party and to carry out all essential responsibilities as a party president in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections are mutually contradictory and manifest that in the garb of bail on medical grounds the petitioner in essence wants to pursue his political activities which is impermissible in law. rchopra@tribunemail.com Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 10 In a setback to the NDA government on the eve of the first phase of Lok Sabha polls, the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected its objections and decided to rely on fresh documents to decide review petition in the Rafale deal case. There is no provision in the Official Secrets Act and no such provision in any other statute has been brought to our notice by which Parliament has vested any power in the executive arm of the government either to restrain publication of documents marked as secret or from placing such documents before a Court of Law which may have been called upon to adjudicate a legal issue concerning the parties, said a Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice KM Joseph. Justice Joseph, who agreed with the CJI and Justice Kaul, delivered a separate but concurring judgment giving certain additional reasons for rejecting the governments objections against considering the new documents. The review petitions would now be decided on merits after considering the new documents relied upon by petitioners Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and Prashant Bhushan. The SC today rejected the objection of the Govt to considering what they called 'stolen' docs on the #RafaleDeal published by The Hindu, Caravan & Wire which exposed the Govt's claimsb& their lies given to the SC in sealed cover. Our review & appln for perjury will now be heard Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) April 10, 2019 The NDA government had signed a deal with France in 2016 for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets manufactured by Dassault Aviation at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore in flyaway condition. Alleging irregularities in the deal, Sinha, Shourie and Bhushan had sought a probe into it. But the Bench had on December 14 dismissed petition seeking probe into India-France deal for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets, holding there was no commercial favouritism and occasion to really doubt the decision making process warranting setting aside of the contract. Perception of individuals cannot be the basis of a fishing and roving enquiry by this court, especially in such matters, it had said. The whole controversy in the review petition related to three documentsan eight-page note dated June 1, 2016 written by three members of Indian Negotiating Team for Rafale deal and two secret documentsNote 18 of the Ministry of Defence and Note 10 written by Ministry of Defence Deputy Secretary SK Sharma relied upon in the review petition. Attorney General KK Venugopal had questioned the admissibility of the three documents stolen from the Ministry of Defence and relied upon by Sinha, Shourie and Bhushan in their review petition, contending it amounted to a crime under the Official Secrets Act. The government had claimed privilege over these documents and said even Right to Information Act didnt allow such documents to be shared. Venugopal had also claimed that certain state actions were outside the purview ofjudicial review and which lie within the political domain. But the three judges on the Bench unanimously rejected the governments objections. The test of admissibility of evidence lies in its relevancy, unless there is an express or necessarily implied prohibition in the Constitution or other law evidence obtained as a result of illegal search or seizure is not liable to be shut out, it said citing a top court verdict. Insofar as the claim of privilege is concerned, on the very face of it, Section 123 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 relates to unpublished public records. As already noticed, the three documents have been published in different editions of The Hindu newspaper, it said. That aparta claim of immunity against disclosure under Section 123 of the Indian Evidence Act has to be essentially adjudged on the touchstone of public interest and to satisfy itself that public interest is not put to jeopardy by requiring disclosure the Court may even inspect the document in question though the said power has to be sparingly exercised, it noted. Such an exercise, however, would not be necessary in the present case as the document(s) being in public domain and within the reach and knowledge of the entire citizenry, a practical and common sense approach would lead to the obvious conclusion that it would be a meaningless and an exercise in utter futility for the Court to refrain from reading and considering the said document or from shutting out its evidentiary worth and value. The Bench cited Section 8(2) of RTI Act which contemplates that notwithstanding anything in the OSA and the exemptions permissible under Section 8(1) of the Act, a public authority would be justified in allowing access to information, if on proper balancing, public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm sought to be protected. However, it said, When the documents in question are already in the public domain, we do not see how the protection under Section 8(1)(a) of the Act would serve public interest. The Bench also rejected Attorney Generals argument that certain state actions were outside the purview of judicial review and which lie within the political domain, saying primary duty of courts is to uphold the Constitution and the laws without fear or favour and in doing so, they cannot allow any political ideology or economic theory, which may have caught their fancy, to colour the decision. It said, That all Constitutional interpretations have political consequences should not obliterate the fact that the decision has to be arrived at in the calm and dispassionate atmosphere of the court room, that judges in order to give legitimacy to their decision have to keep aloof from the din and controversy of politics and that the fluctuating fortunes of rival political parties can have for them only academic interest. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form shalender@tribune.com Vishav Bharti Tribune News Service Amritsar, April 9 quiet has since prevailed in the city. As the entire city of Amritsar wailed, the British mouthpiece published from Lahore reported thus. The massacre at Jallianwala Bagh had been dismissed as a brief news report in the Civil and Military Gazette. The pro-British English daily, published from Lahore, was founded in 1872. The massacre was reported in a news item headlined Illegal Meeting Dispersed: At Amritsar, all meetings were prohibited, but in spite of this prohibition one was announced to take place in the afternoon. About 6,000 people attended. This meeting, held in defiance of the law, was dispersed by a small force of Indian troops consisting of detachments of the 29th Gurkhas, the 54th Sikhs and the 59th Sind Rifles. The casualties were heavy, but quiet has since prevailed in the city, and it is expected that shops will open on the 16th. Besides, the paper reported in detail about the clashes of April 10 and called the protesters hooligans and discussed the miraculous escape of several Europeans and the hardships they faced. However, it remained completely silent on the killing of protesters on both April 10 and April 13. The paper also hailed the loyalty of different kings of the princely states and reported their prompt action in suppressing the protests. Even as the Civil and Military Gazette stood by the oppressors, a large number of newspapers, especially in Punjab, invited the wrath of the British government for reporting with objectivity. As per a memorandum submitted to the government by the Press Association of India in 1919, action was taken against more than 950 newspapers and printing presses under the draconian Press Act and the Defence of India Rules. The government recovered a fine of Rs 5 lakh from the nationalist newspapers in less than five years. The Tribunes editor, Kali Nath Ray, Trustee Manohar Lal, Parkashs editor Krishna and M Abdul Hai, former sub-editor of Kissan, were arrested from Lahore. When a hue and cry was raised over the arrests, the Civil and Military Gazette reported it as a brief item on a number of arrests. However, the events in Amritsar brought a completely new kind of political consciousness in the journalism of the region. Before Jallianwala Bagh massacre, most of Punjab journalism was pro-establishment and would revolve around religion. The massacre liberated it from the clutches of Singh Sabha and gave birth to political journalism in Punjabi language, says Prof Narinder Singh Kapoor, former head, Department of Journalism, Punjabi University, Patiala, who is known for his work on the history of Punjabi journalism. The incident particularly proved an important juncture in The Tribunes history, which wrote boldly about the massacre. Even Punjabs Lieutenant Governor, Michael ODwyer, in his memoir India as I Knew It criticised The Tribune as a local extremist organ. Prakash Nanda writes in A History of The Tribune: The hair-raising accounts of the martial law atrocities, the regular publication of the proceedings of the Hunter Committee, the consistent reflection of public opinion in editorials and the reputation of The Tribune for independence all contributed to the notable increase in the papers popularity in 1919 and the subsequent years. The paper hailed the successful hartal of April 6 as a great day that will live in our history. Tomorrow Dyer, ODwyer couldnt gag Voice of the People uttara@tribuneindia.com Aparna Banerji Tribune News Service Jalandhar, April 10 Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia should apologise for his grandfathers role in the Jallianwala Bagh Masscare, Aam Aadmi Partys Punjab unit president Bhagwant Mann said on Wednesday. As the country marks the 100th year of the massacre, AAP president demanded an apology from Majithia, a former minister in the previous SAD-BJP regime, as well as the UK government. The British government should apologise. I also demand that Bikram Singh Majithia should apologise for his great grandfather Sr. Sundar Singh Majithias role in the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. He had hosted a dinner for General Dyer on the very day (April 13, 1919) that the massacre took place and also honoured him at the Golden Temple. The Canada government had also apologised for Komagatamaru. Hence, the British government should also apologise for the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. Colonel Reginald Dyer was the British officer who ordered British Indian Army to shoot at people gathered at a pro-independence assembly at Amritsar's Jallianwala Bagh on the morning of Baisakhi on April 13, 1919. Several hundreds were killed in the shooting. The protesters were unarmed. Mann also told reporters that there would be no alliance with the Congress for the forthcoming general elections. We will not support any kind of alliance with the Congress in the state. I have already cleared that with the party. The AAP will fight on its own. Asin Datt ke larange (we shall fight with grit). We are contesting on 10 seats and the remaining three shall also be announced soon, he said. Mann was speaking at a press briefing at the inauguration of the AAPs campaign office in Jalandhar. AAPs Jalandhar candidate Justice (retd.) Zora Singh was also with him at the press conference. Sacrilege He said a recent transfer of Inspector General of Police Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh out of a special investigation team that was investigating the 2015 sacrilege incidents in the state as well as subsequent firing cases was a case of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh returning the favour. It is the CM returning the favour to the Akali Dal for all the cases against them that they had withdrawn before he joined office. He had to something in return as award for that. The move is part of that. The cases in the sacrilege incident are hence being put on the backburner. The officers transfer followed Election Commission of Indias orders to relieve him of the charge. The development came after Akali Dal Member of Parliament Naresh Gujral accused him of violating election code after the latters interview on a TV channel on March 18 and March 19. Mann said his party would take up investigation into the the Nakodar sacrilege incident in the Legislative Assembly. I shall also be taking up the matter with Harpal Singh Cheema, Mann said. Not an outsider Mann also defended the partys decision to field Zora Singh after the party faced criticism of having fielded an outsider. Justice Zora Singh is not an outsider. He didnt ask for the seat. We gave him to it. The local leadership supports him and so weve come to support him. Zora Singh chaired a commission set up in 2015 to probe sacrilege incidents in Punjab. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Ropar, April 9 Senior SAD leader and former Cabinet minister Daljit Singh Cheema is being seen as a probable candidate for the party from Ludhiana parliamentary constituency after several party leaders from the constituency met him recently to convince him to contest from there. Cheema, former MLA from Ropar, is party in charge of Ludhiana district. Earlier, there were rumours that the party was interested in fielding its senior leader Bikram Singh Majithia from Ludhiana. This possibility, however, was ruled out when party president Sukhbir Singh Badal declared that Majithia would not contest from any parliamentary seat few days ago. Cheema, who lost his Assembly seat last year to AAP MLA Amarjit Singh Sandoa, is known for his proximity to Badals. Cheema confirmed that party leaders from Ludhiana wanted him to contest from Ludhiana. Claiming that he was not in the race for the ticket, he said there were many other suitable candidates from Ludhiana unit of SAD. He, however, said he would abide by the partys directions if asked to do so. amansharma@tribunemail.com Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 10 Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has urged Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to write to the Union government to seek an apology from the British Prime Minister for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. In a letter, he has also demamded re-naming of crawling street in Amritsar as Freedom Street or Shaheed-Di-Gali. Full text of Sidhus letter to Capt Amarinder Singh: On the 13th day of April, 2019 as we join our nation in paying tribute to the Martyrs and observe the 100th anniversary of Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The institutional ignorance and unforgiving silence of the Government of India haunts my mind. The sacrifice of the Martyrs at Jallianwala Bagh and Shaheed Udham Singh have been an inspiration for me and 130 Billion Indians. Jallianwala bagh is a symbol of National Integration and an inspires the idea of India but now when the World is watching, the Union Government failed to seize the moment. Thus, it has fallen upon us to rise to the occasion. This is the time of retribution and an apology has never been rendered by the British Government for the actions of 13 April 1919. 100 years is a time already too late but yet occasional of an apology. I request you to write to the Indian and British Government seeking an apology from the British Prime Minister for the atrocities. It would go a long way towards bettering people to people contact among our two nations if a strong message of reconciliation is delivered. I wish to further request you to re-name the crawling street leading to the Jallianwala Bagh as Freedom Street/Shaheedan-Di-Gali or any other name that your esteemed self may find suitable for this site of great sacrifice. This street is the historical reminder of oppression wherein colonial rulers made Indians crawl. Renaming the street is the minimum we can do in the hallowed memory of the great sacrifice. The Jallianwala Bagh today, stands as Indias biggest symbol of national Integration after witnessing one of the most barbaric incidents of colonial oppression. Even after our repeated attempts the Union Government has not woken up from its deep slumber and not given this place its due importance. In-spite of us preparing a detailed project to revamp the Bagh, my letter to the Prime Minister seeking Rs. 100 crores, which you had supported with your own letter was ignored. We wanted to have an impressive museum that honours the memory of Martyrs and depicts the historical narration of events. Along with voice-over by renowned lyricist Gulzar Sahab. We requested historian Smt. Kishwer Desai to help us with the project. We also planned a light and sound programme to share with the visitors, the suffering and scarifice of martyrs by recreating the horrors of the massacre. The Union Government failed to seize the moment and lost the occasion. It is only unfortunate that neither the Union Government did anything for this place of great inspiration in five years nor gave us permission after our repeated requests to implement any of the projects planned by Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board. I had attended a meeting on your behalf with the Honble Home Minister Shri. Rajnath Singh and presented the detailed project report of development projects planned by the Government of Punjab. The Honble Prime Minister is the Chairperson of the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Trust, but the unknown reluctance of the Union Government did not allow us to do anything. The Prime Minister took seven months just to appoint trustees and has not bothered to visit the place even once during his tenure. Now, As the Nation gathers to pay tribute to the Martyrs on the 100th year of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The Government of India is left wanting. Clearly playing a spoilsport, the Union Government has stalled all development project proposed by us. I request you to give due recognition to this place of inspiration that ignited the freedom struggle, requesting you to kindly ask for the due apology and rename the crawling street leading to the Bagh. editorial@tribune.com GS Paul Tribune News Service Amritsar, April 9 Amid unending wait for an apology from Britain for the most heinous act of the colonial era at the Jallianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919, there is documentary evidence that two years later the then British government had offered liberal compensation to the victims of the massacre. This document under the head, Payment of compensation on account of persons killed and wounded at Jallianwala Bagh, lies in the records of the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar. On June 15, 1921, the English government, under the signatures of the then Commissioner of Lahore Divison A Langley, had issued a circular that the families of persons killed, injured and those who suffered loss of property at Jallianwala Bagh and other places in Punjab in 1919 can make a claim before July 20 to the specially constituted compensation committee. Langley was the president of the committee. However, several victims were finally given compensation on the recommendation of the committee, whereas many cases lingered on in dispute. As per records, the victims were categorised on the basis of the areas they belonged to Amritsar city, Amritsar tehsil, Ajnala tehsil and Tarn Taran and the compensation was calculated while evaluating their age, occupation, annual income and property. The compensation amount recommended by the committee ranged from Rs 50 to Rs 1.1 lakh for victims and their families. A total of 203 families of martyrs approached for compensation. As many as 142 martyrs families belonging to Amritsar city were recommended to be given Rs 12.34 lakh, 30 families from Amritsar tehsil were proposed to be paid Rs 1.19 lakh and 20 from Tarn Taran Rs 76,379. Around 11 families of martyrs also claimed the compensation. There were around 142 wounded persons, who claimed damages. As many as 42 families from Amritsar tehsil were recommended by the committee to be given Rs 62,470, six from Tarn Taran to be paid Rs 9,882 and five from Ajnala Tehsil Rs 4,950. There were other 89 families from Amritsar city who also approached for compensation. Record also speaks about nine beneficiaries who suffered loss of property. Their damages were evaluated at Rs 10,717 in total. Mohan Lal, a commission agent based at Phullanwala in Amritsar city, who was 46 when shot dead at the Jallianwala Bagh, was proposed to be given the highest compensation of Rs 1.1 lakh. He had an annual income of Rs 9,000. The father of deceased Gian Chand, a resident of Chowk Passian who was just 15 then having annual income of Rs 300, was recommended to be paid Rs 786 as compensatory amount. Similarly, Asa Ram (24 then), resident of Chowk Pasian and a tailor, had got injured as bullet pierced through right forearm leaving him permanent partial disabled. He was proposed to be paid Rs 3,530 as compensation, including Rs 200 for medical treatment. A shoemaker, Saraj, resident of Jandiala, who received bullet injury on his left shoulder, was proposed Rs 70 as compensation. Vir Nath, a beggar from Bagichi, Patiala, who got a petty injury, was recommended to be paid Rs 60. Ram Jass (44 then), resident of Katra Dulo, who ran gota and tilla shop, got permanent injury. The surgery resulted in shortening of his leg. His compensation was recommended at Rs 25,594, including Rs 6,000 as medical aid. Musammat Jainiti of Katra Ramgarhia, who claimed Rs 100 as price for two calves killed in the Jallianwala Bagh while grazing, was recommended to be paid Rs 50. amansharma@tribunemail.com London, April 10 British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday described the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar as a shameful scar on British Indian history, but stopped short of a formal apology sought by a cross-section of Parliament in previous debates. In a statement, marking the 100th anniversary of the massacre, at the start of her weekly Prime Ministers Questions in the House of Commons, she reiterated the regret already expressed by the British Government. The massacre took place in Jallianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919, when the British Indian Army troops, under the command of Col Reginald Dyer, fired at a crowd holding a pro-Independence demonstration. According to British records, 379 persons were killed and 1,200 injured. We deeply regret what happened and the suffering caused. I am pleased that today the UK-India relationship is one of collaboration, partnership, prosperity and security. Indian diaspora makes an enormous contribution to British society and I am sure the whole House wishes to see the UKs relationship with India continue to flourish, she said. In response, Opposition Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn demanded that those who lost their lives in the massacre deserve a full, clear and unequivocal apology for what took place. Mays statement comes a day after British MPs at Westminster Hall of the Parliament complex debated the issue of a formal apology for the massacre to mark its centenary this Saturday. Foreign Office Minister Mark Field had told MPs that he had been compelled by the arguments to raise the issue of going further than the deepest regret expressed over the killings during the British Raj. I feel we perhaps need to go further... I have now been persuaded to take a different approach, he said, adding that the government had to also consider the financial implications of any apology for events of the past. These issues are an important way of trying to draw a line under the past. Therefore, this is work in progress and I cannot make any promises, he said, holding out some hope of a formal apology over the incident. The debate was tabled by Conservative Party MP Bob Blackman, who opened proceedings with a strong sentiment of shame as he called on the British government to apologise. General Dyer was vigorously defended by I say this with shame the Conservative Party, as well as most of the military establishment. He evaded any penalties post inquiry, as his military superiors advised that they could find no fault with his actions, his orders, or his conduct otherwise, Blackman said, in reference to the British General who had ordered the shooting at a Baisakhi gathering in Amritsar 100 years ago. There needs to be a formal apology from the United Kingdom government that accepts and acknowledges their part in the massacre, said Indian-origin Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill. This is the right time for the (British) Prime Minister to publicly apologise, added fellow Labour MP Virendra Sharma. In wrapping up the outcomes of the debate, Blackman concluded that children in British schools should be taught about the tragedy because people should know what happened in Britains name and that saying sorry is the right thing to do. The pressure on the Cabinet minister mounted further on Wednesday as he received a letter signed by 80 MPs stressing that he must consider their call for an apology anew. PTI uttara@tribuneindia.com Parvesh Sharma} Tribune News Service Sangrur, April 10 Punjab Youth Congress general secretary Poonam Kangra says shell never contest elections again. Kangrawho is a member of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committeewas an aspirant for Fatehgarh Sahib Lok Sabha seat. I have decided to never seek any ticket for any election in future. Its really insulting when your application for ticket is rejected repeatedly by your party, for which you have worked hard for years without giving any reason. I had applied twice for assembly ticket from Dirba and recently for MP ticket from Fatehgarh Sahib, Kangra said at a press conference in Sangrur. She isnt the only one angry. Theres discontent brewing among Valmiki and Majhabi Sikh Congress workers against the party for having passed them over for candidates of other reserved castes. Around 40 candidates from both Mazhabi Sikhs and Valmiki communities had applied for all four seats, but Congress party has not found even a single eligible candidate. Its not possible that all were ineligible, Kangra said. Fatehgarh Sahib is one of four reserved seats of Punjabs 13 Parliamentary seats. Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, and Faridkot are the others. Majhabi Sikh and Valmiki community make up 20 per cent of the states total Scheduled Caste population. The state has 32 per cent SCs. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has called our delegation to Chandigarh on April 13. All India Congress Committee has called us to New Delhi on April 11. Well make them aware about our feelings, she said. Punjab Dalit Welfare Sanghthan president Darshan Singh Kangra said the organisation would protest against Congress candidates across the state if the party continued to ignore the community. How Amar Singh could be given ticket from Fatehgarh Sahib when hes made no contribution to the party, Darshan Singh Kangra said. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 9 The Election Commissions decision to shift IG Kunwar Vijay Pratap out of the SIT probing the Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura firing cases has led to a political slugfest. While the ruling Congress and the main Opposition Aam Aadmi Party have backed the officer, the Akali Dal, on whose complaint the officer has been shifted, has supported the EC move. Capt Amarinder said the state government would ask the EC to review its decision. He said the move had exposed a nexus between the BJP-SAD and the EC. Agitated over what he termed as a biased order, the Chief Minister said he had found the EC order, issued in response to a complaint by an Akali Dal leader, tantamount to being direct interference in the investigation into the police firing incidents and had decided to ask the EC to reconsider the matter in the interest of justice and constitutional propriety. The SITs probe into the cases of sacrilege and police firing has been one of the poll planks against the Akalis, said the CM. Meanwhile, AAP too announced that it would appeal to the EC to revoke its decision. Partys state convener Bhagwant Mann said the transfer was politically motivated. He said the sacrilege issue and the injustice to firing victims and Punjab governments failure to arrest the culprits was an emotive issue among the masses and the IG was doing a fair probe into the matter. Bir Devinder Singh of the SAD (Taksali) alleged that the order was a clear indication of partisanship, in utter disregard of religious sentiments of the Sikh community all over the globe. He said the IGs transfer had dashed the hopes of a fare probe into the most crucial matter concerning the entire Sikh community. Sukhpal Singh Khaira, MLA and president of the Punjabi Ekta Party (PEP), has strongly condemned the removal of the police officer from the SIT. He demanded immediate cancellation of such dictatorial orders. Khaira alleged that the EC had become party to a political conspiracy hatched by the SAD in connivance with the BJP to remove Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh in the name of model code of conduct. Bathinda: Bargari Insaf Morcha and Akal Takht parallel Jathedar Dhian Singh Mand served an ultimatum of one week on the EC to reinstate the IG. He said the move was aimed at hampering the SIT probe. Addressing a press conference here today, Mand said Kunwar's transfer had added insult to the injury of the Sikhs. He said they would submit a memorandum to the EC in Delhi on April 12, seeking his reinstatement. editorial@tribune.com Kulwinder Sandhu Tribune News Service Moga, April 9 Taking notice of the news report, Punjab smells fake pesticide sale scam, published in The Tribune on Tuesday, the state government has asked District Magistrate Sandeep Hans to register an FIR under Section 420 of the IPC, Sections 3K-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 13, read with rule 10(4), 17, 18, 29 and 33, of the Insecticides Act, 1968, and Sections 19 and 20 of the Insecticides Rules at a local police station. The District Magistrate has been asked to issue directions to the police (investigating agency) to find out all the firms and individuals who were involved in the manufacturing and sale of fake pesticides in the state and take appropriate legal action against them. Secretary of the Agriculture Department Dr Kahan Singh Pannu has also asked the Director of the department Dr Swattantar Kumar Aery to constitute teams of senior officials and check all the pesticide manufacturing units, marketing companies and dealers across the state and collect samples of the pesticides for laboratory tests. Pannu said the Punjab government would not allow anyone to sell spurious seeds, fertilisers and pesticides. I have asked the Director of the Agriculture Department and all District Magistrates to check the manufacturing units and dealers across the state and take stern legal action against those found cheating the farmers by means of unfair trade practices. A scam of manufacturing and selling spurious/counterfeit products of Bayer Crop Science Limited has come to light in the Moga district. Officials of the state Agriculture Department seized a few bottles of Fame, a pesticide, marketed by the Bayer Company. The laboratory tests had confirmed that the product was spurious. The pesticide was being manufactured at Saraswati Agro Chemicals India Private Limited, Dera Bassi (Punjab). The department has also issued a show-cause notice to the company, but the reply is awaited. amansharma@tribunemail.com Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 10 Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore has declined to participate in the birthday celebrations of the Queen of England, being held here by the British Deputy High Commission. The celebrations are being held on Wednesday night. He has said since the celebration is on the eve of the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, and it has been a very emotive issue for Punjab, it may not be appropriate for him to attend the function. Badnore said, It was only yesterday that British Minister Mark Field responding to a debate at Westminster Hall in the House of Commons expressed deep regrets and assured the House that the issue pertaining to an apology for the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre Amritsar was in progress. Even the British Prime Minister Theresa May has termed Jallianwala Bagh tragedy a shameful scar. pardeepdhull@gmail.com Kabul, April 10 US forces in Afghanistan revised on Tuesday the death toll from a Taliban attack the previous day near the main American base in the country, saying three service members were killed but not a contractor who was initially reported among the fatalities. The US and NATO Resolute Support mission issued a statement to clarify initial reporting about Mondays roadside bombing of an American convoy near the main US base. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. The Pentagon said later that all three service members killed were Marines. The mission said a roadside bomb hit the convoy near the Bagram Airfield, killing three American service members, and said the contractor who was reported as killed, is alive. The statement said the contractor, an Afghan citizen, was initially treated along with other injured civilians, later identified as a contractor and treated at Bagram Airfield. Three other US service members were also wounded in the attack. The base in Bagram district is located in northern Parwan province and serves as the main US air facility in the country. The injured were evacuated and are receiving medical care, the statement said. Christopher Slutman, a 15-year New York City fire department member, was among the three Marines killed. He leaves behind his wife, Shannon, and three daughters. Firefighter Slutman bravely wore two uniforms and committed his life to public service both as a New York City firefighter and as a member of the United States Marine Corps, Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said in a written statement. The Pentagon identified the two other Marines killed as Cpl. Robert A. Hendriks, 25, of Locust Valley, New York, and Sgt. Benjamin S. Hines, 31, of York, Pennsylvania. In their claim of responsibility, the Taliban said they launched the attack and that one of their suicide bombers detonated his explosives-laden vehicle near the NATO base. The conflicting accounts could not be immediately reconciled. On Tuesday, local Afghan officials said at least five Afghan civilians were injured in the commotion after the attack on the American convoy. Four were passersby and the fifth was a driver of a car going down the road, said Abdul Raqib Kohistani, the Bagram district police chief. Abdul Shakor Qudosi, the district administrative chief in Bagram, said American soldiers opened fire immediately after their convoy was bombed. Mondays US fatalities bring to seven the number of US soldiers killed so far this year in Afghanistan, underscoring the difficulties in bringing peace to the war-wrecked country even as Washington has stepped up efforts to find a way to end the 17-year war, Americas longest. There are about 14,000 US forces in Afghanistan, supporting embattled Afghan forces as they struggle on two fronts facing a resurgent Taliban who now hold sway over almost half the country and also the Islamic State affiliate, which has sought to expand its footprint in Afghanistan even as its self-proclaimed caliphate has crumbled in Syria and Iraq. Last year, 13 US service members were killed in Afghanistan. The Taliban have continued to carry out daily attacks on Afghan security forces despite holding several rounds of peace talks with the United States in recent months. The Taliban have refused to meet with the Afghan government, which they view as a US puppet. Meanwhile, the Taliban have agreed to take part in an all-Afghan gathering later this month in Qatar, where the insurgents maintain a political office. But the Taliban say they will not recognize any government official attending the gathering as a representative of the Kabul government, only as an individual Afghan participant. AP pardeepdhull@gmail.com Steni Valla, Greece, April 10 Near the northern Greek island of Alonissos lies a remarkable ancient shipwreck: the remains of a massive cargo ship that changed archaeologists understanding of shipbuilding in antiquity. Now this spectacular find is to become the first ancient shipwreck to be made accessible to the public in Greece, including to recreational divers. Greeces rich underwater heritage has long been hidden from view, off-limits to all but a select few, mainly archaeologists. Scuba diving was banned throughout the country except in a few specific locations until 2005, for fear that divers might loot the countless antiquities that still lie scattered on the countrys seabed. Ancient shipwrecks and even many more recent ones are still off-limits. Now that seems to be gradually changing, with a new project to create underwater museums. Divers will be able to tour certain shipwrecks and non-divers will experience the sites through virtual reality in information centers on land. The first of these sites is the Peristera shipwreck, named for the uninhabited Greek island opposite Alonissos where it was discovered in the early 1990s. The cargo ship was laden with thousands of amphoras, or vases, probably containing wine, when it sank in the late 5th century B.C. All that survives is the cargo, the exposed parts of the wooden ship having long since rotted away. But the sight is spectacular. Thousands of ancient vases, the vast majority intact, lie in layers. Fish, sponges and other sea creatures have made the amphoras their home, adding color and life to the site. In some places, the cargo towers above divers as they pass along the perimeter of the wreck. It is very impressive. Even I, who have been working for years in underwater archaeology, the first time I dived on this wreck I was truly impressed, said Dimitris Kourkoumelis, the lead archaeologist on the project preparing the site for visitors. Its different to see amphoras ... individually in a museum and different to see them in such concentration. The wreck still holds mysteries. Only a small part has been excavated, and experts have yet to determine how or why it sank, or what other treasures it might have carried beneath the estimated 4,000 amphoras in its hold. There are indications a fire had broken out on board, but its unclear whether that contributed to its sinking. Was it a piracy act? Was it overloaded? said Elpida Hadjidaki, the first archaeologist to excavate the site. These questions remain unanswered. The Peristera wreck is the largest ship of its time to have been found and its discovery was of major significance to historians. Up to then, we thought that large ships that were carrying 1,500 amphoras and were up to 70 tons, they were built by the Romans in the 1st century B.C., Hadjidaki explained. Well, now we have a ship that was not built in the 1st century B.C., it was built in the 5th century B.C., it carried 4,000 amphoras and God knows what else and its 126 tons. Hadjidaki said she is thrilled the wreck is being opened to visitors. Its fantastic. Twenty-five years ago, I was the first person that proposed that and people were jumping at me, they thought I was crazy, she said. Why should we keep it to ourselves? We have to give knowledge to people. The first test for guided tours of the wreck, which lies at a depth of about 22-28 meters (72-92 feet), was carried out last weekend with small groups of recreational and professional divers. A thorough briefing, complete with historical information and the rules of the dive, preceded the short boat ride from the tiny harbour of Steni Valla on Alonissos to the site. On the wreck itself, explanatory signs have been suspended along the perimeter. The initial feedback has been positive. It was an amazing opportunity ... to dive at last on an ancient wreck, said Kostas Menemenoglou, a 39-year-old recreational diver from the central town of Volos. It was a fantastic experience. Its really like diving into history. Three other shipwrecks in the Pagasitic Gulf in central Greece are also included in the project, which is part of a European Commission-funded BlueMed program, which plans to expand the project to Italy and Croatia. More test dives will be held this summer and next year, with hopes of fully opening the sites to recreational diving in early 2021. Accessible archaeological sites are one of the most interesting projects not just a Greek project but a worldwide project, said Kourkoumelis, who noted it has taken a long time to get to the point of allowing visitors to access an ancient wreck. It took years. And thats logical, because underwater ancient sites and particularly ancient shipwrecks are exposed ... and fragile, he said, noting it was crucial to properly set up the project and the dive conditions, making sure the sites are protected before they can be opened to the public. All the conditions must be ensured so that these sites remain safe in the future and for future generations, he added. AP pardeepdhull@gmail.com Dubai/London, April 10 Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the United States had made a vicious move in designating the Revolutionary Guards as a foreign terrorist organisation, and Tehran vowed to take action against US forces in the region. They wish to plot against our Sepah (the Guard corps) ... it is in the front line of confronting enemies of our (1979 Islamic) revolution and has always defended the country ... America has failed to block our advances, Khamenei, who controls the Guards, was quoted as saying by the state media. In spite of all the pressure over the past 40 years, Americans have failed to do a damn thing and their vicious move will bear no fruit, Khameni said, a day after a decision by US President Donald Trump that is likely to raise tensions in the Middle East. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also defended the corps as protectors of Iran, saying in a televised speech that the United States holds a grudge against the Guards who have sacrificed their lives to protect our people, our revolution. Comprising an estimated 125,000-strong military with army, navy and air units, the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) also command the Basij, a religious volunteer paramilitary force, and control Irans ballistic missile programmes. The Guards overseas Quds forces have fought Irans proxy wars in the region. The United States has already blacklisted dozens of entities and people for affiliations with the Guards, but not the organisation as a whole. The IRGC commander dismissed Washingtons decision and said the Guards would upgrade their military capabilities. This US move was quite laughable since the Revolutionary Guards are in peoples hearts ... The Revolutionary Guards will increase their defensive and offensive capabilities in the coming year, Mohammad Ali Jafari was quoted as saying by the state broadcaster. The long-tense relations between Tehran and Washington took a turn for the worse last May when Trump pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, reached before he took office, and reimposed sanctions. Tehran retaliated by naming the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) as a terrorist organisation and the US government as a sponsor of terror. The Iranian Armed Forces general staff, Irans most senior military body which also oversees the IRGC, said it would use all its means to fight against CENTCOM, and a Guards commander on Tuesday warned the US Navy to keep its distance. Mr Trump, tell your warships not to pass near the Revolutionary Guards boats, ISNA news agency reported a tweet from Mohsen Rezaei as saying. Saudi Arabia, Irans arch regional rival and a Washington ally, welcomed the US action on Tuesday but Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said it could have negative repercussions on Iraq and the region. Abdul Mahdi, speaking to reporters, said Baghdad had tried to head off Trumps decision and added that Iraq would do all it could to bring calm to the region since it maintained good relations with both Tehran and Washington. Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told Fox News on Tuesday that listing the IGRC as a terrorist group was a policy decision by the administration and was meant to have non-military effects, such as pressuring the Iranian economy. Were going to continue to work in Iraq to strengthen security forces. We recognize Iraqs sovereignty. Its our role in-country to build security and well continue to do that, Shanahan said. Turkey, a NATO ally of the United States, was also critical. Such decisions will lead to instability in our region and once you start stepping outside international law, it is unpredictable where it will stop, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a press conference in Istanbul. For its part, France called for steps to avoid any escalation of tensions in the Middle East. Revolutionary Guards commanders have repeatedly said that US bases in the Middle East and US aircraft carriers in the Gulf are within range of Iranian missiles. Tehran has also threatened to disrupt oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if the United States tries to strangle Irans economy by halting its oil exports. Our patience has limits In a show of support, Iranian lawmakers wore Guards uniforms to parliament on Tuesday, chanting Death to America as Iran marked the annual National Day of the Revolutionary Guards, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. Americas decision to label the Guards as a terrorist group was the peak of stupidity and ignorance of the American leadership, Fars quoted parliament speaker Ali Larijani as saying. Iran has so far continued to comply with the nuclear deal, but its clerical rulers have threatened to withdraw from it and to resume the suspended Iranian uranium enrichment programme if other signatories to the pact fail to protect Irans interests. I am telling you (American leaders), if you pressure us, we will mass-produce IR8 advanced centrifuges, Rouhani said in the speech marking Irans National Nuclear Day. Under the nuclear deal, sanctions imposed by the United States, the 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. The Trump administration says the nuclear deal did not do enough to curb Iranian meddling in regional affairs or restrict its development of ballistic missiles. Tehran has stated its determination to expand the missile programme despite mounting US pressure to curb it. Co-signatories Britain, France and Germany are trying to salvage the nuclear deal and set up in January a mechanism to allow trade with Tehran and circumvent US sanctions. Reuters pardeepdhull@gmail.com Washington, April 10 The Organization of American States said Tuesday it recognises Opposition leader Juan Guaidos envoy as Venezuelas delegate to the regional body until new elections are held in the country. After a heated debate, the OAS permanent council made the decision by a vote of 18 in favour, nine against, and six abstentions. One delegate was absent. The new delegate is Gustavo Tarre. The move is yet another blow against President Nicolas Maduro, and was vehemently opposed by the delegate of the beleaguered leader, who is locked in a power struggle with Guaido. Guaido, head of Venezuelas National Assembly, is recognized by more than 50 countries, led by the US, as the oil-rich but economically crippled countrys legitimate interim president. The OAS permanent council brings together the ambassadors of all 34 OAS member states. It is the organizations top body. The council asked OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro to send the text to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The text states that Nicolas Maduros presidential authority lacks legitimacy and his designations for government posts, therefore, lack the necessary legitimacy. It recalled that back in June of last year it declared that elections in which Maduro won another term were illegitimate. On January 10 it withdrew its recognition of Maduro as president and said authority in Venezuela rested in the assembly led by Guaido. The countries that voted against Tuesdays decision were Venezuela, Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Dominica, Grenada, Mexico, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Uruguay. AFP Watson Dukes offer of a resignation to the Public Services Association does not purge him or Tobago House of Assembly Chief Secretary Farley Augustine and their camp of the difficulties they are in, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi said yesterday. He was commenting on reports that Duke, in a letter dated December 13, offered his resignation for acceptance by the Conference of Delegates to be effective from December 31, 2021. Stanford Callender cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be properly accused of running away, of leaving his party in the lurch. After decades of dedicated service and of principled positions, he took a decision to make room for others to address the rebuilding of the political machinery, the first word in whose description is great. The official made his statement while attending the annual Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue on April 9. At the debate session on the future of electricity plants, the Vietnamese minister introduced Vietnams policy to boost its national energy security, particularly regarding renewable power, as well as the countrys role in connecting regional energy networks. Anh stated that Vietnam has always complied with the requirements of the energy transition process and applied green power in a bid to ensure its commitments to protecting the environment as well as promoting energy safety and sustainable economic growth. The same day, the official had a meeting with Klaus Ernst, Chairman of the Committee on Economic Affairs and Energy under the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany. Ernst said he hopes for close engagement between Vietnam and Germany in the renewable energy sector. Agreeing with the German official, Anh said that the Vietnamese Government pays significant attention to the field, adding that the country has great potential for developing solar and wind power. - Raila Junior claimed Ruto approached him and his sister Winnie in January 2018 - Junior alleged the DP wanted to given him and his sister posh government jobs through a senior ambassador - But he said he turned down the offer which came barely two months before his father's famous March 2019 handshake with President Uhuru - He was speaking in retaliation to Ruto's claim that the ODM leader approached him four times for a unity deal before meeting with the president Opposition leader Raila Odingas son, Raila Junior has claimed Deputy President William Ruto once offered him and his sister Winnie lucrative government jobs to influence their political stand. The young entrepreneur said this in retaliation to Rutos claim that his father Raila had approached the DP four times before the famous Friday, March 9, handshake with President Uhuru Kenyatta. READ ALSO: Fist fight, gun shots ensue after KDF officers storm Lang'ata Police Station to rescue colleague READ ALSO: William Ruto evades stating reasons behind former CS Rashid Echesa's sacking In a tweet, the young Raila accused the deputy president of trying to implement divide and rule political tactics on him and his sibling in order to advance his political mileage. The Opposition leaders son, however, clarified that he told off Ruto, and together with his sister, turned down the mouth watering job offers. He said Ruto, a political nemesis of his father, used a senior ambassador as proxies to attempt lure them. READ ALSO: Kenyan newspapers review for April 10: Nakuru prisoner who scored 403 in KCPE yet to proceed to Form One The opposition leaders son then maintained he told Ruto off and turned down the high level government position. Photo: Uhuru Kenyatta Source: UGC The truth is that in January 2018, Arap Mashamba (Ruto) tried to entice Winnie Odinga and I with high level government positions, a kind of divide and rule tactic using a very senior ambassador to put pressure but obviously we told him to F off and talk to the source, he said. During an interview with Citizen TV on Tuesday, April 9, Ruto claimed he refused to entertain the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader's request to hold talks with him over a possible unity pact. During the interview, the DP claimed he turned down the advances because he could not insubordinate Uhuru, the Jubilee party leader, and he was also skeptical Raila had good intentions in requesting for a working relationship. I did not believe he was doing this in good faith. In Jubilee we have one central command. Uhuru Kenyatta is the party leader and president and we all refer to him. If there is any engagement with anybody on matters politics it has to start with President Kenyatta. For every approach that was made by Raila Odinga to me, I informed the President. I personally told him I will not engage Raila Odinga, the deputy president said. 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. Searching For My Lost Father Source: Tuko.co.ke Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Zurich, 10 April 2019 UBS is celebrating the contributions of women in economics with a dedicated website and a series of prestigious events. This program shines a light on quality research and policy-making from women leaders in their field. UBS is working in partnership with the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). "Women in Economics", at ubs.com/womenineconomics, will feature videos of prominent researchers discussing their work and insights. Adapted for social media, the content is designed to appeal to non-expert audiences, as well as those with a deeper understanding of economics. Beyond the digital content, the program will include events for students and economists. The platform is similar to "Nobel Perspectives," where UBS has been documenting the lives and work of Nobel Prize-winning economists since 2015. Featuring interviews with 48 Nobel laureates to date, it has grown into the largest repository of digital content on award-winning economic theories. "Women in Economics" will complement this material with a focus on economists who are in the middle of their careers, but have already made a major impact on understanding of their topics, bringing fresh thinking and diverse perspectives to the field. "This program is a great idea, and I am pleased and proud that UBS is launching it. It will not only recognize and pay tribute to the great female thinkers in economic research and policy-making, highlighting their achievements, but also inspire many young women to study economics and pursue a career in this field," said Dr. Wang Tao, Head of Asian Economic Research and Chief China Economist, UBS Investment Research. Kicking off the series is Belgian economist Marianne Bertrand, the Chris P. Dialynas Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. Her many honors and awards include the Sherwin Rosen Prize in 2012 for her contributions to labor economics. She will be followed in May by Esther Duflo, the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Duflo's research on poverty in developing countries has earned her numerous awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship (more commonly known as the "genius grant") in 2009. The featured researchers will be selected in partnership with the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), an independent, non-profit network of more than 1,300 economists. A jury of three CEPR representatives will oversee the selection process: Beatrice Weder di Mauro, a research professor who is the president of CEPR and a member of the UBS board of directors; Helene Rey, CEPRs vice-president and a professor of economics at London Business School; and Jean Tirole, the 2014 recipient of the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. "This initiative promotes the exceptional female researchers in economics from across the world. These women are making major contributions to the field and their work deserves to gain greater visibility. We hope that this initiative will inspire young aspiring talent to enter the economics profession," said Professor Dr. Weder di Mauro. The Canadian and Ukrainian military personnel managed to cooperate consistently during the joint exercises in the Black Sea. Martin Fluet, the commanding officer of the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Toronto, which participated together with Ukrainian ship Pryluky in the mini-exercises in the Black Sea, said this in an interview to an Ukrinform correspondent. "We remained very pleased with the results of the exercises as we had been interacting perfectly well with each other. We invited several Ukrainian sailors aboard and sent our people to their ship. Together we trained in maneuvering, communicating and shooting. Everything went great, I was pleased with the cooperation," said Fluet. He added that the different standards of the armed forces of Ukraine and Canada had not obstructed successful joint training. "So far, our interaction takes place at a fairly basic level, but NATO works with Ukraine to establish common standards and operational procedures. The process of acquiring membership in NATO involves assimilating equipment and processes. The Alliance makes efforts to prepare Ukraine, and although the interaction is still very basic, the mutual presence and communication we conduct are very useful," the Captain 2nd rank said. As reported, the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Toronto (FFH 333) and the Spanish Navy frigate Santa Maria (F-81) were on a visit to Odesa last week, after which they joined the NATO Sea Shield large-scale drills in the Black Sea. ol The relatives of Ukrainian citizens illegally held in Russia, as well as in occupied territories, have called on PACE delegates not to make changes to the regulations that could ensure the lifting of sanctions from the Russian delegation amid Russia's ongoing aggression against Ukraine. This is stated in a letter, published by the Center for Civil Liberties, from the relatives of Ukrainian hostages of the Kremlin regime to PACE delegates ahead of the vote, in which the pro-Russian lobby promotes procedural changes in favor of Russia, according to an Ukrinform correspondent. "We have appreciated firm reaction of the Parliamentary Assembly to the illegal annexation of Crimea and Russia's military action in eastern Ukraine. We are grateful that the Assembly called on Russia to release our beloved ones. At the same time, we have observed with pain and regret attempts to allow Russia to return to PACE without fulfilling demands of the Assembly, contained in its resolutions," the appeal reads. The relatives of Ukrainian prisoners noted that during the spring session of the Assembly the delegates are considering proposals to amend the mechanism of imposing sanctions. The letter warns that this will allow Russia to eventually restore its rights at the Assembly and at the same time escape responsibility for what it has done to Ukrainian citizens. "This kind of reform will mean a political solution for some and a loss of hope for us. We call on you to look for a solution that will imply Russia's contribution to it. We hope that the contribution will be the release of political prisoners in Russian Federation and occupied Crimea and all detainees from Donbas. We believe in the Council of Europe and so do our relatives who are behind bars in Russia and occupied Ukrainian territories. Please don't compromise this belief," the letter reads. On Monday, April 8, the PACE supported the holding of a debate under an urgent procedure to discuss a report, the adoption of which aims to simplify the procedure for lifting sanctions from the Russian delegation in the Assembly. Since the beginning of military aggression against Ukraine in 2014, Russia has been holding at least 97 political hostages and prisoners of war on its territory and about 120 people in occupied Ukrainian territories, including Crimea. op The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a draft law of Ukraine On the ratification of the Agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Poland on the maintenance of border road bridge objects at the Ukrainian-Polish state border and a relevant draft governments resolution. The corresponding decision was taken at the government meeting on Wednesday, April 10, an Ukrinform correspondent reported. In particular, the document will allow the maintenance of border road bridge objects in the proper transport-operational condition. The implementation of the agreement does not require the allocation of additional funds from the state budget. The bill will soon be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada for consideration. Employees of the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service have denied entry into Ukraine for almost 10,000 people since the start of the year. 9,984 people were refused entry. 11,965 protocols on administrative violations were concluded. Total fines for administrative violations exceeded UAH 27 million, reads the report posted on the State Border Guard Services website. Also, 564 illegal migrants were detained and 1,812 potential illegal migrants were denied entry. The State Border Guard Services clarified that the report included data recorded in January-March 2019. iy The overwhelming majority of Ukrainian experts (85.5%) surveyed by the Situations Modeling Agency believe that the situation in Ukraine improved over the past three years of activity of the government led by Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman. Director of the Situations Modeling Agency Vitaliy Bala said this at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday, according to an Ukrinform correspondent. "In fact, 85.5% of experts believe that the situation in the country has changed for the better. We compared the situation with 2015, when there was a sufficiently crisis situation and opponents spoke a lot of negative things about the Groysman-led government. I myself am not a supporter. [....] But one way or another, we now say that the situation is improving, and this gives me reasons to be a cautious optimist," Bala said. According to Oleksiy Holobutsky, deputy director of the Situations Modeling Agency, most experts noted that the foreign economic situation had changed for the better. "Some 75.5% believe that the situation has changed for the better, 3.7% think it has rather changed for the worse, and 11.1% think it has practically not changed," he said. Holobutsky noted that experts think the biggest obstacles to the government's activity are the war with Russia, the activity of populist politicians in parliament, and the institutional weakness of government institutions. Experts estimated the role of the government in bringing Ukraine out of crisis at 7.6 on a ten-point scale and that of the prime minister at 7.4. Experts said the government's positive achievements included the growth of the minimum wage, the monetization of subsidies and the modernization of pensions with the introduction of automatic indexation. The most significant achievements are decentralization, state security and defense, road infrastructure, and support for the agricultural sector. The survey was conducted by the Situations Modeling Agency on 3-5 April by questioning 30 experts. op | By Laura Lee The Weise Gallery at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) is awash in spring color thanks to Maryland First Lady Yumi Hogans art exhibit, Natures Spring Sonata, which runs through April 18, 2019. Guests view Maryland First Lady Yumi Hogan's artwork at the Weise Gallery At a reception celebrating the opening of the exhibit, UMB President Jay A. Perman, MD, extolled the value of art in education as a way for people to connect in a deeper way. In our roles as health professionals, lawyers, and social workers, art is how we feel and empathize and understand, he said. Art makes UMB a richer campus and a richer community. Its important to what we do and who we are. Mrs. Hogans works made with sumi ink and hanji paper, displaying interpretations of her life and memories, and visually reflecting connections with nature are the second exhibition sponsored by the UMB Council for the Arts & Culture. My artwork is my interpretation and abstract vision of the harmony of nature, said Mrs. Hogan, who is an adjunct professor in the drawing department at the Maryland Institute College of Att. The flowing colors and lines represent a childhood memory of my mother and grandmother making silk fabrics, carefully moving each silk strand in the air. All proceeds from the sale of the art benefit the Yumi Cares Foundation, which operates an art therapy program for pediatric patients in Maryland hospitals. Launched 18 months ago at the University of Maryland Childrens Hospital, the program grew out of Hogans personal encounter with cancer in the role as a caregiver and support system for her husband, Gov. Larry Hogan, as he underwent treatment at the University of Maryland Medical Center for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. As a mother, artist, and caregiver, Mrs. Hogan saw firsthand the many positive benefits of creative pursuits, including mental and emotional benefits, for patients facing the stresses of cancer and treatment. My husband underwent six months of cancer treatment here, Mrs. Hogan said, explaining the genesis of Yumi Cares. I met so many special children, and I was thinking, How can I help them? Yumi Cares is about helping childrens recovery and empowerment through art. The Natures Spring Sonata exhibit is open to the public in the Weise Gallery at UMBs Health Sciences and Human Services Library, located at 601 W. Lombard St. in Baltimore. When floods ravaged Lao PDR last year, a lack of adequate warning significantly contributed to the damage and loss. UNDP is partnering with the government and private sector to solve this problem and help the people of Lao prepare for future hazards. The upcoming Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction and the EU-UNDP-World Bank organized World Reconstruction Conference 4, is an opportunity for us to come together and accelerate our implementation of the Sendai Framework and improve our recovery processes. A common theme running through both of these events is inclusion and resilience. DRR and recovery practices aimed at building resilience and fostering inclusion are essential to addressing inequality, a core priority at UNDP. More information on WRC4 here. As the water gushed into my shop, I was desperately looking for places where to store the products in my small house. All my crops and chickens were washed away and even though I was initially able to save my buffalo, it later died from diseases it contracted from the water. Pat Tiptapmavon, a small grocery shop owner and mother of five, is telling a tragic story that many Laotians can relate to. In 2018, three tropical storms caused intense floods in each of the 18 provinces of Lao PDR, affecting over 400,000 people and destroying more than 100,000 hectares of paddy fields. Mrs Tiptapmavons home village of Thabo in Bolikhamxay Province was not spared the devastation, and the community is looking for ways to recover. Monitoring and assessing the damage was really difficult as we did not have enough boats to commute around the village. Boats would have also helped us in informing communities in the lower-land areas to prepare for the floods, says Vongvihane Phengphachanch, the Village Chief of Thabo and a victim of the floods himself. As climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of storms in Lao PDR, concepts such as disaster preparedness and resilience to climate change are finding their way into the lexicon of even small farming villages like Thabo. Many public institutions and communities are struggling to make the necessary adjustments, due to lack of resources and experience in coping with unpredictable weather. UNDP firmly believes that people should be at the centre of disaster risk reduction. We want to ensure that peoples livelihoods and assets can survive violent weather, by reducing their vulnerabilities to risk. Thats why UNDP and the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, with funding from the Luxembourg government, are piloting early warning systems. People will receive early warnings by text. Institutions at the national, provincial, district and village level will efficiently disperse information to vulnerable communities. The pilot project is starting in Vientiane, Attapeu, Bolikhamxay and Saravan provinces. Although the project is in its initial stages, some major steps have already been taken towards improving the flow of information between the government and its people. In December 2018, the project signed contracts with all four private sector telecommunications companiesLao Telecom, ETL, UNITEL and Beelineon using text-messages to deliver weather-related information to over 200,000 subscribers. The information is provided by the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Important lessons have been learnt about bringing together the national disaster agency, hydrometeorology specialists, the regulator agency for telecommunications, and private companies. Collaborating with three ministries with vastly different mandates and four companies, to ensure we reach everyone to ensure we leave no one behind in the event of a disaster. The system was successfully tested in January and February. The next step is to build on the pilot and to roll out early warning text messages during the 2019 wet season, which lasts from May to October. UNDP has bought loudspeakers, amplifiers and generators to make sure that remote communities with unreliable, or no telecommunications network at all, can still be warned. Mother nature may have sounded a warning for Lao PDR in 2018, but as in any emergency, it is crucial to remain calm and collected. Although the worlds climate is becoming increasingly unpredictable, the issue can be managed. If people like Mrs Tiptapmavon, and Mr Phengphachanch receive timely messages and have the tools to respond to newly-emerging climate challenges, they may be able to take shelter from the storm. For further information, please contact: Victor Igbokwe, DRM Specialist, UNDP Victor.igbokwe@undp.org Margaret Jones Williams, Head, Natural Resources Management and Climate Change Unit/DRR Focal Point UNDP Lao PDR margaret.jones.williams@undp.org Egypt hosts more than 240,000 registered refugees and asylum-seekers of 58 different nationalities. UNHCR/ Scott Nelson UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and WHO, the World Health Organization, commend Egypts extension of the 100 Million Seha campaign to include refugees and asylum-seekers in Egypt in the new phase. The 100 Million Seha campaign, which kicked off at a national scale in October 2018 under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, aims at detecting and eliminating Hepatitis C in Egypt by 2023. The campaign has started providing free tests to all foreign nationals in Egypt including refugees and asylum-seekers as of 17 March 2019, with the first refugee receiving free Hepatitis C medication a week later. UNHCR is very grateful to the hospitality the Egyptian Government and people have shown towards the refugee population in Egypt. In addition to granting refugees and asylum-seekers access to the public health care system in Egypt on equal footing as Egyptians since 2016, the recent inclusion of refugees in this nation-wide campaign only reflects Egypts long-standing tradition of hospitality towards people seeking protection and safety within its borders, says Mr Karim Atassi, UNHCR Representative to the Arab Republic of Egypt and to the League of Arab States. In addition to Hepatitis C, the campaigns check-ups include body mass index, glucose and blood pressure tests and will provide free Hepatitis C treatment to the positively diagnosed on equal footing with Egyptian nationals. Working closely with the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) and relevant partners ensures that people living with hepatitis C are aware about their status and linked to treatment free of charge. This is a real example for health to all by all as a lead way to universal health coverage in Egypt. WHO will keep supporting MoHP to ensure the elimination of hepatitis from Egypt as well as to support the public health needs, which remain our role, says Dr. Jean Jabbour, WHO representative to the Arab Republic of Egypt UNHCR and WHO work closely with their partners to coordinate all preparatory clinical and laboratory assessments for refugees suffering from Hepatitis C, and will follow up with lab assessments during and after the treatment offered by MoHP through the treatment clinics of the national committee for control of viral hepatitis, including after care upon the completion of the treatment. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter At 52 years, Khadija Hassan commonly known as Mama Khadija fights for the education of young girls and boys in Dadaab refugee camps. As soon as she completed high school, war broke out in her country and she fled to Kenya. Khadija arrived in Dadaab in April 1992 and soon after, got an opportunity to study English for two and a half years. I was then hired by CARE International, as a social service worker. My work was to identify social issues affecting the refugee community and advocating for interventions and helped me learn the diverse challenges faced by refugees made me realize my passion of assisting people, says Khadija. Being a hard worker, my employer transferred me to one of the schools as a Somali teacher in 1997. At the time, I remember seeing only one or two girls in upper classes, she adds. Mama Khadija fights for the education of young girls and boys in Dadaab refugee camps Khadija recalls how in 1997, the only library in the school she was teaching in was set on fire by the community due to a misunderstanding on the purpose of a verification exercise scheduled to take place at the facility and organised by UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR. In the same year, Khadija started working with learners with special needs at Midnimo Primary school where she worked for seven years before being promoted to the position of Head teacher of Friends Primary School in 2004, in Ifo refugee camp where she still lives. Being a woman, I used to get despised and even threatened by men. However, they now see how important my role in the community is. This is evident by the number of girls who are in school today, performing better than the boys, Khadija proudly points out. The education sector in Dadaab refugee camps constitutes of pre-school, primary, secondary, adult literacy, special education, accelerated learning, vocational training and scholarships for tertiary education. Children make up 57% of the Dadaab refugee population which currently stands at 210,019. It is estimated that only about 2 % get scholarships for higher education. My lowest moments are when young bright girls are married off against their will because of cultural expectations or young boys abuse drugs and drop out of school. However, my hope is restored by the big number of girls and boys who are still in school. If we support them to get education, then we have succeeded, observes Khadija She is disheartened by the negative effect reduced funding has had on education in Dadaab. In 2018 alone, 92 refugee incentive and 3 Kenyan teachers were laid off in Ifo camp. Congested classrooms and inadequate teachers will compromise the quality of education, she decries. According to Abdul-basit, the Education Officer at Lutheran World Foundation, UNHCRs education partner, Mama Khadija is an inspiration to all and the community respects her a lot. She volunteers her time to mentor girls on the effects of early marriages and importance of education, he says. He adds that Khadija is currently an Assistant Education Officer and is also in charge of two schools which have 3,282 learners and also oversees education of learners with special needs. In addition to her role in the education sector, Khadija also takes care of her late sisters four children and actively participates in community activities in the camp. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter It is 0600 hours and a beautiful golden sun warms up the Kakuma Refugee Camp, located in North-Western Kenya. Breaking the silence of the night, a cock crows and the birds start chirping. Bigirimana Christophe steps out of his one-room semi-permanent house and heads to his poultry house. I like it when my birds are happy and eating well. He says. Im not happy when any of my birds look weak and unwell. He adds. Forced to flee from his home in Burundi, Bigirimana, arrived in Kakuma in 2011 bringing with him nothing but his passion for business and determination to succeed against all odds. I like it when my birds are happy and eating well When I arrived, life was tough so I bought a bicycle and started transport business. Within a short time, I had two bicycles running. But I had to sell the bicycles when motorbikes were introduced and used the money to buy my first 20 chicks which I later sold at a profit, he recalls. A refugee is just like anyone else. A refugee is not a burden and can be self-reliant. We should welcome them, says Bigirimana. Bigirimana now has over 400 chickens in his small farm located in Hongkong area, in Kakuma and is an inspiration to many other refugees and Kenyans. According to Bigirimana, poultry business in Kakuma has not been fully explored and has a lot of potential and many opportunities for business minded people to invest in and earn good returns. My main clients are Kenyans and refugees, he says. I supply meat and eggs to restaurants and humanitarian agencies in Kakuma. I also supply eggs to refugee-owned shops in Kakuma camp. He describes his prices as pocket-friendly and affordable with a 1.8Kg broiler going for as little as 800 (8US$) shillings and one egg on retail going for 20 (0.2US$) shillings. A refugee is just like anyone else. A refugee is not a burden and can be self-reliant According to Edith Ingutia, UNHCRs Livelihoods Officer, poultry business has a multiplier effect. Poultry business injects new demand in the market for eggs, meat, feeds and incubation technology which is mostly solar powered. This innovative approaches translates to more income for entrepreneurs like Bigirimana, she says. A 1.8Kg of broiler chicken costs 800 (8US$) shillings and one egg on retail costs 20 (0.2US$) shillings. UNHCR/Samuel Otieno Bigirimana has over 400 chickens in his small farm located in Hongkong area, in Kakuma camp, he is an inspiration to many refugees and Kenyans. UNHCR/Samuel Otieno Bigirimana Christophe from Burungi, arrived in Kakuma in 2011 bringing with him nothing but his passion for business and determination to succeed against all odds. UNHCR/Samuel Otieno Efforts are being made to support poultry farming by various UNHCR partners such as, Danish Refugee Council (DRC), DanChurchAid (DCA), and GIZ, in Kakuma and Kalobeyei. Such interventions include support to chicken feed businesses, installation of solar powered incubators, and distribution of improved chicken breed to host community and refugee families. I get my feeds and vaccines from Kitale. I have several contacts whom I can call to make orders. But, it would be cheaper if I could get the feeds, chicks and vaccines locally, adds Bigirimana. Bigirimana is grateful for the assistance he has so far received, including construction of a poultry house by DCA, but highlights the need for access to loans for small sized businesses and clean water for his business. My biggest challenge is water. Most of the time I only fetch three to four Jerricans (20-litre jerricans) of water depending on how many people turn up to fetch water on that day. My business requires up to 160 liters of water per day. There are approximately a quarter million people living within a radius of 15 kilometers out of which 187,000 are refugees from over 10 nationalities. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Ukraine boosts grain exports by 20% since July 1, 2018 However, shipments of wheat abroad fell by 7.6%, to 13.3 million tonnes. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter Ukraine's infrastructure minister proposes Qatar Airways set up subsidiary in Ukraine Omelyan says it may be both freight and passenger transportation services. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter Ukraine's Cabinet expands list of banned goods from Russia Sanctions have been extended to glass canning jars, bottles for food and beverages, and other glass containers. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter Klitschko met with the owners of the German park. Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko, while visiting Europa-Park in Rust, Germany, has announced plans to attract investment in the creation of a similar theme park in Ukraine's capital city. Read alsoKlitschko at UNESCO HQ briefs on pedestrian bridge under construction in Kyiv "We plan to develop a big amusement park at Hydropark a 130-hectare island-based recreation zone located not far from the city center. And we are currently seeking an investor who is ready to fund such an ambitious project and also contribute expert advice and ideas," Klitschko said at a meeting with the owners of the German park, according to the mayor's press service. Klitschko was given a tour of the park and briefed on new projects due this year. "This is the most interesting family theme park cozy, old stylized but with the latest rides, a wide range of activities and nice setting. There are also many activities for children to have fun and learn. My old dream is to create a similar park in Kyiv and I will do my best to make it true," Klitschko said. Europa-Park is the largest amusement park in Germany and the second most popular theme park resort in Europe, following Disneyland in Paris. Only last year it attracted over 6 million visitors from Germany, France, Switzerland, and other countries. The experts will carry out health tests of the two presidential candidates if the latter give their consent. Experts from the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) have arrived in Ukraine at the invitation of Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko. The expert delegation is led by VADA President Margaret Goodman, the Sportarena online edition reported. The experts came to carry out a health check-up for two leading presidential candidates, incumbent President Petro Poroshenko and showman Volodymyr Zelensky, if they give their consent. Read alsoZelensky's blood test results made public As UNIAN reported earlier, Zelensky on April 3 declared his readiness to come to the debate with Poroshenko ahead of the April 21 runoff, however, he voiced a number of conditions. In particular, he said the debates should be held at Kyiv's Olimpiyskiy Stadium with all TV channels being able to air the event live, while both candidates must undergo medical tests to prove there are "no alcohol or drug addicts" among them. Poroshenko agreed to hold the debate with Zelensky at the stadium. On April 4, speaker of Poroshenko's election headquarters, Oleh Medvedev, said that Poroshenko had invited Zelensky at the Olimpiyskiy health center to pass the relevant tests. In turn, Zelensky's headquarters rejected the idea of having his blood tested at the health center and announced he would do this at a private laboratory. On April 5, Zelensky had blood tests at a private clinic, Eurolab. Poroshenko in turn had relevant tests at the Olimpiyskiy health center. Wladimir Klitschko called the presidential candidates' medical tests ridiculous and offered to arrange new drug testing at VADA. Shenandoah, IA (51601) Today Windy with strong thunderstorms likely this afternoon. Storms could contain tornadoes. High 71F. Winds S at 25 to 40 mph. Chance of rain 90%.. Tonight Mostly clear and windy. Low 27F. W winds at 25 to 40 mph, decreasing to 10 to 20 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 50 mph. The U.S. is ready to consider restrictions on new sectors of Russia's economy. Secretary of the United States Department of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin says his country will continue to use sanctions against Russia. "Sanctions are a very important tool. We've used them I believe very effectively against Russia. We will continue to use them against Russia for bad behavior, to try to change [the] behavior," he said on April 9 while testifying on the Treasury budget request for the fiscal year 2020, according to the Ukrainian TV news service TSN. Read alsoUkraine's top diplomat compares Russia's return to PACE with release of criminals Congressman from Utah's Second Congressional District Chris Stewart suggested that Mnuchin consider restrictions on the Russian metallurgy and mining industry because the sanctions in that area had not yet been used by Washington. Also, members of Congress drew attention to Russian companies engaged in the extraction of potassium. In response, Mnuchin said that all requests would be carefully studied. "I want to be careful in a public setting that we don't comment on future sanctions but I can assure you that my office will follow up your request very seriously," he said. As UNIAN reported, Trump in early March signed a decree on the continuation of sanctions against the Russian Federation. Pompeo says Russia seized Crimea in March 2014 from Ukraine, which posed no threat to Russians. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has urged not to compare the situation with the recognition of the Golan Heights as the territory of Israel and Russia's annexation of Crimea. "These two situations could not be more starkly different. Israel ended up with the Golan Heights as a result of it having been attacked. They were under defense. And they defended themselves. And they retained that terrain to continue to defend themselves from the murderous regimes in Syria," he said at a hearing in the U.S. Senate. "Russia, on the other hand, wasn't under defensive. Russia chose at their own moment a time to go seize land from a people that posed no threat to them whatsoever," Pompeo said. Read alsoPompeo calls on Russia to return occupied Crimea to Ukraine As UNIAN reported earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump on March 25 recognized the Golan Heights as Israeli territory in an election boost for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as his chief political rival sought to appear as a better alternative to lead Israel. Israel took the Golan Heights from Syria in the closing stages of the 1967 Six-Day War. UNIAN memo. Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea in March 2014 after its troops had occupied the peninsula. An illegal referendum was held for Crimeans to decide on accession to Russia. De-facto Crimean authorities reported that allegedly 96.77% of the Crimean population had voted for joining Russia. On March 18, 2014, the so-called agreement on the accession of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to Russia was signed in the Kremlin. The West did not recognize the annexation in response to which sanctions against Russia were introduced. Ukraine's parliament voted to designate February 20, 2014, as the official date when the temporary occupation of Crimea began. Stepanov says his dismissal is unlawful. Ukrainian MP Oleksii Honcharenko has said Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers approved a motion submitted by the president of Ukraine to dismiss Head of Odesa Regional State Administration Maksym Stepanov. "The letter of Kherson governor [Andriy Gordeev's] resignation and the dismissal of Head of Odesa Regional State Administration Maksym Stepanov, as proposed by the president, have been approved," he told journalists after a government meeting, according to an UNIAN correspondent. Read alsoOdesa governor says his dismissal connected with ensuring fair elections As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko dismissed Maksym Stepanov as Head of Odesa Regional State Administration and appointed First Deputy Head Serhiy Parashchenko as acting governor. The relevant decrees were published on the president's website. However, in an unexpected move, Stepanov refused to step down. "A decree on my dismissal was published on the president's website a few hours ago. A very strange document, which, in my opinion, according to all lawyers, has nothing to do with the legislation of Ukraine," he told a briefing on Monday, according to an UNIAN correspondent. Stepanov said the document "went beyond the powers of the president" enshrined in the Constitution. He added the president has the right to appoint and dismiss heads of the regional state administrations on the proposal of the Cabinet of Ministers. At the same time, Stepanov said he was offered to write a letter of resignation. "I refused because I had no desire to do this. I continue performing my duties," he said. UNIAN memo. Maksym Stepanov was appointed Odesa governor in January 2017. He replaced Mikheil Saakashvili. Before his appointment, he led the state-run Ukraina Printing Plant. Stepanov said Petro Poroshenko during their meeting had noted his poor voting outcome in the region in the first round, which was allegedly including due to the governor's work. Maksym Stepanov, whom President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko earlier sacked from the post of Odesa Governor, said that his dismissal was due to the fact that he had refused to pay social benefits to the local residents ahead of the presidential election. Speaking with LB.ua, Stepanov said that in November last year, the regional budget laid out UAH 90 million for social payments to low-income parts of the population in connection with the rising gas tariffs. At the same time, residents of the region should receive these payments after April 22, that is, at the end of the presidential race. "So far, no one has received anything. Low-income parts of the population will receive one-time payments under this program after April 22," said Stepanov. Read alsoUkraine's Cabinet approves president's motion to dismiss Odesa governor MP When asked whether this became the cornerstone in his relations with the presidential administration, Stepanov replied: "Most likely, it did." Stepanov elaborated on his April 5 meeting with Petro Poroshenko, where the president asked that he write a resignation letter. "During our conversation, he pointed out the election results [of Petro Poroshenko in Odesa region] and moved the conversation to the suggestion that his low support in the region is connected, including, with my work. Then he offered that I resign. We didnt develop this construct because I said I didn't plan to file a resignation letter as I saw no reason for this. Not to mention that we need to finish the projects that we launched, said Stepanov. When asked about the reaction of the president to such a defiant response, the dismissed head of the Odesa Regional State Administration said: "There was a noticeable lack of understanding. He suggested that I think this over again. I repeated that I would not file the resignation letter." As UNIAN reported earlier, on April 6, President Poroshenko, by his decree, dismissed Stepanov from the post of chairman of the Odesa Regional State Administration and appointed his first deputy Serhiy Parashchenko acting head. Today, on April 10, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine endorsed the decree on Stepanovs dismissal. Zelensky Campaign HQ has refuted some of the statements mentioned in report. Volodymyr Zelenskys team spoke about the first decisions and appointments expected in the event their candidate wins in the second round of the Ukraine presidential elections. In case he wins, Zelenskiy intends to invite the United Kingdom and the United States to participate in the Normandy talks, whilst Putin's old pal Viktor Medvedchuk will lose his role of mediator in negotiations with Russia, Hromadske International reports citing Liga.net. Also, Zelensky plans to announce before April 19 his nominees for the posts of Minister of Defense, Minister of Foreign Affairs, SBU (Security Service) chief, and the Prosecutor General, that's according to a mastermind behind Zelenskiys campaign, Ruslan Stefanchuk, and economic expert Danylo Hetmantsev. Zelensky intends to do a number of international visits, to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, and U.S. President Donald Trump. He is also said to be ready for direct talks with Russia with the participation of international partners, while no talks are planned with the "Luhansk Peoples Republic" and "Donetsk Peoples Republic" militants. Zelensky seeks to eliminate "rivalry" between the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, and "to appoint fair judges" to the High Anti-Corruption Court, the report says. Read alsoZelensky's advisor promises to show candidate's action plan before runoff The presidential election hopeful also plans, in case he wins, to propose to the parliament to pass the law on mediation. In the economic sector, the candidate is reported to be set to offer a 5% tax amnesty from 2020 and introduce an exit capital tax. There are plans to set up a Financial Intelligence Service and provide for an international exchange of tax data. Off the record, the following candidacies are being discussed for appointment: head of the Foreign Ministry: ex-finance minister Oleksandr Danyliuk, Prosecutor General: former U.S. prosecutor Marta Borshch, or former head of Romanias National Anti-Corruption Directorate Laura Kovesi, head of the SBU: Ihor Smeshko, who came sixth in the first round of presidential elections, leaving beyond Oleh Lyashko. Danyliuk is best known for his work in Volodymyr Groysmans second government. He was dismissed in June 2018 after a conflict with the Prime Minister Groysman. Recently, former Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius referred to Danyliuk as one of Zelenskys advisers, Hromadske International reports. Marta Borshch is a former prosecutor of ex-prime minister Pavlo Lazarenko. In 2018 she refused the position of an auditor with the National Anti-corruption Bureau (NABU). As of February 2018, Borshch was a lawyer for the Ukrainian fugitive MP, Oleksandr Onyshchenko. Read alsoTeam Zelensky turn down option to hold debate with Poroshenko at public broadcaster's studio Laura Kovesi took on corruption in her native Romania where she first acted as head of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA). In that role, Kovesi had overseen a number of high-profile cases against top officials, eliciting resistance from President Claus Iohanniss ruling party, and praise from the European Union. After Iohannis dismissed her in July 2018, she continued her work in the new role of an anti-corruption counselor to the Prosecutor General of Romania. Ihor Smeshko led the SBU security service under former President Leonid Kuchma, and boasts vast experience as a military intelligence officer. He was fired by former President Viktor Yushchenko, with whom he and his deputy had dinner where Yushchenko was allegedly poisoned by dioxin in 2004. Smeshko previously mentioned that he admired Zelensky as an actor. Among other names mentioned off-record are ex-deputy Minister of Justice Ruslan Riaboshapka, political consultant Dmytro Razumkov, head of Zelenskys election campaign HQ Ivan Bakanov, and a chief ideologist of Zelenskys party Servant of the People Ruslan Stefanchuk. Zelenskiy is said to have plans to instruct the government to develop a package of bills on resolving the issue of national and local referenda. Read alsoPoroshenko Campaign HQ confirms "Poroshenko vs Putin" billboard no hoax Moreover, Ze! Team plans to set up a consultancy of international experts to audit the state within three or four months. Zelensky also seeks to reform the Presidential Administration to make it function like a registry that generates ideas. The takeaway from the meeting was that there are many ideas, but they [Ze! Team] don't want to talk about them in detail or they [the ideas] havent' been finalized yet," Liga.net summed up. Later, however, Zelensky Campaign HQ refuted some of the statements mentioned in the Liga.net report. "The media have information about the appointments that Volodymyr Zelensky supposedly plans after winning the presidential election in Ukraine. These messages are based on guesswork and assumptions. No personnel decisions have been made in Volodymyr Zelenskys team. Moreover, they will not be a backstage work because it was no accident when we asked Ukrainians, whom they would like to see in key positions," the statement reads. There were no Ukrainian army casualties. Russia-led forces mounted 13 attacks on Ukrainian troops in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, in the past 24 hours. Read alsoInvaders use Russia's newest Krasnopol artillery systems in Donbas (Photo) "No Ukrainian army casualties were reported in the past day. According to intelligence reports, one invader was killed and another four were wounded," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation said in an update on Facebook as of 07:00 Kyiv time on April 10, 2019. During the period under review, the Russian occupation forces opened fire from 120mm and 82mm mortars, weapons installed on infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers of various types, heavy machine guns, and small arms to attack the Ukrainian positions near the town of Avdiyivka, and the villages of Pavlopil, Pisky, Shyrohyne, Hnutove, Verkhniotoretske, Katerynivka, Novo-Oleksandrivka, and Zolote-4. "Since Wednesday midnight, Russia-led forces have attacked Ukrainian positions near Pisky, using 82mm mortars and automatic grenade launchers. There have been no casualties among the Ukrainian military," the report said. The majority of May's Conservative Party voted alongside the opposition Labour Party to back the prime minister's approach by 420 votes to 110. British lawmakers endorsed Prime Minister Theresa May's request to the European Union to delay Brexit until June 30 at a vote in parliament on Tuesday, adding weight to the pitch she will make to EU leaders in Brussels. The majority of May's Conservative Party voted alongside the opposition Labour Party to back the prime minister's approach by 420 votes to 110. The main rebellion came from pro-Brexit Conservatives who want Brexit to happen sooner, as reported by Reuters. "We should all be very clear what this extension would be for it is all about making sure we leave the EU in a timely and orderly way and that means leaving with a deal," government Solicitor-General Robert Buckland said ahead of the vote. Read alsoBrexit: Theresa May to meet Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron BBC The debate came as May traveled to Berlin and Paris to drum up support for her request for more time to try and find a new plan for Britain's EU exit that can command the support of her political opponents at home. The vote itself was the culmination of an unprecedented power grab in parliament by lawmakers who this week passed a law against the government's wishes, seeking guarantees that May would not let Britain leave the EU without a deal on April 12. But because May has already requested a delay, and with no alternative dates chosen to be voted on by lawmakers on Tuesday, the vote was not a major flashpoint in the country's long-running political crisis over how to deliver Brexit. Nevertheless, the process of passing a law to trigger Tuesday's debate has further undermined May's political authority, proving parliament is able and willing to circumvent the government if they disagree with her choices on Brexit. Labour Party junior Brexit spokesman Matthew Pennycook said his party supported May's extension plan, but warned the extra time must be used to try and find a compromise with Labour and not to pass her own thrice-rejected deal at a fourth attempt. "The public will not forgive the government if an extension is sought and agreed under the pretense of efforts to secure cross-party compromise," he said. Country United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe April 10 2019 Plans to relocate Castlebrae Community High School to a purpose-built new building in Craigmillar town centre have been formalised with the submission of plans by JM Architects. A key plank of the Craigmillar masterplan the school will also include a town square on brownfield land off Niddrie Mains Road to help further regeneration of the area and accommodate a rising school age population. Purposefully given a central position next to the East Neighbourhood Centre and Library the school seeks to become the foundation of a burgeoning new community. Landscape architects Wardell Armstrong, interior designers Space Zero, engineers Woolgar Hunter & Ramboll are also assisting with the build. Morrison Construction will commence delivery this December for occupation by 2021. Moscow, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Apr, 2019 ) :Russian investigators said Wednesday they had opened a criminal case into judges in Lithuania after the country convicted dozens of Russians involved in a 1991 Soviet crackdown. The Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement that it initiated the investigation against four Lithuanian judges for "deliberately delivering an unjust verdict". Last month, Lithuania sentenced former Soviet defence minister Dmitry Yazov, now 94, in absentia to 10 years in prison over his role in Moscow's January 1991 suppression of the Lithuanian independence movement. The crackdown killed 14 civilians and wounded 700. Sixty-six other defendants who were senior officials in the military, Communist Party and KGB received sentences from four to 14 years. Russia's Investigative Committee said the Lithuanian courts had unlawfully revived a case which had already been investigated. Its statement also made a claim that a "third party participated in the conflict" in 1991 but did not clarify who that could be. Most of the convicts are Russian citizens while several hold Belarusian and Ukrainian passports. (@mahnoorsheikh03) Taking to Instagram, the actor shared a selfie of himself with the writer and wrote a heartfelt note. Lahore (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News 10th April, 2019) Actor Adnan Siddiqui is known to speak his heart. Often he gives his two cents upon various social issues. This time he paid a tribute to legendary writer, actor, comedian, and tv host Anwar Maqsood. Taking to Instagram, the actor shared a selfie of himself with the writer and wrote a heartfelt note. There are times when it can be difficult to find the right words to say to someone whos literally taught you from scratch, even if its just a few words of thank you to express how grateful you are towards that person, he began. So this is how it all began. I was discovered by Anwar Maqsood Sahab whom I lovingly call, Anwar Mamu many many years ago and I had the honour of acting in his play Khwabon ki Zanjeer which he wrote for ptv. Then my first drama serial Uroosa happened. Post that, my first film was offered to me via him and we travelled from Karachi to Lahore together. I didnt end up doing the film but thats another story, he continued. Adnan Siddiqui said that he has always been grateful in my heart to Anwar Mamu for all that he is and for all the wisdom that he has imparted to him. Adnan was on a fund raising journey for Indus Hospital but it became much more as now this trip has an entirely different meaning and an enriching experience for him. On this trip Im not only gaging his magnanimity, but Im also seeing a different side of fandom where people are wanting to just catch a glimpse of him. Ive always been in awe of his personality, but Im more so now. Theres so much that Im learning just by observing him and the way he makes people laugh on his wit and satire. His aura is magical and he has the ability of finding humour in the most crucial situations which has always amazed me, he wrote. The actor concluded, expressing gratitude to Anwar Maqsood, and termed it the most cherished trip of his life. Hungary has indicted four people, including a former Alstom executive, over suspected fraud in the construction of the Budapest metro, prosecutors said Wednesday Budapest, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Apr, 2019 ) : Hungary has indicted four people, including a former Alstom executive, over suspected fraud in the construction of the Budapest metro , prosecutors said Wednesday. Two Hungarians, an Austrian and an American were all indicted over a contract won by French energy and transport giant Alstom in 2005 to build lines two and four of the metro, said a statement from the prosecutor's office. "An official of the French company Alstom offered bribes to one or more people, likely influencing the outcome" of a tender for the lines, the statement said, but it was not clear who of the accused was the Alstom executive. The bribes totalling 8 million Euros ($9 million) allegedly were paid between 2007 and 2009 through Danish and Austrian companies for fictitious consulting services. Under the contract won by Alstom, the company was to replace the trains of line two and build line four. Line four serviced by driverless trains began operations in 2014. The EU's anti-fraud office, known by the French acronym OLAF, already said in 2016 it uncovered "serious irregularities - fraud and possible corruption" while probing the construction of line four of the Budapest metro, a 1.7 billion euro project partly financed with EU funds. In March 2016, the head of Alstom's British operations, Terence Watson, stepped down over related corruption allegations. Britain's Serious Fraud Office accused Watson of involvement in corruption between 2003 and 2008 in connection with a contract to supply the Budapest metro with trains. Watson has said he was contesting the accusations. Alstom has faced corruption allegations over projects in other countries, too.In 2015, the United States fined the company $772 million for bribing government officials in Indonesia, Egypt and several other countries to win business. (@ChaudhryMAli88) The foreign policy committees of the Iranian, Russian and Turkish parliaments, which held their first ever joint meeting on Wednesday, are convinced that Syria's territorial integrity must be protected, especially in the context of the US unilateral recognition of Israel's annexation of Syria's Golan Heights, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, the head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian parliament, said MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th April, 2019) The foreign policy committees of the Iranian, Russian and Turkish parliaments, which held their first ever joint meeting on Wednesday, are convinced that Syria 's territorial integrity must be protected, especially in the context of the US unilateral recognition of Israel 's annexation of Syria 's Golan Heights, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, the head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian parliament , said. During the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington in late March, US President Donald Trump signed an order officially recognizing the disputed Golan Heights as part of Israel. The move did not receive any international support, including on the part of key US allies. "I would like to note that the opposition to unilateral actions was the subject on which we agreed. As for the discussion of Syria, I think it was a good start. We stressed [the need] to preserve the territorial integrity of Syria, in particular, with Golan Heights. We will include this in the final statement," Falahatpisheh told reporters. The Iranian lawmaker also reaffirmed the countries' support for political process in Syria and the establishment of the Syrian constitutional committee, and their confidence that all foreign troops, in particular the US military, who are operating the Arab country illegally, must leave. "We would like to sincerely thank all forces that are fighting terrorism, including [Iran's Islamic] Revolutionary Guard Corps, the forces that are fighting terrorism in Syria itself, Russian forces and Turkish forces. And we have stressed that attack on that role is nothing else than terrorism," Falahatpisheh added. Falahatpisheh also noted the unprecedented nature of the meeting, which brought together parliamentarians from all three Syrian ceasefire guarantors that are playing an important role in the resolution of the situation in the Arab country. "This meeting is unprecedented. This is the first time we have gathered here representatives of the parliaments of three strong countries, three countries that have a special role in resolving various problems," the head of the Iranian commission said. The Golan Heights are considered to be an occupied Syrian territory by the absolute majority of the international community. Israel originally captured the Golan from Syria in the 1967 six-day war and unilaterally proclaimed sovereignty over this territory in 1981. The UN Security Council then declared the actions as "null and void and without international legal effect" and has not changed its stance since. (@ChaudhryMAli88) TASHKENT (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th April, 2019) US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad will visit the Uzbek capital of Tashkent on Wednesday in order to discuss prospects for intra-Afghan talks, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "On April 10, the US delegation headed by Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad will arrive in Tashkent," the statement said. According to the Uzbek Foreign Ministry, the parties are going to exchange opinions on launch of the mechanism of the intra-Afghan peace talks as well as discuss implementation of social and economic projects in Afghanistan initiated by Uzbekistan. Afghanistan is suffering from an unstable political, social and security situation due to the activity of the Taliban movement and the Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia). While the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces are conducting joint offensive operations to combat terrorism across the country, Kabul and Taliban are trying to launch reconciliation talks. In March 2018, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev expressed his country's readiness to create conditions for direct negotiations between Kabul and Taliban. Pompeo will travel on April 11-15 to "deepen US partnerships in the Western Hemisphere" and "rally support for democracy in Venezuela," said a statement issued by State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus. Pompeo will also make a brief stop in Cucuta, Colombia, on April 14. Cucuta is on the border with Venezuela. Venezuela has closed its border with Colombia and announced the severance of his country's diplomatic and political relations with Colombia following the latter's support for Venezuela's opposition and military defectors. The United States has been pursuing a policy of economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation against the Venezuelan government in support of the opposition leader Juan Guaido. The Trump administration recognized Guaido as the nation's "interim president" on January 23, days after incumbent President Nicholas Maduro was inaugurated for a second term. In response, the Maduro government severed "diplomatic and political" ties with the United States. District 2 in Ho Chi Minh City is one of the biggest urban development areas in Southeast Asia. The show case redevelopment project is the Thu Thiem New Urban Area, which is touted to become the new central business district of Ho Chi Minh City. New cities are usually built far from the city centre. In the case of District 2 its opposite the historic old city, on the other side of the Saigon River. Ho Chi Minh City has an opportunity that is unparalleled for a city this size. Thu Thiem is located on a peninsula of land where the Saigon River meanders into an almost full circle. Its planned to be the new financial district of HCMC, taking the pressure off the buildings and roads of old Saigon. Comparison with Pudong, Shanghai Thu Thiem has drawn comparisons with Shanghai, where the new city of Pudong was built on the other side of the river of old Shanghai (The Bund). Like Saigon, Shanghai was once referred to as the pearl of the east or pearl of the orient. And like Shanghai, Saigon is building a new city across from the old. This similarity has likened Thu Thiem as the Pudong of Southeast Asia. Pudong (which means the East Bank of the Huangpu River) was mostly farmland until it became a Special Economic Zone in 1993. Thu Thiem was also under-developed land on the east bank of the river (and dong is also east in Vietnamese). Similarities end there though. Thu Thiem is not an SEZ, and so far it has not been built with the singular focus that the Chinese government has put into turning Pudong in the the financial capital of China. Development of Thu Thiem There have been plans to develop Thu Thiem that go back decades. Originally, French colonialists had drawn up a map, and plans were made again in the 1960s and 70s. Planning began again in the late 90s, and land clearance began in 2002. An international design competition was held, and in 2003 the master plan by Sasaki Associates was selected. Since then the project has become mired in delays. While District 2 was under-developed compared to District 1, it was not unoccupied. In fact, there were thousands of homes in Thu Thiem. Resettlement of land owners has been an issue, and important land title maps went missing. Most of the prime land on the Saigon River waterfront has now been cleared, giving the impression that not much has happened. If you are looking from the riverbank of District 1, you wouldnt be blamed for thinking that nothing has happened yet. Go beyond the riverfront and you will see there are already many completed projects in District 2, with more big projects underway. New city area of District 2 There are other names that are also used in relation to District 2 which you may sometimes encounter. Districts of Ho Chi Minh City are broken up into wards. There are 11 wards in District 2, one of which is Thu Them. As you will see in this post, some developments in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area arent technically in Thu Thiem, but the name Thu Thiem New Urban Area is becoming interchangeable with new city area of District 2. East Ho Chi Minh City generally refers to the districts east of the Saigon River (District 2, District 9, and Thu Duc). East Ho Chi Minh City is sometimes referred to in relation to the new smart and innovative city, though news reports about what this means is lacking in detail. Given how big this area encompasses, its not smart that there isnt a bigger plan for public transport. This article is a comprehensive guide to every major project in District 2. It includes apartment towers, mixed use developments, public transport and infrastructure, along with public buildings and architectural landmarks. Projects are listed by ward and in no particular order. Thu Thiem Empire City Empire City is one of the signature projects of the Thu Thiem New Urban Area, being on prime riverfront land next to the Thu Thiem tunnel. The development is being built in stages by four developers. The Empire 88 Tower is designed by Buro Ole Scheeren, and this 88-storey tower is currently the tallest building planned for District 2 (over 300 metres). This is by the same architect that designed the MahaNakhon Tower in Bangkok. Lotte Eco Smart City Lotte Eco Smart City is a mixed-use development on one of the two plots of riverfront land that faces Downtown District 1. This project has been delayed for years but it appears that an official design announcement will be made in 2019. Lotte said that there will be an iconic tower in the plan, so with the Empire Tower next door it would make the waterfront look like a mini Pudong. Thu Thiem Square and Riverside Park The central point of the Thu Thiem New Urban Area will be Thu Thiem Square. This is opposite Me Linh Square in District 1, and will be connected by a pedestrian bridge. The square (or trapezium if we are being geometrically correct) is wedged between Lotte Eco Smart City and the City Planning Exhibition Center. Part of this development package also includes Riverside Park, which will be a pedestrian area between the two new bridges connecting Districts 1 and 4 to District 2. The square and riverside park will have the capacity of accommodating up 500,000 people for cultural events. According to the developers website, the Central Square & Riverside Park is scheduled to be completed before April 30, 2020 to commemorate the 45th anniversary of Vietnams unification. Thu Thiem Parish Church There used to be a settlement on the Thu Thiem riverbank until the land clearance began in preparation for the new urban development. One of the few remaining buildings is the Thu Thiem Parish Church compound. The future of the church had been uncertain for over a decade, but it now appears that the church will remain. The church is in front of the Lotte development area. Near the church used to be the ferry that connected District 1 to Thu Thiem, which was discontinued after the Thu Thiem tunnel opened in 2011. Opera House / Performing Arts Centre Next to the future Thu Thiem 2 Bridge is a proposed opera house or performing arts center. There is no official design yet, so various renders are online of what it might look like. Ho Chi Minh City authorities have approved over US$64.3 million for the project, due to begin construction in 2020. Sala City Sala City is a mixed-use development by Dai Quang Minh Corporation. Its the biggest development in terms of land footprint, taking up the lower half of the Thu Thiem peninsula. Approximately half of the area includes the Southern Delta ecological park. This wetland will be conserved and integrated into flood mitigation of the peninsula. The rest of the project is divided into different sections of villas, shophouses, apartment towers, parks, and schools. At the centre of the Thu Thiem New Urban Area is the Dai Quang Minh Corporation office tower. Its on the prominent corner of Mai Chi Tho and Nguyen Co Thach, and from District 1 its a useful landmark as the geographical centre of the peninsula. DQM Corp are building this development as part of a Build Transfer (BT) program. They are building the four main roads of Thu Thiem, the central square and riverside park, Thu Thiem 2 Bridge, and the D1-D2 pedestrian bridge, in exchange for land. The Metropole Thu Thiem Mixed-use development consisting of luxury residences, premium shopping and F&B outlets and international-standard office space. The development is located next to the Thu Thiem Bridge 2, which is next to the planned landmark opera house. Thu Thiem River Park Thu Thiem River Park (also referred to as The Riverin Thu Thiem) is next to the Thu Thiem Bridge and will house around 1,140 units and include swimming pools, public green areas, and supermarkets. Thu Thiem 2 Bridge Thu Thiem 2 Bridge is as the name suggests the second bridge connecting Thu Thiem (the first bridge from Binh Thanh District being completed in 2008). Thu Thiem 2 will connect District 1 to Disctrict 2 and it will become a prominent landmark on the waterfront. Its being built by Dai Quang Minh Corporation as part of the BT contract. Thao Dien Thao Dien Ward is an enclave formed by the Saigon River and the Hanoi Highway. In the space of a few years Thao Dien has become one of the most desirable neighbourhoods in Saigon. Much of that has to do with the construction of metro Line 1. A canyon of apartment towers has sprung up along the path of the metro line, which is due to open at the end of 2020 (though more likely later given the current delays). Thu Thiem Railway Station Thu Thiem Railway Station (Ga Thu Thiem) is the planned new terminal for long distance railways in Ho Chi Minh City. This will also be the station for the Thu Thiem station of metro line 2. The redevelopment of the north-south railway has been in planning for years but it is still no closer to starting. A large parcel of land has been reserved for the station for when it eventually is built. Central Park Apartment Complex Listed on Google Maps as Central Park Apartment Complex, this is better known as the resettlement apartment area. With thousands of homes being demolished to make way for new developments, these apartments were built with the intention of resettling displaced home owners. So far no buyers have taken up the offer and the building project is currently reminiscent of a ghost city in China. You can see the apartments from District 1, and from there it looks like its in a desolate location. I went and had a look and its actually not a bad location when you consider its not far from a future metro, and that the surrounding area will eventually be built out. Ho Chi Minh City Metro Line 1 of the Ho Chi Minh City Metro is currently the only line under construction. There are three stations within District 2, following the route of the Hanoi Highway in Thao Dien and An Phu. Line 2: The District 2 section of Line 2 will go from Ben Thanh Station in District 1, under the river to the future Thu Thiem main train station. Another proposal has the metro extended from Ga Thu Thiem to Cat Lai, but this is not featured on the metro management website as an official plan. James Clark is the editor of livinginasia.co and is currently based in Ho Chi Minh City. This article was first published on futuresoutheastasia.com, which is dedicated to urban development in Asia. The site covers topics such as construction, urban design, heritage conservation, notable architecture, infrastructure, and transport in cites of Southeast and East Asia. Cask separates into two companies focused on ServiceNow and Government Services Cask LLC has split into two businesses to separate its ServiceNow technology solutions business from its government services business. The move forms two standalone businesses: Cask Government Services and Cask NX, which are each positioned to capitalize on their respective growth opportunities in rapidly changing markets. Founded in 2004, Cask Technologies LLC began providing information and communications technology procurement support to federal, state, and higher education markets. During the past 15 years, Cask also expanded into a second line of business: technology consulting, integration, and digital transformation. According to the company, the rapid growth and development of multiple lines of business has set the stage for separating the corporation, and, as independent companies, Cask Government Services and Cask NX will better serve their customers and enable flexibility to pursue new market and partnership opportunities. Headquartered in Northern Virginia, Cask Government Services (www.caskgov.com)will focus on program management, cybersecurity, logistics, business analysis, and engineering services for the federal government. Cask Government Services practitioners draw upon deep functional expertise while working in small teams to serve as resources to their clients during all phases of a program and project lifecycle. Cask experts guide clients through known and unknown difficulties of transformation using a systems-thinking perspective grounded in experience working with some of the worlds largest organizations. Cask currently holds prime contracts in GSA Stars II, GSA IT 70, Seaport-E/NG and subcontracts on several IDIQs and supports many NAICS codes. Headquartered in San Diego, California, Cask NX (www.casknx.com) will continue its work designing, developing, and implementing digital transformation using ServiceNow for enterprise clients across both the private and public sectors. Cask has been awarded both ServiceNow Gold Services Partner and Gold Sales Partner statuses. Cask NX delivers end-to-end solutions to help organizations make the most of their ServiceNow investments, reducing cost and improving quality of services across the enterprise. Casks portfolio includes offerings that enable clients to execute an end-to-end digital vision. Cask consultants provide domain-focused solutions across IT, Human Resources, Security and Risk Management, Customer Service, Finance, and Operations to modernize employee, customer, and constituent user experience. Casks approach integrates design thinking and organizational change management to help its customers transform the way they work. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Arizona State Route 64, East of Grand Canyon Alabama. Birmingham, view from hotel room Approach to 25R United Airlines DC8 at LAX Arcata Redwood logging Arizona. California State Line near Yuma Arizona. Desert near Yuma Arizona. Grand Canyon National Park Arizona. Jerome California State line California. Calico Ghost Town California. Disneyland monorail California. Disneyland California. Knott's Berry Farm California. La Jolla California. Long Beach, Oil field California. Los Angeles, Civic Center, Santa Ana Freeway California. Los Angeles, Santa Ana Freeway California. Mount Wilson Observatory California. Mountains, East of San Diego California. Plaster City California. San Diego, Balboa Park California. San Francisco, Arguello Blvd California. San Francisco, Grant Ave. in Chinatown California. San Francisco, Market Street view east California. San Francisco, Point Lobos California. San Francisco, Powell St towards Market St California. San Francisco, View from Twin Peaks California. San Pedro ferry, Treasure Island California. San Pedro, New Treasure Island Bridge California. Smith Redwoods, US Rt 199 California. Sunset at San Fernando Valley California. Yosemite National Park Colorado. Mount Evans Colorado. Royal Gorge Colorado. View of Denver Death Valley Death Valley. Badwater Florida State Line Georgia. Stone Mountain Hoover Dam Lake Mead Michigan. Detroit street scenes Michigan. Detroit Michigan. Greenfield Village Michigan. Greenfield Village Minnesota. Minneapolis Missouri. Hannibal Missouri. Kansas City freight yards Missouri. St Louis street scenes Montana. Sheridan Montana. Virginia City Montana. Virginia City New Mexico. Albuquerque, AT&SF El Capitan Super Chief New Mexico. Continental Divide, US Rt. 66 New Mexico. Fort Selden New Mexico. Road to Sandia Crest New Mexico. Sandia Crest New Mexico. US Rt. 66 between Albuquerque and Grants New Mexico. US Rt. 85 New Orleans. La Canal St. from the Falcon New Orleans. View cars, French Quarter Ohio. Cincinnati from Mt Adams Ohio. Cincinnati, Ohio River Ohio. Cincinnati, Roebling Bridge to Kentucky Ohio. Cleveland Oregon Coast Oregon. Approach to Crater Lake National Park Oregon. Crater Lake National Park Seattle Alwag monorail downtown Seattle Alweg monorail downtown station Seattle Alweg Monorail Seattle Alweg Monorail Seattle Downtown fire view from Space Needle Seattle Downtown from monorail station Seattle Downtown monorail station Tennessee. Lookout the mountain in Chattanooga Texas State Line Texas. Austin, Capitol dome Texas. Dallas street scenes Texas. El Paso, Road to Ranger Peak Texas. Houston street scenes Texas. Houston, Turning Basin Texas. Houston, View from Humble Oil building Texas. West of Del Rio, US Rt. 90 US-Canadian border Peace Arch Utah. Promontory Point, Golden Spike monument Utah. Salt Lake City, Temple Square Wyoming. Free range cattle on US Rt 30 Yellowstone National Park. Bear in road Yellowstone National Park. Mammoth Hot Springs Yellowstone National Park Here below is a wonderful photo collection from John F. Ciesla that shows his 1963 USA tour with his close friend named Bill.Travels with Bill.USA trip, April through June 1963.Close friend, William J. Armstrong passed away in March of 2013 at the age of 80. I came in possession of his many travel slides which he had taken through the years, and felt it would be an honor to share these many fine photos for all to see. One of Bills many interests was in transportation, and included almost all forms, from the streetcar, to the Jet plane. Early on, he could be found with a simple box camera taking photos of 3rd Avenue Railway streetcars in his native Bronx and nearby southern Westchester County. As he matured, the circle of travel increased to all of the New York metropolitan area, and then to other cities. Bill loved to travel, to see and experience not only his native New York, but the country as well. His interests went far beyond just transportation, but included history, geography, geology, and photography.In April of 1963, a thirty year old Bill Armstrong set out on a two and one half month journey to see the country. He had just purchased a new 1963 Ford Falcon four door sedan, teal green in color and equipped with a rare 4 speed manual transmission mated to the base six cylinder engine. The car would take him across the plains of Texas, through the searing heat of Death Valley, along the Pacific Coast, and to Crater Lake where snow was still packed higher than his car. He drove north to Vancouver, Canada and then south along the eastern front of the Rockies. He and his trusty Falcon would visit many of the fabled National Parks such as the Grand Canyon, Crater Lake, and Yosemite. Cities such as Houston, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Kansas City, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Detroit, Cincinnati, and Cleveland. Most of the driving was done on the old network of US highways, as the Interstate highway system was largely to be built.Viewing these slides we are seeing our nation as it was over fifty-five years ago. JF Kennedy was President, but would only live a few months longer. Our nation was engaged in a war in Viet Nam that would go on throughout the decade. The civil rights movement was growing as the decade progressed, and then Martin Luther King would be killed. But our nation was still optimistic for the future, and in six years we would land on the moon. Ours was a different nation then, and looking at these photos we see how styles have changed, and just look at all the old cars.Bill loved to share his photos, and presented many evening slide shows during the years. Im sure he would be pleased, and humbled, that his photos have been preserved and restored as much as possible. Time has not been kind to his color slides. After fifty years the colors have either faded or have changed tint. Bill shot many of his slides using Kodak Ektachrome, which faded very rapidly after developing. Many of those slides could only be saved into a black and white format. Fortunately during the 1963 trip he began to change over to Kodachrome slide film which held up far better. Although Kodachrome turned somewhat purple and darker over the years, a quick session with Photoshop managed to restore much of the color and sharpness. I have included several of the original Ektachrome slides as before images for comparison purposes.This trip served to take Bill from a basic photographer to a highly competent scenic photographer. One can see his mastery of the camera improve as the trip progresses. Note how composition improves, and the use of foreground elements becomes evident during the trip. These photos were all taken with a relatively basic 35mm rangefinder camera with manual focus, lens and shutter adjustment. Bill never used a light meter, instead using the simple instructions provided on the inside of the film box, and lets not forget the very slow speed of those old color slide films.So enjoy the trip through Bills USA.Im sure he is smiling.John F. Ciesla While tax cuts are always welcome, the countrys previous reliance on FDI attraction through incentives cannot be sustained alone as the economy evolves, Photo: Le Toan The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has just submitted the draft document to the government to implement the National Assemblys resolution on corporate income tax (CIT) policies to support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Accordingly, the MoF proposes a new 15-17 per cent CIT for SMEs to replace the current 20 per cent. In particular, small enterprises, which have a total revenue between VND3-50 billion ($130,430-$2.17 million) each and no more than 100 employees, might enjoy a CIT of 17 per cent. The threshold for super-small businesses (total revenue below VND3 billion $130,430 and less than 10 labourers) is 15 per cent. Who are the beneficiaries? The CIT cut, if approved, will impact the development of SMEs in the context of increasingly deep global integration. Vietnam is now home to more than 600,000 enterprises, nearly 500,000 of which are private firms, with SMEs and super-small enterprises making up over 96 per cent, while medium-sized and big businesses account for 2 per cent each. The private sector is considered a driving force for growth and the backbone of the economy. It creates 1.2 million jobs and contributes over 40 per cent of the countrys GDP annually. The cut is good news to foreign investors in Vietnam, especially SMEs. I believe that if applied, it will help Vietnam attract more foreign investment, including US investment, in the future, Paul Schuler, assistant professor of the University of Arizona, told VIR. Evidently, CIT is an issue of special concern among foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs), including those from the EU, Japan, and South Korea. Japan and South Korea the two top foreign investors in Vietnam are among the greatest beneficiaries of the potential tax cuts. Around 90 per cent of Japanese projects in Vietnam have a scale of less than $5 million each. According to the latest financial survey on the international operations of Japanese firms in Asia and Oceania in the 2018 financial year released in March 2019 by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), among the 429 newly-licensed Japanese-invested projects in 2018, 123 had an investment scale between $100,000 and less than $500,000, up 8 per cent and 36.66 per cent on-year, respectively. Meanwhile, during the year, only nine projects had been invested with capital in excess of $100 million. The majority of Japanese businesses in Vietnam around 69.8 per cent are planning to expand operations in the country in the next one to two years. The trend of small-scale projects will continue among Japanese firms in the upcoming years, Hironobu Kitagawa, chief representative of the JETRO Hanoi Office, told VIR. South Korea is the other investor that has brought an increasing number of SMEs to Vietnam. Following the success of South Korean manufacturing giants like Samsung and LG, more and more South Korean SMEs have been coming to Vietnam to become their vendors. What is more, many others are moving to tap into the growing trend of e-commerce in Vietnam to sell goods and benefit from free trade agreements. Industry insiders forecast that with President Moon Jae-ins New Southern Policy, more South Korean SMEs will expand to and in Vietnam. Gain or loss? The MoF estimates that the CIT cut might reduce state coffers by VND6.5 trillion ($282.6 million) annually. Specifically, the state would lose VND4.5 trillion ($195.65 million) in case the CIT rate was cut to 15 per cent, and around VND2 trillion ($86.96 million) from reducing CIT to 17 per cent. The loss is inevitable in the short term, but in the long term, the state budget will benefit from SMEs development. The tax cut is expected to help SMEs increase their competitiveness and develop further, thus helping cover the possible loss from an increase of CIT when they grow up, said an economist. More importantly, the lower CIT is expected to bring Vietnam to stand on par with other countries, thus increasing the countrys attractiveness to international investors. Currently, many countries apply a lower CIT rate than the general CIT rate Vietnam applies. For example, SMEs in China enjoy a CIT of 5, 10 or 20 per cent for varied taxable income, while the general CIT rate is 25 per cent. Similarly, CIT incentives are also applied in Thailand and Malaysia. In particular, SMEs in Thailand are exempt from CIT or enjoy a rate of 15 per cent for varied taxable income, while the general CIT rate is 20 per cent. Malaysia applies the CIT of 17 per cent for the first taxable income of MYR500,000 ($122,544) among SMEs, while the general CIT rate is 24 per cent. However, in this new foreign-direct investment (FDI) attraction landscape dominated by the key global trends of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a tax cut-based investment attraction policy may be unseasonable for Vietnam which has been greatly reliant on FDI attraction through investment incentives over the past years while the facts proved this was less effective than expected. A recent government report admitted that as the majority of private firms are of a small scale, the percentage of profitable firms remains low, while their links to the global market remain loose. The facts partly prove that tax cuts are not enough for SMEs to take off, they need more supporting policies. Tax cuts are just a tool to attract FDI. The country needs a new approach to investment incentives to increase attractiveness, the quality of FDI, and national competitiveness, while protecting the environment, said Nguyen Mai, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises. Developers are sniffing out investment opportunities in a slew of property projects in Vietnam Photo: Le Toan According to Yamaguchi Masakazu, chief representative of Creed Group in Vietnam, the Vietnamese economy has seen very positive growth and this is a stable foundation for the property market to take off, with especially high demand in the affordable residential and high-end office for lease segments. Last week, Creed and Vietnams An Gia Real Estate Development and Investment JSC announced the newest project named Signial a residential apartment project in District 7 of Ho Chi Minh City. In 2016, Creed, which has invested over $200 million in Vietnam so far, worked with An Gia to buy two blocks of the Lacasa project to develop the Angia Riverside and Angia Skyline in District 7. The group has also co-operated with Phat Dat Real Estate Development JSC to resume the River City project with 4,000 apartments in Ho Chi Minh City. I do believe Vietnam will retain its fast economic growth in the coming years and will become a very good destination for foreign investors, said Masakazu. Tran Nhat Khanh, director of VinaCapital Ventures, said that the Vietnamese real estate market has been on the radars of foreign partners for a while now, citing a research by global research firm Brain and Company that there will be around $70 billion invested in Southeast Asia, with 90 per cent expected to flow to Vietnam and Indonesia the two key destinations for international investors. This is a golden opportunity for Vietnam, and domestic developers must improve their capacity to utilise this capital source, Khanh said. Vietnamese companies must be more active in co-operating with foreign partners because they hold more advantages than ever, including high market demand, support from the government, and experience in doing business in Vietnam. He said that in order to find suitable partners in Vietnam, VinaCapital Ventures usually looks into companies products as well as their leaders. We highly appreciate innovative products and leaders who have long-term vision, and find it important that they are capable enough to realise their visions, he said. The Vietnamese property market posts high demand at the moment, and Masakazu confirmed that the apartment segment remains huge, and there is special interest in projects with good quality and reasonable price. Any developer who can meet these two criteria will be able to grow in the future, while developers who cannot keep their commitments in quality and schedule will be eliminated, he forecast. Masakazu was also of the opinion that the office for lease segment will see strong demand in the coming time and Creed will also keep an eye on this segment after entering into co-operation with domestic developers to build apartment units. According to Savills Vietnam, the first quarter of this year has seen active business in the residential segment, while offices continued to be one of the most exciting property sectors across the region. Matthew Powell, director of Savills Hanoi, said that there is massive interest from foreign investors at the moment. At the Savills Hanoi, Danang, and Ho Chi Minh offices, we see many investor groups each day, mostly new entrants who are keen to explore opportunities. This interest is mainly coming from the region Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, and Singapore but US, European, and global funds are also investigating heavily, said Powell. All the commercial and residential sectors are in the crosshairs. Most of the investor interest comes from funds who are not only looking to develop, but also looking to acquire operating cash-generating assets office properties, retail malls, four- and five-star hotels. Looking into the future, Powell expects more deals in 2019 on asset, portfolio, and corporate investment level. The large number of initial public offering valuation projects on which Savills Vietnam is working demonstrates investors interest in the property market. With the prospects of many real estate sectors in Vietnam, it is expected that investment flows will be directed to a wider variety of sectors, including opportunity assets like industrial and logistics properties, he added. Jetstar Pacific will open three new flights from Danang for this summer The three new domestic routes of Jetstar Pacific will be connected with the flight network of Vietnam Airlines and the five-star airline Emirates, which has more than 185 destinations to 18 countries and territories in the world, creating favourable conditions for international passengers to visit famous landscapes in Vietnam. On April 10, the Danang-Vinh route will be officially opened with one-way ticket prices starting from only VND190,000 ($8.26) per flight. Flight will departfrom April 19 with three flights per week on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. From April 15, tickets will be sold for the Danang-Phu Quoc route from VND890,000 ($38.7) and Danang-Thanh Hoa from VND370,000 ($16.87) per flight. Both routes are operated by Jetstar Pacific with four flights per week, with the first flight for Danang-Phu Quoc taking off on May 24, and Danang-Thanh Hoa on May 25. Danang is a famous tourist destination and is a central hub for Jetstar Pacific after Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The company is also operating international routes between Danang-Taipei, Danang-Hong Kong, and Danang-Singapore. To celebrate the new routes, Jetstar Pacific also announced selling super cheap tickets from VND33,000 ($1.43) for all three new routes. These discount tickets will be available from April 15 until April 17 at the website www.jetstar.com. The price does not include tax and accepts only online payments at the time of registration and flights depart before August 11, 2019. Connecting a large, low-cost network to Danang and Phu Quoc proves our commitment to providing many business and travel opportunities for people, Jetstar Pacifics representative shared. Jetstar Pacific is the first low-cost airline in Vietnam. The company is assessed to be operating safely since1991 and has been granted the IATA Operation Safety Audit (IOSA). Currently, Jetstar Pacific is operating the Safety Management System (SMS) approved by the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), the SMS standard of IATA, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and Qantas Airways, the flag carrier of Australia. In addition to the applicable international standards, Jetstar Pacific implements a system of diagnosis and analysis, preventing risks to ensure maximum safety for mining operations. In 2018, Jetstar Pacific carried out over 40,000 safe flights, transporting 6.2 million passengers, up 14.3 per cent on-year, while over 99 per cent of passengers were satisfied and ready to fly with Jetstar Pacific again. Jetstar Pacific has two main shareholders, including Vietnam Airlines and Qantas Airways. This combination of pictures shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and retired Israeli general Benny Gantz, one of the leaders of the Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) political alliance. (JACK GUEZ, Oded Balilty/AFP) Both Netanyahu and ex-military chief Benny Gantz claimed victory after initial exit surveys were released by Israel's three main television stations following the closure of polling venues on Tuesday night. Two updated exit polls early Wednesday put Netanyahu's Likud ahead of Gantz's Blue and White by one seat. A third poll showed the opposite, with Blue and White holding a one-seat advantage. Both parties would in any case fall far short of a majority and be forced to form a coalition. All three exit polls showed Netanyahu more likely to be able to do so with smaller rightwing parties allied to him in the 120-seat parliament. Exit polls have proven to be unreliable in past Israeli elections and final official results were not expected until later Wednesday. With some 64 per cent of the vote counted, Likud had 27.59 per cent compared to Blue and White's 26.04 per cent, official results showed. Addressing cheering supporters who waived Israeli flags at an event hall in Tel Aviv, Gantz called it an "historic day." "The president must give us the task of forming the next government since we are the biggest party," he said after initial exit polls. Netanyahu spoke later and declared himself the winner of a fifth term in office. As he walked onto the stage to chanting crowds, he planted a kiss on the lips of his wife Sara before dramatically wiping lipstick from his face. "It will be a rightwing government, but I will be prime minister for all," he said. The vote had long been expected to be close and lead to frantic negotiations to form a coalition, even with Netanyahu facing potential corruption charges. THINGS CAN CHANGE "Things can change, but in any case the rightwing bloc won," Meshi Sivani, 52 and wearing a Likud t-shirt, said at Netanyahu's post-election party. Shushan Levi, 61, called Gantz's performance an "enormous victory for an alliance so new." "Once he announced he was entering politics, I followed him," he said at Blue and White's party. "He was my commander in the army 40 years ago." Gantz, a newcomer to politics, mounted a strong challenge to the veteran prime minister by brandishing his security credentials while pledging to undo damage he says Netanyahu has inflicted on the country with divisive politics. The election was in many ways a referendum on the 69-year-old premier who has built a reputation as guarantor of the country's security and economic growth, but whose populism and alleged corruption have left many ready for change. He engaged in populist rhetoric that critics said amounted to the demonisation of Arab Israelis and others. Netanyahu faced further criticism on election day when members of his Likud party brought small cameras into polling stations in Arab areas. Arab politicians called it an attempt at intimidation, while Netanyahu said cameras would prevent fraud. True to form, Netanyahu issued a deeply controversial pledge only three days before the election, saying he planned to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank should he win. Extending Israeli sovereignty on a large-scale in the West Bank could be the death knell to already fading hopes for a two-state solution with the Palestinians. It is a move long-sought by Israel's far-right. NO TO PEACE Netanyahu sought to portray himself as Israel's essential statesman in the run-up to the vote and highlighted his bond with US President Donald Trump. He spoke of Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and of Israel's claim of sovereignty over the annexed Golan Heights. He also used Trump-like tactics, calling the corruption investigations a "witch hunt" and denouncing journalists covering them. On Tuesday, he continually warned Likud was at risk of losing over what he said was low turnout among supporters, claims widely seen as a bid to motivate rightwing voters. By 8pm (1am the next time, Singapore time), overall turnout was 61.3 per cent compared to 62.4 per cent at the same time in 2015 elections. Gantz, a 59-year-old former paratrooper who has formed a centrist alliance, has invoked the corruption allegations against the premier to make his case that it is time for him to go. He has called Netanyahu's annexation pledge an "irresponsible" bid for votes. Gantz says he favours a "globally backed peace agreement" with Israel holding on to the large West Bank settlement blocs. He opposes unilateral moves. He has sought to overcome Netanyahu's experience by allying with two other former military chiefs and ex-finance minister Yair Lapid to form his Blue and White alliance. Should Netanyahu win a fifth term, he will be on track to surpass founding father David Ben-Gurion as Israel's longest-serving prime minister later this year. He has been premier for a total of more than 13 years. If he does triumph, "King Bibi," as some have called him, also faces the prospect of becoming the first sitting prime minister to be indicted. The attorney-general has announced he intends to indict Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust pending an upcoming hearing. Tan Son Nhat International Airport,source Internet A number of American businesses have worked with the Ministry of Transport (MoT) on the possibility of joining the Terminal 3 project at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, alongside other parties from Japan, Spain, the UK, and South Korea that have a similar interest in the VND11.43 trillion ($497 million) project. The race to get involved in the new project heated up as more Vietnamese businesses showed an interest. FLC Group, Imex Pan Pacific (IPP), and Vietjet are the prominent names on the list. Nevertheless, despite their growing interest, there are currently few opportunities for them. The MoT in late March proposed the government select Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) as the investor of the project, which completed a pre-feasibility study in February. We have made thorough considerations before making the proposal [to appoint ACV as the investor]. Private domestic and foreign investors have more favourable chances in other new airports, said Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Ngoc Dong. According to Dong, there are several reasons behind proposing ACV. First, ACV ha been the state-authorised operator of 21 airports nationwide, including Tan Son Nhat. Second, ACV becoming the investor will create favourable conditions for the management and operation of the airport. One airport should have one operator to ensure consistency in operation and management, he said. However, many feel doubtful about ACVs readiness for the task since among the 21 airports operated by ACV, only some make profit, including Tan Son Nhat, Noi Bai, Danang, and Cam Ranh, while others such as Dien Bien and Ca Mau are in the red. The third reason is that, It is necessary to nominate ACV as the investor of infrastructure development at profit-making airports like Tan Son Nhat to give it a chance to cover the losses and maintain operation at the poorly-performing ones for political and regional economic development purposes. However, it is worthy to note that ACV does not have a fully clear track record in airport management as it has been detected by the Government Inspectorate to be involved in violations in contract packages 10A and 10B in the terminal T2 project at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, which were financed from Japanese official development assistance. The case triggered public concern over ACVs capacity and the transparency of its operations. Lai Xuan Thanh, chairman of ACV, further explained that at present, Vietnams aviation management practices are not the same as other countries, where each terminal can be operated by a different operator and the operator can decide whether they invest alone or co-operate with others. According to the MoT, the Terminal 3 project is in Construction Group A, thus the 20 million passenger terminal needs more time than others. When selecting the investment scheme, it is claimed the private investor can take one to two years to complete the project. However, the MoT said that this is unfeasible for the construction of the terminal, regardless of the preparations in pre-feasibility and feasibility studies, technical design, and design contractor selection. In spite of all the groundwork, after a year of approval of the expansion of a new terminal south of Tan Son Nhat proposed by French consultant company Aeroports de Paris Ingenierie, the process has remained sluggish while the airport is severely overloaded. According to statistics from the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam, Tan Son Nhat welcomed over 38.4 million passengers in 2018, with the figure forecast to hit 45 million by 2025. The total annual capacity of the two existing terminals is around 28 million passengers. Thus, it is urgent to develop the new terminal while awaiting the construction of Long Thanh International Airport in the southern province of Dong Nai, which is expected to come into operation by 2025. It was questioned whether the MoT should revise the rules to facilitate private investment in the sector. The facts suggest that private companies are more efficient than state-owned ones, with Van Don International Airport in the northern province of Quang Ninh, built by one of the countrys leading private property developers Sun Group being an obvious case-in-point example. US investment ready to fill the gaps, illustration photo US-based Key Tronic Corporation has recently unveiled plans to open a factory in Vietnam amid trade tensions between the US and China, signing a letter of intent to lease a new 86,000 square foot facility in the central city of Danang. We expect that commencing operations in Vietnam will significantly augment our Asian footprint and reduce production costs, said Craig Gates, president and CEO of Key Tronic, a world-class provider of electronic manufacturing services. By further diversifying our global manufacturing, we also believe it provides an additional hedge against uncertainty in a lingering or future trade dispute with China. Strategically located in Hoa Khanh Industrial Park, the project has a capacity of 100 million car lights per year for export. The new manufacturing facility is expected to be operational by July. Another American company, Universal Alloys Corporation (UAC), also held an opening ceremony for an aerospace component factory in Danang in late February 2019. With the registered investment of $170 million, the factory aims to manufacture and install aerospace components from aluminium alloys and composite in service of the industry. It is capable of manufacturing and assembling around 4,000 out of five million aircraft components, all for export. Once put into operation, it is estimated that annual export revenues will reach $25 million by 2021, $85 million by 2022, and $180 million after 2026. Kevin Loebbaka, chief operations officer of UAC, expressed hopes that the factory will play an important role in the strategy of providing components to its partners worldwide. He added that UAC is a leading global manufacturer of aircraft components for aerospace companies such as Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, Bombardier, and their associated supply chains. This is its first facility in Vietnam and Asia as a whole to serve the global aerospace industry. In March 2019, American-based Alton Industry Company registered to invest over $87 million into building a factory to manufacture air compressors and robot vacuum cleaners in Danang Hi-Tech Park. Good investment destination According to Amanda Rasmussen, chairwoman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AmCham), the prospects for US investment to Vietnam are good and improving. Currently, many US companies are planning to move to the country, partly because of the special tariffs imposed on $250 billion worth of American imports from China. This offers a great opportunity for Vietnam, she said. The US is already one of the top foreign investors in Vietnam. Americans are pouring billions of US dollars into manufacturing and infrastructure, as well as providing high-quality consumer goods, agricultural and industrial products, and technology and services. American companies are integrating Vietnam into the global supply chain, while creating quality jobs and helping the country become more productive, efficient, safer, and cleaner, according to Rasmussen. American investors registered $141.12 million into Vietnam in the first quarter of 2019. As of March 20, 2019, the US had 924 projects in Vietnam with the total registered capital of $9.13 billion, according to data released by the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment. The growing trend of US investment in Vietnam is likely due to several factors, including regulatory changes and market confidence. Vietnams GDP grew by 6.79 per cent on-year in the first quarter of 2019, reflecting the good performance of enterprises. The government has in the past few years taken action to show that the country is open for business. According to market analysis firm Fitch Solutions, Vietnam is emerging as one of the most promising destinations for manufacturers in Southeast Asia on account of the country gradually leaning towards a market-oriented economic model, thereby steadily integrating into the global economy. The country also offers a number of strategic advantages, including a relatively stable political environment and the absence of terrorist attacks in addition to large-scale transport and utility infrastructure development projects underway, which will boost Vietnams connectivity both regionally and globally over the medium to long term. Meanwhile, a large population size and rising incomes together with increasing regional integration create attractive opportunities for consumer-oriented businesses. Vietnam also ratified the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which came into effect in January 2019. The CPTPP comes with lowered tariffs for imports and exports of a number of goods, which will likely create business incentives for foreign companies including those from the US to grow their business in Vietnam. In addition, the US government recently announced the US-ASEAN Smart Cities partnership. This new effort, which includes Danang, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City, will seek ways that American companies can help combat growing urban challenges ranging from traffic congestion to water and air quality. AmCham is also updating its Made-in-Vietnam Energy Plan 2.0 on how to attract the $150 billion required for the power sector in Vietnam. The private sector leads the Indo-Pacific initiative, with a $70 billion programme on the enhancement of growth through energy which is targeting Vietnam, while the American private sector is developing billions of dollars of liquefied natural gas and solar projects to present to the Vietnamese government, including billion dollars of rooftop solar and battery storage for cities like Ho Chi Minh City and the southern province of Binh Duong. Increased funding The bright prospects for Vietnam have prompted Warburg Pincus, a US-based private equity firm, to increase investment in the country. Vice president Tom Setiawan said that the Vietnamese market is at an inflection point with wide-ranging Internet use and improved logistics capability. With this vision, Warburg Pincus has made early investments in enablers like Momo, the largest e-wallet provider in Vietnam. Firms such as Momo could play a part in tackling infrastructure issues like cash-on-delivery and logistics, as well as contribute to empowering the tech community. Aside from Momo, Warburg Pincus has invested in Vingroups Vincom Retail and Techcombank with some initial success. Setiawan said that Warburg Pincus has teamed up with Vingroup to develop the Vincom Retail shopping mall platform. As a result of their partnership, the number of outlets grew from five to 60 malls between 2013 and 2018. Jonathan Moreno, general director of Medovations Vietnam, said that the countrys investment environment has improved significantly with favourable policies to attract foreign investment. It is important that Vietnam considers what types of funding it wants to attract. In particular, the country should target investment that is missing from the national supply chains. Moreno noted that Vietnamese policies are very good at this time, with attractive taxation. However, more attention needs to be paid to infrastructure development like building roads and focusing on environmental issues. It needs to ensure sustainable investment so Vietnam will have longer-term prospects. My company, which manufactures medical equipment, has found the policies for our sector easy and helpful. However, some investors in other industries like banking and retail have been struggling, Moreno said. Retail struggles because of an economic needs test, while banking investors may struggle with the circumstances of electronic payment. Foreign investment inflows will expand beyond manufacturing to other hi-tech and high-value investment. It is important for Vietnam to understand the requirements of investments in order to keep track. Private sector financing strategies are currently in the sights of groups like OPIC and the Asian Development Bank, Photo: Le Toan During his working visit to Vietnam last week, Eric Jones, chief of staff at the corporation (OPIC), told VIR that they are seeking potential private partners in Vietnam to provide concessional loans to. The global investment portfolio of OPIC has increased from an initial $29 billion to $60 billion now. We can provide loans worth from $350 million to $500 million per project, provided that the project is bankable, Jones said. To be eligible for OPIC financing, applicants must have a commercially viable business plan and successful track record. If Vietnamese businesses have bankable projects, they can come to us. After they are proven feasible, they can access our loans, Jones said. Loan tenures can last as long as 20 years. So far, OPIC has almost $4 billion invested in over 100 projects across the Asia-Pacific region. Vietnam is one of the primary nations that OPIC wants to work with to expand business and investment, Jones said. We currently focus our financing for the private sector in Vietnam on projects of digital connectivity, infrastructure, energy, IT, construction of smart cities, agriculture, healthcare, and education and training. As the US governments development finance institution, initially OPIC supported American businesses investing in emerging markets to address critical development challenges from access to clean water and electricity to housing, education, and access to finance. However, currently, OPIC has also been seeking to support overseas enterprises regardless of ownership form. Fast-industrialising Vietnam has great demand for developing infrastructure and energy sources, especially renewables. The Vietnamese government is facilitating private enterprises to engage in these projects, which is a good opportunity for us, Jones said. According to the Ministry of Transport (MoT), Vietnam would need about $48 billion to develop its transport infrastructure during 2018-2022. About VND651 trillion ($28.3 billion) of this is for roads, while other works also need huge capital, including railways ($5.4 billion), air ($4.6 billion), maritime ($3.1 billion), and inland waterways ($1.5 billion). About $14 billion of this will be mobilised from private companies, especially foreign sources. We call for all investors and funders to invest in infrastructure projects in Vietnam, making the country a more attractive investment spot, said Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The at a recent conference on regional transport connectivity. Over the past four decades, Vietnam has emerged as a model for navigating change and adapting to an increasingly connected world. By building a diversified economy that spans agricultural products and advanced IT equipment, today Vietnam is one of the largest exporters in the world. Last year, the economy grew by 7.08 per cent, the highest since 2008. The rate is 6.79 per cent in the first quarter of this year. The same factors that propelled this sustained economic miracle, including a hardworking population, a government committed to attracting investment, and investors who recognised a significant opportunity, will support the countrys next phase of growth, Jones said. Like many of the emerging economies of the Indo-Pacific, Vietnam requires significant investment to support a growing population that is increasingly living and working in urban areas, using modern technology, and engaging with the rest of the world. Last month, during his working visit to Vietnam, Tomoyuki Kimura, director general of the Strategy, Policy and Review Department of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), told VIR that under the banks newly-launched Strategy 2030, the ADB will extend its financing to Vietnam, with a focus on infrastructure development in collaboration with the private sector. The bank is now seeking bankable infrastructure projects invested by the private sector in Vietnam. In 2018, the ADB approved a sum of $20 billion to finance projects across Asia. Some $16 billion of this was set aside for state-invested projects, with the remaining $4 billion being used for privately-invested projects. In Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Thailand received the most financing for private firms. Last December, the ADB and Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam signed a $300 million loan agreement to support the growth and productivity of small- and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam. Glyphosate has been used for effective weed management around the world for more than 40 years The move has leveraged the studies the ministry (MARD) has conducted back in 2015 after the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which belongs to the World Health Organization (WHO), announced their assessment about potential causes of blood, lung, and prostate cancer via pesticides containing glyphosate. It has also based on the verdicts from two American courts against global seeds firm Monsanto, which stated that the groups Roundup herbicide was the important agent in causing cancer to two American men. In order to protect human health, animals, the ecosystem and the environment, Minister of the MARD signed Decision No.1186/QD-BNN-BVTV on April 10 regarding the removal of pesticide containing glyphosate from the list of pesticides allowed for use in Vietnam, the MARD said in todays press statement. In Vietnam, glyphosate carries over 100 different trade names, and the decision on list removal will come into force 60 days from April 10. The roadmap allows continued usage and trading of already-imported glyphosate for up to a year. Lets have a look on the insiders sentiments about the MARDs fresh decision proposing removal of glyphosate from Vietnams agricultural production practice. Bayer, global leader in life sciences Bayer respects and shares in the Vietnamese governments interest to protect farmers and consumers alike. Unfortunately, todays decision on banning glyphosate will not help to improve food security, safety, or sustainability in the country. Importantly, Bayer is not aware of any new scientific assessment undertaken by the government of Vietnam on which the decision is based. Glyphosate-based products have been on the market around the world for more than 40 years and are among the most thoroughly-studied products of their kind. Hundreds of studies submitted to regulators, as well as peer-reviewed publications, show that these products can be used safely. Constant multi-year ongoing reviews by regulatory and scientific bodies also demonstrate that glyphosate is not carcinogenic. The US Environmental Protection Agency, European Food Safety Authority, and regulatory authorities in Canada, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Brazil, and elsewhere routinely review all approved pesticide products and have consistently reaffirmed that glyphosate is not carcinogenic. As Health Canada noted in a very recent statement, no pesticide regulatory authority in the world currently considers glyphosate to be a cancer risk to humans at the levels at which humans are currently exposed. We have seen the unfortunate impact of denying farmers access to such an essential tool. Sri Lanka had imposed a glyphosate ban in 2015. However, the ban was reversed on tea and rubber last year after local farmers became vocal about the huge economic impact and irreparable harm to their businesses. Vietnamese farmers should be spared this experience and should be able to use the same approved tools that farmers worldwide continue to benefit from. Bayer shares Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucs vision for Vietnams agriculture sector and supports his calls for scientific and technological advances to drive sustainable economic growth. CropLife Asia, regional voice of plant science industry The decision to take a safe and effective herbicide like glyphosate out of the hands of farmers signals a detour from the great progress and advancements made by Vietnamese agriculture. A study recently conducted by the United Kingdoms PG Economics indicates farmers across Asia, including Vietnam, would see significant input cost increases if restrictions on glyphosate were put in place. Specifically, PG Economics estimates additional weed control costs for Asias farmers without the benefits of glyphosate would tally between $1.4 billion and $1.9 billion. Likewise, more than 800 comprehensive scientific studies around the world have been conducted on glyphosate. The result is a very strong safety profile over the course of four decades that has enabled its approval for use in more than 160 countries globally. Some of the higher-profile regulatory agencies which have repeatedly found it safe for use include the European Chemicals Agency, the European Food Safety Authority, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Australia Pesticide and Veterinary Medicine Authority, and the joint FAO/WHO Meeting on Pesticide Residue. CropLife Asia will continue to pledge its partnership with the Vietnamese government and the food value chain stakeholders in the shared journey ahead, and we will also remain steadfast in our commitment to Vietnamese farmers in ensuring their access to safe and effective plant science technology. Chairman of Hanoi Peoples Committee Nguyen Duc Chung (C) speaks at the seminar (Source: VNA) The event aims to further tighten the friendship between the Netherlands with Vietnam in general and with Hanoi in particular as part of the ongoing official visit to Vietnam by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Speaking at the seminar, Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Nguyen Duc Chung briefed participants on Hanois socio-economic development achievements, with high and stable economic growth. Hanoi is accelerating deeper integration into the global economy, he said, adding that it always pays attention to improving the business and investment environment to attract foreign investment. He affirmed that the seminar is a good opportunity to promote win-win cooperation between the two sides, expressing his belief that cooperation between Vietnam, Hanoi and the Netherlands will be made even stronger with prominent achievements in the time ahead. According to Chung, the Netherlands is among Hanois potential investors, with total investment reaching over 606 million USD. Dutch culture is also not unfamiliar to the people of Vietnam and Hanoi. The Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for gifted students is one of the symbols of friendship between the two capital cities. Hanoi wants to learn from experience of the Netherlands and hopes to expand cooperation with the European country in wastewater treatment, Chung said. President of the Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers Hans de Boer said the visit of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to Vietnam shows that the Dutch government appreciates the friendly cooperative relationship with Vietnam, as well as admires the achievements made by Hanoi and Vietnam in recent years. He said that the seminar offers an opportunity for businesses of the two sides to share experience, thus opening cooperation opportunities and strengthening bond between the Netherlands and Hanoi. During the seminar, representatives from the two sides enterprises offered and discussed solutions, expressing their willingness to establish cooperation. Officially establishing diplomatic relations on April 9, 1973, Vietnam and the Netherlands have since built good friendship and cooperation. Notably, Hanoi continues to receive attention from the Dutch government and businesses. Meanwhile, the Netherlands is one of Hanois important partners for learning and coordination in many areas, such as environment, urban planning, urban infrastructure and production of construction materials from construction waste, education and training, investment, trade, and tourism. The live-streamed video of the Christchurch, New Zealand, mosque shooting last month highlighted the continuing struggle by social media companies to police extremist content on their platforms. Facebook and Google representatives told U.S. lawmakers Tuesday the effort to balance free speech with oversight of white supremacist content is ongoing. VOAs congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more from Capitol Hill. As the planet heats up, experts say we need to stop burning the fossil fuels that have powered civilization for centuries, and switch to renewable energy. In that upheaval, there will be winners and losers. VOA's Steve Baragona went to Holyoke, Massachusetts, a small town at the heart of the energy transition. Algeria's interim president, in a televised speech, promised on Tuesday to organize free elections within 90 days following weeks of protests that led to the resignation of leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika after 20 years in power. Abdelkader Bensalah, the interim president, was rejected by demonstrators right after he was named by Parliament to take charge during a volatile transition period after decades of autocratic rule. "I am committed to organizing elections," said Bensalah, who has been re-elected as leader of the upper house since the early 2000s. The army was aligned with the constitution as a pathway out of the crisis, he added in his 16-minute speech. The critical question is how Algeria's military, which has swayed Algerian politics from behind the scenes for decades, will react to Bensalah's appointment and any opposition that arises. The Military Factor Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Gaid Salah patiently managed Bouteflika's exit after declaring him unfit to stay in power and expressed support for protesters, who have put up little resistance to the military. Hours after Parliament made its choice, Salah said the military will do more to ensure peace for the Algerian people, state news agency APS reported. Bensalah said he would consult with the political class and civil society. A long-time ally of Bouteflika, he is seen by protesters as part of an ageing and out-of-touch ruling caste that has dominated since independence from France in 1962. Bensalah promised to "set a national and sovereign commission to secure fair elections" in an apparent bid to placate demonstrators demanding sweeping democratic reforms and economic opportunities. More than one in four people under the age of 30 - some 70 percent of Algeria's population - are unemployed despite the country's vast oil wealth. The demonstrations, which erupted on Feb. 22, led to the disintegration of what has been described as the ruling elite's "fortress" - veterans of the war of independence against France, ruling party figures, businessmen, the army and labor unions. But Algerians want more radical change. "You go means you go," read banners at the protest in the capital on Tuesday, reiterating the desire of many Algerians to remove all remnants of a secretive political and military establishment that has dominated for decades. On stepping down, Bouteflika promised that elections would be held after 90 days as part of a transition to usher in what he said would be a new era. You might have heard the story by now: That Marsai Martin pitched "Little," a modern spin on "Big," to Universal Pictures at age 10. It's true, she did, but that precocious move was preceded by another, more impressive act of rebellion and a pivotal moment in putting her on the path to becoming the youngest executive producer ever: She fired her agents after the first year of "black-ish." The ABC show, in which she plays the Johnson's whip-smart daughter, Diane, was on its first hiatus and Martin and her family wanted to know what opportunities there were. "They were like, 'You should just stick to "black-ish," just chill, take a break,'" Martin said. Besides, the agents explained, there weren't any roles for a young black girl out there. But the Martins persisted and suggested creating something themselves. "They kind of just laughed at us. They didn't see the vision. But I think they didn't see it because they saw what I looked like: A little black girl that no one would want to see," Martin said. "So, we fired them." Four years later, it's almost ancient history for the now 14-year-old sitting in the conference room of Genuis Productions, the company she founded, as she prepares for "Little" to hit theaters nationwide Friday. The office space is a projection of Martin herself, with accent walls in her favorite color blue, her and her baby sister's preferred snacks in the break area (Goldfish crackers, rice crispy treats, etc) and a PS4 in the lobby (as well as her NAACP Image Awards). Her own office is well on its way to having the Alice in Wonderland-feel she wants with "grand plants" and colorful throw pillows. There's also a very teen-appropriate Polaroid wall, and a perfect view of the Universal sign out the window. "It's a creative spot for me and a place where I can express how I feel and just get my mind in a cool place where I can just come up with anything I want," Martin said. "I'm very grateful and doing it with my family is even better." After the break with the agents, "black-ish" creator Kenya Barris helped nudge Martin in the right direction, securing a meeting with his friend, producer Will Packer, who's been behind such high-profile hits as "Girls Trip" and "Night School," to hear her idea. "I didn't expect much, because, you know, I hear a lot of pitches and most of them aren't great. I said 'Listen, I'm sure she's sweet. I'll do it as a courtesy,'" Packer said. "And she comes in and she's got this fully thought out, really coherent, cohesive narrative, with characters and themes. I was like,'She's how old again?'" Her story would be about bullying and female empowerment. "We wanted it to be as authentic as possible... even though it's a fantasy, body-swap film," Martin laughed. She stars as the young Jordan Sanders, a science-obsessed teen who is bullied so much in high school that she grows up to be an insufferable bully herself, as the head of a major tech company. The adult version of Jordan is played by Regina Hall, who Martin had worked with on "black-ish." Rounding out the cast is "Insecure's'' Issa Rae ("a creator like me"), as Jordan's undervalued assistant. Martin loved the whole development process and is glad that it took a few years for filming to start, allowing her to mature a little bit into who she is today. And then, this past February, something even bigger came along: Martin got a first-look deal with Universal, too. "It was so exciting, but to be honest, I didn't even know what it meant at the beginning,'' Martin said. "I was like, 'Oh cool! What is that? Like, OK, this seems very professional. Am I in it now? Like is this some Jordan Peele-type stuff?'" When she realized that it meant the studio gets first dibs on anything she creates, she was thrilled. "I was like, 'Oh, OK! So I can create whatever I want?' I thought that was so cool because this mind has a lot of things," she said. "I can keep creating things that people don't get to see often." She knows it's unusual to be wielding this much creative power in Hollywood at this young age, but she also enjoys catching people off guard. "It's like, 'Oh, snap, THIS girl, created this film?' And it's kind of shocking," she laughed. Her life is pretty crazy right now promoting "Little" and developing new films and television projects. She's home-schooled with a tutor, which she prefers, and she doesn't have any regrets about missing out on the high school experience. "I used to be the shy kid who would barely raise her hand or speak her mind," she said. Even now she suffers her own share of self-consciousness. "That's something that I have to work on: Self-confidence and loving myself," she said. "Your girl gets a lot of anxiety. It's OK. It's a learning process. I feel like a lot of kids my age get it, whether they're in the industry or not." When she does have a moment to unwind, she plays "gruesome" video games like "Mortal Combat," gets facials, massages, cooks and sometimes just watches YouTube. But even then her wheels are spinning about possible collaborations with her favorite YouTubers. Down the line, she wants to direct and write and, basically, do all the things. Packer, for one, is convinced she will. "She's got a long, strong career ahead of her. And if she chooses to continue in movies and television, you better watch out because she's going to make a serious mark," Packer said. "But she'll make a mark wherever she ends up." The United Nations refugee agency reports tens of thousands of refugees and displaced people in Nigers Diffa region are suffering immense hardships as violent attacks by Boko Haram increase in frequency and intensity. According to the U.N. refugee agency, last month 88 civilians in Nigers border areas were killed by Boko Haram, the Nigeria-based Islamist militant group. The spike in violence, it says, has forced more than 18,000 people to flee their homes, many for the second or third time. Large numbers have fled to Diffa town in search of safety, adding to the heavy burden of this overcrowded area. Since 2015, nearly 250,000 people, about half of them refugees from Nigeria, have sought protection from Boko Haram in Diffa. UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch said the situation has become untenable. He told VOA his agency is working with local authorities to immediately relocate 10,000 refugees away from the dangerous border area. We are trying to bring them to Sayam Forage camp, which already has an existing refugee population and for the part of the remaining population, we are trying to work with the local authorities and our humanitarian partners to find alternative solutions for them, he said. The camp already is hosting more than 15,000 refugees. Baloch said it is hard to pin down the reasons behind Boko Harams more aggressive actions in Niger. We understand that defense and security forces have been going after the Boko Haram militants and there have been attacks against defense and security forces as well. Now, we have a situation where civilians are caught in this crossfire or even being specifically targeted by the Boko Haram, he said. Baloch says many refugees are returning to Nigeria because of the increased insecurity in the Diffa region and difficulty in getting the humanitarian assistance they need. He said the UNHCR is doing what it can to provide aid to the refugees. For now, the agency is providing psychosocial support to help the newly displaced, who Baloch describes as very traumatized. He said the women and children are in particularly bad shape. Cameroon's military has rescued five people who were abducted and held for months inside the Central African Republic. The hostages, found Tuesday abandoned in the wild, say they were treated as slaves by suspected CAR rebels because their families could not afford to pay a ransom. Medical staff at the Ngaoundere Hospital attend to five Cameroonians freed from captivity Tuesday. Cameroons military found them in the wild near the border with the Central African Republic. Hospital director Muhamadou Hassini says one of the freed hostages a 17-year-old boy has a severe fever and blood loss but the rest are in good health. He says a 13-year old girl, her 30-year old mother, the oldest man who is 54-years old, and the youngest boy who is 17, are physically stable. But they will be kept in the hospital for medical examinations and psychological tests. Another freed hostage, a 23-year-old woman, also appears to be in good health. 13-year old Aissatou Kingue says the hostages spent a very difficult five months with their captors in the bush near Yukutundu, a village bordering the Central African Republic. She says her feet and the feet of all the women were tied with chains every evening before they went to sleep on a bare floor. All the men were in chains throughout their captivity, says Kingue, and were severely beaten at any moment. Kingue says their captors, whose identity was not clear, threatened to kill them if a $30,000 ransom was not paid. 54-year-old freed hostage Abo Younoussa says they were forced to work during their captivity. He says they were required to slaughter and clean stolen goats and cows for about 30 heavily armed men and 17 other hostages. One day when a group of 13 hostages was to be freed, Younoussa thought he would also be released because they asked him what he will tell his people when he returns home. But he says their captors decided to keep him because they said he looked like someone who would reveal their location to the military to kill them. The governor of the Adamawa region of Cameroon, Kildadi Tagueke Boukar, visited the freed hostages in the hospital. He says their captors abandoned them in the bushes as Cameroons military was closing in. He says the ceaseless tracking, systematic and persistent pressure exerted by the soldiers was such that the kidnappers had no other option than to free the hostages. Boukar adds he has ordered the military to arrest the kidnappers and free those still in captivity. Boukar would not say if the captors were believed to be Central African Republic rebels. But CAR militias have often entered Cameroon to seize cattle ranchers and traders to extort ransom or steal their property. Cameroon hopes cross-border abductions will stop following an African Union-sponsored peace deal in February between the government of CAR and armed groups. Communist Party leader Raul Castro warned Cubans on Wednesday that they should brace for worsening shortages due to Trump administration policies, but said the island won't return to the extreme deprivation of the post-Soviet period. In his first speech to the nation in more than three months, Castro said that U.S. pressure on Venezuela and Cuba could lead to serious shortages increasing sharply in coming months. It has become hard to find basic goods such as chicken, cooking oil, eggs and flour throughout Cuba this year, due largely to a lack of hard currency to buy imported goods or equipment to process domestic products. State-run newspapers cut their page count last week due to shortages of newsprint, and Castro indicated that the government would engage in further cutbacks due to cash shortfalls. "We've taken a series of decisions to focus the development of the economy, and to resist and overcome the new obstacles imposed by the hardening of the economic siege," Castro said. "We need to be aware of growing problems, and the situation could grow worse in the next few months." Cuba's centrally planned economy has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in income in recent months due to problems in deals with leftist allies and former allies. Brazil's new right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro canceled a contract employing thousands of Cuban doctors late last year. The collapse of Venezuela's economy is believed to cost additional hundreds of millions in cutbacks to aid to Cuba, although neither country releases figures. Castro spoke at a ceremony in which a new constitution, approved in a February referendum, went into effect. The National Assembly is now expected to pass a series of laws updating elements of the Cuban state, ranging from the electoral system to the family code. Cuban officials say there are no major economic reforms pending for one of the world's last Soviet-style systems, despite the increasingly tough situation. Trump's role While he warned of worsening shortages, Castro said that the hunger and desperation that hit Cuba after the fall of its Soviet patron in 1991 would not return, thanks to Cuba's diversified economy with nearly 5 million tourists a year and direct investment from Europe, Asia and Latin America. "It's not about returning to the harshest phase of the Special Period of the '90s," Castro said. "Today it's a different scenario in terms of the diversification of the economy, although we do have to be prepared for the worst." Along with sanctions on Venezuela, Cuba's closest ally and economic patron, the Trump administration has made it harder to visit Cuba and has threatened to allow U.S. lawsuits against foreign investors here. Despite the pressure, Castro said Cuba would not abandon President Nicolas Maduro and his administration. "We will never abandon our duty to act in solidarity with Venezuela, or renounce a single one of our principles, and we energetically reject all pressure and blackmail," Castro said. European Union and China leaders say they intend to enter into what they called an ambitious comprehensive investment agreement by 2020. We need to speed up negotiations on the China-Europe investment agreement, with a view of making decisive progress by the end of the current year so that we can conclude before the end of next year a high-quality China-Europe agreement, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Tuesday at a news conference in Brussels. Li promised that European companies would enjoy equal treatment, adding that Beijing would no longer force companies to hand over technology in exchange for doing business in China. Aside from the timeline to reach a deal by next year, the promises Beijing made to the EU were similar to those it has made with the United States in trade negotiations. The announcement at this week's annual summit of EU and China leaders comes amid uncertainty over trade negotiations between the United States and China and threats by President Donald Trump of more tariffs against the European Union. Some saw the timing of the resurgence of tensions between the EU and the United States and the deal between Brussels and Beijing as a sign that Europe was gaining an upper hand. On Tuesday, President Trump threatened to impose tariffs worth $11 billion on European products. The European Union has not taken the same approach as the Trump administration slapping tariffs on Beijing in an effort to squeeze market access concessions but it shares the same concerns. But against the backdrop of U.S./China trade negotiations and tensions, the EU has been hardening its position as well. Ahead of the summit it sent signals that it was determined to see real progress in trade relations with China. French President Emmanuel Macron called for an end to naivety about Chinese power. Negotiations between the European Union and China were not easy, and it took the two sides 10-days to finally reach an agreement on a summit communique and the path forward. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the two would step up efforts to work out rules for industrial subsidies and a process to identify and remove barriers to market access with the clear target to take stock of progress at the next EU-China Summit. We need to find a better balance and level of reciprocity, he said in a statement. Europe wants to trade more and invest more in China but we need rules that allow us to do so. The EU also said China agreed to further reduce its negative list, sectors where foreign investment is banned. That is expected to happen in June. Although both sides promised to work to deepen reform at the World Trade Organization and support for the global trading system, the agreement marks a definite end to the WTOs role, said China analyst Francesco Sisci. It (the WTO) has failed to bind China relations with the rest of the world and it is not just an issue between the U.S. and China, it is an issue between China and Europe and the global economy, Sisci said. If every country has to go for some kind of bilateral agreement, then the whole system of global trade is in jeopardy. And while the two have a solid timeline to reach a deal, implementation is always key and timelines can change, he added. On a positive note, China is proving more flexible, both with the U.S. and with the EU than we wouldve expected a year ago or three years ago. It is in a way perhaps proof that they are realizing there are issues, Sisci said. Scott Kennedy, director of the Project on Chinese Business and Political Economy at the Washington D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that despite the agreement, progress is likely to be slow given the high priority the administration of President Xi Jinping places on the state in leading the Chinese economy. I do think we do have to recognize that there are going to be some limits on how far the EU will go with China simply based on promises, Kennedy said. The concerns that the EU has about Chinese industrial policy and its intervention in the economy and protectionism are the same ones that the United States, Japan, Korea and many other Chinese trading partners have. If the European Union can make progress on an issue such as state subsidies that could be a benefit to everyone, analysts note, but state support of state-owned enterprises remains a cornerstone of the Chinese economy and that is not easy to change. In the meantime, the deal does give China an opportunity to manage its relations with the European Union while it waits for the dust to settle after the 2020 U.S. presidential elections. It is a way to kick the can down the road to see what happens with the U.S. and then see what happens next and they figure that by 2020 there would be some clearer outlook in the China/U.S. situation, Sisci said. The family of a 27-year-old man who died after a short stint in a California immigration detention facility demanded answers Wednesday about what happened to him and the timing of his release. Melissa Castro said her husband, Jose Luis Ibarra Bucio, was released as his health deteriorated from a brain hemorrhage and while he was in a coma from which he never awoke. "Why didn't they do it before, initially, when he already had the brain hemorrhage? Why wait the two weeks to release him when the state of health was even worse?" she asked in an interview with The Associated Press. "I think it might be because at that point they saw that the likelihood of him surviving wasn't high at all." Entered US as a child Castro said her husband had been allowed to remain in the country under a President Barack Obama-era program for immigrants without legal status who were brought to the country as children. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement that Ibarra was released for humanitarian reasons. Officials at ICE and detention facility operator The GEO Group declined to discuss his health. Castro said she was called Feb. 8 by an ICE official and told that her husband had a "passing-out episode" and was in a hospital. Castro, who had delivered the couple's baby days earlier, went to the hospital and found Ibarra in the intensive care unit with the brain hemorrhage and in a coma, she said. About two weeks later, immigration authorities issued papers releasing Ibarra from custody, she said. At first, she said, his release gave her hope that someday he might be able to meet his son, and it was a relief to no longer have an immigration officer in his hospital room or to see her ill husband shackled in bed. But now, she questions why authorities chose to release him when they did. His condition worsened and he died March 21 after the family removed life support. It was at least the second time in two years that an immigrant detained at the privately run facility in Adelanto has fallen into a coma while in custody and been released. Immigrant advocates have noted that releasing severely ill detainees means U.S. authorities aren't subject to the same level of oversight as when an immigrant dies in custody. Traffic conviction Ibarra was taken into immigration custody from a state prison in California following a conviction for fleeing from a traffic officer while driving recklessly, the statement said. He came to the United States from Mexico as a young child and grew up in Long Beach, Calif. Castro said his papers under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program had expired after his arrest. Ibarra, a truck driver, married Castro two years ago. She is a U.S. citizen, but they had not filed papers to sponsor him to stay in the country and knew he might wind up in immigration custody after his release from prison, she said. When her husband first got to immigration detention, he called and told her that he'd wait as long as it took if he could remain in the country with her and their soon-to-be-born son, Castro said. A week later, she said he sounded frustrated on the phone and wanted to see how quickly he could get out, she said. He had an immigration court hearing scheduled for Feb. 7 and said he would call her afterward but never did. VOA's Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. Fighting between rival Libyan governments for control of Tripoli worsened Wednesday as the United Nations Security Council gets ready to meet on the crisis. General Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army has set up an administration in the east. His forces are battling troops belonging to Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj and his internationally recognized Libyan government in Tripoli in the west. Fighting Wednesday centered in the suburbs south of the capital, with thousands of civilians fleeing their homes for safety. Residents in the city report LNA warplanes were buzzing neighborhoods and firing at them. Fighting was also reported at what had been the country's international airport. Britain and Germany have called Thursday's Security Council meeting to discuss the fighting. U.N. officials fear the violence in Libya could destabilize the entire Middle East by sending more refugees fleeing to Europe across the dangerous Mediterranean, disrupting oil production, and allowing terrorist groups such as Islamic State to take advantage of the chaos. This would be on top of the humanitarian crisis that comes with a civil war. The U.N. has received only a small fraction of the $202 million in aid it has asked for to help Libyans. U.N.-sponsored peace talks aimed at planning a national election are scheduled for Sunday. But an LNA official told the Associated Press there can be no peace in Libya because Tripoli has been "kidnapped" and the LNA must step in to "liberate" the capital. A teacher who is looking to get out of the city says he doesn't care who emerges victorious, saying, "I just want to survive with my family." Libya has been in political and economic chaos since longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown and killed in 2011. The French government on Wednesday said it "regrets" the move by Algerian authorities to expel an Agence France-Presse journalist from Algiers after they refused to renew his press accreditation for 2019. "We regret this decision and reiterate our commitment to freedom of the press and the protection of journalists," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said in a statement. Aymeric Vincenot, AFP's bureau chief in Algiers since June 2017, was forced to leave the capital late Tuesday after the end of a final delay granted by the police following the expiration of his visa. The authorities had refused to renew his press accreditation since late last year. Vincenot's expulsion comes as Algeria is facing political upheaval in the wake of president Abdelaziz Bouteflika's resignation after two decades in power. Demonstrators protested again Wednesday against the ruling elite despite a pledge from the interim head of state to hold "transparent" presidential elections within three months. On Tuesday, police fired tear gas and water cannon for the first time since the wave of protests erupted in mid-February, to try to disperse a student demonstration in Algiers. AFP's chief executive Fabrice Fries on Tuesday called Vincenot's expulsion "unacceptable," saying that "it is out of the question, in such conditions, to name a new chief of the Algiers bureau for the time being." France, the former colonial power in Algeria, has been extremely wary about commenting on the political upheaval in the country out of fear it could be perceived to be interfering in the crisis. In a White House where no secret is safe for long, one development has remained stubbornly confidential the contents of a Middle East peace plan authored by President Donald Trump's advisers Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt. With Trump having delighted Israelis and angered Palestinians by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2017 and moving the American Embassy to the holy city last May, a U.S.-brokered peace deal may seem farther away now than when talks collapsed five years ago. Then on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a clear path to re-election, only days after proposing to annex Jewish West Bank settlements, traditionally viewed as illegal by much of the world. The Trump administration has yet to comment on the election-eve remarks. Aides expect Trump to release the plan once Netanyahu forms a government coalition, and officials say that despite criticism of the administration's moves to date, the plan will demand compromises from both sides. That the peace plan has remained a secret is remarkable in a White House where drafts of executive orders, confidential conversations and internal deliberations all find their way to the front pages. Kushner and Greenblatt have limited the plan's distribution over the two years they have been crafting it. It has been kept secret "to ensure people approach it with an open mind" when it is released, a senior administration official said. Only four people have regular access Kushner, Greenblatt, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Kushner aide Avi Berkowitz, the official said. Trump is briefed regularly on the contents but is not believed to have read the entire document of dozens of pages. "He is briefed if something interesting is happening or there is an idea they want to run by him," the official said. Kushner, a New York real estate developer and husband of Trump's daughter Ivanka, and Greenblatt, a former lawyer for Trump, joined the process knowing little about the tortured, decades-long path in search of Arab-Israeli peace. Their proposal addresses such core political issues as the status of Jerusalem, and separately aims at helping the Palestinians strengthen their economy. Cloaked in secrecy is whether the plan will propose outright the creation of a Palestinian state, the Palestinians core demand. On Wednesday, Trump's secretary of state Mike Pompeo said the plan would be presented before too long but, when asked, declined to say whether the administration favored a two-state solution, long the basis of Middle East peacemaking. Not even Trump, who is known to blurt out news whenever he feels like it, has dribbled out details of the peace plan because of the sensitivity. He tells his Middle East envoys, "If you guys can get this done youre going to be the greatest negotiators in history," said a senior White House official. 'Your childrens future When Kushner and Greenblatt began developing their plan in 2017, they asked the parties to look to the future and describe an outcome on each issue that they could accept rather than get locked into historical stances, two officials said. "You can't let your grandfather's conflict hold back your children's future" was their message to both sides, one official said. Palestinians reject Trump's pro-Israel policies. "The extremist and militaristic agenda, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, has been emboldened by the Trump administrations reckless policies and blind support," said PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Pompeo and White House national security adviser John Bolton are all kept up to date on the peace plan, but have kept a hands-off approach to it, deferring to Kushner, two other officials said. The secrecy maintained by Kushner and Greenblatt, even as they refine and polish the plan, has posed something of a challenge for Gulf governments, who want to know the details before committing resources to a Palestinian fund. Kushner and Greenblatt toured Gulf states in February to promote the economic part of the plan and get opinions about it, without providing a detailed view of the contents of the more crucial political section. One of their stops was in Qatar. Qatari Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Lolwah Al Khater, speaking to a small group of reporters in Washington recently, gave no indication that Kushner and Greenblatt provided much in the way of details on the political plan when they visited. "I don't think its still set in stone," she said. Dennis Ross, a longtime Middle East envoy and now a distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the U.S. team still has "a lot of work to do to make sure that Arab leaders aren't surprised by what's going to be presented, and they need to see it in writing, not verbally." But he said secrecy at this point is understandable. "Holding something very close makes sense and its not taken as a negative by the parties, because in the end, if the content isnt leaking out, it also makes sure that what would be controversial doesnt create an immediate firestorm. Theres a logic to that," Ross said Tens of millions of Indians will begin queuing Thursday to cast their ballots in the first phase of a mammoth general election at which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seen as the front-runner, campaigning on his national security record. Voting in the first of seven rounds will be held in 91 constituencies across 20 states and federally-administered regions, amid tightened security, stepped up after violence killed seven people Tuesday. Pollsters say Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been riding high on his tough stance against Pakistan, after aerial clashes between the nuclear-armed neighbors followed a February attack by an Islamist militant group that killed 40 Indian paratroopers in disputed Kashmir. But the main opposition Congress party, which wrested three major farming states from the BJP in December by promising to waive the outstanding loans of distressed farmers, sought to corner the government on a lack of jobs and weak farm prices. The election was open but in favor of Modi's coalition, said Gilles Verniers, a political science professor at Ashoka University near New Delhi. "The gap between Congress and the BJP is still enormous, so no one is seriously thinking that Congress is going to fill that gap," he added. "The opposition landscape remains heavily fragmented." The alliance led by Modi's BJP is poised to win a narrow majority of 273 of the 543 seats at stake, an average of four opinion polls showed. In the 2014 general election, the party won a landslide 282 seats, securing a clear majority for the first time in decades and raising hopes of economic reform after a period of sluggish growth. In the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, which sends more lawmakers to parliament than any other, Ajesh Kumar, who runs a roadside restaurant, said he voted for the BJP in 2014, when Hindu-Muslims riots in the area killed at least 65 people, and would do so again. "But jobs are a problem here," he said, echoing government and private statistics that show Modi's government has failed to create enough jobs for the burgeoning workforce in a population of 1.3 billion. Economy More than 142 million Indians are eligible to vote in the first phase, of a total of 898.9 million. Votes in the seven rounds, spread over 39 days, will be counted on May 23. From sugar farmers in northern India going unpaid for produce, to small businesses in the south shut because they are unable to meet the requirements of a new, unifying national tax, discontent over the economy has brewed for months. A Reuters analysis of 50 pledges from the BJP's 2014 manifesto showed Modi only partly fulfilled, or did not fulfil, most promises on the economy and business. Congress, which won only 44 seats last time around, is betting a promise of monthly handouts of 6,000 rupees ($86.59) for the poorest families will boost its performance now. It hopes to win enough seats to lure regional parties opposed to Modi to back it after the election and form the government. Indonesias Supreme Court this week rejected the appeal by an ethnic-Chinese Indonesian woman who was sentenced to 18 months in prison last August for violating the countrys blasphemy law, a decision international rights groups called a troubling precedent. The Buddhist woman, Meliana, 44, was convicted of blasphemy for requesting that a mosque near her residence in Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, turn down the volume of its evening call-to-prayer. She had made the complaint privately to her neighbor, which set off riots, arsons, a police report, and eventually, an upheld conviction. Deemed by rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, as a troublesome legal precedent, Melianas case started in 2016, when her complaint made its way around the fishing town. As it spread through neighborhoods and on social media, perceptions became all the more distorted with many people saying that she had committed blasphemy. A mob rioted in front of her house where she lived with her husband and four children shouting obscenities, throwing bottles and rocks at her house, and setting fire to some of the towns Buddhist temples. The North Sumatra chapter of the Indonesian Ulema Council said in 2017 that her complaint sullied Islam. Conversely, her conviction sparked public outrage and support from organizations such as Indonesias Institute for Criminal Justice Reform and the National Commission on Violence Against Women. Ranto Sibarani, Melianas lawyer, told VOA that he and his client will file another appeal. Yesterday we discussed the plan at the Tanjung Gusta [penitentiary for women in Medan, North Sumatra], he said. Last year, he claimed that Melianas conviction, due to questionable legal proceedings, was predicated on hearsay and intimidation. Ranto said the counsel team maintains that its clients conviction is an error. We still believe that [the reason for her conviction was predicated on hoax]. Both the investigators and the police admitted to the media that they have identified many sources of false information regarding Meliana, but none of them have been tried, he said. Indonesias Supreme Court announced the rejection of the appeal on its website and did not give a reason for the decision. Ranto added that his team has yet to receive an official notice of the court ruling. Blasphemy law Indonesias blasphemy law was signed in 1965 by Indonesias first president, Sukarno, as a way to appease a request made by religious groups to suppress the growth of indigenous beliefs. Twenty-three people, including Meliana, have been sentenced under that law since the country's current president, Joko Widodo, whos running for a second-term in office this year, took office in 2014, Human Rights Watch said in October. The law, carrying a maximum five-year prison sentence, punishes deviations from the central tenets of Indonesias six officially recognized religions Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism .., according to Andreas Harsono, a researcher with the Human Rights Watch. Harsono told VOA the case was emblematic of discrimination against minorities in the country. The victims are mostly those who are critical, particularly those who are critical and believe in non-Sunni religions, Andreas said. There have been a number of attempts to revoke the law. Three petitions were rejected from 2009 to 2018 by Indonesias Constitutional Court, including the one filed by members of Indonesias Ahmadiyah group, a religious minority. Indonesias former president, Abdurrahman Wahid, also was involved in a 2009 petition. The law has elastic clauses: Theres no standard measurements; it's easy to be deployed for political purposes, Andreas said. One of the widely-publicized blasphemy cases involved former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who served an almost two-year prison sentence and was released in January. He was arrested for insulting Islam, after making a quip about a passage in the Quran during a 2016 speech. His arrest is believed to have galvanized a formidable religious force in Indonesian politics. As Indonesia's presidential and legislative Indonesian elections approach next week, observers will closely watch how the blasphemy law will be carried out by each candidate. Joko Widodo will square off against the former military commander Prabowo Subianto. The blasphemy law is the hardest to revoke among the other unjust laws, Andreas said. Isel Rojas put his dream of leaving Cuba on hold when the United States ended a generous immigration policy for island residents. But watching coverage of migrant caravans heading from Central America toward the United States on Cuban television last year, he began to see a new path. One morning in January, he woke up and told his wife he was finally ready. Fifteen days later, he was gone. "If they can do it, why can't we?" said Rojas, a 48-year-old who worked in agriculture in the eastern city of Holguin, recalling the images of young men and families traveling en masse to the Mexico-U.S. border. Rojas is now waiting to apply for U.S. asylum in the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez, which has become a magnet for Cuban migrants. Political repression and bleak economic prospects remain the primary reasons cited by Cubans for migrating from the Communist-ruled island, a Cold War foe of the United States. But some in Ciudad Juarez say news of the caravans also motivated them, giving them the impression the United States was accepting migrants. Since early last year, the caravans have been a frequent target of U.S. President Donald Trump as he advocates for stricter immigration policies. Critics say the president's statements about the caravans, including a series of angry tweets, have ironically enlarged the groups and publicized asylum as a possible avenue to legal status. "The person who created the media coverage and who drove the issue of the caravans has been President Trump," Tonatiuh Guillen, the head of Mexico's National Migration Institute, said on local radio last week. The addition of Cubans to those flows is adding to the pressure on already overwhelmed shelters and border authorities in Mexico and the United States. More than 100,000 people were apprehended or presented themselves to authorities in March, the White House said on Friday, calling it the highest number in a decade. Trump has threatened a border shutdown or tariffs on Mexico in retaliation. What's more, some say Trump's harder line on Cuban relations has contributed to a sense of gloom on the economically weak and tightly controlled island. The White House and the Cuban government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mexico's migration institute declined to comment. 'Treated Like Everyone Else Like Rojas, many Cubans who reached northern Mexico in recent months ultimately traveled with a smaller group, and caravans were not a factor for all who left. But a caravan of 2,600 migrants currently contained by authorities in southern Mexico, the largest this year, includes dozens from the island. Mexican immigration officials said they flew some 60 Cubans home on Friday. In Ciudad Juarez, Cubans represent 75 to 80 percent of some 3,600 migrants in town, said Enrique Valenzuela, director of the state commission for population. The wait to apply for asylum is about two months, shelter directors say. The bottleneck highlights a new reality: Cubans do not enjoy the same advantages they once did in the U.S. immigration system. "For the first time this year, Cubans are being treated like everyone else," said Wilfredo Allen, a Miami-based lawyer who works with Cuban migrants. "The special door for the Cubans has already closed." In 2017, U.S. President Barack Obama ended the "wet foot, dry foot" policy, which allowed Cubans who reached U.S. soil to stay but returned any intercepted at sea, triggering a decline in immigration from the island. In the first five months of fiscal-year 2019, 6,289 Cubans turned up at ports of entry on the U.S.-Mexico border without papers. That number is on track to nearly double the total for the whole of fiscal-year 2018, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. While Cubans generally face slightly better chances of receiving asylum than Central Americans because their tales of political persecution are often more clear-cut, success is anything but assured, Allen said. Allen estimates only 20 to 30 percent of his Cuban clients will win their cases. That message has not reached those in Ciudad Juarez, many of whom sold their vehicles, businesses or homes to finance the trip. Some have literally bet the farm. "They say that we have priority, that (the United States) will accept us in one form or another," said Rojas, who sold almost half his cattle. "They always accept us." A New Route Cubans lucky enough to get a U.S. visa, to visit family for example, can fly there legally and are eligible to apply for residency after a year in the United States. For most though, reaching the United States is no easy feat. Even before "wet foot, dry foot" ended, Cubans began forging new routes, flying into countries in Central and South America with loose visa requirements and then heading north. Only a few countries, such as Guyana, do not require visas for Cubans. Last year, Panama made it easier for Cubans to come to the country to shop, creating another opening for some from the island to reach Central America. Arasay Sanchez, 33, said she was browsing the internet in a park one day when she saw a story about the caravans. After selling her house and most of her belongings, Sanchez flew into Panama on Jan. 25, she said. She relied on a seven-page guide she inherited from Cubans who had traveled to the United States, detailing everything from where to sleep to where to buy a phone. On the trail, it was among her most valuable possessions -- she carried it in her clothes. The route ended in Ciudad Juarez, regarded by many Cubans as a safer and more orderly place to seek asylum than other more crowded Mexican border crossings, despite its reputation as one of the world's most violent cities. Ciudad Juarez, just south of El Paso, Texas, received relatively few asylum seekers until late last year. Many are dismayed by the long wait they find, shelter directors say, and they are increasingly concerned about safety after reports of Cubans going missing in Mexico. Few leave the shelters, 10 migrants said in interviews. Sanchez and her partner arrived in Ciudad Juarez in late February, moving from shelter to shelter and struggling with spicy Mexican food. "Even the candy" has chile, she said, clutching the extra folds of fabric in her jeans to show she had lost weight. Experts do not expect the flow of Cuban migrants to ebb anytime soon. Obama made it easier for Americans to travel to the island, generating new business. But that money dried up after Trump tightened the rules, said Pedro Freyre, a lawyer who studies the U.S.-Cuba relationship. What is more, a gradual opening of the island's private sector triggered a backlash from conservatives, creating headaches for small businesses, Freyre said. Reaching the United States would end a long quest for Reinaldo Ramirez, a 51-year-old construction contractor from the western town of Jaguey Grande. Starting in 2006, he tried and failed to reach Florida seven times by boat -- including the day Obama canceled "wet foot, dry foot." The new route has been just as arduous. After flying into Guyana in September, Ramirez and his wife had to hike across the Darien Gap, a remote stretch of jungle straddling Panama and Colombia. After they crossed the first time, Panamanian authorities deported them to Colombia, forcing them to repeat the trek. Ramirez arrived in Ciudad Juarez about three weeks ago, and hundreds of asylum seekers are ahead of him in line. But he cannot help but feel that he is close. "I've almost achieved my objective, my American dream," he said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared headed for an unprecedented fifth term Wednesday after his main rival, Benny Gantz, conceded defeat in the country's tight parliamentary election. With nearly all the votes counted, Netanyahu's conservative Likud Party and Gantz's centrist Blue and White Party each had 35 seats. But Likud and its right-wing coalition partners were forecast to end up with a total of 65 seats in the 120-seat parliament, and President Reuven Rivlin will again ask Netanyahu to form a government. Final results are expected Thursday. After Netanyahu Win, Trump Confident of Middle East Peace As the last votes cast by Israeli soldiers were being counted late Wednesday, Gantz, the former military chief, was holding on to the slim hope his coalition could still win. But he said that "we respect the decision of the people." President Donald Trump tweeted that he had spoken with Netanyahu and had congratulated him "on a great and hard-fought win. The United States is with him and the people of Israel all the way." An Israeli media photograph of a Netanyahu victory celebration showed a man waving a Trump banner. Earlier, Netanyahu told his supporters Likud had achieved a "tremendous victory." He said that while his potential coalition would be a right-wing government, he pledged he would be "prime minister for all." His comments stood in contrast to his appeal to voters in the final days of campaigning, when he sought to solidify his conservative base, vowing to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank. Such a move could wreck any chance of creating an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. Gantz called Netanyahu's pledge "irresponsible." Gantz said he favored a "globally backed peace agreement" that envisions Israel maintaining its hold on the large settlement blocs in the West Bank and security control over the territory. Gantz portrayed himself as a unifying force in Israel and said it was time to oust Netanyahu from power. If Rivlin asks Netanyahu to form a coalition government, he would become Israel's longest-serving leader, surpassing founding father David Ben-Gurion. But Netanyahu also faces a criminal investigation. Pending an upcoming hearing, the Israeli attorney general says he plans to indict Netanyahu on bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges. Netanyahu has called the Israeli probes a "witch hunt," echoing his good friend Trump, who used the same words to describe the investigation of his 2016 election campaign. A Peruvian judge ordered the arrest of former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski on Wednesday while also authorizing a search of his properties as part of a probe into a bribery scheme linked to scandal-plagued Brazilian builder Odebrecht. Police took Kuczynski, 80, from his home to an official medical installation, and he could be jailed afterward, local broadcasters RPP and Canal N reported. He was to be held for 10 days, according to a judicial resolution. Kuczynski called his arrest "arbitrary" on Twitter as a car left his sprawling home in Lima's financial district, where crowds of journalists had gathered. "I've never fled justice," Kuczynski wrote on Twitter. "This is a very tough moment for me but I will face it with the fortitude of knowing I only longed for a better country." A former Wall Street banker who renounced his U.S. citizenship to run for Peru's presidency, Kuczynski narrowly won the 2016 election but resigned a year ago in the face of near-certain impeachment by the opposition-controlled Congress. Prosecutors have accused Kuczynski of helping Odebrecht win a highway contract and an irrigation contract when he was a cabinet minister in the government of former President Alejandro Toledo, in exchange for bribes disguised as consulting fees. Two others jailed According to Wednesday's judicial resolution, Kuczynski's secretary and driver were also ordered to spend 10 days in jail. Odebrecht sparked Latin America's biggest graft scandal by admitting publicly in late 2016 that it had secured lucrative contracts across the region by bribing officials. Since then, Peruvian judges have ordered several politicians, including Toledo, to be jailed before trial. Toledo denies wrongdoing and is fighting extradition to Peru from the United States. After initially denying having any ties to Odebrecht, Kuczynski acknowledged that his consulting firm had been hired by Odebrecht before he became a minister. He said he relinquished control of the consulting firm before he took office, however, and denied the payments were bribes. Kuczynski said he had been cooperating with prosecutors. Authorities barred him from leaving Peru shortly after he resigned the presidency, and later froze his bank accounts. In Peru, suspects can be jailed without trial for up to three years if prosecutors show they have evidence that would likely lead to a conviction, and that the suspects would likely try to flee or obstruct their work. Kuczynski's former vice president, Martin Vizcarra, is now president and has made the fight against corruption the centerpiece of his government. But the ruling party slammed Kuczynski's arrest order as "excessive and disproportionate" on Twitter, and politicians from other parties also criticized it. A man in the U.S. state of Maryland, accused in an alleged Islamic State-inspired terror plot to run down pedestrians with a truck, has been ordered held without bond. Federal prosecutors argued in a court appearance Tuesday that there are no conditions under which 28-year-old Rondell Henry could be freed and be assured of returning for future court appearances, and that he represents a threat to the community. Prosecutors allege Henry stole a truck from a suburban Washington shopping mall last month and drove around looking for terror targets. After failing to breach security at Dulles International Airport, Henry is accused of driving to the National Harbor in Maryland a Potomac River walkway lined with shops and restaurants, highly popular with tourists. But in the court filing, prosecutors say Henry did not find a large enough crowd for his desired act and decided to wait until later. Police arrested Henry the next morning after he climbed out of a docked boat in which he hid all night and jumped over a security fence. The government says Henry planned to drive the stolen truck over pedestrians. He allegedly told police, "I was just going to keep driving and driving and driving. I wasn't going to stop." Prosecutors allege Henry was inspired by the 2016 IS truck attack in Nice, France, that killed 86 people. They say Henry has a "hatred for those who do not practice the Muslim faith" and wanted to emulate those he saw in videos beheading civilians and fighting overseas. So far, Henry faces charges of interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle. Just two days away from a potentially calamitous no-deal Brexit, European Union leaders were moving closer to granting the United Kingdom a new delay possibly of up to a year to its departure from the bloc. British Prime Minister Theresa May headed Wednesday into an emergency EU summit, pleading for a second extension until June 30, but indicated she could accept a longer extension as many EU leaders have called for. "What is important is that any extension enables us to leave at the point at which we ratify the withdrawal agreement," May said as she arrived in Brussels. She added she was hopeful it could be as soon as May 22. Most EU leaders indicated they could accept such an extension as long as Britain pledges not to use it to play an obstructionist course and undermine EU policies. French president Emmanuel Macron was more critical, saying that no extension was guaranteed as long as there was no assurance that Britain would not upset EU policies during any transition. "Nothing is decided," Macron said upon arrival at the EU summit and insisted on "clarity" from May about what Britain wants, because, he said, "nothing should compromise the European project." According to the latest draft conclusions, Britain would be required to act "in a constructive and responsible manner throughout this unique period" of extended withdrawal, and would have to show "sincere cooperation." It would have to act in "a manner that reflects its situation as a withdrawing member state." German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the EU had "expectations" of Britain so that EU institutions can continue functioning "seamlessly." The issue came up after some British Conservative politicians threatened to become obstructionist. One of them, Mark Francois, said that if the U.K. remained in the bloc, "then in return we will become a Trojan Horse within the EU." If no extension materializes Wednesday, Britain would crash out of the bloc on Friday with no deal regulating the departure, unless it cancels Brexit independently. A drastic cliff-edge exit would bring huge costs to businesses and trade across the English Channel and be very cumbersome to travelers as it would likely hit airports, ports, tariff rules and standard regulations overnight. EU countries, especially Macron's France, have become increasingly exasperated with the political division and uncertainty in Britain about a way forward. In France, concerns have been growing about how badly a hard Brexit would hit the French economy. Among conditions France is now setting to agree to a new delay: A "credible prospect" of some kind of solution to the British political deadlock; a promise that Britain won't keep asking for more delays; and guarantees that Britain would not be involved in future EU decisions while its Brexit drama is playing out. The bloc's leaders have tried to help May over two years of negotiations, even after she missed her hand-picked Brexit departure date on March 29 because of a parliamentary revolt. May's future is uncertain whatever the EU decides. She has previously said that "as prime minister" she could not agree to let Britain stay in the EU beyond June 30, and she has also promised to step down once Brexit is delivered. Many Conservative Party lawmakers would like her to quit now and let a new leader take charge of the next stage of Brexit. But they can't force her out until the end of the year, after she survived a no-confidence vote in December. Every British initiative to get a deal so far has floundered. Several days of talks between May's Conservative government and the main opposition Labour Party aimed at finding a compromise have failed to produce a breakthrough. Labour favors a softer Brexit than the government has proposed, and wants to retain a close economic relationship with the bloc. The two sides said they would resume their discussions after Wednesday's EU summit. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi castigated Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday for comments he made during congressional hearings this week about the federal probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election. "Let me just say I'm very, very dismayed and disappointed that the chief law enforcement officer of our country is going off the rails yesterday and today," Pelosi told reporters at a Democratic Party retreat in Virginia. "He is attorney general of the United States of America, not the attorney general of Donald Trump." Pelosi said Democrats want to see special counsel Robert Mueller's report, which dealt with Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links to the Trump campaign. Russia's activities were an assault on U.S. democracy "there is no doubt about that," Pelosi said. During two congressional hearings this week, Barr defended his handling of the 400-page report Mueller submitted to him on March 22 after a two-year investigation. The attorney general released a four-page letter to Congress providing a broad outline of its assessments. In the March 24 letter, Barr said that Muellers investigation did not establish that members of Trumps election campaign conspired with Russia. He also said that Mueller presented evidence on both sides about whether Trump had obstructed justice, but did not draw a conclusion one way or the other. Barr said he would make public a redacted version of the report next week. Democrats have been calling for full disclosure. Barr, who was appointed by Trump, said Wednesday that he would look into whether U.S. agencies illegally spied on Trump's 2016 campaign, but acknowledged under sharp questioning by lawmakers that there was no evidence of wrongdoing. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended President Donald Trump's move to halt American aid to three Central American nations from which record numbers of migrants have fled to the U.S.-Mexico border, responding to sharp criticism from Democrats at an often-testy Senate hearing on Wednesday. "There's an enormous crisis at our southern border," Pompeo told the Foreign Relations Committee. "The United States has spent hundreds of millions of foreign assistance dollars to try and build out solutions in these three countries El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. You can see it has not been effective. We are endeavoring to change that." Pompeo spoke two weeks after Trump announced he would cut aid Congress had approved to fight hunger, violence and drug trafficking in the poverty-stricken nations to chastise them for failing to stem a massive surge of migrants crossing through Mexico en route to the U.S. border. Democrats on the panel said the White House's move defied logic. "All this will do is create greater instability in the region," Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey said. "It will drive more people in fear and hopelessness to the border." Menendez added, "Why are people fleeing? They are fleeing because of violent crime. Their choice is stay and die or flee and have a chance of living. We need to fight at the very essence of that, and the very essence of that is not at the border. It's in Central America." WATCH: Pompeo Defends Trump's Cuts to Aid Central America Similar arguments were made by lawmakers of both parties a day earlier, when Pompeo appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The panel's top Republican, Texas Congressman Michael McCaul, said cutting aid to Central America "could make the situation worse, not better." Pompeo insisted a new approach is needed. "We deal in reality. It's not enough to take taxpayer money and spend it there. You need to get something for that, and that's what we are engaged in now," he said. "We want to be sure that every tax dollar we spend in the Northern Triangle [Central American region] is effectively used." One Republican concurred that the status quo is unacceptable and bold action is required. "The first six months of this [fiscal] year, we're already over 240,000 [migrant arrivals], primarily people coming in as family units," Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said. He added that long-term developmental assistance for Central America won't solve the immediate crisis. Administration officials have said they stopped allocating new funds to aid programs for El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras and are looking to "reprogram" unspent funds, a move Congress could block. Appearing before a House panel to discuss foreign aid, former U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States Roger Noriega on Wednesday noted that America helped create the migrant crisis through its appetite for illegal narcotics, which fuels the drug cartels responsible for much of the violence in Central America. "The demand for illegal drugs from this country has destroyed those [Central American] countries, and we have a moral responsibility, I believe, to help them pull out of it," Noriega said. "The announcement that we were summarily and arbitrarily cutting off aid does not help any of these [Central American] leaders be a friend of the United States. It embarrasses them before their own people. It undermines the confidence that we need to have as partners." U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declined on Wednesday to publicly say the Trump administration still backs a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. "We are now working with many parties to share what our vision (is) as to how to solve this problem," Pompeo told a U.S. Senate hearing where he was pressed for a response on the issue. He said the administration "has been working on a set of ideas" for Middle East peace "that we hope to present before too long," adding that he hoped they would provide a basis for discussions on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Democratic Senator Tim Kaine asked Pompeo, a former Republican member of the House of Representatives, if he thought a peace agreement including one state for Israel and one state for the Palestinians was an outdated idea. "It's certainly an idea that's been around a long time, senator," Pompeo responded. "Ultimately the individuals in the region will sort this out," the secretary of state said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a clear path to re-election on Wednesday, and a record fifth term in office, with religious-rightist parties set to hand him a parliamentary majority, despite a close contest against his main centrist challenger, a vote tally showed. In a rare turn during the campaign toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Netanyahu alarmed Palestinians by pledging to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if re-elected. Palestinians seek a state there and in the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. That came after Trump signed a proclamation during Netanyahu's visit to Washington on March 25, officially granting U.S. recognition of the Golan Heights as Israeli territory, a dramatic departure from decades of American policy. The move, which Trump announced in a tweet days prior, was widely seen as an attempt to boost Netanyahu as he ran for re-election on April 9. Israel captured the Golan in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981 in a move not recognized internationally. The Trump administration has been promising for many months that it would roll out a Middle East peace plan after Israel's election. Andrew Yang is not the typical U.S. presidential candidate. As a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Yang has never run for elected office before. And he began his unlikely campaign a year and a half ago with virtually no name recognition but a talent for social media. Yet he gained traction running on one major theme the promise to enact universal basic income or a "Freedom Dividend" that has sparked interest throughout the country. Under Yang's approach, every American above the age of 18 would be guaranteed $1,000 a month to compensate for lost income or jobs due to automation, artificial intelligence or the transfer of jobs overseas. "We have to solve the problems that got Donald Trump elected in 2016, and to me the main driver of his victory was that we automated away four million manufacturing jobs in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, the swing states you need to win," Yang explained during an appearance Sunday on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" program. "We're in the third inning of the greatest economic and technological transformation in the history of the country, and we need to evolve to the next form of our economy in order for Americans to have a path forward," he added. Yang, 44, is the first Asian-American candidate to have gained significant national attention. He has met the threshold to participate in the first Democratic National Committee debates set for June after receiving campaign contributions from roughly 80,000 individual donors. His campaign also announced last week it has raised $1.7 million during the first fundraising quarter of 2019. Born in upstate New York to Taiwanese immigrant parents, Yang's background has come to the attention of the Asian-American community that historically has had lower voter turnout compared to other groups. A lawyer-turned-entrepreneur, Yang became the CEO of the test-prep education company Manhattan GMAT that was later acquired by Kaplan. He then founded the nonprofit Venture for America, which trains recent college graduates and young entrepreneurs to launch their own startups. "He's everything that we want to represent and we want to learn from. He's an Asian-American, successful entrepreneur, business leader," said Terry Hsiao, a Chinese-American entrepreneur at a recent informational meet-and-greet event with Yang in Washington, D.C. A majority of the Asian population in the U.S. are second-generation, American-born children of immigrant parents. Politically, Asian-Americans tend to identify as Democrats by about a 2-to-1 ratio, according to AAPI Data, which compiles demographic data and policy research on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Yang's supporters are hopeful that as a Democrat with immigrant parents, he will be able to galvanize a majority of Asian-Americans to become more politically engaged. "Yang is closer to the Asian-American mainstream. So this is where having someone like Andrew Yang or Kamala Harris could mean more for encouraging Asian-American voter participation," said Karthick Ramakrishnan, the director of AAPI Data. Value-added tax Yang is hoping his ideas will go well beyond the Asian-American community under his "Humanity First" slogan. He has gained the most attention for his initiative on universal basic income, or UBI. "The great thing is I'm already polling nationally at one percent to three percent, depending on the poll, and most people have still never heard of me," Yang told Stephanopoulos. "So as more people hear about me and my message and my vision for a trickle-up economy from people and families and communities up, our support will keep on growing." The UBI initiative would cost more than $3 trillion a year, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. While Yang proposes to pay for this with a value-added tax (VAT), economic experts say his plan may not be a suitable solution for the economy. "The nature of the universal basic income is that it doesn't focus the resources on those who need it most and that is problematic in itself," said Vijay Menon, a domestic policy expert at the Heritage Foundation. "You're shifting money away from the current system that provides means tested or aid to people who are poor, and it would shift resources to those who are middle or upper income." According to Yang, a value-added tax on the production of goods and services makes it harder for large corporations like Amazon, Google and Facebook to avoid paying their fair share. Many developed countries such as those in Europe already have a VAT. "For the average American, they'd experience a value-added tax as something that they might pay a little bit extra when they buy something. But keep in mind that in this case, we're taking all the money from consumption like that and putting it right back into the hands of the American people," Yang has explained. Protesters in Khartoum are continuing to demand the resignation of President Omar al-Bashir, staging a sit-in Tuesday outside army headquarters, where heavy gunfire was heard. Reported attempts by government security forces to break up the crowds led to the intervention by soldiers to protect the demonstrators, according to eyewitnesses. "Student militias, security forces and riot police are trying to move protesters away from army headquarters by attacking them every six hours," Khartoum reporter Dama Moheideen told South Sudan in Focus. Police forces issued a communique saying they will never attack protesters. Thousands of people are taking part in the sit-in, Mohiedeen told VOA. "An eyewitness has noticed that riot police today did not attack people, so only security forces and student militias are attacking protesters," Mohiedeen added. While official Sudanese television aired pictures and video of army headquarters appearing to be quiet and devoid of protesters, witnesses said the video and photos are old and do not reflect what is happening in real time. The Sudanese military headquarters are open to the protesters, who are now camping on the premises. "They are camping inside and they are protecting the bridges and the main streets leading to the army headquarters. They (the soldiers) are protecting (people) from security (forces)," Mohiedeen told VOA. "No one is certain about where he (Bashir) is, but yesterday he had a meeting with NCP and they issued a communique at 9:30 p.m., and said that they would sustain the security in the country," Mohiedeen said. Sudanese citizens on social media are reporting that Sudanese army forces are standing with the protesters. Two protesters killed Two protesters, one government soldier and one security officer were killed Tuesday morning, according to eyewitnesses, while dozens of people were injured. "From 4 p.m. to midnight every day, the protests are getting bigger because people from the other states come to join the sit-in whenever the army is protecting the protesters," Mohiedeen told VOA. Protesters have been responding to calls by the Sudanese Professional Association to take part in the sit-in and to continue the protests outside army headquarters but "there is no real leader," Mohiedeen said. The protests began Dec. 19 over high prices for bread and fuel, and have since morphed into calls for President Bashir to step down after 30 years in power. Women's role "Women have been very active. They have been the fuel of this resolution. They participated in planning, they have been actively protesting, facing the brutal attacks from the government," Sudanese American citizen Fatimah Haron told South Sudan in Focus while attending a Sudan protest in New York over the weekend. Haron says women have become the leaders of their families because in the past, they have been looked down upon. "So for a woman to go out, it's a big thing and they have no fear." Sudanese American Mohassi Mohammed organizes Sudan protests around America. "They (women) are always at the top and they always support Sudan. I am really proud," Mohammed told South Sudan in Focus. "Women in Sudan, through history, they played a big role through the revolutions, and this one is a big concern for the whole country because this is a dictatorship regime. They treated women brutally, they tortured women," Sudanese activist Amir Zahir told South Sudan in Focus. Sudanese in Juba Sudanese traders in Juba say they stand in solidarity with their brothers and sisters back home. Trader Isim Asam Abdallah said his brother was abducted in 1999 by Bashir's government and has never been released. "I support with all my power the change in Sudan because change must be now, at this time on these days. (We) must take al-Bashir out," Abdallah told South Sudan in Focus. Juba trader Abdallah Haman said he was born and raised during Bashir's regime, and many people have been killed in Sudan during that time. "We want justice and freedom. The government of Sudan is the government of destruction. The government has killed innocent people and has killed many in Darfur since 2004," Haman told South Sudan in Focus. Sudanese Defense Minister General Awas Ibnouf vowed the army would prevent any slide into chaos. "The Sudanese ministry came to such a conclusion: They want to just get rid of Mr. al-Bashir after 30 years of failed politics and dividing the south of Sudan. So many factors have generated the slogan Just fall, that's all,' " political analyst Nabil Nigm in Cairo told VOA. Six Taiwanese political heavyweights who are considered top contenders in the autonomous island's presidential race see its old rival, China, across a spectrum from military threat to friend and business partner. Chinas Communist leadership has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s and threatened to take it by force if peaceful unification efforts fail. The two sides dropped negotiations in 2016 after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen declined to recognize the island as part of China. Tsai and a rival primary election candidate backed by the Democratic Progressive Party stand for Taiwans current status as at least a de facto country, scholars say. Election hopefuls backed by the main opposition Nationalist Party embrace dialogue with China, on Beijings condition that both sides talk as if they are two parts of one China. Here are the stated China views of Taiwanese politicians who intend to seek office or who are tipped by local media as strong candidates for the election in January 2020: Tsai Ing-wen The incumbent, a 62-year-old law scholar and former head of her party, advocates what she calls the status quo with China, meaning no unification or constitutional independence. She rejects the one-China dialogue condition as a violation of domestic public opinion. Tsai regularly accuses China of interference in Taiwan affairs and asks that other countries help her government. "The United States, together with other like-minded countries, can help, Tsai told an April 9 videoconference with three American think tanks. Tsai said in February she would seek a second four-year term. Lai Ching-te Tsais former premier, Lai Ching-te, says he wants the ruling partys nomination to run for president. His views on China overlap Tsais, but scholars say he might edge toward formal independence, a red line for Beijing. Taiwanese media have quoted Lai calling himself a worker for Taiwan independence, and a pragmatic believer in Taiwan independence. That's likely to mean pushing gradually toward independence rather than making a sudden move that would alarm China, said Shane Lee, political scientist at Chang Jung Christian University in Taiwan. Lai Ching-te made it very clear hes a local volunteer for (the) pro-Taiwan independence movement, said Liu Yih-jiun, a public affairs professor at Fo Guang University in Taiwan. He made it clear until the point he wanted to participate in the presidential primary. He changed a little bit, he tried to hide his real intent, but its still the same thing. The ruling party will issue its list of nominees April 24. China opposes Tsai as well as Lai, said Wu Chung-li, a political science research fellow at Academia Sinica, a university in Taipei. Probably I would say there is no difference between these two. Eric Chu The former New Taipei City mayor advocates more dialogue under Beijings one-China condition. But the opposition Nationalist Party figurehead said in January the condition does not obligate Taiwan to a one country, two systems deal where China takes a measure of control over Taiwan. The government of Nationalist Party ex-president Ma Ying-jeou had talked with China to reach deals on trade, transit and investment. Chu has set up a campaign office and plans to seek the partys nomination. The party has not set a nomination date. Han Kuo-yu The Nationalist Party-backed mayor of Taiwans major southern city, Kaohsiung, has voiced his own support for the one-China dialogue condition but opposition to one country, two systems. (For) KMT candidates, the lowest common denominator is to maintain extremely friendly peaceful dialogue with mainland China, said Joanna Lei, CEO of the Chunghua 21st Century Think Tank in Taiwan. Candidates often shun specifics, she said. KMT believes that in order to have the greatest amount of votes on both sides of the fence they have to remain very ambiguous in their positions. The charismatic mayor rated in opinion surveys as a potential top contender in the presidential race met the head of the Chinese governments Taiwan Affairs Office in China last month. He has made deals to sell $168.5 million in Taiwanese agricultural goods to cities in southern China, local media say. Han has not declared candidacy for office. Wang Jin-pyng The former Nationalist Party president of parliament advocates economic and trade dialogue with China and maybe more. In declaring his nomination candidacy in March, he advocated an end to confrontation, according to a March 7 report by Taiwans Public Television Service. Other local media say Wang wants to sign a peace deal with China. Taiwan and China must instead engage in collaboration, Wang was quoted saying. Ko Wen-je The Taipei mayor with no party affiliation hosted a delegation from Shanghai in December. He said in December the two sides can reach peace and stability through dialogue as one family. But some analysts believe the mayor elected to a second four-year term in November privately advocates Taiwan independence. Ko has not said whether he will run for president. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's election victory improved the chances of a forthcoming U.S. peace plan, despite deep skepticism from the Palestinians. Trump, who had enthusiastically backed the right-wing premier's bid for a fifth mandate, said that he telephoned Netanyahu to offer congratulations as results gave Netanyahu a narrow parliamentary majority. "The fact that Bibi won, I think we'll see some pretty good action in terms of peace," Trump told reporters, using Netanyahu's nickname. "Everybody said you can't have peace in the Middle East with Israel and Palestinians. I think we have a chance and I think we now have a better chance," he added. Centrist challenger Benny Gantz, a former military chief, conceded defeat with Netanyahu poised to form a coalition of hawkish and religious parties to become Israel's longest-serving prime minister. Trump had welcomed Netanyahu to the White House just two weeks before the election to offer his latest landmark gesture of support U.S. recognition of Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in 1967. WATCH: After Netanyahu Win, Trump Confident of Middle East Peace Peace plan doubts Palestinian leaders are deeply skeptical of the U.S. peace plan and have ruled out Trump as an honest broker after he recognized bitterly contested Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The peace plan is being developed by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, an Orthodox Jew whose close family ties to Netanyahu have heightened Palestinian suspicions on whether the U.S. administration can serve as an honest broker. U.S. officials have only revealed vague outlines of what the plan might propose, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has suggested it could break abruptly with precedent. In two days of testimony before Senate committees, Pompeo declined to say whether the United States stood by its longstanding support for an independent Palestinian state. "For decades now, there have been all these wonderful experts that have tried to resolve this crisis in the Middle East, the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people, and they have each failed," Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. "So the old set of ideas isn't worth retreading. They have simply not succeeded," he said. Pressed by Democratic Senator Tim Kaine who described himself as "kind of shocked" that Pompeo would not reaffirm U.S. support for a two-state solution the top U.S. diplomat said the United States wanted "good things" for the Palestinians but that a solution had to be acceptable to both sides. "I would argue that millions of man-hours have been spent to try and build out a two-state solution. It hasn't worked to date. It may work this afternoon, but it hasn't worked yet," Pompeo said. Pompeo said the peace plan would come out "before too long" and also include ideas aimed at Gulf Arab states, which have found increasing common ground with Israel in their hostility to Iran. Vow to annex settlements Pompeo repeatedly declined to weigh in on Netanyahu's election-eve vow to annex Jewish settlements built in the Israeli-occupied West Bank a move that would seek to formalize Israeli control over parts of the supposedly future Palestinian state. Such a move would previously have been almost unthinkable, leaving Israel diplomatically isolated. But some analysts believe that Washington's relatively less controversial Golan Heights recognition may have paved the way. In another sign of Israel's current feeling of strength, Netanyahu insisted last week that he would refuse removal of any Jewish settlements built inside occupied Palestinian land as part of any peace plan. Netanyahu said he told Trump "there shouldn't be the removal of even one settlement." Since taking office, Trump has also closed the Palestinians' office in Washington, pulled the United States from U.N. bodies accused of anti-Israel bias and cut off funding for the U.N. agency that provides schooling and other services to Palestinian refugees. While Trump has rallied behind Netanyahu, the Israeli leader has seen growing disdain among Democrats. Beto O'Rourke, a Democratic candidate for president, called Netanyahu "a racist" for his alliance with a far-right party and for warning about voting by Israel's Arab citizens. Candidate Bernie Sanders, who is Jewish, has called Netanyahu "extreme right-wing" and said Trump needed to show "good faith" in brokering a peace deal. A video that President Donald Trump re-tweeted that included the soundtrack of a Batman movie was pulled from his account due to copyright violations. "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they call you racist," read the text at the start of the fan-made 2020 Trump campaign video, as pictures of Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton flashed on the screen. The video, which Trump reposted Tuesday evening, showed images of his presidency, including his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. "Your vote proved them all wrong," the two-minute video said, calling Trump's 2020 re-election a "great victory." The soundtrack of the video was composer Hans Zimmer's "Why Do We Fall?" from the 2012 movie "The Dark Knight Rises" - and movie Warner Brothers, which owns the Batman franchise, was not happy. "The use of Warner Bros.' score from The Dark Knight Rises' in the campaign video was unauthorized," the movie studio told Buzzfeed News. "We are working through the appropriate legal channels to have it removed." By Wednesday all that was left on Trump's Twitter feed was a dead link with a message that read "This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner." The video, however, garnered 101,000 likes and 31,000 retweets before it was pulled. This is not the first time that the president has retweeted controversial fan-made material. Previous cases include the image of the president body slamming a CNN logo. Musicians including Pharell Williams and Aerosmith have also complained about Trump using their music for political purposes. Turkey is arbitrarily jailing hundreds of lawyers, according to a report released Wednesday by the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch. The imprisonments are part of an ongoing legal crackdown following the failed 2016 coup attempt. The numbers of lawyers facing prosecutions is far, far higher than in any recent era weve seen, said Emma Sinclair-Webb, HRW senior Turkey researcher. Turkey is in a very different era, in terms of this misuse of criminal charges, she added, every professional group is targeted in one way or another. However, its particularly alarming when lawyers are targeted as well, as they are there to protect you when you are in court. It sends a chilling message to wider society. The 56-page report is called Lawyers on Trial: Abusive Prosecutions and Erosion of Fair Trial Rights in Turkey." It details how lawyers representing clients accused of terrorism offenses are increasingly becoming targets for prosecution and arbitrary detention. Putting hundreds of lawyers in jail and on trial, and restricting their ability to act for people in police custody and in court, shows the dire state of Turkeys criminal justice system and should be of grave concern to everyone in Turkey and internationally, said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. The HRW report sited Arrested Lawyers Initiative, a Turkish rights group, which reported in April (2019) 1,546 lawyers prosecuted, of which 274 were convicted of membership of a terrorist organization, and 598 held in pretrial detention for varying periods. In the last three weeks, one case just concluded, said Sinclair-Webb, 18 lawyers got up to 18 years in jail, for membership of a terrorist organization. For defending left-wing clients, and being associated allegedly with an outlawed left-wing revolutionary group. HRW blames recent changes to Turkey's anti-terrorism laws in the aftermath of the 2016 coup attempt for the surge in lawyer prosecutions. This extremely vague wording was intended to allow the authorities to ensnare the greatest number of people in their dragnet, the HRW report said. Some of these prosecutions appear to have come about in reprisal for their efforts to document police abuse and other human rights violations and to protect the rights of their clients, the report added. It's extremely difficult now for lawyers in Turkey to look into human rights violations and to protect the rights of their clients in detention because they themselves often get targeted with a prosecution, said Sinclair-Webb. The Turkish government robustly defends its anti-terrorist legislation and ongoing crackdown insisting the conspirators responsible for the coup attempt remain a threat to democracy. Ankara blames U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen and his followers in Turkey, for the botched military take over, a charge he denies. Lawyers interviewed as part of the HRW report acknowledge people accused of supporting Gulen find it difficult to get legal representation. Many (lawyers) still refuse to accept those cases. In our profession, we shouldnt have this fear; this didnt happen after the September 12 (1980) military coup. In those days there wasnt the broken society we have today, said an anonymous lawyer in the HRW report. In one police report on a lawyer-client I represented, the police had written, He was a lawyer for FETO (Fethullah Terrorist Organization) militants, and so he aided and abetted FETO, the lawyer added. Everyone has the right to a lawyer, whether there are a mass murderer, a terrorist, or a coup plotter. It does not matter; you have the right to the lawyer, said Sinclair-Webb. "For lawyers to be afraid to represent people who are teachers and civil servants, and all other professions who are put on trial on bogus terrorist charges is a testament how much the political crackdown has made everyone fearful. HRW cites the growing frustration among lawyers who continue to take anti-terrorism cases. The lawyers claim they have become bystanders in hearings, being increasingly ignored by the judges along with due process. Lawyers associations and groups representing the legal procession have been shuttered in the post-coup crackdown, according to the HRW report. The report calls for international institutions including the European Commission and Council of Europe to put pressure on Ankara, but is also looking to the global legal profession to take a stand. Bar associations in Europe, but also the U.S. and Canada they have a positive role to play, said Sinclair-Webb. We call on bar associations around the world to highlight the situation in Turkey where there is a major erosion of fair trial rights in Turkey. The U.N. population agency chief says she regrets the U.S. government's decision to cut funding for programs that help ensure safe pregnancies worldwide. Dr. Natalia Kanem said Wednesday that more than half the $70 million Washington used to give the agency annually was used for life-saving humanitarian programs. The Trump administration announced in 2017 it was cutting all funding to UNFPA, a gesture to American conservatives. Launching the agency's annual report in Berlin, Kanem said "we do regret the decision of the United States to deny funding to UNFPA as we saved so many lives of women and girls together." She said UNFPA works in countries such as Venezuela to provide hospitals with supplies for safe births, train doctors "and also to provide contraception to women." U.S. federal agents have smashed a worldwide medical care scheme that defrauded U.S. taxpayers of more than $1 billion. The Justice Department said Tuesday 24 people have been charged, including doctors, telemarketers and the heads of companies that provide back, wrist and knee braces. "This Department of Justice will not tolerate medical professionals and executives who look to line their pockets by cheating our health care programs," U.S. Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski said Tuesday. The extensive and complex scheme stretched from the U.S. to call centers in the Philippines and across Latin America. Telemarketers would phone patients offering them free medical braces. When call centers verified that the patients were covered by Medicare, they were transferred to telemedicine companies, where doctors -- who never examined the patients -- would prescribe the braces even if there was no medical reason to have one. The medical equipment companies would bill the government and kickback a portion of the funds to the others in the scam. The fraud was detected last year when a number of Medicare beneficiaries smelled what sounded like a scam and called a government hotline. The FBI, Health and Human Services, and Internal Revenue Service investigated. "The breadth of this nationwide conspiracy should be frightening to all who rely on some form of health care, IRS investigations chief Don Fort said. "The conspiracy ... details broad corruption, massive amounts of greed and systemic flaws in our health care system that were exploited by the defendants." The crisis in Venezuela is causing divisions between the Trump administration and EU governments, which have failed to back Washington's call for tougher sanctions against President Nicolas Maduro. Disregarding evidence presented at a NATO summit last week indicating that Maduro is digging in with the aid of Russia, the EU decided against widening Venezuelan sanctions during a foreign ministers meeting Monday. The EU is against implementing sanctions on Venezuela as a country, said Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrel at a press briefing following the meeting. He left open the possibility of applying individual sanctions against some members of Maduros government. Oil exports Last week, the United States expanded sanctions to block Venezuelas oil exports by targeting its tanker fleet, declaring that 34 of its vessels could be embargoed or seized through new measures announced by the U.S. Department of Energy. Europe, on the other hand, continues receiving oil from Venezuela despite crippled production. Spains oil company Repsol recently reached an agreement with the cash-strapped Maduro government to pay down the companys $2 billion investment with added shipments of oil. The U.S. stopped importing Venezuelan crude in January when President Donald Trump broke off relations with Maduro and recognized the opposition parliamentary leader, Juan Guaido, as the countrys legitimate president. Assets seized from the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA are being channeled into opposition bank accounts, according to the U.S. State Department. Spanish interests in Venezuela But almost 100 Spanish companies continue operating in Venezuela, including one of Spains largest banks, BBVA, which could be vulnerable to future sanctions. Borrel has said he discussed Spains financial stake at a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week in Washington and also complained about administration plans to toughen the embargo on Cuba. Spains large presence in Venezuela where the Spanish expatriate community numbers about 250,000 dual nationals makes Madrid the lead government on EU policy toward the Latin American country. Italy and Portugal also have substantial expatriate communities and commercial interests in Venezuela including investments by Italys oil company Eni. The Trump administration used last weeks NATO summit to argue Venezuela presented a new threat from Russia, which has supplied sophisticated arms and military advisors to revamp Maduros air force, armored units and special forces. Russia is also building a base for cyber warfare on the Venezuelan island of Orchilla, according to the Pentagon. Russia's involvement bout 100 Russian military personnel arrived in Venezuela last week on board Ilyushin and Antonov transports. "We will continue military-technical cooperation with Russia in [the] future," Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza was quoted as saying Monday by Russia's TASS news agency. Borrel has said Russias presence in Venezuela is small and should not constitute a problem for NATO. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said that Spain would roundly oppose any U.S. military action against Venezuela and that he would urge the rest of the European Union to do the same. Previous conservative Spanish governments were sharply critical of Venezuelas leftist course and pushed for EU sanctions against Maduro officials. But Sanchez was slow to recognize Juan Guaido despite personal appeals by the U.S. ambassador in Madrid, who expressed his frustration in private meetings with top officials, according to the newspaper El Pais. Guaido also publicly urged Spain to be more aggressive with Maduro. Last week, the Spanish socialist group in the European parliament voted against a resolution condemning Maduro even as he announced plans to arm his civilian militias called Colectivos. The U.N. Human Rights office says it is investigating more than 200 extrajudicial killings in Venezuela, and last weeks arrest of one of Guaidos closest aides indicates Maduro may be preparing to move against his rival. Seeking a solution Spanish officials say they are doubling down on efforts to find a political solution through negotiations between Maduro and Guaido. Speaking from Brussels Monday, Borrel said Maduro had requested an activation of the EU-led Montevideo group, which includes Mexico, Uruguay and other Latin American governments offering mediation. In a press release Monday, the State Department said Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams will meet with Portuguese and Spanish officials in Lisbon and Madrid this week "to discuss the deteriorating situation in Venezuela." The statement said "the United States, Portugal, and Spain support a Venezuelan-led transition toward free and fair elections." The U.S. pork industry canceled its annual convention on Wednesday over concerns that international attendees could bring in an incurable hog disease at a time when American farmers are already suffering from trade wars. The decision to scrap the World Pork Expo, held by the National Pork Producers Council in Des Moines each June, signals growing fears about the spread of African swine fever in Asia. The event usually attracts about 20,000 people over three days, including participants from China and other countries that have experienced outbreaks of the disease, according to the group. China, home to the world's largest hog herd, has reported more than 110 cases of African swine fever since it was first detected in the country in August 2018. There is no cure and no vaccine for the disease, which does not affect humans but is highly contagious and fatal to pigs. The Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health said on Wednesday that South Africa detected an outbreak of African swine fever, which has also been found in Vietnam and Europe. American farmers, meat companies and government officials want to keep the disease out of the United States because cases would likely shut off export markets. "The health of the U.S. swine herd is paramount," said David Herring, president of the National Pork Producers Council and a farmer from Lillington, North Carolina. "The livelihoods of our producers depend on it. The U.S. government has increased screenings for illegal pork products at airports and sea ports and cracked down on smuggling in an effort to keep out African swine fever. U.S. pork producers are asking Congress to appropriate funding for another 600 U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture inspectors, according to the National Pork Producers Council. American hog farmers have been under pressure over the past year from U.S. President Donald Trump's trade disputes with China and Mexico, two top U.S. pork export markets. U.S. pork faces retaliatory duties of 62 percent in China and up to 20 percent in Mexico, reducing demand and contributing to a mountain of unsold meat in cold storage. The tariffs influenced the National Pork Producers Council's decision to cancel the annual convention, sometimes referred to as the "big pig gig," according to the group. "U.S. pork producers are already operating in very challenging financial conditions," Herring said. The United States said Wednesday it has resumed airstrikes against the al-Shabab Islamist group in Somalia, after a brief pause that followed accusations from Amnesty International that it had tried to hide civilian casualties. The latest airstrike was carried out on Tuesday near Jilib, in the Moyen-Juba region southwest of Mogadishu, and killed one Islamist fighter, the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) said. "Currently, we assess no civilians were injured or killed as a result of this airstrike," AFRICOM said in a statement, adding, for the first time, that the army had procedures in place to collect follow-up information on the impact of bombings. It was the first air raid carried out by the U.S. military since March 18. The day after that strike, Amnesty published a report saying 14 civilians had been killed and seven wounded in the course of five airstrikes attributed to the US military. AFRICOM denied any civilian deaths in its operations, but on Friday admitted responsibility for the death in April 2018 of a woman and child, after receiving information which it said had not been previously passed on. An inquiry is underway into all U.S. airstrikes carried out since June 2017, when the operations began. The Amnesty charges came at a moment when the U.S. military was stepping up its operations in Somalia, with 28 airstrikes since the beginning of 2019, against 47 carried out in the whole of 2018 and 35 in 2017. The United States is backing the military campaign of the Somali government and the African Union mission against al-Shabab, which has been operating in the country since 2007. The Al-Qaeda-linked group was forced out of the capital Mogadishu in 2011 and then progressively from the major cities by African Union troops. But they still control vast swathes of rural territory, from which they launch guerilla raids or suicide bombings against government and security targets, including in the capital. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence called on the United Nations on Wednesday to "stand up for democracy" and recognize Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as that country's legitimate leader. "While other international bodies have acted, the United Nations and this Security Council have refused to act," Pence told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council called by the United States. "But now that nations across this hemisphere have spoken, the time has come for the United Nations to recognize interim president Juan Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela and seat his representative in this body," Pence added. "This body should revoke the credentials of Venezuela's representative to the United Nations, recognize interim president Juan Guaido, and seat the representative of the free Venezuelan government in this body without delay." Pence said the United States is working on a U.N. resolution to recognize the legitimacy of the government of Guaido and urged the international community to support it. "Stand with the Venezuelan people as they rise up to restore freedom, democracy and libertad to their nation," he said, using the Spanish word for freedom. It was not immediately clear whether the U.S. is seeking to accomplish this in the Security Council where Russia would certainly veto any such measure or in the General Assembly, where all nations have a vote. Under U.N. procedures, government delegations are accredited through the organization's Credentials Committee. If a majority of the committee's nine members votes to revoke the credentials of the delegation of President Nicolas Maduro, then the matter would move to the General Assembly where a simple majority vote would be required to affirm their decision. The U.S. could also circumvent the committee and bring a resolution directly to the General Assembly for a vote. So far, 54 nations have joined Washington in recognizing Guaido's government after he declared himself interim president earlier this year. The U.N. has 193 member states, and it is not clear how many would support such a resolution. Many states are hesitant to take measures interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, lest they find themselves on the receiving end of such measures in the future. Pence reiterated that the United States would continue to exert diplomatic and economic pressure to bring about a peaceful transition to democracy in Venezuela, "but all options are on the table." "On what legal basis are all options on the table?" asked Venezuelan Ambassador Samuel Moncada. "On what legal basis can one country threaten another with war here around this room?" Moncada reiterated that Washington's attempt to send humanitarian assistance to his country is a pretext for a military invasion and called on the United States to lift its sanctions if it really cares about the Venezuelan people. "We are not asking for handouts or for anybody's money, we have our own money," Moncada said. "But the government of Trump terrorizes economic actors, traders and international agencies so they won't actually touch the money that we are willing to offer for the services that they can provide." Humanitarian crisis Pence announced an additional $60 million in humanitarian assistance to support Venezuelans and the host communities that have taken them in. That is in addition the $200 million the U.S. has already allocated in aid. U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock told council members that a quarter of Venezuela's population some 7 million people are in need of assistance, from food to medical care to clean water and sanitation. "Let me be clear from the outset that there is a very real humanitarian problem in Venezuela," Lowcock told the council. He said needs are "significant and growing." The United Nations has appealed for $109 million for this year to assist people inside Venezuela, but has so far received $49.1 million. An estimated 3.7 million people have fled the country, the overwhelming majority since 2015. Those are the official U.N. estimates, but the U.N. refugee agency representative for Venezuelan refugees and migrants, Eduardo Stein, told the council that the number would "go well above the 4 million mark" if people who have left through irregular means also are counted. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it has reached an agreement with Zimbabwean authorities on the implementation of critical policies and reforms designed to facilitate Zimbabwes reengagement with the international community. In a statement following an IMF teams visit to the southern African nation led by Gene Leon under a Staff Monitored Program (SMP), Leon said, IMF staff and the Zimbabwean authorities have reached agreement on macroeconomic policies and structural reforms that can underpin a Staff Monitored Program. Zimbabwe is facing deep macroeconomic imbalances, with large fiscal deficits and significant distortions in foreign exchange and other markets, which severely hamper the functioning of the economy. In addition, Zimbabwe is facing the challenge of responding to the adverse effects on agriculture and food security of the el Nino-related drought, as well as the devastation from Cyclone Idai. He said the Staff Monitored Program, which will be monitored on a quarterly basis, aims to implement a coherent set of policies that can facilitate a return to macroeconomic stability. Successful implementation will assist in building a track record and facilitate Zimbabwes reengagement with the international community. The policy agenda to be monitored under the SMP is anchored on the authorities Transitional Stabilization Program and emphasizes fiscal consolidation, the elimination of central bank financing of the fiscal deficit, and adoption of reforms that allow market forces to drive the effective functioning of foreign exchange and other financial markets. In addition, the agreed policies - both macroeconomic and structural - can be expected to remove critical distortions that have held back private sector growth and to improve governance. The SMP also includes important safeguards to protect the countrys most vulnerable people This staff-level agreement is subject to review by the IMFs management. The IMF staff team met with Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor John Mangudya, other several government and RBZ officials, and non-government representatives. Ncube said last August the World Bank and IMF had endorsed Zimbabwes plan to clear $2.2 billion in arrears to international creditors, But targeted sanctions imposed on some Zanu PF officials and companies appear to have prevented fresh loans to support the rebuilding of a shattered economy. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has promised to revive the economy, pay foreign debts that the country has defaulted on since 1999 and end the international pariah status that Zimbabwe acquired under Robert Mugabes near four-decade rule. According to Reuters, paying debt arrears could potentially open access to financing from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and other development institutions, but the United States, which is the bank and funds largest member country is an obstacle. Actor Yoo Ji-tae will play legendary independence fighter Kim Won-bong in MBC's new period drama "Different Dreams" / courtesy of MBC MBC TV series to rekindle controversy about him By Park Jin-hai MBC's upcoming blockbuster period drama "Different Dreams" will portray the life of legendary independence fighter Kim Won-bong. The drama is set in Seoul, Manchuria and Shanghai during the Japanese colonial rule of Korea (1910-1945). Starring Yoo Ji-tae and Lee Yo-won, the story revolves around Kim Won-bong, who organized a group of Korean independence fighters called Uiyeoldan at the age of 22 and led armed resistance against the Japanese imperialists. Actress Lee plays a surgeon named Lee Young-jin, a Korean adopted by a Japanese couple. She later becomes a spy for the Korean government-in-exile in Shanghai. It is being broadcast to commemorate the centennial of the March 1 Independence Movement and establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai. Yoon Sang-ho, director of the upcoming drama, said he wanted to make "the second Eyes of Dawn," referencing MBC's hit drama, aired between October 1991 and February 1992. "That drama was a masterpiece that depicted the pains of Korea's modern history. When I was young, the heart-touching drama captivated me so much that I thought I would like to do a project set in that period too," the director said during a press event at the network's headquarters in Seoul, Tuesday. "Uiyeoldan was the most threatening organization to Japan in Korea's independence movement history. Along with its leader Kim Won-bong, many other activists' lives have been reflected in the story." The Saturday drama, made on a budget of 20 billion won, has finished filming 30 of its 40 episodes, each 30 minutes long. The late patriot has more recently been embroiled in a controversy between the government and conservative rightist groups. After the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs moved to recognize Kim as an independence fighter to confer an order on him, conservative politicians and the Korean Veterans Association objected for his later activities in support of North Korea. No one denies Kim's selfless and relentless fight for national independence before liberation in 1945. Along with Uiyeoldan, he also organized the Korean Volunteers Army in 1938 and later served as the deputy commander of the Korean Liberation Army. In fact, due to his armed independence activities, including assassinations of Japanese officials and their collaborators and attacks on Japanese military sites, the Japanese police put a bigger bounty on Kim's head than Kim Koo, the longest-running and final president of the provisional government. While Kim Koo is hailed as a national hero, Kim Won-bong's patriotic deeds have mostly been ignored. Kim Won-bong went to the North in 1948 and is alleged to have become a statesman who contributed to establishment of the regime there. But Kim Il-sung purged him in 1958. Under the current law, the honorable treatment of independence fighters is limited to those who "didn't directly contribute to the establishment of the North Korean regime." "In the 1920s and 1930s, various activists with the single goal of independence sought their own ways depending on their different ideologies and values. There were conflicts between different groups but after all, they joined hands together for independence," the drama's chief producer Kim Seung-mo said. "I knew the risk of making a big budget drama. But marking the centennial, I felt some responsibility myself to make this drama in order to pay tribute to their heroic lives and sacrifices," Yoon said. The drama will premiere May 4 at 9:05 p.m. on MBC. By Jhoo Dong-chan The nation's big four financial groups have paid record high dividends worth 2.52 trillion won ($2.2 billion) to shareholders. Reflecting their record high earnings in 2018, the groups have expanded their payout ratio to satisfy investors. The government has also shifted its stance to encourage lenders to do so in a bid to attract more investors. The last year's combined dividends paid by the big four Shinhan, KB, Hana and Woori was up 8.8 percent from the previous year's 2.31 trillion won, and a massive 42.8 percent up from 1.76 trillion won in fiscal 2016 fiscal. Of them, KB Financial Group paid 759.7 billion won to top the list for this year's payout, followed by Shinhan with 753 billion won. Hana and Woori Financial Group paid 570.5 billion won and 437.6 billion won, respectively. Hana Financial Group's payout ratio stood at 25.5 percent, with KB, Shinhan and Woori posting 24.8 percent, 23.9 percent and 21.5 percent, respectively. "Financial groups enjoyed a huge leap in earnings last year. They paid dividends accordingly," said a financial group official who asked not to be named. "We do not pay excessive dividends." NH Investment & Securities researcher Kim Dong-yang welcomed the financial groups' decision. "The trend will continue," he said. "Firms have been too stingy in paying dividends. But such stance is now shifting to pay more." NH Investment & Securities Research Division Managing Director Lee Chang-mok claimed firms should pay more dividends to attract investors. "Financial groups enjoyed record high earnings last year, but their share prices failed to reflect this," he said. "The reason is pretty obvious. They haven't paid enough dividend to their investors. They weren't such attractive stocks especially for long funds focusing mainly on dividend returns. Thankfully, more financial firms are highlighting their shareholders' rights while expanding dividend payments. The trend will contribute to their share prices." The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) also welcomed the move. "The FSS will, of course, intervene if a firm pays excessive dividendsthat jeopardize its financial soundness. However, it won't be any problem as long as they can guarantee this," an FSS official said. "Some claim higher dividend payouts will lead to the outflow of national wealth. This is such an outdated idea. Shareholders are owners of a firm. It is obvious for a firm to secure shareholders' interests with dividends." BEIJING, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a letter to congratulate the inauguration of the China-Africa Institute on Tuesday. In the letter, Xi said the world today is faced with profound shifts unseen in the past century. "As the largest developing country and the continent where developing countries are the most densely located, respectively, China and Africa have enjoyed a time-honored friendship between the people," he noted. Under the new circumstances, China and Africa's push to deepen traditional friendship, boost exchanges and cooperation, and enhance mutual learning among civilizations will not only benefit the Chinese and the African people but also contribute more greatly to world peace and development, said the president. Recalling the two sides' joint decision to build a closer China-Africa community of a shared future and implement eight major initiatives at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in 2018, Xi said the establishment of the institute is a move to increase people-to-people exchanges, an important part of the decision. Xi said he hopes the institute will help draw on both sides' academic resources, enhance understanding and friendship between the Chinese and the African people, and provide good ideas and advice for China-Africa cooperation as well as the cooperation between the two sides and other parties, to contribute to the development of the China-Africa relationship and the building of a community with a shared future for humanity. The inauguration ceremony of the China-Africa Institute is held in Beijing, capital of China, April 9, 2019. Yang Jiechi (2nd L), a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, read Chinese President Xi Jinping's congratulatory letter at the inauguration and delivered a speech. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei) Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, read Xi's letter at the inauguration and delivered a speech. Yang said the China-Africa comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership has been deepening in recent years. The two sides are committed to working together to create new growth poles for people-to-people exchanges, including think tank cooperation, and actively carry out exchanges of experience in state governance and development. The China-Africa Institute should seize the historical opportunity, offer ideas and suggestions for China and Africa to better dovetail their strategies and build a higher level of their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, and make positive contributions to building a closer China-Africa community of a shared future, said Yang. Woori Bank CEO Sohn Tae-seung By Lee Kyung-min CEOs of Korea's major banks are stepping up efforts to curry favor with promising startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by expanding investment and arranging more on-site meetings to listen to their voices. The move comes as these lenders are being pressured to find new growth sources amid the sagging retail loan market following the government's tightening of household lending to curb real estate speculation. Woori Bank CEO Sohn Tae-seung has led the lender's initiative to invest about 18 billion won ($1.5 million) in 19 new firms whose business models are based on "innovation-led" technology. Firms receiving up to 1 billion won each in financing are mostly in the business of the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, bio, and health technologies. Starting this month, Sohn plans to begin a relay meeting with startups seeking investors that will buy the firms' shares. Shinhan Bank CEO Jin Ok-dong, who took the helm in late March, is continuing with his visits to key cities in provincial areas, as part of his pledge to enhance communication with all customers. With "valued" customers in Seoul and surrounding Gyeonggi Province, he had a similar breakfast meeting on April 2. Upon inauguration, he vowed that years of loyalty from customers will be openly appreciated, a value he fully intends to prioritize for the remainder of his term. Similarly, KB Kookmin Bank CEO Hur Yin has been visiting SMEs more frequently. KB Kookmin Bank CEO Hur Yin By listening to the concerns from the heads directly, the bank can offer more tailored, need-based financial services while gaining more experience with a broader perspective, a KB official said. "Reading challenging business concerns from written reports can never compare to the effort put into actually coming and listening in person." Hur also attends "KB Good Job," an annual job fair for businesses including SMEs, and listen to their concerns including but not limited to job opportunities. Industrial Bank of Korea CEO Kim Do-jin recently visited Level39, an office in London set up to foster fintechs in Europe. About 250 such entities from 48 countries are located there. Industrial Bank of Korea CEO Kim Do-jin Viva Republica founder Lee Seung-gun By Jhoo Dong-chan Viva Republica is facing a bumpy road ahead in its attempt to launch an internet-only bank led by its mobile wire transfer app Toss due to a downgrade in its credit rating. Market analysts said that the recent negative report on Viva's credit rating will deal another blow to the promising fintech firm, which has led a Toss consortium to establish the new internet-only bank. Viva has been widely considered as a "unicorn," a privately-held startup firm valued at more than $1 billion. In March, the consortium took a severe blow from the exit of two strong allies _ Shinhan Financial Group and Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance. To make matters worse, the recent financial report on Viva's credit rating is raising another concern on whether the fintech firm can attract enough cash without Shinhan and Hyundai Marine. According to industry sources, leading credit rating agency NICE Investors Service set Viva Republica's corporate credit rating as "CCC+." The CCC+ rating is a lower-than-average corporate credit grade. Usually, it is difficult for a company with lower than a BB credit rating to get a loan from a commercial bank here. The fintech firm's poor rating is attributed to its disappointing earnings. Viva Republica has failed to post a profit over the past three year, but is now required to secure a great deal of cash for the new internet-only bank's future business. The Financial Services Commission head office in Seoul / Yonhap By Park Hyong-ki KakaoPay has submitted its application to the Financial Services Commission (FSC) for approval of its acquisition of a 60 percent stake in Baro Investment & Securities, the mobile payment service provider said Wednesday. However, the company is facing market doubts that it will be able to gain immediate approval given that Kakao's owner Kim Beom-su is on trial for allegedly breaking the Antitrust Law. Kim's Kakao, the creator of the most-used mobile messenger, failed to report and disclose five of its subsidiaries to the Fair Trade Commission. Kakao said this was an "honest mistake" as it was not aware of some revisions in the law governing conglomerates' disclosures of their subsidiaries. The company has a 60.9 percent stake in KakaoPay, and the rest is owned by Alibaba's Alipay Singapore Holding, according to KakaoPay's audit filing. KakaoPay said the issue concerning founder Kim is separate from the company's acquisition of Baro Investment. The mobile payment firm acquired the small brokerage in October last year as part of its plan to launch a stock brokerage and asset management business. Baro Investment's operating profit stood at 16.3 billion won ($15 million) on sales of 63.1 billion won in 2018. "We have been preparing for the takeover. After the approval, the company will provide brokerage and asset management services to KakaoPay users via our platform connected with Baro," said a KakaoPay spokeswoman. The company said it could also further connect such services with Kakao Bank's internet banking platform as the latter seeks to boost its nonbank business. Kakao Bank recently launched a brokerage service allowing its users to open accounts at Korea Investment & Securities and invest in stocks. Korea Investment Holdings, which owns Korea Investment, is the biggest shareholder with a 50 percent stake in Kakao Bank. KB Kookmin Bank has an 18 percent stake in Kakao Bank, according to the internet bank. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testifies before a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the proposed budget estimates and justification for FY2020 for the State Department on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., April 9, 2019. Reuters U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo agreed Tuesday with the characterization of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as a "tyrant." Pompeo was asked at a Senate hearing whether he would use the same word he has used for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for Kim. "Sure. I'm sure I've said that," the top U.S. diplomat said before a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee while discussing the State Department budget request for 2020. Pompeo's remarks come as the Trump administration has appeared to take care not to offend the North Korean leader during delicate negotiations to dismantle the regime's nuclear weapons program. President Donald Trump's second summit with Kim in Vietnam in February collapsed without a deal, leaving the process in a state of limbo. South Korean President Moon Jae-in is due to meet with Trump at the White House on Thursday to try to infuse momentum into the talks. Pompeo was asked to state the U.S. objective in its dealings with the North. "The outcome is a fully verifiably denuclearized peninsula and greater peace, less risk in conventional means and hopefully a brighter future for the North Korean people as well," he answered. The Hanoi summit underscored the divergence in U.S. demands for North Korea's complete denuclearization and North Korean demands for sanctions relief. Washington maintains that all sanctions on Pyongyang will continue until denuclearization is achieved. Asked if "maximum economic pressure" remains the Trump administration's position on North Korea, Pompeo replied yes. (Yonhap) This content is expired! Unfortunely this content is expired and cannot be viewed anymore; if You are the owner of this content please login to our Website, go to our access panel and enable this content again. Roma Tre encourages students not to use disposable plastic water bottles. Rome's Universita degli Studi Roma Tre is distributing up to 30,000 stainless steel bottles to its students in a bid to stop plastic waste. The move is part of the university's "Message is the Bottle" campaign which aims to save around 10,000 plastic water bottles used each day on campus. Roma Tre rector Luca Pietromarchi says that the university has a duty to play its part in environmental sustainability and to "think about the future of its students." Looking for a friendly neighborhood bar in the Eternal City? The Barrel Bar & Grill has you covered. Were a low key joint where you can enjoy an ice-cold beer, try our fresh cocktails, or grab a bite. Known for our upscale and assorted food menu, vast wine and beer menu, creative, mixed Cocktail menu. The Barrel executes a foodie experience along with a fun, energetic & unpretentious atmosphere. Hungry? In addition to a vast selection of juicy burgers, The Barrel offers unique starters like the "assorted Italian charcuterie platter", "assorted cheese platter", veggie platter, and main such as beer marinated chicken, pork ribs, a variety of grilled beef just to name a few. - Look at the Menu Thirsty? Open for aperitif hours, dinner & post dinner fun with some live music. Our creative, mixed cocktail menu, which only uses seasonal fruits & fresh ingredients, along with our vast wine & beer menu draws in a bustling, vibrant bar scene. The Barrel executes a foodie experience along with a fun, energetic & unpretentious atmosphere. Come and party with us!! An open courtyard shared with the vibrant RomeHello Hostel boasts of interesting people from all over the globe. For details see: Facebook website - instagram OPEN EVERY DAY! MONDAY TO SUNDAY FROM 4.30 PM TILL MIDNIGHT LIVE MUSIC EVERY THURSDAY & FRIDAY You better believe that the people who hate me, who do not like conservatism and Republicans, are already digging up all of the negative stuff thats in storage from eight years ago. So be it, he said Friday on his show, a video of which is posted on social media. I will be able to explain it this time, where they wouldnt let me explain it the last time. . . . Im just not going to let the accusers run my life or determine my career. I understand the stakes are significant, because it involves a president. But I am disturbed that the White House, through the chief of staff, would appear to be calling the shots on a matter that is fully within the purview of the Treasury Department, Everson said. I think the law is clear on this matter. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks during a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party in Pyongyang, Tuesday. Yonhap North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the current situation "tense" and urged politburo officials to follow through on the party's strategic line of economic development with a spirit of "self-reliance," state media reported Wednesday. The remark, made Tuesday at an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party, suggests the North is unlikely to announce any major policy shift at this week's parliamentary meeting despite the no-deal breakdown of Kim's summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. "The Supreme Leader urged the need for leading officials to fully display a high sense of responsibility and creativity, and the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and fortitude in an attitude befitting the masters of the revolution and construction under the prevailing tense situation and thus follow through on the new strategic line of the party," the Korean Central News Agency said. The new strategic line apparently refers to a decision the party made last April to focus more on economic development, suggesting a departure from Kim's signature "byongjin" policy of seeking both economic and nuclear development. The party meeting came two days before North Korea is set to hold the first session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly on Thursday since new deputies were elected last month to the country's parliament. The KCNA reported that a plenary session of the ruling party's central committee will also be held Wednesday "in order to discuss and decide the new orientation and ways of struggle in line with the need of the prevailing revolutionary situation." Those meetings are drawing keen attention as North Korea could disclose its next steps following the breakdown of February's summit between its leader Kim and Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam. They also coincide with a summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Trump in Washington scheduled for Thursday (local time) at which North Korea will likely be one of the top agenda items they will discuss. "Kim's remarks during the politburo meeting appear to be making it clear again that he wants to tighten up internal discipline to achieve the new strategic line," said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far East Studies at Kyungnam University. "Kim, in the meantime, will pay close attention to what comes out of the planned summit between South Korea and the U.S.," he added. The Hanoi summit fell apart as Kim and Trump failed to find common ground over how to match Pyongyang's denuclearization steps with Washington's sanctions relief. Pyongyang wanted major sanctions relief in exchange for dismantling its Yongbyon nuclear facility. But Washington insists on what officials described as "a big deal" that calls for trading sanctions relief for the dismantlement of all of the North's nuclear and other weapons programs. At the White House summit, Moon is expected to try to bridge these differences. In recent weeks, South Korean officials have talked increasingly about "a good enough deal" and a need for an "early harvest," expressing hopes that the U.S. will soften its position on a big deal and meet the North halfway. In Washington, however, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said all sanctions will remain in place. Asked during a Senate hearing if "maximum economic pressure" remains the Trump administration's position on the North, Pompeo replied yes. North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui warned last month that the North could end its denuclearization talks with the U.S., saying that it will not give in to Washington's "gangster-like" demands. She added that the leadership will soon make an announcement on whether it will continue nuclear talks. (Yonhap) Here, the clash of cultures theme is more muted but still significant. As we learn in Helens retrospective narration, she and Charlie met in their first year at Harvard: In our era at Harvard, there were various, distinct types: the international students; the children of immigrants; the scattering of anonymous valedictorians from all across the country, like me, the only ones from their high school. . . . I would have said then that Charlie and I an upper-middle-class black girl from Brookline and a work-study white science nerd from Pasadena didnt fit into any category, and thats why we were eventually drawn to each other. But these boxes, Helen continues, were nothing more than comforting fictions, like Bohrs atomic model, which is so pretty and so sensible its particles orbiting the nucleus like a miniature sun and planets that its still the definitive representation. This is in spite of its incompatibility with everything we now know about the very tiniest pieces into which the world can be broken. Monte, we will come to learn, is no brilliant scientist or intergalactic hero. Rather, hes an ex-con, as were the other people who used to share the boxy craft with him. They were dispatched to space under the pretext of finding a way to generate energy for Earth from black holes. In actuality, the astronauts are the subjects of experiments in zero-gravity fertility, overseen by the demanding Dibs (Juliette Binoche, star of Deniss previous film Let the Sunshine In). President Moon Jae-in, left, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un speak in private during their first summit held at the truce village of Panmunjeom, April 27, 2018. By Jung Da-min While some have been hopeful about the resumption of inter-Korean projects after the South Korea-U.S. summit slated for April 11, many remain skeptical on the issue. After the breakdown of the U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi in late February, the discussions on inter-Korean economic cooperation as well as the denuclearization negotiations have seen little progress. But shares of the inter-Korean projects had been on the rise again recently, with expectations that President Moon would present a "small deal" to U.S. President Donald Trump, partial sanctions relief and gradual or step-by-step denuclearization of North Korea. International relations experts, however, remain skeptical that Moon's small-deal approach will bring any substantial results while the Trump administration is sticking with its "all-or-nothing" strategy. Ko Yu-hwan, professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University. Korea Times file Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University, said it would be difficult to get tangible or specific results from this South Korea-U.S. summit, as the gap between the U.S. and North Korea over the scope of sanctions relief and denuclearization was too big and the two sides have shown little change in their stances. "There is the possibility that South Korea will seek to negotiate with the U.S. on its own roadmap that could narrow the gap between the U.S. and North Korea, but the U.S. is keeping its principle that it will maintain sanctions on the North before its complete denuclearization," Koh said. "South Korea is not in a position where it can ask for partial exemption of sanctions for inter-Korean projects, nor is it what North Korea is aiming for." Koh said the kind of approach the South is seeking is not what North Korea has wanted, as the country seeks bigger benefits to revive its economy and overcome the losses caused by international sanctions. "The South Korean side, when it comes to inter-Korean projects, talks as if it would be a great help for the North Korean side, when it does not really have a great impact on the North's economy," he said. Cha Du-hyeogn, visiting research fellow at Asan Institute for Policy Studies. Korea Times file Since Trump took office and imposed a travel ban against citizens of a group of mainly Muslim-majority nations in 2017, immigration to the United States by nationals of those countries has slowed, with Iran being one of the hardest hit, according to Reuters. The United States is also on pace for one of the lowest levels of refugee resettlement on record and is considering tougher restrictions, including a new version of family separation, to block rising numbers of migrants crossing the southern border. The pangolin is said to be the most widely trafficked mammal in the world, and its scales are in high demand in Asia for use in traditional Chinese medicine. The scales are made of keratin, the same material in human fingernails. Their meat is also considered a delicacy in China and other Asian countries. Since then, she has doubled down on her criticism. Appearing on conservative commentator Mark Levins program on Fox News on Sunday, she endorsed former Nightline host Ted Koppels recent media critique, telling Levin, I know Im not the only one that remembers what great independent journalism is supposed to look like. I know Im not the only journalist who is watching in horror as opinion and pejorative language is passed off as fact. The decision to sell the tabloid resulted in part from pressure applied by Melchiorre, according to two of the people familiar with the discussions. He was motivated partly by the financial difficulties of the tabloid business, but also by his distaste for the Enquirers tactics. A representative from Chatham declined to comment, and Melchiorre did not respond to a call seeking comment. The articles cited in the Sandmann suit, which was filed on his behalf by his parents, may not have been flattering of the Covington Catholic students who were caught up in disparate marches that day, but they do not give rise to a defamation claim by Sandmann, says the papers motion, filed in U.S. District Court in Covington. Indeed, the Posts overall coverage including the articles that the Complaint fails to mention was not only accurate; it was ultimately favorable to him. Police said they were called to the scene for a report of an assault in progress and that officers found the man suffering from trauma to his head. He was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said, and his death has been ruled a homicide. After the hearing, DeVos spokeswoman Liz Hill did not dispute the authenticity of the document but said it was a not a decision memo for the secretary. The law is very clear that this issue is for states to decide, and the secretary has been very clear she is leaving it to the states, Hill said. Onondio Cir. SE, 9:30 p.m. March 29 to 7 a.m. March 30. Gasoline was siphoned from two vehicles. By Lee Min-hyung A district office in Seoul has revoked permission for Japan to construct a new embassy building in the city, as the latter delayed the construction without any notification. According to Jongno-gu Office in central Seoul, the construction permission has been canceled as of March 4, about four years after the office granted permission for the project in 2015. "The district office called on the Japanese embassy to start construction earlier this year, but the embassy did not kick off the project, citing circumstances from its home country," an official from the district office said. The embassy did not specify why it had not started construction there. Observers raise speculation that the embassy's decision has to do with the frayed diplomatic relations between Seoul and Tokyo over a series of historical disputes in recent years. A Korean civic group installed a memorial statue for "comfort women" in 2011 across the street from the former Japanese embassy building. The comfort women were mobilized as wartime sex slaves during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea. The Japanese government urged Korea to remove the statue, and the clash between both sides aggravated diplomatic relations between the two over the years. Every Wednesday, a group of activists from the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan also stage a rally outside the former Japanese embassy, urging Tokyo to make sincere apologies for its wartime atrocities regarding comfort women. As the regular rally takes place near the former embassy building, critics argue the Japanese government may have felt a burden before breaking ground on the new office. Woodson Dr., 46000 block, 12:28 a.m. April 1. Three males attempted to fight with an employee of a business and left without paying their bill. A 29-year-old Arlington man, a 29-year-old Manassas man, and a 30-year-old Florida man were arrested and charged. Richmond Ave., 1900 block, 4:07 a.m. March 29. A 37-year-old woman and a 35-year-old man, both of Woodbridge, were arrested after police on patrol recognized them as wanted in another jurisdiction. The woman was charged with assault and battery on a law enforcement officer and 2 counts of false identification to law enforcement. The man was charged with obstruction of justice. Pietropola and Seethaler, who went to high school together, spent several days at Farrars Tourist Village and were set to leave when they were found dead by an employee of the motel just after noon on June 30, 1973, according to news reports at the time. The womens bodies were found in separate bedrooms of the cottage. An arrest affidavit filed in D.C. Superior Court says Joseph Smith told police that he and his brother had been fighting and that Arnold Smith had me on the floor. Joseph Smith said he stabbed his brother while trying to fight him off, according to the affidavit. Police said they found a knife at the scene. First Colony Way, 45100 block, March 29. A man entered a retail store, took a Fitbit activity tracker and left without paying for it. When confronted, he fled. The man was also seen on surveillance video stealing a wireless router in the store on March 23. The 56-year-old Mechanicsville man was arrested and charged with two counts of theft $100 to under $1,500 and theft scheme $100 to under $1,500. Under federal law, low-income people are not entitled to a public defender for immigration proceedings, because they are civil rather than criminal cases. As the Trump administration has ramped up enforcement efforts, 30 cities and counties including Chicago and Los Angeles have steered tax money toward legal-aid programs to help those who cant afford to hire lawyers on their own. That was the day the music died, said Julie Guyot, 47, who lives in the neighborhood. I walk my children to school every day, and we pass this shop every day, and we move to that go-go as we cross the street because this is the beat of D.C. I dont understand how one persons discomfort is enough to trump the will of the people in this community. After the initial ruling, HHS did another review, as the court directed, and reapproved, with no changes, the plan it had previously given Kentucky permission to begin. The appeals, in a single paragraph that does not lay out the administrations arguments, signify that, rather than going through that process again, Trumps aides are hoping that a higher court will let the requirements go forward. Jang Yong-duk, master chief petty officer of patrol squadron 615 of the Republic of Korea Navy's Airwing 6, sits aboard a P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft. Courtesy of Republic of Korea Navy By Jung Da-min South Korea has 3,348 islands and islets to defend, according to government data. Jang Yong-duk, 45, master chief petty officer at the patrol squadron 615 of the Republic of Korea Navy's Airwing 6, says he has seen almost all of those islands himself while carrying out missions over the past 23 years aboard a P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft. "There are so many islands in the Republic of Korea, and I have flown over most of them, including Ulleung Island, Dokdo and Yeonpyeong Island, supporting fishing and merchant vessels navigating the seas off our country," Jang said during a recent interview with The Korea Times. On April 4, Jang set a record of 8,000 flying hours with zero accidents over the past 23 years since 1997, when he started flying missions as part of an aircrew assisting two P3 pilots. "The P-3 flies at a low altitude and the three, two pilots and an aircrew member in the cockpit, have to cooperate to fly the aircraft safely," Jang said. Joining the Navy in 1993 as an aircraft maintenance mechanic, he later applied for the aircrew post in 1995 when South Korea first introduced eight P-3s from the U.S. aerospace and defense firm Lockheed Martin. The P-3 Orion is a four-engine turboprop anti-submarine and long-range maritime surveillance aircraft also equipped with anti-ship missiles, fire-and-forget torpedoes and modern avionics. The ROK Navy now has 16 P-3 aircrafts after introducing eight of the upgraded P-3CK in 2011. Jang Yong-duk in front of a P-3 Orion. Courtesy of Republic of Korea Navy Uganda makes arrests in U.S. tourist's kidnapping: Ugandan police said they have made arrests in the kidnapping last week of an American tourist who has since been freed. Police did not specify how many people were arrested but said they are "actively investigating" the kidnapping, which occurred April 2 in a national park. The victims, Kim Sue Endicott of California and local driver Jean-Paul Mirenge, were freed Sunday. In understanding peoples preferences, economists consider not what they say but what they do their revealed preferences. Many today believe, with justification, that carbon use and climate change pose an imminent, existential threat to the planet. Yet if one reflexively opposes nuclear power or fracking and the natural gas it produces, all of which can reduce carbon emissions even if they are themselves not perfectly green, can one really believe in imminent global catastrophe, or is one thinking like a moralist who will not choose one sin over another? That would be the Candace Owens whom the alleged perpetrator of the New Zealand atrocity called the person who has influenced me above all. Its not clear whether he was sincere in saying that, but perfectly clear was Owenss glib dismissal of the notion that her words could have encouraged such evil: LOL! and HAHA. She said the American left tied her to the carnage because it feared her Blexit plan to have black people quit the Democratic Party. Visitors explore Seoul Book Repository, the city's first public secondhand bookstore in Songpa-gu, southeastern Seoul, on its March 27 opening. / Yonhap By Lee Suh-yoon An old warehouse, used previously for storing American marketing giant Amway's products in southeastern Seoul, has been turned into the city's first public secondhand bookstore. The interior is striking. Round openings are built into the rows of iron-frame bookshelves, creating a tunnel. Visitors drift along this passageway, looking for a good read from the shelves stretching out on either side. Around 120,000 secondhand books are on sale in this single-story, 1,400-square-meter store, called Seoul Book Repository. The books are supplied by 25 secondhand bookstores scattered around the city, most of which are located at at secondhand book street near Cheonggye Stream. The books are grouped by supplier, allowing each bookstore to use its own cataloging system for its books on designated shelves. This allows the repository to wholly transfer a mini version of each bookstore into its space. A visitor shops for secondhand books at Seoul Book Repository, March 27. / Yonhap "For us, it's like opening a branch store," Noh Dong-hwan, owner of Hidden Books, a participating bookstore, told The Korea Times last Friday. Established in 1999, Hidden Books, a well-known secondhand bookstore in Sinchon, western Seoul, sent 10,000 books to the repository. "We had to think what type of customers would come to a space actively promoted by Seoul City when we chose which books to send." Cho Myung-jae, a poet and literary critic in his early 70s, was one of the visitors combing through the shelves on April 3 afternoon for good poetry books. "Only a few of the bookstores here have good collections of poetry. And although some have the poetry books on one shelf, others have them scattered all over," Cho said, holding out his selection. "These poetry books from the 1970s and 80s, they come with different designs now, so it's hard to buy first-edition pieces like this." Poet and literary critic Cho Myung-jae shows secondhand poetry books he selected from the shelves at Seoul Book Repository, April 3. / Korea Times photo by Lee Suh-yoon A few shelves away, Hong Young-sun, 45, was looking for English books for her elementary school child. "I've gone through half the shelves so far. The children's books available here are mostly comics but I found what I needed," she said, holding an armful of beginner-level English learners' books. "They're cheap, only 2,000 won each. If they had a delivery service available, I would order history book collections too." Due to this unique display system, customers cannot make a beeline for their favorite genre. Everyone leisurely skims through the shelves, distracted by the nostalgic titles storybooks from their childhood or limited-edition copies of their favorite novel series that pop up along the way. Those looking for recent bestsellers or English material, however, might find their choices limited compared to shopping at big secondhand bookstore chains such as Aladdin. At a retro-themed special exhibition on April 4, the shelves along the wall display independent press books. / Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government For each purchased book, Seoul Book Repository takes a 10 percent commission from bookstores, although participating stores do not have to shoulder rent or operation costs. So far, Seoul Book Repository seems to be succeeding in its goal: provide small secondhand bookstores struggling against mega bookstore chains and online competition with an effective sales platform. Business is good, Noh says. His store alone sold 1,000 books in five days. "With small offline bookstores in a state of decline, Seoul Book Repository provides room to explore a solution to this," Noh said. "Just seeing the large number of visitors with books placed in a spacious and pleasant setting made us (bookstore owners) reflect and plan ahead. Were our PR efforts lacking? How should we manage economies-of-scale problems?" Books on display at Seoul Book Repository. Clockwise from top left are: an old elementary school textbook, an indie press book, a book titled "How to raise angora rabbits," and a phone ad from an old magazine. / Korea Times photo by Lee Suh-yoon MAYBE ITS a mirage, but there are signs that Britains destructive deadlock over leaving the European Union may be easing. Last week, Prime Minister Theresa May finally broke with the extremists in her Conservative Party who had blocked the exit deal she negotiated, and she opened negotiations with the opposition Labour Party. The hope is to find a compromise formula for Brexit that would preserve close economic relations with the continent and thus minimize the inevitable damage of a split. Meanwhile, E.U. leaders appear prepared to grant a new extension on Britains departure at a summit Wednesday, avoiding a crash-out this Friday. Such a disastrous no-deal Brexit has already been ruled out by Parliament the one thing that badly divided body has been able to agree on. The failure of the left is a commentary on the mood of Israelis who have largely given up hope for accommodation with Palestinians. The countrys electorate is often seen as divided among hawks, doves and security hawks, essentially Israels swing voters. Unlike the conventional hawks, the security hawks are open to reaching agreement with Palestinians if they see doing so as consistent with Israels safety. They move right when they see such an accord as impossible. His big advice is to think big but not get too specific. Recalling Gary Harts primary loss in 1984, he said, You need just enough beef, but not too much to choke on it. He says the Democrats should promise better health care, infrastructure and education, cleaner energy and even space exploration. You need the romance, you need the dream. Thats why, as governor, he championed a costly high-speed train between San Francisco and Los Angeles. (His successor, Gov. Gavin Newsom, downsized the dream.) But he argues its a mistake to lay out specific programs that have trillion-dollar budget implications when youre not in a position to make those kind of decisions. Thats jacking everybody up for a big letdown. Many directors of corrections and law enforcement officials in different parts of the country have limited or even eliminated the use of prolonged isolation (often called segregation, restrictive housing or solitary confinement). These officials have found that, contrary to popular belief, limiting the use of solitary has reduced violence in the prison or jail, and has increased security for both staff and inmates. Unfortunately, corrections officials in Maryland, the District and Virginia continue to insist that restrictive housing alone is the most effective way to maintain security in a prison. Concerns began barely three weeks into the Trump presidency, when the president took a briefing on a North Korean missile test while sitting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the clubs packed terrace; other guests promptly used their phones to snap photographs of the event for their social media feeds. That could not have happened at the White House, not even during a state banquet, because visitors are not allowed to take in their devices. At Mar-a-Lago and other Trump resorts, there is no such restriction; indeed, according to federal prosecutors, Zhangs interesting taste for electronics included carrying four cellphones on her person. How much of the current mess would have happened without Trump is unknowable. But, by his own standard, he deserves all the blame, because he took all the credit for a decline in border crossings in 2017. Weve already cut illegal immigration at the southern border by 61 percent, he said in early 2017, one of many such boasts. You know, the border is down 78 percent. Under past administrations, the border didnt go down it went up, he boasted that summer. Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez has in fact offered more leadership in one day or one week than President Trump has in his lifetime on this subject, Kerry said. And my question is, where is your proposal? Did you have any hearings on it in the last few years? Mostly on Benghazi, if I recall. This is not a normal administration. This was not a normal policy. And the people who participated in that policy do not deserve normal treatment, said Karl Frisch, a spokesman for the advocacy group Restore Public Trust, which has spearheaded efforts to pressure companies not to hire Nielsen. They have to be held accountable for what theyve done. Theyve left thousands of families traumatized because of their negligence. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, addresses the National Action Network Convention in New York last week. (Seth Wenig/AP) Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) released a new version of his Medicare-for-all plan on Wednesday, putting a spotlight on the debate among 2020 Democratic presidential contenders over the future of Americas health-care system. At an event on Capitol Hill, Sanders unveiled his latest version of a single-payer plan, which would replace the patchwork of public and private insurers with a government-run system that Sanders argues would ultimately save consumers money. Sanders said he is seeking to replace a dysfunctional system based on greed and profiteering by health insurance companies. Together we are going to end the international embarrassment of the United States of America, our great country, being the only major nation on earth not to guarantee health care to all as a right, Sanders said. This is a struggle for the heart and soul of who we are as American people. Republicans and some prominent Democrats have sought to cast Medicare-for-all plans as astronomically costly some studies have suggested they could increase government spending on health care by more than $25 trillion over a decade. The critics also portray the plans as incredibly complicated to implement, given the vast array of physicians, hospitals and insurers affected. [Where 2020 Democrats stand on Medicare-for-all] Sanders has acknowledged that citizens could pay more in taxes, but he argues that they would ultimately save thousands of dollars a year on out-of-pocket health-care costs. For most families, the higher taxes would be more than offset by what they would save on private premiums and deductibles, Sanders says. He also argues that his program would curtail overall health-care spending in the United States because the traditional Medicare program spends only 2 percent of its costs on administration, far less than private health insurance companies. Sanderss new bill is similar to past legislation he has introduced but now includes coverage for long-term-care services, benefits that further increase the cost. Sanders introduced his plan inside a crowded room in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, flanked by activists and medical industry professionals. They stood in front of a blue banner, framed by two U.S. flags, that bore the slogan, Health care is a right. The event underscored how much headway Sanders has made among Democrats in pushing what was viewed as a fringe idea during his last presidential bid. View Graphic The issues 2020 Democrats are running on, according to their social media The partys eventual 2016 nominee, Hillary Clinton, dismissed Sanderss vision as impractical, given how difficult it was to pass President Barack Obamas less ambitious Affordable Care Act in 2010. [Bernie Sanders says hell release 10 years of his tax returns by Monday] This cycle, at least 10 other candidates seeking the Democratic presidential nomination support some version of a single-payer plan, and four of Sanderss Senate colleagues eyeing the White House Cory Booker (N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Kamala D. Harris (Calif.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) have signed on to the bill he is introducing in the chamber. Gillibrand offered remarks at Wednesdays event. Medicare-for-all is a dream. Its called the American Dream, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who was also there. Some 2020 Democratic contenders, including former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper, have criticized Sanderss measure as politically infeasible. Hickenlooper has said that Medicare-for-all should not be a litmus test of what it takes to be a good Democrat. In an attempt to show growing support for the bill, Sanders announced that his latest Medicare-for-all legislation has been endorsed by 63 national organizations and unions double the number from two years ago. On Capitol Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is among those who have voiced skepticism about moving to a single-payer system. Democratic leaders have been more focused on preserving the Affordable Care Act amid the Trump administrations attempts to dismantle it. President Trump has pledged to produce new legislation to replace the ACA but has abandoned plans to push for a vote before the 2020 election. In an official statement criticizing the Medicare-for-all proposal, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said, The Trump Administration is working on realistic solutions to provide Americans with the options and control they want, the affordability they need, the ease they expect, and the quality they deserve, rather than forcing a government takeover of the healthcare system. Even before Sen. Sanders formally unveiled his plan Wednesday, White House officials were attacking it. During an appearance on Fox News, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway called Medicare-for-all a bad deal for America. This is a government takeover, she said. I gave birth four times. I didnt want Uncle Sam and Big Brother in there with me. Republican lawmakers and advocacy groups piled on after the event. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) released a letter he wrote to the Congressional Budget Office seeking clarity on the exact cost of Sanderss plan, which he characterized as a massive amount of spending. Congress must understand the full impact of this proposal, along with the consequences for hospitals, health care providers, and patients, Barrasso wrote. The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC that seeks to elect more Republicans to the chamber, lambasted Sanderss plan. Bernie Sanders plan to destroy the Medicare program and socialize our healthcare is now Democratic Party dogma, the groups president, Steven Law, said in a statement. Democrat Senate candidates can try to hide, but we will make certain voters understand that Democrats are lining up behind abolishing private insurance, ruining Medicare, restricting medical choices, raising taxes on hardworking families, and exploding the deficit. In a statement later Wednesday, Sanders suggested that if he is elected president and Democrats retake control of the Senate, theres a realistic scenario for his plan to pass. Sanders cited a provision in Senate rules that allows some legislation to be considered as part of the budget reconciliation process, which requires only a simple majority of the chamber to advance rather than the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster. I would remind everyone that the budget reconciliation process, with 51 votes, has been used time and time again to pass major pieces of legislation and that under our Constitution and the rules of the Senate, it is the vice president who determines what is and is not permissible under budget reconciliation, Sanders said. I can tell you that a vice president in a Bernie Sanders administration will determine that Medicare for All can pass through the Senate under reconciliation and is not in violation of the rules. Colby Itkowitz contributed to this report. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks during an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party in Pyongyang, Tuesday. Yonhap By Lee Min-hyung North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has underlined the need for self-reliance as part of efforts to deal with political tension on the Korean Peninsula, a propaganda media outlet from the North said Wednesday. "Kim urged ranking officials of the regime's ruling party to follow its new strategic line with a strong sense of responsibility and revolutionary spirit," the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. The remark came Tuesday at a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party, two days before the North's planned parliamentary meeting. The strategic line refers to the regime's economic development plan to achieve major economic growth without reliance on external support. The continued emphasis on the economic drive came in response to the deadlocked nuclear talks with the United States. Starting last year, the North has sought a lifting of heavy economic sanctions from international society by pledging to denuclearize, and continue to hold peace talks with the U.S. But with the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim ending up in failure in February, the rare dialogue momentum between the two started to show little sign of progress. Despite the summit failure, Washington maintained its hardline stance on the sanctions, saying that it would never offer to partially ease sanctions unless the North achieves final, fully verified denuclearization. The North's young dictator has since urged the regime to realize economic prosperity by relying on internal unity. The KCNA went on to say that Kim also stressed the party should seek a paradigm shift in all of its businesses by carrying them out in a responsible, active and creative manner. But the media outlet did not share any negative or provocative rhetoric against the U.S. during the meeting, only saying the regime needs to properly deal with the "tense situation" on the peninsula. The KCNA did not specify what the situation refers to, but it possibly indicates the ongoing stalemate in denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang. Following the breakdown of the Hanoi summit, the North has stepped up criticism of the U.S. for what it calls making a "unilateral demand" without accepting the request from the North. North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui even hinted at the possibility that the North may resume its nuclear armament, in apparent discontent over the failed Hanoi summit. White House aides and Trump allies long worried about the obstruction part of Muellers probe, fearing that the presidents behavior may have opened him up to such charges. But they are cautiously optimistic that the reports most incriminating data points on that front from his decision to fire former FBI director James B. Comey to his dictating a misleading statement about his eldest sons meeting with Russians at Trump Tower have already been litigated in the media and in the court of public opinion, and are unlikely to change any voter minds. Sen. Kamala D. Harris (Calif.) held a town hall meeting at Canyon Springs High School in Nevada, the site of a fatal shooting last year. Former congressman Beto ORourke (Tex.) carries in his wallet a photo of a victim of gun violence and often recounts his 8-year-olds story of hiding in a closet during an active-shooter drill. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) has faced questions about gun control at nearly a dozen events. The 2020 Democratic presidential candidates are embracing gun control more enthusiastically than in any other campaign in recent memory, with emotional appeals against firearms violence and pledges to stand up to the National Rifle Association. As with other issues, the change reflects the partys accelerating shift toward voters who live in cities and suburbs and are more highly educated. And it forecasts a general-election battle that could test the partys liberal surge against a deep attachment to gun culture in many parts of the country, including some areas that Democrats hope to wrest from President Trump. Perhaps for that reason, the dynamic falls short of Democrats endorsement of such broad, novel packages as the Green New Deal and Medicare-for-all. Instead, the candidates are signing on to a patchwork of individual measures such as an assault weapons ban, universal background checks and red flag legislation that allows police and family members to petition for the removal of guns from those deemed a threat. If their strategy involves trying to bring back Trump voters voters from moderate to conservative areas you probably dont want the gun issue to get in the way, said Robert J. Spitzer, who has written several books about gun politics. You want to talk about health care or the economy or, from Democratic perspectives, uniting issues. Still, the tone of this group of Democratic candidates is starkly different from those of years past, driven by a spate of school massacres, the resulting activism and a perceived weakening of the NRAs clout. In prior campaigns, even a candidate such as Bill Clinton, who favored gun restrictions, played up his participation in duck hunts. In 2004, Democratic nominee John F. Kerry dressed in camouflage, lugged a 12-gauge double-barreled shotgun and fired at geese. The political calculus has changed pretty dramatically, said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun-control group. Just look at other presidential campaigns, with John Kerry or Hillary Clinton. Before talking about gun safety, they would talk about their bona fides as hunters and shooters. Thats just not the case anymore. In a survey of the 18 Democrats running, six own guns. ORourke inherited several from his great-uncle, a former sheriffs deputy and sharpshooter, but he said theyre not in operating condition. Pete Buttigieg, a Navy veteran and the mayor of South Bend, Ind., owns two antique guns that he doesnt use, and Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio) has a Remington 12-gauge shotgun that he won in a raffle and hasnt used (when he hunts, an aide said, he borrows a gun). Former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper owns a shotgun and a rifle, both used for bird hunting. Former congressman John Delaney (Md.) also owns a firearm. Perhaps most notably, so does Harris, a former prosecutor who, unlike the other gun owners in the race, has staked out a liberal identity rather than a centrist one. Four years ago, when Republicans had a sprawling presidential field, The Washington Post found that 15 of the 17 contenders owned at least 40 guns among them. Most of the Democrats have fired a weapon in one way or another Warren while growing up in Oklahoma; Buttigieg while serving in Afghanistan and hunting with his father-in-law; Julian Castro while visiting police training facilities as San Antonio mayor but most did not grow up in a gun culture. Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) fired a gun once while at a Boy Scout camp as a child, his campaign said, but he has never owned one. But in a significant shift, several candidates made gun control part of their campaign rollouts. Ryans announcement video featured him wearing a black shirt saying, We Can End Gun Violence, while Rep. Eric Swalwell (Calif.), who announced his bid Monday, plans to make gun violence a centerpiece of his campaign. One of his first events was holding a Town Hall to End Gun Violence on Tuesday night in Sunrise, Fla., with Cameron Kasky, who became a gun-control activist after 17 students and staff members were killed at his high school in Parkland, Fla. Gun control still trails other issues in polls of what is important to left-leaning voters, but its profile has risen. The asymmetry is less pronounced than in previous years, when the voting bloc of conservatives deeply focused on gun rights was not matched by a similar intensity on the left. Many Democrats blamed losses in the 1994 midterm elections and the 2000 presidential race largely on gun issues and for years after were wary of supporting even modest gun-control measures. That began to change after the 2012 massacre of 20 students and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and shifted even further after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in February 2018, which spawned a wave of gun-control activism by teenagers. Before the 2018 midterm elections, 69 percent of registered voters said gun policy was very important to them, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center; Democrats recaptured the House in that cycle. The issue ranked ahead of taxes and immigration but behind Supreme Court appointments, health care and the economy. In individual races, gun control played a bigger role. A Democrat won the New Mexico governors mansion in a race in which gun issues were prominent. In Nevada, Democrats won top statewide elections campaigning for universal background checks. In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer won on a platform of universal background checks, banning bump stocks and prohibiting gun possession for those guilty of violent crimes. Rep. Lucy McBath (Ga.), who ran after her son was fatally shot, made gun control a centerpiece of her campaign, defeating a Republican incumbent in an Atlanta suburban district where Democrats hadnt won since 1979. A significant factor in the changed landscape is a perceived weakening of the NRA, which for years was considered a near-invincible political force. The group has faced accusations that Russia sought to infiltrate it to gain political influence, while figures such as former New York mayor Michael R. Bloomberg have spent significant sums to back gun-control candidates. A spokeswoman for the NRA did not return messages seeking comment. Other gun rights activists, however, warned that the Democrats may be overestimating the support for firearms curbs, and they say that 2020 with the presidency at stake will not be the same as 2018. Michael Hammond, legislative counsel for the Gun Owners of America, said gun-control activists have believed the tide was shifting their way before, only to be disappointed later. Were in the same situation now as following Newtown, following Columbine a lot of Sturm und Drang but no shift in the fundamental political dynamics, he said. Guns are, in many parts of the country, an animating issue that will fundamentally make a difference if they believe and I dont think they believed in 2018 that their gun ownership rights are actually in danger. In a focus group of building trade union members, held in Washington on Wednesday, several local leaders said that the Democrats need to assure voters that their hunting and hobbies will be safe. I want to hear them say, Im not going to take your guns, said Patrick J. Corrigan of the Cleveland-based Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 3. Thats a big issue for my members. Democrats are betting that the atmosphere has in fact changed. When the House passed legislation last month to expand background checks, only two Democrats voted against it. Every senator running for president backs legislation that would enhance background checks. Whats striking on gun violence prevention is how much theyre aligned, said Peter Ambler, executive director of Giffords, a group created by former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and her husband, Mark Kelly, after she survived a 2011 assassination attempt. Even with all these candidates and this fragmented field, not a single candidate is pointed at some kind of libertarian approach on guns. This is not where our politics was even in 2008. More cracks could show as the candidates are pressed for specifics. Everytown for Gun Safety is preparing a candidate questionnaire that will address, for example, a proposed repeal of the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the dissemination of federal information about gun tracing. For now, the candidates are pressing ahead. Warrens campaign asked for a member of a group called Moms Demand Action to introduce her in Nevada. Numerous candidates including Buttigieg, Harris and Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) have asked for gun-control activists to attend events. Other Democrats are repudiating previous positions. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) earned an A rating from the NRA when she was a congresswoman representing a rural Upstate district. She told Newsday in 2009 that she stored two rifles under her bed. If I want to protect my family, if I want to have a weapon in the home, that should be my right, she said. After some noted the potential safety hazard of storing guns under the bed she had an infant and a 5-year-old at the time she said the ammunition was kept separate from the guns. She also announced that she had started storing the rifles elsewhere. A campaign spokeswoman said that Gillibrand no longer owns firearms, but it is unclear when or how she got rid of them. Gillibrand has also shifted her views on guns, saying she was embarrassed by her past positions, which changed when she became a senator. After I got appointed, I went down to Brooklyn to meet with families who had suffered from gun violence in their communities, she told CBSs 60 Minutes last year. And you immediately experience the feeling that I couldnt have been more wrong. You know, I only had the lens of Upstate New York. Sanders, who represents a state where hunting is part of the culture, faced scrutiny during his first presidential campaign in 2016 for at times opposing gun restrictions. He has since spoken about the need to pass legislation. For the moment, the Democrats views have largely converged. Booker has framed the debate as Democrats depict many issues these days as a conflict between corporations and people. I am tired of going to funerals where parents are burying their children, Booker, who lives in downtown Newark, said at a CNN town hall event. We are going to bring a fight like the NRA has never seen, if theyre going to defend corporate gun manufacturers more than the American people. Jeff Pon was forced out in the fall after just seven months because he opposed the breakup and authorized his general counsel to write a 17-page memo to the Justice Department asking how it could be done legally, according to several people familiar with the document. It is unclear if the Justice Department responded. Following Trumps border trip, for example, both flew back to Washington on Air Force One, landing Saturday shortly after 8 p.m. About an hour later, they were together again at the Kalorama home of Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, for a private dinner with a handful of other West Wing aides and their partners a previously planned gathering that one White House official described as illustrating the rapport between the two men. Realistically, if were not in a serious negotiation process by this summer, this will collapse, and then youre in the 2020 [campaign] cycle, the expert said, adding the North probably will want to wait to see whether Trump wins reelection. We have about three or four months to get sustainable traction and momentum. They may do it, but I see no reason to think theyre going to get there. Sen. Elizabeth Warrens presidential campaign raised $6 million during the first quarter of 2019, a haul that puts the onetime financial juggernaut behind several of her rivals in the Democratic nominating contest. I wont sugarcoat it, Roger Lau, her campaign manager, wrote in an email to supporters on Wednesday afternoon. We were outraised by some other candidates in the presidential primary this first quarter. You might have seen some of the big numbers in the headlines, from $7 million to $18 million. Warren was the first major candidate in the race, with a vaunted email fundraising list that she used to build a small-donor network that helped her finance her U.S. Senate campaigns in Massachusetts and that also allowed her to raise money for other candidates across the country. In the first quarter, Warren raised funds from 135,000 donors who made more than 213,000 donations, a level that her campaign says will allow her to be competitive. She raised more than $1.4 million during the final week of the first quarter, leading her staff to say some momentum had developed after a more dismal start. Sen. Kamala D. Harris (Calif.), by comparison, reported raising $1.1 million during the final week. But overall, other candidates dwarfed Warrens campaign in the first quarter of the race. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) raised $18.2 million from 525,000 people, while Harris brought in $12 million from 138,000 donors. Warren also trailed South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who brought in $7 million from nearly 159,000 donors after a recent surge of interest. View Graphic The issues 2020 Democrats are running on, according to their social media Former congressman Beto ORourke (Tex.) raised $9.4 million from 163,000 donors, with the bulk coming during his first 24 hours as a candidate; he raised more in that day than Warren did during the entire three months. Warren only narrowly outraised the $5.2 million reported by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and the $5 million reported by Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.). Both entered the race more than a month after Warren, who announced her candidacy on New Years Eve. Warren aides said the campaign raised more money than it spent, but the margins appear narrow. She transferred $10.4 million from her U.S. Senate account, and the cash on hand was about $11 million at the end of the quarter, a campaign aide said. Warren has built one of the largest campaign operations so far, with more than 170 staffers now, about half of them in the four earliest-voting states. But Warren made a calculated gamble weeks ago to eschew large donor events, hoping that her ability to differentiate herself from candidates such as Harris and run an overtly grass-roots campaign would offset the loss of income. In some ways, the fundraising report illustrated the downside of relying only on small donors. Warrens campaign said the average donation was $28, the same as it was for Harriss online donors. But because Harris also did larger fundraisers, she brought in more money for an overall average donation of $55. Elizabeth decided not to do any closed-door events with wealthy donors, or call time where candidates typically call wealthy people and personally ask them to donate, Lau wrote in his message to supporters. Ninety-nine percent of our donations were $200 or less. That isnt a coincidence: that was by design. We dont have to match other candidates dollar for dollar, but we do need a strong enough grass-roots base to be able to keep Elizabeths voice front and center in this race, Lau added. Warren earlier on Wednesday released her 2018 tax return, which showed more than $900,000 in family income. The move made her the latest presidential candidate to provide their most recent personal finance information as Democratic rivals pressure one another to be more transparent and counter President Trumps unwillingness to release any of his tax documents. Warrens release of her tax return followed that of several other candidates including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Klobuchar and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and came a day after Sanders promised to release his returns by Monday. In August, Warren released 10 years of her tax returns, a period that covers her tenure representing Massachusetts in the Senate and earlier government service. She has filed legislation that would require the Internal Revenue Service to release the tax returns of presidential and vice-presidential candidates for the previous eight years, as well as during each year in federal elective office. Theres a crisis of faith in government and thats because the American people think the government works for the wealthy and well-connected, not for them, Warren said in a statement. And theyre right. Ive put out eleven years of my tax returns because no one should ever have to guess who their elected officials are working for. Doing this should be law. According to her returns, Warren and her husband, Bruce Mann, reported earning $905,742 in total income, including $176,280 from her Senate salary and $324,687 from her books. She and Mann, a Harvard Law School professor, paid $230,965 in taxes. They reported donating $50,138 to charity. Sanders pledged in February to release 10 years of tax returns, and several times has said they would come out soon. On Tuesday, he said they would be released by April 15 and would reveal that he is a millionaire, which he attributed to income from a book deal. ORourke, who entered the presidential contest in March, has said that he plans to release his tax returns but has not said when. Former vice president Joe Biden, who is likely to enter the race later this month, has released 18 years of tax returns covering a period up to 2015. He has not committed to releasing additional returns. Prospects supported by expected stability, policies, analysts say The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday that it expects China's economy to grow 6.3 percent in 2019up 0.1 percentage point from its prediction in January. Analysts said the world's second-largest economy is set to remain stable as authorities continue to implement supportive policies. The latest World Economic Outlook, released at the start of the spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Washington, also predicted the United States economy would grow 2.3 percent this year, 0.2 percentage point lower than the IMF's earlier forecast. The outlook for China falls within the range of the country's targeted goal of securing between 6 percent and 6.5 percent growth for this year, and is very close to that of Chinese researchers. On April 1, Zhang Ping, a researcher at the Institute of Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said China's GDP growth should remain at 6.2 percent in the first half, and average 6.3 percent for the whole year, thanks to incentives including tax and fee cuts. The World Economic Outlook noted that Chinese authorities have responded to the slowdown in 2018 by limiting the extent of financial regulatory tightening, injecting liquidity through cuts in the reserve requirement ratio, and reducing personal income taxes and corporate value-added taxes. The overall outlook for emerging Asian economies remains favorable, with China's growth projected to slow gradually toward sustainable levels. It predicts the country's growth will moderate to 6.1 percent in 2020. "China's growth is set to stabilize," said Cheng Shi, chief economist at ICBC International. "As China increased its growth stabilization policy efforts, its economy has shown signs of stability in the first quarter and may further consolidate in the second," Cheng told China Daily. China's business activity revived and beat market expectations in March, with the manufacturing purchasing managers index return-ing into expansion territory after three months of contraction, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. "Growth resilience may surprise on the upside in more aspects," he said, adding that besides a growth rate within a reasonable range, the economy is likely to register accelerated progress toward higher-quality development this year amid a new round of reform and opening-up. "Structural opportunities (in the capital market) may continuously emerge from the development of the new economy and mass consumption upgrades, fueling the long-term inflow of international capital," he said. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a recent interview with China Central Television that China's economic development now allows for "a focus on quality growth", rather than necessarily quantity growth. "And China's development is clearly at the stage where it can afford and should afford to do that," Lagarde said. Over the past year, amid the escalation of US-China trade tensions, credit tightening took place in China, macroeconomic stress was seen in Argentina and Turkey, disruptions to the auto sector occurred in Germany, and financial tightening in larger advanced economies have all contributed to a "significantly weakened global expansion", said IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath. "With this weakness expected to persist into the first half of 2019, our new World Economic Outlook projects a slowdown in growth in 2019 for 70 percent of the world economy," she wrote in a blog on Tuesday. With improved prospects for the second half of 2019, global growth in 2020 is projected to return to the 2018 level of 3.6 percent, according to the IMF report. "This recovery is precarious and predicated to rebound in emerging markets and developing economies, where growth is projected to increase from 4.4 percent in 2019 to 4.8 percent in 2020," Gopinath said. The minor opposition Bareunmirae Party holds a party meeting at the National Assembly, Wednesday, without its three Supreme Council members Rep. Ha Tae-keung, Lee Jun-seok and Kwon Eun-hee who are boycotting the meeting calling for a confidence vote on the leadership body following the defeat in the April 3 by-elections. / Yonhap By Park Ji-won Bareunmirae Party (BMP) Chairman Sohn Hak-kyu is facing calls to resign from his post as a factional feud is deepening inside the third-largest party over disappointing results from the April 3 by-election. Three Supreme Council members Rep. Ha Tae-keung, Lee Jun-seok and Kwon Eun-hee began boycotting party meetings on Sunday, demanding a confidence vote on Sohn. The chairman led campaigns for the party's candidate Lee Jae-hwan in Seongsan-gu, Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, but he gained only 3.57 percent of the votes. The three members are asking Sohn to take responsibility for the defeat, but Sohn has instead called for unity to ensure a smooth transition to next year's general election. "It took 10 months since the current leadership body was formed, but there is no specific direction for the 2020 general elections and support rate increase. If the leadership body cannot create those, I think the party should hold a confidence vote on it or it should resign," Lee said, reaffirming his determination during a radio interview, Wednesday. Ha said he will hold a national convention to hold the confidence vote. Sohn, however, will likely try to remain in place, expressing regret Wednesday for what happened in the party while rejecting the calls for his resignation. "I hope party members calm down and understand each other. I will lead the party in that manner as well," Sohn said Wednesday. He also urged the three to participate in the Supreme Council meetings so they can lead the party together. Following the differences, rumors circulated again the party will split into pieces and merge with other parties. Even some members of the Party for Democracy and Peace (PDP), which split off from the People's Party and rooted in the traditionally progressive Jeolla provinces, have proposed some BMP lawmakers join hands with them. It appears the internal clashes lie with the creation of the party, which was a result of the merger of two parties with different political ideologies the People's Party led by Ahn Cheol-soo which pursued so-called "reasonable progress," and the Bareun Party led by Yoo Seong-min which pursued "reformist" conservatives. It is said the two parties failed to narrow the differences between members and map out a new political direction. The three, who are boycotting the party's meetings, are from the Bareun Party. The minor liberal People's Party and the minor conservative Bareun Party merged last year to secure the third-largest portion, claiming to eradicate the hegemony of regionalism and ideology in the nation. Yoo and Ahn jointly led the party at the time. The People's Party had broken away from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) while the Bareun Party had broken away from the Saenuri Party, predecessor of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP). The strife between the two factions has continued whenever conflicts arose. Members of the two former parties disagreed about electoral reform and fast-tracking key bills. The current leadership body led by Sohn has pushed for fast-tracking bills, but the lawmakers from the Bareun Party opposed it. Eyes are on whether the co-founders of the party, Yoo and Ahn, will come forward to settle the continuing disputes. Yoo is refraining from making political remarks after stepping down from the co-chair post after a defeat in the June local elections. Likewise, Ahn is taking a break from political life staying in Germany after his defeat as Seoul mayoral candidate for the BMP in the same election. Ahn had initially planned to return to Korea in September, but calls are rising for his early return to settle the dispute. Ha has been urging Ahn to come back as early as possible as he is de facto leader of the faction and responsible for the current strife. The fact that Bibi won, I think well see some pretty good action in terms of peace, Trump said Wednesday, using Netanyahus nickname. Everybody said, and I never made it a promise, you cant have peace in the Middle East with Israel and the Palestinians. But I think we have a chance, and I think now we have a better chance with Bibi having won. George P. Bush, son of former Florida governor Jeb Bush, nephew of former president George W. Bush, and grandchild of the late Barbara Bush and former president George H.W. Bush, is the only Bush in public office right now, which means embracing the man who controls the Republican Party, even as he took a dig at the rest of the Bush family in real time. The attorney general then released a letter saying the investigation did not find a conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign, and that Mueller did not reach a conclusion about whether the president may have tried to obstruct justice during the probe. Yet there are signs that voters are unwilling to give Modi another dramatic mandate. After the rally in the village of Khudana in western Uttar Pradesh, Modi departed in a helicopter churning clouds of ocher dust in its wake. At a neighboring roadside food stall, there was little praise for his policies. Bhupendra Singh, 28, who runs the stand, said he voted for Modis party in 2014 but will not do so again because of the lack of jobs in the area. In the wake of the attacks and in anticipation of the changes, some gun owners had already started handing their weapons in to police. Many said they were doing so in solidarity with the victims, including the 50 additional worshipers who were injured in the mosque attacks. Others, according to gun store owners, had started stockpiling these firearms before the ban went into effect. President Moon Jae-in waves his hands before departing a military airbase in Seongnam near Seoul for his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, Washington D.C., Thursday (KST). Yonhap By Kim Yoo-chul President Moon Jae-in may push for another summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., Thursday. Sources at Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday that Moon will seek U.S. approval to send a special envoy to Pyongyang to arrange such a meeting. National Security Office head Chung Eui-yong hinted recently that the presidential office would send an envoy to the North to prepare for an inter-Korean summit. Chung declined to give any details such as who the envoy would be, though political experts have suggested that it would be National Intelligence Service chief Suh Hoon. "Sending an envoy to Pyongyang after the Moon-Trump summit is viewed as a precursor to a third meeting between Trump and Kim later this year," one source said requesting anonymity. He added that any upcoming inter-Korean summit would focus on the denuclearization talks between the United States and North Korea, and trust-building measures for the two countries. President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook departed for the U.S. from a military airbase in Seongnam near Seoul, Wednesday (KST). They are scheduled to arrive at Andrews Air Force Base, today, and will return home April 12, according to Cheong Wa Dae. The Moon-Trump summit is their first meeting since the U.S. president's failed talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam. Their talks collapsed after Trump didn't accept Kim's request for sanctions easing in exchange for the verifiable dismantling of the North's Yongbyon nuclear complex and a freeze on fissile material production. North Korea threatened recently to quit the nuclear talks, pushing President Moon to shift his role from "mediator" to "facilitator." President Moon Jae-in, right, chats with presidential chief of staff Noh Young-min upon his arrival to a military airbase in Seongnam near Seoul before heading to Washington D.C. for his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, Thursday (KST). Yonhap Netanyahus pledge on the settlements was geared toward voters on the Israeli right and in settler communities, and the prime minister will face pressure to make good on it. Some of these voters have been frustrated that Netanyahu has not been tougher in confronting Palestinian attacks originating in the Gaza Strip and within the West Bank, as well as failing, they say, to expand settlements. The Trump administration last month announced its decision not to defend the Affordable Care Act and instead lend support to a lawsuit from 20 Republican-led states seeking a full repeal of the 2010 statute. But the decision came after a sharp internal debate over whether doing so was a smart idea, with Barr and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar arguing against the effort to rip up the law. The fact that Bibi won, I think well see some pretty good action in terms of peace, he said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. Look, everyone said and I never made it a promise but everybody said you cant have peace in the Middle East with Israel and the Palestinians. I think we have a chance. I think we have now a better chance with Bibi having won. The children also received initial payments of about 1 million Saudi riyal or roughly $266,000 after Saudi authorities acknowledged that their father had been killed by state operatives, according to a person with knowledge of the issue who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the matter. These payments have not been previously disclosed because they were not known at the time of The Post story this month. Are they willing to stop people from leaving the country? Pompeo said in a Fox Business Network interview Friday. Weve given them hundreds of millions of dollars over the past years to create the capacity for them to do so. They have not demonstrated the will . . . we have not yet seen enough demonstration of their commitment for actually preventing these folks from crossing into Mexico. Korea's Labor Minister Lee Jae-gap shakes hands with EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom during a meeting at the Lotte Hotel Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap By Kim Hyun-bin The European Union (EU) has unofficially set a summer deadline for Korea to ratify some key conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO), putting major pressure on Seoul as businesses and politicians fail to reach a consensus on them. If Korea fails to ratify them, which was agreed to in the Korea-EU free trade agreement (FTA), the country's reputation and credibility in future trade could be seriously damaged. EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom visited Korea and met government and parliamentary officials to call for rapid ratification of the conventions, which are designed to guarantee wider freedom of association and the elimination of all forms of forced labor. Under the FTA, the two sides have to make efforts to ratify the fundamental ILO conventions to protect basic labor rights. As Korea is not fulfilling half of the eight key conventions, mainly due to opposition from businesses, the EU has pressed Seoul to do so, launching a dispute settlement process in December. It earlier requested the government to solve the problem by April 9 and after this, it will begin the second stage of the settlement process initiating an expert panel to review the issue and come up with recommendations. But Malmstrom implied the EU may not seek the expert panel immediately. In a meeting with Rep. Kim Hack-yong, the head of the National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee, Tuesday, she asked him if Korea could ratify the ILO conventions by this summer. On June 10, President Moon Jae-in is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech at the general meeting of the ILO which is marking its 100th anniversary. "It will be great if the provisions can be fulfilled before summer. However, there are some specific situations in Korea and domestic laws need to be revised first. So it is difficult to pinpoint a time," Rep. Kim said. Malmstrom said the EU has never forced its standards on any country, but added that all countries ratifying the key conventions have seen stronger competitiveness among their companies and gained better international reputations, according to Kim's aides. The commissioner also delivered the message to Employment and Labor Minister Lee Jae-kap during a meeting earlier in the day. According to the ministry, if Korea is unable to fulfill the provisions, it will be difficult to avoid the EU's dispute resolution expert panel from reviewing the country's compliance with the FTA. If the expert panel is convened, Korea will be the first country among those with FTAs with the EU to be involved in a labor rights dispute, which will be a blow to the country's reputation and President Moon's ILO speech, according to the ministry. Experts also say that while failing to ratify the ILO conventions will not automatically lead to increased tariffs and penalties, it could act as a barrier when expanding trade between the two sides. "We will be the first case to violate labor provisions in the history of any FTA, so it is hard to predict what sanctions will be put in place," Lee Sung-wook, a professor of law at Ewha Women's University Law School, said. However, he said there would be sanctions in some form. "Otherwise the agreement on the ratification wouldn't have been included in the FTA from the beginning and the EU wouldn't have included the dispute settlement process. There will be some kind of disadvantages for any violations." An EU delegation led by Malmstrom was in Seoul for the 8th Trade Committee meeting to discuss various topics. She emphasized that ratifying the conventions would enhance competitiveness for local businesses, and called on the government to step up efforts to resolve the matter. "We want to avoid a trade dispute. It's not about sanctions, but about Korea as an ILO and OECD member showing that it lives up to international conventions," she said in a press briefing later Tuesday. Korea joined the U.N. agency on labor in 1991 but hasn't ratified four key conventions, which include the right of individuals to organize a group to represent them and to defend their labor rights. However, the Korean Labor Law forbids certain workers such as civil servants and dismissed officials from joining a union and prior government approval is required in setting one up. The ratification can only be accomplished through amending related laws at the National Assembly. "Under the country's Constitution, the National Assembly has the full right and is obligated to approve or disapprove the provisions," Lee said. "However, if labor and management can come to a consensus on the issue, there is no reason for the Assembly not to push forward the ratifications before summer." The $10 billion proposed bid for Crown Resorts by US gaming giant Wynn Resorts survived only about 24 hours before Wynn killed it off, citing its premature disclosure as the motivation for walking away. With hindsight, the leaking of the deal couldnt have come at a more awkward time. The market now knows James Packer is a willing seller. Credit:Bloomberg Wynn and Crown, and probably more particularly Wynn and James Packer, had clearly had confidential conversations over the weeks and months leading up to Tuesdays confirmation by Crown of reports of the deal. The fact that Crown implied there had been a proposal at a lower price than the $14.75 a share cash and scrip offer it outlined on Tuesday supports that conclusion. Presumably Wynn had hoped to lock down the final price and terms of an agreed deal it had to be agreed because Wynn wanted to execute it via a scheme of arrangement before it was announced to the market, its shareholders and its regulators. Instead, the leak which interacted with the ASXs continuous disclosure regime to force Crown to disclose the fact of the proposal and the outline of its terms - meant it had an incomplete deal, with no certainty as to final price or terms or, indeed, success. By Na Jeong-ju Politics editor The upcoming summit between President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump will be a barometer of how Washington will deal with Pyongyang. But there are reasons why this meeting cannot be as productive as Moon hopes it will be. Instead, he may come to face with the harsh reality when arranging a deal between the two sides while the U.S. remains skeptical about the North's commitment to denuclearization. First of all, Trump and his hawkish security aides at the White House may use Moon's visit to give him a reality check, reaffirming no deals with North Korea without seeing Pyongyang give up its nuclear weapons. For Moon, meeting with Trump is a crucial opportunity to seek his understanding of Seoul's proposal for a phased "good enough" deal with the North. Moon will probably make his case that this is a realistic option to achieve the ultimate goal of denuclearizing the country instead of the current "all-or-nothing" approach. The question is whether the Trump administration is interested in easing sanctions on North Korea at this moment to advance the nuclear talks. Chances look slim that the U.S. will change its stance in the near future, given the North's attitude and the prevailing pessimism about its denuclearization pledges inside the U.S. It will probably adhere to the policy of putting "maximum pressure" on Pyongyang until the North accepts its demands. In this context, it is hard to expect a drastic turnaround of the current situation from the Moon-Trump summit. But there are hopeful signs as well. The meeting with Trump should rather be understood as a chance to create a positive atmosphere for the resumption of dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang, and finally bring the nuclear talks back on track. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hinted at finding a "new path" after his summit with Trump in Hanoi ended without an agreement. Kim has since dispatched envoys to China, Russia and other "Communist" nations to possibly draw a big picture about economic development. Trump may use Moon to see what the young leader thinks about his offer. Kim, too, may expect Moon to play a role in finding a breakthrough in the talks with Washington. After returning from the U.S. trip, Moon may push for a meeting with Kim. This seems to be a natural course of action to take to break the deadlock. If things go smoothly, North Korea and the U.S. may be able to sit together again to prepare for another summit between their leaders, this time with more concrete and broader action plans on the table than in Hanoi. Most of all, both North Korea and the U.S. have made efforts not to aggravate the situation since the Hanoi meeting. The fact that North Korea refused to return to the past suggests that Kim is still attached to dialogue with Washington. One major factor at the upcoming summit is growing concerns inside the U.S. about South Korea's approach toward the North. Some U.S. experts even sympathize with South Korean ultraconservatives who claim their leader represents North Korea's interests. While meeting with Trump and his aides, Moon does not need to be overly enthusiastic about pushing his agenda. One of the major topics at these meetings will probably be about seeking sanctions exemptions for the resumption of the long-stalled symbolic inter-Korean economic projects, such as Mount Geumgang tours and the Gaeseong Industrial Complex. This could be a source of contention with Washington, which has vowed to keep sanctions intact until North Korea abandons its nuclear program in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way. Moon needs to have candid discussions with U.S. officials not to cause a rift in the alliance. At this point, the U.S. holds the key to inter-Korean peace. Moon probably knows this well. He said the living room and the kitchen were completely crushed by the crane. "The house is still upright but half is still caved in. I'm a bit shaken up, but lucky to be safe." MFB crews are on scene to try and stand the crane back up. Credit:Justin McManus Fred, whose family lives in the home, said he and his cousin were sitting about five metres away from the section of the building which was destroyed. His mother and the family dog were just centimetres from becoming trapped. "If they hadn't moved quick enough they would have been crushed," he said. The Pace family were metres from being crushed by a crane which collapsed on their house. Credit:Justin McManus "It was a pre-made house, all they had to do was drop it in. I'm so shaken, I've been shaking for the past hour, it happened so quick." When he got outside, he saw the crane truck upside down. Luckily, the rest of the family were at work at the time. Ms Pace said she was concerned that the family weren't notified that the pre-fabricated home was being moved in on Wednesday. Loading "What freaks me out the most is the crane company should have contacted saying we are putting in the house. Where the impact happened was centimetres away from where I was standing." she said. The council will provide the Pace family with temporary accommodation. Vesna Anackov lives a few houses down from where the incident occurred and said it was not windy at the time of the accident. "I saw the workers running and jumping away from the scene - some of them falling over. It was potentially very dangerous for them because of the powerlines," she said. "It's extremely lucky that nobody got hurt." About 20 firefighters from the Metropolitan Fire Brigade responded to the incident. MFB commander Roger Chitty said the module was positioned incorrectly before it collapsed, but stopped short of blaming the crane operator. "It was in the wrong position, and was being turned around to be in the right position ... [then] something happened, and that's why the crane has ended up as it is," he said, adding that investigators would determine exactly what caused the accident. Two large cranes are expected at the scene on Wednesday afternoon to remove the collapsed crane, which is emblazoned with the logo of crane hire company Tarrant Logistics. Speaking on radio 3AW later Mr Chitty said the collapsed crane may not be removed until Thursday. "The two larger cranes are going to attach themselves to make sure the crane in question doesnt topple over any further," he said. "We may not lower the crane until daylight hours tomorrow. Weve had a meeting, we dont want to do any lifting during the night. So it depends how quickly we put this plan in place this evening." Worksafe has been notified and is investigating. When my son was underage and facing charges, the words of the magistrate rung in my ears. He asked me: "What do you want us to do with your son today?" The funding injection for WA's Casuarina is aimed at bringing the general-purpose population in the prison up to 1782 in four years, with 512 new beds across four units already under construction and another 344 beds planned. Credit:Fairfax Media I said I wanted rehabilitation for him. He said; "Sorry sir, I cant do that as it is against his will; but I will fine him and release him to you." Former prime minister Tony Abbott has suggested his successor Malcolm Turnbull is among those "trying to create something out of nothing" regarding allegations of undue foreign influence levelled at Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton. Mr Abbott said the assertion that Mr Dutton had questions to answer for having lunch with Huang Xiangmo - a billionaire businessman linked to the Chinese Communist Party who has donated to both major parties - was absurd. "Frankly it strikes me as a story in search of a scandal," he said. "Nothing wrong has been done by anyone." Mr Abbott noted Mr Huang did not get the Australian citizenship he sought for himself and that his application for permanent residency was ultimately ended on ASIO's recommendation. Singapore: Singapore has seized 14 tonnes of pangolin scales belonging to about 21,000 endangered mammals in the second raid in less than a week. The scales, which were en route from Nigeria to Vietnam, were found in 474 bags in a shipping container. The National Parks Board, Singapore Customs and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority say the cargo was declared as cassia seeds. A pangolin carries its baby in a Bali zoo. Pangolin scales are in high demand in Asia for use in traditional Chinese medicine. Credit:AP Last Wednesday, officials discovered a record 14.2 tonnes of pangolin scales hidden among packets of frozen beef. The earlier shipment was also on its way from Nigeria to Vietnam. 'We have this and a lot of more' Hrafnsson said WikiLeaks heard a few weeks ago that "some individuals" in Spain were passing around information on Assange, apparently sourced from inside Ecuador's London embassy, and that they claimed to have "a massive trove of documents" on him. He contacted a member of the group, who identified himself as "PM", who said "this information has a price" and sent through samples of what they had, including a snapshot from a video recording of Hrafnsson meeting Assange inside the embassy in November last year. The alleged extortionist told Hrafnsson "we have this and a lot of more [sic], apart of very important (committed) audios. The price is from 3,000,000 euros, or we'll start to publish by our own way (media, press, etc...)". The alleged extortionists said their offer was a "rather good deal because they had offers of 9 million dollars from various outlets for the entire material", Hrafnsson said. Wikileaks has discovered an extensive 'spying operation' against Julian Assange. From left Fidel Narvaez, former consul of Ecuador to London; Kristinn Hrafnsson, Editor-in-chief, WikiLeaks; Jennifer Robinson, Julian Assange's barrister. Credit:Nick Miller "It's not hard to see that as extortion and that's how I viewed it," Hrafnsson said. He contacted Spanish police and 10 days ago travelled to Spain to review the material, secretly recording a three-hour meeting with four members of the group. He said he had discovered the name of one of those people. In the meeting he was shown "hundreds of thousands of documents" in 103 folders, including gigabytes of videos of "sensitive meetings" and even copies of the passports of visitors to the embassy. Hrafnsson said last year the embassy installed new high-definition cameras which could record audio as well as video. "It entailed pretty much everything on the life of Julian Assange," Hrafnsson said. It also included a copy of a confidential legal note that one of Assange's lawyers brought to the embassy when assisting Julian to give video evidence in a hearing in Quito, and which recalled he had briefly left unattended in a meeting room. And there was a video of an entire medical examination of Assange by a visiting doctor. 'Worse than any prisoner has to endure' Spanish police set up a "sting" operation in co-operation with WikiLeaks, and an investigating judge has been appointed to take over the case. Most of the material WikiLeaks saw appeared to be from last year. Hrafnsson said he had been aware of the upgraded surveillance cameras in the embassy, and had taken steps to bypass them by, for example, taking in a radio with the volume turned up when meeting Assange, and "we basically sit whispering in each other's ear". It was "worse than any prisoner has to endure", he said. Video and photos taken inside embassy rooms showing Assange in various meetings. Credit:Nick Miller And he said he did not see any irony in relation to WikiLeaks' usual treatment of classified and secret material, saying "everyone agrees" that there is some material that should not be made public. Hrafnsson said he did not want to speculate on how the material came into the hands of the Spanish group, but he said WikiLeaks had more material from its recording of the Spanish meeting that "will possibly cast more light" on the connection to Ecuador, and which WikiLeaks will publish in the future. Last week Ecuadors President Lenin Moreno said Assange had "repeatedly violated" the conditions of his asylum. He said there was "proof of espionage, of hacking, of the fact that phones have been intercepted and private conversations, there are even pictures of my bedroom". The message the alleged extortionist sent to WikiLeaks' editor Kristinn Hrafnsson. Credit:Nick Miller WikiLeaks then claimed a "high-level source within the Ecuadorian state" had revealed a plan to expel Assange from the embassy within "hours to days" and that it already has an agreement with the UK for his arrest. Assanges team have canvassed that their client may move back to Australia if he leaves the embassy. He has reportedly been granted a new Australian passport, after the government renewed consular visits to the embassy to check on his welfare. Washington: US Attorney-General William Barr said on Wednesday he thought "spying" on a political campaign occurred in the course of intelligence agencies' investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election - a startling assertion by the nation's top law enforcement official. At a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Barr was asked about his statement a day earlier that he would review how the FBI launched its counterintelligence investigation that sought to determine whether Donald Trump's associates were interacting with Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign. Attorney-General William Barr said an investigation was underway into how the Russia probe got started. Credit:AP "I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal. It's a big deal," said Barr, noting that there are long-held rules to prevent intelligence agencies from collecting information on domestic political figures. "I'm not suggesting that those rules were violated, but I think it's important to look at that," he said. "I'm not talking about the FBI necessarily but intelligence agencies more broadly." Washington: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday she doesn't trust Attorney General William Barr and suggested his statements alleging President Donald Trump's campaign was spied on undermine Barr's independence as the nation's top law enforcement officer. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press. Credit:AP The California Democrat also said in an interview with The Associated Press she was "very concerned" about Barr's handling of special counsel Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia report and accused Barr doing Trump's political bidding. "He is not the attorney general of Donald Trump. He is the attorney general of the United States," Pelosi told AP. "I don't trust Barr, I trust Mueller." Barr testified on Wednesday before a Senate panel that he believes "spying did occur" on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, aligning himself more closely with the president's views on the origins of the Russia investigation. Critics of the Russia probe note that it was launched during the Obama administration, though Mueller was appointed special counsel by Trump's Justice Department. Brooklyn: New York City officials have declared a public health emergency and ordered mandatory measles vaccinations to halt an outbreak concentrated among ultra-Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn, putting in place the broadest vaccination order in the United States in nearly three decades. The order on Tuesday (local time) is the latest flashpoint in a nationwide battle to try to stop the second biggest flare-up of the disease since 2000 spurred by travel to hot spots such as Israel which is experiencing its own outbreak and widespread misinformation about vaccines that has frightened a generation of parents who have never witnessed the ravages of one of the most contagious diseases on Earth firsthand. Mayor of New York Bill de Blasio has declared a state of emergency over the measles outbreak in the city. Credit:Bloomberg New York's action comes as health officials scrambled to blunt the spread of measles, especially with the approach of Passover, a holiday associated with travel and big family gatherings, in what is the city's largest outbreak since 1991. New York's mandatory vaccination order in four Brooklyn postcodes is by far the toughest action to date by state or local officials, as the disease's tally grows to 465 cases in 19 states. Officials there and elsewhere have sought to bar unvaccinated children from schools and other public places but have had only limited success. By Trudy Rubin As NATO celebrated its 70th anniversary in Washington, one compelling security issue received insufficient attention: Chinese acquisitions of critical European infrastructure, especially ports. Chinese state-controlled firms now hold stakes in more than a dozen European ports on the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, from Belgium to Spain to ownership of the legendary Greek port of Piraeus. Already, one-tenth of Europe's container terminal capacity is under Chinese control. Recently, defying allies, Italy became the first major European nation to officially join China's vast Belt and Road initiative infrastructure project to link Asia to Europe by sea, road, rail and pipeline; this could open the ports of Trieste, Palermo and Genoa to major Chinese investment. Farther east on the Mediterranean, in Israel, a Chinese firm will soon start managing Haifa port, where U.S. naval ships have long made calls. Another Chinese firm won the contract to build a port in the south of Israel at Ashdod. Beijing is now positioned in ports all around the eastern Mediterranean, including in Egypt's Suez Canal region, where China is the largest investor. Add to this that Russia is now well-established on the eastern Mediterranean coast with its expanding naval facility in Tartus, Syria. Russia and China conducted a joint naval exercise in the eastern Mediterranean in 2015. So, is the Mediterranean, once the uncontested home base of the U.S. Sixth Fleet, on the way to becoming a China-dominated sea? "The eastern Mediterranean is becoming somewhat contested," says Erik Brattberg, head of the Europe program at the Carnegie Endowment. Russia and China are vying for influence. "The example of a close ally like Israel accepting and welcoming China investment can create complications that Europe should study." The U.S. military is certainly taking notice. Gen. Joseph Votel, head of U.S. Central Command, recently warned that China's Belt and Road initiative including port investments in the Arabian Gulf, Djibouti in East Africa, the Suez Canal, and the port of Haifa could "mask longer-term military and political objectives." Of course, China claims its infrastructure investments are purely economic, part of its new Silk Road strategy to facilitate commerce with Europe. Yet in Asia, where Beijing has also acquired a string of ports in strategic locations, the Chinese have revealed their intention to use some for military or political purposes. Belatedly, European Union leaders are recognizing the long-term risks. Last fall, the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, cautioned: "If a foreign, state-owned company wants to purchase a European harbor ... this should only happen ... with scrutiny and debate ... so that we can protect our collective security if needed." The EU is trying to find ways to screen foreign investments in strategically sensitive sectors. But with its huge purse, construction experience, and relatively cheap costs, China has found ready takers in Europe. Washington also has urged Europe to limit Chinese inroads in strategic sectors, including telecoms, but has offered little incentive to wean struggling countries such as Greece from China's economic temptations. "It's not enough for the U.S. to tell allies they can't do business with China," says Brattberg. "This requires a level of statesmanship using economic incentives. Washington needs to provide alternatives for countries like Greece which need foreign investment." Not likely any time soon. China's move on Israel's Haifa port shows how Beijing can make surprising inroads. Israel's Transportation Ministry gave a state-run Chinese company a 25-year contract to run the port without involvement of its National Security Council, according to Haaretz. Yet the port abuts the exit route from an adjacent navy base. (Israel's nuclear-capable submarine fleet is stationed nearby.) U.S. naval ships call there. "The Chinese port operators will be able to monitor closely U.S. ship movements, be aware of maintenance activity, and could have access to equipment moving to and from repair sites," said former U.S. chief of naval operations Gary Roughead at a conference in Haifa last year. "Chinese investment is essential for our economy, but we have to limit it to things that will not affect our national interest or national security," says retired Rear Adm. Shaul Horev, a former Israeli navy chief of staff and now director of the Research Center for Maritime Policy at the University of Haifa. Yet the Haifa deal exemplifies how swiftly and strategically China's Mediterranean plans are moving. Meantime, NATO designed to contain Russia is still struggling to figure out how to deal with China, while EU members are split on the issue and American leadership is strikingly absent. "What's ironic," says Brattberg, "is that a lot of U.S. concerns about China's Belt and Road initiative and the lack of reciprocal access to markets are shared with European countries. China ought to be one issue where U.S./Europeans could work together. But that identity of views hasn't translated into cooperation in dealing with Beijing." Such cooperation would require the United States to galvanize a common position from NATO, European allies, and Israel. Otherwise we may wake up in five years and find that much of the Mediterranean has become a Chinese- (and Russian-) dominated sea. Trudy Rubin (trubin@phillynews.com) is a columnist and editorial-board member for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Her commentary was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. By Gwynne Dyer In a recent survey of potential adult migrants worldwide, 47 million said they would most like to move to Canada. There are only 37 million people in Canada. The case is similar for Australia: 36 million would like to move there; only 25 million do live there. Most of these would-be immigrants are going to be disappointed. In fact, Canada lets in just 300,000 immigrants a year; Australia 200,000. Other developed countries are significantly less popular destinations, but potential migrants amounting to around half the existing populations want to move to the United States, France, Britain, Germany and Spain. They too are going to be disappointed. In its most generous year, 2016, Germany let in a million immigrants, mostly Syrian refugees, but 80 million Germans are never going to let in the 42 million other foreigners who also want to live there. Indeed, former U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said bluntly last November that "Europe has done its part, and must send a very clear message: 'We are not going to be able to continue to provide refuge and support.'" Clinton was mainly concerned about how anxiety about mass immigration has fueled the rise of populism in Western countries. That's hardly surprising, given how Donald Trump's tight focus on the alleged criminal and job-stealing propensities of Latino immigrants won over enough formerly Democratic voters in the Rust Belt states to give him the presidency. It didn't just work for Trump. It helped the Brexiteers win their anti-European Union referendum in the United Kingdom, it brought the populists to power in Italy, and it underpins Viktor Orban's "soft dictatorship" in Hungary (even though Hungary has never let immigrants in, and they don't want to go there anyway). But the fact is that the levels of immigration are not particularly high in the United States and most European countries at the moment. Net migration to the United Kingdom has been stable since 2010; in both the United States and in Germany (with the exception of 2016, in the latter case), net migration is down by half since 2000. Something more is needed to explain the level of anger in these countries. It is, of course, unemployment, which is much higher than the published (official) figures in every case, and is particularly high in the post-industrial areas that voted so heavily for Trump in the United States, for Brexit in Britain, and for ultra-nationalist parties in Germany. In the United States, according to Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute, 17.5 percent of American men of prime working age (24-55) are not working. But unemployment will continue to rise, because it is increasingly being driven by automation. The Rust Belt went first, because assembly lines are the easiest thing in the world to automate, but now Amazon and its friends are destroying the retail jobs, and next to go are the driving jobs (self-driving vehicles). Automation is unstoppable, and the anger will continue to grow. So you can see why Hillary Clinton is concerned, but she seems unaware that the pressure of migration is also going to grow rapidly. According to the U.N.'s International Labor Organization, there are currently 277 million migrants in the world (defined as people who have left their home countries in search of work, or to join their families, or to flee conflicts and persecution). How many more are still in their home countries but would like to leave? At least a billion, maybe two. More than half of Kenyans would immediately move to another country if they could, a 2017 survey by the U.S.-based Pew Research Center discovered. More than a third of Nigerians, Ghanaians and Senegalese are actually planning to emigrate in the next five years, according to the same survey. (Good luck with that!) Even a third of Chinese millionaires would like to emigrate (half if you include moving to Hong Kong as emigration). And all this is before climate change kicks the numbers into the stratosphere. The chief impact of global warming on human beings is going to be on the food supply, which will fall as the temperature rises. And the food shortages will not affect everybody equally: The supply will hold up in the temperate zone (the rich countries), but it will plummet in the tropical and subtropical countries where 70 percent of the world's people live. They will be desperate, and they will start to move. That's when the pressure of migration will really take off, and the rich countries are simply not going to let the climate refugees in. Not only would it stress their food supply too, but the numbers seeking to get in would be so large two or three times the resident population that it would utterly transform the country's character. So the borders will slam shut. It's a myth that you cannot close borders. You can, if you're willing to kill people. (Think of the Iron Curtain, which successfully divided all of Europe for 40 years.) And the rich countries will, in the end, be willing to kill people. Gwynne Dyer (gwynne763121476@aol.com) has worked as a freelance journalist, columnist, broadcaster and lecturer on international affairs for more than 20 years. He is the author of "Growing Pains: The Future of Democracy (and Work)." Nation should step up fight against narcotics The arrest of Robert Holley, a naturalized Korean TV personality, as a suspected drug offender, serves as a serious warning on the spreading use of narcotics in society. It is shocking to see Holley face criminal charges not least because the American-Korean is a lawyer, foreign-born and Mormon who does not drink or smoke for religious reasons. Holley, who has enjoyed popularity, speaking fluent Korean in an attractive Gyeongsang dialect, was taken into custody Monday evening for allegedly purchasing methamphetamines online and using them. He partly admitted the charges, according to police. A urine test conducted Tuesday showed traces of the substance. The related authorities should not regard the case as simple deviation by a popular personality, but take it as an alarm to awaken to the seriousness of the spread of drugs following the recent drug scandals involving celebrities and some scions of owner families of conglomerates, or chaebol. The latest series of drug offenses of some chaebol family members testify to the seriousness of the situation, proving that South Korea is no longer a drug-free country. A grandson of SK Group founder Chey Jong-gun was referred to the prosecution on suspicion of smoking marijuana. A grandson of Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung was also booked without physical detention for using liquid marijuana. Holley's case shows the purchase of drugs has become much easier than it used to be. As shown by him allegedly buying methamphetamines via the internet, anyone can contact drug dealers online and receive their products via international post. The authorities are required to pay attention to liquid marijuana that has emerged as a new popular item favored by youngsters from rich families. Since it was detected for the first time in 2017, the amount of the smuggled narcotic substance tripled, according to police. The law enforcement agencies have been criticized for being too lenient toward drug users believing that they do not harm "others." Some countries such as the Netherlands and Canada do not ban the use of marijuana. However, drugs cause withdrawal symptoms and damage addicts mentally and physically. We should go all-out to regain the status as a drug-free country. Success will depend on how to secure outlays The country can no longer delay providing free education for high school students. That is why the Moon Jae-in administration has decided to begin this program for seniors in the fall semester this year. The government and ruling party made the decision Tuesday. They plan to expand free schooling to second-year students in 2020 and freshmen in 2021. If the plan is implemented as scheduled, the country will achieve its goal of free education for all students at primary, middle and high schools. President Moon's commitment to full-blown free education is part of his efforts to create an "inclusive" nation in which every citizen can enjoy equal opportunities and a fair share of the economic pie. It reflects his strong determination to ensure that education is a long-term investment for the future. Some critics may dismiss the free education plan as a populist policy to woo voters ahead of next year's general election. Yet they should realize free education is a basic right stipulated in the Constitution. Delaying this right is tantamount to a violation of the supreme law. It is also a dereliction of duty on the part of the government. It is shameful that South Korea is the only country in the OECD, a club of 35 rich countries, which does not provide high school education free of charge. Currently, the state covers elementary and middle school education. The country has continued to delay the provision of free education for high school students, citing the lack of a budget. It is time for change. It is natural for the government to take care of not only primary but also secondary education. In this sense, time has long passed for the state to provide free-of-charge schooling for high school students. Currently, 99.7 percent of middle school graduates go to high school. This means high school education has become a must. The provision of free education will help a family with a high school student save about 1.58 million won ($1,317) a year. This saved money will have an effect of increasing its monthly disposable income by 130,000 won. Now the problem is how to share the burden for free education which requires 385 billion won this year, 1.38 trillion won in 2020 and 1.99 trillion won in 2021. The Moon administration plans to let the state coffers cover 47.5 percent of the bill, while 17 provincial and municipal education offices will take the same portion. The remaining 5 percent will go to local administrations. The central government and local authorities should map out measures to ensure the sustainability of the free education plan by securing stable budgetary means. The plan must also serve as a turning point in normalizing dilapidated school education. Teachers, students and parents are eager to see the plan succeed at all cost. Samsung Display CEO Lee Dong-hoon, right, and Mobile Business Senior Vice President Yoo Jeong-il pose with a mockup of a foldable display panel in a ceremony to celebrate the successful shipments of the product for foldable devices at its production line in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, Tuesday. The firm said Wednesday that its foldable screens will be used for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Fold. / Courtesy of Samsung Display APTNER mobile phone application offers apartment residents various convenient functions to live in large housing complexes. / Courtesy of APTNER APTNER app changes apartment management from analog to digital By Jun Ji-hye An apartment complex is one of the most common types of residence in Korea, but various problems such as complaints about noise inevitably come up as a lot of people are living there together. Kwon Hae-suk, founder and CEO of APTNER, said in a recent interview with The Korea Times that an apartment complex involves a wide variety of people including residents, construction companies and local governments. The absence of communication between them makes those problems worse, he said. The idea led him to develop the APTNER mobile phone application with three colleagues in September 2017. "APTNER aims to be a living portal platform, bringing together residents as well as those from management offices, construction firms and local governments," he said. "The app helps all people involved communicate more easily and efficiently, while offering various convenient functions that residents need to live in large housing complexes." Kwon Hae-suk, founder and CEO of APTNER, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the firm's office in Seoul, April 2. / Courtesy of APTNER Discover the health and beauty benefits of Moroccan Blue Tansy Beauty trends come and go. What is deemed the hottest ingredient one moment is soon surpassed by another thats said to be even better. However, the latest star of the skincare industry, blue tansy (Tanacetum annuum), looks set to become a mainstay due to its ability to calm inflamed skin and emotions. For the skin, its anti-microbial, anti-fungal and anti-allergenic properties are making it a go-to for those suffering from inflamed conditions such as eczema, dermatitis and psoriasis. For the emotions, blue tansy is, in fact, from the chamomile family (think Roman and German chamomile), so you can expect it to be calming; yet its sweet smell is also uplifting. Blue tansys deep, complex herbaceous floral aroma instantly calms and soothes the nervous system, working double-duty for the skin while also helping to calm the emotions. Sometimes called Moroccan chamomile or Moroccan tansy, the essential oil extracted from it is at the centre of all the fuss. The steam distillation process, which extracts the revered oil from the plants leaves, yellow flowers and stems, produces a rich, cobalt blue. That deep blue hue While chamazulene is an aromatic chemical compound that gives all chamomile oils their colours, the plant itself doesnt contain it its only formed through the steam distillation process, which is why the blue tansy plant isnt actually blue. A sesquiterpene compound called matricin, found naturally in the aerial parts of chamomile plants, goes through a reaction when its in the presence of water vapour at high temperatures. The reaction product is chamazulene, resulting in the deep blue hue. Of all the chamomile essential oils, blue tansy boasts the most chamazulene, which, besides its colour, also gives the oil its touted skin-soothing properties. However, remember that with great power comes responsibility, says doTERRA essential oils managing scientist, Nicole Stevens. There is so much chamazulene in blue tansy that the oil can actually stain skin and surfaces blue, so it must be used carefully. Natural skincare formulator and celebrity favourite Josh Rosebrook agrees. Blue tansy is an incredible, therapeutic, skin-benefitting ingredient. Its very healing for the skin in specific concentrations in a formula. Restraint by the formulator must be used, he says. Moroccan chamomile has a potent anti-inflammatory benefit that assists clearing eczema and psoriasis conditions, which are essentially inflammation. The aromatheraputic benefits are extremely healing. Rosebrook, who uses the oil in his products, says blue tansys deep, complex herbaceous floral aroma instantly calms and soothes the nervous system, working double-duty for the skin while also helping to calm the emotions. An essential oil trend In a quest to discover the next big anti-ageing and beautyifying ingredient, its not surprising the attention has turned to yet another contender. However, according to Kindred Toxin Free Facials senior therapist and owner, Natalie Sellars, blue tansys time in the spotlight is also due to growing interest in the natural beauty industry and because consumers are looking for something unique they havent seen before. Ingredients like blue tansy are starting to be recognised as powerful, natural alternatives in products, she says. It has amazing soothing properties for inflamed skin conditions like dermatitis, but also as our skin becomes more prone to environmental stressors, this ingredient is a great one for helping support our skin daily. For those who regularly suffer from blemishes and breakouts, its an oil to have at arms reach. The chamazulenes anti-inflammatory and calming abilities are excellent for acne-prone or sensitive skin. Ancient beginnings While Morocco claims blue tansy as its own, its widely believed the ancient Greeks were the first to discover the many medicinal benefits of the plant. Meanwhile, Benedictine monks relied on it to expel intestinal worms. They also used it for fevers, digestive upsets, rheumatism and even to support the body through a measles outbreak. It has also been used to treat gout. In his 1964 book Poisonous Plants of the United States and Canada, John Merriam Kingsbury described how tansy was used in high doses to abort foetuses, yet its also documented as an aid for those wanting to conceive and prevent miscarriages, according to Richard LeStranges A History of Herbal Plants. The Cherokee Indians used an infusion of the plant to treat backaches and tied it around their waist and placed it in their shoes to prevent miscarriages. It was also used to treat dizziness and weakness. Know what youre looking for While our ancestors did take tansy internally, theres good reason to apply caution if you plan to follow suit. If taken internally, it has been found that toxic metabolites are produced as the oil is broken down in the liver and digestive tract. With various species in the tansy family, its important to know exactly what youre looking for if youre keen to bring blue tansy into your beauty routine, especially if you decided to buy the oil instead of formulated products that contain it. Many tansies contain a volatile oil, and, if youre sensitive, topical use could result in contact dermatitis. Blue tansy, or Tanacetum annuum, is often confused with common tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), which contains thujone best known as a chemical compound found in the spirit, absinthe. However, it does not include blue tansys skin-soothing chamazulene. Some less-than-ethical essential oil wholesalers have been known to adulterate the highly priced blue tansy with the much cheaper common tansy. However, its important to note that the latter does not have the signature deep blue hue. In his Essential Oil Safety textbook, Robert Tisserand warns against internal use. Toxic signs produced by tansy oil poisoning include convulsions, irregular heartbeat, vomiting, rigid pupils, gastroenteritis, uterine bleeding, flushing, hepatitis, cramps, loss of consciousness and rapid breathing (Grieve 1978), he writes. Blue Tansy essential oil use can also result in possible skin sensitivity. Always keep out of the reach of children. If you are pregnant, consult a qualified physician before using. Avoid contact with the eyes, inner ears and sensitive areas. It may also stain surfaces, fabrics and skin. A multi-purpose oil While blue tansy is undoubtedly a beauty must-have, it really is a multi-purpose oil says aromatherapist, health educator and founder of essential oil company Twenty8, Kim Morrison. The author of the bestselling aromatherapy book Like Chocolate for Women says its also one to keep in the medicine cabinet during allergy season, as it can help to neutralise histamine production. For those who regularly suffer from blemishes and breakouts, its an oil to have at arms reach. The chamazulenes anti-inflammatory and calming properties are excellent for acne-prone or sensitive skin. It is one of the best oils to use in a foot bath for fungal infections like athletes foot, Morrison says. It also has analgesic qualities and in a massage blend would make an excellent pain reliever for sciatica, backache, nerve inflammation and muscle spasms. Used alongside healing oils like eucalyptus, pine and tea-tree, it can also help relieve many respiratory conditions such as coughs, colds, flu and asthma, she adds. Especially when used in a diffuser or in a good old-fashioned inhalation with the towel over the head. Just remember, like all essential oils, blue tansy should not be ingested or applied undiluted without advanced essential oil education or under the guise of a qualified aromatherapy practitioner. For the skin, Morrison recommends adding a drop or two of blue tansy to your favourite natural skincare product, or simply to a cold-pressed carrier oil such as coconut to help soothe and clear congested skin. It has an incredible ability to reduce redness, itchiness and swelling with skin conditions like eczema and dermatitis, she says. Mind, body, spirit Just as the oil fosters skin healing, it also supports you emotionally and spiritually, says Jocelyn Oades, founder, healer and skincare expert at New Zealand eco sanctuary, Earth Spa. Known by some as the oil of inspired action, its an enticing oil that supports your desire to be responsible for your full potential, says Oades. It acts as a catalyst when you need to make changes, and helps you follow through, she says. Because of its sweet, soft aroma, like the other chamomile oils its also relaxing and supports your bodys systems for emotional stability. I love to use blue tansy on my lower back, or any area to soothe aches, she adds. Placing a drop on my hand and pressing on my neck and decolletage is a refreshing way to calm and regulate breathing, while feeling my passion for life. Because of the inspired action and motivation effect of this oil, I also love to rub it over my solar plexus. Blue tansy and Chinese medicine Known in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) as a qi regulator, blue tansy is one of the best oils for treating conditions of general qi the circulating life force at the basis of Chinese philosophy and medicine constraint, says TCM practitioner, aromatherapist and educator, Peter Holmes. [In this context the] body and mind are tense, reactive, irritable and tend to heat and immediately respond to stress in an injurious way. The result is systemic qi stagnation and constraint, Holmes says. Typical symptoms that can arise in this type of individual can be tension, pain, heat and hypersensitivity. Allergies with acute inflammation, which in TCM are known as classic modern wind-heat conditions, stem from constrained qi. No other oil comes close to blue tansys ability to address them, Holmes says. In atopic asthma from stress, where the liver qi invades the lung, causing it to accumulate instead of descend, blue tansy is excellent. Even without the support of other lung-qi descending oils such as hyssop and thyme. He also says it can be used to treat unexplained psychosomatic aches and pains, as well as rheumatic or neuralgic pain. For hay fever, sinusitis and middle ear inflammations, Holmes recommends using blue tansy in steam inhalations, along with lavender essential oil. Headaches and sciatica will be relieved with it. Blue tansy is one of the best oils for depression with anxiety, or agitated forms of depression. Choosing your blue tansy While essential oil companies worldwide may market their blue tansy as the best to buy, its imperative to know whether the supplier is reputable and trusted, Sellars says. I only use blue tansy products from aromatherapists and skincare chemists I trust. These practitioners have the skills to ascertain the quality of the oils and only work with the highest grade and quality similarly, do your research: there are several resources online that can help you find information on reputable blue tansy suppliers. Oades also says its vital that blue tansy is sourced in its natural Moroccan environment. It is harvested here to produce the highest-quality oil in its purest form. The importance of having the Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade certification is that the oil is grown, harvested and distilled with the indigenous people who know the growing cycle and conditions needed for the oil to be pure and unadulterated, she says. Dilution Blue tansy essential oil should not be used neat and should always be diluted with a carrier oil, advises Sellars. Dilution increases the amount of skin on which the oil is applied and absorbed, adds Stevens. It also enhances absorption through dry skin and minimises possible sensitivities. It is never wrong to dilute oils, especially when using oils with a more potent chemistry, Stevens adds. She says a good place to start when diluting oils is with a range of one drop of essential oil to between one and five drops of carrier oil. Contraindications If you are pregnant, you should always check with your doctor before using any products containing blue tansy. It can sometimes interfere with medications like antibiotics, antidepressants or antihistamines, so check with your GP, Sellars says. German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) shakes hands with British Prime Minister Theresa May at the German Chancellery in Berlin, capital of Germany, on April 9, 2019. British Prime Minister Theresa May visited Berlin on Tuesday to discuss a way out of the deadlock of the Brexit process with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi) LONDON, April 9 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May returned to London on Tuesday night at the end of a day of whistle-stop diplomacy in her race to win a delay to the country's departure from the European Union (EU). As May was holding talks in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron, a team of her top ministers were negotiating in London with Labour's Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and leading shadow ministers from the main opposition party. Media in London reported on Tuesday that European Council President Donald Tusk has written to all 27 EU member state leaders urging them to offer Britain a flexible extension to the article 50 process of up to one year. It would allow Britain to leave at any point within that period. May heads to Brussels Wednesday almost certainly feeling comforted that a Friday no-deal departure deadline has been averted. But the EU is likely to insist on a string of conditions to enable Britain to stay as a member of the bloc while it seeks its elusive departure deal. Article 50 is the EU mechanism that sets a timetable for a country wishing to leave the bloc. May's strategy was boosted by a vote in the House of Commons on Tuesday when MPs voted by 420 to 110 to request an extension of article 50 until June 30, a comfortable majority of 310. The cross party talks in Westminster, looking to break the impasse that has so far blocked the House of Commons finding majority support for a Brexit deal, concluded Tuesday night. Although no consensus has yet been reached between the ruling Conservatives and their rivals, the Labour Party, both said later there was hope of progress being made. The Environment Secretary Michael Gove said the talks with Labour had been open and constructive, but the two sides differed on a number of areas. Labour's Rebecca Long Bailey, who took part in the latest round of talks, said they were hopeful progress will be made. Bailey, who is the Shadow Business Secretary, said discussions with the government will continue in the coming days. A Labour Party spokesperson said after the talks: "We had further detailed and wide-ranging talks with cabinet ministers and officials today. We have yet to see the clear shift in the government's position that is needed to secure a compromise agreement." The two sides have agreed to hold further talks on Thursday in an effort to break the Brexit deadlock, and find a compromise that can win support in Parliament and bring the country together, said the spokesperson. Labour is holding out for a consensus Brexit deal that keeps Britain linked in some way to the European Customs Union and the European Single Market. Conservative Brexit-supporting politicians want to ensure Britain is free to strike its own trade deals by leaving the customs union and the single market. Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, sent a letter Tuesday to leading Conservatives that a customs union for Britain would be the "worst of both worlds" and would leave Britain unable to set its own trade policy. In his four-page letter, Fox said: "We would be stuck in the worst of both worlds, not only unable to set our own international trade policy but subject, without representation, to the policy of an entity over which MPs would have no democratic control. This is something that Labour do not presently seem to understand." Fox claimed countries that negotiated new free trade agreements with the EU would have automatic access to the British market with Britain having no reciprocal access. May needs to win backing on Wednesday for a delayed Brexit from an emergency meeting of the EU Council, made up of the leaders of the remaining 27 member states. With both sides faced with the prospect of Britain crashing out of the bloc on Friday with no deal, May now looks almost certain to win the crucial delay she desperately needs to give her more time to convince a squabbling House of Commons to back a Brexit deal. Kim Seong-keun, a professor of chemistry at Seoul National University who chairs Samsung Science and Technology Foundation, speaks during a news conference in Seoul, Wednesday. / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics By Jun Ji-hye Samsung Electronics will invest 61.7 billion won ($54 million) in the first half of the year in 44 research projects including pioneering studies to find new engineering solutions to environmental pollution as well as breakthrough projects in artificial intelligence (AI), the company said Wednesday. The tech giant said the research projects chosen for funding this time are not only aimed at nurturing future technologies including AI, robotics and fifth-generation (5G) networks, but also aimed at helping improve the quality of human life as the projects include measures to handle today's challenges such as environmental issues and incurable diseases. The firm said in a media conference that the fund will be invested in 16 research projects in basic science, 11 in materials technology and 17 in information and communications technology. Samsung Electronics set up Samsung Science and Technology Foundation in charge of basic science, as well as Samsung Research Funding & Incubation Center for Future Technology in charge of materials technology, and information and communication technologies in August 2013 to support various research projects. The firm has so far invested a total 666.7 billion won in 517 research projects from universities and public research institutes here, backing up challenging and creative research projects that have had difficulty receiving financial support from the government. "Our goal is to support building the foundation for future science and technology," said Kim Seong-keun, a professor of chemistry at Seoul National University. Kim was named as chairman of Samsung Science and Technology Foundation by the foundation's board of directors, Tuesday. "We hope to make a lasting contribution to society by advancing basic science, bringing innovations and redefining the technology industry," he said. Research projects include a study to repair DNA damage caused by various external environments such as radiation and virus. The study will be carried out by a research team of Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, the firm said, noting that the recovery mechanism is expected to contribute to developing new cancer drugs. In the field of materials technology, a research team of Sungkyunkwan University will carry out a study on developing a filter capable of purifying polluted water of contaminants such as heavy metals at once. The results of the study can contribute to reducing the size of water treatment plants. Research projects in information and communications technology will deal with core Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies such as AI, machine learning and quantum computers. A research team of Yonsei University will develop word conversion algorithm and censors applied to the skin, which will help the hearing-impaired communicate more easily. Conservative media commentator and Stamford native Candace Owens exchanged barbs and ideas during a UConn event billed as a "Campus Clash" Tuesday night, according to WFSB. The event was supported by Turning Point USA, a right-leaning, nonprofit organization which brought in Owens and other conservatives for a speaking engagement the university, WFSB said. Although no arrests were made, the talk lived up to its name with some tense exchanges between speakers and spectators, reports said. How dare you, say that Im now in a place where Im coming back to my hometown to preach white supremacist ideas? Its so intellectually dishonest that it makes me upset, but it also encourages me. Heres the only thing Ive actually said: black people dont have to be democrats, Owens told the crowd. Owens, who attended Stamford High School, came into the national spotlight as a voice for black conservatives after she created YouTube videos espousing her views and was hired by Turning Point USA, which promotes conservatism on college campuses. She told the Hearst Connecticut Media in 2018 that she opposes abortion and advocates for the end of welfare, although she has family on it. She's a commentator for Fox News and has been invited to speak with President Donald Trump. Monday's event at UConn drew protesters outside, but overall the conversation inside went well, one UConn junior told WFSB. They talked about calling people names on the left and the right and everyone that went up there, there was some heckling from a couple things they said, but for the most part, no one was yelled at. It was good conversation," he said. Earlier this year, Owens took some heat for a comment she made at the conservative Political Action Conference, sponsored each year by the American Conservative Union. America is not a racist country, she said after once winning a Connecticut lawsuit as a victim of racism. Owens family received a $37,500 settlement from the Stamford Board of Education after she accused a group of teens of leaving her threatening and racist messages while she was a high school student in 2007. Stop selling us our own oppression, said Owens, a Stamford High School grad. Stop taking away our self-confidence by telling us that we cant because of racism, because of slavery. Ive never been a slave in this country. A new survey of natural gas pipelines in Danbury and other Connecticut cities shows methane is seeping into the air from underground pipes and could cause a disaster similar to the explosions last year that rocked three Massachusetts towns. Its just a matter of rate and time and situation that determines if any of these leaks are going to be dangerous, said Nathan Phillips, a University of Boston professor who participated in the study conducted for the Connecticut Chapter of the Sierra Club. The study found an average of 3.6 leaks per mile of underground gas lines in Danbury. The Hartford results showed an average of 4.3 leaks per mile and 2.6 leaks per mile in New London. The potential for what happened in the Merrimack Valley [in Massachusetts] exists in Connecticut, Phillips said. It was the same kind of low pressure gas line that the study surveyed. Last September, exploding underground gas lines in Massachusetts damaged as many as 40 homes and caused over 80 individual fires in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover. The cause of the explosions was blamed on human error related to nearby construction work. Sierra Club members and others said its time to strengthen laws regarding leaks while transitioning from carbon-based energy sources to renewable energy. This report shows again that Connecticut has a real problem with gas leaking from pipes, and that we urgently need legislation that incentivizes gas companies to repair this ongoing hazard, said Leah Lopez Schmalz, chief program officer for the Connecticut Fund for the Environment. Mitch Gross, an Eversource spokesman, said the company has a comprehensive maintenance, inspection and management program that exceeds the requirements of federal and state regulators. We constantly monitor our system and are always evaluating new technologies, processes and industry best practices to provide superior customer service, Gross said. Street by street To conduct the study, researchers attached a methane detection device on vehicles and drove streets in each city. The detector can tell the difference between natural methane levels in the air and spikes caused by leaks. The leaks are invisible and are not being proactively monitored or repaired, said Samantha Dynowski, executive director of the Connecticut Chapter of the Sierra Club. An earlier survey by the Sierra Club found similar leak frequency levels in Hartford. Martha Klein, a past Sierra Club president, said the state has not improved leak regulation or detection since the clubs previous study. The reaction to our original study was pretty much to deny it, Klein said. Gross said Eversource has invested millions of dollars to upgrade and replace pipelines. Eversource does not serve Hartford but it does provide gas to Danbury and New London residents. We safely and reliably serve 74 of the states 169 towns and cities, continuing to invest tens of millions of dollars annually to upgrade the gas distribution system throughout our service area, Gross said. Gross noted the company has replaced more than 175 miles of gas lines around the state since 2012, including lines in Danbury and New London. The work included removing the cast iron and bare steel gas main and replacing it with safer plastic pipe, he said. There are problems with the methodology used in the Sierra Clubs earlier study, said Michael Caron, a spokesman for the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority. Caron said residents should not worry about a similar pipeline disaster in Connecticut, noting the state has a strict regulatory format in place and said a recent rate case for the states three gas providers committed the companies to a 25 year program to replace older lines with safer plastic ones. We have an excellent safety program with redundant mechanisms, Caron said. What happened [in Massachusetts] is not going to happen here, Caron said. We have a good relationship in terms of cooperation with the companies. We inspect randomly, and we try to make sure they identify what they should. Another reminder Debbie New, who represents a collation of over 20 groups worried about gas leaks in Massachusetts, said shes concerned about the regions aging gas pipeline infrastructure. The collapse of the gas system that is still affecting the Merrimack Valley could happen in any city or state with any gas company, New said. Our aging infrastructure is creating more gas leaks than utilities can fix increasing emissions, affecting our health, killing trees, and costing us, the customers, money, New said. Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin also expressed concern over leak rates highlighted by the report. This report is another reminder of how vital it is to make renewable energy development a national priority, Bronin said. At the local level, were pursuing a bold Climate Action Plan, but we need a broader effort to modernize the existing energy infrastructure, the mayor said. bcummings@ctpost.com Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jae-kap, second from left, discusses with European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom, second from right, issues concerning Korea not adopting key ILO conventions in Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap WESTPORT The Wayfinding Steering Committee is seeking public input for the Downtown Wayfinding Project through a survey. The committee is working with Merje, a national wayfinding design firm tasked with creating a master plan for downtown Westport and the gateways to town. The aim is to help guide motorists and pedestrians to popular attractions, parking and destinations. Merje is currently working on the wayfinding analysis element of the program, which will identify town gateways and destinations, and will provide initial recommendations on digital tools, and best practices for signage type and location. The information collected from the survey will assist in the analysis and in creating schematic designs to be presented to the steering committee. Glen Swantak, principal of Pennsylvania-based Merje, shared first impressions of Westport at a Wayfinding Information Session in February. At its core this is a marketing project, Swantak said during that presentation. Merje has created wayfinding infrastructure for many large and small municipalities, including New Orleans, Miami Beach and in Connecticut New Haven and Norwalk. This project is an important step in assuring the economic vitality of Westport, and in particular its downtown area, Steering Committee Chair and Selectwoman Melissa Kane said. We are hoping for broad participation in the survey, and are in the process of speaking to many stakeholders, in order to gather a realistic view of what we need to provide better direction to and how best to provide it. The survey will be open until April 17. The first step toward an approved pedestrian refuge island on La Jolla Boulevard near the intersection of Mira Monte should begin within 90 days, Council member Barbara Brys representative, Mauricio Medina, told the Bird Rock Community Council (BRCC) at its April 2 meeting. Medina reported that an order was issued by the City in late March to start with a temporary island constructed of stanchions. These are stanchions we can all get behind, Medina joked to laughter from the audience, referring to the hotly contested stanchions at the foot of Playa del Norte. The idea of a refuge island a place for pedestrians to safely stand if traffic will not allow them to make it all the way across the crosswalk was propsed to the La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Board last year by resident Zoe Kleinbub, then passed by the La Jolla Community Planning Association. Medina told the audience that a permanent concrete island, with flashing lights, still needs funding, so theyre waiting on that. However, he added, I think theyre amenable to doing it in 2019, which is encouraging. The intersection of La Jolla Boulevard and Mira Monte is shown before work begins on the refuge island. (COREY LEVITAN) Forward Street drainage There has been no solution proposed for what locals have coined Lake Forward, the uncomfortably sizable body of water that forms on the east side of La Jolla Boulevard at Forward Street whenever it rains heavily. However, the City Storm Water Division has acknowledged a problem, which BRCC secretary Barbara Dunbar said is huge, because the problem preceded the roundabouts. (At the time, Dunbar said, BRCC asked for a storm drain to be installed there and we were told, emphatically, no because the water would then go into the ocean and contaminate the ocean and potentially cause cliff-erosion problems.) The latest wrinkle is that the weight of the water may be exacerbating this problem and causing others.The perception is that the road is dropping further, and I think thats probably true, Dunbar said, noting complaints from people who claim their cars are bottoming-out as when they turn right onto Forward Street from northbound La Jolla Boulevard.Something has changed in that area over the last several months, Dunbar said. In other BRCC news Benches coming! By the end of 2019, four new mosaic art benches, by artist Jane Wheeler, will be installed along La Jolla Boulevard. Bird Rock Coffee Roasters has sponsored two medium-large benches, a smaller memorial bench has already been installed near 5637 La Jolla Blvd. and a larger memorial bench is scheduled to be placed north of that. By the end of 2019, four new mosaic art benches, by artist Jane Wheeler, will be installed along La Jolla Boulevard. Bird Rock Coffee Roasters has sponsored two medium-large benches, a smaller memorial bench has already been installed near 5637 La Jolla Blvd. and a larger memorial bench is scheduled to be placed north of that. Foundation gala: The annual Bird Rock Foundation Gala and Silent Auction is Saturday, April 13 at the Estancia La Jolla Hotel, 9700 N. Torrey Pines Road. Tickets, $135, at birdrockfoundation.org The annual Bird Rock Foundation Gala and Silent Auction is Saturday, April 13 at the Estancia La Jolla Hotel, 9700 N. Torrey Pines Road. Tickets, $135, at birdrockfoundation.org MAD at bad drivers: Dunbar reported an upcoming quarterly inspection of the Maintenance Assessment District (MAD) this month. At that time, were going to follow up with the City regarding safety issues and enhanced visibility at the traffic-calming sections of the hardscape. BRCC requested additional yellow striping around the perimeters of the roundabouts, as well as additional reflectorized dots. Those simple things actually make a huge difference reducing the drive-overs and accidents that we have. Bird Rock Community Council next meets 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 7 at Bird Rock Elementary School, 5371 La Jolla Hermosa Ave. Last month, California emerged from drought conditions for the first time since December 11, 2011, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, breaking a 376-week streak. In response, the California Department of Water Resources increased the amount of water delivered from its State Water Project storage system from 35 percent of contractor requests, which it announced in February, to 70 percent. So can La Jolla residents similarly up their water use? Thats the last thing they should do, experts say, and it explains why munipical drought restrictions three-day weekly lawn-watering, recycled water for ornamental fountains, water served in restaurants only upon request have not and will not be lifted. San Diegos total average rainfall is projected to decrease in the long-term, explained Scripps Institution of Oceanography climate researcher Julie Kalansky, with as much as an 8 percent rain reduction in the next 30 years. Kalansky was the lead author of the San Diego section of Californias Fourth Climate Change Assessment. Published in August 2018, the report summarized recent climate research, including work sponsored by the California Natural Resources Agency and California Energy Commission. According to Kalansky, its hard to say whether any one singular weather event such as this winters unusually heavy rain results from man-made climate change, but what weve experienced recently is representative of what the climate projections are predicting. Those projections, Kalansky said, show wet seasons that are shorter and dryer, yet punctuated by more severe downpours. (The average wettest day every five years is expected to be between 10-25 percent wetter.) This is largely due to more intense atmospheric rivers filaments of dense moisture transported from the tropics. At the same time, however, the swings between wet and dry years are going to get much bigger, Kalansky said, with more frequent and intense dry events as well. So no, Californias drought is not permanently over. Kalansky said the next one is not only inevitable, but will probably be worse because hotter average temperatures up between 5 to 10 degrees by the end of the 21st century will dry up vegetation faster. In other words, more floods and fire risk. But there is some good news amid all this bad. On Feb. 28, 2008, then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger set a 2020 goal to reduce per-capita water use by 20 percent. We blew that away, said San Diego County Water Authority principal water resources specialist Jeff Stephenson, reporting that the Countys water usage is down more than 40 percent since then. Going forward, I anticipate water use staying far beneath the levels it used to be, Stephenson said. Its become a lifestyle for most people. Even though San Diegos population is projected to increase 25 percent by 2050 (from 3 million to 4 million, according to 2017 projections from the California Department of Finance), Stephenson said that, according to the Water Authoritys assessment in the 2015 Urban Water Management Plan, water supplies will meet demands through the year 2040 in its service area. The US and Canadas housing markets have traded places since the debt crisis a decade ago, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a report last week. In its latest Global Financial Stability Report, the IMF said that the US housing market has a lower risk of crisis today, thanks to lower household debt levels and home prices that are better aligned with household incomes. Conversely, Canadas housing market has grown riskier over the past two years, with risk levels similar to those seen during the 2008 financial crisis. However, the good news is that Canadian policymakers measures over the past several years, particularly foreign buyers taxes and tougher mortgage rules, are the right ones to prevent a debt crisis, the IMF said. Many housing markets around the world are becoming less stable due to the inflow of cash from foreign buyers, the IMFs report said. Money from foreigners buying individual homes, for instance, seems to be associated with higher home prices in the short term and more downside risks to home prices in the medium term in advanced economies. In Canadas case, the IMFs report showed that foreign money had done more to destabilize Toronto and Calgarys housing market than Vancouvers, which is generally thought of as being the most influenced by foreign money. The foreign buyers tax measures provincial governments introduced for Toronto and Vancouver might alleviate overvaluation pressure in these housing markets and reduce downside risks, the report said. However, the fact that different markets react differently to these measures suggests that their broader impact may be limited. Another way to reduce a housing markets risk is through macroprudential measures, such as reducing how much homebuyers can borrow relative to their income, the IMF said. That is what the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions did when it introduced the mortgage stress test, reducing the maximum amount homebuyers can borrow by around 20%, according to a HuffPost report. A unique partnership has been announced between British Columbias real estate brokerage regulator and the federal financial intelligence agency. Real Estate Council of British Columbia (RECBC) and the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) have signed a memorandum of understanding which will see the two organizations work together to fight money laundering in BC real estate. "RECBC is proud to become the first real estate regulator in Canada to partner with FINTRAC, said RECBC Chair Elain Duvall. By working together we can play an important role in the efforts to stop money laundering and terrorist financing, helping to ensure that British Columbians can have confidence in the real estate services they receive." The goal is to make British Columbias real estate sector unattractive to money launderers and curb the criminal activity that it facilitates. Compliance, education RECBC will have greater ability to ensure compliance of real estate brokerages in reporting suspicious activity. The two organizations will also work together to monitor trends and develop education programmes to support their anti-money-laundering activities. The two organizations will share information pursuant to the Real Estate Services Act enforced by RECBC as well as compliance information pursuant to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act enforced by FINTRAC. Feast your eyes Wahoos Fish Tacos closed last December, but the ocean vibe will sail on at 637 Pearl St., set to open in late April as Cruisers Sub Shop. Brother-and-sister owners Kris Shea and Kathy Sandler hired Natalie Bessell the La Jolla artist behind the mural on the Pannikin patio to adorn the east-facing side of their new eatery. Shes kind of touching the sun, which is reflecting, Bessell said of her as-yet-untitled mural on April 8. Shes kind of less figurative and more like the spirit of the ocean. Bessell said the piece which took 80 hours to design and paint was inspired by Pucci fabric, and features retro pastels to complement the 70s vibe of the remodeled restaurants interior. La Jolla will be the second location for Cruisers Subs, which Sandler and Shea, a former La Jolla resident, established in 2011 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Holocaust survivors gather in La Jolla Yom HaShoah, the largest annual gathering of Holocaust Survivors in San Diego, will take place 1:30 p.m. Sunday, April 28 at La Jollas Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, 4126 Executive Drive. Organized by the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, the gathering will feature prayers, songs, a candle-lighting ceremony and other presentations. There is great anxiety in the field of Holocaust education as to what we will do when all the survivors are gone, said featured speaker Heather Maio-Smith of Conscience Display, a software company specializing in interactive digital storytelling. I couldnt imagine a world in which my grandchildren would not be able to ask a Holocaust survivor their questions. The event is free and open to the public. (858) 571-3444. La Jolla Playhouse growing its own playwrights A new joint initiative between La Jolla Playhouse and UC San Diegos graduate theater department promises to professionally develop writers graduated from the universitys masters of fine arts (MFA) playwriting program. The initiative launched last month with commissions awarded to 2019 graduates Steph Del Rosso and Ava Geyer. This new program strengthens the great bond between UC San Diego and the Playhouse, and guarantees that each MFA playwriting graduate will continue to have a relationship with us as they enter the professional world, said Christopher Ashley, the Playhouses artistic director. Graduates of the program include Lauren Yee, writer of several off-Broadway and regional works. Later this year, her play, Cambodian Rock Band, will have its San Diego debut at the Playhouse. I Love a Clean SD needs you to love it, too I Love a Clean San Diego (ILACSD) seeks 6,000 volunteers to help clean and beautify local beaches, waterways, canyons and parks, 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 27 during its 17th Annual Creek to Bay Cleanup. Volunteering at the Creek to Bay Cleanup creates more than just a cleaner San Diego, said ILACSD marketing coordinator Becca Kuntz. It builds a sense of community between neighbors, cultivates civic pride, and empowers individuals to make a difference where they live. To volunteer, register under Zone 3 cleanup sites which include La Jolla Shores and Windansea Beach at creektobay.org or call (619) 291-0103. Brain summit begins April 26 The Brain Summit, a conference on brain health will be held April 26-28 at the Sanctuary Wellness Experience, 1955 Cable St. in Ocean Beach. We all know someone who struggles with mental illness, addiction, traumatic brain injury, emotionally charged trauma or Alzheimers, said Tracy Duhs, owner of the Sanctuary Wellness Experience. The pressing question is, how do we help? The panel will feature neurological specialists Goeffrey Montague-Smith, Ginger Nash and Paula Rochelle. Registration costs $599. thebrainsummitsd.com Chelsea Clinton to speak at UCSD First daughter Chelsea Clinton, Girl Scouts CEO Sylvia Acevedo and astrophysicist Jedidah Isler will be the panelists at this years UC San Diegos Women in Leadership program hosted by UCSDs Sally Ride Science on May 22. Women in Leadership celebrates Sallys life by reflecting on the things she cared about, said Tam OShaughnessy, Sally Rides life partner and co-founder of Sally Ride Science, who conceived the series. For this years program, I sought out panelists who could offer insight on what it takes for women to become leaders the barriers they face and the mindset that allows them to succeed. The event, 6:30 p.m. May 22 at UCSDs Price Center, is free and open to the public with pre-registration (https://bit.ly/2CioA9w). At 3:30 p.m., Clinton will hold a book signing at the university bookstore. Compiled by Corey Levitan from local reports Internship Data Science, Seibersdorf, Austria Organization: IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency Country: Austria Field location: Seibersdorf, Austria Office: IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency in Seibersdorf Closing date: Friday, 3 May 2019 Duration 12 months (shorter duration is possible), start date as soon as possible. Working Time Model Full-time (part-time arrangement possible if necessary) Internships The IAEA accepts a limited number of interns each year. The internships are awarded to persons studying towards a university degree or who have recently received a degree (see Internship web pages for further details). The purpose of the programme is: To provide interns with the opportunity to gain practical work experience in line with their studies or interests, and expose them to the work of the IAEA and the United National as a whole; To benefit the IAEAs programmes through the assistance of qualified students specialized in various professional fields. The duration of an internship is normally not less than three months and not more than one year. Organizational Setting The Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications implements the IAEAs Major Programme 2, "Nuclear Techniques for Development and Environmental Protection". This Major Programme comprises individual programmes on food and agriculture, human health, water resources, environment and radiation technologies. These programmes are supported by laboratories in Seibersdorf, Monaco and Vienna. The Major Programmes objective is to enhance the capacity of Member States to meet basic human needs and to assess and manage the marine and terrestrial environments through the use of nuclear and isotopic techniques in sustainable development programmes. The Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture assists Member States of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the IAEA in using nuclear techniques and related technologies to improve food security, alleviate poverty and promote sustainable agriculture. The Joint Division consists of five Sections, each with an associated laboratory (located in Seibersdorf, 45 km south-east of Vienna), in the areas of: animal production and health; plant breeding and genetics; insect pest control; soil and water management and crop nutrition; and food and environmental protection. The Plant Breeding and Genetics Section and Laboratory assist Member States with the development of mutation induction methodologies and integrated applications of mutation breeding techniques for crop improvement and biodiversity, contributing to the sustainable intensification of crop production systems. Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. Three unrelated assaults reported in La Jolla Police report three cases of assault and/or battery in La Jolla between March 19 and March 31 in the Mount Soledad, Hillside and Village areas. The first took place 6 p.m. March 19 on the 700 block of Pearl Street. Police say the victim was walking home and eating a yogurt when confronted by her neighbor. The suspect slapped the yogurt out of her hands, pushed on her chin and started threatening her. After the suspect was done yelling at her, the suspect left. The incident was reported the next day and the suspect is not in custody at this time, said police spokesperson Billy Hernandez. Around midnight on March 24, two people (known to each other) got into a verbal argument on the side of the road on the 7700 block of Via Capri. During the argument, the victim was punched and kicked several times in the head, arms and chest by the suspect and sustained minor injuries. The suspect was booked into San Diego County Jail for (misdemeanor) battery, Hernandez said. At 2:40 p.m. March 31 on the 6400 block Caminito Sinnecock, two people got into a verbal argument over the possession of a dog. The suspect punched the victim in the chest, slapped her in the neck and pushed her. The suspect fled the scene. The suspect is known and is not in custody at this time, Hernandez said. SoCal tree trimmers cited for illegal bidding The Contractors State License Board (CSLB) has cited 25 suspects for contracting illegally in San Diego County, primarily in North County, in an undercover sting. The sting targeted tree trimmers and removers as it is a highly skilled trade that could result in serious injury or property damage for consumers and could be potentially fatal for those who are not properly licensed. In California, its illegal for an unlicensed person to perform any contracting work on a project valued at $500 or more in combined labor and material costs. As a result, the suspects could now face a misdemeanor charge of contracting without a license. On March 20-21, CSLBs Statewide Investigative Fraud Team partnered with the San Diego District Attorneys office and the San Diego Police Department and went undercover as homeowners to invite alleged unlicensed contractors to bid on outdoor home improvement projects at a home in Rancho Penasquitos. Investigators contacted suspected unlicensed contractors based on their online and business card advertisements, and ads printed on the sides of trucks. Services for which these unlicensed persons included tree removal, stump grinding, artificial turf installation, swimming pool equipment replacement and paver installation. As a reminder, licensed contractors must display their license number in all advertisements and unlicensed contractors must state in all ads that they do not have a license. Further, unlicensed workers may not place bids on behalf of licensed workers nor act in the capacity of a contractor under another persons license. Learn more at cslb.ca.gov Police want info on sex assault suspect The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) is seeking more information (or more victims) who may have been assaulted by a recently arrested suspect. On March 21, SDPD arrested Juan Carlos Cordero for sexual assaults that occurred in San Diego in early 2015 to March 2019. Cordero is 35 years old, six feet tall, about 185 pounds; with neck-length brown hair, unshaven, and identified himself as JC to women. His modus of operandi is to approach intoxicated women near bars and nightclubs and convince them to go back to his apartment/hotel where he sexually assaults them police report. He also meets women via online dating applications such as Plenty of Fish or Craigslist, where he meets up with them, has them consume alcohol and/or drugs and sexually assaults them. He also videotapes his victims. Anyone with information is encouraged to call (619) 531-2210 or the anonymous tip line at (888) 580-8477. Police Blotter March 12 Vehicle break-in/theft, 2500 block Via Barletta, midnight March 15 Fraud, 1000 block Genter St., noon March 23 Residential burglary, 7200 block Via Capri, 11:30 p.m. March 26 Minor in possession of alcohol, 5100 block Castle Hills Drive, 6:20 p.m. March 27 Fraud, 6800 block Via Valverde, 8 a.m. March 30 Vehicle break-in/theft, 400 block Bonair St., 8 p.m. March 31 Vehicle break-in/theft, 7900 block Prospect Place, 1 a.m. April 1 Vandalism ($400 or more), 200 block Prospect St., 8 p.m. Vehicle theft (felony), 5700 block Waverly Ave., 8 p.m. Vehicle theft (felony), 300 block Palomar Ave., 9 p.m. April 6 Vandalism ($400 or more), 600 block Carla Way, midnight Misdemeanor vandalism, 5300 block La Jolla Mesa Drive, 4:45 p.m. Compiled by Ashley Mackin-Solomon from San Diego Police Department reports and others. A groundswell of advocacy is forming in La Jolla to respond to a proposed Senate Bill that could remove the height restrictions on new development planned for land that La Jollans hold dear. The bill, SB 330, dubbed the Housing Crisis Act of 2019, will be discussed at a special meeting 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 18 at La Jolla REBA, 908 Kline St. In the meantime, realtor and community volunteer James LaMattery attended the March 28 La Jolla Community Planning Association (LJCPA) meeting to explain the latest. He also attended the April 10 La Jolla Shores Association meeting, the details of which will be reported in a future issue. I have been working with people in Bay Park in trying to protect their 30-foot height limit and what has come to pass is a set of bills at the State Senate, the most egregious of which is SB 330, which would remove all of the (30-foot) height restrictions, he told the LJCPA congregation. The bill would take power out of local planning groups as to height limits, as the State wants to build density. He said he would be holding meetings in the coming weeks and months to discuss the bills more and to get La Jollans involved. SB 330 The bill itself was introduced by Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) and released in February. It was born out of San Franciscos need to get rid of their height limit because of their housing crisis, LaMattery said. It would suspend the 30-foot height limit, effective immediately, until 2030. A statement from Skinners office reads: The (Housing Crisis Act of 2019) would suspend specific local rules and regulations that are recognized as obstacles to housing production, and it would establish reasonable time periods for processing housing permits. ... Its no secret that housing in California has become too expensive for many middle- and low-income residents. Of the 50 U.S. cities with the highest rent prices, 33 are in California. The state needs an estimated 180,000 additional units of housing each year just to keep up with current population growth. And Gov. Gavin Newsom has called for the creation of 3.5 million units of housing in the next seven years. A spokesperson for Skinner confirmed to The Los Angeles Times, that should the bill pass, it would mean San Diegos coastal height limit would be suspended for new development. SB 330 would also cap the number of public hearings related to a new housing development to three and shortening the timeline for approval to no more than 12 months, and ban the demolition of rent-controlled or Section 8 housing. The bill has thus far only been heard by the Senate Governance & Finance Committee, but could soon go before House and Senate committees for edits before a vote at the House and the Senate. If passed, it then proceeds to Gov. Newsoms desk for a signature. Getting to this point In the 1970s, San Diego voters implemented a 30-foot height limit for construction along the coastline and required a public vote to build taller through Proposition D. However, a recent bill also from the Bay Area would override the regulations within Prop D for development near public transit, and LaMattery argues could pave the way for SB 330. Senate Bill 50, dubbed the More HOMES (Housing, Opportunity, Mobility, Equity and Stability) Act, was introduced by Sen. Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco) on Dec. 3, 2018. SB 50 eliminates hyper-low-density zoning near public transit and job centers, thus legalizing apartment buildings and affordable housing in these locations so that more people can live near transit, a statement from Wieners office reads. SB 50 creates new zoning standards for the construction of housing near job centers and public transportation. On April 2, SB 50 passed the Senate Housing Committee, with a vote of 9-1. It will proceed to the Senate Governance & Finance Committee in the coming weeks. Under this bill, developers would be allowed to go in and densify all along the transit priority areas (where there is public transportation) without anyone stopping them. SB 50 deals with everything east of I-5 SB 330 would do the same for everything west of the I-5. Thats why SB 330 is coming in right behind it, LaMattery told La Jolla Light. These bills are created to rip our protective regulations away. Its tough and is going to change the face of San Diego. LaMattery noted should SB 50 and SB 330 be signed into law, areas within a half a mile of major public transit, like a trolley line, or a quarter mile of a bus line, would be impacted. La Jolla would be affected by this bill given its proximity to the MTS 30 bus line, which proceeds along La Jolla Boulevard, Silverado Street, Herschel Avenue, North Torrey Pines Road and La Jolla Shores Drive. Want to know more? Grifters, fraudsters, scammers whatever you want to call them, they are having a major cultural moment. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 9/4/2019 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Grifters, fraudsters, scammers whatever you want to call them, they are having a major cultural moment. January saw the release of not one, but two documentaries on Billy McFarland, the fraudster who founded the Fyre Festival, a "luxury" music festival that never happened. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud in March 2018 and is serving a six-year sentence. Elizabeth Holmes the unblinking, Steve Jobs-cosplaying entrepreneur who duped everyone from Walgreens to powerful, high-ranking people in the United States government into believing her company, Theranos, could revolutionize health care by diagnosing diseases with a finger-pricks worth of blood is another person of intense interest. The wild rise and fall of her Silicon Valley company spawned a bestselling book (by investigative journalist John Carreyrou, whose reporting for the Wall Street Journal helped to expose her case), an ABC podcast, an HBO documentary and, soon, a Hollywood film starring Jennifer Lawrence. RICHARD DREW / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Anna Sorokin a.k.a. Anna Delvey, the so-called Soho Grifter is on trial on grand larceny and theft of services charges. Theres also Anna Sorokin a.k.a. Anna Delvey, the so-called Soho Grifter an alleged Russian-German con artist who is accused of working her way through the Manhattan socialite scene by posing as a fake heiress; she is standing trial for grand larceny. Shonda Rhimes is developing a Netflix series about her. Lena Dunham is doing the same for HBO, reportedly. Then theres the U.S. college-admissions scandal, wherein a bunch of wealthy parents including actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were accused of (and some have agreed to plead guilty to) using bribery and fraud to get their already privileged kids into prestigious universities. This whole debacle seems like the plot for a TV movie that would star Loughlin, but it sounds like she might be unavailable for the next two years or so. I cant look away. And, based on the sheer amount of content being generated about these people, Im not the only one. Ive torn through all the documentaries, Ive read all the news coverage and the think pieces about 2018s "summer of scam," which turned into the fall of fraud, froze into the winter of swindle, then thawed right back into the spring of scheme. Fraudsters are, like, so hot right now: one can read about scammer style in Vogue and courthouse chic in Vanity Fair. Hiring a trial stylist was as important to Sorokin as hiring a lawyer. People are watching, after all. Theres something inherently riveting about watching people recklessly colour far outside the lines dictated by society, especially when those people are also compelling characters. We can gawk at them from the safety of our (generally speaking) rule-abiding lives with a mixture of fascination, moral superiority and maybe even admiration. I mean, one has to hand it to Holmes, especially: she convinced several former U.S. secretaries of state that the impossible was, in fact, possible. If theres a through line connecting these modern grifters, its their misplaced, too-big-to-fail confidence and entitlement. https://www.youtube.com/watch?rel=0&wmode=transparent" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen> Figures such as Holmes, Sorokin and McFarland arent compelling because they are particularly extraordinary. They are compelling because they seem so ordinary. They are millennials who came of age when the economy was floundering and the plucky young things with big ideas and nothing to lose were the ones who were rewarded by those with the deepest pockets. For all of Silicon Valleys talk of "disruption," its funny how its still all about who you know, and how well you can leverage your privilege, real or, in Sorokins case, perceived. Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. In many ways, grifters are just the logical extension of a culture that places too big a premium on youth, hustle and ambition, and confounds working fast and working constantly with working hard. As Amanda Hess wrote in the New York Times, "The math behind the American dream a nobody, combined with pure grit, transforms into a somebody is already a reach. The grifter just stretches the concept a little further." Amp up the pace of the rat race and youll find people willing to take desperate and terrifying shortcuts. Its also no surprise that the age of the grifter should dovetail with the age of Instagram, and its whole cottage industry of "influencers." Theres an awful lot of snake oil being sold by beguiling people, lying-via-curation. Thats not to say every ambitious woman on Instagram with beachy waves and a She Believed She Could, So She Did coffee mug will eventually take that quote too far, but still. It makes the real grifters harder to spot. Of course, its possible the cultural obsession with grifters comes down to good old-fashioned schadenfreude. Maybe thats why the most satisfying grifter stories are not the ones in which they get away, but the ones in which they get their comeuppance. jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @JenZoratti Like many others in Canada this week, Ernie and Charlotte Wiens are doing their taxes. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 9/4/2019 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Like many others in Canada this week, Ernie and Charlotte Wiens are doing their taxes. Unlike other Canadians, the La Salle farming couple wont send the federal government everything it says they owe the part that violates their conscience. For Ernie, 72, and Charlotte, 69, thats the estimated 10 per cent of Canadas budget spent on the military. Instead of sending that money to the government, they will divert it to Conscience Canadas Peace Tax Trust Fund. Ernie and Charlotte Wiens donate 10 per cent of the taxes they owe the federal government to Conscience Canadas Peace Tax Trust Fund as their way of objecting to money spent on war. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press) "We do it because of our faith, because of our understanding of the message of Christ," said Ernie. "Christ taught us to be non-violent, to love our enemies, to pray for our persecutors, to break down barriers and animosities. Thats our starting point." Along with their Christian faith, they draw inspiration from their service as volunteers with Mennonite Central Committee in Botswana from 1972 to 1975, and from when Ernie worked with MCC in 1983-86, providing aid to people caught in conflict. "I think of the horrors of war, the suffering of civilians," said Charlotte. "My heart breaks for all the children in the world caught in war. It doesnt make sense the world spends billions on arms. That money could be used for much better purposes." How can we live out our convictions about peacebuilding in our time? How can we pray for peace, but pay for war? Its contradictory. It doesnt fit, doesnt make sense. Ernie Wiens The example of family members who were conscientious objectors during the Second World War is also on their minds. In Charlottes case, her father refused to fight during the war, doing alternative service in Alberta and B.C. Two of Ernies uncles were also conscientious objectors. Back then, the government needed bodies to fight, said Ernie. War tax resistance Click to Expand The idea for war tax resistance in Canada dates to 1981, when Winnipeg MP Stanley Knowles and five other MPs published a letter that said, in part: In times of military conscription, exemption from service in the military can be claimed on grounds of conscience, and alternate service is approved. It should be equally possible to claim exemption from paying for war preparation, and an alternative provided. Conscience Canada was incorporated in 1983 to advocate for ways for Canadians to legally divert taxes to peaceful purposes. The first private members motion calling for a National Peace Tax Fund was introduced into the House of Commons that same year; 12 other motions and bills have followed. The most recent was Bill C-363, an act respecting conscientious objection to the use of taxes for military purposes. It was proposed in 2013 by then-NDP MP Alex Atamanenko. Conscience Canada estimates $32 billion, or 9.7 per cent, of Canadas budget was spent on the military in 2018. "Today, it just wants our money. How can we live out our convictions about peacebuilding in our time? How can we pray for peace, but pay for war? Its contradictory. It doesnt fit, doesnt make sense." The couple, who attend the La Salle Community Fellowship, a Mennonite Brethren congregation, have been diverting the military portion of their taxes for 10 years. They hope one day the Canadian government will make it legal for people to divert money to peaceful purposes. If that happens, the Wiens will happily give the money they have diverted into the Peace Tax Trust Fund back to the government. "We will immediately hand the money over," Ernie said. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) isnt willing to wait that long. Starting last year, it began deducting about $500 a month from Ernies government pension. About two-thirds of the amount has been recovered so far. For Ernie and Charlotte, this is a change from the past; previously, the couple only received letters or phone calls from the CRA reminding them they owed money. The governments recent action wont change their minds, though. "We are not convinced to stop doing it," Ernie said. They are also quick to point out there is nothing secretive or furtive about what they do. "Every year, when we file our taxes, we send a letter to the CRA, the prime minister, the opposition leader, our MP and the minister of finance, telling them what we did," said Charlotte. Ernie and Charlotte Wiens have started paying the government back: the Canada Revenue Agency began deducting about $500 a month from Ernies government pension last year. (Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press files) Over the years, they have had many conversations with politicians and the CRA. "They tell us they cant give into everyones wishes, that the government cant let Canadians dictate how it spends money," Ernie said, adding he tells them he isnt against support for veterans or for how the military helps people caught in disasters in Canada. "But we tell them conscientious objection is a right in Canada, something that has been practised in this country for over 200 years. Its about freedom of conscience and religion, something enshrined in the charter." "Conscientious objection is a right in Canada, something that has been practised in this country for over 200 years. Its about freedom of conscience and religion, something enshrined in the charter. Ernie Wiens In a statement, CRA spokesperson Etienne Biram said participating in a tax protester scheme can have serious consequences, including criminal prosecution, jail time and fines. Looking for a great gift to give this holiday season? Give the gift of good news! You can make a contribution to the Free Press Religion in the News project in the name of a friend or family member. Your gift of $10, $25 or more can help us keep offering trusted coverage of faith in Manitoba. Give a gift! Click here to learn more about the project. Once a tax protester is identified, the CRA will reassess income tax, calculate interest and impose penalties, Biram said. Doug Hewitt-White, president of the board of Conscience Canada, said people like Ernie and Charlotte "are the core of what we are all about." They epitomize the spirit of conscientious objectors of the past, he said, noting about 150 Canadians divert their taxes to the Peace Tax Trust Fund each year. "There is a long tradition of allowing people to follow their conscience in Canada in times of war," he said. "If people can refuse to serve in time of war, why cant they be allowed not to pay for war?" faith@freepress.mb.ca Want more great journalism? Get our best news and features delivered in your inbox every evening. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves to his supporters after polls for Israel's general elections closed in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday. EDMONTON - Getting Alberta's economy running on all its fossil-fuel-powered cylinders is at the heart of the province's election campaign. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/4/2019 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A processing unit is shown at Suncor Fort Hills facility in Fort McMurray, Alta., on Monday September 10, 2018. Getting Alberta's economy up and running on all its fossil fuel-powered cylinders is at the heart of the province's current election. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson EDMONTON - Getting Alberta's economy running on all its fossil-fuel-powered cylinders is at the heart of the province's election campaign. But some of Canada's top energy thinkers as well as international experts warn there's no pedal any premier can stomp to make that engine rev like it used to. "No policy of any Alberta government can change things," said Mark Jaccard, an energy economist at B.C.'s Simon Fraser University, who has advised governments on climate policy and helps write reports for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. "If Albertans are unwilling to accept a steady oilsands output, with the resulting employment, I fear for them." The University of Manitoba's Vaclav Smil, one of Canada's most widely quoted energy analysts, said any move to renewable energy will take decades, not years. The transition, however, may be felt sooner. "All energy transitions are slow," he said. "Oil will be with us for decades to come but not necessarily with high annual growth rates." The world has changed, said Andrew Grant of the London-based research group Carbon Tracker. "Companies (are) much more reluctant to invest capital in projects that require very, very high capital outlay and take years and years to pay back. That encapsulates the oilsands." Grant's group has recently published research suggesting that while renewables are still small, they play a big role in meeting new demand. Solar and wind power provide three per cent of global energy demand, the report said. But between them they account for a quarter of all new generation. It said that by early next decade, power from solar and wind is expected to be as cheap or cheaper than fossil fuels anywhere in the world. Since 2012, more new power generation has come from renewables than fossil fuels. High-cost fossil fuels will become less attractive investments, Grant said. Even without carbon pricing, his group expects fossil fuel demand to peak early next decade. "It's not necessarily that the change to renewables will be quick," he said. "But it's quick enough to make up all of the growth in future energy demand fairly soon." The same logic applies to transportation. A tiny fraction of the world's cars are electric, but they make up 22 per cent of growth in sales. Jaccard has run the numbers. In a paper published last year, he concluded that if the world honours its pledge to keep global warming under two degrees Celsius, there's less than a five per cent chance that new oilsands investment including pipelines will be profitable over the next 30 years. "When the global demand for oil stabilizes and starts to fall, Alberta will be hit first," he said. "It's (oilsands) among the highest emissions per barrel with the highest production costs." Nor is the oilpatch as job-rich as it once was. Between 2014 and 2016, production grew by nearly 10 per cent, but 39,000 fewer people were employed. "Albertan oil output increased over the last four years while the jobs were lost," Jaccard said. Not everyone is as convinced the oilsands have had their day. Ready, Pet, Go! Leesa Dahl looks at everything to do with our furry, fuzzy, feathered, fishy (and more!) pet friends. Arrives in your inbox each Monday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The International Energy Agency forecasts slightly increased oil demand about six per cent through 2040. Smil said global energy transitions have always been slow. It took coal 60 years to go from five to 50 per cent of the world's energy supply. Grant agrees the current oilsands will make money for years. But the bitumen-fuelled booms that haunt Alberta's memory and its politics may be a thing of the past. "They're very high-cost, capital-intensive projects," he said. "Why would you invest in that when oil prices have been so volatile and there are demand threats on the horizon? "I don't think any sort of additional pipeline capacity can get around that issue." Follow Bob Weber on Twitter at @row1960 One of the many challenges for small business is being able to compete with larger companies that have the resources to deploy better technology to create more efficiencies. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 9/4/2019 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion One of the many challenges for small business is being able to compete with larger companies that have the resources to deploy better technology to create more efficiencies. But one of the hopeful elements of the dominance of technology in our culture is that it can, over time, level the playing field. Thats whats starting to happen with telephony. The big telcos have marketed whats called unified communications solutions for their enterprise customers for a few years now. That service allows companies to do all sorts of communication services like seamless collaboration on the telephone, linking computer files, easily undertaking video conferencing, and never having to let callers receive a busy signal or deal with annoying voicemail. That kind of unified communication service that can be tricky to use and typically needs some in-house IT support to really allow everyone to use it properly is now available in a simple-to-use format for the small and medium-sized enterprise market from a number of commercial cloud-based platform companies that are now in the market. In Winnipeg, Telexperts, a 30-year business communications solutions provider, has become a dealer of a European cloud-based unified communications platform called Wildix that operates off a regular web browser. For all sorts of reasons, Telexperts president David Guberman knows it is the future of his business. "For one thing, the premise-based companies are dropping out of the market," Guberman said. "When you see companies like Toshiba and Samsung (and Nortel is long gone) exiting, you know... our industry is moving to the cloud." Telexperts has long since migrated its offerings to voice-over-internet protocol (VOIP) technology that has the ability to seamlessly connect multiple offices and allow users to work remotely. The VOIP technology can allow for remote collaboration and identification of the availability of co-workers, but software upgrades that take the system down and annoying sign-ins and hardware add-ons can make it awkward to use. Video conferencing technologies are also out there, but often require additional subscription fees. Guberman says, "As good as all these new features were, the drawbacks were significant. Software upgrades were frequent and would take your system down, multiple servers were required for different applications and often things just werent easy," he said. As amazing as the functionality was, Guberman said that many companies were just not using as much as they could because it was not easy to use. But just as increasing numbers of enterprises in the world are availing themselves of cloud computing services, cloud-based unified communication services for small business is now an affordable reality. The Wildix browser-based platform provides a visual template making connecting with the entire organization wherever they might be regardless of the device very easy. (A wireless app links smartphones to the system with exactly the same look to the display.) For a company like Telexperts that has already transitioned from a voice integrator into more of a managed services provider delivering VOIP services, it is primed to start delivering a cloud-based platform offering. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "We already offer unlimited training and this new technology can be installed in half the time or less," he said. But regardless of how much sense it makes for Telexperts, Guberman believes it is the communication platform that will truly allow small and medium-sized enterprises to manage their business and service their customers in the way that will let them be as effective as possible. "If you cant answer inquiries or offer to take calls the way your customer (or prospects) want, you are in trouble," he said. "I think those people are going to be calling someone else." Its still just an early-adapter market right now, with likely less than 10 per cent of the North American market using this kind of platform technology, so Guberman said there is no rush to jump in. Meanwhile, Telexperts thousands of customers can dip their toes in by keeping their existing system while testing out the new platform at the same time and jump in whenever they want with no contract obligation. martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca OTTAWA - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is defending controversial changes to asylum laws included in an omnibus budget bill tabled this week, saying his government wants to ensure Canada's refugee system is fair for everyone. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/4/2019 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with the media as he makes his way to caucus in the West Block, Wednesday, April 10, 2019 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld OTTAWA - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is defending controversial changes to asylum laws included in an omnibus budget bill tabled this week, saying his government wants to ensure Canada's refugee system is fair for everyone. The changes would prevent asylum-seekers from making refugee claims in Canada if they have made similar claims in certain other countries, including the United States, a move Border Security Minister Bill Blair says is aimed at preventing "asylum-shopping." Lawyers and advocates who work with refugees are sounding the alarm about the legal changes, saying they would strip human-rights protections from vulnerable asylum-seekers. Trudeau said Wednesday that Canada has been seeing larger numbers of refugee claims because of global instability. Sustaining Canadians' confidence in the country's asylum system means ensuring those who enter Canada do so according to the law, he said. "That's why we're putting more resources in, and we're also ensuring the system is fair for everyone," he told reporters on Parliament Hill. More than 41,000 asylum-seekers have crossed into Canada "irregularly" through unofficial paths across the Canada-U.S. border since early 2017. By doing so, they take advantage of a loophole in Canada's "Safe Third Country Agreement" with the United States that allows refugees who find a way into Canada by avoiding official border checkpoints to make refugee claims. The agreement would otherwise see them turned back to the U.S. a country Canada considers safe for them. The influx of irregular migrants began after U.S. President Donald Trump announced he would end a program that offers temporary protected status to migrants from several countries, serving notice he would seek to return them to homelands the United States had previously considered too dangerous. It has become a difficult political issue for the Trudeau government as hundreds of migrants continue to arrive in Canada through one particular unofficial crossing in Quebec each month. Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer blames Canada's border woes on Trudeau, based on a tweet he issued in 2017 in which he welcomed refugees to Canada. Given the timing, it appeared to be a response to Trump's changes to the U.S. rules on temporary protected status there. But Scheer on Wednesday sidestepped questions about the changes to refugee eligibility proposed by the Liberals, focusing instead on his own party's belief in an immigration system that is "fair, orderly and compassionate." "We have to have a system that prioritizes those fleeing danger, fleeing civil war and natural disasters and that has to be based on our borders having integrity," he said. That's the plan, said Blair's spokeswoman Marie-Emanuelle Cadieux. "Our proposed changes include measures to deter irregular migration and maintain the integrity of our asylum system by preventing access to those who make repeated claims in different countries," she said. "This encourages those who truly need protection to seek asylum at the first possible opportunity, while those who do not need to follow the rules." Government figures show that since April 1, 2017, roughly 3,150 asylum-claimants in Canada had previously applied for asylum in the United States. Three-quarters of them were irregular migrants fewer than six per cent of the total number of irregular asylum-seekers to arrive in Canada since 2017. The vast majority of them had made their claims to the U.S. between one and five years ago, according to government data. The Liberals signalled their intent to get tougher on the border in the 2019 budget, which included a plan to spend $1.18 billion over five years to beef up security and law enforcement and speed up the processing of asylum claims. Finance Minister Bill Morneau said Canada wants to maintain its reputation as a fair and welcoming country, but also one that is governed by the rule of law. Trudeau echoed these comments Wednesday. "Every single person who comes to Canada whether it's regularly or irregularly goes through our immigration system, gets the full treatment within our asylum system." But refugee advocates and lawyers say disallowing asylum seekers who have made refugee claims in other countries from making claims in Canada does just the opposite, stripping them of their ability to plead their cases to the Immigration and Refugee Board. NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan is particularly concerned that migrants to Canada wouldn't be permitted to make claims in Canada after having had their claims rejected in the United States. She is concerned for those who might be rejected as a result of a shift in U.S. immigration policy last year. The new rules say domestic and gang violence can no longer be used as grounds for asylum in the United States. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "The Trump government has demonized immigrants and asylum-seekers, they have removed gender-based violence and gang violence as grounds for making an asylum claim, they have taken (migrant) children from their parents ... for Canada to take a page out of that with this measure is shocking to me," the Vancouver MP said. Kwan also raised the case of Seidu Mohammed a man from Ghana who lost all his fingers to frostbite after crossing irregularly into Manitoba from the U.S. in December 2016. Both Mohammed and the man he was travelling with, Razak Iyal (who also lost digits to frostbite) had previously had their asylum claims rejected in America before coming to Canada. Both of their claims for refugee protection were eventually accepted in Canada. "If this law that's being proposed in the budget bill was in place, Mr. Seidu would be sent back. This is the real ramification for people and Canada is knowingly embarking on this path," Kwan said. Both she and Green Leader Elizabeth May have asked House of Commons Speaker Geoff Regan to break up the budget bill to separate out these and other non-budgetary measures, arguing they should be treated separately as notable changes in public policy. Regan is considering the request. Follow @ReporterTeresa on Twitter. Paul Mahon remembers the awe and excitement he felt as a child when he visited the Manitoba Museum. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/4/2019 (979 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Paul Mahon remembers the awe and excitement he felt as a child when he visited the Manitoba Museum. Mahon, the chief executive officer of Canada Life, announced $750,000 in funding for the downtown Winnipeg museum Wednesday, with about 40 students from Victoria Albert School in attendance. The gift qualifies for the provinces matching funds program, raising it to $1.125 million. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Canada Life CEO Paul Mahon said a key piece of Canada Life's support is to show pride in the community. Mahon said Canada Lifes support is to show pride in the community. It hopes to bring that same thrill for the past and focus on the future to todays youth who visit the museum. "I have fond memories of going and playing in the science area, but even more significant to me was my brothers summer job working on the project when they brought the Nonsuch over from the United Kingdom," Mahon said, referring to his older brother, Patrick, who was a University of Manitoba student when the regal replica vessel came to the museum in 1974. Mahon said he was about 13 years old when he revelled in the excitement of the ships arrival and his family connection to it. "I hope these students get that feeling. All the galleries today at the museum and what were doing with them now can capture their imagination relative to the First Peoples history, immigrants coming over, and the Winnipeg Gallery that really shows the history of our city," he said. "When you look at the kids here, theyre thrilled to be away from school for a few hours, but this is a fun place to be. "This is place that you can touch and feel and be a part of it." The money is in support of the Bringing Our Stories Forward capital renewal project, which is refurbishing and transforming 42 per cent of the museums galleries by the fall of 2020. It will also assist the facility in developing and upgrading its educational programs for students in kindergarten through Grade 12. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "The level of support weve received today from private-sector donors like Canada Life and Power Financial (Power Corporation of Canada) underscores something weve known for many decades, that Manitobans love this museum," said James Cohen, chairman of the museum. "The Manitoba Museum is telling the story of our community, our province and our place in the world for the last 49 years, stories that are essential to how we relate to one another and learn more about our place in the world, our city, our province." The museum announced a new endowment fund called the Manitoba Museum Founders Fund in Honour of James W. Burns, a former founding member of the museum who died on Feb. 11. The fund will be used for research and collections acquisitions and exhibit replacements. It has been established with $350,000, including $100,000 from the Burns family. The new donations brought the renewal projects fundraising total to $15.8 million, closing in on its $17.5-million goal. The museum will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2020, the same year the province of Manitoba turns 150. ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca ONCE a week, Odette Gonzalez leaves her human resources job to sort household goods in a cold, cluttered North End warehouse. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/4/2019 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. ONCE a week, Odette Gonzalez leaves her human resources job to sort household goods in a cold, cluttered North End warehouse. The mom of two came to Canada from Colombia 22 months ago. Volunteering at Hands of Hope was initially a way to gain Canadian job experience while she studied at the University of Manitoba. Now, shes there because she loves it. "Its hard to explain, because its a feeling," Gonzalez said. "Its not something you carry in your pocket, but something you carry in your heart and your mind." This week (April 7-13) is National Volunteer Week, an annual celebration of volunteers impact on communities. At Hands of Hope, which gives donated furniture and household items to Winnipeg families in need, volunteers put in about 130 hours of work per month. Last year, Hands of Hope delivered more than 1,000 packages of furniture and household goods. "Without volunteerism, we could not do the job that we do," operations manager Maryna Prystaiko said. Half of the volunteers are newcomers who, like Gonzalez, are looking to network and get Canadian work experience. Newcomers are encouraged to volunteer, said Dawn Bourbonnais at Volunteer Manitoba, which promotes and supports community engagement in the province. It allows them to gain work experience and practise their English, she said. "Volunteering kind of lets them build up that confidence." Newcomers may also learn about their community from their co-workers. According to national advocate Volunteer Canada, 38 per cent of immigrants volunteer an average of 152 hours per year. Gonzalez said she enjoys the multicultural crew at Hands of Hope. She works with people from Brazil, Ukraine, the Philippines and Eritrea. "Its a way for you to not only get along, but to also understand each other in the right way," she said. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The work is tough sometimes, Gonzalez acknowledged. They can bring people a table and chairs, but they cant fix physical or psychological problems. "You cant be a magic person... say, Now, OK, I will change 100 per cent your situation." Shes frustrated when that happens, but said its "part of being human." geralyn.wichers@freepress.mb.ca Manitoba Hydro is moving to hide swastika-shaped symbols at two long-running power stations in the province. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 9/4/2019 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Manitoba Hydro is moving to hide swastika-shaped symbols at two long-running power stations in the province. They're part of the logo of a Swedish company that made the generators stationed at Pointe du Bois and Slave Falls more than 100 years ago, before the swastika became associated with Nazism. The Scandinavian electrical engineering firm Allmanna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget (ASEA) had incorporated the now-infamous shape into its initials. "Their corporate emblem was what we know as a swastika," said Bruce Owen, spokesman for Manitoba Hydro. "We're aware that this symbol is offensive to a lot of people. With that, why wouldn't we take a step to cover it up?" The swastika is an ancient symbol that was in use in many cultures for at least 5,000 years before Adolf Hitler made it the centrepiece of the Nazi flag, according to the U.S. National Holocaust Memorial Museum. Its present-day use by certain extremist groups promotes hate, the museum says. The problematic emblem on Manitoba Hydro's century-old generators is the approximate size of a laptop computer or a tablet, said Owen. They had been in view of employees, contractors, and people visiting the Pointe du Bois and Slave Falls power stations including new Hydro president Jay Grewal, who, in recent weeks, has been touring the Crown utility's facilities and meeting with employees, said Owen. The company doesn't want anyone who sees it to get the wrong impression and wonder why Hydro's allowing something emblematic of Nazism to be displayed, he said. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The logos will soon be covered up on the ASEA generators some of which are still working, said Owen. "Theres stuff at Pointe du Bois that's more than 100 years old and still producing power," he said, adding when it breaks down, the utility has had to make parts for repairs. The machines are still putting out power but not a lot, Owen said. The giant Limestone generating station (which opened in the early 1990s), located 750 kilometres north of Winnipeg on the Nelson River, produces 1,223 megawatts of power. In comparison, Pointe du Bois which has been running on the Winnipeg River since 1911 produces 21 megawatts, said Owen. The Slave Falls station on the Winnipeg River was constructed in 1930-31. carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 9/4/2019 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Mayor Brian Bowman has confused a provincial road safety plan with the City of Winnipegs non-existent and long-overdue road safety strategy. Bowman stunned reporters Tuesday, when he defended the executive policy committees decision to use $2.5 million in new-found money on a series of unspecified road safety initiatives. When asked how EPC could allocate funding in the absence of a road safety strategy, Bowman incorrectly said the city had adopted the strategy in January 2018 even though senior officials admitted a week ago no such policy existed and had no timetable when it would be produced. Bowman correctly said the public works committee had directed the administration in January 2017 to develop a road safety strategy, with an objective to eliminating all traffic collisions (known as Vision Zero). He followed that up by incorrectly adding the public works department had produced the report in September 2017 and the committee adopted the document as city policy at a meeting in January 2018. "Check the records. They received a report. It was accepted in January of 18 and there are quarterly updates that are being provided at committee on the implementation of that strategy," Bowman told reporters. According to the citys online record-keeping system, what the committee received at its Jan. 9, 2018, meeting was a collection of Winnipeg collision data compiled by Manitoba Public Insurance and, as an appendix, a copy of Manitoba Road Safety Plan (2017-20), which had been developed with the assistance of the citys public works department and Winnipeg Police Service. "This report reviews recent City of Winnipeg collision history from a 'Towards Zero' perspective, (and) outlines how the Manitoba Road Safety Plan can provide a focused strategic direction for road safety in the City of Winnipeg," states the introduction to the January 2018 administrative report that contained the traffic collision data. The administrative report was accepted by the committee as information which has no implications on city policy and did not require to be considered or adopted by council. As the administrative report states, the provincial document is not the citys road safety strategy but was to be used as a guide to the public works department as it developed a unique city strategy. The city road safety strategy was due in January 2018. As recently as last week, senior officials in the public works department said all work on the initiative had been halted as a result of turnover to two key department positions. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Patman said the updated transportation master plan is expected to be completed in three years but portions, including the road safety strategy, could be released before then. The departments failure to produce the road safety strategy had been criticized by Coun. Janice Lukes and road safety advocates, who also questioned the citys spending on initiatives without an overall, guiding strategy. Anders Swanson, executive director of the Winnipeg Trails Association, said the provincial document contains little specific to the City of Winnipeg. Swanson said he is pleased to hear EPC is willing to allocate more funds to traffic calming measures but said such spending needs to be done with an objective in mind. "It sounds like theyre trying to do the right thing, but I still think we need clear targets and a clear plan. I dont think anyone would say we have that yet in Winnipeg." At its meeting Tuesday, EPC proposed $2.5 million from the $40 million city hall expects to receive from Ottawa through bonus federal gas tax funding be given to public works to be spent on whatever road safety infrastructure measures officials deem appropriate. The proposal still needs to be approved by council. aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca Winnipeggers who like classic rock and jazz, and want to help people in the developing world who dont have enough to eat, have a couple of opportunities to do both this month. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/4/2019 (979 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Winnipeggers who like classic rock and jazz, and want to help people in the developing world who dont have enough to eat, have a couple of opportunities to do both this month. On April 13, St. Mary Magdalene Anglican Church, 3 St. Vital Rd., is hosting a Bishops Pub Night, an evening of classic and folk rock featuring the Narwhals. On April 28, St. Peters Anglican Church, 755 Elm St., will offer Jazz Vespers with the Bob Watts Trio and vocalist Helen White. Cost for the Bishops Pub Night, which runs from 7:30-11:30 p.m., is $10 (cash bar). Admission to Jazz Vespers, which starts at 7:30 p.m., is a suggested donation of $20. Everyone is welcome to both events. Proceeds from the two evenings will be used to support the Anglican Diocese of Ruperts Land Anglican Grow Hope project in Manitoba. Through the project, which brings together rural and urban Anglicans in Manitoba, Anglicans in Winnipeg provide financial support of $300 per acre for 15 acres on the farm of Chris Lea, an Anglican priest and farmer in the Pembina Hills. Lea uses the funds to buy seed, fertilizer and other inputs so he can grow and sell a crop to raise funds for the Primates World Relief & Development Funds food projects in the developing world. Last year, Lea tripled the donations raised by urban Anglicans through the sale of the crop, sending $14,588 to the fund. After a 4:1 match by the federal government through the organizations membership in Canadian Foodgrains Bank, more than $72,000 was made available for food projects in the developing world. At St. Mary Magdalenes, the Bishops Pub Night will feature a real Bishop in this case Bishop Geoffrey Woodcroft of the Anglican Diocese of Ruperts Land, who plays guitar and provides vocals in the band. Ready, Pet, Go! Leesa Dahl looks at everything to do with our furry, fuzzy, feathered, fishy (and more!) pet friends. Arrives in your inbox each Monday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Other members of the band are Dave Houle, Graham Young, Cody Buhler and Bob Brocklehurst. "We play a mix of things like the Beatles, the Animals, Led Zeppelin and our own songs," says Woodcroft of the band, which does over a dozen gigs a year to raise money for charity. For Val From, priest at St. Mary Magdalene, supporting Grow Hope through the Bishops Pub Night is part of the churchs mission "to make the world a better place" by addressing global hunger and injustice. Margaret Clarke, chair of outreach ministry at St. Peters, says the Jazz Vespers worship service "is a wonderful way to support sustainable agriculture projects" in the developing world. Adds Woodcroft: "The project symbolizes the necessity of the church to be one, rural and urban people working together to help others." faith@freepress.mb.ca Manitoba's two opposition parties are accusing the Pallister government of coming up with another "phoney" excuse to call an early provincial election. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 9/4/2019 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Manitoba's two opposition parties are accusing the Pallister government of coming up with another "phoney" excuse to call an early provincial election. On Tuesday, Finance Minister Scott Fielding expressed concern delaying tactics by the opposition in the legislature could scuttle the government's plans to lower the PST by a percentage point. "They're trying to stall everything, and our concern is they're going to do everything in their power to ensure that Manitobans don't get the tax (break)," he told reporters. Referring to a new Probe Research poll, Fielding said the tax cut is popular with Manitobans. The poll found about six in 10 Manitobans and two-thirds of business owners and managers favoured the Progressive Conservative government's decision to lower the tax on July 1. NDP Leader Wab Kinew and Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont scoffed at the notion they can block or delay the move. Manitoba has a majority government, they pointed out, and even if the opposition were to use legislature rules to delay passage of the bill enabling the tax decrease until fall, there is nothing stopping the government from implementing the tax change July 1. Premier Brian Pallister has said previously said the tax cut could take effect before passage of the bill. In the past, governments have often changed fuel and tobacco taxes on budget day before enabling legislation is passed. Kinew said the finance minister was being "disingenuous" by suggesting recent opposition procedural tactics in the legislature threatened the tax cut. He said there is "clear precedent" a government can impose a tax change if it has a majority in the legislature and it is assumed its legislative agenda will pass at some point. Lamont was more blunt, calling the suggestion the opposition could somehow prevent the tax cut "bull----." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "There's absolutely no truth to it whatsoever," he said. "It's all a rationale for calling an election on a phoney premise." Presumably, the PCs would campaign on their PST promise if an election were called this spring. Under Manitoba's fixed election-date law, the next provincial election is set for Oct. 6, 2020. However, Pallister has been hinting for months about calling a vote earlier, prompting Elections Manitoba to begin ramping up for a possible spring vote. Pallister has previously stated he would not call an election during a flood watch, although forecasters Tuesday downgraded the threat of a massive Red River flood. He has also expressed reservations about holding an election during the province's 150th anniversary year in 2020. "Why would a majority government abandon everything on its (legislative) agenda?" Lamont said Tuesday. "They can get everything done. There's absolutely no reason not to do it. It's a choice that they are making to put their entire agenda at risk (by calling an election), which I'm fine with." larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca OTTAWA Richardson International wants the federal Liberals to impose a deadline on China to provide evidence for its claim of dangerous pests in Canadian canola, saying it's time for Ottawa to step up its response. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/4/2019 (979 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA Richardson International wants the federal Liberals to impose a deadline on China to provide evidence for its claim of "dangerous pests" in Canadian canola, saying it's time for Ottawa to step up its response. "We cannot emphasize enough the importance of expediting this process," the Winnipeg-based firm's top lawyer, Jean-Marc Ruest, testified Tuesday in Ottawa. "The government of Canada must become more involved, creative and aggressive in defending the grain and oilseed sectors' interests." His comments represent a rare point of criticism from the industry toward Ottawa's handling of the recent canola issue. The sector has been in lockstep with the Liberals since making the spat public a month ago, with Canadian officials insisting on a science-based approach to the dispute, and refusing to speculate on ulterior motives. It is widely believed China was acting in retaliation over last Decembers arrest of a senior Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. executive in Vancouver when it imposed restrictions on canola imports. China had quietly raised compliance issues four times dating to January, involving Richardson, Viterra Inc. and a third firm which Ottawa will not publicly name. On March 1, China suspended Richardsons permit to export canola seed, despite selling grains to that country since 1910. "We were particularly upset by the fact that Richardson was singled out," Ruest testified. "The fact that individual Canadian exporters are singled out by the Chinese government, in response to an industry-wide issue, is troubling. These are issues that our government must immediately address." Ottawa has repeatedly asked China to produce samples that show the pests it has flagged in the samples. Last week, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau asked her Chinese counterpart to accept a delegation of federal and provincial scientists, to better understand the issues China has raised. Ruest told the House trade committee hed like to see "a very clear" time frame for China to produce the evidence and have it reviewed. "Engagement, or failure to engage, ought to be measured by the ability to reach a conclusion within a set time frame," he said. "I think we have to understand what is a fair time for people acting in good faith." Farmers also testified to the House agriculture committee Tuesday theyre worried about cashflow, losing tens of thousands as they ponder whether to overhaul plans for planting seeds this spring. Last year, Canada exported $2.7 billion in canola seed to China, and another $1 billion in oil and meal. "Getting to the bottom of the technical allegations is absolutely urgent, and should occur within weeks, not months, and certainly not years," Ruest said. While he thanked federal officials for being responsive since the issue emerged, he warned Canadian farmers will take years to find other markets for canola, likely at a lower price, adding to numerous difficulties facing the grain sector. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. He said the canola spat is the latest in a series of protectionist measures that have frustrated farmers and companies trying to export numerous Canadian grains to various countries. India raised its pest-control demands two years ago, requiring Canadian firms to take extra measures in order to export some peas and lentils. Two years ago, Italy put restrictions on imported durum wheat, limiting Canadian firms ability to reach the countrys need for pasta ingredients. Meanwhile, the European Union regularly debates organic labelling and restrictions on importing genetically modified food. "Possible trade disruptions have formed a veritable cocktail of trade disruption for Canada's grain industry," Ruest said. "The current state of uncertainty is creating significant distress among all industry stakeholders." The Free Press has requested an interview with Chinas ambassador to Canada. dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 9/4/2019 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Progressive Conservative MLA Nic Curry has become embroiled in a controversy involving inappropriate behaviour with female staff. Multiple government and party sources confirmed the rookie Kildonan MLA who surprised political observers last week by announcing he was leaving politics after one term has been the subject of two separate complaints by female staff for using sexual language in their presence. Nic Curry, MLA for Kildonan. The sources confirmed the first incident took place in January 2018, and involved Curry discussing his preferred method of masturbation. A complaint was lodged and investigated internally by the PC government. Details of the discipline handed down are not known, but sources said the resolution was considered satisfactory by the complainant. Curry was allowed to remain in the Tory caucus. A second complaint against Curry was made following the tabling of the provincial budget March 7. A staff member complained the Winnipeg MLA had repeatedly talked about sexual matters in her presence. That complaint is still ongoing and has not yet been resolved, the sources said. In an interview Tuesday with the Free Press before full details of the allegations were known Curry was asked why he was leaving politics after giving signs he would stand for re-election. Curry referred to a statement posted on Facebook, where he said family considerations had prompted him to rethink another four years in politics. "Well, my daughter turns two tomorrow, and this job takes a lot away from her," Curry said. "And I can't see myself being the father and husband that I want to be and winning an election. And I can do one or the other, but I'm going to choose my family over that." Repeated attempts to contact Curry for additional comment on the specifics of the allegations went unanswered. Government communications directed all questions about Curry to PC caucus communications. A Tory caucus spokesman issued a statement via email refusing to answer any questions related to the allegations against Curry. The spokesman cited the province's Respectful Workplace Policy, which states the government is prohibited from making any comment about allegations of this nature. The policy states the province "will not disclose the name of a complainant, alleged respondent or the circumstances related to the issue to any person except where the disclosure is necessary to investigate, take corrective action, or is required by law." The caucus spokesman refused to explain why the Tory party's treatment of Curry stands in stark contrast to the approach used when dealing with Emerson MLA Cliff Graydon. After news reports detailed several instances involving female staff, the PC caucus expelled Graydon in October 2018 for what chairman Wayne Ewasko described as a "pattern of inappropriate behaviour." The Tory caucus spokesman refused to say Tuesday whether the allegations against Curry had been investigated or reviewed by caucus, and whether the caucus had deliberated and voted on whether to allow him to remain as a sitting member of the PC party. Curry was a surprise winner in the 2016 Manitoba election. A commissioned officer in the Canadian Armed Forces reserves, Curry had worked in his family's product development and marketing business before making the jump to politics. To the surprise of many within his own party, he won a close battle with veteran NDP MLA Dave Chomiak, who held Kildonan for 26 years. Since joining the Tory caucus, Curry has kept a fairly low profile. With Kildonan scheduled to disappear in the next election, thanks to electoral boundary redistribution, sources said he had been readying to seek re-election in the new riding of McPhillips. However, on April 3, Tory MLA Shannon Martin announced via Twitter he was seeking the nomination in McPhillips. (Boundary redistribution had also left Martin, previously the MLA for rural Morris, without a seat.) Dan Lett | Not for Attribution A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world that is sent every Tuesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Party sources confirmed Martin's announcement came as a shock to Curry, who reached out to members of the PC caucus to see if he could garner support to block Martin. He discovered such support would be hard to come by. Some five hours after Martin's announcement, Curry took to Facebook to say he was leaving politics. Graydon's ejection came largely as a result of his transgressions being publicized by news organizations. Prior to that publicity, the PC party had not taken any formal action to review his place in caucus. It seemed to echo the mistakes made by the former NDP government, which was aware of multiple misconduct allegations against former minister Stan Struthers, but allowed him to remain a member of cabinet and caucus. Similarly, in opposition, the NDP allowed Maples MLA Mohinder Saran to remain in caucus despite at least two complaints being lodged against him for inappropriate behaviour. Saran was only subject to caucus scrutiny and ejection after the news media revealed his transgressions. dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca Anyone travelling on an airline today could be forgiven for thinking they are being treated as self-loading cargo. Narrower seats, limited service, restrictions on baggage and access to overhead bins this business model leaves little room for regard for the basic dignity and health of the airlines customers. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/4/2019 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion Anyone travelling on an airline today could be forgiven for thinking they are being treated as "self-loading cargo." Narrower seats, limited service, restrictions on baggage and access to overhead bins this business model leaves little room for regard for the basic dignity and health of the airlines customers. And a business model it is. Each action taken by air carriers is carefully planned to maximize the occupancy of the cabin, thereby generating profit and creating value for investors. Unfortunately for the travelling public, it appears that somewhere along the line, investors have lost sight of the human toll of their return. Poor customer satisfaction has little effect when it comes to decisions the airlines make. Consumer advocate Christopher Elliott states that a study by the University of Nevada, Reno, finds no link between customer satisfaction and an airlines financial performance. Why? Because no matter how vehemently airline passengers complain about fees, indifferent cabin service or lengthy delays, theyll keep buying tickets. In todays fast-paced world, air travel remains the most efficient way to get from point A to point B, even with the frustration and possible health issues waiting in the wings or in this case, the restrictive seats. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecasts that in 2019, the global airline industrys net profit will be US$35.5 billion. That would make 2019 the 10th year of profit and the fifth consecutive year where airlines, on the whole, deliver a return on capital that exceeds the industrys cost of capital. Good reason to continue their dehumanizing practices when the travelling public continues to buy tickets. But what of the costs to the traveller that are directly attributable to the way the airlines seek to satisfy their investors? Growing air rage and air-travel-induced medical problems are two that stand out. Air rage can be traced back to close seating in economy class versus the more spacious seating in business class. As they pass through the front of the cabin, a passenger destined for a 19-inch seat in the rear is subject to a feeling of inequality. Short connection times, limited information on delays, the fight for room in full overhead bins and being charged to book a seat or change a seat also cause frayed nerves. Travel-induced medical problems are another factor. Current mandates by the FAA only require that plane seats be configured in a way that allows passengers to evacuate in 90 seconds or less. According to the World Health Organization, sitting in cramped seats for prolonged periods can cause back problems and blood clots in your legs, otherwise known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT). The risk of DVT is two to three times higher after four hours or longer on a plane than on other forms of transportation. Moving around more will alleviate your chances of DVT, but many passengers are reluctant to climb over a sleeping, or grumpy, fellow passenger to get to the aisle. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Seat size wont be getting better anytime soon no matter how hard the travelling public complains. The Seat Egress in Air Travel (SEAT) Act, part of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Bill, gives airlines a year to set a minimum for seat width and the space between seats. Where the U.S. goes, Canada will surely follow. Seat widths have dropped from 19 to 20 inches in the mid-1980s to roughly 17 to 18 inches today. Seat pitch the distance from a point on one seat to the same point in front or behind has shrunk as well, from 31 to 35 inches in the 1970s to as low as 28 inches today. Will the enactment of the SEAT Act boost passengers personal space? Most analysts say no. What is likely to happen is that todays tightly packed seating will become the norm. According to the Wall Street Journal, the average "profit per passenger" of the seven largest U.S. airlines was US$17.75 for a one-way flight and the average profit margin across those seven airlines was nine per cent in 2017. Thats about double what airlines around the world make. With those profits, and the need to satisfy investors, airline passengers wont be seeing any return to dignity in air travel. On a recent flight, I was situated in the middle seat. A large gentleman came down the aisle trying to find space in the crowded overhead bins. After much shuffling he managed to secure room for his carry-on luggage across the aisle from our row, then he wedged himself into the empty seat beside me. His genes dictated his body build that wasnt his choice. He had no room to comfortably sit in the seat so one of his legs and an arm intruded into my already limited personal space. For three hours, I was forced to keep my arms pinned to my sides as I attempted to unpack a snack from the box I had purchased and keep hydrated. My feelings toward this gentleman were less than kind. A more humane passenger seating plan would have allowed him and me to retain our dignity during our flight. We are, after all, more than self-loading cargo. Rita Toews is an author residing in East St. Paul. She and her husband travel extensively and hope to do so for many more years. Offer money to leaders in a cash-poor community to gain support for a resource-extraction project. Publicly shun and disenfranchise individuals who dont agree. Get people to sign their support without full information. Divide the community. Commence destructive preparation of the project site before proper decision-making processes are complete. Situate this project on traditional Indigenous territory. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/4/2019 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion Offer money to leaders in a cash-poor community to gain support for a resource-extraction project. Publicly shun and disenfranchise individuals who dont agree. Get people to sign their support without full information. Divide the community. Commence destructive preparation of the project site before proper decision-making processes are complete. Situate this project on traditional Indigenous territory. Much of Canadas historic wealth was built on these kinds of practices. Sadly, in this so-called era of reconciliation, they continue. And not far from where many of us live in Winnipeg. This scenario was described by Hollow Water First Nation (HWFN) members Lisa Raven, Reg Simard and Drey Smith at a recent event about Canadian Premium Sands proposed frac-sand development near Hollow Water First Nation, on Treaty 5 territory east of Lake Winnipeg. They all care deeply about their community and the land, and they are expressing serious concerns. The project has many drawbacks, including health and environmental effects of frac-sand processing on workers, nearby communities, water and land, as well as concerns about heavy truck traffic on the winding Highway 304 and the extremely busy Highway 59. Not to mention the folly of supporting more fossil-fuel infrastructure when urgent transition to alternatives is required to avoid the worst of climate catastrophe. Also of grave concern is the disrespect shown by both the company and the provincial government to the community. This project requires an environmental licence and therefore its potential environmental and human effects must be identified and fully addressed prior to proceeding. It also requires a Section 35 Crown consultation, which must seek to accommodate and substantially address the concerns of local Indigenous Peoples. Both processes are now underway, but they stray far from meeting the letter and the spirit of the laws that created them. No licence has yet been issued, but a road has already been cleared and exploratory work done precisely on the area of the community trap line, a key place for traditional activities. HWFNs chief and council support the project, including discreetly waiving rights to the necessary Section 35 consultation for the exploration work and road, but they do so without the informed consent of the greater community. Drey, Reg and Lisa described how many people in the community are only now learning about the project. They reported tension as local opponents have been intimidated and, in some cases, have lost their jobs. Unsubstantiated rumours abound about possible benefits, such as a much-needed new school, and injections of money into the cash-strapped reserve. Children, we hear, are upset about the destruction of their forest play areas, which are also their families spiritual homeland. From the start, the company has provided only vague, incomplete and conflicting information, meaning any Manitoban following the issue cannot know its full implications. Meanwhile, the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) government representatives with expertise in various areas has identified serious problems with the proposal, including the very real dangers of silica sand processing. Their concerns have raised red flags in HWFN, other First Nations and other settlements in Treaty 5. The company and the TAC continue discussions. Why would the government not wait until these questions are resolved? In this Indigenous community, as in any community, especially those facing duress and change, opinions will vary about resource developments. As a non-Indigenous settler person, I dont pretend to have answers for Hollow Water First Nation. In my view, however, the government has failed to carry out due diligence in discerning whether the chief and council had broad community support for this project. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. As I write, community members are entering the sixth week of a vigil at Camp Morning Star a teepee and sacred fire set up to honour and protect the land and educate about the disregard shown to the community around the frac-sand development. I am a treaty person (as are we all who live here). I believe we have responsibilities to our Indigenous neighbours who are affected by resource development. At minimum, we can demand our governments practise the basic tenets of reconciliation, one of which is the right to "free, prior and informed consent" as described in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Canadas history has been one of exploiting resources, at the great expense of the Indigenous Peoples who lived and continue to live on the land. That history has contributed to the displacement, poverty and pain that haunt many today. At this moment, with growing knowledge about the crimes of the past, we can change that relationship in small and large ways. In the instance of this development, the government can choose to have a public Clean Environment Commission panel review of the project. A panel review would ensure transparency of information and would allow all members of Treaty 5, and any Manitoban, the opportunity to participate in the discussion. Ensuring meaningful public process for resource developments that include "full, prior and informed consent" will be a step by the government of Manitoba toward meeting the principles of reconciliation. Anne Lindsey is a longtime activist who served as executive director of the Manitoba Eco-Network, and a Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba research associate. The federal carbon tax is now in effect in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick. The tax increases the cost of fossil fuels in order to reduce consumption, thus lowering Canadas carbon emissions. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/4/2019 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion The federal carbon tax is now in effect in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick. The tax increases the cost of fossil fuels in order to reduce consumption, thus lowering Canadas carbon emissions. Many Canadians are confused about the carbon tax and how it will affect them. Here are some answers to common questions about this new tax. Chelsea Kemp / Brandon Sun Files Ron Rabe fuels up in Brandon before the implementation of the carbon tax in Manitoba. What is a carbon tax? A carbon tax is a levy applied to fossil fuels based on how much carbon dioxide they release when burned. Coal, for example, releases more carbon pollution than natural gas to produce the same amount of energy. The federal carbon tax will raise the price of coal more than the price of natural gas. The carbon tax doesnt apply to hydroelectricity and other energy sources that dont release any carbon pollution. Why is the tax being applied in only four provinces? The federal and provincial governments (with the exception of Saskatchewan) previously agreed to establish a consistent Canada-wide price on carbon pollution. The agreement gave provinces flexibility to devise their own policies, as long as they covered the same sources at the same carbon price. If they didnt, the federal government would step in. In 2018, all provinces satisfied the federal governments conditions except for Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick, where the federal "backstop" carbon tax is being applied. Although the federal carbon tax is being applied in only those four provinces as of April 1, 2019, residents of other provinces are also paying an equivalent tax and in some cases have already been doing so for many years. How much will it cost me? In 2019, the carbon price starts at $20 per tonne of carbon dioxide released. That translates to an additional 4.4 cents per litre of gasoline. The tax will increase annually, reaching $50 per tonne in 2022. By then the gasoline tax will be 11 cents per litre. The total cost for an individual will depend on how much fossil fuel energy they use. Those who drive more or heat large homes with fossil fuels will pay more than the average, while those who use less, say by taking public transit, will pay less. The average household cost from the federal carbon tax will range from $200 per year in New Brunswick to $400 in Saskatchewan, which relies more on coal to generate electricity. I heard there are rebates! How do I get one? Residents of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick are eligible for a carbon tax credit, starting with the 2018 tax year. The tax credit either reduces an individuals tax bill or increases their refund by the same amount. Only one person is eligible per family, but the size of the refund is based on the number of adults and children in the household. The federal government has committed to returning all carbon tax revenues to the province from which it is collected. As a result, the average household rebate will vary from $250 in New Brunswick to $600 in Saskatchewan this is greater than the average costs of the tax. Most taxpayers will get more money back than they will pay in carbon taxes. There is additional funding for rural and northern communities, small businesses, schools, hospitals and local governments. Do carbon taxes decrease emissions? Income and sales taxes exist to raise money for government services like health care and education. Environmental taxes are different. Their purpose is to create price incentives for consumers to conserve energy or switch to less carbon-intensive fuels. Consumers respond to prices. At the grocery store, if the price of cauliflower goes up, you might buy broccoli instead. The same is true for fossil fuels. When the price of gasoline increases, people are more likely to combine trips, take the bus or buy a more fuel-efficient vehicle. When home heating is more expensive, theyre more likely to fix leaks or install a smart thermostat. Research shows that carbon taxes work in reducing carbon pollution. People often ask how a carbon tax can work if the government is giving all the money back. Lets say you received a pay raise before you went to the grocery store. Even with more money in your bank account, youd still consider whether to buy the broccoli instead of the more expensive cauliflower. Its the same with carbon tax rebates. Although households will get money back through their taxes, consumers will still respond to changes in fossil fuel prices. Am I being punished? Historically, weve thought of pollution as a problem caused by a few factories. Climate change is different and urgent. Only half of Canadas carbon emissions come from big industrial sources. The rest come from small sources like motor vehicles, buildings and landfills. We cant meet our goal to stabilize the global climate unless all sources are part of the solution. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The carbon tax is not punishment for bad behaviour. Rather, its a price signal to encourage people to lower their fossil fuel consumption. No one expects everyone to cease all consumption of fossil fuels overnight, but there is a lot individuals and industry can do to reduce their carbon footprints. Are big polluters off the hook? No. The federal carbon tax (and equivalent provincial schemes) apply to industrial sources as well as households. But there is a plan to return money to companies that face competition from countries with weaker climate policies. Like the household rebates, industrial rebates are designed so that the same carbon price and incentives to reduce carbon pollution apply to all industrial sources. Kathryn Harrison is a professor of political science at the University of British Columbia. This article was first published at The Conversation Canada: theconversation.com/ca. DURHAM, N.C. - A leaking gas line exploded Wednesday in a Durham shopping district,killing one person and injuring more than a dozen others as firefighters were evacuating people from buildings near the rupture, authorities said. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/4/2019 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. In this image taken from video firefighters and emergency officials respond to an explosion and fire in downtown Durham, N.C. on Wednesday, April 10, 2019. (WTVD-TV ABC 11 via AP) DURHAM, N.C. - A leaking gas line exploded Wednesday in a Durham shopping district,killing one person and injuring more than a dozen others as firefighters were evacuating people from buildings near the rupture, authorities said. The blast reverberated across the North Carolina city turning one building to rubble, shattering windows blocks away and filling the air with acrid smoke. The owner of a coffee shop at the site of the blast was identified Wednesday night as the person who died. Jim Rogalski, 58, was working in his office across the street from the destroyed building when the explosion blew out the windows. At least four people working in cubicles by the windows suffered deep cuts, bloody head wounds and other injuries, he said. "There was lots of screaming. ..." Rogalski said. "It was pretty frantic there for a little bit until help showed up." Rogalski was seated one row away from the windows and wasn't hurt. Smoke billows from the scene of an explosion and fire in downtown Durham, N.C. Wednesday, April 10, 2019. (Hanna Davison/The News & Observer via AP) "It was terrifying," he said. "The whole building shook. Things started falling ceiling tiles, and structure and glass and debris. Lots and lots of dust. It was tough to see beyond 20 feet or so." The explosion came about 15 minutes after the office's human resources manager sent an email warning that the city's fire department was investigating the smell of gas and that workers shouldn't leave the building through the front door, he said as a friend gave him a ride home to Chapel Hill. Rogalski said he was forced to abandon his car in a nearby parking deck because authorities worried the blast may have weakened the structure. Durham Fire Chief Robert Zoldos said the blast at 10:07 a.m. involved five buildings on the block and catastrophically damaged one. The leak had been reported a half-hour earlier, prompting the evacuations. In this aerial photo, firefighters battle a fire at the scene of an explosion in Durham, N.C. Wednesday, April 10, 2019. (Julie Wall/The News & Observer via AP) On Wednesday afternoon, jagged beams jutted out of the collapsed building, along with bent sheet metal, bricks and wood. Its roof had completely fallen in, and the partly caved-in roof of an adjacent building cascaded into the rubble pile. A massive stream of water from a ladder truck sprayed onto the remnants, draining down the street as firefighters walked past. Now that the fires have been contained, crews will begin search and rescue operations, Zoldos said at a news conference. No one is unaccounted for, the chief said, but they'll use dogs and listening devices to make sure no one is inside the rubble. The owner of Kaffeinate coffee shop, 61-year-old Kong Lee, died as a result of the explosion, according to a Durham Police Department statement. In this photo released by Jim Rogalski, firefighters help injured people after a building exploded, Wednesday, April 10, 2019, in Durham, N.C. (Jim Rogalski via AP) A total of 17 people were seen at hospitals six in critical condition and one transported to a burn centre Durham EMS Assistant Chief Lee Van Vleet said. Zoldos said one firefighter was seriously injured and in surgery but expected to recover. A contractor boring under a sidewalk had hit a 2-inch (5-centimetre) gas line, causing the leak, Durham Police Department spokesman Wil Glenn said. Glenn linked the boring work to the explosion during a morning briefing, but Zoldos later said the cause was still under investigation. Dominion Energy said in a press release Wednesday that subsidiary company PSNC Energy had received a call about "third-party" damage to a natural gas line in Durham. A PSNC worker responded, and the explosion "occurred shortly thereafter." The company said additional crews arrived and shut off the gas. Firefighters and emergency personnel work the scene of an explosion and building fire in downtown Durham, N.C., Wednesday, April 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome) Deputy City Manager Bo Ferguson said boring for a fiber communications network had been underway in the area, but city officials were working to confirm whether it was connected and couldn't release the name of the contractor. Blocks away, the blast shattered windows and blew at least one door off its hinges in the Brightleaf shopping district. Ed Rains was on a nearby street and couldn't see the blast but heard it. "I thought someone had dropped a dumpster on the street," he said. Tracy Telenko was at his desk in his third-floor Durham office when he heard the explosion and saw black smoke billowing up. Firefighters and emergency personnel work the scene of a building fire in downtown Durham, N.C., Wednesday, April 10, 2019. Authorities say emergency officials responded to an explosion and fire possibly caused by a gas leak. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome) "My first thought, because there was construction going on around my building, was something fell, somebody doing construction dropped something," he said. Telenko said he went home after his boss told employees they could leave if they didn't feel safe in their office. At nearby Durham School of the Arts, students were evacuated and classes dismissed for the day. Teacher Al Donaldson was walking through a hallway in a building about two blocks from the blast when he heard a loud noise, which concerned faculty and students. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Emergency personnel search the scene of a building fire in downtown Durham, N.C., Wednesday, April 10, 2019. Firefighters responding to a gas leak were evacuating people from the building when it exploded, killing one and injuring more than a dozen others, officials said. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome) "We didn't know the origin at the time," he said. "I was in the hallway, so I didn't so much feel it shake as experiencing a jarring sound." The collapsed building is occupied by Prescient Co., which said in July 2017 that it was moving its headquarters from Arvada, Colorado, and expected to employ about 60 executives, engineering and sales workers in Durham. The company uses specialized software to design and build precise materials that allow builders to assemble multistory apartments, hotels and other commercial buildings faster and cheaper. ___ Emery P. Dalesio and Martha Waggoner in Raleigh; Tom Foreman Jr. in Charlotte; and Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia, contributed to this story. ___ This story has been edited to clarify that the explosion caused the entire roof of one building to cave in while the roof of an adjacent building partly collapsed. Drake spent thousands of dollars on champagne at the weekend. The 'Hotline Bling' hitmaker took time out from his residency at London's The O2 to host a private party for pals at members club Annabel's on Saturday (06.04.19) and spared no expense to ensure his guests had a good time. Drake and his guests, which included interior designer Ferris Rafauli, celebrated with the first releases of Mod Selection champagne and despite its $400 price tag, the group left the venue having drank their entire stock of the luxury tipple. A source exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "Drake and his friends had a great time at Annabel's, but they've left the club members having to seek out a different brand of champagne because their group drank the place dry!" The 'God's Plan' hitmaker kicked off his residency in London on April 1 and it draws to a close on Thursday (11.04.19). At his opening concert at the venue last week, the 32-year-old star paid homage to Nipsey Hussle, who had been shot dead the day before. Drake stood in the center of the stage and opened up about the 'Racks In The Middle' rapper whilst telling his fans that he was "thankful" to be with them. He said "He [Nipsey] was somebody that provided for his people, somebody that always treated you with respect when he saw you, somebody that commanded respect when he walked in the room. "So I really want to do this shout out for Nip tonight and I just want everybody to look around and be grateful and happy that we're all here together, alive and well, because life can end at any moment. I just want to say I love you, I'm thankful to be with you tonight. London, as long as you'll have me back I'll stand in the middle of this building and give you everything I've f**king got. Cheers to my brother, rest easy my g. London, I love you." Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua (C), also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, inspects agricultural science and technology innovation work at China Agricultural University in Beijing, capital of China, April 9, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Bin) BEIJING, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua Tuesday stressed enhancement of agricultural technology innovation to ensure effective supply of grain and major produce and support rural industrial vitalization. Efforts should be made to speed up development of an agricultural technology innovation mechanism that integrates industries, education and research, Hu said during an inspection at China Agricultural University. Hu also called for acceleration in breakthroughs in major core technologies such as agricultural machinery and produce processing. Agricultural technology institutional reforms should be deepened to give full play to the roles of agricultural universities and other institutions and stimulate vitality of talents in this field, Hu added. American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved. 326 E 8th St #105, Sioux Falls, SD 57103 | U.S. Based Support Team at [email protected] | (844) 978-6257 MarketBeat does not provide personalized financial advice and does not issue recommendations or offers to buy stock or sell any security. Our Accessibility Statement | Terms of Service | Do Not Sell My Information 2021 Market data provided is at least 10-minutes delayed and hosted by Barchart Solutions. Information is provided 'as-is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and is delayed. To see all exchange delays and terms of use please see disclaimer. Fundamental company data provided by Zacks Investment Research. BNP Paribas SA provides a range of banking and financial services in France and internationally. It operates through two divisions, Retail Banking and Services, and Corporate and Institutional Banking. The company offers long-term corporate vehicle leasing, and rental and other financing solutions; and digital banking and investment services, cash management, and factoring services to corporate clients, as well as wealth management services. It also provides credit solutions for individuals under the Cetelem, Cofinoga, Findomestic, AlphaCredit, and Opel Vauxhall brands; savings and protection solutions, including insuring individuals, and their personal projects and assets; and asset management, private banking, and real estate services. In addition, the company offers global market services, including investment, hedging, financing, research, and market intellingence across asset classes; security services comprising clearing, custody, and asset and fund services, as well as corporate trust, and market and financing services; and corporate trade and treasury, debt financing, specialized financing, strategic advisory, mergers and acquisition, and equity capital market services for institutional and corporate clients. The company was formerly known as Banque Nationale de Paris and changed its name to BNP Paribas SA in May 2000. BNP Paribas SA was founded in 1848 and is headquartered in Paris, France. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of BP: 200 PS Overseas Holdings Inc., 563916 Alberta Ltd., ACP (Malaysia) Inc., AE Cedar Creek Holdings LLC, AE Goshen II Holdings LLC, AE Goshen II Wind Farm LLC, AE Power Services LLC, AE Wind PartsCo LLC, AM/PM International Inc., ARCO, ARCO British International, ARCO British Limited, ARCO Coal Australia Inc., ARCO El-Djazair Holdings Inc., ARCO Environmental Remediation L.L.C., ARCO Exploration Inc., ARCO Gaviota Company, ARCO International Investments Inc., ARCO International Services Inc., ARCO Midcon LLC, ARCO Oil Company Nigeria Unlimited, ARCO Oman Inc, ARCO Resources Limited, ARCO Trinidad Exploration and Production Company Limited, ARCO Unimar Holdings LLC, Actomat B.V., Advance Petroleum Holdings Pty Ltd, Advance Petroleum Pty Ltd, Air BP Albania SHA, Air BP Brasil Ltda., Air BP Canada LLC, Air BP Croatia d.o.o., Air BP Finland Oy, Air BP Iceland, Air BP Limited, Air BP Norway AS, Air BP Sales Romania S.R.L., Air BP Sweden AB, Air Refuel Pty Ltd, Allgreen Pty Ltd, AmProp Finance Company, American Oil Company, Amoco (Fiddich) Limited, Amoco (U.K.) Exploration Company LLC., Amoco Bolivia Petroleum Company, Amoco Bolivia Services Company Inc., Amoco Canada International Holdings B.V., Amoco Capline Pipeline Company, Amoco Chemical (Europe) S.A., Amoco Chemicals (FSC) B.V., Amoco Cypress Pipeline Company, Amoco Destin Pipeline Company, Amoco Environmental Services Company, Amoco Exploration Holdings B.V., Amoco Guatemala Petroleum Company, Amoco International Finance Corporation, Amoco International Petroleum Company, Amoco Leasing Corporation, Amoco Louisiana Fractionator Company, Amoco MB Fractionation Company, Amoco MBF Company, Amoco Main Pass Gathering Company, Amoco Marketing Environmental Services Company, Amoco Netherlands Petroleum Company, Amoco Nigeria Exploration Company Limited, Amoco Nigeria Oil Company Limited, Amoco Nigeria Petroleum Company, Amoco Nigeria Petroleum Company Limited, Amoco Norway Oil Company, Amoco Oil Holding Company, Amoco Olefins Corporation, Amoco Overseas Exploration Company, Amoco Pipeline Asset Company, Amoco Pipeline Holding Company, Amoco Properties Incorporated, Amoco Remediation Management Services Corporation, Amoco Research Operating Company, Amoco Rio Grande Pipeline Company, Amoco Somalia Petroleum Company, Amoco Sulfur Recovery Company, Amoco Tri-States NGL Pipeline Company, Amoco Trinidad Gas B.V., Amoco U.K. Petroleum Limited, Amprop Illinois I Limited, Amprop Inc., Anaconda Arizona Inc., Arabian Production And Marketing Lubricants, Aral Aktiengesellschaft, Aral Luxembourg S.A., Aral Services Luxembourg Sarl, Aral Tankstellen Services Sarl, Arco Mediterraneo Inversiones S.L., Areas Noriega S.L., Areas Singulares Reyes S.L., Aspac Lubricants (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Atlantic 2/3 UK Holdings Limited, Atlantic Richfield Company, Atlantic Richfield Companyd, Autino Holdings Limited, Autino Limited, Auwahi Wind Energy Holdings LLC, B2Mobility GmbH, BASS Management Pty Ltd, BP (Abu Dhabi) Limited, BP (Barbados) Holding SRL, BP (Barbican) Limited, BP (China) Holdings Limited, BP (China) Industrial Lubricants Limited, BP (GTA Mauritania) Finance Limited, BP (GTA Senegal) Finance Limited, BP (Gibraltar) Limited, BP (Guangzhou) Advanced Mobility Limited, BP (Hunan) Petroleum Company Limited, BP (Indian Agencies) Limited, BP (Shandong) Petroleum Co. Ltd, BP (Shanghai) Trading Limited, BP - Castrol (Thailand) Limited, BP AMI Leasing Inc., BP Absheron Limited, BP Advanced Mobility Limited, BP Africa Limited, BP Africa Oil Limited, BP Akaryakit Ortakligi, BP Alaska LNG LLC, BP Alternative Energy Holdings Limited, BP Alternative Energy Investments Limited, BP Alternative Energy North America Inc., BP Alternative Energy Trinidad and Tobago Limited, BP America Chembel Holding LLC, BP America Chemicals Company, BP America Foreign Investments Inc., BP America Inc, BP America Inc., BP America Limited, BP America Production Company, BP Amoco Chemical Company, BP Amoco Chemical Holding Company, BP Amoco Chemical Indonesia Limited, BP Amoco Chemical Malaysia Holding Company, BP Amoco Exploration (Faroes) Limited, BP Amoco Exploration (In Amenas) Limited, BP Andaman II Ltd, BP Angola (Block 18) B.V., BP Argentina Exploration Company, BP Argentina Holdings LLC, BP Aromatics Holdings Limited, BP Aromatics Limited, BP Asia Limited, BP Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., BP Asia Pacific Holdings Limited, BP Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, BP Australia Capital Markets Limited, BP Australia Employee Share Plan Proprietary Limited, BP Australia Group Pty Ltde, BP Australia Investments Pty Ltd, BP Australia Nominees Proprietary Limited, BP Australia Pty Ltd, BP Australia Shipping Pty Ltd, BP Australia Swaps Management Limited, BP Aviation A/S, BP Benevolent Fund Trustees Limited, BP Berau Ltd., BP Biocombustiveis S.A., BP Bioenergia Campina Verde Ltda., BP Bioenergia Ituiutaba Ltda., BP Bioenergia Itumbiara S.A., BP Bioenergia Tropical S.A., BP Biofuels Advanced Technology Inc., BP Biofuels Brazil Investments Limited, BP Biofuels Louisiana LLC, BP Biofuels North America LLC, BP Biofuels Trading Comercio Exportacao Ltda., BP Bomberai Ltd., BP Brasil Ltda., BP Brazil Tracking L.L.C., BP Bulwer Island Pty Ltd, BP Business Service Centre Asia Sdn Bhd, BP Business Service Centre KFT, BP CIV Pty Ltd, BP Canada Energy Development Company, BP Canada Energy Group ULC, BP Canada Energy Marketing Corp., BP Canada International Holdings B.V., BP Canada Investments Inc., BP Capellen Sarl, BP Capital Markets, BP Capital Markets America, BP Capital Markets America Inc., BP Capital Markets p.l.c., BP Car Fleet Limited, BP Caribbean Company, BP Castrol KK, BP Castrol Lubricants (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., BP Central Pipelines LLC, BP Chembel, BP Chemicals (Korea) Limited, BP Chemicals East China Investments Limited, BP Chemicals Investments Limited, BP Chemicals Limited, BP China Exploration and Production Company, BP Comercializadora de Energia Ltda., BP Commodities Trading Limited, BP Commodity Supply B.V., BP Company North America, BP Company North America Inc., BP Containment Response Limited, BP Containment Response System Holdings LLC, BP Continental Holdings Limited, BP Corporate Holdings, BP Corporate Holdings Limited, BP Corporation North America, BP Corporation North America Inc., BP D-B Pipeline Company LLC, BP D230 Limited, BP Danmark A/S, BP Developments Australia Pty. Ltd., BP Dogal Gaz Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, BP East Kalimantan CBM Limited, BP Eastern Mediterranean Limited, BP Egypt Company, BP Egypt East Delta Marine Corporation, BP Egypt East Tanka B.V., BP Egypt Production B.V., BP Egypt Ras El Barr B.V., BP Egypt West Mediterranean (Block B) B.V., BP Energy Asia Pte. Limited, BP Energy Colombia Limited, BP Energy Company, BP Energy Europe Limited, BP Energy Solutions B.V., BP Energy do Brasil Ltda., BP Energia Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., BP Espana S.A. Unipersonal, BP Estaciones y Servicios Energeticos Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, BP Europa SE, BP Exploracion de Venezuela S.A., BP Exploration & Production Inc., BP Exploration (Absheron) Limited, BP Exploration (Alaska), BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., BP Exploration (Algeria) Limited, BP Exploration (Alpha), BP Exploration (Alpha) Limited, BP Exploration (Angola), BP Exploration (Angola) Limited, BP Exploration (Azerbaijan), BP Exploration (Azerbaijan) Limited, BP Exploration (Canada) Limited, BP Exploration (Caspian Sea), BP Exploration (Caspian Sea) Limited, BP Exploration (D230) Limited, BP Exploration (Delta), BP Exploration (Delta) Limited, BP Exploration (El Djazair) Limited, BP Exploration (Epsilon) Limited, BP Exploration (Gambia) Limited, BP Exploration (Greenland) Limited, BP Exploration (Madagascar) Limited, BP Exploration (Morocco) Limited, BP Exploration (Namibia) Limited, BP Exploration (Nigeria Finance) Limited, BP Exploration (Nigeria) Limited, BP Exploration (Psi) Limited, BP Exploration (STP) Limited, BP Exploration (Shafag-Asiman) Limited, BP Exploration (Shah Deniz) Limited, BP Exploration (South Atlantic) Limited, BP Exploration (Xazar) Pte. Ltd., BP Exploration Angola (Kwanza Benguela) Limited, BP Exploration Argentina Limited, BP Exploration Australia Pty Ltd Level 15, BP Exploration Beta Limited, BP Exploration China Limited, BP Exploration Company (Middle East) Limited, BP Exploration Company Limited, BP Exploration Indonesia Limited, BP Exploration Libya Limited, BP Exploration Mexico Limited, BP Exploration Mexico S.A. De C.V., BP Exploration North Africa Limited, BP Exploration Operating Company, BP Exploration Operating Company Limited, BP Exploration Orinoco Limited, BP Exploration Personnel Company Limited, BP Exploration Peru Limited, BP Express Shopping Limited, BP Finance Australia Pty Ltd, BP Finance p.l.c., BP Foundation Incorporated, BP France, BP Fuels & Lubricants AS, BP Fuels Deutschland GmbH, BP GOM Logistics LLC, BP Gas & Power Investments Limited, BP Gas Europe S.A.U., BP Gas Marketing Limited, BP Gas Supply (Angola) LLC, BP Ghana Limited, BP Global Investments, BP Global Investments Limited, BP Global Investments Salalah & Co LLC, BP Global West Africa Limited, BP Greece Limited, BP Guangdong Limited, BP High Density Polyethylene - France, BP Holdings (Thailand) Limited, BP Holdings B.V., BP Holdings Canada, BP Holdings Canada Limited, BP Holdings International B.V., BP Holdings North America, BP Holdings North America Limited, BP Hong Kong Limited, BP India Private Limited, BP Indonesia Investment Limited, BP International, BP International Limited, BP International Services Company, BP Investment Management Limited, BP Investments Asia Limited, BP Iran Limited, BP Iraq N.V., BP Italia SpA, BP Japan K.K., BP Korea Limited, BP Kuwait Limited, BP LNG Shipping Limited, BP Latin America LLC, BP Latin America Upstream Services Inc., BP Lubricants KK, BP Lubricants USA Inc., BP Luxembourg S.A., BP Malaysia Holdings Sdn. Bhd., BP Management International B.V., BP Management Netherlands B.V., BP Marine Limited, BP Mariner Holding Company LLC, BP Maritime Services (Singapore) Pte. Limited, BP Marketing Egypt LLC, BP Mauritania Investments Limited, BP Mauritius Limited (in liquidation), BP Middle East Enterprises Corporation, BP Middle East LLC, BP Middle East Limited, BP Midstream Partners GP LLC, BP Midstream Partners Holdings LLC, BP Midstream Partners LP, BP Midwest Product Pipelines Holdings LLC, BP Mocambique Limitada, BP Mocambique Limited, BP Muturi Holdings B.V., BP Nederland Holdings BV, BP Netherlands Upstream B.V., BP New Ventures Middle East Limited, BP New Zealand Holdings Limited, BP New Zealand Share Scheme Limited, BP Nutrition Inc., BP Offshore Gathering Systems Inc., BP Offshore Pipelines Company LLC, BP Offshore Response Company LLC, BP Oil (Thailand) Limited, BP Oil Australia Pty Ltd, BP Oil Espana S.A., BP Oil Hellenic S.A., BP Oil International, BP Oil International Limited, BP Oil Kent Refinery Limited (in liquidation), BP Oil Llandarcy Refinery Limited, BP Oil Logistics UK Limited, BP Oil New Zealand Limited, BP Oil Pipeline Company, BP Oil Senegal S.A., BP Oil Shipping Company, BP Oil UK Limited, BP Oil Venezuela Limited, BP Oil Vietnam Limited, BP Oil Yemen Limited, BP Olex Fanal Mineralol GmbH, BP One Pipeline Company LLC, BP Pacific Investments Ltd, BP Pakistan (Badin) Inc., BP Pakistan Exploration and Production Inc., BP Pension Escrow Limited, BP Pension Trustees Limited, BP Pensions (Overseas) Limited, BP Pensions Limited, BP Petrochemicals India Investments Limited, BP Petroleo y Gas S.A., BP Petrolleri Anonim Sirketi, BP Pipelines (Alaska) Inc., BP Pipelines (BTC) Limited, BP Pipelines (North America) Inc., BP Pipelines (SCP) Limited, BP Pipelines (TANAP) Limited, BP Pipelines TAP Limited, BP Polska Services Sp. z o.o. Ul., BP Portugal -Comercio de Combustiveis e Lubrificantes SA, BP Poseidon Limited, BP Products North America, BP Products North America Inc., BP Properties Limited, BP Raffinaderij Rotterdam B.V., BP Refinery (Kwinana) Proprietary Limited, BP Regional Australasia Holdings Pty Ltd, BP River Rouge Pipeline Company LLC, BP Russian Investments Limited, BP Russian Ventures Limited, BP SC Holdings LLC, BP Scale Up Factory Limited, BP Senegal Investments Limited, BP Services International Limited, BP Servicios de Combustibles S.A. de C.V., BP Servicios territoriales S.A., BP Shafag-Asiman Limited, BP Shipping Limited, BP Singapore Pte. Limited, BP Solar Energy North America LLC, BP Solar Espana S.A., BP Solar International Inc., BP Solar Pty Ltd, BP South America Holdings Ltd, BP Southern Africa Proprietary Limited, BP Southern Cone Company, BP Subsea Well Response (Brazil) Limited, BP Subsea Well Response Limited, BP Taiwan Marketing Limited, BP Technology Ventures Inc., BP Technology Ventures Limited, BP Train 2/3 Holding SRL, BP Transportation (Alaska) Inc., BP Trinidad Processing Limited, BP Trinidad and Tobago, BP Trinidad and Tobago LLC, BP Turkey Refining Limited, BP Two Pipeline Company LLC, BP UK Retained Holdings Limited, BP Venezuela Investments B.V., BP West Aru I Limited, BP West Aru II Limited, BP West Papua I Limited, BP West Papua III Limited, BP Wind Energy North America Inc., BP Wiriagar Ltd., BP World-Wide Technical Services Limited, BP Zhuhai Chemical Company Limited, BP+Amoco International Limited, BP-AIOC Exploration (TISA) LLC, BPA Investment Holding Company, BPNE International B.V., BPRY Caribbean Ventures LLC, BPX (Eagle Ford) Gathering LLC, BPX (KCS Resources) LLC, BPX (Karnes) Gathering LLC, BPX (Permian) Gathering LLC, BPX (WSF Operating) Inc., BPX Energy Inc., BPX Midstream LLC, BPX Operating Company, BPX Production Company, BPX Properties (GP) LLC, BPX Properties (LP) LLC, BPX Properties (NA) LP, BTC Pipeline Holding Company Limited, BXL Plastics Limitedv, Bahia de Bizkaia Electridad S.L., Baltimore Ennis Land Company Inc., Black Lake Pipe Line Company, Blueprint Power, Brian Jasper Nominees Pty Ltd, Britannic Energy Trading Limited, Britannic Investments Iraq Limited, Britannic Marketing Limited, Britannic Strategies Limited, Britannic Trading Limited, Britoil Limited, Burmah Castrol, Burmah Castrol Australia Pty Ltd, Burmah Castrol Holdings Inc., Burmah Castrol PLC, Burmah Castrol South Africa (Pty) Limited, Burmah Chile SpA, Butamax Advanced Biofuels, CASTROL Austria GmbHb, CH-Twenty Inc., CNAA, Cadman DBP Limited, Casitas Pipeline Company, Castrol (China) Limited, Castrol (Ireland) Limited, Castrol (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Castrol (Shenzhen) Company Limited, Castrol (Tianjin) Lubricants Co. Ltd., Castrol (U.K.) Limited, Castrol Australia Pty. Limited, Castrol B.V., Castrol BP Petco Limited Liability Company, Castrol Brasil Ltda., Castrol Caribbean & Central America Inc., Castrol Colombia Ltda., Castrol Del Peru S.A., Castrol Egypt Lubricants S.A.E., Castrol India Limited, Castrol Industrie und Service GmbH, Castrol KK, Castrol Limited, Castrol Lubricants RO S.R.L, Castrol Mexico S.A., Castrol Namibia (Pty) Limited, Castrol Offshore Limited, Castrol Pakistan (Private) Limited, Castrol Philippines Inc., Castrol Servicos Ltda., Castrol Ukraine LLC, Castrol Zimbabwe (Private) Limited, Centrel Pty Ltd, Charge Your Car Limitedc, Chargemaster, Chargemaster (Europe) GmbH, Chargemaster Limited, Charging Solutions Limited, Clarisse Holdings Pty Ltd, Coastwise Trading Company Inc., Consolidada de Energia y Lubricantes (CENERLUB) C.A., Conti Cross Keys Inn Inc., Coro Trading NZ Limited, Cuyama Pipeline Company, DHC Solvent Chemie GmbH, Dermody Developments Pty Ltd, Dermody Holdings Pty Ltd, Dermody Investments Pty Ltd, Dermody Petroleum Pty. Ltd., Dome Beaufort Petroleum Limited, Dome Wallis (1980) Limited Partnership, ECM Markets SA (Pty) Ltd, Elektromotive Limited, Elite Customer Solutions Pty Ltd, Elm Holdings Inc., Energy Global Investments (USA) Inc., Enstar LLC, Estacion de Servicio Alto Campoo S.L., Estacion de Servicio Ganzo 10 S.L., Estacion de Servicio Reocin 9 S.L., Estacion de Servicio Santillana II S.L., Estacion de Servicio Sardinero S.L., Estonian Aviation Fuelling Services, Europa Oil NZ Limited, Exomet Inc., Expandite Contract Services Limited, Exploration (Luderitz Basin) Limited, Exploration Service Company Limited, FWK (2017) Limited, FWK Holdings (2017) LTD, Finite Carbon, Flat Ridge 2 Holdings LLC, Flat Ridge Wind Energy LLC, Foseco Holding Inc., Foseco Holding International B.V., Foseco Inc., Fosroc Expandite Limited, Fotech Solutions Ltd, Fowler Ridge Holdings LLC, Fowler Ridge I Land Investments LLC, Fowler Ridge II Holdings LLC, Fowler Ridge III Wind Farm LLC, FreeBees B.V., Fuel & Retail Aviat ion Sweden AB, Fuelplane- Sociedade Abastecedora De Aeronaves Unipessoal Lda, GOAM 1 C.I S. A .S, Gardena Holdings Inc., Gelsenkirchen Raffinerie Netz GmbH, Grampian Aviation Fuelling Services Limited, Guangdong Investments Limited, Highlands Ethanol LLC, Hosteleria Noriega S.L., IGI Resources Inc., Insight Analytics Solutions Holdings Limited, Insight Analytics Solutions Limited, Insight Analytics Solutions USA Inc., International Bunker Supplies Pty Ltd, Iraq Petroleum Company Limited, Jupiter Insurance Limited, Ken-Chas Reserve Company, Kenilworth Oil Company Limited, Kingbook Inversiones Socimi S.A., Latin Energy Argentina S.A., Lebanese Aviation Technical Services S.A.L., Limited Liability Company BP Toplivnaya Kompania, Limited liability company Setra Lubricants, Lubricants UK Limited, Lytt Limited, Manormaker (Nominee No. 1) Limited, Manormaker (Nominee No. 2) Limited, Manormaker GP Limited (99.90%) 11 Black Horse Lane, Mardi Gras Transportation System Company LLC, Markoil S.A., Masana Petroleum Solutions (Pty) Ltd, Mayaro Initiative for Private Enterprise Development, Mehoopany Holdings LLC, Mes Tecnologia En Servicios Y Energia S.A., Minza Pty. Ltd., Mountain City Remediation LLC, No. 1 Riverside Quay Proprietary Limited, Nordic Lubricants A/S, Nordic Lubricants AB, North America Funding Company, OMD87 Inc., OOO BP STL, Omega Oil Company, OnSight Analytics Solutions India Private Ltd., Open Energi, Orion Delaware Mountain Wind Farm LP, Orion Energy Holdings LLC, Orion Energy L.L.C.b, Orion Post Land Investments LLC, Oyambre 1 S.L., PRODUITS METALLURGIE DOITTAU, PT BP Petrochemicals, PT Castrol Indonesia, PT Castrol Manufacturing Indonesia, PT Jasatama Petroindo, Pacroy (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Peaks America Inc., Pearl River Delta Investments Limited, Petrocorner Retail S.L.U., Phoenix Petroleum Services Limited, Pozuelo 4 S.L., Prospect International C.A. (In liquidation), Puente Arce 4 S.L., Remediation Management Services Company, Richfield Oil Corporation, Rio Corvo 2 S.L., Rolling Thunder I Power Partners LLC, Romax Insight Korea Ltd., Ropemaker Deansgate Limited, Ropemaker Properties Limited, Ruhr Oel GmbH, Rusdene GSS Limited, SOFAST Limited, SRHP, Saturn Insurance Inc., Sherbino I Holdings LLC, Sherbino Mesa I Land Investments LLC, Sociedade de Promocao Imobiliaria Quinta do Loureiro SA, Societe de Gestion de Depots d'Hydrocarbures - GDH, South Texas Shale LLC, Southeast Texas Biofuels LLC, Southern Ridge Pipeline Holding Company, Southern Ridge Pipeline LP LLC, Sp/f Decision3 (GreenSteam) Company, Standard Oil Company, Standard Oil Company Inc., Standard Oil of Ohio, Stryde Limited, Sunrise Oil Sands Partnership, TISA Education Complex LLC, TJKK, Taradadis Pty. Ltd., Telcom General Corporation, Terre de Grace Partnership, The Anaconda Company, The BP Share Plans Trustees Limited, The Burmah Oil Company (Pakistan Trading) Limited, The Standard Oil Company, Thorntons, Toledo Refinery Holding Company LLC, Torrelavega 7 S.L., Union Texas International Corporation, Vastar Pipeline LLC, Veba Oel AG Veba Oel, Verenium, Viceroy Investments Limited, Villacarriedo 8 S.L., Warrenville Development Limited, Water Way Trading and Petroleum Services LLC, Welchem Inc., West Kimberley Fuels Pty Ltd, Westlake Houston Development LLC, Whiting Clean Energy Inc., Windpark Energy Nederland B.V., and Winwell Resources L.L.C. Allergan plc, a pharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, and commercializes branded pharmaceutical, device, biologic, surgical, and regenerative medicine products worldwide. The company operates in three segments: US Specialized Therapeutics, US General Medicine, and International. It offers a portfolio of products in various therapeutic areas, including medical aesthetics and dermatology, eye care, neuroscience, urology, gastrointestinal, women's health, and anti-infective therapeutic products. The company also offers breast implants and tissue expanders; and RM-131 (relamorelin), a peptide ghrelin agonist for the treatment of diabetic gastroparesis. In addition, it develops medical and cosmetic treatments; therapies for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and other liver diseases; inhibitor for the treatment of psoriasis and other autoimmune disorders; atopic dermatitis drug candidate; peri-ocular rings for extended drug delivery and reducing elevated intraocular pressure in glaucoma patients; and treatments for neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. Further, the company develops RST-001, a novel gene therapy for the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa; small molecule therapeutics for inflammatory and fibrotic diseases; topical medicines for fat reduction; and delivery system and botulinum toxin-based prescription products. It has collaboration, option, and license agreement with Lyndra, Inc.; and strategic alliance and option agreement with Editas Medicine, Inc. Allergan plc also has licensing agreements with Assembly Biosciences, Inc.; MedImmune; and Heptares Therapeutics, Ltd. The company was formerly known as Actavis plc and changed its name to Allergan plc in June 2015. Allergan plc was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Exxon Mobil: AKG Marketing Company Limited, Aera Energy LLC, Al-Jubail Petrochemical Company, Ampolex (Cepu) Pte Ltd, Ancon Insurance Company Inc., Barnett Gathering LLC, Barzan Gas Company Limited, Caspian Pipeline Consortium, Celtic Exploration Ltd., Coral FLNG S.A., Cross Timbers Energy LLC, Ellora Energy Inc., Esmeroon Oil Transporta Imperial Oil Limited, Esso (Thailand) Public Company Limited, Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd, Esso Deutschland GmbH, Esso Erdgas Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Esso Exploration Angola (Block 15) Limited, Esso Exploration Angola (Block 17) Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Angola (Overseas) Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Chad Inc., Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Deepwater) Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Offshore East) Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited, Esso Exploration and Production UK Limited, Esso Global Investments Ltd., Esso Italiana S.r.l., Esso Nederland B.V., Esso Norge AS, Esso Petroleum Company Limited, Esso Raffinage, Esso Societe Anonyme Francaise, Exxo Holdings Inc., Exxon Azerbaijan Limited, Exxon Chemical Arabia Inc., Exxon International Finance Company, Exxon Luxembourg Holdings LLC, Exxon Mobile Bay Limited Partnership, Exxon Neftegas Limited, Exxon Overseas Corporation, Exxon Overseas Investment Corporation, ExxonMobil (China) Investment Co. Ltd., ExxonMobil (Taicang) Petroleum Co. Ltd., ExxonMobil Abu Dhabi Offshore Petroleum Company Limited, ExxonMobil Alaska Production Inc., ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., ExxonMobil Australia Pty Ltd, ExxonMobil B Resources Company, ExxonMobil Capital Finance Company, ExxonMobil Capital Netherlands B.V., ExxonMobil Central Europe Holding GmbH, ExxonMobil Cepu Limited, ExxonMobil Chemical France, ExxonMobil Chemical Gulf Coast Investments LLC, ExxonMobil Chemical Holland B.V., ExxonMobil Chemical Services (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ExxonMobil China Petroleum & Petrochemical Company Limited, ExxonMobil Development Africa B.V., ExxonMobil Development Company, ExxonMobil Egypt (S.A.E.), ExxonMobil Exploracao Brasil Ltda., ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc., ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Norway AS, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Romania Limited, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Tanzania Limited, ExxonMobil Finance Company Limited, ExxonMobil Financial Investment Company Limited, ExxonMobil France Holding SAS, ExxonMobil Gas Marketing Europe Limited, ExxonMobil General Finance Company, ExxonMobil Global Services Company, ExxonMobil Golden Pass Surety LLC, ExxonMobil Holding Company Holland LLC, ExxonMobil Holding Norway AS, ExxonMobil Hong Kong Limited, ExxonMobil International Services SARL, ExxonMobil Iraq Limited, ExxonMobil Italiana Gas S.r.l., ExxonMobil Kazakhstan Inc., ExxonMobil Kazakhstan Ventures Inc., ExxonMobil LNG Services B.V., ExxonMobil Lubricants Trading Company, ExxonMobil Oil Corporation, ExxonMobil PNG Limited, ExxonMobil Petroleum & Chemical BVBA, ExxonMobil Petroleum & Chemical Holdings Inc., ExxonMobil Pipeline Company, ExxonMobil Production Deutschland GmbH, ExxonMobil Production Norway Inc., ExxonMobil Qatargas (II) Limited, ExxonMobil Qatargas Inc., ExxonMobil Ras Laffan (III) Limited, ExxonMobil Rasgas Inc., ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company, ExxonMobil Russia Kara Sea Holdings B.V., ExxonMobil Sales and Supply LLC, ExxonMobil Technology Finance Company, ExxonMobil Ventures Finance Company, ExxonMobil Ventures Funding Ltd., Fujian Refining & Petrochemical Co. Ltd., Golden Pass LNG Terminal Investments LLC, Golden Pass LNG Terminal LLC, Gulf Coast Growth Ventures LLC, Imperial Oil Limited, Imperial Oil Resources Limited, Imperial Oil Resources N.W.T. Limited, Imperial Oil/Petroliere Imperiale, Infineum Italia s.r.I., Infineum Singapore Pte. Ltd., InterOil Corporation, Jurong Aromatics Corporation Pte Ltd, MPM Lubricants, Marine Well Containment Company LLC, Mobil Australia Resources Company Pty Limited, Mobil California Exploration & Producing Asset Company, Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company, Mobil Chemical Products International Inc., Mobil Corporation, Mobil Equatorial Guinea Inc., Mobil Erdgas Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Mobil Exploration & Producing Australia Pty Ltd, Mobil International Petroleum Corporation, Mobil Oil Australia Pty Ltd, Mobil Oil Exploration & Producing Southeast Inc., Mobil Oil New Zealand Limited, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, Mobil Producing Texas & New Mexico Inc., Mobil SerLimited, Mobil Venezolana De Petroleos Inc., Mobil Yanbu Petrochemical Company Inc., Mobil Yanbu Refining Company Inc., Mountain Gathering LLC, Mozambique Rovuma Venture S.p.A., Palmetto Transoceanic LLC, Papua New Guinea Liquefied Natural Gas Global Company LDC, Permian Express Partners LLC, Phillips Exploration LLC, Qatar Liquefied Gas Company Limited, Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited, Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited (II), SPI Limited, Saudi Aramco Mobil Refinery Company Ltd., Saudi Yanbu Petrochemical Co., SeaRiver Maritime Inc., South Hook LNG Terminal Company Limited, Tengizchevroil LLP, Terminale GNL Adriatico S.r.l, Trend Gathering & Treating LLC, Wolverine Pipe Line Company, XH LLC, XTO Delaware Basin LLC, XTO ENERGY, XTO Energy Canada, and XTO Holdings LLC. 10 Wall Street research analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Hammerson in the last year. There are currently 6 sell ratings, 3 hold ratings and 1 buy rating for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street research analysts is that investors should "hold" Hammerson stock. A hold rating indicates that analysts believe investors should maintain any existing positions they have in HMSNF, but not buy additional shares or sell existing shares. View analyst ratings for Hammerson or view top-rated stocks. iShares Russell 2000 ETF's stock was trading at $125.92 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus (COVID-19) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, IWM shares have increased by 68.1% and is now trading at $211.72. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. Freeport-McMoRan, Inc. engages in the mining of copper, gold and molybdenum. It operates through the following segments: North America Copper Mines, South America Mining; Indonesia Mining, Molybdenum Mines, Rod and Refining, Atlantic Copper Smelting and Refining and Corporate, Other and Eliminations. The North America Copper Mines segment operates open-pit copper mines in Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita and Miami in Arizona and Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico. The South America Mining segment includes Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile. The Indonesia Mining segment handles the operations of Grasberg minerals district that produces copper concentrate that contains significant quantities of gold and silver. The Molybdenum Mines segment includes the Henderson underground mine and Climax open-pit mine, both in Colorado. The Rod and Refining segment consists of copper conversion facilities located in North America and includes a refinery, rod mills, and a specialty copper products facility. The Atlantic Copper Smelting and Refining segment smelts and refines copper concentrate and markets refined copper and precious metals in slimes. The Corporate, Other and Eliminations segment Read More Royal Dutch Shell plc operates as an energy and petrochemical company worldwide. The company operates through Integrated Gas, Upstream, Oil Products, Chemicals segments. It explores for and extracts crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids; markets and transports oil and gas; produces gas-to-liquids fuels and other products; and operates upstream and midstream infrastructure necessary to deliver gas to market. The company also markets and trades natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), crude oil, electricity, carbon-emission rights; and markets and sells LNG as a fuel for heavy-duty vehicles and marine vessels. In addition, it trades in and refines crude oil and other feed stocks, such as gasoline, diesel, heating oil, aviation fuel, marine fuel, biofuel, lubricants, bitumen, and sulphur; produces and sells petrochemicals for industrial use; and manages oil sands activities. Further, the company produces base chemicals comprising ethylene, propylene, and aromatics, as well as intermediate chemicals, such as styrene monomer, propylene oxide, solvents, detergent alcohols, ethylene oxide, and ethylene glycol. Royal Dutch Shell plc was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands. Read More Rio Tinto Ltd. produces iron ore for steel, aluminium for cars and smart phones, copper for wind turbines, diamonds that set the standard for responsible, titanium for household products and borates for crops that feed the world. It operates through the following segments: Iron Ore, Aluminium, Copper & Diamonds, Energy and Minerals, and Other Operations. The Iron Ore segment exports iron ore pellets and high-grade concentrate. The Aluminum segments focuses on bauxite mines and alumina refineries. The Copper & Diamonds segment produces gold, silver, molybdenum, and by-products. The Energy & Minerals segment offers uranium, borates, salt, and titanium dioxide feedstock together with coal operations. The company was founded on December 17, 1959 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Thermo Fisher Scientific: 236 Perinton Parkway LLC, 27 Forge Parkway LLC, ABR--Affinity BioReagents, ACI Holdings Inc., ARG Services LLC, ASPEX Corporation, Abgene Inc., Abgene Limited, Acoustic Cytometry Systems Inc., AcroMetrix LLC, Acros Organics B.V.B.A., Advanced Biotechnologies Limited, Advanced Scientifics (ASI), Advanced Scientifics Inc., Advanced Scientifics International Inc., Affymetrix Biotech Participacoes Ltda., Affymetrix Biotech Shanghai Ltd, Affymetrix Inc, Affymetrix Japan K.K., Affymetrix Pte Ltd, Affymetrix UK Ltd, Afora S.A.U., Ahura Scientific, Alchematrix Inc., Alchematrix LLC, Alfa Aesar, Alfa Aesar (China) Chemical Co. Ltd., Alfa Aesar (Hong Kong) Limited, Allergon AB, Alphine Mountain Limited, Ambion Inc., Apogent Denmark ApS, Apogent Finance Company, Apogent Holding Company, Apogent Technologies Inc., Apogent Transition Corp., Apogent U.K. Limited, App-Tek International Pty Ltd, Applied Biosystems B.V., Applied Biosystems Finance B.V., Applied Biosystems International Inc., Applied Biosystems LLC, Applied Biosystems Taiwan LLC, Applied Biosystems Trading (Shanghai) Company Ltd., Applied Biosystems de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Applied Scientific Corporation, Avances Cientificos de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Avocado Research Chemicals Limited, B.R.A.H.M.S. Biotech GmbH, B.R.A.H.M.S. GmbH, B.R.A.H.M.S. UK Ltd, BAC BV, BAC IP BV, Barnstead Thermolyne LLC, Beijing Phadia Diagnostics Co Ltd, Bender MedSystems GmbH, BioTrove Corporation, BioTrove International Inc., Bioanalysis Labsystems S.A., Biochemical Sciences LLC, Biolab, BmT GmbH Laborprodukte, Bonsai Tecnologies - Sistemas para Biotecnologia e Industria Unipessoal Lda, Brammer Bio, Bumi-Sans Sendirian Berhad, CAC Limited, CB Diagnostics AB, CB Diagnostics Holding AB, CEPH International Corporation, CHK Holdings Inc., CRS Robotics, CTPS LLC, Capitol Scientific Products Inc., Capitol Vial Inc., Cellomics Inc., CellzDirect Inc., Cenduit GmbH, Cenduit LLC, Cezanne S.A.S., Chase Scientific Glass Inc., Chromacol Limited, Clintrak, Clintrak Clinical Labeling Services LLC, Clintrak Pharmaceutical Services LLC, Cohesive Technologies (UK) Limited, Cohesive Technologies Inc., Columbia Diagnostics Inc., Compendia Bioscience Inc., Comtest Limited, Consolidated Technologies Inc., Consultores Fisher Scientific Chile Ltd, Core Informatics, Core Informatics LLC, Core Informatics UK Ltd., D-finitive Technologies Inc., DCG Systems B.V., DCG Systems C.V., DCG Systems G.K., DCG Systems GmbH, DCG Systems Korea Ltd., DCG Systems LLC, DPI Newco LLC, DSM Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Dharmacon, Diagnostix Ltd., Dionex (China) Analytical Ltd, Dionex (Switzerland) AG, Dionex (UK) Limited, Dionex Austria GmbH, Dionex Benelux B.V., Dionex Brasil Instrumentos Cientificos Ltda, Dionex Canada Ltd., Dionex China Limited, Dionex Corporation, Dionex Denmark A/S, Dionex Holding GmbH, Dionex I LLC, Dionex Pty Ltd., Dionex S.A., Dionex S.p.A., Dionex Singapore Pte Ltd., Dionex Softron GmbH, Dionex Sweden AB, Distribution Solutions International Inc., Doe & Ingalls Investors Inc., Doe & Ingalls Limited, Doe & Ingalls Management LLC, Doe & Ingalls Properties II LLC, Doe & Ingalls Properties LLC, Doe & Ingalls of California Operating LLC, Doe & Ingalls of Florida Operating LLC, Doe & Ingalls of Maryland Operating LLC, Doe & Ingalls of Massachusetts Operating LLC, Doe & Ingalls of North Carolina Operating LLC, Doublecape Holding Limited, Doublecape Limited, Drakeside Real Estate Holding Company LLC, Duke Scientific Corporation, Dynal Biotech Beijing Limited, EGS Gauging Ltd., EGS Gauging Technical Services Company, EP Scientific Products LLC, Ecochem N.V., EnviroEquip Pty Ltd, Epsom Glass Industries Limited, Equibio Limited, Erie Electroverre S.A., Erie Finance Limited, Erie LP Holding LLC, Erie Scientific Company of Puerto Rico, Erie Scientific Hungary Kft, Erie Scientific LLC, Erie U.K. Limited, Erie UK 1 Limited, Erie UK 2 Limited, Erie UK Holding Company, Erie UK Senior Holding Limited, European Laboratory Holdings Limited, Eutech Instruments Europe B.V., Eutech Instruments Pte Ltd., Eutech Instruments Sdn Bhd, Ever Ready Thermometer Co. Inc., FEI Asia Pacific Co. Ltd., FEI Australia Pty Ltd, FEI CPD B.V., FEI Company, FEI Company Japan Ltd., FEI Company of USA (S.E.A.) Pte Ltd., FEI Czech Republic s.r.o., FEI Deutschland GmbH, FEI EFA Inc., FEI EFA International Pte. Ltd., FEI Electron Optics B.V., FEI Electron Optics International B.V., FEI Europe B.V., FEI France SAS, FEI Global Holdings C.V., FEI Hong Kong Company Limited, FEI Houston Inc., FEI Italia Srl, FEI Korea Ltd., FEI Melbourne Pty Ltd., FEI Microscopy Solutions Ltd, FEI Munich GmbH, FEI Norway Holding AS, FEI SAS, FEI Saudi Arabia LLC, FEI Servicos de Nanotecnologia Ltda., FEI Technologies Inc., FEI Technology de Mexico S.A. de C.V., FEI Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., FEI Trondheim AS, FEI UK Ltd., FHP LLC, FRC Holding Inc. V, FS (Barbados) Capital Holdings Ltd., FS Casa Rocas Holdings LLC, FS Mexicana Holdings LLC, FSI Receivables Company LLC, FSII Sweden Holdings AB, FSII Sweden Holdings I AB, FSIR Holdings (UK) Limited, FSIR Holdings (US) Inc., FSUK Holdings Limited, FSWH Company LLC, FSWH II C.V., FSWH International Holdings LLC, Fermentas China Co. Ltd, Fermentas Inc., Fermentas International, Fermentas Sweden AB, Fermentas UK Limited, Fiberlite Centrifuge LLC, Finesse Scientific Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Finesse Solutions AG, Finesse Solutions Inc., Finnzymes Oy, Fisher Alder S. de R.L. de C.V., Fisher Asia Manufacturing Ventures Inc., Fisher Bermuda Holdings Limited, Fisher BioImage ApS, Fisher BioPharma Services (India) Private Limited, Fisher BioSciences Japan G.K., Fisher BioServices Inc., Fisher Bioblock Holding II SNC, Fisher CLP Holding Limited Partnership, Fisher Canada Holding ULC 1, Fisher Canada Holding ULC 2, Fisher Canada Holding ULC 3, Fisher Canada Limited Partnership, Fisher Chimica BVBA, Fisher Clinical Logistics LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Fisher Clinical Services (Bristol) LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Colombia) LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Korea) Co. Ltd, Fisher Clinical Services (Mexico) LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Peru) LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Fisher Clinical Services Colombia S.A.S., Fisher Clinical Services GmbH, Fisher Clinical Services Inc., Fisher Clinical Services Japan K.K., Fisher Clinical Services Latin America S.R.L., Fisher Clinical Services Limited Liability Company, Fisher Clinical Services Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Fisher Clinical Services Peru S.R.L, Fisher Clinical Services Pte Ltd., Fisher Clinical Services U.K. Limited, Fisher Emergo B.V., Fisher Germany Holdings GmbH, Fisher Hamilton China Inc., Fisher Hamilton Mexico LLC, Fisher Holdings ApS, Fisher Internet Minority Holdings L.L.C., Fisher Laboratory Products Manufacturing (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Fisher Luxembourg Danish Holdings SARL, Fisher Manufacturing (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Fisher Maybridge Holdings Limited, Fisher Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Fisher Scientific (Austria) GmbH, Fisher Scientific (Hong Kong) Limited, Fisher Scientific (M) Sdn Bhd, Fisher Scientific (SEA) Pte. Ltd., Fisher Scientific A/S, Fisher Scientific AG, Fisher Scientific Australia Pty Limited, Fisher Scientific Biotech Line ApS, Fisher Scientific Brazil Inc., Fisher Scientific Central America Inc., Fisher Scientific Chile Inc., Fisher Scientific Colombia Inc., Fisher Scientific Company, Fisher Scientific Company L.L.C., Fisher Scientific Costa Rica Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada, Fisher Scientific Europe Holdings B.V., Fisher Scientific GTF AB, Fisher Scientific Germany Beteiligungs GmbH, Fisher Scientific GmbH, Fisher Scientific Holding Company LLC, Fisher Scientific Holding HK Limited, Fisher Scientific Holding U.K. Limited, Fisher Scientific Holdings (M) Sdn Bhd, Fisher Scientific Holdings (S) Pte Ltd, Fisher Scientific International LLC, Fisher Scientific Investments (Cayman) Ltd., Fisher Scientific Ireland Investments Unlimited, Fisher Scientific Ireland Limited, Fisher Scientific Japan Ltd., Fisher Scientific Jersey Island Limited, Fisher Scientific Korea Ltd, Fisher Scientific Latin America Inc., Fisher Scientific Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Fisher Scientific Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Fisher Scientific Mexico Inc., Fisher Scientific Middle East and Africa Inc., Fisher Scientific Norway AS, Fisher Scientific Operating Company, Fisher Scientific Oxoid Holdings Ltd., Fisher Scientific Oy, Fisher Scientific Pte. Ltd., Fisher Scientific S.A.S., Fisher Scientific S.L., Fisher Scientific SPRL, Fisher Scientific The Hague I B.V., Fisher Scientific The Hague II B.V., Fisher Scientific The Hague III B.V., Fisher Scientific The Hague IV B.V., Fisher Scientific The Hague V B.V., Fisher Scientific U.K. Limited, Fisher Scientific UK Holding Company 2, Fisher Scientific UK Holding Company Limited, Fisher Scientific Unipessoal Lda., Fisher Scientific Venezuela Inc., Fisher Scientific Worldwide (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Fisher Scientific Worldwide Holdings I C.V., Fisher Scientific Worldwide Inc., Fisher Scientific de Mexico S.A., Fisher Scientific of the Netherlands B.V., Fisher Scientific spol. S.r.o, Fisher Servicios Clinicos (Chile) LLC, Fisher Servicios Clinicos Chile Ltda, Fisher WWD Holding L.L.C., Fisher Worldwide Distribution SPV, Fisher Worldwide Gene Distribution SPV, Flux Instruments, Fuji Partnership, G & M Procter Limited, G V Instruments Limited, GV Instruments Canada Ltd., GV Instruments Inc, Gatan Inc, General Scientific Company Sdn Bhd (M), Genomed molekularbiologische und diagnostische Produkte GmbH, Gerhard Menzel B.V. & Co. KG, Gold Cattle Standard Testing Labs Inc., Golden West Indemnity Company Limited, Goring Kerr Detection Limited, Greenville Service Company Inc., HENO GmbH i.L., Hangar 215 Inc., Helmet Securities Limited, Henogen, HighChem, HyClone International Trade (Tianjin) Co. Ltd, Hybaid Limited, I.Q. (BIO) Limited, IDnostics AG, ILS Laboratories Scandinavia AB, Inel Inc., Inel SAS, InnaPhase Inc., InnaPhase Limited, IntegenX, Intrinsic BioProbes Inc., Intrinsic Bioprobes Inc., Invitrogen (Shanghai) Investment Co. Ltd., Invitrogen Argentina SA, Invitrogen BioServices India Private Limited, Invitrogen Europe Limited, Invitrogen Finance Corp., Invitrogen Holdings LLC, Invitrogen Holdings Ltd., Invitrogen Hong Kong Limited, Invitrogen IP Holdings Inc., Invitrogen Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Ion Torrent Systems Inc., Ionalytics Corporation, JSC Thermo Fisher Scientific, Jouan LLC, Jouan Limited, Jouan SA, Kendro Containment & Services Limited, Kendro Laboratory Products Ltd, Kettlebrook Insurance Co. ltd., Keystone Scientific, KonTEM GmbH, Kyle Jordan Investments LLC, LIFE TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION, LTC Tech South Africa PTY Ltd., La-Pha-Pack GmbH, Lab Vision (UK) Limited, Lab Vision Corporation, Lab-Chrom-Pack LLC, Lab-Line Instruments Inc., Labomex MBP S. de R. L. De C.V., Laboratoire Service International - L.S.I, Laboratory Management Systems Inc., Laboratory Specialties Proprietary Ltd., LambTrack Limited, Laser Analytical Systems Inc., Liberty Lane Investment LLC, Liberty Lane Real Estate Holding Company LLC, Life Sciences International (Poland) SP z O.O, Life Sciences International Holdings BV, Life Sciences International LLC, Life Sciences International Limited, Life Technologies AS, Life Technologies Australia PTY Ltd., Life Technologies BPD AB, Life Technologies BPD UK Limited, Life Technologies Brasil Comercio e Industria de Produtos para Biotecnologia Ltda, Life Technologies Chile SpA, Life Technologies Clinical Services Lab Inc., Life Technologies Co. Ltd., Life Technologies Czech Republic s.r.o., Life Technologies DaAn Diagnostic (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd., Life Technologies Europe B.V., Life Technologies Finance Ltd., Life Technologies Finland Oy, Life Technologies GmbH, Life Technologies Holdings PTE Ltd., Life Technologies Inc., Life Technologies International B.V., Life Technologies Japan Ltd., Life Technologies Korea LLC, Life Technologies Limited, Life Technologies Magyarorszag Kft, Life Technologies New Zealand Ltd., Life Technologies Norway Investments US LLC, Life Technologies Polska Sp z.o.o., Life Technologies SA, Life Technologies SAS, Life Technologies s.r.o, Linkage Biosciences Inc., Linkage Biosciences S.a.r.l., Loftus Furnace Company, Lomb Scientific, Lomb Scientific (Aust) Pty Limited, MTI-GlobalStem, Marketbase International Limited, Matrix MicroScience Inc., Matrix MicroScience Ltd., Matrix Technologies Corporation Limited, Matrix Technologies LLC, Maybridge Chemical Company Limited, Maybridge Chemical Holdings Limited, Maybridge Limited, Medical Analysis Systems Inc., Medical Analysis Systems International Inc., Medical Diagnostics Systems Inc., Metavac LLC, Microgenics Corporation, Microgenics Diagnostics Pty Limited, Microgenics GmbH, Microm International GmbH, Microm Laborgerate S.L.U, Molecular BioProducts Inc., Molecular Probes Inc., Molecular Transfer Inc., NAPCO Inc., NERL Diagnostics LLC, NOVODIRECT GmbH Labor- und Industrie- Megerate, Nalge (Europe) Limited, Nalge Nunc International (Monterrey) LLC, Nalge Nunc International Corporation, Nanjing WeiKangLe Trading Industrial Co Ltd, NanoDrop Technologies LLC, National Scientific Company, Navaho Acquisition Corp., Neomarkers Inc., New FS Holdings Inc., NewcoGen PE LLC, Nihon Dynal K.K., Niton Asia Limited, NovaWave Technologies Inc., Nunc A/S, ONIX Systems Inc., OXOID CZ s.r.o., Odyssey Holdings Corporation, Odyssey Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Odyssey Luxembourg IP Holdings 1 S.a r.l., Odyssey Luxembourg IP Holdings 2 S.a r.l., Odyssey Venture Corporation, Omega Data Systems, One Lambda Inc, Onix Holdings Limited, Orme Scientific Limited, Owl Separation Systems LLC, Oxoid (ELY) Limited, Oxoid 2000 Limited, Oxoid AS, Oxoid Australia Pty. Limited, Oxoid Company, Oxoid Deutschland GmbH, Oxoid Holding SAS, Oxoid Holdings Limited, Oxoid Inc., Oxoid International Limited, Oxoid Investments GmbH, Oxoid Limited, Oxoid N.V., Oxoid New Zealand Limited, Oxoid Pension Trustees Limited, Oxoid Senior Holdings Limited, Oxoid UKH LLC, PAX - DSI Acquisition LLC, PE AG, Pacific Rim Far East Industries LLC, Pacific Rim Investment LLC, Panomics L.L.C., Panomics S.R.L., Patheon, Patheon API Inc., Patheon API Manufacturing Inc., Patheon API Services Inc., Patheon Austria GmbH & Co KG, Patheon B.V., Patheon Banner U.S. Holdings Inc., Patheon Biologics (NJ) LLC, Patheon Biologics Australia Pty Ltd, Patheon Biologics B.V., Patheon Biologics LLC, Patheon Calculus Merger LLC, Patheon Cooperatief U.A., Patheon Development Services Inc., Patheon Finance LLC, Patheon France SAS, Patheon Holdings B.V., Patheon Holdings I B.V., Patheon Holdings II B.V., Patheon Holdings SAS, Patheon I B.V., Patheon I Holding GmbH, Patheon Inc., Patheon International AG, Patheon Italia S.p.A., Patheon KK, Patheon Life Science Products International GmbH, Patheon Manufacturing Services LLC, Patheon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Patheon Pharmaceuticals Services Inc., Patheon Puerto Rico Acquisitions Corporation, Patheon Puerto Rico Inc., Patheon Regensburg GmbH, Patheon Softgels B.V., Patheon Softgels Inc., Patheon U.S. Holdings Inc., Patheon U.S. Holdings LLC, Patheon UK Limited, Patheon UK Pension Trustees Limited, Pelican Acquisition Corporation, Perbio Science (Canada) Company, Perbio Science AB, Perbio Science BVBA, Perbio Science France SAS, Perbio Science Inc., Perbio Science International Netherlands B.V., Perbio Science Invest AB, Perbio Science Nederland B.V., Perbio Science Projekt AB, Perbio Science Sweden Holdings AB, Perbio Science Switzerland SA, Perbio Science UK Limited, Phadia AB, Phadia Diagnosticos Ltda, Phadia GmbH, Phadia Holding AB, Phadia International Holdings C.V., Phadia Korea Co. Ltd, Phadia Luxembourg Holdings S.a.r.l., Phadia Malta Holdings Limited, Phadia Oy, Phadia Real Property AB, Phadia Sweden AB, Phadia Taiwan Inc., Phadia US Inc., Phadia s.r.o., Pharmacaps Mexicana SA de CV, Phenom-World B.V., Phenom-World Holding B.V, Phenom-World Innovations B.V., Phinotex, Pierce Biotechnology Inc., Pierce Milwaukee Holding Corp., Pierce Milwaukee Inc., Polychromix, Power Sweden Holdings I AB, Power Sweden Holdings II AB, Power Sweden Holdings III Aktiebolag, Princeton Gamma-Tech Instruments LLC, Princeton Security Technologies, Prionics AG, Prionics Asia Ltd., Prionics Deutschland GmbH, Prionics France SAS, Prionics Italia S.r.l., Prionics Lelystad B.V., Prionics USA Inc., Priority Air Express LLC, Priority Air Express Pte. Ltd., Priority Air Express UK Limited, Priority Air Holdings Corp, Priority Solutions International, Promedica Pty Limited, Proxeon, Proxeon Biosystems ApS, Qiagen, REP GBP I-B Blocker Inc., Raymond A Lamb Limited, Remel Europe Limited, Remel Inc., Richard-Allan Scientific Company, Robbins Scientific LLC, Robocon Labor- und Industrieroboter Gesellschaft m.b.H, Rupprecht and Patashnick, Rupprecht and Patashnick (R&P), Russell pH Limited, S.C.I. du 10 rue Dugay Trouin, SCI Inno 92, STC Bio Manufacturing Inc., Samco Scientific (Monterrey) LLC, Samco Scientific LLC, Saroph Sweden AB, Schantz Road LLC, Seradyn Inc., Shanghai Life Technologies Biotechnology Co. Limited, Shanghai Thermo Fisher (C-I) Trading Co. Ltd, Shanghai Thermo Fisher (S) Trading Co. Ltd, Southern Trials (Pty) Ltd., Specialty (SMI) Inc., Spectra-Physics AB, Spectra-Physics Holdings Limited, Spectra-Physics Holdings USA LLC, Spectronex, Staten Island Cogeneration Corporation, Sterilin Limited, Stokes Bio Ltd., Sweden DIA (Sweden) AB, SwissAnalytic Group GmbH, Systems Manufacturing Corporation, TFLP LLC, TFS Breda B.V., TFS LLC, TFS Singapore HK Limited, TFSL Financing GP LLC, TFSL Senior GP Holdings 2 LLC, TK Partnership, TKA Wasseraufbereitungssysteme, TMOI Inc., TPI Real Estate Holdings LLC, TSP Holdings I LLC, TWX LLC, Technology Design Solutions Pty Ltd, Thermedics Detection de Argentina S.R.L, Thermo Allen Coding Limited, Thermo Asset Management Services Inc., Thermo BioAnalysis LLC, Thermo BioAnalysis Limited, Thermo BioSciences Holdings LLC, Thermo CIDTEC, Thermo CRS Holdings Ltd., Thermo CRS Ltd., Thermo Cambridge Limited, Thermo Cayman Holdings Ltd., Thermo Corporation, Thermo DMA Inc., Thermo Detection de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Thermo Dutch Holdings Limited Partnership, Thermo EGS Gauging LLC, Thermo Eberline Holdings I LLC, Thermo Eberline Holdings II LLC, Thermo Eberline LLC, Thermo Electron (Calgary) Limited, Thermo Electron (Chile) S.p.A., Thermo Electron (Karlsruhe) GmbH, Thermo Electron (Management Services) Limited, Thermo Electron (Proprietary) Limited, Thermo Electron A/S, Thermo Electron Australia Pty Limited, Thermo Electron Export Inc., Thermo Electron Holdings SAS, Thermo Electron Industries, Thermo Electron LED GmbH, Thermo Electron LED S.A.S., Thermo Electron Limited, Thermo Electron Manufacturing Limited, Thermo Electron Metallurgical Services Inc., Thermo Electron North America LLC, Thermo Electron Pension Trust GmbH, Thermo Electron Puerto Rico Inc., Thermo Electron SAS, Thermo Electron Scientific Instruments LLC, Thermo Electron Sweden AB, Thermo Electron Sweden Forvaltning AB, Thermo Electron Weighing & Inspection Limited, Thermo Elemental Limited, Thermo Environmental Instruments LLC, Thermo Fast U.K. Limited, Thermo Finland Holdings LLC, Thermo Finland Holdings MT1 B.V., Thermo Finland Holdings MT2 B.V., Thermo Finnigan LLC, Thermo Finnigan Limited, Thermo Fisher (CN) Luxembourg Holding S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher (CN) Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher (CN) Malta Holdings Limited, Thermo Fisher (CN-I) Luxembourg LLC, Thermo Fisher (CN-II) Luxembourg LLC, Thermo Fisher (Cayman) Holdings I Ltd., Thermo Fisher (Cayman) Holdings II Ltd., Thermo Fisher (Finland Holdings 2) LLC, Thermo Fisher (Finland Holdings) Limited Partnership, Thermo Fisher (Gibraltar) II Limited, Thermo Fisher (Gibraltar) Limited, Thermo Fisher (Heysham) Limited, Thermo Fisher (Kandel) GmbH, Thermo Fisher CHK Holding LLC, Thermo Fisher China Business Trust, Thermo Fisher China Business Trust II, Thermo Fisher Costa Rica Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada, Thermo Fisher Cyprus Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Detection Mexico LLC, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics (Ireland) Limited, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics AB, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics AG, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics AS, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics Aps, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics Austria GmbH, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics B.V., Thermo Fisher Diagnostics GmbH, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics K.K., Thermo Fisher Diagnostics Limited, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics NV, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics S.L.U., Thermo Fisher Diagnostics S.p.A. , Thermo Fisher Diagnostics SAS, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Thermo Fisher Eurobonds Ltd., Thermo Fisher Financial Services Inc., Thermo Fisher GP LLC, Thermo Fisher German Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Germany B.V., Thermo Fisher India Divestco Private Limited, Thermo Fisher India Holding B.V., Thermo Fisher Insurance Holdings Inc., Thermo Fisher Insurance Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Investments (Cayman) Ltd., Thermo Fisher Israel Ltd., Thermo Fisher Production et Services SAS, Thermo Fisher Project Cyprus LLC, Thermo Fisher Re Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Asheville) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Australia) C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Barbados) Holdings Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Breda) Holding BV, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Bremen) GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific (CN) Limited Partnership, Thermo Fisher Scientific (China) Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (China) Holding Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (China-HK) Holding Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (DE) Holding S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Ecublens) SARL, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance I) B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance I) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance II) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance III) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance III) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Fuji) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Holding II) B.V. & Co. KG, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Hong Kong) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (IVGN) B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (IVGN) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Johannesburg) (Proprietary) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Mexico City) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Milwaukee) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Mississauga) Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Monterrey) S. De R.L. De C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (NK) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN) Austria Holding GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN) UK LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN) UK Limited Partnership, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN-I) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN-II) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN1) UK Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Panama) B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Panama) Dutch LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Praha) s.r.o., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Real Estate 1) GmbH & Co. KG, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Real Estate 1) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Schweiz) AG, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Shanghai) Instruments Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Suzhou) Instruments Co. Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific AL-1 LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific AU C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific AU II Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific AU LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific AU Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Africa Proprietary Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Aquasensors LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Australia Pty Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific B.V.B.A., Thermo Fisher Scientific BHK (I) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific BHK (II) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Baltics UAB, Thermo Fisher Scientific Beteiligungsverwaltungs GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific Biosciences Corp., Thermo Fisher Scientific Brahms LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Brasil Instrumentos de Processo Ltda., Thermo Fisher Scientific Brasil Servicos de Logistica Ltda, Thermo Fisher Scientific C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cayman Investments LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Chemicals Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific China (C-I) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific China (S) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific China Holdings I B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific China Holdings II B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific China Holdings III B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific China Holdings IV B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Chromatography Holdings Aps, Thermo Fisher Scientific Chromatography Holdings S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus I C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus I Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus II C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus II Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus III C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus III Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus IV C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus V C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Denmark Senior Holdings ApS, Thermo Fisher Scientific Erie 1 Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Erie Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Erie Financing S.a r.l, Thermo Fisher Scientific Europe GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific FLC B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific FLC Finance C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific FLC II B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific FLC LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific FSIR Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific FSIR Financing S.a.r.l, Thermo Fisher Scientific FSUKHCO Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Falcon Senior Holdings Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Finance Company BV, Thermo Fisher Scientific GENEART GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific Germany BV & Co. KG, Thermo Fisher Scientific GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific HR Services Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Holdings (Cayman) I, Thermo Fisher Scientific Holdings (Cayman) II , Thermo Fisher Scientific Holdings Europe Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific IT Services GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific India Holding LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific India Pvt Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Investments (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Investments (Malta) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Investments (Sweden) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Investments (Sweden) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Investments Malta (Sweden Financing) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Invitrogen Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Japan Holdings I B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Japan Holdings II B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Japan Holdings III B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific K.K., Thermo Fisher Scientific Korea Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific LSI Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life CV GP Holdings II LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life CV GP Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Enterprises C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Enterprises GP LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Financing (Cayman), Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Financing C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Financing Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Holdings I C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Holdings II C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Holdings III C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Holdings Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life International GP Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life International Holdings I C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life International Holdings II C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments GP LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments I S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments II S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments III S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments IV S.a.r.l, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments Malta Holding I LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments Malta Holding II LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments Malta I Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments Malta II Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments US Financing I LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments US Financing II LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life NL Holdings GP LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Netherlands Holding C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Senior GP Holdings II LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Senior GP Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Senior Holdings C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Senior Holdings II C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Senior Holdings Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Switzerland Holdings GP LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Tech Korea Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Enterprise Holding Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Investment I LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Investment II LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Investment UK I Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Investment UK II Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Investments Holding LP, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Israel Investment I Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Israel Investment II Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Luxembourg Holding LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Enterprise Holdings S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg German Holdings S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Life Technologies UK Holding S.a r.l, Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Sweden Holdings I S.a r.l, Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Sweden Holdings II S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Venture Holdings I S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Venture Holdings II S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Thermo Fisher Scientific Malta Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Messtechnik GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific Mexico City S. de R.L. de C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Middle East Holdings Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Milano Srl, Thermo Fisher Scientific NHK Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific New Zealand Holdings, Thermo Fisher Scientific New Zealand Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Norway Holdings AS, Thermo Fisher Scientific Norway US Investments LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Odyssey Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Odyssey Holdings Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Operating Company LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Oy, Thermo Fisher Scientific PN2 C.V, Thermo Fisher Scientific PN2 LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific PRB LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific PRB Malta Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific PRB S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Panama I Cayman Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Peru S.R.L., Thermo Fisher Scientific Pte. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific Re Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific SL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Senior Financing LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Senior Holdings Australia LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific South Africa Proprietary Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific SpA, Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra Malta Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra-Physics Holdings Luxembourg I S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra-Physics Holdings Luxembourg II S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra-Physics Investments Malta Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Switzerland Holdings C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific TR Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Taiwan Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific Vermogensverwaltungs GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific West Palm Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Wissenschaftliche Gerate GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific Worldwide Investments (Cayman), Thermo Fisher Scientific eCommerce Solutions LLC , Thermo Fisher Senior Canada Holdings LLC, Thermo Foundation Inc., Thermo Gamma-Metrics Holdings Pty Ltd., Thermo Gamma-Metrics LLC, Thermo Gamma-Metrics Pty Ltd, Thermo Holding European Operations LLC, Thermo Hypersil Ltd, Thermo Hypersil-Keystone LLC, Thermo Informatics Asia Pacific Pty Ltd., Thermo Instrument Controls de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Thermo Kevex X-Ray LLC, Thermo Keytek LLC, Thermo LabSystems Inc., Thermo LabSystems S.A., Thermo Life Science International Trading (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Thermo Life Sciences AB, Thermo Luxembourg Holding S.a.r.l., Thermo Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Thermo MF Physics LLC, Thermo Measurement Ltd, Thermo Measuretech Canada Inc., Thermo Neslab LLC, Thermo Nicolet Limited, Thermo Onix Limited, Thermo Optek (Australia) Pty Ltd., Thermo Optek Limited, Thermo Optek S.A., Thermo Orion Inc., Thermo Portable Holdings LLC, Thermo Power Corporation, Thermo Process Instruments GP LLC, Thermo Process Instruments L.P., Thermo Projects Limited, Thermo Quest S.A., Thermo Radiometrie Limited, Thermo Ramsey Italia S.r.l., Thermo Ramsey LLC, Thermo Ramsey S.A., Thermo Re Ltd., Thermo Scientific Microbiology Pte Ltd., Thermo Scientific Microbiology Sdn Bhd, Thermo Scientific Portable Analytical Instruments Inc., Thermo Scientific Services Inc., Thermo Securities Corporation, Thermo Sentron Canada Inc., Thermo Sentron Limited, Thermo Shandon Inc., Thermo Shandon Limited, Thermo Suomi Holding B.V., Thermo TLH (UK) Limited, Thermo TLH L.P., Thermo Trace Pty Ltd., Thermo-Fisher Biochemical Product (Beijing) Co. Ltd., ThermoLase LLC, ThermoSpectra Limited, Trek Diagnostic Systems LLC, Trek Diagnostic Systems Ltd., Trek Holding Company II Ltd., Trek Holding Company Ltd., Trex Medical Corporation, USB Corporation, Union Lab Supplies Limited, United Diagnostics Inc., VG Systems Limited, Westover Scientific Inc., ZAO PE Biosystems, eBioscience GmbH, eBioscience Ltd, eBioscience SAS, and picoSpin LLC. Richard "Dick" Cole didn't just have a front-row seat to history. On an April day in 1942 -- just four months after Pearl Harbor -- he sat next to Jimmy Doolittle as 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers lumbered down the deck of an aircraft carrier to begin a mission that ended in a huge morale boost for the United States. Eighty gallant men volunteered for that successful mission -- which turned out to be a one-way attack -- vengeance for Japan's strike on Hawaii that crippled the US Navy fleet and left 2,403 dead. Cole, the last surviving Doolittle Raider, died Tuesday in San Antonio, the US Air Force announced. He was 103. "Lt. Col. Dick Cole reunited with the Doolittle Raiders in the clear blue skies today," said Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson. His son, Rich, and daughter, Cindy Chal, were at his side, said Tom Casey, president of the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Association. Their father will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Casey said. Cole was remembered across social media, with actor Gary Sinise, who has long championed military veterans, calling the aviator an "extraordinary man." The Doolittle mission called for crews to bomb five Japanese cities and fly on to China, where the men would connect with friendly forces who would help them get home. On April 18, 1942, Lt. Col. Doolittle, commander of the mission, and his co-pilot Cole sat in the cockpit of their B-25 going over a preflight checklist with the engines running. The USS Hornet was in the seas below Japan. "I was setting the engine cowl flaps and watching to make sure the engines didn't overheat," Cole, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, told CNN in 2016. Both Cole and Doolittle kept their hands on the engine throttles to make sure the levers didn't accidentally slip downward and -- in case of engine failure -- to quickly bring the plane to a stop. With his engines revving hard, Doolittle released the brakes, sending the plane barreling toward the ship's edge. Seconds later, the first raiders were airborne. A bomber takeoff from the deck of an aircraft carrier had never been done. The crew found themselves scrambling to make a hasty takeoff, 12 hours ahead of schedule, after they were spotted by Japanese fishing boats. The early departure also meant the planes would likely run out of fuel before landing in friendly China. Cole grew up in Dayton, Ohio, admiring Doolittle, who set and broke many aeronautical records. Now here he was hurtling down the narrow deck of the Hornet in a small cockpit with Doolittle. His job? Making sure Doolittle was happy, he said, and handling the flaps on the plane so the engines wouldn't overheat. Cole said people thought the takeoff would be the most dangerous part of the mission. "It turned out to be one of the easiest things," he said. Cole later added, "Besides, I was flying with the best pilot, so why worry?" The B-25 takeoff was filmed by US military cameramen on the Hornet and on nearby ships. Their fellow Doolittle Raiders waited anxiously in the 15 B-25 bombers behind them. Hundreds of the Hornet's crew watched from the deck and the bridge in suspense. The order had been given. If a plane stalled or a technical problem developed approaching takeoff, it would be pushed into the sea in order to get the other planes in the air on time. The raiders flew at very low altitudes to avoid detection, 200 feet above the water. The planes arrived over Tokyo 12 hours ahead of schedule, making it a daylight raid instead of the planned night raid. A coincidental air raid drill conducted in Tokyo that morning did not prepare military defenses for the Doolittle Raiders. Bombs were dropped on their targets, oil storage facilities and military installations. Cole told CNN in 2017, "I felt pretty good that we had done what we were supposed to do." Then the race was on, as fuel ran low, to land in mainland China and seek help from Chinese supporters who were living under Japanese rule. They didn't make it. Doolittle ordered his crew to abandon the plane. Cole and almost all the Raiders had no experience jumping out of aircraft. In darkness and stormy weather, Cole leaped with his parachute and learned one thing quickly. "They don't give a Purple Heart for self-inflicted injuries. I gave myself a black eye" in pulling the ripcord so hard, he said. He eventually landed in a pine tree and stayed there overnight. Chinese nationalists found him and brought him to a building where he was surprised to encounter Doolittle. The mission's commander went to the crash site and sat morosely on the wreckage, telling one of the crew that he felt the entire mission was a failure and he would be court-martialed. Doolittle feared the worst for the 16 planes. Engineer Paul Leonard consoled him, telling Doolittle he was wrong. He promised Doolittle the mission would be viewed as a success and the crews would be hailed as heroes. Back home, the raid was stunning news, with screaming headlines about the raid on the front page of daily newspapers. Japan was shocked. Cole said, "It told the people of Japan their island could be struck by air." Everything didn't go completely smoothly. Eleven crews had to bail out of their planes. Four bombers crash-landed. Pilot Ted Lawson lost a leg. He would go on to write the best-selling book "Thirty Seconds over Tokyo," later a hit 1944 film. One crew flew to the Soviet Union and was interned before eventually being set free. Eight men were captured. One starved to death in a Japanese prison camp and three were executed by the Japanese. Cole and others went right back into the war after the Doolittle Raid. Cole flew transport planes carrying cargo and glider-borne troops in India, China and Burma. Some of the Raiders were killed fighting in the European theater. After the war ended, the crews returned to civilian life. Doolittle lived up to a preraid promise of a party if the attack succeeded. The tradition would go on. A special feature of every reunion was the crew sharing a cognac in silver goblets with each Raider's name engraved right-side up and upside-down. If a Raider passed away during that year, the goblet would be turned over. A toast was made each year until finally there were only four Raiders left alive in 2013. Cole gave the final toast after the remaining four Raiders agreed that their age and inability to travel would make it the last reunion. Cole raised his glass before a large audience at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton and said, "I propose a toast to those who were lost on the mission and to those who have passed away since," adding, "May they rest in peace." In June 2016, David Thatcher, a tail gunner, died, leaving Cole as the last surviving Doolittle Raider. Casey, with the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Association, said he attended Cole's 103rd birthday party last September in Comfort, Texas. A large group of well-wishers, including airmen with the US Air Force, helped Cole celebrate. "He was dumbfounded by the turnout, how many people came out to express how much they cared." ILION, NY The Central Valley School District held an informational session on the dangers of vaping Tuesday in the CVA auditorium. Parents, community leaders, staff, even students attended the Weed Between the Lines/Youre Vaping Me Crazy program that was put on by Steered Straight incorporated. School officials were pleased with the turnout saying its very important to get the message out to the community so they realize just how harmful these products are. Many vaping products look like common everyday devices and could possibly be in homes right now without people realizing it. CVA principal Richard Keeler says the district is doing everything it can, but they still need help. Now were starting to find marijuana-based products in their vapes. Theyre testing positive for THC, as well as other things that are concerning to us, and thats right here in the building. To date, weve suspended over 80 students this school year for vaping. Central Valley has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to vaping. Under New York law, vaping products are treated just like tobacco products. Their use and possession on school grounds are illegal. ILION, N.Y. -- It's been 33 years since seven astronauts were killed in the explosion of the space shuttle, Challenger. It was also a personal tragedy for this area, because one of the astronauts, who was killed, Gregory Jarvis, grew up in Mohawk and graduated from Mohawk High School. But with the help of local students and elected leaders, Jarvis will be honored and forever immortalized. This has been years in the making but with the help of Herkimer County Legislator John Brezinski and Senator Chuck Schumer a special memorial dedication ceremony. Artifacts and items that belonged to Jarvis are being sent to Herkimer County, including pictures of the astronaut from his widow, several of his medals from NASA and his helmet. There will also be an astronaut coming to speak and present the items. Students from all 16 schools in Herkimer County School District signed a document two years ago asking NASA to send artifacts for a local memorial. The superintendent of central valley academy says bringing these items to the area should serve as an inspiration for others. It makes it real for everybody and it basically I think allows kids to dream again and say hey I can do this someone did it and that came from here and you know what I can do that I can do that too, said Central Valley Superintendent Jeremy Rich. I think it's really amazing just because like the artifacts are so important and being from the school we did have some information about him but having like a piece of him hair is definitely going to help the kids that go there a lot more at the history of what the school has come from, said Nicolas Shedd, a CVA freshman. The ceremony will take place on May 3 at Herkimer College. CLINTON, N.Y. -- April is Arab-American Heritage Month, and the Utica area is celebrating with food. It's Arab Restaurant Week, and participating restaurants are offering specials in the Mohawk Valley. The Utica Public Library has Arab culture books on display. You can read a book from the library and then read a menu from any of the popular Middle Eastern restaurants in town. Grape leaves, kibbie and tabouli aren't the only dishes you'll enjoy. Participating Restaurants and their specials for the week: Hummus & Taboulleh ~ Chicken Fata Karam's Middle East Bakery ~ Stuffed Cabbage Roll OR Lebanese Salad w/ marinated Chicken Grapevine ~ Gyro Bowl ~ Chicken, Beef, Lamb or Vegetable w/ Rice and Salad Massouds Cafe ~ Combo Platter Kibbie, Hummus, Tabouli Phoenician ~ Chicken Kabob Special Zeina's Cafe ~ Lubee, Baba Ganouche, Grape Leaves Utica Public Library: Arab Culture Book Display The Other Side FREE Movie Screening: Amreeka, a story about a vivacious Palestinian woman (Nisreen Faour) and her teenage son (Melkar Muallem) cope with culture clash and more as they try to build a new life in rural Illinois. Comedy/Drama Tuesday April 9 at 7PM Moments after Alyssa McLemore called 911 and asked for help on April 9, 2009, the line went dead. Authorities were unable to trace the exact call location and never reached her. Police in the Seattle suburb of Kent showed up at the 21-year-old's door to see if she was there. She wasn't. Days later McLemore missed her own mother's funeral, and she's missed every family gathering since. McLemore, who would be 31 today, is one of the thousands of Native American women who go missing or are victims of violence every year, both on reservations and in cities. It is a problem so pervasive that, in some places, Native American women are more than 10 times more likely than the rest of the population to be murdered, according to a Department of Justice-funded study by researchers at the University of Delaware and the University of North Carolina Wilmington. That stunning statistic is more than a decade old, but the issue of missing and murdered women is much older than that. One estimate from the National Crime Information Center shows 5,712 reports of missing Native American women in 2016 alone -- yet reliable, comprehensive data on the problem is still almost impossible to come by. Alaskan Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski is a member of a bipartisan group of lawmakers pushing two bills in the senate that aim to first understand the scope of the problem, and then figure out how to fix it. 'They wrote her off' Alyssa McLemore had her share of challenges in life. At 21, she was already raising a 3-year-old child and caring for her dying mother. A year before she went missing she was picked up on prostitution charges. "I just kind of feel like they wrote her off as a prostitute and they probably [thought] that, you know, she didn't have family," said Tina Russell, McLemore's aunt. Kent Police deny that McLemore's case was initially dismissed. It is still an open investigation, but there is precious little information to go on. Some 20 formal interviews were conducted after McLemore went missing. One witness told police she was seen getting into a 1990s model green truck, but police aren't even certain the sighting was the same day she went missing. Police have the 911 call -- but it's only about 10 seconds long. In it, you can hear distress in McLemore's voice, according to Detective Brendan Wales, who has had the case on his desk since 2011. He has a recording of the call in his car, and he plays it back sometimes in case one day he might notice something different, or significant. "You never know what you could get from hearing something again and again and again," he said. Wales said the 911 call was only able to be traced to the cell tower it pinged off -- meaning McLemore could have been anywhere within a 2-mile radius of the tower. He has resubmitted the audio to the FBI to be reanalyzed and is also sending it to two outside analysts to see if any other voices can be heard. McLemore's family has not heard the tape, and Wales said they won't be able to while the case is open. Nonetheless, Russell is doing everything she can to keep warm a trail that has long gone cold -- organizing volunteers in the summer to search and hand out "missing" flyers. They even once found bones at the bottom of a steep ravine based on an unsolicited tip from a local psychic. Police testing showed they belonged to a deer. "We're just stuck with those two tips. That's all we found out in 10 years," said Russell. On Sunday, about 50 people -- mostly friends and family -- gathered in a park in Kent to mark 10 years since McLemore went missing. It's been a long time, but Russell is optimistic that more public attention can lead to a break in the case. 'What are we missing here?' Russell beamed with excitement as she told the crowd about a secret announcement she's been waiting to tell them. McLemore's photo will soon be plastered on the side of large truck -- in hopes that it will jog someone's memory. A recent article in The Seattle Times undoubtedly helped, too. It's only the second time her name has appeared in the newspaper. A brief article appeared eight days after she disappeared in 2009. Until last year, Russell was naive to the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women. Offered support by an advocacy group dedicated to the cause, she was initially uncomfortable with the idea of helping only women of one particular race. But, when she heard how acute the problem was, specifically among Native Americans, she accepted. "When you look at most of the people coming up missing that are white, most of the time there's so much immediate response and news coverage," Russell said. "What are we missing here? What is happening with our native women that they are being victimized to the extent and the level that they are?" Those are the questions Murkowski says she is trying to sort out. Some reservations have no police The "Not Invisible Act," introduced last week, aims to get victims, tribal leaders, federal agencies and law enforcement to bring forward recommendations on what might work. That bill follows "Savanna's Act," which was reintroduced in January. It is named for Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, a pregnant woman killed in Fargo, North Dakota, in 2017. It aims to improve the collection of data on missing and murdered Native American women. Murkowski said many women disappear from remote reservations -- some that lack even a single police officer. Other times, cases get lost in a confusing web of jurisdictional conflicts between tribal, local and state police. She also worries that some victims are simply discounted because of their race or involvement in prostitution. "Which makes no sense whatsoever and it doesn't mean that we should give up or that the system should not work to investigate, to find out where that woman has gone," she said. "The resources are spread so thin, it allows people to fall through the cracks," said Billy J. Stratton, an expert in Native American studies at the University of Denver. Stratton thinks there ought to be more police resources on reservations, but said the broader problem goes much deeper than that. "When you're talking about a group of people who is among the lowest socioeconomic class in the US, they're more susceptible to violence than others," he said. "Poverty is the main driver; dispossession, lack of empowerment, isolation, and those other social problems I think flow from that." 'It hardly gets talked about' Roxanne White is a Native American activist and a victim of sex-trafficking herself. Years ago, she had never even heard the term "missing and murdered indigenous women." "But, did I know that violence against myself and other native women has been an issue? Yes. All my life," she said. In Canada, the problem is so acute that it sparked a national inquiry due to wrap up this month, but in the United States, "It hardly gets talked about," said White. Washington state is one of the few exceptions. Lawmakers there have passed a new law requiring the state police to gather data on the number of missing and murdered Native women. White's own cousin is among those who will be counted. Rosenda Strong went missing from the Yakama Reservation in October. Strong was last seen leaving the Legends Casino in Toppenish, Washington, on October 2 last year. Strong's sister Cissy Strong-Reyes said tribal police were initially dismissive of the disappearance because her sister used drugs. "When I told the cops, they said, 'well, she's just probably partying, getting, you know, doing drugs,'" she recalled. She's optimistic about the FBI's involvement after an agent first approached her in mid-October to tell her they were looking into her sister's case. The FBI said it's investigating at the request of the Yakama Tribal Police. Strong-Reyes is highly critical of the system of law enforcement on the reserve. She said tribal police are understaffed and largely unaccountable. State police, or the local non-native police typically have no jurisdiction to investigate on Yakama Nation land, unless the investigation involves a non-native person. "People are getting killed, and it's swept under the rug," she said. "To me out there, it's like the wild wild west." The Yakama Nation Tribal Police declined to comment, referring calls to the Tribal Council and the FBI. The Tribal Council has so far not commented to CNN. FRANKFORT, Ind. (WLFI) - The City of Frankfort is working to install six new, solar-powered speeding signs in several strategic places around the city. One place seeing the new signs is South Clay Street, which runs right through Dorner Park and has a 15 mile-per-hour speed limit. "The street is good, but they (cars) just make a race track out of it," said Sally Rogers, who has lived across the street from Dorner Park for the past eight years. She said she walks her dog Dakota across the street to the park two or three times a day. "They come down that hill really fast, we almost got hit the other day," she said. She said speeding is a problem in this area, and she isn't the only who has noticed the problem. Mayor Chris McBarnes said in a statement released on the city's Twitter page that, "My office has experienced a high volume of calls complaining about speeding in these areas." "The Mayor's Office and the police department have been getting complaints about speeding in certain parts of town," agreed Frankfort Street Superintendent Jason Forsythe. The new signs are also on Kelley Road and Williams Road, both with a 30 mile-per-hour speed limit. Forsythe said many drivers don't even realize they are speeding through these roads. He said they might think are driving on county roads that are 45 miles-per-hour or more, when really the limit is much lower. "We want people to adhere to those in hopes that we can slow things down in those areas and just keep people a little bit safer in town," he said. The signs flash as a car's speed approaches the limit the sign is set two, and flashes an LED light at the driver when they go over the speed limit. Rogers said Dorner park is packed with kids and families on any nice day. "A lot of times I'll be sitting on my front porch and the ball will roll over into my yard and I'll say wait a minute I'll get it, don't you cross the street," she said. Forsythe said the signs will have a bigger impact than just alerting drivers to their speed. They will be used to collect traffic data. "They are Bluetooth signs and we can download information of speeds that we will provide for the police department so they know where they need to be," he said. He also said there have been misconceptions that these signs will take pictures of cars and send tickets to drivers. "These have nothing to do with reading your license plate or keeping an eye on you to give tickets," he said. "This is to keep people safe more than anything." He also said if they see success with these signs, there could be more installed around the city. Rogers said she's happy with the results already. "You can see now how slow they are going, it has made a difference," she said. "I've already noticed a difference just driving through these areas," said Forsythe, who added that all six signs should be up by the end of this week. CHICAGO (AP) The Tampa Bay Rays made it clear they were going to give Austin Meadows every opportunity to develop into the major contributor they envision him becoming. Performances like Tuesdays are the payoff. Meadows homered and set a career high with four hits, Avisail Garcia connected against his former team and the Rays beat the Chicago White Sox 10-5. The Rays pounded Ervin Santana (0-1) and improved to 9-3, their best start in nine years. They also extended a club record by clinching their fourth straight series victory to start a season. Meadows drove in a personal-best four runs and helped break open a game that lasted 3 hours, 56 minutes. He singled and scored in the first, hit a two-run drive in the second and added an RBI single during a two-run fourth in which Tampa Bay chased Santana. He also walked with the bases loaded in the ninth. Hes got the ability to do everything well, manager Kevin Cash said. He can run, he can run on the bases, cover ground in the outfield. He works so hard on his defense to continue to gain ground, and hit. Whether its a quality at-bat or hit for power, weve seen both of it. Hes got a chance to be a pretty special player with this opportunity that hes earned to get going here in the lineup and be a big part of our group. Hes bringing a lot to the table right now. The Rays acquired Meadows from Pittsburgh last July as part of a trade that sent Chris Archer to the Pirates for a wealth of young talent. The Rays also got hard-throwing right-hander Tyler Glasnow and highly touted pitching prospect Shane Baz. Meadows debuted last season and played in 59 games for the Pirates and Tampa Bay. He said he got a confidence boost in the offseason when Cash told him in a phone call to show up ready to contribute. I feel like I belong here, Meadows said. Garcia smacked a solo homer in the second and finished with three hits, giving him five in the past two games. The White Sox opted not to offer him a contract in the offseason, parting ways after 5 years, and he signed with Tampa Bay. Brandon Lowe chipped in with a sacrifice fly in the first and a solo homer in the third. Charlie Morton (2-0) went five innings, allowing two runs and three hits. Yoan Moncada knocked a two-run homer in the third for Chicago. Tim Anderson had two hits, including an RBI single in a three-run eighth. But with the White Sox trailing by three, pinch-hitter Adam Engel struck out swinging at a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded to end that rally. SANTANA STRUGGLES Santana got tagged for seven runs and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings after the White Sox purchased his contract from Triple-A Charlotte. The two-time All-Star missed most of last season with Minnesota because of an injured right middle finger. He signed a minor league contract in February. I felt great. In the bullpen, when I was warming up, everything was really good, Santana said. Then when I got to the mound, I guess I changed my delivery so that was the issue. STREAK CONTINUES Tampa Bays Tommy Pham extended his club-record on-base streak to 44 games with a single and two walks. TRAINERS ROOM Rays: 2B Joey Wendle (strained left hamstring) ran on a treadmill for the second straight day, Cash said. Cash also said 3B Matt Duffy (back/left hamstring) has been ramping up his rehab. White Sox: Manager Rick Renteria had no timetable on when OF Jon Jay will return and said its a safe bet Jay will go on a rehab assignment before he is activated. Jay has been sidelined since last month because of a strained right hip that has caused pain in the groin area. UP NEXT Rays: Glasnow (2-0, 0.82 ERA) looks to continue his dominant start. He tossed three-hit ball over six scoreless innings at San Francisco last week after holding Houston to one run over five innings. White Sox: RHP Reynaldo Lopez (0-1, 10.00) tries to get on track after two shaky outings. He has allowed a combined 10 runs on 12 hits over nine innings against Kansas City and Seattle. Indigenous plants hold immense value for people all over Earth. Not all plants that grow in specific countries are native to it, but those that are usually make up an important source of fiber and food for a lot of people. Indigenous crops are generally more resilient to diseases and various pests and are more tolerant to higher temperatures or drought. We often gaze upon places such as Asia, Latin America, or even sub-Saharan Africa and marvel at their exquisite indigenous fruits. Still, North America also has several fruits that are native to it you might not have been aware of. These crops need to be protected because, according to research, we are slowly losing a lot of the genetic diversity of plants. This can have a negative effect on the nutritional quality of the people living in the United States and can be one of the causes of heart disease or diabetes. It is essential not to forget the more traditional ways of preparing food, which are generally much healthier than what we use today. This is why it is imperative to protect the native fruits everywhere, and in this article, we will talk about those that are native to the continent of North America. 7. Cranberries Cranberries became an important food source for European colonists soon after they arrived in North America. Cranberries became an important food source for European colonists soon after they arrived in North America. These red fruits could be found almost everywhere in the northeastern parts of the continent and were most often eaten raw, despite them being extremely sour. Sometimes the colonists would make a sauce out of them that they would use as a condiment for other dishes. These fruits were also used as a dye for fabric quite often, as well as for the treatment of various illnesses. The United States is an important producer of cranberries together with Canada making up the majority of the produced amounts of this fruit in the world. 6. Grapes Muscadine grapes were the first kind of grape that was successfully cultivated in the American countryside. Naturally, not all grapes are native to North America, but there are several varieties that most certainly are. This includes fox grapes and muscadine grapes. The former is native to the eastern parts of the United States, while the latter grows in the southeastern wilderness. Muscadine grapes were the first kind of grape that was successfully cultivated in the American countryside. These grapes can be used in a variety of ways, for example, for juice or simply eaten fresh, although they are most commonly used to make wine. Several other grape varieties are native to the continent of North America, and some of them were cultivated there. 5. Pawpaw Pawpaw resembles tropical fruits and has been mentioned several times in connection to prominent historical figures. Out of all the fruits mentioned in this article, the pawpaw is the one you most likely never tried. The fruit was never cultivated on the North American continent, which is the main reason why the majority of our readers havent even heard of it. Yet, it is one of the fruits that are native to North America. It continues growing mostly in temperate climates and can be found in the wilderness quite easily. Pawpaw resembles tropical fruits and has been mentioned several times in connection to prominent historical figures. For example, Thomas Jefferson was supposedly a huge fan of the pawpaw fruit, and so were the famous explorers Lewis and Clark. This fruit tastes like a combination of citrus fruit with a mango and a banana and is most often eaten fresh. 4. American Persimmons Persimmons are most commonly sourced from Asia, so it might come as a surprise to many that there is a variety that is native to the United States. Persimmons are most commonly sourced from Asia, so it might come as a surprise to many that there is a variety that is native to the United States. It is called Diospyros virginiana and can be found mostly in the southeastern parts of North America. This fruit was an essential part of the diet of Native Americans, either fresh or dried. Once the first settlers started to arrive on the continent, they often used this fruit as an ingredient for tea, which they drank to help them with various ailments. These fruits are tough to transport since they must ripen on the tree. Their flavor is best described as being similar to apricots, and many animals enjoy eating them. 3. Mayhaws This fruit got its name because it ripens in May, and its flavor is similar to that of a pear or an apple. Mayhaws are small, round fruit, most often in red color that can be found growing on thorny trees. They are also called May hawthorns and are native to Louisiana. The state is filled with swampy areas that make this plant easy to cultivate, although it was never actually cultivated on a large scale. This fruit got its name because it ripens in May, and its flavor is similar to that of a pear or an apple. Still, most will agree that the fruit does not taste the best when eaten fresh, but they are often used to make an incredibly delicious and well-known jelly. There are mayhaw festivals held annually in cities all over Louisiana and Georgia. 2. Black Cherries Black cherries are more famous because of the wood of their trees, but the fruit itself is often eaten as a snack while drinking alcohol. There are several types of cherries native to North America, but the most popular ones are black cherries. Black cherries are more famous because of the wood of their trees, but the fruit itself is often eaten as a snack while drinking alcohol. The wood is often used for plank cooking because it gives the food a specific smoky flavor. Another popular type of cherry is the chokecherry, which is the official state fruit of North Dakota. They are mostly eaten raw, although they have varying flavor and sweetness. Despite North America having several types of native cherries, the country still imports the majority of the cherries that get sold from Europe and Asia. 1. Several Types Of Berries Salmonberry fruit. This includes blueberries and strawberries, but also lesser-known berries such as elderberries, juneberries, and salmonberries, among others. Out of all of these types of berries, blueberries are the most common ones, and these wild berries can also be found all over the North American wilderness. When the first settlers arrived in North America, they were taught by Native Americans how to prepare a variety of dishes using berries. This included methods of preservation and ways to combine berries and meat. Strawberries were also a common dish among the Native Americans and are still a fruit that can be found growing in the wilderness. Naturally, the ones you find growing outside will not resemble the enormous ones you can buy at the store but will be much smaller. The food in North America is incredibly diverse, and we should do our best to try and protect this diversity. By keeping these plants alive, we are taking care of the health of future generations since fruits and vegetables are possibly the most critical part of nutrition. The rich biodiversity of fruits in North America is definitely something that the people living on the continent should preserve. Massachusetts is a US state found in New England. With a border along the Atlantic Ocean, several large bays shape the state's coastline. Massachusetts also contains numerous lakes, as well as artificial reservoirs created to meet the water demands of the state's population. These lakes also serve as an important source of fish and support recreational activities such as swimming, fishing, boating, camping, and bird-watching. Some of the states largest lakes are highlighted below. 1. Quabbin Reservoir The Quabbin Reservoir is the largest lake in Massachusetts, occupying an area of 99.97 km2 and reaching a maximum depth of 46 m. The reservoir was built between 1930 and 1939 for the purpose of meeting the water demands of the area's growing population. For example, the reservoir serves as a major source of water for the Greater Boston metropolitan area. Parts of the Quabbin Reservoir are open to the public and used as recreational areas. An observation tower allows tourists to view the beautiful scenery of the lake and its surroundings. In addition to fish, the area serve as a habitat for various forms of wildlife, including black bears, coyotes, foxes, eagles, and bobcats. 2. Wachusett Reservoir The Wachusett Reservoir is the second biggest lake in Massachusetts, encompassing an area of 18.2 km2 and reaching a maximum depth of 37 m. It is located in the central part of the state and serves as a major source of water for the residents of Boston. Inflows, such as the Quinapoxet and Stillwater rivers feed the reservoir, and then two tunnels lead water from the reservoir to the Norumbega Storage Facility. Additionally, the Quabbin Aqueduct also carries water from the Quabbin Reservoir to the Wachusett Reservoir. Recreational activities within the reservoir are restricted to ensure that its water is not polluted. Several species of fish have been recorded in the Wachusett Reservoir, such as brown trout, smallmouth bass, and white perch. 3. Assawompset Pond Assawompset Pond is the third largest body of water in Massachusetts, and the largest natural lake in the state, with an area of 9.72 km2. It is located in the southeastern part of Massachusetts and serves as the main source of drinking water for the city of New Bedford. The lake is home to the eastern seaboards largest herring run. 4. North Watuppa Pond The North Watuppa Pond is the second largest natural lake in Massachusetts, covering an area of 7.3 km2. It is a spring-fed pond that was formed by glaciers, and reaches a maximum depth of 7.6 m. Several small streams feed the lake, while the Quequechan River is its primary outflow. The public cannot access its shores for recreation, as the North Watuppa Pond is the main source of drinking water for the city of Fall River. 5. South Watuppa Pond Located directly south of the North Watuppa Pond, the South Watuppa Pond covers an area of 6.28 km2 and reaches a maximum depth of 6.7 m. Historically, the North and South Watuppa ponds were connected and formed one large lake. Several streams and springs feed the South Watuppa Pond, and it serves as popular recreational area, especially for fishing. 6. Long Pond Long Pond is a lake located in the southeastern part of the state, where it shares its waters with Assawompset Pond. The lake has an area of 6.96 km2, a maximum depth of 3.7 m, and serves as a source of drinking water for the city of New Bedford. Three islands, namely Goat, Lewis, and Nelson, are located within the lake. Fishing and boating are popular recreational activities Long Pond. However, the lake's shallow depth, as well as its outcropping rocks and the sand bar connecting Nelson to the mainland, pose risks when navigating the lake. 7. Lake Chaubunagungamaug The fifth biggest lake in Massachusetts, Lake Chaubunagungamaug, occupies an area of 5.83 km2 and reaches a maximum depth of 15 m. The lake is also known by a much longer name that has 45 letters and contains 14 syllables: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. The fact that it is the longest name of any place in the country generates interest among tourists. The lake contains eight islands, some of which are inhabited. Both matrilocal residence and patrilocal residence are terms that are used in social anthropology to describe where married couples settle after marriage. Also known as matrilocality, uxorilocality, or an uxorilocal residence, a matrilocal residence refers to a system where a married couple lives close or together with the parents of the wife. On the other hand, a patrilocal residence, which is also known as a virilocal residence, virilocality, or patrilocality, is when the couple lives close to the parents of the husband. Historically, most of the cultures in the world (about 70%) used to practice patrilocal residence. Matrilocal Residence Under this system, couples can also practice a distant marriage where they live in their respective families. The children born of these families are usually raised by the mothers family, which means the father has little to do in the raising of his children. However, these fathers would have a significant role to play in raising children born by their female siblings and relatives. When it comes to property inheritance, everything passes on to subsequent generations, which means that most of it is not divided. Most of the places in the world with this kind of structure are those with horticultural societies. Such societies include the Ancient Pueblo Peoples who lived in Chaco Canyon and the Moso of southwestern China. In the case of China, the government encourages this system to create a balance in the ratio between males and females. In ancient Japan, this system was a sign of the authority and power of the womans family. If the eldest man of the family was powerful enough, then he could demand that the man make the move. Patrilocal Residence This type of society expects the wife to move to the mans home after marriage. The children that come out of that marriage will also follow the same system where the sons will build houses around the compound while the daughters leave to live with the families of their husbands. The structure of this type of society is usually determined by the age of the men. The eldest men have more authority than their younger counterparts. However, it is possible for this kind of structure to turn into a matrilocal residence in all meaningful ways. For example, if the women in this kind of society have a strong voice in matters to do with leading, then the society effectively changes. However, strictly speaking, it would be a patrilocal residence since the women would have left their homes to join their husbands. Evidence of this type of society exists in certain languages. For example, some Slavonic languages (such as Polish, Hungarian, and Russian) have evidence of this type of structure based on the words they use for marriage. The case is also true for most European languages such as English. Archaeological evidence shows that this practice was common among Neanderthal societies. For example, in 2010, archaeologists uncovered a grave that was 49,000 years old at the time. The grave contained three males who were related and three females who were unrelated. Based on that evidence, the researchers concluded that the women must have been the males partners. Vermont is a US state located in the northeastern part of the country and borders the Canadian province of Quebec. The state covers an area of 9,616 sq mi and has a population of 626,299, ranking as the 6th smallest in terms of area and second least populous in the country. Vermont is nicknamed "The Green Mountain State," and uses the following motto: Freedom and Unity. In addition to its official motto, Vermont has also designated various state symbols, including a state flag, state tree (sugar maple), state flower (red clover), state bird (hermit thrush), state insect (western honey bee), and state mammal (Morgan horse). Vermont also has a state amphibian: the northern leopard frog. Northern Leopard Frog Vermont's official state amphibian is the northern leopard frog, which is sometimes referred to as the grass frog or meadow frog. While its scientific name is Lithobates pipiens, the frog's common name reflects the large black spots on its body that resemble those of a leopard. Range and Habitat Northern leopard frogs are native to parts of the United States and Canada. In particular, they thrive in temperate and subtropical climates, but can also easily adapt to new environments, including desserts, mountain meadows, marshes, freshwater areas full of vegetation, and swampy fields. Physical Features Northern leopard frogs are typically green or brown in color, with prominent black spots, and a white underside. The species is relatively large and can grow up to 3.5 inches in length. The northern leopard frog also has a line that starts behind each eye and runs down its back, named dorsolateral folds. Behavioral Characteristics The northern leopard frog feeds on insects and pests, such as flies, beetles, leafhoppers, and ants. It also consumes slugs, pill bugs, snails, and worms, and given its large mouth, even small birds and garter snakes. As a result, the northern leopard frog has been instrumental in managing the population of pests and insects in Vermont ponds. The frog hunts by using the "sit-and-wait strategy," which means that it waits until prey is close enough before pouncing. The species is both nocturnal and diurnal, and its predators include certain types of snakes, herons, turtles, grebes, fish, mergansers, and larger frogs. The northern leopard frog hibernates from October until March, hiding in streams and deep ponds that contain sufficient oxygen needed for survival. Reproduction and Life Cycle The northern leopard frog usually mates between late April and early June. The reproduction process starts with males gathering in water and then calling females using loud croaks. Females can lay as many as 6,500 eggs in the water, and the embryos develop into hatchlings, which then grow to become free-swimming tadpoles. Metamorphosis eventually occurs transforming the tadpoles into little frogs. The northern leopard frog can live for about four years in the wild or up to nine years in captivity. Environmental Threats and Conservation Status The northern leopard frog faces the threat of habitat loss, which impacts its long-term survival. It also suffers from environmental changes, such as increased frequency of droughts. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List, the frog is classified as a species of "Least Concern." Designating the Vermont State Amphibian The northern leopard frog was designated as Vermont's state amphibian in 1998 after the signing of Senate Bill No. 241 by Governor Howard Dean, which came into effect on July 1 of that year. The frog's beautiful green color is said to symbolize Vermonts natural beauty. Additionally, the northern leopard frog plays an important role in the ecosystem of Vermont's lakes and ponds, as it helps control the insect population and eats algae. Los Angeles is a city in the US state of California. It was incorporated on April 4, 1850, and obtained city status on May 2, 1835. The city is known by its initials, L.A., and by its nickname, the City of Angels, derived from the Spanish translation of Los Angeles. The official name of the city, City of Los Angeles, has remained unchanged since 1850. However, there is much debate over how the city obtained its name. Naming of the Los Angeles River The Spanish Empire claimed the area that is now the southern region of California in 1542. Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was the first to claim the area for Spain. Captain Fernando Rivera Y Moncado led the first European land expedition through California in 1769. Franciscan priest Father Juan Crespi accompanied the Captain. On August 2, 1769, the Father described a beautiful river in his journal located at "34 degrees, 10 minutes." He named the river Nuestra Senora de los Angeles de la Porciuncula (English: Our Lady of the Angels of the Portiuncula) in honor of the Feast Day that takes place on August 2nd in the Franciscan calendar. The Feast Day was in honor of the Our Lady of the Angels of Portiuncula Church near Assisi, Italy where the Franciscan movement started. Today, this river is called the Los Angeles River. Naming of the City of Los Angeles A new settlement was established next to the river in 1781, which is the main source of debate as historians cannot agree on what it was named. Los Angeles historian Doyce B. Nunis Jr. presented one argument that stated that the name of the town was El Pueblo de la Reyna de los Angeles meaning "The Town of the Queen of Angels." As evidence, Nunis presented maps dated a few years after the citys founding. The archivist for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Monsignor Francis J. Weber, argued that the name of the city was closer to the name of the river. He claimed that the city was called El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora de los Angeles de Porciuncula meaning "The Town of Our Lady of the Angels of Porciuncula." Regardless of the origin of the city's name, it was eventually shortened to the City of Los Angeles, a title it has retained since its incorporation in 1850. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) shakes hands with High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini on the sidelines of the China-EU leaders' meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on April 9, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhang Cheng) BRUSSELS, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met here Tuesday with High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini on the sidelines of the China-EU leaders' meeting. Wang said the high-level strategic dialogue held between him and Mogherini not long ago had made necessary preparation for the China-EU leaders' meeting. With concerted efforts, China and the EU have reached agreement on their joint statement issued Tuesday, he added. The statement, wide-ranging and fruitful, represents the high level of the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, the various consensus they have accumulated, the solidarity and cooperation between the two sides as well as the spirit of mutual benefits and win-win, he said. "We have designed the road map for future China-EU relations and clarified the development direction," Wang said. Expecting a successful EU-China leaders' meeting, Mogherini expressed appreciation for the work both teams had done for the joint statement. She said the EU is ready to work with China for further development of their ties. The two sides also had in-depth exchange of views on international and regional issues of common concern including Afghanistan, Venezuela, and the Korean Peninsula. Jorg Baberowski, the extreme right-wing historian and chairman of the Department of East European Studies at Berlins Humboldt University, was invited by Princeton University in March to participate in a closed conference-seminar on the subject of Dictatorships in Transition. Baberowskis attendance at the event follows his receipt of an award by Princeton of $300,000 for a research project, titled From Totalitarian to Authoritarian Rule. Comparing Dictatorships in Transition. Sharing the award with Baberowski is his partner in this project, Professor Deborah Kaple of Princetons Department of Sociology. Jorg Baberowski and his colleague, Fabian Thunemann, on a visit to Trump Tower during a break in the conference-seminar held at Princeton in March. No information on the subject of the conference-seminar has been posted on the web site of Princeton University. However, the Facebook page of Humboldts Department of East European Studies posted photos taken during the conference. It also posted photos of Baberowski and his Humboldt University colleague, Fabian Thunemann, standing in front of Trump Tower in New York City. Baberowski is a vociferous defender of the pro-Nazi apologetics of Germanys most notorious revisionist historian, the late Ernst Nolte. Nevertheless, he enjoys significant support within the highest levels of the American academic community. It is not surprising that Baberowski has been supported by the Hoover Institution, the ideological center of anti-Marxist projects located at Stanford University. But the 2016 publication by Yale University Press of Baberowskis Scorched Earth, a tendentious anti-communist propaganda piece of no scholarly value, testifies to the immense and expanding influence exerted by right-wing political forces over history departments at major American universities. Significantly, Baberowskis attendance at the Princeton conference-seminar took place only a few weeks after he had failed to obtain the support of the Academic Senate of Humboldt University for the funding of an Interdisciplinary Center for the Comparative Study of Dictatorships. Baberowskis project, which argued that dictatorships should be studied as legitimate and even popular alternatives to democratic forms of rule, was subjected to scathing criticism by two of the four peer reviews that examined his proposal. After the peer reviews were posted online, the Academic Senate postponed indefinitely the consideration of Baberowskis project. In response to this devastating public setback, Baberowski, as is his usual practice, unleashed on his Twitter account a torrent of vitriolic denunciations of his critics. There is no publicly available information on the deliberations that led to Princetons award of $300,000 to Baberowski. Nor has there been any explanation of the decision to honor with an invitation to Princeton a man who declared in February 2014 that Hitler was not vicious, and whose reactionary pronouncements on history and contemporary politics have identified him as a prominent ideologist of the Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD), the leading neo-fascist party in Germany. The academic community of Princeton Universityand, indeed, throughout the countryshould demand that the university explain why it is funding the fraudulent exercise in historical falsification and right-wing propaganda conducted by a man who not only has sought to relativize the crimes of the Third Reich, but also seeks to normalize and euphemize dictatorshipa state based on the violent deprivation of democratic rightsas an alternative political order. *** David North, the chairman of the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site sent a letter by e-mail, dated April 3, 2019, to Baberowskis project partner, Professor Deborah Kaple. Though an e-mail notification indicated that Professor Kaple opened the letter within minutes of its receipt, she has not answered Norths letter. The letter from David North is printed below: April 3, 2019 Hello Professor Kaple, I am writing to inquire about a recent seminar/conference conducted at Princeton University on the subject of Dictatorships in Transition [ Diktaturen in Wandel ], which was organized in conjunction with Humboldt University in Berlin. Among the participants in this seminar was Professor Jorg Baberowski. Based on information posted on the web site of Princeton University, I understand that you have been engaged in a joint research project with Professor Baberowski. In the organization of the seminar/conference and the organization of a joint research project, was Princeton University aware that Professor Baberowski is among the most prominent right-wing revisionist historians in Germany? He is an outspoken proponent of the views of the late Professor Ernst Nolte, whose relativization of Nazi crimes triggered the famous Historikerstreit of the late 1980s. Baberowski is also a leading opponent of the immigration policies of Chancellor Merkel. His extreme right-wing views on the subject have served to legitimize the xenophobia of the neo-fascist Alternative fur Deutschland. Baberowskis pronouncements on immigration have been featured regularly in Breitbart News and, even more ominously, the Daily Stormer, the leading American Nazi web site. Though Baberowski regularly claims that he is being witch-hunted and slandered, his attorneys were compelled to withdraw a claim of defamation after a German court ruled that Baberowski can be appropriately described as a right-wing extremist. The court also stated that Baberowski, contrary to the claims of his attorneys, had not been quoted by his critics out of context. I would be interested to know whether you, or any of those who participated in the recent seminar/conference, are familiar with the controversies surrounding Professor Baberowskis views. The issue here is not simply a matter of Professor Baberowskis private political opinions. Rather, his defense of Ernst Nolte, who spent the last three decades of his life justifying Nazi crimes, is an integral part of Baberowskis historical-theoretical project. Central to the Nolte-Baberowski conception is the claim that Nazi barbarism, including the Holocaust, was a response forced upon the Hitler regime by the Soviet Union. It is difficult to imagine that the extreme right-wing character and dangerous implications of Professor Baberowskis viewswhich, it should be added, involve to no small extent the falsification of the historical recordpassed unnoticed by scholars participating in the recent seminar/conference. Were Professor Baberowskis views challenged at any point during the seminar/conference? Later this month I will be participating, with co-speaker Christoph Vandreier, in public meetings at several universities dealing with the resurgence of neo-fascism in Germany. Mr. Vandreier is the author of Why Are They Back: Historical Falsification, Political Conspiracy and the Return of Fascism in Germany. This book deals at some length with the role played by Professor Baberowski in encouraging this resurgence. Though I find it very troubling that Professor Baberowski was invited to Princeton, I leave open the possibility that his views were not well known to the organizers. That is why I am requesting a response to my question. I am including below links to articles that substantiate my description of Professor Baberowskis views. Yours sincerely, David North World Socialist Web Site From Der Spiegel - February 14, 2014 http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/questions-of-culpability-in-wwi-still-divide-german-historians-a-953173-2.html Baberowski became a historian and a specialist in Eastern Europe. Like Munkler, he teaches and does research at the Humboldt University in Berlin. His book Verbrannte Erde - Stalins Herrschaft der Gewalt ( Scorched Earth - Stalin s Reign of Violence ) won the Leipzig Book Fair Prize in 2012. Nolte was done an injustice, says Baberowski. Historically speaking, he was right.... Sitting in Cafe Einstein, he [Baberowski] says: Hitler was no psychopath, and he wasnt vicious. He didnt want people to talk about the extermination of the Jews at his table. Stalin, on the other hand, delighted in adding to and signing off on the death lists. He was vicious. He was a psychopath. From Breitbart News - December 7, 2015 https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2015/12/07/left-historian-christian-germany-everything-dear-to-us-will-disappear-because-of-mass-migration/ Highly respected, former communist professor and historian Jorg Baberowski has warned that everything dear to [Europeans] will soon disappear because of his governments policies towards mass migration. The stark warning is sure to echo around Europe, the United Kingdom, and indeed the United States as policy makers throw open Western countries borders to migrants from the Middle East and North Africa. Mr. Baberowski is the Professor of Eastern European History at the Humboldt University of Berlin noted for his expertise on Stalinism. He is a former Communist League of West Germany member, and former chair in Eastern European History at the University of Leipzig in 2001. From Daily Stormer - December 8, 2015 https://dailystormer.name/german-professor-says-german-identity-will-be-totally-destroyed-by-mass-immigration/ Highly respected, former communist professor and historian Jorg Baberowski has warned that everything dear to [Europeans] will soon disappear because of his governments policies towards mass migration. European Union (EU) leaders will decide today whether to grant UK Prime Minister Theresa May an extension to enable her to pass her EU withdrawal deal in the UK parliament. May has called for an extension to June 30, with the option of bringing this forward if the withdrawal agreement with the EU is ratified. Without an extension, the UK is set to leave the EU without a deal on Friday at 11:00 p.m. Yesterday, May met separately with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, hoping to secure the backing of the EUs two heavyweight powers. It was yet another public humiliation. There was universal scepticism towards her meeting a June 30 deadline, amid reports of little progress in talks between May and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn on an alternative Brexit proposal that might pass through parliament. Macron was reported before the meeting as opposing the proposal of EU President Donald Tusk that the UK be granted a flexible delay of up to 12 monthsa flextension. The deal would last only as long as necessary and no longer than one year, according to Tusks draftto be terminated if and when the deal can be passed in the British parliament. The Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Greece and Romania were also reported as opposed. Following Mays talks with Merkel, whom the UK media held out as more amenable to May, an evasive statement said only that the two had agreed on the importance of ensuring Britains orderly withdrawal. Merkel said curtly that EU leaders would discuss a flextension today. This was a diplomatic response, after Germanys EU affairs minister Michael Roth earlier complained that absolutely nothing has changed in Westminster. He added, Its groundhog-day again Unfortunately I have to say that the conditions the European Council has decided on in its last meeting have not been met. This means time will run out on 12 April. Regarding Mays June 30 date request, Roth said, Of course we are also thinking about such a deadline extension, including a long extension of the deadline, but this also has to come with very strict criteria. A meeting of the EUs General Affairs Council in Luxembourg ended with no maximum end extension date agreed, with potential dates including December 31 and March 31 suggested. But this was packaged with strict conditions including UK participation in Mays European Parliament elections, no re-opening of the withdrawal agreement, and some form of legally binding guarantee that the UK would honour its pledge of sincere co-operation in ongoing EU business until it leaves. Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium, Sweden and Hungary all indicated they would support a Brexit extension. Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier told the media that there was continuing support for working with May, on the basis that her deal with them was the only one on offer and that British MPs had to accept it. Central to the EU calculations, he said, would be pressure you might want to assert on British parliamentarians If the UK wishes to leave the EU in an orderly fashion, the only way to do so is based on the Withdrawal Agreement which we agreed upon together ... the Political Declaration [accompanying the Agreement text] ... can be improved... French officials made clear that a deal was possible, but stressed that any extension must be conditional on clauses inserted into any extension agreement that could be reviewed every few months to see if the UK was upholding a code of conduct regarding its votes at EU minister meetings. A weighting point, possibly set for October, when a conduct review could take place, is also mooted. The longer the period is, the stronger the guarantee needs to be, an official said, adding that an extension by a year seems to us too long. This was after Jacob Rees-Mogg, an influential leader of the ruling Conservatives hard Brexit wing, said last Friday that the UK should veto any increase in the budget, obstruct the putative EU army and block Mr Macrons integrationist schemes. May might negotiate an extension with all sorts of conditions but might not be there to ensure it is honoured. Pointing to the EUs problem with accepting May as a negotiating partner, Rees-Mogg tweeted, Parliament cannot bind its successors, the Prime Ministers promises have not invariably proved reliable and there has been little sincerity from the EU. After failing to remove May in a confidence vote last Decemberwhich meant that May cannot be challenged via that route for a further yearsections of the hard Brexit wing are still insistent on her removal. On Monday, Tory MP and Vice Chairman of the pro-Brexit European Research Group, Mark Francois, wrote to the leader of the backbench 1922 Committee Chair, Sir Graham Brady, demanding he hold an indicative vote among Conservative MPsprior to the European Council meetingas to whether they still had confidence in May as party leader. May has already pledged to step down as party leader and prime minister on the proviso that MPs pass her EU deal. The pro-Remain MP majority have sought to strengthen their position over the last weeks by taking control over parliaments order paper regarding Brexit. On Tuesday, in Mays absence, parliament debated and passed by a large majority of 310, a motion legally binding the prime minister to seek a Brexit extension until June 30 and ruling out the no-deal Brexit the Tory right has insisted remains the default option. Indicating the divisions in parliament, 100 Tory MPs rebelled. However, the cross-party bill put by Blairite Labour MP Yvette Cooper, which became law Monday night after MPs pushed it through both of parliaments Houses, was somewhat pyrrhic given that May was already seeking an extension. Faced with the greatest crisis of British imperialism since the war, the ruling class are still looking to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to agree a national unity deal over Brexit. Further talks between the government and Labour shadow ministers John McDonnell, Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Sue Hayman were held Tuesday. Downing Street said the productive and wide-ranging talks lasting over four hours will resume Thursday following the EU summit. Labour is articulating the concerns of dominant sections of the ruling elite who view maintenance of a customs union and access to the EUs single market as imperative. Shadow Chancellor McDonnell said a customs union was the first item on the agenda, adding, What there hasnt been sufficient discussion of so far is alignment with the single market. The Daily Telegraph reported that May could offer Labour MPs a second confirmatory referendum to get their agreement to pass her deal. However, Corbyn heads a party that is as divided as the Tories on Brexit. Around 80 pro-Remain Blairite MPs are insisting that Labour demands a second referendum as a condition for any agreement and have the backing of top figures including Corbyns main ally, McDonnell. But there are 25 Labour MPs, led by party Chairman Ian Lavery, bitterly opposed to a second referendum. Lavery has warned that the party could split. Shadow Transport Secretary Andy McDonald said Monday there would be no need for a second referendum if Corbyn secures a deal with May that meets Labours demands for a customs union and close relationship with the single market. Regardless of the EUs decision today, the Brexit crisis can only intensify. With the latest deadline for the withdrawal deal lapsing, the May government had to formally notify the country that the legal groundwork was in place for the UK to participate in the upcoming European elections. An election date was set for May 23. If the elections go ahead, they will be a focus for explosive tensions over Brexit, with the UK Independence Party (UKIP), which won the 2014 elections, and the Brexit Party, led by former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, expected to do well. The author also recommends: The political implications of the Corbyn/May Brexit talks [5 April 2019] The plight of cancer patients in the UK is one of many indicators of the devastating impact of funding cuts to the National Health Service (NHS). These have been carried out by the Conservative-led government and their devolved counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In England alone, more than 127,000 cancer patients have been left waiting more than two months to start their treatment over the last five years. According to official NHS figures released in January, almost one in four patients were waiting longer than the officially set targets of treating them within 62 days after an urgent GP referral is made and cancer is diagnosed. Figures show the long waits have reached their highest levels since records began in 2009. NHS Scotland statistics for October to December 2018 show nearly one in five people diagnosed with cancer were waiting more than two months for treatment. Treatment for women with cervical cancer during that period has seen an alarming drop in the numbers starting treatmentjust 53.7 percent of patientscompared to 89.7 percent between July and September 2018. Only one Scottish health board out of 15NHS Lanarkshiremet the Scottish governments 95 percent target of cancer patients beginning treatment within two months from diagnosis. In Wales, a significant shortage of specialists poses real risks to cancer care and treatment. Only three extra cancer doctors joined NHS Wales in the past five years, according to Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) figures. This is in spite of rising cancer rates and patient numbers. Speaking to the BBC, Dr. Martin Rolles, the RCRs cancer lead in Wales, said, The risk really is the deteriorating quality of the service. We wont be able to give the patients the time they need. Individual oncologists will struggle to see patients in a timely manner, so there may be increasing delays in treatment. There are increasing risks because overworked doctors tend to make mistakes. It will affect the quality of the patient experience and it will affect the quality of the very good service that we try to provide in Wales. Statistics released by the Department of Health in Northern Ireland show a huge failure in missed targets for 95 percent of patients starting treatment within 62 days following an urgent GP referral for suspected cancer. About four out of 10 patients were left waiting longer than two months without treatment in 2018. Patient experience is going from bad to worse, with only 60.5 percent of patients getting treatment within the expected timeframe in December 2018compared to 66.8 and 68.7 percent, in the same month in 2017 and 2016, respectively. To achieve the best and successful outcomes, and to alleviate anxiety, fear, depression and the suffering of patients, cancer treatment should be started as early as possible when the diagnosis is confirmed. In England, however, the target set by the government for NHS trusts currently stands at only 85 percent of patients beginning treatment within two months. Even this arbitrary target of leaving 15 percent of patients without early treatment was breached by many NHS trusts, due to pressures they are under as a result of funding cuts. According to the Macmillan cancer charity, [A]lmost three quarters of NHS hospital trusts in England (73 percent) missed the 62-day target in December 2018, with 52 trustsover one in 3missing it by 10 percentage points or more. Macmillan points out that an average 2,630 patients waited longer than 62 days to start treatment after an urgent GP referral per month in 2018, compared to 1,711 in 2014 (a 54 percent rise). This happened regardless of the fact that the more than 62-day patient numbers only rose by 25 percent from 2014 to 2018 comparatively. Responding to this years cancer waiting times, Dr. Fran Woodard, executive director of policy and impact at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: January 2019 marks five years since the 62-day cancer target was first missed and despite the best efforts of hard working NHS staff, more than 127,000 people have been left waiting too long to start vital treatment throughout that time. Behind the numbers are real people who tell us how delays cause real anxiety for them and their loved ones at a time when they are already trying to deal with the many worries cancer is throwing their way. One of the main factors in treatment delay is staff shortages, especially of clinical oncologiststhose who treat cancer patients with chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy. A census carried out by the Royal College of Radiologists in 62 major cancer centres in the UK found that more than 7.5 percent of consultant posts, which amount to 70 full-time posts, were vacant. Most of the vacant posts had been unfilled for at least a year. These centres mainly rely on the good will of the full-time doctors who work over six hours extra a week in average. The long delays patients experience in getting their diagnoses confirmed with investigative procedures and tests, including obtaining biopsies from tumours, histopathology reporting of biopsies, CT scans and MRI scans, contribute to long waits in commencing cancer treatment. The removal of malignant tumours, which needs specialist surgical interventions, is also affected by pressures such as staff shortages, lack of beds and long waiting lists for surgical operations. There is a massive backlog for patients who need surgeries, with 220,000 patients waiting more than six months and 36,857 waiting more than nine months. Referral to treatment (RTT) waiting times for consultant-led elective care in England reveal the human cost of the pressures created by relentless NHS funding cuts over the last eight years. NHS Englands statistical press release last month stated that the number of RTT patients waiting to start treatment at the end of January 2019 was 4.2 million patients. Of those, 2,157 patients were waiting more than 52 weeks. A senior doctor who works in a Cancer Treatment Centre in Wales spoke to the WSWS about the crisis that leads to treatment delays. I have seen a surge in patient numbers and referrals for cancer treatment over the last five-six years. But our facilities, resources and staff levels have not increased with the rising demand. We work several hours unpaid extra every week to fulfil the needs of the patients. One of the main problems we face in starting early treatment for patients with cancer is the delays getting biopsies and surgical interventions done. I think the surgical teams are struggling to keep up with the demands for surgical operations. Having CT scans [using x-rays and a computer to create detailed images] and MRI scans [that create images using magnetism and radio waves] done for inpatients is not too difficult. However, PET scans [creating 3-dimensional (3D) pictures of the inside of the body], which we require prior to starting treatment, are not readily available because there arent enough machines. Although we get all the investigations, necessary tests and imaging done, sometimes treatments get deferred due to lack of beds in the oncology/haematology ward. Treatments for patients who need intensive treatment and whose conditions are severe cannot be started in the day unit. We have a severe shortage of oncology trained nurses and the other staff. The government does not train enough specialists in cancer treatment and care. Under these conditions, it is inevitable that we miss the treatment targets. The patient suffering and human cost of vital treatment delays are yet to be fully gauged. What is certain is that the statistical proof of the failure to treat cancer patients in a timely manner will do nothing to stem the assault on the NHS by the political representatives of the ruling elite. In the face of damming evidence to the contrary, a Tory government NHS spokesperson downplayed the plight of cancer patients, saying that more people than ever before are coming forward for cancer checks, with a quarter of a million more getting checked this year and thousands more being treated within the two-month target. For further information visit: facebook.com/Fight4theNHS Riot police attacked refugees, including women and children, with tear gas and stun grenades over three days last week in the village of Diavata, 60 kilometres south of the Greek-Macedonian border. The attack by police was brutal, with fires started by exploding stun grenades. Around 900 refugees, mostly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, set up a makeshift camp with around 100 tents in Diavata last Thursday, next to the official refugee camp in the village. This followed a false report on social media claiming that the border was now open for refugees to cross and continue their onward journey into Northern Europe. By Sunday, the area had been cleared of the 60 or so remaining migrants, who were sent back to the camps in which they were being held. Police detained those who could not produce valid ID. Dozens of refugees demanding open the borders also occupied Larissa StationAthens central railway stationlast Friday, asking to be transported to the border. This resulted in the cancellation of scheduled intercity trains and suburban rail services. The station was cleared by the afternoon. The source of the social media post, according to a news report on Greek TV station Ant1, was a supposed NGO, Caravan of Hope. It claimed that Greece was to open the border with North Macedonia on April 5 at noon. The same report showed footage of a refugees mobile phone containing the same social media message in Arabic. On Monday, three men who were arrested on Saturday appeared in court in Thessaloniki. A Palestinian, aged 28, a Syrian, 32, and an Iraqi, 28, were charged with resisting arrest and sentenced to 12 months in prison. All three told the court they were misled, with the Palestinian man stating, We were told that the Red Cross and other NGOs would take us out [of the country]. I believe we were fooled. Some reports made unsubstantiated claims that behind the hoax were networks of traffickers who have a vested interest in the border being opened. But the lie seems more likely to have been a right-wing initiative aimed at stoking tensions between Greece and Macedonia. Greeces land border with Macedonia has been closed to refugees since early 2016. This was around the same time that the European Union and the pseudo-left Syriza government cut their rotten deal with Turkey, which stipulates that all refugees crossing into Greece from Turkey will be interned there until their case is processed and they are ultimately deported back to Turkey. Whatever the source of the false report, it served to highlight the desperation of the more than 70,000 refugees who are being detained in overcrowded camps on Greeces mainland and islands. Dealing with the massive backlog of asylum claims involves processes that few refugees understand, and has pushed refugeesmany already traumatised from the brutality of the wars they have fledto breaking point. Some are being forced to wait for years in hellhole camps before they are even formally interviewed regarding their asylum claim. Speaking to the Associated Press at Diavata, Shapour Karimi, 43, an Iranian and father of one, said, I arrived a year and a half ago and they have set my (asylum application) interview for December 2021. He added, What will I do all this time? A solution must be found so we can depart. One of the asylum seekers present at the Diavata camp before the riot police attacked spoke to the BBC. Bilal Jaf, a 25-year-old Kurdish migrant from Iraq, said, Were afraid that the police will try to evacuate our makeshift camp I have been living in Greece for 11 months, waiting for my asylum request to be examined. I dont know for how long I should wait for that. In an interview on Friday on state radio ERA 1, the Syriza-led governments Migration Policy Minister Dimitris Vitsas praised the polices conduct in Diavata, stating, They are doing their job in the best possible way. In a separate Open TV interview, Vitsas displayed the governments callous contempt for the plight of refugees, declaring that a refugees first obligation is to respect the laws of the state, which one could say is hosting him. This must be understood. He slandered the refugees at Diavata, stating that some of them will want to act tough and that as time goes on and they cant get what they want they will start to do other things such as attacking the police. I call on them not to have their kids in front of them because this is not very brave. Syriza Public Order Minister Olga Gerovassili declared that the borders for another country will not open and warned refugees mustnt risk the privileges that they have and they shouldnt use their children as human shields because some traffickers gave them false hopes. Syriza took power in January 2015 and played a pivotal role in continuing and deepening the austerity that has pauperised millions of Greeks. It has served as a reliable partner of NATO, with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras promoting Greece under its governance as a force for stability in the Balkans as well as in the unstable region of Southeastern Europe. Its crackdown on refugees, asylum seekers and migrants is of a piece with its overall bourgeois, pro-imperialist agenda. There is little to distinguish the comments of its ministers from the fascistic anti-immigrant rhetoric espoused by far-right forces throughout Europe and internationally. As far-right politics are being ever more openly adopted by the ruling elites of Europe, and fascistic movements encouraged, Syriza is only too happy to lend its services to this effort. In enforcing the EUs anti-immigrant policy on the continents southern border, Syriza willingly acts as the jailer of all refugees stranded within its countrys borders. As for the hosting to which Vitsas refers, this is a lie contradicted by numerous reports on the atrocious conditions facing refugees in what are essentially concentration camps run by Greece. The Diavata camp is one of three temporary facilities on the Greek mainland, with an official capacity for 936 people. In January, the infomigrants web site reported on the horrific conditions at the camp, with many detainees struggling to survive in freezing conditions during a cold snap. The report noted, The camp is full to capacity, with around 800 registered asylum seekers. On top of these, there are between 500 and 650 people living at the site without having been registered by migration authorities. It cited the comments of Mike Bonke, the country director of the Arbeiter Samariter Bund, an NGO providing support services to Diavata: Most of them have built their own makeshift shelters and tents, which are not providing them with the protection needed They have no (safe) heating, washing and sanitation and cooking facilities. In a statement last month, Emmanuel Goue, head of the Doctors Without Borders mission, said, Greece has become a dumping ground for the men, women, and children that the European Union has failed to protect. He added, What was once touted as a refugee emergency has given way to inexcusable levels of human suffering across the Greek islands and on mainland Greece. The EU and Greek authorities continue to rob vulnerable people of their dignity and health, seemingly in an effort to deter others from coming. This policy is cruel, inhumane, and cynical, and it needs to end. The author recommends: Brutal conditions at Greek refugee camps condemned [9 October 2018] Greek Syriza government steps up brutal repression of refugees and asylum seekers [19 May 2018] Syriza continues immigration policy of previous Greek government [30 March 2015] Christoph Vandreier, deputy national secretary of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party, SGP), began his United States speaking tour Monday night at the University of California, Berkeley. The lecture, entitled, The Threat of Fascism and How to Fight it, was attended by 70 people, principally college-aged students from UC Berkeley and workers from the surrounding San Francisco Bay Area. Vandreiers presentation was met with intense interest by those who attended. More than a quarter of those present purchased Vandreiers new book, Why Are They Back?: Historical Falsification, Political Conspiracy and the Return of Fascism in Germany, published by Mehring Books. Altogether over $700 of literature sales and donations were madewith one attendee, who had not previously heard of the book, rising during the question-and-answer section urging everyone in the audience to buy it. Christoph Vandreier addressing the meeting Vandreiers lecture detailed how, seventy years after the fall of the Third Reich, big business, right-wing academics and sections of the German state are conspiring to rehabilitate the Nazis. Vandreier explained that what is taking place in Germany is not unique, but rather a part of a global resurgence of the extreme-right, fostered and promoted by sections of the ruling class around the world. Why is the far-right on the rise? Vandreier asked, because of capitalism. Pointing to the immense social and political crisis in nearly every country around the world, Vandreier explained that, Capitalism is once again breaking down. The decisive question, he continued, is the independent mobilization of the working class against capitalism, and thats what we, the Socialist Equality Party, are doing. Vandreiers presentation was followed by remarks from Joseph Kishore, national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party of the United States, who placed Vandreiers presentation within the political context of the United States, and the fascistic character of the Trump regime. Following Kishores remarks a lively question-and-answer session ensued. One attendee asked for additional historical information on Hitlers rise to power and Trotskys call for a united front, to which Christoph Vandreier responded with a detailed outline of the role of the SPD and KPD leadership in dividing the German working class in the face of the threat of fascism. Jonah Another questioner asked about the role of post-modernism and historical falsification, and Vandreier explained that postmodernisms rejection of any notion of objective historical truth served as the ideological foundation for right-wing German academic Jorg Baberowski and others in their project to rehabilitate German militarism and excuse the crimes of the Nazis. Jonah, a history student, told World Socialist Web Site reporters at the event that he had no idea of the level of promotion by the media, politicians and academics prior to the lecture. Jonah said, Fascism is the paramount threat to humanity today. He continued, If socialism is a viable threat to fascism then it is our greatest protection. Reporters also spoke to a young student named Poorvi who signed up to join the IYSSE. She said, I came to tonights meeting because I saw the poster and was already aware of the rise of the far-right around the world, so I wanted to hear your perspective. My family is from India and they have the rise of the far-right there. I think the rise of the far-right is a huge problem, and I see it mirrored in India with the Hindu nationalists who are extremely Islamophobic. Its kind of the same everywhere, just different flavors of it. Vandreier signing copies of Why are they back? While the audience was principally composed of students, professors on and off campus also expressed support for the event. Jo, a sociologist from the Philippines, stopped to buy Vandreiers book at the IYSSE literature table but could not attend the lecture. She said, The challenge for us is to fight the global resurgence of the extreme right. She continued, The problem is that the traditional left-wing parties do not represent workers in any way. Vandreiers lecture series will continue this week and next at major universities throughout the United States. Flint, a play at the University of Michigan As the WSWS recently noted, with the fifth anniversary of the Flint, Michigan water crisis approaching, nothing in the terminally decayed industrial city has returned to normal. The population continues to live with the consequences of the decision by the authorities in April 2014 to switch the citys water supply to the highly toxic Flint River, causing lead and other contaminants to leach into the drinking water. None of those who presided over the poisoning of Flints 100,000 residents, including leading state Republican and Democratic politicians, have been charged, let alone prosecuted, for their crimes. Flint is a new play currently being performed, until April 14, by the University of Michigans Department of Theatre and Drama in Ann Arbor. The piece, written by Jose Casas and directed by Dexter J. Singleton, is a response to the horrendous water crisis. The ongoing disaster in Flint has generated shock and outrage worldwide. It has been the subject of numerous plays and both fiction and documentary films, as well as popular songs. More apparently are still to come, including a documentary featuring Alec Baldwin. Taking on a major social calamity, as the current theater production at the University of Michigan has done, is to the credit of those involved, but how deeply and accurately the Flint crisis is understood and presented remains the big question. The current political and ideological climate on university campuses dominated by racial and gender politics is a major part of the equationand the problemin this case. Casas, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan who also leads the Playwriting minor in the Department of Theatre and Drama, created his play out of dozens of interviews he conducted in Flint. The drama takes the form primarily of monologues spoken by a series of characters generally identified by occupation, such as boxer, nurse, cashier, attorney, barber, actress and demolition man. Some salient facts come through in Flintabout the recent history of the city, including a few glimpses of life in a devastated social environment. Flint, by Jose Casas The strongest vignette involves a satirical dig at the Swiss-owned multinational Nestle, which pumps hundreds of thousands of gallons a day from Michigan aquifers that it then bottles and sells. Nestle has been paying $200 for the privilege of extracting some 210 million gallons of water a year in Michigan, while the average Flint family pays approximately $125 to $200 a month for tainted water. The actors re-enact Flints African American mayor Karen Weaver obsequiously thanking the giant food and beverage company. (As a side note, in 2018, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality approved the request by Nestle to increase the amount of water it takes from the state despite receiving 80,945 comments against and 75 in favor. The most prominent themes in the comments were, according to a media report, corporate greed versus people and the environment; two, water is not for profit; and three, worries about privatizing water.) Flint also reveals the scandalous fact that proof of citizenship is required to obtain the bottled water dispensed to the beleaguered citys residents. One character responds to claims by ICE that it does not target people in a humanitarian crisisBullshit! There are a few other notable moments. One segment points out that in October 2014 General Motors, due to the serious corrosion of its parts, switched its water supply from the Flint Riverwhich it had long used as a dumping ground for pollutantsback to the Detroit water system. Meanwhile, human beings were supposed to go on drinking and bathing in the filthy water. Its a goddamn crime, exclaims one character, that the city has been exploited for profit. A parade of politicians have made opportunistic appearances: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Barack ObamaWhat have they done? asks the cast. There is a video clip of then-president Obamas trip to Flint in May 2016, during which he took a sip of water and cavalierly joked: If you are my age, or older, or maybe even a little bit younger, you got some lead in your system when you were growing up. You did. I am sure that somewhere, when I was two years old, I was taking a chip of paint, tasting it, and I got some lead. Flint These positive elements in Flint, however, are seriously overshadowed by the plays slant toward racial politics and the overall claim that Flint has been poisoned because it is a majority black city. Its not just about the water is the tagline of the play. What the playwright apparently means, above all, is: Its about race. The opening monologue, for instance, ends with a character taunting the audience: I am the n***** that everybody wants to hate, while the professor subsequently introduces the concept of structural racism. In one of the most noxious sequences, the attorney absurdly claims that neighboring Oakland County is a red Republican county and that Flints former emergency manager, Darnell Earlywho played a role in the Flint crisismight well be the fall guy because he is black. A video clip of performers in black-face decades ago becomes the justification for the assertion that the legacy of Flint is dripped in racial inequality. A performer asks, Would this crisis have been able to take place in Birmingham or Ann Arbor?both upscale and largely white cities in Michigan. One might just as well ask: would it have happened in an affluent African American community either? The Michigan-centric play, first of all, ignores communities such as Martin County, Kentucky, whose citizens99 percent whitefaced a water crisis in February 2018 as egregious as that in Flint. Or take Massena, New York, along the St. Lawrence River, which General Motors left with a pollution problem more serious than Flints and which is 97 percent white and a town with 30 percent of the population living below the poverty line. In any case, Flint has a mixed population of 54 percent black and 40 percent white. One of the most provocatively racialist monologues is the concluding one in which an actress shouts, with supposed irony, at the audience: Im a black woman with hysteria! The real irony is that, indeed, the character is hystericaland supremely sorry for herself. What the playwright and production obstinately will not do is indict the profit system as the guilty party in the crimes committed against Flints population. In fact, the city epitomizes the decline of American capitalism and the auto industry in particular. It was the birthplace of General Motors in 1908, a reality that shaped and continues to shape life in Flint. The city has been demolished due to GMs insatiable greed for profit, the auto barons shortsightedness and brutality, and their outright hatred of the working class population, the site of the historic sit-down strikes in 1936-37 (which Casas does not so much as mention). Flints condition is a tragic product of the unplanned, irrational profit system. The motto of American corporations has been: make as much money as possible and then steal away like a thief in the night, leaving the resulting mess for the working population to clean up. It was General Motors and American big business, not racist politics, as one actress asserts, that turned the city upside down. The play contends that Flint has historically always been racist, that racism is lodged in the citys DNA. This is slanderous nonsense. The city is above all recognized for its place in the history of the class struggle, not racial conflict. The legendary Flint sit-down was long known as the strike heard around the world. The semi-revolutionary uprising, which led to Flint workers becoming some of the highest-paid in the US, was led by socialists and left-wing militants of different races and ethnicities. The most politically conscious workers understood that the ruling class and both its major parties would employ violence to defend the property and profits of GM and the rest of corporate America. The claim that racism played a significant role in the current water crisis is advanced without providing the slightest evidence. What proof is there that the poisoning of the citys water affected black residents more than white ones? As for the supposed racist bias of those responsible for switching the city to Flint River water without proper treatment or facilities in place, many of the key players were black. As the WSWS explained, Prominent at the ceremony on April 25, 2014 when the button was pushed to make the switch was Emergency Manager Darnell Earley and Flint Public Works Director Howard Croft, both of whom are African-American. Self-absorption and racialism are poor premises for art, which demands extraordinary frankness and a sharply critical eye. The predominant stilted and stereotyped racialist politics in the University of Michigans Flint does not provide a serious basis for genuine dramatic interchange. Nearly any honest representation of everyday conversation and interaction in the city, with its intensely heterogeneous and diverse populace, would disrupt its claims. The series of monologues, when they are not racialist diatribes, are painfully undramatic. In fact, the most sustained dialogue occurs in a dream sequence that includes a fragment from Anton Chekhovs The Seagull ! Flint radiates far too much self-pity, offering too many poor me soliloquies. Unfortunately, the play is a missed opportunity. It does not so much as hint at the need for solidarity, for uniting the oppressed, black, white and immigrant. Instead of exposing a toxic water and social crisis, more than anything else, it ends up exposing a toxic identity politics atmosphere. Exit polls released after the end of voting Tuesday evening in Israel's national elections gave conflicting projections, with most giving opposition candidate Benny Gantz a narrow victory over the four-term incumbent prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. However, one poll projected a tie, and a majority of polls indicated that Netanyahu's Likud party would have an easier time putting together a majority coalition with other right-wing and far-right parties in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, than Gantz and his Blue and White party would have assembling a so-called "center-left" ruling coalition. The term "center-left" is a misnomer, since the choice presented to the electorate was between a far-right incumbent lurching toward outright fascism and an apartheid state and a right-wing former army chief of staff who sought to attack Netanyahu as being weak on national security and boasted of how many Palestinians he had killed in the 2014 Israeli war against Gaza. The unclear result reflects the profound crisis of the Israeli state and the absence of any means within the Zionist political establishment for the Israeli working class, Jewish and Arab alike, to express its social concerns and interests. Ballots are still being counted, including hundreds of thousands of votes of soldiers, prisoners, hospital patients, poll workers, on-duty police and Israeli diplomats working overseas, and the official result will not be announced until April 17. Haaretz projected a 37-35 seat plurality for Gantz's party over Netanyahu's Likud, with a total of 61 seats required to form a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. But Gantz's ability to secure a majority coalition was damaged by the collapse of the Labor Party, which secured a historic projected low of only seven seats, the same number as the Israeli Arab coalition Haddash-Ta'al. The virtual disintegration of Israel's founding party, which controlled the government for the first three decades of the country's 71-year history, is a measure of the rightward movement of the Israeli ruling class and the Zionist project upon which it is based. Both Gantz and Netanyahu claimed victory and the right to form the next government. Gantz set up the Blue and White party as an electoral vehicle for elements in the military and big business seeking to oust Netanyahu. He ran alongside two other former military commanders and Yair Lapid, a former television host who heads the centrist party Yesh Atid. Gantz and Lapid issued a joint statement declaring: These elections have a clear winner and a clear loser. Netanyahu promised 40 seats and lost. The president can see the picture and should call on the winner to form the next government. There is no other option! In a tweet, Netanyahu avoided mention of his own apparent loss and focused instead on the combined seats for the Israeli right: The right-wing bloc led by Likud won a clear victory I will start assembling a right-wing government with our natural partners this very evening. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin will begin meeting with the leaders of the various parliamentary parties and designate one of them to form the new government. He is not required to choose the biggest vote-getter, although that is usually the practice. He also takes into account which party and leader have the best chance of forming a stable majority with other parties. The designated leader has 42 days to form a majority in the parliament. If he or she fails, the president names a different leader and the process is repeated. If neither one can form a majority, a new election must be held in November. According to Haaretz, the projected breakdown of seats in the Knesset is: * White and Blue: 37 * Likud: 35 *Shas (an ultra-orthodox Sephardic party): 7 * United Torah Judaism: 7 * Hadash-Ta'al: 7 * Labor: 7 * Rightist Union: 5 * Meretz: 5 * Yisrael Beiteinu: 4 * Kalunu: 4 The Kan poll projected that parties on the right would secure a total of 64 seats, as compared to 56 for the so-called center-left (consisting of Blue and White, Labor, Hadash-Taal and Meretz). During the voting, Netanyahu posted an emergency video warning that turnout was down 20 percent in Likud districts and urging right-wing voters not to vote for marginal parties and thus detract from his vote. The alternative, he said, was a left-wing takeover. It also came to light that Likud had mobilized some 1,200 supporters to secretly take cameras to polling places in Arab neighborhoods and film the proceedings, supposedly to ward against voting fraud. Arab leaders, who were desperately seeking to reverse an unusually low turnout among Israeli Arabs, denounced the illegal action as an attempt to intimidate Arab voters. The Central Elections Committee filed a police complaint over the action. The election campaign was dominated by Netanyahus increasingly racist and fascistic moves, including his use of snipers to kill hundreds of unarmed Palestinians protesting at the Gaza-Israel border, his repeated attacks on Iranian forces in Syria, and his pledge only days before Election Day to begin annexing the West Bank if reelected. Netanyahu brought into his electoral coalition the fascist Jewish Power party, which stems from the Kach party of Meir Kahane, banned as a terrorist organization. Jewish Power openly advocates violence against Arabs and the expulsion of the Palestinian population. He featured in his campaign propaganda his close relations with US President Trump, with billboards and placards showing the two standing side-by-side. Trump intervened openly in favor of Netanyahu, announcing last month US support for Israels annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights, seized in the 1967 Six Day War, and this week officially designating Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization. Gantz refused to challenge Netanyahus promise to begin annexing the West Bank. He chose as his main slogans, Only the strong win and Israel before everything. He made vague statements about pursuing peace with the Palestinians, but said should that fail, he would set about shaping a new realitya clear reference to the expansionist Greater Israel agenda he shares with Netanyahu. He sought to attack Netanyahu from the right for failing to respond with sufficient force to a handful of rockets fired from Gaza on Israeli towns. Both sides had little to say about the acute social crisis in Israel, which has the highest official poverty rate, more than 21 percent and over 30 percent for children, of any developed country. Israel is also the second most economically unequal advanced country, topped only by the US. In response to the deepening global capitalist crisis and mounting tensions between the major powers, the German ruling elite has unleashed an unrestrained outburst of nationalism and militarism. This was underscored by the ceremony in Germanys federal Bundestag [parliament] Thursday marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of NATO. Politicians from the governing and opposition parties took turns delivering euphoric praise for the largest military and war-making alliance in history and demanded an escalation of the rearmament of the German army. Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen (Christian Democrats, CDU) got the ball rolling. It is painful that many of our partners, and its not just the Americans, question Germanys willingness in principle to fulfil our alliance obligations, she said. Germany is the second largest troop and net financial contributor to NATO, has served reliably and loyally in Afghanistan for 18 years, and is the only continental European power protecting the eastern border as a framework nation, she continued. In the future, Germany will invest more in the modernisation of its army, von der Leyen assured her audience. It is firmly committed to the goal of spending 1.5 percent of gross domestic product on defence by 2024, and to work towards the 2 percent target in subsequent years. One day earlier, Foreign Minister Heiko Mas (Social Democratic Party, SPD) confirmed Germanys support for the rearmament target, saying at the official NATO commemorations in Washington, Our commitment is solid. ... We have clearly stated our intention to invest more in defence, and we keep our promises. We know in Europe that our security cannot be taken for granted and that, in our own interest, we have to assume responsibility to ensure it in the future. Mas boasted that the grand coalition has reversed the trend of declining defence spending, which has increased significantly by 40 percent since 2014. It will now increase further, initially to 1.5 percent of gross social product by 2024. Mas even signed a statement in Washington in which the NATO foreign ministers restated their commitment to reach the 2 percent target by 2024. For Germany, this translates into an increase in the defence budget to around 80 billion. The project of finding additional billions annually for the military is being systematically pursued by the SPD. According to the budgetary plan of SPD Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, the defence budget will rise to over 45 billion next year. Further increases are being worked out behind the backs of the population. The coalition remains committed to its promise, said SPD defence policy expert Fritz Felgentreu in parliament. The party has demonstrated this with the continuous increase in defence spending, and will stick to the timeline for the target in the future. One of the most hypocritical speeches praising NATO came from the Greens Jurgen Trittin. If you look back over the period from the 16th century until today, you notice that the average duration of such alliances is typically 15 years. From that perspective, NATO is four times as old. That is undoubtedly a success, he declared. Trittin knows what he is talking about. As environment minister in the SPD/Green government led by Gerhard Schroder, he was directly involved in the illegal NATO war on Serbia, which marked the first foreign military intervention by German troops since World War II. The deputy leader of the Left Partys parliamentary group, Heike Hansel, criticised NATOs 2 percent target. This criticism is being driven above all by the mounting tensions with the United States, and the fear of the development of an international anti-war movement based on the working class and fighting for a socialist programme. In her speech, Hansel complained that the German government often one-sidedly adopts US positions, and appealed for a collective security alliance that includes Russia. She added a warning, According to the latest polls, the support for NATO in the population continues to decline, in Germany to 44 percent. The commemoration underscored how closely the ruling elite is allied with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to impose military rearmament in the face of widespread social and political opposition among the population. Parliamentary Vice President Thomas Oppermann (SPD), who chaired the sitting, welcomed the AfD speakers as colleagues and thanked them for their contributions. The tirades from the AfD deputies were in substance little different from those from the other parties. They lauded NATO, advocated the governments 2 percent spending target, and in the process formulated in particularly stark terms what the return of Germany to a militarist great power foreign policy means: the militarisation of all areas of society and preparations for new wars of aggression. We Germans have to get on with it and say, Yes, absolutely, we will reach the 2 percent arms goal as we promised. We want to make the army so strong that no enemy can reckon with the army and come to the conclusion that it is easily beatable. Thats where we have to get back to, demanded foreign policy spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group, Armin Paulus Hampel. The first reform must be the reintroduction of military service. He ended his speech with the declaration, Si vis pacem, para bellum, whoever wants peace must be armed for war. It is only a matter of time until the established parties integrate the AfD into government. AfD deputy Mariana Harder-Kuhnel, who enjoys close ties to right-wing and volkish-nationalist forces in the party around AfD Thuringia leader Bjorn Hocke, failed in her third attempt to be elected as a vice president of the federal parliament. But with 199 votes, she secured more than 100 from non-AfD deputies. Prior to the vote, both CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus and Free Democratic Party leader Christian Lindner backed her election. Representatives of the SPD and Greens also met prior to the vote with Harder-Kuhnel for talks. On Monday, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the terms of reference for the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the March 15 Christchurch fascist attack in which 50 Muslim worshippers were killed. The alleged mass murderer, 28-year-old Australian Brenton Tarrant, appeared in the High Court in Christchurch on Friday. He faces 50 murder charges and 39 counts of attempted murder, but none so far under the terrorism laws, which would require discussion of his political motivations. It is possible more charges will be added. The Royal Commission will be led by Supreme Court judge William Young, with one other member still to be appointed. It will begin hearings on May 13 and report back to the governor-general by December 10. Ardern told reporters: The government will ensure no stone is left unturned as we examine as quickly as possible how the March 15 attack happened, what could have been done to stop it and how we can keep New Zealanders safe. She added: It is important that peoples questions are answerednot by me or by the agencies involved but independently. In fact, the Labour-led government and the state are desperately seeking to prevent any discussion of the political motivations for the slaughter. The chief censor last month banned Tarrants 74-page fascist manifesto, with severe penalties for holding or distributing copies. The Commissions terms of reference ensure there will be no examination of the underlying political causes of the tragedy, including the promotion of anti-immigrant xenophobia by the entire political establishment and the broader elevation of far-right parties in Europe, Australia, the US and New Zealand. This week Ardern defended Winston Peters, deputy prime minister and leader of the right-wing populist NZ First Party, which is in coalition with her Labour Party. Ardern told Radio NZ she would not ask Peters to apologise for his repeated demonisation of Muslims, in language akin to that in Tarrants fascist manifesto. Announcing the inquiry last month, Ardern made clear that it will have a narrow focus, looking primarily at the events leading up to the attack and, in a very limited way, whether the state agencies could have been in a position to prevent it. The minister responsible for the intelligence services, Andrew Little, insisted on TV1 on March 18 that any inquiry would show they did their jobs. [T]hese agencies have done the correct things and done nothing other than fulfil their mandate in terms of security and intelligence, he declared. Little rejected suggestions that there was too much focus on investigating potential Islamic extremism over far-right organisations. The inquiry will prepare the way to vastly increase the powers, funding and manning of the intelligence apparatus. The agencies were, according to Ardern, consulted on the terms of reference and fully agree with the Commission going ahead, thus ensuring that there will be no real questioning of their failure to see the obvious warning signs. The terms of reference contain nine main points. Six concern the alleged gunmans activities before the attack, including: his time in Australia, residence in New Zealand, international travels, how he obtained a gun licence and weapons, and his use of social media and connections with others, within NZ or internationally. The remaining questions relate to the actions of state agencies, and whether they should have known of the impending attack. These are framed so as to invite the conclusion that the Security Intelligence Service, Government Communications Security Bureau, Police, Customs and Immigration will all require more legal powers and resourcing. One question is whether there were any impediments to the agencies gathering or sharing information relevant to the attack, including legislative impediments. Another is whether there was inappropriate concentration or priority setting of counter-terrorism resources. One journalist asked how such questions can be answered given that the spy agencies by their very nature are secret. Ardern replied that the judge will have the appropriate security clearances to be able to satisfy himself, describing Young as having a sound understanding of intelligence issues. In other words, he has been vetted by the agencies themselves. Much information will be kept secret. Nothing will emerge to reveal details of, or jeopardise New Zealands standing with, the global US-led Five Eyes intelligence network that spies on the activities of millions of people around the world, including NZ citizens. The inquiry will not reveal what police and intelligence agencies in Europe, the US and Australia knew or did not know. Tarrant travelled throughout Europe and declared that thousands of police officers and soldiers there were members of far-right nationalist groups, a statement that raises questions about whether he had any contact with state agencies. Another question that will not be addressed is whether the security services and police were looking the wrong way because the far-right nationalist and the anti-communist views expressed by Tarrant and the fascist tendencies that inspired him are shared by the political establishment and the state. Demands have already been made for the inquiry to be used to overcome widespread popular opposition to increasing the powers of police and the intelligence agencies. Opposition National Party leader Simon Bridges said surveillance and anti-terror laws needed to be revised with some urgency. Bridges claimed that Project Speargun, a program that would have closely scanned internet traffic going to and from New Zealand, was abandoned by the previous National Party government in 2013. This followed protests against mass surveillance by the Five Eyes, exposed by US whistleblower Edward Snowden. Bridges declared that the countrys security risk had now changed following the Christchurch attack and the balance between privacy and security must now be reconsidered. John Battersby from Massey Universitys Centre for Defence and Security Studies complained in the Dominion Post on March 29 that the terrorism law had been rendered useless, with changes to the resourcing and powers of agencies reluctantly made, and only amid protest from various groups opposing intrusion into our civil rights. There is a longstanding view in ruling circles that the Terrorism Suppression Act (TSA) is inadequate. In 2007, police conducted raids in the Urewera Ranges in which 40 activists were arrested for allegedly taking part in illegal weapons training. However, charges under the TSA were dropped when the solicitor general declared the evidence did not meet the high threshold required to prosecute. Diplomatic cables from 2007, published in 2011 by WikiLeaks, showed that US ambassador to New Zealand William McCormick criticised the TSA as inadequate to deal with foreign as well as domestic terrorism. The 19992008 Labour government changed the legislation, significantly removing the power to designate terrorist groups from the High Court and placing it in the hands of the prime minister. Subsequent National and Labour governments also removed many restrictions to surveillance by police and intelligence agencies. However, the political establishment is now seeking to exploit the Christchurch atrocity to provide the pretext for making an even more sweeping increase in police state powers. The author also recommends: After fascist attack, New Zealand government enacts gun control measures [29 March 2019] Why was the New Zealand terrorist attack not prevented? [27 March 2019] The New Zealand terrorist attack and the international danger of fascism [18 March 2019] The threat of a bloody battle for Tripoli has continued to mount, with Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar massing troops and tanks south of the Libyan capital and warplanes belonging to his so-called Libyan National Army bombing the citys sole functioning airport, stranding civilians seeking to escape the country. Partial casualty figures include 51 dead and over 181 wounded. Thousands have fled their homes to escape the fighting, and there are reports that thousands of refugees and migrants, held under unspeakable conditions in concentration camps run by various rival militias, are frantic over the prospect of becoming helpless victims of a potential massacre. In the midst of the escalation toward full-scale civil war, the United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet warned that any attacks on civilians in Libya could amount to war crimes and demanded that all sides respect international humanitarian law" and "take all possible measures to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including schools, hospitals and prisons. The UN human rights bodys attitude toward the latest flareup of violence in Libya stands in stark contrast to its response to the one-sided US-NATO war waged in 2011 under the pretext of protecting civilian lives from repression at the hands of the government headed by Col. Muammar Gaddafi. A UN resolution allowing for a no-fly zone was used as the pretext to launch a seven-month-long bombing campaign in support of CIA-backed Islamist militias to destroy Libyas security forces and vital infrastructure and overthrow its government. This campaign culminated in the carpet bombing of the coastal city of Sirte, a Gaddafi stronghold, and the lynch-mob torture and murder of Gaddafi himself. The UN human rights advocates held their tongues throughout this campaign of imperialist slaughter, whose victims numbered in the tens of thousands, far beyond any estimate of the number who lost their lives to the repression of the Gaddafi regime. Only in March of 2012, months after the end of the regime-change operation, did the UN Human Rights Commission issue a report that allowed it had confirmed civilian casualties and found targets that showed no evidence of any military function. It confined its investigation to just 20 airstrikes, when the total number of bombings was well over 1,000 times that number. The present crisis and threat of a full-blown bloodbath in Libya are the direct product of the supposedly humanitarian intervention waged eight years ago under the fraudulent banner of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) proclaimed by the liberal advocates of imperialism in respect to the oppressed peoples of former colonial countries where the major powers continue to pursue their strategic interests. Among the protagonists on either side of the developing conflict are the so-called revolutionaries and democrats the war was supposedly launched to protect. These include Khalifa Haftar himself, the former Gaddafi general who was flown into Benghazi after spending decades as an asset of the US Central Intelligence Agency and living in close proximity to its headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where he obtained US citizenship. An indispensable role in promoting the humanitarian intervention in Libya by the US and its NATO allies was played by a coterie of pseudo-left political organizations, politicians and academics who amplified and embellished upon the phony pretexts advanced by Washington, Paris and London for a war of imperialist aggression against a former colonial country. Among those embracing the war was University of Michigan Professor Juan Cole, whose Informed Comment web site had gained a following for its limited opposition to the Iraq war and its criticism of Israeli policy. Cole expressed his enthusiasm for the US-NATO intervention by declaring, If NATO needs me, Im there. Now that full-scale fighting is erupting once again in Libya, it is unknown whether Professor Cole feels a renewed urge to put on a uniform, and if he did so whether he would choose to mount one of Khalifas tanks or get on one of the machine gun-mounted pickups of the Tripoli militias. At the outset of the war, Cole published An Open Letter to the Left in which he demanded that so-called leftists learn to chew gum and walk at the same time, i.e., posture as somehow left-wing, while supporting imperialist war. The left, he insisted, had to determine its attitude to wars launched by the US on a case-by-case basis, declaring that To make anti-imperialism trump all other values in a mindless way leads to frankly absurd positions. Cole said that he was unabashedly cheering the liberation movement on and glad that the UNSC [United Nations Security Council]-authorized intervention has saved them from being crushed. Coles reduction of anti-imperialism to a subjective value that must be balanced with other equally important ones, such as human rights, exposes the entirely petty-bourgeois and anti-Marxist outlook underlying his rush to enlist in imperialisms war. These petty-bourgeois ideologists reject the conception that imperialism is an objective economic, social and political stage in the historical development of capitalism, based on monopolization of the economy, the dominance of finance capital and the carve-up of the entire planet by a handful of advanced capitalist countriesthe advent of a period of global war and revolution. Instead, they claim that it is merely an excess committed by an otherwise healthy system, which is capable of performing humanitarian rescues of oppressed populations as well. A similar, if not even more reactionary role was played by Gilbert Achcar, an academic working at Londons School of Oriental and African Studies while serving as a principal propagandist for the wars in both Libya and Syria for the Pabloite International Viewpoint. At the outset of the war in March 2011, Achcar gave an interview praising the US-NATO intervention. He stated, given the urgency of preventing the massacre that would inevitably have resulted from an assault on Benghazi by Gaddafis forces, and the absence of any alternative means of achieving the protection goal, no one can reasonably oppose it You cant in the name of anti-imperialist principles oppose an action that will prevent the massacre of civilians. After the war was over, the claims of an imminent massacre in Benghazi were proven to be a sheer fabrication. As the war went on, Achcar became even more militant in support for imperialist regime change, demanding that the US and other Western powers deliver more arms to the insurgency and, in August 2011, chiding them for failing to drop sufficient amounts of munitions on the Libyan population, describing the airstrikeswhose victims would number in the tens of thousandsas low-key. The same essential arguments would be reprised for the regime-change war in Syria, with political charlatans like Achcar and Ashley Smith, of the recently dissolved International Socialist Organization (ISO), demanding more weapons for Syrias CIA-orchestrated revolution and condemning the Obama administration for not enforcing its red lines, including through a potential confrontation with nuclear-armed Russia, in order to topple the government of Bashar al-Assad. The politics of these scoundrels and their organizations have nothing whatsoever to do with Marxism, and whatever socialist rhetoric they employ is nothing more than a cover for their unrestrained integration into bourgeois, imperialist politics. They function as a species of specialized NGOs, acting much like the National Endowment for Democracy, serving as political fronts and conduits for the operations of the CIA and US imperialism. Never did any of these self-proclaimed socialists question the motives of the humanitarian imperialist wolves in the Middle East. They dismissed out of hand any suggestion that their war on Libya was motivated by the desire of the major imperialist powers and their energy conglomerates to exert unfettered control over the countrys oil reserves, the largest on the African continent. Or, for that matter, that the war in Syria was provoked with the aim of installing a US puppet regime in a country that has long been a strategic crossroads of the Middle East. As for the revolutionaries they backed in Libya and Syria, neither Cole, Achcar, Smith nor any of the other pseudo-lefts produced any program for which they were supposedly fighting, any analysis of the class forces that they represented or, for that matter, the name of a single supposed leader who could speak for their aims. Behind this wall of silence lay the fact that the CIA-backed and armed criminals mobilized against both Gaddafi and Assad were dominated by CIA assets and Islamist militias, with Al Qaeda-linked forces as their predominant element. In its 2016 statement Socialism and the Fight Against War, the International Committee of the Fourth International established the objective foundations of the transformation of radicalized middle-class political tendencies that emerged as part of the movement against the Vietnam war into cheerleaders for imperialist intervention: Over the past four decades, these layers have undergone a profound social and political transformation. The vast rise in share valuesfacilitated by the continuous imposition of wage and benefit concessions on workers, the intensification of the rate of exploitation, and the extraction of an evergreater mass of surplus value from the working classhas given a privileged section of the middle class access to a degree of wealth they could not have imagined at the outset of their careers. The protracted stock market boom enabled imperialism to recruit from among sections of the upper-middle class a new and devoted constituency. These forcesand the political organizations that give expression to their interestshave done everything in their power to not only suppress opposition to war, but also to justify the predatory operations of imperialism. The intervening years have only seen an intensification of social inequality and polarization along with a global upsurge in the class struggle that is pushing these tendencies ever further to the right. The Libyan events make it even clearer that these accomplices of imperialist intervention have blood on their hands. The political education of the working class requires that they be exposed for the reactionaries and political criminals they are. The strike by hundreds of thousands of Polish teachers shut down 75 percent of the countrys schools and kindergartens on Tuesday, according to teacher unions. Educators on Monday began an indefinite national strikethe first since 1993to demand improved wages and classroom conditions and to oppose efforts by the extreme right-wing Law and Justice Party (PiS) to rewrite the school curriculum to promote the governments nationalist and xenophobic agenda. A 90-minute negotiating session on Tuesday between the heads of two unions and Deputy Prime Minister Beata Szydo broke down, with the government saying it had no money to increase its pay offer of 15 percent over several years, which would be tied to an increase in the number of weekly lessons a teacher must give from 18 to 25. Students protest in Warsaw in support of striking teachers Szydo called on teachers to return to their classrooms to give final exams to millions of elementary and middle school students that are scheduled for today, while school directors attempt to recruit retired teachers, religious school teachers and non-striking teachers to conduct the tests. However, the teachers, who are demanding a 30 percent pay raise, remain defiant and are continuing the strike. The walkout has won the strongest support in the cities, but even in rural areas with a lower participation rate, the strike shut down more than half the schools and kindergartens. In total, at least 15,000 schools and kindergartens have been closed due to the strike, and many have hand-made signs hanging on school gates declaring, Strajk. I absolutely support their strike, Tomasz Pietka, father of a 4th-grader in Warsaw, told an Associated Press reporter. They are really earning peanuts for a job that involves responsibility and knowledge, he said. According to a social media analysis by the internet platform politykawsieci.pl, the hashtag #StrajkNauczycieli had a record reach of 60 million on the internet, with some 300,000 references. (Poland has a population of 40 million.) Polish media also indicated that high school and middle school students throughout the country were ready to walk out or had already done so. In the capital city of Warsaw, students organizing a student strike wrote on Facebook: We are a group of young people who want to say enough! We have enough of the ossified education system... We will create an organization which will conduct a fundamental reform of the school system in Poland. Our primary goal is to demonstrate solidarity with the teachers. We want to show that the youth are not indifferent and that we will not passively watch what happens to our schools. The Polish teachers have joined an international wave of struggles by educators. This includes strikes by the largest number of US teachers in a quarter of a century, national strikes by teachers in the Netherlands and Argentina last month, a walkout by as many as 700,000 educators in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu in June, and ongoing strikes by teachers in France, as well as in Tunisia and other African countries. Students carrying signs in support of their teachers at a school in Gdynia. Credit: Strajk Uczniowski Like the millions of other teachers around the world, teachers in Poland barely survive on their salaries and are forced to work additional jobs to pay their bills. Newly hired young teachers make the minimum salary of 1,800 zlotys (US $470) a month, leaving them in dire poverty. The maximum salary of around 5,603 Zloty ($1,471) a month cannot keep up with the cost of basic food items and other living expenses, which are similar to those in Western European countries. Talks between the unions and government over wages and conditions broke down Sunday. Facing immense pressure from teachers, two unionsthe Polish Teachers Union (ZNP) and the Trade Unions Forum (FZZ)rejected the governments pay offer and called the strike. The only union to accede to the governments demands was Solidaritys teacher union, which is aligned with the ultra-right PiS government. On Monday, union head Ryszard Proksa, who is also a PiS local government official, denounced rebellious teachers who walked out in defiance of Solidarity and threatened retribution against striking union branches. Politico cited one teacher disgusted by the unions strike-breaking. When the agreement was announced last night, I felt betrayed, said Marlena Kauzniak, who teaches German in a primary school in the mountain resort town of Zakopane. I am handing in my resignation from Solidarity today. The other two unions are seeking a quick end to the strike. Sawomir Broniarz, leader of the main ZNP union, has said the union wants to put out this fire and called early Tuesday for a mediator to help end the standoff with the government, according to the Associated Press. ZNP, the largest teacher union, has already made numerous concessions while demanding cuts to other social programs to fund wage increases for teachers. While the government claims there is no money for teacher salaries or to improve education, it is spending $48 billion by 2026 to expand its armed forces in line with preparations by the United States and NATO for war with Russia. By 2030, the government plans to raise military spending to 2.5 percent of GDP, in line with Washingtons demands. The opposition party, the neo-liberal Civic Platform (PO), has attacked the government over its education reform and for its failure to successfully negotiate with the trade unions. When it was in power, the pro-European Union PO implemented some of the most anti-social measures in the history of Poland, in the name of the free-market transformation of the economy. In 2012, it raised the retirement age to 67, attacked the nationalized health care system and shut down state-owned industries, including mining, steel and shipbuilding. It also undertook an assault on education and cultural institutions, liquidating public schools, destroying technical and occupational high schools, decreasing the educational budget and subsidizing private schools for the affluent minority. A sign reads "strike" in an empty classroom. Credit: Ogolnopolski Strajk Nauczycieli OSN The restoration of capitalism by the Stalinist regime in 1989 has led to a social and economic disaster, not only in Poland but in all of the former Soviet and Eastern European countries. The promises that capitalism would lead to rising living standards and the flourishing of democracy have been belied by the grim reality of social deprivation, the enrichment of corporate and financial oligarchs and the spread of ultra-right and fascistic parties throughout the region. According to a 2015 report, since 1989, the share of national income going to the richest group of Poles, (one percent of society), has doubled. A report by Polands central bank found that in 2016, the top 10 per cent of households held as much as 41 per cent of total net assets, while the net assets of the bottom 20 percent households accounted for barely 1 percent of all household assets. According to a recent Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development survey, workers and young people in Poland are near or at the top of all 21 OECD countries in several categories of economic insecurity. Sixty-nine percent of all 18-to-29-year-old Poles say they expect to do worse than their parents, while a majority feel that they do not have access to good quality and affordable public services, including housing and health care. Thirty years after the restoration of capitalism, there has been a rise of the class struggle throughout eastern Europe. The strike by teachers, one of the biggest in decades, follows a two-week strike by workers at the national airline LOT and Polish Amazon workers, and strikes by autoworkers and other workers in Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The ruling classes and the unions fear the teachers strike could spark a far broader movement of the working class, which could spread across borders and undermine the anti-immigrant agitation every capitalist government has employed in order to impose its program of austerity, social inequality and militarism. On Saturday, about 40,000 people protested in Berlin against dramatically rising rents. The protest was called by the Alliance against Repression and Rent Madness, which has brought together more than 270 groups and organizations. There were similar demonstrations in numerous other German cities. More than 55,000 people took to the streets in a total of 19 cities, including Bochum, Dresden, Frankfurt, Jena and Stuttgart. Thousands of demonstrators gather in Alexanderplatz In Berlin, the demonstration started at Alexanderplatz, the seat of the Berliner Landesbank. From there, the kilometre-long demonstration marched across Karl-Marx-Allee through Friedrichshain and Kreuzbergtwo districts that are massively affected by gentrification and skyrocketing rentsto the Arena grounds. This is where the Berlin real estate fair was taking place at the same time. The demand for the expropriation of real estate companies was at the centre of the demonstration and met with tremendous support among workers and young people. Depending on the survey, just under 40 to more than 50 percent of Berlin are behind it, complained the Neue Zuricher Zeitung in an article. The house organ of the Swiss banks wrote in worried terms, Thirty years after the implosion of the GDR [East Germany], Berlin is thinking about the socialization of real estate companies. In Berlin, the class struggle is flaring up. The growing anti-capitalist sentiments among workers and young people, and in parts of the middle class, were omnipresent at the demonstration. The many posters and signs carried slogans such as: Your wealth is our lack of housing, Expropriate rather than buy, The problem is called capitalism and Tenants of all countries unite! Representatives of the establishment parties and the trade unions were almost invisible on the protest. They vehemently reject the expropriation of rent sharks without compensation, let alone a socialist housing policy. This also applies to the Left Party. Discussions at the booth of the SGP Sven Wurm, a candidate of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party, SGP) in the European elections, warned in a video statement at the demonstration that the Left Party was preparing another fraud. First, as part of the Berlin state government, together with the Social Democratic Party (SPD), it had privatized more than 100,000 apartments and made it possible for the big corporations to make incredible profits. Now that the value of these apartments has increased 17-fold, the Left Party is calling for expropriation. But this should be with 30 billion in compensation. That is not expropriation, it is a gift to the rich at the expense of the working class. The SGP is the only party demanding the expropriation without compensation of all large housing corporations, Wurm emphasized. But workers are not only confronted with profit-hungry corporations and corrupt government parties. In the deepest crisis of capitalism since the 1930s, not a single social problem can be resolved without breaking the power of the banks and corporations. Whether its housing shortages, social inequality, rearmament, war or dictatorship, each of these issues requires mobilizing the international working class based on a revolutionary, socialist programme. The SGPs intervention at the demonstration was well received. Members and supporters distributed thousands of copies of the statement For the expropriation without compensation of rent sharks! and promoted the SGPs launch event for the European elections. The SGP information desk at Alexanderplatz received many visitors. The rent question led to interesting discussions over growing social inequality, the threat of war, the rise of the far right and the need for a socialist counteroffensive. Ulrike (right) and Birgit (left) from Berlin-Schoneberg Ulrike and Birgit came along with three tenants groups from Schoneberg, an inner-city district in the west of Berlin, which is currently being increasingly gentrified. Fortunately, their street, Hohenfriedbergstrae, was under environmental protection, the two reported. This offers a certain protection, but not really very much. The buildings of the two other tenants groups, who had come to the demonstration together with them, did not even have this small advantage. Tenants apartments are being sold off individually, said Ulrike. Tenants have a right of first refusal for seven years, and then?Yes, and who has the money to buy a condominium? interjected her neighbour. At my age, firstly, I dont want to tie myself to a loan, and second, I probably wouldnt get one anyway. The big, beautiful old houses were being pulled apart by the investors, said Birgit. They get real money when they sell the apartments individually. If housing units are under environmental protection the Berlin districts have a right of first refusal. However, Schoneberg district has only made use of it five times. The investor, according to Birgit and Ulrike, also takes legal action against the right of first refusal. Now everything is in limbo, said Ulrike. Nobody knows what will happen next. There is enormous uncertainty. And nothing is being fixed at the building. For six weeks now, the lighting in the hallway has been broken. I can only go out with a flashlight when its dark. We have four seniors in the property, so I always accompany my more than 80-year-old neighbour through the stairwell with a flashlight. What if he fell over? Rental increase at Ulrike from 1986-2019 There are certain fundamental rights, said Ulrike and Birgit. And that includes the right to a home. Christine from the Berlin district of Wedding considers the expropriation of the big real estate companies to be totally correct. The building in which she lives was first sold and then systematically rented out. She was the only remaining tenant and is literally being terrorized. Massive renovations began without any announcement. There was also some water damage three weeks ago and I have the impression that it was deliberately initiated to get me out of my apartment. My nerves are being shredded by all the noise and dirt. Ulrike carries a poster showing the massive increase in her rent over the past 30 years. This goes from one mark [a square metre] in the GDR in 1986my first apartment in Berlin-Friedrichshainuntil today. Now, Im paying just under eight euros [a square metre] in Weissensee. I can still pay the rent, but you dont know how things will go in the future. She also wanted to protest for everyone who was not doing so well. It is getting more and more unfair. Maybe theres something wrong with capitalism, she added. Mathilde Mathilde is from Italy but has been living in Berlin for six years. Since then, Ive seen how housing costs have developed. Im here because I want to demonstrate against profit gouging, speculation and the exploitation of people, no matter where they come from. Asked about her sign Capitalism is the problem, Mathilde explains, Capitalism is based on making profits and not on human rights. And having somewhere to live is a human right. Asked about the situation in her homeland, Mathilde says, The situation in Italy is really dramatic. Some things are worse than I thought could ever happen. When [Silvio] Berlusconi was in government, I thought, that was the worst. And now its a hundred times worse. I am thinking of the refugees, above all. [Matteo] Salvini is now stopping their ships from landing at all. And people are dying from that. The right-wingers channel fear and hatred towards all strangers. But these people are fleeing from wars, which the West started in the first case. Its scary when politicians say, They just steal our jobs. They are drug dealers, and stuff like that. Such politicians should resign. Axel Axel thinks the same thing about politics in this country. We dont need a (greedy) government in the service of the lobbyists, is written on his sign. The situation in Berlin is tense and it is becoming increasingly aggressive. The latest trick is that of fictional ancillary costs, which hardly anyone can understand, whereby rents are increased beyond the rent index. He is aware of the role of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Left Party, as most protesters are. Our SPD world champion [former Berlin governing mayor Klaus] Wowereit and the SPD-Left Party Senate [Berlin state executive] have been a big part of it. They are all in cahoots with the financial clique. When the conversation turned to the governments armaments policy, Axel recounted how he had witnessed the end of the Second World War as a child. For decades, he could not have imagined that Germany would once again be rearming and that a far-right party would move into the Bundestag [parliament]. But with [German] reunification, it all came back to the fore. The one Germany with 80 million. We are big. We are strong, was being said once again. And the crux of it is that even countries like France and Poland are demanding we increase our defence budget. President Donald Trump welcomed Egyptian dictator General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to the White House Tuesday for the second time in two years. Just as he did when Sisi visited in April 2017, Trump used the opportunity to solidarize himself with a regime established by a military coup against Egypts democratically elected president Mohammed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013. Since coming to power, el-Sisis regime has slaughtered thousands of protesters and continues to hold tens of thousands of political dissidents, as well as dozens of journalists, in jail. Sisi and Trump at the White House. Credit: C-Span We agree on so many things, Trump declared. I just want to let everybody know, in case there was any doubt, we are very much behind President el-Sisi. Hes done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation. Sisi has won the admiration of the imperialist powers, including Germany and France, for his leading role in suppressing the revolutionary movement of workers and youth which resulted in the ouster of longtime US-backed dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and inspired millions around the world. Trumps stamp of approval comes several weeks before a scheduled referendum in Egypt which would amend the countrys constitution to allow el-Sisi to serve for another 12 years beyond the end of his current term, subordinate the judiciary to his control and give the military tighter rein over the political process. Hes doing a great job, Trump reiterated when asked about the bloody dictators effort to extend his grip on power until 2034. I dont know about the effort. I can just tell you hes doing a great job. A White House official told reporters ahead of el-Sisis visit that the two leaders would discuss Egyptian border and maritime security, counter-terrorism efforts, the Sinai and economic development during closed-door meetings. Congressional leaders sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday advising the Trump administration to use the cover of rampant human rights abuses in order to pressure Egypt over a recent $2 billion arms deal with Russia to purchase over 20 Sukhoi SU-35 fighter jets. The Trump administration has made none of the pretenses over human rights abuses evinced by the Obama administration after it suspended aid shipments for two years following the 2013 coup. Over the last two years, Congress has approved the Trump administrations request for nearly $3 billion in aid to the Sisi regime. Another $1.4 billion is in the pipeline for 2020. The Pentagon approved a $1 billion arms sale to Egypt at the end of last year, including 10 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters. With el-Sisis visit coming a few days after Trump purged several of his top security officials, including those responsible for policing immigration and the US border, the US President did not have arms deals, human rights abuses or the Sinai on his mind during his appearance in the Oval Office. Sitting side by side with the butcher of Cairo yesterday, Trump launched into a fascistic rant against migrants seeking to cross from Mexico into the United States and laws which supposedly blocked him from expelling hundreds of thousands of immigrants en masse. We have the worst laws of any country anywhere in the world, Trump fumed, listing catch and release, chain migration, the visa lottery, and asylum as those laws and policies he wanted to do away with. When asked last week about his rationale for withdrawing the nomination of the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Ronald Vitiello to become the agencys permanent director, Trump explained that We want to go in a tougher direction. This was followed by the forced resignation of Kirstjen Nielsen, the head of the Department of Homeland Security and the firing of Randolph Alles, the director of the Secret Service. The purge was led by Trumps fascistic adviser Stephen Miller, who pressed for a full travel ban on Muslims as well as the separation of children from their families at the border in the early days of the administration. He has now reportedly consolidated control over immigration policy. Trump denied reports during Tuesdays press conference that he was cleaning house. Instead he focused his ire on impoverished Central American and Mexican men, women and children seeking asylum in US. Its ridiculous. You have people coming in claiming asylum. Theyre all reading exactly what the attorney gives them. They have a piece of paper. Read what that is. And all of a sudden youre entitled to asylum. He railed against the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which handed down an order Monday blocking his administrations Remain in Mexico policy that forces those seeking asylum in the US to wait on the Mexican side of the border until their cases are heard in immigration court, a process that can take months or years. Nobody can believe these decisions that were getting from the Ninth Circuit, its a disgrace. So were fighting the bad laws. But were bucking a court system that never ever rules for us, Trump boasted. And were bucking really bad things with Congress, with the Democrats in Congress not willing to act. Last month Trump declared a national emergency at the border in order to illegally reapportion Pentagon funding without Congressional approval for the construction of a wall along the US-Mexico border. Several thousand active duty soldiers have been deployed to the southern border since last year to build barriers and reinforce border patrol agents who have detained tens of thousands of migrants in recent months. Trump falsely proclaimed that the Democrats want to have open borders, which means they want to have crime; they want to have drugs pouring into our country. They dont want to act. We have to close up the borders. Were doing it, but were doing itI could do it much faster if they would act. What we need: homeland security, Trump concluded. Theres no better term, no better name. We want homeland security and thats what were going to get. Trumps xenophobic rant in the presence of the dictator el-Sisi serves as a strong warning, a massive escalation of the war against immigrants and the repression of an expected upsurge of the working class is being prepared. Trump sees in el-Sisis brutal and systematic repression of mass popular opposition in Egypt a model for his own response to the eruption of any movement from below challenging the rule of Americas capitalist oligarchy. Lifestyle / Alcohol Apr 10, 2019 | By Jonathan Ho Flush with cash and few places to spend it at home, Chinese conglomerates have crossed the globe, claiming the mainlands position as a developing superpower through calculated buyouts and acquisitions. A comprehensive Bloomberg April 2018 audit showed that China spent at least $318 billion over the past 10 years in Europe leading to calls for new laws and screening procedures involved in foreign investments involving critical infrastructure like airports and energy production. But now, Chinese civilians themselves are going shopping across Europe. According to Canada-based global real estate consultant Colliers International, Chinese investors spent a total of US$39.5 billion on overseas real estate in 2018 alone an increase of eight percent compared to 2017. Drawn to Greece with a combination of rock bottom luxury Greek real estate where a US$285,000 investment gets you both a three-bedroom apartment in Athens with a view of the famed Acropolis and a renewable residents permit, Chinese buyers from the mainland have been snapping up real estate deals in Europe since 2009s Greek debt crisis. According to Reuters, since October 2018, hundreds of Chinese investors arrive at Athens airport three times a week, greeted by Greek real estate agents who then take them property hunting. All this was fine and dandy, until the Chinese starting getting into businesses they had no prior history or experience in managing. Case in point: Vineyards in Bordeaux, France. According to NYT, Chinese investors have found new ways to incur the ire of the French. Theyre buying up French vineyards and with clueless re-naming, brand names like Imperial Rabbit are riling up Bordeaux wine producers there are no rabbits nor Grand Antelopes in Bordeaux. In a French institution with a rich, vital history such as winemaking, the industry is facing encroaching winds of globalisation at a breakneck pace. Partly driven by high French inheritance or wealth taxes, the descendants of the pioneering vintners cant afford the insane estate duties of these multi-hectares of valuable land. Jean Pierre Amoreau, a celebrated maker of Bordeaux at Chateau Le Puy tells NYT that Chinese have a lot of liquidity, so they are helping these owners have a decent retirement, and that in a sense, they are helping to preserve the heritage and future of these chateaus. This phenomenon is not new or unique to French vineyards either. An end 2018 ABC report showed that Chinese nationals are buying Australian vineyards and wineries at unprecedented levels, with up to 10 per cent of South Australias iconic Barossa Valley now in Chinese hands. A lot of this has been driven by Chinese thirst for wine. According to a Vinexpo report Chinese wine consumption is expected to rise by over one third to $23 billion over the next five years when it will reach volume of 192 million cases, and this Chinese demand for wine is driving these new vineyard owners to market Bordeaux wines specifically to Chinese perceptions and culture with labels like Imperial Rabbit and Grand Antelopes. The truth is Chinese nationals only own 3% or 180 of the roughly 6,000 chateaus in Bordeaux and only the the middling and lesser-ranked ones, and none of the celebrated producers like Chateau Monestier La Tour. And despite the hackneyed brands designed to cater to Chinese tastes, the serious task of wine production is still very much French with the new owners leaving day-to-the-operations to the artisans who know best. That said, a darker cloud looms over superficial concerns of badly named wines, in June 2018 Agence France-Presse reported that French financial police seized 10 Bordeaux wineries owned by Chinese conglomerate Haichang over suspicions of tax fraud and allegations of money laundering. The Central European University campus in Vienna will in all certainty be opened but the institution on Nador utca will also remain, no matter what happens to the legal permit expected from Fidesz, rector Michael Ignatieff told Klubradio on Tuesday. However, he said he does not yet know in what form the university will remain in Budapest if no permit is issued. We shall not close the door on Nador utca; anybody coming here in five years will find us here, I can guarantee that, he declared. CEU could co-operate with the Technical University of Munich, but only if Prime Minister Viktor Orban ratifies the licence of its American associate university, as he had promised earlier, Ignatieff said. The European Peoples Party has also made it clear that Fidesz can only retain its membership if CEU can stay in Budapest issuing US degrees. MTI photo: Balogh Zoltan As peace talks between the U.S. and Taliban attempt to end the Afghanistan War, Angelina Jolie has called for support of Afghan womens rights and more female representation in Afghan government delegations. The Academy Award-winning actress penned an op-ed for Time on Wednesday addressing her concerns for Afghan women. Since 2012, Jolie has served as special envoy to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, embarking on more than 40 field missions to meet with refugees. She also donated $1 million to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the largest donation ever to the organization by a single individual. Related stories Kumail Nanjiani in Talks to Join Angelina Jolie in Marvel's 'The Eternals' Women Directors Make Strides, but Studios Are Still Lagging on Gender Parity When the Taliban seized power in 1996, it waged a war against Afghan women. Girls education was banned. Women were confined to the home and denied the right to work. They were flogged, beaten, mutilated and stoned to death for supposed immorality. This is not ancient history. These are living memories for millions of Afghans, she wrote. Now, women make up nearly one-third of the Afghan parliament and civil service, according to Jolie. They serve as judges, lawyers, and teachers, but they still face discrimination and violence. However, Jolie asserted that women need to be included in more government leadership roles, not just on delegations regarding womens issues. Womens rights and concerns must be on the formal agenda, not relegated to side events or made the lone responsibility of female delegates, she said. Jolie called for the U.S. and other countries that fought beside it in the Middle East to support Afghan women and to veto any peace deal that does not protect their rights. Afghan women should not be left alone to defend their rights before an organization that has traditionally treated them as inferior beings, she said. Story continues Jolie also pointed out that Afghan women earned the right to vote in 1919, a year before the U.S. passed the 19th Amendment, and their 1960 constitution had guaranteed equal rights. The war in Afghanistan has been the defining foreign policy issue of our generation. After all the sacrifices made, we must seek to end the conflict on the right terms. We need a peace that is built on human rights in order for it to last. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. When Angelina Jolie first approached UNHCR over 18 years ago, it was to learn about the world firsthand, to meet the people who were the innocent victims of war in an effort to understand their plight and hopefully one day, be a part of finding solutions. Only 24 at the time, she was already a Hollywood superstar an Oscar-winner who had just completed a major blockbuster, Tomb Raider. Stirred to action by what she saw and the people she met, Jolie signed up to be a Goodwill Ambassador for the worlds largest refugee agency, and from 2001-2012, when she was named Special Envoy, she took over 60 trips to war-torn locations. From those early trips, her activism has both broadened and deepened, and last Friday, she addressed the U.N. Peacekeeping Ministeriala gathering of the worlds Defense Ministersfor the 3rd time. In her speech, Jolie asked that the member nations consider expanding the role of female peacekeepers in their troops, and, just as crucial, that as peace negotiations in places like Afghanistan begin, that women be allowed at the table. Angelina Jolie addresses a meeting at the United Nations | Timoth A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Women and girls are still the majority of the victims of war, Jolie said. Women are at the absolute epicenter of modern conflict, in the worst possible sense. But more often than not they are still on the outside looking in when it comes to politics and decisions about their future As long as we continue to put almost every other issue ahead of womens rights and participation, we will remain stuck in a cycle of violence and conflict. Jolies U.N. speech was really a culmination of 18 years of experience and immersion in foreign policy. Today, her work is really focused on four big projects: 1. The Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) 2. UNHCR 3. Women, Peace and Security Masters program at the London School of Economics 4. A global current affairs childrens program in partnership with the BBC RELATED: Angelina Jolies Youngest Children Join Her on the Red Carpet for the Premiere of Dumbo Story continues Jolie co-founded PSVI in 2012 with former U.K. Foreign Minister William Hague, and in less than seven years, 156 nations have pledged support. There is now a lot more awareness and discussion and many more countries have made commitments, says Jolie. For example, 156 countries have pledged not to include amnesties for rape when they are negotiating peace agreements. It is hard to believe, but peace treaties routinely grant immunity to people whove carried out the most disgusting violent crimes against civilians. So we have to make sure all those countries live up to that commitment. In November, Jolie and Hague plan to reconvene the member nations for a conference (the first was in 2012) to continue to come up with concrete solutions to combat sexual violence in war zones. While progress is being made, Jolie says it isnt time for anyone to rest on their laurels. Angelina Jolie (L) shakes hands with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina following her visit in Dhaka | STR/AFP/Getty Images If you look across the world there are far too many women and girls who are not only not seeing progress, their rights are slipping away from them, she says. We have to change laws that treat women as second-class citizens. But we also have to enforce them. So one of the things we are putting forward now is a proposal for a permanent international body to investigate war crimes, including mass rape and other sexual and gender-based violence. She adds, Unless you immediately gather evidence and testimony that can stand up in court, there is no chance of having successful prosecutions. At the moment it takes months and even years to start proper investigations when there has been mass rape carried out against a civilian population. We want to create a permanent body of experts, lawyers and investigators who can do this immediately. In addition to Jolies work on PSVI, she is a visiting professor at the London School of Economics, at the Centre for Women, Peace and Security, where she is expected to return for more lectures later this year. RELATED: Angelina Jolie Gets Blessing as She Visits Peru to Meet Brave Displaced Venezuelan Refugees Since January 2018, she has been working with NATO as the organization works to fight against sexual violence in combat zones, and to better care for victims. Later this year, Jolie inspired by her children: Maddox, 17, Pax, 15, Zahara, 14, Shiloh, 12, and Knox and Vivienne, 10 partners with BBC to produce a childrens English language television program that will focus on current affairs. We enjoy reading the kids pull out of the New York Times and look at National Geographic, she says. But as a parent, I felt there wasnt that one vetted and reliable internationally-minded news program tailored for children that we could sit down and watch together each week. That is what I hope this will be for our family and other families. Jolie will also be making a much-anticipated return onscreen, when Maleficent: Mistress of Evil hits theaters Oct. 18. The follow-up to the 2014 hit, which raked in $750 million, also stars a returning Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora and Michelle Pfeiffer as a new character. RELATED VIDEO: Angelina Jolie (and Some of the Kids!) Make a Surprise Appearance at the Survivor Finale I love my horns, says Jolie. It is such a pleasure to play her and I hope the audience enjoy her as much as I do. It was wonderful to work again with Elle and to have a chance to work with Michelle. Jolie is also producing an adaptation of the Newberry Award-winning childrens book The One and Only Ivan, about a gorilla named Ivan who lived in a cage in the mall. For that, Jolie tapped pal (and Survivor contestant) Mike White to write the script. The starry cast includes Oscar-winner Sam Rockwell and Emmy-winner Bryan Cranston. It was Shis favorite book a few years ago, says Jolie. I love its hopeful message about the environment and conservation. Angelina Jolie with her kids Knox, Zahara, Vivienne, and Shiloh at the premiere of Disney's Meanwhile, Jolie will always be a strong advocate for UNHCR. In February she traveled to Bangladesh to meet with Rohingya refugees who have been persecuted in Myanmar. And this June, she will once again participate in World Refugee Day, as she has for nearly two decades. The organization changed her life in many ways, including providing her a lifelong circle of friends. The second UN mission I went on, to Cambodia, I met two women from England and France who were working with UNHCR, Jolie recalls. Loung (Ung, the author ofFirst They Killed My Mother, the book Jolie adapted into a film in 2017) was there as well. She adds, Most of my friends are women I have met and worked within the field. Over 18 years our lives have taken many turns. Good and bad. We have grown older, most of us mothers now, still committed to shared goals. feel very blessed in my work to have the opportunity to meet so many extraordinary people who spend their lives dedicated to others. At 6 months old, Elia Luciani usually gives a small smirk when meeting someone new. But the baby had a larger-than-life reaction last week when she met her 104-year-old great-grandmother, Tina Rose, for the first time. Semira Luciani, 35, and her 39-year-old husband Justin Luciani, of New Jersey, headed to Battle Creek, Michigan, last week with Elia, their first child, to introduce the baby to her great-grandmother. Semira tells PEOPLE that she was excited for the pair to meet, but never imagined Elia would react the way she did. Right when [Elia] saw [Rose] she started laughing and trying to go toward my grandma, and Id never seen her act that way in my life, Semira says. Elia was just cracking up and happy and trying to touch my grandma and snuggle up to her and she doesnt even do that to us! Elia Luciani (left) with great-grandmother Tina Rose | Courtesy In the video taken on April 8, Elia sported a wide, toothless grin as she leaned into her great-grandmother and touched the womans face. Clad in pink, Elia laughed and cooed as she repeatedly reached for Rose. When [Elia] would be upset, shed hold her hand and stop fussing. Shed be calm. It was very shocking. It was like they were talking to each other and knew each other from before, Semira tells PEOPLE. I swear they must have known each other in a past life, she adds. Theyre like two souls that recognize each other. It was like two friends seeing each other after a lifetime apart. RELATED: 1-Year-Old Girl Who Beat Stage 4 Cancer Poses for Sweet Photos Announcing the News Courtesy Tina celebrated her 104th birthday just one day earlier, and Semira says she and her family were eager to get to Tinas home to celebrate the milestone. At first they were staring at each other and smiling and laughing and rubbing heads. My grandma was saying how [Elia] was so strong, saying she was so beautiful, Semira recalls. She was just impressed by Elias strength and saying, Oh! Shes trying to kiss me! She was so happy, she just lit up. They were very cute together. Story continues Semira shared the footage on Facebook, and her friends quickly commented on the video, saying, This wins the internet!; This is priceless; and This is truly magical! Courtesy Semira says shes grateful Tina and Elias lifetimes are overlapping. Now, she hopes her grandmother and the little girl share their special bond for years to come. I hope they have this reaction every time they see each other, Semira tells PEOPLE. Our grandma is the matriarch of our family and shes such an incredible person. Im so glad that they bonded that instantaneously. I hope my daughter is just like my grandma. Israeli black comedy Stockholm is being adapted for the U.S. by The Brave producer Keshet Studios. The international sales division of the Israeli firm previously took worldwide distribution rights to the four-part series, which was produced by Artza Productions, and now its LA-based scripted division, which is run by Peter Traugott, is developing a local remake. Related stories 'Yiddish Policemen's Union' Alt-History Drama Set From Michael Chabon & Ayelet Waldman, PatMa, Keshet & CBS Studios Based on the novel by Noa Yedlin, it follows four friends who attempt to help their friend win the Nobel Prize in Economics even after he is found dead. They try to keep him alive for five days to help him win the prize but their quest to keep Avishais death a secret quickly turns into an overwhelmingly complicated challenge. For this lively group of 70-somethings, what begins as a tribute to a friend one seemingly borne purely out of loyalty is the start of a revealing journey into their lives and their regrets, one that tests the very limits of their bonds as friends. Their attempts to keep a secret go wrong time and time again leaving viewers to wonder exactly how far will they go to help Avishai die a Nobel Prize winner? And is it really all in the name of friendship? In addition to producing military drama The Brave with Universal Television for NBC, the company has a number of projects in development for this broadcast season including romcom The Baker and The Beauty for ABC and Lincoln, based on The Bone Collector books, for NBC. Separately, Keshet International has sold the finished tape of Stockholm to CBC in Canada the shows first international sale. The show will launch on the public broadcasters recently launched streaming service CBC Gem. Elsewhere, Brazils Globosat has acquired rights to Hebrew language dramas Sleeping Bears and Commandments, while Keshet International-distributed Turkish drama 7 Faces has been picked up by Australias SBS. Keren Shahar, KIs COO and President of Distribution, says, Its an exciting time to be a distributor of quality foreign language drama. The market is becoming more language agnostic and really opening up to content from all countries and continents. It is so validating to see such a broad range of titles from our slate connecting with international buyers over the last few months. Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Former CBS News correspondent Lara Logan has found a new home with Sinclair Broadcast Group, a conservative media giant with local stations around the country. Logan has a 90-day assignment as a special correspondent focusing on the US-Mexico border, and will produce two segments a week for Sinclairs 191 television stations in 89 markets, starting May 1. Related stories Judy Tygard Named '48 Hours' EP As Susan Zirinsky Continues CBS News Realignment This is an opportunity to understand first-hand whats really happening along the border, she said in a statement. As everyone knows, its a story of great consequence that touches all of us, and I take my responsibilities as a journalist very seriously, as always. Scott Livingston, Sinclairs senior vice president of news, praised Logans commitment to impactful journalism. Lara is a resilient force who represents the best of our industry, and we are beyond thrilled to have her join our award-winning news team, Livingston said. Her commitment to serious, impactful journalism and her ability to effectively report on some of the most consequential stories in the world makes her a welcomed addition to Sinclair. A native of Durban, South Africa, Logan spent 16 years working for CBS News and 60 Minutes, before leaving the company at the end of 2018. Shes known for covering news in global hotspots and has previously been embedded with the Taliban in Afghanistan, traveled to Liberia at the height of the Ebola outbreak, and reported from the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia. Logan made headlines in February, when she bashed the mostly liberal media and its coverage of President Donald Trump during an interview with the Mike Drop podcast, hosted by retired Navy SEAL Mike Ritland. Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Cars / Yachts Ferretti Group CCO Stefano De Vivo talks about the year of Pershing, the success of Custom Line and Riva, and why he pushed for Wally to join the fast-growing conglomerate Apr 10, 2019 | By John Higginson With Wally on board, Ferretti Group has grown to eight yacht brands. Which are the biggest earners? Riva and Custom Line are the two biggest brands right now in terms of revenues. If were talking about serial and semi custom production so fibreglass Riva and Custom Line are one step ahead of Ferretti Yachts and then Pershing and Itama. Riva is the only brand we have that spans from runabouts to megayachts. It has a lot more product and its the only brand that can actually do that. Thats why it has much bigger numbers than Ferretti Yachts. Custom Line is in larger yachts, so its easy to push up the revenues. Alberto Galassi has even called Custom Line the Ferretti Groups most important brand. Its the most important because although its not as famous as Riva or Ferretti Yachts or Pershing, its the Groups biggest revenue generator because of the size of the yachts. Thats why it has become the most important. A lot of Mr Galassis experience on these boats comes from being a user, because one problem of a shipyard is that although we have technical knowledge, very few workers use the product. Sometimes the salespeople go on board with the clients because theyre invited, but no one is really using them. Ferretti Group also has Piero Ferrari as a shareholder and head of the Strategic Product Committee, which designs or looks upon all of the products. Any product that comes out, Mr Ferrari has been following every single design, from design to layout and so on. Having people in the company that really use the yachts makes a difference, because thats when they say, Hey, dont forget to put a plug inside the mirror because you need to have that for an electric toothbrush. Or dont put this here because when you roll out of bed, you step on it. Its the details. Everybody makes nice boats nowadays, but its the details that really make the difference and thats why Custom Line has become so important in the Group. Ferretti Group has stated that 2019 is the year of Pershing, which so far has included the world premiere of the 8X at Boot Dusseldorf and the launch of the flagship 140 in Ancona. Why the big push? Weve also been pushing in the past years. The reality is that the 8X was slightly late. It should have been at the Cannes Yachting Festival (in September 2018). Also, Pershing is so highly technological and complex, not to own and use but to build, so with the new limits were trying to push and when you factor in the performance of a Pershing with the design of a Pershing it took a little bit longer. Pershing is the hardest beast we have to tame, and nobody can tame Pershing. So thats why the 8X ended up coming out this year and we took it advantage of this by making a huge investment to bring the boat to Dusseldorf, where we have a very good pool of clients that visit the show from the northern and eastern parts of Europe. Then theres the 140 and thats definitely a technological and technical feat, and why it proves even more that this is the year for Pershing. But its not that we decided this year we were going to push. We try to push on every brand every year. It looks like being a big year in Asia for Ferretti Group, with a Pershing 140, Riva 90 Argo and 110 Dolcevita, and a Custom Line Navetta 33 among expected arrivals. How important is Asia to your business? The demand is actually across the spectrum of yacht sizes and I think Asia as a whole is growing steadily, at least at the same pace of the company. When I joined in 2014, Asia was 15 per cent of the revenues. Today, its about 18 per cent and the company has more than doubled its revenue. That means it has been growing nicely. I think Asia is coming along the right way instead of companies just sending over tonnes of product that got old, which was a mistake the industry was starting to make in 2005, 2006, except for Hong Kong, which was much more established. Now, I think all the companies are doing things properly and achieving nice growth without exaggerating. Mr Galassi credited you with the leading role in the Wally acquisition, over 15 months. Actually, a big team worked on it. I think Mr Galassi was trying to say it has been a long journey. It hasnt been easy. There has been a big team of advisors behind it because its very complicated. Mr Galassi also said this because every time he didnt know why the deal wasnt closed and questioned if it was going ahead, I was always the one to say yes. He knows its because I have a big sailing heart! Im glad and happy. Its recognition of all the work Ive done with my team, strategically, for the Ferretti Group. I think I needed something new to stay on top of my game. We need our motivations and I think he feels the same himself. Wally is a great challenge wed like to take up and I especially want to take up. The sailing part is important, but the power side will be the biggest revenue generator. Wally has done some amazing things on the power side, but then sailing is my heart and I have to listen to my heart, finally, after 20 years in the business with motor yacht brands. What are Luca Bassanis hopes for this partnership? He was looking for the next step because he wants Wally to live past himself. And I think what he has already started doing, and what were working together to do, is to ensure is that this DNA is taken out of him and put into a format, and systems put into place, so there will always be Wally and it will always be 20 years ahead because of his genius. Hes 62 and one day I hope hes going to retire. I think only very clever men realise that what theyve done is nothing unless it lasts beyond their own involvement. Ferrari was one of these people. Carlo Riva was one of these people that thought, I need to make sure this company Ive created, this myth, this beauty, this iconic brand, lives past me. I think Ferrari and Riva have demonstrated that this can be done, and the people that have managed this are working with us. What was Wallys production situation when you announced your acquisition? The reality is that Wally was only producing sailing boats and will keep on building them. We need to learn about building sailing yachts, so Luca needs to teach us. For powerboats, we need to move the production. In the last few years, because of low volumes, Wally was producing a few in the north of France, north of Italy, Tunisia, so we want to give Wally a house to build their projects. Have you discussed scaling up the Wally motor yacht side again? Do you know what an atomic battery is? Its made with plutonium and when you start it, it basically never stops. Thats Mr Galassi. Now, weve been joined by a volcano, Luca Bassani, so I have to deal with an atomic battery that never sleeps and never stops, and a volcano! So, yes, weve definitely started working on new things, bigger things, any size, from sailing to motor boats to ships. You name it, we have already started thinking about it. We have a strategy and have started working on a few models. Note: The full version of the interview appears in Yacht Style Issue 46 Photo credit: Boston Globe - Getty Images From Esquire Last September, a natural gas pipeline running beneath Lawrence, Massachusetts ruptured and exploded, killing one person, injuring almost 30, and causing 120 fires and individual explosions all along the length of the pipeline. It took months to repair and thousands of citizens were without heat or hot water in the dead of winter, and Lawrence is not the most affluent town in the Commonwealth (God save it!). A preliminary federal investigation found that negligence on the part of workers employed by Columbia Gas was the likely culprit in the disaster. On Monday, Senator Ed Markey and Congresswoman Lori Trahan introduced a bill to regulate more stringently the inspection process on these pipelines. The bill also would jack up the possible fines from $200,000 to $20 million for each violation, which is some serious jacking up, indeed. The bill is named after Leonel Rondon, an 18-year old from Lawrence who was the disaster's only fatality. Rondon died, sitting in a driveway, when a chimney fell on his car. From the Boston Globe: We know we can never bring him back, but we can keep him in our memory by fighting for this legislation, to make sure it never happens again, US Senator Edward Markey told reporters Monday at a news conference at a South Lawrence fire station, in the thick of the area affected by the disaster. He was flanked by US Representative Lori Trahan and Rondons family, including his mother and father... ...Markey and other officials said that the measures proposed in the bill, if in place in September, would have prevented the disaster. They accused Columbia of creating a culture that cut back on such safety mechanisms to save money, and said the legislation would force federal oversight. They fundamentally made that decision because it was cheaper not to have it, said Mayor Dan Rivera of Lawrence, who has been critical of Columbias response to the disaster. They put a price on a human being, and they put a price on the peace of our community. Story continues This turned out to be a particularly well-timed announcement for a number of reasons. The first is that, on Wednesday morning, a contractor working for a coffee shop in Durham, North Carolina, allegedly ruptured a pipeline that then blew, killing one person, injuring 17 others, and damaging five other buildings. Photo credit: Boston Globe - Getty Images The second is that, as we noted earlier this week, the administration* is preparing to strip by executive order some of the power that individual states have to regulate pipelines within their borders. From CNBC: Under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, companies must obtain certifications from the state before they can build federally-approved infrastructure, like pipelines, within that states borders. States can refuse to issue the certifications if they determine the project will have a negative impact on water quality within their jurisdiction, even if the project has gotten the green light from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the independent panel that regulates interstate pipelines and transmission lines. Republican lawmakers have accused Democrat-controlled states of abusing their power under Section 401 to block FERC-approved infrastructure tied to fossil fuels. The new executive order will direct the Environmental Protection Agency to review its existing guidance on Section 401 to states. The EPA will focus on making sure states exercise their authority consistent with the intent of the statute and with existing case law, a senior administration official said....The same presidential order also calls for a review of safety standards for liquefied natural gas export terminals and rules that prevent LNG from being transported by rail car. It also orders the Department of Labor to review existing guidance on fiduciary responsibility related to energy infrastructure investments. Further, it tasks the Energy and Transportation Departments with preparing reports on limitations to transporting natural gas to the Northeast and West Coast. With extra-juicy autocracy! A separate executive order will clarify that the final decision to approve certain cross-border infrastructure rests with the president. The responsibility is currently delegated to the Secretary of State. I'm sure that there will be nothing untoward about how President* Grabitall doles out these approvals. Of course, there are ongoing pipe-related shenanigans at the state level as well. For example, in Wisconsin, Democratic Governor Tony Evers proposed in February to borrow $70 million to address water-quality issues in that state-especially concentrating on the alarming levels of lead in Wisconsin's water. Now that it's nut-cutting time with the state budget, the Republicans in what is still Scott Walker's pet legislature are fighting him on it. From FoxNews6: Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Rep. John Nygren, co-chairman of the Legislatures Joint Finance Committee, told reporters during a question-and-answer session Tuesday that theyre concerned most of the borrowing would go toward replacing pipes in Milwaukee. Nygren said he supports more localized efforts rather than have taxpayers in his hometown of Marinette footing the bill for improvements in Milwaukee. Vos said replacing lead lines across the state is too expensive and lawmakers should look for cheaper options, such as placing water-filtration systems in homes. You don't need the Enigma machine to decode what all this talk about so much of the money going to Milwaukee is about, and Rep. Nygren needs to go to civics re-education camp. Milwaukee, no matter what these two gray-boys think of the people who live there, is the state's economic driver. The Democratic National Committee is not putting its 2020 convention in Marinette, for pity's sake. Photo credit: AP/REX/Shutterstock In 2016, one in 10 Milwaukee schoolchildren tested had lead levels in their blood higher than the level that the Centers for Disease Control considers safe. That, somehow, is not considered a crisis but, rather, a political casus belli. From WUWM: Thomas Welcenbach, with the Get The Lead Out Coalition, has been flushing out city maps and other information.For the past year, the group has been working on sorting out some city data and state data and reports to kind of piece together whats going on in the city here in terms of lead poisoning. So Im going to scroll through some of these maps, Welcenbach said. One map depicted cases of infant death between 2012 and 2016. Welcenbach zeroed in on North Avenue. From 43rd to 35th Street, so the map here is indicating that around 40 to 50 children died along North Avenue at this time period, he said. Welcenbach suspects that lead in water could be to blame in the infant deaths... ...Welcenbach didnt come close showing the committee the 80-slide presentation he had prepared. Ald. Bob Bauman said it was time for a rebuttal. He shared an email from the citys new water works commissioner. Theres an email here from Karen Dettmer to Ald. Bob Donovan from earlier this week and Ill quote Mr. Welcenbachs theory is incorrect, Bauman said. Ald. Bob Donovan said, "If you feel that this city, its government, its departments or any part thereof have been negligent and responsible for children being poisoned, we need to know it. We want to know it." No one from the mayors office attended the meeting, but in the past the administration has rejected claims that infants died because of lead in water and maintains paint is a bigger hazard by far. In microcosm, the dispute in Milwaukee is why Infrastructure Week has become a punchline in this country-and not just because of the current clown show at Camp Runamuck. There is no question that this country needs a massive physical overhaul, both aboveground and underground. Roads are crumbling. Bridges are falling down, again. Poor folks in the city can't trust the water coming out of their taps. And nice suburban families with gas heat are living atop god alone knows how many time bombs. Photo credit: CJ GUNTHER/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock Yet we still get easily directed into impotent slanging matches about Those People stealing our money, and what constitutes an acceptable risk that you will be killed by a falling chimney, and there is a well-ingrained reluctance in the general public about taxing ourselves to make the necessary improvements. If you want some signs of hope, well, The New Yorker has discovered the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, the nuns who have stopped a pipeline in Pennsylvania by forming a coalition with their Mennonite neighbors. The state government has not been with them. Scott Martin, a state senator who lives two miles down the road, had recently introduced legislation that would render protests, in which people trespassed near pipelines and other critical infrastructure, a felony. Of particular concern was the fact that a second new piece of legislation, which would hold protesters accountable for public fees incurred, specifically named vigils and religious services as targets, and the Clatterbucks were worried that it was directed at the Adorers. Other states, including Ohio and Wyoming, are considering similar legislation, some of which was written by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative organization that often drafts local-legislation language to further corporate interests... I always want to tread delicately-and rightfully so-when it might be something treading on First Amendment rights, [Martin] told me. But Im encouraging people to think beyond pipelines, and to what weve had going on in this country. He mentioned Baltimore and Ferguson, where protests against police shootings turned violent. Oh, give me, and the nuns, and the Mennonites, a break. Respond to this post on the Esquire Politics Facebook page here. ('You Might Also Like',) CBS News President Susan Zirinsky has named Judy Tygard executive producer of 48 Hours. She had the job before being promoted to division chief early this year. Tygard will oversee all aspects of the crime-and-justice broadcast, Zirinsky said in naming her trusted lieutenant to the gig. Related stories CBS News Says Jeff Glor To Lead North Korea Summit Coverage As 'Evening News' Replacement Rumors Abound Calling Tygard, who has been the shows senior producer, one of the best producers in all of television and an excellent leader, Zirinsky said, she lives and breathes 48 Hours. Added Tygard, 48 Hours is in my DNA. She joined the program a producer in Season 2; its now in its 32nd season. Tygard created 48 Hours: Live to Tell, a short-run series that features first-person accounts of people who have survived horrific events, documenting the challenges facing a victim of sex trafficking and the struggle of a survivor of the 2016 Brussels terror attack. In addition to her work on 48 Hours, Tygard was co-executive producer of the The Gayle King Interview with R. Kelly and was key in the specials Dan Rather: A Reporter Remembers and Flashpoint, about the roadside attack in Iraq that killed CBS News cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolin. She also has been an integral producer in many CBS News primetime specials, including the upcoming Meghan and Harry Plus One and the 39 Days documentary about the student activist movement that followed the school shooting in Parkland, FL0. Tygard began her CBS News career as a writer for anchors Bob Schieffer and Morton Dean at the CBS Evening News weekend editions. She also worked at CBS This Morning as a writer, copy editor, line producer and anchor producer. She joined 48 Hours in 1989 as a producer. She left for a brief stint at ABC News and later returned to 48 Hours. Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The word on Tina Gordons Little, a slapdash modern inversion of Big, is that Black-ish star Marsai Martin came up with the idea for the movie when she was only 10 years old, and became the youngest executive producer in Hollywood history when the thing actually went into production a few years later. Thats a nice bit of trivia, but the hacky premise for this studio comedy was pitched by the child star of a network sitcom may not be the strongest hook for a PG-13 comedy thats aimed at adults (though also still appropriate for older kids). If anything, it sounded like a chintzy excuse to soft-pedal another lazy remake at a time when audiences are desperate for original fare that rewards their decision to leave Netflix at home for the night. And maybe it was. The finished product wont exactly disabuse you of your most cynical assumptions; not when the pivotal transformation scene has the half-assed feel of an SNL sketch, not when the protagonists learned hostility is expressed through a transphobic joke that doesnt even have a punchline, and definitely not when Rachel Dratch shows up as a Child Protective Services agent who busts out her best Cardi B trill. Thats par for the course in a comedy thats probably too of the moment to age well; we can only pray that Space Force doesnt mean anything to people who catch this movie on TV in 10 years. Related stories 'Penguins' Review: Disney's Captivating Documentary Franchise Follows a Plucky Bird Looking for Love 'Hellboy' Review: A Bloodier, Sillier Remix of the Guillermo del Toro Films 'Breakthrough' Review: A Faith Film Survival Story That Tests the Limits of Belief Nevertheless, Little makes one thing perfectly clear: Martin who was 13 by the time cameras rolled is a lot more than a cute selling point. As an executive producer she might be something of a gimmick, but as a lead actress shes a massive star. And when this movie works, its often because the mini Little mastermind finds a way to deliver a Tom Hanks-level performance in a film that is sorely lacking Penny Marshall-level direction. Story continues Co-written by Gordon (who had a hand in the similarly refurbished What Men Want) and Tracy Oliver (whose other work includes Girls Trip and Ry Russo-Youngs upcoming The Sun Is Also a Star), Little starts with a sturdier foundation than Big ever had. Josh Baskin just wanted to be tall enough to ride the Super Loops and impress an older girl, but Jordan Sanders has some deeper issues to outgrow, and several decades to let them fester. A quick prologue set in the olden days of 1993 cuts right to the chase: When she was in middle school, Jordan (Martin) got bullied for being too much of a brainiac. And not like, taunted bullied. But like, violently assaulted during the middle of a talent show bullied. Thats when she decided she was going to become a boss, so that she could bully other people first. Cut to: 2019, when Jordan has become the Miranda Priestly of Atlantas tech industry. Now played by the great Regina Hall (making the most of some very standard material), grown-ass Jordan is basically a rejected character from Horrible Bosses. She terrifies all of the underlings who work at her nonsense app factory, she cuts everyone in the morning coffee line, and she yells at April (Issa Rae), her underappreciated doormat of an assistant, for leaving her slippers an inch too far away from her bed. None of this table-setting business is even a fraction as funny as the awful blouse that Jordan wears to work imagine a Picasso spray-painted on a pile of old napkins an early and accurate indication that the movies only visual jokes are sewn into its wardrobe. Gordon doesnt even try to put some pizzazz into the scene where Jordan is cursed by a random child whos hanging out around her office. The films inciting incident is treated with such disinterest that it feels like the movie is psyching you out for the real twist down the road. But no, when Jordan wakes up the next morning shes horrified to discover that her boss brain has somehow been transplanted into her tween body, and with only two days before her company-saving pitch to the douchiest tech bro in town (Mikey Day, whose one-note character gets a better payoff than any of the leads). Its the glo-down of the century. Little might be paced like a New York City subway train on a Saturday night, hiccuping forward as if at random, but Martin brings so much weaponized side-eye to all of her scenes that the movie starts to feel like its actually going somewhere. Its no secret that shes a gifted comic actress, but here she gets to display a different skill set than she does on Black-ish every week. Stuck in school and full of impotent rage, young Jordan is cut down to size in the most literal way, and Martins performance is brilliant (and often very funny) for how it pinballs between teen and adult personas in a way that modern kids can, or feel like they have to. Its amusing to see Jordan let down her guard and make friends with her dorkiest new classmates brace for a lot of awkward flossing and hilarious when she forgets herself and hits on her Abercrombie-looking homeroom teacher. Gordon and Oliver know when to lean into the super uncomfortable sexual baggage from Big, and when to run far, far away from it, and Martin reads every moment just right. At this point, it goes without saying that comic timing comes natural to Issa Rae, but with the exception of a few choice one-liners, shes largely wasted on a role that only exists to smooth out the story. At times it feels like her character is holding the movie together with her bare hands, as most scenes have no real shape to them, and meaningful stakes never materialize. When all is said and done, Little doesnt end so much as it runs out of energy. It also doesnt help that the film looks like it was shot on an iPhone. The skies are all washed out, the lighting is pallid, and Jordans penthouse is the only location with any real personality; usually you have to watch a Marvel movie to Atlanta look this drab. But whenever things seem really dire, Martin saunters in with attitude to spare, and puts everything in perspective. With talent that big, the rest of the movie seems little by comparison. Grade: C Universal Pictures will release Little in theaters on Friday, April 12. Sign up for Indiewire's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Amidst work on a new Bad Seeds album, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis will briefly step away from the studio so that they can revisit some of their past cinematic work. The duo is teaming up with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for two unique concerts at Hamer Hall in Melbourne, Australia on August 9th and 10th. Each performance will feature selections from their various film scores, such as 2005s The Proposition, 2007s The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, 2009s The Road, 2012s West of Memphis, 2016s Hell Or High Water, and 2017s Wind River. The shows conductor, Benjamin Northey, said in a statement, This is a unique opportunity to celebrate the work and creativity of two outstanding composers who have made a significant and lasting contribution to Australian music. I know everybody at the MSO is deeply committed to this project and I see it as one of our most exciting and artistically meaningful collaborations to date. This summer, Cave will also head out on a European leg of his Conversations tour. Much like recent jaunts across North America and Australia, each night trades between intimate Q&A discussions with his fans and a range of performances at the piano. You can see those upcoming dates here. Poor Marilyn Monroe. What did she ever do to end up the object of such absurd debasement in Anne Carsons Norma Jeane Baker of Troy, which had its world premiere Tuesday at the Shed, the new cultural center at New Yorks Hudson Yards? Carsons opaque new play with a score by Paul Clark is performed in the Sheds Griffin Theater, which has the immediate distinction of being one of the least intimate Off Broadway spaces in New York City. It seats only 500 but makes the Little Shubert feel downright cozy.Now for the other news. I attend close to 200 productions of plays, musicals and operas a year. Never have I seen so many walk-outs in 90 minutes (the running time of Norma Jeane) as I did at a preview of Carsons play. The impatience of the remaining theatergoers resulted in the collective mortal sin of several cellphones being lit up during the performance. Who can blame people for wanting to know when their 90 minutes of purgatory is up?Carson takes Euripidess tragedy Helen and puts Marilyn Monroe at the center of the battle, even though in Norma Jeane neither Helen nor Marilyn ever goes to Troy. It was a cloud that went to Troy, we are told. Indeed, men throughout history have had a way of blaming women for everything. Carsons constant feminist refrain is Its a disaster to be a girl. The line is repeated often as if to blot out Rodgers & Hammersteins offensive I enjoy being a girl.Also Read: 'Oklahoma!' Broadway Review: A Joltingly Dark Revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Sunny ClassicBen Whishaw plays Marilyn/Norma Jeane, or rather he plays a young man in suit and tie (costumes by Sussie Juhlin-Wallen) who dictates a modern update of the Euripides play to a stenographer (Renee Fleming) on New Years Eve, 1963. The two of them sit at desks in a very film noir office (set by Alex Eales, the minimal lighting by Anthony Doran) before Whishaw begins to dress up like Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch, complete with her signature white halter-top dress and ukulele. Ukulele? Maybe Whishaws drag persona borrows it from Sugar in Some Like It Hot, but then, inconsistency is Carsons trademark.Whishaws young man first mentions Marilyn in her preproduction days on Clash by Night where MGM is helping to wage the battle of Troy even though RKO released Fritz Langs 1952 classic.Whishaw often dictates that Marilyn enter as Truman Capote before imitating that writers high-pitched voice. This Marilyn also has a young daughter, Hermione, which is also the name of Helens long-lost daughter. Marilyns Hermione lives in New York City, and occasionally Pearl Bailey makes an appearance there.Also Read: 'King Lear' Broadway Review: Glenda Jackson Triumphs in Cluttered Mess of a RevivalLess clear is a man named Arthur. Is this Arthur Miller? Even though Carson never gives the mans last name, I assume it is the playwright because Whishaws Marilyn tells her psychiatrist that she isnt attracted to Arthurs buttocks; they remind her of an Asian boys and her shrink is into Asian boys and maybe his (the shrinks) interest will rub off on her (Monroe) so shell then be aroused by her third and final husband (Miller). Why does this strange interlude in Norma Jeane bring to mind Arthur Miller? Because in his play After the Fall the Monroe character accuses the Miller character of wearing tight pants to show off his butt to attract homosexuals. OK, you think of a better explanation.Flemings stenographer tells us that whenever reporters (male, most likely) did phone interviews with Marilyn, they always asked, What do you have on? and she always replied, Nothing but the radio. Actually, Marilyn said that once: When asked what she had on for the famous nude photo shoot that launched Playboy.Carson plays slow and loose with the Monroe legend, and in press materials, she connects her subject to the MeToo movement. WhatAgain? is more like it. Why the playwright leaves out the Kennedy brothers is anyones guess.Also Read: Hannah Gadsby's Next Show About a Dog Named 'Douglas' Is Coming to New YorkPaul Clark has written some bluesy music for Fleming to sing, and she sounds ravishing that is, when Whishaws prerecorded speaking voice isnt competing with her vocals. Near the end of Norma Jeane, Fleming drops her stenographer role and essentially ends up writing the young mans play. Whishaws Marilyn is now too zonked out on pills and champagne to make sense, which had never been the characters strong suit. Women (Fleming and Carson) are finally telling womens stories after Euripides, Arthur Miller, Truman Capote, Fritz Lang and a drag queen have made such a muck of them.Whishaws imitation of Capote is very convincing. Regarding his Marilyn, she can best be described as Tony Perkins in a blond wig near the end of Psycho.Katie Mitchell directs the mass confusion on stage.Read original story Norma Jeane Baker of Troy Theater Review: Ben Whishaw and Renee Fleming Rebury Marilyn Monroe At TheWrap Poor Marilyn Monroe. What did she ever do to end up the object of such absurd debasement in Anne Carsons Norma Jeane Baker of Troy, which had its world premiere Tuesday at the Shed, the new cultural center at New Yorks Hudson Yards? Carsons opaque new play with a score by Paul Clark is performed in the Sheds Griffin Theater, which has the immediate distinction of being one of the least intimate Off Broadway spaces in New York City. It seats only 500 but makes the Little Shubert feel downright cozy. Now for the other news. I attend close to 200 productions of plays, musicals and operas a year. Never have I seen so many walk-outs in 90 minutes (the running time of Norma Jeane) as I did at a preview of Carsons play. The impatience of the remaining theatergoers resulted in the collective mortal sin of several cellphones being lit up during the performance. Who can blame people for wanting to know when their 90 minutes of purgatory is up? Carson takes Euripidess tragedy Helen and puts Marilyn Monroe at the center of the battle, even though in Norma Jeane neither Helen nor Marilyn ever goes to Troy. It was a cloud that went to Troy, we are told. Indeed, men throughout history have had a way of blaming women for everything. Carsons constant feminist refrain is Its a disaster to be a girl. The line is repeated often as if to blot out Rodgers & Hammersteins offensive I enjoy being a girl. Also Read: 'Oklahoma!' Broadway Review: A Joltingly Dark Revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Sunny Classic Ben Whishaw plays Marilyn/Norma Jeane, or rather he plays a young man in suit and tie (costumes by Sussie Juhlin-Wallen) who dictates a modern update of the Euripides play to a stenographer (Renee Fleming) on New Years Eve, 1963. The two of them sit at desks in a very film noir office (set by Alex Eales, the minimal lighting by Anthony Doran) before Whishaw begins to dress up like Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch, complete with her signature white halter-top dress and ukulele. Ukulele? Maybe Whishaws drag persona borrows it from Sugar in Some Like It Hot, but then, inconsistency is Carsons trademark. Story continues Whishaws young man first mentions Marilyn in her preproduction days on Clash by Night where MGM is helping to wage the battle of Troy even though RKO released Fritz Langs 1952 classic. Whishaw often dictates that Marilyn enter as Truman Capote before imitating that writers high-pitched voice. This Marilyn also has a young daughter, Hermione, which is also the name of Helens long-lost daughter. Marilyns Hermione lives in New York City, and occasionally Pearl Bailey makes an appearance there. Also Read: 'King Lear' Broadway Review: Glenda Jackson Triumphs in Cluttered Mess of a Revival Less clear is a man named Arthur. Is this Arthur Miller? Even though Carson never gives the mans last name, I assume it is the playwright because Whishaws Marilyn tells her psychiatrist that she isnt attracted to Arthurs buttocks; they remind her of an Asian boys and her shrink is into Asian boys and maybe his (the shrinks) interest will rub off on her (Monroe) so shell then be aroused by her third and final husband (Miller). Why does this strange interlude in Norma Jeane bring to mind Arthur Miller? Because in his play After the Fall the Monroe character accuses the Miller character of wearing tight pants to show off his butt to attract homosexuals. OK, you think of a better explanation. Flemings stenographer tells us that whenever reporters (male, most likely) did phone interviews with Marilyn, they always asked, What do you have on? and she always replied, Nothing but the radio. Actually, Marilyn said that once: When asked what she had on for the famous nude photo shoot that launched Playboy. Carson plays slow and loose with the Monroe legend, and in press materials, she connects her subject to the #MeToo movement. #WhatAgain? is more like it. Why the playwright leaves out the Kennedy brothers is anyones guess. Also Read: Hannah Gadsby's Next Show About a Dog Named 'Douglas' Is Coming to New York Paul Clark has written some bluesy music for Fleming to sing, and she sounds ravishing that is, when Whishaws prerecorded speaking voice isnt competing with her vocals. Near the end of Norma Jeane, Fleming drops her stenographer role and essentially ends up writing the young mans play. Whishaws Marilyn is now too zonked out on pills and champagne to make sense, which had never been the characters strong suit. Women (Fleming and Carson) are finally telling womens stories after Euripides, Arthur Miller, Truman Capote, Fritz Lang and a drag queen have made such a muck of them. Whishaws imitation of Capote is very convincing. Regarding his Marilyn, she can best be described as Tony Perkins in a blond wig near the end of Psycho. Katie Mitchell directs the mass confusion on stage. Read original story Norma Jeane Baker of Troy Theater Review: Ben Whishaw and Renee Fleming Rebury Marilyn Monroe At TheWrap Photo credit: Tom Williams - Getty Images From Esquire This makes me crazy. Any Democratic politicians who attach themselves to any derivation of The Worst Idea In American Politics, especially in 2019, are not "moderate Democrats." They are conservative Democrats or, more accurately, radically conservative Democrats. Really, Bloomberg, knock this stuff off. Also, Blue Dogs? Knock this stuff off, too. The move by the so-called Blue Dog Coalition adds to tension over ideology and priorities among Democrats as the House prepares to vote this week on legislation that would add $350 billion in deficit spending over the next two years. The 27-member Blue Dog Coalition says its backing an amendment proposed by Utah Representative Ben McAdams, one of the most vulnerable Democrats up for re-election in 2020. The amendment would allow deficits during wars or recessions and would shield Social Security and Medicare from court-enforced cuts. The requirement for spending to equal revenue would take effect five years after ratification, to allow for a transition period. "Both parties have behaved in a way that is fiscally irresponsible," McAdams said. "The day of reckoning is coming." And, you know that the dumbest argument in favor of the Worst Idea In American Politics is coming. "In my district, fiscal responsibility matters. People live within their means and they are responsible with the decisions that they make, and we expect the same from our federal government," he said. Hey, if we have to balance the household budget at the kitchen table...No, I can't even mock it. In addition to its being The Worst Idea In American Politics, the BBA is the pry-bar being used to open the entire Constitution to revision, an effort that's being bankrolled by people who long for the days of unregulated plutocracy, and the cheap labor on which it depends, and on the basic racism on which that always depends in our history. It is central to the push for an Article V Convention of the States-which would be, in reality, the Worst Idea In American History. Seeing putative Democrats pushing for this notion does not make them useful idiots because they're not useful at all. Story continues Respond to this post on the Esquire Politics Facebook page here. ('You Might Also Like',) Photo credit: Getty Images From Esquire Tuesday was quite a day in the United States House of Representatives, which has been under new management since the beginning of the year. Attorney General William Barr appeared before the House Appropriations Committee and made it quite clear that he is the Swiss Army Knife of political tools. Meanwhile, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing, purportedly about white-nationalist extremism, that was partly transformed by the Republican members of that committee into an unusually stupid CPAC breakout session. First up was Barr, who gave a master class in how to be a career apparatchik. It was the first crack that the Congress has had at him since Barr's tricked-up summation of special counsel Robert Mueller's report. Barr said that he planned to release some facsimile of the Mueller report "within the week." (Pro Tip: Stay by your TV at about 4:30 Friday afternoon.) But, at the same time, he said flatly that he doesn't intend to give the House Judiciary Committee a full and unredacted copy of that same report. And then he decided that these uppity people had wasted enough of his time on this. "Ive said what Im going to say about the report today. Ive issued three letters about it, and I was willing to discuss the historic information of how the report came to me and my decision on Sunday, but Ive already laid out the process that is going forward to release these reports hopefully in a week, and Im not going to say anything more about it." Of course, this was not entirely unexpected. Barr was hired to slow-walk the Mueller report. Photo credit: Tom Williams - Getty Images But it was in other areas, most of them more appropriate to the mandate of an appropriations committee, that Barr proved himself to be a house man of the highest rank. For example, Congressman Matthew Cartwright, Democrat of Pennsylvania, challenged Barr on the Justice Department's recent decision not to defend the Affordable Care Act against a lawsuit aimed at its complete repeal. Story continues CARTWRIGHT: Let me be the one to inform you that should the law be struck down, millions of people who get their coverage through the ACA marketplace would lose their coverage, and tens of millions more would see their premiums skyrocket. In addition if you are successful, 12 million people nationally and 750,000 in my home state of Pennsylvania who have coverage under the Medicaid expansion would also likely lose that coverage. Am I correct in that, sir? BARR: I do think its likely were going to prevail. CARTWRIGHT: If you prevail - well, youre devoting scarce resources of your department to that effort, are you not Attorney General? BARR: Were in litigation - we have to take a position - we take position in litigation... CARTWRIGHT: The answer is yes. You are trying to get it invalidated and if you succeed, that many people will lose their coverage nationally from Medicaid, and 750,000 from Pennsylvania alone, right? BARR: Im just saying, if you think its such an outrageous position, you have nothing to worry about. Let the courts do their job. Is that more arrogant, or is it more blithe to human suffering? You make the call. William Barr earned his pay today. Over at the House Judiciary Committee, we had a remarkable demonstration that the Republican Party will do almost anything to camouflage the fact that white supremacy is a critical part of its essential base. As is customary, the Republican members of the committee-which includes Jim Jordan, Louie Gohmert, and Matt Gaetz-were allowed to pick their own witnesses. They chose Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America, and Candace Owens, a know-nothing flibbertigibbet who has gained a certain amount of wingnut cred over the past several years, basically through the threadbare old argument that it is Democrats who are The Real Racists. Photo credit: Zach Gibson - Getty Images Their purpose was to deflect the hearing into attacks on Rep. Ilhan Omar and into a stream of Islamophobic scaremongering, and, especially in Owens's case, being the real victims. They did not disappoint. At one point, Klein called Brenton Tarrant, the man who shot up the mosque in New Zealand with white-nationalist shibboleths written all over his firearms, and a guy who specifically cited Owens as an inspiration, a "left-wing ecoterrorist." As for Owens, well, she wasn't going to take the Congress of the United States's specific attack on her right to be stupid lying down. The hearing today is not about white nationalism or hate-crimes, its about fear-mongering, power and control. Her Dennis-the-Peasant act never has been so fundamentally wacky. She ran through the full syllabus of things she does not know. For example, she stated, flatly, that the Southern Strategy, and its transformational effect on both political parties, was a "myth, which never happened." This is, to borrow a phrase from Willard Romney, moronic. And Owens herself was splattered later when Congressman Ted Lieu played a now-famous soundbite in which Owens said that, "Whenever we say nationalism, the first thing people think about, at least in America, is Hitler. If Hitler just wanted to make Germany great, and make Germany run well, OK, fine." Owens accused Lieu of cutting off her remarks. Her full statement is worse. The reason she was there at all was because the Republican members of the committee wanted to deflect the hearing from its real purpose. This, of course, comes after the administration* gutted the Department of Homeland Security's domestic-terrorism unit prior to the president*'s choleric decapitation of the entire department. Led by their president*, Republicans don't want to talk about white-supremacist extremism, and they don't want to fight it, either. Makes you wonder. Respond to this post on the Esquire Politics Facebook page here. ('You Might Also Like',) Sen. Ted Cruz ripped Facebook, Twitter and Google on Wednesday, threatening the tech giants with antitrust sanctions after charging them with stifling conservative voices and blocking right-leaning ideas from spreading something that the companies have denied. Cruz, while leading a Senate Judiciary Committee called Stifling Free Speech: Technological Censorship and the Public Discourse, said reports have shown a consistent pattern of political bias and censorship on the part of big tech. The Texas Republican then called out the companies for a lack of transparency, saying that the biggest social platforms use obscure rules to crack down on disfavored voices along political lines. If this continues, Cruz argued, lawmakers may be compelled to act against Silicon Valley. Also Read: Most Americans Trust Facebook Less Than the US Government By almost any measure the giant tech companies today are larger, and more powerful, than Standard Oil was when it was broken up, Cruz said. And if we have tech companies using the powers of monopoly to censor political speech, I think that raises real antitrust issues. Cruz echoed the complaints of many conservatives in the last year who have said companies like Twitter, Facebook and Google overwhelmingly target right-wing users, while failing to take action against liberal users who have also run afoul of their rules. Most notably, digital shock jock Alex Jones was kicked off nearly every major tech platform last summer, with Twitter ultimately joining several of its Bay Area peers in banning Jones for abusive behavior in September. Twitter chief Jack Dorsey told Congress last year political ideology doesnt factor into who it takes action against. His comments came only months after Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg told Congress he can understand why conservatives may believe theyre unfairly picked on by tech companies. Also Read: Mark Zuckerberg Says Facebook Could Pay for 'High-Quality News' - Should It? Story continues I understand where that concern is coming from because Facebook and the tech industry are located in Silicon Valley, which is an extremely left-leaning place, Zuckerberg said. And this is actually a concern that I have and that I try to root out in the company is making sure that we dont have any bias in the work that we do, and I think it is a fair concern that people would at least wonder about. At Wednesdays hearing, Carlos Monje, Twitters director of public policy and philanthropy, said Twitter is an impartial platform and pointed to data suggesting tweets from Republican and Democratic lawmakers receive the same engagement on average. Twitter does not use political viewpoints, perspectives, or party affiliation to make any decisions, whether related to automatically ranking content on our service or how we develop or enforce our rules, Monje told lawmakers. Also Read: 5 Lingering Twitter Questions That Jack Dorsey Dodged on His Recent Media Blitz Those assertions have done little to curb the skepticism of many Republicans, including President Trump, who blasted biased Facebook, Twitter and Google in November. Something is happening with those groups of folks that are running Facebook and Google and Twitter, and I do think we have to get to the bottom of it, Trump said last month, continuing along the same topic. Its collusive, and its very, very fair to say we have to do something about it. Read original story Ted Cruz Threatens Facebook, Twitter With Regulation Over Political Censorship At TheWrap Now that his film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is finally set to open in a special theatrical event Wednesday, director Terry Gilliam is at a loss for what to do now. For nearly three decades, Gilliam has weathered cast injuries, legal battles, lost funding and even flash floods to get his film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote to the screen in what has become among the most cursed productions in movie history. His journey has been nothing if not quixotic. In an interview with TheWrap, Gilliam compared himself to Sisyphus forever pushing a boulder up the side of a hill, only for it to roll back down. Its given meaning to my life. In between films where youre normally just lost, I could always know I had something to focus on, Gilliam told TheWrap. At the moment, now thats its finished, theres a huge emptiness waiting for me is all I know. These last interviews are the only things keeping me from jumping off a bridge. Also Read: Terry Gilliam's Epically Troubled 'The Man Who Killed Don Quixote:' A Brief History Speaking via Skype at a studio in London, Gilliam was in a better mood than his suicidal joke lets on. His film even opens with a tongue-in-cheek joke that acknowledges the films arduous journey to the screen and sets the lighthearted and adventurous tone for what could truly be described as Gilliams passion project: And nowafter more than 25 years in the makingand unmaking, the opening credits read. This is the spirit of the thing. I have not been destroyed by 30 years of beating my head against this brick wall of Quixote. Ive been invigorated more than not, Gilliam said. Heres this character who sees the world in this distorted way, but its wonderful, and yet he keeps crashing, keeps getting knocked back, but he keeps getting up. I did the Quixote experience I suppose. If you take on an icon like that, you slowly become it in one way or another. Also Read: Adam Driver, Jonathan Pryce Lose Sight of Reality in First Trailer for Terry Gilliam's 'The Man Who Killed Don Quixote' (Video) Story continues The Man Who Killed Don Quixote Screen Media Gilliam said the 2019 version of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote the one that actually made it to the screen is completely different and more interesting than the 2000 version that was ultimately abandoned. I made the movie that we ended up making, is all it really is, Gilliam said. Its not the script we started with 30 years ago. Its morphed. Its changed. Weve all changed, those of us involved in making it. It is what it is. The first version Gilliam attempted to shoot starred Jean Rochefort and Johnny Depp, with Depp playing a modern-day advertising executive who bumps his head and winds up back in Quixotes time. Though some of the original footage exists some of it shown in the documentary Lost in La Mancha Gilliam was determined to start from scratch. And the finished version stars Adam Driver as a modern-day commercial filmmaker and Jonathan Pryce as a man who believes himself to be Don Quixote. But in this version, the whole film is set in the modern day. Also Read: Taika Waititi to Adapt Terry Gilliam's 'Time Bandits' as a TV Series for Apple It results in a story that shifts realities on a whim and plays with perceptions of whats real and whats imaginary. Gilliam says its a movie about the impact movies have on a persons life and how they affect what they see as real. And considering Gilliam has lived with this project for so long, he would know. My wife says I keep making the same film, I just change the costumes. Theres invariably a dreamer, or a fantasist or a madman involved in my stuff, its just people who will not accept reality as its presented by the media and the world around, he said. I think Quixote is interesting, because hes trying to elevate the world to be more heroic, chivalric, beautiful. And others like Sam in Brazil, hes just trying to escape reality through juvenile fantasies like flying around the place. Im wondering now, is that what all the younger people who watch Avengers and X-Men, do they believe they can be like those characters? It sounds like a heavy subject, but its a playful film. At one point Drivers character shoves some Spanish subtitles out of the way so the actors can continue speaking English for the remainder of the film. Another line even evokes President Trump as a toddler on a sugar rush. Gilliam says two top Quixote translators praised the films screwball tone for matching the essence of Cervantes story. jonathan pryce terry gilliam don quixote Both of them having seen the film separately, they said the same thing: Youve really done it. Youve really captured what the book is about. That to me, you couldnt ask for a better review, Gilliam said. There have been scripts floating around, things I never wrote of Quixote, and they all are trapped in being so respectful of the book and ultimately become pedantic, and thats not what Cervantes was about. Its important to play with it and be true to the essence or the spirit without being trapped. Gilliam said the production on this version of Don Quixote went smoothly, but it was the legal aftermath that created the most headaches. Amazon acquired the film ahead of its premiere at Cannes last year. But producer Paulo Branco sued Gilliam, saying that the film could not be shown without his permission. The lawsuit required Gilliam to pay damages and convinced Amazon to bow out. He was on for four months and ended up creating such chaos, and Amazon just ran away the minute it became a potential of some legal lack of clarity of who owns what, Gilliam said. Gilliam added that its depressing that the film will only go to VOD after its one-night-only run in theaters. And though hes not a fan of the on-demand model, he accepted that its the reality of the industry today. This thing, when we play it with big audiences is fantastic, because its just bubbling the whole time, Gilliam said. It will be just lonely people sitting alone at home. Thats a really sad way of experiencing this film. Through it all however, Gilliam received some funding from a wealthy donor that made him feel more blessed than cursed. She gave us $3.5 million, and thats how the film got made, not because I could raise the money in the marketplace. I couldnt, Gilliam said. Theres something about that thats important, that someone was inspired enough by all the s Id gone through and was rich enough to say, Come on, you get to go to the ball, Cinderella.' So what is next for Gilliam? Hes been pushing a metaphorical rock up a hill forever, but now he has another idea. I literally dont know. Ive got nothing on my calendar. All I really want to do is go off to my house in Italy and build stone walls, he said. Do manual labor. I can handle that. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote opens in theaters Wednesday for one night only through Fathom Events. Read original story Terry Gilliam Feels a Huge Emptiness Waiting for Him Now That Don Quixote Is Finally Finished At TheWrap Donald Trump has broken many laws since assuming the office of president two years back. Though paling in comparison to many of his more egregious actions, Trump has repeatedly violated copyright law with content posted to his Twitter account. Previously, he infringed on HBOs Game of Thrones trademark with a dumb meme threatening Iran with sanctions. Now, hes facing legal action from Warner Bros. after using a portion of the score to The Dark Knight Rises in a video touting his accomplishments. In a statement, Warner Bros. said the Hans Zimmers song Why Do We Fall?, from The Dark Knight Rises, was unauthorized. The studio added, We are working through the appropriate legal channels to have it removed. The bizarre two-minute video also appears to lift title cards and fonts from Christopher Nolans 2012 film First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they call you racist. Donald J. Trump. Your vote. Proved them all wrong. Trump: The Great Victory. 2020, declares the video. Trump has long criticized Twitter for censoring conservative voices. Hes also hammered China over intellectual property theft. And yet, as of publication, Trumps infringing video remains readily available on Twitter, because theres no such thing as hypocrisy is 2019. Cars / Yachts Yacht Sourcing is the new Indonesia dealer for catamaran builder Fountaine Pajot, which has a strong display at the ninth Singapore Yacht Show Apr 10, 2019 | By Yacht Style French catamaran builder Fountaine Pajot has appointed Yacht Sourcing as its exclusive dealer for all of Indonesia. With offices in Jakarta, Bali and Labuan Bajo, Yacht Sourcing is one of Asias fastest-growing yacht services companies, and also builds and refits yachts at its own shipyard in Bira, Sulawesi. Xavier Fabre, Yacht Sourcings Director of Sales, said the appointment by Fountaine Pajot was an exciting new development for his company, which already represents Ferretti Yachts, Pershing and Riva from Italys Ferretti Group. The new partnership was launched at Yacht Sourcings Bali office with an event sponsored by Two Islands Wines. Fountaine Pajot is one of the worlds best-selling builders of sailing and motor catamarans, and both will become increasingly popular in Indonesia, said Fabre, who co-founded Yacht Sourcing with Boum Senous in 2016 and has worked in the yachting industry for 25 years. Fountaine Pajot catamarans focus on large social areas, stability and performance, excellent fuel economy and environmentally friendly designs, so they are ideal for families and large groups of friends to explore a country like Indonesia, which has 17,000 islands and the most spectacular scenery above and below water. Fountaine Pajot is increasingly focused on Asia and were really excited to be working with the shipyard in this new chapter for both companies. Fountaine Pajots growing focus on Asia will be evident this week as it stages its biggest-ever display at the Singapore Yacht Show, the regions leading boat show. Yacht Sourcing staff will join Fountaine Pajot as the builder stages the Asia premiere of its MY 40 powercat, which had its world debut at Boot Dusseldorf in late January, along with the Alegria 67 and Lucia 40 sailing models. Kevin Corfa, Fountaine Pajots Business Manager for Asia, said: Fountaine Pajot is expanding its profile in Asia, so were looking for the best partners in key regions. Yacht Sourcing is an ideal match for Indonesia, where catamarans are perfectly suited for this incredible, immense archipelago. Yacht Sourcings experience across different divisions of luxury yachting from sales to charter to marinas is a huge bonus for us and our clients, so were really looking forward to working with their exciting team. One of Asias most wide-ranging yacht services companies, Yacht Sourcing specialises in yacht sales, new builds and refits in its Sulawesi shipyard, and charter through Voyage by Yacht Sourcing, which won Best Asia-Based Charter Company (Phinisi) at the 2019 Christofle Yacht Style Awards. In partnership with Cedric Le Rest, the company has also created Marina Sourcing, a marina consultancy that is developing the Escape Marina Resort in the island of Flores and working on the early stages of multiple other projects. Photo credit: ashleygraham - Instagram From Women's Health Ashley Graham posted a few Instagram photos of her in a bikini snacking on Cheetos. The model is in the Dominican shooting her new campaign for Swimsuits for All. The swimsuits are available in sizes 4 through 24. Is there anything better than hitting the beach, feeling the sand between your toes, and soaking up vitamin D? If you add snacks to the situation, abso-freaking-lutely. Just ask model Ashley Graham, who shared a few photos on Instagram of herself in a super cute floral bikini, snacking on Cheetos and clearly living her best life. Itty bitty things for big things coming your way, she captioned it the photos. The 31-year-old is in the Dominican Republic, shooting a new line for her collaboration with inclusive beachwear brand Swimsuits for All, available in sizes 4 to 24. As for her beachside snack, I can't think of a better option than Cheetos-even for someone who's donning next-to-no clothing beachside with a cameraman on standby. Because no one tells this woman what she can and cant do. As for how she gets that stellar bikini body? Ashleys trainer Dawin Pena, co-founder of NYC gym The Dogpound, shared her calorie-torching workout routine with Womens Health, which involves everything from squats to burpees. "Ashley is a busy woman," says Pena. "But that doesn't mean she can't get in a great workout in a short amount of time. Generally we do weights with a high rep count and some calisthenics in between to get her heart rate up." Clearly, Ashley knows what's up (it's called balance, people!). Ashley, LMK when you wanna crush a workout and then snack on Cheetos together, K? ('You Might Also Like',) Photo credit: Getty From ELLE Dear E. Jean: Im scared to death of divorce- or rather, life after divorce. My husband is an active-duty army recruiter stationed in Florida. He wants me to continue living in Michigan, where I have a great job and my parents help take care of our three-year-old son. This past spring, he visited Michigan for a week. I was extremely excited, but he stayed with his mother. (He claimed he was helping with her roof.) My son and I hardly saw him. There was no sex. And actually, there never is. Im writing because Im supposed to visit him when I travel to Miami for my companys national sales meeting. Ill be 20 minutes away from where he lives. He just called and said he has several meetings during the time Im there, and we wont be able to get together. Ive started counseling to find out why I have a Disney-movie view of marriage. Im so sexually frustrated, its not even funny. I dont want to cheat. And good Lord, Im terrified of divorce and having to find a new man whos good enough for me and my son. Michigan, My Magnolia: You already are divorced. Let me put it in Disney terms: Your nincompoop prince, instead of jumping in bed and plucking your begonias every night, spends his leave cowering on his mothers roof like the raccoon in Pocahontas. And you, despite your premonitions of impending doom, are managing your career and son quite brilliantly while riding on great silver birds to national sales meetings. You could not be more separated from the chump. Hire a lawyer, work out a creative coparenting arrangement, and make it official. A future of non-Disney enchantments awaits! This letter is from the Ask E. Jean Archive, 1993-2019. Send questions to E. Jean at E.Jean@AskEJean.com. ('You Might Also Like',) The tour package that I booked through my hostel was supposed to make things easier. Instead of doing it all alone, Id decided to pay more to have everything booked for me, and even though my wallet was a bit emptier, my mind was so much more at ease. But of course, when youre backpacking abroad by yourself, things are never that straightforward. I was traveling across the island of Java in Indonesia, heading to a magnificent volcano to see the sunrise before moving on to Bali. It included an eight-hour minibus ride to the closest city, then a drive to a hotel near the volcano, then a 3 a.m. Jeep trip to the volcanos base. It felt daunting, but it was nothing I hadnt experienced before. As it turned out, the advertised eight-hour air-conditioned bus ride actually took 16 hours, and it wasnt air-conditioned at all. Our entire group was irritable, uncomfortable, and angry by the time we arrived at our hotelat 1 a.m. That left us with a quick two hours for showers and sleep before the Jeeps arrived to transport us to the volcano in the pitch dark. In my sleep-deprivation and frustration, I wondered why I was even stopping at this volcano, why I had decided to backpack around Southeast Asia by myself, why I hadnt just flown straight to Bali. The altitude made for freezing cold weather despite it being summertime. I stood in the dark wearing multiple sweaters, a knit hat, and scarf, waiting for the sunrise and questioning all my decisions. Ruth Clark And then the sun rose. A floor of mist enveloped the volcano before us, a steady puff of pink smoke erupting from its center. The mountains and trees and sky slowly came into color, with a distant hiss of the volcano in the background. Despite cameras on tripods clicking incessantly and never-ending selfies happening next to me, a sense of reverence came over the crowd as we all stood in awe of this feat of nature. Soon our Jeeps took us up to the rim of the volcano itself, where the scent of sulfur was painfully strong and the fear of tumbling into its center was even stronger. I peeled off layers as the temperature rose and I forgot about my fatiguehere I was witnessing a mighty volcano on an island on the other side of the world. Nothing else mattered. This is why I had chosen long-term travel, away from everything I knew. Story continues It was never my plan to backpack solo for three months. The plan was to go to Vietnam, teach English for a year, and fly back home. I figured Id be away for 13 months at the most. Maybe Id visit nearby countries on my school breaks, if I felt brave enough. Except I didnt stay in Vietnam. Instead, I quit my teaching job before I even started, backpacked solo for three months, and then moved to Australia on a working holiday visa. Those three months felt like a lifetime, and sometimes I cant quite believe the things I saw and experienced. Theres nothing like spontaneously leaving for the other side of the world, alone and without a plan, to teach you a thing or two. Heres what I learned. Ruth Clark 1People are kind. I tend to move about the world with a creeping sense that everyone is out to get methe driver in the car behind me is annoyed that Im going too slowly, people in the street are judging my outfit, the person who doesnt smile back must secretly hate me. And yet, as I left my familiar sphere and ventured out into the unknown, I found that all my fears were mostly unwarranted. People were, in fact, incredibly kind. When I was vomiting for three days straight on a top bunk in a hostel in Indonesia, my roommatesperfect strangerswere bringing me plain rice from the nearby warung (a small restaurant) and vigilantly making sure I was drinking enough water. They tucked their own blankets around me when I was shivering with fevers. Once I acknowledged my preconceived notions and dropped the armor that I had built up around myself, I began to see myself in others. I began to understand that there are more considerate people than cruel. I began to realize that if you give people the benefit of the doubt, theyre just human, like everyone else. 2The world does not have to be scary. Just as I learned that people are kind, I learned that the world does not have to be scary. When I first left, I was terrified of everythingfrom navigating busy Southeast Asian streets to running out of money to being hassled by taxi drivers. I saw potential danger everywhere. But there was also beauty everywhere. The streets were busy, but I was okay. If I ran out of money, I was privileged to have family members willing to help. I was only scammed by a taxi driver once, and it wasnt a big deal. What was more profound was the 12-centuries-old temple and the tribespeople of majestic mountains. The world wasnt scary at all. I belonged in it just as much as anyone else. Craig Hastings/Getty Images 3Youre capable of way more than you think. When I was a child, I used to be so painfully shy that I couldnt even speak loud enough for someone just next to me to hear. I didnt like being outside of my comfort zone and I enjoyed spending time alone in my bedroom. If you had told me when I was 8 years old that Id eventually be riding overnight buses alone in Thailand and climbing mountains by myself in Australia, I would have laughed. Traveling alone is good for so many reasons, but one of the biggest things Ive taken away from my travels is that Im way more capable than I thought. When Im driving a motorbike by myself, get lost late at night, and almost take a spill in the middle of an intersection, I can handle it. When Im sick alone in the hostel bathroom from a severe migraine, I can handle it. When I decide to move to Australia spontaneously and need to book a flight from Thailand within days, I can handle it. 4It is still okay to be scared, though. The world doesnt have to be a scary place, but fear can happen anyway. And Im accepting that fear is okay. Things can be unpleasant or painful or uncomfortable. Thats okaynormal, even. In the best situations, things still wont be perfect all of the time. Were humans in an imperfect world, and its natural to experience discomfort. Ive been in some truly scary situations during my travels. I have been indescribably afraid, and then learned from it. One night, I left my hotel room door unlocked as I went to bed in anticipation of my friends coming back a bit later than me, and I woke up to a strange man standing in my room. As his shape became illuminated by the fluorescent hall light streaming in behind him, I had split-second visions of being assaulted or murdered and not being able to do anything about it. In an extreme stroke of luck, he ran off as soon as he noticed me sit up in bed and never came back, but the fear didnt leave me for quite some time. Moral of that story? Always lock the door. Obvious? Yes. But until that experience, Id taken my safety for granted. Fear is a really good alert system, and it doesnt necessarily have to be a negative thing. Rainier Maria Rilke wrote, Why do you want to shut out of your life any uneasiness, any miseries, or any depressions? For after all, you do not know what work these conditions are doing inside you. You can recognize the feelings, honor them, learn from them, and carry on. You let them transform you. Ippei Naoi/Getty Images 5Youre never actually alone, unless you want to be. I love being alone. And yet, I hate feeling lonely. I strive for the perfect balance between alone time and social time, but life rarely ever works out that way. During my travels, Ive felt so alone that Ive sobbed on the phone to my friends back home, declaring that Id be getting on the next flight back to New York. And yet, as a close friend likes to remind me, those are the times when the person I need suddenly shows up. I could be sitting in a cafe surrounded by people, feeling dejected and sorry for myself, when I notice a woman speaking with a North American accent. All of a sudden were exchanging information on Facebook and realizing how much we have in common. I could be hating my new hostel and wanting nothing more than to be back in the comfort of my childhood bedroom when the guy in the bunk below me asks me to dinner. I could be arriving to a new city in the dark hours of the early morning, exhausted and confused, when Im able to check in to my room early and introduce myself to my new roommate; a few hours later, we get Thai massages together. The trick is to be open to connection, to not completely shut down, to still hold room in your heart for what could be. If you can do that, youll never truly be alone. Forcing myself to get outside of my comfort zone turned out to be the best decision Id ever made. I realized that life is so much more than we can even dream it to be. As Mary Oliver says, heres to keeping some room in our hearts for the unimaginable. Whos with me? Caution: Spoilers for the finale of The Bachelor, as well as the Bachelorette announcement, are ahead. The action picks right back up with Colton knocking on Cassie's door and asking to talk. He says it was so hard watching her leave that he's "sacrificed everything" to be with her. "Sorrywhat?" she replies. This is off to a good start. Colton reveals that he broke up with Tayshia and Hannah. Cassie smiles and puts her hand over her mouth to cover it. Colton pushes on, telling her he doesn't need an engagement. He's happy to take the relationship day by day, if that's what she wants. "I'm so nervous right now," she answers. "What? This is crazy. This is really crazy." Cassie repeats what she's been saying, loud and clear, all along: She's not on the same page as him, and he should pursue other women if he wants a serious commitment. Nope, Colton says. "Sacrifice is what you do when you love somebody." (Pause for a quick soap box: I know every relationship is different, and you can't compare them, and blah blah blah. But the biggest thing I've ever had to sacrifice for my husband is the hours I lost going to a Phish concert for him. I'll never get that Saturday back, but my point is this: Love doesn't have to be hard, nor does that make it somehow greater or more passionate. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.) Whatever, this seems to work for Cassie. Now secure, Colton tells her about the fence jump, but she just giggles and changes the conversation. Cassie, I don't think you're fully appreciating the drama of this moment! They literally lost Colton. The Portuguese police were almost called! Now that Cassie's giving him a second chance, Colton has another bombshell: His family is waiting to meet them in Spain, if she'll go. She agrees, adding, "This is so weird!" Story continues Colton meets up with his family first, and right awaybefore anyone gets a chance to talkhe announces that he's no longer a virgin. They all laugh. After a beat too long, Colton tells them he was just joking. Good one, Colton. Then he gives them the real breakdown: There's only one woman here to meet them this week. Oh, and she broke up with me. Oh, and she's not sure if she loves me or not. Colton's family is skeptical, to say the least. Cassie, meanwhile, is nervous to meet them because, hey, it turns out having to explain to a mom why you're not in love with her son is pretty awkward. All things considered, the visit goes OK. Colton's mom does lightly suggest that maybe he should be with someone who reciprocates his feelings. Colton, however, is all, Nope. No doubts. Cassie is IT. I am IN LOVE. I stick by my DECISIONS. I am TOTALLY OK with her being ambivalent about her feelings. Man, all those Bird Box memes are right: The next day Colton and Cassie have a date. She keeps using words like nervous and anxious to describe how she's feeling; that said, she finally admits she loves him. (Only to the camera, though, not to Colton.) They have a Serious Chat, during which Cassie admits she's not freaked out about Colton so much as about the idea of commitment. Her last ex was controlling, and she doesn't want to lose her freedom again. "I want us to do what's best for us," Colton replies. He says he wants them to have their own hobbies, interests, friends, etc. Basically, "I want you to live your life." It's amazing where we're at in society that Colton saying the most basic thingthat he wants her to have friends and other interestsis presented as swoon-worthy. That night Cassie tells Colton she's feeling more confident. "Whatever happens after this, I want to be all-in," she says. At that, he brings out the key to the fantasy suite. It's on. In fact, almost as soon as they get to the suite, they kick out the producers and cameras. In the morning we see, what else, Colton showering. So did they do it? He says he feels like a new man, but a gentleman never kisses and tells. "I'm very happy, and you can use your imagination." Their journey now complete, they arrive in the studio for their first public appearance together. The two reveal they're still together and in love. They've talked about getting engaged, sure, but they're enjoying just dating for now. Colton has moved to Los Angeles, but they don't live together. Since Spain they've spent secret weekend getaways together to work on their relationship. Cassie tells Colton, via a video diary she made, that she loves him. Chris asks Colton straight up if he lost his virginity in the fantasy suite. Colton says that while, yes, he's been open and candid, now that he's in a relationship he wants to respect Cassie by keeping those details private. Good answer, good answer. Then Chris announces there will be a surprise performance fromwait for itAir Supply! No explanation or context is given for this, though it all makes sense once the band starts playing "Making Love Out of Nothing at All." Gotta love some subtle Bachelor shade. With a half hour left, Chris reveals more big news: Hannah B. is the Bachelorette! (Side note: Read our interview with her about it.) Hannah handles the whole reveal perfectly: She's sweet and charming, with enough awkwardness to feel relatable. It gives me hope that her season will at least be entertaining. Then Chris tells her they have five contestants there to meet her. The first guy out is Luke, who says she was the only one he wanted to be the Bachelorette. "Well hey, this is awesome!" she answers. The next contestant is Dustin, and he's already my front-runner because he brought champagne. Hannah's third dude is Cam, a white man from Texas who loses all goodwill (from me) by rapping. No rapping on The Bachelor should be allowed unless you are literally the Childish Gambino. Let's move on quickly to Connor, a tall man with a baby face. He seems way too young for this, but he did bring Hannah a bejeweled stepping stool, so that's something. When the last guy comes out, I gasped out loud because I thought it was Nick Viall back for yet another go. I was relieved to find out he's just some bro also named Luke, but then he makes a cunnilingus joke. The one thing that could make me wish Nick was back instead. Hannah jokes that she's ready to hand a rose out right now, so Chris takes her up on it. They stage a mini rose ceremony, and clarify that the guys who don't get a rose will still be there on night one. With that, Hannah give a rose toCam, the rapper. Welp, this should be an interesting season. See you in May! Anna Moeslein is a senior editor at Glamour. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @annamoeslein. A lot of people may not know that Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson both became lawyers without attending law school. But its pertinent information if youve been following the latest Kardashian-Jenner news to blow up the internet. On Wednesday, Vogue released an interview with Kim Kardashian West that revealed the celebutante-mogul has been interning at a San Francisco law firm with a plan to take the California bar exam in 2022. Her intention, says KKW, is to eventually play a hands-on role in national criminal justice reform. Its never one person who gets things done; its always a collective of people, and Ive always known my role, but I just felt like I wanted to be able to fight for people who have paid their dues to society, she told the magazine. I just felt like the system could be so different, and I wanted to fight to fix it, and if I knew more, I could do more. KKW was first moved to get involved in criminal justice when she learned about the plight of Alice Marie Johnson last year. The then-63-year-old great-grandmother had been serving a lifetime prison sentence since 1996, for non-violent drug-related charges, when Kardashian West read a post about Johnsons sentence online. Horrified, Kardashian West made her way to Washington, DC, where she met with President Donald Trump to argue that Johnsons sentence should be commuted. The effort paid off. Naturally, then and now, online haters went about their business of criticizing or making fun of the publicity-courting celebs apparently sudden interest in social justice and prison reform. The general gist of peoples mocking seemed to fall along the lines of: Why should we take seriously the do-good efforts of a reality star who literally made a coffee table book of her own selfies? KKWs Elle Woods-style career pivot is certainly not one that many of us would have predicted; even momager Kris Jenner admitted to Vogue that it took her by surprise. But, as Legally Blonde taught us years ago, its unwise to underestimate an ambitious woman just because she doesnt match your idea of what a serious person should look like. Its a variation of that attitude that creates and upholds glass ceilings in the first place. When a person like KKW breaks the mold by daring to do the unexpected, it benefits any of us who may hope to follow suit. Story continues For what its worth, Kardashian Wests legal education sounds like its off to a solid start. Though California is one of four US states that doesnt require a law degree to take the bar exam, she still has to read up on the materials that any law school student would have to study. First year of law school, you have to cover three subjects: criminal law, torts, and contracts, she explains. To me, torts is the most confusing, contracts the most boring, and crim law I can do in my sleep. Took my first test, I got a 100. Super easy for me. RELATED: Thanks to Kim Kardashian West, Alice Marie Johnson Is Being Released from a Lifetime Prison Sentence (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images) Cue the royal baby watch: Meghan Markle is due to become a mom in just a few short weeks. Still, that didnt stop her and Prince Harry from getting out of town for a last-minute (and spa-focused) babymoon, just 45 minutes away from their newly renovated Frogmore Cottage home at Windsor Castle. The location? Its rumored that they spent three nights at Heckfield Place, a five-star hotel that costs $13,000 a night. But with that price tag comes a range of activities perfect for a woman nearing the end of her third trimester: a wellness spa, studios for pilates and yoga, and idyllic (but well-trodden) woodlands to meander and explore. Not to take a page from the royal playbook, but this got me thinking: Why didnt I think to delay my babymoon until the bitter end of my pregnancy? When I was exhausted and swollen and wanted my feet rubbed 24/7? Instead, I escaped to Charleston, South Carolina, with my husband when I was just 27 weeks and had a lot of anxious thoughts welling inside me, not to mention a zillion baby-related to-dos still on my list. No joke, my husband and I were so in the throes of baby planning that we scheduled our baby CPR training course for the night before we departed for the beach. Spoiler alert: Timing-wise, thats not exactly a get psyched for parenting (or your babymoon) kind of class. But thats not all: Id say we spent the duration of our babymoon 70 percent relaxed, but 30 percent focused on everything we had to do upon return. Things like finalize my maternity leave plan at work, hang up the peel-and-stick baby wallpaper in the nursery and finally decide once and for all on a stroller. Not exactly the pre-baby banter I envisioned having with my hubby over mocktails as we toasted the final months before giving birth. Thats where Harry and Meghan got it right: They got all the workformal engagements in Morocco, nursery prep in the renovated home they just moved in to last weekout of the way before embarking on a trip to celebrate their final kid-free days. Sure, Meghan likely has delivery jitters, but at this late stage of her pregnancy, thats nothing a trip to the spa or yoga studio cant (at least temporarily) fix. Story continues The point: A babymoon in the eleventh houri.e., when you are less than a month from delivering your newbornis kind of genius. The downside? Youre in the no-fly zoneaka a last-minute escape to, say, Turks & Caicos isnt in the cards. But the upside? By 37(ish) weeks, youre as ready as youll ever be to welcome your soon-to-arrive bundle of joy and basically wiling away the hours with nothing to do except put your feet up and watch the clock. And if your water breaks in between that back-to-back prenatal massage and yoga session? All the better. RELATED: 50 Frequently Asked Questions About Meghan Markles Royal Baby Photo credit: Hearst Owned "Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below." Whether it's due to coffee, wine, or poor oral hygiene, the color of your teeth may fade from a bright sparkling white to a dull yellow. Luckily, using a teeth whitening product is something simple that you can do at home. "When you choose to whiten at home, you're choosing to take a slow and steady approach to whitening, which translates to less side effects, such as tooth sensitivity," says New York-based cosmetic dentist Edward Alvarez, DDS. "Youll also have a healthier mouth overall because youre using products that will increase the pH of your mouth for a sustained period of time, ultimately killing bacteria and lessening decay." These days, there are so many teeth whitening products on the market that the very idea of brightening your smile can become more overwhelming than exciting. Should you invest in teeth whitening kits or trays? Toothpaste or gel? Strips or pens? With the number of options available, the process can be challenging for consumers, says California-based cosmetic dentist Sarah Jebreil, DDS. To start, decide which type of teeth whitening treatment suits your needs: Whitening toothpaste contains polishing or chemical agents designed to improve tooth appearance by removing surface stains, as well as lightening the color of your teeth below the surface. Whitening strips are made of flexible plastic that mold to the teeth, and the whitening formula they contain breaks down and oxidizes into the teeth to whiten them. Whitening pens contain high-quality teeth whitening gel, and their ease of application makes them one of the more convenient teeth whitening options. Whitening lights are used in tandem with a specially formulated gel to help speed up the whitening process. Whitening trays are an effective method of whitening, but experts recommend using custom-fitted mouth trays made by your dentist. If they arent fitted properly, the tooth whitening gel can leak out of the trays, says Toronto-based endodontist Gary Glassman, DDS. If you do decide on an OTC method, avoid putting too much gel in the trays so as to not burn your gums. Story continues Once its time to scour the drugstore for your desired whitening treatment, make sure the product you choose has earned a seal of approval from the American Dental Association. "What a lot of people dont realize is that anything placed in the mouth penetrates the mucous membranes and is readily absorbed by the body, so you want to make sure the chemicals youre putting in your body are safe," Jebreil says. Its also important that the product contains either hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide, the active ingredients necessary to remove surface and underlying stains but no more than 10 percent or 35 percent, respectively, Jebreil warns. Anything higher than these levels can do serious damage to the tissues in your mouth and are only recommended for professional use. With these guidelines in mind, here are the best teeth whitening products to try according to dental pros. Crest 3D Glamorous White Whitestrips If you're happy to devote 30 minutes a day to a highly effective treatment, try Crest Whitestrips. They contain enamel-safe ingredients that don't cause sensitivity during wear, and they're the only whitening strips that have a seal of approval from the American Dental Association. They're easy to use, comfortable to wear, and yield excellent results for an OTC teeth whitening treatment, says Dovi Prero, board-certified orthodontist and member of the California Association of Orthodontists. GLO Brilliant Teeth Whitening Device Kit This whitening kit claims to get your smile five shades whiter in less than one week without sensitivity. The mouthpiece illuminates with a vibrant blue LED light and gently warms to amplify the brands specially formulated whitening gel for a whiter, brighter smile, Rozenberg says. Best of all, the applications only require eight minutes at a time. Miswak Club Natural Teeth Whitening Kit Who knew you could chew your way to whiter teeth?! If you're turned off by strips, pastes, and washes, consider these teeth whitening sticks by Miswak Club. The sticks are taken from an Arak tree that's grown in healthy soil and free from chemicals or pesticides, making them a great alternative to other agents. They have over 1,500 perfect reviews on Amazon, and there's no other whitening product like it. Supersmile Teeth Whitening Kit As far as teeth whitening kits go, Supersmile's 6 Minutes to a Whiter Smile kit is tough to beat because it safely whitens and re-mineralizes teeth, including dental restorations (bonding, caps, veneers, and dentures), says New York-based prosthodontist Bijan Gohari, DMD. This kit is also 75 percent less abrasive than the limit set by the American Dental Association, so you won't have to worry about teeth sensitivity rearing its ugly molars. Philips Sonicare Single Whitening Touch-Up Pen Prefer a portable whitener? Philips Sonicare whitening pens are a highly effective method of teeth whitening, Glassman says. Not only do they contain high-quality teeth whitening gel, but they offer the most convenience and ease of application. They're also more effective than strips, Glassman adds, because they have a silicone rubber tip that can penetrate the enamel, allowing for the whitening gel to work on all layers of your teeth. Pearly Girl Vegan Tarte Teeth Whitening Pen Free of triclosan, synthetic fragrances, soy, dairy, and artificial flavors, this dermatologist-tested teeth whitening pen brightens your smile without harmful chemicals. You'll get a patented calcium complex work to clear up stains and dark spots, all while protecting tooth enamel. And the easy, no-mess gel can be tossed in your gym bag, car, or purse, for an instant refresher while you're on the go. Burts Bees Activated Charcoal for Whitening Made with a combination of activated coconut charcoal, sodium bicarbonate, and bentonite clay, this whitening powder is non-abrasive and gently lifts stains from your teeth. In addition to giving you a star smile, the natural ingredients are anti-bacterial and anti-fungal to protect the growth of bacteria, fungi, and infection inside of your mouth. The best part? It has a touch of stevia extract for a slightly sweet taste. Eco-Dent Extra Brite Tooth Whitener From cleaning to cooking and healing, the uses of baking soda are endless. Added to its list of roles is teeth whitening. Combined with sea salt and peroxide, this baking-soda-based powder by Eco-Dent cleans up your smile for sparkling teeth. Jason Natural Powersmile Whitening Toothpaste If you prefer whitening toothpaste, make sure it doesn't contain any harsh abrasives or irritating chemicals, like this Jason Natural Powersmile Whitening Toothpaste.Otherwise, you lose healthy enamel, which can make your teeth yellower and possibly more sensitive in the long run, says Hugh Flax, DDS, of Flax Dental in Atlanta The toothpaste contains gentle ingredients like bamboo powder and baking soda to prevent tartar buildup while whitening and brightening your smile. Opalescence Whitening Toothpaste This gentle, whitening toothpaste doesnt just remove stainsit also helps in the fight against cavities and tooth decay, says Victoria Veytsman, DDS, of Cosmetic Dental Studios in Manhattan. If you have temperamental teeth, theres a special version of the toothpaste that contains potassium nitrate for sensitivity relief. Basically, this is the superhero your mouth needs. Active Wow Teeth Whitening Charcoal Powder Using charcoal as a teeth whitener sounds counterintuitive, but hear us out: The charcoal is abrasive, so it will remove any buildup and external stains, while serving as a little magnet to pull out the deeper ones, too. "An added benefit is that the charcoal will serve to raise the pH in your mouth, which can help protect your teeth from cavities since theyre formed by acids on your teeth," Alvarez says. Use food-grade activated charcoal made from coconut or bamboo, he suggests. Certified organic is a plus. Wet your toothbrush, dip it into the charcoal and lightly brush your teethagain, charcoal is abrasive, so if you brush too hard it can damage or dull both your enamel and any dental restorations you may have. Keep rinsing your mouth until the water runs clear, then brush your teeth with your regular toothpaste. Omega Nutrition Organic Apple Cider Vinegar Apple cider vinegar contains about 5 percent acetic acid, which serves to break down tartar and calculus (that hard, yellow gunk stuck between your lower teeth), Alvarez says. It's similar to the acidic solutions dentists use to get tartar and stains off of dentures and mouth guards. A word of caution, though: Use too much of it, and it will start to break down your enamel and make you more susceptible to cavities. Rinse your mouth with it no more than once a week, Alvarez recommends, then lightly brush with your toothpaste after you've rinsed. Sensodyne True White Toothpaste Mastering how to whiten teeth when they're super-sensitive can be a tricky business. Fortunately, Sensodyne True White is 10 times less abrasive than many leading whitening toothpastes. The low-abrasion formula gently lifts stains from the surface of teeth, while also providing active stain protection that works to create a protective shield to help prevent new stains from sticking to the tooth's surface. Go Smile Super White Snap Packs This teeth whitening system is super-easy to use, and is one of the best gel whitening treatments, says Lana Rozenberg, DDS, a New York-based cosmetic dentist. It comes in single-use applications to protect the potency of the formula until its applied and once applied (the recommended dose is morning and night for seven days), it penetrates the surface to whiten teeth without sensitivity. Hello Activated Charcoal Whitening Toothpaste "Charcoal toothpaste is very abrasive and not meant to be used often or with a heavy hand because it can wear away enamel, but its great at prepping the teeth prior to a whitening treatment," Jebreil says. Using the toothpaste and flossing it between teeth prior to putting on strips can deep clean your teeth and help the whitening formula penetrate better. You Might Also Like Photo credit: Getty Images/Brent N. Clarke From Oprah Magazine Rosie O'Donnell debuted a new silver pixie haircut at the Broadway opening of " "Oklahoma!" over the weekend. The actress and comedian began embracing her gray hair last year for her role on the Showtime series SMILF. Rosie O'Donnell revealed a new haircut over the weekend, and her look is pretty much a masterclass on how to embrace your grays. The comedian and actress attended the opening of the Broadway revival of Oklahoma! in New York City on Sunday night, and she took the opportunity to debut her sleek new pixie style. O'Donnell revealed last year that she was embracing her grays for her role in the Showtime series SMILF, after the show's creator Frankie Shaw asked if she would consider it. "Frankie said, 'Can you grow your gray out? And, I thought, 'How hard could it be?'" she said in a TODAY interview. "[But] it takes years. We had to put in streaks." She ultimately dyed her hair gray during the filming of the show's pilot, because her own natural gray hair hadn't fully grown in yet. Back in January, O'Donnell said she was doubtful whether she would maintain the gray: "Well, I don't know. I have five kids and three of them are voting [to] go back. Three of them say, 'You look way too old." But for now, it seems like O'Donnell is sticking to rocking the silver. Lately, O'Donnell has been back in the news after the release of the book "Ladies who Punch" by Ramin Setoodeh, which documents the behind of the scenes moments and alleged feuds that occurred at The View since its debut in 1997. In an interview with Setoodeh, O'Donnell said she had "a little bit of a crush" on former co-star Elisabeth Hasselbeck. She also said that working with Whoopi Goldberg was "The worst experience I've ever had on live television." But in an interview with Us Weekly this past weekend, she says giving the interview is "her biggest regret." Last October, O'Donnell announced her engagement to Elizabeth Rooney, an army veteran 20 years her junior. "Its been a long-distance thing," she said at the time. "Its been great. Shes very much an equal, shes very much her own person and loves what she does. Shes a pretty unbelievable young woman...I keep telling her Im too old for her, but she doesn't seem to care!" All the more reason for O'Donnell to embrace her inner silver vixen. For more stories like this, sign up for our newsletter. White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller might finally get what he wants, with Donald Trump vowing, "We want to go in a tougher direction" on immigration. According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump reportedly told him "you're in charge" of the administration's immigration policy. Miller may have also had a hand in pushing out Kirstjen Nielsen as secretary of Homeland Security. Nielsen reportedly enraged Trump in her unwillingness to resort to illegal measures, like closing down the border entirely and reinstating the family-separation policy for people crossing the border after a judge ruled against it. In response to the news that Miller was pushing for more extremist officials to run Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency under DHS, Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar tweeted: "Stephen Miller is a white nationalist. The fact that he still has influence on policy and political appointments is an outrage." Some of Omar's critics took the moment as an opportunity to make a peculiar attack: Donald Trump Jr., Breitbart writers, and New York Representative Lee Zeldin condemned her as an anti-Semite for calling a Jewish member of the Trump administration a white nationalist. But as Wisconsin Representative Mark Pocan pointed out, none did so when he levied the very same charge against Miller last year. Omar, of course, isn't alone here. Even those close to Miller have made the same observation. Miller's own uncle has said his draconian policies would have doomed their Jewish refugee ancestors to death in pogroms. And actual neo-Nazis see him as advancing their goals: Andrew Anglin of the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer called Miller "the last person in the White House that has any sense," referring specifically to Miller's anti-immigrant agenda. That's been apparent to those who have worked with him, as well. A White House adviser, referring to images of families being split apart at the border, told Vanity Fair that "Stephen actually enjoys seeing those pictures at the border. Hes a twisted guy, the way he was raised and picked on. Theres always been a way hes gone about this. Hes Waffen-SS." Story continues Miller has a long history of singling out minorities for ostracism and vilification, starting at a young age. Before high school, according to The Atlantic, he informed one friend that they could no longer be friends, citing his "Latino heritage" as one of the reasons. As a college student at Duke, he started a program he called the "Terrorism Awareness Project." In his words, it was meant "to make our fellow students aware of the Islamic jihad and the terrorist threat, and to mobilize support for the defense of America and the civilization of the West." In the process he worked with David Horowitz Freedom Center, a famously Islamophobic organization, and tried to coordinate anti-Muslim newspaper ads with Duke classmate Richard Spencer, a white supremacist who has called for a "peaceful ethnic cleansing" of non-white people in the U.S. Spencer also claimed to have mentored Miller. And while Spencer denied that he was an actual white supremacist (a common gaslighting tactic among white supremacists: using coded language), he said of Miller: "He is a strong American nationalist, you could say." As White House adviser, Miller masterminded Trump's original Muslim ban, and he has since claimed to be the idea man behind Trump's traumatic family-separation policy. In interviews, he's unapologetically called it an easy decision to make. Miller has endeavored to make legal immigration much harder. He doesnt treat them as human beings. Theyre animals, or theyre a product, a former National Security Counsel official told Politico of Miller's approach to immigrants. He's also ratcheted up attacks on immigrants who are coming to the U.S. legally, demanding immigration cuts and reportedly saying, "I would be happy if not a single refugee foot ever again touched Americas soil." Stephen Miller has made the ideology driving his policies toward non-whites quite clear. There's no reason to dance around the end goal. The United States placed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (pictured September 2018), Iran's ideological army, on their list of "foreign terrorist organisations" (AFP Photo/STRINGER) Ankara (AFP) - Turkey on Tuesday condemned the US move to designate Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards a "terrorist group", saying the decision would create "instability" in the region. Washington's move against the Revolutionary Guards was the first time that the United States has branded part of a foreign government a terrorist group. "These kinds of decisions will pave the way for instability in our region," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara. The decision against the "official army of Iran... was incomprehensible," he said. He also criticised previous "one-sided" American sanctions against Iran and "pressure" on other countries by Washington to adhere to them. The Revolutionary Guards are the ideological arm of the country's military and deeply embedded in Iranian political and economic life. Turkey and Iran have been working to develop pragmatic relations with each other, particularly over the Syria conflict despite being on opposing sides. Tehran supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad while Ankara has repeatedly called for his ousting and has provided assistance to opposition fighters. Cavusoglu added Turkey had itself opposed the Revolutionary Guards' actions in Syria. There have been growing tensions with the US and Turkey over multiple issues including American support to a Syrian Kurdish militia viewed as terrorists by Ankara but whom Washington relied on to spearhead the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria. Now the NATO allies are facing further strains and Turkey itself risks US sanctions over the push to buy Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems. Photo credit: Instagram/Dwyane Wade From Oprah Magazine There was an unmistakable sense of joy on the face of 11-year-old Zion Wade, the son of Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade, last weekend at the 11th annual Miami Beach Pride parade. His expression was the kind you see on someone who is completely surrounded by unwavering love. In this case, a smiling Zion was joined by his stepmom, actress and advocate Gabrielle Union, plus his 17-year-old older brother Zaire Blessing Dwyane, his five-month-old sister, Kaavia James, and other loved ones at the event, which yearly celebrates proud South Florida LGBTQ families, friends, co-workers and allies. Dwyane Wade could not be in attendance because he was playing in a Miami Heat game against the Raptors in Toronto-but that didnt stop him from supporting his son. The shooting guard used social media to affirm Zion's identity. We support each other with Pride! Wade declared on Instagram, adding, Zion had his [own] cheering section today. Wish I was there to see you smile kid! Likewise, Union reportedly led that cheering section for Zion throughout the day, while Zaire also showed support for his little brother online, captioning an Instagram photo of them together: Love you bro, no matter what. Gotcha back, kid. Support gang! Photo credit: Instagram/Dwyane Wade As a writer, I have long made it clear that I do not buy into the notion that Black people are more homophobic than the masses. Still, I do appreciate Dwyane Wade, Gabrielle Union, and their family showing the world what a loving and queer-affirming Black family looks like. We need to see more images like these. It makes us all better. How Zion chooses to identity is nobody's business but Zion's. Still, it sends an incredibly important message to see a young Black man receive the kind of support of every queer child needs in order to face a world in which queer identity remains a point of contention for far too many. Just last month, the Wade family-and in particular, Dwyane Wade-received criticism after Zion walked the runway at his A Night on the Runwade event. If you see the clip (which features Unions excited narration: Go Zion! Yassss! Go Z!), there really isnt much to quibble over. But the concern is a testament to the reality that many still find something wrong with homosexuality-with queerness, with men and young boys expressing any trait that registers as feminine no matter their orientation. Story continues Since, Ive seen online comments decrying Zion Wades appearance at the Miami Beach Pride parade, and the support of his parents and family members. Dwayne Wade son 11 years old and gay. In my opinion an 11 year old child shouldn't even know what a sexuality is what the hell is he doing at the gay pride parade? Smh - Big Dick Bandit (@SplashyStackss) April 8, 2019 Weve got a whole lot of people who want some sort of acknowledgement for personal choices. Nobody cares what ADULTS choose to do among themselves. Now, children? Thats a different story. - Curtis Scoon (@CurtisScoon) April 9, 2019 Ill spare you too many more details, but generally speaking, the umbrage is centered on his age and the presumption that there is no way he can know his sexuality so young. That, or the critics assign some kind of perverse meaning to the fact that he has that understanding at his age, stripping his awareness of its innocence. Isnt it interesting, though, how a toddler-aged boy can be described as a heartbreaker and no one ever makes much of a fuss? Isnt it also funny how people can forget their own childhood crushes? Meanwhile, adults can speculate on the sexuality of a child along with their classmates and bully them as a result of it- yet somehow the queer child in question cant know themselves first. Its silly. Its juvenile. We are better than that, or at the very least, we should be. Alas, we arent, which is why I am glad Zion knows that he is grounded in the support of his family. His familys support may not absolve Zion from the dangers of ignorance and the rising anti-LGBTQ violence in this country. But to be that young and to have the total support of your parents and your siblings is something so beautiful, it should not be anything but celebrated. Admittedly, I am a bit envious of Zion for that reason. I wish Id had that kind of support, particularly around the age when tears of frustration would roll down my face because no matter how hard I tried, I wasnt like the other boys around me and I knew many-family included-sensed that and resented me for it. And for others in our community, its even worse. There are parents who beat their gay children; send them to camps to be electrocuted; throw them out of their homes and into an ecosystem of poverty and despair; or if nothing else, completely ice them out. There are even some of us who are well into adulthood and still cannot tell our parents about someone we met that makes us happy. And some of us will likely never get to. For many queer people, we learn far too soon that love can, indeed, be conditional and incredibly complicated. But Zion is fortunate in that he knows-as a child!-that he is loved, cherished, and most of all, accepted. More than anything, Im elated to know that, thanks to his family, Zion just gets to be himself without worry or fear of condemnation. He just gets to be. We should all be so lucky-or, at the very least, happy for any person in the LGBTQ community who is blessed with such an opportunity. For more stories like this, sign up for our newsletter. Spygate, for those who do not regularly consume conservative media, is another right-wing conspiracy theory with Donald Trump as the central victim. Its adherents believe Clinton-friendly saboteurs within the American intelligence community illegally spied on the 2016 Trump campaign, and then, when that effort failed, fabricated a "Russian collusion" narrative to cover up their coup attempt. It is a wild, nonsensical fantasy hawked relentlessly by Fox News and its ilk in order to create a narrative satisfactory to a paranoid, perpetually-aggrieved president. Spygate is what fuels all his calls for investigations of Robert Mueller and Mueller's team of Deep State investigators: Someone wronged him, Trump believes, and they must be brought to justice. On Wednesday, testifying before a Senate appropriations subcommittee, attorney general William Barr gave Spygate its most authoritative endorsement yet. "I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal," he told New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, explaining why he initiated a formal review of how the Justice Department and FBI handled their investigations of the Trump campaign. When she pressed him on whether he believes any espionage actually took place, he stuttered for a moment before offering an answer. "I think spying did occur, yes," he said. "I think spying did occur." Somewhere, Sean Hannitywho assured his audience last night that Barr would soon unleash an "avalanche" of criminal indictmentssmiled quietly and allowed himself a well-earned first-pump. Later, Rhode Island senator Jack Reed, also a Democrat, asked Barr if he had any "specific evidence that there was anything improper" in how the FBI conducted its counterintelligence investigation. "I have no specific evidence I would cite right now, but I do have questions about it," Barr replied. "I have concerns about various aspects of it." It is a pitch-perfect response for a man who wants to satisfy the vengeful president who appointed him to the job, but also knows that, as a serious law enforcement official, he remains somewhat bound by the constraints of reality: No proof exists. But also, he's going to look very strongly at finding some proof. Story continues In a follow-up conversation with Shaheen, Barr equivocated a bit about his top-line conclusion. "The question is whether it was predicatedadequately predicated," he said. "I'm not suggesting it wasn't adequately predicated. But I think I need to explore that." The purpose of his first statement is to allay concerns about Barr using the Department of Justice to launch dubious investigations of Trump's perceived enemies. The second thought, however, is a knowing wink at the president and everyone else convinced of Spygate's veracitya hint that they are on the right track. Barr also attempted to dispel the alarming-sounding notion that he is launching "an investigation of the FBI," explaining that he does "not view it as a problem endemic to the FBI." But, he adds: "I think there was probably a failure among the group of leaders there at the upper echelon"the upper echelon, of course, of the FBI he just claimed he is not investigating. At the conclusion of his testimony, Republican subcommittee chair Jerry Moran offered Barr the opportunity to clarify his testimony. Barr's response did nothing of the sort. "I just want to make it clear, thinking back on all the different colloquies here, that I am not saying that improper surveillance occurred," he said. "I am saying I am concerned about it and looking into it, thats all." Again, consider all this against the backdrop of Spygate, which holds that malevolent Deep State bureaucrats are hiding evidence of a vast, shadowy plot to steal the election from Donald Trump. Barr understands perfectly well that Fox News' primetime lineup will never accept any "spying" on the campaign as "adequately predicated," because doing so would concede that the various law enforcement investigations of Donald Trump were justified by facts on the ground. (He also understands that their audience would never entertain such a notion.) Even Barr's word choice is telling; when investigators "spy" on sources pursuant to legitimate investigations, we just called that "gathering information." Leading with the ominous language of espionage, however, allows Barr to stoke conservative outrage while maintaining the appearance of political impartiality. The chair of the Republican Party, the deputy communications director of Trump's campaign, and a frequent Hannity guest who helped push Spygate from its inceptionamong many, many other denizens of the MAGAspherehave already repackaged Barr's words into a message that best suits the president's interests. By retreating a few steps from his first bombshell, Barr delivers a strategic message that attempts to satisfy everyone. The headlinethat the attorney general of the United States believes "spying" took placeconfirms the worst fears of the president, his supporters, and the right-wing media apparatus that floated Spygate in the first place. The soft qualifiers he offered afterwards do little to mitigate the impact of his statement, because he knows no one in his intended audience will pay any attention to them. The most important task for any good conspiracy theorist is being able to plausibly deny that they are, in fact, a conspiracy theorist. Should You Write a Birth Plan? Mine Was a Waste of Time My doctor suggested I write a birth plan for the arrival of my daughter. In the end, I learned no birth goes as planned. Will Rochfort I am not an inherently organized person. I fix sticky notes to my steering wheel as task reminders; I dog-ear the pages of books when I read them; my filing system is saving all my emails; my office desk is covered in piles because I don't know where else to put the stuff; I perpetually have 5,000 photos saved on my phone because I don't want to deal with offloading them somewhere better. That is me and it works (although my husband likely disagrees). But when we discovered we were pregnant with our first child, I became laser-focused on the details of my birth plan. The laissez-faire me disappeared and a Type A stranger replaced her, filling my mind with lists of pros and cons circling around every detail. As a first-time mother, I had absolutely zero idea what to expect or what was coming my way. All I knew was that my belly would grow bigger, I'd eat weird things, and I needed this quasi-golden ticket of a birth plan for the successful arrival of our daughter. It took me two days of calling to lock in an obstetrician who delivered in both of the Denver hospitals I was considering: Saint Joseph Hospital and Rose Medical. I wanted a natural birth and the thought of a standard hospital gave me the heebie-jeebies. We spend a lot of time in the mountains and I'm far more comfortable falling asleep to the sounds of howling coyotes than the hum of fluorescent lights. As someone who prefers essential oils to ibuprofen, I was hell-bent on delivering our daughter without medical intervention and really liked the looks of Rose Medical's birthing center. But, my husband fell in love with St. Joe's. RELATED: This Uber Driver Just Helped Deliver a Baby in His Back Seat During my pregnancy, my belly had been measuring weeks ahead of schedule and my obstetrician had already floated the idea of a cesarean in case I couldn't push the apparently giant baby out of my body. With all of these factors weighing on my mind, we made our choice: we'd deliver our daughter at St. Joe's. Story continues From there, I spiraled down a proverbial rabbit hole as I nailed down every minutia of detail regarding my birth plan. I scoured through St. Joseph's website and pamphlets, learning about what I could and could not do. Their newly-remodeled birthing rooms were beautiful and large, boasting modern technology and luxurious amenities. I ticked through the list as if it were groceries: lavender essential oils, laboring in the birthing tub, a playlist filled with movie scores, and a birthing ball were all on my wish list. An epidural was not. I'm a lifelong athlete and enjoy low-grade suffering that comes from Type-II fun. I've cycled across the country, paddled through the tundra north of Alaska's Arctic Circle, climbed canyon walls in Utah, and even dabbled in ultrarunning with a 55K race through Arizona's ankle-deep sand. With all of that in my hip pocket, I honestly never considered an epidural. Pain doesn't scare me and I had every faith that my body wouldn't fail me. After all, it accomplished everything I'd ever asked of it; why would child birth be any different? My birth plan was my armor and I wore it like a shield. I felt organized, prepared, and confident that I could handle childbirth on my terms, bringing our daughter into this world safely and calmly. And then it all went to hell. The evening began like any other. After returning from the grocery store with my husband and mother-in-law, I cozied up to our kitchen island while my husband baked me my pregnancy kryptonite: molten chocolate lava cake. He had just pulled the cakes out of the oven when I felt a gigantic pop inside my body. I looked down to see gallons of water pouring onto the floor. "Um, darling?" I said. "I think my water just broke." Our drive to St. Joe's stood in stark contrast to my vivid imagination as I wasn't yet experiencing contractions. Instead, we nervously chatted and held hands. "It's happening," my husband said to me. "We're about to become a family of three." We checked into the hospital and posted up in one of the fancy birthing rooms I'd viewed dozens of times while researching on their website. Around midnight, my contractions began in earnest and I prepared myself for the long evening ahead. A nurse checked me and I was not dilated, so my husband curled up next to me and we tried to rest. Eventually, the contractions became painful and frequent, so I kicked him off the bed in an effort to cope. Still, I wasn't dilated so he fell asleep on the couch and I quietly writhed by myself. With zero dilation, the nurse wasn't ready to even look at my birth plan let alone turn on any of my music selections, so I merely curled up on my side and gritted my teeth when the waves of pain washed over me. I took to watching the monitor, studying the little green light in an effort to time the contractions when they hit. In retrospect, I should have realized something was wrong when I counted contractions every two minutes that lasted for a minute yet I still had zero dilation. It hurt like hell but I told myself this was just another endurance event. Soon, I could climb in the laboring tub and turn on the essential oil diffuser. Then, my plan changed. Just as a wave of pain crippled my body, the door to my room flew open and my nurse came running in, followed by a team of masked medical professionals. "Don't worry too much, sweetie," she told me as they bustled around my room, detaching me from various machinery. "We just need to wheel you down to the operating room. Your baby is in distress and we want you to be nearby just in case." Faster than Olympic sprinters, the team raced down the hallway while pushing my bed, moving so quickly that they accidentally ran me into a fire extinguisher attached to the wall. I laughed because I was so confused and bewildered, not quite grasping what was happening. I hadn't even listened to my music yet so surely, our baby wasn't ready to arrive. The nurse said "just in case," right? I blinked and realized I was now laying on a table with blindingly bright lights above my face. I heard one of the medical voices ask, "Does she have an epidural?" and I quickly realized what was happening. Our baby wasn't okay. They were going to cut me open. Terrified that someone missed the memo, I shouted, "No! I don't have an epidural! Please, is our baby okay? Is she okay?" I repeatedly asked in higher and higher octaves until the kind-hearted surgeon leaned over my face, and speaking through his mask, said, "Everything will be okay, Heather. I'll take care of you." And then I was gone. I awoke an hour later, groggy and confused in the recovery room. I don't remember any of it, but my husband tells me my eyes opened and I blurted out, "Is she okay? Is our baby okay?" Thankfully, she arrived unscathed and was placed on my chest. As soon as I felt her tiny head nestle into my neck, I burst into tears. I felt confused, disoriented, and so in love. That first day is a blur as the general anesthesia from my emergency C-section wore off. Around noon, I asked my nurse to swap my pain meds for gigantic ibuprofen. I was fine with discomfort, but I wanted to remember the first day of our daughter's life. Because that is the thing with our birth story: I won't ever know what happened. I walked into the hospital armed with lavender oils and a Thomas Newman playlist, confident that these small details would make a world of difference in aiding me with the labor experience I wanted. I walked out with a beautiful and healthy baby girl and absolutely zero recollection of the first nine hours of her life. My reliance on my birth planand my self-guided pressure to go drug-freemeant I missed her birth entirely. And I can't ever get that back. Now, it's a full 18 months later and we have a joyous daughter who is truly the light of our lives. I've accepted what happened during labor because it brought Liliana to us. But I'll never forgive myself for becoming so attached to a silly piece of paper that ultimately didn't matter. I still wonder if a flexible birth plan (or no birth plan at all) would've made our labor experience easier to accept. I guess I'll never know that answer. Because in reality, child birth is just the beginning. Thankfully, we have a lifetime with our daughter that more than makes up for those scary first moments of the unknown. Heavy rain swelled the Williamette River in Eugene, Oregon, on Monday, April 8, prompting flooding and evacuations. Aerial footage posted to social media shows the water near Day Island and Alton Baker Park submerging walking paths, lawns, and other low-lying areas. On Sunday, the National Weather Service in Portland issued flood warnings for several rivers in Lane and Benton Counties. Sundays rainfall set a new record for April precipitation, surpassing a mark from 1982, the service reported. In southern Oregon, the rainfall triggered landslides and flooded a number of roadways, according to the Curry County Emergency Services. Credit: RomeroPNW via Storyful Johannesburg (AFP) - South Africa's ex-president Jacob Zuma has denied allegations by a local newspaper that he is in possession of $30 million (26.7 million euros) belonging to the late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi. The Sunday Times at the weekend reported that before he was captured and killed in 2011, Kadhafi had given the funds for "safe keeping" to Zuma, when he was president of South Africa. The paper said Zuma had stashed the money at his home in the southeastern village of Nkandla before moving it to neighbouring eSwatini, formerly known as Swaziland. "Former president Zuma is not aware of any money directed to his Nkandla home from former president Gaddafi, nor has he ever received funds from Gaddafi," the ex-president's foundation said in a statement cited Wednesday by South Africa's The Star newspaper. Zuma himself tweeted sardonically on Tuesday that he was surprised to hear that he was keeping $30 million when he was in need of cash to pay for legal bills to fight graft charges. "Sigh! I owe millions in legal fees.... I now hear that I have been keeping money belonging to my late brother Gaddafi. Wheres this money because His Majesty knows nothing about it?" he tweeted, referring to the king of eSwatini. Zuma, who was ousted last year over multiple graft scandals, could be liable for the equivalent of $2 million in legal bills. The eSwatini government spokesman Percy Simelane also refuted the existence of Zuma's money in his country. "We are not aware of any money secretly stashed anywhere in eSwatini from former South African President Jacob Zuma belonging to former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi," Simelane told AFP in Mbabane. South African Foreign Affairs Minister Lindiwe Sisulu on Sunday said "there is no money that we are aware of. "I have not found any money that belongs to Libyans. If the Libyans make a request for us to investigate this matter, we will." Under Zuma, South Africa had vociferously opposed the NATO-led military intervention to oust the Libyan dictator. It also said Kadhafi should have been handed to the international war crimes court after his capture. Paris (AFP) - European aerospace giant Airbus on Wednesday welcomes new CEO Guillaume Faury, whose inbox includes Brexit, US President Donald Trump's trade threats and corruption investigations. The 51-year-old Frenchman takes over from Tom Enders, who is stepping down after five years leading the France-based group whose 129,000 employees manufacture airliners, helicopters and satellites. Enders oversaw an expansion of the group, but his rein was clouded by a recent decision to scrap the loss-making A380 super-jumbo range of Airbus planes as well as multiple probes into suspect payments. The German's retirement package -- worth 37 million euros ($41 million) including pension and stocks -- has sparked controversy in France and a pledge from the government that it will legislate to limit huge corporate payoffs. Faury will inherit a financially sound, highly profitable business with an order book of 7,350 passenger planes, which would be enough to keep factories running for a decade at current production rates. But he will also have to handle the fall-out from Britain's decision to leave the European Union, which threatens to disrupt the company's long and complicated supply chains which straddle Europe. "Brexit could well mean a complete rethink of long-term manufacturing strategy for Airbus and brave decisions may need to be made unless a satisfactory outcome can be agreed by UK and Brussels," independent aviation analyst Howard Wheeldon told AFP. Earlier this week, Trump lashed out again at the EU, vowing to impose fresh tariffs over subsidies to Airbus, which threatens to reignite a more-than-decade-long transatlantic skirmish. Investigations in France, Britain and reportedly in the United States into possible bribes paid to win contracts between 2008 and 2013 could cause more embarrassment -- and lead to costly fines or prosecutions. Faury, a married father of three, has spent most of his career in the aerospace industry, specialising in helicopters. Story continues He started his career in the French defence ministry before joining Airbus' helicopter division in 1998. In 2009, he left for a four-year stint in research and development at French car group Peugeot before rejoining Airbus. In February 2018, he became head of the civil aviation division, the company's biggest and most high-profile, which is considered the launching pad for the groups' top job. A picture of a black hole is one of those great, self-negating concepts, like the sound of silence, the presence of absence or the lives of the dead. The nature of one refutes the other. But a picture of a black hole has arrived nonetheless two pictures of two black holes, actually, on April 10, in simultaneous press conferences held April 10 in six different locations around the world. At those eventsplanned for Washington, Brussels, Santiago, Shanghai, Taipei and Tokyoastronomers gave humanity its first look at the black hole at the heart of the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy, nearly 54 million light years from Earth. With that, astrophysics has opened one more tiny crack in the wall of secrets that is the universe: The image reveals the black hole at the center of Messier 87, a massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. This black hole resides 55 million light-years from Earth and has a mass 6.5-billion times that of the Sun. | Event Horizon Telescope collaboration et al. True to the nature of the science, the picture does not show the black hole itself. The defining feature of all black holes is that they are so dense, generating a gravity field so powerful, that nothing, not even electromagnetic energywhich, of course, includes visible lightcan escape their pull. What the pictures reveal instead is the black holes so-called event horizons, the swirl of gas and dust and stars and light itself, circling the black hole drain, before theyre sucked inside never, ever to reemerge. In April of 2017, a global web of eight radio telescopes located in six placesChile, Mexico, Spain, Hawaii, Arizona and the Antarcticcollectively known as the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), began surveying the Messier 87 black hole, as well as the black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy, and likely gathered very different data from each. The black hole at the center of our galaxy goes by the name Sagittarius A*. It has a mass equivalent to about 4.1 million of our suns. While that earns it the sobriquet supermassive black hole (more common black holes can be as small as five solar masses), its actually something of a pipsqueak as these things go. It measures perhaps 24 million miles across, or about a 50 billionth the size of the galaxy. Trying to take an image of that from the 26,000 light year distance at which the Earth sits from the center of the Milky Way is like trying to spot an orange on the surface of the moonwith the naked eye. The black hole at the center of M87, by contrast, has a mass equivalent to perhaps 7 billion suns, or 1,700 times bigger than our own black hole. But at 2,700 times the distance, it was even harder to make an image of. Story continues One thing that made the work possible was not just the number of telescopes collaborating in the search, but their geographic distribution. The distance among the detectorsespecially the 9,000-mi. north-south stretch from Spain to Antarcticaeffectively means a collection dish nearly as big as the Earth itself. That allows for an enormous amount of data to be gathered and collatedand over the course of the past two years, it was the collation more than the collection that was the more complicated part. The teams worked independently, sharing no information among themselves about preliminary results, lest they influence or contaminate one anothers data. Only when they were done did they regroup and prepare for the April 10 announcement. There is scientific serendipity in the fact that two black holes of such radically different scales were within the reach of the EHT detectors, since they provide a much richer mix of data studied together rather than apart. Sagittarius A* is a relatively quiet black hole, with an accretion diskthe ring of matter and energy that orbits the event horizonthat is relatively dim. The black hole still has the power to swallow stars, its just not swallowing many. The black hole at the center of M87, meantime, is a monster, sucking in matter and blowing out jets of supercharged particles that approach light speed and extend for 5,000 light years. Its a little bit counterintuitive to think a black hole spills out something, astrophysicist Thomas Kirchbaum of the Max Planck Institute in Germany told Science News in the run-up to the announcement. Usually people think it only swallows something. In truth, the particles that make up the jets are not being spilled by the black hole at all, since they never fell in to begin with. Instead they were almost sucked in, but instead were accelerated by the violent energy in the vicinity of the hole and blasted away. That macro understanding of how the jets work is nothing like the much more detailed, much more precise analysis that can be done now with imagery of M87 in hand. The EHT is by no means finished with its black hole work. Three new telescopes are being brought on linein Greenland, France and another in Arizonaand a second observing run was already conducted in April 2018. That data is now being analyzed, too, with much more surely to come. Virtually all large galaxies are thought to be organized around a central black hole. The known universe contains anywhere from 200 billion to 2 trillion galaxies, and while theres a great deal of debate on the exact number, theres no denying that the sample group is huge. We will never survey them all; we will surely survey more. And now, at last, we know how to do it. Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday touched off a firestorm during a hearing on Capitol Hill, saying he believes spying did occur in the federal investigation into the Trump campaigns contacts with Russia while defending his review of the probe. By the end of the hearing, though, he backed off his explosive claim. I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal, Barr said during testimony before the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies subcommittee. Spying is a pejorative term not normally used to describe domestic counterintelligence investigations. But when pressed later, Barr clarified his language, saying that he does not necessarily believe any improper surveillance occurred. I am saying that I am concerned about it and Im looking into it, he said. I want to make sure there was no unauthorized surveillance. Earlier, Barrs assertion about the FBIs counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign seemed to prejudge his own review of the probe. I think spying did occur, he said. The question was whether it was adequately predicated. And Im not suggesting it wasnt predicated. I need to explore that. Attorney General William Barr at Wednesday's hearing. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP) The spying claim drew immediate reactions from both the left and right. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, tweeted that Barrs comments directly contradict what DOJ previously told us. Ive asked DOJ to brief us immediately, Nadler added. Donald Trump Jr., meanwhile, celebrated Barrs remark. This is a big deal and of course hes right, Trump Jr. tweeted. Everyone knows it. I look forward to getting to the bottom of it once and for all. Barr said that part of my responsibility is to protect the civil liberties of the American people, and I think something that is important is that the law enforcement and intelligence agencies respect the limits on their powers. In his testimony before the House Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday, Barr said he was in the process of reviewing the origins of the Russia probe something President Trump and his supporters have demanded. Story continues I am reviewing the conduct of the investigation and trying to get my arms around all the aspects of the counterintelligence investigation that was conducted during the summer of 2016, Barr said. In September 2016, Yahoo News first reported that former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page was under federal investigation over a trip he had taken to Moscow two months earlier. At the time, the Trump campaign distanced itself from Page, saying his role was an informal one. The story, by Yahoo News chief investigative correspondent Michael Isikoff, was later cited in an FBI application for a surveillance warrant against Page. Carter Page at a presentation in Moscow on Dec. 12, 2016. (Photo: Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters) Isikoffs reporting on Christopher Steele, the former British spy who prepared the controversial dossier about Trump, was also a major part of the FBIs application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for permission to wiretap Page. Trump and his allies have pointed to the dossier as evidence of surveillance abuses by the FBI and Department of Justice. A highly partisan 2018 memo prepared by GOP House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes outlined that argument. Last May, Trump went so far as to claim that the DOJ put a spy in the Trump campaign. But there is no evidence to support that assertion. CNN reported that someone who had been a source for the FBI and CIA for years had assisted the probe, but, contradicting the president, an informant was not planted inside the campaign to provide information to investigators. (Emphasis added.) Speaking to reporters on the South Lawn Wednesday morning, Trump said he welcomed Barrs review of the probe. What Im most interested in is getting started, hopefully the attorney general, he mentioned it yesterday, Trump said. Hes doing a great job, getting started on going back to the origins of exactly where this all started. Because this was an illegal witch hunt and everybody knew it. During Wednesdays hearing, Barr, a Trump appointee, was asked whether he agreed the investigation was a witch hunt and illegal. It really depends where you are sitting, Barr said. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: By Elizabeth Piper LONDON (Reuters) - The beginning of the end of Theresa May's Brexit strategy was an emotional address to the nation in which she blamed parliament for the delay in Britain's departure from the European Union. The televised speech on March 20 was one of the few times in nearly three years as prime minister that she has followed her instincts rather than the counsel of her closest aides, said a source close to May. Venting her anger at parliament, which had already rejected her deal twice, she said Britain's departure had been blocked by political infighting for which she was not responsible. Her move backfired, spelling the end of attempts to agree terms acceptable to hardline Brexit supporters in her Conservative Party and to Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, which props up her minority government. Twelve days later after another rejection of her deal by parliament, she did the unthinkable. She turned to the opposition Labour Party and its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, for talks to try to secure support for the deal and persuade the EU to give her more time to win parliament's backing. For a woman who has spent most of her adult life campaigning for the Conservatives, it was no easy decision. But it underlined May's shifting ambitions in the pursuit of Brexit. After promising not to seek a new term as prime minister at the next election, and offering to quit sooner if parliament backs the divorce deal she agreed last year with the EU, her remaining goal is to get a deal through parliament that would allow her to leave with some kind of legacy. Protecting her party's fragile unity, damaged by divisions over Brexit, was no longer the prime aim. "Over the last few days people have been asking me what on earth's happening with Brexit," May said in a relaxed video address in a sitting-room at her country residence on Sunday, explaining how her deal could not get through parliament. Story continues "Now there's lots of things on which I disagree with the Labour Party on policy issues, but on Brexit I think there are some things we agree on ... It'll mean compromise on both sides, but I believe that delivering Brexit is the most important thing for us." Authority has slipped away from May in other ways too. Exasperated lawmakers have seized control of important parts of the parliamentary agenda, passing legislation to hem her in. She has also been forced to turn to an increasingly irritated EU, where leaders meeting on Wednesday will decide on the length of any Brexit delay, while May sits outside the room and awaits their judgement. BAD MOVE, BAD INSTINCTS? It was never meant to be like this. But three years after Britain voted to leave the EU, that decision is mired in uncertainty. As the prime minister herself says, Britain might never leave - something she believes will betray the voters who backed Brexit in a 2016 referendum, won by a margin of 52-48 percent. It would also spell a failure for her premiership. But for many, she must shoulder much of the blame for the unravelling of Brexit. From losing her majority in an election she did not need to call to failing to build a consensus around a deal that pandered to both sides of the debate but persuaded neither, May has too often stubbornly stuck to just one plan. It was always going to be an uphill struggle for the resilient but reserved former Home Secretary who hails from the Conservative Party's heartlands of southern England. May took over a party and a country in crisis over Britain's relationship with the EU - an issue that helped claim the scalps of three Conservative predecessors: David Cameron, John Major and Margaret Thatcher. May was seen as a steady choice to take over when Cameron quit in the chaos following the referendum. She had campaigned, albeit lukewarmly, to stay in the EU but swiftly made honouring the referendum result her mission. The hope was that May could appeal to the eurosceptics and the pro-EU MPs in her party. 'ZERO RESPECT' For months, she papered over the cracks, offering a clean break from EU institutions for Brexit supporters, and close economic ties for remainers. But by trying to please both sides, she never managed to persuade either to swallow the compromises needed to secure a deal with Brussels. May won some admiration for soldiering on yet her critics say she lacked the guile to carry her party and see Brexit through. Many opposition MPs, and more moderate members of her party, say May focused too much on appeasing hardline Conservative eurosceptics and ought to have held cross-party discussions quickly to involve more sides. "But the failure to do that and this focus on holding the party together, in my view is an unedifying spectacle." said one former aide. Her frustration after almost two years of EU talks boiled over in her March 20 TV address. "You are tired of the infighting. You are tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows," she said. "You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with. I agree. I'm on your side." The backlash was swift, with some MPs accusing May of encouraging violence against them in an unashamedly populist speech. ELECTION DISASTER It all started to go wrong less than a year after May became prime minister. When she took over, the Conservatives held a slim majority in parliament. May had always said she wouldn't call an election to reinforce her legitimacy but by early 2017 she was riding high in the polls and saw an opportunity to boost her majority and, hopefully, make the Brexit process smoother. She triggered a snap election in June 2017 but it didn't go well. May was uncomfortable with a campaign which she thought was trying to make her look presidential but did "not suit her in any way", the former aide said. Her poll lead dwindled and while the Conservatives did win the most seats in parliament, May lost her majority and was forced to turn to the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to stay in power. "You can look at the election in two ways. You can say, 'Well, she's the PM, she should have taken control, said it wasn't working and changed it'," the former aide said. "Or you can say, 'She got the professionals in, she stood everywhere she was told to stand, said everything she was told to say, wore everything she was told to wear and did the ultimate professional job'." The result left her hostage to the DUP and a group of hardline eurosceptics in her own party, which ultimately proved her undoing when it came to trying to secure parliament's agreement on the terms for leaving the EU. BACKSTOP BLUNDER The DUP opposed any deal that risked a hard border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and Ireland, which is in the EU. It also opposed any deal that meant Northern Ireland would be treated differently to the rest of the UK as this would be tantamount to splitting up the union. But when May agreed the terms of Britain's withdrawal in December 2017 it included a so-called Irish backstop, a mechanism to avoid a hard border in Ireland that also risked keeping Northern Ireland alone in a customs union with the EU. The DUP insisted it could not back the deal but she endorsed it anyway in November the next year. Keeping the Northern Irish border open was also the main stumbling block for the eurosceptics in her party, as they feared promising close economic ties could trap Britain in the EU's sphere indefinitely. When she presented a July 2018 compromise, some pro-Brexit ministers balked. It was ultimately swiftly rejected by the EU. Foreign minister Boris Johnson and Brexit secretary David Davis quit and his successor, Dominic Raab, also resigned over a later plan to try to square the Irish border circle. NO CARDS LEFT Over the two years of talks, European leaders often complained that they did not know what the British negotiating position was, or what London wanted. By contrast, the bloc's 27 other states presented a united front. By early 2019, May's habit of sticking to set phrases rather than shifting position to appease her critics was increasingly enraging lawmakers. A source close to Boris Johnson said that in his meetings with May, he would say "you can save Brexit, you can be a hero" but she sat silently, sometimes nodding, sometimes saying "No, no Boris, it cannot work like that". And when setbacks happened, May's independence from her party colleagues often turned into further isolation. May addressed Conservative MPs on March 27 and offered to quit to get her deal through a third time. But the DUP stuck to its guns, hardline eurosceptics refused to budge - and May lost again. Labour's Corbyn, a socialist May had often said was unfit to rule, became her last hope for a compromise that parliament could back. In the end, she may simply have been the wrong person for the job. "Putting someone in charge of a project they dont believe in doesnt work," said Brexiteer Conservative lawmaker Bernard Jenkin. (Additional reporting by Kylie MacLellan and William James; Editing by Giles Elgood) Paris (AFP) - The wife of former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn has returned to Japan where she is to be questioned by prosecutors about her husband's alleged financial misconduct, the couple's lawyer said Wednesday. Carole Ghosn left Japan last week after fresh accusations against her husband emerged, saying she felt "in danger" after Japanese media reported that prosecutors wanted to talk to her. Prosecutors rearrested Ghosn on April 4, saying they were investigating transfers of Nissan funds totalling $15 million between late 2014 and the middle of 2018 to a dealership in Oman. His lawyers have appealed his ongoing detention. Carole Ghosn "has returned to Japan", the couple's lawyer Francois Zimeray told AFP. "That is proof that she never intended to run away from anybody." He said Tokyo prosecutors would now question her as a witness. "It's important for her to be there and do nothing that could harm her husband," Zimeray said. According to the Kyodo news agency, Tokyo investigators suspect that allegedly syphoned funds for Carlos Ghosn's personal use transited through a company run by Carole Ghosn. Prosecutors put at $5 million the amount of funds misused for Ghosn's personal benefit including for the purchase of a yacht. A court granted a request from prosecutors to extend Ghosn's detention to April 14. They can then request an additional 10-day detention period after which they will have to release Ghosn unless they either charge him or level new allegations. Ghosn already faces three formal charges: two of deferring his salary and concealing that in official shareholders' documents, and a further charge of seeking to shift investment losses to the firm. He said in a video played Tuesday that he was innocent of all charges against him. "This is about a plot, this is about conspiracy, this is about backstabbing," he said. Carole Ghosn managed to leave Japan last week using an American passport after Japanese police confiscated her Lebanese passport. The following is the full text of a joint statement that China and the European Union (EU) issued Tuesday during a visit by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. China-EU Summit Joint statement Brussels, 9 April 2019 Introduction 1. H.E. Li Keqiang, Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, H.E. Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, and H.E. Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, met in Brussels today for the 21st China-EU Summit and issued the following statement. 2. China and the EU reaffirm the strength of their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, their resolve to work together for peace, prosperity and sustainable development and their commitment to multilateralism, and respect for international law and for fundamental norms governing international relations, with the United Nations (UN) at its core. The two sides commit to uphold the UN Charter and international law, and all three pillars of the UN system, namely peace and security, development and human rights. The EU reaffirmed its one-China policy. Bilateral relations 3. The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to deepening their partnership for peace, growth, reform and civilisation based on the principles of mutual respect, trust, equality and mutual benefit, by comprehensively implementing the China-EU 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation. China and the EU commit to strengthen cooperation, notably in the framework of their ongoing bilateral Dialogues. Both sides welcome the recently held High-Level Strategic Dialogue. In order to further expand and deepen exchanges and cooperation beyond 2020, China and the EU will adopt a new cooperation agenda by the next China-EU Summit. 4. China and the EU commit to build their economic relationship on openness, non-discrimination, and fair competition, ensuring a level playing field, transparency, and based on mutual benefits. The two sides commit to achieve in the course of 2019 the decisive progress required, notably with regard to the liberalisation commitments, for the conclusion of an ambitious China-EU Comprehensive Investment Agreement in 2020. The high level of ambition will be reflected in substantially improved market access, the elimination of discriminatory requirements and practices affecting foreign investors, the establishment of a balanced investment protection framework and the inclusion of provisions on investment and sustainable development. Both sides agree to establish a political mechanism to continuously monitor the progress in the negotiations and to report to leaders by the end of the year on the progress made. 5. China and the EU commit to ensure equitable and mutually beneficial cooperation in bilateral trade and investment. They reiterate their willingness to enhance bilateral economic cooperation, trade and investment and to provide each other with broader and more facilitated, non-discriminatory market access. With this in mind, China and the EU will intensify work towards finding mutually agreeable solutions to a number of key barriers as identified by both parties, with a stocktaking taking place at the next China-EU Summit. Against this background, the two sides will meet as soon as possible and work expeditiously towards concrete progress through existing channels. The two sides reaffirmed the importance of adhering to international scientific standards. Both sides agree to promote their bilateral trade in agri-food products whilst respecting international standards on sanitary and phytosanitary matters in particular the zoning principle. The two sides agreed to explore applying the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) zoning principle to trade, based on OIE analysis. Both sides are committed to expanding mutual market access for food and agricultural products in a transparent and predictable manner. Both sides will seek guidance of international standard setting bodies on the question of official certification for low risk food products. 6. The EU supports China to seek faster progress towards joining the WTO Government Procurement Agreement, and China is willing to improve its offer in an ambitious manner. China will actively push related work forward in an expeditious manner. Both sides underline the importance of following international standards in intellectual property protection and enforcement. They will continue to work towards tangible results in the mutually agreed priority areas such as bad faith registrations of intellectual property rights, enforcement and trade secrets. They commit to ensure a legal environment in which creators, inventors and artists can license their rights on market terms and effectively enforce these rights before courts and relevant authorities. China and the EU take note of recent progress of the negotiations of the China-EU Agreement on the Cooperation on, and Protection of, Geographical Indications (GI) and welcome the fact that provisional agreement has been reached on the text of the agreement and on protection for the majority of the GI names of each side. China and the EU commit to work together in the coming months to resolve the remaining issues, in particular in relation to the outstanding GI, which is necessary in order to be able to formally conclude the negotiations in 2019. China and the EU look forward to the early launch of the joint feasibility study on deepening cooperation in the wines and spirits sector. 7. China and the EU welcome the signing of of the Terms of Reference of the China-EU Competition Policy Dialogue and the Memorandum of Understanding on a dialogue in the area of the state aid control regime and the Fair Competition Review System, and will continue to enhance practical cooperation, so as to foster fair competition in the market for operators of all countries, including the companies of the two sides, and promote the sound growth of the bilateral and global economic and trade relations. 8. China and the EU are actively working towards signing the China-EU Civil Aviation Safety Agreement and the Agreement on Certain Aspects of Air Services as soon as possible. China and the EU welcome the holding of the 8th China-EU Energy Dialogue and signing of the Joint Statement on the Implementation of China-EU Cooperation on Energy and endorse the start of implementation of the newly established China-EU Energy Cooperation Platform. China and the EU commit to actively engage in the China-EU Mobility and Migration Dialogue and to swiftly conclude the parallel negotiations on the agreements on visa facilitation and on cooperation in combating illegal migration. 9. China and the EU reiterate their commitment to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. Both sides will increase their exchanges on international development cooperation and explore cooperation with other partner countries in a joint effort to work for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. 10. China and the EU reaffirm that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. Both sides welcome the holding of their regular Human Rights Dialogue on 1-2 April 2019 and will continue to conduct exchanges on human rights at the bilateral and international levels on the basis of equality and mutual respect, including at the UN human rights mechanisms. China and the EU will explore areas for enhanced cooperation in the future, in particular in UN fora. 11. The two sides welcomed the ongoing discussions and agreed to continue to strengthen their exchanges and cooperation under the China-EU Cyber Taskforce aimed at upholding an open, secure, stable, accessible and peaceful information and communications technology (ICT) environment. They recall that international law, and in particular the Charter of the United Nations, is applicable and is essential to maintaining peace and stability in cyberspace.They work to promote the development and implementation, within the framework of the UN, of internationally accepted norms of responsible state behaviour in cyberspace. They will strengthen their cooperation under the China-EU Cyber Taskforce against malicious activities in cyberspace, including on the protection of intellectual property. 5G network will provide the basic backbone for future economic and social development. China and the EU welcome progress and further exchanges in the China-EU dialogue and working mechanism on 5G based on the 5G Joint Declaration of 2015, including on technological cooperation between respective business communities. 12. China and the EU welcome the successful holding of the 4th China-EU Innovation Cooperation Dialogue. The two sides also confirmed their intention to renew the China-EU Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement. The two sides committed to further strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the fields of education, tourism, mobility of researchers, culture, media, youth, and sport through the High-level People-to-People Dialogue. China and the EU look forward to hold the 5th China-EU High-level People-to-People Dialogue in Brussels. They welcomed the successful outcomes of the 2018 China-EU Tourism Year and committed to further facilitate cooperation between their tourism industries and two-way people-to-people exchanges. Global challenges and governance 13. China and the EU recognise their responsibility to lead by example, pursue policies that support an open, balanced, and inclusive global economy which is beneficial to all, and encourage trade and investment. China and the EU firmly support the rules-based multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core, fight against unilateralism and protectionism, and commit to complying with WTO rules. The two sides reaffirm their joint commitment to co-operate on WTO reform to ensure its continued relevance and allow it to address global trade challenges. To this end, both sides will intensify the discussions with the aim of strengthening international rules on industrial subsidies, building on the work developed in the China-EU Joint Working Group on WTO reform. Both sides will also continue to exchange views on other mandated WTO issues. The two sides welcome the work so far in the China-EU Joint Working Group on WTO reform. Both sides also agreed to continue working to resolve the crisis in the WTO Appellate Body and build convergence on other areas of WTO reform. Both sides agree that there should not be forced transfer of technology. The two sides support the work of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on reform of the investment dispute settlement system and will engage cooperatively in that process. 14. China and the EU reaffirm their support to the G20in continuing to play its active role as the premier forum in international economic and financial cooperation, and agree to implement G20 commitments to support strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. Both sides agree to promote the G20, in the spirit of partnership and the principle of consensus, to make more contributions in upholding multilateralism, improving global economic governance and boosting global economic growth. Both sides call on all G20 members to safeguard a free, open and non-discriminatory global trade through reinforced communication and cooperation. The two sides will work towards a positive and results-oriented G20 Osaka Summit. Both sides agree that steel overcapacity is a global challenge that requires collective responses. To this end, China and the EU agree to maintain communication in the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity. Both sides look forward to a substantive report by June 2019. China and the EU will continue to actively promote the reform process of the international monetary and financial system and to complete, at the latest at the 2019 Annual Meetings, the 15th General Review of Quotas of the International Monetary Fund. 15. China and the EU agree to intensify the efforts to develop a new set of guidelines for government supported export credits within the International Working Group on Export Credits. 16. China and the EU underline their strong commitment to implement the Paris Agreementand the Montreal Protocol, and, given the urgency to take domestic and international action to effectively provide a global response to the threat of climate change, to further intensify their cooperation on the basis of the 2018 joint Leaders' Statement on Climate Change and Clean Energy. China and the EU recall that carbon pricing and fossil fuel subsidy reform are key steps in this regard. In this context, China and the EU will reinforce their cooperation on green finance in order to harness private capital flows towards a more environmentally sustainable economy. Both sides will work together for a successful outcome of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and Climate Action Summits in September 2019. China and the EU stress the importance of showing resolve on the clean energy transition and of assuming greater leadership on the global environmental agenda. Both sides will actively implement the Memorandum of Understanding on Circular Economy cooperation and promote practical cooperation between industries. Both sides recognise the importance of cooperation in addressing global environmental challenges, including pollution and marine litter. Both sides are willing to deepen cooperation on issues such as halting biodiversity loss, CITES implementation and enforcement, combating illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products, sustainable forest management, combating illegal logging and associated trade, as well as desertification and land degradation. China and the EU look forward to a successful and landmark Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming in 2020. Both sides will work together for an ambitious and realistic post-2020 global biodiversity framework at the Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties hosted by China in 2020. China and the EU also reaffirm their commitment towards the effective implementation of the Blue Partnership for the Oceans, including cooperation on promoting sustainable fisheries and fighting illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and exchanges on the conservation and sustainable use of Antarctic marine living resources, including by the establishment of marine protected areas in the Antarctic Ocean. The two sides endorsed the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles promoting sustainable investment in the oceans. Both sides also welcome the first meeting of the China-EU Water Policy Dialogue. 17. China and the EU will cooperate to improve the economic, social, fiscal, financial and environmental sustainability of Europe-Asia connectivity and interoperability. Such cooperation should abide by the shared principles of market rules, transparency, open procurement, a level playing field and fair competition, and comply with established international norms and standards, as well as the law of the countries benefitting from the projects, while taking into account their policies and individual situations. The two sides will continue to forge synergies between China's Belt and RoadInitiative and the EU strategy on Connecting Europe and Asia as well as the EU Trans-European Transport Networks, and welcome the agreement, in the framework of the China-EU Connectivity Platform, on the terms of reference for the Joint Study on sustainable Railway-based Corridors between China and Europe. The two sides will enhance communication within the framework of the China-EU Connectivity Platform. Foreign and security policy 18. China and the EU reaffirm their intention to contribute jointly to international peace and stability through intensified dialogue and cooperation and in line with international law. They support the peaceful settlement of regional disputes and conflicts through dialogue and consultation. On Iran, the two sides recalled that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is a key element of the global non-proliferation architecture and a significant diplomatic achievement endorsed unanimously by the UN Security Council in its Resolution 2231, and reaffirm their commitment to its continued, full and effective implementation, as well as their efforts to preserve economic benefits for Iran. China and the EU recall the importance of the Arak Modernisation Project, and the need to continue their common efforts in this regard. Both sides welcomed the fact that the IAEA has confirmed in 14 consecutive reports the continued adherence by Iran to its nuclear-related commitments. China and the EU support the DPRK and the US in maintaining dialogue towards a peaceful solution, as well as the continued inter-Korean reconciliation. EU: Both sides underlined the importance of the full implementation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions by all parties. 19. China and the EU are committed to work together and co-ordinate closely on the evolving peace process in Afghanistan, which needs to be a comprehensive and inclusive Afghan-led and Afghan-owned political process that will lead to sustainable peace. Both sides also agree to support international and regional efforts towards stability and security in order to facilitate Afghanistan's economic and social development and greater regional economic connectivity before, during and after a peace settlement. 20. China and the EU are following closely the evolving situation in Venezuela and are willing to work with other parties on a political, peaceful and democratic solution, decided by the people of Venezuela. 21. China, the EU and its Member States are parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and respect the maritime order based on international law and uphold freedoms of navigation and overflight enjoyed by all states in accordance with international law. The EU welcomes the ongoing consultations between China and ASEANcountries aimed at the conclusion of an effective Code of Conduct (COC) for the South China Sea. China and the EU call upon all relevant parties to engage in dialogue, to settle disputes peacefully, and to refrain from actions likely to increase tensions. 22. China and the EU agree to reinforce cooperation and high-level exchanges on peace, security and defense, including on maritime security and counter-piracy, support for African solutions to African problems to maintain the peace and security in Africa, and information exchange on crisis management and UN peacekeeping operations. 23. Concerning Ukraine and recalling the UN Security Council Resolution 2202 (2015), China and the EU call for full implementation of the Minsk agreements. 24. They also exchanged views on the situation in and around Myanmar. By Sarah Marsh HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban Communist Party leader Raul Castro said on Wednesday Cuba would never abandon its leftist ally Venezuela despite U.S. "blackmail", even as the Trump administration threatened more sanctions over its support. In a speech to the national assembly, meeting to enact the new constitution, Castro said Cuba had been upping defense preparedness in recent months in view of increased U.S. hostility. The island nation had also been adopting economic measures to contend with the Trump administration's tightening of the decades-old U.S. trade embargo, Castro told legislators. "We will never abandon our duty of acting in solidarity with Venezuela," Castro said. "We reject strongly all types of blackmail." U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday the United States would announce additional action to hold Cuba accountable for its support of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has accused Cuban security and intelligence officials of propping up Maduro's government. Cuba denies those claims. "Cuba is being blamed for all evils, using lies and the worst kind of Hitlerian propaganda," Castro said. "We have told the U.S. administration Cuba is not afraid and will continue building the future of the nation without outside interference." The enactment of the new constitution allows Cuba's government to launch a modest revamp of its centrally planned single party system with dozens of laws expected on everything from the justice system to political structures. Many observers are hopeful the government will open Cuba's still inefficient state-run economy further to free enterprise with a law recognizing private businesses, not just self-employment, although they do not expect that to be among the first pieces of legislation it tackles. That could give a boost to an economy which has had to contend with declining aid from Venezuela and a resulting cash crunch over the past three years, prompting the government to introduce austerity measures. Shortages of basic goods have increased recently, including flour, eggs and chicken, with the state even reducing the size and circulation of its newspapers due to a lack of newsprint. The situation could worsen further in coming months in view of the tightening U.S. trade embargo, Castro warned. That did not mean a return to the kind of deep crisis Cuba experienced following the 1991 collapse of its former benefactor the Soviet Union, however, as its economy had diversified since then, he said. SLEW OF NEW LAWS Cubans overwhelmingly ratified the new constitution in a February referendum after a year of debate, updating its 1976 Soviet-era Magna Carta. While it retains socialism as "irrevocable," it codifies changes in Cuban society since 1991, like the opening of the economy to free enterprise, and includes a political restructuring among other changes. Analysts say the constitution gives some leeway as to how reformist the around 50 laws needed to bring the legal system in line with it should be. "The formation of a more open and democratic country depends on this process and not on the constitution," said Cuban lawyer and legal columnist for independent media Eloy Viera Canive. The constitution stipulates that the national assembly must approve a new electoral law to reflect the restructuring of government within six months. Within the following three months, it must elect a president, widely expected to remain Miguel Diaz-Canel, who succeeded Castro last April. That president must then appoint provincial governors and a prime minister - a new post separating the role of head of state from head of government. The Magna Carta stipulates that within 18 months, new laws reflecting constitutional changes to the judicial system such as the presumption of innocence in criminal cases and habeas corpus should also be introduced. The process of a popular consultation and referendum on a new family code, that will address the controversial issue of gay marriage, should also be kicked off within two years. (Reporting by Sarah Marsh; Additional Reporting by Marc Frank and Nelson Acosta; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and James Dalgleish) Cairo (AFP) - Egypt on Wednesday denied that technical failures caused EgyptAir flight 804 to crash on its way to Cairo from Pairs three years ago, killing all 66 people on board. Forty Egyptians and 15 French nationals were on board the Airbus A320 when it crashed into the Mediterranean on May 19, 2016 leaving no survivors. "The claims made by some foreign newspapers were incorrect" Egypt's civil aviation ministry said, citing a report by a French daily about "EgyptAir's shortfalls... in the technical handling" of the aircraft. It added that the maintenance and upkeep of EgyptAir planes were carried out "according to international standards and approved by the international civil aviation organisations". Egypt's aviation minister had initially said a terrorist attack was more likely to have brought down the plane. France's aviation safety agency has said the aircraft transmitted automated messages indicating smoke in the cabin and a fault in the flight control unit minutes before losing contact. "The system for monitoring technical failures... recorded no technical problems during the aircraft's last flights before the crash," the Egyptian ministry said Wednesday. This "completely negates" the French report published last week, it added. Three Paris judges investigating the case ordered two probes to reconstruct the sequence of events that led to the crash, with results from the first handed over to magistrates last June. In the 76-page document, first reported by the Le Parisien newspaper on April 2, the two experts complain of "the considerable lack of rigour on the part of crew and the technical services of EgyptAir" in processing the aircraft's technical documents. But they stopped short of drawing a conclusion on the cause of the crash, adding that one of the faults "could have been the precursor to a major electrical failure". In December 2016, Cairo officials said traces of explosives had been found on the remains of some victims, but French authorities were sceptical, as no organisation had claimed responsibility for any attack. The Latest In the wake of some relatively unsupportive chatter from French President Macron, Theresa May traveled to Europe on Tuesday. A last minute visit to Berlin and Paris came ahead of the EU Emergency Brexit Summit that kicks off later today. The purpose of the meetings was for British Prime Minister Theresa May to persuade two of the more influential voices of Europe to support the extension request to 30th June. While there should be no real reason for EU member states to decline the latest request, some EU leaders are of the view that an extension would unlikely change the deadlock in Parliament. Theresa May and the EU saw the negotiated deal fail on 3 separate occasions in Parliament. How the British Prime Minister can garner the necessary support for a deal that has lacked Parliamentary support remains to be seen. Cross-party talks between the Conservatives and Labour have failed to deliver, for the very reason that an extension will likely just delay the inevitable. The Day Ahead The 10th April deadline is finally upon us. While the more optimistic will have hoped for Parliament to have found a compromise, its an extension that Theresa May will be in search of this evening. An emergency Brexit summit starts at 1800 local time and the Pound, in particular, will be on tenterhooks throughout the day. The Summit was scheduled following the EUs imposed 10th April deadline for the British government to have a deal in place following the previous 2-week extension beyond 29th March. EU member states will likely debate the merits of the extension. The debate will be on whether an extension to 30th June is considered adequate. Donald Tusk has called for EU leaders to offer a more flexible 1-year extension. Certain EU leaders, however, have some misgivings over Britain being involved in the EU Parliamentary elections next month. Britain is now considered a Eurosceptic and the last thing EU member states need is another Eurosceptic present in Brussels. Story continues Its certainly going to be interesting to see what member states decide. After more than 2-years of negotiations, the EU has shown little interest in returning to the negotiating table. Will the EU impose a condition to the extension that prevents further negotiations? That would leave the British PM and Parliament with a simple choice. Leave without a deal or accept the existing deal. Such a prospect would raise the prospect of a second referendum that also found little Parliamentary support in recent weeks. As for British Prime Minister Theresa May An extension to 30th June would likely see her survive the early part of the summer. A 1-year extension and it may end up being curtains for Theresa May and quite possibly the Tory Party. The Pound At the time of writing, the Pound was up by 0.16% to $1.30693. The Pound has found support on hopes of the EU approving the latest extension request. The devil will be in the details, however. We can expect the Pound to be particularly sensitive to the outcome of todays Summit. What is the best possible outcome for the Pound? It will likely be a vote in favor of an extension to the end of June. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: By Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union will grant Britain another delay to Brexit on certain conditions, including that it holds European Parliament elections, according to a draft statement by the bloc's national leaders, who are due to decide on the matter on Wednesday. The EU would cut Britain off on June 1 if it failed to honour that condition - but so far the draft conclusions have left the end-date of the postponement blank before national diplomats discuss them later in the evening in Brussels. According to the draft seen by Reuters, the EU will agree "an extension to allow for the ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement". It could be cut short if both the EU and Britain ratify the Brexit deal before it runs its course. The EU will demand that Britain's extended stay in the bloc cannot undermine its key institutions. "If the UK is still a member of the EU on 23-26 May 2019 and if it has not ratified the Withdrawal Agreement by 22 May 2019, it must hold the elections to the European Parliament in accordance with Union law," the draft said. "If the United Kingdom fails to live up to this obligation, the withdrawal will take place on 1 June 2019." "The United Kingdom shall facilitate the achievement of the Union's tasks and refrain from any measure which could jeopardise the attainment of the Union's objectives," it added. Several EU diplomats said that the 12-month extension proposed by European Council President Donald Tusk, who will chair the Wednesday summit, was unlikely to fly and several capitals have agreed with France that that would be too long. Instead, they said that the Brexit lag could go until the end of June or the end of the year but that the 27 national leaders in the bloc would have the final say on Wednesday. In a letter to EU leaders ahead of the summit, Tusk said that granting a flexible extension of a year, with the option of leaving earlier, would prevent the risk of a rolling series of short extensions and emergency summits and give Britain time to rethink its strategy. Story continues EU leaders are now split between those who want to end the agony as soon as possible and those who think only a long recess could give enough time to the UK to sort out its political crisis. Any decision must be taken by unanimity on Wednesday. The EU "reiterates that there can be no opening of the Withdrawal Agreement" and that "such an extension cannot be used to start negotiations on the future relationship", according to the draft text, which can still change on Wednesday. The draft did stress the EU was ready to upgrade the political declaration setting out the blueprint of the new EU-UK deal after Brexit should London so wish. "During the extension, the United Kingdom will remain a member state with full rights and obligations... and ... has a right to revoke its (leave) notification at any time," it read. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Alison Williams and Hugh Lawson) Google offices in Santa Clara, California. Photo by Jason Doiy/The Recorder Google offices in Santa Clara, California. Photo by Jason Doiy/The Recorder In a tense hearing Tuesday morning, representatives from Google and Facebook joined advocacy group members to discuss the impact of white nationalism's spread online, in the wake of violent hate crimes in the U.S. and New Zealand sparked, in part, by groups on social media. The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing got off to a rough startone that inadvertently highlighted the need for a discussion on online hate speech. Before a YouTube livestream of the hearing even began, accounts filled a live comment section with calls to "end Jewish supremacy," spewing racist and anti-Semitic hate speech. After about a half hour, YouTube suspended the chat. When the hearing did begin, representatives spent the much of the four-hour session in partisan arguments over which party was racist or anti-Semitic. Many Democrats questioned the selection of conservative commentator Candace Owens as a witness. Nearly halfway through the hearing, Georgia Rep. Henry Johnson asked Facebook and Google the first question about social media's role in spreading a video of the shooting of 50 Muslims in New Zealand mosques last month. The shooter mentioned YouTube, which has been criticized for spreading flat-earth and other conspiracy theories, during his Facebook livestream of the attack. "Many white nationalists have used misinformation propaganda to radicalize social media users. How is YouTube working to stop the spread of far-right conspiracies intent on skewing users perceptions of fact and fiction?" Johnson asked. Alexandria Walden, counsel for free expression and human rights at Google, responded that YouTube does not allow content that promotes or incites violence or hatred. She added the platform does not delete "content on the border" that could be considered harmful, but said they "no longer include those videos in our recommendation algorithm and comments are disabled." Yet an investigation published by Bloomberg last week found that YouTube executives purposefully allowed extremist views to spread throughout the platform because it drummed up engagement and, based on the platform's business model, more money, findings no representatives mentioned in Tuesday's hearing. On Facebook's end, public policy director Neil Potts said the shooter's video was uploaded around 1.5 million times in various forms, with edits that made it difficult for the platform's automatic filter tools to detect and remove each copy. Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond said Google, Facebook and other tech platforms should better coordinate content moderation of white nationalism hate speech and violent content such as the New Zealand shooter video, hinting regulation could come if tech companies don't shape up. "Figure it out because you dont want us to figure it out for you," Richmond said. Potts also faced questions about Facebook's recent decision to classify white nationalist and white separatist content as banned hate speech that is indistinguishable from white supremacy. Fellow hearing witness Kristen Clarke, the president and executive director of the National Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, noted that despite the change, many white nationalist groups still appear on the platform. According to Potts, the latest policy change is one Facebook has "been looking at for a long time" as it has promised to increase safety on the platform. He said Facebook now has around 30,000 safety and security staff. For some representatives, Facebook's policy change is too little, too late. Texas Rep. Sylvia Garcia shared the story of a Houston-area resident targeted and attacked for being Mexican-American, and who later committed suicide. She shared her concern over rising hate crimes against Latinos and asked how platforms are being "more proactive in stopping some of this language" online. Walden said Google and YouTube track trends on hate speech to identify dog whistles and slurs. Potts said Facebook uses automation and partnerships with academics and advocacy groups, as well as policy updates. "Well, I hope you do more," Garcia said. Israel Folau and his anti-gay sentiments appear to have gone too far this time. Rugby Australia said Thursday it plans to terminate the fullback's contract with the national team after he made anti-gay comments on social media for the second year in a row. When Folau made similar remarks on April 5, 2018, he escaped with a warning but no sanction. Now, only five months from the start of the Rugby World Cup in Japan, where Folau was expected to be one of Australia's leading players, Rugby Australia wasn't so lenient. RA chief executive Raelene Castle said in a statement that she and NSW Rugby Union head Andrew Hore made "repeated attempts" to contact Folau directly and via his representatives on Thursday, but that he failed to communicate with them. "As a code we have made it clear to Israel formally and repeatedly that any social media posts or commentary that is in any way disrespectful to people because of their sexuality will result in disciplinary action," Castle said. "In the absence of compelling mitigating factors, it is our intention to terminate his contract." Folau, one of the sport's top players, published a message on his Instagram account late Wednesday saying that hell awaits "drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists, idolators." Castle said that while Folau was entitled to his religious beliefs, "the way in which he has expressed these beliefs is inconsistent with the values of the sport. We want to make it clear that he does not speak for the game with his recent social media posts." "Israel has failed to understand ... that he cannot share material on social media that condemns, vilifies or discriminates against people on the basis of their sexuality," Castle said. Australian airline Qantas, a national team sponsor, issued a statement earlier Thursday saying Folau's comments "clearly don't reflect the spirit of inclusion and diversity that we support." Story continues Folau has also publicly aired his opposition to same-sex marriage. The 30-year-old Folau has 316,000 Instagram followers. By late afternoon Thursday, the controversial post had received 14,700 likes and 13,800 comments. Folau has played 73 test matches for Australia. Last weekend while playing for the New South Wales Waratahs, Folau scored his 60th try, the most of any player in Super Rugby, breaking the record of former New Zealand winger Doug Howlett. Two months ago, Folau signed a multimillion-dollar contract extension to remain with the Waratahs and Australian rugby until the end of 2022. Australian media had reported previously that Folau would walk away from any contract if his religious opinions and views on homosexuality were silenced. On Thursday, before Rugby Australia's statement, some contemplated that Folau again made the anti-gay comments so he could be released from the new long-term deal. There were reports Thursday that he again might take up a rugby league contract, one of three football codes, including Australian Rules football, that he has played. Former Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock said Folau had "pushed Rugby Australia into a corner and they have to act." "Everyone knows his point of view, right? He's done this a number of times already," Mortlock told the Australian Associated Press. "So it's more (about) what was the motivation ... knowing full well that he was probably going to get sanctioned." Former England rugby international Joe Marler, who plays for London club Harlequins, mocked Folau by posting two images of men kissing. Another former England international, James Haskell, wrote to Folau on Twitter and said "sport has no place for this ... keep it to hate groups. You are an unreal player, but a ... misinformed bigot." Former Wales rugby player Gareth Thomas, who announced he was gay in 2009, wrote on Twitter that people should "not be influenced" by Folau's words and that Thomas had "sympathy" for Folau. Britain-based LGBT charity Stonewall supported Rugby Australia's move. "Folau's comments are just one example of how much work is still left to do to combat discrimination and the use of hateful language against lesbian, gay, bi and trans (gender) people," said Kirsty Clarke, the director of sport at Stonewall. ___ More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports PARIS (Reuters) - The French foreign ministry said on Wednesday it regretted a decision by Algerian authorities to expel Agence France-Presse's bureau chief in the country. "We regret this decision and we would like to once again highlight the importance we attach toward the freedom of the press and the protection of journalists throughout the world," a spokesperson for the ministry said in an electronic briefing. Aymeric Vincenot, who had been AFP's Algiers bureau chief since June 2017, had a visa extension request turned down by Algerian officials and returned to Paris on Tuesday, an editor at the agency told Reuters. (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Luke Baker) By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) - German electronics firm Bury has asked European Union antitrust regulators to investigate Nokia's licensing practices on patents essential to car communications, the second such complaint after Daimler. While companies with key patents are expected to offer these on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, the lack of clear rules on calculating license fees and terms inevitably lead to disputes when companies fail to agree on the charges. Bury, a family-owned company with production plants in Germany, Poland and Mexico, said it had filed a complaint to the European Commission. "Nokia refuses to license mobile components. Instead, Nokia insists on indirect licensing of the entire vehicle," Bury said in a statement. "Nokia does not own a vehicle-oriented standard essential patent. Therefore, Nokia cannot demand indirect licensing of the entire vehicle," it said. Nokia, which has a highly lucrative portfolio of patents dating from the time when it was a leading mobile phone maker, said it had started talks with carmakers and their primary suppliers in 2015. "Nothing in Bury's complaint changes our view on the matter," it said in a statement. The company's policy is to agree on licenses that cover internet connected cars and not the individual component. The Commission confirmed receipt of Bury's complaint and said it would assess it. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Jan Harvey) Washington (AFP) - The International Monetary Fund will not have any contact with Venezuela, nor allow the country to access its reserves held by the institution, until the international community recognizes a government in Caracas, an IMF spokesman said Wednesday. The country's leadership has been in question since late January when national assembly leader Juan Guaido challenged embattled President Nicolas Maduro as the country's acute economic crisis worsened. "Any IMF engagement with Venezuela, including responding to potential financial transaction requests, is predicated on the issue of government recognition being clarified," an IMF spokesman told AFP. "We are guided by our membership on that issue, and at this point, this determination has not been made." The United States is among some 50 countries that recognize Guaido, the opposition leader who declared himself interim president in late January in a bid to replace Maduro. Guaido has branded Maduro's rule illegitimate because of what Guaido calls fraudulent elections last year in which Maduro won another term in office. Maduro, who is backed by Russia and China, is under increasing pressure as the economy implodes and the exodus of Venezuelans continues amid a worsening humanitarian crisis. The IMF has previously said it is awaiting a decision by its members on recognition of a government in Caracas, which would take a majority of the voting shares on the fund's executive board. All of the 189 members of the global crisis lender are required to keep a minimum level of foreign currency reserves on deposit at the IMF, but because of the limbo in Caracas neither Maduro nor Guaido could have access to those funds. Nor would either leader be able to enter negotiations with the IMF for an aid program. The United States has sanctioned a broad array of Maduro administration officials, military officers and institutions, blocking them from the financial system and freezing assets held in US banks, including those of Venezuela-owned oil company Citgo. Britain also has recognized Guaido, and the Bank of England holds about 31 tons of Venezuelan gold reserves worth $1.3 billion, which Maduro has been trying for several months to repatriate. Earlier Wednesday, US Vice President Mike Pence asked the United Nations to recognize Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, telling the Security Council, "Nicolas Maduro must go." Roughly 6.3 million Israeli voters are expected to cast their ballots today in an election that will have major implications for both Israelis and Palestinians. Incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces his toughest challenge yet after months of being dogged by corruption and bribery allegations. Top opposition candidate Benny Gantz, a former army general, leads a center-left coalition but is currently trailing in close polls. Roughly 6.3 million Israelis are expected to cast their ballots today in an election that will have serious implications for the legacy of incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , for Palestinians, and for Israel's relationship with the rest of the Middle East. Netanyahu faces his toughest challenge yet after months of being dogged by corruption and bribery allegations . His top competitor Benny Gantz, a former army general, who leads a center-left coalition. If Netanyahu wins and polls are currently giving him a lead, though it remains close the 69-year-old will become the longest-serving prime minister in the country's history. The 2019 election campaign was marked by scandals and mudslinging; Netanyahu's Likud party, in one example, edited a TV interview of Gantz to frame him as mentally unstable, while Gantz has painted Netanyahu as a corrupt traitor who sold his country out for money. Likud also leaked that Iranian hackers had compromised Gantz's cell phone and found incriminating information including that of an alleged mistress. "No doubt this campaign was one of the most unsavory in Israeli history," Yossi Mekelberg, professor of international relations at Regent's University London told CNBC's Squawk Box Europe on Tuesday. "The language, the attitude, the smearing campaign against rivals, this was not very pleasant to see." The government also claimed that Gantz was Iran's favorite candidate, while calling him a left-winger who wouldn't keep the country safe. Netanyahu's critics have accused the prime minister of allying with far-right and borderline fascist players to win votes. Story continues New parties and old faces Gantz allied with center-left former finance minister Yair Lapid to create the new and avowedly centrist party Kahol Lavan, known in English as the Blue and White Party. Gantz has called for pursuing peace with the Palestinians, while maintaining Israel's security priorities. His platforms include granting territorial concessions to the Palestinians but he's avoided the issue of Palestinian statehood; he also wants to establish term limits for the prime minister and invest in education. Netanyahu has been prime minister of Israel four times, beginning in the 1990s as the country's youngest elected head of government and is now the only prime minister to have been elected to three consecutive terms. His tenure has seen Israel take an increasingly hard line on the Occupied Palestinian territories , expanding Israeli settlements into the West Bank that have been designated by the UN as illegal under international law. He prides himself on his nickname of "Mr. Security" and also serves as Minister of Defense. Thanks to enthusiastic support from the Trump administration, Netanyahu has been emboldened to pursue right-wing policies he now says that if he wins, he will annex the West Bank , home to around 2.5 million Palestinians. While Netanyahu's recent pledge to "extend sovereignty" over the West Bank settlements triggered harsh condemnation from overseas, "they will likely only have a marginal effect on the political contest within," according to a Eurasia Group note by Middle East analyst Henry Rome, who believes most Israelis will just write it off as campaign rhetoric. "At this point, Netanyahu's comments more likely represent a flimsy campaign promise than a definitive new Israeli strategy," Rome wrote Tuesday. Gantz, for his part, says he opposes unilateral annexation, and has called Netanyahu's promises "meaningless." The end of the two-state solution? "This government's composition would not be all that different from Netanyahu's current coalition, but it may pursue a very dangerous path by opting to start annexing parts of the West Bank," Ilan Goldenberg, Middle East Security Director at the Center for a New American Security, wrote in an op-ed for Slate Magazine. "Such a decision would lead to irreversible steps that make it impossible to form a contiguous and viable future Palestinian state and could lead to the dissolution of the Palestinian Authority In short, this outcome could mark the end of the possibility of a two-state solution." The U.S. under Trump, in a stark rejection of policy norms, has recognized Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights and the status of Jerusalem as Israel's capital , issues that had been previously regarded by the international community as subject to negotiation between the Israelis and Palestinians. Security and economy remain top issues for many Israeli voters. Despite a booming economy driven by an internationally acclaimed start-up culture , inequality remains high and many young Israelis want to see progress on housing and living costs. "Security is the basic threshold that everybody thinks about when they make their decision, and if they're comfortable with most candidates on security then they'll vote on other issues," Michael Granoff, founder of Tel Aviv-based venture fund Maniv Mobility, told CNBC's Hadley Gamble on Tuesday. "The tech sector has really been the engine of Israel's economy over the last decade or more, and I think any government that comes in is going to want to continue to see that growth ... The polls are showing a close race but any leadership is going to want to preserve the economic gains that we've seen over the last decade." The ability to form a governing coalition is crucial Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party is not likely to win a plurality of seats, analysts say, but if his wider right-religious bloc of parties win enough seats in the Israeli parliament (the Knesset) to have a shot at forming a government that's 61 seats or more then he'll likely keep the premiership. "Aside from his Likud party, the prime minister must secure the support of nearly all small right-wing parties to build a governing coalition," wrote Rome. This means that he's been catering to the hard right rather than trying to attract centrist or undecided voters. Gantz, whose center-left coalition includes the Labor party and Arab-majority parties, would need to ally with them and win over some of the smaller parties in Netanyahu's coalition by convincing them of his potential success. "If Gantz can credibly claim to prevent Netanyahu from forming a government, he then can try to peel away one or two parties and form a governing coalition," Rome said. Many observers say that Gantz currently does not have the force required to create a governing coalition. Within a week of the election, Israel's president Reuven Rivlin must choose the member out of the parties that won seats he thinks has the best ability to form a government, and then that person has up to 42 days to form a coalition. If this fails, the president chooses different party members to attempt government formation; if that too fails, the country holds early elections. Polls will close Tuesday at 10 p.m. Israeli time. More From CNBC AMMAN, Jordan (AP) Jordan says four of its nationals held in Syrian prisons have been released following contacts between the two governments. Sufian Qudah, spokesman for the Jordanian Foreign Ministry, said Wednesday one person remains in the Syrian capital Damascus where his family lives and the others have either arrived or are on their way to Jordan. Qudah said Jordan continues to follow up on the cases of four others expected to be covered by the release order. It was not clear why the Jordanians were detained. Jordan's relations with neighboring Syria have been strained since 2011 when the civil war there began, displacing and killing hundreds of thousands. A thaw followed the reopening of the border crossing between the two countries last year. The crossing closed in 2015 when it fell into rebel hands. Dubai (AFP) - The family of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi denied being in talks to reach a settlement out of court with Saudi authorities Wednesday, following reports that his sons had taken payouts. "Currently, the trial is taking place and no settlement discussion had been or is discussed," read an English statement posted to Salah Khashoggi's verified Twitter account. The Washington Post on April 1 reported Khashoggi's children, including Salah, had received multimillion-dollar homes and were being paid thousands of dollars per month by authorities. Khashoggi -- a contributor to the Post and a critic of the Saudi government -- was killed and dismembered in October at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul by a team of 15 agents sent from Riyadh. His body has not been recovered. Saudi Arabia's powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has been accused of orchestrating Khashoggi's killing, but a local investigation later claimed the prince was not involved. The kingdom initially said it had no knowledge of Khashoggi's fate, but later blamed rogue agents for his death. Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor has charged 11 people over his murder. Yahoo headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. Yahoo headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. Attorneys have boosted a class action settlement over Yahoo Inc.s recent data breaches to $117.5 million after a federal judge rejected preliminary approval of it earlier this year. The settlement, filed Tuesday with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, includes a single fund from which $55 million would be available for out-of-pocket costs and $24 million in identity theft protection for class members (or $100 payments to those who already have credit monitoring). It also includes $30 million in attorney fees and $2.5 million in legal costs, a slight reduction from the original fee request. Following the courts denial of preliminary approval, the parties immediately set about addressing the issues the court identified, re-engineering the resolution of this case, wrote lead plaintiffs counsel, Tampa, Florida-based John Yanchunis of Morgan & Morgan. The deal is one of the largest data breach settlements in U.S. history. In 2016, Yahoo announced that 500 million accounts had been hacked in 2014, compromising names, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates and passwords. Months later, Yahoo disclosed another breach in 2013 that affected 1 billion accounts, a figure that Verizon increased to 3 billion last year. The settlement also involves a third breach in 2015 and 2016. The defendants are Altaba Inc., the division of Verizon formerly known as Yahoo, and Oath Holdings Inc., which owns Yahoos holding company. The original $85 million settlement included a $50 million fund from which consumers could make claims for out-of-pocket costs. In addition, Yahoo had agreed to provide at least two years of credit monitoring and identity theft protection insurance to class members. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh, who rejected the deal on Jan. 28, asked why the class involved only 200 million individuals with about 1 billion Yahoo accounts. She also questioned why it took 32 firms to work on issues that were not particularly novel. The $35 million fee request was unreasonably high, she wrote. The firms had included a $22 million lodestar calculation for 143 lawyers. She also found the settlement improperly released claims relating to smaller breaches in 2012, calling Yahoos nondisclosures and lack of transparency egregious. An amended complaint filed Monday, however, expanded the class to include Yahoo users in 2012. The motion for settlement approval estimated that 194 million individuals holding 896 million accounts would be part of the class. The $117.5 million settlement fund would reimburse businesses and individuals, with a $25,000 cap for individuals. The reimbursement is for fraud charges, and other costs, and includes compensable time spent dealing with the breachs repercussions. The fund also includes $6 million in administrative costs. Leftover funds would not revert to the defendants but end up distributed as cy pres to the Electronic Privacy Information Center. The new deal includes an information security budget of more than $300 million over the next four years, with 200 people involved, which are amounts that are at least four times and three times greater, respectively, than Yahoo maintained prior to this case, the motion says. Enhanced and improved data security is a critical aspect of the settlement, the motion says. A spokesman for Verizon Media, speaking for Yahoo, said in an emailed statement: We believe that the settlement demonstrates our strong commitment to security. Yahoo is represented in the matter by counsel at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Hunton Andrews Kurth. The advance of a rogue militia on Tripoli, the capital city of Libya, has forced the hasty evacuation of U.S. troops from that country, highlighting the lack of a cohesive strategy for ongoing U.S. military operations in Africa and a seeming White House ambivalence about the continent, according to former officials. For several years, from a handful of outposts in Libya, U.S. special operators have been conducting counterterrorism missions with names like Obsidian Lotus and Odyssey Resolve. These are just two of dozens of named operations that, largely unknown to the American public, have been launched from a string of bases across the northern half of Africa, according to information obtained by Yahoo News via the Freedom of Information Act. Despite the large number of military operations in the region, some former officials say neither the Obama administration nor the current White House has taken much interest in coming up with a coherent policy for U.S. military operations on the continent. During my time at the White House with the Trump administration there wasnt a great deal of concern about doing much in northern Africa, said a former official who recently served on the National Security Council. There was not a lot of interest or focus on Africa during the time I was there. President Donald Trump, who reportedly referred to African states as shithole countries in January 2018, has faced criticism for essentially ignoring the continent. But in December, his administration announced a new Africa strategy, which a National Security Council spokesperson said committed the United States to helping its African allies build up their security forces while reserving the right to take unilateral action when necessary to protect the homeland or United States citizens and interests. Some former officials remain unconvinced, however. I dont believe theres a well-articulated strategy, said a former Africa Command official. Story continues Muammar Qaddafi, Libya's leader, speaks at an equestrian show at the Tor di Quinto cavalry school in Rome, Italy, on Monday, Aug. 30, 2010. (Photo: Victor Sokolowicz/Bloomberg via Getty Images) Nowhere is that policy vacuum more evident, critics said, than in Libya, where Gen. Khalifa Haftars militia this past week fought on the edge of Tripoli, prompting the U.S. military on April 7 to announce it was evacuating the small force it had maintained in the Libyan capital. The U.S. withdrawal caps a turbulent period since the fall and killing of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in a U.S.-supported revolt during the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011. The North African country descended into a multi-sided civil war, with dueling governments in the west and east of the country and vast stretches of territory controlled by various Islamist groups. In Tripoli, the United Nations-recognized Government of National Accord held sway. On the other side of the country, in the east, the dominant force was the so-called Libyan National Army run by Haftar, a former officer in Gaddafis military who returned to Libya in 2011 after two decades in exile in the United States. Haftar has at different times allied himself with the CIA, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia. He has been described in the past as the biggest single obstacle to peace in Libya, but retired Army Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc, who headed U.S. Africa Commands special operations forces between 2015 and 2017, said the United States made a mistake by not committing more to work with him in the fight to defeat the Islamic States Libyan branch. We kind of botched it at every single level, both on the [Defense Department] and the Department of State side, the U.S. policy side, on how we should have been dealing with this guy, Bolduc said. Haftar was a very reliable guy, a guy that we could trust, a guy that we knew wasnt going to sell us out, a guy that we knew was wanting to take it to ISIS and al-Qaida and hand them their ass. A member of Misrata forces, under the protection of Tripoli's forces, takes his position near a military camp in Tripoli, Libya April 9, 2019. (Photo: Hani Amara/Reuters) Bolduc acknowledged policymakers concerns that by allying closely with Haftar the United States would be helping enable his potential seizure of power in Libya but said that the priority should have been defeating the Islamic State and al-Qaida. We should have been a whole heck of a lot more aggressive in supporting Haftar than we were. Part of the problem was a refusal on the part of the Obama administration to accept the rise of the Islamic State in Libya, according to Bolduc. The National Security Council staff in 2014-2015 didnt even want to recognize the fact that ISIS was in Libya, he said. Thats how they got their stronghold. Colin Kahl, who held a series of senior national security positions during the Obama administration, disputed the notion that the Obama NSC did not take the Islamic State threat in Libya seriously. Thats not true, in my experience, he wrote in an email to Yahoo News. The NSC staff, especially those working counter terrorism and the counter-ISIS campaign, listed Libya as the third most important area for ISIS (after Iraq and Syria) largely due to the flow of ISIS fighters and leaders to the country. This was a high priority. But that was not the view of some in Africa Commands headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. Our policy was really jacked up in Libya, said a former Africa Command official. Despite the U.S. military providing options from which to pick a strategy in Libya, U.S. policy all the way to the top in Washington was characterized by indecision the attempt first not to pick sides and then pick sides, the former Africa Command official said. A military vehicle used by fighters from the pro-government forces loyal to Libya's Government of National Unity (GNA) is seen near ammunition casing on August 3, 2016 in Sirte during an operation against jihadists of the Islamic State (IS) group. (Photo: Mahmud Turkia/AFP/Getty Images) In May 2015 the Islamic State captured the coastal city of Sirte, about 273 miles east of Tripoli. A year later, the Government of National Accord launched an offensive to retake the city, which the United States supported with an extensive campaign of almost 500 airstrikes as part of Operation Odyssey Lightning. Western special operations forces helped coordinate that campaign and advise the Libyan government troops. A small contingent of fewer than 100 U.S. special operators were already in Libya, working out of bases in Misrata, Benina, Tobruk and Tripoli. This force, part of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), the secretive counterterrorism organization, was focused on the destruction of the Islamic State and Al Qaida in Libya. Unlike other U.S. special operations forces in Africa, who worked for Bolduc, JSOC task forces answered directly to Africa Command. But Bolduc also contributed some of his troops to work under the tactical control of the JSOC task force in Libya, including a tiny force consisting of little more than a 12-man Special Forces A-team that was there to conduct Operation Obsidian Lotus. We put together a small force to be able to go out and do counterterrorism operations, said Bolduc. It was a combination of hunting them from the air and using Libyan special forces that we had trained on the ground. The Obsidian Lotus missions aimed to generate intelligence that would maybe lead to a high-value target that we could pass off to our JSOC brethren, Bolduc said. Fighters from a Misrata armed group loyal to the internationally recognised Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) prepare their ammunition before heading to the frontline as battles against Forces of Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar continue on the outskirts of the capital Tripoli on April 8, 2019. (Photo: Mahmud Turkia/AFP/Getty Images) Obsidian Lotus was a so-called 1208 program, named after the budgetary authority that governed such low-profile counterterrorism efforts. Since renamed 127e operations, these turn local fighters into a surrogate force for the United States, which trains it, equips it and directs its missions unilaterally. But in the summer of 2016, shortly after the start of the battle for Sirte, U.S. special operations forces were no longer permitted to accompany their Libyan partner forces into battle. The U.S. forces were still allowed to advise their Government of National Accord partners away from the front lines, but they were ordered to cease all cooperation with Haftars militia. It was a decision made by the National Security Council staff and the Department of State, said Bolduc, who disagreed with the change. No battlefield catastrophe prompted the Obama administrations policy shift. There had been no U.S. special operators killed in action in Libya during Bolducs time in command, and only one had been wounded a commando who had been blown against a wall when a mortar round impacted inside a compound near the former U.S. embassy in Tripoli in 2015, Bolduc said. With the Americans now confined to their bases and safehouses, the lead role in Sirte and elsewhere fell to British special operations forces, according to Bolduc and other former special operations officers. Other members of the international special operations coalition included Italy and France, he said. By the end of 2016, those Islamic State fighters who had survived the aerial pummeling of Sirte had withdrawn from the city. The air campaign, which had been managed by Joint Special Operations Command, which controls Delta Force and SEAL Team 6 and is sometimes referred to in the U.S. military simply as Task Force, had been a resounding success, according to Bolduc. Task Force ran a very successful air campaign because it was done in conjunction with, and not separate of, a very well-coordinated ground effort, he told Yahoo News. However, Bolduc said, the coalitions failure to follow through on that success was a mistake. Everybody was like, Okay, put a fork in it, its done, and I was very frustrated with the fact that we didnt follow up and quickly take advantage. US Brigadier General Donald C. Bolduc, who served as the Deputy Director for Operations, United States Africa Command, speaks on February 8, 2016 during a inauguration of the Thies airbase, about 70 km northeast of Dakar on the second day of a three-week joint military exercise between African, US and European troops, known as Flintlock. (Photo: Seyllou/AFP/Getty Images) The Islamic State learned not to draw the attention of coalition air power by massing in cities, but instead to organize into smaller groups in rural locations and conduct attacks to keep the government unstable, according to Bolduc. As a result, the Islamic State were able to change how they operated and create more instability in more places inside Libya, he said. Africa Command acknowledged the continuing danger posed by the Islamic State in documents obtained by Yahoo News via the Freedom of Information Act. Despite being driven from Sirte, Darnah, and Benghazi, ISIS-Libya retains the capability to strike local security forces, critical infrastructure, and civilian targets, reads a set of January 2019 talking points. ISIS-Libyas ability to destabilize Libyas internal security remains an ongoing threat to local forces and Western regional targets. However, in his written answers to advance questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Trump administrations nominee to be the next head of Africa Command, Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, sounded a more optimistic tone. U.S. efforts to degrade and contain violent extremism in Libya have been largely successful to date, he wrote. Although the U.S. air campaign in Libya has focused mostly on the Islamic State, Townsend referred more frequently to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which he described as one of the four most concerning and most capable violent extremist organizations in Africa. (The Maghreb is a historical name for northwest Africa.) While al-Qaida is not currently conducting attacks in Libya, it is strengthening its smuggling networks in the country to facilitate the movement of fighters and weapons to support its operations in the countries of the Maghreb and the Sahel (the transitional region just south of the Sahara), according to Townsend. AQIM is a critical longer-term threat as it has gained influence by marrying into local tribes, building relationships with extremist militias, and using Libya to support its broad operational reach into the Sahel, he wrote. A soldier loyal to the 'Libyan Dawn' movement looks at damage caused by an air strike at a house in Bin Jawad, the last town before the frontline near Sidra, a key oil terminal in Libya than is currently contested by the country's two opposing governments, on March 7, 2015. (Photo: Sam Tarling/Corbis via Getty Images) It was Haftars willingness to make common cause with the United States in the fight against those groups that persuaded Bolduc that the U.S. government should lend him its support. We should have been supporting Haftar, only because hes taking the fight to the enemy and hes doing it very effectively, Bolduc said. The United States wanted Haftar to submit to the authority of the Government of National Accord, but Haftar explained his reluctance to do so in a meeting with U.S. officials, according to Bolduc. He goes, Hey, Im not going to attach myself to a drowning man, Bolduc said. The GNA had to give him certain assurances about what his position would be, and all he wanted was to be in charge of the whole military. They just wouldnt do it. Bolduc said his view at the time was that this isnt going to get solved until the man continues to organize, continues to move forward and takes the country by force. Now, it looks like thats going to happen, he said. And wheres the U.S.? The Russians are supporting him, the U.S. is nowhere to be seen, so were going to lose strategic influence. But according to Townsend, in the absence of a reliable security force loyal to the Government of National Accord, groups like Haftars are part of the problem, not part of the solution. Powerful paramilitary groups, such as the Libyan National Army, will likely continue to capitalize on the weak governance of the GNA to exert their own power and agendas, Townsend wrote. Self-proclaimed Libyan National Army (LNA) Chief of Staff, Khalifa Haftar arrives for a conference on Libya on Nov. 12, 2018 at Villa Igiea in Palermo. (Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images) That view was reinforced by the White House, which has condemned Haftars offensive. The United States Government is deeply concerned about fighting near Tripoli, said a spokesperson for the National Security Council in an emailed response to Yahoo News. The United States opposes the military offensive by Khalifa Haftars forces and urges the immediate halt to all military operations against Tripoli, and a return to status quo positions. There is no military solution to the military conflict. Yet this latest turn of events comes as the Trump administration is refocusing the military away from counterterrorism and towards nation state conflict. The Defense Department has directed Africa Command to cut ten percent of its troop strength on the continent, and as a result, the command will initially reduce its forces by about 300 personnel, half of which will be special operations forces, Marine Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, the outgoing head of Africa Command, told the House Armed Services Committee on March 7. Waldhauser said that he had been directed to cut only those forces engaged in counterterrorism missions, but that the troop reductions would have no impact on such missions in either Libya or Somalia, the two countries where Africa Command has the legal authority to conduct kinetic - i.e. lethal - operations. In an April 2 hearing on Capitol Hill, Townsend, Waldhausers successor, said that he agreed with the decision to rebalance Africa Commands efforts by placing greater emphasis on near-peer competitors like Russia and China. But at the same time, he said, we cant let off the gas on these violent extremists. Read more from Yahoo News: TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A legislative fight over expanding Medicaid in Kansas is delaying approval of the state's next annual budget as expansion supporters try to keep Republican opponents from blocking it for another year. Some top GOP lawmakers are conceding that an expansion plan could pass because expansion is a priority for Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and has bipartisan support in the Republican-controlled Legislature. However, opponents hope for time this summer and fall to develop a smaller program than Kelly wants with restrictions she opposes, such as a work requirement for participants. Expansion became a sticking point in budget negotiations between the House and Senate, causing lawmakers to put off votes until May on any part of the state's spending blueprint for the fiscal year beginning in July. Potential expansion costs are hotly debated, but the disagreement in budget talks is over how much to tie Kelly's hands as she pursues expansion this year. "We have a Democrat governor," Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, a conservative Kansas City-area Republican. "There will be a time when we won't be able to maneuver around it." Supporters argue that Medicaid expansion will benefit working-class families, help struggling rural hospitals and boost the economy with an influx of federal funds. Opponents predict expansion will prove far more expensive than advertised, even with the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act's promise that the federal government would cover 90 percent of the cost. Thirty-six states, including GOP-led ones, have expanded Medicaid or have seen voters approve ballot initiatives. In Kansas, Republicans who oppose expansion still hold key positions in both chambers and prevented even a committee vote for weeks. However, supporters forced a debate in the House last month, and it passed a modified version of Kelly's expansion plan over GOP leaders' objections. Story continues The Senate didn't take up the measure before lawmakers began their annual spring break Saturday. However, Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, notified colleagues that he will try to pull it out of committee May 1, when legislators reconvene to wrap up business for the year. In arguing for further delay, GOP leaders note that Republican-led Utah is pursuing a scaled-back version of an expansion approved by voters last year to control the potential costs. Kelly's administration projects that her plan to extend Medicaid health coverage to as many as 150,000 more Kansas residents would come with a net cost of the state of $34 million in the program's first full year. Top Republicans are skeptical and believe the net cost easily could be twice as much. They also want Kansas to consider work requirements, though a federal judge blocked them in Arkansas and Kentucky. Republicans also have suggested drug testing for people receiving the expanded Medicaid coverage. Kelly opposes both ideas, but it's not clear what she would do if either was included in expansion legislation. GOP leaders announced plans last week to have a committee study possible alternatives to Kelly's plan this summer and fall. "We're going to do it on our own schedule," Denning said. To help build pressure for Medicaid expansion, Kelly is having a town hall meeting Tuesday in Wichita, and Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers is touring western Kansas hospitals. "We've studied this for multiple years," Rogers said Monday. "When they (Republican leaders) say we need more discussion, it's on them. It's not on the Kansas people." Legislators initially planned to pass a bill containing most of the next state budget before the spring break, to make finishing their work in May easier. However, the budget talks stalled last week. Medicaid expansion was among a few remaining issues in reconciling differences between the House and Senate versions of the spending blueprint. Neither chamber included funds to cover expansion costs, but Denning persuaded senators to add an amendment to their version to prevent the state from spending any dollars on expansion paperwork. A 2014 law already requires prior legislative approval for expansion, but Denning said he wants to ensure that putting funding in the budget isn't interpreted as a go-ahead for a specific plan. House negotiators balked, with even expansion foes seeing the provision as overkill. The dispute and resulting budget impasse gives expansion supporters extra unexpected political leverage. "That amendment could have caused us problems for passing expansion," said state Rep. Kathy Wolfe Moore, a budget negotiator and Kansas City Democrat who supports expansion. "As long as that was in there, anyone who voted for expansion would not vote for the budget." ___ Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna . Members of the U.S. military install concertina wire along the banks of the Rio Grande at the U.S.-Mexico border in Laredo, Texas, on Nov. 16, 2018. (Photo: Eric Gay/AP) The Department of Defense awarded its first contracts to two companies Tuesday for construction of a barrier along the U.S. border with Mexico, according to a notice posted on the DODs website. The Galveston, Texas-based company SLSCO was awarded a $789 million contract for border replacement wall construction in Santa Teresa, N.M., while Barnard Construction Co., a firm based in Bozeman, Mont., received a contract worth $187 million for pedestrian wall replacement in Yuma, Ariz., the DODs website stated. Nearly two months after President Trump declared a national emergency to secure funding for the construction of his border wall, the contracts represent the first issued by the Department of Defense. A letter received by Congress from the DOD dated March 27 stated that to date, no DoD funds have been obligated on contracts or task orders for the purpose of constructing a border wall. This piece of information was among several details included in a letter that Rep. Anthony Brown, D-Md., vice chair of the House Armed Services Committee, received Tuesday from Kenneth Rapuano, assistant secretary for homeland defense and global security at the Department of Defense. The letter, a copy of which was provided to Yahoo News, includes responses to questions that Brown and a handful of other House Democrats sent in February to acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, including information about the departments strategy and justification for deploying active-duty troops to the southwest border. While Tuesdays letter confirms that the DOD has already spent close to $300 million in its support of U.S. Customs and Border Protection operations since last year, and expects to spend an estimated $350 million over the next several months at least, the DODs answers revealed that little action had been taken on the construction of a border wall. At this time, Rapuano wrote on behalf of Shanahan, the Acting Secretary is still considering whether and how to use the authority provided by Section 2808 of title 10, U.S. Code. That specific section of the National Emergencies Act authorizes the military to undertake certain construction projects that are deemed necessary to support such use of the armed forces in the event of a presidential declaration of a national emergency. Story continues President Trump tours the border wall in Calexico, Calif., on April 5. (Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images) In December, ahead of a standoff with congressional Democrats over funding construction of the border wall that led to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, Trump vowed in a tweet that the United States Military will build the Wall! In a statement to Yahoo News, Brown blasted the president over his plan to circumvent Congress and use the U.S. military as political props on the southern border. Its been 370 days since the President first deployed the National Guard to the border, 162 days since his pre-election deployment of active duty servicemembers to the border, and 53 days since he declared his national emergency, Brown said in his statement. In all of that time, the President has made things worse our immigration system remains broken, the military remains on the border with no mission or measure of success, and President Trump keeps on pivoting to any shiny, cruel, and perverse policy for the southwest border he can come up with. Meanwhile, taxpayers continue to foot the bill for these transparently political stunts, our military readiness continues to degrade, and the President continues to use servicemembers and migrants as political props to further his right-wing agenda. Among other noteworthy insights from the letter Brown and his colleagues received Tuesday was the open-ended response to a question about the militarys long-term strategy for its mission at the southern border and, specifically, what conditions on the ground must be met to merit withdrawal from the border. When DHS no longer requires DoD assistance to secure the southern border, Rapuano replied. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) More than 75 years after Nicholas J. Gojmerac was last seen alive dragging a wounded comrade to safety during a World War II battle, his remains are back home in Kansas. A Marine Corps honor guard was on the tarmac of Kansas City International Airport Tuesday as Gojmerac's remains were returned to his family, the Kansas City Star reported . His remains are now at Leavenworth National Cemetery. Gojmerac was in the Marine Corps Reserve when he was wounded during a battle on the Solomon Islands in 1943. The 29-year-old from Kansas City, Kansas, became one the multitude of U.S. service members listed as missing in action during World War II. He was officially declared dead on July 21, 1944. It wasn't until last September that relatives learned Gojmerac's remains had been identified through dental and anthropological analysis. "We just never knew what happened to him," said Therese Moeller, a niece, who lives in Overland Park, Kansas. "When he went missing, it affected the whole family because they all lived in the house or close to the house where he grew up," Moeller said. "I'm sure there was much grief there on Strawberry Hill and because everybody who settled there was from Croatia, they were very close." Gojmerac was a member of Company Q, 4th Raider Battalion, 1st Marine Raider Regiment. According to his service record, Gojmerac and his unit went into battle with a Japanese stronghold on July 20, 1943. "Upon hearing a wounded comrade in the front lines cry out for help, PFC Gojmerac crawled out to him through extremely heavy rifle fire, machine gun and mortar fire, administered first aid and dragged him to safety," his record states. "While assisting his wounded comrade, Gojmerac himself was seriously wounded. Following this engagement with the enemy, it was discovered Gojmerac was missing." According to his obituary, his remains have been interred since 1949 at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii. ___ Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a clear path to re-election on Wednesday, with religious-rightist parties set to hand him a parliamentary majority and his main challenger conceding defeat. With more than 99 percent of votes counted - ballots cast by soldiers at military bases will be tallied over the next two days - Netanyahu's conservative Likud party looked likely to muster enough support to control 65 of the Knesset's 120 seats and be named to head the next coalition government. It would be Netanyahu's record fifth term as premier. In a televised statement, Yair Lapid, number two in the centrist Blue and White party led by former general Benny Gantz, said: "We didn't win in this round. We will make Likud's life hell in the opposition." U.S. President Donald Trump, who Netanyahu featured on campaign billboards to highlight their close relationship, phoned to congratulate him on his re-election, the Israeli leader said, adding that he thanked his American ally for "tremendous support for Israel". Netanyahu tweeted that Trump had called him from Air Force One. The president was on a flight to Texas. Trump told reporters at the White House that Netanyahu's re-election improved the chances of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. "He's been a great ally and he's a friend. I'd like to congratulate him on a well-thought-out race." A team led by Trump's adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner has been working on an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, but it has not disclosed details. Palestinians, angered by what they see as Trump's pro-Israel bias, have called it a non-starter. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said on Twitter he would begin meeting next week with political parties that won parliamentary seats to hear who they support for prime minister. At the sessions, which Rivlin said would be broadcast live "to ensure transparency", he will then pick a party leader to try to form a coalition, giving the candidate 28 days to do so, with a two-week extension if needed. The close and often vitriolic contest was widely seen in Israel as a referendum on Netanyahu's character and record in the face of corruption allegations. He faces possible indictment in three graft cases, and has denied wrongdoing in all of them. Despite that, Netanyahu gained four seats compared to his outgoing coalition government, according to a spreadsheet published by the Central Elections Committee of parties that garnered enough votes to enter the next parliament. "It is a night of colossal victory," the 69-year-old Netanyahu told cheering supporters in a late-night speech at Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv after Tuesday's vote. "He's a magician!" the crowd chanted as fireworks flared and Netanyahu kissed his wife Sara. Earlier that night, Gantz had claimed victory. Tel Aviv Stock Exchange main indexes were up nearly 1 percent in late trading on Wednesday, displaying confidence in a veteran prime minister who has overseen a humming economy and blunted various security threats, including from Syria. Netanyahu was now poised to become, in July, the longest-serving Israeli prime minister, overtaking the country's founding father, David Ben-Gurion. That could be scuppered if criminal charges are filed and force his removal. Israel election graphic - https://tmsnrt.rs/2D916Uv IMMUNITY? An indictment decision would follow a review hearing where Netanyahu can be expected to argue he should be spared in the national interest. Some analysts predict he may try to pass a law granting himself immunity, as a sitting leader, from trial. During the campaign, the rival parties accused each other of corruption, fostering bigotry and being soft on security. Israel's 21 percent Arab minority saw its parties lose seats. Voters blamed divisions between Arab factions which had united in the previous election, disillusionment, and a voting boycott campaign rooted in dismay at the 2018 nation-state" law declaring that only Jews have the right of self-determination in Israel. In Taybeh, an Arab town, Hadash party official Hosam Azem, 52, said: Arabs who dont vote, most of them dont do it for ideological reasons - just because they dont think their vote will have an impact, he said. During the campaign, Netanyahu sought to tap into Trump's popularity among Israelis, who delighted in his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2017 and transfer of the U.S. Embassy to the holy city last May from Tel Aviv. Two weeks before the election, Trump signed a proclamation, with Netanyahu at his side at the White House, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. In a rare turn during the race toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Netanyahu further alarmed Palestinians by pledging to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if re-elected. Palestinians seek a state there and in the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. This pre-election promise from Netanyahu was widely seen as an attempt to draw right-wing votes rather than a change of policy. But with Trump's moves on Jerusalem and the Golan, the prime minister may feel emboldened to advocate annexation. Commenting on the election, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said: "Israelis have voted to preserve the status quo. They have said no to peace and yes to the occupation". The last round of U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed in 2014. Trump is expected to release his administration's Middle East peace plan after the election. If it includes Israeli concessions to the Palestinians, Netanyahus probable far-right coalition allies will probably object. (Additional reporting by Dan Williams, Ron Bousso and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, Rami Ayyub in Taybeh and Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Mark Heinrich) Children were not allowed to participate in an Easter-egg hunt at the University of California, Berkeley without their parents first signing a waiver due to the apparent risk of injury or even death. According to Reason, parents had to stand in line for up to half an hour to hand in the waiver before their kids could attend the 25th Annual Easter Egg Hunt Learning Festival. The waiver, which was obtained by Reason, listed risks including minor injuries, such as scratches, bruises, and sprains, major injuries such as eye injury or loss of sight, joint or back injuries, heart attacks, and concussions, and even catastrophic injuries including paralysis or death. Yes death. Truly, reading this waiver would give you the impression that these parents were about ready to send their children off to a swordfight to the death, and not an Easter-egg hunt. Whats more, its not even like the hunt took place on any kind of dangerous terrain. Robert Strand, executive director and lecturer at the Center for Responsible Business at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, told Reason that he was at the event with his wife and two kids. He said the hunt took place in three different roped-off areas for kids of different ages and literally it was a flat grass surface where they would just place the eggs, rather than, say, an area that was heavily occupied by ISIS. He added that each child was allowed to pick up only five eggs, which meant that the whole thing was completed within a minute, because they were just placed there. Up to 30 minutes in line for one minute of walking around on the grass? Seriously? Apparently, the ridiculousness of it was not lost on Strand. Were in Scandinavia for a chunk of the summer, and our kids just run around at parks, he said. Theyre jumping off things, and some of our friends there say we should be grateful for the small accidents, because then we learn from them, and that prevents the big accidents. Story continues Life is busy for most people, and Id imagine that this would be even more true for people with children. If I were a busy mom and had to waste 30 minutes of my life to sign a waiver before my five-year-old was allowed to walk around on grass, I would be pissed. In fact, this Easter-egg hunt seems like the least dangerous thing that kids could possibly be doing. After all, it seems like the kinds of games that younger kids enjoy making up the most include things like lets jump off of some really high stuff into the dirt and rocks! or lets roll around and punch each other with biting! Yes, I understand that UC Berkeley was probably just trying to cover its behind, but its the kind of thing thats so ridiculous it makes me worry about what might happen next. Lines for waivers before kids and parents can wait in line to meet Santa, perhaps? Actually, the way things are going, I probably just gave some mall an idea. More from National Review Washington (AFP) - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday he has pressed Saudi Arabia to release US citizens detained in a crackdown on women's rights activists in the conservative kingdom. Pompeo -- who usually treads lightly on airing concerns with Saudi Arabia, which has close ties to President Donald Trump's administration -- said that he personally had spoken to Saudi officials "about every single American who we know to be wrongfully detained." "We've urged them to make a better decision, saying that those folks need to be released," Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "It's inconsistent with the relationship between our two countries. We don't think it's in the Saudis' best interest to do this either," he said. Pompeo declined to name the US citizens detained by Saudi Arabia. But he was asked about Salah al-Haidar, the son of high-profile women's activist Aziza al-Yousef, by Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, who said Haidar lived in his state of Virginia. In addition to Haidar, campaigners say that the other detained US-Saudi dual national is writer and doctor Bader al-Ibrahim. The latest round-up started last week after 11 women including Yousef returned to court to face charges that include contacting foreign media, diplomats and rights groups. Some of the women have alleged torture including sexual abuse in prison. The women have campaigned for the right to drive -- a decades-old ban that was lifted last year -- and to abolish a guardianship system that gives men arbitrary authority over women. - Trump ambassador at last in Riyadh - Saudi Arabia has faced heated criticism from US lawmakers after the killing in October inside the kingdom's Istanbul consulate of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor who had written critically about Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Trump administration has restricted visas to a number of Saudi officials as retaliation, but said it wants to preserve a warm relationship due to the kingdom's purchases of US weapons and shared hostility to Iran. Story continues Senators nonetheless on Wednesday easily confirmed Trump's choice to be the US ambassador in Riyadh, John Abizaid, a top US general from the Iraq war. A fluent Arabic speaker of Lebanese Christian descent, Abizaid wrote his master's thesis at Harvard University about Saudi decision-making on defense spending -- an issue that will be sure to come up as ambassador. Ninety-two senators voted to confirm Abizaid. The seven senators who voted against him included four seeking the Democratic nomination for president -- Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren -- with a fifth candidate, Cory Booker, not voting. Trump has been slow to fill key positions, often saying that he wants to shake up Washington. But the absence of an ambassador in Riyadh, nearly two years into his presidency, has been especially glaring. Lawmakers have also defied Trump by seeking to cut off US support for Saudi forces in Yemen, alarmed at the persistent civilian casualties in the country that the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Stacks of perfectly balanced large rocks in Israel's Negev Desert appear to defy gravity, but a good shake could send them tumbling. So, researchers are examining them to learn about earthquakes that have struck this region over the past millennium. By evaluating the age and stability of the rocks, researchers have determined that the largest earthquake that struck the faults underlying the Negev over the past 1,300 years was likely not that big no greater than a magnitude 5.0. "If a strong earthquake occurs in their vicinity, they are likely to break or topple," researchers wrote in an abstract presented at the general assembly of the European European Geosciences Union in Vienna this week. [Photos: The World's Weirdest Balancing Rocks] Likewise, those precariously balanced rocks, or PBRs as they're called, also indicated part of a fault system called the Dead Sea Transform (DST) likely hasn't experienced an earthquake greater than a magnitude 6.5 to 7 during this time period, the researchers found. "This suggests that historic earthquakes [that] occurred during the life span of the PBRs were probably not as strong as previously thought," the researchers wrote in a summary, or abstract, of their presentation. (Their study has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.) A researcher goes to inspect a rock formation in Israel. Yaron Finzi Studying PBRs as a proxy for earthquake magnitude is hardly a new concept. "This methodology has been proven as effective in evaluating the maximal magnitude on faults and fault systems around the world," the researchers wrote in the abstract. This information is critical for understanding the seismic rumblings in southern Israel, a region that's home to several fault lines, villages and valuable infrastructure, including hazardous-material disposal sites and nuclear research facilities, according to EOS, the news site of the American Geophysical Union, which first covered the research. But finding PBRs takes time, so study lead researcher Yaron Finzi, a geophysicist at the Arava Institute and the Arava Dead-Sea Science Center, and his team collaborated with citizen scientists to find these picturesque rock pillars. Story continues "I could not have completed the field work without the help of the tour guides and hikers," Finzi told Live Science. These citizen scientists were so enthusiastic, they drew him maps so he could find the rock formations. Many times, he would bump into people at the grocery store who would ask him how the project was going. After looking at the photos of these PBRs, the researchers identified the best ones that could help with their research. Then, study lead author Noam Ganz, who just earned a master's degree in geology from Ben Gurion University and now works as a research assistant at the Dead Sea and Arava Science Center, spent about 80 days visiting each of these formations. In all, the team located about 80 limestone PBRs and rock pillars between 2015 and 2018, the tallest measuring more than 130 feet (40 meters) high. Next, the researchers examined digitized images of each PBR to determine each formation's stability. Then, they estimated the ground motion each PBR could withstand, as well as its distance from different rupture points, so they could see how much shaking these rock stacks could take before toppling, EOS reported. In addition, the researchers dated the rocks by analyzing the dust trapped between the cliffs and the pillars with a technique called optically stimulated luminescence. This method allows researchers to determine how long ago quartz crystals in the dust were exposed to the sun. "I was relieved that most of the pillars were older than 1,000 years and older than 1,300 years," Finzi told Live Science. "So, they actually give us a bulk of significant and new knowledge about long term seismicity." Originally published on Live Science. In the underlying suit, the plaintiff claimed Godiva printed out a receipt for a credit card transaction with more than the last five digits of the card numbers allowed under FACTA. (Photo: JB Reed/ Bloomberg News) The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Wednesday affirmed a Manhattan federal judges order to cut down a fee request in a Fair Credit Reporting Act lawsuit, finding she had properly exercised her discretion, over arguments to the contrary from the plaintiffs attorneys. The Second Circuit ruling upheld a decision entered last May in which U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni of the Southern District of New York refused to allow attorneys to collect approximately $83,000 in fees in their Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act case. The plaintiff in the underlying matter, Joan Pasini, had brought two other suits in Manhattan federal court under the exact same premises. In the Godiva suit, she ultimately secured a $5,500 settlement with the chocolate maker, after opting out of a class action settlement that would have awarded her up to $80. As Caproni noted in her order, the Godiva action involved no motion practice, no discovery, no contested hearings, a single status conference, which lasted less than 30 minutes, two telephone conferences, which also lasted about 15 to 30 minutes each, and one mediation session. The district court found there was nothing reasonable about the $83,000 figure submitted by Glendale, California, attorney Chant Yedalian and local counsel, attorney Sameer Birring. Rather, the litigators were using FACTA as a cudgel to attempt to extract an unreasonable fee. Attorneys who take on consumer protection lawsuits are sometimes pursuing a public goodthe individual damages are generally quite modest but there is a public interest in ensuring compliance with federal consumer protection laws, the district court wrote. Counsel is entitled to recover reasonable fees, but this court will not aid and abet extortion. Neither Yedalian nor Birring immediately responded to requests for comment. The 10-page complaint in the underlying suit replicates claims similar to the other FACTA suits brought by Pasini. She claimed the chocolatier printed out a receipt for a credit card transaction that included the first six digits and the last four digits of the card number. Under FACTA, no more than the last five digits of the card number are allowed to be on a receipt provided to the cardholder. After opting out of the settlement and an initial figure from the chocolatier of the statutory settlement maximum of $1,000, Pasini demanded a $75,000 payment from Godiva, according to court papers. The suit was filed March 10, 2017. On Sept. 29, the parties alerted the court that the settlement amount for the plaintiff had been agreed to for the far smaller sum of $5,500, but Godiva stated to the court that attorney fees remained an issue. Attorneys for Godiva argued in opposition to the fees that counsels aim throughout this case has been to generate the maximum amount of attorneys fees possible. Caproni agreed, finding the hourly rates proposed by opposing counsel in the exceedingly straightforward case exorbitant. She cut Yedalians requested fee range of $550 to $650 an hour down to a generous $350 an hour, while bringing Birrings $350 an hour requested rate down to $275. Similarly, Yedalians 152 hours of billable work was so out of proportion to the tasks he purportedly undertook that Caproni said she had to question the accuracy of the bills. All but five hours of the claimed time was spent on low-level work that could have been accomplished by an associate or paralegal; tasks any competent attorney (much less one with 15 years of experience practicing in an area of the law that is neither sophisticated nor intellectually challenging) could have accomplished far more quickly. Caproni ultimately cut Yedalians hours billable at the new rate by 90 percent, leaving him with an entitled fee of $5,325.83, while Birring was, at a reduction of 65 percent to his hours, granted $1,020.25 in fees. With the reduced costs of $620 provided to the plaintiff, Capronis order amounted to less than 10 percent of what Pasini sought. On appeal, the panel of Circuit Judges John Walker Jr., Jose Cabranes and Robert Sack said Caproni was within her right to the substantial reduction in light of the pervasive errors and exaggerations in the fee application. The panel went on to likewise support the district courts gutting of travel fees for Yedalian, as there was no reason local counsel could not attend the initial status conference instead of lead counsel from California. Barnes & Thornburg partner Brian Melendez represented Godiva on appeal. He did not respond to a request for comment. The director of the U.S. Secret Service will leave his job, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee said, amid an investigation into a security breach at the presidents Mar-a-Lago resort and a broader shakeup within the Department of Homeland Security. Randolph Tex Alles will be leaving shortly from the Secret Service, Sanders said in a statement on Monday. A Chinese national, Yujing Zhang, was arrested March 30 after entering President Donald Trumps Palm Beach, Florida, resort with electronics including a thumb drive containing malware and lying to a Secret Service agent about why she was there. Alles was asked 11 days ago prior to the Mar-a-Lago incident to plan his departure, a person familiar with the matter said. The move also follows Trumps ouster of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Sunday, as his frustration over a spike in illegal border crossings grows. Alles has led the Secret Service since April 2017. Before that, he was acting deputy commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which he joined in 2012 under the Obama administration. He is a 35-year veteran of the Marines. James Murray, a career member of the Secret Service, will take over as director beginning in May, Sanders said. Kochi : Veteran Politician and Kerala Congress Chairman KM Mani, one of modern kerala's tallest political leaders passed away on Thursday. A funeral procession carrying the remains of the leader to Kottayam will begin from the hospital at 9.30 AM on Wednesday. The procession will reach the Kerala Congress office on Kottayam at 12 pm traveling via Thrippunithara, Vaikom, Thalayolaparambu, Kaduthuruthy and Ettumanoor. The body will be kept at Thirunakkara ground at 12.30 pm for public to pay their last respects. After the funeral prayer at his residence, his body will be laid to rest at the Pala Cathedral church. The Commons approved a Government motion on the Brexit extension request by 420 votes to 110 (PA) MPs gave their backing to Theresa May to ask the EU to delay Brexit again. The Commons approved a Government motion on the extension request by 420 votes to 110, majority 310. The Prime Minister was forced to bring forward the motion under legislation pushed by Labour former minister Yvette Cooper, as part of a parliamentary bid to prevent a no-deal Brexit on April 12 although any extension is subject to the decision of the EU. 80 Conservative MPs did not vote for the motion in protest against the idea of pushing back the Brexit date once again as Brexiteers voiced concerns about the impact of the UK being forced to take part in European elections in May. The came as the European Union signalled it is likely to offer the UK a final Brexit extension after the 27 EU leaders meet tomorrow. The EUs chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said Brussels could amend the Political Declaration on future relations with the UK within a few hours or days to incorporate the customs union arrangement being discussed in cross-party talks between the government and Labour. It has been reported that Mr Barnier asked the leaders of 27 EU nations to back prime minister Theresa Mays request for a Brexit delay until June 30. Mr Barnier told a press conference in Luxembourg: The Withdrawal Agreement is not going to be reopened, is not up for negotiation again. That continues to be the case. The Political Declaration, which will set the framework for future relations, can be improved, we can provide an increased level of ambition if that is the wish of the UK. These ambitions for the future relationship, which could for example consist of adding to the free trade agreement on which we have agreed with the UK already a customs union, a genuine customs union. We are willing to improve and amend the Political Declaration rapidly, within a few hours or days. There were signs of resistance in Mrs Mays Cabinet to compromise with Labour, with International Trade Secretary Liam Fox warning that a customs union would leave the UK stuck in the worst of both worlds. Story continues Theresa May is reportedly considering offering MPs a vote on a second Brexit referendum (Picture: PA) In a clear sign of opposition to concessions to Labours demands, Dr Fox sent a letter to the chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee setting out in detail his opposition to a post-Brexit customs union. Read more British mother faces jail in Dubai for Facebook posts calling ex-husbands new wife a horse Murderer wants prison cell IVF treatment so he can get his girlfriend pregnant House covered in pigeon poo sells for more than double its 45,000 asking price The letter, obtained by the Daily Telegraph, warns that such an arrangement would leave the UK unable to set its own trade policy but forced to open its markets to any country with which the EU struck a free trade agreement. In such a scenario the UK would have a new role in the global trading system we ourselves would be traded, he told Sir Graham Brady. As the famous saying in Brussels goes, if you are not at the table, you are on the menu. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Best Life Over 37 million Americans are living with kidney disease, also known as renal disease, a progressive condition that causes a gradual loss of normal kidney function over time. However, experts warn that the vast majority of those with the condition are unaware of their diagnosis. In fact, according to Joseph Vassalotti, MD, Chief Medical Officer at the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), just "10 percent of people with chronic kidney disease know that they have it."That's because symptoms tend to b CANBERRA, Australia (AP) If Australian opposition leader Bill Shorten becomes prime minister and visits the U.S., he can expect questions about a radio interview he gave three years ago in which he said some of then-presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's views were "barking mad." Trump seemed a long shot for the White House when Shorten gave the interview on May 27, 2016, during Australia's last election campaign. And Shorten, who leads the center-left Labor Party, seemed a long shot to become Australia's prime minister. He was trying to become the first Australian opposition leader to oust a prime minister after a single three-year term since 1931, when the Great Depression helped scuttle a Labor government. But Shorten came closer than many had expected. Conservative Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull scraped back into power with a single-seat majority in the House of Representatives, where parties need a majority of seats to form a government. Turnbull's conservative coalition had lost 14 lawmakers. Turnbull pounced on Shorten's swipe at Trump as evidence that the Labor leader wasn't fit to lead Australia. Turnbull accused Shorten of potentially offending Australia's most important strategic ally by breaking a long-standing Australian convention of avoiding taking sides in U.S. political contests. Shorten had told a Darwin radio station that a Trump administration was among "the sort of scenarios you hope don't emerge." "I think Donald Trump's views are just barking mad on some issues," Shorten said. "America's a great friend of Australia; whoever they dish up we'll work with, but wow, Trump's sort of it's sort of the ultimate victory of celebrity politics," he said. Shorten described Trump's popularity as the "ultimate protest vote," and warned that Australia should pursue policies of fairness and equality. Story continues The political landscapes in Australia and the United States have transformed since 2016. Shorten's party goes into the 2019 election campaign as a firm favorite. His party has led the conservative coalition in most opinion polls in the last three years. Turnbull was replaced by senior minister Scott Morrison in a revolt by ruling Liberal Party lawmakers at least partly because of the government's poor performance in opinion polls. The government lost two lawmakers and its majority in continuing blood-letting from the leadership change. Despite Labor's dominance in the polls, Shorten's personal popularity has remained relatively low. But Australia's system of compulsory voting means Shorten's lack of charisma is not the political handicap it might be in U.S politics. Because failing to vote is punished with a fine, voter turnout in Australia is always high even when the choices are not particularly attractive. While there are Labor lawmakers who are more popular with the Australian public, Shorten is a powerbroker who has enjoyed strong support within his party for the past six years of his leadership. The government had depicted Shorten as a puppet of the labor unions that donate to Labor's campaign war chest. The government has also portrayed Shorten as being reckless with policies that would harm the Australian economy. Energy policy is as contentious as any in Australia, which is the world's biggest exporter of coal and liquid natural gas. Labor wants to cut Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Australia committed in the Paris Agreement on climate change to reduce its emissions by 26 or 28 percent by 2030. Shorten, 51, was first elected to Parliament in the same 2007 election that swept Labor to power for the first time in more than 11 years. Morrison entered Parliament in the same election. Shorten has deep labor union roots. His father was a waterside laborer and union official, and his mother was a lawyer and university academic. He became involved in Labor politics as a student and was soon touted as a potential prime minister. He worked for less than two years as a lawyer before becoming a union official. Shorten first came to national attention as national secretary of the Australian Workers Union in 2006 when the Beaconsfield gold mine collapse in Tasmania state killed one miner and left two trapped underground for two weeks. His regular news conferences on behalf of the union representing the miners created a national profile before he entered Parliament the following year. But as a party power broker, Shorten played a key role in deposing two prime ministers through internal government leadership ballots in the face of poor opinion polling during Labor's chaotic six years in office. His history of fickle loyalty in ousting leaders he once supported may come back to haunt him as he seeks to lead the country. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman by phone on Tuesday, discussing Riyadh's role in Middle East stability, maintaining pressure on Iran and the importance of human rights issues, the White House said. Washington's Middle East ally faces rising pressure over its handling of the war in Yemen and moves to stifle internal dissent, including the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and prosecution of women's rights activists. A bipartisan chorus of U.S. lawmakers has called on the White House to harden its stance toward Saudi Arabia after Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. U.S. intelligence believes the crown prince ordered the killing, which Saudi officials deny. Trump has said the U.S. partnership with Saudi Arabia is important for the U.S. economy and maintaining stability in the region. The U.S. State Department on Monday publicly designated 16 people for their role in Khashoggi's death and said they and their families would be barred from entering the United States. The United States on Monday also designated Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, drawing an angry reaction from Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday. The White House said Trump used the call with the crown prince to discuss ways of "maintaining maximum pressure against Iran." Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition battling Iranian-backed Houthi insurgents in Yemen. (Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Peter Cooney) Los Angeles (AFP) - A US federal judge on Monday blocked President Donald Trump's policy of returning asylum seekers to Mexico to wait out the processing of their cases, saying the Department of Homeland Security had overstepped its authority. The ruling by US District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco marked a rebuke for the Trump administration's efforts to stop the flow of migrants seeking asylum through the US border with Mexico. The decision, which goes into effect on Friday, comes just days after outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen had vowed to expand the controversial program. Several hundred people seeking asylum have been returned to Mexico to await the outcome of their request under the policy first implemented in January at the San Ysidro port of entry in California and later extended to Calexico, a second California border point, and El Paso, Texas. "A 9th Circuit Judge just ruled that Mexico is too dangerous for migrants. So unfair to the U.S. OUT OF CONTROL!," Trump furiously tweeted. While any appeal against Seeborg's ruling will be heard by the federal Ninth Circuit appeals court -- a frequent target of Trump's ire -- Seeborg himself is not on the circuit. Elsewhere, rights groups welcomed the ruling, saying the return policy failed to provide adequate safeguards to protect asylum seekers from persecution. "Try as it may, the Trump administration cannot simply ignore our laws in order to accomplish its goal of preventing people from seeking asylum in the United States," said Judy Rabinovitz, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Immigrants' Rights Project. The ACLU and several other groups, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, had sought an injunction against the policy on behalf of 11 asylum seekers from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala who were returned to Mexico after seeking asylum at the US border. In his 27-page ruling -- which can be appealed -- Seeborg said at issue was not whether the policy is "a wise, intelligent, or humane policy" but rather whether it exposes aliens to "unduly dangerous circumstances." Story continues He noted that the plaintiffs in the case were not challenging the "system" of expedited removal. Trump, who originally dubbed the measure the "Remain in Mexico" policy, unveiled it last year as a series of caravans with thousands of Central American migrants made their way to the US-Mexican border. Mexico said it was cooperating with US authorities concerning the migrants being sent back, but only for humanitarian reasons. Migrants who reach US soil have a legal right to seek asylum and are usually held in detention facilities while their application is processed, or released into the United States. Washington (AFP) - The United States said Wednesday it has resumed air strikes against the Al-Shabaab Islamist group in Somalia, after a brief pause that followed accusations from Amnesty International that it had tried to hide civilian casualties. The latest air strike was carried out on Tuesday near Jilib, in the Moyen-Juba region southwest of Mogadishu, and killed one Islamist fighter, the US Africa Command (Africom) said. "Currently, we assess no civilians were injured or killed as a result of this air strike," Africom said in a statement, adding, for the first time, that the army had procedures in place to collect follow-up information on the impact of bombings. It was the first air raid carried out by the US military since March 18. The day after that strike, Amnesty published a report saying 14 civilians had been killed and seven wounded in the course of five air strikes attributed to the US military. Africom denied any civilian deaths in its operations, but on Friday admitted responsibility for the death in April 2018 of a woman and child, after receiving information which it said had not been previously passed on. An inquiry is underway into all US air strikes carried out since June 2017, when the operations began. The Amnesty charges came at a moment when the US military was stepping up its operations in Somalia, with 28 air strikes since the beginning of 2019, against 47 carried out in the whole of 2018 and 35 in 2017. The United States is backing the military campaign of the Somali government and the African Union mission against Al-Shabab, which has been operating in the country since 2007. The Al-Qaeda-linked group was forced out of the capital Mogadishu in 2011 and then progressively from the major cities by African Union troops. But they still control vast swathes of rural territory, from which they launch guerilla raids or suicide bombings against government and security targets, including in the capital. New York City officials on Tuesday ordered residents at the center of an ongoing measles outbreak to get vaccinated or face fines up to $1,000, in the latest dramatic move by officials attempting to stop measles outbreaks that are spreading across the country. Mayor Bill de Blasio, along with Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot, announced a public health emergency related to the measles outbreak at a press conference Tuesday. This is an unusual action, and its because of the sheer extent of the crisis, de Blasio said. There have been 285 confirmed cases of measles since October 2018. The majority of cases have been among members of Brooklyns Orthodox Jewish community, primarily in parts of Brooklyns Williamsburg and Borough Park neighborhoods. As part of the emergency order, all residents of four Williamsburg zip codes 11205, 11206, 11211 and 11249 must be vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella if they are not already. Those found to be in violation of the order could face up to a $1,000 fine, officials said. Roughly 1,800 children in Williamsburg remain unvaccinated, Barbot said during the press conference. She added that the city will help unprotected individuals secure affordable and accessible vaccination, and emphasized that vaccination is safe and effective. Today, I am declaring a public health emergency due to the measles outbreak. @nycHealthy is ordering all people in Williamsburg to get vaccinated against measles. https://t.co/1u29736yTy Commissioner Oxiris Barbot (@NYCHealthCommr) April 9, 2019 The order comes a day after the city announced that yeshivas in parts of Brooklyn that allow unvaccinated children to attend school could face fines or potential school closures and just a few days after a judge halted a similar emergency order in New Yorks Rockland County. In Rockland, officials declared a countywide state of emergency related to measles, and banned unvaccinated children from visiting public places. A judge halted that ban last week. Story continues While de Blasio did not comment on the situation in Rockland, he said he is confident that New York Citys emergency order is an appropriate use of power. This is about one neighborhood, and the focus is on tracing folks who have been exposed, he said. This is very pinpointed, very localized, and I think very appropriate. Measles is a highly contagious viral infection that can result in symptoms such as cough, fever, runny nose and rash; in severe cases, it can lead to hospitalization or, rarely, death. The disease can be prevented through vaccination. Outside of New York City and Rockland County, measles outbreaks are underway in the Pacific Northwest, California, New Jersey and Michigan. Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 465 cases of measles in 19 states so far this year, putting the U.S. on pace for the most measles cases since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close As exit polls showed a close match between Blue and White Party and rival Likud after Tuesday's elections, the smaller parties struggling to pass the threshold of votes needed to win a place in the next Knesset, sought to reassure their supporters as they awaited the true results to begin to come in. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The Union of Right-Wing Parties, who won 4-5 Knesset seats according to the exit polls, celebrated the strength of their collaboration between the Jewish Home and extreme-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power), which allowed them to pass the electoral threshold. Itamar Ben-Gvir visit a market in Jerusalem before the elections (Photo: Eli Mendelbaum) "Tonight, we learned that the unity between Otzma Yehudit and Jewish Home saved the rule of the right," said the Union in a statement. "The path of the National Religious sector won and proved that it is far stronger than any particular leader," the statement said, apparently referring to Naftali Bennett, who left the Jewish Home in order to form the New Right Party. "We expect the prime minister to announce that he plans to form a rightist government, in which we see ourselves as senior partners. We will very soon start drawing the lines of the policies this future government will promote," said the statement. Both Bennett and fellow New Right leader Ayelet Shaked remained optimistic Tuesday night, despite the fact two out of three exit polls showed them failing to pass the threshold. Ayelet Shaked and Naftali Bennett meeting their supporters after the exit polls were released "We have patience and strong nerves," said Bennett. "The New Right will pass the threshold We are sure of our rightful way We take care of our soldiers and the soldiers will take care of us," he said, apparently pinning his hopes on the soldiers' votes, which come in after the rest of the results. Miri Regev from the Likud Party told Ynet that it was too early to make any bold statements but that the right-wing bloc had been victorious. "We have a long night ahead of us," she said. "We must wait for the soldiers' votes, anything can change. The Israeli public said yes to the rightist bloc and no to the leftist bloc." (Photo: Motti Kimchi) Orly Levy-Abekasis, leader of the Gesher Party, thanked her supporters and expressed her disappointment as exit polls showed her party failing to cross the threshold. "We really wanted to take care of our society's daily issues," she said. "Every single vote we received gives me a feeling that there is a spark, there is a public that believes in our values." She also expressed the hope that the final results would secure her a presence in the Knesset. "On Wednesday morning, when the true results come in, we might see a different picture," she said. Orly Levy-Abekasis (Photo: Efi Sharir) Ayman Odeh, leader of the Hadash-Ta'al joint list, thanked the country's Arab citizens for participating in the elections. "Thank you, Arabs and Jews who believe in democracy, and all those who went out and voted despite incitement, hate and racist legislation," said Odeh. He also expressed the hope that the other Arab list, Balad-Ra'am, would defy the exit polls and make it into the Knesset again. Hadash-Ta'al leader Ayman Odeh with his supporters (Photo: AFP) "We are waiting for the true results, I believe Balad-Ra'am will also be joining us in the next Knesset, and together we will continue fighting for peace and equality," he said. Only one exit poll predicted Balad-Ra'am would pass the threshold. The Zehut Party, whom many thought would be the big surprise performer of the 2019 elections, failed to pass the threshold in any of the exit polls, despite the high hopes and the lively discussions its views stirred. Moshe Feiglin votes on the Tuesday elections (Photo: Yair Sagi) However, Zehut's leader Moshe Feiglin said he isn't calling it quits yet, and also hoped that the soldiers' votes might make a difference and win the party some Knesset seats. "No one knows if Zehut is in or out. We might not know tomorrow as well, since the soldiers make up some eight seats," said Feiglin, whose enjoys a lot of support from younger crowds due to his initial promise to legalize cannabis. Moshe Kahlon, leader of Kulanu, and Avigdor Lieberman leader of Yisrael Beytenu declined to comment before the true results come in on Wednesday. Benjamin Netanyahu heading into his 5th consecutive term as Prime Minister, has a clear majority of support to form a right wing coalition government Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter "This is an unimaginable achievement," Netanyahu said, at around 2am. "I am very moved tonight, a night of tremendous victory. I am very excited that the people of Israel once again trusted me for the fifth time, and with greater confidence." Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu on stage at Likud HQ in Tel Aviv (Photo: AFP) He added: "I have already started talks with the leaders of our right-wing parties, and almost all of them have publicly declared that they will recommend me to form the government, and will do so to our president. There will be a right-wing government, but I intend to be the prime minister of all the citizens of Israel, right and left, Jews and non-Jews, I care about everyone, that's how it was and that's how it will be. " Netanyahu's Likud and the Blue and White Party lead by Benny Gantz appear to have 35 seats each, while the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties each won eight seats. The once mighty Labor party was down to just six seats. Moshe Kahlon's Kulanu party was on course to win four seats, while Hadash-Ta'al, Meretz were set to claim four seats apiece. the Union of Right-Wing Parties has won five seats while the New Right party led for Ministers Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked are hoping the soldiers' vote, not yet counted will carry them over the required threshold. The results put the the rightist bloc in the lead with 65 seats, while the leftist bloc stands at 55 seats. Benny Gantz had also claimed victory hours earlier, as the exit polls showed his Blue and White party locked in a tight race with Netanyahu's Likud. "This is an historic day. Thank you to Netanyahu for his service for the country. Just as he said - the largest party should be the one to form the government," said Gantz, in a speech at his party headquarters just two hours after the release of exit polls that predicted a slight lead for his party over the Likud, but an advantage to the right-wing bloc led by Netanyahu. L-R: Moshe Ya'alon, Benny Gantz, Gabi Ashkenazi and Yair Lapid (Photo: Yuval Chen) One of the exit polls was later corrected to show a small lead for Likud. "There are election losers, there are election winners - and we are the winners," Gantz said. "They said we would not win, we won," Gantz said. "We will win in a way that is respectful to everyone, respectful of the past, respectful of the present, and building a joint future that is yet to come." Gantz also vowed to move quickly to form the next government. "We have a responsibility to form a government that will serve the State of Israel and not itself," he said. "The sooner we form a government, the sooner we can lead the State of Israel. We have a lot of work ahead of us." A bomb attack in the Syrian city of Raqqa killed at least eight people on Tuesday, including four fighters of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a security source in northern Syria said . The blast also killed four civilians and wounded three members of the Kurdish-led internal security forces known as the Asayish, the source said. Witnesses said people including SDF members gathered at the scene after an initial blast, which was followed by a bigger explosion that caused the casualties. While the final vote count is not expected before late Thursday, Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have a clear path to his 5th term as Prime Minister. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter With a ten seat lead Netanyahu's coalition will rely on a stronger ultra-orthodox block consisting of 16 seats, divided equally between Shas and the United Torah Judaism Party. Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Reuters) Netanyahu will also rely on his partners to the right: The Union of Right Wing Parties, with six 6 seats so far and Moshe Kahlon's Kulanu which managed to scrape by the minimum votes needed to win 4 seats. Avigdor Leiberman's Israel Beiteinu Party is also expected to join the new coalition despite a contentious past with the Prime Minister that resulted in his resignation from the position of Defense Minister, last year. Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu celebrating Likud win (Photo: Reuters) With the expected 200,000 absentee ballots, most of them from the military, the fate of parties close to the minimum threshold will be determined among them, Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked who have both served the outgoing government as ministers of Education and Justice respectively. The new government will face challenges both to Netanyahu himself, with three indictments on charges of corruption pending, and to the well being of the coalition following the announcement of President Trump's long awaited "deal of the century" In a hearing of the senate appropriations subcommittee, Secretary Mike Pompeo would not say what the US reaction the annexation of settlements would be. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu pledged to annex all West Bank settlement if re-elected. Airbnb said on Tuesday it would not implement a planned delisting of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and would donate proceeds from any bookings in the territory to international humanitarian aid organizations. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Heeding calls from Palestinians who want the West Bank for a future state, Airbnb had said in November it would remove the listings of some 200 settlement homes. That decision was deplored by Israel and challenged in some U.S. jurisdictions. Airbnb in West Bank settlement (Photo: Adam Bar) Announcing a resolution of lawsuits brought against it, Airbnb said it "will not move forward with implementing the removal of listings in the West Bank from the platform." "But Airbnb will take no profits from this activity in the region," said a statement posted on the company website, implying the new policy would not distinguish between settlement listings and Palestinian listings in the West Bank. "Any profits generated for Airbnb will be donated to non-profit organizations dedicated to humanitarian aid that serve people in different parts of the world." There was no immediate reaction from Israeli or Palestinian officials. Most world powers view Israel's construction of settlements on occupied land as a violation of international law, and Palestinians say it is wrong for companies to profit from them. "Airbnb's disappointing decision appears to reverse their stance to fully respect rights," Human Rights Watch said in a statement. "By continuing to do business in settlements, they remain complicit in the abuses settlements trigger." Airbnb was sued over its proposed delisting of West Bank apartments last November in Jerusalem District Court and, separately, in a U.S. federal courts in Delaware and California. The Israeli lawsuit, a class action, accused the company of "outrageous discrimination" and demanded monetary damages. The Delaware lawsuit accused Airbnb of violating U.S. housing discrimination law by "redlining" Jewish-owned properties while letting Muslims and Christians continue to use the company's service. The California lawsuit made similar claims. West Bank settlement (Photo: Reuters) The Shurat HaDin Law Center in Israel, which was involved in the U.S. lawsuit against Airbnb, called the company's about-face "a powerful defeat for the anti-Israel boycott movement." "The policy Airbnb announced last November was abject discrimination against Jewish users of the website," Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, one of the lawyers in the U.S. case, said in a statement. "We commend Airbnb for recognizing that it had landed on the wrong side of this issue and changing the policy." Lawyers for the California plaintiffs could not immediately be reached. Airbnb has denied that its West Bank delisting plan had targeted Israel in general. "Airbnb has never boycotted Israel, Israeli businesses, or the more than 20,000 Israeli hosts who are active on the Airbnb platform", the company statement said. German police on Wednesday raided offices belonging to Islamic organizations suspected of financing the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is on the European Union's terrorism blacklist, the interior ministry said. The ministry said the main targets of the raids were World Wide Resistance-Help and Ansaar International which are believed to have collected funds for Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, under the guise of humanitarian aid. The organizations say on their websites that they collect donations for people in Gaza, Somalia, Syria and other countries. Gun rights groups sued Tuesday to block Pittsburgh from enforcing firearms legislation passed after a mass shooting at a synagogue, accusing city officials of blatantly defying the state's prohibition on municipal gun regulation. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Democratic Mayor Bill Peduto signed the bills into law in a ceremony at the City-County Building, declaring the community had come together "to say enough is enough." City officials said they had to act because the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Legislature -- which is planning to hold a memorial service for the victims this week -- will not. A memorial at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where 11 people were massacred (Photo: AFP) Minutes later, a coalition of gun rights groups sued to get the newly minted laws overturned, calling them "patently unenforceable, unconstitutional, illegal." Shortly after that, a second lawsuit, this one backed by the National Rifle Association, declared that "Pittsburgh has violated the rights of its citizens." US President Donald Trump at an NRA conference (Photo: TNS) "Worse yet, Pittsburgh has committed this violation without any realistic prospect of diminishing the ... incidence of horrific mass shootings," said the suit, filed by four city residents. "All it will do is leave law-abiding citizens more vulnerable to attack from better-armed and more ruthless assailants." The new legislation restricts military-style assault weapons like the AR-15 rifle authorities say was used in the Oct. 27 massacre that killed 11 and wounded seven. It also bans most uses of armor-piercing ammunition and high-capacity magazines and allows the temporary seizure of guns from people who are determined to be a danger to themselves or others. The first two laws are due to take effect in 60 days, the imminent-danger law in 180 days. Whether the city will be able to enforce them is an open question. State law has long prohibited municipalities from regulating the ownership or possession of guns or ammunition, and courts have thrown out other local firearms measures, including a 1990s-era assault weapons ban in Pittsburgh. But city leaders said they were eager to take on the fight, given the Legislature's traditional reluctance to pass gun legislation. "This fantasy that somehow the state is going to step up and help us is simply not going to happen," said Council President Bruce Kraus. The bill signing took place as state lawmakers prepared to come together for a memorial service for the Tree of Life victims. The unusual joint session at the Capitol in Harrisburg on Wednesday will bring together the House and Senate for prayers and speeches about the attack. Peduto's spokesman said the timing was coincidental. The Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh after the 11 congregants were gunned down during a Shabbat service (Photo: AP) (Photo: AP) The Pittsburgh bills -- proposed not long after the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history -- were weakened ahead of City Council passage in an effort to make them more likely to survive a court challenge. While one of the bills originally included an outright ban on assault weapons, the revised measure bars the "use" of assault weapons in public places. A full ban on possession would take effect only if state lawmakers or the state Supreme Court give municipalities the right to regulate guns, which is seen as unlikely in a state where a majority of legislators are fiercely protective of gun rights. The city will be represented in court by lawyers with Everytown for Gun Safety, a group backed by former New York mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg. In another legal filing Tuesday, the Allegheny County Sportsmen's League asked a judge to hold the city, Peduto and six council members who voted for the gun-control legislation in contempt of court, contending they violated a 1995 legal settlement in which city officials dropped the earlier effort to ban assault weapons and agreed to "abide by and adhere to Pennsylvania law." "It is unfortunate that ... taxpayers will be burdened by the city's elected officials believing it is acceptable -- and even gloating -- that they are violating the Pennsylvania Constitution and Crimes Code," Joshua Prince, a lawyer seeking to overturn the laws, wrote in a statement. The 21st Knesset appears to be looking more conservative with a wider representation for religious and ultra-Orthodox politicians and fewer women. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter At least 29 women were elected to the parliament, most of whom via the two parties that received the greatest share of the vote - the Blue and White party and the Likud - with 10 women each. The left-wing Labor and Meretz parties elected two women apiece, while the ultra-Orthodox parties - Shas and United Torah Judaism - didnt have any women on their lists at all. Yaakov Litzman and Tamar Zandberg The number is disproportionately low relative to the female share of the population, and although it appears to be on par with the number of women elected to the previous parliament, the number of female MKs rose to 36 throughout the 20th Knesset, according to research conducted by Dr. Ofer Kenig of the Israel Democracy Institute. Women in the 21st Knesset When it comes to a variety of ethnicities, 42 of those elected are of Mizrahi descent - more than one-thirds of the Knesset - 15 of whom were elected via the Likud party and nine others via Blue and White. Most of the MKs from the Labor Party who are about to enter the Knessed are of Mizrahi origin (four out of six). Some 31 MKs in the next parliament will be National-Religious and ultra-Orthodox - similarly to female MKs - making up one quarter of the Knesset. At least 17 out of the 31 are ultra-Orthodox, with another 14 being National-Religious. Almost all ultra-Orthodox MKs were elected via Shas and United Torah Judaism with the exception of Omer Yankelevich - the first ever female Haredi MK - elected via Blue and White. Religious Jews in the 21st Knesset Three out of the four elected Kulanu party members are also of Mizrahi descent. In addition, all eight MKs elected via Shas - a Sephardic-ultra-Orthodox party - are also of Mizrahi origin. Meretz and United Torah Judaism parties are the only Jewish parties via which, no Mizrahi MKs were elected. The number represents a leap from the previous parliament (as far as Haredi representation is concerned), which had some 13 ultra-Orthodox MKs. The 21st Knesset will also have a record number of MKs from the LGBT community, with at least three gay men joining the current parliamentarians from the community - Amir Ohana from Likud and Itzik Shmuli from Labor. A senior Hamas leader is dismissing the outcome of Israel's election as irrelevant, saying "all parties are faces of one coin, the coin of occupation." Khalil al-Hayya said Wednesday that "there is no difference" between the Israeli parties, and pledged that Gaza's militant Hamas rulers would continue seeking to "end the occupation and achieve our national goals." He spoke as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared poised to win a historic fifth term and cobble together a governing coalition of ultra-Orthodox and nationalist allies. WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's winning re-election after parliamentary elections was a good sign for peace. Trump made the remark to reporters at the White House. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin says his talks with political parties are to begin next week, in the run-up to picking the leader he thinks has the best chance of forming a stable governing coalition. Rivlin added Wednesday that, for the first time, his meetings with party leaders would be broadcast on live television "in the name of transparency." Although the president acts largely in a ceremonial capacity, he is charged with choosing a candidate for prime minister after hearing recommendations from the heads of all factions. He will then task the leading candidate with forming a government within 42 days. Germany says it will work closely with any new Israeli government and stressed the two countries' "cordial" ties despite recent differences on Israel's settlement policies. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Wednesday that Berlin was waiting for the official result of Tuesday's parliamentary elections. The Likud party of right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears set to win the election, setting up his Likud party to forge a governing coalition. Seibert told reporters that "Israel lies in a region with enormous challenges, which is why it's important to form a government quickly." While the Jewish population in the country witnessed an election campaign full of intrigues, accusations and unprecedented emotions, the Israeli Arabs - who the prime minister claimed in 2015 were flocking to the polls - displayed an atmosphere of total indifference. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter As the hours on the election day advanced, the Arab parties became increasingly concerned about a small voter turnout in the sector. Hadash leader MK Ayman Odeh (Photo: Yuval Chen) MK Ayman Odeh, leader of the Arab socialist Hadash-Ta'al party, called the turnout a nightmare, just hours before the polls closed. Its the prime minister's fantasy - the Knesset without Arab representation - suddenly seems like it could become reality, Odeh said. On Tuesday at 10pm, when the exit polls were released, it became clear Odehs fear was justified and the Arab representation in the next Knesset would be reduced by half. The way things look at the moment, Hadash-Ta'al just barely passed the electoral threshold with five Knesset seats, while the other joint Arab list, Ra'am-Balad, failed to pass the threshold altogether. In comparison, in the 2015 election, the alliance of the Arab parties won an unprecedented 13 of the 120 Knesset seats. "First of all, I want to say thank you to our voters - Arab citizens and Jews who believe in democracy - who went out to vote despite the incitement campaign, hatred and racist legislations and put their trust in us, said Odeh after the exit polls came out. Bibi (Netanyahu) understands this and we do too: There wont be a political change in this country without the power of the Arab sector. A hidden camera worn by a Likud activist at a polling station One of the possible explanations for the small turnout is a complaint received by the Central Elections Committee that Likud activists had secretly installed 1,300 hidden cameras at several polling stations in Arab communities. That, however, was not the only reason. Suha Masarwa from Wadi Ara - located northwest of the Green Line near Haifa - was one of those who decided not to vote. "I will not vote for any party and will not participate in giving way to a racist Knesset focused on occupation," she said. Another resident from Umm al-Fahm called on the Arab population to boycott the elections. "The Arabs are determined to abstain from voting because of many reasons, including the political union between Hadash and Ta'al, he said We will teach them a lesson and the next four years they will spend worrying about their pockets. The Ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties did well in Israel's national election and will likely bring hefty demands for more government payouts to coalition talks, making it harder for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to rein in a growing budget deficit. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Two religious parties, often political kingmakers in the past, were projected to win a combined 16 of 120 seats in parliament, three more than they have now. Their support is essential for Netanyahu should he opt to form a right-wing coalition, rather than seek a broader unity government with centrist rivals. Shas Party event (Photo: Amit Shabi) Ultra-Orthodox Jews, known as Haredim, make up about 10 percent of Israel's population and, with their typically large families, that percentage is expected to swell. They receive state benefits, stipends and military exemptions that allow many to devote time to religious studies rather than joining the workforce. Just around half of Haredi men are employed, an issue long identified by economists as a drag on Israeli growth. At the same time, more than 70 percent of Haredi women work but their salaries are well below the average of non-Haredi women. Haredim cast votes (Photo: EPA) The two parties, Yahadut Hatorah (United Torah Judaism or UTJ) and Shas, pledge to try to keep or even build on the status quo, disregarding warnings from Israel's central bank and groups like the International Monetary Fund of a future crisis without change. "Having stronger power would mean that they would have stronger leverage for obtaining higher stipends for (seminary) students," said Eitan Regev, an economist at the Israel Democracy Institute. Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri (Photo: Yuval Chen) Cuts put more Haredim to work He noted that when stipends were cut in a short-lived government without Haredi parties after the 2013 election, more men joined the workforce. Allowances were raised again two years later in a new government, halting the rise in numbers of employed Haredi, Regev said. UTJ co-head Moshe Gafni said Netanyahu had called him since polls closed late on Tuesday to discuss a partnership. Israel's budget deficit is rising, forecast to reach nearly 4 percent of gross domestic product this year - well above the 2.9 percent target. Although ratings agencies Fitch and S&P said Israel was not at risk of a downgrade in the near term, austerity measures seem unavoidable. UTJ Chairman Yaakov Litzman (Photo: AP) The Bank of Israel has called for a combination of spending cuts and tax increases to keep the budget from spiraling out of control. After the new government is in place, discussions on the 2020 and possibly a dual 2020-2021 budget will begin. "It will be very difficult to consolidate the budget," said Leader Capital Markets chief economist Jonathan Katz, noting much depended on how much pressure Netanyahu will be able to withstand. "The big question is, 'Will it be a macro story of billions of shekels, or hundreds of millions?'" In the longer term, the parties could delay the integration of a chunk of the population into the workforce, something the Bank of Israel has singled out as a top economic priority. A recent study by the central bank found that economic growth would slow if the issue is not addressed. "Comprehensive and persistent policy in these areas will contribute to increasing the standard of living for all population segments and to reducing inequality in the economy," it said in its 2018 review. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday welcomed Benjamin Netanyahu's re-election as prime minister as a good sign for peace. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter "Everybody says you can't have peace in the Middle East, with Israel and the Palestinians," Trump told reporters at the White House. Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump at the White House (Photo: Reuters) "I think we have a chance. I think we have now a better chance with Bibi having won," he said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. Netanyahu secured a clear path to re-election on Wednesday, and a record fifth term in office, with religious-rightist parties set to hand him a parliamentary majority, despite a close contest against his main centrist challenger, Benny Gantz. "He's been a great ally and he's a friend. I'd like to congratulate him on a well-thought-out race," Trump said. Benjamin Netanyahu celebrates his election victory, April 9, 2019 (Photo: MCT) During the election campaign, Netanyahu highlighted his close relationship with Trump, who has implemented a series of policy changes on the Middle East that were seen as a boon to Netanyahu. Last week, Trump announced that the United States was designating Iran's Revolutionary Guards a "foreign terrorist organization," a move that Netanyahu claimed in Hebrew on Twitter had come after a request he made of the president. It is the first time that the US has designated a part of another government as a terrorist organization. "This unprecedented step, led by the Department of State, recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft," said Trump in a statement. Trump also walked away from the Iranian nuclear deal painstakingly put together by his predecessor Barack Obama and his European allies in July 2015. Netanyahu had long condemned the deal as insuffiencient to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and Israeli television last year aired a recording of Netanyahu claiming that Israel had led Trump to abandon the agreement. In March, Trump - with Netanyahu at his side - signed a decree recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which was captured from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War. My dear friend Donald, you have demonstrated consistent and extraordinary support for Israel, in our right to defend ourselves," Netanyahu said after the ceremony. "You are never deterred, you are always present, including today and I thank you. He added: Throughout the years, Israel has had an excellent relationship with the United States but there has been no greater friend than you." Trump's most controversial move regarding his policy on Israel and the Palestinians came in May 2018, when he moved the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, infuriating the Muslim world. Donald Trump addressing the opening of the new US embassy in Jerusalem, May 2018 (Photo: Amit Shabi) Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner were in attendance when the new embassy was inaugurated, as was a jubilant Netanyahu. "What a glorious day for Israel," Netanyahu said. "Remember this moment. This is history. President Trump, by recognizing history you have made history. All of us are deeply moved, all of us are deeply grateful." "This is a great day," he continued. "A great day for Jerusalem. A great day for the state of Israel. A day that will be engraved in our national memory for generations." As soon as the exit polls were released on Tuesday night, Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to announce a Likud victory. A win it may have been, a victory it is not. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Certainly it was no victory for the person who bragged about winning a number of seats significantly greater than that of his rival. His second objective his pick of coalition partners - did not materialize either. Benjamin Netanyahu celebrates his election victory, April 9, 2019 (Photo: MCT) As it appears at the time of writing, Netanyahu does not have an indictment-proof coalition. Even when he does form the next government, he will not receive the greatest prize - coalition partners who will help him enact legislation to shield him from the long arm of the law. Moshe Kahlon and Avigdor Lieberman, whose parties apparently passed the threshold by the skin of their teeth, and Naftali Bennett, who is still waiting to see whether his new New Right party has even made it into the Knesset, had already pledged that even if the legislation against prosecuting a sitting prime minister passes, it will not be implemented retroactively. We do not agree with personalized legislation, Kahlon promised again and again, referring to the so-called French law. So if Netanyahu called early elections in an effort to escape prosecution for his alleged bribery, fraud and breach of trust, he failed in his mission. Moshe Kahlon (Photo: Avi Moalem) On the other hand, Ganz's achievement is certainly impressive. For a party that was established less than two months ago to pull in the same number of seats as the ruling party is a success that cannot be overstated. It turns out that the Likud's campaign of lies and slander against Gantz failed completely. A large section of the public found the former chief of staff worthy of being prime minister. And even if the election results clearly show that the nation has moved to the right, the support for Netanyahu is weaker than expected. Both big parties claimed victory on Tuesday night. Both are right. The difference is that even if Netanyahu does form the next government, it will be a short-lived victory. In six or seven months, Netanyahu will face his fate in court. Despite his attempts to turn himself and the Likud into an indivisible entity, he will find himself sitting alone on the defendant's bench. The speed with which Likud ministers will cast Netanyahu aside will surprise us still. The silence of the lambs that we have seen in recent years when it comes to their leader, who is steeped in corruption from his toenails to the tips of his hair, will ultimately end very vocally. It is quite possible that in this term, the Likud, sans Netanyahu, will find themselves in a unity government with Benny Gantz and his crew of Yair Lapid, Moshe Ya'alon and Gabi Ashkenazi. Benny Gantz at campaign headquarters as the election results came in, April 9, 2019 (Photo: AFP) But despite the good showing by the Blue and White Party, the leftist camp has nothing to be happy about. The Labor Party suffered a severe blow on Tuesday. If it in recent weeks it seemed to have been making gains, both because of its impressive list of candidates and because of a high-quality campaign, on Tuesday it turned out that the strategy adopted by Ganz's party had worked. The desire to replace Netanyahu at any price has caused many who previously voted for Labor to lend their support to Blue and White. They will have done so with a heavy heart, however, for it is no simple thing to go from an ideological vote to a strategic vote. But the one who has paid the price is party leader Avi Gabbay. Labor MK and former party secretary general Eitan Cabel has already dealt the first blow, blaming Gabbay for the dismal electoral performance. Avi Gabbay speaks after Labor fares poorly in the elections, April 9, 2019 (Photo: Haggai Dekel) It's impossible not to appreciate Gabbay's courageous appearance before party members on Tuesday night, to thank his faction and the activists and to admit failure. It seems to me that in the course of this campaign, both the public and Labor members learned to appreciate the man whose life they had made miserable for a year and a half. Either way, the collapse of the Labor Party will make it very difficult for Gantz to form a government. Even Blue and White, whose leaders committed not to sit in any Netanyahu government, knows this. In his speech on Tuesday night, Gantz spoke as if he were the next prime minister. This can be attributed to his inexperience. Another party that was hit hard was the New Right. Even if when every single vote is counted it has actually managed to pass the threshold, its leaders' plans were definitely shelved. Naftali Bennett will not be the next defense minister, and not will Ayelet Shaked get to implement her overhaul of the courts. And surely that would have made Mrs. Netanyahu happy enough to crack open a bottle of her favorite pink champagne. WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday the Trump administration will present "before too long" a proposal on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "We have been working on a set of ideas that we hope to present before too long," Pompeo told a Senate panel. His comments on a possible timeline for the release of the long-awaited peace plan by the Trump administration comes a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a clear path to reelection and a record fifth term in office. Blue and White Party Chairman Benny Gantz delivered a speech Wednesday evening, together with Yair Lapid, following the election results which indicate that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will continue to a fifth term. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter While admitting that he will not be the one forming a governing coalition, Gantz expressed satisfaction with his party's impressive success at achieving an equal amount of Knesset seats as the Likud, even if he unable to form coalition. "We have established a genuine leadership alternative," he said. Benny Gantz Gantz said that he recognized the strength of the right-wing bloc and as a democrat he accepts the results but that he will continue to focus on his goals. He then thanked his supporters and reiterated his commitment to them as well as to citizens who did not vote for him. "I did not enter politics for the prestige, I came for a purpose, for Israeli society, from a place of great love to the state," Gantz said. "This is only the first day of the next decade in which I intend to serve the Israeli public in every way that I can." Yair Lapid said that he entered politics to effect change and that "we have not won this round, I respect the will of the voters. But I see the ultimate victory device in the next round. I see more than a million voters and a determined group. Yair Lapid (Photo: Motti Kimchi) "One cannot understate our achievement in this election: In a matter of weeks we established a party fit to rule, and part of the DNA of a ruling party is never to give up. I am telling the Likud and the coalition: 'We are going to make life miserable for you. The days when the opposition desperately sought to enter the government are over," Lapid said. Ganz and Lapid will meet with the 35 members of their faction who are expected to enter the 21st Knesset; the meeting will be closed to the media. Gantz, LApid, Ya'alon and Ashkenazi (Reuters) Shortly after the initial exit polls were announced, Gantz gave a victory speech in which he promised to be the prime minister of all citizens, but the final results, along with the refusal of the Haredi parties to discuss coalition forming with him made it clear that only Netanyahu has the ability to form a governing coalition. While both the Likud and Blue and White received 35 Knesset seats, the latter's triumph was mostly at the expense of the conventional leftist parties, Meretz and Labor , which has shrunk to an all-time low of six seats. JERUSALEM - Airbnb's decision not to go ahead with excluding Jewish settlements in the West Bank from its accommodation listings Palestinian condemnation on Wednesday and accusations that it was helping to perpetuate Israeli rule. Heeding calls from Palestinians who want the West Bank for a future state, Airbnb had said in November it would remove the listings of some 200 settlement homes. That decision was deplored by Israel and challenged in some U.S. jurisdictions. Announcing a resolution of lawsuits brought against it, Airbnb said it "will not move forward with implementing the removal of listings in the West Bank from the platform". Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement that this "signals the complicity of the company with the systematic denial of our inalienable right to self-determination". In a White House where no secret is safe for long, one development has remained stubbornly confidential - the contents of a Middle East peace plan authored by President Donald Trump's advisers Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter With Trump having delighted Israelis and angered Palestinians by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2017 and moving the American Embassy to the holy city last May, a U.S.-brokered peace deal may seem farther away now than when talks collapsed five years ago. Kushner meeting Netanyahu last year (Photo: Reuters) Then on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a clear path to re-election, only days after proposing to annex Jewish West Bank settlements, traditionally viewed as illegal by much of the world. The Trump administration has yet to comment on the election-eve remarks. Aides expect Trump to release the plan once Netanyahu forms a government coalition, and officials say that despite criticism of the administration's moves to date, the plan will demand compromises from both sides. That the peace plan has remained a secret is remarkable in a White House where drafts of executive orders, confidential conversations and internal deliberations all find their way to the front pages. Kushner, Greenblatt with former UN Amb Niki Haley and Danny Dannon Kushner and Greenblatt have limited the plan's distribution over the two years they have been crafting it. It has been kept secret "to ensure people approach it with an open mind" when it is released, a senior administration official said. Only four people have regular access - Kushner, Greenblatt, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Kushner aide Avi Berkowitz, the official said. Trump is briefed regularly on the contents but is not believed to have read the entire document of dozens of pages. "He is briefed if something interesting is happening or there is an idea they want to run by him," the official said. Trump with Kushner in Saudio Arabia (: ) Kushner, a New York real estate developer and husband of Trump's daughter Ivanka, and Greenblatt, a former lawyer for Trump, joined the process knowing little about the tortured, decades-long path in search of Arab-Israeli peace. Their proposal addresses such core political issues as the status of Jerusalem, and separately aims at helping the Palestinians strengthen their economy. Cloaked in secrecy is whether the plan will propose outright the creation of a Palestinian state, the Palestinians' core demand. On Wednesday, Trump's secretary of state Mike Pompeo said the plan would be presented before too long but, when asked, declined to say whether the administration favored a two-state solution, long the basis of Middle East peacemaking. (Photo: US Embassy) Not even Trump, who is known to blurt out news whenever he feels like it, has dribbled out details of the peace plan because of the sensitivity. He tells his Middle East envoys, "If you guys can get this done you're going to be the greatest negotiators in history," said a senior White House official. 'Your children's future' When Kushner and Greenblatt began developing their plan in 2017, they asked the parties to look to the future and describe an outcome on each issue that they could accept rather than get locked into historical stances, two officials said. "You can't let your grandfather's conflict hold back your children's future" was their message to both sides, one official said. Palestinians reject Trump's pro-Israel policies. "The extremist and militaristic agenda, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, has been emboldened by the Trump administration's reckless policies and blind support," said PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi. Hanan Ashrawi (Photo: Reuters) U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Pompeo and White House national security adviser John Bolton are all kept up to date on the peace plan, but have kept a hands-off approach to it, deferring to Kushner, two other officials said. The secrecy maintained by Kushner and Greenblatt, even as they refine and polish the plan, has posed something of a challenge for Gulf governments, who want to know the details before committing resources to a Palestinian fund. Kushner and Greenblatt toured Gulf states in February to promote the economic part of the plan and get opinions about it, without providing a detailed view of the contents of the more crucial political section. One of their stops was in Qatar. Qatari Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Lolwah Al Khater, speaking to a small group of reporters in Washington recently, gave no indication that Kushner and Greenblatt provided much in the way of details on the political plan when they visited. "I don't think it's still set in stone," she said. Dennis Ross, a longtime Middle East envoy and now a distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the U.S. team still has "a lot of work to do to make sure that Arab leaders aren't surprised by what's going to be presented, and they need to see it in writing, not verbally." But he said secrecy at this point is understandable. "Holding something very close makes sense and it's not taken as a negative by the parties, because in the end, if the content isn't leaking out, it also makes sure that what would be controversial doesn't create an immediate firestorm. There's a logic to that," Ross said. The median weekly rent climbed by 0.4% to $436 in the year to March, reflecting rises in all capital city markets except for Sydney and Darwin, according to CoreLogics latest Quarterly Rental Review. The national increase over the same period was modest as median capital city rents dropped by 0.1% over the year. The downward track was mainly due to a decline in Sydney, the countrys largest and most expensive rental market. The annual change in combined capital city rents is the lowest on record based on data which is available back to 2005, CoreLogic said. Hobart recorded the largest annual increase among the capital city markets. The areas weekly median rents jumped by 5.4% to $385. Canberra followed, with median rents increasing by 3.6% to $550. Rents in Melbourne and Perth also climbed by 2.1% to $454 and $385, respectively, from a year earlier. Sydney, on the other hand, kept its title as the most expensive capital city market to rent at $582, but median weekly rents slid by 3.1% over the year. It is clear that Sydney accounts for a large share of overall renters, with annual falls in Sydney leading to a fall in the combined capital city index. The past year has seen a change of direction for both the Brisbane and Perth rental markets, following a number of years of declines rents are now climbing again. Elsewhere rental rates are continuing to rise. However, the rate of growth has slowed compared to a year ago, CoreLogic said. CoreLogic also reported that the modest increase in weekly rents resulted in the growth of gross rental yields up 4.1%, from 3.8% at the end of the March quarter in 2018. The drop in median home prices in many parts of the nation, led by Sydney and Melbourne, had an impact on the result. Gross rental yields have increased over the past quarter across all capital cities while over the past year they are higher in all cities except Hobart, CoreLogic said. Arizona News Phoenix, Arizona - Attorney General Brnovich announced that his office filed an amended complaint against the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) and Arizona State University (ASU) in Arizona Tax Court seeking to end ASUs practice of using ABORs tax-exempt government status to facilitate special property deals for favored corporations. The Attorney Generals Office (AGO) previously alleged that ABOR and ASU lack the statutory authority to grant tax exemptions to private businesses and development projects such as the Omni Hotel deal located at the south east corner of University and Mill. In the latest filing, the AGO amended its complaint to claim that ABOR is also violating the Gift Clause ban in the Arizona Constitution by giving the Omni Hotel almost $37 million dollars in discounted property valuations and funding a conference center and parking garage for the private corporation. ASU representatives have stated publicly that Omni Hotel paid a fair market value for the land located at the highly desirable corner in Tempe, but records show that ABOR waived its policy of requiring public auction and allowed ASU to use private assessors to determine a sale price of $85 per sq. ft. Alarmingly, a hotel property located across the street reportedly sold for $212 per sq. ft., just a day before the Omni Hotel deal was announced. The Arizona Constitution requires ASU to provide students with instruction that is nearly as free as possible, said Attorney General Mark Brnovich. Giving a mega hotel corporation millions of dollars in discounted property valuations and amenities in this development drains university resources that could be used to reduce tuition and improve instruction. The AGO complaint alleges that the improper tax scheme is a mechanism for recouping money ABOR is gifting to the private business in the first place. In 2010, the Arizona Supreme Court held in a case involving City North parking spaces that future tax revenue could not justify a corporate giveaway under our state constitutions prohibition on gifts of public money to private corporations. Under the terms of the ASU/Omni deal, the primary benefit to ASU is additional rent payments of approximately $1 million a year in lieu of property taxes. Those payments therefore cannot justify the up-front gift of $37 million to Omni. The facts of the Omni deal are as follows: ABOR waived its formal policy of requiring a public option for a property sale at ASUs request and instead sold the land for a fraction of the market value. Omni purchased the land for $85/ sq. ft., while a property across the street sold for $212/ sq. ft. This constitutes a potential gift of $8.9 million in the form of undervalued land. ASU agreed to pay the full cost of construction - up to $19.5 million - to build a conference center, but ASU has the contracted right to use the center only seven days a year. ASU agreed to pay approximately $8 million to construct 275 parking spaces that Omni can use exclusively and keep the revenue from. ASU gave Omni an option to buy the land and improvements (including the conference center) for a purchase price of only $10 after 60 years. The deal gives Omni the authority to depreciate on its taxes the value of the assets that ABOR purportedly owns, even prior to Omni exercising its option to purchase. All of this comes on top of the $21 million in economic incentives (in the form of tax rebates over 30 years) that Tempe is providing Omni for the deal. There are at least five other private conference centers within 6 miles of the Omni project. Arizona News Tempe, Arizona - Popular milk brand, fairlife LLC, announced plans to open a new production and distribution facility in Goodyear, Arizona. The state-of-the-art facility will play a role in meeting the growing demand for the companys numerous products. The new facility will be valuable to not only the Arizona dairy industry but will bring more jobs and benefit the overall economy in the state. Dairy is the biggest ag sector in the state, and our farmers are in line with fairlifes animal care and sustainable farming standards, we are excited to contribute to making such a great milk product, said Craig Caballero, Board President of United Dairymen of Arizona. According to the International Dairy Foods Association, the total economic impact of dairy products produced and sold in Arizona is $7.6 billion. The new fairlife facility will contribute even more. Exceptional cow care and sustainable farming practices are the main tenets of fairlife ultra-filtered milk and UDA is a wonderful dairy co-op willing and able to follow our responsible practices to produce the highest quality milk, added Tim Doelman, Chief Operating Officer for fairlife, LLC. . We look forward to working with them to further enhance the growing Arizona dairy industry and the dairy category overall. Arizonas dairy farm families participate in the Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) program; a nationwide animal care program that emphasizes continuous improvement in animal care and comfort. For more information on United Dairymen of Arizona visit www.uda.coop. Latest News Phoenix, Arizona - Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced a State Grand Jury indicted six Arizona men on charges relating to Luring of a Minor for Sexual Exploitation, Child Sex Trafficking, Attempted Sexual Conduct with a Minor, and drug related charges. These indictments are in addition to the 7 others previously indicted in March of 2019, bringing the total number of individuals indicted to date in Operation No Mulligans to 13. The indictments arise out of an online undercover investigation conducted by Mesa Police Department, Tempe Police Department, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), in cooperation with the Arizona Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the Arizona Attorney Generals Office. The undercover operation was conducted from January through February 2019, and targeted individuals interested in engaging in sex acts with children or who used the internet to lure children for sexual exploitation. The names of the individuals indicted and the charges against each of them are listed below: Mario Remigio, charged with Luring a Minor for Sexual Exploitation and Attempted Sexual Conduct with a Minor. Ricardo Jose Medina, Jr., charged with Luring a Minor for Sexual Exploitation and Attempted Sexual Conduct with a Minor. Ernest Adrian Renteria, charged with Luring a Minor for Sexual Exploitation and Attempted Sexual Conduct with a Minor. Charles Ammon Shumway, charged with four counts of Aggravated Luring of a Minor for Sexual Exploitation. Matthew Arnold, charged with Child Sex Trafficking, Money Laundering, and Attempted Sexual Conduct with a Minor. Theodore Richard Windish, charged with Solicitation to Commit Child Sex Trafficking, Attempted Sexual Conduct with a Minor, Possession of Dangerous Drugs for Sale, and Possession of Narcotic Drugs for Sale. The investigation is ongoing. Assistant Attorney General Blaine Gadow and Assistant Attorney General Maura Quigley are prosecuting the cases. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. If you have information concerning these matters or these individuals, please contact law enforcement or Sergeant Lien with Mesa Police Department at (480) 644-5984 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business. RTHK: Trump congratulates Netanyahu President Donald Trump said Wednesday on that election results handing a narrow victory to right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu give a "better chance" to a yet to be unveiled US peace plan. "I'd like to congratulate Bibi Netanyahu," said Trump after nearly complete results put the incumbent premier in position to form a coalition. Trump predicted a boost to his administration's promised plan for a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "The fact that Bibi won, I think we'll see some pretty good action in terms of peace," Trump said. "Everybody said you can't have peace in the Middle East with Israel and Palestinians. I think we have a chance and I think we now have a better chance," he added. Nearly complete results in the tight election put Netanyahu in position to form a narrow parliamentary majority with a coalition of right-wing and religious parties, allowing him to become Israel's longest-serving prime minister. Trump has enthusiastically backed Netanyahu, making controversial gestures of support to the hawkish leader, including recognition of Israeli sovereignty in the occupied Golan Heights area. The US peace plan has been long in the making but little detail has emerged about what it might propose. Palestinian leaders have already indicated they are deeply sceptical, given Trump's all-out support for Netanyahu. On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refused to reaffirm longstanding US support for the creation of a future Palestinian state. This followed Netanyahu's declaration that he could annex Jewish settlements built in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank -- a move that would seek to formalise Israeli control over parts of the supposedly future Palestinian state. (AFP) This story has been published on: 2019-04-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Facilities show Chinas support for regional peace, stability in Korean Peninsula A tour bus with the first group of Chinese tourists to use a new customs facility on the China-North Koreaborder drives on the Ji'an-Manpo Road Connection on Monday. Photo: courtesy of Ji'an city government In the latest move to celebrate the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations with North Korea, China on Monday opened a new road port in Ji'an, Northeast China's Jilin Province. The new border facility is expected to process 500,000 tons of goods and 200,000 entry and exit trips annually. As of Tuesday afternoon, 135 tourists had crossed to North Korea, Zhu Lihua, a Ji'an customs official, told the Global Times. The new port covers an area of 10.28 hectares and is one of the biggest and most up-to-date customs facilities in Northeast China. It sits at the foot of a new cross-border bridge which also opened to traffic on Monday. The bridge spans the Yalu River, which separates Ji'an from Manpo on the North Korean side. Construction of the Ji'an-Manpo road port started in 2015 and finished in 2018, with an investment of 280 million yuan ($41.7 million), according to a statement a Ji'an government media officer sent to the Global Times on Tuesday. In September 2011, North Korea fully funded a road bridge connecting Ji'an and Manpo, said the statement. The opening of the road connection means that Ji'an has four North Korea-bound ports. This includes road, rail and water transportation customs clearance facilities. The new road connection will open up a more convenient road to North Hamyong Province, a major mineral resource hub as well as an industrial powerhouse in North Korea, than the existing Dandong port, Lu Chao, a research fellow at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday. It is estimated that ports in Dandong handle around 60 percent of the total bilateral trade between China and North Korea. The two countries have 15 border ports. However, as Pyongyang is still under international sanctions, trade in mineral resources and products such as coal will be limited, Lu told the Global Times on Tuesday. Most of the trade at the new port will be agricultural products and daily necessities. Ji'an hosts one of the earliest economic development zones in Jilin Province and produces 10 percent of ginseng in China, an industry that North Korea has a tradition of and an ambition to develop. With a borderline of 203 kilometers, Ji'an aims to build a border economic cooperation zone with an estimated investment of 8 billion yuan, the city's government website shows. The international road freight transport facility will be open all year round, with cargo exports and imports from Monday to Friday, while people can cross seven days a week, Jilin government said. Besides the border facility, other projects to boost economic, cultural and people-to-people exchanges are expected in 2019, which marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of China-North Korea diplomatic relations, analysts said. The opening of the facility also comes amid North Korea's high-profile actions to boost its economy and improve people's lives. During the past week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-unmade four inspection visits to economic projects and facilities, a move seen by analysts as a demonstration of Pyongyang's determination to focus on the economy and people's livelihood ahead of its upcoming parliament meeting. North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly is scheduled to have its first meeting this year on Thursday, South Korea's Yonghap News Agency reported Tuesday. According to North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, from Thursday to Monday, Kim inspected a construction site and a potato factory in Samjiyon County, a department store in Pyongyang, a hot-springs tourist area in Yangdok County and the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist area. China's trade with North Korea reached 16.09 billion yuan ($2.38 billion) in 2018, down by 52.4 percent year-on-year, Li Kuiwen, spokesperson for China's General Administration of Customs, disclosed at a press conference in January. China exported 14.67 billion yuan worth of goods to North Korea, down by 33.3 percent year-on-year, while it imported 1.42 billion yuan worth of goods, down by 88 percent. Great expectations Chinese observers hailed these economic advances on border port construction as proof of China's constant and full support for North Korea's economic rebuilding and development. Lu said the new border facility is preparation for all-round economic and trade cooperation between the two countries once the sanctions are relaxed and fully lifted, and it is "a manifestation of China's confidence in a nuclear-free, peaceful and prosperous Korean Peninsula." The construction of the bridge was finished in 2016, but its opening was delayed by UN Security Council sanctions imposed on North Korea, Bloomberg reported Monday. The opening of the bridge and port shows China's efforts to help with peace and stability in North Korea, after it saw Pyongyang's commitment and actions to develop its economy and to advance denuclearization since last year, Cui Zhiying, director of Tongji University's Korean Peninsula Research Center in Shanghai, told the Global Times on Tuesday. International sanctions on North Korea are supposed to limit its nuclear capability while normal trade, economic and people-to-people exchanges should not be affected, especially as North Korea suffered natural disasters and food shortages in 2018, Cui stressed. China strictly abides by international sanctions on North Korea, while insisting that North Korea's economic development is also a significant factor in preserving peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, Cui said. Though the second summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump ended with no significant progress, China continues to expect the involved parties to make joint efforts to maintain the peaceful momentum and promote dialogue, Cui said. Neither Pyongyang nor Washington has completely shut the door on further negotiations, and denuclearizing North Korea is a long process that needs time and patience, he said. A total of over 7 lakh voters will exercise their franchise for the Assembly election on Thursday in Arunachal Pradesh. Altogether 181 candidates including 11 women are in the fray for 57 assembly constituencies out of total 60 seats in the state. The BJP has fielded candidates in 57 Assembly seats while Congress is contesting in 46 seats, the NPP in 30 seats, JDU in 15 constituencies, JDS (12), PPA (9) and one from the All India Party (AIP). There are also 11 Independent in the fray for the Assembly polls in the state. This time, there are also 11 polling stations in the state that will exclusively be for women. The state has 281 vulnerable polling booths and 662 critical polling stations where security personnel would be deployed. For the first time, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) would be used along with electronic voting machines in all the polling stations. For poll day monitoring, SMS-based poll monitor system would be used and vehicles carrying reserve EVMs would be fitted with GPS in all cellular network covered areas. Counting of votes would be conducted on May 23 next. Necessary arrangements, including adequate deployment of security personnel in insurgency-hit districts, have been made for the smooth conduct of election. A total of 45 companies of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) comprising ITBP, CRPF, IRBn, along with over 7,000 state civil police personnel have been deployed. Mobile phones have been arranged where wireless sets do not function for officials to pass on information through WhatsApp while dak runners would be pressed into service where both systems are not accessible. The ruling BJP had already opened its account in the assembly poll by winning three seats unopposed. The winners are Kento Jini from Along East constituency in West Siang district, Taba Tedir from Yachuli seat in Lower Subansiri district and Phurpa Tsering from Dirang seat in West Kameng district. Mumbai: For the third time in a week, national oil marketer Indian Oil Wednesday RPT Wednesday stopped fuel Supply to cash-starved Jet Airways for non- payment of dues. The airline also faced the ignominy of losing one of its planes to a European cargo agent who seized one of its wide-body planes at the Amsterdam airport for payment related issues, a source said. This is the third time that the public sector oil marketing company has cut fuel supply to the airline in the past eight days, which is struggling to keep afloat amid acute liquidity crisis. "IndianOil has stopped fuel supplies to Jet Airways in Mumbai, New Delhi and Hyderabad airports for its failure to clear dues," the source said. Mumbai is the largest base for the airline and it operates maximum flights from the city. On March 4 and 5 also the oil company had cut supplies to Jet and restored only after getting an assurance from the airline management. Earlier in the day, a European cargo services provider seized one of its Boeing 777-300ER planes at the Amsterdam airport for non-payment of dues. "The cargo agent seized Boeing 777-300 ER (VT-JEW) of Jet Airways at the Amsterdam airport as the airline could not clear his dues," the airline source told PTI. The aircraft was to operate a flight (9W 321) to Mumbai from Amsterdam Wednesday RPT Wednesday. Jet Airways, however, said the flight was delayed due to "operational reasons." In a statement, the airline said flight 9W 231 from Amsterdam to Mumbai scheduled for April 10, has been delayed due to operational reasons. Jet has been operating around 100 flights only with 26 planes as most of the fleet is grounded due to non-payment of lessors' rentals. Due to cash crunch, the airline has been paying only part salaries to its over 16,000 employees which forced a section of its pilots on Tuesday sending a legal notice to the management which is currently being headed by the lenders led by State Bank. New Delhi: A staffer of Rashtrapati Bhavan allegedly raped a college girl on Tuesday on the pretext of marrying her. The victim filed a complaint against the accused at North Avenue police station and claimed that the man allegedly established a physical relationship with her. Deputy Commissioner of Police Madhur Verma told news agency PTI that the police has launched an investigation into the matter and are verifying the claims made against the man. According to the victim, she was raped by the man at the staff quarters of Rashtrapati Bhavan. However, DCP Verma denied the claims made by the woman and said that the man used to live in Kali Bari where the woman often visited him. The accused has not been arrested by the police yet. New Delhi: Two men, one of whom was inspired by Shahrukh Khan starrer 'Baadshah', were arrested for allegedly flashing weapons on social media in order to impress their friends and create an identity among criminals, police said Wednesday. The accused, identified as Sahil (18) and Asif (19), were arrested from J J colony, Bharat Vihar. Police also claimed to have recovered three firearms, two live cartridge and one used cartridge from their possession. Following a tip-off, the accused were arrested Monday and a loaded semi-automatic country-made pistol and one used cartridge along with a mobile phone having his picture with illegal arms and a video while firing in the air was recovered from him, Anto Alphonse, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka), said. Investigations revealed that Asif had also uploaded his photo on social media along with the illegal weapon, he said. Sahil said he was inspired by Bollywood film 'Baadshah' and to impress his girlfriend and friends, he started carrying one semi-automatic country made pistol, the DCP added. He got in touch with Asif, an illegal firearms supplier, who sent him pictures of illegal firearms. When Sahil showed interest in purchasing a weapon, Asif showed him two firearms and after seeing both, Sahil purchased it, he said. Sahil also prepared a live video of test fire and took pictures with firearms in his mobile phone and uploaded on social media, police said. New Delhi: An elderly man allegedly committed suicide on Wednesday by jumping in front of a moving train at a Delhi Metro station, police said. The incident took place around noon at Ramesh Nagar metro station of the Blue Line that connects Dwarka in Delhi to Noida, they said. "A man, aged around 65, jumped on the tracks of a metro train around 11:57 am at platform no 1 of the station. He was hit by the moving train, suffering injuries. He is dead," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Metro) Mohammed Ali said. No identification documents were found from the spot, Ali said, adding efforts were on to identify the deceased. Delhi Metro officials confirmed the incident and said the train was going towards Vaishali when the man jumped on the tracks, leading to brief delay in services. The incident comes days after a 32-year-old businessman was seriously injured after he allegedly attempted suicide by jumping before a moving train at a Delhi Metro station, officials said. On Thursday, a 46-year-old Delhi Police ASI had allegedly committed suicide by jumping before a train at Jahangirpuri metro station on the busy Yellow Line. The stage is set for voting on Thursday in all the 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh. The polling will be held in one go from 7 am to 6 pm in the state. A total of 2,118 contestants are in the fray. This is the first assembly election in the state after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, and formation of Telangana, in June 2014. Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu would be seeking election to the Assembly for the ninth time from Kuppam constituency in his native Chittoor district, while his son Nara Lokesh is making his electoral debut this time from the backward classes-dominated Mangalagiri segment in the capital region, Amaravati. Chandrababu Naidu`s brother-in-law and actor N Balakrishna is seeking re-election from Hindupur Assembly constituency as the TDP candidate. The leader of Opposition and YSR Congress president YS Jaganmohan Reddy an aspirant for the Chief Minister's post is fighting his second Assembly election from his family's pocket borough Pulivendula. Film star Pawan Kalyan, whose Jana Sena jumped into the electoral battlefield for the first time, is contesting from Bhimavaram and Gajuwaka Assembly segments. Chandrababu Naidu termed the elections a "life and death issue" for the people of the state while the principal opposition YSR Congress propogated that this would be the final electoral battle for the former, the self-styled "senior-most politician" in the country. For the first time in its 37-year-old history, the Telugu Desam Party is fighting the April 11 elections on its own, without an ally, but there were clear hints that it has a "tacit understanding" with the Jana Sena. Kalyan had openly supported the TDP-BJP combine then allies in 2014 but chose a different approach this time. A strong anti-incumbency, caste and corruption are the major factors that could determine the outcome of the election in the state as over 3.93 crore voters get to exercise their franchise. The counting of votes will take place on May 23. Patna: Union Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said the BJP considers its alliance partners as a sign of strength ('mazbooti') and not as a compulsion ('majboori'), pointing out the party had taken along all allies when forming the government in 2014, despite having majority. "The same will be seen this time. We view Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) as a natural ally. He deserves as much credit for the state's progress as the cooperation of the Centre," said Singh, who is a former BJP president, at a rally in Purnea Lok Sabha seat with Kumar sitting beside him. The union home minister had last week held two rallies in the state for Lok Janshakti Party's Chirag Paswan in Jamui and the party's candidate in Nawada. In Purnea, he canvassed for JD(U) MP Santosh Kumar who is pitted against Uday Singh of the Congress. Singh also addressed rallies in Banka and Madhepura Lok Sabha seats, both of which are being contested by Nitish Kumar's party, before going to Araria where he canvassed in support of former BJP MP Pradeep Singh. At the rallies, Singh praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Balakot air strike after the Pulwama terror attack and questioned the opposition party's objection to Modi "getting credit for the same". He accused the Congress of "repeatedly fooling the people of the country with promises of removing poverty". "From Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi in the past to Rahul Gandhi at present, all play the same tune -- 'garibi hatao' -- but end up enjoying power in the name of the poor. The people of the country are no longer going to fall in the same trap. "Under Modi's leadership, India's standing is rising globally. The time may not be far away when we will leave China and the US behind," Singh added. NEW DELHI: Tibetan spiritual leader, Dalai Lama, was admitted to the hospital in the national capital with a chest infection, but is doing fine, an aide said on Wednesday, as social media users prayed for the Buddhist monk`s fast recovery. The 83-year-old Nobel peace laureate, who fled to India in early 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, lives in exile in the northern hill town of Dharamshala. "His Holiness is doing fine now," Tseten Samdup Chhoekyapa, the Dalai Lama`s press secretary, told Reuters, without giving details. The Dalai Lama, who was diagnosed with a chest infection after being admitted to hospital on Tuesday, complaining of discomfort, will spend a few days in the hospital, his personal secretary said. A hospital official declined to comment on his medical condition, citing patient confidentiality. Many of his supporters posted messages on social media wishing him a speedy recovery. "Concerned that he has been hospitalised," tweeted Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. "The world needs him." About 100,000 Tibetans live in India and many worry that their fight for a genuinely autonomous homeland would end with the Dalai Lama. He told Reuters in March his incarnation could be found in India after he dies and warned that any other successor named by China would not be respected. China, which took control of Tibet in 1950, brands him a dangerous separatist and has said its leaders have the right to approve his successor, as a legacy from China`s emperors. But many Tibetans, whose tradition holds that the soul of a senior Buddhist monk is reincarnated in the body of a child on his death, suspect any Chinese role as a ploy to exert influence on the community. In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular news briefing he was not aware of the Dalai Lama`s physical condition, but added, "The reincarnation of the Dalai Lama should follow the relevant Chinese laws, regulations and religious rituals." The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday strongly refuted the "disinformation being spread about the recently imposed traffic restrictions on the national highway in Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier on April 4, the government had imposed restrictions on the national highway from Baramulla to Udhampur for the civilian traffics on Sundays and Wednesdays till May 31. The measure has been adopted to facilitate the unhindered movement of security forces' convoys to eliminate the possibility of terror attacks during the ongoing poll process. The ban on civilian traffic would be effective from Baramulla to Udhampur through Srinagar, Qazigund, Jawahar-Tunnel, Banihal and Ramban, according to a notification. The ban would be in force on the two days from 4 am to 5 pm, it added. The MHA slammed that an impression is being created by some that it has been closed for civilians. This is farthest from the truth, it added. The government reiterated that the state government has already clarified that out of the seven days a week, only reasonable restrictions have been imposed, which is for 12 hours and two days a week. It added that alternative routes like the old national highway and other internal roads will remain available for commutation of the civilians. "An impression is being created by some that it has been closed for civilians. This is farthest from the truth. J&K govt already clarified that out of 7 days a week, only reasonable restrictions have been imposed, for 12 hours, 2 days a week. This has been done to ensure the safe movement of forces. Alternative routes like old NH&other internal roads available for commutation of civilians" said an MHA official. The April 4 notification also added that in case of any emergency requiring passage of a civilian vehicle, the police and administrative officials would take appropriate decisions in line with the provisions of movement of civilian traffic during curfews. During his visit to Kashmir after the February 14 Pulwama terror attack targeting a CRPF convoy which had left 40 security personnel dead, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had announced that no civilian traffic would be allowed during the movement of the paramilitary forces. On March 30 too, in a suspected terror attack, a car had burst into flames after hitting a paramilitary forces' truck, with the driver of the car having gone untraceable. No casualties or damage to the security personnel's vehicle were reported. The restriction on civilian traffic on the highway was announced two days after state police chief Dilbag Singh had said that a study group has been set up to suggest steps to strengthen the security along the 270-km Jammu-Srinagar highway following the Pulwama terror attack. Trumps Trade War Is Nowhere Near Over If you follow daily market action, you can tell investors dont like tariffs or other trade restrictions. Stock prices rise when it looks like US and Chinese negotiators are making progress. They fall when President Trump makes new threats or negotiations fall apart. Weve seen it dozens of times in the last year. Lately, we see more celebrating. People seem to think some sort of trade war resolution is nearor at least an extension of last Decembers truce. The US and China have deep differences on trade policy Tariffs are only part of it. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer met in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart, Liu He. The White House said, The two parties continued to make progress during candid and constructive discussions on the negotiations and important next steps. National Economic Council head Larry Kudlow said the talks could drag on for months. If it takes a few more weeks, or if it takes months, so be it. We have to get a great deal, as the president says, that works for the United States. Thats our principal interest. I think theyre wrong.The trade war is evolving, not ending. Anyone who bets otherwise will probably regret it.We know the two sides are talking. Whether they are making any progress is a different question.Last week, for instance... So is a breakthrough near or not? Your guess is probably as good as mine, but I dont find this encouraging. Just a few weeks ago, people were talking about a summit meeting between the two presidents. Yet nothing seems to have been scheduled. These are the kind of statements you would make if you wanted people to think you were making progress when in fact you were getting nowhere. And theyre working. To markets, getting nowhere is better than a trade war. Hence the celebration. But thats short-term thinking. No Real Solution There is no sign of a real solution to the thorniest issues (intellectual property theft, Chinese state subsidies) is coming. At best, we might get a reversal of last years tariffs. But thats not progressit is a return to the status quo as it was when Trump took office. Those tariffs and threats caused an import surge as companies rushed to bring in goods before the higher taxes took effect. That has mostly run its course, and freight volumes are beginning to fall. But not from everywhere. Many of the formerly Chinese-produced goods now come to the US from other countries, including Mexico. Imports from our southern neighbor have climbed in the same categories where China has lost our business: Graphic: Bloomberg News Catch-22 When a negotiation doesnt go as planned, the best move is often to exit gracefully and move on. Thats a problem, though. To President Trump, its not a win unless he also humiliates the opponent. China wont let that happen. Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Ruddwho is also a China expert, former diplomat, and Mandarin speaker who knows Xi Jinping wellsaid this last month: Trump, as we have seen throughout his business career and most recently in Hanoi, wants to do a large part of it himself in a final round of brinksmanship with his opposite number. Unfortunately for the Donald, the Chinese just dont do it that way with their leaders. They will not risk a possible loss of face for their leader, whoever that may have been in the post-Deng period, by having him attend a high-profile summit with the president of the United States without everything beforehand being signed, sealed and delivered. Put simply, it would be bad domestic politics for Xi to come away without an agreement. And the Chinese would not be prepared to take that risk, however small it might be, and however badly both sides may actually want a deal. This may explain why the talks drag on. China wont agree to final terms until it has assurance Trump wont change his mind at the last minute. Since Trump routinely overrules his own subordinates, such assurance is impossible unless the two leaders meet directly, which Xi wont do. So its a catch-22. Two days after Rudds article appeared, Trump said he would keep tariffs on China until he was sure it was complying with any trade deal. China isnt likely to accept such terms. This strongly suggests no deal is happening. Lose One, Start Another We have two possible endgames. Either The US and China agree on some minor, non-controversial issues and try to position it as a bold victory for both sides, or They try to maintain the appearance of progress with short, non-substantial meetings that serve mainly to keep everyone hopeful. The second appears to be the current strategy. It wont work indefinitely but might keep harsher measures off the table until after the 2020 elections. I think the other possibility is worse. Resolution with China will let Trump swing to other trade disputes. His NAFTA rewrite, which he calls USMCA, is in serious danger of not getting through the US Congress and the Canadian Parliament. If it fails, Trump has threatened to withdraw the US from NAFTA. Whether he can really do that is unclear, legally speaking. But just an attempt would be a major economic disruption. Then theres Europe. Trump may soon use his national security powers to slap new tariffs on automobiles and parts imported from the EU. That wont be good, either. One way or another, we are going to stay in a trade war for a long time. It is the one issue on which President Trump has been consistent for decades. If he settles one trade fight, he will start another one. If your investment strategy or business plans assume trade tensions will recede, you should probably think again. Get one of the worlds most widely read investment newsletters free Im a senior editor at Mauldin Economics, helping New York Times best-seller John Mauldin publish his highly acclaimed economic analysis. Since 2001, investors have turned to his Thoughts from the Frontline to be informed about whats really going on in the economy. Join hundreds of thousands of readers, and get it free in your inbox every week. By Patrick_Watson 2019 Copyright Patrick_Watson - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors. 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. Indian Army will soon have the T-90MS Main Battle Tank in its arsenal after the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) gave the go-ahead for procuring 464 more tanks for almost Rs 13,448 crore ($1.93 billion). The T-90MS is the latest version of the tank with the Russian Army and the Indian Army's armoured regiments already have the T-90S. Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) told news agency TASS that it will continue to help its Indian partners in producing T-90MS which have been rechristened Bhishma by the Indian Army. "Russia is prepared for prolonging the license and building up the production of T-90 tanks in India in connection with the Indian governments decision to purchase more tanks for its armed forces," the FSMTC told TASS. Jane's Defence Weekly claimed that the CCS met in early April to give the green signal to buy 464 T-90MS tanks. The tanks will be assembled Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF) in Avadi, Chennai from semi-knocked-down (SKD) kits from Uralvagonzavod, the Russian tank manufacturer. The tanks will arm 10 armoured regiments of the Army. Jane's quoted unidentified officers as saying that the proposal to assemble the tanks from SKD kits was taken as the HVF Avadi was not producing the T-90S at the desired pace. The HVF had in 2006-07 signed a contract to produce 1,000 T-90S tanks under licence from Russia by 2020. But the HVF has been able to supply only 350-400 T-90S till date. According to Russia's Rosoboronexport, the only state organisation for exporting the military hardware, the T-90MS tank has a new turret weapon station with an upgraded 125mm gun and an advanced highly automated digital fire control system (FCS) which can destroy enemy tanks, self-propelled guns and other armoured targets. The crew can detect, identify and destroy the targets during the day as well as night much more accurately with the help of FCS. The T-90MS also has a guided missile system to annihilate armoured targets, including those equipped with explosive reactive armour (ERA), at ranges up to 5 kilometres. The tank comes equipped with a protection system to insulate and help its crew operate in a Nuclear-Biological-Chemical attack environment. NEW DELHI: Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik was on Tuesday night brought to New Delhi's Tihar Jail from Jammus Kot Balwal Jail by National Investigation Agency (NIA) and it is expected that Malik would be produced before the NIA court on Thursday. Malik's was arrested under PSA after the Centre decided to ban JKLF under the anti-terror law. Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba had said that JKLF is a separatist outfit and the Centre decided to ban it because it has a policy of zero tolerance against terrorism. Gauba had also said that Malik was the mastermind of the Kashmiri Pandit genocide and JKLF was also involved in the murder of 4 IAF Officers in Jammu and Kashmir. Malik's organisation is also accused of funding terrorists in Kashmir. The Centre had decided to ban JKLF days after banning the Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir. The Centre's decision to ban Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir and arrest Malik was slammed by former J&K chief minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti. She had claimed that these steps will prove detrimental and will turn Kashmir into an open-air prison. JKLF had committed its first act of terror on August 1, 1988, when the group used explosives to blast three government buildings, including the Telegraph Office in Srinagar. Its members were also involved in the murder of Mohammad Yousuf Halwai, a local leader of National Conference in Srinagar on August 17, 1989. The group targeted a Kashmiri Hindu for the first time on September 14, 1989 when its members killed Pandit Tika Lal Taploo, the state BJP vice president, in broad daylight. On October 4, 1989, JKLF members shot dead Retired Sessions Judge NK Ganjoo, who had awarded capital punishment to JKLF leader Maqbool Butt. By taking tough action against JKLF chief Malik, the Centre has sent a clear message that it will not tolerate any kind of separatist activities in Jammu and Kashmir but will remain open to hold dialogue with peace-loving Kashmiris. In a big disappointment for RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday dismissed his bail plea in three cases of multi-crore fodder scam. On Tuesday, a counter affidavit was filed by the Central Investigation Bureau (CBI) opposing Lalu's bail request. In the counter affidavit, CBI stated that in the "garb of political activities during the elections, Lalu sought for bail, which should not be granted." The country's premier investigating agency had also said that though Lalu has been in a hospital ward for over eight months he is still indulging in political activities. It is to be noted that the RJD supremo has been undergoing treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi. "During the period in which the petitioner (Lalu Yadav) remained in hospital, he is not only granted a special paying ward with all facilities but he is virtually conducting his political activities from there which would be clear from the list of visitors," the CBI in its reply said, PTI reported. "It is submitted that simultaneous raising of pleas for bails on medical grounds and bail to guide the party and to carry out all essential responsibilities as a party president in ensuing Lok Sabha elections are mutually contradictory and manifest that in the garb of bail on medical ground the petitioner, in essence, wants to pursue his political activities which is impermissible in law," it added. Last week, a SC bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had asked the CBI to file a reply by April 9 and had said that the apex court will hear Lalu's bail plea for hearing on April 10. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Lalu in the SC, had urged for urgent listing of the bail plea saying notice has been issued in the matter. However, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that the agency needs to file a reply in the matter. "You (CBI) file the reply by April 9. We will take up the matter (Yadav's bail plea) on April 10, the bench said. Lalu is currently serving his jail term in Ranchi's Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi. Lalu has has been convicted in three cases related to over Rs 900-crore fodder scam. The cases pertain to fraudulent withdrawal of money from the treasuries in the Animal Husbandry department in the early 1990s, when Lalu was chief minister of Bihar and Jharkhand was also a part of Bihar. (With PTI inputs) SRINGAR: Curfew continued in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar and Bhadarwah towns on Wednesday, day after terrorists killed an RSS leader and his security guard. Search operations to arrest the unidentified persons behind the attack are currently underway. Fifty-two-year old RSS leader Chanderkant Sharma, who worked as a pharmacist in Kishtwar, and his PSO Rajender were shot dead by an unidentified gunman who barged into the district hospital at around 12.30 pm on Tuesday and started firing. Before fleeing from the spot, the attacker snatched Rajender's weapon. The number of terrorists involved in the incident has not yet been revealed by cops. Sharma's last rites will be carried out at the cremation ground in Kishtwar on Wednesday morning. "The militant was watching his (Sharma) movement and opened fire, resulting in the death of the PSO and injury to the leader," Kishtwar Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Shakti Pathak told PTI. Sharma was moved to Jammu by air for treatment but died in hospital, officials said. He was 'Prant Sehsevak Pramukh' of the RSS. Immediately after the incident, a curfew was imposed in Kishtwar and Bhaderwah and the internet connection was suspended. The Army was called in to maintain law and order. The incident sparked spontaneous protests at various places in the town, including outside the hospital, as the leader was a resident of the town. Hindu outfit Sanatan Dharam Sabha Doda has called for a bandh in Kishtwar on Wednesday. RSS' youth wing staged protests at Rehari Chowk in the heart of Jammu city, demanding identification of the culprits and severe punishment to them. The killing evoked sharp criticism from every corner of the state, with Governor Satya Pal Malik calling for a review of the security arrangements of the politicians. Former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti condemned the killings and called for a probe into the incident. The BJP too condemned the incident and said it was part of a well-planned strategy to restart terror activities in the region. Condemning the killing of its leader and his PSO in a terrorist attack in broad daylight in Kishtwar, the RSS Tuesday termed the attack a "security lapse" and called for extending the Army's 'Operation Allout' in the hilly district to prevent the spread of terror in the Jammu region, reported news agency PTI. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh said it will not be cowed down by attacks and killings of its leaders to engineer a 1990-like situation of fear among Hindus, but sacrifices of its cadre will further strengthen our resolve against terrorism. BALLARI: The Income Tax department raided a private hotel in Karnataka's Ballari on late Tuesday night, where former MLA and Congress leader Anil Lad was staying. IT sleuths also issued a notice to Anil Lad to appear before them for questioning. Anil Lad, a senior Congress leader, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2015 in connection with illegal iron ore mining scam. The IT department and the Election Commission has been carrying out a series of pre-poll raids in Karnataka over the past few days. Last week, the Static Surveillance team of the EC stopped the Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy's SUV on the highway while he was on his way to Hassan. The CM later accused the poll bosy and the IT department of harassing him and his family, alleging that his car was searched at least 13 to 14 times in two days. Meanwhile, the IT department has written to the Chief Electoral Officer seeking legal action against Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and several other Karnataka cabinet members for allegedly intimidating tax officers and obstructing them from discharging duties, sources said Tuesday. Karnataka: A team of Income Tax dept conducted a raid at a private hotel in Ballari late last night, where former MLA and Congress leader Anil Lad is staying. The raid is still underway. pic.twitter.com/UJ2Pp4XtAt ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 The chief minister, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, and host of other state ministers along with their supporters had staged a demonstration near the income tax office on March 28, accusing the Centre of using central agencies, such and income tax department, enforcement directorate and CBI, to intimidate the opposition. The protests took place when tax raids were in progress across the state, reported PTI. Seven phased elections in the country will begin on April 11 and will go on till May 19. Counting of votes will be done on May 23. Karnataka will go to polls on April 18 and 23. New Delhi: The Congress and other opposition parties said on Wednesday that a vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a vote for Pakistan as they seized on Imran Khan's remarks that there may be a better chance of Indo-Pak peace talks and settling of the Kashmir issue if the BJP is voted back to power. In a scathing attack, the Congress also said Pakistani premier Khan's remarks reflect that Pakistan has "officially allied" with PM Modi. During an interaction with a small group of foreign journalists in Islamabad, Khan had said he believes there may be a better chance of peace talks with India and settling the Kashmir issue if Modi's party BJP wins the general elections. Khan said other parties would be afraid of the right-wing backlash in case of a settlement on the Kashmir issue. Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala launched a blistering attack on Modi over Khan's comments. "Pak has officially allied with Modi! A vote for Modi is a vote for Pakistan!" Surjewala tweeted. "Modi ji, first there was love for Nawaz Sharif and now Imran Khan is your dear friend," he added in a tweet in Hindi. The truth is out in the open, Surjewala claimed. PM Modi has been accusing the Congress of being supportive of Pakistan's narrative following the Balakot air strikes. He has also slammed opposition leaders for asking questions on the strike, saying such statements were helping Pakistan. CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury lashed out at Prime Minister Modi over Khan's remarks, saying now it was known who Pakistan wants as PM. "Pakistan has been the only issue of Modi's election campaign, where he has scurrilously tried to link it to the opposition. Now we know who Pakistan actually wants as PM, the only Indian PM to have invited ISI to a military base, and the only one who went to Pakistan uninvited," he said. "We have serious concerns about foreign governments influencing our democratic election process. Last year, it was reported that ISI wants Modi as PM. Now Pakistani PM says it," Yechury said. Aam Aadmi Party Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also seized on Khan's remarks, saying if Modi wins in the general election, crackers will be burst in Pakistan. "Why does Pakistan want Modi ji to win. Modi ji should tell the country how deep are his relations with Pakistan. All Indians should know that if Modi wins, crackers will be burst in Pakistan. Alipurduar (West Bengal): Amid big poll promises, a village in Alipurduar claim to be deprived of minimal facilities and has accused political parties of treating them just as "vote banks." Forest villagers of Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR) who will be voting in the first phase are furious over not being granted minimal facilities by the government. "Education leads to development and gives you the power to think but there is no school here. Our children have to travel 20kms to go to school. How will we move towards development?" asked a villager, Lal Singh Vujel. In addition, Vujel, while speaking to ANI, said that in such an atmosphere, locals feel that they are nothing but vote banks. "We have no hopes that our demands will be fulfilled. Had it been so at least the government could have resolved the acute crisis of drinking water," he said. Jyoti Chhetri, another villager, said, "There are no facilities here. No education, no hospital, no work we are just living only to get an opportunity to lead a better life with minimal facilities. "Earlier, villagers used to farm here but it had to be stopped because of the wild animals and increasing cost of farming. As of now, the villagers neither have money nor work and are even deprived of basic facilities that the government provides for the welfare of people.T wo parliamentary constituencies of West Bengal- Cooch Behar and Alipurduar- will go to polls on April 11. Congress president Rahul Gandhi is set to file his nomination for the Amethi Lok Sabha seat on Wednesday. Amethi is a Gandhi bastion in Uttar Pradesh and Rahul has won from this seat three times so far. Congress sources said that Rahul Gandhi will also hold a road show in Amethi. District unit spokesman of the Congress, Anil Singh, said that Rahul's mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and sister Priyanka Gandhi will accompany him during the filing of nomination. The Congress president is also scheduled to hold a 3-km-long road show from Munshiganj-Darpipur to Gauriganj before filing the nomination, added Singh. Rahul's nomination from Amethi comes amid an ongoing war of words between the Congress and the BJP over his decision to contest from a second seat - Wayanad in Kerala - in Lok Sabha poll set to begin on Thursday. Rahul will this time again face Union Textiles Minister and senior BJP leader Smriti Irani from Amethi. It is expected that Smriti Irani would file her nomination papers on Thursday. In 2014 Lok Sabha poll, Rahul had defeated Smriti Irani by over one lakh votes. The defeat, however, did not deter Irani from remaining in touch with the people of Amethi and in the past five years, she has visited Amethi several times. It would not be wrong to say that Irani has build a good rapport with the voters in Amethi and this time she is going to give a very tough fight to the Congress president. Some political experts are of the view that it is possible that Irani would defeat Rahul in Amethi and this is the main reason why the Congress chief has decided to contest from two seats this time. BJP has repeatedly maintained that Rahul went to Wayanad in Kerala because it is a 'safe' seat for him as he was sure of his defeat from Amethi. The polling in Amethi will take place in the fifth phase on May 6. New Delhi: Despite weeks of speculation about a possible alliance for Lok Sabha 2019 election between Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress, no headway has been made till a day before first phase of voting. On the eve of first phase of voting in the crucial election, Sanjay Singh of AAP announced an alliance was not possible because Congress is demanding too many seats in Delhi while unwilling to part with seats elsewhere. "They don't have any MLA or MP in Delhi but are demanding three seats here," he told news agency ANI on Wednesday. "In Punjab, we (AAP) have four MPs and 20 MLAs but Congress does not want to share seats there. Same is the situation in Haryana, Goa and Chandigarh. So, this alliance is not possible." Singh also accused that the Congress appears to be in favour of helping BJP in Delhi. "Congress is not in favour of alliance and it seems they want to benefit BJP. AAP will contest and win all seven seats in Delhi," he said. While AAP has accused Congress of being too demanding in Delhi but unwilling to reciprocate elsewhere, the party had also lost out on alliance partners in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. After being wooed for weeks, Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party had dealt an embarrassing snub to Congress and joined hands with nemesis Akhilesh Yadav and his Samajwadi Party. Many political analysts felt that an alliance with AAP could be a different electoral tale even though Delhi Congress leaders were quite open in their reservations. Within Congress, there was a rift between Delhi and national leaders over whether to join with AAP or not. Even as Rahul Gandhi tried to silence people within his party opposed to the idea, AAP chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had said it matters little to his party whether Congress offers a hand of alliance. Sources had told Zee News last week that AAP has put forth conditions for a political alliance - the party wants Congress to openly declare its support to full statehood for Delhi and if Congress agrees to jointly fight in Haryana and Chandigarh. (Read full report here) The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday stalled the release PM Narendra Modis biopic starring Vivek Oberoi citing the Model Code of Conduct. The movie was set to release across India on Thursday. In its order, the EC said that it has received complaints about three films, including 'PM Narendra Modi ' which are claimed to either diminish or advance the electoral prospect of a candidate or a political party in the garb of political freedom. The EC added that though these films claim to be a part of creative content it is contended that they have the potential to affect the level playing field during election which is a violation of Model Code of conduct. The other two films mentioned by the EC in its order are 'NTR Laxmi' and 'Udyama Simham'. The EC also noted that any biopic that subserves the purpose of any political entity or individual should not be displayed in the electronic media. Here's the full copy of EC's order. The EC passed the order hours after the biopic titled PM Narendra Modi was issued a Universal certificate by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). The film is directed by Omung Kumar. We are very happy that we got the U certificate from the Censor Board, and finally the film will be releasing on April 11. We are also very relieved that the Supreme Court has rejected the plea... It is clear now from everywhere, producer Sandeep Singh said in a statement. Several opposition parties, including the Congress had criticised the film, claiming that the release of the film at the time of Lok Sabha poll could give undue advantage to the BJP. In a related development, the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea seeking a stay on the release of the biopic. While delivering the verdict, the apex court had said that since the film had not yet received a certificate from the Censor Board the decision to stall its release will be taken by the EC. It may be recalled that the biopic was earlier scheduled to release on April 5 but the release got delayed to April 11. At that time Oberoi, who is a big fan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that some powerful people did not want the film to release on on April 5. Stock Market Intra-day Fibonacci Modeling Shows Volatility Is About To Spike Our research team, at Technical Traders Ltd. alerted us to a Fibonacci technical pattern that is setting up in the US stock market right now. This pattern suggests that volatility will increase dramatically over the next few days/weeks as intra-day price action suggests deeper sideways price action may continue. One of the key benefits of our proprietary Fibonacci price modeling system is that it automatically learns and adjusts to price action on different intervals. So, by watching the results of this adaptive learning model on various intervals shows different types of setups and expectations, we can develop a consensus among the result to assist us in determining a likely outcome. These models are showing that volatility will increase by expanding out the Fibonacci Trigger Levels for Bullish and Bearish price action. As price begins to consolidate, the proprietary Fibonacci price modeling system adjusts internal computational measures to determine where and when the opportunity exists for trends to form. When these Fibonacci Trigger levels move away from price, it typically suggests bigger moves are about to happen and that volatility will increase. This 120 minute NQ chart highlights the expanded range of the Fibonacci Trigger Levels (called the Volatility Zone). This is the clearest example of what we expect to become a normal price rotation zone for the NQ. Right now, our expectations are that a range from 7500 to 7660 is expected. This means we could see deeper price rotation closer to the 7500 level and up to near the 7660 level without any real trend being established. Eventually, as price rotates and consolidates, these Fibonacci Trigger levels will adjust to better identify future trends. Currently, they are warning of increased volatility and the likelihood of bigger price rotation ahead. This 120-minute YM chart highlights the range of the volatility zone based on Fibonacci Projected Target levels. Although the YM chart does not include the wider Fibonacci Trigger levels, we believe this increased volatility suggested by the NQ chart will carry over into the YM and ES charts as well. Therefore, we believe the entire US stock market will enter a period of increased volatility over the next 5~15 days. We have highlighted a price range from 25,750 to 26,500 as an expected rotational range. It is highly likely that the 25,980 level will act as support, thus we believe any price move below this level will present a key buying opportunity for the final leg higher. Overall, the extended volatility we expect should be a moderate price rotation before the final rally to new all-time price highs for the US stock market. This rotation will present key buying opportunities for skilled traders wanting to catch that last 4~12% upside swing in the US stock market. It is highly likely that the YM falls to near the 25,980 level (near the ORANGE Moving Average level) before finding key support. Pay attention to this level going forward as it would be a good indicator of buying opportunities in the broader markets/stocks. Do you want to find a team of dedicated researchers and traders that can help you find and execute better trades in 2019 and beyond? Let our 55 years experience in researching and trading makes analyzing the complex and ever-changing financial markets a natural process. We have a simple and highly effective way to provide our customers with the most convenient, accurate, and timely market forecasts available today. Our stock and ETF trading alerts are readily available through our exclusive membership service via email and SMS text. Our newsletter, Technical Trading Mastery book, and Trading Courses are designed for both traders and investors. Also, some of our strategies have been fully automated for the ultimate trading experience. Chris Vermeulen www.TheTechnicalTraders.com Chris Vermeulen has been involved in the markets since 1997 and is the founder of Technical Traders Ltd. He is an internationally recognized technical analyst, trader, and is the author of the book: 7 Steps to Win With Logic Through years of research, trading and helping individual traders around the world. He learned that many traders have great trading ideas, but they lack one thing, they struggle to execute trades in a systematic way for consistent results. Chris helps educate traders with a three-hour video course that can change your trading results for the better. His mission is to help his clients boost their trading performance while reducing market exposure and portfolio volatility. He is a regular speaker on HoweStreet.com, and the FinancialSurvivorNetwork radio shows. Chris was also featured on the cover of AmalgaTrader Magazine, and contributes articles to several leading financial hubs like MarketOracle.co.uk Disclaimer: Nothing in this report should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any securities mentioned. Technical Traders Ltd., its owners and the author of this report are not registered broker-dealers or financial advisors. Before investing in any securities, you should consult with your financial advisor and a registered broker-dealer. Never make an investment based solely on what you read in an online or printed report, including this report, especially if the investment involves a small, thinly-traded company that isnt well known. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report has been paid by Cardiff Energy Corp. In addition, the author owns shares of Cardiff Energy Corp. and would also benefit from volume and price appreciation of its stock. The information provided here within should not be construed as a financial analysis but rather as an advertisement. The authors views and opinions regarding the companies featured in reports are his own views and are based on information that he has researched independently and has received, which the author assumes to be reliable. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any content of this report, nor its fitness for any particular purpose. Lastly, the author does not guarantee that any of the companies mentioned in the reports will perform as expected, and any comparisons made to other companies may not be valid or come into effect. Chris Vermeulen Archive 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. Guntur: Enraged over the ongoing Income Tax raids, top Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders including Guntur MP Galla Jayadev whose properties were searched on late Tuesday night, staged a dharna and marched to the Guntur collector's office. The Income-Tax sleuths raided different locations associated with Galla on Tuesday, leading to a further flare-up in the tensions between the Centre and TDP. Galla, an industrialist and the managing director of Amara Raja Group, was the richest candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. He's the face of TDP's attack against NDA over the issue of special status for Andhra Pradesh. Alleging vendetta politics, Galla said, It is happening at three locations where my election team was staying. I am demanding an explanation on why we are being targeted. This country under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going down a fascist path. Because I have spoken against him, initiated a non-confidence motion against him, I am being targeted like this. Why is TDP being targeted in Andhra Pradesh? If EC and all government agencies are working impartially it should be happening to people of all parties. This is an attempt by the government to influence the elections. We are moving towards a state of emergency in the country, he further questioned, reported news agency ANI. TDP spokesperson Lanka Dinakar, who also participated in the dharna, questioned the motive behind the raids. "Union Government is carrying out vendetta politics in Andhra Pradesh on behalf of his B-team Jaganmohan Reddy. This IT raid against Jayadev is because he called on Prime Minister in Lok Sabha. He is now being agonised just before elections. Jayadev is one of the highest income taxpayers in Andhra Pradesh," said Dinakar. Alleging YSR Congress Party hand behind the raids, Dinakar added, IT department shouldn't conduct such raids without proper intimation to the EC, we don't know whether these raids are happening with EC's approval or just on instructions of Modi led union govt as per list given by Jaganmohan Reddy. Earlier on Tuesday, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday alleged that various leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi are acting with vendetta against the state. "It is not only Prime Minister Narendra Modi but also Jaganmohan Reddy and K Chandrashekhar Rao who are acting vindictively against the state. Modi has betrayed us; he did not fulfill his promise. Then we question him, he harasses us with ED and CBI raids," Naidu said while releasing the party manifesto "Your Future My Responsibility". Bengaluru: The income tax department has written to the Chief Electoral Officer seeking legal action against Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and a host of his cabinet colleagues for allegedly intimidating tax officers and obstructing them from discharging duties, sources said Tuesday. The chief minister, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, and host of other state ministers along with their supporters had staged a demonstration near the income tax office on March 28, accusing the Centre of using central agencies, such and income tax department, enforcement directorate and CBI, to intimidate the opposition. The protests took place when tax raids were in progress across the state. In his letter, dated April 5, Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (Goa-Karnataka region) B R Balakrishnan said, "Reports in electronic media depict that the protest was led by chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, Ministers D K Shivakumar and S R Mahesh, former home minister Ramalinga Reddy, Dinesh Gundu Rao, MLA and KPCC president. " This was followed by specific statements including personal allegations against the director general of income tax by Ministers H D Revanna and C S Puttaraju." The voluntary and disruptive actions of people holding high offices obstructed public servants from discharging their public functions, wrote Balakrishnan, adding that the protests aimed at derailing the ongoing search proceedings against the contractors and engineers and causing damage to the reputation of the personnel of the department. Balakrishnan, stated in his letter, that when people holding high public offices including constitutional posts, make false statements and instigate and involve in criminal activities with the purpose of adversely affecting the process of the law and preventing government officials from discharging their duties, such activities and statements criminally intimidate and harm the personnel of the department with greater intensity. The income tax official demanded cases should be registered against all those who took part in the protests for unlawful assembly, intentional insult, breach of peace, statements conducing to public mischief, criminal intimidation, obstructing public servant from discharging their duties and threat of injury to public servant under IPC sections 143, 504, 505, 506, 186 and 189. The raids since March 28 fetched unaccounted cash of Rs 8.14 crore and unaccounted jewellery worth Rs 1.69 crore, the department stated in the letter adding that no MLA, MLC or minister was searched in the said proceedings. A day prior to the raids, the chief minister had expressed his apprehensions that income tax raids on Congress and JD(S) leaders and ministers were in the offing, which he called "the politics of vendetta of the Centre". The raids took place at about 15 to 20 locations, triggering widespread condemnation and protests by the leaders of the ruling coalition. Minister Puttaraju had claimed that his house in Mandya and his nephew's house in Mysuru were among those raided by the I-T officials. The BJP accused the chief minister of leaking the information about the raids beforehand, thereby violating the oath of secrecy taken at the time of assuming office After months of hectic campaigning, of strategising, making promises and of ensuring no stone is left unturned to ensure a peaceful and orderly Lok Sabha 2019 election, India is all set to vote in the first phase which begins from Thursday. The first phase may be only one of seven but it assumes vital significance considering how it could set the tempo for what is to come all the way till May 23 - the date for counting of votes and result declaration. Voting would take place in 91 parliamentary constituencies across 20 states and union territories in the country. Battling it out for political power and glory are 1279 candidates - each one out there to woo voters. Of these, there are 89 women candidates or 7 per cent. The right to choose between them would be with over 14 crore people in a country with an electorate of 90 crore. (Also read: Chief Election Commissioner has a message for you | How to find your polling booth) While there are many states which will vote in multiple phases, states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim will vote in just one phase, the first phase. Of these, Andhra, Arunachal and Sikkim will also vote in Assembly elections here, simultaneously. A part of Odisha too will vote in Lok Sabha election and Assembly election simultaneously. Some of the key Lok Sabha constituencies in the first phase are: * Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh - BJP's General VK Singh is facing off against Congress' Dolly Sharma and SP's Suresh Bansal. * Kairana in Uttar Pradesh - BJP has fielded Pradeep Kumar against Congress' Harendra Malik and SP's Tabassum Begum. * Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh - Sanjeev Kumar Balyan is leading the BJP charge against RLD's Ajit Singh. * Nagpur in Maharashtra - Union minister Nitin Gadkari takes on Congress' Nana Patole. * Nizamabad in Telangana - There are 185 candidates here. Main among them is Kalvakuntla Kavitha - daughter of Telangana CM KCR. She takes on Congress' Madhu Yashki Goud. * Hyderabad in Telangana - AIMIM chief Asaduddin takes on BJP's Bhagvanth Rao. * Vishakapatnam in Andhra Pradesh - BJP's Daggubati Purandeswari - daughter of NT Rama Rao fights TDP's MV Sribharat and Congress'Pedada Ramani Kumari. * Vijaywada in Andhra Pradesh - TDP's Kesineni Srinivas is contesting against YSRCP candidate Potuluri Vara Prasad. * Tezpur in Assam - Pallab Lochan Das of BJP is fighting against Congress' GVK Bhanu. * Gaya in Bihar - Former state CM Jitan Ram Manjhi takes on JDU's Vijay Kumar Manjhi. * Jammu in Jammu and Kashmir - BJP's Jugal Kishore battles against Congress' Raman Bhalla. * Bastar in Chhattisgarh - Ballot is fighting against bullet in this Naxal-infested area. Drones and 80,000 security personnel have been deployed to ensure polling is peaceful although Naxals have called for a boycott. Tuesday's attack on a BJP MLA's convoy in Dantewada would perhaps cast a shadow but EC has ensured that no untoward incident takes place. In terms of electoral battle, BJP's Bai Duram Kashyap fights Congress' Deepak Baij. Security has been a key area of focus - especially in Naxal-affected areas and areas where crime rate is usually on the higher side. State/UT Constituencies Total voters Male Voters Female Voters Voters of Third Gender Candidates Polling Booths Andhra Pradesh 25 39345717 19462339 19879421 3957 319 45920 Arunachal Pradesh 2 798248 394456 403792 0 12 2202 Assam 5 7603458 3865334 3737970 154 41 9574 Bihar 4 7440324 3894024 3546001 299 44 7486 Chhattisgarh 1 1377946 662355 715550 41 07 1878 Jammu & Kashmir 2 3317882 1716933 1600897 52 33 4489 Maharashtra 7 13035501 6671196 6364124 181 116 14731 Manipur 1 1010618 495583 515022 13 08 1562 Meghalaya 2 1892716 936579 956137 0 9 3167 Mizoram 1 784405 381991 402408 6 06 1175 Nagaland 1 1206287 607859 598428 0 04 2227 Odisha 4 6003707 2972925 3030222 560 26 7233 Sikkim 1 423325 216222 207103 0 11 567 Telangana 17 29518964 14842619 14674977 1368 443 34603 Tripura 1 1347381 682044 665327 10 13 1679 Uttar Pradesh 8 15268056 8327469 6939761 826 96 16635 Uttarakhand 5 7854023 4053944 3711220 259 52 11235 West Bengal 2 3454276 1773196 1681051 29 18 3844 A & N Islands 1 317878 168701 149168 9 15 406 Lakshadweep 1 54266 27475 26791 00 06 51 Total 91 142054978 72153244 69805370 7764 1279 170664 No of States/UTs in Phase 1 20 Other steps by the Election Commission: The Election Commission has once again said that it has left nothing to chance in ensuring that maximum voting takes place and that every Indian - irrespective of artificial, physical or geographical barriers - can cast his or her vote. Some of the steps taken by the EC ensuring basic facilities like drinking water, toilet and a standard voting compartment at every booth, ramps for specially-abled, braille Photo Voter Slips and VVPATs at many booths for transparency. In many areas, pick and drop facilities are being extended for the elderly, the specially abled and even transgenders. Many polling officers have tied up with several NGOs to ensure the marginalised communities come out to vote without any hindrance to their daily lives. In the weeks leading up to Thursday, the EC campaigned extensively to increase voter awareness with a voting guide being issued, large banners on four long-distance trains and using social media as well as radio stations to highlight the importance of each vote. What voters now need to know and do: Voters in the first phase - as well as those in subsequent phases - must carry their electoral roll and Elector Photo Identity or one of 11 alternative photo IDs. Photo voter slip cannot be used as a standalone identification document any longer. (Click here to know more) The EC has said that timing of vote would be from 0700 hrs to 1800 hrs in general, from 0700hrs to 1700hrs in the north-east part of the country except Manipur and Nagaland where it would be till 1600hrs. Late on Wednesday evening, Chief Election Commission even appealed to voters at large to come out in huge numbers to make the election a success. "It's a humble appeal that more and more people should come and cast their votes so that the bedrock of democracy strengthens. Our efforts will be fructified if each one of us who is an elector shows adequate zeal and faith in democratic system," he said. So, the time is here and the time is now. India needs to vote in the present, for its future. Remember, not voting is not a protest - it is a surrender. Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday filed his nomination from Uttar Pradeshs Amethi, with his mother Sonia Gandhi, sister Priyanka Gandhi and brother-in-law Robert Vadra by his side. Before filing the nomination, Rahul held a roadshow from Munshiganj-Darpipur to Gauriganj. Rahul also held two rallies in Bihar and West Bengal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public in Gujarats Junagadh on Wednesday and accused the Congress of Tughlaq road election scam where money meant for poor and pregnant women was looted by Congress leaders. BJP president Amit Shah held public rallies in Uttar Pradesh's Kasganj and Firozabad on Wednesday. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, BSP supremo Mayawati, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar among several other leaders also held rallies at various places as the first phase of Lok Sabha election kicks off on April 11. Here are all the updates from Wednesday (April 10): * Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari accuses AAP of trying to mislead people by claiming the BJP is responsible for the sealing. * Union Minister Jayant Sinha files nomination from Hazaribagh Lok Sabha constituency. * Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) would fight the Lok Sabha election on issues like development, agriculture and education, says party chief Shibu Soren. * Congress candidate Ramesh Rathod, contesting from Adilabad parliamentary constituency, gets injured in road accident near Adilabad. * Two constituencies in West Bengal - Cooch Behar and Alipurduar to go to the polls in the first phase of elections to the Lok Sabha on Thursday. * UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to file nomination from Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat on Thursday. * Union minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani to file nomination from Amethi Lok Sabha constituency on Thursday * Orissa: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidate Pradeep Disari caught with more than Rs 2 lakh in his vehicle by the Flying Squad of Election Commission at Jaipatana. * Prime Minister Narendra Modi is living in fear of being jailed if there is a probe in Rafale scam: Rahul Gandhi * Elaborate security arrangements put in place in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla Lok Sabha seat as separatists and militants call for a boycott of the elections on Thursday. * Naxal-affected Bastar Lok Sabha constituency in Chhattisgarh all set to go to polls on Thursday amid tight security and looming threat from Maoists who have called for a boycott of elections. * Nominations of 24 candidates rejected after scrutiny for 13 Lok Sabha constituencies which will go to polls in the first phase on April 29. *Amid a major controversy, the Election Commission ordered stoppage of release of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's biopic even as it was considering a complaint against the telecast of NaMo TV. * Punjab OBC Congress leaders accuses party of neglecting them, says it has not fielded a single candidate from them for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls so far in the state. * Aam Aadmi Party rejects Congress' proposal for an alliance in Delhi. * Over 14 crore Indians ready to vote in first phase of Lok Sabha election beginning April 11. * Police target a Naxal camp near Rajnandgaon - on the border with Maharashtra. Naxals use IEDs and locally-made rocket launchers but beat a hasty retret in face of heavy police firing. * MLA Dhavalsinh Thakor and MLA Bharatji Thakor have also resigned from Congress. * Alpesh Thakor resigns from Congress ahead of Lok Sabha 2019 election. (Read full report here) * Naxals attack voting centre near Maharashtra's Gadchiroli, reports Zee News' Deepak Bhatuse. * Case registered against DMK Vellore candidate Kathir Anand on charges of attempting to bribe voters and filing false affidavit. (Read full report here) * Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh writes to Chief Election Commissioner seeking review of Election Commission order relieving IG Kunwar V Pratap Singh as member of SIT probing Bagari firing. He said SIT was carrying out its legal mandate of probe and was not affected by Model Code of Conduct. Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh writes to Chief Election Commissioner seeking review of Election Commission order relieving IG Kunwar V Pratap Singh as member of SIT probing Bagari firing;says SIT was carrying out its legal mandate of probe&wasn't affected by Model Code of Conduct pic.twitter.com/P2pt6J4H7S ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 *"I'm asking I-T dept who're you to do 1 sided raids, on TDP.Once elections are announced, it's a level playing field; you've to treat everybody equal. Otherwise, it's unjustified. Modi wanted to demolish democracy, so I launched 'Save India Save Democracy'," Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu told ANI. * EC stalls release of biopic on PM Narendra Modi, cites Model Code of Conduct. (Read more) * Punjab CM writes to Election Commission seeking action against PM for his remark "I want to ask 1st-time voters:can your 1st vote be dedicated to brave soldiers who carried out air strike in Pakistan Can your 1st vote be dedicated to martyrs of Pulwama?" * TDP delegation lead by Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu meets state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Gopal Krishna Dwivedi over I-T raids on party leaders. Amaravati: TDP delegation lead by Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu meets state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Gopal Krishna Dwivedi over I-T raids on party leaders. pic.twitter.com/iWpZ1pP6u8 ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 * Congress President Rahul Gandhi files his nomination from Amethi accompanied with Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Robert Vadra. Congress President Rahul Gandhi files his nomination from Amethi for #LokSabhaElections2019 . Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Robert Vadra also present. pic.twitter.com/EvNswqEm3N ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 10, 2019 * Rahul Gandhi reaches District Collector's office to file his nomination papers from Amethi Lok Sabha constituency. * We have serious concerns about foreign governments influencing our democratic election process. Last year, it was reported that ISI wants Modi as PM. Now Pakistani PM says it, tweeted CPI (ML) general secretary Sitaram Yechury. * Election Commission tells Supreme Court that it was not against the issuance of Electoral Bonds for funding to political parties but it was against the anonymity of donors and wants transparency in the Electoral Bonds scheme, ANI reported. * Karnataka CM and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy campaigns for his son and party's candidate for Mandya Lok Sabha constituency. Karnataka CM and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy campaigns for his son and party's candidate for Mandya Lok Sabha constituency - Nikhil. #LokSabhaElections2019 pic.twitter.com/D4icqj49LX ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 * PM Narendra Modi likely to file his nomination from Varanasi on April 26. * Sonia Gandhi arrives at District Collector office in Amethi, where Congress President Rahul Gandhi will file his nomination for Lok Sabha poll. * Congress President Rahul Gandhi holds road show in Amethi. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra along with her husband Robert Vadra, son Raihan and daughter Miraya also present. Congress President Rahul Gandhi holds road show in Amethi. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra along with her husband Robert Vadra, son Raihan and daughter Miraya also present. #LokSabhaElections2019 pic.twitter.com/1y4hmtPJ6M ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 10, 2019 * Gurjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla to join Bharatiya Janata Party today. * Glimpses of election campaign of Comrade Biswanath Ghosh at Malda North LS constituency. Glimpses of election campaign at Jangipur LS Constituency in support of LF nominated CPIM candidate Comrade Julfikar Ali. Defeat BJP-TMC, elect Left and ensure Secular Govt at the Centre. #Vote4Left pic.twitter.com/dFeibLHbgD CPI(M) WEST BENGAL (@CPIM_WESTBENGAL) April 10, 2019 * Visuals from Uttarakhand's Nainital as polling parties leave for their respective polling stations. All 5 parliamentary constituencies of the state will undergo polling tomorrow, in the first phase of Lok Sabha election. Uttarakhand: Visuals from Nainital as polling parties leave for their respective polling stations. All 5 parliamentary constituencies of the state will undergo polling tomorrow, in the first phase of #LokSabhaElections2019 pic.twitter.com/rYJRt7qIth ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 * Delhi High Court sends PIL seeking direction to EC to ban Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti from participating in Lok Sabha election, to another bench for hearing on April 12, ANI reported. Delhi High Court sends PIL seeking direction to EC to ban Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti from participating in Lok Sabha election, to another bench for hearing on 12th April. pic.twitter.com/iaJCeEFISQ ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 * "A new name has been added to the list of corruption by Congress. Congress' identity is linked to corruption under many names. But now a new scam, along with evidence, has been added to the account of Congress leaders - Tughlaq Road Chunavi Ghotala," PM Modi said in Junagarh, Gujarat. * Visuals from outside District Collector office in Amethi where Congress President Rahul Gandhi will file his nomination today. Visuals from outside District Collector office in Amethi where Congress President Rahul Gandhi will file his nomination today. #LokSabhaElections2019 pic.twitter.com/cjjGWUbS9L ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 10, 2019 * Congress president Rahul Gandhi arrives in Amethi to file his nomination paper. Rahul will file his nomination paper after a two-hour road show. * BSNL seeks action against BJP MP Varun Gandhi for non-payment of phone bills. * List of parliamentary constituencies going to poll in first phase of Lok Sabha elections on Thursday. (Read more) * Visuals from Assam's Dibrugarh as polling parties leave for their respective polling stations. Five Parliamentary constituencies of the state will undergo polling tomorrow, in the first phase of Lok Sabha election. Assam: Visuals from Dibrugarh as polling parties leave for their respective polling stations. Five Parliamentary constituencies of the state will undergo polling tomorrow, in the first phase of #LokSabhaElections2019 pic.twitter.com/xIzFeO91EL ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 * In a first after reorganization, 17 parliamentary constituencies in Telangana go to polls in first phase on Thursday. (Read more) * Visuals from Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri as polling parties leave for their respective polling stations. Two Parliamentary constituencies of the state will undergo polling tomorrow, in the first phase of Lok Sabha election. Jammu & Kashmir: Visuals from Rajouri as polling parties leave for their respective polling stations. Two Parliamentary constituencies of the state will undergo polling tomorrow, in the first phase of #LokSabhaElections2019 pic.twitter.com/Nzm1oZWPWL ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 * Polling parties depart with EVMs for their respective polling stations in Alipurduar parliamentary constituency in West Bengal; Visuals from Alipurduar DCRC College. West Bengal: Polling parties depart with EVMs for their respective polling stations in Alipurduar parliamentary constituency; Visuals from Alipurduar DCRC College pic.twitter.com/SETZ7oF19H ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 * Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Chief Naveen Patnaik releases party's manifesto for Lok Sabha Election. Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Chief Naveen Patnaik releases party's manifesto for the #LokSabhaElections2019 (9/4/19) pic.twitter.com/iZGkyOhyYL ANI (@ANI) April 9, 2019 * Congress president Rahul Gandhi to file nomination from Amethi on Wednesday. (Read more) * PM Narendra Modi's Balakot strike remark for first-time voters comes under EC scanner. (Read more) * Guntur MP Galla Jayadev, TDP leaders stage dharna over IT raids; call it 'vendetta politics' * Amit Shah to address rallies in Kasganj and Firozabad. Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's chopper, used for poll campaign in North Bengal, lost its way on Wednesday while she was on a campaign trail in Chopra, North Dinajpur district. "I am sorry as you all had to wait for me. This distance is usually covered within 22 minutes, but it took us 55 minutes to find the way. The pilot could not find the way," said Banerjee without divulging any further detail. According to officials accompanying her, the pilot of the chopper lost the way and ventured into Bihar's air space by mistake. The pilot reportedly found it difficult to locate the helipad created right next to the stage of her campaign in Chopra. However, after establishing radio contact, the pilot was given a route to follow and managed to locate the helipad. A colourful flare was also lit to help the pilot locate the exact location of the helipad. The chopper had taken off from Siliguri around 1pm. While it was supposed to land at Chopra helipad at 1:22pm, it landed at 2pm. The state administration has ordered a high-level inquiry into the matter as the Chief Minister is a Z Plus category protectee. In 2016, a Kolkata-bound flight carrying the Chief Minister from Patna was reportedly low on fuel and was hovering over the Kolkata airport for over an hour, eventually landing behind schedule. She and other TMC leaders at the time had alleged that the plot had tried to eliminate her. The incident had also sparked a debate in Parliament, raising concerns over the Chief Minister and other passengers' security. The voting for the first phase of the much-awaited Lok Sabha election 2019 will start on Thursday. In the first phase, 91 Lok Sabha seats are in the fray, spread over 20 states and Union Territories (UTs). As the stage is set for the drama to unfold, we take you through a few interesting sidelights from some of the poll-bound states: Andaman & Nicobar Islands: Here the voters include 41 Great Nicobarese tribes of Strait Islands, 65 Onge tribes at Hut Bay and approximately 100 Shompen tribes of Campbell Bay. Arunachal Pradesh: The polling station with the least number of electors is Malogam Temporary Structure in Malogam Village under 45-Hayuliang (ST) Assembly Constituency. It has only one female voter. Polling Station No. 18-Luguthang under 3-Mukto (ST) Assembly Constituency is the highest polling station located at an altitude of about 13,583 feet. 11 polling stations exclusively for female voters have been set up in the state. Mizoram: For Bru refugees, who are living in camps in Tripura, 15 special polling booths have been set up in Kanhmun at the Mizoram-Tripura border. Mizoram holds a unique feature among the parliamentary constituencies with 100% voters having Elector Photo Identity Cards (EPIC). Sikkim: The highest polling booth in Sikkim is situated close to the India-China border at an altitude of 13,500 feet in Gnathang Valley for 180 registered voters from 21-Gnathang Machong Assembly constituency. At least 39 all women polling stations have been set up manned by all women polling parties and police forces. Meghalaya: Here 52 per cent voters are women in Meghalaya, while 32.34 per cent is in the 20-29 years age group. For the first time, BRAILE Voter id card-EPIC makes debut in Meghalaya with BRAILE EPIC issued for the usage of the visually impaired. Bihar: Bihar becomes the second state in the country after Delhi to declare all polling booths for the 2019 Lok Sabha Election in the state as tobacco-free polling booths. Live Webcasting arrangements have been made at 350 polling booths in the first phase of the general election to ensure free and fair polls. Uttar Pradesh: The total number of electors has increased by 55,06,336 (ie 3.96 per cent) since the 2014 election in the state. Out of these, 16,75,567 electors are in the age group of 18-19 years. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks asking first-time voters to cast their votes in favour of those who carried out the air strikes at Balakot in Pakistan has come under the scanner of the Election Commission and the poll panel has sought a report from the Chief Election Officer of Maharashtra in this matter. Talking to PTI, EC sources said that the chief electoral officer of Maharashtra has been directed to submit a report as soon as possible. The prime minister had made the remarks on Tuesday while addressing a rally in Maharashtra's Latur. " I want to tell the first-time voters: can your first vote be dedicated to the veer jawans (valiant soldiers) who carried out the air strike in Pakistan? Can your first vote be dedicated to the veer shaheed (brave martyrs) of Pulwama (terror attack)? he had said. It is to be noted that an advisory was issued by the EC in March asking political parties to not involve the armed forces in their political propaganda. "...parties/candidates are advised that their campaigners/candidates should desist, as part of their election campaigning, from indulging in any political propaganda involving activities of defence forces," the commission had said in its advisory issued on March 19. Taking cognizance of PM Modi's speech, CPI-M politburo member had written a letter to the EC, accusing Modi of violating the model code of conduct during his speech. "With deep anguish we are drawing your attention to the latest violation of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is also violating the specific direction of the Election Commission to refrain from invoking the armed forces for seeking votes," Basu said in the letter. Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal also attacked PM Modi for doing politics in the name of armed forces and added that it is sad to see that no action is being taken by the EC in this regard. (with PTI inputs) New Delhi: Urging the voters of Amethi to get rid of their "missing MP," BJP leader and Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday said that India got independence years back. "I would request the voters of Amethi to also get rid of their missing Member of Parliament," she said, while talking to ANI. Attacking Congress president Rahul Gandhi who represents Amethi in the Lok Sabha, she said: "People are saying that Rahul Gandhi won from Amethi and went to Waynad and Smriti Irani despite losing came back to Amethi. This has become a topic of discussion among the voters. " In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Smriti Irani had unsuccessfully contested against Congress president Rahul Gandhi from Amethi. She said that she will file her nomination papers in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday. Amethi goes to polls on May 6 in the 5th phase of the elections. Elections in UP are scheduled to be conducted in seven phases starting from April 11 and ending on May 19. The counting of votes will take place on May 23. NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress (TMC) has written a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner expressing discontent over the transfer of Cooch Behar Superintendent of Police (SP) Abhishek Gupta. In the letter which was submitted on Tuesday night, TMC termed the transfer "an arbitrary and biased order" of the Election Commission of India. The party also alleged that the transfer was done on the behest of the BJP. "From the events unfolded in the recent past, it is amply clear that such order of transfer has been passed at the behest of the ruling party at Centre i.e. BJP, its national leaders as well as its local representatives in West Bengal, especially in view of the statements issued by its leaders during the recent election meeting held at Cooch Behar," the party claimed. TMC also alleged that BJP leaders during an election meeting on April 7 had threatened Gupta of "dire consequences." "In the presence of the Prime Minister, Mukul Roy has hinted that Abhishek Gupta, the Superintendent of Police will be robbed of his uniform. He obliquely hinted that he would soon be replaced and/or transferred by the Election Commission as if he has full control over the Election Commission," TMC said in its complaint. "Your action clearly indicates that such decision has been taken as per his instruction and compel us to question the bona fide of the decision," read the letter. Through the letter, the party has requested the EC to review its order and ensure a free and fair election in the state. A TMC delegation led by Derek O`Brien is also expected to meet the Chief Election Commissioner later today in this regard. Polling for the 42 Lok Sabha seats at stake in West Bengal will be held in all seven phases from April 11 to May 19.Two parliamentary constituencies of West Bengal- Cooch Behar and Alipurduar - will go to polls on April 11. The counting of votes will take place on May 23. SAHARANPUR: In a move which can upset the BSP-SP-RLD alliance in the state, Dalit group Bhim Army, which has a considerable following in western Uttar Pradesh, has appealed to members of the community to vote for Congress' Saharanpur Lok Sabha candidate Imran Masood. The move comes days after Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati described Bhim Army founder Chandrashekhar Azad as a "BJP agent" and accused him of trying to divide Dalit votes. The call to support Masood, who had hogged headlines during the 2014 general elections for his controversial remarks against Narendra Modi, was taken Monday. An announcement was to be made during a rally of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary for east Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Saharanpur, but the public meeting was called of due to bad weather, district president of the Bhim Army Rohit Raj Gautam said. "Masood helped the Bhim Army when no one else came out in its support," he said, referring to police cases against the Dalit group's members following caste clashes in Saharanpur in May 2017. "We want to make it clear that we are not supporting the Congress. We are backing Masood on a personal level because he helped us at a time when no one was ready to listen to us," Gautam said. The BSP-SP-RLD alliance has fielded Faizul Rehman from the seat. Sitting BJP MP Raghav Lakhanpal is seeking re-election from the constituency. At a joint rally in Deoband in the constituency on Sunday, Mayawati had appealed to Muslim voters to consolidate behind Rehman and ensure that their votes do not get split. A Bhim Army leader alleged that BSP-SP activists manhandled a number of Dalits carrying pictures of Chandrashekhar at the rally and tore their posters. Congress general secretary for east Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had met Chandrashekhar at a Meerut hospital last month, which was seen as a Dalit outreach move of the party. Recently, after Chandrashekhar announced to contest against Prime Minister Modi in Varanasi, Mayawati had termed him an "agent of the BJP who wants to split Dalit votes". In response to her remark, Chandrashekhar had said SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh were "agents of the BJP" as they "allowed atrocities on Dalits". During the 2018 Kairana Lok Sabha bypoll, the Bhim Army had made an appeal to voters in favour of the opposition candidate, RLD's Tabassum Hassan, who managed to get Dalit support. Earlier, the Bhim Army's national president Vinay Ratan Singh had said the Congress did nothing for Dalits during its 60-year rule and there was no reason for them to support the party in the elections. In 2014, Lakhanpal polled 4,27,999 votes. Masood came close second garnering 4,07, 909 votes. The constituency has a total of 17,22,580 voters, of which six lakh are Muslims. There are around three lakh SC/ST voters. Saharanpur goes to polls in the first phase on April 11. A new scandal has emerged in Spain, concerning a group of high-ranking police officers who worked in cahoots with the former PP Minister of the Interior, Jorge Fernandez Diaz, and the Rajoy government to pursue opponents of the State" (such as the Catalan separatists and Podemos), and sabotage the investigation of major corruption cases. This so-called "cesspit of the state is yet further confirmation of what is already common knowledge: the state and so-called free press are rotten to the core. Read the original in Spanish at Lucha de Clases | The plots unveiled against Podemos are based on fabricated evidence and false accusations, with the involvement of important bourgeois media outlets. This is not an accidental event resulting from a few "bad apples", a bad government or rogue journalists. It is an essential part of the structure and functioning of this apparatus of repression, whose objective (as in all democratic capitalist countries) is to target those considered a threat to the system, and preserve the domination of the rich and powerful. The Patriotic Brigade The so-called Patriotic Brigade was officially "dismantled", according to Socialist minister Grande-Marlaska, although many of its members remain in the police force, some in high-ranking positions. The patriotic brigade interfered with many corruption cases involving the PP and even the royal family (as in the Noos case, which implicated the Kings brother-in-law, Inaki Urdangarin). Their connections spread (and continue to spread) across the judiciary, both in the high and lower courts in Madrid and other cities. In the course of the Barcenas case, a hired assassin broke into the house of PP Treasurer, Luis Barcenas (who was under investigation for corruption), to steal material pertaining to the related Gurtel case (another corruption scandal implicating the PP, in which Barcenas was eventually found guilty). The assassin also stole information that incriminated the PP in the payment of bonuses to ministers and former prime ministers (Aznar and Rajoy). At the centre of all these plots has been former police chief, Jose Manuel Villarejo. Dirty war against Podemos The case that is now receiving plenty of media coverage concerns 'special jobs' done by the patriotic brigade from late 2015 to mid-2016, commissioned by the Rajoy government, to discredit Podemos and its leaders. It consisted of accusing Podemos leaders of receiving finances from the governments of Venezuela and Iran (based on false evidence) and the leaking of personal messages from a stolen mobile phone belonging to the former top aide of Pablo Iglesias in the European Parliament, Dina Bousselham. The false reports on the financing of Podemos contained in the PISA Report (acronym of Pablo Iglesias ltd.), as well as some private comments and personal photos from the stolen phone, were published by Okdiario: a digital magazine connected to the patriotic brigade and Villarejo. The contents of the stolen phone were found on Villarejo's personal computer, and a copy of the memory card was sent to Antonio Asensio, owner of Interviu magazine, and possibly to more companies. It is worth remembering that Okdiario was founded in September 2015 by Eduardo Inda, specifically in service of this underhand plot. According to the journalist Ernesto Ekaizer, for setting up this site, Eduardo Inda was given credit of 500,000 by a public company, ENISA. ENISA is a subsidiary of the Ministry of Industry, dedicated to subsidising business projects. The link between the patriotic brigade, the Rajoy government and Okdiario would soon be brought to light. The Patriotic Brigade tried to falsely implicate PODEMOS in receiving funding from the governments of Venezuela and Iran. They recieved orders from the PP, and PSOE has participated with a coluding silence / Image: Flickr, Adolfo Lujan There is a dark aspect to this plot that somewhat taints PSOE. According to Villarejo, the contents of the stolen mobile phone were delivered to him in a "pendrive" by the then-chief editor of Interviu, Alberto Pozas, who was, up until now, General Director of National Information. He has resigned from that post "so as not to damage the Sanchez government", without denying emphatically what Villarejo affirmed. Pozas was executive consultant for the State Department of Communication from 1989-1992 and spokesperson of the Secretary of State for Security under Rafael Vera, during the government of Felipe Gonzalez. Vera was sentenced to prison time, together with former Minister Jose Barrionuevo in 1998 as the main culprits behind GAL (Anti-Terrorist Liberation Group): a paramilitary group that assassinated ETA and Abertzale (Basque nationalist) militants in Spain and France. Whether Villarejo confirmed it or not, it is undeniable that the link between Pozas and the patriotic brigade is longstanding, and its role in the plot against Podemos must be clarified. The scandal has continued, with more audio leaks containing statements from senior police officers involved in this plot, in which they mention that they followed government orders from former PP Minister Fernandez Diaz and former Prime Minister Rajoy. One of the most significant recordings that has been leaked was made by the police themselves. It relates to an interview at the Spanish embassy in New York between Jose Angel Fuentes Gago (Chief Inspector of the Police and member of the Police General Secretariat) and Rafael Isea (a former Venezuelan Finance Minister for Hugo Chavez who has defected). The objective was for Isea to accuse Podemos leaders of having received money for consultancy work for the Venezuelan government when they worked for the CEPS Foundation (Centre for Political and Social Studies), eight years before the foundation of Podemos! In return, the Rajoy government would grant Isea Spanish citizenship, a new identity and a well-paid job in Spain. Isea did what was asked: he authenticated a photocopy of the supposed official payment document, despite having acknowledged that he never saw the original document. Isea was tricked, like a naive child. The alleged document was published by Okdiario, and replicated in numerous media outlets, but Isea never received the reward he was promised. Although all the political and journalistic world knew about the falsity of the accusations at the time, the right and its prostitute press lent it validity, and the PSOE participated in the operation with a colluding silence. Today, amidst the scandal, the parties of the regime continue to maintain a conspiratorial silence: shrugging their shoulders, without openly denouncing this blatant mafia behaviour of the state. The link between the media and large companies David Jimenez (former director of El Mundo) aptly describes the situation in an interview with eldiario.es: "In 2015, the elites looked on with terror at the arrival of Podemos to the government and made a decision to avoid it." As we said at the beginning, it is not about individual actions of "bad apples" but about a conscious and planned move of the ruling class against its political opponents, which is much more dangerous. David Jimenez explains something elementary for every Marxist and left activist, but that is not clear to ordinary people: "When we talk about political power or economic power or media power, we speak as if they were independent of each other. And it isnt like that. It is a triumvirate of power. They have common interests and when the machinery is put into motion and they want to crush someone, the three powers are put into operation..." "The BBVA, for example, is a bank that had a fund designated to buy off journalists and finance the media of like-minded journalists... The IBEX 35 [the 35 largest companies on the Spanish stock market] pays the press much more money than it receives from its readership. One goes to the obituary of Emilio Botin [deceased CEO of Santander] and does not find a defect. That is not a coincidence, it means that, in the end, all the favours that IBEX 35 does for the press are paid back in one way or another, when compromised information turns up... " How did the "cesspit" come about? The peculiarity of the state apparatus in Spain is that it proceeds directly, without change, from the Franco regime; it was flooded with criminals, torturers, opportunists and bullies, who accumulated enormous privileges, and a certain freedom of to act, as payment for services rendered to the Spanish ruling class during the 40 years of the regime. This state within the constitutional state itself acts at will without keeping records, knowing that the cowardly Socialist ministers will not dare to confront it. This explains why torturers like Antonio Gonzalez Pacheco "Billy the Kid", besides keeping his medals and pension for services rendered, could participate in the official ceremony of the "Day of the Police" in the police station of Ciudad Lineal (Madrid), invited by the event organiser Jose Manuel Mariscal de Gante on 4 October 2018. On 12 October 2018, the convicted coup plotter of 23 February, Antonio Tejero, participated in an official function by the Civil Guard, to commemorate the day of its patron saint (Virgen del Pilar), in the Rincon de la Victoria barracks (Malaga), invited by the local Commander Miguel Gallardo. Hundreds of former retired Army officers, who occupied the highest positions in the army under the 'democracy', and some still active, signed the manifesto in support of Franco and against his exhumation and removal from the Valley of the Fallen. The "cesspit" scandal has revealed what was already common knowledge: the state and media are rotten to the core / Image: PodemosLegal Dozens of Francoist judges have stood out in recent years for boycotting the Law of Historical Memory, preventing the change or elimination of Francoist street names and monuments throughout the country. The colonel of the Civil Guard, Diego Perez de los Cobos, who led the repression force against the referendum on Catalan self-determination on 1 October 2017, is the son of a former leader of Fuerza Nueva de Murcia. He volunteered at the barracks of the Civil Guard of Yecla (Murcia) to support the 23 February coup, and in 1997 he was accused of torturing an ETA prisoner. His brother was president of the Constitutional Court that ruled the unconstitutionality of the Estatut: ground zero for the massive Catalan independence movement. Interestingly, Perez de los Cobos did not begin his career within the executive of the state under PP control, but under PSOE when the then-Socialist Minister of Interior, Perez Rubalcaba, appointed him as an adviser in 2006. It was in this network of impunity of the state and police apparatus where the ex-commissioner Villarejo, along with his cronies in the police force (all of whom were active during the last years of the Franco regime) dedicated themselves to using their positions and the resources of the state to accumulate huge fortunes. They acted as mercenaries at the service of the highest bidder, without any control from popular representatives. They conducted espionage, reports, blackmail, scams and operations for the government of the day, for companies (e.g. BBVA), or for wealthy characters like Javier Lopez Madrid (son-in-law of Juan Miguel Villar Mir construction magnate and ex Franco minister). The institute "Schola Iuris", managed by Villarejo, formally set up to give masters courses in different legal disciplines, plays a key role in the setting up of relations between this patriotic brigade and the judicial apparatus. Notorious judges of the Supreme Court (such as Manuel Marchena, current Supreme Court President and Chief Judge of Proces), National Court, lawyers and State Prosecutors have taught courses and given conferences in this institute in exchange for considerable remunerations. The "Villarejo case" The bourgeois judiciary has had no choice but to attack Villarejo, prosecute him with multiple denouncements and keep him detained for a year and a half. This is because, buoyed up by his feeling of impunity, he has felt untouchable and gone beyond what is permissible in their shady dealings, affecting some important business interests with the danger of discrediting the state apparatus itself and the supposed fair play between large companies. Villarejo has gone "too far", and now his masters are turning on him / Image: fair use Now, Villarejo has nothing to lose. In an attempt to force his release and close the many cases that have been opened against him, or at least try to win himself a favourable agreement at the lowest possible cost, Villarejo has been dedicated for the past two years to leaking a vast amount of police recordings, both 'legal' and illegal, using his associated media platforms, such as Okdiario and Moncloa.es. The recordings, accumulated during decades of patriotic brigade activity, include some private conversations of Juan Carlos I, ministers and senior officials of the PP; and between the PSOE and businessmen, etc. concerning the Podemos case. It is clearly blackmail of the state, which will continue over the coming months, and whose conclusion is difficult to predict. The state and regime: enemies of the working class As Alberto Garzon rightly said a few days ago: the Podemos espionage case has come to light due to this conflict of interests within the state apparatus, but how many other cases of spying and dirty campaigns against the left, its leaders and social and trade union activists have there been? Or are still taking place and not yet come to light? The bottom line is clear. We are governed by an oppressive, reactionary state, an enemy of the people and of the working class in particular, with its semi-detached media arm that serves it as a mouthpiece; and above them, a parasitic and corrupt oligarchy that handles IBEX 35, plus the 65 remaining largest companies that make up the Madrid Stock Exchange. All of them are in the hands of just 20 families, as Pablo Iglesias declared at his recent rally in Madrid on 23 March, while 200 families of super-rich exploiters control 85 percent of the country's wealth. David Jimenez, not a leftist in the slightest, is forced in the interview cited to characterise this oligarchy, in a fit of sincerity, as follows: "A kind of ghetto has been created for this establishment, people who go to X restaurant or the exclusive locale and only see people from that circle. Their contact with the reality of the country is minimal." These are the people who do as their please with our lives, and make all the decisions for us. The struggle to democratise the state apparatus, to clean up and throw out its accumulated rubbish of decades and centuries, is inextricably linked to the struggle for a democratic republic. One that uproots this state apparatus and its corrupt monarchy, to create a new one, under the democratic control of working families and other oppressed sections of society. And all this is possible only with the elimination of the economic power of this reactionary oligarchy, through the expropriation and collective ownership of large companies, banks and estates. This power, in the hands of the working class, will produce day-by-day for the interests and welfare of the vast majority. The struggle for a democratic republic and socialism are one and the same. This is the idea that the leaders of Unidos Podemos should convey if they want to be consistent in this electoral campaign and beyond. SHIMLA: Voters of rugged, high mountain passes of Himachal Pradesh`s Lahaul and Spiti valleys, which are still largely covered with snow, have threatened to prohibit politicians from canvassing in their area for the Lok Sabha polls. They want both the main political parties -- the BJP and the Congress -- to come out with concrete plans to protect their traditional rights on local natural resources, including forests and to provide basic amenities. Otherwise, they say there will be no entry for the politicians in Lahaul-Spiti district having 23,407 voters in the Mandi parliamentary constituency, one of country`s largest and toughest. The successive governments in the state have failed to notify and implement the Forest Rights Act (FRA) of 2006, Save Lahaul-Spiti Society President Prem Katoch told IANS over phone. He said the Central government has framed the FRA rules in 2008, but the state government has not implemented them. Katoch said that healthcare in the entire district was the most pathetic. "For more than six months, the people in Lahaul and Spiti are cut off from the rest of the world owing to closure of road links with onset of snowfall in December. During this period, there is no provision of specialist doctors in the entire district," he said. "For every minor complication, we have to rush to other towns like Kullu and Shimla for treatment. During winter, the only mode of communication is the state-run helicopter and that runs once in a fortnight," he added. Not open throughout the year, the landlocked Lahaul Valley, comprising over two dozen small and scattered villages, remains cut off owing to heavy snow accumulation from December onwards on the Rohtang Pass (13,050 feet) -- the only connection with Manali in Kullu district. The road links restore only by mid-May when the snows melt. Helicopters are the only mode of transportation for the locals during winter. The Rohtang tunnel, which is under construction and will run beneath the Rohtang Pass, will ensure all-weather connectivity between Lahaul Valley and Manali. The Save Lahaul-Spiti Society asked the political parties to strengthen telemedicine facilities. Also, it sought an assurance on strengthening telephone and road networks in the entire district that shares border with Tibet in China. Lahaul-Spiti district, spread over 13,835 sq km, is a place of remote, untouched beauty with just 31,528 people. The entire district has 92 polling booths. Interestingly, state`s remotest polling station Tashigang is located in the Spiti Valley. "We have requested the government several times. Now, the election is the best time to highlight our grievances," said Parkash Chand of Kibber village in the Spiti Valley. He said after the notification of the wildlife sanctuary their entry into the forest had been banned and their local rights had come to an end. "The government should come out with a suitable rehabilitation plan," he added. BJP outgoing MP Ram Swaroop Sharma said he is aware of their problems. "We have strengthened medical facilities in Lahaul and Spiti and try to improve them more." Similarly, Congress greenhorn Ashray Sharma said: "Our government will come out with a suitable action plan with focus on strengthening communication network, especially along the international border." He said Sharma has failed to construct an airfield in Lahaul-Spiti. For quite some time, state`s Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur districts, both dominated mainly by Buddhists, are echoed with slogans "avan adhikar kanoon lagoo karo" (implement the Forest Rights Act) and "ahamare gaon mein hamara raj" (self-rule in our village). The locals say the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 aims to redress the historical injustice that forest-dwellers have experienced, particularly the denial of their rights to forest land and resources. "The law lays down all procedures for claim-filing and verification, but the (local) administration is unwilling to understand the provisions of the Act and is using the law as per its own convenience," said social activist Akshay Jasrotia, who has been advocating implementation of the Act. Pleading against the poll boycott, Chief Electoral Officer Devesh Kumar said the Border Road Organisation (BRO) has been asked to initiate the process for allowing short-term usage of the 8.8 km Rohtang tunnel for facilitating transportation of men and machinery and election-related material to the Lahaul Valley. Polling for the four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh - Shimla (reserved), Kangra, Mandi and Hamirpur - is scheduled for May 19. THANE: Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar faced several empty chairs while addressing a rally in Maharashtra's Ulhasnagar on Tuesday. Pawar's speech was scheduled to begin at 6 pm in the evening. Workers and locals had initially turned up in large numbers to hear his speech. The NCP chief, however, arrived at the venue at 9 pm, three hours after the scheduled time. By that time, several people had left the rally. Many more were seen vacating their seats, even as Pawar began his speech. Undeterred by the sight of half-empty ground, the NCP chief continued with his speech. Earlier on Tuesday, Pawar hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had attacked him for joining forces with the National Conference (NC). Speaking at a rally at Ausa in Maharashtra, Pawar reminded Modi that the Farooq Abdullah-led party was an ally of the BJP in the past. "The prime minister targets me whenever he comes to Maharashtra. Today also he raised question as to why Sharad Pawar was with former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who is like a terrorist," Pawar tweeted after addressing a campaign meeting for Mumbai Congress chief Milind Deora, who is in fray from the Mumbai South Lok Sabha seat. "Whenever any force (`shakti') goes against Modi, it is dubbed terrorist. This is Modi's policy," Pawar tweeted in Hindi. Modi and Pawar have been taking potshots at each other after the prime minister targeted him at a poll rally at Wardha on April 1. New Delhi: In a major embarrassment for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), two groups of party workers clashed with each other during a public meeting in Maharashtra's Amalner on Friday. In the clash, Maharashtra Minister Girish Mahajan along with former MLA BS Patil was manhandled and beaten up by activists. BJP district president Uday Wagh, who was also present in the meeting, was thrashed by the workers. A video of the incident has gone viral on the social media in which Mahajan, Wagh and BS Patil are seen being manhandled by the party workers. Watch the video here: #WATCH Maharashtra: Two groups of BJP workers clash during Maharashtra Minister Girish Mahajan's public meeting in Jalgaon. pic.twitter.com/SxDhVfaZRJ ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 According to reports, fiery arguments and exchange of blows took place between the supporters of Uday Wagh and BS Patil over ticket distribution of Lok Sabha election. The incident took place during the public meeting of Mahajan in Jalgaon. Several Shiv Sena leaders were also present when the clash took place. Girish Mahajan is Maharashtra Water Resources Management Minister The incident comes barely a month after two BJP lawmakers from Uttar Pradesh fought each other with fists and shoes at an official meeting, in full public view. The fight between the leaders broke when a BJP MP Sharad Tripathi questioned MLA Rakesh Baghel for his name being missing from the foundation stone for a local road, to which the latter replied saying that it was his decision. Sharad Tripathi represents Sant Kabir Nagar district in Uttar Pradesh. Baghel's reply left the Tripathi fuming leading to a fight eruption between the two at the spot. The police officers, present at the meeting, had to intervene to end the fight. A similar video of the incident had trended on the internet for days in which both lawmakers were heard hurling countless abuses at each other. Mumbai: Market benchmark BSE Sensex cracked about 354 points Wednesday, led by a sudden sell-off in HDFC and HDFC Bank in the later half of the session. The 30-share Sensex index lost 353.87 points, or 0.91 percent, to close at 38,585.35; the broader NSE Nifty dropped 87.65 points, or 0.75 percent, to 11,584.30. HDFC Bank lost 2.07 percent, while HDFC slumped 1.96 percent. The HDFC duo collectively accounted for almost half of the Sensex's 354-point loss. Other top losers in the Sensex pack included Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, TCS, HCL Tech, Tata Steel, SBI, IndusInd Bank and Hero MotoCorp, declining up to 3.28 percent. While, Tata Motors, HUL, Kotak Bank, Coal India, Sun Pharma, M&M, Bajaj Auto and ONGC were the gainers, rising up to 4.68 percent. According to traders, market sentiment turned weak after the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its World Economic Outlook (WEO), once again downgraded global growth forecast to 3.3 percent for 2019. The quarterly report "projects a slowdown in growth in 2019 for 70 percent of the world economy," IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath said in a statement. India is projected to grow at 7.3 percent in 2019 and 7.5 percent in 2020, reflecting the recent revision to the national account statistics that indicated somewhat softer underlying momentum, the report said. Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased equity worth Rs 1,212.35 crore Tuesday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares to the tune of Rs 688.65 crore, provisional data available with stock exchanges showed. Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Japan, China and Korea ended on a mixed note. In Europe, bourses in Germany, France and UK were trading in the positive terrain in early deals. The benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.67 percent to USD 71.08 per barrel. Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated 12 paise to 69.18 against the US dollar intra-day. Mumbai: After "Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi", Kangana Ranaut has locked a script for her next directorial, an epic action drama based on a real-life story. The film will be mounted on a large scale, but will be different from any other epic that has been made in recent times, the actor said in a statement. "I'm on the verge of announcing my next directorial venture. It's an action film ? an epic drama. It has taken a lot of my time. Currently, we are putting everything in order, but we have locked the script. We'll be doing a photoshoot soon after which we plan to release the poster too," Kangana said. The actor feels great that female artistes are bringing a lot of business in the industry and believes it is the "right time" for her to start working on her second directorial project. Kangana on Tuesday wrapped up the shoot of "Panga" in Delhi and will now head to Kolkata for the next leg. Apart from "Panga", she also has "Mental Hai Kya" and Jayalalithaa biopic. New Delhi: 'Dilbar' girl Nora Fatehi turns heads each time she steps out in the city. The Moroccan beauty has a huge fan-following and was recently seen expressing her excitement upon hitting 4 million followers on social media app Instagram. She keeps her fans engaged by regularly sharing details about her life on social media. The actress was spotted at the famous Indigo restaurant in Bandra recently and looked beautiful in a white dress. The actress gives major angelic vibes in the pics. Check them out here: (Image Courtesy: Yogen Shah) Nora shot to fame after her killer dance moves from 'Dilbar' song went viral. The song is from John Abraham starrer 'Satyameva Jayate' and became a super-hit on YouTube! It is because of the song's popularity that people flocked to theatres on the day of the film's release and gave it a grand opening. The actress will next be seen in Salman Khan's 'Bharat'. The film is helmed by Ali Abbas Zafar and is slated to release on June 5. She is also a part of Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor starrer 'Street Dancer'. New Delhi: A day after West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee claimed that Congress should not think of forming a government on its own as it has been limited to only 2-3 states, Rahul Gandhi rubbished her claims and hit her out for forging an alliance with BJP in the past. Slamming Mamata for her comments that 'Congress is responsible behind BJP's massive rise', Rahul quipped that only his party is fighting tooth and nail against BJP in the country. "Mamata ji is saying Congress does not fight BJP. Then who is fighting the Rafale battle? Who made Chowkidaar a chor? Have we ever gone into a 'gathbandhan' or a coalition with the BJP? Never in the last 70 years, had we tried forging an alliance with them. In fact we will also initiate an enquiry into the Rafale deal and ensure those who are guilty are brought to book after we come to power," Rahul said, while addressing a public meeting at Raigunj in North Dinajpur district of West Bengal. "Today the Supreme Court said that some scam has taken place in the Rafale deal. The chowkidar is a thief. The chowkidars appearance has changed. The chowkidar is scared and he can't speak properly at rallies. This is because he is afraid that because of Congress there might be an investigation into the Rafale scam and he might go to jail," Rahul said, in an apparent attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The Congress is going to defeat Narendra Modi in the 2019 elections. After that, there will be an inquiry into the theft of air force funds in the Rafale deal. And I guarantee that those who stole funds will face punishment. No one can escape this," he said. Referring to Congress' NYAY scheme, Gandhi said the funds for giving Rs 72,000 per year to the poor would come from the pockets of businessmen Anil Ambani, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya who have looted the public money. "Modi wants to create two parts of India - one for his friends like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and another for the poor farmers and honest people. Congress will never allow this. I am not afraid of thieves like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. Narendra Modi might be," he added. Yesterday, during a rally, Mamata had accused Congress for the rise of BJP and said that the grand-old party failed to put up a credible fight against the BJP that the saffron party grew from strength to strength. "Congress-CPI(M)-BJP are all hand in glove. Congress and CPI(M) does not fight against BJP. Only we fight against BJP. Congress will have to seek help from others if it wants to form the government at the Centre. Congress has presence only in 3-4 states," she said at a rally in Raiganj on Tuesday. Mamata had also claimed that Congress was being supported by RSS to contest polls in Bengal. "Congress fighting elections in Bengal with the help of RSS. In Berhampore, their candidate has been supported by RSS. In Jangipur, former President Pranab Mukherjees son is contesting and even he is being supported by RSS. If you vote for Congress or CPM in Bengal, you will indirectly strengthen BJP. Vote for us and we will have a say in Delhi," she had said. Kanchana 3, a Raghava Lawrence starrer has bagged a U/A certificate from the Censor Board of Film Certifications and is all set to hit the screens on April 19, 2019. After making films like Muni, Kanchana and Kanchana-2, choreographer Raghava Lawrence, who turned director, is now coming with one more horror comedy film that is Kanchana-3. This will be the special project for Raghava Lawrence despite all his previous movies are super hits at the box-office. Raghava Lawrence is known for taking special care of and in each and every small technicality when it comes to making of a film. The motion picture which released a few days back grabbed the attention. It was the first time a motion picture got released along with Dolby Atmos audio and audience have really loved the effect. Lighthouse Movie Makers and Raghavendra Productions Banner is bankrolling this project and B Madhu will present the film while Raghava is investing in the project. Kanchana-3 got a U/A certificate from the censor board members and they said that Kanchana-3 is the most horrifying film they came across in recent times. Oviya, Vedhika, KoVy Sarala, Kabhir Dhuhan Singh, Sriman, DevaDarshini, Sathyaraj, Kishore and others are playing key roles in this film. The cinematography is done by Vetri, Sarvesh Murari. The film is produced under Light House Movie Makers, LLP Banner, Raghavendra Productions. Presented by B Madhu, the film is directed by Lawrence himself. The film is attracting many people due to the fame and name the previous films of the director have garnered. Hyderabad: Ten labourers, including women, died while one sustained critical injuries after a wall collapsed in Marikal village in Telangana's Narayanpet on Wednesday morning. A huge mound of mud fell those present at the worksite following which the workers were buried alive. Some people are still trapped under debris, said the police, adding that efforts to rescue them are on. The workers were reportedly digging a channel in Tileru village, about 180 km from Hyderabad. Five deceased were employed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). "10 dead and one injured after a wall collapsed in Marikal in Narayanpet. We are shifting the dead bodies to the local government hospital for post-mortem. The injured is also shifted to hospital for treatment," said Narayanpet SP. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao expressed deep shock and anguish over the incident which he described as "unfortunate". Rao instructed the officials concerned to provide all necessary care to those injured New Delhi: Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is facing a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in disproportionate assets, said on Wednesday that he has already received a clean-chit from the investigation agency in the preliminary investigation. However, the report which Mulayam is referring to has been termed fallacious by the CBI, who had in 2009 filed a disproportionate assets case against the Samajwadi Party patriarch and his son Akhilesh Yadav. The case has so far witnessed many twists and turns. Mulayam, who recently filed his nomination papers from Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency, mentioned in his affidavit that his assets have reduced by Rs 3.20 crore in the last five year and that he owes Rs 2.13 crore to his son Akhilesh Yadav. According to the affidavit, a case was registered against Mulayam Singh Yadav at the Hazratganj police station in Lucknow on September 24, 2015, for allegedly threatening IPS officer Amitabh Thakur over the phone. The case is pending in the court of the chief judicial magistrate. The Supreme Court ordered a CBI inquiry in March 2007 into the alleged accumulation of disproportionate assets by the Yadav family, on public interest litigation (PIL) by an advocate, Vishwanath Chaturvedi, reportedly a Congress leader. The petitioner had filed a PIL in the apex court in 2005 asking the CBI to file a case of disproportionate assets against Mulayam, his sons Akhilesh and Pratik Yadav and his daughter-in-law Dimple under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly acquiring wealth more than the source of income by misusing the power of authority. However, the apex court later dropped the CBI probe against Dimple saying that she was not holding any public office and she was only a private person holding no position. TOKYO: Search and rescue teams found wreckage from a crashed Japanese F-35 stealth fighter in the Pacific Ocean close to northern Japan, as efforts to find the missing pilot continued, authorities said on Wednesday. The aircraft, less than one-year-old, was the first F-35 to be assembled in Japan and was aloft for only 28 minutes on Tuesday before contact was lost, a defence official said. The plane had logged a total of 280 hours in the air since its first flight, he added. It is only the second F-35 to crash in the two-decades it has been flying and could reignite concern about the F-35 having only one engine. The incident comes as Lockheed Martin, the F-35 manufacturer, competes for orders in Finland and Switzerland against the twin-engined Eurofighter Typhoon and Boeing F/A-18E/F jet. The advanced, single-seat jet was flying in good weather about 135 km (84 miles) east of the Misawa air base in Aomori Prefecture at about 7:27 p.m. (1027 GMT) on Tuesday when it disappeared from radar, the Air Self Defense Force said. "We recovered the wreckage and determined it was from the F-35," a spokesman for the Air Self Defence Force (ASDF) said, adding that the pilot of the aircraft was still missing. Eight ships and seven aircraft, including a U.S. Navy P-8 Orion maritime patrol plane, are taking part in search and rescue efforts. The aircraft was at the front of a group of four planes out for training manoeuvres when it sent an "aborting practice" signal and then disappeared from the radar, Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters. "We`ll need to cooperate with the U.S. forces and I believe arrangements are being made for this," Iwaya said, adding the priority was on determining the cause of the accident. Japan has a total of 13 F-35s including the one that crashed, which was the fifth delivered to the ASDF, but the first assembled by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan, a second ASDF official told Reuters. Japan`s remaining 12 stealth jets are grounded for now, he added. The previous four aircraft had been used for training in the United States before being brought to Japan, the defence official said. A representative for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said the company had no immediate comment. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd assembles the aircraft at a plant near Nagoya in central Japan. The lost aircraft cost 14 billion yen ($125.98 million), several million dollars more than one purchased directly from the United States. The F-35`s pilot was a veteran flyer with 3,200 hours of flight time, but had spent only 60 hours in the F-35, the official said. The aircraft crashed in waters that reach a depth of around 1,500 metres, making recovery, particularly of the aircraft`s flight data recorder (FDR), difficult, the official said. ONLY SECOND F35 TO CRASH The aircraft, designed to penetrate enemy defences by evading radar detection, was delivered to the ASDF in May last year, the ASDF spokesman said. Japan`s first squadron of F-35s has just become operational at Misawa, and the government plans to buy 87 of the stealth fighters to modernise its air defences as neighbouring China and Russia upgrade their military forces. Lockheed said it was standing by to support the Japanese Air Self Defense Force as needed. The Pentagon said it was monitoring the situation. It was the first crash of the A variant of the fifth-generation fighter. A U.S. Marine Corp short take off and landing (STOVL) F-35B version crashed near the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina in September, prompting a temporary grounding of the aircraft. Lockheed also makes a C version of the fighter designed to operate off carriers. Japan`s new F-35s will include 18 STOVL B planes that planners want to deploy on its islands along the edge of the East China Sea. A photo of a young woman chanting during a massive anti-government protest in Sudan has gone viral. The women are playing an important part in the movement and the photo of 22-year-old Alaa Salah has now become an iconic image highlighting the role of women in the anti-government protests in the impoverished African nation. On Monday, many people came out on the streets of Sudan's capital Khartoum calling for the resignation of President Omar al-Bashir. The viral photo of Salah was captured by a local photographer named Lana Haroun. In the photo, Salah can be seen on top of a car surrounded by hundreds of people with her arm raised in the air, finger pointed toward the sky. The image went viral within no time with many people lauding the strong role played by Sudanese women in demonstrations against president Bashir. Several social media users claimed that Salah's photo is nothing less than historic. Salah is currently studying engineering and architecture at Sudan International University in Khartoum. The dress which Salah is wearing in the now iconic image makes it even more powerful. The white garment and gold moon-shaped earrings worn by Salah pay homage to working women of Sudan, said a Twitter user. The anti-government protests in Sudan started in December over the rising cost of bread and no cash at ATMs. It is to be noted that al-Bashir is Sudan's president since 1989. The government is trying to quell the protests with excessive force as eight people have been killed between April 6 and 8 in violence related to the protests. Several have been put behind bars for taking part in anti-government protests. Local media reported that women are leading the protests with around 70% of the protesters being women. A social media shutdown has also been issued by the government to keep protesters under check but the Sudanese are making full use of the internet to run the movement. WASHINGTON: A US judge on Monday halted the Trump administration`s policy of sending some asylum seekers back across the southern border to wait out their cases in Mexico, stopping a program the government planned to expand to stem a recent flood of migrants. The ruling is slated to take effect on Friday, according to the order by U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco. The preliminary injunction will apply nationwide. In a late night tweet, U.S. President Donald Trump said, "A 9th Circuit Judge just ruled that Mexico is too dangerous for migrants. So unfair to the U.S. OUT OF CONTROL!" The program was launched in January and was one of many policies aimed at slowing rising numbers of immigrants arriving at the border, many of them families from Central America, that swelled last month to the highest in a decade. Because of limits on how long children are legally allowed to be held in detention, many of the families are released to await U.S. immigration court hearings, a process that can take years because of ballooning backlogs. The Trump administration said last week it planned to expand the program of sending some migrants to wait out their U.S. court dates in Mexican border cities under a policy known as Migrant Protection Protocols, or MPP. The government argued MPP was needed because so many asylum seekers spend years living in the United States and never appear for their court hearings before their claim is denied and an immigration judge orders them to be deported. Seeborg said the Immigration and Nationalization Act, however, does not authorize the government to return asylum seekers to Mexico the way the government has applied it. He also said the policy lacks safeguards to protect refugees from threats to their life or freedom. Justice Department data show that while the percentage of immigration court cases completed "in absentia" - when the foreign citizen fails to show - has risen in recent years, the majority of immigrants show up for their hearings. A U.S. Department of Justice spokesman declined to comment on Monday`s ruling. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Mexican foreign ministry considers the ruling "an internal decision" of the United States, a spokesman said. Seeborg said the government shall permit the 11 plaintiffs in the case to enter the United States beginning on Sunday. He said the government still retained the right to detain the asylum-seekers pending the outcome of their case. The ruling can be appealed, and the government could seek a stay of the injunction until the appeals process runs its course. LAWYERS, MIGRANTS GRATIFIED Still, lawyers for migrants were gratified by the decision. "This is a great ruling," said Judy Rabinovitz, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, which was one of the groups that brought the case. "This is what they were planning on implementing on a large scale. That would have been a complete game changer in the way our asylum system works," she said. Rabinovitz said the groups that brought the lawsuit needed to discuss what could be done for the hundreds of refugees who are awaiting their cases in Mexico. She said as their cases are heard, they will be returned to the United States, but that could take months. The plaintiffs include legal service organizations and migrants who fled Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to escape what they said was extreme violence, rape and death threats. Gabriela Orellana, 26, an asylum seeker from El Salvador who was scheduled to have her first hearing on Tuesday, was delighted by news of the judge`s ruling. "I`m crying from happiness," she told Reuters. She is not one of the plaintiffs in the case. Orellana said she fled El Salvador with her 8-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son after she was shot by a gang member. She has been in Tijuana since January and has waited nearly two months for her first interview with U.S. immigration authorities. Others in Tijuana were more cautious. "Will I be allowed to go or do I have to stay?" asked Veronica Galdamez, who said she fled San Salvador in 2018 after gang members stole her food cart and, pointing a gun at her, told her she had 24 hours to get out of the city. "I feel real happiness, but also uncertainty, because I don`t know if this applies to me," Galdamez said. MPP was based on a decades-old law that says migrants who enter from a contiguous country can be returned there to wait out their deportation case, although the provision had never been used in the way the administration has applied it. Civil rights groups sued, arguing the policy violated U.S. and international law by returning refugees to dangerous border towns where they would be unable to get legal counsel or notices of hearings. Kirstjen Nielsen resigned as Secretary of Homeland Security, the department that oversees immigration, on Sunday. A congressional official familiar with the matter said some in Congress believe Trump forced out Nielsen in part because she was trying to obey laws on treatment of refugees, granting of amnesty and separation of families. Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. (Photo/qianlong.com) The Internet Plus initiative has been playing a significant role in driving Chinas education over the past few years as the country combats an imbalanced distribution of educational resources and endeavors to improve school education. No. 29 Middle School in Chongqing, southwest China, is among the beneficiaries of the initiative. It established a teaching platform powered by cloud technology with the collaboration of a tech firm in Xian, Shaanxi province, on which educational resources could be shared among all schools across the country. To date, more than 600 schools have joined the platform. Except for sharing educational resources, the platform also features remote interaction, enabling students from remote areas to receive high-quality education from top teachers. Additionally, teachers can correct and give feedback on homework through the platform. A middle school in Dehong Dai, Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture in southwest Chinas Yunnan province joined the building of the platform three years ago. Now, 27 classes in the school use the platform, and over 2,000 classes are taught online each month. The enrollment rate of the school increased from 55.8 percent to 82.6 percent thanks to the platform, said Luo Huayu, director of the information center of Chongqing No. 29 Middle School. Liying Primary School in Shanghai has also jumped on the bandwagon of information technology, seeking further innovation. Now, students in the primary school can preview lessons through online classes. Thus, the teacher can better prepare for the lessons in a more targeted way. According to a survey that has been conducted for three consecutive years, 100 percent of teachers and over 70 percent of parents believe that interest in studying has been improved, and over 80 percent of students said they could learn better on their own in this way, said Zhang Jun, a teacher at the school. In addition to facilitating interaction between schools, teachers and students, Internet Plus offers individual teachers, especially those in rural villages, a valuable platform to communicate with and seek guidance from their peers. As of January 2019, over 1,600 online teaching workshops have been set up, and 266,489 online courses have been uploaded. Teachers across the country have also hosted over 6,000 live stream lessons, attracting over 800,000 viewers. Mike Workman receives honorary award during virtual FAO virtual event Audio Article Local business owner and founding president of the Morgan Community Fund (MCF) Mike Workman was recently honored during the Foundation for Appalachian Ohios (FAO) Giving Tuesday virtual event. Workman was one of two recipients to be awarded the 2021 Chaddock Philanthropy Award due to his work with the MCF. Im... Morgan County Sheriffs Office Daily Call Reports Audio Article Editors Note: The following are initial incident reports from callers to a Morgan County Sheriffs Office Dispatcher. Any details, charges or situations may have been distorted by the caller, or perhaps may have been found to be different after the officer further investigated the incident. Tuesday, August 3, 2021 ... WMCAP offers utilities assistance for heating and water bills Audio Article Washington-Morgan County Community Action announces that assistance is available to help income eligible households with their home energy and water bills. The Winter Crisis/Emergency HEAP program began on November 1, 2021 and continues through March 31, 2022. The Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program has also started and may assist income... Morgan County resident dies in fatal Belpre Township crash Audio Article Joyce Strohl, 69, of Morgan County, sustained fatal injuries in a two-vehicle crash in Belpre Township on December 1, the Marietta Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol announced. The Marietta Post is currently investigating the crash that occurred on State Route 618 at State Route 339 at approximately 8:54... MCCA presents Christmas program Audio Article The Morgan County Community of the Arts will present a Christmas program at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 9, in the sanctuary of the Church of the Gospel Ministry on Kennebec Avenue, McConnelsville. The program will feature the MCCAs Arco Strings under the direction of Dr. Jose Rocha, cello professor and... Malta Council accepts offer from New Hope Audio Article Visitors this evening were Adam LaCava and Marcus Wright Gray of New Hope. Adam LaCava and Marcus Wright Gray from New Hope spoke to council about giving back to the community. They would like to rake leaves in piles, and have the Village Street Crew dispose of them. They asked... As the China-proposed Belt and RoadInitiative (BRI) has benefited many participating countries including those in the South Pacific over the past six years, it is, in fact, not a so-called debt trap, but a development dividend to help many countries get out of the trap of "no development," the Chinese ambassador to Fiji said on Tuesday. "As a matter of fact, no country has got trapped in a debt crisis since its participation in the BRI. Quite on the contrary, it is through participating in BRI cooperation that many countries including those in the South Pacific region have got out of the trap of 'no development'," Chinese Ambassador Qian Bo told Xinhua while briefing local media on the BRI. The BRI, proposed by China in 2013, aims at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes of the Silk Roadto seek common development and prosperity. Dismissing the so-called "debt trap" as simply "a misunderstanding, misrepresentation and even biased view of the BRI," Qian said the BRI is generally applauded and supported by the international community, but China has also noticed that some people have expressed different views about the BRI, claiming that the initiative is China's geopolitical tool and could lead some countries to fall into a debt trap. Such views are less than objective or balanced. "The BRI is an initiative for economic cooperation that supports common development. All parties involved are equal participants, they have all contributed to the initiative and benefited from it. The BRI is open, inclusive and transparent. It does not harbor any hidden geopolitical agenda, nor is it designed to form an exclusive circle or impose discriminatory trade terms on others," he said. "Decisions made under the BRI framework, whether project selection or investment and financing cooperation, are all based on full consultation among the parties and on the basis of conducting due risk assessment and investment feasibility study." The ambassador made it clear that China and other 27 countries have jointly adopted the Guiding Principles on Financing the Development of the Belt and Road, which highlights the need to ensure debt sustainability in project financing. In case China's cooperation partners face difficulties in servicing debts, China will properly address this issue through friendly consultation, and will never press them for debt payment. Qian stressed that no one is in a better position to repudiate the so-called "debt trap" allegation than the BRI participants themselves. "As a matter of fact, the governments, business communities and the general public of many countries that have participated in and benefited from the BRI have spoken up and debunked such groundless assertions with facts and figures," he said. "Just set the South Pacific Island nations as an example, many countries in this region have benefited from the BRI which has delivered fruitful outcomes in boosting economic growth and improving people's lives in the countries." Qian believed that China will continue to work with all other parties concerned to create even more opportunities and deliver even more fruitful outcomes. By improving connectivity between countries, BRI cooperation has strengthened economic ties and people-to-people exchanges between them, thus binding them together closely with shared interests. This will naturally build extensive consensus, enhance cooperation, and ultimately promote development for all, the ambassador added. He said that the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) will be held in Beijing in late April this year, and the BRI is providing a new platform and new opportunities for fostering closer ties between countries. BRI cooperation is not a talk shop, but an action-oriented initiative that delivers real outcomes, Qian pointed out. The second BRF is expected to produce a full range of outcomes, including both governmental cooperation agreements and initiatives, and concrete cooperation projects involving participation of the business sector. The ambassador hoped that the South Pacific island countries, including Fiji, and China can deepen and expand the mutually-beneficial cooperation through the framework of BRI. We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. Following Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Italy, Monaco and France in March, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived in Brussels, Belgium on April 8 for the 21st China-European Union (EU) leaders meeting. After Brussels, Li is scheduled to pay an official visit to Croatia where he will attend the eighth leaders meeting for China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs). China has attached great importance to diplomatic relations with Europe, as top Chinese leaders paid their first visit of the year to European countries. During President Xi's visit, Italy became the first country in the Group of Seven (G7) to join the BRI with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). French President Emmanuel Macron proposed greater synergy between the EU strategy on connecting Europe and Asia, an EU development plan, and the BRI. Against the backdrop of significant changes around the world, Europe is faced with restructuring in three aspects, including cross-Atlantic relationships. The trans-Atlantic alliance under the framework of NATO has existed for seven decades, but the economic aggregate of all member countries, once accounting for over 70 percent of the world total, has now declined to about 40 percent. The US turned to trade protectionism in the last two years, increasing pressure on the EU, especially in such fields as automobiles, iron and steel. Furthermore, the EU now faces restructuring in financial systems owing to Brexit. The EU has been moving towards a stronger economic union according to the Statement by the Euro Area Heads of State or Government. When the UK leaves the EU, the system will have to change. Global investors have high hopes for the Chinese renminbi, as large quantities of assets have begun to be priced in the Chinese currency nowadays. In this context, more European countries have chosen to join the BRI, including the 16 countries in Central and Eastern Europe. In April 2012, China and the CEECs launched the 16+1 cooperation mechanism, and five years later, all 16 CEECs became participants of the BRI. Historically, Italy was the west end of the ancient Maritime Silk Road, and China had close exchanges with France, Croatia and other Mediterranean countries along the ancient Silk Road. Pioneers, including Marco Polo and Matteo Ricci, wrote brilliant chapters of historical exchange between Eastern and Western civilizations. Now, bilateral economic and trade cooperation between China and Europe has been expanding, especially in trade scale and stable growth of two-way investment, and China-Europe cooperation will lay a solid foundation for the future development of the world. The author Jia Jinjing is a resident research fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of Renmin University of China in Beijing. By Tony Lombardo and Amanda Dolasinski The sun shone brightly with barely a cloud in sight on April 10, but a storm was brewing members from the Military Officers Association of America canvassed Capitol Hill and called on Congress to protect benefits our servicemembers, veterans and military spouses have earned. More than 170 MOAA members from across the country got to work for our annual Storming the Hill event in Washington, D.C. This year, we met with members of Congress and their staffs in support of: A 3.1 percent pay raise for the troops. A total repeal of the widows tax. And stabilizing TRICARE. Read more about these issues and Storming at www.moaa.org/storming2019. MOAA's North Dakota team - Lt. Col. Christopher Lindberg, USA (Ret) and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Greg Acs - focused on TRICARE and the pay raise during a meeting with Sen. John Hoeven's office. There's a lot of things I want to get done, said Lindberg, who served as an Army infantry officer for more than 20 years. It's the second year Lindberg has traveled from Fargo to meet with legislators. There was a promise given to me 20 years ago that I would be taken care of, that I would have health insurance, he said. In the last few years, Tricare fees have gone up a lot. (Servicemembers) have been blown up. They've been shot at. They're not getting much more of a benefit than civilians. All we're asking for is stop the increases. Just stabilize it. Beth Conklin, a member of the MOAA Spouse Advisory Council, stormed for the first time and met with members of the Colorado delegation. Her husband is an infantry officer in the Army and preparing for his first battalion command. She's lobbied the Hill before, on spouse employment issues, but storming with MOAA was a new experience. Coming in with a group is so much more impactful, she said. You have a force behind what you storm for. This was the fourth storming for Lt. Col. Shelly Kalkowski, USAF (Ret). She was armed with the facts (for example, did you know Colorado is the 10th most populous state for troops and DoD personnel?). She was also determined to get 100 percent support from Colorado's two senators and seven Congressmen for a repeal of the widows tax. There are only two remaining from Colorado who have not co-sponsored, and Kalkowski made sure to get face-to-face chats with each of them to ask their support. Coast Guard Lt. J.G. Rachel Johnson, a member of the MOAA Currently Serving Advisory Council, stormed for her first time. She said it was extremely rewarding to represent the needs of junior officers serving today. To get this perspective at this point in my career is invaluable, said Johnson, who is also a prior-enlisted Marine. MOAA President and CEO Gen. Dana Atkins, USAF (Ret), said the members brought a high level of expertise and knowledge on all three storming topics. But they weren't the only ones. When we're going in the offices, I'm extremely impressed by the understanding of Congressional leaders and their staffs on the issues, Atkins said. Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), husband of Air National Guard veteran Jodi Stauber, pledged his support to all three of MOAA's storming initiatives. Stauber said feedback from MOAA members helps his office shape legislation in support of veterans' needs. Stauber has already signed on as co-sponsor for legislation that would end the widows tax. "You will have no bigger fighter than me," Stauber said. "The men and women who serve in the military, they deserve everything they've earned. Retired Brig. Gen. Tim Kennedy, who served 37 years with the Army National Guard, was accompanied by his wife Sue as they visited Stauber and nine other federal lawmakers from Minnesota during the annual Storming the Hill event. He was pleased with Stauber's continued support of veterans and their families. During each of his visits, Kennedy discussed MOAA's push to end the widows tax. He said at least three lawmakers pledged to sign on as co-sponsors, including freshman Congresswoman Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) . "What I hope to achieve is that we move the needle on SBP-DIC [the widows tax]," Kennedy said. "And we did that." MOAA Chairman Adm. Walter Doran, USN (Ret), noted that Storming the Hill has become a vital tradition for the association. It's important that we do this because we represent the best interest of our members, across the country. We are a trusted source, Doran said. But it's just one part of our advocacy strategy to improve the lives of our members and all currently serving troops, retirees, veterans and their families. Storming the Hill is just one aspect, Doran said. We'll see members of Congress in their home offices, too. We become part of the dialogue. [April 09, 2019] 2019 ICT Canada--Presented by BICSI Opens with Packed Technical Sessions and Engaging Exhibit Hall TORONTO, April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- BICSI, the association advancing the information and communications technology (ICT) community, officially opened its inaugural ICT CanadaPresented by BICSI conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, at the Toronto Congress Centre. After a welcome from BICSI Canadian Region Director Fernando Neto, RCDD, BICSI President Jeff Beavers, RCDD, OSP, CFHP, called the conference to order with opening remarks and highlighted conference events, presentations, exhibitors and sponsors. Conference attendees gathered for the morning's general session, which started with a Keynote presentation from Wes Johnston, Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) CEO. A global technology, media and telecommunications leader, Johnston shared his insight on the future of ICT and how business, government and associations should work together to drive industry innovation. Following his address, the Exhibit Hall opened with nearly 45 exhibiting companies available to network with conference attendees an visitors, showcasing their latest technical products and solutions geared toward the ICT industry. The first-ever Tech Innovation Stage, located inside the Exhibit Hall, was a crowd favorite. The Exhibit Hall will be open through Wednesday, closing at 7:30 p.m. Technical presentations were held and will continue to take place on the General Session Stage and the Tech Innovation Stage, located in the Exhibit Hall, touching on topics such as wireless LAN design, IoT, AV design, smart city automation and infrastructure, and cabling standards, among others. The conference continues Wednesday with Closing Keynote Speaker Phill Nosworthy, founder of Switch L+D, a digital-first learning and development practice. In his keynote address Nosworthy will demonstrate how to create impactful experiences that transform teams, imparting techniques that attendees can put to use in their own companies. The conference will close with the Ross G.H. Cotton Canadian Region Award presentation and the BICSI Cares donation presentation to this year's charity, Camp Jumoke. A complete 2019 ICT CanadaPresented by BICSI schedule of events and conference presentations is available at bicsi.org/ictcanada. About BICSI BICSI is a professional association supporting advancing the information and communications technology (ICT) community. ICT covers the spectrum of voice, data, electronic safety & security, project management and audio & video technologies. Headquartered in Tampa, Florida, USA, BICSI membership spans nearly 100 countries. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/2019-ict-canadapresented-by-bicsi-opens-with-packed-technical-sessions-and-engaging-exhibit-hall-300828449.html SOURCE BICSI [ Back To www.mobilitytechzone.com\LTE's Homepage ] (Photo provided by Predator Firefighting Technology) A firefighting drone was recently unveiled in Henan province to help extinguish fires on tall buildings and support emergency rescue, Science and Technology Daily reported on April 8. The firefighting equipment unveiled consists of one pilot-less helicopter and three drones, and four rescue nacelles, all stored in a fire engine, according to Predator Firefighting Technology, the Henan-based developer. Zhang Wanmin, a senior firefighting engineer, said the equipment is the first in the world that can extinguish fires in buildings above 100 meters. The drones, which can fly for four hours carrying 100 kilograms, could deliver materials to accident sites in a timely manner, reduce safety risks and significantly improve operational efficiency. The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine (SAHZU) carried out an emergency rescue drill powered by 5G technology this Monday. During the drill, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) delivered hemostatics and blood from a blood center 3 kilometers away in just five minutes. The patient, a 30-year-old man, was transferred to the SAHZU from a community healthcare center when he suffered a splenic rupture caused by a traffic accident. The splenic rupture was found by doctor Li Qiang from the SAHZU via remote 5G abdominal ultrasound examination. Later, a 5G ambulance was deployed to transfer the patient to the SAHZU for further treatment. The 5G ambulance, larger than a regular ambulance, was able to carry more medical devices. Additionally, the real-time location of the vehicle as well as the patient's data were transmitted to the hospital control center and displayed on a big screen. Wearing a pair of virtual reality glasses, Li was able to check on the patient as if he was in the ambulance, and he could communicate with paramedics through voice and video call. Zhang Mao, director of the Department of Emergency Medicine, SAHZU, introduced that 5G is 10 times faster than 4G, and can offer shorter delay in remote B-mode ultrasound scans and telemedicine. The technology will narrow the gap between pre-hospital care and in-hospital treatment, thus winning more time for the patients, Zhang said. The 5G UAV applied in the drill had a maximum load of 6 kilograms and a range of 200 kilometers. It could fly as fast as 16 meters per second. Additionally, the UAV can also create different storage conditions for different medicines. For instance, the temperature in its container can be controlled within a range of 2 to 6 degrees Celsius when the UAV is delivering erythrocytes. In the future, the UAV will be able to transport human organs. However, 5G emergency UAVs have not yet been widely deployed due to drone route restrictions. 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, Welcome to Morningstar.co.uk! You have been redirected here from Hemscott.com as we are merging our websites to provide you with a one-stop shop for all your investment research needs.To search for a security, type the name or ticker in the search box at the top of the page and select from the dropdown results.Registered Hemscott users can log in to Morningstar using the same login details. Similarly, if you are a Hemscott Premium user, you now have a Morningstar Premium account which you can access using the same login details. (Photo/Pixabay.com) China is expected to spend over a trillion yuan on coffee by 2025, as the countrys consumption of the caffeinated beverage expands by 15 percent every year, much higher than the global average of 2 percent. To compete for a share in the growing market, global coffee shop chains are accelerating their business construction in China, especially within lower-tier cities. However, compared with their overseas peers, local coffee shops are not becoming as successful, despite the growing market potential. The growing consumer demand for coffee is not equal to a merely increased number of coffee shops, as coffee addicts like making coffee at home, while those who rush into chain coffee shops before work usually only buy one drink. Nowadays in China, the rapid emergence of online coffee ordering platforms is attracting enormous attention from both media and investors, though the industry is still concerned about the high capital consumption of this business model, as seen in the bike-sharing sector. Coffee shops are shifting to a place for social interaction in China, as younger generations today value their time and health. Thanks to the popularity of coffee, they can expand their social network in a local cafe, rather than swimming in liquor. China's coffee craze has also promoted sales of related products, such as coffee beans and coffee sets. Cultural and innovative products related to the coffee industry also took a large share of the market, such as the Starbucks cat paw coffee cups that were sold out in a matter of minutes, as well as book stores centered around coffee culture. WPP Brings Together Fifteen Agencies in Amsterdam UK-headquartered marcoms giant WPP has opened a 'campus' in Amsterdam, where it has brought together fifteen of its agencies - including its Amsterdam-based Kantar business - into one location. Refurbished by WPP's architectural and design consultancy BDG, and based on the banks of the river Amstel, the new office space has been created from the previously derelict Rivierstaete building, which is now known as the Amsteldok. To meet WPP's requirements, the building has been transformed into a 19,000m2 working environment for the group's 1,500 people in the city, and boasts roof terraces, restaurants, a rooftop bar, a business lounge and an event space. At the official opening, WPP CEO Mark Read said: 'WPP campuses help us deliver a simpler, more integrated offer to clients by bringing great agency brands together under one roof and providing easier access to our collective talent. Giving our people modern, world-class working environments allows them to do their best creative work, it encourages closer collaboration and it's an important part of building an open and optimistic culture at WPP.' Web site: www.wpp.com . We are ready for December, everything ... CHESHIRE Two town police officers have joined a law enforcement team set to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for the Special Olympics of Connecticut. Officer David Maliar and Lt. Mike Durkee plan to climb Kilimanjaro in February 2020. A total of 14 law enforcement officers and three civilians from around the state will make the climb, which will take seven days. I didnt want to do the same tired things that we do every year and thought of something different, Maliar said. Word spread and people were calling and knocking down my door. The group hopes to raise $19,341, a dollar for every foot of the mountain, the tallest peak in Africa. So far, the two officers have raised more than $6,000. Id love to get over that (goal), Maliar said. Police Chief Neil Dryfe said the department has raised funds for the Special Olympics in the past, but added the climb was the next level. Its a significant investment of time and effort on their own part. I admire their commitment to it , Dryfe said. Maliar said the group has met several times to get to know each other and gone on hikes to prepare for the climb. Each has a different level of experience in outdoor fitness. Ive never done (any climb) of this altitude, Maliar said. Im no stranger to a challenge. This is certainly going to be a challenge. The fundraising also includes sponsorships by local companies and organizations. Each sponsor will receive a photo of the climbers on Kilimanjaro with the company logo on a flag. Once the climbers reach the top of the mountain, they will post the Special Olympics of Connecticut flag. The next fundraising event will be a comedy night featuring Tommy Koenig on Saturday, May 11 at the Cheshire Parks and Recreation Youth Center at 7:30 p.m. The event will be co-hosted by the Cheshire Chamber of Commerce. Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 at the door. Advance tickets can be purchased by calling 203-272-2345 or online at www.CheshireChamber.org. jroman@record-journal.com 203-317-2420 Twitter: @JenieceRoman A Cheshire woman with a private psychology practice has agreed to a $145,855 civil payment to settle a complaint under the state and federal Fasle Claims acts. Patricia McAlinden, of 644 Cornwall Ave., allegedly billed Medicaid for psychotherapy services that were provided by unlicensed personnel, but claimed she provided the services. The claims were made in Medicaid payment requests, according to a statement from John H. Durham, U.S. Attorney for Connecticut. McAlinden is a licensed clinical social worker and the owner of a private psychology practice in Cheshire, Durham said. She was enrolled in the Connecticut Medical Assistance Program as a licensed behavioral health clinician in independent practice. The program includes Connecticuts Medicaid program. The Department of Social Services provider manual states that DSS shall not pay for services provided by anyone other than the provider. Providers must bill Medicaid and other insurance programs accurately, Durham said in the statement. The U.S. Attorneys Office will continue to work with our federal and state partners to protect the integrity of the Medicaid program and ensure its recipients receive the healthcare services they need. Under the False Claims Act, the federal government can seek up to three times actual damages, plus penalties of $11,181 to $22,363 for each false claim. Durhams statement didnt indicate how many false claims McAlinden was accused of filing or total damages. McAlindens case is part of a larger investigation into fraudulent activity within behavioral health services, conducted jointly with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services inspector general, as well as Connecticuts chief states attorney, attorney general and DSS. People who suspect health care fraud are encouraged to report it by calling 1-800-HHS-TIPS or the Health Care Fraud Task Force at (203) 777-6311. msavino@record-journal.com 203-317-2266 Twitter: @reporter_savino MERIDEN A local man has been charged in an attempted theft of $7,000 worth of air fryers at Fosdick Fulfillment in December. A Hartford man was previously charged in connection with the same incident. Ricardo Oliveras, 23, of 28 Olive St., was charged Tuesday with third-degree burglary, third-degree larceny, third-degree criminal mischief and conspiracy. On Dec. 15, 2018, police responded to Fosdick, 500 S. Broad St., and found two men loading boxes into the back of a U-Haul van parked next to a door that was propped open. As police approached, the men fled. Officers found about 10 boxes containing air fryers in the van and a pallet containing about 40 more air fryers nearby, according to the arrest warrant. Police also noticed a broken window and a set of keys. A business key tag came back registered to Oliveras, the warrant said. Oliveras was arraigned in Meriden Superior Court on Tuesday and released on a promise to appear. Juan Colon, 49, of 1630 Main St., Hartford, was charged last month with third-degree burglary, third-degree larceny, third-degree criminal mischief and conspiracy in connection with the case. lsellew@record-journal.com 203-317-2225 Twitter: @LaurenSellewRJ SOUTHINGTON After Victoria Martins finished her day at Kennedy Middle School she spent the rest of Wednesday afternoon dousing 40 pounds of beef with teriyaki seasoning. The beef jerky, Martins favorite kind, was then to be cured overnight, needing eight to 10 hours of dehydrating. Thursday afternoon Martins will spend several more hours putting the finished product into packaging with a special label a butterfly that appears on matching t-shirts before a special event later this month. Dan Baril, owner of Mr. Bs Jerky Co. on North Main Street, his wife Christine and daughter Melissa are hosting Victorias Jerky Bash! on April 28 to raise money to help Martins family pay costs related to her care. Baril said hes felt a connection with the Martins ever since they sent him a note thanking him for donating jerky to another fundraiser more than a year ago. First off, no one ever hand delivered a thank you card it struck me, he said. She loves my teriyaki beef jerky, so I said lets do something for her. Martins was diagnosed with craniopharyngioma, a brain tumor, on July 11, 2017 and has had treatment at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennesee. Craniopharyngioma is a rare type of brain tumor derived from pituitary gland embryonic tissue and occurs most commonly in children. Martins tumor is considered inoperable, but shes undergone radiation and regular treatment in both Tennessee and at the Connecticut Childrens Medical Center in Hartford. Her mother, Branda Martins, said Victoria has been stable, but Branda Martins had to stop working. We go back and forth to St. Judes, Branda Martins said. But Connecticut Childrens Medical Center thats where our costs come in. In addition to Victoria, Branda and her husband David Martins also have two sons Alex 11, and Joshua, 5, who travel with the family. Baril makes sure the family has enough jerky before they leave. But plans for Victorias Jerky Bash! caught them off guard. Theyve really just done so much, Branda Martins said. Victoria is a bit surprised to say the least. Victoria Martins seemed to enjoy helping make the jerky. When my mom told me to try it, I tried it and I liked it the best, Victoria said of the flavor, Victorias Teryiaki Jerky, as she put gloves on to start seasoning. Victorias Jerky Bash! will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 28th at the Southington Polish Falcons, 33 Knowles Ave. Tickets are $35 per adult and $15 per child, with children age 10 and under free. Tickets include one raffle ticket, food, non-alcoholic drinks and one bag of jerky. Local vendors and volunteers have donated food, raffle baskets, a photo booth, henna tattoos, temporary hair colorings and trucks on display for boys. T-shirts bearing Victorias logo will be on sale for $15 and a quarter-pound bag of her signature jerky sells for $10. Baril made 200 pounds of jerky for the event and if it runs out, hell take orders. Were going to make sure everybody who donates gets jerky, Baril said. mgodin@record-journal.com 203-317-2255 Twitter: @Cconnbiz WALLINGFORD Masonicare Health Center was one of six hospitals recently fined by the state Department of Public Health, according to recent media reports. Masonicare, which treats elderly and rehabilitation patients, was fined $7,800 after a resident with dementia fell from an X-ray table to the floor. According to the CT Health I-Team, the resident fell on Aug. 22, 2018 and suffered a head laceration that required five sutures. A registered nurse had asked the X-ray technician whether straps should be used to secure the resident to the table, but the technician said none were available. According to the news report, safety straps were purchased for the X-ray table. In addition, a January 2019 review of clinical records found the residents fall risk assessments should have been completed quarterly but werent done since Aug. 17, 2017. Masonicare responded immediately with in-service re-education for all staff regarding the safe transfer and positioning of patients, as well as proper reporting protocol, Margaret Steeves, vice president of marketing and communications, said in an e-mail. The safety and comfort of our patients and residents remains our highest priority and is central to our mandatory education curriculum. Other healthcare institutions were fined for other violations this quarter, according to the report. St. Camilus Center in Stamford was fined $4,260 for several violations involving falls and monitoring. Trinity Hill Health Care Center in Hartford was fined $3,060 after a housekeeper punched a resident in the face. The housekeeper was removed immediately after the incident and fired. The Waters Edge Center for Health and Rehabilitation in Middletown was fined $3,060 after a resident was hospitalized following improper monitoring. RegalCare at New Haven was fined $2,160 after a deaf resident with dementia left the facility. Middlesex Health Care Center in Middletown was fined $1,320 after a resident left the facility for more than 24 hours without permission. A nurses aide saw the resident walking down a local highway on Jan. 13, according to the Connecticut Health I-Team. mgodin@record-journal.com 203-317-2255 Twitter: @Cconnbiz Li delivers triplets. Photo provided by Li Chinese doctor Li Li has delivered over 10,000 infants during her two-year stay in Algeria, as a member of a Chinese medical team sent to aid Africa. After receiving seven months of training in French and comprehensive medical skills, Li, from a maternity and child healthcare hospital in Xiangyang, central Chinas Hubei province, became an official member of the Chinese medical team sent to Africa in June 2016. Nine months later, she was deployed to an obstetrics and gynecology hospital in Setif, Algeria. As a teaching hospital at provincial level, the hospital provided medical services to 1.5 million local women. However, upon Li's arrival, only four Chinese doctors and one local doctor worked there. An official from the Algerian Ministry of Health, head of Chinese medical aid team, and Li (middle) pose for a picture. Photo provided by Li Li often had to handle a dozen cesarean sections in a single day. You had to be highly efficient in theatre, as many women were still waiting outside, she said. Apart from offering medical assistance, Li and her colleagues also introduced Chinese medical techniques to local staff, correcting non-standard operations and ideas, helping to lower the death rate of women and infants. Now, upon finishing her mission, Li has returned to China. She said she benefited from her two-year stay in Algeria, and is willing to take on another mission soon. Li Li's certificate for outstanding medical staff. Photo provided by Li WALLINGFORD The Town Council passed a resolution opposing tolls Tuesday evening, as the debate on whether to install highway tolls intensifies in the state legislature The resolution was proposed and drafted by Republican Councilor Craig Fishbein, whos also the state representative for the 90th district. It states that the Town Council opposes the imposition of tolls and urges state representatives to oppose legislation establishing highway tolls. The resolution passed with five yes votes, two no votes from Councilors Jason Zandri and Christopher Shortell and one abstention from Councilor Gina Morgenstein. Councilor Vincent Testa Jr. was absent. Morgenstein, a Democrat, said she abstained because she felt its not appropriate for a town councilor to take a stand on a state issue. Gov. Ned Lamont has proposed adding tolls along Interstates 91, 95, 84 and Route 15, hoping the estimated $800 million collected annually would help fund road maintenance. State legislation on tolls has reached the transportation committee, which advanced three tolls bills March 20. None of the bills include information on toll rates or specific locations. Republican state lawmakers have voiced strong opposition to tolls. The resolution passed by the Wallingford Town Council says that while state residents deserve world class transportation infrastructure, the costs shouldnt be largely funded by those who can least afford to pay it. It also says that tolls would divert drivers onto Wallingford roads, resulting in more traffic and wear and tear. Zandri said although hes not a big fan of having to put tolls up, how do we pay for this world class highway system that weve got and we want to keep and maintain? The Meriden City Council and the Southington Town Council proposed similar anti-toll resolutions. Meriden tabled the discussion at its April 1 meeting, and Southington voted against taking action March 25. The Berlin Town Council is slated to consider a resolution at its April 16 meeting. The Wolcott Town Council passed a resolution April 3. Wallingfords resolution came the day before state Republican leaders have a scheduled forum on tolls, tonight at Town Hall council chambers. LTakores@record-journal.com 203-317-2212 Twitter: @LCTakores In the recent past, legislation that would have legalized marijuana for recreational use has hit a dead end in Connecticut, but that may be changing. On Monday, the judiciary committee by a slim 21-19 vote margin advanced legislation that would legalize marijuana and eradicate former convictions for possession. Theres still a long way to go before the passage of an overall marijuana bill, but Mondays vote has it headed in that direction. Theres also another significant difference this time around: the support of the governor. While Gov. Dannel P. Malloys opposition kept legalized recreational use at bay, that is no longer an obstacle with Gov. Ned Lamont, who supports it. That leaves legalizing marijuana in Connecticut a real possibility. By doing so, Connecticut would join many other states that have gone the legalized marijuana route, including its neighbor to the north, Massachusetts. Another neighbor, Rhode Island, is considering legalization. Each state has to make its own decision, of course, but a growing cultural acceptance creates the impression that its a question of when and not if marijuana becomes legal. This is despite some major reservations at least two of which should not be ignored. One is the rather stubborn fact that marijuana remains illegal at the federal level. The other, as medical organizations have been pointing out as Connecticut deliberates, is that there has been no national study of marijuana and its effects. The absence of a scientific consensus leaves some of the most significant concerns about marijuana open to debate and conjecture. Is it a gateway drug, leading to the use of more harmful intoxicants? Or, is it the reverse? Does marijuana keep people from taking more damaging risks? Connecticuts legislative approach is trying to tackle some of the tough details. Lawmakers have been talking about handling marijuana in the workplace and on the highways, and about enforcement. At some point the several bills concerning marijuana are expected to become a single proposal which could lead to legalized recreational use for those 21 and older. While Connecticut may seem to be following the leader, as in following the example of other states where weed is now legal, its important to recognize that the state is trying to do something new. The nine states that have legalized marijuana have done so through popular vote. Connecticut is one of the states now trying to do it through carefully crafted legislation. What we can support at the moment is the deliberative way state lawmakers are going about it. It is regrettable that the momentous era of the first female Doctor was paired to a writer of so limited talents It can't be disputed by... By PTI NEW DELHI: Lenders of Jet Airways Wednesday extended the deadline for submission of initial bids for stake purchase in the ailing airline to April 12. Cash-strapped Jet Airways has delayed salaries to pilots, defaulted on loan repayments as well as payments to aircraft lessors. SBI Capital Markets, which issued Expression of Interest (EoI) document on April 8, has extended the deadline for submission of initial bids to April 12. Potential bidders can send their queries till April 11. The deadline for submission of bids was to end on Wednesday. "The qualified bidders will be expected to submit their respective binding bid(s) latest by April 30, 2019 subject to the terms set out under the bid document," SBI Capital Markets said in a notice posted on its website. READ HERE | For third time in a week, Indian Oil cuts fuel supplies to debt-ridden Jet Airways The SBI-led consortium of domestic lenders are implementing a debt resolution plan for Jet Airways, whose board approved the plan last month. "While all soft copies of the EoIs are required to submitted by the EoI due date, the hard copies may be submitted by April 16, 2019," the notice said. Earlier in the day, SBI Capital Markets issued a set of clarifications related to the EoI document, including that bidders in a consortium need to furnish solvency certificates individually. "Bidders are required to provide the solvency certificate on their letterhead and certified by managing director/ full time director / CEO of the bidder or a person holding an equivalent position in the bidder," SBI Capital Markets said in a separate notice. In the case of consortium, each member has to submit solvency certificate, which is a proof of an entity's financial stability. ALSO READ | Jet Airways auction: Etihad, Vistara, Delta emerge potential bidders for cash-strapped airlines As part of the debt resolution plan for the full service carrier, the lenders are looking to restructure "existing facilities and infusion of funds by way of loans or acquisition/ subscription of up to 75 per cent of equity share capital of the company". Shares of Jet Airways declined 1.59 per cent to close at Rs 263.40 apiece on the BSE. BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- An innovation index has been published to track the performance of companies based in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The index, which was released by Shenzhen Securities Information Co., Ltd. and the China Center for Information Industry Development Tuesday, is based on 100 stocks covering advanced manufacturing, strategic emerging industries, modern services and maritime economy. The innovation index, including shares of industry giants such as Tencent, Ping An, Gree and Midea, is the flagship of a series of indexes for the Greater Bay Area to be developed by the two parties. It contains 38 information technology enterprises that account for over 25 percent of weighting. A composite index for the area was also launched at the same event Tuesday. All the indexes are based on equities listed at the Shenzhen, Shanghai and Hong Kong exchanges that are eligible for the Stock Connect programs. The Stock Connect are securities trading and clearing arrangements that link China's mainland stock exchanges to that of Hong Kong. The programs allow mainland investors to trade and settle shares in the Hong Kong market via their local exchanges, and vice-versa. The Greater Bay Area has a highly developed capital market. By the end of March, it had more than 750 companies that were listed on Chinese mainland and eligible under the Stock Connect programs with a total market capitalization of nearly 27 trillion yuan (about 4 trillion U.S. dollars). The index series would play an important role in developing the area into an international science and innovation center and enhancing the financial sector's service to the real economy, said an official with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Anuradha Shukla By Express News Service NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday accused the ICICI Bank if delaying the probe against Chanda Kochhar. The bank has not yet shared information on details of loans forwarded to NuPower and Videocon, the investigative agency claimed. According to ED sources, the agency had sought from the ICICI Bank management certain information, including specific dates and the amount of loans sanctioned to NuPower, Essar and Videocon Group. The request for the information were sent back long time ago. The agency had also sent a formal request letter two weeks ago, but there has been no response yet from the bank. This is causing unnecessary delay to the probe, an ED official told this publication. According to officials, the information is important to establish facts because different versions had arisen during the questioning. The agency had specifically asked for the date of meeting held with NuPower, details of the sanctioning committee, their attendance during the meeting, agenda, decisions and discussions and the exact date when the loans were sanctioned to these companies. It was just to establish the discrepancies in the statement recorded so far, the official said. The agency, which had separately questioned Chanda Kocchar and husband Deepak Kochhar, had said that in her preliminary statement, Chanda Kochhar had blamed other officials of ICICI Bank, who were part of the sanctioning committee. The enforcement directorate had earlier claimed that they have evidence against Chanda Kochhar, who they have questioned several times. Despite the claims, no arrests have been made in the case. Separately, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs last month had recommended prosecution against companies owned by Deepak Kochhar and Videocon chairman VN Dhoot for deliberate acts of omission and concealment of facts. In its report, the ministry said it had recorded Kochhars statement, but it was not satisfactory. The enforcement directorate is just probing the quid pro quo part and the money laundering trail. Additionally, the Central Bureau of Investigation is probing the case as well, and the corporate affairs ministry is looking into irregularities related to the Company Law. Sunitha Natti By Express News Service HYDERABAD: Troubles for Jet Airways are mounting by the day, but the full-service carrier not only held its ground but did better than others including market leader Indigo and Air India on key metrics. Data from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) shows that Jet Airways fared well on key parameters like passenger load factor, on-time performance and number of passengers affected due to flight delays and cancellations. With lessors de-registering Jet fleet and amid pilots and crew threatening to go on strike over non-payment of salaries, one would imagine Jet Airways to top the list of airlines affecting passengers due to flight cancellations and delays. Ironically, that distinction went to Indigo and Air India. For instance, in February, a staggering 1,13,665 passengers flying Indigo were affected due to delays beyond two hours, followed by Air India (53,498 passengers affected), as against Jet's 529 -- one of the lowest among operators. Experts reckon the reason to a large fleet size of other carriers compared to Jet, whose number is sliced to the bone and currently stands at 26 from about 116. Given that Jet's fleet is fast depleting, the number of cancellations too should be high, but that's likely to reflect in March data. At least in February, yet again, Indigo's passengers were most affected due to cancellations at 41,549 passengers, while Jet Airways and Jet Lite's combined number stood at 13,595 passengers. The airline, which is succumbing due to want of funds, performed better on metrics like the passenger load factor at 89.4 per cent compared to Air India's 83.3 per cent and Indigo's 88.4 in February, implying that either customers continue their loyalty to Jet or are simply booking tickets due to short supply. Jet's cancellation rate of scheduled flights during February too has been better at 1.89 per cent as against our national carrier Air India's 8.15 per cent and Air Asia's 2.46 per cent, while Jet's on-time performance in four metros -- Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai that DGCA compiles -- was also a shade better than Indigo. Jet Airways carried 14.91 lakh passengers in January, but that fell to 11.33 in February, while its market share too dropped to 10 per cent from 11.9. The air carrier needs an Rs 1,500-crore lifeboat, without which it runs the risks of getting grounded by month-end. By PTI MUMBAI: Adding to the woes of the crippled Jet Airways, a European cargo services provider has seized one of its Boeing planes at the Amsterdam airport for non-payment of dues. The aircraft was to operate a flight (9W 321) to Mumbai from Amsterdam Thursday, an airline source said. "The cargo agent seized Boeing 777-300 ER (VT-JEW) of Jet Airways at the Amsterdam airport as the airline could not clear his dues," the airline source said Wednesday. ALSO READ: Trouble-hit Jet Airways performed better than Indigo and Air India, says DGCA data The airline has grounded more than three-fourths of its fleet due to non-payment of lessors' rentals and is operating just about 25 planes out of its 123 earlier. Due to cash crunch, the airline has been paying only part salaries to its over 16,000 employees which forced a section of its pilots on Tuesday sending a legal notice to the management which is currently being headed by the lenders led by State Bank of India. ALSO READ: Jet pilots serve legal notice over salary dues, sets April 14 deadline The airline has confirmed the cancellation of the said flight attributing to "operational reasons". In a statement, Jet Airways said flight 9W 231 from Amsterdam to Mumbai scheduled for April 10, has been delayed due to operational reasons. The aircraft had flown to Amsterdam from Mumbai Tuesday and was scheduled to return Thursday, the source added. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: Domestic carrier Jet Airways is likely to head for insolvency proceedings, as the deadline for submission of Expression of Interest (EoI) for the troubled airline will come to an end by 6 pm on Wednesday and the bids have attracted EoIs from no major potential buyer as yet. According to sources, while names of multiple prospective investors have been doing the rounds for some time, none so far has confirmed submission of EoI for the beleaguered airline. The stake sale process for Jet began on Monday, two days after its scheduled opening. According to the EoI document issued by the consortium of lenders led by the State Bank of India, interested parties will have to take at least 31.2 per cent and a maximum of 75 per cent stake in the airline. Entities, which have shown interest so far, are believed to be Tata Sons, Delta Air, TPG Capital and current minority stakeholder Etihad Airways. However, reports said that by the end of the second day of bidding, no one has actually submitted a proposal. If bankers are unable to find a buyer for Jet, as had happened in the case of Air India, it is likely that lenders may eventually take the company to National Company Law Tribunal after June 30. Meanwhile, Jet Airways pilots union, National Aviators Guild (NAG), has sent a legal notice to its chief executive officer Vinay Dube over non-payment of their salaries pending since last three months. This situation is leading to extreme stress, anxiety and frustration amongst my clients member pilots hardly an ideal situation for pilots in the cockpit, the legal notice sent by NAG to Dubey said. The notice highlighted that the pilots havent been paid for three months from January, and are facing extreme stress, anxiety and frustration, which can lead to a major safety issue. In these circumstances, my client calls upon the management of Jet Airlines to pay the salaries outstanding for the months of January, February and March 2019 by April 14, 2019, (and future monthly salaries by the first of each proceeding month), failing which my client shall be constrained, instructed to inform you, to resort to all constitutional and legal methods available to it to ensure payment of the salaries to its members, it said. Airlines told to increase flights to stabilise fares New Delhi: Regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation has asked all airlines to come out with an individual medium-term plan by Wednesday on enhancing the availability of domestic flights, in a move aimed at curbing rising airfares, government officials said. Airfares have been on an upswing across the country for the past few weeks due to a sharp decline in the number of flights, primarily caused by the grounding of three-fourths of cash-strapped Jet Airways 119-aircraft fleet. The availability of flights was also hit after SpiceJets 12 737 Max aircraft were pulled out in March following safety concerns. By PTI WASHINGTON: Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen on Tuesday pitched a trade deal with the United States, saying it would both safeguard the island's security and address US concerns over China's growing control over fifth-generation communications. Addressing a think-tank forum in Washington by video, Tsai said the US and Taiwanese economies were "complementary" and that a trade pact could provide a model for the Indo-Pacific region. China, which considers Taiwan a province awaiting reunification, has long opposed international agreements involving the self-ruling democracy but poured in investment and tourists under Tsai's Beijing-friendly predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou. "Taiwan's economic diversification is related to whether we can remain a free and open society," said Tsai, who emphasises the island's unique identity and has seen growing friction with Beijing. "China's influence campaigns are undertaken using economic actors. By aligning ourselves with the United States and other free-market actors, we can reduce our economic reliance on China and their capacity to interfere in our media, politics and security," Tsai told the forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She said a trade deal was "particularly relevant" amid worries over Chinese telecom giant Huawei and "the scramble for control over the future of 5G networks. "We need to shape the flow of this supply chain so that critical technologies, infrastructure and assets do not fall into the wrong hands," she said. The United States has been pressing for countries to avoid Huawei as they build their next-generation networks. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says Huawei presents security and privacy concerns, but his campaign has had limited success with critics saying Washington is seeking to preserve market dominance. The United States recognises only Beijing but, under the 40-year-old Taiwan Relations Act, is required to provide the island with the means to defend itself. With Taiwan enjoying wide support in the US Congress, several lawmakers have called for a free trade agreement with the island. But the two sides face a raft of trade disputes, notably US objections to Taiwan's ban on pork and beef with traces of ractopamine -- a feed additive to boost animals' growth that is widely used in the United States but banned in the European Union. President Donald Trump has been critical of free-trade agreements, but Tsai voiced hope, saying his administration "has shown the capacity to be creative when it comes to trade. Four employees of a private firm in Bengaluru, who had kidnapped their employer for not paying their salaries for seven months, were arrested by the city police on Saturday. The employer Sujay, 23, who was running the firm near Halasuru has not been paying his employees since September, 2018. Of late, seven disgruntled staff members hatched a plot to abduct their boss and demand their pay which has been pending, according to media reports. READ MORE | Where is techie Sujay? Bengaluru cops have no answer As per the plan, they kidnapped Sujay on March 21 and took him to their friend's place at HSR Layout in the city. They allegedly tortured Sujay and demanded their pay. However, they let off Sujay after he promised to pay their salaries. Sujay then lodged an FIR against the kidnappers at the Halasuru police station. Four of the employees involved in the kidnapping case have been arrested. Police are making efforts to nab the other accused. Further investigating is on. Sahaya Novinston Lobo By Express News Service CHENNAI : A 35-year-old man who used a voice modulation device to cheat prospective grooms on matrimony sites was caught from Vadapalani on Monday. He had used the app to swindle Rs 57,000 from a man 4 years ago. Manoj (44) (name changed) of Perambur had advertised seeking a bride on a popular matrimony website, four years ago. He struggled without getting proper responses until he came in contact with one Harini, say the police. Harini, was actually a man using a voice modulation application to prey on gullible users. The caller claimed to be a 28 year old woman and told Manoj that she wished to marry him as he was handsome and their horoscopes had matched, police added. The duo kept in touch over the phone for about two months. Whenever Manoj told Harini that he wanted to meet her and her family, she kept delaying it, saying her aunt was in the hospital. Soon after, Harini requested Manoj to send her money for her aunts treatment, say police. Believing her, Manoj first sent Rs 45,000 to her account and later Rs 12,000 for medicines. However, soon after, Harini stopped calling him and her phone became unreachable. Manoj realised he had been cheated, but did not lodge any complaint. He got married two years ago. Fours years later, on Monday, the woman called Manoj and spoke to him not knowing that he was married. This time, she wanted an AC or a refrigerator. As Manoj played along, the person said a relative would come to pick up the package from him at Vadapalani. However, Manoj waited a few metres away from the spot and saw a man moving around suspiciously. When he called Harinis number, he saw the man answer the phone and caught him red handed. Manoj handed over the man to Vadapalani police. Preliminary investigation revealed he used a voice modulation mobile application to speak to Manoj like a woman. Since the suspect promised to return the cash, Manoj volunteered to withdraw his complaint. Express News Service NEW DELHI: Changes in the tone and tenor of the Congress leadership in the national capital over the past two weeks indicate that an alliance for the seven parliamentary seats with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is certain, though a section of the grand old partys leaders still have their reservations. For some Congress leaders supporting the coalition, it seems like a compulsion. According to them, the party has not recuperated from the jolts it received in the 2014 Lok Sabha and the 2015 Assembly elections. The party lost all seven parliamentary seats of the capital to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014 and drew a blank in the Assembly elections a year later. Our workers are visibly motivated and charged but it is fact that in Delhi we have still not regained our lost ground. A majority of our traditional vote bank in unauthorised colonies, slums including Dalits and Muslims has not returned to us, said a Delhi Congress leader, asking not to be named. If the Congress and the AAP come together, they make 52-53% votes. The BJPs vote share is around 34-35%. Considering the social conditions, political terror and hatred being spread by communal forces, it has become imperative to join hands with AAP to prevent the BJP coming to power again, said Subhash Chopra, three-time MLA and a former president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee. The AAPs push for an alliance is driven from the desire to be part of national politics after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Party leaders are equally worried about a split in Opposition votes helping the BJP. After coming to power five years ago, the Modi government has dealt a huge blow to democracy, the very essence of the country... They talk about us changing our stand in regard with the Congress but tell me, which party made a pact with the BSP in Uttar Pradesh, the PDP in J&K and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in the Northeast? The BJP is the real anti-national party... said AAPs Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh. The majority of the Delhi Congress leaders opposing the alliance said it would prove suicidal for the Grand Old Party. FOLLOW OUR ELECTION COVERAGE HERE Forging a coalition at this juncture will hurt our chances to revive lost ground in Delhi. An alliance will institute the AAP as a permanent fixture in the citys politics. If we dont contest on four seats after an alliance, our grass root level workers will have to sit. They will not have any option because they wouldnt work for AAP. The consequences of this situation will reflect next year in the Assembly elections, reasoned a senior DPCC functionary. Rajesh Lilothia, working president of the DPCC, said Kejriwals appeal for anti-Modi-Shah-front is a desperate attempt to survive. It is understandable as several of his colleagues have deserted him. He cant be trusted anymore... he said. Congress showing since 2014 Previous election records show that the Congress vote share, which plummeted to below 10% in 2015, went up to 21.9 % in the 2017 municipal elections. The city has witnessed three bypolls to two Assembly seats (2017) and 13 municipal wards (2016) apart from the 2017 municipal election in the last four years. The Congress average vote share in all these polls has hovered around 25%. In 2009, the party stormed all seven seats with a 57% vote share while the BJP managed to secure 35%. Donita Jose By Express News Service HYDERABAD: Hyderabad is witnessing a mass exodus, albeit of the temporary kind. A sizeable portion of its migrant population is heading home to vote, in Andhra Pradesh and interior parts of Telangana, on April 11. Lok Sabha Polls are being conducted simultaneously in these two sibling States. Several bus stands and train stations in the city saw massive crowds on Tuesday. A Ramesh, a passenger who was boarding a train to Vijayawada at Secunderabad Railway Station, thought he had done the smart thing by travelling two days ahead of the polls. He thought he would avoid the large crowds of Wednesday. I thought I would take the train on Tuesday. But when I reached here, I was shocked to see so many people, he said. However, railway officials note that they have it under control. We are running 36 special trains in addition to the 40 regular ones we generally operate, owing to the increase in traffic due to both elections and summer vacations. These trains will be run between April 8 and April 10. The number of trains may be increased based on traffic, an official said. He added that additional manpower would be deployed to manage the crowd. Additional booking windows have also been opened for the peoples convenience, he said. Sources note that the mass exodus among voters is due to the fact that many politicians have lured voters to cast votes in their native places in AP and districts of Telangana than in the city by booking for them two-way tickets. Even their food has been planned in advance. Similar crowds were seen at Nampally Railway Station where four trains Charminar Express, Chennai Express, Godavari Express and East Coast Express ran packed to the brim. Officials note that a majority of travellers were labourers from districts and AP. Meanwhile, operators of private buses are making a killing by selling tickets at nearly 50-70 per cent more than regular prices. For instance, a ticket to Kurnool costs between Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,300, against the normal Rs 500. The TSRTC and APSRTC have made stop-gap arrangements by pushing in more vehicles to cater to the election rush. While TSRTC is running around 200 odd buses to AP, APSRTC is running somewhere close to 700 buses between Hyderabad and various parts in the State. We will be deploying our entire fleet of 10,000 buses on polling day of which 2,000 will be reserved for inter-district transport, noted an official from TSRTC. Another 1,500 buses will be helping in transporting polling personnel to their various duty locations. All other buses will continue to run as per schedule. Fire breaks out in train at Nampally railway station On a day when footfalls swelled at Nampally railway station due to a large number of electors heading to Andhra Pradesh, a fire accident broke out in one of the trains. A coach in Charminar Express caught fire, while it was stationed, at the railway station. Though no one was injured, the thick smoke emanating from the coach created panic among the passengers. The fire broke out at about 10:00 am on platform No 6 where the train was stationed before it was to be taken for cleaning. When an engine, attached to the train, tried to move the train to the cleaning yard, the last but one coach caught fire, a railway police official said. We alerted the fire services department. They came immediately and doused the flames, the official added. It is suspected that the fire broke out in a general compartment due to an electrical short-circuit, leading to seats and wiring in the train getting damaged. By Express News Service KOCHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday arrested a key accused in a case against a group of Keralites radicalised at Bahrain who later shifted to Syria to join the Islamic State (IS). The arrested is Shaibu Nihar, 39, of Koduvalli in Kozhikode district. According to the NIA, Shaibu was arrested on his arrival from Doha, Qatar, at Kozhikode International Airport on Tuesday morning. He was intercepted by the police in Qatar and sent back to Kerala following the request of the NIA. He was the first accused in the case registered at Wandoor police station in November 2017 which was later taken over by the NIA. The case was registered following the disclosure by Hamsa U K, an accused in another IS case registered at Vallapattanam in Kannur. Shaibu was produced before the NIA Court in Kochi and was remanded. Vietnams aquaculture exports will face stronger competition from India in the traditional market of Japan, because India is striving to triple the domestic aquatic product output in the near future. The Indian Government has approved plans to support the building of shrimp breeding facilities and improve unused water resources for aquaculture. India also moves to develop tiger prawn farming in western Bengal, Kerela and Karnataka to boost the export of shrimp to Japan, especially on the occasion of the Olympics Tokyo 2020. Vietnam earned 1.8 billion USD from exporting seafood in the first quarter of 2019, a year-on-year rise of 0.5 percent, according to the Department of Farm Produce Processing and Market Development under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Japan, the US, China and the Republic of Korea were the main leading importers of Vietnamese aquatic products in the first two months of this year, making up 52.8 percent of the total export turnover from this product. Strong growth was seen in Mexico (up 35.6 percent), the Philippines (up 25 percent), Malaysia (up 21.6 percent), the UK (16.6 percent), and Canada (up 13.7 percent). The country also imported 416 million USD worth of aquatic products in the first three months of this year, up 2 percent on a yearly basis.-VNA By Express News Service VIJAYAWADA: The police have made foolproof security arrangements in the city to ensure peaceful conduct of elections on April 11. Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Commissioner of Police Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao said that around 5,500 personnel, including the local police and armed forces would be deployed in Vijayawada Police Commissionerate for election duty. Special police teams would be posted at the critical polling booths to thwart any untoward incident. The polling process would be monitored from the Command Control Centre with the help of CCTV cameras. As many as 2,700 CCTV cameras were installed at all major polling stations and other sensitive places. Prohibitory orders under Section 30 of Police Act and Section 144 of CrPC were promulgated at all the polling stations. Out of the total 539 polling stations, 332 have been identified as problematic. Special teams will be deployed at all the problematic polling stations to thwart any untoward incident, he said. By Express News Service VIJAYAWADA: On the last day of electioneering on Tuesday, YSRC chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy made an attempt to rubbish the allegations that his party had an alliance or secret pact with the BJP. However, he asserted that he would support any party - be it the BJP or the Congress - that was willing to accord special category status to the State. Though Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao is open to supporting APs demand for SCS, CM and his partner Pawan Kalyan are not ready to take their help, he remarked Even when PM Narendra Modi wave was at its peak before 2014 elections, we did not forge any alliance with the BJP. Now, we are all set to come to power in the State and the Modi wave is not there. Jagan wondered and ruled out his party entering into a pact with any party. We will fight it alone. I am very clear on whom to extend support at the national level. Whichever party signs the file according SCS to the State, we will support that party, Jagan declared. The YSRC chief on Tuesday campaigned in Mangalagiri from where IT Minister Nara Lokesh is contesting and also in Kurnool and Tirupati. Jagan observed that Naidu invited national leaders like Farooq Abdullah of National Conference, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to campaign for the TDP in the State. Did Naidu make any one of them utter a word about their commitment to support SCS to the State? Yesterday, KCR said he was not opposed to SCS to AP. Did Naidu or his partner at least acknowledge or thank KCR for his gesture? Jagan asked. At Mangalagiri, Jagan took on both Naidu and his son Lokesh for neglecting the segments development. Jagan accused the TDP regime of taking away the lands of the farmers through deception in the name of constructing a world-class capital city. Shilajit Mitra By Express News Service Vivek Agnihotri was watching television on Gandhi Jayanti, 2015 when something struck him. There were ads dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, but none to Lal Bahadur Shastri, the second prime minister of India, who was born on the same day. Turning to his son, Vivek quizzed him about Shastri, but got a blank reaction. Irked, he went on Twitter and reminded people of the significance of the former freedom fighter and senior Congress leader. Soon, he was flooded with requests for a film on Shastri not any film, but one centred on his death. Normally people ask you to make a film on somebodys life. Here they were asking me to make it on his death, recalls Vivek, whose directorial credits include Chocolate, Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal, Hate Story and Buddha in a Traffic Jam. The sustained public interest over Lal Bahadur Shastris mysterious demise in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (former Soviet Union) prompted Vivek into research. The material was instantly compelling: On January 10, 1966, Shastri signed the Tashkent Declaration with Pakistan President Ayub Khan. The peace treaty brought the Indo-Pak war of 1965 to an end. Despite the auspiciousness of the summit, things turned dark for India within a few hours. Shastri, who had retired to his room after the events of the day, passed away due to an alleged cardiac arrest. Back home, the Indian National Congress-led government denied foul play, but suspicions followed. One thing that really bothered me was how there was no post-mortem, says Vivek. Even Shastris family went to the Home Ministry and requested an autopsy. How can the prime minister of a country pass away without a post-mortem? Ahead of the release of his new film The Tashkent Files which probes at the myriad theories surrounding Shastris death Vivek speaks to us about his research process for the film, the concurrence of the release with the general elections, the films solid cast, and his political ambitions for the future. Excerpts from the conversation: Take us through the research process of this film. I began by filing RTIs to the PMO, the Foreign Ministry and the Home Ministry. The responses were similar: that there was no document available on Shastri jis death. Since there was no official information, I decided to crowdsource my research. I released a video asking people to send me material. That opened up the world for me. The youngsters (on social media) led me to links, books and people with knowledge of what had happened. Slowly, this film started to take shape. The trailer makes references to Subhash Chandra Bose and the Tashkent Man. Theres also Robert Crowleys book about the CIAs involvement in the alleged murder of Shastri. How many theories does your film cover? Honestly, I have covered all possible angles and theories. The film is written in the style of a courtroom drama, where the audience is the judge and they are presented with both sides of the argument. However, during my research, I was led to a direction which not many people know about but is well-documented. That became the crux and climax of the film. It will shake you up and make you go, Oh my god! We were part of such a big conspiracy You have an impressive cast, from Naseeruddin Shah to Mithun Chakraborty to Pankaj Tripathi. We knew if we went to big studios, theyll demand stars. It was the reason I decided to produce the film myself. There was no B list for casting I wanted just the actors you see. Everyone liked the script and immediately agreed. I am working with Pankaj Tripathi for the first time. He is playing a scientist in the film. Generally, scientists in our movies have french beard and long hair. I wanted a North Indian-looking person who wears chappals and puts tika on his forehead. Pankaj is so full of talent. He won the National Award while shooting for this film. Given the timing of the release, is it fair to call the film anti-Congress propaganda? I am an openly anti-Congress person anyway. Express Features By BENGALURU: Sabyn Javeri is an award-winning short story writer and novelist, whose latest book, Hijabistan, looks at how politics uses womens bodies to promote their own motives. Excerpts from an interview: What was your triger for writing the book Hijabistan? A sense of injustice. Whether its the invasion of Afghanistan, the liberation of Iraq, the burkini ban in France or the compulsory veil in Iran, it fascinates me how the idea of freedom and of oppression is linked to a womans dress code. For far too long, patriarchy and politics have used womens bodies to promote their own agenda and I wanted to write a book like Hijabistan, which focuses on stories and issues which are veiled, to bring this out in the open. Have any of your books been inspired by vernacular books? My writing style is deeply influenced by the vernacular. I love the wit of Ismat Chugtai, the sarcasm of Manto, the directness of Rasheed Jahan. Unfortunately, being a postcolonial society we often dont promote our own regional languages amongst the young. I myself discovered these writers in translation while studying at Oxford! Ive since found that Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Baluchi and Gujrait literature are often much more experimental and creative than English literature and have greatly influenced me. I find the visual sensibility of Malayalam literature very appealing. Do you go back to your old writings? It is fascinating to see my journey as a writer because it shows how I have grown as a person too. I used to speak for myself, now I want to become the voice of others. Have you always seen yourself as a writer? What has been your inspiration as a writer? I used to think I would be an artist as I love painting. But when I couldnt go to art school because it was in another city and I was an akeli larki I stopped thinking of pursuing it as a profession. It remained a passion but when I got married and moved abroad I realised canvases were expenses, big and bulky. Paper and pen seemed more affordable and so I took to writing. When my first published story got a lot of acclaim and I was invited to India by Ritu Menon of Women Unlimited who became a mentor of sorts, is when I thought, I can do this! My inspiration to write has been a misplaced sense of certainty that I speak for many other women and that our story matters. ALSO READ| 'The real hijab is that of patriarchy' - Sabyn Javeri on the veiled world in Hijabistan What is your writing process like? I always free write for at least 15 minutes before I try to attempt any creative writing. I give myself permission to write junk as it eases the pressure to produce a masterpiece. Once I have done that my mind is in a state of relaxation and I trick it into writing the creative piece. By the time my mind catches up with me and the internal critic kicks in, Im usually half way through. That way I avoid writers block. To be honest, I hardly ever get writers block. Unlike writers who are privileged enough not to have a day job, I dont have the luxury to sit around and wait for the muse. I work 8 to 6 and then come home to my parenting job. When I do get the time to write I dont want to fritter it away with the notion of writers block. ALSO READ| Hijabistan: Stories tucked away under the all-encompassing veil How difficult or easy is it to get published? Have you had to modify your books for it to get published? I think it is difficult to get published in the West because there is a certain kind of expectation from South Asian writers. However I think Indian publishers are much more open to experimentation. It doesnt matter if you are a man or a women or transgender, Indian or Pakistani, Muslim or Hindu, if your writing is powerful you will find a publisher. Like any writer, I too have had to make some compromises. My first book Nobody Killed Her had to be almost rewritten because of fear of a lawsuit. However, I realised that the story I wanted to tell was a completely different one so in a sense Im grateful for that. But for Hijabistan a western publisher wanted me to exoticise the stories because they did not feel it was an authentic portrayal of oriental/Muslim women- in short it did not fit the stereotype. This was a compromise I was not willing to make and so I backed out of our talks. Whos your first reader? And who are your biggest critics? Myself and myself. I know instinctively if a story is working and dont need other peoples validation. Do you think marketing has played a role in the success of your books? Being a full time working academic and a parent to young children I dont have the time to do that. Im not very active on social media but I am grateful to my publishers and agent for promoting my book. I dont think marketing alone is responsible for the success of any book. It has to appeal to the reader. By IANS GANDHINAGAR: Launching a blistering attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday charged it with looting the country, saying in five years of his government, he has brought the Congress to the doorstep of jail. "Give me another five years, and I will ensure they (Congress leaders) are in jail," Modi said while addressing a rally in Junagadh in his home state Gujarat which has 26 Lok Sabha seats, and where polling is due on April 23. Dubbing the Congress manifesto as 'Dhakosla Patra' (a 'document of hypocrisy'), the Prime Minister criticised the Congress for promising removal of sedition laws. ALSO READ: Omar Abdullah taunts PM Narendra Modi, says Imran Khan has endorsed his victory "They want our army to be defenceless. They want to protect the 'tukde-tukde gang' -- no matter how big their crime is, they have the right to get bail. Why are they (Congress) doing it? Are they preparing for jail? I have brought them to the doorstep of jail in five years. Give me another five years, and I will ensure they are in jail," Modi said. "Congress wants power to loot money, and there is only one family in the Congress. The party has held out only false promises in the name of poverty removal. The country can only prosper if it is safe and secure," Modi said. "There is not a single slur left with the Congress which its leaders have not used for your son, Modi. They have always had problems with Gujarat. First it was Sardar Patel, then Morarji Desai and now it's me. They wonder how this Gujarati 'chaiwala' has become the PM," Modi said. "If you want to compare BJP and Congress, it's simple: Look at the track records of both parties. While Congress's is a tape record, the BJP's record shows determination for the country's security and a fight against terrorists," Modi said. FOLLOW OUR ELECTION COVERAGE HERE "The Congress tape record has only one song in it: 'Modi hatao'. Is this the same Congress which was nurtured by Sardar Patel? " he asked. On Kashmir, Prime Minister said the Congress wanted a different prime minister for J&K. "Is it possible for a country to have two prime ministers?" he asked. "I want you to vote BJP to ensure its victory in all 26 seats so that we could continue development of the country. And I want even more: We should ensure that all these anti-Gujaratis should lose their deposits, " Modi said. The Prime Minister requested the first-time voters of the state to dedicate their vote to a party committed to the security of the country. "When you are going to cast your first vote, I urge you to dedicate that vote to the country, only to country's interest and for the government committed to the security of the country," he said. By PTI AHMEDABAD: Prominent OBC leader from Gujarat and MLA Alpesh Thakor quit the Congress Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Gujarat Kshatriya Thakor Sena, an outfit floated by him, decided to sever its ties with the Congress. It also asked Thakor to resign from the Congress. FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE Speculation was rife that Thakor may quit the Congress as he was unhappy with the local party leadership. Though he was keen to contest from Patan Lok Sabha seat, the Congress chose former MP Jagdish Thakor. After emerging as a prominent OBC leader in Gujarat, he had joined the Congress before the 2017 Assembly polls and won from Radhanpur seat in Patan district. Meanwhile, there are also roumors that, Thakor might join BJP after splitting with congress. By PTI SRINAGAR: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday said that like Pakistan premier Imran Khan she too is hoping that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will start a dialogue with Islamabad if he gets re-elected. The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was of the same view when he formed an alliance with the BJP in 2015 but Modi "lost a golden opportunity by not making use of it to start a dialogue with Pakistan". "That is what Mufti thought. He knew that a BJP prime minister, who has support of Jan Sangh, the RSS and Shiv Sena, if he wants to make use of the opportunity, then he can talk to Pakistan like (former prime minister Atal Bihari) Vajpayee, she told reporters here. The PDP president was reacting to Khan's remarks that he thinks there may be a better chance of peace talks with India if BJP wins the general election due to begin on Thursday. Now, if Modi gets re-elected, then like Imran Khan, we too hope that he starts a dialogue with Pakistan and Modi makes full use of another opportunity, Mehbooba Mufti said. During an interaction with a small group of foreign journalists in Islamabad, Khan had said he believes there may be a better chance of peace talks with India and settling the Kashmir issue if Modi's party BJP wins the general elections. Khan said other parties would be afraid of right-wing backlash in case of a settlement on the Kashmir issue. By PTI SRINAGAR: Separatists have called for a strike on Thursday to protest against the polling for first phase of Lok Sabha elections in Kashmir and the "NIA aggression" against Hurriyat Conference leaders and their kin. Jammu and Baramulla Lok Sabha constituencies are going to polls in the first phase on Thursday. "The complete shutdown (Hartal) is against the so-called Indian parliamentary elections that are going to start from tomorrow from Baramulla parliamentary constituency, against NIA aggression including shifting of JKLF chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik, rigourous questioning of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and repeated summoning of sons of Syed Ali Shah Geelani to Delhi," the separatists said in a statement on Wednesday. FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE They said the strike is also to protest against the closure of Kashmir's main highway for civilians for two days in a week and recent attack by the police and the security forces on inmates at Central Jail in Srinagar. Appealing to the people to stay away from voting, the separatists said the shutdown will be observed in areas which are going to polls in the valley in subsequent phases of the elections. By PTI NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency Wednesday produced JKLF chief Yasin Malik before a Delhi court in connection with a case related to funding of separatists and terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir. Malik was produced before special judge Rakesh Syal. He was on Tuesday shifted to Delhi's Tihar Jail after the NIA secured his production remand in connection with the terror funding case. Malik, who was arrested last month and shifted to Kot Balwal Jail in Jammu, will be facing questions from the NIA related to funding of his organisation. The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has reserved its judgment on a plea of the CBI for reopening three-decade-old cases in which Malik was an accused. The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief is facing charges of kidnapping and murder for being allegedly involved in abducting Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in 1989 and killing of four Indian Air Force personnel in the early part of 1990. NIA had approached a special court in Jammu, seeking Malik's remand for custodial interrogation in the terror-funding case. The NIA probe seeks to identify the chain of players behind the financing of terrorist activities, pelting of stones on security forces, burning down of schools and damaging of government establishments. The case also names Hafiz Saeed, the Pakistan-based chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawah, the front for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, as an accused. It names organisations such as Hurriyat Conference factions led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Dukhtaran-e-Millat. The JKLF was recently banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. By PTI NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency on Wednesday arrested JKLF chief Yasin Malik in connection with a case related to the funding of terror and separatist groups in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said here. Malik was brought to the national capital Tuesday evening after a special NIA court in Jammu gave the go-ahead for his custodial interrogation by the probe agency, they said. The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief, who was shifted to Tihar jail under police protection, was taken into preventive custody in February by the Jammu and Kashmir police and shifted to Jammu's Kot Balwal jail. Malik, whose organisation JKLF was banned last month by the Centre, is also facing two CBI cases. These relate to the kidnapping of Rubaiya Saeed, daughter of then Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, in 1989, and the killing of four IAF personnel in 1990. The NIA registered a case on May 30, 2017 against separatist and secessionist leaders, including unknown members of the Hurriyat Conference, who have been acting in connivance with active militants of proscribed terrorist organisations Hizbul Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and other outfits and gangs. The case was registered for raising, receiving and collecting funds through various illegal means, including hawala transactions, for funding separatist and terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir and for causing disruption in the Valley by way of pelting stones on the security forces, burning schools, damaging public property and waging war against India, the probe agency said in the FIR. Hafiz Saeed, the Pakistan-based chief of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the front for the banned LeT, has also been named as an accused in the FIR. RTHK: UK parliament debates rule of law in Hong Kong A debate on Hong Kong's rule of law and freedoms was held in the UK parliament on Wednesday, with members of parliament bringing up the recent Occupy trial and the SAR government's proposed changes to extradition legislation. It was called by Alistair Carmichael, a Liberal Democrat lawmaker. Nineteen legislators from six political parties took part. Mark Field, a Foreign Office minister, represented the UK government. Carmichael opened the debate by criticising the trial of the nine leaders of the Umbrella Movement, describing it as the latest in the series of what he called egregious human rights abuses by the government in China. He said the criminal justice system and public order offences were being used in ways contrary to basic - and internationally protected - human rights. In response, Field declined to comment, as sentencing had not yet taken place. But he referred to the Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt's recent statement that Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy was being reduced. He said it would be of concern if the trial discouraged future legitimate protests. Lawmakers from the ruling Conservative Party and the Labour Party also flagged concerns about moves by the SAR government to allow extradition to jurisdictions with which it has no extradition agreement, on a case by case basis. They said this could result in activists and international business people being sent to the mainland for trial. Field said the implications of the move were now being considered, as was its possible impact on UK citizens. He also said there may be implications for the UK's current extradition arrangement with Hong Kong. Helen Goodman, a shadow Asia minister for the opposition Labour Party, said the erosion of the rights and freedoms, guaranteed by the Basic Law, had been taking place since the 2014 Occupy protests. She pointed to the expulsion of UK journalist Victor Mallet, the banning of the pro-independence Hong Kong National Party and the vetting of candidates standing for election. Field said the UK took "One Country, Two Systems" seriously and that this approach was very much in China's interests. When questioned on Hong Kong's legal system, he said the Common Law system was a reliable one for investors, and of use to President Xi Jinping's flagship Belt and Road trade initiative. This story has been published on: 2019-04-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi praised on Tuesday US President Donald Trump's support of Egypt over the past few years, which has resulted in a quantum leap in Egyptian-US relations. El-Sisi's comments came during a press conference that followed a bilateral summit at the White House in Washington. The Egyptian president also said that his country is looking forward to strengthening cooperation with the US in all fields, including economically and militarily. "We have never had a better relationship between Egypt and United States than we do right now," El-Sisi said. President Trump, welcoming El-Sisi to the White House on Tuesday, said that a lot of progress had been made with Egypt in terms of terrorism. Trump, with El-Sisi at his side, also told reporters that they had important things to discuss about military issues and trade. During the summit, Trump also hailed the warm welcome US first Lady Melania Trump received in Egypt during her visit last October. Trump also expressed his admiration for Egypt's ancient heritage. El-Sisi's visit to Washington is his second since he assumed office in 2014. US-Egyptian Relations In early January, the US State Department released a fact sheet on US-Egyptian relations, describing Egypt as one of the United States longest-standing strategic partners in the Middle East. The fact sheet said that the "deep commercial, security, and people-to-people relationships between our two countries are rooted in mutual interest and respect, as well as our shared commitment to combating terrorism and fostering the conditions for prosperity." In the fight against terror, the State Department highlighted that "the US and Egypt share many security interests and enjoy a strong security partnership, which includes cooperation on overflight requests and Suez Canal transit, and an unwavering commitment to the defeat of ISIS (the Islamic State group). Egypt also works to counter the flow of foreign fighters, material, and financial support to terrorists." The fact sheet also praised Egypt's mediating role in the Middle East in cooperation with the US. On promoting joint economic opportunities through a stable and prosperous Egyptian economy, the release affirmed that Egypt has one of the most diversified economies in the Middle East. Search Keywords: Short link: Namita Bajpai By Express News Service LUCKNOW: While BSP chief Mayawatis open appeal to Muslims in Deoband on April 7 stirred the communal cauldron of western UP, the BJP wasted no time in taking it to the next level with CM Yogi Adityanath's Ali-Bajrangbali rhetoric in Meerut. As the celebration of democracy kicks off on Thursday, the scorched earth electoral campaign in battleground UP has turned communal. Though the Election Commission of India (ECI) has taken cognizance of both the statements, seeking reports from the respective district magistrates, political pundits feel that the BSP chief, who is the tallest leader of the mahagathbandhan in UP, has handed a poll plank to the BJP on a platter in an attempt to cut out the Congress from the picture. In the election campaign so far, the BJP had been keeping its narrative focused on development and nationalism but the grand alliances very first rally in Deoband drove the discourse towards the polarisation of voters. It is unpardonable on the part of BSP chief Mayawati and the gathbandhan as a whole. She has not done it for the first time but has been a habitual offender. She had woven her entire campaign around the same Muslim card in the 2017 UP assembly election and faced the consequences, says Prof AK Mishra, senior political scientist, Lucknow University. It doesnt need any deep investigation by the ECI. Instead of condoning such statements, the poll panel should give prompt decisions in such cases, adds Prof Mishra. Possibly to avoid such a scenario tinged with communalism, the alliance had been treading silently for a major part of the campaign for the first phase. The BSP chief kicked up the row by making an open appeal to Muslim voters to support alliance candidate Fazlur Rehman. Muslims should not get confused by the Congress. Its only the SP-BSP-RLD alliance which is fighting the BJP. Muslims should only vote for the alliance to defeat the BJP, she said. The BJP picked up the statement to accuse the BSP chief of the politics of appeasement. In his recent rallies, PM Modi intensified his attack on the alliance. He even called the BSP a sinking ship and appealed to the ECI to ascertain if her desperate appeal to Muslims was communal or not. This is why the alliance had been cautious of an aggressive campaign to avoid any such problem. That was one big reason why both the leaders held their first rally in the region only on April 7, just 48 hours before the campaign would have stopped for phase one. But they failed to avoid it, says a senior SP leader. However, a BSP leader was also ready with an explanation, calling it a well thought out strategy of Behenji. She might have had the sense of its repercussions before saying something of this sort, he adds. However, the demography of western UP also prompts political leaders to resort to such rhetoric. Even during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, western UP, where minorities make up a sizable portion of the electorate, had witnessed polarisation on the issue of the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013. Again, in the 2017 UP assembly polls, the ticket distribution by the BSP favouring a large number of Muslims -- around 97 of 403 -- led Hindus to nurture a grudge against her. Even the SP-Congress alliance was seen as a tie-up of opportunism. This consolidated the Hindu voters in favour of the BJP. Mayawatis appeal might have come due to the high percentage of Muslim voters -- over 20 per cent -- in all eight seats going to vote in the first phase. Even in the second phase, Nagina has more than 41% Muslim voters and Amroha has 35.5%. Similarly, Aligarh and Bulandshahar have around 20% each. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday paid tributes to police and paramilitary personnel killed in the line of duty, including the 40 CRPF men killed in the February 14 Pulwama terror attack, at the National Police Memorial. To mark the annual Valour Day event of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the President on Tuesday also launched CRPF veer pariwar mobile application to help the families of the slain personnel. It was the first time that the President visited the memorial, which was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 21 last year on the occasion of Police Commemoration Day. Kovind, the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, was accorded a national salute and presented a guard of honour by a joint column of troops from all the Central Armed Police Forces, such as the CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF and SSB. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Director of Intelligence Bureau Rajiv Jain, Director of CRPF Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, and other officials of paramilitary and police forces and the Union home ministry attended the event. The countrys largest paramilitary force, CRPF, observes Valour Day on April 9 every year. The day is marked to remember a gallant fightback by CRPF men at the Sardar post in Gujarats Rann of Kutch during the 1965 war. The Pakistan Army made three attempts to overrun the post, but the heavily outnumbered CRPF soldiers thwarted every attempt with courage and strategic intelligence. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: In what could be seen as a huge setback for the present NDA government just ahead of the first phase polling scheduled to take place for the Lok Sabha elections tomorrow, the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected preliminary objections raised by Centre on the admissibility of certain documents produced by review petitioners on Rafale deal. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph said it would now go ahead with the hearing of review petitions in the light of new documents cited by petitioners alleging wrongdoing in the Rafale deal. "We dismiss the preliminary objection raised by Union of India questioning the maintainability of the review petition," the court said. FOLLOW OUR ELECTION COVERAGE HERE Now, the court will fix a date for commencing detailed hearing on the review petitions. The CJI pronounced the verdict on his behalf and for Justice S K Kaul. The second concurrent judgment was pronounced by Justice K M Joseph, who said he agreed with the conclusion of the judgment written by the CJI. The chief justice said Justice Joseph agreed with the judgment delivered by him but gave different reasoning. The apex court said it will go ahead with the hearing on the review petition on the basis of new documents referred by petitioners. ALSO READ | Skeletons of Rafale deal tumbling out, Modi government can't hide behind secrets act: Congress on SC decision The judgment makes it clear that during the hearing of the review petition the bench will look into not only the question of pricing of the jet but also the selection of Indian offset partner of Dassault which manufactures Rafale. This means secret documents published by certain media houses will now be considered as evidence for re-examining December verdict of the apex court. The court, in that verdict, had given a clean chit to the Narendra Modi government over the deal for Rafale fighter jets. During the hearing, Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for Centre had urged the bench to dismiss the clutch of review petitions on the ground that they had placed reliance on privileged documents (covered under the Official Secrets Act) that were leaked from the defence ministry. ALSO READ | Modi government compromised on national security: Yechury on Rafale verdict AG claimed privilege over documents pertaining to the fighter jet deal with France and told the bench that no one can produce them in the court without the permission of the department concerned and referred to section 123 of the Evidence Act. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, one of the petitioners seeking review, opposed the submission and said that the Rafale deal documents, which AG says are privileged, have been published and are already in public domain. He also cited the Pentagon Papers case of US, in which defence documents relating to the Vietnam War were allowed to be published. The US Supreme Court in an emphatic judgment had rejected the government claim of national security, said Bhushan. Former union minister Arun Shourie, who is one of the review petitioners, said he was delighted by the unanimous verdict. "We are delighted it is an unanimous verdict dismissing Central government's peculiar argument on admissibility of documents. Centre's argument meant that no wrong can be done in the defence deal," Shourie said. (With PTI Inputs) By IANS NEW DELHI: Aiming to encourage people ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, photo-messaging app Snapchat on Wednesday announced the launch of tools and polling information for Indian voters. Educating its users about the resources provided by the Election Commission, the company said in a statement: "On April 10, a 'Team Snapchat' Snap will also be sent to remind people to look up when their constituency is voting, and Snapchat will also send a Snap in each individual state that includes a link to polling location information hosted on the Election Commission of India's portal." Snapchat has also designed a range of tools including filters, stickers, Bitmoji, lenses, and Snap Map integrations especially for the polls. "Snapchatters can also use lenses and filters to express themselves on issues around the elections and share them with friends. "Snap Map will offer a new way for its Indian community to check their online voter roll, look up when their State Constituency is voting and encourage them to cast their vote with a ready link to the polling location," the company statement added. The photo-messaging app released its rebuilt app for Android users on Monday, in a bid to bring performance for the Android version up to par with the iOS version. By PTI NAGPUR: Actor Vivek Oberoi, who is playing Narendra Modi in the biopic on the prime minister, cancelled a scheduled press meet here on Wednesday after the Election Commission banned its screening during poll period. The EC's order came a day before the film was to be released. Oberoi was scheduled to speak to media-persons in Maharashtra's Nagpur city in the afternoon, but he cancelled the meet after the EC announced its order. The first phase of Lok Sabha polls starts on Thursday. The EC banned the biopic's screening during poll period, saying a film that subserves purpose of any political entity or individual should not be displayed in the electronic media. The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by a Congress activist seeking stay on the release of the biopic and said the EC would be an "appropriate" place to seek the redressal. The plea sought deferment of the biopic's release till the completion of the Lok Sabha polls, alleging that it was designed to "manipulate, influence and impress viewers and voters. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court is likely to deliver its verdict on Wednesday on whether it would examine documents related to the Rafale deal that the government says were stolen from the Ministry of Defence and should not be presented in court. The order will come on a batch of pleas which want the court to review its judgement in the wake of new evidence coming to light. During the hearing, Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, has urged the bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi to dismiss the petitions on the ground that they relied on documents covered under the Official Secrets Act. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, one of the petitioners, opposed the AGs submission, saying that the documents were already in the public domain. "Only after we decide the preliminary objection raised by the Centre, we will go into other aspect of the review petitions," the bench said, adding that "only if we overrule the preliminary objection, we will go into other details". The Centre had claimed privilege over documents pertaining to the Rafale fighter jet deal with France and said those documents cannot be considered in evidence as per Section 123 of the Indian Evidence Act. Venugopal also contended that no one can produce them in the court without the permission of the department concerned as those documents are also protected under the Official Secrets Act and their disclosure is exempted under the Right to Information Act as per Section 8(1)(a). Bhushan had contended that the Centre's objections were "mala fide and totally untenable arguments". The top court had further noted that according to the AG's submissions "there are three Rafale documents whose publication comes under Official Secrets Act, 1923. These documents were unauthorisedly published. You claim privilege under section 123 of Evidence Act. You want us to adjudicate and strike down the review on this basis". Bhushan had submitted a note countering the preliminary objections raised by the centre on maintainability of the review petitions, stating that "preliminary objection are mala fide and totally untenable arguments". He had said government cannot claim privilege over the documents which are already published and is in public domain. Bhushan had said that Section 123 Indian Evidence Act only protected "unpublished documents". While the Centre was making submission that the documents can be withheld from disclosure under the RTI Act in view of the national security, the top court said Section 22 of the RTI Act gave it an overriding effect over the Official Secrets Act. It also said that under Section 24 of the RTI Act even security and intelligence establishments are not exempted from disclosing information in relation to corruption and human rights violations. "The RTI Act brought a revolution. In 2009, your own government said file notings can be made available under the RTI. Let us not go back now," the bench has said. Bhushan further said that provisions of the RTI Act say public interest outweighs other things and no privilege can be claimed except for documents which pertain to intelligence agencies. He also said that there is no government-to-government contract in purchasing Rafale jets as there is no sovereign guarantee extended to India by France in the Rs 58,000 crore deal. He had submitted why the government didn't lodge any FIR when these documents started coming out in November 2018. He had further said that the government has itself filed a detailed CAG report regarding as many as 10 defence purchases and it is untenable on their part to now claim the privilege. (With PTI Inputs) By PTI MUMBAI: The BJP was left red-faced Wednesday after its workers clashed in the presence of Maharashtra minister Girish Mahajan at a public rally in Jalgaon, where the party has changed its candidate for the Lok Sabha seat. The rally was held for BJP candidate Unmesh Patil, who is contesting from Jalgaon constituency in north Maharashtra. The BJP had earlier announced the candidature of Smita Wagh from the seat, but the party later changed the candidate and Patil was fielded in her place. Besides Mahajan, several BJP leaders, including Smita Wagh, her husband and party's district unit chief Uday Wagh, B S Patil were present on the stage. FOLLOW OUR ELECTION COVERAGE HERE There are reports that former MLA B S Patil and sitting MP A T Patil had jointly campaigned against Wagh and ensured that she would not get the ticket for Lok Sabha. Uday Wagh and his supporters Wednesday lost their cool and charged at B S Patil. Mahajan, who was present there, had to intervene. Last month, two elected representatives of the ruling BJP came to blows during a district planning committee meeting in Uttar Pradesh, which was caught on cameras, leaving the party red-faced. The opposition had mocked the party as video clips of the fracas in which an MP thrashed an MLA with a shoe went viral. K Jayakumar By As the country heads towards Lok Sabha elections, unemployment, inadequate job creation and development without employment are the concerns uppermost in public consciousness. The ruling party invariably has to encounter this question: Where are the jobs? It is true that every government promises to tackle unemployment. It promptly announces policies and programmes to fulfil the promise of creating more jobs. But at the end of its tenure, every government inevitably confronts the truth that a wide canyon separates its promise and performance, particularly in the job front. This predicament cuts across parties and economic policies. And this script is repeated Creating jobs is indeed a daunting task. Macroeconomic policies meant to spur investment, facilitate flow of capital and augment the ease of doing business are all fine. Increase in government spending on public infrastructure projects too has an impact on job creation. But the major hazard is the inadequate realisation of the micro-realities on which well-intentioned policies have been repeatedly tripping. Conceived and launched at the national level with unfailing fanfare, many flounder at the cutting edge. What is conveniently ignored or inadequately factored in is the heterogeneity of states and their official machinery that have to implement them. It needs to be recognised that political differences between the state and Centre play a crucial role in the pace and effectiveness of the implementation of the latters schemes. The political impulse is to hail the schemes if the state is ruled by the same party or an ally of the party at the Centre and to dismiss them as impractical if the state is ruled by an opposing party. Who takes the credit is the primary consideration, not making sure the people get maximum benefit from these schemes. Unless this dangerous game is abandoned, any lofty promise will remain a mirage. Though it applies to all development initiatives, it hurts more when it comes to job-creating policies as their dynamics are more complex than other welfare schemes. Creating jobs in primary, secondary and tertiary sectors is a difficult mission. Every sector has its set of constraints that vary from region to region. Agricultural distress in Vidarbha is different from that in Keralas Kuttanad. To create more jobs in the farm sector, the government would announce policies that make agricultural loans from banks easier. Interest subsidies and the focus on priority sector lending have not made much of a dent into the stranglehold of money lenders in rural areas and the consequential debt trap of farmers. For the past several years the growth of industrial sector, particularly small and medium industries, has not been encouraging. The availability of credit remains an insurmountable problem for an aspiring entrepreneur. With stressed assets accumulating, banks are overcautious in lending. The same resistance is more acutely felt by those in the service sector. It is not denied that there are policy frameworks in place. Yet, when it comes to the everyday reality of a farmer or an entrepreneur, not much has changed. There is no ferment of helpfulness and facilitation in the air. Attitudes and practices have not changed. Apathy has not been replaced with a spirit of service and handholding. Rampant corruption and its merciless tentacles have only grown threateningly. India might now rank higher on the global index of the ease of doing business. True, for the influential investor, things might have become easier. But an unemployed and aspiring young person trying to open a new industrial unit cannot trust the promises on the attractive promotional brochures of government departments. He has to necessarily dole out substantial money for the statutory clearances from government departments, local bodies and other agencies. Institutionalised extortion from the local goons are a reality to reckon with, which few have the resilience to face. As long as procedures in thousands of government offices spread across India continue to function in the myopic and merciless style as they do today, creative ferment in the agricultural or industrial or service sectors will only evaporate sooner than later. On the one hand, with corporate cartels calling the shots in several areas of government policies, the small enterprises face an unequal marketplace where their survival and success depend on factors on which even governments have little control. In such a perilous milieu, how do the farmer and the local entrepreneur survive an extortionist and indifferent bureaucracy and the play-it-safe approach of the banks? Curiously no party seems to be concerned about these sordid micro-realities. Macro policies are not the direct cause of farmer distress but the local realities are. Regardless of political differences, there has to be a national consensus. If this cannot be accomplished we will continue to wallow in hollow promises. A necessary prerequisite to accomplish this and create employment in the various sectors is to have a truly federal polity that believes in cooperation, not combat. Once elected, governments have indeed an unwritten covenant to fulfil. Defiling governance with party politics has repeatedly retarded our progress. Ignoring unacceptable administrative and behavioural distortions at the state and district levels will only create the sickening loop of promises and frustrations. As Scott Peck wrote in his influential book of yesteryears, The Road Less Travelled, life is difficult and the moment one realises this, life becomes less difficult. This is equally true of the challenge of creating jobs. S Sanjay Kumar By Express News Service ELURU: With Jana Sena supremo Pawan Kalyan contesting from Bhimavaram, the focus of the entire State is on this coastal constituency, popularly called the aquaculture capital of the country. Initially, it was assumed that the contest here would be primarily between the TDP and the YSRC, but with Pawan Kalyan in the poll fray, it has now become a triangular contest. The caste factor is significant in the segment where Kapus, Kshatriyas, BCs and SCs form the general populace. The candidate, who can secure most votes from these communities, is likely to emerge the victor. Bhimavaram has around 65,000 Kapu, 40,000 BC, 32,000 SC and 35,000 Kshatriya voters. In 2014, the incumbent MLA Pulaparthi Anjaneyulu, aka Anjibabu, capitalised on this and involved electors from all the mentioned communities in his strategy to contest for the seat, winning it by a margin of 13,000 votes. Meanwhile, the YSRCs Grandhi Srinivas, after losing the election, has strengthened his cadre. His popularity among the masses also increased and, at one point, it was said he would win even if he contested as an Independent candidate. With the electorate complaining of problems regarding garbage disposal, drainage and traffic snarls, the antiincumbency factor may play spoilsport for Anjibabu. The contest in Bhimavaram has taken an interesting turn as the voters, who were assumed to support Grandhi Srinivas, got split on caste lines after Pawan Kalyans entry. Some electors belonging to the Kapu community are likely to cast their vote in favour of the Jana Sena chief. While Kshatriyas and majority of BCs are favouring a particular party, SC voters seem to be indecisive, making the election anybodys guess. With the D-Day just a day away, numerous reports state that cash and liquor are being distributed to influence voters. G S Vasu By Express News Service The ever-flowing River Godavari seems to be changing its course. With just two days to go for simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the Assembly in the divided State of Andhra Pradesh, the shift in the course of the river has caused a breach in the fort of the Telugu Desam presided over by three-time Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu. This has given more than just hope to YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, waiting to occupy the throne for 10 years since the death of his father, YS Rajasekhara Reddy, in 2009. Whether the river swells further and gives him a landslide in terms of votes is still doubtful but he seems to be on the cusp of his best ever chance to form the government in Andhra Pradesh. This is the picture that emerged after a TNIE team criss-crossed the twin Godavari districts (East and West), separated by the river which enters AP from Telangana after the temple town of Bhadrachalam. For the uninitiated, the two districts, known as the Paddy bowl, are also the most economically-rich in the entire country, and long considered an indicator for any election outcome in Andhra Pradesh. Back in 2014, when polls took place soon after the division of AP, Jagan believed it was merely a question of going through the formalities before taking an oath. He was high on morale and funds. Naidu was despondent and financially not so sound. Yet, doubts in the minds of the people about the future of the state if it was placed in the hands of a young politician like Jagan, Naidu getting the support of BJP and the strong network of TDP helped turn the tide. The margin was less (just five lakh votes separated the two parties overall though in terms of seats it has yielded 40 more for the TDP-BJP combine). Five years down the line, both leaders are on an even keel in terms of morale and funds while Jagan has also managed to put in place a fairly strong network. Both sides are aggressive in using/misusing social media, making it a no-holds-barred fight in every respect in a state that has 25 LS and 175 Assembly constituencies. Days before the 2014 elections, as we toured the State, the refrain was that AP required a seasoned administrator like Naidu as it needs to rebuild itself following the division. This time, the common refrain is why not give the boy (Jagan) a chance at least once. You get to hear it from a 25-year-old Nagender, who runs a small restaurant on the outskirts of Rajahmundry or Ratnam, a member of the self-help group and therefore, a beneficiary of the Rs 10,000 that was paid in three installments to an estimated 98 lakh such women -- the last cheque credited on Monday, close to the D-day on April 11. ALSO READ | Total recall: Twists and turns in the electrifying campaign In doing so, the Chief Minister sought to replicate what his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhara Rao, whom Naidu revels in calling his junior, did. But, Rao started paying the assistance months before the elections while Naidu did it close to the polling day. It may still work for Naidu but whether it will pay him the same kind of dividend that Rao got is unsure as Kumar, a teacher in a government school says. Despite all that he did, change is needed. Thanks to the months-long padayatra, Jagan has managed to overcome the image he had in 2014 of a brat politician who represents only certain sections of the society, not to speak of the criminal/corruption cases he is saddled with. On the contrary, unlike his earlier terms as Chief Minister of the undivided Andhra Pradesh when he was perceived as strong and efficient, Naidu is confronted with heavy anti-incumbency against his legislators many of whom acquired the reputation of looters. Examples of MLAs seeking commissions for every request from even ordinary citizens including assistance from the CMs Relief Fund for medical treatments are galore. In West Godavari, people openly talk of ministers and MLAs giving away permits for sand mining, otherwise free, for Rs 1,000 per lorry. Unless one carries the slip, bearing the lorry number, duly signed by a ruling party leader, police wouldnt allow the vehicle anywhere near the mining zones. In respect of welfare schemes, the power to decide the beneficiaries was granted to what were called Janmabhoomi committees comprising TDP functionaries with the official machinery having no say in the matter. That they were ultimately disbanded following an uproar tells the story. It is not as if Naidu is unaware of the ground realities. Remember me when you cast the vote. If my legislators committed mistakes, I shall punish them, he told a gathering at a public meeting the other day. Ramesh, an auto-driver in Kakinada port town, is still caustic though. Naidu may have given a huge ice block in Secretariat. But, by the time it reaches people like us, it is reduced to a few drops of water. On the busy Palakole-Bhimavaram road, flush with plantations on either side, Venkateswara Rao, part of a 10-member team hired to peel coconuts before they are transported to wholesale markets across the State and Hyderabad, comes out as a better analyst than the ones on TV channels. According to him, as the crop loan waiver up to Rs 1.5 lakh was done in four installments instead of at one go, the amount remitted by the government mostly covered the accumulated interest while the principal had to be still paid by the farmers. The manager of a leading bank in Tadepalligudem confirms it. Of the 650 crop loan accounts he has, 100 turned bad while in the case of others, the ryots themselves paid up the principal over and above the assistance received from the government. A fair assessment would be that Naidu, a strategist and an astute politician with loads of experience, has managed to stay in contention despite the negatives that people talk about. He has successfully laid the blame for the lack of accelerated progress at the doorstep of the BJP, tried to whip up emotion by accusing that his bete noir, KCR, and Jagan have joined hands and finally, allegedly played a role in persuading film star Pawan Kalyan, younger sibling of Chiranjeevi, to enter the fray to bring about a split in Opposition vote. Before Pawan got into the political act, many believed it would be an easy victory for Jagan. Once it happened, the contest turned almost equal between Naidu and Jagan with Jana Sena expected to take away a chunk of votes. But as polls draw close, Pawan appears to have lost the momentum, which is again tilting the balance in favour of YSRs son. A comparable election would be 2009 when the Congress-led by YSR, Naidu and Chiranjeevi were in the fray. The film star polled as much as 18% votes though he won just 18 seats but considerably damaged the Telugu Desam. FOLLOW OUR ELECTION COVERAGE HERE Chiranjeevi won the maximum seats in Godavari districts and his party was either in the first or second spot in almost all segments, pushing the TDP to the third spot. Pawan doesnt appear to have succeeded in building it up the same way. Most predictions give him a single digit in terms of voting percentage and a best case scenario of 3-4 seats with Pawan himself staring at defeat in Bhimavaram in West Godavari. What helped YSR retain power in 2009 by a wafer-thin margin was the fact that a good 60 percentage of Kapus, the community that Chiranjeevi represents, voted for the star thus preventing this from going to the Telugu Desam. Volatile and with swerving loyalties, Kapus are unlikely to back Pawan the same way, thus minimizing the damage to Jagan, the community having moved away from TDP since 2014 when it backed Naidu. It is still a close call in terms of percentage of votes. Despite the mood to offer Jagan a chance, a majority of women, who are members of self-help groups, as also pensioners, are keeping cards close to their chest a dent here by Jagan could clinch the deal for him. The poor have been more loyal to Jagan even in the past but this time, he seems to have mobilized greater support among lower/upper middle classes, compared to 2014. Then, Jagan drew a blank in the 15 seats in West Godavari and managed just five out of 19 in East Godavari. If the river changes track, Jagan shall still romp home, assuming the rest of the state favours TDP and YSR Congress the same way as in 2014. Irrespective of who wins, it is no political play with people playing a meaningful role. Politics in Andhra has been well and truly corporatized. Over the last two days, every voter has been given Rs 1,000 by each of the two main parties with the cost going up to Rs 1,500-2000 per voter in some constituencies. Overall, an estimated Rs 10,000 crore is the lure money. That gives us a sense of what is at stake. Al-Sisis meeting with Trump in the Oval Office was held against a backdrop of regional uncertainty An eventful Tuesday saw Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu holding his breath awaiting the election results that will decide his future. In Algeria demonstrations were about to enter a sixth week as protesters refused the assumption of power by head of the National Assembly in the wake of last weeks resignation of Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika. In Sudan, Tuesday saw the continuation of massive protests despite the attempt of security forces to quell them. The demonstrators, who have been taking to the streets since 19 December, appear as determined as ever to force out Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir. In Libya there was no sign that conflicting parties were ready to lay down their arms in response to appeals from the UN Security Council, the UN secretary-general, his envoy to Libya or international and regional capitals. On Tuesday the frustrated UN Envoy Ghassan Salame said that he was postponing indefinitely the national dialogue that was supposed to pave the way to legislative and presidential elections by the end of the year. On the same day Egypt witnessed a suicide attack in Sinai when a 15-year-old boy blew himself up, killing seven and injuring 26. A plethora of extremely worrying items competing on the agenda of talks President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi was scheduled to hold with US President Donald Trump in a meeting that started late Tuesday afternoon Middle East Time in the Oval Office: hardly a surprise, then, that the talks should focus more on regional issues than bilateral relations, as an American source told Al-Ahram Weekly. Bilateral relations are quite satisfactory, said the source, though Al-Sisi and Trump were due to review the military and economic cooperation requests that Egypt made during US Secretary of State Mike Pompeos visit to Cairo last year. In brief statements to the press ahead of the meeting in the White House, President Al-Sisi expressed appreciation for the support Trump has been giving to Egypt. Bilateral relations, he added, were better than they have been for years. Trump also praised the strength of bilateral ties, saying Egypt and the US would continue to cooperate in the face of terrorism. Under the rubric of the war on terrorism, Al-Sisi and Trump were set to review the latest developments in Syria and Iraq where, according to a recent Trump tweet, the Islamic State (IS) had been eliminated. We think that the presence of IS and other terrorist groups has indeed been significantly reduced in Syria and Iraq but we have enough evidence to think that the battle against IS and other terrorists is not over and certainly not for us in Sinai, said an Egyptian official. He added that Al-Sisi was expected to share his assessment on the issue in his Washington talks. According to the same official source, Egypts president also voiced concern over the infiltration into Libya and Sudan by IS militants and other radical groups. We are particularly worried about these two neighbouring countries. We have long common borders and want to ensure the militants do not end up trying to find their way to Egypt. We cannot afford a leadership emerging in Libya or Sudan that tolerates, or even worse condones, militant Islamic activity. This is why we support the campaign against militant groups in western and southern Libya being conducted by [Khalifa] Haftar, and why we are keeping a close eye on any possible transition of power in Sudan, says the source. Haftar began his military advance into western Libya earlier this week. The UN and the EU have both expressed concern over the consequences of the move, not least its impact on the already slim chances of securing a political settlement in conflict-ridden Libya. The US has called on Haftar to end his campaign in the west of the country which is largely under the control of the internationally acknowledged coalition government. In an official statement Egypt, too, has called for an end to hostilities in Libya, though it also stressed the need to eliminate terrorist groups in the country. According to the American source, Cairo and Washington do not see eye-to-eye on the management of the situation in Libya. While Egypt has continued to throw its weight behind Haftar the US worries about his ability to exercise real control on the ground and is concerned about his close association with Russia. During a UN Security Council discussion on Libya this week, Russia blocked a motion calling on Haftar to pull his troops back to east Libya. Russia was also expected to feature in the Sisi-Trump talks in terms of the military, and possible nuclear, cooperation between Cairo and Moscow. The American source did not expect any of the disagreements the two countries have to outweigh the levels of cooperation and agreement between Trump and Al-Sisi, especially on the need to suppress political Islam and promote a Palestinian-Israeli final settlement. Before meeting with Trump in Washington on Tuesday Al-Sisi had already spoken with Trumps aide on the Palestinian-Israeli file, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and with Pompeo. Following the meeting, Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi reported that Al-Sisi had said Egypt will continue to support all serious efforts to find a fair and comprehensive settlement for the Palestinian cause on the basis of international legitimacy and the two-state solution. Egyptian and American sources agreed Al-Sisi and Trump will have reviewed developments in Egypt, including proposed changes to the NGOs law, the upcoming referendum on constitutional amendments, and continuing economic reforms, and no one predicted major disagreements. Trump, said an American source, might share a few remarks on the situation of civil society and human rights in Egypt, if only to appease to Congress and pressure groups in Washington. Al-Sisi arrived in Washington from Guinea, where he arrived on Sunday on the first leg of an African tour that will resume following his visit to the US. His remaining two stops are Senegal and Cote dIvoire. Egypt is the current chair of the African Union (AU), and according to an Egyptian diplomat, Al-Sisi is consulting with African leaders on ways to make the AU more attuned to serving the interests of the peoples of the continent and promoting development and stability. *A version of this article appears in print in the 7 April, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: A momentous Tuesday Search Keywords: Short link: By Express News Service BALLARI: I-T sleuths who arrived from Bengaluru raided a prestigious hotel in the city where the BJP candidate's supporters were staying. The raid which began late at night, went on till the early hours of Wednesday. According to party sources, the officials searched all rooms of the BJP supporters on suspicions of storage of illegal cash meant for distributing among the voters. The six members team of officials did not allow any person inside until their search operation was over. The IT sleuths also raided the house of former MLA and Congress leader Anil Lad. Lad who spoke to the reporters in the morning confirmed that his house was also raided. He said that he had just arrived from Bengaluru for the party workers meeting and that the IT officials landed at his place and said that they have information of money being kept there and gave him a notice. "They were a team of ten persons and comprised of both local IT officials as well as those who had arrived from Bengaluru," he said. He blamed his opponents of furnishing false information about him. By Express News Service MYSURU/CHITRADURGA: Flying a sortie into Mysuru on Tuesday for a surgical strike of his own, Prime Minister Narendra Modi rained down some rockets at the Congress-JDS alliance, exactly at a flank it has left exposed, where its troops are in some disarray. Hitting at the core of the rebellion in the Congress, Modi used his rally to cast doubt on the very viability of the alliance, while praising independent candidate Sumalatha. FOLLOW OUR ELECTION COVERAGE HERE With just 10 days to go to the polls, the coalition partners in Karnataka are yet to strike a balance and present a picture of unity. And the mutually competitive politics of southern Karnataka is where this is at its starkest. Modi used this angle to take on Congress president Rahul Gandhi. He wanted to know why Rahul didnt choose Karnataka to contest from, and gave the answer himself. He was trying, was looking for a safe seat in Karnataka, but he was aware of the public mood and also had doubts about JDS, Modi said. Addressing a gathering of party workers at Maharajas College ground in Mysuru, Modi said, Their argument is such that it cannot be believed. They talk about fighting from the South. If they wanted to do that, in Karnataka their own government is there, they could have fought from here from Mysuru, Chamarajanagar or any other place, he said. He said there was a thinking that since Deve Gowda was backstabbed and removed as Prime Minister in 1996 by Madam Soniaji, Deve Gowda may take revenge through Madam Soniajis son. And Rahul eventually decided to take the plunge from Gods own country. Charming party workers with his opening line in Kannada, Nimma Chowkidar Narendra Modiya namaskaragalu, Modi played to the gallery. He made a special mention of independent candidate Sumalatha. Both Sumalatha and her husband Ambareesh have contributed to the language and culture of the state. We should strengthen Sumalatha. By Express News Service BENGALURU: Forget India Shining. On Tuesday Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy revealed the secret behind Modi shining (literally). Modi glows because he applies wax and makeup before going in front of the cameras, the CM told the media. On Monday, while campaigning for Bangalore North candidate Krishna Byre Gowda, the CM first spoke on this. Putting forth his theory on why the cameras and the media loved the PM, Kumaraswamy said, Before coming in front of people and camera in the morning, Modi does makeup and waxing to get a glow on his face. But in our case, we just shower and leave. The next morning we either shower or just wash our faces. So, our faces dont look good on cameras. FOLLOW OUR ELECTION COVERAGE HERE Modi looks so good and radiant that BJP appeals to its voters to look at Modi and vote, he said. Kumaraswamys cosmetic statement had the twitterati in splits. Some credited Modis good looks to Taiwanese Mushroom which costs Rs 80,000 per piece! By Express News Service BENGALURU: Actor-turned-politician Sumalatha Ambareesh, who is fighting a high-voltage electoral battle at Mandya, received a shot in the arm with Prime Minister Narendra Modi making a special mention of the actor and her late husband Ambareesh. Sumalatha is pitted against another political greenhorn Nikhil Kumar, son of Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, contesting as JD(S) and Congress nominee. Modi, who was addressing a convention of party workers from Mysuru-Kodagu and Chamarajanagar Lok Sabha constituencies, made a special mention of Sumalatha. Before summing up his 35-minute long address, Modi said, The works undertaken by Ambareesh is in the minds of people. Both Sumalatha and her husband Ambareesh have contributed to the language and culture of the state. We should strengthen Sumalatha. FOLLOW OUR ELECTION COVERAGE HERE BJP has already given support to Sumalatha by not fielding its candidate in Mandya constituency. However, the actor is maintaining equal distance from the saffron party with her arch-rivals allegedly spreading rumours to nix her chances by saying, If voted to parliament, she may join the saffron party. However, she has refuted the same as rumours. By Express News Service KOCHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday received two-day custody of a suspected Islamic State (IS) sympathiser and member of its Bahrain module who was recently brought from Qatar. The NIA Court in Kochi, after hearing the custody application filed by the national agency, granted custody of Shaibu Nihar, 39, of Koduvally, till Friday evening. Shaibu was arrested by NIA from Kozhikode airport while he was traced with the assistance of Interpol and forced to return to India on Tuesday. The NIA submitted before the court that Shaibu is a key member of the group which was associated with the IS. NIA alleged the accused instigated others to join IS and attempted to reach Syria. He was not cooperating with the investigation. ALSO READ| NIA arrests separatist leader Yasin Malik in terror funding case Though NIA requested the court to permit five days custody of Shaibu, only two-day custody was granted. He was the first accused in the case registered at Wandoor police station in November 2017 which was later taken over by NIA. The case was registered following the disclosure by Hamsa UK, an accused in another IS case. District Collectors told to ensure constant supply of water THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Secretary Tom Jose has instructed the district collectors to ensure water supply across the state. A team, including officers from Water Authority and Irrigation Department, will be formed by district collectors to ensure this. As many as 306 local self government bodies across the state are supplying water using tankers so far. Only 20 among them have asked for fund from the district administration sighting the lack of Plan Fund. The Chief Secretary also instructed the district administration to take immediate steps to review these and give necessary aid. By Express News Service KOZHIKODE: In a bid to rejuvenate the NDAs campaign in Malabar region, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a Vijay Sankalp rally here on Friday (April 12) in which party workers and supporters from Kozhikode, Malappuram and Vadakara constituencies are expected to attend in large numbers. The Prime Minister will land at Karipur airport at 5 pm and head to Kozhikode beach where he will address the rally at around 6 pm, BJP national executive member PK Krishnadas told reporters here. He added that BJP president Amit Shah will be visiting Wayanad to address a campaign rally in the constituency. The exact date of his visit will soon be finalised, he added. FOLLOW OUR ELECTION COVERAGE HERE In an indirect reference to IUML which is part of the UDF, Krishnadas said Rahul Gandhi was contesting from Wayanad as the joint candidate of the alliance which was responsible for the creation of Pakistan. This will sow the poisonous seeds of partition in the minds of Keralites. We fear this will lead to another partition of the country, Krishnadas said. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: The high-decibel campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, during which allegations flew thick and fast between three major political parties, ended on Tuesday. Polling will take place on Thursday, and the results will be out on May 23. Though widely considered as a one-sided poll in favour of the TRS, on the lines of the Assembly elections in December, the Congress gave the ruling party the creeps in some constituencies. The BJP, on the other hand, put in all its efforts to win at least a couple of seats. While the Congress banked on the NYAY scheme, the BJP played the Modi - one more time card. The TRS, meanwhile, claimed a consortium of regional parties would come to power, and it would play a crucial role if it won 16 Lok Sabha seats. FOLLOW OUR ELECTION COVERAGE HERE For the TRS, Chief Minister and party chief K Chandrasekhar Rao and party working president KT Rama Rao were the only star campaigners. KCR addressed poll meetings in all LS segments, but could not address any in Secunderabad. Though 20 star-campaigners were notified, besides KCR and KTR, all remained confined to their constituencies. The TRS was hopeful of getting more funds and projects if its chief became the prime minister, but KCR clarified he had no such desire. The Congress, too, put up a brave front and worked hard to win a good number of seats, after its debacle in the Assembly polls. But the defection of as many as 10 MLAs to the TRS dampened spirits in the Congress. The other problem it faced was that apart from party chief Rahul Gandhi, who made a couple of visits, there were no star campaigners. The Congress candidates in Mahabubabad and Warangal P Balaram Naik and D Sambaiah expressed this openly. As for the BJP, party chief Amit Shah cancelled his election meetings in Karimnagar and Warangal due to an emergency meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi a couple of days ago. This left party candidates disappointed. By PTI ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Premier Imran Khan has said he believes there may be a better chance of peace talks with India and settle the Kashmir issue if Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party BJP wins the general elections. India will go to elections in seven phases beginning from Thursday. "Perhaps if the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached," Khan told a small group of foreign journalists in an interview. He said other parties would be afraid of the right-wing backlash in case of settlement on the Kashmir issue. Khan said Kashmir was the central issue between the two countries. ALSO READ | Imran Khan fears 'another incident' before Indian elections India maintains that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the country and Pakistan is in illegal occupation of a part of the state's territory. Tensions flared up between India and Pakistan after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) killed 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14. Amid mounting outrage, the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in aerial combat and captured an IAF pilot, who was handed over to India on March 1. Khan has said that Pakistan was taking action against all militants groups including the JeM. Khan said that groups like the JeM were being disarmed under a serious drive to eliminate militancy from Pakistan. "We have taken the religious schools of these groups under state control. It is first serious effort to disarm the militant outfits", he said. Khan said action was taken because it was important for the future of Pakistan. He also rejected the impression that Pakistan was compelled by the world to take such an action. By PTI LONDON: Theresa May on Wednesday described the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar as a "shameful scar" on British Indian history but stopped short of a formal apology sought by a cross-section of Parliament in previous debates. In a statement, marking the 100th anniversary of the massacre, at the start of her weekly Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, she reiterated the "regret" already expressed by the British Government. The massacre took place in Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on Baisakhi in April 1919 when the British Indian Army troops, under the command of Colonel Reginald Dyer, fired machine guns at a crowd of people holding a pro-independence demonstration. READ HERE | Punjab government to build Jallianwala Bagh massacre memorial with soil from 13000 villages According to the British government records, 379 people, including men, women and children were killed and around 1200 injured in the firing. "The tragedy of Jallianwala Bagh of 1919 is a shameful scar on British Indian history. As Her Majesty the Queen (Elizabeth II) said before visiting Jallianwala Bagh in 1997, it is a distressing example of our past history with India," she said in her statement. "We deeply regret what happened and the suffering caused. I am pleased that today the UK-India relationship is one of collaboration, partnership, prosperity and security. Indian diaspora make an enormous contribution to British society and I am sure the whole House wishes to see the UK's relationship with India continue to flourish," she said. In response, Opposition Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn demanded that those who lost their lives in the massacre deserve a "full, clear and unequivocal apology for what took place". May's statement comes a day after British MPs at Westminster Hall of the Parliament complex debated the issue of a formal apology for the April 13, 1919 massacre to mark its centenary this Saturday. Foreign Office Minister Mark Field had told MPs that he had been "compelled" by the arguments to raise the issue of going further than the "deepest regret" expressed over the killings during the British Raj. "I feel that we perhaps need to go further. I have now been persuaded - not just by this debate - to take a different approach," the minister said, adding that the government had to also consider the "financial implications" of any apology for events of the past. "These issues are an important way of trying to draw a line under the past. Therefore, this is work in progress and I cannot make any promises," he said, holding out some hope of a formal apology over the incident. The debate was tabled by Conservative Party MP Bob Blackman, who opened proceedings with a strong sentiment of "shame" as he called on the British government to apologise. "General Dyer was vigorously defended by - I say this with shame - the Conservative party, as well as most of the military establishment. He evaded any penalties post inquiry, as his military superiors advised that they could find no fault with his actions, his orders, or his conduct otherwise," Blackman said, in reference to the British general who had ordered the shooting at a Baisakhi gathering in Amritsar 100 years ago. "As we approach the 100th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar on 13 April 1919, it is clear that there needs to be a formal apology from the United Kingdom government that accepts and acknowledges their part in the massacre," said Indian-origin Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill. "This is the right time for the (British) Prime Minister to publicly apologise," added fellow Labour MP Virendra Sharma. In wrapping up the outcomes of the debate, Blackman concluded that children in British schools should be taught about the tragedy because people should know what happened in Britain's name and that "saying sorry - apologising for this massacre - is the right thing to do". The pressure on the Cabinet minister mounted further on Wednesday as he received a letter signed by 80 MPs stressing that he must consider their call for an "apology anew". "Relations between the UK and India today are friendly and constructive. Yet that does not mean an apology would not be good," notes the letter, initiated by Labour MP Pat McFadden. By PTI WASHINGTON: Many observers see the 2019 election as an inflection point in Indian history, according to a latest US Congressional report which said that a repeat performance by the ruling BJP in the polls could herald a new era of single-party dominance. In the report prepared primarily for US lawmakers, the independent Congressional Research Service (CRS) on the ongoing elections said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "has become the primary, if not sole target of the opposition", but no individual challenger has emerged. The CRS reports warns that a continuation of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led administration could entail an "unwelcome continuation of its perceived illiberal policies". "A repeat performance could thus herald a new era of single-party dominance. Perhaps more crucially, the election pits an unabashedly Hindu nationalist prime minister and ruling party against an array of more secular-minded parties, some focused on the interests of India's large lower-caste and Muslim minorities," said the CRS report. FOLLOW OUR ELECTION COVERAGE HERE The CRS is the bipartisan and independent research wing of the US Congress which prepares reports on various domestic and global issues for the lawmakers for information purposes only. The reports, prepared by subject experts, are not considered an official view of the US Congress. While Congress president chief Rahul Gandhi, "the inheritor of a family dynasty that includes three past prime ministers", has the highest profile among potential leaders of an opposition coalition, the CRS report says the opposition's zeal to oust the NDA has led to some unusual alliances "In January, the leaders of two powerful Uttar Pradesh-based parties agreed to set aside their bitter rivalry to cooperate in defeating the BJP. Other influential regional parties are maneuvering toward a potential opposition grand alliance," said the report dated March 28. Prime Minister Modi and his BJP aspire to win another five-year term with a ruling majority. The Congress party 'historically dominant, but badly defeated in 2014' seeks to build on recent state-level wins and potentially ally with powerful regional opposition parties to dislodge the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in New Delhi, according to the report accessed by PTI. "Many observers see the upcoming election as an inflection point in Indian history. BJP's 2014 win, with 52 per cent of Lok Sabha seats, marked an end to 30 years of coalition politics at the national level," it said. "Coalition governments are sometimes faulted for instability, but they may also compel leaders to negotiate and take account of a wider variety of perspectives, while secure majority governments can lead to complacency and arrogance," the CRS said. ALSO READ | Anti-Modi and pro-Modi bots driving Twitter traffic, finds study Noting that secularism has been a more-or-less enshrined value in India, although its conception in both theory and practice varies widely, the Congressional report says Indian voters may face a landmark choice between two overarching identities for their country -- one, a pluralist, secular polity where religious minorities enjoy full equality; the other, a nation in which roughly 250 million non-Hindu citizens must accept Hindu majoritarianism, with potentially dire consequences for India's civil liberties. Authored by CRS's South Asia Specialist K Alan Kronstadt, the report observes that given weak economic performance, the BJP-led government arguably is seeking to generate voter enthusiasm through Hindu identity. The February Pulwama terrorist attack and Balakot air strikes by India is likely to benefit the ruling party, the report said. "The February 2019 bombing in Kashmir, blamed on a Pakistan-based terrorist group, and an unprecedented retaliatory airstrike on Pakistani territory, pushed foreign affairs into the headlines and triggered a sharp spike of Indian nationalism that is widely expected to benefit the incumbent BJP," it said. As far as India-US relationship is concerned, it is unlikely to have any impact irrespective of any government that comes to power after the May general elections, it said. The trend toward closer bilateral ties most likely will continue regardless of a leadership change in New Delhi, it said. "Many analysts contend that Modi and the BJP have been and would continue to be more open to aligning with US regional strategy - perhaps especially that seeking to balance against growing Chinese influence - and more energetic in pursuing economic reforms than would be any likely alternative Indian leadership," it said. International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde says Egypts economy has continued to show strong growth, with unemployment falling to its lowest levels since the 2011 popular revolution. The remarks came following Lagardes meeting with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Washington DC on Tuesday in which the pair discussed progress under Egypts economic reforms backed by a three-year, $12 billion loan program with the IMF. The economy continues to grow robustly, unemployment is at its lowest level since 2011, foreign exchange reserves are at comfortable levels, and public debt is on a downward trajectory supported by growth-friendly consolidation efforts, Lagarde said in a statement published on the IMF's official website following the talks. The loan program, which Lagarde said has progressed well, began in 2016 and is tied to tough reforms including a sharp currency devaluation, deep cuts in energy subsidies and the introduction of a value-added tax. The reforms has strained the budgets of millions of Egyptians. Some $10 billion has already been disbursed under the deal, with a final of six $2 billion tranches due after completing a final review in June. We agreed on the importance of continuing with the authorities structural reform agenda, which aims to support inclusive growth and address constraints to private sector development, Lagarde said in the statement. "These reforms will help achieve more sustainable, inclusive, and private-sector led growth, which will create jobs for Egypts young population. It is also important to ensure that adequate resources are available for social protection. I reiterated the Funds commitment to support Egypt and its people, she said. During the talks, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi stressed the importance of continued cooperation with the Fund, saying that the partnership between the two sides provides a positive environment for all investors and international financial markets and creates greater investment opportunities, a presidential spokesman said in a statement. The reforms are aimed at reviving the countrys economy and luring back investors following years of political disturbance. Search Keywords: Short link: By PTI SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called a full meeting Wednesday of a top committee of the ruling Workers' Party to address what he described as the "prevailing tense situation", state media reported. The gathering of the Central Committee comes after Kim's Hanoi summit with US President Donald Trump broke up without agreement in February, and as South Korean President Moon Jae-in flies to Washington for talks with the US leader. But the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) appeared to indicate that Kim may be focussing on Pyongyang's continued push to develop its economy. ALSO READ | South Korea considering sending special envoy to North Korea In a meeting with senior officials Tuesday, Kim ordered them to display "an attitude befitting the masters of the revolution and construction under the prevailing tense situation and thus follow through on the new strategic line of the Party", KCNA reported. Last April Kim declared that the ruling party's "new strategic line" would be "socialist economic construction" and its quest for nuclear development was complete. Kim made "deep analysis of the matters pending urgent solution in the party and state", KCNA said, adding that at Wednesday's meeting the central committee will "decide the new orientation and ways of struggle in line with the need of the prevailing revolutionary situation". It comes ahead of the opening of the country's rubber-stamp legislature on Thursday. Trump and Kim held their first landmark summit in Singapore last June, where the North Korean leader signed a vaguely-worded deal on the "denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. But the failure by the pair to reach agreement at their second summit in Hanoi on walking back Pyongyang's nuclear programme in exchange for relaxation of the measures against it has raised questions over the future of the wider process. In Vietnam, both sides expressed willingness to talk further and Trump has repeatedly said he maintains good relations with his North Korean counterpart. But shortly after the Hanoi summit, a series of satellite images emerged suggesting increased activity at the North's Sohae rocket site, triggering an international alarm that the nuclear-armed state might be preparing a long-range or space launch. A senior Pyongyang diplomat told reporters last month that the North was considering suspending nuclear talks with the US. By IANS UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations has announced that it has started going partially paperless by stopping printing of press releases. "Starting today, the News and Media Division of the Department of Global Communications (DGC) will no longer print hard copies of press releases," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a news briefing on Tuesday. "This is part of our ongoing effort to save paper, to go paperless and to save money," he was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency. The spokesman didn't disclose how much will be saved a year by doing so. On the pigeonholes standing in the second-floor corridor of the UN Secretariat Building, all back issues of the printed press releases had been removed with only two copies of UN "Journal", dated April 9, resting in two of the several hundred slots. Two pieces of notice, in English and French, were put on the wall above the pigeonholes, which read: "Printed press releases are no longer available." The notice encouraged journalists and other people to visit a specific website to download the digital press releases. For decades, hard copies of press releases in Chinese, English, Russian, French, Arabic and Spanish, were occupying the eight sets of pigeonholes with several hundred slantingly vertical slots. A UN staffer said that the latest annual budget for DGC has been reduced to $82 million as against $89 million previously proposed. "It's a big cut," the official told the news agency, adding that there were almost no newly-added jobs for the media and another department this year. "I fully support the decision to stop printing hard copies of press releases, as printing them not only costs a lot of money, the demand for them has dropped dramatically as well," he said. "People nowadays prefer digital versions of press releases rather than hard copies for their easier copy and paste. It's greener and money-saving as well," he added. By IANS JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's ex-president Jacob Zuma has denied allegations by a local newspaper that he is in possession of USD 30 million (26.7 million euros) belonging to the late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi. The Sunday Times at the weekend reported that before he was captured and killed in 2011, Kadhafi had given the funds for "safe keeping" to Zuma, when he was president of South Africa. The paper said Zuma had stashed the money at his home in the southeastern village of Nkandla before moving it to neighbouring eSwatini, formerly known as Swaziland. "Former president Zuma is not aware of any money directed to his Nkandla home from former president Gaddafi, nor has he ever received funds from Gaddafi," the ex-president's foundation said in a statement cited Wednesday by South Africa's The Star newspaper. Zuma himself tweeted sardonically on Tuesday that he was surprised to hear that he was keeping USD 30 million when he was in need of cash to pay for legal bills to fight graft charges. READ HERE: Here is a timeline of South African President Jacob Zuma's five biggest career scandals "Sigh! I owe millions in legal fees. I now hear that I have been keeping money belonging to my late brother Gaddafi. Where's this money because His Majesty knows nothing about it?" he tweeted, referring to the king of eSwatini. Zuma, who was ousted last year over multiple graft scandals, could be liable for the equivalent of USD 2 million in legal bills. The eSwatini government spokesman Percy Simelane also refuted the existence of Zuma's money in his country. "We are not aware of any money secretly stashed anywhere in eSwatini from former South African President Jacob Zuma belonging to former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi," Simelane told AFP in Mbabane. South African Foreign Affairs Minister Lindiwe Sisulu on Sunday said "there is no money that we are aware of. "I have not found any money that belongs to Libyans. If the Libyans make a request for us to investigate this matter, we will." Under Zuma, South Africa had vociferously opposed the NATO-led military intervention to oust the Libyan dictator. It also said Kadhafi should have been handed to the international war crimes court after his capture. Champaign, IL (61820) Today Cloudy with gusty winds. High 62F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph.. Tonight Windy with rain developing after midnight. Low 48F. Winds SSW at 25 to 35 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. Winds could occasionally gust over 50 mph. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi discussed women empowerment with President Donald Trumps daughter and senior White House adviser Ivanka Trump during talks in Washington DC on Tuesday. The two discussed opportunities to work together to advance President El-Sisis proposed agenda with regard to womens economic empowerment and entrepreneurship in Egypt and the region, increasing access to credit and job opportunities, the White House said in a statement on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, El-Sisi held talks with Trump who praised him while speaking to reporters ahead of the bilateral meeting. Hes doing a great job, Trump said after he was asked about a possibility for El-Sisi to extend his presidential term in light of proposed constitutional amendments . I dont know about the effort. I can just tell you hes doing a great job. Egypt's parliament is scheduled to take a final vote on the proposals next week before they are put to a national referendum. The two leaders engaged in a frank discussion on regional developments in Libya and the threat posed by the Muslim Brotherhood, the White House said in the statement. Both leaders expressed their mutual commitment to promoting religious liberty, the White House added. Trump said he and El-Sisi were going to talks about very important military and trade issues during their meeting. We do a lot of work together. We work together. And I think weve never had a better relationship Egypt and the United States than we do right now, he told reporters. El-Sisi too emphasized that the US-Egyptian relations have not been better over the years of our bilateral relationship. This is the second visit by El-Sisi to the US since 2017. Search Keywords: Short link: Wilkes County split between Congressional Districts 10 and 12 Wilkes County has been split between Congressional Districts 10 and 12. According to the maps finalized by the General Assembly, the majority of Wilkes County has been enveloped by Congressional... Chinas trade war does affect Georgias economy; Chris Clarke Chris Clarke, the CEO of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, broguth new facts to light during rotarys weekly meeting. The issue of globalization and the rise of China may seem... Cobb and Harden selected to play in Border Bowl Washington-Wilkes Tiger Varsity Football players Dalen Cobb and JoVares Harden have been selected to play in the annual Georgia vs. South Carolina Border Bowl football game. Scott Skadden, a broadcast... Three more people have contracted measles, including one who works at the airport. The airport worker, a 24-year-old man, had travelled to Japan during the incubation period but did not travel during the communicable period. The other two cases involve a two-year-old girl and a 31-year-old man. The girl did not travel during the incubation and communicable periods, while the 31-year-old travelled to Taiwan during the incubation period. As of 6pm today, 8,027 measles shots have been given out at the airports vaccination stations. Click here for details. The Egyptian cabinets media centre dismissed on Wednesday recent reports that the Ministry of Social Solidarity was preparing a draft law that allowed for random drug testing in the streets for regular citizens. The Ministry of Social Solidarity has said that drug tests will be limited to state employees in administrative and governmental bodies, saying that the reports are "just rumors." The ministry says that it will be intensifying efforts to detect drug abuse among employees in ministries and institutions, in accordance with directives from President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and recommendations from the cabinet. The ministry stresses that the drug testing process is conducted with strict confidentiality without disclosing any of the data of the persons being tested. The ministry also pointed out that the Fund for Drug Control and the Treatment of Addiction is working on intensifying campaigns to detect drug use among school bus drivers, as well as motorists on highways across all Egyptian governorates. An anti-drug fund affiliated with the social solidarity ministry offers free-of-charge, confidential treatment for drug users. The fund's hotline (16023) has been announced at state bodies and universities. Last Month, the Egyptian parliament approved a draft law that mandates drug tests for state employees, with possible firings for those who test positive or evade the test. The step came after public and official calls for stiffer penalties for government employees who test positive for drugs, after a railway employee involved in a deadly train crash that killed more than 30 people in early March tested positive for narcotics. The bill requires prospective and existing employees at ministries, state companies, local authorities and other state bodies to undergo a drug test before being hired, promoted, awarded a contract or having their contract renewed, the cabinet said in a statement. For existing employees, the test will be carried out without prior notice. Those who test positive will be "suspended from work by the force of law," the cabinet said. The new regulations also apply to those working at orphanages, care houses, rehabilitation centres, nurseries, schools and private hospitals. The bill mandates that employees who refrain from undergoing tests or deliberately evade them without a plausible excuse will be terminated from their jobs. The draft law has been referred to parliament for approval. Search Keywords: Short link: We also looked at their Code of Conduct and what we learnt is that political parties in South Africa do respect and adhere to their Code of Conduct. They respect the electoral rules. There is a level of tolerance depicted by the political parties. Their Code of Conduct provides for sanctions if a political party violates it, the IEC has power to effect sanctions, said Mr Silaigwana. Let us know what you're seeing and hearing around the community. Submit here FAIRBANKSThree finalists have been announced for the position of Fairbanks police chief. A community forum has also been scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday at Fairbanks City Hall in which the candidates will answer questions posed by city administrators and the Fairbanks Diversity Council, according to a Tuesday news release from the city of Fairbanks. Gregory Foster, Ryan Gillogly and Nancy Reeder were chosen as finalists out of a pool five candidates previously interviewed by city officials, community leaders, law enforcement and members of the military, according to the news release. Following Monday's forum, which will be streamed online, the interview panelists will reconvene in private to discuss the applicants and make a recommendation to Mayor Jim Matherly. Matherly will then select an applicant who must then gain City Council approval. Current Police Chief Eric Jewkes notified city staff about his departure in February and publicly announced his retirement in March, effective the end of April. Monday's news release gave brief bios of the three candidates vying to replace Jewkes. Reeder is a lieutenant with the Anchorage Police Department, where she started her law enforcement career in 1984. She has served as an officer, detective, traffic sergeant and lieutenant. She has also served in administration and international affairs units. Prior to her career at the Anchorage Police Department, Reeder served as a sergeant in the U.S. Air Force for four years and as a staff sergeant in the Alaska Air National Guard for two years. Gillogly has lived in Fairbanks since 2014 and is provost marshal and director of emergency services at Fort Wainwright. A provost marshal is head of military police, and Gillogly leads a team of 120 law enforcement, security, fire and emergency service personnel. He was most recently professor of military science for the Senior Reserve Officer Training Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He has 22 years experience in a variety of military law enforcement and public safety positions, including serving overseas. Foster grew up in Fairbanks and is a 21-year veteran of the Fairbanks Police Department, working his way up from officer to patrol sergeant and now patrol lieutenant. He also spent eight years as a K9 Officer and is the team commander for the Tactical Police Team, which he has served on for 19 years. Foster also recently attended the National FBI Academy. To follow Monday's forum online visit https://www.fairbanksalaska.us/citycouncil/page/listen-live. Update: Tuesday's press release announcing the finalists incorrectly stated the amount of time Gregory Foster has spent on the Tactical Police Team. He has served on the team for 19 years. Contact staff writer Robin Wood at 459-7510. Follow him on twitter: @FDNMcity. The situation in Libya topped the agenda of meetings between President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov during the latters two-day visit to Cairo this week. During his meeting with Lavrov on Saturday President Al-Sisi stressed that concerted action on the part of the international community was urgently needed to halt Libyas slide into a spiral of conflict and that a peaceful settlement required dialogue between all Libyan rival parties. One cannot denounce one party or praise another in the Libyan conflict. Without unconditional dialogue among all parties a settlement cannot be reached, said Lavrov during a joint press conference with Shoukri following the meeting. Lavrov blamed the NATO alliance for the current crisis, saying the blocs 2011 campaign in Libya had resulted in terrorism, conflict, illegal immigration and a host of other issues afflicting the country, and called on the UN Security Council to try to reach a settlement via its envoy Ghassan Salame. Shoukri said Cairo has always supported a political solution. We have repeatedly emphasised the importance of inter-Libyan agreement, supported political agreements and backed the efforts of UN envoys to Libya. All parties should exercise self-restraint and work with the UN envoy to reach an agreement, he said at the press conference. The self-styled Libyan National Army, led by Khalifa Haftar, last week began a military campaign to take over Tripoli, home to the UN-backed national unity government led by Prime Minister Fayez Al-Sarraj. Bilateral ties, the Dabaa nuclear plant, the resumption of Russian flights to Red Sea resorts, and other pressing regional issues of mutual concern and security cooperation were also discussed during Lavrovs meeting with Al-Sisi and Shoukri. Al-Sisi affirmed Egypts commitment to consolidating its economic, commercial and industrial partnerships with Russia, while Lavrov praised the level of economic, trade, scientific and technical cooperation between the two states. He said Moscow would continue to help development projects in Egypt within the framework of the comprehensive strategic partnership signed between the two countries in October 2018, during President Al-Sisis visit to Russia. Shoukri told journalists that he had reviewed the partnership agreements, and what has been achieved so far, with his counterpart. The full implementation of these agreements requires time and effort and political will, he added. During Lavrovs two-day visit preparations for a possible Egyptian-Russian summit, to be held in Moscow in the summer, and the African-Russian Summit that will convene in Sochi in October, were also discussed. Egypt will attend the latter as both an African state and the president of the African Union. While President Al-Sisi called on Russian officials to end the ban on flights to Egyptian resorts direct Russian flights to Cairo were resumed in April 2018 after a two-and-a-half-year suspension Lavrov said work was underway to end the flight ban but added that some technical matters remained and it was not possible to set a precise date for the resumption. Russia suspended air traffic to Egypt in October 2015 after the downing of a Russian passenger flight from Sharm El-Sheikh killed all 224 people on board. Moscow and Cairo signed an agreement in 2015 for Russia to build a nuclear power plant at Dabaa, with Russia extending a loan to Egypt to cover the cost of construction. In December 2017 contracts for the construction of the Dabaa nuclear power plant were signed during Putins visit to Cairo. The issue of creating an area free from weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East was raised in the press conference by Lavrov, and the Palestinian crisis was discussed during meetings. Al-Sisi reiterated Egypts position that a two-state solution in accordance with international resolutions remained the best way to achieve peace in the Middle East. The partnership between Egypt and Russia is delineated by a 2+2 strategic consultation agreement, concluded in 2013, which includes the countries ministries of foreign affairs and defence. Egypt is one of just six countries to have signed such an agreement with Russia. The first meeting was held in 2014, attended by Al-Sisi, then minister of defence, and Nabil Fahmi, Egypts foreign minister, and their Russian counterparts Sergei Shoigu and Lavrov. The fourth round of Egyptian-Russian consultations within the 2+2 agreement was held in Moscow in May last year. Trade between Egypt and Russia reached $6.7 billion last year. A prospective Russian Economic Zone in the Suez Canal area is expected to attract investments of $7 billion, creating jobs and boosting industrial cooperation between the two states. *A version of this article appears in print in the 7 April, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Cross-border concerns Search Keywords: Short link: The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574. Community Perspective Send Community Perspective submissions by mail (P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks AK 99707) or via email (letters@newsminer.com). Submissions must be 500 to 750 words. Columns are welcome on a wide range of issues and should be well-written and well-researched with attribution of sources. Include a full name, email address, daytime telephone number and headshot photograph suitable for publication (email jpg or tiff files at 150 dpi.) You may also schedule a photo to be taken at the News-Miner office. The News-Miner reserves the right to edit submissions or to reject those of poor quality or taste without consulting the writer. Letters to the editor Send letters to the editor by mail (P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks AK 99707), by fax (907-452-7917) or via email (letters@newsminer.com). Writers are limited to one letter every two weeks (14 days.) All letters must contain no more than 350 words and include a full name (no abbreviation), daytime and evening phone numbers and physical address. (If no phone, then provide a mailing address or email address.) The Daily News-Miner reserves the right to edit or reject letters without consulting the writer. The ousted Chairman of Nissan says what's happening around him is a conspiracy. Carlos Ghosn's lawyers released a video of him addressing the public for the first time. It was filmed before his latest arrest last week. As he has in the past, he repeatedly proclaimed his innocence and didn't get into details of the charges. Ghosn said in the roughly eight-minute video, "I'm innocent of all the charges that have been brought against me. And I'm also innocent of all the accusations that came around these charges that are all biased, taken out of context, twisted in a way to paint a personage of greed, and a personage of dictatorship." He defends his management and says the allegations against him are a result of conspiracy and backstabbing. Ghosn says that stemmed from fear that Nissan's autonomy would be threatened by its alliance with French carmaker Renault. Ghosn also said, "We're talking about people who really played dirty game into what's happening. But hopefully the truth will happen and the facts will happen. " Ghosn's lawyers say, with his consent, they edited out his mention of specific names. He also accuses the executives of poorly managing the company and not having a vision for the future. Ghosn stresses his love for the company and Japan and finishes by saying his biggest hope is to have a fair trial so he can be "vindicated." Ghosn's lawyer Junichiro Hironaka criticized authorities for arresting his client for a fourth time. Last year he was detained and spent more than 100 days in jail before being granted bail. Hironaka said, "If someone is released on bail and re-arrested, his mental and physical state suffers tremendously. The re-arrest was aimed at putting illegitimate pressure on Mr. Ghosn to crush him." Hironaka said Ghosn's release on bail meant there was no concern of him fleeing or destroying evidence. He said his team will appeal to Japan's Supreme Court on Wednesday. Ghosn has been indicted for misappropriating corporate funds and underreporting his compensation. His latest arrest could lead to further charges. President Al-Sisis multi-legged tour took him to West Africa and the US this week President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi is on an African-American tour this week. Guinea was the first leg of the tour, followed by the US. Later he will visit Senegal and the Ivory Coast. The West African tour underlines Egypts keenness to coordinate with African states, particularly on the trade, investment and economic fronts, Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi said ahead of the tour. Al-Sisis visit to the US, meanwhile, is significant because it is the first meeting between the US president and an Arab leader since last months Arab League Summit in Tunisia reaffirmed that the Golan Heights was occupied land and insisted on a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, says Tarek Fahmi, head of the Israeli Research Unit at the National Centre for Middle East Studies. The visit will address possible regional changes following the announcement of the so-called deal of the century. According to Fahmi, the US is likely to present its vision for the settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli issue soon, and the US administration will enter the period of meeting promises already made rather than presenting more promises. A diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity agreed that the visit comes at an important juncture, a time when the US must begin making its position on regional peace clear. We will not be able to say the visit has been fruitful unless we see clear US proposals based on the Arab peace initiative, he said. The presidents visit to Washington, his second since coming to power and his sixth meeting with US President Donald Trump, comes within the context of enhancing the strategic relations that have bound the two states for decades. Commenting on the visit, the White House said the two leaders would discuss building on their robust military, economic and counter-terrorism cooperation, regional economic integration, and Egypts longstanding role as a lynchpin of regional stability. Fahmi expects regional issues to take precedence over bilateral relations given the pressing nature of the problems facing the Middle East. The two leaders were expected to discuss the situation in Syria, Libya and Yemen as well as counter-terrorism efforts. On Monday President Al-Sisi met the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the presidents Senior Adviser Jared Kushner. In both meetings he emphasised Egypts stand that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict can only be resolved through a two-state solution as stated in the Arab peace initiative. Trumps official recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights spread anger across the Middle East. The visit also comes as parliament is in the final stages of ratifying amendments to Egypts constitution which, if adopted in a referendum scheduled for later this month, will extend the presidents stay in office. It is not clear yet how the US administration will react to the amendments, added the diplomat. Egyptian-US relations have improved under Trump and the US decision to recognise Israeli sovereignty on the Golan may, like Trumps earlier decision to move the Israeli Embassy to Jerusalem, have little impact on this trajectory. Though Egyptian-US relations have fluctuated since the signing of the 1979 peace treaty with Israel they have always been described by officials from both states as strategic, close and special. Egypt is the largest recipient of foreign assistance from the US after Israel and currently receives $1.3 billion a year in military aid. Since the 1979 peace treaty, the US has provided Cairo with more than $40 billion in military and $30 billion in economic assistance. In August 2017 the US held $200 million in aid because of alleged human right violations in Egypt. Though the amount was released within 12 months the delay is seen as a precedent. Military aid for 2019 has been set at $1.38 billion. THE AFRICAN LEG: Cairo has prioritised improving relations with African states, and Egypt currently chairs the African Union. This is the backdrop to President Al-Sisis visit to Guinea and, following his return from the US, to Senegal and Ivory Coast. Al-Sisis talks in the three West African nations will focus on bilateral relations and regional issues in light of Egypts current chairmanship of the African Union, said Radi before the tour began. The visits seek to promote development initiatives and boost trade between Egypt and African countries. At a time when negotiations with Ethiopia over the Renaissance Dam are stalling, good relations with other African states can be used as a trump card by Egypt, said the diplomat. Fahmi agrees that good relation with other African states will give Egypt weight in the continent and improve its negotiating position. With these targets in mind, Al-Sisis tour included bilateral talks with the leaders of Guinea, Ivory Coast and Senegal to discuss ways to maximise the benefits of Egypts chairmanship of the AU. President Al-Sisi called for African solidarity in the face of continental challenges and urged hard work to achieve social and economic justice in the continent, said Radi. In the Guinean capital Conakry, a statue of late president Gamal Abdel-Nasser was unveiled in the presence of Al-Sisi and his Guinean counterpart Alpha Conde. The statue adorns the university named after Nasser in 1970, Guineas first and largest higher education facility. The two leaders inaugurated a new complex at the university named after President Al-Sisi. Al-Sisi also received the National Order of Merit from Guinea during his visit. The last time an Egyptian president visited Guinea was in 1965. *A version of this article appears in print in the 7 April, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Cross continental moves Search Keywords: Short link: The Federal High Court, Abuja on Wednesday, adjourned the ongoing trial of a former governor of Adamawa, Murtala Nyako until May 13 for ... The Federal High Court, Abuja on Wednesday, adjourned the ongoing trial of a former governor of Adamawa, Murtala Nyako until May 13 for the defence to cross-examine the 20th prosecution witness, Mr Chris Odofin. When the matter was called, the EFCC, Mr Oluwaleke Atolagbe told the court that Nyakos counsel, Mr Kanu Agabi, (SAN) wrote a letter to the prosecution saying that he would be absent in court. Atolagbe, however, told the court that the prosecution was ready to go on with the matter as they had their witness in court. A counsel from the defence team, Mr Bart Ogah said that they also needed more time to get records of proceedings of the court to enable them to prepare to cross-examine the witness. He said that the witness had testified over a long period of time and it was only right for the defence to properly prepare to cross-examine him. The trial judge, Justice Okon Abang adjourned the matter until May 13, May 14 and May 15. The Sector 2, Operation LAFIYA DOLE of Nigeria Army in Damaturu, on Wednesday, said it successfully repelled suspected Boko Haram insurg... The Sector 2, Operation LAFIYA DOLE of Nigeria Army in Damaturu, on Wednesday, said it successfully repelled suspected Boko Haram insurgents that attempted to attack Damaturu, Yobe capital, on Tuesday. Lt. Njoka Irabor, Acting Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, Sector 2 Operation LAFIYA DOLE, said the troops ambushed and killed many of the suspected terrorists who attempted to infiltrate and attack Damaturu. Irabor in a statement said following credible information of planned efforts by Boko Haram terrorists to attack Damaturu, troops of Sector 2, Operation LAFIYA DOLE of Nigeria Army, laid ambush which led to the extermination of many Boko Haram terrorists. The vigilant troops effectively ambushed the criminals few metres ahead of Maisandari community at the outskirts of the city of Damaturu. The terrorists were overwhelmed by the superior firepower of the gallant troops and the well-coordinated air support, from the Air Component of Operation LAFIYA DOLE, he said. According to him, many terrorists met their Waterloo, some were also wounded with some equipment recovered. Some of the equipment recovered include two gun trucks, two Anti-Aircraft guns, one 60 Millimetre Mortar, four AK 47 Rifles, one General Purpose Machine gun and, 1,245 Rounds of 7.62 mm (NATO) ammunition. Irabor said the troops also embarked on the pursuit of the fleeing terrorists to mop up and comb the general area. He said there were no reports of casualties on the side of the Army or the civilians, as normal activities were going on with residents pursuing their businesses. Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has described the bench warrant against him by Justice Binta Nyako of the ... has described the bench warrant against him by Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja, as a mere academic exercise. Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu,has described the bench warrant against him by Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja, as a mereacademic exercise. He also said the Federal Government could not incite the world against him. statement obtained by our correspondent in Awka, Anambra State, the IPOB leader said, The international and diplomatic community would surely ignore the bench warrant. In astatement obtained by our correspondent in Awka, Anambra State,the IPOB leader said,The international and diplomatic community would surely ignore the bench warrant. remain eternally grateful to my sureties for standing by me all through my travails, trials and tribulations. Iremain eternally grateful to my sureties for standing by me all through my travails, trials and tribulations. It smacks of judicial persecution for Justice Binta Nyako handling my case to claim that my sureties had withdrawn their surety. It smacks of judicial persecution for Justice Binta Nyako handling my case to claim that my sureties had withdrawn their surety. Justice Binta Nyakos bench warrant against me makes the judiciary complicit in the persecution of innocent people and IPOB since mid 2015. Where a case is for hearing of motion, the trial judge must hear the motion and adjourn for any other process. On no account should they hear a motion and hear the merits of the matter, not to talk about delivering judgment. The judge may consider doing that in the very rare circumstance of consent by parties Where a case is for hearing of motion, the trial judge must hear the motion and adjourn for any other process.Onno account shouldtheyhear a motion and hear the merits of the matter, not to talk about delivering judgment. The judgemay consider doing that in the very rare circumstance of consent by parties When a matter has been adjourned for a particular purpose, it is my view that the business of the court on the day the matter is adjourned is the purpose for which it was adjourned. as the parties must agree. It is expected that parties have come prepared for that purpose for which the matter was adjourned. If it is expedient to change the purpose, it cannot be done by the court suo motu (on its own)as the parties must agree. of members of IPOB, regretting that the government had yet to obey the order. He said in March last year a continental human rights court restrained the FG from persecutingof members of IPOB, regretting that the governmenthad yet to obey theorder. Kanu said, The arrest, detention and murder of IPOB family members is illegal, unconstitutional and in breach of the written laws of Nigeria. The fact that judges and supposed legal practitioners allow this travesty to continue is indicative of the level of ignorance that pervades the Nigerian judiciary. over alleged treason, has not appeared in court months after he was granted bail. Kanu, who is facing trial alongside other IPOB membersoveralleged treason, has not appeared in courtmonths afterhe was grantedbail. Detectives attached to Lagos State Police Command have arrested two persons; Blessing Bayo, 29 and Smart Alfred, 32, for their alleged i... Detectives attached to Lagos State Police Command have arrested two persons; Blessing Bayo, 29 and Smart Alfred, 32, for their alleged involvement in the abduction of Lagos Fire Service boss, Rasaki Musibau and six others at Ikorodu last Saturday. The two suspects were allegedly arrested based on well coordinated operations by the Commands tactical teams led by the Officer in Charge of Anti Kidnapping Unit, SP Bulus R Musa. The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, who confirmed the arrest, said that the suspects were nabbed at Ibafun, along Ikorodu- Ijebu Ode Express Way, a boundary community with Ogun State. Rasaki Musibau and six others were allegedly freed by their abductors at about 11.45pm on Tuesday after an undisclosed amount, running into several millions of naira, had been paid as ransom, according to a family source. Actor Gideon Okeke is catching a lot of heat on his Instagram after he got bored and decided to spew some bile at American gay designer ... Actor Gideon Okeke is catching a lot of heat on his Instagram after he got bored and decided to spew some bile at American gay designer Marc Jacobs. Recall that Jacobs and his longtime boyfriend, Charly Defrancesco got married at a private ceremony held on Saturday in New York City. And while many people congratulated the couple, Nigerias upcoming actor Okeke took to his page to preach some doom and gloom. For the Effeminacy of the Man. You go world... For making the word SODOMY seem cool. You go world... For negating the order set by The Creator. The one who makes NO MISTAKES. You go world... For serving your selfish agenda upon generations unborn. Building a community inside of humanity. You go world. But I and my household are NOT of this world. So we don't know what Yall be talking 'bout. YES I SAID IT. (2nd Timothy vs 3) Sharing a photo of the couple, he wrote:You go world... The Nigerian army says its troops ambushed a group of Boko Haram insurgents that attempted to attack Damaturu, the Yobe state capital,... The Nigerian army says its troops ambushed a group of Boko Haram insurgents that attempted to attack Damaturu, the Yobe state capital, on Tuesday. Njoka Irabo, acting assistant director, army public relations, Sector 2, Operation Lafiya Dole, in a statement issued on Tuesday night, said troops stormed Maisandari after receiving information on the planned attack. Sector 2, Operation Lafiya Dole, successfully laid an ambush which led to the extermination of many Boko Haram Terrorists, that attempted to attack Damaturu, Yobe State at about 5:15 pm, today (Tuesday), the 9th of April 2019, the statement read. Following credible information of planned efforts by Boko Haram terrorists to attack Damaturu, troops ofSector 2, Operation Lafiya Dole, successfully laid an ambush which led to the extermination of many Boko Haram Terrorists, that attempted to attack Damaturu, Yobe State at about 5:15 pm, today (Tuesday), the 9th of April 2019, the statement read. The vigilant troops effectively ambushed the criminals few metres ahead of Maisandari community at the outskirts of the city of Damaturu. The terrorists were overwhelmed by the superior fire power of the gallant troops and the well coordinated air support, from the Air Component of Operation Lafiya Dole. Consequently, many terrorists met their Waterloo, some were also wounded. Irabo also listed some of the items recovered from the group to include two gun trucks, two anti-aircraft guns, a 60-millimetre mortar, four AK 47 rifles, a general purpose machine gun and 1,245 rounds of 7.62 mm (NATO). He added that the troops have embarked on hot pursuit of the fleeing terrorists, mop up/combing of the general area is ongoing. President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said that he doesn't care about those who call him Baba go slow According to him, he d... President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said that he doesn't care about those who call him Baba go slow According to him, he doesnt want to make the mistake he did as a military Head of State when he was so much in hurry. Now, he said he is going slowly to survive. The President was responding to questions during a town hall meeting with the Nigerian community in Dubai. So, whoever calls me Baba go slow, Im very cautious of historical antecedent. Since I was in a hurry, I was locked up, Im going slow so that I can survive. Buhari stated According to him, one of the reasons Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom left the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was because he could not stomach what he (Buhari) explained to him on the farmers/herders clashes in his state. Buhari said that he explained to Ortom that the cattle rearers and settlers problem in Nigeria was older than himself (Buhari) not to talk of him (Ortom). Buhari said But those of you who are neighbours to cattle rearers, Nigerians cattle rearers use to carry only sticks and their machetes to cut foliage for the cattles. But these are cattle rearers with weapons like AK47. But the problem is that you can hardly identify the difference between cattle rearers from Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria Chad, Cameroon and other cattle herders. They look the same but I was accused of not doing anything about those operating locally but I took the governor on this and this is one of the reasons he left our party for another party. Because I told him the cattle rearers and settlers problem in Nigeria is older than myself not to talk of him and at first republic, there were cattle routes, they put infrastructures and even veterinary. But the so-called politicians because they are so much in a hurry to make money they acquire some of these lands and turned them into their private farms. So, if you are a cattle rearer or you know about cattle like myself, the herders now pass through anybody land to find water for their cattles to drink. I told Audu Ogbeh, the minister of agriculture to look at the Gazette of the first republic to get the cattle routes and get the grazing routes and re-establish them so that we can reduce this incidence. Some of you here know the efforts we are making. he added On what to expect on his next level, Buhari said Im sure you are informed group of Nigerians. You know we campaigned on three issues in 2015: security, economy and fighting corruption. I explained so many time where we are, what we have been able to do with resources available to us from that time till now. The next level is to consolidate whatever we have done initially and 2023 it makes common sense that in order to manage an outfit, whether a nation-state or organisation, you have to secure it. We all know how many local governments the Bko Haram were occupying. People among you that are from the North-east know now that they are not holding any local government. They were holding 17 out of the 774 local governments; they are not holding any now. They have reverted to indoctrinating young people, mostly girls and arm them with explosives and send them out on soft targets like churches, mosques, market places motor parks and so on and after blowing up the place they will say Allah Akbar. We told them they dont know what they are saying because God made everything good. You cant kill innocent people and say God is Great. You either dont know what you are saying or you dont believe it. We are trying our best not only in physically in dealing with the combatants but in trying to rehabilitate those left behind in the internally displaced persons camps and we have a commissioner there who is supposed to look after them. I hope he had the time to look after them. So, the next level is to consolidate on our success. Now to the north-west, the bandits there and the conflicts between herders and farmers and so on and so forth. he said The President disclosed to the group that his administration has taken action on the illegal mining taking place in Zamfara State which is being linked to the banditry in the state. He said We have taken action about it. We said that all mining activities should be closed and the expatriates participating, should go back to their countries, we have enough problems. So let them go back. On health of workers and occupational hazards in oil and gas industry, Buhari said There are standards, there are rules. I used to be in the petroleum sector for three and a quarter years under Gen. Obasanjo, there are rules. You cant take Nigerians on paper, its when it comes to practical application of what is on paper, this is where you have problem with Nigerians. But when you look round, there are rules, there are committees and it depends on the leadership of a particular institution or place. If the leadership has the time and commitment to do his job, then there are rules and regulations by which he can go and efficiently run that organization or institutions. But a lot of Nigerians, they will commit to memory all the paperwork, and then they will proceed to do what they like personally. So I assure you that the health of workers is clearly defined in each of the institutions especially the dangerous ones like oil rig operators and so on. Then, anybody who is wounded as a result of mismanagement or bad instruments, there are enough laws to prosecute that institution and get money or payment for those who have been wounded. It is up to the ministries responsible to maybe develop how they can go round and ensure that people are going by the rules. he added On treasury looter, Buhari said I bark but I cannot bite, Baba go slow, I have once ruled this country, some of you know that once upon a time I came in uniform and what I did was to arrest from the president downward. The president, Vice President, the governors and ministers, other than the president and the Vice President, the others, I put them in Kiri-Kiri, and I told them they are guilty until they can prove themselves innocent. And you know subsequently what happened- we put about six tribunals base on the geopolitical zones, and those who were ministers and governors were asked to justify what they have in the banks and physical on the ground relative to their legitimate earnings. There were only two Nigerians then to my knowledge who were found to be very Honourable, both of them are dead now: Biliaminu Usman, a junior minister, from Jigawa State, and Adamu Chiroma, a minister of finance and governor of central bank. They were incredible Nigerians. But you know what happened, eventually, I myself was arrested, I was put in detention for three and a quarter years, luckily for me, I was not stupid, I didnt take anybodys money, so there was no bad publicity for me because they couldnt find anything against me. Eventually I was released, and that was why I made up my mine since the bulk is partisan politics, I joined the partisan politics. You also know what happened, I tried three times, and I managed to succeed the fourth time. Eventually I was released, and that was why I made up my mine since the bulk is partisan politics, I joined the partisan politics. You also know what happened, I tried three times, and I managed to succeed the fourth time. And the three times I tried, 2003; 2007, and 2011, I ended up in Supreme Court. All the time, I was claiming that I was actually the person who won the election but I was rigged. But because I was in the opposition, I never won any of the cases until God brought technology- Permanent Voter Card (PVC) and so on. The fourth time, before they realize it, I won the election. So there was nothing anybody could do. The President explained that even though some Nigerians see him as Baba go slow, he did loot the country. People have to be proven guilty before they are locked up. All that I have to do is to tell the police, and DSS that somebody has so many houses, he has so many investment and his salary is this. I may be Baba go slow but I didnt loot.People have to be proven guilty before they are locked up. All that I have to do is to tell the police, and DSS that somebody has so many houses, he has so many investment and his salary is this. Recently, the EFCC placed an advert in some of the national newspapers and showed how much was recovered in term of fixed asset and money. He added But what this administration did is to encourage Treasury Single Account (TSA), where government revenue goes to. If you see how the money goes in, then when it goes out, you can follow it. Before everybody was doing his own thing. You had ministry with 20 accounts. The office of the Auditor General of the Federation or the Accountant General cannot follow it. all government revenues must go there and from there you can trace where it has gone to. Its a very unpopular decision but I feel relieved that people have to account for whatever they manage. So, when we came we said there must be TSA,all government revenues must go there and from there you can trace where it has gone to. Its a very unpopular decision but I feel relieved that people have to account for whatever they manage. The President said that his administration is investing more on research and development. He said the Government is coming up with a policy to take the full advantage of the resources of the country to get first class equipment in Nigeria institutions and to train and retrain teachers. On diversification, he said What we did is to try to encourage agriculture. Fertiliser made available at the half price it used to be. We encouraged people to go back to land. The response was excellent. We have virtually achieved food security, we have stopped the importation of rice. The money we have saved in foreign exchange in hundreds of millions of dollars, not even in naira. We are putting that into the infrastructure. From Abuja to Onitsha, from Abuja to Port Harcourt, back and other roads. Equipment in hospitals and other institutions. I was forced to go to public so many times. What Nigeria was earning between 1999 and 2014 from crude. Production was 2.1m barrel per day, the barrel of Nigerian crude was $100 per barrel, it went up to $143. As you know the roads, some of them were not rehabilitated since what used to be the PTF.From Abuja to Onitsha, from Abuja to Port Harcourt, back and other roads. Equipment in hospitals and other institutions. I was forced to go to public so many times. What Nigeria was earning between 1999 and 2014 from crude. Production was 2.1m barrel per day, the barrel of Nigerian crude was $100 per barrel, it went up to $143. So, Nigeria was earning 2.1m times $100, times 16years. But look at the condition of our infrastructure when we came; the roads, the rail was killed and you know there was no power. AmCham wrapped up its annual door-knock mission in Washington earlier this week after holding 89 meetings with US administration officials, members of Congress, international financial institutions and think tanks. AmCham President Tarek Tawfik described the mission as the easiest of all the past years. The mission carried key messages to the US, relaying Egypts growing political role in the region, its soft power and influence, and success stories a successful economic reform programme, the emergence of the country as a regional gas hub and the maintenance of friendly relations with Israel. Other messages were sent from the US to Egypt. It was made clear Egypts human rights record and the proposed constitutional amendments remain a concern for Democrats in Congress, though not so much for the Trump administration. Critics of the changes to the constitution expressed concern that the judiciarys independence would be undermined. Corporate America also welcomed a US-Egypt trade agreement which Egypt-US Business Council Chairman Omar Mohanna said could come to fruition under the current US administration. Republican Congressman Jeff Fortenberry told reporters during the mission that Egypt needs to retell its story to improve its image in Washington. Egyptian-US relations have been outsourced to military brass on both sides at the expense of other aspects, including cultural and media cooperation, said Fortenberry. He argued Egypt must do a better job of highlighting its efforts to create conditions for stability and promote healthy nationalism. Everyone should be made aware of the incalculable consequences of Egypts stability being shaken, though Egypt has to get over its entitlement mindset that it deserves to be the leader of the Arab world and must instead go re-earn that position, he said. Alternate Executive at the Board of the World Bank Ragui Al-Etrebi told reporters that Egypts position in the Doing Business Report is expected to improve this year on the back of the first reform programme that Egypt completes successfully. Risk conditions are improving but the ballooning population remains a point of concern, Al-Etrebi said. Executive Director Merza Hassan was also full of praise for Egypts smart use of debt to build infrastructure and improve the business environment. The door-knock mission comprised a delegation of 35 top-level executives representing US companies and businesses that operate in Egypt. They visited Washington between 31 March and 5 April. *A version of this article appears in print in the 7 April, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: The easiest mission Search Keywords: Short link: Abdulaziz Yari, governor of Zamfara state, says armed bandits have killed 3,526 persons in the state in the last five years. Yari ... Abdulaziz Yari, governor of Zamfara state, says armed bandits have killed 3,526 persons in the state in the last five years. Yari spoke at a town hall meeting in Gusau, the state capital, on Tuesday. According to NAN, the meeting was attended by Mohammed Adamu, inspector general of police (IGP), traditional and community leaders, as well as herders and farmers. Yari, who was represented by Abdullahi Shinkafi, secretary to the state government (SSG), also said nearly 500 villages have been destroyed by the attackers. He added that over 13,000 hectares of farmlands were either destroyed or made useless as farmers can no longer use the lands for farming. Nearly 500 villages have also been devastated and 8,219 persons were injured, some are still in critical condition, he said. The economy of the state has seriously suffered because thousands of shops were destroyed by the rampaging bandits who had displaced thousands of our people from their places of abode, many of whom cannot sleep with their two eyes closed because of fear. Yari said the government had written volumes of reports containing over 7,000 pages, giving details of the crises right from the beginning to the infiltration from Libya and Boko Haram. He said the government was aware of eight prominent bandits camps at different locations in the state. The governor said recent suspension of mining activities in the state by the federal government must be followed by enforcement, because, it is one thing to ban, and another to enforce. Earlier, the IGP told the gathering that the police would take more proactive measures in the fight against bandits and commended the state government for providing enabling environment to security personnel to operate in the state. The Lagos State Director of Fire Service, Rasaki Musibau and six others kidnapped on Saturday in Lagos have been released by their capto... The Lagos State Director of Fire Service, Rasaki Musibau and six others kidnapped on Saturday in Lagos have been released by their captors. Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Bala Elkana confirmed this on Wednesday morning, saying they were released unhurt. According to Elkana, they were released around 11.45pm on Tuesday. On 09/04/2019 at about 11.45pm, the Director of Lagos State Fire Service, Rasaki Musibau and 6 others kidnapped on 06/04/19 at about 8.00pm, at Ketu-Ereyun, Ikorodu were released unhurt by their abductors. The Victims have since reunited with their families. The Commands Tactical teams are still in the creeks and forests combating the hoodlums. A water-tight security measures are emplaced across the State to forestall future occurrence. A third-year student of the Lagos State University (LASU), Shuaib Abdulmujeed, on Wednesday got six months jail term for engaging in in... A third-year student of the Lagos State University (LASU), Shuaib Abdulmujeed, on Wednesday got six months jail term for engaging in internet fraud. The defendant shall be sentenced to six months imprisonment as proposed in the plea bargain agreement because of the passionate plea of the defence counsel. The sentence shall start from Dec. 5, 2018, which is the day he was arrested, Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Ikeja Special Offences Court held. Taiwo, who did not give the student a fine option, said that incidence of cybercrime in the country was becoming alarming. Abdulmujeed had pleaded guilty to a three-count charge in a plea bargain agreement with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The defendant pleaded guilty for possessing of documents containing false information and indicating false pretences, contrary to Sections 1(3), 6 and 8 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act. His counsel, Mr Shina Makinde, had prayed the court to temper justice with mercy, blaming his action on strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). The defendant went into cybercrime as a result of strike embarked on by ASUU, Makinde told the court. The defence counsel said that Abdulmujeed was academically gifted but fell victim of peer pressure during the strike. The computer recovered from him was bought by his father for his school project, his action is still a mystery to his father and his entire family. He has a strong 2.1 (second class upper) student, he is a very brilliant scholar, it is an unfortunate thing that he got into trouble as a result of peer pressure. Prison is not a reformative place, I ask my lord to show judicial empathy, Makinde prayed. He added that Abdulmujeed had not wasted the time of the court by deciding to enter into a plea bargain agreement. EFCC counsel, Mrs Anita Imo, had said that the student committed the offences in December 2018 in Ikeja. On Dec. 7, 2018, he had in his possession, email correspondence with the title No subject, printed from his email address reithgracia@gmail.com and linked to his phone number. On Dec. 13, 2018, he had in his possession, documents titled Personal info and privacy, Hangout with Patricia Appel and My Day, which were printed from his email address scotteastwood964@gmail.com which were linked to his phone number. On Dec. 13, 2018, he also had in his possession, an email correspondence titled Yahoo, Re: Money for Scott, Hello Madam (Flight Agent) and Hello Scott. The Nigerian Air Force says its Air Task Force on Operation DIRAN MIKIYA has recorded successes in a renewed air offensive against ba... The Nigerian Air Force says its Air Task Force on Operation DIRAN MIKIYA has recorded successes in a renewed air offensive against bandits in Zamfara State and its environs. NAF Spokesman, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, who disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, said the operation was carried out on Monday. The air strikes, which were intensified on April 8, with the deployment of additional aircraft, are aimed at flushing out the bandits from their hideouts in Sububu, Rugu and Kagara Forests, amongst others, whilst ensuring the protection of the lives and properties of citizens in the North West of the Country. On the first day of the intensive operation, the ATF conducted coordinated air raids against multiple identified bandits hideouts at Doumborou, Sububu, West Malamawa, Baturia Pond and Rugu Forest, where several bandits were neutralised and their camps destroyed, he said. He said the ATF on April 9, conducted waves of attacks against several targets, adding that the first wave struck three bandits locations within Sububu forest as well as another camp in Kagara forest. Targets attacked in the second wave were notable armed bandits hideouts at Kamarawa, Kunduma and Tsamare hill, while the third wave focused on armed bandits hideouts in Doumborou. The ATF also provided close air support to surface forces of Sector 2 to enable them to move into the attacked areas to mop-up the fleeing survivors and recover their weapons. In all, the ATF degraded eight camps and neutralised scores of bandits, he said. Daramola said reports indicated that, as a result of the air strikes, some of the bandits fled towards the border between Nigeria and the Niger Republic. Accordingly, the ATF is liaising with relevant authorities to ensure that the bandits are prevented from escaping through the Southern part of Niger Republic, he said. He said the NAF, in consonance with surface forces and other relevant authorities, would sustain its efforts to end the scourge of banditry and other related threats to life and safety in the North West. One person has been confirmed dead and four others injured in a fresh clash between some indigenes of Abuja and soldiers over land at Tun... One person has been confirmed dead and four others injured in a fresh clash between some indigenes of Abuja and soldiers over land at Tungan-Maje, an outskirt town in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Malam Tanko Sani, one of the community leaders who confirmed the incident in an interview with journalists on Wednesday at the scene, said trouble ensued when soldiers forcefully moved into the land and started work without the consent of the indigenes. He said one of the indigenes, a student, Hamza Usman, was killed at the spot by the soldiers for protesting against the action. The community head said four other persons were injured and are receiving treatment in a hospital within the area. He regretted the soldiers had never engaged the community members for a discussion since the disagreement between them started about three years ago. Female and male indigenes of the town blocked the ever busy Zuba Gwagwalada road to press home their demand. The situation became worst as motorists plying the route were held in gridlock for over five hours before the intervention of some stakeholders. Reacting to the sad development in his palace, the Agora of Zuba, HRH Mohammed Bello, demanded that the indigenes should be compensated, urging them to be calm. Attempts to speak with the military personnel on the ground failed as at the time of filing this report. There was also no official statement from officials of the FCTA. At least 36 senators of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are backing Ali Ndume, senator representing Borno south, for the position ... At least 36 senators of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are backing Ali Ndume, senator representing Borno south, for the position of senate president, a senator-elect who did not want to be named, has said. The senator-elect, who is from the north, disclosed this on Tuesday while speaking with select journalists on the sidelines of the induction exercise for members of the incoming national assembly at Transcorp Hilton hotel in Abuja. Although, the APC has already thrown its weight behind Ahmad Lawan, senate leader, for the position, Ndume is insisting on running. After a meeting with Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday, Ndume told reporters that he would still contest for the number one position in the senate. The senator-elect said some of them are angry because juicy committees have been shared among those supporting Lawan. There are about 36 senators-elect who are rooting for Ndume and that is because we are angry about how they are going about this senate presidency thing, he said. How will Lawan suggest that APC senators have donated their senators-elect for him to realise his senate presidency bid. They have gone ahead to share committees already excluding us. Things are not done that way. He said those supporting Ndume are angry over the bullying by Adams Oshiomhole, APC national chairman. The APC won 62 senate seats in the 2019 election. Recently, Eyinnaya Abaribe, senator representing Abia south, said Oshiomhole was not in a position to dictate to them on who to elect into the office of number three citizen. President Muhammadu Buhari returned to Abuja on Tuesday night, a day ahead of schedule. The president was initially scheduled to r... President Muhammadu Buhari returned to Abuja on Tuesday night, a day ahead of schedule. The president was initially scheduled to return to Abuja from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday at about 1.30a.m. However, the presidential aircraft carrying the president, his aides and some members of his entourage landed at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja at about 10.45p.m. It was gathered that the presidents decision to cut short his official engagements in Dubai might not be unconnected with security developments in Zamfara, Kaduna and some other parts of the country. President Buhari had on April 4 departed Abuja for Amman to honour an invitation by King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan to participate in the World Economic Forum (WEF). He delivered an address at the opening of the plenary alongside King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein and United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres. The president, who on Sunday moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), participated in the ninth edition of the Annual Investment Meeting. The Buhari Media Organisation on Tuesday asked security agencies to investigate what it described as the presidential candidate of the... The Buhari Media Organisation on Tuesday asked security agencies to investigate what it described as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakars unholy romance with foreign bodies especially the United States of America, in pursuit of a mandate he never had. The group made the call in a statement by its Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju; and Secretary, Cassidy Madueke. The organisation accused Atiku of seeking to destabilise the country in a bid to realise his failed presidential ambition. It claimed that the former vice president had been lobbying the US authorities to recognise him as Nigerias President despite his electoral defeat in the February 23 election. The BMO said Atikus action was treasonable with dire consequences. The statement read, We had in the past drawn attention to the desperation of the failed PDP presidential candidate to rule Nigeria at all cost, and it is becoming more obvious with his latest gambit. Not satisfied with pushing out cooked-up figures which he and his party claimed they got from the server of the Independent National Electoral Commission and are using as the basis of their legal challenge at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, Alhaji Abubakar is now using lobbyists in order to con the United States to his side. We at BMO are not surprised because we had raised the alarm even before the election that the PDP elements had been preparing ground for what they called a Venezuelan option by instigating the international community against the President Buhari-led administration, and by raising all sorts of false alarms. Now that news has filtered out that Atiku has hired some prominent American lawyers to lobby the US Congress and the Executive to recognise him as President, it is shocking that a man who rose to the position of vice president can be engaging in acts that amount to treasonable felony, especially as the legally authorised body in election matters, INEC, declared that he lost the presidential election. The group further claimed that increasing insecurity in parts of the country was planned to make President Muhammadu Buhari appear helpless. It added, We have seen how banditry has suddenly threatened to spiral out of control in Zamfara State and some other parts of North-Western Nigeria almost immediately after the election. These are places that were relatively peaceful before and during the election and which also had a reasonable turn out of voters. It should not be a surprise that this spectre of violence is deliberately orchestrated and coordinated as part of a game plan to make the incumbent President look helpless and win US support for the failed PDP presidential candidate who is not even known to be popular in that part of the country. The pro-Buhari group urged the US authorities to guard against being used by those it described as unpatriotic Nigerians to work against an election that their representatives in the country had hailed as largely free and fair. A report containing the final draft of the amendments will be ready next Sunday; MPs will be required to vote on each amended article Egypts parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Aal revealed on Wednesday that MPs will discuss the final draft of proposed amendments to the country's 2014 constitution on 16 and 17 April. "A sub-committee tasked with writing the final draft of the amendments will finish its job on Sunday, and then a report on this will be discussed on Tuesday (16 April) and Wednesday (17 April)," said Abdel-Aal, adding that "I hope that the final drafts will gain the full satisfaction of Egyptian public opinion." The amendments, submitted by the parliamentary majority Support Egypt coalition on 3 February, aim to increase the presidential term from four to six, reinstate the post of vice president, create a second House, and allocate a quota of 25 percent of seats in parliament to women. Abdel-Aal, addressing a meeting with MPs on the amendments on Wednesday, indicated that the discussion and vote on the amendments on 16 and 17 April will be the end of a stage. "A new and final stage will come when citizens will be invited to vote on the amendments in a public referendum," said Abdel-Aal, adding that "the referendum will be placed completely under judicial supervision." Abdel-Aal said that a report containing the final draft of the amendments will be ready next Sunday. "As for the plenary sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday 16 and 17 April they will be completely devoted to discussing the amendments," said Abdel-Aal. According to Abdel-Aal, the amendments do not seek to "militarise" Egypt. "None of the amended articles state that the Armed Forces should be involved in politics, as some think," said Abdel-Aal, adding that "the amendments in general maintain the role of the Armed Forces in safeguarding the country's borders against aggression and protecting the state's constitutional authorities." Abdel-Aal argued that "the Armed Forces playing politics means that it can take the side of a certain political party or a certain candidate at the expense of another, but everyone knows that the Egyptian army is a professional one and that it is just keen to exercise its constitutional roles." Responding to criticism leveled by MPs affiliated with the leftist 25-30 parliamentary group, Abdel-Aal also insisted that the amendments do not aim to institute an "inheritance of power." "Inheritance of power in Egypt has come to an end, and the amendments do not seek to keep a certain president in power forever," said Abdel-Aal, adding that "the amendments do not change the two-term limit, they just seek to increase the length of the presidential term." Abdel-Aal also indicated that citizens will be required to say "yes" or "no" to the amendments as a whole. "It would go against the constitution to vote in the referendum article by article," said Abdel-Aal. The meeting on Wednesday saw leftist MPs launching scathing attacks against the amendments, insisting that "they are needless and only to institute inheritance of power." Mortada Mansour, an independent MP and head of Zamalek Sporting Club, fiercely criticised the 2011's 25th January revolution, which forced former president Hosni Mubarak to relinquish power. He also criticised the current 2014 constitution, claiming that it was tailored to serve certain interests. Bahaaeddin Abu Shoqa, the chairperson of parliament's constitutional and legislative affairs committee, also indicated during the meeting that the amendments should gain the approval of two thirds of MPs no less than 400 out of a total 596 for the amendments to pass. "Once passed, the amendments will be put to a vote in a public referendum, and that the National Committee for Elections (NCE) will be the authority tasked with inviting citizens to participate in this referendum," said Abu Shoqa. Search Keywords: Short link: Casualties from the battle for Libya's capital mounted on Tuesday and the United Nations moved dozens of migrants to safety from a detention centre in the south of the city where fighting had raged nearby. Medical facilities reported 47 people killed and 181 wounded in recent days as eastern Libyan National Army (LNA) forces seek to take Tripoli from an internationally-recognised government, the World Health Organisation said. The fatalities were mainly fighters, although they also comprised nine civilians, including two doctors, the WHO said. In central Tripoli, while there were no signs yet of military and security vehicles or personnel on the streets, shops and cafes were closing earlier than usual in the evening and residents were apprehensive about the prospect of violence. "War is war: I am not afraid of the Libyan National Army, but I am afraid of the destruction that will never be reconstructed," said Mohamed Salem al-Sharwe, a taxi driver in Tripoli. The LNA forces of Khalifa Haftar - a former general in ousted strongman Muammar Gaddafi's army - seized the sparsely populated but oil-rich south earlier this year before heading toward Tripoli this month. They are fighting on the southern side of the city, where witnesses said on Monday afternoon the LNA had lost control of a former airport and withdrawn down the road. The government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj, who has run Tripoli since 2016 as part of a U.N.-brokered deal that Haftar boycotted, is seeking to repel the LNA with the help of armed groups from Misrata. Serraj's forces carried out an air strike on an LNA position in the suburb of Suq al-Khamis on Tuesday, a resident and an eastern military source said, without giving more details. The renewed conflict threatens to disrupt oil supplies, boost migration across the Mediterranean to Europe and scupper U.N. plans for an election to end rivalries between parallel administrations in east and west. Frightened and worried Libya has become the main conduit for African migrants and refugees trying to reach Europe, with many detained if their journey fails and they are sent back. Some 5,700 refugees and migrants are trapped in detention centres in conflict areas, U.N. agencies say. The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said that it had relocated more than 150 refugees from the Ain Zara detention centre in south Tripoli on Tuesday to a UNHCR facility in a safe zone. There had been heavy clashes near the Ain Zara centre in recent days, the agency said in a statement. "Refugees told UNHCR that they were frightened and worried about their safety, given ongoing fighting in the vicinity, and that they were left with minimal supplies," the statement said, adding the agency was working to ensure other detained migrants and refugees were not in harm's way. A U.N.-sponsored peace conference, scheduled to start on Sunday in the southwestern town of Ghadames, was postponed by envoy Ghassan Salame, who said he was working to hold the meeting "as soon as possible". "I would interpret Mr Salame's statement ... as a shifting (of) dates and I think as reaffirming his commitment to hold the conference," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York. The United Nations, United States, European Union and G7 bloc have appealed for a ceasefire, a return to a U.N. peace plan, and a halt to Haftar's push. On Monday, a warplane took out Tripoli's only functioning airport, and the number of displaced people - 3,400 at the last U.N. count - is mounting alongside the casualties. A woman teacher shopping at a supermarket in Tripoli said she planned to leave the capital, adding: "I don't care who wins or loses, I just want to survive with my family". Islamic State Far south of Tripoli, the jihadist Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for attacking the town of Fuqaha, where residents said three people were killed and another kidnapped. The attack indicated IS may be looking to exploit gaps left by movements of Haftar's troops. Fuqaha is controlled by fighters loyal to Haftar, who casts himself as a foe of Islamist extremism, though he is viewed by opponents as a new dictator in the mould of Gaddafi. IS has been active in Libya in the turmoil since the Western-backed overthrow of Gaddafi eight years ago. It took control of the coastal city of Sirte in 2015 but lost it the following year to local forces backed by U.S. air strikes, and now operates in the shadows. The Libyan state oil firm NOC met with oil operating firms to discuss security at oil fields and allow production to continue, a company statement said on Tuesday. Search Keywords: Short link: Researchers interpret Cherokee inscriptions in Alabama cave For the first time, a team of scholars and archaeologists has recorded and interpreted Cherokee inscriptions in Manitou Cave, Alabama. These inscriptions reveal evidence of secluded ceremonial activities at a time of crisis for the Cherokee, who were displaced from their ancestral lands and sent westward on the Trail of Tears in the 1830s. "These are the first Cherokee inscriptions ever found in a cave context, and the first from a cave to be translated," said Jan Simek, president emeritus of the University of Tennessee System and Distinguished Professor of Science in UT's Department of Anthropology. Simek is a co-author of the study "Talking Stones: Cherokee Syllabary in Manitou Cave, Alabama," published recently in Antiquity. "They tell us about what the people who wrote on the walls were doing in the cave and provide a direct link to how some Native Americans viewed caves as sacred places." The research team that worked to understand the nature and meaning of these historic inscriptions included scholars from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees, and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma as well as Euro-American archaeologists. The researchers concentrated on two main groups of Cherokee inscriptions found in Manitou Cave, a popular tourist site near Fort Payne, Alabama. Until now, indigenous uses of the cave had been unrecorded, as typical archaeological evidence like artifacts or deposits have been removed during its time as a tourist attraction. The first inscription records an important ritual event that took place in 1828, translated as "The leaders of the stickball team on the 30th day in their month April 1828." A nearby inscription reads "We who are those that have blood come out of their nose and mouth." Stickball is a Cherokee sport similar to lacrosse. "It is far more than a simple game," Simek said. "It is a ceremonial event that often continues over days, focusing on competition between two communities who epitomize the spirit and power of the people and their ancestors." A second series of inscriptions is located on the ceiling nearer to the entrance of the cave. "The ceiling inscriptions are written backwards, as if addressing readers inside the rock itself," Simek said. "This corresponds with part of one inscription which reads 'I am your grandson.' This is how the Cherokee might formally address the Old Ones, which can include deceased Cherokee ancestors as well as comprise other supernatural beings who inhabited the world before the Cherokee came into existence." The inscriptions analyzed by researchers indicate that caves like Manitou were seen by the Cherokee as spiritually potent places where wall embellishment was appropriate in the context of ceremonial action. Since their work in Manitou Cave, the researchers have identified several caves with similar inscriptions. They will continue to collaborate as scholars from the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes and archaeologists. "Our research has shown that the Cherokee voice in Alabama did in fact outlast the Trail of Tears," Simek said. "We will continue to document and protect these previously unknown records of indigenous American history and culture." ### Along with Simek, the study's authors are Beau Duke Carroll, who took part in the research as a graduate student in UT's Department of Anthropology; Alan Cressler of the US Geological Survey; Tom Belt, a member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees and coordinator of the Cherokee Language program at Western Carolina University; and Julie Reed, a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and former faculty member in UT's Department of History, now at Pennsylvania State University. CONTACT: Brian Canever (865-974-0937, bcanever@utk.edu) Jan Simek (jsimek@utk.edu) This story has been published on: 2019-04-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. The French foreign ministry said on Wednesday it regretted a decision by Algerian authorities to expel Agence France-Presse's bureau chief in the country. "We regret this decision and we would like to once again highlight the importance we attach towards the freedom of the press and the protection of journalists throughout the world," a spokesperson for the ministry said in an electronic briefing. Aymeric Vincenot, who had been AFP's Algiers bureau chief since June 2017, had a visa extension request turned down by Algerian officials and returned to Paris on Tuesday, an editor at the agency told Reuters. Search Keywords: Short link: The family of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi denied being in talks to reach a settlement out of court with Saudi authorities Wednesday, following reports that his sons had taken payouts. "Currently, the trial is taking place and no settlement discussion had been or is discussed," read an English statement posted to Salah Khashoggi's verified Twitter account. The Washington Post on April 1 reported Khashoggi's children, including Salah, had received multimillion-dollar homes and were being paid thousands of dollars per month by authorities. Khashoggi -- a contributor to the Post -- was killed and dismembered in October at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul by a team of 15 agents sent from Riyadh. His body has not been recovered. Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has been accused of orchestrating Khashoggi's killing, but a local investigation later claimed the prince was not involved. The kingdom initially said it had no knowledge of Khashoggi's fate, but later blamed rogue agents for his death. Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor has charged 11 people over his murder. Search Keywords: Short link: South Sudan's warring rivals President Salva Kiir and rebel leader and former vice president Riek Machar began a retreat at the Vatican Wednesday aimed at finding a path to peace. The arch-rivals met at the Casa Santa Marta within the Vatican's walls, a residence for visitors and home to Pope Francis, who chose it over the traditional papal palace on his election in 2013. The unimposing hotel was the scene of historic peace talks between Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2014. Kiir and Machar last saw each other in October last year, shortly after the signing of a power-sharing deal, when Machar made a brief return to Juba for the first time since fleeing on foot in a hail of gunfire in July 2016. Machar was Kiir's vice president until a falling out in 2013 which kickstarted a civil war just two years after independence from Sudan. Battles between those from Machar's Nuer community and Kiir's Dinka people were characterised by brutal violence, rape and UN warnings about "ethnic cleansing". Kiir met with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte earlier Wednesday before heading to the Vatican, where he was set to meet with members of a unity government which is meant to be in place in May. The Vatican confirmed the arrival of Machar, who under the new deal will be reinstated as vice-president. The other vice-presidents expected at the retreat are James Wani Igga, Taban Deng Gai and Rebecca Nyandeng De Mabior. Ecclesiastical authorities will be represented by the eight members of the South Sudan Council of Churches. The meeting will end Thursday with a speech by Pope Francis at 5pm (1500 GMT), followed by a dinner. Search Keywords: Short link: The move of Commander Khalifa Haftar towards the Libyan capital has boomeranged into increased support for the Tripoli-based government By Tuesday, five days since Libyan National Army (LNA) Commander Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar launched a military operation to secure control over Tripoli, Government of National Accord (GNA) forces succeeded in establishing a security cordon around the capital. The LNA campaign was launched shortly before the comprehensive National Conference that was expected to be held on 14 April, in the oasis town of Ghadames in western Libya under the sponsorship of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). However, on Tuesday, the UN decided to postpone the conference indefinitely. In fact, Haftars operation has dragged the country back to the brink of civil war and ended opportunities to formulate and implement a new political accord that UNSMIL had hoped to produce in Ghadames. In response to the advance, the Presidency Council of the GNA sounded a call to arms to rally forces in the western province of Tripolitania to the defence of the capital. The balance of military forces on the ground leans against Haftars forces, which means that the outcome of the battle for Tripoli and control of Tripolitania in general is settled in advance in favour of his adversaries. However, Haftar remains determined to press ahead, indifferent to the fact that the timing of his campaign coincided with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterress arrival in Tripoli. The UN Security Council, the EU and major Western powers have issued numerous statements collectively and individually urging all sides in Libya to exercise restraint and to avert hostilities that could claim large numbers of casualties. In a theatre of operations that is more densely populated than other parts of the country, the humanitarian risks are much higher. In the UN, tempers flared between the five permanent members of the Security Council who exchanged accusations concerning support for this side or that in the Libyan crisis. The differences hampered the passage of a resolution warning against the slide into violence in Libya and holding Haftar responsible. Russia, China and France opposed the resolution. The US State Department issued a stern message to Haftar, urging him to withdraw his forces to their previous positions before the operation began on 5 April. This was followed by a sternly worded press statement by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday, 7 April: The United States is deeply concerned about fighting near Tripoli. We have made clear that we oppose the military offensive by Khalifa Haftars forces and urge the immediate halt to these military operations against the Libyan capital. Pompeo reiterated Washingtons stance that there is no military solution to the Libya crisis. Also Sunday, the US temporarily withdrew some of its forces from Libya due to security conditions on the ground, according to a senior US military official. On Monday, Haftars forces staged an air strike against Mitiga international airport on the outskirts of Tripoli. UNSMIL head Ghassan Salame condemned the raid on the capitals only functioning airport that is available for civilian use. He added: This attack constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law which prohibits attacks against civilian infrastructure. This attack takes place as part of an escalation of violence on the ground in areas around Tripoli and western Libya. It appears that, despite the fact that the balance of forces is against him, Haftar is banking on the possibility that his march on the capital will induce his regional and international backers to come to his aid. Or, at the very least, in the event that he needs to back off under international pressure, they will help him to secure safe withdrawal for his forces and to hold on to forward positions from which he could stage another operation at a subsequent stage. The launch of the LNA military operation was trumpeted by a massive media campaign. But the costly operation could severely drain the financial resources of the eastern based army command. Therefore, the longer the operation continues, the greater the risk of attrition on the materiel of LNA forces in the west, a risk heightened by the likelihood of supply lines being severed. The closest command base to LNA troops in the vicinity of the capital is more than 1,000 kilometres away. Haftars dangerous escalation comes some days after he received military support from Russia and France, diplomatic sources told Al-Ahram Weekly. This helps explain the dispute in the UN Security Council, as it would appear that France and Russia favour a military over a political solution. After several days of fighting, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Libya Maria Ribeiro expressed her deep concern over the situation. The escalation of violence in and around Tripoli has caused the displacement of more than 2,800 persons fleeing from fighting, has blocked emergency services from reaching casualties and civilians, and damaged electricity lines. The upsurge in violence is further increasing the misery of refugees and migrants arbitrarily detained in detention centres in areas of active conflict, she said in a statement released Monday. More than a 100 people have been killed, hundreds wounded and hundreds of families driven from their homes in the areas of fighting, according to appeals from the Tripoli branch of the Libyan Red Crescent. Haftars operation against the Libyan capital has had the effect of strengthening the legitimacy of the GNA. Militia forces in the west have rallied behind the government, vowing to defend the capital and then move onto the offensive against the LNA. Militia forces in the west are wary of the possibility of international intervention that would shift balances in favour of Haftars forces and pave the way to their entry into the capital. However, they remain determined to fight to the end, especially following the encouragement they received from the Presidency Council and the GNA. Presidency Council Chairman Fayez Al-Sarraj and GNA Minister of Interior Fathi Bashaga lodged official protests with the French government against Pariss support for Haftars forces and the encouragement it offered in their offensive against the capital. French President Emmanuel Macron, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Frances Ambassador to Libya Beatrice du Hellen strenuously denied the allegations. Haftars personal stakes in this operation are high. If he loses or if his regional and international supporters abandon him, his political and military career will be over. Without outside support, his forces stand little chance against the assembly of militias in the west which outnumber his troops, are better armed and are better skilled in view of their eight years of combat experience. The field marshal must believe that his backers, after having invested so much in him, will see him through this conflict. *A version of this article appears in print in the 7 April, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Haftars Tripoli gamble Search Keywords: Short link: 10/04/2019 - Foreign aid from official donors in 2018 fell 2.7% from 2017, with a declining share going to the neediest countries, according to preliminary data collected by the OECD. The drop was largely due to less aid being spent on hosting refugees as arrivals slowed and rules were tightened on which refugee costs can come out of official aid budgets. Official development assistance (ODA) from the 30 members of the OECDs Development Assistance Committee (DAC) totalled USD 153.0 billion in 2018 as calculated using a new grant-equivalent methodology adopted from today as a more accurate way to count the donor effort in development loans. Under the cash-flow basis methodology used in the past, 2018 ODA was USD 149.3 billion, down 2.7% in real terms from 2017. Excluding aid spent on processing and hosting refugees, ODA was stable from 2017 to 2018. Using the cash-flow basis ODA figure to compare 2018 with 2017 shows that bilateral ODA to the least-developed countries fell by 3% in real terms from 2017, aid to Africa fell by 4%, and humanitarian aid fell by 8%. 2018 ODA outflows rose in 17 donor countries, with the biggest increases in Hungary, Iceland and New Zealand. ODA outflows fell in 12 countries, due in some to fewer refugee arrivals, with the largest declines in Austria, Finland, Greece, Italy, Japan and Portugal. This picture of stagnating public aid is particularly worrying as it follows data showing that private development flows are also declining, said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria. Donor countries are not living up to their 2015 pledge to ramp up development finance and this bodes badly for us being able to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The grant-equivalent ODA figure for 2018 is equivalent to 0.31% of the DAC donors combined gross national income, well below the target ratio of 0.7% ODA to GNI. Five DAC members Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom met or exceeded the 0.7% target. Non-DAC donors Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, whose ODA is not counted in the DAC total, provided 1.10% and 0.95% respectively of their GNI in development aid. The latest ODA data follows the OECDs recent Global Outlook on Financing for Sustainable Development which found that foreign direct investment to developing countries dropped by around a third over 2016-17, following a 12% drop in overall external finance from 2013-2016. The 2018 ODA release marks the adoption of a grant-equivalent methodology, which the DAC agreed in 2014 would provide a more realistic comparison between grants, which made up 83% of bilateral ODA in 2018, and loans, which were 17%. Whereas previously the full face value of a loan was counted as ODA and repayments were progressively subtracted, the grant-equivalent methodology means only the grant portion or the amount the provider gives away by lending below market rates, counts as ODA. The loan parameters are set so that donors can henceforth only provide loans to poor countries on very generous terms. The new grant-equivalent figure is not comparable with historical ODA data and so the 2018 figures starts a new grant-equivalent ODA series. Less ODA is going to least-developed and African countries, where it is most needed. This is worrying, said DAC Chair Susanna Moorehead. This new grant-equivalent methodology is a more accurate and transparent way of measuring donor effort. It is also designed to incentivise donors to send the most concessional loans, and more grants, to the countries that need them most. The new methodology mainly affects ODA data for countries with high ratios of loans to grants in their 2018 ODA such as Japan (whose grant-equivalent ODA rises 41% versus the cash-flow measure), Portugal (up 14%), Spain (up 11%), Germany (down 3.5%) and France, Korea and Belgium (all down 3%). It barely affects ODA data for countries that provide the bulk of their aid as grants. The OECDs aid statistics include official flows from DAC donors to developing countries. The OECD also monitors flows from some non-DAC providers and private foundations. The preliminary data release each April is followed by final and detailed statistics at the end of each year with a detailed geographic and sectoral breakdown. ODA makes up over two thirds of external finance for least-developed countries. The DAC is pushing for ODA to be better used as a lever to generate private investment and domestic tax revenue in poor countries to help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. An embeddable data visualisation is available at www.compareyourcountry.org/oda Please use the +share/embed button to generate the embed code for your website Links to aid data and background information: More information on ODA (including definitions, the list of eligible countries and a short video explaining the grant-equivalent methodology) All OECD aid data, including charts on donors & recipients since 1960: http://oe.cd/fsd-data For further information, journalists should contact Catherine Bremer in the OECD Media Office (+33 1 4524 9700.) The DAC is an OECD committee that serves as a forum for 30 donors and observer bodies. ODA is defined as official financing flows to promote the economic development and welfare of low and middle-income countries. Net ODA is total ODA spent minus repayment of loan principals by recipient countries. Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. Related Documents Clashes between Sudanese security forces and protesters holding a large anti-government sit-in outside the military's headquarters in the capital Khartoum killed at least 11 people including six security forces, the government's spokesman said Wednesday. Information Minister Hassan Ismail, who also serves as the government's spokesman, did not give further details on the violence a day earlier. Sudanese security forces tried again to break up the sit-in, which began over the weekend, killing at least 14 people on Tuesday, activists behind the demonstration said, disputing the government's figure. Attempts by security forces to break up the sit-in have killed at least 22 since Saturday, including five soldiers who protest organizers said were defending the sit-in. The demonstration is the latest in nearly four months of anti-government protests that have plunged Sudan into its worst crisis in years. The protests initially erupted last December with demonstrations against a spiraling economy, but quickly escalated into calls for an end to embattled President Omar al-Bashir's 30-year rule. Sudan's state news agency meanwhile said the country's ruling party will organize a rally this week in support of al-Bashir, who has weathered four months of protests calling for his resignation. SUNA reported that the National Congress Party is planning a rally for Thursday in Khartoum. The protests against al-Bashir gained momentum last week after Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in power for 20 years, resigned in response to weeks of similar protests. Saturday's marches marked the 34th anniversary of the overthrow of former President al-Nimeiri in a bloodless coup. It was one of the largest turnouts in the current wave of unrest. The military removed Nimeiri after a popular uprising in 1985. It quickly handed over power to an elected government. The dysfunctional administration lasted only a few years until al-Bashir _ a career army officer _ allied with Islamist hard-liners and toppled it in 1989. Al-Bashir has banned unauthorized public gatherings and granted sweeping powers to the police since imposing a state of emergency last month, and security forces have used tear gas, rubber bullets, live ammunition and batons against demonstrators. Security forces have responded to the protest movement with a fierce crackdown, killing dozens of people. Search Keywords: Short link: The family of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi denied being in talks to reach a settlement out of court with Saudi authorities Wednesday, following reports that his sons had taken payouts. "Currently, the trial is taking place and no settlement discussion had been or is discussed," read an English statement posted to Salah Khashoggi's verified Twitter account. The Washington Post on April 1 reported Khashoggi's children, including Salah, had received multimillion-dollar homes and were being paid thousands of dollars per month by authorities. Khashoggi was killed and dismembered in October at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul. His body has not been recovered. The kingdom initially said it had no knowledge of Khashoggi's fate, but later blamed rogue agents for his death. Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor has charged 11 people over his murder. Search Keywords: Short link: Mass protests that led Algeria's ailing president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down last week after 20 years in power have grown into demands for broader political changes. After Wednesday's announcement of elections in July, here is a timeline of the events rocking the North African nation. - 'No fifth mandate' - On February 22 tens of thousands of people demonstrate in Algiers and several other cities in the first major protests against Bouteflika's candidacy in April 18 elections. Thousands chant "No fifth mandate!" for the president, who was first elected in 1999. The 82-year-old Bouteflika is rarely seen in public following a stroke in 2013 that affected his speech and left him wheelchair-bound. - Election delayed - On March 1 tens of thousands protest across the country, including in the second- and third-largest cities Oran and Constantine. Two days later state television airs a letter from the president in which he vows not to serve a full term if re-elected, and to organise early polls in which he will not stand. On March 8 tens of thousands of people in several cities take part in the biggest rallies yet against Bouteflika's candidacy. The day after the president returns from medical treatment in Switzerland, he announces on March 11 that he is dropping his new bid for office. He scraps the elections altogether and says the vote will take place following a constitutional review. - Army chief adds pressure - Amid fears Bouteflika will cling to power despite his vow not to run, a huge crowd marches through Algiers on March 15 and major protests rock other key cities. Foreign diplomats say millions are on the streets. On March 22, a month after the protests started, hundreds of thousands of Algerians again stage demonstrations across the country. In a major development, army chief Ahmed Gaid Salah -- considered loyal to Bouteflika -- on March 26 demands the president steps down or be declared medically unfit to rule. A day later the ruling party's long-time coalition ally, the National Rally for Democracy (RND), says it "recommends the resignation of the president". The country's main union also welcomes the army chief's call. On March 29 hundreds of thousands of protesters again throng the streets, saying moves by his top loyalists to abandon Bouteflika do not go far enough. Two days later, Bouteflika names a new government headed by ex-interior minister Noureddine Bedoui. - Resignation - On April 1 state media announces Bouteflika will resign before his mandate expires on April 28. The next day Salah, the army chief, demands impeachment proceedings against the president begin immediately. On April 2 state television announces that Bouteflika has submitted his resignation with immediate effect. The decision "is destined to contribute to the appeasement of the hearts and minds of my compatriots," it quotes his resignation letter as saying. TV footage shows a frail Bouteflika handing the letter to the head of the constitutional council, Tayeb Belaiz. - New elections - Jubilant crowds cheer his departure, while continuing to demanding an overhaul of the remaining political elite. Masses of people again fill the streets on April 5, calling out the regime stalwarts still in place. They target the "3B" -- prime minister Bedoui, constitution council head Belaiz and upper house speaker Abdelakder Bensalah. On April 9 Bensalah is named interim president for 90 days until elections are organised. Opposition parties refuse to validate his nomination and thousands of students protest, demanding the departure of Bensalah and the entire ruling system. Demonstrations continue the following day, as the interim leader pledges "transparent" polls and his office says elections will be held on July 4. Search Keywords: Short link: European Union leaders were poised to grant Prime Minister Theresa May a second delay to Britain's fraught exit at an emergency summit on Wednesday, after arguing over how long and on what terms. French President Emmanuel Macron was pushing to withhold any commitment to extend Friday's deadline much beyond elections to the European Parliament on May 23-26 unless May binds herself, and any potentially more anti-EU successor, not to disrupt the workings of Brussels. "Nothing can be taken for granted," Macron warned, voicing frustration with a lack of clarity from London nearly three years after Britons voted to leave the bloc. Three weeks ago, Macron's impatience with France's historic cross-Channel rival dominated the last summit, when Brexit was put back by a fortnight. Diplomats said he was again facing a more cautious line from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said she favoured an extension of "several months". "The question isn't whether there will be an extension but for how long and under what conditions," a senior diplomat said. Keen to ease tension, Merkel broke the ice as talks began by showing an amused May a photomontage on a tablet of both wearing similar jackets when addressing their parliaments earlier in the day. May then briefed the other 27 on her efforts to work with her Labour opponents to find an elusive majority for a deal. After an hour, she was shown out to spend the evening in the British delegation rooms in the Council building, waiting for the others to decide Britain's fate over dinner. MAY WANTS OUT SOON Legally, Britain is due to leave the EU on Friday with no transition to new trading arrangements. But leaders insisted they would not force Britain out in a disorderly departure. "If they need a little more time, I think it's reasonable to discuss what that would be," Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins said, noting that Britain still faced choices -- to leave without a deal, accept the deal that its parliament has rejected three times, or change its mind and stay in the EU. May has asked the EU to wait until June 30. "I want us to be able to leave the European Union in a smooth and orderly way as soon as possible," she said. "I've asked for an extension to June 30, but what is important is that the extension enables us to leave at the point at which we ratify the Withdrawal Agreement, so we could leave on May 22 and start to build our brighter future." Some leaders, like Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, said Britain should have a year more to sort itself out. Others, like Swedish premier Stefan Lofven, echoed Macron's concerns about the risks of a long extension for the functioning of the EU. "FLEXTENSION" Summit chair Donald Tusk has proposed a "flextension" of nine months to a year. If Britain does not elect EU lawmakers, it must leave, with or without a deal, on June 1, according to a draft summit agreement seen by Reuters. Otherwise, it would leave as soon as it ratifies the deal, or without one when the extension ends. The final end-date was still blank in a new draft circulated during the summit, but it did add lines to acknowledge Macron's call for tight conditions to prevent Britain disrupting the Union from within if it takes longer to reach the exit. Paris also wants a new summit once it is clearer whether or not there will be an early ratification or a British EU vote. Macron fears "blackmail" by pro-Brexit Conservatives seeking to take over from May and is arguing that, to extend its membership beyond June, Britain must formally forswear its right to block key decisions taken by the other 27 member states, notably on the EU budget and key executive appointments. If granted an extension to, say, the end of this year, any British government would be unable to leave earlier, even if it wanted to, unless it signed up to the Withdrawal Agreement. In preparatory meetings, the Dutch, among others, argued that a long extension now would increase pressure on pro-Brexit critics of May's deal to accept it for fear that a long delay would increase the probability of Britain staying in the EU. BLACK HOLE BREXIT? EU leaders are exasperated with May's handling of a tortuous and potentially expensive divorce that many feel is a distraction from ensuring the bloc can hold its own beside the United States and China on trade and other issues. Across from the summit venue, the EU executive celebrated its part in funding a global project that produced the first picture of a black hole -- prompting no shortage of ironic comments on social media about the juxtaposition. Blogger Eliot Higgins tweeted: "We're now more certain about what black holes look like than what Brexit looks like." Search Keywords: Short link: Algeria's army chief said on Wednesday the judiciary will reopen old corruption investigations including a case related to state energy firm Sonatrach. Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Gaid Salah was giving a speech to military officers broadcast on the state TV channel. Search Keywords: Short link: Simultaneous heatwaves caused by anthropogenic climate change Many people will remember last summer - not only in Switzerland, but also in large swathes across the rest of Europe, as well as in North America and Asia. Multiple places around the world experienced heat so severe that people died of heatstroke, power generation had to be curtailed, rails and roads started to melt, and forests went up in flames. What was truly sobering about this heatwave was that it affected not only one area, such as the Mediterranean region, but several across the temperate zones and the Arctic simultaneously. ETH researchers have concluded that the only explanation of why heat affected so many areas over several months is anthropogenic climate change. These are the findings of the recent study that ETH climate researcher Martha Vogel presented today at the European Geosciences Union press conference in Vienna. The paper resulting from this study is currently in review for an academic publication. Analysing models and observations In the study, Vogel, a member of ETH Professor Sonia Seneviratne's team, looked at the areas of the Northern Hemisphere north of the 30th latitude that experienced extreme heat simultaneously from May to July 2018. She and her fellow researchers concentrated on key agricultural regions and densely populated areas. In addition they looked into how large-scale heatwaves are projected to change as a consequence of global warming. To explore these phenomena, the researchers analysed observation-based data from 1958 to 2018. They investigated state-of-the-art model simulations to project the geographic extent that heatwaves could reach by the end of the century if temperatures continue to climb. Massive increase in the areas affected by intense heat An evaluation of the data from last year's hot summer reveals that, on an average day from May to July, 22 percent of agricultural land and populated areas in the Northern Hemisphere were simultaneously hit by extremely high temperatures. The heatwave affected at least 17 countries, from Canada and the United States to Russia, Japan and South Korea. By studying the measurement data, the researchers realised that such large-scale heatwaves first appeared in the northern hemisphere in 2010, then in 2012, and again in 2018. Prior to 2010, however, the researchers did not find any instances of such large areas being affected simultaneously by heat. Widespread heat extremes ever more likely Model calculations confirm this trend. As the earth grows warmer, widespread heat extremes become more and more likely. According to model projections, every degree of global warming will cause the area of land in key agricultural regions or densely populated areas in the Northern Hemisphere that is simultaneously affected by extreme heat to grow by 16 percent. Should global temperatures rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, then one-quarter of the northern hemisphere will experience a summer as hot as the summer of 2018 every two out of three years If global warming reaches 2 degrees, the probability of such a period of extreme heat rises to almost 100 percent. In other words, every year extreme heat will affect an area just as large as the 2018 heatwave did. "Without the climate change that can be explained by human activity, we wouldn't have such a large area being simultaneously affected by heat as we did in 2018," says Vogel. She is alarmed by the prospect of extreme heat hitting an area as large as it did in 2018 every year if global temperatures rise by 2 degrees: "If in future more and more key agricultural regions and densely populated areas are affected by simultaneous heatwaves, this would have severe consequences." Heat puts food security in jeopardy Professor Seneviratne adds, "If multiple countries are affected by such natural disasters at the same time, they have no way to help one another." This was illustrated in 2018 by the forest fires in Sweden: at that time, several countries were able to help with firefighting infrastructure. However, if many countries are battling major fires at the same time, they can no longer support other affected countries. The food supply situation could also become critical: if broad expanses of areas vital to agriculture are struck by a heatwave, harvests could suffer massive losses and food prices would skyrocket. Anyone thinking these assumptions are overly pessimistic would do well to recall the heatwave that swept across Russia and Ukraine in 2010: Russia completely stopped all its wheat exports, which drove up the price of wheat on the global market. In Pakistan, one of the biggest importers of Russian wheat, the price of wheat rose by 16 percent. And because the Pakistani government cut food subsidies at the same time, poverty increased by 1.6 percent, according to a report by aid organisation Oxfam. "Such incidents cannot be resolved by individual countries acting on their own. Ultimately, extreme events affecting large areas of the planet could threaten the food supply elsewhere, even in Switzerland," Seneviratne emphasises. She continued by pointing out that climate change won't stabilise if we don't try harder. At present, we are on course for a temperature increase of 3 degrees. The Paris Agreement aims for a maximum of 1.5 degrees. "We are already clearly feeling the effects just from the one degree that the global average temperature has risen since the pre-industrial era," says Seneviratne. ### Reference Vogel MM, Zscheischler J, Wartenburger R, Dee D, Seneviratne SI. Concurrent 2018 hot extremes across Northern Hemisphere due to human-induced climate change. Earth's Future, in review. This story has been published on: 2019-04-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Just Released From Prison, Iranian Civil Rights Activist Golrokh Iraee Ebrahimi Faces More Time Behind Bars 04/10/19 Source: Center for Human Rights in Iran Newly released from prison, civil rights activist Golrokh Iraee Ebrahimi may have to serve more time behind bars depending on the outcome of another case against her, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned. Iraee, who had been serving a six-year prison sentence since October 2016 primarily for writing an unpublished story about stoning in Iran, walked out of Evin Prison in Tehran on April 8, 2019, after posting bail set at 60 million tomans ($14,242 USD). According to Article 134 of Iran's Islamic Penal Code, she was supposed to serve at least five years of her prison sentence; it is not clear why she was released at this time. Now she could be incarcerated again if found guilty in a case brought against her and political prisoner Atena Daemi by the director of Evin Prison, Ali Chaharmahali, a source with knowledge of the case told CHRI. "The other case is a complaint against both of them filed by Mr. Chaharmahali, accusing them of a lot of things like 'insulting the leader,' 'disturbing public opinion' and 'propaganda against the state,'" said the source who spoke on the condition of anonymity for security reasons. "Atena and Golrokh have presented their defense and some of the charges have been dropped," added the source. "They still have to present their final defense and it's not clear what the remaining charge in the case is." Daemi, Iraee's former cellmate, has been imprisoned since November 2016, serving a seven-year prison sentence for meeting the families of political prisoners, criticizing the Islamic Republic of Iran on Facebook, and condemning Iran's 1988 mass executions of political prisoners. Iraee's husband, civil rights activist Arash Sadeghi, has been serving a 15-year prison sentence for his peaceful political activities since 2016. He underwent a biopsy in June 2018 and was diagnosed with Chondrosarcoma, a rare form of cancer that causes bone tumors, according to a source with detailed knowledge of his case. Iranians Travel Less As U.S. Dollar Rose Fourfold In One Year 04/10/19 Source: Radio Farda The representative of a travel trade association in Iran says that because of the fall in the value of the Iranian currency, travel abroad declined 45 percent during Norooz holidays last month. The official government IRNA news agency quoted Hormatollah Rafiei as saying that both ground and air travel declined as the U.S. dollar rose against the Iranian currency. To save money, some Iranians managed to go to Turkey with their own private cars. The favorite destinations were Antalya and Istanbul in Turkey. Affordable way to travel cartoon by Taravat Niki, Iranian daily Ghanoon During better economic times Dubai was also a popular destination, where Iranian entertainers from the U.S. or Europe organized concerts that would not be allowed to be performed inside Iran. But with the falling currency Dubai has become too expensive for many. Travelling during the New Year two-week holidays has been a tradition for Iranians since modernization of the country enabled citizens to easily drive to other cities in the country or fly to neighboring countries, starting in the 1950s and 60s. Unprecedented floods were another impediment to travel. Hotel reservations in Iran also declined by 25 percent. Iranian oil exports recover close to pre-sanction levels: S&P Global Platts 04/10/19 Source: Press TV Iranian exports of crude oil and condensate have surged to levels near before sanctions, surprising market observers and affording the country an important victory in a US "economic war" on Tehran. Iran exported 1.70 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in March, the highest since October when shipments fell to 1.08 million bpd, data from shipping sources compiled by S&P Global Platts showed. According to the energy and commodities information provider, Iran's exports volumes have recovered by 60% since November, "surprising many on the market." That is because November was the month when US President Donald Trump's most extensive sanctions ever went into effect against Iran's oil industry. The explanation could be that some key clients of Iranian oil which had either halted or significantly reduced their shipments before November scrambled to pick up more volumes as Trump decided that month to give waivers to eight importers. Platts also cited data from geospatial analytics startup Ursa, saying Iran's crude inventories for exports had fallen by 25% since early January. Kharg Island which is the country's main export terminal had seen a 30% decline in inventories in March, it said. "With the US granting exemptions to some of Iran's biggest customers, exports seem to have fared better than anticipated," Platts quoted Geoffrey Craig, an energy analyst at Ursa, as saying. Iran's inventories include floating storage where crude and condensates are held on tankers in the Persian Gulf. The drawdown of floating storage and other inventories means Iran is likely to ramp up production. The country faces the 180-day US waiver expiring on May 3, with most importers saying they want to continue oil imports from Iran. On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo left the world guessing on whether the United States will extend waivers for countries importing oil from Iran. "We'll make that decision in due course as we move towards May 2nd," Pompeo said of the oil waivers. However, a recent rally in oil prices means there is little room for maneuver for the United States, energy experts say. US leaders have said Washington's ultimate aim is to get oil exports from Iran down to zero, but Iranian officials and many international analysts have dismissed it as a bluff. "We don't expect Iran oil exports to reach to actual zero. Zero Iran oil export poses a serious threat against the security of oil flow, especially from the Persian Gulf," said Sara Vakshouri, president of SVB Energy International. President Hassan Rouhani has said no oil will be exported from the Persian Gulf if the United States decides to block Iran's oil exports. On Tuesday, Parliament speaker Ali Larijani stressed that the US was unable to zero out Iran's oil exports. "You thought you could bring Iran's oil sales to zero last year, but you did not succeed," he said at parliament as he addressed the US over its designation of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a "terrorist organization". According to the Wall Street Journal, the US is most likely to extend waivers for South Korea, China, Japan, India and Turkey due to the potential impact on global oil supply from political unrest in Libya. The oil market is already tightening amid US sanctions on Venezuela and Iran. Renewed fighting in Libya and fears of fresh supply outages are driving prices higher. Libya is a significant supplier of oil to Europe which has cut imports of Iranian oil to zero, not including Turkey. Oil prices reached their highest since November above $71 a barrel on Tuesday. The Trump administration is under pressure after Republican losses in the midterm elections and is extremely wary of any threats to the economy, including higher gas prices. Minister for Information, Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has described as falsehoods, certain statements put out by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) that there is no value-for-money audit report on the $2bn infrastructure for bauxite project between the Government of Ghana and Sinohydro. On the contrary, he says, there is a value-for-money audit, and its subsequent report has okayed the project. The Information Minister made this known when speaking during an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday, 10th April 2019. The Minority in Parliament had earlier in the week asserted that Ghanaians could be shortchanged if government proceeds with the $2bn Sinohydro project without financial assessment of whether it offers value for money. NDC MP for Adaklu constituency in the Volta region and Tanking Member of Parliament's Roads and Transport Committee, Hon Kwame Agbodza, who led the charge, decried the fact there is also no written legal opinion from the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice covering the project. "And these two documents are demanded not by the Minority but by law," Kwame Agbodza pointed out. The Sinhydro project is expected to be inaugurated Wednesday as the Akufo-Addo government unveils its signature infrastructure plan at Chinese expense. Ghana must within the next three years have a bauxite processing factory up and running and used to process raw material as payment for the red dragons investment. Responding to this, Hon Opoong-Nkrumah countered that it is the "usual style of the NDC to put out falsehoods against every useful policy of government", describing the opposition party as "enemies of progress". The report indicates that The Ministry of Roads and Highways (MRH), by a letter MRH/PD264/323/01 dated 17th December, 2018, requested for a Value for Money Analysis for the Construction/Rehabilitation of Selected Roads and Interchanges in Ghana-Phase 1: Lot 1 (Accra Inner City Roads). Accordingly, the MRH submitted to the Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GhIS) on 8th January, 2019 documents relating to a proposed Contract between: Ministry of Roads and Highways (MRH, the Employer) of Ghana represented by the Department of Urban Roads (DUR), and Messrs Sinohydro Corporation Limited (SHCL) of China, (the Contractor) (the Parties) and requested GhIS to undertake a Value for Money (VFM). The report concludes In terms of their informational contents, both the Employers Requirements and the Contractors Proposal largely conform to the GhIS guidelines for best international practice. The documents are unambiguous and detailed and the Employers Requirements have the overall coherence and logical flow. This indicates that the "claim by the NDC that there is no value-for-money audit report is false and should be discarded", Hon Oppong-Nkrumah stated. Find attached a copy of the value-for-money audit report. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video We just want to use the media to talk to those who are perpetrating this; those who dont want the good of Ghana to be very careful....because we are ready for them. We have the soldiers, of course I am a soldier and I know that we have rules of engagement, but we will not hesitate if arrest is not possible to shoot to kill because Ghana must succeed, Head of Security for Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo), Major (rtd) Lawrence Appiah. The GRIDCo Head of Security gave this stern warning to perpetrators of would-be acts of sabotage against power lines across the country, especially those in the Tema enclave. He was reacting to reports of gas pipelines within the Tema enclave that were nearly torched by some unscrupulous people. Over the weekend, some security men on regular patrol checks along the pipelines believed to transmit fuel to the generating plants within the Tema enclave, discovered that some ignoble persons had packed car tyres over some pipelines and had torched these tyres. This disturbing development comes on the back of the destruction of some pylons near the head office of state power transmitter GRIDCo, a few weeks ago. Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, Major (rtd) Lawrence Appiah disclosed that the pipelines belonged to Cirrus Oil Services, a bulk oil distributor and not GRIDCo. He intimated that measures have been put in place to ensure that any further attempt on the company's properties or state facilities in the energy sector by perpetrators will be met with open fire by their security personnel on duty. Major (rtd) Appiah further revealed that directives have been given to their security personnel to "shoot to kill" anyone with such diabolical intent who will "attempt to sabotage" the operations of the power distributors in the Tema enclave. We just want to use the media to talk to those who are perpetrating this; those who dont want the good of Ghana to be very careful....because we are ready for them. We have the soldiers, of course I am a soldier and I know that we have rules of engagement, but we will not hesitate if arrest is not possible to shoot to kill because Ghana must succeed, he angrily warned. According to him, though he cannot be definite about the hidden motives of the person or group of persons involved, whoever sought to carry out that heinous act clearly had no intention of making away with parts I cant tell their motive and the target of the people who attempted to burn the lines but what I do know is that whoever sought to do that had no intention to pick anything away; the intention was to bring Ghana down...those who sell scraps are able to remove some of the parts of the pylon and sell them; so those are to be expected and we will work against them. But for somebody to sit down to cut a whole pylon down so that power will go off, I dont see their motive if it is not sabotage then I dont know what they seek, he said. Whiles urging other state agencies and private companies in the private sector to intensify their surveillance methods, Major (rtd) Appiah reiterated the pointed that every economic activity is being driven by this power we are all trying to work hard to make sure we succeed. The affected lines belong to Cirrus Oil Services and the luck we had was that there was no fuel in the lines but water. "I urge other security heads of other energy supplying companies to strengthen their surveillance as they can be the next target," he admonished. Meanwhile, Head of Health, Security and Safety Environment at Cirrus Oil Services, Daniel Amehoe, believes had the attempted arson been successful, it could have affected power supply to the entire country; "but fortunately, the under constructed tunnel contained water and not petrol or gas". Source: Daniel Adu Darko/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Conflicts with far-reaching and long-term consequences are on the horizon in the Eastern Mediterranean There is a growing view that after seven years of multi-faceted wars, the Eastern Mediterranean is returning to stability. Four factors lend credibility to this view, but their impact will be merely in the short-term. What will really shape the future of the Eastern Mediterranean are two realities that are also major harbingers of conflict. Lets begin with the factors that imply upcoming stability. First, the war to topple the Bashar Al-Assad regime in Syria was lost. The Gulf states that backed the rebel groups have adjusted to this reality and are gradually re-establishing links to Damascus. The Al-Assad regime and its allies have pacified almost the whole western and central parts of the country. The US will likely succeed in finding an accommodation that ensures for Turkey the security zone it wants in the north-west and a safe, effectively independent region for the Syrian Kurds in the north-east. The US will also succeed in coordinating the distribution of influence in the economically attractive parts of the country with Russia. All of this indicates that Syria will reach relative stability in 2019. Second, there will be an easing of the refugee crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean. Most of the ten-million-plus Syrians who have left in the past seven years will settle in the countries they have gone to. But some of the around three million Syrians who have been living in Jordan and Lebanon will gradually return to southern and eastern Syria in the coming years where the regimes control is less pronounced. International donors, aware of the socio-political pressures that their presence creates in Jordan and Lebanon, will prioritise their funding of the reconstruction of Syria to these areas. Plus, the reconstruction that will begin in the parts solidly under the regimes control will require labour and will create economic spill-overs that will incentivise more Syrians in these two countries to return. The lessening of the refugee crisis will strengthen the return-to-stability narrative. Third, Iraq is finally arriving at a grand deal between its social constituents that has a real chance of bringing stability. This will open up even more significant economic opportunities in the Eastern Mediterranean. Iraq is a populous country with a relatively high average disposable income. It has a diverse economy anchored on oil, but with serious agricultural and industrial potential. A return to relative normalcy there would be a huge boast to the Jordanian and Lebanese economies, would link the Gulfs surplus investment capital with opportunities in the Eastern Mediterranean and would absorb significant numbers of displaced Syrians into the colossal reconstruction work that will appear there. Fourth, there is a conviction, particularly in Washington, that a deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians could be reached. The view here is realistic enough to recognise that any such deal will not end the century-old conflict. But the assessment is that both sides have incentives to accept a deal that can survive well into the foreseeable future and that unlike the measures that were introduced after the 1993 Oslo Accords this time real improvements in the economic conditions of the West Bank and Gaza could materialise, which would strengthen buy-in for the deal. These factors combined have seduced many observers into thinking that economics can amend what politics has destroyed in the Eastern Mediterranean. However, they are wrong. Two key realities in the existing strategic landscape of the region augur for conflict. First, along with the approaching stability in Syria, there has come an unprecedented Iranian political and military presence in the country. This Iranian presence in Syria builds on an already existing power centre in the region, Hizbullah, which is the strongest, richest, best-managed political player in Lebanon and though a Lebanese force is part of the Iranian Shia Islamic power structure. Iran is in the Eastern Mediterranean to stay. Strategically, it correctly sees its expansion in the region as leverage in its confrontations with Israel and Saudi Arabia. There is also a historical, or even theological, reason. The Shia religious-political establishment sees its expansion in the Eastern Mediterranean as a return of Shiism to one of its key domains. Indeed, Shiism has always had a prominent presence in the region, and communities there centuries ago made important contributions to the development of Shia thinking before they were persecuted by successive political regimes. However, a permanent, strong Iranian presence in the Eastern Mediterranean is a threat to the Israeli security framework. The Israeli military establishment sees Israeli national security as resting on having unrivalled power relative to all the players in the region. Over the past 15 years, Iran has succeeded in significantly strengthening its political and military capabilities, despite repeated attempts by the US and Israel to weaken it and destabilise its regime. Thus, a strong Iran, effectively on Israels border, is not a reality that Israels military establishment will accept. Israel will wait, assess and calculate. But it will attempt to change that reality. At that moment of confrontation, Iran will be neither alone, nor willing to retreat. A key outcome of the seven years of war in Syria is that the close cooperation between the Al-Assad regime (commanding the official Syrian army), Hizbullah and the Islamic Republic of Iran has evolved into a strong alliance and a united front. As a result, in Israels future attempts to significantly weaken Irans presence in the Eastern Mediterranean it will face the combined military capabilities of these three players. This confrontation will be extremely bloody, highly disruptive to civilians (including in Israel), and devastating to infrastructure. This is why it is being postponed. But it is nevertheless inevitable. The second reality in the region today is that the dynamic that has prevailed over the last 15 years between Israel and the Palestinian Authority has come to breaking point. Since the disappearance of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the Israeli view has been that the political structure that succeeded him would sign a deal that Israel finds acceptable and be extremely cooperative with Israel in stemming security threats from the Palestinian territories. Neither of these things materialised. As a result, Israel came to the conclusion that it must change the dynamic: support the transition to a new Palestinian leadership, find a solution to the fact that Gaza is now a demographic time-bomb that is out of the control of the Palestinian executive power in the West Bank and curate a new deal (a must, given the swelling of Israeli settlements in the West Bank). At the heart of these elements, there is an Israeli conviction of the need to entrench the separation between the West Bank and Gaza. However, the Palestinians have also come to the conclusion that they need a new dynamic. The Palestinian Authority realises now that any deal designed in existing circumstances will reflect Israelis absolute dominance and so will not be acceptable to the Palestinian public. It has also now realised that it can neither subjugate nor marginalise the Islamist Hamas group that rules Gaza, and the latter in turn has realised that it can neither replace nor defeat the Palestinian Authority. A new deal between the two leading Palestinian factions is needed. And that deal must politically reconnect the West Bank and Gaza. The fundamental difference between these Israeli and Palestinian conclusions means that not only will there be no grand deal between the two sides in the foreseeable future, but also that there will be a political struggle to force through the separation versus reconnecting the West Bank and Gaza. Given how central this point is to Israels security assessments and Palestinian national aspirations, the struggle will likely involve violence. There are different views on how these two realities will affect the Eastern Mediterraneans strategic scene. The region might see a respite from the multi-faceted wars it has over seen over the past seven years, at least for a time. What is certain, though, is that conflicts with far-reaching and long-term consequences are on the horizon. *The writer is author of Islamism: A History of Political Islam, (Yale University Press, 2017). *A version of this article appears in print in the 4 April, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: The future of the Eastern Mediterranean Search Keywords: Short link: A high ranking member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko has declared his support for the new directive of the Bank of Ghana to upgrade the Ghana Cedi notes. In a post on his facebook wall, he said I welcome the upgraded cedi notes. But, what about a hundred cedi note? We promise not to misplace them! The Bank of Ghana says it is yet to determine the estimated cost of the introduction of security enhanced features on the new upgraded notes. The Central Bank announced its plans of issuing an upgraded GHC10, GHC20 and GHC50 notes into circulation next month. Head of Communications at the Bank of Ghana, Esi Hammond explains to Joy News that the upgraded bank notes will come with improved durability, machine readability and also meet international standards. But she noted the cost of the exercise is yet to be determined. . . I wouldnt know that, what Im concerned about at the moment is to bring to you the fact that we are going to bring to you something more durable that meets best practices at the moment. I dont know how much its going to cost but in line with what we do we have to make sure we are giving you good notes in line with our good or clean note policy, she said. Source: Josephine Acheampomaa/Peacefmonline/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Till date many have described him as the most wanted man in Ghana with a barrage of curses for supposedly operating a Ponzi scheme and absconding in his bid to escape trial. His arrest in Dubai was met with mix reactions in Ghana - some wanted him to be brought home to face trails, others were happy that at least he has been arrested. After many months of the NAM 1s brouhaha, Nana Appiah Mensah, the CEO of Menzgold has won his court case in Dubai and he is coming home within a few days time to settle Menzglold investors with over 30 million dollars he won after the trial. The Public Relations Officer of Menzgold, Nii Armah Amarteifio in an interview with NEAT FMs morning show Ghana Montie has for the first time narrated what really led to NAM 1s arrest in Dubai and how he won his court case. Listen Below 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. Featured Video 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. Police in Ethiopia say they have arrested a woman on suspicion of giving drugs, hidden in shampoo bottles, to a childhood friend detained in China. The woman's detention followed the arrest of civil engineer Nazrawit Abera, 27, at the airport in Beijing in December. Cocaine hidden in bottles of shampoo were allegedly found in Ms Nazrawit's possession. Her friends believe she was duped into carrying the cocaine. They have launched an online petition to demand her release, saying they fear she could be wrongly convicted and executed. "We are fearful, angry and do not know where to go and cry," an unnamed friend was quoted as saying. "We have not heard from her and we have little information of her status and her parents cry and spend sleepless nights hoping their daughter will come back." The Ethiopian attorney general's office said its preliminary investigation revealed that the drugs were brought from Brazil to Ethiopia, and were then sent to China. The investigation was also focusing on the source of money found in a home in the capital, Addis Ababa, the attorney general's office said. The occupant of the house had also been arrested, police said. Those arrested have not yet been charged. Source: BBC Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Some aggrieved residents of Tarkwa in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality of the Western Region on Wednesday morning blocked the main Tarkwa-Takoradi road; demonstrating against government for bad roads in their town. In a report filed by Nana Poku, the protestors mounted roadblocks and burnt car tyres on the Tarkwa-Ahietieso stretch of the road disrupting traffic flow. Further reports gathered indicate that the demonstrators were to submit a petition to the Tarkwa Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE); however, they seem to have changed their mind. There is however a heavy police presence to ensure the demonstration does not get out of hand. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Police in Ejisu in the Ashanti Region at the dawn of Sunday impounded a taxi cab loaded with goats, suspected to have been stolen. This was at Akyawkrom, near Ejisu on the Ejisu-Effiduase highway. Police Chief Superintendent Stephen Tane Egissah, Ejisu Divisional Police Commander, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that a patrol team intercepted the taxi with the goats. He said on the said date around 0300 hours, the team from the Division, who were on their normal night patrols on the Ejisu-Konongo section of the Kumasi-Accra highway, spotted a Toyota taxi with the registration number GM 4893-13. Superintendent Egissah said the patrol team became suspicious and decided to give the vehicle a chase. He said when the taxi driver realized that the car was being trailed by the police, he stopped at Akyawkrom and together with another person got out and run into the bush. Superintendent Egissah said when the patrol team inspected the abandoned taxi, they found 14 live goats. The taxi cab together with the goats, was taken to the Divisional Command. The Commander said investigations have begun and are appealing to people who had experienced vehicle or goat thefts in recent times, to report to the command to assist in investigations. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has developed an electronic payment platform for the informal sector to pay their quarterly taxes through mobile money in collaboration with the Banks. The new system which would start this year is part of the digitization process of GRA to leverage technology to improve tax administration. Mr Paul Kwesi Ahiakpor, the Assistant Commissioner of GRA under the Customs Division on Monday disclosed this during Northern Regional launching of Tax and Good Governance week celebration in Tamale. The program organised by Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance is to draw public attention on the importance of tax payment. The theme for the week celebration was File Your Tax Returns, Pay Your Taxes, Move Ghana beyond Aid. Mr Ahiakpor gave assurance that the staff and management of the GRA would be working very hard to achieve 2019 revenue target. According to him, the Legal Department has been directed by the government to prosecute all persons who earn income but have refused to pay tax. He urged the public to pay their taxes to empower them to demand the fair share of the national cake. Alhaji Alhassan Isahaku, the Northern Regional Director of Regional Cooperation Council who spoke on behalf of the Northern Regional Minister appealed to the public to pay their annual tax to enable government to improve development in the country. He called on the public to file their income tax returns for 2018 before the end of April 2019 to avoid the payment of interest and penalties. Dr Richard Opoku, a Doctor at the God Cares Community Hospital advised the GRA management to put up a system to indicate payment made by taxpayer across the country to enhance trust in the tax payment system. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Police have intensified investigations to unravel mysteries surrounding three cases of murder in the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Regions this year. According to the police it required reliable information from the public to make headway to arrest and prosecute suspects in connection with these murders. Chief Inspector Augustine Kingsley Oppong, Brong Ahafo Regional Police Public Relations Officer in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) expressed concern over the murders in the three regions. He said on March 23, the police found the body of one Kwasi Bright 18, in a pool of blood at Dormaa-Ahenkro. He said there was a deep cut on his forehead, and the body has since been deposited at the Dormaa-Ahenkro Presbyterian Hospital Mortuary. Mr Oppong said on March 7, one Abubakari Sadick was arrested in connection with the murder of one Kofi Asante 48. He said in that case the suspect with three other accomplices who are on the run, brutally assaulted the deceased who died upon arrival at the Regional hospital in Sunyani, whiles the body has since been deposited at the hospitals mortuary as investigations continue. Mr Oppong said on April 5, a body of a-35-year-old young woman was also discovered in a valley at Nyamebekyere Nkwanta near Akumsa-Dumase in the Nkoranza Municipality. He said that she had a deep cut on her throat with a cement block placed on the chest, Chief Inspector Oppong stated. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Parliament has approved a $100-million loan agreement for the construction of houses for personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF). The Sellers Credit-Financing Agreement was signed between the Government of Ghana and Poly Changda Overseas Engineering Company Limited of the Peoples Republic of China, in accordance with Article 181 of the 1992 Constitution. Some of the facilities to be constructed under the project include 160 two-bedroom half-compound houses, 176 two-bedroom flats, and a two-storey building. Statement In a statement to Parliament by the Committee on Defence and the Interior, the New Patriotic Party Member of Parliament for Manhyia North, Mr Collins Owusu Amankwa, who is the Vice-Chairman of the committee, said presently there was an acute shortage of accommodation for personnel of the GAF. He said apart from putting up the new housing facilities, existing accommodation for the personnel, many of which were in a dilapidated state, would also be rehabilitated. In June 2017, the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, cut the sod for the construction of four housing units for the GAF and also announced the commencement of work on 20 blocks of flats for them in Tamale. New men and officers of other ranks are being enlisted into the GAF every year. There is also the situation where senior officers, including Majors and Lieutenant Colonels, were living in single rooms originally designed for young and unmarried officers until they were reassigned bigger accommodation units, Mr Amankwa said. According to him, the consortium of Poly Technologies Inc. and Poly Changda Overseas Engineering Company Limited Group selected for the project had been working with the GAF for the past 15 years, for which reason he expressed the hope that they would execute the project to specification. Source: Graphic.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr has sided with economist Andrews Kwame Pianim in his assertion that it is meaningless to just bandy about economic figures if it does not translate into something tangible for Ghanaians. The celebrated Ghanaian business economist and investment consultant courted controversy this week when he was reported to have said that fixing the challenges of the local currency, the cedi; needs more action than mere words. To him, addressing the fundamentals of the economy is what should grab the attention of all. "All that I am saying is that people don't eat words. They see the exchange rate reflect in their cost of living because prices will go up. Let's stop talking and focus on addressing the fundamentals....It doesn't matter which party is in power; we should stop political point scoring," he stated. This follows a town hall meeting on Wednesday, that was led by the Economic Management team of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), chaired by Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. Dr. Bawumia speaking at the meeting stated how the ruling government has been able to put the economy back on track after the NDC left it in tatters. Click to read the full speech The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), countered a day later, with the party's flagbearer, John Mahama pontificating that government "can do all the lies and propaganda with the economy you like, the reality of people's life will eventually expose them (Akufo-Addo administration)." Adding his voice to this on Peace FM's morning show Kokrokoo, Kwesi Pratt said the figures churned out by the government will not be meaningful if it has no effect on peoples livelihood. Watch his submission below: Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Libyan Field Marshal Khalifa Haftars move against the militias controlling the countrys capital may be Libyas last good hope for peace and stability For a country that has been torn apart by terrorism, lawlessness and fanaticism, the declaration of Libyan Army Commander Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar on 4 April that he would answer the calls of residents of the Libyan capital Tripoli may mean that the horrific eight-year civil war in the country may finally be coming to an end. Libya may now be witnessing a new dawn to wash away the years of bloodshed and mayhem that have taken place since the death of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011 as a result of Haftars action. Since that date, mostly Islamist-leaning militants have controlled large parts of the vast Libyan state, including the capital Tripoli. Operation Toofan Al-Karama or the Deluge of pride, launched by the Libyan army to recapture Tripoli and clear it of the militias that have controlled it over recent years could not have come at a better time. After the fall of the last stronghold of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria earlier this year, the remnants of this notorious terrorist group have been aiming to regroup and rally in a new base in Africa. IS and Al-Qaeda remnants have had their eyes on Libya for years, from where they have aimed to launch attacks on neighbouring countries. Fortunately, thanks to efforts made by the Egyptian army, these plans have been thwarted and held at bay through airstrikes and army operations in coordination with the Libyan army. However, funded and armed by the Turkish and Qatari regimes, Libyan militants have still been able to liaise with Al-Qaeda and IS elements in the region. Some of these have formed a new branch of Al-Qaeda in southern Libya, though an operation carried out by the Libyan army in January this year halted this new Desert Army and resulted in the killing of three major Al-Qaeda leaders, including Al-Mahdi Dangu who orchestrated the massacre of 21 Egyptian Copts in Libya some years ago. That massacre resulted in a massive retaliation by the Egyptian army and air force against the group, which then fled to southern Libya. The timing of Haftars present operation is critical to save Libya from years if not decades of further mayhem should elements from the IS-affiliated Boko Haram group and Fulani tribal jihadists from the West African and Sahel countries join their allies in Libya. Instability in the region could also be exacerbated because of the resignation of former Algerian president Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika and the possibility of a power vacuum in that country following weeks of protests. If political stability is not regained rapidly in Algeria, its absence could assist the jihadists in their destructive activities. All these elements explain the extreme importance of the present Libyan army operation. However, the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government in Tripoli, which is recognised by the UN, has opposed the military operation and even called for the taking up of arms against it, in the words of Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Al-Sarraj. This call has been met by condemnation from Libyan Army Spokesman Ahmed Al-Mismari, who labelled Al-Sarrajs call a historic mistake and warned militants within the city not to engage with the Libyan military or face the consequences. The Libyan army has also revealed over recent years the deep involvement of the Qatari and Turkish regimes in supporting terrorist militias in the country. But the battle for control of Tripoli and the rest of Libya will not be easy, since the withdrawal of some of the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated militias could turn out to be a trap, particularly given the continuous influx of weapons, funds and political support from the aforementioned countries. The militias that have wreaked havoc in the Libyan state for the past eight years have lost any form of support from the population save the jihadists and Islamists that still back the Tripoli-based government. Only Libyans can restore Libyas unity. The European Union and even the United Nations have been inclined to support the status quo in Libya, a disaster in terms of the security of the country and the region. The situation in Libya has been left to exacerbate since 2011, even as the ban on military sales to the Libyan army, while the terrorists are receiving supplies of arms from Turkey and Qatar added to the military equipment belonging to the Libyan army that they have scavenged, has only kept the struggle going. The NATO operation that assisted the rebel forces against the former Gaddafi regime has left the country struggling and left the door open for militias to rule large parts of it. Libya has become a hub for IS and Al-Qaeda affiliates and its vast area a major source of terrorism, threatening neighbouring countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Chad. These terrorists have also found their way into European countries such as France and the UK, where they have committed major acts of terrorism including the Manchester Arena bombing that left 23 innocent people dead some years ago. This attack was committed by the IS Battar Brigade based in Libya. The expansion of IS and Al-Qaeda in the country was only stopped after the Egyptian army gave its support to its Libyan counterpart, resulting in the liberation of Benghazi and other cities in eastern Libya. The operations have also sought to secure southern towns in Libya earlier ransacked by IS and Al-Qaeda affiliates. The new operation carried out by Haftar aims to secure Libyas capital Tripoli and consolidate the Libyan state, its unified armed forces and the rule of law, three things that have been sorely lacking in Libya since the fall of the Gaddafi regime. This is the moment of truth for all those who care about Libya worldwide and for all those who claim they want peace and stability for the Libyan people. There have been calls for restraint and statements condemning the operation, but these stem from the very same elements and political circles that have led Libya to its current state of chaos. At the same time, they have not provided any tangible political solutions for the devastated country and have only added to the miseries of the Libyan people. While Field Marshal Haftars operation may be a harsh method of tackling the terrorism and violence in Libya, it may be Libyas last good hope for peace and stability. Haftars failure would render the country lawless for many years to come, but his success would mean that this North African nation would be able to regain its long-lost peace and prosperity. * The writer is a political analyst and author of Egypts Arab Spring and the Winding Road to Democracy. *A version of this article appears in print in the 7 April, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Saving Libya Search Keywords: Short link: Mr Cassiel Ato Forson, the Ranking Member on Finance, has expressed disappointment over governments decision to give huge tax waivers to ExxonMobil in approving the new Petroleum Agreement. Let me say that personally, I am disappointed today. I think the giveaway was overly too much to the extent that we, as a country, have failed so far as our negotiations are concerned. Mr Forson was reacting to Parliaments approval of the Petroleum Agreement between the Government, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, and ExxonMobil and Goil Offshore for the Exploration and Production of the Deepwater Cape Three Points Block. Mr Forson expressed worry about the negotiations relating to what he termed as additional oil entitlement, which would not inure to the benefit of the country. He argued that the withholding tax on dividend, which should have been maintained at eight percent, was rather reduced to zero percent in violation of the countrys tax laws. He also expressed concern about the withholding tax for sub-contractors and affiliate companies providing services to ExxonMobil, that should be maintained at 15 percent, but had been reduced to five percent, while that of local companies were also reduced from 7.5 percent to five percent, amounting to a huge revenue loss. Mr Forson said contrary to the Income Tax Act (Act 896), that states that ExxonMobil could carry forward its losses for five years, it had now been extended to 10 years. He said all the tax waivers granted ExxonMobil in the Agreement had huge revenue implication for the nation. Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, the former Minister of Energy, said though it was good to welcome ExxonMobil to the oil sector, the nation must make sure it did not lose out. He said the country must make sure that the Agreement they entered into with ExxonMobil was balanced in terms of the key provisions. Mr Buah said the Agreement ratified by Parliament was in complete violation of the countrys tax laws. It is sad for me to say that the Agreement that has been ratified is in complete violation of our tax law. I think it is important we address those issues when it comes to withholding tax, capital allowances. The danger is that, we are going to set the precedent that any company that comes to Ghana to explore for oil, would be given the same exemption that you gave ExxonMobil. Dr Mohammed Amin Anta, the Deputy Minister of Energy, in a reaction to the Minoritys claim, stated that in spite of the exemptions given to the ExxonMobil the net oil that Ghana would get is up to 84 percent, which is the highest so far in the history of the country. He explained that the last net oil the country earned under the National Democratic Congress administration was 74 percent. He said of the 13 oil companies that the NDC Government signed on none of them was performing because they could not raise the US$890 million they were required for their operations. We are looking at companies that are competent, and with ExxonMobil you cannot contest their competency. Dr Anta argued that it was very simplistic for the Minority to compare the previous petroleum agreements, which were shallow oil block, to the current ExxonMobil that was ultra-deepwater block. He explained that all the oil companies that had come to Ghana in terms of their seismic acquisition average were about 1,000 square km but that of Exxon was 2,200 km square. He said for the first time, technology transfer and annual training contribution were the highest, amounting to seven million dollars and two million dollars annually, respectively. So look at the exemption we are giving but also look at what we are getting from Exxon, which we have not gotten from any other company in Ghana he said. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Director of communications of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) Hon. Yaw Buaben Asamoa has charged communicators of the party to propagate more of President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addos achievement to Ghanains. According to him, President Nana Addo has achieved significant successes across various sectors of the economy within 2 years and that all communicators of NPP should engage in communicating about the good works of President Nana Addo to the good people of Ghana. The government has chalked numerous successes within the two years in government and would thus need enough time to broadcast them across the country. He also maintained that NPP government is on course and will not be left destructed by the NDC. Speaking exclusively to Peacefmonline.com during a clean up exercise in his constituency, the Adentan Member of Parliament disclosed that under the two years of the Akufo Addo government, the NPP has performed well but it's left with us the party executives and government appointees to campaign about the good work of the president to the people so that they can understand and vote for NPP in the 2020 genera elections". The massive clean-up exercise according to the Adentan lawmaker was to observe the monthly clean-up exercise empowered by the government to help make Ghana clean. It was also meant to create awareness among residents of Adantan and educate them about negative attitude of littering the environment with plastic and other materials. Source: Josephine Acheampomaa/Peacefmonline/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Chairperson of the West Brong Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG), Reverend Fei Hyeamang has challenged the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to work together with the police to disband all politically affiliated vigilante groups before the 2020 general election. The leadership of the NPP and NDC who are largely responsible for the emergence of these vigilante groups should rise up their responsibility and work together with the police to disband all politically affiliated groups immediately as a matter of national security. Rev. Hyeamang, who was speaking during the 10th-anniversary celebration of the presbytery at the Emmanuel Congregation, Berekum in the Bono Region, said political vigilante groups had a long history of lawlessness and should not be entertained. He reminded Ghanaians that Nigeria was spending huge sums of money to either incapacitate or erase Boko Haram and rebels in the Niger Delta because of the provoking crimes they had committed against humanity. It must, however, be noted that they started as young vigilante groups, especially in the Niger Delta to fight for rights which were then being violated by the oil and gas industry. West Brong Presbytery The West Brong Presbytery was carved out of the Brong Ahafo Presbytery and elevated on August 2009 after 43 years of being part of the Brong Ahafo Presbytery. It was the 15th presbytery to be created by the General Assembly of the PCG and consists of 11 pastoral districts namely: Berekum, Dormaa Ahenkro, Drobo, Dwenem, Japekrom, Jinijini, Nkrankwanta, Samoa, Seikwa, Suma Kwatwoma and Wamfie. The presbytery has a total of 43, 353 people made up of 13, 531 children under 12 years, 14,341 youth, 5,182 Young Adult Fellowship members and 12, 480 adults above 40 years. The colorful event, which brought together hundreds of people from all walk of life, was on the theme: "Go and make disciplines of all nations-Reviving the missions task". Free SHS On the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy, Rev. Hyeamang lauded the government for taking an important step, even if its formulation and implementation seemed unsteady right now and called on Ghanaians to support the policy since it would enable every student to receive education up to the SHS level. My concern is that not every student will qualify to read Science or General Arts. The government should consider the aggregate before selecting schools for the candidates, he stated, adding that those with weak passes could equally be trained in vocational and technical institutions. Infrastructure He called for financial and material support for the completion of ongoing Chairpersons manse, Amomaso project and other preaching points without places of worship. Many dilapidated school buildings need immediate repairs or renovation and support to the refugees at Fententaa Refugee Camp, Rev. Hyeamang stated. He called on the leadership and members of the church to renew their effort to defend their spiritual gains and maintain the same Christian environment. Appeal The Omanhene of the Berekum Traditional Council, Daasebre Dr Amankona Diawuo II, appealed to the presbytery to speed up its preparation and construction of the campus of the Presbyterian University and hospital at Berekum. He expressed concern about increasing recorded cases of Christians involved in invoking curses at Berekum and its surrounding communities. Source: Graphic.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has disclosed that Ghana and the Czech Republic have signed a 47 million Euro credit facility to provide 50 steel bridges in selected communities across the country as part of infrastructure works. According to him, the Minister of Roads and Highways representing government and the Ambassador of the Czech Republic have signed the agreement in Accra for the design, supply and installation of the small and medium steel bridges. Addressing the media in the Press briefing series, the Information Minister, Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah disclosed that the project involves the design, supply and installation of steel components for the construction of new bridges and replaces some existing bridges on rivers and pedestrian bridges including the execution of all sub-structure works and approach road works. He mentioned that per the agreement, the Department of Feeder Roads will have 20 bridges, the Ghana Highway Authority 20 bridges and the Department of Urban Roads 10 bridges. The project is estimated to be completed within a period of twenty-four (24) months from the commencement date. The core objectives of the Project include satisfying the basic human needs by increasing accessibility to hospitals, schools and other social/ cultural facilities which are greatly hampered due to lack of bridges at river crossing points. It is also to remove traffic bottleneck at river crossings and improve the movement of goods and people within the areas of influence, he emphasized. It is expected that by the end of the project execution, all year round access to schools, hospitals and markets will be provided thus eliminating interruptions in transporting people, farm produce and other items during the rainy seasons. This should also increase incomes of the people living along and within the project areas, he added. Source: Daniel Adu Darko/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has launched the $2 billion Government of Ghana SinoHydro Master Project Support Agreement (MPSA), and also cut the sod for the construction of the Tamale Interchange, the first interchange in the northern sector of the country. According to President Akufo-Addo, Ghana, through a barter arrangement, will have US$2 billion worth of priority infrastructure projects delivered across the country, in exchange for the delivery of Ghanaian manufactured aluminium products to Sinohydro. The barter arrangement has, thus, necessitated the establishment of the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation, a statutory public corporation, to oversee the development of the exploitation of the full value chain of the countrys bauxite resources. This, the President explained, is to guarantee that Ghana has a vibrant aluminium industry, and ensure that we live up to our end of the barter transaction. This innovative arrangement, the first of its kind on the continent, is not going to add to our countrys total debt stock. The President made this known on Wednesday, 10th April, 2019, at the Jubilee Park, in Tamale, in the Northern Region. Each of the sixteen (16) regions is set to benefit from the Sinohydro arrangement, with hospital projects, extension of electricity to rural communities, and construction of court and residential buildings for the Judicial Service, landfill sites and industrial parks, set to be undertaken. The projects under Phase 1, which have been approved by Parliament, are as follows: 1.Lot 1 Construction of Accra Inner City Roads. A total of eighty-four (84) kilometres of roads located in Trobu, Anyaa-Sowutoum, Dome-Kwabenya, Adenta and Teshie will be constructed; 2. Lot 2 Construction of Kumasi and Mampong Inner City Roads. A total of one hundred (100) kilometres of inner-city roads will be constructed in Kumasi and Mampong. In Kumasi, the affected road networks are in Manhyia, Suame, Tafo Pankrono, Asokwa, Kwadaso, Oforikrom, Subin, Nhyiaeso and Bantama; 3.Lot 3 Construction of the Tamale Interchange; 4.Lot 4 Construction of the PTC Roundabout Interchange, in Sekondi-Takoradi, the first interchange in the western part of our country; 5.Lot 5 Dualisation of the Adenta-Dodowa Road. Fourteen (14) kilometres of the Adenta-Dodowa Road will be dualised so as to reduce congestion, improve road safety, and reduce travel times on the corridor; 6.Lot 6 Construction of Sunyani Inner City and Berekum Township Roads. A total of thirty-nine (39) kilometres of roads will be constructed in Sunyani and Berekum Township. In Sunyani, twenty-nine (29) kilometres of inner-city roads will be constructed, whilst Berekum Township will see ten (10) kilometres of its roads constructed; 7.Lot 7 Construction of Prestea Township and Cape Coast Inner City Roads. A total of thirty-two (32) kilometres of roads will be constructed in Cape Coast and Prestea. In Cape Coast, twenty-two kilometres (22) of inner-city roads will be constructed, whilst Prestea Township will see ten (10) kilometres of roads constructed; 8.Lot 8 Upgrading of Selected Feeder Roads in Ashanti and Western Regions. Sixty-eight (68) kilometres of feeder roads in Ashanti and Western North regions will be rehabilitated. The roads that will be rehabilitated are mainly in communities that have bauxite deposits; 9.Lot 9 Rehabilitation of Akim Oda-Ofoase Road. This lot involves the rehabilitation of the thirty-eight (38) kilometre Akim Oda-Ofoase road, which is part of the trunk road network, IR3, and passes through several rural communities that connect Akim Oda to Ofoase; 10. Lot 10 Construction of the Hohoe-Jasikan-Dodo Pepesu Road of the Eastern Corridor. This will involve the construction of the sixty-six (66) kilometre section of the Eastern Corridor Road between Hohoe to Jasikan and Dodo Pepesu; These projects, President Akufo-Addo explained, are to be implemented on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) basis, and will be completed within thirty (30) calendar months after commencement. Government is also ensuring that, in accordance with the local content law, a minimum of 30% of works will be undertaken by Ghanaian contractors, and supervised by Ghanaian consultants. Thousands and thousands of jobs will be created for our youth, our country will be opened up for sustained growth and development, and, thereby, help put Ghana onto the path of progress and prosperity, he added. The President charged the Ministry of Roads and Highways and its implementing agencies to ensure that adequate and proper supervision is given to all the works being undertaken, guarantee that the country gets value for money, and ensure strict adherence to completion dates. Whilst urging contractors to be mindful of the environmental protection laws of the country, and institute measures to mitigate against the negative health impacts the projects may have on citizens, President Akufo-Addo stressed that I will not countenance any delays in the execution and delivery of the various infrastructural projects. Thirty (30) months is thirty (30) months. Under Phase 2 of the Sinohydro deal, which would come on stream after approval by Parliament, an additional 1,300 kilometres of roads, 3 interchanges, and 69 steel bridges will be constructed, at an estimated $850 million dollars. Additional housing projects, rural electrification projects, industrial parks, hospitals, sanitation projects, and additional court and residential buildings for the Judicial Service, are components of phase 2. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Former Deputy Communications Minister in the erstwhile Mahama administration, Felix Kwakye Ofosu has warned members of the governing government to stay away from Public Universities and keep to the laws that will make them operate independently. He said the motive of the current government is to politicize every state institution, even with positions which need to be occupied by independent minded individuals. NPP and its government want to maneuver through the powers of the President to politicize tertiary education, which will cause the nation a lot of harm when not addressed because the laws binding all state institutions must be respected, he said on Adom FMs Mpensenpensenmu programme. Some of the proposals in the Bill grant; a) the President power to dissolve the University Council; b) Allow the University Council to appoint a Chancellor and c) Allow unions to appoint only one representative on a rotational system to serve on the Council at each cycle. The bill which is yet to be presented to parliament has already caused the Ministry to receive some slack from the heads of some universities and lecturers. A former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana Professor Ivan Addae Mensah has joined the mounting opposition to the draft universities bill describing it as dangerous and totally unnecessary. He said the bill and its proposals are backward and will take universities back to the 60s. Source: Elizabeth Semiheva Bedi/Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Wiyaala will embark on a musical tour to some selected European countries to perform. Known for her exciting stage performances, Wiyaala will perform alongside some local and international acts during the tour which begins in May and ends in August 2019. The tour will kick off with a historic live performance at the Cecilia Hotel in Ljubjana, Slovenia on May 14. Wiyaala will also be performing at the Afro-Phingsten Festival in Switzerland on June 10, Migration Matters Festival in UK on June 22, the Kenako Afrika Festival, Berlin in Germany on July 4, Riddu Riddu Festival in Norway on July 10, Welcome To The Village Festival in Holland July 18, among others. She is expected to thrill Europe fans with songs like Make Me Dance, Rock My Body, Africa, Village Sex, Feeling Free, You Got The Power, I Moved On, among others. The Afro-pop artiste has performed on many international platforms, including a performance during the Womens AFCON 2018 opening ceremony, among others outside Ghana. Wiyaala, who is known for her energetic stage performances, launched her first maiden album titled Wiyaala in November 2014 at the Alliance Francaise in Accra. During the first edition of the All Africa Music Awards held on 27 December 2014 in Lagos, Wiyaala won two of the coveted 23.9-carat gold-plated trophies for the most promising artist in Africa and the revelation of the African continent. In December of 2018, Wiyaala released her second album Sissala Goddess, preceded by the singles Village Sex and When The Lord Get Us Ready. She released music videos for both, as well as one for the 14th track on the album Feeling Free. She is expected back in Ghana in August. Source: Daily Guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Bouteflika has stepped down, echoing what happened with Mubarak eight years prior. It remains to be seen if Algeria will avoid the instability Egypt then experienced No one could have imagined while celebrating New Year 2019 that Algeria would face a very grave political crisis that would cost President Abdelaziz Bouteflika a forced resignation three months later. The same situation had been witnessed in Egypt eight years earlier, when nobody had anticipated the forced departure of former president Hosni Mubarak from power. In both cases, the hidden disconnect between the people and those in position to rule came to light, taking government institutions in both countries by complete surprise. In the two instances, the military in Egypt and Algeria decided to support popular demands for the ouster of the two presidents. The sad ending to the rule of Mubarak and Bouteflika, after decades of serving honourably their countries, casts light on a perennial problem in government in the Arab republics that came into being as a result of the national liberation movements that swept the Arab world in the 1950s and the 1960s; namely, the highly-destabilising phenomenon of presidents for life. Moreover, Egypt and Algeria have shared two other characteristics. The first relates to growing family connections within the ruling circles. The second has to do with the presence of highly-politicised Islamist groups waiting in the shadows to assume power once the power structures either fail to deal effectively with popular demands for political change, or find themselves forced to rely, temporarily, on these forces to regain control. The latter was the case in Egypt and the former could be true as far as Algeria is concerned in the next few months. It is true that the power and influence of the Islamists in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafis and other lesser Islamist groups, in 2011 and 2012 was greater than the power enjoyed, at present, by similar groups in Algeria; however, their followers have been present in the streets by the hundreds of thousands with strict orders not to display their true religious affiliation. The drivers behind the growing popular disenchantment with the two rulers were more or less the same. Deteriorating living standards of the majority, the growing wealth gap between the haves and the have-nots, widespread corruption emanating, mainly, from the top without any degree of accountability, political disenfranchisement of the younger generations made worse by the high youth unemployment and the absence of a clear path towards democracy and the rule of law. In addition, the ruling parties, parties of artificial majorities that have no popular roots, behaved in a way that closed all doors to more open political systems in order to keep power indefinitely. But the most compelling reason for the sudden mass popular revolt in Egypt 2011 and Algeria 2019 was the spectre of a life-long presidential mandate. If power corrupts, as the saying goes, it is also true that quasi-permanent power blinds governing elites to true popular sentiments. In Egypt, before January 2011, as in Algeria in the first three months of 2019, governments failed to gauge these sentiments and growing political opposition to the ruling class. The ruling parties in both countries became change-resistant instead of articulating paths for more political openness and working on modernising the political systems so as to prepare the grounds for an orderly and peaceful transfer of power. Instead, these parties became political machines whose only task was the perpetuation of one-man rule. Still, there are differences between the two countries that could explain why the ultimate outcome of the present uncertain situation in Algeria would be different from how things developed in Egypt in the period 2011-2013. Political parties and groups in Algeria have greater popular roots that the ones in Egypt and their power of mobilisation and their political organisation are much deeper and stronger. Besides, they have shown a capacity of coalescing around certain objectives and demands that was not experienced in Egypt. Other differences lie in the nature of the role of the military and political Islam in the two countries. The difference in the role of the military has been a reflection of the mass popular appeal of the ruling party in Algeria and the lack thereof in the case of Egypt. The National Liberation Front (the FLN in French) had led the Algerian Revolution of November 1954, so it has gained a greater political legitimacy and credibility than the equivalent ruling party in Egypt (the National Democratic Party). That difference probably explains the limited role of the Algerian army in public life compared to the role of the Egyptian army that had led a revolution against the monarchy in July 1952, a revolution that has endowed it ever since with an accepted role in Egyptian politics. It goes without saying that this role varies according to political circumstances. It is too early to predict how the winds of change in Algeria would blow. Street demands nowadays are reminiscent to a great degree of the ones heard in Tahrir Square eight years ago. Even the wild accusations are taken from the same book. How the Algerians will manage the situation remains to be seen. If there is one thing that most observers have agreed upon it is that the Algerian army will make sure to channel massive popular unrest into peaceful avenues of change. However, this difficult process needs leaders that have enough popular legitimacy to steer the country towards a more secure, more stable and more democratic system. This is provided that the Algerian Islamists dont try to rock the boat at the expense of the army. In an interview published by the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat on Friday, 5 April, the leader of the Islamist movement Harakat Al-Salm (Movement of Pacification), Abdel-Razak Mekry, said he was afraid the Algerian military manages the political scene discreetly and indirectly and they are the ones who make presidents as well as core political arrangements. Former president Mubarak had missed a golden chance in 2005 not to seek re-election. So did Bouteflika in 2014. In Egypt and Algeria, five years have made all the difference not only in the ending of the reigns of both rulers, but also the destiny of their respective countries. If they had decided, back when, to leave office with their heads high, they would have spared their countries many uncertainties and hardships. Most importantly, they would have opened a democratic path for Egypt and Algeria by honouring the basic principle of constitutional rule; that is, the peaceful transfer of power. Back in May 2007, the world watched the then newly-elected French president Nicholas Sarkozy seeing off in the Elysees Palace in Paris the outgoing French president, the Gaullist Jacques Chirac. I hope Arab presidents at present and in the future watch this spectacular example of an orderly, constitutional and peaceful transfer of power. If they do, I am sure they will save their countries from a highly uncertain future. *The writer is former assistant foreign minister. *A version of this article appears in print in the 7 April, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Algeria and Egypt: Parallel paths Search Keywords: Short link: Cambodias Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries ministry said it will need continued help from civil society and international organisations in order to prevent the spread of African Swine Fever from Som Kaninh village in Ratanakkiri provinces OYadav district to nearby villages. Last month, ASF was detected in about 500 pigs that were being raised by families in Som Kaninh village. Most of the pigs had already died, but about 100 had to be culled. The ministry also carried out measures to prevent the spread of ASF by spraying disinfectants and barring the transportation of pigs. The Khmer Times reported that despite ministry efforts to contain the virus, experts suspect the virus may have already spread to three more villages. Tan Phannara, director of the ministrys animal health and production department, said the ministry will need to further collaborate with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), NGOs and members of the private sector. In these three villages, we are going to inform people to be aware and be careful. We currently have a budget because funds were provided by the FAO, those in the private sector and the government in order for us to resolve this issue by preventing the spread of the disease, he said. If we have full support from our partners, we will carry out this work in three villages at the same time. Get Our E-Newsletter - Pig World's best stories in your in-box twice a week See e-newsletter example Will be used in accordance with our Privacy Policy Key responsibilities & duties 1. Lead the execution of marketing communication from start to finish, leveraging internal support and driving collaboration 2. Identify target audiences, and develop marketing communication with specific objectives across different channels and segments 3. Develop promotional material (website, brochure, email, newsletter... BUJUMBURA The government of Burundi has failed to deliver justice for the killing of Ernest Manirumva, a Burundian anti-corruption activist, a decade ago. The emblematic case is an example of political interference with criminal investigations, especially in politically sensitive cases involving activists. Manirumva, a respected economist, had been investigating allegations of large-scale police corruption and illegal weapons purchases, among others, when he was killed. Manirumva was vice president of the Burundian group Anti-corruption and Economic Malpractice Observatory. Since January of that year, he had also been vice president of an official body that regulates public procurement. His death sent shockwaves through Burundian civil society. Manirumvas work threatened the interests of corrupt officials and businesspeople, said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch. A decade later, Manirumvas life and death are a stark reminder of the risks activists take in Burundi and the inability of the courts to end the impunity of the powerful. In the early hours of April 9, 2009, assailants raided Manirumvas home and stabbed him to death. Files were strewn around, and it appeared that documents had been taken. A trial of those accused of kidnapping and murdering Manirumva, concluded in May 2012 after just three days, fell short of holding high-level police and security suspects accountable. The court convicted 14 people, with sentences ranging from 10 years to life, but the prosecutor ignored important leads and recommendations from a Burundian commission of inquiry and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). After Manirumvas death, activists campaigned under the slogan Justice for Ernest Manirumva. A partie civile (the party representing the victims family and OLUCOME) documented irregularities and Burundian law violations during the trial and appealed to the Supreme Court on June 11, 2013. A lawyer working on the case told Human Rights Watch that no decision has been issued to date. The murder foreshadowed an increasingly dangerous environment for activists in Burundi. Since Manirumvas killing, human rights defenders, journalists, political opponents, and those deemed to be against the ruling party have been threatened, intimidated, arrested, and attacked. Under acute pressure, the courts have politicized the law and used questionable procedures to silence and detain members of nongovernmental organizations. Prosecutions increased in early 2014, in advance of the 2015 election, in which President Pierre Nkurunziza was elected for a controversial third term. Since then, many leading Burundian human rights defenders and independent journalists fled the country for their security. Human Rights Watch has received multiple credible allegations from lawyers and judges of political interference with the judiciary. Recent phone interviews, conducted on the condition of anonymity, suggest that these are widespread concerns. Judges and lawyers consistently spoke about the ruling party officials influence over the judiciary at the local, provincial, and national level. A decade later, Manirumvas life and death are a stark reminder of the risks activists take in Burundi and the inability of the courts to end the impunity of the powerful This interference takes several forms, especially for cases in which individuals are accused of threatening state security. One lawyer for a human rights defender said that he was not able to present his defense at his clients trial. Another lawyer said judges are forced to convict certain people. Among those recently imprisoned was Germain Rukuki, who was prosecuted in relation to his work with the now-banned anti-torture organization ACAT-Burundi. He was found guilty of rebellion, threatening state security, participation in an insurrectional movement, and attacks on the head of state and sentenced to 32 years in prison. Rukuki appealed the conviction, and although a decision should have been made by December 26, 2018, a lawyer informed about the case told Human Rights Watch that the appeals court had not located the file, leaving Rukukis case in limbo. In March 2019, the Supreme Courts spokesperson told local media that his file had been misplaced during the restructuring of the Appeals Court of Bujumbura. On April 4, three United Nations experts criticized the baseless charges against him and called for his release. Nestor Nibitanga, a human rights defender and regional observer with the Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons, was convicted on charges of threatening the security of the state and sentenced to five years in prison on August 13, 2018. Nibitanga was arrested in November 2017 and was unlawfully held incommunicado, without charge and without access to his family or a lawyer for almost two weeks. APRODH reported that judges cited Nibitangas continued work for the organization, which was suspended in 2016, as a motivation for the verdict. A judge Human Rights Watch interviewed said that in cases against people accused of threatening state security, the instructions are clear: There will never be a favorable outcome for the suspect in cases said to be political. Ive seen it with my own eyes cases where a public prosecutor will put court proceedings on hold while he calls a local or provincial administration official to ask for their input on the case. Lawyers and judges Human Rights Watch interviewed noted concerns about the nomination of judges, which they said is based on their political affiliation and willingness to comply with political interference. Lawyers, judges, and nongovernmental organizations have documented scores of detainees currently awaiting trial or appeal or who have not been released despite serving out their sentence or being acquitted. Aime Gatore, Emmanuel Nshimirimana, and Marius Nizigama, members of a local organization, Words and Action for Awakening Consciences and Changing Mentalities were sentenced to 10 years in prison for threatening the security of the state in March 2018, but were acquitted upon appeal in December. They were not released until March 21. A source close to the case said the delays were partly connected to the restructuring of the appeals court, but also due to the accusation against them. If a judge has to release someone accused of threatening the security of the state, they are afraid to do so, he said. In a January 2019 decree, the president ordered the acquittal or reduction of sentences of thousands of prisoners, except those convicted of serious offenses such as threatening the security of the state. Sensitive trials of people deemed opponents to the ruling party and accused of state security crimes highlight the judiciarys bias, Mudge said. If Burundian authorities dont find the political will to stop this impunity, the courts will become a hollow, meaningless, and corrupted shell. Related EU-funded scientists unveil first ever image of a black hole The European Commission has on Wednesday revealed the first ever image of a black hole taken by Event Horizon Telescope, a global scientific collaboration involving EU-funded scientists. This major discovery provides visual evidence for the existence of black holes and pushes the boundaries of modern science. The first ever observation of a black hole is the result of the large scale international research collaboration Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), where EU-funded researchers have played a key role. This major scientific achievement marks a paradigm shift in our understanding of black holes, confirms the predictions of Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity and opens up new lines of enquiry into our universe. The first image of a black hole successfully captured was unveiled in six simultaneous press conferences across the globe today. Fiction often inspires science, and black holes have long fuelled our dreams and curiosity. Today, thanks to the contribution of European scientists, the existence of black holes is no longer just a theoretical concept. This amazing discovery proves again how working together with partners around the world can lead to achieving the unthinkable and moving the horizons of our knowledge Background Source: European Commission The EUR 14 million BlackHoleCam project which aims at capturing the image, measuring and understanding black holes. Since 2014, this six year research project is being carried out by three lead scientists and their teams; namely Professors Heino Falcke from Radboud University Nijmegen (also Chair of EHT Science Council), Michael Kramer from the Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy, and Luciano Rezzolla from Goethe University Frankfurt. project which aims at capturing the image, measuring and understanding black holes. Since 2014, this six year research project is being carried out by three lead scientists and their teams; namely Professors Heino Falcke from Radboud University Nijmegen (also Chair of EHT Science Council), Michael Kramer from the Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy, and Luciano Rezzolla from Goethe University Frankfurt. The RadioNet project supports a consortium of 27 institutions in Europe, the Republic of Korea and South Africa that aim to integrate world-class infrastructures for research in radio astronomy. This includes radio telescopes, telescope arrays, data archives and the globally operating European Network for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (EVN). The project is coordinated by the Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy. In the past 15 years, the EU invested EUR 30.3 million in RadioNet. project supports a consortium of 27 institutions in Europe, the Republic of Korea and South Africa that aim to integrate world-class infrastructures for research in radio astronomy. This includes radio telescopes, telescope arrays, data archives and the globally operating European Network for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (EVN). The project is coordinated by the Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy. In the past 15 years, the EU invested EUR 30.3 million in RadioNet. The European Research Council, set up by the EU in 2007, is the premiere European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. Every year, it selects and funds the very best, creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run projects based in Europe. The ERC offers four core grant schemes: Starting, Consolidator, Advanced and Synergy Grants. With its additional Proof of Concept grant scheme, the ERC helps grantees to bridge the gap between grantees' pioneering research and early phases of its commercialisation. , commented Commissioner Carlos Moedas, responsible for Research, Science, and Innovation.The EU's bold approach to funding such paradigm-shifting blue-sky research leads once more to a success story. It also further validates the ERC's objective to fund high-risk/high-gain research," added President of the European Research Council (ERC), Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon.In particular, the EU has provided funding for three of the leading scientists and their teams involved in the discovery, as well as supported the development and upgrading of the large telescope infrastructure essential to the success of the project.Today's results add to the many achievements of the EU's research and innovation funding programmes Horizon 2020 and its predecessor Framework Programmes. Building on this success, the Commission has proposed Horizon Europe, the most ambitious EU programme yet to keep the EU at the forefront of global research and innovation.Black holes are extremely compressed cosmic objects, containing incredible amounts of mass within a tiny region. Their presence affects their surroundings in extreme ways, byThe captured image reveals the black hole at the centre of Messier 87, a massive galaxy in the constellation of Virgo.To allow the direct observation of a black hole's immediate environment, the Event Horizon Telescope has sought to upgrade andThese are located at challenging high-altitude sites, including in the Spanish Sierra Nevada, volcanoes in Hawaii and Mexico, mountains in Arizona, the Chilean Atacama Desert, and Antarctica. More than 200 researchers from Europe, Americas and East Asia are participating in this major international operation. If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here NEWSALERT-FOOT-AGUERO-RETIREMENT Barcelona striker Sergio Aguero says he is retiring for health reasons. (AP)Barcelona striker Sergio Aguero says he is retiring for health reasons. (AP) AH Meeting for ministers, governors of occupied provinces approves openness to counter-occupation parties [10/April/2019] SANAA, April 10 (Saba) - The joint ministerial meeting of the ministers of the occupied provinces and the governors of the southern and eastern provinces approved on Tuesday openness to all counter-occupation-and aggression parties or those against the resigned Hadi's authorities. The meeting, held under chairmanship of the member of the Supreme Political Council Ahmed al-Rahawi and Prime Minister Dr. Abdul Aziz bin Habtoor, discussed the topics on his agenda. It discussed developments in the occupied provinces, especially in relation to the rise of popular anger against the Saudi Saudi occupier and the rising voices calling for resisting the destructive and subversive occupier project which used all means to suppress and humiliate the people of those provinces, including al-Qaeda plot, to impose its presence and implement its own agenda. The meeting referred to the Governors' report on the recent developments in their provinces in the political, security and social aspects, their proposals on the field missions for the coming period, and keeping abreast of the events taking place in the city of Aden and the movement of its residents in the face of the occupiers. The report of the governor of Hadramout, Luqman Paras, on the situation in the province, especially related to the information that talks about Hadi's intention, as part of his approach to continue tearing up Yemen and the destruction of the Constitution, to hold a meeting of members of the parliament loyal to the US-saudi aggression coalition and the occupation states of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which make them lost any legitimacy when they blessed the aggression against their country. The participants condemned the Hadi's efforts to convene a meeting of people who have no legal, constitutional or popular legitimacy. The participant listened to a report submitted by Governor of Socotra Hashim Al-Saqateri on the situation in the archipelago and the efforts of the UAE occupier to consecrate his illegal existence and to establish a port on the island while continuing to use his criminal methods to terrorize the islanders and exploit the difficult living conditions they are currently going through in order to serve their interests. The meeting reviewed a report on the process of assembling terrorists elements of al-Qaedafrom a number of countries, notably Iraq, Syria and Libya, by the coalition to push those elements to the front lines, especially in the western coast to fight the army, security forces, the popular forces, and volunteers from the Free tribes. The meeting condemned the practices and acts violating the Yemeni sovereignty carried out by the Saudi-UAE occupier, whether in Socotra or other provinces under occupation. The meeting stressed that bringing of al-Qaeda and Daash terrorist groups to Yemen and inciting them to fight against the Yemeni people confirms beyond any doubt the sponsorship and financing by the Saudi and UAE terrorist regimes to terrorism to serve their subversive agenda serving Zionist occupier. The meeting brought the United Nations, the Security Council and Hadi responsibility for the successive violations of the coalition to the Yemeni sovereignty, as well as all the brutal crimes committed by them against the Yemeni people, the latest of which was targeting a residential neighborhood in the Sawan area, killing and injuring 109 people. The meeting approved the proposals of the governors and their vision to strengthen the national spirit of resistance to the occupier in all the occupied provinces stressing on field work importance. He stressed that all continue to submit their reports on political and security developments and proposals approved on the field and the project resisting the occupier, as well as the submission of regulations governing the field work of resistance to the occupier. AA Saba Parliament reviews part of report of committee of Information, Culture and Tourism [10/April/2019] SANAA, April 10 (Saba) - The parliament on Wednesday held its sessions for the second period of the first half-year of the 14th annual session today under the chairmanship of its Speaker Yahya al-Ra'i. At the session, the parliament reviewed part of the report submitted by the Committee of Information, Culture and Tourism on the irregularities committed the historic cities in Yemen and the warning issued by UNESCO of removing them from the World Heritage List. The report of the parliamentary committee pointed out that the irregularities are concentrated in the old city of Sanaa, the historic city of Zabid, the city of Shibam Hadramout and the Socotra archipelago. The Committee emphasized that responsibility for the preservation of historic cities is a shared responsibility with the relevant bodies. In its report, the Committee addressed a number of conclusions and observations and made suggestions for solutions. The parliament will complete its review of this report at a future meeting. The parliament had started its session by reviewing the minutes of its previous meeting and approved it, and will continue its work next Saturday, God willing. AA Saba By SA Commercial Prop News Nissan South Africa MD, Mike Whitfield has said the new plant will provide 400 new permanent jobs. Nissan SA will invest R3 billion equipping its local plant to build the Japanese carmaker's new Navara model, the company said on Wednesday. The manufacture of the model from 2020 will create 400 direct factory jobs with a further 800 jobs created along the car production value chain. President Cyril Ramaphosa was invited to celebrate the investment milestone. Capacity at Nissans plant in Rosslyn, near Pretoria, will increase by 30,000 units in the first phase, Mike Whitfield, managing director at Nissan South Africa said, while the plants permanent headcount will increase by 400. "Today, we're able to announce that the Nissan South Africa Rosslyn facility will build the entire model range Nissan Navara for both local and export (markets)," Whitfield said at an event to announce the investment. While production operations elsewhere will also build the new Navara, a pick-up, Nissan South Africa will supply the local and continental market. Ramaphosa said Nissan's investment marked a "milestone" in his drive, and was a vote of confidence in South Africa. In common with many global carmakers, Nissan doesn't currently have any significant production operations in sub-Saharan Africa outside South Africa, which it entered in 1963 and is the only substantial market for new cars in the region. However Nissan, and many rivals, are hoping that will change. A number have recently opened or committed to open plants elsewhere, including in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. The Congress on Tuesday said that demonetisation was the "biggest scam" in the country and alleged involvement of government officials in currency exchange to earn money and looting the country. Congress leader Kapil Sibal played a video at a media briefing here and alleged that an employee of RAW, India's external intelligence agency, was involved in the money exchange. "A RAW official can be seen in the video. His ID of cabinet secretariat can be seen. A bank manager was involved. All the things being shown took place in the godown of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation," he said. He said the video has been taken from a website which has tapes of several hours. "You have seen in the past five years how money has flowed like water. You have seen a glimpse of how it is flowing, why it is flowing. If a banker, government employees, people of the treasury, earn an exchange of 15 to 40 per cent, how much they would have earned," he said. Sibal alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "traumatised" the people of this country. "He is traumatising and he has traumatised journalists, his political opponents and he has used agencies to target people who are opposed to him," Sibal alleged. He said the government should probe the contents of the video, saying it amounts to "treason". "Since the ED searches people with such alacrity, then with equal alacrity, they should tell the people what the truth is, but, they will not do it," he said. Referring to a video clip he showed at a press conference last month, Sibal alleged that it was of a man who exchanged demonetized currency worth Rs 5 crore at 40 per cent commission against legal tender of Rs 3 crore in Rs 2,000 notes with the help of a BJP worker in Ahmedabad. "He (the man) said 'we can give you that exchange even in Bombay'. He says there are 26 such operations throughout the country - 22+4 (22 men and four women)." "Will the government arrest these people, will the ED arrest these people? They will not because ED protects those who loot the country," he said. Answering a query, he said the party had gone to the Election Commission over NaMo TV. "There is no licence, there is no broadcasting licence, they say this is an advertisement. So, if it is advertisement, then it must be included in the expenditure of the Prime Minister because it is eulogising the Prime Minister, but nobody will take action because nobody dares, nobody dares in this country to speak out any more," he said. Asked about Modi's allegations of scams during the UPA, he said: "All the scams have come to nothing." The hustle and bustle of campaigning came to an end on Tuesday in 91 Lok Sabha constituencies spread over 20 states and Union Territories which will go to the polls on Thursday marking the start of the mega seven-phase electoral exercise. An Election Commission (EC) officer said that since poll timings vary in different seats, the campaigning period also ended at different times between 4 p.m and 6 p.m in different constituencies, 48 hours before the voting closure time. The 48-hour period preceding the conclusion of voting is called the "silence period" during which any kind of political campaigning is prohibited. As the silence period began, the election rallies and street corner meetings ended in the 91 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. In the first phase, voting will take place in all seats in eight states and two Union Territories. These include all the 25 Lok Sabha seats of Andhra Pradesh, 17 seats of Telangana, five seats of Uttarakhand, two seats each of Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Meghalaya, and one seat each of Chhattisgarh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Andaman & Nicobar Islands as well as Lakshadweep. The first phase will also cover Uttar Pradesh's eight out of 80 Lok Sabha seats, four out of 40 seats of Bihar, two out of 42 seats of West Bengal and two out of six in Jammu and Kashmir. The electorate in five (of 14 constituencies) in Assam, one (of 11) in Chhattisgarh, seven (of 48) in Maharashtra, one (of two) in Manipur, four (of 21) in Odisha and one (of two) in Tripura would also cast their votes in this phase. The seven-phase Lok Sabha elections are scheduled from April 11 to May 19. Counting of votes will take place on May 23. Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/09/2019 -- Increasing investments in the Asia Pacific Region to Provide Greater Business Opportunities for Major Market Players An assessment of the automotive LED market at a global level reveals its spread across the seven key regions, including North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Japan, Middle East and Africa (MEA), Asia Pacific excluding Japan. The key market players are seen engaging in various strategies for expanding their businesses in the promising regions. The Asia Pacific is expected to be amongst the key regions that would provide the scope and increasing opportunities for major participants in the automotive LED market. In countries such as China and India in the Asia Pacific region, the key companies are seen harnessing the potential of these nations and extending their business in these regions. With increasing investments in this region, market players are able to strengthen their global presence owing to the ever-growing automotive industry. For instance, key players such as OSRAM and Lumiled are seen extending their capabilities in the Asia Pacific market. Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-5126 The European automotive LED market is also one of the key markets that contribute to the overall growth of the market. The increasing use of automobiles in the European region is expected to provide major growth prospects for the companies that are involved in automotive LED manufacturing. From Halogen Lamps to Automotive LED Lights, the Industry to Exhibit Major Transformation The cost effectiveness associated with automotive LED is amongst the key factors that facilitate the shift from conventional halogen automotive lamps to automotive LED. This has further led to the adoption of automotive LED in the economy cars segment, which is amongst the major drivers for the penetration of the automotive LED market. The prevalence of automotive LED in interior automotive lighting is comparatively higher. When it comes to exterior automotive lighting, there is a noteworthy uptake of automotive LED in the high-end and premium vehicle segment. Moreover, manufacturers are seen investing in innovation centers and advanced technologies, which is further expected to boost the market for automotive LED. OSRAM's automotive LED are being incorporated for interior lighting to achieve a stylish ambience in the vehicles. The increasing demand for hybrid and electric vehicles is expected to foster the demand for automotive LED owing to the automakers' emphasis on attractive interiors to be a major differentiating factor. Furthermore, the governments of various nations are providing incentives for the manufacturing of automotive LED in light of their aim to promote the use of energy saving alternatives. The automotive LED market is influenced by these major factors that could contribute to its growth. Auto-makers such as Jaguar are implementing automotive LED into their autonomous cars with innovative applications and are identifying newer capabilities of automotive LED. The company developed a prototype autonomous vehicle with two virtual eyes with the idea of making an eye contact with pedestrians to ensure that they feel safe when they cross the road. Although being widely used, government regulations such as those imposed by the UK government are to be followed when automotive LED lamps are fitted into vehicles. Moreover, with drivers being distracted with bright lights in their rear view mirrors, it could be a restraining factor for the automotive LED market. Automotive LED Market Players to Harness Future Opportunities with Innovative Offerings and Competitive Strategies The automotive LED market participants are seen engaging in major strategic functions to ensure that they could grab a bigger share of the overall market. New product developments carried out by market players are anticipated to help the automotive LED market players differentiate their brand offerings in the global market. OSRAM's new automotive LED, Oslon Boost HX, is designed with innovation that helps headlights gain high resolution and project the relative information onto the road. Lumiled had opened its new innovation center in Shanghai with an aim to reinforce its Asian commitments. HELLA was seen partnering with Volkswagen for the development of the LED Matrix Headlamp Automotive LED Market Segmentation helps Analyze the Sub-divisions of the Market The automotive LED market is segmented based on three major factors which include application, type of vehicle, and sales channel. Based on the application, the segments in which the automotive LED market is sub-divided into interior and exterior lighting. Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-5126 The segments in the interior automotive lighting include footwell lighting, dash, dome, and others while the exterior automotive lighting include fog lamps, turn signals, side makers light, daytime running lights (DRLS), tail lights, parking lights, and others. According to the vehicle type, the automotive LED market is segmented as LCV, passenger car, and HCV. The sales channels included in the segmentation of the automotive LED market are OEM and after-market. Latest Report: Neurovascular Guidewires Market Hardware Security Module Market Diketene Derivatives Market Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/10/2019 -- Bronchial thermoplasty is an evolutionary therapy for treating asthma, a leading chronic disease across the globe. Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases among children which worsens with age. It is a complex inflammatory disease caused by genetic mutation or other environmental factors. In asthma, the airway muscles become hypersensitive to various allergens, triggering inflammation of the muscular wall of airway tract, and consequently narrowing the airway passage. The inflammation eventually leads to thickening of smooth muscle of airway tract, which results in restricted air flow affecting the breathing process. Treatment of asthma involves administration of various drugs such as albuterol, steroids and beta agonists through inhalers and nebulizers. However, bronchial thermoplasty is recommended in severe cases, where asthma control with these medications is less effective. View Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/bronchial-thermoplasty-market.html According to World Health Organization (WHO) report published in 2017, 235 million people across the world were affected with asthma in 2015 and it accounted for 383,000 deaths globally. Incidence rate of asthma is rising among children due to increase in susceptibility to various airborne allergens and other associated risk factors. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), prevalence of asthma among children was 8.4% in the U.S. in 2015. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during 2006 to 2010among the total asthma patients in the U.S., uncontrolled asthma was evident in 38% children and 50% adults. Rise in number of asthma cases drives demand for more effective treatments. This has induced the industry to develop new therapeutic devices such as bronchial thermoplasty. However, bronchial thermoplasty is an expensive procedure and requires skilled operator and well developed infrastructure. Moreover, restricted patient selection criteria for bronchial thermoplasty restrains its adoption among physicians. Bronchial thermoplasty is a minimally invasive procedure, which involves provision of radiofrequency energy to bronchial wall through a catheter. A bronchoscope is inserted through the nasal cavity through which a thermoplasty catheter is advanced to the therapy sight. The catheter comprises four electrodes in the shape of a basket and temperature sensors. Bronchial thermoplasty is performed in three settings separated by three weeks' time. In each setting, different parts of the bronchi are targeted for therapy, such as left lower lobe and right lower lobe are treated in first and second sittings, while upper lobes are treated in the third sitting. The electrodes provide temperature of about 65 C for 10 seconds to 15 seconds, which reduces the chances of adverse effects. The procedure lasts for 30 minutes to 45 minutes. Bronchial thermoplasty is claimed to improve the quality of life of asthma patients and also reduces the recurrence of asthma attacks in long term studies. However, bronchial thermoplasty is recommended as an adjuvant therapy with asthma medications. Request a Brochure of the Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=43676 In terms of region, the global bronchial thermoplasty market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. Bronchial thermoplasty is a considerably new therapy procedure. North America is projected to account for leading share of the global market during the forecast period, due to high adoption of technically advanced treatment devices and techniques. Despite being a new method, large number of public and private health care payers are considering reimbursements for these procedures on a case-to-case basis. This augments the bronchial thermoplasty market in North America. Europe is anticipated to account for a significant share of the global market during the forecast period. Well-established health care infrastructure and trend of medical tourism in countries in Central and Eastern Europe are the key factors driving the market in Europe. Increase in expenditure to develop health care infrastructure and rise in private health care expenditure in emerging markets such as China and India are anticipated to boost the market in Asia Pacific. Presently, Boston Scientific Corporation is the only manufacturer and supplier of bronchial thermoplasty device brand named Alair. In October 2010, the company completed the acquisition of privately owned Asthmatx, Inc., the developer of Alair. This system received the U.S. FDA approval in April 2010 and CE Mark in 2011. In October 2013, the Chinese FDA approved the Alair system for treating patients with persistent asthma. Request TOC @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=43676 About Transparency Market Research Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge. Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMR's syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement. Contact Us Transparency Market Research 90 State Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207 Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Website: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/09/2019 -- The report "Carbon Black Market by Type (Furnace Black, Channel Black, Thermal Black, Acetylene Black), Application (Tire, Non-Tire Rubber, Inks & Coating, Plastic), Grade (Standard Grade, Specialty Grade), and Region - Global Forecast to 2021", The carbon black market is projected to reach USD 13.79 Billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 4.6% between 2016 and 2021. The carbon black market is driven by the increasing demand for carbon black in tire, rubber, plastic, inks & coatings, construction, metallurgy, resin coloring, and paint industries. Browse 171 market data tables and 68 figures spread through 226 pages and in-depth TOC on "Carbon Black Market - Global Forecast to 2021" Download PDF Brochure @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=260675017 Furnace black segment estimated to lead overall carbon black market Furnace black is produced from heavy aromatic hydrocarbon oils such as petroleum oil and coal oil using the oil furnace process. It is estimated to be the leading type of carbon black in the overall market as its manufacturing process enables mass production of carbon black with different particle sizes and structures. In addition, furnace black can be used for various applications, ranging from rubber reinforcement to coloring. Tire application accounted for largest share of carbon black market Tire application accounted for the major share of the overall carbon black market, followed by non-tire rubber application. Carbon black is majorly used as reinforcing filler in tires. It improves life span of tires as it conducts heat away from the tread and belt area of tires. Additionally, carbon black optimizes the properties of tires such as handling, fuel mileage, tread wear resistance, abrasion resistance, and hysteresis, thereby, improving the overall performance of tires. Rising demand for carbon black from Asia-Pacific expected to be a key factor driving the growth of the global carbon black market Asia-Pacific is estimated to be the leading market for carbon black. China is estimated to be the largest market and is projected to be the fastest-growing market for carbon black during the forecast period. India, Japan, and Thailand are other major countries contributing to the growth of the carbon black market in the region. The increasing demand of carbon black from end-use industries such as tire, rubber, and plastic is expected to drive the carbon black market in these countries. Speak with our Expert @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalystNew.asp?id=260675017 The key companies profiled in the carbon black market research report are Cabot Corporation (U.S.), Thai Carbon Black Public Company Limited (Thailand), Orion Engineered Carbons SA (Luxembourg), Jiangxi Black Cat Carbon Black Inc., Ltd. (China), China Synthetic Rubber Corporation (China), Phillips Carbon Black Limited (India), Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. (Japan), Sid Richardson Carbon & Energy Co. (U.S.), Omsk Carbon Group OOO (Russia), OCI Company Ltd. (South Korea), and Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (Japan). About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 5000 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Rohan MarketsandMarkets UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India 1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Willow Grove, PA -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/10/2019 -- When homeowners decide their property could use a fence, the first step is choosing the right fencing company. In Montgomery County, the choice is obvious: Greenhill Fencing, Inc. With years of experience, the fence experts at Greenhill Fencing have been installing all kinds of fences, from aluminum to PVC, and establishing themselves as the best fence contractors in Montgomery County. One of the strongest and most durable fencing materials from Greenhill Fencing is chain link. Its strength makes it ideal for keeping dogs in and unwanted intruders out. Chain link from Greenhill Fencing is resistant to rust and corrosion, meaning that it will last for years. But chain link is also versatile enough to be ideal for short-term installations as well. Chain link is easy to uninstall, making it perfect for marking boundaries and other temporary functions. A common misconception about chain link is that it has to look unattractive and boring. Chain link from Greenhill Fencing breaks this stereotype, thanks to a variety of available colors. Choose the one that looks best against your landscape! And chain link can look even better with shrubs or vines nearby, as the fence acts as a frame for plants to grow on. Best of all, despite all these benefits, chain link from Greenhill Fencing is not expensive. Greenhill offers great deals on all of its fences and gives free quotes, so customers know how much they should expect to pay ahead of time. Click here to start requesting a free quote today! Or call Greenhill Fencing at 267-329-3005. About Greenhill Fencing Inc. For over 25 years and 3 generations of family ownership, Greenhill Fencing Inc. has consistently met its goal of providing fast, affordable fence installations to their community. Located in Willow Grove, PA, the company hires the most experienced technicians and offers high-quality materials at competitive prices. Greenhill Fencing serves homes in Philadelphia as well as customers throughout Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware Counties. To learn more visit http://www.greenhillfencing.com/. Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/10/2019 -- Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a genetic disorder characterized by muscle degeneration and weakness. Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) cause due to lack of protein known as "dystrophin" which causes muscles deterioration and break down, leads to difficulty in walking and general mobility. DMD is a one of the most progressive childhood neuromuscular disorders. It affects mostly boys, but occasionally girls are affected. According to Muscular Dystrophy Australia, in 2016, Duchenne muscular dystrophy affected approximately 1 in 3500 male births across the world. Symptoms of Duchenne muscular dystrophy are frequent falls, muscle pain and stiffness, trouble running and jumping, and difficulty getting up from a lying or sitting position, among others. DMD can be caused due to cardiac, neuromuscular, and orthopedic disorders. Report Overview @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/duchenne-muscular-dystrophy-market.html Increasing research and development, introduction of novel disease therapies, rising demand for effective therapies among patients, and increasing disease prevalence are projected to fuel the growth of the global Duchenne muscular dystrophy market. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2016, prevalence of Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy (DBMD) was 1 in every 7,250 males aged 5 to 24 years. Rising prevalence of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular, neurovascular, and arthritis, and increasing health care insurance coverage are the other factors likely to accelerate the growth of the global Duchenne muscular dystrophy market. According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular diseases accounted for 17.7 million deaths in 2015, representing 31% of all global deaths. However, stricter regulation for product approvals and high product cost are likely to restrain the Duchenne muscular dystrophy market. The Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) market has been segmented based on treatment type, diagnosis, end-user, and region. In terms of treatment type, the market has been classified into drug therapy and novel therapy. The drug therapy segment has been sub-segmented into corticosteroids and others. The novel therapy segment has been categorized into gene therapy, stem cell therapy, utrophin, and others. In terms of diagnosis, the Duchenne muscular dystrophy market has been classified into blood tests, gene tests, and muscle biopsy. Based on end-user, the market has been classified into hospitals, specialty clinics, and ambulatory surgery centers. Request Brochure @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=28145 Geographically, the Duchenne muscular dystrophy market has been segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominates the global Duchenne muscular dystrophy market due to new product innovation, high health care expenditure, and government awareness programs. The United Parent Projects Muscular Dystrophy initiated World Duchenne Awareness Day. The aim of Duchenne Awareness Day is to raise awareness about Duchenne muscular dystrophy across the globe and September 7 has been declared as Duchenne Awareness Day. Europe is the second largest market for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The market in Asia Pacific is expected to grow at higher rate due to rapid rise in population, growing prevalence of chronic diseases, increasing health care coverage, and rising investment in research and development. Emerging regions such as Latin America and Middle East & Africa will create a large opportunity in the global Duchenne muscular dystrophy market due to growing awareness among people, increasing public and private health care insurance coverage, etc. Major players operating in the global Duchenne muscular dystrophy market include Pfizer, Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Nobelpharma Co., Ltd., Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc., Tivorsan Pharmaceuticals, Acceleron Pharma, Inc., BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Inc., Asklepios Kliniken GmbH, FibroGen, Inc., and Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holding. Request for TOC @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=28145 The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications. The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industry's value chain. A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period. About Transparency Market Research Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge. Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMR's syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement. Contact 90 State Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207 Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Website: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/09/2019 -- The Top key vendors in Enteral Feeding Tube Market include are Fresenius Kabi (Germany), Halyard Health (US), Nestle (Switzerland), Cook Medical (US), B. Braun (Germany), CONMED (US), Danone (France), Medtronic (Ireland), Boston Corporation (US), C. R. Bard (US), Moog (US), Abbott (US), Vygon (France), Applied Medical Technology (US) Trend Insight Report - Request Free PDF Sample Copy of Enteral Feeding Tube Market at https://www.marketgrowthinsight.com/sample/16173 This report includes the estimation of market size for value (million USD) and volume (K Units). Both top-down and bottom-up approaches have been used to estimate and validate the market size of Enteral Feeding Tube market, to estimate the size of various other dependent submarkets in the overall market. Key players in the market have been identified through secondary research, and their market shares have been determined through primary and secondary research. All percentage shares, splits, and breakdowns have been determined using secondary sources and verified primary sources. Reasons to Purchase this Report: The report analysis Enteral Feeding Tube Market by wide main and minor research which conveys valuable market visions and competitive analysis of the Enteral Feeding Tube Market Identify emerging players with potentially strong product information and create effective counter-strategies to gain competitive advantage Establish a comprehensive understanding of the current scenario across Enteral Feeding Tube Market Sales to formulate effective R&D strategies Assess challenges and opportunities that influence Enteral Feeding Tube Market Sales R&D #This Reports Includes Segmental analysis, Regional analysis, Research Methodology, Competitive Landscape, Learn how to build the strategy and business case to implement Order Here@ https://www.marketgrowthinsight.com/checkout/16173 North America and Europe region, in particular, have witnessed a large demand for these products because of growing disposable income and thereby improving lifestyle. Due to increasing demands for the pharmaceutical and healthcare products, Gross Domestic Product of the regions and countries has increased and it has led to the market revenue which turns into an increase in the economy of the countries. Key points from TOC 7 Global Enteral Feeding Tube Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis 7.1 Fresenius Kabi (Germany) 7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors 7.1.2 Enteral Feeding Tube Product Category, Application and Specification 7.1.2.1 Product A 7.1.2.2 Product B 7.1.3 Fresenius Kabi (Germany) Enteral Feeding Tube Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018) 7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview 7.2 Halyard Health (US) 7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors 7.2.2 Enteral Feeding Tube Product Category, Application and Specification 7.2.2.1 Product A 7.2.2.2 Product B 7.2.3 Halyard Health (US) Enteral Feeding Tube Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018) 7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview Continue.... 1 Industry Overview 1.1 Enteral Feeding Tube Industry 1.1.1 Overview 1.1.2 Products of Major Companies 1.2 Market Segment 1.2.1 Industry Chain 1.2.2 Consumer Distribution 1.3 Price & Cost Overview 2 Enteral Feeding Tube Market by Type 2.1 By Type 2.1.1 Application Service Providers (ASPs) 2.2 Market Size by Type 2.3 Market Forecast by Type 3 Global Market Demand 3.1 Segment Overview 3.1.1 SMEs 3.1.2 Large Enterprises 3.1.3 Other Users 3.2 Market Size by Demand 3.3 Market Forecast by Demand And More... Market driver - For a full, detailed list, view our report Market challenge - For a full, detailed list, view our report Market trend - For a full, detailed list, view our report Browse Full RD with TOC of This Report @ https://www.marketgrowthinsight.com/16173/enteral-feeding-tube-market Key questions answered by this market report include: - What will the market size be in 2025 and what will the growth rate be? - What are the key market trends in the industry? - How does the market relate to the overall economy, demography and other similar markets? - Who are the key vendors in the market space? - What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors? - What forces will shape the market growth? - What are the challenges to market growth? - What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors in the Market? About Market Growth Insight Market Growth Insight is a one stop solution for market research reports in various business categories. We are serving 100+ clients with 10000+ diverse industry reports and our reports are developed to simplify strategic decision making, on the basis of comprehensive and in-depth significant information, established through wide ranging analysis and latest industry trends. We are striving to provide the best customer friendly services and appropriate business information to accomplish your ideas. Contact 502, Sai Radhe, Kennedy Road, Behind Hotel Sheraton Grand, Near Pune Station, Pune 411 001, Maharashtra, India Contact No- + 91 8956 049 020 Sales@marketgrowthinsight.com Website- https://www.marketgrowthinsight.com Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/10/2019 -- Latest research study from HTF MI with title Global Forklift Batteries by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2025. The Research report presents a complete assessment of the market and contains Future trend, Current Growth Factors, attentive opinions, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry validated market data. The study is segmented by products type, application/end-users. The research study provides estimates for Global Forklift BatteriesForecast till 2025. If you are involved in the Forklift Batteries industry or intend to be, then this study will provide you comprehensive outlook. It's vital you keep your market knowledge up to date segmented by Applications Warehouse, Manufacturing, Construction & Others, Product Types such as [, Lead-Acid Batteries, Nickel-Cadmium Batteries, Sodium Sulfur Batteries & Fuel Cells] and some major players in the industry. If you have a different set of players/manufacturers according to geography or needs regional or country segmented reports we can provide customization according to your requirement. Request Sample of Global Forklift Batteries Market Research Report 2018 @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/1519427-global-forklift-batteries-market-2 Key Companies/players: Midac, East Penn Manufacturing, Exide Industries, Navitas Systems, Trojan Battery, Johnson Controls, Hoppecke, SBS, CHLORIDE & Crown Battery. Application: Warehouse, Manufacturing, Construction & Others, Product Type: , Lead-Acid Batteries, Nickel-Cadmium Batteries, Sodium Sulfur Batteries & Fuel Cells. The research covers the current & Future market size of the Global Forklift Batteries market and its growth rates based on 5 year history data. It also covers various types of segmentation such as by geography [North America, United States, Canada, Mexico, Asia-Pacific, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Rest of Asia-Pacific, Europe, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Russia, Rest of Europe, Central & South America, Brazil, Argentina, Rest of South America, Middle East & Africa, Saudi Arabia, Turkey & Rest of Middle East & Africa]. The market competition is constantly growing higher with the rise in technological innovation and M&A activities in the industry. Moreover, many local and regional vendors are offering specific application products for varied end-users. On the basis of attributes such as company overview, recent developments, strategies adopted by the market leaders to ensure growth, sustainability, financial overview and recent developments. Stay up-to-date with Forklift Batteries market research offered by HTF MI. Check how key trends and emerging drivers are shaping this industry growth as the study avails you with market characteristics, size and growth, segmentation, regional breakdowns, competitive landscape, shares, trend and strategies for this market. In the Global Forklift Batteries Market Analysis & Forecast 2018-2023, the revenue is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2023, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2018 and 2023. The production is estimated at XX million in 2017 and is forecasted to reach XX million by the end of 2023, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2018 and 2023. Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/1519427-global-forklift-batteries-market-2 Key questions answered in this report - Global Forklift Batteries Market Research Report 2018 What will the market size be in 2023 and what will the growth rate be What are the key market trends What is driving Global Forklift Batteries Market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in Forklift Batteries Market space? What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the Global Forklift Batteries Market ? What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the Global Forklift Batteries Market? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the Global Forklift Batteries market? Get in-depth details about factors influencing the market shares of the Americas, APAC, and EMEA? Enquire for customization in Report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/1519427-global-forklift-batteries-market-2 There are 15 Chapters to display the Global Forklift Batteries market. Chapter 1, to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of Global Forklift Batteries, Applications of Forklift Batteries, Market Segment by Regions; Chapter 2, to analyze the Manufacturing Cost Structure, Raw Material and Suppliers, Manufacturing Process, Industry Chain Structure; Chapter 3, to display the Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of , Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, Export & Import, R&D Status and Technology Source, Raw Materials Sources Analysis; Chapter 4, to show the Overall Market Analysis, Capacity Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment); Chapter 5 and 6, to show the Regional Market Analysis that includes North America, United States, Canada, Mexico, Asia-Pacific, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Rest of Asia-Pacific, Europe, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Russia, Rest of Europe, Central & South America, Brazil, Argentina, Rest of South America, Middle East & Africa, Saudi Arabia, Turkey & Rest of Middle East & Africa, Forklift Batteries Segment Market Analysis (by Type); Chapter 7 and 8, to analyze the Forklift Batteries Segment Market Analysis (by Application [Warehouse, Manufacturing, Construction & Others]) Major Manufacturers Analysis; Chapter 9, Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type [, Lead-Acid Batteries, Nickel-Cadmium Batteries, Sodium Sulfur Batteries & Fuel Cells], Market Trend by Application [Warehouse, Manufacturing, Construction & Others]; Chapter 10, Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis; Chapter 11, to analyze the Consumers Analysis of Global Forklift Batteries by region, type and application ; Chapter 12, to describe Forklift Batteries Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source; Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Forklift Batteries sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source. Buy this research report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=1519427 Reasons for Buying this Report This report provides pin-point analysis for changing competitive dynamics It provides a forward looking perspective on different factors driving or restraining market growth It provides a 5-year forecast assessed on the basis of how the market is predicted to grow It helps in understanding the key product segments and their future It provides pin point analysis of changing competition dynamics and keeps you ahead of competitors It helps in making informed business decisions by having complete insights of market and by making in-depth analysis of market segments 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". Rockville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/09/2019 -- Automotive cabin insulation highly relies on noise, vibration and harness (NVH) design of an automobile. The overall automotive cabin insulation is precisely intended for making the ride quality smooth for the occupants of the automobile. The automotive cabin insulation and refinement is part of the NVH design quality. The automotive cabin can be made silent by close analysis of the NVH transfer paths. The cabin refinement and the engine capacity are the major design elements considered for Cabin Insulation Market. Request TOC of this Report- https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2425 Automotive Cabin Insulation Market: Dynamics The key driving factor the global automotive cabin insulation market include constantly growing populations, which have resulted in increased demand for premium, as well as non-premium vehicles, and SUVs across all major developing economies. The macroeconomic factors, such as growing urbanization & industrial activities coupled with up gradation of living lifestyle and an increase in demand for luxury and comfort vehicles in many countries, is further augmenting the sales of automotive cabin insulation. The significant increase in sales of hybrid, as well as electric vehicle owing to the rise in the awareness, regarding carbon footprint reduction is highly anticipated to drive the global automotive cabin insulation market. Moreover, considerable growth in the Asian & European automotive sector and technological advancement in traditional automotive cabin insulation will create a significant opportunity for the global automotive cabin insulation market. Furthermore, the upsurge in the quality of insulation material utilized for the automobile is highly anticipated to boost the demand for automotive cabin insulation. As automotive cabin insulation is designed to minimize the noise & vibration and provide ideal comfort for the occupant, automotive cabin insulation is gaining huge recognition across all regions. All the above mentioned major influencing factors are highly anticipated to drive the global automotive cabin insulation market over the forecast period. The key restraining factor, such as high cost of insulation material may hinder the global automotive cabin insulation market growth over the forecast period. To know more about the Automotive Cabin Insulation Market Visit the link- https://www.factmr.com/report/2425/automotive-cabin-insulation-market Polyurethane automotive cabin insulation material is estimated to account for a significant market share over the forecast period. The prime advantages associated with polyurethane is high tensile strength, superior abrasion and bearing resistance, water and oil resistance, short production lead time, and noise captivation, making polyurethane an ideal choice for manufacturing automotive cabin insulation. On the other hand, among vehicle type segment, the passenger cars are anticipated to see rapid market growth over the forecast period, attributed to increasing vehicle production along with growing demand for premium vehicles. Automotive Cabin Insulation Market: Regional Outlook Based on geographies, the global automotive cabin insulation market is segmented into seven regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, CIS & Russia, Japan, APEJ (the Asia Pacific excluding Japan) and MEA. Among the above-mentioned countries, APEJ is estimated to account for a significant market share due to increased production of passenger cars and electric vehicles in countries, such as China, India, Indonesia and Australia. Europe is anticipated to witness a high growth in the global automotive cabin insulation market owing to the presence of top automobile manufacturing companies. Moreover, Middle East & Africa is projected to showcase steady growth in the global automotive cabin insulation market due to the rise in the sale of premium cars along with a boost in the standard of living across the region. North America is one of the key maturing regions that will generate generous opportunity in the global automotive cabin insulation market over the forecast period due to the rise in electric and hybrid vehicles. Automotive Cabin Insulation Market: Prominent players Prominent players for the global automotive cabin insulation market are BASF SE, The Dow Chemical Company, 3M, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, Covestro AG, DuPont, Toray Industries, Inc. Huntsman International LLC, Sika AG, LyondellBasell and other key market players. The automotive cabin insulation market consists of well-diversified global and regional players with the global vendors ruling the market. The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the automotive cabin insulation 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 automotive cabin insulation market report provides analysis and information according to market segments such as geographies, application and industry. Request Brochure of this Report- https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=B&rep_id=2425 About FactMR FactMR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market insights reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports. Contact Us FactMR 11140 Rockville Pike Suite 400 Rockville, MD 20852 United States Email: sales@factmr.com Web: https://www.factmr.com/ Read Industry News at - https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/10/2019 -- Hand pumps are manually operated pumps; they use human power and mechanical advantage to move fluids or air from one place to another. They are widely used in every country in the world for a variety of industrial, marine, irrigation and leisure activities. Though there are a great many of US and European manufacturers that make hand pumps, those pumps are mainly designed and made in China. And this is why so many hand pumps look the same. However there are few pump makers such as Grovhac, GPI, GTP from US and WERNER WEITNER from EU manufacturing hand pumps that has exclusive patents in their owned factories. Click to view the full report TOC, figure and tables: https://www.qyresearch.com/index/detail/1064108/global-hand-pump-market The Chinese OEM manufacturers are basically OEM companies for foreign brands and ODM companies with their own designs but somehow labeling their products with different brands. The latter ones usually have their own brands and better developed manufacturing skills, larger-scale production lines than those specific OEM companies. As from our research, those small companies that only produce OEM products gather in the Mid-north China such as Inner Mongolia and Hebei province. Meanwhile the ODM/OEM manufacturers mainly distributed in Southeast China still have around 70% of their products for export. The global Hand Pump market was 180 million US$ in 2018 and is expected to 200 million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 1.9% between 2019 and 2025. Key players dominating the global Hand Pump Markets are: Gorman-Rupp, Zep, National Spencer, ATD Tools, GoatThroat, Action Pump, Tuthill, Pump, Graco, Macnaught, Jessberger, Kyoritsu kiko, GROVHAC, AMBICA MACHINE, Great Plains, Vestil, Pro Chem, Toyo, Groz, Jaan-Huei, New Zealand, Alemite, Xylem, ENERPAC, ITH, SCHAAF, Ralston Instruments, Prince Manufacturing, BRAND, Werner Weitner, Gardner Bender, Zhongcheng Pump, Bosheng Pumps, Shanghai Yangguang, Hongyun Safetytools, Shanghai Shangqiu Request Sample Copy of this Report @ https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/1064108/global-hand-pump-market This report studies the Hand Pump market size (value and volume) by players, regions, product types and end industries, history data 2014-2018 and forecast data 2019-2025; This report also studies the global market competition landscape, market drivers and trends, opportunities and challenges, risks and entry barriers, sales channels, distributors and Porter's Five Forces Analysis. Geographically, this report is segmented into several key regions, with sales, revenue, market share and growth Rate of Hand Pump in these regions, from 2014 to 2025, covering North America (United States, Canada and Mexico) Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Turkey etc.) Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam) South America (Brazil etc.) Middle East and Africa (Egypt and GCC Countries) By the product type, the market is primarily split into Rotary Pump Lever Action Pump Piston Pump Drum Siphon Pump Hydraulic Hand Pump By the end users/application, this report covers the following segments Industrial Civil Get Full Report Now at USD 3,350 @ https://www.qyresearch.com/settlement/pre/cc69f407f33e1f30f7d59768d7053483,0,1,Global%20Hand%20Pump%20Market%20Report,%20History%20and%20Forecast%202014-2025,%20Breakdown%20Data%20by%20Manufacturers,%20Key%20Regions,%20Types%20and%20Application About QYResearch QYResearch always pursuits high product quality with the belief that quality is the soul of business. Through years of effort and supports from huge number of customer supports, QYResearch consulting group has accumulated creative design methods on many high-quality markets investigation and research team with rich experience. Today, QYResearch has become the brand of quality assurance in consulting industry. New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/09/2019 -- The latest market evaluation report on the High Purity Tellurium Oxide market explores how the High Purity Tellurium Oxide market will continue to expand for the forecast period 2019 - 2026. The study further serves as a unique research for stakeholders, product owners, and field marketing executives looking for actionable data and unique resource on market size, share, and growth. The market intelligence report gives business evangelists an authority to review the major trends, opportunities, and challenges expected to shape the future of the industry during the estimated period. Importantly, the study not only helps spot the major vendors but also their winning strategies. The real-time data accumulated through qualitative and quantitative research technique further help business owners determine where they stand in comparison to their region, country, and product category. Request free sample to get a list of companies@ https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/33874 Major Players in High Purity Tellurium Oxide market are: - American Elements - MP Biomedicals - abcr GmbH - Nanjing Kaimubo - MolPort - AKos Consulting& Solutions - Others Market segment by Region/Country including: - North America (United States, Canada and Mexico) - Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Spain etc.) - Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and Southeast Asia etc.) - South America Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Chile etc.) - Middle East & Africa (South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia etc.) Ask for discount on the report @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/discount-enquiry-form/33874 High Purity Tellurium Oxide Market Share The report discovers market's total sale that is generated by a particular firms over a time period. Industry experts calculate share by taking into account the product sales over a period and then dividing it by the overall sales of the High Purity Tellurium Oxide industry over a defined period. Subject matter experts further use this metric to offer a general idea of the share and size of a firm and its immediate rivals. By providing an in-depth knowledge of the position a company as well as an entrepreneur holds in the High Purity Tellurium Oxide market On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into - Purity 99.99% - Purity 99.999% - Purity 99.9995% On the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, including - Glass Application - Optic Application - Ceramic Application Knowing the trends influencing the industry performance Stakeholders, marketing executives and business owners planning to refer a market research report can use this study to design their offerings and understand how competitors attract their potential customers and manage their supply and distribution channels. When tracking the trends researchers have made a conscious effort to analyze and interpret the consumer behaviour. Besides, the research helps product owners to understand the changes in culture, target market as well as brands so they can draw the attention of the potential customers more effectively. Our trend analysts look for the crucial connection between consumer trends, behaviour and values, to provide context for the sectors, demographics and global themes that matter to you. Purchase full High Purity Tellurium Oxide report through this link and get 15% free customization on the report@ https://www.marketexpertz.com/checkout-form/33874 The study dives deep into the profiles of top market players and their key financials. This comprehensive report is not only for business analysts and any existing and new entrant can use it when designing their business strategies. The research is one of its kind global analyses of aspects such as import and export status, supply chain management, profit and gross margin worldwide for the forecast period 2019 - 2026. Extensive coverage of statistics associated with recent events including acquisition and mergers and strengths and weaknesses of a company forms an important part of the study on the High Purity Tellurium Oxide market. Reasons to Purchase this Report: - Analyzing the outlook of the market with the recent trends and SWOT analysis - Market dynamics scenario, along with growth opportunities of the market in the years to come - Market segmentation analysis including qualitative and quantitative research incorporating the impact of economic and non-economic aspects - Regional and country level analysis integrating the demand and supply forces that are influencing the growth of the market. - Market value (USD Million) and volume (Units Million) data for each segment and sub-segment - Competitive landscape involving the market share of major players, along with the new projects and strategies adopted by players in the past five years - Comprehensive company profiles covering the product offerings, key financial information, recent developments, SWOT analysis, and strategies employed by the major market players - 1-year analyst support, along with the data support in excel format. Browse the report description @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/high-purity-tellurium-oxide-market The key insights of the report: 1. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the High Purity Tellurium Oxide manufacturers and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the industry. 2. The report provides a basic overview of the industry including its definition, applications and manufacturing technology. 3. The report presents the company profile, product specifications, capacity, production value, and 2013-2019 market shares for key vendors. 4. The total market is further divided by company, by country, and by application/type for the competitive landscape analysis. 5. The report estimates 2019-2026 market development trends of High Purity Tellurium Oxide industry. 6. Analysis of upstream raw materials, downstream demand, and current market dynamics is also carried out 7. The report makes some important proposals for a new project of High Purity Tellurium Oxide Industry before evaluating its feasibility. About MarketExpertz Planning to invest in market intelligence products or offerings on the web? Then marketexpertz has just the thing for you - reports from over 500 prominent publishers and updates on our collection daily to empower companies and individuals catch-up with the vital insights on industries operating across different geography, trends, share, size and growth rate. There's more to what we offer to our customers. With marketexpertz you have the choice to tap into the specialized services without any additional charges. Contact Us: John Watson Head of Business Development Market Expertz | Web: www.marketexpertz.com Direct Line: +1-800-819-3052 E-mail: sales@marketexpertz.com News: www.marketexpertz.com/market-news San Jose, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/10/2019 -- A recent XploreMR report on low voltage motors market offers an elaborate and thorough analysis of the market performance for the assessment period between 2017 and 2022, and provides valuable information on future direction of low voltage motors market. Qualitative as well as quantitative analysis of macroeconomic and industry specific factors of low voltage motors market are mentioned in the report. In addition, it covers a detailed opportunity assessment of the low voltage motors market along with comprehensive insights into its competitive scenario. Chapter 1 Global Low Voltage Motors Market Executive Summary The XploreMR report on low voltage motors market commences with an executive summary which covers brief yet affluent information regarding the global market of low voltage motors. It mainly includes all the key market highlights in terms of facts and figures. Chapter 2 Global Low Voltage Motors Market Overview In this chapter, the report introduces the market including concrete definition of low voltage motors. It also lists and assesses drivers, restrains, and trends impacting the growth of low voltage motors market. In addition, all the industry specific factors influencing the expansion of low voltage motors market have been analyzed in this section of the report. Further, it provide a thorough analysis of the cost structure, pricing, supply chain, and raw material sourcing. Chapter 3 Global Low Voltage Motors Market Analysis and Forecast by Efficiency Class The chapter provides a detailed breakdown of low voltage motors market on the basis of efficiency class which includes IE 1, IE 2, IE 3, IE 4, DC, and others. Historical analysis and forecast data of each efficiency class have been provided in the report along with revenue and market share comparison by region. Get Sample Copy Of Report @ https://www.xploremr.com/connectus/sample/3631 Chapter 4 Global Low Voltage Motors Market Analysis and Forecast by Sector Under this chapter, a thorough analysis of the low voltage motors market based on different sectors has been covered. The chapter sheds light on the low voltage motors market performance on the basis of sector such as commercial HVAC, mining, F&B manufacturing, utilities, and others. It also includes a historical data and forecast of each sector during the 2017-2022 period. Chapter 5 Global Low Voltage Motors Market Analysis and Forecast by Application This chapter offers all-inclusive insights into various applications of low voltage motors including extruders, conveyors, compressors, crushers, pumps & fans, and others. In addition to historical analysis and forecast data of each application, the report provides segmental revenue and market share comparison by region. Chapter 6 Global Low Voltage Motors Market Analysis and Forecast by Capacity Under the chapter, the report covers detailed breakdown of global low voltage motors market on the basis of capacity including > 375 kW, 111 - 375 kW, 76 - 110 kW, 46 - 75 kW, 7.5 - 45 kW, 2.2 - 7.4 kW, and 0.75 - 2.1 kW. Chapter 7 Global Low Voltage Motors Market Analysis and Forecast by Region The chapter provides a comprehensive assessment of the low voltage motors market across six key regions including Europe, Latin America, North America, APEJ, Japan, and MEA. All the key trends influencing sales of low voltage motors across these regions have been thoroughly analyzed and provided in this chapter. Chapter 8 North America Low Voltage Motors Market Analysis and Forecast, By Country, 2012-2022 The chapter begins with a brief introduction of the low voltage motors market prevalent in North America. The following sections of the report offer a detailed analysis and forecast of the North America low voltage motors market across two developed countries the U.S. and Canada. A market attractiveness analysis has also been included in the report. Chapter 9 Latin America Low Voltage Motors Market Analysis and Forecast, By Country, 2012-2022 This chapter includes a comprehensive analysis of different key trends impacting low voltage motors market in different countries of Latin America including Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil. It also offers a historical analysis of the low voltage lasers market along with an assessment of market performance in these countries. Chapter 10 Europe Low Voltage Motors Market Analysis and Forecast, By Country, 2012-2022 Under the chapter, a complete forecast of the low voltage motors market prevalent in the European countries has been provided. A thorough analysis of key trends favoring the growth of low voltage motors market in Europe has also been included in the chapter. In addition, it covers a thorough historical analysis and forecast data of the Europe low voltage motors market based on country, efficiency class, sector, application, and capacity. Chapter 11 Japan Low Voltage Motors Market Analysis and Forecast, By Country, 2012-2022 A detailed analysis of the low voltage motors market prevalent in Japan has been provided in this chapter. All the key factors impacting low voltage motors market performance in the country have been identified and analyzed in this section of the report. Chapter 12 APEJ Low Voltage Motors Market Analysis and Forecast, By Country, 2012-2022 Under this chapter, the report offers a comprehensive assessment of the low voltage motors market prevalent in APEJ. A historical analysis and forecast data of the performance of APEJ low voltage motors market have been covered in the chapter. Chapter 13 MEA Low Voltage Motors Market Analysis and Forecast, By Country, 2012-2022 The chapter provides a detailed analysis of the low voltage motors market in Middle East & Africa. The XploreMR report analyzes the MEA low voltage motors market on the basis of country, efficiency class, sector, application, and capacity. Chapter 14 Global Low Voltage Motors Market Company Profiles All the key players participating in the low voltage motors market are identified and included in the chapter. A detailed profile of each player sheds light on their product portfolios, notable business developments, strategies, weaknesses, strengths, market presence, and global footprint. Get To Know Discount On This Report @ https://www.xploremr.com/connectus/check-discount/3631 New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/09/2019 -- The latest market research report titled Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) market offers a detailed evaluation of the market situation within a specific geographic region. This Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) Market study contains vital data on market shifts owing to social, economic, cultural and technological changes worldwide. Explaining market opportunities remains the key focus of the study. Industry experts analysing the business environment also take a closer look at the organizational alignment as well as the capital structure. Request for FREE Sample Copy of Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) Market Report @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/30186 Scope of the Report: The research methodologies used for evaluating the Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) market are inventive and also provides enough evidence on the demand and supply status, production capability, import and export, supply chain management and investment feasibility. The investigative approach applied for the extensive analysis of the sale, gross margin and profit generated by the industry are presented through resources including tables, charts, and graphic images. Importantly, these resources can be easily integrated or used for preparing business or corporate presentations. Major Players in Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) market are: Royal DSM, Nilit Ltd., BASF SE, Toray Industries, Inc., Lanxess AG, EMS Chemie Holding AG, Huntsman Corporation, AdvanSix, Inc., Ube Industries, Ltd., INVISTA S.A.R.L, Ascend Performance Materials LLC, Goodfellow, Inc., DowDuPont Inc Market split by Type, can be divided into: - PA 6 - PA 66 - PA 4,6 - High Temperature Polyamide - Polyphthalamide (PPA) Market split by Application, can be divided into: - MCB - MCCB - Relays - Contactors - Terminal Blocks The market intelligence study for the Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) market further provides an inside-out overview of necessary aspects associated with the product classification, important definitions, major orders and other industry-centric parameters. An underlying part of the study also maps the important factors associated with the recent events such as mergers and acquisition, collaboration and new product launches. Buy Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) Market Report @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/checkout-form/30186 Understanding the market size: The size of the Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) market is viewed in terms of the Share of Market, Total Available Market as well as Served Available Market. Not only does the study present the combined revenue for a particular market but also the market size for a specific geographic region. Analysis of percentage or the size of the Total Available Market based on the type of product, technology, regional constraints and others form an important part of the Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) report. Market share: The report discovers market's total sale that is generated by a particular firms over a time period. Industry experts calculate share by taking into account the product sales over a period and then dividing it by the overall sales of the Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) industry over a defined period. Subject matter experts further use this metric to offer a general idea of the share and size of a firm and its immediate rivals. By providing an in-depth knowledge of the position a company as well as an entrepreneur holds in the Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) market Attracting the target audience: First, the comprehensive report finds out why customers need a certain product or service. The study focuses on what problems a certain product and service can solve. Apart from target demographics industry experts weigh up on the factors including audience type, as well as others vital attributes about the target customer segment. The research provides answers to the following key questions: - What is the estimated growth rate of the Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) market for the forecast period 2019 - 2026? What will be the market share and size of the industry during the estimated period? - What are prime factors expected to drive the Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) industry for the estimated period? - What are the major market leaders and what has been their winning strategy for success so far? - What are the significant trends shaping the growth prospects of the Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) market? - What are the key challenges expected to restrict the progress of the industry for the forecast period, 2019 - 2026? - What the opportunities product owners can bank on to generate high profits? Browse The Report Description @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/polyamide-in-electronic-protection-device-epd-market There are 16 Chapters to deeply display the global Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) market. - 1 Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) Market Overview - 2 Global Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) Market Competition by Manufacturers - 3 Global Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2019) - 4 Global Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2019) - 5 Global Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type - 6 Global Polyamide in Electronic Protection Device (EPD) Market Analysis by Application - Continue About MarketExpertz Planning to invest in market intelligence products or offerings on the web? Then marketexpertz has just the thing for you - reports from over 500 prominent publishers and updates on our collection daily to empower companies and individuals catch-up with the vital insights on industries operating across different geography, trends, share, size and growth rate. There's more to what we offer to our customers. With marketexpertz you have the choice to tap into the specialized services without any additional charges. Contact Us: John Watson Head of Business Development E-mail: sales@marketexpertz.com Direct Line: +1-800-819-3052 Market Expertz | Web: www.marketexpertz.com Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/10/2019 -- Salmon farming is a type of aquaculture where the fish are grown in net cages, typically located in sheltered bays and fjords along the coast. Salmon are hatched in brood hatcheries and grown in freshwater until they are large enough to transfer to marine pens. Get Free PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @ https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=2081138 Scope of the Report: Fish, particularly farmed salmon, can offer one solution to meeting protein increased demand. As demand increases there will no doubt be increased pressure on the already over-exploited wild fish reserves, which is why farmed fish is required to efficiently manage and maintain both wild fish stocks and the oceans natural biodiversity. It is important that the farmed salmon industry ensures sustainability is at the core of their operations if they are to meet this demand in a sustainable manner. The Asia-Pacific will occupy for more market share in following years, especially in China, also fast growing India and Southeast Asia regions. North America, especially The United States, will still play an important role which cannot be ignored. Any changes from United States might affect the development trend of Salmon Farming. This report studies the Salmon Farming 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 Salmon Farming market by product type and applications/end industries. Market Segment by Companies, this report covers Tassal Petuna Seafoods Huon Aquaculture Mowi ASA Leroy Seafood Group ASA JCS Fish Honey Smoked Fish Company Longyangxia Reservoir 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) Market Segment by Type, covers Atlantic Salmon Steelhead Coho Salmon Others Make An Enquiry @ https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=2081138 Market Segment by Applications, can be divided into Commercial Recreational Others About ResearchMoz ResearchMoz is the world's fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMoz's service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators. For More Information Kindly Contact: ResearchMoz Mr. Nachiket Ghumare, 90 State Street, Albany NY, United States - 12207 Tel: +1-518-621-2074 USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948 Email: sales@researchmoz.us Follow us on LinkedIn @ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Follow me on : https://marketinfo247.wordpress.com/ Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/10/2019 -- MarketsandMarkets: From the supply-side, the "Small-Scale LNG Market by Type (Liquefaction Terminal and Regasification Terminal), Application (Heavy-Duty Vehicles, Marine Transport, and Industrial and Power), and Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America) - Global Forecast to 2022", capacity is projected to reach 48.3 Million tons per annum by 2022, at a CAGR of 6.7% from 2017 to 2022. Increasing use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by various applications, such as heavy-duty vehicles and electric power generation, technological advancements being carried out in liquefied natural gas (LNG) liquefaction and regasification processes, and increasing demand of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Asia-Pacific region are expected to fuel the growth of the small-scale LNG market during the forecast period. Increasing demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the remote locations for use in power generation plants and global commoditization of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are the major factors driving the demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) from small-scale regasification terminals. This, in turn, is expected to fuel the growth of the small-scale LNG market during the forecast period. Browse 47 Tables and 38 Figures spread through 115 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Small-Scale LNG Market - Global Forecast to 2022" Download PDF Brochure @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=226707057 The industrial and power segment of the small-scale LNG market is expected to gain maximum traction during the forecast period, 2017 to 2022. In terms of volume, the industrial and power segment is projected to lead the small-scale LNG market during the forecast period. There are significant opportunities for Island-based LNG to drive the demand in the industrial & power applications, especially in countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, and Myanmar. Islands in the Mediterranean Sea such as Malta and Sardinia (Italy) are also investing in small-scale LNG infrastructure to serve applications such as industrial & power plants. The key enabler for small-scale LNG in the industrial & power application is the development of a sustainable and efficient logistic network, as most of the small-scale terminals and end users are in remote locations. In 2016, Royal Dutch Shell (Netherlands) and the Government of Gibraltar signed an agreement for the supply of LNG for use in power generation in Gibraltar. Among types, the liquefaction terminals segment is projected to lead the small-scale LNG market during the forecast period, 2017 to 2022. Among types, the liquefaction terminals segment is projected to lead the small-scale LNG market during the forecast period. The increasing demand of LNG from remote locations and global commoditization of LNG are some of the major factors that are driving the demand for LNG from small-scale liquefaction terminals. Similarly, the development of downstream infrastructure and logistics, remote regasification terminals, trucking stations, and bunkering are some of the key factors for building up a robust market for small-scale LNG. Small-scale LNG liquefaction terminals are an attractive complement to large-scale LNG terminals. Technological advancements have made monetization of stranded gas reserves possible in new locations, providing opportunities for energy companies to take advantage of the growing LNG market. Get 10% FREE Customization on this Report @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestCustomizationNew.asp?id=226707057 The North America small-scale LNG market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The North America small-scale LNG market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. In North America, most of the small-scale LNG demand in industrial & power applications is met through peak shaving facilities. The peak shaving facilities are used to meet adequate supply of LNG to address the peak demand. In 2015, there were more than 100 peak shaving facilities in the U.S., among which one-half of the peak shaving facilities were located in the Northeast, while a quarter of them were located in the Midwest. Currently, the U.S. has among the highest number of peak shaving plants. However, less than 10% of them are available for any other use due to the current electricity demand. The commissioning of small-scale liquefaction plants can expand the peak shaving capacities in the region. The key players profiled in the report are: - The Linde Group (Germany) - Wartsila (Finland) - Honeywell International Inc. (U.S.) - General Electric (U.S.) - ENGIE (France) - Gazprom (Russia) - Skangas (Norway) - Sofregaz (France) - Dresser-Rand (U.S.) - Prometheus Energy (U.S.) About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 5000 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Shelly Singh MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA : 1-888-600-6441 sales@marketsandmarkets.com Rockville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/10/2019 -- Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy is also called Kennedy disease. It is a disorder of the nerve cells that control muscle movement. These nerve cells are present in the brainstem. Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy mainly occurs in males, and is characterized by atrophy that usually arises in adulthood. Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy results in cramping and leg muscle weakness. The bulbar muscles are also affected, which causes disruptive problems regarding swallowing and speech. Fasciculation's, unusual breast development, and infertility are also observed in this disorder. Spinal bulbar muscular atrophy has been diagnosed in the U.S., Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia. The Japanese population is shown to have a very high occurrence. There is no known cure for spinal bulbar muscular atrophy. Physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy are usually used to maintain individual skills. Braces and wheel chairs are used for ambulation. For breast reduction physicians prefer surgery. Spinal Bulbar Muscular Atrophy Treatment Market: Drivers and Restraints The growing number of incidences of spinal bulbar muscular atrophy is driving the growth of the market. Rapid turnaround time and lower cost of this procedure over conventional methods are also fueling the growth of the spinal bulbar muscular atrophy treatment market. A reimbursement process is also available in many regions like the U.S., Europe, and Japan. However, the global market for spinal bulbar muscular atrophy treatment is expected to be deterred by the limited number of drugs available that inhibits in hormone level on the market. Dutasteride and leuprolide are two drugs which are currently present around the world for spinal bulbar muscular atrophy treatment. Request Free Sample Report@ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=1221 Spinal Bulbar Muscular Atrophy Treatment Market: Segmentation Tentatively, the spinal bulbar muscular atrophy treatment market has been segmented on the basis of drug class and distribution channel. Based on drug class, the spinal bulbar muscular atrophy treatment market is segmented as: 5?-Reductase Inhibitors (5-ARIs) Gonadotropin-releasing Hormone (GnRH) Agonists Based on distribution channel, the spinal bulbar muscular atrophy treatment market is segmented as: Hospitals Orthopedic Clinics Ambulatory Surgical Centers Spinal Bulbar Muscular Atrophy Treatment Market: Overview The occurrence rate of spinal bulbar muscular atrophy is around 1 per 100,000 individuals, and high incidences are observed in Finland. From the 20052006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey using a sample of 1480 men with a mean age of 53.2 years (range 3779) with spinal bulbar muscular atrophy disorder were obtained for the hormonal profile, healthy control mean values and standard errors and according to the Oxford University Press, in 2006 a study followed 223 Japanese spinal bulbar muscular atrophy patients for a number of years, and among them, 15 died, with a median age of 65 years. A common cause of death for spinal bulbar muscular atrophy patients was pneumonia and respiratory failure. The increasing number of patient visits for spinal bulbar muscular atrophy treatment and the growing demand for the same exhibit lucrative growth opportunity for companies investing in the spinal bulbar muscular atrophy treatment market. Spinal Bulbar Muscular Atrophy Treatment Market: Regional Outlook A geographic condition regarding spinal bulbar muscular atrophy treatment market, it has been segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, Japan, and the Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to represent huge contribution under spinal bulbar muscular atrophy treatment by revenue generation. Quickened development on the improvement of new items and high spending on innovative work in Europe demonstrates the elevation of the spinal bulbar muscular atrophy treatment market. With ascending in standards of health care services and increase in mindfulness towards the medications in India and China is relied upon to support the market for spinal bulbar muscular atrophy treatment in general Asia Pacific area. Request/View TOC@ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=1221 Spinal Bulbar Muscular Atrophy Treatment Market: Key Players Some of the players identified in the spinal bulbar muscular atrophy treatment market include GlaxoSmithKline plc., AbbVie Inc., Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Century Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Johnson & Johnson, Astellas Pharma, Pfizer Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, and Sanofi. The spinal bulbar muscular atrophy treatment 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 report provides an in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macro-economic indicators, and governing factors, along with market attractiveness as per segment. The spinal bulbar muscular atrophy treatment market report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies. The report covers an exhaustive analysis on: Market Segments Market Dynamics Market Size Supply & Demand Current Trends/Issues/Challenges Competition & Companies Involved Technology Value Chain Regional analysis of the spinal bulbar muscular atrophy treatment market includes: North America (U.S., Canada) Spinal Bulbar Muscular Atrophy Treatment Market Latin America ( Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Rest of LATAM) Spinal Bulbar Muscular Atrophy Treatment Market Europe (Germany, Italy, UK, Spain, France, Russia, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Poland, Ukraine, Czech Rep, Rest of Europe) Spinal Bulbar Muscular Atrophy Treatment Market Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (India, Australia & New Zealand, Greater China, S. Korea, ASEAN Countries, Rest of APEJ) Spinal Bulbar Muscular Atrophy Treatment Market Japan Spinal Bulbar Muscular Atrophy Treatment Market CIS & Russia Spinal Bulbar Muscular Atrophy Treatment Market Middle East and Africa (GCC, Turkey, Iran, Israel, South Africa, Rest Of MEA) Spinal Bulbar Muscular Atrophy Treatment Market Spinal Bulbar Muscular Atrophy Treatment Market: 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 Report Analysis@ https://www.factmr.com/report/1221/spinal-bulbar-muscular-atrophy-treatment-market About Fact.MR Fact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports. Contact Us Rohit Bhisey Fact.MR 11140 Rockville Pike Suite 400 Rockville, MD 20852 United States Email: sales@factmr.com Web: https://www.factmr.com/ Blog: https://factmrblog.com/ Read Industry News at - http://theguardiantribune.com Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/10/2019 -- An uninterruptible power system, also uninterruptible power source, UPS or battery/flywheel backup is an electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source, typically mains power, fails. Schneider-Electric, Emerson and ABB captured the top three revenue share spots in the UPS market in 2015. Schneider-Electric dominated with 26.82% revenue share, followed by EATON with 15.79% revenue share and Emerson with 9.42% revenue share. UPS market has been analyzed through the regions such as USA, EU, China, and Japan, etc. In 2015, major demand is expected to account 32.55% from China in the global UPS market. The global Uninterruptible Power Supplies market was 12300 million US$ in 2018 and is expected to 17400 million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 5.1% between 2019 and 2025. This report studies the Uninterruptible Power Supplies market size (value and volume) by players, regions, product types and end industries, history data 2014-2018 and forecast data 2019-2025; This report also studies the global market competition landscape, market drivers and trends, opportunities and challenges, risks and entry barriers, sales channels, distributors and Porter's Five Forces Analysis. Get PDF template of this report: https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/1076425/global-uninterruptible-power-supplies-market Geographically, this report is segmented into several key regions, with sales, revenue, market share and growth Rate of Uninterruptible Power Supplies in these regions, from 2014 to 2025, covering North America (United States, Canada and Mexico) Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Turkey etc.) Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam) South America (Brazil etc.) Middle East and Africa (Egypt and GCC Countries) The various contributors involved in the value chain of the product include manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, intermediaries, and customers. The key manufacturers in this market include Schneider-Electric EATON Emerson S&C ABB Socomec Toshiba Activepower Gamatronic Kehua KSTAR EAST Zhicheng Champion By the product type, the market is primarily split into Off-line/standby Line-interactive By the end users/application, this report covers the following segments Telecommunication Data Centre Medical Industrial Marine Get Complete Report in your Inbox within 24 hours: https://www.qyresearch.com/settlement/pre/ad7ae5d3b8b5d8fb7f6f8a2f8f8d0274,0,1,Global%20Uninterruptible%20Power%20Supplies%20Market%20Report,%20History%20and%20Forecast%202014-2025,%20Breakdown%20Data%20by%20Manufacturers,%20Key%20Regions,%20Types%20and%20Application About QYResearch QYResearch always pursuits high product quality with the belief that quality is the soul of business. Through years of effort and supports from huge number of customer supports, QYResearch consulting group has accumulated creative design methods on many high-quality markets investigation and research team with rich experience. Today, QYResearch has become the brand of quality assurance in consulting industry. Hurricane Harvey provides lessons learned for flood resiliency plans Hurricane Harvey made landfall on Aug. 25, 2017, then stalled over Texas for three days as a tropical storm. The category-four storm claimed 80 lives, displaced multitudes of people, and damaged more than 80,000 homes. ASU researcher Manoochehr Shirzaei of the School of Earth and Space Exploration and former graduate student and lead author Megan Miller (now a postdoctoral researcher at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology) used satellite data to map the Houston-Galveston area impacted by Hurricane Harvey to understand why the flooding was so severe and widespread. The results of their study have been recently published in the journal Remote Sensing of Environment. Mapping Eastern Texas with satellites and radar For their study, Miller and Shirzaei mapped the Eastern Texas area of Houston-Galveston impacted by Hurricane Harvey using satellite radar data collected from the European Space Agency's Sentinel-1 A/B satellites and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Advanced Land Observing Satellite. From this data, Miller and Shirzaei then compiled a snapshot of the extent of standing water in the area following the hurricane. They also measured land subsidence (how much the land surface moves downward) for the area before the storm using space-borne Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), a radar technique used to generate maps of surface deformation using differences in the phase of the waves returning to the satellite. The technique can measure millimeter-scale changes in deformation over spans of days to years. "Earth-orbiting radar satellites provide us with an opportunity to map areas when other techniques fail due to cloud coverage and lack of ground access to the area of the disaster," says Miller. In analyzing the satellite data, Miller and Shirzaei were surprised to see that large flooded areas fell outside the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) designated 500-year flood zones. "This highlights the need for revising both flood hazard zone maps and flood resilience plans in coastal regions," warns Shirzaei. Through this analysis, they found land subsidence in the Houston-Galveston area of more than 0.19 inches (5 millimeters) per year in 85 percent of the flooded area. The likely causes of subsidence include compaction of sediments, groundwater extraction and hydrocarbon production. They concluded that the area's subsidence affected flood severity by modifying base flood elevations and topographic gradients. "Ongoing land subsidence across the Houston area possibly lowered the flood control structures and changed floodplain boundaries and base flood drainage, which further intensified flooding," says Shirzaei. Flood Resilience Strategies "In an era of climate change, weather extremes are becoming more frequent and intense," adds Shirzaei. "The combination of extreme rainfall and ground conditions are causing unprecedented flood events not only in coastal areas like Houston-Galveston, but also in Midwestern states where farmers have experienced damage to livestock and agriculture, stretching from Illinois to Louisiana." While risk classification maps used by FEMA provide flood hazard data, this study shows that land elevation and slope are changing rapidly and these maps may need to be updated more frequently to account for such changes. Also, land subsidence lowers coastal lands and makes them more vulnerable to flooding due to sea level rise and storm surges. "The lessons learned from the floods following Hurricane Harvey highlight the major shortcomings of current flood resilience plans," says Shirzaei. "We encourage stakeholders and regulators to use these findings to update hazard maps and improve flood resiliency plans accordingly to decide what precautionary measures are needed for their communities." On the horizon, Shirzaei and his research team are using the same satellite data techniques used in this study to focus on the Spring 2019 flooding that has devastated Midwestern states. They will be looking specifically at the impact of flooding on agriculture crop health and the local population. They hope to be able to provide recommendations on updating maps and resiliency plans to help these areas in the future. ### About Arizona State University Arizona State University has developed a new model for the American Research University, creating an institution that is committed to access, excellence and impact. ASU measures itself by those it includes, not by those it excludes. As the prototype for a New American University, ASU pursues research that contributes to the public good, and ASU assumes major responsibility for the economic, social and cultural vitality of the communities that surround it. This story has been published on: 2019-04-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. The absence of major international players from cruise routes to and from Turkey adds to these problems. As a result the Greek cruise sector experienced overall stagnation in 2018, but as the 2019 season gets under way, planned cruise ship arrivals show that things are on the up. East Med missing out As the cruise sector enjoyed a record year in 2018, cruise tourism in the East Mediterranean continued to battle, with passenger arrivals at Greek ports in 2018 showing marginal growth, some 4.79m from 4.63m in 2017. However, the number of cruise ship visits in 2018 was down at 3,410 from the previous year. According to the Bank of Greece, revenue from cruise tourism experienced a declined last year at just over 470m, failing to top 2017s figure of 425m. At the start of the decade, annual revenue amounted to almost 500m. However, Greeces Union of Cruise Ship Owners & Associated Members (EEKFN) has revised its growth forecasts for 2019 from the original 2% and 3%, to between 6% and 8%. Taking a proactive approach Just as regional geopolitics are responsible for the decline in cruising it is again responsible for the slight improvement. EEKFN president Theodore Kontes of Majestic International Cruises, said: Turkish officials followed a proactive policy to lure back tour operators, such as seasonal rebates on port fees, passenger disembarkations and the volume of dockings. Istanbul is also returning to the forefront as a homeport, using low fees for docking and services as well as its air hub dominance. On the other hand, Kontes voiced concerns that Greek destinations face port cost hikes with a marginal improvement in services. Failures and consequences Greece has also failed to develop new destinations, which has impacted entire itineraries within the country. This remains as a major issue and as ships continue to get bigger the country is in danger of losing ground. Indeed, the top Greek destinations have remained unchanged for nearly a decade, led by Piraeus, Santorini and Corfu. However, the efforts of the Piraeus Port Authority (PPA) to secure an increase in confirmed arrivals of cruise ships in 2019 are beginning to reap the benefits, with 605 slated for 2019 up 16% on the 524 of 2018, with the majority, some 372 set to use Piraeus for homeporting, a 44% increase on last years 257. Further, Chinese multinational Cosco, manager of the PPA, is working to strengthen cooperation with several islands and mainland ports in order to create a cruise network in the tourism-laden Eastern Mediterranean country. Cosco, which has signaled its intention to transform Piraeus into an international home port for cruise operators, is eyeing cooperation with facilities on the islands of Rhodes, Myknonos, Santorini, the Peloponnesian port of Katakolon, the Cretan ports of Chania and Irakleion, as well as with Corfu. Celestyal Cruises CEO Chris Theophilides has already revealed the companys efforts to extend the cruise season in Greece with new itineraries from 2020 and beyond, with the aim of year-round cruising. Since we are operating in an area with a lot of geopolitical challenges, our focus is a sustainable and viable operation with our midsize vessels, which is the right size for this part of the world, Theophilides explained. An increasing number of cruise passenger arrivals in Greece are from the US, according to Athens International Airport data, which reveals American arrivals have increased over 113% during the last five years, many traveling to the country for its varied cruise options. Disney Cruise Line is resuming operations in the country next year after a five-year absence. Its itineraries include Piraeus and Katakolon, near ancient Olympia. Santorini, Myconos and Crete are destinations for the companys 12-night and nine-night cruises next summer. Meanwhile, Kontes and a delegation of EEKFN members have been touring the islands in an effort to speed up port improvement works. Santorini struggling with visitor influx Santorini is of concern for the cruise community. Hundreds of thousands of visitors and tourists arrive by cruise ships each year. At present, cruise visitors disembark offshore in the bay of Fira and are transported by small local boats to the points that lead to the city and the various places of interest. In addition to accelerating port works at Atheniou port, ways of managing the high volumes of cruise ship visitors has been on the agenda. Santorini's Atheniou port has been a prime target, while Corfu and Crete have been visited. An attractive proposition Construction of a second cable car facility taking passengers directly to the city would help ease pressures. Security measures would also need to be closely addressed. Last year, Santorini officials met with Cruise Lines International Association representatives to discuss managing the large number of tourists. A berth allocation system for cruise ships was introduced limiting disembarkations to 8,000 passengers within a 24 hours period. Driving growth in Greece top of business agenda Showing strength in future of Greeces tourism industry, the biennial Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum will be taking place in May against a backdrop of impending Greek port privatizations and a return to stability of regional geopolitical hotspots. This years event, to be held from May 28-29 at the Domotel Kastri Conference Center in Athens northern suburbs, will host over 30 senior cruise executives responsible for ports and destinations including MSC Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Holland America Group, Disney, Silversea Cruises, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines and Celestyal Cruises. The bunker operators are Sinanju Tankers Holdings, Sentek Marine & Trading and Global Energy Trading. Together with two other firms New Maritime and United Maritime, who have separately signed letters of intent previously with Claritecs, the group in total manages about one-third of the current Singapore bunker tanker fleet. BunkerMaestro, an algorithm-based Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, is a top three winner at the PIER71 Smart Port Challenge 2018. The web-based platform taps on Singapore Maritime Data Hub (SG-MDH) data to assist bunker operators reduce data entry and manual scheduling, increase their fleet utilisation while providing clarity in bunker scheduling to ship agents, shipowners, terminals all involved in the bunker supply chain. It is anticipated that when using BunkerMaestro, these bunker operators will achieve increased work efficiencies of at least 30%, an increase in bunker tanker utilisation rate of at least 15% and a 50% reduction in time spent on communication. BunkerMaestro has gained much traction and the momentum has now propelled us to ready it for commercial rollout. We firmly believe that BunkerMaestro will add value to Singapores $25bn bunker industry, said Wong Hong Lee, ceo of Claritecs. This solution increases work efficiency as it reduces the need for manual, repetitive and time-consuming scheduling. It also reduces the idling buffer time of bunker tankers, allowing its operators to accept more fuel delivery jobs. We expect a rise in the number of fuel types and blends consumed by the shipping industry from 2020 due to the IMOs global sulphur cap regulation. This will only increase the complexity of scheduling a bunker fleet and BunkerMaestro is well positioned to help bunker operators overcome this and at increased efficiency, Wong said. Seatrade Maritime News is reporting Live from Sea Asia 2019 Claritecs has also signed a MOU with MarineTraffic at the Innovation Arena of the biennial Sea Asia show. The MOU will establish collaboration and the framework of cooperation between the two parties as a follow-on from the PIER71 Smart Port Challenge accelerator programme. We will also promote the benefits of BunkerMaestro to shipping agents, shipowners, bunker traders and oil terminals. By gathering all stakeholders on one platform, everyone would be able to achieve higher work efficiencies, better operational oversight and streamlined communications throughout the entire bunker supply chain, Wong said. As the Speaker for the debate Esben Poulsson, chairman of International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and president of the Singapore Shipping Association, was at times challenged to keep the lively debate under control. Opening the debate for the motion George Pateras, president of the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping and the Hellenic Maritime Cluster, contended that the industry did a huge amount on environmental protection on a voluntary basis, far more than any other industry. We must all insist on a level playing field the same for all. Look at the airline industry they hardly get stopped for anything. We are an industry of great value in 2017 we transported $357 billion worth of cargo, Pateras said. If you consider the emissions produced for the work done we are the most environmentally friendly means of transport. Firing back against the motion Sadan Kaptanoglu, president designate of Bimco and managing director of HI Kaptanoglu Shipping, contended it was an illusion that the industry was too heavily regulated. You cannot say I am polluting a little bit so its ok, she said. Kaptanoglu contended shipowners spending billions of dollars a year on new ships had a say in making them more environmentally friendly, but did not want to pay for it. Sadly, thats why we need more regulation, not less. Speaking for the motion Ali Shehab, deputy ceo, fleet operations for Kuwait Oil Tanker Co (KOTC), brought the question of how fit to purpose the regulations were. He noted that while he attended the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) 72 meeting he missed the 73rd meeting as the company was too busy trying to sort out its ballast water treatment systems it had installed on its ships. Seatrade Maritime News is reporting Live from Sea Asia 2019 The most fiery delivery of the day came against the motion from Professor Christine Loh, chief development strategist, The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. She compared the side arguing for the motion, or the ruling party, as behaving like boys, frogs and villains. Prof Loh called on the side for the debate motion to admit defeat so that everyone could work together to tackle the huge environmental problems faced. The public outside think they are villains because of the way they articulate the problem. By working together with the shipbuilders, governments, associations and other bodies the public would no longer see the industry as villains. Arguing for the motion Friedrich Bunnemann, managing partner, Asiatic Lloyd, contended the industry was proud to have committed to targets to reduce CO2 emissions but that we should look at those who really benefit from shipping. We do have certain ship types that burn less fuel than other types but we dont really get paid for that. So how can we invest more? Finally rounding out the side against the motion was Jeremy Nixon, ceo of Ocean Network Express (ONE). Nixon noted that the planet was in much difficultly at the moment, and that the movement to protect the environment was under-swelling, from the bottom up with citizens wanting see change. When it came to a vote from the audience, or the House at the end of the debate it was the side against the motion that won out with 58.6% against and 41.4% for. The list comprises 49 accredited Singapore bunker suppliers that can offer bunker fuels with sulphur content of no more than 0.5%. From 1 January 2020 under IMOs Marpol Annex VI regulation, all oceangoing ships will need to burn bunker fuel with a sulphur content cap of 0.5%, down from the current limit of 3.5%. The 49 Singapore fuel suppliers can offer fuel grades ranging from MGO, low sulphur fuel oil, ultra low sulphur fuel oil of 0.1% and the 3.5% heavy bunker fuel oil. Read more: Singapore gears up for low sulphur bunkering in 2020 Dr Lam Pin Min, Singapores senior minister of state in the ministry of transport and ministry of health, had told Sibcon 2018 in October that the MPA will publish the supplier list by mid-2019. Some of the suppliers include big players such as BP Singapore, ExxonMobil Asia Pacific, Shell Eastern Petroleum, Total Marine Fuels, and Chevron Singapore. To see the full list of licensed bunker suppliers providing compliant fuels in Singapore, click on this link. The Leading Maritime Capitals report for 2019, compiled by Menon Economics and DNV GL, saw Singapore in top position at the head of 15 major cities despite uncertain conditions in global trade and weak offshore oil and gas markets. Maritime Singapores continuous effort to strengthen its attractiveness as an international maritime centre has been well received by the industry. The strong results on both the objective indicators and expert assessments indicate its relevance as a critical node within the maritime sector regionally and globally, said Shahrin Osman, regional head of Maritime Advisory, DNV GL. Hamburg came in second in the ranking while Rotterdam and Hong Kong moved up to third and fourth respectively - showing significant improvement. London and Shanghai came in fifth and sixth. Out of the five key factors on which the maritime capitals were judged, Singapore topped the rankings for three which were shipping, ports and logistics, and attractiveness and competitiveness. For the other two key factors, London topped for maritime finance and law, while Oslo led the pack for maritime technology. Oslo stood out as the main centre for ocean technologies and solutions compared to Singapore, Copenhagen or Rotterdam, Menon Economics partner Erik W. Jakobsen explains but in the overall ranking, it fell from third spot to the seventh spot. Seatrade Maritime News is reporting Live from Sea Asia 2019 Looking ahead, the experts behind the ranking expect Singapore to retain its top ranking five years into the future but with stronger competition from Shanghai, and Dubai poised to climb into the top five overall by 2024. Meanwhile, Hamburg, Rotterdam, London and Oslo are expected to remain strong in Europe. In addition to objective indicators, subjective indicators used in the rankings reveal the perception and assessment of each city as seen by selected business executives across the world, primarily shipowners and managers. Of the 200 experts called upon to respond to the survey, around 40% are based in Europe, 30% in Asia and the remaining 30% in America, the Middle East and Africa. Press Release April 10, 2019 ANGARA CALLS FOR SAFE RETURN OF FILIPINOS IN LIBYA Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara urged the government to guarantee the safety and security of all Filipinos in Libya amid escalating military tensions there, as he appealed to workers in the North African country to heed the Department of Foreign Affairs' (DFA) call for their voluntary repatriation to the Philippines. "We are appealing to all our kababayan in Libya to remove themselves out of harm's way by getting themselves repatriated to the Philippines. We also ask the government to ensure the safe return of Filipinos who wish to avail of the repatriation program," said the lawmaker from Aurora who is running under the platform "Alagang Angara." The DFA has raised the alert level for Filipinos in Libya to Level III, which means voluntary repatriation is advised due to escalating violence seen as a threat to safety. There are more than 3,500 Filipinos in the African state, according to the DFA. Under Alert Level III, all Filipinos in Libya are urged to start preparing for evacuation and those with valid employment contracts who are currently on vacation in the Philippines will not be allowed to return. Angara said those who will return home should not worry because the government is ready to take care of their needs, citing the benefits provided under Republic Act 10801 that institutionalized and strengthened the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). "Huwag sanang mag-alinlangan ang ating kababayang OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) dahil may mga programa ang gobyerno para sa kanila," Angara said. "Ang benepisyong ito ay nanggaling mismo sa kanilang bulsa kaya marapat lamang na sila ay makinabang dito lalo na sa panahong kailangan nila ng tulong." Angara co-authored and sponsored RA 10801, also known as the OWWA Act of 2016, as then chairman of the Senate Committee on Labor. The law provides a wide array of services and benefits to OFWs funded by the $25 membership fee collected from them every two years. Under RA 1081, OWWA is mandated to provide benefits and services to its members, which include gender-responsive integration program, repatriation assistance, loan and credit assistance, on-site worker assistance, death and disability benefits, health care benefits, education and skills training, social services, and family welfare assistance. These benefits and services, according to Angara, are just a small token of gratitude for the valuable contribution of OFWs to the overall national development effort. "We have to give back to our OFWs, whose remittances have kept the Philippine economy afloat for many years," the senator said. On top of the OWWA funds, Angara said the Senate allocated an additional P100 million for the emergency repatriation program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) under the 2019 national budget. "The additional funding would provide the department a standby fund for the repatriation of distressed OFWs in cases of outbreaks or crisis in their host countries," said Angara, who sponsored the DOLE's 2019 budget being the vice chair of the Senate finance committee. Press Release April 10, 2019 De Lima dares Paolo Duterte to show 'dragon tattoo' on his back Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has reiterated her challenge to embattled presidential son Paolo "Polong" Duterte to show his dragon tattoo on his back to dispel any lingering accusations about his alleged links with the illegal drug trade syndicates. De Lima, the first political prisoner under the Duterte regime, said Mr. Duterte should reconsider his decision not to show to the public his dragon tattoo on his back so that he can once and for all prove his accusers wrong. "In challenging Paolo Duterte to prove his accusers wrong via the simple expedient of showing his back tattoo, I speak partly from the perspectives of one who has been falsely accused and continues to be persecuted and demonized with lies about her alleged drug links," she said in her recent Dispatch from Crame No. 501. "I don't want anybody else, not even any of the Dutertes, to be on the same boat, to be a victim of lies and injustices. Believe me, being falsely accused is the most painful thing. Indescribably painful. Worse than painful," she added. Duterte was recently tagged as among the syndicate leaders who purportedly got kickbacks from the illegal drug trade in a seven-minute video entitled "Ang Totoong Narco List- Episode 1" that went viral after it was uploaded on YouTube last April 2. The narrator in the video who identified himself as a certain "Bikoy" claimed that the dragon tattoo on Duterte's back can prove the presidential son's ties to a drug trafficking triad which is a syndicate involved in a number of criminal activities. In the video, Bikoy, who introduced himself as a former member of a large drug syndicate, revealed the code at the upper portion of the dragon tattoo on Duterte's back is similar to one of his supposed codenames in the Tara: ALPHA TIERRA-0029. If Duterte is on the side of truth, De Lima reiterated that it should be easy for him to publicly show his alleged tattoo. "So, again, unless he has something to hide, Polong better show the tattoo. Hindi pa naman nya siguro pinabura," she said. The video prompted Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon to urge the Senate to reopen its probe on the PhP6.4-billion smuggling of 604 kilos of methamphetamine or shabu into the Philippines in 2017 that allegedly involved the presidential son. A victim of political persecution under the vengeful Duterte regime, De Lima was illegally detained since Feb. 24, 2017 based on trumped-up charges that were all based primarily on perjured testimonies of convicted criminals and manufactured evidence. Press Release April 10, 2019 Koko moves to repeal Marcos-era decree imposing travel tax Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III has filed a bill seeking to abolish the 42-year-old presidential decree that imposes travel tax to Filipinos traveling abroad. The repeal of the travel tax, especially for travels to countries within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), should have been in effect as early as Nov. 2002, following the signing of the regional intergovernmental tourism agreement in which the Philippines is one of the signatories, he said. Pimentel pointed out that the said ASEAN Tourism Agreement has already removed travel levies and taxes on nationals of member-States traveling within the region. "It has been almost 14 years since the Philippines signed the ASEAN Tourism Agreement but as of date, travel taxes are still imposed upon individuals traveling to other ASEAN member-States," he said. Pimentel's Senate Bill No. 1841 seeks to totally remove the imposition of travel tax on those who will depart to any other country around the globe. The senator expressed the belief that the Filipinos' right to travel abroad should not be burdened with the imposition of travel tax. Originally, travel tax which ranges from P300 to P2,700, was imposed to curtail unnecessary foreign travels and to conserve foreign exchange. It was first imposed in 1977 by then Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos following the issuance of Presidential Decree 1183 in order to provide adequate funds for tourism-related programs and projects to enhance the country's competitiveness as a major tourist destination. Pimentel is of the position that the regular traveling Filipinos, who are already paying a huge chunk of their salary to the national government via income tax, should not be made to carry the additional burden in providing funds for tourism facilities and infrastructure. "They should not be made to pay for the failure of the national government to provide state of the art tourism facilities and infrastructure," he said. The senator noted that Section 73 of RA 9593 otherwise known as the Tourism Act of 2009 already provides for alternative funding sources for the programs funded by the travel tax in the event of a phase out of travel tax collection following the enforcement of international agreements. Pimentel proposed that agencies receiving proceeds from travel tax collections such as the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) to instead directly receive the necessary funding from the General Appropriations Act (GAA). "It is also my view that the percentages of travel tax allocated for CHED, even if the law states that priority should be given to tourism-related educational programs and courses, and for NCAA are unnecessary since these are not connected to traveling," the senator said. In the event that the bill is passed into law, Pimentel said those flights that are scheduled on or after the effectivity of the measure and those travel taxes collected prior to the effectivity of the bill shall be refunded immediately. Attorney General William Barr has assembled a team to review controversial counterintelligence decisions made by Justice Department and FBI officials, including actions taken during the probe of the Trump campaign in the summer of 2016, according to a person familiar with the matter. This indicates that Barr is looking into allegations that Republican lawmakers have been pursuing for more than a year that the investigation into [Donald] Trump and possible collusion with Russia was tainted at the start by anti-Trump bias in the FBI and Justice Department. ...Republican Lindsey Graham, who's a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has already pledged to pursue the issue in the Judiciary Committee he leads. ..."That's great news he's looking into how this whole thing started back in 2016," Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said Tuesday of Barr's interest in the issue. "That's something that has been really important to us. It's what we've been calling for." Having endeavored to keep Special Counsel Bob Mueller's report from public viewlong enough to define the narrative of its secret contents, Attorney General Bill Barr is now undertaking the job of enacting Donald Trump's revenge on the people whose early investigations led to the special investigation of his collusion with Russia.Naturally, Republican lawmakers like Lindsey Graham and Jim Jordan have jumped on board to help facilitate the revenge plot.Chris Strohm and Billy House at Bloomberg report Indeed, Congressional Republicans have been calling for punitive investigations of the investigators, while Trump's base of deplorable cultists has continued callingThey want show trials, Trump is leveraging his mighty power in order to give them what they want, and the rest of his despicable party is falling right in line.Failing actual show trials of his "enemies," Trump and the GOP will nonetheless communicate that anyone who comes for the president will lose and had better be prepared to get a target on their own backs. The message is that the Department of Justice is now a weapon of vengeance.Utterly chilling, by explicit design. The Overseas Investment Office says it is engaging with interested investors before a formal application is lodged to weed out doubtful transactions. The office is using pre-application meetings with overseas investors to discuss what information it requires, and a triage process where senior staffers effectively vet applications before they're accepted for assessment, Land Information New Zealand acting chief executive Lisa Barrett told parliament's finance and expenditure committee yesterday. The process has given investors the opportunity to withdraw their applications if circumstances change or if it appears unlikely they'll get approval, she said in response to questions from Labour MP Deborah Russell. "As a result of improved processes that we've done with pre-app meetings and triage, we found that around a third of applications initially were not being accepted to the office to start off with," Barrett said. "Through that triage and pre-app meeting, it was evident they were not going to have any chance, or that they didn't have enough information to come to us and they needed to wait." The office, part of LINZ, often gets caught in politically charged debates when MPs question the desirability of foreign buyers of land and businesses. Last year, the committee tasked the Auditor-General with examining how the OIO collected and managed its information amid concerns it was taking too long to make decisions. The Auditor-General found that while the office was providing the right advice to its decision-making ministers, its enforcement and monitoring functions were lacking. In the 2018/19 year-to-day, the OIO has approved 30 of the 33 applications for significant business assets it's received. One application lapsed and two were withdrawn. On non-residential sensitive land, it's approved 35 of 58 applications, with two declined, two lapsed and 19 withdrawn. Last year's ministerial directive to the OIO to tighten rules for foreign buyers' applications for sensitive land was seen at the time as deterring investors in rural property, triggering a spike in withdrawals. National MP Paul Goldsmith questioned how many would-be investors had been deterred by the regime. Barrett said that was hard to answer. "We deal with a catchment of very specialist lawyers in this space, who are well-versed on what's required to get through an Overseas Investment Act application. So often they will address those issues and we might not necessarily know about it," she said. National MP Andrew Bayly noted that investors would spend on average $100,000 to make an OIO application. Barrett said the decision to proceed with an application is judgement the purchaser has to make relative to the level of investment they're proposing. The directive last year has also led to an increase in the time the OIO is spending on sensitive land applications, which has climbed to 72 working days from the high-60s. Significant business applications are tracking at 35 working days. The OIO has also restructured its enforcement and monitoring functions, separating the two into separate teams to get better information around where breaches occur and to take court action where it can. Barrett said the OIO increased its enforcement activity significantly in calendar 2018, issuing 24 compliance letters and three public warnings. It reached two settlement agreements, took three disposal-of-property actions, one court proceeding, and imposed six penalties for late provision of information. "We're also focusing a lot more on court action to get some precedent value around the regime itself, so I'm anticipating that we will be taking more court proceedings in future months," she said. While politicians often decry sales of property and businesses to overseas investors, the country's shallow savings pool struggles to meet its investment needs. At Dec. 31, the nation's net international investment position was negative $167.3 billion, or 57 percent of GDP. (BusinessDesk) Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: Gentrack Group Limited (NZX: GTK) Facility Loan Agreement Goodman Property Trust (NZX: GMT) Prices $200 million Wholesale Bond Issue 15th December 2021 Morning Report Stride Property Ltd & Stride Investment Management Ltd (NZX: SPG) Retail Offer Closes Over-Subscribed Steel & Tube Holdings Limited (NZX: STU) Upgrades Earnings Guidance for 1H FY22 The New Zealand Refining Company Limited (NZX: NZR) Share Purchase Plan Closes Oversubscribed 14th December 2021 Morning Report The New Zealand Refining Company Limited (NZX: NZR) Share Purchase Plan Issue Price Air New Zealand Limited (NZX: AIR) Announces Revised Crown Support Package New Zealand Oil & Gas Limited (NZX: NZO) Mahato PSC Update Infratil is looking to replicate its investment in US-based renewable energy developer Longroad in Europe, chief commercial officer Jason Boyes told the company's investor day. Infratil has had a reasonably chequered past in offshore investment, particularly with its unfortunate experiments of investing in airports in Europe, Boyes acknowledged. It's non-trivial for a New Zealand-based company to execute with assets on the other side of the world, he said. You can't be flying in and flying out doing this stuff. But Infratil has learned along the way and now the infrastructure investor is looking at the opportunities of using the skills it has built up through investments in Longroad as well as other renewables projects through 65.3 percent-owned Tilt Renewables and 51-percent owned Trustpower, Boyes said. One of the things Infratil has learned is that it needs a strong local and aligned management team to work with, which will be a requirement for any other offshore investments. A big advantage with Longroad was that Infratil could start with a small investment and both the Infratil and Longroad teams were able to build confidence as the investment level grew. Europe ticks a lot of boxes, particularly tailwind forecasts which, if anything, look even stronger than in the US. In late 2018, Markit forecast Europe needs 140 gigawatts of renewables to be built by 2021 compared with 75 gigawatts in the US. Government support mechanisms, including feed-in tariff and similar mechanisms, are rolling off and that's creating complexity and challenging under-capitalised developers, Boyes said. He says that's an opportunity for Infratil, which has backed the Longroad team with capital, in conjunction with the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, and so has a track record to point to. Earlier, chief financial officer Phillippa Harford, told investors Infratil, with gearing at 34 percent at March 31, has $458 million in funds available to invest. That doesn't include the expected A$162 million proceeds from selling Infratil's interest in Canberra student accommodation which is expected to flow in this month. Infratil has invested $154 million since it began investing in Longroad and has received $152 million of that capital back and its share of Longroad was worth $128 million at March 31. Boyes says Infratil still has a lot of opportunity available in the US through Longroad, despite President Donald Trump's refusal to acknowledge climate change. The opposition to reducing carbon emissions at the federal level has resulted in the individual states becoming more encouraging of the development of renewables. However, there's no question the European Union is providing more regulatory support. We think the Longroad structure will suit us, Boyes said, although he says Infratil probably won't get as lucky with timing as it did in the US so development in Europe is likely to be a lot slower. (BusinessDesk) Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: Gentrack Group Limited (NZX: GTK) Facility Loan Agreement Goodman Property Trust (NZX: GMT) Prices $200 million Wholesale Bond Issue 15th December 2021 Morning Report Stride Property Ltd & Stride Investment Management Ltd (NZX: SPG) Retail Offer Closes Over-Subscribed Steel & Tube Holdings Limited (NZX: STU) Upgrades Earnings Guidance for 1H FY22 The New Zealand Refining Company Limited (NZX: NZR) Share Purchase Plan Closes Oversubscribed 14th December 2021 Morning Report The New Zealand Refining Company Limited (NZX: NZR) Share Purchase Plan Issue Price Air New Zealand Limited (NZX: AIR) Announces Revised Crown Support Package New Zealand Oil & Gas Limited (NZX: NZO) Mahato PSC Update New Delhi: Despite tall claims made by Facebook that it is removing 10 lakh fake accounts a day in India, a survey revealed on Tuesday that one in two Indians has received fake news in the last 30 days and Facebook and WhatsApp are the platforms which are being used excessively to misinform the users. The survey by online startup Social Media Matters and New Delhi-based Institute for Governance, Policies and Politics found that over 53 per cent of Indians received fake news related to the upcoming elections over various social media platforms. "Nearly 62 per cent of the population believes that the upcoming elections will be influenced by the misinformation that the users are receiving," the findings showed. The 18-25 age group that led the conversation constituted 54 per cent of the sample population. "Facebook and WhatsApp are the leading platforms being used to disseminate misinformation. The survey stated that 96 per cent of the sample population received fake news via WhatsApp," the findings showed. An estimated 900 million voters (including 9.4 per cent new voters) are battling the influence of fake news as India goes to the polls from April 11. "Since half-a-billion voters have access to Internet, fake news can have a massive impact on the elections," said the survey. Nearly 41 per cent stated they made efforts to authenticate a news by searching it on Google, Facebook and Twitter. About 54 per cent suggested that they have never been affected by fake news but 43 per cent of them have known people who have been misled by the same. The survey titled '#DontBeAFool' covered nearly 700 users including 56 per cent men, 43 per cent women and 1 per cent transgenders. Facebook on Monday said it was working for more than 18 months now to make sure that the Indian elections were fair and free from interference, both foreign and domestic. Facebook last week removed nearly 700 Pages, Groups and accounts in India for violating its policies on what it calls "coordinated inauthentic behaviour" and spam. "We have sent a legal notice to the company. Our demand is clear -- the payment of January 1 to March 31 salaries," a senior pilot told IANS. New Delhi/Mumbai: More trouble seems to be brewing for debt-ridden Jet Airways as a section of pilots has sent the company a legal notice demanding payment of salaries, due from January 1, by April 14. The notice has been sent by the National Aviators Guild (NAG), a union of pilots, to the Jet CEO Vinay Dube. The NAG has over 1,000 members. The pilots, along with engineers and other critical segments of employees, have not been paid salaries since January 1. The notice has been served on a day when the airline was to inform the employees about the latest situation on salary payments. "In the light of the current situation, please note that salaries for March will be deferred. We will provide you an update on the status of the payout by Tuesday, April 9, 2019," Rahul Taneja, Chief People Officer, Jet Airways, had said in a communication to employees on April 3. Last month, the pilots' union had decided to go on mass leave to protest non-payment of salaries, but postponed it till April 15. "The pilots have decided that time should be given to the new interim management till April 14 to clear salary dues in conjunction with interim funding, and charter a clear road map for the future of the company. The collective call of the pilots is hence deferred to April 15," the NAG said in a communication after the open-house meeting on March 31. On Monday, lenders of the debt-ridden airline invited expression of interest (EoI) for stake sale in the company to recover dues worth Rs 8,000 crore. The 26.75-km long Matara-Beliatta railway extension was declared open for the public by Sri Lanka's Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Arjuna Ranatunga on Monday. Beijing: China has financed and constructed Sri Lanka's first new railway line after the island nation became independent in 1948. China has invested heavily and pledged financial loans to Sri Lanka, a strategically located country in the Indian Ocean. Beijing already has a 99-year lease of Sri Lanka's Hambantota port, a result of Colombo's failure to repay Chinese debts. The railway extension was financed by the Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim Bank) and the contract was awarded to China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said in a report. The Matara-Beliatta railway line is the first to be constructed in Sri Lanka since 1948 and it includes the longest and second longest railway bridges of 1.5 km and 1.04 km, respectively, the state media said. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang confirmed Chinese funding of the project. "Yes, the phase-one extension line of the southern railway in Sri Lanka is the first railway project contracted by a Chinese company in Sri Lanka under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and it is indeed the first railway built after the country's independence," the spokesperson said. "It is now officially opened and it will make regional transportation more convenient and facilitate local economic and social development. The Sri Lankan people are pleased to see that and China is pleased for the Sri Lankan people," Lu said. "China will like to expand and deepen our practical cooperation under the BRI and deliver benefits to the people with concrete outcomes," Lu added. China is Sri Lanka's biggest lender. Sri Lanks's envoy to China in February said Colombo will get a $1 billion loan from China and might sign a free trade agreement with Beijing. Sri Lanka is returning to normalcy after being hit by a deep political crisis last year that plunged the credit rating of the already-indebted country. The Chinese have made deep inroads into the strategically located nation in the Indian Ocean and have a 99-year lease of the Hambantota Port after Sri Lanka failed to pay back loans. Beijing's growing presence in Sri Lanka worries India which held considerable clout in the country. : Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan said he thinks there may be a better chance of peace talks with India if Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party wins the general election due to begin on Thursday. Khan said that if the next Indian government were led by the opposition Congress party, it might be too scared to seek a settlement with Pakistan, fearing a backlash from the right. In its order, the EC said, "any biopic material in nature of biography sub serving the purpose of any political entity or any individual entity connected to it, which has potential to disturb level playing field during the election, should not be displayed in Electronic media including cinematograph. The Election Commission on Wednesday banned the release of the biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which was scheduled to release on April 11, the same day when the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections begin. It is also to be noted that the Supreme Court on Wednesday had dismissed a petition seeking stay on the film's release, saying the Election Commission would be an "appropriate" place to seek the redressal. The apex court also stated that it was not entertaining the petition for the stay on the release of the film as it was "premature" since the movie had not been certified by the Censor Board. The film, titled "PM Narendra Modi" and directed by Omung Kumar, has been criticised by the opposition parties, who claim that the biopic could give undue advantage to the BJP in the polls as it will arrive in theatres before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Page Content Plans for a general and unlimited strike action on French St. Maarten beginning on Thursday, April 11 has caught the attention of Dutch St. Maarten's Minister of Tourism the honourable Stuart Johnson who has issued some words of caution to visitors and residents to "avoid engaging in or being in the proximity of any protest actions." Johnson who is abroad leading a delegation at the Seatrade Cruise Global Conference in Miami has reached out to President of the Collectivite on French St. Martin Daniel Gibbes and his [Johnsons], Counterpart Vice President of the Collectivite Valarie Damasseur to discuss the situation and informed them of his stance. "I do hope a peaceful demonstration takes place," Johnson said. Minister Johnson says his primary concern, especially during the planned protest, is the safety of visitors and residents alike. "In a democratic society, the people have a right and at times even an obligation, to demonstrate or protest peacefully as an expression of their dissatisfaction if the situation requires such. However, this must always be done taking the safety of all people and security of property against damage, into consideration," said Johnson on Tuesday. The Minister who is also responsible for Economic Affairs said taking into account our present economically challenging climate; we must ensure that our actions are carried out responsibly. "No one should be refused their right to express themselves and voice their concerns peacefully in a free and democratic society." Johnson said he fully understands the need to be heard but warns that while the people have a right to protest, there must be real consideration by all concerned parties about any negative impact this could have on the island's recovery efforts. He expressed sincere hopes that all parties involved are able to sit together and work out their differences amicably without much delay. Regarding visitor arrivals to the island and travel to French St. Maarten whether independently or via guided tours during the general strike, Johnson said, "This is something that has my Ministry's full attention." He said, "I encourage the service providers in the industry to use their best judgements while executing their various services. Visitors should exercise the necessary caution to avoid crowds and areas where there are protests." Johnson encourages all to ensure that the collective actions of the involved parties are carried out to serve a greater good for all. ------------ Unbreakable Symbol of Sri Lankan politicians spiritual dependence of India by Punsara Amarasinhe and Eshan Jayawardane Mans association with faith is the most inexplicable thing in the world which gives no clues of comprehending its very nature. Even the most powerful men in world history were known to be shaky and crumbled before the creed they ardently believed. In the annals of Roman history we find emperors like Hadrian who was extremely obsessed with Hellenic culture and his political decisions were more or less affected from the Greek soothsayers served in Roman imperial court. There are dozens of examples showing how oriental rulers were fascinated with their faith for foreign deities and oracles. Being a country located geographically closer to Indian mainland, Sri Lanka shares an enormous cultural and spiritual legacy from Indian civilization. Even though Sri Lankans tend to boast about their complete separate identity fromIndia, it is a fact beyond dispute that the islands political and cultural history is imbued with the influences gained from India. Since the day Asoka sent his son Mahendra to spread the word of Buddhism to Sri Lanka in 3rd century BC, the greater influences came from India have made some profound impacts in islands political map and the present form its impact is reflected from Sinhalese Buddhist politicians knack on visiting the spiritual shrines in India often. In that case, paying homage to God Vishnus incarnation Sri Venkateswara in ancient Tirumala Temple located in Tirupathi, Andhra Pradesh India by many politicians in Sri Lanka is an interesting phenomenon to observe as the this tradition has been survived in both main political parties in Sri Lanka. In tracing the recent history of number of official visits made by prominent Sri Lankan politicians to Tirupathi , it is evident how this spiritual mystic place has become a place of paramount importance to some key political characters in Sri Lanka. Starting from former President MahindaRajapaksa to current President MaitreepalaSirisenathe veneration of Tiru temple always have been crucial before they made any important political decision. It was reported even when president Rajapaksa decided to go for presidential election in 2015 before his term legitimately reached its end, that his decision was shaped by the predictions he heard at Tirupathi from its soothsayers, but on the contrary the outcome of the presidential election in Sri Lanka sent president Rajapaksa home and neither Tirupathi temple non its soothsayers saved him from his unexpected political debacle. Ironically both current president in Sri Lanka and prime minister have visited this Hindu temple several times as devotees. Most recently Sri Lankan prime minister paid homage to Tirupathi after performing an aged old ritual called Tulabharam , which is a tradition where a devotee wishes to offer sugar, rice, jaggery or amount equivalent to the weight of his or her body. PremierRanilWickramasinghe has known as a liberal minded statesman who is very much passionate in European liberal values, yet this kind of actions demonstrate the fact how spiritual belief in South Asian politics even in carving a mindset of a sophisticated liberal leader. The exact nature of Sri Lankan Sinhalese Buddhist mindset on its Big Brother India always remains an uncanny riddle as it is filled with love and hate. Sinhalese Buddhist majority in Sri Lanka always perceive India from a dualistic point of view. Throughout the history of the Island till Europeans arrived in 16thcentury , all the foreign invasions that stuck Sri Lanka had come from India and Sri Lankas ancient kings always had their bitter encounters with Chola empire in South India and many Sinhalese kings sought the assistance from Palllava and Pandawas in South India when Cholas attacked ancient Sinhalese kingdom of Anuradhapura. In post independent period both states faced their own socio-economic and political chaos, yet Indian influence on Sri Lankan grew stronger in parallel to how Tamil minority issue began to bloom in Sri Lankas politics. Many Sinhalese believed and still believe India was the architect behind planting the seeds of separatist ideology among Tamil minority and this antipathy reached its climax in 1987 when Sri Lankan president JR Jayawardene signed Indo- Lanka agreement with Indian premier Rajeev Gandhi, which caused uproar in Sinhalese society. Despite having such antagonistic attitude towards India, it is rather strange how Sinhalese society in Sri Lanka venerates India from a different side, that has nourished mainly due to Buddhism which Sri Lankan preserves as the biggest gift they received from India and also the spiritual beliefs that have spread across Sri Lankan society such as worshiping deities and reading horoscopes have mainly ascended upon Sinhalese Buddhist sub consciousness from larger Indian influence. As a matter of fact Sri Lankan politicians utmost faith in worshiping Tirupathi is a continuation of this deep psychological attachment to India even though they have bitter enmities on Indian policy making on Sri Lanka. As an example, it was evident that former president of Sri Lanka MahindaRajapaksa upheld a closer link with China which caused New Delhi to be suspicious about him and after his unexpected defeat at the hand of MaitripalaSrisena who happened to be the common candidate of the joint opposition , Mr.Rajapaksa openly accused Indian intelligence RAW for planning his defeat in 2015 presidential elections, but his devotion on Indian spirituality has not yet been reduced as he still visits Tirupathi Temple and other holy places in India. In fact Sri Lankas nature as a cultural and spiritual parasite of Indian civilization is the most vitally important factor that always India can rely on expanding its influence whereas China being the recent involver lacks such a privilege to execute. In Using Joseph Nyes Soft Power analogy , one can say Indian influence upon Sri Lankas politics and overall social structure is highly unlikely to be diminished in future albeit the ongoing Chinese involvement in Sri Lankas economy. It may not be an hyperbolic remark to state that Tirupathi ritual has gone beyond the stage of a mere cult worship by Sri Lankan politicians and India can proudly boast of it as a one practical diplomatic strategies in shaping the relations between two states. Being the regional power in South Asia India has used different approaches to keep its grip over other South Asian countries, For an example Nepal and Bhutan depend heavily on India as landlocked sates and their destines have always been imbued with India as their patron state. Sri Lankas aged long spiritual dependence of India always stands as a crucial factor in the relations between both countries and Tirpathi symbolizes its unbreakable rigor. PunsaraAmarasinghe is a PhD Candidate in Public International Law at Institute of Law and Politics at ScuolaSuperioreSant Anna in Pisa, Italy. He holds his LL.B from University of Colombo and LL.M from South Asian University, New Delhi India. He held a research fellowship at Faculty of Law, Higher School of Economics in Moscow and served as a guest lecturer at faculty of arts at University of Colombo. Punsara can be reached at punsaraprint10@gmail.com EshanJayawardne graduated from Delhi University in BA Sociology and holds his MA in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He served as a visiting lecturer at faculty of social sciences at Sri Lanka Open University. Eshan can be reached at eshan.jayawardena@gmail.com 1904: The arrival of the first wave of Sikh immigrants. The census listed 258 Sikhs. Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the Sikh Holy book was first brought to Canada by Bhai Arjan Singh. The scriptures were located at a house in Port Moody. 1905: For the next three years, 5,000 Sikhs came to Canada. 1906: A house was rented in Vancouver to start a Gurdwara or Sikh place of worship. 1907: Foundation stone of the Gurdwara for Khalsa Diwan Society was laid at 1866 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver. 1908: On Jan. 19, the first Sikh parade (Nagar Kirtan) took place to celebrate the opening of the Gurdwara on West 2nd Avenue in Vancouver. The first Granthi or priest was Bhai Balwant Singh. 1909: Establishment of Guru Nanak Mining and Trust company and plans to buy 440 acres of land in West Vancouver. 1911: The census for that year listed 2,342 Sikhs, less than half of that in 1908. Only three were women. 1912: Gurdwaras were built in Victoria, Fraser Mills and Abbotsford. Hardial Singh Atwal was the first Sikh born in Canada on Aug. 28. Hardial is the son of Balwant Singh Atwal, the first priest of the 2nd Avenue Gurdwara. 1914: The Komagata Maru, with 376 passengers, mostly Sikhs, under the leadership of Bhai Gurdit Singh, May 23, arrives in Vancouver. The Komagata Maru was escorted out of Vancouver under the guard of the Canadian Navy. 1918: Sikh population in British Columbia dropped to as low as 700. Mayo Lumber Company built a Sikh temple near Duncan at Paldi. This town was named after the village in India. 1919: Immigration restrictions on bringing wives and children under eighteen years old from India were lifted. Sikh women and children started arriving from India. 1925: Khalsa Diwan Society had autonomous branches at Vancouver, Abbotsford, New Westminster, Golden, Duncan, Coombs and Ocean Falls. 1929: Khalsa Diwan Society invited Charles Andrew, a friend of Mahatma Gandhi and Sir Rabindranth Tagore, Nobel laureate, to see firsthand the unfair treatment of the Sikhs. 1944: Survey of Sikhs in Canada showed that there were 1,756; 98% of them lived in British Columbia. 1947: Sikhs were granted franchise to vote and become Canadian citizens. 1950: Narajan Singh Grewal was the first Sikh elected to a city council in Mission, B.C. In 1954 he would again make history when he is elected mayor of Mission. 1951: There were 2,148 Sikhs in Canada. 1969: March 30, foundation stone for the Khalsa Diwan Society Gurdwara at 8000 Ross Street was laid. 1975: Sikh Samachar, a newspaper, was published by the B.C. Sikh societies. 1979: The 500th birthday of Guru Amar Das Ji. Since that year, an annual Khalsa Day parade (Nagar Kirtan) is held in Vancouver. 1980: Federation of Sikh Societies of Canada was the first Sikh organization registered nationally. 1986: Khalsa School, a full-time private school, was established in Vancouver. This school teaches Sikh religion and Punjabi language classes. Khalsa Credit Union was registered on Feb. 19, to provide financial service to the Sikh Community. 1990: On March 15, the solicitor general of Canada announced that the RCMP dress code would be amended to have a turbaned Sikh join the force. Const. Baltej Singh Dhillon of B.C. Had the honour of becoming the first baptized Sikh to join the RCMP. 1991: Three Sikhs were elected to the British Columbia legislature. Manmohan (Moe) Sihota and Ujjal Dosanjh went on to hold various cabinet posts. The other MLA is Harbhajan (Harry) Lalli. 1993: Harbans (Herb) Dhaliwal from Vancouver and Gurbax Singh Mahli were the first Sikhs elected to the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa. Vancouver's Punjabi Market at 49th Avenue and Main Street was officially recognized with bilingual signs in English and Punjabi. 1996: In September, British Columbia schools started to offer Punjabi language in its regular curriculum from Grades 5 to 12. 1996: There were over a hundred Gurdwaras across Canada. Fifty of them were in B.C. Opening of the Sikh Resource Centre in Vancouver to celebrate the centennial of the Sikhs in Canada on July 28. 1998: The Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar is established. It will over the years stage the biggest Vaisakhi parades outside of India. 1999: A postage stamp was issued to commemorate the contributions that Sikh Canadians had made in the building of Canada. 2012: The first Sikh community base cadets, 3300 Royal Canadian Cadet Corp (Bhai Kanhaiya) was established by The Friends of The Sikh Cadet Society, led by Harbinder Singh Sewak. 2017: B.C. declares April as Sikh Heritage month. 2019: B.C. declares April 13 as The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre Day to mark the massacre of unarmed Punjabis in the city of Amritsar by British soldiers. Guest Commentary By Vincent Geloso The SNC-Lavalin scandal, which continues to dominate headlines across Canada, has many moving parts. Its hard to disentangle everything so as to assign blame. But the situation provides an important lesson that seemingly many have forgot: big government invites big scandals. Political power can be misused for personal gain. It can be wielded in ways that favour a partys electoral prospects or personally enrich government officials. The greater the powers, the scale and the scope of governments, the greater the temptation to misuse power. In that regard, theres a rich economic and political literature that ties size and scope to corruption and political opportunism. Most of it relies on the Fraser Institutes Economic Freedom of the World index, which captures the two main mechanisms that allow for the misuse of power. The first mechanism hinges on the fact that government restricts economic activity via regulation. When this happens, theres an incentive for corrupt officials to grease the wheels. The idea is that, because of regulations, firm owners will pay to speed up the process (permit approvals, for example). The index can test the relationship between corruption and regulation. One paper, using a large international sample, found that some regulations tend to increase corruption especially those related to restrictions on property rights. Other studies have confirmed this idea, noting corruption involving restrictions against importing foreign goods. The second mechanism relies on government spending. Political actors can direct spending towards privileged parties that have corrupted them. For example, government contracts going to party friends or favoured firms. For this, theres some empirical evidence. However, scandals from this mechanism, unlike regulatory mechanisms, are found in electoral machinations. As governments can decide where to allocate spending and to whom, political actors have an incentive to use that power in ways that favour their re-election (or even their personal wealth). Here, the economic history literature is rife with examples. For example, during the Great Depression in the United States, the poorest states hit the hardest by the crisis received very little of the public spending meant to alleviate the crisis. These states, largely in the south, were already solidly in the column of states that would vote for the presidents re-election. As a result, dollars spent there would yield little electoral rewards. Most of the spending went to electorally important states. Another study, using the same historical episodes, noted that the same thing happened at the congressional level, whereby those with political clout were able to redirect spending their way. Finally, theres a recent Canadian example to corroborate this point. When the last federal government enacted a stimulus package, a disproportionate share of the spending went to electoral districts crucial to the acquisition of a majority position in Parliament. This wide body of research suggests that if we want fewer scandals, we ought to find ways to scale back government to limit the temptation to indulge in scandalous behaviour. If anything positive comes out of the SNC-Lavalin scandal, perhaps it will be a reminder of this important fact. Vincent Geloso is a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and visiting professor of economics at Bates College who earned his Ph.D. from the London School of Economics. Peng Liyuan (R), wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, meets with Lis Cuesta Peraza, wife of Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, in Beijing, capital of China, April 9, 2019. (Xinhua/Ding Lin) BEIJING, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, met here Tuesday with Lis Cuesta Peraza, wife of Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel. Peng asked Lis Cuesta Peraza to convey President Xi's sincere regards to Miguel Diaz-Canel, saying the visit by Lis Cuesta Peraza fully demonstrated their friendship with China and the Chinese people. Peng said the two countries share a profound traditional friendship, and the new generation of Cuban leaders actively support the construction of the Belt and Road and are committed to strengthening all-round bilateral cooperation. She expressed the hope that Sino-Cuban cooperation would score fruitful results and bilateral friendship last forever. Peng spoke highly of Lis Cuesta Peraza's active efforts to promote bilateral people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and expressed the hope that the two countries would cement exchanges and cooperation in culture, art and tourism. Peng also introduced her work as UNESCO special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education and a WHO goodwill ambassador for tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, shared China's experience in promoting education and health and expressed the hope that the two countries would enhance exchanges and cooperation in these fields. Lis Cuesta Peraza asked Peng to convey the greetings and good wishes of Miguel Diaz-Canel to President Xi, saying that the Cuban people love Chinese culture and are full of friendly feelings toward the Chinese people. Lis Cuesta Peraza said Cuba admires the achievements China has made in the past 70 years and expressed gratitude to China for its long-term support and help. She said the Cuban side is willing to take the opportunity of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries next year to promote people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and consolidate the Cuba-China friendship. Back in 2001, China and Russia formed a strategic partnership, when their leaders at the time, Jiang Zemin and Vladimir Putin, signed a friendship treaty. Ever since, military and high-tech cooperation between the two countries has significantly increased. The latest in a string of joint projects is the development of a new helicopter, known as the Advanced Heavy Lifter or the AHL. The aircraft will be manufactured in China, with the help of Russian companies. One of those is the famous helicopter company MIL, based in Tomilino near Moscow. There, just recently a test flight of a new Mi-26T2V for media representatives was done. That rotorcraft is the latest version of the world's largest operating helicopter, the Mi-26. It can lift up to 20 tons of cargo on the external sling, and its maximum take-off weight is 56 tons. The helicopter enjoys the latest engineering and technological features, which Russian experts have agreed to share with their Chinese colleagues. The MIL factory is part of the Russian Helicopters consortium, which is in charge of developing, producing, and selling helicopters Russian manufacturers are making. In their headquarters, we've met Sergey Ostapenko, adviser to general director, who gave us a few more insights into joint work with Chinese colleagues on the development of the AHL. Sergey Ostapenko, adviser to general director, Russian Helicopters /source CGTN "We have the world's largest heavy-lift helicopter, Mi-26, which we periodically modernize. It can carry 20 tons and no helicopter in the world can compete with it. So, the Russian experience in creating that kind of helicopters is one of a kind in the world. That's why the Chinese asked us for joint cooperation and we'll develop the transmission technology for the new helicopter," Ostapenko told CGTN. An international project led by China The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), will be in charge of designing and manufacturing the aircraft. It will be assembled in China, with engines coming from Ukraine and the transmission technology provided by Russia. Scaled model of the AHL, presented at the 2018 Zhuhai Airshow in China /source Rostec With its lift capacity of up to 15 tons, the aircraft will be smaller than the Russian super heavy Mi-26 and larger than the medium Mi-17. It can, therefore, satisfy China's demand for a helicopter of that size and capacity since no other helicopter can do that at this time. This project is led by China and will include Russian companies, and the benefits will be shared among all of them, as Igor Korotchenko, director of the Center for Analysis of World Weapons Trade, told us in Moscow. Igor Korotchenko, director, Center for Analysis of World Weapons Trade / CGTN Photo "Firstly, China is interested in that project and in the framework of technology transfer we are helping our Chinese friends to gain certain experience and competencies. Secondly, it is a commercial project with export potential which allows our aircraft companies to enter the global market." The AHL was first unveiled to the public during the 2018 China Air Show in a form of a scaled model. According to Rostec, the Russian state-owned corporation in charge of the deal, it is expected that the final agreement is signed between Russia and China in the next few months, which will mark the official beginning of work on that project. Both Beijing and Moscow are counting on long-term partnerships in many areas. The heavy-lift helicopter is one of those. The first joint Sino-Russian rotorcraft is expected to be delivered in 2032, which is 13 years from now. That is a clear sign of how strong and long-term strategic partnership between the two countries is. Battle for space more stealth than Star Wars Colorado Springs, April 10 (AFP) Apr 10, 2019 At tens of thousands of kilometers above the Earth, a Russian satellite slowly approached the French-Italian satellite Athena-Fidus in October 2017, a move France later denounced as "an act of espionage." What is less widely known is that just a few days before that, the same Russian satellite -- known as Luch or Olymp-K -- had been approached by an American military satellite named GSSAP, which came to within 10 kilometers (six miles) of it. Since 2010, China has also demonstrated an ability to pilot satellites to approach designated targets. These discreet maneuvers are just the most real sign of the militarization of space, several US experts told AFP. The United States, Russia and China are certainly capable of destroying enemy satellites using missiles, and probably by deliberate collision too. They may also be developing lasers to blind or damage satellites. But none of these types of attacks have ever happened in the six decades that humans have been venturing into space. The real space war is about jamming, hacking and cyber means, rather than blowing things up in orbit. "It's not an immediate collision threat," said Brian Weeden, director of program planning at Secure World Foundation, who has written a report on the movements of those satellites and other space threats. "My sense is that all of that stuff is being done for intelligence and surveillance purposes, that those close approaches are being done to take pictures of those satellites to figure out what they're doing, or to listen in on what signals are being broadcast up to them." - Jamming - One only had to see the number of US and allied uniforms this week at the 35th Space Symposium, the big get-together of the space industry in Colorado Springs, to get a sense of how much interest military leaders now have in space. When Marty Whelan started working on military activities in space in 1984, "we put things in orbit, the hardest part was getting there. If you could get there, you were fine." The Gulf War in 1991 was the first time the US military really integrated space tech into ground operations, mostly using GPS to guide its "smart bombs." The first vulnerabilities in the system were exposed in the Iraq war more than a decade later, when Iran tried jamming US satellite signals, Whelan told AFP. In recent years, Russia jammed GPS signals around the Baltic Sea and elsewhere, forcing the US and its allies to develop counter-jamming technology. "People called it some kind of a protected space," said Whelan, who served for 33 years in the Air Force and is today vice president of The Aerospace Corporation. "If you blew up metal in space, no person will die, no mother would lose their son. But if their son or daughter was on a battlefield and now could not communicate, they could lose their son or daughter." "Space is just an enabler to the fight back on planet Earth," added the retired Air Force major general. "We're at an inflection point," he said. "We can't do things the way we used to, everything we do must change." - Surveilling the satellites - The whole space sector, both civilian and military, has started adapting to protect itself from jamming and cyber attacks. "It would be short-sighted of us to sit here today and in 2019 and say that, we have every single threat covered, we know how to address it and mitigate it," said Mark Knapp, director of National Security Programs at the Norwegian company KSAT, which operates more than 200 satellite communication antennae in ground stations around the world. "There's always new threats surfacing," he said. On the military side, the Pentagon is in the midst of a major reorganization to set up the Space Force pushed by President Donald Trump, which is still awaiting congressional approval. The Space Force will comprise some 20,000 personnel and be a co-equal branch of the military, alongside the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force. Monitoring space will be one of its top priorities. Fred Kennedy, selected to head the Defense Department's new Space Development Agency, on Tuesday unveiled his plans for a constellation of hundreds of small military satellites, built in conjunction with the private sector, to monitor in real time tens of thousands of objects around the world. "Everything between here and the moon," he told reporters at the Colorado Springs gathering. As for the new generation of French military satellites, the Syracuse 4, they will be kitted out with cameras to see if anything is getting too close to them. Myanmar Militarys Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing during his goodwill visit to China in April 2019. / Office of Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services YANGONMyanmar military chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing is currently in Beijing on a goodwill visit at the invitation of Chinas Central Military Commission and Chief of Joint Staff Gen. Li Zuocheng to hold talks with leaders of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army and tour training schools, factories and other significant places. The tour came two weeks ahead of Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyis visit to the countrys northern neighbor to attend the second Belt and Road forum, which is scheduled to start on April 26. During the meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the State Counselor will likely discuss controversial Chinese projects in Myanmar, including the Myitsone dam and a suspended hydropower project in Kachin State. During a meeting with religious leaders in Kachin State in February, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing said a final decision on the Myitsone dam would depend on the publics wishes and on Parliament. This is Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaings fifth visit to China since becoming the commander-in-chief of Myanmars military in 2011. The military delegation, including Lt-Gen Than Tun Oo, Lt-Gen Soe Htut and senior military officers from the armys Office of the Commander-in-Chief, first left for Kunming on Monday, and has already had a meeting with Yunnan Province Communist Party Secretary Mr. Chen Hao. In the afternoon, the delegation was welcomed to Beijing by officials from the Office for International Military Cooperation of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army. Disclaimer: This article was originally produced and published by The Irrawaddy. View the original article at The Irrawaddy. The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2018 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement China and North Korea open new border crossing Beijing, April 10 (AFP) Apr 10, 2019 A Chinese city has opened a new border crossing with North Korea -- fitted with radiation detectors -- even as talks between Washington and Pyongyang have languished over disagreements for nuclear sanctions relief. The new highway border crossing opened in the northeastern city of Ji'an on Monday, complementing its three existing ports with the North, the city said in a statement published to its website Tuesday. "After three years of unremitting efforts, the China-North Korean Ji'an-Manpo Highway Port was officially opened," the city said. The project cost 280 million yuan ($42 million) and the city estimated 500,000 tons of goods and 200,000 people would cross through the new port each year. But crippling UN sanctions imposed on the North by the UN Security Council in 2016 and 2017 have crimped trade between the two Cold War-era allies. China is by far the North's biggest trading partner. While Pyongyang publishes virtually no economic statistics of its own, Chinese Customs figures show exports to China have plummeted by more than 90 percent since 2016, down to $213 million last year -- although some observers question their reliability Sanctions relief was top of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's agenda for his Hanoi summit with US President Donald Trump in February. But the meeting broke up without a statement or even a lunch as the two sides disagreed over walking back Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme in exchange for loosening sanctions. After the opening ceremony, the first 120 tourists crossed the border. Chinese tourism to the North has picked up as relations between the countries have improved in recent years. The crossing also has a nuclear radiation detection gate, the city said. China has long been worried about any fallout from North Korea's nuclear activities and Jilin was rocked by an earthquake after a massive bomb test across the border in September 2017. The main artery for North Korean trade with China has traditionally been through the Chinese border city of Dandong, to the south. Ambitious city planners there started work on a Dandong New Zone in 2012, capped by a massive project to open a bridge connecting the city with the North Korean city of Sinuiju on the other side. Authorities expected billions of dollars in investment to flood into jointly-run free trade zones on both sides of the border. But after construction on the four-lane, $350-million bridge completed, it never opened, and the concrete runs into fields on the North Korean side. Erdogan says Russian S-400s delivery could be earlier Ankara, April 10 (AFP) Apr 10, 2019 President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the delivery of Turkey's disputed Russian S-400 missile defence systems could be earlier than initially planned, Hurriyet daily reported on Wednesday. Ankara's purchase of the S-400s risks US sanctions and has further strained already tense relations with Washington. US officials are concerned over the incompatibility of the S-400s with NATO military hardware as well as Ankara's increasingly close relationship with Russia. "The S-400 missile defence system was to be delivered in July, maybe we will bring this forward," Erdogan told Turkish journalists on board his plane after a Russia visit, the newspaper said. Erdogan was in Moscow on Monday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the S-400 purchase and joint coordination in Syria on the agenda. "This step that we have taken for our country's security neither targets a third country nor does it give our sovereign rights over to a third country," Erdogan said. In a bid to stop Turkey purchasing the S-400s, the US has offered to sell the US Patriot system but Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said this was not guaranteed. "If the United States does not want to sell the Patriot, tomorrow we can buy a second S-400, or another defence system," he said during an interview with NTV broadcaster. He said Turkey did not only need the S-400s but also "other defence systems". Last week, Washington put a freeze on its joint F-35 fighter jet programme with Turkey in protest over the S-400 deal. Turkey planned to buy 100 F-35A fighter jets, with pilots already training in the US. The plane's manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, said that contracts with Turkish companies to build parts for the F-35 had been expected to reach $12 billion. Washington has said Turkey's role in the manufacturing of the F-35s can be replaced. "It is wrong to say 'we will take Turkey out' of this programme," Cavusoglu said. Ties between Ankara and Washington have been damaged in the past few years over American support for a Syrian Kurdish militia viewed as terrorists by Turkey, while the US has expressed concern over US mission employees and citizens in Turkish custody. lsb-raz/pma/nla Erdogan says Russian S-400s delivery could be earlier Ankara, April 10 (AFP) Apr 10, 2019 President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the delivery of Turkey's disputed Russian S-400 missile defence systems could be earlier than initially planned, Hurriyet daily reported on Wednesday. Ankara's purchase of the S-400s risks US sanctions and has further strained already tense relations with Washington. US officials are concerned over the incompatibility of the S-400s with NATO military hardware as well as Ankara's increasingly close relationship with Russia. "The S-400 missile defence system was to be delivered in July, maybe we will bring this forward," Erdogan told Turkish journalists on board his plane after a Russia visit, the newspaper said. Erdogan was in Moscow on Monday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the S-400 purchase and joint coordination in Syria on the agenda. "This step that we have taken for our country's security neither targets a third country nor does it give our sovereign rights over to a third country," Erdogan said. In a bid to stop Turkey purchasing the S-400s, the US has offered to sell the US Patriot system but Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said this was not guaranteed. "If the United States does not want to sell the Patriot, tomorrow we can buy a second S-400, or another defence system," he said during an interview with NTV broadcaster. He said Turkey did not only need the S-400s but also "other defence systems". Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later on Wednesday said Russia was "open" to a second purchase. "Russia has the relevant capabilities, technological skills," he said. "And of course Russia seeks to expand military and technical cooperation. It's a completely normal process." Last week, Washington put a freeze on its joint F-35 fighter jet programme with Turkey in protest over the S-400 deal. Turkey planned to buy 100 F-35A fighter jets, with pilots already training in the US. The plane's manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, said that contracts with Turkish companies to build parts for the F-35 had been expected to reach $12 billion. Washington has said Turkey's role in the manufacturing of the F-35s can be replaced. "It is wrong to say 'we will take Turkey out' of this programme," Cavusoglu said. Ties between Ankara and Washington have been damaged in the past few years over American support for a Syrian Kurdish militia viewed as terrorists by Turkey, while the US has expressed concern over US mission employees and citizens in Turkish custody. burs-raz/ Iraq offers to try all IS foreigners for a fee: officials Baghdad, April 10 (AFP) Apr 10, 2019 Iraq has offered the US-led coalition to put hundreds of accused foreign jihadists on trial in Baghdad in exchange for millions of dollars, three government sources have told AFP. Western countries have been rocked by fierce public debate over whether to repatriate their citizens who joined the Islamic State group, which held swathes of Iraq and Syria for years before losing its last speck of land last month. Around 1,000 suspected foreign IS fighters are in detention in northeast Syria, in addition to around 9,000 foreign women and children in Kurdish-run camps there. Iraq has proposed trying and sentencing the foreign suspects if the US-led coalition covers operational costs, three Iraqi officials have said. "These countries have a problem, here's a solution," one told AFP, speaking anonymously because he was not authorised to give details to the press. The source said Iraq had proposed a rate of $2 million per suspect per year, calculated based on the estimated operational costs of a detainee in US-run Guantanamo. "We made the proposal last week but have not gotten a response yet," the source added. A second official said Iraq had requested $2 billion to try the suspects as "one of several options," and could ask for "more money to cover the costs of their detention." Iraq has already tried and sentenced several hundred foreign IS members, and others are in detention in Baghdad awaiting trial. They include at least 12 French nationals who were transferred from Syria in February. A third Iraqi official said detainees from as many as 52 countries could be put on trial in Baghdad. "Iraq proposed to the coalition setting up a special tribunal to try foreigners. There's been a constructive beginning to those discussions," the source said. But setting up the court could be complicated, the official said, with questions over whether international funding for it would preclude any implementation of the death penalty. The source added that Iraq had opted to propose the arrangement to the US-led coalition as a whole because it was simpler than negotiating with each country individually. The US-led coalition did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment. Syria's Kurds have called for an international court in northeast Syria to try IS jihadists, but the US says countries should repatriate their own citizens. Transferring foreign fighters to Iraq for trial appears to resolve a legal conundrum for Western powers, many of whom fear they may not have enough evidence to convict IS members who claim they did not fight. Hezbollah condemns US decision on Iran Guards Beirut, April 10 (AFP) Apr 10, 2019 The head of Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah on Wednesday condemned as foolish a US decision to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guards a "terrorist group", praising the elite force as a key regional power. Hezbollah was created at the initiative of Iran's Revolutionary Guards during the Lebanese civil war after Israel overran the capital Beirut in 1982. It is a key ally of Tehran and has supported Iran-backed groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. In a televised speech, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah slammed Monday's designation by the United States. "This is the height of insolence and foolishness," he said. Washington's move to blacklist the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps marked the first time the US has branded part of a foreign government a terrorist group. "We condemn, denounce and rebuke this decision," Nasrallah said. The Revolutionary Guards are the ideological arm of Iran's military and deeply embedded in the country's political and economic life. In recent years the unit has been active in Iraq and Syria, officially as "military advisors". Nasrallah on Wednesday lauded the elite military force, saying it "did not only provide financial and moral support" to its regional allies, but also sacrificed its "best commanders, officers and fighters" to battles outside of Iran. "After the Americans put all groups and movements of the resistance on terror lists... they want to reach the primary and central power which is the Revolutionary Guards," Nasrallah said. Hezbollah has been designated a terrorist organisation by the US since 1997. Nasrallah said his movement and other Iranian-backed groups will not respond to the decision with force, but threatened escalation if more measures are taken against Iran or its allies in the region. "Condemnation will suffice for now," he said. "But this does not mean we don't have stronger cards to play," he said, without specifying. "This is not a permanent policy." 30 jihadists 'killed or captured' in French-Malian raids near Burkina: French military Paris, April 10 (AFP) Apr 10, 2019 French and Malian troops killed or captured more than 30 extremists and dismantled a jihadist training camp during a major counter-terrorism operation near Mali's border with Burkina Faso, the French military told AFP on Friday. The operation is the first since French forces set up a base south of the bend of the Niger River, building an advance position outside the town of Gossi in the heart of the restive Gourma region. "Over 30 members of armed terrorist groups were neutralised," the military said, a term meaning that they were killed or captured. A French military doctor was also killed during the operation, the military previously reported. The operation, lasting about 10 days, was launched in late March in Gourma, a crossroads region in Mali's central belt that flanks the border with Burkina Faso. The doctor was killed when his vehicle hit a mine, bringing to 24 the number of French defence force members killed in counter-terrorism operations in the region since 2013. Some 4,500 French troops are deployed in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad in a mission codenamed Barkhane to help local forces try to flush out jihadist groups. The Gourma area is a haven for armed groups who hole up in dense forests along the border with Burkina Faso to the south, including a group suspected of carrying out several cross-border attacks. Around 700 French troops and 150 Malian troops took part in the air and ground operation against these bases, the military said. On the other side of the border Burkina Faso deployed troops "to prevent any attempt by the enemy to escape towards the south of the zone," French military spokesman Patrik Steiger said. - Forest havens - The operation first targeted the Foulsare forest in the southwest of Gao province, the military said. The French air force and commandos carried out preliminary strikes as dozens of French armoured vehicles in Gossi joined a Malian base at Hombori, 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the Burkina border, which served as a springboard for a joint ground attack. Troops found "a logistical base" containing rocket launchers and other weaponry, but no jihadists. "The enemy deserted the area when Barkhane arrived and did not seek to fight," Steiger said. The second phase of the operation, which caused the losses on the jihadists' side, targeted several sites including a training camp in the Serma forest, according to the military. A pick-up truck, a dozen motorbikes and arms and ammunition, including large amounts of material used to make roadside bombs were seized, the military said. - Lawless region - Extremists linked to Al-Qaeda took control of Mali's vast desert north in early 2012, but were largely driven out in a French-led military operation that began in January 2013. But huge areas are still in the grip of lawlessness, despite a 2015 peace agreement with some armed groups that sought to definitively stamp out the jihadist threat. Since then, jihadist attacks have shifted from the north towards the more densely-populated centre of the country, where it has fanned the flames of local ethnic conflicts which date back years. Around 15,000 people have fled their homes in the central region of Mopti alone, according to aid groups. President Ibrahim Boubabar Keita, under mounting pressure to improve security, on Tuesday chaired a senior military panel focussing on the centre of the country. Last Friday, at least 30,000 people marched in Bamako, the capital, to protest at the surge in the violence. Organisers estimated the turnout at 50,000. NATO warships sail in formation while performing Dynamic Mantas Photo exercise. Image: FRAN WO Christian Valverde/NATO By Liang Bo April 4 marks the 70th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). To celebrate this milestone, NATO would normally bring alliance leaders together to attend weeklong elaborate ceremonies. But this time, instead, NATO opted for a low-level meeting of foreign ministers from NATOs 29 member countries in Washington, DC for just two days. According to the New York Times, the main reason for the change is that U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly and publicly challenged NATO military alliance in recent days. There are also questioning voices among NATO member countries. German law maker Alexander Neu lambasted NATO for grabbing defense expenditures of its member states, carrying out aggressive wars, violating international norms and endangering international security. Neu suggested Germany withdrawing from NATO, and NATO being dissolved. Former U.S. Congressman Ron Paul made similar comments on April 6. According to an article published by The Economist, the member states are dissatisfied with NATOs security strategy due to their different views on the potential threats. Why has NATO been increasingly questioned at the age of 70? Firstly, NATO cannot take care of all the different security appeals for all the members. At the Foreign Ministers Meeting marking the 70th anniversary of NATO, the foreign ministers of 29 member states agreed in the joint statement that Russia is regarded as the major security threatfor the organization, but the actual awareness of security threats among its member countries is very different. For example, the Baltic countries are wary of Russia. Greece considers Turkey (also a member of NATO) to be its major threat. Italy is worried about immigrants crossing the Mediterranean, while France focuses on its former African colonies... NATO has limited resources and energy to meet the security needs of all members. Secondly, the EU has continuously raised the level of defense integration, which has an impact on NATO. In recent years, the EU has made efforts to gradually improve the joint common defense level and the joint military capabilities of member states, and enhance the level of EU defense integration. French President Emmanuel Macronhad previously proposed to establish a European Army and was supported by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. France and Germany can dominate the development of the EU and their unanimous views on the European Army will inevitably create gaps on certain strategic issues between the EU and the U.S.-led NATO. As an important military organization in Europe, NATO will have to bear some of the consequences. Finally, the conflicts in the apportionment of defense spending have led to increased disagreements among NATOs member countries. The U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly challenged to withdraw from NATO last year because he believed that it was too much for the U.S. to share NATO defense spending at 72 percent. In fact, the different views on security threats have made it increasingly difficult to adjust the level of defense spending among the member countries. NATO asked its member states to increase the defense spending to 2 percent of their respective GDP. However, only a few countries have done so. Germany rejected this proposition by saying national security is not confined to national defense. Europe also faces regional governance challenges. In recent years, NATO has not only imposed security pressure on Russia and undermined the stability in Europe, but also reached its hands to other regions and created adverse effects to the global stability. At the 70th anniversary of NATOs establishment, its allies, who have been entangled in problems, should well think about how best to contribute to global stability within the NATO framework as well as where the organization will go in the future. (The author is from the Information Engineering University of the PLA Strategic Support Force.) Pompeo wants China to join Russia in START nuclear treaty Washington, April 10 (AFP) Apr 10, 2019 US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that China should join in the next START treaty on curbing nuclear warheads as Washington prepares for talks on an extension with Russia. The New START treaty, which caps the number of nuclear warheads well below Cold War limits, is set to expire in 2021 at a time of high tensions between Russia and the United States. Pompeo said that Russia and the United States have both shown "large compliance" with New START -- unlike the separate INF treaty on medium-range missiles from which Washington this year said it would pull out, accusing Moscow of violations. President Donald Trump "has made very clear that if we can get a good, solid arms control agreement, we ought to get one," Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when asked about extending New START. But Pompeo said that the next START -- which stands for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty -- should include China, although he stopped short of describing Beijing's role as a condition. "We need to make sure that we've got all of the parties that are relevant as a component of this as well," Pompeo said. "It may be that we can't get there. It may be that we just end up working with the Russians on this. But if we're talking about a nuclear ... capability that presents risks to the United States, it's very different today in the world," Pompeo said. Asked by Senator Jeff Merkley if he was referring to China, Pompeo replied in the affirmative and said that the rising Asian power had expanded its nuclear program. Russia denied it was in violation of the INF, or Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, treaty and has described the US withdrawal from the signature Cold War pact as boding ill for extending New START. Pompeo's hopes for extending New START mark a shift from 2017 when the newly elected Trump denounced it as a "one-sided deal" negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama. Xu Qiliang (R), vice chairman of Chinas Central Military Commission (CMC), meets with visiting Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services of Myanmar, in Beijing on Tuesday afternoon. (Photo by Li Xiaowei) By Ouyang Hao BEIJING, April 10 (ChinaMil) General Xu Qiliang, vice chairman of Chinas Central Military Commission (CMC), met with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the visiting Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services of Myanmar in Beijing on Tuesday afternoon. General Xu Qiliang said that, linked and intertwined by mountains and rivers, China and Myanmar are close neighbors from generation to generation, share the paukphaw (brotherhood in Myanmese) friendship through thick and thin, and are good strategic partners for mutual development. China attaches great importance to the development of China-Myanmar comprehensive strategic partnership and support Myanmar in following a development path in line with its own national conditions, safeguarding its sovereign independence and territorial integrity, as well as achieving domestic peace and national reconciliation. In recent years, the Chinese and Burmese militaries have achieved remarkable outcomes in multi-level and broad-scoped pragmatic cooperation. China is willing to work with Myanmar to strengthen strategic communication and mutual support, deepen pragmatic cooperation, promote common development, manage efficient border controls, and safeguard common interests. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said that Myanmar and China are friendly neighbors and share a fraternal friendship. Myanmar side thanks China for its long-standing support and assistance, and has attached high importance to addressing Chinas concerns in the border areas of northern Myanmar. Myanmar commits to strengthening communication and coordination with the Chinese side, deepening pragmatic cooperation in various fields, maintaining stability in border areas, and consolidating the development of relations between the two countries and the two militaries. China is ready to continue to strengthen practical cooperation with Sri Lanka under the BRI framework and deliver tangible results to the benefit of the Sri Lankan people by Zhang Ao and Chu Daye Source: Global Times The opening of the first railway project built by a Chinese company in Sri Lanka will boost development, said China's Foreign Ministry, which has vowed to strengthen cooperation with the island nation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). A 26.75-kilometer railroad between Matara and Beliatta in the southern part of Sri Lanka was inaugurated on Monday with a top speed of 120 kilometers per hour, by far the fastest in Sri Lanka. Construction of the railway was carried out by the China Railway Fifth Survey and Design Institute Group Co. Ltd. (CR5DI). It is the first stage of the rail project, which will be extended east to Hambantota Port. It will help Sri Lanka integrate its land, sea, and air transportation networks, the Xinhua News Agency reported. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said Tuesday at a routine press conference that the official opening of the railway line will facilitate transportation in southern Sri Lanka and promote local economic and social development. China is ready to continue to strengthen practical cooperation with Sri Lanka under the BRI framework and deliver tangible results to the benefit of the Sri Lankan people, Lu said. Liu Xiaoxue, an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' National Institute of International Strategy, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the completion of the railroad section marks important progress in Sri Lanka's infrastructure ahead of the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation which will be held in Beijing this month. "The railway will bring new impetus for development once the project is completed and reaches Hambantota Port," Liu said. A combination of a railway, a sea port on the Indian Ocean and an airport nearby will effectively boost the efficiency of goods flow for Hambantota Port, he noted. "The project provides a critical connect to deep south of Sri Lanka and is likely to become a major link in boosting local economy including providing some promise for Hambantota Port and Special Economic Zone," Swaran Singh, senior fellow with Institute for National Security Studies Sri Lanka, told the Global Times on Tuesday. "Also, this project is likely to become commercially viable and promote trade and tourism," said Singh. Let's ensure successful Transitional Justice process in Sri Lanka The statements made by the Sri Lankan delegates at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) 40th session and again within a week after returning from Geneva are highly disappointing. The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) finds this disconcerting, considering Sri Lanka has just taken the positive step of co-sponsoring the HRC Resolution 40/1. The statements dealing exclusively with macho nationalism and inviolable sovereignty; constitutional scapegoats; and even misrepresentation about private meetings with high-ranking OHCHR officials were clearly aimed at pacifying the Sinhala hard-line elements. The merits of the UNHRC processes, the disappointments expressed by most countries regarding the pace of progress, and the failure to date to make real impact on individual victims and their families did not deserve any mention. The core of the argument presented by Foreign Minister Marapana at the Human Rights Council centred on the Supreme Court resolving the constitutional crisis late last year and how that is giving credence to the independence of Sri Lankas judiciary. The peaceful resolution of that crisis is welcome, and it indicates improvement from previous years in the objectivity of the Supreme Court when it concerns constitutional matters. However, the Sri Lankan judiciary and other key institutions administering justice on serious crimes committed during the war, perhaps with the connivance of some who were associated with the government, is altogether a different proposition. Speaking in the Sri Lankan Parliament after the passing of the Resolution 40/1, the Foreign Minister again ruled out the possibility for foreign judges, saying Without legislation, we cannot have foreign judges sitting in our judicial system deciding the capability of our citizens. Even if we bring in such legislation, the Supreme Court will strike it down. While his constitutional interpretation has been questioned by many, the Minister was oblivious to the fact that Sri Lanka co-sponsored the UNHRC resolutions three times, and the resolutions unambiguously specified the importance of including Commonwealth and other foreign judges in a Sri Lankan judicial mechanism, not as mere observers or advisers, but in full judicial capacity. It is an undisputable fact that ten years after the end of the war, not a single family affected by enforced disappearance has been able to ascertain the truth, or received justice or reparation, and no one has been punished for the war crimes committed. Even in the emblematic cases such as the killings of 5 students in Trincomalee; the massacre of 17 aid workers in Muttur (both in 2006); and the murder of the high-profile journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge (2009) there has been no judicial outcome more than a decade after. If the past is of any indication, there is not a single case or outcome to support the independence and impartiality of the judiciary when serious cases of human rights violations are heard particularly when the perpetrators are security forces and those linked to the establishment, and the victims are Tamils. There is no doubt among the victimised Tamil community and the human rights bodies that Sri Lanka lacks the capacity will and laws to criminalise atrocity crimes and provide witness protection. Hence credible international participation is vital in any worthy judicial process. Insisting continuously on a purely domestic court and judges will only lead to increased calls for an international judicial mechanism to address criminal accountability. High Commissioner Bachelet was accurate when she addressed the Human Rights Council, stating Sri Lankas process of implementing human rights reforms has been delayed due to the lack of common vision among the countrys highest leadership. The deplorable statements by Sri Lankan officials during and after the UNHRC sessions are consistent with this lack of vision and leadership that is symptomatic of Sri Lankas troubled transitional justice process. There never was a serious attempt to incorporate in the national dialogue the importance of accountability, the need to end impunity and the urgency of constitutional reforms to achieve genuine reconciliation, peace and prosperity benefiting all communities. A comprehensive plan to implement all aspects of the UNHRC resolutions in a timely and synchronised manner was never developed. Instead, it was always an ad hoc politicised process to keep the international community at bay, while no serious step was taken fearing it would result in political fallouts. At times it even appeared that imaginary opposition by extremist elements was used as cover to mask lack of political will. Justice for the victims and their families was never a serious concern. Almost a decade has passed since the war ended and it is unconscionable to let the victims remain in limbo and suffer. The access to truth and justice a basic universal human right should no longer be denied to the victims, irrespective of their origins and backgrounds. Rather, a victim-centric approach and an action plan arrived in coordination with the OHCHR, along with full utilisation of Technical Assistance provided by UNHRC and other UN agencies is vital, to regain the momentum to prevent failure of the transitional justice agenda. GTF fully concurs with High Commissioner Bachelets call that the Sri Lankan Government should now refocus its efforts on fulfilling its obligation to provide justice and accountability and honour its commitments to establish the truth about what happened and to promote reconciliation, and would like to reaffirm its commitment to assist such a process that will lead to true accountability, political resolution and closure to the emotional sufferings of the surviving victims. Only such measures will guarantee non-recurrence of conflict and foster durable peace for all peoples of Sri Lanka. Sueing Gota is nothing but a game of deception by the interested parties to put a man who is allegedly committed crimes, behind the bars. Editorial Interesting political drama is in place in Sri Lanka, yet again. True, Sri Lanka is never a dull country when it comes to political vulgarism. Everything in this island nation is nothing but politics. Recent Modus Operandi by one of the top legal firms in the world based in the USA, headed by one in top hundred jurists, is expanding the ventilation of this drama to take place on the larger stage. The USAs top legal firm is trying to hunt a man who was accused of several crimes during the war against terrorism. The irony is the authority in the same country, denied access to Gambian lawyer Fatou Bensouda, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, for investigating the alleged war crimes by US military. Alas; Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was sued! Most of the media in the country gave prominent coverage and journalists and other interested parties were sneaking the cyberspace to get some kind of information to substantiate the story. But we believe this is nothing but a game of deception by the interested parties to put a man who is allegedly committed crimes, behind the bars. All but one fundamental ethic have been ignored in most of the media reports as usual. Article 11 of the Universal Human Rights Declaration reads. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense." Isnt Gotabhaya included? Certainly, Gotabhaya will have and he should have all rights to be enjoyed as he is still an innocent but a suspect. We dont think this will be curtailing him from contesting in the election. And the political authority in Sri Lanka, we believe, will stand for Gotabhaya to ensure his candidacy in the forthcoming Presidential Election which is due at the beginning of next year. Who will be the man who is going to have the last laugh if Gotabhaya contests the presidential poll? We believe, it would be none other than, the incumbent Prime Minister, the friend of the Western Elites and neo-liberal market, and the man who might have already calculated the political scenario 15 years ago - his last bid for the Presidency. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe contested the Presidential elections last time was in 2005, against Mahinda Rajapaksa. Narrow victory Rajapaksa secured was the result of a scheme between him and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, where he has allegedly bribed the LTTE to influence the Tamils in North and East to boycott the election. Ranil was narrowly defeated in 2005 and he never contested the election but used Common Candidate as his servitor. He finally won the battle in 2015, but in a few years, in 2018, the Coalition marriage disintegrated. The country plunged into an exceptional bloodless political turmoil that lasted more than 50 days. Now, the country is governing by the wounded coalition and all eyes are on next Presidential elections. At least four main groups shall be identified within so-called Sinhalese dominated politics. One, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and his coalition; Second, President Maithripala Sirisena and his SLFP; third Mahinda Rajapaksa, Basil Rajapaksa and his SLPP; Forth Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, and his team. 15 years later, the situation is emerging in favour of Wickremesinghe better than ever. Eventually, he will support Gotabhaya to clear the path for contesting the election. Consequently, he will have a better chance to win over. Gotabhaya will not able to march to greater victory as his political power is constrained in many ways. This may be the real political reason why Prime Minister Wickremesinghe kept two of the most popular enemies in the country on his side. On the one hand, he helped Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka to rise to the Cabinet Minister. On the other hand, he received Gotabhaya from the kitchen door and kept him in a secret room of eternal friendship. Your enemys enemy is your friend. If this drama plays without any changes, divided politics in Sinhalese dominated South; and united politics in North and East will give us the next taste of the countrys politics. Then there is nothing to be surprised about if Wickremasinghe catches the fish in the sludge in 2020. English09/04/2019 SDA BLOCKING FORMATION OF AUTHORITIES AT BiH LEVEL MOSTAR, April 9 /SRNA/ - SNSD Leader Milorad Dodik said in Mostar on Tuesday that the SDA was blocking the establishment of authority at the BiH level, as its aim was to keep suitable Serbs in different positions in joint institutions. Dodik, who is also a Serb member of the BiH Presidency, said that Republika Srpska was entitled to the positions of the Council of Ministers chair and three ministers, stating that the distribution of ministries would be done in a way to appoint the chairman first, and then Bosniaks elect the first, Croats the second and Serbs the third. "It is a period for appointing people in the agencies. Simple lie that we keep getting from /SDA Leader Bakir/ Izetbegovic. We are not interested in their constant politicization, moaning and showing off, presenting themselves as more valuable," Dodik told reporters in Mostar. Dodik, who is also chairman of the BiH Presidency, said he was embarrassed for making any promises in Brussels. "We have our position, I am asking for the Serbs to be represented according to the Constitution. Dramatic things, you seek EU membership candidate status, while not being able to meet the deadline in the Council of Europe. I am a member of the Presidency, but I represent a political will and a political project called Republika Srpska," Dodik said. /end/vos English09/04/2019 BISHOP DIMITRIJE PRESENTS DODIK AND VUCIC WITH SPECIAL GOLD COINS MOSTAR, April 9 /SRNA/ - His Grace Bishop Dimitrije of Zahumlje-Herzegovina and the Littoral presented BiH Presidency Chairman Milorad Dodik and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic with gold coins with engraved the Holy Trinity Cathedral Church in Mostar on Tuesday. Gold coins are made of pure and highest quality gold for marking the 800th anniversary of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Diocese of Zahumlje-Herzegovina, while Dodik and Vucic were the first to receive them. On the obverse of the gold coin, there is Dioceses cathedral church with the inscription: "800 years of the Diocese of ZHL 1219-2019", while the reverse depicts the Old Town of Mostar with the Cathedral Church in flames and the damaged Old Bridge with the inscription: "The Cathedral Church of Holy Trinity Mostar 1873 -1992". Dodik and Vucic visited the Mostar Cathedral Church, whose reconstruction is in progress and promised the church would be completed the next year, and that EUR 2.2 million would be paid off for this purpose, of which Serbia would pay EUR one million and a half and Republika Srpska EUR 700.000. Bishop Dimitrije thanked Dodik and Vucic for help, stressing that the Cathedral Church has been so far reconstructed with mostly Srpska and Serbias funds. The Cathedral Church of Holy Trinity was built in 1873 and used to the largest Orthodox cathedral church in the Balkans, before the war. It was set on fire and mined, thus leveled to the ground in June 1992. The renovation began in 2010, and rough construction works were completed in September, when the last stone was built in the central dome. The church is re-built a stone by stone, exactly the same as it was built in 1873, as it is a national cultural monument. /end/vos Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, speaks at a press conference in Beijing, capital of China, June 24, 2015. (CHEN YEHUA / XINHUA) BEIJING - China firmly opposes any forms of official and military ties between the US and Taiwan, a mainland spokesperson said Wednesday. Ma Xiaoguang, the spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks at a press conference in response to media reports that the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) confirmed active military personnel have been stationed at the AIT since 2005. The US should honor its commitments, correct its wrongdoing, abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, exercise caution and prudence when handling Taiwan-related issues to avoid serious damage to China-US relations and cross-Straits peace and stability, Ma said. "We oppose any forms of military exercises and the development of military relations between the US and Taiwan. This position is consistent and clear," said Ma while being asked to comment on media reports that the US plans to deploy air defense missile in Taiwan. Foundation for Taiwan to participate in WHA no longer exist As for Taiwan's intention to participate in the World Health Assembly, Ma said the prerequisite and foundation for Taiwan to participate in the assembly no longer exist as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities refused to recognize the 1992 Consensus. By rejecting the 1992 Consensus that embodies the one-China principle, the DPP authorities damaged the political foundation of cross-Straits relations, Ma said. A spokesperson of the World Health Organization has responded to a Taiwan media request saying that Taiwan will not be invited to this year's WHA if there will be no cross-Straits understanding. Taiwan's participation in activities held by international organizations must be under the one-China principle and through cross-Straits consultations, Ma added. From 2009 to 2016, Taiwan participated in the WHA with observer status as "Chinese Taipei," but has not been invited since 2017, when the DPP took power. 'Taiwan independence' elements doomed to be left alone Ma also criticized the DPP administration and "Taiwan independence" separatist elements, saying they are opposed by people from both sides of the Taiwan Straits. "They are doomed to be alone in the face of the pressure of their own action," said Ma. For some time now, the DPP administration and separatist elements advocating "Taiwan independence" have repeatedly made remarks full of the false "two states" theory. "They have escalated provocations and creates disturbances," he added. The DPP administration and separatist elements have been seeking foreign intervention while threatening the people of Taiwan at home, which are opposed unanimously by people across the Straits, he noted. In response to senior DPP member Lai Ching-te's claim that "Taiwan independence" activities were to protect the "sovereignty" of Taiwan, Ma said any "Taiwan independence" separatist activity can only bring disasters to Taiwan compatriots. "We have denounced his 'Taiwan independence' stance and remarks on multiple occasions," he said. "If he continues to play with the fire of 'Taiwan independence' for his own good, it would be very dangerous." Obstructing cross-Straits exchanges undermines people's wellbeing Ma also said Taiwan authorities' attempts to restrict and obstruct cross-Straits exchanges show that they take no account of the wellbeing of people from Taiwan. "The Democratic Progressive Party, for the sake of its own interest, has tried to obstruct and restrict cross-Straits exchanges and cooperation through various means, and turned these into political issues," said Ma. Ma made the remarks when asked to comment on the attacks of politicians from Taiwan, on mayors and county chiefs who visited the mainland. "They were in the mainland out of the needs of their people and to seek opportunities for their people." Guided by the conviction that people across the Straits are all of the same family, the mainland will continue to promote exchanges between cities across the Straits and expand the benefits and sense of fulfillment of compatriots from Taiwan, he said. Young people 'won't be scared away' He added that young people from Taiwan will not be scared away by Taiwan's authorities' attempt to obstruct cross-Straits exchanges and spread disinformation about the mainland. A large number of mainland startups founded by young people from Taiwan have showed great momentum, said Ma. More than 10,000 young people from Taiwan have attended internships, found jobs and started their own business in 76 industrial incubators specially for cross-Straits startups since 2015, Ma said. The number of young people from Taiwan, who attended college, took internships and found jobs in the mainland, reported double-digit growth in 2018, he said. When commenting on two residents from Taiwan fined by the island's authorities for taking jobs at community centers on the mainland, Ma said such moves threatened young people with legal action and deprived them off career opportunities. "It will not end well for Taiwan's authorities that make themselves the enemy of the young," Ma said. DPP repeatedly attempts to politicalize African swine fever epidemic Ma also said the DPP administration over a period of time had made repeated attempts to make political use of the African swine fever epidemic prevention and control to further undermine mainland-Taiwan ties. The information on the African swine fever outbreak has always been released in a timely, open and transparent manner, Ma said. He said the mainland has maintained close cooperation and smooth channels for exchanges of information on the disease with the World Organization for Animal Health. The Taiwan side can fully obtain complete information if it wants to understand the situation, according to the mainland spokesman. 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. Having recently added Jeffersons and Mastersons to my list of ryes, I now turn to WhistlePig. The trio often gets lumped together since they all source their straight rye from the same Alberta distillery, and all are made with a mashbill of 100% rye. That makes them similar, but not identical. From a technical aspect, the difference is proof: Jeffersons (10 year, 94-proof), Whistlepig (10 year, 100-proof), and Mastersons (10 year, 90-proof). Having tasted all three, its clear each has a character all its own. Unlike the others, WhistlePig has taken steps to be more than just a brand and a bottler of whiskey made elsewhere. WhistlePig plays up its Vermont roots on the bottle prominently. Currently, the outfit is just bottling and aging whiskey on the WhistlePig Farm in Shoreham, but it has broken ground on a distillery (a dispute with a neighbor delayed permitting) with the goal of distilling the rye it grows on-site. But thats all in the future, and probably quite a few years out before farm-to-bottle becomes a reality. Right now, WhistlePig is Canadian-distilled rye and theres nothing wrong with that. (In fact, if I were WhistlePig, Id be more worried about changing the taste too much while pursuing the dream of a 100% Vermont rye, since what they have now is quite good.) The light copper-colored rye features a nose full of honey and candied cherries, with less of the floral and spice notes often found in Jeffersons or Mastersons. This would be a theme for WhistlePig, which features a rounder, more bourbon-like edge than its Canadian compatriots. This is almost certainly due in part to the fact that WhistlePig is re-barreled in bourbon casks in Vermont for an additional period of aging. The palate starts very bourbon-like at first with maple, vanilla, and wood, but the distinctive rye floral and clove spice is also there, especially on the finish. The finish is medium in length with additional notes of butterscotch. WhistlePig really delivers, with a sweeter, more rounded, and less dry version of the Canadian 100% rye distillate. At $75 per bottle, its price is on par with Mastersons and nearly twice that of Jeffersons (although the latter is no longer being bottled). In the new landscape of bourbon and rye, the price isnt a bargain, but its not unfair for a 10 year rye since well-aged ryes are so hard to find. Like all good ryes, WhistlePig goes great with a fine cigar. Its intensity is too much for a mild smoke, but it still demands a balanced cigar. Good candidates include the Tatuaje Black, Romeo y Julieta Short Churchill (Cuban), and Paul Garmirian 15th Anniversary Robusto. But you cant go wrong with this flavorful rye and any good smoke. Patrick S photo credit: WhistlePig Military Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing meets officials from China's Central Military Commission (Photo-Office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services) Source: elevenmyanmar.com The border security, peace and stability in northern border of Myanmar are important for both countries, said Member of Chinas Central Military Commission and Chief of the Joint Staff Department General Li Zuocheng, according to the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services. Gen. Li Zuocheng accorded a guard-of-honour welcome to Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who is currently in the Peoples Republic of China on a goodwill visit, at Ba Yi Hall in Beijing on April 9 afternoon. They then held talks at the meeting hall of Ba Yi Hall. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said Myanmar and China have had Paukphaw relations since ancient times and they are old friendly nations as well as good friendly neighbours. The people living along border have much similar religion and culture. The two countries have existed since yore in accord with the five-point peaceful coexistence policy. The friendship between the two countries will be cemented through cooperation between the two armed forces. Among other nations investing in Myanmar, China is the largest investor. Myanmar regards China as an eternal friend and a strategic partner country. Military and civil ties were improved to ensure deeper cooperation in political and defence affairs. Myanmar is trying its utmost for peace and stability and border region stability. Myanmar is thankful to China as a good neighbour for its correct stance and standing against the international community over the Rakhine State issue, said the Senior General. Gen. Li Zuocheng discussed strategic cooperation between in the two armed forces, security cooperation and cooperation between the international liaison departments. "The border security and peace and stability in northern border of Myanmar are crucial for both countries. Acts of any organization that can negatively impact on bilateral relations between the two countries will not be accepted. And there is a need to exchange security information and deepen cooperation between the two armed forces," said Gen. Li Zuocheng. Then, the two leaders exchanged views on Myanmars progress in pursing democracy aspired by the people, the military's efforts to build eternal peace, cooperation between the two armed forces in training and health sectors, anti-terrorism, cooperation in border region peace and stability, promotion of friendship between two armed forces. Ma Xu, China's first female paratrooper, wires a donation of over 5 million yuan from a bank in Wuhan, Hubei province to her hometown in Mulan county, Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, on April 8, 2019. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] Ma Xu, an 85-year-old veteran and China's first female paratrooper, wired the remaining 7 million yuan ($1.04 million) on Monday of a 10 million yuan donation she promised to her hometown in Mulan county of Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, ifeng.com reported. Ma promised to donate her life savings in September 2018 to support education and cultural affairs in her hometown, and 3 million yuan of the donation was made on Sept 13, 2018. In recent, Ma made her second transfer of 7 million to complete her dream. "I had an important thing to do today, so I got up early at six," Ma said on Monday. Ma Xu, accompanied by her husband Yan Xueyong, wires a donation of over 5 million yuan from a bank in Wuhan, Hubei province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] At around 2 pm, huge applause welcomed the arrival of Ma and her husband Yan Xueyong at the Jichanghe sub-branch of China Merchants Bank in Wuhan, Hubei province, where the retired couple lives. In the presence of officials from Mulan county, Ma transferred her savings of 5.5 million yuan to the government's official bank account. About half an hour later, Ma went to another bank to send another 1.4 million yuan, completing the donation. After finishing the transfer, Ma said she would be more than satisfied if the donation could play a useful role in her hometown's education and cultural affairs. A rendering of the 4,000-square-meter arts and cultural center that will be built with a 10 million yuan donation from Ma Xu, a Chinese veteran. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] The donation has been used to build a 4,000-square-meter arts and cultural center named after the veteran. Construction is projected to be completed at the end of October, and Ma will be invited to its opening ceremony. Ma was born to a doctor's family in Mulan county in 1932 and joined the People's Liberation Army as a military doctor in 1947. In 1961, she turned from medical service to become China's first female paratrooper. Photos of Ma Xu from when she served in the air force. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] After retirement, Ma, who has no children, missed her hometown so much she finally decided to donate her familys savings, including royalties on publications and patents, to the county. Today, the couple lives a frugal life in a small house in the Huangpo district of Wuhan. They still use their same hard bed from the 1970s, and their sofas date back 50 years. They also habitually wear their military uniforms. A file photo of Ma Xu when she was 27 years old, taken Dec 6, 1959. Ma, China's first female paratrooper, donated 10 million yuan to her hometown in Mulan county, Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] U.S. President Donald Trump says the United States will impose new tariffs on more than $11 billion worth of exports from the European Union, after the World Trade Organization ruled last year the EU was illegally subsidizing aircraft maker Airbus. The WTO, in a decision last May, ruled the European countries had given $22 billion in state aid to Airbus to help build its A380 and A350 jets, damaging its U.S. rival, Boeing. Trump said Tuesday that since the WTO had ruled that the subsidies had "adversely impacted the United States," it "will now put Tariffs on $11 Billion of EU products! The EU has taken advantage of the U.S. on trade for many years. It will soon stop!" Trump's declaration aside, the new list of tariffs would not take effect until after a WTO arbiter rules on the allowable size of the tariff package, a decision not expected for several months. A White House official said the U.S. government viewed the launch of direct flights as a "politically motivated gesture." "From our standpoint, there's clearly no commercial reason to establish this flight at this time," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. A plane belonging to Mahan Air, a private Iranian airline accused by the West of transporting military equipment to Middle East war zones, landed in Caracas on Monday, and the two countries will discuss launching a direct flight "in the coming months," Minister Jorge Arreaza told reporters. An Iranian delegation landed in Venezuela on Monday to discuss launching direct flights between the two countries, Venezuela's foreign minister said, as Tehran voices support for President Nicolas Maduro against the opposition backed by most Western countries. Iran's Mehr news agency quoted the spokesman of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization Reza Jafarzadeh as saying a delegation from Mahan Air was traveling to Caracas to discuss maintaining regular flights between the two countries. The nonstop Tehran-Caracas flight would take 16 hours. A Reuters photographer saw a Mahan Air plane parked at Caracas' main Maiquetia airport on Monday morning. Mahan Air, established in 1992 as Iran's first private airline, has the country's largest fleet of aircraft. The United States imposed sanctions on the company in 2011, saying it provided financial and other support to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). France and Germany banned the airline's flights earlier this year, accusing it of transporting military equipment and personnel to Syria and other regional war zones. Iran has voiced support for Maduro, who faces demands from the opposition and the United States to step down. Russia, China and Turkey have also backed Maduro. The U.S. government has recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president. Most Latin American countries have done so as well, while European governments have cautiously thrown their support behind Guaido. Since Guaido began a campaign in January to oust Maduro, whom he denounces as illegitimate, Chinese and Russian planes have flown supplies and military personnel to Venezuela in support of the government. Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, today announced that it has received a score of 95 out of 100 on the 2019 Corporate Equality Index (CEI). It is the premier benchmarking survey and report on US corporate policies and practices relating to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workplace equality, administered by the Human Rights Campaign. Wipros score reflects its commitment to LGBT workplace equality, with regard to tangible policies, benefits, and practices. This past year, Wipro has undertaken many initiatives to make the company more inclusive for LGBT employees and the community. These include: Revising its Code of Business Conduct, Supplier Code of Conduct and Equal Opportunity Policy to include protection against discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression. Modifying its resume application system to include gender neutral language. Launching Wipro Pride an employee resource group for LGBT and ally employees. Creating gender-neutral restrooms in Wipro offices. An online quiz series aimed at raising awareness on the inclusion of the LGBTQ community and eliminate employees unconscious biases. Enabling employees to self-identify as LGBT in internal HR systems. Marched in Pride parades around the world, including London Pride. Supported Business Roundtables endorsement of the US Equality Act, a federal standard that provides non-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity for employment, public spaces, education, services, federal programs, and housing. The top-scoring companies on this years CEI are not only establishing policies that affirm and include employees here in the United States, they are applying these policies to their global operations and impacting millions of people beyond our shores, said Chad Griffin, President, Human Rights Campaign. Inclusion and diversity are deeply ingrained in our culture. Our LGBT employees are a vital part of the teams who work with clients around the world. Our organization is much stronger and partnerships more robust, thanks to our diverse workforce, said Sunita Cherian, Global Head of Inclusion and Diversity & Senior Vice President, Human Resources Wipro Limited. We celebrate and learn from pluralistic ideas, multi-cultural backgrounds, varied perspectives, and different experiences. We encourage everyone to participate and be their authentic selves. We are incredibly honored to be a top employer for the LGBT community. she added. About the Corporate Equality Index and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation The 2019 CEI evaluates LGBTQ-related policies and practices including non-discrimination workplace protections, domestic partner benefits, transgender-inclusive health care benefits, competency programs, and public engagement with the LGBTQ community. For more information on the 2019 Corporate Equality Index, or to download a free copy of the report, visit www.hrc.org/cei. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation is the educational arm of America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community. About Wipro Limited President Moon Jae-in wants to invite U.S. President Donald Trump to South Korea in May or June of this year. Asked whether Trump could visit Seoul in the next few months, a senior Cheong Wa Dae official said, "That will be discussed" when Moon and Trump meet in Washington this week. Cheong Wa Dae is pushing for an inter-Korean summit around April 27, which marks the first anniversary of his first meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Moon apparently wants to use all these occasions to broker another North-Korea-U.S. summit. A Cheong Wa Dae official said, "We believe there is a role for us to play." Moon wants to persuade Trump of the merits of a phased deal with North Korea, which is what Pyongyang has been proposing, whereby the North would first scrap its Yongbyon nuclear reprocessing plant followed by a partial lifting of sanctions. The prospects do not look bright for Moon's plans. The U.S. is increasingly adamant that it must be a comprehensive deal and no sanctions can be lifted until the North takes verifiable steps toward full denuclearization, while North Korea seems to be losing interest in the South. Moon leaves for Washington this afternoon. The Japanese government has scrapped plans it has been pursuing since 2013 to build a new embassy in Korea. Tokyo wanted to replace an old building dating from 1976 in Jongno, Seoul that has already been demolished with a new six-story structure. But the Jongno District Office last month canceled the building permit it issued to the embassy in 2015. A district official said, "The Japanese Embassy agreed to the cancellation in a meeting in late February, saying it did not get the green light from its government." By law, construction must start within a year of the building permit being issued, but delays are accepted if a valid reason is given. The district office sent several letters to the Japanese Embassy last year reminding it to start construction or risk cancellation of the permit, and asked it to give reasons for the delay. But there was no response until the embassy gave up on the plans. Emphasis on Sivas de Guadalajara To get rid of Uriel Antunna There is a strong motivation, for that reason they are looking to place him at another club because they feel he does not have the professionalism needed to commit North Korea submitted a bid for a Taiwanese military submarine program last year, the island country's UPmedia reported Tuesday. Sources told UPmedia that 16 countries including the U.S. and EU took an interest in the project, and to the Taiwanese military's surprise North Korea was among them. Taipei launched the sub program with a budget of US$1.6 billion in 2016. UPmedia said a Taiwanese trading company submitted a letter of intent on behalf of the North, which is in dire need of hard currency amid international sanctions. It offered to transfer design technology for air-independent propulsion (AIP) as well as for the North's homegrown 130-ton Salmon-class sub and 330-ton Shark-class sub. A Salmon-class sub sank the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan in 2010. Warner NashvilleGet ready for a tour of Gods Country: The video for Blake Sheltons hit -- co-written by his label mate Devin Dawson -- will arrive on Friday. In the first preview clip Blake shared on social media, he stands on a cliff overlooking a field, a scene that's juxtaposed with black-and-white scenes of Oklahomas dust bowl days. The songs instrumental riff plays underneath. In the subsequent tease, you hear Blake singing as he walks through the field, sifts dirt through his hands, and wades in a creek; that footage is intercut with still more washed-out scenes from the dust bowl era. As you wait for Fridays arrival of the full Gods Country video, you can watch The Prequel on YouTube now. Though the entire song plays during the clip, its mainly an artfully-shot video of a vintage tractor burning in a field. If you watch closely, at one point you can see a shadowy figure who might very well be Blake. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Smuggling of foreign waste on the increase From:Shine | 2019-04-10 02:29 The smuggling of foreign waste and oil to the city, especially by sea, is on the increase, according to a white paper on cases handled by the No. 3 Branch of the Shanghai People's Procuratorate. There were no cases related to foreign waste in 2016, but it approved arrests in five cases in 2017 after a campaign was launched to crack down on waste from other countries. Three of the cases were taken to court. Last year, it handled nine cases and took eight to court. In one of last years cases, a man surnamed Zhu was found to have imported more than 830 tons of solid waste from foreign retailers, selling them to domestic individuals and companies. He was sentenced to five years and six months in prison and fined 400,000 yuan (US$60,000). Shanghai Customs officers had handled 11 cases of foreign waste smuggling in their Blue Sky 2018 campaign by October last year and seized 1,095 tons of waste, with 34 suspects being put under compulsory measures. Due to the ongoing crackdown on foreign waste, the upward trend will last for a certain period, prosecutors said. Oil smuggling cases were also on the rise due to a growing demand for petroleum products in the industrial and transport sectors, including Shanghai's advanced water transport, prosecutors said. Last year, the procuratorate handled applications for arrests in 37 oil smuggling cases involving 121 people, accounting for more than 36 percent and 54 percent of the whole number of applications and people involved respectively. A total of 101 people were arrested and 88 were charged. Along with the e-commerce boom, smuggling through cross-border e-commerce platforms is becoming prevalent, prosecutors said. They warned residents and travelers entering China that they needed to declare items worth more than 5,000 yuan. Tax evasion that exceeds 100,000 yuan could be considered a crime, they said. Last year the procuratorate handled 101 smuggling cases for arrest approval and 139 for charge, with 223 and 359 people involved. Seven of the suspects were foreigners. In one case, a Bolivian man who tried to bring nearly 2,000 grams of cocaine into China was sentenced to life imprisonment and deportation with all his property, including the drugs, confiscated. The man flew from Brazil to Shanghai in August last year. When he arrived at Shanghai Pudong International Airport on August 21, he went through the "nothing to declare" channel. However, customs officers noticed suspicious items when his luggage was scanned. In a suitcase they found 13 bags of white powder weighing 2,477.9 grams. The cocaine content of the powder was tested at 77.37 percent. Parts of endangered species were also a major type of contraband smuggled into the country. In a case that was resolved last year, a man surnamed Zhuhad bought pangolin scales in Africa in August 2016 and hid them in containers carrying wood for delivery to Shanghai. When they arrived, Zhu and his accomplice, surnamed Xu, signed an import contract with a company, declaring it to be wood from the Afzelia xylocarpa tree. But when the containers were scanned, officers noticed something else inside and seized 101 packets of animal scales weighing more than 3 tons and worth over 8 million yuan. In addition to a 13-year jail term, Zhu was fined 500,000 yuan, while Xu was sentenced to five years and fined 50,000 yuan. The Philippines is one of the most dangerous countries in the Asia Pacific for women, according to a study by Singapore-based research company ValueChampion. In its report, ValueChampion said the country ranked 12th out of 14 countries in terms of safety, healthcare, and opportunities for women. In the Philippines, despite women going to school for longer than men and having better literacy rates, there are still high levels of violent crime, said research analyst Anastassia Evlanova. While governmental structures exist to help women achieve quality of life, Evlanova noted that violence against women is still a problem on the individual level here. The study author hoped that President Rodrigo Dutertes recent pro-women policies will help improve the ranking of the Philippines. In a statement, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo cited recently signed laws that promote womens rights, such as Republic Act (RA) 11210 or the Expanded Maternity Leave Act; RA 11165 or the Telecommuting Act; and RA 11148 or the First 1,000 Days Act. Duterte also signed Executive Order 12 to attain and sustain zero unmet need for modern family planning through the strict implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act, as well as approved the full and intensified Implementation Plan for the National Program on Family Planning, added Panelo. (The President) believes in the capability, integrity, and competence of women as he has appointed several of them in high-level positions where they get the opportunity to contribute in significant decision-making for the country, according to him. Indeed, we continue to honor all Filipino women and give due recognition to their achievements in the home, in the workplace, in the community, and in nation building, he said. In addition to the Philippines, Indonesia and India were found to be the most dangerous destinations for women, according to the survey. All of these countries were found to have subpar access to healthcare, lax laws regarding women's safety, poor access to family planning resources and overall inequality. Despite government interventions and attempts to enact laws that protect women's safety, deeply entrenched patriarchal attitudes either due to cultural or religious beliefs led to women fearing for their well-being more often than in other countries on the list. Despite Indian authorities trying to provide legal recourse for rape victims, funding was inadequate, cases weren't resolved properly and despite honor killing participants facing the death penalty, honor killings were still reported. Furthermore, the United Nations also said that India is the most dangerous place for female children, showing that women of all ages can be subject to inadequate quality of life. In Indonesia, despite laws prohibiting rape, domestic abuse and other forms of violence, a 2016 government survey found that around 33% of women between 15 and 64 experienced some form of violence. In the Philippines, despite women going to school for longer than men and having better literacy rates, there are still high levels of violent crime. This shows us that while Filipino governmental structures exist to help women achieve quality of life, violence against women is still a problem on the individual level. Furthermore, these countries are also still developing, meaning that access to healthcare isn't always the highest or high-quality healthcare and education may be inaccessible in some parts of the country. The maternal mortality rate of these three countries is above 100 deaths per 100,000 women (compared less than 10 deaths in top ranked countries), healthcare spending makes up less than 5% of the total GDP and in many instances, reproductive rights are limited. This leads to women in these three countries not only facing increased risk of crime at the hands of their spouses or discrimination in the academic or employment fields, but also an increased risk of dying from health-related reasons. Study Highlights: Singapore & New Zealand topped the list for the safest city for women, with impressive healthcare, safety and opportunity indicators. Indonesia, Philippines & India ranked bottom despite government efforts to improve quality of life for women, indicating that government regulation does not always improve quality of life if they are in contrast to religious or cultural values. As in the case with Japan, the study found that just because a country ranks high for overall safety, it does not mean women in everyday life face the same level of safety as men. Apr 10 2019 8:14 am A Mystery. The first mitzvah given to the Jewish people even before they left Egypt was the mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh. The Pasuk, Parshas Bo 12:2 says, Hachodesh hazeh lachem rosh chodoshim rishon hu lachem lechadshei hashana. This mitzvah is given not only before the exodus commences, but even before the last plague of the death of the firstborn. In fact the first Rashi in Sefer Beraishis questions why it is that the Torah does not begin with hachodesh hazeh lachem, since after all it is the first mitzvah given to the Jewish nation. Considering that Rosh Chodesh is the very first mitzvah in the Torah given to the Jewish people as a nation, there is very little detail about it in the Chumash. Although there is much background given to the other Yomim Tovim, with Rosh Chodesh all we are told in the Chumash is, Hachodesh hazeh lachem rosh chodashim rishon hu lachem lechadshei Hashana. The Pasuk does not describe the process of being mekadaish the chodesh nor kiddush levana. The Pasuk does not even tell us what exactly the mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh entails or how to fulfill it, it is explained by Chazal. Additionally, the mitzvah of being mekadaish the chodesh is not even something which every individual Jew can do, it is incumbent upon bais din to do it. Kiddush Levana which is performed by individuals is not the same mitzvah as Kiddush Hachodesh. Kiddush Levana is a rabbinical enactment in order to help us realize the greatness of Hashem and to be mekabel the Shechina. The next time in Tanach that we find anything more descriptive about Rosh Chodesh is in the Navi Shmuel, 1:20:5 when Dovid Hamelech says to Yonasan, Tomorrow is Rosh Chodesh when I usually eat with the king. This seems to allude to the concept that Rosh Chodesh is a Yom Tov. In Melachim we find another similar hint when the Shunamite woman is asked, Why are you going to see him today, it is not Rosh Chodesh nor Shabbos (Melachim II 4:23) This Pasuk seems to equate Rosh Chodesh with Shabbos. Although the Torah does not tell us outright that Rosh Chodesh is a Yom Tov it alludes to it. And so it seems that the mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh is somewhat clouded in mystery. It seems to be more nistar than nigleh. It is mysterious that the very first mitzvah in the Torah is given so little description, background, detail, or even a clear indication of how to fulfill the mitzvah. The vast majority of the mitzvos are given much more background, instruction, and detail than Kiddush Hachodesh is. If anything we would would assume the contrary that Kiddush Hachodesh warrants much more explanation. Women do not perform Kiddush Levana The Tur (O.C. 417:1) brings the custom for women to refrain from doing melacha on Rosh Chodesh. He explains that originally the Yomin Tovim were enacted as follows: Pesach to symbolize Avraham, Shavuos to symbolize Yitzchok, Succos to symbolize Yaakov, and the 12 Roshei Chodesh to symbolize the 12 shevatim. Then when the men sinned with the golden calf, the Yom Tov of Rosh Chodesh was taken away from the men and given instead to the women as a reward; a token for their refusal to participate in the sin of the golden calf. Now lest the critics contend that women simply did not want to part with their jewelry, be it for giving to the Egel or for anything else, that is not the case. For the Pirkai DiRabi Eliezer points out that when it came time to donate to the Mishkan, the women enthusiastically initiated donating their jewelry to the Mishkan. This demonstrated that their refusal to give their jewelry for the Egel was indeed with the purest of intentions, as they had no issue with donating it to the worthy cause of the Mishkan. Yet interestingly, it is mentioned in the Shelah, Shaar Haosiyos, Kedusha: Chapter 28 that women do not perform Kiddush Levana since they caused the pegimas halevana. This would seem to refer to the shrinking of the moon. He writes that Chavah caused the moon to shrink by sinning with the Tree of Knowledge. Therefore, since women are embarrassed that they shrunk the moon they do not recite Kiddush Levana. This statement of the Shelah is cited by both Mogain Avrohom and Mishna Berura in Hilchos Rosh Chodesh Siman 426 in explaining why women do not perform Kiddush Levana. So this seems to be somewhat of a paradox: On the one hand the women are the decorated awardees of the Yom Tov of Rosh Chodesh who were rewarded with Rosh Chodesh for refusing to contribute or participate in the Egel. On the other hand, women do not say Kiddush Levana since they caused the shrinkage of the moon. If anything, Kiddush Levana is a mitzvah which women should be performing. After all Rosh Chodesh is their Yom Tov which is why there is a minhag for women to refrain from doing melacha on Rosh Chodesh. For an example, the reason why women are obligated in drinking the 4 cups at the Seder and in all of the Mitzvos of the Seder is because they were also included in the miracle of Pesach. So, it can be argued that women should likewise do kiddush levana since Rosh Chodesh is their Yom Tov. Kiddush Levana should be something that women recite since Rosh Chodesh is the Yom Tov given specifically to the women. Why do women not say Kiddush Levana if Rosh Chodesh is their Yom Tov? Didnt the moons complaining cause it to shrink? To make this even more complicated, the moon is faulted for shrinking itself since it complained. As Chazal tell us that originally both the sun and the moon were created equal. Then when the moon complained that 2 kings cannot wear the same crown, Hashem kept the sun strong and shrunk the moon. And so it seems that it is the moons fault for causing itself to be shrunk, by complaining. More so, when the moon complained and got shrunk this was on the 4th day of creation, and women were not even created until the 6th day. On the other hand the Gemara, Chullin 60B says, Hashem says that we should bring a Korban as a kapara for Him shrinking the moon. This is why a Korban Chatas is brought on Rosh Chodesh. So whose fault is it that the moon was shrunk? Is it G-ds fault? Is it the moons fault for complaining? Or the womens fault? Now if it was the women who caused the moon to shrink what did they do wrong? The incident with the moon being shrunk happened on the 4th day of creation whereas woman was not even created until the 6th day. How could it be Chavas fault? Interestingly, neither the Shelah, nor the Mogain Avrohom, nor the Mishna Berura explain how this will be reconciled with the famous Chazal that the moon was shrunk because it complained that 2 kings cannot wear the same crown. Or how it will be reconciled with the fact that Hashem asked the Jewish people to bring a Korban for Him on Rosh Chodesh since He shrunk the moon. If we bring a Korban Chatas to atone for G-d who shrunk the moon it would seem that it is not the womens fault since otherwise we would bring a Korban to atone for the women, and not for G-d. This certainly begs explanation, besides for the fact that we seem to have a 3-way contradiction as to who is at fault for the shrinking of the moon: Hashem, The Women, or The Moon. I found that the Sanz-Klausenberger Rebbe in Divrai Yatziv O.C. Teshuva 97 takes issue with this statement of the Shelah that women caused the moon to shrink, and argues on it. He argues that when the moon was shrunk Chava was not even created yet! The moon was created and diminished on Day 4, yet humans were not created until Day 6. He says rather that this matter is a very deep and hidden matter beyond comprehension, . Like greeting the Shechina The Gemara, Sanhedrin 42a likens the mitzvah of Kiddush Levana to greeting the Shechina; it is so great that if this mitzvah of greeting the Shechina was the only one that the Jewish people performed, it would be sufficient. This is why it must be said standing up. Rav Acha said to Rav Ashi that in Ererz Yisroel the text of the bracha is Baruch Mechadaish Chadashim. Rav Ashi said back to Rav Acha, A bracha like that even women can make. Rather, the text of the bracha is the longer version of Asher bemaamaro bara shechakim etc. which we have in our Siddurim. It is debated among the commentators what the intention of Rav Ashi was when he exclaimed that even women can make a bracha which is so short like Baruch Mechadaish Chadashim. Meiri contends that women in this context is synonymous with ignorant people. As this was in the olden days when women were mostly less educated than they are today, and therefore one cannot infer from this exclamation of Rav Ashi that women make the short bracha of Kiddush Levana. This is also the approach of the Machtzis Hashekel. Others contend that we see from here that women do in fact make the bracha of Kiddush Levana. Aruch Hashulchan says that although today the custom is that women do not make Kiddush Levana, the aforementioned Gemara indicates that women did make the short version of the Bracha Baruch Mechadaish Chadashim in previous generations. We see from here that women do in fact make Kiddush Levana, just the shorter version of the bracha. The Toras Chayim understands that when the Gemara says that even women make this bracha, it was a mark of distinction. Meaning that since Rosh Chodesh is a Yom Tov given to the women and it is they who have the minhag to abstain from working on Rosh Chodesh, therefore women do not have to make the long version of the bracha that men make. All they have to do is make the bracha on the day of Rosh Chodesh which is their Yom Tov, and that it is sufficient. It is the men who must recite the longer version of the bracha since it is not their Yom Tov. Harav Yosef Chayim Zonnefeld (Shalmas Chayim 1:98) says that the reason why women do not make Kiddush Levana is because of the concept of Kol kevuda bas melech penima. Meaning, it is not tzniyus for women to recite Kiddush Levana since it is done outdoors. Similar to the idea which the Chasam Sofer says is the reason why women do not light Chanuka candles. In the olden days, Chanuka candles were lit outdoors and because of kol kevuda bas melech penima the custom evolved that women to not light Chanuka candles. Our question is also addressed by HaRav Yitzchok Weiss in Minchas Yitzchak (8:15). He addresses both questions: 1. Why is it the womens fault that the moon was shrunk? 2. How is this to be reconciled with the fact that we bring a Korban Chatas on Rosh Chodesh for Hashem who shrunk the moon? He answers based on the Lev Aryeh to CHullin 60b. A Medrash relates that the moon complained about its equivalence with the sun. To rectify this, the moon was lessened. The moon then responded, Just because I said something which is correct why I should I have to be shrunk? The commentators grapple with this retort of the moon. Since regardless either the sun or the moon had to be shrunk, in that case what was the nature of the moons argument that the sun should be the one that gets shrunk? Why should the sun be shrunk more than the moon? The Lev Aryeh explains that the moon was arguing that that the suns light should actually be increased, and then the moon could stay the same size. However The Almighty could not grant this request since He had already hidden away the greater part of the sunlight from the original creation. The reason why it was stowed away was that due to the sins of mankind G-D saw that the world was not worthy of the full sunlight and therefore stashed away the Ohr Haganuz. Hence, since the only alternative solution was to increase the suns output which was not an option, the moon had to be shrunk. (cf. Hagigah 12a). Now, notes R. Weiss, why was the suns output diminisheddue to the future sins of mankind, which led them to lose the merit of that light. Since those sins all resulted from the original sin, which was the impetus of Chava, it is her (indirect) fault that the moon had to be shrunk, since the luminaries couldnt be made equal by increasing the sun. This is why Hashem instructed the Jewish people to being a Korban for having to shrink the moon. Since if not for our sins the moon would be able to maintain its original light, and the light of the sun would be much stronger, as it would not have had to be stored away. In the future, when the world becomes deserving once again and has atoned for the sins of Adam and Chava , the moon will return to its original output of light as we daven, veyehi ohr halevana keohr hachama kemo shehaysa kodem miutah. The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, as it was before it was shrunk. And the much stronger intensity of the original sunlight, the Ohr Haganuz will also be revealed once again in all of its glory, bemehaira yavo! Conclusion The Gemara tells us that Benissan nigalu ubenissan asidin ligalu, the Benai Yisroel were redeemed from Egypt in the month of Nissan, and in the future will be redeemed from exile in the month of Nissan as well. May we all be zoche to experience the geula and see the time when the light of the moon will return to be just as strong as the light of the sun. May we all be zoche to experience the light of the Ohr Haganuz of the original sunlight, which is hidden away until the times of Moshiach. May we all be zoche to experience and be part of the Geula Shelaima this Chodesh Nissan and be zoche to bring the Korban Pesach in the Bais Hamikdash in Yerusholayim together with Moshiach Tzidkainu Bimhaira Veyamainu Ameni! A Gitten Gebentched Geula-Dige Chodesh Nissan! Rabbi Binyomin Radner For any comments or questions, please contact the author at benradner@gmail.com More than 20 former SPURA tenants have moved into buildings at Essex Crossing, but they have had to fight for their right of return every step of the way. [Gothamist] The New York Archdiocese trumpets its efforts to build new affordable housing, including 600 units at the Grand Street Guild on the Lower East Side. But it continues to overlook two shuttered churches in the neighborhood as potential affordable housing opportunities. [Curbed] Several community groups are hosting an event tonight to celebrate the past as well as the future of Sara D. Roosevelt Park, and the eventual return of the Stanton Street Building. [Patch] Landmark Cinemas may have ditched the Lower East Side when it closed the Sunshine Cinema, but its back downtown as the new programmer of The Quad Cinema. [Indie Wire] This year, like any other, celebrated the very best in British theatre since 1976. The awards ceremony boasted incredible performances throughout the evening - a particular highlight was hearing from Tudor Queens and pop princesses during Six The Musical's 'Divorced, beheaded, died - divorced, beheaded, LIVE!' show. The talent extended behind the stage as well - with judging for the coveted awards conducted by industry professionals and members of the all-important theatre-going public. So without further ado, let's take a glance at some of this year's wonderful winners. The Inheritance by Tristram Kenton/The Guardian is arguably one of the Olivier's biggest achievements and this year went to The Inheritance - a play hailed as a vital, modern classic at the Young Vic. The work of Matthew Lopez, directed by the winner forStephen Daldry, the play is a gripping production that explores the lives of ambitious New Yorkers during the peak of the AIDs crisis. The Inheritance also came up trumps in another category of the night which saw the young Kyle Soller take home the award for. Something that's sorely needed during the country's current climate is a good laugh and Home, I'm Darlingprovided just that, taking home theaward. Laura Wade whizzes through homemade pies, coy smiles and cutting humour in one woman's quest to be the perfect 1950s housewife.Meanwhile, in the world of dance, Botis Seva's bleak and withdrawn commentary on coping with being a childlike adult and untamed artist, BLKDOG took home the award for. Akram Khan scooped up the Olivier forfor his performance in Xenos. He spoke reflectively upon accepting the award: Akhram Khan in Xenos by Jean Louis Fernandez Behind stage, Bunny Christie took home the award forand The Inheritance bagged its fourth award of the evening with Jon Clark taking the Olivier for. Meanwhile,went to Catherine Zuber for The King and I and Gareth Own took home the award for. Tennessee Williams' rarely staged classic Summer And Smoke, which has been transferred to the West End due to popular demand, snatched the award forand Patsy Ferran was awardedfor her interpretation of Alma. From a canonical story to something brand new, Flesh and Bone is the debut play from Elliot Warren that played at Soho Theatre and took home the prize forAnd if you're looking for a new show to sing along to, take a look at Come From Away, the winner of, playing at the Phoenix Theatre. Check out the full list of Olivier 2019 winners here. News Taxi driver demo ties up traffic in citys downtown core P A Sevigny / By P.A. Sevigny The Suburban Angry taxi drivers protest CAQ administrations Bill #17 Pity the poor driver who drove straight into the middle of last weeks big taxi demonstration that took place in front of transport ministers Francois Bonnardels Montreal office located deep in the heart of the citys downtown core. Oh my God, what a mess, said one exasperated policeman as he saw hundreds of taxis parked on both sides of the Rene Levesque Boulevard in front of Montreals Place Desjardins. While there were a lot o f hand-made signs being waved in front of the ministers office, Le CAQ Raciste! struck an angry note amid the improvised demonstration that included hundreds of furious taxi drivers mostly immigrants who believe the new CAQ administration doesnt much care about their issues. While the Legault administration considers its new bill to be a justifiable attempt to modernize what used to be a highly regulated transport service, local taxi drivers are quick to point out that the relative value of a taxi license is now worth $100 000 (and dropping) compared to its initial $225 000 value thats being destroyed as a result of the low-priced free-lance competition thats defined by the UBER website. Although some people consider UBER to be little more than a natural development in the new web-based economy, others including Montreals angry taxi drivers consider the new transport app to be nothing more than just another part of the so-called gig economy that does little more than reduce wages to a bare minimum for thousands of working families. Many drivers who took out a mortgage in order to purchase a license could be ruined and several may lose their homes. The minister doesnt seem to understand the taxi file, said Francois Noiseux another taxi driver. Its not true that this new law is all about improving service for clients, because UBER drivers will have nothing to do with disabled people or people with special needs. As far as driver Abdul El Khadir is concerned, ...we have to let the minister know about what hes doing to people who will be affected by this new law. Montreal, CA (H4T1V6) Today Cloudy this morning with periods of light rain and snow this afternoon. High near 2C. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precip 100%.. Tonight Occasional light rain. Low 1C. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Even as it announced new a new initiative into the piston training market last week, Piper reports that sales of its big-ticket M-Class airplanes continue to show growth, with strong interest coming from Europe. At a press conference on the opening day of the Aero exhibition in Friedrichshafen, Germany, Piper CEO Simon Caldecott said sales of the M-Class airplanesthe turbine M500 and M600 and the piston-powered M350are up 36 percent over the previous year. Piper has had a European sales network for some years, but has announced that a new company, called FlySmart, will begin marketing aircraft in France beginning this year. Meanwhile, Piper said it has received EASA approvals for Garmins NXi EFIS systemthe follow-up to the original G1000for the M500. Caldecott said Piper had a record year in 2018, with 229 aircraft delivered totaling $263 million in sales. Thats a 48 percent increase over 2017 and was driven significantly by trainer sales, including 151 Archers. Caldecott said Piper expects to deliver 180 Archers in 2019. Growth in 2020 will be boosted in part by the recently announced Pilot 100 and 100i trainers, a low-cost variation on Pipers venerable PA-28 type certificate announced last week at Sun n Fun. In this podcast recorded at Aero, Caldecott said response to the Pilot program has been overwhelming and although the factory has the capacity to produce more aircraft, finding trained workers continues to be limiting. Nonetheless, Piper has invested in new production equipment and technology, including a new line devoted specifically to trainers. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Honeywell Aerospace has announced that it will be partnering with Volocopter to jointly develop and test navigation and automatic landing systems for Volocopters electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi. Honeywell says it will be bringing its autonomous sensing and flight technologiesincluding inertial measurement units and attitude heading reference solutionsto the table for the project along with aviation hardware and software products such as navigation technologies and fly-by-wire flight controls tailored for the unique needs of [urban air mobility (UAM)] aircraft. According to the company, its solutions will build on technology developed under Europes Clean Sky 2 and Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) 2020 programs. Honeywells wealth of experience and knowledge in the development of next-generation avionics technologies combined with our manufacturing expertise will make autonomous, on-demand air mobility a reality across the world, said Volocopter chief technology officer Jan Hendrik Boelens. A key goal of our collaboration is to fly a Honeywell inertial measurement-based attitude reference system solution in one of our Volocopters in 2019. Volocopters eVTOL completed its first public unmanned test flight in Dubai in September 2017 and the aircraft flew for the first time in the U.S. in January 2018 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The company plans to begin urban flight tests in Singapore in the second half of 2019. Bears drop two; Lady Bears split week The Burke County Bears (2-2) dropped two games on the court last week after facing North Augusta and Jefferson County. In their 55-43 loss to North Augusta, the Bears held their own, finishing the first quarter up by two, tying in the second and heading to halftime with 19-17 lead.... Lady Spartans stay scrappy; boys looking for a win The Lady Spartans (7-1) picked up two more wins this week, defeating Pinewood and David Emanuel. In their 38-35 win over Pinewood, Marlee Mobley led the offensive effort with 15 points, including 3 three-pointers, and Braelyn Reeves pulled down 5 rebounds. Ellee Mobley had 6 steals on the night. Pinewood... Bears begin season with victories The Burke County High School Bears started the season with a pair of wins. In their first game against Screven County, the Bears finished big with a 91-40 score. They were led by Kinte Gross and Edward Wimberly, 14 points each, Tykevian Hiers and Avian Allen, 12 each, and Dantavious... EBA boys basketball hits the court The Edmund Burke Spartans boys varsity basketball season got underway with three practices and two games last week. The majority of the team played in the semi-final football game on Friday and showed up for basketball practice on Monday. I don't know how they do it, said Coach Larry Keller.... TWENTY five years ago, the international community stood by and watched as genocide unfolded in Rwanda, devastating a country and leaving lasting scars. Neighbour turned upon neighbour in 100 days of bloodshed, fuelled by a campaign demonising members of the Tutsi minority. The campaign used radio broadcasts to spread ethnic hatred and incitement to murder. Between the start of the genocide on April 7, 1994 and the end of the massacres in July the same year, around 800 000 people were killed. Thousands of people were tortured, raped and subjected to other forms of sexual violence. The victims were primarily Tutsi who had been singled out for elimination, as well as Hutu opposed to the genocide and the forces that directed it. Though the immediate catalyst for the killings was the apparent shooting down of the then President Juvenal Habyarimanas plane over Kigali on the night of April 6, the genocide had been a long time in the planning. For years, Hutu leaders and hardliners fanned the flames of existing ethnic tensions in a pattern that has become all too familiar around the world - the scape-goating of one group in society by another. They went beyond populist propaganda and rhetoric to provide training and distributed arms to their supporters, including the Interahamwe militia. Despite the scale of the atrocities committed, the international community failed to intervene. Two weeks into the genocide, in the face of overwhelming evidence, the UN Security Council voted to reduce the number of peacekeepers in Rwanda rather than step up efforts to end the massacres. Only after the Rwandan Patriotic Front had taken control of the country did the worlds leaders finally find their voices and say: Never again. And yet, too often on this most painful anniversary have my colleagues and I paused to take stock and been confronted with the shameful reality that the world has not learned the lessons of the 1994 Rwanda genocide. In the 25 years since the genocide, the world has witnessed countless crimes under international law as well as human rights violations, often fuelled by the same politics of demonisation and tactics of exclusion. When domestic institutions fail to respect the rule of law and human rights, we expect our global systems to step in, but often they have not been strong enough to stop atrocities. In August 2017, Myanmars military launched a vicious campaign of ethnic cleansing on the predominantly Muslim Rohingya people in Rakhine state, following decades of state-sponsored discrimination and persecution against them. As villages were burned to the ground, women and children raped and thousands killed, more than 720 000 people fled to neighbouring Bangladesh. And just last month, the horrific attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, reminded us of the lethal danger of allowing the politics of demonization go unchecked. But we can also learn important lessons from that appalling tragedy. New Zealands response, at the political and community level, has equally reminded us of the transformative power of standing up collectively and refusing to be cowed by a hateful ideology. On this terrible anniversary, we stand in solidarity with the victims, their families and the survivors of the genocide in their sorrow. But if we truly want to honour the memories of those killed in the genocide in Rwanda, we must hold our leaders accountable and ensure that they apply the lessons from the failure to stop the genocide both in domestic political discourse and in their international engagements. We must demand an end to the divisive politics of us versus them. Never again should mean never again. MBABANE - Is what was said by the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), Themba Masuku, concerning the elderly grant payment contrary to what is actually happening at the pay points across the country? Last week, Masuku was on national radio warning people against forcing the elderly, especially those who could not travel long distances due to illnesses and old age, to go to the pay points. Masuku issued the warning following claims that some elderly were taken to the pay points in wheelbarrows and blankets after those who represented them were turned back by social welfare officers. A concerned citizen, who only identified himself as Mkhabela, said the act by the social welfare workers caused an embarrassment to the elderly. Ghosts Masuku had said his office had initiated the new policy to guard against the payment of the grants to ghosts. Under the new policy, Masuku said a form was designed so that the DPMs office could monitor the payments. We urge the elderly to fill in forms so that our officers can visit them for verification after the payment. This is to ensure that no money was paid to people who are no longer alive. The elderly should not be forced to go to the pay points, Masuku was quoted saying. Contrary to his words, officers continued to turn back those who went to the pay points to collect the grants on behalf of their relatives under Lobamba Constituency last Friday. Information gathered from those who were turned back was that the officers demanded to see the elderly before the money was released. Lissaiah Ginindza, who is married to Titus Ginindza (80), at Mvutshini, confirmed that the officers refused to give her Tituss grant, demanding that the senior citizen should personally come to the pay point. I received my grant, however, when I requested to collect the money on my husbands behalf, the officers refused, and told me to fetch him from home. I was so distressed because mkhulu cant walk due to illness. I tried to reason with them but they heard none of it, she said. Lissaiah said she was hurt because Titus needed special treatment. She said it was disheartening to expose sickly people to such while there were other options. She said her husband would not have received the grant had it not been for the compassion of the former Bucopho of the area, Wonder Mnisi, and the incumbent Bucopho Menzi Mndzebele. The duo was so touched when they overheard the conversation. She said they offered to fetch Titus from home because they knew his condition. What is the use of electing Bucopho and Tindvuna Tetinkhundla if elderly people are made to suffer? Why are Bucopho and tindvuna not given the full responsibility to monitor and confirm the existence of the elderly because they know us better than the officers? Police officer can also be an option, Lissaiah said. Esther Ginindza, a bedridden elderly of Ezulwini, confided that she had not yet received her grant. The hopeful woman said she received information that her grant would not be released unless she personally went to the pay point. Batsi kumele ngitiyele khona lena mtfwanami kepha simanga kutsi sihlala sibabili lakhaya futsi kute lokhona kungetfwala kulesimo lengikuso. Noma ungeta utibonele wena, umlomo solo umhlophe utse hhu! she said in vernacular loosely translating to: They said I should personally go to the pay point but the problem is that we are only two here and no one can take me to the pay point due to my condition. I am dying of hunger). MBABANE Down the drain! Government will not recover about E414 000, which was allegedly stolen by a police officer because she has since died. The death of the female police officer was revealed by acting National Commissioner William Dlamini, during the departments appearance before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Prior to her death, the officer had been fired from the police service in August 2016, but she had somehow managed to withdraw her pension money before government could recover the over E400 000. Dlamini informed the PAC that at the time they went to the Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF), they found that the money was long gone yet she was supposed to forfeit it. Hearing At the time we were still processing the disciplinary hearing, the officer got one of her colleagues to sign for her a letter stating that she was leaving the police service and therefore the money was released to her, said Dlamini. He informed the PAC that they then sought the assistance of the attorney general (AG), who advised that they must compile an inventory of the late officers property. Dlamini said they had also engaged the officer and she was assisting them with compiling a list of her assets. However, to be honest, we discovered that she did not have much and we went to her parental home at Sidwashini and found that she had a single parent and did not have much property except for a bed and other items, said Dlamini. Pension He revealed that even the little money that she had gained from the pension fund was blown by the officer in no time. He said the officer later fell sick and eventually died, and that they were still engaging her family to try and recover the money. However, when Dlamini made his remarks, it was clear that they had seemingly lost any hope of recovering the money because the officer had literally left nothing when she died. According to the auditor general, records revealed that revenue which had been collected from 87 general receipt books between 2011 and 2015, was not accounted for. According to master stores records at the Revenue Office, the general receipt books were not returned and the officer implicated, allegedly, confessed to have destroyed the receipt books. The officer had been based at Siphofaneni Police Station. The controlling officer informed the PAC that disciplinary proceedings were instituted against the officer and she was found guilty. She was subsequently fired from the police service on August 19, 2016. Her criminal trial is pending in court, and the outcome will determine the next step regarding the recovery of the E414 000 she allegedly stole, Dlamini had stated during his previous report on the matter. Withdrawn Manzini Region MP Busisiwe Mavimbela wondered how an officer could have easily withdrawn the money from the pension fund without formal authorisation from the police service or the human resources manager. Dvokodvweni MP, Mduduzi Magagula, said it was clear that the officer who had signed the letter, authorising the pension fund to release the officers money, had colluded with the late officer. In response, Dlamini said they had punished the officer (who authorised the release of the pension) by giving him what was termed extra work. The extra work, according to the acting national commissioner, was that the officer would forfeit his days off which was the type of disciplinary measure taken. The PAC said they were not happy with the disciplinary measure taken as all they were concerned about how they could recover the money. Punishment Mtfongwaneni MP Roy Fanourakis said he did not believe that giving someone extra work was a form of punishment. I love working and I am sure the officer is happy with having more to do, we want the money and nothing else, said MP Fanourakis. He was supported by Ngudzeni MP Big Boy Mamba, who said all the PAC was concerned about the return of the money. In summary, Chairperson of the PAC MP Phila Buthelezi, said they wanted proof that the officer who authorised the payment of the pension money had been punished. If that is not the case, the officer will have to appear before the PAC to explain what had happened because this is too much money that the government has lost, said MP Buthelezi. The acting national commissioner was given until the end of the week to produce the evidence of the disciplinary measures taken against the officer. Dlamini said the officer who signed off the letter to the pension fund had the authority to stamp the letters, for example, which were usually written to whom it many concern. Passport He said this was done in instances, for example, where a police officer was applying for a passport or needed any other services which could be provided by any institution that the officer wanted assistance from. The PAC said it was clear that the deceased police officer had applied some tactics to get her colleague to sign the pension fund letter. Meanwhile, the PAC further expressed concern that two police officers, who had allegedly stolen about E41 260 from Siteki Police Station were still at work. The acting national commissioner informed the PAC that the officers had since been transferred from the Traffic division and were carrying out other duties. The AG had reported that revenue collected at the Siteki Police Station between December 22, 2014 and February 10, 2015, which amounted to E41 260, was not promptly brought to account. Receipts He further stated that there were forged amounts on some receipts amounting to E1 380. He said internal disciplinary proceedings were instituted against the officer and he was also transferred from Siteki Police Station while criminal investigations regarding the forged receipts were pending. The acting national commissioner said to curb such cash losses, surprise visits were now being conducted in a number of police stations around the country and that station commanders had to ensure that the money was banked on a weekly basis. The PAC said they were not happy that the officers were still in uniform, yet it was clear that their activities were criminal. The acting commissioner said the above cases had opened their eyes and they were now very vigilant when dealing with cases where the police officers handle money, as they ensured that the funds were banked on a weekly basis. Comment The major bleed of the countrys coffers is no longer theft, corruption, wasteful expenditure and misguided priorities. It is now the deliberate effort to do nothing about it particularly by the key players or agencies that ought to be relied upon to display a high level of commitment and execution of their mandates. One of these agencies is the police service which partly plays the role of revenue collector in spot fines for traffic offences and custodians of proceeds from crime, including money all of which should be remitted to the National Treasury as soon as reasonably possible. To say we are utterly dismayed to learn that what was supposed to be a secured iron volt at a police station, turned out to be a leaking safe, where criminal elements helped themselves to almost half a million Emalangeni right under the nose of the countrys supposedly most trusted servants, is an understatement. Efforts to recover the money were quashed by the culprits cunning ability to withdraw the pension fund that could have refunded the taxpayer, allegedly with the assistance of an officer who provided the necessary correspondence. If that is not shocking enough, the Public Accounts Committee was told yesterday that the punishment given to the officer, who aided the deceased to withdraw the pension, only got a slap on the wrist as punishment. He was only deprived of his days off. This is nonsensical! If this is the attitude of law enforcers in dealing with crime, how do we ever hope to get the general public to play its part? Is there appreciation of the dire need for cash to service the hospitals that continue to go without adequate drugs, or the extreme level of frustration that the elderly are subjected to while government tries to raise money to pay them? Not to mention the schools that have gone an entire term without funding. The PAC has correctly asked the acting Police Commissioner, William Dlamini, to produce proof of disciplinary action that suits the crime. Dlamini has to demonstrate serious commitment to rooting out corruption within the police service, if he is to stamp his authority as a credible leader worthy of the title. . "" - , 1/16- . "" 1:0, . , . 76- , ... Eastern forces and troops loyal to the Tripoli government battled on the outskirts of Libya\s capital on Wednesday as thousands of residents fled the fighting. The Libyan National Army (LNA) forces of eastern commander Khalifa Haftar held positions in the suburbs about 11 km (7 miles) south of the center. Steel containers, sand barriers and pickups with mounted machine-guns blocked their way into the city. Residents reported LNA planes buzzing Tripoli as anti-aircraft guns fired at them. On the ground, Haftar\s forces were fighting forces aligned with Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj at the former international airport and in the district of Ain Zara, witnesses said. A Reuters reporter in downtown Tripoli could hear gunfire and explosions, which continued into late afternoon. The United Nations said at least 4,500 Tripoli residents had been displaced, most moving away from homes in conflict areas to safer districts. Many more were trapped, it said. The LNA forces moved out of their stronghold in east Libya to take the sparsely-populated but oil-rich south earlier this year, before heading a week ago towards Tripoli, where the internationally recognized government sits. Libya has been divided and anarchic since the 2011 toppling of strongman Muammar Gaddafi, who had ruled for more than four decades before falling in a Western-backed revolt. Since then, political and armed factions have vied for power and control of Libya\s oil wealth. After a battle for Tripoli in 2014, the country split into rival eastern and western administrations linked to shifting military alliances. U.N. EFFORTS The United Nations wants to bring both sides together to plan an election and way out of the chaos. As the fighting rumbled on, U.N. Libya envoy Ghassan Salame met Serraj and the head of a Tripoli-based assembly opposed to Haftar to discuss the situation, his office said. On their Facebook page, Haftar\s forces published a video purporting to show their seizure of a government base in the Aziziya district of southern Tripoli. The images, which could not be verified, showed a vehicle on fire and soldiers firing in the air, shouting "Allahu Akbar!" (God is greatest). The U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said it was extremely concerned about the "disproportionate and indiscriminate use" of explosive weapons in densely populated areas. Half a million children were at risk, it added. As well as the humanitarian consequences, renewed conflict in Libya threatens to disrupt oil supplies, increase migration across the Mediterranean to Europe, scupper the U.N. peace plan, and encourage Islamist militants to exploit the chaos. Islamic State killed three people in a remote desert town under LNA control two days ago. In Tripoli, nearly 50 people have died, mainly combatants but also some civilians including two doctors, according to latest U.N. casualty estimates. Several thousand migrants, detained after trying to use Libya as a staging point for crossing the Mediterranean to Europe, have also been caught up in the crisis. REFUGEES IN DANGER The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday it had relocated more than 150 of them among several thousand in total from one detention center in south Tripoli to a facility of its own in a safe zone. One official at that detention center said he had flung open the doors on Wednesday and released another 150 migrants for their own safety due to the proximity of clashes. The United Nations, United States and European Union have appealed for a ceasefire, a return to the U.N. peace plan, and a halt to Haftar\s push. But instead of that, he was moving men and equipment from southern and eastern Libya to a forward base at Gharyan, south of Tripoli, according to a foreign diplomatic source observing the deployments. Opponents cast Haftar as a would-be dictator in the mould of Gaddafi, though he projects himself as a champion against extremism, striving to restore order. Haftar was among the officers who helped Gaddafi rise to power in 1969 but fell out with him during a war with Chad in the 1980s. He was taken prisoner by the Chadians, rescued by the CIA, and lived for about 20 years in Virginia before returning in 2011 to join other rebels in the uprising against Gaddafi. Despite the flare-up in conflict, normal life was just about continuing in Tripoli, a city of roughly 1.2 million people, though prices were rising and businesses closing earlier than usual, residents said. "I don\t care who wins or loses, I just want to survive with my family," said a teacher in Tripoli who hoped to get out. SOURCE: REUTERS Following a 3-2 vote during Tuesdays meeting of the Titusville Airport Authority, the authority was dissolved to allow for the city to assume control of the airport. The final decision will be left up to a vote during the April 23 City Council meeting. The Business Registration and Licensing (BRL) sector of the Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED) has issued 2,459 new licences in March 2019, a growth of 35.4 per cent compared to March 2018 (1,816). The new licences have created 9,661 jobs in the labour market, reported Emirates news agency Wam, citing a DED statement. "Among the new licences issued, 58 per cent were commercial, 39.3 per cent professional, 1.9 per cent were related to tourism and 0.8 per cent to industry," it added. The 'Business Map' digital platform of the DED, which seeks to reflect the economic realities in Dubai by providing vital data on each licence category including their numbers and distribution on a monthly basis, saw 27,531 business registration and licensing transactions being completed in March 2019, a growth of 4.9 per cent compared to same period last year (26,257). The findings showed that licence renewal accounted for 13,112 transactions in March 2019, a growth of 3.5 per cent compared to March 2018 (12,671), while 6,125 transactions were related to auto-renewals via text messages. In March 2019, the number of Trade Name Reservations was 3,656, a growth of 11.4 per cent compared to March 2018 (3,281), while the number of Initial Approvals reached 2,921, and the number of Commercial Permits reached 1,677. The BRL also issued 190 instant licences, while DED Trader Licences rose from 179 in March 2018 to 226 in March 2019, up 26.3 per cent. The outsourced service centres of DED issued 17,770 transactions, a growth of 64.5 per cent of the total BRL transactions issued in March 2019 (27,531), thus demonstrating their vital role in delivering value-added services to the public in Dubai. The report also showed that the top nationalities who secured licences in March 2019 were India, followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, China, Jordan, The Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Canada and France. The pre-tax income for Saudi Arabias re/insurance sector declined roughly 28 per cent to about SR754 million ($201 million) from SR1.1 billion ($293 billion) in 2017, said S&P Global Ratings in a new report. This assessment from the ratings company comes after 32 of the 33 listed re/insurance companies in Saudi Arabia published their end-2018 financial reports, S&P explained in the RatingsDirect report. This follows a drop in net profits of about 55 per cent in 2017 from 2016. In addition, the sector posted a 3 per cent decline in gross premiums written (GPW) and a modest increase in overall shareholders' equity. While 19 of the 32 companies reported weaker earnings in 2018 compared with 2017, Tawuniya and Medgulf, the second-largest and fourth-largest insurers by gross written premiums in the market, reported the largest losses. Tawuniya made a pre-tax loss of SR213 million and Medgulf a loss of SR205 million, mainly due to poor results in their medical books. We anticipate that both insurers will report significantly better results in 2019. The gross written premium income of the 32 companies that reported their results declined in 2018, due to a combination of slow economic activity, the application of higher no-claims discounts for motor policies, and the departure of more than 1 million expatriates in 2018 as a result of higher taxes on foreigners and more restrictive Saudization policies. The sector's total shareholders' equity increased by about 2 per cent to SR14.9 billion from SR14.6 billion in 2017, as a number of insurers retained profits or raised additional capital through rights issues. Like in the previous year, the rate of increase in shareholders' equity exceeded premium growth in 2018, which indicates a slight improvement in overall capitalization levels. We expect that market conditions will remain challenging in 2019. In particular, we believe pricing on third-party motor cover will remain highly competitive, leaving insurers with thin or no margins, said S&P in the report. That said, higher discounts on motor policies may be somewhat offset by new business from female drivers and the authorities' plans to gradually clamp down on uninsured drivers (only about 50 per cent of drivers currently have adequate insurance cover). The extension of mandatory medical insurance to more than 2 million dependents of Saudi nationals, as well as increasing infrastructure spending, should help the insurance sector return to modest growth in gross written premiums and profitability this year, despite a declining expat population, the report said. We understand that the local regulator (Sama) is studying the introduction of higher minimum capital requirements, in order to strengthen the capitalization levels of insurers. Depending on the required minimum capital, we believe that this could be a reason for consolidation in the sector in the medium term. However, for now there is not sufficient clarity on the minimum capital requirement and the deadline for insurers to raise additional capital, the S&P Global Ratings report concluded. TradeArabia News Service HFW, a leading global law firm in the construction, energy and resources, aerospace, commodities, insurance and shipping sectors, has continued to expand its fast-growing Middle East practice, launching an insurance offering in Abu Dhabi with the hire of partner Justin Whelan. He joins the company from leading international law firm Ince Gordon Dadds, which boasts global offices in key cities including Beijing, Cologne, Dubai, Hamburg, Hong Kong and London. With the arrival of Whelan, HFW now has specialist insurance teams in each of its four Middle East offices. HFW established an insurance offering in Kuwait City in January with the hire of consultant Sandra Ortiz, and relocated insurance partner John Barlow from Dubai to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2018. The firm's Middle East insurance practice is led by Dubai-based Sam Wakerley. On the appointment, Wakerley, the head of insurance, Middle East, HFW, said: "Whelan is one of the top insurance lawyers in the Middle East and has an outstanding reputation with clients, so I'm very pleased to welcome him to the team." "We are the only international law firm with specialist insurance lawyers in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Kuwait City, meaning that we are uniquely positioned to offer clients expert advice across the region," he stated. In his new role, Whelan advises global insurers, reinsurers and insureds on insurance and reinsurance claims, policy coverage, subrogated recoveries, public and employer's liability and property damage claims, with a particular focus on the real estate, construction, travel and professional indemnity sectors. Justin is also a leading expert in cyber security and cyber insurance. Justin has significant experience litigating in the UAE and English Courts, and also in various forms of alternative dispute resolution, including mediation. On the new role, Whelan said: "I am absolutely delighted to be joining HFW. The firm has significantly enhanced its Middle East practice in recent years and has established itself as one of the clear market leaders." "I am very excited at the opportunity to build on and develop HFW's practice in Abu Dhabi, and to work alongside the firm's first-rate insurance lawyers across its extensive international network," he noted. HFW has now added eight new partners in the Middle East since April 2018, and developed its regional network by opening in an office Abu Dhabi in October 2018 and entering into a new association in Saudi Arabia in January 2019. The firm now has 17 partners and more than 50 lawyers including 31 Arabic speakers across its four Middle East offices, making it one of the largest practices of any international law firm in the region. Richard Crump, Global Senior Partner, HFW, said: "This is another significant milestone for our Middle East offering and underlines our longstanding commitment to the region." "At a time when many international law firms are downsizing in the Middle East - particularly in Abu Dhabi - we continue to invest and remain focused on our goal of building the leading international practice in the market," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Turkish Cargo, the successful air cargo brand of Turkish Airlines, has managed to increase its cargo tonnage by 9.6 per cent in February despite a decline in the global air cargo sector. The air freight company steadily continues towards its goal of becoming one of the top five of the worlds air cargo brands, said a statement. Continuing its growth during the 2019 which also had the worlds biggest moving operation, Turkish Cargo managed to rise to the 7th spot in the World Air Cargo Data (WACD) with 9.6 per cent increase in its tonnage despite the 5.8 shrinkage in the air cargo market along with 5.7 per cent fall in the demand according to International Air Transport Association (Iata) reports during January and February. Successful air cargo brand increased its market share in the sold tonnage by 0.6 points in the first two months of the year compared to last year and reached a growth of 4.3 per cent while increasing its cumulative market share by 0.4 points to 4.1 per cent and achieved a sustainable growth. On this successful performance of Turkish Cargo, Turkish Airlines chairman of the board and the executive committee M Ilker Ayci said: We are happy about the continuous rise of Turkish Cargo in the global air cargo market. We cant say that the success we achieved during the first two months of 2019 was a surprise. We continuously experience these exciting achievements especially in recent years. For instance, in the last two years, we rose from 12th place to 7th place after surpassing five big global air cargo brands from Europe and Far East, Ayci said. Especially considering that the shrinkage in the demand for the market causes gloom in the sector with disappointing numbers, this success brightens the future of Turkish Cargo even more. With our determination and growth strategy in the air cargo market, Turkish Cargo will be one of the top five air cargo brands in the world. I express my thanks to all my colleagues who contributed to this success, Ayci added. With the moving operation to Istanbul Airport, the worlds biggest airport project, Turkish Cargo will continue its operations with Ataturk Airport and Istanbul Airport as Dual Hub. After the completion of Istanbul Airports all phases, Turkish Cargo will have the capacity of handling 4 million tonnage of cargo in a year thanks to its cargo terminal with 300,000 sq m indoor space. Reaching 307 destinations in 124 countries with belly capacity of Turkish Airlines and additionally operating dedicated cargo flights to 86 destinations with its fleet of cargo planes, Turkish Cargo continues to increase its service quality everyday with its current infrastructure and investments. As one of the worlds fastest growing air cargo brands thanks to the new destinations added to its flight network, Turkish Cargo continues to increase its success bar every day by combining its varied service range and operational capabilities with Turkeys unique geographical advantages, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Government and business leaders from the UAE and the Latin America and the Caribbean region (LAC) have reinforced their commitment to improving bilateral ties and expanding economic cooperation between the countries at an ongoing forum in Panama City, Panama. The two-day business forum opened yesterday (April 9) and will conclude later today (April 10). Organised by Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry in partnership with Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and programmed in association with Economist Evens, GBF Latin America Panama 2019 was attended by Juan Carlos Varela, president of the Republic of Panama; Jovenel Moise, president of Haiti; Panamanian Vice President and Foreign Minister, Isabel De Saint Malo; Mohammed Ahmed Bin Abdulaziz Al Shehhi, undersecretary of Economic Affairs for the UAE Ministry of Economy; Majid Saif Al Ghurair, chairman of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Hamad Buamim, president and CEO of Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Luis Alberto Moreno, president of IDB; policymakers, ministers, top government officials and business leaders from the LAC and GCC regions. Our countries play a key role in regional connectivity. Our economy is one of the fastest growing in the region and Panama has created a policy to strengthen the bilateral relations with the Arab Gulf in strategic sectors, President Varela stated during the opening of the forum. During a high-level meeting with government and business leaders from the UAE, Varela revealed that Panama and Dubai would plan to establish special working groups to foster cooperation in key sectors of mutual interest, including tourism, real state, free zones, among others, to achieve short term results and boost bilateral relations. Speaking about UAE-Latin America synergies and strengths, Al Shehhi noted that UAEs policy of openness and strong commitment to economic diversification has been the base for its success story, adding that this strategy has enabled the country to look outward and build partnerships in different parts of the world. He noted that GBF Latin America is a continuation of that strategy as the event is key to increasing trade and business exchange. Al Ghurair stated: Hosting this event in Panama is not only practical but also a symbol of the deepening relations between our two countries. This forum provides clarity on key trends reshaping Latin America and Caribbean markets, as well as the opportunities in these markets that can benefit businesses in the UAE, including Dubai Chambers 231,000 members, he added. Al Ghurair revealed Dubai Chambers plans to open a fourth Latin American representative office in Mexico City later this year which he described as a strategic move will enhance its efforts to expand trade between Dubai and Latin America. The announcement comes a week after the chamber opened an office in Buenos Aires, following office openings in Panama and Brazil in 2018 and 2017, respectively. Dubai Chambers chairman noted that GBF Latin America Panama 2019 comes at a time when bilateral ties are expanding rapidly with this trend reflected in Dubais non-oil trade with Latin America which has surged 46 per cent from $4.6 billion in 2011 to $6.7 billion in 2018, while the emirate continues to boost its exports to the region. These are important positive developments that have come from fruitful cooperation facilitated by the GBF Latin America platform, Al Ghurair added. Hamad Buamim said: We are committed to Panama and the Latin-America and Caribbean regions. We are here for the long-term, we have planted a seed and we are eager to see the results. Buamim, who also holds the position of chair of the World Chambers Federation, also participated in a panel session during the forum which examined the changing dynamics of global trade and investment. Emerging economies, especially within the GCC, Latin America and the Caribbean regions have a lot to offer, but at the same time, the multilateral trading system and the private sector is experiencing changes and challenges which need new ideas and solutions. Now more than ever, businesses and governments must work together to develop policies and practices that make international trade work for everyone in the 21st century, added Buamim. In addition, Buamim highlighted key developments and trends that are reshaping the business landscape in the UAE and Latin America, as public and private sector players adopt advanced technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence as they navigate the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He described Dubai as a prime example of a government that has been able to enhance economic competitiveness by continuously introducing new business-friendly initiatives and measures, in addition to new regulation as it aims to meet the changing needs of companies in the emirate. For his part, Moreno shared key findings from a new report released today by IDB during GBF Latin America Panama 2019, which shed light on trade flows between LAC and GCC markets, and examined the potential for boosting bilateral trade in the future. Citing the report, Moreno noted that trade between Gulf countries and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) could grow by $13 billion per year, if new measures and recommendations were adopted, such as the signing of more trade, investment and double taxation agreements between countries in both regions; increasing the number of diplomatic missions; establishing additional direct flights, and strengthening communications and exchange between business communities. Held under the theme "New Hubs, New Regions", GBF Latin America Panama 2019 will be joined by government and business leaders and industry experts who will explore new ways companies in the GCC and LAC regions can expand their cooperation in key sectors of mutual interest, namely food security and agribusiness, sustainability, trade and logistics, fintech and finance, tourism and renewable energy, among others, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Trade flows between GCC countries and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) reached $16.3 billion in 2018, while the UAE remained a top trading partner in the Gulf region for LAC countries, according to a new report. The report conducted by Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in cooperation with Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, entitled Towards a Renewed and Strengthened Relationship: Fostering ties between Latin America and the Caribbean and the Gulf Countries, was released during the 3rd Global Business Forum on Latin America which kicked off yesterday (April 9) in Panama City. In 2018, Gulf countries imported $10.9 billion worth of products from Latin America and the Caribbean, while they exported products to the region valued at $5.4 billion. The UAE accounted for 27 per cent of exports from GCC region to Latin America and the Caribbean, and 46 per cent of imports from LAC countries, making it the top growth market for LAC traders, the report revealed. Brazil, Argentina and Mexico were identified as the top trading partners in the region for GCC markets, jointly acquiring 76 per cent of the total intraregional trade between the two regions. Brazil's trade with the Gulf countries in 2018 amounted to $9.1 billion, followed by Argentina ($2 billion) and Mexico ($1.3 billion). The report outlined several recommendations for boosting trade flows between the two regions, including establishing new trade, investment and double taxation agreements, increasing the number of diplomatic missions, launching additional direct flights, and further facilitating bilateral business exchange. According to IDBs estimates, new trade agreements could potentially increase trade flows between the GCC and LAC regions by $9.8 billion per year, while it also noted that expanding diplomatic footprint could give a $3.3 billion boost to bilateral trade. Simplifying export and import mechanisms and processes, and implementing initiatives such as a single-window system for all procedures, licensing licensed economic agents, and signing mutual recognition agreements with procedures adopted by each country were also important steps that countries in the two regions could take to facilitate and accelerate bilateral trade in the future. Plastic products and electrical machinery remain the top categories dominating bilateral trade between the two regions, while vehicles, pharmaceutical products, electrical appliances, iron and steel were identified as high-potential products. Hamad Buamim, president and chief executive officer of Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the report highlights the tremendous trade potential that remains largely untapped and noted that it highlights a major business opportunity which the chamber will plan to capitalise on through the GBF platform and its three representative offices in Latin America. He explained that Dubai Chambers growing presence in Latin America supports Dubais economic diversification plans and strategic vision, adding that boosting bilateral trade and attracting Latin American companies to Dubai are among the representative offices top priorities. He noted that the report released by IDB provided much needed clarity on trade flows and commerce between the GCC and LAC region, and stressed Dubai Chambers commitment to further facilitating business exchange and forging new partnerships that create mutual benefits and economic growth. He pointed out that the results of the report clearly show that there are many commercial and investment opportunities for cooperation between the GCC and Latin markets in various sectors and fields, adding that Dubai Chamber regularly conducts its own studies on promising Latin American and Caribbean markets as part of its efforts to identify business opportunities for its members. Organised by Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and programmed in association with the Economist Events, GBF Latin America Panama 2019 is bringing together government and business leaders from Latin America, the Caribbean and GCC regions in Panama City to explore new avenues of economic cooperation. Being held until April 10, under the theme Next Hubs, New Regions, the forum offers a platform for stakeholders to discuss concrete business prospects and new opportunities available in Latin America and the wider Gulf region, which are accessible via the hubs of Panama and Dubai respectively. TradeArabia News Service A spectrum of exceptional jewellery collections is on display at the Jewellery Salon Exhibition, which opened in Jeddah yesterday (April 8). The 10th edition of the show, organised by Sunaidi Expo, was opened by Princess Latifa bint Saad Bin Abdelaziz Al Saud. The fair will run for four days (until April 11) at the Jeddah Hilton. The show will move to Riyadh from April 15 to 18 and will be held at the Faisaliyah hotel under the Patronage of Prince Sultan Bin Saud Bin Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. The premier trade fair is participated by around 50 companies from across the world, including the US, Lebanon, India, Bahrain, Italy, the UAE, Japan, France, Switzerland, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Jewellery Salon 2019 features finished jewellery products from premier brands, antique jewellery and new designer brands. This years events CSR strategy is to focus on empowering Saudi women and as part of it, the organisers have invited 10 of the most influential Saudi women and provided them with a platform to share their stories of success. In addition to these, they also have asked the nations top female jewellers to participate in the exhibition. Haya Al-Sunaidi, chairman of Sunaidi Expo, thanked Princess Latifa bint Saad Bin Abdelaziz for her support and opening the exhibition. She said: Besides being a major platform for Saudi Arabia and the region's gold, jewellery and watches trade, the show has become an increasingly attractive destination for leading international companies, brands, traders and designers seeking to enhance their presence in the region. The exhibition is open from 4 pm to 10 pm daily. - TradeArabia News Service French energy major Total and the Ministry of Oil and Gas of Oman (MOG) have signed a Heads of Agreement (HoA) for the award to Total of an exploration license on Block 12 with significant prospective gas resources. Under the terms of this HoA, both parties will finalize in the coming months, on an exclusive basis, a definitive agreement that will grant to Total 100 per cent working interest and operatorship of the exploration Block 12, located in Central Oman. This new agreement was signed after Total, the Ministry of Oil and Gas and Oman Oil Company (OOC) reached a new milestone to implement their integrated gas project, which entails developing the gas resources of the Greater Barik area (Blocks 10 and 11), as well as building and operating a liquefaction plant to offer a bunkering service and supply Liquefied Natural Gas as a fuel to marine vessels. Having been present in Oman for more than 80 years mostly in the oil sector, Total is pleased to have the opportunity to bring its expertise in the natural gas value chain to the Sultanate of Oman, stated Patrick Pouyanne, chairman and CEO of Total. After the agreement reached on the integrated gas project of the Greater Barik area, the entry into exploration Block 12 represents a new exploration opportunity to unlock additional gas potential and to contribute to income growth and job creation in the country. Spread over 10,000 sq km, Block 12 is located onshore, in the northern part of Block 6 and to the south of the Greater Barik area (including Mabrouk North East and Mabrouk West fields). Totals exploration program on the block will comprise seismic acquisition and drilling commitments, with the drilling of a first well in 2020. In Oman, Totals SEC production was 38,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2018. Total holds 4 per cent interest in the onshore Block 6 (operated by Petroleum Development Oman), as well as in the Oman LNG (5.54 per cent) and Qalhat LNG (2.04 per cent). TradeArabia News Service Luxury serviced residences operator Fraser Suites has officially opened its first property in Muscat, Oman. Located at the heart of the central commercial and business district, the property offers 120 serviced luxury apartments, complete with a rooftop pool, a 24/7 fitness room, a lavish spa and large indoor and outdoor children play areas. The apartments comprise studios and various bedroom configurations equipped with renowned brands such as LOccitane and Nespresso, together with all-around city views. Fraser Suites Muscat hosted its official opening early this month at the ballroom, present within the premises. The event was held in line with its commitment to offer high-quality luxury experiences which are designed to embrace the needs of the modern traveller and saw media attendees given an exclusive tour of each of the unique facilities at Fraser Suites Muscat. The Fraser Suites Muscat Ballroom can hold more than 800 people and is perfect for planning a wedding, the launch of a special product, a general business meeting, or any major occasion. The 1,500-sq-m space can be used as the main hall or partitioned into four separate conference rooms as required. Fraser Suites also offers an all-day dining restaurant, The Oak, with options encompassing a fusion of Middle Eastern and International cuisine from Chef Hatibu Alfani, including a choice for a buffet or a la carte menu. Designed with a contemporary touch and having floor to ceiling windows and a balcony overlooking the city, the restaurant ensures that all guests are treated to an unmatched dining experience. Additionally, for guests who prefer to dine in the comfort of their own hotel apartment, Room Service is available 24 hours a day. Vincent Le Gorrec, general manager of Fraser Suites Muscat, said: Coupled with a unique range of facilities and amenities and situated close to several lifestyle options, Fraser Suites Muscat is an ideal choice for corporate travellers, vacationers, and even families, looking for a convenient location in the sultanate. Together with the property owners, Jenan Al-Bashaer, we look forward to welcoming guests from all over the world and providing them with our trademark hospitality while also simultaneously enhancing the national tourism sector." - TradeArabia News Service InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has signed franchise agreements with Loulouat Al Madinah Hospitality and Al Hokair Group for two Holiday Inn hotels in Saudi Arabia. The agreements were signed and announced at Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC) 2019 in Ras Al Khaimah. The signings, which include Holiday Inn Madinah King Abdulaziz Road and Holiday Inn Jeddah Al Hamra, consolidate IHGs strategy to expand its footprint across the kingdom, with its midscale offerings. Holiday Inn Jeddah Al Hamra will feature 253 rooms and a host of facilities for business and leisure travellers including three food and beverage outlets, six meeting rooms, and a business centre. In addition, guests will be able to take advantage of recreational facilities such as the outdoor pool, a gymnasium and a spa. Due to open in 2020, Holiday Inn Madinah King Abdulaziz Road will be strategically located near Al Haramain Railway Train Station and other major transport hubs. The 180-key hotel will feature 2,000-sq-m of banqueting space for events and conventions, a business centre as well as a gym and two dining options. Given its location in the Holy City and close proximity to Knowledge Economic City, it is expected to attract both pilgrims and corporate travellers. Commenting on the agreement, Pascal Gauvin, managing director, India, Middle East & Africa, IHG, said: We are excited to leverage our experience of this market to bring more hospitality options to a broad range of travellers. Saudi Arabia remains a key strategic market for IHG in the Middle East, and we are proud to collaborate once again with our esteemed long-term partner, Al Hokair Group, and also to partner with Loulouat Al Madinah Hospitality for the first time. These signings demonstrate our commitment to Vision 2030 and the development of the rapidly evolving hospitality sector in the kingdom. Omar Samara, CEO, Al Hokair Group, added: IHG understands the market and has demonstrated its credentials to us as a strong partner. The tourism landscape in Saudi Arabia is changing, in line with Vision 2030, and offers unprecedented opportunities for the hospitality sector. This partnership will further diversify the type of hospitality offerings in both cities for international and domestic travellers alike. Sami Al Hokair, managing director, Loulouat Al Madinah Hospitality, added: We are pleased to be partnering with an experienced, global hospitality company such as IHG to expand our footprint in Saudi Arabia. In line with Saudi Vision 2030, there will be an increase in the number of religious tourist arrivals in Madinah and this partnership will give us an opportunity to offer quality branded accommodation to our international and domestic guests. Holiday Inn is a brand known and preferred by travellers across the globe and we are confident the hotel will be a huge success when we open our doors in 2020. Currently, IHG operates 91 hotels across five brands in the Middle East, including InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Staybridge Suites, with a further 37 in the development pipeline due to open within the next three to five years. IHG most recently debuted its upscale brand voco in the Middle East with the opening of voco Dubai. - TradeArabia News Service Whitacre's gift will support the UTSA Science and Engineering Building, which is set to open in 2020. Photo credit: Alamo Architects and Treanor HL (April 10, 2019) -- The UTSA College of Engineering confirmed a commitment of $500,000 from Ed Whitacre in support of the Science and Engineering Building, currently under construction and slated to open in 2020. The new building will provide 153,000 square feet of laboratory, classroom and meeting space to support students and research in engineering, brain health, biology and chemistry. Whitacre, former chairman of the Board of ExxonMobil, has been a generous donor to UTSA for many years. The UTSA College of Engineering continues to position itself to become one of the top five Engineering Programs in the state of Texas. I am pleased to assist the College as they acquire resources to train engineering students in a progressive learning environment, while exposing them to authentic project management experience, Whitacre said. The first floor of the building, sized at 32,650 square feet, will be dedicated to an innovative Makerspace that will include collaboration and project assembly space, a design studio, a machine shop, a 3D printing room, and cutting-edge equipment that will elevate the student learning experience in the UTSA College of Engineering. In alignment with UTSAs mission to become a model for student success, exposure to a Makerspace with ample resources will enhance students knowledge of the materials, tools, resources and environments they will encounter in the professional workplace. Whitacres support will specifically impact one of the integral components that will accelerate and improve the process for students to complete senior design projects, which are required for graduation: a 3D metal printer. The 3D metal printer offers additive manufacturing technology that uses powdered metals to create intricate and durable components of various sizes. This piece of equipment is prominently used in industry and will offer students the efficient engineering solutions to manufacture senior design project prototypes, some of which have the potential to be taken to market, and engineering organization competitive teams. Mr. Whitacres donation will allow UTSA students to graduate with the knowledge, competitive skills set, and experience to enter the workforce and compete with engineering graduates from top performing programs across the country, as well as engineering professionals, said JoAnn Browning, dean of the UTSA College of Engineering. The overall student experience in the College of Engineering will transform through a well-equipped Makerspace. Donors like Ed Whitacre are raising the stature of the Engineering Program, and helping the college equip its faculty and students, so they can advance in a rich learning environment. In turn, this provides the City of San Antonio with a strong pipeline of engineering graduates who are prepared to solve problems and develop engineering solutions that will impact the communities they work and live in. Ed Whitacre is also the former chairman and CEO of General Motors, and former chairman of the board and CEO of AT&T. ABC/Randy HolmesThe Head and the Heart has premiered the video for "Missed Connection," the lead single from the band's upcoming album, Living Mirage. The visual, streaming now on YouTube, is full of grainy clips from The Head and the Heart's recording sessions in Joshua Tree, California. "During the making of our new album Living Mirage, we decamped to Joshua Tree, California to write and reflect," the band says. "This video captures the magic of that special place in spacetime for us." Living Mirage, the follow-up to 2016's Signs of Light, is due out May 17. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. American Cultural Anthropologist to Give Mulloy Lecture April 26 at UW Paul Stoller West Chester University of Pennsylvania anthropologist Paul Stoller will give the 23rd annual William Mulloy Lecture Friday, April 26, at the University of Wyoming. Stoller, an anthropology professor, will discuss Slow Anthropology in a Fast World at 4:10 p.m. in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Building auditorium. A reception follows at 5:15 p.m. in the Department of Anthropology Building. The annual Mulloy Lecture is sponsored by the UW Department of Anthropology in memory of the university's first professional anthropologist, William Mulloy. Starting in 1948, he fostered, at UW, what is usually called the "four-field approach," integrating archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology and linguistic anthropology into a unified program. Stoller says anthropology has the particular distinction of being a slow science in a fast-paced world. It takes us many years to develop our insights -- years spent listening to the people we encounter in the field, he says. This slow practice has produced the ethnographic record, an invaluable body of knowledge that underscores the wisdom of others -- a wisdom that we would be wise to extend to the social, cultural and political infelicities that constitute our contemporary culture of speed. In his lecture, Stoller argues that it is the anthropologists central obligation to produce ethnographies -- the study and systematic recording of human cultures -- the foreground narratives that bring to life the places and lives of the people whom we have encountered. Indeed, their stories of patience, courage and resilience demonstrate that, no matter how different we may be, we are not alone in the world, he says. We have much to learn from our mentors in the field, for the story of their lives demonstrates the desirability of taking a slower approach to living in a world in which wisdom is in short supply. In his talk, Stoller hopes to demonstrate how slowly developed anthropological insights can be brought into the fast-paced, media-saturated public sphere. I conclude that a more public anthropology can powerfully bring forward a deep, slowly developed knowledge that is destined to make life a little bit sweeter for us all -- the classic definition of wisdom, he says. Is that not a challenge worth pursuing? Stoller has published 15 books, which include ethnographies, biographies, memoirs and novels. His most recent book is Adventures in Blogging: Anthropological and Popular Media, published last year. In recognition of his work, Stoller has been named a Guggenheim Fellow (1994) and received the American Anthropological Associations (AAA) Robert B. Textor Prize for Excellence in Anticipatory Anthropology (2002). King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden (2013) presented him the Anders Retzius Gold Medal in Anthropology. The AAA (2015) awarded him the Anthropology in Media Award. He lectures widely in Europe, and in North and South America, where he also regularly conducts writing workshops for social scientists. For more information about the Mulloy Lecture, call the UW Department of Anthropology office at (307) 766-5136. Author to Discuss New Book at UW April 24 Stephen Markley Up-and-coming author Stephen Markley will visit the University of Wyoming Wednesday, April 24, to read from and answer questions about his newest book, Ohio, beginning at 4:30 p.m. in the McMurry Reading Room in Coe Library. Markleys reading is free and open to the public, and his book will be available for purchase afterward. We are excited to have Markley visit UW, says Susan Aronstein, professor of English. Ohio has won several awards and been included on a number of national best books lists -- and its being adapted for television. A national best-seller, Ohio is described by National Public Radio as a remarkable debut novel and a masterpiece of a book. It is set in an archetypal small town in northeastern Ohio -- a region ravaged by the Great Recession, an opioid crisis, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- depicting one feverish, fateful summer night in 2013 when four former classmates converge on their hometown, each with a mission and all haunted by the ghosts of their shared histories. At once a murder mystery and social critique, Ohio ingeniously captures the fractured zeitgeist of a nation through the viewfinder of an embattled Midwestern town and offers a prescient vision for America at the dawn of a turbulent new age. Read a review of the novel by the New York Times at www.nytimes.com/2018/09/27/books/review/stephen-markley-ohio.html. Markley also is the author of Publish This Book and Tales of Iceland. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, and his essays and short fiction can be found scattered across the internet. He currently lives in Los Angeles. For more information about Markley, visit his website at www.stephenmarkley.com/. The event is sponsored by UW Libraries, the Honors College and the Department of Visual and Literary Arts. For more information, call Aronstein at (307) 766-2820 or email aronstei@uwyo.edu. Wyoming FBLA State Leadership Conference Held at UW More than 640 of Wyomings best and brightest high school students from 34 schools participated in the recent Wyoming Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) State Leadership Conference at the University of Wyomings College of Business. Students competed for cash awards and the opportunity to represent Wyoming at the National FBLA Conference in San Antonio, Texas, June 29-July 2. Participants from across the state attended the conference to enhance their business skills, expand their networks, and participate in business and business-related competitive events. We are excited to formalize our growing partnership with the Wyoming FBLA through sponsorship of the state leadership conference over the next five years, says Steve Russell, director of the College of Business Student Success Center. This partnership is the colleges continued commitment to the success of Wyomings students, who we look forward to seeing on campus one day. In addition to competitions, students immersed themselves in interactive workshops, visited an information-packed exhibit area and heard from motivational speakers on a broad range of business topics. Approximately 300 students and advisers will now represent Wyoming at the national level. "All the planning and preparation for this conference mean nothing until those students arrive, says Barb Frates, state chairperson of Wyoming FBLA. It is so fun to watch as 640 of the best students in our state showcase what they have been working on for so long with presentations, reports, projects and campaigns. I cannot thank UW College of Business enough for welcoming our FBLA members into their beautiful facilities for this WHSAA culminating event, and we look forward to coming back in the years to come." HOLY WEEK SERVICES: Our Town: First Congregational Church and Rev. Henry C. Brinker, 586-725-0909, 36223 Alfred St., will welcome visitors to the following services: Palm Sunday, April 14, 8:45 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. with distribution of palms; April 18, Maundy Thursday, at 6 p.m. with a Seder meal and Communion; April 19, Good Friday Service of Darkness at 7 p.m. and Easter Sunday services at 8:45 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. with a complimentary brunch hosted by the diaconate until 11:45 a.m.; St. Mary Queen of Creation Catholic Church, 50931 Main St., 586-725-2441, Rev. Charles White IV, Pastor: Holy Thursday Mass at 7 p.m., Good Friday Stations of the Cross led by youth at noon, Celebration of the Passion of the Lord at 1:30 p.m., Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. and Tenebrae service at 7:30 p.m. Saturday Easter Vigil at 8:30 p.m. and Easter Sunday Mass at 7:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.; Lighthouse Bible Church, 52260 Washington St., 586-725-9951, Rev. Jeff Bean: Good Friday service at noon, Easter egg hunt from 10 a.m. to noon and Easter Sunday services at 9:45 a.m. and 11 a.m.; Christ Lutheran Church, 50750 Walpole St., 586-725-1431, Rev. Barry Mueller: Maundy Thursday service at 7 p.m., Good Friday services at noon and 7 p.m., Holy Saturday service at 7 p.m. and Easter Sunday service at 9 a.m. followed by breakfast; St. Johns Lutheran Church, 51161 Maria St., 586-725-6801, Rev. Roger Facione: Maundy Thursday service at 7 p.m., Good Friday Tenebrae service at 7 p.m. and Easter Sunday services at 8 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. with breakfast served from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.; Chesterfield Township: Grace United Methodist Church, 49655 Jefferson Ave., 586-725-1054, Rev. Brian Steele: April 14, Palm Sunday services at 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. with a coffee hosted by the Echo Youth group; April 18, Maundy Readers Theatre at 7 p.m. and Good Friday service at 7 p.m. April 20: Easter Egg Hunt at 11 a.m. and Easter Sunday worship at 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. with a pancake breakfast served from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.; Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 31100 23 Mile Road, 586-949-9440, Rev. David Ulm: Maundy Thursday service at 7 p.m., Good Friday services at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., Saturday Easter Vigil service at 7 p.m. and Easter Sunday service at 10 a.m.; Christ the King Lutheran Church, 29920 23 Mile Road, 586-598-3363, Rev. Chuck Sandison: Maundy Thursday service at 7 p.m. and Easter Sunday services at 9:15 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.; Anchorville: Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, 9764 Dixie Highway, 586-725-3051, Rev. Joseph Esper: Holy Thursday prayer at 9 a.m., Mass at 7 p.m. and Eucharistic Adoration at 8 p.m. Good Friday, the church opens at noon with devotions at 1 p.m. Liturgy of Good Friday at 2 p.m., Marys Way of the Cross Stations at 3:30 p.m., Tenebrae service at 7 p.m. and Service of Reconciliation at 7:30 p.m. Saturday: prayer at 9 a.m. and blessing of food baskets at 4:30 p.m. with Reconciliation service from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Easter Vigil Mass at 8 p.m. Easter Sunday Mass at 8 a.m., 10 a.m. and noon. HAPPY EASTER! MOVIE NIGHT APRIL 12: This Friday evening at 6:30 p.m., Faith Macomb United Methodist Church, 56370 Fairchild, Macomb Township, 586-749-3147, is hosting the film Gods Not Dead 2. This film hits all the right notes. Everyone is welcome, and the popcorn is free. REMINDER: St. Johns Lutheran spaghetti dinner: On April 13 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., stop by St. Johns Lutheran, 51161 Maria St., and enjoy a delicious meal with friends. Specially prepared by cooks Roger Bokano, Enoch Carlton, Joe Sr. and Joe Jr. Tinson, the menu includes pasta noodles, red sauce with or without meat, an added entree, healthy salad, garlic toast, desserts and beverages. The cost is a free-will offering. Its the place to be on the second Saturday of the month. BIG BREAKFAST APRIL 14: VFW Post 7573, 35011 23 Mile Road, in The Cove, join friends for breakfast from 8 a.m. to noon. The menu features eggs, omelet to order, scrambled eggs, French toast, homemade gravy, biscuits, bacon, sausage and potatoes. The cost is $8 and $2 for children ages 10 and younger. World War II veterans eat free. A flea market will be going on in the front hall, so stop by and check it out. FORD FIELD TOUR and more: On April 19, the New Baltimore Recreation Center is offering a tour of Ford Field and the famous Guardian Building and its amazing architecture and lunch at the Big City Bar & Grill in Detroit at a cost of $55 a person. Departure is at 9 a.m. with a return time of 4:30 p.m. scheduled. Call the center at 586-725-0291 and be away for a day. APRIL 21 GOOD FRIDAY Fish Fry: The New Baltimore Civic Club, 26551 Main St., is hosting a meal of Alaska pollock, fries, macaroni and cheese, green beans, coleslaw, roll, dessert, coffee and lemonade for $10, dine in or takeout. Serving hours are 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. A fundraiser evening, the Civic Club supports the Goodfellows, the city of New Baltimore, Little League, Boy Scouts, American Cancer Society, scholarships and charitable groups. Should guests wish to stay, euchre games will follow at 8 p.m. APRIL 22 ABCF SCHOLARSHIP applications due: Parents will be proud to have their graduating senior be the recipient of one of the fine scholarships awarded at the Anchor Bay High School Senior Awards Night on May 14 at Anchor Bay High at 7 p.m. The Anchor Bay Community Foundation is the administrator of 21 scholarships and will be there to present them to deserving students. Applications are available in the areas of engineering, medicine, culinary arts, music, creative arts, criminal justice, business and technology, law enforcement, building and trades, academic and leadership, government, economics, social studies, general business and more. Applications must be submitted to the ABHS counseling office or have the postmark of April 22 and sent to Anchor Bay Community Foundation, P.O. Box 88, New Baltimore, MI 48047-0088. Note: The motto of the ABCF is: Improving lives through community grants and scholarships. FURTHER SCHOLARSHIP NEWS: The Velma Cullen MacDonald Continuing Education Scholarship, initiated by the Anchor Bay Lions Club, is available to a student who has registered for the sophomore year in a four-year college or university. The student, while in high school, must have resided in the Anchor Bay area. Deadline for application submission is July 26. Information may be found on the ABCF website at abcf.us or by calling 586-281-3275. Applications may be mailed to Anchor Bay Community Foundation, P.O. Box 88, New Baltimore, MI 48047-0088. CSC TRIP DEADLINES APRIL 22: The Chesterfield Senior Center is active and has several trips available for our older citizens. May 17: REVOLUTION: The Beatles Symphonic Experience that will take a symphonic journey through the history of the Beatles at Abbey Road and beyond as told by Jeff Tyziks arrangements of the Fab Fours No. 1 hits. The cost is $66 and includes lunch at Andiamo, the ticket and the drivers tip. Detroit Tiger game tickets also have an April 22 deadline for the following dates (at $46 a ticket): June 28, July 19 and Aug. 9 with lower baseline box seats. No transportation costs, thanks to SMART. Call 586-949-0400, ext. 7. APRIL 25 NEXT SHORELINER buffet: An International Feast for diners, the meal is served and prepared by Anchor Bay High School culinary students under the fine tutelage of chef Garnet Wrightner. The cost is $8 for adults and $6.50 for senior citizens. Located within Anchor Bay Middle School South, 48650 Sugarbush Road, Chesterfield Township, serving hours are 10:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. in the north end of the building. Reservations are requested by calling 586-598-7663, ext. 2123. It will be a dining experience to remember with entrees, vegetables, salads, desserts and beverages specially prepared for guests. Dont miss it. Note: Also visit the student bakery with baked goods for purchase, just across the hall from the Shoreliner dining room. BLOOD DRIVE APRIL 25: Grace United Methodist Church, in cooperation with the American Red Cross, has invited blood donors to their church, 49655 Jefferson Ave., Chesterfield Township, over the course of 15 years. Chairwoman Candy Daily and her staff of volunteers have been able to help over 12,000 people with their work. One unit of blood may help three people. Open from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., it is suggested that appointments be scheduled by calling 586-949-1023. Child care is provided, and walk-ins are welcome. Our Town is grateful to Mrs. Daily and her volunteers who continue to offer this gesture of community service that helps so many. APRIL 27 TO MAY 3 PRESTIGE ART SHOW: The Anchor Bay Artists Club is talented and creative. Beautiful and unique works of art will be on display for the viewing pleasure of guests at MacDonald Public Library during regular library hours. Local artists and their work will be featured. Visitors may cast a ballot to vote for the Peoples Choice Award. Its a pleasing experience to take in the display and marvel at the skill of each artist. For library hours, please call 586-725-0273. MacDonald Public Library is located at 36480 Main St. in Our Town. APRIL 27: VEGAS TRIBUTE show: VFW Post 7573 is featuring Donny Rod (Rod Stewart), Michael Carluccio (legend tribute artist), Elvis Kelly and Kelsey Rose (oldies tribute artist) in a special evening that includes dinner, open bar and the show. Tickets cost $40 per person. Doors open at 6 p.m. with dinner at 6:30 p.m. Show time is 8 p.m. Call 586-725-7100 and have a Michigan Vegas time and support the VFW as it supports our troops. SHROUD OF TURIN DISPLAY at St. Marys church: The Fr. Nick Zukowski Parish Center will be open from April 28 through May 4. The hours are 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, a full-length replica, developed from a photographic image by the Eastman Kodak Company, the Shroud will be shown front and back. The exhibit contains a large crucified corpus showing the wounds of Christ, corresponding to the passion narrative in Gospel accounts and wounds shown on the Shroud. The exhibit contains 92 panels detailing the history and science of the Shroud. It presents results of a comprehensive scientific, historical and forensic study with numerous photographs and illustrations. Come and learn about the science and history of the Shroud of Turin, the single most studied artifact of all time. St. Mary Queen of Creation is located at 50931 Maria St. in Our Town. ANNIVERSARY: HAPPY 62ND ANNIVERSARY, APRIL 13, BILL CARROTHERS! To report news about your service organization, call Bette Carrothers at 586-725-8051 or email her at wgcmusicbjc@webtv.net. From 25-29 March 2019, the WCO held a Workshop on Single Window (SW) environment in Kingston, Jamaica, hosted Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) and supported by WCO-HMRC-UNCTAD Project. The primary objective of the Workshop was to raise the awareness of Customs and Border Regulatory Agencies on the role of each agency ensure the successful implementation of Single Window environment, the position of the Lead Agency on Project, and as operator of the SW system as well as the sustainability options for system operation and development. The WCO shared experiences of other Members in adopting SW approaches, best practices from the WCO AMS Region and the lessons learned from other countries that have enhanced the collaborative environment in respective economies. The JCA has been found to be already advanced in the area of Project implementation with a dedicated team, a clear vision and roadmap in enhancing e-collaboration with three border agencies within the first phase of Pilot Project. The workshop highlighted the different models of SW solutions and how streamlining of Licenses, Permits, Certificates and Other (LPCOs) business processes and enabling the digital environment may speed up the implementation of the Single Window. The SW Project leader and the team attended the workshop, including various authorities of Jamaica, such as the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Industry, Agriculture and Fisheries (MICAF) and representatives of the Port Community System. The workshop, as highlighted by the participants, was perceived as to be of high added value to enhance the cooperation of experts from various authorities in outlining the necessary areas of close collaboration, such as regulatory, data harmonization, legal gap analyses, and business process re-engineering. Around 10 officials from cross-border regulatory agencies and other private sector stakeholders in Jamaica attended the workshop and worked together on several exercise scenarios in information sharing between agencies. The WCO experts presented several WCO instruments and tools, including the recently developed online SW e-modules, as well as international standards for trade facilitation to provide guidance to participants in adopting a Coordinated Border Management approach in Sea-ports and Airports, which will ensure further smooth progress in building Jamaica Single Window environment and meet the needs and expectations of the trade community. During the workshop, WCO experts outlined the concepts of Coordinated Border Management, Single Window, Risk Management, Business Process Analysis, Data Harmonization, supported by case studies from different countries. Besides, the participants, with the support of experts, carried out practical exercises to harmonize the data used by various agencies to process customs declarations, permits, and certificates. The WCO workshop on Single Window environment proved to be highly effective for the engagement of various stakeholders and to identify future challenges for the enhancement of the collaborative environment. For further information please contact rammap-swim@wcoomd.org If you have an event you'd like to list on the site, submit it now! Submit By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 09, 2019 | 11:38 PM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY Detectives located marijuana, crystal methamphetamine, assorted items of drug paraphernalia, and a loaded 9mm Ruger handgun, which was found to be stolen. The handgun had been reported stolen by a McCracken County resident 18 days earlier. Both George and Andrew Walker were arrested and taken to the McCracken County Regional Jail. Both were charged with numerous drug and firearm offenses. A McCracken County father and son were arrested on drug and firearm charges after an investigation that lasted several months.According to the McCracken County Sheriff's Department, detectives received information regarding George W. Walker being involved in illegal drug activity along with possessing firearms. Walker is a convicted felon and prohibited by law from possessing firearms.Detectives executed a search warrant Monday afternoon and located Walker and his son, 18-year-old Andrew A. Walker inside a home on Husband Road. Worker says she risked discipline if she left job amid storm Embed from Getty Images A Fulham fan from the United States is taking legal action against the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) after being denied a custom registration plate for it supposedly having racist connotations. Jonathan Kotler, a 73-year-old university professor, wanted a personalised plate that featured the letters COYW as in Come On You Whites but the California DMV blocked the request in fear that the initials might be a racist reference. The California DMV reserve the right to refuse custom plates if the lettering or configuration is deemed offensive, vulgar or indecent in any way. That hasnt stopped Kotler from bringing a case against the organisation for violating his right to freedom of speech, with a federal lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Its just a shirt colour, he told BBC News. The people at the DMV are either extra thick or very politically correct. Kotler, who became a Fulham fan after taking in a game at Craven Cottage during a trip to London several years ago, also said that he provided the DMV with a detailed explanation of the COYW plate as part of his application. I sent them tons of material. Press releases, stories from the British media, letters from the chairman who uses come on you whites. I pointed out that many clubs in Britain are known by their colour the blues, the clarets. Nobody thought the Liverpool reds were communists. Even when I did it, it was the furthest thing from my mind that anyone would object to it. I was shocked, absolutely. I decided this is crazy, this is enough. I can take it up to a point but this became personal. Pies can see his point, but given the torrid political climate in the States at the moment, its probably best not to stir the nationalism pot too vigorously. Honestly, were only amazed that Come on you Whites hasnt been snapped up already. Out and about in Joburg Come to South Africa and discover the most rewarding full-time English course at Wits Language School. Learning English in South Africa is a wonderful way to immerse yourself in the language and learn more about the local culture. Wits Language School is located in the heart of Johannesburg, an exciting and busy cosmopolitan city with lots to do and lots to see. There is something fun for everyone and you will never get bored. Food and restaurants Because South Africa is a rainbow nation, you can find food from all over the world in Joburg including Greek, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican and Thai dishes. We recommend going to the Neighbourgoods Market in Juta Street on a Saturday to taste all the delicious cuisines the city has to offer. 44 Stanley, just five minutes away from the language school, has a fantastic mix of restaurants and shops - the perfect place to spend your afternoon. Art and culture If you are an art lover, check out the Goodman Gallery down the road from the Johannesburg Zoo. You can also pick up a paintbrush at Art Jamming in Melrose Arch if you want to be creative. Arts on Main in Maboneng is a great spot to find local art, jewelery and other crafts. Museums and history If you would like to learn more about South Africas rich history, you can visit Nelson Mandela House and The Hector Pieterson Museum in Soweto - dont forget to go to Sakhumzis for some traditional South African food while you are there! Constitution Hill in Braamfontein will teach you more about South Africas journey to democracy. Adventure and the outdoors You can still experience the outdoors in a big city like Joburg. Swing from the trees at Acrobranch, jump on a rollercoaster at Gold Reef City and have a picnic in the park at Zoo Lake or Emmerentia. Nightlife When the sun goes down and you want to enjoy a drink or go dancing, head to The Living Room or Shakers Cocktail Bar in Maboneng. You are also guaranteed to have a great time at Hells Kitchen and Xai Xai in Melville. Actors perform 170 Days in Nanking on stage. [Photo/Xinhua] The opera commission 170 Days in Nanking commemorating the efforts of protecting lives during the Nanjing Massacre will be staged on the National Center for the Performing Arts on April 24. The opera is set in 1937 when Japanese invaders began to bombard Nanjing indiscriminately in September of that year. John Rabe, representative of Siemens China Co., in Nanjing, established the International Committee for Nanjing Safety Zone with 20 other foreigners to provide the humanitarian relief to local civilians. In the most difficult days since then, the committee negotiated with the Japanese embassy and the military and protected the lives of 200,000 refugees in the Nanjing Safety Zone. Co-produced by Jiangsu Cultural Investment and Jiangsu Performing Arts Group, the opera's debut was in December 2016. The production team is comprised of artists from 16 countries and regions. "I wish that the audience can be touched by the brilliance of the humanity from this opera instead of the horror of killing," the composer Tang Jianping said. (Source: China Daily) College leader who battled cancer twice spearheading campaign to transform patient care This article is old - Published: Thursday, Apr 11th, 2019 A college leader is using her battle with cancer to help transform the way patients are treated in North Wales. Vivienne Martin, assistant principal for Land-Based Studies and Additional Learning Needs at Coleg Cambria has fought breast cancer twice in just seven years. She returned to work in January and is back to full fitness but is aware the condition could return one day, and prepared if it does. Viviennes determination and drive saw her chosen by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to become a spokesperson for its new partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support Transforming Cancer Services Together which will initially focus on breast, lung, colorectal and urological cancers. The campaign aims to redesign current processes and provide better care and support for patients in response to the Wales Cancer Patient Experience Survey, which found that while most people diagnosed with cancer in North Wales had a positive experience, there was room for improvement. The 56 year-old attended the launch in St Asaph and spoke of the need for better communication and coordination of care. I felt I wasnt receiving enough information and it meant I had to telephone around to find out what was going on, said Vivienne, from Abergele. The predominant issue was around communication and efficiency; the hospitals do amazing work and saved my life twice, so I want to help them further improve for people who go through it in the future. Had I not asked questions or clarified, things may not have run so smoothly. Richard Pugh, head of services (Wales) for Macmillan Cancer Support, added: We are pleased to be working in partnership with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to fund this innovative 900,000 programme thanks to the publics generosity. Transforming Cancer Services Together aims to improve cancer care for people living with the most common cancers in North Wales and the programme is part of the 6 million Macmillans invested in cancer services in the area since 2010. Vivienne found she had cancer for the first time a month after her 49th birthday and could not believe it when doctors gave her the news. I just wouldnt accept it, Im a positive person and refused to believe it, despite the results being 95% certain, she said. I was taken to Llandudno General Hospital and they moved really fast in operating and removing the lump, which was around 55mm in diameter. I was very lucky. What followed was quite a dark time, endless scans at Bangor and chemotherapy and radiotherapy in Bodelwyddan, but the staff were brilliant, Ill always be thankful for that. Vivienne added: I was recovering well, so to find that I again had breast cancer last year was a hammer blow. It was another primary cancer so fortunately they again acted quickly and that meant I didnt have to go through chemotherapy, which was a huge relief as it took me five years to really get over the last time. Returning to Cambrias Northop campus earlier this year, Vivienne was asked to oversee the colleges new-look charity and volunteering appeal, Calon Charity in Action. This years nominated cause is the British Heart Foundation, and there will also be a fresh approach toward participation among students, staff and the community. My role at the college is still the same, with responsibility for land-based studies at Northop and Llysfasi, additional learning needs provision and now Calon, which is an amazing new project we all support, said Vivienne. Its been good for me personally as I have always enjoyed helping charities, and given my own battle with cancer it has given me a renewed focus and drive. For me the glass is always half full, I love my job and the support Ive had from my colleagues, the college and students has been overwhelming. Im up for anything that helps raise funds for people who need it most and we have big plans in store for the year ahead so we hope people in North Wales will get behind us. For more on Calon, visit the website: www.cambria.ac.uk/calon (Click for large) Council look to more multi million pound cuts Leader pledges to keep council tax as low as possible This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Apr 10th, 2019 A ding-dong over whether local residents should be asked to pay more council has taken place in the Guildhall chamber. Executive board members had been asked to approve the timetable for this years budget process which includes various councillor workshops, public meetings and the now annual autumn launch of the public consultation which will look at how to make multi million pound savings. Looking ahead for 2020/2021 and 2021/2022, it is estimated that Wrexham Council will have a budget shortfall of almost 10 million meaning more cuts and reductions to services are once again on the horizon. Speaking yesterday Leader of Wrexham Council, Cllr Mark Pritchard said that it is an extremely difficult time for local authorities and that it would be a hard process going forward. However what was expected to be a quick decision making process saw a council tax debate between the council leader and Cllr Alun Jenkins reignite. Cllr Jenkins a long term advocate for higher council tax argued that had the local authority raised council tax back in 2012, it would not be in the position it is in now. In a back and to exchange between the two councillors, Cllr Jenkins said: Were reaching the point now where the basic services are going and we wont be thanked by the people of Wrexham if they go anymore than we are going to be thanked for putting up council tax. Wrexham has the seventh lowest council tax level in the whole of the UK and therefore there is the prospect now of being able to raise more money locally in order to keep some of those much needed services going that the people of Wrexham desperately want to keep going. He later added: We wont be thanked by people of Wrexham if we break the council. If we break the council by starving it of money and resources then much needed services are going to go. However Cllr Pritchard said raising council tax is not the issue and called on the UK and Welsh Governments to provide more funding to local authorities. Cllr Prichard said: It was with reluctance last year that we had to raise the council tax to 5.5 per cent. If we could have done something to keep it lower than that then we would have. The answer isnt just going ahead and raising council tax to percentage that a lot of people cant afford and you push them over the edge. It is a piece of the jigsaw but it is not the answer. I will always work tirelessly to keep the council tax down as low as can. Some people are struggling out there, the 5.5 per cent has made it difficult for them. Lets not forget that. He also challenged Cllr Jenkins to go to full council next year and propose higher increases and see what response you get from the people of Wrexham. Its not the first time such a debate has taken place between the two councillors. Just a few short months ago in January Cllr Jenkins argued that the planned council tax increase of 5.5 per cent was not enough to help save local services. Instead Cllr Jenkins suggested that council tax rose to 9.5 per cent and that the extra funds generated could be put in a special reserve that would become a protection against cuts and would mean over time mean more services could be saved. However the debate was drawn to a close by Cllr Hugh Jones, deputy council leader, who called for a point of order; stating that the report was about the timetable for the budget process and not discussing such proposals now. Cllr Derek Wright also asked if previous cuts that had been considered by the council could be highlighted during an all member workshop for councillors. He noted that a number of representatives elected to the local authority two years ago may be unaware of what had been discussed since 2012 and that some newer councillors are scared of putting things forward that have already been considered. Wrexham Council has already made cuts of over 60 million in recent years and has already warned that there is no money in the bank for 2021. Cllr David A Bithell, lead member for environment and transport, said: I dont think any elected member should be embarrassed if theyre not sure what has been raised previously. The reality is I would encourage every elected member to attend the workshops and if they have an idea whatever it is, either raise to lead members or come to workshops and make some suggestions. We will look at everything. Cllr Jones added that there are no, no go areas in terms of what could be looked at to make savings, noting in terms of things we have looked at in the past will be on the agenda again. Executive board members voted unanimously in favour of the budget timetable for the next year. Speaking to Wrexham.com after the meeting, Cllr Pritchard said: I have never been on the same page as Alun in reference to council tax. We have to set council tax that is affordable to our resident constituents, and that does not put them under financial burden. If you put council tax up in Wrexham by 1 per cent you generate around 500,000 That is not the answer. If you go down the line of what Cllr Jenkins wants to do, increase by 4 10 per cent that is not the answer, what do you do the next year? Or the year after? The answer is to fund local authorities accordingly. As much as I respect Alun, he has got it wrong, and I will not support putting the council tax up to the levels he is demanding. We will look at the council tax year on year and see what pressures we have to meet and the money we have to find. I would like to remind Cllr Jenkins, I have had representations from individuals and families who have told me if we put the council tax up to what he wants, it would put them over the edge and into a financial black hole. I understand the dilemma Cllr Jenkins is in, that he does not want to stop or cut services, but the bluntness is he has to make the representations to Westminster and Cardiff to fund local authorities accordingly. I will continue to work to keep council tax as low as possible. (Click for large) Wrexham MP dismayed by Governments complete disregard for towns over plans to close towns tax office This article is old - Published: Thursday, Apr 11th, 2019 Wrexhams MP has spoken of his dismay over the UK Governments complete disregard for towns like ours over plans to close the towns tax office next year. Ian Lucas is opposing a move by HM Revenue & Customs to shut their premises on Wrexham Technology Park, forcing hundreds of workers to either take redundancy or relocate to similar roles in Liverpool or Telford. Mr Lucas has raised the matter on several occasions in Parliament, addressing Theresa May directly at PMQs in February when he asked: What does the Prime Minister have against towns in North Wales? Mr Lucas has also written to Mrs May and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, to urge them to reconsider. Jim Harra, second permanent secretary at HMRC, has now replied on their behalf to state the plans to close the Wrexham office by September 2020 had not changed. A call by Mr Lucas to consider using Wrexham for additional office space, rather than Liverpool, was rejected as the staff members required to work there are already based in Liverpool. I was dismayed by the reply and continue to be dismayed by the UK Governments complete disregard for towns like ours, said Mr Lucas. Once again, we see investment being shifted into cities and it is people in places like Wrexham who suffer. It appears that HMRC are refusing to budge so I am exploring other avenues and liaising with union officials over what steps to take next. I will continue to do absolutely everything in my power to get this terrible decision reversed. In his letter to Mr Lucas, Mr Harra writes: The confirmation of the closure date of our office in Wrexham will be disappointing. We are committed to maximising tax revenue, increasing compliance and reducing the tax gap while delivering best value to the tax payer, and we have to prioritise these aims. The Wrexham has been threatened with closure since 2015, when HMRC announced plans to centralise operations into 13 hubs in the UKs biggest cities. At the time, about 400 skilled workers were employed there but that number has since been whittled down to about 270. Many employees there have more than 25 years experience. It was confirmed in February of this year that September 2020 would be the closing date for the Wrexham office. (Click for large) Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-09 23:44:05|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close U.S. Attorney General William Barr testifies before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, in Washington D.C., the United States, on April 9, 2019. U.S. Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday he will release a redacted version of the Mueller report from the Russia probe "within a week" at a hearing in Congress. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) WASHINGTON, April 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday he will release a redacted version of the Mueller report from the Russia probe "within a week" at a hearing in Congress. "This process is going along very well and my original timetable of being able to release this by mid-April stands, so I think that from my standpoint, within a week I will be in a position to release the report to the public," Barr told a Democrat-led House panel. Barr told the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies that part of the report, the result of the investigation into the alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia and obstruction of justice, would need to be blacked out, such as information that is subject to grand-jury secrecy rules. Barr did not commit to providing the full report to Congress, despite requests by Democratic lawmakers. Barr on March 24 released a synopsis of the report on allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, suggesting that special counsel Robert Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether President Donald Trump had obstructed justice, and that Mueller's findings are "not sufficient" to support a charge. Trump has touted Barr's summary as a "complete exoneration" and agreed to releasing the report, saying he had "nothing to hide." Mueller submitted his report on March 22. He took over the Russia probe in May 2017 after Trump abruptly fired former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey. Russia has denied any meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 01:15:23|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Carrie Lam delivers a speech at a symposium for China's Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, in Tokyo, Japan, on April 9, 2019. A symposium for China's Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was held here Tuesday to introduce the Greater Bay Area and seek cooperation in developing the area between China and Japan. The event, jointly held by Guangdong Province, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the Macao Special Administrative Region (Macao SAR), was attended by more than 1,000 people from political and business sectors of the two countries. (Xinhua/Du Xiaoyi) TOKYO, April 9 (Xinhua) -- A symposium for China's Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was held here Tuesday to introduce the Greater Bay Area and seek cooperation in developing the area between China and Japan. The event, jointly held by Guangdong Province, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the Macao Special Administrative Region (Macao SAR), was attended by more than 1,000 people from political and business sectors of the two countries. While delivering an opening speech at the event, Chinese Ambassador to Japan Cheng Yonghua said the Greater Bay Area is a new attempt made by China to forge a new pattern of comprehensive development in the new era. He hopes that through the event, participants will learn more about Guangdong Province, the HKSAR and the the Macao SAR as well as the Greater Bay Area. Noting that Guangdong Province and Japan share close economic and trade cooperation, Guangdong Governor Ma Xingrui called for enhanced cooperation and exchanges between the Greater Bay Area and Japan in such areas as manufacturing, science and innovation, transport, and people's livelihood. HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam made a detailed introduction of the Greater Bay Area and Hong Kong's role in the area, and she called on Japanese companies to seize the business opportunities brought by the Greater Bay Area. Sonia Chan, Macao's Secretary for Administration and Justice, said that Macao is one of the "central cities" in the Greater Bay Area, and also an important juncture of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Speaking highly of the Greater Bay Area's economic achievements and its openness, Yoshihiro Seki, Japan's state minister of economy, trade and industry, said Japan and the Greater Bay Area have close economic connection and the development of the Greater Bay Area is a great opportunity for Japanese enterprises. After the symposium, a panel discussion of development and cooperation opportunities was also held. The Greater Bay Area consists of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region, as well as nine cities in Guangdong Province -- Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing. Covering a total area of 56,000 square kilometers, the bay area had a combined population of about 70 million at the end of 2017 and its gross domestic product reached around 10 trillion yuan (1.48 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2017. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 02:31:22|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) shakes hands with High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini on the sidelines of the China-EU leaders' meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on April 9, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhang Cheng) BRUSSELS, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met here Tuesday with High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini on the sidelines of the China-EU leaders' meeting. Wang said the high-level strategic dialogue held between him and Mogherini not long ago had made necessary preparation for the China-EU leaders' meeting. With concerted efforts, China and the EU have reached agreement on their joint statement issued Tuesday, he added. The statement, wide-ranging and fruitful, represents the high level of the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, the various consensus they have accumulated, the solidarity and cooperation between the two sides as well as the spirit of mutual benefits and win-win, he said. "We have designed the road map for future China-EU relations and clarified the development direction," Wang said. Expecting a successful EU-China leaders' meeting, Mogherini expressed appreciation for the work both teams had done for the joint statement. She said the EU is ready to work with China for further development of their ties. The two sides also had in-depth exchange of views on international and regional issues of common concern including Afghanistan, Venezuela, and the Korean Peninsula. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 02:51:26|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close JERUSALEM, April 9 (Xinhua) -- In central Jerusalem, some young Israelis still tried their best to support the Likud party led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a propaganda station. "Yes, Netanyahu!" they said, holding a poster of the Likud's leader. The polling stations opened at 7 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) for 6.34 million eligible voters to cast their votes in ballots throughout the country and is due to end at 10 p.m. (1900 GMT). More than 40 parties are competing to grab the 120 seats in the Knesset (parliament). "No matter which party is elected, I'm looking forward to stability and security," Eashera told Xinhua after voting at a polling station in a kindergarten in central Jerusalem. Recent opinion polls showed a tight race for the elections, with Benny Gantz's Blue and White party receiving about 30 seats and Netanyahu's Likud slightly lagging behinds with about 28 seats. "Netanyahu is the best choice to guarantee security for us. Israel is surrounded by strong enemies so we need a strong leader. For many years, only Netanyahu can realize this," middle-aged female voter Dalit Saidia said. "I voted him (Netanyahu) four times and I will vote him again if he takes part in the next elections," she said, adding that "Gantz advocates for change, but why we need to change?" A man in his 60s told Xinhua that he wants the current government to continue to lead the country. "I think that the current government does well in economy, international relations and security. So we should prove that they can continue," he said. The voter noted that "many people seek for the change, but change doesn't mean a better future," adding that "inexperienced leader may make mistakes but the current government has gained experience in mistakes." However, Yohaimogen, a PHD student who also expects social stability, chose to vote the Blue and White party. "I chose Gantz because his party doesn't have corruption ... If the party is elected, I hope that it can lead us to a better future and solve the Israeli-Palestinian issue reasonably," he told Xinhua after voting. Clinton Bailey, an elderly voter and researcher of anthropology, said at a polling station that he will also support the Blue and White party. "I'm tired of the current government. If Blue and White wins the elections, it will be more balanced in the Israeli-Palestinian issue and to improve international relations," he added. Gantz, ex-chief of the Israeli forces, burst into politics about four months ago and has since quickly emerged as Netanyahu's toughest challenger in the looming elections. In his campaign, Gantz used "unifying" rhetoric, calling for healing rifts in the deeply divided Israeli society. His campaign also speaks against the corruption of Netanyahu's government. Blue and White's platform calls for "disengagement" from the Palestinians but stops short of supporting a Palestinian state alongside Israel. In February, his newly-established party formed an alliance with Yesh Atid, or "There is Future" in Hebrew, a centrist party led by Yair Lapid, Israeli former finance minister. However, even if the Blue and White party gains more votes than the Likud, Gantz is not certain to form the next government unless he forms a coalition with other parties. According to the recent polls, the right-wing bloc is predicted to gain some 65 seats, far more than the 55 seats predicted to the left-centrist bloc. Netanyahu, who earlier took to social media to directly address the voters, cast his vote in a polling station near the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem. "Voting is a holy act, the very essence of democracy," local media quoted Netanyahu as saying at the polling station. The premier's main challenger, Gantz, has also cast his ballot, calling for a "new dawn, a new history" for the country, Israeli media reported. Gantz voted earlier in his hometown of Rosh Haayin in central Israel. He called on all Israelis to get out and vote, saying they should "take responsibility" for their democracy, according to the report. By the midday, there were more and more voters going to the polling stations with some elderlies in wheelchairs. Some young couples went to vote by carrying their children. "I came here earlier because I'm afraid that there will be a lot of people after lunch. I want to finish this task as early as possible," Ran OJ, 28-year-old man said. He added that he has yet decided to vote which party but "maybe Blue and White ... and I hope for some changes." "The society needs to be changed," a woman in her 30s told Xinhua that she supports the New Right, headed by Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked. "I'm favor of the female justice minister because I think that she will do more to improve social justice if the party wins the elections," she said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 03:26:52|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Ji Ping, Chinese ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the 22nd International Economic Fair Mostar in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), on April 9, 2019. The 22nd International Economic Fair Mostar opened on Tuesday, featuring China as the main guest of honor (partner country) and over 50 Chinese companies showing their latest products. (Xinhua/Nedim Grabovica) SARAJEVO, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The 22nd International Economic Fair Mostar opened on Tuesday, featuring China as the main guest of honor (partner country) and over 50 Chinese companies showing their latest products. Held in Mostar, a city some 130 kilometers southwest of Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital Sarajevo, the fair was opened by Chairman of BiH's Presidency Milorad Dodik. Dodik said that it was important that China took part in the fair as the main guest of honor this year, since China's economy is one of the most important ones in maintaining global growth. Dodik emphasized the importance of cooperation between China and the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC), adding that the cooperation is important for BiH in times when the global economy is languishing. "We can learn a lot from China," Dodik said. For the last 10 years, exhibitors from China presented their products at the fair, and the cooperation has been intensified in the last three years. This year, Chinese companies such as Huawei, ZTE Corporation, China Railways, Guangzhou Gcm Electronic Technology Ltd. displayed their products, according to the fair's official website. The International Economy Fair Mostar is one of the most significant and most-visited events in the region. Organizers expect some 50,000 visitors to visit stands of 860 exhibitors from more than 30 countries and regions. The expo lasts from April 9 to April 13. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 03:42:07|Editor: yan Video Player Close ZAGREB, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The Croatian government and the president on Tuesday rejected allegations that they have tried to influence Slovenian media and prevent them from reporting on Croatia's intelligence activities in Slovenia. The Croatian Security and Intelligence Agency (SOA) also denied any wrongdoing, saying the allegations are "incorrect and tendentious constructions". Slovenian media reported last week that the SOA had wire-tapped a Slovenian judge and an agent during the border arbitration process between the two countries in 2015. Due to the latest allegations, Slovenian Prime Minister Marjan Sarec called for an emergency session of the Slovenian National Security Council on Tuesday. Slovenian ambassador to Croatia was called back to Ljubljana for consultations while Croatian ambassador in Slovenia was summoned to the Slovenian Foreign Ministry. "The President has not, nor would ever ask to interfere in Slovenian media, neither directly, nor through a mediator. The fact is that Slovenia has violated the arbitration agreement and thus the international law, and that's why the arbitration failed. It is a judicial scandal, not an intelligence issue, and we reject this attempt to replace the thesis," the Croatian president office said in a statement. Ever since the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, Croatia and Slovenia, two former Yugoslav republics who are now EU and NATO member states, have a border dispute in the Gulf of Piran in the northern Adriatic. They decided to settle the case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague. The Hague-based PCA ruled in June of 2017 that much of an area of contested waters between Slovenia and Croatia should be awarded to Ljubljana, giving Slovenia direct access to international waters. However, the ruling was rejected by Croatia, which withdrew from the arbitration process in July 2015 by invoking Article 60 of the Vienna Convention, which allows termination of an agreement in case of a grave breach. Croatia had withdrawn the arbitration, after media revealed alleged secret call records between a judge at the PCA and the Slovenian representative in the court about lobbying other judges to influence the outcome of the arbitration in Slovenia's favor. Slovenia insists that the arbitrary decision on the border must be respected and implemented while Croatia says that the issue should be resolved bilaterally. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 03:42:09|Editor: yan Video Player Close DAR ES SALAAM, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Tuesday warned officials who frustrated investors wishing to do business in the east African nation, saying he will deal with them accordingly. The president said that officials dealing various sectors including environment, occupational safety and immigration should not frustrate investors who are willing to do business in the country. "Any official who will be implicated frustrating investors should be reported directly to my office," said Magufuli shortly after he inaugurated a 19-million-euro tea processing factory owned by Unilever in the country's southern highland region of Njombe. Unilever is a British-Dutch transnational consumer goods company co-headquartered in London in the United Kingdom and Rotterdam in the Netherlands. He said red tape will not be entertained in his administration when it comes to the promotion of investments in efforts toward making the country a middle-income status by 2025. "I recently decided to shift the investment portfolio from the Ministry of Industry and Trade to the Prime Minister's Office, and if the situation is not improving I will again shift the investment portfolio to my office," said Magufuli. Meanwhile, Selemani Jafo, minister of state in the president's office responsible for regional administration and local government, on Tuesday sounded a stern warning against officials who harass foreign investors, saying those implicated will be punished. Jafo sounded the warning in the National Assembly in the capital Dodoma. "We are doing all we can to restrain the mistreatment of investors," said Jafo in answer to a question by Rombo Member of Parliament Joseph Selasini who had wanted to know the government's action against district commissioners and regional commissioners who were still harassing investors. In his question, the lawmaker expressed fear that mistreatment of investors is likely to scare them away. Selasini said the district commissioners and the regional commissioners have been issuing orders to investors on issues that are in the jurisdiction of other authorities. However, Jafo told the House that there is significant improvement that such incidents have decreased after government intervention. "We are currently working on some reported cases of public officials who are said to have misused their authority to mistreat investors," said the minister. The World Investment Report 2018 said Tanzania was the leading Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) destination among member states of the East African Community (EAC), accounting for about 40 percent of all the investments in the bloc that were received in 2017. The report, published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), said both East Africa and the Horn of Africa, which have emerged as the fastest growing FDI destination on the continent, registered a total of 7.6 billion U.S. dollars in foreign investments in 2017. Of the money, Ethiopia alone - which is now the largest recipient of FDIs in Africa after Egypt - took up 3.6 billion dollars. About 3 billion U.S. dollars went to the EAC trading bloc with the remaining amount going to other East African countries that are not members of the bloc, said the report which was launched during the World Investment Forum 2018 in Geneva, Switzerland. Of the 3 billion dollars going into EAC, Tanzania registered FDIs projects worth 1.2 billion dollars followed by Uganda which bagged FDIs worth 700 million dollars as Kenya came third with FDIs valued at 672 million dollars, said the report. It added that Rwanda was in the fourth slot with investments worth 366 million dollars followed by South Sudan at 80 million dollars as Burundi tailed the list with only 0.3 million dollars. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 03:57:14|Editor: yan Video Player Close ST. PETERSBURG, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Russia will adopt this year a new strategy for the development of the Russian Arctic until 2035, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. "This year we are going to draft and adopt a new strategy for the development of the Russian Arctic up to 2035. It is to combine measures stipulated in our national projects and state programs, the investment plans of infrastructure companies and programs for developing Arctic regions and cities," Putin said at the 5th International Arctic Forum. He underlined that the government will pay special attention to the development of the transport and other infrastructure, which paves the way for future investments and business initiatives. In particular, Putin noted that Russia will keep developing the global transport corridor, including the Northern Sea Route, a shipping route running along the Russian Arctic coast. According to Putin's address to the Russian Federal Assembly, Russia is expected to significantly increase the volume of freight traffic along the Northern Sea Route to 80 million tons a year by 2025. Foreign investors are welcome to join in the exploration of the shipping route, Putin said. "We invite our foreign partners to work together on the creation of hub ports at the end points of the route. I am referring to the Murmansk transport hub and port infrastructure in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky," he said. Considering the Arctic's peculiarities, Russia will provide investors with "more advanced and more stable preferences", according to the president. Putin said he had instructed the government, experts and business representatives to draft a special federal law on a special system of preferences for investors in the Arctic zone as soon as possible for the State Duma, Russia's lower parliament house, to approve at its autumn session. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 04:02:18|Editor: yan Video Player Close By Eric J. Lyman ROME, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Italy is set to be the European country hit hardest by the violence flaring up in Libya, which is facing the most difficult time since strongman leader Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011 after 42 years in power. With rising tensions likely to lead to a civil war in Libya, Italian energy company Eni, the European company with the largest presence in Libya, has withdrawn its Italian national staff from the capital of Tripoli as well as from the Al-Wafa and El Feel oilfields. Most of Italy's diplomatic representatives have also been recalled, according to Italian media. But the biggest impact stemming from the violence and instability could be the rising risk of terrorism in Europe and the Mediterranean region while the number of would-be asylum seekers grows dramatically and tests Italy's hardline anti-migrant stances, analysts told Xinhua. "This is the worst situation in Libya since 2011, and it's going to have serious effects in the region, especially for Italy," said Giampaolo Malgeri, head of the degree program for International Political Sciences at Rome's LUMSA University and director of the Greater Mediterranean Stability and Security Observatory, in an interview. Libya has been gripped by violence for most of the past eight years, but conditions have worsened in recent weeks. Italy has deeper and stronger ties with Libya than any other European country, as Libya had been an Italian colony for most of the first half of the 20th century. Even after Libya's independence in 1947, Italy maintained strong ties with Libya and was among the few countries having normal relations with the Gaddafi government. Italy also remained dependent on Libyan energy. Italy's current government under Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte immediately took a hardline anti-migrant stance after taking power nearly a year ago. Part of the strategy involved funding and training the Libyan coast guard to intercept migrant ships and return them to Libya. "If there's no Libyan state, then the Libyan coast guard will no longer be able to do that part of the job," Giuliano Bifolchi, director of the analysis unit for ASRIE, the Association of Studies, Research and Internationalization in Eurasia and Africa, told Xinhua. Bifolchi said the extended instability in Libya is also likely to produce more refugees, making it harder for Italy to maintain its closed-border policies toward potential asylum seekers. "Italy is already in a difficult position, one that will probably get much more difficult," Bifolchi said. Matteo Salvini, Italy's minister of the interior and the main architect of Italy's closed-port migrant policy, told reporters at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in France that the "balance of the Mediterranean is at stake" in Libya. The G7 issued a statement this week condemning violence in Libya. The statement came as the United States pulled its peacekeeping forces out of Libya and other countries are considering similar moves. "Italy is going to have to push for the European Union to play a role," Malgeri said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 04:07:26|Editor: yan Video Player Close VALLETTA, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Malta's customs seized 24 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a container, with a street value of 2.7 million euros (3 million U.S. dollars), the Customs Department said on Tuesday in a statement. A total of 20 packets of cocaine were found in a reefer container at the Malta Freeport after several were scanned by the Customs Container Monitoring Unit. The container was transshipping in Malta from South America, en-route to Tirana, Albania. Investigations are being carried out by the Police Anti Drug Squad, while a magisterial inquiry has been launched. Last year was a record-breaker year for Malta's customs in terms of cocaine hauls, which saw the Customs Department seizing a total of 284.7 kg of cocaine. This year, in just 14 weeks, the Customs Department has seized 515.2 kg of cocaine. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 06:28:33|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrives in Zagreb, Croatia on April 9, 2019. Li arrived in Croatia on Tuesday for an official visit to the country and the eighth leaders' meeting of China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) in the Croatian seaside city Dubrovnik. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen) ZAGREB, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived in Croatia on Tuesday for an official visit to the country and the eighth leaders' meeting of China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) in the Croatian seaside city Dubrovnik. Upon Li's arrival, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and his wife Ana Plenkovic led a warm welcome ceremony at the Zagreb Airport. Children dressed in national costumes presented flowers to Premier Li and his wife Cheng Hong. Li is the first Chinese premier that pays a visit to Croatia since the two countries established diplomatic ties 27 years ago. The Chinese premier said he is happy to visit the beautiful country, adding that China and Croatia share a profound traditional friendship. Bilateral relations enjoy healthy and stable development on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefits, and cooperation in all areas has continuously achieved significant breakthroughs, which has brought tangible benefits to both sides, Li said. "I expect this visit can consolidate China-Croatia traditional friendship, enhance political mutual trust, strengthen the alignment of the two countries' development strategies and policies, expand and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides, so as to promote China-Croatia comprehensive cooperative partnership to a new higher level," the premier said. Li said that currently, cooperation between China and the 16 CEECs has shown strong vitality with significant outcomes achieved in areas including economy and trade, investment, finance, infrastructure, agriculture, and people-to-people and cultural exchanges. It has become a vigorous inter-regional cooperation mechanism which has provided a new avenue for China's cooperation with Europe, he added. Li said China expects to work with the 16 CEECs, under the principles of equality and consultation, mutual benefits, openness and inclusiveness, and with pragmatic and innovative spirits, to make the cooperation mechanism an important platform for synergizing the Belt and Road Initiative and the EU strategy on Connecting Europe and Asia so as to inject new impetus into the development of the China-CEEC relations and the European integration process. During the visit to Croatia, Li will have a meeting with Plenkovic, with whom he will hold a joint press conference, attend an opening ceremony of the Year of Tourism between China and Croatia, inspect the project of the Peljesac Bridge and witness the signing of cooperation deals in several areas. Li will also meet Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic and Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic. During the China-CEEC leaders' meeting themed "Building New Bridges through Openness, Innovation and Partnership," the Chinese premier and leaders of 16 CEECs will plan practical cooperation in the future, witness the signing of cooperation deals, attend a series of activities including an economic and trade forum. Li will also hold bilateral meetings with CEEC leaders. Before landing in Zagreb, the second stop of the premier's five-day tour to Europe, Li concluded his trip in Brussels with the successful holding of the 21st China-European Union (EU) leaders' meeting. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 06:43:38|Editor: yan Video Player Close By Alessandra Cardone VERONA, Italy, April 9 (Xinhua) -- A general upbeat sentiment was palpable among Italian winemakers at the ongoing Vinitaly fair here in the country's northeast as domestic consumption resumed in value last year and sales abroad increasingly satisfying. Experts also saw Italy's wine industry in good health and quite ready for the inherent challenges of the next few years, which will require them to boost their appeal on emerging foreign markets, among other steps. With this in mind, the Veronafiere organizer is increasingly looking to the Far East. "What we are registering so far is a very positive sentiment among winemakers here," Veronafiere Director General Giovanni Mantovani told Xinhua. According to Veronafiere, some 4,600 exhibitors with about 16,000 wine labels are taking part in the 53rd edition of Vinitaly, the best ever result for the country's largest wine event. Mantovani added that they also expect a rise in the number of foreign buyers, which may exceed the 35,000 registered in the previous edition, to prove that good choices in terms of promotion and education made in the last years, coupled with a large network of partnerships is proving successful. The organizing company is not determined to open "a permanent operational fair structure in China", after being present in the Chinese market with Vinitaly-related activities for 10 years. "We are working on creating a company controlled by Veronafiere, but operating in partnership with a Chinese partner that is much experienced in the wine and food sector, and therefore strategically crucial for us," Mantovani announced. The reason behind this choice was clear. The Far East imported wine for 6.45 billion euros in 2018, only inches behind the 6.9 billion euros imported by North America (the United States and Canada), according to Vinitaly and Nomisma Wine Monitor. And China was set to become the world's second largest wine consuming market by 2021, behind the United States and before Britain and France, a 2017 study by the International Wine & Spirit Research (IWSR) forecasted. Italy still lagged behind in this perspective, ranking only fourth on the list of major wine exporters to China, after France, Chile, and Australia. Yet, the Italian production was large, rich and varied, said domestic experts, and potentially capable to improve. In 2018, the country registered a wine production of 50.4 million hectolitres, and the wines granted the highest classifications of origin (DOGC and DOC) exceeded the record quantity of 20 million hectolitres, preliminary data by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) showed. Sales abroad also showed an upward trend in 2018: a 3.3 percent annual increase in value to 6.14 billion euros (6.9 billion U.S. dollars), according to custom data analysed by Vinitaly-Nomisma Wine Monitor. Furthermore, a recent survey by Italian investment bank Mediobanca's Study Center showed the turnover of Italy's 166 largest wineries rose by an annual average of 7.5 percent last year, and registered "a moderate optimism for the 2019," with 82.6 percent of firms involved expecting their sales not to decrease. Analysts agreed on both the positive outlook for Italy's wine industry overall and the growingly crucial role of the Asian market. "The prospects are quite good. Besides the 3.3 percent increase in exports last year, the domestic market has also grown in terms of value of the bottles purchased, and this allows us to be moderately optimistic," Denis Pantini, head of Nomisma Wine Monitor, told Xinhua. "Although it is still too early for a 2019-2020 growth forecast, some crucial markets that slowed down in 2018 - such as United States and China - are expected to return to a considerable positive path," he added. In the pavilion of the Lombardy region, which hosts about 200 exhibitors representing some 80 percent of all wineries in the area, Andrea Giorgi appeared confident in the growth prospects of the Terre D'Oltrepo winery, in which he served as president. "This Vinitaly is confirming that the choice we have made to invest in the 'Metodo Classico' for sparkling wines from Oltrepo Pavese (area) has a strong potential," Giorgi told Xinhua. With a turnover of about 40 million euros, the winery was rooted in the hills of northwest Oltrepo Pavese, which represented some 75 percent of the Italian production of Pinot Noir, and was renown as well for some local grapes such as Muscat, Croatina, and Barbera. "We have also revamped the Testarossa from La Versa as one of the big brand of the Italian sparkling wines, and we are having a strong feedback so far," explained the manager, who said his expectations for the 2019 were "prudent, but optimistic." "We can count on a great territory and a great quality of production, and it is up to us to valorise it, and to make it better known on the domestic market and, most of all, on foreign ones," he said. Moving to the pavilion of northwest Piedmont, one of Italy's most important wine growing regions especially for red wines, expectations also seemed high. Piedmont has historic wineries producing famous Barolo and Barbaresco wines made of Nebbiolo, one of the most prestigious grapes in the country. Younger generations were taking the lead in many companies, following the region's strong traditions. "The 2018 has been a very good year, and the 2019 is going even better," said Roberto Dragani, production manager of the Vinum winery. "We have registered an annual increase of about 30 percent in turnover in recent years, so we are indeed happy," said Dragani, whose relatively small family winery was based in the town of Ortona, central Abruzzo region, but produced also in Piedmont and Tuscany. Dragani, 33, represented the third generation of winemakers in his family. He explained that their production was focused on exports, which made 90-95 percent of their turnover. "So far, our foreign markets of reference have been Europe and the United States, but our future goal is Asia, where the middle class is growing, and the number of wine consumers is on the rise," he noted. And Asia, for the young manager, meant China. "For about two years, we have been exporting to China, and only there... because China is where we are planning to expand, in order to make it our new foreign market of reference." Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 06:58:46|Editor: Lu Hui Video Player Close Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (C), European Council President Donald Tusk (L) and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker co-chair the 21st China-EU leaders' meeting in Brussels, Belgium, April 9, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing) BRUSSELS, April 9 (Xinhua) -- China and the European Union (EU) reached significant consensus on bilateral ties, charted out future cooperation and voiced support for multilateralism as leaders of the two sides held an annual gathering here on Tuesday. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker co-chaired the 21st China-EU leaders' meeting. Both sides agreed that they have broad common interests in deepening mutual beneficial and win-win practical cooperation, share common ground on upholding multilateralism and an open world economy as well as opposing protectionism and unilateralism, and have common goals in improving global governance and maintaining world peace and stability. They also agreed on the great importance for China and the EU, two stabilizing forces and major economies of the world, to carry out strategic communication and cooperation. The two sides said that they should firmly grasp the mainstream of cooperation and properly handle differences and frictions through dialogue and consultation to promote the long-term, stable and sound development of China-EU relations, which serves the fundamental and long-standing interests of both sides and will have a positive impact on the world. The leaders of both sides reaffirmed their commitment to deepening their partnership for peace, growth, reform and civilisation, and to adopting a new agenda for cooperation beyond 2020. They vowed to uphold multilateralism, respect international law and fundamental norms governing international relations with the United Nations at the core, firmly support the rules-based multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core, and enhance dialogue and collaboration on WTO reform. On trade and investment, they pledged to provide each other with broader and more facilitated, non-discriminatory market access, and to achieve in the course of 2019 the decisive progress required for the conclusion of an ambitious China-EU Comprehensive Investment Agreement in 2020. As for enhancing cooperation in scientific research and innovation, China and the EU confirmed their intention to renew the China-EU Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement. They welcomed the provisional agreement reached on the negotiations of the China-EU Agreement on the Cooperation on, and Protection of, Geographical Indications (GI), and committed to formally conclude the negotiations in 2019. Both parties also agreed to forge synergies between the Belt and Road Initiative and the EU strategy on Connecting Europe and Asia, and enhance cooperation within the framework of the China-EU Connectivity Platform, so as to jointly make Europe-Asia connectivity more sustainable and interoperable. They will support the peaceful settlement of regional disputes and conflicts through dialogue and consultation and will work together for world peace, prosperity and sustainable development, the two sides noted. Important consensus has also been reached on government procurement, the zoning principle of bilateral trade in agri-food products, cooperation in climate change and clean energy, implementation of the Paris Agreement, among others. Li said Chinese President Xi Jinping paid successful visits to Italy, Monaco and France in March, which injected new impetus to the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership. China has always attached great importance to Europe, supported the European integration, firmly committed to deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership featuring mutual benefits and win-win outcomes, Li stressed. China and the EU will create opportunities for each other while pursuing opening up, and will bring prosperity to the whole world while striving for cooperation, Li noted, adding that China is ready to work with the EU to elevate their relations to a higher level. The Chinese premier also briefed Tusk and Juncker on the eighth leaders' meeting of China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs). China-CEEC cooperation is between China and a sub-region of Europe, Li said, adding that it is conducive to reducing the development gap among European countries and facilitating the European integration. Cooperation between China and CEECs, complying with established international rules as well as EU laws and regulations and following the business-led principle and market-based operation, pushes forward joint projects to achieve win-win results and will inject new impetus to cooperation between China and the EU, Li said. During the meeting, Tusk and Juncker said in the complicated and changing international situation, the EU is ready to enhance relations and cooperation with China. The EU highly values the important consensus reached between the two sides during the meeting, they said, adding that the joint statement is an achievement of mutual benefits and win-win outcomes, demonstrating new positive development of China-EU relations. The EU will implement the consensus along with China to push bilateral relations for more results, they added. The two sides also exchanged in-depth views on international and regional issues of common concerns. After the meeting, leaders of the two sides witnessed the signing of several cooperation documents in such areas as energy and competition. Related: Spotlight: China, EU pledge to deepen partnership, defend multilateralism China, EU issue joint statement of 21st leaders' meeting Full text of China-EU summit joint statement Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 07:03:51|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, on Tuesday called for political will to tackle refugee crisis around the world. Times are very challenging with regard to the issue of refugees as there is unprecedented stigmatization of refugees and migrants, traditional responses to refugee crises are increasingly inadequate, and there is a sense of an overwhelming crisis, Grandi told the Security Council in a briefing. "But to portray this as a global crisis that is not manageable, in my opinion -- I'd like to propose -- it is wrong." With political will, with improved responses as enshrined in the new Global Compact for Refugees adopted by the General Assembly in December 2018, it is possible to address these crises and the UN Security Council has a critical role to play, said Grandi. He asked for efforts to create peace and security, to support countries that host the largest numbers of refugees, and to remove obstacles to solutions, and in particular to the return of people to their own countries. Of the nearly 70 million people that are displaced or refugees, most are fleeing conflict. If conflicts were prevented or resolved, most refugee flows would disappear, said Grandi. He deplored fragmented approaches to peacemaking and insufficient approaches to peacebuilding. "We see a lot of addressing the symptoms without addressing the causes." However, political solutions to conflicts are not easy in today's world and forced displacement will continue for some time, he noted, asking for more support to countries that host large numbers of refugees. He took the example of Venezuela. Three and a half million Venezuelans have left the country and crossed into about 15 countries, with Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil being the most impacted. But the UN appeal for the humanitarian crisis in that region is one of the most poorly funded globally, said Grandi. Eighty-five percent of the world's refugees are in poor or middle-income countries and support for those countries must be stepped up, he said. Grandi also asked to remove obstacles, in particular, obstacles that prevent people from returning to their countries of origin. Syrian refugees, he said, have three major concerns: material concerns, including shelter, services, jobs; security concerns, including conscription and retaliation in general; and legal and administrative obstacles related to property and to documentation. He asked countries to create conditions for the return of refugees. Returns must be dignified and secure and safe, he stressed. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 08:22:10|Editor: mingmei Video Player Close An artist gives final touch to a sculptural statue prepared for the "War Memorial Park" in Kirtipur, outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal, April 9, 2019. More than 25 artists from across the country gathered to prepare various sculptural arts for the "War Memorial Park", which will be the first of its kind in valley. (Xinhua/Sunil Sharma) Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 07:23:58|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close David Malpass speaks in front of the World Bank headquarters in Washington D.C., the United States, on April 9, 2019. David Malpass on Tuesday took office as the president of the World Bank Group, and said he looks forward to undertaking the task with enthusiasm. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) WASHINGTON, April 9 (Xinhua) -- David Malpass on Tuesday took office as the president of the World Bank Group, and said he looks forward to undertaking the task with enthusiasm. Malpass made his debut as the 13th president of the World Bank at its headquarters in Washington D.C. Tuesday morning. "I want to thank the Board of Directors and the Governors for selecting me," he told reporters. Malpass, former undersecretary for international affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department, was chosen by U.S. President Donald Trump in early February as the U.S. candidate for the post, following the abrupt resignation of former World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim. Malpass, 63, has secured approval from the World Bank's board after a campaign without competition. The World Bank Group announced in a statement Friday that he was selected as its president for a five-year term beginning on April 9, 2019. "There is a clear mission for the bank: poverty alleviation and shared prosperity. These goals are urgent, and I think we need a clear focus on achieving outcomes," he said. Malpass also highlighted challenges such as climate change, women's role in economic growth, and the need for stronger growth. "The bank has resources, it has staff, it has the ability to actually have an impact," he said. Candidates picked by the United States, the World Bank's largest shareholder with 16 percent of its voting power, have all ended up assuming the leadership post since the institution's inception in 1944. Malpass, who once criticized the World Bank, has raised concerns within the international development community over his skepticism about the role of the bank and multilateralism. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 09:14:29|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi briefs the UN Security Council on the state of the world's displaced people, at the UN headquarters in New York April 9, 2019. Filippo Grandi on Tuesday called for political will to tackle refugee crisis around the world and warned against toxic political language against refugees. (Xinhua/Li Muzi) UNITED NATIONS, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on Tuesday warned against toxic political language against refugees as well as migrants and foreigners. There is strong solidarity with refugees around the globe, but also hate speech of unprecedented scale, Grandi told the Security Council in a briefing. "I have worked with refugees for well over three decades. I have seen in my career, in this field of work, much solidarity, even heroism in some of the responses that are provided on the ground," said Grandi. "But also in this three and a half decades, I have never seen such toxicity, such poison in the language of politics, in media, in social media, even in everyday discussions and conversations around this issue -- toxicity that focuses, sadly, tragically, often on refugees, on migrants, on foreigners," he said. He asked to restate the values that underpin solidarity with refugees and reaffirmed that societies will not be really prosperous, stable, and peaceful if they do not include all. In a press encounter later Tuesday, Grandi said such toxic language, if unchecked, will have grave consequences. But he refused to say whether U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks on asylum seekers from Central America through the border with Mexico were toxic or not. "I did not accuse anybody of toxic language. I was referring to the language that prevails on this issue in social media, and sometimes also in political discourse," Grandi said. "When it comes to more senior level of leadership, I would certainly invite all leaders, not just President Trump, all leaders, including in my country, including in (other countries in) Europe, to be vigilant about the manner in which refugees, migrants are spoken of," said the official. To depict refugees and migrants in a negative manner or to depict their movement as "an invasion" is not a constructive way forward and doesn't provide any real solution, said Grandi. He said people who came to the United States with valid claims and asking for asylum should be heard. And people who are fleeing poverty and violence from Central American countries "are refugees and should be considered as refugees," he said. There is a need to try to prevent people from embarking on very dangerous journeys across Mexico. But if some people arrive in the United States, the necessary resources have to be invested as response, he said. The lack of investment in resources is something that his agency has been discussing with the United States -- not just with the Trump administration, but with at least three past administrations already, said Grandi. "Insufficient resources are put in managing a very large asylum issue." "Doors have to remain open for people to seek asylum; fair hearing has to be given; efficient processes have to be put in place. For those that are recognized as refugees, they should stay in the long tradition of this country and those that are not refugees, there are other measures that have to be taken that are beyond my mandate," said Grandi. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 09:39:44|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close TOKYO, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya confirmed Wednesday that the F-35A fighter jet that went missing during a training exercise a day earlier over the Pacific has crashed. At a press briefing, Iwaya also said that wreckage believed to be that of the stealth fighter jet has been found floating in the Pacific. The Defense Ministry said a major in his 40s who was flying the single-seat jet when it went missing is still unaccounted for. "We'll do our best to rescue the missing pilot," said Iwaya. Search and rescue operations carried out by the Self-Defense Force (SDF) and the Japan Coast Guard have been continuing with patrol aircraft and ships following the F-35A fighter jet going missing from radar the previous day. The plane had been flying with three other F-35As on a training mission and according to SDF officials, there were no reports of problems from the plane before it went missing. The missing plane took off from Misawa Air Base in northeastern Japan at around 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday evening, the SDF said. It was flying off the coast of Aomori Prefecture about 135 km east of the base when radar contact was lost less than 30 minutes after takeoff, the SDF said. There are currently 13 F-35As deployed at the Misawa base where a new squadron has been formed with 80 personnel. The squadron has temporarily been grounded, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday. With the planned acquisition of a total of 105 F-35As and 42 of the short take-off variant F-35B, the multi-role stealth fighters are set to become Japan's next-generation mainstay fighter. They will replace the aging fleet of F-4 fighter jets. Each F-35A comes with a price tag of more than 10 billion yen (90 million U.S. dollars). Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 10:15:09|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The following is a summary of recent science and technology news briefs. CAMBRIAN FOSSILS A newly-discovered trove in central China containing soft-bodied fossils that date back 518 million years sheds new light on the diversity of early animal life during the Cambrian period. Among the 4,351 specimens so far analyzed from the type locality, 109 categories have been recognized and 53 percent of them are new. INFRARED STEALTH MATERIAL Chinese scientists have found a material that can hide a hot object from heat-sensing infrared cameras. They fabricated an aerogel film with good thermal insulation performance and enhanced it by coating its fibers with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and a protective waterproof layer. SODIUM-ION BATTERY A sodium-ion battery power storage plant has been put into operation in east China's Jiangsu Province. With a storage capacity of 100 KWh, it works like a battery charger, storing power during low consumption hours and delivering electricity during peak hours. FIREFIGHTING DRONE A firefighting drone Predator-100 and supporting vehicle were unveiled at the 13th China Henan International Investment and Trade Fair. The drone has a max load of 100 kg and four-hour endurance, and the supporting vehicle can store 2,000 liters of high-efficient liquid fire extinguishing chemicals. ROCKET-CARRYING SHIPS China's two rocket-carrying ships have recently completed their first medium maintenance after trail voyages, preparing for future missions. LUNAR ROVER China's lunar rover Yutu-2 has driven 170.92 meters on the far side of the moon to conduct scientific exploration on the virgin territory. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 10:30:26|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close by Xinhua writer Gao Lei ZAGREB, April 10 (Xinhua) -- This spring is quite unusual for residents of Komarna, a small village in southern Croatia known for its wines, oysters and peacefulness. Resounding metallic bangs now echo in the narrow bay between Komarna and the Peljesac Peninsula. A huge pile-driving barge from China has been knocking steel piles as long as 130 meters into the Adriatic seabed since January. A bridge is being built. A BRIDGE IN NEED About 70 km farther south, the city of Dubrovnik is warming up for another tourist season. The ancient town is the main filming location for "King's Landing" in blockbuster TV series "Game of Thrones" and has become a must-go destination for visitors to the southeastern European country, whose economy depends heavily on tourism. In order to reach Dubrovnik by road, travelers must pass the Neum Corridor, a piece of Bosnia and Herzegovina's territory that divides Croatia's southernmost Dubrovnik-Neretva County into two parts. Going through border checkpoints at both ends of this 20-km-long costal section can be unbearably time-consuming in summer, when vehicles wait in long queues for border control. The Croats were quick to realize the necessity of building a bridge linking the mainland with the Peljesac Peninsula so as to bypass foreign territory. The project started about a decade ago but had to be terminated in 2012 due to financial difficulties. In January 2018, a Chinese consortium led by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) won the bid for the first phase of the Peljesac Bridge and its access roads, with the promise to finish the job in 36 months. The European Union (EU) funded 85 percent of the project's total cost. Construction officially kicked off in late July. A COMPETENT CONTRACTOR INDEED China is a showroom of numerous mega infrastructure projects, and Chinese companies have been leading bridge-building endeavors globally in the past decade. However, the construction of the Peljesac Bridge is challenging and requires some unprecedented efforts, said CRBC's contractor representative Zhang Dong. The longest steel piles used for the foundation of the bridge are 130.4 meters long, around 10 meters longer than average. The main designer of the bridge, considering the capacity of pile-driving barges, originally suggested piling shorter pieces and then welding them together to reach the required length. "In order to reduce the safety risks of joint-welding, we proposed that a larger barge should be mobilized and the piles should be fabricated and driven into seabed in whole," Zhang told Xinhua, referring to the "Xiong Cheng 1" pile-driving barge, which was carried by semi-submersible barge "Zhen Hua 7" from Shanghai to the site in late December 2018. "Xiong Cheng 1" started work in January, and despite windy weather, it has so far driven more than half of the total 150 steel piles into the seabed, faster than planned. The Mali Ston Bay, where the construction site is located, has its reputation as one of the cleanest water bodies in Europe. Oyster cultivation has been a local industry since the ancient Roman Empire. The Chinese contractor understands the strict environmental standards of the EU and has hired local consultancy firms as well as environment engineers for help. It has stocked oil dams and absorbent mats in case of oil leaks. Mobile toilets and garbage containers are used on all construction vessels, and sewage disposal systems are being built for temporary container dormitories on the Peljesac Peninsula. "Our goal is that when we leave, the water will be as clean as before," Zhang said. The contractor representative also singled out noise as an environmental hazard, saying that the issue is most prominent at the current piling phase and CRBC uses air bubbles to muffle the noise from piling. MULTINATIONAL JOINT EFFORTS Nowadays, a major infrastructure project like the Peljesac Bridge is usually done through international cooperation, said Zeng Linghua, CRBC's administrative manager. CRBC has managed to find partners from Croatia and other European countries. Croatian multinational oil company INA provides diesel for the project, Croatia-based building material provider PGM is responsible for 70,000 cubic meters of concrete, maritime service company Marine Construct specializes in geological survey, and Slovenian company SLP offers pile testing and monitoring experts. Some reinforcement bars are purchased from a steel plant in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while an Italian factory sells the thicker version of them. The German manufacturing base of China's Sany Heavy Industry has sold truck cranes, concrete mixers, trailer pumps and caterpillar cranes to the contractor, while Volvo trucks and traffic boats were purchased locally. The list can go on. Workers on the project are from China, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Togo. The Chinese contractor also went to the University of Zagreb in November 2018 for a recruitment session and managed to sign six job contracts with graduates. "CRBC offers suitable salaries and welfare for all employees based on work positions according to local and EU laws," said Zeng. FRIENDSHIP AND COOPERATION Meeting with representatives from CRBC and its parent company China Communications Construction Co., Ltd. in late March, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said that the construction of the Peljesac Bridge has opened a new chapter in Croatia-China relations. "It's a project of great importance not only for Croatia, but also for the People's Republic of China, as it is China's first project of this kind in the European Union," Grabar-Kitarovic said. "There is huge potential for even better and versatile cooperation between the two countries." While visiting the construction site in late January, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said the bridge is of great importance for Croatia and it creates a new dimension of cooperation with China. "At the same time, the fact that the project is funded by the European Union budget with 357 million euros (about 401 U.S. dollars) shows the importance of the EU cohesion policy and the EU's help for the project," said Plenkovic. Zhang Fei, deputy chief engineer of the project, is one of the Chinese staff living in the nearby village of Komarna. "Croatian people are very friendly and are eager to see the bridge project finished," he told Xinhua. Zhang's landlord, Ivo Jerkovic, a CRBC subcontractor as an accommodation provider, shares similar feelings towards his Chinese tenants, saying that he is impressed by Chinese people's diligence and serious attitude towards work. The 24-year-old entrepreneur is decorating another restaurant a few meters from the shore, which will serve both Croatian and Chinese food. He plans to open it in June when there will be more tourists, and is looking for a Chinese chef. "It would be wonderful to see a beautiful bridge from your window," Jerkovic said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 10:35:28|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close DHAKA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- With the approaching of Bengali New Year of 1426, which falls on April 14, preparations are underway across Bangladesh specially in capital Dhaka to celebrate the special day in a befitting manner. Like previous years, scores of artists at Dhaka University's Faculty of Fine Arts, which is responsible to bring out the country's main colorful new year procession, have been passing busy time putting final touches to paper masks and large symbolic figures of birds and animals all made of bamboo. Senior faculty members and ex-students are also seen Tuesday to join the massive efforts in finishing the large symbolic figures of birds and animals chasing evil spirits. Celebration of the Bengali New Year begins in Bangladesh with the sunrise when hundreds of thousands of people irrespective of cast, color, sex and religion join the main procession, Mangal Shobha Jatra, to welcome the new year with good spirits. In Bangladesh, Pohela Boishakh, or the first day of the New Year, is a national holiday. Bengalis usually start the day with the traditional simple breakfast of panta-bhat (leftover rice soaked in water), fried fish and traditional curries. Stringent measures have also been reportedly put in place to prevent any disturbance in the festivities of the New Year. Emperor Akbar of the Mughal Dynasty introduced the Bangli calendar year and the celebration of Pohela Boishakh, marking the advent of Bengali New Year, which is now considered as an integral part of the Bengalis cultural heritage and tradition and a day of merriment. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 10:50:40|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, April 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump and visiting Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi discussed regional security and water issues Tuesday at the White House. According to a statement issued by the White House, during Sisi's stay, the second of its kind since 2017, the two leaders "engaged in a frank discussion on regional developments in Libya and the threat posed by the Muslim Brotherhood." Trump and Sisi also "discussed water issues, which are critically important for the United States and Egypt," the statement said, noting "these complex issues must be addressed through negotiations and with respect for international best practices." Both leaders expressed their mutual commitment to promoting religious liberty, according to the statement. Besides, Sisi and Trump's advisor Ivanka Trump also discussed opportunities to work together to advance Sisi's proposed agenda "with regard to women's economic empowerment and entrepreneurship in Egypt and the region, increasing access to credit and job opportunities." Before their meeting, Trump told reporters that he will discuss with his Egyptian counterpart regarding military and trade issues. For his part, Sisi said that he hopes to talk with Trump about "making a quantum leap" in the bilateral strategic relationship. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 11:12:04|Editor: mingmei Video Player Close Pianist Lang Lang speaks during a press conference in New York, the United States, April 9, 2019. Lang Lang held a press conference here on Tuesday to promote his new album "Piano Book", which was released on March 29 this year. As the first new album in three years from the globally celebrated piano virtuoso, "Piano Book" aims to bring classical music to a global audience and spread the message that classical music is universal, according to a press release. (Xinhua/Wang Ying) Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 11:05:50|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close WINDHOEK, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry and the University of Namibia are running trials on conservation agriculture techniques to improve environmental and sustainability of farming, a government official said here on Tuesday. The experiment is being conducted at the Mashare Irrigation Development Center in the north-eastern part of the country. The project, implemented as part of the national conservation agriculture program, was developed to support the country's Fifth National Development Plan target of 50 percent of farmers adopting conservation agriculture by 2022, said Berefine Antindi, deputy director of agricultural development and engineering services in the ministry. Conservation agriculture techniques under experiment include weeding methods, planting, soil restoration and water retention. "Namibia is severely affected by climate change, characterized by sporadic rain. Therefore, it requires stakeholders to explore practices that would enable the country and farmers to be productive and sustainable," Antindi said. Since 2013, Namibia experienced persistent drought, negatively affecting about 60 percent of the households dependant on crop farming and agriculture. Professor Fesseha Itanna from the University of Namibia said that the ongoing conduction of various trials also entails growing leguminous plants as crops to test the ability to suppress weed. "The soils nutrient status can be easily depleted through erosive forces or degraded land. Moreover, coupled with water shortfall as in the case of this year, thus necessitated the conduction of such an experiment in conservation agriculture," Itanna added. The conservation agricultural techniques, if adaptable, are expected to reduce disruption of the soil's structure, restore water, and combat some of the challenges Namibia faces in terms of agriculture, and thus aid subsistence farmers to be productive amid a dry spell. The project is being supported by German Society for International Cooperation, with a focus on the northeastern regions of Kavango West and Kavango East, as well as the Zambezi. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 11:10:54|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close SAN FRANCISCO, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Tuesday announced three new chipsets for smartphones that focus on powerful artificial intelligence (AI) performance to unlock the greater potential for customers in gaming and camera functions. Qualcomm, a leading global company in wireless technologies, celebrated the 2019 AI Day in downtown San Francisco by unveiling the three mobile processors including the Snapdragon 665, Snapdragon 730, and Snapdragon 730G for mid-range and high-range Android devices to offer better experience in AI, gaming, camera, and performance. Qualcomm said the gaming-centric chipset has lower WiFi latency to support efficient online gaming and provide smooth, fast gameplay. "With the introduction of the Snapdragon 730, 730G and 665 Mobile Platforms, we are bringing features such as sophisticated AI, exceptional gaming and advanced camera capabilities to a broad spectrum of devices at exceptional performance," said Kedar Kondap, vice president of product management at Qualcomm. Qualcomm spokesperson Catherine Baker told Xinhua that the chipmaker has high hopes for the Chinese gaming market, which generated sales revenue of 105 billion Chinese Yuan (around 15.4 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018. "The Snapdragon 730G is expected to hit the Chinese gaming market in the next two or three months," she said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 11:10:58|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on Tuesday called for political will to tackle refugee crises around the world and warned against toxic political language against refugees. Times are very challenging with regard to the issue of refugees as there is unprecedented stigmatization of refugees and migrants, traditional responses to refugee crises are increasingly inadequate, and there is a sense of an overwhelming global crisis, Grandi told the Security Council in a briefing. "But to portray this as a global crisis that is not manageable, in my opinion -- I'd like to propose -- it is wrong." With political will, with improved responses as enshrined in the new Global Compact on Refugees adopted by the General Assembly in December 2018, it is possible to address these crises and the Security Council has a critical role to play, said Grandi. He asked for efforts to create peace and security, to support countries that host the largest numbers of refugees, and to remove obstacles to solutions, and in particular to the return of people to their own countries. Of the nearly 70 million people that are displaced or refugees, most of them are fleeing conflict. If conflicts were prevented or resolved, most refugee flows would disappear, said Grandi. He deplored fragmented approaches to peacemaking and insufficient approaches to peacebuilding. "We see a lot of addressing the symptoms without addressing the causes," he said. However, political solutions to conflicts are not easy in today's world and forced displacement will continue for some time, he noted, asking for more support to countries that host large number of refugees. Eighty-five percent of the world's refugees are in poor or middle-income countries and support for those countries must be stepped up, he said. Grandi also asked to remove obstacles, in particular, those that prevent people from returning to their countries of origin. Syrian refugees, he said, have three major concerns: material concerns, including shelter, services and jobs; security concerns, including conscription and retaliation in general; and legal and administrative obstacles related to property and documentation. He asked countries to create conditions for the return of refugees and the returns must be dignified, secure and safe. Grandi observed that there is strong solidarity with refugees around the globe, but also hate speech of unprecedented scale. "That should be of concern to us all," he said, noting that the fatal mosque shootings in New Zealand was the result of such toxic political language. In a press encounter later Tuesday, Grandi said such toxic language, if unchecked, will have grave consequences. But he refused to say whether U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks on asylum seekers from Central America through the border with Mexico were toxic or not. "I did not accuse anybody of toxic language. I was referring to the language that prevails on this issue in social media, and sometimes also in political discourse." "When it comes to more senior level of leadership, I would certainly invite all leaders, not just President Trump, all leaders, including in my country, including in (other countries of) Europe, to be vigilant about the manner in which refugees, migrants are spoken of." To depict refugees and migrants in a negative manner or to depict their movement as "an invasion" is not a constructive way forward and doesn't provide any real solution, said Grandi. He said people who come to the United States with valid claims and asking for asylum should be heard. The situation in Central America is a situation of economic deprivation, which is likely to generate economic migration. But it is also a situation of extreme violence by gangs, lack of law and order, abuses, rapes and forced recruitment of children. People who are fleeing from that situation are refugees and should be considered as refugees, he said. "Doors have to remain open for people to seek asylum; fair hearing has to be given; efficient processes have to be put in place. For those that are recognized as refugees, they should stay in the long tradition of this country and those that are not refugees, there are other measures that have to be taken and that are beyond my mandate," said Grandi. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 11:21:02|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The White House said on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud had talked over phone on issues regarding regional security, Iran and human rights. According to a statement issued by the White House, Trump "had a productive conversation" with the Saudi crown prince over "Saudi Arabia's critical role in ensuring Middle East stability, maintaining maximum pressure against Iran, and the importance of human rights issues." U.S. State Department said on Monday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has ordered to ban 16 Saudi individuals from entering into the United States over their role in the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Turkey's Istanbul in October 2018. Riyadh initially denied any knowledge of the killing, but later blamed rogue agents for Khashoggi's death. Also on Monday, the Trump administration designated Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a "foreign terrorist organization" (FTO). Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday that it welcomed the U.S. decision. U.S. media quoted analysts as saying that the U.S. move would further escalate the regional confrontation. Iran's Supreme National Security Council has responded to the U.S. designation by labelling U.S. Central Command forces in West Asia as a "terrorist group." Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 11:36:08|Editor: Lu Hui Video Player Close BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The volume of China's online food ordering and delivery market hit 441.5 billion yuan (65.8 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, up 112.5 percent year on year, according to an industry report. The number of online orders for meals, snacks, vegetables, fruits and drinks reached 10.96 billion, which nearly doubles year on year, according to the report issued by Analysys, an internet data analysis service provider. The report predicted that the market will continue to expand in the next three years to reach 934 billion yuan in 2021. Ele.me and Meituan remain the largest players in the industry, with China's ride-hailing company Didi entering the market in 2018, the report noted. Monthly active users of the delivery apps have kept rising in 2018, with the number reaching over 102.8 million in December. The data of the report was obtained from company interviews, public information, and monitoring data on apps. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 12:01:28|Editor: Lu Hui Video Player Close WASHINGTON, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Acting Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Claire Grady resigned Tuesday, continuing a string of departures at the department's senior level. Kirstjen Nielsen, the outgoing secretary of the DHS, tweeted the resignation of Claire Grady, adding it will take effect on Wednesday, synchronizing with her own departure. Nielsen praised Grady as an "invaluable asset" and "a steady force" at the DHS in her tweet. Grady's exit continued a major shakeup at the highest level of the DHS, after Nielsen resigned Sunday and U.S. Secret Service Director Randolph Alles was fired Monday. After Nielsen is replaced by Kevin McAleenan, the current commissioner of the Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the top two positions at the DHS and chiefs of important branches such as the CBP, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will all be vacant or filled by acting officials. The trend has raised concerns among Republican lawmakers, who called on the White House to restore stability at the DHS' leadership. Chuck Grassley, a Republican Senator from Iowa who previously served as Judiciary Committee Chairman, told the Washington Post Monday that he was "very, very concerned" over the ousting of senior DHS officials. "They are the intellectual basis for what the president wants to accomplish in immigration," Grassley said, after rumors circulated Monday that Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Lee Cissna is in danger of being dismissed. "The president has to have some stability and particularly with the number one issue that he's made for his campaign, throughout his two and a half years of presidency," Grassley said. "He's pulling the rug out from the very people that are trying to help him accomplish his goal." Senator Ron Johnson, another Republican lawmaker who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said he was "concerned with a growing leadership void within the department tasked with addressing some of the most significant problems facing the nation." U.S. media widely attributed the shakeup to a push back from department officials in response to a White House drive to toughen border security. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 12:06:30|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (C), European Council President Donald Tusk (L) and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker co-chair the 21st China-EU leaders' meeting in Brussels, Belgium, April 9, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing) BRUSSELS, April 9 (Xinhua) -- China and the European Union (EU) on Tuesday reiterated their shared commitment to further cementing their partnership and safeguarding free trade and multilateralism. The reaffirmation was made in a joint statement issued after the 21st China-EU leaders' meeting in Brussels, which was co-chaired by visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, President of the European Council Donald Tusk and President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker. TWO-WAY OPENING-UP During the leaders' meeting, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to deepening the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership for peace, growth, reform and civilization based on the principles of mutual respect, trust, equality and mutual benefit, by comprehensively implementing the China-EU 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation. China and the EU commit to achieve in the course of 2019 the decisive progress required, notably with regard to the liberalization commitments, for the conclusion of an ambitious China-EU Comprehensive Investment Agreement in 2020, said the joint statement. The high level of ambition, it added, will be reflected in substantially improved market access, the elimination of discriminatory requirements and practices affecting foreign investors, the establishment of a balanced investment protection framework and the inclusion of provisions on investment and sustainable development. "China is ready to work with Europe to promote two-way opening-up and provide a level playing field for our companies to strengthen cooperation in each other's countries," said the premier in a signed article published Monday as he kicked off the ongoing visit to the continent. According to official statistics, the EU has been China's top trading partner for 15 years in a row, while China has been the EU's second largest trading partner for years running. Two-way trade hit a new record of 682.16 billion U.S. dollars in 2018. In June, China will further shorten its negative list for foreign investment, adopt the principle of deeming areas that are not on the list as fully open, and continue to improve its business environment, Li said at a joint press conference with Tusk and Juncker after their meeting. While meeting with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel earlier in the day, the Chinese premier said China is willing to expand imports from Belgium of high value-added products that meet the demand of the Chinese market. "China's recent focus on increasing imports has further encouraged European nations and businesses to seek long-term trading connections and arrangements with China," Cambridge University professor Alan Barrell told Xinhua Tuesday in an interview. "We should be hopeful that strong and warm trade winds can now blow east to west and west to east, and give power to all those working to build a better world for all by developing trade and cultural links," he said. COMMON INTERESTS OUTWEIGH DIFFERENCES At their joint press conference, the Chinese and EU leaders agreed that as two major forces for preserving world peace, prosperity and development, China and the EU should cooperate to broaden common interests, so as to bring benefits to the people on both sides. It is a win-win outcome that the two sides have reached consensus on the joint statement through in-depth communication and discussion based on mutual respect, equality and consultation, they said. The achievement, they added, has demonstrated the maturity and high level of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and the EU, charted the course for their cooperation in the next stage, and injected new impetus to the development of bilateral ties. The Chinese premier said the two sides have far more common interests than differences, and the expansion of common interests will help further reduce their differences. Hailing this meeting as a fruitful one, Li said important consensus has been reached on deepening the China-EU partnership, upholding multilateralism and free trade, intensifying cooperation on science, technology and innovation, advancing negotiations on the bilateral investment agreement and the geographical indications agreement, expanding two-way market access, and strengthening connectivity, among other issues. The joint statement is not only a manifestation of attitude, but also a clarification of direction, Li stressed, adding that China and the EU will strive for solid progress in practical cooperation so as to achieve more tangible outcomes and bring more benefits to the people on both sides. UPHOLDING MULTILATERALISM In the joint statement, the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to multilateralism and opposition to protectionism, and reiterated their respect for international law and for fundamental norms governing international relations, with the United Nations (UN) at the core. They also vowed to uphold the UN Charter and international law, and all three pillars of the UN system, namely, peace and security, development and human rights. China and the EU firmly support the rules-based multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core, fight against unilateralism and protectionism, and commit to complying with WTO rules, said the joint statement. Speaking at the press conference, Tusk and Juncker said the EU-China partnership now bears unprecedented significance given the current complicated international situation. The two sides should work together to meet the challenges and contribute to building a more peaceful and prosperous world, they added. They called for joint efforts to implement the consensuses reached at the leaders' meeting, increase coordination on international affairs, intensify contact and cooperation on such issues as WTO reform, and deepen the EU-China comprehensive strategic partnership. The European side, they said, is confident in the Chinese side, and in the EU-China partnership. Later Tuesday, the Chinese premier continued his five-day Europe trip and traveled to Croatia for an official visit and the eighth leaders' meeting of China and Central and Eastern European countries. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 12:26:39|Editor: Lu Hui Video Player Close LISBON, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Portugal has the conditions to start "on the frontline" for the fourth industrial revolution, known as Industry 4.0, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Tuesday, stressing that it is necessary to know how to enjoy and "surf" the wave. Speaking at the presentation of the second phase of the Industria 4.0 program in Guimaraes, in northern Portugal, the prime minister urged Portuguese people to take the opportunity of the new industrial revolution and push for the country's economic prosperity, Portuguese Lusa News Agency reported. Costa emphasized the need for digital training of the Portuguese business community, so that the country is part of "front squad" of the European Union (EU). Costa also reiterated Portugal's ambition to become a competitive economy on a global scale in a decade. Portugal's Economy Minister Pedro Siza Vieira described the second phase of the Industria 4.0 program as "an important step" and that "Portugal has to become more digital", Lusa reported. "We are going to begin the launch of the training-action programs" worth 70 million euros to ensure "we are able to train 200,000 people in skills they need to work in a digital environment", Vieira said. Launched in January 2017, Industria 4.0 is the Portuguese strategy to develop industry in the digital area, aimed at putting Portugal at the forefront of the fourth industrial revolution by focusing on three fields -- digitalization, innovation and training. Under the general program, the second phase of the Industria 4.0 program will mobilize public and private investment of 600 million euros over the next two years to extend the digitalization of the economy and allow companies to transition. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 12:31:41|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close Rosmah Mansor (C), the wife of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, leaves the court in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 10, 2019. Rosmah Mansor was charged on Wednesday for accepting a bribe of 5 million ringgit (1.2 million U.S. dollars) in connection with a solar power project for rural schools. (Xinhua/Chong Voon Chung) KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, was charged on Wednesday for accepting a bribe of 5 million ringgit (1.2 million U.S. dollars) in connection with a solar power project for rural schools. Rosmah was charged for receiving the money from a company director through her former special officer Rizal Mansor, in exchange for the project which was granted to the company via direct negotiation at the time, according to the charge sheet. She pleaded not guilty at a Kuala Lumpur court and now faces a total of 20 charges including corruption and money laundering. Last November, Rosmah and Rizal were separately charged for attempting to solicit 44.8 million U.S. dollars, 15 percent of the contract value, from the company awarded the contract. Rosmah was also charged with receiving bribes from the company director to assist him in obtaining the contract while Rizal was slapped with four charges, two counts of soliciting and another two counts of receiving bribes. It was alleged that the solar panel project, worth over 300 million U.S. dollars and involving more than 300 schools in the country's eastern state of Sarawak, was awarded to a company without an open tender with the endorsement by Najib, who was the prime minister at the time. Prior to the solar power project case, she had been slapped with 17 money laundering and tax-evasion offences involving 1.6 million U.S. dollars. Najib himself faces 42 counts of corruption, criminal breach of trust, abuse of power and money laundering charges, with the first trial started last week. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 12:36:47|Editor: Lu Hui Video Player Close OTTAWA, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday that his plan to sue opposition Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer is about making sure there are consequences for lying in politics. Trudeau said there are "consequences short-term and long-term when politicians choose to twist the truth and distort reality for Canadians." Asked whether he plans to follow through with his planned lawsuit, he said with an election on the horizon, he won't put up with politicians twisting the truth and distorting reality. Scheer said on Sunday that a letter from Trudeau's lawyer threatened him with libel suit over his comments that accused Trudeau of interfering with the criminal prosecution of Montreal engineering giant SNC-Lavalin, lying to Canadians and corrupt conduct. The letter called Sheer's claims about Trudeau "highly defamatory." Scheer challenged Trudeau to follow through with the lawsuit, calling it "a bullying attempt" to prevent his party from holding the government to account. Trudeau has been under fire for the last two months over allegations that there was pressure on former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to interfere in criminal proceedings against SNC-Lavalin. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 12:57:02|Editor: Lu Hui Video Player Close PYONGYANG, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un has urged senior officials to fully display a high sense of responsibility and creativity, and the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance to follow through on the new strategic line of the Party which emphasizes economic development, the official media Korean Central News Agency (KNCA) reported on Wednesday. Kim made the remarks at an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) on Tuesday afternoon, the KCNA said. He stressed that main departments of the Party Central Committee should correctly set the key points in the guidance for implementing the party's policies, carry out all work in a responsible, active and creative manner in the party work. He also said that formalism, expediency, subjectivism, self-protectionism, defeatism, party authority and bureaucratism chronic among leading officials and all sorts of other undesirable practices should be rooted out in the party's work. The meeting discussed and approved "Implementation of the state budget for 2018 and on the state budget for 2019" to be presented to the 1st session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly set to be held on Thursday, the report added. The meeting was presided over and guided by Kim Jong Un, chairman of the WPK and chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the country, according to the report. Present at the meeting were members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee, members and alternate members of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee, it said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 13:27:17|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close MEXICO CITY, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Mexico's government and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Tuesday signed an agreement to jointly tackle violence in the country. The UN would join Mexico's efforts in tackling violence as the country has more than 40,000 missing persons and high rates of homicide and femicide, said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. The UN agency is expected to provide advice and technical assistance to Mexico's newly-created National Guard. Since taking office on Dec. 1, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has attached great importance to the creation of a new anti-crime force. The National Guard is expected to eventually have 150,000 members, including military and civilian personnels, which will be allocated to 266 regional units. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 14:07:31|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close SEOUL, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Surplus fund held by South Korean households hit a new record low last year on rising private consumption, central bank data showed Wednesday. Net fund management for households and nonprofit organizations amounted to 49.3 trillion won (43.2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). It was the lowest since the bank began compiling the data in 2009. The net fund management refers to surplus fund owned by households, which is calculated by subtracting a money borrowing from the money investment such as deposit, insurance, pension savings and the bond purchase. The record-high surplus fund came as households expanded consumption last year. Consumer spending increased 4.2 percent in 2018, faster than the growth rate of 2.7 percent for the real gross domestic product (GDP). The general government posted a net fund management of 55 trillion won (48.2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, marking the biggest as revenue from the corporate and income taxes hit record high last year. Companies expanded financing last year. The net fund borrowing by local firms amounted to 39.8 trillion won (34.9 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, logging the highest since 2012. The large corporate financing came as higher global crude oil price worsened corporate profitability. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 14:12:35|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- China's largest money market fund Yu'ebao has scrapped daily purchase and total holding limits for individuals in a move expected to boost investment. Investors were required to buy no more than 20,000 yuan (about 2,980 U.S. dollars) in one day and hold no more than 100,000 yuan in total. These limits will be eliminated starting from Wednesday, Yu'ebao's manager Tianhong Asset Management announced Tuesday evening. Yu'ebao was rolled out in 2013 by Tianhong and third-party online payment giant Alipay as an internet fund, which soon became the country's largest monetary fund due to its purchase convenience, low threshold and generally higher return on investment than banking deposits. Yu'ebao started to introduce investment limits in late 2017 to reduce management pressure. The fund had nearly 600 million investors and managed 1.13 trillion yuan by the end of 2018, shrinking by over 28 percent year on year. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 14:12:36|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close Supporters of the Likud party celebrate in Tel Aviv, Israel, on April 10, 2019. Exit polls of the Israeli general elections on Tuesday showed a race too close to call. Leaders of both rival parties have declared victory. Official results are expected Wednesday morning. (Xinhua/Muammar Awad) JERUSALEM, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main challenger, Benny Gantz, tied in the parliamentary elections on Wednesday morning after 97.4 percent of the votes were counted, official figures by Israeli Central Election Committee showed. Both Netanyahu's Likud and Gantz's centrist party of Blue and White had 35 seats in the 120-seat parliament, or the Knesset, according to the figures. Overall, the right-wing bloc won 65 seats and the center-left bloc lagged behind with 55 seats, indicating the long-serving right-wing leader was on course for forming the next coalition government. The right-wing bloc includes the ultra-Orthodox parties of Shas and the United Torah Judaism, each with eight seats; the far-right parties of the United Right and Israel Our Home, each with five seats; and the party of Kulanu with four seats. The center-left bloc includes the Arab parties of Hadash-Ta'al with six seats and Ra'am-Balad with four seats, the Labor party with six seats, and the left party of Meretz with four seats. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 14:12:38|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close SHENZHEN, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The Supreme People's Court (SPC) on Wednesday announced sentence on the retried criminal case involving Gu Chujun, former chairman of refrigerator maker Guangdong Kelon Electrical Holdings. The SPC revoked the original sentence's convictions of Gu for falsely reporting registered capital, falsifying and withholding information, and changed Gu's sentence to five years in prison for embezzlement. Gu was arrested in 2005. In 2009, a final court ruling by Guangdong Higher People's Court sentenced him to 10 years in prison. He was also fined 6.8 million yuan (1.01 million U.S. dollars). Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 14:17:44|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close KUNMING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese police have seized 144.5 kg of drugs including heroin and methylamphetamines on a truck transporting bananas in the city of Tongren, southwest China's Guizhou Province, authorities said Wednesday. Police from southwest China's Yunnan Province got information at the end of March that a group of people was planning to transport drugs from Myanmar to central China's Hubei Province, according to Panlong branch of Kunming municipal public security bureau. The police immediately set up a task force. They found Saturday that the suspicious vehicle had entered Yunnan and was heading for Guizhou. One day later, assisted by Guizhou police, they intercepted the truck transporting bananas and caught one suspect. Sixty-five cartons of methamphetamines weighing 131.95 kg and six cartons of heroin weighing 12.55 kg were found on the truck. Further investigation is underway. Yunnan is a major front in China's war on drugs, as it borders the Golden Triangle, which is notorious for drug production and trafficking. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 14:58:08|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close by Raimundo Urrechaga HAVANA, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Havana's Chinatown is being restored to its former glory as restoration work on the district in downtown Havana began several weeks ago. The restoration is part of celebrations in November marking the 500th anniversary of the founding of Cuba's capital. Currently, with the aim of renovation, heavy machineries were brought in to dig up streets and sidewalks, expose pipes and cables, as well as prevent the usual hubbub of cars and pedestrians. Nearly 13,000 residents of the district, many of Chinese descent, will also benefit from upgraded electrical and gas lines, as well as water supply networks. "Our goal isn't just to achieve the physical transformation of the neighborhood, but to complement it with more Chinese traditions and elements as a way to also show how that country has developed over the years," Luis Gongora, vice president of Havana's local government, told Xinhua. This investment in the area is part of an ambitious state-plan to restore the city's landmarks and monuments in the lead up to the country's celebrations. The plan includes Chinatown's 22-block area, iconic local pharmacies and markets, schools, community clinics, as well as state-owned and privately-owned Chinese restaurants. "It is a significant investment that exceeds 15 million Cuban pesos (about 15 million U.S. dollars)," said Gongora. "It is also a way to enhance the union between Cuba and China, which is based on a historic friendship between our peoples," he added. To highlight the contribution of Chinese culture to Cuba's identity, officials are planning a cultural route through the neighborhood. "In the initial stage, it will include an art gallery and continue on to a multipurpose plaza that will serve as the historical and cultural epicenter of Havana's Chinatown," said Teresa Lee, director of the local House of Chinese Arts and Traditions. The neighborhood will soon have a bazaar selling Chinese handicrafts and a theater, while the iconic local newspaper Kwong-Wah Po is also to be revived. "Newly created places, such as an organic farm, Chinese services like dry cleaners, florists and fruit sellers, traditional medicine pharmacy and a market will also open," Lee added. Already, the portico that welcomes visitors to Chinatown is decorated at night with new LED lights. Once considered the most important Chinatown in Latin America where thousands of Chinese migrants settled in the mid-19th century, this corner of Havana will soon reflect its past glory as it faces a brighter future. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 14:58:10|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close BANGKOK, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Thai cabinet approved on Tuesday to nominate a few of its historical sites as World Heritage sites. A tentative list of the Ancient Town of Si Thep and the Ensemble of Phanom Rung, Muang Tam and Plai Bat Sanctuaries were proposed by Thailand's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. The tentative list has yet to be presented to the UNESCO World Heritage Center. A working group will be set up to push for the naming process. The ancient town of Si Thep is located in Phetchabun province in northern Thailand, and the ensemble of Phanom Rung, Muang Tam and Plai Bat Sanctuaries are located in Buriram province in the northeastern region of the country. Those historical sites were believed to have been built under the influences of the Indians and Khmers in the Southeast Asian region. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 15:33:42|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close Indian polling officials check election materials before leaving for their respective polling booths at Tezpur in India's northeastern state of Assam on April 10, 2019. India's general elections will begin on April 11. (Xinhua/stringer) NEW DELHI, April 10 (Xinhua) -- India's election commission officials said Wednesday that all arrangements and security measures were put in place for the first phase of the country's general elections, scheduled for Thursday. Voting for the first phase would be held on Thursday in 91 parliamentary constituencies spread over various states and union territories. "In almost all the poll bound areas today, the staff and machinery would reach the respective polling stations, so that voting begins tomorrow as per schedule," an election commission official said. "Security teams too will be accompanying the polling staff, and polling stations would have adequate security measures to ensure polling is held in a free and fair atmosphere." In restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, authorities have also beefed up security across the two constituencies ahead of voting. Situation in the region grew tense following a suicide car bomb attack on paramilitary convoy in Pulwama that killed over 40 troopers in February. Last week Indian authorities decided to ban civilian traffic on the region's highway for two days, Sunday and Wednesday, per week to allow large movement of government forces during the upcoming elections. The ban would remain in place until May 31. The elections across India will be held in seven phases and the results will be announced on May 23. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seeking to maintain power under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi is facing tough competition from Rahul Gandhi, the scion of India's powerful Nehru-Gandhi family, as well as regional parties that have forged coalition in several states. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 15:33:44|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close KABUL, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Two Afghan national army pilots have suffered minor injuries after a training helicopter crashed in the country's southern province of Kandahar, the military said Wednesday. The incident happened at about 6:45 p.m. local time (1415 GMT) Tuesday when an MD-530 military aircraft returning from a training flight crashed at the Kandahar Airport, Afghan Ministry of Defense said in a statement. "Only two onboard pilots have suffered light wounds in the incident," the statement said. The statement ruled out involvement of insurgent's activity in the incident, saying the crash was caused by a technical failure, adding that the investigation is underway. The security situation has been improving in Kandahar, the former stronghold of Taliban, over the last months, as security forces have conducted search and cordon operations across the province. But the militants attack government interests in the province from time to time. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 15:38:48|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close Supporters of the Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) political alliance celebrate after Benny Gantz claiming the victory in Tel Aviv, Israel, on April 9, 2019. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main challenger, Benny Gantz, were tied in the parliamentary elections on Wednesday morning after 97.4 percent of the votes were counted, official figures by Israeli Central Election Committee showed. Both Netanyahu's Likud and Gantz's centrist party of Blue and White had 35 seats in the 120-seat parliament, or the Knesset, according to the figures. However, both contestants claimed victory. (Xinhua/Gil Cohen Magen) JERUSALEM, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main challenger, Benny Gantz, were tied in the parliamentary elections on Wednesday morning after 97.4 percent of the votes were counted, official figures by Israeli Central Election Committee showed. Both Netanyahu's Likud and Gantz's centrist party of Blue and White had 35 seats in the 120-seat parliament, or the Knesset, according to the figures. Overall, the right-wing bloc won 65 seats and the center-left bloc lagged behind with 55 seats, indicating the long-serving right-wing leader was on course for forming the next coalition government. The right-wing bloc includes the ultra-Orthodox parties of Shas and the United Torah Judaism, each with eight seats; the far-right parties of the United Right and Israel Our Home, each with five seats; and the party of Kulanu with four seats. The center-left bloc includes the Arab parties of Hadash-Ta'al with six seats and Ra'am-Balad with four seats, the Labor party with six seats, and Meretz with four seats. However, both contestants claimed victory. "This is a night of an incredible victory," Netanyahu told his supporters in the Likud's campaign headquarters in Tel Aviv, as the crowd chanted "Bibi (Netanyahu) King of Israel!" He thanked his voters for putting their trust in him and vowed that the "right-wing bloc led by me will continue to lead Israel for the next four years and bring Israel to greater heights." His rival, Gantz, 59, claimed that "we are the victors." As Israel's former chief of forces, Gantz formed the Blue and White party only some two months ago. "We want to thank Benjamin Netanyahu for his service to the nation," he said, promising he will serve as a "prime minister of everyone, not only for the people who voted for me." Netanyahu, 69, has served four terms as Israel's prime minister. If he forms the next government, he would become the longest-serving prime minister in the history of Israel, beating even the founder of the nation, David Ben Gurion. Given that he is facing corruption allegations, he might not serve for long, even if he could build a governing coalition with at least 61 members, as needed under the Israeli system. Israel's Attorney General Avichai-Mandelblit has announced his intention to indict Netanyahu for bribery and breach of trust in three separate cases, pending a hearing. The hearing is expected to be held before July 10, according to a ministry statement. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 16:04:08|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close CANBERRA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has announced it will spend 70 million Australian dollars (49.8 million U.S. dollars) to prevent further mass fish deaths in the nation's biggest river system. Minister for Water Resources and Agriculture David Littleproud on Wednesday said the government was committed to taking action against the phenomenon, which resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of fish in the Murray and Darling rivers during summer. The funding included 25 million Australian dollars (17.8 million U.S. dollars) for water meters in the Murray-Darling basin, which is Australia's most significant agricultural area, 5 million Australian dollars (3.5 million U.S. dollars) for cameras to live stream water flow and 20 million Australian dollars (14.2 million U.S. dollars) for water and environment research. "It was an extreme event and obviously a tragic event," Littleproud told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Wednesday. "It's not the first one and it won't be the last." A government-commissioned investigation into the deaths by climate and water management expert Rob Vertessy, which was released in February, found that low water flows, poor water quality and sudden temperature changes were responsible for the deaths. Vertessy made 27 recommendations for the future management of the basin, including greater transparency and improved monitoring of the system. Littleproud on Wednesday announced that he had accepted 10 of the recommendations and was working with state governments on the remaining 17. He said the best way to prevent future fish deaths was the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, the government's national plan to manage the basin as a connected system rather than on a state-by-state basis. "Improving our water management between the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and the states is paramount, and understanding that these extreme weather events will happen again and we need to be better equipped to handle that and be prepared for that," Littleproud said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 16:04:11|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close BAGHDAD, April 10 (Xinhua) -- A paramilitary tribal fighter was killed and two were injured in an attack by Islamic State (IS) militants attack near the city of Fallujah in Iraq's western province of al-Anbar, a security source said on Wednesday. The incident took place late on Tuesday night when IS militants opened fire from their assault rifles and machineguns on a security checkpoint manned by local tribal fighters at a bridge outside the town of al-Garma near Fallujah, some 50 km west the Iraqi capital Baghdad, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The attackers came from the nearby desert that stretches between the two provinces of Anbar and Salahudin, the source said. The mayor of al-Garma told Xinhua that he requested the Iraqi Joint Operations Command and Anbar Provincial Command to send Iraqi army units to protect the bridge at the edge of the desert from the attacks of IS militants as the tribal fighters have only small arms and light weapons. In December 2017, Iraq declared full liberation from the IS after the security forces and the paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units, backed by the anti-IS international coalition, recaptured all areas once seized by the extremist group. However, IS remnants have since melted in urban areas or resorted to deserts and rugged areas as safe havens, carrying out guerilla attacks from time to time against the security forces and civilians. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 16:09:22|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan authorities' attempts to restrict and obstruct cross-Strait exchanges show that they take no account of the wellbeing of people from Taiwan, a mainland spokesperson said Wednesday. "The Democratic Progressive Party, for the sake of its own interest, has tried to obstruct and restrict cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation through various means, and turned these into political issues," said Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson with the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, at a press conference. Ma made the remarks when asked to comment on the attacks of politicians from Taiwan, on mayors and county chiefs who visited the mainland. "They were in the mainland out of the needs of their people and to seek opportunities for their people." Guided by the conviction that people across the Strait are all of the same family, the mainland will continue to promote exchanges between cities across the Strait and expand the benefits and sense of fulfillment of compatriots from Taiwan, he said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 16:19:32|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close WUHAN, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Besides food and medicine, residents living in central China's Wuhan City will soon be able to "order" first aid via their cellphones. Nearly 8,000 takeaway delivery drivers in the city's Wuchang District will receive proper training to provide emergency services to local residents, the district's health bureau said during the World Health Expo, which is going on in Wuhan this week. After receiving the training, the 8,000 delivery men will obtain a certificate, the bureau said, adding that the emergency service will also be incorporated into Eleme, a leading takeaway-ordering app in China. The ubiquitous delivery drivers on streets, once capable of offering emergency serivce, can perform CPR or artificial respiration to patients in need while waiting for an ambulance, the bureau said. In the meantime, the Eleme app has been connected to medical records of its users, which can send warnings to them when they order food that don't suit their health conditions, a spokesman from the app said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 16:29:39|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The elderly in China are desperate for better old-age care services, with family support favored by most senior citizens and community-support and nursing homes growing fast, according to an industry report. To understand the country's old-age care industry, analysts with the Qianzhan Industry Research Institute (QIRI) suggested investors remember the number "9073." According to the QIRI report, the number offers investors a better clue of the general segmentation of China's elderly care services, as 90 percent of seniors rely on family support, 7 percent on residential community-based care services and 3 percent on nursing homes. Citing statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics, the report has projected a huge market potential. As of the end of 2018, the total number of Chinese seniors (60 and above) reached 249.49 million, and it is expected to surpass 300 million in 2025. By the end of 2018, there were only 29,800 registered senior care institutes with 3.982 million beds in the whole country. If 3 percent of seniors live in senior care institutes in 2025, the total number of beds should surpass 9 million by then, the report said. Some 40.33 million seniors will need door-to-door service in 2020 and the number is expected to further increase to about 58.96 million in 2030. Among them, 25.22 percent need household services, 18.04 percent need nursing services, 13.79 percent need chatting services, and 2.25 percent need legal aid, according to the report. Meanwhile, the country needs a lot more products for the elderly. According to a survey on urban and rural seniors released in October 2016, some 65.6 percent of seniors used products specially designed for the elderly. Among this consumer group, 46.8 percent of them used presbyopic glasses. The proportion of false teeth, blood pressure meter and walking stick consumers took up 27 percent, 14.2 percent and 9.3 percent respectively. Other popular products included blood sugar meters, massage equipment, wheel chairs, hearing-aids and adult diapers, said the report. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 16:34:43|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close SHENZHEN, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The Supreme People's Court (SPC) on Wednesday announced sentence on the retried criminal case involving Gu Chujun, former chairman of refrigerator maker Guangdong Kelon Electrical Holdings. The SPC revoked the original sentence's convictions of Gu for falsely reporting registered capital, falsifying and withholding information, and changed Gu's sentence to five years in prison for embezzlement. Gu was arrested in 2005. In 2009, a final court ruling by Guangdong Higher People's Court sentenced him to 10 years in prison. He was also fined 6.8 million yuan (1.01 million U.S. dollars). The SPC also revoked the original sentence's convictions of Zhang Hong, another defendant of the original case, for falsifying and withholding information, and affirmed the original judgment of two years in prison with a suspension of two years for embezzlement. The other six defendants of the original case were acquitted. They were all sentenced prison terms of below four years in the original case. The SPC said Gu and others falsely reported registered capital, but the act was of relatively small social harm and was not a crime. It also said Kelon made false sales at the end of 2002, 2003 and 2004, leading to false information in their annual reports, but there is no sufficient evidence to show that this has seriously harmed shareholders' interests, hence Gu and others should be acquitted of charges. The original ruling on one count of embezzlement involving 290 million yuan was supported by proper evidence. Another count of embezzlement involving 63 million yuan lacked evidence and the original ruling applied the wrong law. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 16:39:49|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close CANBERRA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- A coalition of former Australian fire and emergency chiefs have issued a warning that the nation is unprepared for worsening natural disasters as a result of global warming. In a statement issued on Wednesday, 23 former emergency service leaders and senior personnel from multiple states called on both major political parties to recognize the need for "national firefighting assets" in the lead-up to May's general election. Signatories to the statement include Greg Mullins, the second-longest serve fire and rescue commissioner in New South Wales (NSW)'s history, former NSW environment minister Phil Koperberg and Neil Bibby, former chief executive of Victoria's Country Fire Authority (CFA), according to a Guardian report on Wednesday. They call for the next prime minister to meet with signatories "who will outline, unconstrained by their former employers, how climate change risks are rapidly escalating". The statement also calls for the next government to launch an inquiry into whether state's emergency services are well-equipped to deal with the increased risk from natural disaster caused by climate change. Australia experienced one of its longest bushfire seasons in history in 2018-19, with fires in New South Wales (NSW) starting as early as August while world heritage listed forests in Tasmania were engulfed by flames in January, Australia's hottest month in recorded history. The statement says that the federal government must invest in firefighting aircraft, which states currently lease from the northern hemisphere. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 16:44:55|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close NEW DELHI, April 10 (Xinhua) -- India's Supreme Court Wednesday dismissed preliminary objections raised by the federal government over certain classified documents which had raised several questions over the multi-million-dollar Rafale aircraft deal and said it will examine them, officials said. The top court said it would hear the review petitions in the light of new documents cited by petitioners. A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, decided by unanimity that the new documents will be relied upon by the top court. The federal government through the attorney general had submitted that the privilege documents were procured by petitioners in an illegal way. The apex court said it will fix a date for hearing the review petitions. "The judgment goes completely against the arguments that were put forward by the government through its attorney general -- these are the secret documents and they have been stolen and we had argued the contrary," said Arun Shourie, a petitioner in the case. In last December, the top court dismissed petitions alleging federal government had gone for an overpriced deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets. Following the dismissal, the petitioners filed a review petition. India in 2016 signed a deal with France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets in a bid to bolster the country's military image. Congress and other opposition parties alleged India's main ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has indulged in a gross corruption while finalizing the deal and demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the matter. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 16:44:57|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close YANGON, April 10 (Xinhua) -- One woman was killed on the spot with seven people injured in a car overturn on Myanmar's expressway on Wednesday, according to the Highway Police Office. The accident took place on Nay Pyi Taw-Yangon expressway in early hours of Wednesday. With nine people aboard, an Alphard car travelling from Mandalay to Mawlamyine lost control and overturned at milepost 100/2 of the expressway at 3:45 a.m. local time. The highway accidents in Myanmar are mostly caused by human error - overspeeding, negligent driving and drowsy driving and others - and defective vehicles and severe weather. Meanwhile, Myanmar police force warned earlier this month of strictly abiding by traffic rules in driving during the upcoming countrywide traditional water festival which falls on April 13. The police force cited the casualties in its press release as warning that there occurred 350 accidental cases during the water festival in 2018, in which 133 people died and 690 others were injured. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 16:44:59|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close Employees of China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec) Fifth Construction Company work at the construction site of the Kuwait New Refinery Project in Al Ahmadi Governorate, Kuwait, April 7, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Jinxue) KUWAIT CITY, April 10 (Xinhua) -- In the southern desert of Kuwait, the Kuwait New Refinery Project (NRP), launched with the help of China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec), is under construction with an aim to increase oil processing capacity of the Arab country. Sinopec Fifth Construction Company is NRP's sub-contractor. Once put into operation, the project will increase Kuwait's oil processing capacity of 31.5 million tons of crude oil per year. According to the contract, the Chinese company is responsible for installation of six sets of oil-refining equipment for the NRP with contract value of 519 million U.S. dollars. Wang Zhiwei, project manager of Sinopec Fifth Construction Company, walks around the construction site every day, checking construction process and quality. He has spent nearly three years on this work since the project started in 2016. It is not just taking a walk. He needs to ask about construction details as every problem must be resolved in time. A circle of walk means at least six hours and more than 16,000 steps. In the summer of Kuwait, the temperature of the desert is as high as sixty degrees. During this period Wang's clothes are always soaked with sweat. Wang never complained about it, as the project is currently the largest refinery in the Middle East. "It does not only mean the future of Kuwait's oil production, it is a good opportunity to build a Chinese brand in Kuwait," Wang said. "We must use innovative concept, excellent quality and speed to make a model of 'Chinese wisdom' in Kuwait and the whole Middle East," he stressed. Kuwait is one of the first Arab countries to sign a cooperation agreement with China under the Belt and Road Initiative. In 2016, Sinopec Fifth Construction Company, adhering to the principle of "Chinese wisdom," undertook the NRP project. The main task of Chinese company is to install six sets of oil-refining equipment. It is considered as the contribution of the Chinese company to helping the Kuwaitis to achieve their development vision under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. As a project manager, Wang managed the entire process of planning, designing, equipment purchasing, market evaluation, facilities building and equipment installation. In the early stage of the project, in order to weld thick inner wall of the pipe, which costs lots of manpower, Wang adopted an innovative technology - "automatic welding process" to improve labor efficiency and accuracy and sped up construction process. Furthermore, this technology inspired the idea of Sinopec to develop intelligent "welding robot." Wang said that the "welding robot" has been tried on domestic projects after two years of research and development, hoping to use it for overseas projects as soon as possible. "Let foreigners admire the fact that we can not only do it, but also do it skillfully. This is the 'Chinese Wisdom'," Wang noted. Currently, Sinopec Fifth Construction Company is committed to building a Chinese brand on this project and demonstrating the quality and speed of Chinese Wisdom. To achieve this goal more than 6,000 Chinese and foreign employees of the company are working on the construction site almost 10 hours per day. Facing the complicated data processing involved in construction, procurement, operation and construction, Wang adopted new technology, building an information data sharing platform to reduce the repetition work. This innovation has become a model for other overseas projects of the company. According to the contract, the project will be completed at the end of 2019. Due to the high temperature in Kuwait, construction is prohibited in the daytime during the summer. As a result, many construction projects usually are postponed. Wang is confident that the project of Chinese company will be completed as scheduled. "We have developed a precise schedule for the project. As of today, the process of the project has reached 78.5 percent," he said. "Our project process is one year faster than those of foreign contractors who are responsible for the construction of other facilities here. Everyone will see the real Chinese speed," Wang said with a smile. "This is a century plan not only for Kuwait, but also for 'Chinese Wisdom'," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 16:55:12|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close CANBERRA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The Opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) has announced a plan to reduce Australia's smoking rate. Bill Shorten, leader of the ALP, on Wednesday committed 63.4 million Australian dollars (45.1 million U.S. dollars) for "the most significant push to cut Australia's smoking rates" since 2012 if he is elected prime minister in May's general election. The funding will pay for a graphic national anti-smoking campaign that will feature explicit images of the effects of smoking and for support services for those trying to quit the habit. Approximately 12 percent of Australians smoke every day, a figure that has plateaued in recent years. Shorten said that Labor's plan to push the rate below 10 percent could save 55,000 lives and deliver 740 million Australian dollars (526.4 million USD) in healthcare savings. Lung cancer is Australia's fifth most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer death. According to the Cancer Council, lung cancer killed 8,410 Australians in 2016 alone. It has a five-year survival rate of 17 percent. "That's why Labor will reintroduce and re-energise Australia's landmark National Tobacco Campaign and support Australians with lung cancer," Shorten told News Corp Australia. The money committed on Wednesday comes from Labor's proposed 2.3 billion AUD (1.63 billion USD) package to significantly reduce Australian cancer patients' out-of-pocket costs for treatment. Shorten said it would be the most significant step in combatting smoking in Australia since the introduction of plain packaging laws for cigarettes in 2012. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 16:55:15|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- China firmly opposes any forms of official and military ties between the U.S. and Taiwan, a mainland spokesperson said Wednesday. Ma Xiaoguang, the spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks at a press conference in response to media reports that the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) confirmed active military personnel have been stationed at the AIT since 2005. The U.S. should honor its commitments, correct its wrongdoing, abide by the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, exercise caution and prudence when handling Taiwan-related issues to avoid serious damage to China-U.S. relations and cross-Strait peace and stability, Ma said. "We oppose any forms of military exercises and the development of military relations between the U.S. and Taiwan. This position is consistent and clear," said Ma while being asked to comment on media reports that the U.S. plans to deploy air defense missile in Taiwan. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 16:55:19|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close CANBERRA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Australia's aviation authority has granted approval for a world-first drone delivery system to take to the skies in the nation's capital city Canberra. Project Wing, a venture of Google's parent company Alphabet, was on Tuesday given the green light to begin full operations in Canberra by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). It comes after an 18-month trial of using drones to deliver food, drinks and medication in the Canberra suburb of Bonython was deemed successful. CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said that the authority was satisfied with the safety of the drones, pilot training, operational plans and traffic management system. "We've gone through all the thorough safety assessment we did for the Bonython operation, we've done that now for Mitchell and surrounding suburbs. We'll issue the appropriate permissions for those to go ahead," he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio. "Everyone can rest assured from a safety perspective it will operate very, very well, just as it did down at Bonython." According to Alphabet, more than 1,000 packages were successfully delivered during the trial period without a single safety incident. Canberra residents expressed concerns about the noise generated by the drones during public hearings on the project but Wing has developed a quieter model for the wide-scale operation. "We're excited to connect with more local businesses in the area about how we can help them reach more customers faster, safer and more sustainably," Project Wing said in a media release. The drones will be launched from a warehouse in the Canberra suburb of Mitchell, which was built by Alphabet months in advance of approval being given. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 17:15:37|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close A man inspects a house after it was hit by an airstrike in the early morning in Sanaa, Yemen, April 10, 2019. Saudi-led coalition involved in a war in Yemen struck on Wednesday two targets in Sanaa, Al Arabiya TV reported. The coalition spokesperson Turki al-Maliki said that the strikes targeted Houthi drones manufacturing plant and a store containing launch pads. There were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage. (Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed) SANAA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Saudi-led coalition involved in a war in Yemen struck on Wednesday two targets in Sanaa, Al Arabiya TV reported. The coalition spokesperson Turki al-Maliki said that the strikes targeted Houthi drones manufacturing plant and a store containing launch pads. There were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage. He highlighted that the strikes are an extension of military operations that targeted and destroyed an integrated network of logistical capabilities and facilities for Houthi drones, as well as locations where foreign experts are present. Saudi Arabia-led military coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 to support Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Houthi rebels forced him into exile and seized much of the country's north, including the capital Sanaa. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 18:16:26|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- China has revised several regulations on administrative procedures as part of efforts to improve government services and advance reform. Stipulations in six administrative regulations were amended because they were inconsistent with the initiative to enable access to government services via website and online processing, according to a circular on the decision to make the revisions made public Wednesday. Premier Li Keqiang signed a State Council decree to release the circular. Aiming to encourage online approvals and processing, the revisions involve procedures for social insurance registration, real property registration, and real estate development enterprise registration. The revised stipulations include simplifying approvals on the excavation of urban roads, procedures for helping employees open housing provident fund accounts, and enabling cyberspace cultural service applicants to get approvals online. The new regulations went into effect Wednesday. The move is part of efforts to advance the Internet Plus Government Services initiative, which aims to enable both businesses and the public enjoy better access to government services. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 18:26:41|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close WELLINGTON, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand parliament passed the Arms Amendment Bill after its third or the final reading Wednesday night, less than a month after the Christchurch mosque attacks which killed 50 people. The proposed new gun bill, namely The Arms (Prohibited Firearms, Magazines and parts) Amendment Bill, won overwhelming support in the parliament, as it was passed by a vote of 119 to 1. The bill is expected to receive its Royal Assent from the governor on Friday before it becomes law, when military-style semi-automatics (MSSAs) and assault rifles and associated parts will be illegal. Possession of prohibited firearms could face a jail term up to five years, according to the bill. It is understood that compensation will be available for firearms and parts based on make, model and condition, but only for items that were lawfully obtained. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was the first to speak during the reading of the bill. She said she was proud of the work that had been done to get the bill passed. The New Zealand government had vowed to ban MSSAs soon after the Christchurch terrorist attacks, which also injured dozens on March 15. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 18:47:00|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- About 2,000 representatives, including 230 foreign scientists and high-tech entrepreneurs, will participate in the 21st Annual Meeting of the China Association for Science and Technology in late June. The meeting themed "Innovation-driven Reform and Opening-up" will be held in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province on June 29 and 30. Visitors will be invited to participate in 30 activities such as forums focusing on development, dialogue among scientists and science communication saloons. This year's meeting will deepen the association's cooperation with its global partners. It will hold the Global Green Development Contest, attracting people to create green cities and offer suggestions for the revitalization of northeastern China. So far, 416 teachers and students from 16 prestigious universities at home and abroad, including Tsinghua University, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have signed up for the competition. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 19:07:13|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close ISLAMABAD, April 10 (Xinhua) -- At least four laborers were killed and two others injured in an explosion in a coal mine in Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday, local media said. According to reports, the explosion was caused by the accumulation of poisonous gas in the mine located in Darra Adam Khel town of the province. As a result of the blast, a portion of the mine caved in, trapping the miners who were digging coal inside the mine, said local Urdu TV channel Dunya News. Following the incident, police and rescue teams reached the site and recovered four bodies and two injured laborers from the rubble. The injured miners were shifted to a nearby hospital where one of them was said to be in critical condition. According to the Pakistan Central Mines Labor Federation, about 100 to 200 laborers were killed or injured in coal mine accidents across the country every year. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 19:12:19|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close MANILA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Foreign direct investments (FDI) posted net inflows of 609 million U.S. dollars in January 2019 in the Philippines, down 38.2 percent from the 986 million U.S. dollars recorded in January 2018, the Philippine central bank said on Wednesday. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the decline in FDI net inflows reflected a 65.3-percent drop in equity capital placements to 184 million U.S. dollars during the month from 531 million U.S. dollars for the same period a year ago. Equity capital placements during the month emanated mainly from Mauritius, South Korea, the United States, Singapore, and the Netherlands, BSP data showed. The BSP said these were channeled largely to the financial and insurance; administrative and support services; real estate; electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply; and information and communication industries. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 19:22:25|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close ABUJA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian Army on Wednesday said troops are chasing after Boko Haram militants who attempted to infiltrate the city of Damaturu, capital of the northeastern state of Yobe. The terror group had almost invaded Damaturu on Tuesday to wreak havoc in the city, but troops repelled the attack a few meters ahead of Maisandari community, the outskirts of the city. Njoka Irabor, a spokesman of the army, said in a statement reaching Xinhua in Abuja on Wednesday that troops laid an ambush for the Boko Haram fighters, following credible information of planned efforts by the terror group to attack Damaturu. The city of Damaturu was last attacked by the terror group on Dec. 1, 2014, during which over 150 people, including 38 policemen, were killed. The army statement confirmed that the repelling of the attack by troops on Tuesday "led to the extermination of many Boko Haram terrorists", while many others escaped with gunshot wounds. It, however, did not disclose the number of terrorists killed. "The terrorists were overwhelmed by the superior firepower of the gallant troops and the well-coordinated air support, from the air component of the military," the statement added. Boko Haram has been trying since 2009 to establish an Islamist state in northeastern Nigeria, extending its attacks to countries in the Lake Chad basin. The group has posed enormous security, humanitarian and governance challenges in the Lake Chad basin, including Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Benin, and Niger, according to the United Nations. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 19:27:32|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close ANKARA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Turkey may buy a second batch of Russian-made S-400 defense systems if the United States refuses to provide Patriot missile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday. "If the U.S. does not want to sell the Patriot, tomorrow we could buy a second S-400 or another defense system," Cavusoglu said during an interview with NTV broadcaster. The U.S. has offered to sell its Patriot system to Turkey in a bid to cancel Turkey's procurement of the S-400s, but this was not guaranteed, he stated. Last week the Pentagon announced that it halted "deliveries and activities" related to Turkey's procurement of the F-35 fighter jets program if Ankara insisted on the S-400 deal. The U.S. also rejects sales of Patriots to Turkey in case of the latter's purchase of Russian systems. "If we don't have F35, I need to take the plane elsewhere," he said, adding that Russian fighter jets, SU-34, SU-57 could be alternatives to meet Turkey's demand. Asked if Russian warplanes could be an alternative to buy, if the U.S. blocks delivery of F-35 fighters jets to Turkey, the minister said: "F35 or there are Russia's SU-34, SU-57, which they will newly produce. I will meet my requirement from another source until I am able to produce on my own." Elaborating on his meetings in Washington last week, the minister said U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo could not guarantee the sale of Patriots to Turkey, he noted. Cavusoglu said that he explained to the U.S. officials why Turkey needs to buy S-400 systems. "After explaining why we had to take the S-400s, they said they didn't know it was like that. We said that the U.S. did not sell these systems to us before and Turkey has to meet (these systems) in one place. Secondly, there are S-300s in some NATO member countries. It does not contradict NATO membership," the minister said. He was referring Turkey's previous attempt to buy Patriot systems which were blocked by the U.S. Congress. Turkey has offered the U.S. to form a technical team in order to examine whether the S-400 systems would spy on the technology of F35 fighters jets, which the U.S. threatens to block the delivery on the grounds that the Russian system would pose security threat to Western warplane. The U.S. has yet to respond to Turkey's proposal of forming a technical team, the minister added. Turkey and the U.S. are in talks for the former's purchase demand of Patriot anti-missile systems, but the talks are in limbo in Washington, as the American side asked Ankara for an annulment of the 3.5-billion-U.S.-dollar acquisition of Russian systems. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 19:47:48|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close COLOMBO, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's cabinet of ministers, on Wednesday approved a proposal to appoint a five member ministerial committee to resolve the ongoing electricity crisis in the island country. The committee, headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, will present recommendations on the short-term, mid-term and long-term measures on resolving the crisis. Sri Lanka has been facing daily power cuts in recent weeks with the Ceylon Electricity Board imposing power cuts for three hours during the day and one hour during the night. The island is divided into three groups, with each group facing power outages in different time slots. The Power and Energy Ministry said the power cuts were due to the severe dry weather prevailing across the country which had led to a drastic decrease in the water levels in all major reservoirs. Energy Minister Ravi Karunanayake assured that the power cuts would end from April 11, as the government is taking urgent steps to add more mega watts to the national grid. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 19:58:00|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close HEFEI, April 10 (Xinhua) -- A total of 600 Ankai-branded buses manufactured by Chinese bus maker Anhui Ankai Automobile departed Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, on Wednesday to be delivered to Saudi Arabia. The 12-meter-long, three-door buses have five seats in a row and meet the high demands for comfort and space from Saudi customers, said Zhang Haiyang, a sales manager at Ankai. Ankai has exported nearly 7,000 buses to the Saudi market so far, including school buses, buses for public transport, tourism and pilgrimages, to become a main force in the country's road transport. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 19:58:02|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close BANGKOK, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) team on Wednesday warned unless national and international financial systems are revamped, the world's governments will fail to keep their promises on critical issues such as combating climate change and eradicating poverty by 2030. "Greenhouse gas emissions grew 1.3 percent in 2017; investment in many countries is falling; and 30 developing countries are now at high risk or already in debt distress," UNESCAP said in its latest report "2019 Financing for Sustainable Development Report". On the positive front, the report mentions global growth peaking at an estimated three percent, investment also gained strength in some countries and interest in sustainable investing continues to grow, with 75 percent of individual investors showing interest in how their investments affect the world. Changing the current trajectory in financing sustainable development is not just about raising additional investment, says the report, "Achieving global goals depends on supportive financial systems, and conducive global and national policy environments." The report also indicated that creating favorable conditions to lift billions of people out of poverty, have somehow backfired. "Rapid changes in technology, geopolitics, and climate are remaking our economies and societies, and existing national and multilateral institutions ... are now struggling to adapt," the report said. "Confidence in the multilateral system has been undermined, in part because it has failed to deliver returns equitably, with most people in the world living in countries with increasing inequality." The repercussion of rapid development was echoed by Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, in his foreword to the report, "Trust in the multilateral system itself is eroding, in part because we are not delivering inclusive and sustainable growth for all." "We not only need to revamp the multilateral trading system," said Tientip Subhanij, chief of financing for development, ESCAP's Macroeconomic Policy and Financing for Development Division, "we need to shift towards a long-term investment horizons with sustainability risks central to investment decisions; revisit mechanisms for sovereign debt restructuring to respond to more complex debt instruments and a more diverse creditor landscape." Subhanij also recommended addressing challenges to tax systems that inhibit countries from mobilizing adequate resources in a competitive digitalized world economy. At the national level, the report puts forward a roadmap for countries to revamp their public and private financial systems to mobilize resources for sustainable investment. It introduces tools for countries to align financing policies with national sustainable development strategies and priorities. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 20:13:28|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close MANILA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines has imposed a total ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Tripoli, Philippine Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said on Wednesday. Bello said officials from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in a recent meeting have decided to impose a ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Tripoli and areas within the 100-kilometer radius of the Libyan capital. POEA is a government agency responsible for opening the benefits of the overseas employment program of the Philippines. It is the main agency assigned to monitor and supervise recruitment agencies in the Philippines. On Monday, the DFA raised the alert level in Libya to 3 and urged an estimated 1,000 Filipinos in Tripoli and nearby areas to consider getting themselves and their dependents repatriated to avoid getting caught in the middle of the ongoing clashes between rival factions. The Philippine Embassy in Tripoli gave the recommendation to raise the alert level following the escalation of the fighting that included the shelling of residential areas in the outskirts of the capital. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 20:13:29|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close Polish President Andrzej Duda attends a ceremony at the Lech Kaczynski Monument in central Warsaw, Poland, on April 10, 2019. Poland's political leaders are leading throughout Wednesday a series of commemorative events to mark the ninth anniversary of the Smolensk plane crash, which killed 96 people, including former Polish President Lech Kaczynski. (Xinhua/Jaap Arriens) WARSAW, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Poland's political leaders are leading throughout Wednesday a series of commemorative events to mark the ninth anniversary of the Smolensk plane crash, which killed 96 people, including former Polish President Lech Kaczynski. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, leader of governing party Law and Justice (PiS) Jaroslaw Kaczynski and members of the Polish government took part on Wednesday morning in a religious mass and commemorative event for the victims of the air crash. Another religious mass and commemorative march in the area of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw are set to take place on Wednesday evening, with the participation of President Andrzej Duda and Jaroslaw Kaczynski. On April 10, 2010, a Polish government plane with then Polish president, first lady and dozens of senior government officials and military commanders crashed near a military airfield in Smolensk, western Russia, killing all 96 people on board. The delegation were travelling to the Russian locality Katyn for anniversary ceremonies of the Katyn Forest mass executions of 22,000 Polish prisoners of war (POWs) by the Soviet security units in 1940. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 20:18:32|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close NAIROBI, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Kenya should enact a robust legislative framework to ensure that land and other natural resources owned by indigenous communities are protected during exploration of oil and gas, campaigners said on Wednesday. The campaigners who spoke at a forum in Nairobi said that protection of community land rights is key to ensure that drilling of hydro-carbons does not harm relationship between investors and their hosts. "Sustainable exploitation of oil and natural gas in this country will only succeed if there is proper legislation to protect land which is considered a priceless heritage by our farming and pastoralist communities," said Odenda Lumumba, chief executive officer of Kenya Land Alliance. Campaigners representing indigenous communities attended the Nairobi forum on championing Africa's economic growth through sustainable oil and gas mining. Lumumba said that investors in the extractive industry should prioritize compensation of land owners and conservation of vital ecosystems like watersheds to avoid conflict with local communities. "The Kenyan constitution is clear that communities are custodians of their ancestral land and therefore companies involved in oil exploration should facilitate resettlement," said Lumumba. Kenya should promote transparency and benefit sharing in order to avert resource curse afflicting other African countries. Ikal Angelei, executive director and founder of Friends of Lake Turkana, said that involvement of indigenous communities during exploration, drilling and transportation of crude oil is key to prevent conflicts. "The central government and investors should recognize the sovereignty and interests of indigenous communities while carrying out oil and gas exploration," said Angelei. Kenya is about to join the league of major African oil producers like Nigeria and Angola as drilling of an estimated 600 million barrels of the commodity goes into overdrive in the northwestern county of Turkana. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 20:23:37|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close MOSCOW, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Russia is interested in expanding its military technical cooperation with Ankara and is ready to consider supplying more S-400 air defense missiles to Turkey, the Kremlin said Wednesday. "Russia is open. Russia has appropriate capabilities and technological competencies. Russia is looking for opportunities to expand this cooperation. This is an absolutely normal practice," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Peskov said that military technical cooperation is a very important part of Russia's interaction with many foreign countries, as "such cooperation indicates a special level of development of bilateral relations. This also applies to Turkey." Peskov made the remarks while commenting on a statement made earlier on Wednesday by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu that if Washington refuses to sell Patriot long-range air defense systems to Ankara, it could buy more S-400s from Russia. Speaking to the Turkish NTV news channel, Cavusoglu said that if the United States implements its threat to cancel a deal for F-35 jets, Turkey could buy fighters from another source until it is able to produce its own. Washington has criticized Turkey for the purchase of the Russian S-400 missiles and the Pentagon said last week that it had halted deliveries of F-35 fighter jet parts and manuals to Turkey. Nevertheless, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday agreed to implement their contract to deliver S-400s to Turkey as planned. The S-400 air defense missile system is considered the most advanced of its kind in Russia, capable of destroying targets at a distance of up to 400 km and a height of up to 30 km. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 20:23:39|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close KABUL, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan government has been working hard to constitute a negotiating team for holding talks with the Taliban expected to be held in Qatar's capital Doha next week. The Taliban, which has repeatedly refused the offer to hold direct talks with Afghan government, once again expressed opposition to the participation of government delegation in Qatar's talks. A delegation of Afghan politicians, independent figures, representatives of political parties and chieftains are expected to hold talks with the Taliban officials in Doha next week. However, the government of Afghanistan, which has termed any talks for peace in the absence of government delegation as "useless" according to media reports, is set to finalize the names of negotiating team for Qatar talks to find negotiated settlement to the country's protracted crisis. The U.S. special envoy for peace in Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, who has met Taliban representatives six times since November last year, in meeting with Afghan leaders including President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani last week here in Kabul, stressed for inclusion of government delegation for talks with the Taliban. The Qatar talks are expected to open on April 14 and the participants would discuss the ways and means on how to find amicable solution to Afghan imbroglio and ensure lasting peace to the war-battered Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Majahid in a statement posted on his twitter account on Wednesday once against expressed opposition to the participation of government delegation, saying anyone from the Kabul administration can attend the talks within his personal capacity and can present his personal opinion and not the government stance. Similarly, a former Taliban member Sayed Akbar Agha, according to media reports has lashed at the Taliban inflexibility, saying the militant group should give up the insistance on re-establishment of Islamic Emirate (name of ousted Taliban regime collapsed in late 2001) and initiate direct talks with Afghan government to end fighting in Afghanistan. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 20:23:42|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close BAGHDAD, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi President Barham Salih on Wednesday reiterated his call to mitigate the tension in the Middle East, asserting the importance for expanding cooperation to promote regional security and stability. Salih made the remarks during his meeting with Mikhail Bogdanov, special envoy of the Russian president to the Middle East and Africa and also a deputy foreign minister, Salih's office said in a statement. "Salih stressed the need for concerted regional and international efforts to combat extremism and terrorism, mitigate tensions, and expand the horizons of cooperation in order to promote security and stability in the region," the statement said. The Iraqi leader also "emphasized Iraq's interest in enhancing relations with the Russian Federation at the political, economic and investment levels, calling on the Russian side to effectively participate in the reconstruction of Iraq and invest in the oil and energy sectors," the statement added. For his part, Bogdanov reaffirmed the support from the Russian government and people to Iraq, and the desire to develop relations between the two countries in all fields, it said. On Tuesday, Salih met with Kenneth McKenzie, commander of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), in the capital Baghdad, calling for reducing tension in the Middle East. Salih's comments came after the United States designated Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps as a "foreign terrorist organization," a move that is expected to further complicate the Middle East situation. Iran also designated the CENTCOM and all its affiliates as "a terrorist group" on Monday. The relations between the two states have been flourishing in recent years, especially with Russia's support to Iraq in the fight against terror and increasing investments of Russian companies in oil and gas fields in the country. A student takes part in the 17th Chinese-Bridge Proficiency Competition for College students in Windhoek, capital of Namibia, April 26, 2018. The competition was organized by the Confucius Institute in Namibia. (Xinhua/Wu Changwei) by Ndalimpinga Iita WINDHOEK, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Namibian youths are embracing Chinese to seize opportunities coming with the robust bilateral ties between Namibia and China. Jacobina Aumbandja, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Namibia (UNAM), registered for a Chinese language course at the Confucius Institute in the University in Windhoek in February 2017. "Interest for the Chinese culture, language and customs attracted me to the course," Aumbandja said Tuesday. She said she found the course enthralling. "Chinese grammar at the beginner level is significantly simpler than English. Mandarin characters are the hardest part in the beginning, and characters take more than one practice, a challenge which for a moment looks insurmountable," she said. At first captivated by the culture and language, it is believed learning Chinese would present breakthroughs in careers. Yang Xingang, a Chinese teacher at the Institute, said that Chinese language aids young Namibians to diversify social and economic prospects in light of robust investment between China and Namibia. According to Aumbandja, the course taught her how to compete effectively in the business environment. The language helps me in negotiating for bargains at the industrial China town shops in Windhoek, she said. "You are most likely to get discount if you know how to speak a bit of mandarin," she said. She is not the only one in the learning. Mon Shifotoka enrolled for the course this year. She said that studying Chinese is an extension of the studies in China a year back. For the communications and media graduate, fluency in Mandarin will increase her chances of getting employment in international development agencies. "It enables me to continue nurturing relations with Chinese people, embrace multiculturalism and boost prospects," Shifotoka said. Since its establishment in 2013 with support from the University of Namibia and China University of Geosciences, the Confucius Institute has made great progress, training more than 3000 students so far. Zhang Fan, director of the Confucius Institute, said that more locals have shown interest in the program, with more learners enrolled compared to last year's figure of 1,153 students. "Chinese course is open for UNAM students and all locals. We have daytime and evening course for basic Chinese. We also have Chinese course for bankers and will have a course for tour guides in 2019," he said. The institute has over the years transformed into a platform to learn Chinese. It is also a name card to display Chinese culture and a bridge of China-Namibia cultural exchanges. Participants follow proceedings during the fourth annual Theo Ben-Gurirab lecture series at the Namibia University of Science and Technology in Windhoek, capital of Namibia, Feb. 28, 2019. Implementation of the outcomes of the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) has already started in different parts of the African continent, Charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Namibia said on Thursday. (Xinhua/Tirivangani Masawi) In addition to language skills acquisition, students like Aumbandja have been exposed to many cultural activities. The institute hosts the Chinese proficiency competitions both in college and secondary school level, with summer camps to China. It provides scholarship programs and has established a radio program to introduce China called "Hello, China!" "I developed an appreciation for Chinese culture and history. I learned how to cook Chinese food and dance. Learning a language is a good skill," said Aumbandja. Meanwhile, plans are underway to expand the teaching of the Chinese language. "We are planning to introduce the Chinese language in schools in the Khomas region. The application to introduce the Chinese language as a foreign language as part of the Namibian curriculum has been submitted to National Institute for Educational Development through the Khomas Directorate of Education under the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture," Zhang said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 20:38:55|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- A year after China unveiled a slew of measures to further open up, at the annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) on April 10, 2018, the country has honoring its commitments. The following are the key areas where advancements have been made. MORE ATTRACTIVE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Streamlining the approval process of construction projects, optimizing custom clearance process of cross-border trade, and drafting and revising related business regulations are the latest efforts to improve the business environment, said Zou Jiayi, vice minister of finance at a recent press briefing. The efforts in improving the business environment have yielded positive results, with China ranking 46th globally for ease of doing business in 2018, up from 78th in 2017, according to the World Bank. Together with improving the business environment, a negative list for foreign investment was part of the initiatives mentioned at the BFA annual conference 2018 to create a more attractive investment environment. The foreign investment law passed on March 15 this year, stipulates that the state shall manage foreign investment according to the system of pre-establishment national treatment plus a negative list, a landmark legislation that will provide stronger protection and a better business environment for overseas investors. Meanwhile, China vowed to shorten the negative list for foreign investment by making another revision on the negative list for foreign investment, issuing the updated list at the end of June. BROADENING MARKET ACCESS Seeing more foreign financial institutions accessing the Chinese market over the year shows that China has matched its words with actions when it comes to broadening market access. For instance, UBS AG has become the first foreign bank to raise its stake to a majority 51 percent in a securities joint venture in China, while Allianz (China) Insurance Holding Company Limited, the country's first wholly-owned insurance holding company by a foreign insurer, has been approved to be set up. S&P Global Inc. was allowed to enter China's credit rating market. American Express received permission to establish a joint venture focusing on bank card clearing and settlement. EXPANDING IMPORTS China International Import Expo (CIIE) will continue to be of great appeal to the country's trade partners. More than 1,800 companies have signed up for the second CIIE, scheduled for early November this year. A total of 172 countries, regions and international organizations and more than 3,600 enterprises participated in the first CIIE, held from Nov. 5-10 in Shanghai last year. The government has said the country will import more than 30 trillion dollars worth of commodities and 10 trillion dollars worth of services in the next 15 years. A significant boost to imports will also come from tariff cuts which involved not only vehicles and auto parts, but also many cancer drugs. The overall tariff rate on imported goods was lowered from 9.8 percent to 7.5 percent in 2018. China has also lowered the tax rates on inbound consumer goods. Starting from April 9 this year, the tax rate on products including food and medicine was lowered from 15 percent to 13 percent and the rate for commodities including textiles and electric appliances was cut from 25 percent to 20 percent. IPR PROTECTION To help nurture a favorable legal environment for technological innovation and deliver the promise of strengthening intellectual property rights (IPR) protection, China's Supreme People's Court started to hear IPR appeals, including a broad range of lawsuits, such as patents, copyright, trademarks, new plant varieties, integrated circuit layout design and monopoly from Jan. 1. Last year, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court handled about 18,000 IPR cases, up 19 percent year on year. It also closed about 15,000 IPR-related cases, up 18 percent year on year. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 20:54:07|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close JERUSALEM, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been in talks with potential coalition partners on Wednesday after nearly-completed elections results showed the right-wing bloc secured a majority in the parliament. Despite a tie between the parties of the veteran right-wing leader and his main challenger, Benny Gantz, the right-wing and the ultra-Orthodox parties secured a majority bloc of 65 seats in the 120-seat parliament, according to figures released by Israel's Central Election Committee after counting some 97 percent of the votes. Netanyahu's Likud party and Gantz's centrist Blue and White party won 35 seats each, according to the close-to-final results. No party in the history of Israel has ever won enough seats to form a government, meaning the size of the blocs has a key role in the coalition building. A coalition needs at least 61 seats. Both ultra-Orthodox parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, won eight seats each, becoming the third largest parties in the Israeli parliament, or the Knesset. Spokesmen for Shas and United Torah Judaism issued separate statements saying they have spoken with Netanyahu over the phone and will support his future coalition. Both parties are part of Netanyahu's current coalition. The Union of Right-Wing Parties, a newly-formed coalition list of far-right and pro-settler parties, is another natural candidate for Netanyahu's future coalition. Bezalel Smotrich, co-leader of the party told Channel 12 TV news that he has spoken with Netanyahu over the phone and expressed his support to the potential coalition. Smotrich reiterated his intention to support the legislation of a law to prevent incumbent prime ministers from being indicted with criminal offenses. The law would shield Netanyahu from being charged with corruption. Israel's attorney general already said he intends to indict the prime minister with three separate cases of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, pending a hearing in June. Leader of the Kulanu party, Moshe Kahlon, who currently serves as finance minister, also said that he is "part of the nationalist camp" and would support Netanyahu as prime minister. If Netanyahu will form the next government, it would be his fifth term in office and his fourth consecutive term as prime minister. He would become the longest-serving. Gantz, Israel's ex-military chief, claimed victory on Tuesday night. But the center-left wing parties and the Arab parties had 55 seats, according to the recent results, meaning he is unlikely to form a government. On Wednesday, he told journalists outside his home that his party, which was formed only some two months before the elections, "had made a historic achievement. It is a new dawn." Some votes -- including of soldiers, diplomats, and prisoners -- have yet to be counted because they cast their votes in unusual circumstances that take longer to be counted. Most of these votes are expected to be counted by Thursday. The final official results are announced by the Central Elections Committee eight days after an election. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 20:59:11|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close NEW DELHI, April 10 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 people including some women labourers died Wednesday after a huge mound of mud fell on them in India's Telangana state, officials said. The mud fell upon labourers at Edmartippa hillock on the outskirts of Tileru village of Narayanpet district, about 165 km southwest of Hyderabad, the capital city of Telangana state. "This afternoon a huge mound of mud fell on workers at a worksite here and buried them alive," a police official said. "Ten people were killed and one person has been admitted at hospital in injured condition." Officials said the labourers were digging earth for a government work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), an Indian labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the 'right to work' to citizens. "The bodies have been extricated and most of them are women," the official said. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao described the incident "unfortunate". A local minister V Srinivas Goud said he was monitoring the situation and rescue work. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 20:59:13|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Logistics staff load Chinese cultural relics transported from Italy, which have been cleared by the customs, into vehicles, at Beijing International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, April 10, 2019. A total of 796 Chinese cultural relics arrived at Beijing International Airport at 6:54 a.m. Wednesday after an eight-hour flight from Italy. The group of Chinese artifacts were first noticed by a unit of Carabinieri, or the national gendarmerie of Italy, on the local relics auction market in 2007, which was followed by a domestic judicial trial. (Xinhua/Li He) BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- A total of 796 Chinese cultural relics arrived at Beijing International Airport at 6:54 a.m. Wednesday after an eight-hour flight from Italy. The group of Chinese artifacts were first noticed by a unit of Carabinieri, or the national gendarmerie of Italy, on the local relics auction market in 2007, which was followed by a domestic judicial trial. China's National Cultural Heritage Administration immediately contacted its Italian counterpart after hearing the news and started the repatriation of the relics. After over a decade, the Italian court made the final decision to return the 796 artifacts to China. On March 23, China and Italy exchanged related certificates. According to Beijing customs, the recovery is the biggest transfer of cultural and historical artifacts to China in nearly two decades. "As a Chinese, I am so proud to witness the return of these relics after years of effort," said Zhang Yanmin with the Beijing International Airport. China will display the items in Beijing next year as part of a wider plan to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Italy and China. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 21:14:35|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close Photo provided by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) shows the first image of a black hole. (Xinhua/EHT) SHANGHAI, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese astronomers have made contributions to a global effort to capture the first-ever image of a supermassive black hole at the heart of the distant galaxy M87. The image of the black hole, based on observations through the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration, was unveiled in coordinated press conferences across the globe at 9:00 p.m. (Beijing time) on Wednesday. This exciting result was also supported by the Center for Astronomical MegaScience (CAMS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), co-established by National Astronomical Observatories, Purple Mountain Observatory and Shanghai Astronomical Observatory. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 21:19:37|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- China has issued four documents clarifying the legal definitions and handling of several types of gang crime in its latest efforts against gangs. China has taken a tough stance against gangs. In January last year it began a three-year campaign against gangs and officials who shelter criminal organizations. More than 79,000 suspects had been prosecuted as of March and trials are crucial at this stage of the campaign, said Chen Yixin, director of the leading group for pursuing a national crackdown on gang crime, at a news conference in Beijing Tuesday. The documents, jointly issued Tuesday by the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the ministries of public security and justice, feature catchy Chinese terms used by the public. For example, one of the documents focuses on the legal elements of "Eshili," concluding it is a less severe type of criminal form and does not legally qualify as a criminal gang. The standards of identifying such groups should be strictly observed, without narrowing or widening the scope, according to the document. Criminal activities, such as gambling, drug trafficking and robbery, that were carried out solely for economic gain but did not oppress society, should not be treated as organized crime, said the document. The other three documents provide detailed guidelines on handling fraudulent lending, non-violent oppressive acts and assets involved in such cases. The details need to be clarified as they directly affect the immediate interests of the public, said a commentary published Wednesday by the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, hailing the publishing of the documents for targeting new problems and difficulties in judicial practices. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 21:19:39|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close JUBA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan and China on Wednesday signed two infrastructure development pacts for the renovation of a new bridge and the modernization of a health facility in the East African country. Under the first agreement, the Chinese government will provide a grant for the renovation of Jur River Bridge, and building a 1.48km road linking the bridge to Wau city, northwestern South Sudan. The second pact kicks off phase two of the China-aided project for the expansion and modernization of South Sudan's biggest public health facility, the Juba Teaching Hospital. The value of the two pacts is yet to be determined upon completion of feasibility studies on the two projects. Meanwhile, phase one of the 33 million dollars Chinese health aid for the modernization of health infrastructure in conflict-torn South Sudan is nearing completion. Baak Valentino Wol, undersecretary of the ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation appreciated the Chinese government for the support to South Sudan. "We are really happy that China is among the very few countries that are still supporting the socioeconomic development of South Sudan. China has supported our people when others are shying away. I thank you for the support you are giving to our people," Wol said. Hua Ning, Chinese Ambassador to South Sudan, said the infrastructure projects would be essential for people's livelihoods and the development of the world's youngest country. Hua urged the people of South Sudan to support their leaders in implementing a September 2018 peace deal aimed at ending more than five years of civil war. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 21:29:46|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (L) meets with Croatian Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic in Zagreb, Croatia, April 10, 2019. (Xinhua/Shen Hong) ZAGREB, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said here on Wednesday that China is willing to enhance parliamentary exchanges with Croatia to further consolidate public support for the China-Croatia relationship and promote bilateral cooperation. Li made the remarks when meeting with Croatian Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic, adding that cooperation between the two countries' legislative bodies is an important component of bilateral relations. Noting that China and Croatia share a long-term friendship, Li said: "We would like to, on the basis of respecting each other's core interests and major concerns, continuously enlarge the scale of bilateral trade, enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges, strengthen mutual learning in areas such as sports, and deepen friendship between the two peoples, so as to promote bilateral relations to achieve mutual benefits and win-win outcomes." For his part, Jandrokovic said Li's visit is a trip of friendship and cooperation, and China is Croatia's great partner as well as a friend during the country's development. Croatia firmly supports the one-China principle and is willing to strengthen cooperation with China in areas including sports, culture and tourism and enhance exchanges between the two countries' legislative bodies so as to promote the development of bilateral relations, he added. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 21:44:59|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close ANKARA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey's procurement of the Russian S-400 air defense systems is a national security deal and in delivery stage, local media reported on Wednesday. "The agreement concerning the S-400 is a done deal, we are today at the point of delivery. The calendar for deliveries is proceeding," Erdogan told journalists on his way back to Turkey from a summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday, according to Hurriyet Daily News. The S-400 deal, which has attracted worldwide interest, is "a completed job and everything is ready," Erdogan said. The Ankara-Moscow S-400 deal was inked in December 2017, when the parties signed a 2.5-billion-U.S.-dollar agreement for two batteries of the system, Russia's most advanced long-range anti-aircraft missile system. Turkey will be the first NATO member country to acquire the system. Responding to Washington's criticism on the deal, Erdogan said the steps taken by Turkey for its national security do not target any third country or hand over the will on Turkey's sovereignty rights to a third country. Last week the Pentagon announced that it halted "deliveries and activities" related to Turkey's procurement of the F-35 fighter jets program if Ankara insisted on the S-400 deal. The U.S. also rejects sales of Patriots to Turkey in case of the latter's purchase of Russian systems. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 21:50:03|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close DAR ES SALAAM, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian Minister for Home Affairs Kangi Lugola on Wednesday warned police officers against conspiracy with criminals in committing felony. The minister also warned the police against involvement in corrupt practices saying anyone implicated in the two vices will face the music. Speaking at a pass out parade for 871 new police officers at the Tanzania Police School in the east African nation's northern region of Kilimanjaro, Lugola said collusion with criminals and involvement in corruption tarnished the good image of the force. Lugola ordered the Inspector General of Police, Simon Sirro, to take stern measures against officers found conspiring with criminals. "The fifth phase government under the administration of President John Magufuli is very particular when it comes to fighting corruption in the country. And the police force should be at the frontline of the war on corruption," said the minister. Lugola urged police officers to abide by professionalism when executing their duties. "The police force is obliged to protect people and their property and it has also the mandate to fight corruption. They should also ensure that they live to their oath of office," he said. In March 2018, the government admitted that corruption allegations leveled against police officers were damaging the image of the force. The Minister of State in the President's Office responsible for Public Service Management and Good Governance, George Mkuchika, said various reports by reputable organizations pointed out that police officers were the most corrupt among public officials. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 21:50:06|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close NAIROBI, April 10 (Xinhua) -- African experts kicked off a two-day meeting in Nairobi on Wednesday to seek ways of integrating the continent via a high speed railway network that connects capitals and major commercial centers. Adama Deen, senior advisor to the African Union's New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), said that six corridors have already been identified to be used to connect the continent. "The six links to integrate Africa will be tried out through pilot projects spread across the continent. We are validating key milestones like the criteria to be used to select the pilot projects, which should be meaningful, viable, logical and sustainable," Deen told journalists in Nairobi. According to Deen, the Mombasa-Nairobi-Kampala link, Durban-Pretoria-Gaborone passage, and Abidjan-Ouagadougou corridor are three of the six links that will accelerate connectivity. "These six links will start the journey to re-enforce the integration of their regions and we envisage that in 2023, which is the end of first phase of Agenda 2063, they will be in operation to strengthen high speed railway transport," he said, adding that investing greatly in infrastructure boosts the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2 percent. African countries are embracing high-speed rail to replace the ageing and neglected colonial-era rail network in the drive to integrate the continent, develop economies and improve import and export speeds. So far Kenya has completed the first phase of its standard gauge railway (SGR) running from the coastal city of Mombasa to the capital Nairobi and has embarked on the second phase which connects Nairobi to the commercial town of Naivasha and plans are underway to extend the line to neighboring Uganda. Ethiopia has also inaugurated a major railway line connecting the landlocked country to Djibouti. The railway line links the capital Addis Ababa, to the Red Sea port of Djibouti -- a stretch of more than 750kms. Daniel Osiemo, CEO of African Peer Review Mechanisms, said in the long run it pays to put money in such infrastructure and added that the integration and connectivity will make Africa one huge trading block the same way the European Union did to its members states. Cleopatra Shiceka-Ntshingila, NEPAD's legal advisor, said the venture will succeed because it has the political will from African heads of states. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 21:50:08|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close WASHINGTON, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Astronomers said here Wednesday that they captured the first image of a black hole, unveiling the first direct visual evidence of an unseeable cosmic object and its shadow. An Earth-sized virtual telescope called Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) linking eight ground-based radio telescopes around the globe "saw" the black hole at the center of massive galaxy M87, 55 million light-years from Earth with a mass 6.5-billion times that of the Sun. At the press conference, scientists revealed a donut-like structure with a dark central region and a bright ring, which is the black hole's shadow against a disc of glowing gas that falls onto the black hole. The landmark result offers scientists a new way to study the most extreme objects in the universe predicted by Albert Einstein's general relativity. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 21:50:11|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has not only brought opportunities to Chinese companies but also benefitted countries and local residents along the routes. Chinese companies are finding new ways of going global while contributing to the development of relevant countries, thanks to new business opportunities brought about by the implementation of the BRI. China International Marine Containers (Group) Ltd. (CIMC), the world's largest container manufacturer, is reaping early rewards of the initiative as soaring railway freight along Belt and Road boosted demand for railway containers. Last year, it added over 12,000 containers tailored to railway transportation to its product inventory. The oversized open-top twenty-foot containers tailored to railway shipping were developed and manufactured by its subsidiary located in the city of Zhangzhou, east China's Fujian Province. Zhang Tao, general manager of Zhangzhou CIMC Containers, said the company will attach more importance to railway containers as the booming China-Europe rail service is creating new business opportunities. China-Europe freight trains made 6,363 trips in 2018, surging 73 percent from 2017, connecting 59 cities in China with 49 cities in 15 European countries. The freight service, a crucial part of the BRI, began operation in March 2011. Shanxi, an inland province, now eyes more trade and cultural ties with Belt and Road economies thanks to the development of the initiative. Chen Hecai, chairman of Shanxi Branch of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said he made business trips to nine countries along the route in 2018 alone, inking contracts and letters of intent worth of 45.33 million yuan (about 6.75 million U.S. dollars). The BRI has delivered fruitful outcomes in boosting economic growth and improving people's lives in participating countries. Local residents along the Belt and Road have benefited from improved infrastructure and more job opportunities as Chinese enterprises expanded their overseas businesses in Belt and Road regions. In eastern Africa, a 130-km road that traverses the drought-stricken savanna in north Kenya was completed in 2017 by China Wu Yi Co., Ltd. which is headquartered in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian Province. Apart from providing more economic opportunities for the whole country, especially the underdeveloped north, the Turbi-Moyale road, that connects Kenya and Ethiopia, has also changed the lives of thousands of local residents. Yang Dong, a project manager responsible for supplying water for construction needs, was soon surprised to find that local residents and their livestock frequently visited their ponds. As more residents benefited from the project, the Chinese construction workers were welcomed there. One day, Yang received six sheep as gifts from a local villager. Then, more ponds were dug to meet the demand of local residents. More than 200 households have chosen to settle near the ponds, and herdsmen from Ethiopia cross the border to get water from the ponds, according to Wan Dongsheng, deputy general manager of China Wu Yi Co., Ltd. Meanwhile, as the BRI keeps injecting impetus into China's trade links and cultural exchanges with other countries and China advances all-round opening-up, foreign enterprises gained more confidence in the Chinese market. Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik AG (AT&S), which tapped into the Chinese market in 2001, expanded its investment in China by introducing high-end semiconductor package substrate technology into China and opening a new production site in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality in 2016. Andreas Gerstenmayer, CEO of the world's leading printed circuit boards maker, said the BRI opened up new horizons for the company's development as sales volume from the Chinese market is expected to account for half of its global sales. "The Chinese market is the key revenue driver for AT&S and is vital to our future," said Gerstenmayer. Xu Hongcai, an economist with the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said the BRI has not only brought opportunities to Chinese companies but also benefitted residents and countries along the Belt and Road. According to this year's government work report, China will continue to "promote the joint pursuit" of the BRI, aiming at "shared growth through discussion and collaboration." File Photo: A migrant and his children take part in a sit-in protest at a train station in Athens, Greece, on April 5, 2019. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos) UNITED NATIONS, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on Tuesday called for political will to tackle refugee crises around the world and warned against toxic political language against refugees. Times are very challenging with regard to the issue of refugees as there is unprecedented stigmatization of refugees and migrants, traditional responses to refugee crises are increasingly inadequate, and there is a sense of an overwhelming global crisis, Grandi told the Security Council in a briefing. "But to portray this as a global crisis that is not manageable, in my opinion -- I'd like to propose -- it is wrong." With political will, with improved responses as enshrined in the new Global Compact on Refugees adopted by the General Assembly in December 2018, it is possible to address these crises and the Security Council has a critical role to play, said Grandi. He asked for efforts to create peace and security, to support countries that host the largest numbers of refugees, and to remove obstacles to solutions, and in particular to the return of people to their own countries. Of the nearly 70 million people that are displaced or refugees, most of them are fleeing conflict. If conflicts were prevented or resolved, most refugee flows would disappear, said Grandi. He deplored fragmented approaches to peacemaking and insufficient approaches to peacebuilding. "We see a lot of addressing the symptoms without addressing the causes," he said. However, political solutions to conflicts are not easy in today's world and forced displacement will continue for some time, he noted, asking for more support to countries that host large number of refugees. Eighty-five percent of the world's refugees are in poor or middle-income countries and support for those countries must be stepped up, he said. Grandi also asked to remove obstacles, in particular, those that prevent people from returning to their countries of origin. Syrian refugees, he said, have three major concerns: material concerns, including shelter, services and jobs; security concerns, including conscription and retaliation in general; and legal and administrative obstacles related to property and documentation. He asked countries to create conditions for the return of refugees and the returns must be dignified, secure and safe. Grandi observed that there is strong solidarity with refugees around the globe, but also hate speech of unprecedented scale. "That should be of concern to us all," he said, noting that the fatal mosque shootings in New Zealand was the result of such toxic political language. In a press encounter later Tuesday, Grandi said such toxic language, if unchecked, will have grave consequences. But he refused to say whether U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks on asylum seekers from Central America through the border with Mexico were toxic or not. "I did not accuse anybody of toxic language. I was referring to the language that prevails on this issue in social media, and sometimes also in political discourse." "When it comes to more senior level of leadership, I would certainly invite all leaders, not just President Trump, all leaders, including in my country, including in (other countries of) Europe, to be vigilant about the manner in which refugees, migrants are spoken of." To depict refugees and migrants in a negative manner or to depict their movement as "an invasion" is not a constructive way forward and doesn't provide any real solution, said Grandi. He said people who come to the United States with valid claims and asking for asylum should be heard. The situation in Central America is a situation of economic deprivation, which is likely to generate economic migration. But it is also a situation of extreme violence by gangs, lack of law and order, abuses, rapes and forced recruitment of children. People who are fleeing from that situation are refugees and should be considered as refugees, he said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 21:55:14|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close DAR ES SALAAM, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa has declared a total ban on all single-use plastic carrier bags with effect from June 1, this year, a statement from the Prime Minister's Information and Communication Unit said on Wednesday. The statement said Majaliwa announced the total ban on all single-use plastic carrier bags in parliament in the capital Dodoma on Wednesday night when winding up debate on his office's budget estimates for the 2019/2020 financial year. He told the House that the ban involved production, importation, sale and use of all single-use plastic carrier bags to help control pollution from non-biodegradable waste. Majaliwa said: "I recently directed the minister responsible for environment to hold consultations with stakeholders including manufacturers of plastic bags to ensure that the ban is observed to the brim." He said the government has given manufacturers of plastics bags enough time from now to May 31 to change their production technologies for production of other environmentally friendly goods. "We are taking these measures to protect the health of our people, the health of animals and the infrastructure against the harm done by non-biodegradable waste," said the premier. On Monday, the Minister of State in the Vice-President's Office responsible for Environment, January Makamba, told parliament the government has put in place plans to ban the use of single-use plastic carrier bags. Regulations on the legislation banning the use of single-use plastic carrier bags were ready pending a notice in the official government gazette, he said. In August 2017, neighboring Kenya introduced one of the world's toughest bans on plastic bags mandating four years in prison or a fine of 40,000 U.S. dollars for even using one. Kenya said this week that it was pushing its neighbors, especially Uganda and Tanzania, to ban the single-use plastic carrier bags, as it struggled to control smuggling of the products into its territory. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 21:55:19|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close CAPE TOWN, April 10 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's Parliament on Wednesday condemned "in the strongest terms" the disruption of the "Gangster State" book which claims to expose corruption involving African National Congress (ANC) Secretary General Ace Magashule. The disruption amounted to "repulsive acts of criminality and flagrant attack on the key principles of our Constitutional democracy," Parliament said. A group of protesters, some wearing ANC T-shirts, were tearing copies of Pieter-Louis Myburgh's "Gangster State" as it was launched in Johannesburg on Tuesday. The ANC has distanced itself from the incident and Magashule himself said the disruption was not done in his name. In a statement, Magashule described Tuesday's disruption as a reflection of political intolerance which goes against freedom of expression. The controversial book centers around Magashule's alleged involvement in years of corruption while he was Free State premier. A strong and clear message must be sent by the criminal justice system that activities like those perpetrated at the book launch have no place in South Africa's democracy, particularly as the nation marks the 25th anniversary since the end of apartheid, parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said. "Ours is a democracy founded on supremacy of the Constitution, its Bill of Rights and the rule of law," Mothapo said. The Constitution's Bill of Rights guarantees everyone the right to freedom of expression, which includes freedom to receive and impart information or ideas, he said. While protests are part of a robust and lively democracy, they must at all times be conducted within the bounds of legality, said Mothapo. "Those who are aggrieved by the contents of the book have recourse provided by our legislative instruments, instead of attacking the legitimate actions of the writers, publishers and book stores to bring matters that may well be uncomfortable to light," he said. The damage wreaked by the book launch disruption and the open threats to burn the book, is disturbing, even tragic, especially at this time when South Africa is less than a month away from the sixth general election after the end of apartheid, Mothapo said. "We are, nevertheless, heartened by the overwhelming consensus from most South Africans that we must defend our democracy against such shameless criminality," he added. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 22:05:27|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli (3rd R, back) poses with the expedition team set to remeasure the height of Mt. Qomolangma in Kathmandu, Nepal, April 10, 2019. An expedition team assigned by the Nepali government left for Mt. Qomolangma on Wednesday to remeasure the height of the world's tallest mountain. (Xinhua/Krishna Poudyal/PMO) KATHMANDU, April 10 (Xinhua) -- An expedition team assigned by the Nepali government left for Mt. Qomolangma on Wednesday to remeasure the height of the world's tallest mountain. Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli bid farewell to the team members at the Prime Minister's Office in the capital. The prime minister called on the government-nominated climbers to derive the true height of the peak. "It will be the authentic data regarding the height of the tallest peak once you come up with the report," he told the climbers. According to the Depart of Survey of Nepal, four government officials, namely Khimlal Gautam, Rabin Karki, Suraj Singh Bhandari and Yuvaraj Dhital, are among members of the expedition team who are assigned to re-measure the height of Mt. Qomolangma. The Nepali government's efforts to remeasure the height of Mt. Qomolangma comes amid speculations from various quarters that the world's tallest mountain has shrunk after the devastating earthquake which struck the country in 2015. Although expedition teams from various countries measured the altitude of Mt. Qomolangma and produced diverse results, Nepal has never became part of those expedition teams in the past. Nepal has so far recognized 8,848 metres as the altitude of the mountain which was measured by the Survey of India in 1954, according to officials of the Department of Survey of Nepal. China which first measured the height of the mountain in 1975 reassessed the summit in 2005, measuring the height peak's rock base 8,844.43 meters covered by 3.5 meters snow. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 22:10:29|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close RIYADH, April 10 (Xinhua) -- More than 100 Asian researchers and academics specialized in Asian Arabists issues from 18 countries gathered in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia, to discuss Arabic studies in Asian countries. Western Orientalism has spread and dominated the knowledge activity related to the Arab world and the sciences of Islam, and the field of Asian Arabists has been out of sight for decades, said Yahya Mahmoud bin Junaid, president of the Center for Research and Intercommunication Knowledge (CRIK), Saudi Arabia's think tank, on Wednesday. Now, the opportunity came to highlight and celebrate it, he said. The First Asian Arabists Conference, organized by CRIK, kicked off on Tuesday. The three-day event features 16 seminars where the researchers will discuss 87 research papers on Asian Arabists studies. "We are meeting in this event with those who have served the Arabic language and worked to develop its education and teaching in all parts of Asia," bin Junaid said. Zhu Weilie, director of the Committee of Experts of the China-Arab Research Center on Reform and Development, stressed the efforts made with the CRIK to revive the idea of the Asian Arabists project. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 22:15:35|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close ADDIS ABABA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian government on Wednesday disclosed ongoing efforts to sustainably rehabilitate more than 2 million internally displaced peoples (IDPs) across the East African country. The Ethiopian Ministry of Peace, during an ongoing discussion with members of international donor community being held to leverage joint-rehabilitation efforts in the country, also appealed for up to 700 million U.S. dollars of financial assistance to fund the rehabilitation of some 2 million displaced people who were affected by conflict and natural disasters. The Ethiopian government had recently established a national steering committee, led by the Ethiopian Ministry of Peace, to facilitate the national efforts that envisaged to sustainably rehabilitate the country's displaced people. The national steering committee brings together seven Ethiopian ministries together with the Ethiopian Federal Police and Attorney General's Office, which seeks to create an enabling environment where the returnees will be rehabilitated effectively. Appealing for close to 700 million U.S. dollars, the Ethiopian government also on Tuesday revealed the allocation of 24.6 million U.S. dollars from domestic financial sources to help rehabilitate the displaced. Ethiopia was spared significant climate-related calamities last year, but spikes in conflict-induced displacements, which led to a near doubling of internally displaced population, contributed to high humanitarian response needs in 2019. The latest financial appeal by the Ethiopian government came as the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) last week warned of a looming food crisis in eastern Africa, where 10.7 million people are currently food insecure. The East African bloc, IGAD, stressed that "immediate action is needed" following a foreseen high risk of worsening food insecurity in parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda if forecasted rainfall deficits materialize. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 22:15:37|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close TOKYO, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Japan confirmed on Wednesday that one of its locally assembled F-35A stealth fighters crashing the previous day marked the first such accident in the world for the jet. Japan's Defense Ministry told ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmakers that the crash in waters off Japan's northeast was the first of an F-35A anywhere in the world. The crash has also sparked concerns over the Japanese government's plans to buy 105 more of the 100-million-dollar fighters as it seeks to overhaul its aged fleet of mainstay jets as part of its controversial national defense guidelines. The Japanese F-35A fighter jet, some wreckage of which has been found in the Pacific Ocean off the coast Aomori Prefecture, was on an air-to-air training mission and took off from Misawa Air Base in Japan's northeast at around 7 p.m. on Tuesday evening, according to the Defense Ministry. It was flying off the coast of Aomori Prefecture about 135 km east of the base when radar contact was lost less than 30 minutes after takeoff, the ministry said. Japan's Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said the pilot, a major in his 40s who was flying the single-seat jet when it went missing and is still unaccounted for, radioed the three other pilots involved in the exercise comprising four F-35As, to abort the mission. The other pilots could not see the major's plane as it was dark, defense ministry officials said, and the planes were not flying close to each other during the combat drill. A Japanese Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) team looking into the the cause of the accident said it suspects the pilot, who had logged 3,200 hours of flying time including around 60 hours specifically flying F-35As, may have noticed some kind of abnormality before the plane crashed. The plane itself was less than one year old and had clocked only 280 hours in the air, the Defense Ministry said. The plane's black box will be hard to retrieve, officials said, as the plane crashed in waters around 1,500 meters deep. Following the crash, a world first for an F-35A although an F-35B crashed near a U.S. Marine Corps base in South Carolina in September with the pilot ejecting to safety, the remaining 12 F-35As deployed at the Misawa base here have been grounded. A new F-35 squadron has been formed at the base with 80 personnel and the Japanese government plans to bolster its fleet of 5th generation multi-role stealth fighters with the acquisition of a total of 105 F-35As and 42 of the short take-off variant F-35B stealth fighters. The jets, the Pentagon's most sophisticated 5th generation multi-role stealth fighters and most expensive weapons system, is supposed to replace Japan's fleet of F-15 and aging F-4 fighter planes. The 5th generation jets are co-developed by nine countries including the United States, Britain and Italy and are produced by the U.S. defense company Lockheed Martin Corp. The jet that crashed Tuesday, however, was assembled at Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.'s plant in Aichi Prefecture. It was the first time Japan had been involved in the production process of the 5th generation multi-role fighter. The crash of the jet which has a price tag of between 80 and more than 100 million U.S. dollars and costs around 50,000 U.S. dollars per hour to fly, while possibly not completely scuppering the government's planned acquisition, will certainly dent its plans to achieve air-defense superiority, as per its national defense guidelines, military analysts here said. Experts on the matter have also said that the crash will add to ongoing controversies regarding Japan's ever-increasing defense spending and contentious plans connected to its national defense guidelines. At the heart of recent controversies and currently outlined in the defense guidelines covering a period from fiscal 2019, is the planned upgrading of the Izumo-class helicopter carrier to enable it to transport and launch the F-35B multi-role stealth fighters the government plans to acquire. "We will refit Maritime Self-Defense Force multipurpose helicopter destroyers so fighter jets capable of short takeoffs and vertical landings can be deployed when necessary," the government said in its mid-term defense program, in stark contrast to previous assertions that the helicopter destroyers were not "defacto" aircraft carriers. The defense guidelines, to appease a concerned public, maintain that the retrofitting of the Izumo helicopter carrier to be able to carry and launch F-35Bs, among other aircraft, is not so Japan can posses an attack aircraft carry and hence is not in breach of Japan's Supreme Law which prohibits such weapons systems. Defense analysts have pointed out, however, that under Japan's Constitution, Article 9 of which reads... " land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained," means upgrading the Izumo-class of helicopter carriers into contemporary "de facto" aircraft carriers, whether it permanently carries 5th generation fighter jets or not, is in contradiction of Japan's pacifist charter. Japan's opposition parties have taken aim at the government's constitutionally dubious maritime and air force plans for being in excess of the country's defensive needs. Defense experts here have also voiced caution that the plans could act as a legitimate catalyst for the buildup of military assets in neighboring countries. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 22:20:43|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close BAGHDAD, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said that the U.S. decision to designate Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a "terrorist organization" doesn't serve stability in the Middle East. "The recent U.S. decision to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization is a decision that does not fit the region's need for stability. Our region needs decisions that contribute to strengthening its stability," the ministry said in a statement. "Iraq maintains its firm position, and will not allow its territory to be a base or a corridor to harm any neighboring country," the statement quoted the ministry spokesman Ahmed al-Sahaf, as saying. He said that Iraq wants to be neutral and will be active in any initiative that positively reflects on the security of the region, according to the statement. "Terrorism has been defeated in Iraq, and its elimination in the region requires the efforts of all parties in it," al-Sahaf said. On Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said that his country had tried to stop the U.S. decision to designate Iran's IRGC as a "terrorist organization." "We tried to stop the decision to include the IRGC on the terrorism list, and contacted King Abdullah of Jordan, the U.S. government and the Egyptian government," Abdul Mahdi said. "We explained to them that the decision could have negative impacts on Iraq and the entire region, and that such escalation could further disturb the region," he said. "We have told Iran and America that we do not want Iraq to be a field of conflicts," Abdul Mahdi added. Abdul Mahdi's comment came a day after the United States designated Iran's IRGC as a "foreign terrorist organization," a move that is expected to further complicate the Middle East situation. Iran also designated the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and all its affiliates as "a terrorist group" on Monday. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 22:35:52|Editor: yan Video Player Close BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Vice chairpersons of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), or China's national legislature, Zhang Chunxian, Shen Yueyue, Ji Bingxuan, Padma Choling and Wu Weihua on Wednesday participated in a tree-planting event in Beijing. They were joined by a group of legislators from the NPC Standing Committee and the NPC's special committees at the event held at the Qinglong Lake tree-planting area in Fengtai District. In just over an hour, around 350 saplings of different types of trees were planted. Amid the NPC organs' own ecological conservation efforts, tree-planting activities they have organized since 2005 in the Beigong National Forest Park, Fengtai District, have given birth to the "NPC Woods," which are of a considerable scale and an important landscape of the park. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 22:56:11|Editor: yan Video Player Close BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday urged relevant countries to offer a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for enterprises of various countries, including Chinese ones. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang made the remarks at a routine press briefing when asked whether Australia applies double standards on the cybersecurity issue. Recently, a number of Australian media reported that relevant Australian law mandated communication enterprises install "backdoors" for the Australian government. Google, Apple, Amazon and other technology companies have expressed serious concern about the act, saying it threatens cybersecurity in Australia and the world. While the Australian side previously claimed that the country does not want any company in its communications networks that have an obligation to any other government. For this reason, Australia banned Huawei from the 5G telecommunications network. Noting China has been closely following the relevant developments, Lu said the communication market and international cooperation will be seriously affected when it forces enterprises to install "backdoors" by legislation, which builds its own security and interests on the basis of violating other countries' security and the privacy of their citizens. "As you can see, the business communities have expressed serious concern about this," Lu said. A puzzling thing is that on the one hand, relevant countries use cybersecurity and sensationalize the so-called "security threat" of other countries or enterprises with trumped-up charges. On the other hand, they are doing things that endanger cybersecurity, Lu said. "I am just as interested as you are in what the Australian government would say," said the spokesperson. Emphasizing that China has always attached great importance to and firmly maintained cybersecurity, Lu said that the Chinese side is willing to continue to actively participate in international cooperation in cybersecurity and work with all parties to build a peaceful, secure, open, cooperative and orderly cyberspace. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 23:06:25|Editor: yan Video Player Close RIGA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The number of municipalities in Latvia will be reduced to 35 from 119 under a draft plan, which the Environmental Protection and Regional Development Ministry presented at a news conference on Wednesday. Presenting the proposed new layout of municipalities, Latvian Environmental Protection and Regional Development Minister Juris Puce stressed that the range of local governments' functions would remain the same in the future. The idea is to create much larger and economically stronger municipalities around Latvia's largest cities and development centers, which would facilitate the provision of high-quality municipal services for adequate costs, the minister said. Puce went on to argue that Latvia will be able to save an estimated 120 million euros as a smaller number of local governments means they will need fewer municipal employees. The draft reform plan also calls for cutting the number of local council members to 686 from 1,614. The Finance Ministry, meanwhile, might revise the local governments' funding schemes. "This is not the final proposal but a blueprint for debating. The final version will be the result of common work," Puce said, voicing at the same time the resolve to carry through with the reform. The regional development minister's municipal reform plan will now be debated by local authorities and residents of Latvia's regions. By December 2019, the ministry plans to table the reform's final version to the parliament. Puce said earlier that he wanted the municipal reform to be completed by the next local elections, which will take place in 2021. Several local governments have already expressed the wish to hold municipal referendums on the reform plan. Puce said at the news conference he was in favor of taking as democratic approach to the reform as possible. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 23:16:33|Editor: yan Video Player Close Shen Zhiqiang, head of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SAO), presides over a press conference to release the first-ever image of a supermassive black hole at the heart of the distant galaxy M87, in east China's Shanghai, April 10, 2019. The image of the black hole, based on observations through the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration, was unveiled in coordinated press conferences across the globe at around 9:00 p.m. (Beijing time) on Wednesday. The landmark result offers scientists a new way to study the most extreme objects in the universe predicted by Albert Einstein's general relativity. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) WASHINGTON, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Astronomers said here Wednesday that they captured the first image of a black hole, unveiling the first direct visual evidence of an unseeable cosmic object and its shadow. An Earth-sized virtual telescope called Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) linking eight ground-based radio telescopes around the globe "saw" the black hole at the center of massive galaxy M87, 55 million light-years from Earth with a mass 6.5-billion times that of the Sun. At the press conference, scientists revealed a donut-like structure with a dark central region and a bright ring, which is the black hole's shadow against a disc of glowing gas that falls onto the black hole. It is a "surprising" finding, an "astonishment" and "wonder," Harvard astrophysicist Sheperd Doeleman, EHT's project director, described the image, whose release won immediate applause at the conference. The landmark result offers scientists a new way to study the most extreme objects in the universe predicted by Albert Einstein's general relativity. Black holes are extremely compressed cosmic objects predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity. It has a gravitational pull that is so intense that nothing, not even light, can escape it once inside a certain region called the event horizon. Jason Dexter, EHT team member and an astrophysicist with Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, told Xinhua that the size and shape of the shadow are "a prediction of general relativity and detecting it would be the best evidence for the existence of a black hole in the universe." A team of more than 200 scientists including Chinese astronomers worked to capture and develop the image, thanks to a global network of eight pre-existing telescopes, according to EHT. "Breakthroughs in technology and the completion of new radio telescopes over the past decade enabled our team to assemble this new instrument, designed to see the unseeable," said Doeleman. "A direct observation of black hole will be tremendous for our understanding of the spacetime that we are in," Yau Shing-Tung, mathematician and a senior faculty of Harvard's Black Hole Initiative, told Xinhua. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 23:26:40|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Myanmar's Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services Min Aung Hlaing at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 10, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Gang) BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Myanmar's Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services Min Aung Hlaing at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Wednesday. Noting the long-standing "Paukphaw" (fraternal) friendship between China and Myanmar, Xi spoke of the sound development of bilateral relations at present, the expanding exchanges and cooperation in various fields and at various levels, and new progress in the Belt and Road cooperation. China attaches great importance to China-Myanmar relations, Xi said, noting that no matter how the international situation changes, China is willing as always to strengthen strategic communication with Myanmar, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, and constantly enrich the China-Myanmar comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, so as to bring more tangible benefits to the two peoples and contribute joint efforts to regional stability and prosperity. Xi said China-Myanmar military cooperation is an important part of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries. The armed forces of the two countries should deepen practical exchanges and cooperation, and work together to build a military-to-military relationship based on mutual trust and benefit and devoted to safeguarding the common security and development interests of the two countries, Xi said. Xi said China supports Myanmar's peace process and pays attention to the development of situation in northern Myanmar. He expressed the hope that Myanmar will work with China to further strengthen border management and jointly safeguard border security and stability. Noting the long-standing traditional friendship between Myanmar and China and the sound development of bilateral and military-to-military ties, Min Aung Hlaing said Myanmar appreciates China's long-term and valuable assistance to the national and military development of Myanmar and the support to its peace process. He said Myanmar welcomes, supports and stands ready to actively participate in the Belt and Road cooperation, strengthen practical cooperation with China in various fields, and take practical measures to safeguard stability in the Myanmar-China border areas. Li Zuocheng, member of China's Central Military Commission (CMC) and chief of staff of the Joint Staff of the CMC, and other officials were present at the meeting. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 23:26:47|Editor: yan Video Player Close BANGKOK, April 10 (Xinhua) -- An expert of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and pacific (UNESCAP) on Wednesday told Xinhua that modeling the China Public Private Partnerships (PPP) Center will help bridge infrastructure financing gap in the Asia Pacific Region. The UNESCAP team on Wednesday warned that unless national and international financial systems are revamped, the world's governments will fail to keep their promises on critical issues such as combatting climate change and eradicating poverty by 2030. "Greenhouse gas emissions grew 1.3 percent in 2017; investment in many countries is falling; and 30 developing countries are now at high risk or already in debt distress,'' UNESCAP said in its latest report "Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2019." Tientip Subhanij, Chief of Financing for Development at UNESCAP's Macroeconomic Policy and Financing for Development Division, said since the public sector lacks adequate fund in financing infrastructure, it is vital to pull strengths from private sector to bridge the gap. "Infrastructure development is undoubtedly critical for a country's long-term economic growth and competitiveness as it impacts economic activities by increasing productivity, facilitating trade, and promoting innovation, " said Tientip. "Across the Asia Pacific region, however, economic growth as well as broader development goals are hindered by a shortage of roads, mass rapid transit systems, telecommunications, power plants, water and sanitation and other basic infrastructure." Tientip said modeling the September 2018 China Public Private Partnerships Center again in 2019 will give an opportunity for state governments to learn from the China PPP to engage with private sectors to finance infrastructure projects. Tientip said that UNESCAP in collaboration with China PPP successfully organized the first meeting between state and private sectors at the City of Guiyang at Guizhou Province last September. "It was the first regional event, among many more to come, that leverages on the fact that countries in the region are increasingly accumulating experience in engaging private sector for their infrastructure investment." "It gathered the heads of PPP units, infrastructure specialists and capital market experts from 22 countries in the region to enhance knowledge and capacity of PPP units on the effective use of PPP mechanisms as well as other infrastructure financing strategies to support the pursuit of sustainable infrastructure development," said Tientip. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 23:26:49|Editor: yan Video Player Close TOKYO, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Olympics minister Yoshitaka Sakurada resigned Wednesday after he was caught up in the gaffe scandal and suffered mounting pressure, local media reported. "I felt I had to take responsibility and submitted my resignation" to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Sakurada said in a press conference in Tokyo. The 69-year-old was in charge of the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics Games to be hosted by Tokyo. When giving a speech on Wednesday at a Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmaker's fund raiser, Sakurada said that an LDP lawmaker from Japan's northeastern region, which was stricken by the 2011 earthquake tsunami and nuclear disaster, is "more important than the (region's) recovery." In February, Sakurada said he was "very disappointed" with the leukemia diagnosis of Rikako Ikee, a swimming gold medal hopeful for Japan in the Tokyo Olympics, triggering heavy criticism in the country. The official also said last November that he does not use a computer. After accepting Sakurada's resignation letter on Wednesday night, Abe made a public apology for appointing Sakurada as the Olympics minister. Sakurada is the eighth Cabinet minister to resign since Abe resumed office in 2012. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 23:31:51|Editor: yan Video Player Close BERLIN, April 10 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke out in favor of a planned postponement of Brexit in order to prevent Britain from leaving the European Union (EU) in an unregulated manner on Wednesday. "The federal government is still very interested in an orderly withdrawal of Great Britain from the European Union," Merkel told the German parliament ahead of an EU special summit on Wednesday. Merkel noted, however, that "it may well be that it is a longer extension than the one requested by the British Prime Minister". British Prime Minister Theresa May wanted to ask for an extension of the withdrawal period until June 30 at the special EU summit. European Council president Donald Tusk, on the other hand, has proposed a delay of up to 12 months, with the option of Britain withdrawing sooner if an agreement on a Brexit deal is reached. "I believe that the extension should be as short as possible, but it should also give us some peace of mind so that we do not have to deal with the same issue every two weeks," Merkel stressed. The German Chancellor was planning to coordinate her position with French President Emmanuel Macron at a meeting in Brussels before the EU summit. It was only right that the 27 EU member states "should take Britain's wishes into account in their decisions if possible", Merkel said. She would therefore support an extension of the deadline for several months if there is a broad consensus among EU leaders. Nonetheless, once Great Britain has reached a decision, it should be possible "for the withdrawal to take place immediately," stressed Merkel. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 23:52:06|Editor: yan Video Player Close JERUSALEM, April 10 (Xinhua) -- As some leaders around the world on Wednesday congratulated Israel's right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his likely re-election after tight-raced parliamentary elections, Syria and Palestine showed indifference towards the outcomes. "The results (of Israeli elections) haven't been finalized yet but I don't think that the elections would have any impact on the regional issues if the party that is running against Netanyahu doesn't oppose him in politics," Hmaidi Abdullah, a political expert said. "So even if someone other than Netanyahu won the elections, there would be no difference in dealing with the regional issues as both candidates have the same stance toward the Golan Heights," Abdullah added. The remarks came after 97 percent of the votes were counted for Israeli elections, which indicated that the long-serving prime minister was in tie with his main rival, Benny Gantz. However, the right-wing parties in the parliament secured an overwhelming majority bloc, meaning that Netanyahu was highly likely to form Israel's next governing coalition. Hussam Shuaib, another political expert, said that "the change in names of the Israeli governments has not changed the essence of dealing with the regional issues particularly in Syria." "But I can say that U.S. President Donald Trump has exerted big efforts to promote Netanyahu as the upcoming prime minister," the expert added. Shuaib said that the attempt to gain more voices for Netanyahu was felt when Trump moved the embassy to Jerusalem, which was followed by the U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Syrian Golan Heights. "I think that the latest move pleased Israel but in reality, the U.S. cannot hold the burden of such a decision," Shuaib noted. Palestinian officials said that they do not count on the results of Israel's parliamentary elections and are not betting on their results. "The Palestinian side does not count on the parliamentary elections in Israel," Ahmed Majdalani, member of Executive Committee of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told Xinhua. Nabil Shaath, adviser to the Palestinian president for foreign affairs and international relations, told Xinhua that the Israeli elections "are different from any previous elections because of the dominance of the far-right parties of the scene." He said that the election campaign in Israel "is only to support the settlements and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state so we do not expect much of the results of these elections." Trump, who has close ties with Netanyahu, praised Netanyahu's "apparent victory," saying that the White House's plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians has "a better chance now that Bibi (Netanyahu) has won." "I'd like to congratulate Netanyahu. It looks like that race has been won by him. It may be a little early but I'm hearing that he's won it and won it in good fashion," Trump told reporters in Washington. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Italy's far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini also congratulated Netanyahu. "Congratulations to Prime Minister Netanyahu for an excellent showing in yesterday's national elections," the pro-Israel leader Kurz wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. "While the official results have yet to be published, one matter is clear: you have, once again, gained the trust of the people of Israel in record numbers," Kurz added. Meanwhile, local Israeli press reported that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani criticized the Israeli elections during an Iranian government's meeting. "It is the occupied Palestinians who should have voted, not the Israeli occupiers," he said, adding that the identity of the next Israeli prime minister was "meaningless." Islamic Hamas movement said that the election's outcomes were "irrelevant." Khalil al-Hayya, senior Hamas official, said that "all the parties are the faces of one coin. The coin of occupation." He added that there was "no difference" between the Israeli parties, and vowed that Hamas would continue seeking to "end the occupation and achieve our national goals," Times of Israel reported. With the final results expected by April 17, Netanyahu, if re-elected, is expected to start his fifth term as prime minister and become the longest-serving prime minister in Israel's history. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 23:52:11|Editor: yan Video Player Close YAOUNDE, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Cameroon's House Speaker of National Assembly Cavaye Yeguie Djibril on Wednesday called on the international community to have a "greater understanding" of the ongoing conflict in the two English-speaking regions of the West African country to avoid "speaking in favour" of armed groups. "The security situation is still a major preoccupation in our country especially in the Northwest and Southwest regions," Djibril said during a closing plenary session of the National Assembly. "Much is still to be done but recent actions make us believe that the future is promising." "We wish for greater understanding, objectivity and solidarity with our bilateral and multilateral partners in the outlook (of the conflict)," he added. Djibril regretted that "some international NGOs" have "deliberately" turned a blind-eye to the "daily" atrocities committed by armed groups in the restive regions and "instead blames government." He said, the government is making efforts to speed up decentralization process that is expected to resolve the conflict. "This session has been devoted to decentralization. Two bills have been passed that give us the path which we can follow. We are completing the decentralization process. This could be a remedy to the conflict," senior member of Cameroon's parliament, Enoh Tanjong told Xinhua. According to the United Nations, about 430,000 people have been internally displaced in the clashes between the government forces and armed separatists seeking to create an independent nation in the English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 23:52:13|Editor: yan Video Player Close Shen Zhiqiang, head of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SAO), presides over a press conference to release the first-ever image of a supermassive black hole at the heart of the distant galaxy M87, in east China's Shanghai, April 10, 2019.. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) SHANGHAI, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese astronomers have made contributions to a global effort to capture the first-ever image of a supermassive black hole at the heart of the distant galaxy M87. The image of the black hole, based on observations through the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration, was unveiled in coordinated press conferences across the globe at around 9:00 p.m. (Beijing time) on Wednesday. The image shows a crescent-shaped, ring-like structure with a dark central region - the black hole's shadow. The black hole revealed is at the center of M87, about 55 million light-years from Earth, with a mass 6.5 billion times that of the Sun. "This is the first direct visual evidence about black holes obtained by humans, confirming that Einstein's theory of general relativity still holds in extreme conditions," said Shen Zhiqiang, head of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SAO). Black holes are extraordinary cosmic objects with enormous masses but extremely compact sizes, producing such gravitational force that not even light can escape. The presence of these objects affects their environment in extreme ways, warping spacetime and super-heating any surrounding material. Predicted almost a century ago by Einstein's theory of general relativity, black holes not only exist but actually power some of the most extreme phenomena in the universe, scientists say. "The dark area and the ring of the black hole have opened a window for us to reconstruct its process of gobbling surrounding material and understand the strange events during this process better in the future," said Lu Rusen, a researcher with the SAO. The observations use a technique called very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) which synchronizes telescope facilities around the world and exploits the rotation of Earth to form one huge, Earth-size telescope observing at a wavelength of 1.3 mm. VLBI allows the EHT to achieve an angular resolution of 20 micro-arcseconds - enough to read a newspaper in New York from a sidewalk cafe in Paris, scientists say. The EHT is the result of years of international collaboration and offers scientists a new way to study the most extreme objects in the universe predicted by Einstein's general relativity. It was also supported by the Center for Astronomical MegaScience (CAMS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), co-established by National Astronomical Observatories, Purple Mountain Observatory and SAO. More than 200 researchers, including 16 from the Chinese mainland, participated in the scientific feat. Chinese scientists participated in the observations in Spain and Hawaii and made contributions to the data analysis and theoretical explanation of the black hole. SAO took the lead in organizing and coordinating Chinese researchers to participate in the observations and studies. "The successful imaging of the black hole in the center of M87 is just the beginning of the EHT collaboration," said Shen. "More exciting results are expected from the EHT project in the near future," Shen said. Creating the EHT was a formidable challenge which required upgrading and connecting a worldwide network of eight pre-existing telescopes deployed at a variety of challenging high-altitude sites. These locations included volcanoes in Hawaii and Mexico, mountains in Arizona and the Spanish Sierra Nevada, the Chilean Atacama Desert and Antarctica. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 23:57:18|Editor: yan Video Player Close VIENNA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Vienna International Airport registered a 23.9 percent year-on-year increase in passenger traffic in March serving almost 2.4 million people, its operator the Flughafen Wien Group said on Wednesday. The number of local passengers increased by 27.5 percent and transfer passenger volume was up 10.4 percent. Flight movements at Austria's largest airport, which serves as the hub for Austrian Airlines and Eurowings Europe and is also a base for low-cost carriers easyJet Europe, Lauda, Level and Wizz Air, were also up a substantial 16 percent year-on-year reaching almost 21,000. The number of passengers flying to eastern Europe was up 29.1 percent, while that of western Europe-bound passengers was up 22.7 percent in March. The number of passengers flying to destinations in the Middle East increased by 18.9 percent, and the respective figures were 17.8 percent for north America, 9.2 percent for Africa, and 8.4 percent for east Asia. Passenger numbers increased less markedly at the two other airports operated by the Flughafen Wien Group: Malta Airport and Kosice Airport in Slovakia, where passenger numbers in March were up 1.3 percent and down 9.9 percent, respectively. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-11 00:02:24|Editor: yan Video Player Close MOGADISHU, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The United States military said Wednesday its special forces conducted an airstrike in southern Somalia on Tuesday, killing one terrorist. The U.S. Africa Command said the strike which was conducted in cooperation with Somali government near Jilib, Middle Juba Region did not kill or injure any civilians. Somalia and U.S. forces have intensified incursions into the territory formerly controlled by al-Shabab after driving the insurgents out of Mogadishu in 2011. Since 2017, the U.S. military has stepped up air raids against al-Shabab. Al-Shabab controls large parts of rural southern and central Somalia and continues to carry out high-profile attacks in Mogadishu and elsewhere. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-11 00:02:27|Editor: yan Video Player Close CHINGOLA, Zambia, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Zambia's business community are making efforts to forge partnerships with Chinese entrepreneurs to acquire technology and skills transfer. Noah Sichalwe, a farmer in the peri-urban areas in Chingola, said economic growth is key to Zambia's trajectory growth path. "Even in farming on commercial basis, there should be partnerships with countries like China that are able to provide the technical know-how in farming activities for the growth of the sector," he said. Sichalwe recalled that China provided long grain rice that is grown in Western province. "Zambia's agricultural potential should be utilized to the fullest being the second major employer in the country," he added. FS Musonda Trading Limited, a Chingola based enterprise, is among local companies that have forged partnerships with a Chinese company. The Zambian firm has since entered into a partnership with Fawell Limited, a Chinese Company which deals in electrical overhead processing cranes. The partnership will see the Zambian firm become an agent of the Chinese firm in the marketing of electrical overhead processing cranes for the mining industry in Zambia. The Chinese firm will also train the staff of the local firm on repairing and maintenance of the equipment. "For the last five years, I have been testing the strength of the equipment on the Zambian market in about five mines. It has performed exceptionally well like the machinery from America and Europe," said Fred Musonda, managing director of FS Musonda Trading Limited. Musonda said Chinese machinery are cost effective and energy efficient, which will result in low cost production. Musonda, who is also president of the Chingola Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), said partnering with the Chinese firm has changed the status of his company, adding that it's a lifetime investment. He also encouraged members of the chamber and Zambians as a whole to forge such partnerships. Japhen Mwakalombe, Minister of Copperbelt Province, said forging partnerships with the Chinese by local entrepreneurs is a welcome move that will benefit both sides. The Zambian minister said China and Zambia have historical bilateral ties dating as far back the time Zambia gained independence from colonial rule. "Zambians' partnering with Chinese firms will open up doors for enhanced business activities as the Chinese have the expertise in various economic fields," he said. Mwakalombe urged Zambians working in the manufacturing sector, in particular, to come forward and partner with their counterparts in China for enhanced economic activities. File Photo: A U.S. Navy Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft takes part in the Malta International Airshow at SmartCity Malta outside Kalkara, Malta, Sept. 23, 2017. (Xinhua/REUTERS) WASHINGTON, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Navy said Wednesday it has sent a P-8A maritime patrol aircraft and a guided-missile destroyer in search of a Japanese F-35A jet that crashed off the coast of Japan. One P-8A has joined Japanese aircraft and vessels in the search and rescue operation overnight, while the USS Stethem destroyer is "sailing to the search area now," the statement said. The F-35A lost radar contact approximately 85 miles (137 km) east of Misawa Air Base 30 minutes after taking off around 7 p.m. (1000 GMT) Tuesday. The base is in northern Japan near the city of Aomori. Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya confirmed Wednesday that the F-35A fighter jet that went missing during a training exercise a day earlier over the Pacific had crashed. There are currently 12 F-35As deployed at the Misawa base, which have been temporarily grounded. Each F-35A comes with a price tag of more than 90 million U.S. dollars. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-11 00:22:42|Editor: yan Video Player Close TALLINN, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid Wednesday met with her Latvian counterpart Raimonds Vejonis to focus on issues of energy, environment, security and enhanced bilateral cooperation. The two presidents discussed cooperation in the sectors of e-governance, security and environment, as well as the Rail Baltica project, a greenfield rail transport infrastructure project with a goal to integrate the Baltic States in the European rail network, which includes five European Union (EU) countries of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and indirectly also Finland. They also stressed the importance of the synchronization of Baltic power networks with continental Europe, which is regarded as a security issue of the Baltic states. Kaljulaid and Vejonis also visited Locked Shields 2019, an international cyber defense exercise organized by NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence based in Tallinn. The exercise includes new critical infrastructure components and integrates the technical and strategic game with the aim to enable participating nations to practice the entire chain of command in solving a large-scale cyber incident, said the organizer. Vejonis also met with the Estonian Prime Minister Yuri Ratas and Henn Polluaas, president of the Estonian parliament, to tackle on bilateral ties, defence, the EU and NATO, among others. During his state visit to Estonia from Tuesday to Thrusday, the Latvian president Thursday was scheduled to visit Sakret, the largest mortar factory in the Baltic States, which was founded on the basis of Latvian private capital and is located near Paide, about 90 km southeast to Tallinn. He will also visit the Town Hall of Tartu and the University of Tartu, as well as the Estonia National Museum in Estonia's second largest city, according to the schedule. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-11 00:27:44|Editor: yan Video Player Close JOHANNESBURG, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The South African Human Rights Commission is optimistic that its intervention in the prolonged Sibanye-Stillwater gold mine strike might end the industrial action that has killed nine people. The commission visited Sibanye Driefontein gold mine on Wednesday to get a first-hand experience of the situation since the strike commenced five months ago. Buang Jones, the commission provincial leader described what had been happening in the mine due to the strike as "mayhem." "Today, we embarked on a fact finding mission to establish the cause of the strike at three of Sibanye's gold mines. We can say this is a serious mayhem," Jones told Xinhua after the meeting with Sibanye, police and the unions. Jones said the police informed them that 128 cases including murder, attempted murder, arson and intimidation have been registered. At least 78 houses and 14 vehicles belong to miners have been torched. "We are looking at how we can facilitate a settlement, but we will not impose solutions. This requires all parties to make a compromise," he said. The Sibanye strike began in November when three labour unions signed a three year wage agreement with the employer, but the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) rejected the wage deal. Unions that signed the agreement said their members have been intimidated and prevented from going to work with the use of violence since. Jones said while the other three unions took part in Wednesday's meeting, AMCU did not attend. The commission said a follow-up meeting would take place next week and then Sibanye mine would submit its report on the situation. "We will then determine whether a full inquiry should be conducted into everything once we've met and received all reports," Jones added. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-11 00:27:46|Editor: yan Video Player Close MUNICH, April 10 (Xinhua) -- China's Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co. Ltd, has stressed localization during the process of internationalization, Zhan Chunxin, CEO of Zoomlion, has told the press at the bauma 2019 construction machinery trade fair here. "Most of our products presented here were produced in Europe by German and Italian companies we have acquired, which shows that Zoomlion's internationalization stressed localization," said Zhan on Monday. Zoomlion, one of China's largest heavy machinery companies, has made a series of acquisitions, including the purchase of Italy's concrete machinery maker CIFA in 2008; German dry-mixed mortar equipment maker m-tec in 2014; and German tower crane company Wilbert last year. "We have never sent over anyone from Zoomlion to manage these companies. Instead, we rely on local teams to perform management tasks," Zhan said, adding they consider these companies they have acquired as members of a big family. "There is a lot of trust between us," Zhan stated. "M-tec is getting a maximum of freedom to define its own business strategy in Europe and other key markets. In fact, m-tec also grew globally by more than 30 percent in the last three years and its profitability is constantly growing," Michael Meding, general manager of m-tec, told Xinhua on Tuesday. "The freedom to manage the global markets independently is encouraging the global m-tec team very much because they feel highly respected and recognized by Zoomlion." M-tec's sales volume in China has quintupled since 2014, when it entered the Chinese market. In 2018, the amount of CIFA's sales revenue (excluding in Italy and China) of the total revenue rose to 79.2 percent from 46.3 percent before the acquisition, and Zoomlion's competitive products, such as truck cranes and tower cranes, have been produced in Italy. The Chinese and Italian machinery makers stepped up technical cooperation and harnessed more business opportunities under the the Belt and Road Initiative. The new all-terrain truck crane jointly developed by CIFA and Zoomlion made its debut at the bauma trade fair. This machine exemplifies CIFA's business expansion as well as Zoomlion's efficient collaboration with CIFA. These cases show that China and Germany have their respective advantages in the machinery field, and through mutually beneficial cooperation the two countries can achieve a win-win result. The German bauma trade fair is held every three years in Munich. This year it is open on April 8-14. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-11 00:27:47|Editor: yan Video Player Close YANGON, April 10 (Xinhua) -- An ethnic insurgent group Arakan Army (AA) attacked the headquarters of police battalions in Myanmar's Rakhine state, according to the release from the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defense Service late Wednesday. Starting from 10:05 p.m. on Tuesday, a group of AA insurgents with heavy and small weapons attacked the military housing for married police, targeting to attack the main base of the police battalion later in Mrauk-U township. The security police and military columns jointly fought back the armed insurgents and the headquarters was under control by the military. The insurgent group retreated at 05:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The armed attack killed two police and one family member while seven police personnel went missing and seven family members of security personnel including three children were taken away by the AA insurgents, according to the Myanmar Police Force. A total of 23 members of AA insurgents who fled to the nearby villages were captured by the military column after the clash. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-11 00:32:50|Editor: yan Video Player Close Shen Zhiqiang, head of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SAO), presides over a press conference to release the first-ever image of a supermassive black hole at the heart of the distant galaxy M87, in east China's Shanghai, April 10, 2019.. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) SHANGHAI, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese astronomers have made contributions to a global effort to capture the first-ever image of a supermassive black hole at the heart of the distant galaxy M87. The image of the black hole, based on observations through the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration, was unveiled in coordinated press conferences across the globe at around 9:00 p.m. (Beijing time) on Wednesday. The image shows a crescent-shaped, ring-like structure with a dark central region -- the black hole's shadow. The black hole revealed is at the center of M87, about 55 million light-years from Earth, with a mass 6.5 billion times that of the Sun. "This is the first direct visual evidence about black holes obtained by humans, confirming that Einstein's theory of general relativity still holds in extreme conditions," said Shen Zhiqiang, head of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SAO). Black holes are extraordinary cosmic objects with enormous masses but extremely compact sizes, producing such gravitational force that not even light can escape. The presence of these objects affects their environment in extreme ways, warping spacetime and super-heating any surrounding material. Predicted almost a century ago by Einstein's theory of general relativity, black holes not only exist but actually power some of the most extreme phenomena in the universe, scientists say. "The dark area and the ring of the black hole have opened a window for us to reconstruct its process of gobbling surrounding material and understand the strange events during this process better in the future," said Lu Rusen, a researcher with the SAO. The observations use a technique called very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) which synchronizes telescope facilities around the world and exploits the rotation of Earth to form one huge, Earth-size telescope observing at a wavelength of 1.3 mm. VLBI allows the EHT to achieve an angular resolution of 20 micro-arcseconds -- enough to read a newspaper in New York from a sidewalk cafe in Paris, scientists say. The EHT is the result of years of international collaboration and offers scientists a new way to study the most extreme objects in the universe predicted by Einstein's general relativity. It was also supported by the Center for Astronomical MegaScience (CAMS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), co-established by National Astronomical Observatories, Purple Mountain Observatory and SAO. More than 200 researchers, including 16 from the Chinese mainland, participated in the scientific feat. Chinese scientists participated in the observations in Spain and Hawaii and made contributions to the data analysis and theoretical explanation of the black hole. SAO took the lead in organizing and coordinating Chinese researchers to participate in the observations and studies. "The successful imaging of the black hole in the center of M87 is just the beginning of the EHT collaboration," said Shen. "More exciting results are expected from the EHT project in the near future," Shen said. Creating the EHT was a formidable challenge which required upgrading and connecting a worldwide network of eight pre-existing telescopes deployed at a variety of challenging high-altitude sites. These locations included volcanoes in Hawaii and Mexico, mountains in Arizona and the Spanish Sierra Nevada, the Chilean Atacama Desert and Antarctica. In April 2017, the eight ground radio telescopes made a five-day coordinated observation and collected about 3,500-TB data. One TB equals 1,024 GB, equivalent to the data volume of 500 hours of HD movies. Since the data amount was too large to be transmitted through the network, EHT scientists had to download them in hard disks first and send the disks back to the data processing centers. This process involved a data size and difficulties that were never met before. Even with a powerful computing capability, scientists still took nearly two years to "develop" the photo. "We have achieved something presumed to be impossible just a generation ago. Breakthroughs in technology, connections between the world's best radio observatories, and innovative algorithms all came together to open an entirely new window on black holes and the event horizon," said EHT project director Sheperd S. Doeleman. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-11 00:37:54|Editor: yan Video Player Close CAIRO, April 10 (Xinhua) -- China's giant shoe manufacturer Huajian Group is expected to pump huge investments in Egypt's leather industrial area on the outskirts of capital Cairo, the Egyptian trade and industry minister said in a statement on Wednesday. Amr Nassar, Egypt's minister of trade and industry, made the statement after his meeting with a delegation from Huajian led by the group's founder and chairman Zhang Huarong, which was attended by Han Bing, minister counselor for economic affairs at the Chinese embassy in Cairo. "Huajian targets pumping huge investments in the new Roubiki Leather City, particularly finished leather products with high added-value," said the Egyptian minister. He revealed that the Chinese footwear producer also plans to establish a complete industrial zone near an international airport for some light industries including textiles, electronics and home appliances. "Egypt provides all forms of support to earnest investors in all economic and investment sectors that would benefit the investors and the Egyptian economy alike," Nassar added. He highlighted Huajian's expertise in leather manufacturing and its success in establishing a complete leather industrial park in Ethiopia, describing the group as "one of the largest investors in Africa." For his part, Zhang said that his group's plan to invest in Egypt comes within the framework of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for joint development that encourages Chinese investments in BRI participating states. The chairman of Huajian described Egypt as a focal point in the BRI, adding that the Egyptian leadership has a clear vision on investing in Africa, "which is a big motivation for our group to invest in the Egyptian market." Zhang also praised the recent positive development of the Egyptian economy under the country's economic reform program, according to the trade ministry's statement. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-11 00:37:56|Editor: yan Video Player Close BERLIN, April 10 (Xinhua) -- German police have searched the facilities of a nationwide Islamist network in nine federal states, the Federal Ministry of the Interior announced here on Wednesday. Around 90 properties were raided in the German federal states of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Schleswig-Holstein. The raids targeted the associations WorldWide Resistance-Help (WWR-Help) and Ansaar International, according to the ministry. The Ministry's investigations were based on the allegation that "the organizations belong to the extremist community" and could be providing the radical Islamic Hamas with "financial and propaganda support." "Those who support Hamas under the guise of humanitarian aid disregard fundamental value decisions of our constitution," said Interior Minister Horst Seehofer. Such behavior discredited the "dedication of the many aid organizations that have committed themselves to neutrality under difficult conditions," added Seehofer. The United States, Israel and the European Union have classified Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, as a terrorist organization. The Ministry noted that on its website WWR-Help calls "for donations for those in need in the Gaza Strip." In the past, Ansaar International had also collected donations for relief operations in Somalia, Syria and Myanmar, among others. According to a 2017 report by the North Rhine-Westphalian Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the associations have had "intensive contact." Ansaar also had "intensive cooperation with other persons of the extremist Salafist scene," according to the report. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution noted that "there are now some overlaps" between Ansaar and the now banned association "Die Wahre Religion", also known as "Lies! Stiftung," indicating that Ansaar had filled a vacuum in the extremist scene created by the ban. In 2017, the Interior Ministry banned "Die Wahre Religion" because it was found to be "directed against the constitutional order as well as against the idea of international understanding." Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-11 00:43:03|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close Photo provided by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) shows the first image of a black hole. (Xinhua/EHT) WASHINGTON, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Astronomers said here Wednesday that they captured the first image of a black hole, unveiling the first direct visual evidence of an unseeable cosmic object and its shadow. An Earth-sized virtual telescope called Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) linking eight ground-based radio telescopes around the globe "saw" the black hole at the center of massive galaxy M87, 55 million light-years from Earth with a mass 6.5-billion times that of the Sun. At a press conference, scientists revealed a donut-like structure with a dark central region and a bright ring, which is the black hole's shadow against a disc of glowing gas that falls onto the black hole. It is a "surprising" finding, an "astonishment" and "wonder," Harvard astrophysicist Sheperd Doeleman, EHT's project director, described the image, whose release won immediate applause at the conference. The landmark result offers scientists a new way to study the most extreme objects in the universe predicted by Albert Einstein's general relativity. Black holes are extremely compressed cosmic objects predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity. It has a gravitational pull that is so intense that nothing, not even light, can escape it once inside a certain region called the event horizon. Jason Dexter, EHT team member and an astrophysicist with Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, told Xinhua that the size and shape of the shadow are "a prediction of general relativity and detecting it would be the best evidence for the existence of a black hole in the universe." "If immersed in a bright region, like a disc of glowing gas, we expect a black hole to create a dark region similar to a shadow," said chair of the EHT Science Council Heino Falcke with Radboud University. "This shadow, caused by the gravitational bending and capture of light by the event horizon allowed us to measure the enormous mass of M87's black hole," said Falcke. "Many of the features of the observed image match our theoretical understanding surprisingly well," said Paul T.P. Ho, EHT Board member and Director of the East Asian Observatory. A team of more than 200 scientists including Chinese astronomers worked to capture and develop the image, thanks to a global network of eight pre-existing telescopes, according to EHT. Dan Marrone, EHT co-investigator and an associate professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona, told Xinhua after the press conference that China made direct contribution to the observations and data analysis as well, which are important piece of it. Sera Markoff, a member of EHT Science Council and a professor at the University of Amsterdam, told Xinhua that she expected to have a Chinese telescope included into the EHT network, since "China is investing an enormous amount of money into new telescope facilities." "Breakthroughs in technology and the completion of new radio telescopes over the past decade enabled our team to assemble this new instrument, designed to see the unseeable," said Doeleman. "A direct observation of black hole will be tremendous for our understanding of the spacetime that we are in," Yau Shing-Tung, mathematician and a senior faculty member of Harvard's Black Hole Initiative, told Xinhua. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-11 00:43:07|Editor: yan Video Player Close BANGKOK, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Bangkok Governor Aswin Kwanmuang revised the death toll from a fire in the capital's Central World shopping mall from three to two on Wednesday night. The mall's operating company confirmed that 15 people were injured in the incident. The two victims, one died at the scene and the other at a hospital, jumped off the shopping mall amid thick smog and people's cries. The operating company said in a statement that the duo were their employees and 15 people were injured due to smoke inhalation. The company said they would attend to all the victims and their families while also confirming that the situation is now under control. The fire broke out at 17:40 local time at the 8th floor of Bangkok's Central World shopping mall and the fire was extinguished at about 18:10 local time, according to the company. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-11 00:53:13|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (L, front) attends a grand welcome ceremony held by Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic (R, front) at the St. Mark's Square in Zagreb, Croatia, April 10, 2019. Li held talks with Plenkovic in the Croatian capital of Zagreb on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Shen Hong) ZAGREB, April 10 (Xinhua) -- China is ready to enhance the synergy of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with Croatia's development strategies, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Wednesday. Li made the remarks when holding talks with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic in the Croatian capital of Zagreb. Hailing the long-term friendship between the two countries, Li said China and Croatia have enjoyed a healthy and sound development of bilateral relations since the establishment of diplomatic ties. He said China stands ready to work with Croatia to strengthen mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation and carry on friendship on the basis of mutual respect, equity and mutual trust, so as to explore new dimensions for bilateral relations and push forward bilateral cooperation to a new level. On practical cooperation, Li said China is ready to expand the scale of two-way trade, boost the level of two-way investment, and increase the import of Croatian specialty products that suit the demands of the Chinese market, and deepen people-to-people exchanges including culture and tourism. "China will support its companies to participate in the construction of Croatian ports and railways in line with market principles," Li said. The Chinese premier is scheduled to inspect the Peljesac Bridge project with his Croatian counterpart on Thursday. The bridge, which used European Union (EU) standards and funds, is contracted by a Chinese company through bidding. "The Peljesac Bridge project is a model of tripartite cooperation among China, Croatia and the EU, and realizes mutual benefits and win-win results," Li said. Li stressed that the 16+1 cooperation mechanism has played an important role in enhancing cooperation between China and 16 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) and cementing the European integration process. China appreciates Croatia's work on facilitating 16+1 cooperation and is ready to make joint efforts with Croatia toward a successful China-CEEC leaders' meeting, Li said. This is the first time ever by a Chinese premier to visit Croatia since the establishment of diplomatic ties. Plenkovic welcomed Li on the visit and said Croatia stands ready to strengthen the understanding of China's history and culture, share China's development opportunities, support the building of the Belt and Road so as to benefit the two countries and peoples. Noting the high-level development of bilateral relations, Plenkovic said Croatia and China will ink a series of cooperation documents during Premier Li's visit, which demonstrates the latest achievements of practical cooperation between the two sides. "The Peljesac Bridge is highly rated by the Croatian people and China is Croatia's important partner on infrastructure construction," said the Croatian prime minister, adding that Croatia is willing to further enhance cooperation with China in politics, economy, culture, tourism and port infrastructure. Saying he is looking forward to co-chairing the eighth leaders' meeting of China-CEEC, Plenkovic also commended positively the outcomes of the 21st China-EU leaders' meeting and said as an EU member, Croatia stands ready to play an active and constructive role in cementing the development of EU-China ties. After the meeting, Li and Plenkovic witnessed the signing of multiple bilateral cooperation documents in areas including trade and investment, tourism, quality inspection and sports. The two sides also released a joint communique between the two governments. Prior to the meeting, Plenkovic held a grand welcome ceremony at the St. Mark's Square for Li. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-11 01:08:30|Editor: yan Video Player Close CHICAGO, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed and another critically injured in a shooting Wednesday morning on a street near downtown Chicago, Chicago police said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-11 01:13:32|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close Photo taken on April 10, 2019 shows a press conference unveiling the first image of a black hole in Brussels, capital of Belgium. Astronomers said here Wednesday that they captured the first image of a black hole, unveiling the first direct visual evidence of an unseeable cosmic object and its shadow. (Xinhua/Zhang Cheng) BRUSSELS, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Simultaneously with other six across the world, the European Commission held here a press conferences Wednesday afternoon to unveil the first image of a black hole as a significant breakthrough discovery in astronomy. The image shows a donut-like structure with a dark central region and a bright ring, which is the black hole's shadow against a disc of glowing gas that falls onto the black hole. With a mass 6.5-billion times that of the Sun, the black hole is at the heart of the distant galaxy M87, 55 million light-years away. The image provides the strongest evidence to date for the existence of supermassive black holes and opens a new window on the study of black holes, their event horizons, and gravity. "The history of man and of science will be divided into the time before the image and the time after the image. Black holes are stranger than anything dreamed up by science fiction writers, but they are firmly matters of science fact," said European Commissioner Carlos Moedas at the press conference. The unveiled image is a product of the project Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), which is a global effort to construct an Earth-sized virtual telescope array, able to actually "photograph" nearby supermassive black holes. "The results give us for the first time a clear view of a supermassive black hole," said Anton Zensus, director of the Bonn Max-Planck-Institute for radio astronomy, where the data of the participating radio telescopes were combined. The image is also a powerful confirmation of Albert Einstein's general relativity. "I'm really proud of the results," said Heino Falcke, chair of the EHT science council. "If immersed in a bright region, like a disc of glowing gas, we expect a black hole to create a dark region similar to a shadow -- something predicted by Einstein's general relativity that we've never seen before," Falcke explained. "This shadow, caused by the gravitational bending and capture of light by the event horizon, reveals a lot about the nature of these fascinating objects and allowed us to measure the enormous mass of M87's black hole," He added. In a statement released by the EU, President of the European Research Council (ERC) Jean-Pierre Bourguignon congratulated the scientists across the globe who had made this inspiring discovery and pushed the frontiers of human's knowledge. "I'm especially glad to see that scientists funded by the European Research Council contributed decisively to this breakthrough," said Bourguignon. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-11 01:18:36|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Chinese Ambassador to Tunisia Wang Wenbin delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the first Confucius Institute in Tunis, capital of Tunisia, on April 10, 2019. The first Confucius Institute to promote Chinese language and culture in Tunisia was inaugurated Wednesday in Tunis. (Xinhua/Adele Ezzine) TUNIS, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The first Confucius Institute to promote Chinese language and culture in Tunisia was inaugurated Wednesday in Tunis, the capital city. The institute will enhance China-Tunisia cultural exchanges, Chinese Ambassador to Tunisia Wang Wenbin said at the opening ceremony. "This marks an important achievement as part of the implementation of the summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, as well as strengthening bilateral cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative," Wang added. This institute was jointly established by Dalian University of Foreign Languages and the University of Carthage. Slim Khalbous, Tunisian minister of higher education and scientific research, said this institute offers opportunities for Tunisian people to better know Chinese language and traditions. The institute will be open to all Tunisian students, researchers and the general public. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-11 02:23:59|Editor: yan Video Player Close ALGIERS, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Algerian interim president, Abdelkader Bensalah, on Wednesday signed a decree to announce the election on July 4 to elect a new president for the North African nation, local media reported. On Tuesday, Bensalah was named by the parliament as interim president to replace resigning Abdelaziz Bouteflika. He pledged to organize presidential election within three months, given that the constitution stipulates that the interim president should run the country for a transition period of 90 days ahead of electing a new president. The next step Bensalah is due to take is working on establishing an independent commission for monitoring the election, as he called on political parties to contribute to establishing this body to guarantee fair elections. The appointment of Bensalah as interim president was proceeded through a joint session of the two houses of parliament, amid boycott of opposition and independent members of parliament. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-11 02:44:03|Editor: yan Video Player Close CHICAGO, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed and another critically injured in a shooting Wednesday on a street near downtown Chicago, local media reported, citing police. According to preliminary information from Chicago police, the shooting happened around 9:53 a.m. local time in the 3400 block of West Ohio Street. Two people were pronounced dead at the scene, and another person was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the chest, police said. Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted that police were responding to the incident with multiple people shot. The shooting may have been related to gang conflicts involving an open-air drug market in the area, Chicago Police Deputy Chief Al Nagode was quoted by Chicago Sun-Times as saying. File Photo: China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ma Zhaoxu (Front) addresses a UN Security Council meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, on April 2, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Muzi) UNITED NATIONS, April 10 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy said Wednesday that China opposes military intervention in Venezuela. "China opposes the interference in Venezuela's internal affairs by external forces, opposes military intervention in Venezuela and opposes the use of the so-called humanitarian issue to achieve political aims," Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, told the Security Council. History has proven repeatedly that unilateral sanctions will only further complicate situations and affect people's everyday life. It will not help resolve problems, nor will it bring peace to a country, he said. "On the one hand, we hear a lot of talk about care for the well-being of Venezuelans. On the other hand, we are seeing increasingly tighter sanctions on the country. They are contradictory and the motive is dubious," said Ma. Image provided by Venezuela's Presidency shows President Nicolas Maduro attends a pro-government rally in Caracas, capital of Venezuela, on Feb. 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Venezuelan Presidential Office) UNITED NATIONS, April 10 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Wednesday urged relevant countries to lift unilateral sanctions against Venezuela and called on the international community at large to contribute positively to Venezuela's peace, stability and development. "(We) hope that relevant countries will promptly lift unilateral sanctions against Venezuela, create normal conditions for its economic and social development, and lend help and support to the country in accordance with the basic principles of UN humanitarian assistance," Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, told a UN Security Council meeting on situation of Venezuela. "The peace and stability of Venezuela is in the fundamental interests of the country and its people. It also serves the common interests of all parties. We hope the international community will do things that are truly conducive to the stability, economic development, and improved livelihood in Venezuela." Under the condition of respect for the sovereignty of Venezuela, the international community should provide constructive assistance to the country and promote a smooth settlement of relevant issues as soon as possible, he said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-11 05:45:35|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close Displaced Syrians are seen upon reaching the Jlaighem crossing in the eastern countryside of Homs Province in central Syria, on April 10, 2019. Tens of civilians reached a crossing point in the Syrian desert on Wednesday from the rebel-held Rukban refugee camp in southeastern Syria. The Rukban camp is home to 50,000 displaced Syrians, who are suffering from the harsh humanitarian situation because of the cold weather and lack of supplies. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani) DAMASCUS, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Tens of civilians reached a crossing point in the Syrian desert on Wednesday coming from the rebel-held Rukban refugee camp in southeastern Syria. The evacuees from the camp reached the Jlaighem crossing in the eastern countryside of Homs Province in central Syria after leaving Rukban camp near the U.S.-controlled al-Tanf area in the remote southeastern countryside of Homs. The people expressed relief while reaching safety and spoke of the tough situation in the camp. Salem, a 70-year-old displaced man, told Xinhua that the situation back in Rukban was "horrible." "Our situation was horrible. We didn't have wheat so we didn't have bread. We also didn't have water. We were hungry, sick and cold. I wish everyone in Rukban could come here to return to our lives. This is our land. I say to the people there, come here, come here to live in peace," he said. Majed, another 50-year-old displaced man, told Xinhua that everything is expensive in that rebel-held camp. "Life back there in the camp was very tough but being with loved ones was the only thing that made us endure the hardships. Everything there is so expensive. The sugar and salt were sold at very high prices," he said. On Sunday, the second batch of civilians left the notorious camp. On April 2, the first batch of civilians left Rukban with dozens of people reaching government-controlled areas in Homs. The Syrian government has repeatedly accused the U.S. forces in al-Tanf of preventing aid convoys from reaching the Rukban camp, which is controlled by the rebels near the Syrian-Jordanian border. On Feb. 19, the Syrian government opened two humanitarian corridors near al-Tanf for the evacuation of people from Rukban. The Rukban camp is home to 50,000 displaced Syrians, who are suffering from the harsh humanitarian situation because of the cold weather and lack of supplies. Locurile misterioase de pe Pamant unde gravitatia nu functioneaza. Ce se petrece aici, de fapt Care sunt locurile misterioase de pe Pamant pe care ar trebui sa le cunoasca toata lumea. Acestea au starnit interesul specialistilor care au observat ca acolo gravitatia nu functioneaza. Unde se regasesc [citeste mai departe] Odesa region governor Maksym Stepanov considers president's decree on dismissal as political revenge for Poroshenko's poor results in presidential elections 2019 in Odesa region (9%) Open source Odesa region governor Maksym Stepanov refused to leave his post after the decree of president Poroshenko. Poroshenkos decree is illegal since governors in Ukraine are dismissed not by the wish of the president, but on the proposal of the Cabinet of Ministers only. At the time of signing the presidential decree, there were no corresponding proposals from the Cabinet. On April 5, Petro Poroshenko arrived on a working visit to Odesa. As reported, during this trip he had a conversation with Odesa region governor Stepanov. According to Odesa region governor, Poroshenko invited him to write a letter of resignation at his own request. The official refused. On April 6, President Poroshenko signed a decree to dismiss Stepanov as Odesa region governor and ordered Serhiy Parashchenko, Stepanovs first deputy, to replace him. Stepanov refused to leave the post. He said that he considers the decree of the President of Ukraine illegal since the governors can be dismissed only on the proposal of the Cabinet of Ministers. In addition, Stepanov published a photo on his Facebook page that said: Ensured fair elections! Fired? Some sources claim that the president wanted to dismiss due to Poroshenkos poor results in Odesa region during the first round of presidential elections (9% of the votes). Serhiy Berezenko, deputy head of Bloc of Petro Poroshenko faction, said that the removal of Stepanov could be a management decision, not Poroshenkos political revenge. Ukrainian journalists revealed that even before the first round of elections, Stepanov sabotaged instructions from Poroshenkos administration, which were aimed at increasing votes for Poroshenko in the first round of presidential elections. As it turned out, Stepanov completely ruined the work of Poroshenkos so-called Grid operation, the electorates bribe system, in Odesa region. In addition, the governor did not conduct any election campaign both public and private in favor of the president. As reported by media, Parashchenko was appointed to first deputy governor of Odesa region in early March in order to strengthen the electoral direction and to promote Grid operation to bribe the local voters. Ukraines law of On local state administrations states that the powers of the governor could be terminated by the President of Ukraine in the event of: 1) violation of the Constitution of Ukraine and the laws of Ukraine; 2) loss of citizenship, detection of dual citizenship; 3) recognition by the court as incapable; 4) departure to another country; 5) the entry into force of a court conviction; 6) violation of the requirements of incompatibility; 7) expression of no confidence by two-thirds of the relevant council; 8) filing an application for dismissal at governors own request. In addition, the President of Ukraine might terminate the powers of the heads of local state administrations in the event of: - acceptance of the resignation of the head of the relevant regional state administration; - Prime Ministers submission; - expression of no confidence by a majority vote of the relevant board; - on the initiative of the President of Ukraine; - on other grounds provided by the above and other laws of Ukraine. At the same time, according to Art. 118 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the governors are appointed and dismissed by the President of Ukraine on the proposal of the Cabinet of Ministers. According to Oleksandr Saienko, Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers, at the time of signing the presidential decree, the government did not take a decision on the removal of Stepanov from his post. On April 9, Ukraine's PM Volodymyr Groysman announced that the Cabinet of Ministers had received a draft decree of the president, Petro Poroshenko about dismissing Stepanov and would consider it at a meeting on April 10. Serhiy Parashchenko, the first deputy of Odesa region governor, agreed to become acting head of the region. However, Oleksandr Lonchak, director of the department of education and science of the regional administration, and Olena Teriaieva, the director of the healthcare department, supported Stepanov and consider the decree of Petro Poroshenko illegal. Yaroslav Katolik, a local political scientist, explained that such a conflict has several risks. The first one is that the logistical support of election commissions can be damaged by the fact that there will no longer be a single decision-making center. Second, there is the risk of dual power when Stepanov says that he is a legitimate governor, and his first deputy is an acting governor too. Each of them would issue his own orders and decrees, and it would be unclear who to listen to. Read the original text at 112.ua. The cyber attackers can use cyber tools on social networks to spread false or misleading information about Canada Open source The Canadians will be vulnerable for foreign interference during the federal election this autumn as CBC reported citing Canada's electronic spy agency. Since the 2015 federal election, Canadian political leaders and the Canadian public have been targeted by foreign cyber interference activities, the message said. The details are presented in the new report 2019 update: cyber threats to Canada's democratic process, which was published on April 8. The report says that more than one foreign foe used the cyber tools on the social networks to spread false or misleading information about Canada, which is likely to polarize Canadians or undermine Canada's foreign policy goals. Another example given in the report, Communications Security Establishment of Canada, which is ordered to protect the share of the most precisions electronic information in the country and collect information about foreign signals, states that the foreign opponent manipulated information on the social networks to promote the views critical to the governmental legislation on the imposing of the sanctions and ban for traveling for foreign officials, accused of the violation of the human rights. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister of Canada Chrystia Freeland stated that it is likely that the foreign attempts of the interference will take place during the upcoming parliamentarian elections in the country, which should take place in autumn 2019. Earlier Canada was concerned about the presidential election in Ukraine to be transparent and provided $ 25 million to ensure security from external interference attempts. US Secretary of State emphasized that Russia annexed Crimea, while Ukraine did not pose any threat to it The situations with the annexation of Ukrainian Crimea by Russia and Golan Heights, recognized as part of Israel by the U.S., are starkly different as Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State, noted. Pompeo noted that the situations could not be more starkly different" and Golan Heights turned out to be the part of Israel as the state was attacked and Israeli citizens had to defend themselves. According to the U.S. State Secretary, Israel had to seize Golan Heights to continue to defend themselves "murderous regimes in Syria." "Russia, on the other hand, wasn't on the defensive, Russia chose at their own moment in time to go seize land from the people that posed no threat to them whatsoever. In 1967, in the results of the Six-Day War with Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Algeria, Israel defeated the forces of the Arab States and extended its territories. Particularly, Golan Heights were seized from Syria. Later, its eastern part was returned under the control of Damascus. In December 1981, the Knesset adopted the resolution on the spread of the Israeli jurisdiction over the captured part of heights. Earlier U.S. President Donald Trump signed the declaration on recognition of Israel's sovereignty over disputed Golan Heights territory. In May 2018, the U.S. moved the Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Thus, the White House recognized Jerusalem the capital city of Israel. FSB has opened the criminal case due to the organization of the activity of the extremist organization Ihor Pirozhok, the supposed member of Right Sector Journal of Zhytomyr The officers of the FSB and Russian Interior Ministry detained Ukrainian Ihor Pirozhok. He is considered to be an active participant of the Right Sector, Ukraine's far-right organization banned in Russia, as TASS news agency reported. According to the message, it was established during the preliminary investigation that detained joined the Right Sector in 2014 under a pseudonym Roman Chyrka and created Borzi battalion for holding of the guerrilla warfare. The FSB states that Pirozhok came to the territory of Moscow region in January 2018 and lived at different secret addresses, held events in the interests of the Right Sector, spread its ideological and agitation and propaganda materials. It is noted that the literature, symbols, and materials of the Right Sector were confiscated during the searching of his house. The FSB has opened the criminal proceeding due to the organization of the activity of the extremist organization; the suspected was arrested. Right Sector was created as a paramilitary confederation of several radical nationalist organizations at the Maidan 2013 in Kyiv, where its street fighters participated in clashes with riot police; later they created their own party. Right Sector claims to have received donations from the Ukrainian diaspora. During Donbas conflict they created their battalion. Their ideology could be described as anti-Americanism, Euroscepticism, anti-Russian, neo-Nazism. The Federation Council of Russia note that "by increasing activity in previously Baltic region, NATO is increasing its military presence in the Black Sea region" The Federation Council of Russia approved the statement, which says that violation of procedures of the passage through Kerch Strait for the Ukrainian vessels might create a military conflict with Russia, as TASS news agency reported. The North-Atlantic Alliance might be involved in the conflict. The Russian establishment called NATO policy destructive. Passage of the Ukrainian ships thought the Kerch Strait is not a question of balance of forces or NATO presence in Black Sea region, it is the issue of Ukraines obligation of the set procedures which it knows and used till November 2018. The attempts of Ukraine to act bypassing these procedures might create military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and NATO might be involved in it, the Russian senators informed. Representatives of the Federation Council stress that NATOs support encourages Ukraine and Georgia towards the reckless scheme. NATOs support of Georgia during the tragic days of August 2008, and now Ukraine, including November 25, 2018 during illegal crossing of the state border of Russia by the vessels of Ukraines Naval Forces in the Kerch Strait, encourages the leadership of these states, confident of their impunity, for new reckless schemes, the message reads. On November 25, the coast guard ships of the Russian Navy attacked the ships of the Ukrainian Navy, which have been carrying out a scheduled transition from Odesa port to Mariupol port in the Sea of Azov. Ukrainian ships were rejected passage via the Kerch Strait, Russian coast guards opened aimed fire on them. All 24 sailors on board were captured and delivered to Moscow 21 of them were delivered to Lefortovo remand center, the rest came to the hospital of Matrosskaya Tishina prison. Facing an extension of the sentence term, Ukrainian POWs detained in the Kerch Strait refused to testify in Lefortovo court. Sailors were distributed into six groups, four people in each. On January 15, 2019, Moscow's Lefortovo district court decided to keep 20 Ukrainian sailors in remand until April 24. On January 16, the court extended the detention term for another 4 sailors. Many Chernobyl liquidators and the relatives of the deceased ones came to the protest on supporting the rights of Chernobyl victims Ukrainian envoy for human rights Lyudmyla Denisova called on the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to adopt the bill on making the amendments to the valid law of Ukraine on Status and social protection of the citizens, who suffered from the Chornobyl disaster. Ukrainian ombudsman wrote this on her Facebook. Today, many Chornobyl liquidators and the relatives of the deceased ones come to me. They arrived from different parts of Ukraine in order to stand for the rights of Chornobyl victims, as well as for the compensation for the worsening of their health condition, Denisova said. According to the ombudsman, Head of the social organization, The Union of Chornobyl veterans of Ukraine Volodymyr Proskurin asked her to undertake the actions on eliminating the discrimination and violation of rights of Ukrainian citizens, who are the participants of the liquidation of the Chornobyl disaster and its consequences. It is very significant to abide by the law, and the additional costs are not included. We have the working group of abiding by the social and economic rights under Olena Stepanenkos leadership. She together with the representatives of the social organizations created the bill on making the amendments to the valid law of Ukraine on Status and social protection of the citizens, who suffered from the Chornobyl disaster Denisova stated. Ukrainian ombudsman pointed out that the bill is already registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. It is important that the MPs approve the bill until the formulation of the State budget for 2020, and the funds for implementation are provided, the ombudsman emphasized. The document sets goals Ukraine has to reach by the end of the next year President Petro Poroshenko signed the Annual national program of intensification of Ukraine-NATO partnership, broadcasted by the 112.Ukraine. I have signed the Annual national program of stretching of the partnership between Ukraine and NATO for 2019. This is the systematic, multi-track document that sets our aims, which are to be reached by the end of 2020 and the key tasks to fulfill this year. This our home assignment in order to become a member of NATO, Poroshenko said. Complex document means that our army, ammunition and tactics, strategies and actions are formed according to the international standards, the President of Ukraine pointed out. Earlier, President Poroshenko signed the program of intensification of Ukraine-NATO partnership. On April 4, the head of the state congratulated on the 70th anniversary, posting the respective message on Facebook. The President stated that Ukraine highly evaluates the NATO's solidarity and its stable support in view of the Russian aggression. He stressed that all these years, Ukraine confidently made its way to the North Atlantic Alliance, and it is now 'ready to take the long-anticipated commitments and begin to implement the Action plan to join the NATO'. Neither prosecutor nor judge heard the arguments of the defense of Bekirov Edem Bekirov, the political prisoner Eleonora Bekirova Facebook The so-called Kyiv District Court in annexed Crimea has extended the arrest of Crimean Tatar Edem Bekirov for two months. He is accused of the illegal storage of the munitions and explosives. Bekirov will stay under arrest until June 12 as Krym.Realii reported, citing lawyer of political prisoner Islyam Velilyaev. The defense had all necessary documents for choosing of less strict measure of restriction in the form of the house arrest. But neither prosecutor nor judge heard our arguments and left a seriously ill person at the remand center, the lawyer reported. As we reported earlier, the health situation of Crimean Tatar political prisoner Bekirov is critical. Russian law enforcers detained Crimean Tatar Edem Bekirov at the entrance to occupied Crimea on December 12, 2018. Edem was heading from mainland Ukraine to Crimea to visit his 78-year-old mother and relatives. According to Ukrainian MP Refat Chubarov, Bekirov was arrested during passport control on the territory controlled by the Russian law enforcers. Later, Chubarov noted that the detainee was taken to Russias Security Service office in annexed Simferopol. Maksym Stepanov said he had no intentions to appeal against the Presidents decision in court Maksym Stepanov, Chairman of Odesa Region State Administration Open source Maksym Stepanov, the dismissed Chairman of Odesa Region State Administration, agreed to leave his post. Maksym Stepanov stated this on April 10, as 048.ua media outlet reports. I am happy that made the President at least in such a way to abide by the Constitution of Ukraine. The procedure was followed correctly. I think that the order of the President concerning my dismissal will appear soon. I am not going to appeal against this decision in court, as the whole country saw the reasons for my dismissal. The elections in Odesa region were conducted fairly and transparently, so this decision is the political one, Stepanov said. Ukraines Government approved the draft decree of the President Petro Poroshenko on the dismissal of Maksym Stepanov from his post of Odesa region governor. The relevant decision was made at the session of the Cabinet of Ministers on April 10. Earlier, on April 8, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed a decree on resignation from the post of the Head of Odesa Region State Administration Maksym Stepanov. Some sources claim that the president wanted to dismiss due to Poroshenkos poor results in Odesa region during the first round of presidential elections (9% of the votes). Stepanov completely ruined the work of Poroshenkos so-called Grid operation, the electorates bribe system, in Odesa region. In his turn, Stepanov refused to leave his post. He said that the President exceeded his authority. South Africa: Patent system shake up to boost innovation in SA Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies says government is trying to strike a balance between granting monopoly rights to support innovation, the dissemination of knowledge and addressing socio-economic challenges. One of the policy instruments that government is introducing to address the above is a substantive search and examination system of patents. The substantive search and examination system will be implemented on a needs basis because there are too many cases of evergreening of patents, said Davies. He was speaking at the two-day Intellectual Property and Technology Commercialisation Colloquium in Pretoria. The colloquium was hosted by the dti, in collaboration with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), under the theme Propelling innovation towards full-scale industrialisation and inclusive growth. While outlining the Intellectual Property system in SA, Davies said more than 95% of patents registered in SA are foreign patents and only a few are from local innovations. He said there is a need to encourage the greater use of the patent system by local innovators. In that regard, he said government is also involved in making it easier for inventors to patent their products through the Inventor Assistant Program (IAP). The IAP is a CIPC administered program that assists inventors, who meet the qualifying criteria, to obtain patent protection for their inventions through the services of pro bono patent attorneys. Davies said South Africa has inventions coming from research institutions, universities and individuals, and the issue is then how do these inventions become marketable products. Davies cited the computerised ticketing system, automatic hosepipe and swimming pool cleaning device (Kreepy Krauly) as examples of South African innovations that ended up being manufactured outside the country. South Africa, he said, does not benefit appropriately from its innovations. This tells us that in the journey of innovation the most difficult part is turning inventions into commercial products. In this regard, in SA we have had many more failures than successes. This is the issue we need to confront, said Davies. With the 4th Industrial Revolution unfolding, Davies said SA will have to adopt new technologies. There will be opportunities for small companies to make innovations around those products and barriers for the companies to enter the space are lowered because of the ability to creatively apply the new technologies. The dti is developing a programme that will include an incentive grant. It will provide assistance and a supportive environment so that people can find partners and means of taking these ideas to the marketplace to ensure that these innovations are commercialised in South Africa. - SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2019-04-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. cmannphoto/iStock(SEATTLE) -- A Washington state man was arrested in connection with a botched murder-for-hire plot that targeted his then-wife, but killed her 24-year-old sister instead, police said. Kevin Lewis, 31, was arrested on murder and conspiracy charges on Monday in the September 2017 death of his former sister-in-law, Alisha Canales-McGuire, who was fatally shot at her sister's home in northern Washington state while babysitting, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office. Lewis allegedly paid two teenagers several thousand dollars to kill his ex-wife, Amanda Canales, who was out of town at the time, according to police. Lewis, who was already in prison serving time for assaulting the victim's sister, was arrested on charges of aggravated murder with a firearm, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation to commit murder, police said. Police also charged a 17-year-old Spokane girl and 20-year-old Tacoma man with suspicion of first-degree aggravated murder and first-degree conspiracy to commit murder. Investigators said the male suspect, who was 18 at the time of the shooting, posted images on social media "showing off several hundred dollar bills just a few hours after the murder." The female suspect allegedly bragged to several friends about being "hired to kill someone in Snohomish County," according to the office. "In the analysis of the evidence, detectives believe the two suspects had been approached by Lewis who asked them to kill his ex-wife for several thousand dollars," the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. "The two drove from Spokane, where they were both living at the time of the murder, to Snohomish County." "Cell phone records put the phones of both suspects at locations consistent with traveling together and with the timing of the murder," it added. The male suspect was being held at the Snohomish County jail on $5 million bail as of late Tuesday. The female suspect, who was 16 at the time of the murder, was being held at a juvenile detention center. It's unclear if they have retained attorneys. Amanda Canales, the alleged intended target, said it's hard to believe that her ex-husband could do such a thing. "It's a relief to have the world know what my family and I have known the whole time," Canales told ABC's Seattle affiliate KOMO-TV on Tuesday. "I was with [Kevin Lewis] almost 10 years and I just hid how horrible the marriage was from everyone." "They didn't know the real Kevin. Even I didn't know how far he'd go until it happened," she added. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. The President outraged due to the investigation has been ongoing since 2016, but has not been passed to the court yet President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko stated that he was not involved in any corruption schemes. Poroshenko said this during the interview with Novoye Vremya. I emphasize that Petro Poroshenko was not involved in any corruption schemes. I confirm and stress this. I did not know about any corruption schemes. I can say this absolutely honestly to everybody, including the law enforcers today, the President said commenting on the journalist investigation of the corruption at the Ukroboronprom. Poroshenko is outraged due to the investigation has been ongoing since 2016, but has not been passed to the court yet. Moreover, the leak of data of the law enforcement institutions has happened. What have you been waiting for three years? What else do you need and why the case has not been passed to the court yet? These questions were addressed to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Head of State outlined. 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 knew the origin of the smuggled parts but agreed to purchase them. Igor Gladkovsky, along with Vitaliy Zhukov and Andriy Rogoza were supplying smuggled Russian components and components from the Ukrainian military units through straw companies at prices 2-4 times higher than market ones. On March 4, President Petro Poroshenko dismissed Oleh Gladkovsky, deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council from his post. he replaced his close associate with Maksym Kryvonos, one of the presidential nominees, who withdrew his candidacy in favor of Poroshenko and was soon appointed NSDC high-ranker. As it was reported earlier, the investigators of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutors Office detained the acting and former directors of the State Foreign Trade Enterprise SpetsTechnoExport on suspicion of embezzling $2,225 million, according to NABU. According to the investigation, Poroshenko's enterprise Kuznia na Rybalskomu was one of the straw companies, which participated in the embezzlement. The political advertisement does not point that Zelensky is the agent of Kremlin The billboards with the image of President Petro Poroshenko and Russian leader Vladimir Putin do not oppose two candidates for the presidency in Ukraine as Poroshenkos campaign headquarters reported. The story of the board does not mean that the team of Poroshenko considers Zelensky to be an agent of Putin. Absolutely not. But we strongly believe that Putin dreams about weak, an unprepared president as it will allow Kremlin to take control over Ukraine, the message said. Besides, it is specified that the mentioned boards are the official advertising product paid from the funds of the election fund of the candidate. The aim of the advertising product is to remind the state that the in the terms of such external challenges, the strong president and supreme commander, professional and well-educated diplomat, skilled negotiators with high international reputation is needed, the headquarters added. Such billboards were noticed in Kharkiv and the same pictures were published in the newspapers in Kyiv. Numerous sources state Poroshenko resorts to such smear campaigning with labeling his opponents someones puppets (let us recall labeling presidential aspirant Yulia Tymoshenko Putins agent) on advice from his new political expert Moshe Klughaft, Israeli political technologist, is assisting Poroshenkos in his reelection. Klughaft is known for his aggressive, negative style of campaign management, Ukrainian MP Serhiy Leshchenko assures. Poroshenkos press people denied this. Related video: Iryna Gerashchenko, First Vice-Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Open source Representatives of the Russian Federation to the humanitarian and economic subgroups of the Trilateral Contact Group on settlement of the situation in Donbas disrupted the meeting which began in Minsk, as First Vice-Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's representative to the Trilateral Contact Group Iryna Gerashchenko referring to Ukraines representatives to the subgroup on her Facebook page. I have just received information from Minsk: Russias side has disrupted the session of the humanitarian and economic subgroups for made up reasons. Russias representatives refuse from working in a trilateral format in OSCE, blackmailing Ukraine with the demands for direct dialogue with ORDLO (Separate Districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, - ed.) and wait for the results of Ukraines elections. They are catching the signals about autonomy, the visit of the future president to occupied Donetsk and Luhansk and the rest of Kremlins nonsense. Its getting towards a revanche, Gerashchenko wrote. Earlier, Belarus Foreign Ministry informed that the meeting of the working groups of the Trilateral Contact Group on settlement of Donbas conflict began in Minsk on April 10. The current president emphasized that failure to get tested is the humiliation of the country The passing of the tests for drug and alcohol by the candidates for the presidency is the issue of the national security and refusal from them is the humiliation of the country, as 112 Ukraine reported citing President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. I emphasize one more time; it is the issue of the national security. And, certainly, there can be no compromise in the issues of national security. I did not pay for them; I do not know how much they (the analyses, - 112.international) cost, Poroshenko noted. He does not consider such testing as the humiliation. I think that it is the absolutely transparent procedure. And, conversely, the failure to get tested is the humiliation of the country. And when the issue is about the protection of the interests of the state; no compromise is possible, he emphasized. On April 3, Zelensky replied to Poroshenko's invitation to participate in debates and put forward his conditions. He wanted to hold debates at Olympic Stadium. Poroshenkos team said, the President does not perform at stadiums. A few hours later Poroshenko changed his mind and agreed to participate in the debates. On April 7, Poroshenko stated that he waits for Volodymyr Zelensky on April 14 at Olympic Stadium. In his turn, Zelensky reported that he wants to hold the debates with Poroshenko on April 19 at Olympic Stadium. On April 10, Olympic Stadium reported that it got two applications for holding debates from two presidential candidates Volodymyr Zelensky and Petro Poroshenko. The first tour of the presidential elections finished in Ukraine. After the processing of 100% of the protocols it was announced that Zelensky got 30,24% of the votes, Poroshenko has 15,95% and Tymoshenko gained 13,40%. The second tour of the elections is appointed for April 21. session of Ukraines Cabinet of Ministers Open source Ukraines Cabinet of Ministers expanded the list of goods banned to import from Russia. Such decision was made at a government meeting on Wednesday, April 10. The session was broadcasted on air of 112 Ukraine. According to the document, available at RBC-Ukraine, the embargo is now extended to formalin and carbamide-formaldehyde concentrate, springs for freight wagons, electrical equipment for railway automation and communication devices, and electric conductors for voltage above 1000V. Another decision imposed sanction on the import of glass containers, including cans, bottles for food and beverages, containers, etc. The Cabinet of Ministers noted that, according to the State Statistics Service, in 2018, the import of glass containers from Russia exceeded $8 million, which is almost twice as much as in 2017. As it was reported earlier, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the agreement on the military and technical cooperation with the government of Myanmar. It is expected that this agreement will promote the development of bilateral military and technical cooperation to increase the level of the military capacity of the armed forces of both states and strengthening of the international authority of Ukraine. Ukraine also plans to conclude a memorandum on the cooperation in the sphere of space research with Nigeria. Besides, the member of the Cabinet of Ministers approved the resignation of the Head of Kherson Region State Administration Andriy Hordeev Maksym Stepanov, Chairman of Odesa Region State Administration Open source Ukraines Government approved the draft decree of the President Petro Poroshenko on dismissal of Maksym Stepanov from his post of Odesa region governor. The relevant decision was made at the session of the Cabinet of Ministers on April 10, as Interfax-Ukraine reported. The Cabinet of Ministers approved the dismissal, the Press Secretary of Ukraines PM Vasyl Rybchuk said. Besides, he noted that the Government has also approved the dismissal of Kherson Region State Administration Andriy Hordeev according to the statement on resignation on a voluntary basis. We have agreed on his statement on a voluntary basis, Ryabchuk added. As it was reported, on April 8, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed a decree on resignation from the post of the Head of Odesa Region State Administration Maksym Stepanov. Some sources claim that the president wanted to dismiss due to Poroshenkos poor results in Odesa region during the first round of presidential elections (9% of the votes). Stepanov completely ruined the work of Poroshenkos so-called Grid operation, the electorates bribe system, in Odesa region. In his turn, Stepanov refused to leave his post. He said that the President exceeded his authority. On April 6, Kherson region governor Andriy Hordeev wrote a statement of resignation to Poroshenko. Earlier, the participants of the rally Who ordered Katya Handziuk? demanded that Hordeev and his deputy Ryshchuk are fired. It should be noted that till 2015, the President was appointing and firing the governors on the submission of the government. In 2015, the Verkhovna Rada has introduced the appointment of the heads of the local administrations on a competitive basis within the fulfillment of the commitments to the EU in exchange for financial aid in the amount of $112,742. The order of appointment and dismissal of the officials was provided by the law On public service. Yet, the innovation did not last for long. In November 2017 a law which cancels the officials' dependence upon the law on public service. Since then, according to the article No. 8 of the law On local state administrations, the chairmen of the region state administrations are appointed by the president on the submission of the Cabinet of Ministers for the term of office of the Head of the State. John van der Oost has a bone to pick with Europe. Van der Oost is a microbiologist at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. His research in the late 1990s contributed to the development of the CRISPR Cas9 gene editing technology which, among other gene editing tools, has the potential to produce climate-resilient crops to curing genetic diseases in humans to other genomic modifications in both people and animals. And hes furious about a ruling from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) last year that he and other proponents of gene editing say will dramatically slow Europes innovation in the field of crop science. This is very bad for the biotech business. It may take years to correct it, he told AgFunderNews. We hoped Europe would follow the decisions over the last year in the US, Japan, India, and China. Van der Oost will speak on the topic of the recent ECJ ruling and its implications at the F&A Next conference at Wageningen University on the 15-16 May. A quick refresher: CRISPR Cas9 allows for pieces of genetic material to be cut or added to an organism, thereby removing or altering specific characteristics. That could be snipping genes from potatoes that will yield a less disease-prone crop, or altering genes in wheat so they wont trigger gluten allergies, or adding a gene from a wild boar to make a domesticated pig resistant to certain disease strains. GMO vs. gene editing A clear differentiator between gene editing and whats largely considered GMO is that gene editing does not involve the insertion of genes from another species. The AquAdvantage Salmon, for example, is GMO because it includes a growth hormone-regulating gene from another species of salmon the Pacific Chinook salmon and a promoter gene from an eel-like species of fish the ocean pout to enable it to grow year-round instead of only during spring and summer. The genetic changes made through gene editing, such as gene deletions, can occur naturally as part of an organisms own mutational process and over many years of breeding. Proponents refer to the technique as advanced breeding. Further, they argue it is more exact and efficient than older DNA editing tools, making results more predictable. But despite these differences, the ECJ ruled that it would regulate gene editing under its existing directive for genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The ruling uses GMO technologies that were primarily developed in the 1980s as a precedent for modern gene editing technology. These distinctions are what make the ECJs ruling so frustrating for van der Oost. He touts the new technologys promise of not only solving several social and environmental problems but also democratizing innovation in ways that older, costlier modification technologies, like those the multinational agrochemical companies used to make genetically modified corn, for example, could not. Indeed, in the US, where the Department of Agriculture clarified last Spring that it would not regulate plants that could otherwise have been developed through traditional breeding techniques, numerous agtech startups have begun developing products using CRISPR Cas-9 and other gene editing approaches. Berkeley, Calif.-based Caribou Biosciences, which was founded by one of the inventors of CRISPR Cas-9, is developing waxy corn. Minnesota-based Calyxt is making a canola oil with a healthier mix of fats and wheat that contains more fiber. And advanced breeding platform Benson Hill Biosystems has developed CRISPR 3.0 to use across a range of crops developed internally and by its partners. Diverging interpretations The ECJ, on the other hand, is more concerned about the process of making such products than determining their safety and natural implications after the fact. Its ruling was the result of legal action initiated by French agricultural union Confederation paysanne, arguing that even though modern gene editing technologies imitate the natural mutation process, they still carry risks to human, animal and environmental health. In the US, they said simple changes also occur in nature, this is the same as nature, so it should not be called GMO. Thats the big difference, Van der Oost explains. Van der Oost blames the ECJs decision on a lack of scientific understanding on the part of politicians and the general public, and a lack of trust in the scientific community. People who dont have proper scientific backgrounds cant judge how safe this is or how far we want to take this, he says. If they have to vote on it, they say We dont know what this is, so we dont trust it, and the politicians listen to these people. Hes sympathetic to that and sees it as the scientific communitys responsibility to help educate the public. For his part, van der Oost dedicates time to speaking informally at so-called Science Cafes that bring together people from different backgrounds, disciplines, and organizations to discuss scientific topics. Hes also been on a high school speaking circuit, to educate future biologists about how gene editing technology works. Nevertheless, van der Oost feels the immediate impact of the ECJs ruling on Europes innovation will be significant and make opportunities to innovate less democratic. Products can still reach the market, but it will take two, three, four times as long to make that happen, he says, adding that this could effectively consolidate access to these tools in the hands of the very same companies behind most genetically modified crops, because large companies will be the only ones that can afford using them. Others counter that there is a political undercurrent that influenced the ECJs decisionto which the scientific community is less attuned. Why the E.U. has been cautious is part of a wider historical narrative that dates back to the 1990s, when the debate about GMO crops and foods became a very contentious political issue, not just a scientific issue, explains social scientist Phil Macnaghten, who is part of Wageningen Universitys Knowledge, Technology and Innovation group. A lot of the questions surrounding the technology are not really scientific but about what this technology is feeding into: power politics, the changing structure of agriculture and smallholder farmers, long-term unknown effects. Professor Phil Macnaghten will present a keynote address on the cultural and social dimensions of responsible innovation in food and agriculture at the F&A Next conference at Wageningen University on the 15-16 May. Reasonable questions; unsophisticated framework The evolution of the science of GMOs, and how that translated into practical application by the large agrochemical companies, influences how society thinks about modern gene editing technology, regardless of how sophisticated the new technology may be, adds Macnaghten. Too little attention was given to local cultural, political, and economic factors when the GMO crops were developed and deployed. A study by Macnaghten in the Journal of Responsible Innovation cites examples of GM crop introduction in Mexico and India. Maize in Mexico was highly culturally resonant, deeply ingrained in Mexican identity and history, as well as in everyday food practices, the study says. We found that smallholder farmers retain strong and enduring relations around maize agriculture and that they see the prospect of [genetically modified] maize as an intrusion on traditional practices. Likewise, in India, genetically-modified cotton was widely viewed as a symbol of foreign control and imposition. Macnaghten says these are issues that the industry could have easily anticipated, but that thinking requires a different orientation from the scientific community. As such, Macnaghten believes that many of the questions asked in Europe of the scientific community are substantial and reasonable. But the regulatory framework for exhibiting caution, on the other hand, is limited and unsophisticated and could, as van der Oost suggests, intensify monopolies. Academics as honest brokers In the absence of a more sophisticated regulatory environment for gene editing, Macnaghten says it is the academic communitys responsibility to be honest brokers between science and politics. Macnaghten is part of a group of social scientists who are developing frameworks to ensure that gene editing and other biotechnologies are produced responsibly, and can be used as tools to support sustainable advancements in agriculture, energy, and health. More inclusive and two-way dialogue with the public is the most critical piece. Its a process of involving communities, rather than some scientists saying This is great for sustainability, and plunking it down. Its a process of opening up a dialogue about what constitutes a benefit, because benefits are not self-evident, Macnaghten says. It needs to be a two-way conversation that is not just participative, but where communities are involved in co-design, he adds, speaking of technological applications. If we get that right, then we can do a lot with radical innovation. Join the conversation which John van der Oost and Professor Phil Macnaghten at F&A Next F&A Next conference at Wageningen University on the 15-16 May. *This post was sponsored by F&A Next, an AgFunder Network Partner. Find out more about F&A Next here, and the program, here.* Runs through 05/18/2019. Named after the wounded Fisher King of Arthurian Legend, A Prairie Fisher King espouses the notion of home as both a site of idealization and a locus for wounding. Drawing from memory, a narrative is woven in the form of photographs and text of the rural Iowa countryside where my family has lived for generations. A Prairie Fisher King is an ongoing body of work reflecting on the nature of familial hardship and generational connection through the lens of place. An undertone of violence embodies the emotional distress accumulated with age as well as a looming threat posed upon the landscape. Initially conceived as a bittersweet love letter to home, A Prairie Fisher King considers the various myths we construct in order to survive in the face of inevitable change. Through the accumulation of intimately described detail a search for reconciliation becomes palpable. I assume the role of reluctant hero and return to seek the damaged king, to seal old wounds and to salve the land. __________________________________________ Chelsea Darter received her MFA at Columbia College Chicago in 2018 and her BFA from The University of Iowa in 2013. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and featured online by Light Leaked, Aint-Bad, and Fraction Magazine. Her personal work explores themes of place attachment, class, familial connection and local mythologies. She lives and works in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday refused for a second day to say whether the White House has seen special counsel Robert Muellers investigative report, though he did open the door wider to the possibility that Congress would see more of it than he has previously acknowleged. He also told a Senate hearing he didn't know whether Mueller supported his controvsial conclusion that President Donald Trump had not obstructed justice. Democrats are insisting that Barr release the entire unredacted report to Congress. While Barr said Tuesday he would make a redacted version of the report public "within a week," on Wednesday said he would do so "hopefully, next week." He repeated that he was trying to be as "transparent as possible." The fact that information is classified doesn't mean that Congress can't see it, Barr said, and indicated that he might be open to negotiating with lawmakers regarding grand jury material, something Democrats have insisted on seeing. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., asked Barr if Mueller had asked him to leave the question of whether Trump had engaged in obstruction of justice to Congress. Barr said Mueller didnt say that to me, no, and when asked if Mueller had said the decision should be left to the attorney general, Barr said, He didnt say that either. But Barr said thats generally the way it works" at the Justice Department. Under pointed questioning from Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who asked if Barr agreed with the special counsel that there were difficult issues of law and fact as he considered whether Trump obstructed justice, the attorney general repeatedly refused to answer. The thing is, you put this out there. The president went out and tweeted the next day that he was exonerated, blasted Van Hollen. That wasn't based on anything in the Mueller report with respect to obstruction of justice. That was based on your assessment, on March 24th. Now you won't elaborate at all as to how you reached that conclusion? It was a conclusion of a number of people, including me, obviously, as the attorney general, Barr said, adding that he looks forward to explaining his position once the full report has been released. Did Bob Mueller support your conclusion? Van Hollen then asked. I don't know whether Bob Mueller supported my conclusion, Barr shot back. But Barr may have raised the eyebrows the most when he suggested that he thought spying on the Trump campaign may have occurred in the course of the governments counterintelligence investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. When asked by New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen - the panels top Democrat - why he has said he feels the need to investigate the genesis of the Russian meddling probe -- particularly since the DOJ inspector general is nearly done with one on the same topic -- Barr said, I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal. It's a big deal I'm not suggesting that those rules were violated, but I think it's important to look at that. Shaheen appeared shocked, pausing before asking, Youre not suggesting, though, that spying occurred? Barr answered, I think spying did occur, yes. I think spying did occur, quickly adding that he wasnt suggesting that such a probe wasnt adequately predicated. I haven't set up a team yet, but I have in mind having some colleagues help me pull all this information together and let me know whether there are some areas that should be looked at, Barr said, expanding on a promise he made at his confirmation hearing earlier this year. I also want to make clear, this is not launching an investigation of the FBI. Frankly, to the extent there were any issues at the FBI, I do not view it as a problem that's endemic to the FBI. I think there was probably failure among a group of leaders there at the upper echelon." It was an exchange sure to fuel Democrats suspicions that the attorney general is doing the bidding of Trump and congressional Republicans. Many Democrats have already accused Barr of being biased in Trump's favor when he said he had concluded in his March 24 letter to Congress that the president did not commit obstruction of justice. They also point to a June 2018 memo Barr wrote arguing that the president, by very nature of his position as head of the government, cannot obstruct justice. Over the past two years, Trump has repeatedly accused the FBI, particularly under former Director James Comey, whom Trump fired, of mishandling the Russia probe. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, later asked Barr if he wanted to clarify his answer on spying, saying, It's rather provocative, and in my view, unnecessarily inflammatory. Barr deadpanned: Unauthorized surveillance. I want to make sure there's no unauthorized surveillance. Is that more appropriate in your mind? But by the end of the two-hour hearing, Barr seemed to feel the need to return to subject himself, saying unprompted, I just want to make it clear ... I am not saying that improper surveillance occurred. I am saying that I am concerned about it and looking into it. There is just one known case of FISA surveillance against a single person associated with the Trump campaign adviser Carter Page -- who had previously been targeted for recruitment by Russians and who was alleged to be working for the Kremlin, although it's now believed that was not the case. The Democrat who chairs the House Intelligence Committee said Barrs decision to look into spying on the Trump campaign is music to Donald Trumps ears. Im sure this is exactly what the president wanted him to say, Schiff told ABC Senior Congressional Correspondent Mary Bruce. Its stunning to hear the top law enforcement officer in the country talk so cavalierly about spying on a political campaign. This must be very pleasing to Donald Trump who wants to create a narrative that hes the victim of some deep state coup. But the attorney general has a higher responsibility than simply doing the bidding of the president of the United States. Im sure that was music to Donald Trumps ears but Im sure it was also a body blow to the hardworking men and women of the FBI, he said. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Alex Wong/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was once again received with a warm welcome at the White House Tuesday, with President Donald Trump seemingly ignoring Sisi's crackdown on political opposition and human rights as well as increasing consolidation of power. Critics, including Republicans and Democrats in Congress, had warned Trump to take a tougher stance on the Egyptian leader, one week before his supporters' majority in parliament is set to approve new constitutional amendments that would expand his control of the judiciary and allow him to remain in office until 2034. A bipartisan group of 17 senators urged the Trump administration to tell Sisi to reconsider the move, which has been condemned as a dangerous power grab that could foment political unrest even as it bolster's the general-turned-president's rule. "If Egypt continues in this direction, the future is predictable, and its ominous. Rather than becoming a modern, stable, and prosperous country -- which it could -- it will become increasingly divided and unstable," Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said Tuesday. White House officials told reporters Monday that the administration was "obviously... aware of this" move, and it would be part of a "very frank and open" conversation between the two leaders about human rights and civil society. But Trump said he didn't know about it on Tuesday when sitting next to Sisi in the Oval Office. "I don't about the effort, I can just tell you he's doing a great job," Trump said, declining to condemn or urge against it. As he has on previous occasions, including a 2017 visit to the White House, Trump praised Sisi for his efforts to combat terrorism in Egypt and said the U.S.-Egyptian relationship had never been better. Sisi responded with similarly strong words about the partnership and Trump's leadership. The White House readout of their meeting also made no mention of human rights or political issues, instead highlighting that they discussed the fighting in neighboring Libya, "the threat posed by the Muslim Brotherhood," water issues and religious freedom -- which Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has praised Sisi for promoting, especially on behalf of Egypt's Christians. Sisi's government is accused of launching the most aggressive crackdown on political opponents from across the political spectrum in the country's modern history, according to Amnesty International. That especially includes the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational political party that Sisi's government has declared a terrorist organization after he helped oust his predecessor Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader, in a popularly-backed coup in 2013. While Sisi has repeatedly insisted that there are no political prisoners in Egypt, Human Rights Watch estimated there are currently 60,000 behind bars in Egypt, detained on political grounds. Pompeo was grilled about that human rights record on Capitol Hill after attending Trump and Sisi's meetings. "There's no doubt that it's a mean, nasty world out there," the top U.S. diplomat told lawmakers in defense. He added what separated Sisi from the likes of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom the Trump administration has tried to push from power, is that Sisi is "actually partnering with us to help keep Americans safe... You might call them [both] tyrant, you might call them authoritarian, but there's a fundamental difference." Pompeo said he raised human rights issues with Sisi in their own meeting on Monday night, "asking him to do better... certainly with respect to Americans" detained by the Egyptian government. There are approximately 20 U.S. citizens currently imprisoned, including Mustafa Kassem, a New York City taxi driver in severe health because of an ongoing hunger strike. But that wasn't enough for Democrats in particular, who condemned Trump's cozy relationship with Sisi. "Whatever may be said on other side of Pennsylvania Avenue today, I think its pretty clear the president does not speak for the United States. He does not speak for the United States Congress, certainly, in terms of our perception of what is going on in Egypt," said Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., who served as President Obama's assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. A second construction worker died in an on-the-job accident this week, falling from a 13-story Brooklyn Heights building on Wednesday morning. According to the Department of Buildings, the worker had been helping replace bricks underneath the water tower atop 1 Pierrepont Street when he fell. When DOB officials arrived on the scene, he was already dead, having tumbled into the yard behind the co-op around 10 a.m. The investigation is ongoing, but according to NBC 4 New York, the 23-year-old victim was just one week into the job when he died. His identity has not yet been released. On Monday, a 51-year-old construction worker named Nelson Salinas died while working on the facade of 311 East 50th Street in Midtown: A copestone dislodged from the top of the building, knocking him unconscious on his scaffold. EMS responded and transported him to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Hospital, where attendants pronounced him dead. Neither the FDNY nor the DOB could confirm the deceased's age, but an FDNY spokesperson added that EMS transported the victim to Brooklyn Hospital Center in critical condition. The worker was pronounced dead at the hospital. Speaking to the NY Daily News, Ang Whitehead, who works on 1 Pierrepont's fifth floor, described the accident as "scary" "It seems almost unbelievable, you come to work and fall off the roof," Whitehead said. "I hope his family is okay." A group of transit workers are calling on the MTA to postpone its planned L train construction workwhich is scheduled to start on April 26thuntil an independent third party has reviewed Governor Andrew Cuomos plan and deemed it safe for workers and riders. A handful of train operators were posted at the Bedford Avenue station in Williamsburg on Wednesday morning, handing out flyers to passengers to call attention to health concerns. Learn about the air youre breathing here! called out William Moya, a train operator on the A line, from behind a blue face mask. The flyer, which bears a red skull-and-bones poison symbol at the top, outlines three major concerns: the dangers of carcinogenic silica dust, the condition of the tunnels bench walls, and dangerous overcrowding as a result of long wait times between L trains during construction on nights and weekends. The Transit Workers for Social Justice flyer (Shumita Basu) Silica dust, which can damage the lungs and even elevate the risk of lung cancer if its inhaled at high concentrations, is commonly created when construction crews do work that involves drilling or breaking tunnel walls. I don't think this plan is fundamentally safe, said Seth Rosenberg, a train operator on the G line and a member of Local 100 Fightback, which organized a larger coalition called Transit Workers for Social Justice for this flyering campaign. The first step is to get it independently vetted by a trusted source and not just go on Cuomo's whims. The MTA, several MTA board members, and New York City Transit President Andy Byford have all indicated that a third party consultant would be called in to review the scope of the revised L train tunnel plan. But just two weeks ago at the last board meeting, acting MTA Chair Freddy Ferrer said the agency has hired a consultant to monitor safety and environmental considerations during the shutdown, not before. Some riders were a little shocked to learn this. Johanna Munroe, who works in healthcare research and lives near the Bedford Avenue L station, was studying the flyer on the platform as she waited to catch an L into Manhattan. Im surprised theres no review, said Munroe. I didnt even consider my safety, even though I work in a hospital! Michael Bolognino, who also takes the L every day, said hes been alarmed at the sight of construction workers with face masks in the Bedford station. The rest of us are not wearing masks, said Bolognino. Im worried about it, and I dont totally trust anything that I see or read, so I need to do my own research. Another passenger, Krystyna Printup, said she was hospitalized for an asthma attack two weeks ago. And I take this train everyday, twice a day, said Printup. Theres definitely times where Im like, Oh my God, I should be wearing a mask. Gov. Cuomo's revised L train repair work is scheduled to begin in just 16 days. (Shumita Basu) Just three weeks ago, when riders were complaining of construction dust at the Bedford Avenue station, the MTA assured the public that a contractor analyzed the air quality and deemed it safe. When asked about todays flyering campaign, MTA spokesperson Max Young called the transit workers a fringe group seeking to advance their own political agenda within the union. As for the claims theyre making on their flyer, Young went on to say: Using tried-and-true methods adopted in complex projects around the world, we have reduced the amount of demolitionand the resulting dustby more than 90 percent and will aggressively monitor the air on a continual basis... Safety is the MTAs top priority for the L project, as it is with any project or decision we make, and these claims are not only outrageous and false, they are irresponsible to the public. In a statement, Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Tony Utano said, "Safety is very important to us and wed never let workers be in an unsafe environment. Were monitoring the situation and do not believe its unsafe to use the L line or work in the stations." Governor Cuomos office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. For Rosenberg, the current controversy brought back memories of 2013 construction work on the Montague Tube, which carries the R train under the East River. The MTA decided to close that tunnel completely to perform Sandy-related repair work. The project was largely celebrated for finishing ahead of schedule and under budget, but Rosenberg says it got off to a rocky start, with workers flagging health risks related to dust. At that time, he said, officers listened and responded. "The MTA is a big organization and I think they were trying to learn their lessons from 2013, said Rosenberg. And Cuomo came in there and blew all of that out of the water." At one point during the one-hour flyering campaign, two NYPD officers told the transit workers that they needed to exit the station if they wanted to pass out flyers, saying they were disrupting the flow of traffic. The workers complied, and finished handing out flyers at the top of the stairs. Transit Workers for Social Justice plan to hold another flyering event at the Union Square L station on Thursday evening. Neel Dhanesha contributed additional reporting. Shumita Basu is a host, producer and reporter in the newsroom. You can follow her on Twitter @shubasu. Sometimes ducks leave. Maybe no one told you this, but it's a fact of life"Every duck leaves, baby, that's a fact, but maybe every duck that leaves, someday comes back." The Mandarin Duck, a.k.a. Mandarin Patinkin, a.k.a. Hot Duck, has not been seen in his usual spots around Central Park all month. The last tweeted sighting was on March 27th at the pond (which he made his main residence last October). Then poof, he was gone. Didn't even leave a note. This isn't the first time he's gone "missing," howeverpreviously he's taken trips to the East River, the Hudson River, and even New Jersey. Ducks have wings, after all, giving them the ability to fly. Do they have free will? To paraphrase Baruch Spinoza, "It's complicated!" But... probably? It's possible he was getting out the spotlight while he transformed into Ugly-Hot Duck, or is out there looking for a girlfriend for breeding season. It's also possible, because anything is possible, that he has shapeshifted and we simply do not recognize him in his new form. No one can say for sure! my working theory is that (currently "missing" from Central Park) Mandarin Patinkin has actually just shapeshifted into this majestic creature https://t.co/13ZtJGY6r4 Jen Carlson (@jenist) April 3, 2019 If you see Mandarin Patinkin, please alert us. (If you see a coyote with feathers coming out of his mouth, also please alert us.) And note, he may look like this duck below now (if he does not look like the above): A mandarin duck molting. (Shutterstock) In the meantime, we have reached out to David Barrett, who runs Manhattan Bird Alert account, and will update if he has any intel. Below, some reassurance: Wherever the MANDARIN DUCK is, we think he is doing fine. With warm weather and an abundant supply of food and open water now in the area, his life is much easier than in the winter. His time away from the Pond could lengthen, as it did last October. Manhattan Bird Alert (@BirdCentralPark) April 3, 2019 And you can still see him on the subway: These are the key moments since he was included in the probe on alleged money laundering offenses. 1. The investigation On December 13, 2017, the Peruvian Public Ministry opened a preliminary investigation against two companies linked to Kuczynski for allegedly having received money from Odebrecht. However, he was not included in the probe, since at that time Kuczynski was the Inca country's President and therefore he enjoyed presidential immunity. The investigation was based on projects linked to the Brazilian company's South Interoceanic Highway Project Stretches 2 and 3 (South IIRSA) and Olmos Irrigation Project. Odebrecht allegedly made payments to Westfield Capital, First Capital, and Latin American Enterprise while he was Economy-Finance Minister (2002 and 2004) and Prime Minister (2006) of Peru. The probe also considers the transfers made by TRG Allocational Off Shore LTD., Ternium S.A, and TRG Management LP between 2007 and 2015 to Kuczynski's account during his two presidential campaigns (2011 and 2016). 2. Congress' Lava Jato Commission Odebrecht informed the commission that it had paid US$4.8 million to Westfield Capital and First Capital for consulting services between 2004 and 2014. The former President denied having received payments from Odebrecht in a letter addressed to a Congress investigative commission and then admitted to providing advisory services. 3. Statement to the Prosecutor's Office While he was still in office, Kuczynski welcomed Anticorruption Prosecutor Hamilton Castro to the Government Palace to give his statement on First Capital and Latin American Enterprise Fund Managers, as well as his ties with Odebrecht. On this occasion, he told the Prosecutor's Office that there had not been any conflict of interest in his companies' consultancy services to Odebrecht while he was a State Minister. 4. Raid and travel ban On March 24, 2018, the Prosecutor's Office raided two homes owned by the ex-President . That same day, a Peruvian judge barred the former Head of State from leaving the country. 5. Judge rejects request to travel abroad In July, the Judicial Branch rejected Kuczynski's request to leave Peru . The former President had asked permission to travel to the United States by claiming medical purposes. According to Judge Juan Carlos Sanchez Balbuena, there was no legal reason for backing such request, and doing so would have been counterproductive for such restrictive measure. 6. Preliminary detention (END) FHG/CCR/DTK/RMB/MVB Peru's Judicial Branch on Wednesday ordered the preliminary detention of ex-President and former Minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski for 10 days, within the framework of investigations on alleged Odebrecht payments to his companies.Published: 4/10/2019 El expresidente Pedro Pablo Kuczynski ingresa a evaluacion medica en el Instituto de Medicina Legal y Ciencias Forenses del Ministerio Publico, tras orden de detencion preliminar https://t.co/4YxmOIRpMm Video: @FiscaliaPeru pic.twitter.com/665tQoBumJ 11:52 | Ocucaje (Ica region), Apr. 10. Peregocetus pacificus (meaning "the traveling whale that reached the Pacific Ocean") was found some 500 meters away from Media Luna (Half-Moon) Beach in southern Ica region. The truth is that, according to its discoverer Mario Urbina Schmitt, the specimen should be called cholocetus, since it was found in Peru. In 2007, Urbina saw a big fish in Ocucaje desert, and years later research reveals this is the first quadrupedal whale found in South America, and what is most astonishing: the species is a relative of the pig and the hippopotamus. After finding a phalange, Urbina returned to Lima to tell his "partner" the paleontologist Rodolfo Salas-Gismondi, with whom he came back to Ocucaje. "Upon arrival in Paracas formation zone, we barely saw a phalange and a tooth associated to a jaw. We immediately knew it was a very primitive quadrupedal terrestrial animal," Salas-Gismondi stated. The prize The collection and recovery of the fossil was made possible in 2011 and was conducted by an international team. After two days of hard work, they were in front of the most complete skeleton of a protocetid (an extinct cetacean) besides those from Asia and Africa. "There is no fossil of a quadrupedal cetacean in South America," Salas-Gismondi told Andina news agency. Recovered bones include sacrum, femur, tibia, (thoracic, lumbar, sacral and tail/caudal) vertebrae, phalanges, and calcaneus. However, the prize was the ankle bone (one of the ankle joint, and another of the calcaneus), which "is important as it determines the links between a specimen and its descendants," Urbina remarked. This assertion (that the quadrupedal whale is a relative of the pig) had been suggested by molecular data, but the fossils practically laying on the surface of Ocucaje desert confirmed it. (END) JOT/RMB/MVB Each discovery tells a different story, but the one of skeletal remains of a quadrupedal whale found in middle Eocene (42.6 mya) marine deposits of Peru that combines terrestrial locomotion and swimming abilities, puts on display scientific facts hidden in the Peruvian deserts.Published: 4/10/2019 YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to secure a record fifth term after almost complete results from Israel's election suggest a new right-wing coalition, BBC reported. Netanyahus Likud party is expected to finish with a similar number of seats as ex-military chief Benny Gantz's centrist Blue and White alliance. But Likud and right-wing allies are set to be the largest bloc with 65 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, local media said. No party has ever won a majority in Israel's 120-seat parliament and it has always had coalition governments. "It will be a right-wing government, but I will be prime minister for all," Mr Netanyahu told cheering supporters, according to BBC. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian on April 9 met with President of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on the sidelines of his working visit in Lisbon, the Armenian Presidents Office told Armenpress. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa welcomed his Armenian counterparts visit to Portugal. He highlighted the close historical-cultural connections of the two states and peoples and praised the activity of famous Portuguese-Armenian businessman and philanthropist Calouste Gulbenkian and the foundation named after him. In his turn the Armenian President highly valued the humanitarian and cultural activity of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and stated that the Foundation is a unique bridge in the Armenian-Portuguese relations. The two Presidents exchanged views on the possible cooperation directions. They agreed that the two countries can be successful partners in the fields of education, science and innovation technologies. Touching upon Portugals plan to build space satellites station, President Sarkissian said Armenia has huge scientific potential in this area. As a prospective direction for cooperation the officials highlighted the tourism sector. They both stated that many tourists from Armenia can visit Portugal and many tourists from Portugal can visit Armenia to reveal the country and attached importance to the issue of improving the air communication between the two countries and observing the opportunities. The Armenian President invited his Portuguese counterpart to pay an official visit to Armenia. In his turn Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa invited Armen Sarkissian to pay an official visit to Portugal. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. Leaders of 27 European Union countries will gather today in Brussels to discuss the situation around Brexit with UK Prime Minister Theresa May. The main emphasis of the meeting will be the prospect of delaying Brexit to a later date, the current being slated for April 12. During the summit May is expected to explain to European politicians why the postponement is necessary. The final decision is up to the EU leaders, and any option requires a unanimous approval. On April 9, May visited Paris and Berlin to discuss the situation with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian, currently on a visit in Portugal, had a meeting with Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education Manuel Heitor, Sarkissians Office said in a news release. During the meeting Sarkissian and Heitor discussed the possibilities of cooperation in the fields of education, science and modern technologies, as well as implementation of joint scientific-technical and scientific-research programs. President Sarkissian said Armenia is interested in Portugals plans on building a satellite launch pad because Armenia has great scientific potential in this sector. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. With Eurovision 2019 Song Contest nearing its commencement on May 14 in Israel, Armenias entry Srbuk opened up about her preparations and emotions ahead of an important career milestone. Srbuk (Srbuhi Sargsyan) will perform her Walking Out at this years European song contest. Speaking to Hayastani Hanrapetutyun newspapers Tamara Muradyan, Srbuk said her emotions ahead of the contest are extremely mixed. Indeed, very short time is left, very short, Srbuk smilingly said referring to her scheduled performance. Now I find it even harder to describe what I am feeling and how hard it is to be always ready to sing, dance, get filmed and give interviews. This goes on and on. Asked about her being the first performer during the upcoming second semi-finale, Srbuk said the fact undoubtedly increased the sense of responsibility. At what stage are the preparations? Are you completely ready for your performance? I am now in the period of promo-tours. Ive just returned from Amsterdam, soon I will travel to Madrid. At the same time we are preparing for my stage performance, endless rehearsals, shootings, again rehearsals, vocals, choreography and stage clothing. Your Waking Out has the most likes and views on the Eurovision official YouTube channel. Does this give grounds to predict victory? Everything is important in Eurovision, however the most important is the song that you will sing, and how you will perform it. Eurovision is a song contest, which also highlights other components around it too. Regarding the music videos views, this actually makes me happy because this shows that the concept of the song and the music video have been liked, and this is exactly what an artist needs. There are often opinions among the society that Eurovision is more politics than a song contest. Some are even suggesting not participating at all. What do you think? You really should not participate in the contest with such thoughts and mood. I am going to a song festival, to make new friends, to represent what I love. Time will show the rest. Whom do you find to be competition and why? All participants without exception are competition. All of them are strong and talented. All of us will fight to show the maximally best result. Jumping ahead of time a bit, imagine for a moment that you have won.What do you think how will you react? I guess I will scream from happiness. And I will definitely start speaking uncontrollably because Id be experiencing plenty of emotions. Godspeed! Srbuk also said that soon a piano cover of Walking Out will be released, as well as a remix. The Eurovision Song Contest will take place on May 14, May 16 and May 18 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. US President Donald Trump held a telephone conversation with Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on April 9 during which they discussed the situation in the Middle East, Reuters reports citing the White House. They discussed Riyadhs role in Middle East stability, maintaining pressure on Iran and the importance of human rights issues, the statement said. The US State Department on Monday publicly designated 16 people for their role in journalist Khashoggis death and said they and their families would be barred from entering the United States. US intelligence believes the crown prince ordered the killing, which Saudi officials deny. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan A day after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a public health emergency requiring pretty much all Williamsburg residents to make sure theyre vaccinated against the measles, hes being threatened with a lawsuit. Attorney Michael Sussman, who has filed two similar suits against pro-vaccination orders in Rockland County recently, told Gothamist/WNYC Wednesday that he and some other lawyers planned to file court papers later this week. Progressives in New York who want to scream and yell about Donald Trump have got to be concerned about the over-exercise of executive authority by executives in our own state, Sussman said. He admitted that officials do have some powers during outbreaks of this sort, such as quarantining infected children or keeping unvaccinated children out of schools where measles cases have been found. What they dont have the authority to do, Sussman said, is to enter these broad, highly intrusive orders, which are effectively dictatorial in nature, which circumvent the law that we have. The public health emergency issued Tuesday morning states that within 48 hours, any person who lives, works or resides within the 11205, 11206, 11211 and/or 11249 zip codes and who has not received the MMR ... shall be vaccinated against measles. If not, they face fines of up to $1,000 dollars, forfeitures, and even imprisonment. (MMR stands for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.) Listen to Gwynne Hogan's report on WNYC: Mandating vaccination has a centurys worth of legal precedent. In the 1905 Supreme Court case Jacobson v. Massachusetts, justices upheld Massachusetts mandatory vaccination rule during a smallpox outbreak, where people could be fined $5 if they refused. Still, civil libertarians are raising questions about whether the de Blasio administrations measles order conforms to that precedent. Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the emergency declaration indicates the city could forcibly vaccinate people, which she described as an extreme measure which is not provided for in the law and raises civil liberties concerns about forced medical treatment. In addressing this public health crisis, the government is required to pursue the least restrictive means possible to balance individual autonomy with the public health risk, Lieberman said in a statement. In this case, measures such as a quarantine or penalties for non-vaccination may be permissible, but forced vaccination is not. In an interview on WNYCs the Brian Lehrer Show Wednesday morning, Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot disputed Liebermans interpretation. We would never require people to be vaccinated without their consent, Dr. Barbot said. We have issued this order to raise peoples awareness..to make sure that they are up to date on their vaccinations thats the main point here. (Clarisa Diaz) Since the measles outbreak began last October, city health officials have confirmed 285 cases of the virus, including 21 hospitalizations and five patients who needed intensive care. Of those sickened by the virus, public health officials said, 225 or 79 percent were not vaccinated at all, 20 had one dose of the measles mumps rubella vaccine, 12 had both doses of the vaccine, and 27 had an unknown vaccination status. Along Lee Avenue Wednesday, a bustling commercial strip with butchers, bakers and shops that bisects the heart of South Williamsburg, some residents said they supported the citys step towards requiring vaccines in their neighborhood. Its a small group and they do not define Williamsburg, said a young woman named Chaya, referring to people who oppose vaccination in the neighborhood. She declined to give her last name. Theyre putting kids in danger. A 67-year-old man named Sy W., who declined to give his full last name, said that although he believed in vaccination, he didnt think the city should have the right to tell people what to do with their children. They should have the right to say that I dont want it, he said. If a person says that...I dont want to put it in my child vaccination, I think they should have the right, just as a constitutional right of an individual to be free. But a 36-year-old man named Alex, who also declined to give his last name, wrestled with both sentiments at once, saying he understood the need for personal liberty, but said that his nephew has an autoimmune disorder and cannot be vaccinatedand was recently exposed to measles virus while at the doctors office. If he contracts measles, that could be fatal for him... I dont know. Its a tough call because on the one hand you dont want the government to intrude too much on peoples rights, he said. People have personal views, no one can dictate what personal views they have, but they have to think about other peoples conditions. Some leaders of Williamsburgs Hasidic community have embraced the citys order, including Rabbi David Niederman, executive director and president of the United Jewish Organizations. He said Williamsburg residents would comply without ever needing to be fined by the city. I am convinced... people will learn how the Department of Health is committed and it will never get to fines because everybody is going to be vaccinated, he said. But Dr. Jay Begun, a pediatrician in South Williamsburg whos treated dozens of measles cases in his office and diagnosed around 50 more remotely, said no community can get to 100 percent immunization levels. But I'm hoping that we're able to raise the levels of immunization to achieve the level of herd immunity needed to prevent further outbreak, he said. Most of Beguns patients do not ardently oppose vaccines, rather they're hesitant because of misinformation about their safety spread through conference calls and slickly produced manuals. Dr. Begun said that the emergency order might be effective in persuading those parents on the fence. But nurse practitioner Blima Marcus, a past president of the Orthodox Jewish Nurses Association, said she didnt think mandating vaccines was the right approach, though she said she understood the need for drastic measures. Its not getting to the root of the problem, Marcus said. The government needs to put their efforts into understanding the root cause of the hesitancy and fears of vaccinating and addressing that...What you really need to gain from the community is trust with slow, long-term education. Youll really get people to listen and reverse the damage thats been done by the anti-vaccine movement thats so vocal here. Marcus is working to dispel myths about vaccines among ultra-Orthodox mothers through a book she and her colleagues are writing on the subject, Janlori Goldman, an expert in public health and social justice who teaches at Columbia and NYU law schools, said the current outbreak illustrates the conflict between public health and the state law dating back to the 1960s allowing parents to apply for religious exemptions for immunizations is sending a conflicting public health message. New York law allows people to opt out of vaccinations based on sincerely held religious beliefs, yet as we see, if they do that, they put themselves and the broader community at risk of outbreaks and epidemics, she said. Isn't this a good time to reconsider the religious exemption? City officials estimate that about 1,800 students at Williamsburg yeshivas are not vaccinated, largely because of the religious exemption. The New York State legislature is currently considering a bill that would remove the right of parents to claim religious exemptions and still send their kids to school, much as California did in 2015 following an outbreak of measles traced back to Disneyland. Gwynne Hogan is an associate producer at WNYC. You can follow her on Twitter at @GwynneFitz. YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. President of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) Artur Javadyan has departed for Washington D.C. to take part in the spring meetings of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the CBA told Armenpress. The CBA President will attend the plenary session of the IMF/WB spring meeting, as well as the session of the governors of the Dutch-Belgian subgroup. Several bilateral meetings with the IMF top officials and heads of a number of international financial structures are scheduled. On the sidelines of the event the CBA President will also have several working discussions on the international economic and financial developments, economic growth, mutual connection of capital markets and financial technologies, the global economy challenges, financial flow management and other related topics. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. 27 years ago the Defense Ministry Units of Azerbaijan along with the units of the Internal Affairs Ministry and the OMON forces (Special Purpose Police Units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan) committed one of the cruelest and inhumane crimes of our time in Maragha village, Martakert, located in the north-east of NKR. On April 10, 1992, they invaded Maragha and within a few hours, destroyed and burned the village down by razing everything to the ground, brutally tortured peaceful civilians to death, burned alive and dismembered them and captured some of them to unknown directions. Caroline Cox, Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords of the UK who arrived in the village after the tragedy, described the Maragha massacre as a contemporary Golgotha and many times over. The testimonies of those who surprisingly survived the massacre leave no doubt, that what happened in Maragha was a Genocide left unpunished and uncondemned. Karine Poghosyan and her family also passed through this inhumane crime and cruelty. According to her, the random attacks against the peaceful inhabitants had started after the pogroms of Sumgait: They were stealing animals from the fields or just catching our drivers and taking their cars. We were always under pressure. We heard different stories about the attacks on the farms or against the vineyard workers which happened over and over. The first victim was in autumn of 1991: a tractor driver was shot and killed during the autumn sowing. The first bombing was in January 1992 after which everyone came down from the second floor to leave in the cellars. In order to avoid getting hurt when the shellings took place we had to cover under the shelters built with sandbags. Karine, her two infants, father-in-law and neighbors were taken captive to different directions. My son was then 3-year-old and my daughter was 1 years and 4 months. They grabbed them away from me. I was screaming like mad after it. When we were driven from the village on foot, I saw tortured and slaughtered corpses on the streets: I knew them, as they were our villagers Even if someone was trying to escape, they were killing with an ax, were breaking their heads. Well, they were armed. They had axes; one side like a hammer and the other side looked like a sharp thing like an ax. They were mercilessly hitting everyone they saw. The village was full of cries and scuffling noises... They said: We should kill you until the last one, Karabagh is ours, you should be demolished and not just evicted: we should kill all of you, Karabagh is ours and its us, who should live here, not you They were swearing at Armenians. They said that we are Armenians and we are haram [indecent]. They looked down on us with hatred, with a feeling of disgust, Karine Poghosyan tells recalling the massacre of Maragha. Karine clearly remembers her fellow villager Valya slaughtered on the ground. She has also seen Valyas husband and her daughter on the sea of blood. I saw a man slaughtered, next to the gates, I do not know who he was, the blood splatters were on the gates I was so unconscious at that moment, didnt feel any pain and maybe my brain did not even work then. I just thought, they would kill me anyway, I wish they killed me soon so I wouldnt feel anything. There was even a moment I followed them in order to take a gun and kill myself thinking that maybe everything will be finished by that, she says with tears drowned in her throat. There were lot of villagers together with us, not only from our dugout (an underground shelter built by villagers), but also from different parts of the village. On the way I saw them dragging about my father-in-law and an old neighbor of ours. We were together until reaching the center of the village. There was a house, the basement window of which was on the ground. They were thrown among the thorns and weeds: We must shoot you. Your sons are in that basement. Ask them to come out. I was taken away and heard a shooting. I turned, looked back and saw them falling on the ground. But later, when our people entered the village they didnt see any corps there. I do not know whether they were killed or taken away: there is no news about my father-in-law until now. After taking us away, on the same night and the next morning, they kept everyone together in one place. They were always holding a gun to us and were threatening us Next day they said that the funeral of their soldiers is going to happen and they should slaughter us on their graves. They didnt take me and a bride from our village. I do not know, if the boys were taken, she recalls. They exchanged Karine and her son but could not find her daughter. After the exchange, they gave the photo and the personal data of her daughter and in a month and a half it turned out that the child was in an orphanage. Later, after one year and 7 months, it was proved that the child in the orphanage was really Karines daughter. She was taken on October 23, 1993 when she was 3. The child didnt approach me as she didnt recognize me. The orphanage nurse brought her: she was holding her hand and did not want to leave her. The nurse blamed me for leaving her, maybe she thought that it was me that brought her to the orphanage. I didnt feel anything then, I thought it will take just a few minutes, I will take my child and leave. However, the child didnt want to approach me, she was standing close to the nurse and even cried after she left. She wasnt talking at all and after a few days started to say words in Azerbaijani. Later she gradually got used to us. She was scared: when seeing a soldier or a car she was crying out, Karine recalls. Karine Poghosyan did not see any other captives of their group later. I dont know whether they slaughtered them on the graves, or they shot them. I dont know what happened to them. There were both women and children and young boys from the village. Karine also lost her sister Zarine Poghosyan during the Maragha massacre. Mother of the Poghosyans, Sveta Poghosyan tells us, that on April 17 her husband went to the exchange of Zarine and her children. On their way back, they exploded and were injured on a landmine. They were taken to hospital in Martakert. Zarine underwent a serious surgery, her toe on the left foot were cut but she died because of a serious injury in her belly. Mrs. Sveta said that Zarine was brutally tortured: Her breast was fully burnt with cigarette butts and two holes were made on her neck with a knife. I asked her to see where her earrings were, she said they have stolen it tearing her earlobes, she remembers with tears in her eyes. According to Human Rights Watch/Helsinki, as a result of the genocidal acts committed by the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, 50 civilians were killed and 50 were captured from 118 peaceful residents in Maragha. Some of them were later exchanged, whereas the fate of the 19 people from Maragha still remains unknown. The husbands of Karine and Zarine are still missing. The interview with Karine and Sveta Poghosyans was conducted within the framework of Simple Genocide: Maragha, April 10, 1992 film. You can find the actual historic footage, eyewitness accounts and other facts on the Maragha.org and Karabakhrecords.info websites. Gohar Grigoryan YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. Representatives of the World Health Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency are in Armenia as part of the Armenia imPact Review mission, the Armenian Ministry of Healthcare said in a news release. The purpose of the visit is to provide assistance in the development and introduction of a national strategy for combating cancer. The international experts had a meeting with the staff of the medical assistance policy department of the healthcare ministry. The representatives will also meet with experts of the sector and visit oncology medical facilities. Despite a certain stability in cancer cases among the Armenian population, WHO has forecast that globally by 2030 new cancer cases will reach 27 million from the current 12 million, with 17 million fatalities against the current 8 million. Nearly 5600 people die from cancer in Armenia. Cancer is the 2nd cause of death, including premature death, in Armenia after cardiovascular diseases. In 2017 cancer cases grew 27% against 2012 in Armenia. Proceeding from the importance of the matter the Armenian Ministry of Healthcare is planning to increase funding for cancer diagnostics and treatment, as well as introduce a national strategy for combating the disease. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. Armenias minister of transport, communication and information technologies Hakob Arshakyan met with CEO of French Sigfox wireless network company Ludovic Le Moan on the sidelines of the World Summit on Information Technology in Geneva, the ministry told Armenpress. Sigfox builds wireless networks to connect low-power objects such as electricity meters and smartwatches, which need to be continuously on and emitting small amounts of data. During the meeting the sides discussed the bilateral cooperation prospects in the field of high technologies. An agreement was reached to hold three-month trainings of Internet of Things (IoT) in Armenias Polytechnic University through the educational platform owned by Sigfox and existing in different countries of the world as a result of which the students will have an opportunity to get acquainted with the worlds most advanced technologies towards their internet and will have a chance to participate in the works of international network, as well as to create their own IoT Startup. The Sigfox CEO stated that they are ready to cooperate with the IoT startups in Armenia which will create new opportunities for both sides to spread their technologies across the world. The Armenian minister invited the Sigfox CEO to attend the World Congress on Information Technology 2019 (WCIT) which will take place in Yerevan on October 6-9. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. The ministry of foreign affairs of the Republic of Artsakh has released a statement on the 27th anniversary of the Maragha Massacre. ARMENPRESS presents the full text of the statement: On April 10, 1992, after prolonged shelling, the Azerbaijani armed forces broke into Maragha settlement of the Martakert region of the Republic of Artsakh. The local self-defense forces managed to evacuate most of the population, but 118 people, mostly disabled, elderly, women and children, remained in the village. Over 50 of them were brutally murdered, including 30 women. 29 women and 9 children, were taken hostage, the fate of 19 of them remains unknown. Maragha was liberated by the Artsakh armed forces, but two weeks later the Azerbaijani troops invaded the village again and committed a new crime against the people who had returned to bury their relatives. The massacre of the civilians of Maragha was one of the most tragic events taken place during the war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh. The attack on the settlement committed by the Azerbaijani troops was not conditioned by a military necessity, but was aimed at eliminating its civilian population. Representatives of the Christian Solidarity Worldwide organization, led by Member and Vice Speaker of the House of Lords of Great Britain, human rights activist Baroness Caroline Cox, who had visited the settlement immediately after the massacres, also testified about the war crimes committed against the civilian population. The tragedy in Maragha was one of the manifestations of Azerbaijan's policy of violence and terror against Armenians, and deprivation of the possibility to live in their homeland. This policy was adopted and consistently implemented by the Azerbaijani authorities throughout the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict. Azerbaijan tried to apply the same methods and approaches during the April 2016 aggression unleashed against Artsakh, which was prevented only thanks to the decisive actions by the Artsakh Defense Army, ensuring the independence of the country and the security of its citizens. The military crimes and gross violations of international humanitarian law committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces both in Maragha and 24 years later, during the April war, prove that indifference and impunity towards the crimes against humanity lead to their recurrence. YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan met with President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Gabriela Cuevas Barron on the sidelines of the 140th IPU Assembly in Doha, the Armenian Parliament told Armenpress. During the meeting Speaker Mirzoyan introduced the recent changes that have taken place in Armenia and the developments recorded after the snap parliamentary elections. Ararat Mirzoyan expressed confidence that the new Armenian Parliament will be actively engaged in the works of international parliamentary organizations, in particular the IPU. The sides discussed the issue of forming a closer cooperation agenda which can include the UN SDGs, parliamentary institutional development and other fields of joint interest. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. Vice Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Lena Nazaryan on April 10 received the delegation led by Minister of Defense and Armed Forces of the Czech Republic Lubomir Metnar, the Armenian Parliament told Armenpress. Chairman of the Armenian Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defense and Security Andranik Kocharyan attended the meeting. Lubomir Metnar congratulated the Armenian people on the first anniversary of the Velvet revolution, noting that this year the Czech Republic celebrates the 30th anniversary of the velvet revolution. He highly assessed the fact that Armenia took the path of smooth changes and without violence. The Minister has noted that Armenia is the important partner of the Czech Republic in the South Caucasus Region, expressing conviction that his meetings will also create fertile soil for the deepening of further cooperation. Lena Nazaryan has underlined with satisfaction that during last years the bilateral political dialogue has been active, which is the result of the active work of the parliament and parliamentarians. The Vice Speaker of Parliament, informing that Armenia-Czech Republic Friendship Group had already been formed, evaluated the effective cooperation of the Armenian and Czech parliamentarians on the inter-parliamentary platforms. It is important that our colleagues show balanced position in the international organizations in the NK problem of vital significance for us, and its settlement we see exclusively through peaceful means, in the format of the OACSE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Lena Nazaryan said. In this context Lubomir Metnar has stressed they are for the settlement of the problems exclusively through peaceful means and negotiations and they show balanced approach in the conflicts of the regional countries. He has underscored that his country backs the mediatory efforts going on by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. Talking about the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Lena Nazaryan stressed with satisfaction the fact that in 2017 the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament adopted the Resolution on recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide. In this context she highly assessed the visit of the Minister Lubomir Metnar to Tsitsernakaberd. First of all, the recognition of the Armenian Genocide is directed to prevent the repetition of such crimes, it is of all-human importance, Lena Nazaryan documented. Touching upon the ratification of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement the Vice Speaker expressed hope that it would be completely ratified by the Czech Republic in the near future. The guest was interested in the discussion of the theme The Democratic Control of the Armenian Armed Forces held in the Parliament. Andranik Kocharyan presented details from the discussion, highly assessing the reports made by the representatives of the Czech Republic. The Committee Chair highly appreciated the Czech Ministers visit to Armenia, especially in the context of signing the Agreement concerning the two countries military-technical cooperation. According to the MP, Armenia being CSTO member state highlights the cooperation with the NATO within the framework of the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), as well as the relations with the NATO member states. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan There appears to be some indication that royalties locked away due to legal battles and entangled in bureaucratic red tape is going to be paid but only after landowner identities can be reliably established. After 15 years, there is some progress in negotiations, or at least thats the positive spin to it. Early last month, senior government ministers, including petroleum minister Fabian Pok, travelled to Komo in Hela Province for meetings with landowners of the liquefied natural gas project. LAE - Just into the fourth month of 2019 and resource projects in Papua New Guinea have come under scrutiny. Finance minister James Marape told the media three months ago that K300 million is parked in PNGs Central Bank ready to be released. But landowners, or people claiming to be landowners, must follow a process of landowner identification if they are to be paid the money. So there is some hope of an end to the long-running disputes. However, the final settlement remains a long way off. Thats the reality. Many of the elders have died awaiting the royalty payments they were promised. Since Hela became a new province, theres still a lot to be ironed out. The provincial government has to work its way through layers of bureaucratic processes that continue to favour the Southern Highlands in terms of royalty payments from the gas project. Understanding the complexities of Helas resource project means going back some 20 years when oil extraction ended and the promise of Papua New Guinea becoming the Saudi Arabia of the Pacific faded. It is against a similar backdrop that neighbouring Enga Province is looking at renegotiating operations at Porgera mine through the wardens hearing required for reopening after the end of a mining lease. Landowners and the Enga provincial government are looking at a bigger slice of revenues and benefits. What did they get over the last 30 years? Well, thats a point of contention for both pro-mining and anti-mining camps. Visible to the international community have been the campaigns against alleged atrocities committed against local people in Porgera and the desperate push by the people to get what few crumbs they can from a mine that has existed for so long on their land. For the first time in more than three decades, it appears the national government is speaking a different language: One that calls for greater benefits into both government coffers and landowners pockets. This rhetoric has come after 30 years of gold extraction, 500 shipments of liquefied natural gas and billions of dollars of round log exports. In Lae, during the opening of the Central Banks currency processing facility, deputy prime minister Charles Abel talked about a production-based tax, instead of a profit-based tax, for resource projects signed from 2019 onwards. The thinking of the national government is that a profits based tax can be deceptive, leaving the government with little to collect if a mining company declares losses or breaks even. A similar process is happening in Madang. Triggered by an agreement between Chinese and PNG governments, Ramu Nickels expansion is also the subject of discussions between the government and the resource developer. The processes are long and the risk is that, without proper representation, landowners may be left with another raw deal for several more decades before another opportunity for renegotiation presents itself. Scott Waides blog columns are frequently published by Asia Pacific Report with permission. He is also EMTV deputy news editor based in Lae Images: Indiegogo, Getty Its the sort of thing that sounds obvious in hindsight: sitting on a toilet for 50 hours in a row is not good for your health. But its great for drumming up media interest, especially if its live-streamed, the founder of Australian sustainable toilet paper brand Who Gives a Crap, Simon Griffiths told Yahoo Finance. And he would know, thats how he and his team effectively launched the multimillion-dollar business in 2012. Griffiths, his university friend Jehan Ratnatunga and New Jersey-native Danny Alexander had built the website on Shopify, fixed on a name, a manufacturer and a mandate: be the toilet paper company that paves the way to worldwide access to a toilet. But they had a problem. We realised that we were selling literally the most boring product in the entire world, Griffiths said. Who Gives a Crap needed a shot of financial and customer adrenaline. All of the successful crowdfunding campaigns that we had seen back in early 2012 either had this high-tech amazing product or they had a huge cult following from other things they had done in the past. We didnt have either of those things. Story continues So, they decided to pull off an audacious publicity stunt: Griffiths would be livestreamed sitting on the toilet and not moving until Who Gives a Crap raised $50,000. The idea was too good to say no to, Griffiths explained. And it was a huge success: the team raised the $50,000 and scored a cult following as the story went international, picked up by media in Australia, the US and even the largest paper in Latin America. Griffiths had to have his legs and circulation checked out afterwards as a friend was scared he had deep vein thrombosis, but Who Gives a Crap had made a name for itself. And now? Today, the toilet paper brand donates 50 per cent of its profits to help build toilets in areas without adequate sanitation, having donated $1.8 million to date. The company has also grown from the three original founders to 50 employees as Who Gives a Crap funnels its remaining profit back into the company. Reflecting on Who Gives a Craps success, Griffiths said the company rallies around the reason for the work they do. Were always talking about the growth of the business in terms of having customers, and what our sales look like but also how our donations have an impact, he said. Passing the $1 million donation mark in June 2017 was one of those major moments of impact. That was such a massive milestone for us in the business, to get to that point as a company thats just selling online and at that time really just from Australia. Thats a massive achievement for everyone. Make your money work with Yahoo Finances daily newsletter. Sign up here and stay on top of the latest money, news and tech news. (Bloomberg) -- Qualcomm Inc., whose technology dominates in smartphones, said its going to offer a new chip for use in data centers that will help accelerate artificial intelligence processing, joining a crowded race to provide the fundamental building blocks of new forms of computing. The company will use its mobile expertise, and ability to design chips made with the latest manufacturing technology, to start supplying the new products that will compete in a market worth $17 billion by 2025, Keith Kressin, a Qualcomm executive, said at a company event Tuesday in San Francisco. Their key attribute will be power efficiency, he said. Qualcomm, whose growth has stalled amid a slowing smartphone market, increasing competition and legal battles that threaten its technology licensing business. In response, the company is seeking new markets to try to reverse that. The business of recognizing images, speech and making data-based decisions by computers is expanding rapidly and stretching the capabilities of the type of chips that have dominated since the birth of the personal computer in the early 1980s. Semiconductor companies are scrambling to either optimize traditional types of chips or offer completely new approaches to companies such as Alphabet Inc.s Google, Amazon.com Inc.s AWS and Facebook Inc. In turn, these cloud-computing providers are increasingly moving toward designing their own components. Facebooks computers currently make 200 trillion predictions daily, Joe Spisak, a product manager at the social media company said at the Qualcomm event. That increasing workload makes it difficult to keep up with the growing demands of supplying data centers with power, a need that doubles annually and is unsustainable, he said. Such testimonies highlight the urgency for new solutions, which hasnt been missed by Qualcomms competitors. Intel Corp., whose processors are pervasive in data centers, has bought smaller companies that make different types of chips with attributes helpful in handling work for AI accelerators. Its also adding capabilities to its processors to try to make them more efficient and better at making sense of the increasing flood of data created by phones and machines. Qualcomm is also playing catch up with Nvidia Corp. which has built a multibillion-dollar annual business adapting its graphics chips for data-center use. Story continues Kressin said Qualcomm will provide more details of its new product, called the Cloud A1 100, later this year. The chip is aimed at inferencing work making decisions based on analysis of data streams such as digitized voice or images. More than just a repurposed mobile phone processor, he said, its more than 50 times as powerful in processing AI workloads as the companys flagship mobile chip. The new offering will be in production in 2020, he said. To contact the reporter on this story: Ian King in San Francisco at ianking@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Molly Schuetz, Andrew Pollack For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. This is REAL different than government! said Jason Starr, bounding onto the stage, backed by hiphop, at SubCulture, a small subterranean performance space in SoHo. I can't even see who I'm talking to. Maybe that's a good thing. An assistant counsel to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Starr was at the networking forum Cannabis + Licensing, on Tuesday night, addressing about 200 people eager for an update on marijuana legalization in New York. Starr, who sported a bushy beard, bald head, crimson crewneck and gray blazer, helped write the governors proposed legislation, and hes now hammering it out with state lawmakers. But he wanted the crowd to know he wasnt just some faceless Albany bureaucrat. I like to think of myself as the most ungovernmenty government person there is, he said. The proposal wasnt included in the state budget deal reached over a week ago. Cuomo said there was broad agreement but they needed more time to work through the details. At issue: how to share the tax revenue, who will get licenses and how far exactly the decriminalization of weed will go. Drug policy advocates and predominantly black elected officials are working to ensure the new rules have social and racial equity at their core. That means investing a sizable chunk of the tax revenue into poorer communities adversely affected by the decades-long war on drugs, and guaranteeing people of color had a hand in the new industry from the get-go, with licenses and support to compete against out-of-state competitors and large corporations. Starr, who is black and previously worked at the New York Civil Liberties Union, touched upon this when he talked about the architecture of marijuana licensing and regulation. The thing that I think folks are looking for, when they look at the law that we've drafted, when they look at the policy, you're looking to see if the architecture reflects equity. he said. And if it does, then it should have opportunity. As with other speakers, Starrs spiel was somewhere between a pep talk, a Gospel sermon and a TED Talk. There's a lot of different ways that this industry is going to grow, that it has grown and will continue to grow, he said. And regardless of what skills and talents and innovations you bring, there is a place in this space for you that's going to be recognized and that's going to be elevated and celebrated. Schmoozing at the event (Fred Mogul / WNYC) The informational mixer was organized by Revelone of several young companies that organize pot-oriented professional socializing sessions like this throughout the metropolitan area. A mix of men and women, representing a range of ages and racial identities, sipped local microbrews and noshed on Thai noodles before the sit-down portion of the evening. The schmoozing is good, said Jyl Ferris, a marketer with sparkly costume jewelry. But you always have to separate, try to find the people who are going to be beneficial for your career, maybe youll meet someone who might need your services. Ferris, whos worked for everyone from Perrier to Conde Nast to a Jewish-themed cannabis wellness brand, said she hadnt yet made any great new contacts but the night was young. Many had bought $50-65 tickets for the sold-out event because theyre considering a career change and think cannabis might be the answer. I want to be informed about how to be involved and make sure we create a sustainable cannabis industry, so that [marijuana] helps our community instead of hurts it, as it has for so long, and brings some healing to our city, said Tara Crichlow, a fitness trainer. Crichlow, who is black, also said she was interested in social justice activism. Im testing the waters. Crichlow and others said they were drawn to marijuana for the leafy drugs ability to enhance wellness and creativity. And if its long thrived in New York as an underground market, they reasoned, the skys the limit for weed as a legal pleasure. Through college I smoked, and I was like, 'This is a great market.' and after college I went to California and Las Vegas, and business is booming there, so why not jump into a market where its just emerging? said Raven Wise. The 27-year-old from Jersey City works in the marketing division of a publishing house but dreams of opening a social lounge and cannabis dispensary. Its always nice to make contacts and have those face-to-face interactions, she said. You try to find a point person who can guide you, even if its just to answer a question or two here or there. But while many in the crowd were looking for a way into the weed biz, John Sullivan joked he was looking for an exitventure capital lingo for a payoff. I play the stock market, I invest in private companies, I watch the cannabis industry, and Im trying not to lose too much money, he said, with a laugh. Ive got a lot of capital placed out there, Id love to get an exit every now and then. Theyre few and far between in this industry at the moment, but Im hopeful. The retired AT&T executive said he invested in several cannabis companies both ones that touch the plant, like growers and sellers, and ones that dont, including companies that make dedicated software systems or smoking accessories. But he wanted to make sure he works with as many for lack of a better term, stoners as possible. Im not so sure we want to give up the culture, he said. The culture of marijuana is a wonderful thing, and with all the big tobacco and big pharma and big alcohol Wall Street coming in, theyre coming in with their own ideas, so were going to try to defend our culture, the Woodstock generation, as much as we can. Starr, Cuomos aide, also spoke about that culture and how government licensors and regulators needed to learn from it. But what the audience really wanted to know was how close New York was to legalizing marijuana? As Starr launched into his finale about train-has-left-the-station inevitability, Ferris and the man sitting next to her, moved by the call-and-response participatory vibe and itchy for some actionable intel, shouted, When? When? They got no answer. Fred Mogul is the Albany and politics reporter for WNYC. You can follow him on Twitter @fredmogul. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS, April 9 (Reuters) - United Nations refugee chief Filippo Grandi warned on Tuesday that a deadly attack on two New Zealand mosques was the result of the worst toxicity in politics and media toward refugees, migrants and foreigners that he had witnessed in more than 30 years. In an attack broadcast live on Facebook, a lone gunman armed with semi-automatic weapons targeted Muslims attending Friday prayers in Christchurch on March 15, killing 50 worshippers and wounding dozens of people. A suspected white supremacist from Australia has been charged with 50 counts of murder. Grandi told the U.N. Security Council that the state of discussions globally about refugees and migrants "should be of concern to us all." He did not specifically blame anyone. "I have never seen such toxicity, such poison in the language of politics, in media, in social media, even in everyday discussions and conversations around this issue," Grandi told the 15-member council during a meeting on the global refugee situation. "Toxicity that focuses - sadly, tragically - often on refugees, on migrants, on foreigners," he said. "What we have seen in Christchurch, New Zealand, is the result also of that toxic language of politics." In the wake of the shootings, Australia has been gripped by acrimonious debate about both its past race policies and whether recent political discourse about immigration and Islam had any role to play in the accused gunman's radicalization. The man said - in a manifesto distributed online just before the Christchurch attack - that he formed his racist beliefs on the internet and downplayed his links to Australia, saying he was radicalized abroad. The manifesto also praised U.S. President Donald Trump as "a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose." White House director of strategic communications Mercedes Schlapp responded at the time: "It's outrageous to even make that connection between this deranged individual that committed this evil crime to the president, who had repeatedly condemned bigotry, racism, and has made it very clear that this is a terrorist attack." Story continues Muslims worldwide have praised New Zealand's response to the massacre, with many singling out Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's gesture of wearing a headscarf to meet victims' families and urging the country to unite with the call: "We are one." Grandi described the response by the people and leadership of New Zealand as "exemplary." "Respond to these toxic trends in a firm and organized manner, restate the values that underpin the solidarity that we must provide to refugees and reaffirm ... that our societies will not be really prosperous stable and peaceful if they do not include all," he said. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Jonathan Oatis) Anguish mixed with anger at the funeral Wednesday of a Brazilian musician shot dead by soldiers in Rio de Janeiro, with mourners blaming far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and the military. Around 200 family and friends of Evaldo dos Santos Rosa chanted "justice" over and over as his coffin was placed in a crypt not far from where soldiers killed him in a hail of bullets on Sunday as he drove his family to a baby shower in the working-class district of Guadalupe in Rio's north. Five people were in the white sedan when soldiers -- who the army said had been on the lookout for a car-load of criminals during a regular patrol of the military-controlled area -- riddled the vehicle with 80 bullets, local media reported. Miraculously, dos Santos's wife, seven-year-old son and a family friend escaped unhurt, but his father-in-law and a bystander were wounded. That soldiers involved in the shooting were arrested within hours did little to quell the anger among mourners as they stood in the cemetery sweating in suffocating heat and humidity a day after a fierce rainstorm wreaked havoc in the city. Some yelled "it's your fault, Bolsonaro", while others accused the former paratrooper of giving Brazil's security forces tacit permission to commit violence. "The violence wasn't like this before," Patricia Lima, a cousin of dos Santos, told AFP. "This is authorized violence." Ciney Silva, a member of the Remelexo da Cor band founded by dos Santos, played samba songs on his cavaquinho, a small guitar, during the funeral as fellow mourners clapped and sang. "He was totally murdered," Silva told AFP. "What makes me so angry is the way it happened." - 'Just numbers' - The killing of dos Santos came days after a teenager on a motorbike was shot dead by soldiers in Rio de Janeiro after failing to obey an order to stop, local media reported. Bolsonaro was swept to power on January 1 on a promise to take a hard line against criminals -- a sentiment echoed by the newly elected Rio state governor Wilson Witzel. In Witzel's first two months in office, 305 people were killed by police, according to government statistics -- one such death every four and a half hours. That is a 17.6 percent increase compared to the same period in 2018, and a record high for the 16 years that statistics on police-involved killings have been kept. Witzel recently told local media that snipers had been deployed in the city. Nine soldiers have been placed under preventative detention over the shooting of dos Santos, which the military said Wednesday was a "sad incident." A lawyer for dos Santos's family called for the case to be handled by police. "We are looking for a transparent inquiry," he told reporters. After the funeral, dozens of mourners protested outside the military barracks where the soldiers were based. As army personnel looked on, mourners yelled "murder" and "justice" and held up Brazilian flags splattered with red paint. "We are just numbers," said Lima. "He left behind a seven-year-old son who was his life... a very nice family and all of this for nothing." A relative reacts during the funeral of Brazilian musician Evaldo dos Santos Rosa, who was killed by an army unit when it shot at his car by mistake Friends and relatives carry the coffin of Evaldo dos Santos Rosa After the funeral, dozens of mourners protested outside the military barracks where the soldiers were based, holding Brazilian flags stained red to symbolize blood Luciana dos Santos Nogueira grieved for her husband, Brazilian musician Evaldo dos Santos Rosa, who was killed by an army unit when it shot at his car by mistake A young German backpacker, whose body was found buried under leaves and rocks on an island in Thailand, was raped before her face was smashed with a rock, police have said. Miriam Beelte, 26, was travelling on a rental motorbike at Koh Si Chang, an island south of Bangkok, where she was approached by local man Ronnakorn Romruen. He allegedly asked her for sex, and when she refused he followed her and attacked her in a woodland area, pinning her to the ground where he raped her, police said. The 24-year-old then allegedly used a rock to repeatedly beat her in the face. Ms Beelte suffered severe head wounds and a broken leg in the attack. Her body was found on Sunday. Miriam Beeltes body was found on Sunday with severe head injuries and a broken leg. Source: Facebook/Miriam Beelte Thai suspect Ronnakorn Romruen is escorted by police as he arrives at the Koh Si Chang police station in Thailand, Monday. Source: AP An investigator at Chonburi police station, Somkid Kaensa, said police have charged Romruen with murder, rape and concealing a body. Police said the suspect, who operates a trash collecting boat, admitted to the crimes and said he used drugs before the incident. Footage shows suspect re-enact alleged murder Chilling footage released by local authorities shows Romruen re-enacting the moment he killed the young tourist. With a blue hood over his head, he uses a brick to motion how he attacked her. Koh Si Chang is a popular weekend tourist destination for both locals and foreigners with a population of only 5000 people. Romruen demonstrates how he allegedly used a rock to smash the face of the German tourist. Source: Newsflare Mr Kaensa said a Thai tourist called police after they saw Romruens clothes covered in blood and police then searched the area and discovered the tourists body. Mr Kaensa said a flower vendor who knew Romruen also saw that his clothes were covered in blood and asked him what he was doing. He said the vendor identified the suspect for police, who went to his home where they found him and the shirt that was covered in blood. The maximum punishment for premeditated murder is the death penalty. Story continues with Associated Press Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoos daily newsletter. Sign up here. Is the dream of one global internet still alive? Increasingly, moves by governments to filter and restrict content are threatening to fragment the system created with the promise of connecting the world with a largely unified body of content. China for years has walled off some western services, and the fragmentation may be accelerating with regulations being imposed elsewhere, say analysts. This is leading to a "splinternet," a term circulated for a decade or more but gaining more traction in recent months. "The internet is already fragmented in material ways, but each regulator around the world thinks they know how to fix the internet," said Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University. "I think we will see a tsunami of regulations that will lead to a further splintering of the internet." The New Zealand Christchurch mosques massacre livestreamed online heightened the sense of urgency in some countries, with debates in the US and EU on curbing incitement to violence. A new Australian law could jail social media executives for failing to take down violent extremist content quickly. And a proposal unveiled in Britain could make executives personally liable for harmful content posted on social platforms. Similar ideas have been discussed by lawmakers in Washington. These moves come as Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has called for a "common global framework" of internet rules. But free-speech defenders warn it would be dangerous to allow governments to regulate online content, even if social media are struggling. The UK proposal "is a very bad look for a rights-respecting democracy," said R. David Edelman, a former White House technology adviser who now heads the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's project on technology, the economy and national security. "It would place the UK toward the far end of the internet censorship spectrum." Elsewhere, critics pounced on a bill in Singapore to ban "fake news," calling it a thinly veiled attempt at censorship. "It is not up to the government to arbitrarily determine what is and is not true," said Daniel Bastard of the media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders. "In its current form, this Orwellian law establishes nothing less than a 'ministry of truth' that would be free to silence independent voices and impose the ruling party's line." According to human rights watchdog Freedom House, at least 17 countries approved or proposed laws to restrict online media in the name of fighting "fake news" and manipulation, and 13 countries prosecuted internet users for spreading "false" information. - Europe's response - Goldman argued that the European Union's General Protection Data Regulation, aimed at improving online privacy, "has been a major milestone in splintering the internet." It has led to numerous websites including news sites cut off from Europe, he said. The EU copyright directive approved last month, aimed at protecting creators, could also result in fragmentation of online information, said Danny O'Brien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Whatever internet companies and organizations do to comply with 27 or more national laws -- from dropping links to European news sites entirely... will be challenged by one rights-holder faction or another," O'Brien said in a blog post. The multitude of proposed rules around the world raise the prospect of varying versions of the internet depending on location, with small services potentially blocking out some countries. - 'Data nationalism' - In addition to online content measures, several countries including India and Brazil are enforcing "data localization" requirements which could limit the availability of services such as e-commerce and banking. "More nation-states are trying to territorialize information flows and assert control of those services," said Milton Mueller, a Georgia Institute of Technology professor and co-founder of the Internet Governance Project of analysts. The fragmentation could have profound consequences both in terms of economics and human rights, according to Mueller. "The bypassing of these national boundaries when the internet got started was what was revolutionary and led to the expansion of new services," he said. "There is now an assertion of national sovereignty and national control, going against globalization and the ability of people to freely interact with each other." The "data nationalization" movement gained momentum after the 2013 revelations on surveillance from national security contractor Edward Snowden. This gave some governments "an excuse to impose far greater state control" of their networks, said Edelman. Edelman maintained the Snowden revelations represented a turning point because they "ruptured some of the faith in a global consensus" about the internet. Australia's efforts to curb content and require access to encrypted devices could prompt some firms to think twice about doing business there, said Edelman. "The potential is there for companies to simply exit the Australian market," he said. Amy Webb, a New York University professor and founder of the Future Today Institute, said the trend toward Balkanization is growing, posing challenges for online services. "Compliance is going to become more and more difficult for companies who do business in more than one location, which could stifle growth and restrict the flow of meaningful, credible information," Webb said. Ira Magaziner, a former policy adviser to president Bill Clinton who helped negotiate deals to bring the internet around the world, said he is optimistic that countries will find ways to keep the internet from fragmenting. "We are going through a period where there are a lot of questions and a lot of forces for disintegration," Magaziner said, while noting that countries cutting off data will be hurting themselves. "If the advantages are large enough, it will hang together," he said. More countries are seeking to crack down on online hate speech and abuse, moves which critics say could threaten free expression and the unified internet Moves to curb violent content and hate speech have increased since the deadly mosque attacks in New Zealand were streamed live on Facebook and reposted on other platforms As China has stepped up efforts to block unauthorized websites and VPN systems to circumvent the ban, countries aroound the world are imposing rules that threaten the unified internet Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg has called for global regulations on internet platforms but critics say the leading social network is shirking its responsibility to weed out violent and abusive content A giant crocodile has been shot dead after it was lured to a schoolyard in far north Queensland by the recess bell. A Department of Environment and Science (DES) spokesperson confirmed to Yahoo News Australia the giant reptile was euthanised near Northern Peninsula Area State College in Injinoo on March 28 after it posed a significant risk to students. Due to the unacceptable risk the crocodile posed to human safety, including students at the nearby school, along with the animals dangerous behaviour, a decision was made in partnership with Traditional Owners to humanely euthanise the crocodile, the spokesperson said. The schools Injinoo campus. Source: Facebook/ Northern Peninsula Area State College The sighting of the crocodile precariously close to the junior schools grounds added to growing concern over reptiles in the area after a dog was killed by one just last month. The horrifying moment it was snatched from the waters edge was caught on camera. And while local rangers dont believe the crocodile euthanised is the same which took the canine, they believe they are attracted from nearby Cowals Creek due to the behaviour of the schoolchildren. During recess kids are prone to throwing their food scraps over the fence, which has, in turn, prompted the crocodiles to associate the schools bell with feeding time. A crocodile snatched a dog near the school just last month. Source: YouTube A crocodile caught in the area in 2008. Source: Queensland Police Every time the (school) bell rings a croc comes around because the kids are throwing their food scraps over the fence, into the creek, Land and Sea ranger Angelina Williams told the Cairns Post. While Ms Williams predicted the croc may have topped six metres in length, the DES spokesperson suggested it was closer to four metres. The spokesperson also noted the DES doesnt believe the crocodile responded to the bell and that it was already aware food would be present in the area. Following the dogs death and the killing of the reptile, the spokesperson warned residents to remain vigilant in the area. Injinoo is known croc country and people in the area are reminded to always be Crocwise. Just last year, another pooch fell victim to a hungry croc in the Northern Territory when she was snatched while barking at the predator. Story continues Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoos daily newsletter. Sign up here. Georgian authorities on Wednesday extradited a British man to serve out his six-year sentence in the UK over the death of his date in a speedboat, a justice ministry official said. Fugitive Jack Shepherd, 31, was convicted in his absence of manslaughter last year for the death of Charlotte Brown, a 24-year-old woman he took on a champagne-fuelled first date on his speedboat in the River Thames in 2015. Shepherd drove over the speed limit and at one point handed Brown the controls. The boat flipped and Brown died in hospital while Shepherd was rescued. He was charged with manslaughter by negligence. "Jack Shepherd has been extradited to the UK," spokeswoman Marism Tskhiladze told AFP. The Georgian Airways flight taking Shepherd to London took off from Tbilisi airport, an AFP correspondent said. Shepherd's departure follows the decision by a Georgian court in March to extradite Shepherd. His lawyer said he is "concerned about his safety" in Britain and "wants to be placed in solitary confinement," monitored round-the-clock, and have access to the media. Shepherd vanished before his trial in Britain last summer and the court sentenced him to six years in prison. An international warrant was issued for his arrest. Shepherd turned himself in to the police in Tbilisi in late January, and said in court that he regretted fleeing his trial and felt "suicidally depressed" about what happened. In an interview to Georgian television this year, Shepherd said he fled to avoid going to prison but still hoped that "my appeal will be granted and that everyone can move forward with their lives." British citizen Jack Shepherd, pictured during an extradition hearing in Tbilisi, Georgia in March 2019, was convicted of manslaughter for the death of a woman he took on a date in his speedboat on the River Thames Executions fell worldwide by nearly a third last year to their lowest levels in at least a decade, but several countries recorded a rise, Amnesty International said Wednesday. Use of the death penalty dropped in Iran -- by an eye-popping 50 percent, following a change to its anti-narcotics laws -- Iraq, Pakistan and Somalia, the rights group found in its annual review. But it rose in Belarus, Japan, Singapore, South Sudan and the United States, while Thailand resumed executions for the first time in a decade and Sri Lanka threatened to follow suit. "Despite regressive steps from some, the number of executions carried out by several of the worst perpetrators has fallen significantly," said Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty International's Secretary General. He added the "dramatic" drop globally proved that "even the most unlikely countries are starting to change their ways and realise the death penalty is not the answer". "This is a hopeful indication that it's only a matter of time before this cruel punishment is consigned to history, where it belongs," Naidoo said. In total, death penalty figures fell around the world from at least 993 in 2017, to at least 690 last year. Amnesty's count excludes China -- the world's top executioner -- where the numbers are classified as a state secret. The organisation estimates thousands of people are sentenced to death and executed there every year. Iran (253), Saudi Arabia (149), Vietnam (at least 85) and Iraq (at least 52) were the other countries that resorted to the death penalty most in 2018. Vietnamese authorities' decision to release figures for last year was "unprecedented" for the southeast Asian nation, Amnesty noted. Elsewhere Japan, Singapore and South Sudan reported their highest levels of executions in years. Naidoo said these three countries "now form a dwindling minority" and challenged them "to act boldly and put a stop to this abhorrent punishment". Amnesty also noted concern over a sharp spike in the number of death sentences imposed in some countries -- particularly Iraq and Egypt -- over the course of 2018. But its annual review found the global trend towards abolition of the death penalty had gathered steam. Burkina Faso adopted a new penal code effectively banning executions, while Gambia and Malaysia both declared an official moratorium. Meanwhile, courts in the US state of Washington declared the death penalty unconstitutional there. Amnesty highlighted a December vote by the United Nations General Assembly that saw 121 countries support a global moratorium on the death penalty, with only 35 states opposed. "Slowly but steadily, global consensus is building towards ending the use of the death penalty," Naidoo said. Nooses hang at Pul-e-Charkhi prison on the outskirts of Kabul, Afganistan Graphic on executions worldwide, according to a 2018 report by Amnesty International The lives of native peoples in the Amazon are being threatened to a degree not seen in decades by the policies of Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, an indigenous alliance warned Wednesday. In a piece published in French daily Le Monde, thirteen signatories said that since Bolsonaro's election "we are experiencing the first stages of an apocalypse, of which indigenous peoples are the first victims." They warned in particular of Bolsonaro's pledges to allow more farming and logging in the Amazon, and to ease safeguards and grant more licenses for Brazil's huge mining industry, and build more dams. The populist leader has also vowed to "integrate" the estimated 800,000 native people of Brazil, in part with new roads and rail lines through the Amazon and clearing more areas for agriculture. Bolsonaro has already stripped the FUNAI indigenous affairs agency of the power to define native land, giving that power instead to the agriculture ministry. Critics say taken together, his policies would constitute a land-grab and a drastic reduction of the hard-earned rights of native tribes. "Even though the Amazon is vital for humanity, and indigenous peoples are its primary defenders, he is trying to cut us off from our international supporters by threatening to expel allied organisations on the pretext they interfere in the country's sovereignty," the Alliance of Indigenous Peoples said. There are 426 demarcated territories in Brazil, established in the 1980s for the exclusive use of their indigenous inhabitants, and access by outsiders is strictly regulated. "We are categorically opposed to any deforestation, any soybean plantations or any cattle raising on indigenous lands," the alliance said. It also called on the European Union to put pressure on Bolsonaro by refusing to import Brazil's agricultural products unless they are guaranteed not to have come from native lands or violated indigenous people's rights. Brazilian indigenous people (Guarani pictured March 2019 protesting their healthcare conditions in Sao Paulo) warned that since Bolsonaro's election, "we are experiencing the first stages of an apocalypse" Iraq has offered to put on trial hundreds of accused foreign jihadists in Baghdad in exchange for millions of dollars, potentially solving a legal conundrum for Western governments but sparking rights concerns. Western countries have been rocked by fierce public debate over whether to repatriate citizens who joined the Islamic State group, which held swathes of Iraq and Syria for years before losing its last speck of land last month. Around 1,000 suspected foreign IS fighters are in detention in northeast Syria, in addition to around 9,000 foreign women and children in Kurdish-run camps there. Iraq has submitted a proposal to the US-led coalition that fought the jihadists, offering to try and sentence foreign IS suspects in exchange for operational costs, three Iraqi officials told AFP. "These countries have a problem, here's a solution," one said, speaking anonymously because he was not authorised to give details to the press. The source said Iraq had proposed a rate of $2 million per suspect per year, a calculation based on the estimated per-capital detention costs in the US-run Guantanamo Bay prison. "We made the proposal last week but have not gotten a response yet," the source added. A second official said Iraq had requested $2 billion to try the suspects as "one of several options", and could ask for "more money to cover the costs of their detention". - 'Special tribunal'? - Iraq has already tried several hundred IS foreign jihadists and handed down death sentences to around 100, none of which has been carried out. Other IS suspects have been condemned to life in Iraqi prison, including 58-year-old Frenchman Lahcen Ammar Gueboudj and two other French nationals. At least 12 French nationals are in Iraqi custody awaiting trial after being transferred from Syria in February. Detainees from as many as 52 countries could be tried by Baghdad under the arrangement, a third Iraqi official told AFP. "Iraq proposed to the coalition setting up a special tribunal to try foreigners. There's been a constructive beginning to those discussions," the source said. But establishing the court could be complicated, the official said, with questions over whether international funding for it would preclude implementation of death sentences. The source added that Iraq proposed the arrangement to the US-led coalition as a whole because it was simpler than negotiating with individual countries. The US-led coalition did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment. Transferring foreign fighters to Iraq for trial appears to resolve a thorny legal debate for Western powers. On the one hand, the Kurdish-run administration in northern Syria has said it does not have the capacity to try all foreigners, calling for an international tribunal to be established there. But it is not an internationally recognised government, so jurisdiction is dubious. On the other hand, repatriation is a politically-fraught issue, and governments fear they may not have enough evidence to convict IS members who claim they did not fight. - 'Real risk of torture' - Enter Baghdad, which has claimed legal jurisdiction over any individual who joined extremist groups that has committed crimes in Iraq, even if that person did not pick up arms. And last month, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi hinted Baghdad could have jurisdiction over jihadists who were in Syria but never entered Iraq, "because as you know the battlefields became one". But Human Rights Watch has warned that transferring suspects to Iraq could be "problematic". "Our first and main concern with these transfers are the reality of Iraqi proceedings, which in summary provide no clear right to a fair trial and a real risk of torture," said HRW's Iraq researcher Belkis Wille. Instead, Wille said countries whose nationals may have joined IS should be investigating and trying them at home. She cited the case of a 27-year-old German woman who went on trial this week in Munich for letting a five-year-old Yazidi girl die of thirst under IS. And other foreign IS suspects have been transferred via Iraq to their home countries for detention. Otherwise, Wille added, "if countries want their nationals to be tried in Iraq, they should be much more heavily invested in improving the judicial system so that people have a fair trial and the risk of torture isn't as significant." Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces stand guard over veiled women in al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria, which houses relatives of Islamic State group members German woman Jennifer W who joined the Islamic State group hides her face as she arrives in court for the opening of her trial on April 9, 2019 in Munich, southern Germany Anwar Hussein/WireImage(LONDON) -- All signs point to Prince Harry being a very hands-on dad to his first child with Duchess Meghan, but it was not always that way for fathers in Britains royal family. Harrys grandfather, Prince Philip, was not present at his children's births until his wife, Queen Elizabeth II, gave birth to their fourth child, son Prince Edward, in 1964. Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeths eldest son, Prince Charles, on the other hand, was there when his then-wife, the late Princess Diana, gave birth to their two sons, Prince Harry and Prince William, at the Lindo Wing. William, likewise, has been present for the births of all three of his children with Duchess Kate, also at the Lindo Wing. The royals' increasing participation as fathers with each generation follows a larger societal shift. "Dads are more than just babysitters; they want to be more involved in parenting their children and often feel shut out," concluded a 2015 survey of Millennial and Generation X parents released by Zero to Three, a non-profit that works to support kids in the first three years of life. "Many want to raise their children differently from how they were raised." More than half of families in the U.S. now have both parents employed. In those families, a majority of mothers and fathers say they share tasks equally when it comes to household chores and responsibilities, disciplining and doing activities with the kids, according to a Pew Research Center study. Just as dads around the world have progressed in time to become more involved as equal parents, so, too, have the royals. "In contrast to perhaps the stiff upper lip or 'get on with it' attitude of previous generations, William and Harry are really keen to pave the way for men being able to show their vulnerabilities and emotionally connect," said ABC News royal contributor Victoria Murphy. William, 36, second-in-line to the British throne, took some time off from duties after the births of all three of his children, although being a member of the royal family is not a job that comes with established maternity and paternity guidelines. He has also spoken movingly about fatherhood and the importance of family in his life. Im concentrating very much on my role as a father," William told the BBC in a 2016 interview. "Im a new father and I take my duties and my responsibilities to my family very seriously and I want to bring my children up as good people with the idea of service and duty to others as very important." William described in another interview how fatherhood had changed him. "I'm a lot more emotional than I used to be, weirdly," he said. "I never used to get too wound up or worried about things. But now the smallest little things, you well up a little more, you get affected by the sort of things that happen around the world or whatever a lot more, I think, as a father." William and Kate have spoken of the support they receive from family members and their nanny, Maria Theresa Borrallo, in raising their children while juggling royal obligations and charitable work. William is also known, though, to regularly do school drop-offs and pick-ups with his two older children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. "While Charles adores his sons, there wasn't the same expectation on fathers of his generation to do the day-to-day things so everyone assumed he would carry on as normal with his duties when his children were young, which he did," said Murphy. "By contrast, in one interview William defended criticism of his official workload by saying that if he can't give his time to his children he worries about their future." She added, "The idea that men will take time out from work or duties to be with children has shifted with each generation." Harry, 34, is expected to carry on the generational change with fatherhood when Meghan gives birth to their first child. She has told well-wishers she is due in late April or early May. Harry and Meghan recently moved from Kensington Palace to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, a town about 25 miles outside of London. The couple appears to have made the move to escape the glare of the spotlight in London and have a private place to grow as a family. "It's a perfect place to raise children and for them that's what it's all about: finding normalcy, privacy and a safe family environment for when [the baby] is born," said ABC News royal contributor Omid Scobie. The palace has not released any details on whether Harry and Meghan plan to employ a nanny or how much time they will take off after Meghan gives birth. "William took time out when all his children were born but not as long as Kate," Murphy said. "Harry and Meghan might follow that model or they may go for a more shared parental model and both step back for equal amounts of time." Harry is also expected to continue the work William has done in encouraging fathers, and men overall, to be more open and vulnerable, especially about their own mental health. "The younger generation of royals are talking a lot about mental health and emotional support and it's clear they bring this into how they parent," Murphy said. "William has spoken about encouraging fathers to emotionally connect with their children and pointing out that fathers find it harder to talk about their own feelings but that it's vital to do so and that children need their father's support just as much as their mothers." In a 2016 interview with ABC News' Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts, Harry spoke about his love for little ones, saying he "can't wait for the day" he has children. At the time, he said he tries to be the "fun uncle" for Prince William's children. "I've got a kid inside of me, I want to keep that, I adore kids," he added. "I enjoy everything that they bring to the party, and they just say what they think." Harry has also given a preview of what he'll be like as a dad through his interactions with kids at his events, from stepping into a ballet class with 6-year-olds to comforting a young boy in New Zealand whose mom had also passed away. I have a beautiful wife and a baby on the way, Harry told the boy, pointing to Meghan. Your life is going to be sorted. Dont you worry about that. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. In a sharp turn of events, Billionaires' Row developer Extell has been granted permission to proceed with building an Upper West Side residential skyscraper that is set to include a controversial height-boosting feature known as a mechanical void. Back in January, the design of the 775-foot-tall tower known as 50 West 66th Street appeared to be in jeopardy after the citys Department of Buildings threatened to revoke the projects permit over concerns that the roughly 160-foot void posed fire safety hazards. Voids are non-dwelling spaces used to house a buildings mechanical equipment. Because, by city zoning law, voids don't count toward a building's maximum floor area, luxury developers have recently begun increasing the height of these spaces to allow the units above them to sit higher and fetch higher prices. Following a review by the FDNY of a revised void design submitted by Extell, the DOB signed off on the plans last Thursday. The previous plans had called for the aforementioned 160-foot void, plus two additional 16-foot mechanical floors, for a total of 192 feet; the new void will measure 176 feet in height, but broken into two 64-foot mechanical spaces plus a 48-foot void. A DOB spokesman issued the following statement, Safety is our highest priority, for residents and first responders alike. DOB has approved amended plans for the buildings mechanical floors that satisfy safety-related objections and bring the project into compliance with the citys Zoning Resolution. In addition to reallocating the void space so no individual floor will be over 64 feet tall, Extell created new access points where residents will be able to go from one emergency stairwell to the other, and added elevator stops to each floor to allow FDNY access. For opponents of the projectwho argued against what they say is a flagrant abuse of voids to create a project of unprecedented height for the Upper West Side, where the tallest building currently is the 583-foot Trump International hotelthe citys decision sparked questions about how zoning regulations were being applied and to whom. The site lies within the Lincoln Square special zoning district, where city officials had sought to limit buildings to 25 to 30 stories. However, Extell argued that the rules, which say that 60 percent of the total floor area of new developments should be no taller than 150 feet, still permit a slim tower of unlimited height. The question is what rules are we following? said Sean Khorsandi, the executive director of Landmark West, one of the groups who have been fighting the Extell project. The city is picking and choosing when to apply standards. Khorsandi said Landmark West is currently weighing its options. It can elect to revive an appeal it had filed before the Board of Standards and Appeals, which was put on hold when the DOB suspended the project for review. Ironically, the City Planning Commission is set to vote today on an amendment that would require voids taller than 30 feet to count toward a developers allowable floor area, thus discouraging the expansion of voids. But since Extell has already been granted a building permit, the new rule is not expected to apply to 50 West 66th Street. George Janes, a New York City planning consultant, told Gothamist that a project with a foundation in place and a valid building permit is typically allowed to build under old law. The outcry has prompted Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal and Senator Robert Jackson to introduce legislation at the state level. According to their proposal, developers would have to limit void space to 20 feet for the first void, and 12 feet for additional ones. A spokesperson for Extell did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a January New York Times story, Extell head Gary Barnett said he was not opposed to the city regulating voids but did not want to be punished retroactively. On the Upper East Side, a similar drama is playing out with a Rafael Vinoly-designed project at 249 East 62nd Street known as the "building on stilts" that is set to feature a 150-foot mechanical void. Similar to Extell, developers Real Estate Inverlad and Third Palm Capital were recently forced to suspend work so that the FDNY could review the plans for safety. But neighborhood residents have been frustrated that the city has not deemed the void design illegal. In a statement, City Councilmember Helen Rosenthal, who represents the Upper West Side, said: I am deeply disappointed by the Department of Buildings decision regarding 50 W. 66th, but we always knew this was a possibility. More importantly, our community is completely resolved to fight on. For over two years, weve been pushing the developer, Extell, to be transparent about their plans. Despite initially filing plans for a 25-story building in 2016, they have now received approval for a 775-foot building which absolutely does not conform with the Special District where it is located. UPDATE: An earlier version misstated the total new void height. It is 176 feet. Protests erupted Wednesday at commemorations to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, underlining how divisive the mustachioed peasant leader remains a century later. Zapata, one of the main leaders of the Mexican Revolution, which erupted in 1910, was killed in an ambush by a rival revolutionary faction on April 10, 1919, leaving his struggle for the rights of indigenous Mexicans and peasants unfinished. And it remains unfinished to this day, according to many of those who see themselves as his heirs -- including the Zapatista National Liberation Army, or Zapatistas, a former rebel group that staged a brief but bitter uprising against the Mexican government in the 1990s. To make their point, the Zapatistas led a noisy protest on the sidelines of the official commemorations in Chinameca, in the central state of Morelos, the small town where Zapata was assassinated. Hundreds of protesters heckled the official parade of young men and women decked out in the garb of Zapata's guerrilla army: broad-brimmed sombreros, farmers' shirts and cowboy boots, with red handkerchiefs tied around their necks and bandoliers of bullets slung over their shoulders. The protesters then set up a stage and read out a series of diatribes against President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Lopez Obrador, an anti-establishment leftist, sees himself as a defender of Zapata's legacy, and has declared 2019 "the year of Zapata." But he has alienated the Zapatistas with his plans for mega-infrastructure projects they say will damage the environment and infringe on indigenous land rights, including a railroad across southern Mexico and a new gas-fired power plant in Morelos, Zapata's home state. "We know this government, like all the country's previous bad governments, wants to hijack the image of Emiliano Zapata Salazar so his struggle for land rights will die along with him," said indigenous activist Marichuy Patricio, reading out a message from "Subcomandante Moises," the current leader of the Zapatistas. Lopez Obrador held a separate event in the Morelos state capital, Cuernavaca, where he also faced hecklers in the crowd. Thousands of indigenous farmers and Zapatistas meanwhile protested in the southern state of Chiapas, the ex-rebels' bastion, blocking roads and demanding the government do more to protect their land rights. Teachers shout slogans carrying a banner depicting Mexican revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata during a protest in Mexico City A Peruvian court ordered the arrest on Wednesday of ex-president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski at the request of prosecutors investigating the giant Odebrecht corruption scandal. Judicial authorities said the 80-year-old former president -- who resigned last year amid the scandal -- would be held for a preliminary period of 10 days "for the alleged crime of money laundering in the Odebrecht case." The Superior Court on organized crime also authorized prosecutors to conduct a 48-hour search of Kuczynski's home for documents related to the case. Kuczynski became the first sitting president to resign over the sweeping graft scandal involving Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht when he stepped down in March 2018. The region-wide scandal has also embroiled Kuczynski's predecessors Ollanta Humala, Alan Garcia and Alejandro Toledo. Odebrecht has admitted paying at least $29 million in bribes to Peruvian officials since 2004. Kuczynski is a former economist who prior to his election in 2016 served as prime minister under Toledo in 2005-06. Former Peruvian president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, 80, resigned in 2018 in a scandal linked to the Odebrecht case With constellations of thousands of telecommunication mini satellites expected to orbit Earth in the near future, the risk of space-debris collisions will grow. For Nobu Okada, it's an opportunity. The 46-year-old Japanese entrepreneur founded the start-up Astroscale in Singapore in 2013 with the sole aim of launching "space sweepers." The company -- now based in Tokyo -- has 71 employees. A demonstration will take place in 2020 when an Astroscale satellite will capture one of the company's own mini satellites and try and nudge it out of its orbit -- with the goal of pushing it into the atmosphere to burn up. The Europeans and Americans are developing similar concepts, but the idea of tidying up in space remains an experimental one. AFP caught up with Nobu Okada at the 35th Space Symposium -- a large meeting of the space industry in the US state of Colorado. - Is there a market for taking down space debris? - "One guy told me, Nobu, there's no market, nobody pays money to remove space debris. And when I heard there's no market, I feel this (is) a good news. If there's no market. There's no competition." "The density of space debris has reached the critical level where chain collisions can happen at any time in the near future. So, if we do not take any actions, space is not sustainable anymore." "So, somebody has to clean up the space." - Who is going to pay? - "The future debris will mostly come from constellations. A certain percentage of the satellites will go defunct in space. And they have to be replenished with new satellites to keep the coverage. To do that, they have to remove the oldest satellites to make sure their orbital plane is clean. "The other business line is that we also have to clean up the debris which are already up there. And these are mostly littered by the governments. We should prioritize which debris are the most critical and have to be removed with high priority, with government money, like rocket upper stages." "Two years ago, they were just listening, but now they are beginning to take responsibility." - Any clients yet? What will your services cost? - "We have multiple projects with potential customers. "Before we set up this company, people had no idea how much money, it would cost to remove one debris, because there were no proven technologies. People were thinking 100, 300 or 500 million dollars to remove one object. But our price -- it depends on the situation of the objects in space -- but it is far, far less than that." Japanese entrepreneur Nobu Okada founded Astroscale in 2013 with the sole aim of launching 'space sweepers' Graphic on space junk They call it the Trojan Horse strategy: Brexit supporters furious at their government's failure to leave the EU on time are aiming to undermine the European Parliament following elections next month. The Greek myth about the hollow wooden horse Odysseus used to sneak his men into Troy to capture it from within was invoked by Conservative MP Mark Francois ahead of Wednesday's critical EU summit. "If we were to be held in the EU against our democratically expressed will because some in the EU hope against hope that we will change our mind, then they will live to regret it," Francois told a Brexiteer conference in the heart of London. "We will become a Trojan Horse within the EU and utterly derail all their attempts to pursue a more federalist project," he said from a lectern bearing a portrait of Margaret Thatcher -- a premier whose views on Europe grew darker with time. Francois warned EU leaders meeting in Brussels later Wednesday to consider the UK government's request for another Brexit delay that "they will need to bear all these inconvenient truths in mind". - 'As difficult as possible' - These inconvenient truths were first raised in a tweet last Friday by Jacob Rees-Mogg -- the leader of a rightwing insurgency tearing at Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party. "If a long extension leaves us stuck in the EU we should be as difficult as possible," Rees-Mogg wrote moments after May asked Brussels to push back Britain's departure to keep it from crashing out. EU leaders' expected approval will put Britain in the paradoxical situation of having to take part in European Parliament elections on May 23 -- nearly three years after voting to chart its own course. Rees-Mogg said Britain should make best use of its predicament by vetoing "any increase in the (EU) budget, obstruct the putative EU army and block (French President Emmanuel) Macron's integrationist schemes". Francois pointed cheerfully to a response to Rees-Mogg's tweet from the European Parliament's Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt that also went viral. "For those in the EU who may be tempted to further extend the Brexit saga, I can only say, be careful what you wish for," Verhofstadt wrote. "Who am I to put try and put it better than Guy Verhofstadt," Francois chortled. - 'Fireworks' - Rees-Mogg and Francois voted against the Brexit deal that May struck with the EU all three times it came up for a vote. They view it as too EU-friendly. Only 26 of the 314 Conservatives in parliament joined them the last time around -- a shrinking group that May hopes will grow even smaller by the time she tries to get her pact through on the fourth attempt. Her ability to do this quickly could still keep Britain from having to actually fill its 73 seats when a new European Parliament opens its doors in July. Some of the current places have in any case been reassigned. Yet the level of Conservatives' anger with May seems to be rising as the possibility grows of Brexit being pushed further out of reach. Ninety-seven Conservative MPs voted against a measure Tuesday aimed at averting a no-deal scenario. It prevailed by a 420-110 margin. Veteran EU foes such as Nigel Farage -- a poster boy of the pro-Brexit campaign who once headed the nationalist UKIP group -- hope the groundswell of discontent will carry his new Brexit Party to big gains in Europe. "If we have to fight those European election on May 23, we'll fight them because it's time we taught them a lesson," Farage says in a video campaign message. And even those not running themselves sound tempted by the idea of Britain making a nuisance of itself in European halls of power. Asked whether he might consider running in the European elections, veteran Conservative MP William Cash told parliament this week: "I must admit that if I were to, there would be quite a lot of fireworks in the European Parliament". Pro-Brexit Conservative MP Mark Francois warned that Britain would become a "Trojan Horse" within the EU The view was first raised by Jacob Rees-Mogg -- the leader of a right-wing insurgency tearing at Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party Brexit has polarised Britain and exasperated EU ministers May is hoping to get her pact through on the fourth attempt In the southeasternmost pocket of the US state of New Mexico, with El Paso, Texas, to the east and Mexico a stone's throw south, there is a small camp: a few tents and a weathered trailer. It is home to the half dozen or so members of the United Constitutional Patriots (UCP) -- a small but well-armed militia dipping their toes into the US border vigilante movement. In recent months, thousands of migrants have arrived in Mexico, primarily Central Americans fleeing poverty and violence at home. US President Donald Trump has described them as a threat to national security, demanding billions of dollars from Congress to build a wall on the southern border. The resignation of Trump's Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Sunday, reportedly over the president's push to restart family separations at the border, has underscored his failure to get to grips with the issue. And until the wall is built, the UCP insist they will be there. "We're here to assist the border patrol because they are so short handed," the group's leader, 70-year-old "Striker," told AFP. "We have a good work rapport with them," he said. "Our goal was to be here until we're not needed. And when we're not needed is when that wall is up." Based out of Flora Vista, New Mexico, the group -- made up mostly of older veterans -- enjoys an enthusiastic social media following. Striker can be heard fielding calls during lengthy radio broadcasts streamed online several times a week. And if you want to sign up to "uphold and defend the constitution?" Just give pick up the phone. Out in the field -- with tactical gear, rifles and even custom patches -- the UCP say their duties include watching the border, standing guard over people who want to hand themselves in to border patrol and pursuing those who don't. - 'Fantasy world' - "It's kind of no different than if you were to have citizen's arrest powers, if you will," Jim Benvie, a 43-year-old from Minnesota, told AFP. Benvie explains that they use the term "surrender" because border patrol rules only allow them to "observe and report." In a statement, the US Border Patrol said it "does not endorse private groups or organizations taking enforcement matters into their own hands." And according to the Anti Defamation League's Mark Pitcavage, an expert on right-wing extremism, the UCP's bark is much bigger than its bite. "These guys, even more than some other militia or vigilante groups, seem to be living in a fantasy world of their own," he told AFP, adding that they have been active for around two and a half years. "They have this grandiose vision of themselves as protecting America from the drug cartels," he said. However, he added: "It's ironic that the areas where they seem to have chosen to focus ... is a very highly guarded stretch of border." Pitcavage points to the rights to bear arms and assemble peaceably enshrined in the US Constitution. "And if this is a simply a combination of those, can the government actually prohibit this seemingly constitutionally protected activity?" he said. The border vigilante movement is well-established, with the Southern Poverty Law Center documenting "questionable apprehensions of migrants by private citizens" from as far back as 1999. Pitcavage acknowledges that the movement is grounded in anti-immigrant sentiment but says white supremacy among followers is actually minimal -- and he sees no such elements within the UCP. "Countries having borders is not racist," was member Jim Benvie's take. "It's not about race. We have Latinos that work on our team with us." Members of the Constitutional Patriots New Mexico Border Ops Team militia, Viper and Stinger who go by aliases to protect their identity, patrol the US-Mexico border in Sunland Park, New Mexico on March 20, 2019 A member of United Constitutional Patriots New Mexico Border Ops militia team shows their group's patch outside their camper in Anapra, New Mexico on March 20, 2019. The militia members say they will patrol the US-Mexico border near Mt. Christo Rey, "Until the wall is built." In recent months, thousands of Central Americans have arrived in Mexico in several caravans in the hope of finding a better life in the United States. US President Donald Trump has branded such migrants a threat to national security, demanding billions of dollars from Congress to build a wall on the southern US border. A member of United Constitutional Patriots New Mexico Border Ops militia team monitors the US-Mexico border in Anapra, New Mexico on March 20, 2019. The militia members say they will patrol the US-Mexico border near Mt. Christo Rey, "Until the wall is built." In recent months, thousands of Central Americans have arrived in Mexico in several caravans in the hope of finding a better life in the United States. US President Donald Trump has branded such migrants a threat to national security, demanding billions of dollars from Congress to build a wall on the southern US border. Jeff Allen, 56, cowowner of a property on the US-Mexico border and a member of Constitutional Patriots New Mexico Border Ops Team militia stands with his dog near the border in Sunland Park, New Mexico on March 20, 2019. The militia members say they will patrol the US-Mexico border near Mt. Christo Rey, "Until the wall is built." In recent months, thousands of Central Americans have arrived in Mexico in several caravans in the hope of finding a better life in the United States. US President Donald Trump has branded such migrants a threat to national security, demanding billions of dollars from Congress to build a wall on the southern US border. Striker, the leader of the Constitutional Patriots New Mexico Border Ops Team militia, speaks with Viper (R), who go by aliases to protect their identity, inside the team's camper while discussing logistics on a group chat near the US-Mexico border in Anapra, New Mexico on March 20, 2019. The militia members say they will patrol the US-Mexico border near Mt. Christo Rey, "Until the wall is built." In recent months, thousands of Central Americans have arrived in Mexico in several caravans in the hope of finding a better life in the United States. US President Donald Trump has branded such migrants a threat to national security, demanding billions of dollars from Congress to build a wall on the southern US border. United Constitutional Patriots New Mexico Border Ops militia team member Jim Benvie, 43, from Minnesota, sits inside the team's camper before going out on patrol along the US/ Mexico border for the night in Anapra, New Mexico on March 20, 2019. The militia members say they will patrol the US-Mexico border near Mt. Christo Rey, "Until the wall is built." In recent months, thousands of Central Americans have arrived in Mexico in several caravans in the hope of finding a better life in the United States. US President Donald Trump has branded such migrants a threat to national security, demanding billions of dollars from Congress to build a wall on the southern US border. The ballet academy at Vienna's renowned State Opera was hit Wednesday by allegations of serious physical and mental abuse against its students, as well as sexual assault. The weekly Falter newspaper published findings of a detailed investigation which it said exposed "19th century" methods inflicted on students, illustrating the piece with a photo of the bloodied feet of a student after a day's training. Created in 1771, and currently with 110 pupils aged between 10 and 18, the academy is one of Europe's most prestigious and attracts applicants from across the world. Falter reported that the allegations are being investigated by prosecutors responsible for child protection. The State Opera's French director Dominique Meyer told Austria's ORF TV station that he wanted a "full explanation of everything that has gone wrong in this school". He said that the teacher targeted by most of the allegations had been fired in January. The teacher, whose name was not published, was of Russian origin and had practised "sadistic" methods on her students, according to Falter. A former star dancer, Gabriele Haslinger, told the paper that the teacher in question had brought "Soviet drills and Tsarist teaching methods" to the State Opera. - Allegedly hit, scratched - The investigation alleges students were hit, scratched until they bled, pulled by their hair and humiliated over their physiques, with some developing anorexia. It says students were offered no support to ensure their psychological or nutritional well-being. Meyer told ORF that the teacher at the centre of the row had been verbally warned about her conduct two years ago. "For a few months things were better but then she fell back into her old habits," Meyer said, adding he blamed himself for not firing the teacher sooner. One student also brought an accusation of sexual assault against another teacher, who has been suspended while an investigation takes place. On its internet site the State Opera's ballet academy says that it takes "particular care over students' physical and emotional well-being" and says it offers a "positive learning environment". The academy boasts alumni who dance for some of the world's most famous companies, including London's Royal Ballet, St Petersburg's Mariinsky and New York's American Ballet Theatre. The scandal will tarnish Meyer's record at the head of the State Opera, which he is due to leave next year after 10 years as director. He is one of the candidates to become the next director of the Paris Opera. The investigation alleged abuse and "sadistic" methods against the ballet students WikiLeaks on Wednesday claimed that it was being blackmailed by "dubious characters" who had obtained security camera footage of founder Julian Assange inside Ecuador's embassy in London. Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, accused Ecuador authorities of gathering thousands of photographs and videos, which then found their way into the hands of a group in Spain, who were demanding $3 million (2.7 million euros) not to publish them. "We learned some individuals in Spain were passing around information, that they had a massive trove of documents... from inside the embassy," he told reporters in London. "I asked them what documents they had and I got an email back. He said 'this material has a price'." The documents include thousands of photographs and gigabytes of video footage showing Assange meeting with lawyers and visitors and of him receiving a medical check-up. "It's not hard to see that as extortion," said Hrafnsson, adding that the Spanish police had opened an investigation. "Of much greater concern is this material gathering and spying by the Ecuadorian government," he said, calling it "illegal and extremely unethical". "Since (President Lenin) Moreno took power in Ecuador, Julian Assange has been living in a Truman Show type situation," he claimed. The editor also accused embassy staff of photocopying a legal document belonging to Assange's lawyer Aitor Martinez. WikiLeaks believes that the United States is working with Ecuador to extradite Assange to face charges, and that the embassy documents were "quite likely shared with the Trump administration", although it offered no proof of this. The group, which rose to prominence by publishing leaked US intelligence documents, said that "very reliable sources" had told them Ecuador was last week preparing to kick Assange out of its London embassy, where he was granted refuge by previous president Rafael Correa in 2012. "The only reason why this was averted, in our opinion, is that we learned about it," said Hrafnsson. Ecuador said on Tuesday it was reassessing Assange's asylum claim, revocation of which would lead to his arrest by the British authorities for skipping bail. The Australian sought refuge at Ecuador's embassy seven years ago to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced accusations of sexual assault that prosecutors in Stockholm have since abandoned. Assange has refused to leave the embassy to avoid extradition to the United States to face charges over his website publishing huge caches of hacked State Department and Pentagon files in 2010. The 47-year-old Australian, who denies the rape claims, said he feared Sweden would pass him on to US authorities if he was extradited. The Swedish chief prosecutor dropped proceedings against him in 2017. Julian Assange sought refuge at Ecuador's embassy seven years ago to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex assault claims An 80-year-old Queens resident has been arrested for a cold case double murder in Virginia dating back over forty years. Authorities in Virginia Beach say that DNA evidence linked Ernest Broadnax to the killings of two 19-year-old women, Lynn Seethaler and Janice Pietropola, who were found dead in a rented motel cottage. The women, both from Pittsburgh, had been vacationing there for one week in the summer of 1973, and when they failed to check out on June 30th, a motel employee checked on their room, making a horrifying discovery. "Pietropola an editorial assistant for a financial magazine was raped, strangled and shot three times in the head. Seethaler a secretary was strangled, shot twice in the head and had her throat slashed with a broken wine bottle... Police said someone had removed a window screen and climbed into the room, according to the 1988 story. They were not sure if the attacker was inside waiting for the women to return or if he snuck in while they slept," the Virginian-Pilot reports. Virginia police said cold case investigators used "advanced forensic technology" which led them to Broadnax. The NY Times reports, "A DNA evidence found at the crime scene was used last fall to match Mr. Broadnaxs profile in a national database, a Virginia Beach law enforcement official said. The official did not say what type of DNA was collected from the scene, and requested anonymity to discuss the pending case because doing so is illegal under Virginia law." Lynn Seethaler and Janice Pietropola (Virginia Beach police) Broadnax, who has lived in NYC for the past 30 years, was arrested at his "Hollis apartment in an affordable housing facility for military veterans," according to the Daily News. Kevin Wallace, a neighbor, said that Broadnax was given a bottle of water and did not appear handcuffed when he was being escorted out, "They gave it to him, dressed him up, and he went quietly. He went very quietly. He knew he did it. They couldnt find him, and all of the sudden they found him." An unnamed neighbor expressed shock to the Post, "He told me he did something years ago, that he hurt somebody. But he didnt say anything about killing two people. Damn!" Broadnax's former stepdaughter Adedayo Peterson told the Times that "Broadnax had served in the Army and had been incarcerated in Virginia before he met her mother... The marriage, his second, was short-lived and soured after Mr. Broadnax became violent. He once whipped her mother with a belt and on another occasion pulled a gun on her brother." Of the arrest for the double murder, Paterson said, "I didnt expect nothing like that. But I wouldnt put it past him." Broadnax also has previous arrests for assault and burglary. In 2011, Virginia Beach authorities said that they believed Seethaler and Pietropola were victims of a serial killer, who killed eight other women with similar characteristics. The police said at the time, "It's been a focus, but there has never been anything to flesh it out, to bring it where there is any single factor that runs through all of the cases, except for the fact that they are young white females between the ages of 18 and 25." A spokesperson for the Virginia Beach police said, "Our objective now is to be able to bring justice for the victims, and for their families to be able to have a sense of peace and closure." Broadnax is being held in a NYC jail pending extradition. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer loves a BLT and vanilla Fribble from Friendly's. He doesn't love that the chain abruptly closed several restaurants, including 14 in upstate New York, without notifying its employees. Schumer, D-N.Y., has asked Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta to investigate the closures and determine whether Friendly's violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires businesses with more than 100 employees to notify workers ahead of mass layoffs. Friendly's, which is based in Massachusetts, closed 23 restaurants. Fourteen of the restaurants are in upstate New York. The chain closed four Syracuse-area restaurants. Friendly's CEO George Michel told the Associated Press that the company will offer employees jobs at other locations or a severance package. The company confirmed in a statement that it would assist employees. "An especially difficult aspect of the tough but necessary decision to close certain restaurants was the impact it will have on the locations' wonderful employees, who were informed of the news personally and are being supported with opportunities at other Friendly's locations, severance payments or other assistance," the statement reads. "Friendly's has fully complied with all federal and state employee notice requirements." It's unknown how many employees worked at the affected Friendly's restaurants. Schumer estimated that each restaurant employed at least 30 people and could've had as many as 60 workers. Several employees didn't learn of the closures until they arrived at work for their shifts. "No warning. No notice," Schumer said on a conference call with reporters Wednesday. "That is inhumane, it is cruel and it shows that some of these corporations just don't care about their workers." Schumer, who said he's stopped at Friendly's while traveling across upstate New York, has received questions from restaurant employees affected by the closures. He wants the Department of Labor to get the answers. What Schumer does know is that Friendly's didn't notify the federal government of the closures and layoffs. If the company violated the WARN Act, he wants the Department of Labor "to throw the book at them." If there are gaps in the law that allowed Friendly's to cut its workforce without any notification, Schumer pledged to introduce legislation to close such a loophole. "It isn't just about Friendly's," he said. "It's about fairness to all workers." Online producer Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding. Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 2 Sad 0 Angry 2 Cayuga Community College will offer a new degree in creative and professional writing beginning in the fall. The program will develop and diversify writing skills by preparing students to write in contexts and styles demanded by employers, the college said in a news release. Graduating students will earn an Associate of Science degree. The college faculty worked for several years to develop the program, including consulting with local employers and surveying counselors at central New York high schools. The program will stress skills from journalism and creative writing to technical and professional writing. Students will also be able to work with local businesses on projects. Most writing programs emphasize the imagination of creative writing. Those programs are great, but whats lost is a focus on efficiency, familiarity with deadlines and clarity that prepare students for the workforce, Cayuga professor Mark Montgomery said in a news release. Were fusing these ideas together the efficiency of professional writing and the imagination of creative writing. For more information, visit cayuga-cc.edu. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Iginio Labaro has opened pizza shops outside Auburn over the past 35 years. Now, after circling the city all that time, he'll open his first shop there this month. Located in Auburn Plaza on Grant Avenue, Mamma Maria New York Pizzeria will open as soon as April 16, Labaro said. The date depends on the installation of his fire suppression system, he said. But a delay of a few days won't be much after the decades Labaro has spent looking at opening an Auburn location. He's been close a few times, he said, only for his plans to fall through. If you go WHAT: Mamma Maria New York Pizzeria WHEN: Will be open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily; anticipated opening date Tuesday, April 16 WHERE: Auburn Plaza, 217 Grant Ave., Auburn (next to Marshall's in the former Hoopla! Frozen Yogurt) INFO: Call (315) 252-6262 or find the restaurant on Facebook He couldn't have been waiting for a better spot, he said. Additionally, the plaza has been missing a pizza restaurant since GJP Italian Eatery closed in late 2016. "This plaza is the best spot in the city," said Labaro, of Locke. "It's always full." Labaro said he was told about the location, formerly Hoopla! Frozen Yogurt, by friend and Winton Antiques owner Jerry Vevone. The two know each other from Weedsport, where Vevone ran The Winton Shoppe and Labaro opened one of his New York Pizzeria shops. He also opened locations in Cato and Moravia, the latter 35 years ago, he said. The first New York Pizzeria goes back even further: Iginio's father, Giovanni, opened it in Mohawk 50 years ago. And it was Giovanni who established the recipes and approach to the restaurant business that have set the shops apart, Iginio said. New York Pizzeria uses the same dough recipe and low-gluten flour today that it did in 1968, he continued, in addition to Indelicato's sausage, California tomatoes and "the best cheese money can buy," he said. The shop also makes its own bread for hot Italian sandwiches like chicken Parmesan, among other menu items. Mamma Maria New York Pizzeria will also serve cold subs, as well as salads, calzones and stromboli, and desserts like cannoli and tiramisu. Eventually, the shop will also offer Italian pasta dishes. Labaro said the restaurant will seat about 28, and he is hiring 10 employees to staff it. He returns to the business less than six months after selling the Moravia location of New York Pizzeria, which he owned and operated with his cousin Sal. After opening it 35 years ago, Labaro sold the shop for the first time to Sal, and it continued changing hands. About five years ago, however, its owners had to close, Labaro said. But he and Sal couldn't stand to let that happen. "And in my old age I said, 'What the hell?' I'll go back into business," he said. "It was a very good business down there. It was a shame for that place to be closed." Labaro had also sold his New York Pizzeria locations in Cato and Weedsport. So when he wanted to open the Auburn shop, he needed a new name. He took Mamma Maria from his wife, he said. After a few decades in the restaurant business, Labaro knows how rough and tiring it can be, he said. But he's ready to bring Auburn the pizza shop he's long wanted. "We'll do our best to satisfy customers," he said. "If they're not happy, there's no sense in selling food to them." Lake Life Editor David Wilcox can be reached at (315) 282-2245 or david.wilcox@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @drwilcox. Love 9 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. SENNETT During the first Cayuga County Soil and Water Conservation District board meeting since the state Department of Environmental Conservation cited the Cayuga Regional Digester in March, the digester plant manager gave an update of the operation. "The facility is running well," said Plant Manager John Stapleton Wednesday. "We've responded to (DEC's) letter ... and we'll wait to hear back from them." The digester, located in Sennett, is operated by CH4 Generate Cayuga, a California-based investment firm that focuses on renewable energy projects. CH4 operates the digester facility through a long-term, lease-to-own agreement with Cayuga County Soil and Water Conservation District. The DEC citation called for numerous digester practices discovered in a surprise investigation to stop, including accepting wastes the facility was not authorized to accept and certain waste streams such as source-separated organics from New York City until more reviews and approvals could be obtained. DEC: Cayuga County biogas digester using forbidden waste The Cayuga Regional Digester was cited by the state Department of Environmental Conservation Stapleton said the facility averages five trips a day to the storage lagoon in Mentz with the effluent produced by the digester. It's been taking more than one delivery route and changed the schedule to avoid school bus hours in response to complaints, he added. Currently, however, he said the facility's three routes have been reduced to two due to either a resident or the town putting up barriers on a corner that make it impossible for a tractor trailer to make the turn. Carl Martel with the Cayuga County Highway Department said he recently drove Maiden Lane Road in Mentz, where the manure lagoon is located, and said the road isn't in great shape. While not breaking up, he said it is moving and will need attention. He said it's hard to tell if the impact of the digester deliveries is causing it but it certainly doesn't help. The SWCD meeting, which ended with an executive session to negotiate contracts, was followed by a tour of the digester facility. After the meeting, SWCD Executive Director Doug Kierst said he hasn't had the time to look through the entirety of the DEC's notice of violation issued over the digester as it included nearly 60 pages of documentation. Currently, however, he said everything is business as usual in terms of the relationship between SWCD and the digester. "I think it'll be good for people to see what's going on," Kierst said of the board embarking on a tour of the site. While there may be disgruntled employees or perhaps there were miscommunications, Kierst said he sees something different. The same day the notice of violation was issued, he said he and Ray Lockwood, the chairman of the district board of directors, went down to the digester site unannounced. "We didn't see any issues," he said. He said there are many interesting things, such as Coke and Monster Energy drinks, being processed and not entering the landfill. Stapleton said feedstock for the digester includes things like manure, yogurt and liquids. After gas is produced in the digester, it goes through biological scrubbers and then a system that strips the moisture from and filters the gas before sending it through a pressurized line to the engines that generate energy. Effluent, the end product made from the digester's process, is then transported to the newly built 10-million-gallon manure lagoon in Mentz. One of the more recent additions to the digester facility include a new building that houses organic wastes for the digester and a Tiger machine that takes all the cardboard or plastic packaging and separates from the organic product. Kierst mentioned on the tour that the facility has invested millions into new buildings and equipment and has created full-time jobs. "This is an investment into the county," Kierst said. The same warehouse that is home to the Tiger machine is filled with wastes including dog treats, Wegmans produce, pints of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, beer, Byrne Dairy crates, boxes of ravioli and more. Throughout the tour, board members commented on the cleanliness of the facility and expressed gratitude that less waste would be entering landfills due to the operation. Staff writer Megan Ehrhart can be reached at (315) 282-2244 or megan.ehrhart@lee.net. Follow her on Twitter @MeganEhrhart. Love 0 Funny 2 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. SAN FRANCISCONakedSword Originals has begun beating the drum on an ambitious new two-part feature called Five Brothers. Today marks the release of a teaser site for the movie, which is directed by mr. Pam and D.P. Welles. And thats welcome news to anyone who saw this talented duos first collaboration, Breaking Mr. Hart, also from NakedSword. The first installment, Five Brothers: Family Values, will debut on NakedSword.com next Wednesday, April 17. The teaser site is live today at NakedSword.com/FiveBrothers and features trailers, photos and cast info. Shot and directed by NakedSword's mr. Pam in both Miami and Las Vegas, Five Brothers boasts a large cast that includes Falcon stars Alam Wernik, Woody Fox and Aaron Savvy, along with Nic Sahara, Sean Duran, Blake Ryder, Jay Dymel, JJ Knight, Trevor Northman and trans star Danni Daniels in her return to porn. Much more than just another fauxcest title, Five Brothers is a dark, intense drama about a group of misfits who are a chosen family brought together by a life of crime, sex and drugs. After Nic Sahara loses his dad, he finds himself lost and drunk in Las Vegas. Once his estranged family get word that he's in trouble, his Aunt Danni sends for him. Jay Dymel, who was just released after five years in a Vegas prison, is instructed to bring Nic home to Miami, by any means necessary. Nic finally arrives in Florida but he's torn. Does he spend the rest of his days a lush like his father or join his family in their life of crime? Will he or wont he sacrifice everything to be one of the Five Brothers? Falcon Studio Group/NakedSword President Tim Valenti says of the new project, "We are all super excited about Five Brothers, it's sexy, suspenseful, and somewhat salacious, just the way we like it. It's different than anything we've released in a while, so we wanted to put out a little teaser site and get people aware of it in advance of the release next week on NakedSword. I'm sure members are going to watch in big numbers once it debuts on April 17." Thats the day when the first episode of Five Brothers: Family Values will go live on NakedSword.com, starring Sean Duran and Alam Wernik. In the meantime, check out the photos and more on the Five Brothers teaser site NakedSword.com/FiveBrothers. When he was just 17 years old, Zain Qaiser of Barking, Essex, a county just east of London, England, came up with a sophisticated scheme to blackmail visitors to legal online porn sites. And with the help of an international Russian crime syndicate, he pulled off the massive scam to the tune of $915,000that authorities know of, according to Britains National Crime Agency, which investigated Qaisers cyber crime spree. But on Tuesday, Qaiserwho is now 24 years oldfinally saw his case come to a close, as he was sentenced to more than six years behind bars, according to the BBC. Investigators, however, believe that Qaiser may have made even more money than they were able to find, and the Russian crime organization that backed him may have taken in more than $5.2 million from the porn scam, according to the BBC. With backing from the Russians, the teen computer prodigy carried out his extortion scheme by placing hundreds of bogus advertisements, albeit using legitimate online advertising agencies, on some of the most popular legal porn sites. Tracking just one of the fake ads, the NCA found that the ad was viewed 21 million times in a single month, according to the BBC. When a user clicked on one of the ads, it secretly downloaded a malicious software app created by the Russian cyber criminals onto the unsuspecting users computer. When activated, the malware would take over the users computer, covering the screen with a message purporting to be from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. The bogus warningan example of which can be seen at this linkoften claimed that the FBI had secretly taken photos of the user enjoying porn, and threatening to prosecute the user for the offense of illegally downloading material, unless the user coughed up an immediate fine of about $200. Most victims simply sent the payment, seeking to avoid public embarrassment. Qaisers scam was actually spotted by online advertising brokersbut the scammer threatened them with massive hacking attacks. After launching a denial of service attack against a Canadian company that had ordered him to stop taking out the bogus ads, the company alerted police. But none of the thousands of victims ever reported the extortion scheme. Though Qaiser has been stopped, similar scams remain in operation. Just last week, AVN.com reported on an email scam targeting internet users with fake letters claiming that they were under investigation by the CIA. The NCA described the operation that nabbed Qiaser as "an extremely long-running, complex cyber-crime investigation" that also involved authorities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Photo by U.K. National Crime Agency PAHRUMP, NVManagement and sex workers at Sheris Ranch, a legal brothel near Las Vegas, Nevada, are reporting that the HBO original series Game of Thrones has had a considerableand positiveimpact on the brothels business since the adult-themed fantasy program first aired, and gained incredible popularity in 2011. Dena, the madam of Sheris Ranch, believes that one of the primary reasons Game of Thrones contributed to the Nevada brothels increasing success over the years is because the program had a bordello owner, Lord Petyr Littlefinger Baelish, as one of the shows pivotal characters, and his brothels were often set pieces for the shows political intrigue and sexually explicit encounters. Its the most successful television program of its age and it features a brothel as one of its primary settings, particularly in the earlier seasons on the show, Dena said. To have a brothel so prominently featured in a pop culture hit was a godsend for us. We noticed in late 2011 that searches to our website for terms like brothel began to increase significantly, and there was no way to account for the prominence of the term other than its relation to Game of Thrones," she continued. "Game of Thrones inadvertently assisted in promoting legal brothels like Sheris Ranch not only by having Littlefingers brothels as settings for the action, but also by showcasing some of the hottest couplings, threesomes and orgies ever depicted onscreen. Watching the show was sometimes like an advertisement for brothels. You watch the brothel scenes in Game of Thrones and you say I want to go to a sexy place like that and do those sexy things with sexy people. Sex workers at Sheris say that having a fantasy story that was so replete with sex and sexuality empowered clients and fans of the show to explore their Game of Thrones fantasies with legal prostitutes. Game of Thrones is a fantasy for adults, and adults often like to live out their fantasies and explore their kinks and fetishes through role play. Without a doubt, Games of Thrones introduced the courtesans and clients of Sheris to a whole new realm of role play possibilities, said Allissa, a sex worker at the brothel. While clients certainly do request sessions, particularly orgies, in which the ladies dress up as Game of Thrones charactersDaenerys Targaryen and Sansa Stark of course being the most popular character requestsrole play inquiries related to Game of Thrones more often entail a BDSM element, Sky, another licensed courtesan at the brothel, revealed. Many Game of Thrones fans have made use of our BDSM room over the years, Sky said. Clients often enjoy playing a reluctantly submissive captive like Theon Greyjoy, chained and at the mercy of their seductive torturer. Luckily, here at Sheris, clients need not fear the loss of any important body parts, as its all in good fun and we always use a safe word should our clients feel uncomfortable in any way. Season 5s Walk of Shame was tremendously popular with submissive clients. While we used to put dog collars on clients and walk them though the brothels bar to appease their humiliation fetish, Game of Thrones took humiliation to a whole new level, Allissa said. Since Season 5, we now have to be ready for erotic humiliation that involves parading our consenting client, in various stages of undress, around the entirety of our twenty-acre property for all of our guests to see. The imaginative world of Game of Thrones will forever be a part of our shared culture, and its impact on various industries, including the sex industry, cannot be overstated, Dena said. With this season marking the end of the series, its disheartening that soon we wont have any new Game of Thrones-related fetishes for our clients to discover and explore here at our real-life brothel. Were sorry to see it end. Sheris Ranch is located at 10551 Homestead Road, Pahrump, NV 89061. For more information about Sheris, visit the official website. College meal plans can help students avoid buying groceries and cooking for themselves-but they can also cost thousands of dollars each semester. In the University of North Carolina system, some students get a relative bargain, but others pay 60 percent more with fewer spending options.Even though some UNC campuses take in hundreds of thousands of dollars in unspent funds from meal plans, most students can't opt out.A Martin Center analysis of the five largest public North Carolina universities-UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, East Carolina University, UNC-Charlotte, and Appalachian State University-found that ASU offers a fair deal, but other campuses make saving on meal costs difficult. Some simple reforms could benefit students, but universities would have to forfeit an easy source of revenue.College meal plans can help students avoid buying groceries and cooking for themselves-but they can also cost thousands of dollars each semester. In the University of North Carolina system, some students get a relative bargain, but others pay 60 percent more with fewer spending options.Even though some UNC campuses take in hundreds of thousands of dollars in unspent funds from meal plans, most students can't opt out.A Martin Center analysis of the five largest public North Carolina universities-UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, East Carolina University, UNC-Charlotte, and Appalachian State University-found that ASU offers a fair deal, but other campuses make saving on meal costs difficult. Some simple reforms could benefit students, but universities would have to forfeit an easy source of revenue.For cost, flexibility, and lost funds, Appalachian State serves its students best-by far. Meal plans are required for on-campus students, who choose among four options, from a "low" plan ($1,055) to a "super" plan ($1,917). Plans work on a declining balance system (like a prepaid debit card). Food is priced a la carte and ASU lists average meal costs online based on past purchases. However, freshmen cannot purchase a low plan and many of them buy a standard plan ($1,357), the cheapest alternative and 73 percent of all plans purchased in 2017-2018.Compared to other UNC schools, ASU's $208,000 received from unused student funds looks high. However, that is because other schools use meal swipes for primary food spending and flexible spending for additional food purchases, but ASU's meal plans are flexible spending only. Thus, the cost of a lost meal swipe at other schools is harder to see than in ASU's flexible spending system.If ASU allowed freshmen to buy a low plan instead of a standard plan, it could help students budget better and get more value from their meals., ASU's student newspaper, noted that students set up a Facebook group to sell unused meal plan money at a discount or give it away for free.While ASU uses a declining balance system, UNC-Chapel Hill has a more traditional meal swipe system where students have a weekly number of meal swipes to enter a dining hall and students can eat as much as they'd like.UNC-Chapel Hill has one major difference in its meal plans-choice. Of the five UNC schools in this Martin Center analysis, Chapel Hill is the only one that does not require students to buy a meal plan. Not many students opt out, though: About 90 percent of on-campus freshmen and 79 percent of sophomores bought a meal plan in fall 2018. From unused swipes and flex spending, Chapel Hill took in about $1.7 million in the 2017-2018 school year, which stays within food services.Those unused funds, however, are not viewed by UNC-Chapel Hill as a subsidy for Carolina Dining Services.Olivia James, communications manager for campus enterprises, said in an email. If the school refunded unused meals, they would have toshe noted.Even so, meal plans are expensive. UNC-Chapel Hill's unlimited meal plan, its most popular, is $2,290 per semester-59 percent more than ASU's most-popular plan. A Chapel Hill student can come close to ASU pricing, if not flexibility, if they pick the cheapest plan available: $1,411 for 100 meal swipes and $200 in flex spending.Like UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Charlotte has a traditional meal plan. It offers seven options, six with a set number of meal swipes and a declining balance fund and one plan with only a declining balance. Charlotte uses unspent funds like Chapel Hill.andpublic records officer Tina Dadio said.Across campuses, freshmen students get the worst bargain for meal plans. They're usually compelled to buy a meal plan and are not allowed to buy the cheapest plans. At UNC-Charlotte, for instance, seniors can purchase an 85-meal plan with $300 in flexible spending for $1,205, but the cheapest option for freshmen is a 160-meal plan with $300 in flexible spending for $2,170. And freshman meal plans comprised 60 percent of total meal plan sales in fall 2017. When students became sophomores and weren't required to buy a meal plan, purchases fell from 3,249 to 747 in fall 2018, a 77 percent decrease.The purchasing requirement for on-campus students is a heavy burden. If most students rely on parents or financial aid to pay for their meal plans, they may not realize how much their food costs. When someone else provides the money, students are less focused on the immediate price. And if students don't realize how much money they're borrowing, they may not realize they could save thousands of dollars annually-and reduce their future loan debt-by avoiding meal plans.To help students lower their food costs, some reforms are obvious. Schools could abolish meal plans, make them voluntary, or offer a low-cost "value" plan. Limited, cheaper plans are already available to non-traditional students like commuters. NC State, for example, offers meal plans for varsity athletes that can be as cheap as $730 for 80 meals. Students could add more funds to their meal plan instead of getting locked into a high-priced plan they won't fully use.Universities could also distance themselves from meal provision. Contracts with student dining companies like Chartwells involve a commission that earns colleges millions of dollars annually, but at a high cost to students. UNC-Charlotte's agreement with Chartwells, for instance, required the company to make an advanced payment of almost $2.2 million and a 20.1 percent commission of non-meal plan sales. The contract incentivizes the school to push students toward meal plans. Instead, renting out space to food vendors and letting them succeed or fail based on how well they satisfy students could remove that incentive.Colleges, however, are generally resistant to big changes. Reforming meal plans may benefit students, but it could cut into a university's profits. If students aren't up in arms about their meal plan bill, it's unlikely that administrators will take the lead on change.The food in dining halls is generally high-quality. Students have many options and meal planners are sensitive to food allergies and health considerations. Nor are meal plans the main driver of college costs. But they can be a significant cost and add to a student's debt load. For many students, saving $1,000-or even $500-per semester is a major boon. It could be the difference between graduating or dropping out. UNC administrators should be aware of how much a change can benefit their students. Is it possible for people to improve their lives through hard work, or is the system rigged against you? Your answer and your results may depend on your faith. On EWTN, Carl Cannon of RealClear Politics discussed a poll in which the organization asked people whether the American dream is alive for you personally. Only seven percent of Americans say the American dream is dead, while 27 percent say it is alive and well. But Cannon pointed out a salient fact: That number rises to 33 percent for Catholics and to nearly half (47 percent) of Christians who attend church more than once a week. Religion makes people more optimistic and evidence shows that hope itself leads to a more prosperous and productive society. Its really hard to be successful without being hopeful, said Shane J. Lopez, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Kansas School of Business and a Gallup senior scientist in his book Making Hope Happen. When you think that the future will be better than the present, you start working harder today and youre much more likely to be engaged in your work. Gallup reports that companies with highly engaged employees earn 147 percent more per share than their competitors. Hope is responsible for 14 percent of all workplace productivity, according to Lopez. More importantly, hope saves lives. A 2004 study of depressed inpatients found that [r]eligiously unaffiliated subjects had significantly more lifetime suicide attempts and more first-degree relatives who committed suicide than subjects who endorsed a religious affiliation. (This also has economic consequences. Ten out of 10 social scientists agree death reduces productivity.) Apologists for secularism and statism sometimes make two counterarguments. Some point to the high levels of self-reported happiness enjoyed by atheistic Scandinavian welfare states. Yet they leave out an important datum: While one in every eight residents of Nordic countries struggles with depression, very religious people who were not part of an ethnic minority were more likely to be happier, according to the BBC. Others may highlight the depression and addiction of small-town America, which they assume to be the deposit of religious faith and values. The trouble here is that their vision is outdated. Some of these people in small towns and rural areas didnt score as high on this poll about the American dream as people in urban areas, Cannon told EWTN. That makes me think some of these people who voted for the president felt, as we knew they did in these Rust Belt states, left behind. The American dream for them, not that it is dead, but it is under stress. Tim Carney, the author of Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse, has found the working class is increasingly falling away from church and organized religion. The General Social Survey finds that 50 percent of Americans who go to church more than once a week call themselves very happy, wrote Carney. That number drops as church attendance drops, down to only 25 percent for those who go once a year or less. As jobs and churches leave small-town America, opioids fill the void. (You can hear Carney discuss the topic with Acton Institute Communications Director John Couretas here.) Working-class America has lost its hope as it has lost its religion, the bedrock of hope in American history. The Apostle Paul wrote that tribulation produces [perseverance; and perseverance, [character; and character, hope and hope does not disappoint (Romans 5:3-5). Hope has been established as part of a holy trinity of defining Christian virtues. Productivity and prosperity in this world, and entrance into the next, depend on our recovering and incarnating them. (Photo credit: Public domain.) I have been involved in the Kuyper Conference at Calvin College & Seminary for the last couple of years, and this years conference features a number of elements of notable interest. Acton is a headline sponsor of the event this year, and our Journal of Markets & Morality is also sponsoring the confernece. The journal has published a number of items focused on Abraham Kuyper and neocalvinist social thought over the years, including an article that originated as a paper from the 2018 Kuyper Conference: Li Ma and Jin Li, Tocqueville and Kuyper on the Problem of Poverty in Modern Society, Journal of Markets & Morality 21, no. 2 (Fall 2018): 241-258. Acton Institute, in collaboration with the Abraham Kuyper Translation Society, is also sponsoring a panel discussion, which I will be moderating, on the topic of Common Grace, Community, and Culture, featuring Jessica Joustra (Theological University of Kampen), Vincent Bacote (Wheaton College), and J. Daryl Charles (Acton Institute), who is a co-editor of the Common Grace volumes in the Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology series. Research fellow Dylan Pahman is presenting a paper at the conference, Christ and the Educational Community: Toward a Kuyperian Philosophy of Higher Education, and there will be other forms of participation and representation at the event, including a table with books for sale. Also worth noting is that the 2019 Kuyper Prize is going to be presented to Dr. John Perkins, the co-founder of the Christian Community Development Association. Dr. Perkins is a leader in civil rights activism, racial reconciliation, and a distinctively Christian vision of community formation and development. He was featured in Actons video series, For the Life of the World, and is a most worthy recipient of this honor. More details about the conference program, which runs from April 23-25, is available at the conference website, and registration to attend will be available online until April 15. The Kuyper Conference is also offering a discounted registration rate for pastors and students, as well as for those who register to attend the Henry Symposium on Religion & Public Life, which runs from April 25-27. The plenary sessions, including the Kuyper Prize presentation, will be recorded and released online some time after the event. Last week in Rome, U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Callista Gingrich invited think tank leaders, journalists, and human rights advocates to the private colloquium Stand Together to Defend International Religious Freedom. Among the many experts giving brief testimonies and talks were Msgr. Khaled Akasheh, secretary of the Pontifical Council of Interreligious Dialogue, Sr. Clare Jardine from Our Lady of Sion Congregation and Dr. Roberto Fontolan, chairman of the StandTogether digital platform which received promotional attention at the event. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vaticans Secretary of State, was invited to give the closing comments. During her opening remarks, Ambassador Gingrich reminded participants of the absolute fundamental importance of religious liberty, calling it the first right among all other inalienable God-given rights. Religious liberty was the first right for which Americas founding fathers fought, since many of them fled religious persecution and bigotry in Europe to pursue their faith-centered lives and vocational endeavors in a new free and tolerant nation. The United States cares deeply about promoting religious liberty for all, Gingrich said. Americas forefathers [had] understood religious freedom not as the states creation, but as a gift from God. She said religious freedom is, therefore, considered a critical part of a flourishing society. Beyond the moral imperative to safeguard religious freedom, history has shown that when governments and societies champion this right, they are safer, more prosperous, and secure. Where fundamental freedoms of religion are under attack, we often find conflict, instability, and terrorism. Gingrich reminded the colloquiums participants that April 9 would mark the 35th anniversary of the United States formal diplomatic relations with the Holy See. With common concerns about promoting religious freedom, among other human rights, the U.S. had always sent envoys to popes since its founding, yet a separate full-time embassy to the Vatican would not begin until 1984 when Ronald Reagans Ambassador to the Holy See William Wilson presented his credentials to Pope John Paul II. Gingrich noted in a recent editorial that the need for U.S. presidents and Catholic popes to unite in strategic diplomatic alliances grew most urgent during the height of the Cold War as the destructive force of the [atheist] Soviet Union threatened to sweep across the free world and eliminate religiously-ordered societies and cultures. Gingrich concluded in her speech saying that according a Pew Research Center study, while it may appear that we live in a generally freer and more tolerant post-Soviet world, still around about 80% of people today live under high, to very high religious persecution. This is simply not acceptable, she said. Following the Ambassadors introduction, two dramatic short films produced by the StandTogether digital platform were shown to attendees, highlighting the nightmares and carnage of religious persecution in China and Nigeria. The first film revealed how Chinese authorities are brutally detaining an estimated 800,000- 2,000,000 ethic Kazakh Muslim families in labor camps. The families hail primarily from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Mihrigul Turson, a former Uighur prisoner and who recently found asylum in the U.S., explained how in 2015 she and her newborn triplets were stopped at a Chinese airport and then sent off to a faraway detention center, where one of her three two-month-old infants did not survive the harsh conditions. The second film illustrated the tragic violence suffered by a Nigerian woman named Rebeca. She spoke about how she was abducted by Boko Haram Islamic extremists who sought forced conversions of Christians in her state of Borno. During the kidnapping, one of her children was thrown into a river and drowned, her husband murdered, and Rebeca herself was raped and became pregnant. She said she bore and accepted the offspring anyway, even if he would be a living memory of her evil persecutor. Dr. Roberto Fontolan, chairman of StandTogether, said that the dramatic short films were having a wide visual impact on social media and international television. Part of the projects messaging campaign, he said, is about informing public opinion of what Pope Francis calls todays new martyrs. Fontolan said the pope has severely reprimanded those who pay witness to people suffering religious persecution but say and do nothing, labeling them accomplices to the persecutors. Sr. Clare Jardine, representing the Congregation of the Our Lady of Sion, spoke in the second panel. Her religious congregation has a special mission to maintain a vivid memory of the Holocaust. Jardine said their aim is to make sufferers of religious persecution ever vigilant about potential reprisals against their faith. We promote Holocaust awareness activitiesso that we can learn from past persecution. Like those who have suffered antisemitism, defenders of religious liberty must learn to be very light sleepers, she said. Jardines poignant remark rang true in the wake of recent softer forms of religious persecution that earn fewer big headlines, as with the covering of crosses in an Italian cemetery and the secular dress codes being enforced in Canada. These softer forms of persecution which aim to promote the neutralization of religious expression in the public square, eventually give way to harder, more violently ideological practices that dictate total denial of religious freedom to citizens. In his concluding remarks, Cardinal Pietro Parolin reasserted the common conviction that religious freedom, when egregiously violated, weakens the protection of every other God-given human right and at each rung of participation in civil society. The choice of faith and the consequent adherence to a religion impacts every level of life, as well as the social and political spheres. Therefore, the choice, and the practice, of ones faith must be free of constraints and coercion, Parolin said. Having commented on the popes visits to lands of extreme Christian minorities and legal persecution, like recently in Morocco which is less than 1% Christian and where apostasy laws are still in place, Parolin said there is little doubt we are dealing with an aggressive attack that strikes at the very core of the enjoyment of fundamental human rights, which are necessary for the flourishing of the human person, of society as a whole, and for the peaceful coexistence among nations. Therefore, Parolin urged leaders and media in attendance that they must not simply [be] standing together but working together to defend and advance religious freedom globally. He said they must strive to put into effect practices and policies to bolster the framework of international law so as to impede infringements of religious liberty around the world. In this way, Parolin concluded, we can confront tendencies that are individualistic, selfish, conflicting, and also address radicalism and blind extremism in all its forms and expressions. Photo credit for featured and top image: US Embassy to the Holy See/ A.J. Olnes Video: RomeReports Arizona could lose $340 million in federal funding because the state hasnt followed the Every Students Succeeds Acts rules for testing its students, Frank Brogan, the assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, told the state in a recent letter . This spring, Arizona allowed its districts a choice of offering the ACT, the SAT, or the states traditional test, the AzMerit test, at the high school level. ESSA allows states to offer districts the option of using a nationally-recognized college entrance exam in place of the state test, but first they must meet certain technical requirements. For instance, states must make sure that the national recognized exam (such as the ACT or SAT) measures progress toward the states standards at least as well as the original state test. They also must make sure that the results of the nationally-recognized exam can be compared to the state test. And they have to provide appropriate accommodations for English-language learners and students in special education. All of this is supposed to happen before the state ever allows its districts the option of an alternate test. Arizona hasnt provided evidence that it has completed any of this work, Brogan wrote. The department has other, big concerns about Arizonas testing system. The state passed a law allowing its schools a choice of tests, at both the high school and elementary level. That is not kosher under ESSA, which calls for every student in the same grade to take the same test, in most cases, Brogan wrote. Whats more, Arizona hasnt had a single high school test for several years. Instead, students are allowed to take one of three end-of-course math and reading/language arts tests, Brogans letter says. The failure to offer students the same test statewide is the reason the state has been put on high-risk status. The state needs to pick one test for high school students, Brogan says, or it may lose federal Title I funding for disadvantaged students. Its up to Arizona to decide whether the single test is the AzMerit, the ACT, the SAT, or something else. Kathy Hoffman, the newly elected state superintendent of public instruction, said she understands the point Brogan is making. The menu of tests was put in place by the legislature before she came into office, she said. We are in agreement with the Department of Education, she said in an interview. We think that in order to have equity for all students we want to make sure were holding our schools accountable using the same metrics. Otherwise, if every district is giving a different test, then theres not a way to clearly measure student success. Hoffman and her team sent districts a letter last week making it clear that they cant offer a choice of tests at the elementary or high school level. Next year, she said, the state will require 9th graders to take the AzMerit test. High school sophomores and juniors may also be allowed to take a college-entrance exam, but it is unclear if the state will cover the cost. Arizona isnt necessarily giving up on offering a menu of tests at the high school level for accountability, Hoffman said in her letter to districts. In the future, it may be possible to have a menu that allows for the use of a different assessment instead of the statewide assessment, but it will take time to meet the federal requirements outlined in the letter from [the Education Department], Hoffman wrote. Arizona isnt the only state that has expressed interest in allowing districts to offer a choice of tests at the high school level. Both Oklahoma and North Dakota are taking advantage of the flexibility, but both have met the laws technical requirements and have gotten sign-off from the feds, said Elizabeth Hill, a spokeswoman for U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. Want to learn more about the Every Student Succeeds Act? Heres some useful information: Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . This blog is looking for wisdom, to have and to share. It is also looking for other rare character traits like good humor, courage, and honor. It is not an easy road, because all of us fall short. But God is love, forgiveness and grace. Those who believe in Him and repent of their sins have the promise of His Holy Spirit to guide us and show us the Way. ChinAI Jeff Ding's weekly newsletter reporting on the Chinese AI scene; on the occasion of the newsletter's first anniversary, Ding has posted a roundup of things about the Chinese AI scene that the rest of the world doesn't know about, or harbors incorrect beliefs about. It's an excellent list, but three points leapt out at me: 1. Most Chinese AI researchers read English and are very up to date on the progress AI researchers are making around the world; few westerners read Chinese and thus practitioners rely on fragmentary evidence from the odd article that appears in translation. 2. Chinese AI's reputation has been overinflated: part of the problem with fragmentary reporting outside of the Chinese language press is that it gives an unduly rosy picture of the state of Chinese AI. In particular, the story of Chinese AI being supercharged by the massive quantities of data that the Chinese state and Chinese companies have amassed is exaggerated, because these companies are riven by internal divisions that prevent data-sharing among different programs, as different executives seek to maximize their own division's performance. 3. China has a massive, ongoing AI ethics and human rights debate: this debate includes regulators, whistleblowers, academics, and philosophers. There are other interesting points (such as the central role that Microsoft has played in incubating the Chinese AI scene, and the active complicity of China's biggest AI vendors in human rights abuses), but those three points alone were worth the price of admission. 5. Chinese people including regular netizens, data protection officers, philosophy professors care about AI-related ethics issues, including privacy. Let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that there are no discussions of AI ethics happening in China. It is perfectly reasonable to highlight differences in Chinese notions of AI ethics or the degree to which privacy is important to Chinese consumers, but it is absolutely dehumanizing to say Chinese people don't care about privacy. Chinese tech giants clash fight over user privacy violations, as evidenced by Tencent asking the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to intervene in a dispute between Tencent and Huawei on alleged user privacy infringements of the Honor Magic phone. After a yearlong investigation, China's Shandong Province brought a major case in July of 2018 on infringements of personal information against 57 individuals and 11 big data companies, which revealed a debate over how to interpret a new national personal information protection specification. The Nandu Personal Information Protection Research Center has assessed 1550 websites and apps for the transparency of their privacy policies. Finally, Chinese thinkers are engaged on broader issues of AI ethics, including the risks of human-level machine intelligence and beyond. Zhao Tingyang, an influential philosopher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, has written a long essay on near-term and long-term AI safety issues, including the prospect of superintelligence. Professor Zhihua Zhou, who leads an impressive lab at Nanjing University, argued in an article for the China Computer Federation that even if strong AI is possible, it is something that AI researchers should stay away from. ChinAI #48: Year 1 of ChinAI [Jeff Ding/ChinAI] (via Beyond the Beyond) (Image: Cryteria, CC-BY) Facebook is notorious for absolving itself of responsibility for bad behavior by offering up an algorithm as a scapegoat (examples here, here, here, here). This time Brian Fishman, Facebook's policy director for counterterrorism, told Congress at a closed-door briefing that the New Zealand shooter video that Facebook streamed was not gruesome enough for its naughty, misbehaving algorithm to flag so please don't get mad at Facebook. From The Daily Beast: The members of Congress who gathered for a closed-door briefing had lots of questions for Brian Fishman, Facebook's policy director for counterterrorism. One of the biggest: Why didn't Facebook's counter-terror algorithmswhich it rolled out nearly two years agotake down the video as soon as it was up? Fishman's answer, according to a committee staffer in the room: The video was not "particularly gruesome." A second source briefed on the meeting added that Fishman said there was "not enough gore" in the video for the algorithm to catch it. Members pushed back against Fishman's defense. One member of Congress said the video was so violent, it looked like footage from Call of Duty. Another, Missouri Democrat Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, told The Daily Beast that Fishman's answer "triggered something inside me." "'You mean we have all this technology and we can't pick up gore?'" Cleaver said he told Fishman. "'How many heads must explode before they pick it up? Facebook didn't create darkness, but darkness does live in Facebook.'" Children who end up caught in Chicago's policing and justice system are being outfitted with ReliAlert XC3 GPS ankle-cuffs supplied by the Track Group, who use them to log children's movements and to bark orders at them, as well as listening in on them. The children have to wear them 24/7 while on bail awaiting trial. The company claims that the recording function in the tracking anklets generates a notification every time it is used, but its own technicians have testified under oath that the listening function can be covertly activated. Track Group stores all recordings of its interactions with children indefinitely. The system illustrates the shitty technology adoption curve neatly: when we have a terrible idea for technology, we first inflict it on people who don't get to complain, until the edges have been sanded down enough to roll it out for everyone else. Kids are often shitty technology beta-testers, as are prisoners: kid prisoners are a match made in hell when it comes to shitty technology rollouts. The argument for ankle-cuffs (spy-mic'ed or not) is that it increases bail compliance, but there is no evidence to support that argument. 90% of people on bail return to court on the strength of a simple telephone reminder. Track Group is paid $3.68/day per child that they monitor. The company says that "out of an abundance of caution" they are disabling the recording feature pending a review. Chicago's policing and justice system are among the most corrupt in America. Violent, corrupt, racist cops act with impunity, their crimes covered up at the highest levels, and in the very rare circumstances that they are penalized for misdeeds, those penalties are usually secretly waived. The department has stolen millions from defenseless people and used the money to build out a surveillance capacity similar to the kind of thing America inflicts on occupied, hostile nations. They have a long history of torture and have never been held to account for their barbarism. A 2012 study by the Pretrial Justice Institute found that nearly 90 percent of people would return to court with little more than a reminder of their court date. In the last 18 months, Cook County has released more than 24,000 people pretrial. The vast majority have had less-restrictive conditions than electronic monitoring, according to the Chicago Community Bond Fund. Just 0.6 percent of the felony defendants who were released between Oct. 1, 2017, and Dec. 31, 2018, were charged with committing a new violent offense while in the community, according to data from Cook County. Nevertheless, judges are hesitant to release people without restrictions and are using monitoring as a risk mitigation tool. Juvenile electronic monitoring presents another set of issues that adults don't encounter, Staudt said. The monitors must be plugged into the wall regularly to charge, which attorneys say is often difficult for children who have trouble sitting still. Children are often forgetful and can face disciplinary action or be sent to a detention center if they do not charge their devices. Ankle monitors also subject them to stigma in school and among their friends. "You're really putting a red letter on kids in their own communities in a way that can be really, really damaging," she said. Weisburd, who has represented children with ankle monitors in Oakland, California, said her clients were often stigmatized when their devices would beep during the school day when probation officers were trying to contact them or when batteries were low. One client decided to stop going to school to avoid that situation, she said. Chicago is Tracking Kids With GPS Monitors That Can Call and Record Them Without Consent [Kira Lerner/The Appeal] (via /.) Texas House Bill 896 would criminalize all abortions and define the procedure as homicide, which is punishable by death in Texas. Lawmakers in Texas have proposed legislation that bans abortion in any and all stages of pregnancy, even when caused by acts of rape or incest, and would modify Texas state penal code to allow both women and abortion providers to be charged with murder for abortion. The bill also defines an embryo as "a living human child" beginning at "the moment of fertilization." The embryo would be afforded the same "rights, powers, and privileges as are secured or granted by the laws of this state to any other human child." This legislation conflicts with Roe v. Wade, the federal standard under which which it is unconstitutional to ban abortion in any U.S. state. Here we go again. Alanna Vagianos at the Huffington Post reports on the Lone Star State's draconian new attack on women. Texas lawmakers worked well into Tuesday morning as they listened to hundreds of Texans testify in support of a bill that would criminalize abortion and threaten the death penalty to any woman who undergoes the procedure. In total 446 people testified in support of the "Abolition of Abortion in Texas Act," or House Bill 896, which aims to outlaw all abortions "regardless of any contrary federal law, executive order, or court decision." State Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R) introduced the bill in 2017, which would define abortion as murder which is punishable by death in the state of Texas. "God's word says, 'He who sheds man's blood, by man the civil government his blood will be shed,'" Sonya Gonnella, a supporter of the bill, testified in the hearing before the Texas House's Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence on Monday. After quoting the Book of Genesis, Gonella implored the committee to "repent with us" by passing the proposed legislation. Lawmakers in the hearing, which wrapped around 3 a.m. on Tuesday, also heard from people opposed to the bill. In total 54 Texans, including women's advocates and legal experts, testified against the bill, according to the Washington Post. Supporters of the bill gathered in Texas Capitol Rotunda ahead of the hearing on Monday night, chanting "abolish abortion" and "equal protection for all." Texas Lawmakers Are Considering The Death Penalty For Women Who Get Abortions [huffpost.com] [ IMAGE: Ann Harkness/Flickr CC/by/2.0] Bowalley Road Rules The blogosphere tends to be a very noisy, and all-too-often a very abusive, place. I intend Bowalley Road to be a much quieter, and certainly a more respectful, place. So, if you wish your comments to survive the moderation process, you will have to follow the Bowalley Road Rules. These are based on two very simple principles: Courtesy and Respect. Comments which are defamatory, vituperative, snide or hurtful will be removed, and the commentators responsible permanently banned. Anonymous comments will not be published. Real names are preferred. If this is not possible, however, commentators are asked to use a consistent pseudonym. Comments which are thoughtful, witty, creative and stimulating will be most welcome, becoming a permanent part of the Bowalley Road discourse. However, I do add this warning. If the blog seems in danger of being over-run by the usual far-Right suspects, I reserve the right to simply disable the Comments function, and will keep it that way until the perpetrators find somewhere more appropriate to vent their collective spleen. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Workers day South Africa which is otherwise known as May Day all over the world is a chance to commemorate the labourers of every nation, and the contributions they make towards the growth of the nation. There is a lot of history about this as labourers across the globe are appreciated, and their struggles acknowledged. Truth be told, it has not always been easy. Image: pixabay.com Source: UGC Workers day 2019 like any of the years before, is a commemoration of workers struggles and a celebration of the strides made in the sector as far as protecting their rights go. Employees have come a long way from working very long hours to reduced hours of 8 hours daily. Reasons why we celebrate May 1st To appreciate why these celebrations are done, a bit of background on how the date came to exists is important. Western countries have struggled with getting shorter working hours for their employees. The struggle dates back to 1800s. It was not until 1884 that the Federation of Organised Trades and Labor Unions in America and Canada came to an agreement that 8 hours make an acceptable working duration for any labourer. They also settled on May 1st as the ideal date for the commemoration of labourers. The British labour and socialist leader Tom Mann, upon visiting in 1910, criticised the South African Labour Party for neglecting the African workers, urging the white labour movement to think of a way to organise African labourers. This was the beginning of the labour journey in South Africa. World War 1 in August 1914 had severe consequences on the development of socialist labour politics in South Africa. In 1913, there was a mine-employees strike, coupled with the strike by railwaymen known to support the war and those who were anti-war. As such, the Internationalist Socialist League (ISL) was formed in 1916, and in 1917 May Day got new international importance because of the Russian Revolution. The ISL organised a May Day rally in South Africa, where Horatio Mbelle, an African; an articled clerk, was billed to be among the speakers. Unfortunately, the rally did not happen. History and background In 1916, May Day was a small affair, celebrated by a social and a visit to the graves of employees killed in the 1914 strike. It was not until 1928 that May day was taken up by many Africans. This year saw a lot of African labourers take part in the labour march. During the 64th anniversary of May Day, in 1950, the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) called for a strike on that date to protest against the suppression of Communism Act. The strike led to police violence that caused the death of 18 people across Soweto. READ ALSO: 5 Big changes to the labour landscape since Workers Day 2017 In barely 2 months, CPSA forcefully dissolved, prompting the ANC to take over the planning for the day of mourning to remember those who died in the strike. The Congress of the People followed soon after in 1955 and the Freedom Charter was started. This consolidated the alliance of all anti-apartheid forces. It was not until 1985 that The South African labour Federation Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) was started. This was followed by a demand to change the May day to Workers day and a demand to make it a public event. For those asking, is workers day a public holiday? You now have an idea of the genesis of the celebration. Importance of workers day According to history, this celebration originated from the struggle of workers to get fair employment terms. It is also a chance to remember those that fought against racism and discrimination as well as those who fought for equal rights at the workplace and outside. The history of fighting for workers rights to the extent that these rights are now enshrined in the constitution has not been an easy journey. It is worthy of celebration. Check out the different pictures of workers day in South Africa to know just how important this date is for many employees out there. Workers day South Africa is a special date for labourers just as it is in most countries across the globe. It is important to celebrate the small wins as you fight for better deals in the future. So why do we celebrate labours day? Now you can tell everybody about it! READ ALSO: School holidays 2018 South Africa Public holidays South Africa Public and private school holidays 2019 Source: Briefly.co.za News / National by Staff reporter A MYSTERIOUS Harare man last week landed a Lamborghini Avedantor S worth about R7.48m in neighbouring South Africa.The owner of the big brother of the Lamborghini family is still not known, although the car has been spotted in and around Harare's northern suburbs, including a popular shopping centre.The streets of Harare came to a standstill yesterday after one of Harare's elite drove around the CBD with his expensive 'lambo'. People flocked the streets to see the expensive car with some questioning where one would drive the car given that every road now has potholes.It still did not have "number plates" although it could not be immediately established if all Zimra paperwork had been completed for the mystery owner to roam the streets of Harare.The Avedantor is powered by a V12 engine, which produces a 544kW and a 350km/h top speed.Notable features include new four-wheel steering system, significantly enhanced suspension, electronics and customisable driving modes and 0-100km/h in 2.9 seconds.Lamborghini says the Avedantor S has been developed around a total control concept to provide a superior drive, ride and performance while every aspect of the car's suspension and electronic systems has been advanced. News / National by Staff reporter PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa is tomorrow set to meet with Zanu-PF youths in an interactive session that will bring the party's eight provinces together.Zanu-PF's secretary for youth Lewis Matutu, said Mnangagwa will be their guest of honour at tomorrow's national assembly meeting. "We are having our national executive council meeting tomorrow (today). This event is part of the party's constitution.On Thursday, we will also have the national assembly, which is also in the constitution, which requires us to meet at certain intervals. His Excellency, the president is our guest of honour. This meeting ropes in all the provincial leadership from eight provinces as you are aware that the Harare and Bulawayo provinces were recently dissolved," Matutu said.Mnangagwa announced the dissolution of the executives of the two provinces recently to address factionalism which the Zanu-PF leadership blamed for its failure to win urban constituencies in the two metropolises.Matutu said the purpose of tomorrow's meeting is to look back and review the party's programmes and projects as well as planning ahead and focusing on mandates in relation to the youths. News / National by Staff reporter TOP MDC officials, including party president Nelson Chamisa and his potential challenger Douglas Mwonzora are not leaving anything to chance as they traverse the country coaxing through proxies for nominations ahead of the opposition movement's elective congress next month.So far Chamisa has been nominated by three provinces with his rival Mwonzora on the back foot amid allegations of tempering with the party structures as well as failure to open the space for women.Yesterday, the party's chief of staff Sesel Zvidzai publicly expressed concern with the way women have been elbowed out from the race."It is dog eating dog at Congress. There are no gentlemen on show.There is no commitment to live the values we pronounce. I would like to see gentlemen of good nature taking the first step and allow a woman to walk in front while they follow. "Gentlemen who will pull the chair for that lady and ladies that will realise that it's not by getting chairs pulled for them, they are not being demeaned," said Zvidzai.So far the going has been unkind towards women with Chamisa uncontested for the presidency while the race for the vice presidency is panning out to be between Welshman Ncube, Tendai Biti, Morgen Komichi and Lilian Timvieos being the only female candidate who has been nominated.MDC spokesperson Jacob Mafume said although there have been complaints in some areas the process has on a larger scale gone on very well. "So far it has been smooth we have done the USA, Matabeleland South and North which we finished early in the morning. The president got a nomination and for the vice presidents, yes we have heard of provinces that have had problems but so far it has been okay, yes individuals might have problems but that is not widespread," said Mafume.Despite the cosmetics from the party's spin doctors all is certainly not well in the opposition and insiders told the Daily News that there were delays in the elections for Matabeleland North due to infighting.The provincial elections that were supposed to take place in the second capital city of Bulawayo were postponed to a later day, in yet another sign that all is not well in the MDC where Mwonzora's supporters allege the structures have been tinkered with to favour the incumbent.While many have predicted a tussle of titanic proportions between Chamisa, his deputy Elias Mudzuri and Mwonzora for the position of president, nominations that have come through from the province of United States of America, Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North show the 41-year-old leader running away with it.Mudzuri, who was initially seen as a challenger to the post of president, has not yet received nomination for any position. For one to be able to contest for any position, they must be nominated by at least two out of the 19-year-old political outfit's 13 provinces out of which three including South Africa and the UK are external.Chamisa's challengers also accuse his lieutenants of tampering with structures and indirectly making it difficult for those reportedly outside his camp to freely open up and prepare for the elective congress.The MDC elective congress set for May 24 to 26, is the first since the death of founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai who succumbed to cancer of the colon in February last year.Chamisa is seeking to retain the post he took through a national council resolution following the death of Tsvangirai a development that sparked uproar from Mudzuri and his sympathisers who felt he was entitled to take over instead.Insiders say, Chamisa therefore wants congress to remove any doubts over his legitimacy, as he is confident that he would win. News / National by Staff reporter ZIMBABWE Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) has requested city fathers to beam live Bulawayo's full council meetings in a similar way it covers parliamentary sessions.In a letter addressed to the town clerk Christopher Dube, dated February 27, as indicated in the latest council report, the national broadcaster requested a partnership with the local authority, in a development it says is likely to benefit both parties."Further to our meeting on the 14 February 2019 ZBC would like to give you and your stakeholders an opportunity to increase and enhance the council's visibility and brand through quality service provision by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation on ZIM 24 and Khulumani FM during your full council meetings," wrote ZBC.The national broadcaster further noted that as this was going to be a live programme, the move was going "to give the council an opportunity to place notices and announcements during proceedings from such stakeholders as construction companies, banks and suppliers."According to the letter, the coverage of the full council meeting by ZBC comes at no cost to the council. This is however, ostensibly because the broadcasting company intends to use the platform to attract commercials which in turn will be a revenue generation platform.In turn council resolved that the proposal be supported as it will improve council's visibility provided content will be managed to project and enhance particularly the positive attributes of the organisation. It was also resolved that the programme would be useful to sustain transparency and accountability through the live streaming of full council meetings.Council holds full council meetings once every first Wednesday of the month. Council is already in partnership with Centre for Innovation and Technology who live-stream full council meetings on social media platforms. Opinion / National In our culture, when the legendary flowery Eve sits bare and exhibits her rhino horn, the descendants of Adam have to look aside and scurry for cover! Conversely, this time it should be a different ball game altogether. The whirlwind godmother and queen, who is rumoured to be Wezhira by origin is unencumberedly bestriding narrow Matabeleland like a colossal exotic monster. She is the self-imposed king maker of political power in the MDC and Matabeleland. The queen is said to be using a pseudo surname in order to appear relevant to the restive Matabelelanders. However, her insatiable and un-Mthwakazian appetite for power has finally sold her out. The fast but sad disintegration of the MDC in the region features her as the common factor dating back to 2005 and thereabout. The queen is cunningly hunting with the hounds and running with the hairs, just for self-gratification. The observable imminent demise of the MDC in Mthwakazi is said to be secretly engineered by her as she callously takes aim at Prof. Welshman Ncube so that she lands the irresistible, coveted Matabeleland highest possible post in politics, of vice president. Visibly, if she remains unfettered and insatiable in her diabolic appetite for power, ZANU PF is poised to scoop the vote in 2023 as MDC's quality of leadership has been worn down to fourth grade due to successive splits.Who is Queen Wezhira?Details about the origins of the self-proclaimed queen of Matabeleland are deliberately sketchy. Even those from Mthwakazi who have worked closely with her are largely unaware of her origins, although she was born in Bulawayo. It is highly probable that she schemingly uses her maternal Ndebele surname for political expedience at the expense of her paternal one of Masvingo origin. This obscure identity has brought her immeasurable success so far. Naturally, the queen is blessed with fluency in both Shona and isiNdebele which has boosted her bat-like identity. She usually broadcasts her dominance through a bellowing, hoarse, masculine voice. You can name your queen if you like!Inherent Appetite for PowerOn the 11th of November 2018, the Daily News reported that Queen Wezhira is unhappy about being left out in Nelson Chamisa's choice of vice presidents. In other sections of society she is thought to have nursed the idea that the scandalous elbowing out of Dr Thokozani Khuphe from the MDC would be an automatic qualification for her to ascend to the second highest post in the party and the prime and highest in Matabeleland, the vice presidency! To the contrary, the subsequent elevation of Prof. Welshman Ncube into the presidium, ahead of her, caused her insurmountable envious anger. In that fit of rage, the queen punctuated the display of her political muscle and power through the Tinashe Kambarami debacle. Although the esteemed VP, Prof. Welshman Ncube was against Kambarami standing in the election, Queen Wezhira, shamelessly using her position as national chairperson of the party, ordered the election to proceed resulting in Kambarami's re-election as deputy mayor of Bulawayo.The queen is said to have always placed herself at the proper place at the right time. She seems to be continuously riding on lady luck as successive splits have progressively left her well-positioned for possible ascendancy. Sadly for her, this time around her ambitious appetite is said to have hit a brick-wall when the more senior, capable and dignified Ncube was given the top post ahead of her. Unless her gargantuan appetite for power and dominance is satisfied, the queen will fight to the bitter end even if it means that the party collapses and shrinks under the political rubble. Speculation is also rife that she will bring as more human resources from her fatherland Masvingo into Matabeleland as possible, albeit at the expense of locals in order to inflame her influence in Matabeleland.Queen Wezhira's Latest ShenanigansInsiders allege that in search of her much desired but elusive VP post, Queen Wezhira is currently on high gear to frustrate the Alliance in Matabeleland and South Africa. Although she hypocritically supported the Alliance when Dr Khuphe and others despised it, the queen finds herself torn between personal aggrandizement and the Alliance success. Sadly, she seems to have chosen to go the self-fulfilment route in which she will weaken and finally crush Welshman Ncube, politically. She is said to be clandestinely and unofficially visiting structures and discouraging them from integrating other Alliance parties especially Ncube's MDC. This is done to ensure that Ncube loses grassroots support and eventually the VP post. The structures are now allegedly under Queen Wezhira's capture. Her recent visit to South Africa could be testimony to that. The queen is known to have told some party leaders that "We must not go and look for Alliance partners. They must come to us". Her scheme is that no information should be shared with Ncube's followers so that the ongoing restructuring will ensure that members from his former party are eradicated from the structures. Fortunately, the democratic leadership in Johannesburg is said to have quietly resisted the move.These shenanigans by the queen are costing the party big time. It is sad to note that Ncube's MDC has a rich reservoir of human resources from Matabeleland which is being dumped into the dustbin, the ZANU PF way. The queen's covert molestation and marginalization of the Mthwakazians is tantamount to committing political suicide. Democrats from the region will not watch with folded arms as though they were in a funeral procession. This shocking appetite for power and influence by the queen, laced with tribalism, has laid her intestines bare for all and sundry to feast with their eyes.TribalismThe whole affair smacks of shameless tribalism and egotism. It is unsurprising how support for Queen Wezhira is propped up in Mashonaland. It is evidently people from other regions outside of Matabeleland that are fronting her name to dominate the MDC in Matabeleland. That is strange and worrisome. It is an undeniable fact that most Alliance members are from Matabeleland. High quality leadership from Matabeleland is deliberately sidelined for selfish gain by the queen and her cronies. The Masvingo-aligned faction has usurped all political power available in Matabeleland and thereby angering local party faithfuls. This cancerous politics of tribes is fast destroying the party. The former stronghold of Matabeleland is swift crumbling like a deck of cards, thanks to self-absorption by the queen. Sadly, some party members are 'dying' in silence due to the fear of losing positions, especially as Congress approaches. Artificially and strangely, lady luck seems to be smiling on Biti and other former defectors who are being glorified yet Ncube is vilified.Double CandidatesThe incessant interference by Queen Wezhira has also seen less popular members being given preference for positions leading to the fielding of double candidates from the Alliance competing against each other. Members from Ncube's MDC are allegedly ignored and declared unpopular by Queen Wezhira and her cronies. The Bulawayo's Ward 28 scenario is one such example of double confusion. More so, in the recent national plebiscite, the Bulawayo South seat was lost to ZANU PF due to clumsiness by the queen. Alliance candidates were reportedly being replaced at the 11th hour in favour of the imposed ones from the top leadership from Harare. This had catastrophic consequences.Call for ActionIf the queen's shenanigans continue unabated, the MDC is poised for a crushing defeat in any future election in Matabeleland and Zimbabwe in general. The grassroots poor and disenfranchised are disaffected and angry at the queen's blatant disregard and manipulation of internal processes in favour of herself and her selfish faction from Masvingo. The continued selfish use of her pseudo surname to dupe the unsuspecting Mthwakazians will not work any further. The cruel attack on Prof. Welshman Ncube is a brutal blow to the party in general, and to Matabeleland in particular. Bombing the house to rescue one's rat for relish is just more than foolhardy and egotistical, to say the least. Alliance partners should also be accorded influential positions in the party like anybody else. The queen's power, which seems to be heading for bushfire status, should be arrested as a matter of urgency. Veteran and new party faithfuls, who value and stand for democracy, and those who love and respect Matabeleland, should stand up and stop the rot. Let the youth, women and men in Matabeleland and the generality of the country disallow Queen Wezhira's selfish politics from prevailing over the development needs of the region and those of the country in general.CONCLUSIONThe MDC in Matabeleland is now on its knees and heading for total flooring ahead of and beyond its electoral Congress reportedly pencilled for May 2019, thanks to the shenanigans of the deceitful Queen Wezhira. Matabeleland has not had a queen since the demise of Queen Lozikeyi of the Ndebele kingdom. Therefore, anyone masquerading as such should be rejected and metaphorically cut to size, for the good of the region. The ambitious godmother, Queen Wezhira, should be trimmed and tail-docked before it is too late. The queen's bare parts need to be covered urgently. Ultimately, this unequivocal call should be loud to reach and penetrate even the ears of Nelson Chamisa so that he head-clamps the errant and wayward Queen Wezhira. That would save the MDC from imminent total collapse.Umuntu Kaziwa The Canadian cannabis market is on a tear. With legalization in the rear view mirror, pot companies are fighting to take advantage of the opportunity. While most cannabis firms have core operations concentrated in the U.S. and Canada, the global cannabis market is much larger than North Americas cannabis market. According to some studies by the Arcview Group, consumer cannabis spending is expected to reach $16.9 billion by this year (up from $12.2 billion last year), and eventually ascend to $31.3 billion in 2022. The largest market outside of North America Germany is widely considered to be the largest cannabis market outside of North America. Back in 2017, the German parliament voted to legalize medical uses of marijuana. Marijuana sales are expected to reach close to $1.6 billion by 2022, a more than 500% increase from their 2018 levels. Thus, with more than 20,000 pharmacies allowed to fill medical cannabis prescriptions and over 690,000 (and growing) consumers, Germany presents a huge opportunity for pot companies to establish themselves on a global level. This pot company is poised to benefit Aurora Cannabis (TSX:ACB)(NYSE:ACB) is already one of the largest cannabis producers in the world by market cap. The Edmonton-based firm was one of the big winners during the last quarter (the first since recreational marijuana was legalized in Canada), bringing in sales of $55.78 million (up 83% from the previous quarter), and a gross profit percentage figure that was higher than that of any of its main competitors. However, Aurora also has strong international footprints. The pot grower is active in 24 countries, including the U.K., Australia, Denmark, and yes, Germany. Last month, the companys share price jumped after it announced it had commenced sales of oils to German pharmacies. That was merely the beginning for Aurora, with CEO Neil Belot looking to continue exploiting a high-margin market that is, in his own words, undersupplied. Story continues It seems Auroras efforts have been rewarded. Last week, the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices selected Aurora Cannabis along with Aphria Inc (TSX:APHA)(NYSE:APHA) and German-based company Demecan to receive a license for the domestic cultivation of medical cannabis in Germany. Aurora and Aphria were each granted five of the 13 lots available, with Demecan receiving the remaining three. With each lot capable of producing 200 kilograms per year, both Aurora and Aphria will be able to produce 1000 kilograms per year. What does this mean for Aurora? Both Aurora and Aphria were selected based on their outlined plans for domestic cannabis production. While the amount produced wont be substantial, the fact that Aurora already has a leg up on most of its competitors on this growing market is notable. Investors can add this new notch on the companys belt. If Auroras recent appointment of Billionaire Nelson Peltz pans out and the company manages to line up a partner, Auroras stock could skyrocket. Now may therefore be a good time to jump aboard the Aurora ship. More reading Fool contributor Prosper Bakiny owns shares of Aurora Cannabis. The Motley Fools purpose is to help the world invest, better. Click here now for your free subscription to Take Stock, The Motley Fool Canadas free investing newsletter. Packed with stock ideas and investing advice, it is essential reading for anyone looking to build and grow their wealth in the years ahead. Motley Fool Canada 2019 European Union flags fly outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels. Photo:Reuters/Yves Herman Germanys far-right Alternative for Germany (Afd) is teaming up with Italys right-wing League (Liga) to form a euro-sceptic, anti-immigrant coalition ahead of the European parliamentary elections in May, the groups announced at a press conference in Milan on Monday. Leaders of Danish and Finish right-wing parties backed the new group, called the European Alliance of Peoples and Nations. Marine Le Pens National Rally in France have also voiced their support. The idea is to no longer have a centralised, one-size-fits-all Europe, but to give back the power to national parliaments to create an honest cooperation between equal states and abandon the dangerous utopia of a united states of Europe, Marco Zanni, from Italys League, said. Voters will go to the ballots in the EU parliamentary elections between 23 May and 26 May, with 751 seats up for grabs. The structure of the parliament, which has the power to reject or pass laws drafted by the European Commission, is more important than ever, as the EU battles waves of uncertainty, from Brexit, to anti-EU rhetoric from right-wing leaders like Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban, to the ongoing Yellow Vest riots in France. A European parliament poll in February predicted that Europes right-wing parties stand to make advances in the May elections, estimating that anti-EU groups could win more than 14% of seats. These disparate populist and right-wing groups have often struggled to unite on ideas beyond nationalism and opposition to immigration. However, immigration is not necessarily the number one issue for the majority of European voters, according to a major poll carried out by YouGov for the European Council of Foreign Relations (ECFR). Canvassing 14 member states that cover 80% of the seats in the EU parliament, the poll found that while majorities favour protecting Europes borders and believe Islamic radicalism is the single biggest threat to Europe, immigration did not always rank in the top two concerns for voters. Story continues Domestic worries like health, housing, unemployment, and cost of living are the dominant issues, especially for people in the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Spain, France, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and Romania. People in Italy and Spain said they are mainly worried about unemployment and more concerned with emigration than immigration. The survey also found that in 13 of the 14 countries polled, climate change is considered a major threat that should take priority over other issues. The EU elections have been sold as a battleground over the heart of Europe. Viktor Orban, Matteo Salvini, and Steve Bannon have tried to turn the election into a referendum on migration, ECFR director Mark Leonard said. The findings from this poll should give heart to pro-Europeans, and show that there are still votes to be won on major issues such as climate change, healthcare, housing, and living standards. Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. Authorities in Scotland have charged a long-serving pastor in a Saskatchewan archdiocese with physical and sexual abuse and have been authorized by the Canadian government to extradite him, according to a letter issued by the Archdiocese of Regina. The Canadian government approved the extradition of Father Robert MacKenzie on March 22. The allegations in question date back to a period spanning the 1950s to the 1980s when MacKenzie was working at day and boarding schools in Scotland. According to Archbishop Donald Bolen of the Archdiocese of Regina, MacKenzie moved to Canada in 1988. He served as an associate pastor at Blessed Sacrament and Holy Trinity in Regina. He was then assigned to work in Marquis and Central Butte, Sask., for one year. Between 1990 and 2002 MacKenzie practised in Cupar, Dysart and Lipton, Sask. Archdiocese of Regina After his retirement, he still served in Cupar conducting mass there until the archdiocese restricted his ministry in 2013 because one alleged victim had come forward. That restriction was lifted in 2015, before Bolen had taken over as leader of the archdiocese. "In retrospect I don't think it was a good idea to lift those restrictions," Bolen said. "We wouldn't today. But we're in the process of learning how to be responsible and place victims first in all circumstances." Bolen said the archdiocese was informed criminal proceedings against MacKenzie would get underway in 2017. MacKenzie, who was then 84, was moved from his church-appointed home to a retirement home where his movements were more restricted, according to Bolen. In 2017, more information about the allegations MacKenzie faced were brought to the archdiocese's attention and he was suspended. Specifically, it learned there are as many as 13 alleged victims. Bolen said he sees MacKenzie, whose health is ailing, from time to time. He said MacKenzie has, all along, denied the allegations against him. Potential victims given chances to tell their story Story continues Two years ago, the archdiocese held a meeting in Cupar where they shared what they knew about the case, according to Bolen. People were invited to ask questions or share concerns they had. He said no more allegations of physical or sexual abuse against MacKenzie came to light in any of those gatherings. Bolen said the archdiocese is working to create safe spaces through services for all victims of sexual or physical abuse to come forward. Bolen said the archdiocese isn't holding services for victims of physical or sexual abuse by clergy because of the alleged actions against MacKenzie. "There is a history and legacy of sexual abuse in the way back in the archdiocese, there are many victims and we want to indicate to other victims that they could come forward, and as a church to learn how to walk compassionately, listening attentively to victims," Bolen said. Naude Dreyer, who owns a kayaking business in Walvis Bay, Namibia, rescued a seal he found struggling on a beach with commercial fishing line wrapped around its neck. Dreyer shared this footage of the rescue to Instagram on March 22. Dreyer, who often assists the work of the Namibian Dolphin Project, can be seen cutting the animal free and releasing it to the ocean in this video. Dreyer commented in the post that the seal was one of two that he helped that day. He blamed the usual suspects, thick commercial fishing lines, for the seals injuries. Dreyer told Storyful, This is one of many seals at the colony that is entangled in man-made waste. Last year my team and i rescued over 300 animals caught up in rubbish. This particular one was a bit bigger than the usual rescue cases, so I had to be extra careful. She nearly managed to get a bite out of me on my first attempt! He added in the original post that while the wound on the seal in this video looks terrible Dreyer hoped they would heal up quite quickly in the salt water. Credit: Naude Dreyer via Storyful By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence called on the United Nations on Wednesday to revoke the U.N. credentials of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government and recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's legitimate leader. He said the United States had drafted a U.N. resolution and called on all states to support it. "The time has come for the United Nations to recognize interim president Juan Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela and seat his representative in this body," Pence told the U.N. Security Council. Diplomats said it is unlikely Washington will get the support needed to adopt such a measure in the 193-member U.N. General Assembly. The United States and Russia both failed in rival bids to get the 15-member Security Council to adopt resolutions on Venezuela in February. More than 50 countries have recognized Guaido as Venezuela's leader. When asked if the United States thought it had enough backing to oust Maduro's government at the United Nations, Pence said: "I think the momentum is on the side of freedom." Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the United States of provoking an artificial crisis to oust Maduro and replace him "with their own pawn," actions he described as a "lawless, thuggish violation of international law." "We call on the United States to once again recognize that the Venezuelan people and other peoples have the right to determine their own future," Nebenzia said. "If you want to make America great again, and we are all sincerely interested in seeing that, stop interfering in the affairs of other states." The U.N. has previously had to address competing claims from other countries for representation at the world body. Venezuelan U.N. Ambassador Samuel Moncada said he had been expecting such a move from the United States and Venezuela had been campaigning for months to ensure support for Maduro. "I sound a warning bell ... there is a clear move here again to undermine our rights and if they can undermine our rights, they can undermine the rights of all members of this organization," he told the Security Council. 'RELIEVE THE SUFFERING' The United States called Wednesday's meeting of the Security Council to discuss the humanitarian situation in Venezuela. U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock told the council that there is a "very real humanitarian problem" in the country. "The scale of need is significant and growing," Lowcock said. "We can do more to relieve the suffering of the people of Venezuela, if we get more help and support from all stakeholders." He briefed the council on a recent U.N. report on the situation that estimates about a quarter of Venezuelans are in need of humanitarian assistance, and painted a dire picture of millions of people lacking food and basic services. Some 3.4 million Venezuelans have left the country and the United Nations predicts that will rise to some 5 million by the end of the year. Maduro, who has denied that Venezuela was experiencing a humanitarian crisis, said in an address on state television on Wednesday that the country had reached "an agreement" with the International Red Cross to work with the United Nations to bring in aid. He said Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza was "negotiating a formal document" on the aid with the Red Cross. Maduro blames U.S. sanctions for the country's economic problems, but has accepted aid from ally Russia. In February, Venezuelan troops blocked U.S.-backed aid convoys trying to enter from Colombia and Brazil. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Additional reporting by Shaylim Valderrama in Caracas; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, James Dalgleish and Sonya Hepinstall) Photo credit: Courtesy of Sotheby's and Christie's From Town & Country Two royal wedding tiaras, both created by Faberge, both designed as gifts to a noble bride, both designed in the first years of the 20th century, and both gifts from Russian relatives, will go up for auction within a day of each other this May. Lets chronicle the details of this incredible royal jewelry coincidence. THE BRIDES On May 14, Sotheby's will sell the intricately crafted, all-diamond Faberge tiara that Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin received on the occasion of her 1905 marriage to Wilhelm von Hohenzollem, the heir to the Prussian throne. [Update: The piece sold for 437,500 Swiss Francs, or $433,687.19.] Photo credit: Estate of Emil Bieber / Klaus Niermann - Getty Images According to Sotheby's, their wedding was a major affair, witnessed by tens of thousands of people, who lined the streets of Berlin to witness the arrival of the bride. A day later, on May 15, Christie's will sell the historic aquamarine and diamond Faberge tiara Princess Alexandra of Hanover and Cumberland received on the occasion of her 1904 marriage to Frederick Francis IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Photo credit: Getty Images Frederick Francis IV and Duchess Cecilie were, in fact, siblings, and Cecilie met her royal husband at her brother's wedding. THE JEWELS Crown Princess Cecilie's all-diamond tiara has an estimate of $300,000 at Sotheby's. The piece was discovered last July by Daniela Mascetti, chairman of Sothebys Jewelry Division, Europe. She stumbled upon it almost by accident-and only knew its provenance because in July 2018, she had admired a portrait of Cecilie wearing the piece. I was visiting Hohenzollern Castle in Heshingen, near Stuttgart when I saw a lovely painting of Crown Princess Cecilie wearing a beautiful diamond tiara," Mascetti told T&C via email. Photo credit: Courtesy Sotheby's "I took a picture of the painting with my phone: I thought I might use it in one of my lectures as the perfect example of an early 20th century tiara worn on the perfect hairstyle and with the perfect dress fashion of the time. Months later, completely unexpected and in a location far away from Heshingen, I was shown that very tiara! I could not believe it and the client could not believe I knew of the existence of the painting. Story continues The aquamarine and diamond Christie's tiara has a slightly higher estimate of $340,000. It is noted for its symbolic design of forget-me-not flowers tied with ribbon bows and arrows representing Cupid. There are nine pear shaped aquamarines and rose cut diamonds throughout. Photo credit: Courtesy Christie's Records from when the aquamarine tiara was first commissioned from Faberge reveal the price haggling that comes with such an important jewel. It was the Grand Dukes mother, Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia, who was in charge, she being a big collector and client of Faberge. The jewelers made it clear that they could do a diamond tiara for 10,000 roubles and aquamarine and diamond tiara for 7,500 roubles but that an all-aquamarine tiara was just not possible. The back and forth between the Grand Duke, his mother, and Faberge delayed the completion of the crown, and it missed the wedding entirely. THE RUSSIANS Both tiaras were commissioned-just about a year apart-through the Faberge atelier in St. Petersburg. The all-diamond Sotheby's tiara, Mascetti notes, was given as a gift to Princess Cecilie on the occasion of her wedding to Crown Prince Wilhelm, from her Russian relatives. Cecilie was the daughter of Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia. It has remained in the family and was handed down through subsequent generations." The aquamarine and diamond Christie's tiara was commissioned by the same Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia for her son to gift to his bride Princess Alexandra. Faberge, the jewelry house known for its colorful eggs, was also the crown jeweler to the Romanovs and to other Russian nobility. The upcoming simultaneous appearance at auction of two such intricately crafted tiaras, made for the same royal family over a century ago, is a rare occasion. Their weddings were a year apart, and now their tiaras are being sold a day apart, said one jewelry expert who had seen both tiaras personally. Funny, no? Lean more about Crown Princess Cecilie's all-diamond tiara here: The all-diamond Sotheby's tiara is on public view in New York City from April 12-16; on view in Singapore from April 26-27; and in Taipei from April 29-30. It returns to Geneva where it will be displayed ahead of the sale on May 14. Learn More The aquamarine tiara won't be coming to the States, but it will be on view at Christies London from April 9-11 and in Geneva from May 10-15. ('You Might Also Like',) A meat processing plant in Michigan is recalling approximately 43,292 pounds of ground beef, some of which was sold through the Meijer supermarket chain, because it may be contaminated with pieces of hard plastic. The problem was discovered on April 5 when meat processor JBS Plainwell received... A meat processing plant in Michigan is recalling approximately 43,292 pounds of ground beef, some of which was sold through the Meijer supermarket chain, because it may be contaminated with pieces of hard plastic. The problem was discovered on April 5 when meat processor JBS Plainwell received two complaints from consumers who found the foreign matter in their meat. The Biggest Food Recalls of 2018 Currently, there are no reported illnesses or injuries due to the consumption of these products, but consumers should avoid the following products: 1 pound plastic wrapped ground beef loaf with fresh from Meijer GROUND BEEF 80% LEAN 20% FAT with case code 47283 and sell by date of 4/10/2019 represented on the label. 1 pound plastic wrapped ground beef loaf with fresh from Meijer GROUND BEEF 85% LEAN 15% FAT with case code 47285 and sell by date of 4/10/2019 represented on the label. 1 pound plastic wrapped ground beef loaf with fresh from Meijer GROUND BEEF 90% LEAN 10% FAT with case code 47290 and sell by date of 4/10/2019 represented on the label. 1 poundplastic wrapped ground beef loaf with LEAN GROUND BEEF with case code 42093 and sell by date of 4/10/2019 represented on the label. 1 pound plastic wrapped ground beef loaf with CERTIFIED GROUND SIRLOIN with case code 42090 and sell by date of 4/10/2019 represented on the label. 1 pound plastic wrapped ground beef loaf with CERTIFIED GROUND ROUND with case code 42085 and sell by date of 4/10/2019 represented on the label. 1 pound plastic wrapped ground beef loaf with Fresh! BLACK ANGUS GROUND CHUCK with case code 42283 and sell by date of 4/10/2019 represented on the label. 1 pound plastic wrapped ground beef loaf with CERTIFIED GROUND CHUCK with case code 81631 and sell by date of 4/10/2019 represented on the label. 1 pound plastic wrapped ground beef loaf with GROUND BEEF with case code 81629 and sell by date of 4/10/2019 represented on the label. The above products all bear establishment code EST. 562M inside the USDA mark of inspection or printed on the bottom of the label and were sent to retailers in Michigan and Wisconsin, according to an April 8 announcement from the United States Department of Agricultures Food and Safety Inspection Service. A subsequent joint press release from JBS and Meijer on April 9 indicated that the products were also sold in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. Health officials are worried that consumers may have these items in their freezers. If so, theyre urged to throw them out or return them to the place of purchase. More than 43,000 pounds of meat sounds like a lot, but it isnt nearly as bad as the 10 biggest food recalls in American history. Two days before Dr. Elana Fric was brutally attacked and killed by her husband while their three young children were sleeping in the family home, she had served him with divorce papers. The headline-making case is once again putting a spotlight on domestic violence and the dangers that people face when trying to leave a volatile relationship. Fric, a family physician, faced years of escalating emotional and physical abuse. Longtime family lawyer Steve Benmore said it's the moment someone is served with divorce papers "that is the most explosive," noting that they then read vivid details about their often-troubled relationship. It's unclear how Fric served Mohammed Shamji with the divorce papers. But they should not have been served while the couple lived together due to the history of domestic violence, Benmore said. "A person gets served, reads what their spouse says about them in the papers and that's the moment where there's the greatest risk," he told CBC Toronto. Twitter Shamji, a world-renowned neurosurgeon, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder of Fric in a packed downtown Toronto courtroom on Monday. Shamji, now 43, repeatedly beat Fric on the night of her murder, breaking her neck and ribs before choking her to death, the court heard. He then stuffed her body in a suitcase, drove 35 kilometres north of Toronto and dumped it in the Humber River. The next morning Shamji returned to Toronto Western Hospital, where the sought-after specialist performed spinal surgeries. "My sympathies are with the children who are going to have to live with this for the rest of their lives," said Dr. Larry Erlick, the director of family medicine at the east-end Toronto hospital where Fric worked. The case rocked Canada's medical community and sparked dialogue about domestic violence. Marlene Ham, executive director of Ontario Association of Interval & Transition Houses, points out that intimate partner violence can appear in multiple forms, either in one explosive incident or a slow climb to danger. Story continues "It doesn't always have to happen in terms of an escalation. It can happen in many different ways," she said. Domestic homicide really crosses all boundaries, all backgrounds, all income levels. - Marlene Ham, Ontario Association of Interval & Transition Houses Emotional and verbal abuse, name calling and controlling access to family and friends can all be signs of domestic violence, she says. Women make up the overwhelming majority of domestic violence victims in Ontario. According to a 2016 report by Ontario's chief coroner, there were 388 homicides involving intimate-partner violence in the province between 2002 and 2015. Of that number, more than 80 per cent were women. Couples with a history of domestic violence were almost three times more likely to be killed. History of emotional, physical abuse Fric and Shamji were both successful doctors. Colleagues remember Fric, 40, as a vibrant and dedicated family physician at Scarborough and Rouge Hospital and a well-respected member of the Ontario Medical Association. She was devoted to issues concerning health care for women, the underprivileged and refugees. Fric, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, juggled motherhood with her academic duties. For his part, Shamji's career as a neurosurgeon brought him accolades and television appearances. An assistant professor of surgery at the University of Toronto and a staff neurosurgeon with Toronto Western Hospital, he holds a master of science degree from Yale University and attended medical school at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. Pam Davies/CBC On the surface, the pair appeared to be a medical power couple and dedicated parents. Photos shared on social media documented family trips and included smiling snapshots of the couple. But the pair who met during medical school in Ottawa and married in 2004 had a troubled relationship. Benmore points out the grisly details of this case are "tremendously important" to remind people that domestic violence can affect anyone. "This behaviour is applicable within all stripes, within all classes, within all colours and professions," he told CBC Toronto. Ham added: "Domestic homicide really crosses all boundaries, all backgrounds, all income levels and that's something we definitely want to pay attention to." The marriage was volatile and dysfunctional. - Agreed statement of facts Typically, intimate-partner violence involving people who are highly-educated and wealthy takes place behind closed doors. "When they do occur, the professionals around them do a very good job at throwing a blanket over it," Benmore explained. Details previously reported by CBC Toronto shed light on the state of the couple's relationship. A year after they were married, Shamji was charged with threatening to kill Fric and their now-eldest daughter who was an infant at the time along with assault. The charges were ultimately withdrawn by the crown in 2005 in return for a peace bond with various conditions. Shamji was required to continue counseling and treatment with a psychiatrist and was not allowed to possess any weapons. It's not clear what led to the couple's reconciliation, or when it exactly happened. Fric tried to end marriage many times But in May 2016, Fric began divorce proceedings following "years of unhappiness," the court heard on Monday. "The marriage was volatile and dysfunctional, marred by reports of verbal, emotional and at times physical abuse," said Crown prosecutor Henry Poon, reading a brief agreed statement of facts. Shamji resisted the divorce, according to the documents, and pleaded for more time to better himself in the relationship. Fric agreed, but the marriage "continued to deteriorate" throughout the summer, the Crown said. She then gave up on the marriage for good and began an affair with another doctor. In October of that year, she retained a lawyer and moved ahead with the divorce. Once again, Shamji requested more time for the sake of the children. She relented, only to serve him with divorce papers a month later. "I believe that women have an intuitive sense that something might be going on that they're not comfortable with," Ham said of the tug-of-war in the couple's marriage. "It doesn't necessarily mean they're able or necessarily prepared to leave in that particular moment because abusive relationships are very complex and nuanced." Violence escalated in the home in November 2016, the court heard, as Shamji "[imposed] himself on her in an attempt to change her mind." Two days later, he attacked and killed her during an argument. "We know that puts her at the greatest risk of experiencing violence and worse," said Ham, referring to the life-threatening danger a partner faces when trying to flee an abusive relationship. If a woman is experiencing violence, Ham explains there are social services in place across Ontario to help them. Guess what the most famous Bible story is which doesn't include Jesus? Well, it's David and Goliath (1 Samuel chapters 16-17)! David, the Giant Slayer The story begins when Samuel listens to God about choosing David, a young shepherd, in the replacement for King Saul and as the next king of Israel. After anointing David as the next king privately, an evil spirit tormented Saul. One of Sauls servants advised him that a musician, who can play the lyre, will help to soothe his spirit. Apparently, David was chosen to do it and since Saul loved him so much, he became one of his armour-bearers and was called into service for Saul whenever he needed help. Saul and the Israelite army were going to have war with the Philistines in the Valley of Elah. They chose one man to determine the resultof their battle.The Philistines chose Goliath who had been a warrior since his youth. Although Saul did not believe David could win any battle, David confidently stepped up with five smooth stones, a sling and a staff. David was certain that the living God will fight for himas God had previously given him the strength to rescue his sheep from bears and lions. As soon as Goliath approached the battle to kill David, David calmly took one of the stones out of the bag and slung it atGoliaths forehead. The Philistine fell facedown on the ground and as a result, the Israelites won the battle. The key message in this story is that we can be given the strength and power to overcome anything if we stand up with God's by our side. 1 John chapter 5, verses 4-5 states that it is through faith. So, our faith can be seen as the stone in David's sling. Obedience Just like the Bible is full of stories, God writes our stories too. In fact, He knows them backwards as He planned how we are going to live from beginning to end (Psalm chapter 139, verses 13-16). It is just a matter of obedience whether we are going to follow Jesus Christ wholeheartedly or not. The truth of Christianity is that we cannot be perfect through human effort. God does not judge us by perfectionism. This does not mean we are to be lazy and rely on God for everything. Christ already made believers perfect in Gods sight through His crucifixion and resurrection, and yet we are being made holy. The meaning behindholinessis the idea of being different from how the world operates. Holiness naturally comes to believersbut it also is a process in which the believer has to work through with the guidance of Gods Spirit. Put simply, we are not called to be perfect physically but we are able to be perfect spiritually by finding our identity in Jesus Christ and devoting our life onto Him. My Story I am not physically perfect as I have disabilities in speech and on the left side of my body. Therefore, I use a speaking application or type what I want to say on my iPad and I have been learning how to be independent as much as possible. After I became a Christian in 2011, I was baptised in 2012 and discovereda spiritual gift in 2013, which is Christian writing. I have been writing devotionals to encourage others spiritually for over 5 years and now I have 11 platforms to do them on. In July of 2018, I joined Christian Today of New Zealand as a young writer. Due to my spiritual gift, I dont mind if I have some disabilities. Although some people stare at me, I often offer grace to them by saying hello with a big smile. Nevertheless, I have a good community to be with and Jesus Christ as my Lord, Savior and my best friend for the rest of my life. Despite my time spent writing devotionals and articles, this doesn't mean I am a master in growing spiritually. The worldly life and Kingdom life haveconflicting perspectives, and like most people, I have to work hard to make sure my worldly life doesn't overrule. The world tells us that our minds could be healed by watching television. It also tells us that we can do whatever we want and that 24 hours is not enough time for a day. However, the kingdom life prompts us that we could be truly healed through Jesus Christ and that and we have to manage our time well as time belongs to God. Conclusion We do not have to get all acts together before following Jesus. He accepts where we just are. So, when we make a mistake, we have to acknowledge it, especially towards the Lord, and try again. Just like David, I have been learning to bring God in to every aspect of my life and through Him, I can achieve anything. For example, my little sister and mother have been better at English than me. As I keep practising my writing skills through devotionals, my mum has now been surprised at my writing skills, even if she cannot understand theology. Instead of making our story through our efforts, let God be the story writer. Also, let us remember that He has a perfect plan for each of us (Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 11)! We are taught from very young that it is wrong to have stereotypes of others and to be prejudiced against certain groups or types of people. In society today, we constantly hear about sexism, racism and inequality. But how many of us really understand what it means to judge others? This question brings back many memories of my time in boarding school, and some of the people I met there. As well as having the typical school staff of teachers and administrators, we also had plenty of cooks, cleaners, and matrons around to do duties in the hostel. Their jobs always seemed to be viewed as "low and unworthy" by many of the students in the school and I was always surprised by the treatment that those people received from the students, simply because of their jobs. We are often told to love others unconditionally and show them the respect that we would want to be treated with. But how many of us spend our time judging people for everything from their appearance, to their financial situation, to something as simple as their choice of lifestyle. I could never understand why the students would judge the cleaners and cooks at school, simply because their jobs weren't as highly paid or qualified as others. But I thought that it was even worse when those people would try to justify their prejudices with their faith and beliefs as Christians. Because although the bible states that many different actions and even thoughts are sins, it always comes back to two simple things Love your neighbour as yourself (Matthew chapter 22,verse 39) and do not judge or you too will be judge. (Matthew chapter 7, verse 1) Those verses seem to sum things up pretty clearly, but if thats the case then why are they so hard to do? A look at myself I am by no means perfect. I am certainly guilty of judging others from time to time, just like most people do. I have sometimes found myself making quick assumptions of people before I have even had the chance to get to know them, or judging a situation and criticising peoples reactions etc. to it, before I get the chance to know all of the facts. But then I wind up asking myself, why had I behaved like that? What was my reason for making those judgments? Jesus's example In the bible, there are many examples of people being judgemental and having to be reminded to be forgiving and loving towards people that may not be seen as being as worthy or as important as others. One such example is when Jesus choose Matthew the tax collector to be one of his disciples (Matthew chapter 9, verses9-13). Tax collectors in those times were often dishonest and untrustworthy. Because of this, all tax collectors were viewed as thieves and sinners and were looked down on. But Jesus didn't seem to care when he asked Matthew to follow him, and when questioned by the people around him, (who were certainly not impressed that Jesus had chosen to associate with such a sinner)he simply answeredit is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick (Matthew chapter 9, verse 12). Jesuss actions towards the supposedly sinful tax collector was a powerful reminder to us all, to look past a reputation or a stereotype before judging someone, and to love people despite who they were or what they did. But Jesus wasnt the only one who was an example of how to show love and acceptance to those who were different from you. There are many people whose names are still well known today, who are or were great examples of how to love others unconditionally. Mother Teresa cared for many people who were considered outcasts or worthless. Her work with the homeless and dying people of the Calcutta slums is still talked about today, more than twenty years after her death. Our own Judgment day Many people know about Gods judgement and are aware that a time will come when they will be held accountable for their actions on earth. This puts things into a different perspective as it makes us realize that the day will come when it will be someone else's job to judge us. The outcome of that judgment will have far more serious consequences than what we would be capable of doing to others. For we all must appear before the judgement seat of Christ so that each of us may receive what is due to us for the things done while in the body whether good or bad. (2 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 10) So this leaves me with some final words of encouragement. Remember those people who set examples on what it means to love others unconditionally and to look past stereotypes or prejudices. If God puts people in your life who are different from you, love them instead of judging them. Because it is love that changes people and environments for the better. Photo - Wailng Wall, Jerusalem Two illustrations of opportunities missed is sufficient to demonstrate the issues associated with thus. One a recent local situation and the other, an international one from a few years ago with long term ramifications. The first, a local situation. This is an extract from the current ACC Catalyst magazine (Uniting Church Confessing Congregations) from an article by Monica Doumit titled Protection of Religious Freedoms. Monica sites: Last year, friends of mine who organise an event called Theology on Tap were told they could not make a booking for a space in a pub in Surry Hills because of the nature of the event, and there was absolutely no recourse for them at law. If the same pub refused service to an LGBTI group, they could and would be sued. What if the Christian group got activated picketed the pub, made a loud noise, called the media, held a press conference, shouted long and noisily. An opportunity missed. It could be said, leaving with their tails between their legs is like another nail in Australian Christianitys own coffin. An international illustration. Some years ago Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was reported as saying that he regrets the lost opportunity to have a separate Palestinian State, that could have resulted if the 1947 United Nations plan to partition Palestine had proceeded. (www.smh.com.au) This was a brave comment because the disastrous consequences for the Palestinians are still being felt today. The Palestinian and Arab refusal to accept a UN plan to partition the then British-controlled mandate of Palestine sparked widespread fighting then Arab military intervention after Israel declared independence the following year. The Arabs lost the war. 'It was our mistake. It was an Arab mistake as a whole,' Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Channel 2 TV on Friday (28 October 2011), in a rare interview to the Israeli media. 'But do they [the Israelis] punish us for this mistake 64 years?' Such missed opportunities are nothing new. The examples of people who have regretted decisions they made, the effects of which lasted their entire lifetime and even further to the following generation, are legion. It is not 'always' like the beautiful sunset endings in the movies. How do we choose wisely? What criteria do we use to evaluate, to discern the best course of action? Clearly, gathering information and carefully analysing our options is essential. Beyond that, we need wisdom and clarity of thought in order to make prudent decisions based upon the facts at hand and our understanding of God's will. Kenneth Boa writing on decision-making comments: "The only basis for really good decisions is correct thinking. This kind of wisdom comes from above and is given to us through four primary avenues God's Word, God's Spirit, God's Providence and God's people. In other words, to ensure good decision-making habits, we must be people whose minds are consistently being renewed by God's Word. We must also be people who walk in step with the Spirit of God, paying attention to his promptings and leadings. We must watch carefully and understand how God works providentially in our circumstances. And we must live in community with other faithful believers." (bible.org/seriespage/decision-making) Photo - Pool of Bethsaida, Jerusalem Nehemiah Nehemiah chapter 1 verses 1-11, he suggests, provides one of our best patterns for doing it right and gives a case study. Nehemiah was faced with a huge challenge. The walls of Jerusalem were in disrepair, and the returned exiles were vulnerable and disheartened. When Nehemiah got this news, we see his four-step process to approach the problem. First, he carefully studied the situation (vv. 2-3). Second, he empathised with those who were hurting (v. 4). Third, he humbled himself before God (v. 4). Fourth, he prayed (vv. 5-11). And what a prayer! Nehemiah adored God (v. 5), confessed his nation's sin to the Lord (vv. 6-7) and finally petitioned God for help (vv. 8-11). Crossroads Things happen in life. We face a crossroad in life and everyone of us makes decisions, and sadly, some of them engulf missed opportunities. They range from matters of the heart to choosing one career over another, selecting one candidate for a job rather than others going for that position, choosing one holiday destination over against another resort, choosing one house over another, and the list goes on. When it goes wrong, it seems to go horribly wrong and one simply rues one's error or mistaken judgement at the time. This is precisely the reason, why in Christian evangelism, the sentiment is pushed and pushed, that today is the day of Salvation, and not to put it off, it could be the worst mistake of your life to lose such an opportunity. There are numerous stories of evangelists giving such clarion calls to Salvation where the Holy Spirit tugged at someone's heart, but they rejected the invitation to repent, and fall at the Cross and become a follower of Jesus. I recount numbers of stories over my 42 years of ministry where I heard how a young person rejected Jesus - but found themselves losing their lives not that long after through a car accident or other such calamity and being called to account as to their decisions. Missed opportunities are the rue of the evangelist broken heart where they know in their inner spirit, when a young person is challenged to follow Jesus. Photo - Delma Tronson on Mount Carmel Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children. Dr Tronson writes a daily article for Christian Today Australia (since 2008) and in November 2016 established Christian Today New Zealand. Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html 1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war. 2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war. 3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength. 4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war. 5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites. 6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination. 7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N. 8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N. 9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress. 10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N. 11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.) 12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party. 13. Do away with all loyalty oaths. 14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office. 15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States. 16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights. 17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks. 18. Gain control of all student newspapers. 19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack. 20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions. 21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures. 22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms." 23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art." 24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press. 25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV. 26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy." 27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch." 28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state." 29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis. 30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man." 31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over. 32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc. 33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus. 34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities. 35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI. 36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions. 37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business. 38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand. 39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals. 40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce. 41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents. 42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems. 43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government. 44. Internationalize the Panama Canal. 45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike. Most Important Take-Aways from AG Barr's Testimony This Morning The Democrats interrogated him harshly. He gave no f***s, informants inform me. Among the most important points: 1, he will release the report after redactions have been made in about a week. 2, he refused Democrats' whining that they should get a special, illegal unredacted version of the report that they could selectively leak to their many, many media allies and in-kind donors. When Democrats insisted that the law provided some wiggle-room to release secret grand jury testimony to Congress, he scoffed and asked, "Where?" As in, "point me to where the law says this, hacks." 3, when Democrats whined that he had only provided a "summary" of a 400 page report, he said he did not in fact release a summary of a report, but a digest of its legal conclusions. And the conclusions were: No collusion, and no case made for obstruction. 4, he dismissed the Democrats' whining about the full report by noting that Mueller Had One Job, which was a "binary job" to either bring charges or to not bring charges, and he had not brought charges against the president or anyone else for collusion or obstruction. This is a not-too-subtle dig at the idea of "talking indictment," where a prosecutor does not bring charges and yet uses his position to suggest various crimes that maybe coulda been charged to besmirch a man who is, not just by judicial tradition but by the prosecutor's own determination, innocent of any crime. He's crapping on the Democrats' idea that even though the topline conclusion is "no collusion and no chargeable obstruction" that they can sift through the report for whispers and hints of possible crimes Too Awful To Contemplate. 5, when Democrats whined that there's no way that a human could read 300-400 pages of a report (much of which was merely transcripts of testimony which can be skimmed) in a few days, he rebutted that he already knew the general contours of the report because he had been given a preliminary briefing on the findings of no collusion, no obstruction on March 5th. Note that there was some walking back of the media from its more outre conspiracy theories starting near this time. This is also about the time-frame I think I remember certain fake conservatives declaring, out of the blue, that they had been "collusion skeptics" all along. Some more stuff: He says the IG report on FISA abuse will also soon conclude, as soon as May or June. I saw a report, whose URL I can't find, claiming that he also suggested that he himself would be doing his own investigation, or at least review, of this case. When Democrats whined that they just didn't believe Barr's statement of conclusions and wanted to hear from Mueller, Barr responded that Mueller was offered the chance to review Barr's letter digesting the conclusions, but passed on the chance. "The letter of the 24th [of March], Mr. Mueller's team did not play a role in drafting that document, although we offered him the opportunity to review it before we sent it out, and he declined that," Barr said in testimony to a House Appropriations Committee. So apparently Mueller does not share the fear that Democrats and NeverTrumpers do that Barr is just making everything up in his summary of conclusions. For some reason, Michigan Democrat Representative Brenda Lawrence told AG Barr to, get this, "stay woke." Full video of the hearing here. TUESDAY, April 9, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- A public health emergency has been declared in New York City as it grapples withone of the largest measles outbreaks in decades, whichis centered in theultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn. Unvaccinated people living in certain ZIP codes in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, will have to get the measles vaccine, and those who do not comply will be issued violations and possibly fines, Mayor Bill de Blasio said, The New York Times reported. "This is the epicenter of a measles outbreak that is very, very troubling and must be dealt with immediately,"hesaid at a news conference in Williamsburg. "The measles vaccine works. It is safe, it is effective, it is time-tested,"de Blasioadded. The nation's largest metropolis is just one of many cities grappling with the return of measles, often fostered by "anti-vaxxer" sentiment that causes parents to forgo the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. Across the United States, therehave been 465 measles cases since the start of 2019, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Monday. The number of measles cases this year "is the second greatest number of cases reported in the U.S. since measles was declared eliminated in 2000," according to the CDC. Last year's total was 372 cases. The largest outbreak occurred in 2014, with 667 cases,CNNreported. There have already been285confirmed measles cases in New York City since the outbreak began last fall, city health officials said. Most have been in Hasidic Jewish communities in Williamsburg and Borough Park, Brooklyn. Last December, New York City orderedstudents who were not vaccinated against measles to be prohibited from attending classes in ultra-Orthodox schools in selected ZIP codes, but city officials have admitted the order was not effective. On Tuesday,de Blasio saidthe city would fine or even temporarily shut down yeshivas that did not abide by theorder, The Times reported. Nearby Rockland County, N.Y., is also struggling with a measles outbreak. As of late last week, there had been at least 166 confirmed cases there. On March 26,county officialsissued a 30-day emergency orderbanningunvaccinated children under 18 from being in public places such as shopping centers, businesses, restaurants, schools, and places of worship. However, that ban was overturned by a judge last Friday. Dr. Robert Glatter is an emergency medicine physician working at New York City's Lenox Hill Hospital. He stressed that measles can be very serious, even deadly in rare cases. And when parents choose not to vaccinate their kids against this highly contagious disease, it can make all kids more vulnerable, due to an overall decline in what's known as "herd immunity." "Achieving herd immunity is the most effective way to reduce the risk to the population at large when some people in the population choose not to vaccinate," Glatter said. "This includes the elevated risk to young infants as well as those who are immunosuppressed. Evidence suggests that herd immunity against measles is only achieved when 90-95% of the whole population is immune." Glatter also believes that deliberate misinformation about the "dangers" of vaccines, often spread via social media, is fueling the anti-vaxxer movement. Because of this, "the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics [AAP] recently sent letters to the CEOs of Google, Facebook to highlight the increasing threat that online misinformation about vaccination poses to children's health," Glatter noted. In the meantime, outbreaks like those in New York City continue to spread. "Measles is a highly contagious disease," Glatter said. "People who are immunocompromised, as well as young children and non-immune pregnant women are at highest risk for severe complications." More information The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about measles cases and outbreaks in the United States. State-run construction company NBC has sought an extension of more than two weeks from the Committee of Creditors (CoC) overseeing Jaypee Infratech's insolvency resolution process to submit a revised bid for the company, said two persons with direct knowledge of the development. This may lead to further delay in the insolvency process of the troubled real estate developer even as the stipulated 270-day deadline for CoC to decide on a winning bid ends on May 6. "The extension sought by the company is in the wake of its CMD Anoop Kumar Mittal's term coming to an end last week," said one of the sources. "This may result in some more delay in the entire process as NBCC was earlier seen leading the race." Anuj Jain, the interim resolution professional (IRP) who is carrying out Jaypee Infratech's insolvency process, had earlier shortlisted four playersNBCC, Kotak Investment, Singapore-based Cube Highways and Suraksha Groupand asked them to submit their resolution plans by February 15. In a meeting held on February 18, the lenders had discussed the bids received from NBCC and Suraksha Asset Reconstruction Company. Both the bidders had also made separate presentations to the lenders group. They had then decided to hold more meetings with both NBCC and Suraksha before taking a final call. On April 5, 2019, NBCC informed the stock exchanges that Shiv Das Meena, additional secretary of housing and urban affairs ministry, has been given the additional charge of the corporation after Mittal left. ET's email query to NBCC remained unanswered until the time of going to press on Tuesday. IRP Anuj Jain declined to comment for the story. As part of its resolution proposal for Jaypee Infratech, NBCC had offered to hive off the Yamuna Expressway between Delhi and Agra, and give it to the lenders. The value of the road project is estimated to be over Rs 6,000 crore given the toll collection. NBCC had asked lenders to provide Rs 2,000 crore in lieu of this project. Half of this amount, it offered to be returned to lenders as part of repayment package and balance to be used for completion of residential projects that are stuck, which is estimated to cost Rs 1,500 crore. It planned to complete these projects in four years. NBCC has also offered to give 1,400 acres as debtasset swap to the lenders. A subsidiary of Jaypee Group flagship firm Jaiprakash Associates, Jaypee Infratech is developing about 32,000 flats, of which it has delivered only 9,500 units. In February, Jaiprakash Associates, promoter of Jaypee Infratech, had once again submitted a proposal to lenders of its subsidiary to settle dues. "The promoter JAL also submitted a settlement proposal under Section 12A of the IBC, 2016 for consideration of the CoC," Jaypee Infratech had said in a regulatory filing then. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) celebrated its 54th Valour Day (Shaurya Diwas) on April 9. On the occasion, President Ram Nath Kovind paid homage to the martyrs of police at National Police Memorial in New Delhi. Why April 9 is observed as Shaurya Divas? In the intervening night of 8 and 9 April 1965, nearly 3500 men from the 51st Infantry of Pakistani Army invaded India at Sardar Post. The mission of the Pakistani Army was to capture the Indian Territory defended by Sardar Post. The Sardar post was being guarded by two battalions of CRPF which comprised of roughly 150 soldiers. The CRPF soldiers were no match in terms of arsenal compared to the Pakistani Army. The 51st Infantry of Pakistani Army invaded India comprised 18 Punjab battalion, 8 Frontier Rifles, and 6 Baluch battalion. In addition, the terrain was disadvantageous for the Indian forces. In the fight ensued the Pakistani Army made three attempts to overrun the post. The CRPF soldiers thwarted every attempt with a brilliant display of courage and strategic intelligence. The battle lasted for 12 hours and in the end, the Pakistani Army fled the battleground leaving behind 34 of their men dead, which included two officers. Another four soldiers were captured alive. On that night, the CRPF lost six of its brave soldiers. Ever since April 9 is observed by the CRPF as the Valour Day or Shaurya Diwas. The Election Commission has decided against the using of Ballot papers in the Nizamabad parliamentary constituency of the Telangana. To accommodate a whopping 185 candidates in contention the Election Commission has decided to use the M3 EVMs in the Lok Sabha Polls. The Election Commission has ordered Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) to supply 26,820 EVMs, 2,240 control units and 2,600 Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trails (VVPAT) of M3 make. In each of the polling station, there will be 12 M3 version EVMs. All the EVMs would be connected to a single control unit and a VVPAT. These EVMS will be arranged in L shape with each machine carrying a maximum of 16 names. The Election Commission also had to tackle with the grappling problem of allocating symbols for the 178 farmers who are contesting as independents, complained that they were yet to be allotted the symbols. M3 EVMs M3 EVMs are the third generation EVMs. The M3 EVMs can keep data of 384 candidates. M3 EVMS also has added features like Tamper Detection and Self Diagnostics. The tamper detection feature makes an EVM inoperative the moment anyone tries to open the machine. The Self diagnostic feature checks the EVM fully every time it is switched on. Any change in its hardware or software will be detected. The government of Punjab has sought an apology from the British government for the JallianwalaBagh massacre. A resolution demanding an apology from the British government was passed unanimously from the Punjab Assembly. Resolution of Punjab Assembly The resolution passed unanimously by the Punjab Assembly states: The tragic massacre of innocent protesters in Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on April 13, 1919 remains one of the most horrific memories of British colonial rule in India. This shameful military action against locals peacefully protesting against the oppressive Rowlatt Act has since received worldwide condemnation. Proper acknowledgement could only be by way of a formal apology by the British government to the people of India, as India observes the centenary of this great tragedy. The resolution unanimously recommended the state government to take up this matter with the government of India to impress upon the British government to officially apologise for the massacre of innocent people at Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar. UK condemns avoids Apology In 2013, then British Prime Minister David Cameron visited Jallianwala Bagh. He had voiced regret over the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre and referred to it as a shameful event in British history. In 2017 London Mayor Sadiq Khans called for an official apology on the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Thereafter UK Foreign Office stated that government has rightly condemned the deeply shameful act in British history in the past and had invoked the regret expressed by then PM David Cameron in 2013. As per the report of the World Banks Migration and Development Brief, India has retained its position as the worlds top recipient of remittances (money sent back home by its nationals working abroad) in 2018. World Bank Report on Remittances Indian diaspora has sent $79 billion (approximately Rs 5.5 lakh crore) home. The Remittances grew by more than 14% in India. A flooding disaster in Kerala has likely boosted the financial help that migrants sent to families. India received $ 62.7 billion remittances in 2016 and it was $65.3 billion in 2017. India was followed by China ($67 billion), Mexico ($36 billion), the Philippines ($34 billion) and Egypt ($29 billion), Remittances to low-and-middle-income countries rose 9.6% from 2017 and touched a record high of $529 billion in 2018. Global remittances reached $689 billion in 2018, up from $633 billion in 2017. Remittances to South Asia grew 12% to $131 billion in 2018. The upsurge in remittances was driven by stronger economic conditions in the United States. The pick-up in oil prices had a positive impact on outward remittances from some GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] countries. Excluding China, remittances to low and middle-income countries ($462 billion) were significantly larger than foreign direct investment flows in 2018 ($344 billion). Gulf Cooperation Council Gulf Cooperation Council is s a regional intergovernmental political and economic union consisting of all Arab states of the Persian Gulf except Iraq. Its member states are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Sometimes cannabis can contain more than their potent psychoactive oils. They may also have fecal matter, according to a new Spanish study.Pharmacologist Jose Manuel Moreno Perez studied 90 samples of cannabis resins he collected across Madrid, the country's capital.Based on his analysis, three-fourths had traces of Aspergillus fungus and E. coli bacteria. About 40 percent of these still bore the fecal odor.The Methods And ResultsHashish, which the Spanish calls chocolate, is illegal in the country unless it's for private growing and personal use. For the research, Perez had to covertly ask for a supply by going into different bars, suburbs, and the streets.Using his own money, he bought 90 of the cannabis resins from various sources. Some of these were known as bellotas or those wrapped in plastic "acorns." The others were ingots.He then analyzed the composition and found93 percent of these bellotas had high levels of E. coli. The amount present in every gram of it was even 500 times more than the maximum established for marijuana by the United States.About 10 percent contained Aspergillus, which can weaken immune systems and lead to severe allergic reactionsand infections. About 88 percent were not fit for human consumption.Why Is There Fecal Matter?The idea that cannabis resins, at least in the streets of Madrid, can contain fecal matter is disgusting, but Perez believes it has something to do with the delivery route and where the product came from.Most of the acorn-wrapped hashish, which had the highest levels of fecal bacteria, might have come from Morocco. There, drug mules would swallow the pellets, neutralizing their stomach acids with yogurt.When they arrive in Spain, they will then consume laxative so they can expel the cannabis resins from their body.In contrast, only 29.4 percent of the bricks or ingots showed high traces of feces. Most of these arrived in the country through speedboats.Fear For Public HealthSome experts believe the study is small to be conclusive. For Perez and his team, his research, now published in Forensic Science International, is a wakeup call to the possible dangers of cannabis to human health."The quantities of bacteria that we found are appalling. The problem is not just inhalation. Hashish is constantly manipulated [by users] with their hands," saidInmaculada Santos, the study's co-author.For those who believe they can get rid of the fecal microorganisms with combustion, Perez reminded them there's no filter in cannabis. They, therefore, inhale not only smoke but also the particles.Currently, some studies suggest consumption of cannabis may increase the risk of psychotic episodes. In Colorado, the edible versions caused a spike in ER visits European Union leaders will grant Prime Minister Theresa May a second delay to Brexit but they could demand she accepts a much longer extension as France pushed for conditions to limit Britain's ability to undermine the bloc.May dashed to Berlin and Paris to ask Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron to allow the world's fifth-largest economy to put off its divorce from April 12.It was not immediately clear what Merkel and Macron, Europe's two most powerful leaders, agreed with May but an advance draft of conclusions for Wednesday's emergency EU summit said Britain would be granted another delay on certain conditions.May has asked the EU for a Brexit delay to June 30 but the draft left the end-date blank pending a decision by the other 27 national leaders on Wednesday in Brussels.'People are tired and fed up (with Britain's indecision) - but what to do?' one EU diplomat said. 'We won't be the ones pushing the UK off the cliff edge.'Another EU official involved with Brexit said no European power wanted the chaos that they fear a 'no-deal' exit would sow through financial markets and the EU 27's $US16 trillion ($A22 trillion) economy.'Nobody wants to pull the plug by 13th April,' said the official. 'But for how long - I don't know. And France will ask a lot of questions in Brussels.'Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Macron would not veto May's extension but wanted conditions attached.Earlier in the day, May met Merkel at her riverside Chancellery, a short walk from Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, and departed with a warm exchange of kisses.While they discussed Brexit, Germany's opposition liberal FDP party drove an advertising van past the Chancellery with a slogan reading: 'Dear Theresa May. Just do it. Stop Brexit. Make the most of Europe's opportunities.'In London, British Solicitor General Robert Buckland said May would 'listen carefully' to any constructive suggestions made by the EU on the length of the extension.He conceded the government might not have managed to ratify an exit deal in parliament before European elections are held on May 23-26.According to the draft conclusions, if Britain didn't take part in EU parliamentary elections properly, it would have to leave on June 1, 2019.Unable to convince enough of her own Conservatives of the merits of her deal to get it passed, May is courting Jeremy Corbyn, whose Labour Party wants to keep Britain more closely tied to the bloc after Brexit.Labour's demands include keeping Britain in a customs union with the EU, something that is hard to reconcile with May's desire for Britain to have an independent trade policy, and potentially a second referendum on any deal.After Tuesday's round of talks, Labour said it had not yet seen a clear shift in May's stance.Meanwhile, British MPs on Tuesday approved by a 420-110 margin May's plan to seek to delay Brexit to June 30 while she tries to strike a compromise with Labour.The government was forced to hold the vote after parliament passed a law on Monday giving themselves power to scrutinise and make changes to May's request to extend the Article 50 negotiating period a second time. Hawaiian Electric is preparing for the end of fossil fuels on the islands by beginning the second phase of its ambitious renewable energy resource procurement plan, seeking almost 300GWh of annual renewable solar power and 1,378MWh of energy storage capacity.The Hawaiian Electric Companies last week submitted for approval a Request for Proposals (RfP) with the state's Public Utilities Commission.This will be the second phase of an already successful renewable resource procurement plan which, only earlier this month, saw the company award six grid-scale solar and battery storage projects for a total of 247 MW and almost 1 GWh of battery storage, and at prices of less than 10c/kWh, easily cheaper than the supply it replaces.Together, the projects amounted to the largest and lowest-cost portfolio of renewable energy and storage resources to be assembled at one time in Hawaii.This is all part of the company's plans to retire fossil fuel power plants on the islands of Maui and Oahu within the next five years.Specifically, Hawaiian Electric is looking to replace the 180MW coal-fired AES Hawaii plant in Campbell Industrial Park which is due to close by September 2022, and the 37.6 MW oil-fired Kahului Power Plant which is due for retirement by the end of 2024.Hawaiian Electric's plans also play into Hawaii's target of generating 100% of their electricity sales from renewable energy sources by 2045, announced back in 2015. Hawaiian Electric published its own detailed plan a year later in which it outlined how it would likely beat each of the interim goals and reach 100% renewables by 2040.This second procurement phase is open to all variable renewable and storage resources with the intention of bringing the successful projects online by 2022. Hawaiian Electric is seeking projects to meet the following requirements:For Oahu, 160,000 MWh annually equivalent to 73 MW of solar generation and 1,200 MWh of storage dailyFor Maui, 65,000 MWh annually equivalent to 30 MW of solar generation and 160 MWh of storage dailyFor Hawaii Island, 70,000 MWh annually equivalent to 32 MW of solar generation and 18 MWh of storage dailyIn replacing the Oahu coal-fired power plant, Hawaiian Electric is planning to use some of the new projects as well as three solar + storage projects which were recently approved, in addition to other solar and wind projects planned or under construction. However, the company also urges that more is needed to meet the needs of th Federal investigators in New York have 'gathered more evidence than previously known' from individuals in the President's 'inner circle,' related to the hush-money payments made to two women who claim they had affairs with President Donald Trump, Wall Street Journalreported Wednesday.According to the paper, prosecutors in the Manhattan US Attorney's office interviewed Hope Hicks, the former White House communications director and longtime confidante of Trump, last spring and Keith Schiller, the President's longtime bodyguard.The paper also said investigators 'learned of calls' between Schiller and David Pecker, the head of American Media Inc., the company that publishes the National Enquirer.Pecker worked with Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, to suppress potentially damaging claims made against candidate Trump by women, with AMI using a tabloid tactic called 'catch and kill.'Additionally, the Journal reported that investigators 'possess a recorded phone conversation' between Cohen and a lawyer who represented the two women.Trump has denied having affairs with Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, and Karen McDougal.The paper said the investigators obtained information about Trump's involvement in the payments 'weeks before' Cohen implicated the President in the scheme during a court appearance last year.According to the Journal, during a previously reported raid of Cohen's home, office and hotel room last summer, investigators seized 'a recording of a September 2017 phone call' between Cohen and Keith Davidson, Daniels' attorney at the time.The call, the paper said, 'was sparked by an inquiry to Mr. Davidson from a City National Bank client manager, asking about funds the lawyer had transferred' to Daniels.Davidson, according to the paper, was 'worried that the bank's singling out of the payment might mean the transaction was under federal investigation,' while Cohen, who had been recording the call, 'didn't indicate he was alarmed,' the paper said.The Journal also said following the raid, investigators asked Hicks 'about her contacts' with Pecker.They also asked 'at least one other witness' about whether or not Hicks had 'coordinated' with anyone at AMI as she was crafting a response to an inquiry from the Journal for a November 2016 story.The paper was working on a report about an AMI payment to McDougal for the rights to her story of an alleged affair with Trump.As for Schiller, the Journal said investigators 'were aware' Schiller 'had spoken by phone' to Pecker and were looking to find out if the bodyguard had ever given the phone to Trump.The Journal said it 'couldn't determine what investigators learned.' A Japanese F-35 stealth fighter, one of the world's most-advanced warplanes, has gone missing over the Pacific Ocean, according to Japanese defense officials.Officials said the single-engine jet from Japan's Air Self-Defense Force was on a training flight with three other F-35s when contact was lost last night, public broadcaster NHK reported.The planes, based at Misawa Air Base on the northern tip of the main Japanese island of Honshu, were about 135 kilometers off the east coast of Aomori prefecture when contact was lost, officials said.The pilot of the single-seat fighter is missing, and a search is underway, according to Japan's Defense Ministry.No problems with the aircraft were reported before it went missing, NHK reported.Japan's first squadron of the $100 million fighter jets went operational just 11 days ago, with about a dozen of the jets forming the 302nd Squadron at the Misawa base, according to a report from The Diplomat.comThe Japanese jet, a F-35A model, would be the second lost to an accident after a US Marine Corps F-35B crashed in Beaufort, South Carolina, in late September.US defense officials in October said a faulty fuel tube was the likely cause, and all F-35s operated by the United States and its allies were temporarily grounded for inspection.Japan is one of 14 countries in the F-35 program, according to the plane's maker, Lockheed Martin Corp.Tokyo announced in December it would be buying 147 of the planes, making it the biggest customer for the aircraft besides the United States.At present, some of the Japanese F-35 are assembled in the United States and others at a plant in Nagoya, Japan. It has not been revealed where the plane that went missing yesterday was built.The F-35 comes in three versions. The F-35A, like the one Japan lost contact with yesterday, is the one designed for air forces to use off conventional runways.The F-35B, like the one the US Marine Corps lost, is designed for short takeoff and vertical landings.The F-35C model is the US Navy's version, designed for use off its aircraft carriers.Japan has announced plans to buy 105 of the F-35A models and 42 F-35Bs, which it could eventually use to turn its Izumo-class helicopter destroyers into small aircraft carriers, its first since World War II.The F-35 stealth jet has been called the most expensive weapons system in history, and its development was beset by multiple delays before it was deemed combat ready.The first US combat mission conducted by an F-35 happened in October when a Marine Corps jet launched off the amphibious warship USS Essex struck targets in Afghanistan.In May, Israel announced it had conducted the first combat missions using the F-35 but offered few details.In the Pacific, South Korea and Australia have joined Japan in acquiring the jets.The F-35's advanced electronic warfare suite can allow seamless integration among users, making the planes strong counters to China's growing fleet of stealth aircraft, including the J-20 and J-31. A 54-year-old man of Mexican descent passed away while detained at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Florence, Arizona.Abel Reyes reportedly exhibited symptoms of flubefore he was found unresponsive on Wednesday, April 3. Authorities are still waiting for the results of his autopsy to find out the cause of his sudden death.ICE Detainee Dies While In CustodyAccording to a press release, Reyes was transferred to the Florence Service Processing Center from the Maricopa County Jail on Feb. 26. He was placed under medical observation on April 1.Two days later, facility personnel found him no longer breathing."[The ICE Health Service Corps] responded, began life-saving efforts and contacted local paramedics," the statement from the federal agency reads. "Upon arrival, the paramedics continued attempts to revive Mr. Reyes, and contacted doctors at the Mountain Vista Medical Center. At 6:33 a.m., MVMC declared Mr. Reyes deceased."The ICE said that it has alerted proper authorities, including the Mexican Consulate, of the death. Reyes was the fourth person to die while in the custody of the ICE since October 2018.ICE Under ScrutinyIn a report published last year, the Human Rights Watch blasted the ICE for inadequate medical care that contributed to the deaths of eight out of 15 immigrants detained in facilitiesacross the United States, including those that were managed by private-prison companies under contract with ICE."ICE has proven unable or unwilling to provide adequately for the health and safety of the people it detains," statedClara Long, a senior researcher for the Human Rights Watch. "The Trump administration's efforts to drastically expand the already-bloated immigration detention system will only put more people at risk."The federal agency is also facing a lawsuit after a 20-month-old child died in March 2018 at the South Texas Family Residential Center. The young girl died of severe infection.The mother of the child, Yazmin Juarez, claimedthat the ICE provided "inadequate, substandard medical care" to her daughter. While at the facility, she said that the child saw at least five medical workers, only one of whom is an actual physician. Her daughter was prescribed with seven medications, including a Vicks VapoRub. Juarez is seeking $60 million for the death of her child.The IHSC said that it provides medical care services based on the ICE Performance-Based National Detention Standards and the detainees' individual medical needs. All detainees receive medical, dental, mental health screening 12 hours after they arrive at a detention facility and a full health assessment 14 days later. Detention facilitiesalso offer daily sick call and 24-hour emergency care. Archaeologists have found about 50 mummified animals that include cats, mice, and falcons in a well-preserved and colorful Egyptian tomb believed to date back more than 2,000 years ago.Built For A Senior Official And His WifeThe tomb was built for a senior official named Tutu and his wife Ta-Shirit-Iziz. The ancient burial site is one of seven discovered near Sohag in October. Authorities described Sohag, a city in a desert near the Nile, as one of the most historically rich cities in Egypt.The tomb's walls were painted with images depicting funeral processions, and the owner and his family working in the fields. They also showed Tutu giving and receiving gifts before different gods and goddesses. There is also the family genealogy written in hieroglyphics.Beautiful And Colorful TombEgypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities secretary general Mostafa Waziri described the burial chamber as a beautiful and colorful tomb."The tomb is made up of a central lobby, and a burial room with two stone coffins. The lobby is divided in two," he said"It shows images of the owner of the burial room, Tutu, giving and receiving gifts before different gods and goddesses."Cats In Ancient EgyptThe discovery of mummified cats in the tomb reinforces the long-held belief that the ancient Egyptians loved catsCats were considered divine creatures for the ancient Egyptians, who also worshipped a Cat Goddess called Bastet, which was represented as half feline and half woman."What they were [actually] doing was associating cats to specific deities because of their attitude, how they were behaving in the natural world," explainedAntonietta Catanzariti, Smithsonian's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery curatorial fellow, about the Egyptians' fascination for cats."Everything had a meaning. A cat protecting the house from mice. Or it might just protect kittens. These were attitudes that were attributed to a specific goddess."Magnet For TouristsAncient sitesare the main tourist attractions in Egypt. Authorities hope that new discoveries help bolster the tourism sector, which was impacted by the Egyptian revolution of 2011 and terrorist attacks. He has been cited by Rush Limbaugh, quoted in the New York Times, featured at Real Clear Politics and Lucianne.com and interviewed on radio, TV and in social media. For many years he served as a Lecturer in Corporate Communication at Penn State University. A former President of the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA) he has lectured at Rowan University, Temple University, The College of New Jersey and Arcadia University. He has conducted workshops on public relations for thousands of participants throughout the nation and has taught countless others the art of public speaking. He has also advised numerous lawyers, judges, public officials and political candidates. Cirucci is a prolific writer and his op-ed pieces have appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Courier-Post and other publications. A native of Camden NJ, Cirucci is a former President of the Philadelphia chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. Cirucci served as Associate Executive Director of the Philadelphia Bar Association for nearly 30 years. He served as Chair of Penn State University's Professional Advisory Board for the Corporate Communication major at Penn State Abington and on the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Judicial Selection Commission. He received his MA degree from Rowan University and his BA from Villanova University. He has been named a Distinguished Alumnus of Rowan's public relations program and was inducted into the Philadelphia Public Relations Hall of Fame. He received the E. A. "Wally" Richter Leadership Award from the National Association of Bar Executives' Communications Section. The Award is the Section's highest honor. He has also been honored by numerous other local, state and national groups. Cirucci's passions include politics, the popular culture, books and authors, art, communication, music, theatre, movies, dining and travel. In his hometown of Camden, Cirucci taught fifth grade at the Ulysses Wiggins Elementary School named for the founder of the Camden NAACP. He later served as editor of a local weekly newspaper, as Assistant to the Township Manager of Cherry Hill Township and as Associate Director of Communications at the New Jersey State Bar Association. He's Dan Cirucci, the founder and editor-in chief of the Dan Cirucci Blog, Matt Rooney's sidekick on Save Jersey's weekly videocast and one of the most widely honored public relations professionals in his field. He's also been a public relations consultant to numerous organizations and individuals and hosted The Advocates on RVN-TV. Bangladesh: Lack of food assistance forces fishermen violate jatka ban April 10,2019 | Source: Dhaka Tribune Local fishermen have continued to catch fish, despite a two-month government ban on fishing in the Lakshmipur-Chandpur's Meghna River. Reported irregularities in the government's food assistance programcreated to provide food for the fishermen during the March and April ban, the ilish breeding periodare forcing the fishermen to fish for their survival. Locals claim that the list made for the government's fishermen food support program is faulty, and corrupt, as it lists local politicians and farmers other than the struggling fishermen. According to local Department of Fisheries (DOF) sources, there have been 49 drives in the area to stop illegal fishing in the Meghna River. In the drives, 26 fishermen were arrested and 1,400,000 metres of illegal electric fishing nets were destroyed. Also, 27 cases have been filed and Tk83,000 has been collected in fines. There are more than 62,000 fishermen in the region, of which 50,252 are registered on the government's list and 42,326 have identity (ID) cards as fishermen. Due to the ban, 25,947 fishermen's families were brought under the Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) program. However, due to irregularities and corruption, many of the fishermen and their families did not receive their due rations. Thus, many ignored the ban and kept fishing in order to support their families. When asked about the proceedings, District Relief and Rehabilitation Officer Mahfuzur Rahman said: "The VGF program included 25,987 fishermen families so that they had food during the two-month ban on fishing in the Meghna River. "A total 4,151.520 metric tons of rice has been allocated for the fishermen's families, of which: 535.200 metric tons are for Lakshmipur Sadar, 671.360 for Raypur, 1802 for Ramgoti, and 1142.560 metric tons for Komolnagar. "The respective areas' chairmen are supposed to distribute 40kg of rice per family, every month, from February till May." Commenting on his current situation, Kanchon, a local fishermen, said: "I have a fisherman's ID card, and despite that, I did not receive any food assistance from the government. "The chairmen responsible for the food distribution demanded Tk500-1000 in bribes. Most of the people receiving food assistance are not connected to fishing and are the followers of the different chairmen and members. Adding to this, a number of fishmongers did not get ID cards." Responding to the claims of the fishermen of the area, Char Kalkini Union Parishad Chairman Md Chayef Ullah said: "We could not bring the rice provided by the VGF program for the local fishermen due to the recently held upazila polls. However, we will start distributing the rice within eight to 10 days." When asked about the irregularities and corruption regarding the VGF fishermen list the local chairman said: "We, alone, did not prepare the list. We just assisted the taskforce assigned to organize the list. I did not ask for any money to list any of the fishmongers." Refuting all the allegations made by the local fishermen and their families District Fisheries Officer H M Mahib Ullah said: "The drives this season to prevent fishermen from fishing during the ilish breeding season have been very successful. The administration, local Fisheries Department, and Coast Guard are all working together. "The VGF list needs to be updated thus some are facing problems. We will update the list as soon as we receive the approval from the departments concerned." Tamil Nadu: Sri Lankan Navy arrests 4 Tamil Nadu fishermen for fishing off Neduntheevu April 10,2019 | Source: The Tribune India Four Tamil Nadu fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy for allegedly fishing near Neduntheevu in their territorial waters early on Tuesday and taken to the island nation, a fishermen association leader said. Around 3,000 fishermen from this island town had put out to sea on Monday and were catching fish off Neduntheevu on Tuesday morning when Sri Lankan naval personnel came to the spot and damaged the fishing nets of 50 boats, took away GPS equipment before chasing away all the fishermen, Rameswaram Fishermen Association president P Sesuraja alleged. The Lankan authorities arrested four fishermen and took them to Kangesanthurai port along with their boat, he said, adding that all the others were forced to return to the shore without a catch. On April 5, 18 fishermen from Kilinjal Medu village near Karaikal were arrested when they were fishing near Paruthithurai in the island nation. Pakistan: Fishing communities are caught in the net of changing times by Arshad Yousafzai April 10,2019 | Source: The International News Some small wooden fishing boats are tied up at the wharf on the outskirts of Ibrahim Hyderi, one of the oldest fisherfolk settlements in Karachis coastal area. A group of fishermen is sitting on the beach near the dock, with only a green awning protecting them from the sun. Theyre stitching up worn-out fishing nets for their next trip at sea. The way theyre working at untangling the nets makes them look like theyre trying to free their lives that are caught in them. Whether their lives are trapped or not, their boat certainly is wedged in the treacherous mud. Every now and again the quiet on the beach is broken by their leader and helmsman Muhammad Kafwani when he instructs them how to carefully repair the nets. The 45-year-old himself appears calm because he knows they cant leave for the sea until theres enough water to move their boat. Hes resigned to never seeing those days again when the coastal areas of the Arabian Sea teemed with fishes and they managed some good hauls. But the state of their old boat and much smaller fishing nets are an example of what theyve been reduced to. Dying profession Kafwani comes from a long line of fisherfolk. The days of living a simple yet prosperous life in Ibrahim Hyderi, however, are gone now. Hes seriously thinking of abandoning the profession because of privatisation. He fears that big investors will cause serious financial problems for the fishing communities. Owing to major investments, traditional fishing is no more a profitable profession, especially for the local fisherfolk, said Kafwani. Big vessels are replacing smaller boats, which will further affect our livelihood. Like many other fisherfolk in the locality, hes trying hard to educate his children so they wont have to go into the family profession. When the authorities constructed barrages and dams on the rivers, they also destroyed the Indus delta, unaware of the consequences of water flow diversion. Resultantly, he said, agriculture vanished from the area. Later, he added, all the delta inhabitants started fishing, but now it seems that this profession is also dying. Overfishing Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) Karachi President Abdul Majeed Motani pointed out that privatisation is not the only reason affecting the fishing communities: owners of big vessels are responsible for overfishing and bringing fisherfolk to the verge of poverty, as they cant compete with the wealthy. They [the wealthy] use big motorised craft costing millions of rupees, while the fishing communities have only small boats. They can barely afford a 24-hour trip. Motani said that there used to be a time when the fisherfolk went out three to four nautical miles and returned with 500 to 800 kilograms of fishes. Now we go out tens of nautical miles and spend a minimum of 24 hours at sea, spending more money but often returning without a good haul. Servants Motani believes that one of the major factors behind decreasing fish stocks is that other communities, which have no relevant background, have entered the profession. He said that previously, people from only the Sindhi, Baloch, Kutchhi and Bengali communities were associated with the profession. But over the past few decades, people from other communities have also joined this line of work, he added. The latter ones dont even know how, when and how much fishing should be carried out. But since they have made huge investments, their only aim is to make more and more money. And so the former have just become their servants. Negligence Motani also pointed out the negligence of the relevant authorities: the Mercantile Marine Department doesnt keep a check on the registration of ships, as anyone can get dozens of vessels registered by paying a fee between Rs600 and Rs6,000. But, he said, the fisherfolk dont have the means to buy expensive craft. Similarly, he added, sea contamination is also aggravating the plight of the fisherfolk: the areas they use for netting are riddled with wastewater from factories, the citys untreated sewage and discarded plastic bags. He said that these are among the key factors behind the depletion of fish stocks in nearby coastal areas, while the authorities keep detaining the fisherfolk over illegal fishing. He lamented that even though the PFF has been demanding for years that the authorities should ensure the implementation of the relevant laws and the protection of the fisherfolks rights, these demands keep falling on deaf ears. Devolution PFF Central General Secretary Saeed Baloch said the fisheries sector is a part of the tax-exempt agriculture sector. And, he added, the federal government hasnt devolved the relevant powers to the Sindh government, making it easier for the wealthy to make huge investments in the fisheries sector. Baloch said that the governments invitation to foreign companies to catch export-quality fishes opened the doors on competition between the locals and foreigners. In a way theyre all destroying marine life. But its only the fishing communities that are losing their sole livelihood. Exploitation Fisherman Muslim Mullani rejected the impression that privatisation of the fishing sector has created more job opportunities: its only worsening the miseries of the coastal communities with every passing day. The 52-year-old said that members of the fishing communities are less educated, and that most of them dont have any other skills, so unchecked commercialism will increase unemployment. Mullani earns between Rs15,000 and Rs18,000 a month, but half of it is spent on keeping his boat running at sea. Anyone can enter the profession, but they should never forget about the fishing communities that once flourished in the coastal belt. He also pointed out a couple of pressing issues: In exchange for letting the fisherfolk borrow money from them, some lenders buy a large part of their catch at very low prices. And they deduct commission on the loans in the name of partnership. He said that such an exploitative practice forces the fisherfolk to surrender to the wealthy, adding that majority of the fisherfolk also dont have property rights. After returning from fishing, the boat owners charge us between Rs500 and Rs1,000 as well as take a part of our catch. Mullani said that if the government were to grant the fisherfolk small-scale loans, theyd be able to survive. They would also get legal access to fishing grounds, which would boost their earnings, he added. Licences After the 18th amendment, the Sindh and Balochistan governments reserve the right to access up to 20 nautical miles, and they also have the right to issue fishing licences. Beyond this limit, up to 200 nautical miles is an exclusive economic zone that the federal government can explore and from which it can make use of the marine resources, including energy production from water and wind. Recently, however, Sindh Livestock & Fisheries Minister Abdul Bari Pitafi announced that his department is also able to issue licences for deep sea fishing. But the federal government continues to issue licences for deep sea fishing and tenders pertaining to Sindhs fisheries monitoring system. FOCUS ON DEFENSE CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIA But I dont want to go among mad people," Alice remarked. "Oh, you cant help that," said the Cat: "were all mad here. Im mad. Youre mad." "How do you know Im mad?" said Alice. "You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldnt have come here. Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland With freedom comes responsibility. Eleanor Roosevelt I am a retired newspaperman. I live in Poca, WV, with my wife of 44 years, Lou Ann. I grew up in Cleveland. Three kids. Grandfather. Report all errors to DonSurber@GMail.com Monday evening there were a slew of reports that Capitol Hill Republicans were freaking out over the Trump-ordered mayhem at the Department of Homeland Security. And, believe me, virtually no one in Congress other than Steve King (R-IA) was excited to hear that the White House's pet neo-Nazi, Steve Miller, had been unleashed with full authority to reimplement his reviled "zero tolerance" agenda. What comes after babies in cages? Babies in gas chambers? Republican senators are grumbling that Miller was never nominated, investigated or confirmed for anything and that he's running the whole show. Trump breaking the law himself by explicitly instructing border agents to just ignore the law and defy the courts, isn't helping either. "If judges give you trouble, say, 'Sorry, judge, I cant do it. We dont have the room.'" The Washington Post's Seung Min Kim reported that Grassley was raging against Trump, especially when he heard that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Lee Francis Cissna was on Miller's purge list. By Tuesday morning the NY Times was blaring that "Trumps purge of the nations top homeland security officials is a sign that he is preparing to unleash an even fiercer assault on immigration, including a possible return of his controversial decision last summer to separate migrant children from their parents... But the longer term effect of the eruption of Oval Office frustration is likely to be a burst of hard-line policies that stand out even in an administration that has pursued an unprecedented series of executive actions and rules changes aimed at reducing legal and illegal immigration into the United States." Jonathan Swan at Axios had the details for Republicans already on slow burn, reporting that "Trump has directed top officials to execute the most aggressive changes in immigration policy since his inauguration Some officials consider the moves legally and politically dubious." Executive orders are aimed at making it "more difficult for people to invoke their fear of returning to their home country in order to seek asylum in the U.S.," largely by pretending the Orwellian fascist dictatorships in the U.S. protectorates in Central America are lovely places for people to live. Trump and Miller want to "change rules to allow the government to detain migrant children for longer than the 20-day limit allowed under the so-called Flores agreement... Sources close to Nielsen tell us that Trump and senior policy adviser Stephen Miller have called for changes that are legally dubious and would therefore be operationally ineffective." Nielsen has found Trump's demands unreasonable, and he has privately described her as "weak on the border," even though she oversaw actions that many viewed as the most brutal in recent memory-- such as the "zero tolerance" policy that separated migrant parents from their children. These sources say that Trumps desire to make it dramatically harder for people to seek asylum in the U.S. wouldnt produce lasting changes because they would immediately lead to court challenges. Politico reports that even after November elections in which suburban voters rejected Trumps hard-line immigration agenda, the president is once again making it the centerpiece of the GOPs platform. Is this going to have any impact at the polls? In other words, will the evangelical base still loyal to Trump continue to be fine with what his regime is doing refugee and immigrant families? Teamreports that even some of Trump's congressional allies are starting to worry . Senators are "urging him not to fire more top officials and warning him how hard it will be to solve twin crises at the border and the federal agencies overseeing immigration policy." And they're worried that Miller has taken over. John Bresnahan wrote that Texas Senator Cornyn, McTurtle's top deputy told Politico he has "no idea what Millers agenda is in determining immigration policy because he isnt Senate-confirmed and doesnt correspond with the Hill." Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the most senior GOP senator, is trying to head off even more dismissals as Trump tries to reshape DHS into a tougher mold. In an interview, Grassley expressed concern that Trump may soon boot U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Lee Francis Cissna and Kathy Nuebel Kovarik, who heads the office of policy and strategy at USCIS. I heard that they are on the list to be fired, Grassley said. They are doing in an intellectual-like way what the president wants to accomplish. So no, they should not go. Republicans empathize with Trumps frustrations over the border and Congress languid pace at changing immigration laws. They mostly backed him on his 35-day government shutdown over the border wall, buckling only as the standoff dragged into its second month. Most of them hated his emergency declaration on the southern border, but only 25 GOP lawmakers between the two chambers ended up bucking him. And when Trump and Miller sought to tank an immigration compromise last year, Senate Republicans overwhelmingly sided with the president and left Democrats holding the bag on the legislative collapse. But on immigration, the party is not in lockstep with Trump. So even as the president pursues more aggressive strategies on the border, the GOP might not stick with him ahead of an election cycle that has the Senate up for grabs and with Republicans eager to take back the House. He thinks its a winning issue, said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the Republican whip. It works for him. It may not work for everybody else. ...Centrist GOP Rep. Will Hurd, who narrowly won reelection in 2018, said the turnover in the upper ranks of DHS isnt helpful during a critical time at the southern border, though the Texan expressed confidence in Nielsens successor. When youre dealing with something thats the worst weve seen in 12, 13 years, having to deal with that problem and having new people come in and deal with it is always tricky, said Hurd, whose district stretches along the U.S.-Mexico border. Moderate GOP Rep. Tom Reed of New York said he would prefer to focus on issues like infrastructure, drug pricing and health care in the 2020 election cycle, saying the issue of immigration is being kept alive for political purposes. Reed also took a veiled shot at Miller: One hard-liner is not going to dictate the outcome of this. But Millers rise in the Trump administration is merely one more indication of how the president gravitates toward the restrictionist wing of his party. The president is really unhappy with the results and hes trying to find a different formula that produces a different result, said Roy Blunt of Missouri, the No. 4 Senate GOP leader. Unless you either change the court directives or the asylum law, its very hard to quickly come up with a solution. And the presidents frustrated by that. The problem for Trump is that thats not going to happen anytime soon. Congress dithering on immigration in the six years since the Senate passed its Gang of Eight comprehensive immigration bill, which died in the House, is no surprise. without one Democratic vote in the House (Part D)-- and the dearth of dental, vision and hearing care, again, courtesy of conservatives who, for years, have refused to allow these essential updates-- updates that Bernie and Pramila make in their new Medicare-For-All proposals. I've been all wound up this week in getting to know a whole bunch of new candidates, trying to suss out, in the immortal words of Chris Hayes "what they'll fight for" and "who they'll fight for." The other day I was on the phone with a young attorney, Marqus Cole , in Gwinnet County northwest of Atlanta. Healthcare is a big deal for him and we got down to discussing Medicare-For-All. A Bernie supporter and big fan of Pramila's new-and-impoved Medicare-For-All bill, he insisted on differentiating what Pramila and Bernie are talking about from the bumper-sticker mentality that leads people think that what Medicare-For-All means includes the obvious flaws in the current Medicare, namely unjustifiably high drug price-- tacked onto Medicare by the GOP,Democratic vote in the House (Part D)-- and the dearth of dental, vision and hearing care, again, courtesy of conservatives who, for years, have refused to allow these essential updates-- updates that Bernie and Pramila make in their new Medicare-For-All proposals. Jacobin, where Matt Bruenig has a timely piece, And that takes us right to the new, where Matt Bruenig has a timely piece, Medicare for All Critics Are Telling Lies . "Lies" is a harsh word and I've been attributing Pelosi's misleading on this to... confusion, ignorance (maybe willful, maybe not) and pride in her greatest legislative accomplishment, Obamacare. Bruenig, of course, was referring to Pelosi when he wrote "critics." One of the most common myths about the US health system is that if you like your insurance, you can keep it. But millions of people are thrown off their employer-based coverage every year-- so the only solution is Medicare for All. Nancy Pelosi said this about Medicare-For-All the other day: "When most people say theyre for Medicare-for-all, I think they mean health care for all. Lets see what that means. A lot of people love having their employer-based insurance and the Affordable Care Act gave them better benefits, said Pelosi, who shepherded the ACA through Congress in 2009 and 2010 in her first speakership." The bolded part is probably the most dishonest argument in the entire Medicare for All debate. It implies that, under our current health insurance system, people who like their employer-based insurance can hold onto it. This then is contrasted with a Medicare for All transition where people will lose their employer-based insurance as part of being shifted over to an excellent government plan. But the truth is that people who love their employer-based insurance do not get to hold onto it in our current system. Instead, they lose that insurance constantly, all the time, over and over again. It is a complete nightmare. I have illustrated this point previously by showing just how often people switch jobs. The latest JOLTS data shows that, in 2018, 66.1 million workers separated from their job at some point. And longitudinal data from BLS shows that the average worker has 11.9 different jobs by the time they are fifty. This labor turnover data leaves little doubt that people with employer-sponsored insurance are losing that insurance constantly, as are their spouses and kids. But we dont need to indirectly surmise this fact from labor turnover data. A study from the University of Michigan tracked insurance churn directly by surveying Michiganders in 2014 about their health insurance situation and then following up with survey participants twelve months later. The amount of insurance churn they picked up was even higher than I would have imagined. Among those who had employer-sponsored insurance in 2014, only 72 percent were continuously enrolled in that insurance for the next twelve months. This means that 28 percent of people on an employer plan were not on that same plan one year later. You like your employer health plan? You better cross your fingers because one in four people on employer plans will come off their plan in the next twelve months. The situation is even worse for other kinds of insurance. One thing opponents of Medicare for All frequently say is that poor people in the US are already covered by free insurance in the form of Medicaid and that Medicare for All therefore offers them relatively little net benefit while potentially raising their taxes some. But what this argument misses, among other things, is that people on Medicaid churn off it frequently, with many churning into un-insurance. According to the Michigan researchers, a whopping 30 percent of Michiganders on Medicaid in 2014 faced a spell of un-insurance in the twelve months after they were initially interviewed. Medicaid is a godsend for many, but its wildly unstable coverage, and thats even in a state where the GOP is not doing everything it can to kick people off the Medicaid rolls. As with many things in current U.S. politics, the divide of opinion on whether Medicare for All is a good idea is heavily generational. Young people are for it. Old people are more skeptical. This age gap is probably mostly driven by ideological differences between the generations: the current crop of young people is much more left-wing than the current crop of old people. But there may also be an objective material basis for this divide. In this Michigan survey, 47 percent of adults aged eighteen to twenty-four churned off their insurance plan during the twelve-month survey span. Only 18 percent of adults fifty-six or older did. It is easy therefore to see why young people are not as spooked by the idea of losing their current insurance as part of the transition to a Medicare for All system: half of them already lose their insurance every single year. Although older people have it somewhat better, it is worth emphasizing that their churn is still unacceptably high with nearly one in five of them churning off their insurance every year. Critics of Medicare for All are right to point out that losing your insurance sucks. But the only way to stop that from happening to people is to create a seamless system where people do not constantly churn on and off of insurance. Medicare for All offers that. Our current system offers the exact opposite. If you like losing your insurance all the time, then our current health care system is the right one for you. If you like having permanent coverage no matter your life situation, then you should want Medicare for All. The GOP-- as well as the sold-out conservative Democrats-- have been on an all-out jihad against Medicare-For-All in the last week. Yesterday, McTurtle spoke at the American Hospital Association conference, insisting that "this radical scheme would be serious bad news for America's hospital industry. You should not be the guinea pigs in some far-left social experiment." By the end of his well-received speech-- the hospital industry is concerned that their rates will be cut-- he was shrieking "Oppose Medicare for none" over their applause. The Hill ran an Also yesterday,ran an OpEd by notorious far right, anti-Choice fanatic Grazie Pozo Christie, who they identified as an "MD" without giving their readers any context about her politics. A Medicare hater, Christie introduced herself to the readers as "a physician living and working in a community with too many under and uninsured patients" and claiming to "sympathize with the impulse underlying the Democratic Partys utopian Medicare for all Act." She added that "Like many doctors, I also dream of a sweeping legislative fix to provide high-quality, carte blanche medicine for all Americans, especially those facing serious medical challenges. But this bill seeks utopia by giving government centralized power and control over every aspect of medicine via a single-payer model, and comes with an astronomical price tag. The cost in dollars is in the trillions, but there is also another, hidden cost: the elimination of the conscience rights of nurses and doctors." In other words, she's lying about the costs of healthcare-- which will come down drastically-- in order to carry on about her extreme anti-abortion bullshit. Her main point is simple: "Under Medicare for all, gynecologists or nurses who refused to perform an abortion-- to end a human life-- would have their employment agreements revoked. In other words, they would no longer be able to work for the only medical employer in the whole country: the government. Medicare for all also strikes at medical conscience in the case of controversial treatments for gender dysphoria. Most liberals have decided that the only possible therapy for children who feel uncomfortable with their biological sex is puberty blocking, followed by life-long injections of opposite sex hormones and, eventually, mutilating surgeries." She concludes with a quote from Camus that reactionaries adore and use it to deny any progress is ever worth fighting for: "Utopia is that which is in contradiction with reality." Back to Pozo's big lie about costs for a moment-- it's remotely possible she isn't lying and is just too stupid to understand, but I doubt that-- with an OpEd USA Today ran Monday by Gerald Friedman, an economics professor at University of Massachusetts Amherst who specializes in the economics of health care. Before he gets into the economics of it, he tased a little philosophy, which works well after Pozo's Camus citation. "There is an instinct among political pundits," Friedman wrote, "to confuse caution for practicality-- an assumption that those who advocate for incremental change are being reasonable, while those pushing for bold reforms arent. This is seen most starkly in the debate around health care reform, despite the fact that the 'practical' pushers of limited reform fail to address the real problems in our health care system. A Saudi riyal is worth about a quarter. Do you know what one looks like? Take a closer look at what Kushner-in-law is counting and pocketing in the photo above. And some think Trump's big score isn't going come from deals in Russia but from solicited bribes (and deals) with the Saudis. In fact, one top Senate staffer told me last night that if Trump goes through with a sale of nuclear technology to the Saudis, it could be the last straw among some Republicans to give Pelosi the thumbs up to move forward with impeachment. "If he goes forward with this without explicit backing from Israel," the staffer for a high profile senator told me, "he's going to set loose a chain reaction among Republicans that could lead right to impeachment. Pelosi knows how to count votes-- even Senate votes." Daily Beast what many on Capitol Hill have been buzzing about for some time: Early Monday morning Erin Banco reported for thewhat many on Capitol Hill have been buzzing about for some time: Trump's push for a Saudi nuclear deal . "In 2017," wrote Banco, "Team Trump worked to clinch a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia-- and an independent investigative agency wants to know what happened behind closed doors." The Office of the Special Counsel-- not Mueller-- is investigating whether officials (whistleblowers) were retaliated against for raising concerns about Trump's nuclear deal with the Saudis. Banco: "As part of that investigation, OSC has also reviewed allegations about potentially improper dealings by senior members of the Trump administration in their attempt to map out a nuclear deal with Riyadh, according to two sources with knowledge of OSCs work." Congress is also on the same track after Elijah Cummings issued a report outlining allegations about efforts inside the White House to rush the transfer of highly sensitive U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia-- a potential violation of the Atomic Energy Act and without review by Congress. The Cummings report said IP3-- a firm that includes former top military officers, diplomats, and energy experts-- had developed a proposal for Saudi Arabia that was simply a scheme for these generals to make some money. That report said former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn had ties to the firm during his time working in the Trump administration. Sources with direct knowledge of the IP3 plans today say the firm is focused on providing security for nuclear-related projects and in finding ways to compete with Russia and China to secure those projects throughout the Middle East. In the wake of the Cummings announcement, the Daily Beast reported that U.S. companies and officials in the administration were moving forward in their conversations with Riyadh about a nuclear deal and the transfer of nuclear technology. The Department of Energy then approved seven U.S. companies to conduct nuclear-related work in Saudi Arabia. (Federal law stipulates that companies obtain clearance from the U.S. government for exporting nuclear technology to or engaging in the production or development of special nuclear material in the kingdom.) That news has prompted intense questioning by lawmakers in hearings with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. One thing that is in our interest is to prevent Saudi Arabia from getting a nuclear weapon, Rep. Brad Sherman, a California Democrat, said. What Ive seen in this administration recently... is an effort to evade Congress and to some extent evade your department and provide substantial nuclear technology and aid to Saudi Arabia while [the country] refuses to abide by any of the controls we would like to see regarding reprocessing, enrichment. A cohort of lawmakers is ready to reveal next week a new piece of legislation that would stop the Trump administration from bypassing Congress on the transfer of nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia. Congress is also increasingly concerned about Jared Kushners relationship with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and his recent trip to Riyadh, especially because of the news that his security clearance was denied last year in part because of concerns about foreign influence. Engel is demanding a briefing from Pompeo on Kushners trip to Saudi Arabia last month that included a senior State Department official but otherwise left American diplomats in the dark. Long Island Congressman Tom Suozzi isn't going for any of this talk about nuclear proliferation. "If the Saudis," he told me this morning, "cant be trusted with a bone saw, they cant be trusted with nuclear weapons. Regardless of any relationship this administration may think they currently enjoy with the Saudis, giving them nuclear technology is a bad idea in the short term and, especially over the long term." Ted Lieu (D-CA), a very active member of both the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Judiciary Committee, isn't feeling any more sanguine and comfortable about this than Suozzi is. This morning he growled that "Trump wants to transfer nuclear technology to a regime that has committed war crimes, tortured activists and cut up a journalist with a bone saw. What could possibly go wrong?" FastGo plans to launch its helicopter ride-sharing service in Hanoi on April 25, 2019. Photos courtesy of FastGo Vietnamese ride-hailing firm FastGo plans to launch the countrys first helicopter ride-sharing service in Hanoi this month, focusing on tourism in northern provinces. CEO Nguyen Huu Tuat told VnExpress International that FastSkys first flight will take off on April 25. With 12 passengers to a helicopter, FastSky will operate tours from Hanoi to northern tourist destinations such as the Red River and Ha Long Bay. "Apart from SkyTour, well also operate SkyWedding services for wedding photography and SkySOS for emergencies in which helicopters will land on Hanoi skyscrapers to pick up patients," Tuat said. Prices vary for each service. A tour will cost a minimum of $125 per person, which can be paid in installments over a period of 12 months. Tuat said: "We offer premium services for businesspeople but also want everyone to have a chance to fly. FastSky will be a game-changer in the transport industry." FastGo only provides technology solutions while helicopters and pilots are provided by a partner who is permitted to fly in Vietnam, he said, but declined to reveal the companys name. FastGo began operations last June, a few months after Uber announced its exit from Southeast Asia. The company, part of Vietnamese technology start-up NextTech Group, expanded to Myanmar last December. It plans to launch operations in Singapore this month and in five other countries in the region, including Indonesia and the Philippines, by the end of the year. With almost 60,000 drivers on board, the company claims to be the second most popular ride-hailing firm in Vietnam after Grab. Vietnam's Coffee King has repeated his original demand for 70 percent of the couple's assets, while the Queen seeks to overturn the divorce. A HCMC court affirmed Wednesday that it had received appeals from Dang Le Nguyen Vu, 48, founder, chairman and CEO of coffee giant Trung Nguyen Group, and his ex-wife Le Hoang Diep Thao, 46, regarding its verdict on their divorce case last month. Thao has appealed against the entire verdict, asking to be reunited with Vu. She has also disagreed with the court's decision to split the couple's shared assets in Trung Nguyen 60:40 in Vu's favor and give him the rights to manage Trung Nguyen empire. Vu, meanwhile, has appealed against the court's ruling on the settlement of the couple's shared assets and repeated his demand for the split to be 70:30 in his favor. After a long trial, the Ho Chi Minh People's Court had last month agreed to let the couple divorce with Thao getting custody of the children, and Vu providing VND10 billion ($430,000) per year in child support. The stocks and cash of the Trung Nguyen Coffee group shared by Vu and Thao, as well as the couple's cash deposits which were valued at VND1.76 trillion ($76 million), was to be split 60:40 in Vus favor. The court determined that Vu had contributed more than Thao to establishing and developing the company. The value of the couples combined stake in the group is estimated at over VND5.7 trillion ($245 million). The court also ruled that since the division of the companys shares will cause difficulties in managing the company, Vu would buy all of Thaos shares with cash and the latter will no longer be a Trung Nguyen shareholder. On the other hand, the couple's 13 properties (buildings and land) will be split equally, the court ruled. Responding to the courts verdict, Thao had said: "This is too unfair to me." Vu and Thao married in 1998. The marriage ran into trouble in 2013 and Thao filed for divorce in 2015. Thao had previously proposed that she gets 51 percent (VND2.11 trillion or $90.7 million) of Trung Nguyen Investment, a company which owns the majority of shares of Trung Nguyen Group. She had also proposed that Vu and her each own 15 percent (VND814 billion, $35 million) of Trung Nguyen Group and 7.5 percent (VND43 billion, $1.85 million) of Trung Nguyen Instant Coffee. Thao agreed to give Vu her shares in the other four companies under the Trung Nguyen brand. But Vu wanted to have 70 percent of all of companies under the Trung Nguyen brand and to buy the remaining shares from Thao in cash. Trung Nguyen Group is a leading coffee company in Vietnam. It earned revenues of VND3.95 trillion ($170.5 million) and pretax profits of VND681 billion ($29.4 million) in 2017. It has 200,000 coffee stores in the country. Hanoi yet to identify streets for motorbike ban, needs more study: chairman Hanoi has not made a final decision about the streets from which motorbikes will be banned, its leader has said. Peoples Committee Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung said more research is needed into the issue since a large proportion of the citys population still relies on motorbikes for its daily commute. He told the media Tuesday: "Since there are almost six million motorbikes in the city, any restriction or ban must be researched and evaluated carefully. The plan must be agreed upon by the public." But Chung assured that any ban would only apply to streets with adequate public transport though he suggested that people should start creating a habit of walking if the distance is 1-1.5 kilometers. Hanoi last month revived a plan it had approved in 2017 to ban motorbikes in downtown districts by 2030 and restrict the use of all private vehicles in areas well served by public transport. It plans to limit the registration of new motorbikes in five downtown districts next year, and later trial a ban of the vehicles during rush hour on some congested streets. The Ministry of Transport has also voiced support for the ban saying the citys traffic and emission problems need such solutions. The plan has met with opposition from transport experts, who pointed out that public transport is woefully inadequate. Hanoi, with a population of 7.5 million, has 5.6 million motorbikes and around 550,000 cars in addition to some 1.2 million bikes brought in from elsewhere, according to police figures. Hotels are seen in the resort town of Nha Trang, central Vietnam. Photo by Shutterstock/HelloRF Zcool Finding qualified people to work remains a big challenge for Vietnams hospitality industry, undermining its competitiveness. Results of a survey released at the Vietnam Tourism Property Forum 2019 by the Hanoi-based consultancy Economica Vietnam showed companies with top hotel and resort properties in the country were struggling to employ enough staff. Although 36 percent of these companies want to invest more in the tourism properties and 45 percent want to expand their business, they are constrained by the limited supply of human resources. "Vietnams tourism industry might lose out in their own playground when foreign agencies pour in. The tourism service sector now only meets 60 percent of personnel demand," Nguyen Thai Phien, senior director at real estate firm Novaland, said at the forum. The lack of skilled staff is another challenge, Phien said at a the forum. Only about 40 percent of tour guides are fluent in English, 5 percent in Chinese and 2 percent in Korean, he added. China and South Koreans were the biggest feeder markets for Vietnamese tourism in the first quarter of the year. Echoing Phien, Kai Marcus Schroter, general director of the Hanoi-based Hospitality Tourism Management Co., said that he has found it difficult to find enough staff for popular tourist destinations like Phu Quoc Island, and has to look in other cities to find and train people. The shortage often results from people not continuing to pursue a career in hospitality despite being trained in the industry, said industry insiders. In Nha Trang, the famous beach town in central Vietnam, the CEO of 4-star Rosaka Hotel, Nguyen Anh Vu, said he had to recruit new staff every month as they switch easily to whichever hotel is offering better wages and benefits. "Even lowering the standard doesnt help me to recruit enough people," Vo told local press. In order to have enough staff for the tourism sector in the next 10-15 years, the Vietnamese government needs to invest more in training, industry insiders said. Tourism has been booming in Vietnam in recent years. Last year, the country welcomed 15.5 million international visitors and 80 million local visitors, up 19.9 percent and 9.3 percent respectively over 2017. Pham Thi Thuy Loan during a class about sexual harassment at her school in Da Nang City. Photos by VnExpress/Nguyen Dong A teacher in Da Nang teaches her students, both girls and boys, how to protect themselves from sexual harassment. "Its not right and its scary!" some girls say in response to what happened last week in Ho Chi Minh City and caused public outrage: a stranger approached a little girl in an elevator in an apartment building, wrapped his arm around her neck, kissed her and grabbed her when she tried to elude him. "I feel really scared every time I am in the elevator by myself these days," one of the girls, Phuong Nhi, 14, says. Nhi and the others are attending a class run by Pham Thi Thuy Loan, 35, vice principal of Nguyen Hue Secondary School in Hai Chau District in the central city. For more than a year now Loan has been organizing these classes every Sunday morning to teach her students life skills and soft skills, and recently about sexual harassment. After hearing what her students feel about the elevator molestation case, Loan shows the class of around 30 students aged between 10 and 16 a video in which a strange man tries to molest her when she is alone in a park. Then she comes up with data on a screen about child sexual abuse in Vietnam and other countries, saying there are many cases that have not been revealed and might never be and therefore not included in the data. The data shows Vietnamese courts heard 8,100 cases related to sexual assault of children between 2013 and 2017 and there is one child falling victim to this crime every eight hours. The talk about statistics bores some of the boys but that changes quickly when she tells them that one in six boys are sexually harassed compared to one in four girls. The class goes quiet for a while and then one boy says a stranger once touched his private parts. Loan goes on to explain child sexual abuse is using force, threatening to use force, coercing, and enticing children to engage in sex-related behaviors, causing some of her students to open their eyes wide in surprise. Then she puts up images of four people and asks the children to guess which of them is a molester. They all guess one or the other, but her final answer is an eye-opener: They should not go by looks since it could be just about anyone they meet. Students attend a Sunday class on soft and life skills of Pham Thi Thuy Loan. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Dong She tells them they should therefore not accept any gifts from strangers, let anyone touch their private areas, be alone at deserted places or at night, change clothes or relieve themselves at places where others can see their private parts. She also tells them to remember to quickly move away when a stranger comes close and to speak up as soon as possible if they have been harassed. She says even parents are not aware of what constitutes sexual abuse, with some even thinking only rape falls in that category. "The hardest part when talking about sexual harassment to children is that I have to choose the right words, the right terms and visualization that are appropriate for their ages." Loan has been organizing activities to equip students with life skills for years. Last summer, when she was promoted as vice principal, she decided to organize classes every Sunday. Sometimes she takes her students to a park or a coffee shop for a change. She puts up the venue and theme for each Sunday on her Facebook page, and students from other schools too are free to attend. Besides sexual harassment, she also talks to them about school violence, how to manage their time, take notes effectively, work in a group and speak their opinions. To teach certain skills like first aid and responding to crimes, she seeks advice from friends. As information and images about Loans classes have gone viral, many students in other schools and even other districts want to attend them. Flight, but also fight Last Sunday Loan invited three martial arts instructors to her class to teach the children basic moves to help them escape from dangerous situations like being pushed to a wall, held in neck locks or having their hair grabbed. Students learn basic martial art moves at one of Loan's classes to protect themselves from sexual predetors. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Dong Some parents attending the class could not hide their joy at seeing how their kids can get away from a dangerous situation, even though it was just a drill. "I learned how to communicate better and protect myself from sexual harassment," Tran Duy Vinh, 16, says. "Since theories are taught along with practice, we were interested in those classes and remember clearly what we learned." Truong My Hoa, 14, says she has learned how to control her stress. This summer Loan will organize one more class for kids aged six to nine, and nearly 60 have registered. Loan says sometimes children do not listen to or open up to their parents, but do so with their teachers. One of her most memorable stories is about a student at her school who decided to commit suicide. She went to Thuan Phuoc Bridge on the Han River and was about to jump, but her fear of heights caused her to pass out. At the hospital, Loan stayed by her side, befriended her and, over time, gained her trust. The girl has fully recovered and is now in high school. Vo Thanh Phuoc, principal of Nguyen Hue school, says: "The fact that many students and parents outside our school come to [Loan's] classes shows how effective her course is." Tran Thi Thuy Ha, head of Hai Chaus education and training department, says: "Such courses are necessary for students these days when they use social media every day. They need someone to guide them so that they have the right awareness and life skills." The district plans to replicate Loans classes at other schools this summer, she says. American man gets three years in jail for fatal Saigon accident The 41-year-old American man Shane Denoon was sentenced to three years in jail for causing a deadly traffic accident in Saigon last January. Photo by VnExpress/Hai Duyen The HCMC court Tuesday sentenced an American man to three years in prison for causing a traffic accident that killed a woman. Shane Denoon, 41, violated road traffic regulations and caused a deadly accident, the court ruled. According to the indictment, Denoon was driving a motorbike on Nguyen Van Troi Street in Phu Nhuan District on January 27 this year when he crashed into a female cyclist traveling in front of him. The woman fell off the road and died later from serious brain injuries. Investigators said Denoon did not have a valid driving license and had drunk a lot of beer before causing the accident. Shane told the court that he didnt remember what happened. When he woke up, he was already in the hospital. Road crashes are a leading cause of deaths in Vietnam, with one person dying almost every hour. A total of more than 18,720 accidents occurred in 2018, killing 8,244 people and injuring nearly 14,800, according to the National Traffic Safety Committee. At 3 am in Hanoi, thousands in queue for South Korea visas People from Hanoi and nearby provinces are queuing up before daybreak to apply for South Korea visas, fearing policy changes. At 3 am in Hanoi, thousands in queue for South Korea visas At 3 am in Hanoi, thousands in queue for South Korea visas Following rumors that the relaxed visa policy of South Korea, which took effect on December 3 last year, could change any time, thousands have been thronging the Charmvit Tower on Tran Duy Hung Street in downtown Hanoi, where the Consular Department of the South Korean Embassy in Vietnam is located. Many of them are queuing up from 2-3 a.m. to get a token number and await their turn. The crowd outside the South Korean Embassy office at 8 a.m. on Tuesday. From last December, the South Korean government had started granting C-3 visas to permanent residents of the three Vietnams biggest cities Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang without any occupational priority as part of South Korea's "New Southern Policy." C-3 visa holders can stay in South Korea for up to 30 days, with no restrictions on number of visits for five years. Most of the visa seekers come from outlying districts in Hanoi and north-central provinces such as Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Thanh Hoa. The provinces are traditionally a big source of labor to South Korea. A person carries an application package that includes the passport and residence book. Those who do not have a permanent residence in the three major cities are required to show temporary residence papers. A consular officer issues token numbers. Every day, the Korean consul department only gives out 300 numbers, but the number of people coming every day now is estimated at around 3,000. The number of Vietnamese applicants for visas to South Korea has boomed since last month. Nguyen Thi Lan (pictured) from Hanois Quoc Oai District, showed up from 6 a.m. She said she wanted to apply for the visa to visit her relatives in South Korea. "In the next few months, South Korea may tighten the visa policy; therefore, I have to submit visa application right now though the waiting game is very tiring," she said. A man smiles when he is about to get his turn for submission. Another takes a nap on the sidewalk while waiting. With the current visa policy, applicants have to pay VND1.8 million ($80) as fees and wait for a week to be considered for a five-year visa, while Vietnamese professionals like doctors, lawyers or professors, graduates who enrolled in four-year-plus programs in South Korean universities and those with masters degrees or above from overseas will be eligible for the 10-year multi-entry visas. A giant hamburger model by Burger King is seen outside its restaurant in Shenyang, Liaoning province, China October 7, 2017. Photo by Reuters/Stringer Burger King pulled a promotional video in New Zealand showing customers trying to eat burgers with chopsticks after it sparked an outcry in China. The video posted on a franchisees Instagram account showed Westerners with an oversized chopstick in each hand struggling to eat the companys new "Vietnamese Sweet Chilli Tendercrisp Burger." Burger King said it asked the franchisee to remove the video immediately. The video was deleted from the Instagram account by Tuesday afternoon. "The ad in question is insensitive and does not reflect our brand values regarding diversity and inclusion," Burger King said in a statement to Reuters. Social media users in China demanded an apology, saying Burger King had made a mockery of Asian customs and dining etiquette. The hashtag "Burger King apology" was viewed more than 50 million times on the Twitter-like microblog platform Sina Weibo by Tuesday afternoon. Others gave Burger King, which operates 1000 stores in China, the benefit of the doubt. "I am not sure if this is truly racial discrimination. But the people who made the ad really do not have brains," said one commentator on Weibo. Chinese media outlets compared the video to one issued by Italian luxury brand Dolce & Gabbana last year, which featured a Chinese model struggling to eat pizza and spaghetti with chopsticks. Dolce & Gabbana was forced to cancel a fashion show in China and social media users threatened a boycott over the campaign. The brands co-founders later asked for forgiveness in a video apology. Burger King is a subsidiary of Toronto-listed Restaurant Brands International. 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. Enel X, the Enel Group's advanced energy services business line, has signed an exclusive agreement with Ameren Missouri, the state's largest utility with more than 1.2 million customers, to deliver 100 MW of demand response resources from the utility's commercial and industrial (C&I) customers for the 2019 - 2021 program period, with delivery periods running May-September each year. Under the terms of the agreement, Enel X will exclusively manage Ameren Missouri's entire C&I demand response portfolio, helping to reduce demand on the grid during peak load times. "With this agreement, Enel X will deliver a turnkey demand response solution for Ameren Missouri, providing its C&I customers with new revenue streams and reduced energy costs by optimizing usage during periods of peak demand," said Michael Storch, Head of Enel X in North America. "This partnership is a testament to our position as a leader in demand response and we look forward to supporting Ameren Missouri's commitment to providing customers with more choices, control and greater flexibility in their energy use." In partnership with Ameren Missouri, Enel X will recruit participants from different industrial sectors in the utility's territory and manage the portfolio of C&I demand response resources, helping to reduce peak demand across Ameren's distribution network and provide additional resources to the MISO1 transmission system. Participants can enroll in Ameren Missouri's demand response program by contacting Enel X online. In addition to the C&I demand response program Ameren Missouri offers financial incentives to C&I customers for energy efficiency projects through its BizSavers Program. More information on the incentives can be found on Ameren Missouri's BizSavers website. This partnership supports the utility's commitment to the Missouri Energy Efficiency Investment Act (MEEIA), which encourages electric utilities to develop and implement energy efficiency and demand response programs in the state. Customers participating in the C&I demand response program can earn payments for committing to reduce their electricity consumption temporarily when demand on the system is highest. Enel X will fully manage Ameren's portfolio of C&I customers participating in the demand response program, optimizing each customer's participation and maximizing their financial return. Additionally, Enel X enables customers to track and adjust their energy usage to avoid costly peak demand charges and reduce overall energy expenses. During a demand response dispatch, Enel X's customer platform, available from PC and mobile devices, allows participants to monitor their consumption in real-time and view earnings in detail wherever they are. Enel X creates value by helping participants maximize their demand response payments while minimizing the impact on the customers' operations. "Over the last year, we have worked hand-in-hand with Enel X to leverage their deep experience in C&I demand response to hone our program design and ensure we develop robust, reliable and cost-effective C&I demand response resources that drive the highest levels of customer satisfaction," said Bill Davis, Director of Energy Efficiency and Renewables at Ameren Missouri. "This demand response program will provide C&I customers with tangible economic benefits, as well as provide broader benefits to the electric grid, our state and the environment." Ameren Missouri's service area covers 64 counties and more than 500 communities, including the greater St. Louis area. Enel X provides C&I demand response resources to more than 20 utilities across North America with more than 600 MW of dispatchable demand response in utility programs in which Enel X is the exclusive provider to the utility. Demand response programs pay large energy consumers, such as manufacturing facilities, government agencies, and commercial real estate companies, to adjust their power consumption, which provides valuable energy services to the grid. Demand response provides greater grid flexibility and more efficient use of power infrastructure, with a view to help keep electricity prices as low as possible for all consumers. Enel X is a new Enel global business line dedicated to developing innovative products and digital solutions in sectors in which energy is showing the greatest potential for transformation: cities, homes, industries and electric mobility. Enel X in North America has nearly 3,400 business customers, spanning more than 10,400 sites, representing around 4.6 GW of demand response capacity and over 20 operational behind-the-meter storage projects. The company's intelligent DER Optimization Software is designed to analyse real-time energy and utility bill data, improve performance, and manage distributed energy assets, including behind-the-meter storage projects. Enel X's electric vehicle charging station technology, called JuiceBox, and its JuiceNet platform, provide smart management of electric vehicle charging and other distributed energy storage facilities. Enel X technology is present in more than 38,000 electric vehicle charging stations across North America. 1 Midcontinent Independent System Operator Media Relations T +1 978 513 3433 M +1 978 965 0062 krista.barnaby@enel.com Making the announcement, Minister Bruton said, "We are funding high powered charging hubs on motorways and national roads all across the country, to tackle range anxiety' and encourage drivers to make the switch to electric vehicles. We are stepping up our response to climate change across the board and this government is determined to take the lead and put in place the necessary infrastructure to make it easier for people to play their part." More than 50 high power charging hubs are being funded on motorway and national road sites. These hubs will be able to charge between two and eight vehicles simultaneously and are capable of providing up to 100 km of electric driving range in as little as six minutes. In addition to the high power charging hubs, up to 50 locations will also see Standard 22kW AC chargers upgraded to 50kW DC fast chargers, providing additional fast charging capacity around the country. This network will be able to facilitate the public charging requirements of hundreds of thousands of vehicles. Minister Bruton said, "This investment gives people confidence that they can make the switch. Now is the time. As well as providing a network of chargers, the government also offer a number of financial supports to those thinking of changing their vehicle." Jerry O'Sullivan, Deputy Chief Executive of ESB, said, "A key part of our Brighter Future strategy is enabling the electrification of transport, with this investment and support from the Government's Climate Action Fund critical to encouraging people to make the transition to EVs. Over the last nine years we have developed and maintained a comprehensive EV charging network and the availability of the high power charging hubs will help eliminate range anxiety' and enables seamless EV travel across the island of Ireland. This, in turn, will support the Government's ambition to have more than 500,000 EVs on Irish roads by 2030." This initiative is 50% financed by the Government's Climate Action Fund with the remainder funded by ESBESB ecars is currently identifying the most appropriate locations on motorways and national road networks. The sites will be identified using the latest software mapping techniques, taking account of information on current charge point usage, traffic volume, accessibility, amenities and grid capacity at the sites. Notes This ESB project is one of seven projects approved by Minister Bruton for funding under the Climate Action Fund. Final approval of funding from the Climate Action Fund is subject to successful completion of the validation stage which is currently underway. In addition to the public changing network, the Government provides the following incentives to support the uptake of electric vehicles: Purchase grant of up to 5,000 for electric vehicles (including battery electric vehicles and for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles) Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) relief of up to 5,000 for battery electric vehicles and up to 2,500 for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles Benefit-in-Kind relief for battery electric vehicles (up to a maximum value of 50,000) A grant of up to 600 towards the cost of the installation of a domestic charge point for purchasers of new and second-hand electric vehicles; Grants of up to 7,000 for electric vehicles in the taxi/hackney/limousine sector Accelerated Capital Allowances for businesses to support investment in electric vehicles and charging infrastructure Low rate of annual motor tax ( 120 per annum) for battery electric vehicles A discount on tolls of 50% for battery electric vehicles and 25% for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles up to a maximum amount of 500 per year (with greater reductions off-peak on the M50) About ESB ecars: ESB ecars was established in 2010 by ESB to roll out the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles across Ireland and to support the introduction and demand for electric vehicles nationally. ESB ecars operates and maintains 1,100 public charge points across the island of Ireland. These are available for electric vehicle (EV) drivers to re-charge their vehicles and enable longer journeys across the country. About ESB: ESB operates across the electricity market: from generation, through transmission and distribution to the supply of customers with an expanding presence in the Great Britain generation market. In addition we extract further value through supplying gas, energy services and using our networks to carry fibre for telecommunications. ESB is the owner of the distribution and transmission networks in the Republic of Ireland (via ESB Networks) and Northern Ireland (via Northern Ireland Electricity Networks Ltd). ESB contributes almost 2 billion annually to the Irish economy through dividends, investments, taxes and jobs. ESB provides significant employment both directly, with over 7,800 employees, and indirectly through contractors and service providers. Heolios EnTG will develop, finance, construct, own, operate and maintain six renewable energy projects in Mexico. Two of the plants are onshore wind while the remaining four are solar photovoltaic, totaling 898.7 MW, enough to power 1.3 million Mexican households. The joint-venture received approval from Mexico's federal competition commission, COFECE, on March 28, 2019. The projects were granted 15-year power purchase agreements through Mexican power auctions. One of the power plants, Tres Mesas 3, is a 50 MW wind power facility that entered into commercial operation in March 2019, ahead of schedule. The remaining plants are currently in various stages of construction and will start commercial operation in 2019 and 2020. Mexico is endowed with extraordinary solar and wind resources. Aware of this potential, the Mexican government issued an energy law in 2015 transitioning the country to a low-carbon growth model targeting 35% of clean energy sources by 2024. Through Heolios EnTG, Tokyo Gas and ENGIE will support Mexico's clean energy ambitions and boost the development of their renewable energy business in the country. "We are delighted to further consolidate the relationship of mutual trust between our teams and those of Tokyo Gas with the creation of Heolios EnTG. This joint-venture will combine our complementary areas of expertise and will enable ENGIE to continue to grow in a key area, the development of renewables in Mexico with Tokyo Gas. This move is fully aligned with ENGIE's strategic roadmap presented during our Capital Market Day on February 28th, for which ENGIE plans to add 9GW of renewables to its generation portfolio by 2021. The partnership scheme implemented with Tokyo Gas also highlights ENGIE's commitment to dynamic capital allocation through sell-downs and new investments. Heolios EnTG will also enable ENGIE to actively support Mexico in achieving its national renewable targets and to decarbonize its energy sources." said Pierre Chareyre, Executive Vice President of ENGIE in charge of Latin America Business Unit. "We are very pleased to have this opportunity to actively participate in the Mexican renewable market together with ENGIE, now a world leading company in the renewable sector, with whom we have a longstanding relationship. We strongly believe Heolios EnTG would bring prosperity to both ENGIE and Tokyo Gas. This is a landmark achievement for us as this is the first renewable project joint-venture that Tokyo Gas will participate in outside Japan. This has definitely built momentum propelling us closer to reach our corporate target of Vision 2020'", said Kunio Nohata, member of the Board, Senior Managing Executive Officer, Chief Executive of Global Business Division of Tokyo Gas. Read the full story. Trains with more seats and that run for more hours every day. Doing away with all services apart from those that are strictly necessary and that do not compromise safety. More flexible ticket prices, adapted to the needs of groups such as families, young people and seniors. Minimizing costs until a high-speed train ticket costs around half of what it cost under the traditional model. This is the model that the French rail firm SNCF has successfully implemented in its country, and that it now wants to export to Spain. The state-owned rail company had already expressed its interest in competing with its opposite number in Spain, Renfe, in the Spanish high-speed rail market. But now the operator has given away more clues as to how it plans to do so by December 2020, when domestic rail markets in the European Union will be opened up to competition from other countries. The number of high-speed train journeys taken by French passengers has increased from 100 million to 120 million At a meeting last month in Spain with the press in Madrid, SNCFs head of long-distance rail, Rachel Picard, hinted at the plan they are considering, running through the successful launch six years ago of Ouigo, its low-cost brand, which was clearly inspired by the model successfully implemented in the airline sector by firms such as Ryanair and easyJet. Picard narrated a story of success: how the launch of these cheaper trains has benefited everyone, boosting the number of passengers in a sector that appeared to have stalled. As well as increasing the number of high-speed train journeys taken by French passengers from 100 million to 120 million, Ouigo has also managed to turn a profit in a short period of time, she claimed. The French executive had words of praise for the Spanish high-speed AVE service, which she described as a dream, one of the best in Europe. But she stressed that it continues to be a model that is focused principally on business travelers or those with a high disposable income. And she supplied a figure to demonstrate the margin for growth that high-speed rail still has in Spain: while in the Spanish market the average number of kilometers traveled per passenger is 500, in France that figure is as high as 1,200 kilometers. Im not saying that [the AVE] is expensive for the good service it provides. But a cheaper service is possible, she added, drawing a parallel between the AVE and its French counterpart, the TGV. The gap in the market, she suggested, could be filled by a Spanish version of Ouigo. SNCF wants to come to Spain to stay and is not willing to sign a deal that would be unsatisfactory in the long term Picard was optimistic throughout about the current state of rail. The deregulation of the sector is good for everyone, she repeated, including in that everyone Renfe, which is currently the sole operator in Spains rail market when it comes to transporting passengers. But she also revealed some of the difficulties that SNCF is facing were it to enter the Spanish high-speed market. On the one hand, there is the search for a local partner. The French firm is planning to enter the market in conjunction with Spanish firm Ilsa an affiliate of infrastructure and renewable energy firm Acciona and regional airline Air Nostrum. But it doesnt seem to have nailed down that agreement. Thats what we want to do, Picard explained. But if we dont reach a satisfactory deal we could come alone. In the background is the importance of what the company has designated balance in governance. In a venture such as this one, in which SNCF is willing to invest a large amount of money with a view to staying in the market in the long term, it is important to remember their experience in Italy. They entered into that market with local partners and just 20% of the capital. And in the end, they abandoned the project. Are the French planning to lead the project with Acciona? Picard would not be drawn on that. But she did say that SNCF wants to come to Spain to stay and that it is not willing to sign a deal that would be unsatisfactory in the long term. Its not just with Acciona, she added, showing that the French are not ruling out any scenario and that they could enter the Spanish market together with another company. The other big doubt is whether the company would have trains available to enter into service in December 2020. Picard completely ruled out the possibility of leasing the necessary equipment, but did not clarify whether the firm would buy trains outright or bring them in from France. But she was unequivocal about their plans to offer a service as soon as possible. Being the first is always a factor of success, she said. Renfe would make money from the very first day RAMON MUNOZ, Madrid In response to news about SNCFs plans to enter the Spanish market, the chairman of state rail firm Renfe, Isaias Taboas, said last month that the low-cost AVE high-speed service that his company is preparing would be profitable from the very first day of operation. It couldnt have losses, it would have the profits needed to sustain the service, he explained at a business breakfast. It would have a margin, albeit a small one, and would make money, albeit not much, from the first day, in contrast to Ouigo, which seems to have been losing money for seven years. Those claims were in contrast to the statements made by Rachel Picard, who stated that Ouigo is profitable after six years of operations. Renfe, for its part, wants to convince people to choose their new low-cost service instead of opting for car or bus journeys. Our objective is to target the five or 10 national routes where we operate with the AVE and where the car is used more than the train, explained Taboas. English version by Simon Hunter. The Valencia airport. In what seems increasingly like an established tradition, labor unions at some of Spains main transportation companies are making the most of the Easter travel crunch and calling strikes on days with expected passenger peaks. Airport ground handling staff, Air Nostrum pilots and train drivers at Spains state railway company Renfe are all walking out on the job next week. A Renfe union has called a 24-hour strike for April 23, coinciding with the return date for many Easter travelers On April 21 and 24, the unions UGT and USO have called a ground handling strike, representing 60,000 workers from different companies. The call comes after failed talks with the employers association at a meeting that was mediated by an arbitration service. These unions want employers to honor a clause in the last collective bargaining agreement concerning worker right guarantees for employees who are transferred to a new employer; this negotiation has been underway for more than two and a half years. Another union representing security workers, ATES, has also called an open-ended strike at Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas airport starting on April 12. Air Nostrum The pilot union Sepla has called a strike of Air Nostrum pilots on April 15, 16, 17, 22, 23 and 24 to protest a growing transfer of production to other airlines within the Iberia airline group. Sepla said that this trend jeopardizes the future of the company and the working conditions of the company pilots. In December, following a three-day strike, management and union representatives reached a deal to limit outsourcing to 20% . Renfe Semaf, the largest train driver union at Renfe, has called a 24-hour strike for April 23, coinciding with the return date for many Easter travelers. The unions says the company has failed to honor professional development agreements for driving personnel. The railway company is offering three million seats on its fleet to accommodate the higher passenger numbers during the Easter break. Between April 12 and 22, there will be an additional 150,000 seats on its trains. English version by Susana Urra. The Avenida de America station is one of the busiest in Madrids subway system. In recent days, commuters emerging from the Metro stop have been confronted by a large advertisement featuring a message from center-right political party Ciudadanos (Citizens), aimed at Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez: Pedro, we are going to change Spain. Above it, there was a quote from Sanchezs new book Manual de Resistencia (or, Resistance Handbook) in which he recounts how his first decision upon becoming prime minister was to change the mattress in the bedroom of his new official residence, La Moncloa palace. Sanchez reports Ciudadanos for a sign talking about his mattress, and demands it be taken down, but he neither reports, nor asks for the removal of, signs saying that Spain is not a democracy or the yellow ribbons of his partners Torra and Puigdemont. Expect another sign in response soon. The Madrid Electoral Board ordered this sign taken down after the governing Socialist Party (PSOE) claimed that the message violated election legislation, which states that such advertising is prohibited from the time that elections are called until the official start of the campaign race. That decision was made on April 5. On the same day, political parties used the cellphone applications Telegram and WhatsApp to send messages to their followers. The Popular Party (PP), for instance, sent out a video with the title: Do you want them to govern Spain as well? PSOE / OTEGI. The conservative party was alluding to Arnaldo Otegi, a historical leader of the Basque radical left who was once a member of the now-defunct terrorist group ETA and has served prison time for those activities. Otegi is currently the general coordinator of EH Bildu, one of the parties that supported Pedro Sanchezs successful no-confidence motion against then-Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of the PP in June of last year. A WhatsApp message shared by the PP alluding to the Basque party EH Bildu. Meanwhile, the PSOE sent 18 messages to more than 3,200 subscribers of its official Telegram channel, discussing the PMs address in Toledo and explaining the decisions made at the Cabinet meeting. These were all direct messages of a political nature, sent out through official party channels on social media. In other words, these chat groups have become the virtual equivalent of the bricks-and-mortar buildings covered with campaign ads. The law regulating campaign advertising was approved in 1985. It was written with the public media outlets of the time in mind, says Agustin Ruiz Robledo, a professor of Constitutional Law at Granada University. Berta Barbet, a political scientist and researcher at Barcelonas Autonoma University, adds that when it was approved, the law was meant to give all parties similar opportunities. Maybe not all parties could afford to run a six-month campaign, but they could afford 15 days. But we should reconsider how to enforce this in a world with so much information, says Barbet. The PP also turned to the Madrid Electoral Board after the left-wing anti-austerity party Podemos projected images in Plaza Mayor on April 6 showing the Barcenas papers, alluding to a major corruption scandal that has long plagued the conservative party. Under the heading Que no vuelvan (Dont let them come back) the image showed a page from the ledgers of the former party treasurer Luis Barcenas, allegedly detailing a cash payment made to former Prime Minister Rajoy. Even though the law says nothing about social media, a party could not ask for votes through its social media accounts the day before the election But what about the thousands of online messages that came along with these projected images, grouped under the hashtag #QueNoVuelvan? On Twitter alone, there were more than 71,000 messages with that tag on Sunday, according to the social media monitoring tool Digimind. The old 1985 law does talk about political parties digital media, but when it comes to social networks it is not always easy to identify who is sending out a message. Behind the building ads, there is always a company that is paying and a signature that authorizes a budget outlay. But behind a viral WhatsApp post, all that is required is people who are willing to retweet your message. On one hand, you have the open social media such as Twitter or Facebook, where you cannot control the information that individuals move around, just like you cannot control people discussing politics on the street. But WhatsApp is a little harder, as you have no control over what gets said or shared, or who is doing it, says Barbet. The legal loophole The 1985 law also contains other articles that conflict with the way we receive information these days: the ban on campaigning the day before the vote (officially a day for reflection) and the ban on publishing opinion polls a few days before voters go to vote. Both of these prohibitions are easy to get around through a Twitter account that can even be anonymous, or with chain messages. The general principles of the law can help us somewhat, says Ruiz Robledo. For example, even though the law says nothing about social media, a party could not ask for votes through its social media accounts the day before the election, as these would be considered just another medium. But then there are the messages from friends favoring one or another party. I dont think this can be avoided, he adds. As a matter of fact, this is precisely the sort of communication that parties desire the most. With a general election coming up where 40% of potential voters are still undecided, according to the most recent poll, the opinions of friends and relatives become more influential than anything else, studies have shown. As for the ban on publishing opinion polls, there are ways of getting around that. For years, an outlet called El Periodico de Andorra has been publishing the results of its surveys, and several Twitter accounts represent the parties using symbols rather than their actual names: the PSOE is a strawberry, the PP is a drop of water, Podemos is an eggplant and Ciudadanos is an orange. The Barcelona professor sums up the contradictions: The law is a bit paternalistic. The information is out there, it is more accessible than ever, and it cannot be stopped. English version by Susana Urra. Carlos Alberto Solsona was driving his car down a freeway in Santiago, Chile, when he received a call from Buenos Aires, Argentina informing him that the DNA of a 42-year-old woman living in Spain was a match. After decades of searching, the Argentine father had found his daughter. His wife Norma Sintora was believed to have given birth to the girl while detained in one of the illegal detention centers set up in Argentina during the countrys military dictatorship, which lasted from 1976 to 1983. Solsona never had an opportunity to meet his daughter. No one has any idea about the thousands of sleepless nights I spent waiting for this moment Carlos Solsona, father of granddaughter 129 No one has any idea about the thousands of sleepless nights I spent waiting for this moment, he said at a press conference on Tuesday organized by the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo (the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo), a human rights organization dedicated to locating and reuniting the families of the children who disappeared during the dictatorship. The president of the organization, Estela de Carlotto, announced at the press conference that Solsonas daughter was the 129th child the group had located. That number has steadily risen since 1977 when the organization began its tireless work to recover the stolen identities of some 500 children who were born in military dungeons during the dictatorship. Solsona also has a son called Marcos, who was raised by his grandfather and is the womans older brother. A family reunion between the three is yet to take place, as Solsana wants to proceed with caution and not rush the process. I dont like to imagine situations, because I am very afraid of hurting her. She has a life, shes more than 40 years old and this is dropped on her. That is my biggest worry. I dont want to [hurt her], he said on Tuesday. A number of children born to pregnant woman in detention centers were given to military families shortly after their birth The 42-year-old woman, known as granddaughter 129 to protect her identity, was found thanks to the work of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo. Carlotto explained that in 2012, the organization came across a case of a young woman with a questionable birth certificate who had been born at home. The organization got in touch with the woman a year later and invited her to come to Argentina and complete a genetic test to see whether her DNA matched with one of the families of the dictatorship victims. The woman lived abroad [in Spain] and she said was planning on coming to Buenos Aires in 2014 to continue talking about the possibility of taking a test, says Carlotto. But this never happened. Contact was lost until one of the womans friends intervened in June 2017, and convinced her to take the test. Two weeks ago, the new granddaughter came to the country and went to court on April 3. She agreed to do the analysis, which showed that she is the daughter of Carlos Solsona and Norma Sintora. Solsona and his wife met as engineering students in Cordoba, Argentina in 1974. They married the following year and had Marcos. After the military overthrew the government of President Isabel Peron in March 1976, the couple became political militants with the Peoples Revolutionary Army (ERP). By 1977, Solsona had left the country in hopes of reuniting with his wife and son in Spain. However, on March 21, 1977, Sintora, who was eight months pregnant, was kidnapped by the military and placed in a detention center where she gave birth. I am in my seventies, and I started searching for my daughter when I was in my thirties Carlos Solsona, father of granddaughter 129 In the early 1980s, Solsona located his son Marcos, who was being taken care of by his maternal grandparents, and they kept in contact by sharing photographs and letters. However, Solsona still had not found any trace of his newborn child. The news at the time reported on the number of children born to pregnant woman in detention centers who were given to military families shortly after their birth. I created a sort of defense mechanism, a shield so that this wouldnt destroy me. I am in my seventies, and I started searching for my daughter when I was in my thirties.This has meant that I have had to live carrying a weight that gets heavier every single day. But we never lost hope. We searched neighborhoods, we went wherever there was the smallest clue, to speak with people who asked us, So, are you looking for a child?, said Solsona. Solsona is now preparing to meet his daughter, a grown woman who will have to rebuild her life story with an unknown father and brother. He knows it will be difficult, but also amazing. Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo In 1977, 14 women gathered in a Buenos Aires square known as Plaza de Mayo. They were looking for their children, who had disappeared at the hands of the military dictatorship. They spontaneously decided to join forces in order to force the military junta to give them some answers. The regime wrote them off as those crazy women, but they didnt care. Week after week they marched around the central monument on Plaza de Mayo to demand that their children be returned to them alive, and given a proper trial if if turned out that they had committed any crimes. The movement did not peter out even when three of its members were kidnapped in late 1977, including founder Azucena Villaflor. Now mostly octogenarians, the group still go to the square every Thursday. English version by Asia London Palomba. An image of Julian Assange next to the Ecuadorean embassy in London. Peter Nicholls (REUTERS) WikiLeaks reported on Wednesday that it has uncovered a major spying operation against Julian Assange inside the embassy of Ecuador in London, where the founder of the whistle-blowing website has been living since 2012. The material obtained from these spying activities includes video footage, photographs and even a note about Assanges defense strategy written by one of his lawyers, said WikiLeaks. This trove turned up in Spain, where a group threatened to make the information public unless they were paid 3 million, Reuters reported. Ever since Lenin Moreno came to power, Julian Assange has been living in a Truman Show situation Kristinn Hrafnsson The case has been sent to the Spanish police, and a judicial investigation into the alleged extortion has been launched, said WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson. At a press conference on Wednesday, Hrafnsson said that much of this material came from cameras inside the embassy. Hrafnsson described it as a total invasion of Mr Assanges privacy. Ever since [Ecuadorean president] Lenin Moreno came to power, Julian Assange has been living in a Truman Show situation, said Hrafnsson, alluding to the 1998 satirical sci-fi movie starring Jim Carrey. Assanges lawyer Jennifer Robinson, who was also present at the news conference, said they will renew calls for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to adopt precautionary measures to protect her client. These measures were first requested in December 2018 by the law firm headed by former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon. Relations with Assange have been strained under Lenin Moreno. EFE Last week, WikiLeaks announced that Assange would be evicted from the embassy within hours or days, an assertion that was later refuted by the government of Ecuador. In Hrafnssons opinion, what prevented the eviction is the fact that WikiLeaks made the public announcement. In 2012 Julian Assange was facing a European arrest warrant issued by Sweden in connection with an investigation into alleged sex crimes that was later dropped. He took refuge inside the Ecuadorean embassy in June of that year, and two months later, then-president Rafael Correa granted him asylum. Assange was later given citizenship as well. But when a new president, Lenin Moreno, took power in 2017, relations between Ecuador and Assange became strained to the point that his internet connection was cut off at one point and outside visitors were barred except for his lawyers. The activist fears arrest in the United Kingdom and extradition to the United States over his leaks of military and diplomatic documents. Emerging Europe Growth Fund III, LP (EEGF III) of Horizon Capital has acquired a minority stake in a leading private medical chain in Kyiv city and region Dobrobut, the company reported on Wednesday. "Our plans require investment and expertise. Horizon Capital's capital, knowledge and experience are pivotal in supporting our ambitious strategic plans," Oleg Kalashnikov, CEO of Dobrobut, said. According to him, in the nearest future Dobrobut will open another medical facility in Kyiv, 10,000 sq m, which will offer top-notch surgery, oncology and cardiology services. Horizon Capital's Founding Partner and CEO Lenna Koszarny said that Horizon Capital's entry into this strategic sector, together with the backing of our global institutional investors, will play a significant role in the development of healthcare in Ukraine, as it brings capital, transparency, world-class equipment and best practices to this industry. The participants in the transaction do not disclose its terms, however, Kalashnikov said that "it is not about selling part of the business, this deal is about increasing capital and supporting growth." "We have ambitious plans to further develop the company, including opening new clinics, expanding the scope of medical services offered and mastering new skills," he said. At the end of March, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine reported that Cypriot Dealbeta Investments Limited, created by Emerging Europe Growth Fund III (EEGF III) managed by Horizon Capital, jointly with an individual-citizen of Ukraine, plan to acquire a controlling stake in Cypriot Satumco Limited, the owner of Dobrobut. In January 2019, The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine began probing into the acquisition by Cypriot-based Satumco Limited, the owner of Kyiv's largest private medical chain Dobrobut, of the Boris Clinic, one of the oldest private clinics in Kyiv. The Dobrobut Medical Center was established in 2001 and previously included branches in Donetsk and Yalta, but now its assets are located in Kyiv and it grew to a large chain. In particular, it currently includes an emergency station, children's clinics on the right and left banks of Kyiv, clinics for adults on the right and left banks, a hospital for adults and children, pediatric and adult surgery departments, a medical diagnostic center, the Dobrobut Oncology Center, as well as the center of clinical neurology, neurorehabilitation and rehabilitation medicine. In January 2018, a group of investors from the Concorde Capital investment company and shareholder in the Luxoptica chain of optical stores Oleh Kalashnikov acquired 80% of the Dobrobut chain from UBG (both based in Kyiv). The owner of the UBG corporation was MP Ruslan Demchak (Bloc of Petro Poroshenko parliamentary faction), who retained a 20% stake in the chain. Currently, according to the public register, Satumco Limited owns 99% in many companies of the chain (Dobrobut Emergency Aid LLC which revenue in 2017 was UAH 38.5 million, Dobrobut Polyclinic Center with UAH 347.8 million, Dobrobut Statsionar Center (in-patient facility) with UAH 48.9 million, Dobrobut Medical Center for Children with UAH 73.6 million, Dobrobut Dytynstvo (Childhood) Center with UAH 22.2 million) and its beneficiaries are owner and head of Concorde Capital Ihor Mazepa and Luxoptica shareholder Oleg Kalashnikov. In January 2019, Horizon Capital announced that Horizon Capital created the largest equity fund in Ukraine over the past 10 years: EEGF III with $200 million. Horizon Capital was established in 2006. It manages private equity funds Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF, established in 1994 with a seed capital of $150 million), Emerging Europe Growth Fund, L.P. (EEGF, established in 2006 with a seed capital of $132 million) and EEGF II (EEGF, established in 2008 with $370 million seed capital). The money of these funds is invested in projects in Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus. Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Yakiv Smolii as a member of a Ukrainian delegation on Wednesday leaves for Washington to visit the annual spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, the press service of the NBU has said on its Facebook page. According to the report, Director of the Financial Stability Department Vitaliy Vavryschyk and Head of the European Integration and International Program Department Volodymyr Kuchin are also members of the delegation. The spring meeting of the IMF and the World Bank in Washington is held on April 8 through April 14, 2019. The Ukrainian delegation is to meet with representatives of the IMF, the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), largest international investment companies and banks. Smolii is to meet with heads of central banks of other countries. Representatives of the NBU together with other participants will also discuss current challenges for the global economy and the economies of individual countries. In general, during the spring meeting, heads of central banks, finance ministers, representatives of the private sector and academics discuss the prospects for the global economy, economic development, poverty eradication, and the future of the global financial system. Fitch Ratings has upgraded Ukrainian integrated steel company Metinvest B.V.'s (Metinvest) Long-Term Local- and Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to 'B+' from 'B' and senior unsecured bonds to 'B+' from 'B' with an unchanged Recovery Rating of 'RR4', the outlook is stable, according to a report on the rating agency's website. "The upgrade reflects Metinvest's improved capital structure with a smoother maturity profile and its commitment to prioritize capital expenditure, debt repayment and working capital funding over dividends. We expect capital spending to remain at elevated levels in 2019 and 2020, but the group will fund this from internal cash flow generation. The upgrade also factors in some flexibility for the business to reduce capital expenditure under less supportive market conditions. Fitch forecasts funds from operations (FFO) adjusted gross leverage to remain below 2.0x over the rating horizon," it reads. "Fitch assesses Metinvest's business and financial profile in the 'BB' category. However, the company's credit quality is constrained by the operating environment in Ukraine," it says. "Metinvest's 'B+' Long-Term IDR is now two notches above Ukraine's 'B-' Country Ceiling due to a sustainable improvement in the company's hard currency (HC) external debt service cover ratio. The top line of the ratio is supported by higher forecast mid-cycle EBITDA, linked to the improving product mix as well as higher earnings over the short to medium term from tighter iron ore and pellet markets. The bottom line takes into account the smoother maturity profile after the refinancing completed in 2018," Fitch said. "We expect the HC external debt service cover ratio to remain above 1.5x on an 18-month rolling basis. Around 65% of Metinvest's earnings come from exports and 10% from assets located in Europe and the US, with most of its cash held offshore/outside Ukraine, enabling the company to service its HC debt with recurring HC cash flows and cash balances," Fitch experts said. Full list of rating actions Metinvest B.V. - Long-Term Foreign-Currency IDR upgraded to 'B+' from 'B'; outlook stable - Short-Term Foreign-Currency IDR affirmed at 'B' - Long-Term Local-Currency IDR upgraded to 'B+' from 'B'; outlook stable - Short-Term Local-Currency IDR affirmed at 'B' - Senior unsecured bond instrument rating upgraded to 'B+'/'RR4/50%' from 'B'/'RR4/50%' - National Long-Term Rating upgraded to 'AAA(ukr)' from 'AA+(ukr)'; outlook stable - National Short-Term Rating affirmed at 'F1+(ukr)' Russia-led forces mounted 13 attacks on Ukrainian troops in Donbas in the past 24 hours, the press center of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) has reported. "On April 9, the Russian occupation forces fired at the positions of the JFO 13 times, seven times used weapons banned by the Minsk agreements at a rate of 31 with 120 mm and 82 mm mortar mines. There were no casualties among the servicemen of the Joint Forces," the JFO staff said on Facebook on Wednesday morning. Cabinet approves dismissal of Stepanov from post of head of Odesa Regional State Administration The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the draft decree of the president of Ukraine on the dismissal of Maksym Stepanov from the post of head of the Odesa Regional State Administration. "The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the dismissal," spokesman for the Prime Minister, Vasyl Riabchuk told the Interfax-Ukraine agency after a government meeting on Wednesday . Representatives of the Russian Federation in the humanitarian and economic subgroups of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) to resolve the situation in Donbas have thwarted the meetings that began in Minsk, First Deputy Chairperson of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada and Kyiv's representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group Iryna Gerashchenko said. "I've just received information from Minsk from my colleagues: the Russian side, through artificial reasons, disrupted a meeting of humanitarian and economic subgroups. Representatives of the Russian Federation refuse to work in a trilateral format in the OSCE, blackmail Ukraine with a demand for "direct dialogue with ORDLO," and are waiting for the results of the elections in Ukraine, enthusiastically catching signals about "autonomy," the trip of the future president to Donetsk and Luhansk occupied by the Russian Federation and other pro-Kremlin nonsense. It smells like revenge," wrote Gerashchenko on her Facebook page on Wednesday. Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus said on its Twitter that a meeting of the subgroups of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on the settlement of the situation in Donbas had begun in Minsk on Wednesday afternoon. Darren Meale and the IPKat team joined forces at Simmons & Simmons London office to host the 2019 edition of Retromark: the conference - an afternoon of trade mark law and practice. The Following the success of last years inaugural Retromark conference, on Wednesday 27 Marchand the IPKat team joined forces at Simmons & Simmons London office to host the. The full agenda is available here. The conference which developed from Darrens popular IPKat blog series (Volume 4 here ), Retromark, continues the series tradition of exploring the most noteworthy and exciting developments in trade mark law and litigation. Katfriend and Simmons & Simmons trainee Ayomide Sanwo has prepared a report on the day. Here's what Ayomide writes: Event report: Retromark the conference Mr Justice Arnold during his keynote address This year the event consisted of two moderated panel discussions; the Retromark Awards in which notable trade mark cases received awards such as the anti-climax of the year and the epic saga award; and a keynote address delivered by Mr Justice Arnold on the topic of the SkyKick case [see IPKat post here over which he presided. Many thanks to all our panel members, moderators, Mr Justice Arnold and the audience for participating. Panel 1 - Its ok to use someone elses name and logo to refer to them, right?" Exploring the boundaries of honest nominative use. Panellists: Mark Cruickshank, Managing IP Counsel, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group , Managing IP Counsel, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Dev Gangjee, Associate Professor at the University of Oxford , Associate Professor at the University of Oxford Lindsay Lane QC, Barrister at 8 New Square , Barrister at 8 New Square Rebecca Pennington, Senior Counsel at Snap, Inc , Senior Counsel at Snap, Inc Eleonora opened the panel by inviting Dev to discuss the broadening out of referential use in Art 14(1)(c) of the TMD 2015. Dev noted that following recent changes in the law referential use may now clearly cover spare parts and accessories, product reviews, media reportage, parallel imports, comparative advertising, resale, parodies and incidental/background use. The honest practices proviso also has the potential for being specifically adapted to each of these categories of referential uses, while also recognising the legitimacy of the defendants use (for instance, considering the defendants speech interests in an expressive parody under honest practices). Mark then discussed the BMW v Technosport Limited case in relation to the specific use cases discussed there (use on t-shirts, use on the van, use on the Twitter account). In this case the context in which the mark was used proved definitive. Eleonora asked Rebecca to provide the audience with some insight into Snaps approach to enforcing its own trade marks. Rebecca explained that Snap wants people to be able share its mark to talk about its products and services, provided such sharing is done in a way that is consistent with its Brand Guidelines, and provisions in its terms of service. Lindsay used the case of Carrefour v Alimentaire ( C562/15 ) to discuss the status of the law regarding comparative advertising. This case concerned asymmetric comparison (which Lindsay helpfully termed comparing apples v pears). The CJEU held, amongst other things, that to avoid being misleading adverts must provide information in the body of the advert showing the basis for any comparison. The Retromark Awards Darren then presented the Retromark Awards which recognise the cases that have gripped, surprised and disappointed this year. The following cases won their respective categories: Anti-climax of the year Cartier International v BT This case marked the conclusion of ten years of exciting litigation regarding website blocking orders. The anti-climax came in the UK Supreme Court where it all came down to a relatively small costs point the Supreme Court holding that implementation costs lie with infringers rather than ISPs. Epic saga award Nestle v Cadbury The series of disputes between Nestle and Cadbury (regarding both the shape of the KitKat and Cadburys colour purple) have the (dubious?) honour of appearing in every edition of Retromark so far. Long may they continue. Missed opportunity of the year McDonalds v Supermac This was a case deemed so unfortunate that it deserved a category of its own. The case underlines the dangers of complacency and the importance of evidence, even when the point in dispute (has the mark BIG MAC been used for hamburgers) appears a simple one. Contribution to the Art Award Frank Industries v Nike Frank Industries brave fight against the bigger and badder Nike in securing an interim injunction over Nikes use of LNDR (and then following up with a win at trial a short while later) won this award. Case of the year Sky v SkyKick this case was the topic of discussion for the keynote address and the second panel. Keynote address: Mr Justice Arnold, the High Court of England and Wales After a short break we were lucky enough to hear from Mr Justice Arnold regarding the SkyKick case. His address specifically considered the key issue of the case: whether the lack of clarity and precision of specifications of goods or services and bad faith though lack of intent to use were grounds of invalidity. Mr Justice Arnold took the audience through the background of the case and the pleadings from both Sky and SkyKick. The judge took us through the five questions he referred to the CJEU, before concluding that no date had yet been set for the CJEUs answer, which may come no earlier than 2020. We await the CJEUs response and Mr Justice Arnolds ruling thereafter with great interest. Panel 2 - Drafting, enforcing and attacking trade marks following SkyKick and Fidelis: how should we write, prove use of and scope the boundaries of protection of registrations? Moderator: Darren Meale Panellists: Richard Goddard, Trade Mark Counsel, BP, and First Vice President of CITMA , Trade Mark Counsel, BP, and First Vice President of CITMA Stuart Baran, Barrister at 3 New Square , Barrister at 3 New Square Thomas Hannah, Senior Counsel Legal Brand Protection, GSK , Senior Counsel Legal Brand Protection, GSK Adrian Smith, Partner at Simmons & Simmons , Partner at Simmons & Simmons Darren kicked off discussions with the question of whether we should allow terms like computer software and financial services in trade mark specifications. Richard argued that the terms are too variable to be compatible with the function of a trade mark and that the length of the monopoly right granted for such broad use classes is beyond the legitimate interests of a commercial party. He also commented that the class system as currently constituted is representative of an early twentieth century shopkeeper mentality which is no longer appropriate. The panel then discussed whether five years is too long a time to allow people to claim broad monopolies without any actual use. Stuart considered that five years is not necessarily too long for a mark holder to claim a monopoly right if there is a genuine intention to use the mark. He noted that it is the element of bad faith that undermines the arguments in favour of duration. He gave the example of the evergreening phenomenon and commented that if revocation can be ducked by a simple act of CTRL + C and CTRL + V then the system is failing. U.S. makes promises on issues involving Ukraine's defense, but Ukrainians to decide how country is governed, by whom The United States has made pledges on issues involving Ukraine's defense, because Washington is interested in the country's integrity and lack of Russian presence on its territory, but Ukrainians decide whom to elect and how the country will be governed, U.S. State Department Director of Policy Planning Kiron Skinner has said. Skinner was cited by the U.S.-government funded Voice of America as saying that what happens in Ukraine is important to the United States. I hope you have seen that we have obligations on the issue of Ukraine's defense, she said, adding that this took place under the U.S. Administration of President Donald Trump. According to Skinner, the result of presidential elections in Ukraine is important, but Ukrainians themselves will decide who is in charge of running the country and the form of governance. U.S. Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker in an interview with U.S. Public Broadcasting Service said that irrespective of the outcome of Ukraine's presidential election Russia would "continue to test whoever is the president of Ukraine" using weapons of hybrid war. Volker during the interview said the presidential race in Ukraine is between "a candidate who has established himself as against the establishment vs. the incumbent president, who is saying that, you know, I have worked hard, I have made a lot of accomplishments, we have more to do." "And now the Ukrainian public is faced with this choice. Do they want someone who is just going against the establishment, promising massive reform? Or do they want someone who maybe has been disappointing to them in some respects, but has done more on reform than anyone else has in Ukraine for the past 20 years and stood up to Putin?" Volker said. In his interview with the Kyiv-based Hromandske.ua media portal, Volker said the United States would continue working with whomever Ukraine elects president and noted Ukraine's progress over the last two years. According to U.S. data, since 2014 the volume of U.S. military assistance to Ukraine has totaled about $1.3 billion. In March 2018, the U.S. approved the sale to Ukraine of 37 Javelin anti-tank missile launchers and 210 missiles worth $47 million. The shipment was made in April 2018 under the condition that the weapons would not be used on the front line in eastern Ukraine. Currently, Ukraine and the United States are working on the expansion of bilateral military-technical cooperation, including U.S. assistance in strengthening the Ukrainian air defense system: according to some sources, Kyiv is counting on a positive decision by Washington on the possible purchase of American Patriot air-defense system Patriot. U.S. officials have said they are ready to discuss possibilities with Kyiv and the format of building up bilateral military-technical cooperation, including strengthening Ukraine's Naval Forces. The second round of the presidential elections in Ukraine is scheduled for April 21 between showman Volodymyr Zelensky and incumbent President Petro Poroshenko. Planned meeting with Macron to help Zelensky 'dive into real world of politics' Poroshenko staff Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's campaign staff is aware of the plans of his opponent in the second round of the election, actor and film and show producer Volodymyr Zelensky, to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron. "However surprising this may seem, I am aware that Zelensky is going to meet Macron," Oleh Medvedev, a spokesperson for Poroshenko's campaign, said at a news briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday. France "has coordinated this issue with the Ukrainian side" via diplomatic channels, Medvedev said. Poroshenko believes it would be helpful for Zelensky "to come down from the theatrical stage, leave showbiz and dive into the real world of politics, including at the international level, to start gaining at least some experience," Medvedev said. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has signed a decree approving the annual national program under the auspices of the Ukraine-NATO Commission for 2019. Before signing, Poroshenko noted that this document should become a "road sign," a "roadmap" on the way of Ukraine's movement to the North Atlantic Alliance. The document was signed in Kyiv on April 10 in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Kostiantyn Yeliseyev, former Foreign Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Ohryzko and representatives of the public. "I would like to state that this is an extremely important roadmap showing what Ukraine should be doing [...] what programs it should implement in order to attain the objectives as I have set as president, so the country meets the criteria for signing a NATO Membership Action Plan in 2023," he said. The program envisions the reform of not only the defense sector but also the security sector, he said. "This comprehensive document means that our army will meet NATO standards not only with regard to weapons but also with regard to tactics, operational principles, and strategy," Poroshenko said. "De facto, we have already become NATO's eastern flank," as NATO officers and Ukrainian service members "have worked to improve our defense capability" at training centers and ranges, he said. The program has been drawn up at a time "when some are planning one day to hold referendums, and then the next day discuss whether they should go or not, and where to go," Poroshenko said. The annual national program under the aegis of the NATO-Ukraine Commission is a program of strategic reforms and other procedures to ensure Ukraine's efficient, purposeful, and systemic preparation for NATO membership. The program is focused on achieving compliance with the NATO membership criteria, improving democracy, political, economic, and judicial reforms, reforms of the election regulations, education, science, and healthcare sectors, maintaining economic growth, continuing anti-corruption efforts, improving the wellbeing of the people, reforming the security and defense sector in keeping with NATO's recommendations, and transforming the national armed forces in compliance with NATO standards. The head of the political council of the Opposition Platform-For Life party, Viktor Medvedchuk, said that he was involved in Donbas negotiations merely at the request of Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, was not an appointed negotiator and so cannot be removed from talks. "For the record, Zelensky's payroll scenarists: Petro Poroshenko has never appointed Viktor Medvedchuk for the role of 'negotiator' with Russia. I was involved in talks between Ukraine and Russia solely at the request of the president of Ukraine, and did so in the interests of my country and not its president. So, removing me from 'negotiations' is not possible a priori," Medvedchuk said in a statement posted on his party's website on Wednesday. He noted that he was involved in such talks in his capacity as head of his party's political council. "I have been doing and will continue to do this because I am convinced that it is impossible to install peace in Ukraine without direct talks with the leaderships of Donetsk, Luhansk and Russia. I am convinced that it is not possible to develop Ukraine's economy unless trade and economic ties with Russia and [other] CIS countries are restored. And in order to engage in this, I have not needed and do not need any licenses, permissions or blessings either from the incumbent or a president-elect." Medvedchuk was involved in talks over Donbas prisoner exchanges. On Wednesday, the Ukrainian media reported that if elected, Zelensky would hold talks with Russia and international partners but would not hold direct talks with the breakaway republics and that he was also planning to refuse Medvedchuk's services as an intermediary in interactions between Ukraine and Russia. On Thursday, April 11, at 11.00, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency will host press conference titled "Monitoring of Electoral Moods of Ukrainians" after a poll held from April 5 to April 10, 2019, to assess the situation in the country, presidential ratings of the second round, motives behind the voting and expectations from the elections. Some 3,000 people were polled. Participants include Head of the Rating Sociological Group Oleksiy Antypovych, Deputy Director of the Rating Sociological Group Liubomyr Mysiv (8/5a Reitarska Street). Registration requires press accreditation. More details by phone: +38 (097) 578 68 68, + 38 (095) 578 6868, www.ratinggroup.ua. On Monday, April 15, at 10.30, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency will host a press conference with participation of leading experts and authors of Bill No. 6607. The subject of the event is "Children are the flowers of life, not the fruit of sexual pleasure. Chemical castration as a medical measure to stop pedophiles." The participants include: Member of Parliament Oleh Nedava, Member of Parliament Mustafa Nayyem; Director of state-run Center for Mental Health and Monitoring of Drugs and Alcohol under the Ministry of Health of Ukraine Serhiy Shum; forensic psychiatry expert and head of the Center's forensic psychiatry examinations department Olena Kozeratska; lawyer with PhD in Law and criminologist, lecturer at the National School of Judges of Ukraine Hanna Malyar (8/5a Reitarska Street). Registration requires press accreditation. More details by phone: +38 050 835 2662 (Nedava's press secretary Albina Kusheleva). The spokesman of Iran Civil Aviation Organization has announced that flights have started between Tehran and Caracas, Venezuela by Irans Mahan Air. Reza Jafarzadeh told Mehr news agency April 8 that the first flight took off from Tehran at 2:00 am local time. He added that a delegation from Mahan Air management was on the flight to travel to Venezuela and negotiate about the details of regular flights between the two countries. The report by Mehr says that the non-stop flight to Caracas takes 16 hours. Mhan Air was the first so called private airline established in Iran in 1992, but the United States sanctioned the company in 2011 for ties with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Qods force and for transporting fighters and weapons. France and German also have banned Mahan from their airspace based on similar accusations. Iran, along with Russia, China and Turkey support Venezuelas embattled president Nicholas Maduro. Last week, two Russian planes touched down in Venezuela, reportedly carrying special forces and possibly weapons. The U.S. strongly warned Russia and other countries about sending armed personnel and weapons to Venezuela, characterizing such moves as a direct threat for regional security. The representative of a travel trade association in Iran says that because of the fall in the value of the Iranian currency, travel abroad declined 45 percent during Nowruz holidays last month. The official government IRNA news agency quoted Hormatollah Rafiei as saying that both ground and air travel declined as the U.S. dollar rose against the Iranian currency. To save money, some Iranians managed to go to Turkey with their own private cars. The favorite destinations were Antalya and Istanbul in Turkey. During better economic times Dubai was also a popular destination, where Iranian entertainers from the U.S. or Europe organized concerts that would not be allowed to be performed inside Iran. But with the falling currency Dubai has become too expensive for many. Travelling during the New Year two-week holidays has been a tradition for Iranians since modernization of the country enabled citizens to easily drive to other cities in the country or fly to neighboring countries, starting in the 1950s and 60s. Unprecedented floods were another impediment to travel. Hotel reservations in Iran also declined by 25 percent. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has threatened the U.S. with unveiling more advanced centrifuges after Washington designated Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization. Speaking on April 9 at the ceremony for 13th National Day of Nuclear Technology in Iran, Rouhani addressed Washington, saying, "You were afraid of IR1 centrifuges, today we unveiled IR6, and if you continue to walk down this road, you will see cascades of IR8 in the near future," Rouhani went even further, highlighting the threat by praising Tehran's missile power. "If you want to limit Irans military power, you know that we have developed missiles since last year that you wouldnt even imagine," he said. Directly attacking President Donald Trump and his administration with harsh words, Rouhani asserted, Today, nobody in Iran supports your treacherous, outrageous government, and if you wanted to stop the Iranian government and state from pursuing its goals by [imposing] sanctions, and dominate Iran and the region, be sure that you are mistaken. The West has repeatedly raised its concerns over the continuation of the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, including the installation of more advanced centrifuges. Led by the U.S., Western countries have always been worried that the Islamic Republic might ultimately succeed in developing nuclear weapons and threaten their allies in the region. To stop Tehran's nuclear program, Washington along with the United Nations imposed sanctions on Tehran that led to Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers, signed in 2015, and implemented a year after. Nevertheless, President Donald Trump withdrew from JCPOA in May 2018 and reimposed unilateral sanctions on the Islamic Republic hoping to turn the tables against Tehran. The sanctions have created major economic and financial problems for the clerical regime, which faces public anger over worsening living conditions. Despite efforts made by three European countries still committed to JCPOA (France, Germany, and the U.K.), the fate of the deal has been in limbo since Washington's withdrawal. Recently, the three powers have been showing more toughness toward Tehran by raising the ballistic missile issue with the UN General Secretary. During his speech on Tuesday, Rouhani also threatened Tehran's western partners in JCPOA by noting, One of the 5+1 members (USA) violated all its commitments and proved that it is not trustworthy. Therefore, we tell the remaining members that they have to focus on their responsibilities. We have waited and will continue to do so, but our patience has a threshold that if reached, the Iranian government and state may take steps, so think about that day." In the meantime, Rouhani did not miss the chance to dismiss the impact of U.S. sanctions on Iran. "When announcing sanctions against the Iranian nation, you claimed that Iran would be devastated by summer, extending it to Christmas, to February 11, and then the new year. You were, and are always, gravely mistaken", Rouhani said. Meanwhile, the head of Iran Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO), Ali Akbar Salehi praised Iran for "making headways in the nuclear industry." Speaking at the same ceremony attended by Rouhani in Tehran, Salehi boasted of Iran's "114 new nuclear achievements, ready for exploitation." While insisting on Tehran's firm commitment to JCPOA, Salehi announced, "Iran is continuing to produce and upgrade centrifuges in the framework of JCPOA." Immediately after the withdrawal of Washington from JCPOA, the Islamic Republic Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a proclamation, ordering the IAEO to pave the way for the installment of 190,000 SWUs [separative work units] for the enrichment of uranium, in the framework of JCPOA. The Trump administration is turning up the heat on the ayatollahs. On Monday, April 8th, the White House formally announced that it was adding the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to the State Departments Foreign Terrorist Organization list putting Irans clerical army on a par with global terrorist groups like the Islamic State and al-Qaeda. The move, which formally goes into effect on April 15th, is hardly unprecedented. As the State Department has extensively detailed, Iran consistently ranks as the worlds leading state sponsor of international terrorism, and the IRGC is the principal instrument of this malign activity. From direct involvement in numerous acts of terror over the past four decades to the ongoing training of radical proxies like Lebanons Hezbollah and assorted Shiite militias, the IRGC has established itself as a truly global threat actor. But the Revolutionary Guards are also much more. Within Iran, they are nothing short of an economic powerhouse, in control of numerous companies and corporate entities that stretch across broad swathes of the national economy, from transportation to energy to construction. IRGC-controlled and -affiliated entities now permeate virtually every financial sector in the country, and wield extensive influence over Irans gray- and black-market activities. All told, the IRGC is believed to control one-third or more of the total economy of the Islamic Republic. All of this makes the Revolutionary Guards a logical target for the Trump administrations campaign of maximum pressure against the Iranian regime. In fact, the U.S. government has already sanctioned the IRGC extensively most recently in October 2017, when the U.S. Treasury Department targeted the Guards for supporting the nefarious activities of their dedicated paramilitary arm, the Qods Force. Mondays designation broadens these measures further. It makes it a crime for any individuals or businesses to knowingly provide material support or resources to the Revolutionary Guards. The immediate objective is to leverage the IRGCs pervasive influence over the Iranian economy to deter companies currently doing business there from doing more. If you are doing business with the IRGC, you will be bankrolling terrorism, the formal Administration announcement makes clear. Indeed, precisely because the IRGCs extensive business dealings are so intertwined with the overall national economy, the White House hopes that companies will now disengage from the Islamic Republic rather than face the prospect of economic penalties. In order to achieve that effect, however, the Trump administration will need to provide the companies in question with proof that they are in fact doing business with the IRGC and apply concrete punishments to those that dont change their behavior as a result. If that doesnt happen, the practical financial impact of the IRGCs blacklisting is likely to be minimal. The potential strategic ramifications, however, are more pronounced. As Michael Pregent of the Hudson Institute has noted, as a result of the designation all of the activities of the IRGC and its Qods Force can be touched by the U.S. government. That includes Iraqs Shia militias, which are heavily subsidized by Iran, and the legion of irregulars from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and other nations that the Islamic Republic has mobilized and deployed in Syria. In other words, the White House has just given itself greater freedom of action to target the extensive threat network that the Islamic Republic has erected around the region. But the most immediate effect is symbolic in nature. The destabilizing regional role played by the Iranian regime via the IRGC has been a fixture of Mideast politics for decades. For just as long, the U.S. government has stopped short of resolutely confronting this behavior, much to the chagrin of the Iranian regimes victims and its nervous neighbors. The Trump administration has now begun to do so. This weeks designation represents an acknowledgement that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft, as the White House statement puts it. The Administration has thereby confirmed what the world and the Iranian people have long known. And it has gone a long way toward reassuring regional allies that they are not alone in confronting the threat. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Radio Farda Loie Fuller (1862-1928) was, in short, the living embodiment of Art Nouveau, a dancer, inventor and performer. Born in the United States, Loie Fuller moved to Europe in 1892, to see her dancing finally recognised, possibly after the unsuccessful request for an injunction on her Serpentine Dance. US Patent 5183347A "Garment for dancers" I n the decision in Fuller v. Bemis, Fuller's dance was defined by the United States Circuit Court, Southern District of New York, Lacombe Circ. J., as follows: The cause of such success, fame a nd profit was the originality and extraordinarily novel nature of the incidents, scenes and tableaux of said composition, which consists of a series of fantastic, graceful, unique, harmonious and highly pleasing dances, each of which portrays or represents different characters and all of which appeal to the sense of beautiful and the aesthetic emotions. In the decision, a dramatic composition is defined as a work where the action is not narrated or described, but represented. The defendant argued that Movement, gesture and facial expression, which address the eye only, are as much a part of the dramatic composition, designed or suited for public representation as is the spoken language, which addresses the ear only. Lacombe J. stated that, pursuant to the meaning of the Copyright Act, it is essential that a dramatic composition tells a story, even if a simple one. What is the subject of copyright are the ideas expressed by the storytelling, whether in action, speech, emotion or passion. According to the Court, in filing for copyright protection, Ms. Fuller sought to protect a series of graceful movements combined with an attractive arrangement of drapery, lights and shadows, telling no story, portraying no character, depicting no emotion [..]. where they convey no ideas whose arrangement makes up a dramatic composition. Therefore, the Court denied Ms. Fuller request for an injunction because it found that the dance in question, although pleasing to the eye, was not a dramatic composition as it failed to tell a story, portrayed no character or emotion. Delving into the history of IP litigation in the US we find the case Fuller v. Bemis [Albany Law Journal, v. 46, 1892, p.165-166]. This case saw Marie Louise Fuller , better known as Loie/Loie or Louise Fuller, asking for an injunction, on the basis of copyright infringement, against Minnie Renwood Bemis in respect of her Serpentine Dance . This case was resolved unfavourably for Loie Fuller as the dance was not considered a "dramatic composition": " Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 Trend: Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops 20 times, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said April 10, 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, April 10 Trend: The ceasefire monitoring on the contact line between the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, in the direction of Azerbaijans Aghdam district, held in accordance with the mandate of personal representative of the OSCE chairperson-in-office on April 10, ended without incidents, Trend reports referring to the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan. The Personal Representative's field assistants Simon Tiller, Ghenadie Petrica and representative of the HLPG Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph Bosshard carried out the monitoring on the territory of Azerbaijan. Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk, the Personal Representative's field assistants Mihail Olaru and Ognjen Jovic, Colonel Yuri Dudchenko carried out the monitoring on the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan occupied and controlled by the armed forces of Armenia. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 Trend: A world-renowned virtuoso pianist, Peoples Artist of Russia, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Denis Matsuev has performed with a concert program at the Heydar Aliyev Palace. First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva, her daughters Leyla Aliyeva and Arzu Aliyeva attended the concert. Denis Matsuev is rightly considered as one of the most prominent pianists of his generation. Matsuev performs with the world's best known orchestras, such as the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburg Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, and others. Denis Matsuev regularly appears with the most distinguished conductors on a stage today. Since his triumph in the 1998 at the 11th International Tchaikovsky Competition, Denis Matsuev has become a virtuoso in the grandest of Russian pianistic tradition and has quickly established himself as one of the most prominent pianists of his generation. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Samir Ali Trend: The results of the survey, conducted by the French Opinion Way Research Institute testify to the Azerbaijani realities, editor-in-chief of the Ses newspaper, political expert Bahruz Guliyev told Trend on April 10. The survey confirmed that Azerbaijani citizens, voters support Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and have high confidence in the president, he said. The main factor stipulating the high rating of the leader not only in Azerbaijan, but also in the world is his unity with people, the expert stressed. Over the past year, the president took all the necessary steps for the sake of the well-being of people, Guliyev said. The consistent measures were taken to ensure a decent living for people. While talking to citizens, the president listened to their problems. He added that along with social, economic, cultural development thanks to the presidents policy, which was continued over the past year, stability and security were also fully ensured in Azerbaijan. "The policy being pursued by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev over the past year has attracted special attention, Guliyev said. Azerbaijan is demonstrating a new model of development in social, political and economic spheres to the world. The fact that during various meetings, events, the president is close to citizens, quickly responds to solve their problems, listens to their problems, is a new model, new experience in the world," he said. The high confidence expressed by the respondents during the survey once again shows that the Azerbaijani citizens support their president and his policy, Guliyev added. The survey has confirmed the correctness of the policy being pursued in Azerbaijan, the unity of the leader and people." Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Matanat Nasibova - Trend: On April 10, 2019, the press center of Trend News Agency held a round table meeting on the topic Security Problems of the South Caucasus and the Caspian region countries. The event was organized by the North-South Political Science Center under the moderation of the head of the Caspian Expert Club Gulnara Mammadzade and Executive Director of the North-South Political Science Center Angelika Trapeznikova. In their welcoming speech, the moderators of the round table meeting noted the importance of holding a meeting from the point of view of forming an expert dialogue of the countries of the Caspian region, as well as prospects for further cooperation, in particular in the field of security. The event participants discussed Russian-Azerbaijani cooperation in the context of new challenges for the Caspian region, the development of North-South, East-West transport corridor systems as a condition for ensuring security of the Caspian region. They also discussed signing of the Constitution of the Caspian Sea in the context of ensuring regional security in the South Caucasus, regional conflicts and security in the South Caucasus, the fight against terrorism in Azerbaijan, the deepening of economic ties between Azerbaijan and Russia in the light of the formation of a new technology structure in the global economy and economic security, as well as intensification of regional integration and the coordination of the actions of the Eurasian countries in removing tensions and preventing new challenges, the problem of mutual understanding of the North and South Caucasus as a common security system for border states. From the Azerbaijani side, Azerbaijani MP Rasim Musabayov, head of the Expert Council of the Baku Network, Ph.D. Elkhan Alasgarov, moderator and expert Gulnara Mammadzade, editor-in-chief of the Sputnik-Azerbaijan news agency Ilgar Valizade, professor of Azerbaijan University of Economics Elshad Mammadov, senior adviser of the Baku International Multiculturalism Center Tofiq Abbasov, national security expert, doctor of law Professor Kamil Salimov took part in the meeting. Stanislav Chernyavsky, director of the Center for Post-Soviet Studies at Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Konstantin Kurylev, director of the Center for Studies of Post-Soviet Countries and Leonid Gusev, senior researcher at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Russian Foreign Ministry participated from the Russian side. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MatanatNasibova Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 Trend: Azerbaijani Defense Minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov met with Russian Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mikhail Bocharnikov on April 10, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. During the meeting, prospects for the development of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia in military, military-educational, military-medical and other spheres, including new projects in the field of military-technical cooperation aimed at enhancing the combat capability of the Azerbaijani Army were discussed. The sides exchanged views on organizing working meetings between delegations of the Defense Ministries of the two countries, conducting joint military exercises, continuing mutual visits of warships of both countries in the Caspian Sea and other issues. The ambassador introduced newly appointed military attache of Russia in Azerbaijan, Colonel Andrei Alexensev to Hasanov. The defense minister congratulated the new military attache in regards to the beginning of his activity in Azerbaijan and wished him success in expanding military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Matanat Nasibova Trend: Azerbaijan is an oasis of stability in the South Caucasus, Stanislav Chernyavsky, director of the Center for Post-Soviet Studies at Moscow State Institute of International Relations, said. Chernyavsky made the remarks in Baku during a round table meeting dedicated to Security Problems of the South Caucasus and the Caspian region countries in the press center of Trend News Agency. "Three years ago, hostilities resumed in the Nagorno-Karabakh region in April, which were suspended thanks to Russian President Vladimir Putins personal participation, he said. As a result of this step, Russia played a positive role in preserving the regional security. The sides agreed to create some tools to establish operational communication with the corresponding structures under Putins mediation. We think that the mechanisms for establishing operational communication will serve to strengthen trust between the sides, allow them to prevent the risks of uncontrolled turning of some incidents on the line of contact into big clashes, Chernyavsky said. We consider this as a positive step in resolving the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict." After the protracted transformation of power in Armenia related to the transition to a parliamentary form of government, the negotiation process between Baku and Yerevan began almost from the very beginning, he said. "In my opinion, there is a certain positive thing, Chernyavsky said. The meeting of the leaders of the two countries in Vienna in March 2019 was held in a constructive atmosphere and it is important that they reaffirmed the need to strengthen and improve the direct communication mechanism and agreed to develop the issues in the humanitarian sphere. The fact that the regular contacts of the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan with the participation of the Russian side have intensified shows that there is a certain road map in the Moscow-Baku-Yerevan triangle, he said. I am far from thinking that the conflict will be resolved tomorrow and forever. Nevertheless, we see certain progress in this direction." The event participants discussed Russian-Azerbaijani cooperation in the context of new challenges for the Caspian region, the development of North-South, East-West transport corridor systems as a condition for ensuring security of the Caspian region. They also discussed signing of the Constitution of the Caspian Sea in the context of ensuring regional security in the South Caucasus, regional conflicts and security in the South Caucasus, the fight against terrorism in Azerbaijan, the deepening of economic ties between Azerbaijan and Russia in the light of the formation of a new technology structure in the global economy and economic security, as well as intensification of regional integration and the coordination of the actions of the Eurasian countries in removing tensions and preventing new challenges, the problem of mutual understanding of the North and South Caucasus as a common security system for border states. From the Azerbaijani side, Azerbaijani MP Rasim Musabayov, head of the Expert Council of the Baku Network, Ph.D. Elkhan Alasgarov, moderator and expert Gulnara Mammadzade, editor-in-chief of the Sputnik-Azerbaijan news agency Ilgar Valizade, professor of Azerbaijan University of Economics Elshad Mammadov, senior adviser of the Baku International Multiculturalism Center Tofiq Abbasov, national security expert, doctor of law Professor Kamil Salimov took part in the meeting. Stanislav Chernyavsky, director of the Center for Post-Soviet Studies at Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Konstantin Kurylev, director of the Center for Studies of Post-Soviet Countries and Leonid Gusev, senior researcher at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Russian Foreign Ministry participated from the Russian side. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MatanatNasibova Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Samir Ali - Trend: Humanitarian aid has been sent to Iran on the instructions by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and will be delivered during the day, deputy minister for emergency situations, Lieutenant General of the Medical Service of Azerbaijan Faig Tagizade said, Trend reports April 10. The humanitarian aid includes 75 tents, 150 water pumps of various parameters, 5 rubber boats, 140 units of uniform, 320 sets of clothes for lifeguards and 200 life jackets, 2 excavators, 166 kitchen sets, 3,000 bed sets for a total of 950,000 manats, he said. On the instructions by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, on behalf of the countrys government, the Ministry for Emergency Situations sent humanitarian aid to Iran in connection with natural disaster in the country as a result of continuous rain. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 Trend: Azerbaijan's Agency for Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and the Dubai Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization, a similar structure in the UAE, are expanding cooperation, Trend reports referring to the agency. Relevant discussions took place during the meeting, organized as part of the eighth annual meeting on investments, traditionally held in Dubai. At the meeting held between the chairman of the agency Orkhan Mammadov and the general executive director of the Dubai SMEs Development Organization Abdulbaset Al-Janahi, the parties expressed interest in cooperation, exchanged views on expanding ties. The main topics discussed were related to the establishment and development of cooperation between small and medium-sized businesses of Azerbaijan and the UAE. To this end, the parties agreed to expand ties, to organize events in Baku with the participation of representatives of SMEs of the two countries and to implement joint projects in Azerbaijan based on the UAE investments. The eighth meeting on investments began on April 8 in Dubai, which is a favorable platform for discussing investment opportunities for the development of entrepreneurship, trends in encouraging investments and discussing cooperation, sharing experience and establishing new ties. More than 10,000 representatives of state and private structures from over 140 countries, as well as experts, famous scientists participate in the meeting of the current year. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Elnur Baghishov Trend: Iranian gold producers are ready to export their products to Iraq and via transit to Syria, Hojjat Shafaei, Head of the Gem & Jewellery Manufactures & Exporters Union of Iran (JMEU), told Ibena, Trend reports. According to Shafaei, Iran has a very good potential for exporting gold to Iraq and Syria. "The Iraqi side has also expressed interest in this," he said. Shafaei said that the Iraqi government has allocated a place for a permanent exhibition of Iranian gold in Iraq. He also added that Iran's Chamber of Commerce has also purchased a large, fully-equipped building in Iraq, so as to be able to use economic unions for their exchanges with the Iraqi side. Shafaei said that Turkey and the UAE have currently started to export gold to Iraq, and Iraq shows great interest in cooperation with Iran in this field. He added that there are no bans on exports of gold to Iraq, but the main problem concerns banking issues. Once the problem finds its solution, cooperation in export and production can begin. The US imposed sanctions on Iran in November 2018, which led to the end of Iran's cooperation with SWIFT. This has created certain restrictions in international trade for Iran. In addition to the fact that limousine travel is very glamorous, it is also the most comfortable trip you can... Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Matanat Nasibova - Trend: The poultry plant Hajiqabul Qushchuluq located in the Hajiqabul district of Azerbaijan will start exporting eggs to Qatar next week, head of the plants export department Akif Aliyev told Trend. He said that 36,000 eggs will be exported in 1,000 packages. In the future, we plan to increase these volumes, and the negotiations are underway regarding this, he noted. At the same time, we supply our products to Iraq and Iran, and to Afghanistan, where there is also demand for the plants products. He added that the company has to increase exports to foreign markets, as there is little demand in the domestic market. Since this type of product is perishable, we have to export more, and this isnt profitable, taking into account the cost of transportation, logistics and other issues, he said. We have to constantly look for customers so that products dont stand idle in warehouses, losing quality. He noted that during the year the plant produces about 30-35 million eggs. Earlier, the plant produced chicken meat, broiler chickens, but this process has been stopped. Manufactured products have a certificate of conformity issued by the State Committee for Standardization, Metrology and Patents of Azerbaijan. The plant uses equipment made in Russia, Ukraine and Turkey. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Matanat Nasibova - Trend: The first Center for Sustainable and Operational Social Security (DOST) in the Yasamal district of Baku is expected to open in the near future, the deputy director of the analysis and statistics department of the DOST agency, Shahin Zulfugarov, said at the 3rd regional forum "The Role of Entrepreneurship in the Development of Regions" held in Azerbaijan's Aghstafa district and organized by the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers) of Azerbaijan, Trend reports. Zulfugarov noted that the creation of DOST centers will make it possible to bring together all the services of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population in one place. "DOST centers are created to provide state social services (employment, social security, targeted state social assistance, pensions, social insurance and other services) through operational, simplified procedures," he said. The deputy director noted that the DOST project is being implemented on the initiative of the First Vice-President of Azerbaijan, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva, and aims to provide operational services in the field of labor and social protection of the population. The forum in Aghstafa was attended by heads of executive power of various districts, representatives of the Ministry of Taxes, the State Customs Committee, the Small and Medium Business Development Agency, the Food Safety Agency, the State Advertising Agency and the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communications, as well as regional entrepreneurs. In 2019-2025, 31 DOST centers are planned to be created in Baku and regions: five in Baku, two in Sumgayit and Ganja, and the rest in other regions of the country. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MatanatNasibova Tehran, Iran, April 10 Trend: Iran's Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade said that 55 percent of Iran's non-oil exports go out to 15 neighboring countries, so the country is looking to expand its reach. Reza Rahmani said that Iran is looking to launch new trading offices in Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. "We have increased the trade relations with Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Lebanon," Rahmani said, Trend reports citing the official website of Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade. Rahmani called increasing the economic cooperation with Oman, Iraq and Lebanon as the gateway to the Arab market. "The Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade's plans for the current year will be boosting exports, domestic production and activating mines," said the official. "Oman, with regard to free trade with 27 countries, is the gateway to a 500-million population market, which Iran must take advantage of, to increase its economic and trade relations," he said. The minister noted that while 55 percent of Iran's non-oil exports account for neighboring countries, but only 2 percent of those countries' imports account for Iran, and the country looks to up the figure to 5 percent. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Fakhri Vakilov Trend: Swiss company Mircea Tudor Scan Tech S.A. (MTST) is looking to implement a new project in Uzbekistan. The project will help transfer high tech industry to Uzbekistan, by setting-up a local production facility capable to satisfy all local needs and to export different kind of scanners in the regional market, the company told Trend . Mircea Tudor Scan Tech S.A. (MTST) is a Swiss company with over 20 years of experience in developing innovative scanning technologies, proving high expertise to develop unique internationally patented scanning technologies for civil and military aircrafts, occupied cars and vans, trains, trucks and containers. MTST operates in Switzerland a state-of-the-art factory and an R&D center for nuclear technologies with fast-prototyping capacity. The company is deeply involved in large-scale security projects covering borders, critical infrastructures, seaports and airports. The company noted that currently, there are only 7 producers of such technologies globally but none of the competitors can supply the full range of scanners for cars, vans, trucks and containers, trains, boats and aircrafts. Tudor Tech stated that their company is the only one in the world covering all type of scanning solutions and all type of imaging technologies; low energy x-Ray, Gamma and high-energy x-Ray that will be transferred to Uzbekistan. We are contributing our high expertise accumulated within 20 years of development of complex nuclear technologies as well as with our expertise of setting-up a production facility, the company said. The company stressed that Uzbek attractiveness to foreign capital seems to be enough for Tudor Scan Tech deciding to enter a partnership for such advanced technology in this country. The next step in the project is to enlarge the cooperation in the field of medical imaging systems and other medical technological equipment that Tudor Tech has in its portfolio, said the company. Tudor Scan Tech underlined that the main challenge of the company is to propose Tudor Tech AERIA, a new and revolutionary field proven solution for civil and military aviation safety and security, introducing finally the technological support in airplane bomb on board clearing and fast security screening of airplanes arriving from low security/high risk origin of flights. For the military aviation, AERIA can generate within few minutes only conclusive dual view (top view and side view) high resolution radiography, capable to reveal sub-millimeter details and material separation, extremely useful for fast assessment of the mechanical and structural integrity of the aircraft after combat missions or as routine checks. The scanning process can reveal eventual foreign objects on board, detached/misplaced objects or parts, liquid leakages and many other anomalies, including inside the technical cavities, inaccessible for security of safety inspection. The company noted that the cars scanner and the truck/container scanner can bring a high level of security of the airfields or other critical infrastructures areas, by scanning all vehicles accessing the secured area, eliminating significant vulnerabilities. The truck and container scanner ML 64 is the only mobile scanner for trucks and containers in the world fully robotized, remote operated, eliminating exposure of the operators to radiation and eliminating the risk of human casualties in case of explosion of the inspected vehicle. Earlier Trend reported that a high-tech plant for the production of scanners by technology of the Swiss company Tudor Tech will be built in Jizzak region of Uzbekistan. --- Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Fakhri Vakilov Trend: China is ready to join the development of the Mazar-i-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway project, Trend reports with reference to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan. Ismatulla Irgashev, Special Representative of the President of Uzbekistan for Afghanistan, met with Special Envoy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China for Afghanistan, Deng Xijun in Beijing. The meeting discussed key Afghan issues, including the construction of the railway. The sides exchanged views on the current situation in Afghanistan and the prospects for launching a peaceful intra-Afghan dialogue aimed at establishing a lasting and long-term peace in the country. The meeting discussed the prospects for strengthening the interaction of the two countries in Afghan area, including the participation of China in the activities of the Educational Center for the training of Afghan citizens in Termez (Uzbekistan) and the implementation of other joint projects in various fields. The conversation also addressed the issues that are planned to be included on the agenda of the upcoming meeting of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Chinese side highly appreciated the efforts of Uzbekistan to implement various projects in the fields of energy, transport, logistics and education and expressed its readiness to join the development of the Mazari-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway project. In this regard, Deng Xijun emphasized the significance of the project initiated by the Uzbek side for the entire region. The trade turnover between China and Uzbekistan passed the mark of $6.4 billion last year. There are more than 1,120 enterprises with the participation of Chinese capital operating in Uzbekistan, covering oil and gas, textile, agricultural, chemical and building materials industries. In general, the total amount of Chinese investment in Uzbekistan amounts to $7.8 billion since the establishment of diplomatic relations. --- Follow the author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 Trend: A meeting with entrepreneurs using the Green Corridor gating system was held in the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee, Trend reports referring to the committee on April 10. The purpose of the meeting was to inform the foreign trade participants who constantly use the Green Corridor gating system, which has been used upon the presidents decree since February 1, 2019. The participants of the meeting were informed about the delivery of imported goods directly to their warehouses and in case of export, they can send goods directly to the checkpoint, without coming to the customs office. During the meeting, it was stressed that over 500 requests were obtained up till now to receive the right to use the "green corridor" and positive responses were given to more than 280 of those requests. The round-the-clock support group consisting of specialists has been created in the State Customs Committee. This group promptly eliminates difficulties that may arise during the export-import operations and representatives of business structures can contact the customs bodies at any time regarding the corresponding issues. The presentation dedicated to the direct delivery of goods to the warehouses of foreign trade participants, who have the right of permanent use of the Green Corridor gating system was held during the event. The participants exchanged views. The proposals were heard and questions were voiced. Azerbaijani First Deputy Chairman of the Committee, Major General of the Customs Service Ismayil Huseynov, Deputy Chairman of the Committee, Major General of the Customs Service Javad Gasimov, heads of the Main Directorate, heads of the corresponding structures, entrepreneurs attended the event. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 Trend: The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway is the shortest route between China and Europe, Javid Gurbanov, chairman of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC, said at a meeting with President of Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) Son Byung-seok in Seoul, Trend reports April 10 with reference to CJSC. During the meeting held with the participation of big delegations, Son Byung-seok thanked Javid Gurbanov for his support in the issue of the membership of the KORAIL in the Organization for Cooperation of Railways and its participation in the 34th meeting of directors general of the Organization for Cooperation of Railways. In turn, Gurbanov told about the transport and logistics potential of Azerbaijan and the transformations carried out in the countrys railways. He presented detailed information on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, the North-South and South-West transport corridors and the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. He said that the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route provides transportation of goods from China to Europe and in the opposite direction. One of the most important achievements in increasing the competitiveness of the Middle Corridor is the commissioning of the BTK railway corridor, he noted. Being an integral part of the Middle Corridor, the BTK is the shortest route between China and Europe, he said. The KORAIL could consider joining the Middle Corridor project in order to carry out regular shipments to Europe, using the wide terminal capabilities of the Lianyungang and Busan ports. As part of the meeting, the sides discussed issues of expanding bilateral ties. During the visit to South Korea, the Azerbaijani delegation also got acquainted with the work of the Busan port. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Greece and Bulgaria have agreed to work on the updated schedule of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas, Trend reports. The remarks were made during a meeting between Bulgarias Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova and Greek Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Giorgos Stathakis, according to a message from Bulgarian Energy Ministry. During the meeting, the ministers discussed the necessary follow-up to the projects implementation. The two sides expressed commitment to work on an updated schedule for the project so that the interconnector could be put into operation in 2020 in synergy with the launch of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), reads the message. During his visit to Sofia, Minister Stathakis confirmed that IGB is a priority project for the Greek side as well. The ministers stressed that the key priority is the successful completion of public procurements for the project. "All tenders for the project are expected to be completed by the end of April. The sides also discussed the forthcoming signing of an intergovernmental agreement to stabilize the tax regime for 25 years," said the message. IGB is a gas pipeline, which will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijani gas, in particular, the gas produced from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz 2 gas and condensate field. IGB is expected to be connected to TAP via which gas from the Shah Deniz field will be delivered to the European markets. The initial capacity of IGB will be 3 billion cubic meters of gas. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project, which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, will contribute to a more competitive environment in European gas market, Trend reports citing a message from TAP AG consortium. Natural gas consumption in Europe continues to rise. While gas meets 54 percent of energy needs in Italy, it costs around 30 percent more than the European average. Once operational, TAP will diversify supply sources and contribute to a more competitive environment, 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). --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Georgia is ready to explore opportunities to increase energy flow through the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, said Mamuka Bakhtadze, Prime Minister of Georgia, Trend reports. He made the remarks during the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in France, answering the question of Azerbaijani MP Ganira Pashayeva. Azerbaijan is a strategic partner of Georgia, he said, adding that the two countries together have implemented historical projects, such as Baku-Tbilisi-Kars, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, also Southern Gas Corridor and many others. We think that we are not fully utilizing the resources of the Caspian Sea and of course, we can contribute to the energy security of Europe more. We have this dialogue with our European colleagues. There are few capacities for example in Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and of course, we will be very happy explore this opportunity together with Azerbaijan to increase the energy flow in our corridor, added Georgian PM. The total length of the BTC pipeline is 1,768 kilometers, 443 kilometers of which passes through Azerbaijan, 249 through Georgia and 1,076 through Turkey. Construction of the pipeline was commenced in April 2003, and the pipeline was filled with oil on May 18, 2005. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: In 2019, demand for OPEC crude is forecast at 30.3 million barrels per day (mb/d), around 1.1 mb/d lower than the estimated 2018 level, Trend reports citing the OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR). Demand for OPEC crude in 2018 is estimated at 31.4 mb/d, 1.5 mb/d lower than the 2017 level, reads the report. World oil demand growth for 2018 was revised down slightly, by 0.02 mb/d, as compared with last months assessment, mainly due to revisions in the OECD Asia Pacific. Oil demand growth was pegged at 1.41 mb/d and total oil consumption at 98.70 mb/d. Oil demand growth in the OECD region was revised lower by 0.02 mb/d in 2018 on lower-than-expected data from OECD Asia Pacific. Weaker-than-expected oil demand from Japan was further exacerbated by decreased oil requirements in South Korea at the end of the year. As a result, the regions oil demand in 4Q18 was adjusted lower by 0.06 mb/d. For 2019, world oil demand growth is estimated to increase by 1.21 mb/d, revised lower by around 0.03 mb/d from last months estimate. This was largely driven by revisions in economic growth expectations for the OECD region in 2019. As such, oil demand growth for the region was adjusted lower by 0.03 mb/d, while non-OECD oil demand growth held relatively unchanged from last months projections. OECD oil demand is anticipated to grow by 0.21 mb/d in 2019, with OECD Americas increasing the most amid steady NGL and middle distillate requirements. In the non-OECD region, oil demand is foreseen rising by 1.00 mb/d, with lower Chinese oil demand growth partially offset by gains in the Middle East. Total world oil demand is now forecast at 99.91 mb/d in 2019, said OPEC. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Non-OPEC oil supply growth in 2018 was revised up by 0.16 million barrels per day (mb/d) from the previous months report and is now estimated to have grown by 2.90 mb/d to average 62.37 mb/d, Trend reports citing OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report. The adjustment was mainly due to upward revisions to all quarters of the UK (+73 tb/d), as well as upward revisions to biofuels output in Brazil (+37 tb/d) and China (+27 tb/d), said the cartel. The expected y-o-y growth of 2.26 mb/d in the US, along with Canada, Russia, UK, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Other OECD Europe, Brazil, Ghana and China supported non-OPEC supply growth in 2018, while Mexico, Norway and Vietnam is estimated to have shown the largest declines, according to OPEC. In contrast, non-OPEC oil supply growth in 2019 was revised down by 0.06 mb/d to average 2.18 mb/d, mainly due to extended maintenance in Kazakhstan (-111 tb/d), Brazil (-57 tb/d) and Canada (-23 tb/d) which was partially offset by upward revisions in the US and Russias oil supply forecasts. Total supply for the year is now projected to average 64.54 mb/d. The US (+1.87 mb/d), Brazil, Russia, UK, Australia, Ghana and the Sudans are the main drivers for this years growth, while Mexico, Kazakhstan, Norway, Indonesia and Vietnam are projected to see the largest declines, reads the report. In addition to the existing infrastructure constraints in North America both in Texas and Alberta, the 2019 non-OPEC supply forecast faces a range of uncertainties with regard to capital investment in US shale and expansion of field activities, said OPEC. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Azad Hasanli Trend: The Azerbaijani Agency for Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) intends to help expand cooperation between insurance companies and entrepreneurs, chairman of board of the agency Orkhan Mammadov said in an interview with Trend. The fire that occurred in the Diglas shopping center once again showed the need for insurance in various spheres, especially in business, the importance of insuring goods and property by entrepreneurs, he said. The presidents order about payment of damage to the entrepreneurs who suffered losses during the fire in the Diglas shopping center once again shows that the state greatly supports entrepreneurs," Mammadov added. "The entrepreneurs who suffered losses as a result of the fire stress that rendering financial assistance in case of the lack of insurance is the Azerbaijani presidents another humanistic step and this shows once again that the state always stands by businessmen," he said. The business entities, especially small and medium ones, must be interested in insuring their goods and property, Mammadov added. "The cooperation between entrepreneurs and insurance companies should be expanded in this sphere, he said. The agency intends to take the corresponding measures to enlighten entrepreneurs about the importance of insurance, as well as expand cooperation between insurance companies and entrepreneurs." ---- Follow the author on Twitter: @AzadHasanli Kyrgyzstan and Slovakia intend to sign a number of project agreements, Foreign Minister of Kyrgyzstan Chingiz Aidarbekov told at the briefing on the results of negotiations with the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia, Miroslav Lajcak, reports Trend citing to kabar.kg The Kyrgyz minister said that today the whole complex of bilateral relations was discussed. We have outlined plans and steps of our bilateral relations. We discussed our contacts in terms of political and diplomatic cooperation and economic cooperation. This year we plan to hold additional inter-MFA consultations to expand our agenda and bilateral cooperation, he said. The Minister also noted that the parties plan to sign a number of project agreements. Aidarbekov hopes that the parties will come to common positions. We also have outlined concrete steps to strengthen trade and economic cooperation, and a business forum is planned. Also, through the Foreign Ministry, my colleague and I planned to hold consultations on investment issues, for which I wanted to express my gratitude. We noted with great pleasure that we have a solid foundation for the history of Kyrgyz-Slovak relations. This is the activity of the cooperative Intergelpo, which in the 30s of the last century occupied a key position in the domestic industry. Then our friends and brothers, Slovaks, Czechs and Hungarians, arrived on the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic. Then they helped us in the formation of our domestic products. Today we have outlined concrete steps on the potential that we have, added the Kyrgyz minister. In addition, issues on the agenda of the OSCE bilateral cooperation were also on the agenda. All parties and participants noted with great pleasure the enormous contribution of the OSCE to the sustainable development of Kyrgyzstan, to our key areas. This is an electoral right, and the strengthening of security, here both the economic and environmental baskets, concluded Minister Aidarbekov. Marking the 20th anniversary of OSCE presence in Kyrgyzstan during his visit to Bishkek yesterday, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Slovakias Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak emphasized the strong Kyrgyz-OSCE partnership and close collaboration on promoting good governance, strengthening democratic institutions and reforming the electoral system, reports Trend referring to Discussing past and future OSCE initiatives, in his meetings with the political leadership in Bishkek, including President Sooronbai Zheenbekov, Foreign Minister Chyngyz Aidarbekov, and Speaker of the Parliament Dastanbek Djumabekov, Minister Lajcak stressed that the OSCE and the Slovak Chairmanship stand ready to support Kyrgyzstan in consolidating stability, and furthering development and reform efforts. Being in Kyrgyzstan a day after visiting Kazakhstan, the Chairperson emphasized that Central Asia is adding to the rich spectrum of perspectives embodied by the 57 OSCE participating States: You are at the crossroads of ancient civilizations; of different religions, languages and worlds, he said. The OSCEs direct contribution to the stability of Kyrgyzstan, and the wider region, is vivid and vast. I strongly welcome the work of the OSCE - in establishing the building blocks for peace and stability from the ground up. It is clear that the organization is not here to teach or impose anything. Instead, it is here to listen and learn, to create new platforms for dialogue and exchange, to build capacities, Minister Lajcak said opening the event on 20 years OSCE presence in Kyrgyzstan, achievements and future prospects. The breadth of the Programme Offices work over the past 20 years is illustrated by activities ranging from working with national actors to counter terrorism and corruption, facilitate cross-border trade, and raise environmental awareness, to promoting participation of women in political life and supporting efforts to improve the access of persons with disabilities to the electoral process. Highlighting the OSCE Academy, a flagship project on engaging young people in security and stability, Minister Lajcak said: It is a crucial platform - linking not only universities from across the entire OSCE area, but also young people from this region, including Afghanistan and Mongolia. This is positive in the short-term. It builds new bridges; pools information; fosters understanding. But the real benefits will also be seen in years to come when the Academys alumni continue to interact and indeed lead from within their communities, workplaces and governments, he added. It embodies the spirit of Kyrgyzstan-OSCE co-operation. Addressing the students, Minister Lajcak said: The world is finally waking up to the potential of youth; to the fact that young men and women are the change-makers, the peacebuilders, the innovators of both today and tomorrow. I know this is particularly true in Central Asia. But there is still more room for engagement and inclusion. Before leaving Kyrgyzstan, the Chairperson-in-Office used the opportunity to listen to the views of civil society representatives, who help to ensure that the work of the OSCE is in line with the realities on the ground. He told the group of people active in different areas that civil society is now part of our multilateral ecosystem. We know that security is not something that is installed from the top down. Rather, it must be built - block by block - on foundations such as tolerance, pluralism, human rights and democracy. And you here today are the people helping to lay down these building blocks. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 Trend: On April 9, 2019, the WHO European High-Level Conference on Non-Communicable Diseases Meeting non-communicable disease targets to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in Europe has started in the Yildiz hotel of Ashgabat city. The heads and representatives of the Ministry of Health Protection and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan, European Regional Office of the World Health Organization, as well as the responsible representatives working in the sphere of healthcare from around 50 countries across the world, including the employees of international organizations, representatives of local and accredited in Turkmenistan mass media participated to the event. During the opening ceremony, the Minister of Health Protection and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan gave a speech and read the Congratulatory Message of President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov addressed to the participants of the WHO European High-Level Conference on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases. Then the video address of the Director-General of the World Health Organization Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was shown to the participants of the Conference where he noted valuable contribution of Turkmenistan in the implementation of WHO international initiatives and wished to the participants of the Conference fruitful work. Then Dr. Piroska Ostlin, Acting Regional Director for Europe of the World Health Organization made an address. Highly appraising the long-term cooperation of the WHO with Turkmenistan, the guest has presented to the Turkmen side a Certificate for Valuable Input of Turkmenistan in Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases. During the first day of the session, the representatives of relevant agencies of Turkmenistan, as well as the European Regional Office of WHO gave speeches at the event. It was noted that the adoption in 2013 of Ashgabat Declaration on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases in the Context of Health 2020 has become a milestone event for European region. This Document has affirmed the main regulations and obligations in the area of controlling the NCDs and became a vector in perfecting the healthcare systems, strengthening the monitoring of NCD programmes, including the preventive measures and preparation of plans on the national level. In addition, the participants spoke about the work done up to the current time by the WHO member-states and partners which contributed to the attainment of positive results on the control of NCDs on global level, thus making an input in the process of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the Agenda 2030. As the result of the first day of the Conference, a briefing was organized for the political scientists and the stakeholders. During the event, the participants received information on the activities realized by the WHO in cooperation with Turkmenistan in the sphere of prevention and control of non-communicable diseases. On April 10, 2019, the WHO European High-Level Conference will continue its work. Tehran, Iran, April 10 Trend: The installation of a chain of 20 advanced IR6 centrifuges in the Natanz enrichment facility was announced by Iran`s President Hassan Rouhani on the thirteenth anniversary of the National Nuclear Technology Day. "We are happy to announce the installation of the IR6 centrifuges. This will be a big achievement for the Iranian nation," Rouhani was quoted as saying at a video conference, Trend reports citing IRIB. Hassan Rouhani also ordered the opening and operation of the National Center for Engineering and Technology of Vacuum at Fordow facility in Arak. "We are very happy that Fordow is hosting a new technology, and today we are pleased to open a very important national center in Fordow," he said. The Enrichment Waste Management Center at the Natanz Enrichment facility was also opened by the Iranian president through video conferencing. The medical electron-linear accelerator, named Omid, was another achievement that was opened with the president's order, Iranian media reported. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Elnur Baghishov Trend: One of the main problems of Iranian businessmen is being unable to benefit from the international banking system, and measures should be taken for Iran to join Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Majidreza Hariri, Deputy Chairman of the Iran-China Chamber of Commerce, told Ibena, Trend reports. Besides the US sanctions, the other major problem Iranian businessmen have to face is projects dealing with FATF still not being ratified in Iran, which effectively keeps them banned from the international banking system, according to Hariri. Hariri expressed hope that necessary measures will be taken in the country and Iran will join the FATF. "Foreign banks will thus not have excuses for not cooperating with Iranian businessmen," he said. Touching on China's purchase of oil from Iran and the US extending the period for Chinas exemption from sanctions on purchases of Iranian oil, Hariri said that he does not think that the exemption period will not be prolonged for the 4 temporarily exempted Asian countries China, India, South Korea and Japan. "Of course, it is possible that the US may lift the exemption from sanctions for European countries," he said. Stating that an alternative to Iranian oil is practically non-existent for oil refineries of the above-mentioned Asian countries, Hariri did not rule out the possibility of the reduction of oil imports by Asian countries from Iran with possible future US sanctions. Hariri noted that the volume of trade turnover between Iran and China has had a slight increase in 2018, and expressed hope that this process will continue in 2019. The US imposed sanctions on Iran in November 2018, setting a 6-month exemption period for 8 countries importing oil from Iran. Tehran, Iran, April 10 Trend: Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has unveiled 114 new achievements of nuclear industry in the various fields, including in the fields of medicine, medical diagnosis, and quantum technology. The ceremony was held at Iran International Conference Centre to mark the 13th anniversary of Irans National Day of Nuclear Technology, Trend reports citing FARS News Agency. Among the unveiled achievements were: a nuclear propulsion controller, an advanced radio diagnostic in the treatment of liver cancer, a quantum technology system, an integrated zonal centrifuge, and the FTIR infrared spectrometer. Tehran, Iran, April 10 By Sara Riazi - Trend: A senior aide to the head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran announced that talks under underway with foreign investors to build small nuclear plants with the capacity of 100 megawatt production. Referring to the last status of phase two and three of the Bushehr nuclear power plants, Asqar Zarean said that after the first phase of Bushehr was completed, the establishment second and third phase of the plant have begun with Russian cooperation. Up to now, 1.2 million cubic meters of excavation work was carried out and next summer we will see concrete operations and implementation of its foundation, Zarean told Trend. He said the estimated cost for the Phase 2 and 3 of the Bushehr plant is 10 million euros. In these financially difficult circumstances, this is big budget which will be managed through the support of the leadership and the government, he said hinting at the U.S. sanctions against Iran`s financial relationship with foreign investors. "The two plants each have the capacity of 1,050 MW, plus 1,100 MW electricity of the power plant of Phase I, the total electricity which is entering the grid will be 3,100 MW, he added. "The AEOI operates the Tetra project in the area of radio medicines standardization, and the relevant construction work has been launched and will be accomplished by 2021." We meet domestic demand for radiopharmaceuticals, and exports them at the same time, he said. With regarding the next year's AEOI`s plan he said that they anticipated 16 projects in the medium and long term period. We will launch the Center for Seperation and Development of Isotopic in Fordow in 2020, he said, adding that the National Engineering Center and the Nuclear Pollution and Waste Management Unit will open today. Pointing to the investment of foreign countries in Iran`s nuclear industry he said "We have already cooperated with the European Union in the field of Nuclear Safety System. The positive steps have taken by both sides." He went on to emphasize that the external cooperation is more in the field of safety of nuclear power plants, which is followed by the Nuclear Safety System Centre. There was no interruption in these partnerships, he added. Despite the efforts of enemies, their hardware and software sabotages have been neutralized, he said. The reason for the enemy's adversity is the conversion of science to the product by our country, otherwise there is no anger at building a power plant and generating electricity. The organization's impact has been on seven hundred industries, such as Petrochemical Industry, oil, petrochemical and many other activities, Zarean said. Referring to the plans for the construction of new power plants in near future he said that now, just two power plants in Bushehr are currently in progress, but Iran is negotiating with other countries to build 100 megawatt small power plants. He also said the countries negotiated with Iran will be named later. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: The cancellation of election results and the holding of new elections in Istanbul is a matter of time as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the main ally of the Justice and Development Party, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party Devlet Bahceli do not rule out the cancellation of the election results in Istanbul. While commenting on this issue, candidate for the post of head of Istanbul from the Republican Peoples Party Ekrem Imamoglu said that he is ready to hold new municipal elections in Istanbul, but he does not think it would come to that. The matter rests in the fact that the ruling party did not oppose the results of the municipal elections in Ankara, where candidate of the Republican Peoples Party Mansur Yavas gained 50.93 percent of votes. Ankara as the capital of Turkey is important, but one must not forget that cultural and economic and of course, the ideological capital of the country is Istanbul - the capital of three empires. After candidate of Republican Peoples Party Ekrem Imamoglu announced his victory in Istanbul, a campaign was launched in social networks that the ruling party lost not only Istanbul but also Palestine, Mecca and the entire Islamic world. If the defeat of the ruling party at the municipal elections in Istanbul is the decline of political Islam for the opposition forces, then this is a matter of honor and not only this for the ruling party. As it is known, the ruling party has the Vision 2023 plan which is rarely announced in the media. The 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish Republic will be marked in 2023. Moreover, the Lausanne treaty will expire in 2023. President Erdogan has repeatedly voiced his intention to consider this treaty. Earlier, President Erdogan said that Turkeys opponents tried to present the Lausanne treaty as a victory. They submitted the Treaty of Sevres to us in 1920, they forced us to conclude the Lausanne treaty in 1923, President Erdogan said. Some people tried to mislead us, presenting Lausanne as a victory, the president said, adding that according to the Lausanne treaty, islands in the Aegean Sea were given to Greece. Is this a victory? The islands were ours, our mosques are there and we are still discussing the future of the continental shelf in the Aegean Sea, the maritime and air boundaries, we are still fighting for that. Although there is not a single document in the Turkish archives testifying that the Lausanne treaty will expire in 2023, Turkey on behalf of President Erdogan does not hide the fact of the consideration of the details of this treaty. But taking all this into account, a number of Turkish historians say that the Lausanne treaty will expire in 2023 and Ankara will consider all the details of the treaty, including the status of islands in the Aegean Sea. Turkey must first solve economic problems and become stronger militarily to demand to change the details of the Lausanne treaty. All economic, energy and military projects which are being implemented by the ruling party are aimed at becoming more powerful until 2023. Istanbul is the center of mega projects initiated by the ruling party. Before the municipal elections, the opposition spoke against the implementation of almost all important projects, including the shipping channel and the new airport in this city. --- Rufiz Hafizoglu, deputy editor-in-chief of Trend Follow him on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Western diplomats sat down for three hours with Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar in his eastern stronghold last month to try to dissuade him from launching an offensive against the internationally recognized government in Tripoli, reports Trend citing to Reuters They urged him not to plunge the country into a civil war and told him he could become a successful civilian leader if he committed himself to pursuing a political settlement, according to two sources with knowledge of the meeting outside Benghazi. But Haftar, a military strongman who critics describe as the new Muammar Gaddafi, paid them little heed, said the sources who spoke on condition the ambassadors were not identified. He said he was prepared to negotiate with the prime minister, but if no power-sharing deal was reached, he could invade the capital. Two weeks later, on April 4, he sent troops from his self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) streaming towards Tripoli - just at a time when U.N Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was in the city to prepare for a national reconciliation conference this month which Guterres aides thought Haftar supported. For world powers including France, Italy and Britain, the generals military campaign, the biggest in Libya since the 2011 uprising that deposed Gaddafi, represented a major setback. They had tried for years to co-opt Haftar, 75, into a political settlement that would stabilize the major oil and gas producer after almost a decade of conflict that had acted as a breeding ground for Islamist militancy. Even the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, which have backed Haftar and see him as a bulwark against Islamists in north Africa, appear to have been surprised by his rapid advance. A French diplomatic source said Paris, which has also aided the general, had no prior warning of the offensive. The diplomats calls for military restraint in the meeting last month had echoed those from other Western and U.N. envoys who had traveled to Haftars base outside the city of Benghazi in the preceding weeks, four separate diplomatic sources said. In a sign of how far the situation in Libya - and Haftar - was beyond their control, U.N. and Western envoys in daily contact with his camp about the conference had no idea he was about to launch the offensive, the four diplomatic sources said. Some even thought the general was bluffing. These are just psycho games, one U.N. official texted Reuters when the first LNA troops were spotted south of Tripoli. Some diplomats who had met Haftar many times and lobbied their governments to overlook his hardline comments - such as that Libya was not ready for democracy - despaired when it became clear he was committed to taking the city by force. Ive wasted almost two years on Haftar, said one who met Haftar regularly. If the national conference doesnt happen, it was for nothing. Haftar, for his part, has been consistent in speeches and statements about his commitment to military force in his declared mission to restore order to the north African country and also dropped hints about ultimately ruling the country. When he first announced his intentions in February 2014 he stood in front of a map of Libya, a somber-looking, gray-haired man wearing an immaculate army uniform, and vowed to stage a coup. Western countries left Libya after fighting in Tripoli in 2014, closing embassies and ending NATO training programs, before returning in 2016. Their period of absence opened the door for Arab countries such as Egypt and the UAE, which provided training and military assistance, according to reports from U.N. experts monitoring an arms embargo imposed on Libya in 2011, and diplomats. Haftars forces received aircraft as well as military vehicles from the UAE, which had also built up an air base at Al Khadim, allowing the LNA to gain air superiority by 2016, a U.N. report said in June 2017. But on the ground Haftar was struggling to make progress in his initial campaign launched in May 2014 against Islamist militants in Benghazi, which he dubbed Operation Dignity. His heavy guns and aircraft flattened residential buildings but could not dislodge the foreign jihadists holed up in booby-trapped houses. It was at this point that France, which has oil assets in eastern Libya and is politically close to the UAE and Egypt, offered assistance, according to Libyan and French sources. In late 2015, Paris sent military advisers and special forces familiar in urban warfare who camped out at an air base near Benghazi, the sources said. The French assistance helped turn the tide and allowed him to declare victory in Benghazi in 2017, they added. Arab countries had recognized Haftar as Libyas official army commander for years but France helped him gain further international legitimacy as his campaign progressed. In 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron received Haftar and the U.N.-backed Libyan prime minister, Fayez al-Serraj, on the outskirts of Paris to try to persuade them to make a deal, which instantly upgraded the generals diplomatic status. Macron and Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian see Haftar, much like Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, as a buffer against Islamist militants in north Africa, according to French officials. Le Drian has been to Libya three times in two years and on his last trip, on March 20, he saw Serraj in Tripoli and then traveled east to see Haftar to try to broker a detente. According to a French diplomatic source, when Haftar asked him why he hadnt come for such a long time, Le Drian responded: We were waiting for your victories. He was referring to the generals campaign to take the south of the country earlier this year, the source said. Following Haftars Tripoli advance, Egypts Sisi stressed the need for urgent international action to stop the situation deteriorating, without naming the LNA offensive. The governments of France, Italy, the UAE, Britain and the United States said in a joint statement they were deeply concerned about the fighting. Le Drian told lawmakers on Tuesday that France feared more serious conflict, adding that Haftar and Serraj needed to agree on a ceasefire before resuming their dialogue. The UAE mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the U.N. reports of military aid to Haftar. Egyptian officials also had no immediate comment on the reports. Haftar was among officers who helped Gaddafi rise to power in 1969 but fell out with him during Libyas war with Chad in the 1980s. Haftar was taken prisoner by the Chadians and had to be rescued by the CIA after having worked from Chad to overthrow Gaddafi. He lived for around 20 years in the U.S. state of Virginia before returning home in 2011 to join other rebels in the uprising that ousted Gaddafi. Three years later Haftar made his own move, launching the campaign in Benghazi. At the time he had gathered only around 200 soldiers and 13 helicopters under his LNA banner, said Jalel Harchaoui, research fellow at the Clingendael Institute international relations think-tank in The Hague. However Haftar quickly attracted other soldiers such as the Saiqa (Lightning) elite unit as well as tribesmen. There is no reliable figure for the current size of the LNA, though analysts say it runs into the thousands. The Saiqa alone has 3,500 men and Haftars sons also have well-equipped units. Haftars forces outnumber his opponents scattered in different western cities but he has filled his ranks beyond a core of former Gaddafi soldiers with less trained tribesmen and Salafist fighters and foreign mercenaries, analysts say. After Benghazi, Haftar gradually took control of the entire east of Libya, before turning his attention to the south. However this months Tripoli offensive is the commanders highest-stakes gamble yet. He has moved much of his forces west, leaving his eastern home base exposed, and making it almost impossible for him to retreat without losing standing among friends and foes alike. The battle for the capital is still raging, and little is certain. Some pro-Haftar media had predicted victory in 48 hours but the fighting is still mostly outside the city. Meanwhile, his lightning drive has united opponents in western Libya who had not talked to each other for a long time but have now joined arms. Although none of the foreign sponsors behind Haftar is likely pleased with the dramatic deterioration, they have no option but to continue backing him, said Harchaoui. They have been concentrating most of their bets on one key figure for almost half a decade. This cannot be walked back overnight. The Dalai Lama, 83, has been taken to a private hospital in New Delhi after he was diagnosed with a chest infection, Fox News and Reuters reported Tuesday, citing the spiritual leader's private secretary, Trend reports citing Sputnik. "Today [Tuesday] morning his holiness felt some discomfort, and he was flown to Delhi for [a] checkup Doctors have diagnosed him with chest infection, and he is being treated for that. His condition is stable now. He will be treated for two [to] three days here", Tenzin Taklha told Reuters. READ MORE: 'Europe Belongs to Europeans': Dalai Lama Stuns Swedish Public The Tibetan spiritual leader has been living in exile in India since China formally took over Tibet in 1959. Beijing has demanded that India stop using the Dalai Lama, who visited the Arunachal Pradesh, India's northeastern-most state, which borders Tibet, six times between 1983 and 2009, to undermine Chinas interests and focus on deescalating tensions between the two powers. Beijing accuses the Dalai Lama, the 14th leader to bear the title, of attempts to separate Tibet from China, and urges foreign leaders to respect the territorial integrity of China and avoid meeting with the Buddhist leader. The Chinese State Council also slammed the former leader of Tibet for attempting to retain feudalism in the region before Beijing restored control over the area. Tibet is an autonomous region that seeks independence from China. Relations between the region and Beijing are tense, as many Tibetans accuse Chinese authorities of suppressing Tibetan culture, as well as freedom of expression and worship. Tibet's government-in-exile is based in India. The Canadian Space Agency considers the cooperation with Russia on space science as a promising area of growth, agencys President Sylvain Laporte told Sputnik, Trend reports. We are getting into a lot of science missions, for example. And I do know that our researchers both in Canada and in Russia collaborate a lot on writing different types of papers [] So the collaboration is there. But the foundation of more collaboration for space science is certainly well-established. So, that would be an area of growth, Laporte said Tuesday on the sidelines of the 35th annual Space Symposium, which is taking place on 8-11 April in the US state of Colorado. Moreover, the nCanadian Space Agency is open to new joint projects with the Russian Roscosmos, Laporte told Sputnik. Currently we have a great cooperation [with Russia] [] In fact, I was in Moscow and then in Baikonur for the launch of our astronaut David Saint-Jacques, who is currently on the International Space Station. We were able to launch him through exceptional level of collaboration with Roscosmos. And I see the future as bright as the past", Laporte said on Tuesday. Laporte noted that Canada had committed to the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway project, which envisages creation of a lunar-orbit space station, for the next 24 years. A good part of the decision for our government to commit for such a long period of time, which is uncommon for governments to do that, was the value of the partnership that we have with all of the countries, including our partnership with Russia [] We collaborate extensively on a number of fronts. In terms of other collaborations, we are always open. he added. Meanwhile, Laporte suggested Tuesday it was too premature to talk about the participation in the Chinese Space Station project. The Chinese have mentioned that they were open for future collaboration [] The conversations are nascent. We are just beginning to discuss how that could materialize. At this point its too early to be able to judge whether or not there are benefits for us to participate in that venture [] But I think whats encouraging is that the conversations and dialogue are ongoing, Laporte said on Tuesday. In January, the China National Space Administration said that Beijing hoped for international cooperation on construction of the Chinese space station. Last year, Shi Zhongjun, China's ambassador to the United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna, said that Beijing was ready to allow other UN nations to use the Chinese space station on an equal basis. China is planning to launch the main module of the station in 2019 to test all the necessary technologies. The station is expected to become fully functional in 2022. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Presidential Representative for the Middle East and Africa Mikhail Bogdanov came to terms with Iraqi leadership about the necessity to continue joint fight against the Daesh terrorist group, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, Trend reported citing Sputnik. This came within Bogdanov's working visit to Baghdad where he held a meeting with Iraqi President Barham Salih, Prime Minister Adil Abd Al-Mahdi and Speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives Mohammed al-Halbusi. "Moscow and Baghdad confirmed that there is no other way to resolve crisis situations other that in accordance with the norms of international law and the UN Charter. The necessity of continuing to work together to counter the terrorist threat caused by IS [Daesh] and its affiliated groups was also stated", the ministry said in its statement. The parties also reaffirmed the importance of consolidating efforts to prevent the escalation of military and political tensions in the region, the statement read. According to the ministry, the two sides discussed a range of issues of further dynamic development of mutually beneficial cooperation between Russia and Iraq in various fields. They also examined practical aspects of the preparation of the 8th meeting of the Russian-Iraqi Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, scheduled for the end of April in Baghdad. The ministry also stressed that CEO of the Russian Gazprom Neft oil company Alexander Dyukov was also present at the meeting. Iraq has long been suffering from activities of various terrorist groups. In 2014, vast territories of the state were occupied by the Daesh jihadists. The Iraqi army has successfully fought back against Daesh. In the end of 2017, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi declared an end to the country's fight against the infamous terrorist group as Iraq's troops re-established complete control over the country's Syrian border. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Turkey may receive the S-400 missile systems earlier than scheduled, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trend reports referring to the Turkish media. According to him, it was expected earlier that Turkey would receive the first supplies of S-400 missile systems in July 2019. He noted that despite appeals by the US, Turkey will not abandon the purchase of the S-400. "This is an issue that has already been resolved for Turkey," said Erdogan. Initial reports of negotiations between Russia and Turkey on the supply of S-400 surfaced in November 2016. The signing of a contract was confirmed by the Russian side on September 12, 2017. Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that the S-400 air defense systems will be deployed from October 2019. The supply of the S-400 air defense systems to Ankara cost $2.5 billion, head of the Rostec state corporation Sergey Chemezov said in December 2017. Turkey is the first country, a NATO member, which will receive the S-400 air defense systems from Russia. Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and leader of the Nationalist Movement Party of Turkey (MHP) Devlet Bahceli will discuss the results of the municipal elections in the country, Trend reports April 10 with reference to the Turkish media. The meeting between Erdogan and Bahceli will take place April 10 at 12:00 (GMT +3). It is reported that this is the first meeting between the Turkish president and the leader of the nationalist movement after summing up the elections in Turkey. At the meeting, it is expected to discuss the issue of annulling the election results in Istanbul and holding repeated elections. On April 10, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that The results of the municipal elections in Istanbul may be annulled. This is while deputy chairman of Turkeys ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Ali Ihsan Yavuz said that the party demands holding of repeated municipal elections in Istanbul. He said that the AKP has all facts proving that the election results were rigged. The AKP will very soon present all the facts of falsification of the election results in Istanbul, he added. The municipal election results in Istanbul were almost completely rigged, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier. He noted that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) appealed to the Turkish Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) to identify the perpetrators. Meanwhile, the Justice and Development Party presented facts of falsification of 11,000 votes in Istanbul in favour of the candidate of the opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) Ekrem Imamoglu. Earlier, Bayram Senocak, head of the Istanbul branch of the Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), stated that the ruling party has evidence of the election results in Istanbul being falsified in favor of candidate of the opposition Republican People's Party Ekrem Imamoglu. Imamoglu gained 4.159 million votes, while Yildirim got 4.131 million votes in Istanbul. The coalition of the ruling party and the Nationalist Movement Party gained 51.67 percent of votes in the municipal elections throughout the country. Following the elections, candidate of the Republican Peoples Party Mansur Yavas became mayor of Ankara. Thirteen political parties took part in the municipal elections held March 31. These included the Felicity Party (SP), the Independent Turkey Party (Bagmsz Turkiye Partisi), the Communist Party of Turkey (Turkiye Komunist Partisi), the Patriotic Party (Vatan Partisi), the Great Unity Party (Buyuk Birlik Partisi), Free Cause Party (Hur Dava Partisi), Republican Peoples Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi), Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalknma Partisi), Democratic Party (Demokrat Parti), Nationalist Movement Party (Milliyetci Hareket Partisi), Iyi Party (IYI Parti), Peoples Democratic Party (Halklarn Demokratik Partisi) and Democratic Left Party (Demokratik Sol Parti). --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: The Turkish Air Force attacked PKK terrorists in the areas of Zap, Gara and Avashine in northern Iraq, Trend reports referring to the National Defense Ministry of Turkey. During the operation, shelters of terrorists, as well as ammunition depots were destroyed. 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. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: Despite all the efforts, Turkey could not completely clear the state organizations of the supporters of the FETO terrorist organization (the Fethullah Gulen movement), Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. FETO supporters were able to penetrate into all state structures, Erdogan added, Trend reports referring to the Turkish media. "Despite all this, Turkey will continue to fight against this terrorist organization." Fethullah Gulen and his supporters are accused of the July 16, 2016 military coup attempt in Turkey. A group of rebels attempted a military coup in Turkey on the night of July 16, 2016. The main confrontation broke out in Ankara and Istanbul. More than 250 Turkish citizens were killed, over 2,000 people were injured, the mutiny was suppressed. ---- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu The United States has approved a possible $1.15 billion sale of 56 Standard Missile-3 Block IB missiles to Japan, the Defence Security Cooperation Agency said in a press release on Tuesday, Trend reports citing Sputnik. "The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to Japan of up to fifty-six (56) Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IB missiles for an estimated cost of $1.15 billion", the release said. The Defence Security Cooperation Agency explained the proposed sale will help US interests with Japan by developing and maintaining a strong and effective defense capability in the region. The contractor for the SM-3 Block IB missiles is Raytheon Missile Systems, the release noted. The SM-3 Block IB interceptor has a two-color infrared seeker and upgraded steering and propulsion capability that directs the missile toward incoming targets, destroying them on impact in space, The Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IB is designed to intercept and destroy short to intermediate-range ballistic missile threats and is reportedly an essential component of an anti-missile system the United States is building in and around Europe. Netanyahu tweeted that Trump had called him from Air Force One. The president was on a flight to Texas, Trend reports citing Reuters. Netanyahu secured a clear path to re-election on Wednesday, and a record fifth term in office, with religious-rightist parties set to hand him a parliamentary majority, despite a close contest against his main centrist challenger. Trump warmly congratulated (me) and the Israeli people, Netanyahu tweeted. (I) thanked President Trump for his tremendous support for Israel, including recognition of Jerusalem and the Golan, he said. Breaking with decades of U.S. policy and international consensus, Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israels capital in 2017 and Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights last month. Trump moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem last May, further angering Palestinians. Netanyahu said that, in the telephone call, he also thanked Trump for designating Irans elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization on Monday. In remarks to reporters at the White House, Trump said Netanyahus re-election improved the chances of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Everybody says you cant have peace in the Middle East, with Israel and the Palestinians, Trump told reporters at the White House. I think we have a chance. I think we have now a better chance with Bibi having won, he said, referring to Netanyahu, who leads the conservative Likud party, by his nickname. Hes been a great ally and hes a friend. Id like to congratulate him on a well-thought-out race, Trump said. During the election campaign, Netanyahu highlighted his close relationship with Trump, erecting billboards showing the two leaders smiling and shaking hands. The United States military said Wednesday its special forces conducted an airstrike in southern Somalia on Tuesday, killing one terrorist, Trend reported citing Xinhua. The U.S. Africa Command said the strike which was conducted in cooperation with Somali government near Jilib, Middle Juba Region did not kill or injure any civilians. Somalia and U.S. forces have intensified incursions into the territory formerly controlled by al-Shabab after driving the insurgents out of Mogadishu in 2011. Since 2017, the U.S. military has stepped up air raids against al-Shabab. Al-Shabab controls large parts of rural southern and central Somalia and continues to carry out high-profile attacks in Mogadishu and elsewhere. KYODO NEWS - Apr 11, 2019 - 01:10 | All, Japan, Olympics Japan's Olympics minister Yoshitaka Sakurada resigned Wednesday after coming under increasing pressure over a series of gaffes -- in the latest, saying politics is "more important" than the recovery of the country's northeastern region devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. "I felt I had to take responsibility and submitted my resignation" to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Sakurada, who was in charge of the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics Games to be hosted by Tokyo, told reporters. Abe virtually sacking the 69-year-old is a setback to his administration seeking to showcase the Tokyo Games as a symbol of Japan's recovery from the disaster that led to the Fukushima nuclear crisis. After accepting his resignation letter on Wednesday night, Abe then publicly apologized for appointing Sakurada as the Olympics minister. "As prime minister, I'd like to apologize to people in the disaster-stricken area for the remarks (made by Sakurada)," Abe told reporters. "I bear responsibility for having appointed him." "We need to straighten up and make sure we can run the event without a problem," a senior Japan Olympic Committee official said. In mid-March, the head of the committee, Tsunekazu Takeda, said he will step down when his current term ends in June, as he is under investigation by French authorities for alleged bribery related to Tokyo's successful bid for the Tokyo Olympics. Sakurada's resignation comes less than a week after a senior vice minister at the land ministry, Ichiro Tsukada, was forced to quit following comments suggesting he had acted in the interests of Abe's constituency over a road project. Sakurada is the eighth Cabinet minister to resign since Abe returned to power in 2012. As Abe's Liberal Democratic Party gears up for a series of elections through July, the prime minister's decision to oust Sakurada from the government is seen as a damage-control effort. Former Olympics minister Shunichi Suzuki, 65, will replace Sakurada, according to a government source. At a fund-raising party in Tokyo for an LDP lawmaker from the northeastern region, Sakurada said the lawmaker, Hinako Takahashi, is "more important than the (region's) recovery." The remarks came on top of earlier ones that had already prompted opposition parties to step up calls on Sakurada to step down. In February, he said he was "very disappointed" over swimming gold medal hopeful Rikako Ikee's diagnosis of leukemia -- a comment on the potential absence of the star from the Tokyo Games that elicited a huge backlash. Sakurada, while attending a parliamentary session, also said he has heard of the Olympic Charter but has never read it. In March, reflecting his lack of knowledge about the situation in the northeastern region, Sakurada said traffic was smooth on highways linking the Tohoku and Kanto areas in 2011 even as they were indeed damaged by the disaster. Sakurada, first elected to the House of Representatives in 1996, then called the city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture, one of the hardest-hit prefectures, "Ishimaki" more than once during a parliamentary session on Tuesday. Opposition party leaders and residents in the northeastern region view his resignation as a natural turn of events. Yukio Edano, who heads the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said his latest remarks are "unbelievable." "The remarks are those that hurt people affected by the disaster," Edano told reporters. "The responsibility now lies with Prime Minister Abe who has continued to defend Mr. Sakurada." "We are still halfway toward the recovery" said Shigeru Yamazaki, a 70-year-old resident in Iwate Prefecture, who just resumed his clothing business in February after his shop was destroyed by the tsunami eight years ago. "There are many people who are still struggling. His resignation won't settle everything," Yamazaki said. Senior officials from the Tokyo metropolitan government said they are concerned the remarks could undermine the image of the upcoming Olympics and Paralympics. "The comments are beyond acceptable and it's unthinkable for someone representing the nation to say such things," a senior metropolitan government official said. Related coverage: Japan Olympics minister apologizes for comments on Ikee's leukemia Japan's cybersecurity chief says he has never used a computer New Delhi: Election Commission and the poll panel has sought a report from the Chief Election Officer of Maharashtra in matter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks asking first-time voters to cast their votes in favour of those who carried out the air strikes at Balakot in Pakistan. Talking to Source report, EC sources said that the chief electoral officer of Maharashtra has been directed to submit a report as soon as possible. The prime minister had made the remarks on Tuesday while addressing a rally in Maharashtra's Latur. also read BJD chief Naveen Patnaik releases the partys manifesto for LokSabha Election He had said " I want to tell the first-time voters: can your first vote be dedicated to the veer jawans (valiant soldiers) who carried out the air strike in Pakistan? Can your first vote be dedicated to the veer shaheed (brave martyrs) of Pulwama (terror attack)?. It is to be noted that an advisory was issued by the EC in March asking political parties to not involve the armed forces in their political propaganda. "...parties/candidates are advised that their campaigners/candidates should desist, as part of their election campaigning, from indulging in any political propaganda involving activities of defence forces," the commission had said in its advisory issued on March 19. Here it is to be noted that taking cognizance of PM Modi's speech, CPI-M politburo member had written a letter to the EC, accusing Modi of violating the model code of conduct during his speech. Basu said in the letter "With deep anguish, we are drawing your attention to the latest violation of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is also violating the specific direction of the Election Commission to refrain from invoking the armed forces for seeking votes,". Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal also attacked PM Modi for doing politics in the name of armed forces and added that it is sad to see that no action is being taken by the EC in this regard. also read BJP MLA killed in Naxals attack, barely two days ahead of First phase LS Poll " " This 19th-century illustration of the "Mary Had a Little Lamb" nursery rhyme is from the "Little Folks Colored Picture Book" published circa 1875. McLoughlin Bros./Getty Images/HowStuffWorks If you visit the town of Sterling, Massachusetts today, you'll find a small copper statue of a woolly little creature meant to be a replica of the original lamb that followed 9-year-old Mary Sawyer to school in 1815. Below the statue is a plaque inscribed with the famous opening verse: "Mary had a little lamb/ Its fleece was white as snow/ And everywhere that Mary went/ The lamb was sure to go." John Roulstone So who exactly was Mary Sawyer and who was this John Roulstone who allegedly wrote the original poem? According to a 60-page book published in 1928 by none other than Henry Ford (more on that later), Mary Sawyer was a typical New England schoolgirl who nursed a starving lamb back to health, winning a lifelong friend. "I got the lamb warm by wrapping it in an old garment and holding it in my arms beside the fireplace," an adult Sawyer recounted in the book. "In the morning, much to my girlish delight, it could stand; and from that time it improved rapidly. It soon learned to drink milk; and from the time it would walk about, it would follow me anywhere if only I called it." Before leaving for school one morning, Sawyer whistled for the lamb and it came faithfully trotting over, at which point her brother Nat suggested, "Let's take the lamb to school with us." She tried to hide the lamb in a basket under her chair, but it was discovered when she stood up to recite a lesson and the fluffy critter started to bleat. Her teacher, Polly Kimball, "laughed outright," which caused Sawyer some embarrassment, so she took the lamb out to a shed until school was out. John Roulstone was a local boy preparing for college who happened to be visiting the old red schoolhouse that day and was "very much pleased with the incident of the lamb," Sawyer recalled in Henry Ford's book. Roulstone went home, wrote a three-stanza poem and returned the next day on horseback to hand deliver the original verses of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" to Sawyer herself. Or so goes the story in Sterling, Massachusetts. Advertisement Did Sarah Hale Write 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'? Meanwhile, in Newport, New Hampshire, the townsfolk celebrate hometown hero Sarah Josepha Hale, as the author of this beloved nursery rhyme. (Hale is also famous for her role in creating the Thanksgiving celebration). As a young poet and writer, Hale moved to Boston in 1828 to become the editor of the first women's magazine in the United States, later known as "Godey's Lady's Book." It was in Boston that Hale met Lowell Mason, a young musician and composer intent on bringing music education into America's public schools. Mason and Hale shared the belief that simple children's poems set to music could be used to teach good, Christian morals to kids that would help them grow them into productive and upright citizens. At Mason's request, Hale wrote a short book of 15 poems called "Poems For Our Children," which was published in 1830. Mason then wrote simple melodies to accompany each poem, including the six-verse poem then known as "Mary's Lamb." Interestingly, the tune Mason wrote for Mary's Lamb, which was included in his 1831 book "Juvenile lyre," likely the first public school songbook, sounds nothing like the melody every schoolkid now knows by heart. That melody was borrowed later from a popular minstrel tune called "Goodnight Ladies," specifically the chorus that goes, "Merrily we roll along, roll along, roll along. Merrily we roll along, over the dark blue sea!" Anyway, back to the controversy. Sawyer claimed that the first three verses of Hale's poem were identical to the one written by young John Roulstone, although the piece of paper gifted to Sawyer had long since disappeared. And Roulstone tragically died while a freshman at Harvard, so he wasn't around to corroborate. When Hale's version was included in school readers nationwide in the 1850s, Sawyer assumed that the author had simply expanded on Roulstone's original three verses. But Hale denied ever seeing another version of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and swore she had conjured the story wholly from her imagination. Both Sawyer and Hale signed letters and sworn statements in their old age (Hale just days before her death in 1889) professing that they were telling the truth of the origin of what had already become a classic nursery rhyme. Advertisement Enter Henry Ford After both of the women were long gone, automobile magnate Henry Ford stepped into the fray. In 1927, he took up the cause of Mary Sawyer, moving the wooden frame of Mary's original red schoolhouse from Sterling. Massachusetts, to the nearby town of Sudbury, where Ford owned an inn. Then in 1928, he published the aforementioned book titled "The Story of Mary and Her Little Lamb," which gives Roulstone full credit for the original verses and asked why a respected local woman who served as a matron of the local hospital would make up such a wild story and repeat it her entire life. Hale's defenders ask the same question. "The story of Mary Sawyer implies that somehow Sarah Hale came across this never published schoolhouse poem and plagiarized it. How could she have come across it?" writes Sandra Sonnichsen, volunteer archivist of the Sarah J. Hale Collection at the Richards Free Library in Newport, New Hampshire. "Henry Ford's book explains that the two towns [where Sawyer and Hale lived] were close to each other. They are ninety miles apart over the most direct route that would have been followed in 1815. Henry had not yet invented the automobile, so the distance was considerable." In a hilarious Baltimore Sun story from 1998 about the ongoing feud between Sterling, Massachusetts and Newport, New Hampshire, a Hale supporter and Newport librarian comments, "Let's face it. Henry Ford made good cars. I don't think he's a good historian." Now That's Cool In the late 1870s and early 1880s, Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell were separately experimenting with primitive devices to record sound. In each of the men's earliest recordings, they recited what else? "Mary Had a Little Lamb." " " Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Right Here Screengrab and video from Warner Bros. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Final Trailer on YouTube J.K. Rowling created a magical world when she first began bringing Harry Potter to life more than 20 years ago. In those intervening years, more magical elements have joined the pack, including an entire world of creatures for Harry, Hagrid and others to love and be wary of (Draco!). "Harry Potter" readers met many of those beasts while they trailed along with Hogwarts students to Care of Magical Creatures class down at Hagrid's hut. Of course, they were also carefully indexed in Newt Scamander's textbook "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," a staple in every respectable wizarding household. Now, that textbook been spun off into a movie series of its own, the first of which opens in November 2016. Advertisement Let's meet some of the beasts you'll get to see in action. The Niffler Nifflers are some of the most adorable and potentially destructive creatures in the world. Their aim is to steal any glittering object they can get their little paws on and keep them in a magical pouch in their middle. Though goblins often keep them to burrow for treasure, Newt Scamander kept one because he wanted to. Harry Potter fans will remember that in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," Hagrid paired students in his Care of Magical Creatures class with a niffler and offered a prize to the student-niffler pair who collected the most leprechaun gold. One niffler in particular sets into motion many of the events in the movie "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." The Bowtruckle Bowtruckles are small, hand-sized animals with leaves for hair that blend in on the trees where they live. They're known to serve as guardians for the trees they call home, but sometimes that works for people, too. They're also known for being adept at picking locks with long, twig-like fingers that are well-adapted to picking wood lice from trees. Newt Scamander has a tree full of them in his case, but one also looks over him like he was his very own tree. Wizards had to learn to cope with them over the years (we're looking at you, Garrick Ollivander) because bowtruckles often guard trees whose wood is particularly good for wands. Offering the creatures wood lice, as Hagrid instructed his students to do, can appease them for long enough to acquire wand wood. The Swooping Evil The Swooping Evil is a new creature not featured in any part of the previous wizarding world canon; it's brand-new to the movie. Their name is rather unfortunate, as they're not inherently evil, but they can be vicious. They are typically wrapped in small cocoons, but when threatened can expand their wingspan into an impressively sized creature that resembles a cross between a butterfly and a reptile. They feed on brains and secrete a venom that can erase memories in humans if diluted properly. Newt Scamander had one in his suitcase when he visited New York in 1926, just one year before his tome on magical creatures was published for the first time. Filmgoers will encounter many more creatures in the film. You'll see everything from a mostly invisible demiguise to an angry murtlap. If you're into magizoology, you're in for a treat. "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" is the first of five planned films from Warner Bros., writer J.K. Rowling and director David Yates. Now That's Cool J.K. Rowling (under the great pen name Newt Scamander) wrote the original textbook "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" for the Comic Relief charity, which Albus Dumbledore acknowledges in his foreword to the "fifty-second edition" of the book. President Trump has a new argument meant to dissuade people from trying to migrate to the United States. As I say, and this is our new statement: The system is full, Trump said during an immigration round table in California on Friday. We cant take you anymore. Whether its asylum, whether its anything you want. Its illegal immigration? We cant take you anymore. We cant take you. His argument, in generously broad strokes, was that the system was overwhelmed, a function of a surge in migrants seeking entry to the country and that many of them seek asylum upon arrival. But Trump, never one to leave a bole un-hypered, raised the stakes. Our country is full, our area is full, the sector is full, Trump added. We cant take any more. Sorry. Cant have it. So turn around. Thats the way it is. Our country is full! Thats a remarkable phrase that will no doubt alarm pregnant women the country over. Sorry, ladies! You need to either head to Canada or the ocean because that baby simply cant fit anywhere within our great nations boundaries. This is a joke (for now). Look out of any nearby window and, assuming that youre not currently living in a house set in the middle of a Jay-Z concert, youll probably notice a bit of space in which someone could stand. Maybe even stretch out for a nap. Clearly were not full full. But Trumps phrasing nonetheless raises an interesting question. If we wanted to, how many more people could we squeeze into the United States? Filling empty houses We will start by noting that, on any given day, there are a lot of existing homes that are sitting vacant. The Census Bureau tracks this. Last year, there were about 3.4 million rental properties that were vacant, along with about 9.8 million year-round homes that sat empty and another 4.2 million empty seasonal properties lake houses and ski chalets and such. Lets assume that we fill all of those up, meeting the national average of 2.6 people per household. (Dont spend a lot of time thinking about how these millions of homes will each contain an object that constitutes slightly more than half a person.) With that baseline, we have the ability to immediately house 8.8 million people in those rental properties, 25.5 million in the year-round houses and 10.9 million vacation-home people who will suffer through very cold winters or very hot summers. In total, we still have space for a bit over 45 million more people before Americas really full. Matching the most densely populated country in the world At least if we only consider existing housing stock. We could obviously fit a lot more people if we also built a lot more housing. After all, the United States is one of the less densely populated countries in the world, with slightly fewer people per square mile than Venezuela. What if the United States were instead as densely packed as, say, the Gulf nation of Bahrain? Bahrain is the most densely packed country that isnt also a city, with 5,582 people per square mile. Thats not as horrible as it sounds; New York City is about five times as densely packed. So how many people could we fit if we built out the United States to that same density? There are about 3.5 million square miles in the country, meaning that we could have a total population of 19.7 billion people without becoming the mostly densely populated country in the world. In other words, everyone in the world could move here and then spontaneously clone themselves and the United States would still be more spacious than Bahrain. Of course we already have 327 million people living here, so we really only have enough space for another 19.4 billion people. Literally cramming as many people as possible on every square inch Again, though, thats setting a standard for habitation that isnt exactly pushing the envelope. What if, instead of housing everyone, we wiped the entire surface of the United States clean and simply packed in as many people as we possibly could? Believe it or not, weve actually considered this question before, at least for a limited area. In 2016, we speculated about how many people could actually fit in Times Square on New Years Eve, given the regular claims that 14 bajillion people watched the ball drop. To answer the question (about 120,000), we spoke with G. Keith Still, professor of crowd science at Manchester Metropolitan University in Britain. Still provided us with the results of his research which, at one point, included tying together a group of men to see how closely people could stand and still walk as a group. Stills baseline for manageability is five people per square meter, a density that looks like this. Five people per square meter in a 100-square-meter box. (G. Keith Still) (Philip Bump/(Prof. G. Keith Still)) Why five? When you exceed five, both the psychological and physical limits are reached, Still told us. It begins to feel cramped and the risk of trips, slips, falls and crowd surges increases exponentially above six or seven per square meter. So, in the interest of public safety, lets set our upper limit on how densely packed the New United States will be is at five people for each of the countrys ... 9.2 trillion square meters. Meaning that we could eventually see a total of 45.8 trillion people standing on the bare earth of this refurbished nation. How many people is that? Well, about 417 times the total population of humanity over the entire course of history. So just take everyone whos ever lived, clone them 417 times, and welcome them across the border. (Please do not clone Adolf Hitler or Pol Pot, among others.) Granted, this would not be a terribly enjoyable existence, everyone standing around bumping into one another until everyone just died. Have a good weekend. 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. ORLANDO, Fla., April 1, 2019 -- Prehistoric rock paintings are a source of fascination across the world. Aside from their beauty, there's deep meaning in these strokes, which depict ancient rituals and important symbols. To learn more about these murals, researchers have historically resorted to sampling methods that are damaging to the artwork, contradicting the archaeological tenets of conservation. Today, scientists report use of "X-ray vision" to gain brand-new insights about the layers of paint in rock art in Texas without needless damage. The researchers will present their results today at the American Chemical Society (ACS) Spring 2019 National Meeting & Exposition. ACS, the world's largest scientific society, is holding the meeting here through Thursday. It features nearly 13,000 presentations on a wide range of science topics. "In this particular work, we used a technique called portable X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (pXRF), in which a handheld instrument can be carried to a site and used right there, on the spot," says Karen Steelman, Ph.D., who led the study. "It gives you the elemental analysis of a specific material, and is the first step in figuring out how ancient artists used different materials to make their paintings." Steelman's research focuses on the analysis of rock and cave art, particularly in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands in Texas. She and her colleagues at the Shumla Archaeological Research & Education Center have previously analyzed the composition of pigments at more than 10 sites in the region, but had been unable to see the bigger picture of how these pictographs were composed. Other pigment analysis methods, such as inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, require a sample of the rock art in question, which results in damage to the site, and field microscopes are unable to detect layers of paint in a complex mural. For this particular study, Steelman and her colleagues visited the Rattlesnake Canyon Site along the Rio Grande, known for its array of pictographs. Using a 105-foot wide mural as their testing canvas, they used pXRF to measure 138 areas where the composition indicated overlapping pigments of red, black, white and yellow. In addition, measurements were taken at 90 locations of unpainted limestone, which provided insight into the makeup of the geological canvas. Using the large amount of data collected from Rattlesnake Canyon, the team could determine a pattern to the layers of pigment, as well as their elemental makeup. The pXRF measurements revealed previously unseen layers of black pigment under layers of red, which were made with manganese and iron oxide, respectively. These complex layers of pigment indicated a level of sophistication seen in other Lower Pecos sites, which ethnographers have determined are a series of religious murals that revealed the complex nature of the hunter-gatherer society that occupied the region from 2500 BCE to 500 CE. In addition to their findings on the composition of the pictographs, Steelman, along with fellow Shumla collaborators Victoria Roberts and Carolyn Boyd, Ph.D., discovered that the site appeared to contain gunshot damage. To confirm their suspicions, they again turned to pXRF to identify any trace elements that could have come from ammunition. "Unfortunately, we often see suspected bullet impacts at rock art sites," Steelman says. "Most of this is older types of vandalism from the early 1900s, and we used the portable X-ray to determine what trace elements were present." At the impact sites, pXRF revealed traces of lead, mercury and selenium, which were not present in the undamaged areas. There is a bright side to this discovery; finding damage at archaeologically significant sites is an opportunity to petition state and federal agencies for conservation funds to use for more extensive preservation measures, Steelman explains. With over 350 known rock art sites in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands alone, Steelman and team plan to continue using pXRF to see the full picture of the tapestry of color and symbol woven throughout the region. Flooding along the Rio Grande is a major threat to what the researchers describe as "the oldest books in North America," and they are on a mission to document and analyze as many sites as possible to preserve these stories for future generations. A press conference on this topic will be held Tuesday, April 2, at 9 a.m. Eastern time in the Orange County Convention Center. Reporters may check-in at the press center, Room W231B, or watch live on YouTube http://bit.ly/ACSLive_Orlando2019 ("ACSLive_Orlando2019" is case-sensitive). To ask questions online, sign in with a Google account. ### The researchers acknowledge funding from the Shumla Archaeological Research & Education Center. The American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, is a not-for-profit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS is a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. ACS does not conduct research, but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio. To automatically receive press releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org. Note to journalists: Please report that this research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society. Follow us: Twitter | Facebook Title Discovering hidden layers with X-ray vision: New applications of pXRF to rock art studies Abstract Exploring new applications of portable X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy to the study of rock art, we report the determination of paint layer stratigraphy based upon measured elemental levels. In Lower Pecos rock art, we were able to discern when red and yellow paints superimpose black paints based on elevated levels of manganese. This ability to see underneath paint layers with "X-ray vision" shows great promise in answering stratigraphic ambiguities, complimenting digital microscopy conducted in the field. In addition, we collected Munsell color designations for each pXRF analysis location so that we could compare major elemental levels with pigment color and value. We were also able to confirm suspected gunshot damage at a rock art site. These results highlight the advantages of this non-destructive technique. (Bloomberg) -- Data center startup AirTrunk has raised S$450 million ($332 million) in debt and equity to help build its first Singapore facility as part of a multi-billion dollar plan to become a regional technology powerhouse. The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and TPG Sixth Street Partners-backed company has already spent more than A$1 billion ($712 million) on two data centers in Australia and will open its Singapore facility in two phases, according to founder Robin Khuda. The first stage is expected to be ready by mid-2020 and will allow half of its planned 60 megawatt capacity to be sold to customers. The rest will be built when theres enough demand, with the total project taking up 1.5 hectares of land in Loyang, in Singapores east, and costing in excess of S$500 million, he said. AirTrunk is taking advantage of the rise in cloud computing as more businesses move their IT away from self-run data centers to servers run by the likes of Amazon Web Services and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Companies like AirTrunk, Digital Realty Trust Inc. and Equinix Inc. specialize in building cooled and powered spaces that are leased to cloud vendors and other large enterprises. But the startup will face much fiercer competition in high-tech hubs like Singapore, where many of its rivals and potential customers have built their own infrastructure thanks to government incentive programs and global internet links. Lending Syndicate AirTrunks new financing includes debt and a sizable amount of equity raised from existing shareholders on a pro-rata basis, Khuda said, without elaborating on the specific split. The debt, provided by Goldman, Deutsche Bank AG and Natixis SA, will be syndicated to a larger group of lenders at a later stage. It comes on top of an A$850 million five-year loan raised in 2018 for the expansion of data centers in Sydney and Melbourne, which was later increased to A$900 million as the company won new customers. If you compare to typical greenfield project finance facilities, in terms of level of equity or equity-like instruments to debt, its pretty consistent with whats in the market, Khuda said in an interview. We like to be prudent and want to make sure were not overly leveraged. Story continues While a portion of the funds will go into exploring other regional expansions, this wont be the last round of financing required, with Khuda saying more facilities in Hong Kong and Tokyo could be online by next year. We expect multi-billion dollar investments between now and 2020, he said. To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: David Ramli in Beijing at dramli1@bloomberg.net;Mariko Ishikawa in Sydney at mishikawa9@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Katrina Nicholas at knicholas2@bloomberg.net, Peter Vercoe For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. (Bloomberg) -- Tens of millions of people use smart speakers and their voice software to play games, find music or trawl for trivia. Millions more are reluctant to invite the devices and their powerful microphones into their homes out of concern that someone might be listening. Sometimes, someone is. Amazon.com Inc. employs thousands of people around the world to help improve the Alexa digital assistant powering its line of Echo speakers. The team listens to voice recordings captured in Echo owners homes and offices. The recordings are transcribed, annotated and then fed back into the software as part of an effort to eliminate gaps in Alexas understanding of human speech and help it better respond to commands. The Alexa voice review process, described by seven people who have worked on the program, highlights the often-overlooked human role in training software algorithms. In marketing materials Amazon says Alexa lives in the cloud and is always getting smarter. But like many software tools built to learn from experience, humans are doing some of the teaching. The team comprises a mix of contractors and full-time Amazon employees who work in outposts from Boston to Costa Rica, India and Romania, according to the people, who signed nondisclosure agreements barring them from speaking publicly about the program. They work nine hours a day, with each reviewer parsing as many as 1,000 audio clips per shift, according to two workers based at Amazons Bucharest office, which takes up the top three floors of the Globalworth building in the Romanian capitals up-and-coming Pipera district. The modern facility stands out amid the crumbling infrastructure and bears no exterior sign advertising Amazons presence. The work is mostly mundane. One worker in Boston said he mined accumulated voice data for specific utterances such as Taylor Swift and annotated them to indicate the searcher meant the musical artist. Occasionally the listeners pick up things Echo owners likely would rather stay private: a woman singing badly off key in the shower, say, or a child screaming for help. The teams use internal chat rooms to share files when they need help parsing a muddled wordor come across an amusing recording. Story continues Sometimes they hear recordings they find upsetting, or possibly criminal. Two of the workers said they picked up what they believe was a sexual assault. When something like that happens, they may share the experience in the internal chat room as a way of relieving stress. Amazon says it has procedures in place for workers to follow when they hear something distressing, but two Romania-based employees said that, after requesting guidance for such cases, they were told it wasnt Amazons job to interfere. We take the security and privacy of our customers personal information seriously, an Amazon spokesman said in an emailed statement. We only annotate an extremely small sample of Alexa voice recordings in order [to] improve the customer experience. For example, this information helps us train our speech recognition and natural language understanding systems, so Alexa can better understand your requests, and ensure the service works well for everyone. We have strict technical and operational safeguards, and have a zero tolerance policy for the abuse of our system. Employees do not have direct access to information that can identify the person or account as part of this workflow. All information is treated with high confidentiality and we use multi-factor authentication to restrict access, service encryption and audits of our control environment to protect it. Amazon, in its marketing and privacy policy materials, doesnt explicitly say humans are listening to recordings of some conversations picked up by Alexa. We use your requests to Alexa to train our speech recognition and natural language understanding systems, the company says in a list of frequently asked questions. In Alexa's privacy settings, Amazon gives users the option of disabling the use of their voice recordings for the development of new features. The company says people who opt out of that program might still have their recordings analyzed by hand over the regular course of the review process. A screenshot reviewed by Bloomberg shows that the recordings sent to the Alexa reviewers dont provide a users full name and address but are associated with an account number, as well as the users first name and the devices serial number. The Intercept reported earlier this year that employees of Amazon-owned Ring manually identify vehicles and people in videos captured by the companys doorbell cameras, an effort to better train the software to do that work itself. You dont necessarily think of another human listening to what youre telling your smart speaker in the intimacy of your home, said Florian Schaub, a professor at the University of Michigan who has researched privacy issues related to smart speakers. I think weve been conditioned to the [assumption] that these machines are just doing magic machine learning. But the fact is there is still manual processing involved. Whether thats a privacy concern or not depends on how cautious Amazon and other companies are in what type of information they have manually annotated, and how they present that information to someone, he added. When the Echo debuted in 2014, Amazons cylindrical smart speaker quickly popularized the use of voice software in the home. Before long, Alphabet Inc. launched its own version, called Google Home, followed by Apple Inc.s HomePod. Various companies also sell their own devices in China. Globally, consumers bought 78 million smart speakers last year, according to researcher Canalys. Millions more use voice software to interact with digital assistants on their smartphones. Alexa software is designed to continuously record snatches of audio, listening for a wake word. Thats Alexa by default, but people can change it to Echo or computer. When the wake word is detected, the light ring at the top of the Echo turns blue, indicating the device is recording and beaming a command to Amazon servers. Most modern speech-recognition systems rely on neural networks patterned on the human brain. The software learns as it goes, by spotting patterns amid vast amounts of data. The algorithms powering the Echo and other smart speakers use models of probability to make educated guesses. If someone asks Alexa if theres a Greek place nearby, the algorithms know the user is probably looking for a restaurant, not a church or community center. But sometimes Alexa gets it wrongespecially when grappling with new slang, regional colloquialisms or languages other than English. In French, avec sa, with his or with her, can confuse the software into thinking someone is using the Alexa wake word. Hecho, Spanish for a fact or deed, is sometimes misinterpreted as Echo. And so on. Thats why Amazon recruited human helpers to fill in the gaps missed by the algorithms. Apples Siri also has human helpers, who work to gauge whether the digital assistants interpretation of requests lines up with what the person said. The recordings they review lack personally identifiable information and are stored for six months tied to a random identifier, according to an Apple security white paper. After that, the data is stripped of its random identification information but may be stored for longer periods to improve Siris voice recognition. At Google, some reviewers can access some audio snippets from its Assistant to help train and improve the product, but its not associated with any personally identifiable information and the audio is distorted, the company says. A recent Amazon job posting, seeking a quality assurance manager for Alexa Data Services in Bucharest, describes the role humans play: Every day she [Alexa] listens to thousands of people talking to her about different topics and different languages, and she needs our help to make sense of it all. The want ad continues: This is big data handling like youve never seen it. Were creating, labeling, curating and analyzing vast quantities of speech on a daily basis. Amazons review process for speech data begins when Alexa pulls a random, small sampling of customer voice recordings and sends the audio files to the far-flung employees and contractors, according to a person familiar with the programs design. Some Alexa reviewers are tasked with transcribing users commands, comparing the recordings to Alexa's automated transcript, say, or annotating the interaction between user and machine. What did the person ask? Did Alexa provide an effective response? Others note everything the speaker picks up, including background conversationseven when children are speaking. Sometimes listeners hear users discussing private details such as names or bank details; in such cases, theyre supposed to tick a dialog box denoting critical data. They then move on to the next audio file. According to Amazons website, no audio is stored unless Echo detects the wake word or is activated by pressing a button. But sometimes Alexa appears to begin recording without any prompt at all, and the audio files start with a blaring television or unintelligible noise. Whether or not the activation is mistaken, the reviewers are required to transcribe it. One of the people said the auditors each transcribe as many as 100 recordings a day when Alexa receives no wake command or is triggered by accident. In homes around the world, Echo owners frequently speculate about who might be listening, according to two of the reviewers. Do you work for the NSA? they ask. Alexa, is someone else listening to us? --With assistance from Gerrit De Vynck, Mark Gurman and Irina Vilcu. To contact the authors of this story: Matt Day in Seattle at mday63@bloomberg.netGiles Turner in London at gturner35@bloomberg.netNatalia Drozdiak in Brussels at ndrozdiak1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Robin Ajello at rajello@bloomberg.net, Jillian Ward For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. * Bond issue is huge market vote of confidence in Aramco * Demand beats $67 bln for Saudi's inaugural bonds in 2016 * Some investors concerned about govt influence on Aramco * Bond issue seen as a gauge of potential interest in eventual IPO (Adds investor quote in paragraphs 21, 22) By Davide Barbuscia, Rania El Gamal and Hadeel Al Sayegh DUBAI, April 9 (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco is set to raise $12 billion with its first international bond issue after receiving more than $100 billion in orders, a record breaking vote of market confidence for the oil giant which has faced investor concerns about government influence over the company. State-owned Aramco's bond issue, split into maturities ranging from three to 30 years, is seen as a gauge of potential investor interest in the Saudi company's eventual initial public offering. Before the bond deal was marketed on Monday, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said initial indications of interest for the paper were over $30 billion. Having swelled to over $100 billion during the sale process, demand appeared to be the largest ever for emerging markets bonds, fund managers said, surpassing order book value of more than $52 billion for Qatar's $12 billion deal last year, $67 billion for Saudi Arabia's inaugural issue in 2016 and $69 billion orders for Argentina's $16.5 billion trade that year. Such strong interest was also the latest sign that international investors are pouring money back into Saudi Arabia, as the kingdom tries to move on from the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi after his killing at the hands of Saudi agents in October strained ties with Western allies. "Purely on figures, it is a fantastic credit," said Damien Buchet, CIO of the EM Total Return Strategy, Finisterre Capital. But he added: "The thing is, they are part of Saudi Arabia, they are a government arm. For equity investors this is always going to be an issue, more so than for bond investors." The issue has attracted interest from a wide range of investors, as the oil producer's vast profits would put its debt rating - if unconstrained by its sovereign links - in the same league as independent oil majors like Exxon Mobil and Shell. Aramco has insisted on its independence while meeting investors ahead of the bond issue last week, saying the Saudi government remained committed to Aramco's governance framework to safeguard its independence even when oil prices dropped. Story continues But for some investors Riyadh's control over the oil giant is an issue as its state ownership means decisions will ultimately be for the benefit of the government rather than investors. "Aramco is more transparent, has stronger credit metrics and is on an improving ESG (environmental, social and governance) trajectory whereas the government is more complex," said Mohieddine Kronfol, chief investment officer of Global Sukuk and MENA Fixed Income at Franklin Templeton Investments. "The link between the two however is understandably very strong," he said. NO PREMIUM Previously reluctant to do so, Aramco last week opened for the first time its books to investor scrutiny, showing it is by far the most profitable company in the world. Having made core earnings of $224 billion last year and with $86 billion in free cash flow at the end of 2018, Aramco does not need to borrow. Initial indications of over $30 billion in investor demand prompted Aramco to market the notes with almost no premium to Saudi government debt. "They are clearly trying to price it (the bond) off existing AA corporates in this world, so people are looking at curves like Shell, Total, Exxon but also technology giants like Apple," said Buchet. After "tightening" the price guidance, Aramco on Tuesday ended up selling a $1 billion three-year tranche offering investors 55 basis points (bps) over U.S. Treasuries, a $2 billion five-year tranche at 75 bps over the benchmark, a $3 billion 10-year tranche at 105 bps, $3 billion in 20-year notes at 140 bps and $3 billion in 30-year bonds at 155 bps, a document issued by one of the banks leading the deal showed. Managers said the pricing meant the bonds will yield less than Saudi Arabia, which owns it. This is rare, as state-owned entities generally offer higher returns than their governments. "I think it's madness that's it's going inside the sovereign by a decent margin. Despite the fundamentals of Aramco, it's ultimately sovereign risk," said Richard Briggs, emerging markets strategist at London-based CreditSights. But the pricing level balanced the demand from dedicated emerging markets managers and cross-over investors, according to Samy Muaddi, emerging markets portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price, who participated in the deal. "The fact that they're only taking $12 billion is positive. There was some concern that they could do a larger transaction like $20 billion." The issue follows on the heels of Aramco's planned $69.1 billion acquisition of a 70 percent stake in petrochemicals firm Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, a deal that many see as a transfer of government funds aimed at boosting the Saudi Crown Prince's economic agenda. "This bond is being issued for two reasons: to establish Aramco's status as an independent corporate identity and to enable the transfer of wealth out of the company," said Marcus Chenevix, analyst, MENA and global political research at TS Lombard. Aramco, however, said the bond issue was not linked to the SABIC acquisition, which will be paid in tranches through internal cash flow and, potentially, other resources. Many see the deal as a relationship building exercise with international investors ahead of its planned initial public offering, scheduled for last year and then postponed to 2021. The debt offering initially included a three-year floating rate bond, which was later dropped, according to the document. The new bonds were trading up before they were officially sold in the so-called grey market, where investors trade them on a when-issued basis. "Strong demand in a world looking for extra yield, a new name, and lots of cash," said Andrew Brenner, managing director at National Alliance Capital Markets. Aramco has hired Lazard as financial adviser for the bond deal. JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, HSBC, Citi, Goldman Sachs and National Commercial Bank have been chosen to arrange the bond issue. (Additional reporting by Karin Strohecker in London, David Gaffen, Kate Duguid and Jennifer Ablan in New York; Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Susan Fenton and David Evans) NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / April 10, 2019 / Gaucho Group Holdings, Inc (VINO), a collection of luxury assets, real estate holdings and premium wines based in Argentina, today announced that its emerging fashion brand, Gaucho - Buenos Aires ( www.gauchobuenosaires.com ) was featured on the cover of the inaugural edition of Marie Claire - Argentina. Marie Claire focuses on stories about women around the world, as well as global issues, health, beauty, and fashion topics, and is hailed as one of the most recognized and esteemed fashion magazines in the world. In addition to the cover of the inaugural March 2019 issue, the brand received 10 pages of editorial featuring its Fall/Winter Collection. Maire Claire also featured Gaucho - Buenos Aires in the following April edition, which showcased Designers Buenos Aires fashion week at Tattersall De Palermo in Buenos Aires, at which the fashion brand premiered its seasonal collection on the runway for fashion industry and media. Gaucho - Buenos Aires embodies the spirit of Argentina -- its grand history, its folklore and its revival as a global center of luxury. Inspired by the sophisticated elegance of the great European maisons, Gaucho - Buenos Aires is also rooted in the traditions of native, nomadic culture. With its ambitious couture, ready-to-wear and high-street fashion offering, this is the brand in which Argentine luxury finds its contemporary expression. ''As we are a new brand, our growing reputation in Argentina helps forge a path for us in preparation for our debut on the world stage'' said Scott Mathis, CEO and Founder of Gaucho Group Holdings, Inc. ''In the months leading up to our international debut, we hope to be able to leverage all things positive in regards to press, social media presence, and fashion reviews in order to better position ourselves for success.'' Please visit GauchoBuenosAires.com and follow us on Instagram @gauchobuenosaires today to sign up for insider fashion news, behind-the-brand stories, exclusive invitations, and special access to wait lists and pre-ordering. Story continues About Gaucho Group Holdings, Inc. For more than ten years, Gaucho Group Holdings' (formerly Algodon Group) mission has been to source and develop opportunities in Argentina's undervalued luxury real estate and consumer marketplace. With our proprietary collection of wine, hospitality, fashion brands, and real estate holdings as a foundation, we seek to build our luxury brands of Gaucho - Buenos Aires and ALGODON, brands of prestige, distinction and elegance. We begin with a focus on the quality and reputation of Algodon's award-wining wines, which serve as our ambassador for our luxury lifestyle properties and other real estate assets. As we continue to produce the ultra-fine wines for which we have become recognized, we expect that our reputation for quality will continue to grow and accordingly increase the value of our brand and real estate holdings. Gaucho Group Holdings' luxury assets are currently concentrated in Argentina, which we believe represents one of the most undervalued investment sectors in the world today. For more information, please visit www.gauchogroupholdings.com . Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements The information discussed in this press release includes ''forward looking statements'' within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 (the ''Securities Act'') and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the ''Exchange Act''). All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included herein concerning, among other things, planned capital expenditures, future cash flows and borrowings, pursuit of potential acquisition opportunities, our financial position, business strategy and other plans and objectives for futureoperations, are forward looking statements. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''may,'' ''expect,'' ''estimate,'' ''project,'' ''plan,'' ''believe,'' ''intend,'' ''achievable,'' ''anticipate,'' ''will,'' ''continue,'' ''potential,'' ''should,'' ''could,'' and similar terms and phrases. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, they do involve certain assumptions, risks and uncertainties and are not (and should not be considered to be) guarantees of future performance. Among these risks are those set forth in a Form 10-K filed on March 30, 2018. It is important that each person reviewing this release understand the significant risks attendant to the operations of Gaucho Group Holdings. Gaucho Group Holdings disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statement made herein. CONTACT: Media and Investor Relations: Gaucho Group Holdings, Inc. Rick Stear Director of Marketing 212.739.7669 rstear@algodongroup.com SOURCE: Gaucho Group Holdings, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/541489/Argentinas-Newest-Fashion-Brand-Gaucho--Buenos-Aires-Graces-Cover-of-First-Ever-Marie-Claire-Argentina (Reuters) - Wynn Resorts Ltd, the world's No. 2 casino operator, said on Tuesday it scrapped preliminary talks to acquire Crown Resorts Ltd for A$10 billion (5.5 billion), after the Australian Financial Review broke news of the negotiations. Wynn's backtracking illustrates how media leaks of deal talks can test the resolve of potential acquirers. Crown shares jumped as much as 22 percent on the news to A$14.37, close to the $A14.75 per share level that Crown said Wynn's latest cash-and-stock offer valued the company. This can make deal negotiations more difficult by emboldening acquisition targets to drive a hard bargain, analysts said. In this case, Wynn's inexperience with pursuing big deals also likely played a factor, some analysts added. "(Wynn) management's experience with acquisitions is limited, so when you target synergies it'll be nice to have more of a track record for such a large transaction," said Roth Capital Partners analyst David Bain, calling the termination of the deal talks a positive development for Wynn. After the Australian Financial Review revealed Wynn's takeover approach, Crown not only confirmed the confidential talks on Tuesday, but also disclosed the price that Wynn was offering. It added that Crown's board had not yet considered Wynn's latest offer. Wynn then issued two statements, first confirming the talks, and, a few hours later, stating that they had ended. "Following the premature disclosure of preliminary discussions, Wynn Resorts has terminated all discussions with Crown Resorts concerning any transaction," the company said in a statement. Wynn's shares were down 3.2 percent at $140.21 in New York at mid-afternoon. Examples of companies confirming acquisition talks only to back out hours later are few and far between, because they reflect a lack of conviction on the part of the aspiring acquirers. Last year, drug maker Allergan Plc confirmed it was in the early stages of making an offer for peer Shire Plc, after Reuters broke news of the deliberations, only to issue a second statement a few hours later stating it would not make an offer. Insurer Aon Plc said last month it would not pursue a merger with rival insurance brokerage Willis Towers Watson Plc, a day after it confirmed it was in early stages of considering an all-stock offer for the Irish company following a Bloomberg News report revealing the deliberations. Story continues HEDGE AGAINST MACAU Wynn was founded in 2002 by Steve Wynn, who started his casino business in Las Vegas in the 1960s and created some of the city's most iconic landmarks the Mirage, Bellagio and Treasure Island - before selling them. Beset by sexual misconduct allegations, Wynn left the company and sold his entire 11.8 percent stake in Wynn Resorts for $2.1 billion last month. Wynn operates large resort-and-casino complexes in Las Vegas and Chinese gambling hub Macau, with another under construction in Massachusetts. The deal would have offered a hedge against Macau, where its licences are up for renewal, by giving it two lavishly revamped Australian casinos and a third being built on the prized Sydney harbour front. Buying Crown would also fit in with Wynn's strategy to diversify geographically to protect its growth prospects if its Macau licences are not renewed. The company's efforts so far have included ramping up promotion of a resort in Japan, a market seen as the next potential goldmine to Macau and a former expansion target for Crown. "Wynn has typically grown through building their own facilities, not through acquisition," said Bain, the Roth Capital Partners analyst. For Crown's 47 percent owner James Packer, who re-badged his father's media empire as a gambling concern in 2007 only to withdraw from business engagements last year due to mental illness, the deal would have ended his career as a casino mogul with a A$4.7 billion payout. He would have ended up as Wynn's biggest shareholder with 9.8 percent of its shares, based on its current number of shares on issue. "We think Wynn's strategy was mostly defensive, but if they have a strong strategic rationale for wanting to acquire Crown, they would likely come back to the table when things settle down," said John DeCree, Union Gaming Securities' director of North America research. (Reporting by Byron Kaye, Tom Westbrook and Paulina Duran in SYDNEY, Devika Syamnath and Nivedita Balu in BENGALURU, and Greg Roumeliotis in NEW YORK; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Shounak Dasgupta and Richard Chang) The U.S. auto industry braces for impact this morning, as border delays with Mexican auto parts deliveries are currently experiencing serious delays into our country. The integrated North American auto industry where parts often cross the border several times before finally being installed in an automobile is now threatened by policy shifts for the business of automakers and suppliers on both sides of the border. This industry generates $1.7 billion in trade per day, but gridlock has dwindled the number of shipments reaching their destinations by roughly half. Popular pickup truck brands like Chevy Silverado GM and Fiat Chryslers FCAU Ram trucks are among those to be most deeply affected. The Trump administration has transferred 750 border agents away from commercial processing to deal with growing immigration realities at the southern border, where a new influx of families prepare to cross into the U.S. from various troubled countries in Central and South America. While immigration from our neighbors to the south had subsided in recent years, these numbers are expected to spike up in 2019. Last year, 2.6 million autos were exported from Mexico to the U.S. the best year ever for this integrated industry. In fact, more than 15% of U.S.-sold cars, pickups and crossovers were sold in the U.S. in 2018. Now, gridlock threatens the businesses of not only the big auto companies, but parts suppliers and car dealerships, as well. The White House has also set its sights on imposing new tariffs on European goods imported to the U.S., such as wine, cheese and things like passenger helicopters. This is in response to what the administration feels are unfair subsidies to airplane manufacturer Airbus, the main competitor of U.S.-based Boeing BA. Approximately $11 billion in goods from the European Union (EU) is reportedly expected to be affected. The U.S. Trade Rep awaits a ruling by the World Trade Organization (WTO) this summer. These tariffs appear to follow similar trade policy the Trump administration has implemented with Chinese trade, which has led to tensions that have affected economies both in China and the U.S. since last autumn. 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 The Boeing Company (BA) : Free Stock Analysis Report General Motors Company (GM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCAU) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 10, 2019) - AXMIN Inc. (TSXV: AXM) ("AXMIN" or the "Company") notes the following news release. AXMIN is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Lifei Jiang as CEO of Somio Toungou S.A and CEO of Aurafrique SARL in Central African Republic and Mr. Jean Qian as Board Secretary and CEO Assistant of Axmin Inc. Mr. Lifei Jiang benefits form over fifteen years of senior operational experience in Africa in the investment, construction and mining industries. He has served as project manager, vice general manager and general manager for the Chinese states owned enterprises China Geo-Engineering Corporation (CGC) and CGCOC Group Company Limited in several African countries where he was directly responsible for project management, bidding, financial controls, team building, and market development. Mr. Jiang is extremely familiar with local traditions and cultures, different applicable mining laws and effective operational procedures for delivering mining operations in Africa. For AXMIN, Mr. Jiang will be managing the in-country operations of the Company. Mr. Qian benefits from experience in senior administration of Chinese companies working with international counterparties to manage projects within and outside of China. He has been responsible for coordination and international communication in large events, as well as corporate news releases and translations. AXMIN's Chairman and CEO Lucy Yan sated: AXMIN is very pleased to appoint Mr. Jiang and Mr. Qian to assist the company with our in-country operations and international co-ordination. We believe these key staff additions will assist the Company as we fully restart our operations in the Central African Republic in the near future. We are very excited to see the improving security developments in the region around our mining asset and will provide a further update in this regard. About AXMIN AXMIN is a Canadian exploration and development company with a strong focus on the African continent. AXMIN continues to closely monitor the security situation at its Passendro Gold Project in the Central African Republic. For more information regarding AXMIN visit our website at www.axmininc.com. Please follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/axmininc Story continues For additional information, please contact AXMIN Inc.: Lucy Yan Chairman and CEO ceo@axmininc.com AXMIN Inc. General Enquiries David de Jongh Weill Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary david@axmininc.com +65 9781 8281 Investor Relations ir@axmininc.com www.axmininc.com This press release includes certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All information, other than statements of historical fact included herein, including without limitation, information regarding the future option grant plans and objectives of AXMIN, are forward-looking information that involves various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from AXMIN's expectations have been disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in AXMIN's documents filed from time-to-time with the TSX Venture Exchange and other regulatory authorities. AXMIN disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether resulting from new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. 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. Corporate Logo To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43962 Ballard Power Systems BLDP has signed an Equipment Supply Agreement with Norway's one of the largest ferry and express boat operator Norled A/S. Per the terms, the company will provide two next-generation 200 kilowatt (kW) modules, which will be designed and manufactured at the new Marine Center of Excellence in Hobro, Denmark. Norled plans to initiate a hybrid ferry services in 2021. The vessel with the capacity to carry up to 299 passengers and 80 cars is expected to be the first liquid hydrogen fuel cell-powered ferry in global commercial operation. Focus on Zero-Emission Fuel Cell Technology Demand for fuel cell technology is gaining popularity, courtesy of reliability and cheaper-than-conventional power sources. It has become a viable option for vehicles owing to inherent zero emissions. Fuel Cell technology is witnessing higher adoption in trains, trams, transit buses, commercial trucks and marine vessels. Per REASERCH AND MARKETS, during the 2018-2023 period, the fuel cell market is expected to witness a CAGR of more than 28.21% and reach $13.83 billion from the base level of $3.114 billion in 2017. Currently, North America and Europe are the largest users of fuel cell in the global market. Additionally, Norway's government is promoting clean energy by mandating zero-emission tourist ships and ferries in its world heritage fjords by 2026. Since battery-powered propulsion systems are not compatible with Norways high-speed ferries, the demand for Fuel Cell batteries are likely to increase. Ballard Powers technology team is working relentlessly to provide clean services. We believe that the recent deal will increase demand for its clean services in the future. Order Backlog and Recent Project Ballard Power ended 2018 with a total order backlog of $194.8 million, up $72.1 million on a sequential basis. In addition, the company has $69 million order book deliveries in 2019, which are likely to be delivered in the upcoming 12 months. Recently, Ballard Power announced that it will establish a Marine Center of Excellence ("Marine CoE") in Hobro to provide engineering, manufacturing as well as services. Moreover, the company will design and manufacture heavy duty fuel cell modules. This fuel cell system manufacturing hall is expected to produce 15 megawatts (MW) of fuel cell modules annually and is likely to be operational by the end of 2019. Apart from Ballard Power, other companies like Plug Power PLUG, Bloom Energy Corporation BE and FuelCell Energy, Inc FCEL are undertaking initiatives to introduce fuel cell alternatives. Story continues Price Movement Ballard Power has outperformed the industry in the past year. The companys shares have inched up 0.8%, against the industrys decline of 5.5%. Zacks Rank Ballard Power currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Strong Sell). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019 In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year? Who wouldn't? Our annual Top 10s have beaten the market with amazing regularity. In 2018, while the market dropped -5.2%, the portfolio scored well into double-digits overall with individual stocks rising as high as +61.5%. And from 2012-2017, while the market boomed +126.3, Zacks' Top 10s reached an even more sensational +181.9%. See Latest Stocks Today >> 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 Ballard Power Systems, Inc. (BLDP) : Free Stock Analysis Report Plug Power, Inc. (PLUG) : Free Stock Analysis Report FuelCell Energy, Inc. (FCEL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Bloom Energy Corporation (BE) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research FILE PHOTO: Logo of Bayer AG is pictured at the annual results news conference of the German drugmaker in Leverkusen, Germany February 27, 2019. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/File Photo By Patricia Weiss and Ludwig Burger FRANKFURT (Reuters) - One of Bayer's largest shareholders tore into the company's management on Wednesday for underestimating the legal risks of its takeover of Monsanto, setting the stage for a fiery annual general meeting after a 30 percent plunge in the shares. Bayer has seen about 30 billion euros (25.84 billion pounds) wiped off its market value since August, when a U.S. jury found Bayer liable because Monsanto had not warned of weedkiller Roundup's alleged cancer risks. It suffered a similar courtroom defeat last month. "It's quite drastic when a takeover triggers such value destruction and reputational damage so quickly. There can be no talk of a successful takeover any more," Ingo Speich, the head of sustainability and corporate governance at Deka Investment, told Reuters. He will be among the shareholders to speak at the April 26 annual general meeting (AGM). "What's startling is that things have effectively moved beyond management's control because we're now at a point where the decisions over future development are made in court rooms," he said, adding Bayer had clearly underestimated the risks. With a holding of about 1 percent, Deka says it is Bayer's 10th-largest shareholder overall, and the second-largest German one after DWS. Major shareholder advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis last week recommended investors not to give the executive board their seal of approval at the AGM. Glass Lewis also advised against a vote of approval for the non-executive supervisory board. A shareholder vote to ratify boards' actions features prominently at every German AGM. Though largely symbolic, as it has no bearing on management liability, it is seen as a key gauge of shareholder sentiment. Among shareholders that have vowed to deny top Bayer executives their vote of confidence is the former head of DWS, Christian Strenger. Deka's Speich declined to disclose how Deka would vote. Company filings showed this week that Bayer's supervisory board sought law firm Linklaters' expert opinion for reassurance that the management board had complied with its duties when acquiring Monsanto for $63 billion last year. Story continues The supervisory board in Germany's two-tier corporate board system has to sign off on larger transactions. Bayer's non-executive Chairman Werner Wenning was a driving force of the Monsanto deal, according to sources familiar with the matter. Bayer is appealing, or has vowed to appeal, the two jury verdicts, but more than 11,000 plaintiffs are seeking damages. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the European Chemicals Agency and other regulators across the globe have found that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is not likely carcinogenic to humans. However, the World Health Organisation's cancer arm in 2015 reached a different conclusion, classifying glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans." Speich said Bayer could now be vulnerable to attacks from activist shareholders who might seek to break it up, although the "bitter pill" of litigation risks might deter them for now. Such risks could also distract management, he added, when it "should be fully absorbed by the integration of Monsanto," Speich said. (Reporting by Ludwig Burger and Patricia Weiss; Editing by Edward Taylor and Mark Potter) As the parliamentary stalemate over Brexit continues, it is still possible that the UK could leave the EU without a deal. What could this mean for British citizens who are abroad in the EU on or after a no-deal Brexit? Q: Will I need to get a visa to remain in the EU country Im in or travel on to another one? This will depend on your situation and purpose of travel. If you are a tourist, you will not need to have a visa for a short stay of less than three months. In early April, the European Council and the European Parliament agreed that, following Brexit, UK citizens coming to the Schengen area for a short stay (90 days in any 180 days) should be granted visa-free travel. But this is only for the purpose of tourism if you want to take up a paid activity, such as work, you will need a visa. The rules for work visas depend on the national legislation of each EU member state and will vary across the 27 member countries. In addition, even for the purpose of tourism, according to EU rules, visa exemption in all EU member states is granted on condition of reciprocity. This means the UK government has to grant visa-free travel to the remaining EU member states as well. For now, the UK government has indicated that it does not intend to require a visa from EU citizens travelling to the UK for short stays of less than three months. In the event that this changed in the future, EU member states could revoke visa-free travel for UK citizens. Q: Can I still drive with my regular British licence? After Brexit, UK drivers may need one or more international driving permits to drive abroad. If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, UK drivers may also need an international driving permit and extra documentation to drive in the EU and European Economic Area (EEA). If you hold a UK licence and live in the EU or EEA, you might need to exchange your UK driving licence for a local EU driving licence before Brexit. From then on, if there is no EU Brexit deal, you may have to pass a driving test in the EU country you live in to be able to carry on driving there. Story continues Q: Will my European Health Insurance Card still work if I need medical help? If you are planning to travel to the EU after the UK is scheduled to leave the EU, you may be wondering whether your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) will be valid. The card currently entitles you to state-provided medical treatment if you fall ill or have an accident. Read more: What's now at stake for UK citizens living in the rest of the EU If the UK leaves without a deal, your EHIC card will no longer be valid so do check your travel insurance coverage. If the UK adopts a deal, both sides have reached agreement that there should be a transition period until at least December 31, 2020. During this period, all EU law, including relating to your EHIC card, would continue to apply in the UK. You would still be able to use your card. Q: Am I likely to face delays or difficulty returning to the UK? If there is no deal, there are likely to be long delays for travel to and from the EU, whether by car, train, or plane. The UK will be treated like a third country to the EU, which means new border regulations and security checks would apply, making cross-border travel much more difficult. Read more: No deal Brexit: what it could mean for British tourists and air travel Q: Will my telephone roaming charges still be free in the EU? This will depend on the individual phone companies. The UK will no longer apply EU legislation, meaning that individual companies would be allowed to charge extra roaming charges in the EU. It is not clear whether and which companies might charge roaming fees. In the short term you will probably not pay extra roaming charges, but in the medium term this will only be secured if the UK government also introduces national legislation to ban phone companies from charging roaming fees. Q: What about Britons who live in the EU? The rights of Britons to live and work abroad in the EU will depend on the national legislation of each EU member state. Some EU countries, such as Spain, have introduced clear rules that make it relatively easy for Britons to continue living there. Other countries have not legislated for this eventuality at all. As a result, there could be very wide discrepancies across all 27 EU member states. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The Conversation Christian Kaunert receives funding from the European Commission. He holds a Jean Monnet Chair in Counter-terrorism in Europe, and a Marie Curie Research Fellowshop together with Dr Joana de Deus Pereira. Shares of China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) fell 5% on March 21 after the company posted its annual report for 2018. Its operating revenue rose 1.8% to 736.8 billion RMB ($110 billion). Within that total, its telecommunication services revenue grew 3.7% to 670.9 billion RMB. China Mobile's EBITDA rose 1.9% to 275.5 billion RMB ($41.1 billion), and its net profit improved 3.1% to 117.8 billion RMB ($17.6 billion). However, 13.9 billion RMB of that net profit came from the IPO of China Tower, which acquired China Mobile's towers over three years ago last August. Excluding that one-time gain, its net profit would have declined 9%. Networking connections across a city. Image source: Getty Images. China Mobile stated that 2018 was a "challenging year" for Chinese telcos, due to competition, the saturation of the smartphone market, and government-enforced reductions of wireless fees and the elimination of data roaming charges. Higher spending on ongoing 5G network upgrades also throttled its earnings growth. However, China Mobile remains the largest wireless carrier in China, and its status as a state-backed enterprise limits its downside potential. The stock also trades at just 12 times earnings and pays a yield of nearly 4%. Do those factors make China Mobile a compelling investment for conservative investors? A growing user base China Mobile's total mobile users grew 4% to 925 million in 2018. Within that total, its number of higher revenue 4G customers rose 10% to 713 million. Its wireline broadband customers climbed 39% to 157 million. That growth continued this year, with its mobile users rising to 929 million, its 4G users hitting 719 million, and its broadband customers reaching 164 million by the end of February. Those numbers indicate that the market leader still has room to grow. China Mobile's two smaller state-backed rivals, China Telecom (NYSE: CHA) and China Unicom (NYSE: CHU), are generating stronger growth in wireless customers but softer growth in the broadband market. Story continues China Telecom's total mobile users rose 21% to 303 million in 2018, its 4G customers climbed 33% to 242 million, and its broadband customers grew 9% to 146 million. China Unicom's total mobile users rose 11% to 315 million, its 4G customers rose 26% to 220 million, and its broadband customer base grew 6% to 81 million. Both telcos posted growth in all three categories in the first two months of 2018. Last year, the Chinese government reportedly considered merging China Telecom and China Unicom to create a bigger rival for China Mobile in the wireless market. That merger could threaten China Mobile, but competition between the big three carriers is carefully regulated (with rotating management and controlled prices), and it might be easier for China Mobile to compete with a single carrier instead of two. A young woman uses a smartphone. Image source: Getty Images. Declining revenue per user China Mobile's user growth looks solid, but its mobile ARPU (average revenue per user) declined 8% to 53.1 RMB ($7.90) for the year due to the aforementioned fee reductions and the elimination of data roaming charges. Its ARPU per 4G user fell 8% to 61.3 RMB ($9.15). This caused its total consumer mobile service revenue (over two-thirds of its top line) to decline 2%. Within that total, a 55% increase in its mobile data revenue failed to offset a 27% drop in voice and SMS revenue. Moreover, higher data usage rates (which rose from 1.7GB per user to 4.3GB between the end of 2017 and 2018) increased China Mobile's operating expenses as the government capped its subscription prices. This could make it tough for the company to grow its earnings in 2019. Other irons in the fire On the bright side, China Mobile's household broadband blended ARPU rose 3% to 34.4 RMB ($5.13). That growth, which complements its growth in broadband users, could give China Mobile more bundling opportunities between its wireless and wireline plans. Its Internet of Things (IoT) business -- which offers wireless connections to cars, wearables, smart home devices, and other connected gadgets -- is also growing. Its total number of IoT smart connections surged 141% annually to 551 million, and its IoT service revenue rose 40% to 7.5 billion RMB. That only accounted for 1% of China Mobile's top line, but its weight could significantly increase as the country's IoT market expands. China Mobile will also benefit from the ramp up of 5G technologies across China. Those upgrades are weighing down its near-term margins, but they'll eventually reduce its data costs and allow it to generate more revenue per user over the long term. Still a rock-solid business Investors seemed disappointed by China Mobile's dependence on the China Tower IPO for earnings growth and its declining mobile ARPU. However, those headwinds are temporary, and it remains one of the safest long-term plays on the Chinese market. Its stock probably won't rally much higher this year, but its low valuation and high yield could convince patient investors to stick around. More From The Motley Fool Leo Sun owns shares of China Mobile. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. PVH Corp (NYSE: PVH) may finally see improving sentiment for its Calvin Klein brand, according to Morgan Stanley. The Analyst Kimberly Greenberger initiated coverage of PVH with an Overweight rating and $164 price target. The Thesis Good things come to those who wait on PVH, as Chinese macro and Calvin Klein execution concerns are overdone, Greenberger said in the Tuesday initiation note. The analyst said she expects a second half of 2019 and 2020 re-acceleration as recent negatives pivot to positives. We see the concerns that have pressured the stock over the last eight months turning into positives in [the second half]." Fashion and merchandising execution issues at Calvin Klein fueled a 45-percent decline in the stock beginning in July 2018, Greenberger said. Morgan Stanley views these issues as transitory as Calvin Klein management recalibrates its balance between fashion and core/basics and supportive China policy measures stabilize consumer spending in the second quarter. As these issues resolve and EPS growth re-acclimated, we expect PVH stock can retract to higher levels, and at the current valuation of 12.x P/E we see a compelling opportunity to own this global growth story." Price Action PVH shares were down 0.24 percent at $127.01 at the time of publication Tuesday. Related Links: Cowen Suits Up With Nike, Looks To Outperform PVH Corp Analysts: Tommy Hilfiger Is Hot, Calvin Klein Is Not Latest Ratings for PVH Apr 2019 Morgan Stanley Initiates Coverage On Overweight Apr 2019 UBS Maintains Buy Buy Mar 2019 Citigroup Maintains Neutral Neutral View More Analyst Ratings for PVH View the Latest Analyst Ratings See more from Benzinga 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Canadian National (NYSE: CNI) yesterday unveiled plans to invest US$505 million in capital projects along its U.S. corridor spanning from Wisconsin to Louisiana. In Illinois, CNI plans to spend $190 million, which will include funding to add capacity at its Joliet intermodal terminal. In Louisiana, CNI will spend $95 million, with part of that funding going to a multi-year project to rebuild a two-mile long bridge over a spillway near the southwest shore of Lake Pontchartrain. In Tennessee and Wisconsin, CNI will spend $100 million and $120 million, respectively. Capital spending in Wisconsin will include the construction of eight miles of double tracking near Hawthorne. The capital investments are for planned expansions as well as for maintenance projects and the installation of positive train control and other technologies such as automated track inspection, distributed air cars and automated inspection portals. The maintenance projects include replacing rail track, installing rail ties, rebuilding road crossing surfaces and conducting repair work. CNI's overall capital budget for 2019 is $2.9 billion. For this year and 2018, its capital budget is $5.7 billion. The railway will announce its first-quarter 2019 earnings at 4:30 pm EDT on April 29. Image sourced from Pixabay Want more content like this? Click here to Subscribe Permalink See more from Benzinga 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. FILE PHOTO: Credit reporting company Equifax Inc. corporate offices are pictured in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., September 8, 2017. REUTERS/Tami Chappell (Reuters) - Equifax Inc and its Canadian unit fell far short of their privacy obligations, a Canadian federal agency said on Tuesday following an investigation into the 2017 data breach at the credit reporting company. The agency, which is charged with protecting privacy rights of individuals, noted that poor security safeguards worsened the impact of the global cyber attack https://www.reuters.com/article/us-equifax-cyber/equifax-reveals-hack-that-likely-exposed-data-of-143-million-customers-idUSKCN1BI2VK that affected more than 143 million people worldwide, including 19,000 Canadians. "Given the vast amounts of highly sensitive personal information Equifax holds...it was completely unacceptable to find such significant shortcomings in the company's privacy and security practices," said Daniel Therrien, the privacy commissioner of Canada. The agency said Equifax Canada has entered into a compliance agreement to address these concerns and will submit third-party audit reports on its own security and that of its parent to the OPC every two years for the next six years. This will allow ongoing monitoring of compliance with Canada's federal private sector privacy law, including assessing the steps taken by Equifax since the breach, OPC said in a statement. (Reporting By Shradha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber) Investing.com Prices of the major cryptocurrencies were mixed on Wednesday morning in Asia. Price movements were slight due to a lack of directional movers. Bitcoin dropped 0.10% to $5,188.4 by 12:08 PM ET (04:08 AM GMT), still holding on above the $5,000 level. It had been below the $5,000 level since mid-November before it suddenly gained steam on April 1. Ethereum added 1.49% to $178.69, XRP slid 0.17% to $0.34922 and Litecoin rose 0.76% to $87.453. The crypto market cap remained at $181 billion, the same level as the day before. Chinas planning agency that formulates macroeconomic policies said it is considering banning crypto mining in the country, Reuters reported. The news stirred a lot of attention among industry players and traders. On Monday, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) included crypto mining in the list of industrial activities it intends to eliminate and it is now seeking public opinion until May 7. The NDRCs move is in line overall with Chinas desire to control different layers of the rapidly growing crypto industry, and does not yet signal a major shift in policy, Jehan Chu, managing partner at blockchain investment firm Kenetic, told Reuters. The worlds second largest economy, China is known for its tough stance against cryptocurrencies. For example, the Peoples Bank of China banned initial coin offerings in September 2017. China is an ideal place for crypto mining owing to its cheap energy and abundance of hardware. Mining giant Bitmain intends to set up 200,000 units of mining equipment in the country to make use of its cheap hydroelectric power. The news did not set Bitcoin back. Another news that garnered some attention was the U.S. subsidiary of European crypto exchange Bitstamp being granted a virtual currency license from New York states financial regulator. Bitstamp USA is now the 19th company to get BitLicense to conduct digital currency operations in New York state. Now Bitstamp USA can offer services to let customers buy and sell Bitcoin, along with certain virtual tokens, for U.S. dollar and vice versa. Story continues Bitstamp USA is also authorized to facilitate transfers of funds onto the Ripple Network, issuing Ripple Balances in USD, other virtual currencies, and select fiat currencies, including the Australian Dollar, British Pound, Euro, Swiss Franc, and Japanese Yen, the regulator said. With a turnover of $100 million per day, Bitstamp is seen as the largest crypto exchange in the EU by volume. Related Articles 5 Cryptocurrency Tax Questions to Ask on April 15th Major Japanese Fintech Firm Halts Plans to Launch Crypto Exchange, Citing Bear Market Crypto Markets See Green, US Stock Futures Solid Ahead of Goldman, Citi Earnings Delta CEO Ed Bastion said he's confident Boeing will fix the software on the 737 Max jets that has been implicated in two crashes that killed 346 people over five months. Delta doesn't have any of the jets in its fleet, largely avoiding fallout from the prolonged 737 Max grounding. Delta Air Lines DAL CEO Ed Bastian said he's confident Boeing BA will figure out a software fix for the 737 Max jets implicated in two crashes that killed 346 people over five months. "We have the ultimate confidence in Boeing. They are a great partner. Our largest fleet partner is Boeing. I know they're going to get to the right answer ... We'll stay close to Boeing and see how they progress," Bastian said on CNBC's " Squawk Box " on Wednesday morning. The aircraft hasn't been allowed to fly since mid-March. But Delta, which doesn't have any 737 Max jets in its fleet, has largely avoided the fallout from the prolonged grounding, reporting Wednesday record revenue and a big jump in profit during the first quarter that beat Wall Street's expectations. The airline industry has been reeling from the aftermath of the crashes in Ethiopia on March 10 and Indonesia on Oct. 29. Boeing said it will cut 20 percent of its 737 Max production as it works on a software fix. Bad data feeding into the aircraft's automated flight system is suspected as a possible cause of the crashes. The company's shares have have fallen nearly 9% in the past month. Wall Street analysts recently downgraded Boeing BA and Southwest Airlines LUV ; American Airlines AAL cut its revenue guidance for the first quarter and canceled 1,200 flights. Delta, which doesn't have any 737 Max jets in its fleet, has largely been insulated from the fallout. "Our hearts go out to all who are impacted," Bastian said. "This is not something we want to compete around. I'm confident Boeing will get to the right answer with respect to the fix and hope they get the product back in the sky as soon as possible." Story continues Boeing is expected to launch a new midsize aircraft, the 797, which could potentially be backlogged as a result of continued troubles with the its 737 Max. It's unclear if Delta would opt for a different planemaker, like Airbus, to replace their aging mid-range fleet if the 797 is delayed. Delta currently has 200 aircraft, including 757s and 756s, that need to be retired and replaced by newer models. Bastian said it's too early to speculate whether Delta would opt for Airbus if the 737 Max is grounded longer than expected. "We'll see how they do," he said of Boeing. "Clearly if it's outside our window, it will be a challenge to us, we are hopeful that's not going to be the case." Delta reported adjusted quarterly profit of 96 cents per share , 6 cents above estimates, with revenue also beating forecasts. The airline plans to keep capacity stable during the summer travel season. More From CNBC BRUSSELS, April 10 (Reuters) - The following are mergers under review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU merger process: APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS -- French fashion company LVMH to acquire sole control over British hotel and travel operator Belmond Ltd (approved April 10) NEW LISTINGS -- Fund management company DIF Infrastructure, green infrastructure investor Green Investment Group (GIG) and waste-to-energy infrastructure company Covanta Holding Corp to jointly acquire Covanta Europe Assets Ltd and the Dublin Waste-to-Energy facility which is jointly controlled by Covanta and GIG (notified April 9/deadline May 21/simplified) -- Investcorp Investment Holdings and Aberdeen Asset Management plc to set up a joint venture (notified April 1/deadline May 13/simplified) -- British car parts distributor Alliance Automotive Group, which is a unit of U.S. car parts distributor Genuine Parts Company, to acquire Dutch peer PartsPoint Group (notified April 1/deadline May 13/simplified) EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES None FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE APRIL 24 -- Swedish telecoms provider Telia Company to acquire Bonnier Broadcasting which includes brands such as Swedish TV4 and streaming service C More and Finnish MTV (notified March 15/deadline April 24) APRIL 25 -- French nursing home operator Financiere Colisee to acquire sole control over Belgian nursing home operator Armonea Group (notified March 18/deadline April 25/simplified) APRIL 26 -- Liberty House Group to acquire sole control over steel companies Galati/Skopje HoldCo, Paloma S.r.l., ArcelorMittal Ostrava a.s., Liege Steel Industry SA and ArcelorMittal Dudelange S.A. (notified March 19/deadline April 26/simplified) APRIL 30 -- Italy's doBank S.p.A. to acquire sole control over Altamira Asset Management S.A. and its affiliates with the exception of Altamira Asset Management Cyprus which will remain under joint control with Cyprus Cooperative Bank (notified March 21/deadline April 30/simplified) Story continues -- France's Engie S.A. and Canada's Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec to obtain joint control over Brazil's Transportadora Associada de Gas S.A. (notified March 21/deadline April 30/simplified) MAY 2 -- International power plant supplier Ansaldo Energia and Russia's REP Holding to create REPH Ansaldo Gas Turbine joint venture (notified March 22/deadline May 2/simplified) -- U.S.-based private equity companies TA Associates Management and Vista Equity Partners Management to acquire joint control over Aptean Inc. and Yaletown Acquiror (notified March 22/deadline May 2/simplified) MAY 3 -- Gemany's Daimler and China's Geely Technology Group to create a ride-hailing joint venture in China (notified March 25/deadline May 3/simplified) MAY 6 -- Electricity company Sev.en Energy Group and Chinese peer China Huaneng Group to acquire joint control of electricity provider InterGen B.V. (notified March 26/deadline May 6/simplified) MAY 7 -- U.S. plastics maker Berry Global Group to acquire British packager RPC (notified March 27/deadline May 7/simplified) MAY 8 The Court of Justice of the European Union The Court of Justice of the European Union, located on the Kirchberg plateau overlooking the city of Luxembourg. Photo: Shutterstock The European Union has agreed to changes designed to create more efficiency in the appeals process at the EU Court of Justice, which has seen a huge increase in the number of cases brought before it. Under the change, a filtering mechanism will be used to screen appeals brought before the EU's Court of Justice, the supreme legal authority for EU law, so only those deemed deserving to be heard move forward. The filtering mechanism will apply to appeals related to decisions taken by a number of EU agencies and bodies. Appeals brought in cases that have already been considered twice, first by an independent board of appeal, then by the General Court, will not be allowed to proceed before the Court of Justice unless it is demonstrated that they raise an issue "that is significant with respect to the unity, consistency or development of EU law". Statistics show that many such appeals end up being dismissed, according to the European Council. The Court of Justice is overburdened and must prioritise," said George Ciamba, Romania's minister for EU affairs, who oversaw the change. "This decision will increase efficiency and enhance legal protection in the EU. The mechanism will apply to appeals relating to decisions by the European Union Intellectual Property Office, the Community Plant Variety Office, the European Chemicals Agency and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. The Court of Justice of the European Union, the supreme legal authority for EU law, is composed of two courts: the General Court and the Court of Justice. The General Court hears cases brought against the EU institutions by individuals and member states. The Court of Justice hears applications from national courts for preliminary rulings, annulment and appeals. The EU's court has had to deal with an ever-increasing number of cases. It received 849 new cases in 2018 a record number. The court closed proceedings in 760 cases last year, which was also a record. The average period needed to close a case was 16 months. Photo credit: Bigstock Former Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Angeles Roca and former Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Dawn Segal have both had their law licenses suspended for one year and one day. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued separateorders Tuesday adopting the recommendations of a three-member panel of the Disciplinary Board, which were based on joint petitions in support of discipline on consent filed by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, the two ex-judges and their counsel. A suspension of more than a year means both Segal and Roca will need to reapply to have their law licenses reinstated. Roca and Segal were found in 2016 to have violated the state constitution and the Code of Judicial Conduct by engaging in ex parte contact with former Municipal Court Judge Joseph C. Waters Jr., who was later charged criminally and sentenced to 24 months in prison for fixing cases of political donors. They were initially suspended from the bench before eventually being removed and barred from ever holding public office again by the Court of Judicial Discipline in December 2016. The CJD determined that Segal violated four judicial canons and three articles of the state constitution, including prohibitions against engaging in ex parte communications, allowing others to believe they could influence her, failing to report the communications, failing to disqualify herself, and interfering with the normal operations of the court. The charges focused on allegations that Waters contacted Segal four times, and asked for special consideration in the cases of Houdini Lock & Safe v. Donegal Investment Property Management Services, Commonwealth v. Khoury and City of Philadelphia v. Rexach, a tax enforcement case against Rocas son, Ian Rexach. The CJD found that Rocas actions brought her office into disrepute, prejudiced the proper administration of justice and failed to promote confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary. Story continues Roca contacted Waters in 2012, seeking to enlist his aid in having the tax enforcement complaint issued against her son dismissed, according to the CJDs October 2016 opinion. She asked Waters to intervene in the matter by contacting Segal, which he did. Segal later told Waters that she took care of it, and the case was ultimately withdrawn by another judge without prejudice. Roca, Waters and Segal were unknowingly being recorded by the FBI during their phone calls. The joint petitions in support of discipline on consent for both Roca and Segal noted that, unlike most Pennsylvania judges who have been removed from the bench in the past, neither were ever charged with or convicted of a crime, and neither engaged in criminal conduct. Still, the board found their cases were most closely related to that of former Lancaster County Magisterial District Judge Kelly Ballentine, who was suspended on consent for one year for dismissing her own traffic tickets in 2010 and 2011. The board said there were differences between Ballentine's case and those of Segal and Roca. For one, Ballentine pleaded guilty to three counts of misdemeanor tampering charges. For another, Ballentine was suspended from the bench for 15 months and placed on probation for 18 months, while Segal and Roca were both removed and barred from office. However, the petitions said, all three former judges engaged in misconduct that benefited themselves. "While there are variance's between Ballentine's and respondent's case," both petitions said, "in looking at all the factors, and the sanctions imposed by the Court of Judicial Discipline, there is support that a one year and one day suspension is appropriate in respondent's case, and will subject respondent to the requirements of reinstatement pursuant to Rule 218, Pa.R.D.E." Roca's attorney, Samuel Stretton of West Chester, said his client and the Office of Disciplinary Counsel had initially agreed to a one-year suspension, but the Disciplinary Board rejected that agreement. "I thought it was wrong but it wasn't worth fighting," Stretton said, noting that the license reinstatement process can begin as early as eight months before the final day of suspension. "I'll start her reinstatement in four months and I don't think there's any question that she'll be reinstated." Counsel for Segal, Stuart Haimowitz of Philadelphia, could not immediately be reached for comment. By Carolina Mandl and Tatiana Bautzer SAO PAULO (Reuters) - State-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA is preparing to sell three more gas pipelines after successfully selling its larger TAG unit to France's Engie for $8.6 billion, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter. The group of pipelines, considerably smaller than the TAG unit sold by Petrobras, as the company is known, could be valued at more than $3 billion altogether, one of the sources said. Petrobras has hired the investment banking unit of Credit Suisse AG to sell the pipelines that link oil fields in the so-called pre-salt area in the Santos basin to onshore infrastructure, said the sources, who asked to remain anonymous as the discussions were not yet made public. Petrobras and Credit Suisse declined to comment. Petrobras had initially planned to sell only a minority stake in the units, but after getting a better-than-expected price for the TAG unit, the company may sell control of the pipelines, two of the sources said. [ID:nL1N21N1LV] A controlling stake would lure more investors than a minority one, one of the sources said. Some of the investors that participated in the TAG deal were interested in the other pipelines, which similarly offer table cash flows. A final decision will be made once Petrobras' new Chief Financial Officer Andrea Marques de Almeida, who was appointed last month, starts in her new role, one of the sources said. The three units, known as Rota 1, Rota 2 and Rota 3, comprise roughly 1,000 kilometers (621.37 miles) of pipelines stretching from the Santos basin to the coast. Two of those units already transport natural gas generated in sub-salt fields in the Santos basin to onshore facilities in the coast of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, and the third one is still under construction. The process of selling the additional pipelines will probably not start before the second half of the year, one of the sources said. That's because Petrobras needs to get the approval of its oil exploration partners in the pre-salt oil fields for the sales since they own stakes in the natural gas production in the fields. Those partners include France's Total SA, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and China's CNPC. (Reporting by Carolina Mandl and Tatiana Bautzer; Editing by Christian Plumb and Bernadette Baum) Only bank to score A+ in 18 categories of the Phoenix-Hecht 2019 Middle Market Quality Index MEMPHIS, Tenn., April 09, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Tennessee Bank, member of the First Horizon National Corporation (FHN) family of companies, which includes Capital Bank, announced it has earned top honors from treasury management customers in the Phoenix-Hecht 2019 Middle Market Quality Index. First Tennessee Bank was the only bank to achieve an A+ rating in all categories in which it was measured in the Middle Market Banking segment. Additionally, 100 percent of survey respondents indicated that they would recommend First Tennessee Bank to a colleague, compared to a study-wide average of 85 percent for all banks. Our treasury managers are committed helping clients operate their businesses more efficiently and effectively in regards to cash flow, accounting and finance operations, said David Popwell, president of banking for First Tennessee Bank. As the only bank to receive an A+ rating in each measured category in the Phoenix-Hecht 2019 Quality Index, it is a direct result of our treasury managers dedication to our customers. We are grateful for their hard work to provide every customer with exceptional service. The Phoenix-Hecht 2019 Quality Index is based on individual bank quality evaluations gathered in the 2019 Treasury Management Monitor survey. This survey of treasury managers from corporations with annual revenues of $20 million or more was conducted from August to November 2018. The Middle Market Banking segment comprised companies with annual revenues between $20 million and $499 million. First Tennessee Bank was measured in the following 18 categories and received an A+ rating in each: Product Satisfaction: Web information reporting and transaction initiation ACH services Wire transfer Controlled disbursement/positive pay Credit card (used for invoice payments) Remote deposit Product Operations: Timeliness for web-based information reporting Speed of ACH error correction Timeliness of incoming wire notification Accuracy of payee recognition Customer Service: Story continues Processing account maintenance requests Overall customer service Technical Support: Web reporting and transactions ACH services Credit card (used for invoice payments) TM Relationship Manager Anticipates needs for new/modified services Prompt call follow-up Overall effectiveness Earlier this year, First Tennessee Bank was honored for exceptional customer service by Greenwich Associates, a global leader in market intelligence. The bank won 21 Greenwich Excellence Awards and four Greenwich Best Brand Awards in Small Business and Middle Market Banking. First Tennessee Bank treasury management services assess, monitor, plan and manage efficient utilization of organizations finances. All treasury management processes are developed in alignment with the strategic objectives of each unique business. To learn more about First Tennessee Bank and its products and services, please visit FirstTennessee.com and like/follow First Tennessee Bank on Facebook , Instagram , Twitter and LinkedIn . About First Tennessee Bank First Tennessee Bank National Association, operating as First Tennessee Bank and Capital Bank, has the largest deposit market share in Tennessee and operates more than 250 branches across the Southeast. Capital Bank, First Tennessee Bank, FTB Advisors, and FTN Financial are part of First Horizon National Corp. (FHN). The companys banking subsidiary was founded in 1864 and has the 14th oldest national bank charter in the country. FTB Advisors wealth management group has more than 300 financial professionals and about $4.8 billion in assets under management. FTN Financial is a capital markets industry leader in fixed income sales, trading and strategies for institutional customers in the U.S. and abroad. The company has been ranked by American Banker magazine among the Top 10 Most Reputable U.S. banks and as one of the nations best employers by the National Association for Female Executives and Fortune magazine. More information is available at www.FirstTennessee.com. FHN-G The market sentiment has recently been boosted by the U.S. and China, as a trade deal between the two countries seems imminent. Chinas leaders have also set the tone to further open its economy. But a former U.S. ambassador to China warns the real challenges may lie in what happens after a deal. Max Baucus, who returned from Beijing after a three-year tenure as the U.S. ambassador to China in 2017, believes internal resistance to reform and local governments ability to carry out the central governments policy put a big question mark on any trade agreements. And if a trade deal is reached it will likely take a long time up to six years to see any real changes. I think that China knows that it must open up economically to grow and develop, Baucus told Yahoo Finance at the C100 Annual Conference on Saturday. However, there are very strong forces within China that put limits to that. They don't want the reform and they can stop it. Former U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus delivers his opening remarks on U.S. Ambassador's Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) "Copyright in a Global Digital Community roundtable at a hotel in Beijing in 2015. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) Baucus points out there is resistance to reform in China, from the government to state-owned enterprises and the private sector. The sentiment is echoed by some top Chinese officials. Speaking at the China Development Forum in March, Yi Gang, the governor of Chinas central bank, admits the financial sector reform faces opposition from people who worry that opening Chinas doors to foreign players could pose more risks to its financial system. China has made some welcome moves this year, including passing the new Foreign Investment Law in March, aimed at leveling the playing field for non-Chinese companies. It's widely seen as a step forward compared with previous laws passed decades ago, but U.S. business groups say the language is still too vague and contains restrictive clauses for foreign players. Its expected to go into effect next year. Is it enforceable, can we trust it, and how long it will be, are the big questions, Baucus said. Chinese President Xi Jinping enters his car after his visit at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) The U.S. wants to set an enforcement structure that ensures Washington gets what it wants and reserves the right to retaliate. The time frame for change could reportedly be delayed to 2025. Baucus warned any structural changes in China could be slow. He says one common misunderstanding is that people outside China think the government can direct changes over a short period of time. Americans think with the leadership, because of the one-party rule, they assume that, Baucus said. But it's not necessarily true. Story continues It's the old thing in China. The mountains are high, the emperor is far away, he said, referring to a Chinese proverb meaning the central authorities policy and intentions dont always get carried out well on the local level. When I was traveling around the country... it was clear to me, the farther I got away from Beijing, the more local provincial governors and party officials were doing their own thing, you [can] just tell, Baucus said. And also because it's not a rule of law country, people can do their own thing. Krystal Hu covers technology and China for Yahoo Finance. Write to her 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 Video screenshot of Sen. Jennifer Jordan, D-Georgia, testified against Senate Bill 160, which would outlaw abortions nationwide 20 weeks after conception. Video screenshot of Georgia state Sen. Jennifer Jordan, D-Atlanta, testifying in Washington, D.C., against Senate Bill 160, which would outlaw abortions nationwide 20 weeks after conception. On a panel made up of women both for and against a proposed federal law on abortion, Atlanta lawyer and Democratic state Sen. Jen Jordan testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington Tuesday about how Georgias own restrictions on abortion are affecting women. Every one of the women I know has a story. Theyve lost children. Theyve wanted children. Theyve taken care of children. Theyve birthed children, Jordan said. When we see legislators who really have no idea what that experience is like to try to legislate, you know, its dumbfounding. Jordan spoke during a two-hour hearing on a Republican-backed bill that would ban abortion nationwide at 20 weeks of pregnancy. Jordan said in Georgiaa predominately Republican stateeven some Republican woman are outraged at what theyre seeing from lawmakers. Because they know that, at the end of the day, no woman takes any of this lightly. You dont walk into a doctors office wanting to get a horrible diagnosis, Jordan said. I wish they would just trust us to make the right decision with respect to our own lives and our own bodies and our children. Jordan became an internet phenomenon after her impassioned speech on the Georgia Senate floor in a lost effort to stop approval of a six-week abortion ban passed by the General Assembly last month. A video of her speech went viral on YouTube. During the speech, she told a deeply personal story of her own grief after eight miscarriages and contended that Georgias new law could subject women to prosecution and prison not only for seeking an abortion but for losing a pregnancy naturallyand possibly even for lacking access to proper prenatal care. But the focus of Jordan's remarks Tuesday was a 20-week ban required by state law, which Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed into law seven years ago. Current Gov. Brian Kemp campaigned on a pledge to pass the toughest abortion law in the country and immediately kept his promise after taking office in January. Kemp is expected to sign the six-week ban legislation into law any day. Jordan was part of a panel of five women speaking to the committee now chaired by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, who sponsored what is titled the Pain Capable Unborn Children Act. Graham emphasized the testimony of Dr. Donna Harrison, executive director of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Harrison said a fetus feels pain at 20 weeks and would be given anesthesia separately from the mother for prenatal surgery. Harrison made her points in her testimony, but Graham made them in advance in his introduction, then made them again after in his summary. Also, at the request of Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, Harrison described in graphic detail what happens in a late-term abortion. The panel included two additional anti-abortion speakers. Melissa Ohden, founder of the Abortion Survivors Network, told a horror story of how she, while in utero, survived a saline-induced abortion demanded by her grandmother, a nurse, when her 19-year-old mother was 31 weeks pregnant. She said she learned the disturbing truth at age 14, after her adoptive mother used it to try to stop her sister from ending an unintended pregnancy. Also speaking in favor of restricting abortion was Catherine Glenn Foster, president and CEO of Americans United for Life. Foster said law is needed to protect pre-born children who feel pain. Jordan and one other woman spoke in favor of keeping abortion fully legal. Dr. Valerie Peterson, director of partnership development at Equal Opportunity Schools in Dallas, told a tragic personal story of terminating a pregnancy after learning the babys brain was fatally malformed. She was 16 weeks pregnant when the devastating diagnosis came. Once she made her difficult decision, she was put on a waiting list that caused a delay of two to three weeks. That bumped her up against the 20-week abortion ban in Texas, so she had to fly to another state for the procedure, she testified. This situation would deny medical care to poor women, she said. Ranking committee member Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, invited Jordan, who spoke and entered written testimony on the ramifications of Georgias 20-week ban. Since its passage in 2012, that law has had a profound and deadly effect for women, Jordan said. Whether that is the intent or not, it is certainly the outcome, Jordan said. I have seen it in my rural, South Georgia hometown just as I have seen it in the Atlanta metro area. Currently, it is exceedingly difficult to get an abortion in Georgia, but it is just as difficult to give birth in Georgia. No doubt in part due to the 20-week-ban, there are no winning options for many of the women of this state. Jordan said half of Georgia counties do not have a single obstetrician-gynecologist. She said 31 of the states hospital labor and delivery departments have closed over the last 21 years19 in rural areas. Only 59 of Georgias 159 counties have a labor and delivery unit. And 17 rural hospitals have closed in the past decade. Rural counties and the women that live in them have been the hardest hit, Jordan said. And if there is any doubt, since the passage of Georgias 20-week-ban in 2012, we have seen the maternal mortality rate double in Georgia. I do not believe this is a coincidence. As for the new, six-week ban, Jordan said that lawif it were to withstand legal challengeswould only make matters worse for the health of Georgia women and children. Although the state of Georgia ranks 50 out of 50 states for maternal mortality, it has not sought to expand access to health care to poor women in rural Georgia. It has now acted to do the opposite, Jordan said. She noted that House Bill 481 won final passage March 29. What proponents call the Heartbeat Bill mirrors legislation already passed in Iowa, Missouri and Tennessee. Kentucky is now debating a similar law. Jordan said all the heartbeat bills share scientific inaccuracies and ban abortion often before a woman discovers she is pregnant. It is difficult to fix something that is so wrong from the start. This bill and every other one just like it are patently unconstitutional. It is so by design, Jordan said. I dont doubt the conviction of those who believe that abortion bans are necessary. However, a deeply held conviction does not allow one to adopt a view counter to scientific and legal fact. She said that, as part of the personhood movement, Georgias new law attempts to establish that a zygote, an embryo, a fertilized egg at 5.5 weeks has a beating heart. This is simply not true. At the earliest stages of pregnancy, certain embryonic cardiac activity can only be detected with a transvaginal ultrasound. On the Georgia Senate floor, she previously pointed out that most of her colleagues would not have had that experience. Jordan is a partner with Shamp Jordan Woodward in Atlanta. She has represented individuals in actions against predatory lending practices. Recently she defeated an insurance company that had denied coverage for breast cancer treatments. She is a graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law. She clerked for Judge Anthony Alaimo of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. LONDON, April 9 (Reuters) - The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards dismissed Washington's designation of the elite force as a terrorist organisation and said on Tuesday the Guards would increase their military capabilities. "This U.S. move was quite laughable since the Revolutionary Guards are in people's hearts ... The Revolutionary Guards will increase its defensive and offensive capabilities in coming year," commander Mohammad Ali Jafari was quoted as saying by the state broadcaster. (Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Editing by Catherine Evans) Dalai Lama, 83, taken to hospital in India The Dalai Lama has been admitted to hospital in the Indian capital, Delhi, with a chest infection, but is reported to be in a stable condition. At least three Republican senators plan to vote against Herman Cain's prospective Federal Reserve board nomination, endangering his path to confirmation. Both President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin offered less than enthusiastic praise for Cain on Wednesday. Cain and economist Stephen Moore, another prospective Trump Fed nominee, have sparked concerns about politicizing the Fed. Herman Cain's path to the Federal Reserve board could get blocked before President Donald Trump even nominates him. At least three GOP senators plan to vote against the former Godfather's Pizza CEO and Kansas City Fed chairman if Trump formally chooses him for the central bank seat, according to multiple reports. If Cain loses one more Republican and all Democrats oppose him as expected, his path to the Fed board would be blocked. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, expects to oppose Cain's nomination if it comes before the Senate, a spokeswoman for the senator confirmed. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has said she will not support Cain for the Fed seat, according to a spokeswoman for the senator. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., also reportedly plans to vote against Cain, who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2012. A spokesman for Gardner did not immediately respond to CNBC's request to comment. The swift opposition to Cain underscores the concerns the Senate has about the qualifications of Trump's picks for the central bank. Wall Street has raised fears that both Cain and conservative economist Stephen Moore, a former Trump campaign advisor, would be too political to serve on the Fed board. Cain also faces allegations of sexual misconduct that surfaced during the 2012 campaign. He has previously denied the accusations. The backlash to Cain's nomination has partly drowned out the concerns about Moore's qualifications . It is unclear how many GOP senators will vote against Trump's other Fed choice. Romney, for one, is still reviewing Moore's qualifications, according to his office. Story continues Trump and his Treasury secretary also appeared less-than-enthusiastic about Cain's prospective nomination on Wednesday. Asked whether the ex-presidential candidate would proceed with the nomination, the president said: "Herman will make that determination." "As to how he's doing in the process, that I don't know," Trump told reporters on the White House lawn before he left for Texas. "Herman's a great guy and I hope he does well." Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also told CNBC that Trump has "confidence in" both Fed board choices and that "they will go through the normal Senate confirmation process." A spokeswoman for Cain did not immediately respond to a request to comment. Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube. More From CNBC House Net Neutrality Bill Expected to Have Little Chance in Senate (Bloomberg) -- Odds are slim for Senate passage of legislation approved in the House on Wednesday to restore Obama-era rules barring internet service providers from interfering with web traffic, Republican senators said. Very little chance of that being passed in the Senate, Senator Roger Wicker, of Mississippi, who is chairman of the Commerce Committee that oversees the Federal Communications Commission, said in an interview. Its dead as 4 oclock, said Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican. The measure passed by the Democratic-led House on a 232-190 vote would reinstate rules that banned internet service providers like Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp. from blocking or slowing traffic on their networks. It also would prevent the FCC from eliminating the rules. One Republican, Representative Bill Posey, of Florida, voted for the legislation. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said April 9 the bill is dead on arrival in the Senate, and the White House issued an April 8 veto threat against the measure. But some supporters believe the Senate may take up the measure if they hear from constituents. Of course we have a shot at the Senate, Gigi Sohn, a former FCC aide who helped write the repealed rule, said in an interview. These are early days and the American people are fired up about this. The FCC under Chairman Ajit Pai, an appointee of President Donald Trump, repealed the rules, arguing that they amounted to heavy-handed regulation that stifled investment. Backers of the rules said investment fluctuates, and the rules are needed to keep companies from manipulating traffic to harm competitors. --With assistance from Laura Litvan. To contact the reporter on this story: Todd Shields in Washington at tshields3@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. MILAN, April 9 (Reuters) - Italy's Newlat is interested in acquiring infant food brand Plasmon from U.S. behemoth Kraft Heinz, an adviser for Newlat said. Newlat, which already owns a portfolio of food companies including pasta brand Buitoni, said on Tuesday it wanted to list on the Milan bourse to raise money for acquisitions. "Newlat is already a supplier of Plasmon and knows the company well," said Davide Milano, a partner at consultancy Oaklins Italy, adding any deal would hinge on how quickly Newlat could raise cash with its initial public offering. Oaklins has advised Newlat on the acquisition of pasta maker Delverde. (Reporting by Francesca Landini, editing by Valentina Za) (Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are the last competitors standing in the Pentagons winner-take-all competition for a $10 billion cloud services contract, the Defense Department said. The announcement eliminates Oracle Corp. and International Business Machines Corp. from the running. Defense Department spokeswoman Elissa Smith said only Amazon and Microsoft met the minimum requirements for the JEDI project. The winnowing of the field came as the Pentagon said its determined that the acquisition process for the contract wasnt tainted by alleged conflicts of interest, allowing final selection to move ahead, according to Smith. Amazon and Microsoft have been widely viewed as front-runners in part because they have obtained higher-level federal security clearances. Representatives from Oracle, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM declined to comment. The Pentagon had initially said it would choose a winner this month, but after investigations and a protracted legal battle, the soonest the contract will be awarded is mid-July, according to Smith. She also revealed that alleged unethical conduct by a former Defense Department employee has been referred to the departments inspector general. The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud -- or JEDI, an acronym intended to evoke Star Wars imagery -- is intended to serve as the primary data repository for the military services worldwide. The Pentagon disclosed in February that it was reviewing new information about potential conflicts of interest related to the procurement that involved Deap Ubhi, a former employee at a high-level Pentagon technology unit. Oracle Lawsuit The revelations emerged amid a court battle with Oracle, which filed a lawsuit in December in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims alleging that the contract was marred by conflicts of interest and unfair requirements. The lawsuit followed months of lobbying by tech companies. including Oracle, that banded together in an informal coalition to urge the Defense Department to split the contract among several suppliers. The department has said that making multiple awards under current acquisition law would be a slow process that could prevent it from quickly delivering new capabilities to warriors. Story continues Oracles lawsuit alleged that Ubhi helped design the cloud contract to be favorable to Amazon while negotiating to sell his company to the e-commerce giant. Ubhi joined the Defense Digital Service, the Pentagons technology-focused division, in 2016. While there, he worked on the JEDI procurement and advocated robustly in favor of pursuing a single-award strategy for the procurement, Oracles lawsuit contends. Pentagon Resignation Ubhi, a former Amazon Web Services employee, disclosed to the Defense Digital Service in October 2017 that his restaurant reservation company, Tablehero, was discussing a partnership with Amazon. Ubhi then recused himself from working on the procurement and two weeks later resigned from the Defense Department, according to the lawsuit. The government argued in court documents that Ubhi was involved in the JEDI procurement only in the very beginning of its development and a "robust debate" about the acquisition strategy continued after he left. The departments investigation determined that there is no adverse impact on the integrity of the acquisition process, Smith said. The Pentagon will ask the court to lift a stay in the case that it had requested to review the allegations. (Updates with Amazon decline to comment in fifth paragraph.) --With assistance from Olivia Carville. To contact the reporters on this story: Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net;Naomi Nix in Washington at nnix1@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, ;Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. Highway project pays out Rs560 million in compensation The Galchhi-Trishuli-Rasuwagadhi highway project has distributed Rs560 million in compensation to 339 landowners whose lands were taken away to build the road. Value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. After all, who wouldnt want to find stocks that are either flying under the radar and are compelling buys, or offer up tantalizing discounts when compared to fair value? One way to find these companies is by looking at several key metrics and financial ratios, many of which are crucial in the value stock selection process. Lets put Louisiana-Pacific Corporation LPX stock into this equation and find out if it is a good choice for value-oriented investors right now, or if investors subscribing to this methodology should look elsewhere for top picks: PE Ratio A key metric that value investors always look at is the Price to Earnings Ratio, or PE for short. This shows us how much investors are willing to pay for each dollar of earnings in a given stock, and is easily one of the most popular financial ratios in the world. The best use of the PE ratio is to compare the stocks current PE ratio with: a) where this ratio has been in the past; b) how it compares to the average for the industry/sector; and c) how it compares to the market as a whole. On this front, Louisiana-Pacific has a trailing twelve months PE ratio of 9.19, as you can see in the chart below: This level actually compares pretty favorably with the market at large, as the PE for the S&P 500 stands at about 18.17. If we focus on the long-term PE trend, Louisiana-Pacifics current PE level puts it below its midpoint over the past three years. Further, the stocks PE also compares favorably with the industrys trailing twelve months PE ratio, which stands at 18.54. At the very least, this indicates that the stock is relatively undervalued right now, compared to its peers. However, we should point out that Louisiana-Pacific has a forward PE ratio (price relative to this years earnings) of 14.09, so we might say that the forward earnings estimates indicate that the companys share price will likely appreciate in the near future. P/S Ratio Another key metric to note is the Price/Sales ratio. This approach compares a given stocks price to its total sales, where a lower reading is generally considered better. Some people like this metric more than other value-focused ones because it looks at sales, something that is far harder to manipulate with accounting tricks than earnings. Right now, Louisiana-Pacific has a P/S ratio of about 1.25. This is lower than the S&P 500 average, which comes in at 3.31 right now. Also, as we can see in the chart below, this is well below the highs for this stock in particular over the past few years. Story continues If anything, LPX is in the lower end of its range in the time period from a P/S metric, suggesting some level of undervalued tradingat least compared to historical norms. Broad Value Outlook In aggregate, Louisiana-Pacific currently has a Zacks Value Style Score of B, putting it into the top 40% of all stocks we cover from this look. This makes Louisiana-Pacific a solid choice for value investors, and some of its other key metrics make this pretty clear too. For example, its P/CF ratio (another great indicator of value) comes in at 6.89, which is better than the industry average of 8.43. Clearly, LPX is a solid choice on the value front from multiple angles. What About the Stock Overall? Though Louisiana-Pacific might be a good choice for value investors, there are plenty of other factors to consider before investing in this name. In particular, it is worth noting that the company has a Growth grade of B and a Momentum score of F. This gives LPX a Zacks VGM scoreor its overarching fundamental gradeof C. (You can read more about the Zacks Style Scores here >>) Meanwhile, the companys recent earnings estimates have been mixed at best. The current quarter has seen one estimate go higher in the past sixty days compared to two lower, while the full year estimate has seen two upward and two downward revisions in the same time period. As a result, the current quarter consensus estimate has fallen by 44.8% in the past two months, while the full year estimate has decreased 3.8%. You can see the consensus estimate trend and recent price action for the stock in the chart below: Louisiana-Pacific Corporation Price and Consensus Louisiana-Pacific Corporation Price and Consensus | Louisiana-Pacific Corporation Quote This somewhat mixed trend is why the stock has just a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) and why we are looking for in-line performance from the company in the near term. Bottom Line Louisiana-Pacific is an inspired choice for value investors, as it is hard to beat its incredible lineup of statistics on this front. However, with a sluggish industry rank (among the bottom 14%) and a Zacks Rank #3, it is hard to get too excited about this company overall. In fact, over the past two years, the industry has clearly underperformed the broader market, as you can see below: So, value investors might want to wait for estimates, analyst sentiment and broader factors to turn around in this name first, but once that happens, this stock could be a compelling pick. Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019 In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year? Who wouldn't? Our annual Top 10s have beaten the market with amazing regularity. In 2018, while the market dropped -5.2%, the portfolio scored well into double-digits overall with individual stocks rising as high as +61.5%. And from 2012-2017, while the market boomed +126.3, Zacks' Top 10s reached an even more sensational +181.9%. See Latest Stocks Today >> 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 Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (LPX) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research EU Ups Ante On Brexit, Pokes UK In Eye Chief Brexit negotiator for the European Union Michel Barnier has made a serious threat against the United Kingdom that is sure to anger the Brexiter Tories. Specifically, he said that the EU will insist on the dreaded Backstop for Ireland in order to prevent a hard border between Ireland, part of the EU, and Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom. The EU will stand fully behind Ireland, Barnier said on Monday at a joint press conference with the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, in Dublin. The import of this is that the EU will effectively seek to strangle the UK economically if a backstop is not agreed on, whether the UK leaves the EU or not. The reason the Brexiters cant stand the backstop is that it keeps Northern Ireland effectively in the EU without any representation or say in its operations. The backstop would effectively put Northern Ireland under a different set of laws than the rest of the UK, practically ripping it away from Londons control. SEE: Cannabis Stock News Daily Roundup April 8 The backstop is currently the only solution we have found to maintain the status quo on the island of Ireland Let me be very clear. We would not discuss anything with the UK until there is an agreement for Ireland and Northern Ireland as well as for citizens rights and financial settlement, he said, in Ireland, in English. Cannabis Sector Waits With Bated Breath On States Law The States Law has been reintroduced in Congress, aimed to protect companies from Federal intrusion in states that have chosen to legalize marijuana. Congresspersons Earl Blumenauer and Barbara Lee, both Democrats, will join the Minority Cannabis Business Association for a press conference on Tuesday at 11:00am EST to discuss peoples skin color and what that has to do with cannabis, as it has to do with everything these days. Blumenauer introduced the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States Act last week with Presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren and others. It would change federal law to exempt business and individuals who comply with state law from complying with federal law, which prohibits cannabis across the board. So it would basically align law with reality. The lawmakers and business leaders will discuss the path forward for ending the prohibition of marijuana, steps toward restorative justice for those negatively impacted by the war on drugs, and ways communities of color that were disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition can benefit from the new industry as owners, investors, managers and employees, according to a media advisory. (NYSEARCA:MJ) Story continues Housing Crash Accelerates in Vancouver Soon by the United States again? Well see. The 2008 financial crisis began in Iceland of all places, and perhaps it is beginning now again in Vancouver. Perhaps not and this is just an isolated market crash localized in Vancouver, Canada. Vancouver just reported the fewest monthly real estate sales in 33 years. Total housing sales were 46.3% below the 10-year March sales average, the lowest total for the month since way back in 1986. Condo sales fell 35%, and prices are down 7.5% for the year. The culprit is higher taxes. Housing demand today isnt aligning with our growing economy and low unemployment rates. The market trends were seeing are largely policy induced, Ashley Smith, REBGV president said. For three years, governments at all levels have imposed new taxes and borrowing requirements on to the housing market. If this housing crash is policy-induced rather than systemic coming from the banking system, then it probably wont spread to the US, whose housing market keeps chugging along. (NYSEARCA:IYR) Oil Continues Climb On Libya Civil War, Algeria Problems Libya is erupting into full blown civil war. Things havent been going too great there ever since it was liberated by the United States, trying to make the world safe for democracy for 100 years now but not really doing so well at it. An airstrike at Libyas only functioning airport in Tripoli has brought the number of functioning airports in Libya to zero, and its oil production is now seriously threatened. Libya currently produces about 1 million barrels of oil per day but the number keeps oscillating up and down due to the instability in the country for so many years. Back in late 2011, production was brought to a complete standstill for about 5 months as the country was being torn apart after its leader, Muamar Gaddafi, was assassinated. The United Nations is involved in this civil war too, since it is backing the current government, while the Libyan National Army is pretty upset about this and decided to attack Tripoli, the Libyan capital, to depose them. The UN is not too happy about the bombing of the airport either. Meanwhile, it looks like a revolution is taking place in Algeria, which also produces about 1 million barrels a day. Production there has been declining steadily since 2008. Oil (NYSEARCA:USO) is nearing $65 CVS, Aetna Deal In Doubt Due to Antitrust Concerns A federal judge may yet reverse the CVS (NYSE:CVS) Aetna deal, the latter of which doesnt even have a stock ticker anymore because the deal was already completed last November for $70 billion. The judge wants to hear from witnesses against the acquisition, though chances are the deal will not be canceled because it would be extremely disruptive to the company. It does not violate the anti-trust laws, its horizontal. It does not impede competition, it enhances competition. It lowers prices, Judge Napolitano told FOX Business on Monday. Its the type of merger that a judge should approve in a heartbeat. The judge, Richard Leon, was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2002, so being nominated by a Republican probably will not reverse the deal. The post Market Morning: Brexit Barnier Barn Burner, Cannabis States Law, Libya Shakes Oil Market appeared first on Market Exclusive. In keeping with its e-commerce initiatives, Molson Coors Brewing Company TAP has launched its two major brands, Carling and Blue Moon, on Amazon Prime Now in Singapore. Beer enthusiasts in Singapore can now avail these brands outside bars and restaurants via this fast and expedient two-hour delivery service app. In sync with its purpose to Delight the Worlds Beer Drinkers, Molson Coors also remains committed to boost the online beer experience worldwide. The company has been making efforts to win the digital shelf by increasing the beer categorys online penetration through valuable e-commerce partnerships. Apart from exploring a new country like Singapore, the company has also made online partnerships in core territories, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. Additionally, Molson Coors remains on track to pilot a fresh program with Amazon.com AMZN in Singapore, beginning this month. Carling will be the first brand to be featured on limited-edition delivery bags, highlighting its sponsorship of English Premier League. Notably, Carling, which is available in more than 15 countries, was launched on Prime Now in May 2018. Meanwhile, Blue Moon Belgian White, available across 25 countries, was rolled out in June. Following the latest expansion in Singapore, these brands will join several items such as grocery, health, beauty, electronics and more on Prime Now in the country. We expect the latest deal with Amazon the largest online retailer to fortify Molson Coors online beer presence, which in turn might boost its sales and profitability. Also, the deal is likely to efficiently cater to the needs of Singapore consumers. Notably, Molson Coors new International strategy targets focus-markets and implementing actions to improve profitability. The company made significant progress on this strategy in 2018, marked by a shift to local production in Mexico; favorable pricing changes for Coors Light, MGD and Miller Lite; accelerated growth of Blue Moon and Miller High Life; and strong retail performance. On the international front, some recent achievements by the company were MGD attaining leadership in Paraguays premium segment, the launch of Blue Moon Tap House in Panama, and strong portfolio growth in Latin America and India. Backed by these strategic actions, the International brand experienced solid volume growth in the most recent quarter along with growth in underlying EBITDA. Management expects the International business to aid top- and bottom-line growth driven by consistent focus on improving portfolio mix, building capabilities to expand in priority markets and potential entry into new markets. Story continues A look at this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) companys price performance shows that it has underperformed the industry in the past three months. Shares of Molson Coors have lost 5.9% against the industrys 12.5% rally. Two Better-Ranked Stocks in the Consumer Staples Space Medifast, Inc. MED has an impressive long-term earnings growth rate of 20% and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. MGP Ingredients, Inc. MGPI, also a Zacks Rank #1 stock, has delivered average positive earnings surprise of 2.4% in the last four quarters. Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019 In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year? Who wouldn't? Our annual Top 10s have beaten the market with amazing regularity. In 2018, while the market dropped -5.2%, the portfolio scored well into double-digits overall with individual stocks rising as high as +61.5%. And from 2012-2017, while the market boomed +126.3, Zacks' Top 10s reached an even more sensational +181.9%. See Latest Stocks Today >> 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 Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Molson Coors Brewing Company (TAP) : Free Stock Analysis Report MGP Ingredients, Inc. (MGPI) : Free Stock Analysis Report MEDIFAST INC (MED) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Investing.com - Oil prices rose on Wednesday in Asia as traders weighed the impact of the IMFs latest economic growth forecast cut and geopolitical concerns in Libya. U.S. Crude Oil WTI Futures were up 0.3% to $64.14 by 1:06 AM ET (05:06 GMT). International Brent Oil Futures inched up 0.1% to $70.79/ Brent and WTI crude oil futures have risen by around 40% and 30% respectively since the start of the year. In Libya, forces loyal to renegade general Khalifa Haftar continued their advance on the capital, striking Tripoli's only working airport and ignoring international calls for a truce. Haftar's forces are already in control of oil fields that produce half or more of Libya's total output of about 1.1 million barrels of crude a day. Any disruption in Libyan oil volumes will further squeeze a global crude market already in panic mode from U.S. sanctions against Iran and Venezuela. In addition to concerns over the ongoing conflict in Libya, John Driscoll, chief strategist at JTD Energy Services, told CNBC in an interview that Venezuela and Iran are other potential sources of risks for the oil markets. For Venezuela, he said: Things are terrible there, oil output is plummeting, then youve got this wave of electrical outages that have halved their exports. Libya has come back into play, Iran, Venezuela, its all getting stronger, he said. On the demand side, concerns that an economic slowdown will soon hit fuel consumption intensified after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) downgraded its outlook for global economic growth for 2019 to 3.3% from the previous 3.5%. In other news, U.S. crude stocks rose by 4.1 million barrels in the week to April 5, to 455.8 million barrels, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday. Related Articles Oil Prices Head Lower on Increased U.S. Drilling Activity, OPEC Meeting in Focus Oil pauses; focus on future supply direction Gold Prices Slip Below Key $1,300 Level on Strong China Data, Trade Optimism S&P Global CEO Doug Peterson is on a campaign to hire and promote women more in the workforce. He calls it Change Pays. He says it makes economic sense and he has the numbers to prove it. If the U.S. had promoted women at the same rate as countries like Norway, he says, the economy could grow by 8 percent or $1.6 trillion dollars. Peterson is calling on business leaders to create benchmarks to reach gender parity. That includes his own company, S&P Global, the giant data and financial firm that is ranked on the Fortune 500 list of the largest companies in America. He says there are four women on the companys board of directors and women account for 30 percent of the executive ranks at S&P. But he confesses, We need to do a lot more. We have to hold ourselves accountable. The S&P Change Pays initiative comes as a California law now requires that all public companies based in the Golden State have at least one woman on their boards. By the end of 2021, most will need three, a change that could cause a significant shift in gender equality at American companies. When Peterson talks with CEOs, he has a simple message that he hopes will bring about change. What I say to business leaders is, What do you want for your daughter? What do you want for your cousin? What do you want for your sister? And what kind of opportunities do you want for women in the world?' he says. And this is the way you have to think about it. Watch the video above for more from my interview with Peterson. FILE PHOTO: A woman talks on the phone at the Airbnb office headquarters in the SOMA district of San Francisco, California, U.S., August 2, 2016. REUTERS/Gabrielle Lurie JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Airbnb's decision not to go ahead with excluding Jewish settlements in the West Bank from its accommodation listings Palestinian condemnation on Wednesday and accusations that it was helping to perpetuate Israeli occupation. Heeding calls from Palestinians who want the West Bank for a future state, Airbnb had said in November it would remove the listings of some 200 settlement homes. That decision was deplored by Israel and challenged in some U.S. jurisdictions. Announcing a resolution of lawsuits brought against it, Airbnb said it "will not move forward with implementing the removal of listings in the West Bank from the platform". Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement that this "signals the complicity of the company with the systematic denial of our inalienable right to self-determination". He said Airbnb's announcement that it would take no profits from its activities in the West Bank "is nothing but a shameful attempt at whitewashing their complicity". There was no official comment from Israel, which held a national election on Tuesday. Most world powers view Israel's construction of settlements on occupied land as a violation of international law, and Palestinians say it is wrong for companies to profit from them. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war. Airbnb was sued over its proposed delisting of West Bank apartments last November in Jerusalem District Court and, separately, in U.S. federal courts in Delaware and California. The Israeli lawsuit, a class action, accused the company of "outrageous discrimination" and demanded monetary damages. The Delaware lawsuit accused Airbnb of violating U.S. housing discrimination law by excluding Jewish-owned properties while letting Muslims and Christians continue to use Airbnb to let their accommodation. The California lawsuit made similar claims. Airbnb has denied that its West Bank delisting plan targeted Israel in general. "Airbnb has never boycotted Israel, Israeli businesses, or the more than 20,000 Israeli hosts who are active on the Airbnb platform," the company statement said. (Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Kevin Liffey) India goes to the polls India is once again in the grip of a festive season The 17th parliamentary election, to be held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19, is a core discussion point all across the country The first picture of a black hole has been unveiled. (European Commission) Scientists have unveiled the landmark first image of a black hole from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) programme in a bid to test Albert Einsteins theory of general relativity. The project, which relied on data from a global network of telescopes, targeted two supermassive black holes at the centre of different galaxies. Before unveiling the picture, the European commissioner for research, Carlos Moedas, said we are about to experience a first for humanity. He said: The history of man and of science will be divided into the time before the image and the time after the image. The Black Hole picture has been seen as a breakthrough for scientists. (EHT) The much anticipated image shows a bright ring formed as light bends in the intense gravity around a black hole. Scientists have said that this image provides the strongest evidence so far that supermassive black holes exist. German astronomer, Professor Falcke said at the press conference: It feels like looking at the gates of Hell, at the end of Space and Time. The event horizon, the point of no return. That is awe inspiring to me at least, but it is also important for physics. Physicist and black hole expert Lia Medeiros, from the University of Arizona, told ScienceNews magazine: If general relativity buckles at a black holes boundary, it may point the way forward for theorists. Scientists across the world are very excited about the breakthrough picture. (PA) Black holes are formed when huge stars collapse at the end of their life cycle, but because they do not allow light to escape, it can be difficult to see them. US National Science Foundation Director France Cardova said: This is a huge day in astrophysics. Were seeing the unseeable. Scientists say that the black hole image findings support Einsteins theory of general relativity. However astronomers have said they will do more work and look more at black holes to learn more. Astronomers believe that images of Sagittarius A, which is a black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, will show a lopsided ring of brightness due to the gravity bending light closer to the black hole. Scientists are hoping that the image will help them to understand Einsteins theory of general relativity and quantum mechanics. Story continues Read More Scientists expected to release landmark image of black hole Black holes picturing the heart of darkness Einsteins theory relates to laws of nature on cosmic scales and quantum mechanics is linked to the world of subatomic particles where it is possible to be in two places at once. Telescopes have been located across the globe to get the breakthrough picture. (PA) New conferences have taken place across the world today, Wednesday March 10, to disclose the groundbreaking result from the EHT project. The project first launched in April 2017. Sen. Mark Warner warns that breaking up tech giants could open the door to Chinese firms Big Tech needs to be regulated and more competition needs to be introduced, but "don't chop off" their legs, says Sen. Mark Warner. If that happens, "they might be replaced by Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent companies that are totally enmeshed with the Chinese government in their global economic plan," he says. Sen. Mark Warner warned Tuesday against trying to break up big tech companies, like Facebook FB and Alphabet GOOGL 's Google. The Democrat from Virginia said he thinks other methods should be used to fix the issues in the sector. On Tuesday, he rolled out the first in a series of bills aimed at regulating Facebook and other social media companies. "These companies have enormous, enormous power and we do need to introduce more competition," said Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He began studying Facebook as part of the committee's investigation into Russia's involvement in the 2016 presidential election. However, when it comes to addressing antitrust issues, he has concerns about trying to dismantle the largest companies. "These are now companies that don't exist in an American-only vacuum. These are all global companies," the senator said on " Power Lunch ." "I have some concern, as somebody who is very concerned about the rise of China, that if we were to kind of chop off the legs of Facebook and Google, that they might be replaced by Alibaba BABA , Baidu BIDU , Tencent 700-HK companies that are totally enmeshed with the Chinese government in their global economic plan," he added. Alibaba is China's largest e-commerce platform and Tencent is the country's internet giant, while the search engine Baidu is known as China's answer to Google. Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Warner said there are ways to introduce more competition and transparency to the U.S. tech sector which he thinks should be done before there is talk of breaking up the big companies. He also wants to tackle the manipulative behavior, address privacy issues and content around hate speech Story continues His first bill, introduced with co-sponsor Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb. on Tuesday, bans online platforms with more than 100 million monthly active users from using so-called dark patterns. The term refers to interfaces designed to coax users into taking actions that often result in giving up more information than the user realizes such as prompts to access phone and email contacts in order to keep using the platform. Warner's next piece of legislation is expected to address data transparency, requiring tech companies to disclose the value of user data and how companies profit from it, as Axios first reported. "This is going to be an issue that is not going to go away. It's going to only potentially get worse. And we've got to roll up our sleeves and solve it," said Warner. CNBC's Kayla Tausche and Mary Catherine Wellons contributed to this report. More From CNBC Photo: quka/Shutterstock.com Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. policy leads faced an onslaught of questions at a Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution hearing Wednesday over allegations their platforms disproportionately censor conservative speech. Sen. Ted Cruz R-Texas, the subcommittee's chairman, has repeatedly raised concerns that social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Google show a "consistent pattern of political bias" in content moderation. He noted at the hearing's start that his allegations are based on "just a handful of anecdotes" but that those anecdotes "seem to be consistently on one side of the spectrum." Cruz said tech companies could conceal data showing bias. On Wednesday, he proposed potential solutions to the alleged bias: remove platforms' liability protections under Section 230, break up big tech companies with stronger antitrust enforcement, or "under principles of fraud." Carlos Monje Jr., Twitter's director of public policy and philanthropy for the U.S. and Canada, pushed back on Cruz's claims. He admitted the platform has made content moderation mistakes and apologized to committee member Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, for Twitter's removal of her campaign ad last year. But he claims Twitter's content moderation mishaps don't equal unfair censorship. The platform handles an estimated 500 million posts a day, he said, so "one in a million happens 500 times a day at Twitter." "If you are looking for data points to support any narrative you can find it," Monje said. He added Twitter has removed posts from liberal and Democrat users, but declined to share specific names, though he said he could follow up with more specific moderation stats. Neil Potts, the public policy director for Facebook who testified in front of Congress on Tuesday, denied that the platform censors conservative speech and also promised to follow up with clearer data on the political leanings of removed content. He said Facebook has a "rigorous program" to address bias and that moderators' political preference don't seep into their decisions at work. "It seems to be mathematically impossible to suggest that there isn't some subjective judgment calling going on and that some of that might not be impacted by who works there," said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. Senators also raised concerns about censored Google results, but the Mountain View, California-based company did not have a representative present. Cruz denied Google's offer to send Max Pappas, its acting director of political and stakeholder outreach who is also Cruz's former director of outreach. In September, the Senate Intelligence Committee rejected Google head of legal Kent Walker as a witness for a hearing on election interference, requesting a more senior official be sent. Later that month, a video emerged of Walker and other Google executives expressing shock over the results of the 2016 election, fueling concerns of political bias on the platform. A Google spokesperson said in a September statement that "nothing was said at that meeting ... to suggest that any political bias ever influences the way we build or operate our products." Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said Wednesday that Pappas should have been permitted to testify because he is at "the same level of responsibility as our two witnesses right now." Read More: Story continues Leaving the Chair Empty: Why Companies Sometimes Choose Not to Send the CEO 3 Ways the Senate Intelligence Committee Wants Tech Companies to Shape Up Sinopec SNP has inked an agreement with Royal Dutch Shell plc RDS.A to foray into the shale oil sector in China. The agreement, which is a part of Chinas early efforts to unlock the potentially massive unconventional resource, relates to the joint study of a shale oil block in east China's Shengli oilfield. Sinopec has agreed with Royal Dutch Shell to examine the Dongying trough of Shengli in Shandong. The companies did not disclose any further details. Royal Dutch Shell is one of the few international oil and gas companies to venture into Chinas shale oil sector. The Dongying trough is part of the Bohai Rim basin. Per sources, a leading oil and gas group China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) is developing another small shale oil field in the basin that has an annual output of 50,000 tons in 2019. Recently, Royal Dutch Shell abandoned operations in Sichuan province in the southwest after spending nearly $1 billion, thanks to dismal shale gas drilling results. Even after more than 10 years of work, the development of vast shale gas resources in China is in early stages. In 2018, shale gas production contributed only 6% to total gas output. Also, shale oil contributed less than 1% to Chinas crude output. Per experts, the difficult geology and large development costs have put challenges across the development of shale gas and made it time-consuming. While shale gas resources are primarily located in Sichuan, most of Chinas shale oil is concentrated in eastern regions the Songliao and Bohai Rim basins. North Chinas Ordos and Junggar basins are also projected to hold huge shale oil resource. In 2013, Hess Corporations HES failed to develop the Malang block of Santanghu basin in the northwest region of Xinjiang. The company abandoned the block around late 2014 due to poorer-than-expected drilling prospects and decline in global oil prices. Sinopec expects that Royal Dutch Shells expertise in shale oil exploration is likely to help offset the depletion of reserves in the Shengli oilfield. Zacks Rank & Key Picks Currently, Sinopec carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Another better-ranked player in the energy space is Antero Resources Corporation AR, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Antero Resources is an independent explorer, primarily engaged in the acquisition and development of natural gas, natural gas liquids as well as oil resources in the Appalachian Basin. The companys earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the last four quarters. Today's Best Stocks from Zacks Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2018, while the S&P 500 gained +15.8%, five of our screens returned +38.0%, +61.3%, +61.6%, +68.1%, and +98.3%. This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 2018, while the S&P averaged +4.8% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +56.2% per year. See their latest picks free >> 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 China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (SNP) : Free Stock Analysis Report Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS.A) : Free Stock Analysis Report Antero Resources Corporation (AR) : Free Stock Analysis Report Hess Corporation (HES) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research The territorial mutual insurance company will overhaul its claims management tool for propertyand casualty and statutory risks, as well as its individual management contracts tool LEVALLOIS-PERRET, FRANCE / ACCESSWIRE / April 10, 2019 / Since 1974, SMACL Assurances, Societe Mutuelle des Associations et des Collectivites Locales, has been a leading player in the field of local authority insurance. Its merger with the VYV group at the beginning of 2019 will enable it to accelerate its development and diversify into the market for companies and associations. The modernization of its information systems is more than ever one of the essential strategic goals. The group has initiated a major project to overhaul its management information systems to improve its operational efficiency and optimize the time to market for its new insurance products. SMACL Insurance has chosen Prima Solutions' software platform, Prima InsureTM, as the technology platform for redesigning its contract and claims management tools for the P&C and statutory lines of business. This software platform will enable SMACL to automate their management processes and increase efficiency, offer its policyholders better customer support and managers a unique, intuitive and easy-to-use tool. "After evaluating the market's solutions, we chose Prima Solutions for its ability to cover all our business processes, both P&C and L&H (statutory regime), because of the proven success of its platform and the flexibility the offering will provide us. We also chose Prima Solutions for the quality of the relationship between our teams. Throughout the selection process, Prima proved to us that they were willing to meet our needs and build a strong partnership with us. We are pleased to have a trusted partner in such an important project," commented FredericCostard, General Manager of SMACL Assurances. "We are delighted to support SMACL Insurance in overhauling their individual policy and claims management system to facilitate the development and diversification of its business. The choice of SMACL confirms our position as the leading French Insuretech company and confirms the relevance of our development strategy. With Prima InsureTM, SMACL Assurances has acquired a flexible and robust tool that will enable it to meet the challenges of their digital transformation and automate all its management processes. Beyond the software platform, the success of this project depends above all on the transparent and close collaboration of our two teams," said HuguesDelannoy, President of Prima Solutions. Story continues About PRIMA SOLUTIONS Group: The Prima Solutions Group is a global InsureTech group that designs software solutions for insurance and reinsurance professionals in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. It covers all business processes from life and health insurance (group and individual) to non-life and life reinsurance, in addition to regulatory compliance and business intelligence, including predictive simulations and actuarial calculations. With more than 300 customers and a worldwide network of partners, Prima Solutions Group enables insurance companies to accelerate their digital transformation, thanks to its highly configurable and scalable web software platform available in the cloud. Web: www.prima-solutions.com | Twitter: https://twitter.com/Prima_Solutions About SMACL ASSURANCES: Created in 1974, SMACL Assurances is the mutual insurance company for local authorities and public institutions, elected officials and territorial agents. SMACL Assurances also covers the risks of companies, associations, individuals and economic actors operating across all our territories. It supports more than 20,000 local authorities and public institutions for their private or professional risks, nearly 50,000 associations and companies (notably in the Social and Solidarity Economy) and more than 40,000 individuals (current and former elected officials, territorial agents, employees of many public entities as well as directors and members, volunteers and staff of associations and public companies). Web: www.smacl.fr About VYV Group: Created in 2017, the VYV Group (Chorum, Harmonie civil service, Harmonie mutuelle, MGEFI, MGEN, Mutuelle Mare-Gaillard, Mutuelle Nationale Territoriale and SMACL Assurances) is the leading mutual health and social protection insurer in France. The group (45,000 employees) protects 10 million people and offers tailored solutions to more than 72,000 public and private employers. It has a total turnover of 10 billion in health insurance, provident insurance, care and support services, retirement savings.... Within the group, VYV Care is responsible for the development strategy of the care and service offer. VYV Care brings together more than 1,000 structures and 25,000 employees, divided into three business segments: products and services, care and support. In addition to insurance and the provision of care and services, the Arcade-VYV Group is the third pillar of the VYV Group. Created following the merger with Groupe Arcade in January 2019, the Arcade-VYV Group manages 170,000 homes and plans to build a unique and innovative social housing model for better living. A committed player, with 10,000 elected officials including nearly 2,600 delegates, the VYV Group innovates and anticipates to build a fairer and more socially responsible company. The VYV Group has established itself as a true entrepreneur of better living. Web: www.groupe-vyv.fr Media contact: Henry Stimpson, Stimpson Communications, 508-647-0705, Henry@StimpsonCommunications.com SOURCE: The Prima Solutions Group View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/541488/SMACL-ASSURANCES-VYV-Group-Chooses-Prima-Solutions-Insurance-Software-Platform Is FDI bad for small & cottage industries? Foreign investment in small scale industries emboldens them to do better in both the national and international markets (Bloomberg) -- Elon Musks SpaceX is preparing to launch Falcon Heavyits massive, heavy-lift rocketfor its first paying customer, more than a year after its debut demonstration mission in February 2018.Last years initial Falcon Heavy launch was a spectacle thanks in part to its test payload: Musks cherry-red Tesla Roadster with a mannequin passenger, dubbed Starman, sitting in the drivers seat. This time SpaceX will be carrying a payload for Saudi Arabias Arabsat, a satellite services provider. Falcon Heavy will rumble aloft as soon as Thursday from NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, after wind scuttled an attempt to fly on Wednesday. Scores of fans and tourists have flocked to the Florida Space Coast for the event, which will be broadcast live on SpaceXs website. The Falcon Heavy has three boosters with 27 Merlin liquid-propellant engines in total, giving it more than 5 million pounds of thrustthe most for a launch since the Saturn V rocket last used for Apollo moon missions in early 1970s. Its been made even more powerful since last years demo flight through upgrades that SpaceX refers to as Block 5, which were applied to the companys smaller Falcon 9 rocket starting in May. For SpaceX, the addition of the large and reusable Falcon Heavy to its launch business gives the company the ability to bid on heavier payloads than it can with the smaller Falcon 9 rocket, opening up the market for big commercial satellites launches and national security missions. A standard Falcon Heavy launch costs $90 million, according to the companys website, compared to $62 million for the Falcon 9. SpaceX has several paying customers committed to flying on Falcon Heavy, including Inmarsat, Viastat and Arabsat, according to its launch manifest. The U.S. Air Force also chose Falcon Heavy for STP-2, its Space Test Program 2 mission. Following the launch, SpaceX will attempt to simultaneously return the two side boosters to landing pads and land the center core on a drone ship. Last year, SpaceX recovered two Falcon Heavy boosters on land but narrowly missed landing the third on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Story continues SpaceX, based in Hawthorne, California, set a company record last year with 21 launches for customers. This year the big focus is on human flight: SpaceX has a contract with NASA to send U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station as part of whats known as the Commercial Crew program. In early March, SpaceX pulled off a key test by sending an unmanned Crew Dragon spacecraft to the ISS, then recovering it after a flawless splashdown. Proving that SpaceX can safely fly humans is key to Musks ambitions for space tourism and creating a human colony on Mars. (Updates launch time in third paragraph, Block 5 background in fourth paragraph and adds Musks tweet.) To contact the author of this story: Dana Hull in San Francisco at dhull12@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Aaron Rutkoff at arutkoff@bloomberg.net, Chester Dawson For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Voters in Israel's election who are blind and visually impaired cast their ballots unassisted on Tuesday thanks to a local invention that "read" the options out loud for them. The smart-camera device, by Israeli hi-tech firm OrCam, is tacked onto the stem of spectacles and dictates into the wearer's ear what is written before him or her. It can also scan barcodes and be programmed to recognise faces. As part of a pilot roll-out, the company distributed the device at 12 polling stations in Israel, assisting 20,000 voters - a constituency large enough to account for around half of one of the 120 seats in parliament being contested. Several users credited the OrCam device with sparing them the hassle and intrusion on privacy of having to bring escorts to the voting booth. "It is probably the first opportunity for people with vision impairment to basically vote independently and without the assistance of anyone so they can choose whoever they want without letting anyone else knowing what they do," said Naim Bassa, a visually impaired voter, speaking outside a voting station in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem-based team behind the OrCam device previously founded autonomous vehicle technology provider Mobileye, which was bought in 2017 by Intel for $15 billion. (Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Susan Fenton) 3.2% was well ahead of the consensus 2.3% estimated, which itself had been cranked up from the sub-1% expectations many analysts had been expecting prior to Q1 earnings season. TechnipFMC plc FTI recently received a subsea contract for the development of the Lapa field, located in the pre-salt Santos Basin, offshore Brazil. Notably, the Lapa field is jointly owned by TOTAL TOT, Shell RDS.A, Repsol Sinopec Brasil and Petrobras PBR, holding 35%, 30%, 25% and 10% stakes, respectively. The field will be connected to the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel Cidade de Caraguatatuba, which is already functional. Per the contract, TechnipFMC will provide flexible pipes and other related equipment for producing oil, and lifting and injecting gas. The company expects the contract value in the range of $75 million to $250 million. The contract will be reflected in the firms first-quarter 2019 backlog. The deal fortifies TechnipFMCs presence in Brazil (where it is operating for more than 60 years) and strengthens its total backlog, which was $14.6 billion at the end of 2018, reflecting steady demand from customers. Just a week ago, the company won an iEPCI contract from Neptune Energy for the delivery and installation of subsea machinery. The contract, estimated in the band of $250-$500 million, will aid the development of Duva and Gja P1 projects, located in the North Sea. The award will enhance TechnipFMCs relationship with Neptune Energy, as the company is currently executing the IEPCI contract for the latters Fenja project. While TechnipFMC is winning new subsea contracts and expects revenues from the segment to increase y/y to $5.4-$5.7 billion, reduced EBITDA margin dampens investors sentiments. Reduced dayrates, lower vessel utilization and stiff competition are reducing the companys pricing power. TechnipFMC expects adjusted EBITDA margin to be 11% for its subsea unit in 2019 compared with 12% and 18.9% in 2018 and 2017, respectively. The Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company also expects 2019 EBITDA margin from the Offshore/Onshore segment to decline to 12% from 13% and 14.6% in 2018 and 2019, respectively. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Story continues Nevertheless, the oilfield services provider expects margins from its Surface Technologies segment to improve to 17% from the prior years 15.6%. Unfortunately, TechnipFMC's best-performing segment, Surface Technologies, is its smallest unit that accounts for just around 12% of the total revenues. Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019 In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year? Who wouldn't? Our annual Top 10s have beaten the market with amazing regularity. In 2018, while the market dropped -5.2%, the portfolio scored well into double-digits overall with individual stocks rising as high as +61.5%. And from 2012-2017, while the market boomed +126.3, Zacks' Top 10s reached an even more sensational +181.9%. See Latest Stocks Today >> 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 Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (PBR) : Free Stock Analysis Report TechnipFMC plc (FTI) : Free Stock Analysis Report TOTAL S.A. (TOT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS.A) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Jeffrey Brown testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his April 10 confirmation hearing to be a U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Texas. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, commended two nominees for U.S. district courts in the Lone Star State today for having boring confirmation hearings, where Cruz himself was the only senator on the dais. I think its a testament to your qualifications, that each senator, having reviewed them, was impressed, Cruz said at the hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, adding that one colleague told him about being wowed by the nominees. Those are not compliments given lightly. The hearing is one step in the confirmation process for Jeffrey Brown, nominated to be a U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Texas in Galveston, and Brantley Starr, whos nominated to serve as a U.S. district judge for the Northern District of Texas. President Donald Trump nominated them to the bench on March 8. Brown declined to comment, and Starr didnt immediately return a message seeking comment. During the hearing, Cruz asked both nominees for their own definitions of a good judge. Both men replied that a good judge always follows the law and maintains a good, even temperament. Brown added that good judges also ensure that anyone they interact with in court feels theyve had a chance to be heard and got a fair day in court. Starr noted that good judges treat everyone with kindness and respect. Brantley Starr Brantley Starr testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his April 10 confirmation hearing to be U.S. district judge for the Northern District of Texas. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM. Cruz also asked Brown and Starr for their definitions of judicial activism. Brown replied that it happens when a judge puts his own policy or preference ahead of what the law plainly states, while Starrs definition was similar. Both nominees expressed that judicial activism is inappropriate. Brown has served on the Texas Supreme Court as a justice since 2013. Brown earlier was a justice on Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals and served as a judge on the 55th District Court. He joined the state district court bench from Baker Botts in Houston, where he practiced civil litigation. Brown clerked for Justices Jack Hightower and Greg Abbott of the Supreme Court of Texas after graduating from the University of Houston Law Center. Starr previously was a law clerk for Judge Don Willett of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit back when Willett was a justice on the Texas Supreme Court. Now Starr works in the Texas Office of the Attorney General as a deputy first assistant attorney general. He previously practiced appellate litigation at King & Spalding in Austin, served in the attorney generals office as an assistant solicitor general under Cruz and then James Ho, who is now a Fifth Circuit judge. Starr earned his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law. Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht attended the hearing along with Justice Eva Guzman, who both were in Washington, D.C., on other business dealing with access to justice. Hecht said he wasnt surprised the hearing was noncontroversial, because Brown, Starr and a third nominee for a Pennsylvania bench are all outstanding nominees. Hecht noted its great for the country for Brown to become a U.S. district judgebut bad for him, especially since two years ago he lost Willett to the federal judiciary as well. Im very proud of him and I know hell make a great trial judge, Hecht said about Brown. He was a trial judge before, and he just did a great job. In a statement, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also expressed that hes sad to lose Starrs expertise, but thrilled for Starr and his family. Brantley Starr is a brilliant attorney, a dedicated public servant and a trusted legal advisor on my executive team. Because he has such a stellar career record of serving Texas by standing up for the rule of law with professionalism and integrity, I knew this day was inevitable, Paxton said. Brantley will make an outstanding federal judge. HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / April 10, 2019 / There's sizable long-term growth in store for cannabis. For one, analysts have become incredibly bullish. Analysts at Cowen say the U.S. cannabis market could rocket to $16 billion by 2025. Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics say the worldwide market could explode to $57 billion by 2027. In the U.S. alone, North American cannabis sales could reach $47.3 billion just over the next decade as well, they note. But that's just the start of what could be a major boom. Another potential catalyst is named STATES, or Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States, it would amend the Controlled Substance act to limit federal interference in state matters such as this. "This is just giving them a level playing field. Respecting the rights of states - it doesn't force a state to do anything that it doesn't want to do," Rep. Earl Blumenauer told Rolling Stone. In addition, Part of President Trump's budget proposes scaling back restrictive language that has kept Washington D.C. from legalizing and regulating the sale of recreational cannabis. He's also asking the public to submit comments to help change the U.S. position on a potential reclassification. Potential legalization could fire up the voter base, considering that 61% of Americans are in favor of legalization. These are just a few of the many catalysts creating sizable opportunity for companies such as Nerds on Site Inc. (CSE: NERD)(OTC: NOSUF),Weekend Unlimited Inc.(CSE: POT)(OTC: WKULF), and Crop Infrastructure Corp.(CSE: CROP)(OTC: CRXPF). Mobile IT solutions company, Nerds on Site Inc. (NERD)(NOSUF) for example just introduced "Cannabis IT in a Box," the "Go To" solution, delivered, installed, and serviced for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) to its first customer in the U.S. at the Orchard Heights facility in Washington State. Orchard Heights is located in Wenatchee, Washington. The Orchard Heights 7- acre property is located strategically on the Columbia river, in Central Washington where a majority of commodity producers converge strategically to expedite distribution to the metropolitan markets. Orchard Heights is a Weekend Unlimited Washington facility. Story continues "With our recent retail client in Alberta, Northern Lights Supply just announced, the NERDS team's ability to prototype the Cannabis IT in a Box solution with Orchard Heights, a grower in the B2B space in Washington will ensure we have ready to go solutions for all applications in the thriving Cannabis industry, both in the Canada and the USA," said Mr. Charles Regan, CEO, NERDS on Site. For More Information on Nerds on Site Inc.,Click Here. Weekend Unlimited Inc. (POT)(WKULF) which is in the top 5% of all producer processors, will provide processing and distribution facilities toBoggy Boon branded cannabis company Seven Hills, leading to the acquisition of the company. "Boggy Boon branded cannabis is cultivated in a 28,000 sq. ft. facility located in Wenatchee Washington as is Orchard Heights Growers. As a result of this partnership, Boggy Boon will be able to dedicate its operation entirely to cultivation with an anticipated increase efficiency as a result by 40%, with the current year run rate of $2M growing to $2.8M," explained Paul Chu, Weekend Unlimited Inc. President and CEO. As a result of this alliance, the existing Tier 3 Producer/Processing license will have more diverse products to offer its sales channel and will be able to sell Weekend brands to the existing 130 Boggy Boon retail accounts. For More Information on Weekend Unlimited Inc., Click Here. Crop Infrastructure Corp. (CROP)(CRXPF)for example, focuses on cannabis branding and real estate assets with a portfolio of cultivation projects in California, two in Washington State, a 1,000-acre Nevada Cannabis farm, 1,865 acres of CBD farms, extraction in Nevada with international focuses in Jamaica and Italy. The company just announced that its Wheeler Park tenant in Washington State has established a bulk cannabis customer relationship and that its first 150 lbs. of flower has been delivered at $400 a pound. Bulk sales compliment the tenant's ongoing sales strategy to establish itself as a premiere cannabis flower and extraction brand given the ongoing organic nature and high return THC level the company has seen in its lab testing. The strains included in the sale are Bubba Kush, Dutch Hawaiian, Ghost Train, Green Crack, Star Killer, WA Cookies and originating from the previous soil medium. The smaller flowers and trim is currently being extracted into THCA diamonds, distillate and live resin. The company's Evolution Cannabis brand was recently featured on High Times's social media for its large bricks of THC honeycomb. For More Information on Crop Infrastructure Corp., Click Here. MarijuanaStox.com is a leading web destination for all cannabis related companies. Investors can also find current marijuana-related quality financial, medical, legal and social news. MarijuanaStox.com is a media agency in North America dedicated to the cannabis industry, helping companies that operate in the space to attract quality investors, working capital and real publicity. Since 2005, we have had public companies in the US and Canada have rely on us to grow and succeed. Legal Disclaimer Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this article contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Winning Media which has a partnership with www.MarijuanaStox.com is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice. Winning Media, which has a partnership with www.MarijuanaStox.com, is only compensated for its services in the form of cash-based compensation. Pursuant to an agreement between Winning Media (partners of MarijuanaStox.com) and Nerds on Site Inc., Winning Media has been paid four thousand dollars for advertising and marketing services for Nerds on Site Inc. We own ZERO shares of Nerds on Site Inc. Please click here for full disclaimer. Contact Information: 2818047972 ty@marijuanastox.com SOURCE: MarijuanaStox.com View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/541572/Three-Catalysts-that-Will-Send-Cannabis-Stocks-Higher-in-2019 (Bloomberg) -- Bytedance Ltd., Chinas most valuable startup, has secured a $1.335 billion syndicated loan from a group dominated by Wall Street banks, according to people familiar with the matter. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. led the deal alongside Bank of China Ltd. and CMB Wing Lung Bank Ltd., said the people who are not authorized to speak publicly and asked not to be identified. Bytedance, which operates the hugely popular apps TikTok and its Chinese counterpart Douyin, declined to comment on the loan. The deal marks Bytedances debut in the syndicated loan market and underscores its growing clout in attracting some of the biggest international lenders. Late last year, the company got a $3 billion funding from SoftBank Group Corp. and other major investors at a valuation of $75 billion, cementing its position as the worlds biggest privately backed startup. TikTok and Douyin are two of the fastest-growing apps in the world, and rely on users recording clips typically set to music. The TikTok app has been installed more than 1 billion times via the App Store and Google Play, according to Sensor Tower. The deal is also a rare case of a young startup winning a loan of this size from Asias syndicated loan market, where banks are typically more comfortable with lending to mature brick-and-mortar companies. Other top-tier lenders for the syndicated loan include Bank of America Corp., Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and UBS Group AG, the people said. China Everbright Bank Co. and China Merchants Bank Co. also joined. The owner of Chinese news aggregator Toutiao offered an interest margin of 280 basis points on top of the London interbank offered rate for its debut syndicated loan, the people added. --With assistance from David Ramli. To contact the reporters on this story: Carol Zhong in Hong Kong at yzhong71@bloomberg.net;Annie Lee in Hong Kong at olee42@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Neha D'silva at ndsilva1@bloomberg.net, Chan Tien Hin, Richard Frost For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. Judge accused of accepting bribe A judge of Kalikot District Court, Shyam Sundar Adhikari, has been accused of accepting a bribe of Rs500,000. Trump's plan to bring thousands of jobs to Wisconsin with a new Foxconn plant is reportedly showing little progress Nine months after Foxconn's groundbreaking in Wisconsin on a would-be $10 billion factory, The Verge found few signs of progress and little information publicly known about the site. After political controversy between China and the U.S. Foxconn's plans for the plant in Wisconsin remain unclear. The plant was considered an important piece of President Donald Trump's reelection bid, which was meant to fulfill a campaign promise of bringing back jobs to the U.S. More than nine months after breaking ground on the site of the would-be $10 billion Foxconn plant in Wisconsin, there are reportedly few signs of progress on the ground. A new report from The Verge found that even locals are unsure of Foxconn's plans as construction seems largely stalled despite the company's recent promise that its new factory would begin assembling liquid crystal display screens by the end of 2020. In a trip to Wisconsin last month, The Verge found that while Foxconn had taken out renovation permits on several sites that would contribute to was it calls its "AI 8K+5G ecosystem," people with knowledge said those working on the project don't have contracts and have not been paid. One building that was meant to be part of Foxconn's technology hub never sold, according to The Verge, after the owner became fed up with Foxconn's constant changes of plans. The owner said he'd held off on converting a floor of the building into apartments after Foxconn expressed interest, but once the company tried to negotiate $500,000 off the contract after going back and forth several times on whether it would need the floor, the owner terminated the contract, according to The Verge. Foxconn and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Since President Donald Trump attended the site's groundbreaking in late June 2018, the project has seemingly be in flux amid trade tensions between the U.S. and China. The project was considered an important piece of President Donald Trump's reelection bid, since it was meant to fulfill a campaign promise of bringing back jobs to the U.S. Taiwan-based Foxconn is a major supplier to Apple AAPL and the Wisconsin plant would be Foxconn's first facility outside of Asia. Story continues In late January, an assistant to Foxconn's CEO told Reuters it was still evaluating the types of jobs it would create at the Wisconsin site, saying it wanted to create a "technology hub" rather than a factory. This was a sharp deviation from the type of facility and jobs locals and political leaders believed Foxconn would create. Rather than mainly blue-collar jobs, the assistant told Reuters about three-quarters of the jobs would be "knowledge" positions in R&D and design. The day after the Reuters report, Foxconn released a statement affirming it was still moving forward with construction in Wisconsin after talks with the White House, but did not clarify the types of jobs it would create. The number of jobs Foxconn is promising to create in the state has also declined over time. The company initially said it would create 13,000 jobs in the state, but later said its hiring place had slowed. A source told Reuters in January that Foxconn will likely hire about 1,000 people by the end of 2020, rather than the 5,200 it initially expected to employ by that time. Read the full report at The Verge . Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube. Watch: Foxconn says it will move forward with Wisconsin facility More From CNBC By Jeff Mason and Timothy Gardner CROSBY, Texas/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump signed two executive orders in the heart of the Texas energy hub on Wednesday targeting the power of states to delay natural gas, coal and oil projects as he looks to build support ahead of next year's election. Trump's orders direct his Environmental Protection Agency to change a part of the U.S. clean water law that has allowed states to delay projects on environmental grounds. New York has delayed pipelines that would bring natural gas to New England, for example, and Washington state has stopped coal export terminals. "My action today will cut through destructive permitting delays and denials ... what takes you 20 years to get a permit, those days are gone," said Trump, surrounded by workers in hard hats and yellow vests. He signed the orders at a training center for petroleum industry workers near Houston, an event sandwiched between fundraising events for the 2020 presidential campaign. Critics vowed to oppose Trump's actions. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the orders were a "gross overreach of federal authority that undermines New York's ability to protect our water quality and our environment." Any attempt to usurp state authority on the projects will be fought "tooth and nail," the Democrat said. Chris Stockton, a spokesman for Williams Cos Inc, which has fought Cuomo's denial of its Constitution gas pipeline from Pennsylvania, said the company supported Trump's effort to "foster coordination, predictability and transparency in federal environmental review." The orders direct the EPA to review and update guidance issued during the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama on the so-called 401 provision of the Clean Water Act. The measure required companies to get certifications from states before building interstate pipelines and projects approved by the federal government. In 2017, Washington Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat and 2020 candidate for president, used the provision to block a permit for the Millennium Bulk Terminal, a coal export facility that would have expanded the ability of companies to send Western coal to Asian markets. Inslee, who has centered his campaign on tackling climate change, said Trump's orders would put the country on a "fatal path" of unconstrained fossil fuel use and hold back clean energy development. 'EVERY TOOL AT OUR DISPOSAL' The orders are part of the Trump administration's "energy dominance" policy to increase oil, gas and coal production, but forcing the EPA changes will take time. A senior administration official told reporters the agency would have to follow normal procedures, including a comment period, and that projects already tied up in litigation "are obviously a much longer-term issue." Michael Brune, the chief of the Sierra Club, which sues the government frequently, said the group would fight the orders "with every tool at our disposal." Any changes could be further delayed if it is determined that Congress is required to pass legislation to change the water law, opponents of Trump's move said. One order directs the transportation secretary to propose allowing liquefied natural gas, a liquid form of the fuel, to be shipped in approved rail cars. The orders also give the president the power to issue permits for projects that span international borders, taking that power from the secretary of state. Trump issued a presidential permit last month for the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline to bring crude from Canada. Canadian pipeline operator Enbridge Inc supports the orders' "focus on enhancing the predictability of the permitting process and the critical importance of investing in energy infrastructure in the U.S. and Canada," company spokesman Michael Barnes said. Enbridge had an oil pipeline project from Canada to the United States halted by opposition in Michigan. The orders could also speed projects in Texas. Energy investors vying for permits to build oil export terminals along the Gulf Coast say they have worked closely with Trump officials in a bid to speed regulatory reviews of facilities capable of loading supertankers. U.S. and state agencies overseeing permit applications have taken too long to approve projects, the investors said, adding they were worried their projects would miss the most profitable years of the U.S. crude export boom. Four energy groups led by Trafigura AG, Carlyle Group, Enterprise Products Partners LP and Enbridge have applied to build terminals in Texas. (Reporting by Jeff Mason in Crosby, Texas,and Timothy Gardner in Washington; Additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici in Washington, Collin Eaton in Houston and Jessica Resnick-Ault and Scott Disavino in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney) FILE PHOTO: Aides set up platforms before a group photo with members of U.S. and Chinese trade negotiation delegations at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China February 15, 2019. Mark Schiefelbein/Pool via REUTERS By Lisa Baertlein LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's trade war with China has U.S. companies shifting purchases of tariff-targeted products like furniture, refrigerators and car tires to countries such as Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan and Mexico, according to a new analysis released on Wednesday. Trump's decision to slap tariffs of 10 to 25 percent on about $250 billion of Chinese goods has roiled U.S. retailers and manufacturers, who are scrambling to avoid potentially crippling cost increases. Overall U.S. imports of containerised freight from China fell 6.4 percent during the first quarter as buyers worked off product stockpiled ahead of tariff increases and rerouted orders to lower-cost countries, S&P Global Market Intelligence's trade data firm Panjiva said in the report. U.S. imports of Chinese-made furniture by retailers such as IKEA, Home Depot, Target Corp and Room to Go fell 13.5 percent in the first quarter. That was partly offset by a 37.2 percent rise in shipments from Vietnam and a 19.3 percent increase in imports from Taiwan, Panjiva said. The change also affected home appliances. Imports of Chinese refrigerators fell 24.1 percent during the quarter, when shipments from South Korea and Mexico jumped 31.8 percent and 32 percent, respectively. "A major factor in that shift has been a rearrangement in supply chains by Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics," Panjiva said in the report. The auto industry has also been rethinking trade routes. Tire imports from China slumped 28.6 percent during the first three months of the year. At the same time, U.S. sea ports saw a 141.7 surge in product from Vietnam and an 11.1 percent increase in tire shipments from South Korea. Hankook Tire and Nexen are among the suppliers picking up the new business, Panjiva said. U.S. companies are also shifting factory investments in the wake of the China trade tiff, which a trio of economists estimate has already cost U.S. consumers and companies $19.2 billion. Story continues Ohio-based Cooper Tire & Rubber Co in December said it formed a joint venture with Sailun Vietnam Co Ltd. to build a truck and bus radial tire factory near Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City. "We are excited about this addition to our manufacturing footprint, which diversifies our sourcing to protect against risk, including tariffs," Cooper Chief Financial Officer Christopher Eperjesy said in February, when the company announced a $34 million write-down on the value of a joint venture manufacturing project in China. (Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by James Dalgleish) By Michelle Price and Imani Moise WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has told Congress that "all options are on the table" for enforcing a 2018 consent order against Wells Fargo, raising the prospect of potential future penalties or other sanctions against the bank. In a letter to Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown published by the lawmakers on Tuesday, CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger said she was unhappy with Wells Fargo's progress fixing its risk management issues. "I am not satisfied with the bank's progress to date and have instructed staff to take all appropriate actions to ensure the bank complies with the consent order and Federal consumer financial law," she wrote in the letter dated April 5. Broadly speaking, I consider all options on the table for enforcing Bureau consent orders," Kraninger added. Wells Fargo Wells declined to comment. In April 2018, the CFPB and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) jointly fined Wells Fargo $1 billion for mis-selling auto loans and mortgage products and ordered the bank to repay harmed customers and fix its controls and processes. The terms of the consent order give Kraninger and OCC Director Joseph Otting extensive powers to sanction the bank with additional penalties, business restrictions or the removal of bank personnel if they believe it has failed to devise a satisfactory remediation plan. "The OCC is fully engaged and prepared to ensure Wells Fargo corrects the identified deficiencies," Otting wrote in a separate April 3 letter to Warren. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, also writing to the senators on April 3, repeated his pledge to retain an asset cap the Fed imposed on the bank in February 2018 until it has met its obligations under that separate consent order. The bank has said it is committed to compensating all customers affected by its actions and has already payed out tens of millions of dollars to make consumers whole. Story continues Senators Warren and Brown wrote to the three regulators on March 22 seeking reassurance that they would take a tough line on the bank and calling on them to remove Chief Executive Tim Sloan. Sloan announced he was resigning on March 28. Reuters reported on Tuesday that Sloan's departure was at least partly the result of the board's conclusion that he had failed to convince regulators that he could transform the bank and rally a staff that had low confidence in its leadership. (Reporting by Michelle Price; additional reporting by Imani Moise in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler) Legal and constitutional experts find fault with Judicial Councils structure Appointment of 18 judges for High Courts and five justices for the Supreme Court by the Judicial Council has met with severe criticism, with legal experts finding fault with the structure of the council itself. LONDON, April 9 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May outlined to German Chancellor Angela Merkel the steps she was taking to bring "the Brexit process to a successful conclusion" and on discussions with the opposition Labour Party, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday. May, in Germany as part of her charm offensive to secure a Brexit delay at an EU summit on Wednesday, "updated Chancellor Merkel on the ongoing discussions with the opposition", the spokeswoman said in a statement. "Ahead of EU Council tomorrow, the leaders discussed the UK's request for an extension of Article 50 to June 30 with the option to bring this forward if a deal is ratified earlier." (Reporting by Elizabeth Piper and William James, Editing by Kylie MacLellan) FILE PHOTO: An employee shows a 1 gram piece of a gold Combibar at a plant of gold refiner and bar manufacturer Valcambi SA in the southern Swiss town of Balerna December 20, 2012. REUTERS/Michael Buholzer/File Photo By Peter Hobson LONDON (Reuters) - Swiss gold refiner Valcambi has lost a contract to refine around 4 million ounces of gold a year from Newmont Mining Corp, one of the world's biggest producers, five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. U.S.-based Newmont put the contract up for tender last year and has split the business between three of Valcambi's rivals - Asahi in the United States and Argor-Heraeus and PAMP in Switzerland, the sources said. "It all went up for tender and different refineries won different pieces (of the contract)," said one source. Valcambi, Argor-Heraeus, PAMP, Asahi and Newmont all declined to comment. Valcambi is the world's largest gold refinery and had processed almost all of Newmont's gold output for around 15 years, the sources said. Newmont owned a majority stake in Valcambi until 2015 when it sold the shares to India's Rajesh Exports. The sources said Newmont would send gold from its mines in the United States to Asahi and material from mines in Peru and Ghana to either PAMP or Argor-Heraeus. Newmont also operates mines in Suriname and Australia, and in total produces around 5 million ounces, or 155 tonnes, of gold a year - more than 4 percent of global mine production and enough on its own to fill the capacity of a medium-sized refinery. Competition has pushed refining charges down sharply in recent years, and sources said rates for the Newmont deal could range from $0.30 an ounce to as little as $0.05 an ounce translating to revenue of between $200,000 and $1.2 million a year for 4 million ounces. To boost revenues, refiners are increasingly making money out of products such as coins and jewellery parts for which they can charge more. Newmont is set to overtake Barrick Gold Corp as the world's largest gold producer this year when it acquires rival Goldcorp Inc. (Reporting by Peter Hobson; Editing by Veronica Brown and Mark Potter) Amsterdam, 10 April 2019 Trading update Q1 2019: Strong operating result and lower revenue Q1 2019 highlights Autonomous growth in own brands (3.2)% Further reduction of private label and distribution business in-line with strategy EBITE of 20.5 million, equal to 12.8% of revenue Q1 review Revenue development in Q1 was impacted especially by our French operations. In the Grocery Channel, Bjorg was negative in the quarter due to later phasing of promotional and innovation plans compared to last year and the withdrawal of the chilled activities. Gayelord Hauser continued to decline at double-digit levels. Results for Alter Eco and Clipper were good. In HFS, in a softer overall market, Bonneterre suffered from operational issues in connection with the changeover to our new distribution center. Our results in Germany were strong across both channels with Clipper, Allos and Tartex. Our Spanish business achieved good growth in particular with Ecocesta as well as our other brands. Isola Bio in Italy was negatively impacted by a product quality issue. While results for Clipper in the Benelux were strong, Zonnatura had a soft quarter due to later phasing of support plans compared to 2018. In the UK we had another solid quarter continuing the turnaround of our brand performance in the trade, especially with Kallo. Abbot Kinney`s grew at double-digit levels and is now being activated across Europe by our country teams. Development of gross margin was positive and EBITE as % of revenue high predominantly as a result of A&P phasing. In Q1 revenue decreased by 4.1% to 159.8 million. Autonomous growth of our own brands was (3.2)% and total autonomous revenue growth amounted to (4.7)% as a result of continued decline in private label and distribution brands. The acquisition of Abbot Kinney`s contributed 0.4% and the appreciation of the British pound contributed 0.2%. Guidance FY 2019 We expect low to moderate growth of own brands and a further reduction of private label and distribution brand sales We expect EBITE as % of revenue to be in the range of 8 to 9% for the full year Net financing costs around 2.0-2.5 million. This includes an impact of around 0.5 million regarding the implementation of IFRS 16 and around 0.5 million related to the unwinding discount of the contingent consideration for the Abbot Kinney`s acquisition Tax rate around 30% Capital expenditure of 10-12 million Depreciation and amortisation of 14-15 million. This includes an impact of around 4.3 million related to IFRS 16 and 0.4 million amortisation of the Gayelord Hauser brand after reclassification to a finite life Analyst & investor meeting Story continues At 16h00 CET, a conference call for analysts, investors, and media will be hosted by Christophe Barnouin(CEO) and Ronald Merckx (CFO). The dial-in number is + 31(0)20 341 8241, code 590844# . The press release and presentation are available for download at www.wessanen.com. Media, investor & analyst enquiries Ingo Heijnen (Hill+Knowlton Strategies) Phone +31 6 5586 7904 Email Ingo.Heijnen@hkstrategies.com for pdf click here This announcement is distributed by West Corporation on behalf of West Corporation clients. The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: Wessanen via GlobeNewswire HUG#2241317 Companys First UCITS ETFs in Peru Join Growing Set of Strategies Listed in Latin America NEW YORK, April 09, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WisdomTree Investments, Inc. (WETF), an exchange-traded fund (ETF) and exchange-traded product (ETP) sponsor and asset manager, today announced that 5 European WisdomTree UCITS ETFs have been listed on The Lima Stock Exchange, Bolsa de Valores de Lima (BVL). Newly Listed UCITS ETFs: UCITS ETF Name Ticker ISIN WisdomTree US Equity UCITS ETF Acc DHSA IE00BD6RZT93 WisdomTree US Quality Dividend Growth UCITS ETF USD Acc DGRA IE00BZ56RG20 WisdomTree Europe Equity UCITS ETF USD Hedged Acc HEDK IE00BYQCZP72 WisdomTree Japan Equity UCITS ETF USD Hedged Acc DXJA IE00BYQCZD50 WisdomTree Emerging Markets Equity Income UCITS ETF DEMR IE00BDF12W49 Jonathan Steinberg, WisdomTree CEO and President, said, We are pleased to cross-list our first set of UCITS ETFs on the Bolsa de Valores de Lima, allowing investors in Peru the optionality to access and invest in WisdomTrees existing strategies in a new structure and region. WisdomTree is represented in Latin America by Compass Group Holdings, S.A. For more information on The Lima Stock Exchange, please visit www.bvl.com.pe . This press release and the information contained herein does not constitute and is not intended to constitute an offer of securities and accordingly should not be construed as such. The ETFs and any other products or services referenced in this press release (collectively, the WisdomTree ETFs) may not be licensed in all jurisdictions, and unless otherwise indicated, no regulator or government authority has reviewed this press release, or the merits of the products and services referenced herein. Specifically, the WisdomTree ETFs will not be subject to a public offering in Peru and have not been and will not be approved by or registered with the Peruvian Superintendency of Capital Markets (Superintendencia del Mercado de Valores) or The Lima Stock Exchange (Bolsa de Valores de Lima). Accordingly, the WisdomTree ETFs may not be offered or sold in Peru except, among others, if such offering is considered a private offer under the securities laws and regulations of Peru. The WisdomTree ETFs cannot be offered or sold in Peru or in any other jurisdiction except in compliance with the securities laws thereof. In making an investment decision, institutional investors (as defined by Peruvian law) must rely on their own examination of the terms of the offering of the WisdomTree ETFs to determine their ability to invest. Story continues This press release is directed at and intended for institutional investors (as such term is defined in each jurisdiction in which the WisdomTree ETFs are marketed). Before acting on any information in this press release, prospective investors should inform themselves of and observe all applicable laws, rules and regulations of any relevant jurisdictions and obtain independent advice if required. About WisdomTree WisdomTree Investments, Inc., through its subsidiaries in the U.S., Europe and Canada (collectively, WisdomTree), is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) and exchange-traded product (ETP) sponsor and asset manager headquartered in New York. WisdomTree offers products covering equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities and alternative strategies. WisdomTree currently has approximately $59.6 billion in assets under management globally. WisdomTree is the marketing name for WisdomTree Investments, Inc. and its subsidiaries worldwide. Contact Information: Media Relations WisdomTree Investments, Inc. Jessica Zaloom +1.917.267.3735 jzaloom@wisdomtree.com Nepal is 19th largest receiver of remittances with $8.1 billion Nepali migrant workers sent home $8.1 billion in 2018, making it the 19th biggest beneficiary of funds sent by migrants around the world, according to a report released by World Bank on Monday. Tuesday, May 7, 2019 at 3:30 p.m. Central / 4:30 p.m. Eastern AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, April 09, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wright Medical Group N.V. (WMGI) today announced that it will host a conference call on Tuesday, May 7, 2019, at 3:30 p.m. Central Time to discuss the companys operating results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2019. Operating results will be released at 3:05 p.m. Central Time that day. The live dial-in number for the call is (844) 295-9436 (U.S.) / (574) 990-1040 (Outside U.S.). The participant passcode for the call is Wright. A simultaneous webcast of the call will be available via Wright Medicals corporate website at www.wright.com. The call will be archived on this site for a minimum of 12 months. A replay of the call will be available beginning at 5:30 p.m. Central Time on May 7, 2019 through May 14, 2019. To hear this replay, dial (855) 859-2056 (U.S.) / (404) 537-3406 (Outside U.S.) and enter code 7398697. Internet Posting of Information Wright routinely posts information that may be important to investors in the Investor Relations section of its website at www.wright.com . The company encourages investors and potential investors to consult the Wright website regularly for important information about Wright. About Wright Medical Group N.V. Wright Medical Group N.V. is a global medical device company focused on extremities and biologics products. The company is committed to delivering innovative, value-added solutions improving the quality of life for patients worldwide. Wright is a recognized leader of surgical solutions for the upper extremities (shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand), lower extremities (foot and ankle) and biologics markets, three of the fastest growing segments in orthopedics. For more information about Wright, visit www.wright.com . Investors & Media: Julie D. Dewey Sr. Vice President, Chief Communications Officer Wright Medical Group N.V. (901) 290-5817 julie.dewey@wright.com Wynn Resorts' takeover bid for Australia's Crown Resorts could signal a change in strategy for the casino giant, according to analysts. Steve Wynn, the founder of Wynn Resorts, resigned as CEO and chairman in February 2018 following a bombshell report by the Wall Street Journal that detailed allegations of decades of sexual misconduct. Wynn Resorts WYNN ' recent $7.1 billion takeover offer for Australia's Crown Resorts CWN-AU signals a changing approach at the world's second-largest casino operator, analysts told CNBC. "It's definitely, I think, a shift in strategy for the company," Colin Mansfield, director at Fitch Ratings, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday. "This is a company that historically has been a developer of properties as opposed to an acquirer of companies," Mansfield added. Crown Resorts announced on Tuesday that it was negotiating a possible acquisition by Wynn, but the latter later terminated the talks citing the " premature disclosure of preliminary discussions ." "I don't think these types of conversations would have been had when Steve Wynn was at the helm of the company," Mansfield said. Wynn, the founder of Wynn Resorts, resigned as CEO and chairman in February 2018 following a bombshell report by the Wall Street Journal that detailed allegations of decades of sexual misconduct by the gaming tycoon. By the end of March, he'd sold his entire stake in the company he'd founded. He continues to deny all allegations of sexual misconduct. Adam Dawes, senior investment advisor at financial services company Shaw and Partners, agreed that the move could be attributed to a change in management. "Anytime you get ... a long-term CEO moving aside, yes you're going to have that kind of change in a new business direction or a development in the business," Dawes told CNBC's "Street Signs" on Wednesday. A deal may still be struck Story continues Despite the setback in negotiations, Dawes said a deal will likely be back on the table in the future. "We think this is a little bit of a tactical play on Wynn's behalf," Dawes said. "What they've done is they've allowed this deal to fall over, but we do think that this deal will eventually happen," he said, citing the stock performance of Crown. Crown's stock closed at A$12.77 per share (approx. $9.13), down from Tuesday's gains, but still more than 8 percent higher than its closing price on Monday before the offer was leaked. Fitch Ratings' Mansfield said the deal was likely to benefit Wynn if it went through. "When we first heard the news of the transaction, our first initial response was that the addition of the assets of Crown to Wynn's overall portfolio would be a positive thing for Wynn from ... both an operational and a strategic perspective." Firstly, he said, the acquisition of Crown which has "about a 46 percent market share in Australia" would give Wynn a "strong foothold right off the bat" in a market to which the casino behemoth doesn't currently have access. Furthermore, he added, Crown's current assets are "really high quality" and would likely "fit quite well" into Wynn's broader portfolio. "From a larger perspective, you know, greater global diversification is a good thing and it also kind of enhances Wynn's already good exposure to the Chinese VIP market," Mansfield said. CNBC's Contessa Brewer contributed to this report. More From CNBC Sudden cancellation of music festival leaves many questioning organisers and local administration After witnessing big success with its first iteration, Shakti Peak Festival Nepal this year too had organised a similar music festival. However, the much-hyped international music festivalwhich was slated to begin from Friday, and was expecting to bring in a lot of foreign followerswas cancelled by the government at the eleventh hour. The number of known judicial executions around the world declined by nearly one-third in 2018 compared to 2017, reaching the lowest level in at least a decade, Amnesty International says in its annual report on death sentences and executions. Belarus was among a handful of countries that defied the trend, the human rights group said in the report released on April 10: The only European state that carries out executions put at least four people to death in 2018, it said, twice as many as in 2017. Although Iran remains "a country where the use of the death penalty is rife, a change in Irans drug laws led to a reduction of executions by "a staggering 50 percent," Amnesty International said. Still, the rights group said, executions in Iran often "were carried out after unfair trials." It said Pakistan, Iraq, and Somalia also showed "a significant reduction in the number they carried out," helping to push down the number of global state executions from at least 993 in 2017 to at least 690 in 2018. "The dramatic global fall in executions proves that even the most unlikely countries are starting to change their ways and realize the death penalty is not the answer,"Amnesty International Secretary-General Kumi Naidoo said. 'World's Leading Executioner' The trend does not include figures from China,"the worlds leading executioner" where "figures thought to be in their thousands remain classified as a state secret," Amnesty International said. The rights group said it recorded 253 court-ordered executions in Iran, the lowest number there since 2010. It said 160 of the people executed in Iran -- 155 men and five women -- were convicted of murder. Eighteen people executed by authorities in Iran in 2018 were convicted on charges of moharebeh, or "enmity against God," including six cases related to "political activities." Among the "enmity" cases were the executions of ethnic Kurdish prisoners who received "grossly unfair trials" and were "denied access to their lawyers after being arrested" and claiming they had been tortured into making false confessions. Another 14 people executed in Iran were convicted of "spreading corruption on earth," the rights group said, noting that some of those cases involved "consensual same-sex sexual conduct." It said 28 executions in Iran involved rape cases, 25 were for drug trafficking, and one was for robbery. Five people were executed in Iran on charges that Amnesty could not confirm. 'Public Hangings' Unlike previous years, none of the executions in Iran were carried out in public by stoning. But at least 13 executions were public hangings, the report says. One case it highlighted was the execution of Zeinab Sekaanvand, who reported being a victim of domestic and sexual violence at the age of 17 in West Azerbaijan Province during her "grossly unfair trial" in West Azerbaijan Province. Amnesty said Sekaanvand was 17 when she was arrested for murdering her husband and had been "tortured by male police officers through beatings all over her body" for 20 days when she "confessed" to stabbing him in 2014. She later retracted her confession in court, saying that her husband's brother had killed him and raped her. But Amnesty said the court failed to investigate her statements and relied, instead, on the "confessions" she had been forced to make under torture. In Pakistan, Amnesty said, 14 men were known to have been executed by authorities in 2018, including one who was convicted by an antiterrorism court. That represents a decline of 77 percent compared to 2017 and 86 percent compared to 2016, the report said. At least four executions were recorded in Belarus in 2018, according to Amnesty International. It said that before two executions in Belarus in 2017, the last time another European country carried out executions was in 2005. Two people executed in Belarus in 2018 were convicted murderers Alyaksey Mikhalenya and Viktar Liotau, who a fellow death-row inmate said were taken from their cells one night in May "and never returned," according to the report. The other two were Ihar Hershaskou and Syamyon Berazhnoy, who it said were executed "without prior notification" in November after being sentenced to death in July 2017 following convictions for murder, kidnapping, and other charges. Amnesty said their cases were unique because the Belarusian Supreme Court took the unprecedented step of reviewing their trials following an appeal that cited alleged procedural violations, but upheld their death sentences in July 2018. Amnesty International also noted that the number of judicial executions in the United States increased from 23 in 2017 to 25 in 2018. It said 13 of the executions carried out in the United States in 2018 were in the state of Texas. In this 2014 photo, people gather at Cape Cod, Mass. for an Easter sunrise service conducted by Broadmoor Community Church Rev. Anne Cubbage. This year, several southwest Colorado Springs congregations, including BCC, will together host a 6 a.m. service April 21 at the Myron Stratton Home. Yes, I found a better job Yes, but I'm still looking for a new job Yes, I retired Yes, I started my own business No, I like my current job No, but I'm currently looking for a new job Vote View Results Supreme Court sets three-month deadline for Ncell, Axiata to clear tax dues The Supreme Court has ordered Ncell and Axiata, the parent company of the private-sector telecom operator, to clear its outstanding capital gains tax within three months and barred Ncell from repatriating profit and distributing dividend and shares until it pays the dues. 1. Yes. Patrol cars in the lot and armed officers inside would deter would-be criminals. 2. Yes. Police should announce their plans and be highly visible during store hours. 3. No. The citys police officers have other obligations. More private security is the answer. 4. No. Perhaps, but installing more surveillance cameras would be a better deterrent. 5. Unsure. More police might help, but it could also stretch KPDs resources too thin. Vote View Results It was a wintry day in February of 2002 when a friend and I left North Carolina and flew to Mexico. Casa Murphy was our destination and we found it tucked behind tall adobe walls lushly over-run with greenery. It is a small, family oriented B&B and we found that wed made a good choice. Everything in San Miguel is within walking distance and its almost impossible to get lost, since every road eventually leads to the El Jardin, the central plaza. This area is surrounded with lovely shops & eaterys located in buildings that date back to the 1600s. San Miguel De Allende was in danger of becoming a ghost town at the turn of the 20th century. The revival began after World War II when the returning GIs discovered that their education grants stretched further in Mexico at the US-accredited Art Schools. San Miguel soon became a center for American and Canadian expatriates and continues to be a haven for them today. Actually, although the town is very picturesque and has become renowned as an Art Colony, I found the surrounding towns more to my liking. The fact that San Miguel is practically overrun with non-Mexicans tarnished it a bit for me. I enjoyed the small town of Delores Hidalgo very much. This is where the famous Talavera ceramic tiles are made. We could actually watch the artisans as they colored the tiles before they were fired. It was Valentines day when we were there and we were treated to a special luncheon complete with live music and gifts of paper hearts and roses from the management. Guanajuato, the birthplace of Diego Rivera, was my favorite spot, however. It was very interesting to visit his home and to see the paintings that he produced as a young boy. They were nothing like the dense and colorful murals that brought him such fame. One room was devoted to the paintings of his tempestuous wife, Frida Kahlo and they actually had a recording of her voice. I could see why she would be a good match for Diego. Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel and Russia had agreed to cooperate on withdrawing foreign forces from Syria. If confirmed, it would mean that Russia has agreed to force the Iranians out of Syria, a significant development for both Israel and the Syrian war itself. Its even more critical given that another round of talks between Turkey, Iran and Russia to find a settlement to the war is looming. Russia has yet to confirm or deny Netanyahus comments, but it seems unlikely the Israelis would put Russia on the spot this way if they werent true. Israel wants Iran out of Syria, but it also wants accommodation with Russia . And the two countries have already shown some degree of cooperation in their Syrian operations. Israel has likely provided Russia with advance notice of its airstrikes on Iranian targets in Syria, and so far, Russia has not blocked or, as far as we can tell, notified the Iranians about the strikes. In addition, Turkey, one of three countries negotiating an end to the conflict, appears relatively calm on the subject. Around the time Netanyahu made the announcement, Turkeys pro-government Daily Sabah newspaper published an article dispassionately analyzing Russias relationship with both Israel and Iran in Syria. It seems clear Russia has indeed agreed to push foreign forces out of the country. Before we can understand why Russia would do this, however, we need to understand why Russia went into Syria in the first place . The official explanation was that it wanted to protect Bashar Assad, a longtime Russian ally. But this explanation is hard to buy as Assads government is not strategically important to Moscow. Some have speculated that Russia was really trying to secure naval bases in Syria. The problem with that explanation is that supplies for a significant Russian naval squadron in the Mediterranean would have to flow through the Bosporus, which is controlled by Turkey. Turkey and Russia have an extraordinarily complex relationship, and the Russians simply could not rely on Turkish cooperation to supply the squadron in the event of war. Russian bases at Syrian ports would also be highly vulnerable to U.S. attack. So that reasoning never made much sense. Another possible explanation was that Russia wanted to gain control of energy pipelines, but given the price of energy and the cost of Russias military intervention, that explanation makes little economic sense. It seems more likely that Russia intervened to demonstrate that it could undertake significant operations in the Middle East. It wanted to deliver this message to the Americans but more importantly to the Russian people. It was a low-risk operation that involved limited forces and an attainable goal. The Russians did save Assad, and that in itself had some strategic value. Turkey, meanwhile, didnt want Assad to survive the war, but in the wake of the 2016 coup attempt, Ankara wasnt eager to involve itself in a foreign conflict. It needed to get its own house in order first. So although there was always some tension and distrust between them in part because of Russias coveting of the Bosporus and in part because of Turkeys desire to project influence in the Caucasus, a region located on Russias doorstep Russia and Turkey found ways to manage their relationship. They were content to keep out of each others way. Russia, however, was willing to provide only air support and a limited number of special forces to help Assad. It didnt want to inject massive ground forces to protect the Syrian government, especially not against potential U.S. incursions or Turkish involvement, should Ankara change its mind. Inevitably, the amount of resources Moscow devoted to Syria climbed, but it was intent on avoiding the U.S. experience in the Middle East . In particular, Russia had no desire and limited capability to extend its operations to southern Syria and areas along the Iraqi border the territory in which the Islamic State was operating. It needed someone else to handle IS. Enter Iran. It was active in fighting IS in Iraq and was also a close ally of Assad. Assad was a member of the Alawites, a Shiite sect of Islam, and Shiite Iran wanted to ensure its ally remained in power. But the Iranians also had strategic reasons for protecting Assad. Estimados amigos, Les doy cordialmente la bienvenida a este Blog informativo con articulos, analisis y comentarios de publicaciones especializadas y especialmente seleccionadas, principalmente sobre temas economicos, financieros y politicos de actualidad, que esperamos y deseamos, sean de su maximo interes, utilidad y conveniencia. Pensamos que solo comprendiendo cabalmente el presente, es que podemos proyectarnos acertadamente hacia el futuro. Gonzalo Raffo de Lavalle Las convicciones son mas peligrosos enemigos de la verdad que las mentiras. Quien no lo ha dado todo no ha dado nada. Helenio Herrera History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce. Karl Marx If you know the other and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. Sun Tzu We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity. Paulo Coelho Grand Old Partisan salutes Alexander McDonald, born in Pennsylvania this day of 1832. Age twenty-five, he moved to Kansas, managing a sawmill and working at a bank. Outbreak of civil war, he enlisted in a militia unit before acting as quartermaster for three Union regiments in Arkansas. Union troops entering Little Rock In 1863, McDonald established a bank at Fort Smith and another at Little Rock. He later headed a railroad and oversaw construction of an important bridge. His financial expertise contributed to reviving the local economy amid ravages of war. McDonald was first to call for the 1868 constitutional convention and served as delegate. Upon re-admission of the state, he was elected a U.S. Senator. After his three years in office, the Republican prospered in various business ventures. President Chester Arthur commissioned him to evaluate the Northern Pacific Railroad. Here is a Video Version of this article on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Eaq3-gKY-Ys Michael Zak is author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, a history of GOP civil rights achievement. Each day, Michael Zak's grandoldpartisan YouTube channel and Grand Old Partisan blog celebrate more than sixteen decades of Republican heritage. And, see Speech Raves for audience feedback from his presentations in thirty-one states so far. He also wrote the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar. Clarence Thomas cited Back to Basics for the Republican Party in a Supreme Court decision. Buy the book at Amazon "This is the most amazing book about politics that I have ever read. The Overview should be required reading for anyone with even a minor interest in government. The remainder is an enthralling history lesson that I will never forget. For years, we have all been misled about the true nature of the GOP. This is the real deal! Read it and be proud!" "Michael Zak wrote the definitive history of the GOP." "Back to Basics for the Republican Party is the most significant contribution to the Republican Party in the last twenty years apart from Ronald Reagan." "Back to Basics for the Republican Party is more important to our party now than ever before." and "one of the best books I ever read" " " We know it's hard to admit, but your parents were probably right when they told you not to sit this close to the TV. Donald Iain Smith/Moment/Getty Images "Move away from the TV, you're ruining your eyes!" It's a classic quote for nagging parents, right up there with "eat your vegetables" and "your face will get stuck that way." Yanking a kid back from the TV is a knee-jerk reaction for most parents -- after all, our parents did it to us, so there must have been a good reason. It does seem like all those blinking, flashing and bright colors could harm anyone's eyes at close range. And don't TVs emit X-rays? Most parents would rather be safe than sorry, so they reiterate the admonition, even though they might not be quite sure why they are saying it. The habitual warning does have some historical basis. Once upon a time, until about the late '60s, TVs did emit a small amount of radiation. It was measurable but not harmful -- you could sit directly in front of the TV for hours a day and still not get the radiation dose of a run-of-the-mill X-ray. Still, it's understandable that parents might have felt uneasy with kids sitting close to the TV. In 1967, General Electric recalled 90,000 TVs because a factory error caused them to produce 10 to 10,000 times the usual amount of radiation [source: Hiskey]. This was no doubt a big factor in the perpetuation of the "sit back!" warning. Advertisement Today LCD and plasma TVs emit absolutely no radiation. But even though it's true that sitting too close won't irradiate your child's eyes, it can still cause eyestrain and headaches. That's why all the blinking and flashing (not to mention the noise) can be harmful at close range. Our eyes have to work especially hard when we watch TV in a dark room, so in addition to moving kids away from the screen, it's always better to have the lights on when it's TV time. It's also a good idea to sit up while watching TV -- some kids like to lie on the floor, but that angle can stress the neck and eyes and lead to headaches. Another thing to look out for: If your child regularly sits a foot from the screen, you might want to visit the eye doctor. Glasses may be an easy fix! There's a third reason to tell your children to get away from the screen, and perhaps it's the most useful of all. Forget radiation, eyestrain and headaches: If a kid is standing with his nose practically on TV, he's blocking everyone else's view. So that's a totally legitimate reason to tell him to back off. " " Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Champion Barrow were one of the most famous criminal couples in the history of the United States. Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain It was a spring morning in Louisiana near the border with Texas in the grimy heart of the Great Depression May 23, 1934, to be precise. Clyde Champion Barrow, one of the most wanted men in America, insouciantly parked his stolen Ford at Ma Canfield's cafe and hobbled inside to order a breakfast of either burgers, BLT or fried bologna, depending on which witness testimony you choose to believe. There were a lot of witnesses and they all seem to have known perfectly well who Clyde was. He'd been lurking in the area for some time by then. They watched him warily as he collected the sandwiches and limped back out to the car and handed one of them over to his driving companion, Bonnie Elizabeth Parker, one of the most wanted women in the country. Advertisement Morning at Ma Canfield's You'll note that Bonnie didn't share Clyde's last name. This wasn't a proto-feminist statement of independence. It reflected the minor detail that the two notorious fugitives weren't married. Or, at least, not to each other. Bonnie was officially the wife of a violently abusive crook who was serving time for robbery. Bonnie hadn't taken his name either. She'd married him when she was only 16, soon thought better of it, and separated from him a few years later. Still, neither was divorced, so Bonnie and Clyde were officially living in sin, but that was the least of their outlaw behavior. By May of 1934, the couple was wanted on multiple charges of theft and murder, and had broken the law in just about every way possible. They'd also become popular criminal pinups thanks to a cache of glamorous photos discovered by the cops at one of their previous hideouts. But there was little glamour in their lives that spring morning in 1934. The reason Bonnie stayed in the car while Clyde went inside the diner was because Bonnie could barely walk at all. About nine months earlier, Clyde had crashed a different stolen car into a river and the battery acid splashed all over one of Bonnie's legs. They managed to save her leg from complete ruin with the help of some baking soda, but not before the acid ate it down to the bone in some places. Things had deteriorated to the point that Bonnie had to hop rather than walk to get around, and as often as not, Clyde had to carry her. And as we already mentioned, Clyde himself had a pronounced limp. Some years earlier while serving time in a penitentiary, he'd cut off two of his toes to avoid the prison's brutal forced labor regime. All in all, lugging Bonnie in to get some breakfast sandwiches would have been unnecessarily strenuous, and so she waited in the car. As Clyde pulled out of the parking lot, Bonnie ate a few bites of her sandwich and wrapped the remainder in the paper napkin it came with. A short time later, the powerful car was doing 60 miles per hour (97 kilometers per hour) down a back-country straightaway when they spotted a truck that looked like it'd broken down. The driver was standing next to the vehicle looking forlorn. They knew the truck and driver well. It was Ivy Methvin, whose son, Henry, was part of Bonnie and Clyde's little gang. Lately, they'd spent many an evening visiting in the Methvins' house. Clyde slowed the car to see if he needed help. Advertisement The Set Up Ivy didn't need help. In fact, his truck wasn't even broken down. About two months earlier, Henry, a violence-prone hothead recently sprung from jail, had mistaken Clyde's instructions to kidnap a police officer who was getting too close and had gunned him down instead. Enraged by the unnecessary loss of life, Clyde reluctantly shot down the second officer, a 24-year-old, about-to-be-married novice out on his very first day of motorcycle patrol. Bonnie and Clyde were already wanted for multiple crimes but it was this outrageous act that turned the tide of public sentiment against them and stoked the efforts of law enforcement to bring them down by any means necessary. Given the nature of the incident and his role in it, Henry had a lot of gall to cut a deal with the cops, but that's just what he did when he agreed to help a posse of lawmen ambush his two former partners in crime. Henry's father Ivy was recruited to play a part, which he did convincingly enough on that morning in May. No sooner had Bonnie and Clyde slowed down to see about Ivy's well-being than six men with guns appeared from the woods and opened fire. The phrase "a hail of bullets" doesn't do justice to what happened next. It was more like a blizzard. The men fired 167 shots; Clyde's stolen car's windshield was perforated by so many holes it had more empty space than glass. The guy in charge of the carnage, a Texas Ranger by the name of Frank Hamer, was not a subtle man. He walked up to the passenger side where Bonnie sprawled, her half-eaten sandwich still in her grip, and fired another burst into her prone body point blank. She was definitely dead, and so was Clyde. That was the end of their run as the most famous criminal couple in American history. Now That's Interesting The year 1934 was a fateful one for the era's famous gangsters. Over the course of those 12 months, John Dillinger, Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd, George "Baby Face" Nelson, and Ma Barker and her son Fred were all gunned down by law enforcement (in addition to Bonnie and Clyde). That was the way things went back in the "dirty thirties." Frank Hamer, the police office in charge of the Bonnie and Clyde ambush, is reputed to have personally killed 65 people. The key is to let nature lead the way, says Jean-Eric Paquet, the European Commission's Director General for Research and Innovation 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 By Ruth Anderah. Mukono Magistartes court has issued second criminal summons against the Ugandan Ambassador to Burundi Rt Maj. Gen Matayo Kyaligonza for allegedly assaulting a woman traffic officer Sgt Esther Namanda. Kyaligonza and his two body guards was summoned to appear in Court today to take plea but they did not show up, though state prosecutor Jonathan Muwaganya confirms that they were dully served with the summons but chose to send their lawyers Evans Ochienge, Caleb Alaka and David Balondemu. However Alaka has explained to Chief magistrate Juliet Hatanga that the 2 guards are in the hands of the state before Makindye Millitary Barracks well as Kyaligonza learnt about the summons in the press and sent them to cross-check and confirm. Their absentia prompted the magistrate to issue second summons requiring them to appear on April 29th 2019 to plead to the offences. Maj. Kaligonza was summoned today to appear before chief Magistrate Juliet Hatanga to answer alleged charges of assaulting and causing bodily harm to a female traffic officer Sgt Esther Namaganda. Kyaligonza is charged alongside with his two UPDF body guards Cpl Peter Busindiche and private John Okurut who have been separately charged with obstructing a police officer from executing her duties and common assault . The alleged offences was committed on the February 24th 2019 at Seeta trading center in Mukono district. According to the charge sheet, prosecution states that Kyaligonza 73, assaulted Sgt Namaganda thereby causing actual bodily harm. Related Stories. Gen Kyaligonza to face long arm of the law Gen Odongo FDC calls for resignation of Kyaligoza A source familiar with Shahidis case told CHRI that its rare that a prisoner is held in solitary confinement after being interrogated and prosecuted. This raises some question as to why the prisoner in this case is being subjected to such undue pressure. Yet that pressure may still be escalating, as evidenced by the fact that appeal hearings were scheduled for Shahidi in January and March, only for these dates to pass without her being transferred from her cell, leading to their cancellation. The prisoners lawyer, Mostafa Tork Hamedani, appealed via Twitter to the new head of the judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi, who took over for Larijani last month. But little hope can be invested in such appeals on account of Raisis longstanding record of human rights violations. The judges role in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners, among other crimes, led many human rights advocates to speculate that the change of leadership could foretell even more abusive practices by the judiciary in times to come. If this is the case, it will could have significant consequences for all Iranian prisoners, but especially for political prisoners and for members of traditionally marginalized groups in the Islamic Republic. Potentially making matters worse, it has been observed in recent years that the treatment of such groups has been worsening in the midst of an effort by hardline authorities to reassert control over the system and over Iranian society more generally. Women have been prominent among the victims of this trend, and the threat to female prisoners is amplified by the substantial role they have played in recent Iranian activism. Women were credited with much of the organizing undertaken by the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran during the nationwide anti-government uprising that began at the end of 2017. And that movement closely coincided with the beginning of a long series of protests against mandatory hijab laws for women, participants in which came to be known as the Girls of Revolution Street. The governments response to such protests has tended to grow increasingly reactionary, with at least one of the Girls of Revolution Street being sentenced to 20 years in prison. Such sentencing, together with other punitive measures like long-term solitary confinement, may be intended to compel such women to avoid public expressions of political will, in keeping with the clerical regimes transparent effort to convince women to return to traditional roles as wives and mothers. Other possible examples of this pressure have emerged in the days since CHRI reported upon Hengameh Shahidis unexplained solitary confinement. On Tuesday, the same outlet noted that Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee had been released ahead of schedule the previous day on bail of more than 14,000 US dollars. But the presumption of compassion on the part of judiciary officials was immediately undermined by the announcement of new charges against her, which could result in her being returned to prison for an even longer term. Iraee, the wife of fellow political prisoner Arash Sadeghi, was initially sentenced to six years in prison on the basis of her having written a fictional story in a private journal, describing one woman who witnesses another being stoned to death, then responds by burning a Quran. Despite the pre-emptive punishment for this unpublished story, Iraee did not cease activism while behind bars, as evidenced by the nature of the new case against her. The director of Evin Prison has reportedly accused both her and fellow political prisoner Atena Daemi of a range of vaguely defined crimes, including propaganda against the state and insulting the supreme leader. Daemi, who is serving a seven-year sentence for meeting the families of political prisoners, criticizing the regime online, and condemning the 1988 massacre, was the subject of her own report on Tuesday, concerning still more instances of extra-judicial pressure that are arguably meant to silence her activism. According to Iran Human Rights Monitor, Daemi is presently being denied visitation from her family, in spite of the fact that this is a right granted to all prisoners under the procedures of Irans state prisons. Authorities routinely disregard the law for the sake of exerting pressure on political prisoners, and this same tactic of denying family visits was applied to both Daemi and Iraee, along with a third female prisoner, Maryam Akbari-Monfared, in October 2018. IHRM reports that the unlawful restriction in this case was motivated by the women having engaged in verbal arguments and chanted slogans at prison guards. While the above reports may hint at a newfound push by authorities to discourage women from engaging in political activism, these and other reports also underscore the urgent need of women to fight for equal rights and equal treatment under the law. Iranian women routinely face discrimination in the courtroom and in society at large. Systemic problems of gender inequality are enforced by legal principles that give lesser weight to womens testimony than to mens, and such principles can be devastating or even fatal. On Tuesday, another report by IHRM noted that an unnamed woman had been sentenced to death for the murder of her husband and child despite a lack of physical evidence and the credible possibility that the deaths were the result of accidental asphyxiation from a gas leak. Authorities in this case elected to apply a principle known as Qsameh, whereby a plaintiff may bring 50 relatives to court for the purpose of swearing to their belief in the defendants guilt, leading to a summary verdict of guilty. Iran has been spreading terror across the Middle East, in particular in Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon and it is the biggest impediment to peace in the region. The Iran threat has been spreading across to Europe too, with a number of terror attacks and assassinations being foiled by European intelligences services in the past year alone. The Iranian regime has just celebrated its fortieth year a milestone than many hoped would not be marked with the mullahs still in power. It has been 40 years since the Islamic theocracy replaced a pro-Western and forward looking leadership. Poverty and repression has marked the past four decades in Iran and the abuses of human rights is staggering. The death penalty is used as a form of punishment for the most minor of crimes and many sectors of society are marginalised, including women, ethnic minorities, journalists and academics. The economic situation in Iran is declining and the purchasing power of the people is startling people are around 30 per cent poorer than they were 40 years ago. The Iranian regime has tried to downplay the economic crisis and portray the image that it has overcome the hurdle with regards to U.S. sanctions. However, this is not the case and it is clearly struggling. Iran, for the past few years, has been spending billions upon billions of dollars on foreign exploits. This includes the support of numerous militias and proxy groups across the region. U.S. President Donald Trump made it very clear that the purpose of the economic pressure on Iran is to cut the regime off from the funds that it uses to finance terrorist groups and activities. It has become known in recent weeks that the Lebanese Hezbollah group has seen huge cuts. Active fighters are being paid half of what they used to be paid and those that are receiving pensions for their previous service have been receiving nothing. Projects that Iran has been financing are being shut down because funding has not been received. Young people in Iran have been leaving the country in hope of a better future. Education is not a right for all in the country and many professionals are being systematically persecuted. Journalists, human rights activists, lawyers and environmentalists have been thrown in jail, stoned, and even executed for carrying out their profession. As the regime gets cornered even further, it lashes out by making unfair laws tighter. Suppression increases as the regime runs out of options. Thankfully, for the people of Iran and the wider international community, the regime is close to collapse. There are nearly 300 people reported dead so far in the flooding that hit almost all of Iran, although the Regime has hidden plenty of evidence and claims this number to be 62. The Regime has even threatened Maryam Rajavi and the Iranian Resistance if they hep the Iranian people to reveal the true extent of the crisis. Why? Because the Regime fears the legitimate anger of the Iranian people. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is quite clear that the preservation of the Regime is more important than the safety of the Iranian people. On the rare occasion that the mullahs have acknowledged the flood, it is only to be seen as doing good, rather than actually doing good. Maryam Rajavi said that flooding crisis was showing no signs of improvement, especially given the fact that there are no temporary shelters for those forced to evacuate, no food, clean water, or medicine being delivered to flood hit areas, and no rescue efforts to find survivors or retrieve the bodies of victims. That is why Maryam Rajavi called for the Iranian people to form popular councils for independent relief action to bring aid to the flood victims, which would show solidarity and unity among Iranians in the face of the Regimes callous abandonment of the people. Maryam Rajavi tweeted: The resources of the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Army and the government must be placed at the disposal of people. The regime must open the way for international relief efforts. However, it has so far obstructed national cooperation and international aid. Maryam Rajavi laid the blame for this crisis squarely on the Iranian Regime for not only their lack of support once the floods had occurred, but also their wilful disregard for public safety over the past 40 years, as evident by the fact that they had: consistently moved money out of the disaster relief budget and into the suppressive forces budget ignored environmental protection standards to build IRGC pet projects siphoned money out from construction budgets and left buildings unable to withstand floods Maryam Rajavi tweeted: The devastating flash floods and its victims and extensive damages constitute a national disaster whose culprit is the anti-human clerical regime. Even the member of parliament for Ahvaz has said that the flooding was in part caused by the lack of waterway dredging and management; something that Maryam Rajavi had previously said, noting that the Regime had only sent mostly weary and faulty machinery to ease the crisis. Maryam Rajavi said: The mullahs are responsible for leaving the country defenceless in [the] face of natural disasters by destroying the environment with irreparable deforestation, huge embezzlements and wasting Irans resources for repressive, terrorist and war-mongering ends. Maryam Rajavi said that the regime must be held accountable for the countless victims and millions of refugees caused by the recent floods. By Edward Carney It was inevitable that the White Houses announcement of terrorist designation for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps would lead immediately to an outpouring of media reports and analysis summarizing the IRGCs past and present roles and speculating about the impact of the forthcoming sanctions. Some commentators have characterized the relevant measures as a significant step toward the Trump administrations stated goal of altering the behavior of Irans clerical regime, while others have warned of the potential for complications in Americas international relations. Still others have recognized the wisdom of sanctioning Irans most prominent tool of regional imperialism but have suggested that waivers will reveal themselves as a practical necessity to prevent short-term harm in advance of long-term benefits. The ostensible outcome of an IRGC blacklist will be the end to a stranglehold on Iranian politics and society by a hardline power structure and a fundamentalist ideology that is written into the constitution of the revolutionary state. The Associated Press explained on Tuesday that the IRGC was created in the wake of the Iranian Revolution as a mechanism for consolidating power behind the supreme leader, who is accordingly the only figure in the nations government to wield power over the paramilitary organization. The IRGC operates in parallel with Irans regular armed forces, which is tasked with defending the nations borders while the IRGC both defends and exports the theocratic system and the principles of the Islamist revolution. The AP further explained that the organizations ideological, economic and security footprint became more pronounced in the midst of the Iran-Iraq War between 1980 and 1988, thereby allowing it to wield even greater political power and influence over policy in the years since. Today, the IRGC is estimated to be comprised of about 150,000 members, of which perhaps 10 percent operate as part of the foreign special operations branch, the Quds Force. This sub-division of the paramilitary is primarily responsible for Tehrans influence over regional conflicts such as the Syrian and Yemeni Civil Wars, but experts and critics of the Iranian regime, such as the National Council of Resistance of Iran have emphasized that there is no real separation between the parent organization and its Quds Force. This is arguably important to the justification for President Trumps unprecedented move to designate the IRGC as a terrorist group something that has never been done to a state-controlled body in the past. Individual members of the IRGC have been subject to terror-related sanctions, and the Quds Force has been designated as a foreign sponsor of terrorism, but previous American administrations have stopped short of applying that designation to the IRGC, on the basis of concerns that have been articulated anew in the immediate wake of the White Houses announcement. The ongoing expansion of the IRGCs footprint and political power only intensifies those concerns, underscoring the potential difficulty of negotiating with the Islamic Republic at all when any engagement one of its most influential state institutions could be construed as supporting terrorism. On the other hand, advocates of democratic reform in Iran are understandably anxious about the potential for the IRGCs influence to grow even more expansive. In its analysis of the White Houses strategy, the Washington Post observed that that influence is already unparalleled, with the IRGC enmeshed in virtually every major sector of the Iranian economy. In the face of those circumstances, the effort to completely isolate the IRGC is presumably intended to disentangle the organization from the rest of Iranian society, thereby giving the Iranian people and opportunity to challenge it. By some accounts, the public has attempted to do just that through the limited democratic features of the Iranian system, but to little or no avail. In the wake of his first-term election in 2013, Irans President Hassan Rouhani was described by some international policymakers as a potential source of moderation and reform within the theocratic system. But the associated expectations, both among progressive-minded Iranians and within the international community, have been continually frustrated by an administration that posed no real challenge to hardline officials and institutions, least of all the Revolutionary Guards. As the BBC pointed out in its own summary of the IRGCs structure and role, its officials have developed a habit of frequently criticizing the government, as by accusing the Rouhani administration of sacrificing national pride by entering into a nuclear agreement with six world powers in 2015. But government officials have rarely returned these sorts of criticisms. The BBC critics Rouhani with once describing the IRGC as a government with a gun and a source of anxiety for the private sector, but he has not advanced executive or legislative measures for reining in either its political or military power, or for limiting the extent of its control over various industries. Following Rouhanis 2017 re-election, there was some hope that his administration would demonstrate more freedom to challenge hardline critics, but the opposite trend appears to have prevailed. This was evident, for instance, in Rouhanis response to the terrorist designation. More than just condemning supposed American interference in Iranian affairs, the president made it clear that he stood firmly behind the IRGC, praising it for its declared role in safeguarding the regime. Newsweek reported on Tuesday that Rouhani had delivered a speech in which he emulated the IRGCs own talking points regarding the terror designation, turning it back upon the United States, which he said was at the top of terrorism in the entire world. The president then went on to eagerly promote the countrys missile program, which is controlled by the aerospace division of the Revolutionary Guards. You know that we have developed missiles since last year until this year that are beyond your imagination, alluding to the IRGCs routine disregard for a United Nations Security Council resolution that called upon the Islamic Republic to avoid all development and testing of ballistic missiles, which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Since the resolution was passed in 2016, coinciding with the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal, the IRGCs stockpile of such weapons has grown, the weapons themselves have reportedly grown more advanced, and the IRGC has floated the idea of carrying out dozens of tests each year, adding to the nearly two dozen that have taken place to date. Tuesdays speech was far from being the only instance of the Rouhani administration boasting about the nations military capabilities or expressing unqualified support for the IRGC and its hardline affiliates. Although a surprising resignation announcement in February by Rouhanis Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, suggested the escalation of conflict between two political factions, the quick resolution of that crisis showcased alignment behind hardline foreign policy initiatives. The move was reportedly motivated by Zarif being passed over in favor of IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Suleimani to accompany Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at an un-announced meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But his resignation was withdrawn in the wake of public statements of support from Suleimani, Khamenei, and Rouhani, which emphasized his loyal service on the front lines of an ongoing conflict with the West. The lack of a genuine reformist challenge to the IRGC was anticipated by some of the harshest critics of the Iranian regime. The leading Iranian opposition group, the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran, sought to organize a boycott of the 2017 presidential election, arguing that no genuine voice of reform were present in the race or would ever be allowed on the ballot under the current system. The PMOI would later help to organize nationwide protests in December 2017 and January 2018 which highlighted the publics economic hardships and advocated for regime change as the only sure solution to endemic problems. The anti-government uprising naturally gave rise to a surge of repression at the hands of the IRGC, in keeping with its primary domestic role. In covering the groups blacklist on Monday, Voice of America News quoted former US army advisor and analyst Brad Patty as saying, The population of Iran may wish what it will, but they are meant to live in terror of the IRGC. If not for this, he said, the Iranian state could eventually reform itself outside the bounds envisioned by [the] revolution. In speaking to the Washington Post, historian Abbas Amanat conveyed much the same message, calling the Revolutionary Guards the single most effective guarantor of the regimes survival. Such expert commentary lends credence to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeos statement of strategic purpose regarding the IRGC terror designation. You cant have peace, you cant have stability, you cant have security in the Middle East without weakening the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Pompeo said in an interview with Fox News on Monday, after blaming the hardline paramilitary for the deaths of more than 600 American soldiers. This figure came from revised casualty figures from the US war in Iraq, which were released by the Pentagon just last week. The attribution of 608 deaths to IRGC-provided weapons and training underscored the danger that the group potentially still poses to Western interests in the region, especially in light of the ongoing proliferation of IRGC-backed Shiite militants in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere. Furthermore, an editorial published by UPI on Tuesday linked the IRGC to multiple terror plots on Western soil just last year, as well as to ongoing cybersecurity threats and social media manipulation. The author, Struan Stevenson, a former European Parliament member and coordinator of the Campaign for Iran Change, also compared the Revolutionary Guards domestic role to that of the Gestapo and the SS in Nazi Germany and declared that its long-overdue terror designation is a further nail in the coffin for the thuggish clerical dictatorship. April 8, 2019 POCATELLO Idaho State Universitys Corey Schou will join 33 previous honorees when he is inducted into the 2019 Cyber Security Hall of Fame by the Center for Education and Research Information Assurance and Security. It is a true honor and I am humbled to be mentioned in the same sentence as these true luminaries, Schou said. The formal induction will be held at an event on April 25, at the annual Hall of Fame Dinner at the Hotel at Arundel Preserve in Hanover, Maryland. Schou is The University Professor of Informatics, professor of computer science and professor of informatics. He directs the ISU Informatics Research Institute. Schou is a widely published author, and the director of the National Information Assurance Training and Education Center (NIATEC). He led the development of the college curricula which underpins the national Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Systems Security (Cybersecurity) program. Mike Jacobs, former deputy director of the National Security Agency, said that without Schous tireless work, creating the Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance would have been more difficult. Professor Jill Slay, Optus Chair of Cyber Security at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, commented that this is a well-deserved honor for Schou who has been a mentor and great example to many international researchers who have followed in his footsteps in their own countries. He is a servant-leader. He is being recognized for his work in defining the field of cyber security and leading efforts to standardize the common body of knowledge used by organizations around the world. Schou is still sought internationally to speak and share with governments and universities. This is exemplified by his Fulbright fellowship in New Zealand and more that 36 invited international presentations. This years other four other Cyber Security Hall of Fame honorees included Brian Snow, former technical director of the National Security Agency; Sheila Brand, the defining person behind the production of the Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria, a standard set of requirements for assessing and effecting cybersecurity controls in a computer system; Virgil Gligor, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who has made fundamental contributions in applied cryptography, distributed systems, and cybersecurity; and General Ken Minihan, former Director of the NSA who served previously as the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. He held these roles during the Clinton administration as a Lieutenant General in the United States Air Force. The late Howard Schmidt, who taught and served as a research professor at the ISU Informatics Research Institute, was also inducted in memoriam to the Cyber Security Hall of Fame this spring. Schmidt, who died in March 2017, was a good friend and colleague to both the NIATEC students and faculty. During his career, Schmidt was vice chair of the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board and the special adviser for cyberspace security for the Bush White House directly following 9/11. He later served in the Obama administration as the White House Cybersecurity Coordinator. He also served as the CISO and CSO of Microsoft, among other roles. The Cyber Security Hall of Fame was created to honor and memorialize individuals who have had a particularly notable impact on cyber security as a field. There are five criteria when considering potential honorees: technology, policy, public awareness, education and business. About Me William Kelly I am a freelance writer, journalist and historian whose major interests are music and history, with a special emphasis on the assassination of President Kennedy. View my complete profile Blog Archive By Ritah Kemigisa. The leaders of South Sudan should decide that violence and war is not the answer and instead opt for peace negotiations. The remarks come from the US Ambassador Deborah Malac as protests unending war between opposition leader Riek Machar and Salva kir continue. Malac says the country is facing a governance problem and can only be solved if the two warring parties settle their differences and put the interests of the citizens first. South Sudans rebel leader Riek Machar is planning to return to Juba in May under a power-sharing deal that many believe will offer the best chance of ending the war. South Sudan descended into war in December 2013 when Kiir accused Machar, his former deputy, of plotting a coup. The war has seen more than of half of south Sudanese refugees in Uganda and other neighboring countries. 1. Comments must not be racist, misogynistic, homophobic, or otherwise bigoted. 2. Comments must not involve little more than name-calling and insulting remarks. 3. Comments must not be made by "anonymous" or "unknown". 4. Comments must not try to sneak in some free advertising for themselves (like spam). I invite anyone who wishes to comment on this blog to do so. I enjoy the comments, whether you agree with what I have said or not. But some people want to abuse the right to comment, and since this is my blog, I have decided to lay down the following rules. If your comment violates these rules, it will not be published. - Jessy Mendiola slammed a basher who criticized her new hair color - The basher said that the actress is trying hard to imitate Hollywood stars and should just revert to darker hair - Jessy's fans and followers also defended her and responded to the basher's comment, as well PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed! Jessy Mendiola was recently bashed by a netizen when she posted a photo of herself with her new hair color. The netizen said in the now deleted comment that the actress is trying hard to be like Hollywood stars, such as Lady Gaga and suggested for Jessy to just go back to her natural hair color. Photo credit: Fashion Pulis Source: Instagram Jessy saw this comment and slammed the netizen for what she said. The actress responded by saying, "my hair, my rules." Photo credit: Fashion Pulis Source: Instagram Other netizens who support the Kapamilya star defended her and slammed the basher as well in the comments section. One of them said: "bakit inuutussn mo si jessy bumalik sa natural hair color, are you her mother? Jessy is right her hair her rules.Mind your own hairstyle and dn't be a bully to anyo" Despite that one negative comment, her post received mostly positive feedback from her fans and followers. Take a look at what most of them said: Sobrang gandaaaa mooooo mumsh you're my President! There's so much power radiating from this gal Iba talaga ang ganda @senorita_jessy lahat bgay!! You look like Katy Perry. Slayer ka kahit anong hairstyle! Youre incredibly beautiful!...the eyes my god so lovely Jessy Mendiola made waves all over the internet when she decided to change her hair color on April 4, 2019. PAY ATTENTION: Using free basics app to access internet for free? Now you can read KAMI news there too. Use the search option to find us. Read KAMI news while saving your data! In a previous report by KAMI, netizens compared Jessy Mendiola's recent photos during during the premiere night of her movie 'Stranded' together with Arjo Atayde to her Instagram posts. Jessy Mendiola is a Filipino actress and is a talent of ABS-CBN under Star Magic. In 2016, she was hailed as FHM Philippines' hottest woman in the country. She is currently in a relationship with fellow ABS-CBN talent, Luis Manzano. Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! JM de Guzman and Arci Munoz talk about their first heartbreaks. Arci and JM talks about their exes and the first time they got their hearts broken as they promote their new film, "Last Fool Show." Check out all of our exciting videos on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel! Source: Kami.com.ph - Sen. Ping Lacson said that the biggest problem of the Philippines is the government - He added that the Filipinos should vote wisely in the upcoming elections - DFA Sec. Teddy Locsin Jr. backed the statement of Lacson PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed Senator Panfilo Ping Lacson said that the biggest problem of the country is the "government." KAMI learned that the senator urged the Filipinos to vote wisely this coming May election. Through Twitter, Lacson shared his thoughts about the countrys woes. He noted that the solution to the problem lies in its face already. The biggest problem of our country is government. The solution lies in the face of the problem itself. It is called good government, he wrote. When we go to the polls next month, let us be mindful of that. Maawa tayo sa bansa natin. Napag-iwanan na tayo. Malayo na ang iba, Lacson added. PAY ATTENTION: Power Couples Who Are Still Adored By The Public Decades After Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy Locsin Jr. backed the statement of Lacson. He said that electing good government officials will give the country good government. PAY ATTENTION: Using free basics app to access internet for free? Now you can read KAMI news there too. Use the search option to find us. Read KAMI news while saving your data! As previously reported by KAMI, Lacson commented on the relationship between the Philippines and China. He said that if the state cannot go into war with China, then they might as well occupy our territory instead. Lacson also advised President Rodrigo Duterte not to advertise the Philippines weaknesses against China. Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! Just ahead of Last Fool Show release, movie stars Arci Munoz and JM de Guzman answer tricky questions from HumanMeter. Arci Munoz and JM de Guzman About First Heartbreaks on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel! Source: Kami.com.ph - Otso Diretso candidates faced criticism when they attempted to visit the Scarborough Shoal - Some said that the opposition candidates just did it for a publicity stunt - However, they finally commented on the criticisms against them PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed The candidates of Otso Diretso said that their supposed visit to the Scarborough Shoal was not for publicity. KAMI learned that for the opposition candidates, they just wanted President Rodrigo Duterte to be true to his promise in protecting the Philippines and fighting against China. In a report by the GMA News (author Erwin Colcol), Samira Gutoc said that the issue is not about them doing it for publicity or not, but it should be about the administration, hearing the struggles of the local fishers. Former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay said that they just called out President Duterte for not fulfilling his campaign promise. "Yung ginawa namin, hindi siya publicity stunt. We're just calling out the President for a promise that he made. Ang original na publicity stunt ay yung jetski niya, and we're just holding him accountable for a promise that he made," he said. PAY ATTENTION: 15 Fascinating Signs That Show You And Your Partner Are Meant For Each Other Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano said that what they did was a symbol to challenge President Duterte to fight for the right of the Philippines. "Ang aming ginawa ay isang simbolo ng paghahamon sa ating Presidente na once and for all, tayuan ang ating karapatan sa West Philippine Sea," Alejano said. Even if he was not present during the protest, Eric Tanada urged other candidates to join their outcry if they also believe that the Scarborough Shoal is part of the countrys territory. "Lahat ng mga kandidato kung sila ay naniniwala na importante ang kasarinlan natin, samahan nila kami at igigiit natin ang ating kasarinlan diyan sa West Philippine Sea," he said. PAY ATTENTION: Using free basics app to access internet for free? Now you can read KAMI news there too. Use the search option to find us. Read KAMI news while saving your data! As previously reported by KAMI, former TV reporter and Senatorial aspirant Jiggy Manicad said that the countrys dispute with China is a sensitive issue and it should not be used for publicity. He also questioned the motive and timing of Otso Diretso candidates in their protest against China. KAMI also reported earlier that Otso Diretso candidates Chel Diokno, Florin Hilbay, Samira Gutoc, and Gary Alejano prepared a jetski and urged President Duterte to fulfill his promise. They also planned to visit Scarborough, but the Philippine Coast Guard did not allow them and mentioned national security as the reason. Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! Just ahead of Last Fool Show release, movie stars Arci Munoz and JM de Guzman answer tricky questions from HumanMeter. These two stars were extremely honest with their answers! Check out all of our exciting videos on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel! Source: Kami.com.ph 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. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Among Thai people living in the United States, the phrase "Thai food" might inspire pride but it's the country's regional specialties that evoke yearning. Thankfully, Los Angeles has more Thai residents than anywhere in the world, except for Thailand. That means we've got a wealth of options beyond the usual soups and stir-fried noodle dishes. Not that there's anything wrong with those. We wouldn't kick a bowl of tom kha kai or a mound of pad see ew to the curb. They're delicious. But they represent only a sliver of Thailand's four major regional cuisines: central, southern, northern and Isaan (in the northeast). Fortunately, a trip to Thai Town in East Hollywood or to North Hollywood in the San Fernando Valley (yes, newcomers, they're nowhere near each other and yes, we do that just to confuse you) offers endless possibilities for pleasing your palate. Before we get into it, let's be clear: This is NOT a comprehensive list. Any list would be complicated by the fact that most Thai restaurants offer foods from multiple regions, especially when line cooks sneak a few signature dishes from home onto the menu. Consider this a nudge to try some northern chili dip, a spicy southern fish curry or some fermented sour pork. Thai people buy food on a street near in the northern Thai city of Chiang Rai on July 11, 2018. (TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images) CENTRAL THAI FOOD America's most popular Thai dishes pad thai, tom yum, the red/yellow/green curries originate in Thailand's central region, home to the culinary wonderland that is Bangkok. The cuisine here features steamed jasmine rice, stir fried vegetables, seafood, soups and the frequent use of coconut milk and other sweet flavors, as well as the aforementioned noodles and curries. Yai on Hollywood When it opened in the 1970s, Yai was one of the first Thai restaurants in the neighborhood that would become Thai Town, and it remains one of the oldest surviving Thai restaurants in L.A. A central Thai meal here should feature a balance of stir-fries and soups, meats and vegetables. As your vegetable, try the stir-fried Chinese broccoli, either with crispy pork or salted fish. Pair that with a duck or boar red curry and a beef tendon soup or the lighter gaeng jeud, with clear broth. Make sure to scoop plenty of steamed jasmine rice onto your plate. Located off the Hollywood Blvd. exit on the 101, Yai is the epitome of SoCal cuisine: a strip mall gem that shares space with a donut shop and a 7-Eleven. 5757 Hollywood Blvd., Thai Town. 323-462-0292. Hollywood Thai Hollywood Thai in Thai, its name is "Khao Tom Hollywood" aka "Hollywood rice soup" is a popular late night spot with younger Thai American immigrants. Follow their lead and order rice soup or rice porridge with sides of cha-om (acacia leaf) omelette curry soup, preserved turnip omelette, duck stew, or stir-fried morning glory with crispy pork. Whether you're trying to prevent a hangover, already nursing one or just chowing down, Hollywood Thai will nourish you with salty, soupy, stir-fried goodness. 5241 Hollywood Blvd., Thai Town. 323-467-0926. An assortment of dishes at Spicy BBQ, a Thai restaurant in East Hollywood. (Quincy Surasmith/LAist) NORTHERN THAI FOOD In contrast to the sweet, mild and creamy foods of central Thailand, Northern Thai cuisine embraces more of the bitter flavors found in herbs and offal. These ingredients are reflected in northern style laab (which seasons minced pork with spices like nutmeg, cardamom and star anise), sausages, salads and chili pastes. Sticky rice features much more prominently. The north also borders Burma (Myanmar), and that influence can be seen in dishes such as khao soi, a curry-like soup with both boiled and deep fried egg noodles. Spicy BBQ Just a couple blocks south of Thai Town, Spicy BBQ occupies a strip mall so tiny you have to leave the restaurant to use the bathroom. It's also the place to sample northern Thai style nam phrik chili dips, which you can eat as an appetizer or as part of a larger meal. Grilled green chiles go into nam phrik num while pork and red chiles go into nam phrik ong. They're listed on the menu as "grilled serrano dressing" and "ground pork chili paste," respectively, and served with fresh green vegetables and giant pork rinds. Spicy BBQ also offers northern Thailand's greatest hits including tam khanun, the spicy jackfruit salad, pounded in a mortar and pestle with pork, shallots, chiles and makrut lime leaves; sai ua, a northern style herbal pork sausage seasoned with lemongrass, chiles and turmeric; khao soi noodles; and gaeng hanglay curry, pork stewed in a blend of Indian-style spices brightened with the sweetness of pineapple and the tartness of tamarind. 5101 Santa Monica Blvd., East Hollywood. 323-663-4211. Pailin On the western edge of Thai Town, Pailin keeps its northern cuisine secret and off-menu except for a few hints in the "chef's recommendation" section. Ask politely and you'll discover that they offer chili dips, jackfruit salad, northern style sausage and khao soi. Their kanom jeen nam ngiao, a savory pork and tomato soup with fermented rice noodles (the fermentation only affects the texture), almost evokes an Italian pasta if it were lined with flavor bombs comprising pork blood cubes, fried garlic, and pickled mustard greens. 5621 Hollywood Blvd., Thai Town. 323-467-6775. Night + Market Chef Kris Yenbamroong is a native son of Los Angeles, a second generation Thai American whose parents started the restaurant Talesai. In 2010, he spun off his own concept, Night+Market, which now has three locations: Silver Lake, Venice and West Hollywood's Sunset Strip (the location names "Song" and "Sahm" are Thai for "two" and "three"). Although Yenbamroong has no formal culinary training and doesn't aim for a rigorous sense of regional purity, his menu bleeds northern Thai cuisine, especially at the WeHo location. While his food reflects diverse regional influences, his Chiang Rai style larb lanna, sai uah sausage and khao soi noodles are quintessentially northern. You can smell those herby aromas in his sai uah and taste it in the subtle bitterness of the pork blood and spice mix in his larb lanna. Night + Market WeHo: 9043 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. 310-275-9724. Night + Market Song: 3322 W. Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake. 323-665-5899. Night + Market Sahm: 2533 Lincoln Blvd., Venice. 310-301-0333. The Morning Glory salad at Jitlada. (Guzzle & Nosh/Flickr (used with permission)) SOUTHERN THAI FOOD Southern Thai cuisine features seafood, tamarind and coconut milk as well as a spicy "wet" heat that's common in its curries and stews. It also glows gold thanks to spices like turmeric, which came eastward from South Asia with the Muslim communities who now live along Thailand's southern peninsula. Jitlada One of the best known Thai spots in Los Angeles thanks to Jonathan Gold's adoring reviews, Jitlada has a ridiculously deep menu with a lengthy section dedicated to southern Thai classics like khua kling, a dry-roasted curry with ground meat; khao mok gai, Thailand's version of chicken biryani; and khao yam, a rice salad mixed with dried shrimp, mango and shredded coconut. Order at least one of Jitlada's stellar curries, which are so hot they might melt your face off. Their famous jungle curry is an herbacious brew tinged with grachai (a root related to ginger and galangal) and makrut lime leaves while the gaeng tai pla, a curry made with fish innards, delivers a complicated salty and savory flavor that comes from fermenting the fish before simmering it with Thai eggplants and long beans. The crab curry and southern curry are also great choices. Round out your meal with pork or eel with sator beans, also known as stink beans, a signature ingredient in southern Thai cuisine. As a bonus, look around the restaurant and you might spot sketches by The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, who's another major Jitlada fan. 5233 Sunset Blvd., Thai Town. 323-667-9809. Luv2eat Chefs Fern Kaewtathip and Noree Pla of Luv2eat both hail from Phuket, which aside from its role as a tourist destination and punny t-shirt fodder is a province and island in southern Thailand. Two of their signature dishes: the Phuket style crab curry (served with rice noodles), and the Hat Yai style fried chicken (served under a mountain of fried shallots). It's a great place to go if you're in mid-Hollywood and you need to head in a direction other than east to Thai Town. 6660 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. 323-498-5835. An assortment of dishes at Isaan Station, a Thai restaurant in L.A.'s Koreatown neighborhood. (Quincy Surasmith/LAist) ISAAN FOOD (NORTHEAST) The Isaan region, in Northeastern Thailand, shares a border, a language and a culture with Laos. You can see the way the two countries influence each other in dishes like laab and papaya salad. Fermented sausages, grilled meats and sticky rice are all quintessentially Isaan foods. The spiciness here is more of a dry heat, derived from dry-roasted and crushed chiles. Strong, funky and savory flavors from fermented fish pastes are cut with the acidity of limes, creating the salty/sour/spicy symphony that's at the heart of Isaan cuisine. Isaan Station Located on the northeastern edge of Koreatown, Isaan Station offers one of the best selections of Isaan-style grilled meats. Their grilled chicken, dad diew-style jerkies and crying tiger grilled beef go well with the tart and salty nam jim jaew dipping sauce, made with fish sauce, lime, tamarind, palm sugar, shallots, toasted rice and chili flakes. Isaan pork sausages, fermented pork spare ribs and nam tok beef or pork come saturated in those sour and salty flavors. Isaan Station also serves laab with glass noodles that soak up any leftover lime and fish sauce. Pair their meats with sticky rice and a papaya salad for a classic Isaan meal. There's valet parking in the shared lot and lots of street parking nearby. They're closed on Mondays and between 3 and 5 p.m. on other days. 125 N. Western Ave., #111-112, Koreatown. 323-380-5126. Lacha Somtum Som tum is Thai papaya salad and, as the name Lacha Somtum suggests, it's their speciality. Papaya salad, which you can get with all sorts of add-ins salted crab vermicelli, crisp pork, salted duck egg is the star of the show. The deep-fried papaya salad is a decadent papaya hash brown that arrives as one large, golden mass with peanuts, long beans and sauce on the side, so the dish stays crisp. You can also try the som tum with nam khao tod (sour sausage tossed with crisp, fried rice) or yum pla dook fu (fried ground catfish seasoned with lime and fish sauce). If you're driving, give yourself ample time to find street parking. The adjacent Thai Town lots are quick to tow anyone who shouldn't be there. 5171 Hollywood Blvd., Thai Town. 323-486-7380. Sausage, sticky rice and papaya salad at Kim Thai, a restaurant in North Hollywood. (Courtesy of Kim Thai) Kim Thai Food The restaurant's Thai name, Song Fung Khong, roughly translates to "both sides of the Mekong River" and alludes to the language, culture, and cuisine shared by Thailand's Isaan region and neighboring Laos. At Kim Thai, that means leaning into the savory funk of padaek, a fermented fish sauce made from freshwater fish and the spicy heat of dry roast chilis. Their Lao style papaya salad incorporates that darker briny fish paste instead of fish sauce while their duck laab is served with duck cracklings. Beyond those standouts, Kim Thai Food has a nearly endless menu with bamboo shoots, savory soups and even ant eggs. Find them inside the food court at La Fiesta Swap Meet. 12727 Sherman Way, Ste. B-07, North Hollywood. 818-765-5584. 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. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe The email goes out every weekday from the Mayor's Unified Homeless Response Center to a long list of recipients in L.A.: Details of all planned cleanup operations. On any given day, plans can call for operations at up to 40 homeless encampment locations in the city, an analysis of six months of daily emails by KPCC/LAist found. What goes on at those so-called "sweeps" has become controversial. Last week, a small crowd gathered under a cloudy sky near a homeless encampment beneath the 101 freeway on Alvarado Street in Echo Park. Read more: LA Wants To Stop Landlords From Rejecting Section 8 Vouchers The two dozen or so protesters were there to launch a new "Services Not Sweeps" campaign, and demand the City of Los Angeles change how it's addressing the myriad of public health and sanitation problems caused by its crisis of unsheltered people. The broad coalition of neighborhood homeless advocates, service organizations, and housing developers say the status-quo of sanitation encampment sweeps backed by police enforcement is ineffective, expensive, and ultimately makes it harder for people living on the street to end their homelessness. WHAT IS A SWEEP? Protesters in Echo Park ask for changes in how L.A. handles homeless encampments. (Matt Tinoco/LAist) "Sweeps" in L.A. and elsewhere typically involve multi-agency cooperation, with sanitation workers, homeless outreach workers, and law enforcement all coming together. Such sweeps have become both increasingly frequent and well-organized in Los Angeles over the past three years. At a City Hall press briefing Tuesday, Deputy Mayor for City Homelessness Initiatives Christina Miller clarified the city's approach: "The city has no interest confiscating people's belongings, or moving people along. The city has no interest in doing that. What we want to do is make sure people can come indoors, and that there aren't encampments to address on the streets, so we can make sure the streets clean and the sidewalks are passable." But the encampments are still there, and they will be for years to come. Meanwhile, people are moved along and belongings are being confiscated daily. In the city's most recent approved budget, joint departmental programs conducting encampment sweeps/cleanups received at least $30 million in funding. The year before that, according to the L.A. Times, funding was $13 million. City officials point to surging complaints from housed residents and businesses about sanitation and safety issues related to the encampments to explain the increased cleanups. Authorities also justify the uptick by pointing to the outbreak of Hepatitis A that killed 20 on the streets in San Diego in late 2017. Those sweeps, with program names like Clean Streets L.A. and L.A.P.D.'s "HOPE Rapid Response," are coordinated by the Office of Los Angeles Mayor, Eric Garcetti. Homeless advocates argue the current approach is counterproductive. "People lose paperwork and documentation they need. [Sweeps] impact people's immediate lives, but they also mess up the system we're trying to create," said Becky Dennison, the executive director of Venice Community Housing. Dennison, whose organization develops housing and provides services for people who are currently or were once homeless, said: "We definitely had sweeps that have stopped people from moving into housing." MORE CRITICISM The Services Not Sweeps coalition is made up neighborhood homeless relief groups like KTown for All and SELAH, community advocates like the L.A. C.A.N., Black Lives Matter L.A., and Chinatown Community for Equitable Development, service provider Homeless Health Care Los Angeles, and others like the Los Angeles Democratic Socialists of America. They make the case that the $30 million spent by the city on these cleanup is a misallocation of limited public resources. Instead of spending those millions on throwing away possessions stored in the public right-of-way and ticketing the people who live there, they ask why the city doesn't provide regular sanitation services. In other words, why not operate more like the predictable and scheduled rubbish pickup that serve Los Angeles residents with permanent roofs over their heads? "If you're going to be cleaning the streets, do it in an organized manner," said Stephany Campos of Homeless Health Care Los Angeles. "Don't have these random sweeps where notices with a specific time and date are put up, but they're not followed through, or other times where there is no notice, and people's medications, belongings, documentation are thrown out." The nonprofit she works for provides medical care for the unsheltered and operates the Re-Fresh Spot laundry and hygiene center in Skid Row, the types of services, she says, people without a home need more of. The current sweeps, Campos says, "really disrupts their lives, and all the work that agencies like Homeless Health Care and other providers are doing to get people ready for housing." The Services Not Sweeps coalition wants city officials to: Remove police from city encampment cleanups Reliably schedule trash pickup Create an effective grievance system for people to contest property confiscations Invest more in street-oriented services that focus on serving the immediate needs of unsheltered people WHAT ARE STREET-ORIENTED SERVICES?? When advocates for people experiencing homelessness talk about street-oriented services they mean things like portable bathrooms, mobile showers, laundry trucks, and other methods L.A. could use to address pressing hygiene needs. And some of those services do already exist, including at the site where organizers announced their new coalition last week. "That's why we picked this site because there are already some of the things that we want and need," said Dennison, gesturing at a pair of portable toilets adjacent the Alvarado encampment. "But then you still look around and see piles of trash. Like, come on. If you have a sanitation team working specifically to clean encampments, take away the trash." Technically, this pile of trash next to the Alvarado Encampment is on CalTrans property, which means it's the State of California's responsibility, not the City of Los Angeles. (Matt Tinoco/LAist) Those bathrooms have been there since March of 2018, part of pilot program dubbed "Pit Stop." It's one of nine locations chosen for the pilot which launched after San Diego's Hepatitis A outbreak. At the Alvarado encampment, the bathrooms are open to the public from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Now entering its second year, Los Angeles plans to expand its Pit Stop program to 16 total locations around the city at a total annual cost of about $6.5 million. Those costs include at least one on-site attendant at all times, at all locations, to ensure facility cleanliness and safety. "None of these things are difficult. None of them are expensive," said Dennison. Access to restrooms has been a chronic issue for L.A.'s homeless population. A city report report from December 2017 identified 55 encampment locations in Los Angeles where no publicly accessible restrooms were within a quarter-mile. THE CRIMINAL QUESTION Another issue is the presence of law enforcement officers on these sweeps and their power to ticket those living in the encampments, based on existing city law. The coalition is asking to officials to remove police from all of the city's street cleaning teams. They are also asking the City Council to repeal two city laws routinely enforced during sweeps: Los Angeles Municipal Code (L.A.M.C) 41.18(d), which outlaws sitting on the sidewalk, and L.A.M.C. 56.11, which sets limits how much property homeless people are allowed to have, and outlines a myriad of circumstances where the city is allowed to impound it without prior notice. L.A.M.C. 56.11 is enforced by the Los Angeles Police Department's HOPE teams, one of the two main encampment cleanup programs coordinated through the Unified Homeless Response Center. Also called "Rapid Response," LAPD HOPE conducts "right-of-way" enforcement to break-up sidewalk encampments. Outreach workers accompany uniformed officers and sanitation teams on HOPE team responses, but the department's own numbers show underwhelming results. Though HOPE officers logged more than 13,000 contacts with unsheltered Angelenos in 2018, just 324 of those people received case manager assessments, according to LAPD's quarterly reports on homelessness. Only 10 people were placed into housing. Advocates and homeless people themselves say police enforcement creates additional barriers getting off the street. Low-grade "quality of life" citations are routinely issued to people experiencing homelessness for things like possessing a shopping cart. "These [shopping cart] tickets are close to $400," said Nafeesa Ansar, a 40-year old woman who has been homeless in Los Angeles for two years. "I went to court with my girlfriend, and she had three of them. It was $1,200 she had to pay for shopping cart tickets. The judge looked at them and laughed because one of them said 'with a Toys-R-Us shopping cart.' She looked at clerk and she was just laughing because she couldn't believe this was wasting her time." AN ENDLESS CAT-AND-MOUSE GAME A homeless encampment in Downtown Los Angeles. (Matt Tinoco/LAist) Tensions over encampment sweeps, police enforcement, and allegations of constitutional rights violations are nothing new. Since the 1980s, sweeps have been scrutinized in an endless cycle of litigation. Newspaper stories written more than 30 years ago read much like ones written last month. "We've sued the City of Los Angeles time and time again. And we've won, time and time again. But there's this culture of 'we'll do what we want to do, you'll sue us,' there will be an injunction, 'we'll do what we want to do, you'll sue us,'" said Pete White, who directs the anti-poverty advocates Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN). "But houseless are still houseless. Houseless people in Los Angeles don't live in lawsuits." At the same time, sprawling encampments on public sidewalks and other spaces are serious health risks, both for the wider public and for the people who live in them. They can be dangerous places that, besides stressing residents and businesses who live and work nearby, force those residing in them to live in constant fear of getting robbed, attacked, or victimized in some other way. White's organization most recently was party to the suit Mitchell V. Los Angeles, when four homeless residents of Skid Row sued Los Angeles for seizing and destroying their property from the street in Skid Row. They claimed the city violated their 4th and 14th constitutional rights. In March, the Los Angeles City Council voted 10-2 to settle the lawsuit on terms not yet defined or made public. Asked about the Mitchell settlement, Miller, Deputy Mayor for City Homelessness Initiatives, said: "Council instructed the City Attorney to agree to the terms of the settlement that was presented in closed session. The terms have not necessarily come back to council yet, so the City Attorney is still doing what he needs to do on his side, and that's pretty much all we can say about that." Coalition leaders did not say if their list of demands was related to the pending Mitchell settlement. In the days before the City Council decided to settle Mitchell, advocates in the public comment portions of public meetings asked the council for a citywide settlement to the case, extending beyond just Skid Row. MORE COMING FROM THE COURTS In any case, another federal court decision means Los Angeles soon may be forced to change its policies. In early April, the landmark case Martin V. Boise was made final by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. That case revolved around the claims of six people homeless in Boise, Idaho, who argued the city's anti-camping rules violated the U.S. Constitution 8th Amendment. "As long as there is no option of sleeping indoors, the government cannot criminalize indigent, homeless people for sleeping outdoors, on public property, on the false premise they had a choice in the matter," said the majority opinion in that case. "A municipality cannot criminalize such behavior consistently with the Eighth Amendment when no sleeping space is practically available in any shelter." Since the ruling last September, San Francisco, Sacramento and Portland, Oregon have stopped enforcing certain rules affecting people experiencing homelessness in public space. And the case is already affecting policy in Orange County. U.S. District Judge David Carter cited it in his 2018 rulings compelling cities in north Orange County to shelter their homeless residents before enforcing anti-camping ordinances. Another lawsuit was filed against south Orange County cities in February. Asked about Martin, officials said they are evaluating the decision with the City Attorney's office. They re-emphasized how there are no quick solutions to homelessness, and their efforts to move people off the street are, above all, constrained by an extremely limited housing supply. In a sense, that message isn't far off from what the Services Not Sweeps coalition say. Pete White of L.A. C.A.N. agrees that more housing needs to be built. "Let's keep building, and do what we need ever we need to do to keep people inside of housing so we don't increase the homeless ranks," said White. "But let's also make sure we provide public health infrastructure for those who are forced to live on the streets." Becky Dennison with Venice Community Housing had this reality check: "We are years away from solving our homelessness crisis meaning folks are going to be forced to live on our streets and sidewalks, We simply must do better." Let us return to the saga of Bill McLeod, the Harris County judge who accidentally quit his job recently when he announced he was planning to run for a seat on the Texas Supreme Court. See Judge Accidentally Resigns (Apr. 4, 2019). More accurately, the state constitution says such an announcement shall constitute an automatic resignation of the office then held, leaving it vacant. Well, this one isnt vacant, because Bill McLeod is still in it. This is causing some consternation, not because (to my knowledge) anyone really wants to get rid of himhe did win the election just three months agobut because they cant figure out whether its actually legal for him to stay put. Last week a couple dozen local attorneys sent the county commissioners a letter supporting McLeod. They have a couple of good arguments, I think. But Im not sure the Texas constitution sucks is one of them. Lets be clear: the Texas constitution does suck. As the letter points out, its 87,000 words long, has been amended 491 times, and has been described by a well-respected judge as ungainly, convoluted, and a top-to-bottom mess. Is it the worst state constitution in America? Oh my God no, because nothing compares to the Alabama constitution, which is more than four times as long (about 380,000 words) and has 928 amendments (unless there have been more since I made fun of it last November) tacked onto its 287 sections. But not as bad as Alabama is hardly the same thing as good. And this ones bad. But a law that sucks is still a law, which is why we are stuck with the Electoral College (among many other examples), at least for now. For the most part, the attorneys were just arguing that McLeods mistake was reasonable, and that seems fair. Although, to be honest, it wasnt all that compelling when McLeod told the Washington Post that his mistake was in not scouring an archaic 180-page document that I did not know contained this particular provision. Again, fair enough, but not entirely compelling when you are running for a Supreme Court seat and the archaic 180-page document is the constitution. A better argument, though still not great, is the attorneys suggestion that Judge McLeods words need not be construed as a resignation. Well, the law says that if officials announce their candidacy, or in fact become candidate[s], thats an automatic resignation. Their real argument is that McLeod never really got to the point of announcing or in fact becoming a candidate because he was just exploring a possible campaign. Maybe. But he had a website, posted preliminary content discussing a Supreme Court campaign on it, told some friends about it (just previewing a future campaign, they say), and filed a campaign-treasurer appointment. I would agree he never officially became a candidate, but it seems harder to argue he didnt at least announce he was interested. Ergo, out of a job. Better still is the argument that even if McLeod did auto-resign, nobody actually has to do anything about it. The attorneys cite Bianchi v. State, which I mentioned last time, in which a guy who admitted he was running for office was allowed to stay in his current job because the county commissioners didnt appoint anyone else. That is, everybody just ignored the fact that this was blatantly unconstitutional. While that is weird, its probably acceptable here. The law is presumably intended to protect the voters someone was elected to serve by making sure that person doesnt immediately start looking for another job. If those voters, through their elected representatives, say they dont careand if the person promises, as McLeod has, that hes not going to run after allthen its hard to see why anyone else should. Strictly speaking, seems like it should be put to the voters directly via a special electionif Texas counties have thosein which voters can decide whether they want to keep someone who they know is at least thinking about jumping ship. (The attorneys say only that it should be put on the 2020 election, but I dont see how that solves the constitutional problem.) But that seems likely to be expensive and fairly pointless, so an endorsement (express or implied) by the commissioners seems to make more sense. Texas could write up a new constitution, I guess, and it appears to be overdue anyway. But thats not really a short-term solution. [Update: The Houston Chronicle says the commissioners will meet today (Apr. 9) to decide what happens. Or possibly to not decide anything, which I think yields the same result.] A Letter to My Homie Nipsey HussleRest In Power We got turned down, we failed, had set backs, had to start over a lot of times. But we kept going at it. In anybodys case thats always the distinguishing factor. Nipsey Hussle Nipsey: For the second night in a row, I cant sleep at all. ADVERTISEMENT I never met you and at a first glance, we had very little in common. You: an able-bodied; 3rd generation gang banger who considered the Hyde Park neighborhood his home turf. Me: born with a physical disability; originally from the Bay Area into a family of privilege. My father, who was born and raised in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles, is a civil rights lawyer, and my mother is a university educator. I am a law school graduate and lobbyist in the State Capitol. My younger brother will graduate from law school next month. You: Eritrean American who had direct links to his African heritage. Me: the great great great grandson of slaves and sharecroppers from the American south with no direct connection to Africa that I can trace. You: 63, tatted up all over your face, used drugs and smoked weed with fly gold chains. ADVERTISEMENT Me: 57, no tattoos, never done a drug in my life and most would say looks like a square. You: educated on the streets of Crenshaw with homies from Long Beach and Compton. Me: educated in elite private elementary and secondary schools raised behind gates and on the shores of private lakes with my homies. You: a hustler, willing to do whats necessary to thrive. Me: hustlin for others to earn a salary. Nip, as much as others might not naturally see it or understand, I look at myself and see in you, my spiritual mirror image. I havent cried uncontrollably over a death since my homeboy in high school, Kevin Murray died. It was the first time that I had someone close to me, who I really admired pass away someone I had seen every single day and just knew I would be life long friends with. For you Nip, I have had to close my door, I have had to go outside, Ive had to pray and ask God Why did he let such a good man die? Although we have so many differences, we have so many things that brought me to enjoy your music and enjoy you as a man. 1. Nip,you and I both have a deep connection to Crenshaw. My grandparents moved to the Crenshaw area from St. Louis, Missouri as part of the Great Black Migration of the 1950s. Some could look at my life and consider me lucky. My paternal grandparents and my father, by virtue of their education and professional success, were able to further migrate from South Central L.A. They loved being there in the 50s, 60s and 70s but wanted to move to provide more economic and social opportunities for my brother and me. They also sought something extremely important to them safety. 2. Nip, you and I both believe that our family history is vital and will help guide us to where we want to be in the future. 3. Nip, you and I both love music and sports, even though you were still rockin throwback hoop jerseys in 2019 lol, but Ill give you a pass because it was Magic Johnsons. 4. Nip, finally and most importantly we both had an unwavering love for our community. For you it was Crenshaw. You had songs about Crenshaw, Slauson, and South Central. Many of your songs were not about California or LA or the West Coast. They were about the neighborhood that made you the man that you are and the man that I am. I have spent the entire part of my early career working on behalf of Black people and people with disabilities. I have had to fight the idea that I would pigeonhole myself into only working on Black or disability issues. Its selfless, but I feel like I owe it to myself to speak for those who are not given their proper voice. The first thing people want to do at a time like this is to make sense out of a senseless act. They place blame on the shooter, and then the hood, blame you for being there when you now have the resources to never have been there in the first place. Others may blame far fetched conspiracy theories; or the government; or the police because you were speaking too much truth. Honestly, I cant even think of those things. Just hurts knowing I cant go to a Nipsey concert, I dont know if we will have the Nipsey STEM center, be able to check out Nipsey property or watch Nipsey films. You were just about to blow up and be on a whole different level. I saw myself in you Nip. I know most others wouldnt be able to make the connection, but I knew that when I thought I was doing enough for my community I would tell myself But Nipsey Hussle is buying property in his neighborhood and helping kids become entrepreneurs and educating the Black community on our history and connecting to his heritage and being a great father and still has time to be a Grammy nominated artist. guess in your words, I gotta keep grindin. So yes, many people recognize you and can relate to you because your music inspires them and is a rare positive look on Black life in 2019. I look at you for your dedication to your community and a neighborhood that Im genetically connected to. Ill play your music and support anything that your name is associated with. Fortunately you owned your masters to ALL OF YOUR MUSIC and the support you will get from fans like me will continue to fuel your legacy. All love and blessings Nip. Thank you for doing all that you did the way you did it. Your soldier for life E P.S. Hey Nip, just thought youd like to know at the urging of California Assembly Member Sydney K. Kamlager-Dove, the California Assembly was adjourned in your honor earlier today. This tribute is reserved for only a select number of Californians. Eric M. Harris, J.D. is a graduate of the University of Arizona and the University of Oregon School of Law. He is non-profit organization advocate in the California State Capitol after serving as the legislative advocate for the California N.A.A.C.P. He can be reached at [email protected] Poll: More Americans Say Trump Makes Race Relations Worse WASHINGTON (AP) A new poll shows more than half of Americans say President Donald Trump has made race relations worse. Almost 3 out of 5 Americans, or 58%, say race relations in the U.S. are generally bad, and 56% of those in the Pew Research Centers Race in America 2019 survey said Trump has made race relations worse. Only one-fourth, or 25%, said former President Barack Obama made race relations worse. ADVERTISEMENT Roughly two-thirds of Americans, or 65%, also say it has become more common for people to express racist views since Trump took office. The White House says Trump has repeatedly denounced racism, hatred and bigotry. The poll of 6,637 Americans was conducted Jan. 22 to Feb. 5 with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.7 percentage points. Tuesday, April 9, 2019 In yesterday's post, I focused upon the fourth argument advanced in the Motion for Reconsideration to the Court of Appeals of Maryland in the Adnan Syed case. Today, there was some interesting news that has bearing upon the first argument made in that Motion: Three amici curiae ("friends of the court") briefs were filed in support of the Motion. In the next three posts, I will summarize the arguments made in these briefs. Introduction There's a prescribed procedure for filing amici curiae briefs in conjunction with appeals. As Justin Brown notes, however, "the rule governing motions for reconsideration does not address whether amicus briefs can be considered at this stage."* Therefore, "each brief is accompanied by a motion asking the court for leave to file. The Court has not yet ruled on these motions." As a result, there's no guarantee that the Court of Appeals of Maryland will even consider these briefs. The First Argument in the Defense's Motion for Reconsideration The first argument in the defense Motion for Reconsideration is that the opinion of the Court of Appeals of Maryland cuts against a nationwide consensus that the failure to contact a credible, noncumulative, independent alibi is always prejudicial. As support for this claim, the Motion cites to the recent opinion of the Supreme Court of Connecticut in Skakel v. Commissioner of Correction, 2018 WL 2104577 (Ct. 2018), which I first wrote about here. In that opinion, Connecticut's highest court noted "that our research has not revealed a single case, and the respondent has cited none, in which the failure to present the testimony of a credible, noncumulative, independent alibi witness was determined not to have prejudiced a petitioner under Stricklands second prong." The court then cited to a string of cases from across the country in support of this conclusion. Given that the Court of Appeals of Maryland found that the failure to contact prospective alibi witness Asia McClain was not prejudicial, it's opinion cuts against this nationwide consensus. Therefore, the Motion asks the Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision to deviate from this nationwide consensis. Brief of Amici Curiae Maryland Criminal Defense Attorneys Association, Maryland Office of the Public Defender, and Individual Criminal Defense Attorneys In today's post I will focus on the amici curiae brief that comes out of Maryland, courtesy of Andrew V. Jezic, Erica J. Suter, Rachel Marblestone Kamins, and Steven M. Klepper. The first really interesting point that they make is that the Court of Appeals of Maryland should grant the Motion for Reconsideration simply based on the fact that it wasn't thoroughly briefed or discussed at oral arguments: The public interest favors, at a minimum, supplemental briefing and reargument directed to the prejudice question. In Parris W., this Court ordered a new trial on direct appeal, even though the sufficiency of the States evidence was unchallenged. Here, not even Judge Graeffs dissent disputed prejudice. The States brief devoted just five pages to prejudice, citing only Strickland itself. Syeds response was proportional: a three-page argument that cited Parris W. and Skakel. The States reply cited no authority on prejudice. The Court asked few questions about the issue on which it divided four-to-three. Indeed, it was this lack of attention to the prejudice issue that left me convinced that the Court of Appeals would NOT reverse on the prejudice issue. The nice thing about this argument by amici is that it doesn't force the Court of Appeals to make admit they made a mistake. It just asks them to consider that very little attention was paid to this issue, meaning that additional briefing and/or arguments could help the court reaffirm or repudiate their landmark ruling. The amici brief also explains why this is indeed a landmark ruling, noting that the most common paths for defendants to win postconviction relief being claims of ineffective assistance of counsel and Brady claims, with the tests for both claims having effectively the same prejudice/materiality inquiry. Therefore, imagine a variation on the Shaurn Thomas case in which the State suppresses evidence that a defendant was in juvenile court at the same time that the State claimed he was committing a murder. Under the reasoning of the Court of Appeals in Adnan's case, a court should reject the defendant's Brady claim if the jury could have found that the murder occurred at a different time. Now, the Court of Appeals may be okay with this outcome, but it needs to recognize that this would be a ripple effect of its opinion in the Adnan Syed case. According to the brief, the other thing the Court of Appeals needs to recognize is that its opinion in Adnan's case does not account for, or square with, its prior opinion in In re Parris W., which I wrote about here. Basically in In re Parris W., defense counsel subpoenaed prospective alibi witnesses to testify on the wrong day in an assault trial, with the Court of Appeals of Maryland finding this error prejudicial. According to the amici curiae brief, the Court of Appeals in the Adnan Syed case failed to account for In re Parris W. in four ways: 1. The Court of Appeals of Maryland emphasized that Adnan did not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence against him without acknowledging that the defendant in In re Parris W. also didn't challenge the sufficiency of the evidence against him; 2. The Court of Appeals emphasized that Asia McClain only covered a limited time-frame without acknowledging that, in In re Parris W., "none of the three [impartial witnesses] could testify to Appellants whereabouts in the afternoon when the assault was committed;" 3. The Court of Appeals found that testimony by alibi witness Asia McClain would not have undermined the testimony by the State's key witness Jay Wilds without acknowledging that it had previously ruled in In re Parris W. that alibi testimony would have undermined the testimony of the victim, who identified the defendant as his assailant; and 4. The Court of Appeals gave undue weight to Judge Welch's legal finding of lack of prejudice on the alibi issue without acknowledging that it had previously ruled in In re Parris W. and other opinions that such a legal conclusion is subject to de novo/clean slate review. This takes us back to the beginning of the brief, where the amici note that the Court of Appeals didn't even cite In re Parris W. in its prejudice analysis. The brief thus asks the Court to grant the Motion for Reconsideration to either distinguish Adnan's case from it or find that it actually does apply and supports a new trial for Adnan. ________________________ *Amici (friend) is the plural of amicus (friend). -CM https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/evidenceprof/2019/04/in-yesterdays-post-i-focused-upon-thefourthargument-advanced-in-the-motion-for-reconsiderationto-the-court-of-appeals-of-mar.html Wednesday, April 10, 2019 The Legal Intelligencer reports on sanctions imposed on two former judges by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Former Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Angeles Roca and former Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Dawn Segal have both had their law licenses suspended for one year and one day. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued separate orders Tuesday adopting the recommendations of a three-member panel of the Disciplinary Board, which were based on joint petitions in support of discipline on consent filed by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, the two ex-judges and their counsel. A suspension of more than a year means both Segal and Roca will need to reapply to have their law licenses reinstated. Roca and Segal were found in 2016 to have violated the state constitution and the Code of Judicial Conduct by engaging in ex parte contact with former Municipal Court Judge Joseph C. Waters Jr., who was later charged criminally and sentenced to 24 months in prison for fixing cases of political donors. They were initially suspended from the bench before eventually being removed and barred from ever holding public office again by the Court of Judicial Discipline in December 2016. The CJD determined that Segal violated four judicial canons and three articles of the state constitution, including prohibitions against engaging in ex parte communications, allowing others to believe they could influence her, failing to report the communications, failing to disqualify herself, and interfering with the normal operations of the court. The charges focused on allegations that Waters contacted Segal four times, and asked for special consideration in the cases of Houdini Lock & Safe v. Donegal Investment Property Management Services, Commonwealth v. Khoury and City of Philadelphia v. Rexach, a tax enforcement case against Rocas son, Ian Rexach. The CJD found that Rocas actions brought her office into disrepute, prejudiced the proper administration of justice and failed to promote confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary. Roca contacted Waters in 2012, seeking to enlist his aid in having the tax enforcement complaint issued against her son dismissed, according to the CJDs October 2016 opinion. She asked Waters to intervene in the matter by contacting Segal, which he did. Segal later told Waters that she took care of it, and the case was ultimately withdrawn by another judge without prejudice. Roca, Waters and Segal were unknowingly being recorded by the FBI during their phone calls. The joint petitions in support of discipline on consent for both Roca and Segal noted that, unlike most Pennsylvania judges who have been removed from the bench in the past, neither were ever charged with or convicted of a crime, and neither engaged in criminal conduct. Still, the board found their cases were most closely related to that of former Lancaster County Magisterial District Judge Kelly Ballentine, who was suspended on consent for one year for dismissing her own traffic tickets in 2010 and 2011. The board said there were differences between Ballentines case and those of Segal and Roca. For one, Ballentine pleaded guilty to three counts of misdemeanor tampering charges. For another, Ballentine was suspended from the bench for 15 months and placed on probation for 18 months, while Segal and Roca were both removed and barred from office. However, the petitions said, all three former judges engaged in misconduct that benefited themselves. While there are variances between Ballentines and respondents case, both petitions said, in looking at all the factors, and the sanctions imposed by the Court of Judicial Discipline, there is support that a one year and one day suspension is appropriate in respondents case, and will subject respondent to the requirements of reinstatement pursuant to Rule 218, Pa.R.D.E. Rocas attorney, Samuel Stretton of West Chester, said his client and the Office of Disciplinary Counsel had initially agreed to a one-year suspension, but the Disciplinary Board rejected that agreement. I thought it was wrong but it wasnt worth fighting, Stretton said, noting that the license reinstatement process can begin as early as eight months before the final day of suspension. Ill start her reinstatement in four months and I dont think theres any question that shell be reinstated. Counsel for Segal, Stuart Haimowitz of Philadelphia, could not immediately be reached for comment. (Mike Frisch) https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2019/04/the-legal-intelligencer-reports-on-sanctions-imposed-on-two-former-judges-by-the-pennsylvania-supreme-court-former-philadelp.html Wednesday, April 10, 2019 Whenever a court improves access to information, I am moved to applaud. Today's nachas to the Tennessee Supreme Court, which now provides online links to oral arguments bef ore the court. Of interest Polly Spann Kershaw v. Jeffrey L. Levy - M2017-01129-SC-R11-CV This case is a legal malpractice lawsuit in which the plaintiff claims she suffered financial harm and was convicted of criminal contempt as a result of the defendants negligent representation of the plaintiff in her divorce case. The defendant moved for summary judgment, arguing that the plaintiffs claims were barred under the judicial estoppel doctrine. The trial court granted summary judgment, and the Court of Appeals affirmed the trial courts judgment. The plaintiff argues before the Supreme Court that the doctrine of judicial estoppel should not apply when the defendants own negligence caused the plaintiff to settle in a compromised position. Dialysis Clinic, Inc. v. Kevin Medley, et al M2017-01352-SC-R11-CV - This case considers whether the attorney-client privilege applies to communications between an attorney and a corporate clients third-party agent. The trial court in this case denied the defendants motion to compel the production of roughly 200 emails based on attorney-client privilege. The defendants argue that the trial court denied them their procedural due process rights and that there is an absence of law regarding the standards for determining third-party agency privilege in Tennessee. In response, the plaintiff argues that the trial court properly held that communications by and between plaintiffs counsel and the third party were protected by the attorney-client privilege. The plaintiff also argues that the Tennessee Supreme Court already has determined attorney-client privilege as it pertains to a third-party agent. Enjoy! (Mike Frisch) https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2019/04/whenever-a-court-improves-access-to-information-i-am-moved-to-applaud-todays-nachas-to-the-tennessee-supreme-court-which.html More than 3.5 million people visit a sandy, hilly area called Indiana Dunes each year. It sits along the shores of Lake Michigan, about 80 kilometers southeast of Chicago, Illinois. Visitors to the area swim and sail on the lake. They watch birds in the wetlands. They study plant life in the forests of oak and maple trees. Now, the 6,000-hectare site is the newest national park in the United States. It became Indiana Dunes National Park in February. Among the first to visit the new park were Bill and Betty Smith. They traveled from Connecticut to the state of Indiana, where the park is located. The two said they had already visited all 60 of the countrys other national parks. Bill Smith said he was excited to see the sand dunes in person. He also wanted to explore some of the parks 80 kilometers of hiking paths. I just want to get a sense of the place, he said of Americas 61st national park. Strong winds from Lake Michigan -- one of Americas five so-called Great Lakes -- created the parks sand dunes over time. Some dunes are still forming today. The winds create the dunes by dropping loose sand onto land. Some of the dunes here look partly round. Others take the form of long, narrow hills. The smooth sands of the dunes and lakeshore make an almost musical sound when people walk on them. The sounds can sometimes be heard several meters away. Visitors like to say that the sand dunes sing. A surprise name change It has been a long, hard fight to get Indiana Dunes designated as a national park. The parks superintendent, Paul Labovitz, said the process was 103 years in the making. The idea was first proposed in 1916 -- the same year the National Park Service was established. But World War I and the need for steel mills on the lakefront to support the war effort delayed such plans for the park. Later efforts to get the national park designation were halted by industrialization of the nearby Port of Indiana, the largest commercial port on Lake Michigan. More recently, Indiana lawmakers presented the idea to Congress in 2017 and 2018. But no action was taken. It took the longest-ever government shutdown in American history to bring about change for Indiana Dunes, says Lorelei Weimer. She is the parks director of tourism. She said that one Indiana congressman was able to include the measure into the new legislation in January. U.S. lawmakers were rushed to pass the funding bill in order to reopen the government. Weimer said, The fact that (the Indiana lawmaker) was able to get it into the budget bill was a huge win for us. The designation came as a surprise to Weimer and many others. She said, None of us knew that was going to happen. The designation does not come with any new rules or big financial changes for Indiana Dunes. It does, however, give the area the same recognition as more well-known national parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite. The U.S. National Park Service system includes more than 400 parks, monuments, historic sites and other protected areas. For many years, Indiana Dunes was a national lakeshore within the park system. An international attraction Park Superintendent Labovitz called the park one of the most ecologically mixed places in North America. Indiana Dunes has about 1,500 different kinds of plants, he said. The Dunes are also along a major migration path, and birdwatching is a big reason visitors come to Indiana Dunes each year. The area is home to more than 300 species of birds, including waterbirds such as loons and herons, as well as birds of prey like bald eagles and hawks. Several species of songbirds also live there. Weimer said people from about 50 countries visit the park each year. The park offers guidebooks in 12 languages. This is not just a local attraction, Weimer said of the park. Its an international attraction. I'm Caty Weaver. And Im Ashley Thompson. Erika Celeste reported this story for VOA News. Ashley Thompson adapted it for VOA Learning English, using earlier Learning English reports by Jerilyn Watson. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor. Tell us about a national park or natural area you have visited, either in your country or in the United States. Write to us in the comments section. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story hike - v. to walk a long distance especially for pleasure or exercise designate - v. to officially choose (someone or something) to do or be something : to officially give (someone or something) a particular role or purpose superintendent - n. a person who directs or manages a place, department, organization, etc. commercial - adj. related to or used in the buying and selling of goods and services tourism - n. the activity of traveling to a place for pleasure ecology - n. a science that deals with the relationships between groups of living things and their environments An international team of astronomers announced Wednesday it had successfully captured the first-ever image of a black hole. The image was released during a press event at the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C. Press events were also held in several other world cities. The picture shows the black hole having a dark center, encircled by a bright orange and yellow ring spreading outward. The image is very similar to numerous artists drawings through the years of what scientists believed a black hole looked like. Black holes are areas in space where gravity is so strong that nothing not even light can escape them. They are believed to be formed by collapsed stars. The presence of black holes affects the surrounding environment in extreme ways. Black holes are not easy to capture on camera because they are surrounded by thick dust material and extremely hot gases. But scientists say they were able to produce the new image from data collected from a series of radio telescopes around the world. The telescopes are part of the international Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project. Harvard University scientist Sheperd Doeleman leads the EHT project. He announced the image discovery. "We are delighted to be able to report to you today that we have seen what we thought was unseeable. We have seen and taken a picture of a black hole. Here it is." Doeleman explained that the image resulted from a combined effort involving all eight of the EHT radio telescopes working at the same time. Over several days in April 2017, each piece of equipment centered on a galaxy 55 million light years away from Earth. The galaxy is called Messier 87, or M87. At the center of the galaxy is a supermassive black hole. The new image shows this black hole. It has a mass 6.5 billion times greater than Earths sun. Researchers said in a statement that the EHT project created an Earth-sized virtual telescope to capture the highest possible image quality. The effort involved years of international cooperation by hundreds of researchers seeking to understand the most extreme objects in the Universe. Dimitrios Psaltis is an EHT project scientist from the University of Arizona in Tucson. He said the new picture provides strong evidence to support Albert Einsteins theories relating to the laws of gravity. "The size and shape of the shadow matches the precise predictions of Einsteins general theory of relativity, increasing our confidence in this century-old theory, Psaltis said. Three years ago, scientists used highly sensitive observing equipment to pick up the sound of two smaller black holes coming together to create a gravitational wave. That discovery also confirmed Einsteins theory. Sheperd Doeleman said the new image provides the first visual evidence to confirm that theory. It also helps to unlock the mystery of black holes. He added that he felt very satisfied that the image did not contain any big surprises. "You could have seen something that was unexpected, but we didn't see something that was unexpected. We saw something so true. We saw something that really had a ring to it, if you can use that term or phrase." Even though the data was first gathered in 2017, it required a huge effort to produce the image released on Wednesday. The operation involved an international team of scientists using supercomputers to process massive amounts of data. Jessica Dempsey is deputy director of the East Asian Observatory in Hawaii and a co-discoverer in the project. Weve been hunting this for a long time, she said of the new black hole image. Weve been getting closer and closer with better technology, she added. Im Bryan Lynn. Quiz - Scientists Release First Ever Image of Black Hole Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story data n. information or facts about something delighted adj. very pleased virtual adj. something that can be done or seen using computers or the Internet instead of going to a place shadow n. a dark area made by something blocking light precise n. exact and correct sensitive adj. ability to measure small and exact details visual adj. relating to seeing Samsungs new Galaxy A80 is a smartphone thats nearly all screen on the front, thanks to slim bezels and no visible front-facing camera. But thats because the three cameras on the back of the camera are also the phones front-facing cameras. When you fire up the camera app and switch to selfie mode, the camera section slides up from behind the screen and the camera module actually flips around to face forward. Its not the first all-screen phone weve seen with slide-out cameras in the past year. But it might be one of the most unusual models. The Galaxy A80 features a 6.7 inch, 2400 x 1080 pixel AMOLED display, an octa-core processor (with two 2.2 GHZ CPU cores and six 1.7 GHz cores), 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. Its powered by a 3700 mAh battery and supports 25 watt fast charging. The phone also has an in-screen fingerprint reader. But its the phones three cameras that really makes the Galaxy A80 stand out: 48MP F/2.0 primary camera 8MP F/2.2 123 degree wide-angle camera 3D depth sensing camera While the Samsung Galaxy A series phones are typically cheaper and less powerful than Samsungs flagship Galaxy S and Galaxy Note phones, the company has also made a habit of introducing new features first in its A series. For example, the companys first phone with a camera cut-out in the display was last years Galaxy A8s. That feature found its way to the Galaxy S10 a few months later. Does that mean well see rotating cameras on an upcoming Galaxy Note or S series phone? I have no idea. But it wouldnt surprise me at all. There are a few down-sides to the design: the Galaxy A80 has no microSD card reader and no headphone jack. I also wouldnt be surprised to see those omissions in a next-gen flagship, but I know a lot of folks would be disappointed. Samsung also recently launched the Galaxy A70 smartphone with a somewhat less unusual design. It has three rear cameras, but they dont rotate. Instead theres a waterdrop-style notch for a 32MP F/2.0 selfie camera on the front of the phone. Samsung calls this its first phone with an Infinity-U design. The rear cameras include a 32MP F/1.7 primary camera, an 8MP F/2.2 123 degree wide angle camera, and a 5MP F/2.2 depth camera. The Samsung Galaxy A70 has an octa-core processor with two 2 GHz CPU cores and six 1.7 GHz cores, 6GB to 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a microSDXC card reader. It has a 6.7 inch, 2400 x 1080 pixel display, a 4,5000 mAh battery, fast charging support, and an in-display fingerprint sensor and face recognition support. China has big plans for its rapeseed bounty in Sichuan. Levering off its famed cuisine, the top producing province wants to harvest more of the oilseed for a branded cooking oil, just as the outlook for imports clouds over due to a dispute with Canada, its biggest supplier. The southwest province, whose spicy dishes rely on the areas dark rapeseed oil, will spend 500 to 600 million yuan over three years to grow, process and promote a local brew called Tianfu Rapoil, officials said last week. Sichuan, which is also known as Tianfu or land of abundance produces nearly 3 million tons of the oilseed a year out of a national total of about 13 million. Not only will the government-sponsored plan help lift farmers out of poverty, it will also boost incomes generally as fields of the vivid yellow crop in bloom are a potential tourist draw, according to Wang Hailin, deputy head of the Sichuan Food and Strategic Reserves Bureau. As well as its food, the province attracts visitors for its panda sanctuaries. Fifteen local plants, both private and state-owned, will form an alliance to make the Tianfu product, according to Jiang Minjie, general manager of Chengdu New Shine Oil and Grain Co. He said that Sichuans rapeseed oil already commands twice the price of oil elsewhere in China, which often uses Canadian canola, the crops name in North America. Those shipments have been cast into doubt after China suspended exports from at least two Canadian suppliers blaming pest infestation, although others have concluded that the nation is being punished for its detention of a Huawei Technologies Co. executive in December. Exporters who havent been sanctioned are still being shunned by Chinese buyers, who fear lengthy port delays as cargoes are tested, said Zhang Liwei, a senior analyst with the China National Grain and Oils Information Center. The slump in shipments has hurt prices in Canada and boosted the market in China, which also purchases the oilseed from Australia, Mongolia and Russia. Buyers are scouring other markets for suppliers, said Fang Gang, a trading manager with Yihai Kerry Group, owned by Singapores Wilmar International Ltd. He said China may look at raising its imports from Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan, which together produce about 5 million tons of the crop a year, most of it for overseas sale and at less cost. Price is likely to be the key test of Sichuans ambitions for Tianfu Rapoil. If trade with Canada returns to normal, its cheaper product will be a big challenge for the brand, according to Wang Xiaokang, general manager of Sichuan Province Grain and Oil Co. Wang said the provinces rapeseed production could rise by more than 100,000 tons as the Tianfu plan is put into effect. Bloomberg The Hong Kong SAR government is seeking the mainlands approval to use Hong Kong law to formulate contracts and conduct arbitrations within the Greater Bay Area (GBA), as reported by Singtao. The information was provided to the newspaper by the Secretary of Justice of Hong Kong, Teresa Cheng. Cheng also hopes that Hong Kong lawyers can make submissions or issue opinions on cases involving Hong Kong in courts in the Greater Bay Area. Guangzhou bus card expected in SARs by 2022 Guangzhou plans to achieve the universal use of its Yang Cheng Tong (electronic ticketing) within all Greater Bay Area cities by 2022, according to a report by 21st Century Business Herald. Currently, the Yang Cheng Tong company is negotiating with Hong Kong and Macau over technical aspects regarding the use of Yang Cheng Tong in the SARs. As of March 21, the number of issued Yang Cheng Tong exceeds 88.6 million. A similar plan has also been made for Guangdongs Lingnan Pass. Firm claims begging can better train workers A company from Guangzhou has requested that its employees beg for cash on the streets as a work training exercise, according to mainland reports. The employees would hand in their mobile phones to the company and proceed to the streets empty-handed. The company also required its workers not to lie to strangers to attain the money. According to the company, such a practice aims at honing the survival and communication skills of its employees, and the amount of cash eventually collected is in fact not important. The company hopes that through these activities its workers will learn more about society. A Hong Kong court found nine leaders of 2014 pro- democracy demonstrations guilty yesterday on public nuisance and other charges, a verdict that activists say likely presages more restrictions on free expression in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. Those convicted included law professor Benny Tai, retired sociology professor Chan Kin-man and pastor Chu Yiu-ming. Two current lawmakers, one former lawmaker, two student leaders and a political activist were also found guilty. The nine were leaders of the nonviolent Occupy Central campaign to demand the right of the citys population to choose its own leader rather than merely approve a candidate picked by Beijing. Hong Kong courts, by labeling peaceful protests in pursuit of rights as public nuisance, are sending a terrible message that will likely embolden the government to prosecute more peaceful activists, further chilling free expression in Hong Kong, Maya Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. Prior to the verdicts announcement, Chan said he and the others had no regrets for their actions but were chiefly concerned with the movements legacy. While the verdicts will have an impact on the individuals, we are more concerned about how this movement will be recognized by the people of Hong Kong, Chan said. Hong Kongs biggest popular protest in recent years, also known as the umbrella movement, laid siege to government headquarters and paralyzed Hong Kongs financial district for 79 days. Thousands staked out encampments on major thoroughfares. Several hundred were arrested. The movement fizzled without winning concessions from the Hong Kong government for free elections and the pro-democracy movement has struggled to retain a high profile in recent years. More than 100 supporters, some raising yellow umbrellas that were a symbol of the protests, gathered yesterday at the courthouse in the West Kowloon district. Tai said that was a sign the spirit of the protests lived on. I have the confidence, many people today, with me together, we will continue to strive for Hong Kongs democracy. And we will persist and we will not give up, Tai said. Ranging in age from their 30s to 70s, the nine defendants span generations of Hong Kong citizens who have been agitating for full democracy. Tai, Chan and Chu were found guilty of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. Tai and Chan were also found guilty of inciting others to cause a public nuisance, while the other six were found guilty of inciting others to cause a public nuisance, as well as inciting people to incite others to cause a public nuisance. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of seven years. The defendants had all pleaded not guilty, calling the prosecutions politically motivated. They returned for an additional session yesterday afternoon but departed without offering comments. The court proceedings will resume today. Three university students prosecuted in 2016 for their leadership roles in the protests received community service. But Hong Kong judges have since faced mounting pressure from Beijing to hand down heavier sentences to deter future protests. Some fear that central government meddling will erode judicial independence, a bedrock value that undergirds the citys standing as a global business capital. The former British colony was handed over to Chinese rule in 1997 under an agreement in which China promised it could retain its own laws, economic system and civil rights for 50 years. However, Chinas ruling Communist Party under authoritarian President Xi Jinping appears to be growing impatient with efforts by Hong Kong activists to promote greater democracy. The Hong Kong government last year banned a local political party that advocated the territorys independence from Beijing. Chinas foreign ministry said it supports the guilty verdict because the protests seriously damaged the prosperity, stability and normal life order of Hong Kong people. The governments decision to maintain the normal order of public life should be beyond reproach, spokesman Lu Kang said during a routine news briefing. Lu added that some peoples one-sided understanding that the judgment damages Hong Kongs social freedom is unreasonable and unfounded. Man-kei Tam, Director of Amnesty International Hong Kong, called the verdicts a crushing blow for freedom of expression and peaceful protest in Hong Kong. The government is increasingly using prosecutions as a political tool to target peaceful activists, abusing the law to silence debate about sensitive issues such as Hong Kong democracy and autonomy, Tam said. We urge the government to cease this chilling assault against people legitimately exercising their right to freedom of expression, he said. Alice Fung, Hong Kong, AP More than half of Americans say President Donald Trump has made race relations worse during his time in the White House, and more than two-thirds believe it has become more common for people to say racist things since he won the White House. This is according to a Pew Research Center poll released yesterday that asked Americans their feelings about race in the United States. Almost 3 out of 5 Americans, or 58%, say race relations in the U.S. are generally bad, and 56% of those in the Pew Research Centers Race in America 2019 survey said Trump has made race relations worse. Only one-fourth, or 25%, said former President Barack Obama, a Democrat and the countrys first black president, made race relations worse. Roughly two-thirds of Americans, or 65%, also say it has become more common for people to express racist views since Trump took office. One of the key takeaways is that Americans have a negative view of the countrys racial progress and the current state of race relations, said Juliana Menasce Horowitz, Pews associate director of research and one of the reports authors. Trump, a Republican, has been dogged by racial turmoil during his time in office, including the deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, during a protest against a Confederate statue and the administrations reaction to illegal immigration at the United States-Mexico border. But the White House says Trump has regularly denounced racism. The president has been incredibly clear and has consistently and repeatedly condemned hatred, bigotry, racism in all of its forms whether its in America or anywhere else, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said last month. There were major differences in how people of different races answered questions about race in the United States. For example, while more than 3 in 5 Americans, or 63%, said they think that the United States legacy of slavery affects the position of black people in the country, 84% of African Americans agreed with that statement and 58% of white Americans agreed with it. The gulf increased when Americans were asked whether the country has gone far enough in giving black people rights equal to those of white people. Overall, more than 2 in 5 Americans, or 45%, said they believe that the United States hasnt gone far enough, but 78% of black people agreed with that while only 37% of white people thought that statement was true. Also, 50% of African Americans surveyed thought that it was not too likely or not at all likely that African Americans would eventually have equal rights in the United States. Only 7% of white people thought it was unlikely that black people would achieve racial equality. More than half of black people, or 52%, said being black has hurt their ability to get ahead in the United States, with 18% saying it has hurt a lot. About a quarter of Hispanics and Asians, 24% each, said that their race or ethnicity has hurt their ability to get ahead, while only 5% of white people thought their race hurt their ability to advance in this country. Black people thought that racial discrimination was the top thing holding them back in the United States, followed by less access to high-paying jobs and less access to good schools. White people agreed on the causes, but more of them thought education was the top issue. One of the takeaways from this is how different peoples perspectives on race are in the United States, how people bring their own experiences into these questions and how divided this country is by race and by [political] party, Horowitz said. The poll of 6,637 Americans was conducted Jan. 22 to Feb. 5 with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.7 percentage points .Jesse J. Holland, AP The proposal within the new affordable housing law to establish a fixed number of times that the government is required launch new tenders for public housing applicants has been considered the only major disagreement between the government and the 1st Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL) in the drafting of the bill. This was acknowledged yesterday by both the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosario, and the president of the committee, Ho Ion Sang after the committee meeting. Regarding the affordable housing [bill], there are no big differences between the government and the committee, Rosario told media as he was exiting the meeting. What happens is [that while] facing this great pressure and sense of urgency [from society on the topic], we have different perspectives on the way to manage this matter. He elaborated, the committee would like the law to clearly state that every three to five years the government will be forced to open a tender for public housing, while we [the government] have maintained our position that this should be not included in the law. Nevertheless, we have the intention of launching such tenders on a regular basis. The Secretary observed that, as the government has previously noted, between the Zone A of the new landfills and the land plots of the Avenida de Wai Long, the government will have around 34,000 housing units that it will put forward for tender as the processes move forward and projects become approved. Maybe it could be considered that we have too conservative a position on this. I would not like to commit myself to this fixed timeline, the Secretary said, stressing that the government does not object to the fact that tenders should be held regularly. Questioned on why the government would reject any fixed timing requirements for tenders, Rosario said, its a situation beyond my control. For example, when the Chief Executive announced that in this mandate he would open a tender for affordable housing, we were working for this to be related to the project of the Avenida Wai Long. But then the issue of the environmental impact assessment arose and delayed all the processes, and so we had to swap this tender to Zone A. The tender that will remain open during this mandate [of the Chief Executive] will not be for the Wai Long anymore but for the Zone A of the new landfills instead, said the Secretary. This is a good example of unforeseen events happening and demonstrates that these events take time to solve. And my fear is that if we accept that fixed timing of every three, four or five years is to be stated in the law, we might not be able to accomplish it, and in that case the government would be failing to fulfil their legal duties. According to Rosario, the government explained to the committee that it intends to offer tenders across a certain period of time, however it needs some flexibility to decide when it is a good time to launch a new tender. In the summary of the meeting, lawmaker Ho confirmed what Rosario had said minutes earlier, but noted that the committee hopes the government will define a suitable frequency for the tenders. We hope that the government can define [the frequency of tenders], said Ho. In this proposal, this is not yet defined. Ho also said that several lawmakers had presented questions to the government in relation to the types of housing units to be built and whether they could be designed to match the needs of the population. Ho said that the lawmakers in the committee expressed hopes that the number of small housing units can be reduced in the upcoming tenders to avoid situations like the ones that occurred before in which a family of four was assigned to a one- bedroom unit. Remarking on the differences of opinion between the government and the committee, Ho explained that the governments justifications for its aversion to having a legally mandated period for tendering mostly arise from the evolution of the offer which is not constant, and that establishing fixed timing could create false expectations among the population. The lawmaker said that, according to the government, the next tender to open this year will be for the first phase of Zone A of the new landfills and will include a total of 4,000 housing units, of which approximately 25 percent will be one- bedroom apartments. At the next meeting, the committee is expected to discuss the point system by which the government should define the criteria for the point calculation such as duration of residence in the MSAR, their age and family status. Wai Long public housing good to go Commenting on matters related to public housing on the sidelines of the 1st Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly meeting yesterday morning, Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosario said that the government is more or less ready to proceed with the Wai Long public housing project. The Environmental Impact Assessment of Wai Long is barely concluded and although there are restrictions, as always, these restrictions are not of serious kind that prevent the utilization of the land plot for the use we wanted, said the Secretary. Rosario also reaffirmed that the government will build a total of 6,000 housing units in three phases on the plot, noting that the majority of these units will be built in the second and third phase of the project. For the first phase, the construction tender for which will be open this year, there will be a small group of housing units and social and communitarian facilities. RM 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/ Thai police said a local man has been arrested on suspicion of raping and killing a German tourist on the island of Koh Si Chang in the Gulf of Thailand. Police said the victim was approached and attacked by Ronnakorn Romruen, a native of the small island, while she was traveling on her rental motorbike. Ronnakorn, 23, was tracked down and arrested Monday. An investigator at Chonburi police station, Somkid Kaensa, said police have charged Ronnakorn with murder, rape and concealing a body. Police said the suspect, who operates a trash collecting boat, admitted to the crimes and said he used drugs before the incident. The body of the 27-year- old tourist with injuries on head and legs was found Sunday hidden under rocks and a pile of leaves. Koh Si Chang is a popular weekend tourist destination for both locals and foreigners with a population of only 5,000 people. The island is in Chonburi province, about 40 miles south of Bangkok. Somkid said a Thai tourist called police after they saw Ronnakorns clothes covered in blood and police then searched the area and discovered the tourists body. Somkid said a flower vendor who knew Ronnakorn also saw that his clothes were covered in blood and asked him what he was doing. Somkid said the vendor identified Ronnakorn for police, who went to his home where they found him and the shirt that was covered in blood. The maximum punishment for premeditated murder is the death penalty. AP New York City declared a public health emergency yesterday over a measles outbreak and ordered mandatory vaccinations in one neighborhood for people who may have been exposed to the virus. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the unusual order amid what he said was a measles crisis in Brooklyns Williamsburg section, where more than 250 people, mostly members of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish religious community, have gotten measles since September. The order applies to anyone living, working or going to school in four ZIP codes in the neighborhood. The declaration requires all unvaccinated people who may have been exposed to the virus to get the vaccine, including children over 6 months old. People who ignore the order could be fined USD1,000. The city said it would help everyone covered by the order get the vaccine if they cant get it quickly through their regular medical provider. The seventh edition of the Macao International Travel (Industry) Expo (MITE) will accommodate a total of 800 booths this year an increase of 250 booths from last years edition. To be held from April 26 to 28, the expo will have two pavilions in its 22,000 square meters space: the Cultural and Creative Pavilion, which features interactive cultural and creative experiences and the China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries Pavilion. The latter aims to deepen cultural and tourism exchange between China and Portuguese-speaking countries by presenting products and performances from both geographical regions. According to the director of the Macao Government Tourism Bureau, Helena de Senna Fernandes, the space of the expo has expanded from last years 11,000 square meters to provide added convenience to its visitors. Last year, many people thought that the hallway between the exhibitors booths were too narrow [] so this year we needed more space [] to provide more convenience to the public, said the tourism official in a press conference held yesterday. The budget of this years expo is MOP23 million an increase of 70 percent from the total budget of MOP16 million for last years edition. The tourism bureau will contribute MOP15.6 million, and the rest is covered by sponsors and the expo revenue. The bureau said that the expo would continue to facilitate partnership opportunities for industry delegates and build a sales exhibition platform for local travel agents and residents. The three-day event will present seven key highlights, including fostering tourism partnerships under the Belt and Road Initiative, developing multi-destination itineraries in the Greater Bay Area and exploring gastronomy and sustainable development. An educational session will also be held in partnership with National Geographic to explore how Macau is leading a shift towards a more sustainable and creative food industry across Asia. This years edition will also bring together about 130 tourism entities from some 35 regions along the Belt and Road in a bid to foster tourism partnership. MITE aims to gather professionals and operators from tourism and other related sectors worldwide, including travel agencies, hotels, attractions, transportation as well as other travel-related services. To date, about 430 enterprises and entities as well as 450 buyers from more than 50 countries and regions have confirmed their participation in MITE. Last year, the expo gathered 420 exhibitors from over 50 countries and regions, admitting over 40,000 visitors and over 300 industry buyers from major visitor source markets, according to data provided by MGTO. The sixth edition facilitated the signing of 38 cooperative agreements. IFT: Macaus tourist capacity is 40 million According to a study conducted by the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT), Macau is capable of hosting 40 million visitors per year, the director of the Macao Government Tourism Bureau, Helena de Senna Fernandes told the press yesterday. Although the official considered the figure to be relatively high, Fernandes said that the bureau needs to provide a safe environment for tourists, as well as introduce different spots for tourists. MGTO will not commence any studies on the figure as IFT had already done so, she said. Fernandes further explained that the bureau is hoping to advance on its smart tourism projects that involves the tourism data exchange platform, visitor observation application, and smart visitor flow application. In terms of balancing the lives of local residents and tourists, Fernandes said that the bureau is open to working with local district associations to understand the traffic flow in residential areas. Username: Password: or Register Back to Forum Reply to This post Post New Thread Thread Rating: 10 Vote(s) - 1.8 Average 1 2 3 4 5 Page: 1 2 3 4 5 But we were told that @YouTube does NOT have a white nationalism problem. spo snouou Vocem sine nomine audivit! User ID: 350320 04-10-2019 05:09 PM Posts: 67,593 Post: #1 But we were told that @YouTube does NOT have a white nationalism problem. Advertisement Conservatives Derail Congress' White Nationalism Hearing, Declare 'All Hate Speech' Matters The House Judiciary meeting was instead a fight over whether white supremacy is a problem at all. Quote: the floor was repeatedly given to conservative witness Candace Owens, a Trump-supporting Infowars and Fox News contributor who recently said Hitler would have been fine if he had simply remained a nationalist in Germany. The focus of the meeting quickly shifted from the rising death toll in the name of white supremacy to Owens main talking point: that discussing white nationalism at all is a Democratic ploy to win elections. The hearing today isnt about white nationalism, its a preview of a Democrat 2020 election strategy, same as the 2016 election strategy, she said. If they were really concerned about white nationalism, theyd hold hearings on Antifa. Such a willfully ignorant statement disregards the white nationalist violence that others on the panel had been trying to bring attention to all morning: the recent shooting at two mosques in New Zealand that claimed 50 lives; the 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh; the deadly Unite the Right rallies in Charlottesville in 2017; the Emmanuel A.M.E. Church shooting committed by a white supremacist in 2015 and more. But Owens talking point gave Republicans on the committee an avenue of deflection a way of implying that Democrats, social media platforms and anyone else decrying white supremacy or demanding accountability are instead unfairly targeting conservative voices. One after another, Republicans bit on Owens prompt, and one after the other, they proved they didnt come to talk about the rise in white nationalism at all. more: https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/...f7925c2995 more: spo snouou Vocem sine nomine audivit! User ID: 350320 04-10-2019 05:10 PM Posts: 67,593 Post: #2 RE: But we were told that @YouTube does NOT have a white nationalism problem. Neil Potts, Facebooks director of public policy and Alexandria Walden, counsel for free expression and human rights at Google, will speak to the House Judiciary Committee along with leaders of the Anti-Defamation League, the Equal Justice Society and others. The hearing was prompted by the March shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, when a gunman killed 50 people at two mosques and livestreamed the attacks on Facebook. The suspected shooter also published a lengthy post online that espoused white supremacist views. But controversy over white nationalism and hate speech has dogged online platforms such as Facebook and Googles YouTube for years. The companies long extolled the value of free speech while trying to avoid acting as content editors, then were forced to deal with a resulting torrent of abuse directed at their users. In 2017, following the deadly demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, tech giants began banishing extremist groups and individuals espousing white supremacist views and support for violence. In March, Facebook extended its ban on hate speech to include white nationalists in addition to just white supremacists a distinction civil rights groups had long called meaningless. Despite the ban, accounts such as one with the name Aryan Pride were still visible as of late Monday. This accounts self-description read, in part, IF YOUR NOT WHITE friend ur own kind cause Im not ur friend. In addition, on Wednesday a Senate subcommittee will hold a hearing titled Stifling Free Speech: Technological Censorship and the Public Discourse. This hearing will address the claim of perceived bias against conservatives by tech companies such as Facebook, Google and Twitter. more: https://www.apnews.com/4d0383b5a1764cf18710a27ce6db3036 Executives from Google and Facebook are facing Congress Tuesday to answer questions about their role in the spread of hate crimes and the rise of white nationalism in the U.S.Neil Potts, Facebooks director of public policy and Alexandria Walden, counsel for free expression and human rights at Google, will speak to the House Judiciary Committee along with leaders of the Anti-Defamation League, the Equal Justice Society and others.The hearing was prompted by the March shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, when a gunman killed 50 people at two mosques and livestreamed the attacks on Facebook.The suspected shooter also published a lengthy post online that espoused white supremacist views.But controversy over white nationalism and hate speech has dogged online platforms such as Facebook and Googles YouTube for years. The companies long extolled the value of free speech while trying to avoid acting as content editors, then were forced to deal with a resulting torrent of abuse directed at their users. In 2017, following the deadly demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, tech giants began banishing extremist groups and individuals espousing white supremacist views and support for violence.In March, Facebook extended its ban on hate speech to include white nationalists in addition to just white supremacists a distinction civil rights groups had long called meaningless.Despite the ban, accounts such as one with the name Aryan Pride were still visible as of late Monday. This accounts self-description read, in part, IF YOUR NOT WHITE friend ur own kind cause Im not ur friend.In addition, on Wednesday a Senate subcommittee will hold a hearing titled Stifling Free Speech: Technological Censorship and the Public Discourse. This hearing will address the claim of perceived bias against conservatives by tech companies such as Facebook, Google and Twitter.more: Damnrod Pull my finger User ID: 414604 04-10-2019 05:15 PM Posts: 7,609 Post: #3 RE: But we were told that @YouTube does NOT have a white nationalism problem. No more than it has a radical Islam problem or radical BLM problem or radical Antifa problem People should be free to say whatever they want. No one cares if you like it or not. You and I and everyone else are quite capable of making the decision to listen and watch or change to another video or channel. I have that freedom...and so does everyone else. Censorship and the destruction of free speech, free will and free thought will never work out for those that applaud the attempt to do so "I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery"...Thomas Jefferson "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it"...Thomas Jefferson KingBum Registered User User ID: 465585 04-10-2019 05:19 PM Posts: 4,200 Post: #4 RE: But we were told that @YouTube does NOT have a white nationalism problem. Yeah above pretty much...dumb as any of them can be they got they're rights to say what they want. Idealism is the fools shepherd and the braggarts laurels. Its time to stop pointing fingers, finger pointing gets us nowhere...Steve. 504100 - My number when not logged in. Damnrod Pull my finger User ID: 414604 04-10-2019 05:34 PM Posts: 7,609 Post: #5 RE: But we were told that @YouTube does NOT have a white nationalism problem. KingBum Wrote: (04-10-2019 05:19 PM) Yeah above pretty much...dumb as any of them can be they got they're rights to say what they want. Yep If you do not like what someone has to say, you have a couple legitimate options You can: A) engage in peaceful debate B) walk away, change the channel, turn it off. there is no option to get offended and try to silence or inflict harm upon the person you disagree with I remember when the ACLU (american civil liberties union) used to protect the rights of the Klan to march and hold rallies...not because they defended what they had to say...but because they defended their right to say whatever it was they wanted to say. THAT is the 1st amendment...protection of free speech. Popular speech does not need protecting...unpopular speech does. YepIf you do not like what someone has to say, you have a couple legitimate optionsYou can:A) engage in peaceful debateB) walk away, change the channel, turn it off.there is no option to get offended and try to silence or inflict harm upon the person you disagree withI remember when the ACLU (american civil liberties union) used to protect the rights of the Klan to march and hold rallies...not because they defended what they had to say...but because they defended their right to say whatever it was they wanted to say.THAT is the 1st amendment...protection of free speech. Popular speech does not need protecting...unpopular speech does. "I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery"...Thomas Jefferson "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it"...Thomas Jefferson (This post was last modified: 04-10-2019 05:35 PM by Damnrod .) LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 461961 04-10-2019 05:45 PM Post: #6 RE: But we were told that @YouTube does NOT have a white nationalism problem. The US doesn't have a white nationalist problem. That is like saying the US has a progressive problem. Either both are true or both are false. Pick. Americans have freedom of speech. Australia may restrict freedom of speech (since no one really cares what criminals have to say), but in America we don't. The whole "hate speech" thing is using 1984 as a manual to suppress free speech. Progressives view "hate speech" as anything to the right of their insane viewpoint. However, if we are going to ban BOTH progressive and white nationalist speech though, I am onboard since I don't like hearing from either one of them. spo snouou Vocem sine nomine audivit! User ID: 350320 04-10-2019 06:45 PM Posts: 67,593 Post: #7 RE: But we were told that @YouTube does NOT have a white nationalism problem. The Biggest Lie in the White Supremacist Propaganda Playbook: Unraveling the Truth About Black-on-White Crime' Quote: Its not just Trump. The far-right ecosystem repeats versions of these ideas ad nauseum. Relying on statistics found in a white supremacist tract, the paleoconservative one-time presidential candidate Pat Buchanan wrote in 2007: The real repository of racism in America manifest in violent interracial assault, rape and murder is to be found not in the white community, but the African-American community. Until very recently, Breitbart news used a black crime story tag. Misrepresented crime statistics are a main propaganda point of Americas hate movement, and a pillar of white supremacist thinking in the United States. Stormfront, the oldest hate site on the internet, has thousands of pages devoted to the issue of black-on-white crime. The idea that black people are wantonly attacking white people in some sort of quiet race war is an untruthful and damaging narrative with a very long history in America. White Americans unsubstantiated views about the potential of violence from black people was the number one excuse they used to justify slavery, lynching, Jim Crow and various forms of mass incarceration. Never was Klan violence or the lynching of black people by white people ascribed to an inherent white trait. Without the ability to claim oppression of black people as a form of self-defense, racial segregation and white supremacy would be seen for what they are: rank oppression of other people for financial or other benefit. The maze of online white supremacist propaganda that Roof entered into is largely no more. Google cleaned up its search results after the Southern Poverty Law Center publicly exposed the problem in a January 2017 video. When black on white crime is typed into a Google search now, the results return legitimate sources of information, such as the FBIs crime statistics, mainstream news and academic research. Quote: An early attempt to use science to preserve white supremacy Attempting to address what came to be known as the Pretty African American Problem, American scientists and other intellectuals created a new body of knowledge that they could use to justify white supremacy by scientifically proving black inferiority. Men like Samuel George Morton (1799 -1851), who is considered the originator of scientific racism, relied on anecdotal observations and physical measurements. Morton built on a racial classification system first created by the Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus, which placed people in one of four groups: Americanus, Asiaticus, Africanus and Europeaeus. In Linnaeus original work, Americanus were obstinate, merry, free and regulated by customs, while Africanus were crafty, indolent, negligent and governed by caprice.[1] Rather than simply ascribing characteristics to each race, Morton added a physiological layer to this racial taxonomy by measuring cranial capacity studies he conducted using his personal collection of skulls, which was reputedly the worlds largest.[2] Using buckshot and peppercorns to measure the volume of the skulls in his possession, Morton argued that Caucasians had the largest skulls and were, therefore, the most intelligent race.[3] Other thinkers ran with Mortons ideas, especially after Charles Darwins theory of natural selection gained widespread attention with its publication in 1859. Alabama physician Josiah Nott (1804 -1873), for instance, drew on patient observations and religious theory to argue that blacks and whites were, in fact, different species.[4] From pseudo-science to lying with statistics Craniometry was eventually replaced by a different kind of proof of black inferiority: crime statistics. Whereas the idea of racial difference was once perpetuated by pseudo-biological evidence, by the late-1800s new forms of statistical data including datasets with a nationwide scope and new sampling techniques became widely available. This new statistically based brand of social science seemed to provide a way to objectively measure how well black people had adjusted to life outside of slavery. The numbers showing that African Americans committed a disproportionate number of crimes appeared to affirm what many social scientists already believed to be true. In his book The Condemnation of Blackness, historian Khalil Gibran Muhammad argues that this racial data revolution created a permanent linkage between blackness and criminality.[5] The myth that black people possessed a unique proclivity for violence became the most enduring way of communicating black inferiority and justifying continued discrimination. The influential German-born statistician Frederick L. Hoffman, who would go on to serve as president of the American Statistical Association in 1911, played a crucial role in embedding the narrative of black criminality when he published the first book-length study of racial crime statistics. Hoffman trained in the American South and thoroughly absorbed the deeply racist culture that surrounded him. His interest in statistics developed as he read literature on black disappearance the idea that the black race, through their own self-destructive behavior, would eventually vanish. more: https://www.splcenter.org/20180614/bigge...hite-crime more: LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 461961 04-10-2019 08:51 PM Post: #8 RE: But we were told that @YouTube does NOT have a white nationalism problem. spo snouou Wrote: (04-10-2019 06:45 PM) The Biggest Lie in the White Supremacist Propaganda Playbook: Unraveling the Truth About Black-on-White Crime' ... followed by two pages of the usual bullshit... The FBI UCR refutes your lies. Blacks 16-24 kill at a rate about 12 times the national average. There are about 5 times as many whites as blacks, but in 2017: Blacks killed 576 whites, whites killed 264 blacks. Given that blacks commit far more violent crime many of the white on black killings are justifiable homicide (the white was being robbed or burgled). Roughly 1/3 of all murders for which the murder is known (3600), in 2017 were committed by blacks 17-29 years old. spo snouou Vocem sine nomine audivit! User ID: 350320 04-11-2019 01:56 AM Posts: 67,593 Post: #9 RE: But we were told that @YouTube does NOT have a white nationalism problem. LoP Guest Wrote: (04-10-2019 08:51 PM) The FBI UCR refutes your lies. link? link? LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 461961 04-11-2019 02:18 AM Post: #10 RE: But we were told that @YouTube does NOT have a white nationalism problem. spo snouou Wrote: (04-11-2019 01:56 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (04-10-2019 08:51 PM) The FBI UCR refutes your lies. link? https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/201...ed-offense You want table 3. Note: the 5,368 "unknown assailant" are mostly from the inner cities where the murder clearance rate is 60%. So the 6,444 black offenders is actually 10740 offenders. IE it is worse that the statistics show. So there is about 1000 "unknown offenders" that are actually unknown. Most of them (probably about 600) are white offenders. And the final 400 are anybody's guess. You want table 3.Note: the 5,368 "unknown assailant" are mostly from the inner cities where the murder clearance rate is 60%.So the 6,444 black offenders is actually 10740 offenders. IE it is worse that the statistics show.So there is about 1000 "unknown offenders" that are actually unknown. Most of them (probably about 600) are white offenders. And the final 400 are anybody's guess. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 476597 04-11-2019 02:27 AM Post: #11 RE: But we were told that @YouTube does NOT have a white nationalism problem. if one exists it was put their by the racist liberal traitors themselves.... spo snouou Vocem sine nomine audivit! User ID: 350320 04-11-2019 02:29 AM Posts: 67,593 Post: #12 RE: But we were told that @YouTube does NOT have a white nationalism problem. I see.. African Americans have become the same set of statistics in your calculations and in the minds of the white supremacy personality cultist populists as the Spanish American component .. of course you can tweak them all to look like 'Black crime'. no one is buying this crap.. just you half-wit narrative gaming scumbags LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 433431 04-11-2019 02:32 AM Post: #13 RE: But we were told that @YouTube does NOT have a white nationalism problem. spo snouou Wrote: (04-11-2019 02:29 AM) I see.. African Americans have become the same set of statistics in your calculations and in the minds of the white supremacy personality cultist populists as the Spanish American component .. of course you can tweak them all to look like 'Black crime'. no one is buying this crap.. just you half-wit narrative gaming scumbags In the US Hispanics are labeled as white by law enforcement thus elevating the white crime statistics. In the US Hispanics are labeled as white by law enforcement thus elevating the white crime statistics. spo snouou Vocem sine nomine audivit! User ID: 350320 04-11-2019 02:45 AM Posts: 67,593 Post: #14 RE: But we were told that @YouTube does NOT have a white nationalism problem. LoP Guest Wrote: (04-11-2019 02:32 AM) spo snouou Wrote: (04-11-2019 02:29 AM) I see.. African Americans have become the same set of statistics in your calculations and in the minds of the white supremacy personality cultist populists as the Spanish American component .. of course you can tweak them all to look like 'Black crime'. no one is buying this crap.. just you half-wit narrative gaming scumbags In the US Hispanics are labeled as white by law enforcement thus elevating the white crime statistics. Trump's gangs of white supremacist online trolls clearly lump them in with Black Americans.. anything they can identify and target in the myriad of causes that inflict daily cognitive dissonance of their privileged self-absorbed pathological group delusion of white oppression .. get a clue shitheads.. none of them are better than you. none. and none of the white population is better than them. there are fuckedup idiots in every cultural/ethnic group the BIG lie is that there are 'races' at all. Trump's gangs of white supremacist online trolls clearly lump them in with Black Americans.. anything they can identify and target in the myriad of causes that inflict daily cognitive dissonance of their privileged self-absorbed pathological group delusion of white oppression ..get a clue shitheads.. none of them are better than you. none.and none of the white population is better than them.there are fuckedup idiots in every cultural/ethnic groupthe BIG lie is that there are 'races' at all. Damnrod Pull my finger User ID: 496919 04-11-2019 02:46 AM Posts: 7,609 Post: #15 RE: But we were told that @YouTube does NOT have a white nationalism problem. spo snouou Wrote: (04-10-2019 06:45 PM) The Biggest Lie in the White Supremacist Propaganda Playbook: Unraveling the Truth About Black-on-White Crime' Quote: Its not just Trump. The far-right ecosystem repeats versions of these ideas ad nauseum. Relying on statistics found in a white supremacist tract, the paleoconservative one-time presidential candidate Pat Buchanan wrote in 2007: The real repository of racism in America manifest in violent interracial assault, rape and murder is to be found not in the white community, but the African-American community. Until very recently, Breitbart news used a black crime story tag. Misrepresented crime statistics are a main propaganda point of Americas hate movement, and a pillar of white supremacist thinking in the United States. Stormfront, the oldest hate site on the internet, has thousands of pages devoted to the issue of black-on-white crime. The idea that black people are wantonly attacking white people in some sort of quiet race war is an untruthful and damaging narrative with a very long history in America. White Americans unsubstantiated views about the potential of violence from black people was the number one excuse they used to justify slavery, lynching, Jim Crow and various forms of mass incarceration. Never was Klan violence or the lynching of black people by white people ascribed to an inherent white trait. Without the ability to claim oppression of black people as a form of self-defense, racial segregation and white supremacy would be seen for what they are: rank oppression of other people for financial or other benefit. The maze of online white supremacist propaganda that Roof entered into is largely no more. Google cleaned up its search results after the Southern Poverty Law Center publicly exposed the problem in a January 2017 video. When black on white crime is typed into a Google search now, the results return legitimate sources of information, such as the FBIs crime statistics, mainstream news and academic research. Quote: An early attempt to use science to preserve white supremacy Attempting to address what came to be known as the Pretty African American Problem, American scientists and other intellectuals created a new body of knowledge that they could use to justify white supremacy by scientifically proving black inferiority. Men like Samuel George Morton (1799 -1851), who is considered the originator of scientific racism, relied on anecdotal observations and physical measurements. Morton built on a racial classification system first created by the Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus, which placed people in one of four groups: Americanus, Asiaticus, Africanus and Europeaeus. In Linnaeus original work, Americanus were obstinate, merry, free and regulated by customs, while Africanus were crafty, indolent, negligent and governed by caprice.[1] Rather than simply ascribing characteristics to each race, Morton added a physiological layer to this racial taxonomy by measuring cranial capacity studies he conducted using his personal collection of skulls, which was reputedly the worlds largest.[2] Using buckshot and peppercorns to measure the volume of the skulls in his possession, Morton argued that Caucasians had the largest skulls and were, therefore, the most intelligent race.[3] Other thinkers ran with Mortons ideas, especially after Charles Darwins theory of natural selection gained widespread attention with its publication in 1859. Alabama physician Josiah Nott (1804 -1873), for instance, drew on patient observations and religious theory to argue that blacks and whites were, in fact, different species.[4] From pseudo-science to lying with statistics Craniometry was eventually replaced by a different kind of proof of black inferiority: crime statistics. Whereas the idea of racial difference was once perpetuated by pseudo-biological evidence, by the late-1800s new forms of statistical data including datasets with a nationwide scope and new sampling techniques became widely available. This new statistically based brand of social science seemed to provide a way to objectively measure how well black people had adjusted to life outside of slavery. The numbers showing that African Americans committed a disproportionate number of crimes appeared to affirm what many social scientists already believed to be true. In his book The Condemnation of Blackness, historian Khalil Gibran Muhammad argues that this racial data revolution created a permanent linkage between blackness and criminality.[5] The myth that black people possessed a unique proclivity for violence became the most enduring way of communicating black inferiority and justifying continued discrimination. The influential German-born statistician Frederick L. Hoffman, who would go on to serve as president of the American Statistical Association in 1911, played a crucial role in embedding the narrative of black criminality when he published the first book-length study of racial crime statistics. Hoffman trained in the American South and thoroughly absorbed the deeply racist culture that surrounded him. His interest in statistics developed as he read literature on black disappearance the idea that the black race, through their own self-destructive behavior, would eventually vanish. more: https://www.splcenter.org/20180614/bigge...hite-crime "I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery"...Thomas Jefferson "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it"...Thomas Jefferson Advertisement Back to Forum Reply to This post Post New Thread I found this email from the GMU Police about GMU and terrorism surprising and somewhat disturbing: On Wednesday, March 20, 2019, Mason Police informed the Mason community about an individual who had threatened harm to the University in a video posted on social media. At the time of the threats, the suspect was located in Morocco and was not an immediate or credible threat to the Mason community. However, because the suspects actions violated Virginia criminal law, Mason Police secured five felony warrants of arrest related to bomb threats against the University. Additionally, Mason Police worked with Interpol and several federal law enforcement agencies to track the suspect through several countries in the Middle East before he was ultimately arrested on the Virginia warrants while trying to enter Israel. The suspect, Nassim Darwich, was extradited back to the US through JFK International Airport in New York City. Yesterday, Mason Police were in New York to take custody of Mr. Darwich and return him to Virginia. He is currently in the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center where he is being held on $100,000.00 secured bond. Mason Police would like to thank Interpol, the US Customs Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and the FBI/NY for assisting Mason Police with monitoring and arresting the suspect. We also appreciate the Mason community members who saw Darwichs internet-based threats and acted to alert Mason Police. If anyone has any additional information about this case, please give the Mason Police Department a call at (703) 993-2810. The AMR Tracker tool provides a map showing an array of antibiotics that might be prescribed to treat an infection (in this case, E.coli), and which one can be expected to work best in a specific geographic location. This could help doctors choose the right drug for their patients. Credit: Laurel Legenza When a patient arrives at a hospital with an infection, her doctor must decide which antibiotic might have the best chance of curing herno easy feat when disease-causing pathogens are increasingly resistant to multiple antibiotics. For that reason, hospitals often track the antibiotic resistance profiles of infectious microbes that they isolate from sick patients, which provide information on the most and least effective drugs. But that data is often isolated to a particular hospital and may be difficult to access or hard to interpret, leaving physicians in the dark about which drug is ideal for their patients. To make this data more accessible, a team of researchers at the University of WisconsinMadison School of Pharmacy and the State Cartographer's Office have developed a prototype system that maps out trends in antibiotic resistance across Wisconsin. They drew inspiration from easy-to-read weather maps and consulted with doctors to develop the tool, which provides guidance at a glance of the likelihood a pathogen will respond to a particular drug. Having now created a proof-of-concept visualization, the researchers are pursuing finer-grained location data while partnering with hospitals to determine how their new tool, named AMR Tracker, can be incorporated into physician workflows in the future. The researchers published their work online April 1 in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. "With antibiotic resistance, we've seen this problem grow very slowly over the past century, and it's an enormous threat," says Laurel Legenza, an assistant scientist and interim director of global health at the UWMadison School of Pharmacy, who led the work. "We know there's an opportunity to improve by selecting an antibiotic that considers the local antibiotic resistance trend. And that's really the heart of the project, is to provide data in a visualization that would improve its use and application directly to patient care." The research team analyzed 202 antibiogramstables of antibiotic resistancefrom Wisconsin hospitals collected between 2009 and 2015, which documented the susceptibility of 200,000 strains of the pathogenic bacterium Escherichia coli to seven classes or combinations of drugs. Plotted on a map of the state, the data created discrete points that then had to be stitched together to produce broad regions of antibiotic susceptibility using cartographic methods contributed by the State Cartographer's Office. The mapping tool indicates how susceptible a pathogen might be to a wide range of antibiotics according to hospital data from different parts of the state. Greens are for high susceptibility, while yellows, oranges and reds indicate a greater resistance to a particular drug. Credit: University of Wisconsin-Madison "It's incredible what two disciplines can do together that otherwise they wouldn't do on their own," Legenza says of the collaboration between pharmacists and cartographers. The resulting maps reveal significant variation geographically across the state. Resistance to antibiotics tended to be greater in denser, more urban regions of the state as well as in valleys. It's not clear what underlies these pockets of antibiotic resistance, says Legenza, but her team is investigating factors like population density, antibiotic use patterns, and animal agriculture, which accounts for a sizable share of antibiotic use, to explain the variation. The maps also show that a large proportion of E. coli isolated from patients across much of the state are increasingly resistant to certain antibiotics, like levofloxacin. In addition to statewide visualizations of susceptibility to a particular drug, AMR Tracker allows users to select a location and see antibiotics ordered by their likelihood of working. The information is color coded: greens for high susceptibility, yellows, oranges and reds for greater resistance. The researchers have received approval to begin analyzing privacy-protected data from individual patients, which will allow them to pinpoint the location of resistant pathogens more accurately, to individual census tracts. They are also partnering with the Marshfield Clinic Health System to collect genomic data from antibiotic-resistant microbes to improve the maps. Incorporating a tool like AMR Tracker into the health care system may be years away. Next steps include validating the geographic smoothing of the data, including additional pathogens and working with hospital systems and electronic medical records companies to integrate AMR Tracker into patient visits. "The more seamless we can make this, the greater value it will offer to providers and their patients," says Legenza. More information: Laurel Legenza et al. Geographic mapping of Escherichia coli susceptibility to develop a novel clinical decision support tool, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (2019). Journal information: Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy Laurel Legenza et al. Geographic mapping of Escherichia coli susceptibility to develop a novel clinical decision support tool,(2019). DOI: 10.1128/AAC.00048-19 The Austrian city of Klagenfurt indefinitely suspended its bus services Wednesday after a case of measles was detected in one of the drivers. "All bus traffic is suspended until further notice in order to prevent infection," the city's KMG public transport operator announced. The company runs all public transport in the southern city of 100,000 inhabitants, which is also the state capital of Carinthia. It took the unusual measure after it was revealed that one driver had been diagnosed with measles on 3 April. Since then two further suspected cases have been reported. KMG said it was working to establish "the vaccination status of all drivers" before authorising bus services to restart and was embarking on a deep clean of its vehicles. The resurgence of measles, a once-eradicated and highly-contagious disease, is linked to a growing anti-vaccine movement in richer nationswhich the World Health Organization has identified as a major global health threat. On Tuesday, New York mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency in parts of the city, ordering all residents of certain districts in Brooklyn to be vaccinated to fight a measles outbreak concentrated in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. Explore further NYC orders mandatory vaccines for some amid measles outbreak 2019 AFP Credit: CC0 Public Domain Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is a key contributor to cardiovascular disease, one of the leading causes of death globally. Breast milk has higher cholesterol than formula and research shows breastfed infants have a different synthesis and metabolism of cholesterol than formula-fed infants, but little is known about the long-term effects of breastfeeding on cardiovascular risk factors such as LDL cholesterol. To investigate, CUNY SPH Professor Mary Schooling and a team of researchers from the University of Hong Kong assessed the association of breastfeeding in early infancy with high cholesterol and obesity in late adolescence. The team assessed 3,261 members of Hong Kong's "Children of 1997" birth cohort. In Hong Kong in 1997, breastfeeding was not very common and was not clearly related to mothers' education. As such, the study can better assess the effects of breastfeeding than studies from most other places where more highly educated mothers are more likely to breastfeed, making it difficult to know whether any health benefits are due to higher socio-economic position or to breastfeeding itself. The researchers found that exclusive breastfeeding for the first three months of life was associated with lower LDL-cholesterol at about 17.5 years, regardless of body mass index and fat percentage. "This study reveals yet another benefit of breastfeeding: helping to prevent cardiovascular disease in later life," says Schooling. "These findings are supportive of well-established public health recommendations promoting breastfeeding." Schooling notes that further research is needed into how exposure to high cholesterol in breast milk programs cholesterol homeostasis and affects the trajectory of lipid profile in adulthood. Explore further New study indicates early-term infants can succeed at breastfeeding More information: L.L. Hui et al. Breastfeeding in Infancy and Lipid Profile in Adolescence, Pediatrics (2019). Journal information: Pediatrics L.L. Hui et al. Breastfeeding in Infancy and Lipid Profile in Adolescence,(2019). DOI: 10.1542/peds.2018-3075 Credit: Cancer Research UK The question of how cancers start is something that scientists have spent years trying to figure out. And the answer, undoubtedly, lies within cells and what's written in their DNA. When certain faults appear in a cell's DNA it can send it into overdrive, making the cell grow and divide more than it should. But while faulty genes are a common thread across cancers, not all cancers have the same faulty genes. And not all cells that carry faulty genes will turn cancerous. In fact, some faults only cause cancer in certain organs in the body, even when every cell in the body also carries that fault. This cellular conundrum has puzzled Professor Stephen Elledge for years. And now his newly assembled team, led from the Brigham and Women's Hospital at Harvard Medical School and part-funded by New York-based philanthropic organisation The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research through our Grand Challenge scheme, aims to find out more. According to Professor Owen Sansom, director of the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute in Glasgow and a member of the team, answering a question like this requires a real joint effort. To do this, the team are combining approaches. Elledge and his group are planning to go back to basics, using healthy cells from 8 different organs and looking at what happens when different DNA faults are introduced. But the team is also planning to build on what's already known about genes linked to cancer in some organs but not others. Starting with a cell growth molecule called Wnt. Wnt the wingless wonder Sansom's lab has been working to understand the role of Wnt in bowel cancer for several years. Wnt is a molecule that floats outside the cell. It can latch on to hooks found on the surface of some cells, triggering a cascade of signals inside the cell that can change how it behaves. Wnt first popped up in fruit flies back in the 1980s, gaining its full name 'wingless' because of the effects faulty Wnt had on flies. If scientists interfered with Wnt signals by mutating the molecule then flies developed faulty wings. And while scientists were working on the weird and wonderful world of Wnt in the fly, other labs were beginning to link the signals to breast cancer in mice. Fast forward 25 or 30 years and we now know a lot more about what Wnt does in humans. Cells lining our intestine rely on Wnt signals to grow and divide, replacing those that are sloughed off as food passes by. But it's a fine balance when these signals get out of hand, it's been strongly linked to bowel cancer. According to Sansom, around 4 in 5 bowel cancers have a fault (mutation) in a molecule that dampens down Wnt signals, called APC. "There are people who carry this mutation in every cell in their body, it's a hereditary mutation in APC. And their lifetime risk of colorectal cancer is about 100%," says Sansom. People with this gene fault are also at a slightly increased risk of other cancers, including breast cancer. But it's nothing like their risk of bowel cancer. And this is what interests Sansom the fault is everywhere, but it only causes cancer in certain organs. This conundrum is at the heart of the Grand Challenge project. And Sansom has some clues as to why Wnt might be more important in some tissues than others. "It's the context of everything else that's around that's why the question of organ specificity is so complex," he says. Putting Wnt in context "Wnt in the gut is a signal telling cells to grow, grow, grow. But if a breast cell sees a lot of Wnt it becomes something that looks more like a skin cell," says Sansom. Breast cells don't usually see a lot of Wnt floating around, he adds. So if Wnt starts to appear, it might signal to the cells that's something's not quite right. But they don't respond by dividing lots and becoming a cancer. Instead they re-invent themselves to become more like skin cells, which see a lot more Wnt. "I think that tells us that where a cell is in the body will determine how it responds," says Sansom. He believes that a lot will also depend on which parts of a cell's DNA can be read and switched on. Credit: David Huels and Professor Owen Sansom "Maybe in a breast cell you still have the ability to turn on skin genes but not the gut tumour genes, so you become a skin cell when Wnt is around," says Sansom. This is where his group will be focusing their efforts, starting with a closer look at what happens when Wnt signalling is out of control in different organs. "What we're going to do in first is to delete the regulatory molecule APC or activate another part of the pathway in mice and look at what happens." They'll be monitoring changes in how the DNA is packaged inside cells in different organs and if there are changes to what parts of the DNA code are read and what's made within the cells after they delete the key controller, APC. And while Sansom's lab are the Wnt experts, they won't be working alone. Other labs in the Grand Challenge team are tackling other pathways that play an important roles in other cancers, like pancreatic cancer and skin cancer. The team aren't just focussing on signals that come from outside cells. They're also taking a closer look at the DNA itself, paying particular attention to how it's packaged. That's a task for two labs, one in Copenhagen and the other at Harvard Medical School in the US. Unwrapping DNA clues The question of why different faulty genes are important in specific cancers could be linked to an even more fundamental question: why do cells in different organs behave and look so different even though they have the same basic instructions in their DNA? Scientists believe comes down to the way that DNA is packaged within cells. Some sections of DNA are wound up tightly like a coil, meaning the information is buried and difficult to access. Whereas other parts of the DNA thread are more loosely wrapped, meaning they're open and ready for business. And here comes the interesting part. The bits of DNA that are tightly wrapped up and those that are loose will vary depending on the type of cell. This means that although all cells have the same instructions, the bits of the manual that are available vary depending on where the cell is in the body. Scientists think that a similar thing is true in cancer. They're taking a closer look at the proteins responsible for packaging DNA to figure out what might be going on. And they've got some good clues already. Dr. Karen Cichowski and her team at Harvard Medical School are working on a protein complex called PRC2. It's one of the players responsible for how DNA is packaged within cells, dictating what bits of DNA are open and can be read. And it's got an interesting role in cancer. Cichowski says that in some tissues, defects that make PRC2 more active can lead to cancer. But in other tissues, the loss of this complex is linked to the disease. It seems PRC2 can either help promote cancer developing or block it, depending on what organ you're in. Cichowski's team along with Professor Kristian Helin at the University of Copenhagen want to deconstruct this dual role. They'll investigate how DNA is read in different organs when PRC2 isn't there, or when it's hyperactive, and test drug combinations that could help target any weaknesses they find. And it's not just Cichowski's group who will be looking to find new targets. The Grand Challenge team is aiming to answer a basic question about how cancer develops, and then use this knowledge to find new targets and, hopefully, new treatments. That's where patient advocate Fran Visco comes in. Putting patients at the heart of the challenge "I hope that this project will finally answer a basic and extremely important question in cancer that for years has been discussed but hasn't really been addressed," says Visco, a Philadelphia-based president of a national US breast cancer charity. Visco was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987 and has been involved in patient advocacy since the early 1990s. She joined the Grand Challenge team through Professor Stephen Elledge, who she's worked with before. And for her, now seems like the perfect time to tackle this big question. "This is about a basic understanding of cancer that I've heard scientists discuss forever and now we have the tools and the brain power to answer it," she says. "I wanted to be part of that." And while the project is focusing on the fundamentals of biology, Visco is very clear on her role in the team: keeping the scientists focused on the ultimate goal of helping cancer patients. "I view my role in this Grand Challenge as keeping the scientists on track to answer this question. And to always be asking the question 'how can we make sure this research is actually going to help patients?'" Explore further Revealing a potential new marker for aggressive prostate cancer Credit: CC0 Public Domain Soil contamination has long been recognized as a contributor to lead exposure in people and is now a health concern worldwide. In a new study, researchers sought to estimate the causal effects of exposure to lead in topsoil on the cognitive ability of 5-year-olds in the United States. The study found that higher lead in topsoil significantly increases the probability that 5-year-old boys will have cognitive difficulties but does not seem to affect 5-year-old girls. The researchers found the adverse effects in boys even in U.S. counties where the government considers the levels of lead concentration in the soil to be low. The study, by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, is published in Economics and Human Biology. "These findings strengthen our understanding of the adverse effects of lead exposure on children's cognitive development," says Edson Severnini, assistant professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College, who was part of the study. "They are concerning because they suggest that lead may continue to impair cognition." The study used individual-level data on preschool-age children from the 2000 Census, which asked whether individuals ages 5 and older had experienced any cognitive difficulties that lasted at least six months. The researchers looked at 5-year-olds because they wanted to examine the effects of lead before the start of formal schooling, and because age 5 is within the range described by the U.S. National Toxicology Program as having the highest rate of ingestion of lead from soil due to hand-to-mouth behavior. The study also examined data from the U.S. Geological Survey on lead in topsoil in the 252 largest counties in the United States, counties with 100,000 people or more and that represent 45 percent of the U.S. population. Researchers also considered a variety of other factors, including issues associated with climate, the economy, demographics, and housing, as well as other topics related to counties and children's attributes. To estimate the causal effect on cognition of exposure to lead through contaminated soil, the researchers used instrumental variable methods. Because it would be unethical running an experiment in this context, the approach used a variable that quasi-experimentally assigned more lead in topsoil to a group of counties, and less to another group. That variable is the so-called instrument. Because lead emissions by vehicles were an important source of topsoil contamination in the United States before lead additives were removed from gas in 1996, the study used the 1944 Interstate Highway System Plan as an instrument. The plan predicted the placement of interstate highways, and therefore predicted where lead was accumulated in soil over several decades. As a result, children growing up in counties near those new highways had more exposure to lead in the soil in the 2000s than children in counties that did not have any part of the highway system. Higher lead in topsoil considerably increased the likelihood that 5-year-old boys would have cognitive problems such as learning, remembering, concentrating, or making decisions. Living in counties with concentration of lead in topsoil that was above the national median roughly doubled the probability of these boys having cognitive difficulties. But 5-year-old girls were not affected, perhaps because they are naturally protected by estrogen, the authors suggest. The study found adverse effects on the boys from exposure to lead even in counties with levels of lead concentration in topsoil that are considered low according to guidelines from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state agencies that address these issues. "Our study provides new evidence of the damaging effect of lead on cognitive development, even in areas with low lead concentration," notes Karen Clay, professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College, who coauthored the study. "This indicates the need for further monitoring of soil in urban areas and suggests that the EPA should revise its standards for acceptable levels of lead in soil." The authors caution that in their study, they did not observe children's blood lead levels to estimate the direct relationship between blood lead levels and cognition. Instead, they relied on an indirect measure that has been shown to have a clear relationship with blood lead levels, namely the concentration of lead in topsoil. Explore further Lead exposure found to affect fertility rates More information: Karen Clay et al, The legacy lead deposition in soils and its impact on cognitive function in preschool-aged children in the United States, Economics & Human Biology (2019). Journal information: Economics and Human Biology Karen Clay et al, The legacy lead deposition in soils and its impact on cognitive function in preschool-aged children in the United States,(2019). DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2019.03.001 Professor Gilles Guillemin and Dr Edwin Lim from the Department of Biomedical Sciences. Credit: Macquarie University A study published in Molecular Psychiatry has identified changes in inflammation-related biochemical pathways in schizophrenia that interfere with proper brain nerve cell communication. Researchers have found the first direct evidence in support of increased kynurenic acid production in the brain, which is known to block a key glutamate receptor. This discovery paves the way for development of better targeted therapies with fewer side effects for people with schizophrenia. The study is a collaboration between Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), UNSW Sydney and Macquarie University. The study found elevated kynurenic acid in the brains of people with schizophrenia suggesting an overproduction of kynurenic acid, especially in response to inflammation, which could be detrimental to brain function. "We found that inflammation plays an important role in the brain pathology of schizophrenia. However, we do not know which avenue of inflammation leads to the brain pathology of schizophrenia," said Professor Cynthia Shannon Weickert, from NeuRA and UNSW Sydney. "This is exciting for the field of schizophrenia research, because in addition to our previous findings that point to the immune cell's role in schizophrenia, we have now identified another cell target in the brain. This provides a better understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the deleterious effects of neuroinflammation." It has long been suspected that metabolism of the amino acid tryptophan, commonly known to produce the "feel-good" neurotransmitter serotonin, is involved in schizophrenia. During inflammation, tryptophan is broken down into kynurenine, which can then can go down one of two avenues; one that forms a chemical compound called quinolinic acid and one called kynurenic acid. There is debate about which avenue leads to brain pathology in schizophrenia. But now researchers have narrowed down the culprit to increased kynurenic acid production and they have other evidence to suggest that astrocytes are also involved. Astrocytes are the main cells that provide food and metabolic support to the brain nerve cells and in the case of schizophrenia, they are providing more kynurenic acid. Kynurenic acid plays an important role protecting brain cells from overstimulation by blocking the brain's N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR). However, NMDAR blockade can also lead to psychosis. "We have pinpointed the source of the problem," said Professor Gilles Guillemin, a world-renowned expert in tryptophan research from Macquarie University. "This understanding provides a new target for cell-specific treatments that reduce kynurenic acid production. What we need to find out is why people with schizophrenia have higher expression of the kynurenic acid-producing enzyme." This study also demonstrated that biochemical changes in blood can reflect the changes in the brain related to schizophrenia, such as volume loss of the prefrontal cortex and attention impairment. This suggests that the kynurenine pathway may be a viable target for the development of a clinical blood biomarker to help predict brain and cognitive changes in schizophrenia. Associate Professor Thomas Weickert from NeuRA, further explained: "Researchers have been seeking a biomarker of schizophrenia for a long time. Our work suggests that blood kynurenine and tryptophan levels may be able to quickly and simply inform clinicians of the brain and cognitive status which could provide a more personalised approach to treatment with new drug therapies." Dr. Edwin Lim from Macquarie University's Department of Biomedical Sciences said that while the results of this study are promising, caution needs to be exercised in treatments aimed at reducing levels of kynurenic acid in people with schizophrenia. "Too much kynurenic acid is evidently bad for schizophrenia, but too little kynurenic acid runs the risk of exposing patients to excitotoxic-induced neurodegeneration," said Dr. Lim. "The baseline reference will need to be established in a larger population in order for biomarkers and relevant treatment regimens to be formulated." "This study provides important new pieces of the complex puzzle that schizophrenia presents. They will underpin new approaches to develop new medications for the treatment of schizophrenia and its symptoms," said Professor Peter Schofield AO, NeuRA's CEO. Explore further Researchers identify intriguing link between sleep, cognition and schizophrenia More information: Jochen Kindler et al. Dysregulation of kynurenine metabolism is related to proinflammatory cytokines, attention, and prefrontal cortex volume in schizophrenia, Molecular Psychiatry (2019). Journal information: Molecular Psychiatry Jochen Kindler et al. Dysregulation of kynurenine metabolism is related to proinflammatory cytokines, attention, and prefrontal cortex volume in schizophrenia,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41380-019-0401-9 Credit: Queensland University of Technology QUT pharmaceutical scientist Dr. Nazrul Islam, from School of Clinical Sciences, said lung cancer was one of the most common cancers globally and one of the deadliest, being a leading cause of cancer deaths. He said chitosan had long been investigated for drug delivery and medical applications. It is made from refined crustacean (prawns, crabs, lobster) shells and was an abundant and cheap polymer. "Drug delivery directly into the lungs via an inhaler is an efficient way to achieve local and systemic effects of medications," Dr. Islam said. "My research is concerned with dry powder inhalation using chitosan nanoparticles loaded with drugs that can reach the lower respiratory tract and from there diffuse into the bloodstream. "Chitosan is a natural polymer that is known as biodegradable and biocompatible (ie human-cell friendly) and has low toxicity and it can be bound with therapeutic drugs and made into nanoparticles. "We use different chemical agents called cross-linkers to help form chitosan nanoparticles in which we incorporate drugs, and our concern is whether chitosan nanoparticles formed with some cross-linkers are biodegradable or not. "As yet, no studies have conclusively shown complete biodegradation or elimination of chitosan nanoparticles in lung tissue and my research is concerned with finding the form of chitosan that is able to biodegrade in the lungs' unique tissues." Credit: Queensland University of Technology Dr. Islam said many scientists were investigating the delivery of chemotherapy drugs via the lungs. "While many studies have looked at the use of lung delivery of drugs including chemotherapy, gene therapy, vaccines and immunotherapy, none, to my knowledge, has exclusively looked at chitosan as a safe carrier for lung drug delivery," he said. "The reason we study chitosan is also because it has mucoadhesive properties which means it sticks to the lining of the lung cells and it has been found to improve the absorption of therapeutic agents by opening the junctions between cells of the lung lining to allow the drug to target cancer cells. "Targeted delivery of drugs increases the target tissues' exposure to the drug while reducing exposure of healthy cells and organs to that drug, which means less toxicity and fewer side-effects." Dr. Islam said much research suggested chitosan-based nanoparticle drug delivery could be the way of the future to deliver drugs for many different conditions besides lung cancer. "We need more research to understand the real-life degradation of chitosan, and identify degradation products and their possible toxicities in the body before we can conduct human trials. "We believe chitosan-based nanoparticulate drug delivery has the potential to deliver a large number of therapeutic agents to treat various diseases and open a new era for chitosan-based materials for lung drug delivery and other medical purposes." Explore further Bioengineers develop 3-D structures from crab shells to replace damaged tissues More information: Nazrul Islam et al. Inhaled Micro/Nanoparticulate Anticancer Drug Formulations: An Emerging Targeted Drug Delivery Strategy for Lung Cancers, Current Cancer Drug Targets (2018). Nazrul Islam et al. Inhaled Micro/Nanoparticulate Anticancer Drug Formulations: An Emerging Targeted Drug Delivery Strategy for Lung Cancers,(2018). DOI: 10.2174/1568009618666180525083451 Credit: CC0 Public Domain Between 2015 and 2017, 624 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets were distributed, mostly for free, to reduce malaria, severe disease and death in regions of the world where malaria is endemic. The nets, which serve as a protective barrier for the people sleeping under them, have been proven to help prevent the spread of malaria, a disease that saw 219 million cases and 435,000 deaths in 2017, according to the World Health Organization. Yet research shows that households that own insecticide-treated nets, often referred to as ITNs, do not always use them. This summer, Virginia Commonwealth University student Sarah Yankson, a junior in the Department of Psychology in the College of Humanities and Sciences, will travel to Ghana to work on a pilot study investigating sleep quality under insecticide-treated nets, which could help explain why Ghanaians do not consistently use them. "The study will test whether carbon dioxide levels increase [under] ITNs during sleep," Yankson said. "If this is found to be the case, it might explain reported discomfort by ITN users." Yankson is one of a dozen students in the College of Humanities and Sciences who are among the second round of recipients of awards from the Baldacci Student Experiential Learning Fund. The fund provides grants of $1,000 to $5,000 to academically promising VCU students from diverse areas of study and backgrounds to allow them to pursue internships, conferences, research, domestic or international study abroad, and social entrepreneurship opportunities. The fund, made possible from a gift to VCU from best-selling novelist and political science alumnus David Baldacci and his wife, Michelle, in fall 2016, is open to rising juniors and seniors whose primary major is in the College of Humanities and Sciences. In addition to Yankson, this year's Baldacci recipients include students who will conduct research on childhood malnutrition in Guatemala; study abroad in Spain; present research at a zooarchaeology conference in California; travel to Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda to study democracy and development; and research the effects, if any, that female ornamentation (i.e. elaborate coloring) has on mating choices by prothonotary warblers along the James River. "We can clearly see from the scholars and the wider applicant pool a deep yearning to explore the world outside their classroom window," said Sarah Golding, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biology and special assistant to the dean for experiential learning. "Whether it be by studying the breeding patterns of prothonotary warblers on the James River, developing a marketing campaign for the city of Da Nang in Vietnam, learning about the LBGT+ community in Madrid, Spain, all our recipients share a desire to broaden their horizons and deepen their learning." The beauty of the Baldacci fund, she said, is that it provides students with opportunities to pursue life-changing experiential learning experiences. For Yankson, who hopes to one day work as a health professional, the fund is giving her a chance to fulfill a long-held desire to conduct research in psychology that is also health related. Her mentor, Vivian Dzokoto, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of African American Studies, helped her find the Ghana study, which is being led by Frank Baiden, Ph.D., lead epidemiologist with the Institute of Public Health in Ghana. "This caught my eye," Yankson said. "I knew I would be able to help others understand the importance of these nets while learning about why they are not being used correctly." Yankson is working under Dzokoto this year as a research assistant through VCU's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. "She's been really great, intellectually curious and hardworking," Dzokoto said. "I am thrilled for her. She is going to have a great set of learning experiences in Ghana this summer." As part of her research experience in Ghana, Yankson will shadow local doctors and nurses on their daily rounds. "They will be teaching and exposing me to patients with disease that we don't typically see in the United States and what they do to diagnose, manage and treat the patients," she said. "I am hoping to learn more about non-western health care and how it's different from what we see in the United States." The Baldacci award and her research in Ghana, Yankson said, will be invaluable in her future career in health care. "Due to this project, I am able to achieve my goal of assisting on a health-related experiment while having the opportunity to shadow doctors and nurses from a third-world country," she said. "I never thought I would have an opportunity to do something like this." Explore further Pregnant women, young children most likely to use bed nets to prevent malaria Credit: CC0 Public Domain For young people, the transition from elementary to middle school can be a time of stress, disruption and discomfort. For children who already have trouble interacting with their peers, the transition can be particularly fraught. In a study published online earlier this year in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, Florida State University developmental psychologist Heidi Gazelle investigated the middle school transition and outlined why this specific period of change can be pivotal in the lives of children identified as "anxious solitary." Gazelle, an associate professor in the College of Human Sciences, discusses her study below, explaining why different socially anxious youth seem to diverge into separate developmental trajectories during the middle school transition and which strategies can help ensure children are prepared to adjust and flourish. How do scholars define the term anxious solitary? The everyday word most people would use to describe anxious solitude would be "shy." We conceptualize anxious solitary children as feeling so anxious around other children that they often remain alone. They want to play with other children, but they're held back by social anxiety. Their anxiety is driven by concerns about how other children might treat them or whether they'll perform well socially. If you're watching children play at recess, you will see some children watching other children play. That shows they're interested, but they aren't joining in. All children do that occasionally, but children who we identify as anxious solitary do that at a much higher rate than their peers. Sometimes we identify them based on observing them at recess, other times we identify them by asking peers. For instance, we ask peers about which kids watch others without joining in or which kids are shy and don't have much to say. Why was the middle school transition of specific interest to you and your team? Developmental psychologists usually think of the middle school transition as a stressful time. When children in the United States transition to middle school, it's usually into a bigger context. In elementary school they've traditionally spent the school day in one classroom, whereas in middle school they're in many different classrooms with multiple teachers and multiple sets of peers throughout the day. They have to re-establish their place socially. Although it's generally framed as a time that's stressful, we wondered whether some children actually benefit from this transition and form better relationships than they had in elementary school. According to your research, in what ways can the middle school transition catalyze changes in anxious solitary behavior? We found that not all children follow the same pathway over time. Children who show a pathway of anxious solitude in elementary school are more likely to show elevated anxious solitude in middle school as well. We often see that past behavior predicts future behavior, but that's not always the case. Some children who demonstrated anxious solitude in elementary school showed declining levels of anxious solitude over time and looked like they had more positive social relationships in middle school. I find very robust relations throughout my research between being anxious solitary and being excluded by peers. Most of the time it's passive exclusion, where other kids don't approach an anxious solitary child or don't invite them to join in. For those anxious solitary children who improved, we found declining patterns of peer exclusion in middle school. Another fascinating pattern that predicted decline in anxious solitude after the middle school transition was children being better able to defend themselves. We don't know how children became better able to defend themselves. It might be that they found ways to integrate themselves more effectively with others or found children they got along with better in middle school. It's possible they also responded to challenging peer situations better. After a school transition, children are usually interested in making new friends, and social reorganization occurs as a result. Children initiate contact, say hello and get to know new children. In that context, our data suggests there can be an opportunity for a fresh start. What would your advice be to a parent of an anxious solitary child about to begin middle school? The first thing I would say is that we see a lot of heterogeneity in anxious solitary children, so the main thing to pay attention to is if your child is fitting in socially and has friends. We find that many anxious solitary children do fit in and make friends, and we have a lot of evidence that tells us that's very important to their healthy development. But other anxious solitary children struggle more and experience peer exclusion. There are things parents can do to help with the transition. It's important to think about the child's readiness to take advantage of the opportunities that come with a new environment. It would help to increase the child's familiarity with the new school and provide them opportunities to meet future classmates beforehand if possible. For instance, some middle schools provide summer camp for incoming sixth-graders. Attending summer camp is intended to improve children's readiness to respond well to the transition by increasing their familiarity with the new environment and new routines and helping them initiate relationships with new classmates and teachers. Parents should also talk with their child about how they're feeling and who they hang out with and help them problem solve when they encounter difficulties. The transition to middle school can be stressful, but it can also be an opportunity for positive change. Explore further Helping kids adapt to a new school More information: Heidi Gazelle et al. Multiple Trajectories in Anxious Solitary Youths: the Middle School Transition as a Turning Point in Development, Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology (2019). Journal information: Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology Heidi Gazelle et al. Multiple Trajectories in Anxious Solitary Youths: the Middle School Transition as a Turning Point in Development,(2019). DOI: 10.1007/s10802-019-00523-8 Jinjiao Wang, PhD, RN. Credit: University of Rochester Medical Center An average of one to two home health physical therapy sessions per week can help lower the risk of re-hospitalization by up to 82 percent in older adults during a 60-day period, according to research findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. The study, led by Jinjiao Wang, Ph.D., RN, an assistant professor in the University of Rochester School of Nursing, examined the impact of specific services in Medicare-certified home health care (HHC) programs, such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and skilled nursing, on subsequent re-hospitalization among older patients. Each year, more than 3.3 million re-hospitalizations occur in the United States, costing more than $41 billion. Older patients are particularly at risk for post-discharge functional decline and re-hospitalization, which occur in one-third of Medicare patients within 90 days of hospital discharge. To prevent unplanned re-hospitalization, older patients with high medical complexity are referred to post-acute services, such as HHC. Previous research has demonstrated that HHC is effective in improving physical function and reducing health care costs, but this study is the first to systematically examine the relationships between specific services to find the threshold, or minimally effective, "dose" to avoid re-hospitalization. "This finding highlights the complex medical and functional conditions in HHC patients, thus the need of 'precision HHC,'" said Wang. "Currently, the dose of HHC is primarily determined based on personal experience and agency protocols. In light of the recent Medicare value-based purchasing model that penalizes HHC agencies with above-average re-hospitalization rates,a systematic approach should be developed to individualize HHC intensity and ensure that enough HHC services are provided for persons at risk for re-hospitalization." The study examined more than 1,300 patients age 65 or older who were admitted into an HHC program within 48 hours of hospital discharge. Among them, 11.5 percent were re-admitted during 60 days. However, both physical therapy and skilled nursing were effective in avoiding re-hospitalization. During the 60 days' post-hospitalization period, a threshold of one physical therapy visit per week, HHC lowered the risk of hospitalization by 82 percent, meanwhile an average dose of two skilled nursing visits per week lowered the patients' risk by 48 percent. The intensity of home health aide and occupational therapy visits was not found to be significantly related to re-hospitalization. Wang noted, however, that the findings should be interpreted with caution as the sample was based on one HHC agency and that patients with severe dementia and cancer were excluded from analysis. Explore further Shorter stays in a skilled nursing facility tied to higher risk for readmission More information: Jinjiao Wang et al. Inverse Dose-Response Relationship Between Home Health Care Services and Rehospitalization in Older Adults, Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (2018). Jinjiao Wang et al. Inverse Dose-Response Relationship Between Home Health Care Services and Rehospitalization in Older Adults,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.jamda.2018.10.021 Credit: CC0 Public Domain Protests from animal-rights activists around the country have drawn a swift national backlash. The Prime Minister has condemned the animal-rights protesters as "shameful," "un-Australian" and, memorably, "green-collar criminals." It's clear the protesters have touched a nerve, attracting derisive comments from both social media and mainstream outlets. While public inconvenience and disrupting understandably creates annoyance, this does not necessarily explain the strong reaction from Australians. It is worth looking at other factors which may have also prompted negativity towards the protests, and why questions about our meat consumption can feel particularly uncomfortable. The meat paradox Its clear from the widespread reaction to abuse in the live export industry that many Australians value animal welfare. Millions of Australian households also include much-loved pets, and less-cruel farm products like free-range eggs are growing in popularity. At the same time, Australians eat vast amounts of meat. It is also clear that, whatever one's views towards farming, it is very hard to guarantee the meat on one's plate was killed in a "humane" manner. The contradiction between enjoying meat but disliking the harm done to animals to produce it is called the "meat paradox". One way of reducing this dissonance is mentally disengaging from the origins of meat. If animals are not assigned a moral status, then slaughtering them no longer becomes a moral dilemma, and eating meat, therefore, is not morally problematic. Another way we cope with simultaneously liking (or loving) some animals but eating others is to create categories. That is, cows, sheep and pigs are for eating but dogs, cats and horses are not. In this mental map, farm animals tend to be viewed as commodities rather than individual sentient beings. We are also far more likely to feel empathy towards species we're familiar with and can relate to. Pets have an advantage here, as they are often selectively bred for expressive affection towards people. Shock gets attention, not action All of this together means strident campaigning for animal rights can provoke a strong and emotive backlash. Furthermore, it's not at all certain this headline-grabbing approach improves animal welfare. Shock tactics can effectively attract attention and (compared to less emotive messages) are more likely to be noticed, but they do not necessarily prompt action. Although disturbing scenarios of animals undergoing cruelty and confinement might be eye-catching, these, alone, are not effective in changing attitudes or behaviours. People have a limit to how many issues we can worry about at once and as worry about one risk increases, concerns for the others may lessen. Exposure to messages about animal cruelty can also create feelings of pain and loneliness and may also, paradoxically, result in avoidance to take any further action. Instead, it is important to create a compelling positive alternative. In this case, this might involve showing farm animals free from any confinement and abuse, thereby communicating a vision to aspire to. This might explain the success of Animals Australia's "Make it Possible" campaign which offered its audiences a vision of hope by depicting a farm animal who broke free from the shackles of captivity. Results from this campaign revealed a drop in demand for factory-farmed products and a rise in ethical product purchases. In addition, it is important to make behaviour change easier by making the alternatives more accessible which, in this instance, may involve giving people information and access to consumption alternatives as sustainable behaviour change is more likely to occur when it is perceived as relatively easy. This might also explain why reducetarianism or flexitarianism reducing meat rather than cutting it out entirely appears to be gaining traction. In my as-yet unpublished research on what Australians eat, one person told me: "when the Titanic sank, you don't say 'oh I don't have room for everyone, throw everyone overboard, out of lifeboats!" You do what you can." I guess that's the philosophy of reducetarianism, eating one bit of chicken a month is better than a person who eats it twice a day. Australians can be empathetic towards animals. There's also a slow but growing understanding of how the livestock sector is influencing climate change. But research shows our immediate needs and demands - to feed our family, to eat familiar food, even getting to work on time often take precedence over larger and far less visible moral and environmental questions. Understanding and empathising with the barriers, needs and habits of people who do and don't eat meat may go some way in bridging the chasm towards a more sustainable future. Explore further Why do vegans have such bad reputations? This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. " " As the developed world moves to digital payment, does that leave behind those asking for cash? Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald/Getty Images In 2016, Detroit resident Abe Hagenston attracted international attention after local news media reported that he was panhandling not just for spare change, but for donations via credit card, using a card reader attached to his cell phone. Hagenston, who was homeless, also built his own website to solicit spot jobs, which he reportedly updated from a computer at a local library. "Being homeless is my business now," he explained to a reporter from local TV station WDIV. News coverage of the tech-savvy panhandler eventually subsided, and the phone number on his website no longer works, so it's difficult to assess the success of his efforts. Judging from the number of people still positioning themselves on sidewalks or traffic islands with cardboard signs and paper cups in search of donations from passersby, it still seems that the vast majority of panhandling remains stuck in the analog age in an increasingly digital world. Advertisement But with consumers increasingly using various forms of plastic and phone apps instead of cash to make purchases, it raises the question of whether panhandling a tradition that dates back centuries soon could go the way of telegrams and gaslights in the cashless society that many envision. As Slate technology writer Will Oremus asked in 2012: "What will become of the loose-change business model if society goes cashless?" There are signs that we're headed in that cashless direction, though we're not there quite yet. A recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco found that the portion of consumer purchases made with cash dropped from 40 percent in 2012 to 32 percent in 2015, and that 59 percent of what we buy is now paid for with credit and debit cards and electronic transfers up 10 percent from three years prior. And while we're still using paper bills and coins to make 62 percent of purchases less than $10, a 2014 Bankrate.com survey found that two out of five Americans carry less than $20 in their wallets or pockets and nearly 10 percent of all Americans no longer carry any cash at all. " " Americans carry less and less cash each year, as payments move to digital and card-based solutions. How do those who rely on spare change fare? Jeff Speed/Getty Images Researchers who've studied panhandling say the shift away from cash hasn't yet had a significant impact. "People might carry less than $50, but average donations are only a few dollars, and people seem willing to share their loose change," says David Spears, who spent a brief time panhandling on a freeway ramp in Oregon to gather data for his 2013 book "Exit Ramp: A Short Case Study of the Profitability of Panhandling." As he says in an email to HowStuffWorks: "I don't see that really affecting the success of panhandling to a great degree. One in 10 might not carry cash, but nine in 10 carrying cash is still a large target to ask charity from. Panhandling is a volume game." Gwendolyn Dordick, a lecturer in sociology at City College of New York, and Columbia University economics professor Brendan O'Flaherty conducted an in-depth study of panhandlers in downtown New York City, in an effort to discover how panhandling in the street worked as an industry. (One finding: Panhandlers tended to work regular shifts of several hours in their usual locations, rather than soliciting until they reached a specific goal for the amount of donations.) They seemed skeptical of the premise that a cashless society would ever make panhandling extinct. "For some legal transactions small purchases like a bagel cash may still be quicker and people will continue to carry small amounts of cash," Dordick and O'Flaherty said. "Small amounts are what panhandlers need." That said, Dordick and O'Flaherty can imagine more panhandlers eventually trying to collect cashless donations, and think it might even work better for both donors and recipients. "Most of the panhandlers we met carry cell phones, so it is not inconceivable that they could accept funds electronically," they say. "In fact, the transfer of electronic funds could benefit both panhandlers and potential donors if having an app was regulated or distributed in such a way as to provide some kind of credential. This credential would signal to potential donors that this panhandler was not 'scamming' them." Now That's Interesting The smartphone donation app WeShelter is intended for when a user sees a homeless person in the streets; they can press a button, and a sponsoring company will make a contribution to a homeless services organization in the area. (Users can also make contributions at any time.) " " Deciding to become an S corporation might help these small business owners with their tax liability. fotografixx/Westend61/Corbis Let's say you're self-employed. It means a lot of great perks: You don't have to gulp down the syrupy, pumpkin-spice-flavored coffee that Barb from Accounting insists on brewing every fall, spilling lunch on your pants doesn't lead to an embarrassing nickname around the office and you can watch March Madness without your finger hovering over the minimize button the entire time. It also has its drawbacks, in the form of taxes. No employer is withholding money, for one, so you're responsible for saving for Uncle Sam on your lonesome. You have to pay your own self-employment taxes (to cover Medicare and Social Security) instead of having an employer chip in. And you can get in trouble, come tax season, if you haven't been careful about putting away (or sending in) the right amount of tax owed. Advertisement Enter the S-corporation designation. It allows for a company to pass through its profit or loss to the owners or investors in a company. That means that any income (or loss) is reported on the shareholders' individual tax returns and taxed at the individual tax rates. Going back to our example for the self-employed, it means you can call some of your money "salary" and some "distribution." You'll have to pay self-employment taxes on the salary part of your income, while the distribution qualifies for regular old income tax. But that's just one way that an S corporation will get you a lower tax rate. If you own a larger company (and keep in mind that it can't have more than 100 shareholders, according to IRS S corporation rules), an S corporation designation allows you to get out of your income being taxed twice -- once as income, and once as dividends. So if your company makes $100,000 and has four shareholders with equal shares, each would pay taxes on $25,000 [source: Dealy]. Remember, that's at each of the shareholder's individual income rates. If it was a regular corporation (or a "C corporation"), then the company would have to pay federal corporate taxes at the federal corporate tax rate, plus each shareholder would have to pay taxes on the dividends received [source: Dealy]. But fair warning: The IRS gets that forming an S corp for your business might be lucrative. The shareholders must be paid at a reasonable level, so that they're not avoiding taxes [source: SBA]. And if you're self-employed, the IRS is going to be on to you if you claim that $15,000 of your income is "salary" and the remaining $80,000 is that sweet distribution money that doesn't require self-employment taxation. In general, the IRS is quite keen to make sure that S corps are declaring themselves appropriately, so make sure to practice due diligence if this issue faces your business come tax time. ICTSI Argentina opens new terminal posted April 10, 2019 at 07:35 pm by Manila Standard Business April 10, 2019 at 07:35 pm TecPlata, the new container terminal located in Argentinas Puerto de La Plata, began operations, with an opening ceremony attended by the vice governor of the province of Buenos Aires, the Minister of Production and several other national, provincial and municipal officials. The opening rites were highlighted by the arrival of Jacaranda, a vessel of Log-In, a Brazilian shipping line specializing in door-to-door logistics solutions which recently signed an agreement with TecPlata, a unit of Philippine-based port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. The arrival of the vessel, which has an overall length of 218 meters and a cargo capacity of almost 38 tons, marked the start of Log-Ins fortnightly operations at the terminal.This a first step for the company, and we firmly believe that this will pave the way for new agreements with more operators to maximize our current installed capacity of 450,000 TEUs, said TecPlata CEO Bruno Porchietto. 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. MyBroadband has recently published photos of rocks which came from trucks which tried to deliver these rocks as coal to Eskoms Hendrina Power Station in Mpumalanga. Since publishing this article, MyBroadband received numerous additional photos of rocks, sand, and poor-quality coal delivered to Eskom power plants. A number of Eskom power stations are affected by rocks and poor-quality coal which negatively influence their operations. Energy expert Chris Yelland told Daily Maverick that the issue around coal quality has been ongoing for years and that coal quality is not consistent across the country. Some suppliers deliver coal which has foreign matter like stones, sand, and metal. This, of course, will have an impact on the mechanisms of a generation unit in the long term. He explained that poor quality coal, for example, produces more ash after the coal is burned. Most power generation units in South Africa have not been designed to handle this additional ash. This problem is so severe that Cosatu General Secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali recently suggested that it is partly to blame for the load-shedding which occurred in February. Coal quality control One of the main problems is that pre-certification of coal is done at the coal mines, after which there is an understanding that coal of this quality will be delivered to power stations. This, however, does not always happen. Many coal providers take a chance to deliver poor-quality coal or even sand and rocks to power stations, hoping to get away with it. The power stations with good quality controls will send the coal back with a stern warning to the coal provider. At other stations without proper quality controls, the poor-quality coal and even rocks may make it to the mills and burners. Since there is seldom any strong action against companies who provide poor-quality coals or rocks to power plants, it is a risk worth taking. Good quality coal is in strong demand internationally, and with high export prices it makes financial sense for coal producers to rather sell their coal to the global market. No comment from Eskom Eskom was asked for comment about poor quality coal, which sometimes includes rocks and sand, being delivered to power stations, but the company did not respond by the time of publication. Rocks and poor-quality coal The photos below show the poor-quality coal and rocks delivered to the Hendrina, Matla, and other Eskom power stations. Now read: Here are the rocks sold to Eskom as coal Earlier this month, hundreds of South Africas brightest minds made their way to Makhanda (Grahamstown) for the annual Scifest Africa festival. Celebrating its 23rd year, the event was established to promote the public awareness and appreciation of science, technology and innovation (STI) especially among the countrys youth. This years theme Discover your Element coincides and celebrates the 150th anniversary of the periodic tables creation by Dmitry Mendeleev in 1869. Scifest Africa comprises two components, the National Science Festival as well as the regional and national outreach programmes which take place throughout the year. One of the key objectives of the festival is to make science and learning accessible to learners from across the country, which is why, since the festivals inception in 1996, the Rhodes University High School Quiz has formed part of its annual programme, for which RS Components sponsored prizes. Mellisa Govender, Marketing Director for RS Components South Africa said that supporting education, especially in science, technology and innovation is high on the companys agenda. One of the key priorities for RS Components has always been contributing to education and being involved with Scifest Africa is a great opportunity for us to provide the much needed support. Such partnerships are critical towards making a positive impact in ensuring science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning is accessible to learners throughout the country and RS Components is proud to be part of this initiative, added Mellisa. Annually, Scifest Africa hosts the Rhodes University High School Quiz, where national and provincial high schools participate in preliminary rounds to qualify for the final, which takes place during the week-long festival. Each member of the winning team will win a one-year scholarship to study Science at Rhodes University. This year, RS Components South Africa sponsored a Raspberry Pi Kits for the top performing scholars. This years winners hailed from Port Elizabeths Grey High School. Led by their teacher Carla Barclay, pupils Alam Nafi, Jonathan Hughes and Luke Weddell walked away with a full year scholarship to study Science at Rhodes University, which was handed to them by the institutions Dean of Science, Professor Tony Booth. The boys were also awarded Raspberry Pi products from RS Components South Africa. The Scifest Africa National Quiz winners from Port Elizabeths Grey High School Android 9 was released more than 7 months ago, and despite its ploddingly slow pace of adoption, an increasing number of devices have rolled out support for the operating system. This operating system has become ubiquitous across major flagship devices such as Huaweis P Series and Samsungs Galaxy S and Note lineups, although these manufacturers run their own EMUI and One UI interfaces over the core OS. However, some devices from manufacturers like Nokia provide a version of the Android 9 operating system which is closer to the stock Google variety, and subsequently receive OS updates faster than their competitors. Android 9 offers a number of improvements compared to the previous-generation operating system, from gesture controls to improved battery life. However, there are also more hidden features which might not be spotted easily by everyday users, and these can make a big difference to productivity and security. Some of these features are refined functions carried over from previous iterations of Android, while others are completely new and exclusive to Android 9. Below are five of the best hidden features in Android 9. Split Screen and PIP While it is perhaps the least secret feature on this list, many Android smartphone users may not realise that Android 9 includes native support for split screen apps. This allows users to multitask by running two apps simultaneously in the foreground of the operating system. Activating this feature has also been improved since it was first introduced in Android 8, and users can now toggle split screen by tapping app icons in the navigation screen. While not all applications support split screen functionality, many popular apps are able to be used in this configuration including YouTube, WhatsApp, Google Chrome, and Gmail. Android 9 also includes picture-in-picture support for certain applications, allowing you to continue watching or interacting with an app after minimising it. This can be enabled on a per-app basis in your smartphones App Settings menu. Applications which support picture-in-picture functionality include Google Maps, YouTube, and Netflix. Pin Windows A new option introduced in Android 9 is the ability to pin windows to prevent navigating to other apps or the home screen. This is extremely useful when passing your phone to a friend or a colleague to show them something while keeping the rest of your data secure. This feature is controlled differently depending on which device you are using, but on standard Android 9 systems it can be turned on via the Security settings menu. Once enabled, users can open an app they want to pin and press the square navigation button to enter the Recent Apps view. From here, they can simply tap on the apps icon to pin the window, removing the ability to navigate away from that application. Unpinning an app can be done by holding the Back and Home button together, after which your device will be instantly locked and the app will be unpinned. Developer Mode Like previous versions of Android, Android 9 devices include a hidden Developer Options menu which can be enabled through the Software Information screen. It should be noted that the Developer Options menu contains settings which could cause some issues with your device if you are not careful. Developer Options can be enabled by navigating to the About Phone section of your Settings app and finding the Build Number specification. Tapping incessantly on this text will result in a pop-up which states that you are a number of taps away from being a developer. Continuing to tap on the Build Number text will enable the Developer Options menu within the Settings app. Within this menu, users can find everything from an overview of running processes and an OEM unlocking toggle, to Night Mode settings and the options to show taps and pointer locations. Fast app switching This feature has been available in multiple previous versions of Android, although many users still do not realise it exists. When switching between two apps, you do not need to open the Recents pane and select the other app individually. Instead, you can simply double-tap the square navigation key to quickly switch back to the last app that was open on your device. This allows you to quickly and easily switch between a pair of apps without the need to continually select which app you would like to switch to. If you are using gesture navigation in Android 9, you can quickly swipe the pill button to the side to achieve the same result. Emergency Lockdown Android 9 includes a special Lockdown Mode as an added security feature. This functionality is disabled by default, but it can be enabled by navigating to the Lock Screen menu in your device settings. Lockdown Mode adds the ability to quickly disable all biometric authentication, requiring a passcode to unlock the device. Once enabled in Android 9, Lockdown Mode can be activated by simply holding the power button and selecting the Lockdown option. It should be noted that this option is only available once the feature has been enabled from your devices settings menu. Now read: Huawei has a backup OS in case it loses access to Android MTN South Africa has launched a live 5G indoor solution at Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit and International Convention Centre. This is the first time that MTN has deployed a trial 5G network as an indoor business solution, and the company stated that commercial-grade 5G network equipment and devices were used in this deployment. MTN said that the joint project with Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit and International Convention Centre would allow for further evaluation of the benefits of 5G connectivity for corporate customers. This deployment will also lay the foundation for further tests of advanced 5G use cases, the company stated. The 5G indoor solution consists of an end-to-end dedicated 5G network operating in 100MHz of 28GHz licensed spectrum and achieves download speeds of over 630Mbps and uplink speeds exceeding 130Mbps. A 5G router accessible to Kyalami employees and attendees provides a fibre-like 5G service to mobile devices and computers via Wi-Fi connectivity. Additionally, once smartphones with 5G capabilities are available in South Africa, these will be able to connect to the 5G indoor solution. 5G and spectrum MTN South Africa CTIO Giovanni Chiarelli said that the company is working to explore a variety of 5G use cases with a number of partners. MTN SA is working with a number of partners to identify more 5G use cases and applications for the digital transformation of their industries, Chiarelli said. Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit and International Convention Centre offers MTN the unique opportunity to test 5G services within a corporate and public indoor environment, while providing us with the opportunity to explore advanced 5G IoT and mission critical use cases. He added that the biggest challenge to widespread deployment of 5G in South Africa remains the lack of available spectrum. The most significant challenge preventing MTN from commercially launching 5G services is the lack of appropriate 5G spectrum, he said. However, despite this lack of licensed 5G spectrum, MTN has continued to pioneer the use of 5G technology within the country, so that when such spectrum is made available, then MTN will be in an ideal position to begin supporting 5G use cases in a variety of environments and industries. MTN South Africa said the deployment of a live 5G network at Kyalami is another step towards accelerating the development of 5G in the South African market. As U.S. officials have pressured allies not to use networking gear from Chinese technology giant Huawei over spying concerns, President Donald Trump has urged American companies to "step up" and compete to provide the next generation of high-speed, low-lag wireless service known as 5G. There's just one problem: There are barely any U.S. companies manufacturing the technology's most critical components. The absence of a U.S. alternative to foreign suppliers of 5G networking equipment underscores the growing dominance of Huawei, which has evolved into the world's biggest supplier of telecom equipment, sparking fears within the Trump administration that a 5G network powered by Huawei's wireless parts could endanger national security. And it throws into sharp relief the years-long retreat by U.S. firms from that market. Carriers such as Sprint and Verizon have moved swiftly to launch 5G services for consumers. But the wireless networking gear the industry relies on still comes from foreign suppliers: four companies, Sweden's Ericsson, Finland's Nokia and China's Huawei and ZTE, account for two-thirds of the global market for telecom equipment, according to analyst estimates. Some U.S. technology giants such as Cisco sell switches and routers that reside in the innermost parts of a carrier's network. But despite its size, Cisco doesn't compete in the market for "radio access," or the wireless infrastructure that allows cell sites to connect with smartphones and other mobile devices. "There is no U.S.-based wireless access equipment provider today that builds those solutions," said Sandra Rivera, a senior vice president at Intel who helps guide the chipmaker's 5G strategy. It's this part of the Internet ecosystem that is becoming increasingly important as more devices and appliances gain wireless connectivity and smart capabilities. 5G is expected to shape technological innovation for years to come, providing mobile data connections for virtual-reality headsets, driverless cars and more. Proponents say 5G eventually will support download speeds of 1,000 megabits per second, roughly 100 times faster than today's 4G standard. The rising global demand for 5G equipment highlights how the United States, a technology leader in other respects, is largely absent from the wireless networking industry. It reflects the decline of a once vibrant ecosystem of American companies that formerly went toe-to-toe with the likes of Nokia and Ericsson. And it puts a focus on Chinese firms such as Huawei, whose rise to prominence has come at the expense of Western networking titans and sparked a global campaign by U.S. officials eager to persuade allies not to allow Chinese equipment into their networks. At the dawn of the wireless age 30 years ago, U.S. companies jostled for primacy in wireless networking. Companies such as Motorola and Lucent - an offshoot of the old AT&T monopoly - were sources of innovation, exploring new ways of delivering voice and data wirelessly. It was Lucent, for example, that helped introduce Code Division Multiple Access, or CDMA, a mobile technology that promised to improve the capacity of wireless carriers. But their fortunes declined around the turn of the century as they failed to keep pace with a changing market. No U.S. company stepped in to fill the gap as those companies faded - partly because of the growing strength of foreign alternatives and partly because of the immense scale required to survive in that line of business, according to industry experts. "Lucent basically collapsed because they didn't have a big enough wireless arm to keep them afloat when the Internet backbone [business] collapsed" in the dot-com bust, said Roger Entner, a telecom analyst at Recon Analytics. "Motorola, over time, simply became less competitive because the other vendors had more economies of scale." Motorola and Lucent's wireless infrastructure businesses were soon gobbled up by Finland's Nokia and France's Alcatel, respectively. One reason the European companies proved so successful, Entner said, was because the European industry agreed from the start to develop a common standard for wireless communication, known as GSM, that all European telecoms would share. By contrast, the industry in North America took a looser approach, with some carriers backing network technologies that weren't mutually compatible. Take CDMA. First developed for mobile usage in the 1990s, the standard was technologically superior, allowing carriers such as Verizon to pump more traffic through their cell sites over the same amount of time compared with alternative standards. But the technology created headaches for consumers who found they couldn't keep their phones when they switched from Verizon to a network like T-Mobile's, which ran on GSM. While the American approach allowed for more technological experimentation and innovation, a fragmented market based on competing standards made it more challenging for U.S. wireless equipment sellers to amass a large customer base. Today, Nokia and Ericsson are the top providers of telecommunications networking gear in North America and are No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, in the world. The two companies each recorded revenue of about $25 billion last year. But both have been surpassed by Huawei, which in the span of three decades has become the world's largest provider of telecom equipment. "I do think the Western companies did underestimate how credible Huawei was," said Paul de Sa, a telecom industry analyst and co-founder of the advisory firm Quadra Partners. "There were executives who basically laughed [at the idea] that Huawei or ZTE could compete." Founded in the late 1980s by Ren Zhengfei, a former engineer for the Chinese military, Huawei began as a technology supplier for Chinese customers. But by the early 2000s, Huawei had begun selling globally, and now does a robust business not only in network equipment but also in consumer smartphones and enterprise services. Last month, the privately held company reported that it had finished 2018 with revenue of $107 billion, up 20 percent despite the U.S. campaign. Profits rose 25 percent, the company said, to $8.8 billion. To give another perspective on Huawei's enormous influence, the company's chief rivals, Nokia and Ericsson, account for 17 percent and 13 percent of the global market for telecom equipment, respectively, according to figures compiled by the research firm Dell'Oro Group. Huawei's market share, at 28 percent, is nearly as large as both of them combined. Despite an early reputation for cheap knockoff hardware, Huawei today is recognized for low prices, reliable equipment and engaging customer service, analysts say. As Huawei has invested in its own research and development, even Western telecom companies acknowledge that Huawei's products are as good as - if not better than - competing equipment from Nokia or Ericsson. "About 25 percent of our members have Huawei or ZTE" in their networks, Carri Bennet, an attorney for the Washington, D.C.-based Rural Wireless Association, told lawmakers at a recent House Judiciary subcommittee hearing. Gordon Smith, the chief executive of Sagent, a network intelligence and analytics company formerly known as Clover Telecom, estimated that Huawei gear typically costs "tens of percents" less than the competition's. With the support of China's state-owned development bank, Huawei also has been able to undercut competitors with attractive financing for its products. In February alone, Huawei announced partnerships with wireless carriers in eight countries, including Iceland, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. It doesn't hurt that Huawei serves a massive domestic market in China, which grants it tremendous advantages of scale that many tech companies, including American ones, are hungry to access themselves. China is so critical to Apple, for example, that the iPhone maker blamed the country's economic slowdown for a downward revision in Apple's recent quarterly sales estimates - the company's first such warning in 15 years. Huawei's success, however, has been clouded by allegations of intellectual property theft. The U.S. government accused two Huawei units this year of trying to copy a robotic arm used by T-Mobile to test smartphones. (Huawei has pleaded not guilty.) In the past, Huawei has also been accused of stealing technology from Cisco; the two firms became locked in a legal dispute in 2003 and settled months later, after Huawei conceded that Cisco-made code had ended up in a Huawei product. The code was later removed. Then there is Nortel Networks' discovery in 2004 that hackers - traced to IP addresses in Shanghai - had stolen nearly 1,500 sensitive files from the Canadian telecom giant's computer systems. The company's subsequent investigation failed to prove China's direct involvement, much less Huawei's. But after analyzing the stolen files - which bore cryptic names such as "Photonic Crystals and Large Scale Integration," "Eco_Strategy.ppt" and "HDX R2 Standard Reconfigurations Test Plan - Draft 0.2 - and a months-long probe, Nortel's security adviser at the time, Brian Shields, became convinced Huawei benefited indirectly from the breach. The file names, a list of which Shields provided to The Washington Post, have not been previously reported. "Nobody would be interested in these kinds of documents other than a competitor," Shields said. "In my opinion, looking at what the hackers went after, it is likely these documents made it to Huawei." That seemingly ancient history is newly relevant, as U.S. officials argue that incorporating Huawei gear into U.S. carriers' 5G networks poses a significant spying risk. At an industry conference in Barcelona in February, U.S. officials urged allies in bilateral meetings not to use Huawei equipment over concerns that it could enable eavesdropping by authoritarian regimes. U.S. partners largely acknowledge the risk but have asked for more concrete evidence to back up the case. "The Europeans really keep pushing for this concept of, 'Where's the smoking gun?' " said a person familiar with the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak more freely about the closed-door meetings. "They say, 'Hey, we don't want security threats either ... but you can't just come in here and tell us that there is a unity of interest between Beijing and Huawei and have that be the end of your presentation.' " Some analysts say that in a previous era, America's allies might have been more sympathetic to the Trump administration's message. But Trump's conduct, they say - berating NATO allies, canceling a visit to a World War I memorial because of rain, calling Europe a "foe" on trade - has not helped. "In a world where the U.S. had more soft power," Entner said, "I'm pretty sure the Europeans would be a lot more receptive." Aboitiz Power Corp. said Wednesday it secured a $300-million loan from four foreign banks to partly finance the acquisition of AA Thermal Inc.s coal assets worth $579.2 million. Aboitiz Power signed a facility agreement with DBS Bank Ltd., Mizuho Bank Ltd., MUFG Bank Ltd., and Standard Chartered Bank to obtain an acquisition loan in the amount of up to $300 million, the company said. It said the proceeds of the loan would be used to partially finance the acquisition by Aboitiz Power of a 49-percent voting stake and 60-percent economic stake in AA Thermal Inc., the coal arm of AC Energy Inc. of the Ayala Group. The board of Aboitiz Power approved in January the issuance of up to P16.8-billion fixed-rate retail bonds by the second half of the year, representing the third tranche bonds of the P30-billion bonds registered in 2017 under the shelf registration program of the Securities Exchange Commission. The company issued the first tranche out of the shelf-registered bonds on July 3, 2017 worth P3 billion, and the second tranche on Oct. 25, 2018 amounting to P10.2 billion. Aboitiz Power said it would use the proceeds from the bonds to finance planned acquisitions, future investments and/or other corporate requirements.Aboitiz Power and Arlington Mariveles Netherlands Holding B.V., an affiliate of AC Energy signed a share purchase agreement on Sept. 26, 2018 for the acquisition value at $579.2 million (P31.4 billion). The AA Thermal platform acquired by Aboitiz Power initially consisted of AC Energys limited partnership interests in GNPower Mariveles Coal Plant Ltd. Co., the owner and operator of the operating 632-MW coal plant in Mariveles, Bataan and in GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co., the developer and owner of a 1,336-MW supercritical coal plant project in Dinginin, Bataan which is currently under construction. Once completed, the acquisition will increase Aboitiz Powers ownership in the Mariveles coal plant to 78.325 percent and in the Dinginin coal plant project to 70 percent. The Mariveles coal plant has been operating since 2013 while the first unit of the Dinginin coal plant project is scheduled to go online this year. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Calistoga police pursued a driver who was eventually arrested in St. Helena after a high-speed chase down Highway 29. Officers subdued and arrested Charlene Wignall, 53, of St. Helena, for investigation of felony of evading police officers, and additionally charged her with suspicion of driving under the influence, and in violation of a restraining order. Calistoga police positioned at the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Foothill Boulevard observed a white pickup truck speeding in the downtown area of Calistoga, and then making a left turn on Highway 29 toward St. Helena. Calistoga police attempted to make a vehicle stop and the driver failed to pull over. Police pursued the vehicle, which at times drifted onto the wrong side of the road, crossing over the double yellow lines on the highway, according to Calistoga police. Police pursued the vehicle as the driver refused to pull over, speeding at times up to 90 mph. Once in St. Helena, the truck turned right onto Grayson Avenue, drove past the high school and through a vineyard private property in the 400 block of Crane Avenue. The driver finally stopped at Bella Vista Court. Wignall parked the truck, fled on foot and was pursued by Calistoga and St. Helena police officers, who subdued, handcuffed, and brought her into custody. Records further revealed Wignall has a restraining order to keep away from several of the private properties on Crane Avenue and Vallejo Street she had driven through to reach the residence on Bella Vista Court. Wignall was released Tuesday afternoon on $50,000 bail. You can reach Cynthia Sweeney at csweeney@weeklycalistogan.com or 942-4035. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The City of St. Helena and Napa County are planning two fairs with one purpose: Preparing for the next emergency. The first will be 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, April13 and the second is 6-8 p.m., Tuesday, May 21. Both will be held at the St. Helena Fire Department, 1480 Main St. in St. Helena. Please RSVP to bit.ly/april13fair and bit.ly/may21fair. For more information call 968-2742 or 253-4421. What's it like to win a role in "The Nutcracker"? Young dancers from the Napa Regional Dance talk about returning to the stage this year after last year's show was cancelled by COVID-19. John Neumeiers provocative adaptation of Hans Christian Andersens The Little Mermaid returns to San Francisco Ballet April 1928 at San Francisco War Memorial Opera House. American-born Neumeier, who has been the director and chief choreographer of Hamburg Ballet since 1973, uses his own set, costume, and lighting designs for the ballet, which features an original score by Lera Auerbach. Renowned thereminist Carolina Eyck performs with the Grammy Award-winning San Francisco Ballet Orchestra for the run of the production. The Little Mermaid was created for The Royal Danish Ballet in 2005 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Andersens birth. It received its U.S. premiere at San Francisco Ballet in 2010 and was last seen with the Company the following year. Like Andersens original story, Neumeiers ballet narrates the journey of a young woman who sacrifices everything companionship, physical ability, and identity to pursue the one she loves. A work of theater as well as ballet, the work demands dramatic intensity from each of its characters: the Mermaid, who is violently stripped of her tail; the Poet, in whom Andersens own sexuality is manifested (the character longs for the Prince, just like the Mermaid); the wicked Sea Witch, who casts the Mermaids every step to feel as if [she] were treading upon sharp knivesthat the blood must flow; and the handsome Prince, whose unrequited love for the Mermaid gives rise to the psychological warfare on display. Neumeiers own production result in a striking display of underwater and terrestrial worlds; Japans historic Noh theater inspired Neumeiers painted, mask-like faces, and the Mermaids tail swims with help from flanks of silk draped around the ballerinas leg, a reference to the wide-legged trousers of medieval Japan. Russian-American composer Lera Auerbachs original score gives voice to the Mermaid by way of the electronic theremin, and San Francisco Ballets 2019 performances return world-renowned thereminist Carolina Eyck, who recently made history as the first person to play the instrument in NPR Musics Tiny Desk Concert, to the orchestra pit. When playing the theremin there is always a symbiosis of self-control and freedom, Eyck says. You have to sit absolutely still to play a single note in tune, but at the same time you are conducting air and feel the power of music in your hands. If you can control your movements precisely you will hear a delicate, touching melody. In the music by Lera Auerbach, this is the voice of the Little Mermaid, singing about her freedom and the price she has to pay for it. Additional information, including program notes and synopsis, is available on San Francisco Ballets website in its Discovery section. Meet the Artist pre- and post-performance interviews occur on April 19, 27, and 28. Pointes of View lecture with dance educator Mary Wood is April 24 at 6 p.m. Susan Segal will be speaker for the Remarkable Journeys program at the Napa Main Library on April 18 at 7 p.m. Segal will be showing images and describing a trip she made to Antigua, Guatemala during Holy Week. The presentation will be in the conference room of the Napa Library at 580 Coombs St. All are welcome for this free evening of culture and discussion. "In 1992 I went on a journey to Antiqua, Guatemala with some friends to experience Holy Week," said Segal. An advertising executive at the time, she traveled with four friends to photograph Semana Santa (Good Friday) and experience the way Antiqua portrays the event of Jesus Christ going to his crucifixion. The procession moves over on elaborate carpets natural materials "that we all made in the wee hours of the morning," she said. "We were there for 10 days living with the locals, thanks to one of my traveling buddies, Jim, whose mother Anita had been living there for a number of years. I experienced the culture and the beautiful people firsthand. "Every corner I turned was another photo opportunity. I photographed everything and everybody I saw as my friends and I walked down the cobblestone streets. As a person who was raised Jewish, to be in this mountain town during Holy Week, with a predominately Catholic population, to experience first hand how the churches created a somber yet visually colorful displays of this religious time in history was an experience that I have never forgotten." Some 27 years later, for the first time, her photographs will be on displayed in the Napa Library during April in the main room. For some of those living near a bed-and-breakfast inn at a 19th-century Napa mansion, the idea of more guests is a step too far. Homeowners seeking to block the addition of bedrooms to the Cedar Gables Inn took their case to the citys Planning Commission, resisting what they called the intrusion of a de facto hotel into a historic district already brimming with B&Bs. Planners, largely sympathizing with the opponents, indicated they were unlikely to support the project, which would remodel the interior to create 15 rooms instead of the current nine. The commission unanimously voted to instruct city staff to write findings that would support a denial of the project, which would create additional guest space by subdividing two bedrooms, an attic, and an unused breakfast room and tavern. Although Napas land-use authority held off on scheduling a final decision, the debate pointed to a possible shift in attitudes toward B&Bs that have helped preserve homes from the citys early years but that skeptics said risk eroding the residential character of one of the citys oldest neighborhoods, the Napa Abajo-Fuller Park district. Fifteen rooms is a hotel, and on that footprint, its clearly a situation where the owner is trying to fit a size-15 foot into a size-9 shoe. Thats as many as 30 people coming and going on a consistent basis, said Lon Gallagher, one of several neighborhood residents to speak out against an expansion they predicted would worsen parking shortages and crowding in the area. The application from Eriksson Hotel Group calls for eight parking spaces on the property using tandem spaces to hold two more vehicles than currently with the use of eight curbside spaces.) Kathleen Wolf also decried the spread of hotel-like operations into Old Town not only through inns but through ubiquitous online listings for in-home overnight rentals, many of them unlicensed by the city. A residential neighborhood that is no longer residential loses its character and Im very concerned with that, she told planners last week. Im fourth-generation, I live in my great-grandmothers house, and growing up we knew everybody, and now we dont. Such worries resonated with planners who drew a distinction between allowing new inns to open in distressed properties to help prevent their demolition as with the Thomas Earl House on Seminary Street, whose owner plans to convert into a group retreat center and allowing existing inns to attract more guests. Im not one to discourage someone from making valuable use of land, (but) the application puts a great social cost on the integrity of the neighborhood due to the concentration of bed-and-breakfasts in the surrounding area, said Commissioner Alex Myers. Cedar Gables operates inside the Edward Wilder Churchill House, a shingled mansion at Coombs and Oak streets that was built in 1895 and later served as a boarding house, nurses housing and a luxury spa before opening as a B&B in 1993. The property is owned by Abhilash (John) Patel and his wife Maria Eriksson. Amid concerns of a saturation point for mansions-turned-inns, Commissioner Paul Kelley suggested Napa leaders eventually could replace the citys ordinance allowing new B&Bs with a policy encouraging the conversion of such historic homes into boarding houses instead. I think that in itself would instill more of a neighborhood feel, he said. You would know your neighbor and it would give the opportunity for younger folks growing up to have single occupancy rooms, and owners would still be able to rent out rooms. It would just be a different model; it would be a long-term rental situation instead of a transient one. This story has been modified since the original posting to correct the name of Eriksson Hotel Group. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. One path will be easier to follow than two for local homeowners looking to add small dwellings to their property. Napas city Planning Commission has approved a streamlined permit process meant to encourage more residents to build accessory housing units, commonly nicknamed granny or in-law units. Under the ordinance, most applicants would no longer have to pursue separate permits for plans and building, a process in which many city staff members must review the same application twice. Instead, add-on housing in garages, outbuildings and spare bedrooms will be cleared with a single permit with which homeowners can break ground and start work. The ordinance also lifts a 50 percent limit on the amount by which an accessory dwelling can increase the total floor space of a property, although Napas cap of 1,200 square feet on residential add-on units remains. Certain housing add-ons will continue to require dual permits, including dwellings that are taller than 15 feet, closer than 3 feet to a property line, or on the grounds of a home listed as a historic resource. Although Napa has seen an increasing number of applications to create add-on housing increasing from 11 in 2015 to 44 last year, with 21 approvals removing further roadblocks has remained a top priority for city officials who see junior units as potentially a simpler and cheaper way to open up a constricted, costly housing supply compared to new multifamily projects. We realize these processes are duplicative, senior planner Michael Walker told the commission in December. In the current system, applicants typically wait one to two months for an administrative permit, followed by two to three months for a building permit. Every saving in permit costs and time spent is especially valuable for small-footprint housing like accessory dwellings, said Commissioner Paul Kelley, a Napa architect. People think tiny house, tiny cost, but the problem is that as you reduce its (size), you have something smaller that you still have to put all the costs in for this permit and that permit, and this study and that report, he said last week, pointing to California construction and energy efficiency rules that apply equally to small homes as well as large ones. So what it does is drive the cost per square foot way up. One part-time Napan praised the straighter path toward second units but asked the city to consider further aids to homeowners, such as offering free design templates residents can use to save time in applying for their permits a service offered by cities such as Encinitas in San Diego County. A lot of these things could really speed up, said Colleen Dodge, who plans an eventual permanent move to Napa from Orange County. Theres always going to be outliers but for 75 percent of the people, those sort of opportunities would be great. Were in for close to $15,000 or $20,000 before we know whether we can do it, and theres a lot of ways that can be reduced significantly. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Ross Douthats Sunday column in the New York Times, about the cultural acme that was 1999, is well worth reading. Douthat mostly focuses on the cultural side of the equation, but this paragraph stood out: If you were born around 1980, you grew up in a space happily betweenbetween eras of existential threat (Cold War/War on Terror, or Cold War/climate change), between foreign policy debacles (Vietnam/Iraq), between epidemics (crack and AIDS/opioids and suicide), and between two different periods of economic stagnation (the 70s and early Aughts). If you were born later, you experienced slow growth followed by financial crisis followed by a recovery thats only lately returned us to the median-income and unemployment stats of . . . 1999. I am more than a decade older than Douthat, who is 39, but what caught my eye reading his column was the between eras of existential threat. I have wondered for a while now about whether age cohorts fashion common foreign policy worldviews because of their shared formative experiences. For Generation Xers like myself who are used to ironic detachment, there is an oddity about my age cohorts formative policy experiences. They all happened in the time between the late 1980s and late 1990s, which was an idyllic decade for American foreign policy. Consider the state of the world when that decade started. A wave of democratization that had begun in Southern Europe had spread to Latin America, East Asia, and Eastern Europe. The Warsaw Pact had disintegrated, peacefully. Nelson Mandela had been freed in South Africa and apartheid rule was clearly going to end. Just as these countries were embracing democracy, they were also pivoting toward more open economies. The underlying trends seemed awfully darn favorable to the United States. U.S. foreign policy during the 1990s proceeded on two tracks. The first consisted of efforts to lock in and expand the set of Cold War institutions erected by the West. The World Trade Organization was being negotiated into existence. Membership in bodies like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank expanded to include countries that had avoided them because of outdated ideologies. Containment was replaced as a grand strategy by reintegration. The second track was to focus aspects of U.S. hard power on the more resistant parts of the globe. The United States built a broad-based multilateral coalition to eject Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. To be sure, the U.N. intervention in Somalia did not work out, nor did the nonintervention in Rwanda. U.S.-led interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo seemed messy at first but successful in the main, however. Those interventions were quick enough to avoid the quagmire label. Similarly, the United States stepped up to coordinate global responses to the Mexican peso crisis and Asian financial crisis So, to sum up, the world seemed to be trending in Americas direction, and U.S. active interventions to change the world seemed be yielding results. Of course, what seemed like victories at the time created problems that would surface in the 21st century. One could argue that the U.S. intervention in Kosovo, far more than NATO expansion, was the start of worsening relations with Russia. The Asian financial crisis convinced Pacific Rim economies to start self-insuring against a financial crisis so they would never have to go to the IMF again. This triggered the start of macroeconomic imbalances that led to the 2008 financial crisis. More importantly, the successful military interventions of the 1990s contributed to the forever wars of the 2000s. The kinetic phases of those interventions were quick enough to convince policymakers and pundits that military interventions could be fast, furious and finite. Afghanistan and Iraq have played out quite differently. Even more importantly, the perception that the arc of history was bending in all the best ways proved to be unfounded. As Jacob Levy noted recently in Vox, there is no arc of history, not really: There is moral improvement over some time spans, in some places: the fall of Jim Crow or of communism in Eastern Europe. But those arent the verdict of history or the historical revelation of moral truth, any more than the return of measles or of neo-Nazis represents the verdict of history. Neither decade since the 1990s has been especially pleasant. One can hope that if we ever have a decade like the 1990s again, we do not take it for granted. The 1990s allowed many in my generation to believe that the wind was at our backs when it came to Americas place in the world. It has taken a few decades of head winds for me to realize the folly of that conviction. Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a regular contributor to the Washington Posts PostEverything. President Donald Trump overhauled the Department of Homeland Security this week, ousting - among others - the department's head, Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. The changes Trump is making appear to stem from his ongoing frustration about the number of migrants seeking entry into the United States, a surge in recent months that Nielsen was unable to address. His frustration, though, isn't just about the number of migrants arriving at the border. It's also that many or most of those migrants are seeking asylum in the United States, a request that carries with it certain legal protections. Often, those protections mean that the migrants then get to stay in the United States for months or years. With the administration's renewed focus on the issue, it's worth walking through how the process works, where increases in applicants have been seen and what comes next in the eyes of the law - and in the eyes of the president. The immediate source of Trump's frustration is the increase in migrants arriving at the border with Mexico. When Trump first took office, the number of migrants dropped and so, therefore, did the number of migrants being apprehended at the border, a drop that Trump celebrated as a validation of his policies. The recent increase has largely been a function of families arriving at the border, migrants categorized by the government as members of family units. Most of the other migrants who arrive are single adults, though there are also minors who arrive at the border by themselves. (In 2014, a surge in these unaccompanied minors from Central American countries spurred another panic over migration.) This increase was the target of the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy that then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced last year. That policy involved mandating detention for those entering the country illegally which, then, meant separating children from their parents on arrival at the border. This was apparently part of the goal; multiple administration officials said they hoped the policy would deter migrants from coming to the United States. Why did the children have to be separated? Because of a 1997 settlement in a class-action lawsuit by a group of unaccompanied minors, Flores v. Reno. It established guidelines for how minor migrants would be detained, including limiting the detention period and type of detention facility. Among the changes Trump wants to make to immigration policy, according to Axios, is to loosen those constraints. The number of migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. has increased in recent years, as data from the Department of Justice show. There are two types of application - one granted by Citizenship and Immigration Services, called "affirmative," and one made by a migrant otherwise facing deportation, "defensive." The spike has largely been in the number of defensive applications. As The Post reported in 2018, to seek asylum in the United States, a migrant has to actually be on U.S. soil. So migrants enter the country either by crossing the border between established border checkpoints - an illegal crossing - or by showing up at one of those checkpoints, called a port of entry. Then, they announce their intent to seek asylum. The long-standing image of migrants entering illegally to surreptitiously make their way further into the country is somewhat outdated; now, migrants often turn themselves in immediately. Since asylum is predicated on the idea that a migrant is at risk in his or her home country, the government will conduct a "credible fear" interview after an asylum claim. That interview involves questions meant to determine the likelihood that a migrant actually faces a risk if returned to their home country. It's a screening process, with a relatively low bar to allow the asylum process to move forward, requiring a 10 percent chance that the migrant would face persecution. (In some cases, smugglers give migrants language to use to ensure that the interview is passed.) In about three-quarters of interviews, a credible fear is established. This is another point at which the administration reportedly hopes to make a change, according to Axios: to raise that bar and, therefore, to turn more migrants away at the outset. Last year, the administration also scaled back the rationales that can be used. If the migrant passes the credible fear interview, they are slotted for a hearing to determine whether they should be granted asylum over the long term. The rise in asylum claims has led to a massive backlog in the number of cases waiting to be heard in immigration court. According to TRAC at Syracuse University, that backlog now exceeds 822,000 cases. Some migrants are detained until those hearings. Under the Flores agreement, though, children can only be held for a few weeks. The average wait for a case to be heard? Nearly two years. So, with administration no longer separating children from their parents, keeping the parent in custody while shipping the child to a foster home, the government instead releases the entire family into the U.S. until that hearing takes place. Contrary to Trump's rhetoric, historic data suggest that most of those released before their immigration hearings actually do show up as scheduled. In recent years, those decisions have gone more heavily against the asylum seekers. Since Trump took office, an average of 64 percent of decisions each month deny asylum for a migrant. In the last two years of former president Barack Obama's second term, about 53 percent were denied. When Trump has alternately called for more immigration judges or for judges to be removed, he appears to have been focused on this process and the ongoing backlog: to add more judges to the mix to hear cases faster or to, in his ideal world, remove judges from the process entirely by reforming the asylum process. Hearing cases faster would generally mean removing many migrants from the country faster. Those whose asylum appeals are denied are scheduled for removal from the country. With the surge in denied asylum claims has come a surge in removal orders. More of those removal orders have been issued in absentia - ordered by the judge without the migrant in attendance at the hearing. Few of those, however, are cases in which the process began with an approved credible-fear claim, according to Justice Department data. It's worth again addressing Trump's assertions about the effect of migration on the United States. He claimed Friday that the "system is full," apparently referring to the asylum process and the immigration system. But he went further, claiming that the "country is full" - which is neither literally nor figuratively true. In fact, Census Bureau data released last December showed that, since 2010, net immigration from outside the U.S. increased in every state by 2018. But more importantly, that increase in migrants from outside the U.S. was the only reason that the population in nine states, mostly in the Northeast, increased at all. In three states, the population declined even with that migration. Trump's focus on immigration centers on the border and migrants seeking asylum. The national picture on immigration includes much more nuance, including that more new immigrants to the U.S. are Asian than Hispanic. The president's rhetoric about the threat at the border, though, helped him win the Republican nomination and the presidency in 2016. Part of his objection to what's happening at the border is clearly rooted in the same prioritization that made him focus on migration from Mexico when he announced his candidacy in 2015. Philip Bump is a correspondent for The Washington Post based in New York. Before joining The Post in 2014, he led politics coverage for the Atlantic Wire. San Francisco, Agusan del SurDavao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpios Facebook account has been purged for good, a claim denied by the social networking site. Sara, daughter of President Rodrigo Duterte, disclosed this one week after she said she had been temporarily locked out of her Facebook account. Yes, I no longer have access to my Facebook account. My friends also tell me they cannot access me on my account, Carpio said. But she said she would not appeal to Facebook, adding Facebook was not a public property and therefore the site could do anything in connection with their business. Carpio, who uses photo-sharing app Instagram regulary, said she was not splitting hairs over the issue since creating a new account is always an option.Facebook, in a statement on Wednesday, said Carpios account was placed under security checkpoint due to possible hacking. The account was placed on a security checkpoint after our systems detected suspicious attempts to gain access to her account. We are helping Mayor Sara Duterte regain access to her account on Facebook, Facebook said in a statement. In a separate Facebook post, Jefry Tupas who serves as Davao City Information Officer, confirmed Facebooks denial it purged Saras account and said that their camp was assured by Facebook that steps taken on Saras account has nothing to do with the takedowns we conducted last week. Tupas was referring to the incident last March where at least 200 accounts associated with Nic Gabunada were taken down by Facebook due to their use of network of fake accounts to mislead people. Dollar still falls noticeably in Armenia Turkish opposition member insists that Erdogan has decided to go to snap elections Legislature vice-speaker from opposition: Secret agreements can lead to new capitulation of Armenia Brother of North Korea's founder Kim dies at 101 Artsakh ombudsman: Azerbaijan does not allow Taghavard village residents to visit their community cemetery Armenia opposition MP: People have collective will to not let Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem implement idea of corridor Armenia parliament to convene special session tomorrow Armenia opposition 'With Honor' Faction head summoned to National Security Service, interviewed as witness Opposition 'Armenia' Faction head: No need to be afraid of Turkey and Azerbaijan, but there are risks and dangers Armenia justice minister tells CoE Secretary General about violations of international law against Armenian POWs Paylan to Turkeys Cavusoglu: An Armenian minister was sitting on your chair 110 years ago Armenia ex-defense minister shows up at Prosecutor General's Office within scope of civil forfeiture of illegal assets Macron, Putin discuss avenues to resolve Karabakh conflict Kopirkin: Russia, Armenia have very major cooperation within EEU Armenia, Moldova leaders underscore developing of bilateral economic ties Armenia ruling majority obstructs parliament special session initiated by opposition faction Blinken: We welcome statements on appointing special envoys by Armenia, Turkey Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders hold private talk as well in Brussels Azerbaijan president refuses to discuss Artsakh status issue USCIRF: Armenian church demolished in Turkey, Armenian cemetery in Van destroyed this year Yerevan hosting 7th annual session of Eurasian Expert Club 212 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Russia peacekeepers ensure safe conduct of agricultural work in Karabakh Artsakh FM: Azerbaijan's corridor for corridor approach is fraught with serious challenges for Russia, Europe Newspaper: Crimes increase in Armenia Newspaper: Armenia government underperforms grants European Council chief: EU will provide expert mission/consultative group to help border delimitation, demarcation Charles Michel: It was agreed to proceed with restoration of railway lines Armenias Pashinyan: We reaffirmed with Azerbaijan president agreement on restoration of railway Armenia delegation thwarts Azerbaijan anti-Armenian event at session of UN Convention against Corruption Armenia Parliament Deputy Speaker receives Matthias Luttenberg Newspaper: 3 sections of highway to Armenia's Voskepar will be on Azerbaijani border, alternative roads to be built Yerevan court examining National Security Service's motion to arrest opposition 'Armenia' Alliance member Karabakh State Minister: Lachin corridor can't be under any kind of control of Azerbaijan Armenia President sends congratulatory message to Iran's Ebrahim Raisi on occasion of his birthday Pashinyan-Michel-Aliyev meeting kicks off in Brussels Armenia Ombudsman: We visited Armenian soldiers arrested after returning from Azerbaijani captivity Israel, Azerbaijan hold security forces drill Armenia justice minister discusses subjecting judges to disciplinary liability with Venice Commission President Armenia's Pashinyan: Azerbaijan is trying to bring opening of regional communications to a standstill Aliyev declares that checkpoint regimes of Zangezur and Lachin corridors need to match Armenia's Pashinyan, Charles Michel express hope for effective meeting with Aliyev (PHOTOS) Earthquake hits 2 km northeast from Armenia's Shorzha, felt in Gegharkunik, Kotayk and Tavush Provinces Stoltenberg declares NATO neutrality towards Armenia and Azerbaijan Aliyev and European Council head speak on normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia Putin, Macron discuss Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, results of trilateral meeting in Sochi Armenia justice minister attending conference with counterparts of CoE member states in Venice Armenia's Pashinyan meets with European Council President in Brussels NEWS.am daily digest: 14.12.21 Armenia Central Bank head on coronavirus vaccinations Georgia to build road leading to border with Azerbaijan Armenia Central Bank chief presents forecasts for economic growth in 2021 and 2022 Armenia Parliament Speaker receives Kazakhstan Ambassador Azerbaijan opens new military unit on border with Armenia TNI: Can Armenia and Azerbaijan settle differences at Eastern Partnership Summit? Armenia Central Bank: National currency increasing in value Armenia ex-FM on Pashinyan-Aliyev meeting in Brussels Central Bank chief: 12-month normal inflation in Armenia has increased to 8.4% Meeting of Charles Michel and Ilham Aliyev is taking place in Brussels Dollar drops considerably in Armenia Ruling force MP: Establishing diplomatic relations with Turkey is in Armenia's state interests Armenia ex-foreign minister: Current objective of Co-Chairs of Minsk Group is to prove their viability Armenia PM arrives in Brussels, to hold meetings with Charles Michel, Ilham Aliyev and European counterparts Lawyer: Opposition Armenia Bloc member detained Armenia ruling party MP fails to answer question about price to pay for normalization of ties with Turkey Bloomberg: Turkey attempting to normalize Armenia relations to please Biden Armenia Prosecutor General's Office files cassation appeal under case of Robert Kocharyan and other ex-officials Turkey companies begin taking over Azerbaijan-occupied territories of Artsakh Armenia ruling power MP questions role of former commander of Russia peacekeepers in Artsakh in releasing of captives Opposition MP: Armenia still on Turkey-Azerbaijan agenda Armenian advocate: Decision is rendered to detain NGO head and member of 'Armenia' Alliance Armenia President, EU ambassador confer on regional security Fellow soldier arrested for killing Armenia serviceman, wounding 2 others Armenia high tech minister, Estonia envoy discuss several opportunities for cooperation Man, 42, kills his mother, 77, in Armenias Kapan 1 more person dies of coronavirus in Karabakh Armenia Central Bank raises refinancing rate by 0.5 percentage point Armenia parliament majority to reserve right to elect deputy chair of one of committees Armenia ex-President Kocharyan, former deputy PM now MP Gevorgyan case court hearing rescheduled again Armenia NGO head detained 161 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Pilgrims, Artsakh residents visit Amaras Monastery, with Russia peacekeepers assistance MFA spokesman: Armenia also will appoint special representative for dialogue with Turkey Armenia PM heads for Brussels on working visit Newspaper: Armenia authorities develop mechanisms to suppress, recruit Newspaper: Armenia PM Pashinyan wants to become President with absolute power Armenia famous singer turns herself in to police Ex-deputy PM Avinyan: Armenian National Airlines CJSC is registered Australia and South Korea sign $680,000,000-dollar defense deal US, North Korea, South Korea and China agree to end Korean War Turkish FM: Armenia and Turkey will designate special envoys to discuss normalization of relations Why did the police summon Armenia ex-MP Ruben Hakobyan? Yerevan Municipality spokesperson: Director of city's bus operating company resigns Lukashenko thanks Erdogan for Turkey's principled stance on Belarus Russian and Iranian FMs discuss JCPOA situation NATO Secretary General to meet with Aliyev Turkish man arrested for throwing Erdogan's portrait on the ground Tractor that remained in Karabakh's Amaras after Azerbaijani shootings removed through Russian mediation Georgia MFA is discontent with showing of Georgian national flag at '3+3' regional format meeting in Moscow Armenia PM's Chief of Staff, France Ambassador discuss strengthening of trade-economic relations STEPANAKERT. The Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic/NKR) and Azerbaijan can jointly use the resources Sarsang Reservoir. The chairman of Free Homeland party of Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan, noted about the aforementioned in a statement. As per Harutyunyan, the development of humanitarian cooperation can be a good basis for a stable and lasting peace. In order to establish stability and lasting peace in the region, Chairman of Free Homeland party Arayik Harutyunyan has made public suggestions, which are presented below: We have already expressed the position of Free Homeland Party on the first official meeting between the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. We have especially welcomed the importance of the maintenance of the ceasefire regime and the humanitarian cooperation between the opposing forces. Surely, we continue to be convinced and insist that negotiations can be successful if the official Stepanakert is involved in the negotiations. As Head of Artsakhs leading political force, that is interested in a peaceful and fair settlement of the conflict and the establishment of stability and lasting peace in the region, I would like to present publicly two proposals on humanitarian cooperation, which can be discussed, for example, during the upcoming meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan. First, the airspace of Artsakh must be open for international flights. In this context, we highlight the re-launch of the Stepanakert airport, which will also enable the realization of fundamental human rights, especially the right to freedom of movement. I am convinced that in that case, the regional communication capabilities will be expanded, and the Artsakh armed forces will ensure the safety of our airspace. Secondly, the water resources of Sarsang reservoir can be used jointly by Artsakh and Azerbaijan. In case of consent, thousands of hectares of irrigated lands of Artsakh and Azerbaijan border regions will be irrigated by raising the living standards of the population living in those areas. I would like to mention that in due time the authorities of the Republic of Azerbaijan had rejected the proposals made by Artsakh authorities through the International Committee of the Red Cross and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. As a result, we have developed an alternative program for Sarsang water use, but once again we express our readiness for mutually beneficial and humanitarian cooperation. A mayor in Cebu who is facing graft charges for alleged falsification of restaurant receipts has been suspended for 90 days by the Sandiganbayan. Mayor Efren Gica of Dumanjug, Cebu, was ordered by the anti-graft courts Fourth Division on Wednesday to cease and desist from performing and/or exercising the functions and duties, as well as receiving and/or enjoying the salaries, benefits and privileges of his current public position. The Department of the Interior and Local Government was ordered to implement the suspension order. During his arraignment on Jan. 23, Gica pleaded not guilty. During the same hearing, the court ordered him to explain why he should not be preventively suspended. However, Gica failed to submit an explanation within the given period of 10 days. Gica failed to file any answer to such Order despite the period of time given for him to do so; thus, the subject Informations are deemed valid... The Court holds that the suspension pendente lite [during litigation] on Gica for a period of 90 days is proper, the courts resolution read.The Sandiganbayan explained that the 90-day preventive suspension for government officials facing graft charges is mandatory under Section 13 of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. Earlier the Ombudsman charged Gica with one count each of malversation of public funds and graft, and three counts of falsification of public documents. The Ombudsman alleged at in 2014 Gica, who was the vice mayor at the time, bloated restaurant receipts by P10,000 for his personal benefit. It was alleged that the original amount spent for the meals of attendees of a barangay assembly amounted to P11,435, but Gica secured a refund of P21,435. WASHINGTONSenate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Democrat Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and former presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced Armenian Genocide legislation Tuesday reaffirming proper U.S. recognition and remembrance of this crime and rejecting U.S. complicity in its denial, reported the Armenian National Committee of America. Senators Menendez and Cruz were joined as sponsors by 14 Senate colleagues, including Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Edward Markey (D-MA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Tom Udall (D-NM), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR). We want to thank Senators Menendez and Cruz for taking aim directly at U.S. complicity in Turkeys denial of the Armenian Genocide, said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. Their bipartisan resolution would end once and for all a foreign gag-order that has, for nearly a century, compromised our nations independence and governments credibility on issues of human rights, religious freedom, and atrocities prevention. As we near the anniversary of Armenian Remembrance Day, one of the darkest events in human history, I am proud to lead this effort to formally recognize the Armenian Genocide on behalf of the U.S. Congress. The Armenian genocide is a historical fact and not up for debate, said Senator Menendez. Only by accurately recognizing this genocide of the past can we ever hope to move forward in a legitimate and effective manner to meet the challenge of preventing mass atrocities and genocide in the future. With this resolution, we honor the millions of victims of this genocide, remember how they died and pledge that history accurately remember their deaths. We must never be silent in response to atrocities. Over one hundred years ago, the world was silent as the Armenian people suffered a horrific genocide, and today many are still unaware of it, said Senator Cruz. I am proud to join Sen. Menendez and my colleagues today in introducing this resolution. May the terrors of those events awaken in us the courage to always stand for freedom against evil. Earlier in the day, His Eminence Archbishop Anoushavan Tanielian, Prelate of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Eastern U.S. joined ANCA leaders, including Raffi Hamparian, Ani Tchaghlasian, and George Aghjayan, met with Senators Menendez and Cruz during a full day of Capitol Hill meetings and thanked them for their leadership in securing a principled U.S. policy on the Armenian Genocide. The measure, introduced as Congress prepared for the annual Capitol Hill Armenian Genocide Observance, is the companion to the Armenian Genocide Resolution introduced yesterday by House Select Committee on Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), which had over 75 original cosponsors. The Armenian Genocide Resolution notes that the U.S. has, as early as 1951, officially recognized the Armenian Genocide through a filing with the International Court of Justice, followed by House legislation adopted in 1975, and 1984 and President Ronald Reagans Proclamation in 1984. The resolution resolves that it is the policy of the United States to commemorate the Armenian Genocide through official recognition and remembrance; to reject efforts to enlist, engage, or otherwise associate the U.S. Government with denial of the Armenian Genocide or any other genocide; and to encourage education and public understanding of the facts of the Armenian Genocide, including the U.S. role in the humanitarian relief effort, and the relevance of the Armenian Genocide to modern-day crimes against humanity. STEPANAKERT. The Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic/NKR) Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman), Artak Beglaryan, has issued a statement on the 27th anniversary of the Maragha Massacre. The subsequent manifestation of Armenophobia and genocidal policy towards the Armenians took place on the April 10th, 1992, when the Azerbaijani armed forces carried out massacres in Maragha village of Martakert region, the statement reads. In the morning of the April 10th, shelling of the village started, and then the Azerbaijani troops entered Maragha. The majority of the population managed to leave the village, and those who did not succeed became victims of the atrocities of the Azerbaijani armed forces. When the Armenian forces liberated the village on the next day, they discovered many mutilated bodies of Armenian civilians. According to various data, more than 57 civilians were killed in Maragha and over 60 were captured, of which 9 were children and 29 were women. Baroness Caroline Cox, former vice speaker of the UK House of Lords, describes what happened in Maragha. What we have seen is not descriptive. The village was completely destroyed. People were burying dead bodies which had been tortured, burned, cut or shaved. Some were buried on the previous day. We took them out to shoot, though we understood how grave it was for Armenians. What was filmed in Maragha on those days testifies to the terrible massacre that took place there - beheaded and slaughtered corpses, bodies of children, body parts and bloody soil where they had been mowed. We saw bloody pliers by which they had committed the crimes. After killing the villagers Azerbaijanis plundered and burnt the village. Like in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad, Maragha and other settlements, as well as during the entire Azerbaijani-Karabakh war, Azerbaijan continued the policy of ethnic cleansing of Armenians, according to our analysis, which is in full compliance with the legal formulation of the genocide perpetrated under the UN 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Moreover, our research shows that apart from the depatriation of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijani Armenians, their rights to property and free movement, among others, have also been violated on a continuous basis. Many of these Armenians still bear the physical, psychological and material consequences of that policy. Those committed crimes have not received relevant legal assessment and have remained unpunished, which led to the implementation of the official anti-Armenian hatred policy pursued by the Republic of Azerbaijan. The victims of that policy are not only Azerbaijani Armenians and the population of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), but also all Armenians worldwide, as well as foreigners visiting Artsakh. As a reminder, the Artsakh Republic Human Rights Ombudsman published a special report in 2018 on the Azerbaijani anti-Armenian hatred policy, presenting concrete examples of its manifestation and relevant international law analysis. An active stage of manifestation of Armenophobia in the Azerbaijani society was also recorded in April 2016 - during the large-scale attack of Azerbaijan on Artsakh. The Human Rights Ombudsman, within the framework of his fact-finding mission, presented a report in 2016 on killings, beheadings, tortures and other cases of war crimes and human rights violations against civilians and military servicemen of Artsakh. It is noteworthy that the Azerbaijani servicemen, who have committed such crimes, were later rewarded and encouraged by the Azerbaijani authorities. The Ombudsman urges the international community to give a proper legal assessment to the 1992 April massacres in Maragha, in accordance with the fundamental principles and norms of international law, as well as to take action to end the ongoing anti-Armenian hatred policy. This path of racial hatred not only contradicts the well-known principles of international law, but also takes the two peoples away from conflict resolution and lasting peace. The Commission on Elections is all set for the conduct of the 30-day absentee voting for the 2019 midterm elections that starts on April 13 and ends on election day on May 13. The Comelec has already coordinated with the Department of Foreign Affairs for the event. The Palace said the political opposition could do their worst against the Duterte administration but assured the public it would do its best to counter the black propaganda against it. Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo made the remark after former presidential top aide and senatorial candidate Christopher Go rejected the allegations he is involved in illegal drugs. Weve been saying all along that that was black propaganda. There are people who believe it hook, line and sinker, and its now showing that its not true. Its never been true, Panelo told reporters. One who alleges must prove. They have to prove what they are saying, thats why we have been repeatedly saying its black propaganda. Go showed his back in Agusan del Sur Wednesday to belie the accusations that he has a tattoo with a supposed code linking him to the illegal drug trade. He took off his white campaign shirt before reporters and put on a red one. People inside the room laughed when someone pointed out that Gos back had many ventosa marks.Go expressed hope his showing of his back would finally end the speculations about his alleged drug links. The Comelec is targeting an 80-percent turnout for the absentee voters abroad who total 1,822,173. Hong Kong has the biggest number of registered Filipino voters with 87,000, followed by Singapore with 83,497. However, Dubai has the largest number of Filipino voters with 119,838, followed by Riyadh with 118,384. The Philippine Consul in Hong Kong has gathered the leaders of Filipino communities and asked them to remind their members about their responsibilities. The voters abroad could cast their vote by using the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines that have been delivered to seven areas abroad, or either mail or personally deliver their ballots to Philippine diplomatic posts. The PCOS machines will be used in Hong Kong, Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Dubai, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. READ: US appeals for a halt to in Libya The current tension in the information field can lead to tension on the border very quickly. This is what Advisor to the President of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic) Tigran Abrahamyan wrote on his Facebook page. He particularly stated the following: Azerbaijan has been making sharper statements over the past ten days. The alluding statements about military operations have become threats about the launch of operations or the preparations for those operations. There are official statements from the Presidents apparatus, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, circles of old and new experienced experts and, most importantly, press releases with titles regarding the possible restart of a war. Azerbaijan is in a stage of preparing for military operations or repressing with the threat of military operations. It seems as though Azerbaijan hasnt taken the statements of the intermediary countries for preparing the peoples for peace too seriously and has launched a process that runs contrary to that. The co-chairing countries need to take steps to alleviate the situation; otherwise, the tension in the information field will lead to tension on the border very quickly. U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Ted Cruz introduced Armenian Genocide legislation Tuesday reaffirming proper U.S. recognition and remembrance of this crime and rejecting U.S. complicity in its denial. Senators Menendez and Cruz were joined as sponsors by 14 Senate colleagues. As we near the anniversary of Armenian Remembrance Day, one of the darkest events in human history, I am proud to lead this effort to formally recognize the Armenian Genocide on behalf of the U.S. Congress. The Armenian genocide is a historical fact and not up for debate, said Senator Menendez. The Armenian Foreign Ministry responded to the concerns over discussions taking place in public life of Armenia. The government fully adheres to its commitments to protect and promote human rights. The Armenian MFA called on international partners to demonstrate more respect and sensitivity towards the Armenian society and refrain from undue engagement in the public debate, even if they disagree with its tonality. We would like to remind that the principle of public morality is a part of international commitments on human rights and can not be ignored, the statement reads. The Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the Italian ambassador to Ankara Massimo Gaiani, following a motion submitted to the Italian parliament to recognize the Armenian Genocide. It should be noted that the Chamber of Deputies of Italy on Tuesday began discussing a document recognizing the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire. The discussion will continue during the Wednesday session. Armenian citizen has been convicted for repeating the illegal crossing of the Russian state border. In April last year, the man received a new passport with changed data. Then he drove by car from the territory of Belarus to Russia through a control point in the Bryansk region. The audit showed that the man has a criminal record for illegally crossing the Russian State Border. The court sentenced the defendant to a year in prison with a sentence being served in a penal colony. Seventy Armenian women have been arrested within the scope of the fight against prostitution in the Turkish city of Hopa (Hamshen). According to the Turkish IHA agency, police found out that most of the arrested women were foreigners from the Russian Federation, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Georgia and other countries. Out of the arrestees, 40 were exiled, while the others are being interrogated. YEREVAN. Armenias Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the 27th anniversary of the crime committed by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces in Maragha village of Artsakh. Today marks the 27th anniversary of the crime committed by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces in Maragha village of Artsakh. During the several hours of control over the village the Azerbaijani army turned it into a slaughterhouse by subjecting to torture in the most cruel way and killing more than 50 civilians, as well as taking as many captive, mostly women, elderly, children and the disabled. Two weeks later, the Azerbaijani army once again established control over the village, this time completely destroying it. To date, Maragha remains under the occupation of the Azerbaijani armed forces, and most of the captives went missing. The evidences of mass killing of the Maragha population have been confirmed by various international human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Moreover, the report of the Physicians for Human Rights issued on the results of interviews with those captured during the conflict clearly states that during the period from 1990 to 1996 the Azerbaijani authorities, as well as civilians were engaged in the institutionalized process of capturing and torturing Armenian children and elders. In addition to the anti-Armenian pogroms in Sumgait, Kirovabad and Baku, the crime against the people of Maragha was carried out by the armed forces of already independent Azerbaijan in the territory of Artsakh and the commander of the unit, which perpetrated the massacre, Tagiev Shahin Taliboglu, was officially declared the first national hero of Azerbaijan. Systematic mass atrocities perpetrated against the civilian population of Artsakh, their impunity and glorification have become a part of Azerbaijan's consistent policy which was again employed 24 years after the Maragha massacre, during Azerbaijan April aggression against Artsakh. Today, we pay tribute to the memory of the victims of the Maragha massacre, while reiterating our determination to prevent the recurrence of such massacres and to ensure security and safety of the people of Artsakh in their homeland. The effects of El Nino continued to bear down on the country on Wednesday as top power distributor Manila Electric Co. said it was forced to implement manual load dropping or rotating brownouts starting at 1 p.m. yesterday due to insufficient power generation capacity amid soaring temperatures. READ: El Nino: Too big a problem Meralco implemented the MLD after power grid operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines issued a red alert notice in the Luzon grid. The Luzon grid had been under a yellow alert for six days due to the unplanned and forced outage of power plants amid increased demand. Meralco announced that affected areas are portions of Malolos City, Bustos, Plaridel, and Pulilan in Bulacan; Malabon, Navotas, Caloocan City, and Valenzuela in Metro Manila; Alfonso, Mendez-Nunez, Tagaytay City, General Emilio Aguinaldo, Amadeo, Imus, Bacoor, Noveleta, Kawit, and General Trias in Cavite; The Quezon City districts of Batasan, Fairview, Bago Bantay, Novaliches, San Jose, San Francisco del Monte, Pugad Lawin, and Kaunlaran; Las Pinas City; and Binan, Bay, Sta. Cruz, Sta. Rosa, Calamba, Liliw, Nagcarlan, Pila, San Pedro, and Cabuyao in Laguna. READ: El Nino threatens 42 provinces; La Mesa at 21-year low Your power supply may have been affected by our MLD or rotational brownout due to insufficient operating reserve that may last for an hour, Meralco said in its Twitter advisory to consumers. However, after failing to stop a weeks-long water shortage in Metro Manila , the government said Wednesday that it was confident it could address any impending electricity crisis in Luzon. In a Palace press briefing, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the Energy Department remains on top of the situation even after the NGCP placed the Luzon grid under red alert on Wednesday due to insufficient operating reserves. Im sure the Energy department will have responses to whatever crisis we will have, Panelo told Palace reporters. A red alert, the highest warning, warns the public of the likelihood of power outages in the grid. The NGCP, which operates the countrys transmission facilities, said the alert status was raised because of thinning power supply and degradation of some generators, putting them at below maximum capacity. The red alert status, which was first raised this year, was enforced at 11 a.m., 2 p.m., and 4 p.m. on Wednesday. The yellow alert status was also raised at 10 a.m., 12 noon to 1 p.m., followed by 5 p.m., and 7 to 9 p.m. The NGCP then said that as 4:46 p.m., the red alert had been lifted for the Luzon grid. According to the Department of Energy, the enforced red and yellow alerts were caused by the high projected system demand and the outage and degradation of generators that resulted in the thinning of reserves. The DOE also said that corporations and commercial establishments participating in the Interruptible Load Program can activate their self-generating facilities. Despite the thinning supply reserves, the DOE said that it does not expect any power interruptions because ILP participants will be activating their generator sets. Meanwhile, ahead of the May elections, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi assured the public the government will provide uninterruptible energy supply to prevent outages during the May 13 polls. Currently, the expected peak demand in Luzon is at 10,140 megawatts (MW), while available capacity it as 10,625 MW, with -138 available reserves as of this writing. However, the Luzon grid remained under yellow alert from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday.NGCP warned early Wednesday that MLD may be implemented to maintain the integrity of the power system, specifically parts of Bataan, parts of Banguio City and Benguet, parts of Isabela, San Fernando City, Pampanga, parts of Quezon, parts of Camarines Sur, Albay, parts of Ilocos Sur, Cabanatuan City, Cagayan, Camarines Norte, Tarlac, parts of Pangasinan, parts of Camarines Sur, and parts of Metro Manila at various hours of the day. NGCP said the schedule may be canceled if system conditions improve, such as if actual demand falls below projections. NGCP encourages everyone to exercise prudence in using electricity, the company said. A consumer group, Laban Konsyumer Inc., called on the ERC and DOE to show greater urgency in dealing with a power shortage. In another development, the weather bureau said Wednesday the public should brace for extreme hot weather next month. By May, we will continue to experience hotter days, Climate Monitoring chief Analiza Solis said, adding around 40 degrees Celsius would be felt instantaneously, possibly in Northern Luzon and [even] in northern Cagayan. According to Solis, Mindanaos North Cotabato and General Santos City have been identified as heat danger zones that could pose health risks. Also included in the heat danger zones are Luzons Tuguegarao City, Dagupan City in Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, Isabela, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan. Heat is more concentrated in these areas due to thinner tree cover, Solis said. Pagasa said highest heat index of 51.7 degrees Celsius was recorded in Dagupan City on Tuesday. Heat index is the temperature affecting the human body amid relative humidity and air temperature and is normally higher than actual air temperature. The weather bureau recorded 40.4 degrees Celsius heat index in Metro Manila this month. Meanwhile, Maynilad, the private water concessionaire for Metro Manilas west zone, said it has been cutting service to some areas during off-peak hours to allow its reservoir to replenish its reserves. Maynilad Corporate Communications head Jennifer Rufo said the Bagbag Reservoir has slipped below its normal level of 68 to 70 meters in the past days due to a spike in demand prompted by the sweltering summer heat. The water pressure, she said, is automatically lowered in elevated areas whenever the reservoirs level hits 65 meters and below. This results in a supply interruption in parts of Quezon City, Caloocan and Valenzuela from 12 a.m. to 4 a.m., as well as 10 percent of Maynilads customer base during office hours, Rufo told radio dzMM. The schedule of the service interruptions and affected areas is regularly announced on Maynilads Facebook page, she said. She added that this would not last for a long time since its new water treatment plant which draws water from Laguna Lake would augment its supply of water. READ: Water department mulled amid El Nino onset Telecom technology major Ericsson on Wednesday showcased use cases of 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) here, including Ericsson Spectrum Sharing, Intelligent Managed Services and Communication on Smart Devices. The Swedish company also showcased other technologies such as the concept "radio access network" products called Radio Stripes, to new Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) based ready solutions. "Ericsson now has 18 publicly announced 5G deals with customer names globally and we have already shipped 3 million 5G hardware ready radios till now," said Nitin Bansal, Head of Ericsson India and Head of Network Solutions, South East Asia, Oceania and India. In another development, Bharti Airtel on Wednesday announced that it has selected Ericsson to expand its pan-India voice over LTE (VoLTE) services to offer HD-quality calling over 4G smartphones and smart watches. Airtel will deploy the Ericsson Cloud VoLTE solution to deliver VoLTE services onto a customer data centre. Read More News : NIIT Tech to acquire WHISHWORKS in all-cash deal UK may ban social media firms over toxic content Theres still time to purchase blocks at SIU Touch of Nature Welcome Plaza by Christi Mathis CARBONDALE, Ill. Its happening; construction is beginning April 22 on the new multi-purpose Welcome Plaza at Southern Illinois University Carbondales Touch of Nature Environmental Center. Located at the main entrance to Camp 2, the handicapped-accessible site will feature historical and educational information and serve as a space for guests and visitors to gather and enjoy the beauty of the area. Local people will do the work Staff and apprentices from the Illinois Laborers and Contractors Training and Apprenticeship Program of the Laborers International Union of North America will be creating the large, circular, open-air pavilion with tapered stone background walls at the rear. LiUNA provides ongoing support for Touch of Nature and its programs, camps and events. The plaza will also include concrete benches and indigenous bushes and flowers along with educational kiosks featuring interesting information about the facility, its unique history and the wildlife and plants found there. Future plans call for the installation of a statue of William Freeberg, the pioneering therapeutic recreation expert who with Delyte Morris, the late SIU president, spearheaded the purchase of the property and development of the facility. The two helped the university acquire 150 acres in the Shawnee National Forest and Camp at Little Grassy Lake, now known as Camp Little Giant, was borne. The camp for people with differing abilities and disabilities, was the first such university-affiliated program in the country. Since 1949, Touch of Nature has grown to encompass 3,100 acres of lakes, forests and hills offering zip lining, a high ropes course, rock climbing, canoeing/boating/swimming and countless other amenities. In addition to Camp Little Giant, numerous other camps, environmental education programs and activities are held there as well as corporate retreats, weddings and more. You can still get involved One of the highlights of the project is the floor featuring special etched bricks and paver stones. Groups, businesses and individuals can help provide vital support for the experiential learning facility and immortalize loved ones or businesses by purchasing an engraved paver or brick. The bricks are standard-size 4- by 8-inch rectangles while the ground pavers are 15 inches square. On each, up to three lines of text, with a maximum of 13 characters per line, can be added. Purchase an engraved brick for $100 or a paver for $250. Workers will be creating the plaza and memorial patio in such a way that people can purchase the engraved blocks at any time, as plain bricks and pavers can be replaced with engraved ones upon purchase. Order bricks online Purchase forms and additional information about the project are available online. Completed forms can be submitted via email. For more details, call 618/453-1121 or email tonec@siu.edu. * France's Macron blocked longer extension * May insists Brexit can happen by May * Leaders not ruling out further delays (Edits throughout adding leaders' comments) By Elizabeth Piper, Gabriela Baczynska and Philip Blenkinsop BRUSSELS, April 11 (Reuters) - European Union leaders gave Britain six more months to leave the bloc, more than Prime Minister Theresa May says she needs but less than many in the bloc wanted, thanks to fierce resistance from France. The summit deal in Brussels in the early hours of Thursday meant Britain will not crash out on Friday without a treaty to smooth its passage. But it offers little clarity on when, how or even if Brexit will happen, as May struggles to build support in parliament for withdrawal terms agreed with the EU last year. With German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisting that Britain would not be forced out and that a chaotic no-deal departure must be avoided if at all possible, there was never any real doubt that May would get an extension. The drama was about its length and conditions. French President Emmanuel Macron, reprising a role he took last month when May got a first, two-week delay, pushed leaders into hours of debate over dinner as he fought a largely solo campaign to persuade them not to give the British up to another year. Summit chair Donald Tusk and others argued that obliging May to accept a much longer deadline than the June 30 date she had sought could help swing pro-Brexit hardliners within her own Conservative party behind her deal, fearing a long delay could see the British public turning against a withdrawal altogether. But Macron, while irritating some peers who saw his stance as Gallic grandstanding, insisted that letting Britain stay in the Union any longer risked undermining the project of European integration that is one of his main policy goals. The result was a compromise on the date, with a deadline of Oct. 31, for Britain to leave, deal or no deal -- on condition that May holds an election on May 23 to return British members to a new European Parliament that convenes in July, and that it pledge not to disrupt key EU decision-making before it leaves. Story continues If May fails to win over lawmakers on the treaty or fails to hold an election, Britain will leave with no deal on June 1. MAY EYES BREXIT SOON The prime minister was keen to stress that the extension to Oct. 31 -- and several leaders refused to rule out further delays -- did not mean she would not deliver Brexit sooner and before, as she promised her rebellious party, she steps down. "I know that there is huge frustration from many people that I had to request this extension," she told reporters, as her team prepared for another round of talks on Thursday with the Labour opposition, to whom May turned for help last week. "But the choices we now face are stark and the timetable is clear. So we must now press on at pace with our efforts to reach consensus on a deal that is in the national interest," she added, acknowledging the coming weeks would not be easy. Tusk, a former Polish premier who has long tried to keep a door open for Britons to change their minds and stay, said the delay until Halloween gave time for London to ratify May's deal, tweak elements of the future EU-UK relationship to Labour's liking -- or give it a chance to "cancel Brexit altogether." Merkel, who eased tension at the start of the talks by sharing a joke with May over photographs of them both wearing very similar jackets, stressed a need for calm and order: "We want an orderly exit by Britain," she said. "And an orderly exit by Britain can be best ensured if we give it some time." FRENCH RESISTANCE Macron defended his resistance to giving Britain nine months or a year more, saying it was for the "common good." French officials, pointing to threats by some of May's pro-Brexit potential successors, spoke of the EU facing "blackmail" by a future British government blocking decisions in Brussels. "It's true that the majority was more in favor of a very long extension. But it was not logical in my view, and above all, it was neither good for us, nor for the UK," said Macron. French pressure also tightened clauses referring to Britain not disrupting EU affairs if it stays in longer and a reference to a June 20-21 EU summit taking stock of the position again. May addressed the other 27 for an hour at the start of the summit and failed to convince many, notably Macron, that she truly had a new strategy for securing ratification. Leaders are exasperated with May's handling of a tortuous and costly divorce that is a distraction from ensuring the bloc can hold its own against global economic challenges. Across from the summit venue, the EU executive celebrated its part in funding a global project that produced the first picture of a black hole, prompting no shortage of ironic comments on social media about the juxtaposition. Blogger Eliot Higgins tweeted: "We're now more certain about what black holes look like than what Brexit looks like." (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge in London, Thomas Escritt in Berlin and Gabriela Baczynska, Jan Strupczewski, Elizabeth Piper, Bart Meijer, Alissa de Carbonnel, Philip Blenkinsop, Robin Emmott, Alastair Macdonald, Francesco Guarascio, Clare Roth, Peter Maushagen, Jean-Baptiste Vey and Michel Rose in Brussels; Writing by Alastair Macdonald Editing by James Dalgleish and Michael Perry) (Adds comment from South Korea's unification ministry) By Josh Smith and Joyce Lee SEOUL, April 10 (Reuters) - North Korea will hold a plenary session of its ruling party's central committee on Wednesday, a day after leader Kim Jong Un chaired a politburo meeting to discuss ways to make progress under the "prevailing tense situation," state media reported. The plenary session, which occurs regularly, comes in the wake of Kim's second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in February. Their meeting in Hanoi was cut short by Trump as the two leaders failed to reach any agreement over North Korea's nuclear weapons program or international sanctions. The ruling party officials will gather to "discuss and decide the new orientation and ways of struggle in line with the need of the prevailing revolutionary situation," state news agency KCNA said on Wednesday. In a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea on Tuesday, Kim told officials they need to work more responsibly to carry out his strategy in the face of international pressure. "The Supreme Leader urged the need for leading officials to fully display a high sense of responsibility and creativity, and the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and fortitude in an attitude befitting the masters of the revolution and construction under the prevailing tense situation and thus follow through on the new strategic line of the Party," KCNA said. At a plenary session last year, Kim formally announced a "new strategic line" of focusing on economic progress and improving North Koreans' lives, rather than the previous two-pronged approach of both economic and nuclear weapons development. While Kim used his New Year's speech to warn he might take a "new path" if Washington maintains sanctions, South Korean officials said they do not expect this week's meetings to lead to Kim shifting focus from the economy. Story continues "We believe that last year's new strategic line, the all-out focus on economic construction, will remain," Baik Tae-hyun, spokesman for South Korea's unification ministry said at a briefing on Wednesday. Despite his failure to secure any sanctions relief at the Hanoi summit, Kim has continued to highlight his economic push in recent weeks. Over the past week state media published images and reports of Kim visits to at least four economic projects in five days, including a remodeled department store, tourist resorts, and an economic hub near the border with China. North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament is scheduled to meet on Thursday. Wednesday's ruling party plenary session comes as South Korean President Moon Jae-in flies to Washington to meet with Trump and try to jumpstart talks between North Korea and the United States. "In a situation where it's difficult to take a completely new path, they're emphasizing self-reliance to show the U.S. that they can go their own way," said Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. "North Korea is targeting the U.S., sending a message that we will not back down, so the U.S. must change its stance." (Reporting by Josh Smith and Joyce Lee; Editing by Michael Perry & Simon Cameron-Moore) * Case has implications for Shell, Unilever * Leigh Day says will press ahead with 'substantive case' * Vedanta says will defend itself (Adds detail, background, quotes) By Barbara Lewis LONDON, April 10 (Reuters) - Nearly 2,000 Zambian villagers have the right to sue mining company Vedanta in the English courts, London's Supreme Court said on Wednesday, raising the prospect other companies could face legal action in England related to their activities abroad. India-listed Vedanta, which delisted from London last year but maintains a legal base in Britain, appealed a lower-court ruling that a case in which villagers alleged their land was polluted by a Vedanta unit could be heard in England. But the Supreme Court dismissed Vedanta's appeal and said the Zambian villagers could pursue their case through the English courts. In a statement, Vedanta said the judgment was procedural, relating only to the jurisdiction of the English courts to hear the claims. "It is not a judgment on the merits of the claims. Vedanta and KCM (Konkola Copper Mines) will defend themselves against any such claims at the appropriate time," it said. Leigh Day, which represented the villagers, said in a statement the decision could have wider implications. "I hope this judgment will send a strong message to other large multinationals that their CSR (corporate social responsibility) policies should not just be seen as a polish for their reputation but as important commitments that they must put into action," Martyn Day, senior partner at Leigh Day, said in a statement. Oliver Holland, a solicitor at Leigh Day, said the firm would now press to bring to trial the case of the 1,826 villagers who allege their land and livelihood have been destroyed by water pollution caused by the Nchanga Copper Mine, owned by Vedanta through its subsidiary KCM. Separately, Leigh Day is seeking the right to appeal to the Supreme Court after a lower court found Nigerians could not pursue a claim against Royal Dutch Shell in London in relation to oil spills in Nigeria's Delta region. Leigh Day is also seeking to take a case against Unilever to the Supreme Court over a lawsuit it has brought on behalf of tea plantation workers and their families in Kenya in connection with ethnic violence in 2008. Vedanta's legal team previously argued that Zambia was the "natural forum" for the case and said the parent company did not control operations in Zambia, which were governed by Zambian law. (Reporting by Barbara Lewis; Editing by Dale Hudson) READ: China loans not a debt trapNeda (Adds details, background) WASHINGTON, April 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman by phone on Tuesday, discussing Riyadh's role in Middle East stability, maintaining pressure on Iran and the importance of human rights issues, the White House said. Washington's Middle East ally faces rising pressure over its handling of the war in Yemen and moves to stifle internal dissent, including the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and prosecution of women's rights activists. A bipartisan chorus of U.S. lawmakers has called on the White House to harden its stance toward Saudi Arabia after Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. U.S. intelligence believes the crown prince ordered the killing, which Saudi officials deny. Trump has said the U.S. partnership with Saudi Arabia is important for the U.S. economy and maintaining stability in the region. The U.S. State Department on Monday publicly designated 16 people for their role in Khashoggi's death and said they and their families would be barred from entering the United States. The United States on Monday also designated Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, drawing an angry reaction from Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday. The White House said Trump used the call with the crown prince to discuss ways of "maintaining maximum pressure against Iran." Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition battling Iranian-backed Houthi insurgents in Yemen. (Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Peter Cooney) Paris (AFP) - French and Malian troops killed or captured more than 30 extremists and dismantled a jihadist training camp during a major counter-terrorism operation near Mali's border with Burkina Faso, the French military told AFP on Friday. "Over 30 members of armed terrorist groups were neutralised," the military said, a term meaning that they were killed or captured. A French military doctor was also killed during the operation, the military previously reported. The operation was launched in late March in Gourma, a crossroads region in Mali's central belt that flanks the border with Burkina Faso. The doctor was killed when his vehicle hit a mine, bringing to 24 the number of French defence force members killed in counter-terrorism operations in the region since 2013. Some 4,500 French troops are deployed in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad to help local forces try to flush out jihadist groups, six years after France helped chase al-Qaeda fundamentalists out of northern Mali. The Gourma area is a haven for armed groups who hide in the forests along the border with Burkina Faso to the south, including a group suspected of carrying out several cross-border attacks. Around 700 French troops and 150 Malian troops were deployed in the air and ground operation to try to destroy their bases. On the other side of the border Burkina Faso had deployed troops "to prevent any attempt by the enemy to escape towards the south of the zone," French military spokesman Patrik Steiger said. The operation first targeted the Foulsare forest in the southwest of Gao province, where the troops found "a logistical base" containing rocket launchers and other weaponry, the military said. No jihadists were killed in that offensive, the defence forces said. The second phase of the operation, which caused the losses on the jihadists' side, targeted several sites including a training camp in the Serma forest. A pick-up truck, a dozen motorbikes and arms and ammunition, including large amounts of material used to make roadside bombs were seized, the military said. Paris (AFP) - French and Malian troops killed or captured more than 30 extremists and dismantled a jihadist training camp during a major counter-terrorism operation near Mali's border with Burkina Faso, the French military told AFP on Friday. The operation is the first since French forces set up a base south of the bend of the Niger River, building an advance position outside the town of Gossi in the heart of the restive Gourma region. "Over 30 members of armed terrorist groups were neutralised," the military said, a term meaning that they were killed or captured. A French military doctor was also killed during the operation, the military previously reported. The operation, lasting about 10 days, was launched in late March in Gourma, a crossroads region in Mali's central belt that flanks the border with Burkina Faso. The doctor was killed when his vehicle hit a mine, bringing to 24 the number of French defence force members killed in counter-terrorism operations in the region since 2013. Some 4,500 French troops are deployed in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad in a mission codenamed Barkhane to help local forces try to flush out jihadist groups. The Gourma area is a haven for armed groups who hole up in dense forests along the border with Burkina Faso to the south, including a group suspected of carrying out several cross-border attacks. Around 700 French troops and 150 Malian troops took part in the air and ground operation against these bases, the military said. On the other side of the border Burkina Faso deployed troops "to prevent any attempt by the enemy to escape towards the south of the zone," French military spokesman Patrik Steiger said. - Forest havens - The operation first targeted the Foulsare forest in the southwest of Gao province, the military said. The French air force and commandos carried out preliminary strikes as dozens of French armoured vehicles in Gossi joined a Malian base at Hombori, 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the Burkina border, which served as a springboard for a joint ground attack. Story continues Troops found "a logistical base" containing rocket launchers and other weaponry, but no jihadists. "The enemy deserted the area when Barkhane arrived and did not seek to fight," Steiger said. The second phase of the operation, which caused the losses on the jihadists' side, targeted several sites including a training camp in the Serma forest, according to the military. A pick-up truck, a dozen motorbikes and arms and ammunition, including large amounts of material used to make roadside bombs were seized, the military said. - Lawless region - Extremists linked to Al-Qaeda took control of Mali's vast desert north in early 2012, but were largely driven out in a French-led military operation that began in January 2013. But huge areas are still in the grip of lawlessness, despite a 2015 peace agreement with some armed groups that sought to definitively stamp out the jihadist threat. Since then, jihadist attacks have shifted from the north towards the more densely-populated centre of the country, where it has fanned the flames of local ethnic conflicts which date back years. Around 15,000 people have fled their homes in the central region of Mopti alone, according to aid groups. President Ibrahim Boubabar Keita, under mounting pressure to improve security, on Tuesday chaired a senior military panel focussing on the centre of the country. Last Friday, at least 30,000 people marched in Bamako, the capital, to protest at the surge in the violence. Organisers estimated the turnout at 50,000. The place Jiyoung had an abortion was the last place on Earth she would have chosen to do it if only she had had a choice. Another woman had just undergone surgery before me in the same chair it was soaked in blood, recalls Jiyoung, who asked to use a pseudonym because of abortions being illegal and the stigma she would likely face if she went public. I didnt complain. I knew this was the only place I could get it done. This harrowing scene is one that women and girls in South Korea face every day. Research by Pai Chai University estimated that up to half a million women and girls have illegal abortions each year in South Korea, while the government estimate around 50,000 were carried out in 2017. Abortion has been illegal under almost all circumstances for more than 66 years, and having an abortion is a criminal offense. This prevents accurate official data from being collected. More egregiously, the criminalization places women and girls in danger. Denied basic healthcare, they are left with no choice but to risk their physical and mental health with clandestine and unsafe abortions. But this could be about to change. On March 30, more than a thousand women braved a fierce gale and freezing conditions in Seoul to demand that the South Korean government end the countrys draconian ban on abortions. Now, women and girls across South Korea are calling on the government to swiftly reform the Criminal Act to guarantee access to safe and legal abortion services. Under current laws, women who terminate a pregnancy can face fines of up to KRW 2 million ($1,850) or one year in jail. Medical professionals who assist with abortions can face prison terms of up to two years if convicted. The only exceptions are in cases of rape, incest, specific diseases or genetic disorders, or if a womans or girls health is endangered by the pregnancy. Even in these limited instances, a woman must have the consent of her spouse to get an abortion. Story continues The criminalization of abortions in South Korea has led to discrimination and stigmatization for generations of women and girls. These laws leave women in one of Asias most developed countries being treated like second-class citizens. Now they are fighting back. The Saturday march was part of an unprecedented wave of womens rights activism, marking a turning point for women fighting deeply rooted gender inequality in the country. Protesters hold placards reading 'Abolish punishment for abortion' as they protest South Korean abortion laws in Gwanghwamun plaza in Seoul on July 7, 2018. | Ed JonesAFP/Getty Images All those taking to the streets share a fervent hope that an upcoming Constitutional Court judgment will transform the human rights of women and girls in South Korea. On Thursday afternoon, the court is likely to rule on a challenge brought by a doctor who was prosecuted for carrying out abortions. The verdict is set to have ramifications far beyond this one case. If the court decides that criminalizing abortion is unconstitutional, they are expected to order the government to reform the nations highly restrictive laws. It would be long overdue. As local womens rights activist Jay told us: The effects of criminalization are manifold. It violates womens right to health in cases where they are having to undergo abortions in unsafe facilities, without the necessary counseling or support. Many women also have to contend with male partners threatening to report them to the police and to their families if they are planning an abortion. This shameful situation cannot go on, and South Korea seems to finally be waking up to this fact. The movement for decriminalization has steadily built up momentum since first gaining traction in 2016. In 2017, more than 235,000 people signed a petition calling for the ban on abortion to be lifted. In late 2018, a government commissioned poll showed that 75% of women wanted the law revised. At Amnesty International, we believe everyone should be free to make their own decisions about their reproductive lives, including when and if they have children. The statistics and research tell us that abortions will always happen in South Korea, regardless of the law. But currently, instead of undergoing the procedure in a safe environment, women and girls who want abortions must risk their freedom and their physical and mental health. Among them are women like Jiyoung. After the operation my bleeding was really severe, so I had to go back to that awful hospital that I would rather die than return to. The doctor and nurse paid little attention and offered no real explanation, even as a clump of blood fell out of me. What can you do in a place like that? This is a position no woman should ever have to endure. It is time for South Korea to ensure they never have to again. Paris (AFP) - Agence France-Presse made a net loss of 2.6 million euros ($2.8 million) in 2018, down on 4.8 million in 2017, helped by higher commercial receipts, but warned that 2019 will be a challenging year. Commercial revenues rose, for the first time in five years, by 3.1 percent to 170 million euros, amid a 6.2 percent rise for the photo service while video earnings were up 11.1 percent, a board statement said. "AFP is now solidly anchored in the world's top three video producers," the board said. It added that increased live offerings, coupled with greater depth of coverage and fast editing had ensured that clients could now regard the agency's televisual output increasingly as a substitute, rather than a complement for broadcast news. Revenue from video currently represents 41 percent of commercial sales, and the target is to lift that to 50 percent by 2023. AFP, present in 151 countries, is one of the world's leading news agencies, covering the news across the world 24 hours a day in text, video, photo and graphics in six languages. Operating margin rose 3.8 million euros to 21.2 millions euros. CEO Fabrice Fries said the earnings were "encouraging" but warned the company had to approach 2019 with "caution" as "the crisis in the press is accelerating and will weigh on accounts. "We are in a transition scenario where video is enjoying double-digit growth but at a lower volume than text, which is falling back," said Fries, who took up his post last year. In January, Fries presented a revised version of his "transformation plan" to AFP employee representatives, foreseeing savings of 14 million euros on payroll costs and five million euros on other expenses by 2023. To achieve this, management plans to cut 95 jobs including 23 journalist positions and convert 15 of the current 175 expatriate postings into local jobs, making further savings by replacing senior employees with younger ones. Unions have expressed scepticism and warned Wednesday that the company was on a path that threatened to limit its operational capacity, which includes combatting fake news. WASHINGTON Attorney General William Barr told a Senate panel Wednesday that he is reviewing whether federal authorities improperly spied on President Donald Trump's campaign during the early stages of the investigation into whether any of his aides participated in Russian efforts to sway the 2016 election in Trump's favor. "Spying on a campaign is a big deal," Barr told a Senate panel Wednesday. "I think spying did occur. The question is whether it was adequately predicated." The attorney general said he planned to examine the "genesis and the conduct" of the FBI's investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, launched in the midst of the 2016 presidential run. The inquiry was ultimately turned over to special counsel Robert Mueller to complete, and Barr has said it concluded that Trump's campaign did not conspire with the Russian government. "I am not saying that improper surveillance occurred," Barr told the Senate Appropriations subcommittee. "I am concerned about it. There is a basis for my concern." Barr, however, declined to say what specific concern prompted his review or to describe the parts of the investigation he considered to be spying. Earlier Wednesday, Trump characterized the Mueller investigation as both "illegal" and an "attempted coup," while expressing support for a review by Barr. "There is a hunger for this to happen," Trump told reporters. The department's inspector general is conducting a review of surveillance warrants authorities used to eavesdrop on a former campaign aide, Carter Page, in October 2016. Barr has said that effort should be completed by June. Republicans in Congress have complained repeatedly that the FBI targeted Trump's campaign for political reasons, revealing text messages between two senior officials involved in the probe who expressed their personal contempt for Trump. Story continues So far, however, investigations in Congress have not produced evidence that the extraordinary inquiry into whether Trump's campaign cooperated with Russian efforts to sway the 2016 election that put him in office were politically motivated or meant to sabotage his campaign. Among the questions Barr said he would seek to answer is why the Trump campaign was not notified in advance by federal authorities of its examination of Russian election interference. "I don't understand why the campaign was not advised," Barr said. Building on his testimony a day earlier before a House committee, Barr told lawmakers Wednesday that he planned to ask other Justice Department officials to examine whether the department abused its surveillance powers. He said he had not formed a view of whether the department or other intelligence agencies acted improperly, but the sensitivity of using national security tools to investigate the conduct of a political campaign required scrutiny. Barr said that he did not view surveillance abuse as "a problem endemic to the FBI," but suggested that there was likely "a failure among a group of leaders there." The attorney general's references to possible surveillance abuses came at a crucial time, as Barr prepared to release a redacted version of Mueller's final report on the Russia investigation "next week." Republicans immediately seized on the statements, seeking to use them to cast the government's investigation of Russia and the Trump campaign as illegitimate. "Now, the investigation has flipped," said Brad Parscale, manager of Trump's re-election campaign. "This attempted coup needs to be fully investigated." Democrats said Barr's choice of words suggested he was courting the favor of a president who has frequently attacked the investigation and the people who conducted it. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Mueller's assessment of the investigation not Barr's should hold sway. "I don't trust Barr; I trust Mueller," Pelosi said in an interview with the Associated Press. Barr, meanwhile, asserted that some parts of Mueller's report must remain secret because they contain grand jury information, sensitive national security material, may interfere with ongoing inquiries or contain information that could be damaging to the reputations of those who were not charged in the special counsel's investigation. The attorney general said Mueller and his staff were working to help remove sensitive information from the report so it could be released to Congress and the public. And he defended the summary conclusions he delivered to Congress last month and the speed with which those conclusions were made public. But lawmakers closely questioned Barr on his decision to release a bare-bones summary of the report last month in which the attorney general said Mueller had not found a conspiracy involving the Trump campaign and the Russian government. The special counsel did not make a determination about whether the president's actions during the investigation amounted to obstruction. Instead, Barr and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, separately determined that Trump's conduct did not constitute a crime. Barr told the Senate on Wednesday that Mueller did not indicate whether he expected Congress to settle the issue of obstruction. Mueller also did not indicate that the decision should be ceded to the attorney general, Barr said. The attorney general added that he and Rosenstein along with other Justice officials concluded independently that Trump's conduct was not criminal. "I don't know whether Bob Mueller supported my conclusion," Barr said. The attorney general's intervention at the end of Mueller's investigation has set off a politically charged battle for access to the entire text of the special counsel's report, the fruit of a 22-month investigation that has shadowed the Trump administration since its first days. While Barr had been called before the Senate and House committees this week to discuss the Justice Department's $29 billion budget, the focus of both hearings was trained on his handling of Mueller's report and when the document would be made public. On Tuesday, Barr told the House committee that he had no plans to ask for a court's permission to disclose grand jury material but said he would consult with Congress after he releases the report to determine whether he can provide additional information. House Democrats vowed last week that they would seek Mueller's testimony in addition to that of Barr, who also is expected to address the matter for congressional committees in early May. Justice, however, has defended Barr's handling of the report, suggesting that the full document was so packed with secret grand jury information that revealing even portions of it immediately would have been impossible. Contributing: David Jackson This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Attorney general says he will review government 'spying' on Trump campaign; 'I am concerned' Tirana (AFP) - The Balkan countries are hurting from the stalled integration process with the European Union, where member states are growing weary of enlargement, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama told AFP in an interview. "I believe (the Western Balkans) are not as well off today as we were two years ago," the premier said from his office in Tirana, adding he had "no doubt" it was linked to growing uncertainty about the EU's commitment to the region as a whole. All countries in the Western Balkans, a poor corner of southeast Europe surrounded by EU member states, aspire to join the bloc. Montenegro and Serbia are furthest along in accession negotiations, hoping to join by 2025, while Albania and North Macedonia expect to see their bids opened this June. Further behind are Bosnia and Kosovo. But as European Parliament elections approach, the region is feeling increasingly unwelcome as public opinion and politicians inside the bloc, particularly in France, sour on the prospect of bringing in new members. Rama said he could understand the "lukewarmness" around enlargement in light of rising populism, Euro-scepticism and other turmoil. But the "lack of clarity" has consequences for the fragile Balkans, he added, recalling a warning that European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker delivered last year. If "the impression arises that we're not serious about offering the prospect of EU membership to the western Balkans, then we might see later -- and probably even sooner -- what we saw in the Balkans in the 1990s," Juncker said, referring to a decade of brutal conflict as the former Yugoslavia fell apart. While Rama did not use the dramatic "EU or war" phrasing, he said a "deepening" of European engagement was needed to tackle tensions between Balkan neighbours. For example, he places some blame with Brussels for a recent nosedive in already bitter relations between Serbia and Kosovo, a former province that is mainly ethnic Albanian. Story continues The spark of their latest dispute -- Kosovo's imposition of a 100 percent tariff on Serbian goods -- was a "political cry" after Brussels failed to lift visa requirements for Kosovars inside the Union, Rama argued. While the European Parliament has recommended scrapping the visa requirements since Pristina met all the conditions, EU member states have not followed suit and opening their doors. "We would not have these 100 percent tariffs if there had been visa liberalisation," Rama said. What the Balkans needs, he said, is "a relationship with a Europe where we are not hostage to the internal dynamics of the member states." - 'We love Europe' - As for his own country of around 2.8 million, it "deserves" the promised opening of accession negotiations in June "without a doubt". Last June, the EU delayed starting negotiations by another year for Albania and neighbouring North Macedonia which now expects a reward for agreeing a difficult diplomatic deal that involved changing its name to settle a dispute with Greece. Rama also warned that if the EU now decides only to kick off North Macedonia's bid while leaving Albania behind, it would show a "monumental blindness from a strategic point of view". In Albania, the main refrain from Brussels is the need to tackle widespread corruption and organised crime. Rama feels the focus on crime has been "inflated" and is used to justify a delay in starting negotiations. "Crime, crime, crime. Of course we have a crime problem but no more than other countries that are even members of the Union," he countered. But the longing for a future inside the bloc has not abated in his country, he claims. "We are still in love with Europe. That's the problem. That's why we don't like delays, lukewarmness." By Lamine Chikhi and Hamid Ould Ahmed ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria will hold a presidential election on July 4, the interim presidency said on Wednesday after weeks of mass protests led to the resignation of long-serving leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika. No further details were immediately given. On Tuesday, interim president Abdelkader Bensalah had said he would organize free elections within 90 days. Earlier on Wednesday, Algeria's army chief said he expected to see members of the ruling elite in the major oil and natural gas-producing country prosecuted for corruption and that he would support a transition toward elections. Lieutenant General Gaid Salah's comments were the strongest hint yet that the military would play its traditional role as kingmaker after the ailing 82-year-old Bouteflika bowed to popular pressure and quit on April 2 after 20 years in power. "The army will meet the people's demands," said Salah, addressing officers and soldiers at a military base. The judiciary has recovered its prerogative and can work freely. He referred to the ruling caste as "the gang", a term people have used in the protests to describe Bouteflika's inner circle, which encompassed retired intelligence officials, oligarchs, members of the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) and some veterans of the 1954-62 war of independence against France. The army chief of staff urged the judiciary to reopen a corruption case against oil and gas giant Sonatrach, an object of resentment for many Algerians who accuse their leaders of stealing the North African nation's wealth. More than one in four people under the age of 30, some 70 percent of the population, are unemployed - one of the central grievances of protesters who want the economy liberalized and diversified to reduce its reliance on energy. In 2012, a series of scandals shook Sonatrach, which was tightly controlled by Bouteflika loyalists. Its CEO and other executives were imprisoned for graft offences. CAUTIOUS ARMY CHIEF The army patiently monitored the unrest, which started on Feb. 22, from the sidelines. Then Salah intervened, declaring Bouteflika - rarely seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013 - unfit to rule. If Bouteflika had seen through his original plan to run for a fifth term despite growing grassroots opposition, that would have put the military under pressure to restore order, instead of focusing on swaying politics from the shadows. "It is unreasonable to manage the transition period without institutions that organize and oversee this operation," said Salah, lending support to interim leaders. Algeria's generals are highly sensitive to instability. In the early 1990s, the army canceled an election that Islamists were poised to win, touching off a shattering civil war that killed an estimated 200,000 people. The army is pushing hard to get the protesters to back its plan to hold elections in 90 days, keeping the transition within the constitution framework, independent analyst Ferrahi Farid said before the announcement of the election date. The military has faced little resistance from protesters; rather, their fury has been directed at what is popularly described as the fortress - an FLN-associated old guard that has been entrenched for decades. Still, some Algerians were wary after hearing Salah's pledges. "We're happy with the army urging the prosecution of corrupt people. But we will not give up on other demands," said 25-year-old student Nabil Arrachi. In central Algiers, the site of mass marches on successive Fridays since the unrest began, teacher Halim Hachni sat in a coffee shop contemplating his country's future and wondering about the army's role in it. "From the constitutional point of view, I think the army cannot intervene directly by sacking current interim officials and naming new ones," he said. Ennahar TV said the interior ministry had issued licenses for 10 new political parties. While Algeria has about 15 opposition parties, they are seen as weak, and the ministry's move appeared to be aimed at placating protesters seeking a greater degree of democracy. Parliament on Tuesday named Bensalah, the upper house chairman for almost 20 years, as caretaker president. That move failed to placate protesters, who quickly gathered in the thousands in Algiers to demand a removal of the elite and wholesale reforms. (Additional reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi in Dubai; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Mark Heinrich) With Secretary Kirstjen Nielsens departure from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this week, the future of the Trump administrations immigration policy has been thrown into uncertainty, even as the situation at the southern border becomes increasingly unstable. According to a New York Times report, Nielsens relationship with the president worsened in recent months as he repeatedly blamed her for the ongoing surge in apprehensions at the border. The breaking point apparently came when Trump asked her to close ports of entry and stop accepting asylum seekers, and she refused. Some other reports suggested that the president also was frustrated with Nielsens resistance to reinstating the zero tolerance policy of separating migrant children from their families at the border, which was scrapped last summer after months of controversy. (Trump denied this on Tuesday afternoon, telling reporters, Were not looking to do that, no.) Nielsens resignation came amid a months-long spike in the number of asylum seekers and migrant families stopped at the southern border. In early March, the Times reported that for the fourth time in five months, the number of migrant families crossing the southwest border has broken records. Weeks later, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) head Kevin McAleenan called the situation an unprecedented humanitarian and border-security crisis. Before her ouster, Nielsen clearly concurred. On March 28, she sent a letter to Congress describing the situation at the border as a humanitarian and security catastrophe that is worsening by the day and estimating that CBP had apprehended about 100,000 migrants in March alone, up from 76,000 in February the highest numbers in ten years. Then, last week, she ordered an accelerated deployment of an additional 750 CBP officials to the border to cope with the influx of migrants. The crisis at our border is worsening, and DHS will do everything in its power to end it, she said. Story continues Now, of course, Nielsen is gone, and the hunt for a new secretary of homeland security promises to be contentious. Trump has announced that he aims to appoint McAleenan as her acting replacement, leaving an opening atop CBP to go with the vacancies created by the purge of Nielsen allies throughout DHS leadership that followed her exit. Amid all the chaos, Senator Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) hopes to bring some clarity. As chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, the Wisconsin Republican has been talking about the problem at the border for quite a while and he thinks both the Left and the Right need to modify their approaches to the issue. When the president only talks about a wall, thats too easily ridiculed, Johnson says in an interview with National Review, noting that, while reinforced border fencing is an important part of the solution, it shouldnt be the sole focus of an effective immigration policy. At the same time, he describes Democratic rhetoric on immigration as demagoguery and says that until coverage of the debate features real information instead of empty talking points, Democratic politicians wont have much incentive to cooperate in finding policy compromises. The solution, to his mind, is to enable DHS and CBP to quickly return as many illegal migrants as possible to their countries of origin, i.e., rapid adjudication and immediate consequences for illegal entry. We dont have enough of a court system or enough detention facilities, Johnson says. We dont have the capacity to be able to handle, adjudicate, and detain quickly enough to have consequences. And the consequence that works is removal. The Wisconsin senator points to the Texas Hold Em initiative, launched in the summer of 2008, as an example of how to accomplish expedited removal of individuals involved in human and illegal-contraband smuggling. He argues that any effective immigration policy should aim to replicate the initiatives success in reducing the flow of migrants as quickly as possible. That means returning people to their home country so theyll think twice before paying half their salary to a coyote and endangering their child on the journey, Johnson says. You have to detain people, which means you have to overturn Flores so you can detain children with their parents for a longer period of time. Flores, for those unfamiliar with the minutiae of immigration politics, refers to the 1993 Supreme Court case Reno v. Flores, which resulted in a 1997 consent decree that established legal standards governing the federal detention of underaged illegal aliens. After decades of legal wrangling, the decree was eventually held to prevent the government from detaining such aliens whether unaccompanied or with their parents for longer than 20 days. At a hearing of the Homeland Security Committee last fall, Johnson explained how that reinterpretation led to both family separation and an increase in the number of migrants at the border: The Flores reinterpretation has basically left the Department of Homeland Security with only two options, both of them bad: Release children and detain their parents, or go back to the failed policy of catch and release for illegal-immigrant families apprehended at the border. Right now, the administration is in full catch-and-release mode, Johnson says, and that has encouraged even more migrants to bring children with them to the border as a means of guaranteeing theyll be released into the U.S. while they await their asylum hearings, which many never attend. Though he acknowledges the reality of dangerous drug cartels and human traffickers and emphasizes that some migrants do have valid asylum claims Johnson cites DHS figures that estimate about 85 percent of current migrants are coming to the U.S. to find better economic opportunities, rather than to escape direct threats to their safety. Most of these claims when fully adjudicated will be ruled invalid, he says. But dealing with those claims efficiently enough to avoid the problem caused by Floress 20-day detention limit will require more immigration lawyers, more judges, and, most important to Johnsons mind, more Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Unfortunately, after Nielsens departure and Trumps decision to clean house at DHS, the chances that the policy-focused immigration debate Johnson seeks will materialize seem as remote as ever. More from National Review READ: DFA fires off salvo of diplomatic notes vs China boats in WPS PROTECTING THE TAWILIS. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Calabarzon is urging the public to report establishments and restaurants selling tawilis during the closed seasonMarch 1 until April 30. Sardinella tawilis , a freshwater sardine found exclusively in the Philippines, is the only member of the genus Sardinella known to exist entirely in fresh water. DENR Photo Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Anguish mixed with anger at the funeral Wednesday of a Brazilian musician shot dead by soldiers in Rio de Janeiro, with mourners blaming far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and the military. Around 200 family and friends of Evaldo dos Santos Rosa chanted "justice" over and over as his coffin was placed in a crypt not far from where soldiers killed him in a hail of bullets on Sunday as he drove his family to a baby shower in the working-class district of Guadalupe in Rio's north. Five people were in the white sedan when soldiers -- who the army said had been on the lookout for a car-load of criminals during a regular patrol of the military-controlled area -- riddled the vehicle with 80 bullets, local media reported. Miraculously, dos Santos's wife, seven-year-old son and a family friend escaped unhurt, but his father-in-law and a bystander were wounded. That soldiers involved in the shooting were arrested within hours did little to quell the anger among mourners as they stood in the cemetery sweating in suffocating heat and humidity a day after a fierce rainstorm wreaked havoc in the city. Some yelled "it's your fault, Bolsonaro", while others accused the former paratrooper of giving Brazil's security forces tacit permission to commit violence. "The violence wasn't like this before," Patricia Lima, a cousin of dos Santos, told AFP. "This is authorized violence." Ciney Silva, a member of the Remelexo da Cor band founded by dos Santos, played samba songs on his cavaquinho, a small guitar, during the funeral as fellow mourners clapped and sang. "He was totally murdered," Silva told AFP. "What makes me so angry is the way it happened." - 'Just numbers' - The killing of dos Santos came days after a teenager on a motorbike was shot dead by soldiers in Rio de Janeiro after failing to obey an order to stop, local media reported. Bolsonaro was swept to power on January 1 on a promise to take a hard line against criminals -- a sentiment echoed by the newly elected Rio state governor Wilson Witzel. Story continues In Witzel's first two months in office, 305 people were killed by police, according to government statistics -- one such death every four and a half hours. That is a 17.6 percent increase compared to the same period in 2018, and a record high for the 16 years that statistics on police-involved killings have been kept. Witzel recently told local media that snipers had been deployed in the city. Nine soldiers have been placed under preventative detention over the shooting of dos Santos, which the military said Wednesday was a "sad incident." A lawyer for dos Santos's family called for the case to be handled by police. "We are looking for a transparent inquiry," he told reporters. After the funeral, dozens of mourners protested outside the military barracks where the soldiers were based. As army personnel looked on, mourners yelled "murder" and "justice" and held up Brazilian flags splattered with red paint. "We are just numbers," said Lima. "He left behind a seven-year-old son who was his life... a very nice family and all of this for nothing." Twenty-year-old Samantha Rodriguez has been raising her five younger siblings on her own since after losing both her parents to cancer. After discovering Rodriguezs story, anonymous donors from her local Florida community came together to surprise her with a brand new car. ICYMI: Here's the story on the anonymous donors who stepped up to buy a new car for Samantha Rodriguez, who at 20 is raising her five younger siblings after her parents' death. Nice story here, too:https://t.co/iNCmq7vSh7 pic.twitter.com/m6B0rCEJcy Orange County Sheriff's Office (@OrangeCoSheriff) April 8, 2019 While Samantha Rodriguez is currently the primary care giver of her siblings (who are between the ages of seven and fifteen), shes been taking care of them all my life. The Rodriguez children first lost their mother to cervical cancer and three years later their father, who lost his battle to Lymphoma on April 15, 2016. I dont know how to explain what weve been through to not have them around. Its been a big void in our lives, Rodriguez tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Since then, her grandmother has been helping Milagro, 15, Brenda, 14, Michael, 13, Bella, 8, and Destiny, 7, around the house, while she works during the day as a server for Disney Springs at Disney World. On top of her job, Rodriguez would ask friends for rides, pay for Ubers or ride the bus to get the children to appointments, run errands, pick up groceries and more. Local Florida residents first caught wind of Rodriguezs circumstance when the Orange County Sheriffs Office (OCSO) surprised the family with Christmas gifts while on a tour of its aviation unit. Inspired by the local authorities act of kindness, community members began to reach out to the sheriffs office about how they, too, could step in and help out. Story continues The Rodriguez kids lost both parents to cancer in recent years. Samantha, 20, has taken on the role of caregiver to her five younger siblings. The kids thought they were visiting the OCSO Aviation Unit for a tour. Instead, they received a Christmas none of us will ever forget! pic.twitter.com/1Bs4w6PQob Orange County Sheriff's Office (@OrangeCoSheriff) December 24, 2018 Facebook post blew up asking what they could do further for the family. When I stopped looking at it, it was 17k like, by the end we were at 50k likes, Major Deputy Jason Sams of the OSCO aviation unit tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Deputy Sams later discovered about the car purchase through the chain of command. We didnt expect it at all it blew us away that people stepped forward, says Deputy Sams, 41. On April 8, the OCSO announced that donors had stepped up to purchase the Rodriguez family a brand new Nissan Versa and Samantha could barely believe it. Are you serious right now? Wow, Im in shock, the 20-year-old says in a video posted by the OSCO. You dont know how much this means to us, its such a big help. You know, doing everything on my own is very hard, but Im so glad to have people like you guys in my life. Rodriguez tells Yahoo Lifestyle that the car has been such a blessing to my family and that its truly changed their lives. Having a car is a major priority for any family, really. Not having a car before was really difficult to get around. Now that I have a car it motivates me to get more done and do what I need to do, says Rodriguez, adding that the car has lifted a huge financial burden off her shoulders. Now that shes graduated from high school, Rodriguez hopes to continue her education at Valencia College in Florida. However, the most invaluable thing the car has given Samantha and her siblings is quality time together. I will help bring my family closer together. Now that we have a car, we can go to church on Sundays like we used to. And the kids have already asked to go to the park. The possibilities are endless, says Rodriguez, who adds that she can now let the kids participate in after school activities with a car to pick them up. This act of kindness has gone beyond for me, Im so grateful. Theres nothing I can do to pay them back. According to OSCO, dozens of requests to help the Rodriguez family are still coming in from all over the country the office receives requests several times a week and sometimes daily. We have a great community that not only supports the OSCO but the community, says Deputy Sams. This is just everyday citizens in Orange County who were doing this. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. It's hard to imagine a better way for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to celebrate Jeep 4X4 Day than by selling a bunch of 2020 Jeep Gladiators. That's what happened last week. The entire run of 4,190 Gladiator Launch Edition pickups sold out Thursday, according to the automaker. The Toledo-built Gladiator is FCA's highly anticipated midsize truck revealed at last year's Los Angeles Auto Show. Other hot rides: These 5 vehicles were the winter's best sellers April Fools' 2019: April Fools' 2019: Check out these car industry jokes If you were unaware that Thursday was some kind of SUV holiday, Tim Kuniskis, head of Jeep in North America, offered an explanation: "April 4, known to our friends, fans and followers around the world as 4x4 Day, is a day specifically meant to celebrate the freedom and adventure that come with owning a Jeep vehicle." Those who preordered a Launch Edition Gladiator a "fully loaded Rubicon model with unique badging, wheels and interior accents" will get a few extras, such as a "One of 4,190" aluminum tailgate badge. The number helps highlight the Gladiator's birthplace in Toledo, where 419 is the area code. 2020 Jeep Gladiator Launch Edition Those who ordered the edition will also be able to submit their own personal Gladiator videos for a chance to win $100,000 "so they can take the time off to enjoy the Jeep lifestyle of pursuing any outdoor adventure." The videos will be judged by the company along with U.S. Army veteran Noah Galloway, a motivational speaker who lost two limbs and suffered other injuries during the Iraq War. 2020 Jeep Gladiator Launch Edition The Detroit Free Press previously reported the Launch Edition price at $60,815. For anyone planning to buy a non-Launch Edition Gladiator, FCA says the Gladiator will hit showrooms this spring. Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: You're already too late to buy this Jeep Gladiator edition WASHINGTON Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was on Capitol Hill Wednesday to defend the Trump administrations budget request for fiscal year 2020. But lawmakers grilled him on a host of other hot spots around the world from Iran to North Korea to Central America. Here are four takeaways from Pompeo's nearly three hours before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: War with Iran? Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., suggested the Trump administration might be preparing to take military action against Iran a longstanding fear among critics who point to the hard-line anti-Iran views espoused by both Pompeo and John Bolton, Trumps national security adviser. Paul asked Pompeo if the Trump administration believes it has the authority go to war with Iran under Congress 2001 authorization to strike terrorists who attacked the United States on 9/11. Members of the Organization of Iranian American Communities stand as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo prepares to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 10, 2019, during a hearing to review the FY 2020 State Department budget request. The group stood up as a gesture of appreciation for the U.S. designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC, as a "foreign terrorist organization." Id prefer to leave that to lawyers, Pompeo responded. Paul pressed further, implying the State Departments decision, announced Monday, to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps a foreign terrorist organization was intended to lay the groundwork for a military strike using the 2001 law as justification. There is a connection between the Islamic Republic of Iran and al-Qaeda. Period, full stop, Pompeo said, referring to the terrorist group behind the 9/11 attacks. You do not have our permission to go to war in Iran, Paul shot back. 'Deal of the Century' and U.S. policy toward Israel Pompeo repeatedly refused to say whether the Trump administration would oppose Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus vow to annex the West Bank or whether the U.S. still supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu secured a 5th term as Israels leader on Wednesday after campaigning largely on his success in persuading President Trump to make a series of pro-Israel policy decisions, including moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. During the campaign, he promised to annex the West Bank in a last-minute bid to rally the right wing. Story continues Pompeo evaded questions about that by telling lawmakers they would soon see the Trump administration vision for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law and a top adviser, is crafting the secret plan, which Trump has promised will be the Deal of the Century. Pompeo said Kushners plan would be unveiled before too long. Democrats said it was ridiculous Pompeo could not articulate current U.S. policy on such a consequential question. Im kind of shocked that that cannot be stated clearly, said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. Cutting aid to Central American countries Democrats also blasted the Trump administrations decision to cut humanitarian aid to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador in response to the current migrant crisis at the U.S. southern border. Pompeo announced the decision under pressure from Trump, who has complained that those countries are not doing enough to stop their desperate citizens from fleeing to the U.S. All this will do is create greater instability in the region and drive more people in fear and hopelessness to the border, said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee. Pompeo defended the decision, saying the aid was not working to improve the living conditions in those countries. The United States has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to try and build out solutions in these countries, he said. It has not been effective ... so we are endeavoring to change that. Pompeo also ducked a series of related questions, including whether he agrees with Trump that the U.S. should close its border with Mexico and whether the U.S. is "full" when it comes to immigrants. Wiggle room on North Korea sanctions? Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., pressed Pompeo on whether the U.S. would maintain crippling economic sanctions on North Korea until the regime of Kim Jong Un took concrete steps toward giving up his countrys nuclear weapons cache. I want to leave a little space there, Pompeo responded. If the administration makes substantial progress in its negotiations with North Korea, it might be the right thing to ease up the economic penalties, he added. His remarks come at a critical moment. South Koreas President Moon Jae-in will be at the White House on Thursday and is expected to ask Trump to revive talks with Kim after a failed summit in Hanoi resulted in no agreement. Moon may ask the president to lift some sanctions in exchange for steps by North Korea to denuclearize. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., suggested the administration was not being tough enough on enforcing current global sanctions, pointing to a United Nations report documenting North Korea's evasion of some economic restrictions with the help of China and Russia. "I see Kim Jong Un just trying to play out the string to the end of your administration with absolutely no results," Markey said. Pompeo argued that the Trump administration had done more to constrain North Korea that the the Obama administration. Related coverage: South Korean president Moon seeks deal, maybe a new summit, for Trump and Kim Jong Un More: Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu headed for record 5th term as Benny Gantz concedes This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'You do not have our permission to go to war in Iran,' Sen. Rand Paul warns Pompeo at hearing FORT COLLINS, Colo. A "potentially historic" storm driving blizzard conditions and thundersnow roared throught the region Wednesday, a massive weather system that will fuel downpours, high winds and possibly tornadoes as it heads east. The storm threatens 200 million Americans over the next couple of days, a blockbuster follow-up to the "bomb cyclone" that blasted the region last month. "A potentially historic storm (is) bringing a variety of precipitation types, strong wind gusts in excess of 50 mph, and very heavy snow totals," the National Weather Service in Minneapolis warned. "Prepare now for a severe winter storm." Parts of South Dakota and Minnesota could see more than two feet of snow, the weather service said. Some areas were being blasted by snowfall rates of two inches per hour. The weather service also reported "thundersnow" thunder and lightning accompanied by snow instead of rain. Were calling it historic because of the widespread heavy snow. We will set some records, said Mike Connelly, a weather service meteorologist in Aberdeen, South Dakota. A truck with a snow plow is stuck in a snow drift on Haines Avenue in Rapid City, S.D., Thursday, March 14, 2019. All state offices are now closed in South Dakota as blizzard conditions barrel into the Midwest. In Northern Colorado, some areas could see up to eight inches of snow and wind gusts approaching 70 mph, the weather service said. Late Wednesday, Colorado state climatologist Russ Schumacher said in a tweet that the storm can be classified as a "bomb cyclone," the region's second in a month. The first "bomb cyclone" a rapidly intensifying weather system hit March 13, dropping heavy snow and leaving dozens of vehicles stranded on local highways in whiteout conditions. Start the day smarter: Get USA TODAY's Daily Briefing in your inbox In a rite of spring for Colorado, temperatures in Fort Collins plummeted from Tuesday's high of 77 degrees to the 20s by Wednesday night, the weather service predicts. AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski warned that the snow will be heavy and wet, and difficult to plow and shovel. Travel will likely be snarled as airports and highways struggle under the burden. Story continues More than 700 flights into and out of Denver International Airport were canceled Wednesday and more than 160 were already canceled for Thursday. The Colorado State Patrol warned would-be travelers to consider delaying road trips. "We strongly encourage employers to consider either fully canceling work today, or at least allow employees a half day and to go home by noon," the State Patrol said on Twitter. "The fewer cars on the road during bad weather, the better." Start the day smarter: Get USA TODAY's Daily Briefing in your inbox Blizzard conditions from what the Weather Channel has dubbed "Winter Storm Wesley" even though it's spring were also poised to blast through parts of Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas. To the east and south, thunderstorms and high winds threatened areas recovering from recent flooding along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. As is often typical for big storms in the central U.S. in April, crazy temperature contrasts were recorded in a few states Wednesday. For instance, while the temperature was 27 degrees in western Nebraska in Scottsbluff, it was 78 degrees in Falls City in far southeastern Nebraska. "Heavy snow and strong winds will produce life-threatening travel conditions in parts of the Plains and Upper Midwest," the National Weather Service warned. "The heavy wet snow may also lead to power outages." AccuWeather said parts of Minnesota can look forward to up to a foot of snow and sleet through Thursday and into Friday. On Thursday, parts of Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee could face "damaging" wind gusts, large hail, heavy rain and possibly tornadoes, AccuWeather said. Indiana and Illinois are at greatest risk for severe weather Thursday, the Storm Prediction Center said. Following the storm, the melted snow will only exacerbate the flood threat across the north-central U.S. over the next few weeks. And even though New Mexico and western Texas will miss out on the snow, howling winds gusting as high as 90 mph will create a high risk of wildfires. The White Sands Missile Range in Southern Mexico shut down, citing "extreme winds." "Dangerous west winds developing today south and east," the weather service in Albuquerque tweeted. Strong crosswinds will impact travel on north to south oriented roads including I-25. Critical fire weather Middle Rio Grande Valley eastward." Bacon and Rice reported from McLean, Va. Contributing: The Associated Press This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Potentially historic' storm bringing thundersnow, blizzard conditions, downpours to 200M A new survey by the non-partisan Pew Research Center reveals nearly six in 10 Americans believe race relations in the country are bad, and 56% think President Donald Trump has made them worse. Some experts on the subject and community leaders are nodding in assent. The study, released Tuesday, supports critics belief that Trumps stance on matters of race whether his reluctance to condemn marchers at a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, or his rhetoric tinged with discriminatory statements has only emboldened bigots and made life harder for non-whites. About two-thirds of the respondents said its more common for those with racist or racially insensitive views to express them than before Trump was elected, and 45% said it has become more acceptable to do so. The reaction to the survey results? Yeah, this is about right, said Terri Jett, associate professor of political science at Butler University in Indianapolis. Its predictable based on the tenor and the climate of the country that everybody can feel. Nothing is surprising, especially what they say about the effect of President Trump on the racial divisions. Jett, who is African American, said the topic has been widely discussed among her fellow academics and in her social circles, and it has prompted her to be more mindful of her surroundings, especially when traveling to unfamiliar cities. In a recent conversation with organizers of a speakers bureau she belongs to, Jett took the rare step of inquiring about safety. My everyday walk makes me very aware of the racial tensions that exist, Jett said, and a lot of it is centered around some of the things that are happening on the national level at the direction of the president. A counter-protester, left, confronts a professed supporter The Pew survey, based on a nationally representative sample of 6,637 adults, was conducted online Jan. 22-Feb. 5 in English and Spanish. While Jett said the poll at least raises awareness of racial disparity, it revealed skepticism among blacks about the likelihood they would achieve equal rights with whites 50% considered it unlikely. Story continues The study also indicated the majority of blacks (76%), Asians (75%) and Hispanics (58%) believe they have experienced discrimination or been treated unfairly because of their race or ethnicity. Only 33% of whites said they have. Kenneth Nunn, a law professor and race relations expert at the University of Florida, noticed a downcast mood among non-white respondents. It seems to me there is a great degree of pessimism in terms of the ability of people from minority groups being able to claim a share of the American dream today, Nunn said. People are frustrated. People do not think the country is fair. So it will be interesting to see whether there will be political or social responses to that perception. Nunn believes Trump has expressed racism in very straightforward terms; he hasnt really tried to hide it at all, and he said all the studies he has seen indicate racial incidents have increased because of that. But Nunn is not ready to say the country as a whole has gone backward when it comes to race relations. Related: Race in admissions: White House gets Texas Tech med school to stem affirmative action More: Neo-Nazi pleads guilty to federal hate crimes in Charlottesville murder of Heather Heyer Respondents to the poll did take that leap, with blacks (71%) holding a more negative view of the current state of relations than Hispanics (60%) or whites (56%). In addition, 59% percent of those polled said being white helps when it comes to getting ahead in the U.S., with at least 56% of all four major ethnic groups saying as much. That helps explain why so few of the white adults surveyed said their relatives talked to them while growing up about challenges they might face because of their race, with a mere 9% indicating that. By contrast, 64% of African Americans heard the talk from their families, along with 42% of Asians and 35% of Hispanics. The discrepancy was jarring to Les Simmons, pastor of a multiethnic church in California called the South Sacramento Christian Center. What struck me was that 91 percent of whites never had to talk about race and culture in a way that relates to them being hindered by their race, Simmons said. Thats a huge number that says they have not had the same issues as black folks. Simmons has been involved in activities to remember Stephon Clark, the unarmed black man gunned down by Sacramento police during a vandalism call in March 2018, and in the push for a law to raise the legal standard for justifiable use of deadly force by police. Rather than engaging in more confrontations with law-enforcement agents, whom he believes have been inflamed by Trumps rise to power, Simmons says communities of color need to mobilize and make their voices heard to avoid being left behind. We have to not accept the narrative that its just the way it is, he said. And were going to have a big enough imagination to change things and apply political pressure and voting power pressure. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Poll: Americans say Trump has made race relations worse The Independent Scientists say they finally have an explanation for a mystifying, bright blue light that came from deep in space. Three years ago, astronomers were stunned to see a bright blue flash that came out of the spiral arm of a distant galaxy, some 200 million light-years away. It looked like a supernova, but it was even brighter and faster than those already extreme events. Scientists found that it consisted not only of the bright flash of light, but also pulsing and powerful X-rays, with hundreds of millions of such pulses being traced back to the same object. Asian markets mostly reversed early losses Wednesday but investors remain nervous as the possibility of a US-EU trade war shifted into focus after Washington's tariffs threat, while they were also spooked by Brexit uncertainty. The warning from US President Donald Trump's administration that it would impose levies on more than $11 billion of European imports jolted investors, who had been enjoying a positive run of late thanks to optimism over China-US trade talks. The development -- linked to EU subsidies for planemaker Airbus that Trump says hurt US giant Boeing -- stoked concerns about the White House's hardline protectionist agenda that has taken aim at its biggest trading partners since the tycoon's election. It also comes despite negotiators holding a series of meetings since last year ahead of proposed trade talks to resolve the dispute. "The primary market issues are that this could unwind much of the positivity around a comprehensive trade resolution as the US trade hawks continue to apply pressure on longtime allies," said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management. "Friend or foe, the latest headline suggests no country is exempt from the wrath of President Trump's trade agenda." The move could dent a rally that has seen markets across the globe enjoy a blockbuster start to the year with most up at multi-month highs. All three main Wall Street indexes ended lower Tuesday and while the losses seeped through to Asia in the morning the region's markets picked up as the day wore on. Hong Kong dipped 0.1 percent and Tokyo ended off 0.5 percent, while there were also losses in Wellington and Jakarta. However, Shanghai ended up 0.1 percent, Seoul rose 0.5 percent and Singapore gained 0.1 percent with Sydney, Taipei, Manila and Bangkok also in the ascendance. In early trade London rose 0.1 percent, while Frankfurt added 0.4 percent and Paris gained 0.3 percent. - 'Poison the well' - Story continues Upheaval in world trade was among the major reasons the International Monetary Fund trimmed its 2019 global growth forecast, with Brexit adding to its worries. Prime Minister Theresa May will on Wednesday hear at a showdown summit the EU's decision on her request for an extension to Britain's exit, which is due Friday, and to avoid an economically calamitous no-deal divorce. While she has asked for a delay until the end of June, EU heads fear that will not be enough and Council President Donald Tusk has suggested up to a year to find a new way around the crisis. Observers broadly expect a deal to eventually be made, though US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said a "hard Brexit" remained possible, adding that authorities were preparing for such an eventuality. The pound continued to hold its own, rising on the prospect of a delay to Brexit. However, Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, warned an extension "will inevitably mean that the UK will have to take part in European elections, which is unlikely to be well received by a lot of people, and could well poison the well of UK politics even more than it already is". Oil prices edged up as Russian President Vladimir Putin left open the possibility of extending a production cut agreed with OPEC. "We'll coordinate with OPEC and take a decision depending on the market situation" when the producers meet in June, he said. The commodity has enjoyed a bumper 2019 thanks to US-China optimism, sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, a weaker dollar and the recent unrest in Libya. - Key figures around 0810 GMT - Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.5 percent at 21,687.57 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.1 percent at 30,119.56 (close) Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 3,241.93 (close) London - FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 7,430.46 Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3063 from $1.3056 at 2045 GMT Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.23 pence from 86.26 pence Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1262 from $1.1264 Dollar/yen: UP at 111.20 yen from 111.15 yen Oil - West Texas Intermediate: UP 31 cents at $64.29 per barrel Oil - Brent Crude: UP 22 cents at $70.83 per barrel New York - Dow: DOWN 0.7 percent at 26,150.58 (close) CANBERRA, Australia (AP) Australia's prime minister on Thursday called a May 18 election that will be fought on issues including climate change, asylum seekers and economic management. "We live in the best country in the world," Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters after advising the governor-general to authorize the election. "But to secure your future, the road ahead depends on a strong economy. And that's why there is so much at stake at this election," he added. Morrison's conservative coalition is seeking a third three-year term. But Morrison is the third prime minister to lead a divided government in that time and only took the helm in late August. Opinion polls suggest his reign will become one of the shortest in the 118-year history of Australian prime ministers on election day. The polls suggest center-left opposition leader Bill Shorten will become the eighth prime minister since the country plunged into an extraordinary period of political instability in 2007. The election pits Shorten, a former labor union leader who has presented himself as the alternative prime minister for the past six years, and Morrison, a leader who the Australian public is still getting to know. Shorten said in his first news conference since the election was called that his government will take "real action on climate change" and reduce inequality in Australian society if his Labor Party wins power. "Australians face a real and vital choice at this election. Do you want Labor's energy, versus the government's tiredness? Labor's focus on the future, versus being stuck in the past?" Shorten said. Morrison is seen as the architect of Australia's tough refugee policy that has all but stopped the people-smuggling traffic of boats from Southeast Asian ports since 2014. The policy has been condemned by human rights groups as an abrogation of Australia's responsibilities as a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention. Story continues Morrison's first job in Prime Minister Tony Abbott's newly elected coalition government in 2013 was as minister for immigration and border protection. He oversaw the secretive military-run Operation Sovereign Borders. Asylum seekers from the Middle East, Africa and Asia would typically disable or sink their boats when intercepted by patrol ships in waters north of Australia so that the Australian crews would have to rescue them rather than turn the boats away. Under the new regime, the asylum seekers were placed in motorized life boats that were towed back to Indonesia. The life boats had just enough fuel to reach the Indonesian coast. The Indonesian government complained the policy was an affront to Indonesian sovereignty. The government has also maintained a policy adopted in the final months of a Labor government in 2013 of sending boat arrivals to camps on the Pacific island nations of Papua New Guinea and Nauru. Those who attempt to reach Australia by boat are told they will never be allowed to settle there. Morrison remains proud of virtually stopping people-smuggler boat traffic. He has a trophy shaped like a people-smuggler's boat in his office inscribed with "I Stopped These." Labor has promised to maintain the policy of banishing boat arrivals to the islands. But Labor says it would give priority to finding permanent homes for the asylum seekers who have languished in island camps for years. The conservative coalition argues that the boats would start coming again because a Labor government would soften the regime. The government introduced temporary protection visas for boat arrivals so that refugees face potential deportation every three years if the circumstances that they fled in their homelands improve. Labor would give refugees permanent visas so that they have the certainty to plan their lives. Climate change policy is a political battlefield in a country that is the world's largest exporter of coal and liquefied natural gas and has been one of the world's worst greenhouse gas emitters on a per capita basis because of its heavily reliance on coal-fired power generation. Disagreement over energy policy has been a factor in the last six changes of prime minister. Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard introduced a carbon tax in 2012. Conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott scrapped it two years later. The coalition is torn between lawmakers who want polluters to pay for their greenhouse gas emissions and those who reject any measures that would increase household power bills. The government aims to reduce Australian greenhouse gas emissions by 26% to 28% below 2005 levels by 2030. Labor has promised a more ambitious target of a 45% reduction in the same time frame. Action on climate change was a major priority for votes when conservative Prime Minister John Howard's reign ended after more than 11 years at an election in 2007. Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd immediately signed up to the U.N.'s 1997 Kyoto Protocol on reducing emissions. Australia and the United States had been the only industrialized countries to hold out. Climate change dropped down the list of Australian priorities after the global financial crisis hit. But after Australians sweltered through a record hot summer and grappled with devastating drought, global warming has become a high-priority issue for voters again. The government warns that Labor's emissions reduction plan would wreck the economy. The coalition also argues that Labor would further damage the economy with its policy of reducing tax breaks for landlords as real estate prices fall in Australia's largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne. Morrison boasts that the conservative administration Prime Minister Howard led delivered 10 annual surplus budgets and paid off all federal government debt before the government changed at the 2007 election. Rudd had planned a budget surplus in his government's first fiscal year, but the global financial crisis struck. Many economists congratulate Rudd for keeping the Australian economy out of recession through stimulus spending. The coalition has accused Labor of spending too much and sinking Australia too deep in debt, But debt has continued to mount since the conservatives regained the reins in 2013. But opinion polls suggest voters consider the conservatives to be better economic managers. The government brought forward its annual budget blueprint by a month to April 2 and revealed a plan to balance Australia's books in the next fiscal year for the first time in 12 years. Labor also promised to deliver a surplus budget in the year starting July 1, but it has yet to detail how it will achieve this goal. Labor has also promised to spend an additional AU$2.3 billion ($1.6 billion) over four years on covering treatment costs of cancer patients. It's an attractive offer with half Australia's population expected to be diagnosed with some form of the disease in their lifetimes. The conservatives have largely taken credit for Australia's remarkable run of 28 years of economic growth since its last recession under Labor's rule. Morrison hopes that voters will look to him to deliver a sequel to the Howard years when a mining boom delivered ever-increasing budget surpluses. South Africa: Soshanguve learners to get automotive skills The upgraded Soshanguve School of Specialisation, which specialises in automotive engineering, is set to boost the technical skills and creativity among school learners. The Gauteng Government is introducing School of Specialisation (SoS) to nurture talent in young people across key disciplines and develop the countrys future leaders. SoS are intended to respond to the skills shortage and unemployment crisis among the youth in the country by equipping learners with the skills and knowledge to give them the best chance of success in life. Speaking at the opening of the school in Pretoria on Tuesday, Gauteng Premier David Makhura said Gauteng is a province on the move and is modernising the public education system to ensure that learners get quality education. We are changing the manner in which the public education system, especially in the township, is perceived. We are training a new generation of young people who must have skills while still in high school. We do not want them to wait until tertiary for skills training and development, the Premier said. Automotive giant BMW Group South Africa donated one of its new X3 model for educational purposes. BMW said the donation illustrates their continued commitment to education and to the community in Soshanguve, where so many Associates who work at BMW Group Plant Rosslyn live. We are excited about our partnership with BMW SA, who donated and will hand over one of its first model X3s to the school for educational gain to our learners. Among others they will also support the school with training services and material. This is revolution and quality education we are advocating for which learners will benefit from, said Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2019-04-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. President Rodrigo Duterte says he is confident the Islamic State will never gain foothold in the Philippines because of the militarys efforts to counter violent extremism. Duterte, in his Araw ng Kagitingan speech in Jolo, Sulu, on Tuesday night, praised the militarys accomplishments against the ISIS-inspired Abu Sayyaf bandits. He made his statement even as the rescued Malaysian fisherman held captive by the Abu Sayyaf died while being treated in a hospital in Zamboanga City, an official said. Col. Gerry Besana, Western Mindanao Command information officer, said Jari Abdullah, 34, died at 1:17 p.m. on Tuesday. He said Abdullahs death, caused by the gunshot wounds inflicted by his captors during a rescue operation, was witnessed by his family and officials of the Malaysian embassy and the International Monitoring Team. He said Abdullahs family executed a waiver consenting to the removal of his life support. Duterte said the commemoration of the fall of Bataan was a fitting occasion to also honor the troops for their relentless effort to fight the lawless elements that threaten the nation. I am especially pleased with our militarys recent accomplishments against the Abu Sayyaf Group. Your efforts have brought us even closer to our ultimate objective of totally crushing violent extremism at its roots, Duterte said. With this, I can confidently declare that ISIS will never gain foothold anywhere in the Philippines. Duterte said the ISIS was a cause for concern, but the military would continue to curb the movement of terrorists.There is the ISIS that we have to worry about here in this part of Sulu, up and down Basilan. Well just have to fight and fight, Duterte said. He also renewed his commitment to modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines and give priority to its needs. Let me assure you, the government continues to prioritize your welfare and that of your families, Duterte said. But Duterte also taunted the communist rebels, saying he was not afraid of them even if the peace negotiations were over. They have shown me that they do not want to talk. In that case, were done talking. Now, if you want, lets just fight it out. I am not ready to talk to any communist guy, Duterte said. In 2017 Duterte terminated the peace talks with the communist rebels due to their continuing attacks on government troops and civilians. Last month, Malacanang also confirmed the termination of the appointments of government peace negotiators with communist rebels in view of the termination of the peace negotiations. Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea signed the termination letters by order of the President on March 18. The Communist Party of the Philippines is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines. By Nellie Peyton DAKAR, April 10 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A Ghana-based start-up has received $1.5 million from Ebay billionaire Jeff Skoll to support its work in changing Africa's pharmaceutical industry to make medicines more affordable. MPharma is one of five social businesses to receive awards from the Skoll Foundation at this week's Skoll World Forum, Britain's leading event for social enterprise. Pharmacy owners in African countries such as Ghana and Nigeria have to negotiate prices individually with drug suppliers, meaning the same medicine can cost different amounts in different pharmacies, said mPharma founder Gregory Rockson. Because there is little regulation, drug prices are marked up by middlemen and often become exorbitant, he said. MPharma works by managing drug supply for multiple pharmacies, so it can negotiate bulk prices and re-distribute medicines as needed. The pharmacists only pay for what they sell, which incentivises mPharma to keep prices low. "We want every African patient to be able to get access to the medicine they need, irrespective of their socioeconomic background," Rockson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "We hope that by doing that we can create the largest and most impactful healthcare company in Africa." Medicines account for 20 to 60 percent of health spending in low- and middle-income countries worldwide, compared with 18 percent in more developed countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Up to 90 percent of people in developing countries have to pay for medicines out-of-pocket, making them unaffordable for much of the population, says WHO. "We have a challenge in many African countries as it relates to the availability of products, the quality and the affordability," said Tania Holt, who leads healthcare activities in Africa for the U.S. consulting firm McKinsey & Company. Start-ups as well as governments and donors are working to find solutions to these three problems, she said. Story continues "I think it's an area that lends itself very nicely to disruption ... so it's exciting to follow the start-up community as they engage in solving a very big challenge," said Holt. MPharma aims to eventually supply drugs to public hospitals as well as private pharmacies, cutting out what Rockson says is a large amount of bribery, corruption, and fraud. It has also launched a micro-payment solution called Mutti for certain life-saving, high-end drugs. Since launching in Ghana in 2014, the company is now present in Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe and last month bought the second-largest pharmacy chain in Kenya. (Reporting by Nellie Peyton; Editing by Katy Migiro. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights, and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org) From coal plants to airports and bridges, China is forking out for investments across the Western Balkans, laying groundwork for a new battle for influence on the European Union's fringe. The West has long eyed Russia as its chief rival in this turbulent corner of southeast Europe. But there is another major player in town, as Chinese firms fill development gaps in these cash-strapped countries, where dreams of entering the EU keep sliding towards the horizon. The EU accounts for more than 70 percent of overall direct investment in the region -- an area spanning Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo -- far above the one percent contributed by China, according to European Commission figures. But China has in the past six years leapt forward in infrastructure-related spending, rivalling the sums spent by the EU, and is otherwise making a noticeable impact. In the Serbian steel town of Smederevo, 54-year-old mill worker Zoran Matic thanks "the Chinese -- or as we call them, our friends", for rescuing a factory that was on the brink of bankruptcy before China's HBIS group bought it in 2014 for 46 million euros ($52 million at current rates). "Wages are regular. The city has woken up," adds his colleague Novica Djordjevic, standing outside the gate where China's red flag flies. The purchase was a triumph where Americans had foundered. Just two years earlier, US Steel sold the plant, and its debts, to the Serbian government for a symbolic $1. Now production is growing and revenue was up 37 percent last year, according to the company. Thrilled, Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic urged China to also take over a debt-hit copper mine farther south -- which it did last year. And the requests keep coming. In September, Vucic called for Chinese companies to invest in the tech sector and, ambitiously, turn Serbia into a hub for "flying cars". - Gateway to Europe - As a gateway to southern Europe, the Balkans form a key link in Beijing's "Belt and Road" project, a $1-trillion plan to pave a path for its exports to Europe and beyond. Story continues Surrounded by EU member states, the region connects the Piraeus port in Greece -- already controlled by the Chinese -- to the heart of Europe. But the massive concessional loans used to fund much of the building have drawn scrutiny in Brussels. EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn, who oversees bids to join the bloc, told AFP there are "concerns over the socioeconomic and financial effects some of China's investments can have". He cited tiny Montenegro, where public debt shot up to more than 70 percent of its GDP after the country took an 809-million-euro loan from China's state-owned Export-Import bank to build a highway through its mountainous terrain. There's fear the country could fall victim to "debt-trap diplomacy" -- when nations that default on China's loans are forced to hand over assets. "These investments often come with strings attached," Hahn said. "And that in return has an impact on our aim, namely to improve the stability and economic development" in the Balkans. - '16+1' summit - The Belt and Road projects will be centre stage at the annual "16+1" summit in Dubrovnik on Friday bringing together leaders from Beijing plus 16 eastern European countries, including five Western Balkan states. In the West, the grouping has been eyed warily as a possible Chinese attempt to divide the bloc and gain leverage from within. Beijing denies any geopolitical intentions and says it supports a united Europe. But Brussels has started moving to curb the Asian giant's reach. In February, EU lawmakers voted in new screening of foreign investments, which will limit China's ability to buy firms in the strategic technology and infrastructure sectors. The Western Balkans, however, remains a open field outside the EU which has already attracted a significant chunk of the 16+1 investment. Between 2007 and 2017 Beijing announced 12 billion euros in loans for construction projects in the 16 countries -- a third of which were earmarked for Serbia, followed by Bosnia (21 percent) and Montenegro (seven percent), according to a European Investment Bank study. Not all projects are guaranteed to materialise. Some, like a railway from Belgrade to Budapest, have already hit significant snags on Hungary's side. But according to an 2017 IMF study, China is financing at least 6.2 billion euros in railway, energy and road construction in the Western Balkans. With less access to EU funding, the poorer Balkan countries are "not in a position to be turning money away", explained Matt Ferchen, a China specialist at the CarnegieTsinghua Center for Global Policy. - Cash for coal - From an EU perspective, there is concern the Chinese model of investment -- free of requirements that recipients tackle issues like corruption or press restrictions -- will work against Brussels' goals in the region. For instance, China is also funding the expansion of coal-fired energy plants, bucking an EU trend away from fossil fuels. Bosnian lawmakers are now under fire for approving a state guarantee this month for a 614-million-euro Chinese bank loan to upgrade a coal-fired power plant in Tuzla. In a tweet, Hahn warned "issues like environmental impact assessments, state aid and public procurement procedures will certainly be closely looked at" as EU membership bids are evaluated. The Energy Community, which is tasked with expanding EU energy policies to southeast Europe, has opened a complaint, saying the state guarantee violates subsidy laws. But while Brussels wields red tape, local politicians cast China as coming to the rescue. The Chinese loan is "a historic moment for Bosnia", says Fadil Novalic, prime minister of the country's Bosnian-Croat region. "We have not had such an investment in 40 years." Washington (AFP) - The Baltimore city council called for the immediate resignation of the troubled Maryland city's mayor on Monday over her sale of children's books she wrote to the state hospital system for $500,000. Fourteen of the 15 members of the city council signed a letter saying they believed it was "not in the best interest of the city" for Mayor Catherine Pugh to remain in office. "We urge you to tender your resignation, effective immediately," the letter said. Pugh has been embroiled in a scandal since it was revealed that the University of Maryland Medical System had spent $500,000 to buy 100,000 copies of a self-published children's book series by the mayor called "Healthy Holly." Pugh, a Democrat, was serving as a member of the hospital system's board at the time but has since resigned the post. She has also returned $100,000. The city's main newspaper, the Baltimore Sun, published an editorial, meanwhile, urging Pugh to step down. "Faced with a deepening scandal surrounding sales of her self-published children's books and a catastrophic loss of public confidence, Mayor Catherine Pugh must resign," the Sun said. "She has been unable or unwilling to present a credible defense of her business dealings (and), she is under ethics and criminal investigations," it said. Pugh is currently on leave from her position of mayor but a spokesman said in a statement Monday that she intended to return to the job. "Mayor Pugh has taken a leave to focus on recovering from pneumonia and regaining her health," the statement said. "She fully intends to resume the duties of her office and continuing her work on behalf of the people and the City of Baltimore." Pugh's current term expires in 2020. Baltimore, a city of some 600,000, is grappling with a soaring crime rate, racial unrest and poverty levels that are among the highest in the country. Attorney General William Barr told a Senate panel Wednesday that he believes American intelligence agencies did spy on the Trump campaign but said he has not yet determined whether there was a proper justification for that surveillance. I think spying did occur, Barr said during a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee. But the question is whether it was adequately predicated and I am not suggesting that it wasnt adequately predicated. . . . I am not suggesting those rules were violated, but I think it is important to look at that. And I am not talking about the FBI necessarily, but intelligence agencies more broadly. I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal its a big deal, he added. Barr was addressing a question from Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H.) about the origins of the FBIs counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign. Intelligence officials involved in the probe relied in part on the Steele dossier an unsubstantiated opposition-research file compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele to obtain a FISA warrant to surveil Carter Page, but did not tell the FISA court that the dossier was commissioned by a company contracted by the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. Barr told lawmakers Wednesday that he will form a team to investigate whether those FBI and Department of Justice officials misled the FISA court to further a partisan attack on Trumps campaign. Im not suggesting that those rules were violated, but I think its important to look at that, Barr said. I am going to be reviewing both the genesis and the conduct of the intelligence activities directed at the Trump campaign during 2016, he added. The attorney general made clear, however, that his investigation will be focused on the counterintelligence probe into the Trump campaign and will not encompass the entire FBI. This is not launching an investigation of the FBI, he added. To the extent there were any issues at the FBI, I do not view it as a problem thats endemic to the FBI. I think there was probably a failure among a group of leaders there at the upper echelon, so I dont like to hear attacks of the FBI. More from National Review Tripoli (AFP) - The battle for Libya's capital intensified as the UN Security Council met Wednesday to discuss the crisis gripping the North African country, where armed rivals are locked in a deadly power struggle. The closed-door talks in New York come a day after the United Nations postponed a Libyan national conference aimed at drawing up an election roadmap because of fighting raging on Tripoli's doorstep. Libya has been riven by divisions since the NATO-backed overthrow of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with various armed groups and two parallel governments vying for territory and oil wealth. Heavy clashes were heard Wednesday in the Ain Zara district on the southeastern outskirts of Tripoli as military strongman Khalifa Haftar's forces pressed an assault aimed at taking the capital from the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA). "The clashes have intensified. We're afraid to leave the house," a resident told AFP by telephone from the area, where roads were reported to have been blocked, hindering people's efforts to flee. The violence has already displaced thousands and left several dozen people dead. The Libyan Red Crescent said it had evacuated civilians on Wednesday morning but had so far only had access to combat zones controlled by the GNA. Led by Fayez al-Sarraj, the GNA's authority is not recognised by a parallel administration in the east of the country, which is allied with Haftar. Thirty families were evacuated from Ain Zara and Wadi Rabi, a district further south, to reception centres or to homes of relatives and friends, the Red Crescent said on its Facebook page. The UN Security Council began meeting behind closed doors to consider next steps, with diplomats saying Britain was discussing a possible draft resolution. "We agree with the secretary-general that there should be a ceasefire but at the moment we do not have a text," British Ambassador Karen Pierce told reporters ahead of the talks. Story continues - 'Cat and mouse' - Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), which controls swathes of the country's east, said it had seized a barracks in the Aziziya area around 50 kilometres (31 miles) south of Tripoli after "ferocious clashes". It said several fighters loyal to the UN-backed government had been detained and their weapons seized. "For the moment, it's still a game of cat and mouse," said a commander from a pro-GNA group. "We're still organising ourselves. The war hasn't truly started," he told AFP. The internationally recognised government carried out several air raids against LNA positions south of Tripoli, and also hit supply lines in central Libya, GNA spokesman Colonel Mohamed Gnounou said Tuesday. Haftar's forces appear to be advancing on two fronts, from the south and southeast of Tripoli, while coastal roads to the east and west of the city are defended by fighters loyal to the GNA. - Children at risk - Haftar has defied international calls to halt the surprise offensive launched on Thursday. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance was "deeply concerned by the situation in Libya." "The current military operation and advance on Tripoli are increasing the suffering of the Libyan people and putting civilian lives at risk," he said in a statement. The UN children's agency (UNICEF) said "nearly half a million children in Tripoli and tens of thousands more in the western areas are at a direct risk due to the intensification of fighting". The GNA's health ministry on Monday put the death toll in the fighting at 35. Haftar's forces have said 14 of their fighters have died. The UN said the clashes have displaced some 3,400 people. Although casualties remain limited so far, the International Crisis Group warned further escalation "could precipitate a humanitarian disaster". "If unleashed, a full-fledged offensive could become a proxy war between regional powers and cause innumerable casualties as well as immense devastation," it said in a report Wednesday. - Peace efforts stalled - International efforts to end the Libyan conflict have repeatedly failed. Rival leaders agreed last year to hold elections before December 10, 2018 under a French plan, but that vote never materialised. The national conference, which had been scheduled for April 14-16 in the central city of Ghadames, aimed to fix dates for legislative and presidential elections, and work towards a new constitution. UN envoy Ghassan Salame, announcing its postponement, said: "We cannot ask people to take part in the conference during gunfire and air strikes." He expressed hope the meeting would take place "as soon as possible". Haftar, whose key allies are the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Russia, is a former Kadhafi military chief who has emerged as a major player in Libya's political struggle. His offensive threatens to plunge the country into a full-blown civil war and has thrown into sharp relief the divisions between world powers over how to end the chaos that has riven Libya since 2011. The Asahi Shimbun Israelis are tired of Benjamin Netanyahu, their scandal-scarred prime minister, but apparently not so tired that they are prepared to turn the reins of power to a center-left coalition. Netanyahus Likud Party finished second in Israels parliamentary elections Wednesday, but the parties of Israels right emerged as the apparent winners, according to exit polls. Both Netanyahu and his opponent, Benny Gantz, a former general, claimed victory. For Netanyahu and Israel, it looks like 2009 all over again. Back then, Likud and Netanyahu took the silver but ultimately claimed the prize after the winning centrist party failed to establish a governing coalition. Still, it is also clear that Netanyahu no longer holds the hearts of his countrymen, if he ever did. With a Netanyahu-led government emerging the likely outcome, Israels status as another point of conflagration in Americas cold civil waralong with Trump, immigration, and abortionwill be assured. Appearing before the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas last Saturday, Trump left no doubt about his love for his Israeli counterpart. His affection was reciprocated. Netanyahu-Trump billboards plastered Israels intersections. As for the Democrats, the story could not have been any more different. This past Sunday, Beto ORourke called Bibi a racist, no sugar coating there. On Monday, Bernie Sanders expressed his hope that Netanyahu lost, and somewhere in between Pete Buttigieg voiced his displeasure with Netanyahus plans for annexation of parts of the West Bank. All this is a long way from President Harry Truman recognizing Israel or President Bill Clinton embracing the memory of Yitzhak Rabin, Israels slain prime minister. Practically, Sanders & Co. are a lot closer to the world views held by President Jimmy Carter, a one-term president, and the late Sen. George McGovern, the Democrats failed 1972 presidential nominee. They are also nearer to where the Democratic rank-and-file now stands. As the Republicans learned during the 2016 presidential primaries, the wishes of the donor base are not necessarily in sync with those of the voters. Story continues To be clear, this did not happen overnight. Rather, it is a product of changing realities and demographics in both countries. When Israelis went to the polls in 2015, Netanyahu was busy warning Israels Jews that the countrys Arabswho are Israeli citizenswere voting in droves. To many Democrats, including President Obama, Netanyahus campaign pitch sounded flatly racist: How dare they vote? This time, reports have emerged of Netanyahus Likud Party planted cameras at Arab polling stations to intimidate Arab Israelis. The lyrics are new; the tune remains the same. Jack Guez Even as a minority- and youth-driven upstairs-downstairs coalition is occupying a larger space within the Democratic Party in the United States, Israels blood-and-soil roots are becoming more visible. Bluest America doesnt cotton all that well to an increasingly ethnically and religiously driven Jewish state, much as Israeli Jews are not feeling warm and fuzzy over relaxed immigration policies and diversity as ends in themselves. By the numbers, nearly three-quarters of Israelis want fewer or no new immigrants, according to Pew. Like Trump, Netanyahu could care less about the Democrats coalition of the ascendant, a pastiche of millennials, minorities, and women. Despite howls from the American Jewish Committee and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Netanyahu made his peace and a pact with Israels version of the KKKOtzma Yehudit, the Jewish Power Partymuch as Trump received the backing of white nationalists and David Duke in his bid against Hillary Clinton. Said differently, unadulterated ethno-nationalism is in full bloom in the Land of Milk and Honey. Yair Netanyahu, the prime ministers combative son, had previously posted to his Facebook page memes of Pepe the Frog and George Soros, and actually won plaudits from Duke. At the time, Ehud Barak, who had unseated Yairs father in 1999 for the prime ministers job, had this to tweet: Is this what the boy hears at home? Is it genetics or his very own mental illness? Although most Americans remain pro-Israel, the same cannot be said for liberal Democrats. According to Gallup, nearly as many liberal Democrats sympathize more with the Palestinians (38 percent) as with the Israelis (41 percent), a virtual tie that hints at whats in store during the 2020 primary season and at the Democratic convention slated for Milwaukee. In case anyone forgot, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), then a congressman, was booed at the 1988 Democratic Convention over the partys stance toward Israel and the Palestinians. At the 2016 convention, the Democrats again embraced a pro-Israel platform despite audibly voiced dissatisfaction by the convention delegates. This time out, dont expect differences to be readily papered over. Netanyahus Israel is a political flashpoint, and one that our president will pounce on with glee. Even before the election results, Trump was pushing for American Jews to abandon the Democratic Party aka Jexodous, a gambit that has received a ton of attention. Although the chances of wholesale rejection are unlikely, recent polls show Trump barely underwater, 45-52, among New Yorks Jewish voters. Anxiety among Jewish voters caused by the emergence of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib is real and palpable. Expect the president to magnify those concerns in the months ahead, and Prime Minister Netanyahu to go all-in for his very best friend, an outcome that is great for the GOP, but for Israel and the Democrats not so much. Read more at The Daily Beast. Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a new Medicare for All proposal, acting to keep health-care policy at the center of the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination and marshaling support from four White House rivals for a single-payer plan to expand medical coverage. Health care is a human right, not a privilege, Sanders said at a Capitol Hill rally Wednesday. He said he wants to end the international embarrassment of the U.S. being the only major nation that doesnt guarantee health coverage to its citizens. He criticized health-care executives wealth and the high profits of insurers and drugmakers. Please do not tell us that this is a rational health-care system, Sanders added. His proposal would replace private health insurance with a government-run plan that covers primary care, hospital stays and prescription drugs for all Americans, dramatically changing Americas $3.5 trillion health-care industry. Sanders, who also sought the Democratic nomination in 2016, has backed the concept for years and offered similar legislation in 2013, when it attracted no co-sponsors. Of 14 Democratic senators who have signed on this time, four are competing with Sanders for the Democratic nod: Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand and Elizabeth Warren. Gillibrand is the only fellow candidate who attended the rally. With the plans introduction, Sanders is setting the standard for progressives in the health-care debate even as the Democratic Party is rallying to defend Obamacare. The Trump administration is supporting a suit in federal court that seeks to have the 2010 health law cast aside as unconstitutional. Sanderss proposal is more sweeping than the Affordable Care Act and hes betting that it will resonate with Democratic primary voters next year when caucuses and primaries get underway. That position has been risky for some in the field. Harris drew attacks after she said at a January CNN town hall said she was for Medicare for All and that she would eliminate all of that, referring to the private health insurance industry. But her staff later said she would favor more incremental approaches. Warren and Booker also have indicated they might consider other compromise approaches. Story continues Not everyone in the race agrees Medicare for All is the best path to gaining universal health coverage, with others offering rival ideas including a public option as part of Obamacare. Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, has never signed on to Sanderss single payer idea, and neither has Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, a Democratic moderate who is expected to enter the presidential contest soon. Universal Care Klobuchar told reporters Tuesday that she instead favors a public option, something she said can be achieved by using Medicare or Medicaid to extend more care to the uninsured. I think thats going to get us more quickly onto the path of universal health care, she said. The proposal has no chance of becoming law, with the Senate in Republican control and no GOP senators on board. The Democratic contenders lending weight to the proposal are signing on to a concept that comes with a high price tag. The non-partisan U.S. Congressional Budget Office, which provides cost estimates of legislation, hasnt weighed in on the cost of the proposal. A study from the libertarian Mercatus Center said Sanderss 2017 single-payer bill would raise federal spending by $32.6 trillion over 10 years. The U.S. is already projected to spend about $47 trillion on health care between 2018 and 2027, when adding up what the government, employers, and households pay. Proponents of Medicare for All argue that it will shift private spending to the public sector, eliminating the cost of administering private health plans and insurers profits. About 18 percent of gross domestic product goes to medical spending, a far higher share than peer countries. The Best Ideas Sanderss proposal would establish universal benefits through a government-run program and outlaw most forms of private insurance, including employer-provided coverage. That would eliminate out-of-pocket costs to patients, but also provide less choice for people who want to purchase specific types of benefits and for employers who use them to attract workers. Sanders didnt offer a specific way to pay for the plan. A statement on financing it said, We will continue to get the best ideas from economists, doctors, nurses, and ordinary Americans to guarantee health care as a fundamental right. The Sanders plan would be phased in over four years by gradually lowering the age for Medicare eligibility until all Americans are covered. Coverage would include hospital care, primary and preventive services, prescription drugs, emergency services and mental health treatment. Sanderss plan would add new Medicare benefits including dental, vision, hearing and long-term care. States could provide more benefits out of their own budgets. Employer Plans About 156 million Americans have private employer-sponsored plans run by companies such as UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Anthem Inc. They would have to switch to government insurance. Americas Health Insurance Plans, the insurer lobby group, said in a statement Wednesday that Medicare for All and similar proposals would mean that Americans will pay more, to wait longer, for worse care. Lets focus on real solutions that deliver real results, not a one-size-fits-all government system. Proponents of Medicare for All say it would close gaps in health-care coverage that leave 27 million Americans uninsured. It would also make health care more accessible to millions of families who have medical coverage but still struggle to afford the rising cost of medical care and prescription drugs. Almost 30 percent of adults with insurance face such high out-of-pocket costs relative to their income that they are considered underinsured and likely to delay care or struggle with their bills, according to estimates by the Commonwealth Fund. Sanderss proposal would leave medical providers, such as doctors and hospitals, in private control. Polls show that the public is generally supportive of the idea of Medicare for All, but the level of backing shifts based on how the question is phrased. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced Tuesday that he would be releasing 10 years worth of tax returns before Tax Day, when 2019 tax filings are due, arrives next week. In an interview with The New York Times, Sanders, a strong contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, suggested that his tax returns would show that he is a millionaire. During his last presidential bid in 2016 and throughout his career, Sanders has criticized other politicians, especially President Donald Trump, for accepting money from big corporations and the ultra-rich. I wrote a best-selling book, Sanders told the Times. If you write a best-selling book, you can be a millionaire, too. Sanders also noted to the paper that he was not a billionaire who had investments in Saudi Arabia, like he says Trump does. Sanders announcement comes months after he confirmed he was running in the 2020 presidential election, which drew attention to whether the senator would release his own tax returns. Sanders often calls on Trump to release his tax returns and fiercely criticized the president for not releasing them after he was elected. What the billionaire class understands is that if they can destroy the trade union movement in America, there is nothing to stop them in their never-ending quest to have it all. If we work together, that is a fight that they are going to lose. Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) April 9, 2019 On the day in the very immediate future, certainly before April 15, we release ours, I hope that Donald Trump will do exactly the same, Sanders said in the Times interview. We are going to release 10 years of our tax returns, and we hope that on that day Donald Trump will do the same. Sanders campaign manager later confirmed with CNN that Sanders would be making his tax returns public on or before Monday. Story continues The Vermont independent committed to releasing his tax returns during a CNN town hall in late February, one week after announcing his candidacy, though he didnt provide a date. However, concern over whether Sanders would release his tax returns grew last week as other 2020 Democratic contenders, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), released theirs. In an article about Sanders delayed release, Democratic lobbyist and strategist Steve Elmendorf told ABC News that Democrats value transparency. I dont think its sustainable to be a Democratic candidate for president and not release your tax returns, Elmendorf told ABC News, referring to Sanders. Democrats believe in transparency, and theyve made a big issue about Trump not being transparent. Sanders book Our Revolution, published one week after the 2016 presidential election, earned a spot on The New York Times bestseller list that same month. The senator released his most recent book, Where We Go From Here: Two Years in the Resistance, in November. It has not yet appeared on the Times bestseller list. JerusalemIsraelis voted Tuesday in a high-stakes election that will decide whether to extend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus long right-wing tenure despite corruption allegations or to replace him with an ex-military chief new to politics. The vote is expected to be close and likely lead to frantic negotiations to form a coalition once results are in, with opinion polls having shown Netanyahu best placed to do so. Polls were to close at 1900 GMT in most areas, with final results not expected until early Wednesday. Ex-military chief Benny Gantz has mounted a strong challenge to the veteran prime minister by brandishing his security credentials while pledging to undo damage he says Netanyahu has inflicted on the country with divisive politics. He voted in his hometown of Rosh Haayin and called for a new path. Im happy to stand for the good of the citizens on a new path, he said after casting his ballot. We shall respect democracy and call for a respectful and quiet day from all sides. Netanyahu was to vote later in the day. The election was in many ways a referendum on the 69-year-old who has built a reputation as guarantor of the countrys security and economic growth, but whose populism and alleged corruption have left many ready for change. He has engaged in populist rhetoric that critics say amounts to the demonisation of Arab Israelis and others. True to form, Netanyahu issued a deeply controversial pledge only three days before the election, saying he planned to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank should he win. Extending Israeli sovereignty on a large-scale in the West Bank could be the death knell to already fading hopes for a two-state solution with the Palestinians. It is a move long-sought by Israels far-right. Ronit Kampf, a 45-year-old university professor, was among the first to cast ballots at a Jerusalem polling station and said she was concerned by the corruption allegations. Bibi has been in power too long, she said, using Netanyahus nickname. There is going to be a big change. What kind of change, I dont know exactly, but there will be a change. Netanyahu has sought to portray himself as Israels essential statesman in the run up to the vote and highlighted his bond with US President Donald Trump. He has spoken of Trumps recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital and of Israels claim of sovereignty over the Golan Heights while saying the US leader is aware of his annexation plans. Who else can do this? Who can do this? Come on. Honestly, Netanyahu said in an interview on Sunday with local news site Arutz Sheva.Who can stand in front of the world? Who can stand in front of the American Congress? Who can move public opinion in that direction? At the same time, he has used Trump-like tactics, calling the corruption investigations a witch hunt and denouncing journalists covering them. On Monday night, he paid a visit to Jerusalems Western Wall for a last-minute prayer. Gantz, a 59-year-old former paratrooper who has formed a centrist alliance to challenge Netanyahu, has invoked the corruption allegations against the premier to make his case that it is time for him to go. He has called Netanyahus annexation pledge an irresponsible bid for right-wing votes. Gantz says he favours a globally backed peace agreement that sees Israel hold on to the large settlement blocs in the West Bank and maintain security control over the territory. He opposes unilateral moves. Israel needs to choose a direction of unification, connection, and hope -- or of extremity, Gantz told Israels army radio on Monday. Gantz has sought to overcome Netanyahus experience and achievements by allying with two other former military chiefs of staff and ex-finance minister Yair Lapid to form his Blue and White alliance. Opinion polls have given Netanyahus Likud and Blue and White a similar number of seats in the 120-seat parliament, with both far short of an outright majority. If polling trends hold, Netanyahu would be best placed to build a coalition thanks to smaller right-wing parties allied to him. But there have been repeated warnings about opinion polls unreliability in the past. Should Netanyahu win, he will be on track to surpass founding father David Ben-Gurion as Israels longest-serving prime minister later this year. He has been premier for a total of more than 13 years. But if he does triumph, King Bibi, as some have called him, faces the prospect of becoming the first sitting prime minister to be indicted. The attorney general has announced he intends to indict Netanyahu for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust pending an upcoming hearing. He is not required to step down if indicted, only if convicted with all appeals exhausted. Boeing is facing a shareholder lawsuit over accusations that it "put profitability and growth ahead of airplane safety and honesty," leading to two crashes of the company's 737-Max airplanes. Lead plaintiff Richard Seeks filed the lawsuit Tuesday in a Chicago federal court seeking class-action status against Boeing after the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 on Oct. 29 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10. The crashes killed nearly 350 people and triggered the worldwide grounding of 737-Max planes until Boeing can deliver a fix. The lawsuit claims Boeing concealed the risks of the 737-Max design, including "the danger of the increased pitchup tendency of the aircraft." Boeing shares were flat in pre-market trading at $369 on Wednesday. Boeing declined to comment on the lawsuit. Boeing faces liabilities: CEO Dennis Muilenburg acknowledges 'apparent' 737 Max problem Similarities between crashes: Ethiopian official notes commonality between catastrophic Boeing plane crashes CEO Dennis Muilenburg apologized last week for the crashes, saying that a preliminary investigation made it "apparent that in both flights" a maneuvering system "activated in response to erroneous angle of attack information." "We at Boeing are sorry for the lives lost in the recent 737-Max accidents," Muilenburg said in a statement at the time. "These tragedies continue to weigh heavily on our hearts and minds." Shareholder lawsuits are common in major corporate crises, as stockholders seek compensation from corporations over allegations of mismanagement leading to stock losses. Boeing announced on Friday that it would slow production of the 737-Max. Follow USA TODAY reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Boeing faces shareholder lawsuit over 737-Max crashes The hunt continues for the person responsible for the theft of five firearms and $20,000 from the home of Atlanta Braves outfielder Nick Markakis. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday that someone broke into Markakis' home in the Buckhead section of Atlanta on March 29 and walked off with the money, weapons and a luxury watch. A neighbor called police after spotting someone in the home. The Braves were in Philadelphia that night. The police report obtained by the newspaper said the front door was open and police saw a broken window when they arrived. Missing were a safe from the master bedroom that Markakis said contained $20,000, an AR-15 rifle, three 9mm handguns and a Breitling watch, according to the newspaper. Another firearm that was kept in the basement also was taken. Markakis, 35, is in his 14th year in the majors. He spent the first nine seasons in Baltimore before moving on to the Braves. The team recently signed him to a one-year, $6 million deal. --Field Level Media Is the dream of one global internet still alive? Increasingly, moves by governments to filter and restrict content are threatening to fragment the system created with the promise of connecting the world with a largely unified body of content. China for years has walled off some western services, and the fragmentation may be accelerating with regulations being imposed elsewhere, say analysts. This is leading to a "splinternet," a term circulated for a decade or more but gaining more traction in recent months. "The internet is already fragmented in material ways, but each regulator around the world thinks they know how to fix the internet," said Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University. "I think we will see a tsunami of regulations that will lead to a further splintering of the internet." The New Zealand Christchurch mosques massacre livestreamed online heightened the sense of urgency in some countries, with debates in the US and EU on curbing incitement to violence. A new Australian law could jail social media executives for failing to take down violent extremist content quickly. And a proposal unveiled in Britain could make executives personally liable for harmful content posted on social platforms. Similar ideas have been discussed by lawmakers in Washington. These moves come as Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has called for a "common global framework" of internet rules. But free-speech defenders warn it would be dangerous to allow governments to regulate online content, even if social media are struggling. The UK proposal "is a very bad look for a rights-respecting democracy," said R. David Edelman, a former White House technology adviser who now heads the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's project on technology, the economy and national security. "It would place the UK toward the far end of the internet censorship spectrum." Story continues Elsewhere, critics pounced on a bill in Singapore to ban "fake news," calling it a thinly veiled attempt at censorship. "It is not up to the government to arbitrarily determine what is and is not true," said Daniel Bastard of the media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders. "In its current form, this Orwellian law establishes nothing less than a 'ministry of truth' that would be free to silence independent voices and impose the ruling party's line." According to human rights watchdog Freedom House, at least 17 countries approved or proposed laws to restrict online media in the name of fighting "fake news" and manipulation, and 13 countries prosecuted internet users for spreading "false" information. - Europe's response - Goldman argued that the European Union's General Protection Data Regulation, aimed at improving online privacy, "has been a major milestone in splintering the internet." It has led to numerous websites including news sites cut off from Europe, he said. The EU copyright directive approved last month, aimed at protecting creators, could also result in fragmentation of online information, said Danny O'Brien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Whatever internet companies and organizations do to comply with 27 or more national laws -- from dropping links to European news sites entirely... will be challenged by one rights-holder faction or another," O'Brien said in a blog post. The multitude of proposed rules around the world raise the prospect of varying versions of the internet depending on location, with small services potentially blocking out some countries. - 'Data nationalism' - In addition to online content measures, several countries including India and Brazil are enforcing "data localization" requirements which could limit the availability of services such as e-commerce and banking. "More nation-states are trying to territorialize information flows and assert control of those services," said Milton Mueller, a Georgia Institute of Technology professor and co-founder of the Internet Governance Project of analysts. The fragmentation could have profound consequences both in terms of economics and human rights, according to Mueller. "The bypassing of these national boundaries when the internet got started was what was revolutionary and led to the expansion of new services," he said. "There is now an assertion of national sovereignty and national control, going against globalization and the ability of people to freely interact with each other." The "data nationalization" movement gained momentum after the 2013 revelations on surveillance from national security contractor Edward Snowden. This gave some governments "an excuse to impose far greater state control" of their networks, said Edelman. Edelman maintained the Snowden revelations represented a turning point because they "ruptured some of the faith in a global consensus" about the internet. Australia's efforts to curb content and require access to encrypted devices could prompt some firms to think twice about doing business there, said Edelman. "The potential is there for companies to simply exit the Australian market," he said. Amy Webb, a New York University professor and founder of the Future Today Institute, said the trend toward Balkanization is growing, posing challenges for online services. "Compliance is going to become more and more difficult for companies who do business in more than one location, which could stifle growth and restrict the flow of meaningful, credible information," Webb said. Ira Magaziner, a former policy adviser to president Bill Clinton who helped negotiate deals to bring the internet around the world, said he is optimistic that countries will find ways to keep the internet from fragmenting. "We are going through a period where there are a lot of questions and a lot of forces for disintegration," Magaziner said, while noting that countries cutting off data will be hurting themselves. "If the advantages are large enough, it will hang together," he said. London (AFP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday expressed regret for a massacre by British troops in India in 1919 but stopped short of a full apology. "We deeply regret what happened and the suffering caused," May told the British parliament, as India prepares to mark the 100th anniversary of the killings. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, called for "a full, clear and unequivocal apology". The April 13, 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre, in which British troops opened fire on thousands of unarmed protesters, remains an enduring scar from British colonial rule in India. Colonial-era records show about 400 people died in the northern city of Amritsar when soldiers opened fire on men, women and children in an enclosed area, but Indian figures put the toll at closer to 1,000. Former British prime minister David Cameron described it as "deeply shameful" during a visit in 2013 but also stopped short of an apology. A ceremony was due to take place at the site of the massacre on Saturday. Californians who love Big Gulp-style sodas can rest easy for the moment the state legislature will not outlaw the oversize drinks just yet. On Wednesday, Assemblyman David Chiu, a Democrat from San Francisco who sponsored a provision to ban the large sodas, pulled the proposal from a legislative package aimed at combating obesity amid opposition from businesses and trade groups including the 7-Eleven corporation, the American Beverage Association, and the California Retailers Association. The measure, AB766, would have prohibited restaurants and stores from selling sugary drinks in unsealed containers that hold over 16 fluid ounces. Make no mistake, the disease and suffering created by sugar-sweetened beverages is one of the most pressing public-health issues of our time and must be addressed, Chiu said. Truly resolving this issue will be a multi-year conversation, and I look forward to the conversation. Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks also pulled from committee consideration her related proposal to ban displaying sugary drinks near store checkouts. Bold bills taking on Big Soda are never easy wins, the Oakland Democrat said. We remain committed to working with the Legislature on effective ways to address its budgetary and public-health concerns and to ensure that food and beverages remain affordable for all Californians, said a spokesman for the American Beverage Association, which represents companies that sell the sugary sodas. Under pressure from the beverage industry, California banned cities last year from passing new taxes on sugary beverages until 2031. A similar ban on large sodas in New York City was repealed in summer 2015 after the states highest court ruled that the city had overstepped its authority in adopting the ban. More from National Review Ottawa (AFP) - More than 10,000 Canadians have died of opioid-related overdoses since a public health crisis erupted in 2016, according to new data released Wednesday. The latest figures -- 3,200 deaths in the first nine months of 2018 -- show that the powerful painkiller fentanyl remains "a major driver of this crisis," the public health agency said in a statement. "Today's newly released data are a stark reminder of the importance of maintaining and increasing our efforts to end the epidemic of opioid overdoses in Canada," Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam said. Historically, opioid overdose deaths -- mainly from fentanyl -- were concentrated among drug addicts. But the crisis is now also striking people who became addicted to prescribed painkillers before turning to street drugs and others experimenting with recreational drugs for the first time. The provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario continue to be the hardest hit but the opioid epidemic has affected every part of the country. Fentanyl is considered 30 to 50 times more powerful than heroin and 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Three-quarters of the most recent victims were male, and the vast majority of deaths were among young and middle-aged adults. Authorities have stepped up efforts to try to curb the number of opioid deaths, such as widely distributing naloxone kits to treat overdoses. Ottawa proposed an additional Can$30 million (US$22 million) in funding to fight the epidemic in its latest budget, which is before parliament. But the annual death toll has continued to rise. Thank you, and hello Washington, DC. Good morning from Taipei! Rich, thank you for your kind introduction just now. It is such a privilege to address this conference, opened by Dr. Hamre. I want to thank CSIS, the Brookings Institution, and the Wilson Center, as well as Bonnie, Richard, and Abe, for organizing this event. It is a pleasure to see many friends of Taiwan, including Michael Green, and Chairman Jim Moriarty, in the audience. Here in Taipei, the clock will soon turn to April 10th. On this day 40 years ago, the Taiwan Relations Act was enacted, opening a new chapter in Taiwan-US relations. The momentous events that led to the swift passage of the TRA 40 years ago marked a difficult time in Taiwans history. Many, both in the United States and here in Taiwan, were not optimistic about Taiwans futureor not clear as to whether that future could remain distinct from that of across the Strait. Few could have imagined that the foresight and friendship shown by the drafters of the TRA would eventually allow this relationship to blossom again, this time based on our shared values. And few could have imagined that the Taiwan-US partnership would become stronger than ever, and a force for good across the world. With the US Congresss steadfast support, the enactment of the TRA set out the guiding principles defining how the US engages with Taiwan, and honours our past agreements. The TRA also established the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Today, there is no question that AIT, which is about to move into its new home in Neihu, has withstood the test of time. By insisting on language that assures Taiwans security, Congress made sure that Taiwan would survive its darkest hour, and have the opportunity to transform itself into the free society and robust democracy we are today. What the TRA also reflects, is the United States commitment to our shared interests of peace, security, and stability in the Pacific. It has supported Taiwans development of the defence capabilities that we need, in order to resist any form of coercion. And this commitment and support has been honoured by successive administrations and the US Congress. It featured prominently in March 1996, when the Clinton administration sent two aircraft carriers to sail through the waters near Taiwan to stop Chinas attempts to disrupt Taiwans first direct presidential election. At that historic moment, the US stood with Taiwan, showing the world its commitment to our shared democratic values. And the people of Taiwan responded in kind, showing the world our resolve to exercise our right to vote, a fundamental democratic process, proving that we were capable of joining a global community of free and democratic nations.So in 1996, our democracy took a big step forward. And twenty years later, Taiwan is one of the freest countries in the world, and the people of Taiwan elected their first female president. With the benefit of hindsight from forty years of experience, I trust that everyone here today agrees that the TRA has helped create a force for good, and laid the foundations for Taiwan to become a beacon of democracy in the world. Taiwan survived the challenges posed to us by history. We were not defeated. We are an island of resilience. And we have been working tirelessly to contribute to a brighter tomorrow for our region, and the world as well. Today, at this conference, we commemorate the achievements of the TRA, but we should also recommit ourselves to our shared values, and common sense of purpose. Foremost among them is ensuring that our global partnerships remain strong, particularly the special bond between Taiwan and the United States. Over the past three years, we have made significant progress in advancing this relationship. In terms of security, the TRA laid out a framework to not only provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character, but also to consider any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including by boycotts or embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States. Cooperation between our two countries has continued to fulfill the spirit of these articles. Already, a steady drumbeat of arms sales have been announced by the current US administration, and we have more in the pipeline. The US has also continued to support the development of indigenous capabilities that we are capable of building here in Taiwan. And right now, the training and cooperation between our two countries could not be closer or more robust. But all of this only works when Taiwan is capable and determined to defend ourselves. We cant expect others to do what we are not willing to do by ourselves. So since 2016, part of my primary goals is to strengthen our defense capabilities. Already, we have increased our defense budget over the past two years in a row. These funds will go into strategies, techniques, and capabilities that make our fighting force more nimble, agile, and survivable. These ideas are encompassed by the Overall Defense Concept, which has my support, one hundred percent. Washington (AFP) - The president of the Central African Republic voiced optimism Tuesday that the latest peace accord would succeed in the conflict-torn country after he moved to form an inclusive government. On a visit to Washington, President Faustin-Archange Touadera said that the agreement -- the eighth peace attempt in six years -- addressed the crucial issues of power-sharing and accounting for human rights abuses. "It's not inevitable, but we think that this could be the final agreement if we all work resolutely in putting it into place," he said at the US Institute of Peace. "This agreement has something more than the other ones as all the stakeholders had time to discuss all its key points," he said. The resource-rich country has been torn by violence and displacement since 2013 when a mainly Muslim rebel group known as the Seleka overthrew president Francois Bozize, a Christian, triggering the rise of a predominantly Christian militia. Fearing a Rwandan-style genocide, former colonial ruler France intervened militarily under a UN mandate. Touadera's elected government in February signed an accord in Sudan with 14 armed groups -- which control most of the country -- and a month later all sides reached a deal on forming an inclusive government. But the accord has since faced setbacks with rebel groups squabbling over how much power they will have in the government. But Touadera said the agreement had settled the larger questions, including some fighters' insistence that they not face prosecution for violence. "It's true that there were difficult moments in the negotiations, notably on the question of impunity -- giving an amnesty -- and on power-sharing," he said. "But I think that in respecting the parameters, all sides have realized that we cannot have peace while setting aside the issue of justice," he said. Touadera is set to meet in Washington with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and hopes to encourage US investment in the impoverished country. Story continues Western powers, notably France, have been looking with alarm at the growing influence in the country of Russia which has sent military trainers with murky ties to mining companies. Touadera defended the Russian involvement, saying it was carried out openly with the UN Security Council granting an exemption from its arms embargo on the country. "There's room for everyone in the Central African Republic," he said. China on Wednesday derided "wild talk" from Taiwan's president as it defended a flight by its fighter jets across the traditionally respected maritime line dividing the island from the mainland last month as a routine exercise. The rare incursion of two J-11 fighter jets over the "median line" separating the self-ruled island from China drew condemnation from Taipei at the end of March, which called the incident "intentional, reckless and provocative". Citing remarks by Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang at a press briefing Wednesday, state-run China Daily said the fly-by was part of a planned routine exercise by the People's Liberation Army (PLA). "Protecting national sovereignty and territorial integrity has been the sacred duty of the PLA, and it is in the interest of people from both sides of the straits," he said. China has significantly stepped up diplomatic and military pressure on Taiwan since Beijing-sceptic President Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016, including staging a series of military exercises near the island. Dismissing Tsai's vow to forcibly expel Chinese fighter jets if they cross the median line again as "wild talk", Ma said the Taiwanese president's comments showed she was "scared." "We warn them not to play with fire," he said. "Don't even think about it." Beijing sees Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting unification, even though the two sides have been ruled separately since the end of a civil war in 1949. The US diplomatically recognises China over Taiwan but remains the island's chief military ally and arms supplier. Washington warned China against the use of "force or coercion" on Taiwan after its fighter jet incursion -- which came a week after the US sailed a destroyer and coastguard ship through the Taiwan Strait, angering Beijing. Today we are going to look at China Lesso Group Holdings Limited (HKG:2128) to see whether it might be an attractive investment prospect. To be precise, we'll consider its Return On Capital Employed (ROCE), as that will inform our view of the quality of the business. Firstly, we'll go over how we calculate ROCE. Second, we'll look at its ROCE compared to similar companies. Last but not least, we'll look at what impact its current liabilities have on its ROCE. Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE) ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. All else being equal, a better business will have a higher ROCE. Ultimately, it is a useful but imperfect metric. Author Edwin Whiting says to be careful when comparing the ROCE of different businesses, since 'No two businesses are exactly alike.' How Do You Calculate Return On Capital Employed? Analysts use this formula to calculate return on capital employed: Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) (Total Assets - Current Liabilities) Or for China Lesso Group Holdings: 0.14 = CN3.1b (CN35b - CN13b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2018.) So, China Lesso Group Holdings has an ROCE of 14%. See our latest analysis for China Lesso Group Holdings Does China Lesso Group Holdings Have A Good ROCE? ROCE can be useful when making comparisons, such as between similar companies. Using our data, we find that China Lesso Group Holdings's ROCE is meaningfully better than the 7.6% average in the Building industry. We would consider this a positive, as it suggests it is using capital more effectively than other similar companies. Independently of how China Lesso Group Holdings compares to its industry, its ROCE in absolute terms appears decent, and the company may be worthy of closer investigation. SEHK:2128 Past Revenue and Net Income, April 10th 2019 Remember that this metric is backwards looking - it shows what has happened in the past, and does not accurately predict the future. ROCE can be misleading for companies in cyclical industries, with returns looking impressive during the boom times, but very weak during the busts. ROCE is only a point-in-time measure. What happens in the future is pretty important for investors, so we have prepared a free report on analyst forecasts for China Lesso Group Holdings. Story continues China Lesso Group Holdings's Current Liabilities And Their Impact On Its ROCE Short term (or current) liabilities, are things like supplier invoices, overdrafts, or tax bills that need to be paid within 12 months. The ROCE equation subtracts current liabilities from capital employed, so a company with a lot of current liabilities appears to have less capital employed, and a higher ROCE than otherwise. To counter this, investors can check if a company has high current liabilities relative to total assets. China Lesso Group Holdings has total assets of CN35b and current liabilities of CN13b. Therefore its current liabilities are equivalent to approximately 38% of its total assets. China Lesso Group Holdings has a medium level of current liabilities, which would boost the ROCE. Our Take On China Lesso Group Holdings's ROCE China Lesso Group Holdings's ROCE does look good, but the level of current liabilities also contribute to that. Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates. So take a peek at this free list of companies with modest (or no) debt, trading on a P/E below 20. I will like China Lesso Group Holdings better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying. 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. A Chinese city has opened a new border crossing with North Korea -- fitted with radiation detectors -- even as talks between Washington and Pyongyang have languished over disagreements for nuclear sanctions relief. The new highway border crossing opened in the northeastern city of Ji'an on Monday, complementing its three existing ports with the North, the city said in a statement published to its website Tuesday. "After three years of unremitting efforts, the China-North Korean Ji'an-Manpo Highway Port was officially opened," the city said. The project cost 280 million yuan ($42 million) and the city estimated 500,000 tons of goods and 200,000 people would cross through the new port each year. But crippling UN sanctions imposed on the North by the UN Security Council in 2016 and 2017 have crimped trade between the two Cold War-era allies. China is by far the North's biggest trading partner. While Pyongyang publishes virtually no economic statistics of its own, Chinese Customs figures show exports to China have plummeted by more than 90 percent since 2016, down to $213 million last year -- although some observers question their reliability Sanctions relief was top of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's agenda for his Hanoi summit with US President Donald Trump in February. But the meeting broke up without a statement or even a lunch as the two sides disagreed over walking back Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme in exchange for loosening sanctions. After the opening ceremony, the first 120 tourists crossed the border. Chinese tourism to the North has picked up as relations between the countries have improved in recent years. The crossing also has a nuclear radiation detection gate, the city said. China has long been worried about any fallout from North Korea's nuclear activities and Jilin was rocked by an earthquake after a massive bomb test across the border in September 2017. The main artery for North Korean trade with China has traditionally been through the Chinese border city of Dandong, to the south. Story continues Ambitious city planners there started work on a Dandong New Zone in 2012, capped by a massive project to open a bridge connecting the city with the North Korean city of Sinuiju on the other side. Authorities expected billions of dollars in investment to flood into jointly-run free trade zones on both sides of the border. But after construction on the four-lane, $350-million bridge completed, it never opened, and the concrete runs into fields on the North Korean side. Chrissy Teigen and John Legend have been defining relationship goals for years! The two first met in 2006. Teigen, a model, appeared in Legends music video for the song Stereo and there was an immediate love connection. In an interview Teigen jokingly said, We spent the entire day together, me in my underwear and him in a full suit. That was the beginning of their beautiful romance. Months later, the pair took their first trip together to Lake Como, Italy. By February 2008, they were ready for the world to know their relationship status yes, they were officially a couple. The two made their debut as a couple at the Grammys. Soon, they became red carpet darlings looking picture perfect at several events. Teigen and Legend tied the knot in Italy in 2013 and two years later announced they were starting a family. Their daughter Luna was born in 2016. In 2018, they became a party for four with the arrival of their son Miles. In March, Teigen and Legend got matching tattoos that included the names of their children. A Florida judge has dismissed a civil complaint against Marcell Dareus that alleged the Jaguars defensive tackle sexually assaulted a woman in Tampa in January 2017 and gave her a sexually transmitted disease, Michael DiRocco of ESPN reports. Hillsborough County circuit court judge Paul L. Huey dismissed the complaint with prejudice Feb. 11, meaning it cannot be brought back to court. A woman sought in excess of $15,000 from Dareus, alleging he sexually assaulted her on Jan. 8, 2017, at a home he was returning in Lutz, Florida, a town adjacent to Tampa. She filed her complaint Dec. 12, 2017. Dareus faces a similar civil complaint filed in Duval County (Florida) in July 2018 by a Texas woman, who alleges Dareus sexually assaulted her and infected her with a sexually transmitted disease. DiRocoo, citing court records, reports that Duval County circuit court judge Tyrie Boyer dismissed that lawsuit March 14. Boyer, though, gave the woman and her attorneys 20 days to file an amended complaint, which they did April 2. Dareus and his attorneys have 20 days to respond. TOKYO (Reuters) - The Lockheed Martin F-35 aircraft that crashed over the Pacific Ocean near northern Japan was the first one to have been assembled by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, an Air Self Defense Force official told Reuters on Wednesday. The aircraft that crashed on Tuesday was the fifth F-35 delivered to Japan's Air Self Defense Force (ASDF), adding that the first four had been used in training in the United States before being brought over. A representative for Mitsubishi Heavy said the company had no immediate comment. The F-35 had been in the air for 28 minutes when contact was lost, the official said, adding that the pilot had not reported any problems with the aircraft before contact was lost. (Reporting by Tim Kelly; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Michael Perry) Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire touted the benefits of cryptocurrency at Wednesday's IMF meeting. | Source: World Economic Forum/YouTube There is little doubt that digital payments tools including bitcoin and other cryptocurrency projects are transforming the way consumers make transactions. However, even the best digital technologies will fail if users dont trust them. This was the resounding message at the International Monetary Funds spring meeting held in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. Lagarde: Consumers Are Dumping Their Cash Called Money and Payments in the Digital Age, one discussion included representatives from central banks and tech startups. Panelists shared their thoughts about how the economy was being reshaped by cryptocurrency and other digital technologies. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde noted that cash usage is on the decline in countries around the world. For example, in Sweden a mere 13% of transactions were settled in cash last year, she said. Consumers increasingly use their smartphones to make purchases with digital payment platforms, even if bitcoin hasnt quite caught on as a payment instrument. This presents a dilemma for banks. Lagarde has said central banks should consider digital currencies. On Wednesday, she added: Read the full story on CCN.com. "Once again, voters will be asked to countenance what has become the greatest abomination in the 1987 Constitution." "Once again, voters will be asked to countenance what has become the greatest abomination in the 1987 Constitution." The final stage of the drafting of the 1973 Constitution took place after the placement of the nation under martial law by President Ferdinand Marcos, and the finished document did not undergo the constitutionally prescribed ratification process. Upon her installation as President following the success of the EDSA Revolution, Corazon C. Aquino scrapped the 1973 Constitution, promulgated a Revolutionary Constitution and proceeded to appoint 50 men and women to a Constitutional Commission (Con-Com) that would draw up a new Basic Law. The marching order given to the new members of the Con-Com was to draft a Constitution (1) that would remove the features of the 1973 Constitution that made possible Ferdinand Marcoss assumption of dictatorial powers; (2) that would improve the nations governance structure and (3) that would usher in a better life for the majority of the Filipino people. Composed of men and women who represented all the significant sectors of Philippine societyincluding individuals associated with Mr. Marcos, such as his Minister of Labor and Employmentthe Con-Com went to work quickly in order to meet the before-yearend deadline set by President Cory Aquino for the completion of their task. One of the areas of the nations democratic structure that the Commissioners selected for quick remedial action was this countrys political party system. Believing that the decades-old system of two dominant political partiesthe Nacionalista Party and the Liberal Partyhad been largely responsible for the flaws and sins of Philippine politics and having in mind the benefits derived by Western European countries from the multiple-party political system, the Commissioners included in the new Constitution a provision allowing the registration by the Comelec (Commission on Elections) of political parties representing sectors of Philippine society that stood no chance of entry into the legislature because of the two major parties stranglehold on political power. What the high-minded Con-Com members clearly had in mind were the marginalized sectors, such as the fisherfolk, the indigenous peoples (IPs), the small and micro-enterprises (SMEs) and the household helpers.What has happened to the party-list system provision of the Constitution of 1987the year in which it was ratified, properly, by the Filipino peopleis an example of the saying The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Looking at the profile of the long and ever-lengthening list of party-list Representatives, the Con-Com members who are still with us no longer recognize, I am sure, their well-intentioned innovation. When thinking about the party-list system as it stands today, the words that readily come to mind are bastardized, perverted, distorted and hijacked. With all due respect to my Kapampangan friends, they have it right when they pronounce the P in party list like an F. Websters and the Oxford Dictionary will have to be revised if one is to accept that billionaire Mikee Romeros segment of Philippine societywhich segment is that?is a marginalized sector. Given the reverence that the powerful Catholic Church accords to the human fetusremember the Churchs virulent opposition to the Reproductive Health law?how can Buhay be said to be representing a marginalized sector? And are not the regular Representatives of Bicol and Eastern Visayas meant to ensure that their Ako Bicol and Ang Waray constituents are not marginalized? Truly, the word marginalized has ceased, in the context of Philippine politics, to mean what the dictionaries say it means. Anyone can now claim that a group of which he is a part is a marginalized sectoreven if by no stretch of the imagination can it be so consideredand get it included in the Comelec list of party-list entities. On May 13 the nations registered voters will once again be invited to cast a ballot for a party-list entity. Once again they will be asked to countenance what has become the greatest abomination in the 1987 Constitution. Hopefully, the coming election will be the Filipino voters final encounter with the party-list system of today. Delta Expects to Make $7 Billion From Its Amex Credit Card Relationship by 2023. But How? Delta Air Lines is promising investors it can earn up to $7 billion by 2023 from its new credit card contract with American Express, about double this years haul. But itll only see that much money if it meets certain performance goals. What are they? Several analysts tried Wednesday to get Delta executives to share more details about the new 11-year contract extension announced last week, but the airlines leaders repeatedly declined to answer, citing confidentiality. Let me suggest that we have pretty good optimism on getting to the $7 billion in that timeframe we gave, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said on the airlines first quarter earnings call on Wednesday. In recent years, banks have rewarded airlines with increasingly richer contracts, hoping they can sway consumers to apply for their cards by dangling the promise of free travel, upgrades, and other perks. Delta, which probably has the strongest brand of any U.S. airline, has been the top beneficiary, though other airlines have scored rich contracts, too. Banks typically pay airlines a fixed price per mile often between 1.25 and 1.50 cents which they buy directly from the carriers and give as a reward to their customers. Banks may also pay incentives based on the number of new cardholders who sign up. One analyst asked whether American Express might pay more money than usual per mile under the new deal, or whether Delta might be paid more per sign-up, but again, Bastian demurred. We are going to be investing alongside Amex in new cardholders, not just acquisitions but development in terms of spend and portfolio size and range and the opportunities to expand, Bastian said. Delta President Glen W. Hauenstein went a little further, saying Delta could introduce new products and services to make the card more attractive to customers. While analysts may have wanted more information, they generally cheered Deltas big news. We believe this is a very big deal, Wolfe Researchs Hunter Keay said in a note. Its high quality, visible revenue that allows Delta to plan and compete more aggressively. Story continues Lifetime Customers Delta executives also stressed the Delta relationship is more important than just a short-term revenue play. Delta likes to go after younger customers just beginning to travel for business, and the American Express deal helps it keep those consumers in its ecosystem. Younger travelers might not fly often, but if they have a co-branded card, Delta can keep track of them. Do we invest in acquiring high-value potential customers early in their life? Bastian said. Absolutely. Its one of the reasons I think our brands align so well because we have similar strategies in terms of our think about our brands and how we think about consumers. Breaking Out the Business Joe DeNardi, an analyst with Stifel, long has argued frequent flyer programs are the most profitable piece of every airline, with profit margins approaching 50 percent. Yet few airlines break out detail on their programs, with many viewing them as secret. DeNardi on Wednesday again pushed Delta to offer more transparency, noting that $7 billion is impressive revenue and should be reported separately. Bastian said Delta may offer more details. As we grow our loyalty program, youre right, there will be a question of disclosure in terms of providing better insight from an ownership perspective and a governance perspective into the drivers of our profitability into the future and whether thats in a segment or whatever disclosure format, Bastian said. In a research note, DeNardi suggested Deltas stock could be worth more if investors had greater detail on the American Express relationship There continues to be a significant disconnect between the fundamentals of Deltas marketing company and Deltas valuation, he said. In an earlier note, Jamie Baker of JP Morgan, made a similar argument. Quite simply, the heft and breadth of Deltas relationship with Amex argues for a multiple premium to United and American, in our view, assuming said competitors are unable to replicate Deltas success with their partners, Baker said. Another Profitable Quarter Delta, the first U.S. airline to report first quarter earnings, said it made net income of $730 million, up about 31 percent compared to last year. Its operating revenues were $10.5 billion. The airlines total revenue per available seat mile, which measures how much an airline makes for each seat flown one mile, grew 2.4 percent year-over year. Unit costs were roughly flat compared to last years first quarter. Subscribe to Skift newsletters covering the business of travel, restaurants, and wellness. Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba has not worked since November 2015 when a jury convicted her of gross negligence manslaughter but a tribunal has said she can return to work next year. (PA) A doctor who received a suspended jail sentence over the death of a six-year-old boy can practise again, a medical tribunal has ruled. Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba has not worked since November 2015 when a jury convicted her of gross negligence manslaughter in her treatment of Jack Adcock who developed sepsis and died of cardiac arrest at Leicester Royal Infirmary in February 2011. Among her failures were an incorrect diagnosis of gastro-enteritis on initial examination of the youngster who had Downs Syndrome and a heart condition and not acting on a clinical reading which ought to have been a clear indicator of sepsis, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing was told. In December 2015 she handed a two-year suspended jail sentence. Hadiza Bawa-Garba: Doctor guilty of childs manslaughter by negligence to be allowed to return to work She was later barred from practise for 12-months before the General Medical Council (GMC) took the case to the High Court to appeal against the sanction, saying it was not sufficient and Dr Bawa-Garba was struck off in January 2018. But last August the Court of Appeal ruled her name should be restored to the medical register and her case be sent back to the MPTS. On Tuesday, a tribunal ruled that a raft of conditions be imposed on her registration for 24-months from the end of July when her suspension ends. The conditions include that Dr Bawa-Garba must be closely supervised by a clinical supervisor, she must have an educational supervisor and she must allow the GMC to exchange information with any person involved in monitoring her compliance with her conditions. Jacks parents Nicky and Victor Adcock outside the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service headquarters in Manchester. (PA) The tribunal directed a review of Dr Bawa-Garbas case take place shortly before the end of the period of conditional registration in which the doctor will be expected to show she has made a successful return to clinical practice and her skills and knowledge are up-to-date. Dr Bawa-Garba told the tribunal: This case will live with me for the rest of my life. Tribunal chairwoman Claire Sharp said the risk of Dr Bawa-Garba putting another patient at unwarranted risk of harm was low and the evidence showed she had undertaken a significant amount of remediation. Story continues Mrs Sharp said: Given the remediation Dr Bawa-Garba has already undertaken and the full insight she has developed into her shortcomings, the tribunal was satisfied that Dr Bawa-Garba has the potential to respond positively to remediation, retraining, and to her work being supervised. Jack Adcock died as a result of sepsis while he was being treated by Dr Bawa-Garba Dr Bawa-Garba was on the cusp of becoming a consultant prior to the incident as a specialist registrar but plans to take a step back in grade some years when she returns to work in February 2020 following maternity leave. She will undergo a national recruitment process where all paediatric trainees are reassessed. Arguing for conditions, Mr Hayton conceded there was a series of failures on her part that led to her performing far below acceptable standards in 2011 but added these failings stand in isolation in her career. Simon Jackson QC, for the GMC, agreed that the appropriate and proportionate sanction in this case was now a period of conditional registration. Jacks parents Nicky, 45, and Victor, 53, from Glen Parva, Leicestershire, fiercely opposed the doctor being allowed to practise again. Read more from Yahoo News UK: Hacker who generated millions blackmailing porn users jailed Mother dies after falling from eighth floor of tower block Boy who egged Australian senator on camera given police caution Following the hearing, teaching assistant Mrs Adcock said: She doesnt care about anybody else. All she cares about is herself..Her career is more important than the life of my son. That day all she had to was ask for help. Mrs Adcock said she was gobsmacked when Dr Bawa-Garba was originally handed a 12-month suspension but then welcomed the GMCs successful appeal to the High Court to strike her off. A GMC spokeswoman said: We would like to acknowledge how difficult this process has been for the Adcock family and our thoughts are with them. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK D. Warren East has been the CEO of Rolls-Royce Holdings plc (LON:RR.) since 2015. First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at other large companies. Next, we'll consider growth that the business demonstrates. And finally - as a second measure of performance - we will look at the returns shareholders have received over the last few years. The aim of all this is to consider the appropriateness of CEO pay levels. View our latest analysis for Rolls-Royce Holdings How Does D. Warren East's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies? According to our data, Rolls-Royce Holdings plc has a market capitalization of UK17b, and pays its CEO total annual compensation worth UK2.3m. (This number is for the twelve months until December 2017). While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it's worth noting the salary is lower, valued at UK931k. We looked at a group of companies with market capitalizations over UK6.1b and the median CEO total compensation was UK3.6m. There aren't very many mega-cap companies, so we had to take a wide range to get a meaningful comparison figure. Most shareholders would consider it a positive that D. Warren East takes less in total compensation than the CEOs of most other large companies, leaving more for shareholders. However, before we heap on the praise, we should delve deeper to understand business performance. You can see, below, how CEO compensation at Rolls-Royce Holdings has changed over time. LSE:RR. CEO Compensation, April 10th 2019 Is Rolls-Royce Holdings plc Growing? Rolls-Royce Holdings plc has increased its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 44% a year, over the last three years (using a line of best fit). Its revenue is up 6.7% over last year. This demonstrates that the company has been improving recently. A good result. It's also good to see modest revenue growth, suggesting the underlying business is healthy. You might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for future earnings. Story continues Has Rolls-Royce Holdings plc Been A Good Investment? Boasting a total shareholder return of 43% over three years, Rolls-Royce Holdings plc has done well by shareholders. So they may not be at all concerned if the CEO were to be paid more than is normal for companies around the same size. In Summary... Rolls-Royce Holdings plc is currently paying its CEO below what is normal for large companies. Since the business is growing, many would argue this suggests the pay is modest. And given most shareholders are probably very happy with recent returns, you might even think that D. Warren East deserves a raise! Most shareholders like to see a modestly paid CEO combined with strong performance by the company. It would be even more positive if company insiders are buying shares. So you may want to check if insiders are buying Rolls-Royce Holdings shares with their own money (free access). Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies. 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. Its time to face facts: Donald Trump is failing on his signature issue. There is a humanitarian crisis at the southern border. The number of people crossing is surging to numbers not seen in a decade. In February, 76,103 undocumented immigrants either presented themselves at ports of entry or were apprehended at the border. That was the largest number since February 2007 until March, when border officials stopped 103,000 undocumented immigrants crossing the border. Making matters far worse, huge numbers of those crossing are families, including children. Roughly half the immigrants detained in February and March were traveling as part of a family unit. Kids are being hauled on dangerous trips, theyre often subject to terrible abuse, and they face an uncertain future when they arrive in the U.S. Such a situation would be an immense political challenge for any president, but lets not forget that Trump campaigned with an obsessive, laser-like focus on immigration especially immigration from the south. This was the heart of his announcement speech. It was the heart of his campaign rallies. It was the heart of his (failed) effort to keep the House in 2018. And here we are in 2019, with no wall, surging illegal immigration at the border, and chaos in the Department of Homeland Security. Even worse, in place of a coherent and effective immigration agenda, the Trump administration has given us quite a bit of inflammatory, ineffective, and incompetent flailing around. The aborted family-separation policy was one of the worst forms of moral and political malpractice yet seen in the modern immigration debate. Threats to close the border revealed only Trumps disregard for the vital economic importance of trade with Mexico. And his consistent efforts to resort to unilateral pen and phone actions such as attempting to revise asylum statutes via regulation or build (parts) of the wall by executive fiat are doomed to legal failure or (in the latter case) to marginal success. Story continues The bottom line is that the only permanent solutions to the crisis at the border are legislative. Americas immigration and border-enforcement regime is established by Congress. It can only be reformed by Congress. That means deal-making. That means compromise. And, lets be honest, Trump has been a terrible deal-maker since the moment he landed in the Oval Office. While many of his most loyal supporters see his tweets, his threats, and his bluster as fighting, by now (and especially after the Democratic victories in last years midterms) his critics see the same behavior and use it as motivation. Theyre not alarmed by his bluster; theyre amused. They mock him. His threats and tweets fuel the opposition and undermine his ability to make the deals he needs to make. Hes testing the political utility of the opposite of Teddy Roosevelts admonition, speak softly and carry a big stick, tweeting loudly and often carrying no real stick at all. In 2018, Trump couldve had a deal for far, far more wall money than his subsequent emergency declaration will yield even if it survives the various legal challenges it now faces. He let that deal slip away. No one thinks a wall is the cure-all for our immigration crisis, but it would be a start, providing a permanent degree of protection and channeling more immigrants through safe, controlled ports of entry. The choice now is stark: more flailing, more inflammatory tweeting, and more chaos at DHS, or a real effort to formulate a sensible, coherent, and reasonable legislative proposal and sell it to Congress and the public. I mentioned earlier that Trump has been a terrible deal-maker. There is one exception: the First Step Act. Trump was instrumental in pushing through prison reform in part because that aspect of his presidency has been largely characterized by compassion and reason. Even in hyper-polarized times, there was room for an agreement to at least begin to deal with a recognized political and cultural challenge. Im not naive enough to believe that immigration compromises are as attainable as criminal-justice reform theres too much toxic water under the bridge for that but if weve learned anything from the past three years, weve learned that Trumps base isnt going anywhere. Ann Coulter could rage, Stephen Miller could quit, and it wouldnt matter: If Trump sells an immigration deal, the most loyal among his base will stand and cheer. We dont know if any reasonable legislative compromise is attainable. Perhaps the polarization is too complete, and well have to muddle through until a political reset in 2020. But we do know what wont ease the crisis on the southern border: executive actions, presidential tweets, and endless turnover at the top of DHS. The Trump strategy of the past two years has been an objective failure. Its time for a change of tack. Its time to seek compromise. More from National Review WASHINGTON While saying he has not seen a copy of special counsel Robert Mueller's report, President Donald Trump on Wednesday applauded the Justice Department's decision to review the origins of the Russia investigation. "I have not seen the Mueller report. I have not read the Mueller report," Trump told reporters as he left the White House for Texas, where he will hold fundraisers and speak about U.S. energy. "As far as Im concerned, I dont care about the Mueller report." Trump's remarks came a day after Attorney General William Barr declined to say whether the White House had reviewed the report. Barr made public a four-page summary of the document and told lawmakers he would release a redacted version of the report "within a week." "I'm not going to say anything more about it until the report is out," Barr said Tuesday in response to a question about what had been shared with the White House. Trump repeated his argument that Barr's summary exonerated him of allegations that he colluded with Russians who sought to influence the 2016 presidential election, and sought to obstruct Mueller's investigation. The summary said Trump did not conspire with Russia, but left open a question about whether he tried to obstruct the investigation. Donald Trump and Robert Mueller Congressional Democrats who have also investigated the matter said there is evidence that Trump knew about Russian hacking during the election, and that he tried to shut down Mueller's probe; they believe the Mueller report will include questionable activity by Trump. Barr's summary of the report, released March 24, specifically said Mueller did not take a position on the obstruction question and that Trump had not been exonerated on that accusation. In again denouncing the entire investigation as a hoax, Trump said he is pleased by news reports that the Justice Department is reviewing how the Russia investigation came about. The president has claimed Obama administration officials targeted him with the investigation, but has produced no evidence to back those claims. Story continues The FBI and Justice Department said they looked at credible claims of illegal Russian election activity, which led to the Mueller investigation that produced indictments of Russians involved in a plot to interfere in the 2016 election. The Justice Department's Inspector General is also conducting a review of the origins of the Russia probe, and Barr said that investigation should be done by June. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump says he has not seen Mueller report; applauds review of the probe WASHINGTON President Donald Trump said Wednesday he will not authorize the release of his tax returns, likely setting up a major legal battle over whether Congress can review his financial records. "Im not gonna do it while Im under audit," Trump told reporters at the White House, though congressional Democrats said the law does entitle them to review tax records. The Internal Revenue Service faces a congressional deadline Wednesday on whether to comply with a request for Trump's records from the House Ways and Means Committee. In an April 3 letter to the IRS, Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass, the committee chairman, cited a law allowing Congress to review individual tax returns for legislative purposes. His committee, Neal wrote, is "considering legislative proposals and conducting oversight related to our Federal tax laws." Mueller: Donald Trump says he has not seen Mueller report; applauds review of the probe Democrat retreat: John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Jerome Powell headline House Democrats' retreat this week Trump said Democrats are digging for dirt, even though "my finances are very clean." The president has said for years he would not release his taxes because they are under audit, but that is not a legal requirement; he could release his returns whether they were under audit or not. If the IRS follows through and refuses Congress' request for Trump taxes, the House Ways and Means Committee may consider a subpoena for them. Trump aides, meanwhile, have indicated they are willing to go to court to test whether lawmakers have the constitutional right to review individual returns. Trump's lawyer, William Consovoy, sent the IRS a letter objecting to any release, saying Trump's returns should be protected by privacy. 'A gross abuse of power':: Trump's lawyer blasts demand for tax returns, seeks delay "This request is a transparent effort by one political party to harass an official from the other party because they dislike his politics and speech," Consovoy wrote in his letter. Story continues Defying tradition, Trump refused to release his returns during his 2016 presidential campaign, and has maintained his defiance since moving into the White House. Trump spoke about his taxes Wednesday before leaving on a Texas trip devoted mostly to politics. In addition to fundraisers in San Antonio and Houston, Trump meets with a group of engineers to sign an executive order designed to make it easier for energy companies to develop pipelines and other projects. The order also limits the ability of state governments to intervene and hold up projects because of environmental concerns. The president is expected to sign the order while meeting with the International Union of Operating Engineers at their education center near Houston. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump says he won't give his tax returns to Congress CAIRO, April 10 (Reuters) - Egypt blocked a petition website set up to collect signatures against an upcoming constitutional referendum hours after the platform was launched on Tuesday, an internet monitor said. The proposed amendments to the constitution would allow President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to stay in power until 2034, bolster the role of the military and increase the president's power over the judiciary. Sisi's supporters say the changes are needed to give him more time to complete major development projects and economic reforms. His critics say they concentrate more powers in the hands of a leader accused by rights groups of presiding over a relentless crackdown on freedoms. NetBlocks, an internet monitoring group, said the opposition campaign website was blocked after it reached 60,000 signatures on Tuesday. Users were still able to access the website, voiceonline.net, from abroad and or via a virtual private network (VPN) that allows them to skirt local controls. NetBlocks said network data indicated that access to the site was being restricted by all of Egypts internet service providers except for one. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Egypt State Information Service could not immediately be reached for comment. In May 2017, Egypt blocked 21 websites that it accused of supporting terrorism. Middle East and North Africa program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Sherif Mansour said that more than 100 news sites are now blocked in Egypt. Last August, Egypt passed new regulations that allow the top media regulator to block websites and social media accounts with more than 5,000 followers if they are deemed to be spreading fake news or promoting violence, hatred or discrimination. "This is all part of a new trend ... where the government is shoring up its technical capacity and control on information," the CPJ's Mansour said. The date for the constitutional referendum has still not been confirmed, but Cairo is full of banners encouraging voters to participate. It is expected to take place shortly after parliament holds a final vote on the amendments next week. An overwhelming majority in parliament, which is dominated by Sisi supporters, voted for the changes in principle in February, with 485 of 596 lawmakers voting in favor. (Reporting by Lena Masri Editing by Nick Tattersall) People are speculating meditation keeps Elizabeth Hurley looking so young. [Photo: Getty/Instagram] It is no secret Elizabeth Hurley seems to be ageing considerably more slowly than the general public. The 53-year-old actress turned swimwear entrepreneur recently wowed her 1.2 million followers with another one of her famous bikini snaps. With her toned abs, smooth skin and chiselled features, Hurley looks decades younger than her ages as she models her eponymous swimwear range, Elizabeth Hurley Beach. READ MORE: Elizabeth Hurley recreates Versace safety pin dress Many followers have praised her appearance in the latest photograph. One person wrote, Absolutely beautiful, while another added: Still the best body in the business Others remarked at how young she looks, writing, Its like the longer you live, the younger you look, and, from another person, So beautiful and ageless. Click through the gallery below to see all the times Elizabeth Hurley looked sensational in swimwear: Elizabeth Hurleys anti-ageing meditation practice Has Hurley given away one of her anti-ageing secrets with this post? The photo is captioned: Small sun bathing break between meditations. Whats more, according to the tag, the photo was taken at Ananda Spa, an Ayurvedic wellness retreat in the Himalayas, India. The spas basic Dhyana Meditation programme involves individual wellness, fitness and ayurvedic consultations, a schedule of wellness activities include yoga, pranayama (a breath control practice), meditation and a weekly trek. Hurleys post has prompted followers to speculate the practice of meditation is what keeps her young, with one writing, I need a little meditation myself, while someone else added: Meditation does wonders. How else does Elizabeth Hurley maintain her youthful looks? While Hurleys appearance is likely down to a combination of good genes and hard work, she has shared some insights over the years. Story continues Her regime includes moisturising up to 10 times a day, and paying visits to the famous Viva Mayr Clinic in Austria, a favourite health and wellbeing destination among celebrities. US President Donald Trump Tuesday lauded cooperation with Egypt in the fight against terrorism as he received al-Sisi, criticized for human rights violations in his country. The US leader, Washington Post reports, told the media that a lot of progress had been made with Egypt in terms of terrorism. During al-Sisis visit, the two Presidents will discuss military issues and trade. Egypt is the second largest recipient of US military aid after Israel and Trump has appeared as al-Sisi strongest international backer. While Egypt remains a key US ally in the Middle East region, several American politicians and rights groups have condemned Trumps support for the Egyptian leader who is criticized for a poor human right record. Al-Sisi has cracked down on critics and muzzled the opposition. The General-turned President is on the verge of extending his stay in power through a constitutional amendment to be enacted by a referendum in the few weeks to come. If adopted, the Egyptian President could stay in power till 2034. He was elected last year for another four-year term in an almost unchallenged elections. Key US senators, in a letter released on Monday told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to convey their concerns about democratic governance, political freedom, economic reforms and fundamental human rights in the country, The Washington Post reports. A strong and sustainable U.S.-Egypt strategic partnership is vital for both countries but it requires Egypt to make a tangible effort to make those reforms, states the letter, signed by the Republican chairman and the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as well as 15 other senators. Elizabeth Warren and her husband reported total family income of $905,742 on their 2018 federal tax return, with $324,687 of that coming from her work as an author and $402,897 from Harvard. The Massachusetts senator, one of 17 declared candidates for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, released her 2018 tax returns on Wednesday following up on her release in August of the 10 previous years. Ive put out 11 years of my tax returns because no one should ever have to guess who their elected officials are working for, Warren said in a statement. Doing this should be law. Warren and her husband, Bruce Mann, reported an adjusted gross income of $846,394 that included $176,280 from her Senate salary. Mann is a Harvard Law School professor. The couple paid $230,965 in taxes and reported donating $50,128 to charity. They claimed a $13,936 tax credit for solar electric property costs, making use of that option before it is phased out. Their deduction for state and local taxes, often referred to as SALT, was capped at $10,000, as is required under the new federal tax law. But because of the couples level of gifts to charity they were still able to itemize rather than take the standard deduction. Interest and Dividends The biggest source of investment income on the 2018 return came from $3,897 in interest paid by First National Bank of Omaha. The only ordinary dividends listed $1,351 are from the Vanguard Marketing Coporation, which includes a typo on the final word for the listing of the mutual fund giants name. Democrats in Congress and the presidential race are pushing for the release of President Donald Trumps tax returns, but have been stymied so far. The president has long said that his returns are under audit and he has no plans of releasing them. I would love to give them but Im not going to do it while Im under audit, he told reporters at the White House Wednesday. I got elected last time, the same exact issue, with the same intensity, which wasnt very much because frankly the people dont care. Story continues Other Candidates Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who leads in polls of declared candidates, has said he will release 10 years of his tax returns by Monday, the deadline for filing 2018 returns. Several other candidates in the Democratic race, including senators Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, have already released at least 10 years of tax returns. Its an obligation for Democrats to release their tax returns, said Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist in Washington. If they want to go after Trump for not releasing his, they have to release their returns. Warren has proposed increasing taxes on the richest households in the U.S. She has a plan that would impose a 2 percent wealth tax on individuals with more than $50 million in assets. The tax would increase to 3 percent on wealth above $1 billion. On Tuesday, Elon Musk tweeted a message to Jeff Bezos. In response to an article from the MIT Technology Review that announced Amazon's plans to launch more than 3,000 internet-providing satellites, Musk called Bezos a copycat, with the "cat" portion of the word replaced with a cat emoji. Copycat tweet Presumably, that's because in February 2018, Musk's SpaceX launched satellites to provide "global broadband" to the "least served" areas around the world. Today's Falcon launch carries 2 SpaceX test satellites for global broadband. If successful, Starlink constellation will serve least served. And according to CNBC, Bezos hired a SpaceX executive, Rajeev Badyal , to run the Amazon's satellite project after Musk fired him. There also seems to be a friendly competitive spirit between Musk and Bezos when it comes to their aerospace businesses, SpaceX and Blue Origin. Last year, Bezos wished SpaceX luck with a Falcon Heavy launch. Musk's response then, too, was cheeky he included an emoji blowing a kiss along with his thanks. Bezos then tweeted rocket emojis back at Musk. Thanks tweet Rockets tweet Musk and Bezos, after all, are both billionaires with a mission to make it possible for people to live in space. Fundamentally, SpaceX's goal is to build re-usable rockets and spacecraft so humans can inhabit other planets, namely Mars. For Musk, life on Mars would start with a single outpost: "Build up the base, starting with one ship, then multiple ships, then start building out the city, then making the city bigger, and even bigger. And yeah, over time terraforming Mars and making it really a nice place to be," he said in September. Bezos's Blue Origin is focused on building the infrastructure to make it possible for future generations of humans to iterate on space technology and build new companies inexpensively. Bezos imagines a future where humans live in free-floating space pod colonies . Story continues Amazon, Blue Origin and representatives for Bezos and Musk did not immediately respond to CNBC Make It 's request for comment. See also: Jeff Bezos: Forget Mars, humans will live in these free-floating space pod colonies Elon Musk defends plans to build a community on Mars after downbeat NASA report Bezos hired a SpaceX vice president to run Amazon's satellite internet project after Musk fired him Like this story? Subscribe to CNBC Make It on YouTube! More From CNBC * May to ask for a second delay to June 30 * EU eyes "flextension" to end of year or spring 2020 * France pushes for conditions * EU draft: UK must refrain from being naughty * May is begging from EU leaders - DUP By Elizabeth Piper and Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS, April 10 (Reuters) - The European Union will grant Prime Minister Theresa May a second delay to Brexit at an emergency summit on Wednesday but the bloc's leaders are likely to demand she accepts a longer extension with conditions. In a sign of just how far the Brexit crisis has sapped British power, May dashed to Berlin and Paris on the eve of the summit to ask Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron to allow her to put off the departure date to June 30 from April 12 But in Brussels, a "flextension" until the end of the year or until March 2020 was shaping up to be the most likely option, EU diplomats said. Such an option would allow Britain to leave earlier if the Brexit deadlock in London could be broken. While it was not immediately clear what Merkel and Macron, Europe's two most powerful leaders, agreed with May, an advance draft of conclusions for Wednesday's emergency EU summit said Britain would be granted another delay on certain conditions. "The United Kingdom shall facilitate the achievement of the Union's tasks and refrain from any measure which could jeopardize the attainment of the Union's objectives," read the draft seen by Reuters. As a full member state of the EU, Britain could in theory exercise a veto on any major policy decision. The draft left the end-date blank pending a decision by the other 27 national leaders on Wednesday evening in Brussels. "In my view, a short extension would not bring much," said Detlef Seif, deputy EU spokesman for Merkels parliamentary group. "There is no appetite to return to a new European Council every six weeks to decide whether to renew the extension." In European capitals there was weariness and exasperation with Britain's tortuous Brexit divorce after 46 years of membership. Story continues "People are tired and fed up (with Britain's indecision) - but what to do?" one EU diplomat said. "We won't be the ones pushing the UK off the cliff edge." BREXIT CRISIS Another EU official involved with Brexit said no European power wanted the chaos that they fear a "no-deal" exit would sow through financial markets and the EU 27's $16 trillion economy. Nearly two weeks after Britain was originally supposed to leave the EU, May, the weakest British prime minister in a generation, has said she fears Brexit might never happen as she battles to get a divorce deal ratified by a divided parliament. After her pledge to resign failed to get her deal over the line, she launched crisis talks with the opposition Labour Party in the hope of breaking the domestic deadlock. But when she arrives in Brussels, May will is unlikely to be able to trumpet any breakthrough with Labour. After Tuesday's round of talks, Labour said it had not yet seen a clear shift in May's stance. The Northern Irish party which props up her government said May was embarrassing the United Kingdom. "Nearly three years after the referendum the UK is today effectively holding out a begging bowl to European leaders," Democratic Unionist Party deputy leader Nigel Dodds said. An official in Macron's office said that "in the scenario of an extended delay, one year would seem too long for us." He added that if Britain did delay its exit, it should not take part in EU budget talks or in choosing the next president of the EU's executive commission - and that the other 27 member states should be able to review its "sincere cooperation." (Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Angus MacSwan) By Gabriela Baczynska and Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS (Reuters) - France on Wednesday blocked a European Union statement calling on Khalifa Haftar to halt his eastern forces' offensive in Libya, diplomatic sources said, in the latest example of how the bloc's internal divisions have undercut its global sway. The draft statement, seen by Reuters, would have said that the military attack launched by Haftar on Tripoli was "endangering the civilian population, disrupting the political process and risks further escalation with serious consequences for Libya and the wider region, including the terrorist threat." Thousands of residents fled on Wednesday as Haftar's forces - called the Libyan National Army (LNA) - and troops loyal to the Tripoli government battled on the outskirts of Libya's capital. France and Italy disagree on how to handle the latest escalation in the troubled north African country. France, which has oil assets in eastern Libya, has provided military assistance in past years to Haftar in his eastern stronghold, Libyan and French officials say.. Italy, the former colonial power and a big player in Libya's oil sector, has supported the U.N.-backed Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj. Speaking on the sidelines of an EU summit focused on Britain's exit from the bloc, European Parliament head Antonio Tajani, who is Italian, said Paris and Rome had "diverging interests" in Libya. "We need more unity, we need to speak with only one voice as Europeans, but unfortunately Europeans are divided on this," Tajani told reporters. France blocked the draft statement, which was drawn up in Brussels, through a process by which individual EU member governments could voice objections. The EU will now try to draw up a new text on which everyone can agree. EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said on Monday the bloc was united in calling for a truce and a return to diplomacy in Libya. The EU has supported al-Serraj's government in recent years to have it crack down on refugees and migrants leaving for Europe from the shores of Libya. The country descended into a civil war after the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, allowing people smugglers to operate with impunity. The EU draft statement would have said that "hostilities must cease immediately, the LNA must withdraw and the humanitarian truces called by the U.N. must be heeded." The EU would also have asked "international and regional partners to exert their influence and send an unequivocal message to the aggressors that there is no military solution to the crisis, only a political one," according to the draft. The French EU mission was not immediately available for comment. GRAPHIC - Offensive on Tripoli: https://tmsnrt.rs/2WTRAvU (Writing by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Frances Kerry and Sonya Hepinstall) An anti-Brexit protester with face painted in the colors of the European Union (EU) flag and UK national flag. Photo: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg European Union leaders are set to grant Britain a long extension of Article 50 the mechanism that notifies the EU that the UK will leave the bloc at an emergency summit on Wednesday. UK prime minister Theresa May went on a whistle-stop tour of Germany and France on Tuesday to shore up support from two of the 28-nation blocs most influential officials to delay Brexit until 30 June. However, as European Council chief Donald Tusk stipulated earlier this month, as well as Tuesday night in a formal letter on the eve of the summit, he is pushing for member states to offer a one-year flexible extension to Article 50 with the option to withdraw any time during that period, if UK parliament comes to an agreement. May is expected to immediately head to Belgium after her weekly Prime Ministers Questions session in the House of Commons, where opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn and his Labour party will grill the prime minister on all matters, not just Brexit. The emergency summit in Brussels will be begin at 6pm local time and May will formally present her case to the remaining 27 member states. EU leaders will then go to dinner without May and discuss their response. If EU leaders reject the Brexit delay proposal or dont go with Tusks proposition for a long Brexit delay, Britain will leave the bloc without a deal at 11pm local time on Friday, 12 April. Any Brexit delay does not mean talks will reopen between the UK and the EU. Extending Article 50 to June 30 or even by a year effectively just gives May more time to try and push through the withdrawal agreement she already sealed with the bloc. She has tried three times before and each time it has been rejected. Our experience so far, as well as the deep divisions within the House of Commons, give us little reason to believe that the ratification process can be completed by the end of June, Tusk said in his letter. In reality, granting such an extension would increase the risk of a rolling series of short extensions and emergency summits, creating new cliff-edge dates. This, in turn, would almost certainly overshadow the business of the EU27 in the months ahead. The continued uncertainty would also be bad for our businesses and citizens. Finally, if we failed to agree on any next extension, there would be a risk of an accidental no-deal Brexit. Story continues This is why I believe we should also discuss an alternative, longer extension. Its for this reason Tusk wants to delay Brexit for another year. He said in his open letter Tuesday night that a delay to 30 June wouldnt give May enough time to ratify the deal in parliament. Sterling against the US dollar (GBPUSD=X) a defacto barometer on how Brexit talks are progressing remained flat in early morning trading on Wednesday. Traders are waiting for the final decision from the EU on whether there will be a delay to Brexit or whether Britain will be forced to crash out of the EU on Friday without a deal. Meanwhile, the UK could always cancel Brexit. Ever since President Richard Nixon was found to have understated his tax liability in the early 1970s, it has become common practice for presidents to release their tax returns. Donald Trump is the only president since Nixon to refuse to do so, but Congress does have one law at its disposal. Section 6301(f)(1) of the tax code stipulates that upon official written request, the Treasury Secretary shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified in such request. On April 3, the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal did exactly that and sent a letter to the IRS formally requesting President Trumps tax returns. But many legal experts agree that this law is intentionally open-ended, meaning Congress still needs a legitimate legislative purpose to make that request. Neal made a case for this in his letter, writing that the request was part of his committees oversight role, with the objective of determining whether the IRS is fairly and impartially auditing Trump. Consistent with its authority, the Committee is considering legislative proposals and conducting oversight related to our Federal tax laws, including, but not limited to, the extent to which the IRS audits and enforces the Federal tax laws against a President, the letter reads. Individual income tax returns of a President are subject to mandatory examination, but this practice is IRS policy and not codified in the Federal tax laws. Considering Nixons issues, that argument could be enough. What We Learned From the Nixon Audit When Nixon was first audited by the IRS, he was given a clean bill on his returns, but a subsequent audit of the same returns found that he owed nearly $500,000 in additional tax on interest. This highlights the fact that theres an inherent conflict of interest for the agency to appropriately audit its boss, George Yin, a University of Virginia School of Law professor and former Joint Committee on Taxation chief of staff tells Fortune. Ironically, the very reason that trump says he wont hand over the information is one of the very reasons that congress should rightfully be requesting that information. Story continues Trump has said numerous times that his being under audit precludes the release of his returns, a refrain he has used numerous times since 2016. Im always under audit, it seems, but Ive been under audit for many years because the numbers are big, and I guess when you have a name, youre audited, Trump told reporters earlier this week. But until such time as Im not under audit, I would not be inclined to do it. But some experts dont buy Trumps argument. Every president since Nixon has been releasing their taxes and facing an audit simultaneously, Steve Rosenthal, a senior fellow in the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, tells Fortune, adding that it was Trumps choice to run for president. Trump is the commander-in-chief and leads our executive branchthis is just legislative oversight of the executive branch. Requesting Trumps returns is particularly legitimate, he says, since the president is effectively the boss of the IRSthe same organization responsible for impartially auditing him: Weve seen [Trumps] willingness to fire subordinates who dont do his bidding. How Trump Could Legally Avoid Releasing His Tax Returns There are two legitimate ways that the president can refuse to disclose his returns: by demonstrating that the request is outside the committees legitimate purview, or that the request itself is unconstitutional, according to Harold Krent, dean of the Chicago-Kent College of Law. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the law itself does not stipulate a basis to refuse the request. Trumps recently appointed lawyer, William Consovoy, appears to have taken the first approach in his April 5 letter to the Treasury in which he claims Neals request flouts numerous fundamental constitutional constraints. Consovoy argues that even if the Ways and Means Committee had a legitimate reason for making the request, it is a transparent effort by one political party to harass an official from the other party because they dislike his politics and speech. He also says that the stated reason for the request doesnt match the request itself. If Chairman Neal genuinely wants to review how the IRS audits Presidents, why is he seeking tax returns and return information covering the four years before President Trump took office? Consovoy writes. Why is he not requesting information about the audits of previous presidents? Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney suggested that the American people will never see Trumps tax returns. Thats an issue that was already litigated during the election, Mulvaney said on Fox News Sunday. Voters knew the president could have given his tax returns. They knew that he didnt, and they elected him anywaywhich, of course, is what drives the Democrats crazy. But early in his campaign, Trump had promised to release his returns. And while Trump can stall their release, it was his choice to run for president, Steve Rosenthal, a senior fellow in the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, argues. Trump is the commander-in-chief and leads our executive branch, Rosenthal tells Fortune. This is just legislative oversight of the executive branch. What Happens Next? The deadline for the Trump administration to respond to Neals request is Wednesdaybut it appears unlikely that they will comply. And technically they dont have to. The law Neal cited has no penalties for noncompliance. Neal may send another letter to the IRS reiterating his request. It is possible, albeit unlikely, that he would issue a subpoena. The issue could also find its way to court. But theres one important thing to keep in mind even if Neals request is granted: we, the American public, might very well never see Trumps returns. While it is within Neals legal purview to request the information, the Committee is required to hold this information in confidence, according to Yin. It can only be disclosed publicly if the committee submits the information to the full House or Senatea matter that would need to be held to a vote. And even if we were able to get our hands on Trumps returns, the likelihood of finding anything criminal is somewhat unlikely. While tax returns sometimes expose something marginally embarrassing, most are far too boring for anyone to look at, University of Iowa law professor Andy Grewal tells Fortune. They simply provide the service of allowing people to have the sense that if theres something wrong, then someone would have said something. Theres comfort in knowing that theyve been exposed to scrutiny, Grewal says, adding that 90% of congresspeople dont release their returns. It cant be the case that everyone is cheating. The fact of nondisclosure doesnt tell me that much. Rosenthal, on the other hand, thinks seeing Trumps returns could potentially provide a wealth of information, including whether he is paying his fair share of taxes, whether he is deriving income from abroad, and to what extent Trump has foreign partners and foreign accounts. Only time will tell. Facebook has apologised previously for its algorithms picking up dead accounts in the past - REUTERS Facebook has admitted accidentally asking users to invite dead friends to events or wish them happy birthday, as the company pledged to fix the issue. Sheryl Sandberg, Facebooks Chief Operating Office, said it was overhauling its algorithms to avoid such faux pas and minimize experiences that might be painful. Her comments come as the social media giant announced a raft of changes to the way it deals with the accounts of dead users. After a Facebook learns a user has died it memorialises the account and adds the word remembering in front of the persons name. In a blogpost published on Tuesday, Ms Sandberg: Once an account is memorialized, we use AI to help keep the profile from showing up in places that might cause distress, like recommending that person be invited to events or sending a birthday reminder to their friends. Were working to get better and faster at this. Facebook's COO, Sheryl Sandberg, made the announcement in a blogpost in Tuesday Credit: AP In recent years the company has been accused of being cruel after its algorithms brought up dead friends and relatives in places were users didnt expect. In 2014 the company apologised after its year in review feature, which algorithmically turned users posts into a short video, included tragic and distressing events for some. At the time, website developer Eric Meyer, wrote a blogpost after the feature used a picture of his four-year-old daughter who had died that year. Mr Meyer, who is from the US, described the act as inadvertent algorithmic cruelty and later received a personal apology from the company. Other people complained that the feature had used pictures of parents ashes or dead pets. Ms Sandberg also announced yesterday that the company is granting more controls to legacy contacts, whom users nominate while alive to take control of their profile after death. These include adding a tributes section to memorialised pages and allowing legacy contacts to edit who sees posts from the deceased account. We want Facebook to be a place where people can support each other while honoring the memory of their loved ones, added Ms Sandberg. (Reuters) - Chief executive officers of some of America's largest banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America Corp and Citigroup Inc, on Wednesday testified before Congress, where they were grilled on a wide range topics. The discussions ranged from banks' ability to safeguard the financial system, their role in financing gun-makers, to diversity and compensation. Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat faced tough questions from Representative Nydia Velazquez, a New York Democrat, on the discrepancy between his pay and the average worker's salary. "Citi has the dubious distinction of having the largest discrepancy between CEO compensation and median employee salary of any other institution present today - a remarkable 486:1 ratio," Velazquez said. When asked how Corbat would feel if he were an employee in a company where his boss earned $486 for every $1 he made, the 57-year old CEO said, "I would be hopeful that there is opportunity to continue to advance within the firm," much to Velazquez's chagrin who ended the conversation saying, "Just unbelievable! This is why people who live in a bubble or ivory towers cannot understand why there's so much anger out there." (Reporting By Aparajita Saxena and Suhail Hassan Bhat in Bengaluru; Editing by Sweta Singh) Today, at 9 a.m. ET, we might see the first-ever actual image of a black hole. The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project is an international collaboration aimed to capture the first image of a black hole. And now, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is holding a press conference to announce that project's "groundbreaking result." UPDATE: April 10, 2019, 3:21 p.m. CEST The Event Horizon Telescope has posted the first-ever image of a black hole, located at the center of the galaxy Messier 87. Check it out below. Scientists have obtained the first image of a black hole, using Event Horizon Telescope observations of the center of the galaxy M87. The image shows a bright ring formed as light bends in the intense gravity around a black hole that is 6.5 billion times more massive than the Sun pic.twitter.com/AymXilKhKe Event Horizon 'Scope (@ehtelescope) April 10, 2019 SEE ALSO: Stephen Hawking's legacy honoured with new 50p coin Press conferences will be held simultaneously in Brussels (in English), Lyngby (in Danish), Santiago (in Spanish), Shanghai (in Mandarin), Tokyo (in Japanese), Taipei (in Mandarin), and Washington D.C. (in English). You'll also be able to watch a live stream of the event, below. The EHT is not a single physical telescope; instead, it's an array of linked radio dishes across the globe, creating an Earth-sized virtual telescope. A black hole is an object with such strong gravitational pull that nothing, even light, can escape it. The black hole itself is invisible (don't expect to see anything like the special effects in Interstellar), but the surrounding matter illuminates its "shadow," which can be seen. The particular black holes the EHT is focusing on are the central black hole in our own galaxy as well as the supermassive black hole in the center of galaxy M87, and getting a glimpse of these is a pretty big deal. Story continues Read more about the project here. Paris (AFP) - French opposition MPs and senators claimed a victory for democracy Wednesday after using a little-known constitutional article to try to trigger a referendum on the government's controversial plans to privatise Paris' airports. In a rare display of non-partisanship, lawmakers straddling the spectrum from the far left to the right banded together Tuesday to propose a "referendum d'initiative populaire" (RIP) on the privatisation of Aeroports de Paris, operator of Charles de Gaulle, Orly and Le Bourget airports. This is the first time ever that opposition lawmakers have come together to try force a referendum on an issue, using a measure introduced by former president Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008 to boost participatory democracy. Socialist Party spokesman Boris Vallaud told France 2 broadcaster on Wednesday that MPs were determined to block a "major strategic error, because Aeroports de Paris is not just a regular company". Referendums are rare in France, with the last one dating to 2005 when voters rejected a new European constitution. Some of the "yellow vests" protesters behind five months of weekly rallies over social inequality and what they see as France's failure to give ordinary citizens a say in law-making hailed the move. "It's thanks to us. Great! At least maybe we have a sort of lobby power," Jerome Rodrigues, one of the movement's leaders, told France Info radio. Praising the lawmakers, he said: "For once they did what they are paid for, to listen to, and carry the voice of the people in French institutions." A referendum can be triggered on proposed legislation with the support of a fifth of members of both houses of parliament -- 185 out of 925 -- and if one-tenth of the electorate -- 4.5 million voters -- sign an online petition in favour. The process is long, however, and contains several constitutional and parliamentary hurdles that have acted as a deterrent to lawmakers in the past. Story continues - RIP to privatisations? - President Emmanuel Macron, a former investment banker, wants to invest the proceeds of the sale in an innovation fund -- a key campaign promise -- and reduce the public debt, which stood at 99 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter. Other companies set for privatisation include lottery and scratch-cards monopoly Francaise des Jeux. Opposition lawmakers have been up in arms, accusing the government of selling off state jewels. The privatisation of the airports was expected to be adopted by parliament, thanks to the large majority of Macron's Republic on the Move party. But a referendum, the outcome of which would be binding, could throw a spanner in the works. A total of 218 lawmakers from 11 parliamentary groups ranging from members of the Communist Party to the centre-right Republicans signed the referendum bill on Tuesday, well above the 185 required. The far-right National Rally voiced support for the move, without adding its signature. parl-chl-cb/adp/nla Algerias parliament has appointed on Tuesday the upper house chairman Abdelkader Bensalah as interim president for the next 90 days following the resignation of Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Bensalah who also concurrently serves as the President of the Council of the Nation, an office he has held since 2002, just three years after the beginning of the Bouteflika presidency, will run the North African nation until new elections are held, according to the countrys constitution. The appointment of Bensalah comes a week after the ailing president bowed to demands from protesters and the army to step down. Salah, in a statement last week, said the army would support the people until their demands are fully and completely satisfied. The Algerians did not wait until Friday to express their rejection of the appointment to the presidency of Abdelkader Bensalah. Immediately after the announcement of the Parliaments decision, thousands of protesters took to the streets in Algiers and other cities to disavow the decision and say that the Algerians do not want the current system and its new incarnation, Abdelkader Bensalah. As a firefighter, Eddy Weiss traveled around the country to help people who had just gone through a natural disaster. But helping the people of Joplin, Missouri, in 2011 after a devastating tornado would turn out to be disastrous for his health. Joplin was the home of old lead mines, Weiss tells Yahoo Lifestyle. The tornado stirred up lead fragments, dust, and other toxins, and made a lot of people sick as a result, he says. What I didnt realize is that there had a been a lot of people that had gotten infected in Joplin and that there were first responders who had lost their lives because of an infection they had inhaled, Weiss shares. He went home after helping with the disaster and says he had a horribly sore throatscratchy, coughing, sneezing, and it got worse. At one point, the cough got so bad that he passed out. He was hospitalized and diagnosed with COPD (or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), an umbrella term that encompasses several different lung problems, including emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and refractory asthma. Weiss says his doctor told him that he had five years to live if he kept going with his lifestyle, or 10 years if he made changes. COPD is not something you can screw around with. Its debilitating, he says, noting that he has breathing attacks at night and wonders if hell die. My poor wife, how many times I woke her up. I didnt wake her up to help me. I woke her up just to see her one more time because what if thats it, he says. COPD put me in a much darker place than my career had already put me. Now, Weiss says he has a panic attack if an escalator or elevator is out. Im trapped. I cant take the stairs, he says. Halfway down those stairs could be the last step I take. Theres a psychological side to COPD that is evil because you can make yourself worse by worrying about how bad you are. While living with the disease is scary, Weiss says hes trying to make the most of every moment, including having a baby at age 55. Hes also doing a podcast with his grown son, Jon, called In the Arena. The name stems from the 1910 speech by Teddy Roosevelt my hero who admonished the world by saying that it is not the critics that count at the end of the day, but those who stand in the arena getting their boots dirty, losing blood to save the rest. Story continues Weiss adds: Im still making every second count. Im not going to stop moving. I dont want to die on the day I did nothing. If I die, its going to be a high-speed death because Im going to be moving. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. A young woman in Taiwan reportedly had four bees living beneath her eyelid and "feasting on her tears." That's according to the Guardian, which cited a press conference where a doctor at Taiwan's Fooyin University Hospital described how he found the insects squirming within the woman's eye. "I saw something that looked like insect legs, so I pulled them out under a microscope slowly, and one at a time without damaging things inside," said Hung Chi-ting, the hospital's head of ophthalmology, at the conference, per CNN. The four insects measured less than a quarter of an inch in length, the network reported, and are known as "sweat bees" or Halictidae. The insects, which are typically non-aggressive, are drawn to human perspiration that "offers them precious moisture and salts," the Missouri Department of Conservation notes. Taiwan's CTS News reported that the woman, identified by her last name, He, said she felt a pain in her eye one day while tending the grave of a relative, according to reports. She was pulling weeds at the time and presumed it was soil, but a stinging sensation under her eyelid continued even after she washed it out with water. When she visited the doctor, Hung peered into her eye through a microscope expecting to find an infection. Instead he saw the tiny legs of the bees wriggling in her ducts, the Guardian reported. What saved the woman, her doctor said: She refrained from rubbing her eyes, which could have ruptured the bees and caused an infection. "Thankfully she came to the hospital early, otherwise I might have had to take her eyeball out to save her life," Hung said, according to CNN. CTS News broadcast the press conference in a report published last week: This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Four bees lived inside a woman's eye and fed off her tears, reports say A day after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin engaged in a tense and fiery exchange with House Financial Services Committee chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Fox News hosts Pete Hegseth and Katie Pavlich wholeheartedly backed the Trump cabinet official and called for a law limiting the length of congressional hearings. During a Monday committee hearing in which he was grilled over Democrats demand for President Trumps tax returns, Mnuchin bickered with Waters over time constraints, claiming he needed to leave for an appointment with a Bahrain official. The pair went back and forth over whether hed stay or leave to attend his important meeting, resulting in the two arguing about how Waters should conduct her own hearing. On Tuesday, Fox News daytime chat show Outnumbered covered the kerfuffle, with liberal Fox News contributor Marie Harf first saying she felt uncomfortable with how Mnuchin showed disdain for congressional oversight, prompting her colleague Dagen McDowell to burst out laughing. I think hes a rich dude who shows disdain for everybody, quite frankly, she chuckled. Harf went on to say that congressional oversight is how the system works, causing Hegseth, the shows One Lucky Guy panelist, to complain about Democrats demanding six years of Trumps tax returns. Such a demand isnt oversight, he said, this is harassment. Harf, however, explained that there is a statute allowing the House Ways and Means Committee to request the tax returns of any American. Pavlich, meanwhile, chimed in to claim it cannot be done for vicious political reasons before offering up a new law of her own. I think they should make a law that congressional hearings should be no longer than three hours anyway, she declared. Because theyre too long. Yeah! Hegseth exclaimed. He set a meeting for five oclock, he wanted to keep that meeting, and they wanted to keep harassing him. Co-host Melissa Francis, meanwhile, looked directly into the camera and laughed as the Fox & Friends Weekend host gave his full-throated defense of Mnuchins behavior. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here Election campaign posters for the European Parliament elections showing German Justice Minister Katarina Barley, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) candidate. Photo: Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch Under the shadow of Brexit and a rise of populism in European Union member states, Germanys industry federations and biggest companies are promoting the advantages of an open Europe with campaigns urging their staff to vote in the European Parliament elections in May. The Bavarian industry federation (VBW) kicked off its campaign this week, with posters saying Vote for Europe on May 26th. Its about freedom, its about prosperity, its about our Europe. We want to do everything we can to make sure that citizens vote and vote for Europe, VBW chief Bertram Brossardt said. The federation is concerned that anti-European voices have gained popularity. They insist on isolation and protectionism, they want to split Europe. We have to fight back against that, Brossardt said. Other industry associations are getting politically active too. The Central Association of German Trades have launched a Yes to Europe campaign, and the Chemical Industry Federation is staging a series of European dialogues where staff can meet with MEPs and talk about the importance of the EU. AFP reports that Volkswagen, energy giants RWE and EON, and steel company Thyssenkrupp are also asking their staff to vote for a strong, democratic EU. Developments such as Brexit, increasing populism, euroscepticism, and nationalism pose an enormous economic risk, especially for companies of this size, Andrea Roemmele of the Hertie School of Governance told AFP. Roemmele said that big companies want a strong EU that can assert its interests globally, while nationalist efforts, such as those we see in the USA under President Trump, mean declining revenues. A new study of 5,000 Germans by the Heinrich Boll Foundation found that a majority of people view the European Union in a positive light. Germans see the benefits of EU membership first and foremost politically and, secondarily, economically, according to study author Christine Putz. 77% believe that Germany can achieve its political goals with rather than without the EU. Putz told public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk that one surprising result of the study was how clearly German citizens are campaigning for more involvement by Germany in Europe. READ MORE: Poll: Migration not a burning issue for voters in EU parliament elections Alphabets GOOGL division Google is leaving no stone unturned to strengthen presence in the cloud market with the aid of its robust offerings. Google Clouds launch of Anthos which is its hybrid cloud product is a testament to this fact. Notably, the new product which was first showcased at Google Cloud Next 2019 event is an updated version of Cloud Services Platform unveiled at Google Cloud Next 2018. The company is leveraging the open-source container orchestration system, Kubernetes, and on-premise data centers to enable Anthos to aid in management of hybrid cloud or multiple cloud deployments in case of running managed container services. The most important feature of Anthos remains its ability to adapt various data center environments into a single managed service. This feature enables users to run their applications not only on Google Cloud servers but also across servers of other cloud service providers. This flexibility is likely to strengthen the adoption rate of Google Cloud, which in turn will bolster presence in the cloud computing space. Hybrid Cloud Holds Promise Increasing business data is resulting in massive requirement for hybrid cloud strategy. Moreover, adoption of multi-cloud model to achieve better scalability and attain improved resource utilization is becoming mainstream. Per a report from MarketsandMarkets, the global hybrid cloud market is expected to hit $97.64 billion by 2023 from $44.6 billion at a CAGR of 17% between 2018 and 2023. Googles Anthos enables customers to directly run their older applications on the companys cloud server without modifying their codes. Additionally, its single manageable feature will help customers to deploy and manage workloads on other cloud platforms such as Amazons AMZN AWS, Microsofts MSFT Azure and many more without caring about different APIs. All these are likely to help Google in rapidly penetrating the hybrid cloud market. Story continues Alphabet Inc. Price and Consensus Alphabet Inc. Price and Consensus | Alphabet Inc. Quote Gaining Competitive Edge Immense growth opportunities in hybrid cloud market are alluring enough to induce other cloud service providers to make advances into it. Amazon and Microsoft have introduced many products to gain traction among the hybrid cloud customers. AWS service namely Outposts with VMware Cloud enables customers utilize the VMware control plane and APIs to run the hybrid environment. However, Googles growing focus toward bolstering hybrid cloud capabilities is likely to provide tough competition to these two companies. Google joined forces with Intel to develop Anthos reference design by utilizing the Intels 2nd-Generation XeonScalable processors. Further, the company has partnered with 30 hardware and software companies like Cisco, Dell, VMware, Elastic, Splunk and Confluent, to name a few, to support Anthos. Apart from the launch of Anthos, the search giant teamed up with Hewlett Packard Enterprise HPE to strengthen hybrid cloud solutions portfolio. Hewlett Packard will provide validated on-premises infrastructure-as-a-service through HPE GreenLake. It will also offer two HPE Validated Designs for Anthos. These will aid Google Cloud deliver better experience across public cloud and on-premises environments. All these strong endeavors of Google Cloud are likely to provide a competitive edge against AWS and Azure. Currently, Alphabet carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019 In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year? Who wouldn't? Our annual Top 10s have beaten the market with amazing regularity. In 2018, while the market dropped -5.2%, the portfolio scored well into double-digits overall with individual stocks rising as high as +61.5%. And from 2012-2017, while the market boomed +126.3, Zacks' Top 10s reached an even more sensational +181.9%. See Latest Stocks Today >> 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 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE) : Free Stock Analysis Report Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Mr Netanyahu is on course to become Israel's longest-serving prime minister - AFP It was an election challenge that would unnerve even the most hardened political operative: Benjamin Netanyahu was asking Israelis to give him a fifth term as prime minister. But both he and his wife were facing criminal corruption charges. A majority of Israeli voters were telling pollsters they were tired of Mr Netanyahu after 10 years in office. And his opponent was a decorated former general, exactly the kind of man Israelis have historically chosen as their leader. Yet a week before the election, the character playing Mr Netanyahu on Israels leading satire show, A Wonderful Country, delivered a monologue that would prove prescient. I gave them a head start," the Netanyahu character mused. "Three indictments, 500 rockets from Gaza into Israel, shortages tens of thousands of hospital beds... And at the end, we will still win 30 seats. Mr Netanyahu, known in Israel as "Bibi", did even better in Tuesday's election. Early results showing winning 35 seats, the largest result for his party since 2003. His centrist challenger, Benny Gantz, also won 35 seats but Mr Netanyahu had the much clearer path to forming a coalition government. He is arguably now the most successful election-winner in Israeli history. In July this year he will overtake David Ben-Gurion, Israels founding father, as the longest-serving prime minister in the countrys history. Whether Mr Netanyahu can stay in office long-term in the face of the criminal indictments against him is another question. But for now it is worth asking: how did he win again? Real achievements Even those Israelis who dont like Mr Netanyahus brand of divisive Right-wing politics grudgingly acknowledge his achievements in the fields of security, diplomacy, and the economy. His ten years in office have been some of the most peaceful in Israeli history. The suicide bombings that plagued the country in the early-2000s are a thing of the past. He kept Israel from being dragged into bloody Syrian war even though he has repeatedly ordered strikes against Iranian targets inside Syria. Story continues And while Mr Netanyahu has failed to come up with any long-term solution to the situation in Gaza, the periodic fighting against Hamas has not resulted in large-scale casualties among Israeli soldiers or civilians. On the diplomatic front, Mr Netanyahu has been proven correct in his thesis that he can refuse to move towards a Two-State solution with the Palestinians without paying any serious international cost. Israeli jets have repeatedly struck in Syria Credit: REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo Instead of becoming more diplomatically isolated, Israel has increasingly open relations with the Gulf Arab countries, based on their shared opposition to Iran. Mr Netanyahu has brought security cooperation with Egypt, Israels former mortal enemy, to new heights. And he has boosted Israels diplomatic standing in Asia, Africa and Latin America while receiving unprecedented support from the Trump White House. Israels economy has almost doubled in size since Mr Netanyahu came to power in 2009 and it has emerged as one of the worlds most innovative hi-tech nations. Its growth rate has consistently outstripped that of the UK and other developed countries. L'etat, c'est moi The main thrust of Mr Netanyahus election campaign was that he is an indispensable leader, without whom none of these achievements would be possible. He argued that Israels successes abroad were down to his personal relationships with world leaders. One billboard showed him grinning alongside Donald Trump, with the caption: Netanyahu: in a different league. Implicit in his argument was that Israel would be committing an act of self-sabotage by not re-electing him, depriving itself of the man who personally holds the keys to unlocking success. He underscored Israelis sense that the whole state depends on him by making himself foreign minister for the first three years of his premiership, and recently appointing himself defence minister. The campaign seems to have worked. Many voters seem to have decided it was simply too risky not to re-elect Bibi. A little help from his friends Most leaders would spend the last weeks before an election vigorously campaigning at home. But Mr Netanyahu instead took his campaign abroad. He first went to Washington, where Mr Trump handed him a pre-election gift by recognising Israels annexation of the Golan Heights. Donald Trump and Mr Netanyahu after the US recognised Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights Credit: AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File Last week he went to Moscow, where Vladimir Putin helped him pull off another diplomatic coup: the return of the body of a missing Israeli soldier killed 37 years ago in Lebanon. In between the two trips, Mr Netanyahu hosted Jair Bolsonaro, the far-Right president of Brazil, who had flown 6,500 miles to meet him in Jerusalem. The world leaders all knowingly played along with Mr Netanyahus election campaign, helping him to project himself as a global statesman - one too busy with international affairs to worry about domestic politics. Israel has moved to the Right Israel has moved staunchly to the Right in recent decades, giving an inbuilt advantage to any Right-wing leader trying to see off a challenge from the Left or Centre. Nearly two-thirds of Israelis - 63 per cent - identify as Right-wing. Compare that to just 15 per cent who identify as on the Left and 18 per cent who consider themselves in the Centre. There are many reasons for this Rightward shift but fundamentally Israelis have soured on the idea that peace with the Palestinians can be reached through negotiations based on a Two-State solution. Mr Netanyahu successfully stoked the fears and angers of Right-wing voters. He forged an electoral pact with a Jewish extremist group and presented himself as a champion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and a staunch opponent of a Palestinian state. People can argue whether Mr Netanyahus success is a cause or a symptom of this move to the Right. But its clear that in Israels current political environment, the wind was at his back. Limp opposition Mr Netanyahus chief opponent, Benny Gantz, seemed like an ideal candidate. He was a former general with vast military experience, the same pedigree as the last two prime ministers from the Centre-Left, Ehud Barak and Yitzhak Rabin. But Mr Gantz also had serious deficits. He had no experience in government or politics and his only position outside the military was at a technology start up which failed miserably. Benny Gantz could not match Mr Netanyahu's political skills Credit: THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images The ex-general often looked awkward on the campaign trail and could not match the prime ministers political dexterity. His campaign had few policy specifics and its main message seemed to be its opposition to Mr Netanyahu, rather than real proposals of its own. Some voters, even those sick of Mr Netanyahu, decided that Mr Gantz was simply too inexperienced and untested to go straight into the prime ministers office. A winning formula Mr Netanyahu repeated the same trick which helped him win the last election in 2015. In the final days before voters went to the polls, Mr Netanyahu began giving dozens of media interviews, where he appeared worried and anxious. He warned that he was in serious danger of losing power and being replaced by a government of the Left. The only way to stop that, he said, was if Right-wing voters of all stripes rallied around his Likud party. The tactic - known in Israel as hitting the panic button - worked in both 2015 and again in 2019. Voters who had been planning to support one of the smaller Right-wing parties were frightened into supporting Mr Netanyahus Likud at the last minute. In doing so, they helped hand the prime minister victory once again. COLUMBUS, Ohio Lawmakers in the GOP-controlled Ohio House passed one of the nation's most restrictive abortion bans Wednesday afternoon. Senate Bill 23 would ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected and prosecute doctors who perform them anyway. It passed the Ohio House of Representatives, 56-40. As lawmakers debated the "heartbeat bill," dueling groups of demonstrators chanted outside the House chamber so loudly they could be heard on the other side of the Statehouse. One side yelled "stop the bans" and "my body, my choice" while the other chanted "Jesus" repeatedly. There were tears and prayers. Under the bill, doctors would face a fifth-degree felony punishable by up to a year in prison for performing an abortion after detecting a heartbeat. The bill has an exception to save the life of the woman but no exception for rape or incest in line with current state law. 'It's horrifying': Challenges women could face if Georgia's 'fetal heartbeat' bill goes into effect, 'Heartbeat bill': Georgia's restrictive 'fetal heartbeat' abortion bill goes to governor A fetal heartbeat can be found as early as six weeks gestation with a transvaginal ultrasound or at about eight weeks gestation with an abdominal ultrasound. The bill would neither require nor exclude transvaginal ultrasounds. Ohio law already requires doctors to inform women if a fetal heartbeat is detected and the statistical probability of bringing the fetus to term. Lawmakers in the Ohio House made some changes to the version the Senate passed last month. They increased the fine that the state medical board could impose on physicians who perform these abortions to $20,000. "Americans and Ohioans have been waiting for this bill," said Rep. Candice Keller, R-Middletown. "They agree that a child is a child when their heart is beating." Rep. Tim Ginter, an ordained minister, cited several Biblical passages in support of restricting abortion in Ohio. Story continues People rally to support and oppose the "heartbeat bill" outside the Ohio House of Representatives chamber at the Ohio Statehouse on April, 10, 2019. "Is the fetus a person, regardless of the level of development? I believe it is," said Ginter, R-Salem. Democratic Rep. Beth Liston, an internal medicine and pediatrics physician, said there was no way for a fetus to survive outside the uterus at six weeks gestation or even 12 weeks gestation. "Simply put, you need lungs and a brain to live, and no amount of technology we have will change this," Liston said. On Wednesday, Democrats offered a slew of amendments to offer an exemption for rape and incest, eliminate the statute of limitations on rape, prevent taxpayers from paying the legal bill for the imminent court battle and exempt African-American women from the abortion ban and even require DNA from all men to ensure child support is paid. All were rejected by the GOP-controlled House. 'Heartbeat bill': Iowa 'fetal heartbeat' abortion restriction declared unconstitutional 'Unborn person': Term would be defined in state law under a bill passed by Iowa Senate Democrats expressed frustration with the amount of time devoted to abortion restrictions rather than tackling infant mortality, education or drug addiction. Proponents of abortion access are expected to file a lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of the law similar to legislation passed in Arkansas, North Dakota, Iowa, Kentucky and Mississippi. To date, all courts have found the legislation unconstitutional; some litigation is ongoing. The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take up the issue so far. "If this is what it takes, we'll see you at the Supreme Court," said Iris Harvey, chief executive officer and president of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio. The heartbeat bill has been introduced five times since 2011. Former Gov. John Kasich vetoed it twice, saying Ohio would foot a costly legal bill defending the unconstitutional proposal. The Ohio Senate will need to approve the House's changes before sending the bill to Gov. Mike DeWine's desk. DeWine has already said he would sign the anti-abortion legislation. Follow Jessie Balmert on Twitter: @jbalmert This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Heartbeat bill: Ohio lawmakers pass one of the nation's most restrictive abortion bans We are upbeat about CNOOC Limiteds CEO prospects and view it as a promising pick at the moment. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and a VGM Score of B. Our research shows that stocks with a VGM Score of A or B when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2 (Buy) offer the best investment opportunities. Lets delve deeper to analyze the factors that are working in favor of this Hong Kong-based energy player. New Oil & Gas Discoveries Through 2018, CNOOC reported 17 new oil and natural gas discoveries of which 12 were made in China and the remaining five in Stabroek block, Guyana. In the Stabroek block with total recoverable resources of 5.5 billion barrel of oil equivalent (BOE) the company has made a total of 12 discoveries. Notably, the five latest discoveries made by CNOOC in Stabroek are considered among the best 10 oil and gas discoveries across the globe in 2018. In early 2019, CNOOC reported two major discoveries Tilapia and Haimara in the Stabroek block. The massive success in the exploration front is likely to back the companys oil and gas production. Potential to Capitalize on LNG Business To combat the dangerously high pollution levels, China has been taking bold steps to generate energy from natural gas instead of coal. Strong focus on cleaner energy by Beijing is giving the LNG market a significant boost. Notably, China is now the second-largest importer of LNG in the world. Since CNOOC has invested the maximum in LNG receiving terminals in China, the company is well positioned to capitalize on the growing LNG business. Owing to this, CNOOC is likely report earnings growth of 5% and 6.1% through 2019 and 2020, respectively. Other Stocks to Consider A few other prospective players in the energy space are Antero Resources Corporation AR, Royal Dutch Shell plc RDS.A and ProPetro Holding Corp. PUMP. While Antero Resources and NGL Energy sport a Zacks Rank #1, ProPetro Holding carries a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Story continues Antero Resources is likely to see earnings growth of 20% over the next five years. Royal Dutch Shell is likely to see earnings growth of 8% over the next five years, higher than the industrys 7.6%. ProPetro Holding is likely to see 19.5% earnings growth through 2019. Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019 In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year? Who wouldn't? Our annual Top 10s have beaten the market with amazing regularity. In 2018, while the market dropped -5.2%, the portfolio scored well into double-digits overall with individual stocks rising as high as +61.5%. And from 2012-2017, while the market boomed +126.3, Zacks' Top 10s reached an even more sensational +181.9%. See Latest Stocks Today >> 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 CNOOC Limited (CEO) : Free Stock Analysis Report Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS.A) : Free Stock Analysis Report Antero Resources Corporation (AR) : Free Stock Analysis Report ProPetro Holding Corp. (PUMP) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research EL PASO, Texas (AP) Kirstjen Nielsen's replacement as Homeland Security secretary was practicing law in California when hijacked jets struck the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. That night, he applied for a job with the FBI. "I was trying to pay off student loans and then go for a federal career but decided it couldn't wait," Kevin McAleenan told The Associated Press in 2017. Robert C. Bonner, the new head of what was then called the U.S. Customs Service, got to McAleenan before the FBI and asked him to move to Washington to help set up an anti-terrorism office. A series of promotions over the next 18 years at what is now called Customs and Border Protection culminated Sunday when President Donald Trump named McAleenan to serve as acting Homeland Security secretary, when Nielsen leaves office later this week. It is in some ways an unusual choice. Trump and his supporters have railed against both Obama administration policies and career government officials. But in picking McAleenan, Trump will have as his point person on politically charged border issues someone who served as a top Obama administration immigration official, in addition to serving under President George W. Bush. Yet McAleenan appears to have endeared himself to Trump, who tweeted Sunday: "I have confidence that Kevin will do a great job!" While avoiding fire-breathing ideological rhetoric and keeping a relatively low profile, McAleenan played a critical role executing some of Trump's most controversial policies. As Customs and Border Protection commissioner, he helped put in practice a "zero tolerance" policy on illegal entries that caused thousands of children to be separated from their families at the border. He also oversaw the rapid spread of a practice to limit the number of asylum seekers who can enter the country at border crossings with Mexico, which he blames on processing constraints. Story continues He has also shown strong interest in understanding why large numbers of Central American families are coming to the U.S., traveling to Guatemala's western highlands last year on a fact-finding mission. He put renewed emphasis on providing medical attention to migrants after two Guatemalan children died in U.S. custody. But McAleenan angered many Democrats when he didn't mention the death of one of those children, a girl, during congressional testimony last year. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat and chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said he called for McAleenan's resignation after the omission, which McAleenan said was an effort to avoid politicizing the little girl's death. "He cannot be trusted as Acting DHS Secretary based on his record of prioritizing Trump's harmful policies that undermine national security and the economy, and hurt vulnerable families and children at the border," Castro said. "The Hispanic Caucus will continue to hold the Trump Administration accountable for its actions against immigrants and against the will of the American people." Still, McAleenan was confirmed as Customs and Border Protection commissioner on a 77-19 Senate vote last year and has won praise from former colleagues and politicians across the political spectrum for his sharp intellect. As commissioner, he oversaw 60,000 employees and managed an annual budget of more than $13 billion. "Kevin is a true patriot," said Gil Kerlikowske, Customs and Border Protection commissioner from 2014 to 2017 and former police chief in Seattle and Buffalo, New York. "He's incredibly smart, he's got a great intellect, he's very thoughtful, and he has a level of integrity and honesty that is very impressive. In my whole career, I can probably count on one hand the number of people that I've worked with that have reached Kevin's level in all of those areas." Jay Ahern, acting head of Customs and Border Protection in the administration of George W. Bush, said McAleenan is a quick study who can recall important data when he needs it. He praised McAleenan's humility as border chief. "You want someone who has a certain amount of compassion for the people they encounter," Ahern said. "You have to have that humanitarian side to be a leader for this." That may be at odds with the president's hardline policies, Ahern said, but "Kevin has the ability to be very flexible and understanding of the political direction and can strike that right balance." McAleenan says was influenced at University of Chicago Law School in the 1990s by a professor, Gidon Gottlieb, who warned that that the U.S. was ill-prepared for a terrorist attack. "He pounded the table and basically said we're waiting for a Pearl Harbor-style terrorist attack," McAleenan told the AP. "He was right, unfortunately." After working on counterterrorism issues, he supervised Customs and Border Protection operations at Los Angeles International Airport from 2006 to 2008 "the best job I'll ever have," he said in the 2017 interview. From there, he steadily climbed the ranks. White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said Monday that McAleenan is "extremely knowledgeable" and wants to work with Trump to put the president's policies into effect. "There's no daylight between the two of 'em," Gidley said on Fox News Channel. "We're happy to work with him." ___ Associated Press writers Colleen Long and Jill Colvin in Washington contributed to this report. By Nelson Renteria SAN SALVADOR, April 9 (Reuters) - El Salvador's incoming president Nayib Bukele said on Tuesday he would not be inviting the leaders of Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela to his June 1 inauguration after criticizing them as illegitimate rulers. In a Twitter post, the 37-year-old Bukele confirmed news reports that invitations were not being extended to Juan Orlando Hernandez, president of neighboring Honduras, Daniel Ortega, president of Nicaragua, or Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Bukele, who won an election in February, did not say why the presidents would not be asked, but he has previously criticized all three as men who did not deserve to be in power due to controversies that have clouded their administrations. The 2017 re-election of Hernandez, a conservative ally of the United States, has been questioned by many, including Bukele, due to a disputed vote count that took weeks to resolve. Hernandez appeared to be on track to suffer a shock loss in the election before the official vote count came to a sudden halt. When it restarted more than a day later, the count turned in his favor and he was ultimately declared the winner. Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla and Cold War antagonist of Washington, has faced international condemnation for Nicaragua's a heavy-handed crackdown on months of protests that he has described as part of a plot to oust him. Maduro, who has presided over an economic and political crisis in Venezuela, has been under pressure to step down amid accusations he has abused his power to suppress the opposition. Bukele is one of a host of political figures that have given their support to Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who in January declared himself the rightful president. Venezuela has rejected criticism of the Maduro government as hostile propaganda and as attempts to set the stage for an intervention by foreign powers in the country. (Reporting by Nelson Renteria Editing by Dave Graham; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) Morocco boasts a rich history of Jewish-Muslim cohabitation, and in the past several years, the kingdom has taken significant steps to strengthen it, while King Mohammed VI is carrying out a wide-ranging effort to revive his countrys Jewish heritage, in gestures of openness to remind Moroccan citizens, and the world, that the countrys Jewish history matters and is worth honoring. The 2011 Constitution acknowledges that Moroccos identity has been nourished and enriched in part by Hebraic components. Around that same time, King Mohammed VI embarked on a wide-ranging rehabilitation project that reflects his special interest in the cultural and spiritual heritage of the Moroccan Jewish community, writes the New York Times. In a feature story published Tuesday (April 9), writer Yaelle Azagury and Anouar Majid, the editor of Tingis magazine, a Jew and a Muslim who were both born and raised in Morocco, explain how Morocco has preserved its Jewish heritage and overtures onto its Jewish community. They recalled in this connection that with the Kings support, more than 160 Jewish cemeteries with thousands of gravestones have been uncovered, cleaned up and inventoried with funding from the kingdom. In addition to synagogues, former Jewish schools have been renovated. The original names of the Jewish neighborhoods where many of these synagogues have stood for centuries have also been reinstated. The overtures extend to Moroccos educational system and intellectual community, the authors of the article point out, recalling, Last fall, King Mohammed ordered Holocaust studies included in the high school curriculum. Around the same time, Zhor Rehihil, the Muslim director of El Mellah, started a weekly radio show about Jewish culture featuring Jews speaking in the Moroccan Arab vernacular, darija. As explained by Ms. Rehihil, the goal of the show, in which Moroccan Jews reminisce about their childhoods in villages around the country, is to familiarize them to a Muslim audience that often associates Jews with foreigners. Although the number of Jews in the country does exceed 2,500, compared with some 240,000 in the 1940s, the kingdoms embrace of Jewish heritage is a strong reminder of the Jews rightful place in Moroccos history, the authors of the article state. Noting that the Moroccan Jewish diaspora in Canada, France, Israel and Venezuela have retained strong ties with their old homeland, often helping to fund renovations, they underlined that Jews fared significantly better in Arab lands than their brethren in the shtetls of Central and Eastern Europe. From the Middle Ages throughout the Early Modern period, Sephardic Jews often prospered as merchants, translators, administrators and agents for the sultan. Moroccos gestures of openness help remind its citizens, and the world, that the countrys Jewish history matters and is worth honoring, the article concludes. San Pedro Sula (Honduras) (AFP) - A new migrant caravan of around a thousand Hondurans hit out for the United States border on Wednesday in defiance of threats from US President Donald Trump. According to the Red Cross "more than 800, almost a thousand," migrants converged late Tuesday on the town of San Pedro Sula before heading north through Guatemala towards Mexico and the US border. The caravan, which followed a call on social media, took the authorities by surprise after similar appeals since February failed to muster numbers. Such groups are a target of Trump, who has vowed to tighten migration policy and build a wall to stop them from entering the United States through Mexico. Among the latest departures were many families with children. Video: More Troops May Be Sent To The US-Mexico Border Alexis Perez, 27, said: "We are done with this government. There is no work." Around half of them crammed aboard a fleet of minibuses, some that would take them to Tecun Uman on the Guatamala-Mexico border for a $51 fee. Others opted for the shorter and cheaper trip to Agua Caliente, a town on the Honduran border with Guatemala. Around 300 migrants were left to hike along the road to Guatemala, or catch lifts from passing cars. - Taken by surprise - Since October 13, when the first caravan of 2,000 set off, three other similar convoys of migrants have left Honduras for the US in search of work or fleeing drug-traffickers. Several thousand Central Americans have trekked across Mexico by caravan since last year, fleeing poverty and violence in their home countries. They travel en masse in hopes of finding safety in numbers against Mexican gangs that regularly extort, kidnap and kill migrants, sometimes in collusion with local authorities. Honduran migrants have been undeterred by the threats, according to experts. Around 300 cross into Guatemala every day, a country they must traverse to reach Mexico, with the United States beyond as the ultimate goal. Story continues "Every night, up to six buses-full of migrants are heading to the border," said Franklin Paz, a transport company employee in San Pedro Sula, which has become a hub for the migrants -- both those who are leaving and those being sent back. While many Hondurans strike out from here, others find themselves back where they started, after being expelled from the United States. Liza Medrano, head of the General Directorate for the Protection of Honduran Migrants, said two flights carrying evicted Hondurans and up to 16 buses arrive daily from Mexico -- bringing a total of around 750 home to Honduras. Hundreds of returned migrants arrive at San Pedro Sula airport with their hands and feet chained. "For this year alone, up to March 3, 19,605 Hondurans, have been sent home, said Medrano. "They kicked me out today," said Roger Quintanilla. "They caught me in Houston, Texas. He said he fled Honduras to avoid being forced to enlist in one of the country's notorious gangs. "Here, we can't live," the 18-year-old said. Santiago Reyes said he felt betrayed by reports that it was easier to reach the United States if he was with a child. "I was deceived, everyone said that the transition to the United States was easy, but now, with the law, that's changed. "It's a lie, They are not granting asylum with children," said Reyes, alongside his seven-year old boy. Rabat (AFP) - Human Rights Watch on Wednesday warned Rabat over what it called the "shocking" Moroccan court of appeal rulings against 42 leaders of a protest movement. "The shocking appeals verdict upholding up to 20-year sentences... failed to deal with the evidence of torture and forced confessions," said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East and North Africa director. "Morocco's doubling down on vengeance against activists will come back to bite, as popular outrage to government abuses spreads across the region," Whitson cautioned in a statement issued by the New York-based rights watchdog. The leaders of the Hirak protest movement which rocked northern Morocco in 2016 and 2017 had their sentences upheld by an appeal court in the city of Casablanca last Friday. The Al-Hirak al-Shaabi, or "Popular Movement", protests took hold of the country's Rif region in October 2016. The social unrest was sparked by the death of a fisherman and spiralled into a wave of demonstrations demanding more development in the neglected region. Authorities accused the activists of having separatist aims. San Pedro Sula (Honduras) (AFP) - Almost 1,000 people gathered Tuesday night in the town of San Pedro Sula in northern Honduras to form a new caravan to reach the United States, police said. "There are more than 800, almost a thousand," a police official told AFP, with the Red Cross reporting the same number. The caravan, which followed a call on social media, took the authorities by surprise after similar appeals since February failed to muster numbers. Many families with children were among those gathered, and some have already started their journeys in crowded minibuses. Alexis Perez, 27, said: "We are done with this government, there is no work." Since October 13, when the first caravan of 2,000 set off, three other similar convoys of migrants have left Honduras for the US in search of work or fleeing drug-traffickers. The groups are a target of President Donald Trump, who has vowed to tighten migration policy and build a wall to stop them from entering the United States through Mexico. Several thousand Central Americans have trekked across Mexico by caravan since last year, fleeing poverty and violence in their home countries. They travel en masse in hopes of finding safety in numbers against Mexican gangs that regularly extort, kidnap and kill migrants, sometimes in collusion with local authorities. By Devjyot Ghoshal NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Tens of millions of Indians will begin queuing on Thursday to cast their ballots in the first phase of a mammoth general election at which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seen as the front-runner, campaigning on his national security record. Voting in the first of seven rounds will be held in 91 constituencies across 20 states and federally-administered regions, amid tightened security, stepped up after violence killed seven people on Tuesday. Pollsters say Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been riding high on his tough stance against Pakistan, after aerial clashes between the nuclear-armed neighbors followed a February attack by an Islamist militant group that killed 40 Indian paratroopers in disputed Kashmir. But the main opposition Congress party, which wrested three major farming states from the BJP in December by promising to waive the outstanding loans of distressed farmers, sought to corner the government on a lack of jobs and weak farm prices. The election was open but in favor of Modi's coalition, said Gilles Verniers, a political science professor at Ashoka University near New Delhi. "The gap between Congress and the BJP is still enormous, so no one is seriously thinking that Congress is going to fill that gap," he added. "The opposition landscape remains heavily fragmented." The alliance led by Modi's BJP is poised to win a narrow majority of 273 of the 543 seats at stake, an average of four opinion polls showed. In the 2014 general election, the party won a landslide 282 seats, securing a clear majority for the first time in decades and raising hopes of economic reform after a period of sluggish growth. In the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, which sends more lawmakers to parliament than any other, Ajesh Kumar, who runs a roadside restaurant, said he voted for the BJP in 2014, when Hindu-Muslims riots in the area killed at least 65 people, and would do so again. "But jobs are a problem here," he said, echoing government and private statistics https://in.reuters.com/article/india-economy-jobs/indias-february-jobless-rate-climbed-to-72-percent-cmie-idINKCN1QM1NT that show Modi's government has failed to create enough jobs for the burgeoning workforce in a population of 1.3 billion. More than 142 million Indians are eligible to vote in the first phase, of a total of 898.9 million. Votes in the seven rounds, spread over 39 days, will be counted on May 23. From sugar farmers in northern India going unpaid for produce, to small businesses in the south shut because they are unable to meet the requirements of a new, unifying national tax, discontent over the economy has brewed for months. A Reuters analysis https://graphics.reuters.com/INDIA-ELECTION-PROMISES/010091DR1ZR of 50 pledges from the BJPs 2014 manifesto showed Modi only partly fulfilled, or did not fulfill, most promises on the economy and business. Congress, which won only 44 seats last time around, is betting a promise of monthly handouts of 6,000 rupees ($86.59) for the poorest families will boost its performance now. It hopes to win enough seats to lure regional parties opposed to Modi to back it after the election and form the government. (Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal; Additional reporting by Aftab Ahmed; Editing by Krishna N. Das and Clarence Fernandez) * Haftar surprised foreign powers with Tripoli offensive * Commander had been urged to pursue political settlement * UAE, Egypt, have provided military aid to Haftar - U.N. * Advance on capital is commander's highest-stakes gamble By Ulf Laessing TUNIS, April 10 (Reuters) - Western diplomats sat down for three hours with Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar in his eastern stronghold last month to try to dissuade him from launching an offensive against the internationally recognized government in Tripoli. They urged him not to plunge the country into a civil war and told him he could become a successful civilian leader if he committed himself to pursuing a political settlement, according to two sources with knowledge of the meeting outside Benghazi. But Haftar, a military strongman who critics describe as the new Muammar Gaddafi, paid them little heed, said the sources who spoke on condition the ambassadors were not identified. He said he was prepared to negotiate with the prime minister, but if no power-sharing deal was reached, he could invade the capital. Two weeks later, on April 4, he sent troops from his self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) streaming towards Tripoli - just at a time when U.N Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was in the city to prepare for a national reconciliation conference this month which Guterres' aides thought Haftar supported. For world powers including France, Italy and Britain, the general's military campaign, the biggest in Libya since the 2011 uprising that deposed Gaddafi, represented a major setback. They had tried for years to co-opt Haftar, 75, into a political settlement that would stabilize the major oil and gas producer after almost a decade of conflict that had acted as a breeding ground for Islamist militancy. Even the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, which have backed Haftar and see him as a bulwark against Islamists in north Africa, appear to have been surprised by his rapid advance. A French diplomatic source said Paris, which has also aided the general, had no prior warning of the offensive. Story continues The diplomats' calls for military restraint in the meeting last month had echoed those from other Western and U.N. envoys who had traveled to Haftar's base outside the city of Benghazi in the preceding weeks, four separate diplomatic sources said. In a sign of how far the situation in Libya - and Haftar - was beyond their control, U.N. and Western envoys in daily contact with his camp about the conference had no idea he was about to launch the offensive, the four diplomatic sources said. Some even thought the general was bluffing. "These are just psycho games," one U.N. official texted Reuters when the first LNA troops were spotted south of Tripoli. Some diplomats who had met Haftar many times and lobbied their governments to overlook his hardline comments - such as that Libya was not ready for democracy - despaired when it became clear he was committed to taking the city by force. "I've wasted almost two years on Haftar," said one who met Haftar regularly. "If the national conference doesn't happen, it was for nothing." EGYPT, UAE, FRANCE Haftar, for his part, has been consistent in speeches and statements about his commitment to military force in his declared mission to restore order to the north African country and also dropped hints about ultimately ruling the country. When he first announced his intentions in February 2014 he stood in front of a map of Libya, a somber-looking, grey-haired man wearing an immaculate army uniform, and vowed to stage a coup. Western countries left Libya after fighting in Tripoli in 2014, closing embassies and ending NATO training programs, before returning in 2016. Their period of absence opened the door for Arab countries such as Egypt and the UAE, which provided training and military assistance, according to reports from U.N. experts monitoring an arms embargo imposed on Libya in 2011, and diplomats. Haftar's forces received aircraft as well as military vehicles from the UAE, which had also built up an air base at Al Khadim, allowing the LNA to gain air superiority by 2016, a U.N. report said in June 2017. But on the ground Haftar was struggling to make progress in his initial campaign launched in May 2014 against Islamist militants in Benghazi, which he dubbed "Operation Dignity." His heavy guns and aircraft flattened residential buildings but could not dislodge the foreign jihadists holed up in booby-trapped houses. It was at this point that France, which has oil assets in eastern Libya and is politically close to the UAE and Egypt, offered assistance, according to Libyan and French sources. In late 2015, Paris sent military advisers and special forces familiar in urban warfare who camped out at an air base near Benghazi, the sources said. The French assistance helped turn the tide and allowed him to declare victory in Benghazi in 2017, they added. Arab countries had recognized Haftar as Libya's official army commander for years but France helped him gain further international legitimacy as his campaign progressed. In 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron received Haftar and the U.N.-backed Libyan prime minister, Fayez al-Serraj, on the outskirts of Paris to try to persuade them to make a deal, which instantly upgraded the general's diplomatic status. Macron and Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian see Haftar, much like Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, as a buffer against Islamist militants in north Africa, according to French officials. Le Drian has been to Libya three times in two years and on his last trip, on March 20, he saw Serraj in Tripoli and then traveled east to see Haftar to try to broker a detente. According to a French diplomatic source, when Haftar asked him why he hadn't come for such a long time, Le Drian responded: "We were waiting for your victories." He was referring to the general's campaign to take the south of the country earlier this year, the source said. Following Haftar's Tripoli advance, Egypt's Sisi stressed the need for urgent international action to stop the situation deteriorating, without naming the LNA offensive. The governments of France, Italy, the UAE, Britain and the United States said in a joint statement they were deeply concerned about the fighting. Le Drian told lawmakers on Tuesday that France feared more serious conflict, adding that Haftar and Serraj needed to agree on a ceasefire before resuming their dialog. The UAE mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the U.N. reports of military aid to Haftar. Egyptian officials also had no immediate comment on the reports. RESCUED BY CIA Haftar was among officers who helped Gaddafi rise to power in 1969 but fell out with him during Libya's war with Chad in the 1980s. Haftar was taken prisoner by the Chadians and had to be rescued by the CIA after having worked from Chad to overthrow Gaddafi. He lived for around 20 years in the U.S. state of Virginia before returning home in 2011 to join other rebels in the uprising that ousted Gaddafi. Three years later Haftar made his own move, launching the campaign in Benghazi. At the time he had gathered only around 200 soldiers and 13 helicopters under his LNA banner, said Jalel Harchaoui, research fellow at the Clingendael Institute international relations think-tank in The Hague. However Haftar quickly attracted other soldiers such as the Saiqa (Lightning) elite unit as well as tribesmen. There is no reliable figure for the current size of the LNA, though analysts say it runs into the thousands. The Saiqa alone has 3,500 men and Haftar's sons also have well-equipped units. Haftar's forces outnumber his opponents scattered in different western cities but he has filled his ranks beyond a core of former Gaddafi soldiers with less trained tribesmen and Salafist fighters and foreign mercenaries, analysts say. After Benghazi, Haftar gradually took control of the entire east of Libya, before turning his attention to the south. However this month's Tripoli offensive is the commander's highest-stakes gamble yet. He has moved much of his forces west, leaving his eastern home base exposed, and making it almost impossible for him to retreat without losing standing among friends and foes alike. The battle for the capital is still raging, and little is certain. Some pro-Haftar media had predicted victory in 48 hours but the fighting is still mostly outside the city. Meanwhile, his lightning drive has united opponents in western Libya who had not talked to each other for a long time but have now joined arms. "Although none of the foreign sponsors behind Haftar is likely pleased with the dramatic deterioration, they have no option but to continue backing him," said Harchaoui. "They have been concentrating most of their bets on one key figure for almost half a decade. This cannot be walked back overnight." (Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris, Michael Georgy in Dubai, Stephen Kalin in Riyadh, Aziz El Yakooubi in Dubai and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Editing by Pravin Char) Ahvaz (Iran) (AFP) - Authorities ordered tens of thousands of residents of the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz to evacuate immediately on Wednesday as floodwaters entered the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province, state television reported. The province's governor, Gholamreza Shariati, said he ordered the evacuation of five districts as a "precautionary and preventive move to avert any danger", Iran's Tasnim news agency reported. Residents in two of the districts were reluctant to leave, preferring to stay and battle the rising waters, according to AFP reporters on the scene. "We cannot evacuate the houses. Each household has at least three children, we have lots of cattle, water buffalos, furniture," one resident said without providing his name. If the floods continue, "we could stay on our roofs or second floors", he added, raising his arms in a sign of desperation. Behind him, others rushed past carrying sandbags to reinforce a self-made dyke just metres away from the advancing water. Others in the poor and mostly Arab-populated Sayyahi district in western Ahvaz were trying to waterproof their walls with concrete mixes and reinforce front doors with mud and sandbags. Governor Shariati called on young men in the areas, which have an estimated population of between 60,000 and 70,000, to "help us in building dykes and to assist in the evacuation of women, children and the elderly". "The Dez and Karkheh rivers have for the first time joined each other near Ahvaz and are now flowing towards the city," Shariati told state TV, adding this was unprecedented. Residents in a sixth district, Kianshahr, were also put on standby for evacuation. AFP reporters there Wednesday saw young men scrambling to put furniture into trucks on streets crowded with others doing the same. Khuzestan province has been struggling with major floods due to heavy rains as well as floodwater coming from the north. Story continues It is the latest in a series of unprecedented floods that have hit the normally arid country since March 19, killing at least 70 people in 20 of Iran's 31 provinces. The country's northeast was first swamped on March 19 before the west and southwest of the country were hit on March 25. - Food is priority - On April 1 the west and southwest were again swamped by floods when heavy rains returned. The huge inflow of water forced authorities to release large volumes of water from the province's largest dams, which is now threatening some of the cities downstream including the Ahvaz region, home to 1.3 million. Authorities ordered the evacuation of six new cities along the Karkheh river on Saturday as the situation neared "critical" status. "We've been trying to manage the water ... most of it has been diverted toward other channels," Ahvaz Mayor Mansour Katanbaf told ISNA on Sunday. But on Monday a hospital in danger of being flooded was evacuated in Ahvaz as officials battled to contain the rising waters. Emergency services have been left scrambling to prevent further loss of life and to provide relief to flood-stricken residents. "Delivering food and hygienic goods to (shelter) camps is our primary priority and we have provided emergency accommodations for about 44,000 people," Iran Red Crescent's head of Relief and Rescue Organisation Morteza Salimi told AFP on Tuesday. In the city of Susangerd, swamped by floodwaters, AFP reporters saw residents living in tents setup on the roofs of their homes as what had previously been roads had become canals marked by the palm trees lining the streets. Red Crescent choppers were providing food and basic goods to regions cutoff by floods, with villagers rushing to receive the help as they approached. Twenty dinghies donated by Germany's Red Cross were also being used to help areas inaccessible via helicopters. The Iranian Red Crescent said days ago that it could not receive any financial foreign aid because of US economic sanctions against Iran, which prohibit banking transactions with the country. The World Health Organization shipped essential medical supplies to Iran on Wednesday to respond to potential diseases caused by the floods, said a WHO press release. Neighbouring Pakistan said it sent 32 tonnes of tents, blankets and emergency medical kits to Iran, with the first shipment dispatched to Ahvaz. The country-wide flooding has caused damage worth 150 trillion Iranian rials -- more than $1 billion at the free market rate -- according to an official estimate given by lawmaker Mehrdad Lahooti. Interior minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli travelled to Khuzestan on Wednesday to monitor the progress made in battling the flood, its ministry announced. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Iranian lawmakers dressed in paramilitary uniforms chanted "Death to America" as they convened Tuesday for an open session of parliament after the White House designated Iran's Revolutionary Guard a foreign terrorist organization. President Hassan Rouhani declared that the force's popularity would only surge in the wake of the designation, saying guard members would be dearer "than any other time in the hearts of Iranian nation." Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised the guard and said America's "evil designs would not harm" the force. The move by Washington on Monday was an unprecedented declaration against a foreign government entity one that could prompt retaliation and make it harder for Americans to work with allies in the region who have contact with members and affiliates of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC. It marks the first time the United States has designated an entire entity of another government as a terrorist organization, placing a powerful and expansive armed force with vast economic resources that answers only to Iran's supreme leader in the same category as al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Iran's rival, Saudi Arabia, welcomed the U.S. decision, describing it as a "serious and practical step to combat terrorism." A Foreign Ministry official said the designation "translates Saudi Arabia's repeated demands for the international community to confront terrorism supported by Iran." Within hours of the Trump administration's declaration, Iran's Supreme National Security Council responded by designating the U.S. Central Command, also known as CENTCOM, and all its forces as terrorist, and labeling the U.S. a "supporter of terrorism." In Tehran on Tuesday, many of the lawmakers wore the uniform of the guard in a show of support as they convened for a parliament session marking the National Day of the Revolutionary Guard, which follows the lunar calendar. This year it coincides with the April 9 holiday known as Nuclear Day. Story continues Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani denounced the U.S. decision as the "climax of stupidity and ignorance." The Supreme National Security Council's spokesman, Keivan Khosravi, said that going forward, "any unusual move by American forces in the region will be perceived as the behavior by a terrorist group." He did not elaborate. Iranian newspapers carried reports of the U.S. move along with bellicose commentary on their front pages. The Guard-affiliated Javan daily said any attack on Revolutionary Guard bases and facilities will be "recognized as a right" for Iran to respond. The hard-line Kayhan newspaper said it gave Iranians "permission" to kill American military personnel. State-owned IRAN daily went a step further, saying the U.S. move was a "designation of the entire Iranian nation" as terrorist. The pro-reform Shargh daily described it as "the last card" of President Donald Trump against Iran. Trump last year pulled America out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and re-imposed sanctions on the country, mainly targeting Iran's vital oil sector. Marking Nuclear Day, Rouhani unveiled dozens of "achievements" in nuclear technology, something he does every year. This time he touted the beginning of an installation of a chain of advanced centrifuges at the uranium enrichment facility in the central town of Natanz as well as an addition at the Fordo underground facility. He called the Revolutionary Guard a "devoted" force that fought militant groups in Iran as well as in Iraq and Syria. The guard has fought Islamic State group's militants, who view Shiites as heretics, in Syria and has assisted Syrian President Bashar Assad's government forces. The U.S., Rouhani said, is the "head of global terrorism" and Trump's sanctions have only inspired Iran to make more strides in new missiles and weapons technology. America will not be able to "block Iran's progress," he said. Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, met with the Guard on Tuesday, telling them that "Americans imagine they are designing and making trouble against the guard, in fact against the revolution and Iran, but their evil designs will not harm" the force. China urged countries outside of the Mideast to "promote peace and stability ... and avoid actions that may lead to further escalation of the situation." Beijing is a close economic partner of Tehran and has sided with Russia and its regional ally Iran in the conflict in Syria. "We oppose power politics and bullying by any countries," China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said when asked about the U.S. designation. On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the designation of the Revolutionary Guard is intended to increase pressure on Iran, isolating it further and diverting some of the financial resources it uses to fund terrorism and militant activity in the Middle East and beyond. But, in addition to the potential for Iranian retaliation, it complicates a delicate balance for U.S. personnel in at least two key countries- Iraq and Lebanon. Iraq has prominent Iranian-affiliated Shiite militias and its government has strong ties to Iran. In Lebanon, the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group is in parliament and the government. ___ Associated Press writers Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Christopher Bodeen in Beijing contributed to this report. Baghdad (AFP) - Iraq has offered to put on trial hundreds of accused foreign jihadists in Baghdad in exchange for millions of dollars, potentially solving a legal conundrum for Western governments but sparking rights concerns. Western countries have been rocked by fierce public debate over whether to repatriate citizens who joined the Islamic State group, which held swathes of Iraq and Syria for years before losing its last speck of land last month. Around 1,000 suspected foreign IS fighters are in detention in northeast Syria, in addition to around 9,000 foreign women and children in Kurdish-run camps there. Iraq has submitted a proposal to the US-led coalition that fought the jihadists, offering to try and sentence foreign IS suspects in exchange for operational costs, three Iraqi officials told AFP. "These countries have a problem, here's a solution," one said, speaking anonymously because he was not authorised to give details to the press. The source said Iraq had proposed a rate of $2 million per suspect per year, a calculation based on the estimated per-capital detention costs in the US-run Guantanamo Bay prison. "We made the proposal last week but have not gotten a response yet," the source added. A second official said Iraq had requested $2 billion to try the suspects as "one of several options", and could ask for "more money to cover the costs of their detention". - 'Special tribunal'? - Iraq has already tried several hundred IS foreign jihadists and handed down death sentences to around 100, none of which has been carried out. Other IS suspects have been condemned to life in Iraqi prison, including 58-year-old Frenchman Lahcen Ammar Gueboudj and two other French nationals. At least 12 French nationals are in Iraqi custody awaiting trial after being transferred from Syria in February. Detainees from as many as 52 countries could be tried by Baghdad under the arrangement, a third Iraqi official told AFP. Story continues "Iraq proposed to the coalition setting up a special tribunal to try foreigners. There's been a constructive beginning to those discussions," the source said. But establishing the court could be complicated, the official said, with questions over whether international funding for it would preclude implementation of death sentences. The source added that Iraq proposed the arrangement to the US-led coalition as a whole because it was simpler than negotiating with individual countries. The US-led coalition did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment. Transferring foreign fighters to Iraq for trial appears to resolve a thorny legal debate for Western powers. On the one hand, the Kurdish-run administration in northern Syria has said it does not have the capacity to try all foreigners, calling for an international tribunal to be established there. But it is not an internationally recognised government, so jurisdiction is dubious. On the other hand, repatriation is a politically-fraught issue, and governments fear they may not have enough evidence to convict IS members who claim they did not fight. - 'Real risk of torture' - Enter Baghdad, which has claimed legal jurisdiction over any individual who joined extremist groups that has committed crimes in Iraq, even if that person did not pick up arms. And last month, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi hinted Baghdad could have jurisdiction over jihadists who were in Syria but never entered Iraq, "because as you know the battlefields became one". But Human Rights Watch has warned that transferring suspects to Iraq could be "problematic". "Our first and main concern with these transfers are the reality of Iraqi proceedings, which in summary provide no clear right to a fair trial and a real risk of torture," said HRW's Iraq researcher Belkis Wille. Instead, Wille said countries whose nationals may have joined IS should be investigating and trying them at home. She cited the case of a 27-year-old German woman who went on trial this week in Munich for letting a five-year-old Yazidi girl die of thirst under IS. And other foreign IS suspects have been transferred via Iraq to their home countries for detention. Otherwise, Wille added, "if countries want their nationals to be tried in Iraq, they should be much more heavily invested in improving the judicial system so that people have a fair trial and the risk of torture isn't as significant." Designed to provide broad exposure to the Broad Emerging Market ETFs category of the market, the iShares Edge MSCI Multifactor Emerging Markets ETF (EMGF) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 12/08/2015. What Are Smart Beta ETFs? Products that are based on market cap weighted indexes, which are strategies designed to reflect a specific market segment or the market as a whole, have traditionally dominated the ETF industry. Market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, and are a good option for investors who believe in market efficiency. However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta. By attempting to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, non-cap weighted indexes are based on certain fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such. This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results. Fund Sponsor & Index The fund is managed by Blackrock, and has been able to amass over $336.22 M, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Broad Emerging Market ETFs. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the MSCI Emerging Markets Diversified Multiple-Factor Index before fees and expenses. The MSCI Emerging Markets Diversified Multiple Factor Index is composed of stocks of large and mid-capitalization companies in emerging markets that have favourable exposure to target style factors subject to constraints. Cost & Other Expenses Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same. Story continues Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.45% for EMGF, making it on par with most peer products in the space. The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.42%. Sector Exposure and Top Holdings Most ETFs are very transparent products, and disclose their holdings on a daily basis. ETFs also offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, though it's still important for investors to research a fund's holdings. Taking into account individual holdings, China Mobile Ltd accounts for about 3.23% of the fund's total assets, followed by Yum China Holdings Inc (YUMC) and Tencent Holdings Ltd. Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 24.02% of EMGF's total assets under management. Performance and Risk Year-to-date, the iShares Edge MSCI Multifactor Emerging Markets ETF return is roughly 12.74% so far, and is down about -10.70% over the last 12 months (as of 04/10/2019). EMGF has traded between $37.92 and $51.17 in this past 52-week period. The ETF has a beta of 0.94 and standard deviation of 17.71% for the trailing three-year period. With about 215 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk. Alternatives IShares Edge MSCI Multifactor Emerging Markets ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Broad Emerging Market ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider. IShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG) tracks MSCI Emerging Markets Investable Market Index and the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) tracks FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap China An Inclusion Index. IShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF has $61.11 B in assets, Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF has $65.80 B. IEMG has an expense ratio of 0.14% and VWO charges 0.12%. Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Broad Emerging Market ETFs. Bottom Line To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center. 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 iShares Edge MSCI Multifactor Emerging Markets ETF (EMGF): ETF Research Reports Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO): ETF Research Reports Yum China Holdings Inc. (YUMC) : Free Stock Analysis Report iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) will invest over $15 billion across 24 oil and gas projects in Nigeria in the next five years, the company Managing Director of the SPDC, Nosa Okunbor said. Speaking on the need for Nigeria to take advantage of the opportunities in the oil industry, Okunbor indicated that his company has an objective of surpassing a 70 percent target in the deployment of wholly Nigerian human and material resources to achieve its standard of production in the next five years. In his words, ongoing projects by the company are capable of generating thousands of jobs in the industry. The projects driving the investment will include deep offshore, shallow water, swamp and land terrain. He explained that a Final Investment Decision (FID) has been taken on the Assa North Ohaji (ANOH) gas project in Imo State, capable of producing 300 million standard cubic feet of gas per day at peak production. Upon completion, the plant is expected to supply gas into the domestic gas market and meet 70 percent domestic contents. Note that Shell has the largest acreage in Nigeria and produces 39 percent of the nations oil. December last year, the Nigerian government said it had filed a $1.1 billion lawsuit against Shell and Eni in a commercial court in London in relation to a 2011 oilfield deal. Nigeria has already filed a London case against U.S. bank JPMorgan for its role in transferring over $800 million of government funds. GALI TIBBON JERUSALEMIt will be a long night in Israel, where initial exit polls Tuesday evening indicated a close electoral victory for opposition head Benny Gantz, a former army chief of staff. But the prognosis for his chances to form a winning coalition block against right-wing parties led by the Likud Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has held office for 10 years, and dominated Israeli politics for a generation. Both candidates declared immediate victory, though Gantzs declaration, issued jointly with his deputy, former finance minister Yair Lapid, had a more exuberant tone. We won! The Israeli public has had their say! the pair exulted in a statement. Thank you to the thousands of activists and over a million voters. These elections have a clear winner and a clear loser. Netanyahu promised 40 seats and lost. The President [Reuven Rivlin] can see the picture and should call on the winner to form the next government. There is no other option! A few minutes later, in a Hebrew-language tweet, Netanyahu declared victory on behalf of his political wing, not himself or his party: The right-wing bloc led by the Likud won a clear victory. I thank the citizens of Israel for their trust. I will begin forming a right-wing government with our natural partners tonight. Netanyahus position was weakened by news that he faces indictments for corruption, and, to all appearances, by a brutal campaign in which he attacked Gantz, without basis, for allying with Arabs, for supposedly celebrating the martyrdom of Islamist militants killed in fighting with Israel and allegedly concealing an a sex-tape putatively hacked by Iran. While Netanyahu ran a mudslinging blitzkrieg against his Israeli opponents he basked in the extraordinary support of both Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump. Putin helped to return a long-lost Israeli casualty of the 1982 Lebanon War in a public ceremony with Netanyahu in Moscow just days before the vote. And Trump over the last year has gone far to meet Netanyahus most hardline diplomatic demands: moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, closing the consulate there which handled Palestinian affairs, then announcing in recent days his support for Israels claim to sovereignty over the Golan Heights, while declaring the entire Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is a terrorist organization. Story continues In truth, virtually all of Trumps Middle East policy has been oriented toward, if not directed by, Netanyahus vision of the region, which often is coordinated with that of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (the suspected murderer of journalist Jamal Khashoggi). In Israel on Tuesday night, the exit polls brought surprise figures showing a virtual dead heat between the two main political blocks in the raucous political arena. But figures are expected to shift as definitive results stream in overnight.Historically low turnout of under 70 percent appeared to be the one clear result of the bruising, incitement-filled campaign which was low on content or policy debates. The mixed resultsand potential loss for Netanyahuwas relayed in televised exit polls and at a massive rally planned for Tel Aviv, where Likud activists faced the unimaginable: the possible scenario of President Rivlin having to choose between two more or less equal voting blocks of 60 and 60. In addition, a disengaged and disaffected Arab public, the brunt of constant attacks by Prime Minister Netanyahu, appeared reluctant to take part in the electoral process. Haaretz senior pollster Camil Fuchs, of Tel Aviv University, said that if the figures being reported from the Arab sector hold steady, historically low participation rates such could completely change the Knesset map. Whichever man is chosen, the interim results indicate the Israeli populace may be thirsty for a change, and the country seems headed for a period of political instability. Even if Netanyahu is called upon to form the next government, he is likely to face stiff opposition from within his own political camp when indicted late this summer. Netanyahu If Gantz is chosen, the quiet general with no political experience may go down in history as a dragon-slayer. While widely criticized for remaining a political cypher, the soft-spoken Gantz ran on two clear positions. He insisted that Netanyahu himself, with accusations of corruption trailing him, was the greatest danger facing Israel. This was the argument he used to explain the seemingly contradictory inclusion of right-wingers such as former Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon and left-leaning candidates such as Lapid. Gantz said it was a response to an emergency: Netanyahu. Gantz also launched his campaign with the promise hed change the controversial Nation-State Law, a measure Netanyahu claimed as his principal legislative achievement demoting Arabic from its status as an official language of the state and granting a special, elevated status to Jewish communities. The laws passage provoked the largest public protests Israel has seen in decades and prompted Rivlin to sign the measure in Arabic, an unprecedented act of protest by a sitting Israeli president. Netanyahu, an experienced master of Israels parliamentary maneuvering, cannot be dismissed and may yet form Israels next government, but he will be a chastened giant, unlikely to escape the clutches of indictment and confronted by a robust, invigorated opposition in the Knesset. Whatever results Israelis wake up to in the morning, King Bibi is no more. At a Tel Aviv rally, Gantz, the old commander, thanked Netanyahu for his service and declared the dawning of a new day in Israel. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here In a race that had been too close to call for most of Tuesday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared headed for a record fifth term Wednesday morning. As of press time, with the unofficial vote tally nearly complete, Netanyahus Likud party and its smaller nationalist and orthodox-religious coalition partners looked to have secured a comfortable majority in parliament, besting the Blue and White coalition led by centrist former army general Benny Gantz. Still, both candidates claimed victory with official results still to come in the days ahead. This is a night of great victory. Im very touched that, for the fifth time, the people of Israel have believed in me, Netanyahu said Tuesday night at the Likud party election headquarters in Tel Aviv. I will start forming a right-wing government with our natural partners as soon as tonight. Netanyahu and President Trump have cultivated a steady alliance since Trump took office in 2017, and Trump has awarded the prime minister with politically helpful decisions to move the U.S. Embassy in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and to formally recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Hes been a great ally and hes a friend, Id like to congratulate him, Trump said of Netanyahu. That was a well-thought out race I can tell you. The president added an optimistic prediction for progress towards peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The fact that Bibi won, I think well see some pretty good action in terms of peace, Trump said. Look, everyone said and I never made it a promise but everybody said you cant have peace in the Middle East with Israel and the Palestinians. I think we have a chance. I think we have now a better chance with Bibi having won. More from National Review After looking at Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.'s (NYSE:JEC) latest earnings update (28 December 2018), I found it helpful to revisit the company's performance in the past couple of years and compare this against the latest numbers. As a long-term investor I tend to focus on earnings trend, rather than a single number at one point in time. Also, comparing it against an industry benchmark to understand whether it outperformed, or is simply riding an industry wave, is an important aspect. In this article I briefly touch on my key findings. See our latest analysis for Jacobs Engineering Group Could JEC beat the long-term trend and outperform its industry? JEC's trailing twelve-month earnings (from 28 December 2018) of US$262m has jumped 33% compared to the previous year. Furthermore, this one-year growth rate has exceeded its 5-year annual growth average of -14%, indicating the rate at which JEC is growing has accelerated. What's the driver of this growth? Let's see whether it is merely a result of an industry uplift, or if Jacobs Engineering Group has seen some company-specific growth. NYSE:JEC Income Statement, April 10th 2019 In terms of returns from investment, Jacobs Engineering Group has fallen short of achieving a 20% return on equity (ROE), recording 4.7% instead. Furthermore, its return on assets (ROA) of 2.7% is below the US Construction industry of 5.5%, indicating Jacobs Engineering Group's are utilized less efficiently. And finally, its return on capital (ROC), which also accounts for Jacobs Engineering Groups debt level, has declined over the past 3 years from 9.8% to 7.7%. This correlates with an increase in debt holding, with debt-to-equity ratio rising from 25% to 46% over the past 5 years. What does this mean? While past data is useful, it doesnt tell the whole story. Recent positive growth isn't always indicative of a continued optimistic outlook. I recommend you continue to research Jacobs Engineering Group to get a better picture of the stock by looking at: Story continues Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for JECs future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for JECs outlook. Financial Health: Are JECs operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why weve done it for you. Check out our financial health checks here. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the trailing twelve months from 28 December 2018. 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. You cant get closer to fighting for the world title without doing it than Kelvin Gastelum did at UFC 234 in February in Melbourne, Australia, unless the champion were to injure himself on the ring walk. Gastelum was supposed to challenge Robert Whittaker for the middleweight title on Feb. 9 in Melbourne. Hed attended the kickoff news conference successfully. He went through a grueling training camp with no problems. He did the pre-fight activities, like the news conference and the media tour and the open workouts, without incident. And then, both Gastelum and Whittaker made weight the day before. That was it. The fight was on. If Gastelum were good enough, and lucky enough, hed leave Rod Laver Arena with the middleweight belt around his waist. The closest Gastelum came to having the belt around his waist is when he borrowed one from his buddy, flyweight champion Henry Cejudo, and walked around cageside as the fights went on with it flung over his shoulder. Kelvin Gastelum interacts with media during a UFC 236 news conference inside T-Mobile Arena on March 1, 2019, in Las Vegas. (Getty Images) Whittaker got ill not long after the weigh-in, and eventually needed emergency surgery and had to pull out of the bout. There was no chance for a replacement, so Gastelum was left to just watch. I get sick just thinking about it, Gastelum said. Honestly, my stomach just turned. It was gut-wrenching, man. It really was. All your intentions, all your energies, all your thoughts, all your emotions are invested in this one goal on this one date. And then, its just taken from you on the day of the fight. Gastelum did everything right, made all the appearances he was supposed to make, did all the work, cut the weight, showed up ready to go and he still couldnt make it. And what did he get? A heaping helping of scorn and ridicule from fans who clearly had no idea what it feels like to have a lifelong dream snatched from ones hands just as it seemed it was about to be fulfilled. He used Cejudos belt to keep his name in the news and have people talk about him. It was the least he could expect after what had occurred. Story continues Fingers crossed, hell finally get the opportunity to compete for the interim middleweight title when he meets Israel Adesanya on Saturday at State Farm Arena in Atlanta at UFC 236. The expectation is that the winner will face Whittaker for the undisputed belt as soon as Whittaker is healthy enough to compete. Even though its for a belt, the fight Saturday wont be quite the same for Gastelum, who wanted to win it the right way. To borrow an old adage, to be the man he wanted to beat the man. Instead, hell have to win twice in order to achieve that, and in Adesanya, he faces an opponent who presents a lot of matchup problems for him. Gastelum is 5-foot-9 with a 71-inch reach, meaning hell give up seven inches in height and 8 inches of reach to the 6-4 Adesanya. That is no insignificant difference. It reminds me a lot of my fight with Neil Magny, said Gastelum, who dropped a split decision to Magny in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2015 when he had difficulty combating Magnys size advantages. I wasnt able to adjust to that body type until the third round. In the third round, I started connecting and I dropped him twice. This reminds me of that a lot. Neil Magny (L) and Kelvin Gastelum trade punches in their welterweight bout on Nov. 21, 2015, in Monterrey, Mexico. (Getty Images) Heres the thing about Gastelum that makes him a live underdog against Adesanya. Gastelum gave up six inches in height and the same 8 inches of reach to Magny when they fought in 2015 that hell give up to Adesanya. But he learned from it. Hes a guy in whom the whole has become greater than the sum of his parts, and hes relentlessly worked to turn weaknesses into strengths. Since then, I think Ive figured how to make my disadvantages, my height disadvantage, into an advantage, Gastelum said. I think its easier for me to go under punches, to go under peoples hips. Its just a lot easier for me to move in on taller people. Its not going to be easy against Adesanya, who appears to be a prodigy at MMA. Hes not just a fighter who has marketing hype behind him; hes a tough and hard-nosed athlete who has everything size, speed, quickness, power, accuracy, agility and a quick and versatile mind to burst into stardom. This wont by any stretch be a coronation, though. Gastelum has quite literally made a career of bucking the odds. The MGM Grand sportsbook has Adesanya a -175 favorite, with Gastelum the underdog at +145. Frequently, the guys who buck the odds are those like Gastelum, who for years have heard theyre not good enough, or not big enough, or not something enough to win. Those types of athletes have had an extra level of motivation throughout their lives and they dare you to try to knock the very large chip from their shoulders. Gastelum has been here before. On Season 17 of The Ultimate Fighter, he was the next-to-last pick overall. He got to the finals against Uriah Hall and few gave him a shot to win. But Gastelum ground out a decision. Go back and look at my post-fight interview from that finale fight and I was just bawling my eyes out, Gastelum said. It meant a lot. It changed my life forever. And that date 4-13-13 means a lot to me because it changed my life forever. It only makes sense to me that six years later, on that exact date, I will be having a belt around my waist. Hes got a lot of disadvantages, but one huge advantage on his side: Hes been doubted for years, at every level of competition and in just about every sport hes ever tried. He has overcome the odds, defied the critics and come out on top more often than not ever since. And no matter how good Adesanya is, he expects no difference this time around. The calendar has aligned to work in his favor. When things happened, when [Whittaker] pulled out of the fight, it was hard to see the bigger picture, Gastelum said. But now, slowly, the bigger picture is unveiling itself and I believe things happen for a reason. When I got offered the fight on April the 13th, I was like, Oh my God, this has to be some sort of a sign. That date is really special for me and it means a lot for me to be fighting on that day. Man, its going to be hard to beat me on that day. More from Yahoo Sports: Instead of packing lunches, many high school students now pack their cellphones, ordering food delivered to their school with apps like Grubhub, DoorDash and Uber Eats. The deliveries have become so frequent and disruptive that many schools have banned them. "It was getting to the point where you'd have eight, 10, 15 deliveries a day," said Pat Watson, principal at West Bloomfield (Michigan) High School, which recently reminded students to knock it off. "It's a building policy: You can't have food delivered during the school day." Other schools have done the same thing. Starbucks: Coffee chain to add delivery, change its cafe cleaning schedule Gig economy: Here's how much you can make delivering for Grubhub, Uber Eats and DoorDash "We view it as a safety concern," said Diane Blain, spokeswoman for Chippewa Valley Schools in Michigan's Macomb County. "Having strangers and people that we dont know coming to our buildings with delivery bags, we just dont allow it." Blain said the district's Dakota High School banned the practice about three years ago, and its other high school, Chippewa Valley, followed suit. Some schools have policies explicitly prohibiting it. Others frown on it, but don't formally ban it. All of them say the practice has exploded with cellphone use and the proliferation of delivery services. Grade-school deliveries High school students aren't the only ones who order food deliveries to school, said Jeff Hueter, assistant manager of the Jet's Pizza about a mile north of West Bloomfield High. Some students in elementary school will have pizza delivered for lunch, he said. "The parents will call and say my kid's lunch is at noon, can you deliver a pizza to the office and maybe throw in a bottle of water?" Hueter said. Parents typically pay with a credit card or through the Jet's app on their phone. The delivery driver will bring plates and napkins if requested, he said. Story continues Jet's charges $3.50 for delivery compared with $4 for Grubhub, he said. His pizza place is across the street from Abbott Middle School and Orchard Lake St. Mary's prep school. Roosevelt and Scotch elementary schools are nearby in addition to West Bloomfield High. All of them are good for business, he said. Teachers are known to order a pie for lunch as well, he said. Jeff Hueter, assistant general manager of the Jet's Pizza location on Orchard Lake Road, said schools provide good business for pizza deliveries. The Plymouth-Canton School District, which operates three high schools in one location in Canton, Michigan, doesn't have a formal policy about food deliveries, but the building procedures don't allow it, said spokesman Nick Brandon. The main reason for the ban is school safety, he said, but there are other reasons as well. "The second that food enters the school office, it becomes the school office's responsibility," Brandon said, adding it created concerns of food safety, food-borne illnesses and allergic reactions. "It's also a workload issue for office personnel," he said. "If they're having to manage multiple food orders at a given lunch time with all the other things they have to be responsible for, that's a concern as well." Grubhub bump?: Online food delivery market could grow to $24B by 2023 April freebies: Your monthly guide to food specials, meal deals and more Waiting for lunch The district works hard to provide healthy, good tasting food in its cafeterias and students are always free to brown bag it, Brandon said. Watson said at West Bloomfield, tardy deliveries made for tardy students. "It's supposed to be here at 12 and my lunch is done at 12:30," Watson said. "Now it shows up at 12:35 so now I haven't gone to class. But now I've got my Panera and I go to class to eat in there." Watson said teachers object to kids eating in class, but the students would complain it wasn't their fault, the delivery was late. Watson also has heard plenty of excuses for why an order was placed. The strangest Postmates deliveries: From sending Chrissy Teigen 200 limes to saving Valentine's Day America's teachers: We followed 15 teachers on a day of frustrations, pressures and hard-earned victories "Kids say, 'Oh, my mom forgot to put money on my lunch account,' " Watson said. One student claimed a cousin ordered it for him, not knowing it wasn't allowed. But that claim seemed doubtful when the delivery driver knew the student's name, Watson said. The school does allow deliveries to school after class ends, so students staying after school for a sport or other extracurricular activity can order all they want, he said. "When I was in high school we knew to pack two lunches, one for lunch and one for after school," Watson said. "I guess the new normal is you whip out your cellphone and order some food." Cellphones have become so pervasive in high schools that Watson has used them to his own advantage. When he wanted to remind kids of the no food orders during school hours policy, he sent it out in a tweet. Follow John Wisely on Twitter: @jwisely This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Kids are ordering so much delivery for lunch, these schools are banning it One day, the preview clip for Keeping Up With the Kardashians just might tease that, on the next episode, middle sister Kim Kardashian is preparing to argue a case in court. Kardashian is studying to be a lawyer following her experience lobbying for the release of Alice Marie Johnson, a woman she read about on Twitter, who was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole after being convicted of the non-violent offenses of drug trafficking and money laundering. Kardashian famously met with President Trump on Johnsons behalf in May 2018, after Johnson had served more than two decades behind bars. Trump commuted Johnsons sentence a week after meeting with the beauty mogul, who worked alongside other Johnson advocates, including CNNs Van Jones and the team at #cut50, a national initiative to reduce the prison population safely. Kim Kardashian's next project is becoming a lawyer. (Photo: ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images) A new profile of Kardashian in Vogue reveals that last summer, months before her meeting with Trump, she embarked on a four-year apprenticeship with a San Francisco law firm. She plans to take the bar exam in 2022. Not only that, shes continued to work on prison reform by visiting prisons, the White House and state officials, such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom. While Kardashian didnt finish college she attended Pierce College in L.A. California and three other states allow people to practice law after completing an apprenticeship with a judge or practicing lawyer and passing the bar. The White House called me to advise to help change the system of clemency, Kardashian told the magazine, and Im sitting in the Roosevelt Room with, like, a judge who had sentenced criminals and a lot of really powerful people and I just sat there, like, Oh, s***. I need to know more. I would say what I had to say, about the human side and why this is so unfair. But I had attorneys with me who could back that up with all the facts of the case. Its never one person who gets things done; its always a collective of people, and Ive always known my role, but I just felt like I wanted to be able to fight for people who have paid their dues to society. I just felt like the system could be so different, and I wanted to fight to fix it, and if I knew more, I could do more. Story continues She ignored people who told her to stay out of it, and there were many. I made a decision to go to the White House when everyone was telling me, Dont go, your career will be over; you cant step foot in there. And I was like, Its my reputation over someones life? Weigh that out. People talk s*** about me all day long. It will just be another story about me versus someone getting their life back. Kardashian certainly won over Jones, who spoke highly of her performance during the Johnson meeting with Trump. Kim understood that [Trump] needs to be seen as taking on the system, and she helped him to see that there are people who the system was against and that his job was to go and help them, Jones said. And it was remarkable. So for people who have fallen for this media caricature of the party girl from ten years ago who hangs out with Paris Hilton? This is the daughter of an accomplished attorney and the mother of three black kids who is using her full power to make a difference on a tough issue and is shockingly good at it. After Congress passed a landmark prison reform law benefiting people like Johnson in December, Kardashian was hooked. Its a subject that shes been interested in since her late father, Robert Kardashian, was part of O.J. Simpsons defense team in his infamous 1995 trial. Kardashian said she had often snooped through her dads files, which he kept at home. Since July, shes pored over law books for 18 hours of supervised study each week. Her mentors meet her near her home to keep her from having to travel to San Francisco. First year of law school you have to cover three subjects: criminal law, torts, and contracts, Kardashian said. To me, torts is the most confusing, contracts the most boring, and crim law I can do in my sleep. Took my first test, I got a 100. Super easy for me. The reading is what really gets me. Its so time-consuming. The concepts I grasp in two seconds. This summer, Kardashian will face her first big test, which she must pass to continue with the three additional years of study she needs to do before sitting down for the bar exam. Read more on Yahoo Entertainment: Want daily pop culture news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Entertainment & Lifestyles newsletter. Jerusalem (AFP) - Despite corruption allegations and stiff opposition from a new centre party, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu has managed to boost his party's share of the vote and looks set to keep power. While his right-wing Likud party and a centrist coalition appear set to have around the same number of parliamentary seats after Tuesday's general elections, the man called 'King Bibi' by admirers has a clear path to forming a coalition. The 69-year-old is now likely to form another right-wing government and become the longest-serving Israeli prime minister later this year. The elections appear to prove Netanyahu's enduring domestic appeal despite the graft accusations, and a fifth term in office would have knock-on implications for the peace process with Palestinians and for his potential indictment. Speaking after preliminary results were announced early Wednesday, Netanyahu hailed a "magnificent victory." "It will be a right-wing government, but I will be prime minister for all," he said. In Israel's proportional political system, no party has ever won an outright majority. Instead the largest parties fight to form a coalition of at least 61 members of the 120-seat parliament. With ex-military chief Benny Gantz's centrist Blue and White coalition leading in the polls, Netanyahu pulled out all the stops to shore up right-wing support. On March 11 he said Israel was "the national state, not of all its citizens, but only of the Jewish people," sparking fierce criticism. Nearly 20 percent of Israeli citizens are Arabs. Then, two days before the election, in a seeming bid to steal votes from other right-wing parties, Netanyahu controversially pledged to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank. Critics say any such move would be a final nail in the coffin of the two-state solution, which envisions an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. - Alliance-building - Story continues In the final days of the campaign Netanyahu was everywhere, giving interviews to all major Israeli media and constantly posting on social media. In the end his Likud party far out-performed expectations and is projected to have won around 35 seats, like Gantz. Ofer Zalzberg from the International Crisis Group think-tank said Netanyahu understood the right-wing had an inbuilt advantage in Israel and so could stick with his base. The right-wing bloc is predicted to have around 65 seats, compared with 55 for the centre and left, similar to the make up of the outgoing parliament. Even before the election, all the smaller right-wing parties had pledged to back Netanyahu for prime minister, meaning his victory was always likely, Zalzberg said. "He demonstrated again his mastery of alliance-building among the different political tribes of Israel -- he is unmatched in this." Dore Gold, a former advisor to Netanyahu, said the secret of his success is that he "understands the DNA of the Israeli voter." With US President Donald Trump's administration providing unprecedented support, as well as diplomatic breakthroughs in Africa and improving relations with Gulf Arab states, Gold said Netanyahu had improved Israel's standing in the world without having to give away much in exchange. Traditional proposals had predicated improved relations between Israel and Arab states and others on achieving peace with the Palestinians, but Netanyahu has not made that a priority. "The people of Israel saw this, that he was not a throwback to the past but had an orientation for the future. That set the stage for an extraordinary election victory," Gold said. - Corruption battle - Two major issues face Netanyahu in the coming months. The first is the allegations of corruption including receiving thousands of dollars in undeclared gifts, as well as offering legal reforms in exchange for favourable media coverage. In February Israel's attorney general recommended he be indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Netanyahu has consistently rejected the allegations, labelling them a left-wing witch hunt. Analysts said the victory could strengthen his hand against the charges, with talk even of introducing a law that sitting leaders cannot be indicted until after their term ends. "He is still in survival mode and is likely to try to pass the immunity legislation or find a way to end the indictments against him for once and all," Hugh Lovatt, Israel analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations think-tank, said. "After the election he can play the democracy card." Israeli policy in the occupied Palestinian territories will also remain a prominent issue. Trump is expected to finally present a long-delayed peace proposal in the coming months. Details of the plan remain closely guarded. Israel occupies the West Bank and east Jerusalem, while more than 600,000 Israeli settlers live there in communities considered illegal under international law. Netanyahu has long been sceptical of a two-state solution, saying Israel needs to control Palestinian territory for security reasons. "In this election he came out clearly and embraced his ideological opposition to Palestinian freedom," Palestinian political analyst Diana Buttu said. We've 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 we'll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Intelligent Ultrasound Group plc (LON:MED). What Is Insider Selling? It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market. We would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. For example, a Columbia University study found that 'insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own companys stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers'. See our latest analysis for Intelligent Ultrasound Group Intelligent Ultrasound Group Insider Transactions Over The Last Year Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by CEO & Director Stuart Gall for UK50k worth of shares, at about UK0.085 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being UK0.057). It's very possible they regret the purchase, but it's more likely they are bullish about the company. To us, it's very important to consider the price insiders pay for shares is very important. Generally speaking, it catches our eye when insiders have purchased shares at above current prices, as it suggests they believed the shares were worth buying, even at a higher price. In the last twelve months insiders paid UK132k for 1.6m shares purchased. In the last twelve months Intelligent Ultrasound Group insiders were buying shares, but not selling. The chart below shows insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below! Story continues AIM:MED Recent Insider Trading, April 10th 2019 Intelligent Ultrasound Group 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. Does Intelligent Ultrasound Group Boast High Insider Ownership? Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Based on our data, Intelligent Ultrasound Group insiders have about 3.0% of the stock, worth approximately UK268k. We prefer to see high levels of insider ownership. So What Does This Data Suggest About Intelligent Ultrasound Group Insiders? The fact that there have been no Intelligent Ultrasound Group insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. However, our analysis of transactions over the last year is heartening. The transactions are fine but it'd be more encouraging if Intelligent Ultrasound Group insiders bought more shares in the company. If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future. If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. 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. Caracas (AFP) - A new blackout across large parts of crisis-hit Venezuela, including the capital Caracas, forced many to spend another night in the dark on Tuesday. The electricity shortage -- the biggest in a week -- hit a large section of the capital, with social media posts from residents across the country suggesting significant areas in at least 20 of the 23 states of Venezuela were also affected. An hour after the lights went out, some areas of the capital regained power. No reason for the blackout was immediately given by the government or the state electricity company Corpoelec. The company set up to confront the crisis "is working to reestablish the service", said state TV channel VTV. Opposition leader Juan Guaido -- whose claim to be interim president is supported by around 50 nations -- had previously called for protests against public service failures to be held Wednesday. Power cuts have occurred sporadically since the massive blackout of March 7 left the country in the dark for five days, with electricity being rationed outside of Caracas. Water supplies have also been interrupted, along with transport and communications, forcing many people to trim their work days to six hours. The government of President Nicolas Maduro has blamed US-backed sabotage for the massive blackouts that have deprived millions of power, blaming "electromagnetic, cyber and physical" attacks against the Guri hydroelectric power plant, which produces 80 percent of the country's energy. The opposition blames a failure to maintain critical infrastructure and Guaido on Saturday launched what he promised will be a "definitive" escalation of pressure to force the country's embattled leftist leader from office. He called for a huge nationwide turnout on Wednesday, urging his followers to redouble their efforts to maintain pressure. "Everyone to the streets, let's start the final phase of the end of the usurpation!" He said. Story continues The United States meanwhile has stiffened its economic sanctions against Maduro, and one top US official warned Venezuela's military that it must protect the rights of peaceful protesters. Facing intense pressure at home and abroad, the Maduro government has sought to weaken Guaido. It has stripped his parliamentary immunity, authorized his prosecution for proclaiming himself acting president, and banned him from holding public office for 15 years. Guaido said last week he feared he could be abducted by government agents. Washington and its allies view Maduro as illegitimate since he took office in January for a second term following elections widely seen as deeply flawed. Maduro is supported by the Venezuelan military, China and Russia, and said on Wednesday he was inclined to accept international aid, following a meeting with the International Committee of the Red Cross. A UN Security Council meeting called by Washington is set to be held Wednesday to discuss the Venezuelan crisis. The head of the Algerian army Ahmed Gaid Salah Tuesday pledged that his forces will double efforts to ensure that Algerians enjoy their full rights at present and in future, few days after forcing his former Chief Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down. The army (ANP), thanks to Allah The Almighty, will continue to make further efforts for the durable promotion, supported development and the mobilization of its various components in view of warranting the legitimate right of the Algerian people to enjoy a total peace for the present and future of its country, Salah said in a statement release by the army. The Chief of staff has emerged recently as the countrys strongman after he forced former President Bouteflika to step down amid calls by the streets to do so. Salah late last month dropped his backing for the ailing former leader as he asked the Constitutional Council to declare 82-year old Bouteflika unfit to run the country on the basis of the article of 102 of the constitution (CC). Bouteflika Tuesday last week tendered his resignation in presence of Salah and the CCs head. Salahs pledge to guarantee the full right of Algerians came as Parliament confirmed leader of the upper chamber of the legislature Abdelkader Bensalah as the countrys interim President for 90 days. Bensalah, a close ally of the former President vowed to organize elections that will enable Algerians to elect democratically and freely their future leaders. The opposition and protesters have rejected Bensalahs election, with thousands of students taking to the street to denounce the vote. Tear gas and water cannons were used in Algiers to disperse the demonstrations. The Department of Homeland Securitys acting deputy secretary resigned on Tuesday, following her boss in a White House-directed purge of U.S. immigration agencies. The departure of Claire Grady, who has been undersecretary for management, clears the way for Kevin McAleenan, the current head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, to take over as acting secretary of Homeland Security. Her resignation was announced Tuesday night on Twitter by outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who herself was forced to resign on Sunday. Acting Deputy Secretary Claire Grady has offered the President her resignation, effective tomorrow, Nielsen wrote. For the last two years, Claire has served @DHSgov w excellence and distinction. She has been an invaluable asset to DHS a steady force and a knowledgeable voice. President Donald Trump said McAleenan would take over the department on Sunday night, in a tweet announcing Nielsens departure after a series of disagreements with the White House over immigration enforcement. Yet the decision to promote McAleenan came despite existing federal statute that seemed to dictate Grady was next in line for the job, leaving the appointment on shaky legal footing. Earlier on Tuesday, the president downplayed his personnel moves at the Department of Homeland Security, saying he is fighting bad laws on immigration and obstruction in Congress. We have to close up the borders, he told reporters after he was asked about the resignation of DHS Secretary during a meeting on Tuesday with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi at the White House. Were not doing anything very big. Trump said he did not plan to reinstate a policy that led to the separation of thousands of migrant children from their families after they illegally crossed the border last summer. Were not looking to do that, he said. Story continues Nielsen resigned Sunday after meeting with Trump at the White House residence to discuss a spike in illegal crossings at the U.S. southern border. Trump is increasingly frustrated by the border crisis, and last month empowered a hard-line aide, Stephen Miller, to have greater authority over immigration policy within the White House. A senior administration official told reporters in a briefing on Tuesday that the Homeland Security department is plagued by a dysfunctional bureaucracy, the result of Trump not having enough political appointees in key positions at the agency. The White House wants a crackdown on migrants seeking asylum at the southern border, the official said, because many of the claims are considered spurious. More than 66,000 people were apprehended after crossing the border illegally in February, about a 38 percent increase from the month before. Most were families or children traveling alone. The official said that Homeland Security could discourage migration by refusing to issue work permits to people in the country waiting for their asylum claims to be adjudicated. The claims themselves could be more rigorously vetted, the official said, to determine whether migrants assertions that they fear persecution in their home countries are credible. Binary Choice The official also confirmed that the administration is considering a policy known as binary choice. It resembles family separation. Migrants would be asked to choose whether to be detained together with their children in facilities run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement or to be separated from their kids, who would be placed in the care of relatives, guardians or government-contracted shelters. The policy isnt fully developed yet, the official said. Commander Jonathan White of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps warned Congress on Tuesday that resuming family separations would harm children. White told the Senate Homeland Security Committee that the corps has improved the tracking of people in its care. Still, he said, We do not have the capacity to receive that number of children, nor do we have the capacity to serve them, nor is it possible to build a system that would prevent the mass traumatization of children. Senator Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican and the chairman of the Homeland Security panel, said that I would be completely opposed to resuming the zero-tolerance border policy that resulted in the family separations. The policy caused outrage among lawmakers and the broader public before Trump halted the separations in June. Kellys People Miller is eyeing other people in the government who were hired after recommendations or referrals by Nielsen or former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, two people familiar with the matter said. Kelly preceded Nielsen at DHS and recommended her as his replacement. He departed the White House late last year after repeated clashes with the president. Two other top officials at DHS L. Francis Cissna, the head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and John Mitnick, the agencys general counsel may also depart. And the leadership of Immigration and Customs Enforcement remains in upheaval after Trump last week pulled the nomination of acting director Ronald Vitiello, saying he wanted to go in a tougher direction. The director of the Secret Service, Randolph Alles, whose agency is a unit of DHS, resigned on Monday for unspecified reasons. The White House is discussing a different job for him, perhaps within Customs and Border Protection, where he used to work, according to a senior administration official. Republicans have expressed alarm at Trumps purge of DHS, questioning whether the president has a plan to regain control of migration over the border or if he is simply adding to vacancies in the immigration agencies. A lawyer has advised against trainees wearing navy suits with brown brogues [Photo: Getty] An anonymous lawyer has sparked a debate over office dress code after advising trainees never to wear brown shoes with a blue suit. The unnamed speaker gave the surprising sartorial advice at the Transforming Womens Leadership in the Law conference in London last week, according to legal affairs journalist Catherine Baksi. Dont wear brown shoes with a blue suit. partner at a top international law firm passes on advice given to unsuitably dressed trainees, @TRLegalUKI #TRTWLL conference. Catherine Baksi (@legalhackette) April 2, 2019 The comments were reportedly made by a partner at a top international law firm who was advising unsuitably dressed trainees. But the suggestion was met with uproar on social media. READ MORE: Is business dress code outdated? Sounds like lack in sense or fashion; or quite possibly both, one wrote. People should wear what they want. The partner should get out of others wardrobes, or just get out more. People see an expert for his/her expertise, not for their dress sense. Another agreed, adding [sic]: Men get few enough options on what to wear and now it turns out there are intricate colour rules? Is the sartorial rule outdated? [Photo: Getty] Its not like theyre wearing green suits with red socks here. They only get about four suit colour options anyway and in a given decade two will be out of fashion. One lawyer, Mark Stephens, simply responded to the tweet with a photograph of his navy suit and brown brogue get-up. One industry expert took to the post to emphasise that sometimes its best to stand out in the competitive market. Story continues Heres some advice from someone who chooses between large international law firms, he wrote. Stop all dressing the same. You look like boring automatons. We dont want drones, we want people. Though its not the first time business dress code has proven divisive. READ MORE: Should women be forced to wear a bra to work? In March, top US bank Goldman Sachs announced that it was relaxing its strict uniform policy to create a more approachable workplace. The announcement read: More clients are dressing informally, and many parts of our company are already business casual. If youre seeing a client you should dress for that client. What do you think? Watch the latest videos from Yahoo By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a White House where no secret is safe for long, one development has remained stubbornly confidential - the contents of a Middle East peace plan authored by President Donald Trump's advisers Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt. With Trump having delighted Israelis and angered Palestinians by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2017 and moving the American Embassy to the holy city last May, a U.S.-brokered peace deal may seem farther away now than when talks collapsed five years ago. Then on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a clear path to re-election, only days after proposing to annex Jewish West Bank settlements, traditionally viewed as illegal by much of the world. The Trump administration has yet to comment on the election-eve remarks. Aides expect Trump to release the plan once Netanyahu forms a government coalition, and officials say that despite criticism of the administration's moves to date, the plan will demand compromises from both sides. That the peace plan has remained a secret is remarkable in a White House where drafts of executive orders, confidential conversations and internal deliberations all find their way to the front pages. Kushner and Greenblatt have limited the plan's distribution over the two years they have been crafting it. It has been kept secret "to ensure people approach it with an open mind" when it is released, a senior administration official said. Only four people have regular access - Kushner, Greenblatt, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Kushner aide Avi Berkowitz, the official said. Trump is briefed regularly on the contents but is not believed to have read the entire document of dozens of pages. "He is briefed if something interesting is happening or there is an idea they want to run by him," the official said. Kushner, a New York real estate developer and husband of Trump's daughter Ivanka, and Greenblatt, a former lawyer for Trump, joined the process knowing little about the tortured, decades-long path in search of Arab-Israeli peace. Their proposal addresses such core political issues as the status of Jerusalem, and separately aims at helping the Palestinians strengthen their economy. Cloaked in secrecy is whether the plan will propose outright the creation of a Palestinian state, the Palestinians core demand. On Wednesday, Trump's secretary of state Mike Pompeo said the plan would be presented before too long but, when asked, declined to say whether the administration favored a two-state solution, long the basis of Middle East peacemaking. Not even Trump, who is known to blurt out news whenever he feels like it, has dribbled out details of the peace plan because of the sensitivity. He tells his Middle East envoys, "If you guys can get this done youre going to be the greatest negotiators in history," said a senior White House official. 'YOUR CHILDREN'S FUTURE' When Kushner and Greenblatt began developing their plan in 2017, they asked the parties to look to the future and describe an outcome on each issue that they could accept rather than get locked into historical stances, two officials said. "You can't let your grandfather's conflict hold back your children's future" was their message to both sides, one official said. Palestinians reject Trump's pro-Israel policies. "The extremist and militaristic agenda, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, has been emboldened by the Trump administrations reckless policies and blind support," said PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Pompeo and White House national security adviser John Bolton are all kept up to date on the peace plan, but have kept a hands-off approach to it, deferring to Kushner, two other officials said. The secrecy maintained by Kushner and Greenblatt, even as they refine and polish the plan, has posed something of a challenge for Gulf governments, who want to know the details before committing resources to a Palestinian fund. Kushner and Greenblatt toured Gulf states in February to promote the economic part of the plan and get opinions about it, without providing a detailed view of the contents of the more crucial political section. One of their stops was in Qatar. Qatari Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Lolwah Al Khater, speaking to a small group of reporters in Washington recently, gave no indication that Kushner and Greenblatt provided much in the way of details on the political plan when they visited. "I don't think its still set in stone," she said. Dennis Ross, a longtime Middle East envoy and now a distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the U.S. team still has "a lot of work to do to make sure that Arab leaders aren't surprised by what's going to be presented, and they need to see it in writing, not verbally." But he said secrecy at this point is understandable. "Holding something very close makes sense and its not taken as a negative by the parties, because in the end, if the content isnt leaking out, it also makes sure that what would be controversial doesnt create an immediate firestorm. Theres a logic to that," Ross said. (Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Mary Milliken and Howard Goller) Half of Britons who would use Class A drugs if they were legal have actually already tried them (Picture: Getty) Legalising Class A drugs like cocaine, ecstasy or LSD would not necessarily change how much people use them, according to new research. A poll by YouGov and Yahoo News UK asked how many Britons had tried a Class A drug before, then asked how many would be willing to do so if they were legal. The survey also asked why the public would or would not be willing to try a Class A drug. According to the poll, one in 11 Brits (9%) have already tried a Class A drug, rising to one in seven (14%) of 18 to 24-year-olds and 25 to 49-year-olds. For older people, the number was far lower with just one in 50 (2%) of those aged 65 and over saying they taken a Class A drug. According to the poll, which features in the latest episode of Yahoo UKs podcast Britain is a Nation of, one in 20 Britons would consider trying a Class A drug if it were legal. The majority of those peoples said they would only think about taking cocaine, ecstasy and LSD. It also showed that twice as many people have already taken cocaine and ecstasy than those who said they would do so if it were legal. 47% had already taken cocaine while 20% say they would try it if it was legal and 44% had already taken ecstasy while 23% would try it suggesting that many people are already trying Class A drugs whether they are legal or not. Listen to a discussion of these statistics on Yahoo and YouGovs podcast, Britain is a Nation of Heroin, crack cocaine, meth or crystal meth appeared to be no-go drugs for most people, the survey suggests, with the majority saying they wouldnt try them even if they were legal. One in 15 (7%) had tried crack cocaine before, and roughly one in 20 had tried heroin (5%), methadone (5%), or methamphetamine, also known as crystal meth (6%). People who said they would never take a Class A drug even if it were legal were asked about their rationale. The most commonly selected reason was that the drugs simply do not interest me, chosen by 73% of respondents. Story continues People who would never take Class A drugs even if they were legal were most likely to say it is because theyre not interested (YouGov) Just over half (53%) said they are not comfortable with how drugs could affect behaviour, 44% cited health reasons and 42% said they do not want to support the drugs industry. Speaking on the podcast Ian Hamilton, Associate Professor in addiction at the University of York, said legalising drugs could make it easier to treat addiction. There still is a stigma with drug use and theres a ranking to that. For a mum to say Im using crack cocaine compared to a stock broker saying Im using a line of coke, theres a clear difference in our attitudes towards that, he said. A regulated market I dont think solves everything but it does help to reduce stigma and stigma is a big barrier to seeking help and getting treatment in a timely way. This survey was made possible by YouGovs panel of 6 million respondents. Join the trend and share your opinions with the world today. To hear more unpacking of statistics about British people, listen to the full episode above, or download it on Apple Podcasts, Acast, or Spotify to listen while on the go. Dozens of people have been reported killed and scores more injured in clashes on the edge of Libyas coastal capital Tripoli after warlord Khalifa Haftar ordered his troops to take the city from the U.N.-backed government April 4. The offensive by the military chief Haftar, who has U.S. citizenship, has pushed Libya to the brink of civil war. The Tripoli based-government announced on April 7 it was launching a counter-offensive it called Operation Volcano of Anger. On April 8, an airstrike the U.N. blamed on Haftars self-styled National Libyan Army (NLA) shut down Tripolis only functioning airport. The Health Ministry of the Tripoli-based government said at least 27 people, including civilians, have been killed since the offensive began. The media office of Hafters army said 22 of their troops had been killed in the same period. The U.N. has called in vain for a truce and international powers have evacuated their personnel. The escalating violenceaudaciously launched during the U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres visit to Tripolicomes less than two weeks before a planned conference aimed at reconciling Libyas numerous armed factions and paving the way for democratic elections in the country, which has been riven by political instability and violence since the 2011 killing of Muammar Gaddafi. Heres what to know about the conflict: Who is Khalifa Haftar? Described by CNN as the ultimate pragmatist, the 75-year-old was an officer in the coup that brought Gaddafi to power in 1969 but fell out with the dictator in the late 1980s. He exiled himself in the U.S., where he took citizenship, but returned to Libya in time to participate in the NATO-backed civil war in 2011 that ended Gaddafis 42-year reign. He rose to prominence in Libya again in 2014, when he railed against the failure of the then-mandated General National Congress (GNC) to guard against the rise of insurgent groups and began a military campaign against Islamist militias called Operation Dignity. Story continues From its stronghold in the countrys east, his LNAwhich incorporates a band of loosely-aligned militiaseventually expelled Islamist militias from Libyas second city Benghazi and its surrounds. Early this year, the LNA swept Libyas southern oil fields, and now virtually surrounds Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast. What does he want? Haftar has cast himself as a national protector and his offensive in terms of security. The LNA vowed to cleanse Libya of terrorist groups before its troops advanced on Tripoli from the south and west. But his opponents fear he is attempting to return Libya to authoritarian rule similar to Gaddafis or that overseen by Egypts President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, reportedly one of his principal international backers. While Haftar declared war on Islamists he also enjoys the support of Libyas conservative Salafist factions, who follow a fundamentalist version of Islam and have implemented strict Islamic law in some areas he has controlled. The conflict is basically a struggle for the spoils of the country, says Libya expert Frederic Wehrey, author of The Burning Shores. The mask of ideology that perhaps was one division in the past has fallen away and now its just a scramble for pure economics and power. Why is the advance on Tripoli happening now? Some analysts regard Haftars advance as a bid to change the facts on the ground before the U.N.s planned national conference on April 14. Announced in March, the conference will discuss national unification and a timetable for long-delayed elections. On March 6two days after Haftar announced his advancethe U.N. said it would still go ahead. But there may also be a financial motivation for Haftars actions. A banking crisis has taken hold in Libyas east, with foreign exchange reserves hit particularly hard. Haftars army is a collection of self-interested groups who have latched onto his campaign for their own agendas, so he needs to keep in constant movement, says Wehrey. So much of Haftars momentum has been through cash payments and hes got to sustain that somehow. Who are Haftars international backers? Officially, they are few and far between. Every major state condoned the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), and Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj. But in reality, some were also having parallel conversations with different actors and that enabled those actors to disregard the legal process and go with the military process, says Elham Saudi, co-founder of London-based NGO Lawyers for Justice in Libya (LFJL). Those states include Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, which want to curb the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya; Russia, which has treated wounded soldiers and reportedly printed money on behalf of Haftar; and France, which views him as key to stabilizing Libya and slowing the flow of migrants into Europe. Italy, which also wants to prevent migration through Libya, has fallen out with France over its tacit support of Haftar. Nominally, of course, theyre on the same side, that of the U.N.-backed government, says Joost Hiltermann, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the International Crisis Group. But in reality Italy and France are on opposite sides of this. The U.S. has supported armed groups fighting ISIS and al-Qaeda, which include those allied to the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has condemned Haftars advance and called for forces to return to their status quo ante positions. But Libya is just not a top priority for America, Hiltermann adds. How has the rest of the world responded to the offenive? Guterres, the UN chief, met Haftar in person on April 5 but apparently failed to convince him to stop his advance. He left the country with a heavy heart and deeply concerned that conflict could break out, he said. I still hope it is possible to avoid a bloody confrontation in and around Tripoli. The U.K. attempted to pass a security council statement condemning Haftar but it was vetoed by Russia, which urged all sides to show restraint. French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly called Libyas U.N.-backed Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj to discuss security. His foreign minister has said there is no military solution to the crisis. But no state has threatened sanctions or acted to affirm the legitimacy of the internationally-backed government in Tripoli. As such, Haftar has interpreted their warnings as an amber, rather than a red light, according to International Crisis Group. For LFJLs Saudi, the current crisis is the natural culmination of the international communitys inconsistency and failure to affirm the rule of law in Libya. The international agenda has been pure carrot and no stick, she says. What is the incentive now to play by the rules? What is the situation like for people in Tripoli? Even before the offensive, Tripoli was groaning under the strain of internally displaced people who had fled fighting elsewhere in the country. The citys residents have for years endured intermittent power supply, high inflation, a plunging currency, and sporadic outbreaks of violence. Conditions are direr still in the citys migrant detention campsa consequence of the human trafficking trade that flourished amid the instabilitywhere overcrowding, food shortages, torture and sexual violence have been extensively documented. But Haftas advance could dramatically worsen the situation. Human Rights Watch says fighters from the LNA have committed indiscriminate attacks on civilians, summary executions of captured fighters, and arbitrary detention. Even if he were able to secure a military victory, analysts are skeptical Haftars governance would bring stability. Haftar is deeply unpopular in many places and given the fragmented state of Libya and the proliferation of armed groups its going to be very hard to impose his rule throughout the country, says ICGs Hiltermann. By Goncalo Almeida LISBON, April 10 (Reuters) - Fighting the stigma surrounding mental illness can be a battle but a new studio in Portugal's capital Lisbon is using arts and creativity to help those affected in a free and easy environment. One in five Portuguese suffers from mental health issues, according to a report published by OECD last year, which also showed Portugal has the fifth-highest percentage of people affected by mental illnesses in the European Union. The studio Manicomio, which in English means "mental asylum," opened last week and is now a spot where current and former patients can create and display artwork such as paintings or sculptures, away from psychiatric hospitals. "I was hospitalized seven times and it was too painful," said Anabela Soares, 50, who makes sculptures to help cope with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. "People don't know how great it is to have a space where there is freedom to create, to get rid of the 'little monsters' inside of us." The project's mastermind is 44-year-old Sandro Resende, who has worked as an arts teacher at psychiatric hospitals in Portugal for two decades and recruited the amateur artists from Lisbon's Psychiatric Hospital Centre. The project is mostly funded by private companies, with support from the state tourism agency. Ciro Oliveira, a doctor at the Psychiatric Hospital Centre, called it a "very interesting project" because it allows patients "to create artwork without the stigma associated with being closed in the hospital." "There is an idea that those who have a mental illnesses are lunatics and cannot lead a normal life," said 37-year-old artist Claudia Sampaio, who has weekly appointments in the psychiatric hospital. "This project demystifies that idea." (Writing by Catarina Demony; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Alison Williams) A 35-year-old man in India died after his rectal cancer metastasized to his skin, according to a new case report from the BMJ. The patient had a type of rectal cancer called mucinous adenocarcinoma, which is when a tumor is comprised in part by mucin, a compound found in mucus. His cancer was originally treated with a surgery called a laparoscopic abdominoperineal resection. This procedure is used to treat cancers in the anus and rectum that are close to the sphincter muscles, and it involves removing the anus, rectum, and part of the large intestine through multiple small incisions. Two chemotherapy drugscapecitabine and oxaliplatinwere recommended after surgery for this patient, according to the case report, but he decided against taking these medications, which can be expensive. BMJ The patient returned to the doctor two months after surgery with pain in his upper abdomen and lesions on his body. These were "well-defined, firm, nodular skin lesions distributed over the face, chest, abdomen, and back," the report explains. After reviewing the patient's cancer history and current symptoms, doctors diagnosed him with metastatic cancer that had spread to his skin, called cutaneous metastasis, from his rectum. A CT scan revealed two lesions in the left lobe of the patient's liver, and lesions were also found in his abdominal wall. A biopsy of one of the lesions on his skin confirmed that the mucinous adenocarcinoma had metastasized to his skin. The patient died three months later after choosing not to undergo further treatment. RELATED: This Woman's Red, Ring-Shaped Rash Turned Out to Be a Sign of Anal Cancer The spread of cancers to the skin is rare, according to the report. When it does happen, it's usually in lung cancer patients. However, this happens to 6% of colorectal cancer patients, the case report authors note. The abdominal wall is the most common site of cutaneous metastasis in colorectal cancer patients. Story continues The spread of cancer to the skin usually occurs by way of veins or the lymphatic system, the report notes. It "is often detected several years after the surgical removal of the primary tumor, the mean interval being 33 months," the authors write. They warn that doctors should evaluate any lumps on the skin that patients who have been treated for rectal cancer notice. "Any cutaneous nodule in a postoperative case of adenocarcinoma rectum should be thoroughly evaluated as it may be the earliest sign of recurrence," the report says. "Cutaneous metastasis is usually a sign of distant dissemination, and such patients carry a poor prognosis." RELATED: The Rectal and Colon Cancer Symptoms You Need to Know, Even if You're Young Vienna (AFP) - As villagers along the Sunda Strait were finishing their meals on the evening of 22 December last year, they had no idea of the cataclysmic event that awaited them. After bubbling on and off for months, the active volcano of Anak Krakatoa erupted, triggering a 0.3-kilometre-cubed sized chunk of rock to plunge into the unusually deep waters off the coast of Indonesia's west Java and South Sumatra regions. The resulting tsunami, which hit the coast just minutes after the landslide, killed 437 people and injured 30,000 more. The killer wave was the most recent of a geological phenomenon that has led to around a quarter of a million deaths in the last two decades alone. And it won't be the last. According to David Tappin, a marine geologist at the British Geological Society who has spent years examining the causes of tsunamis, there are at least 40 active volcanoes next to oceans around the world that "could be potential Anak Krakatoas". "One of the aspects of events such as Anak Krakatoa is that we are now aware of a hazard hovering in the background and there are millions of people who live adjacent to volcanoes," he told AFP on the sidelines of the European Geosciences Union in Vienna this week. "But I don't think anyone has actually looked at the particular hazard those people have except from eruptions. Suddenly, we are aware of this (threat of tsunamis) and hopefully we will do something about it." - 'Volcanoes still little understood' - Tappin and his team have for the first time modelled in minute detail what happens when a volcanic landslide triggers a tsunami. When the rock slipped from Anak Krakatoa, it fell into a submarine trough of unusual depth, around 220 metres (720 feet). This triggered multiple, large waves that hit coastlines quickly, with the second or third waves the highest. Tappin said that there was currently no system to warn civilians of events like the Anak Krakatoa landslide. Story continues "Warning systems in all the world's oceans are predicated on large earthquakes," he said. "Volcanoes are still little understood. Anak Krakatoa is really important because suddenly we have an event we can study." - Magnitude-10 quakes - The website of the United State Geological Survey states confidently that mega-quakes, those of magnitude 10 or more "cannot happen". Indeed, the strongest quake on record measured 9.6 on the richter scale and there have only been five quakes stronger than 9 in the last 100 years. It was long assumed that the tectonic make-up of Earth made magnitude 10 earthquakes planetarily impossible: the plates upon which lands and ocean lie aren't big enough to provoke such a mega-quake. But a new analysis based on cutting-edge data suggests otherwise. Alvaro Gonzalez, a researcher of the Center for Mathematical Research in Barcelona, Spain, found that so-called subduction zones -- parts of the Earth where one tectonic plate gets pushed deeper towards the mantle by another -- could trigger a 10.4 magnitude quake. And they happen on average every 2,000 years. "Such events would produce especially large tsunamis and long lasting shaking which would effect distant locations," Gonzalez said. - 'Global events' - There is another way to cause a mega-quake on Earth, of course. Sixty-six million years ago, a space rock up to 80 kilometres (50 miles) across slammed into what is modern-day Mexico, triggering tsunamis, planetary shaking and volcanic eruptions that killed off the dinosaurs and rendered three quarters of all species on Earth extinct. Gonzalez said that several more recent -- albeit much smaller -- asteroid impacts had provoked "impact shaking events". By analysing existing asteroid telemetry data, he calculated that shaking events larger than 10.5 magnitude from an impact happen once every 10 million years on average. "There are only very few people who have tried to simulate something like that," he told AFP. "For really, really large earthquakes -- 10.5 or larger -- those are global events. The (Mexico) impact simulations show that there were several metres of amplitude of ground motion worldwide and especially near the impact and on the antipodes" -- the corresponding point on the other side of the globe. Both Tappin and Gonzalez said existing tsunami warning systems didn't offer sufficient protection for waves triggered by potential eruptions and mega-quakes. Referring to the Anak Krakatoa event, Tappin said "it demonstrates yet again the lack of preparedness of countries threatened by tsunamis and highlights the urgent need for better mitigation and warning." WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. Measles has been confirmed in eight children in New York's Westchester County who seem to have been exposed to the highly contagious disease during visits to outbreak-affected Rockland County and Brooklyn, health officials said. None of the Westchester children attend public schools or childcare programs. The children range in age from 6 months to 14 years old and six of them are siblings, health officials said. All live in northern Westchester. The Westchester County Department of Health said it's working with the families and health care providers to identify locations where the children may have exposed others. The children, who were not vaccinated, appear to have been exposed to measles in Rockland County and Brooklyn where there have been ongoing outbreaks, health officials said. A measles vaccine sign outside the Robert L. Yeager health complex in Pomona on Wednesday, March 27, 2019. Health Commissioner Sherlita Amler urged parents of unvaccinated children to make it a priority for their children to receive the MMR vaccine, which covers measles, mumps and rubella. "With the increasing number of measles cases in our surrounding area, I strongly urge all parents who have not vaccinated their children against measles to reconsider," Amler said. "Measles is highly contagious, and nine out of 10 people who are not immune and are exposed to measles will become infected." People can spread measles before they even know they are sick, and anyone without immunity can catch measles just by being in a room for up to two hours after a person with measles has left, health officials said. "Measles can be a serious infection which can result in pneumonia, swelling of the brain, hearing loss and death, Amler said. Westchester's public health warning came amid politically charged battles over efforts to contain measles outbreaks in Rockland and Brooklyn. The spread of measles in a portion of Brooklyn led New York City to declare a public health emergency Tuesday. Unvaccinated people living in designated ZIP codes who may have been exposed to measles will be required to receive the vaccine to protect others from the outbreak, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. Story continues Those who refuse vaccination could be fined $1,000, city officials said. Further, city officials said the outbreak may have been fueled in part by measles parties thrown by anti-vaccination supporters. City officials were concerned 285 cases of measles in the city, largely in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn among the Orthodox Jewish community, had been aided by so-called measles parties to purposefully expose their children to the illness to build their immunity. In Rockland, where there were 168 cases of measles since last fall, county Executive Ed Day and Rockland's health commissioner said they are developing criteria to identify unvaccinated people who may have been exposed to measles and keep them home. Day called the plan "a slight pivot" after a state Supreme Court judge recently froze the county's state of emergency that banned unvaccinated children from indoor public places in response to a legal challenge by a group of parents. Measles is a viral disease that starts with fever, runny nose, cough, red eyes, and sore throat. Its followed by a rash that spreads over the body. Measles is highly contagious and is spread from person to person by coughing or sneezing. The infection can be serious and more severe in young infants, pregnant women and people with a weak immune system. People are at risk for getting sick up to 21 days after being exposed. People are considered protected or immune to measles if they were born before 1957, have received two doses of measles-containing vaccine or have had a lab test confirming immunity, health officials said. Anyone who has not been vaccinated can get the vaccine free by contacting the Westchester County Health Department. This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Measles confirmed in another county's unvaccinated children as New York outbreak spreads Technical-economical study required for Georgia-US direct air travel has started By Levan Abramishvili According to the World Tourism Organization, American travelers are second top spenders in international tourism. On average, they spend $135 billion on international travel. In Georgia, their expenditure amounts to $ 47 mln, which is a mere 0,03% of the total expenses (2018) (average expenditure of one American tourist in Georgia GEL 3047 / USD 1130, average time spent 8 nights).In the first three months of 2019, a total of international visitors to Georgia from the US amounted to 5,974 persons, which is 13,4% higher from the last years results from the similar timeframe. In 2018, the total number of visitors from the US was 41,863, a 24,7% rise from the previous years results.The existence of direct flights to the US from Georgia will give the country an opportunity to draw in travelers and potential tourists from the bordering countries Armenia and Azerbaijan. Also from other neighboring countries that, to this day, dont have direct flights to the United States.Direct flights will be much comfortable for American tourists, who, as of now, have to endure sometimes more than three connecting flights and layovers.On January 25-27, 2019 Georgia was represented in the New York Times Travel Show, which reached a record 35,568 participants the highest attendance in the history of the show. Attendees had a chance to familiarize themselves with Georgias tourist potential as presented by private companies.In the last two years, the Georgian National Tourism Administration hosted 25 press tours for the representatives of the leading American media and tourism companies. This practice will continue in 2019 with a higher participation rate. With 465 confirmed cases of measles across the United States, doctors are urging parents to vaccinate their children against the potentially deadly virus. New York City has declared a public health emergency after 285 people in the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn became infected. "What a lot of people don't realize is that Measles is one of the most contagious viruses we've ever known, " says Dr. Alok Patel, a Pediatrician at NewYork-Presbyterian, Columbia University Irving Medical Center. "You can actually be contagious without having any symptoms," he warns. So how can people protect themselves? It is pretty black and white, says Dr. Patel. Vaccination is a fool-proof method to curb the spread of Measles, he adds. While some parents may be concerned over potential links between the Measles vaccine and higher rates of Autism, most doctors agree that this fear is unfounded. Weve since looked at millions of kids, completely debunking links between Autism and [the vaccine.] There isnt. Meghan might decide to have a home birth, according to reports [Photo: Getty] Prince Harry and Meghan are just weeks away from welcoming their first child. And while Meghan hasnt been afraid of doing things her way, now friends of the Duchess of Sussex have reportedly revealed she will be following in the Queens footsteps when it comes to where she will give birth. Sources have told the Daily Mail that Meghan will be having a midwife-led birth at Frogmore Cottage, the couples new home in Windsor. It is her favoured choice, the source told the publication. But it obviously depends on how things are nearer the time. The Queen was born at the home of her grandparents in Mayfair and gave birth to each of her four children at either Buckingham Palace or Clarence House. The Queen had her four children at either Buckingham Palace or Clarence House. Photo: Getty Before that, the Queen Mother gave birth to the Queen on April 21, 1926 at her grandparents, the Earl and Countess of Strathmores London home. READ MORE: Royal photographer says Meghan and Harry baby photocall unlikely to happen It was Princess Anne and then Princess Diana who started the tradition of having their children at the famous Lindo Wing in London. As private as possible There has been some talk that Meghan, 37, might opt for a home birth, according to Vanity Fair, as she also wants to keep the birth of her first child as private as possible. But they havent ruled out going to a hospital, especially given Meghans age, in which case they will opt for a maternity unit near her and Prince Harrys home. READ MORE: Introducing Heckfield Place, Harry and Meghans reported babymoon destination Harry and Meghan realise there is intense public interest but this baby is not a direct heir to the throne and they want the birth to be as private as possible, a source told the Sun. She just wants a normal, natural birth and to bond with her baby, without being primped and blow-dried to within an inch of her life just for the pictures, the source said. Meghan wants her birth to be private. Photo: Getty Meghan was also said to be reading up on hypno-birthing techniques as her mum Doria Ragland, is said to be encouraging Meg to go for a natural birth. Story continues Hypnotherapy is said to make for a much more relaxed and calm birthing process as mothers are encouraged to enter a form of deep meditation to manage the pain and unpredictability of childbirth. New home is ready Meghan and Harry moved into their new home last week. Frogmore Cottage in Windsor has been undergoing renovations since last year to turn it from staff accommodation to a 10 bedroom family home for Harry and Meghan and their baby. Frogmore Cottage is located within the grounds of Frogmore House, pictured here in 2006 [Photo: Getty] It was announced last year that Harry and Meghans new official residence would be at Frogmore Cottage and that Windsor is a very special place for Their Royal Highnesses. MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's foreign minister on Wednesday criticized hold-ups in the flow of goods and people at the U.S-Mexico border, and said he planned to discuss the matter with U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials later in the day. After days of traffic delays at sections of the border that have alarmed businesses, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said the disruptions were raising costs for supply chains in both countries. "Slowing down the flow of people and goods at the northern border is a very bad idea," Ebrard said in a post on Twitter, using unusually frank language on an issue that has caused constant friction between Mexico and the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Ebrard said his ministry would get in contact on Wednesday with the new leaders of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The department's former secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who had overseen Trump's bitterly contested immigration policies during her tenure, stepped down at the weekend. The border slowdowns have occurred after Trump late last month threatened to close the frontier if Mexico did not halt a surge in undocumented migrants reaching the United States. On Monday, a judge in San Francisco said the Trump administration's policy of sending some asylum seekers to Mexico while their claims worked through a backlogged immigration court system was not authorized by U.S. law. The White House said on Tuesday it would appeal the ruling and that its policy was part of a "cooperative program extensively negotiated with the government of Mexico." However, in a sign of ongoing tensions over the issue, Mexico's foreign ministry noted afterwards that the return of the migrants was a "unilateral" measure with which it did not agree but was allowing on a "temporary" basis. On Wednesday morning, only one of six lanes for commercial vehicles was open at the Bridge of the Americas border crossing between Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, according to online data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. (Reporting by Sharay Angulo; Editing by Dave Graham and Bernadette Baum) NEW YORK (AP) As Michael Cohen seeks another reprieve from his three-year prison sentence, there are mounting indications his usefulness to federal prosecutors is drying up. Several prosecutors assigned to his campaign-finance violation case in New York have moved on to other jobs, and authorities recently returned electronic devices that the FBI seized from Cohen a year ago Tuesday. Even Democratic lawmakers seem reluctant to intervene on behalf of President Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer, who said last week that he has uncovered new evidence implicating Trump and needs more time to review digital files recently returned to him. Meanwhile, special counsel Robert Mueller's closing of his probe into Russian attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election effectively shuts the door on Cohen emerging as a key witness in that investigation. "They're not going to be making any new cases with his testimony," predicted David S. Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor in Miami. When the FBI raided Cohen's home and office, some pundits declared it the beginning of the end of Trump's presidency. It was only a matter of time, they speculated, before Cohen gave investigators a roadmap to Trump's supposed misdeeds. Cohen stoked those flames as recently as Thursday by saying he was cooperating in federal probes he wasn't at liberty to discuss. But there are growing signs that he may wind up being the only person to go to prison for the hush-money scandal that has dogged Trump's presidency. With Cohen scheduled to report to prison May 6, his attorneys have reached out to Democrats in Congress, asking them to write letters saying Cohen's three-year sentence for tax evasion, campaign finance violations and other crimes should be postponed because his help is needed going through a "substantial trove of new information, documents, recordings, and other evidence." But tellingly, federal prosecutors themselves made no such request. Story continues To be sure, federal authorities in New York don't appear to be finished scrutinizing people close to Trump. Investigations continue into the president's inaugural committee. Among other things, authorities are looking into payments made to vendors and whether foreigners illegally donated. New York state officials are also examining Cohen's claims to Congress that Trump fudged the value of his assets with dealing with insurance companies and banks. But whether Cohen would play a central role as a witness in any of those investigations is unclear. Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani dismissed Cohen's plea to Congress to help him remain free as "pretty hilarious." "Cohen has already spilled his guts," Giuliani said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation." ''He has nothing at all incriminating on" Trump. Asked on the same program whether House Democrats would be willing to write letters on Cohen's behalf, House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler was noncommittal. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN on Monday that he welcomed Cohen's cooperation but has no intention of intervening on his behalf. "I don't get involved in sentencing matters as a practice," Schiff said. "I never have in Congress and that's been my policy." Trump himself sounded unconcerned about Cohen last week, saying, "He's old news." Cohen's spokesman, Lanny Davis, didn't comment. The federal investigation of Cohen burst into view on April 9, 2018, when agents seized documents from his hotel room, his Manhattan apartment, his law office and a safety deposit box. Records since made public reveal that the probe at the time was focused on Cohen's financial crimes, including failing to report income related to his taxi businesses, and on payments he orchestrated to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy centerfold Karen McDougal, who claimed they had affairs with Trump. Cohen, who once declared he would "take a bullet" for Trump, abandoned the president quickly. By August, he had pleaded guilty and told prosecutors that Trump himself had instructed him to buy the women's silence. The Justice Department argued that those payments amounted to undisclosed, illegal campaign contributions. To date, though, only Cohen has faced charges in that case. Longstanding Justice Department policy says a sitting president shouldn't be indicted. Federal prosecutors agreed not go after the parent company of the National Enquirer for funneling the money to McDougal. And Allen Weisselberg, who as chief financial officer of Trump's business empire was implicated in the hush-money case by Cohen, cooperated with prosecutors and might not be charged. A federal judge revealed in a February ruling that the government's hush-money probe remained open. Whether that is still the case is unclear. The judge has given prosecutors a May 15 deadline to provide him with an update as he decides whether to unseal more of the Cohen file. In the meantime, the prosecutor who originally oversaw the campaign finance probe, Robert Khuzami, has announced that he is leaving the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan on April 12 for undisclosed reasons. The most senior assistant U.S. attorney assigned to the investigation, Rachel Maimin, left for private practice in recent weeks. A third prosecutor on the Cohen team, Andrea Griswold, is returning to a previous role at a unit that investigates securities fraud. WASHINGTON President Donald Trump had high praise for the nations attorneys general when he invited them to the State Dining room in March. You are very special people and doing a very special and important job, Trump told the gathering. Increasingly, their job is suing Trump. Trump has faced more joint challenges from states in his first two years than either Barack Obama or George W. Bush did in their eight years in office, according to Paul Nolette, a political science professor at Marquette University who tracks the lawsuits. Last week, Democratic attorneys general sued to stop the administrations rollback of school nutritional standards and to block Trumps requirement that at least two federal regulations have to be repealed before a new rule can be introduced. Buttigieg-Pence: Tensions flare in 'long and complicated' relationship between mayor and VP All the 2020 candidates:The Democrats challenging Donald Trump President Trump has demonstrated an utter contempt for congressional authority and the role that federal agencies play in protecting Americans, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, said in announcing what, by Nolettes tally, is the 71st multistate challenge to Trump. Thats almost twice the number filed against the Obama administration during his second term, when the spike in such lawsuits started. President Donald Trump addresses a meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General in the State Dining Room at the White House on March 4, 2019. Democratic attorneys general are winning more often. Thats not because their suits are overall more successful, according to Nolette. Its because they file them more often. Now, the Democrats are suing over basically everything, he said. They challenge almost every major thing that comes out. About half of the challenges are pending. Some could drag out past the 2020 election when Democrats hope Trump will be defeated at the ballot box and many of his actions could be undone by the next president. Democrats won early victories in court against the administrations attempt to reverse Obama rules on energy efficiency and other environmental regulations. They at least temporarily stopped rules that would have allowed employers to refuse to include birth control in workers insurance coverage by citing religious or moral objections. Story continues Pelosi sit-down: How Nancy Pelosi leads divided Democrats through political turmoil, Trump's administration Report: Navy official vacationed in Hawaii, billed government, belittled staff They halted a Trump administration attempt to let small businesses offer health insurance plans that skirt requirements of the Affordable Care Act and to allow online publication of blueprints to make 3D-printed firearms. Although the Supreme Court upheld Trumps order limiting travel into the USA from several countries, litigation forced Trump to come up with second and third versions that were slightly narrower in scope. The legal battles against policy dont include the investigations into the Trump Foundation, Trump University and Trump Organization projects conducted by the New York attorney generals office which launched another broadside last month. Theyre yet another front in the Democrats war against Trump that accelerated after the party won more firepower in the midterm elections by taking control of the House and winning a majority of attorneys general seats. After Colorado, Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada elected Democratic attorneys general in November giving Democrats control of the offices in 26 states plus D.C. all four joined the Title X gag rule challenge. (Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel withdrew from multiple suits filed by her GOP predecessor, including those against Obamas Environmental Protection Agency.) Even the Democratic attorneys general in Mississippi and Kentucky, where Trump remains very popular, have found reason to challenge the administration. Both are among the 23 attorneys general trying to bring back the net neutrality rules that Trumps Federal Communications Commission killed. There are a few challenges waged by coalitions of Republican attorneys general, but they share the Trump administrations goals. In the most high-profile case, for example, a Texas-led coalition is trying to get rid of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which Trump wants to do as well. Attorneys general of both parties can fight on the same side. Last year, all 50 states reached a $575 million settlement with Wells Fargo to resolve claims the bank violated state consumer protection laws. Nearly every state is involved in the opioid-related lawsuits against drugmakers, distributors and others. That outcome could be even bigger than states lawsuit in the 1990s against the tobacco industry. Its the partisan lawsuits against presidential administrations that are the biggest departure from the past. One reason, said former Maine Attorney General James Tierney, stems from a Supreme Court decision in 2007 siding with Massachusetts and 11 other states against the EPA. The states successfully argued that the EPA is required to regulate greenhouse gases as pollutants. The court gave states special solicitude or the authority to challenge the federal government in a way that cities, activist groups and others cant, said Tierney, a lecturer at Harvard Law School. Gridlock in Washington prompted Obama who adopted a "pen-and-phone" strategy then Trump to try to accomplish through executive actions what they couldnt get through Congress. That makes the policies more vulnerable to legal challenge, Nolette said. During the last administration, Republican attorneys general scored a big win by halting Obamas signature regulation to combat climate change. They stopped Obamas effort to shield as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation and allow them to legally work in the USA. Although the Affordable Care Act was not an executive action but approved by Congress, a GOP challenge resulted in curtailing the laws expansion of Medicaid. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, when he was the state's attorney general, once described his typical workday this way: "I go into the office, I sue the federal government and I go home. Democrats said their multitude of legal challenges to Trump is not payback but a reflection of Trumps dismissal of the rule of law. This is a unique administration, which is generating an outsized response from the Democratic attorneys general, said Sean Rankin, executive director of the Democratic Attorneys General Association. No one is above the law. Donald Trump has had to learn that the hard way. Tierney said Trump made himself especially vulnerable to challenges early on because he was in a hurry to get things done so he made administrative law mistakes. The classic example of that is Trumps travel ban, which courts rejected twice before letting the third version stand. Tierney said the administration is making fewer mistakes that could lead to losses on procedural grounds, but he suspects there could be an increase in investigations of Trump by attorneys general. When the details of special counsel Robert Muellers report on Russian interference in the 2016 election are made public, it could include details of possible state law violations that attorneys general might pursue. Last month, a New York appeals court rejected Trumps argument that the Constitution makes him immune from state lawsuits. Newly elected New York Attorney General Letitia James, who campaigned on promises to investigate Trump, is following up on Trump attorney Michael Collins testimony to Congress that Trump inflated his net worth when seeking bank loans. After a court said a watchdog group lacked the legal standing to challenge whether Trumps businesses can receive payments from foreign governments, the attorneys general in Maryland and the District of Columbia refiled the challenge. The district's attorney general, Karl Racine, subpoenaed documents from Trumps inaugural committee. That action came days before the nations attorneys general met with Trump during their winter meeting last month. Calling out Racine for his support for a bipartisan criminal justice law Trump signed in December, the president drew laughter when he added, I feel like youre like I know you. Racine replied, I feel like I know you as well, Mr. President. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Multistate lawsuits against Trump in 2 years exceed those against Obama, Bush in 8 years YANGON (Reuters) - Arakan Army rebels overran a police base in Rakhine state, killing two officers and one of their wives, the Myanmar government said on Wednesday, as fresh fighting broke out in a historic Buddhist temple town popular with tourists. The Information Ministry said around 200 insurgents stormed a police headquarters in Mrauk U before being repelled, but that they abducted four women and three children as they left. According to information from the Myanmar police force, the AA (committed an act of) terrorism by attacking a family dormitory and taking unrelated family members like wives and children, the ministry said in a post on its website. Arakan Army spokesman Khine Thu Kha said rebels had attacked a police outpost in Mrauk U - where clashes in March wounded six people - but denied they had killed or abducted any civilians. He denied the site had any dormitory, saying rather that heavy weapons were stored there. They were shooting from that camp and so it affected the people. So the Rakhine army cleared that. There were many casualties on the Myanmar military side. Rakhine came to global attention in 2017 when the Myanmar army drove about 730,000 ethnic Rohingya Muslims from the state across the border into neighboring Bangladesh, following attacks by Rohingya insurgents on police posts. More recently, the military has been battling another armed rebel group, the Arakan Army, which draws recruits mostly from the ethnic Rakhine population, who are mainly Buddhists, and is fighting for greater autonomy for the western state. Government warplanes began strikes on Mrauk U late on Tuesday night, according to two residents, who said a one-year-old child was hospitalized. I dont know whether they are fighting with AA or not, a local monk, Myo Oo Khaung Sayataw, said on Wednesday as aircraft could be heard flying overhead. I saw them shooting from the planes. We dont dare to go out to the town. The planes are still flying. A hotel owner in Mrauk U, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, said his roof had been damaged by bullets fired from the air. I have never experienced this before. The business is not good anymore. We cannot expect guests to come because this is happening. (This story has been refiled to amend editing credit; no changes to story) (Editing by Mark Heinrich) Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's main challenger, Benny Gantz, stopped his car on polling day on Tuesday to help an injured motorcyclist on a highway, local media reported. A video shows a jacketless Gantz, who was the chief of Israel's military before joining politics, bending over the helmeted rider next to a crashed motorcycle, getting updates from people at the site before squatting down to exchange a few words. "Where does it hurt, if it hurts?" Gantz asked. Gantz then placed a gentle hand on the rider's chest, telling him "we're deliberately not moving you, you'll need to have patience," before asking if anyone had aspirin in their car. Painkillers were not immediately available, but someone handed a pack of wipes to Gantz, who used one to mop the distressed motorcyclist's brow, cheeks and neck. According to Channel 12 television, the prime ministerial candidate directed an ambulance to the site of the accident on Highway 4, a main artery running from northern to southern Israel parallel to the Mediterranean Sea, and remained there until medics got to work. Gantz has at least some familiarity with motorcycles. On Sunday, he led a convoy of bikes to promote his Blue and White alliance. The vote, which ends at 1900 GMT, was expected to be close and is likely to lead to frantic negotiations to form a coalition once results are in. Opinion polls have shown Netanyahu is best placed to put together an alliance. The production of electric cars to start in Georgia in 2020 By Inga Kakulia For the first time, Georgia will start the production of electric cars. The news was announced by the Prime-Minister at the presentation of the first Industrial Business Group focused on eco-friendly production in South Caucasus - Aigroup. Airgroup holding also covers the car sharing, electric chargers and sun battery installment services. One of the main goals of the company is to start producing electric cars in Georgia in 2020. The Airgroup incorporates companies such as Aienergy, Aicar, Aipower and Aiproduction.Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between Aigroup and the Chinese car production company, Changan. Changan products will be produced in Kutaisi, the Georgian town with a big industrial history. The product will be marked as Made in Georgia and will supposedly become the most important export to the European market in the following years. The Kutaisi factory will produce 4 different types of cars and will employee around 1000 people. Which is especially beneficial to the city such as Kutaisi where unemployment is a prominent issue. The factory will produce 40,000 cars yearly, half of which will be exported and 20,000 will be for local consumption.Changan is one of the top four automobile groups in China and the top-selling domestic Chinese automotive brand, Changan Automobile boasts an industrial history stretching back 153 years. With 32 years of experience in building and selling passenger vehicles, Changan is an early leader in the Chinese auto industry. The Changan group dates back to the Westernization Movement that took place at the end of the Qing Dynasty(1636-1912). In November 1862, Li Hongzhang, a Chinese politician, general and diplomat founded Chinas first western-style engineering firm and first state-owned western style engineering firm and first state-owned enterprise, and the beginnings of what has become Changan Automobile. This Factory is a big victory for Georgia. According to George Kobulia, The Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, 5 European countries were competing for this deal and in the end, Georgia came out on top. According to Kobulia, these types of project are unique and bear great importance for our country and will bring about the full realization of the DCFTA potential. The factory will conduct a high-tech production and with time will become more and more localized.At this moment the agreement entails the arrangement and montage of the cars, but According to the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, with time Georgia will try and localize the production of different parts of the cars as well.This project is expected to boost a whole industrial development, while also creating new opportunities for the suppliers.Kutaisi has a history of car production and it is as symbolic as it is beneficial for the new factory to open in an industrial heart of Georgia. The project is worth 10s of millions of dollars and is expected to grow into a 100 million dollars business.Changan is one of the top producers of electric cars and is strategic partners with car industry giants such as Volvo, Volkswagen, and Ford.The car factory is only a part of a much bigger plan aimed at turning Georgia into a sustainable country. Alongside this project, Government plans to incorporate more and more sustainability projects and help the green movement advances in the country.During his speech The Prime-Minister, Mamuka Bakhtadze mentioned that there are multiple ecological challenges facing Georgia right now. The partnership with Aigroup will launch multiple projects to combat that.The presentation of the Aigroup was held in Abanotubani, in Tbilisi. The President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili as well as The Mayor of Tbilisi, Kakhi Kaladze attended the presentation.During the presentation, the project of carsharing was also announced. The project aims at the reduction of time and money waste. By using a specific app, the consumer can find the nearest Aicar vehicle and use it to get around the town. After the consumer is done using it the car can be parked at any local parking and left for the future user. All the vehicles are electric cars.Within the Aigroup operates the Aipower which focuses on solar power stations and panels. As a first step, the company will be installing the solar panels on rooftops on multiple locations in Tbilisi for renewable energy sources.Aiproduction, on the other hand, will focus on first Georgian electric car production. The company will work on creating a Georgian brand of cars that will also export its products to the Caucasus region as well as Central Asia and Europe."Some months ago we announced the vision of our Government towards Green Economy and Green Policy. At the same time, we pledged our commitment to address the stock of environmental problems. Green Economy will be the one to turn into a driving force of the national economy. I have always claimed and wish to repeat that Georgia has two assets. Firstly, it is our people and secondly, it is our unique nature. Georgian people have always had special spiritual bondage with nature and Georgians always felt harmonious with nature. The main challenge of ours in the 21st century characterized with a high-tech signature sign and accelerated development, is to preserve our unique nature for the new generations and make it sustainable for their benefit" said the Prime-Minister during the presentation. Can a national leader win re-election despite voter fatigue with his long tenure and with corruption indictments hanging over him? The answer for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Tuesdays election was a resounding yes. The reasons for this have as much to do with a sea change in Israeli politics that has transformed the country in the last 20 years as they do with Netanyahus accomplishments in office. But his problem is that, although he is the beneficiary of a strong consensus on both the success of his policies and the bankruptcy of those of his opponents, Netanyahus legal woes may mean this will be his last triumph. While the results were still not final by Wednesday morning, there was no doubt that Netanyahus coalition had scored a victory by securing 65 seats in the 120-member Knesset. The prime ministers Likud party won 35 seats. That left it tied for the top spot with challenger Benny Gantzs Blue and White party, which also finished the night at 35. Yet the group of right-wing and religious parties that were pledged to support Netanyahu for prime minister won a combined 30 seats, while the two left-wing parties that would have backed Gantzs bid got only ten, with Arab parties winning another ten. Those totals ensured that Netanyahu would form the next government. Blue and Whites showing was an impressive debut for Gantz, a former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces. Even after walking back his premature claims of victory on Tuesday evening, he made it clear he expected to win the next time Israelis vote. He might well have the chance to do so long before the new parliaments term of office expires in five years, because of Netanyahus legal problems. With Israels attorney general likely to approve three separate corruption indictments against the prime minister sometime in the next year, how long the new government will last it will eventually be sworn in after coalition negotiations are concluded is uncertain. Story continues But for now, there are some conclusions that can be drawn from the vote with some certainty. The first is that the Israeli people are largely content with Netanyahus conduct in office. On his watch, Israels economy has prospered and the country has never been more secure or less diplomatically isolated. While his opponents warned that Israel could not thrive or escape being made an international pariah without a peace deal, Netanyahu has proved them wrong. With no credible rivals on the right and the countrys left-wing parties in shambles, Netanyahu has succeeded not just in winning elections but also in making himself appear to be the countrys one indispensable man. But the most important conclusion about the election concerns Israeli attitudes toward the possibility of peace with the Palestinians. Though negotiations with the Palestinian Authority have been deadlocked for years, this issue may return to the countrys front burner with the expected unveiling of the Trump administrations Middle East peace plan sometime in the near future. The parameters of Trumps offer are, as of yet, uncertain. But since in past the Palestinians have rejected peace plans that were more generous to them than Trumps is expected to be, the likelihood is that they wont even negotiate with the U.S., let alone accept any scheme that requires them to recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish state, no matter where its borders are drawn. The loss of faith in peace with the Palestinians is due to their intransigent rejection of peace offers, and terrorism destroyed the once-dominant Labor party. While Gantzs Blue and White is now the leader of the center-left faction, the former generals ability to present himself as a plausible alternative to Netanyahu rests on the fact that his approach to the Palestinians is virtually identical to that of Netanyahu and on the fact that his party includes figures such as Moshe Yaalon, another former top general and Likud defense minister, whose views on security issues are arguably to the right of the prime minister. In the days preceding the vote, Netanyahu made clear just how little he thinks of the chances for peace by vowing to extend Israeli law to some of the West Bank settlements and by promising never to uproot any settlers. Left-wing critics and Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Beto ORourke denounced those statements for sabotaging the chances of peace. But most Israelis shrugged at the gesture, since few believe there is any hope for a two-state solution in the foreseeable future, owing to the lack of a Palestinian peace partner. Instead, they simply took it as a political tactic intended to help the Likud win votes that might otherwise have gone to his right-wing allies, which it probably did. The Trump plan will present Netanyahu with a problem, since he has no intention of saying no to anything proposed by Trump. The overwhelming majority of Israelis agree with the prime minister when he declares that Trump is the greatest friend their country has ever had in the White House. More to the point, Trumps efforts to help Netanyahu in contrast to the furious efforts of Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to defeat him in the past places him under a personal obligation to the president. Most of his coalition will oppose any peace plan that calls for a Palestinian state of any kind. But Netanyahu believes that he can simply wait for the Palestinians to reject Trump, relieving him of the need to choose between offending his superpower ally and antagonizing his followers. But the willingness of so many Israelis to ignore or to dismiss the corruption charges against Netanyahu is more than a tribute to their faith in the prime minister. Netanyahus detractors regard the indifference of much of the voting public to the charges against him as evidence of the decline of Israeli democracy. But, regardless of the truth of these allegations which revolve around the question of inappropriate gifts from donors and Netanyahus efforts to influence the press those Israelis who voted for the Likud and its partners were unimpressed by the charges. They view them as not rising to the level of seriousness that would justify ousting a prime minister from power and believe, not without some justification, that the legal establishment and the media are hopelessly biased against Netanyahu and the Right. Moreover, they also think the talk of an assault on democracy to be a function of liberal anger over the outcome of democratic elections in which the voters have rejected the Lefts preferred candidates and policies. Should Israels attorney general ultimately approve indictments of Netanyahu, that would result in a political earthquake that could start to unravel the prime ministers secure hold on power. The same is true if the new coalition passes controversial legislation that would exempt the prime minister from prosecution while hes in office. Israels Supreme Court whose liberal rulings and ability to resist efforts to change its political complexion by democratically elected governments has made it a particular target of the Rights ire would likely strike down such a law. At that point, Netanyahu would be faced with the choice of continuing in office under indictment or resigning. That could mean new elections in which Gantzs loosely cobbled-together coalition might have a better chance of ending the Likuds long run in power even though it still wont be presenting the public with an alternative to Netanyahus policies on peace or a replacement who is as trusted as the prime minister. Winning an unprecedented fourth consecutive election and fifth term overall (he will overtake David Ben-Gurion as the countrys longest serving prime minister in July) has made Netanyahu a uniquely successful and historic figure. But while this is the product of a political consensus that remains unchallenged, its also true that this latest and perhaps most satisfying victory for him could mean the end of his long career is finally in sight. More from National Review Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's election victory improved the chances of a forthcoming US peace plan, despite deep skepticism from the Palestinians. Trump, who had enthusiastically backed the right-wing premier's bid for a fifth mandate, said that he telephoned Netanyahu to offer congratulations as results gave Netanyahu a narrow parliamentary majority. "The fact that Bibi won, I think we'll see some pretty good action in terms of peace," Trump told reporters, using Netanyahu's nickname. "Everybody said you can't have peace in the Middle East with Israel and Palestinians. I think we have a chance and I think we now have a better chance," he added. Centrist challenger Benny Gantz, a former military chief, conceded defeat with Netanyahu poised to form a coalition of hawkish and religious parties to become Israel's longest-serving prime minister. Trump had welcomed Netanyahu to the White House just two weeks before the election to offer his latest landmark gesture of support -- US recognition of Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in 1967. - Peace plan doubts - Palestinian leaders are deeply skeptical of the US peace plan and have ruled out Trump as an honest broker after he recognized bitterly contested Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The peace plan is being developed by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, an Orthodox Jew whose close family ties to Netanyahu have heightened Palestinian suspicions on whether the US administration can serve as an honest broker. US officials have only revealed vague outlines of what the plan might propose, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has suggested it could break abruptly with precedent. In two days of testimony before Senate committees, Pompeo declined to say whether the United States stood by its longstanding support for an independent Palestinian state. Story continues "For decades now, there have been all these wonderful experts that have tried to resolve this crisis in the Middle East, the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people, and they have each failed," Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. "So the old set of ideas isn't worth retreading. They have simply not succeeded," he said. Pressed by Democratic Senator Tim Kaine -- who described himself as "kind of shocked" that Pompeo would not reaffirm US support for a two-state solution -- the top US diplomat said the United States wanted "good things" for the Palestinians but that a solution had to be acceptable to both sides. "I would argue that millions of man-hours have been spent to try and build out a two-state solution. It hasn't worked to date. It may work this afternoon, but it hasn't worked yet," Pompeo said. Pompeo said the peace plan would come out "before too long" and also include ideas aimed at Gulf Arab states, which have found increasing common ground with Israel in their hostility to Iran. - Vow to annex settlements - Pompeo repeatedly declined to weigh in on Netanyahu's election-eve vow to annex Jewish settlements built in the Israeli-occupied West Bank -- a move that would seek to formalize Israeli control over parts of the supposedly future Palestinian state. Such a move would previously have been almost unthinkable, leaving Israel diplomatically isolated. But some analysts believe that Washington's relatively less controversial Golan Heights recognition may have paved the way. In another sign of Israel's current feeling of strength, Netanyahu insisted last week that he would refuse removal of any Jewish settlements built inside occupied Palestinian land as part of any peace plan. Netanyahu said he told Trump "there shouldn't be the removal of even one settlement." Since taking office, Trump has also closed the Palestinians' office in Washington, pulled the United States from UN bodies accused of anti-Israel bias and cut off funding for the UN agency that provides schooling and other services to Palestinian refugees. While Trump has rallied behind Netanyahu, the Israeli leader has seen growing disdain among Democrats. Beto O'Rourke, a Democratic candidate for president, called Netanyahu "a racist" for his alliance with a far-right party and for warning about voting by Israel's Arab citizens. Candidate Bernie Sanders, who is Jewish, has called Netanyahu "extreme right-wing" and said Trump needed to show "good faith" in brokering a peace deal. A North Carolina man will not face charges for abandoning a pet fish. Michael Hinson, 53, was charged on April 4 with three counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty and one count of misdemeanor abandonment. He posted a $4,000 bond and was released in Wilmington, North Carolina, according to the Washington Post. Authorities dropped all charges Tuesday, however, because North Carolina law protects dogs, rabbits, baby chicks, fowl and other animals but not fish, specifically. "We take a very dim view of anyone who would abuse any creature great or small and appreciate (animal services) enforcement of the laws to protect vulnerable animals," New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David said in a statement to USA TODAY. "Fish are not included in this statute, however, so my office is dismissing these charges." Hinson was evicted from his home in Wilmington on March 22. New Hanover County Sheriff's Office deputies visited the home three days later and found a fish tank in "deplorable" conditions, according to Lt. Jerry Brewer, the Washington Post reported. The fish, an Oscar fish, was suffering from hole-in-the-head disease, a parasite caused by poor water quality and malnutrition, The State reported. The fish stayed alive by eating cockroaches that fell into its tank. The fish is recovering at The Fish Room in Wilmington, store employee Ethan Lane told The State on Wednesday. "It was a pretty severe case of the disease, which opens sores and lesions on the fishs head. It is an infection that can be fatal," Lane said. Lane said the fish wasn't "cheap" and would sell for $40 to $50. He said the 6-inch fish, about a year old, could grow up to 16 inches. After its recovery, the fish will be put up for adoption or live out its life at The Fish Room or the New Hanover County Sheriff's office, Lane said. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: North Carolina man will not be prosecuted for abandoning his pet fish Oslo (AFP) - Norway's government on Wednesday detailed plans to ban fur farms by 2025, offering financial compensation to farmers who blasted it as a "historic betrayal". A bill presented to parliament would render it illegal after 2025 to possess animals for the purpose of killing them "for the sale or any other use of their fur." The proposed ban is the result of an agreement reached in January 2018 when the right-wing government expanded to include the small Liberal Party, which insisted on the measure. While the fur sector has largely come to terms with the idea of a gradual dismantling of their industry, it was critical of the compensation the government was offering farmers, calling it a "historic betrayal". "We're being offered a few kroner, which is far from compensating for the planned dismantling of farms," Guri Wormdahl, a spokeswoman for the fur farmers' organisation Norges Pelsdyralslag, told AFP. "The way it has been designed, it will lead farmers straight to bankruptcy," she said. The government has estimated it will have to pay farmers around 500 million kroner (52 million euros, $54 million) in compensation for either the dismantling or reconversion of their businesses. According to Norges Pelsdyralslag, the country's fur farming industry employs around 500 people and has annual sales of 300 million kroner. Norway accounts for around one percent of global mink fur production and between two and three percent of fox fur production. DURHAM, N.C. One person was killed and at least 17 others injured in a large gas explosion Wednesday in Durham, North Carolina, that caused a partial building collapse in a downtown shopping district. The explosion was caused by a gas leak that occurred when a contractor was drilling under the sidewalk shortly before 10:30 a.m., city officials said. They believe the contractor was performing utility work for the placement of underground gigabit fiber. Wil Glenn, a spokesman for the Durham Police Department, said the contractor hit a 2-inch gas line, causing the explosion that prompted the collapse of a two-story brick building. Five surrounding buildings were also damaged. The explosion took place on North Duke Street in an area near Brightleaf Square that includes former tobacco warehouses and industrial buildings that are now retrofitted as restaurants, shops and other businesses. It resulted in a massive billow of thick black smoke above the collapsed building as flames pushed through its windows. The explosion's force blew out the windows of nearby storefronts and shock waves could be felt several miles from downtown. "Looks looks like the front of the Pentagon on 9/11, but on a much smaller scale, said Durham Fire Chief Robert Zoldos, a former 9/11 first-responder. Latest update from @DurhamPoliceNC & @durhamcityfire regarding todays explosion & fire near @BrightleafSq. Please continue to avoid this area while our first responders work this scene. pic.twitter.com/xZARkQ0fUO CityofDurhamNC (@CityofDurhamNC) April 10, 2019 Officials are still investigating the cause of the gas leak, but Durham's deputy city manager, Bo Ferguson, said he expects it to be related to drilling for an underground fiber network. Story continues The city in July announced that private utility companies such as AT&T, Duke University, Google and Time Warner Cable would be overseeing the installation of new gigabit fiber throughout Durham. Officials have not released the name of the contractor. A firefighter was among those injured. Six of the injured suffered critical injuries. Officials say all the people in the building are accounted for. The Associated Press reported that the building that collapsed is occupied by the construction engineering company Prescient Co., which announced in July 2017 that it was moving its headquarters from Arvada, Colorado, and expected to employ about 60 executives, engineering and sales workers in Durham. Duke University employee Mary Williams told the Associated Press that she heard the explosion and felt shaking at her building a third of a mile away. I was in the kitchen. I heard this loud boom and the building shook. When I looked out, I saw the smoke billowing up. I was scared for whoever was in the vicinity because it did not look very good, she said. Another Duke employee in the same building, Sharon Caple, said that in the minutes afterward, the sky was darkened. All you saw was this black smoke, she said. The explosion came on the same day Durham was celebrating its 15th anniversary. "What we hoped would be a very happy, is not a happy day," Durham Mayor Steve Schewel said at a press conference. "But, it is a day when I am so proud of how our local government functions. I am so proud, especially of our firefighters and their courage and their persitsence." Officials have urged people to stay away from downtown; the area around the blast has been closed to traffic. On Wednesday afternoon, the smell of gas was still prevalent. At nearby Durham School of the Arts, students were dismissed early following the explosion. Crews pouring water on the still smoldering remains of the Prescient building, which was at the center of the Durham gas explosion pic.twitter.com/njRNUJs7T4 Kirk A. Bado (@kirk_bado) April 10, 2019 A few hours after the blast, owners and employees of Main Street Durhams restaurants and stores gathered in the empty dining room of the Federal, a local diner and bar, to make sense of the horror. News helicopters flew overhead. The restaurant's chef, Adam Barron, 37, said he usually arrives around 10:15 a.m. but was running late Wednesday morning. He was sitting in traffic not far from the restaurant when he saw the smoke. Then an explosion rocked his car. I thought it was a bomb, Barron said. Im surprised my windows didnt break on my Jeep. If I was another half a block in, they would be gone. Nerly Ocampo, 22, was nearly 3 miles away from the site when she felt her windows shudder and house rock. Her two dogs started barking, and she thought something was going on with her neighbors. Then she got a notification her partner just started a Facebook Live video. He was at Federal getting ready to help open when he heard the explosion and nearly fell over, she said. She then rushed downtown to pick him up. Were all stunned, she said. You just dont expect something like this to happen. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 1 person killed, 17 injured in Durham, North Carolina, building explosion European scientists looking for some of the oldest ice on the planet have homed in on a particular spot in Antarctica, where they will drill more than 1.5 miles (2.7 kilometers) below the surface of the ice. Over the next five years, the "Beyond EPICA-Oldest Ice" mission will work at a remote location known as "Little Dome C" to start drilling for ice up to 1.5 million years old, the team announced today (April 9) at the meeting of the European Geosciences Union in Vienna, Austria. "Ice cores are unique for geosciences because they are an archive of the paleo-atmosphere," said Beyond EPICA's coordinator Olaf Eisen of the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany. [Antarctica: The Ice-Covered Bottom of the World (Photos)] From analyzing gas bubbles, molecules and particles trapped in thin layers of ancient ice, scientists can reconstruct carbon dioxide levels, temperature data and other climate indicators over a long period of time. A major goal of this project will be to understand why the cycle of Earth's ice ages changed in the distant past. Field camp at the selected drill site Little Dome C in Antarctica, where researchers hope to find 1.5-million-year-old ice. Luca Vittuari/PNRA The expedition will build on a past mission, EPICA (the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica), which took place from 1996 to 2004 at the Concordia research station, jointly operated by France and Italy. The EPICA researchers were able to obtain an ice core with an 800,000-year record of climate data. During this period, the climate flipped from glacial to interglacial periods on a 100,000-year cycle. The EPICA core, however, "doesn't cover the time between 900,000 and 1.2 million years ago, where we had a transition in the climate system," Eisen told reporters during a press conference. Prior to 1.2 million years ago, Earth's ice ages are believed to have been alternating on a quicker, 40,000-year cycle. Scientists don't know what happened during the following transition period in the climate system that caused the glacial periods to get longer and colder. The Beyond EPICA researchers hope to find some answers in the ice from Little Dome C as well as data that will help them build climate forecasts for the future. Story continues Over the last three years, the researchers surveyed the region around Concordia as well as the region around Dome Fuji for a potential drill site that would be likely to have 1.5-million-year-old ice. About 2 miles (3.2 km) above sea level, Little Dome C is about 18 miles (30 km) from Concordia station or a 2-hour snowmobile ride. The average temperature at the drill site is minus 66 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 54.5 degrees Celsius), and the team will work only the two months during the Antarctic summer, camped out in shipping containers. The area around Little Dome C is also very dry and hardly sees precipitation, which is good for the goal of the project. The red dot shows where Little Dome C is located. British Antarctic Survey "The smaller the accumulation rate of snow every year, the more years you have in each meter," said project scientist Catherine Ritz, of France's Institute for Geosciences and Environmental Research (IGE). Having more layers packed in tightly is important because, closer to the bedrock, ice can melt due to the heat from beneath the surface of Earth. Melting at the bottom is the reason the previous EPICA ice core only had layers back to 800,000 years. "The most exciting information we will be looking at will be squeezed in the deepest part of the core," Carlo Barbante, of the University of Venice, told reporters. "Most probably, the ice as old as 800,000 years to 1.5 million years will be squeezed in the last 200 to 300 meters of ice." It will likely take the Beyond EPICA team years to reach those ancient layers of ice as they remove 13-foot-long (4 meter), 4 -inch-wide (10 centimeters) tubes of ice at a time. That also means the most important results of the project won't come out until at least 2025. The European Union-funded project is estimated to cost about 30 million euros ($33.8 million), according to the BBC. Original article on Live Science. Pantene has launched a new haircare campaign in Japan, focusing on the prevalence of strict hairstyle rules in public schools. The Procter & Gamble (P&G) brand has unveiled "#HairWeGo What's Wrong With My Hair," a social campaign that aims to encourage discussion about hairstyle rules in Japanese schools, which often require students to keep hair in low ponytails, dye their naturally brown hair black, or offer proof of their natural color via a Natural Hair Certificate.' "News of high school students being forced to dye their hair black provided the inspiration for this campaign," said Yoshiaki Okura, Regional Associate Brand Director, Hair Care Focused Market at Procter & Gamble, in a statement. "Hair represents one's individuality, both chosen and innate. Overly strict school rules are restricting both types and no one seems to understand why." He added: "We hope that the '#HairWeGo What's Wrong With My Hair' campaign will bring attention to this issue, and provide a catalyst for dialogue that will help create a society where students are respected as individuals." As part of the campaign Pantene spoke to 1,000 current and former high school and middle school students and teachers about haircare rules, and discovered that both groups had questions about the need for such strict regulations. The research found that, while one in 13 current and former middle and high school students said they had been "urged" to dye their brown hair black, 70% of teachers had "doubts" about hairstyle rules at their school. Pantene is not the only brand to explore the link between hairstyles and individuality recently. Popstar Kelly Rowland teamed up with Dove back in February to pen a new single, "Crown," about hair confidence. The track aimed to encourage girls to feel confident in wearing their hair how they choose, and was inspired by several real-life stories of girls dealing with bullying or being sent home from school for their hairstyles. To watch the video, see https://youtu.be/ILNVgpCltuw The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is calling on Fisher-Price to recall its Rock n Play Sleeper, saying the device is a threat to the life of newborns. This product is deadly and should be recalled immediately, said Kyle Yasuda, MD, FAAP, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics in a statement. There is convincing evidence that the Rock n Play inclined sleeper puts infants lives at risk, and [the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)] must step up and take immediate action to remove it from stores and prevent further tragedies. The CPSC has already warned parents to stop using the sleeper when children turn three months old or are able to turn themselves over, citing 10 deaths, but a report from Consumer Reports this week said the device was actually responsible for 32 infant deaths since its introduction in 2009. Rachel Moon, chair of the AAP task force on SIDS, said the sleeper does not meet the organizations recommendations for a safe sleep environment for any baby. Infants should always sleep on their back, on a separate, flat and firm sleep surface without any bumpers or bedding. The AAPs call for the products recall echoes Consumer Reports. That publication also called on government safety officials to give other inclined infant sleepers are much closer look, as those, too, run counter to the AAPs sleep recommendations for newborns and infants. Several childrens products have been recalled over the past year. In December, 2018, infant ibuprofen was recalled over concerns the dosage was too strong. Nearly two months later, the same company recalled more ibuprofen for the same reason. And last August, Pfizer recalled childrens Advil on overdose fears. A businessman accused of stealing Ksh.20.6 million has been granted the go-ahead to travel to South Africa for the holidays. The accused, Wycliffe Simiyu Koyabe, had applied to have the court compel the complainant a South Africa based company- to issue him with certified copies of his passport. A Nairobi court on Tuesday dismissed three applications by the businessman, denying him unlimited access to his passport. However, Makadara Court Principal Magistrate Meresia Opondo considered an existing order which grants the accused limited access whenever he needs to travel. Mr Simiyu was thereby issued with his passport to travel to be with his family in South Africa for the upcoming Easter holidays. He was further ordered to redeposit the passport back in court on May 9, 2019, when the matter will be mentioned again. The Magistrate also turned down an application to have the complainant recalled to testify in the case, saying the matter has been in court for long. Magistrate Opondo observed that the accused is not genuine in his bid to recall a witness who testified long ago with both parties indicating satisfaction. Mr Simiyu is facing a charge of stealing by agent contrary to Section 268 as read with Section 283 of the Penal Code. The court heard that on June 12, 2014, at Cooperative Bank Stima Plaza branch and being an agent to KOMATSU in South Africa, the accused stole cash Sh.20,655,000. Mr Simiyu was supposed to remit the money to the said company for the purpose of purchase and delivery of a bulldozer. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - US Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday asked the United Nations to recognize Juan Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, telling the Security Council: "Nicolas Maduro must go." Washington will present a draft resolution to the Security Council aimed at recognizing Guaido and appointing his representative as the ambassador to the world body, Pence told the council. "The time has come for the United Nations to recognize interim president Juan Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela and seat his representative in this body," Pence said. The United States is among some 50 countries that recognize Guaido, the opposition leader who declared himself interim president in January, and consider Maduro to have lost legitimacy. Maduro has maintained control with support from the military, Russia and China. Russia last month sent troops to Caracas, raising tensions between Washington and Moscow. A draft resolution recognizing Guaido is certain to be vetoed by Russia. A bid by the United States to win support for elections failed at the Security Council in February, with Russia and China vetoing a US-drafted resolution. After appealing for UN recognition for Guaido, Pence turned to Venezuela's Ambassador Samuel Moncada, who was seated in the council chamber, and said: "With all due respect Mister Ambassador, you shouldn't be here." He advised him to return to Caracas and convey the message to Maduro that "his time is up. It's time for him to go." The United States called the council meeting after a UN report detailed the heavy toll of the crisis from the collapse of Venezuela's oil economy. Seven million people -- 25 percent of Venezuela's population -- are in need of humanitarian aid, lacking basic access to food and medical care, UN aid chief Mark Lowcock told the council. Malnutrition rates have trebled over the past five years, particularly affecting children under five, and power outages are worsening access to clean water, threatening a major spread of disease. More than 3.4 million people have left the country -- triggering a migrant crisis in neighboring countries, and that figure is expected to reach five million by the end of the year. "There is a very real humanitarian problem in Venezuela," said Lowcock, who asked the council to support a ramping up of the international aid response. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - US Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday asked the United Nations to recognize Juan Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, telling the Security Council: "Nicolas Maduro must go." Washington will present a draft UN resolution aimed at recognizing the opposition leader, revoking the credentials of Maduro's UN envoy and appointing Guaido's representative as the ambassador to the world body, Pence told the council. "The time has come for the United Nations to recognize interim president Juan Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela and seat his representative in this body," Pence said. Maduro shot back by saying in a televised speech that he had seen Pence "making a fool of himself in the United Nations Security Council" with his appeal. "I cannot understand his arrogance and self-importance, his racial supremacism," Maduro said. The Socialist president accused Washington of threatening a "military invasion" after Pence reiterated that "all options are on the table". The United States is among some 50 countries that recognize Guaido, the opposition leader who declared himself interim president in January in a bid to replace Maduro, whom he has branded as illegitimate. Maduro has maintained control with support from the military, Russia and China. Russia last month sent troops to Caracas, raising tensions between Washington and Moscow. Pence argued that Maduro had brought "deprivation" to Venezuela and that without action, "chaos and suffering will only spread" to the region, already faced with an influx of millions of migrants. - Another blackout - Venezuela was plunged into another major blackout on Wednesday leaving large parts of the country without power as Maduro met with the head of the Red Cross and agreed to receive international aid. "We confirm our readiness to establish cooperation mechanisms for international assistance and support," Maduro posted on Twitter after meeting ICRC president Peter Maurer. Story continues Maduro has denied that his country faces a humanitarian crisis and blames US sanctions for Venezuela's economic problems, but Guaido has pointed to corruption and mismanagement by the Caracas government for the crisis. Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez said late Wednesday that power had been restored throughout the country, less than 24 hours after the latest blackout. "We are now providing service throughout the country," Rodriguez said on state television. Power returned progressively to the capital Caracas throughout Wednesday morning, though some areas in the west of the country were still reporting problems. Guaido had called for street protests on Wednesday to keep the pressure on Maduro to step aside. At the council, Pence said: "The United States of America will continue to exert all diplomatic and economic pressure to bring about a peaceful transition to democracy in Venezuela, but all options are on the table." After appealing for UN recognition for Guaido, Pence turned to Venezuela's Ambassador Samuel Moncada who was seated in the council chamber and said: "With all due respect Mister Ambassador, you shouldn't be here." "You should return to Venezuela and tell Nicolas Maduro that his time is up. It's time for him to go." Moncada accused the United States, backed by Britain, of working to destroy his country's economy. "We must stop this war by Donald Trump," he told the council. The Organization of American States on Tuesday recognized Guaido's envoy, Gustavo Tarre, as Venezuelas representative to the regional group. - Russia denounces regime change - A draft resolution recognizing Guaido would certainly be vetoed by Russia at the Security Council. Pence indicated to reporters that the measure would be brought to the 193-nation General Assembly, where vetoes do not apply. A bid by the United States to win support for elections failed at the council in February, after Russia and China resorted to their veto power to block the measure. Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia denounced "an attempt to change the regime in Venezuela" and warned that "external players are a direct threat to Venezuela itself." The United States called the council meeting after a UN report detailed the heavy toll of the crisis from the collapse of Venezuela's oil economy. Seven million people -- 25 percent of Venezuela's population -- are in need of humanitarian aid, lacking basic access to food and medical care, UN aid chief Mark Lowcock told the council. Malnutrition rates have trebled over the past five years, particularly affecting children under five and power outages are worsening access to clean water, threatening a major spread of disease. More than 3.4 million people have left the country and that figure is expected to reach five million by the end of the year. "There is a very real humanitarian problem in Venezuela," said Lowcock. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is due to travel to the border in Colombia on Sunday to highlight the plight of refugees. LIMA (Reuters) - A Peruvian judge ordered the arrest of former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski on Wednesday while also authorizing a search of several properties as part of a probe into a bribery scheme linked to scandal-plagued Brazilian builder Odebrecht. Kuczynski, 80, underwent medical exams accompanied by police in the afternoon as part of official procedures prior to an arrest, local media reported. Footage provided by the prosecutors' office showed Kuczynski speaking quietly as he sat in a waiting room. Along with his secretary and his driver, Kuczynski was ordered detained for a period of 10 days, according to a judicial resolution signed by Judge Jorge Chavez. Kuczynski called the arrest order "draconian" on Twitter. "I've never fled justice," Kuczynski tweeted. "This is a very tough moment for me but I will face it with the fortitude of knowing I only longed for a better country." A former Wall Street banker who renounced his U.S. citizenship to run for Peru's presidency, Kuczynski narrowly won the 2016 election but resigned a year ago in the face of near-certain impeachment by the opposition-controlled Congress. Prosecutors have accused Kuczynski of helping Odebrecht win contracts for a highway and an irrigation project when he was a cabinet minister in the government of former President Alejandro Toledo, in exchange for bribes disguised as consulting fees. Kuczynski denies the charges. Odebrecht sparked Latin America's biggest graft scandal by admitting publicly in late 2016 that it had secured lucrative contracts across the region with bribes. Since then, Peruvian judges have ordered several politicians, including Toledo, to be jailed before trial. Toledo denies wrongdoing and is fighting extradition to Peru from the United States. In Peru, suspects can be jailed without trial for up to three years if prosecutors show they have evidence that would likely lead to a conviction, and that the suspects would likely try to flee or obstruct their work. Critics of the use of so-called "preventive prison" in the Odebrecht probe say it is excessive and violates due process. According to Wednesday's judicial resolution, Kuczynski is considered a flight risk because he faces more than four years in prison and has no job. Authorities barred Kuczynski from leaving Peru shortly after he resigned the presidency, and later froze his bank accounts. "I've cooperated entirely with all the investigations and have arrived punctually for all the summons," Kuczynski said on Wednesday. Kuczynski's former vice president, Martin Vizcarra, is now president and has made fighting graft the centerpiece of his government. (Reporting by Mitra Taj and Guadalupe Pardo; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Tom Brown) Back in 2015, South Bend, Ind.s mayor, Pete Buttigieg, came out of the closet as a gay man. Asked about the news, Indiana governor, Mike Pence, simply responded, I hold Mayor Buttigieg in the highest personal regard. I see him as a dedicated public servant and a patriot. A year earlier, Buttigieg had been deployed to Afghanistan as a member of the U.S. Naval Reserve. According to the Indianapolis Star, a noticeably moved Pence called Buttigieg the day he was driving to the base. There is no evidence that Pence has ever said an unkind word about or done an unkind thing to Buttigieg. So, naturally, Buttigieg is attacking Pence as a homophobic bigot nearly every day on the campaign trail. Appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Buttigieg sneered, Hes nice. If he were here, you would think hes a nice guy to your face. But hes also fanatical. Speaking at the LGBTQ Victory Fund National Champagne Brunch in Washington, Buttigieg tore into Pences supposed intolerance: Thats the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand. That if you got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me your quarrel, sir, is with my creator. This week, Buttigieg tweeted, clearly in reference to Pence, People will often be polite to you in person, while advancing policies that harm you and your family. You will be polite to them in turn, but you need not stand for such harms. Instead, you push back, honestly and emphatically. So it goes, in the public square. This is a change for Buttigieg, whose best-selling memoir contains no negative references about Pence but complains of the complications of being openly gay in Mike Pences Indiana. That phraseology is more a critique of Pences policy preferences than his personality. Fair enough. But Buttigieg is no longer operating in good faith. Now hes attacking Christians who disagree with his policies and support Trump (the hypocrisy is unbelievable); hes castigating Pence as a religious homophobe, characterizing him as an obstacle to tolerance. Why? Because it is far more convenient to cast Pence as a close-minded bigot than it is to respect him as a political opponent. Story continues This has become a particularly popular tactic on the Left. When Pence swore in Senator Doug Jones (D., Ala.), the Leftist internet completely manufactured a narrative wherein Pence was deeply uncomfortable with Joness gay son (Newsweeks headline: Doug Jones Gay Son Gives Mike Pence Serious Side-Eye). Gay Olympian Adam Rippon randomly decided to tear into Pence by stating that for Mike Pence to say hes a devout Christian man is completely contradictory. When gay Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar and his husband attended breakfast with Pence, the media attempted to push a narrative about Pences supposed discomfort. When Pences wife began teaching at a Christian school, the media leapt to label her an anti-gay maniac. There is no evidence for any of this. Pence has been dealing with gay men, including Buttigieg, his entire career. He differs from them on the definition of marriage. While I believe the government ought to exit the business of marriage altogether, there are plenty of public-policy reasons to stand for traditional marriage that arent rooted in animus. More than that, it betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of religious people to suggest that their belief in the immorality of certain sexual behavior reflects animus for those who engage in that sexual behavior. Religious people generally believe that we all sin; that we all struggle with sin; and that participating in one particular type of sin doesnt mean that the sinner is somehow inferior to those who engage in other types of sin. Frankly, its bewildering that the Left seems so concerned about Mike Pences personal beliefs on the sinfulness of homosexual activity. Why should Buttigieg care? More than that, is there any justification for attributing malign motives to Pence, both in terms of public policy and in terms of religious observance? Buttigieg should know better. After all, he quite rightly stated of Chick-fil-A, I do not approve of their politics, but I kind of approve of their chicken. But hes forgotten moderation in pursuit of intersectional glory in the Democratic primaries. And that glory can only be had, apparently, at the price of slandering a good man who disagrees with him on the nature of sin and on public policy. More from National Review Washington (AFP) - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday accused Iran of ties to Al-Qaeda and declined to say whether the Trump administration had legal authority to invade the country. Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Pompeo hedged on whether the authorization of force by the US Congress days after the September 11, 2001 attacks would allow the United States to strike Iran. "I would prefer just to leave that to lawyers," Pompeo told Senator Rand Paul, a Republican who is critical of US foreign interventions. "The factual question with respect to Iran's connections to Al-Qaeda is very real. They have hosted Al-Qaeda, they have permitted Al-Qaeda to transit their country," he said. "There is no doubt there is a connection between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Al-Qaeda. Period, full stop," he said. But Pompeo denied Paul's suggestion that President Donald Trump's designation Monday of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards was aimed at making a legal case for war. "It was not part of the decision-making process. The designation was a simple recognition of reality," Pompeo said, citing US figures that Iran was behind more than 600 deaths of US troops in Iraq after the 2003 invasion when Tehran backed Shiite forces. Trump has piled pressure on Iran after last year withdrawing from a nuclear accord negotiated under previous president Barack Obama, slapping sweeping sanctions as Washington seeks to roll back the clerical regime's regional influence. Paul voiced concern that Pompeo had not rejected war with Iran under the 2001 authorization, which has been used to back the war in Afghanistan as well as attacks on Al-Qaeda in countries as diverse as Yemen and the Philippines. "I am troubled that the administration can't unequivocally say that you haven't been given power or authority by Congress to have war with Iran," Paul said. Story continues "In any kind of semblance of a sane world, you would have to come back and ask us before you go into Iran," Paul said. The US Constitution gives the power to declare war to Congress. Paul also rejected the idea that Iran, a Shiite clerical regime, would ally with Al-Qaeda, Sunnis whose ranks have denounced Shiites as heretics. "I don't think that dog hunts very well," Paul said of Pompeo's statement. "They actually would just as soon eradicate Sunni extremists." Iran is believed to have been the longtime base of Hamza bin Laden, the son of late Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden. But some experts say Tehran kept him under house arrest as a way to maintain pressure on rival Saudi Arabia and dissuade Al-Qaeda attacks inside Iran. The population in England is predicted to hit 60m by 2026 (Wikipedia) New figures suggest that Englands population could reach 60 million within a decade. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that population growth in Englands regions could be thousands higher or lower than main official projections indicate. Alternative figures on possible numbers of occupants were compiled using ten years of data on international, internal and cross-border migration. This differs from principal population projections it published last year and which are based on five years of data. The population difference across England by 2026 (PA) Numbers of occupants are expected to rise in all regions, but the projected increases for some were sharper under the alternative measure and vice-versa for others. The median figure, based in net migration in England standing at 152,000 a year, would put England on course for a 60 million figure by 2029, according to Lord Green of Deddington, chairman of Migration Watch UK. He told The Times: The truth is that net migration to England has averaged 213,000 per year over the past ten years. This makes a big difference. Read more from Yahoo News UK: Three babies die after contracting rare blood infection Doctors discover four sweat bees living inside womans eye UK couple who scooped 161m Lottery prize set to divorce On this more realistic scenario, the population of England would hit nearly 60 million by 2029 that is an increase of four million. Lord Green added that the population increase means crowded roads and trains, which results in great inconvenience to us all. West Midlands had the largest negative difference in population in the 10-year migration variant, with 38,300 fewer residents in 2026 compared with the principal projection. Migration Watch UK said higher population is taking its toll on our roads and trains (Getty) London had the largest positive difference, with the variant figure for the capital 36,200 higher than the principal projection. Despite regional differences, the two measures produced almost identical figures of just over 58.5million for Englands projected population in 2026. Story continues Of local authorities, Liverpool had the largest negative difference in population in the 10-year migration variant, with 17,900 fewer residents compared with the principal projection. Ealing had the largest positive difference in population in the 10-year migration variant, with 13,200 more residents compared with the principal projection in mid-2026. The ONS said: These alternatives can be used alongside the principal projection they do not replace it. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK President Donald Trump likes having temporary office holders in his Cabinet, but one researcher found that it may actually hurt him. While Trump argued that having acting Cabinet officials gives him more flexibility, research by Stanford law professor Anne Joseph OConnell has found that acting officials have less influence within their agencies and a harder time enacting policies. Its not clear to me that having actings helps the President achieve his objectives, she told TIME. With the departure of Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen, Trump now has a historically high number of acting Cabinet members, including her replacement Kevin McAleenan, acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan. Trumps chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, also serves in an acting capacity as does Jonathan Cohen, the ambassador to the United Nations. By filling vacancies in his Cabinet with officials serving in an acting capacity, Trump is able to bypass Senate confirmation of his picks. He has been open about the advantages of having Cabinet members in acting positions. I like acting. It gives me more flexibility, Trump told reporters in January as he headed to Camp David. Do you understand that? I like acting. So we have a few that are acting. We have a great, great Cabinet. But OConnells research, published in the Southern California Law Review in 2009, found that Senate confirmations strengthened the internal positions of Cabinet secretaries, who were able to move more quickly on their agendas. Acting officials typically dont have the stature to implement new programs or regulations that would have significant effect, and lack the access to the networks that would get them help from the White House and other agencies, OConnell wrote. Temporary political picks have less political capital to spend externally and internally, OConnell wrote. Even proper appointees have to get up to speed at the start of their government service; therefore, frequent turnover among confirmed appointees also fosters agency inaction. Story continues OConnell also noted that acting heads often do not have the authority to direct their employees to take up work beyond basic functions, she wrote. And worker satisfaction in departments that have had acting secretaries has declined, according to the Partnership for Public Service, which found low employee engagement at the Department of Homeland Security and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, among other agencies, in a 2018 survey. While Trump stays within the stipulations of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, set in 1998 to establish the procedure for filling vacant positions in the executive agency, legal scholars say the rate at which he has appointed acting officials to his Cabinet is concerning. The high turnover among senior leadership in Trumps Administration has become one of the defining pillars of his presidency. Nielsens resignation marks the 15th departure of a Cabinet member, according to the Brookings Institution. All of this is very troubling, says Jon Michaels, a professor at the UCLA School of Law. This is a shocking level of turnover. It is, to some extent, sidelining the Senate. In the normal course of things, theres a more regular period of transition. The Vacancies Act is an important stop-gap measure, says OConnell. Trump, she says, does not seem to view it in the same way. The strategic use of the act in this administration does not seem to be in that spirit. Trumps habit of putting people into acting positions also brings into question how long he can do so before nominating a permanent official. Under the Vacancies Act, an acting secretary can serve 210 days from when the position was made vacant (or 300 days if its the administrations first year). If the nomination of a permanent official fails, the acting secretary can serve an additional 210 days. Should a second nomination process fail, the acting secretary can serve a final 210 days more. Thus far, no one has reached that limit in Trumps presidency, according to OConnell. That record goes to Rebecca Blank, who served as acting secretary of Commerce from 2012 to 2013 under the Obama Administration. Still, so many acting officials points to a sense of constant flux within Trumps circles, Michaels says. Youre hollowing out the upper echelon of those agencies. Is he going to go on acting secretaries until the election? he asks. Even in a more competent administration, its a hell of a lot of work to get someone through the Senate. Its not the easiest process in the world. Meaning, you should think twice before canning everyone. Harry and Oprah Winfrey (pictured at the royal wedding) are working on a mental health series [Photos: Getty] The Duke of Sussex will partner with Oprah Winfrey on a new mental health series for Apple, Kensington Palace has announced. Harry, 34, and the American talk show host have been developing the documentary together for several months. The multi-part documentary series will focus on both mental illness and mental wellness, inspiring viewers to have an honest conversation about the challenges each of us faces, and how to equip ourselves with the tools to thrive, rather than to simply survive. Harry and Oprah are said to have been friends for some time now the 65-year-old attended Harry and Meghan Markles wedding last May. While the A-listers connection with the Royal Family is unclear, it was thought that following the wedding, Meghans mother Doria Ragland might be interviewed by Oprah to discuss racism and media coverage. To the best of our knowledge, an interview hasnt yet happened. Addressing the mental health series, Harry said: I truly believe that good mental health mental fitness is the key to powerful leadership, productive communities and a purpose-driven self. It is a huge responsibility to get this right as we bring you the facts, the science and the awareness of a subject that is so relevant during these times. Our hope is that this series will be positive, enlightening and inclusive sharing global stories of unparalleled human spirit fighting back from the darkest places, and the opportunity for us to understand ourselves and those around us better. Harry chats with the Youth Ambassadors Mental Health Champions at YMCA South Ealing last week [Photo: PA] The news was also announced on the Sussexes Instagram account and Oprah commented: Delighted to be partnering with you. Hope we shed a lot of Light. And change some lives! The series builds on Harrys work around mental health issues and initiatives. In 2017, he and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge launched their campaign Heads Together to encourage people to talk about their wellbeing, to reduce the stigma around mental health. READ MORE: Meghan Markle plans to have a home birth like the Queen Story continues Last week, Harry visited YMCA South Ealing where he met with organisations supporting the mental health of teenagers and young adults. During the engagement, he expressed his concerns around the impact of social media on youngsters and said its more addictive than drugs and alcohol. Harry and Meghan are expecting their first child in the coming weeks. On Thursday, the duke will open a new youth zone in Dagenham, East London. Algiers (AFP) - Algeria will head to the polls in July, the presidency announced Wednesday, as demonstrators kept up protests against the ruling elite following veteran leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika's resignation. Presidential elections will be held on July 4, interim leader Abdelkader Bensalah's office said, just hours after he pledged "transparent" polls. The new date was set a day after Bensalah assumed office for a 90-day period, as stipulated by the constitution but much to the ire of demonstrators. Chants of "Go away Bensalah!" and "A free Algeria!" rang out from thousands of demonstrators gathered under police surveillance in Algiers, where anti-regime rallies have been held over the past seven weeks. The appointment of upper house speaker Bensalah as Algeria's first new president in 20 years failed to meet the demands of demonstrators. Although 77-year-old Bensalah is barred under the constitution from running in the upcoming election, protesters have nonetheless pushed for the close Bouteflika ally to step down. Students and magistrates on Wednesday called for demonstrators to keep up their rallies and marches in the capital and other cities across the North African country. Army chief General Ahmed Gaid Salah, quoted in a defence ministry statement, said the military would ensure the transition follows the "rules of transparency and integrity, and the laws of the republic". But he warned against "slogans aimed at leading the country to a constitutional void and destroying state institutions". "With the start of the new phase and continued marches, we deplore the emergence of attempts by certain foreign parties... to destabilise the country", he said, without pointing fingers. The army chief also signalled that the military would safeguard Algeria's institutions. "It is unreasonable to manage the transition period without the institutions," Salah said, warning that such a scenario "could compromise all that has been achieved to this day since independence" from France in 1962. Story continues For the first time in the wave of demonstrations which have swept Algiers since mid-February, police fired tear gas and water cannons Tuesday to try to disperse a protest by students. "What happened yesterday was a violation of our right to demonstrate," said 22-year-old journalism student Asma. "We'll carry on every day if needed until the last of the (ruling) clan is out." - All eyes on Friday turnout - Since Bouteflika announced his resignation on April 2 after losing the military's support, the demonstrators have urged that regime insiders be excluded from the political transition. All eyes are now focused on the turnout on the streets on Friday, the traditional day of protests in Algeria, and whether the authorities will adopt a tougher line and step up security measures. For Mohamed Hennad, a political sciences professor at the University of Algiers, "the balance of forces will favour the street if it's a large mobilisation on Friday" as in past weeks. For many ordinary Algerians, the interim president's assurance of a constitutional transition to a post-Bouteflika future has fallen short of easing their concerns. "Bensalah is a leftover of the system... For the past twenty years, they've made us promises. "The result: they've taken everything and left the people in poverty," said Lahcen, who works in an Algiers cafe. "What we want is a free election that is really democratic," said the 26-year-old, who earns 25,000 dinars (about $200) a month. The protest movement is calling for a new transitional framework that is committed to deep reforms. The ailing Bouteflika finally stepped down at the age of 82 after weeks of demonstrations triggered by his bid for a fifth term in office. After two decades in power, he had lost the backing of key supporters including the armed forces chief. Paris (AFP) - A coalition of researchers, health organisations and patient groups on Wednesday launched an ambitious campaign to cure hepatitis B, a disease that kills twice as many people as malaria but gets far less attention. "Inexplicably, despite the huge human and economic toll of chronic hepatitis B (HBV), research remains largely underfunded," said Peter Revill, a senior scientist at Royal Melbourne Hospital's Doherty Institute. "HBV cure research could make all the difference." More than 257 million people are chronically infected with the disease, which attacks the liver and can lead to a deadly form of cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma. There is no cure, but antiviral drugs have proven effective in coping with symptoms. A test for HBV has been available since the 1970s, and a 95 percent effective vaccine since the early 1980s. And yet HBV accounted for nearly 900,000 deaths in 2017, twice the number caused by malaria, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Only one-in-10 people infected has taken the test, and only a handful of countries where the disease is most prevalent have ensured the vaccine's widespread use. The International Coalition to Eliminate HBV strategy was laid out Wednesday at the International Liver Congress in Vienna, and published at the same time in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, a medical journal. The two-pronged effort calls for curing HBV without killing infected cells, on the one hand, and inducing immune responses to safely eliminate those cells on the other. - Not a pipe dream - Each objective -- one focusing on the virus, the other on the immune system -- will require clinical trials and the funding to support them, the coalition said in a statement. "Curing hepatitis B is not a pipe dream and should not be thought of as such," said Su Wang, a physician and president-elect of the World Hepatitis Alliance. "The 257 million of us living with hepatitis B are desperate for this to be reality in order to stop needless suffering and deaths." Story continues The highly contagious virus -- transmitted through contact with blood or other bodily fluid -- leads to either acute or chronic forms of the disease. Chronic infection can be managed with life-long treatment, but less than 10 percent of those in need are receiving it. Even with treatment, patients are at higher risk of developing liver cancer. There is no specific treatment for acute HBV, which can cause extreme fatigue, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and, in a smaller percentage of cases, acute liver failure. Since 1992, the World Health Organization has recommended a first dose of vaccine within 24 hours of birth to guard against mother-to-child transmission, but only half of newborns are vaccinated that quickly. Of the 16 countries that account for more than 80 percent of infections among five-year-olds, only China has scaled up vaccines-at-birth to 90 percent, earlier research has shown. China, India, Nigeria, Indonesia and the Philippines account for nearly 60 percent of all infections. Raila Odinga made several attempts to engage William Ruto before his handshake deal with President Uhuru, the deputy president has said. Speaking during an exclusive interview with Hussein Mohamed on Citizen TV, Ruto claimed that Mr Odinga approached him four times after the hotly-contested 2017 elections. The DP declined to hold talks prompting the former Prime Minister to engage President Kenyatta in what would culminate in handshake deal on March 9, 2018. According to Ruto, he duly informed President Kenyatta every time Raila made a move. Asked why he declined to engage Mr. Odinga, Ruto said he had doubts about the ODM leaders intentions. Before Raila Odinga engaged President Uhuru Kenyatta on the handshake, he engaged me. Raila Odinga approached me on four occasions to have a discussion and I declined to engage him for two reasons. In Jubilee, we have one central command. Uhuru Kenyatta is the party leader and president and we all refer to him. If there is any engagement with anybody on matters politics it has to start with President Kenyatta. For every approach that was made by Raila Odinga to me, I informed the President. I personally told him I will not engage Raila Odinga, said Ruto. Dr Ruto went on to add; I did not believe that he was doing this in good faith. On two occasions, we spoke on phone when he sent some emissary and I could hear the trend: Ooh you know you can see the president has started appointing ministers. I told him initially we were having a coalition, but now we are running a party So the president does not have to consult me. I knew that the narrative was about to try and say that I was being shortchanged here and there, which to me is a fake thing. Ruto, who described himself as a good student of history, pointed out that Raila has a history of wrecking political fits. See what happened in the merger between KANU and DP Raila came in and walked away with half of KANU, said Ruto. On why Uhuru went ahead to engage with Mr. Odinga despite him (Ruto) expressing his reservations, the DP said: We are all different. The president operates from a high level than me. He has more information and a bigger view. Ruto, however, said that the handshake is working to the good of the country. To an extent yes[it is working]. The fact that we do not have demonstrations anymore, people quarreling in the streets, businesses are running without problems. It is working. When Hussein asked him why he wants to be the next president of Kenya, Ruto said: You cross every river when you get there. For now, I am happy to serve as the DP. When that time comes, the Jubilee Party will make that decision. By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm on Tuesday lost a court challenge against a demand for it to provide EU regulators with data in a long-running antitrust case. The world's no. 1 chipmaker had already provided the information after being ordered to pay a daily fine for withholding it, but the Luxembourg-based General Court's ruling is expected to strengthen the Commission's hand in future similar cases. Qualcomm has been under the EU spotlight since 2015, when it was accused of predatory pricing between 2009 and 2011 aimed at forcing out British phone software maker Icera, subsequently bought by Nvidia Corp. As part of the investigation, the Commission in January 2017 told Qualcomm to provide more information. The company said the request went beyond the investigation's scope and took its grievance to the General Court. While waiting for a judgement, Qualcomm however acceded to the EU demand to avoid a daily 580,000 euro ($655,000) penalty for its delayed response. The Luxembourg-based court on Tuesday dismissed the company's case. "The Court finds that the scope of the investigation as defined in the statement of objections, at the state-of-play meeting of 3 September 2015 and at the hearing on 10 November 2016 has not been extended," judges said. They said Qualcomm had failed to show that the requested data went beyond what was necessary for the investigation. Last year, the Commission fined Qualcomm 997 million euros for paying iPhone maker Apple to use only its chips to block rivals including Intel. ($1 = 0.8867 euros) (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by John Stonestreet) Photo credit: Raf Simons From CR Fashion Book Over the past few years, Dover Street Market Ginza has built quite the strong relationship with Raf Simons. Back in 2018, the designer established his own dedicated space within the shop on floor 4F. On April 9, Dover Street Market Ginza will reveal the renewed space presented by Simons, which will be located in the same initial space as before. The overall design of this new retail space was due to the efforts of Belgian architect Glenn Sestig, who collaborated with Simons on the execution of this project. Simons was involved in every step of the design, thanks to his background in industrial and furniture design. The overall aesthetic of the new space can be described as somewhat of a crossover of the looks featured at Dover Street Market London and Los Angeles. Photo credit: Raf Simons The inspiration behind the new space stems from concepts in brutalist architecture and historical sculptures. The raw duality of the space demonstrates Simons' pure talent for bringing his ideas to light, including his goal of highlighting weathered feminine statues as a reaction to the popularity of shiny, chrome-like items in modern design. By Lena Masri CAIRO (Reuters) - Syrian refugee Ahmad al-Khatib and his 16-year-old son both work as tuk-tuk drivers in Cairo, but it is not enough to pay the bills. Tough economic reforms and rising costs have hit refugees and migrants in Egypt particularly hard, aid groups say. Help from a charity is the only way Khatib can cover the family's rent. He also borrows cash from friends. "How am I going to repay them?" he asked. More than 77 percent of Syrian families in Egypt were in debt in 2017, up from 73 percent the year before, according to unpublished data seen by Reuters from a UNHCR survey of more than 100,000 Syrians. Nearly 93 percent of families were unable to repay the loans, up from 81 percent in 2016, the year Egypt devalued its currency as part of an IMF loan deal. Egypt has much smaller refugee populations than Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, where most of those displaced by Syria's war have fled. But refugees and asylum seekers reside in Egyptian communities rather than camps, and those without means are directly exposed to economic hardships. Nearly 250,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers live in Egypt, more than half of them Syrian. Khatib, 58, suffers from multiple illnesses, including a prostate infection, but cannot afford all the treatments he needs. He usually eats just one meal a day to cut costs. AUSTERITY MEASURES Arrivals of refugees and asylum seekers have surged, with about a 25 percent increase registered over the past two years, UNHCR data shows. Since 2016 Egypt has also prevented large numbers of migrants and refugees from leaving by boat toward Europe, efforts that have been praised by the European Union, but this, combined with the increase in arrivals, have left many stranded in some of Egypt's poorest neighborhoods. The Egypt State Information Service could not immediately be reached for comment, but Egypt has previously said that the country's treatment of refugees is exemplary because they can access services such as healthcare without discrimination and live freely among the Egyptian people. Economic reforms have not only made life more difficult for Syrians. The International Organization for Migration says requests for assistance with housing costs, medical expenses and returns started to increase in June and have more than doubled since September. The majority come from Sudanese and Ethiopians. "We believe it's a consequence of economic reforms and the cut of gas subsidies, which has led to an increase in basic goods costs," said Laurent De Boeck, IOM's head in Egypt. Austerity measures mean Egyptian landlords are stricter collecting rent, he said. Migrants mainly work in the informal sector and some poor Egyptians now view them as competitors, he added. When Hala Bekdash fled shelling in her native Syria and brought her children to Egypt in 2012, life in their new country was affordable. But during the past two years prices have rocketed and the family's bills have doubled, the 32-year-old said. Bekdash, who works long hours as a teacher, cannot afford to renew her expired passport, which means she cannot renew her Egyptian residency either, resulting in a fine she does not know how to pay. But she does not want to return to Syria, where her husband would risk being conscripted. "The building we lived in and where we had our shop was destroyed," she said. "We have nothing left in Syria." (Reporting by Lena Masri; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Alison Williams) Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., speaks at a dinner banquet, part of a fundraising event for the Council of American-Islamic Relations of Greater Los Angeles at the Hilton hotel in Woodland Hills, California, March 23, 2019. WASHINGTON Rep. Ilhan Omar again sparked outrage and sharp criticism with a comment, this time for referring to the 9/11 terrorist attack that killed nearly 3,000 people as "something" that "some people did." The freshman Minnesota Democrat made the remark at an event last month in Los Angeles hosted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Omar mistakenly said the organization, which was founded in 1994, was started in response to the repercussions for Muslim Americans after September 11, 2001. "CAIR was founded after 9/11, because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties," Omar said in a video shared on social media while lamenting the "second-class" treatment of Muslim Americans. She said often "when Islam is mentioned" in America, people are "only talking about terrorists." In November, Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., became the first Muslim women ever elected to Congress. DJT-Omar: Donald Trump Jr. slams Ilhan Omar for calling Stephen Miller a 'white nationalist' Trump-Omar: Trump trolls Rep. Omar, who was victim of death threat, boasts Israeli relations at Vegas event "First Member of Congress to ever describe terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11 as 'some people who did something,' tweeted Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, in response to the clip. "Unbelievable." First Member of Congress to ever describe terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11 as some people who did something. Unbelievable. https://t.co/IKtoZWWmIT Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) April 9, 2019 Omar's comment prompted Fox News co-host Brian Kilmeade to question the congresswoman's loyalty to the United States. Story continues "You have to wonder if she's an American first," Kilmeade said Wednesday on "Fox & Friends." Omar responded to both Crenshaw and Kilmeade in a tweet calling it a "dangerous incitement, given the death threats I face." "I hope leaders of both parties will join me in condemning it. My love and commitment to our country and that of my colleagues should never be in question. We are ALL Americans!" she said. This is dangerous incitement, given the death threats I face. I hope leaders of both parties will join me in condemning it. My love and commitment to our country and that of my colleagues should never be in question. We are ALL Americans! pic.twitter.com/foTZMpiZKv Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 10, 2019 Last week, a New York man was arrested for threatening Omar and saying he would "put a bullet" in her "skull." Kilmeade later walked back his comment in a tweet, saying he "didn't intend to question whether Rep. Omar is an American." "I am questioning how any American, let alone a United States Congresswoman, could downplay the 9/11 attacks," Kilmeade said. "The Islamaphobes and other anti-Muslim extremists are grasping at straws and looking for any way to smear her," Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR's communications director, told USA TODAY. Hooper said the event was broadcast live and scoffed at her critics "suddenly" finding something offensive in her remarks more than two weeks later. Omar previously sparked outrage and had been accused of anti-Semitism for her criticisms of Israel and pro-Israel American lobbying organizations. "Ilhan Omar isnt just anti-Semitic shes anti-American," Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a tweet referencing her 9/11 remark. "Democrat leaders need to condemn her brazen display of disrespect." McDaniel followed with another tweet saying Omar "has no business serving on the Foreign Affairs Committee." Ilhan Omar isnt just anti-Semitic shes anti-American. Nearly 3,000 Americans lost their lives to Islamic terrorists on 9/11, yet Omar diminishes it as: Some people did something. Democrat leaders need to condemn her brazen display of disrespect.pic.twitter.com/k3meEbUOAk Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) April 9, 2019 'I'll put a bullet in her': Trump supporter charged with threatening to kill Rep. Ilhan Omar More: Donald Trump Jr. slams Ilhan Omar for calling Stephen Miller a 'white nationalist' This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Conservatives bash Ilhan Omar for reference to 9/11 as 'something' that 'some people did' WASHINGTON For a brief moment on Capitol Hill Tuesday, a package of reforms to the Internal Revenue Service which had been gliding to easy bipartisan passage looked like it might suddenly be doomed. And then Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) showed up. The legislation, aimed at modernizing the IRS through a host of changes, included language that would block the agency from creating a free electronic filing system. That provision drew considerable ire from progressives after ProPublica published a story characterizing the language as a sop to the tax filing industry companies like Intuit and H&R Block. An IRS version of TurboTax could be free and could make filing tax returns significantly easier. And the online reaction to the ProPublica story was swift and unforgiving. Dan Riffle, the legislative director for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), sarcastically congratulated the tax industry on its successful acquisition of House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) and the chambers other Democratic leaders. Congratulations to @HRBlock and @turbotax for their successful acquisition of @RepRichardNeal and the entire Democratic leadership. https://t.co/lTStUevhaa Every Billionaire Is A Policy Failure (@DanRiffle) April 9, 2019 Former Rep. Beto ORourke of Texas, now seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, tweeted that the bill had been written by special interests. Why is Congress voting to make it harder & more expensive for Americans to do their taxes? Follow the money. Special interests, PACs, & corporations continue to purchase legislation like this. It's time to put people over PACs, country over corporations. https://t.co/0TBMpqX9mR Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) April 10, 2019 And progressive Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) tweeted that hed oppose the overall bill. Story continues The for-profit tax prep industry spent $6.6M on lobbying and it's about to pay off: Congress could ban the IRS from creating a free electronic filing system. I will be voting NO because Americans should be able to file their taxes online for free. https://t.co/UAO0K2jPYM Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) April 9, 2019 Except Khanna never really got his chance to vote no at least not in a way that counted. Because before a progressive backlash could ever really form, civil rights icon Lewis was squashing it. Lewis, one of the authors of the sweeping IRS bill, worked quickly to tamp down the revolt. He met with two progressives who seemed ready to try to sink the legislation Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Katie Hill (D-Calif.), both first elected last November. And he not only persuaded them to let the bill pass on a voice vote, he actually got them to speak in support of it. We talked, and explained the bill, and in the end, they supported it, Lewis told HuffPost Wednesday. Sometimes you just have to talk to people, he said. Lewis said he told them that the Senate could work on the free-filing issue, though he stopped short of making a firm commitment on the matter. Its going to be left up to the Senate to do it, Lewis said. Were not going to dictate what to do or not to do. Lewis, in his conversations with Ocasio-Cortez and Hill, stressed aspects of the bill that Democrats like. It contains language preventing the IRS from referring debts from some lower-income taxpayers to debt collectors. And it includes provisions to improve IRS customer service, address identity theft and authorize grants for nonprofits to provide free tax-filing assistance to low-income people. Sometimes you just have to talk to people. John Lewis Lewis also told them that similar legislation had passed the House three times previously and with Senate Republicans finally onboard with the measure, this was the opportunity to get it signed into law. Ocasio-Cortez said Wednesday that Lewis took seriously the concerns she and Hill raised, and she anticipates working with him on separate legislation addressing the electronic filing issue. She and Hill are certainly planning to draft that legislation, Ocasio-Cortez told HuffPost. Floor speeches by the two new lawmakers made clear that, while they were supporting the legislation, they took issue with the electronic tax-filing provisions. Long-term, we should be looking at a solution where everyday people do not necessarily have to spend hours every year preparing tax returns when the majority of Americans have relatively simple and straightforward returns, Ocasio-Cortez said in her speech. Hill noted some of the bills positives before calling out the language prohibiting the IRS from making available electronic tax filing software of its own. In this freshman class, I and many of my colleagues were sent to reject corporate influence and stand up for people, Hill said. This puts us in a difficult spot. But she added that the rest of this bill is too important to try to block its passage over the electronic filing issue. Another freshman, Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), said she is planning to work with her colleagues on that legislation. This is not a done deal, she said of the dispute over electronic filing. The bill the House passed codifies what had previously been an arrangement between the IRS and a group of tax preparation companies called the Free File Alliance. While the current memorandum of understanding between the IRS and the Free File Alliance says the agency could terminate the arrangement that keeps it from developing a free electronic filing service, consumer advocates say the bills text in effect would make the deal permanent. Lewis said he hoped the Senate might fix the offending provision, but that seems unlikely. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who cosponsored the Senate version of the bill with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), said Tuesday that his staff had pushed back against the free file provision. But on Wednesday, Wyden seemed to recant, saying that IRS counsel had explained to him that the IRS can actually terminate its agreement with the Free File Alliance. But he hasnt provided details yet. Mandi Matlock, a tax attorney who does contract work for the National Consumer Law Center, said the bills text clearly would override any memorandum that the IRS might cancel or renegotiate, meaning she believes the IRS would be permanently barred from creating its own electronic filing program. We stand by our interpretation, Matlock said. A century ago next year, after several decades of resilient activism, women finally earned the right to vote. And in New York State, the final push for suffrage was launched in 1910 by one-woman juggernaut Henrietta Wells Livermore, who also founded the Womens National Republican Club in 1921. This year, to commemorate the historic achievement, the club is featuring an exhibit titled Womens Suffrage and the Founding of The Womens National Republican Club in its Manhattan headquarters. The exhibit highlights the suffrage movement, the clubs role in educating women about politics and their newly gained right, and relics from the era, including a letter from President Calvin Coolidge. On February 14, 1910, twelve women met at Livermores home to revitalize the suffrage movement in New York State, and suffrage for New Yorks women was passed in a statewide referendum in November 1917. To inform women of their newly gained right and the subjects theyd be voting on, she founded the Womens National Republican Club in New York City in 1921. Today, its the oldest national club for Republican women in the country. The clubhouse itself is the third home of the club, built to accommodate its growing membership, and is located in the heart of Manhattan at the site of Andrew Carnegies former home at 3 West 51st Street. The buildings interior is distinguished and regal, and it hosts gala dinners, awards ceremonies, and other events for its members. One of its committees is the Henrietta Wells Livermore School of Politics, which continues to organize volunteers for political campaigns and sponsors political-education seminars and lectures. Livermore decided that women needed to be educated so they could vote, Judy McGrath, the exhibit curator, tells me as she guides me through it. She was disappointed that there was very low female turnout in the first election that women could vote in, so she wanted to create a place where women could meet other women and become educated on the matters theyd be voting on. Story continues The exhibit details the clubs history and the lives of its founders, who also include Pauline Sabin and Ruth Baker Pratt. Ruth Baker Pratt was the first female representative to be elected from New York (in 1928), and she said on Election Night that she did not run as a woman but as a citizen. Pauline Sabin was the first woman representative to the Republican National Committee and served as a delegate to two Republican National Conventions. She also played a significant role in the repeal of Prohibition. The exhibit also includes many relics, including a letter from GOP president Calvin Coolidge to the club commemorating its opening in 1924 and a 1902 letter from Susan B. Anthony. Coolidge was an ardent supporter of suffrage at a time when it was unpopular. Usually a walker of the party line, he went against his partys orthodoxy, noting that women uniquely look to the future and think of conditions not only for themselves but for their posterity. Eventually, the Republican party became the first major party to advocate equal rights for women, and it wasnt until the Republicans gained control of Congress in 1919 after Democrats had defeated the 19th amendment four times that the amendment passed. Twenty-six of the 36 states that ratified it had Republican legislatures. Maritza Bolano, a chairwoman on the Suffragette Committee and the editor of a forthcoming book detailing the suffrage movement and the founding of the club, emphasizes the importance of the Republican partys role in suffrage. The Republican party was the leader in womens rights, as it had been the leader in abolition from Lincoln. The party leaders welcomed women and wanted women to participate. The exhibit is open to club members and their guests, and Bolano tells me groups are encouraged to contact the club and arrange to view it. Its important that young people, especially, learn from this exhibit. More from National Review With constellations of thousands of telecommunication mini satellites expected to orbit Earth in the near future, the risk of space-debris collisions will grow. For Nobu Okada, it's an opportunity. The 46-year-old Japanese entrepreneur founded the start-up Astroscale in Singapore in 2013 with the sole aim of launching "space sweepers." The company -- now based in Tokyo -- has 71 employees. A demonstration will take place in 2020 when an Astroscale satellite will capture one of the company's own mini satellites and try and nudge it out of its orbit -- with the goal of pushing it into the atmosphere to burn up. The Europeans and Americans are developing similar concepts, but the idea of tidying up in space remains an experimental one. AFP caught up with Nobu Okada at the 35th Space Symposium -- a large meeting of the space industry in the US state of Colorado. - Is there a market for taking down space debris? - "One guy told me, Nobu, there's no market, nobody pays money to remove space debris. And when I heard there's no market, I feel this (is) a good news. If there's no market. There's no competition." "The density of space debris has reached the critical level where chain collisions can happen at any time in the near future. So, if we do not take any actions, space is not sustainable anymore." "So, somebody has to clean up the space." - Who is going to pay? - "The future debris will mostly come from constellations. A certain percentage of the satellites will go defunct in space. And they have to be replenished with new satellites to keep the coverage. To do that, they have to remove the oldest satellites to make sure their orbital plane is clean. "The other business line is that we also have to clean up the debris which are already up there. And these are mostly littered by the governments. We should prioritize which debris are the most critical and have to be removed with high priority, with government money, like rocket upper stages." Story continues "Two years ago, they were just listening, but now they are beginning to take responsibility." - Any clients yet? What will your services cost? - "We have multiple projects with potential customers. "Before we set up this company, people had no idea how much money, it would cost to remove one debris, because there were no proven technologies. People were thinking 100, 300 or 500 million dollars to remove one object. But our price -- it depends on the situation of the objects in space -- but it is far, far less than that." (Repeats with no changes to text) STOCKHOLM, April 9 (Reuters) - Fashion retailer H&M has reintroduced delivery fees for its core brand's loyalty club members on small online orders to cut logistics costs and help restore group profitability. The world's second-biggest clothing retailer, whose core H&M chain accounts for the bulk of group sales, is investing heavily in adapting to rapidly changing consumer habits after seeing profits fall and inventories pile up in recent years. A new version of the customer loyalty scheme separates members into a "base" tier or a "plus" tier depending on how many points they earned in the past year, according to Samuel Holst, head of the fast-growing H&M Club. It means base members in Germany, the Swedish groups biggest market, will need to spend at least 25 euros ($28) to get free delivery. In its home market, the minimum outlay is 200 Swedish crowns ($22). "We have a lot of logistics around the customers that shop online," Holst told Reuters in an interview at H&M's headquarters. "For the plus level, deliveries will remain free for all purchases, but for the base level there will be a cap, " he said. "You will need to shop for a certain amount to get free delivery. Returns remain free for all. " Holst declined to say how much H&M expects to save from the move. The company has an H&M Club in 16 of the H&M brand's 71 markets. It plans to add seven more markets, including the United States, by the end of the year. The number of members doubled in 2018 to 30 million, helped by the introduction of free deliveries and returns for all members. Another 5 million joined in the first quarter of 2019. "We want to keep up the growth pace we've had so far, and increase it this year," Holst said. Members earn points through reviews and rating purchases, and otherwise interacting with H&M in the app, as well as on purchases, he said. Story continues H&M's move to rein in free deliveries for scheme members comes after German online clothing marketplace Zalando recently introduced a minimum order threshold in Italy to increase orders. ($1 = 9.2474 Swedish crowns) ($1 = 0.8872 euros) (Reporting by Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Mark Potter) Moscow (AFP) - Russian investigators have asked a Moscow court to move US investor Michael Calvey, who is accused of fraud, from pre-trial jail to house arrest. The surprise motion comes two months after Calvey, head of a multi-billion dollar equity firm that has invested in some of Russia's biggest companies, was detained in a case he says is driven by a rival shareholder out to discredit him. Basmanny District Court spokeswoman Yunona Tsareva said the court will consider the petition by the Investigative Committee on Thursday. A similar petition was filed for one of the other suspects, Alexei Kordichev. Calvey asked several times to be released from behind bars to be with his family, including in a letter to President Vladimir Putin. The court had previously denied his request. A bail hearing was initially scheduled for the end of this week. Calvey's lawyer Dmitry Kletochkin told AFP that he had no information on the surprise development. "I have not seen the motion," he said, adding that house arrest is "much better than to be detained." Calvey's Baring Vostok private equity fund -- which has been working in Russia since the 1990s -- said it "hopes the court will give due consideration" to the request. It added it hopes four others detained would also be released. The lawyer for French national Philippe Delpal who was denied bail as recently as Tuesday evening, said he was perplexed as "the crime they were accused of is the same." Calvey was arrested in February with five other individuals, and accused of defrauding Vostochny Bank of 2.5 billion rubles ($37.7 million). - 'Russian patriot' - The arrest shocked Western business circles, who warned it could further discourage the foreign investment Russia's economy badly needs. Calvey and his firm maintain that the case is fabricated and related to a shareholder dispute. Calvey has been called a "Russian patriot" by other entrepreneurs. Story continues Russia's Central Bank this week said it has registered a record decrease in foreign direct investment in 2018 which came in at around $6.5 billion, tiny for the size of the country and its economy. Boris Titov, an ombudsman for business in Russia who has called for Calvey's release, wrote on Facebook on Tuesday that he had visited the US investor in jail. "Bail would be the most obvious decision," he said. "There are a lot of concerns about the legality of opening this probe. We are dealing with a corporate dispute rather than a criminal issue." Pursuing criminal cases against entrepreneurs to settle business and political scores is common in Russia despite the Kremlin's public campaign to reverse the trend. Shortly after Calvey's arrest in February, Putin said the country needed its business community if it was to meet the challenges ahead. The activist was outraged when he was no allowed on the Ryanair flight. (TWITTER) Ryanair has issued an apology after the airline prevented a prominent refugee from boarding a flight to Ireland even though he had the correct travel documents. Iyad El-Baghdadi was supposed to travel from Berlin to Dublin on a Ryanair flight on Wednesday morning. Mr El-Baghdadi is an Arab Spring activist who was raised in the United Arab Emirates and obtained political asylum in Norway in 2015. The activist tweeted his 122,000 followers saying: The Irish government website says I can travel but Ryanair says I cant. If you love me, make some noise. Mr El-Baghdadi told CNN: I called the Irish embassy yesterday to make sure I can travel. They referred to the Irish governments website, confirming I can travel. But Ryanair denied me boarding without giving me any reason. They told me Our supervisor is busy. I was supposed to be in Dublin for a meeting and then travel onward to Oslo. Read More Ryanair passenger apologises for tirade at 77-year-old widow Ryanairs new luggage rules start today: Heres what you need to know Mr El-Baghdadi is an outspoken critic of both Islamic movements and secular dictatorships. He also said on Twitter: For everyone concerned: Thank you. Yes, I once spent 26 days stranded in an airport after being expelled from my former country, the UAE. Yes, Im nervous around airports. The activist was not allowed on board the Ryanair flight. (GETTY) But if were anything were resilient. Dictators didnt break us, an airline certainly wont. Ryanair told CNN: This customer was denied boarding because of an error made by our handling agent in Berlin. Ryanair has since made contact with the customer directly and he will travel with us later today. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused. Yahoo News has contacted Ryanair. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK SANAA (Reuters) - The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen carried out air strikes against two Houthi targets in the capital Sanaa early on Wednesday, its spokesman said. The coalition said the strikes targeted a Houthi drone-manufacturing plant and a warehouse containing launch pads. Residents said a house was also hit, but no casualties were reported. Houthi-run Masirah TV said a fire broke out in a plastics factory as a result of air strikes early on Wednesday. Saudi Arabia leads a Western-backed alliance of Yemeni and Arab forces that has been fighting the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in neighboring Yemen since March 2015, after Houthi forces drove Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile. They are fighting to restore Hadi's internationally recognized government. The Houthis, who say their revolution is against corruption, control Sanaa and most population centers. The strikes hit the al-Jeraf neighborhood in north Sanaa. The roof was blasted off a large industrial building and machinery was damaged, Reuters footage showed. Bystanders pointed to powder they say would have been turned into plastic in the factory. Yemens war has killed tens of thousands of people - some of them by coalition air strikes - and driven 10 million to the brink of famine. The country is also suffering its third major outbreak of cholera since the conflict began. A peace process that began with a December agreement has stalled as the United Nations tries to get the parties to pull troops out of Hodeidah, Yemen's main port, and complete a prisoner exchange. These confidence-building measures could pave the way for further talks. Although a ceasefire agreed in December for Hodeidah largely holds, violence continues elsewhere and has escalated in recent weeks. A blast hit Sanaa near two schools on Sunday, the United Nations and Houthi-run media has said. "It was almost lunchtime and students were in class. The blast shattered the windows and unleashed a burst of shrapnel and broken glass into the classrooms," said Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF's Middle East head. Funerals for 12 of the killed pupils, all girls, were held on Wednesday, their coffins carried by a crowd through the streets of Sanaa. It is unclear what caused the blast and U.N. Yemen aid coordinator Lise Grande called for efforts to pinpoint the circumstances "that led to this tragedy". As well as deaths from conflict, Yemen's war has pushed more than 2 million people from their homes - exacerbating disease, poverty and hunger. Aid group Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) said a flare up in fighting in the Abs region in recent days has forced 18,000 from their homes, adding to the tens of thousands already displaced in that area. "MSF calls on all warring parties to ensure the protection of civilians," it said in a statement. (Reporting by Mohamed El-Sherif in Cairo and Reuters team in Yemen, writing by Lisa Barrington in Dubai; Editing by Alison Williams) LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz launched a heartland tour in reliably GOP Kansas on Tuesday, saying he can win the presidential race as an independent candidate by drawing much of his support from disaffected Republicans. Schultz spent part of a town hall meeting on the University of Kansas campus pushing back against Democrats' arguments that his running as an independent would help President Donald Trump win re-election in 2020 by splitting the anti-Trump vote. He said a campaign would have to get people who haven't been voting to the polls and tap support from independents, but added that he'd likely take many of his votes from Trump. The Brooklyn-born billionaire has not formally declared his candidacy and said after the town hall that he expects to decide in early summer. He said if he runs, he expects more than 40 states to be in play in the presidential race, including red bastions like Texas and Kansas, where the GOP nominee has carried the state every presidential election after 1964. "I think my potential candidacy will resonate," Schultz said after the town hall. "I'm very optimistic about and have great confidence in the American people's understanding of both how bad the political system is and the need for renewal." Trump carried Kansas by nearly 21 percentage points in 2016, but during last year's mid-terms, Democrats won the governor's race and unseated Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder in a Kansas City-area district where Trump proved to be unpopular. Schultz sees Kansas as in play partly because of Trump's trade policies, which he criticized strongly. Schultz's audience of about two dozen people included students, local business representatives and people interested in independent or third-party politics. Among the latter was Scott Morgan, an ex-local school board member and former moderate Republican who left the GOP to lead an unsuccessful attempt to form a new "Party of the Center" in Kansas ahead of the 2018 elections. Story continues Morgan said Schultz would be a plausible candidate partly because "it's such a bizarre time" and believes he would appeal to moderate Republicans who would not vote for a liberal Democratic candidate like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. "If he really catches on and he's got the resources to do it, the impossible can happen," Morgan said. "But at a minimum, he's got the resources to disrupt." Kansas Republicans remain confident that Trump will carry the state again no matter how the presidential race shapes up. In 1992, independent candidate Ross Perot received nearly 27 percent of the vote, among his best showings in the nation, but then-President George H.W. Bush still won Kansas. "We will deliver to our nominee I mean President Trump and in the future, the Republican nominee for years to come," said Kelly Arnold, a former Kansas Republican Party chairman. ___ Follow John Hanna on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apjdhanna Yaounde (AFP) - Cameroonian security forces have killed five civilian men, one of whom was beheaded, in an attack on a village in a restive anglophone region, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday. The five were either killed execution-style or shot as they attempted to flee from forces raiding their neighbourhood on April 4 in Meluf, near an armed separatist camp in Northwest Region, HRW said. Three of the bodies were later discovered mutilated, including two found with their hands tied and their genitals cut off. "Government forces are committing abuses against people living in the Anglophone areas of Cameroon," said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch, in a statement. "Cameroon's civilian and military authorities should make it clear that these types of abuses will not be tolerated and hold commanders responsible." AFP contacted the army, which did not give an immediate response. The rights group said Cameroonian soldiers, gendarmes and members of the elite Rapid Intervention Brigade carried out the attack. Multiple witnesses told HRW that security forces entered the village on foot and with military vehicles, including at least three military trucks and a bulldozer. At least 80 homes were forcibly entered, some were looted, and seven burned down, HRW said. "We woke up to the sound of guns. A soldier broke the window, and asked my aunt where the Amba Boys (anglophone separatists) were hiding. She told him that she didnt know, so he shot her in the right arm," one 45-year-old resident told HRW, whose uncle was killed. The NGO also reported an increase in attacks on health facilities and against medical staff. According to HRW, the army attacked a hospital in Mbingo on April 1, killing a 32-year-old woman and wounding another person while searching for separatists. Conflict in Cameroon, a majority French-speaking nation, broke out in October 2017 when anglophone militants declared an independent state in the Northwest and Southwest Regions. Story continues The International Crisis Group has said the death toll since the start of the fighting has topped 500 for civilians and more than 200 for members of the security forces. Around 437,000 people have fled the fighting, according to the United Nations. English-speakers, who account for about a fifth of Cameroon's population of 24 million, have chafed for years at perceived discrimination in education, law and economic opportunities at the hands of the francophone majority. The self-declared entity, the "Republic of Ambazonia," which has been named after the local Ambas Bay, has not been recognised internationally. Authorities in Seoul have cancelled the permit for a new Japanese embassy building citing construction delays, local officials said Wednesday, with relations between South Korea and Tokyo strained by historical disputes. The neighbours are both democracies, market economies and US allies faced with an increasingly assertive China and the long-running threat of nuclear-armed North Korea. But their own ties have remained icy for years due to bitter rows stemming from Japan's brutal 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean peninsula, with forced labour and wartime sex slavery key examples. A statue of a "comfort woman" symbolising the Korean women forced to work in Japanese military brothels mostly during World War II stands across the road from the embassy plot. Since 1992 campaigners have held weekly rallies at the site to demand a "full, heartfelt apology" for wartime sex slavery from Tokyo. The 1,382th such gathering took place Wednesday, with activists surrounding the statue. The previous embassy building was demolished some years ago, with staff moving into offices in the neighbouring high-rises, and the plot is now a patch of bare earth behind a high wall, vines growing through the surrounding barbed wire. City authorities gave permission for a new six-storey building in 2015, the year Seoul and Tokyo signed a controversial deal to settle the wartime sex slavery issue. But construction -- which under South Korean law must start within a year of a permit being received -- was repeatedly delayed. Japan argues that the "comfort women" statue is against the 2015 bilateral agreement, under which Tokyo offered an apology and a one-billion yen payment. But South Korean President Moon Jae-in said last year that the deal had been signed by his ousted predecessor Park Geun-hye without consulting the Korean victims and disbanded a foundation set up with the Japanese funds. An official at the Jongno Ward Office in Seoul said: "We had a meeting with Japanese officials in February, and they said they will accept the revocation of the permit as they cannot start the construction work due to circumstances in their home country." Story continues The dovish Moon -- who has brokered talks between Washington and Pyongyang -- has stressed the struggle against Japan is at the heart of national identity in both Koreas. This year marks the 100th anniversaries of the March 1 Independence Movement and the foundation of the Korean provisional government, and South Korea is pulling out the stops to commemorate them both. The centre of the capital is currently festooned with large government-produced posters of heroes of the fight for independence. Singapore (AFP) - Singaporean authorities said Wednesday they had discovered nearly 13 tonnes of pangolin scales worth about $38 million in a shipping container, the second major seizure of the creatures' parts in a week. Authorities across Southeast Asia are battling to stop the rampant poaching and smuggling of pangolins, the world's most heavily trafficked mammal, which is sought for use in traditional medicine. In the latest seizure, Singaporean customs and immigration officials on Monday found 12.7 tonnes of the creatures' scales in 474 bags on a container which was labelled as carrying seeds usually used to make tea. They estimated that around 21,000 pangolins were killed to harvest such a huge quantity of scales, according to a government statement. The container started its journey in Nigeria and was passing through the city-state -- a major trading hub -- en route to Vietnam, it said. "The Singapore government adopts a zero-tolerance stance on the use of Singapore as a conduit to smuggle endangered species and their parts," said the statement. On April 3, officials seized 12.9 tonnes of pangolin scales worth some $38.7 million from a container in Singapore which was also en route to Vietnam from Nigeria. Under Singaporean law, those found guilty of the illegal import or export of wildlife can be fined up to S$500,000 ($370,000) and jailed for up to two years. Pangolins, and particularly their scales, are highly prized in China and Vietnam for use in traditional medicine, despite the fact there is no scientific proof of their medical benefits. Singapore's extensive trade links and efficient ports have lured wildlife smugglers, who use the country as a transit point to ship exotic creatures to customers worldwide, according to animal welfare activists. Vienna (AFP) - Radioactive fallout from nuclear meltdowns and weapons testing is nestled in glaciers across the world, scientists said Wednesday, warning of a potentially hazardous time bomb as rising temperatures melt the icy residue. For the first time, an international team of scientists has studied the presence of nuclear fallout in ice surface sediments on glaciers across the Arctic, Iceland the Alps, Caucasus mountains, British Columbia and Antarctica. It found manmade radioactive material at all 17 survey sites, often at concentrations at least 10 times higher than levels elsewhere. "They are some of the highest levels you see in the environment outside nuclear exclusion zones," said Caroline Clason, a lecturer in Physical Geography at the University of Plymouth. When radioactive material is released into the atmosphere, it falls to earth as acid rain, some of which is absorbed by plants and soil. But when it falls as snow and settles in the ice, it forms heavier sediment which collects in glaciers, concentrating the levels of nuclear residue. The Chernobyl disaster of 1986 -- by far the most devastating nuclear accident to date -- released vast clouds of radioactive material including Caesium into the atmosphere, causing widespread contamination and acid rain across northern Europe for weeks afterwards. "Radioactive particles are very light so when they are taken up into the atmosphere they can be transported a very long way," she told AFP. "When it falls as rain, like after Chernobyl, it washes away and it's sort of a one-off event. But as snow, it stays in the ice for decades and as it melts in response to the climate it's then washed downstream." The environmental impact of this has been shown in recent years, as wild boar meat in Sweden was found to contain more than 10 times the safe levels of Caesium. - 'A mark we've left' - Clason said her team had detected some fallout from the Fukushima meltdown in 2011, but stressed that much of the particles from that particular disaster had yet to collect on the ice sediment. Story continues As well as disasters, radioactive material produced from weapons testing was also detected at several research sites. "We're talking about weapons testing from the 1950s and 1960s onwards, going right back in the development of the bomb," she said. "If we take a sediment core you can see a clear spike where Chernobyl was, but you can also see quite a defined spike in around 1963 when there was a period of quite heavy weapons testing." One of the most potentially hazardous residues of human nuclear activity is Americium, which is produced when Plutonium decays. Whereas Plutonium has a half-life of 14 years, Americium lasts 400. "Americium is more soluble in the environment and it is a stronger alpha (radiation) emitter. Both of those things are bad in terms of uptake into the food chain," said Clason. While there is little data available on how these materials can be passed down the food chain -- even potentially to humans -- Clason said there was no doubt that Americium is "particularly dangerous". As geologists look for markers of the epoch when mankind directly impacted the health of the planet -- known as the Anthropocene -- Clason and her team believe that radioactive particles in ice, soil and sediment could be an important indicator. "These materials are a product of what we have put into the atmosphere. This is just showing that our nuclear legacy hasn't disappeared yet, it's still there," Clason said. "And it's important to study that because ultimately it's a mark of what we have left in the environment." SEOUL, South Korea Fearing an enduring breakdown in the nuclear negotiations with North Korea, South Koreas president will deliver at an urgent plea to President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday: Dont give up on talks with Kim Jong Un. South Korean leader Moon Jae-in hopes to pitch Trump on a new approach and possibly a third summit to bridge the stark differences between the U.S. and North Korea. The basic goal of Moons trip is to keep the momentum, said Cheol-Hee Park, an international relations professor at Seoul National University. He doesnt want Trump to lose interest or contemplate military action. After leaving Washington, Moon will try to send a signal to Kim Jong Un to say Im trying to keep the negotiations alive, Park added. Kim could weigh in with a make-or-break message of his own, albeit from 11,000 miles away. Hours before Trump and Moon are scheduled to meet in Washington, Kims regime will hold a highly anticipated party meeting in Pyongyang on Thursday. The North Korean dictator could announce that he is abandoning talks with Trump or that he is still committed to the negotiations. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-In in 2017. Trump has not foreclosed the possibility of another meeting with Kim, but he has said North Korea must first take concrete steps toward denuclearization. Administration officials said they expect Moon to ask Trump to pull back some of the sanctions on North Korea, a central flashpoint in the negotiations. Last month, Trump tried to nix new U.S. Treasury Department sanctions on two Chinese companies accused of helping North Korea skirt United Nations restrictions on the regime's ability to sell and purchase goods internationally. "President Trump likes Chairman Kim," spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said at the time, "and he doesnt think these sanctions will be necessary." Accord remains uncertain Trump eventually backed down amid pushback from his advisers and criticism from outside experts. Whether Trump will be open to Moon's plea remains to be seen, but the president has continued to speak warmly of his North Korean counterpart, most recently at a Saturday speech to a Republican Jewish Coalition meeting in Las Vegas. Story continues "I can't tell you what's going to happen," Trump said. "I had to walk from the one deal ... (it) wasn't going to be the right deal. But we have a great relationship. We'll see what happens." The fresh flurry of attention on North Korea comes amid growing uncertainty about the fate of Trumps personal diplomatic push to persuade Kim to end his countrys nuclear weapons program. The Trump-Kim talks collapsed in February after a summit Hanoi failed to produce any agreement. In Hanoi, Kim offered to dismantle North Korea's main nuclear facility, Yongbyan, in exchange for major sanctions relief. Trump rejected that, instead pushing Kim to give up North Korea's entire stockpile of nuclear bombs, missiles and other capabilities, in exchange for full sanctions relief. The talks ended abruptly, with Trump leaving Vietnam early. In March, a top North Korean official suggested that Kim might quit the talks and restart nuclear and missile tests. Moon tries to keep talks going Since then, Moon has been working to convince Kim not to take any provocative steps, according to a senior South Korean government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the two leaders communications. Since Hanoi, we've been saying, 'You need to calm down. Don't do anything stupid,'" this official said. "We're doing a lot of things to prevent North Korea from walking out of this process." This official would not confirm whether Moon and Kim have spoken directly since Hanoi but said the South Korean leader has used a variety of channels to get his message across. He also said Trump's own rhetoric, reaffirming his positive relationship with Kim, has been helpful in sending "positive signals" to the reclusive North Korean leader. With South Koreas economy stagnant, Moon faces domestic pressure to produce positive results from the U.S.-North Korea talks. To get those negotiations back on track, Moons aides have floated the idea of a comprehensive agreement but implemented incrementally aimed at satisfying both Trump and Kim. That all for all agreement would require North Korea to give up its entire weapons arsenal in exchange for full sanctions relief, but in a step-by-step process and over an extended period of time, said Chung-in Moon, a special adviser to President Moon for foreign affairs and national security. Timetable for N. Korea nuclear dismantling In interview with USA TODAY and other American journalists last week in Seoul, Moon said that all-for-all deal would require both sides to agree to a specific timetable for implementation. Obviously the U.S. wants immediate dismantlement of all of North Koreas weapons of mass destruction, said Moon. North Korea might want to have a much more elongated timetable. South Korea might want some kind of compromise middle point. North Korea would have to take the first step, he said, perhaps by inviting American nuclear experts into North Korea to verify Kims claims that he has demolished most of the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site and started dismantling some missile sites. That kind of first harvest from the agreement could help build trust and momentum to execute the rest of the deal, said Moon, who added that he was not speaking on behalf of the Blue House, Seouls equivalent of the White House. He and other South Korean officials noted that Trump called Moon on his flight back to the U.S. from Hanoi and asked the South Korean president to contact Kim and try to persuade him to reconsider a big deal approach. Moons advisers will be watching Thursdays meeting in Washington closely, and they said the South Korean president will send an envoy or go himself to debrief Kim afterwards. We are not going to give up at this moment, Moon Hee-sang, the speaker of South Koreas National Assembly. I would like Mr. Trump to confirm his willingness to continue the momentum for dialogue with North Korea, and I also hope that he would express his willingness to hold the third summit between the United States and North Korea. The speaker said the strong chemistry between Trump, Kim and Moon offers the three leaders a unique opportunity. That doesnt come along often, he said. Reporting for this story was made possible by the Atlantic Council Korea Journalist Fellowship Program. Deirdre Shesgreen participated in the fellowship, which was sponsored by the Atlantic Council, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C., in partnership with the Korea Foundation. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: South Korean president Moon seeks deal, maybe a new summit, for Trump and Kim Jong Un VATICAN CITY (AP) The Vatican has invited South Sudan's president and opposition leader for a two-day spiritual retreat meant to foster peace and build confidence in a fragile peace deal after the country's five-year civil war. South Sudan's opposition leader Riek Machar was traveling Wednesday to the Vatican, while President Salva Kiir was already in Rome and meeting with Italy's premier. The Vatican said that the retreat, which ends Thursday, was an opportunity for "reflection and prayer" as well as an "encounter and reconciliation" to those who have "the mission and responsibility to work for a future of peace and prosperity for the South Sudanese people." The Vatican described the event as both ecumenical and diplomatic. Machar, who has been under house arrest, had to receive permission to travel. It's a question frustrated Southwest Airlines passengers have bombarded the airline with in the wake of heavy Max 8 flight cancellations and limited rebooking options during the busy spring break travel season. "Why can't you put me on another airline?'' The answer: Southwest doesn't do that as a matter of policy. In airline jargon, Southwest doesn't have interline agreements with other carriers, Competitors American, Delta and United do, allowing them to easily transfer passengers to a competing carrier, though their preference is to rebook passengers on their own flights or a partner airline. Southwest spokesman Chris Mainz said interlining is not consistent with Southwest's business model of dealing directly with travelers. It doesn't sell tickets through online travel agencies, for example, sending travelers to its website. "We can't control their experience on another airline,'' Mainz said. "It's a philosophical approach to the customer experience.'' Southwest, like all carriers, offers passengers a refund for canceled flights if they don't like the rebooking options. But the refund generally doesn't cover the cost of a new flight since last minute tickets are airline's priciest tickets. Mainz said there are "rare, extreme'' circumstances where Southwest will consider putting passengers in on other airlines. He did not provide any examples of extenuating circumstances except to say they would include situations where the airline has run out of options for customers with a dire travel need. Charlie Leocha, chairman of consumer group Travelers United, said the lack of interlining is not usually a problem for Southwest passengers because the nation's largest domestic carrier has frequent flights on most routes. "They've got so many flights that they normally can move people,'' he said. Southwest isn't the only carrier that doesn't have interline agreements. Discount carriers Frontier, Spirit and Allegiant don't interline. Story continues Those carriers say they will put travelers on other airlines as needed, especially when the flight cancellation was the airline's fault, such as a mechanical issue, but policies vary by airline. "While we dont have interline agreements, we absolutely put our guests on other airlines if our guest solutions team believes the situation warrants it and we are not able to reaccommodate on Spirit within a reasonable time,'' Spirit spokesman Derek Dombrowski said. Frontier spokesman Jonathan Freed said travelers whose flights are canceled due to circumstances in Frontier's control sometimes receive a voucher for travel on another airline or a rental car, depending on the circumstances. An email from the airline directs them to a website where they can rebook on another airline, or the airline's customer service agents can handle the rebooking, Freed said. More: No bag fees, no problem: Southwest Airlines takes in $642 million in other fees in 2018 More: Southwest flights to Hawaii: 12 things travelers need to know Allegiant generally doesn't put passengers on other airlines after it cancels a flight but will, on rare occasions, provide vouchers that can be used on another airline if the canceled flight was not rescheduled, spokeswoman Hilarie Grey said. Consumer groups including Travelers United have been arguing for the return of the so-called reciprocity rule, which allowed for easy passenger transfer between airlines in the case of flight cancellations and delays. It went away when the industry was deregulated in 1978. Airlines don't want to bring it back, Leocha said. "They just think that's too much regulation,'' he said. "I don't expect the DOT (U.S. Department of Transportation) is going to take any action. I can pretty much assure you they're not going to do anything.'' Leocha's advice for stranded travelers on any airline: It doesn't hurt to ask to be put on another carrier. It's not as easy as it used to be, and you'll hear a chorus of no's, even on airlines with interline agreements. But it's worth a shot in desperate circumstances, such as lengthy delays that will force you to miss an international connection, he said. And be polite, not demanding. On some carriers, Leocha said, "A lot of it has to do with how nice you are to the gate agent or ticket agent.'' More: Southwest Airlines mistakenly tells travelers they've earned a coveted companion pass This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Southwest flight canceled? Here's why the airline won't book you on another carrier Larry Madowos star continues to shine. The former Nation Media Group golden boy has been admitted to Columbia Universitys Journalism School in the City of New York. Larry, 31, is one of ten experienced journalists drawn from top international media publications around the world, to be accepted for the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Business and Economics at the Columbia Journalism School. An elated Larry, in a post on his socials, said he was honoured to be granted the highly-coveted opportunity. Im honoured to have been accepted into the fellowship at the @ Bagehots fellowship at @ columbiajourn. I have no words right now, just gratitude, he Tweeted. While announcing the ten Knight-Bagehot Fellows for the 2019-2020 academic year, the fellowship was full of praise for Larry Madowo and co. These Fellows reflect what was one of the most globally competitive and diverse applicant pools the Bagehot program has seen in its 44 years, said Raju Narisetti, professor of professional practice and director of the program. When they graduate in 2020 with a much deeper understanding of business, economics, technology and public policy, they will join 400 other Knight Bagehot alums living up to the mission of providing better context and understanding to their audiences globally. The Knight-Bagehot Fellowship is the only global mid-career journalism program devoted to business, economics, finance, and tech journalism. In its 44th year, the program is the largest and the most rigorous mid-career journalism fellowship in the world with 400 graduates. In addition to having his tuition fully paid, Larry Madowo will also be provided with a living stipend of $60,000 (Kshs6,053,400). The (BBC) Africa Business Editor and his fellow fellows will also attend special seminars at the Journalism School, led by seasoned journalists, media business executives and a broad range of tech, finance and economics experts during the nine-month program, which begins in August. The 10 Fellows were selected from applicants from 26 countries. Well in, Larry ??! Aircraft engine makers have recently gone a step ahead and introduced hypersonic flight technology that can travel five times faster than the speed of sound. Its way better than the earlier supersonic flight technology that only had a Mach>1.0. Lets look at the companies that are making the most of this new technological development. At the same time, airliners also stand to benefit from the hypersonic flight technology. Key Goal of Hypersonic Flight Technology Although many would think that Concordes retirement in 2003 brought about an end to supersonic air travel, recent developments in the hypersonic flight technology space could make it possible for humans to experience hypersonic flights. The key factor boosting a hypersonic flights efficiency is its engines ability to process air in high temperatures when the plane travels at a speed faster than that of sound. This is what Reaction Engines, a British aerospace manufacturer, were successful at, a CNBC report cited. The firms Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE), a new class of engine, is capable of Mach 5 in air-breathing mode. The company revealed that the engines precooler component could withstand temperatures of up to 420 degrees Celsius, on par with conditions the plane would face when travelling at a speed of Mach 3.3. The second phase of the test would witness the precooler being exposed to over 1000 degrees Celsius, the expected conditions of a Mach 5 hypersonic flight. Reaction Engines have secured investments of about $130 million from Boeings BA venture capital arm HorizonX, BAE Systems BAESY and Rolls Royce RYCEY over the last four years. The company has also received a $78 million funding assurance from the U.K. government. Boeing and BAE Systems carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) and Rolls Royce carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Story continues Boeings investment, particularly, reflects its steep competition with Lockheed Martin LMT, Northrop Grumman NOC and Raytheon RTN over the development of hypersonic strike weapons, using a hypersonic engine. How is the Aerospace Industry Expected to Benefit? The Concordes shortcomings were its sonic boom and less fuel efficiency, which essentially made the jet less economic. However, these may no longer be setbacks in supersonic and hypersonic air travels for modern commercial plane manufacturers. NASA is currently working with Lockheed Martin to develop a quiet supersonic aircraft, in order to convince the FAA to allow these planes to fly over land. Secondly, although hypersonic planes will consume more fuel than passenger planes, these could benefit from a higher utilization rate of the aircraft. Hypersonic planes will be faster than regular passenger planes, effectively reducing flight durations and will thus be able to make commercial flights more frequent. This will ultimately result in more revenue. Boeing insists that with its propulsive, structural and fuel technology, these hypersonic planes will be financially profitable after 2040, FlightGlobal reported. In addition, a major factor boosting the commercial aviation industry today is the demand for faster flights. This is the result of improved economic conditions and higher income, which has led to more consumers opting for air travel. Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019 In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year? Who wouldn't? Our annual Top 10s have beaten the market with amazing regularity. In 2018, while the market dropped -5.2%, the portfolio scored well into double-digits overall with individual stocks rising as high as +61.5%. And from 2012-2017, while the market boomed +126.3, Zacks' Top 10s reached an even more sensational +181.9%. See Latest Stocks Today >> 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 The Boeing Company (BA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Bae Systems PLC (BAESY) : Free Stock Analysis Report Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (RYCEY) : Free Stock Analysis Report Raytheon Company (RTN) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Cairo (AFP) - Support within Sudan for embattled President Omar al-Bashir seems be waning as some ranks in the army, a major pillar of his three decades in power, appear to be tilting towards the demonstrators, analysts say. Thousands of protesters have been camping outside the military complex housing Bashir's official residence in Khartoum since Saturday, braving tear gas and deadly gun shots from security services in defiance of a state of emergency banning all such demonstrations. But the Sudanese army, which has steered clear of intervening in the clashes since the start of the anti-government protests in December, has so far stood on the sidelines. On Tuesday, demonstrators were seen hoisting soldiers on their shoulders and dancing and chanting with them. While others joyfully saluted soldiers in armoured vehicles, keeping a protective eye on the crowds. "This is an obvious endorsement that is better understood as a co-optation of the protest movement," said Magdi El Gizouli, an analyst with Rift Valley Institute. "The events of April 6 and 7 have rehabilitated the moral standing of the army and affirmed its political weight." Demonstrators carrying banners calling on Bashir to step down have been urging the military -- a well-respected institution in the country -- to protect them and back their demands for the president to resign. On Monday, civil groups spearheading the protest movement including the Alliance for Freedom and Change called on the military to hold talks on forming a transitional government. And on Tuesday, the police openly ordered its forces not to intervene against the protestors, voicing hopes that a way can be found for "a peaceful transition" of power. - Possible army takeover - The army's implicit permission for the protests to continue in front of a sensitive military site lays bare the discontent within army ranks at Bashir's rule, analysts say. "The army has always been the key to the ultimate success for the uprising -- and there have been many signs of disaffection within the army -- at least among the ranks of brigadier general and the lower," said Eric Reeves, a senior fellow at Harvard University. Story continues "Lower ranks resent being made to kill fellow Sudanese," he added. Powerful bodies backing Bashir including the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) have led the deadly crackdown on protesters since December. But the army has not intervened. The sustained protest movement has so far posed the biggest threat to Bashir's 30-year rule, but has not yet persuaded the 75-year-old -- one of the longest ruling presidents in Africa -- to give up the reins of power. "The protest movement, while it did make considerable advances, has lacked a central strategy beyond agitation," said Gizouli. Indirectly, those groups leading the protest movement have in effect called on the army to "play the role of midwife, resolve the immediate crisis and depose Bashir and deliver power to the people," he added. - What's next?- "It's now an open question on how long the army will be loyal to Bashir," said Murithi Mutiga of the International Crisis Group. "Given the conflicting signals coming from the army top brass, Bashir might have to manage the transition now rather than later." He came under further pressure Tuesday when the United States, Britain and Norway issued a joint statement through their embassies in Khartoum, calling on the Sudanese authorities to deliver a "credible" plan now for a peaceful transition of power. But it remains unclear whether any such transition would usher in an era of another military ruler, or a civilian government especially if the protest movement fails to produce a viable alternative to Bashir. Gizouli believes Bashir, a brigade commander who led a bloodless coup against the democratically elected government in 1989, could just be replaced by another military ruler with popular support. Others argue that there is higher likelihood that a civilian government may be installed after Bashir. The protests were initially triggered by a decision to triple the price of bread, in a country already grappling with soaring fuel prices and an acute foreign currency shortage. "No one wants to 'own' the economic catastrophe that has befallen Sudan," said Reeves. "The current regime can't distance itself from it and the army doesn't want to inherit the catastrophe." The economy was especially hit after the 2011 secession of South Sudan, which holds three-quarters of former Sudan's oil wells. "At least a civilian government brought to power by the army would be given some leeway by the overwhelming majority of Sudanese," Reeves added. Khartoum (AFP) - Sudan's second new military leader in as many days vowed Saturday to "uproot" deposed president Omar al-Bashir's regime and release protesters, in a bid to placate demonstrators demanding civilian rule. "I announce the restructuring of state institutions according to the law and pledge to fight corruption and uproot the regime and its symbols," General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said, a day after he was sworn in to head Sudan's new ruling military council. He also ordered the release of all prisoners jailed by special emergency courts and the immediate lifting of a night-time curfew imposed by the council earlier this week. Career soldier Burhan took the helm of Sudan's transitional military council on Friday when his predecessor General Awad Ibn Ouf -- a close aide of ousted veteran president Bashir -- quit after little more than 24 hours in power. Burhan also pledged Saturday that individuals implicated in killing protesters would face justice. His initial announcements indicated he wanted to show the tens of thousands of protesters on the streets that he is not part of the regime's old guard and was genuinely committed to reform. He also accepted the resignation of the head of the feared National Intelligence and Security Service, Salah Abdallah Mohammed Salih -- widely known as Salih Ghosh -- the military council announced. Salih Ghosh had overseen a sweeping crackdown against protesters in four months of mass demonstrations that led to the army's toppling of Bashir on Thursday. - Demand for civilian rule - Dozens of protesters were killed and thousands of activists, opposition leaders and journalists arrested. The police said Friday that 16 people had been killed in live fire in Khartoum alone over the previous two days as NISS agents led a last stand for Bashir before the army intervened. But in a statement Saturday evening, Burhan said the deputy chief of the NISS was a member of the newly formed 10-member council which also includes the police chief and military figures. Story continues Burhan named as the council's deputy Mohammad Hamdan Daglo, who is also known as Himeidti, field commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) counter-insurgency unit, which rights groups have accused of abuses in war-torn Darfur. A photograph published by state news agency SUNA had shown Burhan talking with protesters outside army headquarters on Friday, before his elevation to the top job. Khartoum erupted with joy when Ibn Ouf tendered his resignation on Friday night barely 24 hours after taking the oath of office. But protest organisers urged demonstrators to keep up their week-old vigil outside army headquarters. Ibn Ouf had served as Bashir's defence minister right up to the president's downfall, ending three decades of iron-fisted rule. A former military intelligence chief, Ibn Ouf remains under US sanctions for his role in the regime's brutal response to a 2003 ethnic minority rebellion in Darfur region. Bashir himself came to power in a 1989 Islamist military coup, toppling an elected government led by Sadiq al-Mahdi. Burhan comes with less baggage from Bashir's deeply unpopular rule than Ibn Ouf. The grass-roots Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) composed of doctors, teachers and engineers, has spearheaded the nationwide protests. While welcoming Ibn Ouf's departure, it demanded that Burhan swiftly "transfer the powers of the military council to a transitional civilian government" and said it would continue to stage sit-ins to that end. - 'Violating the constitution' - Bashir remained in custody and his National Congress Party on Saturday urged the military council to release arrested members. "We consider (the) taking of power by the military council as violating the constitution's legitimacy," the NCP said in a statement. "The NCP rejects the detention of its leaders, among them its acting president" Ahmed Harun, it added, calling for their immediate release. Outside the Middle East, the formation of a military government to replace Bashir has met with widespread criticism. The African Union said Bashir's overthrow by the military was "not the appropriate response to the challenges facing Sudan and the aspirations of its people". The Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) called for dialogue and a peaceful transition of power, in a joint statement from their summit in Ndjamena, Chad. The European Union urged the army to carry out a "swift" handover to civilian rule, and former colonial ruler Britain said that the two-year transition announced by the military "is not the answer." "We need to see a swift move to an inclusive, representative, civilian leadership," said Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. But Saudi Arabia backed the transitional military council and promised an aid package including, wheat, medicine and "petroleum products", the Saudi Press Agency reported Saturday. Members of the military council have sought to reassure foreign diplomats about its intentions. "This is not a military coup, but taking the side of the people," the council's political chief Lieutenant General Omar Zain al-Abdin told Arab and African diplomats at a meeting broadcast on state television on Friday. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has longstanding arrest warrants against Bashir for suspected genocide and war crimes during the regime's brutal campaign of repression in Darfur. But the military council has said it would never extradite him or any other Sudanese citizen. The Texas State Securities Board has issued an emergency cease and desist order against cryptocurrency investment company FxBitGlobe. The company is accused of using a false address as well as forged government records, misrepresenting its status as a registered broker-dealer and investment adviser to a potential client. FxBitGlobe allegedly offered illegal international investments tied to cryptocurrencies and foreign currencies. FxBitGlobe offered multiple tiered investment plans. The lowest starting at $500 and promising a monthly return of 25 per cent; and the highest of at least $50,000offering a 70 per cent monthly return. Investments were payable in either fiat or cryptocurrency. While promising large returns, it did not provide any strategy for achieving them. Although the company is not a registered broker-dealer, it posted a certificate claiming it had been registered as a private limited company with Companies House. Similarly, it claims to be a registered investment advisor, member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. However, in reality, it wasn't registered with either FINRA or the SIPC, the document states. It has also never been registered with either the U.S. SEC or the Securities Board as an investment advisor. The Brexit Secretary admitted this morning that the EU holds the power over the future of Brexit and blamed MPs for the UKs loss of control. Asked whether Europe was in the driving seat, Stephen Barclay told BBC Radio 4 Today: That is a consequence of Parliament, not the Government. The Government has agreed a deal with the EU. It is Parliament that has forced this on the Government. Who's in control? Brexit Sec @stevebarclay admits that the EU has control of the Brexit process but blames Parliament for not supporting the PM's deal. "Parliament is refusing to honour the result of the referendum" #r4today | @mishalhusainbbc | https://t.co/Sz3l0K7KBv pic.twitter.com/wZBCvVP0ZN BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) April 10, 2019 He made the comments as Theresa May prepares to ask EU leaders for another Brexit extension as she visits Brussels for an emergency summit. The Prime Minister is set to repeat her request to delay Brexit until June 30, with the possibility of an earlier departure if the UKs withdrawal deal is ratified. However, European Council president Donald Tusk has suggested the UK is granted a longer extension of up to one year putting Mrs May on another collision course with Eurosceptic MPs. Theresa May is set to ask the EU for another Brexit extension (Getty) What has Tusk said? Mr Tusk, in a letter to the heads of the 27 remaining member states, said there was little reason to believe that the ratification of Mrs Mays beleaguered Brexit deal could be completed by the end of June. He called for the European Council to discuss an alternative, longer extension, such as a flexible extension lasting as long as necessary and no longer than one year. Story continues Mr Tusk wrote: The flexibility would allow to terminate the extension automatically, as soon as both sides have ratified the Withdrawal Agreement. European Council president Donald Tusk suggested that EU leaders grant the UK a longer extension of up to one year (Getty) The UK would be free to leave whenever it is ready. And the EU27 would avoid repeated Brexit summits. Mr Tusk also warned that neither side should be allowed to feel humiliated at any stage in this difficult process. Mrs May met with German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin for talks (Getty) The PM has held talks with EU leaders including French president Emmanuel Macron (PA) Humiliating talks Mr Tusks suggestions follows Mrs Mays whistle-stop tour on Tuesday of European capitals for talks with French president Emmanuel Macron in Paris and German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. DUP Westminster leader Nigel Dodds branded the talks humiliating and embarrassing for the UK, and claimed Britain was effectively holding out a begging bowl to European leaders. Read more: What Theresa Mays body language in her Brexit video means MPs give Theresa May green light to seek another Brexit extension British public opinion of politicians has sunk to a record low DUP leader Arlene Foster also questioned Mrs Mays leadership qualities, telling the BBC: She needed to be strong, she needed to show leadership, and Im sorry to say that hasnt been evident in these past couple of months. Mrs Foster said the Prime Minister had found herself pleading to stay in the EU to resolve issues that should have been already settled. Conservative rebels, including Dominic Raab, opposed a Brexit delay (Getty) Tory revolt On Tuesday evening MPs approved a Government motion for Mrs May to seek an extension to June 30 by 420 votes to 110, majority 310. However, 97 Conservatives rebelled by opposing the plan including former Brexit secretaries David Davis and Dominic Raab. The key dates in the Article 50 process (PA) Meanwhile, in a series of speeches at a meeting of the anti-Europe Bruges Group in Westminster there was also a warning that Europe was turning Britain from a Michelin-starred restaurant to one relying on microwave meals. Mark Francois, the vice-chairman of the European Research Group (ERG) of pro-Brexit MPs, said people in the UK could not be held captive against their will. Anger boiled over, with audience members shouting f*** government and repeatedly yelling traitor! at the mention of Theresa May. Labour claimed the Government had not yet made a clear shift in its position in cross-party Brexit talks (Getty) Labour talks The mood between Tory and Labour over the talks to break the Brexit deadlock seems to be at opposite ends. Downing Street said they had had further productive and wide-ranging talks but Labour said there had not yet been a clear shift in the Governments position. A spokeswoman said: We have yet to see the clear shift in the Governments position that is needed to secure a compromise agreement. We have agreed to hold further talks on Thursday in an effort to break the Brexit deadlock, and find a compromise that can win support in Parliament and bring the country together. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Another premature baby has died after infection in maternity hospital - www.alamy.com A third premature baby has died at a hospital in Glasgow after a rare infection was found at a neonatal unit. An incident team was set up earlier this year to investigate three cases of the Staphylococcus aureus blood stream infection at the Prince Royal Maternity Hospital, following the deaths of two premature babies. The third baby has not been identified, although the health board confirmed that the staph infection was a contributing factor in the death. Experts admitted in February, following the deaths of two premature babies, with a third baby said to be in stable condition, that the source of the infection may never be found. The deaths were revealed days after a separate infection, linked to pigeon droppings, was named as a contributory factor in the deaths of two patients, including a schoolboy, at the citys Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH). There have now been seven deaths in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area since January after patients picked up hospital-acquired infections. A separate infection was found at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Credit: PA A spokesman for the health board said: "As previously reported, we have been rigorously managing a number of cases of a rare Staphylococcus aureus blood stream infection in extremely premature babies in the neonatal unit of the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital. "Three babies, who were extremely poorly due to their very early birth, sadly died and infection was one of a number of contributing causes in their deaths. "Since early March, no further patients have tested positive for the Staphylococcus aureus infection. "A programme of staff and family screening was carried out, as has been previously reported. This was one of a number of steps taken to respond to this strain of Staphyloccocus aureus. "As this was an extremely rare strain which is highly resistant to the two antibiotics normally prescribed for S. Aureus, and the skin cleaning agent routinely used in hospitals across the UK, we put in place a number of further infection control measures, including the prescribing of different antibiotics and the introduction of a new skin cleaning agent. Story continues The Health Minister Jean Freeman was urged to reassure the public that everything possible was being done Credit: Corbis The blood stream infection can be passed through skin to skin contact. The bacteria is commonly found on human skin and in the upper respiratory tract, without causing any problems. Monica Lennon, Labours health spokesman, said the death of a third baby was "extremely sad" and the health board must be transparent about infections when patients have died. She added: The Health Secretary must reassure the public and NHS staff that she has all the facts and is doing everything possible to improve infection control and safety in all of Scotland's hospitals. Alex Cole-Hamilton, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesman, said patients would understandably be worried about a flurry of infection reports in recent months. He added that Jeane Freeman, the Health Minister, must establish how the infections occurred and share that information with other NHS bodies. A third baby has died after contracting a rare blood infection at Princess Royal Maternity Hospital in Glasgow (Google) Three babies are now confirmed to have died at the same hospital after they all contracted a rare blood infection. Two babies who were born prematurely died at the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital in Glasgow in January, while NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said a third has also died. The third child was said to be have been seriously ill at the time of birth and the health board said that the Staphylococcus aureus infection was one of a number of factors in the death. The Staphylococcus aureus infection was said to be one of a number of factors in the death (Wikipedia) They said: As previously reported, we have been rigorously managing a number of cases of a rare Staphylococcus aureus blood stream infection in extremely premature babies in the neonatal unit of the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital. Three babies, who were extremely poorly due to their very early birth, sadly died and infection was one of a number of contributing causes in their deaths. The third chid had been receiving treatment following the deaths of the first two babies the health board said. Read more from Yahoo News UK: Firefighters trained as police officers to support underfunded forces Doctors discover four sweat bees living inside womans eye UK couple who scooped 161m Lottery prize set to divorce A programme of staff and family screening has been carried out at the hospital to combat the spread of the infection. The board added: As this was an extremely rare strain, which is highly resistant to the two antibiotics normally prescribed for S. Aureus and the skin cleaning agent routinely used in hospitals across the UK, we put in place a number of further infection control measures including the prescribing of different antibiotics and the introduction of a new skin cleaning agent. The three babies were extremely poorly due to their very early birth (Getty/stock photo) Staphylococcus aureus is found on the skin and in the nasal passage of some one in four people, and only causes infection when it enters the body. No further patients at the hospital have tested positive for the infection since March but added that the source of the infection may never be known. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Donald Trump flatly denied on Tuesday that he was planning a big new crackdown on migrants at the southern border, even as senior administration officials briefed reporters on the details of such a plan in the works, leaders in charge of immigration policy were shuffled, and insiders described Trump in private as apoplectic over a recent increase in migrant arrivals. Related: David Miliband: the most vulnerable pay for Trump's 'manufactured crisis' A senior official told reporters the White House was crafting a plan that would target asylum-seekers anew and possibly bring back a version of Trumps deeply unpopular policy of family separations. Under a prospective policy the administration calls binary choice, migrant parents would be forced to choose between being detained with their children in jail-like facilities or agreeing to a separation under which children would be taken out of detention and placed with a guardian or in a shelter, the senior official said. Immigration rights groups warned that the proposals could lead to egregious new violations of international obligations and constitutional law. Were obviously very disturbed to hear these reports, said Charanya Krishnaswami of Amnesty International USA, speaking to the Guardian from near the San Ysidro port of entry in California. Theres already been a relentless, multi-faceted attack on asylum seekers. The idea that theyre somehow going to enact greater restrictions and make it worse, its just hard for me to imagine what that would even look like. Trumps gathering initiative at the southern border, which was signaled on Sunday by the announcement that the homeland security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, would be stepping down, appeared to be the result of presidential frustration, possibly the election calendar and the news last week that 103,000 migrants had arrived at the border in March, the highest total in more than a decade. In one White House meeting last month, an anonymous attendee told CNN, Trump was ranting and raving, saying border security was his issue and demanding a port of entry at El Paso, Texas, be closed, only to have Nielsen talk him out of it. Story continues Then the firings started. On Sunday, Trump tweeted that Nielsen was out. On Monday, Trump fired a second top homeland security official, the director of the secret service. Last week, Trump withdrew his nominee to head US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), saying he wanted someone tougher. In spite of the visible churn and the background briefings, Trump denied before the cameras, in a spontaneous exchange with reporters at the White House on Tuesday, that he was planning a significant new move on immigration. We have to close up the borders, Trump said, during a meeting with Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. Were not doing anything very big. Trump also denied he was considering a new family separations policy, saying: Were not looking to do that. But the exchange with reporters was otherwise so saturated with falsity and misdirection that the actual state of play was left in doubt. Trump claimed to have ended the family separation policy, as opposed to implementing it, saying: President Obama had child separation. Take a look. The press knows it, you know it, we all know it. I didnt have, Im the one that stopped it. President Obama had child separation. Trump also described the family separation policy favorably: Now Ill tell you something, once you dont have it, thats why you see many more people coming. Theyre coming like its a picnic, because, Lets go to Disneyland. Any unilateral move on immigration policy in the form of an executive order or presidential proclamation is sure to run into legal challenges. A judge in San Francisco on Monday blocked a Trump policy from January of returning asylum seekers to Mexico while their cases are processed, a wait that could take months or years. The remain in Mexico policy lacked sufficient protections to ensure migrants do not face undue risk to their lives or freedom in Mexico, the judge, Richard Seeborg, said. Without action by Congress, which has declined to join Trump in most every one of his immigration initiatives, the administrations legal options for altering policy are limited, said the Cornell University Law School professor Stephen Yale-Loehr, co-author of a 21-volume immigration law treatise. Related: Trump says he's 'not looking' to restart family separation immigration policy The quickest legal way for Trump to accelerate the deportation of asylum-seekers, said Yale-Loehr, could be by expanding a process known as expedited removal, which could allow for deportations of migrants arrested within 100 miles of the border up to 14 days after crossing. But they would have to do that through a rule they couldnt just announce it, Yale-Loehr said. And so it would take some time to go through the rule-making process. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a policy analyst at the American Immigration Council, said it was hard to discern the Trump administrations overarching legal strategy. Theyve certainly been engaging with Congress on this, Reichlin-Melnick said, but its hard to say, with the chaos going on in the administration right now, whether theyre truly focused on finding solutions inside the [Department of Homeland Security], or whether theyre really hanging their hat on Congress as their only hope. Yale-Loehr said: This administration doesnt seem to have a coherent policy. It seems that the president simply wants to score political points by seeming to be tough on immigration without really thinking through the best way to get to the root cause of why people are fleeing violence in Central American countries to come to the United States. The rules are already stacked against immigrants in trying to stay in the United States, and this administration is trying to make it even harder but without thinking through the consequences. The Trump administration plans to aggressively push for tougher screening of asylum seekers that will make it vastly more difficult for migrants fleeing persecution in their home countries to win protection in the United States, a senior administration official told reporters on Tuesday. The official said that President Trump ordered a shake-up of his top immigration officials in recent days because they were moving too slowly, or even actively obstructing, the presidents desire to confront the surge of migrants at the southwestern border. The asylum changes are among many policies the president wants to put into effect with a new team in place, the official said. Mr Trump denied on Tuesday that one of those changes would be to restart his policy of separating migrant families at the border, though he said that the act of taking children from their parents which drew global condemnation before he abandoned it last summer was effective. Now Ill tell you something, once you dont have it, thats why you see many more people coming, Mr Trump said. They are coming like its a picnic, because, Lets go to Disneyland. The administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity even as Mr Trump was making his remarks, said a modified version of family separation, in which parents are given a choice of whether to be separated or to accept indefinite detention alongside their children, continues to be under consideration. [[gallery-0]] But the so-called binary choice proposal is not ripe for White House consideration right now, he insisted, because the government does not currently have the detention space to hold families if the policy were put in place. The asylum changes being envisioned could drastically alter the role that the United States plays as a refuge for people fleeing poverty, violence and war. American and international laws require it to allow migrants to request asylum once they come to the country. Story continues But the official said that an initial assessment of the basis for a request for asylum known as a credible fear screening too often accepts the claim that the migrant was persecuted. The official also said that many more asylum seekers should be rejected during that first step. Out of 97,728 completed interviews with migrants in the fiscal year that ended on 30 September 2018, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services confirmed a credible fear of persecution 74,677 times, according to an agency official. Changes in the screening process could drastically lower those findings by requiring more proof from asylum seekers that they would be persecuted in their home countries. Screeners could also try to verify migrant claims by using State Department assessments of the threats that exist in those countries. Immigrant rights advocates have feared for months that the administration would try to change the standards by which asylum seekers are judged in an effort to prevent more of them from coming into the United States. The administration official blamed the delay in that effort on deep state bureaucrats at the Department of Homeland Security and even the presidents own political appointees in the department, whom the official described as lacking the management skills to push Mr Trumps agenda. The official declined to name specific administration officials who have failed. But he made thinly veiled references to two top officials at the Department of Homeland Security: John Mitnick, the departments general counsel, and L. Francis Cissna, the head of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. He said there was clearly a track record in which the presidents policies have not been advanced. In his remarks on Tuesday, Mr Trump falsely said that President Barack Obama had embraced the same policy of routinely separating migrant children from their parents at the border. President Obama had child separation, Mr Trump said during brief remarks in the Oval Office, where he was meeting with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt. Im the one that stopped it. Under Mr Obama and President George W. Bush, immigration officials sometimes separated families when they had reason to question parentage or when there was evidence of child abuse. The Trump administration instituted a policy in which all families who crossed the border illegally were separated in order to allow the parents to be prosecuted under the administrations zero tolerance policy. More than 2,700 children were separated from their parents at the border before Mr Trump ended the policy in June 2018. The presidents comments come after he shook up the senior ranks of the Department of Homeland Security, forcing the resignation of the secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, and top immigration officials in a move that signalled a pending shift in immigration policies. Also on Tuesday, the acting deputy secretary of homeland security, Claire Grady, who was next in line by law to become the acting secretary, submitted her resignation, according to a Twitter post by Ms. Nielsen. Ms. Gradys resignation paves the way for Kevin McAleenan, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, to take the role. Customs and Border Protection officials this week underscored Mr Trumps concern about illegal immigration by announcing that more than 103,000 migrants crossed the southwestern border in March without authorization, an increase from the more than 76,000 migrants who crossed in February. Just last month, we saw record numbers of family units and unaccompanied juvenile apprehensions in February, and unfortunately, March apprehension numbers are again record-setting and cause dire concerns for us, said Brian Hastings, the chief of law enforcement operations for the Border Patrol. Most of the migrants 92,000 of the 103,000 were apprehended by Border Patrol agents, meaning they crossed in between the ports of entry. More than 53,000 of those migrants were members of a family, Mr Hastings said, and most of those families were from Honduras, Guatemala or El Salvador. In the first half of fiscal year 2019, Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 385,000 migrants on the border, more than double those apprehended during the same time last year. Mr Hastings said the Border Patrol can generally maintain 4,500 people in its custody. But it recently counted 13,000 migrants in its facilities, and he said the overflow has led to the release of families into cities along the border. Backups have resulted in individuals spending additional time in Border Patrol custody in increasingly crowded conditions, Mr Hastings said. On Tuesday, White House officials announced that the president would appeal a judges ruling that blocked the administrations Migrant Protection Protocols, which require some asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while they wait for their court cases. Mr Trump has recently commended Mexico for doing more to stem migration to the border, but the officials said they have not seen any effect on the number of people crossing it. The numbers arent declining; in fact, were still seeing 3,000 apprehensions per day, Mr Hastings said. Officials also revealed that among the tens of thousands of family members approaching the border each month, just 3,100 people who said they were travelling with relatives were found to have a fraudulent claim. Those people either said they had a child when the individual was over 18 or the groups members were not really related. The New York Times One evening this semester, a small meeting room at Emory Police Department (EPD) headquarters became a temporary courtroom of sorts for DeKalb County Magistrate Judge Juwayn Haddad. A single item was on the docket that night: a presentation on the Georgia judicial system, which Haddad got underway by clicking a projector remote control instead of banging a gavel. Good evening. Im Judge Haddad, he introduced himself to the dozen so Emory students, staff, faculty and others in attendance before delivering an overview of court procedures. Welcome to the EPD Community Police Academy. Launched in February 2018, the academy recently graduated its third class of participants interested in learning more about EPD and the officers that serve and protect the Emory community. Often, members of our community do not know the extent of what we do, says Sgt. J. Ryan Andrews with EPDs Office of Professional Standards. The academy lets them take a deeper dive into our police department and get to know us personally. The seven-week programs larger goal is to strengthen EPDs relationship with the Emory campus community and expand its outreach, two things Chief Rus Drew has encouraged since his arrival in 2016. The academy offers a different perspective than EPDs other community engagement activities like self-defense classes and Coffee with a Cop. Its a very fun class, says Andrews. The first class probably started with five participants, then we went to seven last fall, and hit 11 this semester. EPD, which relies on social media and word-of-mouth advertising for the program, seeks to limit the number of participants to 15 per session. Weve had a decent amount of student participation, which is a good thing, Andrews notes. The staff is really enjoying this class mostly. Weve also had some people from the community who follow us on social media to enroll as well. Applications are now being accepted for the Fall 2019 Emory Community Police Academy, with classes beginning Sept. 10. Understanding what its like to be a police officer The academy is open to any member of the Emory community and mirrors similar programs offered at Duke, Georgia Tech and other peer institutions. Classes meet for two hours on Tuesdays and cover a wide-range of topics, beginning with an overview of the department and ending with firearms safety training that involves a trip to the nearby Quickshot Shooting Range for target practice. In between are the Haddad-led session on court procedures; a session on defensive tactics; and a session on criminal investigation taught by an EPD investigator, during which participants experience a mock crime scene and collect evidence in an effort to solve the crime. Theres also a class on the use of force by police that employs a judgmental simulator as a teaching tool. The device mimics real-life scenarios by letting participants issue verbal commands to an imaginary suspect projected on a screen, who could respond by pulling a drivers license, stapler, knife or gun. How participants are using what theyve learned Michael Leo Owens, a political science professor, is using what he learned in the academy in teaching his course, Policing, Imprisonment and Politics. From the historic and contemporary controversies of lethal use of force to the quotidian matters of pedestrian and driver stops to the use of emergency call systems as civic participation, the academy enhanced my knowledge and ability to help my students formulate more and better balanced views of police and policing, says Owens, a member of the 2019 fall cohort. It made the course more interesting and meaningful. An interest in disaster relief is what led Sara Springle, a sophomore political science major, to join this semesters academy cohort. Disaster relief generally involves a lot of interaction with law enforcement, Springle explains. I thought it would be interesting to learn how a police department functions day-to-day. Its been really good. First-year student Garrett Canterbury says attending the academy last fall gave him the additional insight into EPD operations and policing on a college campus that he needs to do a better job as a student ambassador for the department, particularly in responding to questions from his peers. Elizabeth Cox, director of Residence Life, has become one of the academys biggest fans after attending the fall 2018 session. Shooting a firearm for the first time during firearm safety class, she recalls, was both scary and thrilling. My academy experience reminded me of all the things the Emory police do behind the scenes on our behalf, adds Cox, who interacts with EPD frequently as a member of Campus Lifes on-call staff. We are lucky to have a group of officers so dedicated to the safety of our students and our entire university community. The Emory Police Department (EPD) is part of the Department of Public Safety, a unit of Campus Services. Public Safety provides administrative oversight for EPD, Emory Fire Safety and Emory Emergency Medical Service, delivering safety and security services to the Emory community. EPD provides complete law enforcement services for the Emory Campus, Midtown Campus, and Oxford College Campus. WASHINGTON President Donald Trump found a Bush that likes him and made sure everyone knew about it on Wednesday. The commander-in-chief brought George P. Bush, the Texas Land Commissioner and son of former presidential candidate Jeb Bush, on stage during an event in Crosby, Texas, where he signed two executive orders that will ease the construction of pipelines and other energy projects. "This is the only Bush that likes me! This is the only one," Trump said as he called George P. Bush to the stage. "This is the Bush that got it right. I like him." Trumps joke came days after he responded to criticism leveled at him by former first lady Barbara Bush in a new book. Barbara Bush, who died a year ago this month, blamed Trump for aggravating her long battle with congestive heart failure and chronic pulmonary disease. The book also revealed that Bush wrote in her son, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who lost in the primary to Trump, on her ballot in 2016 and that she kept a countdown clock marking the end of Trump's term on a table next to her bed. I have heard that she was nasty to me, but she should be," Trump told The Washington Times in response to the book. "Look what I did to her sons. LIVE: President Trump Delivers Remarks and Signs an Executive Order on Energy & Infrastructure https://t.co/2l3HEYME99 The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 10, 2019 Trump was responding to the former first lady's remarks in The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty, written by USA TODAY Washington Bureau chief Susan Page. Excerpts of the book were first published in USA TODAY. Trump has had a testy relationship with the Bush family. He frequently criticized former President George W. Bush on the campaign trail in 2016. He also frequently derided former Jeb Bush dubbing him "low energy Jeb" during their primary battle. Story continues More: 'Look what I did to her sons.' Trump fires back at Barbara Bush remarks in new biography Despite the hurdles, George P. Bush has maintained a relationship with the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. "Come here, I want to meet you," Trump said as he introduced George P. Bush to the crowd. "This is a friend of my son and he's a great guy. Truly, this is the Bush that got it right." After shaking hands, the president applauded George P. Bush, a fourth-generation politician in the Bush family. "I like him. I like him," Trump said. "He's going far. He's going places." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump brags about finding 'the only Bush that likes me!' during visit in Texas William Barr appeared before Congress to answer questions on the Justice Department's budget, but the hearing instead turned into a barrage of questions about the much-delayed release of the Mueller report. The attorney general told members of Congress at his first public appearance since receiving the special counsels report that his earlier projection of releasing a version by mid-April still stood. The nearly 400-page report is being scoured now to remove grand jury information and details relating to pending investigations. The redactions will be colour-coded and accompanied by notes explaining the decision to withhold information, he said. Democrats scolded Mr Barr over his handling of the report, telling him they were concerned that a summary of its main conclusions he released last month portrayed the investigations findings in an overly favorable way of the president. Mr Barr was summoned to Congress to talk about his departments budget request, but lawmakers still asked about the Mueller report as they waited to see it. His opening remarks focused on funding requests for immigration enforcement and the fights against violent crime and opioid addiction, not mentioning the special counsels report at all. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is under fire from senior Republicans after he forced out Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, with the likes of Texas Senator John Cornyn breaking ranks to denounce the mess left behind at the department tasked with ending illegal immigration from Central America. Veteran senator Chuck Grassley warned further sackings could follow while others have expressed disquiet about the ever-growing influence of White House aide Stephen Miller, a zero-tolerance hard-liner. Additional reporting by AP. Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load By Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump praised his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, as a "great president" on Tuesday, even as a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers raised concerns about Sisi's record on human rights, efforts to keep him in office for many years and planned Russian arms purchases. Egypt's parliament has proposed constitutional reforms aimed at allowing Sisi to remain in power until 2034, which senior U.S. lawmakers and advocacy groups have criticized, along with Egypt's repression of human rights. Asked if he backed the efforts to allow Sisi to potentially stay in power for 15 more years, Trump told reporters: "I think he's doing a great job. I dont know about the effort, I can just tell you he is doing a great job ... great president." Sisi is a former general who came to power after the military overthrew Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in 2013 following mass protests against his rule. Sisi was elected the following year. He has since overseen a sweeping crackdown on both Islamist and liberal opposition. Activists consider it the worst repression in Egypts modern history. Trump, who referred to Sisi as "my friend," made no mention of human rights as the two spoke to reporters. In a later statement stressing Trump's commitment to Egypt, the White House mentioned the issue in its fifth bullet point, saying: "The United States encourages the Egyptian government to preserve space for civil society and to protect human rights." PRAISING RELATIONSHIP WITH EGYPT Egypt, the Arab world's most populous nation, is of strategic importance to the United States because of its peace treaty with Israel and control of the Suez Canal, a vital waterway for global commerce as well as the U.S. military. The U.S. Congress has set aside $1.4 billion in aid to Egypt in recent years. While there continues to be support for such aid, U.S. lawmakers have voiced deep concerns about Egypt's reported signing of a $2 billion deal with Russia to buy more than 20 Sukhoi SU-35 fighter jets and weapons for the aircraft. Trump did not answer a question about Egypt's planned Russian arms purchase, which could expose the country to U.S. sanctions. He said "a lot of progress has been made ... in terms of terrorism and other things with Egypt." "We've never had a better relationship, Egypt and the United States, than we do right now," Trump added as the two men spoke to reporters before meeting in the White House Oval Office. "All the credit goes to you, Mister President," Sisi responded through an interpreter. "Thank you very much for your support on all fronts." In a letter released on Monday, leading senators said Egypt had "unjustly detained" more than a dozen Americans, and called for their release. They also raised "serious concerns about the erosion of political and human rights." The letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was signed by the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Republican chairman, Jim Risch, the panel's senior Democrat, Bob Menendez, and 15 other senators. During a congressional hearing, Patrick Leahy, the Senate Appropriations Committee's top Democrat, asked Pompeo to explain Trump's praise for authoritarian leaders. "Maybe you can explain why a dictator like Egypts President al-Sisi is feted at the White House, Russias President (Vladimir) Putin, North Koreas Kim Jong Un and Turkeys President (Tayyip) Erdogan are praised as strong leaders and the Saudi Crown Prince is treated as an indispensable friend and ally," he said. Pompeo disputed that the Trump administration was treading lightly on human rights and he praised Egypts actions in support of Israel. "We have not been remotely bashful," he said. The Egyptian embassy was not immediately available for comment. The White House said in a statement that Trump and Sisi discussed water issues. "These complex issues must be addressed through negotiations and with respect for international best practices," the statement said. The statement did not refer to a specific water issue, but Egypt has criticized a dam Ethiopia is building on the River Nile, saying it could restrict waters coming from Ethiopia's highlands, through the deserts of Sudan, to Egyptian fields and reservoirs. (Reporting by Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton; Additional reporting by Mohammad Zargham, Patricia Zengerle and Arshad Mohammed; Writing by Arshad Mohammed and Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Bill Berkrot, Leslie Adler and Peter Cooney) Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump called the probe into his campaign's Russia links an attempted "coup" Wednesday, while his attorney general promised to investigate FBI "spying" on the president. More than two weeks after the Mueller probe wrapped up, apparently putting him in the clear, Trump is far from resting easy. Raising the rhetorical temperature still further, he branded the investigation "an attempted coup. This was an attempted takedown of a president." "What they did was treason, what they did was terrible, what they did was against our constitution," he said at the White House, demanding retribution. The blistering comments will feed a widespread conspiracy theory on the right that the Russia probe was a fiction cooked up by Democrats and a so-called "deep state" seeking to overturn Trump's shock 2016 election win. Attorney General William Barr testified in Congress that he will open an inquiry into "spying" against Trump by the FBI at the origins of the probe led by independent prosecutor Robert Mueller. "Spying on a political campaign is a big deal," Barr told the Senate Appropriations Committee. "I think spying did occur. The question is, was it was adequately predicated? I'm not saying it wasn't," he said. Opposition Democrats reacted with anger to Barr's comments. "AG Barr must retract his statement immediately or produce specific evidence to back it up," tweeted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. "Perpetuating conspiracy theories is beneath the office of the Attorney General." Adam Schiff, chairman of House Intelligence Committee, added: "The casual suggestion by the nation's top law enforcement officer of 'spying' may please Donald Trump, who rails against a 'deep state coup,' but it strikes another destructive blow to our democratic institutions." - Trump on the offensive - Story continues The Mueller probe grew out of fears that state-sponsored Russian meddling in the 2016 election extended to collusion between the Trump campaign and Kremlin operatives. The full report -- minus parts deemed unpublishable for security or legal reasons -- should be released "next week," Barr told Congress on Wednesday. For now, all there is to go on is a short March 24 summary issued by Barr. This said that the report determined there had been no collusion, even if there was considerable evidence of general Russian meddling. On the face of it, that conclusion was a stunning victory for Trump, who all along denounced the investigation as a worthless "witch hunt." Despite the apparent vindication, however, he remained on the defensive, casting himself repeatedly as victim of a politically motivated abuse of power. With his latest blistering comments, he appears to be switching to offense against what he tweeted Wednesday was "this Phony & Treasonous Hoax!" - Spying theory - Trump repeated Wednesday that he has nothing to fear. "I have not seen the Mueller report, I have not read the Mueller report," he said. "As far as I'm concerned I don't care about the Mueller report. I've been totally exonerated." In fact, the few details known so far about the results of Mueller's huge investigation do not necessarily amount to total exoneration. Barr's summary quotes Mueller as saying that while there was no evidence of collusion he could not reach a definite ruling on whether Trump tried to obstruct justice -- itself a serious crime. Barr said that in his judgment there was no obstruction, prompting Trump to declare himself free of all suspicion. However, the details of Mueller's report will likely still give Trump's Democratic opponents ammunition in their battle to paint the president as tainted, even if not legally guilty. Facing this danger, Trump is pushing to change the narrative to his demand that the investigators be investigated. "There is a hunger for that to happen in this country like I have never seen before," he said. Barr backed him up in Congress, saying "I have an obligation to make sure that government power is not abused." Senator Mark Warner, a senior Democrat, accused Barr of feeding a "long-debunked 'spying' conspiracy theory." "Mr Barr knows how counter-intel investigators work. He knows there was ample evidence of Russian attempts to infiltrate the Trump campaign and that the FBI took lawful action to stop it," he said. Donald Trumps designation of Irans Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation will have far-reaching consequences, and is a highly significant step in the escalation of tensions with Tehran. It is the first time the US has labelled another sovereign states armed forces as terrorists, and the move will renew charges that this is yet another step in Washingtons attempt to instigate regime change in Iran. The most immediate effects of Trumps decision are that it enables the US to impose further sanctions. At the same time it will make it even more difficult for the countries trying to save the nuclear deal with Iran, which Trump is striving to sabotage with a new raft of punitive measures making it more difficult for banks and businesses to trade with Iran. Senior CIA and Pentagon officials had advised against the terrorist designation, stressing it will be used by hardliners to justify operations against Americans and their allies, especially those working undercover. The US Department of State warned the step would cause problems for relations with allies particularly Iraq, where the IRGC has ties to powerful militias, and Lebanon where it has ties with Hezbollah, which is part of the government there. But this US president, a Vietnam draft dodger who routinely traduces military heroes and blamed the supposed deep state for investigations into whether he was the Muscovian candidate in the US presidential elections, is now very much in confrontation with his security and diplomatic establishment. The decision about the IRGC came in the same week Trump started a systematic purge of internal security, removing the director of the Secret Service, Randolph Alles, and forcing the resignation of homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen with other senior officials, it is believed, due to follow. Trumps national security adviser, John Bolton, and Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, egged on by Saudi Arabia and Israel, have been pressing for action against the Revolutionary Guards. Both are hawks on Iran, and there is particular suspicion in Tehran of Bolton. Story continues At the recent meeting of the annual Munich Security Conference, the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, wanted to point out that Bolton had told an Iranian exile group the Mujahedin Khalq (MEK), once designated as terrorists in the US and Europe the Trump administration should fully back their goal of immediate regime change and recognise the group as a viable alternative. John Bolton is now angry because he said he would celebrate with MEK in Tehran in 2019 and that is not going to happen, said Zarif. But there is another issue with this president, as it continues to be in the Russiagate inquiries his business affairs. Two years ago The New Yorker magazine published an account of Trump Tower Baku, an edifice which never actually opened to the public and, according to the report, appeared to be a corrupt operation engineered by oligarchs tied to Irans Revolutionary Guard. Ivanka Trump, the presidents daughter, visited the site in 2014 and offered advice about various aspects of the project. The Trump organisation, say legal documents, signed multiple contracts to construct the tower with the Mammadov family, whose head Ziya Mammadov, then the transport minister of Azerbaijan, was described in US diplomatic messages as notoriously corrupt even for Azerbaijan (according to non-profit group Transparency International, the country is one of the most corrupt nations on Earth) . The project came before the Iran nuclear deal, at a time when international financial institutions were wary of dealing with Iranian institutions. The aim of the Baku Tower project, The New Yorker report noted, was to launder money and do other biddings of the central organisation. The Mammadovs had economic links to the Darvishi family, three of whose members were directly associated with the IRGC. Ziya Mammadov had awarded a number of contracts on the project to Azarpassilo, an Iranian construction company run by the Darvishis. The IRGC is heavily involved in commercial sectors of Iran, owning swathes of factories and businesses as is the case with the military in other countries including Pakistan and Egypt. This is a matter of some controversy inside Iran. One of the reasons for the unrest which swept the country last year was the leaking of the national budget which revealed that, while ordinary people were suffering economic hardship due to new American sanctions, some conservative religious institutions and security bodies like the IRGC remained unaffected and continued to do well. The budget was almost certainly leaked by people in the reformist administration of president Hassan Rouhani. It is the reformers who are being undermined by Trumps sabotage of the nuclear deal, and will continue to be by the IRGC designation. That organisation will claim to be patriotic champions, keep on getting its money, and it will be at the detriment of the long-suffering Iranian people. There is a danger there will be regime change in Iran thanks to people like Bolton who brought us the disastrous Iraq invasion. But the likelihood is that it will be the hardliners taking over, not a pleasant scenario for the Iranian people or the outside world. By Daren Butler and Ali Kucukgocmen ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said electoral authorities should annul Istanbul's local elections due to irregularities, notably over the appointment of ballot box officials, the pro-government Sabah newspaper reported on Wednesday. Initial results indicate the main opposition Republican People's Party narrowly won control of Turkey's biggest city in the mayoral elections, seemingly ending 25 years of control of a key power centre by Erdogan's AK Party and its Islamist predecessors. Speaking to reporters this week, Erdogan said that regulations requiring ballot box officials to be civil servants had not been met everywhere. "Our colleagues have established this. Naturally all this casts doubt. If they take a sincere view, this will lead to annulment," he said. Any decision to annul the elections would rest with the High Election Board (YSK). A senior AKP official said on Tuesday it would demand a new vote in Istanbul after failing to secure a citywide recount of the March 31 election results. The AKP has already requested the annulment of the election in Istanbul's Buyukcekmece district, citing irregularities in voter records. Police have been checking whether some of those who voted were actually resident there. Ekrem Imamoglu, mayoral candidate for the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), said the AKP was evaluating whether a new election in Buyukcekmece could tip the balance its way for all of Istanbul. "I say, give up on this made-up process here. Don't go knocking on doors in Buyukcekmece, tiring our police with such a process," he told the broadcaster Halk TV. He urged the YSK to announce official results for Istanbul. "Let me tell those who don't know: we won," he said. "It's done, enough. You've been counting for 10 days, bottom to top, top to bottom, right to left, left to right." Story continues Speaking to KRT TV, Canan Kaftancioglu, the CHP's provincial head in Istanbul, said Imamoglu was still leading by 14,005 votes with 97.4 percent of the partial recount completed. Erdogan had said on Monday that "organised crime" had marred the election in Istanbul. (Reporting by Daren Butler and Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Kevin Liffey) By Andrew Hay and Jose Gallego Espina TIJUANA, Mexico/SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - On Tuesday, seven Central American families living temporarily in Mexico appeared in a San Diego immigration court to plead for asylum in the United States. Mindful of a federal court ruling the day before that halted the Trump administration's policy of making asylum seekers wait in Mexico, the judge repeatedly asked the U.S. government lawyer what would happen to these families now. "I do not have an answer, replied the lawyer, Kathryn Stuever. Neither the U.S. government nor the more than 1,000 people awaiting asylum hearings in Tijuana and other border cities knows what will happen next to families already returned to Mexico by the Trump administration. The ruling by a U.S. District Court judge on Monday made clear that the 11 plaintiffs who sued the government over the policy would be brought back to the United States to press their asylum claims. It also made clear that, for now, new asylum seekers could not be forced to await resolution of their cases south of the border. But the hundreds of people now living in shelters, from tents inside warehouses to more established settings, are in legal limbo - a situation some say frightens them because they feel vulnerable to kidnappings, violence and serious illness. The migrants are from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua and 286 of them are children. Most do not have legal representation, according to immigration advocates. In interviews with Reuters in recent days, several reported robberies, violence or attempts to kidnap their children. Reuters was not able to independently verify their claims. But those interviewed said they did not feel safe in Tijuana and were scared to leave the shelters housing them. The ruling does not go into effect until Friday and the White House said it would appeal, which could put the decision on hold. [nL1N21R1ZG] The administration has contended that the asylum seekers are pushing the immigration system to its limits. The appeals process could take months, perhaps extending through the 2020 presidential campaign, legal experts said. Story continues In court Tuesday, Veronica Guadalupe Galdamez, 32, appeared with her two children and her partner. They asked for more time to get a lawyer. In court, her partner claimed fear of being returned to Mexico because "someone tried to take one of the children." Galdamez told Reuters this week she fled El Salvador in 2018 after gang threats. Within minutes of returning to Mexico after her first U.S. court hearing on April 1, she said, two men tried to steal her 4-year-old son. Reuters was not able to independently corroborate her story. The dangers of Tijuana are generally known, however. With 138 murders per 100,000 residents in 2018, Tijuana was the most violent city in the world outside a war zone, according to a recent study by Mexico's Security, Justice and Peace group. San Salvador ranked 24th, with a rate of 50, the study showed. After appearing in court on Tuesday, Galdamez and her family were referred to an interview with an asylum officer. Her family's fate was uncertain. Others in the program remained in Mexico on Tuesday, wondering what the ruling meant for their futures. Carmen Zepeda, 45, from El Salvador, was returned to Tijuana last month and has her first court hearing on April 22. She fled San Salvador following a death threat against her son and domestic abuse by her husband, she said. "Now we're in danger here as well," she said. "I'm praying they give me the opportunity to cross." (Reporting by Andrew Hay in Tijuana, Mexico and Jose Gallego Espina in San Diego; Additional reporting by Yeganeh Torbati, Tom Hals and Lizbeth Diaz; Writing by Kristina Cooke; Editing by Julie Marquis and Lisa Shumaker) By Tom Hals (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday halted the Trump administration's policy of sending some asylum seekers back across the southern border to wait out their cases in Mexico, stopping a program the government planned to expand to stem a recent flood of migrants. The ruling is slated to take effect on Friday, according to the order by U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco. The preliminary injunction will apply nationwide. In a late night tweet, U.S. President Donald Trump said, "A 9th Circuit Judge just ruled that Mexico is too dangerous for migrants. So unfair to the U.S. OUT OF CONTROL!" The program was launched in January and was one of many policies aimed at slowing rising numbers of immigrants arriving at the border, many of them families from Central America, that swelled last month to the highest in a decade. Because of limits on how long children are legally allowed to be held in detention, many of the families are released to await U.S. immigration court hearings, a process that can take years because of ballooning backlogs. The Trump administration said last week it planned to expand the program of sending some migrants to wait out their U.S. court dates in Mexican border cities under a policy known as Migrant Protection Protocols, or MPP. The government argued MPP was needed because so many asylum seekers spend years living in the United States and never appear for their court hearings before their claim is denied and an immigration judge orders them to be deported. Seeborg said the Immigration and Nationalization Act, however, does not authorize the government to return asylum seekers to Mexico the way the government has applied it. He also said the policy lacks safeguards to protect refugees from threats to their life or freedom. Justice Department data show that while the percentage of immigration court cases completed "in absentia" - when the foreign citizen fails to show - has risen in recent years, the majority of immigrants show up for their hearings. A U.S. Department of Justice spokesman declined to comment on Monday's ruling. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Mexican foreign ministry considers the ruling "an internal decision" of the United States, a spokesman said. Seeborg said the government shall permit the 11 plaintiffs in the case to enter the United States beginning on Sunday. He said the government still retained the right to detain the asylum-seekers pending the outcome of their case. The ruling can be appealed, and the government could seek a stay of the injunction until the appeals process runs its course. LAWYERS, MIGRANTS GRATIFIED Still, lawyers for migrants were gratified by the decision. "This is a great ruling," said Judy Rabinovitz, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, which was one of the groups that brought the case. "This is what they were planning on implementing on a large scale. That would have been a complete game changer in the way our asylum system works," she said. Rabinovitz said the groups that brought the lawsuit needed to discuss what could be done for the hundreds of refugees who are awaiting their cases in Mexico. She said as their cases are heard, they will be returned to the United States, but that could take months. The plaintiffs include legal service organizations and migrants who fled Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to escape what they said was extreme violence, rape and death threats. Gabriela Orellana, 26, an asylum seeker from El Salvador who was scheduled to have her first hearing on Tuesday, was delighted by news of the judge's ruling. "I'm crying from happiness," she told Reuters. She is not one of the plaintiffs in the case. Orellana said she fled El Salvador with her 8-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son after she was shot by a gang member. She has been in Tijuana since January and has waited nearly two months for her first interview with U.S. immigration authorities. Others in Tijuana were more cautious. "Will I be allowed to go or do I have to stay?" asked Veronica Galdamez, who said she fled San Salvador in 2018 after gang members stole her food cart and, pointing a gun at her, told her she had 24 hours to get out of the city. "I feel real happiness, but also uncertainty, because I don't know if this applies to me," Galdamez said. MPP was based on a decades-old law that says migrants who enter from a contiguous country can be returned there to wait out their deportation case, although the provision had never been used in the way the administration has applied it. Civil rights groups sued, arguing the policy violated U.S. and international law by returning refugees to dangerous border towns where they would be unable to get legal counsel or notices of hearings. Kirstjen Nielsen resigned as Secretary of Homeland Security, the department that oversees immigration, on Sunday. A congressional official familiar with the matter said some in Congress believe Trump forced out Nielsen in part because she was trying to obey laws on treatment of refugees, granting of amnesty and separation of families. (This story corrects spelling of last name of migrant in paragraphs 25-26 to Galdamez, not Galdames) (Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; additional reporting by Andrew Hay, Frank Jack Daniel, Yeganeh Torbati and Rich McKay; Editing by Leslie Adler, Sonya Hepinstall and Himani Sarkar) Julio Penaranda (left), general manager of Atlantas Plaza Fiesta shopping center, speaks with Emory professors Pablo Palomino (center) and Vialla Hartfield-Mendez in a video interview included in the "Making Progress" Teach-Out When Oxford College humanities scholar Pablo Palomino decided to teach a University Course this semester exploring Progress: An Interdisciplinary Reflection, he expected to engage with a diverse classroom dynamic, working among students representing a wide swath of majors on both Emorys Oxford and Atlanta campuses. What he didnt anticipate was that the classroom could go global. For the first time, an Emory University Course is being expanded this semester to include a Teach-Out event a free virtual forum inspired by the teach-ins of the 1960s, now offered to global learners through the Coursera online platform. Scheduled to launch April 15, the pilot event invites participants to consider what progress means in the context of public sites of memory and how people may interpret it from different perspectives, explains Stephanie Parisi, associate director of online education at Emorys Center for Faculty Development and Excellence (CFDE), which is leading the event. The Teach-Out will feature video interviews with people who work in Atlanta addressing topics such as historical sites, neighborhood gentrification and immigrant spaces. It also will include public discussion forums, culminating with an invitation for participants to answer a call to action and explore a site of memory in their own community, Parisi says. The idea for hosting the event emerged last spring, when Emory was among 10 schools invited to participate in a Teach-Out Academy offered at the University of Michigan home of the first teach-in in 1965, which was presented as a tool of public education. When Palomino proposed teaching a University Course this spring that examined what progress could mean the history behind the concept, how it is approached by Emory scholars across many disciplines, and how it can be applied in contemporary Atlanta the CFDE was intrigued. Working with CFDE staff, he found support for expanding the course into an even larger public conversation: a free and open online learning event. Its an important topic with philosophical, political and epistemological ramifications, and one that Ive been thinking of developing as a larger project in the coming years, says Palomino, assistant professor of Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Oxford College and a Mellon Faculty Fellow in the Humanities, a fellowship designed to foster interdisciplinary connections across Emorys academic units. Teaching to an expanded audience Emory launched its first University Course eight years ago with a goal of bringing together undergraduate, graduate and professional students and a robust roster of faculty from across campus for an intensive, multidisciplinary exploration of a common subject. Having conducted oral histories that explore sites of memory, Palomino decided that Atlanta would offer a good laboratory to test conflicting narratives of progress, providing an opportunity to examine what things change and what things remain the same in the city, according to different people. His syllabus reflects that, with lecturers who include experts in the fields of music history, global health, environmental philosophy, and sociology, religion and culture. And as a relative newcomer this is his second year in Atlanta Palomino was curious to know more about how the history of the city dealt with economic progress, interracial progress and institutional progress. The Teach-Out takes those ideas to an even broader audience of learners, employing lectures, readings, discussion and short videos featuring campus and community experts: Barbara Coble, partnerships manager of Graduation Generation, talking about gentrification in the Edgewood and Kirkwood neighborhoods. Gabrielle Dudley, instruction archivist in the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, discussing approaches to researching and capturing sites of memory. Michael Bradley, professor of philosophy/religion at Georgia State University, talking about his research on Stone Mountain. Vialla Hartfield-Mendez, professor of Spanish, and Julio Penaranda, general manager of Plaza Fiesta, talking about the plaza as a place of memory for the local LatinX population. Its really a unique format, says Parisi. The University of Michigan has told us that were taking this to a place theyve never thought of, as far as community engagement. Through the University Course, Palominos students will also participate in the Teach-Out, helping facilitate online discussions and developing their own call to action projects, Palomino says. Working with our students has been fantastic, he says. They are learning different styles of scholarship and writing, while trying to find their own angle into the question of progress through ethical, environmental, religious and mental health perspectives. The community learning event also fits well within the pillars of the One Emory strategic framework, reflecting the universitys commitment to engage local and global communities while highlighting the scholarship of faculty experts, notes Donna Troka, CFDE senior associate director. We thought this was a topic that had real reach and would definitely be meaningful to global learners, she says. Once launched, the Teach-Out will run for two weeks and may be accessed at the convenience of participants. To join the online event, enroll here. For more information about this program, visit the CFDE website. By David Alire Garcia MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday the deadly toll of Mexico's rampant gangland violence was reminiscent of the era in her native Chile when thousands died or disappeared during a military dictatorship. Bachelet, a former Chilean president, concluded a five-day visit to Mexico where she met with victims of violence as well as government officials and pushed for a full accounting of past abuses. She told reporters at a news conference that stories of anguish she heard from the families of victims reminded her of the darkest days of the police state that Augusto Pinochet oversaw in Chile during the 1970s and 1980s. "It was like returning to a part of my own history," she said. During the military dictatorship in Chile from 1973 to 1990, about 3,000 people were killed or disappeared and 28,000 others were victims of torture, including Bachelet and her father, an air force general. In Mexico, homicides rose by one-third last year, according to government data, breaking a record for the second consecutive year as more than 33,000 murder cases were opened. In her prepared remarks, Bachelet cited other "terrifying figures," including 26,000 bodies that Mexican officials have not been able to identify and 850 mass graves dug up. "It was moving for me to meet with the families," she added. "They have the same cries, the same calls for truth and justice." Since late 2006, vicious internecine strife among drug cartels and their clashes with the state have been blamed for more than 200,000 deaths in Mexico. The government has succeeded in taking down cartel bosses, but that has often led to fragmentation of the gangs and more killings. Bachelet said the violence in Mexico had unique characteristics and that the country suffered from weak rule of law. "The truth is you have laws for everything," she said, her voice rising. "There isn't a lack of laws, but rather a need to implement them." Story continues Asked about crisis-racked Venezuela, Bachelet said her office continued to monitor the violation of human rights and humanitarian needs in the South American country. Last month, Bachelet issued a blistering report on excessive use of force by Venezuelan security forces and pro-government militias, including extra-judicial executions. She said a visit to Venezuela was possible "relatively soon," but emphasized she wanted to guard her office's neutrality. (Reporting by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Peter Cooney) The MP has said his staff should not feel intimidated when they go to work. (parliamentlive) A Plaid Cymru MP has said it is unnerving that the door of the Caernarfon office has been vandalised with the word scum on it. North Wales Police are investigating the incident after staff found the front door sprayed with the offensive word on it. The graffiti was discovered at the constituency office of Plaid Cymrus Hywel Williams MP and Sian Gwenllian, a Welsh National Assembly member, in Caernarfon on Wednesday morning, April 10. This is what confronted my staff in my Caernarfon office this morning. My staff are entitled to work free from fear and intimidation just like everybody else. Sincere thanks to @NWPolice for swift response. https://t.co/QDacNa9Nrm Hywel Williams AS/MP (@HywelPlaidCymru) April 10, 2019 Arfon MP Mr Williams said to Yahoo News: If anyone wants to make a comment then they can come and see me. There should be a respectful discussion, this is not acceptable. Police will be making door to door inquiries, it is unnerving. It is a stupid stunt when they could just come and see me. We have very good security arrangements, as do all MPs. The MP also said that although the incident itself can be seen as trivial, the atmosphere in politics has become quite nasty. Read More on Yahoo News Barrow shipyard staff evacuated after suspected bomb hoax The EU is in control of Brexit: Steven Barclay admits UK has lost power over future of Brexit He tweeted an article about the incident and said that his staff are entitled to work free from fear and intimidation. A police statement said: Officers are currently in attendance (Wednesday) and we are appealing to anyone who may have information relating to the incident to contact police on 101 quoting reference X048042. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Washington (AFP) - Lengthy congressional testimony by US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin descended into outright acrimony on Tuesday as a House committee rebuffed his pleas to be dismissed. "Please dismiss everybody. I believe you're supposed to take your gavel and bang it," Mnuchin said, visibly irritated as he approached the second of two appearances on Capitol Hill. Mnuchin faced grilling before House panels on appropriations and financial services, where Democrats aggressively questioned him over President Donald Trump's tax returns, sanctions policy toward Russia and his personal finances. But after testifying in the afternoon for more than three hours before the Committee on Financial Services, he locked horns with Chairwoman Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, who did not adjourn the hearing even though Mnuchin said he was late for a meeting with an official visiting from Bahrain. "I have a foreign leader waiting in my office at 5:30, okay? I've agreed to stay longer. It will be embarrassing if I keep this person waiting for long periods of time," he said. "So if this is the way you want to treat me, then I'll rethink whether I voluntarily come back here," Mnuchin said. "If you wish to leave, you may leave," Waters said, without formally closing the hearing. "I don't understand what you're saying," Mnuchin replied, ultimately remaining until the hearing was adjourned. Mnuchin has found himself in the center of widening disputes between Trump and Democrats, who recently took control of the lower house of Congress and have sought a host of angles of attack for investigations into the president's administration, finances and ties to Russia. He has faced distracting entanglements over his own finances and use of government resources. He vowed last week to recuse himself from matters that could affect his wife's film production company after the Office of Government Ethics declined to certify his financial disclosure, finding he faced a conflict of interest. Story continues In his testimony on Tuesday, Mnuchin revealed that White House lawyers had been in contact with Treasury officials to discuss an expected request from lawmakers for six years of Trump's tax returns. But he rejected Democrat lawmakers' suggestion that this could have been illegal or improper, saying it was merely a consultation and that he had not personally been involved. Mnuchin was an early Trump supporter and is one of the longest-serving members in the president's Cabinet. But he also faces pressure not to let working relations with congressional Democrats, in the Financial Services Committee in particular, deteriorate as they have the power to make his life difficult. Mnuchin ultimately stayed to answer final questions from committee members about Russia sanctions and other matters. "Thank you. I look forward to being back in May. We'll work on a date," he said. LONDON (AP) The top U.S. diplomat for cybersecurity policy on Wednesday praised Germany's draft security standards for next generation mobile networks, which he said could effectively shut out China's Huawei. The standards published last month were a "positive step," said Rob Strayer, who's leading the U.S. campaign to persuade its allies to stop using the Chinese tech giant's network gear. The German standards , which are subject to feedback from the industry, call for mobile providers to use "trustworthy" telecom equipment suppliers that comply with national security regulations covering communications secrecy and data protection. The U.S. has been lobbying European allies to ban Huawei from new 5G networks over concerns China's communist leaders could force the company to use its equipment for cyberespionage. Huawei, the world's biggest maker of telecom network gear, has consistently denied the U.S. allegations. While no European countries have issued blanket bans, Strayer said a "risk-based" approach to evaluating telecom suppliers, including their relationship with their national government, would "lead inevitably" to banning Huawei. "At this point we're looking for governments to adopt security standards like we're seeing in Germany," Strayer told reporters on a conference call. The German requirements are incompatible with China's national intelligence law, which compels companies to cooperate with intelligence requests, so "it's hard to see how Chinese technology would meet that standard," Strayer said. The U.S. is concerned that intelligence sharing or other forms of cooperation with its allies could be hurt if those countries use unsecure equipment from untrusted countries in their 5G networks, Strayer said. The battle over Huawei has intensified in recent months as countries in Europe and elsewhere prepare to deploy 5G networks, starting with the auction of frequencies this year. MEXICO CITY (AP) The U.S. government has returned two clay figurines from the Teotihuacan culture to Mexico. The seated figurines delivered Tuesday were probably made between A.D. 200 and 700. The mysterious culture arose at the Teotihuacan ceremonial site just north of Mexico City. The artifacts were among thousands ranging from arrowheads to shrunken heads that U.S. federal agents removed in 2014 from a man's Indiana farm. The man, Don Miller, amassed the 42,000-artifact collection over several decades. He died in 2015 at age 91. About 7,000 pieces in the collection were determined to have been illegally taken from countries including China, Canada, Iraq, Peru and Mexico. The FBI says artifacts have been returned to several countries. Mexico's foreign relations department says about 800 Mexican artifacts were seized in the U.S. last year. By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY, April 10 (Reuters) - The Vatican is working on a papal document that would establish procedures for Catholics to report bishops suspected of sexual abuse or negligence in sexual abuse cases, according to two Vatican sources. The document, still in its early stages, would be the second official pronouncement by Pope Francis on the global sexual abuse crisis since he presided at a summit of senior bishops at the Vatican in February. The first after the summit was last month when Francis made it compulsory in law to report the sexual abuse of children within the Vatican and in its diplomatic missions worldwide . Victims of sexual abuse and their advocates have long called for measures to make bishops more accountable and to make it easier to report the alleged role of some in cover-ups, negligence or mismanagement. In its current form, the document is a Motu Proprio, or a personal papal edict. Its working title is "Moral Responsibility," one of the sources said. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the matter. The Church's credibility has been badly tarnished by abuse scandals in Ireland, Chile, Australia, France, the United States, Poland, Germany and elsewhere, in which it has paid billions of dollars in damages to victims and been forced to close parishes. In 2016, Francis issued an edict establishing that bishops could be removed from office for negligence or omission that led even indirectly to sexual abuse of minors by clergy. While many national Churches have procedures for the faithful to report sexual abuse of minors or vulnerable adults by a priest, there are no clear procedures to report suspicion of abuse or negligence by a bishop. Victims held the late cardinal Bernard Law responsible for allowing abuse by priests when he was archbishop of Boston between 1984 to 2002. The abuse and cover up was exposed by the Boston Globe and dramatized in the Oscar-winning film Spotlight. Story continues After he resigned, Law moved to Rome and was never prosecuted either by the Vatican or American civil justice. He died in Rome in 2017. The current draft of the document includes elements of suggestions made by bishops in the United States on setting up an accessible and user friendly reporting mechanism. In a speech at the February summit at the Vatican, Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, called for the establishment of "independent reporting mechanisms" where accusations of suspected abuse or negligence by a bishop could be reported. Cupich said the accusations would be forwarded directly to the Vatican's ambassador in the county, to a senior bishop in the prelate's region, and to a board of experts that includes non-clerics. A preliminary investigation would follow, "if the allegation has even the semblance of truth," Cupich said in February. Cupich suggested setting up a dedicated hot line or web portal to receive complaints about bishops but the current draft of the Vatican document does not specify this, according to a person familiar with it. The draft calls for the creation of a fund to cover the costs of reporting procedures and investigations. If the diocese is in a poor country, the costs could be picked up by one of the Vatican departments that can investigate bishops, the current draft says, according to one of the sources said. The draft speaks of the inclusion of lay people in overseeing the reporting process. Victims of sexual abuse and their advocates have demanded that non-clerics be involved, saying bishops could not police themselves. The sources said the type, content and title of the document could change as it develops. (Reporting By Philip Pullella Editing by Giles Elgood) Paris (AFP) - OPEC's oil output dropped sharply last month as a result of steep production cuts in Venezuela and kingpin Saudi Arabia, the cartel said on Wednesday. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' combined oil production plunged by 534,000 barrels per day in March, it said in a report citing secondary sources. OPEC does not release its own production data. Venezuela, in the throes of political troubles, sanctions and repeated power blackouts, pumped 289,000 fewer barrels per day than the previous month, taking production to 732,000 bpd. This compares to the more than a million barrels per day Venezuela was pumping at the start of the year, and its production capacity of nearly two mbpd in 2017. Kingpin Saudi Arabia's production, meanwhile, fell by 324,000 bpd, according to OPEC's sources, the report said. This, analysts say, is a result of the kingdom's determination to support oil prices in line with a production cut deal between OPEC countries and non-member Russia that is to run until June. These efforts appear to be paying off. Oil prices rose at their fastest pace in 14 years over the first quarter of the year. On Wednesday the WTI futures contract, the benchmark for US production, stood at $64.42 and its European counterpart, Brent, at $70.95. WASHINGTON Warner Bros. appears to have shut down a video posted on Twitter by President Donald Trump, citing a copyright issue. The two-minute 2020 campaign video, set to the score from the 2012 blockbuster "The Dark Knight Rises," was unavailable Tuesday night, just hours after Trump had posted it to Twitter. The use of Warner Bros. score from 'The Dark Knight Rises' in the campaign video was unauthorized. We are working through the appropriate legal channels to have it removed," a company spokesperson said in a statement. The video was gone by Tuesday night, replaced with a message that read: "This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner." The video opened showing by Washington, D.C., and a number of Democrats, including former President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in the 2016 election. Messages in gray letters popped up across a pure black background. "First they ignore you," one reads. "Then they laugh at you." The last reads: "Then they call you racist." Buttigieg-Pence: Tensions flare in 'long and complicated' relationship between Mayor Pete and the VP Candace Owens: Conservative commentator fumes at Rep. Ted Lieu's use of her Hitler comments As the music intensified, Trump was shown at rallies and within the White House. The video showed a variety of pivotal moments during Trump's first term, including his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and the end of special counsel Robert Mueller investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The video shows a headline, saying Mueller's office found no proof of conspiracy between the Kremlin and Trump's campaign. The video ended with messages stretched across the screen, saying "your vote proved them all wrong" and dubbing Trump's 2020 election "the great victory." Story continues The video amassed 1.85 million views within first five hours of Trump tweeting it to his millions of followers. It's unclear whether the president or his campaign created the video. BuzzFeed, which first reported that Warner Bros. was seeking to remove the video, also reported that the footage was taken from Reddit. Also: 35 musicians who famously told politicians: Don't use my song Related: Steven Tyler is seeing red after Trump played Aerosmith songs at rallies, again It's not the first time Trump has taken heat for using music in his campaigning. Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler has demanded Trump stop using his songs at political rallies. The 70-year-old rocker sent Trump a cease-and-desist letter last year after the commander-in-chief played Aerosmiths hit song Livin on the Edge at a rally in West Virginia. Mr. Trump is creating the false impression that our client has given his consent for the use of his music, and even that he endorses the presidency of Mr. Trump, the letter obtained by USA TODAY read. Tylers legal team said Trumps use of the song is a trademark infringement and a violation of our clients rights of privacy." Contributing: Cydney Henderson, USA TODAY This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Warner Bros. shuts down Trump 2020 video on Twitter for 'unauthorized' use of copyrighted music Senator Elizabeth Warrens presidential campaign raised $6 million in the first quarter of this year, it reported Wednesday. The campaign received over 213,000 contributions from more than 135,000 donors whose average donation was $28, according to Warrens campaign manager Roger Lau. In the final week of the quarter, it pulled in more than $1.4 million, and now has $11.2 million in its coffers. Warrens fundraising numbers lag significantly behind those of her competitors for the Democratic nomination. Senator Bernie Sanders topped the list, pulling in a colossal $18.2 million in the first quarter, while Senator Kamala Harris raised $12 million, former representative Beto ORourke took in $9.4 million, and South Bend, Ind. mayor Pete Buttigieg pulled in $7 million. Many in the Democratic field of presidential candidates have pledged not to accept money from corporate political-action committees, including Senators Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, and Kirsten Gillibrand. Warren, who announced her campaign in December, has taken things a step farther, swearing off high-dollar fundraisers and refusing to solicit wealthy donors for cash. Instead of spending time with millionaire donors, Im now at twelve states and Puerto Rico spending time with people whore going to build the grassroots energy for us to win in 2020 and to make the changes we need to make in 2021, Warren told CNN in an interview last week. More from National Review CINCINNATI The Washington Post's legal team has asked for the dismissal of the $250 million lawsuit filed against them by Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann. The motion to dismiss was filed in federal court on Tuesday. Nick, a 16-year-old Covington Catholic student, was thrust into the national spotlight when videos of him and his classmates interacting with others outside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., went viral in January. Nick's legal team filed a similar lawsuit against CNN and sent dozens of letters requesting national media outlets and public figures to preserve evidence such as internal emails for potential lawsuits. In the motion to dismiss, the Washington Post notes that the label suit only cites early news articles that "included the observations and perspectives of the principal Native American participant in the incident" and others. More: Covington Catholic teen's team files $250M suit against the Post "It was neither false nor defamatory, however, for the Post to report the comments of eyewitnesses, including the only participants who were speaking publicly about the matter on the day that videos of the event went viral on the internet," the motion said. "Newspapers are often unable to publish a complete account of events when they first come to light. Stories often develop over time, as more witnesses emerge." The motion said that most of the statements that referred to Nick were statements of the subjective feelings and motivation Nathan Phillips, the Native American Elder who is seen in videos with the Covington Catholic students. "That man was entitled to offer his subjective point of view, and the Post had a right to report it as it had a right to report the initial condemnation of the students behavior by the responsible diocesan and school officials," the Washington Post said. In the initial lawsuit filed by Nick's legal team, his attorneys claim that the Post ignored "basic journalist standards" and published defamatory stories about Nick because it wanted to advance its biased agenda against President Donald Trump. Story continues "Politics has nothing to do with this case, and law warrants its dismissal," the Post's legal team said. The Post does admit that the articles "may not have been flattering" of the students, but they don't rise to defamation. The Post said its overall coverage was accurate and "ultimately favorable" to Nick. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Washington Post files to dismiss Covington Catholic teen's defamation lawsuit By Alastair Macdonald and Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS/LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - Brexit will not be on Friday, EU leaders will confirm when they meet British Prime Minister Theresa May at another crisis summit on Wednesday, but diplomats said they are still wrestling on how long it might be delayed and under what conditions. May, still unable to find a parliamentary majority to back the orderly departure deal she negotiated with Brussels, shuttled to Berlin and Paris for pre-summit talks, while EU ministers gathered in Luxembourg to prepare Wednesday's meeting. Two weeks after a summit at which the other 27 EU leaders granted London a fortnight's grace from the original departure deadline until April 12, EU ministers said May had failed to meet their conditions for a further extension - namely to show them a plan for using additional time to avoid crashing out. Yet EU diplomats said there was no appetite around the table to drop the axe on Britain just yet. They said that talks, which were to continue among national envoys in Brussels later on Tuesday, were now focused on a proposal from summit chair Donald Tusk to give Britain up to a year longer to organize its withdrawal. "People are tired and fed up - but what to do?" one said. "We won't be the ones pushing the UK off the cliff edge." However, a long extension would entail Britain holding an election on May 23 to return lawmakers to the new session of the European Parliament, which starts on July 2. The EU would also like to limit Britain's ability to influence key decisions, such as on the bloc's new executive leadership or budget, if it stays for longer - though that would be far from easy to do legally. A nine-month extension to Dec. 31 was gaining favor, diplomats said. But officials are also trying to come up with ways to pressure the British to take a decision sooner rather than later - in part, by offering a long delay that pro-Brexit critics of May's deal fear might mean Brexit never happens. EXTENSION? WHAT FOR? Michel Barnier, the EU's Brexit negotiator, told reporters after briefing ministers in Luxembourg: "Any extension should serve a purpose. The length should be proportional to the objective. Our objective is an orderly withdrawal. "No-deal will never by the EU's decision," he added. "In order to avoid no-deal, the UK needs to agree to a deal." An aide to French President Emmanuel Macron, who has taken a lead in pushing for the Union to be ready to show Britain the door if its parliament cannot ratify a withdrawal deal, said a full year would be too long. The aide stressed that Britain could be subject to reviews of its behavior to ensure it did not disrupt the bloc from within. May has renewed the request she made last month for an extension to June 30, saying that talks she launched last week with her Labour opponents gave her a chance of ratifying her Brexit deal after three previous defeats in parliament. EU leaders would much prefer Britain to be out by May 22, before the elections, and will insist on Britain holding its own vote on May 23, even if it expects to have left before the new EU legislature sits in July. May has planned for a contingency of giving six weeks' notice by Friday of an EU election. Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel will host a meeting of Britain's closest neighbors, the ones who would be hardest hit by the disruption of a no-deal Brexit, just ahead of the summit. Officials expect the French, Dutch, Danish and Swedish leaders to attend - in principle to coordinate on trade arrangements, but also to discuss objectives for the summit in the evening. May is due to address the 27 at 6:30 p.m. (1630 GMT) before leaving the room while the others discuss over dinner whether and how to postpone Friday's deadline for Britain's departure. "Things are fluid," a senior EU diplomat said. Leaders were meeting and calling each other across the continent, trying to coordinate, leaving the summit outcome still very uncertain. (Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Wall Street biggie Wells Fargo & Company WFC recently announced that its subsidiary, Wells Fargo Bank, has agreed to divest the Institutional Retirement & Trust (IRT) business to Principal Financial Group PFG based in Des Moines, IA, for $1.2 billion. The transaction, subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close early in third-quarter 2019. Principal Financial will fund nearly $400-$500 million of the aggregate purchase price through new debt, while the remaining amount will be paid in cash. Also, out of the total price of $1.2 billion, $150 million will be paid in 2021 on strong business performance and exceeding expectations. Jon Weiss, head of Wells Fargo Wealth & Investment Management, noted, The scale derived from a combination of IRT and the Principal Financial Group will benefit clients, plan participants, and team members. At the same time this sale reflects Wells Fargos strategy to focus our resources on areas where we can grow and maximize opportunities within wealth, brokerage and asset management. Notably, Principal Financial provides a wide range of retirement savings, investment, and insurance products and services to nearly 24 million customers through various subsidiaries. Wells Fargos retirement plan services unit, which includes its 401(k) savings accounts business, if merged with Principal Financial, would aid in expanding similar business of the latter. As of Dec 31, 2018, Wells Fargos retirement plan services unit had $827 billion in assets under administration. Wells Fargo has made such divestments earlier as well. With a view to cut costs, it inked a deal with Flagstar Bancorp FBC last year to divest all of its branches in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. Also, it entered into a deal with the local unit of Popular, Inc. BPOP to offload its Puerto Rico auto finance business. Our Viewpoint Wells Fargo started facing troubles in its retail banking segment in September 2016, when its employees opened unauthorized accounts on behalf of the banks clients to fulfill sales targets. Following this, scandals in different areas of business came to light, which put Wells Fargo under the strict supervision of regulators. In May 2018, Wells Fargo disclosed an impressive cost-control plan to help it deal with persistent legal expenses. Also, the banks efforts to revamp its financial position supported by lower tax rates and rising rate environment might help it overcome negatives. Shares of Wells Fargo have lost 7.3% over the past year compared with 6.9% decline recorded by the industry. Story continues Currently, the stock carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019 In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year? Who wouldn't? Our annual Top 10s have beaten the market with amazing regularity. In 2018, while the market dropped -5.2%, the portfolio scored well into double-digits overall with individual stocks rising as high as +61.5%. And from 2012-2017, while the market boomed +126.3, Zacks' Top 10s reached an even more sensational +181.9%. See Latest Stocks Today >> 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 Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Popular, Inc. (BPOP) : Free Stock Analysis Report Flagstar Bancorp, Inc. (FBC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Principal Financial Group, Inc. (PFG) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research WASHINGTON The White House declined to comment Tuesday when asked by Yahoo News if President Trump has seen special counsel Robert Muellers full report. This silence comes hours after Attorney General William Barr similarly refused to say if Trump had seen Muellers report on his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Barr was testifying before the House Appropriations Committee about the Department of Justice budget, but questions about Muellers report dominated the hearing. Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said a brief summary of Muellers report that Barr released on March 24 seemed to cherry-pick from the report, to draw the most favorable conclusion possible for the president." Lowey questioned Barr on whether the White House had been briefed on Muellers report and asked if the president or his staff saw the complete document before or after Barr published his summary. Barr, who said at the hearing that he hoped to publicly release a redacted version of the report within a week, declined to answer Loweys question. Ive said what Im going to say about the report today. Ive issued three letters about it and I was willing to discuss the historic information of how the report came to me but Ive already laid out the process that is going forward, hopefully within a week, Barr said, adding, Im not going to say anything more about it until the report is out and everyone has a chance to look at it. President Donald Trump meets with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, April 9, 2019, in Washington. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP) Barrs trio of letters about the Mueller report included his four-page summary in which he said the special counsel found no evidence Trump or his campaign team colluded with Russia. According to Barr, Mueller declined to draw a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice in the investigation and left it up to the attorney general to decide whether the president should be prosecuted for that crime. Barr declined to charge Trump with obstruction of justice. The White House and congressional Democrats have been battling over the Mueller report since the release of Barrs letter. Trump quickly declared Muellers report offered him complete and total exoneration, but House Democrats have since authorized a subpoena to try to obtain it. Story continues Following Barrs testimony on Tuesday, Lowey stressed Democrats desire to see the unredacted document and raised concerns about whether the attorney general shared it with the White House. She suggested the presidents allies could have had input on Barrs summary of the parts of the public version of the report that will be concealed. It was clear to me that the attorney general felt that he was an appointee of the president of the United States of America and its very hard for me to believe that he didnt make any changes or additions based on any suggestions that might have come from the White House, Lowey said of Barrs comments. Although the White House isnt saying whether Trump has seen Muellers report, the presidents legal team indicated it has not seen the document. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Jay Sekulow, two of Trumps top personal attorneys, told Yahoo News they have not read the report. Sekulow, however, specified that he could not say whether Trump or the White House have had access to it. I can only speak for my team. You would need to talk to the White House for other information, Sekulow said. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: Today we'll evaluate Worthington Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WOR) to determine whether it could have potential as an investment idea. In particular, we'll consider its Return On Capital Employed (ROCE), as that can give us insight into how profitably the company is able to employ capital in its business. First up, we'll look at what ROCE is and how we calculate it. Then we'll compare its ROCE to similar companies. Then we'll determine how its current liabilities are affecting its ROCE. What is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)? ROCE measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. All else being equal, a better business will have a higher ROCE. In brief, it is a useful tool, but it is not without drawbacks. Author Edwin Whiting says to be careful when comparing the ROCE of different businesses, since 'No two businesses are exactly alike.' How Do You Calculate Return On Capital Employed? Analysts use this formula to calculate return on capital employed: Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) (Total Assets - Current Liabilities) Or for Worthington Industries: 0.08 = US$161m (US$2.6b - US$565m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to February 2019.) Therefore, Worthington Industries has an ROCE of 8.0%. View our latest analysis for Worthington Industries Is Worthington Industries's ROCE Good? One way to assess ROCE is to compare similar companies. We can see Worthington Industries's ROCE is meaningfully below the Metals and Mining industry average of 11%. This could be seen as a negative, as it suggests some competitors may be employing their capital more efficiently. Separate from how Worthington Industries stacks up against its industry, its ROCE in absolute terms is mediocre; relative to the returns on government bonds. Investors may wish to consider higher-performing investments. NYSE:WOR Past Revenue and Net Income, April 10th 2019 It is important to remember that ROCE shows past performance, and is not necessarily predictive. ROCE can be deceptive for cyclical businesses, as returns can look incredible in boom times, and terribly low in downturns. ROCE is, after all, simply a snap shot of a single year. We note Worthington Industries could be considered a cyclical business. Since the future is so important for investors, you should check out our free report on analyst forecasts for Worthington Industries. Story continues What Are Current Liabilities, And How Do They Affect Worthington Industries's ROCE? Current liabilities include invoices, such as supplier payments, short-term debt, or a tax bill, that need to be paid within 12 months. The ROCE equation subtracts current liabilities from capital employed, so a company with a lot of current liabilities appears to have less capital employed, and a higher ROCE than otherwise. To counter this, investors can check if a company has high current liabilities relative to total assets. Worthington Industries has total liabilities of US$565m and total assets of US$2.6b. As a result, its current liabilities are equal to approximately 22% of its total assets. It is good to see a restrained amount of current liabilities, as this limits the effect on ROCE. Our Take On Worthington Industries's ROCE With that in mind, we're not overly impressed with Worthington Industries's ROCE, so it may not be the most appealing prospect. Of course you might be able to find a better stock than Worthington Industries. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have grown earnings strongly. If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them). We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. Slowdown fear has engulfed the Chinese market of late, but several Chinese sectors and stocks are flying high this year. Signs of a resolution to the year-long U.S.-China trade spat is acting as the main tailwind (read: What Led China ETFs Outperform in Q1 & Have More Room to Run). In late February, President Donald Trump first postponed the increase of tariffs on about $200 billion worth of Chinese goods and most recently, the Financial Times reported that top U.S. and Chinese officials have resolved most of the issues pertaining to trade conflicts. Apart from this, reformative measures taken by the Chinese government is creating further opportunities in the equity markets. The Chinese government has left no stone unturned to shore up the slowing economy. The government announced a cut in the value-added tax (VAT) for the manufacturing sector to 13% from 16%, and VAT for the transport and construction sectors to 9% from 10%. The government will also cut social security fees paid by companies to 16%. All these tax cuts are worth about 2 trillion yuan for the year. Against this backdrop, below we highlight three sector ETFs that have been hovering around a 52-week high level. These sector ETFs have returned double the S&P 500 (up 14.8%) in 2019. Healthcare The Chinese biopharmaceutical and healthcare industries are bubbling with opportunities right now. China is a big market with about $1.26 billion population, which has always been a point of interest for both Chinese and Western providers of drugs. The country was the world's second-largest pharmaceutical market in 2017???worth $122.6 billion, after the United States. It is also the biggest emerging market for pharmaceuticals with growth expected to reach $145 billion to $175 billion by 2022, per healthcare information company IQVIA (read: Explore China's Booming Biopharma Space With This New ETF). As part of Beijings Made in China 2025 industry plan, President Xi Jinping acknowledged the pharmaceutical sector as one to work on, with focus on innovation, and domestic research and development. Story continues Global X MSCI China Health Care ETF CHIH (up 31% this year) and Loncar China BioPharma ETF CHNA (up 30.4%) are the two ETFs to tap this boom. Real Estate Including the latest 100 bps cut being enacted in January, China has cut commercial lenders reserve requirement ratio (RRR) five times to make borrowing easier for small and private firms. Chinas successive RRR cuts and VAT cut for the construction sector have probably promoted liquidity in the real estate market. Also, Chinas efforts to promote urbanization have boosted property developers. The government aims to increase China's urbanization rate by at least 1 percentage point by the end of this year. The housing market of China thus seems to have maintained its stable development. Chinese property developers ruled the issuance of U.S. dollar-denominated junk bonds in the first quarter of 2019, according to a report by research firm CreditSights. BlackRock, Pimco and UBS are of the opinion that high-yield bonds by Chinese property developers are attractive investments for 2019. No wonder, Global X MSCI China Real Estate ETF CHIR is up 31.8% this year (as of Apr 9, 2019). Consumer Staples Policy easing in the economy and growing urbanization must have boosted staples stocks of late. Also, the sector is recession-proof in nature and is thus a welcome investment at a time of economic slowdown. Global X MSCI China Consumer Staples ETF CHIS has gained 33.8% this year (read: Top and Flop ETF Areas of March). Want key ETF info delivered straight to your inbox? Zacks free Fund Newsletter will brief you on top news and analysis, as well as top-performing ETFs, each week. Get it free >> 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 Loncar China BioPharma ETF (CHNA): ETF Research Reports Global X MSCI China Consumer Staples ETF (CHIS): ETF Research Reports Global X MSCI China Real Estate ETF (CHIR): ETF Research Reports Global X MSCI China Health Care ETF (CHIH): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research 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 Life in Puerto Rico is no doubt a little different than in New York. But for former NYMEX president James "Bo" Collins, swapping Wall Street for the bustle of San Juan is the adventure he's been seeking for years. "I knew I wanted to invest in crypto. I'd invested as early as 2011. And I made a bigger investment in January 2017. It was kinda the most amazing time, but it was just luck," Collins tells The Block. My phone was ringing off the hook, with people wanting to just ask me all the time 'What do you think now? Can you tell me what you're doing now?'" In that sense, it was quite literally his calling to hang up his hat in private equity and launch a digital assets-focused venture; using solely his own capital and that of his earliest followers. "We never made one phone call to raise money...We still are not taking any outside money. Since then, he's set up Mercantile Global Holdings - spurred by the CFTCs ruling on crypto. Its main projects are the San Juan Mercantile Exchange (SJMX), due to launch in June, and its partner bank, SJMBT, launched last month; aiming to provide both crypto trading and custody services 'in one.' The goal [related id="1"] The bank's targets are twofold. First, it must draw in competitor U.S. exchanges to bank with them. Despite choosing Puerto Rico as its base avoiding the regulatory bumps faced further North Collins says it's deeply respectful of the rules and only wants clients who also follow them. While a pain in the ass, and it costs something, it actually adds valueWe're building it properly. After that, its about building a cohesive, central trading platform (SJMX); or more specifically, a Dark Pool, appealing to traders who feel trapped on a single exchange. You have an account [on Coinbase] and you want to trade on Kraken, right? [But your trade] has to go across some other external network, either a wire system or the blockchain and make its way to offset your capital requirements of both those exchanges, Collins says. Story continues SJMX will supposedly give you everything at once, with the exchanges shared pool of deposits at its fingertips, while also addressing trading inefficiencies. What it allows the traders to do is on my screen, they can trade CME futures, CBOE futures and my cashThere will be what we call a Central Limit Order Book, you see all the orders, time priced priority. So why the Dark Pool? The purpose of a Dark Pool is to help protect customers from some of the shenanigans that may go on in a lit market. Hes not short of confidence either for a man for a man whose previous fund reportedly lost $230 million. Private conversations and the initial onboarding process led Collins to believe the bank will have $1.5 billion in deposits by the end of the year. Changing the behavior of a trader is really hard to do. So if you build mechanisms that allow that trader to continue to act the way he's always acted, except you made it cheaper and faster and less hassle, you've hit a home run. Finally, although the exchange is Collins' long-standing personal investment, its not all about the golden promise. "I'm 53 and I've learned that living well is way more important than being rich." Interview conducted by Frank Chaparro. Hong Kong Economic Times Holdings Limited (HKG:423) is a stock with outstanding fundamental characteristics. When we build an investment case, we need to look at the stock with a holistic perspective. In the case of 423, it is a financially-robust company with a a strong history of performance, trading at a discount. Below is a brief commentary on these key aspects. If you're interested in understanding beyond my broad commentary, take a look at the report on Hong Kong Economic Times Holdings here. Flawless balance sheet with solid track record Over the past year, 423 has grown its earnings by 94%, with its most recent figure exceeding its annual average over the past five years. In addition to beating its historical values, 423 also outperformed its industry, which delivered a growth of -10%. This is what investors like to see! 423's strong financial health means that all of its upcoming liability payments are able to be met by its current cash and short-term investment holdings. This implies that 423 manages its cash and cost levels well, which is a crucial insight into the health of the company. 423 currently has no debt on its balance sheet. This means it is running its business only on equity capital funding, which is typically normal for a small-cap company. Investors risk associated with debt is virtually non-existent and the company has plenty of headroom to grow debt in the future, should the need arise. SEHK:423 Income Statement, April 10th 2019 423 is currently trading below its true value, which means the market is undervaluing the company's expected cash flow going forward. This mispricing gives investors the opportunity to buy into the stock at a cheap price compared to the value they will be receiving, should analysts' consensus forecast growth be correct. Also, relative to the rest of its peers with similar levels of earnings, 423's share price is trading below the group's average. This bolsters the proposition that 423's price is currently discounted. Story continues SEHK:423 Intrinsic value, April 10th 2019 Next Steps: For Hong Kong Economic Times Holdings, I've put together three relevant aspects you should look at: Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for 423s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for 423s outlook. Dividend Income vs Capital Gains: Does 423 return gains to shareholders through reinvesting in itself and growing earnings, or redistribute a decent portion of earnings as dividends? Our historical dividend yield visualization quickly tells you what your can expect from 423 as an investment. Other Attractive Alternatives : Are there other well-rounded stocks you could be holding instead of 423? Explore our interactive list of stocks with large potential to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! 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. The BJP leader has not fulfilled key pledges on the economy Narendra Modi, after Indias 2014 General Election vowed, Good days are coming. His Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had secured a landslide victory, forming the largest majority government since 1984. Analysts had lauded Mr Modis ambitious Development For All manifesto. Throughout a gruelling campaign, which saw the then 64-year-old address over 450 rallies, he promised to transform living standards for every Indian from subsistence farmers in rural Nagaland to technology entrepreneurs in urban Pune. However, fast forward to 2018 and the BJP suffered regional election defeats in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh each time to resurgent opposition, the Indian National Congress (INC). These three Hindu heartland provinces are considered good signifiers of how the whole country will vote in this weeks General Election. Heading into the vote, Mr Modis popularity is at an all-time low. An India Today poll on January 9 found support for the Prime Minister had plummeted from 65% to 46% since January 2017. So, why has Mr Modis re-election gone from inevitable to uncertain? Economy During his 2014 Indian tour de force, Mr Modi made several high-profile economic pledges. Infamously, he promised to create ten million new jobs every year if elected. In reality, Mr Modi generated just 5.8 million roles annually and unemployment in India currently stands at a 45-year high. Ensuring Indias economy grows at the same meteoric rate as its population will be one of the defining issues for the next Prime Minister. Mr Modis failure to create new employment has hurt his popularity across society. One-third of the unemployed are highly educated young people whilst the mismanagement of the agricultural sector on which 55 per cent of Indians depend for income has seen many Indians fall further into poverty. A 2017 Gallup poll discovered only 3 per cent of its population described themselves as economically thriving, compared to 14 per cent in 2014. Story continues Mr Modis most newsworthy economic policy pledge however was his great Indian demonetisation. In November 2016, he decided to cancel all 500 (5.50) and 1,000 (11) rupee notes in circulation. An incredible 86 per cent of all cash in India suddenly became worthless. By introducing a new 500 rupee note and an inaugural 2,000 (22) rupee note Mr Modi believed he would eradicate black market money, counterfeit notes and halt the financing of terror groups. However, the plan failed on three counts. Firstly, some Indian banks quickly ran out of the new currency. An estimated 150 million people didnt receive their wages for weeks as a result, while the opposition claimed over 100 people died while waiting in bank queues or from stress-induced suicide. Secondly, transactions in key Indian sectors such as agriculture are entirely dependent on cash. The shortage of the new, legal banknotes meant farmers could not source cash to purchase seeds or fertilisers, leading to a countrywide drop in crop prices. Finally and embarrassingly for Mr Modi data released by the Reserve Bank of India found that 99 per cent of the old corrupt money has been absorbed into the new system. As a direct result of Mr Modis unsuccessful economic policy, many Indians are seeking out an alternative political party to provide the answer to their problems. The INC, for example, has promised to implement a nationwide means-tested universal basic income system if it wins the election. This utopian idea is attracting a lot of attention and apparently winning favour with voters. Nationalism In order to woo back the electorate, following the huge economic setbacks and rise in popularity of the INC, Mr Modi has embraced populist Hindu nationalism the belief India is a Holy land purely for Hindus. However, as Indias constitution vows to treat its residents equally irrespective of religion, Mr Modi is conscious of not wanting to alienate the countrys 172 million Muslim voters and has been accused of not going far enough by some Hindus. In particular, he has been criticized for delaying a temple construction at Ayodhya the site of a demolished 16th Century mosque. Mr Modis actions have led some Hindu nationalists to consider supporting the INCs 25-year-old firebrand, Hardik Patel while many Muslims feel disillusioned that Mr Modi is not safeguarding their rights. Groups of Hindu nationalists are increasingly carrying out attacks against Muslims to protect revered cattle known as cow vigilante mobs killing 24 people since 2010. This led the head of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen political party to tell Reuters Muslims had never felt so marginalised in the independent history of India. Further challenges for Mr Modi arose when on February 19 the Pakistan-based Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammad killed 40 Indian paramilitary police in a bomb attack in the disputed territory of Kashmir. A ferocious anti-Pakistan backlash spread across India with extremists in Bangalore even threatening to blow up a bakery simply because it was named after the Pakistani city of Karachi. Mr Modi capitalized on this outpouring of anger, vowing a "fitting, jaw-breaking reply", as he launched air strikes in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. Officials alleged the response destroyed a major terrorist camp in Pakistan and killed over 300 terrorists, an action which greatly boosted Mr Modis popularity. With it he may just have secured a second term by presenting himself to the masses as the only leader capable of standing up for India in the face of external aggression. Political activist Yogenda Yadav told Business Insider the Kashmir attack had come at the perfect time to distract from Modis economic failings. Even the capture of Indian air force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman became a soft power coup. In response, the BJP printed womens sarees featuring the heroic Varthaman alongside Mr Modi. Mr Modis decisive actions were enthusiastically greeted among the Indian lower and middle-classes. His unique backstory from running a tea stall in Gujarat to ruling over the largest democracy in the world and partying with Bollywood stars also remains a powerful tool. Modi's rivals Whether Mr Modi has done enough to triumph in the April elections will also depend on the performance of the opposition. In 2014, Mr Modis resurgent BJP ousted a stuttering INC. Now, led by siblings Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, descendants of Indias founding leader Jawaharlal Nehru, the INC is much stronger. Rahul Gandhi addresses supporters at an event to unveil the party's election manifesto in New Delhi Credit: AFP Emboldened by its three victories in key state elections, the opposition has proposed a number of socially radical policies. For example, in addition to the universal basic income system, the INC has promised to pass the Womens Reservation Bill which would allocate 33 per cent of national assembly seats for women. For either the BJP or INC to triumph they will have to enter into alliances with regional parties across India to form a majority, as the BJP did successfully in 2014. However, there is evidence some of these parties are turning against Mr Modi. In Uttar Pradesh, for example, two rival parties have united to undercut the BJPs working class vote. Im successful because I live in the present, Mr Modi declared back in 2012. I dont carry the burden of the past or the madness of the future. Yet, while he may implore the electorate for patience, the mistakes of his recent past could well haunt his party come the results on 23 May. Photo credit: Lev Fedoseyev - Getty Images From Popular Mechanics Russias only aircraft carrier, Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov, could be headed to the scrap heap if a new drydock isnt found. The old drydock, the only one in western Russia capable of supporting major repairs to an aircraft carrier, sank in October 2018, leaving Moscow without a place to park the massive ship while it undergoes a refit. With a replacement, the old carriers future is in jeopardy. A Carrier Creeps Forward Photo credit: VASILY MAXIMOV - Getty Images Kuznetsovs story goes back to 1981. That's when construction of the ship began in the USSR, in what is now Ukraine. The ship was finally commissioned in 1990, a year before the breakup of the USSR, and Russia inherited the ship. Russian defense spending, minimal well into the late 1990s, saw the ship receive only one refit and complete just six patrols between 1991 and 2015. The carrier spent much of 2016 supporting Russian and regime forces in Syria, losing two aircraft to accidents . Kuznetsov badly needs to complete an ongoing refit to remain viable. The ships boiler system is unreliable and the sad, smoky ship is prone to breakdowns. The upgrade, originally scheduled for completion in 2021, involves replacing four of the ships eight turbo-pressurized boilers, refurbishing the other four, and making improvements to the flight deck, hangar, and electronic warfare, communication, intelligence, navigation, and command and control capabilities. The ship also needs repairs to the flight deck, which was damaged after a crane that was part of PD-50 smashed into it during the sinking. Another, more immediate reason Kuznetsov needs a drydock: its propellers were removed, and without them the ship cannot sail on her own. According to Izvestia, part of Russian state media , the ship needs to be lifted up and out of water in order to reinstall them. A Future Beyond the Admiral Russia has one other floating drydock, PD-41. Like PD-51, it can service ships up to 80,000 tons. The problem is that PD-41 is thousands of miles away in the Russian Far East, supporting ships of the Russian Pacific Fleet. Towing Kuznetsov out of Kola Bay, across the Norwegian Sea, down through the North and South Atlantic Oceans, past the Cape of Good Hope, and then across the Indian Ocean, South Pacific, and the North Pacific would be very challenging. It also would be a humiliating spectacle for a great power that views itself as an alternative to the global leadership of the United States. Story continues The current refit is supposed to keep Russias only carrier around for another 25 years. According to Izvestia, if Russia cant find a new drydock, then it may be worthwhile to scrap the ship and invest the money in new ships, particularly frigates and submarines. Photo credit: Peter Kovalev - Getty Images Russia has grand plans to update its carrier force, with the Project 23000E Storm class aircraft carriers under design by the Krylov State Research Center. The Storm class carriers, displacing 75,000 tons and carrying up to 80-90 aircraft would approach the American Ford-class carriers in capability. That having been said, the carrier--and the aircraft to equip it and the destroyers and frigates to protect it--are currently unaffordable to a Russian government whose priority is the development of new nuclear cruise missiles, submarines, and torpedoes . Russia has offered the Storm design to India in order to help offset development costs. Perhaps in an effort to push back against calls to scrap Kuznetsov, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced on April 9th that 25% of the carriers refit was complete and the whole job will be done in 2020. Thats even earlier than previous forecasts, which suggests that a.) work is being done in record time, or b.) the upgrade itself has been downgraded. The report does not mention how, if at all, Shoigu plans to complete it without proper drydock facilities. Aircraft carriers are powerful symbols--probably the ultimate symbols--of a countrys conventional military power. Russias defense ministry may be trying to hang on to the decrepit carrier as long as possible, knowing that it may take a quarter century for the country to finally afford a new ship. At a certain point however, badly maintained carriers are more of a liability than asset. The Kuznetsov has arguably reached that point. ('You Might Also Like',) FRANKLIN, Tenn. (AP) A Tennessee woman is suing the Washington, D.C., Department of Corrections and a halfway house over an escapee who's accused of killing her husband. News outlets report Lana Paavola accuses them of negligence in their handling of 36-year-old Domenic Micheli, who had been arrested on charges of trespassing at the White House that April. Authorities said Micheli later escaped from a halfway house and went to Tennessee, where he used a hatchet and a meat cleaver to kill his former boss, Paavola's husband, Joel. Micheli is charged with murder and aggravated assault in the June 4 slaying. The lawsuit says the corrections department and halfway house did not immediately report the escape, and says authorities also failed to use Micheli's social media posts to track him down before the slaying. London (AFP) - WikiLeaks on Wednesday claimed that it was being blackmailed by "dubious characters" who had obtained security camera footage of founder Julian Assange inside Ecuador's embassy in London. Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, accused Ecuador authorities of gathering thousands of photographs and videos, which then found their way into the hands of a group in Spain, who were demanding $3 million (2.7 million euros) not to publish them. "We learned some individuals in Spain were passing around information, that they had a massive trove of documents... from inside the embassy," he told reporters in London. "I asked them what documents they had and I got an email back. He said 'this material has a price'." The documents include thousands of photographs and gigabytes of video footage showing Assange meeting with lawyers and visitors and of him receiving a medical check-up. "It's not hard to see that as extortion," said Hrafnsson, adding that the Spanish police had opened an investigation. "Of much greater concern is this material gathering and spying by the Ecuadorian government," he said, calling it "illegal and extremely unethical". "Since (President Lenin) Moreno took power in Ecuador, Julian Assange has been living in a Truman Show type situation," he claimed. The editor also accused embassy staff of photocopying a legal document belonging to Assange's lawyer Aitor Martinez. WikiLeaks believes that the United States is working with Ecuador to extradite Assange to face charges, and that the embassy documents were "quite likely shared with the Trump administration", although it offered no proof of this. The group, which rose to prominence by publishing leaked US intelligence documents, said that "very reliable sources" had told them Ecuador was last week preparing to kick Assange out of its London embassy, where he was granted refuge by previous president Rafael Correa in 2012. Story continues "The only reason why this was averted, in our opinion, is that we learned about it," said Hrafnsson. Ecuador said on Tuesday it was reassessing Assange's asylum claim, revocation of which would lead to his arrest by the British authorities for skipping bail. The Australian sought refuge at Ecuador's embassy seven years ago to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced accusations of sexual assault that prosecutors in Stockholm have since abandoned. Assange has refused to leave the embassy to avoid extradition to the United States to face charges over his website publishing huge caches of hacked State Department and Pentagon files in 2010. The 47-year-old Australian, who denies the rape claims, said he feared Sweden would pass him on to US authorities if he was extradited. The Swedish chief prosecutor dropped proceedings against him in 2017. NASA via Getty Late last month, out of the blue, Vice President Mike Pence announced that the United States would land an American on the moon by 2024four years ahead of schedule. Now we know why the Trump administration is in such a hurry to get back to the lunar surface: The administration wants to mine the moon, staking a claim on these supposed lunar riches before any other country (most likely China) canand before the end of Pres. Donald Trumps possible second term. At the annual Space Symposium conference in Colorado Springs on Tuesday, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross suggested that theres so much money to be made on the moon that America better get there first, risk and uncertainty be damned. As more countries land on the moon, we risk a Wild West situation without clarification of ownership rights, Ross said. But this proverbial lunar gold rush is risky. Congress might not fund it: some critics were already saying a previous NASA effort to land a man on the moon was half-baked and not worth the cost. Even with a Congressional appropriation, NASA expects it will have to cut other space programs to make way for moon work. Government officials admitted at the conference that some of the technology it needs doesnt yet exist. Also, no one really knows how much cobalt, gold, helium, iron, palladium, platinum and tungsten lies under the lunar dust. Even more murky is exactly what it would take to dig it up and process it on the moon or send it back to some factory on Earth. By Rosss accounting, the worlds space industry is currently worth $400 billion; by 2040, that could expand nearly tenfold to $3 trillion as governments and corporations establish factories and mining operations in orbit and on the moon. We must make sure the United States captures the lions share of burgeoning space markets, Ross urged. A wealthy former investment banker who has been accused of flouting government ethics rules, Ross seemed particularly interested in the financing side of possible off-world industry. Finance is key, Ross said at the Colorado conference. Story continues The last time anyone stepped foot on the moon was in 1972, when NASAs Apollo 17 mission landed astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt on the lunar surface. Mission pilot Ronald Evans remained in the command module in orbit over the moon. For several years, NASA has hoped to return to the mooneventually. Besides being scientifically interesting in its own right, Earths dusty satellite might make a good launching pad for a Mars mission, the space agency reasoned. Astronauts in theory could mine lunar ice and process it into rocket fuel for an onward trip to the Red Planet. But until Pences surprise March announcement, the new moon mission was scheduled to take place no earlier than 2028. There were good reasons for NASA to wait until then. The agency planned to build a new, $3-billion, moon-orbiting space station it calls the Lunar Gateway that could function as a staging base for lunar landings. Experts have pointed out that it might be easier to rocket straight from Earth to the moon, like the Apollo missions did. But NASA imagined it eventually would shift the gateway stations orbit in order also to support a Mars mission. So NASA needed time to build the Lunar Gateway stations modules, launch and assemble the modules then develop new vehicles for transferring astronauts from the station to the lunar surface and back. NASAs various international partnerships in part drove the Lunar Gateways schedule. The Canadian, Japanese, European, and Russian space agencies build critical pieces of hardware that NASA never bothered to master. Canada makes the crane-like robotic arms for spacecraft and space stations. Russia builds many of the airlocks. In light of all the complications, a 2028 manned moon mission seemed fast; a 2024 mission seems crazy. Speaking alongside Ross at the Colorado conference, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine acknowledged the risks. Yes, NASA would potentially need billions of dollars on top of the agencys normal budget from Congress. Were working on that, Bridenstine said. Politically, we're going to have some challenges ahead." Yes, the agency would need to speed up construction of the lunar station. The first elements of Gateway are focused exclusively on getting humans to the surface of the moon," Bridenstine assured the crowd. Yes, NASA would need someone in government or private industry to quickly invent a three-part lander for transporting people from the station to the moon then back. "We need to focus like a laser on the descent module, the transfer vehicle and the ascent module," Bridenstine added, sweat glistening on his forehead. Yes, NASA would have to suspend other exploration and science programs in order to focus on landing on the moon within four years. Anything thats a distraction to making that happen, we're getting rid of it, he said. Yes, the space agency would need help from foreign governments. None of us can do what we want to do, alone," he added. But all those minerals are worth the trouble for the administration. We're going to utilize the resources of the moon, Bridenstine stated, vowing that it would happen before Trump left office after potentially winning a second term. The president said he wants 2024, Bridenstine said. NASA is up to achieving it. Read more at The Daily Beast. US attorney general William Barr has told lawmakers they could expect a redacted copy of Special Counsel Robert Muellers report within a week. Mr Barr was speaking about the report into possible links between the Russian government and Donald Trumps 2016 campaign during a tense hearing on Capitol Hill that yielded more questions than answers. The attorney general abruptly declined to answer further questions about the investigation halfway through the hearing, saying: Ive said what I was going to say about the report today. He then refused to answer whether the White House had been briefed on any aspect of the special counsels report. Im not going to say anything more about it until the report is out, he added. Democrats expressed frustration and concern with Mr Barrs handling of the report. Nita Lowey, chair of the House Appropriations Committee grilled him over how he managed to reduce the massive document into four pages just days after he had received it. Even for someone who has done this job before, I would argue its more suspicious than impressive, she said. Mr Barr acknowledged his quick work, claiming: The thinking of the special counsel was not a mystery to the Department of Justice prior to the submission of the report. He added that Mr Muellers team was redacting the report before providing it to Congress. The attorney general said he plans to produce a report during this first go with four types of redactions relating to grand jury information, classified information that could reveal agency sources or methods, information pertaining to ongoing prosecutions, and information that may implicate privacy or reputational interests of peripheral players. The report will be colour-coded, according to Mr Barr, and will feature explanatory notes for all of his redactions. It remains unclear what legal grounds the attorney general has to place redactions for all four of his listed components, however. Story continues Mr Barr added he would convene with Republican and Democratic leadership from the House Judiciary Committee after the report is released to determine whether they required any further information. Lawmakers may also request grand jury information from the courts, he said a move he noted the justice department would not be making under his leadership. The attorney general was brought to the house committee to discuss Mr Trump's budget request for the justice department for 2020. This was the central focus of Mr Barrs opening statement and he did not at any point mention the Mueller report. At times, there appeared to be two testimonies taking place. As Democrats grilled the attorney general over the special counsels conclusions, Republican lawmakers asked Mr Barr about his departments plans surrounding issues including human and sex trafficking, as well as immigration along the US-Mexico border. The Mueller report wasnt the only thing Democrats flagged up, however. The hearing provided some tense moments when they grilled Mr Barr over the justice departments opposition to the Affordable Care Act in federal courts under Mr Trump. Asked whether he had considered the consequences of his department opposing the healthcare bill for Americans at risk of losing their coverage, Mr Barr shot back at one Democratic lawmaker: If you think its such an outrageous position, you have nothing to worry about. Rose Marie Bentley A woman with a medical condition affecting one in 50 million people worldwide miraculously defied all odds and lived to the age of 99. The incredible feat was uncovered in a class last year where university students were inspecting cadavers as part of their studies in Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. Rose Marie Bentley was discovered to have lived nearly a century before dying of natural causes, despite her internal organs being positioned in the wrong places, according to an article by the university. Her unicorn condition, called situs inversus with levocardia, meant most of her vital organs were a mirror image of typical human anatomy, meaning they were transposed right to left. Rose Marie Bentley went through her life not knowing her organs were in the wrong places. Source: Bentley Family/Oregon Health & Science University Rose had three organs removed during her life, but only the surgeon who removed her appendix noted its unusual location. Source: Bentley Family/Oregon Health & Science University On inspection, students found the main vein leading to her heart drained to a completely different side to normal, and veins that typically drained the liver and other parts of the chest cavity were either in a different spot or completely missing. Instead of having a stomach on the left, which is normal, her stomach was on the right, assistant professor Cameron Walker, who teaches the Foundations of Clinical Anatomy class at Oregon Health and Science University, told the publication. Her liver, which normally occurs predominantly on the right, was predominantly on the left. Her spleen was on the right side instead of its normal occurrence on the left. And then the rest of her digestive tract, the ascending colon, was inverted as well. Roses organs were a mirror image (left) of a regular internal system (right). Source: Oregon Health & Science University and Getty Images The fact Rose lived to such an old age was particularly fascinating because people in other known cases of the condition normally suffered heart problems, which caused earlier death. Aside from chronic heartburn, explainable by her unusual internal anatomy, Rose lived an active and healthy lifestyle, one of her daughters, Ginger, said. We had no reason to believe there was anything like that wrong. She was always very healthy. She was always doing something, taking us to Campfire Girls, fishing, swimming. She was an excellent swimmer. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK By Tim Kelly TOKYO (Reuters) - Search and rescue teams found wreckage from a crashed Japanese F-35 stealth fighter in the Pacific Ocean close to northern Japan, and are scouring the waters for the missing pilot, authorities said on Wednesday. The aircraft, less than a year old, was the first F-35 assembled in Japan and was aloft for only 28 minutes on Tuesday before contact was lost, a defense official said. The plane had logged a total of 280 hours in the air, he added. It was only the second F-35 to crash since the aircraft's first flight in 2006 and could reignite concern about the F-35 having only one engine. Manufacturer Lockheed Martin is competing for orders in Finland and Switzerland against the twin-engined Eurofighter Typhoon and Boeing F/A-18E/F jet. The accident could influence Switzerland's decision, but Finland could still pick the F-35 as it is close to Russia, said Justin Bronk, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. "I would be surprised if there was a common catastrophic fault hidden away in the F-35A," he added. "Its pretty unlikely given the large number of flight hours already completed." CAUSE UNKNOWN The advanced, single-seat jet disappeared in good weather about 135 km (84 miles) east of the Misawa air base in Aomori prefecture at about 7:27 p.m. (1027 GMT), the Air Self Defense Force said. "We recovered the wreckage and determined it was from the F-35," a spokesman said. Eight ships and seven aircraft, including a U.S. Navy P-8 Orion maritime patrol plane, joined the search and rescue effort. The aircraft was leading three F-35s on training maneuvers when it sent an "aborting practice" signal and disappeared from radar, Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters. The pilot, who had 3,200 hours of flying time, but had spent only 60 hours in the F-35, gave no other indication he was in trouble, the ASDF spokesman said. "We'll need to cooperate with the U.S. forces and I believe arrangements are being made," Iwaya said, adding that the cause of the incident would have to be determined. The crashed aircraft was the fifth delivered to the ASDF, but the first assembled by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan, a second ASDF official told Reuters. Japan's 12 remaining F-35s are grounded for now, he added. The previous four were used for training in the United States before being brought to Japan, the defense official said. No other countries operating the F-35 have grounded their stealth aircraft. The Pentagon said on Wednesday that it was not grounding its fleet of more than 250 U.S. F-35 fighter jets but was monitoring the situation. A spokesman for South Korea's defense ministry said there was no plan to ground that country's newly delivered F-35s, as there were no recommendations from the United States to do so. Britain said it was reviewing the status of its 17 F-35B fighters for now. The Italian Air Force said they were reviewing the status of the Italian F-35A closely with the Joint Program Office, but at the moment there was no evidence the crash was due to technical problems and the fleet was flying regularly. A representative for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd said it had no immediate comment. The company assembles the aircraft at a plant near Nagoya in central Japan. The lost aircraft cost 14 billion yen ($126 million), several million more than one bought directly from the United States. The aircraft crashed in waters whose depth reaches about 1,500 meters (4,920 ft), making recovery, particularly of its flight data recorder, or black box, difficult, the official said. Without the device, investigators could study the aircrafts classified communications and data sharing system for clues, an industry source said on condition of anonymity. ONLY SECOND F35 TO CRASH The ASDF received the aircraft, designed to penetrate enemy defenses by evading radar detection, last May, its spokesman said. Japan's first squadron of F-35s has just become operational at Misawa, and the government plans to buy 87 of the stealth fighters to modernize its air defenses as neighboring China and Russia upgrade their military forces. Lockheed said it was standing by to support the Japanese Air Self Defense Force as needed. The crash was the first of the A variant of the fifth-generation fighter. A U.S. Marine Corps short take-off and landing (STOVL) F-35B version crashed near the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina in September, prompting a temporary grounding of the aircraft. Lockheed also makes a C version of the fighter designed to operate off carriers. Japan's new F-35s include 18 STOVL B planes it plans to deploy on its islands along the edge of the East China Sea. (Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal in Berlin; Jamie Freed in Singapore; Chris Gallagher, Chang-Ran Kim and Takashi Umekawa in Tokyo, Hyonhee Shin in Seoul, Idrees Ali in Washington, and Antonella Cinelli in Rome; ; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, David Gregorio and Chizu Nomiyama) By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - Yahoo has struck a revised $117.5 million settlement with millions of people whose email addresses and other personal information were stolen in the largest data breach in history. The proposed class-action settlement made public on Tuesday was designed to address criticisms of U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California. She rejected an earlier version of the accord on Jan. 28, and her approval is still required. Koh said the original settlement was not "fundamentally fair, adequate and reasonable" because it had no overall dollar value and did not say how much victims might expect to recover. She also said the legal fees appeared to be too high. Yahoo, now part of New York-based Verizon Communications Inc, had been accused of being slow to disclose three data breaches affecting about 3 billion accounts from 2013 to 2016. The new settlement includes at least $55 million for victims' out-of-pocket expenses and other costs, $24 million for two years of credit monitoring, up to $30 million for legal fees, and up to $8.5 million for other expenses. It covers as many as 194 million people in the United States and Israel with roughly 896 million accounts. John Yanchunis, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, in a court filing called the $117.5 million the "biggest common fund ever obtained in a data breach case." He did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment. Separately, Verizon agreed to spend $306 million between 2019 and 2022 on information security, five times what Yahoo spent from 2013 to 2016. It also pledged to quadruple Yahoo's staffing in that area. "The settlement demonstrates our strong commitment to security," Verizon said in a statement. Yahoo agreed in July 2016 to sell its internet business to Verizon for $4.83 billion. Only later did it reveal the scope of the breaches, prompting a price cut to $4.48 billion. Verizon wrote off much of Yahoo's value in December. U.S. prosecutors charged two Russian intelligence agents and two hackers in connection with one of the breaches in 2017. One hacker later pleaded guilty. The case is In re: Yahoo Inc Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 16-md-02752. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bernadette Baum and David Gregorio) Sanaa (AFP) - Yemeni rebels held a mass funeral Wednesday for children killed in an explosion near two schools in the war-torn country's capital Sanaa. The explosion in the rebel-held capital killed 14 children and wounded 16 others on Sunday, the UN said. The cause remains unknown. Most of the casualties of the blast in the city's Saewan district were girls under the age of nine, according to the UN. The children were buried under the watchful eye of Huthi rebels, who have been at war with a pro-government alliance led by Saudi Arabia. Crowds of men spilled into the streets of the capital where coffins draped with Yemeni flags were lined up. Relatives of the children and schoolboys hoisted the coffins above the crowd and made their way to the cemetery, escorted by a line of ambulances. "What sin have they committed?" asked Essam al-Abed, a local Huthi official and funeral organiser. "Their only sin was carrying backpacks and pens to get an education." The Huthi rebels have accused the Saudi-led military coalition backing the government of killing the children in an air strike. The coalition denied conducting any air raids on the capital on Sunday. The United Nations and aid groups have called for an investigation into the explosion but have been unable to determine the cause. The World Health Organization estimates nearly 10,000 Yemenis have been killed since 2015, when Riyadh and its allies intervened to prevent the government's defeat in the face of rebel advances. Human rights groups say the real death toll is several times higher. The conflict has pushed millions of Yemenis to the brink of mass starvation, in what the UN has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Both sides stand accused of actions that could amount to war crimes. The coalition has been blacklisted by the UN for the killing of children, while Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse the Huthis of using civilians as human shields in densely populated areas. New Zealands parliament on Wednesday voted almost unanimously to ban military-style semi-automatic weapons less than a month after 50 people were killed in mass shootings at a pair of mosques in the city of Christchurch. The ban, which applies to semi-automatic rifles and shotguns capable of holding more than five rounds, was made permanent Wednesday after being unilaterally implemented by prime minister Jacinda Ardern just six days after the mosque shootings to prevent stockpiling. We are ultimately here because 50 people died, and they do not have a voice, Ardern told parliament Wednesday. We in this house are their voice, and today, we have used that voice wisely. Citizens in possession of banned guns will be granted a six-month buyback period, after which they will be subject to five years in prison if they remain in possession of prohibited weapons. The law provides exemptions for pest control professionals and licensed antique gun collectors. Ardern received praise for her decisiveness from New Zealands center-right party Wednesday but David Seymour of the libertarian ACT party, who cast the lone nay vote, criticized the speed with which the new legislation was passed. It is not an attempt to improve public safety, it is an exercise in political theater, he said. Ardern had previously defended the ambitious timeline, which was dramatically shorter than the typical six-month period required to pass new legislation in New Zealand. My question here is simple: you either believe that in New Zealand these weapons have a place or you do not. And if you do not, you should be able to agree that we can move swiftly, she said. My view is that an argument about process is an argument to do nothing. More from National Review President Muhammadu Buhari returned to Abuja on Tuesday night, a day ahead of schedule. The president was initially scheduled to return to Abuja from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday at about 1.30a.m. However, the presidential aircraft carrying the president, his aides and some members of his entourage landed at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja at about 10.45p.m. It was gathered that the presidents decision to cut short his official engagements in Dubai might not be unconnected with security developments in Zamfara, Kaduna and some other parts of the country. President Buhari had on April 4 departed Abuja for Amman to honour an invitation by King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan to participate in the World Economic Forum (WEF). He delivered an address at the opening of the plenary alongside King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein and United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres. The president, who on Sunday moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), participated in the ninth edition of the Annual Investment Meeting. While in Dubai, President Buhari also held bilateral talks and met with different groups of investors at the sidelines of the Annual Investment Meeting. KINDLY DROP A COMMENT BELOW Diario digital con noticias de actualidad relacionadas con el mundo de la salud. Novedades, encuestas, estudios, informes, entrevistas. Con un sencillo lenguaje dirigido a todo el mundo. Y algunos consejos turisticos para pasarlo bien TOKYO, JAPAN - Media OutReach - 9 April2019 - On April 6 and 7, 2019, a two-day blockchain summit will be held inHumen, Tokyo, Japan. The summit was hosted by TEAMZ, and PsEx, as aco-organizer, launched the most influential blockchain summit in Asia whichintegrates the traditional capital and blockchain. TEAMZ isAsia's most influential blockchain summit and has successfully held foursummits. The summit gathered more than 100 first-line capitals from the UnitedStates, China and Hong Kong, Japan, and Southeast Asia. More than 17 listedcompanies such as LINE, SOFTBANK, Lotte, and J.P. Morgan participated in thesummit. More than 120 heavyweight guests were invited, including COO FRANKLYNRICHARDS, Morgan Creek Digital Capital founder ANTHONY POMPLIANO, Wikipediaco-founder LARRY SANGER, Japan Watson Cloud Platform Minister Ping Shanyi,TRUST Ex co-founder Abel Wilson , KX Exchange CEO Yin Xiaogang and many other industry heavyweightguests. More than 63 participants participated in the conference, and thenumber of participants was up to 5,000. In order tobetter promote the blockchain industry develop healthily and steadily, thesummit will integrate traditional capital and blockchain to help qualifiedprojects obtain investment incubation and technical support as soon aspossible, and to enhance global collaboration opportunities. The summit willprovide more exchanges sections for enterprises and projects. As theleader of the global digital asset management platform, PsEx has been committedto constructing a secure and transparent financial environment with the new AIsmart investment technology so as to protect the security of customers' assets.Through the digital economy industry chain, the entire ecological layout thinkinghas gained a high degree of consensus in more than 170 countries and regionsaround the world, and has put forward specific solutions for how to betterserve the global real economy through the digital economy. If you stay in the resorts, don't you get to stay late already? So is this for every guest? Reply Thread Link I think that's only in the mornings. i doubt this will be for every guest. Di$ney gotta make up that dumbo box office money somehow. Reply Parent Thread Link nah they have after hours extended time too. we once stayed at the magic kingdom until 4AM. Reply Parent Thread Link I haven't been since 2008 so maybe it's changed, but then it was an extra hour after the park closed for the regular guests so the lines were way shorter. Reply Parent Thread Link if you stay in the resorts then you have extra magic hours which gives you like 2 our 3 hours either in the morning before the park opens or at night once it closes and it is free. i'm pretty sure they switch off which parks has the extra magic hours though so it's not any park on any day. disney world already does a regular after hours which is a ticketed event after the park closes and it cost extra. i think they only sell a limited amount of tickets and the parks really do feel empty/have basically no wait. Edited at 2019-04-10 02:01 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link it's a ticketed after hours event. They do after hours events all the time. This one used to be at Hollywood Studios. Reply Parent Thread Link Ive never been to either of the Disney parks. Id really like to go, but Im a cheap ass and everytime I look at flights, ticket prices, and hotels I want to scream. Reply Thread Link My favorite resort is currently starting at $411 a night. I don't know what it was 20 years ago but it sure as shit wasn't THAT. It's robbery, pure and simple. Reply Parent Thread Link Nope nope nope nope. Holy fuck that is so much money. Basically a month of my car payment and insurance. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Whoaaaaa, yeah, I can't afford that. Reply Parent Thread Link It definitely wasn't that years ago. Holy crud. Reply Parent Thread Link Yeah and the rooms arent even that nice either. You can stay in a five star hotel in New York or some shit for that price. Reply Parent Thread Link I'm going to Disneyland at the end of June because I'm going to visit my brother. I've been once before, but we decided despite the shit show that will be Galaxy's Edge (Star Wars), we're going to brave it. I enjoyed my experience before as a grown-ass, child-free adult. The price hike on tickets is maddening, though. I considered staying at a resort, but I saw the lowest price was like $420 or something and I refuse. It simply would have been a tiny bit more convenient. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Same, I've dreamed about it since I was a kid but my parents didn't have the money and now neither do I. Reply Parent Thread Link there are countless nice hotels REALLY close to Disney/Universal that don't come near on-property prices. Tho, depending on the situation, it may be sometimes better to be on property than not (like, if you're not driving, etc) Reply Parent Thread Link star wars land's imminent opening and toy story land opening last year have really driven up costs in orlando. it's insane. i go once every year or two and luckily the last few times has been at a group rate with my nieces' dance studio, but i'm trying to help my brother and sister in law plan their first trip and its astronomical. Reply Parent Thread Link My dad and I would always stay at the Holiday Inn down the street but went into the Disneyland Hotel just once, to see how much the rooms were. The guy behind the desk cheerfully informed us it was $300-something per night. I turned to my dad and asked if we should "go see what Mom thought" and we left. My mother was not there. :P Reply Parent Thread Link It's so expensive now it's crazy. I feel like I could fly to Paris and stay a week for what it would cost to spend a day at Disneyworld now. I grew up in southern California and used to go to Disneyland all the time. They've had all night events before. I remember going once when we got there at 1 am and stayed all night, it was really fun. Not a big crowd, few lines, and the staff was all very relaxed. We went in the Hall of Presidents around 4am to sit down and take a break and between shows they let us stay and watch the animatronic presidents do their stretching excercises. There was lots of behind the scenes action you would never get to see during the daytime on a regular day. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link have daddy oogie boogie and i'm there. they should have adults only days tbh. i hate kids and teenagers. too many fucking strollers blocking everything or stupid kids crying Reply Thread Link omg yes. YES. Nothing makes me hate fucking strollers quite like being at Disney Reply Parent Thread Link At least they're banning some of the wider strollers starting May 1st. It was like "THANK YOU!!!" I still think that, any time after a parade/fireworks show, they should have a stroller aisle for people to exit. Reply Parent Thread Link From your lips tbh Although I think I'd rather spend time with Flynn Ryder and/or Prince Naveen... Reply Parent Thread Expand Link mte. families w/ strollers dgaf they will run you over. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Yeah that'd be great actually Reply Parent Thread Link This! I'm amazed I don't still have scars from all the goddamn strollers back in 1999. I was ready to beat those parents to death with said strollers. YOUR ONE AND TWO YEAR OLDS ARE NOT GOING TO REMEMBER THE TRIP, YOU ASSHOLES! Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Adult only days would be awesome Reply Parent Thread Link i love that the boo to you parade and one of the shows during the not so scary halloween party has oogie boogie! Reply Parent Thread Link adults only days would be so fun Reply Parent Thread Link tbh I've never cared about meeting the characters but I'm all about the shorter lines for rides Reply Thread Link I'm an old lady. I start getting sleepy at 9pm. Reply Thread Link Cool idea... But going to Florida in the summer? Chale. Reply Thread Link I went in August 1999. I passed out in Animal Kingdom. It was 103 and I'm from Upper Michigan. It was hell. Reply Parent Thread Link I went in early/mid November, like a decade ago, and the moment I stepped out of airport I was like "this is what the portal to hell MUST feel like." Reply Parent Thread Expand Link April 1999 wasn't great for those sensitive to heat either. My dad forever reminds me of the rash-like sunburn I had, which of course was visible in all the pictures. Why did they stop making Aloe Ice?! It was green and came in a huge bottle you'd never get on a plane post-9/11 but it was a miracle gel. Seriously. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link animal kingdom is usually considered to be the hottest park. we once went into the first aid center and just asked if we could sit for a little bit and the lady working let us sit for a good 30 minutes. alsooooo if you have lil kiddos their baby changing station is a good place to escape the heat!! they have a room with a tv! Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I went last summer, it was disgusting and humid the entire time and I got really sick. It sucked. :/ Reply Parent Thread Link it's so awful, them holding the event at night doesn't make it better. It's just dark and hot. I have a disease that makes me very sensitive to heat so I basically don't leave my house in summer. It's EVIL. Reply Parent Thread Link magic hours are great, the lack of stroller traffic alone is wonderful I was in Magic Kingdom at 2 am and rode space mountain about 8 times in a row after waiting over an hour to get on it earlier that same day Reply Thread Link even the morning extra hours are surprisingly low key. i once went to epcot right when the extra magic hours started, like an hour before normal opening time, and we got like 3 rides done in half an hour. Reply Parent Thread Link Riding Space Mountain that many times sounds like a dream. Reply Parent Thread Link SO COOL! night is colder, im a night owl, i love villains more lmao wish they did something liek this for harry potter world but i dont wanna be around death eaters so.... Edited at 2019-04-10 01:26 am (UTC) Reply Thread Link Its my dream Reply Thread Link After finding out a week in Vegas would be cheaper for me than ONE DAY in Disney World they can keep it. Even if this would be my Disney dream come true. Yes, I'm mad. Reply Thread Link I'm wondering if we ever get our adult only days at an amusement park. I mean, Vegas doesn't even count. Y'all got Harry Potter park in FL and Star Wars here in CA, like whatever. I want Sailor Moon amusement park. Maybe a huge cool anime amusement park or smth. sigh Reply Thread Link I'm super jazzed the Outers are getting added to that 4D Sailor Moon show in Universal Japan. I'll never see it, ever... but I'm happy nonetheless. Reply Parent Thread Link Tbh Disney is the least likely to ever so adult only days. I totally get the appeal but yall forget Disney is pretty largely for kids and families. Reply Parent Thread Link Man, a Sailor Moon park would be so cool. I could see visiting the Moon, playing in a simulated arcade Sailor V games and being among the court with the Queen and just...gahhhhhhhhhh! So many possibilities. Reply Parent Thread Link junhyosungs It's been 10 years since Pretty Wild graced our screens and provided us with iconic gifs. Aand with Alexis Neiers new podcast 'Recovering From Reality' - we are reintroduced to Andrea, Gabby, Tess and Alexis who discuss their time on the show and what was actually going on during it.- The show was never meant to be about the Bling Ring. It was just about the girls living it up in LA. But when the cops banged down the door the first day of filming they completely changed the show to make it about the robberies. They even restaged the whole scene with fake cops etc so what was seen on the show wasn't the actual thing.- Alexis stresses how much Andrea was not a good mother in the sense that she would involve her in all her problems (e.g. let a kid Alexis know all the money problems they were having, so it would stress Alexis out too) and how she was acting like a BFF rather than a mother, there were no boundaries etc. Notes that she's worried for the new generation of mothers who love social media and want to portray them and their daughters as best friends.- Says her going to jail was the best thing that ever happened to her, despite the fact that the first day of rehab she was searching every floor for a way to escape and get high- Her and Tess were completely wrecked on heroin during the filming of the show. Alexis says she started smoking oxy to block out sexual abuse from her past and it escalated, her and Tess would enable each other.- The crew filming Pretty Wild would push the two to the absolute limit knowing how high they always were to create more and more drama. For example the iconic scene of Alexis speaking to Nancy Jo was filmed multiple times to get Alexis to a breaking point of screaming at everyone else.- Speaking of Nancy Jo, the whole Vanity Fair article was completely conspired by the Pretty Wild film crew who told Alexis it was going to write her in a good light, when they knew the whole time it wasn't.- They also arranged Paul Oakenfold to turn up at Gabby's party, telling Alexis that he hadn't been robbed in the Bling Ring so there shouldn't be any issues. (Alexis was only there during Paris's house robbery) and so when he turned up and yelled at her it was completely unexpected.- The whole second half of Pretty Wild filming Tess and Alexis weren't even living at Andrea's anymore, they were in a small apartment constantly doing heroin, only showing up to film what the crew wanted them to film. Andrea tried coming to the apartment one day, Alexis opened the door with only a Subway sandwich on the bench and said to her mom "I like to bake, you cunt."- It took her and Tess a long while to get on again because when Alexis was getting sober, Tess was still shooting up and Alexis just wanted her to get better. Says she didn't want them to become their mothers (Tess and Alexis's moms frequently smoked weed together around the kids until Tess's mom bailed and left her with Andrea).This is most of the info I've gathered listening and watching a lot of Alexis's videos and insta posts. She's currently sober with two little girls and a husband, and is basically super against the toxic life of the LA crowd and how it ruined what should have been the fun times in her life.- Gabby didn't have much to say, but she's married now. Andrea apologizes for not being a good mom. and treating Alexis like an adult when she was only a kid. Oil prices jumped to five-month highs this week, pushed higher by a bullish cocktail of supply outages, geopolitical unrest and a sputtering shale sector. The most recent factor is the sudden eruption of the long simmering feud in Libya between rival factions. The attack on Tripoli by the Libyan National Army (LNA), a militia led by Khalifa Haftar, led to a spike in oil prices on Monday as the market priced in the possibility of supply outages. One oil export terminal near Tripoli is the most obvious asset at risk. If this port were to be shut down due to the fighting, this could see a delivery outage of up to 300,000 barrels per day, Commerzbank said in a note on Tuesday. The oil market is already undersupplied, so if supply from Libya also falls away the supply deficit will become even bigger. Brent jumped to $71 and WTI to $64 on the news, the highest level in five months. Intriguingly, speculators have only recently turned bullish on crude oil in terms of their positions in the futures market. Indeed, our money-manager positioning index implies that speculative funds only moved from neutral to positive on oil in the latest week, Standard Chartered wrote in a report on April 9. The investment bank argued that major investors only began to properly factor in geopolitical risk in the last few days, having overlooked risk for much of this year. Standard Chartered analysts said that the supply security of Libyan oil is low, and that output could decline in both the short and medium term. Meanwhile, the U.S. shale industry has already begun to slow down. Weekly EIA data put U.S. output at 12.2 million barrels per day (mb/d) last week, a jump of 100,000 bpd from the week before (the EIA rounds off to the nearest 100,000 bpd on these weekly estimates). More accurate retrospective data found that U.S. production actually declined in January by 90,000 bpd, offering solid evidence of a slowdown. Related: Oil Markets Set For Further Disruption Most analysts still see strong U.S. supply growth this year, but the gains have slowed significantly. Standard Chartered looked at three-month periods, which it argues shows a clear deceleration in production growth over the past year. The 3m/3m change peaked at 861kb/d in August, and has declined since, reaching just 140kb/d in March, the investment bank wrote. Goldman Sachs argues that these bullish factors will continue. We expect the drivers of this deficit to persist through 2Q19: the shock and awe implementation of the OPEC cuts, global activity sequentially accelerating, further tightening of US oil sanctions and an only moderate increase in shale production for now, Goldman analysts wrote in an April 8 report. However, the investment bank said that prices could begin to decline in the second half of the year as OPEC+ begins to unwind the production cuts and U.S. shale picks back up. On top of that, some long-cycle projects could hit the market in 2020, leading Goldman to project a $60 Brent price for next year. In fact, while the oil market is moving very much in an upward direction, not everyone believes that it will last. The mood is increasingly turning bullish, but several feedback loops are about to start spinning that stand in the way of a prolonged oil rally, Norbert Ruecker of Julius Baer told Reuters. Russia already signaled its willingness to raise oil output from June. Fuel remains costly in emerging markets, with soft currencies adding to high oil prices. Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a forum in St. Petersburg that he was comfortable with oil prices where they are, and seemed to suggest that his government was not yet sold on the idea that OPEC+ should extend production cuts. Related: Shell Ventures Into Chinas Shale Oil The higher prices go, especially over such a short time period, the more that cracks will begin to surface in the OPEC+ group. Saudi Arabia clearly wants to stick with the cuts, still smarting from the downturn last year. Russia is less keen. Meanwhile, some economic concerns still linger. The IMF warned about slowing growth, expecting global GDP to expand by 3.3 percent this year, down from 3.6 percent last year. One glaring weak spot is the fact that emerging market currencies are lagging far behind the rally in commodities and global equities. Higher oil prices and a persistently strong U.S. dollar have put pressure on an array of currencies, and the weakness will make crude oil much pricier in many countries. That, in turn, could dampen demand. Nevertheless, declining output in Iran and Venezuela, and the threat of severe outages in Libya, at a time when U.S. shale growth has slowed is a powerful combination pushing oil prices to new highs. By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Oil prices soared in recent days, with Brent rising to its highest point since early November. The tightness in the market is real, but prices may not increase a whole lot more from here. We dont think youre going to get back to those $80 levels again, so youve got some modest upside here, Goldman Sachs head of commodities research, Jeff Currie, told CNBC this week. Currie and his team of analysts laid out a bullish narrative in an April 8 research note. Brent prices have finally reached $70/bbl, following a fundamentally led rally reflective of a deficit larger than even we had forecast, the Goldman analysts wrote. The OPEC+ production cuts were phased in quickly, a strategy Goldman dubbed shock and awe. In contrast, the group phased in cuts in 2017, which resulted in a protracted effort that only gradually reduced inventory levels. Meanwhile, sanctions on Venezuela and Iran are knocking supply offline, and turmoil in Libya threatens to hit the oil market with another major outage. Goldman Sachs was surprised by the speed with which the oil market tightened, and the investment bank hiked its forecast for average Brent prices in the second quarter to $72.50 per barrel, up from $65 previously. But even as Brent has rallied more than 30 percent since the start of the year, Goldman analysts think that the rally has largely run its course. While the macro risk-on environment and the threat of disruptions may drive spot prices even higher, we still expect that prices will decline gradually from this summer as shale and OPEC production increases, they concluded. With large spare capacity in OPEC and the Permian basin and a wave of long-cycle projects still expected to come online in 2020, we maintain our $60/bbl forecast for next year. The cautious tone is notable given that Goldman analysts do not see any cracks in demand. When CNBC asked Goldmans Jeff Currie about the possibility of a slowdown in consumption, he rejected the notion. No absolutely the opposite. Commodities demand is relatively rock solid, demand is so solid in China right now ... Bottom line, demand looks really good right now, he said. Related: Smart Money Is Piling Into Oil The reason that the investment bank does not see oil prices shooting up to $80 is because OPEC+ would be under pressure to begin to unwind the production cuts, while U.S. shale would also kick into a higher gear. If longer-dated oil prices begin to rise, it could stimulate new drilling in the Permian. That could push down prices next year. The flip side is that if production seems to be climbing this year, it would weigh on longer-dated prices, which could ultimately force restraint from shale drillers, pushing prices up in 2020. Of course, much depends on how OPEC+ manages its next move. Russian President Vladimir Putin demurred on an extension of the cuts in the second half of 2019. Russia seems just fine with current oil prices, and is not in desperate need for higher prices like Saudi Arabia is. More to the point, the higher oil prices go, the more the cohesion around a strategy of production restraint begins to fall apart. On top of that, the cuts have rebuilt spare capacity in a big way, which reduces supply risk and mitigates the risk premium given to prices. Later this year, a series of Permian pipelines are scheduled to come online, which could unlock new production. Finally, non-OPEC production increases from Brazil, Norway, Guyana, Canada and Iraq are assumed next year. Goldman summed up its argument by saying that what lies ahead for the oil market is basically a rerun of the 1990s, which the bank characterized as tight spot markets but well supplied forward balances and reflected in steady backwardation with an anchored back-end. Goldman sees backwardation in the futures curve as a thing that will stick around. In short, there is upward pressure on prices now, but it may only temporary. By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The Saudi plan to use their state-run oil giant, Aramco, as a piggy bank panned out fabulously for the Kingdom on Tuesday, with international investor demand topping $100 billion in Aramcos first-ever foray into international debt markets. According to various media citing sources close to the transaction, based on demand--which can sometimes be inflated by investors--the bond sale will raise at least $10 billion, and possibly $12 billion. And from a purely investment standpoint, financial analysts seem to think that hitting the debt market makes more sense for Aramco than an initial public offering, which has been in the works for some time and much-delayed over issues of transparency and valuation. The main question now is whether Aramco even needs to go public, or whether the unusual acquisition of a nearly 70-percent stake in Saudi Arabias Sabic petrochemicals giant means its sidelined IPO plans altogether. The IPO was announced with a great deal of fanfare by the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS), and the success of the bond sale may mean that he can forego the IPO plan without losing face. To the degree to which the goal of the IPO was seen as providing more funding for the Public Investment Fund ... if you can do this with a bond offering, the question is do you need an IPO? CNBC quoted Helima Croft, global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, as saying. Related: The Marginal Producer Driving The Oil Price Rally The massive demand for the Aramco bond sale also will prove a feather in Saudi Arabias cap in its rivalry with Qatar, which is under economic blockade by the Kingdom and its allies, yet still managed a $12-billion bond sale of its own last year. The Qatar bond sale saw just over $50 billion in orders, and the Saudi $100 billion will be seen as a victory in that respect. According to the Guardian, the $100 billion demand is an emerging market record, with the highest so far being $69 billion for Argentinas 2016 bond sale. The stampede to pick up Aramco debt is seen as a vote of confidence by investors, just months after Khashoggi was killed in a Saudi consulate in Istanbul last October. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads from Oilprice.com: South Africa is facing an energy crisis. The once distinguished national public energy provider, Eskom, has been driven to the point of collapse by years of corruption, incompetence and political meddling. Under the Presidency of Jacob Zuma, Eskom went from making a billion Rand profit in 2008 to making a 2.3 billion Rand loss. The Eskom crisis has only depressed an already strained economy. This critical situation has left Cyril Ramaphosa, the presidential incumbent, in an uncomfortable position. To address South Africas myriad problems, Ramaphosa must garner support and reform a party filled with discredited Zuma loyalists. To do so, he has surrounded himself with a prudent group of advisers and ministers who have established expertise on national energy issues. Ramaphosa, an assertive trade-unionist turned billionaire businessman, is now well placed to lead South Africa towards a new energy regime. The crisis also presents an opportunity to expand into the alternative energy sector. The transition from Coal to Clean South Africa remains largely dependent on coal. Eskom generates 90 percent of its electricity from an increasingly dirty stockpile, that is sourced from mines further and further away from its aging power plants. In recent weeks, the country has experienced power outages, locally referred to as load shedding. Despite the 2016 statement from Zuma that we will never have load shedding again, the problem has gotten significantly worse. Load shedding is occurring over weekends and in the summer, periods when demand is low. Minister for Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, has recently conceded that Eskom is currently facing massive problems of a structural nature, operational nature and financial nature. In order to address these concerns, the President has announced a strategic change in Eskoms business model. The utility will be reconfigured into three separate entities: generation, transmission and distribution. Eskoms reconfiguration forms part of the governments new Integrated Resource Plan. According to the draft plan, the government will pursue a diversified energy mix and source 42 percent of energy needs from renewables by 2030. The proposal to massively scale down on coal dependency is being actively opposed by powerful labor unions. Though the Government has pledged a just transition, unions are unsettled by the prospect of massive job loss in a country struggling with unemployment. Related: Sharp Rise In Rig Count Pressures Oil Prices While those job concerns are certainly legitimate, South Africa has a significant need and potential gain from renewable energy investment. Furthermore, its renewable procurement programmes have achieved significant success. The Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme, introduced in 2011, has been hailed as one of the worlds most successful renewable power producer programmes. Not only will renewables provide a cleaner future, but they will also increasingly become cheaper, especially as storage capability improves. A need for leadership The Resource Plan and the renewable programmes alone are not sufficient; determined leadership and execution is now needed. Messages from the political administration have been mixed. They appear to be appeasing all sides. Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe pledged that a transition from coal will take place while warning the coal industry to wake up, you are under attack. While broad postures and little action are to be expected from campaigning parties in the weeks leading up to the May 8th general election, the governing party must work now to ensure the new government hits the ground running. With Ramaphosas African National Congress likely to maintain its majority after the election, the President is showing clear leadership by taking direction from the National Development Plan, the strategic document that has mainly gathered dust under Zuma. In a recent statement, the Presidency has committed to pursue the considerable renewable energy targets set out in the Development Plan. It has strategically pointed to energy as a key enabler in South Africas trajectory towards socio-economic growth and development. South Africa is undoubtedly facing an energy crisis but one that presents clear opportunities. The President is showing signs that he will work to exploit these opportunities and execute the strategic programmes as detailed in the Development Plan. By Global Risk Insights More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The National Assembly of Venezueladominated by the oppositionhas authorized the parallel opposition-elected board of state oil firm PDVSA to negotiate the companys foreign debts, including whether to make later this month an interest payment on a bond backed by a 49-percent interest in PDVSAs most precious foreign asset, U.S. refiner Citgo. Venezuelas National Assembly approved on Tuesday a proposal to increase the number of members of the ad hoc board at PDVSA to nine from five, and appointed Luis Pacheco, a former PDVSA executive, to lead the board, Elias Matta, an opposition lawmaker and chairman of the Assemblys energy committee, said. Today, Citgo is in the hands of Venezuelans and is being managed by the ad hoc board of directors approved by this Assembly, Matta added. In February, Venezuelas opposition led by U.S.-backed leader Juan Guaido appointed new directors at PDVSA and at Citgo in a challenge to Maduro and in an effort to take control over Venezuelas oil assetspretty much the only assets that generate hard currency for the struggling Latin American country sitting on top of the worlds largest crude oil reserves. The National Assembly authorizing the opposition-backed board to hold debt negotiations for PDVSAs foreign debt means that this ad hoc parallel board could decide the fate of U.S. Citgo Petroleumthe crown jewel which Nicolas Maduro was also very careful not to let slip out of PDVSAs hands by making every bond payment backed by Citgo shares. However, another payment is due in just over two weeks: an interest payment of US$71 million on PDVSAs 2020 bond is due on April 27. Failure to pay the interest could trigger a bondholders rush to seize Citgo, because the 2020 PDVSA bond is backed by a stake in the U.S. refiner. Related: European Markets Defy The Biggest Oil Rally In A Decade They will evaluate if they are going to pay the bonds. That is now their decision, Matta told Reuters in a phone interview, referring to the ad hoc board at PDVSA. We will do everything we have to do to protect the republics assets, Matta told Reuters, noting that the board needs to inform the National Assembly if it decides to make the payment. As early as at the end of February, Guaidos newly appointed U.S.-based Attorney General, Jose Ignacio Hernandez, told Bloomberg, referring to PDVSAs bond payments: All obligations will be honored since theyre key to the protection of state assets. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: 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... The Holy See grants all Pauline Cooperators the opportunity to gain the plenary indulgence on the following feast days: Feast of Jesus Master, Way, Truth and Life (Last Sunday in October) Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) Feast of Mary, Queen of Apostles (May, 1st Sat. after Ascension) Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8th) Feast of the Assumption (Aug. 15th) Feast of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary (March 19th) Feast of St. Paul the Apostle (June 30th) " " President Harry S. Truman received the first ever President's Daily Brief on Feb. 15, 1946. In those days, it was called the Daily Summary. Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Image The President's Daily Brief, by definition, is a tidy summation of what America's far-reaching intelligence community knows. Yet in its world-seeing scope, in its meticulous detail, in the collaborative year-round effort put forth by hundreds of analysts sifting through megabytes of information, the PDB it's the government; of course it has an acronym is anything but brief. "It's hard to fully capture how much work goes into the PDB. This absolutely drives the whole intelligence community," says Tricia Bacon, who worked as an intelligence analyst and had her fingerprints on PDBs that landed on the desks of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. "It is a massive enterprise of energy and dedication." So eyebrows jumped skyward within the intelligence community when President Donald Trump dismissed daily intelligence briefings as, essentially, a waste of his valuable time. "I'm, like, a smart person," Trump said on Fox News (starts at minute 2:00) last weekend in explaining why he already had skipped several PDBs. "I don't have to be told the same thing and the same words every single day ... " As the president-elect, Trump has every right not to be briefed, notes Bacon. Furthermore, when he becomes president in a few weeks, if he wants to make the PDB the President's Weekly Brief instead, he can. Though we'll need to change the acronym. Advertisement The 411 on the Presidential Daily Briefing Ever since Harry S. Truman first sat down with what was called the Daily Summary in February 1946, presidents have been reading a national intelligence report almost every day. It's morphed a little and changed names; the Situation Summary, the Current Intelligence Bulletin, the Central Intelligence Bulletin. John F. Kennedy wanted a brief he could slip into his jacket pocket, so the intelligence community came up with the President's Intelligence Checklist yep, the PICL. Lyndon Johnson came up with the PDB in 1964. The concept, though, has remained the same. "In the most basic way, it's a highly classified newspaper. Breaking events, breaking news, major issues that the president needs to be aware of," says Bacon, now an assistant professor in the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C. "But then it's got the whole additional element to it. 'Is the president traveling, or meeting with a world leader?' It's designed to prepare the president for any of his upcoming meetings or trips or anyone he's hosting. It's really tailored to the president." The PDB, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) that's the agency that since 2004 has gathered intel from various agencies and synthesized it for the president in the PDB can contain all sorts of intelligence on sticky situations anywhere in the world. The intel comes from many different sources. Along with the ODNI (part of the executive branch), 16 other entities contribute to the PDB as needed. The big ones are represented, like the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency. An office within the CIA partners with the ODNI in the final molding of the PDB. Every branch of the armed forces has an intelligence arm that chips in, too. The Department of Homeland Security has a say, as does the Drug Enforcement Administration, the National Security Agency, the Department of State, the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Energy. The whole list of government contributors to the PDB is here. On any given day, the PDB will have articles written by intelligence analysts, as well as graphics, photographs, notes and details of a practically unlimited number of sensitive scenarios across the world. The PDB might even include videos; in 2013, Obama requested that the PDB be transferred from paper into digital format. " " Presidents can request changes to the format of the President's Daily Brief. President Obama, for example, asked for the daily document to be communicated electronically. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza The PDB, then, is everything a president needs to know about the current world situation. As such, it is super-super confidential. Only the president lays out who gets copies. Only so many are offered. And they're all tracked under heavy security. Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, who served under George W. Bush, called the PDB "the most highly sensitized classified document in the government." Its purpose remains crystal-clear, too. "In general, what intelligence is designed to do is ... to prevent strategic surprise and give decision-makers an edge. This is the product that is designed to do that for the president and the president primarily, if not alone," Bacon says. "The PDB is entirely geared toward giving the president a decision advantage." Advertisement Keeping the President Informed What if the president doesn't want all that info, though? What if that person thinks they know it all? What if the president even does know it all? The PDB, Bacon says, can and does evolve during an administration. In the beginning, everything in the PDB may be painted in broader strokes to bring a new president up to speed. "It's a complex world," Bacon says. "Not everyone can be an expert on everything." As a president demonstrates a grasp on the topics at hand, the PDB can change, always at the discretion of the president. The president can ask for more intel on a subject, or less. The PDB can become more detailed, more nuanced. The key for any president to remember is that the PDB represents just the tip of a mountain of intelligence, what senior PDB staffers think the president needs to know (and what the president has asked for). But the rest of that intel is there for the taking, too. Just by asking. So is scrapping the PDB in favor of a less-often, PDB-light really a good idea in the dangerous times in which we live? "It's the most important product the intelligence community produces. They want to produce what the president needs and what he wants to see," Bacon says. "But just dismissing it? That seems like an underutilization of a really important resource." NOW THAT'S INTERESTING Some presidents take a PDB five days a week, some six, some occasionally more. Obama reads the PDB six days a week in digital form, on a tablet. Before the election, the candidates received a different version of the PDB than the one the president is given. Since the election, Trump gets a PDB that is "essentially identical" to the one that Obama receives. " " People may pray while they're standing, sitting, kneeling, you name it. Whatever the posture though, their eyes often are closed. Colin Hawkins/Getty Images In 1952, the U.S. Congress and President Harry Truman established a National Day of Prayer and encouraged all Americans, regardless of religion, to celebrate their faith through prayer. Prayer is a part of everyday life for many people all over the world. According to Pew Research surveys, more than half of Americans report they pray daily. An additional 23 percent pray weekly or monthly, and 76 percent of Americans believe prayer is an important part of each day [source: Lipka]. Prayer is an integral part of many religions and cultures. It can be a plea for aid, an expression of gratitude, a way to worship and a means to find fellowship with others. Along with the many different iterations of prayer, there are many rituals that surround the act of prayer. One of the most prevalent is closing one's eyes. Advertisement Why do so many people close their eyes to pray? In the Bible, there are descriptions of prayers made standing, sitting, kneeling or with arms raised, yet there aren't any verses that insist the eyelids shut during prayer. There are, however, a number of verses that describe people praying in private, which may offer a clue. For many, prayer is a private matter, an intercession between a person and God or another higher power. Closing your eyes as you do it is a way to block out distractions and focus on the conversation. Instead of using your eyes to communicate with others, you shut them and turn your thoughts inward. By closing your eyes during prayer, you may be continuing a ritual whose roots are steeped in history. Long ago, looking directly at a king or any ruler was considered insolent. The proper response when appearing before a ruler was to close your eyes or, if you were feeling really daring, look downward. Failing to do so could launch an unfortunate chain of events that might end with a sleepover in the dungeon or a date with the guillotine. Adopting a deferential pose -- in other words, closing your eyes -- during prayer became an appropriate way to show humility, something that was especially important when asking for mercy. Today, it's a common posture for prayers of all kinds. " " LGBTQ members and their supporters take part in the Equality March for Unity & Pride parade in downtown Washington D.C., June 11, 2017. JOSE LUIS MAGANA/AFP/Getty Images The question seems almost disarming in its simplicity: How many gay people are in America? Or, taking a more wide-angle, modern look at it: How many Americans identify as LGBTQ? The question is simple enough. The answer most certainly is not. Just approaching an answer is a chore. People have been working at it for decades. And nobody not even those most deeply involved with the LGBTQ community has a definitive answer. Not yet. "There are some really standard baseline numbers ...," says Meghan Maury, the policy director for the National LGBTQ Task Force, the country's oldest LGBTQ advocacy group. "But it's hard to know what's accurate, right? Young folks are much much, much, much, much more likely to self-identify as LGBTQ, really significantly more likely. Older people are less likely ... It's hard for us to actually know what numbers are right." Everyone involved in trying to answer the question has an educated guess. But an accurate estimation, backed by solid science and carefully curated data? Nobody's quite there. Not yet. Advertisement The Rough Guesstimates "It's between 4 and 6 percent. That's the number most commonly seen," says David Stacy, the government affairs director for the Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer civil rights organization. "But the thing about it is, the number is higher with millennials. I think we're still dealing with social stigma here. These are the best estimates right now ... But it's possible over time that's going to change." The latest Gallup poll, from 2016, puts the number of Americans who answered this question affirmatively "Do you, personally, identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender?" at 4.1 percent, or about 10 million Americans. But if that's not a figure that anyone is willing to settle on, it's because it jumped by more than a half-percent in just four years. From 2012 to 2016, the number of Americans who answered YES to that question rocketed from 3.5 to 4.1 percent. That accounts for about 1.75 million more LGBTQ people. In just four years. In fact, the percentage of people who say they are LGBTQ has been steadily increasing for years, Gallup reports, lately driven by millennials. (Gallup defines that generation as those born between 1980 and 1998.) From 2012 to 2016, the number of millennials who identified as LGBTQ jumped from 5.8 to 7.3 percent. Millennials account for 58 percent of all adults who call themselves LGBTQ, yet they comprise only 32 percent of the population. The widely held hunch: There are a lot more people out there that are LGBTQ than we know. "For sure," Maury says. "For sure." Advertisement Sexual Orientation on the CBAMS The simple question of "How many?" raises two very important sub-questions, with answers that are seemingly much more straightforward (if, perhaps, not quite in the "simple" category). What's the big deal in knowing exactly how many Americans are LGBTQ? What can be done about arriving at more accurate numbers? To take the second question first, the Task Force, the HRC and many other organizations have been pushing for years to include questions of sexual orientation and gender identity on the U.S. Census (taken every 10 years) and the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS, according to the Census Bureau, is "the premier source for detailed population and housing information about our nation." The ACS is ongoing. Some 295,000 surveys a month are mailed to addresses across the U.S. The ACS provides a veritable treasure trove of population data for federal and state agencies, businesses, special interest groups, journalists and those who want to know more about the communities in which they live. There's not a question about sexual orientation or gender identity on it. "I believe, given the information that I have ... that the federal agencies recognize a real need for having sexual orientation and gender identity questions on the ACS," Maury says. "And I think that the Census Bureau was ready to move forward with that until this new administration came into office." Maury is of course referring to the Trump administration. In March 2017, in the first months of the President Trump's days in office, the Bureau announced that "sexual orientation and gender identity" would not be a topic on the ACS or the upcoming 2020 Census. (Embarrassingly, it was listed as a proposed topic in an official Bureau document. It was struck just hours later, giving the impression that the Trump administration erased it from something the Obama administration had authored.) "The federal government has until recently been hostile to LGBTQ people, by and large, and certainly unwilling to even try to attempt to collect this information," HRC's Stacy says. "That obviously began to change with the Obama administration. But we're seeing some retrenchment in the Trump administration around these questions." At least one question on sexual orientation (but not gender identity) is expected to make it onto another Census Bureau questionnaire, the 2020 Census Barriers, Attitudes and Motivators Survey (CBAMS), according to reporting by NPR. The CBAMS is not as wide-ranging as the ACS. But it's a good first step and it's critical, Maury and others say, in determining why some members of the LGBTQ community may or may not participate in the 2020 Census or the ACS. Even more, it's critical in gaining an understanding of the types of questions that should be included on future surveys and the need to answer (and understand those answers) accurately. "When you ask somebody a question like, 'What is your sexual orientation?' or however you'd phrase it," Stacy says, "you have to make sure when you ask it that people understand what you're asking and that you're understanding what they mean [with their response]." Advertisement Why the Numbers Matter With more understanding of sexual orientation and gender identity topics, with more precise questions and answers and, finally, with more willingness on both the part of the federal government and the LGBTQ community to participate in surveys, the answer to that biggest of big questions "How many LGBTQ people are in America?" can be had. But why do we need to know in the first place? What's the big deal about having all that information? "The census controls billions of dollars in federal funding ... If you don't have an accurate count, then the resources aren't getting to the people that need it the most," Maury says. "The census also controls redistricting, who's representing us in Congress, and at the state and local levels it impacts what our school districts look like. LGBTQ folks are increasingly seeing their rights put on the ballot. So what redistricting looks like and who's representing us has a huge impact on our day-to-day lives." We know this much: The LGBTQ population is a growing force in American society. How big a force it is, we don't quite know. Not yet anyway. Now That's Interesting The increasing number of LGBTQ people in the Gallup polls may be the result of a couple of factors. One, millennials seem more comfortable than older people in sharing what might be considered "private" information on a survey. But a more accepting social climate may play an even larger part in many people willing to identify as LGBTQ. In 1986, Gallup reports, just 32 percent of Americans polled supported legalization of same-sex relationships. Three decades later, in May of 2016, that number had risen to 68 percent. The vote is in on the car brand that received the most hearts on Facebook for 2018, and its Dodge by a large margin. The popular American muscle won the hearts of Facebook users through posts that showcased the brands :passion for high-octane muscle and irreverence, coupled with a heavy dose of humor. The Dodge/SRT brands personality and voice across its social channels are representative of our millions of die-hard fans, said Steve Beahm, Head of Passenger Car Brands, Dodge//SRT, Chrysler, and FIATFCA North America. Their attitude and passion are exceeded only by their love of Dodge vehicles. To learn that Dodge received the most love reactions on Facebook in 2018 validates our teams dedicated efforts to provide a forum for our fans to not only learn more about our vehicles, but to engage and interact with each other and share their love for the brand. Dodge earned a total of 461,187 heart reactions on Facebook in 2018. Second place went to Mercedes-Benz, which received 382,629, a difference of 78,558. Dodge managed to accrue the total through just 408 posts, centered mainly on its rich heritage of muscle cars. The survey was conducted by crisis monitoring firm Crisp, which compiled reactions on Facebook to develop its own system for gauging automotive brand reputation and public perception online. Dodge demonstrates that they truly understand that the value of social media is engaging with customers and fans in a way that resonates rather than simply marketing at them, said Emma Monks, Vice President of Crisis Intelligence at Crisp. Dodge produces a small amount of high-quality content on Facebook that informs, entertains, and invites fans to celebrate and share their passion for these iconic cars. This is the building block of creating great brand trust and reputation online. Story continues The Crisp survey summarizes feedback from January 2018 to January 2019 and analyzes a 19,846 Facebook posts in total, published by the top 50 automotive brands within the survey period. dodge.com.ph The post Dodge is Most Loved Car Brand on Facebook in 2018 appeared first on Carmudi Philippines. THE National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) has removed over 650,000 campaign materials all over Metro Manila.NCRPO Director Major General Guillermo Eleazar urged the candidates to also do their THE family of the 17-year-old girl who was killed in Tondo, Manila in what relatives believe was a case of mistaken identity cried for justice. Ronalyn Jamon, 17, was shot dead by a still unidentified man while buying breakfast Sunday morning, April 7. Based on a closed circuit television camera footage, the gunman pulled his gun on Jamon, walked away, went back, and fired at the victim. Witnesses said the gunman called Jamon as "Juanabie." Desiree Cordero, Jamons mother, said they know a certain Juanabie whose body built and hairstyle are similar to Jamon's. "Napagkamalan lang siya (It was a case of mistaken identity)," said Cordero, who described her daughter as sweet and kind. She said she could not remember Jamon having any enemies who may want to kill her. Tondo police station chief Lieutenant Colonel Reynaldo Magdaluyo said two persons who were arrested and admitted taking part in the crime, Juanabie was their real target after she failed to remit money from their illegal transactions. Magdaluyo urged Juanabie to surface and to cooperate with the ongoing investigation to identify and arrest the gunman. (SunStar Philippines) MANILA -- Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the government has imposed a total ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Libya because of fighting between rival militias for control of the North MANILA -- Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the government has imposed a total ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Libya because of fighting between rival militias for control of the North African nation's capital. He said Wednesday, April 10, that the indefinite ban would affect new Libya-bound workers and even Filipinos who are scheduled to return there after work breaks. The deployment ban was imposed after the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila raised on Monday, April 8, the threat level in Libya's capital to 3 and urged Filipinos in Tripoli and outlying areas to consider leaving to avoid getting caught in the fighting. Bello said if the threat level is raised to 4, the government will have to implement a forced evacuation of Filipinos to ensure their safety. (AP) 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 THE Malaysian national who was rescued on April 4 by government forces following an encounter with several members of the Abu Sayyaf Group in the hinterlands of Sulu has died. Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Mindanao Command spokesperson Colonel Gerry Besana said Jari Bin Abdullah passed away on April 9 while being treated at the West Metro Medical Center in Zamboanga City. Abdullah was rescued by personnel of the Marine Battalion Landing Team 3 following a firefight with Abu Sayyaf members led by Najir Arik. Abdullah tried to escape at the height of the firefight but Abu Sayyaf bandits fired at him. Besana said the Malaysian national sustained critical gunshot wounds in his body, causing his death. Abdullahs family witnessed his death, as they signed a waiver that allowed doctors to remove his life support, added Besana. We extend our heartfelt sympathy to the families of Abdullah. Our troops are exhausting all efforts to defeat the Abu Sayyaf and bring justice to the victims of terror, said Lieutenant General Arnel Dela Vega, Western Mindanao Command chief. Abdullah was among the three fishermen abducted by the Abu Sayyaf on December 6, 2018. The other kidnap victims were Heri Ardiansyah and Hariadin who, according to the military, were rescued on April 5 during a pursuit operation against the bandits in the waters off Simusa Island. The military said Ardiansyah was turned over to the Indonesian embassy in Manila, while Hariadin, who drowned in a escape try, was also sent to the embassy. (SunStar Philippines) The UN Security Council on Wednesday extended the work of a key panel that investigates North Korean sanctions-busting following weeks of negotiations over Russia's demands for a stronger focus on the humanitarian impact of the tough measures. The council unanimously approved a US-drafted resolution renewing for a year the mandate of the panel of experts which reports to the UN sanctions committee on North Korea. The approval had been held up by Russia which had requested that the panel be tasked with providing reports on the impact of sanctions on North Korea's humanitarian crisis, according to documents seen by AFP. Russia wants the sanctions committee to grant more exemptions on humanitarian grounds, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told AFP. "The indiscriminate application of the resolution prevents many things from happening in North Korea. UN organisations have difficulty working on the ground and we want exemptions," he said. The United States rejected Russia's request to add a new task to the panel, but an agreement was reached to ask UN aid officials to brief the sanctions committee on the humanitarian situation every six months. In a letter seen by AFP, the United States proposed that the sanctions committee "explore additional steps" to streamline requests for exemptions and help aid groups cut through UN administrative red tape. - Food shortages - Western diplomats accuse Russia of using humanitarian aid as a pretext to weaken the tough sanctions regime imposed on North Korea over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. A summit meeting in Vietnam between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ended in failure in late February after Pyongyang demanded an easing of sanctions. The United States maintains that Pyongyang's policies are responsible for the dire shortages of food and medicine in North Korea -- not sanctions. Some 10.5 million North Koreans, or 41 percent of the population, are in need of food aid, according to UN figures. So far this year, the sanctions committee has granted 18 exemptions to aid organizations working in North Korea, some of which had been under review for as long as a year, with the United States delaying approval. UN sanctions resolutions specify that humanitarian aid should not be affected by the tough measures, but aid organizations have said they have been hit hard. The restrictions have made imports of material for their relief projects almost impossible and created major headaches with banking, aid officials say. North Korea in February told the United Nations it is facing a looming food crisis from an expected sharp drop in crop production this year and asked for help. Phuket, 10 April 2019 Amari Phuket is celebrating the Thai New Year or Songkran (Water) Festival with a special themed buffet dinner on 13 April 2019 at Rim Talay Restaurant from 18:00 to 22:00. The hotels seasoned chefs will serve world-famous Thai dishes representing regional favourites from north to south. Guests are invited to indulge in Thai cuisine at a fantastic beachside venue showcasing panoramic views of Patong Bay. The buffet dinner is priced at 1,190 THB++ per person. Children aged 5 to 12 enjoy a 50% discount and those under 5 years of age dine free of charge. All prices are subject to 10% service charge and 7% VAT. Terms and conditions apply. For more information and reservations, please contact +66 (0) 7634 0106, email rimtalay@amari.com or visit the Rim Talay Facebook page at www.facebook.com/RimTalayPhuket. Address: Amari Phuket, 2 Muen-ngern Road, Patong Beach, Kathu, Phuket 83150 Digital tracing of Ibex featured in rock art. Credit: Aitor Ruiz-Redondo An international team, led by an archaeologist from the University of Southampton and the University of Bordeaux, has revealed the first example of Palaeolithic figurative cave art found in the Balkan Peninsula. Dr. Aitor Ruiz-Redondo worked with researchers from the universities of Cantabria (Spain), Newfoundland (Canada), Zagreb (Croatia) and the Archaeological Museum of Istria (Croatia) to study the paintings, which could be up to 34,000 years old. The cave art was first discovered in 2010 in Romualdova Pe?ina ('Romuald's cave') at Istria in Croatia, when Darko Komso, Director of the Archaeological Museum of Istria, noticed the existence of the remains of a red colour in a deep part of the cave. Following his discovery, the team led by Dr. Ruiz-Redondo and funded by the French State and the Archaeological Museum of Istria, with the support of Natura Histrica, undertook a detailed analysis of the paintings and their archaeological context. This led to the identification of several figurative paintings, including a bison, an ibex and two possible anthropomorphic figures, confirming the Palaeolithic age of the artworks. Furthermore, an excavation made in the ground below these paintings led to the discovery of a number of Palaeolithic age remains; a flint tool, an ochre crayon and several fragments of charcoal. Composite of digital tracings of 1, Bison 2, Ibex and 3, possible anthropomorphic figures, from cave art. Credit: Aitor Ruiz-Redondo Radiocarbon dating of these objects show an estimated age of around 17,000 years and other indirect data suggest the paintings date to an even earlier periodat around 34,000-31,000 years ago. Further research will be conducted in order to establish the precise age of the rock art. Findings are published in the journal Antiquity. This discovery expands the so far sparse register of Palaeolithic art in south east Europe. It makes Romualdova Pe?ina the first site where figurative Palaeolithic rock art has been discovered in this area. Together with Badanj in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the two are the only examples of rock art from the Palaeolithic period in the Balkans. Digital tracing of Bison featured in rock art. Credit: Aitor Ruiz-Redondo Dr. Aitor Ruiz-Redondo, a British Academy-funded Newton International Fellow at the University of Southampton and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bordeaux, said: "The importance of this finding is remarkable and sheds a new light on the understanding of Palaeolithic art in the territory of Croatia and the Balkan Peninsula, as well as its relationship with simultaneous phenomena throughout Europe." A new project started by Dr. Ruiz-Redondo and his team, funded by the British Academy, will develop further research at these two sites during the next few years. Explore further 14,000-year-old rock paintings found in Spanish resort town More information: Aitor Ruiz-Redondo et al, Expanding the horizons of Palaeolithic rock art: the site of Romualdova Pecina, Antiquity (2019). Journal information: Antiquity Aitor Ruiz-Redondo et al, Expanding the horizons of Palaeolithic rock art: the site of Romualdova Pecina,(2019). DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2019.36 Credit: CC0 Public Domain Sometimes an art forgery is so sophisticated, it fools even the experts. For example, in 2011, Sotheby's brokered a deal for a darkly coloured gentleman's portrait said to be by 17th century painter Frans Hals the Elder. The buyer paid roughly AU$15 million (US$10.9 million). In 2016, amid a string of similar scandals, this work was discovered to be made partially of synthetic paint, making its supposed provenance impossible. This was not an isolated case. In the past decade, many other prestigious London auction houses and New York galleries have also been caught out selling paintings, purportedly by artists ranging from old masters to modern abstract expressionists, which have been shown to be fakes. Swinburne researchers have developed an electronic system that promises to make life more difficult for art forgers. Professor Yang Xiang, Dean of the Digital Research Innovation Capability Platform, and his colleagues in the Data Science Research Institute, are using the same cyber security approach used by Bitcoin to guarantee the provenance and authenticity of works of art. The system should not only improve logistics for the art tradean $82 billion dollar annual global marketbut provide additional benefits to artists, such as ongoing royalties. Swinburne and its partner, Melbourne-based start-up ArtChain Global, announced the secure art-trading platform in 2018. "We anticipate this new system will be a game-changing technology," Xiang says. "The Swinburne-developed secure digital technology underpinning the platform has applications far beyond the art world, potentially ranging from logistics to healthcare," he adds. ArtChain enters the market Xiang's partnership with ArtChain Global came about in late 2017, when the Melbourne-based group approached the cyber security researcher to ask if Swinburne had any capabilities with a computer technology called blockchain. "We have a number of researchers working on R&D blockchain projects, so it was a perfect fit," Xiang says. Blockchain is best known in the context of Bitcoin and its competitor online virtual currencies. Blockchain creates the secure environment within which these 'cryptocurrencies' can be stored and traded. "Cryptocurrencies are the first real-world application of blockchain technology," Xiang says. "To describe how blockchain works, I like to use a marriage ceremony as an example," Xiang says. On the big day, friends and family all witness the event and can each verify that the ceremony took place. In the case of a cryptocurrency transaction, a distributed network of invited computers act as the witnesses, each recording that an exchange of funds took place. Just as everyone invited to the wedding remembers the event, the computers all hold an identical copy of the transaction record. If anybody tried to fraudulently manipulate a cryptocurrency record, the doctored copy would no longer match all the other computers' version and the change would be rejected. "Bitcoin is the first application that shows blockchain's potential," says Xiang. But the same idea could underpin almost any type of transaction, he says. Including the trade of art. "Although there are so many high-value transactions, one of the key problems in this industry is the authenticity of the artworks and collectables," he says. Developing an art-trading platform based on blockchain would eliminate that concern. Using blockchain would be akin to having multiple witnesses on hand to observe the artist selling a piece to a dealer or collector, and then witnessing each onward sale of the piece. Technologically, adapting blockchain code for a new application is not too difficult, as there are several open source blockchain platforms available for use, says Xiang. The biggest challenge has been developing protocols to robustly connect the physical artwork to its digital blockchain record. The team has applied cutting-edge electronic technologies to overcome this challenge, Xiang explains. The first level of security comes from attaching to the object a smart, internet-enabled electronic tag, connecting the artwork to the internet of things (IoT). These tags, which give the artwork a unique online identify, can also be integrated with GPS tracking modules, so its physical location is always known. As a further security measure, the team has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) program that analyses high-resolution camera images of the real artwork. "If there is a fake, very minor features not recognisable by human eyes can be detected by AI," Xiang says. AI, which is based on deep learning algorithms, was trained to spot fakes by allowing it to analyse a huge library of images. Attributes such as colour saturation, brightness and depth are all analysed to detect minor differences between the real version and the copy. The system is already working quite well in the lab, says Xiang. Real-world testing began in 2018. The art-trading platform will integrate all these new technologies into a single interface. "We have developed a combined system that utilises AI and IoT, plus the blockchain," Xiang says. "So the whole system involves multiple new technologies, all done at Swinburne." Ongoing royalties John Young, a Melbourne artist and studio owner, has been consulting for ArtChain Global as the platform was developed. "I am very optimistic about its possibilities," says Young. "There are several areas where this is clearly a very good thing." Not least, of course, is confirming the authenticity of an artwork. Although forged work, claimed to be painted by figures such as Jackson Pollock, tend to grab headlines, these high-profile cases are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to art copying. A more prevalent threat for today's working artists is having online images of their artworks copied and used without permission, attribution or payment. "I have had people lift work from my website, then blow it up to full size and use it as a shop window display," Young says. Registering a work on ArtChain would be a safeguard, providing a timeline and proving that Young was the creator of the work. Aside from its security credentials, the other key feature is the way the blockchain record grows over time. Each time an object is tradedbe it a Bitcoin or a paintinga new line item (or 'block') is added to the end of the existing record file. The record itself therefore serves as a chronological history of the object's ownership and its provenance. "For the art market, provenance is very important," Young says. "A work held in a collection for 50 years is sometimes seen as more valuable than a piece that has been continually traded on the secondary market." The growing blockchain record has other potential advantages for the art trade. It allows for royalty payments for the artist for each onward sale of their work. Items sold by artists early in their career can significantly increase in value over time as the artist makes a name. "Traditionally the artist cannot get any benefit from that, says Xiang. "In the blockchain platform, we embedded a new royalty system. Because blockchain cannot be manipulated or changed by third parties, the artist can collect the royalties many years later," he says. Artists will need to be educated about blockchain based art transactions before they are likely to embrace it, Young says. "Like any start-up technology, users need some convincing in terms of trust." But Xiang says the reception to the system so far has been positive among artists. ArtChain also plans to expand into Asian countries. From art to antimalarials For Xiang and his team, the blockchain-based art-trading platform is just the beginning of their work in this area. "The fundamental technology is applicable to many other areas, in particular in supply chains," says Xiang. Their system for combining, AI, IoT and blockchain could be readily adapted for the trade of other collectable items, such as jewellery. The technology could also become an indispensable tool in stemming the expanding trade in counterfeit medicines. Fake versions of antimalarial drugs, containing little or no active ingredient, are of particular concern, according to the World Health Organization, which found that substandard and counterfeit medicines may cause up to 116,000 malaria deaths each year in sub-Saharan Africa alone. Developing countries are particularly vulnerable to fake drug imports, as they often lack the resources to detect the crime. But, even in tightly regulated countries such as Australia, a small number of counterfeit medicines can sometimes be slipped into the healthcare system. The same blockchain-IoT technology Xiang has developed to record the authenticity and provenance of artworks could be used to secure the pharmaceutical supply chain, providing traceability of each drug carton back to the original manufacturer. A blockchain-based platform like this could augment efforts to control the problem by regulators and pharmaceutical companies, which already includes making packaging harder to fake. "In the next few months we will have connections with other industries, particularly in the area of healthcare, education, transportation and logistics," Xiang says. Weather Alert ...HIGH WIND WARNING NOW IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 9 PM CST THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Southwest winds increasing into the 30 to 40 mph range with gusts from 50 to 65 mph. Peak gusts as high as 75 mph will be possible in localized areas. * WHERE...Portions of east central, northeast and southeast Nebraska and southwest and west central Iowa. * WHEN...From noon today to 9 PM CST this evening. The strongest winds will overspread southeast Nebraska from the south between 9 am and Noon. Winds will then increase over the rest of eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa in the afternoon. A few hours with winds gusting over 50 mph are likely. * IMPACTS...Damaging winds will blow down trees and power lines. Widespread power outages could occur. Damage to structures will be possible. Travel will be difficult, especially for high profile vehicles. Unsecured outdoor objects may be blown away. Areas of blowing dust could also occur in open areas or near construction zones. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...fire danger will reach into the extreme category over parts of southeast Nebraska and southwest Iowa in the afternoon or early evening. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... People should avoid being outside in forested areas and around trees and branches. If possible, remain in the lower levels of your home during the windstorm, and avoid windows. Use caution if you must drive. && Credit: NSF Astronomers on Wednesday unveiled the first photo of a black hole, one of the star-devouring monsters scattered throughout the Universe and obscured by impenetrable shields of gravity. The image of a dark core encircled by a flame-orange halo of white-hot plasma looks like any number of artists' renderings over the last 30 years. But this time, it's the real deal. "The history of science will be divided into the time before the image, and the time after the image," said Michael Kramer, director at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy. Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation called the feat a "huge breakthrough for humanity." The supermassive black hole immortalised by a far-flung network of radio telescopes is 50 million lightyears away at the centre of a galaxy known as M87. "It's a distance that we could have barely imagined," Frederic Gueth, an astronomer at France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and co-author of studies detailing the findings, told AFP. Most speculation had centred on the other candidate targeted by the Event Horizon Telescope: Sagittarius A*, a closer but smaller black hole at the centre of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Locking down an image of M87's supermassive black hole at such distance is comparable to photographing a pebble on the Moon, the scientists said. It was also very much a team effort. "Instead of constructing a giant telescope that would collapse under its own weight, we combined many observatories," Michael Bremer, an astronomer at the Institute for Millimetric Radio Astronomy (IRAM) in Grenoble, told AFP. Earth in a thimble Over several days in April 2017, eight radio telescopes in Hawaii, Arizona, Spain, Mexico, Chile, and the South Pole zeroed in on Sag A* and M87. Knitted together, they formed a virtual observatory some 12,000 kilometres acrossroughly the diameter of Earth. The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) -- a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration -- was designed to capture images of a black hole. Today, in coordinated press conferences across the globe, EHT researchers reveal that they have succeeded, unveiling the first direct visual evidence of a supermassive black hole and its shadow.For more multimedia, visit NSF.gov/blackhole, including text-free versions of all images. Credit: NSF "The data is like an incomplete puzzle set," said team member Monika Moscibrodzka, an astronomer at Radboud University. "We only see pieces of the real true image, and then we have to fill in the gaps of the missing pieces." In the end, M87 was more photogenic. Like a fidgety child, Sag A* was too "active" to capture a clear picture, the scientists said. "What we see in the image is the shadow of the black hole's rimknown as the event horizon, or the point of no returnset against the luminous accretion disk," Gueth told AFP. The unprecedented imageso often imagined in science and science fiction - has been analysed in six studies co-authored by 200 experts from 60-odd institutions and published Wednesday in Astrophysical Journal Letters. "I never thought that I would see a real one in my lifetime," said CNRS astrophysicist Jean-Pierre Luminet, author in 1979 of the first digital simulation of a black hole. Coined in the mid-60s by US physicist John Archibald Wheeler, the term "black hole" refers to a point in space where matter is so compressed as to create a gravity field from which even light cannot escape. The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) -- a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration -- was designed to capture images of a black hole. For more multimedia, visit NSF.gov/blackhole. Credit: NSF The more mass, the bigger the hole. At the same scale of compression, Earth would fit inside a thimble. A successful outcome depended in part on the vagaries of weather during the April 2017 observation period. "For everything to work, we needed to have clear visibility at every (telescope) location worldwide", said IRAM scientist Pablo Torne, recalling collective tension, fatigue and, finally, relief. 'Hell of a Christmas present' Torne was at the controls of the Pico Veleta telescope in Spain's Sierra Madre mountains. After that, is was eight months of nail-biting while scientists at MIT Haystack Observatory in Massachusetts and the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn crunched the data. The Event Horizon Telescopea network of eight radio telescopes across the globegathered data to generate the first image of a black hole some 50 million lightyears from Earth The Universe is filled with electromagnetic "noise", and there was no guarantee M87's faint signals could be extracted from a mountain of data so voluminous it could not be delivered via the Internet. There was at least one glitch. "We were desperately waiting for the data from the South Pole Telescope, whichdue to extreme weather conditions during the southern hemisphere winterdidn't arrive until six months later," recalled Helger Rottmann from the Max Planck Institute. It arrived, to be precise, on December 23, 2017. "When, a few hours later, we saw that everything was there, it was one hell of a Christmas present," Rottmann said. It would take another year, however, to piece together the data into an image. Coined in the mid-60s by American physicist John Archibald Wheeler, the term "black hole" refers to a point in space where matter is so compressed as to create a gravity field from which even light cannot escape "To be absolutely sure, we did the work four times with four different teams," said Gueth. Team scientists presenting the findings at a news conference in Brussels were visibly moved. "We are looking at a region we have never looked at before, that we cannot really imagine being there," said Heino Falcke, chair of the EHT Science Council. "It feels like looking at the gates of hell, at the end of space and time - the event horizon, the point of no return." Explore further Black holes: picturing the heart of darkness 2019 AFP This April 4, 2019, photo, provided by Maunakea Observatories shows the Submillimeter Array, part of the Event Horizon Telescope network on the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Scientists on Wednesday, April 10, revealed the first image ever made of a black hole using these telescopes. (Maunakea Observatories via AP) Black holes are cosmic prisons, where nothing escapes, not light or even data. But lots did come out of Wednesday's first image of the shadowy edge of a supermassive black hole. Here are four things we learned: SEEING IS BELIEVING Scientists have known for decades that black holes exist, but only indirectly. Three years ago, they essentially heard the sound of two smaller black holes crashing together to form a gravitational wave. The image revealed Wednesday showed the edges of the black holecalled the "event horizon"for the first time. There actually were a few academic holdouts who denied black holes existed, but now they can't, said Boston University astronomer Alan Marscher, who was on one of four imaging teams. The new image shows a glowing ring that was obviously a black hole and its surroundings, said Harvard's Sheperd Doeleman, director of the Event Horizon Telescope team. "We saw something so true," Doeleman said. "We saw something that really had a ring to it if you can use that phrase." He said the team "uncovered part of the universe that was off-limits to us." EINSTEIN IS RIGHT AGAIN Each major astrophysics discovery of the last few decades tends to confirm Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. It's a comprehensive explanation of gravity that the former patent clerk thought of in 1915 before computers and with much weaker telescopes. On Wednesday, Einstein's predictions about the shape and glow of a big black hole proved right, and astronomer after astronomer paid homage to the master. "Today general relativity passed another crucial test," said University of Waterloo astronomer Avery Broderick, a co-discoverer. "The Einstein equations are beautiful. So often in my experience, nature wants to be beautiful".'' It sounds strange to keep saying Einstein is right, but every time his general relativity theory is confirmed, "we kill a cloud of alternative theories" and gain better understanding how to create an even more comprehensive theory of physics, said Ethan Vishniac of Johns Hopkins University. He wasn't part of the discovery team. This image released Wednesday, April 10, 2019, by Event Horizon Telescope shows a black hole. Scientists revealed the first image ever made of a black hole after assembling data gathered by a network of radio telescopes around the world. (Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration/Maunakea Observatories via AP) GRAVITY IS POWERFUL The black hole that scientists took a picture of is in the center of a galaxy called M87 and it is far bigger than anything in the Milky Way. Its massthe chief measurement of a black holeis 6.5 billion times as much as our sun's. The event horizon stretches about the breadth of our solar system. "M87's huge black hole mass makes it really a monster even by supermassive black hole standards," said Sera Markoff, a discovery team member at the University of Amsterdam. Some black holes are inactive, but not this one, she said. And that means it converts nearby gas and matter into energy with 100 times more efficiency than the nuclear fusion that powers the stars. Black holes like these "temporarily become the most powerful engines in the universe," Markoff said. WORKING TOGETHER WORKS The project succeeded because of international cooperation among 20 countries and about 200 scientists at a cost of $50 million to $60 million, according to the National Science Foundation. To get an image of a faraway black hole, scientists had to get eight radio telescopes on several continents, including Antarctica, to look at the same place at the same time. In getting the instruments connected, they essentially created one Earth-size connected telescope. The amount of data generated was so massive that it could not be transmitted over the internet, so it was flown to data centers by jet. The data collected was equivalent to a lifetime collection of selfies from 40,000 people, said discovery team member Daniel Marrone of the University of Arizona. And just to start to take pictures the weather had to be good at all eight telescopes on the same days in April 2017. The scientists had only 10 days to look and got four perfect weather days, three of them at the start. It then took more than a year for that data to be processed into the first glimpse of images that scientists saw in the summer of 2018. Those images were so good that scientists at first worried that it was just too good to be true, Boston University's Marscher said. Explore further Black holes: picturing the heart of darkness 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. A western meadowlark in Farmington Bay, Utah. Credit: Natasha Verzhbitskiy. All air-breathing vertebrates have a larynxa structure of muscles and folds that protects the trachea and, in many animals, vibrates and modulates to produce a stunning array of sounds. But birds, although they have larynges (plural of larynx), use a different organ to sing. It's low in the airway, down where the trachea branches to head off toward the two lungs. Called a syrinx, it's a uniquely avian feature. For decades, scientists, including those at the University of Utah, have been asking why the syrinx existsand how it developed in the first place. Now, a team that brings together physics, biology, computation and engineering finds that the syrinx confers an advantage: by sitting so low in the airway, the syrinx can produce sound with very high efficiency. Their results are published in PLOS Biology. "I'm always excited when something is counter-intuitive," says Ingo Titze, director of the National Center for Voice and Speech at the University of Utah and a co-author of the study. "Most people would say 'Put the sound source right by the mouth or the beak, and you'll get the sound to the listener.' But that's not what we're finding." Testing syrinx evolution For more than 20 years, U biologist Franz Goller has studied the mechanics of the syrinx. He found similarities between the control and design of the syrinx with the mammalian larynx, says Tobias Riede, a former member of Goller's lab and now assistant professor at Midwestern University. "But the question of why birds have evolved a syrinx, although they also have a larynx, had remained open," Riede says. A question in understanding evolution is to identify the trade-offs between two different structures with similar function. Why is the low syrinx the best place for a bird's vocal organs? "And how would you test that in a bird?" Riede says. "You can't, because you can't move the vocal source up and down the tract." That led Riede and Goller to collaborate with Titze and with Scott Thomson, a Brigham Young University mechanical engineering professor. Both bring different aspects of acoustical simulation to the study: Titze brings computational modeling, while Thomson brings experience constructing physical models to simulate sound-producing organs. Now, Titze says, the team was able to combine their disciplines and methods. "With one methodology," he says, "whether you're working on a live specimen or a physical model, it gives you fragments of the whole picture. Now we often answer serious questions by making combination measurements. We put all the fragments together." A yellow-headed blackbird in Farmington Bay, Utah. Credit: Natasha Verzhbitskiy. The team pursued a three-pronged approach to measure the various effects of syrinx position on vocal efficiency: simplified physical models, computational simulation and real birds of varying body sizes in the laboratory. Communication strategies "We find that sound is produced with greater efficiency by a sound source in syrinx position," Riede says. The result supports a hypothesis that birds with a syrinx low in the airway are better able to communicate and gain an evolutionary advantage. Birds, which have the longest necks of all terrestrial vertebrates, can use the long necks as resonators to amplify the sound. "If you're small, you don't have too much energy available to produce a signal that is efficient and carries far," Riede adds. "So, by simply moving the sound source, you can make the sound much louder. It's the same problem an engineer faces. If you want to miniaturize your speaker, how do you make that speaker equally loud and intelligible as a big speaker?" "In the old days we used to think that the sound source just produces the sound and the airway just modifies the sound," says Titze. "Our research has shown that there is strong dependence on both the tube, or airway, and the sound source. Where the sound source is in the tube makes a difference, whether it's in the middle, front or back." There's a lot to learn from this finding, particularly in how birds position their bodies to take advantage of the syrinx's position. Some birds have a need to communicate with precise vocal "aim" to get a message to a mate, for example, without alerting predators. "So, they have to position themselves to selectively direct that sound," Titze says. "That calls for a different shape for the head, body and neck." Other factors Next, Riede plans to look at the diversity of birds to see how their finding applies to birds of different sizes (across the range from hummingbirds to ostriches) and identify other factors that could contribute to syrinx evolution in a particular species. "What does the female prefer?" Riede says. "Which frequency travels best in a certain habitat?" Perhaps the answers to the tantalizing complexity of birdsong will again show the simple elegance of the answers Riede and his colleagues have discovered so far. "The simplicity of the answer to an old and seemingly difficult question, he says, "was most surprising to me." Explore further Birds' voiceboxes are odd ducks More information: Tobias Riede et al, The evolution of the syrinx: An acoustic theory, PLOS Biology (2019). Journal information: PLoS Biology Tobias Riede et al, The evolution of the syrinx: An acoustic theory,(2019). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2006507 Credit: CC0 Public Domain By the end of the century, the manifold consequences of unchecked climate change will cost the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars per year, according to a new study by scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency. Those costs will come in the form of water shortages, crippled infrastructure and polluted air that shortens lives, among others, according to the study in Monday's edition of Nature Climate Change. No part of the country will be untouched, the EPA researchers warned. However, they also found that cutting emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and proactively adapting to a warming world, would prevent a lot of the damage, reducing the annual economic toll in some sectors by more than half. Experts called the report the most comprehensive analysis yet of the staggering diversity of societal impacts that climate change will have on the American economy. "It is an extraordinarily ambitious project," said Solomon Hsiang, an economist at UC Berkeley who was not involved in the study. The analysis is not the first to calculate the costs of global warming and the benefits of curtailing emissions. There have been numerous prior attempts, including a 2006 report commissioned by the British government that found unmitigated warming could reduce global gross domestic product by as much as 20 percent. Many more have followed, but all reach the same general conclusion, said Brenda Ekwurzel, director of climate science at the Union of Concerned Scientists: "The cost of inaction is really high, and (the cost of) reducing emissions pales in comparison." What sets the new study apart, she said, is its astonishing level of detail. It explores how 22 different impacts of climate changefrom rising sea levels to longer pollen seasons to the economic prospects of ski resortswill play out across the nation. "There are no regions that escape some mix of adverse impacts," wrote authors Jeremy Martinich and Allison Crimmins. The findings clash with the views of President Trump and many of his appointees, who have repeatedly downplayed the risks of climate change. The EPA did not make the study authors available for interviews. The report summarizes years of work by scores of scientists as part of the EPA's Climate Change Impact and Risk Analysis. For each type of impact, researchers modeled the effects of climate change under a scenario in which the world took no serious actions to reduce emissions. They also considered a more moderate scenarioone not ambitious enough to meet international goals of keeping warming to about 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels but aggressive enough to limit global temperature rise to about 2 degrees C. Some of the results came out in the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released last year. Among them were the sobering projections that damage to coastal property, primarily on the Gulf and East coasts, will reach $120 billion per year by 2090; lost labor productivity due to hotter temperatures, particularly in the South and Midwest, will cost $155 billion per year; and deaths from extreme heat waves and cold snaps will equal $140 billion per year. When asked about those conclusions in November 2018, Trump told reporters, "I don't believe it." The new study offers an even richer picture of the EPA's analysis, said Ekwurzel, who contributed to the climate assessment. It shows how many of the effects of climate change break down by stateand often by individual county or watershed. "It's kind of like, all politics is local. Climate change is the same," she said: Every place will face a unique combination of climate impacts. The results align with those of a 2017 study led by Hsiang, which suggested that the southern U.S. will be particularly hard hit thanks to the converging effects on coastal property, labor productivity and extreme temperature mortality. But the new analysis shows that no region will be exempt from losses. For instance, most of the northern half of the country will experience greater air pollution because of climate change. The Midwest will see more harmful algal blooms, like those that have choked Lake Erie in recent years. And the Northwest will experience a spike in electricity demand, mainly for cooling, and endure more severe flooding. A handful of places could enjoy small economic gains in certain sectors. The results suggest that some parts of the inter-mountain West may get a boost in water supply, for example. But California won't be so lucky. Residents have already become familiar with some of the climate impacts that will become more common in the state, such as wildfires and flooding. The study suggests that climate change will also bring more mosquitoes that carry West Nile virus. It will increase the temperatures of streams and lakes, reducing oxygen levels and harming water quality. Heavy river flows will put many bridges at risk, and intense heat will buckle rail lines. The report also makes one of the first attempts to study the connections between various climate impacts. For instance, the authors note that energy costs will rise more dramatically in places where increased energy demand coincides with reduced water supply, because many power plants require water for cooling. However, the researchers point out that the high cost of climate impacts can be recast as the benefits the country stands to reap by cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Keeping warming closer to 2 degrees would prevent tens of billions of dollars in lost labor productivity, extreme temperature mortality and energy costs alone. Across all sectors, that works out to between $250 and $600 of savings per person per year by the end of the century, the researchers calculated. "You can really save the U.S. economy lots of money," Ekwurzel said. In some cases, reducing emissions will not be enough to avoid impacts. For instance, coastal areas will see more sea-level rise in coming decades, even if the world acts swiftly. So the researchers considered how efforts to adapt to a warmer world might reduce economic damages. They found that measures such as elevating buildings and constructing seawalls could significantly decrease damage to coastal properties. Maintaining roads and railroadspreferably before they fall into disrepaircould also offset many of the costs of climate impacts. Overall, however, experts said the study still probably underestimates the true cost of climate change. "There are big uncertainties, but in general, the uncertainties always err on the side of making it more damaging," said Frances Moore, a climate change economist at UC Davis who was not involved in the study. That's because no study can include every sector of the economy, and some impactslike the potential for global warming to fuel violent conflicts and spur migrationare almost impossible to quantify but will most likely add to the burden, she said. Even so, Hsiang said the new research lays the groundwork for a meaningful conversation about the risks of letting climate change continue unabated. "The climate may be one of the largest economic assets this nation holds," he said. "We should manage it with the seriousness and clarity of thought that we would apply to managing any asset that generates trillions of dollars in value." 2019 Los Angeles Times Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Cherokee inscriptions found in Manitou Cave, Alabama. Credit: University of Tennessee at Knoxville For the first time, a team of scholars and archaeologists has recorded and interpreted Cherokee inscriptions in Manitou Cave, Alabama. These inscriptions reveal evidence of secluded ceremonial activities at a time of crisis for the Cherokee, who were displaced from their ancestral lands and sent westward on the Trail of Tears in the 1830s. "These are the first Cherokee inscriptions ever found in a cave context, and the first from a cave to be translated," said Jan Simek, president emeritus of the University of Tennessee System and Distinguished Professor of Science in UT's Department of Anthropology. Simek is a co-author of the study "Talking Stones: Cherokee Syllabary in Manitou Cave, Alabama," published recently in Antiquity. "They tell us about what the people who wrote on the walls were doing in the cave and provide a direct link to how some Native Americans viewed caves as sacred places." The research team that worked to understand the nature and meaning of these historic inscriptions included scholars from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees, and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma as well as Euro-American archaeologists. The researchers concentrated on two main groups of Cherokee inscriptions found in Manitou Cave, a popular tourist site near Fort Payne, Alabama. Until now, indigenous uses of the cave had been unrecorded, as typical archaeological evidence like artifacts or deposits have been removed during its time as a tourist attraction. The first inscription records an important ritual event that took place in 1828, translated as "The leaders of the stickball team on the 30th day in their month April 1828." A nearby inscription reads "We who are those that have blood come out of their nose and mouth." Stickball is a Cherokee sport similar to lacrosse. "It is far more than a simple game," Simek said. "It is a ceremonial event that often continues over days, focusing on competition between two communities who epitomize the spirit and power of the people and their ancestors." A second series of inscriptions is located on the ceiling nearer to the entrance of the cave. "The ceiling inscriptions are written backwards, as if addressing readers inside the rock itself," Simek said. "This corresponds with part of one inscription which reads 'I am your grandson.' This is how the Cherokee might formally address the Old Ones, which can include deceased Cherokee ancestors as well as comprise other supernatural beings who inhabited the world before the Cherokee came into existence." The inscriptions analyzed by researchers indicate that caves like Manitou were seen by the Cherokee as spiritually potent places where wall embellishment was appropriate in the context of ceremonial action. Since their work in Manitou Cave, the researchers have identified several caves with similar inscriptions. They will continue to collaborate as scholars from the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes and archaeologists. "Our research has shown that the Cherokee voice in Alabama did in fact outlast the Trail of Tears," Simek said. "We will continue to document and protect these previously unknown records of indigenous American history and culture." More information: Beau Duke Carroll et al, Talking stones: Cherokee syllabary in Manitou Cave, Alabama, Antiquity (2019). Journal information: Antiquity Beau Duke Carroll et al, Talking stones: Cherokee syllabary in Manitou Cave, Alabama,(2019). DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2019.15 Credit: CC0 Public Domain A team of researchers with members from Brazil, South Africa and the U.S. has found an example of homophily among dolphins who work together with fishermen in Brazil for the mutual benefit of both. In their paper published in the journal Biology Letters, the group describes their study of the dolphins and what they found. In Laguna, Brazil, there are fishermen who have formed an alliance with wild bottlenose dolphins living just offshore, both of whom target mullets, a type of fish. The dolphins have found that if they herd groups of the fish toward the shore where the fishermen are waiting with nets, they make it easier on themselves to catch fish. The dolphins slap their heads or tails on the water when the fish are close enough for the fishermen to catch them. Upon seeing the signal from the dolphins, the fishermen cast their nets. When they do so, the fish begin to break away from their school, making it easier for the dolphins to catch them. But it was not the relationship the dolphins established with humans that the researchers were studyingthey wanted to know if working together resulted in the formation of social relationships in dolphins. To find out, the researchers focused on a particular group of dolphins that were known to assist in helping the fishermenthey followed them with cameras, capturing details of their activities both during fishing expeditions and the times between them. The researchers report that the same individual dolphins that fished with humans hung out together even when they were not fishing. They would swim around and play together, clearly preferring the company of one another over the company of other dolphins in the area. They were even seen taking naps together. The researchers claim the behavior they observed in the dolphins was an example of homophily, which sociologists define as behavior by individuals in a group who associate in a social manner with those who engage in that behavior with themin this case, fishing with humans. They suspect that the fishing behavior they engage in is likely learned by watching others in their group as they grow upa behavior that could be part of a cultural tradition. Explore further Dolphins tear up nets as fish numbers fall More information: A. M. S. Machado et al. Homophily around specialized foraging underlies dolphin social preferences, Biology Letters (2019). Journal information: Biology Letters A. M. S. Machado et al. Homophily around specialized foraging underlies dolphin social preferences,(2019). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2018.0909 2019 Science X Network A pair of La Palma Glassfrog (Hyalinobatrachium valerioi). This species lives in Central America and usually the male attends the eggs. Credit: John P. Clare The evolution of aquatic creatures to start living on land made them into more attentive parents, says new research on frogs led by the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath. A study by an international team of researchers, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, looked at the parental care of over 1000 species of frogs and toads, and found those that reproduced on land invested more time and effort looking after their offspring. The authors suggest that because parental care increases the rate of survival of their young, it has played a key role in the colonisation of terrestrial habitats, not only for amphibians but also early tetrapods which ultimately gave rise to mammals including humans. The parenting behaviour of frogs and toads is very diverse, with care ranging from constructing a foam nest or attending the eggs, to more elaborate forms such as internal brooding of offspring or cooperation between parents to protect and provide food for their young. Some frogs that lay their eggs on land protect them from drying out by urinating on them. Others brood their eggs in their stomach or look after their eggs or hatched tadpoles by carrying them on their backs. Parental care may last for weeks whilst the parents defend, nurture and nourish their developing young. There are even frogs that that skip the tadpole stage to give birth their babies as fully developed froglets that are readily capable of independent life. Dr. Balazs Vagi, from University of Debrecen (Hungary), first author of the paper said: "Most people think about amphibians as an ancient group with simple social behaviours which need an aquatic habitat for its reproduction. "In fact, none of these are true in general. Most of the diversity of modern amphibians (8000 species, of which 7000 are frogs and toads) evolved after the cataclysm that wiped out the dinosaurs. "And they have striking adaptations to gain independence from water. Amphibian eggs and larvae are sensitive to drying out and are a favourable prey for many predators. But parents have invented different strategies to defend them, and to nourish offspring in nutrient-scarce habitats. "Protection was evolved many times both in male and female frogs, while nourishing is predominantly, but not exclusively, a task for the mother. The complex forms of caring co-evolved with sophisticated breeding systems, including cooperation in care and tenacious pair bonds in the most extreme cases." Professor Tamas Szekely, Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award holder from the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, said: "Frogs and toads exhibit some of the most spectacular variation in parenting across all vertebrates, although the origin and maintenance of this variation have been a puzzle. "Using the most detailed phylogenetic analyses of parenting in any taxa, we discovered that parenting relates to their ecology and life history. "Thus complex social behaviour such as parenting seems to allow frogs and toads to invade apparently unsuitable habitats such as deserts. "However, the spectacular variation exhibited by frogs and toads unfortunately is under an unprecedented threat by diseases, habitat loss and illegal trade of endangered species." The study found that frogs that laid larger eggs tended to care for and protect their eggs for longer. They also found that in species where males were larger compared to females, the fathers were more attentive than those species where males are substantially smaller than their mate. The findings suggest that parenting by males and females has co-evolved and that complex parenting traits have evolved several times in frogs and toads in response to breeding in terrestrial environments. The researchers propose that tetrapods, four-legged animals, may have evolved complex parenting behaviour in a similar way when they moved from living in water to colonise the land. The study also highlights the need for more work on frogs and toads. Amphibians (frogs, toads and allies) are among the most endangered vertebrates. By pulling together a vast amount of data on reproductive modes, life styles and ecology, the study will assist conservation efforts by making these data publicly available. Explore further Foster tadpoles trigger parental instinct in poison frogs More information: Balazs Vagi et al, Parental care and the evolution of terrestriality in frogs, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2019). Journal information: Proceedings of the Royal Society B Balazs Vagi et al, Parental care and the evolution of terrestriality in frogs,(2019). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.2737 In this Jan. 9, 2019, file photo, media and guests tour Facebook offices in Cambridge, Mass., building. Facebook says it is rolling out a wide range of updates aimed at combatting the spread of false and harmful information on the social media site. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File) Facebook said Wednesday it is rolling out a wide range of updates aimed at combatting the spread of false and harmful information on the social media sitestepping up the company's fight against misinformation as it faces growing outside pressure. The updates will limit the visibility of links found to be significantly more prominent on Facebook than across the web as a whole. The company is also expanding its fact-checking program with outside expert sources, including The Associated Press, to vet videos and other material posted on Facebook. Facebook groupsthe online communities that many point to as lightning rods for the spread of fake informationwill also be more closely monitored. If they are found to be spreading misinformation, their visibility in users' news feeds will be limited. Lawmakers and human rights groups have been critical of the company for the spread of extremism and misinformation on its flagship site and on Instagram. During a larger hearing Tuesday on the spread of white nationalism, congress members questioned a company representative about how Facebook prevents violent material from being uploaded and shared on the site. In a separate Senate subcommittee hearing Wednesday, the company is expected to be asked about allegations that social media companies are biased against conservatives. CEO Mark Zuckerberg's latest vision for Facebook, with an emphasis on private, encrypted messaging , is sure to pose a challenge for the company when it comes to removing problematic material. Guy Rosen, Facebook's vice president of integrity, acknowledged the challenge in a meeting with reporters at Facebook's Menlo Park, California, headquarters Wednesday. He said striking a balance between protecting people's privacy and public safety is "something societies have been grappling for centuries." Rosen said the company is focused on making sure it does the best job possible "as Facebook evolves toward private communications." But he offered no specifics. "This is something we are going to be working on, working with experts outside the company," he said, adding that the aim is "to make sure we make really informed decisions as we go into this process." Explore further Two top Facebook executives depart the company 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. In this Friday, March 29, 2019 file photo, Huawei mobile phones are displayed at a telecoms service shop in Hong Kong. The top U.S. diplomat for cybersecurity policy has praised Germany's draft security standards for next generation mobile networks, which he said could effectively shut out China's Huawei. Rob Strayer said Wednesday April 10, 2019, the standards published last month were a "positive step." (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File) The top U.S. diplomat for cybersecurity policy on Wednesday praised Germany's draft security standards for next generation mobile networks, which he said could effectively shut out China's Huawei. The standards published last month were a "positive step," said Rob Strayer, who's leading the U.S. campaign to persuade its allies to stop using the Chinese tech giant's network gear. The German standards , which are subject to feedback from the industry, call for mobile providers to use "trustworthy" telecom equipment suppliers that comply with national security regulations covering communications secrecy and data protection. The U.S. has been lobbying European allies to ban Huawei from new 5G networks over concerns China's communist leaders could force the company to use its equipment for cyberespionage. Huawei, the world's biggest maker of telecom network gear, has consistently denied the U.S. allegations. While no European countries have issued blanket bans, Strayer said a "risk-based" approach to evaluating telecom suppliers, including their relationship with their national government, would "lead inevitably" to banning Huawei. "At this point we're looking for governments to adopt security standards like we're seeing in Germany," Strayer told reporters on a conference call. The German requirements are incompatible with China's national intelligence law, which compels companies to cooperate with intelligence requests, so "it's hard to see how Chinese technology would meet that standard," Strayer said. The U.S. is concerned that intelligence sharing or other forms of cooperation with its allies could be hurt if those countries use unsecure equipment from untrusted countries in their 5G networks, Strayer said. The battle over Huawei has intensified in recent months as countries in Europe and elsewhere prepare to deploy 5G networks, starting with the auction of frequencies this year. Explore further EU ignores US calls to ban Huawei in 5G security blueprint 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Credit: University College London Tiny, individual, flexible ribbons of crystalline phosphorus have been made by UCL researchers in a world first, and they could revolutionise electronics and fast-charging battery technology. Since the isolation of 2-dimensional phosphorene, which is the phosphorus equivalent of graphene, in 2014, more than 100 theoretical studies have predicted that new and exciting properties could emerge by producing narrow 'ribbons' of this material. These properties could be extremely valuable to a range of industries. In a study published today in Nature, researchers from UCL, the University of Bristol, Virginia Commonwealth and University and Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, describe how they formed quantities of high-quality ribbons of phosphorene from crystals of black phosphorous and lithium ions. "It's the first time that individual phosphorene nanoribbons have been made. Exciting properties have been predicted and applications where phosphorene nanoribbons could play a transformative role are very wide-reaching," said study author, Dr. Chris Howard (UCL Physics & Astronomy). The ribbons form with a typical height of one atomic layer, widths of 4-50 nm and are up to 75 m long. This aspect ratio is comparable to that of the cables spanning the Golden Gate Bridge's two towers. Credit: University College London "By using advanced imaging methods, we've characterised the ribbons in great detail finding they are extremely flat, crystalline and unusually flexible. Most are only a single-layer of atoms thick but where the ribbon is formed of more than one layer of phosphorene, we have found seamless steps between 1-2-3-4 layers where the ribbon splits. This has not been seen before and each layer should have distinct electronic properties," explained first author, Mitch Watts (UCL Physics & Astronomy). While nanoribbons have been made from several materials such as graphene, the phosphorene nanoribbons produced here have a greater range of widths, heights, lengths and aspect ratios. Moreover, they can be produced at scale in a liquid that could then be used to apply them in volume at low cost for applications. The team say that the predicted application areas include batteries, solar cells, thermoelectric devices for converting waste heat to electricity, photocatalysis, nanoelectronics and in quantum computing. What's more, the emergence of exotic effects including novel magnetism, spin density waves and topological states have also been predicted. Credit: University College London The nanoribbons are formed by mixing black phosphorus with lithium ions dissolved in liquid ammonia at -50 degrees C. After twenty-four hours, the ammonia is removed and replaced with an organic solvent which makes a solution of nanoribbons of mixed sizes. "We were trying to make sheets of phosphorene so were very surprised to discover we'd made ribbons. For nanoribbons to have well defined properties, their widths must be uniform along their entire length, and we found this was exactly the case for our ribbons," said Dr. Howard. "At the same time as discovering the ribbons, our own tools for characterising their morphologies were rapidly evolving. The high-speed atomic force microscope that we built at the University of Bristol has the unique capabilities to map the nanoscale features of the ribbons over their macroscopic lengths," explained co-author Dr. Loren Picco (VCU Physics). Credit: University College London "We could also assess the range of lengths, widths and thicknesses produced in great detail by imaging many hundreds of ribbons over large areas." While continuing to study the fundamental properties of the nanoribbons, the team intends to also explore their use in energy storage, electronic transport and thermoelectric devices through new global collaborations and by working with expert teams across UCL. Explore further Small tweaks to nanoribbon edge structures can drastically alter heat conduction Kuwait has reiterated its solid and unwavering support to Moroccos territorial integrity and to the autonomy plan offered by the North African country as the basis of a negotiated solution to the Sahara regional conflict. Kuwait renewed its full backing to Rabat during the 9th meeting of the joint Moroccan-Kuwaiti cooperation committee convened Tuesday, in Kuwait, under the co-chairmanship Deputy PM and foreign minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and Moroccan foreign minister Nasser Bourita. In the minutes issued following the proceedings of the Joint Committee, Kuwait also lauded the political and active role played by King Mohammed VI, Chairman of the Al Quds Committee, in defending Al-Quds Al-Sharif and its inhabitants, and preserving its civilizational identity and status as a symbol of tolerance and coexistence between the different heavenly religions. Kuwaiti praised in this connection the social projects carried out by Bait Mal Al-Quds Agency, the executive arm of the Al-quds Committee, to maintain the Maqdissis on their land and support their fight. The joint committee was marked by the signing of five cooperation agreements in food safety, social affairs, public administration, education and environment. The two countries stressed the need to share experiences and information in veterinary and phytosanitary control and services as well as in food quality control for import and export. They also voiced readiness to enhance Moroccan-Kuwaiti cooperation in computer science, administrative control, monitoring of public servants recruitment, the training of legal counselors, wage grids and administrative restructuring for better and efficient public services. The joint committee underlined the importance of adapting training to the needs of labor market, encouraging the use of new technologies in education, joining efforts in the fight against sea pollution and improving coastal zone management. The Kuwait Fund for Arab economic Development has contributed to several development projects in Morocco, a strategic partner for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) bloc, gathering Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. During his visit to Kuwait city, Bourita conveyed a message from King Mohammed VI to the Emir of Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah. The royal message was handed to Kuwaits deputy Emir and Crown Prince, Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Tuesday at the Seif Palace in Kuwait. The Moroccan official also held separate talks with Kuwaiti first deputy Prime minister and minister of defense, Sheikh Nasser Bin Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and with former Kuwaiti Prime minister, Nasser Mohammed Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. Credit: CC0 Public Domain The business world has been the center of a hot debate in recent years about noncompete clauses in employment contracts and the effects they have on profits, economic development and other factors. Yet the debaters often overlook how such clauses affect those who work under them: employees. A University of Kansas professor has co-written a study that found noncompete clauses do in fact influence how employees behave, and that behavior is to the benefit of employers. Business leaders, policymakers and journalists have all debated the clauses, often referred to as NCCs, and whether they promote or stifle innovation, help boost development or prevent optimum employee-employer matches. As the clauses have become more prevalent and ideologicala popular story in recent years recounted how even fast food sandwich chains were using themthe employees get lost in the mix. A new study shows employees in the mutual fund industry tended to be more productive, take fewer risks and align their behaviors with the goals of their employers. "There is an ongoing debate on the use of NCCs in the U.S. about whether they are good or bad," said Gjergji Cici, associate professor and Dean's Fellow in the KU School of Business. "This whole debate has spilled over into academia, and scholars want to see if higher enforcement of NCCs has more effect on economic development and other measures. We wanted to see how they're actually affecting the people who work under them, their actions and their output." Cici and co-authors Mario Hendriock and Alexander Kempf, University of Cologne, conducted their study using the mutual fund industry as a test laboratory. They chose that industry as it commonly uses NCCs and has a wealth of data available for employee output with regular filings and indicators for fund performances. The authors theorized that one of two effects would be observable among the fund managers working under NCCs. Either knowing that if they were fired, they would have a very hard time finding another job in the business they would work hard and be productive; or knowing that their outside options were limited, they would have less chance of promotion or starting their own outside firms, thus be less motivated to perform highly. After measuring output of mutual fund managers in three states with varying enforcement of NCCs, the researchers found the first effect dominated, regardless of how they controlled for various other factors. They studied about 200 fund managers in Texas, Florida and Louisiana from 1992 to 2004, as those three states had seen changes in the enforcement of NCCs in those years, seeing them increase in Texas, decrease in Florida and initially decrease, then come back in Louisiana. The results showed that when enforcement of NCCs was up, besides showing better performance, fund managers exhibited several distinct behaviors. First, they engaged in window dressing, or attracting new customers to increase fee revenues for their employers. The incentive also had a disciplining effect on their risks, meaning the managers who knew their NCC was more likely to be enforced tended to engage less in risk-taking that could exacerbate losses, drive clients away and lose money for their firms. They had less deviation in their portfolios than their peers, tending toward more secure, predictable investments. Finally, the managers engaged in fund tournament behavior less, meaning they were less likely to measure themselves against other fund managers and take risky behavior to catch up in performance if they fell behind. "Once again, they do all of this because they were concerned," Cici said. "By dressing up their portfolios, they can increase fee revenue for their fund family and decrease their risk of being fired. The NCCs seem to have an effect on behavior in that the managers take less risk and align their behaviors with their employers' goals." The researchers measured performance data from several sources including the Center for Research on Security Prices Survivor-Bias-Free U.S. Mutual Fund Database, which provides fund names, family names, monthly net returns, total net assets under management, investment objectives and similar information including net assets and turnover ratios. Cici recently presented the study at the American Finance Association meeting in Atlanta. NCCs are common in the financial industry because it is a knowledge-intense field, Cici said. Employers use the labor mobility measures to protect industry secrets, prevent employees from taking clients to competitors when they leave and various other reasons. Those who favor NCCs often argue they encourage training and development among employees in addition to protecting trade secrets. Those who argue against them often claim NCCs can stifle innovation by preventing employees from starting their own business and restrict optimal matches among firms and employees. Regardless of which side one comes down on in the debate, Cici said the findings show definitively that NCCs do have an effect on the employees who work under them and their performance. When policymakers and business leaders debate their use and regulation, they would do well to consider the influence they have on the employees, who have heretofore been overlooked in the debate, the researchers argue. Explore further New research sheds light on the best ways to stay engaged at work Credit: wwf In a major step forward in the fight against marine plastic pollution, Nordic governments have become the first in the world to formally call for a global treaty to tackle the plastic crisis in our oceans. In a major step forward in the fight against marine plastic pollution, Nordic governments have become the first in the world to formally call for a global treaty to tackle the plastic crisis in our oceans. The landmark declaration was made today at a gathering of the environment ministers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden at the Nordic Council in Reykjavik. The announcement comes after world leaders failed to agree meaningful policy decisions on the issue at the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi last month. "This milestone declaration by Nordic governments should serve as inspiration for others. Plastic pollution in our oceans is a crisis that requires concerted action from world governmentsa global treaty is the only viable way to address the eight million tonnes of plastic being dumped into the oceans every year," said Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF-International. "We are urging all countries supportive of the treaty to come together and accelerate their work towards an agreement on marine plastic pollution." Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) with a plastic bag, Moore Reef, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. The bag was removed by the photographer before the turtle had a chance to eat it. Credit: roy Mayne / WWF WWF is calling for a binding treaty that would establish national targets and transparent reporting mechanisms that extend to companies. Additionally, any treaty should provide for financial and technical support for low income countries to scale up their waste management capacity. Almost 400,000 people have joined WWF's global petition calling for a legally binding deal on marine plastics pollution. Explore further Scientists map out how to protect third of the world's oceans by 2030 Credit: CC0 Public Domain A new study from New York University School of Law and NYU's AI Now Institute concludes that predictive policing systems run the risk of exacerbating discrimination in the criminal justice system if they rely on "dirty data." Law enforcement has come under scrutiny in recent years for practices resulting in disproportionate aggression toward minority suspects, causing some to ask whether technology specifically, predictive policing software might diminish discriminatory actions. However, a new study from New York University School of Law and NYU's AI Now Institute concludes that predictive policing systems, in fact, run the risk of exacerbating discrimination in the criminal justice system if they rely on "dirty data" data created from flawed, racially biased, and sometimes unlawful practices. The researchers illustrate this phenomenon with case study data from Chicago, New Orleans, and Arizona's Maricopa County. Their paper, "Dirty Data, Bad Predictions: How Civil Rights Violations Impact Police Data, Predictive Policing Systems, and Justice," is available on SSRN. "We chose these sites because we found an overlap between extensively documented evidence of corrupt or unlawful police practices and significant interest, development, and current or prior use of predictive policing systems. This led us to examine the risks that one would influence the other," explains Jason Schultz, a professor of clinical law and one of the paper's co-authors. The authors, who include Rashida Richardson, director of policy research at the AI Now Institute, and Kate Crawford, co-director of the AI Now Institute, identified 13 jurisdictions (including the aforementioned case studies) with documented instances of unlawful or biased police practices that have also explored or deployed predictive policing systems during the periods of unlawful activity. The Chicago Police Department, for example, was under federal investigation for unlawful police practices when it implemented a computerized system that identifies people at risk of becoming a victim or offender in a shooting or homicide. The study revealed that the same demographic of residents who had been identified by the Department of Justice as targets of Chicago's policing bias overlapped with those who were identified by the predictive system. Other examples showed significant risks of overlap but because government use of predictive policing systems is often secret and hidden from public oversight, the extent of the risks remains unknown, according to the study. "In jurisdictions that have well-established histories of corrupt police practices, there is a substantial risk that data generated from such practices could corrupt predictive computational systems. In such circumstances, robust public oversight and accountability are essential," Schultz said. Lead author Richardson added, "Even though this study was limited to jurisdictions with well-established histories of police misconduct and discriminatory police practices, we know that these concerns about policing practices and policies are not limited to these jurisdictions, so greater scrutiny regarding the data used in predictive policing technologies is necessary globally." Explore further Field-data study finds no evidence of racial bias in predictive policing More information: Rashida Richardson et al. Dirty Data, Bad Predictions: How Civil Rights Violations Impact Police Data, Predictive Policing Systems, and Justice (February 13, 2019). New York University Law Review Online, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: Rashida Richardson et al. Dirty Data, Bad Predictions: How Civil Rights Violations Impact Police Data, Predictive Policing Systems, and Justice (February 13, 2019).Online, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: ssrn.com/abstract=3333423 A wild tiger in India. Credit: Prasenjeet Yadav The key to solving a mystery is finding the right clues. Wildlife detectives aiming to protect endangered species have long been hobbled by the near impossibility of collecting DNA samples from rare and elusive animals. Now, researchers at Stanford and the National Centre for Biological Sciences at India's Tata Institute of Fundamental Research have developed a method for extracting genetic clues quickly and cheaply from degraded and left-behind materials, such as feces, skin or saliva, and from food products suspected of containing endangered animals. Their proof of conceptoutlined April 10 in Methods in Ecology and Evolutioncould revolutionize conservation approaches and policies worldwide, the researchers said. "It's CSI meets conservation biology," said co-author Dmitri Petrov, the Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences. The specter of extinction hangs over more than a quarter of all animal species, according to the best estimate of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which maintains a list of threatened and extinct species. Conservationists have documented extreme declines in animal populations in every region of Earth. Clues from DNA Helping species recover often depends on collecting DNA samples, which can reveal valuable information about details ranging from inbreeding and population history to natural selection and large-scale threats such as habitat destruction and illegal wildlife trade. However, current approaches tend to require relatively large amounts of DNA, or expensive and often inefficient strategies for extracting the material. Getting meaningful information rapidly from lower-concentration, often degraded and contaminated DNA samples requires expensive and specialized equipment. A wild tiger in India. Credit: Prasenjeet Yadav A solution may lie in an ongoing collaboration between Stanford's Program for Conservation Genomics, including the labs of Petrov and co-authors Elizabeth Hadly and Stephen Palumbi, with India's National Centre for Biological Sciences, including the lab of co-author Uma Ramakrishnan, a molecular ecologist and former Fulbright faculty fellow at Stanford. "I have been working on tiger conservation genetics for over a decade, but have been frustrated at how slow and unreliable the process of generating genetic data can be," Ramakrishnan said. "Conservation needs answers fast, and our research was not providing them fast enough." The researchers looked at endangered wild tigers in India and overfished Caribbean queen conchs, examining tiger feces, shed hair and saliva found on killed prey, as well as fried conch fritters purchased in U.S. restaurants. All of the samples were too impure, mixed or degraded for conventional genetic analysis. "Our goal was to find extremely different species that had strong conservation needs, and show how this approach could be used generally," said Palumbi, the Jane and Marshall Steele Jr. Professor of Marine Biology. "The King of the Foresttigersand Queen of the Caribbeanconchwere ideal targets." A wild tiger in India. Credit: Prasenjeet Yadav Inexpensive and effective Together, the team improvised a new approach, using a sequencing method that amplifies and reads small bits of DNA with unique differences in each sample. By doing this simultaneously across many stretches of DNA in the same test tubes, the researchers kept the total amount of DNA needed to a minimum. Making the procedure specific to tiger and conch DNA allowed for the use of samples contaminated with bacteria or DNA from other species. The technology proved highly effective at identifying and comparing genetic characteristics. For example, the method worked with an amount of tiger DNA equivalent to about one-one-hundred-thousandth the amount of DNA in a typical blood sample. The method had a higher failure rate in conchs because the researchers did not have whole genomes at their disposal. The approach's effectiveness, speed and affordabilityimplementation costs could be as low as $5 per sample, according to the researchersrepresents a critical advance for wildlife monitoring and forensics, field-ready testing, and the use of science in policy decisions and wildlife trade. "It is easy to implement and so can be done in labs with access to more or less basic equipment," said co-author Meghana Natesh of the National Centre for Biological Sciences and Sastra University in India. "If a standard procedure is followed, the data generated should be easy to share and compare across labs. So monitoring populations across states or even countries should be easier." The scientists have made their methods freely available. Explore further Maintaining tiger connectivity and minimising extinction into the next century Research by UCLA professor Kent Hill and graduate student Stephanie DeMarco, as well as colleagues at the University of Bern, could lead to new approaches to treat African sleeping sickness. Credit: Reed Hutchinson/UCLA Life scientists from UCLA and the University of Bern have identified a key gene in the transmission of African sleeping sicknessa severe disease transmitted by the bite of infected tsetse flies, which are common in sub-Saharan Africa. The disease is fatal if untreated, as the parasite responsible moves from the bloodstream to the central nervous system. Tens of millions of people in 36 African countries are at risk. There is no vaccine, and conventional drug treatments, which include an arsenic derivative, are antiquated, not very effective and have severe side effects. The research, published in the journal Nature Communications, could lead to new approaches to treat the disease. It also provides scientists with the first detailed understanding of how the parasite moves through the fly and what genes enable it to do so. The tiny, single-celled parasite that causes African sleeping sickness in humans, and debilitating diseases in other mammals, is called Trypanosoma brucei, or T. brucei. To become infectious, the parasite must travel through tissues of the fly, from the midgut to the salivary glandand then into the human or other animal, through a bite. In the study, Stephanie DeMarco, a UCLA graduate student in molecular biology, and Sebastian Shaw, a graduate student at Switzerland's University of Bern, worked with two sets of the T. brucei parasite. In one set, they made a mutation in one of the parasite's genes, called phosphodiesterase-B1, or PDEB1. Then, they infected 2,000 tsetse flies with some 20,000 parasites eachhalf of the flies received blood containing normal T. brucei parasites and the other half received blood with the mutated versions. When tsetse flies drink infected blood, the parasites from the blood typically travel to the midgut and then into a tissue closer to the head, called the proventriculus, before moving on to the salivary glands. But the researchers saw a striking difference in the proventriculus between the two sets of flies. Among the flies that received the normal parasites, those that had parasites in the gut also had parasites in the proventriculus; but among the 1,000 flies that received mutant T. brucei, only a single one that had parasites in the gut also had a parasite in the proventriculus. "The normal parasites were able to get to the proventriculus just fine, but for the mutants, we saw only one lonely parasite swimming around," DeMarco said. "That told us that phosphodiesterase-B1 is really important for the parasites to move from the fly midgut to the proventriculus." Shaw said, "When we saw the huge difference between the mutants and normal parasites, at first we couldn't believe it." Kent Hill, a UCLA professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics, and one of the study's senior authors, said the findings also suggested that there must be a barrier preventing the mutants from getting from the midgut to the proventriculus. To learn where that barrier is, the scientists made fluorescent parasites and fed the flies a fluorescent dye that stained different tissues in the fly different colors, enabling the researchers to track the parasites. To go from the midgut to the proventriculus, the parasites have to cross the peritrophic matrix, a sheet-like structure produced by the proventriculus that protects the midgut. "We found the normal parasites could get through the peritrophic matrix just fine, but the mutants were mostly stuck on one side of it," DeMarco said. That finding indicated that the peritrophic matrix was the barrier the scientists were looking for. The research identifies for the first time the genes that enable the parasites to sense where they are and allow them to survive their journey in fly tissues; those mechanisms had not been understood well until now. "We think the way the parasites perceive where they are may be similar in the tsetse flies and in mammalsincluding humansas they go through barriers and tissues," said co-senior author Isabel Roditi, a University of Bern professor. "If so, there could potentially be a new drug that might disrupt their ability to do that." The researchers also uncovered another clue to African sleeping sickness: In parasites with mutated PDEB1, there was a dramatic increase in the number of cyclic AMP molecules, signaling molecules that play an important role in the disease. Normal parasites are social and coordinate their behavior, DeMarco said. But the research revealed that without PDEB1, the parasites have too much cyclic AMP in their cells and can't communicate with one another. "When Sebastian and Stephanie got rid of PDEB1, the parasites got flooded with cyclic AMP," Hill said. "Then, when the signal came in telling the parasites, 'You're in the stomach and you need to move,' they couldn't hear the sound. That's what we think the problem is for the mutant parasites." Hill said the new insights from the UCLABern study could apply to other disease-causing parasites as well. For example, T. brucei parasites are related to parasites found in the U.S. and elsewhere that cause Chagas disease, in which parasites invade heart tissue, leading to inflammation and enlarged heart tissue, and in some cases, heart failure. Hill's research is funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Roditi's research is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Explore further Decoding sleeping sickness signals could aid quest for treatments More information: Sebastian Shaw et al. Flagellar cAMP signaling controls trypanosome progression through host tissues, Nature Communications (2019). Journal information: Nature Communications Sebastian Shaw et al. Flagellar cAMP signaling controls trypanosome progression through host tissues,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08696-y In this Aug. 31, 2017, file photo, one of over 100 pangolins and 450 kg (992 lb.) of pangolin scales seized buy the Thailand customs, estimated to be worth over 2.5 million baht (USD $75,278), are displayed during a press conference at the Customs Department headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand. Singapore has seized a total of 25 tons of pangolin scales belonging to tens of thousands of endangered mammals in two busts in less than a week. The scales, which were en route from Nigeria to Vietnam, were found in 474 bags in a shipping container on Monday. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File) Singapore has seized more than 28 tons of pangolin scales belonging to around 38,000 of the endangered mammals over the past week, a global record that spurred calls for more protection for pangolins, which are used in traditional medicine. The scales, which were found in shipping containers, have been linked to four species of pangolins native to Africa. Officials found a record 14.2 tons of the scales hidden among packets of frozen beef on April 3. Five days later, they found 14 more tons in 474 bags in another container. The National Parks Board, Singapore Customs and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority said in a statement Wednesday that the cargo was declared as cassia seeds. Both shipments were en route from Nigeria to Vietnam. "The sheer size of these two latest seizures is unprecedented and will undoubtedly prove a major setback to the traffickers concerned," said Richard Thomas of monitoring network Traffic. He warned that the seizures themselves won't put the traffickers out of business. "The quantities of pangolins involved point to sourcing, processing and distribution on an industrial scale," Thomas said. The pangolin is said to be the most widely trafficked mammal in the world, and its scales are in high demand in Asia for use in traditional Chinese medicine. The scales are made of keratin, the same material in human fingernails. Their meat is also considered a delicacy in China and other Asian countries. In this Thursday, June 19, 2014, file photo, a pangolin carries its baby at a Bali zoo in Bali, Indonesia. Singapore has seized more than 25 tons of pangolin scales belonging to tens of thousands of endangered animals in two busts over the past week, a global record for such seizures. The pangolin scales are in high demand in Asia for use in traditional Chinese medicine. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati, File) Wildlife groups are concerned that the busts point to a jump in poaching of pangolins. "The World Health Organization recently endorsed traditional medicine and the industry appears keen to grow this market, outside of China, Vietnam and beyond," said Neil D'Cruze, the global wildlife adviser at the World Animal Protection. "This is an alarming move for some wildlife species such as pangolins, as it poses a real conservation and animal welfare threat." Pangolins are an extremely lucrative catch, he said. In rural communities where they're hunted, poachers can make up to the equivalent of a full year's salary from catching just one pangolin. Feeding "the insatiable demand" are middlemen traffickers who also profit from the trade that's reaching more remote communities to hunt the animal, he added. Paul Thomson, an official at the Pangolin Specialist Group, said it looks like the pangolin poaching has increased but figures were difficult to ascertain. In this April 9, 2019, photo released by the National Parks Board, over 12 tons of pangolin scales worth around US$38.1 million are displayed in an undisclosed site in Singapore. Singapore has seized more than 25 tons of pangolin scales belonging to tens of thousands of the endangered mammals in two busts over the past week, a global record for such seizures. (National Parks Board via AP) In this April 9, 2019, photo released by the National Parks Board, some of the 12 tons of pangolin scales worth around US$38.1 million are displayed in an undisclosed site in Singapore. Singapore has seized more than 25 tons of pangolin scales belonging to tens of thousands of the endangered mammals in two busts over the past week, a global record for such seizures. (National Parks Board via AP) In this April 9, 2019, photo released by the National Parks Board, over 12 tons of pangolin scales worth around US$38.1 million are displayed in an undisclosed site in Singapore. Singapore has seized more than 25 tons of pangolin scales belonging to tens of thousands of the endangered mammals in two busts over the past week, a global record for such seizures. (National Parks Board via AP) In this April 9, 2019, photo released by the National Parks Board, some of the 12 tons of pangolin scales worth around US$38.1 million are displayed in an undisclosed site in Singapore. Singapore has seized more than 25 tons of pangolin scales belonging to tens of thousands of the endangered mammals in two busts over the past week, a global record for such seizures. (National Parks Board via AP) "The illegal trade in pangolin parts has been going on for decades. However, pangolins have typically been overlooked in terms of concerted conservation attention and action," Thomson told The Associated Press. "This is changing thanks to growing awareness of pangolins. And this awareness has partly been driven by the high volumes of trafficking seen today." In February, Malaysian officials seized 30 tons of pangolin and pangolin products. This included live and frozen pangolins and 361 kilograms (795 pounds) of their scales. Earlier that month, Hong Kong said it had seized ivory tusks and 8.3 tons of pangolin scales belonging to as many as 13,000 pangolins. The shipment, which originated in Nigeria, was bound for Vietnam. Singapore made two markedly smaller pangolin scale busts in 2015 and 2016 amounting to 440 kilograms (970 pounds). Those found to have illegally imported, exported or re-exported wildlife, including their parts, face a maximum punishment of two years in prison and a fine of 500,000 Singapore dollars ($367,000). "There has never been a more opportune moment for full and thorough international investigations and collaborations to take place to find out who has perpetrated these criminal acts and bring those behind them to face justice," Thomas said. Explore further Singapore seizes record shipment of pangolin scales 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Japanese entrepreneur Nobu Okada founded Astroscale in 2013 with the sole aim of launching 'space sweepers' With constellations of thousands of telecommunication mini satellites expected to orbit Earth in the near future, the risk of space-debris collisions will grow. For Nobu Okada, it's an opportunity. The 46-year-old Japanese entrepreneur founded the start-up Astroscale in Singapore in 2013 with the sole aim of launching "space sweepers." The companynow based in Tokyohas 71 employees. A demonstration will take place in 2020 when an Astroscale satellite will capture one of the company's own mini satellites and try and nudge it out of its orbitwith the goal of pushing it into the atmosphere to burn up. The Europeans and Americans are developing similar concepts, but the idea of tidying up in space remains an experimental one. AFP caught up with Nobu Okada at the 35th Space Symposiuma large meeting of the space industry in the US state of Colorado. Is there a market for taking down space debris? "One guy told me, Nobu, there's no market, nobody pays money to remove space debris. And when I heard there's no market, I feel this (is) a good news. If there's no market. There's no competition." "The density of space debris has reached the critical level where chain collisions can happen at any time in the near future. So, if we do not take any actions, space is not sustainable anymore." Graphic on space junk "So, somebody has to clean up the space." Who is going to pay? "The future debris will mostly come from constellations. A certain percentage of the satellites will go defunct in space. And they have to be replenished with new satellites to keep the coverage. To do that, they have to remove the oldest satellites to make sure their orbital plane is clean. "The other business line is that we also have to clean up the debris which are already up there. And these are mostly littered by the governments. We should prioritize which debris are the most critical and have to be removed with high priority, with government money, like rocket upper stages." "Two years ago, they were just listening, but now they are beginning to take responsibility." Any clients yet? What will your services cost? "We have multiple projects with potential customers. "Before we set up this company, people had no idea how much money, it would cost to remove one debris, because there were no proven technologies. People were thinking 100, 300 or 500 million dollars to remove one object. But our priceit depends on the situation of the objects in spacebut it is far, far less than that." Explore further Image: Visualization of orbital space debris 2019 AFP The number of military uniforms in evidence at the 35th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado attests to the fact that space is becoming a new focus for the world's armed forces At tens of thousands of kilometers above the Earth, a Russian satellite slowly approached the French-Italian satellite Athena-Fidus in October 2017, a move France later denounced as "an act of espionage." What is less widely known is that just a few days before that, the same Russian satelliteknown as Luch or Olymp-Khad been approached by an American military satellite named GSSAP, which came to within 10 kilometers (six miles) of it. Since 2010, China has also demonstrated an ability to pilot satellites to approach designated targets. These discreet maneuvers are just the most real sign of the militarization of space, several US experts told AFP. The United States, Russia and China are certainly capable of destroying enemy satellites using missiles, and probably by deliberate collision too. They may also be developing lasers to blind or damage satellites. But none of these types of attacks have ever happened in the six decades that humans have been venturing into space. The real space war is about jamming, hacking and cyber means, rather than blowing things up in orbit. "It's not an immediate collision threat," said Brian Weeden, director of program planning at Secure World Foundation, who has written a report on the movements of those satellites and other space threats. "My sense is that all of that stuff is being done for intelligence and surveillance purposes, that those close approaches are being done to take pictures of those satellites to figure out what they're doing, or to listen in on what signals are being broadcast up to them." A NASA exhibitor discusses the features of a rocket with members of the US military during the 35th Space Symposium in Colorado, the largest space trade show in the world Jamming One only had to see the number of US and allied uniforms this week at the 35th Space Symposium, the big get-together of the space industry in Colorado Springs, to get a sense of how much interest military leaders now have in space. When Marty Whelan started working on military activities in space in 1984, "we put things in orbit, the hardest part was getting there. If you could get there, you were fine." The Gulf War in 1991 was the first time the US military really integrated space tech into ground operations, mostly using GPS to guide its "smart bombs." The first vulnerabilities in the system were exposed in the Iraq war more than a decade later, when Iran tried jamming US satellite signals, Whelan told AFP. In recent years, Russia jammed GPS signals around the Baltic Sea and elsewhere, forcing the US and its allies to develop counter-jamming technology. "People called it some kind of a protected space," said Whelan, who served for 33 years in the Air Force and is today vice president of The Aerospace Corporation. "If you blew up metal in space, no person will die, no mother would lose their son. But if their son or daughter was on a battlefield and now could not communicate, they could lose their son or daughter." "Space is just an enabler to the fight back on planet Earth," added the retired Air Force major general. The SpaceX launch of the secretive US government satellite known as Zuma, in January 2018 at Cape Canaveral, Florida: Zuma's purpose was not disclosed, nor the government agency in charge of the payload, which was later lost SpaceX blasted off the secretive US government payload known as Zuma, a mission whose natureand the agency behind itremains a mystery. SpaceX has launched national security payloads in the past, including a spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office, and an X-37B space plane for the US Air Force. SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk's goal is to perfect the technique so that rockets can one day become just as reusable as airplanes, thereby lowering the cost of space travel. "We're at an inflection point," he said. "We can't do things the way we used to, everything we do must change." Surveilling the satellites The whole space sector, both civilian and military, has started adapting to protect itself from jamming and cyber attacks. "It would be short-sighted of us to sit here today and in 2019 and say that, we have every single threat covered, we know how to address it and mitigate it," said Mark Knapp, director of National Security Programs at the Norwegian company KSAT, which operates more than 200 satellite communication antennae in ground stations around the world. "There's always new threats surfacing," he said. On the military side, the Pentagon is in the midst of a major reorganization to set up the Space Force pushed by President Donald Trump, which is still awaiting congressional approval. The Space Force will comprise some 20,000 personnel and be a co-equal branch of the military, alongside the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force. Monitoring space will be one of its top priorities. Fred Kennedy, selected to head the Defense Department's new Space Development Agency, on Tuesday unveiled his plans for a constellation of hundreds of small military satellites, built in conjunction with the private sector, to monitor in real time tens of thousands of objects around the world. "Everything between here and the moon," he told reporters at the Colorado Springs gathering. As for the new generation of French military satellites, the Syracuse 4, they will be kitted out with cameras to see if anything is getting too close to them. Explore further Pentagon submits Space Force proposal to Congress 2019 AFP A visitor on a beach just north of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, looking for a good vantage point to capture the launch of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket is poised for its first commercial space launch Wednesday, carrying a Saudi satellite operated by Arabsat, a year after sending founder Elon Musk's red Tesla roadster into orbit as a test. The Falcon Heavy is scheduled to lift off from the Kennedy Space center in Florida at 6:36 pm (2236 GMT) and place the six-ton Arabsat-6A satellite into geostationary orbit some 22,500 miles (36,000 kilometers) above the Earth. SpaceX has two operational rockets: the Falcon 9, which with 21 launches in 2018 dominates the US market, and the Falcon Heavy, which as its name suggests is designed to lift much heavier payloads into more distant orbits. It consists of the equivalent of three Falcon 9 rockets combined, tripling its thrust. SpaceX will attempt to re-land the rocket's three boosters. In its first launch, in February 2018, a dummy dubbed Starman was placed behind the wheel of Musk's roadster, which is currently orbiting the Sun somewhere between Earth and Mars. Since then, the US military and private clients have signed contracts for Falcon Heavy launches, and NASA has raised the possibility it may use the rocket for its planned missions to the Moon. 2019 AFP Janus emulsion droplets are captured in the process of changing form in response to the presence of contamination by a food pathogen in a lab setting. The emulsions can be viewed by the naked eye and, with the aid of a handheld sensor currently in development, can quantify the presence and amount of bacterial contamination in food. Credit: The Swager Group "This is a $10 billion market and everyone knows it." Those are the words of Chris Hartshorn, CEO of a new MIT spinoutXibus Systemsthat is aiming to make a splash in the food industry with their new food safety sensor. Hartshorn has considerable experience supporting innovation in agriculture and food technology. Prior to joining Xibus, he served as chief technology officer for Callaghan Innovation, a New Zealand government agency. A large portion of the country's economy relies upon agriculture and food, so a significant portion of the innovation activity there is focused on those sectors. While there, Hartshorn came in contact with a number of different food safety sensing technologies that were already on the market, aiming to meet the needs of New Zealand producers and others around the globe. Yet, "every time there was a pathogen-based food recall" he says, "it shone a light on the fact that this problem has not yet been solved." He saw innovators across the world trying to develop a better food pathogen sensor, but when Xibus Systems approached Hartshorn with an invitation to join as CEO, he saw something unique in their approach, and decided to accept. Novel liquid particles provide quick indication of food contamination Xibus Systems was formed in the fall of 2018 to bring a fast, easy, and affordable food safety sensing technology to food industry users and everyday consumers. The development of the technology, based on MIT research, was supported by two commercialization grants through the MIT Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab's J-WAFS Solutions program. It is based on specialized dropletscalled Janus emulsionsthat can be used to detect bacterial contamination in food. The use of Janus droplets to detect bacteria was developed by a research team led by Tim Swager, the John D. MacArthur Professor of Chemistry, and Alexander Klibanov, the Novartis Professor of Biological Engineering and Chemistry. Swager and researchers in his lab originally developed the method for making Janus emulsions in 2015. Their idea was to create a synthetic particle that has the same dynamic qualities as the surface of living cells. The liquid droplets consist of two hemispheres of equal size, one made of a blue-tinted fluorocarbon and one made of a red-tinted hydrocarbon. The hemispheres are of different densities, which affects how they align and how opaque or transparent they appear when viewed from different angles. They are, in effect, lenses. What makes these micro-lenses particularly unique, however, is their ability to bind to specific bacterial proteins. Their binding properties enabled them to move, flipping from a red hemisphere to blue based on the presence or absence of a particular bacteria, like Salmonella. "We were thrilled by the design," Swager says. "It is a completely new sensing method that could really transform the food safety sensing market. It showed faster results than anything currently available on the market, and could still be produced at very low cost." Janus emulsions respond exceptionally quickly to contaminants and provide quantifiable results that are visible to the naked eye or can be read via a smartphone sensor. "The technology is rooted in very interesting science," Hartshorn says. "What we are doing is marrying this scientific discovery to an engineered product that meets a genuine need and that consumers will actually adopt." Having already secured nearly $1 million in seed funding from a variety of sources, and also being accepted into Sprout, a highly respected agri-food accelerator, they are off to a fast start. Solving a billion-dollar industry challenge Why does speed matter? In the field of food safety testing, the standard practice is to culture food samples to see if harmful bacterial colonies form. This process can take many days, and often can only be performed offsite in a specialized lab. While more rapid techniques exist, they are expensive and require specialized instrumentswhich are not widely availableand still typically require 24 hours or more from start to finish. In instances where there is a long delay between food sampling and contaminant detection, food products could have already reached consumers handsand upset their stomachs. While the instances of illness and death that can occur from food-borne illness are alarming enough, there are other costs as well. Food recalls result in tremendous waste, not only of the food products themselves but of the labor and resources involved in their growth, transportation, and processing. Food recalls also involve lost profit for the company. North America alone loses $5 billion annually in recalls, and that doesn't count the indirect costs associated with the damage that occurs to particular brands, including market share losses that can last for years. The food industry would benefit from a sensor that could provide fast and accurate readings of the presence and amount of bacterial contamination on-site. The Swager Group's Janus emulsion technology has many of the elements required to meet this need and Xibus Systems is working to improve the speed, accuracy, and overall product design to ready the sensor for market. Two other J-WAFS-funded researchers have helped improve the efficiency of early product designs. Mathias Kolle, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT and recipient of a separate 2017 J-WAFS seed grant, is an expert on optical materials. In 2018, he and his graduate student Sara Nagelberg performed the calculations describing light's interaction with the Janus particles so that Swager's team could modify the design and improve performance. Kolle continues to be involved, serving with Swager on the technical advisory team for Xibus. This effort was a new direction for the Swager group. Says Swager: "The technology we originally developed was completely unprecedented. At the time that we applied to for a J-WAFS Solutions grant, we were working in new territory and had minimal preliminary results. At that time, we would have not made it through, for example, government funding reviews which can be conservative. J-WAFS sponsorship of our project at this early stage was critical to help us to achieve the technology innovations that serve as the foundation of this new startup." Xibus co-founder Kent Harveyalso a member of the original MIT research teamis joined by Matthias Oberli and Yuri Malinkevich. Together with Hartshorn they are working on a prototype for initial market entry. They are actually developing two different products: a smartphone sensor that is accessible to everyday consumers, and a portable handheld device that is more sensitive and would be suitable for industry. If they are able to build a successful platform that meets industry needs for affordability, accuracy, ease of use, and speed, they could apply that platform to any situation where a user would need to analyze organisms that live in water. This opens up many sectors in the life sciences, including water quality, soil sensing, veterinary diagnostics, as well as fluid diagnostics for the broader healthcare sector. The Xibus team wants to nail their product right off the bat. "Since food safety sensing is a crowded field, you only get one shot to impress your potential customers," Hartshorn says. "If your first product is flawed or not interesting enough, it can be very hard to open the door with these customers again. So we need to be sure our prototype is a game-changer. That's what's keeping us awake at night." Explore further New technology could offer cheaper, faster food testing This story is republished courtesy of MIT News (web.mit.edu/newsoffice/), a popular site that covers news about MIT research, innovation and teaching. The UN has delayed the holding of the Libyan National Conference over current fighting for the control of capital Tripoli between the forces of the internationally-backed GNA and the Libyan National Army loyal to renegade Khalifa Haftar. The UN envoy to the north African country Ghassan Salame in a statement on Tuesday said the reconciliation conference initially planned for April 14-16 will no longer take place given the ongoing armed combat between UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) and forces aligned with east-based rogue army commander Haftar who launched last week Tripolis takeover. We cannot ask people to take part in the conference during gunfire and air strikes, Salame said. We also cannot ask Libyans to attend a Conference to the backdrop of artillery shelling and air raids, he added. The UN envoy however pledged to bring as soon as possible, various sides that agreed to think and agree on a roadmap that will end division and lay the ground for elections in the oil-rich North African country. Haftars offensive court-circuits UN efforts for a political solution in Libya, which has been without a central government since 2011 following Muammar Gaddafis removal and murder in a NATO-backed revolution. The U.S., EU and the Group of Seven economic bloc have all called for a ceasefire. UN Chief Antonio Guterres also condemned Haftars military action. Guterres was in Tripoli when the offensive started even though fighting focused more on the south of the Libyan capital. Traces of neonicotinoid pesticides can impair a flying insect's ability to spot predators and avoid collisions with objects in their path. Credit: University of Saskatchewan Traces of neonicotinoid pesticides can impair a flying insect's ability to spot predators and avoid collisions with objects in their path, new research by the University of Saskatchewan (USask) shows. Residual traces of these widely-used pesticides can profoundly affect a flying insect's ability to detect movementa skill crucial to survival, according to the paper published in the journal NeuroToxicology. Within an hour of being treated with tiny amounts of neonicotinoids or their metabolites (trace elements present after the insecticide begins to break down), the flying insects did not turn, glide or stop to avoid collision. "Our findings suggest that very low doses of the pesticide or its metabolic products can profoundly and negatively affect motion detection systems that flying insects, such as locusts, grasshoppers and bees, need for survival," said Jack Gray, an expert in neural control of animal behavior and Vice-Dean of Research, Scholarly and Artistic work in USask's College of Arts and Science. "Although they are found in the environment, and insects can be exposed to them, metabolites are not typically tested for toxicity. Our results suggest they should be." Neonicotinoid pesticides (or neonics) are the most widely used class of insecticides in the world and are neurotoxins. The European Union has restricted use of some neonics following concern over their impact on pollinators, including bees, and there have been proposals to restrict their use in Canada. Although neonicotinoids break down into different compounds and can exist in trace amounts in the environment, these levels are typically not tested for toxicity. Jack Gray and Rachel Parkinson study the impact of traces of neonics. on flying insects in their lab at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. Credit: University of Saskatchewan Locusts exposed to trace elements of the neonicotinoid imidacloprid were unable to detect object motion in their field of view. When dosed with slightly higher amounts, the locusts were unable to fly straight or failed to take off at all. The findings by researchers in the USask Department of Biology are part of a wider USask research program into the impact of trace elements of neonicotinoids on flying insects. In tests on the locust's nervous systems using electrophysiology, the USask biologists found their motion-detector neurons were less sensitive after being treated. Their ability to process and relay information quickly, and therefore respond quickly while flying, was also impaired. Using a specially-designed wind tunnel, the research team measured a flying locust's ability to navigate around simulated approaching objectsa skill crucial to avoiding predators and obstacles such as bushes and trees. Good vision is crucial to insects' survival as it allows them to see predators including larger insects and birds and avoid collisions with other insects or objects in their path. The team will soon begin researching whether trace levels of neonicotinoids can disrupt navigation and flight behaviour in honeybees, affecting the neural mechanics which stabilize flight, control flight speed, altitude, and help insects calculate distance. "Bees and other flying insects use similar neural mechanisms to process visual motion, and the ability to see movement is crucial not only for avoiding predators, but also for maintaining a steady flight path," said Rachel Parkinson, a PHD biology student. Explore further The more pesticides bees eat, the more they like them More information: Rachel H. Parkinson et al, Neural conduction, visual motion detection, and insect flight behaviour are disrupted by low doses of imidacloprid and its metabolites, NeuroToxicology (2019). Rachel H. Parkinson et al, Neural conduction, visual motion detection, and insect flight behaviour are disrupted by low doses of imidacloprid and its metabolites,(2019). DOI: 10.1016/j.neuro.2019.02.012 In this Dec. 15, 2016, file photo, the Yahoo logo appears on a smartphone in Frankfurt, Germany. Nearly 200 million people who had sensitive information snatched from their Yahoo accounts will receive two years of free credit-monitoring services and other potential restitution in a legal settlement valued at $117.5 million. The deal disclosed in documents filed Tuesday, April 9, 2019, revises an earlier agreement struck last October, only to be rejected by U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File) Nearly 200 million people who had sensitive information snatched from their Yahoo accounts will receive two years of free credit-monitoring services and other potential restitution in a legal settlement valued at $117.5 million. The deal revises an earlier agreement struck last October, only to be rejected by U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California. The value of that settlement had been pegged at $50 million, but Koh questioned the calculations. A more detailed breakdown used in the revised settlement drove up the estimated cost. The money will be paid by Yahoo's current owner, Verizon, and Altaba, a holdover from Yahoo's past that still owns a stake in Chinese internet company Alibaba Group worth billions of dollars. If approved, the settlement will become part of the financial fallout from digital burglaries that stole personal information from about 3 billion Yahoo accounts in 2013 and 2014believed to be the biggest data breach ever. And now the $117.5 million settlement could become largest amount ever doled out for a data breach, a recurring problem in an increasingly digitally driven world. It eclipses a $115 million settlement that Koh approved last year to cover 79 million people who had personal information stolen in a 2015 breach at health insurer Anthem Inc. Yahoo didn't begin to disclose the extent of its security breakdown until 2016 amid an FBI investigation that eventually linked some of the hacking to Russia . The revelations brought a mortifying end to the reign of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, eventually prompting the company to reduce its selling price to Verizon by $350 million. Verizon has since written off much of the nearly $4.5 billion price for the Yahoo acquisition in sign of the eroding value of that business. Lawyers representing the Yahoo accountholders estimate about 194 million people in U.S. and Israel will be eligible to make claims, according to court documents. Those people collectively may have had about 896 million of the Yahoo accounts hit in the break-ins. The biggest piece of the revised Yahoo settlement disclosed in documents filed Tuesday consists of the free credit-monitoring services that will be offered to everyone covered by the deal to protect them from identity theft and other potential problems. The service from AllClear usually costs $14.95 per month, or $359 for two years. People who already have a credit-monitoring service will be eligible for cash payments instead. Yahoo accountholders who paid anywhere for $20 to $50 annually for premium email accounts will be eligible for refunds of up to 25%. People who had to spend time protecting their identities or dealing with other issues caused by the breach can be seek to be paid at a rate of $25 per hour for up to 15 hours. The settlement will also pay up to $32.5 million in fees and other expenses to the lawyers representing Yahoo accountholders, down from the $37.5 million sought in the earlier agreementanother sticking point for Koh. A hearing on the revised settlement is scheduled for June 27. Explore further Yahoo to pay $50M, other costs for massive security breach 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The African Court of Mediation and Arbitration, CAMAR by its French acronym, has just opened in Marrakech, Morocco. It will intervene to settle disputes involving Africans at the continental level. The project to set up CAMAR was finalized at a constitutive congress held in Marrakech, on April 5. The Court, the first of its kind in the continent, will handle disputes involving states, African companies and multinationals operating in the continent. Such disputes were so far settled at the level of the arbitration courts of The Hague, Paris or London, which generally serve as a reference in the settlement of disputes on the continent. The mission of the new court is to open up new perspectives and a better organized legal framework in line with international arbitration standards to settle disputes involving Africans states, businesses, among others. This court is also competent for the settlement of multiple disputes related to commercial contracts, intellectual property, oil and gas contracts, engineering, tourism, real estate, etc. The creation of this arbitration institution will help the AU to address the challenges facing the continent for the implementation of its flagship programs that have the highest impact on Africas growth. It is up to Africans to position this court as the benchmark jurisdiction for continent-wide dispute settlement, bypassing international courts. For this, the college of arbitrators of the institution must convince the countries of the continent to require that disputes be referred to CAMAR for a settlement. The setting up of the court is timely as it will accompany the process of the opening up of African economies in the framework of the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the Single Market for Air Transport in Africa, two projects that will significantly increase intra-African trade and investment, but also continent-wide litters Note that in 2016, the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) saw a 50% increase in the number of arbitration involving an African party because of lack of competent institutions on the continent. Several factors contribute to African parties looking outside the continent. There is a relative wariness due to the political and military situations of some countries and also some of the courts are perceived as being too subject to pressure from member states and does not have a good reputation, which damages investors confidence. The new institution, therefore, intends to convince the African Union that an arbitration clause will be instituted so that all contentious cases on the continent are automatically referred to CAMAR. To this end, analysts say the institution must, first, prove itself in terms of competence and neutrality. Solveo Wellness opened its doors as Pittsburghs first medical marijuana dispensary in February 2018 to customers young and old who braved the cold in a line that wrapped around its Squirrel Hill building. It was warmer in August, but the scene was the same when the dispensary added cannabis flower to its menu. If that wasnt enough to jolt pots illicit image, Pennsylvanias auditor general went public as an advocate for legalizing it for all adults, ailing or healthy, as a way to reap nearly $600 million a year in taxes to apply against the states chronic budget deficit. Public attitudes about marijuana have dramatically softened in recent years, despite the fact it remains an illegal drug of the highest order in the eyes of federal law enforcement and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasnt approved it as a treatment for most medical conditions. And legalization is on the fast track. Medical marijuana is now legal in 33 states and 10 states and the District of Columbia have legalized pot for recreational use among adults. Most of the states that have legalized pot have done so in the past few years. Legalization, as a result, has outpaced research into the medical use and benefits of cannabis, as well as answers to important public health and safety questions, such as how it affects the rate of pot use among Americans and whether it poses a safety hazard on roads and highways. Meanwhile, the young legal cannabis industry is booming, generating billions in tax revenue with the promise of more to come. When we look at the metrics to see where this is going, its clear that its going to be very difficult to put the genie back in the bottle, said John Kagia, executive vice president of New Frontiers Data, a Washington, DC business analytics firm specializing in the cannabis industry. Surging ahead In states where it is currently legal, the cannabis market is expected to mature at a 14.7 percent annual growth rate and expand an $8.3 billion industry into a $23 billion industry by 2025, a New Frontier analysis suggests. And thats assuming no other states legalize marijuana, which defies current trends. One reason is that cannabis is emerging as a golden goose for revenue-strapped states. Washington, a full-legalization state, collected $319 million in excise and sales taxes in 2017, its cannabis control board reports. Pennsylvania, with a 70 percent larger population, hasnt made recreational marijuana legal, but could earn $581 million a year if it did, the state auditor general estimates. The estimate is based on a 35 percent state cannabis tax. If a 1 percent local sales tax is added, Allegheny County could expect $3.8 million. Pennsylvanias medical cannabis program registered 62,000 patients in the first eight months, which is on the high end of expectations. Were farther along than states like New York and Illinois were when they were two years into their programs because we havent had issues with registration, said Patrick Nightingale, executive director of the Pennsylvania Medical Cannabis Society and Pittsburgh NORML. Cannabis is also a hyper-local industry, adding to its attraction among states. Federal drug laws prohibit shipping it outside of a state where it is legal. As a result, it has to be grown, processed, distributed and sold within each state, sustaining local jobs and investment. In Colorado, the first state to legalize recreational marijuana, cannabis employment accounts for 5.4 percent of all job growth since 2014, according to a Kansas City Federal Reserve analysis. Allegheny County residents were convinced that full legalization is the route to take even before the auditor generals July 2018 report. A month earlier, 62 percent said they favored making cannabis legal for recreational use among adults and only 32 percent opposed it in a Pittsburgh Today-University of Pittsburgh University Center for Social and Urban Research survey. The findings echo national sentiment. An August Quinnipiac University poll found American voters support full legalization of marijuana by a margin of 63 percent to 33 percent. The survey also reported that 43 percent of voters have used marijuana recreationally. This softening of views comes at a time when police across the U.S. arrest 599,000 people a year for marijuana possession21 percent more than arrests for murder, robbery, rape and aggravated assault combined, according to the latest FBI data. Arrest data also underscore the argument that legalization could narrow racial disparities in drug arrests. African Americans are 3.7 times more likely than whites to be arrested on marijuana charges even though pot use among races is about the same. A challenging industry As arrest data suggest, enthusiasm for legalizing marijuana isnt rising everywhere. U.S. drug policy is holding fast on classifying pot with drugs like heroin and LSD as a Schedule 1 controlled substance with no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. The stricter schedule lets the Drug Enforcement Agency more tightly restrict access to cannabis, making it difficult to research and posing several hurdles that slow growth of the legal cannabis industry. Major banks balk at serving the industry, concerned that doing so exposes them to possible prosecution under federal racketeering laws. About 400 financial institutions are working with cannabis businesses nationwide, but most are small credit unions or state-chartered banks. Legal cannabis is largely a cash business with limited access to capital available to other industries. With interstate commerce off limits, cannabis businesses must set up production in every market they serve, greatly increasing the cost of expansion. And federal law makes it tough for cannabis companies to claim standard business deductions, increasing their tax burden. Illicit competitors Cannabis taxes are a critical factor for an industry under pressure to keep prices competitive. Unlike most industries, legal cannabis competes with a well-established black market that consumers are familiar with and that is exempt from the taxes and costs of licenses, quality control, reporting and other regulatory requirements that apply to legal growers and sellers. Californias recent slump in cannabis tax revenues is blamed in part on high taxes. The state levies a 15 percent excise tax on retail cannabis sales, a weight-based tax of cultivation, and cities and counties add a local sales taxes as high as 20 percent on pot, which also is subject to regular state sales tax. In Washington, state officials reduced a 25 percent tax on each of the three steps in the supply chain to a flat 37 percent retail tax after the price of legal recreational marijuana proved too steep to lure consumers away from the black market. National legalization, although crucial for industry growth, would likely come with additional taxes to meet the federal governments desire for a piece of the pie. If pot were legal in all 50 states, a 15 percent federal sales tax alone would generate a total of $46 billion in new revenue for the U.S. Treasury by 2025, a New Frontier analysis suggests. Still, the outlook remains positive for the emerging industry. As cannabis has become a kitchen table issue, theres been greater interest in its medical use, even among people who might not be cannabis enthusiasts by any stretch but are suffering from a condition and looking for some relief, Kagia said. NEXT in Part II of our look at legal marijuana: Legalization is moving faster than questions about of marijuanas impact on public health and safety can be answered. I'm not on Facebook and do not post to Medium. Twitter has suspended me. I don't know why. mscriver@3rivers.net COMMENTS WELCOME unless they are anonymous. Moroccan authorities announced on Wednesday the arrest of four jihadists who were active in the region of Taza, 120 kilometers east of Fez. The members of this terror cell, aged between 33 and 38, were captured by the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ), Moroccos FBI. Their leader is a former fighter in the Syrian-Iraqi region who served a prison sentence in 2015 under the anti-terrorism law, said the Moroccan interior ministry in a press release. According to investigators, the head of this terrorist cell, who is believed to have recruited elements of his group, tried to use his experience in the conflict zones to plan and prepare terrorist acts in Morocco, undermining the countrys stability and security. The North African country has placed counterterrorism at the top of priorities following the Casablanca terror attacks in 2003 and the two subsequent attacks of 2007 and 2011. Moroccos counterterrorism efforts, enhanced by regional & international cooperation, have mitigated the risk of terrorism, but the country continues to face threats, largely from numerous small, independent violent extremist cells. 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 U.S. Attorney General William Barr testifying on Capitol Hill, April 09, 2019. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images On Tuesday, Attorney General William Barr announced that he would issue the full Mueller report minus redactions to Congress within a week. Although lawmakers and the public have yet to see the full report into Russias meddling in the 2016 campaign and the Trump teams alleged involvement, the attorney general is already preparing to look into the counterintelligence decisions made by the Justice Department and FBI officials that led to the special counsel investigation. I am reviewing the conduct of the investigation and trying to get my arms around all the aspects of the counterintelligence investigation that was conducted during the summer of 2016, Barr told the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. Bloomberg also reports that the AG is forming a team to investigate the Mueller investigation. Republicans on the committee were ecstatic: The president and his party have declared since the beginning of the investigation that the FBI and the special counsel are conflicted. (Then, of course, theres the repeated claim of a witch hunt.) One Republican on the committee, Alabamas Robert Aderholt, asked the attorney general how it came to be that your agency used a salacious and unverified dossier as a predicate for FISA order on a U.S. citizen? Aderholt referred to the claim that the FBI used the Steele dossier as a means to obtain a warrant on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page an intermediary that a Russian spy reportedly thought was an idiot. Republicans and Fox News hosts have repeatedly and falsely claimed that the Russia investigations started with this dossier. In reality, the FBI interest in the Trump campaign began with a different mediator, George Papadopoulos, who drunkenly told to an Australian diplomat he had thousands of emails of dirt on the Clinton campaign. Papadopoulos eventually pleaded guilty for lying to the FBI, and served 14 days in prison. Thats great news hes looking into how this whole thing started back in 2016, said Representative Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee. Thats something that has been really important to us. Its what weve been calling for. Barr will likely repeat his announcement on Wednesday in the Republican-controlled Senate Appropriations Committee, where its likely to gain more traction: Much of the questioning in the Democrat-controlled House committee involved Barrs plan to release the full Mueller report, and its corroborating evidence. Other Republicans have already expressed interest in counter-investigations. In a March interview with Fox News, Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham said that, Once we put the Mueller report to bed, once Barr comes to the committee and takes questions about his findings and his actions, and we get to see the Mueller report, consistent with law, then we are going to turn to finding out how this got off the rails. William Barr has already established his tenure as attorney general along partisan lines: Prior to his appointment, Barr wrote an unsolicited memo claiming that Trump did not obstruct justice and that the investigation into such a charge was fatally misconceived. Democrats were frustrated by Barrs quick turnaround on his Mueller report summary, as the special counsels office never asked Barr to get the synopsis out that quickly not to mention his hasty decision to let the president off for obstruction. Members of Muellers team have reportedly complained to those close to them that the evidence on such a charge was substantial. If Barr is determined to investigate counterintelligence decisions made by the DOJ and FBI regarding the Mueller report, it appears hes doubling down on his prioritization to protect the president over his role as the chief lawyer of the United States. Political Incorrectness Paradoxes, and Anything else out of left field. CEOs of America's biggest financial institutions are appearing before the Financial Services Committee on Wednesday for the first time since the 2008 crisis, facing renewed criticism over their techniques and sky-high profits. Just one day after Big Tech heavyweights assembled before Congress, JPMorgan Chase & Co's Jamie Dimon, Bank of America Corp's Brian Moynihan, Citigroup Inc's Mike Corbat, Goldman Sachs Group Inc's David Solomon and Morgan Stanley's James Gorman are all arranged to appear before the Financial Services Committee. Led by Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters and staffed with high-profile progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the panel is predicted to grill the CEOs on the safety of the financial system, settlements and diversity. Since the 2008 collapse, the country's most notable banks have injected more than $800 billion in cash to reinforce the financial system. Democratic legislators will examine whether too-big-to-fail banks were likewise too big to manage. Republican Agent Patrick McHenry questioned the requirement for the hearing and knocked Democratic lawmakers, suggesting that they were looking to dictate social and environmental policy through government actions on banks. In remarks prepared for the hearing, bank heads highlighted their push to hire more women and minorities, while praising guidelines for making banks more sound. Morgan Stanley's James Gorman tackled the Volcker Rule, stating that its restraints on trading had kept his company from taking on too much risk. Related: Is The Corporate Debt Bubble About To Pop? Unlike the remainder of the bank leaders appearing before Financial Services Committee, JPMorgan Chase boss Jamie Dimon appeared before Congress many times prior to and following the financial crisis. The banks worked diligently for the weeks leading up to the hearing, preparing a strong review of issues like organization, lending and minority hiring. They have also begun taking action to address some of Congress' complaints and practiced their speeches in small in-house meetings with other employees pretending to be hostile members of Congress. Big Bank stock prices weren't moving much as markets opened, with JPMorgan and Wells Fargo up less than 0.1 percent. BofA gained about 0.3 percent, while Goldman and Morgan Stanley were down about 0.3 percent. By Michael Kern for Safehaven.com More Top Reads From Safehaven.com Netanyahu celebrates on election night. Photo: picture alliance/picture alliance via Getty Image Despite a strong performance by challenger Benny Gantz, it appears likely that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has secured a fifth term in office. Much about Israels future, however, is still yet to be decided. In the coming months we can expect plenty of bargaining, uncertainty, and instability over not just the government of Israel but some of the core elements of the U.S.-Israel relationship. With 97 percent of the vote counted in Israels elections, Prime Minister Netanyahus party and his main challenger, Blue and White, were tied, with 35 seats each, out of 120 total in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. While that may sound like a blow to Netanyahu, in reality it leaves his party with more seats than the 30 it has in the current parliament. Whats more, it leaves a coalition of right-wing parties closer to forming a government. If Netanyahus Likud and its further-right partners can reach a deal with smaller religious parties, they stand to gain 65 seats; if Blue and White unites with traditional left parties as well as the two Arab parties that entered parliament, they will still have only 55. All of that means were far from knowing what Israels next government will look like. The first step will come when final results are certified and President Reuven Rivlin chooses which party to ask to form a government. Normally, that would be the one with the most votes as of this writing, Likud was ahead by with 13,375 ballots. Gantz told Blue and Whites supporters to remain hopeful on Wednesday, noting a possibility of electoral shifts though analysts suggest thats unlikely. But Netanyahu, dont forget, is awaiting indictment on multiple counts of bribery, fraud, and corruption. So it is unclear how sturdy a government formed under his leadership can be. The smaller religious parties that hold the key to his preferred right-wing coalition will ask for major concessions in funding, Cabinet positions, and stances on issues that are important to those Orthodox communities but highly unpopular with more secular Israelis. He might prefer to see whether he can tempt Blue and White into forming a centrist coalition. Gantz said during the nastily fought campaign that he would not enter such a coalition. Will he change his position, perhaps on the assumption that the criminal case will soon force Netanyahu to the side? Or will he wait, on the assumption that we could end up right back where he is now if the cases against Bibi go to trial? All of that will be revealed in the coming weeks. The things we now know for certain are not hopeful for Israelis nor for others who see a vibrant left and a concern for the peace process as keys to the countrys long-term future. Overall voter turnout was down, suggesting that neither Netanyahus corruption nor the three-general front that Blue and White led with inspired Israelis to think voting mattered. Turnout was down even more steeply among Israels Arab citizens, after a campaign in which Netanyahu explicitly made common cause with far-right parties that support the expulsion of Arabs and the annexation of more Palestinian territories by an expanded Jewish state. This was certainly to the disadvantage of attempts at forming progressive coalitions, and broadcast clearly what activists have been telling anyone who will listen that Palestinians have lost faith that a two-state solution is a real possibility and that the Israeli left can deliver it. And votes moved even further toward the center-right, with the historic progressive party Labor losing more seats to Blue and White and slumping further into second-tier status. A Netanyahu return to power, if that is what comes to pass, may actually relieve U.S. Democrats of some short-term dilemmas; they can continue to blame the lack of progress in peacemaking and protecting the rights of Palestinians on Netanyahu, rather than confronting the uncomfortable fact that, according to polls, a majority of Jewish Israelis no longer support a two-state solution. For President Trump, on the other hand, Netanyahus win may be too much of a good thing. From recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights to declaring the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization, Trump took a number of actions in recent weeks that were intended to boost Netanyahu at home all of which Bibi trumpeted in Hebrew, though not in English, as having been done just for him. But Trumps recognition of Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights which he announced without telling his own staff in advance, and against the strong protests of his own lawyers who see problematic parallels with territory Russia seized from Ukraine and elsewhere drove an inspired Netanyahu to a new extreme. At the end of the campaign, he pledged that if elected, he would move to annex part of the West Bank the heavily populated territory Israel seized in war, but which has been presumed for more than two decades to be the heart of a future Palestinian state. Netanyahus far-right coalition partners want this dearly and have been pushing him to this end for all the long years hes been in government. Until now, he had never given in to their exhortations perhaps because he does not want to deal with the aftermath of local anger and global condemnation, perhaps because he cares more about his own political survival than any policy goal, perhaps because he previously believed Washington would oppose such a move. Now, though, no one is sure if Trump would oppose it. Shalom Lipner, who worked for seven consecutive Israeli prime ministers, wrote last week that Netanyahu would be looking to invoke American displeasure as the reason he cant deliver on his promise. The reasons for Washington to oppose annexation still hold a violation of international law with knock-on consequences elsewhere; severe consequences for U.S. relations with Arab and Muslim states and possibly for U.S. service members and counter-terrorism operations in Muslim-majority countries; and the demolition of the notion that progress toward a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine is right around the corner. The risk, however, is that Trump may see it only as a quick applause line with conservatives and a way to create awkwardness for Democrats. All of that is reason for Washington while Israels own political system offers up so little in constructive responses to the countrys existential dilemma to hope for outcomes in coalition negotiations that dont give the Israeli right the upper hand. Thats different from hoping that centrist and progressive Israelis can make a new start, but it looks to be the best hope weve got. Intro Greetings! I am a political scientist , specializing in International Relations , my research and teaching focus on ethnic conflict and civil-military relations . I watch way too much TV, and I like movies as well so I tend to write about both and find IR stuff in pop culture. I rant alot about American politics and sometimes about Canadian politics. I like to take ideas I once learned a long time ago and apply them to whatever strikes my fancy. Education Reporter Mathew Burciaga is a Santa Maria Times reporter who covers education, agriculture and public safety. Prior to joining the Times, Mathew ran a 114-year-old community newspaper in Wyoming. He owns more than 40 pairs of crazy socks from across the globe. Last April at Mount Vernon. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Last April, Donald Trump, French president Emmanuel Macron, and their respective wives, took a tour of Mount Vernon, George Washingtons Virginia mansion. Like a third-grader on a field trip to the nearly 300-year-old home, Trump was bored out of his mind, Mount Vernon president and CEO, Doug Bradburn, told Politico. In an attempt to capture Trumps attention on the 45-minute tour, Bradburn, who was leading the tour and later described is as truly bizarre, honed in on a subject the 45th president could appreciate real estate. A former history professor with a PhD, Bradburn was desperately trying to get [Trump] interested in Washingtons house, said a source familiar with the visit, so he spoke in terms Trump understands best telling the president that Washington was an 18th century real-estate titan who had acquired property throughout Virginia and what would come to be known as Washington, D.C. Trump was impressed, but he also had some advice for Washington. He should have done what Trump would later do and slapped his name all over the property. If he was smart, he wouldve put his name on it. Youve got to put your name on stuff or no one remembers you, Trump reportedly said of Washington. Of course, Washingtons name is on the nations capital, one of its 50 states, the Washington Monument, a major university, and many other things. No one, other than Trump, is in any danger of forgetting him. Minnesota Department of Human Services announced to have suffered a data breach that may have exposed the personal information of about 11,000 people. Minnesota Department of Human Services suffered a data breach that may have exposed the personal information of about 11,000 people. The state Department of Human Services notified lawmakers Tuesday the incident. Attackers had access to an employees e-mail account on or about March 26, 2018. During this cyberattack , the hacker used the state email account of an employee in our Direct Care and Treatment administration to send legitimate-looking emails to one of the employees co-workers. This email asked the co-worker pay an invoice via a wire transfer. The employees then recognized that these emails were suspicious, did not wire any money and, consistent with their training and DHS/MNIT policies, reported the emails to MNIT. reads the data breach notification letter send by the agency. The hacker would have had the ability to view, download, or otherwise obtain some of the accounts contents during this cyberattack . MNIT is unable to identify what, if any, information was viewed or obtained by the hacker. The hacker unlawfully logged into a state e-mail account of an employee and used it to send two e-mails to the employees co-workers, asking them to pay an invoice by wiring money. The attack was immediately detected and reported to Minnesota IT Services. At the time is not possible to determine what, if any, information was accessed by the attacker, the agency pointed out that it has no evidence that personal information contained in the hacked e-mail account was viewed, downloaded or misused in any way. This cyberattack is an assault on our efforts in state government to provide quality services to Minnesotans in need, Human Services Commissioner Tony Lourey said in a letter to legislative leaders. We pledge to do everything we can to uphold the privacy of the Minnesotans who receive services through our programs. We apologize for any concern or other negative impact due to this incident. This incident is the third data breach in just over a year suffered at DHS, it also demonstrates the great interest in government agencies of various threat actors. Pierluigi Paganini ( SecurityAffairs data breach, Minnesota Department of Human Services) Share this... Linkedin Share this: Twitter Print LinkedIn Facebook More Tumblr Pocket Share On These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life. The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed through the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by contacting the author. A few comments on implementing the FIRST STEP Act in written testimony from AG William Barr | Main | Impressive (and growing) accounting of studies on racial disparities in criminal justice system April 10, 2019 Spotlighting the important (and problematic) metrics used by prosecutors This great New York Law Journal commentary, authored by Rachel Barkow, Lucy Lang, Anne Milgram and Courtney Oliva, is headlined "How We Judge Prosecutors Has to Change." Its subheadline highlights its theme: "Despite a wealth of evidence showing public safety can be improved by connecting people to needed social and health services, the internal metrics of prosecutors offices do little to incentivize this course of action." Here is how the piece gets started: The criminal justice reform movement has rightfully focused on prosecutors as key actors in bringing about much-needed change. Dozens of reform-minded prosecutors have been elected throughout the country promising to tackle mass incarceration while keeping their communities safe. They will not succeed unless they redefine what it means to be a successful prosecutor. Today, local prosecutors measure themselves by three core metrics: how many people are indicted on criminal charges, how many cases they try and how many convictions they secure (either through guilty pleas or convictions after trial). For too long, these metrics have been used to decide promotions and raises, and to confer professional capital, dictating who gets the best cases and whose work is celebrated. Not surprisingly, then, these are the metrics around which prosecutors orient their work and judge their professional self-worth. This rewards prosecutors who excel at managing large caseloads and processing people through the system. But these metrics do not necessarily recognize the prosecutors who are most effective at achieving public safety and promoting equality. These goals require additional metrics. Decisions about what crimes and people to focus on, and whether or not to incarcerate, matter enormously. The existing metrics take us further away from the goal of building a better criminal justice system. April 10, 2019 at 08:38 AM | Permalink Comments Post a comment * Early inspections after Singapore Airlines grounds jets * Engine has had a problematic entry into service * New blades being tested, expected in use from 2020 * Stock underperforms bluechip index (Adds analyst comment, details, shares) By Noor Zainab Hussain April 10 (Reuters) - Rolls-Royce has agreed to an early inspection of some Trent 1000 TEN engines by regulatory authorities, a week after Singapore Airlines Ltd grounded two Boeing Co 787-10 jets fitted with the units. The latest version of the Trent engine has been dogged by problems since entering service at the end of 2017. According to Rolls-Royce, by late February 35 787s had been grounded globally due to engine blades corroding or cracking prematurely. "This blade deterioration is a known issue but it is occurring faster than we expected on some engines," Chris Cholerton, Rolls-Royce President for Civil Aerospace, said on Wednesday. The accelerated inspection regime will allow Rolls-Royce to confirm the health of the more than 180 engines in service over the next few months. Shares in Rolls-Royce were trading down 0.5 percent by 0751 GMT, underperforming the wider FTSE 100 index. Singapore Airlines grounded its two jets last week after engine checks showed premature blade deterioration. Jefferies analysts said the affected engines were being operated on routes to Japan, Korea and Thailand, meaning they had a relatively high take-off and landing cycle. In February, Rolls-Royce allocated another 100 million pounds to fix the engine problems and raised a related accounting charge to 790 million pounds ($1.03 billion) from 554 million pounds six months earlier, contributing to a full-year operating loss of 1.16 billion pounds. However, on Wednesday, the company reiterated its current guidance for in-service cash costs on the Trent 1000 in 2019 and 2020. Rolls-Royce engineers have been developing and testing an enhanced version of the engine blades, which the company said it expects to start incorporating in the engines early next year. The company said an airworthiness directive would be issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency. Rolls-Royce, which makes engines for large civil aircraft and military planes, is keen to avoid further problems with its Trent 1000 engine and last month dropped out of the race to power Boeing's planned mid-market aircraft. ($1 = 0.7652 pounds) (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Kirsten Donovan) SINGAPORE, April 10 (Reuters) - * China's Commerce Ministry said on Wednesday it will launch an anti-dumping investigation on methionine imported from Singapore, Malaysia and Japan * The probe will start on April 10 and last for a year, the ministry said * The chemical is widely used in animal feed, medicine and food sectors (Reporting by Beijing monitoring team and Chen Aizhu in Singapore; editing by Richard Pullin) Emeline Tang Wei Ling, formerly a senior vice-president at Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, was found to have deceived five individuals into handing over more than $5 million to her. (PHOTO: Reuters) The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued prohibition orders against two former bank employees and a former insurance agent after they were convicted in court for offences involving fraud and dishonesty. The ban against the three individuals came into effect on 5 April, said the authority in a statement on Wednesday (10 April). The three court cases are not related. 3 separate cases Emeline Tang Wei Ling, formerly a senior vice-president at Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, was found to have deceived five individuals into handing over more than $5 million to her on the pretext of placing the monies into fixed deposit accounts with HSBC on their behalf. Forged documents were given to the victims to convince them that their monies had been deposited with the bank. Tang has been barred for 20 years from providing any capital markets and financial advisory services, and from taking part in the management, directorship or becoming a substantial shareholder of any capital market and financial advisory services firm under the Securities and Futures Act and Financial Advisers Act (FAA). She was sentenced to 10 years and 6 months imprisonment after being convicted in June last year of cheating and forgery offences as well as for using the proceeds of her crime. Nguyen Duy Minh, a former personal banker at United Overseas Bank Limited, was also banned for 12 years from providing financial advisory services, acting as a director, or becoming a substantial shareholder of any financial advisory firm under the FAA. The Vietnamese national had sold fictitious financial products to his customers and forged documents to purchase financial products without their knowledge. He also misappropriated funds entrusted to him by a customer, instead of depositing them into the customers bank account as instructed. His actions caused eight customers to lose approximately S$500,000. Nguyen was sentenced to three years and nine months imprisonment in June last year for offences including cheating, forgery and criminal breach of trust. Lastly, John Koh Zhan Loong, a former was banned for 10 years from providing financial advisory services, acting as a director or becoming a substantial shareholder of any financial advisory firm under the FAA. He has also been prohibited from carrying business, and partaking in the management of any insurance intermediary under the Insurance Act. The former representative for NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative Limited, had misappropriated some S$500,000 in insurance premiums, which he collected from 11 customers. In June 2018, Koh was sentenced to four years imprisonment. Soon, you can lift off and fly from Changi to, er, Sentosa. With air taxis gliding in from German aviation company Volocopter, it seems our skies could get busier in the next year or so. According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), the first trials will take place across southern Singapore over water, and theyll commence private test flights in the third quarter of 2019, followed by public flight trials by year-end. We are going to take off where we land. For the first phase, its very much into experimental, said CAAS deputy director of transformation programmes Tan Chun Wei at a media briefing at the Rotorcraft Asia trade show. For a start it is going to be over water, and we are going to work with Volocopter on the safety aspects to ensure that even flying over water, it wouldnt pose a public or even aviation risk. The landing spot will be somewhere in the southern part of Singapore. According to The Straits Times, the air taxis will offer unprecedented levels of safety, as stated by Volocopters chief executive, Florian Reuter. Even though Volocopters machines are known for their unmanned capabilities, the ones here will take to the skies with a pilot first, so the company can secure government approval and gain the trust of users before introducing its autonomous operations. Channel NewsAsia said Volocopter expects to be as affordable as regular ride-hailing platforms within the next five to 10 years. Prices wont reach those of conventional helicopter rides, which means the service could appeal to more than just the crazy rich in Singapore. Reuter also told ST that potential routes for the air taxis in Singapore include Tuas to the CBD (26km) and Changi to Sentosa (18km), as well as further afield like central Singapore to Johor (26km) and Sentosa to Batam (22km). Have a look below at how the air taxi operates. This article, Air taxis will soon soar over Singapores skies as trials are slated to start by end-2019, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company. Want more Coconuts? Sign up for our newsletters! By Lamine Chikhi and Hamid Ould Ahmed ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria will hold a presidential election on July 4, the interim presidency said on Wednesday after weeks of mass protests led to the resignation of long-serving leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika. No further details were immediately given. On Tuesday, interim president Abdelkader Bensalah had said he would organise free elections within 90 days. Earlier on Wednesday, Algeria's army chief said he expected to see members of the ruling elite in the major oil and natural gas-producing country prosecuted for corruption and that he would support a transition towards elections. Lieutenant General Gaid Salah's comments were the strongest hint yet that the military would play its traditional role as kingmaker after the ailing 82-year-old Bouteflika bowed to popular pressure and quit on April 2 after 20 years in power. "The army will meet the people's demands," said Salah, addressing officers and soldiers at a military base. The judiciary has recovered its prerogative and can work freely. He referred to the ruling caste as "the gang", a term people have used in the protests to describe Bouteflika's inner circle, which encompassed retired intelligence officials, oligarchs, members of the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) and some veterans of the 1954-62 war of independence against France. The army chief of staff urged the judiciary to reopen a corruption case against oil and gas giant Sonatrach, an object of resentment for many Algerians who accuse their leaders of stealing the North African nation's wealth. More than one in four people under the age of 30, some 70 percent of the population, are unemployed - one of the central grievances of protesters who want the economy liberalised and diversified to reduce its reliance on energy. In 2012, a series of scandals shook Sonatrach, which was tightly controlled by Bouteflika loyalists. Its CEO and other executives were imprisoned for graft offences. Story continues CAUTIOUS ARMY CHIEF The army patiently monitored the unrest, which started on Feb. 22, from the sidelines. Then Salah intervened, declaring Bouteflika - rarely seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013 - unfit to rule. If Bouteflika had seen through his original plan to run for a fifth term despite growing grassroots opposition, that would have put the military under pressure to restore order, instead of focusing on swaying politics from the shadows. "It is unreasonable to manage the transition period without institutions that organise and oversee this operation," said Salah, lending support to interim leaders. Algeria's generals are highly sensitive to instability. In the early 1990s, the army cancelled an election that Islamists were poised to win, touching off a shattering civil war that killed an estimated 200,000 people. The army is pushing hard to get the protesters to back its plan to hold elections in 90 days, keeping the transition within the constitution framework, independent analyst Ferrahi Farid said before the announcement of the election date. The military has faced little resistance from protesters; rather, their fury has been directed at what is popularly described as the fortress - an FLN-associated old guard that has been entrenched for decades. Still, some Algerians were wary after hearing Salah's pledges. "We're happy with the army urging the prosecution of corrupt people. But we will not give up on other demands," said 25-year-old student Nabil Arrachi. In central Algiers, the site of mass marches on successive Fridays since the unrest began, teacher Halim Hachni sat in a coffee shop contemplating his country's future and wondering about the army's role in it. "From the constitutional point of view, I think the army cannot intervene directly by sacking current interim officials and naming new ones," he said. Ennahar TV said the interior ministry had issued licenses for 10 new political parties. While Algeria has about 15 opposition parties, they are seen as weak, and the ministry's move appeared to be aimed at placating protesters seeking a greater degree of democracy. Parliament on Tuesday named Bensalah, the upper house chairman for almost 20 years, as caretaker president. That move failed to placate protesters, who quickly gathered in the thousands in Algiers to demand a removal of the elite and wholesale reforms. (Additional reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi in Dubai; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Photo: Yimmy Yayo If youre looking for the most powerful hair dryer or handiest chefs knife, those things can be easy enough to find. Other objects of desire are a little more taste-based. Whats the next status water bottle or hand wash, for instance? Regular readers of the Strategist will know that weve previously turned to resident Cool Guy Chris Black (hes a partner at brand consultancy Public Announcement) to help us answer both of those questions, and to get more of Chriss advice, hes now answering reader questions for us in a regular column. If you have a burning question about the next fanny pack or Noah rugby shirt, drop us an email with the subject line Ask Chris at strategist@nymag.com. What are the best all-white sneakers? Im tired of Stan Smiths, and Common Projects is a little out of my price range. What all-white sneakers should I buy for the summer? Are you a junior strategist at a creative agency who lives in Williamsburg, loves mezcal, and takes dates to Seamores? No? Then you should avoid Common Projects. They are wildly overpriced in my opinion. Also, be careful to avoid the designer-white-sneaker trap, I see countless victims daily, strolling in Soho in faux-distressed Golden Goose Deluxe Brand, Givenchy, or Balenciaga. JUST SAY NO! You never want to look like you are trying that hard. Vans Authentic Sneaker From $70 The only all-white sneakers I genuinely stand behind are Vans. The perfect summer shoe. Understated, durable, eternally cool. I wear them sockless for 34 months a year, throw them away, and get a new pair next year when the weather warms up. From $70 at Amazon Buy $50 at Zappos Buy You get home and realize youre out of some grooming necessities. What can you get at the drugstore or bodega and what needs to be more specialized? Just last week, before boarding a morning flight to Mexico, the lovely TSA agent at JFK tossed my brand new bottle of Aesop SPF50 Protective Body Lotion in the bin. Instead of getting third-degree burns, I copped some La Roche-Posay Anthelios XL Ultra Light Fluid SPF 50+ and soldiered on. It protected me, but it didnt have that wonderful Aesop scent. Unfortunately, some things just cannot be replaced. If youve run out of your Tom Ford deodorant, dont buy Old Spice or you will smell like the YMCA locker room at peak hours. Unless you want to smell like a chubby Chris sitting in his middle-school bedroom reading Thrasher and listening to Earth Crisis, leave the Curve on the shelf, and head to your local department store for a proper fragrance. Pick your battles. We need trouser recommendations. Our hearts desire that good Lemaire high/natural waist, but without the Lemaire price tag. Usually we would go straight to Sid Mashburn, but the only real option over there is custom and someone out there has to be doing this rise in a trouser (not denim. Shout-out to Levis and the 501 rise) for less than $500700 right? Stoffa Trousers $275 This is a particular request, and I know you dont want to hear it, but it sounds like you gotta go custom. There is a New Yorkbased brand called Stoffa that I would like to recommend. They offer a myriad of fits and fabrics, and its all made-to-measure. I feel like they could get you sorted for under $500. In the braggadocious words of the polarizing producer, musician, and designer Kanye West, I get it custom, you a customer. If you have the cash, why avoid made-to-measure? Its the best. $275 at Stoffa Buy Noah Corduroy Trousers $298 I do pretty well off-the-rack. My natural-waist, pink, wide-wale corduroy trousers from Noah, I love, but those are only for special occasions. $298 at Noah Buy get the strategist newsletter Actually good deals, smart shopping advice, and exclusive discounts. Email This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Terms & Privacy Notice By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us. The Strategist is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the best acne treatments, rolling luggage, pillows for side sleepers, natural anxiety remedies, and bath towels. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change. By Lamine Chikhi and Hamid Ould Ahmed ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria's interim president, in a televised speech, promised on Tuesday to organise free elections within 90 days following weeks of protests that led to the resignation of leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika after 20 years in power. Abdelkader Bensalah, the interim president, was rejected by demonstrators right after he was named by Parliament to take charge during a volatile transition period after decades of autocratic rule. "I am committed to organising elections," said Bensalah, who has been re-elected as leader of the upper house since the early 2000s. The army was aligned with the constitution as a pathway out of the crisis, he added in his 16-minute speech. The critical question is how Algeria's military, which has swayed Algerian politics from behind the scenes for decades, will react to Bensalah's appointment and any opposition that arises. THE MILITARY FACTOR Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Gaid Salah patiently managed Bouteflika's exit after declaring him unfit to stay in power and expressed support for protesters, who have put up little resistance to the military. Hours after Parliament made its choice, Salah said the military will do more to ensure peace for the Algerian people, state news agency APS reported. Bensalah said he would consult with the political class and civil society. A long-time ally of Bouteflika, he is seen by protesters as part of an ageing and out-of-touch ruling caste that has dominated since independence from France in 1962. Bensalah promised to "set a national and sovereign commission to secure fair elections" in an apparent bid to placate demonstrators demanding sweeping democratic reforms and economic opportunities. More than one in four people under the age of 30 - some 70 percent of Algeria's population - are unemployed despite the country's vast oil wealth. The demonstrations, which erupted on Feb. 22, led to the disintegration of what has been described as the ruling elite's "fortress" - veterans of the war of independence against France, ruling party figures, businessmen, the army and labour unions. Story continues But Algerians want more radical change. "You go means you go," read banners at the protest in the capital on Tuesday, reiterating the desire of many Algerians to remove all remnants of a secretive political and military establishment that has dominated for decades. On stepping down, Bouteflika promised that elections would be held after 90 days as part of a transition to usher in what he said would be a new era. (Reporting by Lamine Chikhi and Hamid Ould Ahmed; Additional reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi in Dubai; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky, Giles Elgood, James Dalgleish and Leslie Adler) In the floral valleys of Cuba's Matanzas province, old fashioned farming means bees can swarm without the threat of pesticides that have decimated populations across the world. Life is sweet for Cuba's winged wonders, and Europes honey-lovers are catching on. "The bee is made neither for urban areas nor rural areas. It is made for the mountains," says Rogelio Marcelo Fundora, surveying a lush mountain valley east of Havana where his bees are thriving. Fundora, 51, is a mechanical engineer by trade. His 54-year-old brother Santiago Esteban is a teacher. But both have become Cuba's best-known beekeepers by passion, owning 600 hives in the valley. In this idyllic valley a few hours drive from the capital, "last year we produced 80 tonnes of honey," said Santiago, his face covered by a black net to avoid stings while bees swarmed in agitation as he manipulated a hive. Shrinking bee populations around the world have caused scientists and conservationists to sound the alarm over the effects of intensive agriculture, disease and pesticides. But not in Cuba, a Communist-run island nation that has become a kind of apicultural paradise, thanks to the purity of its countryside. That environmental integrity dates back to Cuba's crippling economic crisis of the 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, which once provided the island with thousands of tonnes of pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides. Deprived of that support, Cuba had no choice but to develop natural alternatives. In the process, it reduced to almost zero the use of chemicals, so harmful to bee populations and the quality of their honey. Average production is 51 kilograms (112 pounds) of honey per hive, a level considered high. However, the Fundora brothers, considered the nation's beekeeper kings, show yields of up to 160 kilograms of honey per hive -- triple the national average. "There's no miracle, just a lot of work," said Santiago. "It's endless work to change out the queen, select the bees," he said, his face tanned by many hours working under the sun. From their 21 apiaries on the flank of a hill near the village of Navajas, east of Havana, the two brothers extract a honey they say is absolutely "clean" -- meaning chemical free. - Sweet export figures - The beekeepers' success means organic honey has joined rum and cigars as one of Cuba's quality exports. The island produced 8,834 tonnes of honey in 2018, 1,500 tonnes more than the target set by Apicuba, the Cuban Beekeeping Company. There's still some way to go to catch Argentina, however. Latin America's leading producer brought 76,000 tonnes to the market in 2017, according to UN Food and Agriculture Organization figures. Of the total, around 1,900 tonnes of Cuba's honey have been certified as organic honey, a "national record" said Dayron Alvarez, the director of technology and development at Apicuba. Almost every drop is exported, with Germany, France, Spain, Britain and Switzerland the main markets worth $18 million in 2017. And there's likely more to come: "We are working on entering the Chinese and Saudi markets," said Alvarez. Apicuba has a monopoly on exports -- beekeepers with more than five hives must sell it their honey. In exchange, the organization provides them with discounted fuel and equipment. It pays up to $1,000 per tonne to beekeepers and sells honey at different prices depending on the country, which is not disclosed. Based on the most recent figures, from 2017, Cuba received an average of $2,655 per tonne for its honey abroad. And the quality is excellent, according to Adolfo Perez, head of the Apicultural Research Center. "Because of the tendency to use very little chemicals, we can say that the honey of Cuba is almost all organic honey," says Perez. - 'Very good health' - In the Cuban countryside, bees are exposed to no great natural risk or human threat and enjoy year-long summer temperatures with enough humidity to ensure a permanent supply of flowers. "The bees are in very good health," said Santiago. "We don't use any chemicals when fumigating apiaries or weeding," and "no antibiotics" -- products that are anyhow hard to come by because of the US trade embargo in place since 1962. That's not to say they don't have to use a certain ingenuity to keep pests at bay, particularly the potentially devastating Varroa mite -- a tiny red parasite that sucks the blood from the bees. The Fundoras use a "nest trap" technique that attracts the parasite and diverts it from the rest of the hive. On harvest day, the two brothers head up the hill in an old truck they call Frankenstein, accompanied by eight young workers. They pay them 80 dollars a month, 50 dollars above the national average. Nearly all of them are in military uniform, because the material is resistant and the camouflage pattern doesn't excite the bees. Under a crushing sun, they will spend the day collecting honeycombs and put them in a mechanical centrifuge that separates the wax from the honey. Here, the downside of Cuba's years of isolation is apparent. Rogelio complains about the equipment, which he says is "a little archaic." "We need an efficient centrifuge to extract the honey, and the truck is very old." AFPTV Residents of Mayfield, in Kentucky, try to find their belongings after their houses were destroyed in ferocious late-season tornadoes that killed at least 94 across several US states. "It was unbelievable," says a survivor, adding that "it was almost two days before I found out my wife was ok.". Fighting between the Myanmar army and ethnic Rakhine rebels has escalated in the western state's temple-studded town of Mrauk U, sources confirmed Wednesday, with reports of military jets streaking across the sky. Riven by complex ethnic and religious divides, Rakhine state was the epicentre of a brutal military campaign in 2017 that forced some 740,000 Rohingya Muslims over the border into Bangladesh. But the army is now locked in deadly battles with the Arakan Army (AA), a group that claims to represent the state's ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and is vying for more autonomy. The AA has killed at least 22 police officers since fighting ramped up in January. The government says dozens of rebels have been killed. Thousands of troops have been deployed to try to quell the spreading unrest. Three weeks ago the fighting reached Mrauk U, the ancient capital of the Rakhine kingdom and a site popular with intrepid tourists for its array of temples and pagodas. Mrauk U resident Khin Than told AFP by phone the fighting started about 10pm Tuesday night and was worse than last time. "It's getting serious. People are scared to leave their homes," she said, describing the ground shaking under the roar of jets. AA spokesman Khine Thukha told AFP they re-entered Mrauk U on Tuesday night to retaliate against artillery bombardments. "The Burmese military is dropping bombs from jet fighters and helicopters," he said. Military spokesman Colonel Win Zaw Oo confirmed clashes were taking place but did not release further details. The military has vowed to crush the rebel group, which formed exactly 10 years ago and enjoys widespread support from many ethnic Rakhine. The AA posted on its website Wednesday a message of congratulations for its 10th anniversary from an allied rebel group based on the other side of the country. Some 26,000 people have been forced from their homes due to the fighting across Rakhine and in neighbouring areas of Chin state while aid groups estimate some 95,000 people are affected by new restrictions on movement. There are also reports of indiscriminate attacks and use of landmines, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Much of Rakhine is under strict lockdown and information is difficult to verify independently. Leading automotive company Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (HARI) achieved another milestone as it won the 2018 Regional Distributor of the Year award for Commercial Vehicles (CV) in the Asia-Pacific/Russia & Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) at the Hyundai Truck & Bus Regional Convention 2019 held in Cebu City recently. The award represents HARIs second major CV award in as many years since being granted the sole distributorship of Hyundai Trucks and Buses in 2016. No less than In Cheol Lee, executive vice president for Hyundai Motor Companys (HMC) Commercial Vehicles Division presented the award to HARI President and Chief Executive Officer, Maria Fe Perez-Agudo. Perez-Agudo said, It is with great pride that we accept this award from Hyundai Motor Company. To be recognized as Regional Distributor of the Year after only two years in the commercial vehicle (CV) business is a testament to how driven and dedicated we are to become the Filipinos trusted partner to success. HARI bested 25 other regional distributors to earn top honors. Other Asia-Pacific/Russia & CIS commercial vehicle distributors were cited for their performance, including the General Group of Myanmar, Hyundai Motor Ukraine, and Hyundai Commercial Vehicles Thailand. This milestone award follows HARIs considerable success in the commercial vehicle business despite a challenging environment. The company also won the 2017 Regional Excellence Award for Asia & Pacific for its rapid growth and unparalleled brand loyalty. Other awards include the 2018 Excellence in Customer Satisfaction for CV After Sales and the 2018 Best in CV After Sales Operation. HARI also brought home the gold in the first Hyundai Truck and Bus World Skill Olympics held last October 2018 in South Korea. HARI has become a top global performer in commercial vehicles underscored by numerous awards. We aim to sustain our excellence as we draw inspiration from our growing number of customers who prefer and trust the Hyundai brand for their CV needs, Perez-Agudo added. Story continues HARIs strong CV sales performance over the last year has reinvigorated its growth trajectory. Total sales of Hyundai Trucks and Buses in February 2019 grew 119.5 percent year-on-year, while year-to-date sales in the first two months of 2019 grew 113.9 percent. The success of Hyundai Trucks & Buses in the Philippines is based on their world-class quality, versatility, and cost-efficiency. Perez-Agudo ended, We see Hyundai commercial vehicles in the Philippines supporting and driving the national infrastructure program, Build Build Build. The post Hyundai PH Named Top Regional Distributor of Commercial Vehicles for 2018 appeared first on Carmudi Philippines. India rose 23 notches in the Ease of Doing Business rankings to 77 from 100 this year. However, its ranking in resolving insolvency cases, one of the 10 parameters on which these rankings are based has fallen from 103 to 108. It is surprising that one of the most successfully implemented reforms by the Narendra Modi government -- the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) -- has gone unnoticed by the World Bank, which comes out with these rankings every year. The rankings, which are based on surveys by corporate executives and entrepreneurs in Delhi and Mumbai, continue to show the rate of recovery (of debt from defaulting businesses) at 26.5 per cent, time of recovery 4.3 years and the cost of recovery 9 per cent of the assets of the debtor. These parameters remain unchanged from 2016, when the new insolvency laws were brought into force. Gyaneshwar Kumar Singh, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the nodal ministry which oversees the regulatory framework of the new law, appealed to CEOs and promoters in a recent event on IBC, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to participate in larger numbers in the survey. Singh was perhaps right. IBC, despite all its shortcomings, has changed the loan recovery landscape in the country. Just two years since its launch, IBC has resulted in resolution of 88 corporate loan default cases involving Rs 2.09 lakh crore non-performing assets (NPAs) and facilitated recovery of Rs 1.12 lakh crore as of 25 March 2019. This is a recovery rate of 54 per cent. Of course, not all cases have been resolved within the stipulated time of 270 days. Some dragged on for much longer such as the Essar Steel Case, which lingered on for over 500 days; yet it is a sharp improvement from the average time of 4.3 years it used to take before the advent of IBC regime. Even the cost of resolution has come down to less than 1 per cent against 9 per cent earlier. Of the 12 large cases -- including those of Essar Steel, Bhushan Steel and Alok Industries -- which accounted for unrecovered loans of Rs 3.45 lakh crore, six have been resolved. And have led to a loan recovery of Rs 96,000 crore, logging a healthy recovery rate of 56 per cent. These are the cases, which have been resolved. There were around 4,000 cases involving Rs 2 lakh crore of outstanding loans, which were resolved even before the insolvency proceedings could start. To the Modi government's credit, it was quick to act on the need to have a new insolvency law. Within three months of coming to power in 2014, the government had formed a committee to draft a new bankruptcy law. The committee submitted its report in November 2015 and the bankruptcy bill was tabled in the Parliament in December that year. By May 2016, the bill was given the President's assent and by December 2016, the new law was in force. The speed with which the government acted and brought the law was unprecedented and commendable. Clive Barnard, Partner, Herbert Smith Freehills, a London-based law firm, says, from a foreigner's perspective, it is extremely remarkable how much has been achieved in such a short span of time. "We honestly thought what was being proposed is too ambitious when we looked at the initial proposals; we were really frightened to know what you were going from to what you were going to, and how dramatic and quick that transformation was," admits Barnard. Herbert Smith Freehills has been engaged with the Bankruptcy Law Reform Committee (BLRC) since February 2015, after it was invited to assist the BLRC and give its input on the draft Code. Improved credit behaviour IBC has been a paradigm shift from the earlier loan recovery legislatures like the Sick Industrial Companies Act (SICA Act) and Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Securities Interest Act (SARFAESI Act). While in the earlier laws, borrowers were in control, in IBC it is the creditors who are in control over the recovery process. This has brought about a complete change in attitude towards the resolution. Earlier, the promoters of the defaulting company would drag on the process denuding the company of its value and net worth, leaving little for the creditor to recover. Under IBC, as the creditors are now in control, they want early resolution and maximum recovery. The law is such that once insolvency proceedings begin under the IBC, against the loan defaulters, promoters of these companies lose control of the company. This instils fear among 'wilful' defaulters and establishes more responsible credit behaviour among borrowers. "Through the behavioural changes, the borrowing and lending culture will get positively impacted and the NPA problem would be addressed to a considerable extent at the company and bank level," says Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), Injeti Srinivas. Unlike the older laws, IBC allows just anyone -- vendors, employees, or government authorities (for any statutory dues like the unpaid tax, electricity bills, etc) -- to initiate proceedings against the defaulting companies. Of the 1,484 cases admitted so far, 742 or 50 per cent have been initiated by operational creditors, which include vendors, employees, etc. RBI has also played a significant role in ensuring that large cases of corporate loan defaults are resolved through the IBC. It initially pushed the 12 large cases, which alone accounted for Rs 3.45 lakh crore of NPAs in the system. It then through its controversial February 12 (2018) circular, asked banks to classify a loan account as stressed if there was even a day of delay in the payment and made it mandatory for the lenders, to refer cases with over Rs 2,000 crore loans to IBC, if they failed to resolve the problem within 180 days of default. Continuous Evolution According to Clive Barnard of Herbert Smith Freehills, the insolvency laws in the United Kingdom underwent drastic changes in the 1980s, then there was another round of changes in 2000s, and there are yet ongoing talks about changes in the current law. He says, "The law in the UK is still not perfect and it is still evolving." Branard probably hints that the (insolvency) law needs to continuously evolve here in India too. But he appreciates the government and stakeholders, here in India, for the way they have followed through with the required changes in the law even after it came into existence two years ago. Of course, there are still gaps in the law and infrastructure is overstretched. Since these are early days for the law, there are concerns that unscrupulous promoters might try to sabotage the whole process in some cases, and therefore regulators and all other stakeholders must maintain vigil against any such attempts. Bahram Vakil, Founder and Senior Partner, AZB & Partners, a law firm, says that though value maximisation is the purpose of the law, it should not happen at the cost of the process. He cites misuse of Section 12A of the law, which allows withdrawal of insolvency proceeding against a corporate defaulter. Then there are issues such as a large number of cases going for liquidation, the unfair treatment meted out to operational creditors and capability of resolution applicants. On the issue of a large number of cases going for liquidation, MCA Secretary Injeti Srinivas, says, "Majority of the cases that have been liquidated were BIFR (Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction) cases -- may be more than 70 per cent. They were long pending cases and there was no possibility of resolution because the asset value had been more or less destroyed. If you look at the liquidation value of such cases, it is hardly 5-7 per cent of the claims." Rajesh Begur, the managing partner at ARA LAW, says that while these issues will be resolved in a year or two, lack of infrastructure or overstretched NCLT benches paint a sorry picture. Currently, there are 12 benches of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and 25 members (16 judicial and 9 technical members). Gyaneshwar Kumar Singh, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, said that 36 new members will be inducted and two new benches of NCLT will be set up in Indore and Amravati in a couple of months. Despite all the constraints and inadequacies in the insolvency law, it has proved to be a masterstroke of Modi government that will, indeed, have a far-reaching impact on the country's economy in the long term. ALSO READ:Ericsson may have to return Rs 576 crore to RCom if insolvency suit is restored: NCLAT ALSO READ:Quashing of RBI circular not to impact resolution cases, says CEA Subramanian ALSO READ:RBI will issue fresh circular on bad debt resolution: Governor Shaktikanta Das Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to form a right-wing governing coalition on Thursday after securing victory in a high-stakes Israeli election despite a strong challenge from a centrist alliance. The results from Tuesday's vote came despite corruption allegations against the 69-year-old premier and kept him on course to become Israel's longest-serving prime minister later this year. The allegations are likely to play an important role in coalition negotiations as many analysts expect Netanyahu to demand pledges from potential partners to agree to remain in his government if he is indicted. Netanyahu will rely in part on politicians of the nationalist right opposed to a Palestinian state to put together his government. His current government is already seen as the most right-wing in Israel's history, and his next is expected to be similar if not even further to the right. Netanyahu himself, in a campaign pledge just three days before polling day, vowed to begin annexing settlements in the occupied West Bank. Applying sovereignty in the West Bank on a large scale could effectively end remaining hopes for a two-state solution with the Palestinians. Netanyahu's pledge was widely seen as an appeal to the far right, and it appears to have worked. He boosted the number of parliamentary seats for his Likud, while smaller, far-right parties struggled. The Likud said late on Wednesday that Netanyahu "will form a right-wing government and he is already in advanced negotiations with the national camp partners." - 'Advanced negotiations' - Throughout the campaign, Netanyahu highlighted his bond with US President Donald Trump, who has swung US policy sharply in Israel's favour and openly backed the prime minister. On Wednesday, Trump said the incumbent's election to a fifth term gives the White House's long-awaited peace plan, expected to be released in the coming weeks, a "better chance". It was not clear what he meant. He also tweeted a picture of a Netanyahu supporter waving a Trump flag and telephoned the premier to offer congratulations. The election was seen as a referendum on the veteran prime minister, who has built a reputation as guarantor of Israel's security and economic growth, but whose divisive right-wing populism and alleged corruption led to calls for change. The results reflected his deft political skills, Israel's shift to the right and wide satisfaction with Netanyahu's achievements, but also the fact that many voters are fed up with him. The centrist Blue and White alliance put together by ex-military chief Benny Gantz will finish with a similar number of seats to the Likud even though it came together less than two months before the polls. Gantz's alliance, which conceded defeat on Wednesday night, however could not peel away enough right-wing votes to unseat Netanyahu. The results showed that the Likud together with other right-wing parties allied to the prime minister would hold around 65 seats in the 120-seat parliament. They leave President Reuven Rivlin, who must ask one of the candidates to form a government, with little choice but to pick Netanyahu following consultations with party heads next week. Intensive coalition negotiations could drag on for days or even weeks. - 'Make life bitter' - Gantz, a 59-year-old former paratrooper, mounted a strong challenge by brandishing his security credentials while pledging to undo damage he says Netanyahu has inflicted on the country with divisive politics. "We respect the decision of the people," Gantz said Wednesday night. Former finance minister Yair Lapid, who co-led Blue and White, vowed to "make life bitter for the Netanyahu government". The vote had been expected to be close as Netanyahu faced potential corruption charges. Updated results issued late Thursday night confirmed that prediction, giving Likud 26.45 percent of the votes cast and Blue and White 26.11 percent. The percentages were not translated in numbers of seats but major Israeli media said that the the right's tally of 65 seats overall remained unchanged. The Central Elections Committee warned that the latest results could still be subject to change until the final and binding tally is published on April 17. Fighting for his political life, Netanyahu spent the weeks ahead of the election campaigning furiously to energise his right-wing base. He has so-far been premier for a total of more than 13 years. But "King Bibi," as some have called him, now faces the prospect of becoming the first sitting prime minister to be indicted. The attorney general has announced he intends to charge Netanyahu with bribery, fraud and breach of trust pending an upcoming hearing. MANILA, Philippines The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) is alarmed by the growing number of persons deprived of liberty (PDL) in jail facilities across the National Capital Region (NCR) after the current congestion rate clocked in at 608 percent. Ang congestion rate in NCR malaki na. 608 po ang NCR, out of the 442 out of the nationwide average so mataas nang bahagya, (The congestion rate in the National Capital Region is 608%, slightly higher than 442% average nationwide), BJMP day officer-in-charge, Jail Chief Supt. Allan Iral told reporters in a press briefing at the BJMP Headquarters in Quezon City on Tuesday (April 9). The official noted that the Manila City Jail and the Quezon City Jail are the most populated facilities in the NCR. The Manila City Jail is currently housing 5,731 persons deprived of liberty (PDL) in a facility that has a capacity of only 1,200 PDLs. Meanwhile, the Quezon City Jail is in the same quandary with 5,236 PDLs squeezing in to fit the facility that was designed for 800 to 900 PDLs only. To address the issue, Iral noted the creation of a National Project Monitoring Team to fast-track the construction of jail facilities. Kaya po may creation ng national project monitoring team. Sila na mag-eensure na dapat yung project [ay] gagawin lalo na sa construction ng facilities (Thats why a national monitoring team is created. It is to ensure that construction of jail facilities pushes through), Iral said. Pag sinabi sa contract na one year tapos yung building dapat within one year ma-turnover sa amin, (If the contract states the project should be completed in one year, the building must be turned over to us in one year), he added. The official expects that once the projects are completed, jail congestion rate nationwide will be reduced by 200 percent. Iral noted that two jail facilities are now under construction, one in San Juan City and another in Payatas, Quezon City. These would help reduce jail congestion rate in Metro Manila. The facility in San Juan City is expected to be completed next year while the one in Quezon City may be finished in 2021. Marje Pelayo The post Jail congestion rate in NCR at 608% BJMP Chief appeared first on UNTV News. The family of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi denied Wednesday being in talks to reach a settlement out of court with Saudi authorities following reports that his sons had taken payouts. "Currently, the trial is taking place and no settlement discussion had been or is discussed," read an English statement posted to Salah Khashoggi's verified Twitter account. The Washington Post on April 1 reported Khashoggi's children, including Salah, had received multimillion-dollar homes and were being paid thousands of dollars per month by authorities. Khashoggi -- a contributor to the Post and a critic of the Saudi government -- was killed and dismembered in October at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul by a team of 15 agents sent from Riyadh. His body has not been recovered. Saudi Arabia's powerful crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has been accused of orchestrating Khashoggi's killing, but a local investigation exonerated him. Riyadh initially said it had no knowledge of Khashoggi's fate, later blaming rogue agents for his death. Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor has charged 11 people over the murder. - 'Not admission of guilt' - Khashoggi's son said only the family and their attorney were authorised to "claim to be a source of information". The statement did not openly confirm or deny possible reparations from the Saudi king or crown prince, whom the family called "guardians to all Saudis". "Acts of generosity and humanity come from the high moral grounds they possess, not admission of guilt or scandal," the statement said. According to the Post, the payments to his four children -- two sons and two daughters -- "are part of an effort by Saudi Arabia to reach a long-term arrangement with Khashoggi family members, aimed in part at ensuring that they continue to show restraint in their public statements". The Khashoggi murder has sparked international outcry and calls to end arms sales to Saudi Arabia, which leads a regional military campaign battling Yemeni rebels linked to Iran. US President Donald Trump has been Riyadh's strongest Western ally throughout the Khashoggi affair, phoning Prince Mohammed on Wednesday to discuss "bilateral relations," Saudi state news agency SPA reported. But Republicans and Democrats have both bristled over the White House's apparent embrace of the kingdom and its leadership. - Saudi in spotlight- At least seven writers and bloggers -- including two US citizens -- were arrested in Saudi Arabia on Friday, according to rights groups, in the first major crackdown since Khashoggi's murder. The arrests came the day after US lawmakers voted to end military support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which has triggered what the UN describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The text cleared the Senate last month and now heads to Trump, who is widely expected to veto the legislation. The US State Department on Monday also barred entry to 16 Saudi nationals under the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act. The section in question "provides that, in cases where the Secretary of State has credible information that officials of foreign governments have been involved in significant corruption or gross violations of human rights, those individuals and their immediate family members are ineligible for entry into the United States". The State Department has also frozen the assets of some Saudi citizens over the Khashoggi affair. It seems that Scuderia Ferrari believes in the colloquial adage its not the bow, its the Indian as Charles Leclerc will be using the same engine he used when they almost bagged first place but eventually lost in the Bahrain Grand Prix recently. Formula1.com reports that Leclerc will be using the same engine that they used in the Bahrain Grand Prix in the upcoming Chinese Grand Prix. Leclerc was on the lead for a huge part of the race when he suffered from loss of power in the last few laps of the Bahrain Grand Prix. He managed to finish third, losing to Mercedes-AMGs Lewis Hamilton and Valterri Bottas for first and second spot, respectively. On the flipside, Leclerc won his first podium finish for the year. In the report, Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto was quoted that analysis was under way to look into what happened. The same report claimed that the team traced the problem as a short circuit within an injection control unit. The issue on the said part, the report quoted the team, had never been seen before on the component in question. The post Leclerc to Use Same Engine in ChinaReport appeared first on Carmudi Philippines. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called a full meeting Wednesday of a top committee of the ruling Workers' Party to address what he described as the "prevailing tense situation", state media reported. The gathering of the Central Committee comes after Kim's Hanoi summit with US President Donald Trump broke up without agreement in February, and as South Korean President Moon Jae-in flies to Washington for talks with the US leader. But the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) appeared to indicate that Kim may be focussing on Pyongyang's continued push to develop its economy. In a meeting with senior officials Tuesday, Kim ordered them to display "an attitude befitting the masters of the revolution and construction under the prevailing tense situation and thus follow through on the new strategic line of the Party", KCNA reported. Last April Kim declared that the ruling party's "new strategic line" would be "socialist economic construction" and its quest for nuclear development was complete. Kim made "a deep analysis of the matters pending urgent solution in the party and state", KCNA said, adding that at Wednesday's meeting the central committee will "decide the new orientation and ways of struggle in line with the need of the prevailing revolutionary situation". It comes ahead of the opening of the country's rubber stamp legislature on Thursday. Cheong Seong-chang, an analyst at the Sejong Institute, said it would be difficult for Kim to lay out a new policy direction while Trump continues to express a willingness to maintain dialogue. Instead Wednesday's meeting could involve a reshuffle of party officials including Kim Yong Chol, the North's top envoy for talks with the US, who has been "blamed the most for the failure of the Hanoi summit", he said. "It would signal a green light if he is replaced with a more flexible and practical figure, but if he stays, denuclearisation talks won't be easy," Cheong said. - 'Dark age' - Trump and Kim held their first landmark summit in Singapore last June, where the North Korean leader signed a vaguely-worded deal on the "denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula". But the failure by the pair to reach agreement at their second summit in Hanoi -- which broke up without even a joint statement -- has raised questions over the future of the wider process. At the time the North said it wanted only sanctions affecting livelihoods to be lifted, but the US said Pyongyang was effectively demanding the bulk of the measures were relaxed while not being precise about what it was offering in return. Both sides expressed willingness to talk further and Trump has repeatedly said since that he maintains good relations with his North Korean counterpart, boasting he had blocked new sanctions planned for Pyongyang. North Korea has also been careful not to criticise Trump personally, while saying last month that sanctions against it were an "action against humanity to destroy modern civilisation and turn the society back in a mediaeval dark age". But shortly after the Hanoi summit, a series of satellite images emerged suggesting increased activity at the North's Sohae rocket site, triggering international alarm that the nuclear-armed state might be preparing a long-range or space launch. A senior Pyongyang diplomat told reporters last month that the North was considering suspending nuclear talks with the US. In a move that could upset the North, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo -- who flew four times last year as Trump's top envoy on the denuclearisation process -- agreed with Senate questioners on Tuesday that Kim is a "tyrant". PHOTO: Nicholas Yong/Yahoo News Singapore SINGAPORE Singapores highest court ruled on Wednesday (10 April) that there is no need for the government to call for a by-election if a single seat becomes vacant in a Group Representation Constituency (GRC). The Court of Appeal said that Parliament never intended for a single vacancy in a GRC to trigger an obligation on the government to call a by-election. Instead, a by-election would only have to be called if all the Members representing that GRC were to vacate their seats, said the panel of five judges. The ruling comes after Wong Souk Yees application for a by-election to be held in Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC was earlier rejected by the High Court. Wong is the opposition Singapore Democratic Partys (SDP) assistant treasurer. She was represented by lawyer Peter Low in her hearings. Background to the case Wong, a resident of Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, was part of an SDP team that contested the GRC, but the Peoples Action Party (PAP) team, including then-Member of Parliament Halimah Yacob, won the election for the GRC. When Halimah resigned her seat to stand for the 2017 presidential election, Marsiling-Yew Tee was left with one vacant seat. No by-election was called, and the GRC continues to be represented by the incumbent Members Ong Teng Koon, Alex Yam Ziming, and Lawrence Wong. Wong had filed a legal challenge in September 2017 that called for three remaining MPs to vacate their spots in the GRC, and for a by-election to be held. Wong also argued that the voters had a right to be represented by a full slate of Members until the next general election under Article 39(1)(a) of the Constitution. The respondent for the case, the Attorney-General, submitted that section 24(2A) of the Parliamentary Elections Act specifically prohibited a by-election from being called when any seat in a GRC became vacant, unless all the other seats were vacated. Justice Chua Lee Ming had rejected Wongs arguments, stating that the three remaining Members of the GRC would have to resign even though there was no legal basis for them to do so. The High Court judge ordered Wong to pay the state costs of $10,764.35. Story continues Final decision In its judgement, the panel said that Wong had ignored the fact that Parliament had specifically considered the risk of minority representation being diminished in this situation, and had decided that the risk was an acceptable trade-off for preventing a Member of a GRC from otherwise holding the remaining members to ransom. The panel also rejected Wongs argument under Article 39(1)(a) of the Constitution, finding that there was nothing in the provision that necessitated a call for a by-election. The panel said that the provision did not deal with how mid-term vacancies were to be filled, but rather described the composition of Parliament. Accepting that Wong had raised a serious question of constitutional law, the panel noted that the court may depart from the usual rule of costs. It set aside Justice Chuas order of costs against Wong. Responding on Wednesday, SDP said it deeply regretted the Court of Appeals decision to dismiss Wongs appeal, which it called troubling. The decision whittles down yet more rights of Singaporean citizens the present one being the right to replace an MP who has resigned with another elected one, the party said in a release on its website. Singaporeans should be able to expect that each and every MP who vacates his or her seat should be replaced by an election, the release said. Without such a practice, the incumbent party could create legislation that undermines the spirit of parliamentary representation, rendering the system meaningless. Noting that the court had granted Wong leave to commence judicial review of the PAPs action, the SDP said it will discuss the issue with Wong. Related stories Bid to hold by-election in Marsiling-Yew Tee rejected by High Court Suit to hold by-election in Marsiling-Yew Tee has no merit: Deputy Attorney-General The 17th Lok Sabha election is all set to begin from April 11, Thursday. The polling will take place in seven phases in a span of 39 days. In Phase 1, there are total 91 seats across 20 states and Union Territories, including Mizoram that will be casting vote. The northeastern state of Mizoram has only one Lok Sabha constituency. There are six candidates in fray for the parliamentary seat of Mizoram which is reserved for the Scheduled Tribes (ST) community. Also read: Lok Sabha Election 2019: Poll dates, full schedule, voting FAQs, election results, constituencies' details The state will also witness a triangular contest in the Aizawl West - I assembly by-poll on the same day. Here are the six candidates fighting for a ticket to Delhi: Mizo National Front (MNF) has fielded C Lalrosanga, a former Indian Broadcasting Programme Service (IBPS) officer and retired Director General of Doordarshan. Sports journalist Lalnghinglova Hmar, also known as Tetea Hmar, is contesting as an Independent candidate backed by key opposition parties Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) and Congress. BJP has fielded Nirupam Chakma, a veteran Chakma leader as well as the state vice-president of the party. TBC Lalvenchhunga of the newly-floated People's Representation for Identity and Status of Mizoram (PRISM) is also in the fray. Lastly, independent candidates Lalhriatrenga Chhangte and Lalthlamuani are also taking part in the contest. Lalthlamuani, who runs an NGO for the Jewish community, is the only woman candidate contesting from the Mizoram seat. Also read: Complete list of state-wise Lok Sabha election 2019 dates: EC announces 7-phase poll, result on May 23 Women voters have again outnumbered men in Mizoram. Of the total 7.84 lakh voters, 4.02 lakh are women and 3.81 lakh men. There are 52,556 first-time voters, and a total of 6 third gender voters in the state. Among the 1,175 polling stations, 117 will be women-only booths, officiated by female security personnel and officials. Bru voters lodged in relief camps in Tripura would also exercise their franchise for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Mizoram on April 11. There will be 15 special polling stations established specially at the Mizo-Tripura border village of Kanhmun, where 12,081 Bru voters will cast their votes. Election Commission has instructed the state to make special arrangements for the Bru community sheltered in six relief camps at the neighbouring North Tripura district. The ECI has also instructed the Tripura government to arrange transportation of Bru voters from their camps on the voting day. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Mizoram had a voter turnout of 61.95 per cent out of 7.02 lakh registered electors. C L Ruala of Indian National Congress won with a vote share of 49.3 per cent. However, Congress faced a crashing defeat in 2018 assembly elections with Zoramthanga of the Mizo National Front replacing Lal Thanhawla of INC as the chief minister of Mizoram. Also Read: Lok Sabha election 2019: Tripura to vote on April 11, 18; four-way battle for two seats Also Read: Lok Sabha Election 2019: Poll dates, full schedule, voting FAQs, election results, constituencies' details Also Read: Lok Sabha election 2019: Poll of polls predicts BJP-led NDA to get 277 seats, UPA 138, Others 128 Tens of Juventus supporters have been arrested in possession of dangerous objects ahead of their Champions League quarter-final first leg tie against Ajax in Amsterdam, Dutch police said on Wednesday. Two separate groups were stopped by officials, the first in a metro station and the next in the Johan Cruyff Arena. Photos of a confiscated knife, fireworks, pepper spray, flares, a hammer and a baton were handed out in a press release by law enforcement authorities in the Netherlands. Italy's interior minister Matteo Salvini said on Facebook that 120 Juve fans had been arrested but the number had not been verified. An unknown number of Ajax fans were also caught in possession of fireworks, the Dutch news agency ANP reported. Cuban First Secretary of Communist Party Raul Castro Ruz gives a speech, on January 01, 2019, during the celebration of 60th Anniversary of Cuban Revolution at Santa Ifigenia Cemetery in Santiago de Cuba. Yamil Lage/Pool via Reuters By Sarah Marsh HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban Communist Party leader Raul Castro denounced on Wednesday what he called the United States' renewed attempts to destroy Cuba's leftist revolution and pressure its ally Venezuela, as the national assembly met to enact the new constitution. "We have told the U.S. administration Cuba is not afraid and will continue building the future of the nation without outside interference," Castro told legislators, adding that the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was also "writing admirable pages of resistance." Cuba's priorities are the economy and defense preparedness in view of U.S. hostility, he said. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday the United States will announce additional action to hold Cuba accountable for its support of Venezuela. The enactment of the new constitution will allow Cuba's government to launch a modest update of its centrally planned single party system with dozens of laws expected on everything from the justice system to political structures. Many observers are hopeful the government will further update Cuba's still inefficient state-run economy, which is facing declining aid from ally Venezuela and a tightening of the U.S. trade embargo since Donald Trump became president. Shortages of basic goods have increased recently, including flour, eggs and chicken, because of a chronic cash crunch, with the state even reducing the size and circulation of its newspapers due to a lack of newsprint. Castro said on Wednesday the difficult economic outlook would not mean a return to the deep crisis Cuba experienced following the 1991 collapse of its former benefactor the Soviet Union, as its economy had diversified since then. Cubans overwhelmingly ratified the new constitution in a February referendum after a year of debate, updating its 1976 Soviet-era Magna Carta. While it retains socialism as "irrevocable," it codifies changes in Cuban society since 1991, like the opening of the economy to free enterprise, and includes a political restructuring among other changes. Story continues The document specifies some of the new laws to be elaborated within the next two years, while more broadly stipulating the assembly must establish a timeline for the around 50 laws needed to bring governing practise in step with the constitution. Analysts say the constitution gives some leeway in how far the reforms should go. "The formation of a more open and democratic country depends on this process and not on the constitution," said Cuban lawyer and legal columnist for independent media Eloy Viera Canive. He said Cubans needed to participate in the process, with the recent expansion of the internet giving them a powerful tool to do so. Online protests already led the government to partially backtrack on new regulations on the private sector and the arts last December. The first laws are expected to deal with the government, not the economy. The constitution stipulates that the national assembly must approve a new electoral law to reflect the restructuring of government within six months. Within the following three months, it must elect a president, widely expected to remain Miguel Diaz-Canel, who succeeded Castro last April. That president must then appoint provincial governors and a prime minister - a new post separating the role of head of state from head of government. The Magna Carta stipulates that within 18 months, new laws reflecting constitutional changes to the judicial system such as the presumption of innocence in criminal cases and habeas corpus should also be introduced. The process of a popular consultation and referendum on a new family code, that will address the controversial issue of gay marriage, should also be kicked off within two years. (Reporting by Sarah Marsh; Editing by David Gregorio and Phil Berlowitz) The Michelin-starred club in Taipei has expanded with seven restaurants either unlocking their first star or scoring a promotion. In the sophomore edition of the Michelin guide for the Taiwanese capital, a trio of restaurants was admitted into the two-starred club, which denotes excellent cooking, worth a detour. They include Andre Chiang's restaurant Raw, which was given a second star in this year's guide. After achieving international success in Singapore with his now shuttered Restaurant Andre, Chiang returned to his native Taiwan last year. Raw is described as a modern interpretation of Taiwanese cuisine. Tairroir, which focuses on Taiwanese cuisine and local ingredients, was also promoted to the two-starred club, while sushi bar Sushi Amamoto shot straight into the two-starred club for its debut. Shoun RyuGion and The Guest House maintain their two-starred distinction from last year, rounding out the club to five. Impromptu by Paul Lee, Iogy, Mountain and Sea House and Tainan Tan Tsu Mien Seafood also unlocked their first Michelin star this year, rounding out the one-star club to 18. It looks like humans are one step closer to living like The Jetsons. According to Channel News Asia, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) is set to begin testing air taxis over Singapore's skies sometime in 2019. The taxis, Channel News Asia added, are like a cross between a helicopter and a drone as they take off and land vertically and can be controlled via remote control on the ground. %image1 On Tuesday, Volocopter, the German company manufacturing the taxis, announced the trials and explained just how close we really are to hopping in a tiny aircraft to get from point A to point B. CAAS deputy director of transformation programs, Tan Chun Wei, spoke at a media event, adding that the testing will take place "over water" rather than over the citys massive skyscrapers. "We are going to take off where we land. For the first phase, its very much into experimental, he said. For a start it is going to be over water, and we are going to work with Volocopter on the safety aspects to ensure that even flying over water, it wouldnt pose a public or even aviation risk. The landing spot will be somewhere in the southern part of Singapore. Right now, the trials are still in the planning phases. But, Volocopters CEO Florian Reuter told Channel News Asia, the company hopes the trials will be speedy so they can bring operational air taxis to Singapore "in the upcoming months. "We need to clarify logistics; where to store it (the vehicle), where do we get the technicians, who do we have to bring from our team and so on," he said. "Ultimately, we come up with a very comprehensive trial plan in terms of what is the documentation that CAAS needs to see. We have already exchanged a lot of that and CAAS is in constant exchange with EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) but sometimes they require additional information. It might be very specific to the Singapore environment ... heat tests, humidity tests these sort of things." Story continues These air trials, Reuter noted, are the last thing to check off the list before the air taxis can officially take flight. And hes hoping soon that the air taxis will be just as affordable as a traditional yellow cab. "If you look at the way we build the Volocopter, if you look at the materials that we use and the components that we use theres no reason why when manufactured and operated at scale, it should stay much more expensive than a traditional car ride," he said. "So in the long run, we dont want you to own the Volocopter. We want to use the Volocopter just like you hail a Grab ride today. It will be affordable for everyone for particular trips where it makes sense to take an air taxi. Now, if only they could hurry up and come to New York City and Los Angeles, maybe our traffic problems would be solved. 10 Apr It looks like Fan Bingbing will star in the upcoming all-female Hollywood spy flick "355" after all. As reported on Epoch Times, the film's director Simon Kinberg confirmed this in a recent interview, saying that all the actresses that were announced to be part of the project last year are determined to continue with it. "They are not only interested. They promised to do it," he said. This include Fan, said Kinberg, who added that he is very satisfied with the whole arrangement and that the movie will begin filming this year. The cast of "355" was announced last year at the Cannes Film Festival. Aside from Fan, the spy thriller will star Penelope Cruz, Lupita Nyong'o, Jessica Chastain, and Marion Cotillard. However, following the actress' tax evasion scandal, it was rumoured that she might be replaced by Zhang Ziyi - who had since denied it. (Photo Source: China Film Insider) Canada is set to make its Global Talent Stream (GTS) programme a permanent scheme. GTS offers a swift and trouble-free course to work in Canada which will benefit aspiring Indians including those based in the US currently with science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) background to cash in on the emerging job opportunities in the country. GTS enables the sponsoring employers to get the application processing work done within two weeks. Moreover, the job aspirants who get hired under the GTS route earn valuable work experience in Canada which gives them an edge when they apply for the permanent residency under the Express Entry Route (which is a point-based selection system for Canadian immigration), The Times of India reported. Also Read:Leela Venture to sell 4 hotels, property to Brookfield for Rs 3,950 crore About 41,000 invites were issued to Indians in 2018 marking a 13 per cent rise compared to 36,310 invites in 2017, according to statistics provided to the news daily by the department of'Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada'. "We are attracting some of the most highly skilled people of the world, through our global skills strategy," Ahmed Hussen, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship Canada (IRCC), said in the budget document, tabled recently. There were growing calls to make GTS which is a two-year pilot project permanent, especially from Canada's mushrooming tech sector. Also Read:Indian-origin Jagmeet Singh creates history, becomes first non-white leader of Canada Parliament The Canadian budget for the year 2019 notices that the GTS programme has spawned commitments from Canadian employers to create 40,000 new jobs for the Canadian and permanent residents, as per the report. GTS which is hailed by the experts as not just an immigration programme, but a strategy by companies to build diverse and innovative teams is divided into two categories. Category A that requires the sponsoring employer (an innovative company) to be validated by a designated referral partner such as regional development agencies. The sponsoring employers must be looking to hire 'unique and specialised talent'. While Category B necessitates the sponsoring employees to exhibit their willingness to fill in positions on the 'Global Talent Occupation List' and are required to hire highly skilled international workers. However, the specified wage requirements must be met in both cases. Also Read: Canadian citizenship for Indians rise by 50% as H-1B visa rules tighten 10 Apr Chinese actor Gao Yunxiang recently broke his silence for the first time since he was arrested for sexual assault - not to talk about himself, but to defend wife Dong Xuan. According to On CC, it was reported that the actor, who has been keeping silence since he was arrested in Sydney, Australia last July for allegedly assaulting a woman, was recently plagued with another lawsuit - this time from production studio Zhejiang Talent. The company, which had invested in one of Gao's series, "Win the World", reportedly filed a lawsuit against the production studio owned by Gao and his wife for causing a loss of profit, after his scandal caused the drama to remain in production limbo. In response to the reports, Gao took to social media to clarify the situation, saying that Zhejiang Talent was suing him, and that it has nothing to do with his wife. "Dong Xuan was not named as a defendant. Everything that happened was because of me. I have been cooperating actively on this matter," he said. He also expressed his gratitude to everybody for their support and hope that people will stop dragging his wife and family into his matters. (Photo Source: ET Today) Hitesh Singh, a 22-year-old son of a driver, has cracked the competitive Common Admission Test (CAT) and made it to IIM-Ahmedabad. The young boy will be studying the two-year Post-Graduate Program in Food and Agri Business Management at the Ahmedabad campus. Pankaj Singh, Singh's father, is currently working as a driver for RS Sodhi, who is the Managing Director of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (Amul), reported The Economic Times. "When I used to visit the campus with my boss, I used to silently pray for my son to get admission here someday. That dream has come true today," the daily quoted his father as saying. As per the report, the Singh family had migrated from Bihar to Anand (Gujarat) where Pankaj Singh first worked as a security guard for a scant income of Rs 600. "I figured out early in my life that to get me and my family out of financial hardships, I'll have to study hard. Although I did my schooling in Gujarati medium, language has never been a barrier for me," ET quoted Hitesh as saying. Hitesh has always been a bright student. As per reports, he was in the 97 percentile group in the class 12th exams in Physics, Chemistry and Maths. Hitesh credits his success to his parents and RS Sodhi, who he believed has helped him shape his IIM dreams. Sodhi, however, told Indian Cooperative, "All the credit goes to Hitesh only as his perseverance and zeal to do well have led him to this position in life; I and my colleagues would indeed engage him in fruitful discussions but he cracked the exam by dint of his hard labour". (Edited by: Nehal Solanki) Also read: NIRF 2019 ranking: IIT Madras tops in overall category; 6 DU colleges in top 10 colleges list Also read: Ensure inclusive education for children with ADHD: HC to AAP govt Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday criticised Congress President Rahul Gandhi for his remarks in the Rafale deal. "We all know Congress President probably doesn't even read even half a paragraph, but here, by saying that the court has accepted and by also saying that the court has said 'Chowkidaar chor hai, these verge on contempt of court," says Sitharaman. "Who gave this person a right to mislead the country when he himself is out on bail," asked the Union Defence Minister. Earlier, after filing nomination from Amethi, UP, Rahul Gandhi said the Supreme Court had accepted there's some form of corruption in the Rafale deal and that "chowkidaar ne chori karwayi hai". Apart from Amethi, Rahul Gandhi is also fighting elections from Wayanad constituency in Kerala. The country will witness the first phase of polling for a total of 91 Lok Sabha seats spread over 20 states and UTs on Thursday (April 11). Campaigning for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections 2019 came to an end on Tuesday, as political parties, including the BJP and Congress, making their ditch effort to woo voters. Lok Sabha Election 2019: Polling dates, full schedule, election results, constituencies' details, voting FAQs Catch all the latest updates on BusinessToday.In live blog on the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. 4.31pm: "We all know Congress President probably doesn't even read even half a paragraph, but here, by saying that the court has accepted and by also saying that the court has said 'Chowkidaar chor hai, these verge on contempt of court," says Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. We all know Congress president probably doesn't even read even half a paragraph, but here, by saying that the court has accepted and by also saying that the court has said 'Chowkidaar chor hai,' these verge on contempt of court: Smt @nsitharamanhttps://t.co/1xtRycxc84pic.twitter.com/rlmHtr2ARD BJP (@BJP4India) April 10, 2019 3.17pm: "Some relationships are of the heart. The whole family was there for bhai's nomination. This was my father's Karmabhoomi. For us, it is a Pavitra Bhoomi," says Priyanka Gandhi. , pic.twitter.com/GPzwNs9mmT Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) April 10, 2019 2.38pm: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has stalled the release of a biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying any biopic material sub serving the purpose of any political entity or individual should not be displayed in electronic media, including cinematography. 2.35pm: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on SC dismisses Centre's preliminary objections seeking review of earlier judgment giving clean chit to Centre in Rafale case: Supreme Court has accepted that there is some form of corruption in Rafale deal & that "chowkidaar ne chori karwayi hai". 2.20pm: "The government and PM hid crucial facts and evidence from the Supreme Court. They hid that the price of the jets was increased from Rs 526 crore to Rs 1,600 crore, and refused to tell the price to the SC on the so called ground of breach of national securit," says Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala. 2.15pm: Smriti Irani to file nomination from Amethi on Wednesday. @myogiadityanath 11 pic.twitter.com/UnIy6d5Zaf Chowkidar Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) April 10, 2019 2.02pm: "Pak has officially allied with Modi," says the Congress. Pak has officially allied with Modi! A vote for Modi is a vote for Pakistan, says Pak PM Imran Khan , ! https://t.co/Qg1a2Hl0Q1 Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) April 10, 2019 1.50pm: The skeletons in the Rafale scam are tumbling out one by one, says the Congress. Modiji, you can run and lie as much as you want, But sooner or later the truth comes out. The skeletons in #RafaleScam are tumbling out one by one. And now there is no official secrets act to hide behind. 1/2 Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) April 10, 2019 1.10pm: Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Robert Vadra also present. People of Amethi come out in huge numbers in full support of Congress President @RahulGandhis nomination today. #AmethiKaRahulGandhipic.twitter.com/Xbd1GvapmS Congress (@INCIndia) April 10, 2019 1.04pm: Congress President Rahul Gandhi files his nomination from Amethi for #LokSabhaElections2019 . Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Robert Vadra also present. pic.twitter.com/EvNswqEm3N ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 10, 2019 12.42pm: The Election Commission tells the Supreme Court it is not against the issuance of Electoral Bonds for funding to political parties but it is against the anonymity of donors and wants transparency in the Electoral Bonds scheme. "We are not opposed to the Electoral Bonds as such, as it will legalise donations. But we are opposed to the anonymity. We are against anonymity and we want transparency," advocate Rakesh Dwivedi appearing for EC tells SC during hearing of pleas against issuance of Electoral Bonds, reports ANI. 12.36pm: 12.30pm: Delhi: Gurjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla and his son Vijay Bainsla join Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of Union Minister Prakash Javadekar. pic.twitter.com/Hs2Qpuz28v ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 12.29pm: Sonia Gandhi arrives at District Collector office in Amethi, where Congress President Rahul Gandhi will file his nomination for #LokSabhaElections2019 . pic.twitter.com/zXEXlnxTAA ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 10, 2019 12.28pm: #WATCH Congress President Rahul Gandhi holds road show in Amethi. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra along with her husband Robert Vadra, son Raihan and daughter Miraya also present. #LokSabhaElections2019pic.twitter.com/edDv8W7aHl ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 10, 2019 12.19pm: Uttarakhand: Visuals from Nainital as polling parties leave for their respective polling stations. All 5 parliamentary constituencies of the state will undergo polling tomorrow, in the first phase of #LokSabhaElections2019pic.twitter.com/rYJRt7qIth ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 11.57am: Congress President Rahul Gandhi arrives in Amethi. He will file his nomination for #LokSabhaElections2019 from the Lok Sabha constituency today. pic.twitter.com/CywtKeQwCN ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 10, 2019 11.05am: Visuals from outside District Collector office in Amethi where Congress President Rahul Gandhi will file his nomination today. #LokSabhaElections2019pic.twitter.com/cjjGWUbS9L ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 10, 2019 10.35am: Assam: Visuals from Dibrugarh as polling parties leave for their respective polling stations. Five Parliamentary constituencies of the state will undergo polling tomorrow, in the first phase of #LokSabhaElections2019pic.twitter.com/xIzFeO91EL ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 10.20am: Bhakts scratching their heads & at wit ends wondering if they should praise Imran Khan or not. https://t.co/V4pv4u4vgn Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) April 10, 2019 10.15am: West Bengal: Polling parties depart with EVMs for their respective polling stations in Alipurduar parliamentary constituency; Visuals from Alipurduar DCRC College pic.twitter.com/SETZ7oF19H ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 10.10am: Karnataka: A team of Income Tax dept conducted a raid at a private hotel in Ballari late last night, where former MLA and Congress leader Anil Lad is staying. The raid is still underway. pic.twitter.com/UJ2Pp4XtAt ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 10.05am: Chhattisgarh: The mortal remains of BJP MLA Bheema Mandavi being brought to the party's office in Dantewada. The MLA, his driver & 3 PSOs lost their lives in a naxal attack in Dantewada yesterday. pic.twitter.com/j69KTBZVfu ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 9.55am: West Bengal: Polling parties depart with EVMs for their respective polling stations in Alipurduar parliamentary constituency; Visuals from Alipurduar DCRC College pic.twitter.com/SETZ7oF19H ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 9.50am: Kajal Kinnar Nayak, a transgender candidate of BSP, filed her nomination for Korei assembly constituency in Odisha. She says, "I can't believe how much love I got from the public despite being a transgender," reported India Today. 9.40am: Robert Vadra sends best wishes to Rahul Gandhi ahead of his nomination. "My best wishes to Rahul for a successful, productive and a healthy future, to create the change India requires. Always in your support." 9.37am: Greater chance of peace if Modi wins; Congress will be too scared to seek settlement over Kashmir, says Imran Khan 9.20am: 9.15am: BJP chief Amit Shah to hold two rallies today. 9.07am: PM Modi to hold three rallies today. Odisha: Kajal Kinnar Nayak, a transgender candidate of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) filed her nomination for the Korei assembly constituency. She says, "I can't believe how much love I got from the public despite being a transgender." (9/4/19) pic.twitter.com/I5Q7yrc5CQ ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 8.50am: NYAY is such a powerful idea. Absolutely amazing resonance in the field. Even PM (Past Master) cant stop talking about it. Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 9, 2019 8.40am: Rahul Gandhi says "NYAY is such a powerful idea. Absolutely amazing resonance in the field." Todays public meetings will take place in Gujarat and Goa, where BJPs good governance has positively impacted several lives. Will be addressing rallies in Junagadh, Songadh and Panaji. @BJP4Gujarat@BJP4Goa Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 10, 2019 8.35am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also hold public meetings in Gujarat and Goa. Here are highlights from yesterdays massive rallies in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Do watch. pic.twitter.com/mzNsxUU6kb Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 10, 2019 {blurb} 8.25am: Uttarakhand, which goes to polls on April 11, has 11 polling booths which voters can reach only after traversing a distance 15 to 20 km on foot, Chief Electoral Officer Saujanya said on Tuesday, reported. Tehri district has four such booths, followed by Pithoragarh (3), Chamoli (two), Rudraprayag (1) and Uttarkashi (1), she said. Government Primary School, Dumak in Chamoli district has the farthest located polling booth in the state, which is 20 km from the nearest road, the official said. 8.20am: A total of 452 candidates have filed nomination papers for 17 constituencies in Maharashtra which will go to the polls in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 29, reports PTI. Tuesday was the last date of filing of papers. The constituencies going to the polls in the fourth and the final phase in the state are Nandurbar, Dhule, Dindori, Nashik, Palghar, Bhiwandi, Kalyan, Thane, Maval, Shirur, Shirdi and the six seats in Mumbai. 8.15am: The Election Commission is learnt to have directed the Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi to ensure that the contents of NaMo TV are pre-certified by the local media certification and monitoring committee, reports PTI. Such committees are formed at district and state levels during polls. They clear political campaign and advertisements. 8.03am: The Income Tax Department has written to the Chief Electoral Officer seeking legal action against Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and a host of his cabinet colleagues for allegedly intimidating tax officers and obstructing them from discharging duties, PTI reported. 8.00am: Congress President Rahul Gandhi will file his nomination papers from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat. He will also hold a roadshow and address a gathering. 7.55am: All parliamentary constituencies in 10 states and UTs, including Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep, Telangana and Uttarakhand, will go to polls in the first phase on Arpil 11. The counting of votes will take place on May 23. Edited by Manoj Sharma Policy wonks have long argued that the government could make it radically easier and cheaper for most Americans to complete their tax returns each year by using one neat trick: Just have the IRS fill out the forms for them. Instead of making people slog through the spring ritual of firing up TurboTax or trudging to H&R Block, the feds would send everybody a prewritten return including all of their financial information and what they owe. Taxpayers could then choose to either approve it and go on with their lives or reject the return and complete one themselves. Advertisement This idea might sound a bit like sci-fi. But many countriesDenmark, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Chile, and Spain, among themalready have this system in place. The U.S. could do it too for people with simple tax situations, since the IRS already gets our earning info directly from our employers and banks. (Thats how they check to make sure people arent cheating.) In the past, Democrats and Republicans have introduced legislation that would make this kind of free and easy filing systemwhich would likely save Americans billions of dollars and untold hours of tediuma reality. But their efforts have been defeated thanks to intense lobbying by a coalition of tax preparation companies, which want to defend their bottom lines, and anti-tax conservative groups, which want to ensure that filing remains as much of a headache as possible. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And now, depending on whom you ask, it appears that Congress might be poised to snuff out the dream of bringing Nordic-style, zero-hassle tax filing to the U.S. for good. On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed the Taxpayer First Act, an expansive, bipartisan reform bill designed to modernize different aspects of the IRS. (It was introduced by Rep. John Lewis of Georgiaas in, the civil rights hero.) Its companion in the Senate has backing from both Democrats and Republicans as well. But consumer advocates claim the legislation would effectively ban the IRS from creating any sort of a free online filing system that could compete with software like TurboTax. At least one key Democrat, citing the IRSs own lawyers, has said thats not the case, however. Advertisement Heres what the controversywhich ProPublicas Justin Elliott first reported onis about. Since 2002, the IRS has teamed up with a nonprofit industry group made up of tax software companies to provide a free online filing system for middle and low-income households. Its called the Free File Program. People are currently eligible if they make less than $66,000. And under the agreement that governs the effort, the IRS isnt allowed to offer its own competing free service. Advertisement Currently, the government and the tax prep industry have to re-up their deal every few years. The Taxpayer First Act would effectively write the agreement into permanent law, including the part that bars the IRS from creating an alternative while the Free File program is running. Activist groupsincluding the National Consumer Law Center, U.S. PIRG, and Consumer Actionhave argued that this would not only bar the government from creating its own no-cost product that could compete with the likes of TurboTax, but also prevent the IRS from implementing a return-free, no-sweat system like the ones that exist in Europe. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, says thats not the case. On Wednesday, he announced that the IRSs chief counsel had told him that the Taxpayer First Act would not preempt the government from developing its own public filing program. Confirmed to me by @IRSnews this morning: IRS has the authority to set up a public program allowing taxpayers to file their returns directly for free. I'll block any legislation that would change that. https://t.co/xn8cTNe35k Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) April 10, 2019 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When I asked Wydens staff to explain the IRSs legal reasoning, I was told that under the current Free File agreement, the government has the right to terminate the program and create its own product, as long as it gives the industry a years notice. Since the Taxpayer First Act basically sets the terms of that deal in stone, the IRS believes the government would still have the right to shut the program down. Wyden has a good deal of credibility on this issue: Hes long been an advocate of simplifying tax filing, and he introduced a bipartisan bill in 2011 that would have created a return-free system. But his assurance hasnt assuaged the concerns of consumer groups. Mandi Matlock, who is a counsel to the National Consumer Law Center, told me her groups interpretation of the bill hasnt changedin part because its text says the government shall continue to operate the current Free File Program. In their reading, that would prevent the government from terminating it. Advertisement Advertisement What to make of all this? At best, the situation seems ambiguous. If Wyden wanted to clarify the situation, he could demand an amendment specifying that the IRS still had the right to create its own free tax-filing system to go up against private companies. When I asked Wydens office if that would be a potential solution, they responded, Senator Wyden wants to work with his colleagues on a path forward and ensure its clear. (I also asked the Free File Alliance, the industry group that works with the government, about its interpretation of the bill, but havent heard back). Advertisement To some extent, this is all missing the forest for the trees. By any reasonable standard, the Free File Program has been a flop, and theres no particular reason to enshrine it in federal law, especially if it might put limits on the IRSs ability to create something better. Americans sent in 154 million tax returns in 2018. Just 2.5 million, or 1.6 percent, were submitted via Free File. That stat comes from the National Taxpayer Advocate, which recently published a blog post titled The Free File Program Is Failing to Achieve Its Objectives and Should be Substantially Improved or Eliminated. Part of the problem is that Free File has basically zero marketing budget. (The IRS does not promote or advertise Free File, outside of placing it on its website, the post notes). But it also apparently has a buggy interface. Advertisement What Free File lacks in actual, demonstrable success, it makes up for mostly in lobbying support. As ProPublica has documented, tax prep companies like Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, and H&R Block are a force on Capitol Hill. Last year, they spent $6.6 billion trying to influence lawmakers. Over the last two elections, they gave $16,000 to House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal, a Democrat who calls himself a longtime champion of Free File. Democrats do have good reasons to support parts of the Taxpayer First Act. For instance, the bill would bar the IRS from using private debt collectors to pursue low-income Americans who end up in arrears. (Really, the IRS shouldnt be using private debt collectors at all, since aggressively hiring them as contractors is less cost-effective than having public servants handle collections.) But even if the bill has upsides, and may be less damaging than some of its critics fear, it still seems like a win for lobbying clout over basic, good government. Well, Actually is a weekly column by Slates Shannon Palus. Each week, shell test health and wellness products to help readers figure out what they should try, what they should skip, and why. You can order anything online these daysincluding, it turns out, hormonal birth control. In the past few years, some dozen options for buying the pill without the need to sit in a cold exam room have popped up. Among them are Hers, with ads that look like they could be for a trendy clothing company; Nurx, which also offers patches, rings, and shots, which you can apparently administer yourself; and the Pill Club, which sends chocolate, stickers, and samples along with meds. At first blush, they all strike me as pill mill outfits meets Birchbox beauty sample subscriptionswhich is to say, the whole thing feels a little weird. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The sketchy patina is not helped by the suite of other medicines now sold through slick direct-to-consumer interfaces. Along with birth control, Hers offers prescription anxiety medication for public speaking and prescription female Viagra, along with skin and hair care products boasting specialized active ingredients. Sibling site Hims offers pills for erectile dysfunction and male-pattern baldness. Other companies include Roman, which sells ED meds; Kick, which sells propranolol, a beta-blocker; and Keeps, which sells potions for hair loss. Since it currently seems that you can order birth control on the internet, should you? In all of these cases, acquiring a prescription seems to go in the wrong order: You select your meds and then do a consultation with a doctor. In many cases, you dont even have to speak to a doctor; a medical professional will just review the information youve provided on blood pressure and family history before approving your purchase. This allows the doctor consultations to cost just a few bucks or nothing at all. The setup feels more akin to shopping than health care. Its restaurant-menu medicine, Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at New York University told the New York Times in a piece on the trend. Writing on Undark, medical student Vishal Khetpal was critical of these companies as well, questioning whether direct-to-consumer medicine is truly safe for patients. Performance jitters onstage or penis problems in bed can be symptoms of other problems; an old-fashioned and open-ended conversation with a pro can better help you untangle exactly what all is going on and how to treat it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement How is this allowed? Laws around telemedicine are young, often vague, and vary from state to state. That means these companies are creating questions that states and professional societies will eventually have to hash out, just as Uber and Lyft did with transportation (as this is all shaking out, many of the companies only operate in a smattering of states). But my question is simple: Since it currently seems that you can order birth control on the internet, should you? Advertisement Advertisement As a human who ovulates and dates, I find the birth control offerings most intriguingand in my opinion, birth control is in a different ethical order from some of the other medicines. So I set out to find out if, medically speaking, its a good idea to buy it online. In the course of speaking to two OB-GYNs and one reproductive health researcher and consulting a slew of papers, I found that if you are interested in taking the pill and in good healthyes. Buy the pill on the internet. Advertisement Birth control access has long been tough in the U.S. A mere century ago, it was an actual crime for doctors to even mail contraception (back then, diaphragms) across state lines. When the pill was rolled out in 1957, it was first only approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a medicine for severe menstrual disorders. Even as its uses have obviously expanded, today, about a third of women who have tried to get access to prescription birth control have faced barriers of some kind, according to a 2016 study co-authored by Kate Grindlay Kelly, a researcher at Ibis Reproductive Health, a nonprofit focused on advancing sexual autonomy. Chief among these pill barriers are cost, difficulty getting an appointment, getting to that appointment, and the fact that an appointment might require other screeningswhich, in turn, can cost more in time, money, and discomfort. The studys survey was completed before the Affordable Care Act, which requires most plans to cover birth control with no out-of-pocket cost, but the health care legislation still doesnt help you navigate the sea of confusion around finding a doctor who takes your insurance in the first placeto say nothing of finding one who would be able to fit you in on your lunch break. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Birth control is a critical way for many women to manage their menstruation and reproductive health. The pill has been around for decades without causing any major health issues, and the current iterations use low doses of hormones that cause fewer bothersome side effects compared with earlier versions. It sure would be great if women didnt have to shuttle themselves to a doctor (or, in a few states, a pharmacist) to get it. The price of buying the pill online varies depending on the company and your insurance, but its pretty cheapHers, which doesnt accept insurance, sells it for $30 a month, while the Pill Club sells it for as little as $7 a month after your $15 consult (thats also without insurance; insurance will often lower the cost to free). Advertisement Doctors themselves have been clamoring for freer access for decades. They often point to the much more dangerous alternatives that are much more available to people to buy. A 1993 editorial in the American Journal of Public Health illustrates just how weird it is that we cant buy the pill without permission: Cigarettes, which are readily available even to children, kill over a thousand persons each day, OB-GYN David A. Grimes wrote all those years ago. Plus, the thing contraception aims to preventunwanted pregnancyactually does have a proven track record of upending womens lives and threatening their health. Whether or not the pill becomes accessible over the counter does not depend on what would serve the best interests of women. We sell all kinds of things over the counter that have risks, and people are adults, points out Jen Gunter, a San Franciscobased OB-GYN and author of the forthcoming Vagina Bible. I mean, aspirin? (Aspirin, which comes with a small risk of bleeding for some people if taken daily, is allowed over the counter, and we all manage just fine.) Birth control is really quite safe. It seems like medicine because its been medicalized, but its important to remember that when used to prevent pregnancy, its not treating anything that might require more scrutiny, in the way ED or anxiety meds are. Being able to get pregnant isnt an illness; its a human condition. Advertisement Advertisement An over-the-counter birth control pill is long overdue in the United States, says Grindlay Kelly, who leads the Free the Pill Campaign, an effort to make the pill available without a doctor. Grindlay Kellys research suggests a third of women currently using no contraception or less effective contraception said they were likely to take the pill if it were available over the counter. In a study of over 1,000 women in El Paso, Texas, those who got the pill over the counter from a Mexican pharmacyMexico is one of over a hundred countries where the pill is already available sans doctorwere more likely to continue taking it compared with those who got it via prescription in the States. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Unfortunately, whether or not the pill becomes over-the-counter accessible does not depend on what would serve the best interests of women, but on whether companies are willing to put their corporate energies behind the task. In order to sell the pill over the counter, a drug company has to get approval from the FDA for the drug and particular packaging; its not enough to show that the pill has been safely deployed without a prescription to millions of women around the globe. That means doing (and paying for) studies to show that women can read and interpret the companys specific packaging for the pill to determine if they have any conditions that would clash with the meds (like blood clots and breast cancer), and then take the pill correctly. Ibis is partnering with one pharmaceutical company doing this research, but it could be years before you can walk into a CVS and grab it off the shelf. Advertisement Which brings us back to the websites. Grindlay Kelly and her team noticed them popping up and did a study to examine their prescribing practices, pretending to be patients with various conditions and seeing if they were effectively counseled against the meds. Her team found that the nine options available as of February 2018, including the Pill Club, Planned Parenthood Direct, and Nurx, all asked the right questions about blood pressure and family history (though in a few instances, some overlooked some relevant questions, like if the patient would have a major surgery soon after starting the pill). Free the Pill breaks down the 13 quick-prescription websites that are currently offering the pill in a very useful chart, which notes the states each company serves and whether they take insurance. It may not be as accessible as over-the-counter birth control, but its an improvement that stands to help people who might not otherwise be on birth control. Pill Club founder Nick Chang told me via email that half of the companys customers are getting a prescription for birth control for the first time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I tried going through the process at a few different sites myself, ultimately placing an order with the Pill Club because of the aforementioned stickers and chocolate. The survey even asked if I would like some Plan B and female condoms thrown in, provided they are covered by my insurance. Sure! A few minutes later, I got a lengthy text message running down the potential side effects and an offer to speak to the medical team (I was not required to reply, but when I did one evening several days later, I got a response early the next business day). This concludes your medical visit, the text said. Its strange. But it works: When the pills arrive a week later in a pink envelope, the instructions even note to skip the placebo week, sparing me from my period as I had indicated Id like on the questionnaire. It makes me think this just might be a step toward an even easier future. Slate has relationships with various online retailers. If you buy something through our links, Slate may earn an affiliate commission. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change. All prices were up to date at the time of publication. This piece was originally published on Just Security, an online forum for analysis of U.S. national security law and policy. Special counsel Robert Muellers final report is predicated, as far as we know, on a potentially explosive assumption. Consider a head-scratching set of conclusions. The special counsel wrote that the evidence does not establish that the president was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian election interference. And in the words of Attorney General Bill Barr, the report sets out evidence on both sides of the question of whether the president committed the crime of obstruction. The attorney general stated, in testimony before Congress on Tuesday, it was important for people to know the bottom line conclusions of the report, and from a prosecutors standpoint the bottom line is binary, which is charges or no charges. Advertisement Why are those conclusions so curious? Its extraordinary that the special counsel prosecutors and the Justice Department were even contemplating whether a sitting president was guilty of a crime. According to currently binding opinions of the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel, a sitting president cannot be indicted, let alone prosecuted. So it is difficult to know how the special counsels report landed on any assessment of whether the president himself had committed a crime. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Over the past two years, some close observers had even doubted whether the special counsel was investigating whether the president was guilty of criminal obstruction; the alternate theory was that Mueller was investigating President Donald Trumps interference in the Russia investigation as a potential abuse of power subject not to criminal law but to potential impeachment. Advertisement Advertisement So, lo and behold, Mueller appears to have looked directly into the question whether the President was involved in an underlying crime. And Barr now suggests the final reports conclusions involved prosecutors familiar binary decision of charges or no charges. In other words, Mueller was apparently somehow able to reach these standard questions despite the presidents anything-but-standard immunity from indictment. That should worry the White House to no end. Thats because back in Manhattan, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York appears to have significant evidence that Trump may have been involved in a criminal conspiracy to make hush money payments in violation of federal campaign finance laws, and the scheme for making those payments may have involved federal tax and other financial crimes. Advertisement Trump should worry that the Southern District of New York could, at a minimum, walk through the same open door as Mueller and reach the same questiona formal determination assessing if the president committed a crime. Whether in the form of a prosecution memo, or a memo reviewing the evidence, there would be an interest in preserving the analysis even if an indictment could not be brought presently because Trump is president. Consider a head-scratching set of conclusions. But thats the kind of outcome the OLCs opinion in 2000 seemed designed to avoid. It concluded that indictment was foreclosed due to the disabilities that stem from the stigma and opprobrium associated with a criminal charge, undermining the presidents leadership and efficacy both here and abroad. And the opinion concluded that even a sealed indictment was not permitted, because it could leak. Given the indictments target it would be very difficult to preserve its secrecy, the opinion stated. The same holds true for a formal determination by prosecutors of the presidents criminal guilt. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For a sitting president, there may be little practical difference between an indictment, with trial awaiting until he or she leaves office, and a formal conclusion that the president could be indicted. At bottom, this convergence of events exposes a potential tension with the OLC opinions, which holds that a sitting president is immune from indictment, and the practical work of the Justice Department. As I have written before in a related context, It cant be that Mueller has the authority and publicly understood duty to investigate Trump for potential crimes, but not the power to say whether Trump was involved in any offences. Perhaps Mueller thus decided the door was open to him because of the extraordinary nature of his mandate under the special counsel regulations which were, indeed, contemplated and designed for the investigation of a president. But the issue is broader than just the case of the special counsel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Justice Department can hold to a position of not indicting a sitting president, but once the department is assessing the criminal liability of actors around the president, it cant easily avoid assessing the president himself; and once prosecutors know that there is sufficient evidence of a crime by Individual-1, how can that be ignored? We may have thus found not just a flaw in the OLC position, but also its limits. Muellers investigation appears to be an object lesson that the OLC position should not be read to preclude investigation of a sitting president and potential reporting about prosecutorial conclusions in that investigation. We should soon know some answers and bring this head-scratching to an end. The eventual release of the Mueller report may be a signal not only to prosecutors in the SDNY but also to the public. It is likely to raise the publics expectation that federal prosecutors may well be able to state whether they conclude the president committed a crime. More From Just Security: The Consequences of Legislating Cyberlaw After Terrorist Attacks To Wrest Back Rule of Law in Poland, Might EU Bureaucracy Finally Work? Never bet against Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli prime minister was facing a daunting set of political circumstances, with indictments on corruption charges pending and a stronger-than-expected opponent in Benny Gantz, the former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff. But as the dust settled Wednesday morning, he appears almost guaranteed to return for a fifth term, yet more confirmation of the countrys drift toward the hard right and a setback for fleeting hopes of a two-state solution. Advertisement With around 95 percent of the vote counted, Netanyahus Likud party is actually tied with Gantzs Blue and White alliance, with each poised to control 35 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. But while the final shape of the government will take days or weeks of negotiation to form, Netanyahu has a much clearer path to victory, with right-wing parties controlling around 65 seats compared with the center-lefts 55. Just as in 2015, the early exit polls on Tuesday undercounted support for the right and predicted a much closer race than it ultimately was. At this point, the Bradley effect should probably be renamed the Bibi effect. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was a very good night for the ultra-Orthodox religious parties Shas and United Torah Judaism, which will control a combined 16 seats in the new Knesset (an increase of three) and most likely continue to play a key role in Netanyahus government. It was a horrendous night for the left, particularly the once-dominant Israeli Labor Party that governed Israel for its first three decades but is now down to just six seats. With low turnout, Arab parties lost three seats amid revelations that Likud activists had hidden cameras in Arab towns polling places. A few high-profile politicians failed to make it into the Knesset at all. The pro-settler New Right party led by two right-wing rising stars, former Education Minister Naftali Bennett and former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (who trolled her opponents with a mock perfume ad in which she spritzed herself from a bottle marked fascism), failed to cross the 3.25 percent vote threshold. So did Moshe Feiglin, who got some buzz for a heterodox platform of far-right Jewish supremacy and marijuana legalization. Advertisement Advertisement But ultimately, the election was a referendum on Bibi. The majority of voters either backed him or a candidate, Gantz, who shared most of his key national security views but touted a cleaner record, free of personal corruption and links to religious and racist extremists. Advertisement Netanyahus most controversial move of the election, arranging a merger between the racist, terrorist-linked Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) party and two other small right-wing parties, worked out perfectly: The combined United Right won enough votes to enter the Knesset and shore up Netanyahus coalition, but not enough that any members of Jewish Power will actually be seated. Netanyahu also got help down the stretch from the Trump administration. Ahead of the prime ministers visit to Washington last month, President Donald Trump announced U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a long-running Israeli request. Last weekend, Trump followed up by designating Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, a decision Netanyahu took partial credit for. Trump has already congratulated Netanyahu, describing him as a great ally and friend Wednesday morning. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Netanyahus final gambit was his pledge in the closing days of the campaign to annex Jewish settlements on the West Bank, thus preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state. Its tempting to see this as empty electioneering: Netanyahu may not have any real intention of working toward a two-state solution but probably prefers the status quo to a full annexation of the West Bank. He similarly promised in the closing days of the 2015 campaign to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state, only to walk it back right after the vote. Advertisement Advertisement Paradoxically, Netanyahus victory may end up being good news for the Democrats vying to challenge Trump. The difference this time, though, is that Trump is president of the United States, and he has shown no inclination to push back on anything Netanyahu does. The logic the White House used in its decisions to recognize Jerusalem and the Golanthat Israel already exercises de facto sovereignty over these areas, so it might as well be made officialcould just as easily be applied to the settlements. In congressional testimony Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refused to say what the United States would do if Israel tried to annex the West Bank. When Barack Obama or even George W. Bush was president, Netanyahu could use the U.S. stance as an excuse to resist pressure from the right to annex the settlements. With Trump in the White House, Netanyahus right-wing coalition partners may start to wonder whats taking so long. Advertisement Advertisement Despite all the Trump-Bibi love on display, none of it bodes particularly well for the long-awaited peace plan that Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law and adviser, has been planning to roll out sometime after the Israeli election. Not that its prospects were particularly promising to begin with: The plan was almost certain to be rejected by the Palestinians, who have mostly refused to engage with the Trump administration since the Jerusalem announcement. With a hard-right coalition in power, the Israeli government is also unlikely to see why it should compromise on anything resembling a Palestinian state, no matter how compromised. Advertisement Advertisement Paradoxically, Netanyahus victory may end up being good news for the Democrats vying to challenge Trump. The party is currently contending with both an activist left wing (including a few vocal newly elected members of Congress), which is critical of Israel no matter who is in power, and an establishment core (including a few senior members of Congress) that is broadly supportive of Israel no matter who is in power. Netanyahu has become so objectionable to a wide swath of American DemocratsJewish and gentilethat he opens up a safe middle-ground position for candidates: broadly pro-Israel while highly critical of the Israeli government. Beto ORourke exemplified this position recently when he described Netanyahu as a racist while also calling the U.S.-Israeli dynamic one of the most important relationships that we have on the planet. What this will mean for the U.S.-Israel relationship if and when a Democrat ever takes back the White House is a bridge Netanyahu is probably happy to cross when he gets to it. Advertisement Netanyahu is now on course to surpass Israels first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, as the countrys longest-serving leader this summer, but his work is not done. His task now is to attempt to pass a law that would shield him from prosecution. Otherwise, charges may come as soon as this July. Legally, theres nothing preventing him from staying in office while his trial and appeals process drags on, but politically it could prove untenable. But for now, anyone who was hoping to see Bibi out of the picture will have to put up with him for a while longer. In a recent episode of The Gist, Mike Pesca spoke with Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg about why hes running, his thoughts on policy issues ranging from the size of the Supreme Court to whether we should get rid of the penny, and coming out in 2015. The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Mike Pesca: Why is it that mayors dont often vie for the presidency? It seems like mayor is a pretty good job in terms of being an executive and getting things done. Why have they been ignored in U.S. history? Advertisement Pete Buttigieg: I think the tradition and the convention has said that youve got to have a lot of Washington experience, and we seem to, for the most part, prefer people whove been marinated in the U.S. Congress and the Washington environment. But I think that was before we had reached the current level of paralysis in Washington. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And now Im starting to think that the less time you have to do with the U.S. Congress, the better, in some respects, politically. Thats not to disparage the work that goes on there, but when cities are arguably the most functional level of U.S. democracy that we have left, its time for another look at that local level and ask whether we wouldnt be better off making sure Washington starts looking more like the best-run cities and towns in the U.S. instead of the other way around. Advertisement Advertisement Whats the municipal workforce of South Bend? Just over 1,000 people. Its about a $300 million a year operation. Thats everything from folks who pick up the trash to police officers, firefighters, and the people who fill in the holes in the road. Why do you think that experience will scale to the vast bureaucracy of the presidency? The reality is that nobody walks into the Oval Office knowing what its like to be president of the United States, except maybe Grover Cleveland, when he came back for his second round. I understand that its audacious for somebody in my position, but I would argue that its audacious for somebody in any position to think that they can comfortably occupy it. And yet, what we do every four years or eight years is we send somebody into that office based on whatever experience they have. Advertisement As cheeky as it sounds for somebody my age, experience is a big part of why I think I belong in this conversation. The experience I have is guiding a city through a transformation, and I think somebody whos been a mayor of a city of any sizegetting the phone call on everything from an economic development deal to a racially sensitive officer-involved shootingis highly relevant to a job that, in my view, basically has three parts. One, implement policy. Two, capably run an organization. And three, bring people together and call them to their highest values. Advertisement Advertisement The reality in terms of management is that you can be a very senior U.S. senator and have never in your life managed more than 100 people. I get that a city workforce in any city is not the same as the federal workforce, but I also think that that kind of executive on-the-ground experience is highly relevant. And funny as it sounds for the 37-year-old in the race, Ive got more years of government experience than the president, but also more years of government executive experience than the vice president. And I have more military experience in wartime under my belt than anybody to walk into the Oval Office since George H.W. Bush. So, as cheeky as it sounds for somebody my age, experience is a big part of why I think I belong in this conversation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Can you give me an example of a mayoral triumph that was based mainly on delegation, and not you, personally, rolling your sleeves up, but still getting a great result? The reality is, as a mayor, most of the time youre conducting. Other people are playing the instruments. And so bringing people together is the most important part of the role. And thats true whether I find out about a racially sensitive police situation, and Ive got to go on television in a matter of hours and make sure that the community is reassured when its at risk, in our very diverse community, of being torn into pieces. Its true in a situation like how we tackled vacant and abandoned properties. Where we had to bring together the private sector and the public sector and empower people from every different corner of our community, from low-income residents in neighborhoods that had experienced blight and neglect to people who could bring together the financial resources to get something done. Advertisement Advertisement One minute I try to do my job by literally sitting down with a constituent and trying to understand what their issue is. Another minute I know that the only tool I have to reach as many people as I need to in the time is through a television camera. Advertisement Studebaker was the biggest employer in South Bend for a number of years. You are honest with your constituents, telling them that Studebaker is not coming back. Would that be a harder sell if it wasnt a defunct company? Like if it were Ford or Carrier? We cant keep telling people that greatness is going to come out of our past. I do think that there was an advantage in South Bend that somebody from my generation had not seen the factories in their heyday. I only knew them as kind of empty hulks. I saw the shards of that industrial ruin around me and thought about how we could have a better city. And from that, I tried to persuade a lot of people, many of whom were old enough that they did remember Studebaker up and running, to help them understand why the future wasnt going to look like the past. Advertisement But I think thats the same kind of national conversation that weve got to have. I think that people in industrial communities experiencing this disruption have been insulted from the right and from the left. I think that the Trumpian formula, that they have to look backward in order to get anywhere, is insulting. But to be honest, some of the vocabulary that comes from my side of the aisle, especially when it comes to things like retrainingdont get me wrong, we do retraining too, its important. But when we tell people Youre broke, and were going to fix you with this retraining program, then youre going to be all better is not exactly meeting people where they are, and its not convincing them that they can thrive in a globalizing, automating economy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement You wrote that op-ed in the local paper coming out as gay in 2015. And you write that you were well into adulthood before you were prepared to acknowledge the simple fact that you are gay. Which was harder: admitting it to yourself or the public? Both of those were challenging. I did not want to be gay. Especially because, by the time I was wrangling with that, there were really two elements to my professional life. One was being involved in politics and looking at holding political office in Indiana, and the other was serving in the military, which did not allow you to be openly gay and serve at the time that I joined. I didnt exactly make it easy on myself. But I think that if it werent for the deployment, I might have kept dragging my feet forever on coming out, except that I realized I wasnt getting any younger. I was a grown man in charge of a city, owning a house, and had no idea what it was like to be in love. It was just a humiliating and confusing place to be. Advertisement So I put an end to it, not knowing what the politics would be like. Mike Pence was governor of the state at the time. I happened to be in a reelection race, but I just knew it was time. And in the end, the community was fine. They embraced it. They supported me. There was a little bit of nastiness out there, but most people either let me know that they support me or they went the other way and let me know they didnt care. They just wanted the potholes filled. Either one of those responses was, in its own way, pretty uplifting to me. Advertisement Advertisement You also talk about this phenomenon where people almost were grateful for the opportunity to demonstrate how OK with it they were. Advertisement Yeah. This is really important for us to think about as change is made, because we also need to make sure people feel good about themselves as they are dealing with a dizzying pace of change. I write about some people I knew, older people, maybe a little more conservative. One always sticks out in my mindshe came up to me with a mischievous smile and said, I met your friend, and hes wonderful. Now, I could have lectured her on the difference between a friend and a partner, but that was her way of saying she was headed our way, and at a moment when we had been so divided, especially during the Pence administration, there was some risk of people on my side of the debate pointing fingers at people who just werent quite comfortable with acceptance yet and almost pushing them into the arms of the religious right. Advertisement It was really important to beckon and welcome people onto the right side of history in a way that helped them feel good about themselves, even if they were still kind of gradually coming to terms with that. And I think that might have some lessons about some of the other issues where people my age and younger are very, very impatient to see change, but weve got to remember some of the places that the people on the other side are coming from. Especially if we ever want to win them over. Advertisement Advertisement I want to talk about a couple policy issues. Do you think increasing the number of Supreme Court justices is a good policy to pursue? I definitely think it deserves to be debated. Weve got to be looking at more deep questions than just nibbling around the edges of the system. Because the court is on a pathway toward being viewed as nakedly political, and if we allow that to continue, were going to lose one of the most important institutions in our society. It might even be worse than the extent to which the presidency and its value has been diminished or lost in the last two years. So weve got to consider some structural alternatives that preserve the integrity of the court. Advertisement Advertisement Weve also got to consider revisiting the Electoral College that twice in my lifetime has overruled the American people and pretty much means, as an Indiana voter, that in most elections my vote for president doesnt even matter. And weve got to look at other questions around the role of Citizens United in money and politics if we really want to call ourselves a democracy. What are the second- and third-order effects of adding seats to the Supreme Court? Advertisement There are a lot of different institutional designs we could come up with, whether its just a simple addition to the number, which is something that could just keep spiraling, or something a little more fine-tuned. I saw one proposal where you have 15 members of the court. Five of them are Democrats, five of them are Republicans, then the other five are selected by the remaining 10, but subject to the rule that all 10 of them have to agree to that person. The idea would be to make sure that the balance of the court is never decided by one party or the other party, but by some plurality of people who think for themselves. Advertisement Again, I dont know that any one of these solutions is the right one, but I think the time has come for us to ask about those structural questions. Especially because that, unlike the Electoral College reform or some of the other things weve talked about, according to some theories could be done without any changes to the Constitution. Do you have an inclination of what the highest tax rate should be before it becomes self-defeating or confiscatory? Advertisement Advertisement Ive got more math to do before I put forward a set of numbers. Measure twice, cut once. And Im also trying to make sure that Im engaging in a debate about values and ideas, the way the right did pretty effectively, before we do policy. Because the Democratic Party has, to its detriment, plunged right into the policy before trying to win the battle of ideas. But look, I think the highest marginal tax rates for income taxes probably do need to be adjusted, if only because they got slashed without regard to what it would do to the deficit. And theres no question that thats contributed to inequality in our country. Would you be in favor of arming Ukrainians? I have definitely not come out for arming anybody in that conflict. I do think that we need to revisit the regional security framework for that part of the world, especially if Russia is withdrawing from the INF [Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty]. But we need to make sure that anything we do with regard to our alliances that touch the former Soviet bloc are designed to get us to a more stable situation there, because it could be headed in the wrong direction. Do you think pennies should continue to be minted? Oh, wow, definitely never got that one before. Im not ready to make news here that Im anti-penny, if only out of regard for Mr. Lincoln. I dont know whats more inefficient now, a one-dollar bill or a penny? It might be the one-dollar bill. I dont know why the dollar coins never caught on. Im going to give that some thought. Listen to The Gist for free every day via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Texas Tech University has agreed to stop using race as a factor in admission to its medical school after the Trump administration pressured the universityand othersto end the use of affirmative action. The president of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center signed an explicit agreement in February eliminating the use of affirmative action in response to a complaint lodged by the Center for Equal Opportunity, an anti-affirmative action group, more than a decade ago. The move is the first of its kind in response to Department of Education directives under Secretary Betsy DeVos, who last year walked back the departments Obama-era instruction to colleges on how to legally factor in race in admissions. Advertisement The Supreme Court has previously affirmed colleges ability to factor in race in higher education admissions under specific, tailored conditions. This, however, could be about to change as a handful of cases backed by the Trump Justice Department are making their way through the court system that challenge race-conscious admissions. The suits were brought by Asian American students that allege they had the academic credentials to be admitted but were rejected in the name of diversity, creating an unspoken cap on Asian American students on campus. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Texas Techs undergraduate campus eliminated race conscious admissions in 2014 in response to the Center for Equal Opportunitys complaint, which was filed in 2005. Texas Tech had begun implementing new admissions policies tailored to meet the specifications laid out in a high profile 2003 Supreme Court decision in Grutter v. Bollinger that upheld the University of Michigan Law Schools use of race as a factor for admission. The legal reasoning behind the decision is that the school had a compelling interest in a diverse class of students and college community giving it some leeway to consider the race and ethnicity of an applicant. The compelling interest standard is what has underpinned the continued use of affirmative action policies in admissions, but that standard is under renewed scrutiny in the Trump era. With a race-conscious admissions policy, Texas Tech medical schools Hispanic enrollment jumped from 9 percent in 2004 to 16 percent in 2018. The university said the point of the policy was to do just that: recruit Hispanic to practice medicine in underserved communities in the state. Its a vote she never wanted held in the first place. Its for a plan that will almost certainly be rendered moot when the EU rejects it Wednesday. And it provides more evidence that her Conservative Party is ripping apart at the seams. But still, Parliament approved one of Theresa Mays Brexit proposals! Good for her. Todays vote: The House of Commons voted 420110 in favor of Theresa Mays plan to ask the EU to delay Brexit until June 30. (The currently deadline is April 12, this Friday.) May wants this short delay, since anything longer would require Britain to take part in European Union elections. Advertisement May had to bring this to a vote because of a bill passed last week, requiring her to ask for an extension and giving Parliament the right to approve the date she asked for. Ninety-seven Tory MPs voted against the extension, so May had to rely on the support of the opposition Labour Party and smaller parties. Yet more evidence that, no matter how this weeks high-stakes drama unfolds, the Conservatives are deeply, perhaps irreparably fractured over Brexit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Today in Europe: In addition to the vote in London, May dashed across the continent Tuesday, meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron to convince them to back her delay request. But for all that, the plan is probably dead on arrival. In a letter inviting leaders to Wednesdays emergency EU leader summit, European Council President Donald Tusk warned that granting such an extension would increase the risk of a rolling series of short extensions and emergency summits, creating new cliff-edge dates. In an indictment of the British governments actions so far, he added that the experience so far, as well as the deep divisions within the House of Commons, give us little reason to believe that the ratification process can be completed by the end of June. Advertisement Advertisement Todays buzzword: Flextension! Rather than granting Mays request, Tusk is urging EU leaders to offer a longer extension that would last only as long as necessary and no longer than one year. (A draft agreement circulated to EU members ahead of Wednesdays meeting refers more vaguely to a time period no longer than XX.XX.XXXX.) In other words, Brexit could kick in immediately as soon as May is able to win parliamentary approval for the withdrawal agreement that has now been rejected three times. (May is currently attempting to win cross-party support for her deal in cross-party talks with Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn but reports have not been encouraging.) Advertisement A number of European leaders, Macron in particular, have been reluctant to agree to a long extension, fearing the disruptions that could result from letting a U.K. with one foot out the door continue to be a full member in the union, as well as dreading the way the Brexit issue would continue to overshadow everything else on the EU agenda. But it now appears the French are softening their stance a bit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The backlash May has already faced from her own party over sitting down with Corbyn and asking for a delay is likely nothing compared to what shell get if it looks like Britain is remaining in the EU for another year. Of course, this is all assuming the other 27 EU countries actually do agree to an extensionshort or longat their summit Wednesday. If they dont, Britain will crash out of the EU without a deal at 11 p.m. GMT on Friday, an outcome that the IMF warns Tuesday will plunge the British economy into recession under even the mildest scenario. Days until next deadline: XX. (Just kidding, its 3.) Tripura, India's third smallest state, has only two Lok Sabha constituencies but 23 candidates are all set to battle it out over them. In the first phase of polling on April 11, reportedly over 13.17 lakh electors will decide the fate of 13 contestants for the West Tripura constituency and on April 18, phase 2, close to 12.56 voters will make their choice from 10 candidates for the East Tripura Lok Sabha seat. West Tripura Eighteen candidates filed their nomination papers for this constituency, but after the scrutiny of papers, only 13 remain in the fray. They cover the gamut from biggies BJP, Congress to regional players like the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), the ruling party's alliance partner in the state, Amra Bangalee, Ambedkarite Party of India and All India Trinamool Congress to leftist outfits such as Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) and Communist Party of India (Marxist). Five independent candidates are contesting, too. The five rejected nominations includes two independent candidates, one each from IPFT and SUCI (C), as well as the only name fielded by the Tipraland State Party. The Left won the Tripura West seat 12 times since the first Lok Sabha election took place in 1952 and the Congress four times. The Congress For Democracy, a breakaway faction of the party, secured the seat in 1977. In 2014, CPI-M candidate Sankar Prasad Datta had won by a huge margin. Campaign for this constituency ended at 5pm on Tuesday. West Tripura district Superintendent of Police Ajit Pratap Singh told PTI that 21 polling stations have been identified as vulnerable and 111 as critical in the constituency. East Tripura All the 10 candidates that filed nomination papers in this constituency were accepted. Apart from five independents, there's one candidate each from BJP, Congress, IPFT, CPI (M) and Amra Bangalee. Campaign for this constituency will continue till April 16. Since 1952, Left parties won the Tripura East Lok Sabha seats 11 times while the main opposition Congress secured the seat five times. The CPI-M has been winning the seat uninterruptedly since 1996. Predictions for the upcoming polls The buzz is that Tripura will witness a four-way battle among the BJP, Congress, CPI (M) and IPFT this time round. Since the state was formed in 1972, either the Left Parties or the Congress held sway, till the BJP in alliance with the IPFT pulled off a spectacular victory in the 2018 Assembly polls, winning 44 seats in the 60-member House. Of this, the BJP tally was 36. The IPFT has two ministers in the nine-member BJP-IPFT ministry. But now the junior ally is opting to go solo for the Lok Sabha polls and has fielded one candidate in each constituency- and been accused of violating "raj dharma" and "coalition propriety" by the BJP. The IPFT, which won eight of the nine seats it had contested in the Tripura elections last year, had said in March that the decision was taken because the BJP did not pay heed to its demand that the party be allowed to field a candidate in East Tripura constituency, reserved for Scheduled Tribe. After filing his nomination papers for the Tripura East (reserve) seat, IPFT president and Revenue Minister Narendra Chandra Debbarma said the party would contest the polls to raise the party's statehood demand in Parliament. The party has been agitating for the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC)- which has jurisdiction over two-thirds of Tripura's total area and is home to over 12.16 lakh people, mostly tribals- to be upgraded to a separate tribal state since 2009. But all political parties, including the BJP, CPI-M and the Congress, have opposed this demand. However, a recent development may take out the wind from the IPFT's sails- the past two weeks, several party leaders have switched over to the Congress. Does this boil down to a three-way battle for Tripura? (Edited by: Sushmita Choudhury) Also Read: Lok Sabha Election 2019: Poll dates, full schedule, voting FAQs, election results, constituencies' details Also read: Lok Sabha elections 2019: Meghalaya to vote on April 11; Congress, BJP fight for 2 seats Also read: Lok Sabha elections 2019: Mizoram to vote on April 11; MNF,Congress and BJP fight for the lone seat On Tuesday, Attorney General William Barr testified before a House Appropriations subcommittee, his first appearance in front of Congress since releasing his four-page summary of the principal conclusions of special counsel Robert Muellers investigative report. Democrats on the committee had a lot of variations on the same questions for Barr, specifically whether he would be releasing that report in its entirety. Barrs answers all boiled down to the same thing: He does not plan on it. Indeed, he outright said that House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler should take the issue to court. Advertisement While the attorney general said he would release a redacted version of the Mueller report to Congress and the public within a week, Barr continued to refuse any possibility that he would willingly hand over an unredacted copy of the report to Congress. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Barr principally cited the Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e) against revealing grand jury information as tying his hands on what he could reveal to Congress. But as Brianne Gorod and Ashwin Phatak of the Constitutional Accountability Center have written in Slate, district court judges have wide latitude to release that material in connection with a judicial proceeding. Even with a recent D.C. Circuit Court ruling that seemed to limit the release of grand jury information by judgesdecided in spite of binding precedent to the opposite effect by the same appeals courta judicial proceeding would still implicate Congress authority to weigh or begin impeachment proceedings against the president. Advertisement Advertisement When Rep. Ed Case of Hawaii pointed out that Barr could go to a district court judge tomorrow and request that the full Mueller report be given to Congress for this very purpose, the attorney general stated unequivocally that he would not be doing that without legal action from Nadler. The chairman of the judiciary committee is free to go to court if he feels one of those exceptions is applicable, Barr told the committee. If the chairman believes that hes entitled to receive it, he can move the court for it. Advertisement This was essentially an invitation to Nadler to move forward with a subpoena his committee authorized last week and request that a district court judge clear grand jury information for release to Congress in exercising its constitutional authority to consider impeachment proceedings against the president. Advertisement Barr later hedged a bit, saying that he would hear Nadler out before requiring a subpoena after his redacted version of the report is released within a week. If the chairman has a good explanation of why 6(e) does not apply in his need for the information, Im willing to listen to that, Barr said. Advertisement Advertisement He later added that he was willing to work with the judiciary committees in both the Senate and the House to help them determine whether he was exercising his authority to redact the Mueller report appropriately. I would talk with them and engage with them about what additional information they feel they require and whether theres a way of accommodating that, he said. Advertisement Advertisement But Nadler has already made clear what information he feels the committee requires, which would be the entire unredacted Mueller report as well as the materials underlying the investigation. Theres no mystery there. Advertisement Advertisement Barr appears to merely be playing for time and attempting to see how little he can get away with releasing before forcing Congress into a court fight. It doesnt matter that the legal principles have already been litigated during the Nixon impeachment inquiry and are actually quite clear (even according to the recent and possibly excessively limiting court ruling). Barr says Nadler is free to go to court if he wants the redaction-free version. Nadler does want the redaction-free version, but as of Tuesday he was still saying that he didnt want to go to courtyet. In conversations with reporters, Nadler framed this decision as tactical. Advertisement Were just making every effort to show the court that were making every effort to reach an accommodation, Nadler said. Because that strengthens the case for enforcement of the subpoena. Weve been doing everything we could for the last weeks and weeks to try and reach an accommodation with the attorney general under which we would see the report and the underlying evidence, he added. According to Politico, Nadler himself noted that the binding legal precedent holds that the committee merely be considering an impeachment inquiry, rather than have begun the inquiry, to have the legal right to access the grand jury information. But he acknowledged that Barr may force his hand to launch a formal impeachment inquiry and take the matter to court if the attorney general refuses to hand over the documents voluntarily, as appears will be the case. With the redacted version apparently less than a week away, Nadler will likely have to make that decision very soon. Attorney General William Barr testified in front of Congress for a second straight day on Wednesday and again made news about the Russia investigation. This time, testifying before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, the attorney general made headlines for comments suggesting he would investigate the presidents political adversaries. While Barr again reiterated that he viewed the Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e) as limiting his ability to release an unredacted version of the Mueller report to Congresscontrary to historical and legal precedent that Barr himself cited later in his own testimonythe days bigger highlight came when the attorney general said that he believed spying did occur against President Donald Trumps 2016 campaign. Advertisement I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal, Barr said. There were a lot of rules put in place to make sure that theres an adequate basis before our law enforcement agencies get involved in political surveillance. Im not suggesting that those rules were violated, but I think its important to look at that. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When Barr was repeatedly asked by senators from both parties what evidentiary basis he had for saying that possibly illegal surveillance did occur during the 2016 election, the attorney general refused to say. I believe there is a basis for my concern, but Im not going to discuss the basis, Barr told Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran, the Republican chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that heard the testimony. Advertisement When asked by Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island if he had any evidence that the 2016 counterintelligence investigations into people affiliated with the Trump campaignsuch as Carter Page, Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, and Michael Flynninvolved anything improper, Barr also refused to answer. I have no specific evidence that I would cite right now, he said. I do have questions about it. Manafort, Papadopoulos, and Flynn all pleaded guilty to criminal charges in special counsel Robert Muellers just-finished probe, while Page has been the subject of multiple Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants over the years, as recently as 2017. While Barr didnt want to discuss any potential evidentiary basis for investigating those who began the inquiries that eventually turned into the Mueller probe, he seemed to reference a DOJ inspector general inquiry into the Page surveillance warrants as well as similar inquiries on Capitol Hill. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I am going to be reviewing both the genesis and the conduct of intelligence activities directed at the Trump campaign during 2016, Barr said. One of the things I want to do is pull together all of the information from the various investigations that have gone on including on the Hill and in the Department and see if there are any remaining questions to be addressed. Barrs current deputy attorney general, Rod Rosensteinwho was cited in Barrs recent determination that President Donald Trump had not committed criminal obstruction of justicepersonally signed off on at least one of those FISA warrants for Page. Rosenstein has been a regular target of Trumps ire, though. And there are others who were involved in that FISA process who likely provided potential evidence of obstruction of justice by the president that might be revealed in the coming redacted Mueller report, including former FBI Director James Comey and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. (While Barr and Rosenstein stated that they had cleared Trump of criminal obstruction, the Mueller report explicitly said it does not exonerate the president of that crime, and Barr indicated that the report lays out evidence on both sides of the question.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While Barr promised an inquiry, he also noted that it wasnt necessarily going to be a criminal probe of Trumps enemies. There also can be abuses that may not arise to the level of a crime, but that people might think is bad and want to put in rules or prophylaxes against it, Barr said. It doesnt necessarily have to result in a criminal investigation or a finding of a crime. Even if the investigation is not a criminal one, throwing the weight of a Department of Justice investigation against Trumps former interrogators could serve to muddy the waters in the event that the Mueller report is more damaging than Barrs four-page summary of its principal conclusions has implied. Advertisement Further, Barr indicated he would defer to the FBI on questions of criminality. This allows Barr to begin a probe that should offer Trump a politically useful bludgeon against his adversaries, while at the same time passing the buck for the actual outcome of the probe to FBI Director Christopher Wray. If it becomes necessary to look over some former officials activities, I expect that Ill be relying heavily on Chris and work closely with him in looking at that information, Barr said. Despite Barrs letter last month professing to exonerate the president, Trump made clear on Wednesday that he will not be letting bygones be bygones for his former interrogators: So, it has now been determined, by 18 people that truly hate President Trump, that there was No Collusion with Russia. In fact, it was an illegal investigation that should never have been allowed to start. I fought back hard against this Phony & Treasonous Hoax! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 10, 2019 For any retribution the president might want to dispense against those who worked on what he characterizes as an illegal investigation, he appears to have now found an ally in the Department of Justice. On Wednesday, progressive Lisa Neubauer conceded last weeks Wisconsin Supreme Court race to Brian Hagedorn, a staunch Republican, ensuring that the state Supreme Court will have an entrenched conservative majority until at least August 2023. The political fallout from this result is hard to overstate: The conservative majority on the state judiciary is likely to rubber-stamp the gerrymandered Republican Legislatures extreme power grabs while approving gerrymandered maps after next years census. This one race essentially guarantees that conservatives will dominate the toss-up states politics for years to come, no matter how Wisconsins voters actually cast their ballots. Advertisement Both candidates currently serve on the state appeals court. Hagedorn defeated Neubauer by about 6,000 votes out of 1.2 million cast. Neubauer declined to request a recount. Hagedorn will replace the liberal Justice Shirley Abrahamson, increasing the Republican justices majority from 43 to 52. To win a majority now, Democrats will need to defeat Republican Justice Daniel Kelly in 2020, then oust Republican Chief Justice Patience D. Roggensack in 2023. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Neubauer was widely expected to win Abrahamsons seat easily after Rebecca Dallet, a liberal, won a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court by a huge margin in 2018. Her opponent, Hagedorn, lost support after local media reported that he gave paid speeches to the anti-LGBTQ law firm Alliance Defending Freedom as an appeals court judge; claimed that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down sodomy laws could lead to the legalization of bestiality; serves on the board of an academy that expels students and fires teachers for being gay; wrote that gay pride month is homosexual propaganda that creates a hostile work environment for Christians; and labeled Planned Parenthood a wicked organization. Hagedorn also represented Scott Walker when the former GOP governor refused to defend a state law granting hospital visitation rights to same-sex couples. Advertisement Advertisement In response to this anti-LGBTQ record, the Wisconsin Realtors Association withdrew its endorsement of Hagedorn. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which funnels money to conservative judicial candidates through the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, also pulled its financial backing of his campaign. In the last week of the campaign, however, the Republican State Leadership Committee spent $1.2 million boosting Hagedorn, a late infusion of cash that appears to have pushed him over the top. (The National Democratic Redistricting Committee spent $350,000 supporting Neubauer, though Democratic leaders, including 2020 hopefuls, were almost entirely absent from the campaign.) The race was Wisconsins most expensive state Supreme Court election in a decade, with candidates and outside groups spending more than $6 million combined. Advertisement Advertisement There are a few obvious consequences of Hagedorns victory. Because conservatives will now hold the Wisconsin Supreme Court until at least August 2023, there is little chance that the majority will rein in the GOP-dominated State Assembly. The conservative justices will probably approve legislative Republicans 2018 power grab, when lawmakers weakened incoming Democratic Gov. Tony Evers ability to enact progressive reforms. Moreover, the court will likely allow legislators to create another partisan gerrymander after the 2020 census that entrenches GOP power for the following decade. Evers can veto Republicans map, but without Democratic control of either legislative chamber, he will only have so much power to limit GOP dominance. And the current gerrymander ensures that Republicans will maintain their stranglehold on the assembly through the next round of redistricting. Neubauers unexpected loss proves, once again, that Republican leaders simply care more about judicial elections than Democrats. After huge victories in Wisconsins 2018 races, liberals failed to turn out for Neubauer in sufficient numbers. Their apathy ensured that the Wisconsin Supreme Court will remain in arch-conservative hands for at least four more years. Listen to Mark Joseph Stern on What Next: In what is being heralded as a momentous and long-awaited development in scientists search to understand some of the most mysterious aspects of our universe, astronomers for the first time have captured a photo of a black hole, an international consortium of scientists announced in simultaneous press conferences around the world Wednesday. OK, its not exactly a photo of a black hole. As remnants of collapsed stars, black holes are so dense that their gravitational forces prevent all matter and even light from escaping, which means that they cannot themselves be photographed, as they are unseeable. So this photo doesnt tell astronomers everything they would like to know about the objects. But it does show the halo of super-heated dust and gas that swirls around the black hole at near the speed of light before being sucked in (or, more technically, it shows the effects the black holes gravity has on that matter, as the gravity warps the shape of space-time itself, deflecting light and creating a shadow). Beyond producing a cool-looking image, the data will help scientists learn about how gravity and light contort just at the black holes edge. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the Guardian, they have already learned about the nature of the lights bend just at the black holes event horizonthe point after which no light can escape. And the photo appears to confirm some of their understanding as to how the physics would work: The particles on one side of the disk appear brighter because they are being shot in our direction as the disk of gas and dust rotates. This particular black hole is an extremely massive oneit has a mass of about 6.5 billion of our suns.* It sits at the center of the galaxy Messier 87, roughly 55 million light-years away, which means the image is actually of the black hole 55 million years ago. Despite its enormous size, scientists had worried we would not be able to create a telescope powerful enough to see something so far away. Advertisement Advertisement The breakthrough came when a group of more than 200 scientists collaborated across eight of the planets most powerful radio telescopes, making up the Event Horizon Telescope. They waited for a clear sky to happen simultaneously in all eight locations around the world, syncing up each telescope with absolute precision using atomic clocks and supercomputers, and combining and comparing observations from each different telescope. According to the Guardian, the photo was taken in April 2017, and one reason for the delay was that collaborators in Antarctica had to wait until the end of Antarctic winter to send over their data. Advertisement The image now represents the strongest evidence yet for the existence of black holessomething first theorized by Albert Einstein (the detection in 2016 of gravitational waves made by two colliding black holes was another particularly exciting piece of evidence). Scientists are hoping that the data taken by the EHT will prove fertile for more discovery. In the meantime, if youre disappointed by the blurriness of the image, you might not have to wait until the next multi-continent scientific endeavor: According to NBC News, one of the major goals for the group is to use the data to make sharper images. When I looked at my Google Calendar, I realized I had a busy Friday ahead of me: two interviews with sources, a conference call. And then I noticed something surprising: an event scheduled for 4 a.m. to 5 a.m.? I clicked on the event titled RE, and in the event details box was a message from Mrs. Sandrine Nzi, who desperately needed my help in donating her late husbands money to start an orphanage. A noble cause, Im sure, but I deleted the invite. (Mrs. Nzi, if youre reading this and you really do want me to manage your funds, please get in touch again. You apparently already know my email.) Advertisement A couple months later, I started getting spam messages via Google Hangouts. Unlike Mrs. Nzis message, these were less wholesome. Leonarda, Dmitriy, Satish, Joana, and Alyce were all cam girls whod started group chats with several dozen people, inviting us to watch their feeds. These chats popped up in my Gmail window in the middle of the day, sometimes with NSFW photos. Thankfully, I work from home, but I imagine if I did have co-workers, theyd have questions about what I was up to on my screen. The spammers in these chats were persistent; in Leonardas, for instance, a user named Jose kept sending links to various cam girls Snapchat accounts, one of which included a gay slur. Sometimes, other recipients of the spam chats responded. Jim seemed eager to have gotten attention from a cam girl: Tell you what Kimberly if you want lets meet up, he replied to the other 46 people in the chat. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I was desperate to stop the constant pings. But despite my best efforts, I could not figure out how. I tried to leave the chat, but I didnt see an option to do so, nor did I see a way to just block the spammy account. A Google rep later told me that in each chats settings, there is a leave conversation optiongood news, though its confusing why I didnt see it when I initially received the chatand explained how to block the spammers. After exchanging several emails with this helpful rep, it appeared that the only way I could block my spammer was to send them a chat invitenot exactly what I wanted.* There was also no way to just block the spammy account. Finally, I found a solution: I removed every other person from one of the chats I was in. To keep it from happening again, I looked into changing my settings for Hangouts invitations. But there was no way to prevent it. If a user has your phone number or email address, Hangouts allows you to choose between two options: They can send you invitations or contact you directly. While there is a setting to block invitations from everyone else, a spammer who has your email or number can still send you invites.* Advertisement Advertisement Because I am hopelessly dependent on Google products, I tried to Google search my way to a solution. What I found instead were folks on Reddit, Googles support site, and an Android message board describing the same problems with Hangouts and Calendar. On Quora, a guy named Brad said he even got a call through Hangouts that he suspected was a sexy spammer. These arent the only Google products spammers have also exploited to run their schemes: Redditors posted about location sharing requests they received on Google Maps for Android from You Have Received a Free Prize, which sounds like the digital equivalent of free candy from an unmarked white van. Luckily, Googles weeded out that problem: In October, it announced it was disabling Nearby, the feature that enabled these spammy notifications. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement My Calendar and Hangouts spammers are on the vanguard of an arms race. The hive mind, alas, provided no good solutions to preventing Hangouts spam. But there is a small tweak you can make to mitigate Calendar spam: In your settings, deselect automatically add events from Gmail to my calendar so that any spam invitations wont autopopulate amongst the things you actually have scheduled. Still, that doesnt stop the spammy messages from appearing in your email inbox. Advertisement Advertisement A Google spokesperson told me that the company is deeply committed to protecting our users from spam across our services, pointing out that the company has options for users to report spam in Calendar and Maps and to block users on Hangouts. But even Hangouts blocking function only works once youve accepted chat requests. It wont stop new spammers invitations from popping up. Advertisement To be fair to Google, spam is not a straightforward problem to solve. Its done a phenomenal job of relegating business deals from Nigerian princes and extremely wealthy widows to my Gmail spam box while making sure emails with legitimate offers still get to me. Google told me its spam filter has a 99.9 percent accuracy rate, no small feat given how spam prevention is like whack-a-mole. A 2010 paper presented at a spam conference called this a mutual evolution of spammers and spam filters. For instance, spammers used to send messages with all text in a photo because filter bots cant read photosthis is the idea behind CAPTCHA. But then developers wised up to that strategy and blocked all messages their filters couldnt read. Advertisement To the casual observer, it seems inconceivable that spam could be worth it. Why put so much effort into something so obviously fake? But it turns out spams actually quite profitable. A 2008 study in which researchers sent out their own spam found that the conversion rate for penis enlargement adsthat is, the number of people who fall for messages and give spammers their credit card numberwas 0.00001 percent. That sounds tiny, but it resulted in $2,731.88 worth of purchases over a month. The researchers estimated that if theyd scaled up the number of bots they used, they could make upward of $9,500 a month. (Lucky for those spammed in this study, they received an error message after clicking on the checkout button on the researchers fake website.) Advertisement Advertisement In some strange way, I admire the forward-thinking spirit of my Calendar and Hangouts spammers. Theyre on the vanguard of this arms race. Rather than joining the crowded market of email scammers, I imagine the folks who run Calendar, Hangouts, and Maps bots are seeking out new challenges, with potentially big rewards. Good luck to them, but Im still not clicking their invites. Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. The fight to bring net neutrality back from the dead got a major, if perhaps symbolic, boost on Wednesday. House lawmakers passed the Save the Internet Act, a Democrat-backed bill that would prohibit companies like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T from slowing down, blocking, or charging websites to reach users at faster speeds, with a vote of 232 to 190. The act would restore the Obama-era net neutrality rules that Trumps Federal Communications Commission repealed in 2017. Right now, its perfectly legal for internet providers to manage their traffic however they want, so long as the terms of service say they reserve the right to do so. Advertisement But the bill is unlikely to succeed in the Senate, where Republicans are in control. Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell told reporters Tuesday that the Save the Internet Act would be dead on arrival when it reached the Senate. On top of that, on Monday White House aides issued a recommendation that Trump veto the bill if it reaches his desk. But that hasnt dissuaded net neutrality advocates from encouraging people to contact their senators. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement FCC Chairman Ajit Pai repealed the net neutrality rules in December 2017, despite a scandal-strewn public comment process that was rife with bot activity and faked participation, including comments posted with the names of dead people and foreign email addresses. Despite McConnells statement, not all Republicans are against restoring the open internet rules. In 2018, lawmakers attempted to undo the FCCs net neutrality repeal by passing whats called a Congressional Review Act resolution, which allows Congress to overturn regulatory actions. The resolution narrowly passed the Senate, thanks to three RepublicansSens. Susan Collins of Maine, John Kennedy of Louisiana, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. But it failed to get the votes needed in the thenRepublican majority House. There may be a chance of mustering some bipartisan support again in the Senate. Advertisement Advertisement The issue is wildly popular among Democrats, who have submitted millions of comments to the FCC in favor of supporting net neutrality protections. Democrats may see the issue as a way to keep voters engaged and as a mobilization strategy leading up to the 2020 elections. Even this legislation fails, there may still be some hope in the judiciary. The net neutrality repeal sparked a wave legal challenges, including from 22 state attorneys general and consumer advocacy groups. A federal appeals court in Washington heard arguments to undo the FCCs net neutrality repeal earlier this year and is expected to issue a decision at some point this summer. Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. Robert Gilpin, R.I.P. - The Washington Post : His greatest book was written in 1981, but the main theory in it is perhaps more trenchant now... 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. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has stopped the release of biopic 'PM Narendra Modi' for the duration of 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In its statement, the election body said that any material disturbing the level playing field in favour of any political party or individual should not be displayed. Opposition parties have been calling for a ban on the movie in view of Model Code of Conduct (MCC). The ECI said that it has also received complaints about 'NTR Laxmi' and 'Udyama Simham'. "Any biopic material in nature of biography sub-serving the purpose of any political entity or any individual entity connected to it, which has potential to disturb level playing field during the election, should not be displayed in electronic media including cinematograph during the operation of MCC," the ECI said in its statement. The ban on the PM Modi biopic is likely to extend to NaMo TV. Apart from the ban on the film, the order from the EC also calls for keeping content which furthers a candidate's electoral prospects away from the electronic media. This might lead to the channel being taken off air till the Model Code of Conduct is in place. "Any poster or publicity material concerning any such certified content, which either depicts a candidate (including prospective) for the furtherance (or purported to further) of electoral prospects, directly or indirectly, shall not be put on display in electronic media in the area where MCC is in force," the ECI order said. The ECI decision to ban the screening of PM Narendra Modi comes a day before its release. The biopic on PM Modi was supposed to be released on April 11 after earlier delays. The release of the film was deferred last week on grounds of pending certification clearance from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), which it secured yesterday. The original release date for biopic PM Narendra Modi was April 12. It was moved ahead to April 5 by the producers citing public demand. Before the CBFC certification yesterday, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea filed by a Congress activist seeking a stay on the release of the biopic and asked him to raise the matter before the ECI. The Supreme Court said it dismissing the petition for the stay on the release of the film as it was "premature" since the movie was yet to be certified by the CBFC. The court said in its judgement that even if the film was released on April 11, it would be appropriate for the plaintiff to seek redressal from the Election Commission. The Congress activist had sought a stay on the biopic's release till the completion of the Lok Sabha elections. In his plea, he had alleged that it was designed to "manipulate, influence and impress viewers and voters". ALSO READ:Lok Sabha election 2019 Live: Rahul Gandhi files nomination from Amethi; supporters chant 'Abki baar, 5 lakh par' ALSO READ:Lok Sabha Election 2019: Poll dates, full schedule, voting FAQs, election results, constituencies' details However, the business community still struggles with bureaucracy and laws, according to the recent business index. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled The Business Environment Index (IPP), published by the Business Alliance of Slovakia (PAS), has gone up for the first time in eight years. Slovak entrepreneurs assessed the second half-year of 2018 more positively than in the previous period. The IPP increased by 0.09 percentage points compared to the second quarter of 2018, scoring 44.82 percent in total, PAS informed in a press release. Read also: Read also: Slovakia's business environment has been stuck Read more The last time the index increased was in the third quarter of 2010, PAS pointed out. Although the assessment of the business environment has stopped falling, it cannot be described as satisfactory. In 2018, Slovakia scored only 48.7 percent of the 2010 assessment in the index, according to PAS. Barriers in business The effectiveness of the state management, access to state aid, bureaucracy, the application of the principle of equality before the law, and the clarity and consistency of law have again been identified as top barriers by businesses in Slovakia. Read also: Read also: Slovakia's economic freedom is the worst in central Europe Read more On the other hand, they positively evaluated functioning state institutions, including tax offices. They appreciate the amendment to the law on public procurement, which promises to accelerate the process, said PAS, as quoted in the press release. Similarly, they gave a positive evaluation to the law amendment on the land register, which is believed to offer more efficiency, as well as the proposed changes in the police corps. However, PAS remains skeptical. Its true that 2018 WBC second runner-up Lex Wenneker and his business partner Dylan Sedgwick named their new cafeFUKUafter the Japanese term for good fortune. If you speak with them, Wenneker, a three-time Dutch barista champion, will tell you how as a visitor to Japan he was impressed by all the small spaces where each day a single individual puts the same attention in every cup. In the same breath Sedgwick, a New Zealander with much international coffee experience, might cite Japanese craft precision as inspiration for our workflow. But if youre like me, you might have doubts. The explanations a touch too cute for these two. These are, after all, the guys behind Friedhats Coffee Roasters, a name they gleefully admit has led confused consumers to believe the company deals in French fries and attracted email spam targeted at milliners. Whats more, Friedhats aestheticmost obvious in its packaging but now also at FUKUmight be summarized as ska-meets-psychedelica in a Roy Lichtenstein palette. Any way you cut it, their goofiness and subversion are colorful, contradicting any expectations that we were gonna do something super chic and Berlin-style, as Sedgwick puts it. So while the cafe FUKU is pronounced to rhyme with cuckoo, it seems its nomenclature arose from the same place it does when the four-letter word is carved into an elementary school bathroom stall: frustration. There was a point that I was pissed off at the whole [coffee] thing I was gonna quit, Wenneker tells me. I just got back from the WBC in Dublin and everything was normal again, and I just couldnt hear one more complaint about the light-roasted coffee. People didnt get it. I just couldnt do it anymore, and thats when I wanted to stop. He continues: Then we decided to look for a cafe again, as a solutionto have something new to do. And as a joke, I wanted to call it the Friedhats Fuck You Cafe. His defiance was likely sparked earlier, by the shuttering of Headfirst, a micro-roastery Wenneker co-ran and where he and Sedgwick started working together. Its closure came suddenly after Amsterdam authorities accused the venue of violating rules about what it could sell as a designated retail spot rather than a food and drink vendor. That was in late 2015, when Headfirst, at just two years old, was quite popular among locals and coffee tourists. In fact, the name Friedhats is no enigmait is an anagram. Scrambling the letters of headfirst has provided at least a linguistically sentimental reincarnation of the old business. As for FUKUs present-day semantic scramblingthe idea came from much closer than Japan. He was in Paris and he saw this place called Fuku, recalls Wenneker about Sedgwick. It kinda says fuck you but not really. A sushi place, his partner specifies. All that said, guests at FUKU, which opened in September, get no sense of being rebuffed or shooed. Before even going inside the cafe, a sight of delight appears on an entranceway door: a vintage column of feeder trays from legendary Dutch automat chain FEBO. Today, instead of hamburgers or krokets, they dispense coffee beans in Friedhats signature plastic jar packaging (nominated for a 2018 Sprudgie Award). Wenneker and Sedgwick built the bar themselves, leaving a large facade for their illustrator (and part-time barista) Ivo Janss. The most prominent equipment is a rare Kees van der Westen three-group Mistral. There are three grinders: a Mahlkonig EK43, an Anfim Super Caimano Barista, and an ever-so R2D2-esque Lyn Weber EG1. Around the bend is a moss green Slayer Single Group, which patrons can get a courtside view of when seated in the front window. Asked if his past titles up the pressure to perform in everyday work, Wenneker is candid, mentioning some particularly painful early feedback. There was this guy who came in. He was like, Ah, I expected a bit more because hes the almost-World Barista Champion, and it was just like a nice coffee that I got. It hit me quite hard, he admits, with a good-natured laugh. Dont come with too-high expectations, Sedgwick half-jokes. Nah, thats not true, says Wenneker. Were doing something new now, I think, in the cafe with the long list of coffees that are available for espresso and filter. I dont think any cafe in Amsterdam has that. Most remarkable is the menus Super Specials subsection, described by Wenneker as coffees you just dont find anywhere because theyre very expensive and usually rare or hard to obtain. Often competition coffees, they are standardly prepared by V60 and cost 7.50 euros. On a recent visit, that list included Brazil Daterra Laurina, Colombia Gesha X.O., Colombia Sudan Rume, and Ethiopia Gesha Village. Because they have all the necessary licenses, FUKU can serve alcoholthe wines lean towards natural and Frenchand food; the venue has begun with short hours and easy-to-eat carbohydrates, but eventually plans to stay open well past sunset. The back patio, with an overhang, is ready for warm even if wet days. Wenneker and Sedgwick have two part-time staff, and Wennekers brother is their accounts manager. Still, the pair works six days a week, splitting their time between cafe and roastery. The latter, which they moved into in September, occupies a section of shared space in a hangar-like unit. Compared to the former roastery, it is the boondocks, though has no shortage of storage or parking for the new company car, a secondhand Volvo wagon used for local coffee deliveries. Most international orders are sent within Europe, though the US and Canada are catching on, they report. Meanwhile, Wenneker maintains he is done competing. Earned in June 2018 at the WBC held only six kilometers south of FUKU, his latest, second place, ranking satisfies in far more ways than I expected to hear. He explains: If you get first place, you have all these obligations, you have to go everywhere, people expect you to show up for stuff. We were already talking about the cafe, so we knew we couldnt really do that. So before the whole competition started I was like, Yeah, second. Ill go for second. I was really happy, says Wenneker of the outcome. Second place is kind of what I really aimed for. The response is quintessentially Dutch: modest, pragmatic, evenhanded. It is also an elegant way of celebrating ones good fortune while still issuing, to the powers that be, a big FU. Karina Hof is a Sprudge staff writer based in Amsterdam. Read more Karina Hof on Sprudge. The countdown to the 2019 Pepsi North America Cup is on, with Trot Insider profiling the horses predicted to be the top contenders for Canadian harness racing's richest prize. At 11-1, Captain Trevor comes in at #4 in TROT Magazine's 2019 Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book. From 9 starts as a freshman, Captain Trevor (Captaintreacherous - It Was Fascination) posted a 6-0-1 summary and banked $131,904 for Canadians Marvin Katz and Brad Grant, Brittany Farms LLC and Captain Trevor Racing. Making his first start in August, Captain Trevor impressed immediately with four straight scores at The Red Mile before a third-place finish in the KYSS Final. He rebounded with wins against Grand Circuit types in the International Stallion Stakes and his Breeders Crown elimination before an off-the-board finish in the Breeders Crown Final. Trot Insider caught up with co-owner and trainer Tony Alagna for an update on the speedy sophomore. Tell us about Captain Trevor, he seemed to be a bit of a late bloomer. "He came from Harrisburg and was kind of a late developer for us. When he got rolling there at Lexington he really came along well. He finished up the year good going into the Breeders Crown, Breeders Crown Final he was sick like the majority of the horses I raced that night but we put him away and we're hoping for great things this year." Where did he winter? "He wintered at Olive Branch with Chris Coyle. Anything that raced late in the year we try to send there because they get a little longer season with the weather he gets there and it's kind of on the way to Florida." When did you start back with him? "We started back with him January 15." Where are you at with him now? "We trained him last week in 1:56 and then he shipped up to New Jersey." Any noticeable changes in him from two to three? "Stronger, more mature, naturally the things you like to see in any horse when you turn them out to bring them back at three. He really looks good." What will his early schedule look like leading up to the Pepsi North America Cup? "It just depends. He probably won't qualify until the end of this month. I flew up here [Monday, to N.J.] to train him slow...this will be the first they've trained since they shipped up from Florida last week so I'll train him slow and see where we're at and then we'll put the bikes back on him this weekend, and after I train this weekend I'll have a better gauge on where we're at." "Probably PA Sire Stakes [to start] and the North America Cup would be his first major stake. Like 'Captain', we prepped in the PA Sire Stakes before heading up to Canada so we got some options going forward." He's eligible to the Somebeachsomewhere. Is an appearance in that race a wait-and-see type of scenario? "Yeah, definitely. Moreso a backup plan, because if you're trying to get through the North America Cup, Hempt, Meadowlands Pace...those six weeks are awfully tough and you don't need to add a seventh week so it's basically a backup in case we need something along the way." What does his tentative schedule look like after the North America Cup? "He's staked all the way through. Jug, Lexington, Breeders Crown...a full dance card." At what point last year did you think this horse was North America Cup material? "We liked him training down. From probably about April on, you could tell he'd really turned the page and it was always very easy for him training down so it never like he did anything wrong but he just never gave you any wow factor but I always said from the get-go, from one of the first days I hooked him because he took to us so easy, that he's either going to love it or hate it but there won't be any in between. When he got behind the gate and figured out what it was all about he got where he really, really liked it. "And he's another horse where because he's Kentucky-eligible and having dual residency really helped because he was able to go down there on a great racing surface and learn how to race and it made him a much better horse for it." Was that concentration on the KYSS with Captain Trevor by design with his later start? "Yeah, it's tough to play catch up. You can't just jump into the third leg of the PA Sires, it's very tough to do. If you're not there for the first one, it's tough to jump on board on the third because you're already points behind. So now if you're going to get points you're going to have to be extremely aggressive, and to do that to a two-year-old that's already behind the 8-ball because you missed a couple of legs, that just sets them up for disaster in my opinion. So if we have something that's dual-eligible and they've got that opportunity to go there, everything just kind of falls into place." What's his biggest asset/strength? "I think his biggest asset is that he can do it either way. He's a nice-sized horse, he can get around any size of track. He showed in Lexington he can leave with the best of them, he showed in Lexington he can finish with the best of them. The day that he won in Lexington [in 1:49.2] he wasn't even on the TV screen until down by the wire and here he came flying on the outside to get the win. It just shows you how fast he can close, he's just a very tactical horse and I think horses like him that are useful and that can do it either way can make a lot of money." Previous North America Cup Spring Book Profiles: North America Cup Spring Book - #5 North America Cup Spring Book - #6 North America Cup Spring Book - #7 North America Cup Spring Book - #8 North America Cup Spring Book - #9 North America Cup Spring Book - #10 After the February 26 Indian air strike on Balakot, the main Islamic terrorist training site in Pakistani Kashmir, it was revealed that India had used its Mirage 2000 fighter-bombers for the mission and that Israeli made SPICE (Stand-Off Precision Guidance Munition) smart bomb. Israeli firms developed this variation on the American JDAM in 2005. SPICE adds a camera in the nose, and the capability to store several digital photos of the target (a building, radar antennae, or a moving target, like a missile transporter) in the bomb. When SPICE gets close enough to see what's down there, the guidance camera compares what it sees in front of it with what is stored in its memory. If it gets a match, it heads right for it. If no target can be found, SPICE hits a specific GPS location or just self-destructs. SPICE equipped bombs have small wings and can be dropped up to 100 kilometers from the target they will then glide to. SPICE costs about twice as much as JDAM kits and is similar to earlier (pre-JDAM), and much more expensive, U.S. smart bomb designs like Paveway. The latest version of SPICE has a much improved guidance sensor (camera) and computer and can store up to a hundred images of potential targets as well as instructions on what to hit when there are multiple choices. Many of these images are of the same target from different angles. India used the SPICE 2000 kit, which is built to be attached to a 906 kg (2,000 pound) dumb bomb. Currently, the only Indian aircraft equipped to handle SPICE are some of their Mirage 2000s. India recently announced that they are equipping some of their Russian Su-30MKI aircraft to handle SPICE. Pakistan denied that the Indian airstrike had hit anything at Balakot and India initially refused to release its own satellite photos of the Balakot site after the attack. Soon commercial satellite photos were released that did not show any large craters at Balakot the day after but higher resolution commercial satellite photos were eventually available showing three craters (and blast damage to trees around them). The craters were in a pattern similar to three buildings at Balakot and this indicated that the Indians had not entered the altitude of the targets, just the GPS coordinates indicating location. For a smart bomb coming down vertically, the altitude of targets rarely matters. But since Balakot was above sea level and the SPICE 2000 bombs were gliding in from a distance all three appear to have missed their targets in a manner suggesting SPICE was not using the pattern recognition feature of its guidance system, and was instead heading for a precise GPS location at sea level and thus glided over the targets. India also revealed that the Mirage 2000 aircraft remained on the Indian side of the border as they released the bombs and used the glide function to avoid entering Pakistani air space. Pakistan typically seeks to belittle Indian military attacks, if only because Pakistan has lost every war they have fought against India and established the sponsored Islamic terrorist program in the 1980s to carry out successful attacks against India with more success and some deniability. But India has compiled considerable evidence of the Pakistani use of Islamic terrorists based in the Pakistani portion of Kashmir, which trains Pakistani and Indian Moslems in terrorism techniques then loses many of them as they are sent to cross a heavily guarded (with patrols, sensors and troops equipped with night vision gear) border. Some of these Pakistanis do make it across and are later taken, usually dead but sometimes alive and much has been learned about how these Islamic terrorists are recruited and trained. The training camps in Pakistani are guarded by Pakistani troops who only allow authorized personnel in. Satellite photos show the camps, despite Pakistani denials, and Balakot is one of the largest and most heavily fortified against air attack. Balakots precise GPS location was known as well as its altitude. It is unclear why India did not use the pattern recognition feature unless they did not have sufficiently clear images of those structures to insert in the guidance system memory. Whatever the case, the bombs missed and the SPICE line of smart bombs rarely do that and rarely together in the pattern indicated by the satellite photos. by Austin Bay April 10, 2019 On April 4, the prickly Philippines president, Rodrigo Duterte, warned China that his country would react militarily if the China Coast Guard and fishing vessels continue to "swarm" and surround a small Filipino islet in the Spratly Islands, Pag-asa Island (also called Thitu). Duterte's warning followed a March 29 formal diplomatic protest the Philippines delivered to China's embassy in Manila. Beijing's aggressive South China Sea territorial grab relies on a bully's bilateral perception of power: strong China versus weak neighbor. China is an emerging great power with global economic clout and a powerful, modernizing military. In comparison, the Philippines is vulnerable militarily. It is also anemic economically, and it owes China so much money that both Duterte (belatedly) and his political opponents fear a Chinese debt trap. China could seize Filipino assets for nonpayment of loans. Nevertheless, the usual loan shark doesn't seize sovereign territory, for it's an act of war. Hence Duterte's blunt vow to spill blood in defense of Filipino sovereignty. "I will not plead or beg," he said to Beijing. "But I am just telling you lay off the Pag-asa because I have soldiers there." OK. Then Duterte added some extreme heat: "If you touch it, that's another story. Then I will tell my soldiers 'prepare for suicide missions.'" Whether brash or rash, or both, a pledge to respond with suicidal ferocity shrinks diplomatic wiggle room down to ultra-slim or none. Understand Duterte has a record for bold domestic leadership undermined by reckless declarations. For example, Duterte entered office in late 2016 and indicated he would seek rapprochement with China, possibly at the expense of the Philippines' alliance with America. Yet China's unabated imperialist policy of South China Sea expansion is far more audacious politically and -- considering the regional and international implications of a rogue great power -- far more reckless strategically than Duterte's worst behavior. China's prior theft of Filipino maritime territory and resources is a fact. In 2016, the Hague's arbitration tribunal ruled that China had intruded on Filipino territory when it seized islets in the Spratlys, constructed artificial islands on reefs well inside long-recognized Filipino territory and conducted illegal fishing operations. The tribunal relied heavily on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea treaty (UNCLOS), which China claims to recognize and support. Ah, but The Perception. Knowing the Philippines and the UN couldn't enforce the verdict, and judging the Obama administration as unwilling to support the court's decision, Beijing ignored the Hague's verdict and continued its predatory behavior. Beijing's dismissal of Duterte's statement as theater reprises "ignore the verdict." Still, Beijing's geo-strategic calculators should have expected Manila to eventually threaten to escalate and risk war. Manila's threat to escalate isn't bluster. A multilateral alternative backed by a reinvigorated great power now challenges Beijing's bilateral bullying. During a March 1 conference in Manila, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sketched Washington's view of Beijing's bullying, saying, "the Philippines depends on free and unobstructed access to the seas. China's island-building and military activities in the South China Sea threaten your sovereignty, security and, therefore, economic livelihood, as well as that of the U.S. ... Any armed attack on Philippine forces, aircraft or public vessels in the South China Sea will trigger mutual defense obligations under Article IV of our Mutual Defense Treaty." Pompeo didn't speak rashly. He based his statement on a 68-year-old treaty signed when Harry Truman was president and Donald Trump was 5 years old. "Cabbage strategy" guides Beijing's Pag-asa gambit. In May 2013, a Chinese general boasted China would secure its South China Sea claims by wrapping them with coast guard ships, construction barges, fishing boats and military garrisons akin to protective cabbage leaves. This strategy bets victims will accept Chinese bullying. Are all bets off? If Duterte's 2016 rapprochement offer was a tough guy's diplomatic attempt to make a deal that ended Chinese expansion, then bitter history may show that Beijing blew an opportunity. You can click the gear to amp it up to 4K. Also, If you have not seen a 360 video before, you can grab the screen and look in any direction you want! This one will take a little EXTRA clicking and dragging because they gyro not calibrated after my long flight. Sorry, my mistake. But think of it like a game, to get the view you want! The other 360's don't have this problem... and I've fixed the firmware for future episodes. Sorry, team! :) Welcome to Season 4, Episode 11! In this moody episode, I wander with Kevin Rose through a beautiful forest in Portland, Oregon. Before I tell you what we talk about, let me tell you more about Kevin! Kevin is one of the fun success stories of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. I first came across him while watching Diggnation, which was the regular show in the orbit of the site he founded, Digg.com. Besides that, he was a founder with Revisiion3, Pownce, and Milk. After all that, he was a partner at Google Ventures. Now he lives in Portland with his awesome brainy wife Daria and his daughter Zelda. Theres another daughter on the way any day now, judging by Darias ponderous belly. Kevin has a great podcast that Ive recommended a few times and Ill do it now again: Go check out The Kevin Rose Show . Im going to be on an upcoming episode but I cant say what we talk about! Some time ago I made the announcement that I was switching from Mac to PC! I admittedly still use my Mac while travelling but when back in my studio I like the power and feel of my Windows machine. Well, it's finally time to upgrade and I've decided on Origin PC . They custom make the absolute best machines and I wanted something powerful enough to handle image and video editing, and yes, hardcore gaming too! The built the entire thing live on Twitch / YouTube. Check it out in the video below. You can see the specs at the 14 minute mark . The team over at Skylum keeps cranking out new software and this one looks like another winner. It's called AirMagic and uses Artificial Intelligence to automatically improve one or more of your aerial / drone photos. It's really slick and fast. They have a special pre-order bundle offer for a limited time with lots of goodies. Plus you might grab a copy of my new Drone Tutorial over in our online store, we marked it 50% off to coincide with their launch. StuckInCustoms.com is a personal blog where Trey puts up a new unique photo every day and writes about the art, the technology, and the story of the adventures. Actually, this is Trey writing about this in third person. Both Trey and I appreciate your support very much! If you think your family or friends might like this Newsletter ( subscribe for free ), please forward this to them. It'll make a fun email chain! I keep a completely FREE HDR Tutorial on my website. It is a living document that continues to evolve over the years. It goes over everything you need to get started and is a great introduction to the basics of HDR photography and post processing. Jet Airways on a steady fall, operations down to just 32 flights Loading the player... Ford likely to end independent India business with new Mahindra deal Ford Motor Co is nearing a deal with Mahindra & Mahindra to form a new joint-venture company in India, a move that will likely see the U.S. automaker cease independent operations in the country, two sources with direct knowledge of the talks told Reuters.The deal would make Ford the latest automaker to pare back its interests in India. Jet Airways on a steady fall, operations down to just 32 flights Crumbling Jet Airways has massively reduced its operations from its main hub Mumbai to just about 32 flights Tuesday. Amid acute financial crunch, which has also forced it to delay salaries to employees and payments to banks, aircraft lessors and vendors, Jet is struggling to remain afloat. Indian MSMEs can create 1 crore jobs in 5 years, says report India's MSME sector has the potential to create up to 1 crore new jobs in the next 4-5 years by focusing on developing the enterprises in certain segments through partial substitution of imports, a report has said. Boeing reports 19% drop in Q1 plane deliveries on MAX grounding Boeing on Tuesday reported a 19 per cent drop in first-quarter commercial airplane deliveries as the global grounding of its 737 MAX plane hits results. The aerospace giant delivered 149 commercial planes in all in the first quarter, including 89 of the 737 aircraft. That is down from 184 commercial deliveries and 132 of the 737s in the year-ago period. Plane deliveries are closely tied to company revenues. 1 in 2 respondents received fake news in last 30 days through social media, claims survey Ahead of the general elections, spread of misinformation through social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp seems to have gathered pace, with a study claiming that one in two respondents have received fake news in the last 30 days. Circulation of fake news on digital platforms has been a pain point, and the government has warned social media companies that any abuse of the platforms to influence electorate will not be tolerated. Rahul Gandhi to file nomination from Amethi today The country will witness the first phase of polling for a total of 91 Lok Sabha seats spread over 20 states and UTs on Thursday (April 11). Meanwhile, Congress President Rahul Gandhi will file his nomination papers from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat Huawei breaches $1,000 price mark for smartphone in India with P30 Pro Chinese telecom firm Huawei breached the $1,000 price ceiling in India with the launch of a four-camera 4G smartphone on Tuesday to compete in the ultra-premium segment, which is currently dominated by Samsung and iPhone maker Apple.The company is the first Chinese player to launch a premium device with an ultra-high price tag of USD 1,000 in India. US-based Apple is the only brand selling devices in the above-USD 1,000 price range in the country. University of Wisconsin-Madison The MFA in Theatre and Drama at UW-Madison offers specializations in acting, costume design, lighting design, scene design, and theatre technology. Therefore, if any actors are looking to pursue other areas of theatre, then there are many options to look into. The coursework for each specialization relates to acting, design, and technology. Courses are all face-to-face and during the weekdays, with no options for online, due to the fact that acting is best taught in person. The minimum credit requirement for the full graduate program is 75 credits, 33 of which are core classes for the program. The core curriculum includes classes that are essential for the acting industry, such as theatre history, script analysis, and the business of acting. For students specializing in acting, they then get to take additional courses specifically about acting, movement, and voice, as well as some additional electives. Classes in the MFA program can occur in classrooms, studios, or even on stage. All specializations within the program are designed to help prepare individuals for careers in theatre. Students are encouraged to take courses from other specializations to help them gain a larger theatre skill set. The goal of the program is for students to gain a broad knowledge and understanding for theatre and its history, as well as acquire necessary collaboration and performance skills. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee At UW-Milwaukee, the MFA program is centered more around the film side of acting. This program is designed for students that are looking to prepare for a career in the performing arts industry. This can be in the department of film, video, animation, choreography, or dance. The school consists of theaters, studios, and practice spaces, which are all available for performing arts students to utilize. The program has a total of 48 credits, 18 of which are core classes consisting of studios and seminars, while the other 30 credits consist of electives, many of which are different workshop options. Throughout the program, students are also required to complete a thesis exhibition by the end of the program. This thesis is designed to present the works they have completed throughout the program. The graduate program is highly selective, so those applying should have plenty of prior performance and film experience. The program typically consists of ten to fourteen graduates, who need to collaborate with each other to complete certain projects. Throughout the program, students must go through intensive professional training in order to be prepared for future careers in the performance field. It has been one year since the regime dropped sarin and chlorine gas on Douma, killing 41 civilians and injuring hundreds more writes Zaman Al Wasl. One year has passed since regime forces targeted Douma, the capital of the eastern Ghouta suburbs, with chemical weapons that left dozens dead and wounded. The victims were in shelters and underground basements, trying to escape the heavy shelling on the city, during the regimes deadliest offensive on the eastern enclave of Damascus last April. The Syrian Network of Human Rights (SNHR) documented the death of 41 civilians, including 12 children and 15 women, with around 550 wounded in the chemical attack on the city. Mukhtar al-Domani, a survivor of the chemical massacre, described the incident to Zaman al-Wasl saying, On Apr. 7, 2018, at 08:45 pm, after a bombing campaign that lasted for several days, two helicopters flew over the city of Douma and threw two barrels of sarin and chlorine gas over the al-Quasarna district, onto residential buildings in the city centre. Adding that, The regime chose a specific timing for the bombing, as it deliberately took advantage of the weather that contributed to the spreading of gas all over Douma. According to Domani, this resulted in the spread of a strange and foul smell across the city, while ambulance teams rushed to the scene to transport the injured who were fainting and foaming at the mouth, especially children, women and the elderly who died of suffocation. The fall of eastern Ghouta last April was achieved in a brutal fashion and changed the course of the war. More than 1,700 civilians were reportedly killed during the eight-week offensive. Eastern Ghouta was the scene of the first major protests in the capital against the rule of Bashar al-Assad. Khaled al-Homsi, another witness to the incident, said: I was forced to stay with my family and some of my relatives in a shelter near the medical center in the Abdul-Rauf neighborhood. Then a strange smell started to seep into the area and we knew that it was poisonous gases, so we immediately hid inside the medical center. It was a hysterical and frightful scene when we arrived, some people were dead, others were lying on the floor struggling to survive. Especially the children who were vomiting and suffering of convulsions and muscle cramps, with red eyes and foaming mouths. He added that the chemical gas caused severe chest pains and difficulties breathing. Because of the siege imposed on the area, doctors and nurses at the medical center were unable to provide any treatment, other than spraying the injured with cold water and giving them an injection to help the expansion of air passages, to save them from death. Homsi also noted that he lost many of his family and relatives that day. The fact-finding mission by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed, in a report released a month ago, the use of molecular chlorine, based on medical and environmental samples obtained during their inspection of the area. This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. The prospect of the return of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has raised many questions about the relationship between the regime and the UN and how aid will be used writes Al-Modon. Some United Nations offices concerned with Syria have started taking new steps regarding their relations and work with the Syrian regime, in what may be an acknowledgment of the reality that Russian-backed regime militias have imposed control over large swathes of the countrys south and center. Although there has been no official announcement of these measures so far, available information has recently confirmed that the regional United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) headquartered in Jordan has started procedures to return to Damascus. OCHA is the most active and circulated name in areas controlled by regime militias in Syria, given that it is concerned only with coordinating humanitarian and aid work. The main center for this work is in Jordan, with additional offices in Turkey and Lebanon. It also has an office with limited influence and powers in Damascus, which is constantly restricted by transit permissions issued by the regime to aid convoys, and which OCHA employees cannot move without. In contrast, the regime forbids the presence of offices concerned with documentation work, monitoring the human rights situation, and preparing reports for the United Nations in the areas it controls. These offices have had the visas of their employees withdrawn and have been banned from Damascus, in addition to the continuous official and media harassment of their rights reports. After regime militias took control of southern Syria, which had been a major focus of OCHAs work with dozens of humanitarian groups receiving aid there through the Syrian-Jordanian border, aid work declined heavily, and the humanitarian aid coming from Jordan became limited to a few convoys entering through the Nasib border crossing, with aid groups distributing them under regime observation. However the biggest development in OCHAs work in recent months has been it turning its focus toward the al-Rukban camp on the Syrian-Jordanian border inside the 55-km zone under American protection in the al-Tanf military base. Al-Modons sources said that OCHA had overseen Februarys aid operation carried out by the Syrian Red Crescent in the camp with 15 employees accompanying hundreds of Red Crescent members to offer aid over about two weeks in the camp. The success of this operation, despite it being limited, paved the way for a larger role for OCHA to enter by way of monitoring the negotiations that were held at the end of March between representatives and notables from the al-Rukban camp and Russian officers and regime officials with the aim of reaching an agreement to dismantle the camp and return the refugees inside them to their cities and towns under the control of regime militias. These meetings were attended by OCHA office officials, headed by Samir al-Hawari, the deputy director of the office in Syria, who signed the meeting minutes as a representative of the United Nations there. The result of the meetings saw light in April with the start of an operation to clear hundreds of displaced people in the camp, who numbered more than 1,500 at the end of the first week of the month, all transported by way of Russian military police to shelter centers in the Deir Baalba district in Homs city, despite a prior agreement that they would be returned to their cities and towns in the eastern Homs countryside. Meanwhile, it was not announced what the fate was of those who refused to return to regime authorityespecially young men wanted by security agencies or for military service. After what was considered the success of Russian efforts at the al-Rukban camp, the next Russian mission began achieving international gains and renormalizing relations between the regime and the international community. Numerous sources said that the main OCHA office in Amman has begun logistical preparations to return to Damascus. The Damascus office will then become responsible for overseeing other offices, with Turkeys office considered the most important because it is responsible for coordinating relief efforts in areas under opposition control in northern Syria. It is expected that a number of European countries will take a position against this step. But what will this return accomplish? Technically, not much will change in the work of OCHA, which never cut its relations with the regime. But what could change is this: The assessments of needs and the responses to it, whether in regime or opposition-controlled areas, and naturally the increase of regime influence logistically and economically over this support. The greatest share of Syrias residents are currently in areas under regime control. But the biggest portion of those most in need and most affected are in opposition-controlled areas in northern Syria, as well as, of course, the camps for the displaced, such as al-Rukban and al-Hol. The regime, which is suffering from a severe economic crisis in the areas under its control, will use the transfer of OCHAs central operations to Damascus to direct aid to its base, and the least affected segments of the population. It will exploit this aid to help influential regime figures who have signed contracts to distribute and secure the needs for OCHAs operations, as well as what it will gain from this return in terms of foreign currency. This is all in addition, of course, to the political gains achieved through the return of one of the United Nations main offices to Damascus. The biggest damage will be to the work being done in opposition-controlled areas. Certainly OCHA will not stop this work, but the aid groups operating with them inside these areas could find themselves forced to coordinate with agencies working under regime supervisionspecifically the Syrian Red Crescentto coordinate the entry and distribution of this aid. The regime will receive data of those in need of aid and those working in the aid field, as well as the distribution and operation points and warehouses, as well as everything else connected to this matterif, of course, rebel groups allow this type of coordination in the first place, which would put them in conflict with aid groups, international agencies, and those in need of aid. The regime may have opened its doors to welcome the return of UN offices to Damascus, but it will only permit the office that helps them with political and economic gains. It will welcome funds that will be transferred internationally to its economy under the umbrella of aid, but it will certainly not open its prisons to the United Nations. It will not allow them to inspect the sites of massacres and crimes that it has committed. And of course it will not agree to any monitoring of elections or evaluation of the human rights situation. Here, we must wait and assess the position of the United Nations itself. 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. Syria has described the American declaration to be an attack on Iranian sovereignty and in support of the Israeli occupation writes SANA. On Monday, an official source at the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry said that Syria strongly condemns the US resolution against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which represents a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of Iran. The source added that this irresponsible step by the US administration comes in the framework of the declared war launched by the US against Iran, adding that this move works in the interest of the Israeli occupation and the Western colonial project of hegemony in the region. The US measure is a legion of honor and a recognition of the pioneering role that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard plays in defending Irans sovereignty and its independent national decision and its important role in the axis of resistance, the source added. This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. Syrian refugees living Lebanon have been subjected to appalling attacks and have faced extreme pressure to return home, despite the prevailing conditions in Syria writes the Syrian National Coalition. The past few days have seen an increased number attacks on Syrian refugees in Lebanon, with a member of the Syrian National Coalition describing them as systematic and warning of a covert agreement between the Lebanese government and Russia. The mistreatment of Syrian refugees, which includes arrests and the closures of shops, coincided with statements by Lebanese officials that targeted Syrian refugees. The anti-refugees rhetoric, which amounts to a provocation of hatred, culminated in the murder of a 25-year-old Syrian refugee who was stabbed to death by a Lebanese man in the town of Talia in the Lebanese province of Baalbek. Amal Sheikho, head of the Syrian National Coalitions Commission on Refugees and Displaced Persons said that: any attempt by the Lebanese government to return Syrian refugees to their country will be risky. She added: The reasons that led Syrian civilians to flee their country still exist, as was confirmed by local and international human rights organisations, which said that killings, arrests and torture still exist. Sheikho warned of the frantic attempts by some Lebanese parties to force Syrian refugees to return before a political solution is reached. She underscored that these attempts can be categorized as, forced return that violate the principles of international legality when dealing with refugees. Moreover, Sheikho rejected Russias claims about giving guarantees for the safety of refugees after their return, as past experiences have proved that Russia is a biased party and cannot rein in the actions of the Assad regime or the Iranian terrorist militias. She stressed that the only available framework for resolving the issue of Syrian refugees is with the United Nations, in parallel with a just political solution. Sheikho pointed out that no one can forget or overlook the role of Hezbollah in aiding the Assad regime in war crimes, the destruction of whole cities, towns and villages, and the forced mass displacement of the population. Sheikho called on decision makers in the Lebanese government and other public and humanitarian officials to stand up to, the unjust project aimed at forcing Syrian refugees to return to the hellish security services and the criminal institution that have a decades-long history of intimidation of Lebanon and the Lebanese people. This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. I find it hard to wrap my head around this fact, but this year marks 30 years since my dad, along with Jean-Pierre and Francois Perrin, bought this property and began the process of launching what would become Tablas Creek Vineyard. To celebrate, they stopped at Kentucky Fried Chicken (this was before it became KFC) and took their purchases as a picnic lunch onto the section of the vineyard we now call Scruffy Hill to talk about what would come next. Amazingly, last year we turned up a photo of that lunch: 1989 was a different time, and not just because not-yet-called-KFC was the best option in town for lunch. Paso Robles itself had just 16 bonded wineries. None of them were producing Rhone varieties. The entire California Rhone movement had only about a dozen members. And yet the founding partners had enough confidence in their decision to embark on the long, slow, expensive process of importing grapevines, launching a grapevine nursery, planting an estate vineyard from scratch, building a winery, and creating a business plan to turn this into something self-sustaining. I was thinking recently about how much of a leap into the unknown this was, and decided to look back on which of those early assumptions turned out to be right, and which we had to change or scrap. I'll take them in turn. Wrong #1: Paso Robles is hot and dry, and therefore red wine country This is a misconception that persists to this day among plenty of consumers, and (if it's not sacrilegious to say) an even higher percentage of sommeliers and the wine trade. But it's hard to be too critical of them when we made the same mistake. Our original plan was to focus on a model like Beaucastel's. There, the Perrins make about 90% red wines, and many Chateauneuf du Pape estates don't make any white at all. And yes, Paso Robles is hot and dry, during the day, in the summer. But it's cold at night, with an exceptionally high diurnal shift, and winters are cold and quite wet. The net result is that our average temperature is lower than Beaucastel's, and the first major change to our vineyard plans was to plant 20 more acres of white grapes. Now, our mix is about 50% red, 35% white, and 15% rose. Right #1: Obscure grapes can be great here In our initial planting decisions, we decided to bring in the grapes you would have expected (think Mourvedre, Grenache, Syrah, or Viognier) but also some that had never before been used in America, like Grenache Blanc and Counoise. We thought that they would provide nice complexity, and our goal was to begin with the Beaucastel model (in which both of these grapes appear) and then adjust as our experiences dictated. It turns out that we liked them enough that not only are they important players in the blends that we make, but we even bottle them solo many years. This meant a relatively quick decision to bring in Picpoul Blanc in 2000, and to eventually import the full collection of Chateauneuf du Pape grapes in 2003. If you've been enjoying new grapes like Picardan, or Terret Noir, or Clairette Blanche, you have this early decision to thank. Wrong #2: We're going to make just one red wine and one white wine This is a decision we realized we needed to revisit pretty quickly. As early as 1999, we decided that in order to make the best wine we could from a vintage, we needed to be able to declassify lots into a second wine (which at that point we called "Petite Cuvee"). Having this declassified wine also gave us some cool opportunities in restaurants, which could pour this "second" wine by the glass, exposing us to new customers. And the wine, which we soon rechristened "Cotes de Tablas", proved to be more than just a place to put our second-best lots. Many of the characteristics that caused us to declassify a particular lot (pretty but not as intense, less structured and perhaps less ageworthy, good fruit but maybe less tannin) make a wine that's perfect to enjoy in its relative youth. Although we've been surprised by the ability of these wines to age, having something that people could open and appreciate while our more tannic flagship wines were aging in the cellar proved invaluable. And we didn't stop there. We realized within another few years that there were lots that were either too dominant to be great in a blend, or so varietally characteristic that it was a shame to blend them away. Opening a tasting room and starting a wine club in 2002 (more on this below) meant that we had recurring educational opportunities where having, say, a varietal Mourvedre, was really valuable. At the time, many fans of Rhone grapes had never tasted even the main ones (outside of Syrah) on their own. Having a rotating collection of varietal bottlings beginning in 2002 not only gave us great options for our wine club shipments, but I think helped an entire generation of Rhone lovers wrap their heads around this diverse and heterogeneous category. Right #2: Importing new vine material would be worth the costs Nearly the first decision we had to make was whether we would work with the existing Rhone varieties that were already in California or whether we would bring in our own. And it's not as though this decision was without consequence. Importing grapevines through the USDA's mandated 3-year quarantine set us back (after propagation) five years, and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. But it also came with some potentially huge benefits: the opportunity to select our clones for high quality, the chance to work with the full complement of Rhone grapes, and eventually the privilege of supplying other wineries with high quality clones. I remain convinced that for all the different impacts Tablas Creek has had, it is this proliferation of clonal material that will go down as our most important. Wrong #3: Vineyard and winery experience is enough to run a nursery With fifteen years' distance blunting the anxiety, it's easy to forget just how steep the learning curve was for us in the nursery business. But I know that when I moved out here in 2002, it was the perennially money-losing nursery that was the source of most of our headaches. The nursery business is difficult for three reasons, particularly for a startup. First, it's technically tricky. Expertise in grapegrowing is only tangentially relevant to things like grafting and rooting, or dealing with nursery pests. This is made more challenging by the fact that the same things that make this place good for quality wine grapes (that it forces vines to struggle) made all the nursery challenges worse. Second, it's subject to supply shocks that are largely outside of your control. If you get a spring frost, or a summer drought, you'll produce smaller vine material, get a lower percentage of successful grafts, and produce fewer vines. I know that in our first few years we often had to go back to our customers and cut back their orders because of production challenges. And third, on the demand side, it's incredibly cyclical and prone to boom and bust. Because it takes three to four years for a new vine to get into into production, you tend to have cycles of sky-high demand for scarce grapes followed by periods where everyone has the same new varieties in production, which causes demand for new vines to collapse. We lost quite a lot of money overall on our nursery operations before realizing the right response was to outsource. Our partnership since 2004 with NovaVine has been such an improvement, in so many ways. Right #3: Organic viticulture works The Perrins have been innovators in organic viticulture since Jacques Perrin implemented it in the 1960s. By the time we were starting Tablas Creek, it was taken as a given that we'd farm the same way, partly out of a desire to avoid exposing ourselves, our colleagues, and our neighbors to toxins, but more because we felt that this was a fundamental precondition for producing wines that expressed their place. At the time, there wasn't a single vineyard in Paso Robles being farmed organically, and the studied opinion of the major California viticulture universities was that doing so was pointless and difficult. It has been wonderful to see a higher and higher percentage of our local grapegrowers come around to our perspective, and to see the excitement locally and around California as we push past organics into the more holistic approach of Biodynamics. But that idea -- that organic farming is key to producing wines with a sense of place -- is as fundamental to our process today as it was in the beginning. Wrong #4: Tasting Room? Wine Club? Who needs 'em! At the beginning, our idea was that we would be in the production business, not the marketing and sales business. Our contact with the market would be once a year, when we would call up Vineyard Brands and let them know that the new vintage was ready. They would buy it all, take care of the nitty gritty of selling it, and our next contact with the market would be a year later, when we would call them up again and let them know they could pick up the next vintage. This proved to be a lot more difficult than we'd initially imagined. We were making wines without an established category, from grapes that most customers didn't know and couldn't pronounce, in a place they hadn't heard of, and blending them into wines with French names that didn't mean anything to them. By 2002, inventory had started to build up and we had to radically rethink our marketing program. The two new key pieces were starting a wine club (first shipment: August 2002, to about 75 members) and opening our tasting room on Labor Day weekend that same fall. The opportunities provided by both these outlets have fundamentally transformed the business of Tablas Creek, giving us direct contact with our customers, an audience for small-production experimental lots, a higher-margin sales channel through which we can offer our members good discounts and still do better than we would selling wholesale, and (most importantly, in my opinion) a growing army of advocates out in the marketplace who have visited here, gotten to see, smell, and touch the place, and take home a memory of our story and our wines. I don't think it's a coincidence that our wholesale sales grew dramatically over the first five years that our tasting room was open, or that each time a new state opens to direct shipping our wholesale sales improve there. Still, we would never have predicted at the outset that nearly 60% of the bottles that we'd sell in our 30th year would go directly from us to the customer who would ultimately cellar and (or) drink it. Right #4: Building (and keeping) the right team is key Long tenure was a feature of his hires throughout my dad's career. I still see people at Vineyard Brands sales meetings who remember me coming home from little league games in uniform, 35 years ago. And I'm really proud of how long the key members of the Tablas Creek team have been here. That includes David Maduena, our Vineyard Manager, who is on year 28 here at Tablas Creek. Denise Chouinard, our Controller, worked for my dad at Vineyard Brands and moved out here to take over our back office 23 years ago. Neil Collins will oversee his 22nd vintage as Winemaker here this year. Nicole Getty has overseen our wine club, hospitality, and events for 15 years, while and Eileen Harms has run our accounting desk for the same duration. This will be 14 years at Tablas Creek for Senior Assistant Winemaker Chelsea Franchi and 13 for Tasting Room Manager John Morris. I say all this not because longevity on its own is the point, but because of what it means to keep talented and ambitious people on your team. It means that they feel they're a part of something meaningful. That they're given the opportunity and resources to innovate and keep growing. And that you don't have to reinvent the wheel every few years. Wrong #5: People will buy it because Beaucastel Much of our challenge in the early years was self-inflicted: we hadn't done the work to create a consumer base for Tablas Creek, so when the wines got onto shelves or wine lists, they tended to gather dust. We assumed that if we made great wines, somehow the news would get out to the people who always clamored for Beaucastel (coming off a Wine Spectator #1 Wine of the Year honor in 1991), and the sales would take care of themselves. That turned out to be wildly optimistic. While our association with Beaucastel helped get the wines onto the shelves and lists, the boost it provided in sales wasn't enough to overcome the wines' unfamiliar names and lack of category, and the winery's own nonexistent track record. In the end we had to do the hard work of brand building: telling the story to one person at a time in our tasting room, to ambassadors in the trade, and to the masses (such as it was) through press coverage. One caveat: a key piece of this turnaround was our decision in 2000 to bestow the name "Esprit de Beaucastel" on our top white and red blend. Unlike the names "Rouge", "Blanc", "Reserve Cuvee", and "Clos Blanc", having Beaucastel on the front label instead of in the back story was one of the early keys in reminding consumers who might have some vague awareness that the Perrins were involved in a California project that this, Tablas Creek, was that project. So, the Beaucastel name did matter... but people needed a more explicit reminder. Right #5: Fundamentally, this place is great for these grapes Ultimately, we got right the most important question, and Paso Robles has turned out to be a terrific place in which to have founded a Rhone project. The evidence for this is everywhere you look in Paso. It has become the epicenter of California's Rhone movement, with more than 80% of wineries here producing at least one Rhone wine. It became the home to Hospice du Rhone, the world's premier Rhone-focused wine festival, for which high profile Rhone producers from France, Australia, Spain, South Africa, Washington, and all over California convene every other spring for three days of seminars, tastings, dinners, and revelry. And the range of Rhone grapes that do well here is exceptionally broad. You can taste some of the state's greatest examples of Syrah, of Grenache, of Mourvedre, of Roussanne, of Viognier, and of Grenache Blanc all here in Paso. In this, it even surpasses the Rhone. You aren't generally going to taste world class Syrah or Viognier from the southern Rhone; it's too warm there. And Grenache, Mourvedre, and Roussanne all struggle to ripen in the northern Rhone. But the cold nights and the calcareous soils found in Paso Robles provide freshness and minerality to balance the lush fruit from our long growing season and 320 days of sun. Rhone producers here have enormous flexibility in how long they leave the grapes on the vines, which allows them to be successful in a wide range of styles. And I haven't even mentioned yet the happy accident (which I'm pretty sure my dad and the Perrins didn't consider in 1989) that Paso Robles has proven to be an incredibly supportive, collegial community, which has embraced its identity as a Rhone hub and turned enthusiastically to the business of improving its practices, marketing its wares, and becoming a leader in sustainability. Conclusion: The next 30 Years Ultimately, what makes me so excited about where we are is that we've had the opportunity to work through our startup issues, and to make the adjustments we thought Paso Robles dictated, without having to compromise on our fundamental ideas. We're still making (mostly) Rhone blends from our organic (and now Biodynamic) estate vineyard, wines that have one foot stylistically in the Old World and one in the New World. And we're doing it all with grapevines that are only now getting to the age where the French would start to really consider them at their peak. Buckle up, kids. The next 30 years is going to be amazing. The Net has described me as a 'mad scientist of RPG blogging,' and a 'Quixotic bastard' ... and also 'the most gonzo - and the grouchiest - old school DM.' Began playing Dungeons and Dragons at the age of 15, forty-one years ago. I am a steadfast AD&D gamer, but I have made so many changes to the original system that my present model is something of a Frankenstein's monster of role-playing design. I continue to make new changes every day to my game's structure and function. This page is no longer available 2019 NHRA: Jenkins 1965 Corvair Corsa Honors Late Father, Wins Best of Show at Pennzoil AutoFair Posted by: newsla on Apr 09, 2019 - 08:00 PM 2019 NHRA: Jenkins 1965 Corvair Corsa Honors Late Father, Wins Best of Show at Pennzoil AutoFair A son continued his fathers legacy on Sunday at the Pennzoil AutoFair at Charlotte Motor Speedway, when Ronnie Jenkins and his red 1965 Corvair Corsa claimed Walt Hollifield Best of Show honors. Jenkins, a Rock Hill, South Carolina, native, restored the car with his late father, Richard. The pair worked on the Corvair in 2006 for a customer; however, in 2015, after the passing of his father, Jenkins knew he had to have it back. Later that year, he purchased it and began touring all over the country in loving memory of his father. My dad has had me interested in Corvairs for most of my life, Jenkins said. In 2006, we spent eight months together completely restoring the car for a customer. We replaced every nut, bolt and screw on the entire car. In 2015, my pop passed away and I just knew I had to have the car back. It represented the great times my dad and I had together before he passed away. The car won best paint in 2017, but he never expected to win Best of Show after a four-day weekend of timeless classic cars, trucks, customs and hot rods. Jenkins knew his competition was fierce, and he didnt expect the car could win against such stiff competition until a panel of judges including David Ankin, star of the television show ToyMakerz, found Jenkins car to be best-in-class. Jenkins said his Corvair has won awards in the past, but he was humbled to be selected as the Best of Show when competing against more than 50 models of hot rod, muscle cars and classics that made up the Best of Show field at AutoFair. Its one of the top two cars in the country of Corvairs. But its not a '55 Chevrolet, Camaros, Mustangs and so forth. (At AutoFair,) they have a totally different standard of judging; its much higher. The Best of Show award was named for Charlotte-area car expert Walt Hollifield, who has been a valuable part of AutoFair for 40 years. Hollifield presented his eponymous award to Jenkins in the winners circle. MORE INFO: Four days of family-friendly fun and glistening cars throughout Charlottes 1.5-mile superspeedway also included drift car rides, burnout contests, appearances by Guinness World Record strongman JD The Ice Man Anderson and as well as displays saluting famous movie cars and more. On Sunday, judges presented additional awards to: Best of Show Runner-up: Michael Brafford cardinal red 1965 Ford Mustang Best of Show Second Runner-up: Grady Whitaker green-and-white 1956 Chevrolet Delray Most Original Award: Jeff Barrett 1965 ermine white Chevrolet Corvair Ladies Choice Award: Ron and Sheila Bales 1950 red and white Ford convertible Most Creative Award: Roger and Rhonda 1964 sandstone Ford Falcon Best Restoration Award: Joe Sherwood 1969 hugger orange Chevrolet Camaro RS Best Foreign Award: Pablo Serrano 1981 orange Toyota Corolla Sam Bass Award (Best Paint): Alan Dempsey 1963 matador red Chevy II SS Custom TICKETS: Fans can purchase tickets to upcoming speedway events including the April 26-28 NGK Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway and the Coca-Cola 600 on May 26 by shopping online, calling 1-800-455-FANS (3267) or buying them at the gates. KEEP TRACK: Connect with Charlotte Motor Speedway and stay up to speed with all the happenings at the speedway by following on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or on Charlotte Motor Speedways mobile app. PaddockTalk Perspective Cleveland Brothers To Supply Heavy Equipment Needs for Pocono Raceway Posted by: newsla on Apr 09, 2019 - 08:05 PM Cleveland Brothers To Supply Heavy Equipment Needs for Pocono Raceway Pocono Raceway announced a multi-year partnership with Cleveland Brothers Equipment Co., Inc. today. Cleveland Brothers, a family owned-and-operated Pennsylvania-based company, will provide the track with instrumental Caterpillar equipment as the Official Heavy Equipment Supplier of Pocono Raceway. We are pleased to partner with Pocono Raceway, a company of similar values as Cleveland Brothers, stated Cleveland Brothers President and CEO, Jay W. Cleveland, Jr. This partnership showcases the reliability of our unmatched equipment and services, and will help the Raceways facility be in top shape for the legions of fans to enjoy this season. Cleveland Brothers will participate in several key Raceway events and will offer exclusive access for fans to see CAT equipment on display in Fan Fair during the NASCAR, INDYCAR and The Great Pocono Raceway Air Show event weekends. They will also utilize the Pocono Raceways facility to host a Caterpillar equipment demonstration day later this year. This is another exciting partnership with a business who calls the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania their home, said Pocono Raceway President, Ben May. Thanks to Cleveland Brothers, all of the tracks heavy equipment needs will be met. We look forward to working with Cleveland Brothers knowledgeable and courteous staff for years to come. The 2019 schedule at Pocono Raceway includes two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races, a NTT IndyCar Series race and The Great Pocono Raceway Air Show. One NASCAR Xfinity Series, one NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series and two ARCA Menards Series races are also on the calendar for this summer at The Tricky Triangle. PaddockTalk Perspective 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. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Luxembourg's police participated in the international police film festival, which took place in Beaune, France from 3 to 7 April. Their Tesla car was a highlight for many visitors. The main theme of the 11th edition of the film festival was "highway patrol." 30 intervention vehicles from 7 European countries put on quite the show when they participated in a parade between Beaune and Dijon. After the parade, the vehicles were taken to a photo-shooting at Dijon's airfield. Luxembourg's police represented the country with two highway intervention vehicles: a BMW 1200 RT motorcycle and the famous Tesla S - a clear favorite of many visitors. Two Tesla S joined the fleet of Luxembourg's police in April 2018. The vehicles are primarily used for police missions on the Grand Duchy's motorways. In light of the looming (potential) deadline for the UK to leave the European Union, which is 12 April, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent out letters to all British citizens registered with the Luxembourgish authorities. The letter details information on "the implications of Brexit on [the recipient's] right of residence in Luxembourg, in case the Withdrawal Agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union is ratified, and in case of a "no deal" Brexit." The letter also highlights that additional information can be found on the Luxembourg Government website (gouvernement.lu) as well as on www.guichet.lu's dedicated FAQ. The adjacent page details the recipient's options in both scenarios. It outlines exceptions for those holding double nationality of another European member state and for those holding a diplomatic card. For those without a second European nationality or a diplomatic card, their rights and the "necessary formalities relating to [their] residence in Luxembourg" will be affected by Brexit, the degree varying based on how the United Kingdom leaves the EU. In case of a withdrawal agreement, Britons will continue to benefit from "largely unchanged" rights. Residence documents will remain valid until 31 December 2020, and will then "be replaced in due course by a new document that will attest to [their] status as a beneficiary of the Withdrawal Agreement." In case of a no-deal Brexit, Britons will become third-country nationals as of the withdrawal date and will require residence permits as third-country nationals. The Luxembourgish authorities will provide Britons with right to reside in Luxembourg based on their current documents for one year as of the withdrawal date. Britons will have to apply for such residence permits three months before the expiry of the one-year extension at the latest. Finally, the letter outlines that guidance for the application process will be published on guichet.lu in due course. The Luxembourgish Viticulture Institute is currently working on a project to showcase the earth profiles of different vineyards in collaboration with a German company. Geologist and artist Michael Veerhoff has been taking 1.20 metre sections out of the soil of each vineyard in order to make paintings out of them. As the director of the Viticulture Institute, Robert Ley, explained, the sections taken by Veerhoff include the minerals that influence the taste of the wine in question. There are two different types of soil around the Moselle river, one of which (between Stadtbredimus and Wasserbillig) is chalky soil. In the area surrounding Remich, as Ley explains, the main type of soil is a clay soil. The difference in soil is crucial in developing the wine's taste, which will be completely different depending on the soil. The grapes that grow out of clay soil lead to hearty, wider wines, whereas chalky soil leads to subtler, elegant wines. Vietnams leading retailer Saigon Co.op announced on Tuesday that it will stop selling plastic drinking straws across its trading system from next month, as an initiative to reduce plastic waste. Plastic straws will be pulled off shelves to make space for eco-friendly alternatives such as paper and edible straws starting May 1, according to Saigon Co.ops permanent deputy general director Nguyen Anh Duc. The retail giants system consists of Co.opmart supermarkets, Co.op Xtra hypermarkets, Co.op Food stores, and two convenience store chains, Co.op Smiles and Cheers. In addition, Saigon Co.op will completely remove plastic straws attached to products sold at its outlets, while requiring merchants leasing space at its hypermarkets to minimize the use of plastic straws. Duc added that in the near future, stainless steel or glass straws, which can be reused multiple times, will be available for purchase at Saigon Co.op outlets as a replacement for the plastic products. Non-plastic straws may not result in great change in consumer habits, but they will tremendously contribute to environmental protection, according to Duc. Saigon Co.op is the first retailer in Vietnam to make such a move in encouraging usage of environment-friendly products instead of plastic alternatives. Different initiatives to reduce single-use plastics have recently been taken in Vietnam, at a time when environmental protection is a topical issue in the country. Earlier this month several supermarket chains, including Saigon Co.op, began a step-by-step effort to ditch their biodegradable wrap for banana leaves in their respective systems. In 2011, Saigon Co.op also pioneered in replacing plastic packaging that takes a long time to decompose with environment-friendly biodegradable plastic bags. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! The Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security on Tuesday announced it would dismiss from its undergraduate institutions 28 students whose real scores in the 2018 National High School Examination did not qualify them for admission. These students were among 64 exam takers from the northern province of Hoa Binh who had their scores raised by insiders in a high-profile cheating scandal that shocked the country last year. With their manipulated scores, these 28 students were able to get into prestigious public security ministry-run institutions in Hanoi including the University of Firefighting and Fire Prevention, the Peoples Security Academy, and the Peoples Police Academy, for the 2018-19 academic year. As their real scores fell short of requirements for admission to these schools, their enrolment will be terminated with immediate effect, a representative from the ministrys training department said on Tuesday. As an academic year usually begins in September or October in Vietnam, these students had completed their first semester at college by the time the decision took effect. Results of the National High School Examination, held every year around June, are used to determine whether a student qualifies for graduation from high school and acts as a placement test for college and university entrance in Vietnam. In 2018, nearly one million candidates took part in the three-day exam, where they sat for tests in math, literature, foreign languages, physics, chemistry, biology, history, geography, and civics. Suspicion of cheating was raised after exam results were released in early July 2018, with a police investigation that followed uncovering test score manipulation in the three northern provinces of Ha Giang, Son La and Hoa Binh. More than a dozen people, including education officials and a police officer, have been prosecuted so far in all three provinces on charges of abusing powers and positions while performing duties. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Vietnam and the Netherlands have agreed to upgrade their bilateral relationship to a comprehensive partnership, on the occasion of the 46th anniversary of the two nations diplomatic ties. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte joined talks in Hanoi on Tuesday, as part of the latters one-day official visit to the Southeast Asian country. The trip was made on the occasion of the 46th anniversary of the two nations diplomatic ties, which were established on April 9, 1973. During the conversation, PM Phuc stressed that Vietnam always values its relations with the Netherlands. The Netherlands is currently Vietnams second-largest European trade partner, with two-way trade recorded at US$7.8 billion in 2018, and largest European investor, with a total registered capital of $9.55 billion. In response, PM Rutte underlined that the Dutch government and business community want to continue bolstering all-round relationship with Vietnam, adding that representatives of more than 70 leading Dutch firms also joined him during his visit. Both leaders expressed satisfaction with the active, effective, and dynamic development of Vietnam-Netherlands ties, believing that there is still room for further cooperation. They consented on elevating the two nations relationship to a comprehensive partnership to boost bilateral collaboration in all fields. The two sides pledged to create favorable conditions for the two nations enterprises to enhance coordination in such fields as agriculture, economic matters, and smart city development. The Dutch premier expressed his support for the early signing and ratification of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), which help promote global trade liberalization between Vietnam and EU member states, including the Netherlands. Focus will also be directed on ties in climate change adaptation, water management, sustainable agriculture, and food security. The two heads of government vowed to offer close and mutual support at multilateral forums, namely the United Nations and the ASEAN- EU cooperation. They also discussed the maintenance of peace in the East Vietnam Sea and settlement of disputes via peaceful means in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Following their talks, the leaders signed a memorandum of understanding on agricultural cooperation in the Mekong Delta, and issued a joint statement on the outcomes of the official visit. PM Rutte also met with Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong and National Assembly chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, as well as attended a sustainable fashion show organized by the Hanoi Peoples Committee and Dutch Embassy before concluding his trip on the same day. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Read what is in the news today, April 10! Politics -- Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte agreed to upgrade Vietnam-Netherlands ties to the comprehensive partnership level during their talks in Hanoi on Tuesday, marking the 46th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Society -- People have been showing up in droves at the South Korean Embassy in Hanoi to apply for a visa amid rumor that the country would soon reconsider a relaxed visa policy that makes Vietnamese nationals from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City or Da Nang eligible for five-year multiple-entry visas. -- Vietnams fisheries resources watchdog has been intensifying patrols to support Vietnamese fishermen and minimize violations by foreign vessels in Vietnamese waters as the summer-fall fishing season, which lasts from April through September, has just begun. -- Four former leaders of the state-run Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin), now the Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (SBIC), have been charged with abusing positions and powers to appropriate assets as part of an ongoing case involving violations by Ha Van Tham, former chairman of Vietnamese lender OceanBank. Business -- Saigon Co.op, one of the largest retail supermarket chains in Vietnam, announced on Tuesday it would cease sales of plastic drinking straws at all of its stores from May 2019 to raise awareness of environmental issues related to plastic waste, becoming the first Vietnamese retailer to take such an initiative. -- American fast food chain Burger King has been forced to delete a culturally insensitive Instagram advert which depicted a Westerner struggling to eat a burger with chopsticks, with the caption reading, Take your taste buds all the way to Ho Chi Minh City, despite the ad featuring no Vietnamese. -- Quang Binh Province in north-central Vietnam will not approve a proposal by a Vietnamese business to build a cable car system leading to its iconic Son Doong Cave, the worlds largest natural cave, provincial deputy chairman Tran Tien Dung said during a press conference in Hanoi on Tuesday. -- Nearly 1,400 households in Ho Chi Minh City have installed solar panels on their roofs and registered to sell electricity to the local power corporation, EVN HCMC, with production totaling 16.68 megawatts. Education -- The Ministry of Public Security on Tuesday announced it would dismiss from its undergraduate institutions 28 students whose real scores in the 2018 National High School Examination did not qualify for admission. These students had their scores raised by insiders in a high-profile cheating scandal that shocked the country. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! The northern Vietnamese province of Hoa Binh has become the first out of 23 localities affected by African swine fever (ASF) to announce the end of the epidemic, the countrys agriculture ministry said on Tuesday. A locality is declared to be free of an epidemic if no new cases are recorded within a 30-day period, and Hoa Binh has met this requirement, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien said at a conference held in the province to officially mark the important milestone. This positive progress is the result of prompt measures taken by the central government, prime minister, agriculture ministry, and relevant agencies, the deputy minister stressed. It is also a good lesson in dealing with the ASF epidemic, as well as other contagious diseases, the official added. According to Nguyen Van Tuan, head of the livestock division under the Hoa Binh Department of Animal Health, local authorities will continue their efforts to prevent the disease from recurring in the province. The ASF epidemic was first recorded in Vietnam in mid-February and has spread to a total of 23 provinces and cities in the northern and north-central regions, whereas more than 73,000 infected pigs have since been destroyed. Hoa Binh is located some 75km southwest of Hanoi. The capital citys Ngoc Thuy Ward was also cleared of the disease on March 28. As of Tuesday, a total of 11 communes and wards in eight provinces and cities were able to announce the eradication of the epidemic. The northern province of Bac Kan is expected to be the second province to be cleared of the disease. African swine fever is a severe viral disease which affects domestic and wild pigs. It is incurable and the infected swine have a 100 percent fatality rate, thus ASF can result in serious production and economic losses. The disease poses no risk to human health. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A U.S. citizen has been sentenced to three years behind bars for drunk driving that led to the death of a Vietnamese woman last year. The Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Court on Tuesday condemned Shane Denoon, of U.S. nationality, to three years in prison for breaking regulations on road traffic. Denoon was riding a motorbike on Nguyen Van Troi Street, from Phu Nhuan District to District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, at 4:00 am on January 27, 2018, according to court documents. He crashed his bike into a bicycle ridden in the same direction by Tran Thi Bich Ngoc, a 50-year-old woman from District 1, when the U.S. man was around the middle of the Cong Ly Bridge. Ngoc fell to the ground and died instantly. Denoon was taken to Cho Ray Hospital in District 5 and survived. The court documents also showed that the man had drunk alcoholic beverages before traveling on Nguyen Van Troi. He failed to keep a safe distance from Ngoc, the court said. His behavior breached regulations on road traffic, falling into the category of drunk driving. The victims family had received VND200 million (US$8,600) in compensation from Denoons family and thus asked for a commutation for him. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! 10 will screen a Melbourne International Comedy Festival special, Stand Up For Christchurch. The 90 minute charity special, to be filmed at Melbourne Town Hall this Saturday, sees all proceeds donated to The Christchurch Foundations Our People Our City fund. Performers include Dave Hughes, Joel Creasey, Urzila Carlson, Peter Helliar, Tommy Little, Jimeoin, Cal Wilson, Arj Barker, Matt Okine, Frida Deguise, Steph Tisdell, Mark Watson and Des Bishop. Im so thrilled that the show sold out so quickly. Theres clearly a lot of love in the community that people want to give. Its great news that Network 10 are broadcasting the show, so that no one will miss out on being a part of the night. There will also be an opportunity for viewers to donate to this worthy cause, said host Nazeem Hussain. 7.30pm Sunday, 21 April on 10. Netflix romance movie The Last Summer, featuring Riverdales K.J. Apa debuts in May. Standing on the precipice of adulthood, a group of friends navigate new relationships, while re-examining others, during their final summer before college. The film is directed by William Bindley, who also co-wrote with Scott Bindley. Featuring several intersecting stories, The Last Summer follows a group of recent high school graduates as they navigate their way through their final summer before taking off for college. As the youths wrestle with love lost and found, form friendships in unexpected circumstances, and take greater control in their relationships with parents, they ultimately decide who they will be and what they will do as they stand on the precipice of adulthood. Starring K.J. Apa, Maia Mitchell, Jacob Latimore, Halston Sage, Sosie Bacon, Wolfgang Novogratz, Gabrielle Anwar, Ed Quinn, Jacob McCarthy, Mario Revolori, Gage Golightly, Norman Johnson, Jr. and Tyler Posey. Friday May 3 on Netflix. Australian Crime Stories this Sunday Adam Shand explores a case which terrified Melburnians in the late 1980s, the story of the notorious child predator dubbed Mr Cruel. He was Australias bogeyman who terrified children and parents throughout the 1980s and 90s. Police believe this masked assailant may be responsible for around a dozen attacks on children, including the murder of Karmein Chan. Thirteen-year-old schoolgirl Karmein Chan was taken by a man in a balaclava from her Templestowe home in Melbourne in 1991 after he forced her two sisters into a wardrobe. Her body was found a year later at Edgars Creek in Thomastown. She had been shot three times, with police believing Mr Cruel to be the prime suspect. In 2016, on the 25th anniversary of Karmeins abduction, police offered a $1 million reward for information about her unsolved murder. On Sunday, April 14, at 9.00pm on Nine, Australian Crime Stories investigative journalist, researcher and co-writer, Adam Shand, follows the trail of the Mr Cruel cases with assistance from the police, journalists, forensic experts and others who were on the frontline of Victorias largest investigation of its time. Shand discovers a cold and calculating criminal who managed to stay one step ahead of the police and may still be at large today. Australian Crime Stories is produced by The Full Box for the Nine Network. 9pm Sunday on Nine. ABC documentary Employable Me has won two gold medals at the New York Festivals International TV & Film Awards. The first won the 2019 United Nations Department of Public Information Gold Award, chosen in collaboration with New York Festivals to honour exceptional programs that best exemplify the aims and ideals of the United Nations. Series 2 also won the Gold World Medal for Documentary for its exploration of social issues affecting people with neuro diverse conditions. Stephen Oliver, ABC Commissioning Editor, Factual, said: We are proud that Employable Me is having such an impact internationally and showing a mainstream audience that when we see the ability rather than just the disability, it is good for both the individual and society. The incredibly dedicated team at Northern Pictures have done an outstanding job making content that is important and compelling. Rose Anderson, New York Festivals Vice-President and Executive Director, said: Since 1990, New York Festivals has partnered with the United Nations Department of Public Information on a special award on issues of importance to the UN. They are determined by a blue-ribbon panel of experts at the United Nations. The Global Goals are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. Employable Me goes to the heart of what the work of the UN is all about improving peoples lives. Employable Me is produced by Northern Pictures for the ABC under its commitment to bring diverse stories, including those about people with disabilities, into focus. The second series of Employable Me which was financed by Screen Australia and the NSW Department of Industry in association with Create NSW and the ABC is now showing on ABC TV and iview. 8:30pm Tuesdays on ABC. Pat Abboud meets a farming community under threat from a mining company they say has trashed their land. 8:30pm Thursday on SBS VICELAND Informer Bachelor in Paradise Counterpart Jane the Virgin Survivor The Ecuadorean Government has been accused of an extensive spying operation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange which has led to a police investigation into claims of extortion. Meetings with lawyers and a doctor inside the Ecuador embassy in London over the past year have been secretly filmed, WikiLeaks said. The anti-secrecy organisation said it had been offered all the material from an unnamed person in Spain, if it paid three million euros. WikiLeaks editor Kristinn Hrafnsson said he travelled to Spain to meet the person and was shown videos of meetings Mr Assange has held in the past year, as well as a copy of a legal document left briefly in a room in the embassy. A judge in Spain is now investigating the allegations, Mr Hrafnsson told a press conference in London. Mr Assange has been living inside the embassy for almost seven years, believing he will be extradited to the United States for questioning over the activities of WikiLeaks if he leaves the building. Me Hrafnsson said attempts to expel Mr Assange from the embassy had been escalating, leading to a warning from WikiLeaks last week that it could happen within hours or days. He added: The only reason it was averted is because we heard about it and published the information. He said there was an extensive spying operation against Mr Assange, conducted from within the embassy. Police in Spain were told about the documents and videos being offered for sale and the information has been passed to an investigative judge, said Mr Hrafnsson. Fidel Narvaez, a former diplomat at the embassy, told the press conference that the Government of Ecuador was not protecting Mr Assange any more, even though he has been granted diplomatic immunity. He said: The Government of Ecuador is making everything possible to end the asylum. WikiLeaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson said a complaint about the spying allegations was being made to the United Nations ahead of a planned meeting between Mr Assange and a UN Special Rapporteur later this month. Story continues We remain concerned about the co-operation the Ecuador government is giving the United States. We know there is a sealed indictment in the US to prosecute him as a priority. No one can credibly deny that risk that is the reason he was granted asylum. Fidel Narvaez, former consul of Ecuador to London, Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor of WikiLeaks and barrister Jennifer Robinson at Doughty Street Chambers in London (Nick Ansell/PA) Any assurance from the UK Government that he would not be extradited is not believable. Mr Hrafnsson said Mr Assange was now living in a Truman Show operation, with restrictions on his communications and visitors, introduced after Lenin Moreno became President of Ecuador last year. WikiLeaks assumes the secretly recorded information has been handed to the administration of US President Donald Trump. Videos offered for sale included a medical examination of Mr Assange by a doctor in a room inside the embassy, said Mr Hrafnsson. He added: It was recorded and found its way to a dubious individual in Spain. FILE PHOTO: Man takes selfie pictures with a cutout of Indonesia's presidential candidate for the upcoming election Prabowo Subianto during a campaign rally in Solo FILE PHOTO: A man takes selfie pictures with a cutout of Indonesia's presidential candidate for the upcoming election Prabowo Subianto during a campaign rally in Solo, Central Java Province, Indonesia, April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan/File Photo By Fanny Potkin and Agustinus Beo Da Costa JAKARTA (Reuters) - Armed with laptops, three dozen journalists and fact-checkers braced for battle before a live debate between Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his challenger, Prabowo Subianto. With two giant screens displaying television network feeds in front of them, the keyboard warriors split into six groups, each responsible for fact-checking a segment of the debate. For nearly three hours, their eyes barely left their screens as they attempted to verify candidates' comments in real time: allegations about corruption, statistics on the country's Muslim population, boasts, and even personal anecdotes. They and other fact-checkers are fighting a running battle against fake news and propaganda ahead of an April 17 election in the world's third-biggest democracy. Election monitors are worried that the flow of misinformation stoking ethnic and religious divides could undermine electoral bodies and even raise social tensions. The Cekfakta ("checkfacts" in Indonesian) initiative brings together the non-profit fact-checking organisation Mafindo and 24 news organisations that normally compete fiercely with each other during election campaigns. "There's a watchdog now in operation," Cekfakta co-founder Wahyu Dhyatmika, editor-in-chief of news website Tempo.co, told Reuters. "As a candidate, you cannot throw claims into the air ... we will fact-check them." Backed financially by Google News Lab, which also helps fund Mafindo, Cekfakta's volunteers took over the U.S tech giant's swanky Jakarta office for the debate on March 30. Dhyatmika wanted to avoid a repeat of the 2014 election, also between Widodo and retired general Prabowo, when reporters were unprepared for the flood of false news that swept across social media. 'WE'RE IN A WAR' The fact checkers' adversaries, fake news peddlers, sit at screens too, pumping out misinformation disguised as fact that often exploits ethnic or religious divides. Story continues "We're in a war for content ... people are doing anything they want," said one fake news creator, who has written stories depicting Indonesian officials as paid off by Beijing. The person declined to be identified because such work is illegal. Indonesia's population of 269 million has a youthful median age of just over 30 years, according to the World Population Review. With more than 100 million accounts, the country is Facebook's third-largest market and a top-five market globally for its platforms WhatsApp and Instagram, as well as rival Twitter. Fake news in Indonesia can rack up thousands of views in hours, despite laws against creating and spreading such content. Mafindo's head of fact-checking, Aribowo Sasmito, compares it to the drug trade. "There are the factories, the dealers, and the victims. Most of the people who end up arrested are victims ... They read hoaxes and believed them to be true." Since December, Mafindo has documented a surge in political fake news using ethnicity and religion to target both candidates. The organisation finds most worrisome the dozens of stories that paint electoral bodies as corrupt. This will be only Indonesia's fourth democratic presidential election. Sasmito considers it a good result if fact-checked posts can reach even a small fraction of the audience the originals did. Mafindo's work has made it some enemies. The group has received enough threats that it keeps its office address secret; Cefakta's website was hacked after a previous debate. A Reuters investigation in March found that both the Prabowo and Widodo campaigns were funding sophisticated social media operations to spread propaganda and disinformation through fake accounts on behalf of the candidates. [L3N20Z2EH] Both campaigns said they did not use such teams. FAKE NEWS CREATORS One journalist said he was hired by Prabowo campaign advisers to write positive stories about Prabawo and negative ones on Widodo, to be posted on Facebook and WhatsApp. He said he was not motivated by money but believes the mainstream media is biased in favour of Widodo. Fearing government retaliation, the man declined to be named, but he showed Reuters communications that suggested he was he in contact with Prabowo advisers. He said he wrote only "true" negative stories, and cited as an example a post that 2,000 Chinese workers on Indonesia's Sulawesi island were secretly part of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. "We have evidence from government contacts and we can see they are soldiers from the way they look," he said, declining to share such evidence. Prabowo campaign spokesman Andre Rosiadi denied any advisers had hired journalists to write "positive or negative content" and "especially not fake news." Asked about the Sulawesi allegation, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Embassy in Indonesia replied to Reuters in a text: "fake news." But such claims also make it onto the campaign trail. A Prabowo campaign volunteer in West Java told Reuters last week that millions of Chinese workers had been secretly relocated to Sulawesi. "It's not hoax, it's fact," said volunteer Cecep Abdul Halim. Reuters found that the creator of the Sulawesi claim had also written stories in 2016 falsely depicting former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjaha Purnama as a Communist stooge of China. Purnama, a Christian ethnic-Chinese Indonesian ally of Widodo, recently completed a two-year prison sentence for blasphemy against Islam based on a video doctored to make him seem he was insulting the Koran. The man convicted of making the video, a former journalist, worked for Prabowo's media team until he was sent to prison last month. A campaign spokesman confirmed he had worked for the media team, but did not comment further. Social media data gathered by Mafindo as well as Indonesian big-data consultancy Drone Emprit shows that allegations using China as a bogeyman are widespread in Indonesia, where suspicions about the wealth of the ethnic-Chinese community and the influence of Beijing run deep. A disproven video that went viral in January claimed to show seven shipping containers from China at Jakarta's port filled with millions of ballots punctured in favour of Widodo. Common misinformation themes against Widodo portray him alternatively as a member of Indonesia's banned Communist party, a Chinese plant, or anti-Islam. Prabowo, meanwhile, has been depicted as both impious and planning to create a caliphate, while his running mate has been portrayed inaccurately as gay. All are inflammatory accusations in the world's largest Muslim-majority country, which rights groups say recently has seen increased prejudice against religious and LGBT minorities. And the stories work. Although Widodo enjoys a double-digit lead over Prabowo, three surveys found that a minority of the population believes that he is either a communist or a Christian. According to a December poll, as many as 42 percent of Prabowo supporters believed this about Widodo, while 65 percent of Widodo supporters believed Prabowo kidnapped democracy activists while in the military, a claim he strenuously denies. Experts say such polarisation is dangerous for Indonesia and could stoke anger against minorities. "This kind of fake news gains traction because they're the seeds of intolerance in our society," said Cefakta's Dhyatmika. "And it's not being addressed." (Reporting by Fanny Potkin in JAKARTA and Agustinus Beo Da Costa in GARUT. Additional reporting by Yerica Lai. Editing by John Chalmers and Gerry Doyle) The fight for control of Libyas capital worsened on Wednesday as the UN Security Council geared up to discuss the crisis. The talks expected in New York come after the United Nations delayed a national conference hoping to plan an election roadmap for Libya.Heavy gunfire was heard during Tuesday evening in the Ain Zara district on the south-eastern outskirts of Tripoli, according to reports from the AFP news agency.The violence is reported to have already displaced thousands of people and left several dozen people dead.Nearly half a million children in the Libyan capital are at immediate risk, according to the UN.The Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar said it had taken control of an army barracks in the Aziziya area, some 50 kilometres south of Tripoli, AFP reported.The LNA said several fighters loyal to the UN-backed government had been detained and weapons seized following ferocious clashes.The Western-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) spokesperson Colonel Mohamed Gnounou said several airstrikes against the LNA were carried out south of Tripoli, according to AFP.It appears that Haftars forces are advancing from the south and southeast of Tripoli, while roads to the east and west of the city are being held by GNA fighters.Haftar has ignored calls from the UN Security Council and US to stop the long-anticipated attack on Tripoli. The fight for control of Libyas capital worsened on Wednesday as the UN Security Council geared up to discuss the crisis. The talks expected in New York come after the United Nations delayed a national conference hoping to plan an election roadmap for Libya. Heavy gunfire was heard during Tuesday evening in the Ain Zara district on the south-eastern outskirts of Tripoli, according to reports from the AFP news agency. The violence is reported to have already displaced thousands of people and left several dozen people dead. Nearly half a million children in the Libyan capital are at immediate risk, according to the UN. The Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar said it had taken control of an army barracks in the Aziziya area, some 50 kilometres south of Tripoli, AFP reported. The LNA said several fighters loyal to the UN-backed government had been detained and weapons seized following ferocious clashes. The Western-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) spokesperson Colonel Mohamed Gnounou said several airstrikes against the LNA were carried out south of Tripoli, according to AFP. It appears that Haftars forces are advancing from the south and southeast of Tripoli, while roads to the east and west of the city are being held by GNA fighters. Haftar has ignored calls from the UN Security Council and US to stop the long-anticipated attack on Tripoli. Zimbabwes intelligence agency has disrupted a secret meeting of a faction from Botswana's ruling party aimed at bringing down their president Mokgweetsi Masisi, according Zimbabwe's state-owned Herald newspaper.Zimbabwe's intelligence agency reportedly stopped former Botswana President Ian Khama and Pelonomi Moitoi, a key rival to incumbent Masisi, along with a South African tycoon, from holding a secret meeting at Victoria Falls border town.Zimbabwes well-informed state-owned Herald reports that the South African billionaire was transporting a whopping 90 million Botswana Pula (5.5 million dollars).TheSunday Standard of Botswana, which broke the news says it was able to track down the passengers of the chartered flight from Gaborones Lanseria Airport, where the chartered plane until its arrival at the Zimbabwean border town.In Harare, the Herald reported that Pelonomi Moitoi, who plans to run for president with the ruling Botswana Democratic Party, her delegation, and the South African tycoon Bridgette Motsepe (who turned out to be South African President Cyril Ramaphosas sister-in-law) were detained and interrogated by Zimbabwean intelligence officers before being deported.South African connectionIts likely that diplomatic immunity, friendship agreements and niceties among neighbours may have prevented the Zimbabwe security forces from seizing the money, says Tichaona Zindoga, Editor of the state-owned Herald.In an interview with RFI, Zindoga observed that the CIO had declined any comment about the real purpose of the meeting because of the sensitivity of the matter.The publications editor went on to dismiss speculation that the group travelled to Victoria Falls to plan a military coup. Money laundering, illegal funding, yes, not something so extremist, he said. Tichoana Zindoga claims that while Ian Khama took to Facebook to discredit what he described as shallow, shallow lies," he did admit taking part in the meeting with Pelonomi Moitoi, Kabelo Binns, founder of Botswanas leading PR group and ex-Minister Daphne Kadiwa and axed intelligence chief Isaac Kgosi.Drawn political daggers Zindoga recalls that Khama retired last year, handing over power to Masisi. But he points to ruptures within the party which saw Khama wanting to retake control, leading Masisi to take drastic action against Khama and his cohorts.The latest consequence of the factional fighting going on inside the ruling Botswana Democratic Party is that Khama is supporting the opposition at the expense of his successor, six months away from the October 2019 elections, according to the Zimbabwe Herald editor Tichoana Zindog Zimbabwes intelligence agency has disrupted a secret meeting of a faction from Botswana's ruling party aimed at bringing down their president Mokgweetsi Masisi, according Zimbabwe's state-owned Herald newspaper. Zimbabwe's intelligence agency reportedly stopped former Botswana President Ian Khama and Pelonomi Moitoi, a key rival to incumbent Masisi, along with a South African tycoon, from holding a secret meeting at Victoria Falls border town. Zimbabwes well-informed state-owned Herald reports that the South African billionaire was transporting a whopping 90 million Botswana Pula (5.5 million dollars). TheSunday Standard of Botswana, which broke the news says it was able to track down the passengers of the chartered flight from Gaborones Lanseria Airport, where the chartered plane until its arrival at the Zimbabwean border town. In Harare, the Herald reported that Pelonomi Moitoi, who plans to run for president with the ruling Botswana Democratic Party, her delegation, and the South African tycoon Bridgette Motsepe (who turned out to be South African President Cyril Ramaphosas sister-in-law) were detained and interrogated by Zimbabwean intelligence officers before being deported. South African connection Its likely that diplomatic immunity, friendship agreements and niceties among neighbours may have prevented the Zimbabwe security forces from seizing the money, says Tichaona Zindoga, Editor of the state-owned Herald. In an interview with RFI, Zindoga observed that the CIO had declined any comment about the real purpose of the meeting because of the sensitivity of the matter. The publications editor went on to dismiss speculation that the group travelled to Victoria Falls to plan a military coup. Money laundering, illegal funding, yes, not something so extremist, he said. Tichoana Zindoga claims that while Ian Khama took to Facebook to discredit what he described as shallow, shallow lies," he did admit taking part in the meeting with Pelonomi Moitoi, Kabelo Binns, founder of Botswanas leading PR group and ex-Minister Daphne Kadiwa and axed intelligence chief Isaac Kgosi. Story continues Drawn political daggers Zindoga recalls that Khama retired last year, handing over power to Masisi. But he points to ruptures within the party which saw Khama wanting to retake control, leading Masisi to take drastic action against Khama and his cohorts. The latest consequence of the factional fighting going on inside the ruling Botswana Democratic Party is that Khama is supporting the opposition at the expense of his successor, six months away from the October 2019 elections, according to the Zimbabwe Herald editor Tichoana Zindog Local residents and activists condemned the killing of a hippopotamus that wandered into the town of Kedougou, in southeastern Senegal, on March 31. Several grisly videos showing a French hunter, operating at the request of local authorities, shooting the animal in the middle of the street circulated online. Residents of the Dalaba neighbourhood in Kedougou, Senegal, first noticed the hippopotamus at around 5am on March 31, local media reported. Videos shared on social media showed the animal, which is endangered, making its way slowly down the street and occasionally veering toward stone enclosures as crowds gathered to watch. A security team, including police officers, firefighters and soldiers, as well as staff from the ministry of water and forests soon arrived on scene. Authorities dispatched a call to Francois Huard, a professional hunter who manages the local safari resort Le Relais, and asked him to kill the animal. The slaughter was shared on Facebook Live by Abdoulaye Barro, a local journalist. In the video, which now has over 16,000 views, local authorities are seen telling people to move back and creating a security barrier around the hippopotamus, which appears to be trapped in a septic tank. Huard then shoots the animal several times in the head, to cheers from the crowd. Huard later tells Barro (around the 36th minute of the video) that he had never shot a hippopotamus before and that he fired five shots because the animal was very solid. "It was for everyones benefit," Huard adds.Warning: graphic video below Another Facebook Live video posted by Barro, which has garnered more than 11,000 views, shows a tractor moving the carcass as onlookers applaud. Barro then interviews a family who say they were frightened when they saw the hippo earlier that day. Warning: graphic video below As photos and videos of the killing began circulating online, many local residents and environmental activists condemned the act. The Dakar Association for Animal Protection said in a Facebook post that it was "saddened" to hear of the hippopotamus killing and that "there is always an alternative solution to murder." "The animal wasnt trying to hurt anyone. It got lost and we killed itMamadou D., a resident of Kedougou who wished to remain anonymous, saw the scene unfold.> The hippo was completely trapped in the septic tank. Its two back hooves were stuck and it couldnt get out. People were throwing stones at it, maybe in an attempt to get it to come out.> > I dont understand why they called in the director of the Kedougou Les Relais safari resort or why the hippo was killed. Security was there, including the police, firefighters and members of the ministry of water and forests, who are trained to handle animals like this one and get them back to their natural habitat.> > The whole situation made me think that the authorities arent actually qualified to keep us safe. Why didnt any of them have tranquilizer darts? The animal didnt want to hurt anyone. It just got lost and we killed it. It made me really sad. "Killing an animal is only allowed in a legitimate case of self-defenseBamba Cisse, a lawyer in Dakar who specialises in crimes against wildlife, said the hippopotamus shouldnt have been killed.> An investigation should be opened into the incident. The hippo is an endangered species and by law, you can only kill it in a legitimate case of self-defense. But the footage shows the animal was trapped in a septic tank and, at the moment it was killed, it didnt pose a threat to anybody's life. The man who shot it was breaking the law and could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.> > The hunter said the governor had asked him to do it. We also need to open an investigation to determine the circumstances in which a governor has the power to ask a private citizen to kill an animal. The animal did need to be neutralised. Why not shoot to wound and then take it away? But here, [Huard] aimed for the head.> > Its also important to note that, by this point, the hippo had been under the sun for several hours, with no access to water. That's a very difficult situation for a hippo, so it was already in a weakened state when it was killed. Cisse wrote in a Facebook post that the killing was "unacceptable" and that an investigation should be opened. Authorities have yet to comment publicly on the incident. But in a video posted on Facebook by Barro, a man who identified himself as Commander Moussa Ndour, who oversees tourist hunting grounds in Faleme and serves as head of wildlife in Kedougou, said the hippo likely wandered into town in search of food. He added that hippos typically feed at dusk and might have tried to enter homes in order to avoid the sun . "When this animal entered town, it became a public safety issue, Ndour says in the video. Because there were no tranquilizers available to neutralise the hippo, the governor decided to kill the animal and seek help from a professionnal hunter. The carcass was then buried "very deep in the ground" to limit potential health risks, Ndour adds. This story was written by Maeva Poulet and Corentin Bainier. FILE PHOTO: A bird flies past the logo of Vedanta installed on the facade of its headquarters in Mumbai, India January 31, 2018. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/File Photo By Barbara Lewis LONDON (Reuters) - Nearly 2,000 Zambian villagers have the right to sue mining company Vedanta in the English courts, London's Supreme Court said on Wednesday, raising the prospect other companies could face legal action in England related to their activities abroad. India-listed Vedanta, which delisted from London last year but maintains a legal base in Britain, appealed a lower-court ruling that a case in which villagers alleged their land was polluted by a Vedanta unit could be heard in England. But the Supreme Court dismissed Vedanta's appeal and said the Zambian villagers could pursue their case through the English courts. In a statement, Vedanta said the judgement was procedural, relating only to the jurisdiction of the English courts to hear the claims. "It is not a judgement on the merits of the claims. Vedanta and KCM (Konkola Copper Mines) will defend themselves against any such claims at the appropriate time," it said. Leigh Day, which represented the villagers, said in a statement the decision could have wider implications. "I hope this judgement will send a strong message to other large multinationals that their CSR (corporate social responsibility) policies should not just be seen as a polish for their reputation but as important commitments that they must put into action," Martyn Day, senior partner at Leigh Day, said in a statement. Oliver Holland, a solicitor at Leigh Day, said the firm would now press to bring to trial the case of the 1,826 villagers who allege their land and livelihood have been destroyed by water pollution caused by the Nchanga Copper Mine, owned by Vedanta through its subsidiary KCM. Separately, Leigh Day is seeking the right to appeal to the Supreme Court after a lower court found Nigerians could not pursue a claim against Royal Dutch Shell in London in relation to oil spills in Nigeria's Delta region. Leigh Day is also seeking to take a case against Unilever to the Supreme Court over a lawsuit it has brought on behalf of tea plantation workers and their families in Kenya in connection with ethnic violence in 2008. Vedanta's legal team previously argued that Zambia was the "natural forum" for the case and said the parent company did not control operations in Zambia, which were governed by Zambian law. (Reporting by Barbara Lewis; Editing by Dale Hudson) FILE PHOTO: A Rolls-Royce logo is seen at the company's aerospace engineering and development site in Bristol, Britain, December 17, 2015. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo By Noor Zainab Hussain (Reuters) - Rolls-Royce has agreed to an early inspection of some Trent 1000 TEN engines by regulatory authorities, a week after Singapore Airlines Ltd grounded two Boeing Co 787-10 jets fitted with the units. The latest version of the Trent engine has been dogged by problems since entering service at the end of 2017. According to Rolls-Royce, by late February 35 787s had been grounded globally due to engine blades corroding or cracking prematurely. "This blade deterioration is a known issue but it is occurring faster than we expected on some engines," Chris Cholerton, Rolls-Royce President for Civil Aerospace, said on Wednesday. The accelerated inspection regime will allow Rolls-Royce to confirm the health of the more than 180 engines in service over the next few months. Shares in Rolls-Royce were trading down 0.5 percent by 0751 GMT, underperforming the wider FTSE 100 index. Singapore Airlines grounded its two jets last week after engine checks showed premature blade deterioration. Jefferies analysts said the affected engines were being operated on routes to Japan, Korea and Thailand, meaning they had a relatively high take-off and landing cycle. In February, Rolls-Royce allocated another 100 million pounds to fix the engine problems and raised a related accounting charge to 790 million pounds from 554 million pounds six months earlier, contributing to a full-year operating loss of 1.16 billion pounds. However, on Wednesday, the company reiterated its current guidance for in-service cash costs on the Trent 1000 in 2019 and 2020. Rolls-Royce engineers have been developing and testing an enhanced version of the engine blades, which the company said it expects to start incorporating in the engines early next year. The company said an airworthiness directive would be issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency. Rolls-Royce, which makes engines for large civil aircraft and military planes, is keen to avoid further problems with its Trent 1000 engine and last month dropped out of the race to power Boeing's planned mid-market aircraft. (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Kirsten Donovan) Brandon William Pyatt was caught after 21 years on the run (PA) A convicted conman being pursued by police after using Eric Cantonas image on a range of wines has been caught in South Africa after 21 years on the run. Brandon William Pyatt, 64, from Manchester, made headlines in the mid-1990s when he faced High Court action for using the former Manchester United strikers image on a range of wines and brandy. He used a series of false identities to evade capture for more than two decades until he was finally arrested last week. Eric Cantona played as a strike for Manchester United from 1993 to 1997 (PA) Pyatt also committed a series of frauds linked to a vehicle leasing company that he ran in the North West of England in the mid-1990s, leaving some of his victims tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket. He skipped bail during his trial at Chester Crown Court for fraud and deception, and in 1998 was jailed for five years in his absence. The 64-year-old was finally arrested in Pretoria last week after the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) tipped off South African authorities. A National Crime Agency officer, who has worked on the case since Pyatt first went on the run, said it gave him great personal satisfaction that the fraudster had been caught. After 21 years on the run, a UK fugitive has been tracked down by the NCA and arrested in South Africa. Read more: https://t.co/ECC4vIBwvU pic.twitter.com/LyRuoe6Q3W NationalCrimeAgency (@NCA_UK) April 10, 2019 The serial conman is also facing criminal charges in South Africa for alleged fraud and theft. He appeared in court in Durban on Tuesday, and the proceedings there will be dealt with before extradition is considered. NCA officer Danny Murphy, who worked on the original investigation into Pyatt in 1998 and has been involved in the hunt for him ever since said: I can say that the arrest of Pyatt brings me great personal satisfaction. Story continues We never gave up, and his eventual capture is testament to the hard work of NCA officers in the UK and abroad and the South African Authorities. I hope the victims of Pyatts offending will now experience some form of closure knowing that he is finally behind bars, and I thank them for their patience over the last two decades. Head of international operations for the NCA Ian Cruxton said: Pyatt travelled to the other side of the world and used a range of aliases and assumed identities in a bid to evade us. He is a prolific fraudster, and it seems that during his time in South Africa he has continued his offending and continued causing harm, making it all the more important that we track him down. [April 09, 2019] Vonage Holdings Corp. Announces 2019 Annual Stockholders' Meeting HOLMDEL, N.J., April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG), a global business cloud communications leader, will hold its annual meeting of stockholders on Thursday, June 6, 2019 at 10:00 AM ET. The 2019 annual meeting webcast will be accessible live through Vonage's Investor Relations website. Shareholders at the close of business on Tuesday, April 9, 2019 are entitled to attend the virtual annual meeting. Shareholders will be able to vote shares and submit questions electronically during the virtual annual meeting. Non-shareholders will be able to attend the annual meeting electronically but will not be able to vote or participate. About Vonage Vonage (NYSE:VG) is redefining busiess communications, helping enterprises use fully-integrated unified communications, contact center, and programmable communications solutions via Nexmo, the Vonage API Platform, to improve how business gets done. True to our roots as a technology disruptor, we've embraced technology to transform how companies connect, collaborate and communicate to create better business outcomes. Vonage's fully-integrated cloud communications platform built on a microservices-based architecture enables businesses to collaborate more productively and engage their customers more effectively across all channels, including messaging, chat, social media, video and voice. Vonage Holdings Corp. is headquartered in Holmdel, New Jersey, with offices throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Vonage is a registered trademark of Vonage Marketing LLC, owned by Vonage America Inc. To follow Vonage on Twitter, please visit www.twitter.com/vonage. To become a fan on Facebook, go to www.facebook.com/vonage. To subscribe on YouTube, visit www.youtube.com/vonage. (vg-f) View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vonage-holdings-corp-announces-2019-annual-stockholders-meeting-300828342.html SOURCE Vonage Holdings Corp. [April 10, 2019] Avaya Extends AI and Cloud Integration with Google Cloud To Provide Customers with More Intelligent, Flexible Solutions Google Cloud Next '19 - Avaya (News - Alert) Holdings Corp. (NYSE: AVYA), a global leader in solutions to enhance and simplify communications and collaboration, is furthering its integration with Google Cloud to fully leverage the AI and cloud capabilities of both companies, providing Avaya clients with new capabilities to enhance their customer experience and achieve desired business outcomes. Avaya is embedding Google Cloud's machine learning technology within Avaya conversation services powering the contact center, enabling easy integration of digital AI capabilities for a consistent and intelligent customer experience. With the help of Google Cloud, Avaya provides increased flexibility, efficiency and scalability in deploying powerful and simple communication and collaboration solutions that improve the customer journey and increase workforce engagement with more personalized, intelligent and insightful interactions. Avaya is one of the Google Cloud partners participating in an early access program aimed at augmenting next-generation contact centers with various Google Cloud Contact Center AI technologies. In turn, Google Cloud joins a growing number of AI innovators in the Avaya A.I.Connect ecosystem. Avaya has also adopted Kubernetes to empower Avaya solutions with microservices and containerization, taking a true cloud foundation design approach in their solution offerings. This advances Avaya beyond basic hosting and virtualization approaches used by many vendors, and enables organizations to embrace a hybrid cloud deployment option for their communications infrastructure, delivering the benefits of cloud solutions while avoiding the one-size-fits-all limitation offered by other providers. Through its collaboration with Google Cloud, Avaya is providing customers with increased flexibility, efficiency and scalability in deploying the contact center and collaboration solutions that best meet their specific needs. Additionally, Avaya has added Google Cloud Platform as a deployment option for its portfolio of communication and collaboration offerings, providing cost benefits through additional customer choice for cloud deployment. These efforts complement a number of other Avaya and Google Cloud integrations, including: Avaya OneCloud for contact center and unified communications feature an identity engine and provisioning built natively in Google Cloud Platform, and fully support single sign-on and native integration with G Suite. Avaya IX Collaboration meetings-as-a-service is natively built on Googl Cloud Platform and is available globally. Avaya OneCloud CPaaS is integrated with Google IoT Cloud and natively supports Google speech services, transcription, and storage for robust real-time messaging solutions across IoT-enabled devices and applications. This allows IoT solutions to deliver real-time event awareness over Avaya's reliable communications framework Avaya Vantage desktop smartphones are Google Mobile Services (GMS (News - Alert)) certified, and offer a unified "out of the box" experience with pre-loaded Google apps, as well as the ability to obtain additional third-party apps for specific business or personal needs. "By deepening and accelerating how we leverage Google Cloud across our contact center and unified communications portfolio, we are providing increasingly powerful solutions to organizations of all kinds, enabling their successful digital transformation and driving positive business results," said Eric Rossman (News - Alert), Avaya vice president, Partners, Developers & Alliances. "We are excited by the collaborative relationship we are building with Google Cloud as a member of Avaya's A.I.Connect ecosystem." Avaya is showcasing its advanced AI and Cloud solutions at Google Cloud Next 2019 April 9-11, Booth # S1213 in the Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA (News - Alert). About Avaya Businesses are built on the experiences they provide, and every day millions of those experiences are built by Avaya (NYSE:AVYA). For over one hundred years, we've enabled organizations around the globe to win - by creating intelligent communications experiences for customers and employees. Avaya builds open, converged and innovative solutions to enhance and simplify communications and collaboration - in the cloud, on-premise or a hybrid of both. To grow your business, we're committed to innovation, partnership, and a relentless focus on what's next. We're the technology company you trust to help you deliver Experiences that Matter. Visit us at www.avaya.com. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This document contains certain "forward-looking statements." All statements other than statements of historical fact are "forward-looking" statements for purposes of the U.S. federal and state securities laws. These statements may be identified by the use of forward looking terminology such as "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "might," "our vision," "plan," "potential," "preliminary," "predict," "should," "will," or "would" or the negative thereof or other variations thereof or comparable terminology and include, but are not limited to, expected cash savings and statements about growth, exchange listing and improved operational metrics. The Company has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While the Company believes these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond its control. The factors are discussed in the Company's Registration Statement on Form 10 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, may cause its actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. For a further list and description of such risks and uncertainties, please refer to the Company's filings with the SEC that are available at www.sec.gov. The Company cautions you that the list of important factors included in the Company's SEC filings may not contain all of the material factors that are important to you. In addition, considering these risks and uncertainties, the matters referred to in the forward-looking statements contained in this report may not in fact occur. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law. Source (News - Alert): Avaya Newsroom View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005056/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Incidents of wildfires in California are on the rise and most of the major fires have happened in the last two decades. These could be attributed to Climate change and the creation of a base for more hot and dry weather. That will in turn, make the state more vulnerable to wildfires. The authorities have accepted that climate change is the single factor that accounted for the majority of the forestland devastated by Wildfire since the mid-1980s. The US National Climate Assessment has gone on to project that areas under wildfires could increase twofold by 2050. CNN reports that using goats can help to check the devastation of wildfires. Actually, the logic is simple. These animals are voracious eaters and can create firebreaks with ease by devouring the small trees and shrubs. Such a situation can prevent wildfires from spreading from trees and plants to homes and businesses. This system is gaining acceptance. Deploying goats to help prevent wildfires across California and other western states in the country is the new norm. The scheme is catching on Nevada City is in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Senum is its vice mayor and she wants to save the city from the wrath of wildfires. She knew that getting grants from the government was a long drawn affair so she launched a crowdfunding campaign. The name of the fund was appropriate. It was Goat Fund Me. Its purpose would be to rent goats and use them to create firebreaks that will act as barriers and check the spread of fire. Discuss this news on Eunomia Wildfire drill prompts hundreds to evacuate in Nevada County https://t.co/M1v7IokOQV pic.twitter.com/D2GlKOM1Tb kcranews (@kcranews) April 8, 2019 A number of goat companies have emerged who are willing to rent out their animals. These can eat eight to 10 lbs of food every day and if deployed in a planned manner can be effective. Human herder and guardian dogs accompany the animals to protect them from local predators and the goats clear the vegetation in an eco-friendly way. CNN goes on to add that the response to Goat Fund Me has been "amazing." It has reached $26,000 of its $30,000 target. Goats are not costly According to the Los Angeles Times, goats are not too costly. The cost of booking a herd works out to be from $500 to $1,500 an acre. A group of 200 animals can plow through an acre of land daily. In the opinion of a local rancher near Nevada City, a team of at least 1000 goats will be required for at least six months to reduce the threat of fire. They should graze on both city and private properties. Incidentally, using goats has been in Laguna Beach for decades. The goats feast on the vegetation to reduce the threat of brush fires. California has been in the grip of wildfires which are attributable to climate change. Goats are short-term measures for small areas. There must still be an emphasis on tackling the root of the problem. In other words, the authorities still need to try and reduce the CO2 effect by eliminating fossil fuels and increase the green belt because greenery helps keep the surroundings cool and binds the soil. Beth Chapman, famous for her work as a bounty hunter along with her husband Duane Dog Chapman, was hospitalized on April 6. Fluid reportedly accumulated in her lungs, The Blast reported. To alleviate pressure, she underwent an emergency procedure. According to SurvivorNet, A lot of people" living with cancer experience a series of hospitalizations when something unexpected goes wrong. The publication further explained that lung cancer can lead pleural effusion, which is not an uncommon type of fluid that builds up that affects other people diagnosed with lung cancer. Reality star rushed to hospital, grateful of prayers Beths and Dogs lawyer verified that the reality television star is at home in Hawaii and recovering, according to People. She was rushed to the hospital, where she had surgery, the publication also stated. The Chapmans feel grateful for the outpouring of prayers and support from fans, the New York Daily News reported. Beth, 51, and Dog, 66, have been generous in sharing updates about their lives with fans and social media followers. I love you friend ... https://t.co/pFeeQ3iteR Beth Chapman (@MrsdogC) April 7, 2019 The same day that Beth was most recently hospitalized, Dog shared on Instagram that his wife had a pizza craving from their fave spot, In Touch Weekly relayed on April 6. Even though he remarked that Beth would eat maybe a slice of the pizza, his act of getting her exactly what she wanted did demonstrate that he was making good on the commitment and willingness do anything to keep his wife alive, according to SurvivorNet. Bounty hunter Dog says Beth is his rock Dog credited Beth for being his rock, as well as his bodyguard, several media outlets reported early in April. Discuss this news on Eunomia Amid her battle against cancer, he also opened up about his emotions, acknowledging that Beth is his everything, Fox 8 noted. He stated that he has cried a great deal while Beth has been fighting like hell. Live life to the fullest in midst of cancer battle Beth has been tough in her fight against cancer, showing her determination to live life to the fullest in spite of her diagnosis, Fox also reported. She has continued working, on the hunt," as Dog relayed. Simultaneous to her courageous effort to the best life possible with her husband, she has retained her desire to enjoy their time left together. The couple is set on holding onto hope, according to Country Living. The publication reported that Beths stage four lung cancer is not something that they allow to slow them down. Equally important to their positivity is their approach to deciding that they cannot admit defeat. WGN show scheduled for air this year While staying strong for each other, and giving the battle with cancer their all, the Chapmans have also maintained taping their WGN reality show, Dogs Most Wanted. Dogs son Leland is also an important member of the familys bounty hunting team. The teams work is slated for broadcast later this year. Dog characterized himself as feeling amazed by Beths strength, according to In Touch. He also said that he would be a big sissy, if he were in his wifes position. He poignantly stated that he also cannot imagine a day without her. Greece: A large number of dolphins died in the Aegean Sea since the end of February. Many of them washed up on the northern coast of Samos. They did not display any telltale signs of being deliberately killed or of suffering from any serious illness. However, Turkey's navy conducted a major exercise in the region that could be a factor. Sky News reports the Navy conducted the exercise between February 27 and March 8. It involved more than 100 vessels using sonar and live ammunition. Warships use sonar to locate submarines but the noise generated is like a death knell for dolphins. The noise is deafening to them and in trying to escape, they surface too fast or beach themselves. Moreover, the explosion of live ammunition can lead to the death of millions of organisms. Scientists say a major exercise by Turkey's navy could be to blame for the increase in dolphin deaths https://t.co/Je4mDn25XA Sky News (@SkyNews) April 8, 2019 The full implications could be more severe Anastassia Miliou is the head of research at the Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation. She says that so far, a few dead dolphins have washed up and there could be many more because Turkeys naval exercise had more than 100 ships and the Aegean coastline is a long one. She clarified that at this time of the year, there are a few deaths reported. Hence, the present number of multiple deaths is a matter of worry. More dolphins die in Aegean Sea; group suspects navy... - Daily Mail https://t.co/poRpaPEC3q Greece news feed (@HellasNewsFeed) April 8, 2019 Sky News adds there was a similar situation with whale deaths and NATO adopted a code of conduct for sonar use. One of these is that the users must ensure that its use will not harm marine mammals. Discuss this news on Eunomia Fish and plankton suffer from sonar because they give rise to intense noise pollution, which is harmful to marine life. Turkey is a member of NATO and it should have followed the guidelines. Greece and the United States have a presence in the area and follow them. The intention is to safeguard the Environment because the Aegean is already struggling to come to terms with issues like pollution, overfishing, and heavy marine traffic. Naval exercises should safeguard marine lives According to AP news, the sudden spike in dolphin deaths in the Aegean Sea over the past few weeks is a matter that needs investigation. This unnatural phenomenon comes in the wake of a major naval exercise by Turkey in the region. It was codenamed Blue Homeland and made extensive use of sonar and practiced with live ammunition. Sonar is to locate enemy submarines and is deafening to dolphins. In order to escape from the underwater din, they harm themselves. Military exercises have become the norm today like between the US and South Korea. The purpose is to keep the men, and equipment battle-ready at all times. However, when planning such activities, the authorities must respect the guidelines laid down for the protection of the environment. In this case, could it be a coincidence that more than 15 dolphins died during the Blue Homeland exercises? The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) today, April 10, announced the preliminary results of the 13th period of review (POR 13), exempting Vietnamese shrimp imports from antidumping tariffs. Workers process shrimp at a local seafood factory. Shrimp imports from Vietnam have been exempted from the United States antidumping duty Truong Dinh Hoe, general secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, told Thanh Nien Online newspaper that the tax rate will be applied to two mandatory respondents in the review and all local enterprises shipping shrimp to the United States. Although these are only preliminary results, the report is a milestone for the local shrimp sector. If the rate is kept unchanged in the final decision, which is expected to be announced at the end of next quarter, local shrimp exporters will be encouraged to boost shipments Stateside in the coming years. Moreover, the antidumping duty exemption will help increase Vietnamese shrimp exporters competitiveness. The results of recent PORs on Vietnams shrimp have all been positive. In September last year, the DOC lowered the antidumping tariff on shrimp imports from Vietnam to 4.58% in the final results of POR 12 from 25.39% presented in the preliminary results and 4.78% in POR 11. Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper cited Ho Quoc Luc, chairman of Sao Ta Foods JSC, a mandatory respondent in POR 13, as saying that the antidumping duty is the best recorded in 13 years, which also demonstrates that Vietnamese exporters have not dumped shrimp on the U.S. market. As of November last year, Vietnam had exported nearly 54,100 tons of shrimp to America, up 6% over the same period in 2017. The country ranked fourth among the American shrimp suppliers. In the first two months of this year, Vietnams shrimp exports to the United States dropped by over 15% year-on-year at US$374 million. SGT The Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) will organise its general shareholders meeting in Quarter 2, officially changing its trading name to Vietnam Maritime Corporation (VIMC). Vietnam Maritime Corporation (VIMC) is the new trading name of Vinalines in Quarter 2. (Photo: vneconomy.vn) The corporations revenue during January-March was reported at nearly 2.9 trillion VND (124.8 million USD), including more than 1.2 trillion VND (51.65 million USD) generated from maritime transport, over 1 trillion VND (43 million USD) from sea ports, and the remaining from maritime services. The sea transport volume was estimated at about 5.2 tonnes, while 24 million tonnes of goods were handled via sea ports. According Vinalines leader, profit gained in the maritime service sector only accounted for 8.5 percent of the set plan, and this was due to unstable cost following a week-long lunar new year (Tet) holiday and fierce competition in the container freight station (CFS) market. The company is making preparation for the shareholders meeting while working with the Ministry of Finance on identifying the joint stock companys chartered capital. The State-owned shipping giant Vinaliness equitisation plan received approval from the Prime Minister on June 20, 2018, paving the way for the firm to attract strategic investors. After the firm is equitised, the state will hold 65 percent of the firm's charter capital, while strategic investors can acquire 14.8 percent. Vinalines will be renamed to Vietnam Maritime Corporation (VIMC). At present, Vinalines operates 14 seaports nationwide and owns the largest area of maritime storages in Vietnam through nine associated companies and subsidiaries. It also owns a fleet of 84 vessels accounting for 25 percent of the total deadweight tonnage of the domestic sea transport market. Vietnamese people have a friend in Europe that is the Netherlands, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte said at the end of his one-day official visit to Vietnam at the invitation of his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte (left) and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc The Dutch Government leader told the press before leaving Vietnam on April 9 night that people of the two countries are getting closer to each other, and he and PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc have formed a close friendship that has enabled them to discuss various issues, especially opportunities for both sides. Noting that the Netherlands is a big investor in Vietnam, Rutte said 70 firms that accompanied him during the visit will stay in Vietnam for the next three days to sign many contracts on agriculture, water management, off-shore wind energy and logistics. He added that many other enterprises of the European country are also seeking cooperation opportunities with Vietnamese partners. The Dutch PM lauded Vietnam for its efforts in sustainable development despite a range of challenges, citing the example of the Mekong Delta, where 20 million people are suffering from direct impacts of natural and environmental changes. The local residents have learned how to adapt to these changes instead of combating them, he added. With most of its area below the sea level, the Netherlands can share its experience in this regard with Vietnam, the PM said. Talking about air pollution, which has remained a big problem to the Netherlands, he said the country has planned to close coal-fired power plants by 2030 and is implementing some projects on off-shore wind, solar and geothermal energy. The Governments and firms of the Netherlands and Vietnam are discussing cooperation in off-shore wind power, he said. During the visit, the second to Vietnam by Rutte since 2014, the Dutch PM held talks with PM Phuc, paid a courtesy visit to Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong and met with National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan. He also attended a seminar between the 70 Dutch firms and representatives from Vietnamese ministries and agencies. Dutch Prime Minister wraps up official visit to Vietnam Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte successfully wrapped up his official visit to Vietnam at the invitation of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc late on April 9. During his visit, the Dutch PM held talks with PM Phuc, paid a courtesy visit to Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong, and met with National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan. He attended a workshop with 70 leading businesses from the Netherlands and leaders of Vietnamese ministries and departments, and a sustainable fashion show held by the Hanoi municipal Peoples Committee and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Vietnam. On the occasion, the two sides issued a joint statement, agreeing on the importance of bilateral cooperation and elevation of Vietnam-Netherlands relations to comprehensive partnership in order to deepen their collaboration in all fields in the coming time. The two countries agreed to further increase high-level delegation exchanges within bilateral and multilateral frameworks in addition to improving the efficiency of specific cooperation mechanisms. They were unanimous to implement cooperation programmes based on the priorities and strengths of both countries such as cultivation, animal husbandry, food safety management, smart agriculture, climate change adaptation, and water resources. The two nations agreed to jointly develop smart agriculture areas and improve chains of products and Vietnamese farm produce as well as focus on technology transfer from Dutch partners to increase cooperation opportunities among businesses. The two sides shared a lot of common viewpoints on regional and international issues and expressed their support for the enhancement of effective multilateral cooperation, respect for international law, and trade liberalisation. They agreed to boost cooperation in the UN peacekeeping activities and supported the building of a strong and prosperous ASEAN community as well as enhance cooperation between the bloc and the European Union (EU) with a view to establishing strategic partnership in the future. While exchanging views about the significance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, the two sides reiterated their stance of resolving disputes via peaceful means in line with international law, including the UN 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). On the occasion, the two PMs signed a Memorandum of Understanding between Vietnam and the Netherlands on agricultural transformation cooperation in the Mekong Delta, and witnessed the signing of an agreement on mutual administrative support and cooperation in the field of customs, and other bilateral cooperation documents. VNA/VNN The 33rd meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee (NASC) officially opened at the NA Building in Hanoi on April 10 under the chair of NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan. NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan speaks at the 33rd meeting of the NA Standing Committee in Hanoi on April 10. During its nine days of sitting, the NASC will comment on the contents in preparation for the seventh session of the 14th National Assembly, while considering and deciding on other contents within its jurisdiction. Regarding the law building work, NASC members will discuss nine draft laws, NA Chairwoman Ngan said, adding that the NASC will also comment on the NAs drafted law and ordinance building programme, as well as the drafted supervision programmes of the NA and the NASC for 2020 and the preparation for the seventh session of the 14th National Assembly. In addition, the NASC will consider and decide on the list of projects using the reserve fund of the medium-term public investment plan for the 2016-2020 period from the central budget, the supplementation of new categories to the 2016-2020 medium-term public investment plan, the adjustment of administrative boundaries of five communes and the dissolution of one commune in Dong Nai provinces Long Thanh district, plus the establishment of five wards under Long Khanh town and the formation of Long Khanh city in Dong Nai. For the draft revised Labour Code, the senior legislator requested that, immediately after hearing the opinions of the NASC concerning this issue, the compiling agency promptly implement the building of the dossier of the draft revised Labour Code, which should show Vietnams standpoints concerning the contents of the conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), as well as demonstrate humanity and progress in ILO conventions. After the opening session, under the chair of NA Vice Chairman Uong Chu Luu, NASC members commented on the NAs drafted law and ordinance building programme for 2020. The VN Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development held a conference in Ca Mau province on April 9, seeking measures to combat river and coastal erosion in the Mekong Delta region. The Mekong Delta has 526 eroded sites along rivers and sea coasts with a total length of nearly 800 kilometres. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ha Cong Tuan said erosion of the coastline and river banks has critically impacted on local livelihoods. The delta now has 526 eroded sites along rivers and sea coasts with a total length of nearly 800 kilometres. Of the number, 57 sites are in extremely dangerous situation and need to be resolved urgently, he said. The volume of alluvium brought by floods to the region in 2020 is expected to decrease to 60-65 percent of the volume in 2017, he said, adding that the amount could even dwindle to 3-5 percent at the current speed of construction of dams, thus making erosion worse. Tuan stressed the balanced sharing of water resource benefits with upstream countries in the Mekong River basin, and the significance of effectively managing the exploitation of sand and underground water to prevent the delta from sinking even before the sea level rises. According to Vice Chairman of the Ca Mau province Peoples Committee Le Van Su, some 7,800 hectares of coastal forest were lost to the sea during 2007-2014, and erosion has become frequent along more than 100 kilometres of coastline. In recent times, the province has mobilised resources to build 18 kilometres of sea dykes and restore protective forests, as well as studied further construction of dykes and embankments, he added. Meanwhile, Vice Director of Dong Thap provinces Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Vo Thanh Ngoan said more than 8,000 households in erosion-prone areas need to be relocated to safer places. However, the locality is struggling to arrange resettlement for them due to land shortages. He said that about 322 hectares of land along Tien River was swept away during 2005-2018, and up to 101 kilometres of river banks are eroded each year. Last year, the Government provided 1.5 trillion VND (64.56 million USD) in financial aid for 12 provinces and one city in the Mekong Delta to handle serious erosion. Also, the agriculture ministry asked for financial support of 1 trillion VND (43 million USD) from the medium-term public investment plan for 2016-2020, and approval of financial packages worth 36 million USD from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.-VNA Da Nang is making strides towards turning itself into an eco-smart urban area, a hub for startups and innovation, and one of the most liveable cities in Asia by 2045 under its smart city development project. A corner of Da Nang city (Photo: danang.gov.vn) According to Vice Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Le Trung Chinh, the project is being carried out to realise the Politburos Decree No.43/NQ-TW on the citys development until 2030 with vision to 2045. It is deemed as a motive for Da Nang city to mobilise all resources to branch out local socio-economy in the future, he said, adding that it will build the smart urban area to be comprehensively connected with ASEAN smart city networks. At the conference, various issues were discussed among participants, including e-government and smart cities, recommendations for smart city development in Da Nang, orientations for smart city development, and the Vietnam ICT Index. Deputy Minister of Construction Phan Thi My Linh spoke highly of Da Nangs efforts in building itself into a smart city with sustainable development. As the building of a smart urban area is a complex task, she asked local authorities to join hands with the Ministry of Construction and competent agencies to implement the project. On the occasion, the Vietnam Association of Information Processing presented a certificate of merit to the local Peoples Committee, in recognition of its decade-long leading position on the Vietnam ICT Index (2009-2018). The Department of Information and Communications and its partners inked an agreement on building works for the citys smart urban project. Various exhibitions were held on the sidelines of the conference, featuring smart solutions of international and domestic corporations. Nhan Dan/VNA A ceremony was held in Hanoi on April 10 to launch a project on educational cooperation for sustainable changes in Vietnams deltas, attracting the participation of the projects Vietnamese and Dutch partners. Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management Cora van Nieuwenhuizen speaks at the event (Photo: baotainguyenmoitruong.vn) Vietnam as a country heavily suffers from the impact of climate change, with its major Red River and Mekong Deltas facing various water resource challenges, like the management of resources, flooding, and saline intrusion. Funded by the Dutch government, the project will run between 2019-2021. Its Vietnamese participants are the Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment, Thuyloi University, and the Institute of Natural Resources and Environment Training. Participants from the Netherlands include the Delft University of Technology, the University of Twente, and Utrecht University. The project revolves around tertiary and higher education on climate change adaptation and water resources management, with a focus on practical skills, internships, career orientation, and personnel capacity building. It will increase the quantity and quality of students studying in the water resources sector and ensure their future employment. Speaking at the launching ceremony, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Vo Tuan Nhan praised the collaboration of participating universities. He noted that education plays an important role in forming a high-quality workforce on sustainable water resources management, who are capable of dealing with challenges facing Vietnam in the current context. Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management Cora van Nieuwenhuizen said Vietnam and the Netherlands have to tackle similar challenges, in terms of climate change, urbanization, and industrialisation. A good education system ensures the efficient use of water resources, she stressed. VNA The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issued a decision on April 10, banning the use of weed-killers containing glyphosate, which is deemed to do harm to both the environment and human health. A farmer in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang prepares weedkiller for his farm. Weed-killers containing glyphosate are banned in Vietnam The decision, which will take effect in two months, was made after the ministry had studied the issue beginning in 2015 when the International Agency for Research on Cancer, under the World Health Organization, declared that glyphosate is carcinogenic. Worldwide, up to 40 countries and territories have banned or limited the use of the substance. Glyphosate has been used in herbicides in Vietnam since 1994, and there have been 104 kinds of herbicides in use that contain glyphosate. On April 12, 2016, the Plant Protection Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development halted new registrations of the substance in the country. Speaking today at a press conference to announce the ministrys decision, Hoang Trung, director of the department, said the ministry has prepared solutions to ensure the nations agricultural production, and that there will be 54 other substances which can replace glyphosate, Tuoi Tre Online newspaper reported. SGT Travel agents in Ho Chi Minh City are offering a huge range of domestic and outbound tours for the upcoming Reunification Day holiday on April 30 and Labour Day on May 1, and many of them are fully booked. UNESCO World Heritage Ha Long Bay According to travel firms, the five-day holiday is a good opportunity for them to develop new domestic and outbound tours to sustain demand through this summer. Tran Thi Bao Thu, marketing and communications director of Fiditour, said her company was focused on tours to popular beach towns and islands such as Phu Quoc, Nha Trang, Da Nang, and Ha Long. This time of the year is ideal to visit these places with many activities being organised there to attract tourists. Most outbound tours to neighbouring countries and territories such as Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan have been fully booked, she said. Vietravel has many tour packages to new tourist destinations like Binh Lieu in Quang Ninh province and Ta Dung in Dak Nong. The company expects to serve 25,000 customers this holiday, up 10 percent from a year ago. A Saigontourist spokesperson said prices of domestic tours are up 7-10 percent during the holidays compared to normal days while prices of outbound tours remain unchanged, except to countries in Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia, whose prices have risen by 2-5 percent. Saigontourist is offering tours for below 10 million VND (420 USD) to destinations in the Mekong Delta and Central Highlands. It has announced attractive deals at its promotion event on April 6 and the HCM City Travel Fair from April 11 to 14. Nguyen Minh Man, marketing and communications director of TST tourist, said customers planned and purchased tours very early, resulting in almost all tours being fully booked except some to Malaysia, Dubai and Japan.-VNA The Chinese government hates the untraceable nature of cryptocurrency and is taking steps to kill bitcoin mining to undermine this financial store of wealth they consider a tool of terrorists, anti-government activists and to weaken Chinas economic system. By James DiGeorgia China's official state planner is taking immediate steps to eliminate and make illegal bitcoin mining within their country, A detailed draft that lists industrial activities reflects the growing government pressure to crush and eliminate the use of cryptocurrency in China. Ironically, China is the world's largest market for computer hardware designed to mine bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, even though the wealth-creating activity is already taking place in a regulatory grey area, that violating could send those doing it to jail or a re-education camp for a few years. Chinas National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced on Monday that its looking for their citizens opinions on a revised list of industries it wants China to encourage, restrict or eliminate. The annual list was first published in 2011. The draft of the naughty and nice list this year included cryptocurrency mining, including that of bitcoin, to over 450 activities the NDRC insists should be made illegal and stopped because they do not adhere to existing relevant laws and regulations that are considered unsafe, waste resources or pollute the environment. The Chinese public has until May 7 to comment on the draft. The Chinese State-owned newspaper Securities Times reported yesterday the draft list of proposed new bans "distinctly reflects the attitude of the country's industrial policy" toward the cryptocurrency industry. Jehan Chu, the managing partner at blockchain investment firm Kenetic Capital, said on the new policy "The NDRC's move is in line overall with China's desire to control different layers of the rapidly growing crypto industry, and does not yet signal a major shift in policy," "I believe China simply wants to 'reboot' the crypto industry into one that they have oversight on, the same approach they took with the Internet." Its all about control, accounting, tracking and collecting fees and taxes. Several Chinese bitcoin traders who spoke to the media about the situation insisted on being anonymous for fear of being targeted for objecting to the proposed ban said they were not surprised by the government's move "Bitcoin mining wastes a tremendous amount of electricity," Bitcoin rallies back over $5,000 for the first time since mid-November, despite cryptoanalysts and traders admitting at the time they were puzzled by the sudden rally. The confusion is merely a lack of realistic thinking and analysis. China is the most significant single source of Bitcoin via online mining. Bitcoin which amounts to almost half of the cryptocurrency market in the world, and use to evade Chinese law enforcement and or taxes. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been under heavy scrutiny in China since 2017 when regulators started to ban initial coin offerings and shut local cryptocurrency trading exchanges. Special: Imagine an options trading service that has delivered over 4,872% in winning trade recommendations over 11 years. That's 442% a year in winning trade recommendations. Check it out! Just $49 for the first 60 days! At the same time, China also began to limit cryptocurrency mining, forcing many firms - among them some of the world's largest - to find bases elsewhere or just shut down. As much as half of bitcoin mining pools, which are groups of miners that team up for economies of scale - are located in the Asia-Pacific, according to a Cambridge University study released in December. Alex de Vries, a consultant with PwC in Amsterdam who specializes on blockchain and researches cryptocurrency mining was quoted yesterday as saying "Half of the network is probably located in China and that the number of mining facilities in the world is still limited to several hundred. Countries around the world that subsidize the price of electricity and keep it relatively cheap have emerged as major hosts of cryptocurrency mining. Mati Greenspan, an analyst with eToro in Israel, said yesterday that any ban by China would cut a vital supply of cheap electricity for the industry and raise the average cost to mine bitcoin. In addition to being the largest bitcoin mining host country in the world, Chinese computer technology companies are among the biggest manufacturers of bitcoin mining equipment in the world. Last year three Cryptocurrency mining equipment companies filed for initial public offerings in Hong Kong, looking to raise billions of dollars. After the rising effort to eliminate bitcoin mining China the two largest bitcoin manufacturer of bitcoin mining gear, Bitmain Technologies, and Canaan Inc, have since let their applications to raise money lapse. Experts in Hong Kong However, familiar with the deals said that Hong Kong regulators were believed to have many questions about the companies' business models, prospects and traceability issues. All of which derailed these efforts to raise and find these companies. The size of this market is still relatively small. In Canaan's IPO prospectus filed last year, sales of blockchain hardware primarily for cryptocurrency mining in China were estimated to be 8.7 billion yuan or US$1.30 billion in 2017, 45 percent of global sales by value. Bitcoin is about supply and demand. Derailing the creation of new bitcoins will put a squeeze on the number of available bitcoins, and that could catapult bitcoin to $10,000 and even to as much as $50,000 in the coming 12-36 months. Kathmandu, Nepal, April 19, 2019: President Bidhya Devi Bhandari is scheduled to leave for northern neighbor China leading a Nepalese delegate to attend the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation on April 24. Though the president Bhandaris visit to China is yet to be revealed officially, reliable source at the Sital Niwas and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has revealed that she is scheduled to address the Belt and Road Forum on April 25. President Bhandari is scheduled to leave for China at the invitation of her counterpart Xi Jinping. She is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with her Chinese counterpart Xi during her stay in China. She is scheduled to back home on April 28. It is expected that Chinese president Xi might visit Nepal shortly after Bhandaris visit to Beijing. However, his visit to Nepal is also not confirmed officially. Though Chinese president Xis visit to Nepal was highly hyped during his visit to some South Asian countries, he had not come to Nepal, thanks to the fragile political situation of Nepal. With the singing in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of the framework agreement, the relation between the two neighboring countries is believed to have taken a new height. Nepal had signed on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the framework agreement on the Belt and Road Initiative in Kathmandu in May 2017. Following the agreement, Nepal had taken part in the first Belt and Road Forum that was held in Beijing on 14-15 May, 2017. Similarly, the Nepal government is preparing to sign on the protocol of the Nepal-China Transit Transport Agreement (TTA) during President Bhandaris upcoming visit to China. However, no base is made yet to be assured that the TTA would sign during the Presidents visit to China. Dear Boat Doctor, I have owned my Tartan 37 for more than 25 years, first on freshwater and now in the Chesapeake and the Bahamas. I love saltwater, but it is eating my boat. What can I do to keep the salt from taking its toll? Bradley Smith Annapolis, Maryland Dear Bradley, The ocean is beautiful, but corrosion never sleeps, and the results can be shocking after life on freshwater. Limit the damage first by keeping as much salt off the boat as possible. A freshwater rinse, when possible, will help. Stainless steel can build up an iron surface coating, and iron combined with saltwater makes iron oxide, otherwise known as rust. A mild citric acid cleaner will eat the iron and rust right off, with near zero work. My favorite is Spotless Stainless (www.spotlessstainless.com). This cleaner is a light gel with a mild citric acid base. Brush the cleaner on, let it sit for 30 minutes and hose it off. The rust will disappear. You are left with passivated stainless, a relatively iron-free chromium finish. The chromium will turn to chromium oxide, and this is what makes stainless steel stainless. Can I swap out halogen for bicolor LEDs? Dear Boat Doctor, I am looking to replace recessed halogen lighting in my boats saloon with LED, and Id love to have the option of red lights too. My existing lights are all wired together and over just two wires, so I dont know how to do the second color. Samantha Brown San Francisco, California Dear Samantha, There are many options for single color lights as many manufacturers are now offering these. The biggest constraint is that you need a light that fits the existing holes. Bicolor lights are a little trickier to find and retrofit as most take three wires to switch between colors. There are a few lights with a built-in switch to choose the color, like the Tide fixture from Imtra lighting. You would use the main switch in the boat to power them and then control the color with the switch on each fixture. Lumitec (www.lumiteclighting.com) makes an even slicker option, most of its lights are dimming white plus a color, all controlled over just two wires. Its Timed Toggle Protocol technology, in which toggles off the power switch change the brightness and color. A toggle on, off and on again will change between white and the color. When showing a white light, the light will ramp up, a brief toggle during the ramp will stop the ramp and hold the brightness. This switching scheme takes a little getting used to, but it will give great control over the lights. On April 1, 2019, after months of upgrades to its equipment, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) announced that they spotted a gravity wave just after turning things back on. In addition to gravity waves, on Wednesday, April 10, scientists revealed the first-ever image of a black hole. Back in 2016, LIGO and others reported, for the first time in history, that their scientists had detected evidence of gravitational waves colliding confirming some hypotheses derived from Einsteins theory of General Relativity. They announced their initial discovery in twenty languages. This time, for all those press releases, their languages skill were improved. Millions of people can speak 19 of the languages of the initial announcement. Only thousands can speak the 20th language: that of the Siksika Nation. In English, the Siksika are called the Blackfoot. Historically the Siksika straddled the current US-Canadian border. They lived in areas now called Montana, North Dakota, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. The other 19 languages already had words for black hole and gravitational waves. Corey Gray, of the Siksika Nation (Northern Blackfoot) worked as the lead operator for LIGO. He worked with his mother, Sharon Yellowfly, to translate this news. They had to create words in Siksika to describe the underlying science. For people wanting to know about the science behind this announcement, Gray provided a simple explanation of gravitational waves in a TED-type Talk. He discussed their collision, and its connection to Einsteins Theory of Relativity. Scientists have plotted that first known collision of gravitational waves on a graph. Gray has a tattoo of that graph on his forearm. LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration/Georgia Tech/S. Ghonge & K. Jani [CC BY-SA 4.0] How this translation came about According to NPR, Corey Gray thought Whoa, wouldnt it be just really cool if we could get this translated into an indigenous language? LIGO agreed. As he knew only a few words, Gray asked his mother for help. Yellowfly translated gravitational waves as Abuduuxbiisii o?bigimskAAsts, or in English they stick together waves. Yellowfly had to do two things. First, she had to deepen her understanding of Einsteins Theory of Relativity. Second, she had to creatively interpret complex scientific concepts and to link those concepts to words in the Siksika language. The significance of this translation As only a few thousand people speak Siksika, some may question the importance of this translation. It allows Siksika speakers to discuss modern science in their own language. It makes it easier for Siksika speaking youth to understand complex modern science. Pagans sometimes take a concept or words, like Awen or Arete from a long-dead culture. Those concepts then become absorbed in contemporary spiritual practice. This has certain similarities to bringing Einstein theories into the Siksika language. The Wild Hunt recently spoke with Robert N. Kvasnak, Ed.D. He specializes in the study of language acquisition. Dr. Edmar Bernardes Language is the tool used by humans to communicate their existence to themselves and other humans, Kvasnak said. Humans use the tool of language for defense and offense. They also use that tool to create abstract ideas, and to suggest desires and futures. Kvasnak said if a language is not useful in making money, the survival of that language is threatened. Languages that facilitate getting well-paying jobs tend to become dominant. Language loss and renewal Corey Grays own family illustrates the loss and revival of a language. His grandparents spoke Siksika daily, but Gray knows only a few words. Sharon Yellowfly, Grays mother, was sent to an English only boarding school for Native youth. When she entered, her primary language was Siksika. That school punished her if she spoke Siksika. When she left that school, her primary language was English. While she lost much of the language, as an adult, she began to relearn it. At 23, Yellowfly began to develop a Siksika dictionary with her parents as her major resource. She stopped when they died. After the gravitational wave project, Yellowfly restarted that project. Since that initial detection, LIGO has detected ten other collisions of gravitational waves. Yellowfly has continued to translate further LIGO press releases into Siksika. Yellowfly grew up in southern Alberta, Canada. In contrast, her son, Corey Gray grew up in urban southern California. He only began to connect with Native culture in college. As an adult, Gray has become active in groups promoting Native American interest in the sciences. Gray sees these translations as part of that process. How do languages absorb new concepts from other cultures? According to Kvasnak, There are several ways in which languages increase vocabulary. One person may consciously introduce a word, as Yellowfly did. Sometimes a new word will arise as spontaneously as slang does. Different languages favor certain sounds and disfavor others. For example, English speakers have difficulty pronouncing the German ch sound. When televisions first came into use, Hawaiian speakers had to develop a word for this product. They adopted the English word TV. The phonetic constraints of Hawaiian pronunciation, however, changed the word from TV to kiwi. Sometimes a language uses words from its own supply of words to describe a new concept. In German, the word for television is Fernsehr. That word combines the German words for remote and to see. The English word television comes from two high status ancient languages, Greek and Latin. In 2017, Grays family sponsored the Gravitational Waves Grass Dance Special, in which traditional dancers competed. According to NPR, Gray considered this as reaching out to young people. Thats the thing Im really excited about, he said, just to be able to go and see indigenous youth and youth from my tribe, and just tell them that there is a connection with our language to Einstein now. SHE GOT PROMOTED TO OUR 'PERMANENT REGISTER' THIS IS THE LINE OF THINKING OF YOUR 'FUTURE BLACK COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP'. She does NOT value "Black lives". She ONLY cares about RE-RATIONALIZING HER MIND - using a WHITE REFERENCE. I WILL RE-WATCH THIS VIDEO WHENEVER I BELIEVE THAT 'MY LOVED ONES' ARE SAFE FROM PSYCHOLOGICAL MOLESTATION - AS A WEAPON. Black Inferiority / Progressive Nationalism Foreign Colonization Is AMERICAN DOMESTICATION RIZZO IS DEAD IN PHILLY. LONG LIVE FRAUD IN THIS GOD FORSAKEN CITY. America: One Big INTEREST ONLY Loan US Government USED Americanized Blacks' To Achieve Its African Goals Why Did You Hear This Admission About The US/NATO Actual Destructive Goals From 'WHITE TRiUMP', While The "We Are In The White House Negroes' Never Pushed President Obama To Admit That The Coup In Libya North Africa WAS NOT A 'Humanitarian Mission', As 'The Black Commander In Chief' Told The World? What Is The 'American Containerized Black' Tribe GIVING UP In The Name Of PROGRESSIVE DISARMAMENT, Which Will Later Be Used Against Them Toward Their Destruction, That Will Be Called 'Social Justice'? A Major Step In Protecting Black Valuables Investmented We Are Now In The "Or Else WHAT" Stage Slavery In Libya North Africa 2017 6 Years After The "Humanitarian Mission" - Not A Peep From "Black Grievance Studies" Professors Perfect 1.0 'Spiritual Whiteness' Is No Respecter Of Skin Color The "Blackest" Moment In American Jurisprudence A Ninja Got Himself Kilt Last Night Few Colonial Subjects Will Ask "Who Were They Fighting Against Between These Two Historical Points" The Qualifications For Admission Have Increased Street Pirate Adverse Community Experience Creator When The Colonizer Becomes Aware Of The Need To Find A NEGRO CONFIDENCE MAN PARTNER The Revenge Of LBJ After MLK "Stabbed Him In The Back" Over Vietnam #BlackLivesMatter Is NOT A GOVERNANCE Movement It Is ONLY A POLIITCAL OPPORTUNISTIC Movement With Up To 75% Of The Homicide Victims In Philly Being Black This Means That About 126 Black People Murdered In 2015 Have Not Triggered More National Awareness Than The Cherry Picked Small Number Of Inductees In The "Black Civil Rights Homicide Victim Martyr Hall Of Fame" That Is Used As A Reference Of The Status Of Black People With Reference To White Americans "#All Killers Of Black People Are Equal Street Pirates" The "#BlackLivesMatter" Movement Must Prove That It Is More Than The 'Ideologically Bigoted' Analog To "Police Racial Profiling" By Eliminating Its Propensity To 'Walk Past Dead Black Bodies That Don't Fit Their Agenda' On Their Way To The Protest Rally On The Downtown Public Square. The Flag Of A New Colonizer Is Hung At Full Staff Sudan - To-Damned-Day The Manifestation Of Progressive Feminism As A Cultural Replacement Download Video: .mp4 CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK UNIVERSITY Agrees With Her Logic As A Logical Extension Of Her "Progressive Fundamentalist"/'Social Justice' Inference BUT It Is An Assault Upon The 'Functional Culture' That Is Needed For The Black Diaspora To Find Its Purpose From "My Queen" To "My Bitch" In A Few GenerationsCONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK UNIVERSITY Agrees With Her Logic As A Logical Extension Of Her "Progressive Fundamentalist"/'Social Justice' Inference BUT It Is An Assault Upon The 'Functional Culture' That Is Needed For The Black Diaspora To Find Its Purpose THE NINJA WHO GOT HIMSELF KILT YOU ARE A WITNESS TO A REVOLUTION IN "HAMSTERDAMN" Thanks To The Progressives I Can Now Breath Getting Your Ass Whipped In Prison Is Not A Choice. Silence In Public Reaction To It Is Kermit Asks That You Be Consistent A Friend Of "Black Community Development" The Capture Of The Assassination Killer Of Kim Jones Of Philadelphia Should Be Top News Among Those Who Value "Black Lives" Maybe You Are Being "Colonized" Today? The Henry Dee & Charles Moore Martyr Hall Of Fame & Last Chance NIT Tournament "Black Consciousness" Is NOT Proven By A Large Headcount A Black Man Seeing Crying In Philly After A Loss At The Hands Of A Street Pirate A Question Of Personal Values And Community Priorities And Black Media Agenda I Want To Be Allowed To Develop Into Maya Angelou Dr King's Pulpit Then And Now The Americanized Negro Has Known No Rivers Beyond The Urban Water Supply Spigot The Fire Hose As A GPS Coordinate Depicting Black People's Coordinates Upon "The Struggle" If After 20 Years Of Observations I Am On To Them, The Fact That The Media Has Been Echoing Them For 50 Years Without Challenging Them About The DEVELOPMENT OF THE LEAST OF THESE UNDER THEIR CARE - Points To A Conspiracy Converting "Safe Passage" From Municipal Street Sign To A Consciousness Within The People The Embedded Confidence Man's Press Agents Blow Smoke Rings As Circular References The SUPERIORITY Of White People's Thoughts Material Access To Consumer Comforts Is Not Indicative Of A Greater Consciousness Mayor Nutter's Lessons Learned Gen Edmund Pettus C.S.A. - Thanks You He Cracked The Code On Black Progressive Outrage In This House We Still Believe In God!!! Tavis-You Blacks Need To Fire The Negro Generals Who Have Failed & Get New Leadership The Inside Threat That Lurks Outside Of The Window Of Community Consciousness My Faith In Institutions That I Once Trusted To Indoctrinate My Children Will Forever Be Shattered Regulatory Capture The Black Racial Services Machine A Miscalculation On The School Busing Program To Social Justice Full Faith And Confidence Of The Office Of The President Of The United States The First Black Man In World History Who Is Able To Execute The Foreign/ Military / Economic Policy In The Name Of The United States Of America And Not Get Arrested In Doing So Because He Runs The Federal Prison System. His Power Is So Venerated That "The Blacks" Have Even Stopped Protesting Against The Actions Of The US Government Because They Fear That Their Outward Expression Of Discontent Against The Government Might Hurt His Chances At Reelection. The First Black Man In World History Who Is Able To Execute The Foreign/ Military / Economic Policy In The Name Of The United States Of America And Not Get Arrested In Doing So Because He Runs The Federal Prison System. His Power Is So Venerated That "The Blacks" Have Even Stopped Protesting Against The Actions Of The US Government Because They Fear That Their Outward Expression Of Discontent Against The Government Might Hurt His Chances At Reelection. Who Diverted The Community's Eyes Off Of The Prize In Pursuit Of Shortsighted Political Gains? As I Increase The Scope Of My Sample For Observation It Is Becoming Clear To Me That The "Machine Effect" In Metro-Atlanta That Distorts And Disrupts The Development Of Black People Is Not A Geographic Phenomenon But Instead Is Rooted In Lack Of Conscious Awareness Beyond One's On Provincial Interests And, More Importantly, The Absence Of A GOVERNING OVERLAY That Can Push Back Against These Misappropriations Of "The Black Community Development Consciousness" NYOil - Ya'll Should All Get Lynched Why Haven't Those Who Claim To MANAGE Your Community Told You The Dimensions Of The Space? The Rabid "Embedded Black Fox Confidence Man" The Mayor Of Philly Learned What The Korean Merchants Already Know A Black Man Is Not Equal Until He Can Commit A "Civil Rights Violation" With His Actions The Elephants In Africa Are Not Republicans Bishop Henry McNeal Turner Obama - The First American President To Bomb Africa w/o Massive Protests From "The Blacks" Prison Radio Speaks To BLAX News A Foreshadowing In "The Motherland" What About All Of The Black Executions That The Police Or The State Did Not "Sponsor"? The Pathway Upon Which The Hijacking Occurs With The Loss Of Black American Consciousness Comes This Detachment With the failure of the institutions within the Black Community to develop ORGANIC COMPETENCIES domestically there is no chance that the interests of the diasporatic Blacks can be protected by American Blacks who are more focused in domestic political affairs. The main utility of this video will be to make the American Negro "angry", increasing his resolve in "VOTING HARDER" as his means of fighting against racism, this according to his present consciousness. :'( The "Mission Accomplished" Banner Hung By The Black Progressive-Fundamentalist A People's Consciousness Fused To An Agenda Not Of Their Own My Relative Ideological Position Malcolm X Called You A "Race Traitor". CF Calls You A "Racial Consciousness Misappropriator"` The "Racial Consciousness Mis-Appropriators Malcolm X Picture On Your Blog" Removal Project Racism Chasing - The Ultimate Hustle The Nationalization Of The Black Community Consciousness The PPP&HWBC Blog Supports The BAOHPEH, Inc Evaluate The Varacity Of The PROCESS Of Judgment Not Merely The Verdict Rendered Community Management 101 Profiles In Community Consciousness Make Black America Happy Once Again When We Were Colored Schuyler And X The 10P's In The Pod Of The Black Establishment Progressive Politicians * Perpetual Protesters (Civil Rights orgs) * Policy Influencers (lobbyist groups, think tanks) * Press Operatives (the Black Press - "The Progressives Town Criers") * Performers (singers, rappers, actors) * Preachers w/ and w/o Pulpits * Public Intellectuals (Humanities Professors) * Public School Teachers * Pro-Union Labor Forces * Posters (Bloggers) (Civil Rights orgs)(lobbyist groups, think tanks)(the Black Press - "The Progressives Town Criers")(singers, rappers, actors) Don't Shoot Me Street Pirate! I Am Attempting To Be A Positive Asset To My Community Will The Black Comunity Recover From The Hijacking Of Its Consciousness? The Use Of "Slave/Jim Crow Images" In Black Political Debate - Evaluate The Agenda The use of "slave imagery" is common in ideological discourse among Black people today. The best way to appraise the veracity of the agenda of the presenter is to distinguish between those images which are used to cajole Black people into "Ideological Unity" versus those images used to bring consciousness to the sad fact that in far too many cases today - the man holding the gun is a Black man, his disturbed consciousness allowed to fester because the balance of our community organizers are focused on external political affairs. They sell us on the notion that when our people assist their political/ideological external partners in their success that these individuals who suffer from BENIGN NEGLECT will be cured - no longer terrorizing us. In the circular reference that is their struggle - the more damaged individuals that matriculate through the local institutions that they now control per their struggle, the louder their call for continued UNITY and redirection lest our community's long time external adversaries start terrorizing us again. They successfully avoid community scrutiny of their stewardship of our key "Human Resource Development" institutions. I Am A Man!! The Photographic Negative Of The Black Progressive Blogs That Focus On What White Folks Are Doing Black Racism And Race Hatred Blog Stuff Black People Don't Like Chicago Lady 216 - The Crisis Of Consciousness WITHIN The Black Community You probably do not have the Flash Player ( Get Adobe Flash Player Here ) installed for your browser or the video files are misplaced on your server! Consciousness Mission Accomplished I Support The "Corporate Premise Security Equality Project" New York Times Demographic Mapping The Antidote For Fear And Ignorance Antidote to the use of the tactics of FEAR as propagated by 'confidence men' to prompt a people toward a certain direction that is against their permanent interests is the development within these masses a base of Knowledge. When this knowledge is applied to their daily lives this builds up their Competencies. As a result their "Standard Of Living" is increased toward the a favorable level. Obama Commemorative Plate = "Mission Accompished - An Ensnared Black Community" Black Male Un-Demployment Rates In "Mission Accomplished" Cities The Conflict Between The Civil Rights Pharisees Vs The Neo-Progressive Establishment Players You probably do not have the Flash Player ( Get Adobe Flash Player Here ) installed for your browser or the video files are misplaced on your server! From Reactionary Transactionalism To Management Of Our Community Ideologically Polarized Vision Ted Kennedy & Black Independent Consciousenss People Who Aide & Abet Street Pirates Need To Hear These Words & Instead Pursue Absolute Justice THe NAACP & Rachael Maddow See These Guns As INFERIOR To Guns Used By Right-Wing Militias ** No matter how many guns these Street Pirates gather and no matter how many Black people are killed - these "equal human beings" will never been EQUAL in the mind of Civil Rights Pharisees and their White Snarling Fox Liberal co-conspirators because there is no ideological and political advantage in going after them. The Rallo Tubbs Fan Club Blog Archive Those Who Have Their Conciousness Focused "Within The Black Community" Page Views - Last 7 Days Josephine Gierer En espanol | With so many grandparents living hundreds of miles from their grandchildren, some are turning to a fun way to bridge the distance: vacationing together. About 40 percent of grandparents say they travel with their grandchildren, according to a new "Grandparents Today survey from AARP Research. They report spending an average $1,746 a year on these trips. The survey found that three-quarters of grandparents had traveled with three or more generations in the past year, while others chose skip-gen travel vacationing with the grandkids alone, minus the middle generation. About one-third of grandparents have taken their grandchildren on skip-gen trips. Josephine Gierer, 74, in Westport, Conn., is one fan of skip-gen travel: She took her oldest grandson, Andrew, who lives in Virginia, on a nearly two-week group trip through the Western U.S. two years ago, when he was 16. It was a very special trip, says Gierer. Their Insight Vacations adventure took them to the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Las Vegas, up through Utah to Yellowstone, then South Dakota and home from Denver. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang's Regular Press Conference on April 10, 2019 2019/04/11 Q: There is a lot of attention on the joint statement issued by the China-EU Summit. We noted that some media had exaggerated the divergences between China and Europe and said that the two sides would not be able to conclude a joint statement. But now the Joint Statement has been issued. What's your comment? A: On April 9, Premier Li Keqiang co-chaired the 21st China-EU Summit with President of the European Council Donald Tusk and President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker. The two sides commended the progress achieved in China-EU relations in various fields and agreed that China and the EU share extensive common interests in deepening mutually beneficial and practical cooperation, have common position in upholding multilateralism and an open world economy and opposing protectionism and unilateralism, and share common goals in terms of improving global governance and upholding world peace and stability. The long-term steady and sound development of China-EU relations serve the fundamental interests of the two sides and is conducive to world peace and stability, which will have an important and positive impact globally. It is natural for countries to have differences with one another, and it is also quite natural that China and the EU don't always see eye to eye on certain issues. But the Joint Statement shows that the differences between China and the EU can be properly resolved through dialogue and negotiation, which testifies to the high level of the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, the solidarity and cooperation between China and the EU and the mutually beneficial and win-win spirit. As two anchors of stability and major economies in the world, China and the EU are commited to multilateralism and respect international law and the basic norms governing international relations with the UN at the core. Under the complex and fluid international circumstances, this Joint Statement demonstrates the resolve of China and the EU to stand in solidarity when multilateralism is being challenged. Its significance goes far beyond the bilateral relations. We stand ready to work with the EU to implement the consensus of this summit, elevate the China-EU cooperation to a new height and continue to make greater contribution to world peace and prosperity. Q: The Spokesperson for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said in a press conference today that the verdict rendered on the "Occupy Central" case in the Hong Kong SAR will have a negative impact on Hong Kong's democracy and hoped the Hong Kong SAR and the central government will restart the election reform in accordance with the Basic Law. What's your comment? A: First of all, I would like to point out that the Hong Kong affairs fall within China's internal affairs and any other country has no right to interfere. For one thing, such interference won't work at all; for another, it is not conducive to the sound development of relations between China and relevant parties. The Hong Kong SAR government promotes the socio-economic development within the framework of the Constitution and the Basic Law following the "one country, two systems" policy, which in itself is not a diplomatic affair. I'd refer you to the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, which is the competent authority of the central government, for a more authoritative answer. Q: First, the Organization of American States said Tuesday it recognizes the opposition leader Guaido's envoy as Venezuela's delegate to the regional body. I wonder what is your comment? Second, the US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said on a congressional hearing on Tuesday that the US focuses on trying to secure IMF and World Bank resources to assist Guaido. I wonder what is your comment? A: There is something in common in these two questions, as they both concern the intervention in the situation in Venezuela from the international community. China's position on the Venezuelan issue is consistent and clear. We support the government and opposition in Venezuela in seeking a political settlement through dialogue and negotiation. We believe that the international community should contribute to stability in Venezuela on the basis of international law and the basic norms governing the international relations including non-interference in others' internal affairs and provide more constructive assistance to resolve the issue rather than doing the opposite. China will continue to support the Venezuelan government's efforts to uphold its sovereignty, independence and stability. Q: According to Australian media reports recently, the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018 forces telecommunications companies to install "backdoors" for the Australian government. Many tech companies including Google, Apple and Amazon have voiced serious concerns, saying it poses a threat to cyber security of Australia and other regions. Do you have any comments? Earlier, the Australian side said that they didn't want anyone in their communications networks that have an obligation to another government, and banned Huawei from its 5G networks for this reason. Do you think Australia is applying double standards here? A: China is closely following the relevant developments. Forcing companies to install "backdoors" through legislation means protecting one's own security and interests at the expense of other countries' security and their people's privacy. Such practice will severely impact the business environment of and international cooperation in the telecommunications industry. As we have seen, those in the industry have raised serious concerns. It is baffling how the country concerned could whip up "security threats" posed by other countries or companies with trumped-up charges under the facade of cyber security while engaging in acts that endanger cyber security themselves. Like you, I also wonder what the Australian government will say about this. China attaches high importance to and is committed to safeguarding cyber security. We will continue to take an active part in international cooperation in this field and work with all sides for a peaceful, secure, open, cooperative and orderly cyber space. At the same time, China again urges relevant countries to provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for companies of all countries, including China. Q: The Dalai Lama has been admitted to hospital with a lung infection. What's the Foreign Ministry's comment on this? Does China have a plan to appoint a successor to the Dalai Lama in China? My second question, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Meale is scheduled to speak in Taiwan tonight at the American Institute in Taiwan. Are you aware of this and what is China's view on the US government representative's visiting Taiwan? A: Let me take your second question first. China opposes any official contacts between the US and Taiwan. We believe that this severely violates the One-China commitment the US has made and its obligations under the three China-US Joint Communiques. We demand that the US not take such wrong move. Regarding the first question, first, we are not aware of what you said about the physical condition of the 14th Dalai Lama. Second, in China's history, clear rules have been established concerning the reincarnation of the living Buddha. Reincarnation of living Buddhas, as a unique institution of inheritance in Tibetan Buddhism, comes with a set range of rituals and conventions. The Chinese government implements the policy of freedom of religious belief. The reincarnation system is respected and protected by such legal instruments as Regulations on Religious Affairs and Measures on the Management of the Reincarnation of Living Buddhas. The institution of reincarnation of the Dalai Lama has been in existence for several hundred years. The 14th Dalai Lama himself was found and recognized following religious rituals and historical conventions and his succession was approved by the then central government. Therefore reincarnation of living Buddhas including the Dalai Lama must comply with Chinese laws and regulations and follow religious rituals and historical conventions. Q: The Acting US Defense Secretary said that the key mission for the proposed US Space Force will be to develop technology needed to respond decisively to aggression by China or Russia against America in outer space. I wonder what is your comment? Second question, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said that the US has approved a possible 1.1 billion sale of 56 SM-3 anti-ballistic missiles to Japan. I wonder if China is concerned about it? A: To answer your first question, outer space belongs to all mankind and should be used for peaceful purposes. As you are well aware, China upholds the peaceful use of outer space and opposes the placement of weapons there. China, Russia and most members of the international community have long been promoting the efforts to conclude an international legal instrument through negotiation on multilateral occasions including the Conference on Disarmament. As you may have noticed, the relevant UN expert panel has also been making tireless efforts to facilitate the negotiation process. However, to our regret, all the efforts devoted have been blocked by one country over the past years. And that country is the United States. There indeed are some negative developments in outer space recently that raised concerns from China, Russia and other members of the international community. For example, the US has described outer space as a new war-fighting domain, announced its decision to build a space force, planned to deploy anti-ballistic weapons and long been engaging in military drills in outer space. Such moves are not only turning outer space into a war-fighting domain deployed with weapons but also adding the risks of an arms race. If the US truly cares about the security and non-weaponization of outer space, it should stop taking such moves and sincerely join the majority of the members of the international community, including China and Russia, to make joint efforts to prevent weaponization and make peaceful use of outer space. Now come back to your second question, we have noticed the relevant media reports. The US-Japan Security Alliance was forged during the Cold War. We hope communication and cooperation between relevant countries can contribute to regional peace and stability instead of doing the opposite. Q: Media reports say 796 lost Chinese artworks and artifacts were sent back from Milan, Italy by plane on April 9, and they have officially set off for home. Can you tell us more details? A: Indeed, those lost Chinese cultural items returned by Italy have already arrived in Beijing early this morning. They bear our nation's memories and have been abroad for many years. Now we are glad that they finally come home. As far as I know, China's National Museum will host a special exhibition of these valuable items that you may go and see. As you may recall, on March 23, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Conte witnessed the exchange of certificates for the repatriation of the Chinese cultural artworks and artifacts between representatives of China and Italy. I'd like to specifically mention that this is the biggest return in the past almost 20 years. It is a milestone of China-Italy cooperation on cultural heritage and a new model of international cooperation for the repatriation of lost cultural items. China highly commends that. China and Italy, both ancient civilizations and home to a large number of cultural artifacts, have long been cooperating in the preservation and restoration of cultural items and the fight against artifact-related crimes. We are ready to enhance communication and cooperation for better protection and preservation of global cultural heritage. Q: The USS Wasp is currently going through the disputed waters near the Philippines, specifically the shoals. I'm wondering if you have any comments on that? A: I may need to check on the specific situation. I can tell you that the principled position of the Chinese side is that we hope non-regional forces will refrain from stirring up troubles in the calm South China Sea. Top performers: Prep athletes shine in early season contests Check out who some of the top performers She has outlasted many of the presidents at the university just up the street. On Tuesday, Katharine Winograd, the longest-serving president in Central New Mexico Community Colleges history, announced her plans to retire next year. I have experienced so much joy serving as president of this wonderful community college. And thats because the people I work with at CNM care so deeply about our students, our community and our state, she said in a news release. That was the CNM culture long before I arrived, and it will carry on long after Im gone. Winograd, 62, has been at the helm of the community college for 12 years and has worked at the college for more than 22 years. She is the fifth president in CNMs 54 years. It would be impossible to communicate with any accuracy all of the emotions I am experiencing as I write my official letter to let you know I will be retiring at the end of my contract, Winograd wrote to the colleges Governing Board. However, I know the time has come for me to hand over the reins to President Number Six. The CNM board officially accepted her retirement plans at its Tuesday meeting. Winograd has agreed to stay on as CNMs president until a new president is hired or until her contract expires on June 30, 2020, whichever comes first. She is a special lady who really did a fantastic job for the institution and for the students, said Albuquerque Economic Development President Gary Tonjes. I think thats where she really shined and why the institution was so successful during her tenure because of her focus on the students and student achievement, meeting the needs of students and the community. The stability CNM has enjoyed under Winograd stands in contrast to the University of New Mexico, which has had five presidents since Winograd was named CNM president in February 2007. Pauline Garcia, chairwoman of CNMs Governing Board, said that stability gave the community confidence in the college. I think whenever you have that tenure it lets the community know that this is not going to be a rocky relationship, Garcia told the Journal. Everything they do is going to have a lot of continuity to it. In a prepared statement, Garcia praised Winograds leadership. Our college, our students, our community and our states economy have been so fortunate to have President Winograd leading the states largest community college for the past 12 years, she said. She has been a visionary higher education leader throughout her tenure, always focused on helping more students access higher education, then providing the innovative support systems and high-quality programs they need to persevere and graduate. At the same time, she has always nurtured partnerships across different sectors and developed bold new initiatives that have helped move our state forward in so many ways. In 2009 during Winograds tenure CNM surpassed UNM as the largest higher education institution in the state in number of students. The community college also worked with UNM to make it easier for students to transfer between the two institutions. A news release announcing Winograds retirement also touted the success the college has had educating minority students in recent years. For the 2014-15 academic year, CNM ranked No. 1 among community colleges in the country for the number of associate degrees and certificates awarded to both Hispanic and Native American students and No. 2 overall for total associate degrees and certificates awarded. Preliminary data show that the college earned the same distinction in the 2016-17 academic year. Garcia credited the work Winograd did keeping the cost of tuition low while also making sure the degrees offered had a practical use in the community. She pointed out some of the unique career paths that students can prepare for at CNM, whether the student wants to become a brewer, police officer or pharmacist. Students come through the program and they are employable at the end, Garcia said. Winograd, CNMs first female president, has also been active in the community, having served on several boards, including the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, the United Way of Central New Mexico, Presbyterian Healthcare Services, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (Denver Branch Board of Directors), and the Board of Directors for the New Mexico Independent Community Colleges. Tonjes praised Winograd for her willingness to take on pretty much anything to help the community or her students, even when it meant changing her calendar to accommodate a last-minute request to meet with a prospective employer considering setting up shop in Albuquerque. I think (CNM) reached deeper and stretched its arms wider than ever before in terms of understanding what the needs of the community were and then being innovative in creating solutions and programs to meet those needs, Tonjes said. Copyright 2019 Albuquerque Journal They say hindsight is 20/20. Thats how Mandy Edwards feels as she looks back on the past decade. As a longtime friend of Brandon Reynolds and frequent babysitter to the 5-year-old daughter he is accused of beating to death she said she no longer knows what was real. Sarah seemed like she was always being taken care of, so I never questioned anything, Edwards said of Sarah Dubois-Gilbeau. This has been a nightmare I dont understand at all. Reynolds is accused of beating Sarah with a green water shoe after she refused to do her homework on Thursday evening. He didnt call for help until hours later, and the girl was pronounced dead at a hospital early Friday morning. Reynolds is behind bars charged with child abuse resulting in death. On paper, there were no warning signs. Reynolds has no criminal history in New Mexico and no abusive history with the Children, Youth and Families Department. Instead, court records show a judge awarded Reynolds full custody of Sarah after her mother, Chantel Smith, tested positive for THC while breastfeeding. The child also tested positive for THC at birth. Reynolds filed a petition for a restraining order against Smith soon after, when Sarah was 3 weeks old. In it, he alleged that Smith was abusive toward him. During the custody battle, Smith wrote that Reynolds had PTSD, which causes him to not be able to handle or care for a child properly. He also has a history of abandoning the mother and that may follow through with the child, she argued in court documents. Despite all the issues between the two over the years, Smith said she never imagined Reynolds would hurt their child. Never laid a hand on me, not once. If he did get angry he would shut down. Not speak and walk away, she told the Journal. I watched them do homework together at my house and he was so patient. Smith, who lives in California, said Reynolds spoke to Sarah with respect, even when he was being stern. This is truly puzzling to me, she said. But Smith said her daughter was autistic, and Reynolds refused to accept it. Now I have to go to New Mexico to bury my sweet little innocent 5 year old child, she wrote on a GoFundMe page. A burial she did not ask for, for a beating she didnt deserve, by someone who was supposed to protect her from the monsters. I was hoping to have more time with her. Like Smith, Edwards said the allegation that Reynolds killed his daughter doesnt match up with the man she has known since the two met 10 years ago at Central New Mexico Community College. The two had raised children and grown up together. My kids always called him the teddy bear, she said. Never once did I see an outburst. Edwards said the Reynolds she knew was a funny, calm and loving person. A good father and role model for the kids. Despite all the issues between the two over the years, Smith said she never imagined Reynolds would hurt their child. He would play volleyball with her daughters and tag with her son, she said. And when her son later died, Reynolds came to the funeral with a hat to bury with him. While their children were like siblings, she said, Reynolds raised Sarah in his own way. The girl never went to day care or socialized with children outside Edwards kids and the neighbors. As time went on, Sarah talked less and less and often had trouble speaking, Edwards said. She would say little words here and there, but she didnt carry on conversation like a normal 5-year-old would, she said. Kids need that socialization. Edwards said she never saw any abuse. No bruises. And she heard no yelling. Reynolds seemed to want the best for Sarah, and he would often complain about the complex they lived in. He just wished he could take her away, she said. Give her somewhere where she could actually be a kid and run around and play. Not have to be worried about all the bad. Looking back, she said there were little signs here and there. Most involved Sarahs behavior and Reynolds relationship with the girls mother. Every time I had Sarah I had to have the restraining order, Edwards said. She said Sarah stayed with her often over the years, sometimes for a week or longer. Reynolds would tell her he was in the hospital, or had to work nights for Uber, and pack Sarah a bag with food and clothes. When it was time to go home, Sarah would wrap her arms around Edwards neck and not let go. Now, Im like she was holding on probably because she felt safe with us, because she knew we would never hurt her, she said. Then, last August Edwards said Reynolds told her he was going to send Sarah out to California to live with her mom and start school. He made her sound like she was this best mom now and everything was great and the past is in the past, she said. Edwards said Chantel is the one who started homeschooling Sarah and the two women started talking. Smith would send videos of Sarah to her. Taking away everything he ever said, she seems like a very loving parent and wants the best for her kids very dedicated, she said. But in October, Edwards said Reynolds told her things werent right, alleging Smith wasnt treating Sarah right and was putting things in her head. She said Smith was telling her a different story; that Sarah was showing signs of abuse and things that are not normal of a 5-year-old. Im hearing from Brandon that shes not in a good situation, Im hearing from Chantel that something happened while she was living out here, Edwards added. I always trusted Brandon because thats who I knew. She said it came to a head in March when Reynolds went back to California. Hes like I got to get her, I got to bring her back,' she said. And he brought her back. SANTA FE Jurors in U.S. District Court this morning will begin deliberating whether a former popular pastor of one of the states largest Catholic parishes sexually assaulted a former 11-year-old altar boy nearly 30 years ago on Kirtland Air Force Base and Santa Fe National Cemetery. The defendant, Arthur Perrault, never took the witness stand during the seven days of trial that included testimony from seven other former altar boys or students who said they too had been sexually abused by Perrault. The evidence also included an apology letter he wrote to an alleged victims mother in 1971 and, more recently, to the King of Morocco, where Perrault wrote that to avoid committing perjury he would have to confess to the FBI that he had sexually abused teens in the past. He left New Mexico to settle in Morocco more than two decades ago, as child sexual abuse allegations against him were becoming public. Perrault is facing a maximum life prison sentence if convicted on the six federal counts of aggravated sexual abuse and one count of abusive sexual contact. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Sullivan, in closing arguments, told jurors that Perrault was a serial child molester who wouldnt stop. The alleged victim in the federal indictment, John Doe No. 1, was an easy target Sullivan said. The former altar server at St. Bernadette contended he was molested by Perrault between 1991 and 1992, at various locations including the military base, where Perrault was a chaplain, and the national cemetery where he performed burials. The case is in U.S. District Court because the alleged acts occurred on federal property. To back up John Doe No. 1s account, prosecutors were permitted to elicit testimony from seven other alleged victims whose similar accounts of sexual assault by Perrault date back to the 1960s. In civil records, Perrault has been accused of molesting at least 38 boys in New Mexico. Less than two years after he was ordained a priest in 1964, Perraults conduct led a Catholic diocese in Connecticut in 1964 to send him to the Servants of the Paraclete center in Jemez Springs for treatment. After his release, he worked in the Albuquerque area for 25 years. After seven years at St. Bernadette church, Perrault abruptly left town in October 1992 and taught at an American school in Morocco. Sullivan said Perrault told FBI agents who brought him back to New Mexico to face the federal charges last September that he was more popular than the Archbishop of Santa Fe, and edited the church newsletter. Why would you leave all that? But he vanished, Sullivan said. He fled because he knew he was guilty and to escape justice. Perraults attorney Sam Winder disputed John Doe No. 1s account, noting that he told the FBI he was abused in a bedroom at St. Bernadettes rectory, when two church employees testified there were no beds in the buildings rooms back then. Thats what the government wants to hide, Winder told jurors. Winder said that John Doe No. 1, now 38, may have had false allegations that became a false memory. Perrault isnt charged with sexual assault at the rectory, but Winder said the conflicting testimony proves the government from the very beginning miscalculated. DUBLIN One doesnt necessarily expect to find an advanced manufacturing operation in the Donegal Gaeltacht, one of the last rural redoubts where the Irish language can be heard in everyday life. Yet, there Irish Pressings is, producing tooling and parts for the auto industry. Since it was founded, the company has grown steadily, even during the most brutal parts of the financial crisis. Irish Pressings planned to grow even bigger this spring, because the company expected a major contract from Honda for one of its new models. News of the contract had prompted a weekend-long celebration followed by devastation in February when Honda announced that it was shutting the factory in England where the car was to be made. Honda said the decision wasnt Brexit-related, but in 2018, an executive had detailed the companys concerns about problems that would be caused by Britains leaving the European Union. Declan Ward, Irish Pressings managing director, says his firm will be fine because its policy is not to spend money on expansion until a contract is firmly in hand. Nonetheless, losing the Honda job was a blow to an employer in an area that desperately needs this kind of economic development. Much of the speculation about Brexit over the past few years has focused on how it would affect the British and Irish economies. Remainers have occasionally exaggerated just how bad it would be even if Britain crashes out of the EU with no agreement to organize its trade with other countries, Britons are not going to be boiling their shoes for dinner. That said, a no-deal Brexit is likely to be disastrous enough. Josh Hardie, deputy director general of the Confederation of British Industry, estimates shipments through the Port of Calais, Britains gateway to Europe, would fall by 50 percent in the immediate aftermath. For consumers, that would mean shortages of certain goods and long queues. For businesses, it would mean a major economic shock, one that would, of course, eventually hit workers paychecks. And while leaving the EU might not be fatal to Londons place as a world financial center, some job losses are inevitable. Last year, Bank of America relocated to Dublin, moving about 100 jobs from London to its Irish subsidiary. But that doesnt mean Ireland expects to do well out of Brexit. An Irish government study released last month estimated that a disorderly, no-deal Brexit would cause job losses in the tens of thousands over the next decade, in a country with a population of less than 5 million. Ireland sends most of its agricultural exports to Britain, and much of the rest of its trade uses Britain as a land-bridge to the rest of Europe. A hard Brexit would be very hard on Ireland. And as Irish Pressings experience suggests, you dont actually have to wait for Brexit to see economic ripple effects across both sides of the Irish Sea. With Brexit, says Ward, The damage is already done. Theres been a dramatic decline in car buying. The uncertainty over the shambolic Brexit political process is making matters worse. Mark Sharkey, chief executive of the Cope, a retail cooperative near Irish Pressings, recalls starting to plan for a hard Brexit and asking his suppliers what they were doing. He says he was startled when they replied, Very little, but it was understandable. With everything in doubt, how can you plan? Companies waiting to discover whether Britain is going to leave, and how, are withholding investment or steering investments elsewhere. And as Hardie told me, Once a hundred-million-pound investment has gone somewhere else, its not coming back. And, of course, some of the follow-on investments that otherwise would have been made will instead flow toward the moneys new home. But the changes taking place in the British economy arent necessarily visible in the headline gross domestic product figures, and that may actually be making things worse. If the uncertainty had crashed Britain into a recession, politicians might have been forced to come to some orderly, timely arrangement. But GDP grew at a rate of 1.4 percent in 2018 not stellar, but not catastrophic, either. Even more perversely, the uncertainty has spurred some of the growth: British firms are building up their inventories in case a no-deal Brexit suddenly cuts off supplies. That has given the British economy lately a healthier glow than it merits. Even in an orderly Brexit, or a canceled Brexit, the glut of goods will depress output in future quarters. Eventually, something will have to happen with Brexit and, eventually, Irish Pressings and British industry will muddle through; the Cope will cope. But every day that politicians dither is another day of damage to businesses and another day for firms to look beyond the British market toward places where the path forward seems clearer. Twitter, @asymmetricinfo. 2019, Washington Post Writers Group. Several decades ago, the Santa Fe River was more like a dry arroyo than a river, more a place where La Llorona roamed, crying in search of her dead children. As arroyo-haunting goes, the Santa Fe River was fair game. At the heart of my desert community, the river was not lost, just forgotten. Love, outrage and compassion of visionary citizens restored the Santa Fe River from dust to a small but important corridor of life. Tireless volunteers planted cottonwoods and willows along its banks; in response, birds, wildlife and people returned. In 2013, the city passed a living river ordinance to ensure flows can persist even in the flow-challenged reaches through town. While additional work is needed to realize this vision of a living Santa Fe River, a new, much more insidious threat looms over my hometown waterways. The Trump administrations proposal to roll back Clean Water Act protections is a real nightmare for the Santa Fe River and waterways throughout New Mexico. The rule eliminates categories of currently protected waters, including ephemeral and intermittent streams that only flow in direct response to precipitation; closed-basin lakes and watersheds; interstate waters; and most wetlands. Over 90 percent of waterways in New Mexico fall into these categories and would lose vital federal protections. The Santa Fe River, as it flows through the city, would likely fall within one of these categories of unprotected waterways. Even worse, however, its upstream headwater streams could also lose critical protections. The Santa Fe River is just one of thousands of typically dry but sometimes raging washes, arroyos, creeks and streams that contribute significant flows to the Rio Grande. Stripping Clean Water Act protections from these diffuse sources of water will impact the 6 million people who rely on the Rio Grande watershed for drinking water and irrigation. These waterways also create terrestrial and migratory corridors from the mountaintops to the floodplains. Its along ephemeral waterways that mountain lions, black bears and bobcats roam. As these waterways merge along the central flyway into the Rio Grande, tens of thousands of sandhill cranes, geese, crows and other incredible birds bring beauty and birders to bolster the local recreational economy. New Mexico waterways are especially vulnerable to the loss of federal clean water protections because the state doesnt have authority under the Clean Water Act to regulate point-source dischargers. If precipitation-fed waterways were to lose protection, Los Alamos National Laboratory, which sits along a precipitation-fed stream, could be free to discharge directly upstream from Santa Fes drinking water intake at the Buckman direct diversion. In addition, the labs legacy of pollutants, now closely regulated, could destroy the water quality of thousands of miles of river and its many communities downstream. Water is scarce in New Mexico, we need every last drop protected. On March 27, the city of Santa Fe passed Resolution 2019-5 opposing this proposed rule and raising its voice for clean water. Individuals and groups with expertise in the field of clean water in New Mexico are speaking out and providing talking points for other concerned citizens. We at Rio Grande Waterkeeper and WildEarth Guardians strongly oppose the proposal to gut the Clean Water Act. We implore everyone individually and collectively who cares about clean water to drink, safe water to swim in, and healthy water for fish and ecosystems, to stand with us and speak out. You dont have to be a scientist, lawyer or water policy specialist to speak for clean water. Please consider submitting a comment letter to the federal agencies behind this rule and calling your local, state, and federal representatives to express your opposition to the proposed rule. This rule threatens the very soul of this arid region. We need your voice to resist yet another way the Trump administration threatens clean and healthy waterways in New Mexico. Jen Pelz is an attorney, activist and biologist working to safeguard flows and clean water in our western rivers. Comments due Comments to the federal agencies involved in the rollback of the Clean Water Act are due April 15 As a community action group in Albuquerque, we applaud Councilors Isaac Benton, Pat Davis, Diane Gibson and Cynthia Borrego for their Bill No. O-19-48, Albuquerque Clean and Green Retail Ordinance, to limit the use of single-use plastics and containers within the city. Single-use plastics represent the epitome of todays throwaway culture. The U.N. Environment reports just nine per cent of the worlds nine billion tons of plastic has been recycled. It can take up to thousands of years for plastic bags and polystyrene containers to decompose. Most of this plastic ends up in landfills, water systems, the environment and, eventually, us. According to the Clean and Green town hall at the Kimo Theater (on March 31), Americans use 100 billion plastic bags a year, which require 12 million barrels of oil to manufacture, all for an average use of 12 minutes before being thrown away. Americans use 1.6 plastic straws per day, per person. Thats enough to wrap around the earths circumference 2.5 times a day! Styrofoam easily breaks down into tiny particles, but takes 100 to 1,000 years to fully degrade. All go into our soil, our water and eventually our consumption chains. Styrofoam products are toxic if ingested, and can damage nervous systems, lungs and reproductive organs. But plastics are also a scourge on the visual beauty of our most precious city resource: nature. Lets keep Albuquerque beautiful, but also an example of a forward-thinking and appealing city for tourists, potential employers and future taxpayers. There are numerous innovative, cost-effective and environmentally responsible transport and take-out materials available. And consumers can readily re-use bags, bottles, coffee cups, etc. to take away products. All also present untold opportunities for new and innovative local entrepreneurs, opening new development venues for Albuquerque businesses. Lets join other dynamic and attractive U.S. cities, such as Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Boulder, New York, Portland, Washington, D.C., and New Mexicos Santa Fe, which have successfully enacted plastic straw and bag bans or fees. Councilors Benton, Davis, Gibson and Borrego have turned to these cities to learn how best Bill No. O-19-48 can be adapted to Albuquerques needs. They have researched the potential financial impacts to local businesses, which show that merchants would incur a .02-cent increase in costs per bag and only .01-cent per straw, which could be passed on to consumers if they want. But, however its done, its a small price to pay for a cleaner and safer environment! Lets not only show Albuquerque as a leader in innovative legislation for the common good, but also create a safe and healthy environment for our citys future residents and taxpayers: our children. Copyright 2019 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE New Mexicos minimum wage will not only gradually ramp up to $12 an hour by 2023, but it will also apply for the first time to caregivers, housekeepers and other employees who work in private homes. Thats because a bill passed by the Legislature during this years 60-day legislative session and signed into law last week by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will remove a long-standing exemption for such domestic workers from the states wage laws. Sen. Liz Stefanics, D-Cerrillos, who co-sponsored the bill during this years session, said many domestic workers have historically been paid less than minimum wage. She also said the legislation came about after a task force was created in 2017 to study the role of caregivers, who help take care of elderly individuals and those with developmental disabilities. If these caregivers arent doing this work, many of these people (they care for) would probably be in institutions, Stefanics said. There are roughly 65,000 caregivers across New Mexico, but the number of workers affected by the new law will probably be even higher, because that figure does not include other types of domestic workers. The legislation, Senate Bill 85, largely flew under the radar during this years session, as lawmakers also passed high-profile bills dealing with public schools, ethics, renewable energy and gun sales. They also passed compromise legislation to raise the minimum wage for all workers for the first time since 2009. Under that bill, New Mexicos minimum wage will jump from $7.50 an hour to $9 an hour in January 2020. It will then rise again in each of the following three years until reaching $12 an hour in 2023. Because domestic workers will now be subject to the states wage laws, their pay rates will also be affected by the minimum wage increase. But the new law will not affect domestic workers who work as private contractors, because contractors are not subject to certain federal and state wage laws. Stephanie Welch, a supervising attorney for the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, said New Mexicos exclusion of domestic workers from state wage laws dates back decades. Although the federal government updated its laws to remove a similar exemption several years ago, New Mexico had left its exemption on the books. This is a discriminatory exclusion that primarily affects low-income workers and women of color, Welch said Tuesday. Some domestic workers say they have not always been fully paid for the hours they work by the companies that employ them. It is invisible work, fraught with exploitation such as wage theft, and historically our work has not been given the value it deserves, said Alicia Saenz, a member of the Albuquerque-based El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos, an immigrant advocacy group, after Lujan Grisham signed the bill into law last week. In addition to requiring that domestic workers be paid at least the state minimum wage, the new law will also give covered employees more rights when it comes to disputes with their employers over pay levels or other issues. However, the state Department of Workforce Solutions already has a significant backlog of wage claims, and adding more cases could require more funding for the agency, according to a fiscal analysis of this years bill. In addition, Stefanics said some businesses have expressed concern about escalating costs due to the newly enacted law. There is another existing state wage exemption for agricultural and livestock workers that will not be affected by the new law, which is set to take effect June 14. The Pentagon this week awarded two military contracts worth almost $1 billion to construct some new barriers and walls and replace others along a stretch the U.S. border with Mexico including almost 50 miles in New Mexico, multiple news organizations reported Wednesday. The Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $789 million contract to the Galveston, Texas-based company, SLSCO Ltd., for border replacement wall construction along 46 miles near Santa Teresa and Columbus in New Mexico, according to the Associated Press, Yahoo News and CBS. Barnard Construction Co. Inc., of Bozeman, Mont., was awarded a contract worth $187 million for design-bid-build construction project for primary pedestrian wall replacement in Yuma, Ariz. Both projects, announced on the Defense Department website, are slated for completion in fall 2020, the organizations reported. The Corps of Engineers told the AP in a statement the new fencing will help impede and deny illegal border crossings and smuggling of drugs and humans. The Pentagon is paying to the construction by diverting up to $1 billion to support the DHS to block drug-smuggling corridors in those areas, Yahoo News said. The Defense Department, triggered by Trumps emergency declaration to build a border wall, took the unprecedented tactic of notifying Congress about the transfer of funding, rather than requesting the money through the appropriations process. Democrats and Republicans have criticized the move as a way for the administration to sidestep Congress Constitutional power over government spending. The newly contracted border barrier projects are still in the early stages. The Army Corps of Engineers has been making plans for 57 miles of 18-foot-high barriers along the Texas, New Mexico and Arizona border. HOUSTON Officials say more than 50 birds, turtles and other animals were found dead or died after last months petrochemical plant fire that spilled contaminated products into the Houston Ship Channel. Cleanup and product removal continues in the waterway and the Intercontinental Terminals Company tank farm at Deer Park following the March 17 accident. An ITC statement says 11 of the 15 tanks have been secured. Adam Adams with the Environmental Protection Agency says 21 animals were recovered alive when wildlife experts were allowed into the affected area. Five of those animals died in rehab. Adams says 48 other animals were dead at the scene, including turtles, possums, birds and fish none considered endangered. Adams said Wednesday that nearly a dozen animals in rehab were ready to be released. A man accused of beating his 5-year-old daughter to death because she didnt do her homework appeared in court Wednesday morning to determine whether he will be held behind bars until his trial. But the hearing was continued as the defense said it had not received video of key parts of suspect Brandon Reynolds interview with detectives. State District Judge Jacqueline Flores reset the hearing for next week. Reynolds is charged with child abuse resulting in the death of his daughter, Sarah Dubois-Gilbeau. He wiped away tears as he sat, shackled, waiting in the courtroom for the hearing to begin. The 2nd Judicial District Attorneys Office had filed a motion for him to be held in jail until his trail. Although Reynolds does not have any criminal history, prosecutors argued that the court should consider his past actions and statements including a demonstrated inability or unwillingness to regulate his emotions when determining whether he is a danger to the public. However, Reynolds defense attorney, Craig Acorn, said he had not received all the discovery items, including the complete interview between his client and the police, and could not rely solely on the criminal complaint for a summary of what had happened. Acorn said he learned that the video had not been entered into evidence but would soon be available for him to review. Police say Reynolds told them he was triggered and admitted to beating Sarah with a water shoe all over her body. He said that when he realized she wasnt mobile, he tried to help her, and then, when he realized her heartbeat was faint and her breathing shallow, he tried to revive her and called 911. The girl was taken to a hospital, where she died. Copyright 2019 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE Despite the passage of more than two decades and a scarcity of direct physical evidence, a federal court jury on Wednesday took less than four hours to find former Catholic pastor Arthur Perrault guilty of all seven counts of sexually abusing a former altar boy at Kirtland Air Force Base and the Santa Fe National Cemetery in 1991 and 1992. Perrault, a Catholic priest in the Albuquerque area for more than 25 years, showed no emotion as U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez read the jurys guilty verdict on six counts of aggravated sexual abuse and one count of abusive sexual contact. But in the audience, where up to four alleged Perrault victims had watched the seven-day trial, tears were flowing. So many emotions. So sad for everyone, one man said as tears welled in his eyes. He said Perrault, now 81, sexually abused him in 1971. I never thought this day would come, said a woman whose account of sexual abuse by Perrault was first reported by the Journal in a story on Oct. 10, 1992. She and her brother contended they were abused by Perrault as children and had sued the Archdiocese of Santa Fe for damages. Perrault, then pastor of St. Bernadette parish in Albuquerque, fled New Mexico soon after the abuse allegations became public in 1992. He moved to Tangier, Morocco, where he taught school for two decades. Moroccan authorities took him into custody based on the federal criminal charges in New Mexico filed in 2017, and the FBI arrested him last year, returning him to Albuquerque to face prosecution. He is no longer a practicing priest, having had his priestly faculties suspended by the archdiocese in October 1992. Perrault faces a possible life sentence in prison, but no sentencing date has been set. The case, investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Air Force, was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorneys Office in New Mexico based on the account of one victim, now 38, whose allegations of repeated rape, oral sex and fondling by Perrault on federal property opened the door to a federal criminal prosecution. Perrault also abused the boy beginning when he was 10 years old on St. Bernadette property and in his Chrysler Fifth Avenue car, the former altar boy testified last week. As a military chaplain, Perrault had access to Kirtland, and he presided over burials at the Santa Fe National Cemetery, where, the victim said, he was taken several times and sexually assaulted. After the verdict, U.S. Attorney for New Mexico John Anderson released a statement saying that Perrault has at long last been held accountable for his crime. Though the quest for justice can sometimes be long and difficult, todays jury verdict makes clear that courageous victims and the relentless efforts of law enforcement can, together, make justice a reality, the statement said. Although several Catholic priests who worked in New Mexico have been convicted of state child sex abuse charges over the past 30 years, the federal prosecution of Perrault is believed to have been the first of its kind in New Mexico. Perraults court-appointed attorney, who had no comment after the verdict, had predicted at a pretrial hearing in March that his client would be convicted if the prosecution were allowed to bolster its case by calling other men to testify about their similar childhood sex abuse at the hands of Perrault. Vazquez permitted the testimony of seven other alleged victims to show that Perrault had a propensity for sexually abusing children. The men, whose abuse occurred from ages 9 to 16, testified that the priest had groomed them by giving them gifts and attention, befriending their parents, and using his position as a priest to prey upon them sexually. Several, including the primary victim, kept their repeated molestation a secret for years, although others were children when they told their parents. Assistant U.S. attorneys Sean Sullivan and Holland Kastrin also introduced into evidence letters Perrault wrote over the years. In one letter to a victims mother in 1971, Perrault blamed his sexual abuse of her son on learning he had cancer, which prosecutors said he didnt have. A more recent letter he wrote to the king of Morocco discovered in his belongings at his arrest mentioned his past sexual abuse of teens. And prosecutors relied on Perraults admission to FBI agents on the plane trip to Albuquerque that he molested a different former altar boy 50 years ago. Civil records show Perrault is alleged to have sexually abused up to 38 children in New Mexico, where he was sent in 1966 by his Catholic diocese in Hartford, Conn., to undergo treatment at the Servants of the Paraclete center for pedophile priests in Jemez Springs. After his release, Perrault worked for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe as a teacher at St. Pius X High School, as a priest at Our Lady of the Annunciation, Our Lady of the Assumption and Our Lady of Guadalupe parishes and then as a pastor at St. Bernadettes in 1985. Walmart announced Wednesday it will be spending $36 million on the remodel of seven New Mexico stores as well as the addition or expansion of several technology-focused initiatives in select stores. The investment comes at a time when the worlds largest retailer faces increasing competition from Amazon and other e-commerce businesses. Walmart says the following locations will be remodeled or are already undergoing a remodel: 2701 Carlisle Blvd. NE in Albuquerque; 3500 Coors Blvd. SW in Albuquerque; 3728 N Prince St. in Clovis; 4600 E Main St. in Farmington; 3800 N Lovington Hwy. in Hobbs; 2250 Main St. NW in Los Lunas; and 3251 Cerrillos Rd. in Santa Fe. The customer-focused innovations include the following: An autonomous floor scrubber that cleans concrete floors will be launched in 22 New Mexico stores Pickup Towers 16-foot-tall vending machines that fulfill online orders after the customer scans a barcode on their smart phone will be added to eight stores across the state The companys free grocery pickup option will be added to more than a dozen stores. Customers shop online and schedule a time to pull up alongside the store and have their groceries loaded into their car. A grocery delivery option will be available at eight additional stores. A new back room system called the FAST Unloader will be implemented in 18 stores across the state. After items arrive on trucks to the stores, the system automatically sorts them based on priority and department. The company also recently introduced Walmart Voice Order, in which customers use Google Assistant to add items to their online Walmart cart. To use the program, customers say Hey Google, talk to Walmart, to their Google Assistant-enabled smart phones. Asked how the technological changes would impact employees, Walmart spokeswoman Tiffany Wilson echoed a common refrain among employers in increasingly automated industries: that the initiatives would allow workers to focus on less repetitive tasks and focus on more fulfilling ones. In Walmarts case, Wilson said its also allowed the company to create new positions. We now have thousands of personal shoppers who pick out the best meat and produce for online shoppers, and those jobs didnt exist a few years ago (at Walmart), said Wilson. For every new technology we add, we need people to operate and assist those technologies. Wilson said there are no plans to reduce Walmarts New Mexico workforce in light of the changes. She said the company is focused on providing more benefits and higher pay for its employees. Chrome News Track, from Chrome Data Analytics and Media, has been conducting study on news content aired across India by choosing the Most Aired, Most Watched and Most Discussed News of the week. The survey conducted is an outcome of the data collected from 34,000 Chrome DM panel homes across India. It analyses the effectiveness of the news aired on television every week and categorises it through three broad segments, namely Most Aired, Most Watched and Most Discussed. Most Aired News in Week 14 According to the Chrome News Track data for the Week 14 of 2019, 2019 Lok Sabha Elections is the most aired news this week, followed by news about Amit Shah Files Nomination from Gandhinagar Seat. The news about Chowkidar Campaign stood at the 3rd spot; the Rahul Gandhi Files Nomination from Wayanad Seat news is next in the list, while news about PM Narendra Modi Blames Congress over Hindu Terrorism managed to take the fifth spot. Most Watched News in Week 14 The survey also unveils that 2019 Lok Sabha Elections is the most watched news for the week, grabbing maximum eyeballs, followed by Rahul Gandhi Files Nomination from Wayanad Seat. The news about Amit Shah Files Nomination from Gandhinagar Seat, Chowkidar Campaign and PM Narendra Modi Blames Congress over Hindu Terrorism also generated interest amongst viewers and are placed at 3rd, 4th and 5th positions, respectively, in the list. Most Discussed News in Week 14 On the other hand, taking a closer view of the Most Discussed News category of the survey, the news about 2019 Lok Sabha Elections has been the talk of the nation, making it the most discussed news, whereas the news about Rahul Gandhi Files Nomination from Wayanad Seat happens to be the 2nd most discussed news as per the survey. PM Narendra Modi Blames Congress over Hindu Terrorism became the 3rd most discussed news among the masses. Amit Shah Files Nomination from Gandhinagar Seat and Chowkidar Campaign are placed at 4th and 5th positions, respectively, in the list. Eight ceremonies of scrutiny took place on the last three Sundays of Lent. The baptisms will involve mainly adults. For PIME regional superior, the new Catholics "will enhance the vitality of the local Church. Hong Kong (AsiaNews) The Church of Hong Kong is preparing to welcome more than 2,800 new Christians, who will be baptised for Easter. Starting on 24 March and in the last three Sundays of Lent, the bishop examined the journey of faith of the catechumens in eight ceremonies of scrutiny held across the diocese. On the first of the three Sundays, a total of 1,720 catechumens, godparents and catechists took part in two ceremonies of scrutiny at the St Francis of Assisis Church, in Shek Kip Mei. The apostolic administrator of Hong Kong, Card John Tong Hon (pictured), led the scrutiny during the service concelebrated by Card Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, bishop of the diocese until 2009. The catechumens from the parishes of Hong Kong Island were present at the scrutiny ceremonies in Shek Kip Mei. The service held at the Church of Saint Benedict, in Sha Tin, on 31st March, was reserved for those from the parishes on the New Territories. The future Christians from the parishes of Kowloon took part in the services celebrated two days ago in Shek Kip Mei and at St Andrews Church (Hang Hau). Speaking to AsiaNews, Fr Giorgio Pasini, regional superior of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) in the former British colony, said that the ceremonies of scrutiny are "heartfelt moments" for the Church of Hong Kong. "The catechumens are numerous and already very active in the life of the community. This year, the large number of baptisms will also enhance the vitality of the local Church. Baptism involves mostly adults who come to it after a period of preparation that lasts a year and a half, almost two. "It is rare for new Christians to come from an experience of faith linked to Buddhism. Usually, its people who in the past did not belong to any religion or who perhaps respected the traditional ancestor cult but did not find any meaning for their lives in such practices. For the PIME regional superior, This is the starting point for a personal search, which leads them to find meaning in the Catholic faith and in the Christian message. Generally, "The catechumens come from every walk of life. Many are professionals with a great cultural background. Friends or family usually introduce them to the Church, but they can also gather information on the internet. In several cases, they are drawn by the positions of the Church on issues such as human rights." ABP News Shikhar Sammelan, one of Indias prominent knowledge sharing platforms brought together dignitaries from the ruling and opposition party to deliberate on the expected outcome of General Elections 2019. The event was organized in the capital at Hyatt Regency and the discussion focused on the recently released manifesto by the BJP and Congress. Renowned personalities and statesmen present at the event were Shri Shatrughan Sinha (Member of Parliament), Shri Rakesh Sinha (Member of Parliament Rajya Sabha), Ami Yagnik (Congress spokesperson and senior Gujarat high court lawyer and women rights activist), Shri. Randeep Surjewala (Congress Spokesperson), Priyanka Chaturvedi (National spokesperson Indian National Congress), Shri Gaurav Bhatia (National Spokesperson BJP), Dr. Sudhanshu Trivedi (Spokesperson BJP), Ragini Naik (Spokesperson Congress), Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Vice President BJP), Shri. Piyush Goyal (Minister of Railways and Coal). Shikhar Sammelan was hosted by ABP Newss star anchors Sumit Awasthi, Rubika Liyaquat, Romana Khan and Anuraag Muskaan. On the occasion, Mr. Avinash Pandey, CEO, ABP News Network said, As we inch closer towards the General Elections, ABP News hosted an intriguing session of Shikhar Sammelan in the capital to gauge the sentiments of both the parties. Instilling ABP News Networks philosophy of #deshkorakheyaagey we aim to keep our viewers informed who will play a key role in deciding the future of the country in the upcoming elections. Shikhar Sammelan is a unique platform that deliberates on the fundamentally pertinent issues which are of significance to the common man. It also provides an opportunity to both the ruling government and the opposition to debate on the challenges and the way forward for the country. Key Highlights Shatrughan Sinha (Member of Parliament) - BJP questions Mahagathbandhan of Opposition parties but the party is itself running on alliance with as many as 40 parties across the country. I did not leave BJP, but the party forced me to leave. The party did not even ask me before cutting my ticket from Patna Sahib seat. Instead of giving answers, BJP goes into the past. Priyanka Chaturvedi (National spokesperson Indian National Congress) In India, the ruling party is likely to make a slew of promises to woo different sections of the society, especially farmers, youth and women, besides the downtrodden. Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Vice President BJP)- People of Madhya Pradesh (MP), Chhattisgarh & Rajasthan have now seen the true colours of Congress and will not vote for it again in Lok Sabha polls. Shri. Piyush Goyal (Minister of Railways and Coal) - It is unfortunate for the politics of the country to have thinking like Farooq Abdulah for demanding separate Prime Minister for Jammu and Kashmir. There is love for India amongst every Kashmiri and there is no need for a different law in the valley. On World Health Day, SBI Life Insurance, one of the most trusted life insurance companies of the country, organised Thanks A Dot, a Breast Cancer awareness drive in Sonepat, Haryana. Research indicates that 1 in 3 women in rural India have not heard of the deadly disease and as many as 90% of them are unaware of the possibility of self- breast examination. For this purpose, the insurer organised a workshop conducted by breast cancer survivor and motivational speaker, Ms. Sujaya Walia, for the rural women to explain the risks of breast cancer, educate them on the benefits of self-examination and empower them to be self-prepared. More than 60 women along with a few men of the village attended the workshop and all of them received the Thanks-A-Dot kit free of cost. Studies indicate that the average age of breast cancer in India is almost a decade lower than in the west. One of every 2 woman newly diagnosed with breast cancer doesnt survive in India. Also, out of 2,000 women detected with cancer, 1,200 were diagnosed at a late stage. This means it reduces the first-year survival rate by 3 to 17 times for breast and cervical cancer. Taking the initiative to the rural interiors, Mr. Ravindra Sharma, Chief of Brand & Corporate Communications, SBI Life Insurance said, Breast cancer is most common in women and can be cured if detected at an early stage. Most women in rural areas neglect their health and delay in seeking medical advice early because of unawareness, illiteracy, myths or superstition and many a times, due to financial constraints. It is imperative for these women to have deeper understanding and awareness of the symptoms of this disease. Therefore, we took Thanks-A-Dot initiative to the rural interiors to create awareness and encourage every woman to spur a positive conversation about self-breast examination among each other and get away with sense of hesitation. He further added, Women are custodians of family health, playing a critical role in maintaining the health and well-being of their communities. In other words, healthy women will ensure healthy families, healthy communities and a healthy nation. As a responsible life insurer, we believe that we have an important role to play in educating and empowering women by increasing awareness towards the disease and we hope that Thanks-A-Dot can bring about the necessary change in the attitude of the women towards their health. Ms. Neelam, Sarpanch, Sersa Gaon, Haryana said, In our society, nobody pays attention to womens health and moreover, women in our community ignore their health problems. Very often women dont report their medical issues to the family or doctors because of lack of awareness and sense of hesitation in discussing their health issues. SBI Lifes Thanks-A-Dot, have given us the right direction to be educated towards what a lump feels like and how to self-examine to detect the early signs of breast cancer which is plaguing our society. I urge all the women in the villages to take the self- breast examination and be health conscious. Rajiv Dingra, Founder and CEO, WATConsult said, Recent studies indicate that 1 in 3 women in rural India have not even heard of breast cancer and unfortunately, 90% of them are unaware of the possibility of self- breast examination. This clearly highlights the lack of awareness in these areas and the need for women in rural India to understand the nuances of breast cancer, the prevention methods and the necessary steps to be taken. With Thanks a Dot, we reached out to a village in Haryana to initiate the positive conversation around breast health. From Robert Kennedy Jrs's Child Health Defense organization. In an unprecedented move, the New York City Health Commissioner on April 9, 2019 has imposed an emergency forced vaccination order, requiring ALL people living in four Brooklyn zip codes to receive the MMR vaccine (if they do not have proof of immunity or medical contraindication) within 48 hours or risk criminal and civil penalties. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio made the announcement. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said today that its legally questionable whether people can be forced to get vaccinated if it violates their religious beliefs. Look its a serious public health concern, but its also a serious First Amendment issue and it is going to be a constitutional, legal question, Cuomo said. Do we have the right does society, government have the right to say you must vaccinate your child because Im afraid your child is going to infect my child, even if you dont want it done and even if it violates your religious beliefs? So that is, thats an issue thats going to be legally questionable and Im sure its going to go down that path, Cuomo added. Childrens Health Defense is supporting a legal effort to restrain this order immediately. Vaccination choice is a human right. While New York City unquestionably has the authority to isolate infectious individuals, and even to quarantine them, and to exclude unvaccinated children from schools during an outbreak in that school, it does not have the authority to require vaccination for all individuals on the basis of zip codes with vaccines that explicitly carry the risk of death. This government overreach requires challenge. READ THE ORDER SUPPORT CHDS LEGAL EFFORTS THROUGH ONLINE DONATION. Or, mail a check to CHD\. (You can also authorize a bank transfer or open a donor advised fund. Contact us for more information.) In Columbia, families, friends and colleagues of firefighters that gave the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty were remembered with a memorial service at the S.C. Fire Academy last week. "Its a great thing to honor our brothers and sisters that have made the ultimate sacrifice," said Aiken Public Safety recruit Derek Penvose, who is a current trainee at the S.C. Fire Academy. "It means a lot to me. I know people in the fire service that are no longer with us. Great guys, great mentors. So its a great thing what were doing here." Penvose was one of many recruits that attended the ceremony at the academy. Members in the fire service across South Carolina spoke at the event, and families of the fallen were in attendance. The memorial honored firefighters recently deceased but also looked back on those who had given their lives many years ago. The names of those firefighters are engraved on the Rotunda Wall at the academy, which also houses the academy's eternal flame that burns in honor of the fallen. "The service today was fantastic," said Capt. Michael Regal of the S.C. Fire Academy. "Its unfortunate weve got to have things like this, but we do have to honor the individuals that did give the ultimate sacrifice." Regal, who trains firefighter recruits, said it can be challenging knowing there is a possibility that one of his recruits may some day make the same sacrifice as the men and women whose names are included on the Rotunda Wall. "Sometimes it is difficult, especially when we do get a line of duty death in the state of South Carolina," Regal said. "But we take that moment to go over what happened and to reaffirm the aspects of the importance of training, in that you never start, you never stop, youre always constantly, constantly training to better yourself and to better your community that youre serving in." During the service, many prayers were said, and helmets were placed upon the wall in honor of the firefighters who were honored that day. Despite the dangers of the job, an overwhelming proportion of firefighters are volunteers who give their time and service willingly to help others. Of the 19,491 firefighters in South Carolina, over 13,800 (about 72 percent) are volunteers. "It really touches me," Penvose said. "It really does, to know that Im not doing this for nothing. That when my time is gone and I can pass this on to somebody else, theres a group of people here saying 'hey, we appreciate everything youve done for us in the state of South Carolina.' It means a lot." Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier? Sign up to receive news and updates from this site directly to your desktop. Breaking News Columbia Breaking News Greenville Breaking News Myrtle Beach Breaking News Aiken Breaking News N Augusta Breaking News Click on the bell icon to manage your notifications at any time. Success! Please click the 'Allow' button in the 'Show Notifcations' alert in your browser if one is available. Thank you for signing up! Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page. ADANA, Turkey The entire city center of Adana in the south of Turkey turned into a giant celebration space last weekend, when the seventh edition of the Orange Blossom Carnival attracted 1.5 million carnivalgoers who wore colorful costumes, danced, tasted local specialties and enjoyed the Mediterranean sun. This is Turkeys first and only major street carnival, which attracted more than 250,000 tourists from across Turkey and abroad for this years celebration. Visitors came from Istanbul, Izmir and Diyarbakir, and also Brazil, Russia and Canada. The annual event during the first weekend of April unites performers, vendors and visitors in Adana's city center, morphing into a massive festive gathering. The central theme of the festival is the orange blossom, the event's signature fragrant flower, together with one of Adanas most important longstanding economic resources, the bergamot tree. Bergamot, also known as bitter orange, has a powerful, dizzying scent and is the base of many oriental perfumes and its citrus fruits are considered healthy. When spring arrives, the scent of the orange blossoms spread across the entire city, and even the entire Mediterranean coast, Menderes Samancilar, a well-known actor from Adana, told Al-Monitor, sitting under a canopy overlooking Seyhan Dam Lake. This carnival is a calling for Adana. Its a chance to show how one city lives in joy and what cultural and historical values it bears, he said, referring to the fertile Cilician Plains and the festival's cooking contest with recipes that include oranges and products made from this citrus fruit such as orange blossom syrup. Each year, the city's airport is busy with additional flights, and local hotel rooms are reserved months in advance and fully booked during the festival. According to Samancilar, more hotels will be built by next spring. We never thought this carnival would grow into what it is now when we started seven years ago, the actor, who has been involved in the carnivals organization since its inception, said. Each year, [the festival] grows exponentially, multiplying in the number of visitors and activities. Visitors this year had an abundant choice of activities, including concerts, costume contests, literature gatherings, sports events, a horse race in the city's hippodrome, a color fest, gastronomical events, short film screenings, photography exhibitions, two runs, dance performances, stand-up shows and the most joyous of all the parade. On Saturday afternoon, the streets of Adana's city center were packed for the main event with hundreds of thousands waiting for the brass band to mark the beginning of the parade. Traditionally, the band members, who wear bright blue uniforms, are followed by a press truck and the mayor, performers in costume and famous locals known nationwide. One woman standing on Ataturk Road waved excitedly and told Al-Monitor that she traveled all the way from the northern Black Sea province of Samsun. I am so excited to be here, Yildiz Kaya said, noting that this was her first time in Adana and taking part in the carnival. I will definitely be back next year, God willing. Mawulum Nyavowoyi, from Ghana, said she felt so welcomed in Adana, the hometown of some of Turkeys world-famous authors, actors and directors. The weather is awesome and the people are very friendly. This is the perfect start to spring, she told Al-Monitor, sitting under an orange tree, also vowing to come back next year. Locals set up booths under the orange trees, green paired with deep, rich orange color and small, white blossoms. Some sold home-made bergamot jams, others sold handicrafts. Visitors purchased street food including the world-famous Adana kebab, called Sikma phyllo with melted cheese and herbs inside and boiled corn. This year, the carnival came right after the local elections and during a continued dispute over the countrys cultural and economic capital, Istanbul. But in Adana, divisive politics and social elitism found no place during this spring gathering. The interaction here is above and beyond politics, Samancilar said. This carnival highlights brotherhood, peace and unity. And when people spend time on the streets, they feel free. So, each year we aim to provide just that: vivacious freedom to its rightful owners. Freedom also comes in the form of income for the locals, creating an economy at a time of nationwide financial hardship. The event has brought in some 70-80 million Turkish liras (roughly $12-14 million), Ali Haydar Bozkurt, the carnivals pioneer, told local media. Months in advance, locals prepare for the festival and to welcome the visitors. The festival's organization continues to improve the event and is specifically looking to solve the city center's traffic jams and garbage issue in the future. One committee staff member told Al-Monitor that the event could become a model for other events in southern provinces such as Gaziantep. But for now, Adana is the only Turkish city ready to host a large carnival. And many visitors of this year's festival commit to another "Adana in April next year. BAGHDAD Adjacent to the Tigris River, Rasheed Street has been called the memory of Baghdad by Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi. But efforts to revive the once bustling street or even to maintain its name may prove to be an arduous task. The Iraqi government has worked doggedly to restore the old glory of Baghdad, which has been the target of more bombings and explosions than its residents care to remember. The city is slowly returning to normal as dozens of security checkpoints and roadblocks are removed, enabling the flow of traffic. Construction of the new central bank, designed by the late Iraq-born architect Zaha Hadid on the west bank of the Tigris River, is expected to be completed within the year. The renovation of Rasheed Street, on the other side of the Tigris, is also on the agenda, both for the countrys political elite and grass-roots groups. Prior to the removal of the road blocks and walls around this business and cultural hub, a group of Iraqi parliamentary representatives from Baghdad visited the street Feb. 27 to oversee the process that would open the street to traffic after 15 years. A few days after the opening, on March 14, a group of university students organized a modest clean-up campaign to draw attention to the historic street. But some believe the street name needs to be changed first. Sami al-Askari, a member of the Iraqi National Assembly and the State of Law coalition, challenged the name "Rasheed" because it refers to Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rasheed, whom Shiites hate because he killed the seventh Shiite Imam Musa al-Kadhim, according to Shiite narratives. Askari tweeted March 31 that the name be changed, provoking many responses both for and against the change, though no official step has been taken to change the name. Opened in 1916 under Ottoman rule, Rasheed Street was the first street in Baghdad to be electrically illuminated. The capitals first cinema, al-Zawra, was also built there, alongside theaters, cafes and bookstores. The street was home to Baghdads cafe society, where writers, artists, politicians, intellectuals and admiring students could listen to music or enjoy tea at cafes such as Hassan Ajami, al-Zahawi and, famously, Umm Kulthum. Most of these cafes were opened in the early 20th century and remained open even if they struggled somewhat after the 1980s, when the street entered a downfall right until the 2000s. For most Iraqis, the street was a cultural, economic and touristic hub in the capital Baghdad for nearly 80 years, as well as a landmark of national identity, Ali Hassan al-Fawwaz, the secretary of cultural affairs for the General Union of Writers in Iraq, told Al-Monitor. Rasheed Street, "which starts at an intersection with Abu Nawas Street and extends all the way to al-Midan Square, was once home to the stores that carried global trademarks, and had offices of international companies, Fawwaz said, drawing attention to the street's economic role. The streets landmarks also include some of the oldest mosques in Baghdad, such as the Haydar Khana Mosque (built in 1819), El Mouradia and Ahmadiyya (built in 1759). The Ottoman monuments, all of which are still standing, include al-Qishla building and the clock tower, Rashidiya military school and Khan al-Mudallal, an inn built in 1906. The street has witnessed important political events in the history of modern Iraq. British forces, which entered Iraq in 1917, held their first military parade along the street in 1923. In the 1950s, it was the scene of several communist protests against the kingdom. Its claim to political fame came in 1959, when Saddam Hussein tried to assassinate Prime Minister Abd al-Karim Qasim. Hussein was shot in the leg and fled the country. Hussein, who became president in 1979, never warmed up to Rasheed Street, mainly because he saw it as a symbol of past rulers and the monarchy. Under his regime, the street was intentionally neglected and the cafes and shops lost their old glamour. In the 2010s, various governments tried to revive the street. Saber al-Issawi, then the mayor of Baghdad, promised in 2011 that the street would become the capitals cultural center once more. Three years later, the Municipality of Baghdad called upon 12 international construction companies to fix up facades, repave the sidewalks and build facilities like public toilets. An international consultancy company was contracted for $7 million to design the heritage buildings, but the plan was never implemented as the country plunged into instability once more. "The streets development projects were not successful, because the security and political conditions of Iraq prevented the projects from materializing," Saad al-Mutalibi, a member of the Baghdad Provincial Council, told Al-Monitor. He explained that the development project is the prerogative of the Municipality of Baghdad, not the federal government. The municipality is keen on rebuilding the street, but it needs to overcome the private ownership issue, he said, pointing out that most of the buildings belong to private citizens, not the state. Therefore, any major renovations can only take place with the owners permission. Nevertheless, some progress has already been made. The spokesman for the Secretariat of Baghdad, Hakim Abdul-Zahra, told Al-Monitor about a comprehensive plan developed by the Strategic Planning Committee. The plan was developed in 2007 for reconstruction of infrastructure and renovation of buildings," he said. "We aimed to modernize the buildings while still maintaining their historical features. Through the works of private developers specializing in architectural heritage sites, some of the buildings' facades were restored between 2007 and 2009, he said. He explained that the difficult security conditions the closure of the streets in central Baghdad, including Rasheed Street have hindered construction and restoration works and prevented access of construction vehicles. This is why the project completion was delayed," he said. Fawwaz, for his part, suggested that a new plan is needed to continue the work. A specialized task force is needed, one that would not be subject to hefty bureaucracy, to renovate the street and cooperate with cultural investors, such as international donors and architects who specialize in historical restorations. The determination to develop Rasheed Street coincides with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities' launch of the National Campaign for the Protection of Urban Heritage in January. Within the scope of this campaign, all heritage buildings will be documented and their data will be updated. Media office director of the Ministry of Culture, Amran al-Obeidi, told Al-Monitor that the street is included in the campaign to protect Baghdad's urban heritage. Technical teams of archaeologists and architects are studying the state of buildings, their annexes and cultural and heritage features," he said. "This includes areas associated with Rasheed Street." Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reaffirmed his determination to install a Russian S-400 missile system on Turkish soil, saying he could even move delivery forward despite ever louder warnings from Washington of the likely damage the move would do to Turkeys status within the NATO alliance. Speaking to a handful of his favorite media representatives en route home from Moscow, where he met with his new ally Russian President Vladimir Putin, Erdogan seemed to almost revel in the controversy. Wherever we go, they ask us Are you buying [the S-400s] or not? We respond that This is our finalized deal, everything is in order. Delivery of the S-400 is scheduled for July. He went further, saying, "Delivery may be moved forward. Erdogan appeared to dismiss the US administrations announcement that it would suspend sales of state of the art F-35 fighter jets to Turkey should the Russian deal proceed. They already gave us three [F-35s]; today they gave us a fourth. Training is continuing. As of now, there is no negative announcement with regard to the F-35s, he claimed. Erdogan was likely referring to the transfer of the jets to Turkish air force pilots for training at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. What he failed to mention, however, is that the aircraft and scores more slated for delivery will remain in US custody unless Ankara alters course, even though Turkey is part of a multi-billion-dollar consortium to produce the new generation fighters. His cavalier approach flies in the face of an op-ed penned by ranking members of the Senate Armed Forces Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee warning, The choice made by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey will have profound consequences for his countrys place in the world, its relationship with the United States and its standing in NATO. The authors noted that the S-400 missiles were built to shoot down the F-35 fighters. But even before the ink on the New York Times piece had dried, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu suggested that Turkey would buy a second S-400 missile battery. In an interview with the pro-government NTV news channel today, Cavusoglu asserted, If the United States does not want to sell Patriot [missile defense systems] to us, tomorrow we may buy another S-400 system and we also can purchase other air defense systems. He added, If we cant have the F-35 jets, we will be forced to satisfy our fighter jet needs somewhere else. That is something of an understatement. The bipartisan lawmakers warned that unless Erdogan scrapped the S-400 purchase, sanctions will be imposed as required by United States law under the Countering Americas Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. They promised the actions would hit Turkeys economy hard, rattling international markets, scaring away foreign direct investment and crippling Turkeys aerospace and defense industry. The op-ed coincided with the introduction of draft legislation by Sen. Roger Wicker (MS) and Ben Cardin (MD) seeking the imposition of Global Magnitsky Act-inspired sanctions on unnamed senior Turkish officials if Turkish authorities fail to free two Turkish nationals working at the US Consulate in Istanbul and NASA physicist Serkan Golge, a dual Turkish and American citizen. They stand accused of participating in the failed 2016 coup against Erdogan. The move signals that the freeing of North Carolina Pastor Andrew Brunson last year in the face of similar pressure has not gotten Turkey off the hook. Nate Schenkaan, director for special research at Freedom House, noted that if the bill is passed, the administration would be likely to implement it. He told Al-Monitor, In any bill like this, there is some kind of room for the administration to delay or try to interpret less restrictively. But there hasnt been much room between the administration and Congress on the issue of detained Americans and American employees. Shenkaan, continued, The important step here is that it widened the discussion to include consular employees previous bills only included American citizens and asset freezes and were limited to visa bans. I would take it very seriously if I were Turkey. So why isnt it, especially at a time when Erdogan is looking vulnerable on a number of fronts? The economy is continuing its downward spiral, one the top reasons his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost virtually all of Turkeys big cities to the main opposition in the March 31 municipal elections. Citing alleged fraud, the AKP has said it will demand a rerun in Istanbul, where opposition candidate Ekrem Imamoglu maintained a 15,000-vote lead even after ballots were recounted in 38 districts at the incumbents request. The prevailing uncertainty can only exacerbate the countrys financial woes investors came away unimpressed by Economy Minister Berat Albayraks pitch on structural reforms today, saying it was full of promise but low on substance and make it all the more likely that the AKP would lose in any rerun. The low chances of success, critics say, suggest that the government will simply rig the results, pushing Turkey deeper into the league of authoritarian basket cases like Venezuela. As the lawmakers observed in their essay, The more isolated Turkey is from its allies, the more power Mr. Putin will have in the relationship. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov could barely conceal his glee at the prospect of Ankara buying more Russian kit. Russia is open, Russia has the appropriate capabilities, technological competence and of, of course Russia is looking for opportunities to expand military-technical cooperation, he crowed. There are various explanations for Erdogans refusal to budge on the S-400s. Nicholas Danforth, a historian and senior visiting fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said, Turkish leaders have consistently presented their purchase of the S-400 as a declaration of independence from the United States and a crucial step towards a more independent foreign policy. He told Al-Monitor, Much as Washington remained convinced until quite recently that Ankara would eventually back down, Ankara appeared equally certain that Washington was bluffing about sanctions. To be sure, Erdogan may well be betting it will all blow over in time, as happened when the United States slapped an arms embargo on Turkey when it invaded northern Cyprus in 1974. By this reckoning, Turkey is too big a prize for the United States to let go of and that Erdogans personal chemistry with President Donald Trump might be leveraged along with the latters affinity for Putin to save the day. But Aaron Stein, director of the Middle East program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, offered, Hes made a political choice to deepen ties with Russia over the US. If so, why? Again, there are multiple answers. Erdogans deeply held suspicion that the Barack Obama administration supported the botched putsch may be one. The other is Erdogans unremitting fury shared by his generals over the United States continued partnership with a Syrian Kurdish militia that is closely intertwined with another that has been fighting the Turkish military for the past 34 years. Danforth concluded, barring a diplomatic miracle, both sides should brace for the coming crash. The Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council issued an official order to the Erbil Appeals Court on April 8 to implement an arrest warrant for the former governor of Ninevah province, Nawfal al-Akoub. A conflict over the post of governor ensued in the city of Mosul, which is at the heart of Ninevah province. The Iraqi parliament voted March 24 to dismiss Gov. Akoub from his post after a ferry accident in Mosul killed nearly 100 civilians. An arrest warrant was promptly issued for Akoub. Nevertheless, Akoub has not been arrested, although authorities in the Kurdistan Region have already arrested others implicated in the ferry accident. Tareq Nuri, the head of the Erbil Asayish, or security forces, said that his directorate is waiting for the arrest warrant to be delivered from the Ninevah courts to Erbil. With the goal of warding off a power vacuum in Ninevah, Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi set up a crisis management cell March 22 to run the provinces affairs. Abdul Mahdis appointment of a crisis cell is entirely legal. He is aware that the provincial council's term expired in June 2018, and local elections are delayed, according to legal expert Tariq Harb. Abdul Mahdi said at his weekly press conference, Setting up a crisis management cell is less than an ideal solution. Yet multiple gaps would be found in all other solutions. This one, however, prevents any political and security vacuum and, subsequently, a breakdown of security in the province. His statement would indicate that he has knowledge that such a vacuum would be exploited after the governor's dismissal. The appointment of Maj. Gen. Najim al-Jubouri, the commander of Ninevah military operations, as a member of the cell is proof in this regard. Idhawi Soaeb, a member of the Ninevah Provincial Council, shared the same concerns. "It is a serious situation in the Ninevah province," he told the press, "and this conflict could affect the security situation that we are warning against. Several members of the Ninevah Provincial Council have questioned the work of the cell. They believe it is working in the absence of mechanisms and a clear mandate. They also anticipated that the governors dismissal will lead to a delay in the payment of employees salaries. Fallah Zeidan, a member of parliament for Ninevah, suggested that a state of emergency be declared in the province and a military governor be appointed. The problem in Ninevah, he said, resides in the presence of economic bureaus affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) and some armed political parties. Yahya al-Kubaisi, a consultant for the Iraqi Center for Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor, The Mosul misfortune is more complicated than the matter of dismissing the governor. It is a severe social conflict engaging the citys center and outskirts. The political crisis in Ninevah is sharp. It does and will continue to becloud Mosul for the foreseeable future. He continued, Abdul Mahdis decision is a new administrative shift in the province, particularly since the cells head was given the powers to manage the provinces affairs. The process to select the governor will open the door wide to the corrupt parties opting for a governor. The crisis the Ninevah Provincial Council is facing is not new, as it is familiar to many of Iraq's local governments. A governor cannot be selected unless there is agreement among the council's political blocs. Ali Aghwan, a professor of international relations at al-Bayan University in Erbil, told Al-Monitor, Political shifts in Mosul could take place only when the economic bureaus loosen their grip. The current conditions are suitable for the crisis cell to make new political shifts. He continued, There are plans to dismiss directors of four important service provision institutions in Mosul. Yet there will not be deep shifts at the political level, considering that [access to] posts in Ninevah is subject to the general political framework of Iraq. A recent indicator of the political shift in Mosul is the media confrontations between Sunni politicians and PMU factions. Members of parliament for Mosul have demanded that the PMU leave the province. In response, parliamentarians whose parties have armed factions in the PMU state that those demanding that the PMU leave Ninevah province are trying to cover up their thefts out of fear that the PMU will unveil them. Maj. Gen. Jubouri spoke on March 29 about changes in the provinces institutions, which will be adopted in accordance with the powers that Abdul Mahdi entrusted to the cell. The crisis cell is currently seeking to replace the heads of city services like electricity and water working in Ninevah province, specifically in Mosul, with independent figures. It is seemingly a prime opportunity for the cell to take such measures in light of the federal governments support. Atheel al-Nujaifi, the former governor of Ninevah province, said March 31, The states departments' administrative and employment structures in the province, which are nearing collapse, are being rebuilt at this phase. Ninevah province is currently facing its greatest political and security challenge since it was under the rule of the Islamic State. In the past, Iraqis have been fearful of such challenges in the post-Islamic State era. Akoub himself warned on March 14 against the dangers of the Islamic State's return to the province. By the end of Israels 2019 election campaign, only two political camps were left: the pro-Netanyahu camp and the anti-Netanyahu camp. Ideology went out the window and nuances received a dogs funeral. The energy storms created by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus supporters and opponents shook the country with great force, crushing everything in its path. Blue and White, a hybrid party composed of foreign elements soldered together by Benny Gantz Israel Resilience, Yair Lapids Yesh Atid and Moshe Yaalons Telem, destroyed the Labor party and thirstily swallowed up all the center-left votes while Netanyahu did the exact same thing to the right. He, too, swallowed up his camps votes. The premiers luck is that the constituencies of Israels right and ultra-Orthodox factions are much larger than the closed voters pool of the center-left. This year, Gantz and Yair Lapid provided the exact same number of mandates that the Zionist Camp and Yair Lapid brought the last time around in the 2015 elections: 35. That number together with what remains of the Labor party, Meretz remnants and the two weakened Arab parties offer sort of a repetition of those 2015 elections where Netanyahu assembles around him a majority right-wing camp. And so, Netanyahu has proven that he is the greatest of Israels political magicians of all time. His achievement is unbelievable, although it does not grant him immunity vis-a-vis the criminal process that will be speeded up the day after the elections. It is altogether possible that Israel may find itself facing elections again next year. It has become clear that even three retired chiefs of staff, Blue and Whites Gantz, Yaalon and Gabi Ashkenazi; two Israel Defense Forces generals, Elazar Stern and Orna Barbivai; and two deputy Mossad and Shin Bet heads, former Mossad deputy director Ram Ben-Barak and former Shin Bet deputy chief Yitzhak Ilan were not enough to bring down one Netanyahu. The prime minister also equipped himself with top-level campaign managers who were no less efficacious than those of his rivals: US President Donald Trump to his right, Russian President Vladimir Putin to his left even leaving room for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who rushed to beef up Netanyahus side in the week before the elections, visiting Israel at the end of March. The right-wing camp retains its large majority of the Israeli public and even increases the gap. Demographics remain on its side. There will be 16 ultra-Orthodox representatives in the Knesset this year: eight each from Yahadut HaTorah and the Shas Party. The ultra-Orthodox demographic data and high birth rate, which had not trickled down conspicuously to parliamentary representation in the past, is starting to leave its mark. Netanyahu is the winner who makes a clean sweep of the election. So long as the economy is good and security is reasonable, the Israelis have no impetus to switch their prime minister. The criminal files, investigations and indictments that are coalescing all fly over the heads of Netanyahus fans without leaving much of an impression. Just like in the United States: Either youre for Trump or against him. There is no middle ground. The abortive victory speech delivered by Benny Gantz close to midnight on April 9 will haunt him for a long time. Only one television sampling, Hadashot 12, gave him a serious advantage of four mandates at the time (33-37). The Kan News sample predicted an advantage of one mandate (36-37) and the sample of Hadashot 13 predicted a tie (36-36). Gantz announced victory in a desperate attempt to ensure the secret agreements he made with parties that were supposed to remain on Netanyahus side: Yisrael Beitenu of Avigdor Liberman and the Kulanu Party of Moshe Kahlon. According to these agreements, if Gantz would achieve a greater number of votes than Netanyahu, then Liberman and Kahlon would not recommend to President Reuven Rivlin that Netanyahu be the one to create the next government. That would open up the possibility of granting the government coalition-making process to Gantz and the Blue and White. But Gantz delivered his speech and his chances evaporated. Less than two hours passed before Netanyahu delivered his victory speech. This time, it was for real. If anyone would have promised Gantz 35 mandates two months ago, he would have been excited at the good news and embraced such a result. What the former chief of staff did not realize was the following: the power of Netanyahus mandate-pumping skills; the unexpected successes of the Shas Party and Yahadut HaTorah; and the fact that none of the three former chiefs of staff were able to cross the lines and steal three to four mandates from the right. Netanyahu, meanwhile, relied on the fact that most Israelis are satisfied with their lives and with the condition of the state. Even at the height of the crisis in Gaza, when Gaza rockets were launched on Tel Aviv and the countrys center while Israel enabled the transfer of millions of Qatar dollars to Hamas, Netanyahu's image as Mr. Security was not contested. Evidently, more than three missiles are needed to seriously undermine the Israelis. So, what happens now? Netanyahu will assemble a government. That doesnt look too complicated, but it wont be a walk in the park, either. Netanyahus real goal is to try and wriggle out of the criminal charges quagmire, stop the judicial clock and force the attorney general to give in. According to publications, a hearing before the indictment is scheduled for July 2019. This goal of thwarting an indictment seems impossible even on the morning after the elections. Many of Netanyahus likely coalition partners already announced that they wont back any form of the so-called French law that would prohibit prosecution of the head of state. Another initiative involves Netanyahu claiming parliamentary immunity in relation to the Knesset members parliamentarian work along the lines of the model that existed more than a decade ago; the odds of this plan are not clear. It is hard to conceive of a situation in which the prime minister claims immunity vis-a-vis severe criminal charges. It is even harder to conceive of a situation in which Netanyahu continues to lead the worlds most complicated country while on trial for serious criminal charges. In a sane country, Netanyahu and Gantz would already be in the midst of assembling a national unity/reconciliation government, avoiding political alliances with extreme elements. This is the first time in generations that there are two large parties that do not need coalition partners. Gantz and Netanyahu have 70 mandates together, well beyond the 61 majority needed. Unfortunately, Israel is much removed from sanity and any measure of political correctness. Blue and White cannot join a government headed by a person facing criminal charges, period. Meanwhile, Netanyahu will try to dismantle Blue and White, just as he tried to do to Kadima under Tzipi Livni. The real challenge facing Gantz, Lapid, Yaalon and Ashkenazi on the day after their defeat is to stay united and not fall apart to create a real opposition and preserve the alternative paths. The 2019 elections were fateful but not final. On the day after, the attorney general was supposed to give Netanyahus legal team giant crates containing dozens of files with investigative materials against their client no information was leaked to the press if that really happened by now. Soon, a large part of these testimonies will appear in the media. Netanyahu added five mandates to himself and bought some time. But the real fight is still before him, and he is keenly aware of that fact. As of this writing, the New Right party led by ministers Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked has not garnered sufficient votes to get into the Knesset it did not amass the four-mandate threshold. When the extent of his partys election failure became clear after the polls closed on April 9, Bennett the man who crowned himself Israels next defense minister claimed the soldiers would take care of his party the way he always looks out for them. He was referring to the votes of tens of thousands of serving soldiers that are counted after the other ballots and which could yield a sufficient number of votes for the New Right to cross the electoral threshold into the Knesset. However, even if the soldiers save him from oblivion, Bennetts party will only have four representatives in the new Knesset, depriving him and Shaked of any significant sway in the radical right-wing government that Netanyahu is expected to form. That said, the seeds sown by Naftali Bennett in Netanyahus fourth government will sprout in Netanyahus fifth. Bennett first flew the banner of annexation of West Bank lands in 2012. In the 2019 election campaign, he drew all the right-wing parties, including Netanyahu himself, into a competition of annexation declarations. The two words territorial annexation, once considered acceptable only in radical circles, have slipped into legitimate public discourse. After the right wing crushed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, depicting him as an obstacle to peace, and with most Israelis disbelieving that peace with the Palestinians based on a two state for two people solution is possible, the annexation prospect no longer sounds so absurd. As far as the right-wing electorate is concerned, annexation may even be de rigeur. Netanyahu has thus far thwarted all attempts by the right to legislate annexation of the West Bank. In February 2018, he blocked a proposed bill to impose Israeli sovereignty in the settlements, authored by Knesset members Yoav Kisch of the Likud and Bezalel Smotrich, then a member of HaBayit HaYehudi and now No. 2 in the alliance known as the United Right. Netanyahu argued at the time that promoting such legislation prior to the presentation of President Donald Trumps highly touted plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace could undermine future annexation. That was also the argument he used to block a proposed bill imposing Israeli sovereignty on the settlement town of Maale Adumim. Things are different now. Netanyahu will have no choice. Despite his tremendous achievement in obtaining the renewed trust of the Israeli electorate that granted him a fifth term in office, Netanyahu is more vulnerable to pressure than ever before. On April 6, Netanyahu said in a Channel 12 interview that discussions were underway on extending Israeli sovereignty to the Etzion settlement bloc. To buttress his argument in this regard, Netanyahu noted that he had convinced Trump to recognize Israels sovereignty over the formerly Syrian Golan Heights and over Jerusalem as Israels capital. I will not divide Jerusalem, I will not evacuate any community and I will make sure we control the territory west of Jordan, he declared. To underscore the seriousness of his intentions and draw the borders of his planned annexation, he added, Will we move ahead to the next stage? Yes. I will extend sovereignty, but I don't distinguish between the settlement blocs and the isolated ones because each settlement is Israeli and I will not hand it over to Palestinian sovereignty. On March 26, Netanyahu cut short a visit to Washington due to tensions along Israels border with Gaza. On the plane home, a senior Israeli official told reporters that US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan affirms the principle that allows control of land captured in a defensive war. Everyone says you can't hold an occupied territory, but this proves you can. If occupied in a defensive war, then it's ours, the unnamed official said. Netanyahu assumes he can count on Trumps backing for a certain measure of annexation, at least of major settlements, i.e., the Etzion bloc and the settlement towns of Maale Adumim and Ariel. However, the criminal indictments on charges of corruption lying in wait for him make him more vulnerable to pressure and increases the appetite of his prospective right-wing coalition partners. During the intense election campaign, which included numerous interviews with Israeli media, Netanyahu evaded questions on whether he would push for legislation to protect himself from indictment. Meanwhile, Knesset member Smotrich, who is expected to be named a minister in Netanyahus next government, is working on such legislation. Shortly after results of the exit polls were aired, he declared unequivocally, The right-wing bloc has won. A right-wing government will be established in the State of Israel and will serve out a four-year term. Smotrich said the key to such longevity would be restoring legislation that existed until 2005 and provided Knesset members with automatic immunity from criminal prosecution. The prime minister promised two days ago to extend sovereignty over Judea and Samaria [the West Bank]. That promise must be kept, he said in conclusion. In other words, the alliance of right-wing parties would hand Netanyahu the legislation required to protect him against criminal indictment, and he, in turn, would fulfill his promise to extend Israeli sovereignty over the territories a sort of You scratch my back, Ill scratch yours deal. Netanyahu is a seasoned political fox. He knew what he was doing when he floated the sovereignty issue in the lead up to the elections. He did so not only to attract settlers votes but also to pave the way for the deal he knew he would have to make with other right-wing parties in order to form a coalition. All that remains is to agree on the annexation borders the settlement blocs to be under Israels sovereignty. This will be the departure point for negotiations on forming the government coalition not on the very question of annexation, but on its extent. The right-wing government that Netanyahu will apparently form in the next few weeks will annex the territories. His coalition partners the United Right, the ultra-Orthodox Shas and Yahadut HaTorah parties and the center-right Kulanu Party led by Moshe Kahlon will not stand in his way. All of them favor annexation, none believes in the peace process with the Palestinians and each depends on the other. Netanyahu depends on them, and they on him. Without him, each of the new coalition parties is small, even tiny. Some just barely made it into the Knesset. They will, therefore, promise him a French Law or another similar law that protects incumbent prime ministers from criminal prosecution. Netanyahu, for his part, will satisfy their hunger for more territory and more sovereignty. The task is simpler now that the tenant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is not throwing up any roadblocks. AMMAN, Jordan A beleaguered energy sector lacking in long-term strategy has led to high energy bills, which now threatens the viability of Jordans manufacturing businesses, according to critics. In the midst of their fight for survival, business owners along with industry experts are calling on the government to act before an already deteriorating sector suffers further blows. Plagued by poor planning, over-commitment to energy generation and procurement, and a seeming reluctance to move away from a heavy reliance on fossil fuels, Jordan faces high energy costs that are crippling businesses and destroying their ability to compete with companies in neighboring countries. As the biggest contributor to Jordans gross domestic product (24%), the industrial sector plays a crucial role when it comes to the stability of the kingdoms economy. It provides the Treasury in excess of 1 billion Jordanian dinars ($1.4 billion) annually in direct or indirect taxes and employs more than 240,000 people across 18,000 industrial facilities countrywide a significant contribution considering Jordans tough economic climate and its 18.7% unemployment rate. Calls are being made for an overhaul of tariffs and the way in which renewable energy is utilized in order to better support its industrial sector. Specialized Co. for Plastic Industries, established in 1977 and located in the east of Jordans capital Amman, is a family-run plastics manufacturing business, which produces parts for hot water, drinking water and sewage systems. Heading the business is Ghalib Soghayyir, 60, who took over from his father in 1990. The companys annual turnover is $17 million, but just $775,000 of that is profit. Nonetheless, they are one of the lucky ones, Soghayyir told Al-Monitor, for they are still operational. So many businesses have closed or moved overseas because they just cant compete with our neighbors where energy costs are much lower in comparison, Soghayyir said. Places like Turkey have much more favorable conditions for businesses. He said the diminishing local competition is something his business is benefitting from, but considers this to be a short-term gain. Moving the business abroad in the future is not something he is discounting. Figures from the Jordan Chamber of Industry (JCI) show that around 2,000 businesses in the industrial sector were forced to close between 2015 and 2018. Moving a business overseas is not easy but remaining competitive here is an incredibly tough task, Soghayyir said. Soghayyir acknowledges the difficult conditions are not just a result of high energy bills companies have to contend with high taxes and trade hampered by the closure of borders due to conflict in the region but the cost of energy consumption remains a big challenge. Energy accounts for around 25% of his business operational costs lower than the average 35% across the industrial sector. His factory operates 24 hours a day, which means he pays an average rate of $0.11 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) 64% higher than the tariff paid by Saudi Arabias industrial sector ($0.04). In addition, he also faces a peak load price which is calculated in a different way from the normal rate of $2.82 per kilowatt (kW) three hours each day, when electricity demand is at its highest. Larger factories, which are larger energy consumers, pay $4.23 per kW during those three peak hours. Due to the nature of Soghayyirs business, like many others, shutting down the factory during that time is just not possible. My concern is the future of the industrial sector. If businesses continue to close, there will be no sector left and then where does that leave Jordan? Soghayyir said. Unlike the majority of other manufacturers, Soghayyir has been able to invest $1.4 million in his own renewable project, which will cover 35% of his energy consumption initially, but he hopes to increase this. In 2012, the government passed a law enabling private investors to link their own renewable projects to the countrys electricity grid lowering energy costs for those able to invest. Critics, however, argue the scheme has been enjoyed predominantly by companies in lucrative sectors such as telecommunications and banking due to the initial financial investment and land needed. There has been some success for the sector, however. Last year, the government approved a renewable energy project, which will generate 100 megawatt (MW) of electricity, exclusively for small to medium enterprises (SMEs) to benefit from. Albeit a positive step, energy costs only partially covered for some 160 businesses in an industry boasting 18,000 most of which are SMEs is just a drop in the ocean. Maen Ayasrah, coordinator of the energy and environmental sustainability unit at JCI, said high energy bills play a major part in the closure of businesses. The industrial sector accounts for 24% of energy consumption. It is the second-largest consumer of electricity after domestic use. Energy in this sector is not a luxury, it is a necessity, Ayasrah told Al-Monitor. Although electricity rates have remained unchanged for the industrial sector in the last four years, they doubled between 2008 and 2015. JCI is calling for industrial sector energy needs to be prioritized in relation to upcoming renewable projects and a review of electricity tariffs. It is also pushing for greater energy efficiency awareness something the government is supporting. A report published in March by Renewable Energy Solutions for the Mediterranean highlights Jordans potential to run a 100% renewable energy system, saving around $12 million per year. Of the countrys total 4,300 MW capacity, 1,134 MW is currently generated from renewable energy resources, according to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. However, according to the report, the absence of a comprehensive plan to effectively manage a growing renewable capacity is a major threat to the power system cost-effectiveness and to electricity bills affordability. From 2011, as a result of conflict in the region, Jordan suffered a huge hike in fuel costs. Attacks on the gas pipeline from Egypt delivering 80% of Jordans energy requirements forced the government to rely on alternative fuel to generate electricity. Jordans consumed energy cost increased from $3.7 billion in 2010 to $5.6 billion in 2011, according to the state-owned National Electric Power Company (NEPCO), and today, the company faces a $7.7 billion debt. Lacking in natural resources, Jordan has continued to depend heavily on imported fuel 94% in 2018 to maintain a reliable energy supply amid the surrounding instability. Due to the high cost of this energy, the length of the deals and a 1.5% decline in energy demand instead of the forecasted 5-7% growth, critics have accused the government of signing unnecessary contracts. A further 1,186 MW of renewable energy and 470 MW through an oil shale project an expensive and heavily polluted extraction process are set to be operational by 2022. However, a source close to the latter project told Al-Monitor that talks regarding the possibility of backtracking on the deal have taken place. The country is drowning in energy. In January, the government announced a temporary freeze on further major renewable projects (above 1 MW) with immediate effect, leaving the energy sector reeling. Without a doubt it will result in company closures and thousands of job losses. It is another indicator of an energy sector in turmoil and there are concerns it could deter investors. Samer Judeh, vice president of EDAMA, a not-for-profit association in Amman that provides support to energy, water and environmental companies, admits total reliance on renewables would be unfeasible due to the intermittent nature; the minimum requirement of energy demand cannot be met when the sun sets or the wind stops blowing. He does, however, question the continued dependence on imported fuel when a $2 billion investment in renewable energy was made between 2011 and 2018. Judeh also highlighted the need for NEPCO to explore privatization. The whole world has moved away from this single-buyer model and freed-up electricity, Judeh told Al-Monitor. NEPCOs managing director Amjad al-Rawashdeh said minimizing the cost of electricity and creating a sustainable system to benefit both NEPCO and end users is his priority. Addressing criticism regarding overcommitment to energy deals, Rawashdeh said that Jordan has suffered as a result of conflict in its neighboring countries. Who could have predicted an influx of 1.5 million refugees? Rawashdeh told Al-Monitor. This unpredictability makes long-term strategy very difficult. He admits a saturated energy market is behind the freeze on new renewable energy projects. We need to pause and develop a strategy that delivers the optimum configuration of energy, he noted. Rawashdeh added that NEPCO is currently working to reduce tariffs and changes will be implemented this year. He also believes NEPCO will move away from the single-buyer model in the future, but being tied into 25-year energy deals and the need for a stronger regulatory framework currently make this difficult. According to him, by 2022, renewable energy will account for 30% of the total consumption. Neither the minister of energy and mineral resources nor the ministry's secretary-general provided a response. BEIRUT During a Middle East tour last month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo focused primarily on Irans influence in the region, but on Mar. 20 in Jerusalem he also labeled Russia an adversary of US regional allies in addition to Iran and China when speaking about energy and security in the eastern Mediterranean. Revisionist powers like Iran and Russia and China are all trying to take major footholds in the East and in the West, Pompeo said, alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leaders of Greece and Cyprus. Pompeo had also reportedly planned to set red lines on Russian projects in Lebanon while in Beirut March 22-23. Yet, whatever plans Pompeo may have had to counter Russia in Lebanon, they seem to have had little effect. Lebanese leaders have doubled down on working with Russian companies in their country's expanding oil and gas sector in the weeks since Pompeos visit. Although the United States maintains an important degree of diplomatic clout in Lebanese energy matters, Russian economic investments in the sector have far outpaced those of the Americans, and Russian officials and business leaders have expressed their desire to take further steps to cement roles as key players like the United States continue to lag behind. [The Russians] have an advantage over the Americans not only in Lebanon, [but] in the region as well, Amal Abou Zeid, adviser for Lebanese-Russian affairs at Lebanons Foreign Ministry, told Al-Monitor. Lebanon and Russia signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on oil and gas in October 2013, and since then cooperation between them has deepened. In December 2017, the Lebanese government awarded its first contracts for offshore oil and gas exploration to a consortium of three firms that included Novatek, Russias second-largest gas company. This past January, Russia's majority state-owned oil giant Rosneft signed a deal to manage, operate and potentially rehabilitate and expand part of the oil storage terminal in Tripoli, Lebanons second largest city, as part of a 20-year lease. Rosneft is also competing in a bidding process along with other consortiums, including an American company, for an offshore gas terminal off the Lebanese coast. Days after Pompeos visit, Lebanese President Michel Aoun traveled to Moscow, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, who said the company is interested in elevating the oil facilities in north Lebanon. According to Abou Zeid, Sechin is interested in building up to three additional oil storage facilities in Tripoli and potentially investing in a future refinery in the north. Cesar Abi Khalil, a parliamentarian who served as energy minister when Lebanon signed the Tripoli deal with Rosneft, told Al-Monitor that there is high interest in Lebanon to work with companies, including American ones, on refinery construction and rehabilitation. He added that ultimately, contracts will be awarded to companies that present the best proposals, as Rosneft did for the Tripoli terminal. Russias interest in Lebanon is tied to its regional strategy. Since 2016, Rosneft has steadily expanded its operations into Iraq, Egypt and Libya, and Gazprom, Russias state-owned gas company, has been making inroads in Syrias gas market during the civil war there. While Syrias oil and gas reserves are dwarfed by those in neighboring Iraq, its location is highly strategic for Russia, which has been supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the civil conflict since 2015. Hundreds of Russian mercenaries have reportedly been killed securing oil fields in the country, and Russia has begun exploring for oil and gas off the Syrian coast. Abou Zeid confirmed that the rehabilitation of a long-disused oil pipeline connecting Tripoli with oilfields in Iraqi Kurdistan, where Rosneft is active, was one of the topics discussed by Aoun and Sechin in Moscow. It is likely that gaining access to oil infrastructure in Lebanon in addition to offshore reserves in the country will enhance Russias strategic position in Syria and across the eastern Mediterranean, but it remains possible that it could also use the Tripoli facilities to try to bypass US sanctions on fuel shipments to Syria. Meanwhile, American companies have been unable or unwilling to secure stakes in Lebanons new offshore prospects, which the US Department of Energy estimates will produce almost $254 billion between 2020 and 2039. Abou Zeid said that he had heard that ExxonMobil had entered into a consortium before the first bidding process for the offshore exploration contract began, but ultimately they and many other American companies failed to submit bids once they were eligible. I am certain that the Americans are interested, and they were not very happy with the Russian presence in this sector, Abou Zeid said, speculating that political issues, like Hezbollahs role in Lebanese politics, may have scared off potential American investors. Mona Sukkarieh, a political risk consultant and co-founder of Middle East Strategic Perspectives, told Al-Monitor that other factors were more likely to be involved. Repeated delays resulting from frequent vacuums within the executive branch, an incomplete legal framework, changes in blocks offered and a change in market conditions all affected companies enthusiasm for the first licensing round, she said. Abi Khalil agreed that market forces were partially to blame for the lack of interest from the United States during the first round of bidding, but he also said that he had found ongoing interest by American firms in Lebanese oil and gas during his three official visits to the States, including in potential refinery projects across the country. Despite these difficulties, the Novatek consortium followed through on its interest and secured rights to two blocks in Lebanons Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), one of which is in a disputed zone that Israel has claimed as part of its own EEZ since 2010. On April 4, Lebanese Energy Minister Nada Boustani announced the opening of a second round of bidding for contracts to five additional offshore blocks, two of which lie along the disputed border area. Lebanese leaders have long maintained that Israel is encroaching on Lebanons maritime boundary. On April 1, parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said that Lebanon wont give Israel one cup of its water. According Berris office, on March 22 the speaker and Pompeo discussed the issue of Lebanons southern maritime border and efforts to settle the dispute with Israel. Abou Zeid claims that all the involved parties are interested in seeing the United States play a mediating role in the boundary issue. Regardless, US influence over matters related to energy in Lebanon are quickly diminishing given American companies absence in the country's oil and gas sector and the lack of trust among Lebanese leaders, who believe Washington is biased toward Israels geopolitical positions. The US is really, one, not that interested, and two, the space that the US used to have in Lebanon in terms of influence and shaping decisions, its been lost, Hanin Ghaddar, a researcher specializing in Lebanon and Iran at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Al-Monitor. She added that in her view, it is unlikely that American firms will gain any offshore contracts. So far, US efforts to counter Russian expansion in the eastern Mediterranean through diplomacy have proven inadequate. Unless American companies get serious about acquiring stakes in Lebanons offshore reserves, it will likely be almost impossible for the United States to overcome the head start Russia has gotten in Lebanons oil and gas sector, allowing Moscow to continue to strengthen its economic position across the Middle East. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip On April 1, Israel expanded the Gaza Strip fishing zone to a maximum of 15 nautical miles offshore the longest distance allowed for Gazan fishermen since the signing of the Oslo Accord in 1993. On his official Facebook page, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said the distance falls within the scope of Israels civil policy to ease the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. Adraee warned that no fisherman will be allowed to the cross the limits agreed upon. The measure, highly welcomed by Palestinians, follows the recently reached Egyptian-led truce between Hamas and Israel. It also coincides with the start of the fishing season in Gaza from April to June. In Israel, however, the zone expansion was heavily criticized. On April 1, Oded Forer, a Knesset member representing the Yisrael Beitenu party, slammed the measure as a security breach that could endanger Israeli coastal residents. He also said the extension will encourage attempts to smuggle weapons to Hamas. The Jerusalem Post reported April 7 that an Israeli district court sentenced fisherman Mamdouh Bashar to eight years in prison and gave fisherman Hamis al-Araishi 13 years in jail for smuggling hundreds of kilos of explosives from Egypt into the Gaza Strip. Israel had arrested the two along with fisherman Fadi Bakr, who has not yet been sentenced, in 2016. Under a 1994 protocol signed by Israel and the PLO, Palestinian fishing boats are entitled to sail in an area that extends more than 20 nautical miles from the coast. Israel, however, hasn't allowed that distance since 1996. The area was reduced by a unilateral Israeli decision to a maximum of 12 nautical miles. With the start of the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip in 2006, the distance was further reduced to only 3 nautical miles. In addition, the Israeli navy at times fired at fishermen, confiscated their boats and arrested them, hurting the fishing sector in Gaza and prompting many fishermen to quit. Nizar Ayyash, head of the Palestinian Fishermen's Association in Gaza, told Al-Monitor that since April 1, Fishermen have been informed that the fishing zone in the northern Gaza Strip to the port of Gaza was broadened to 6 nautical miles. The zone off central Gaza was extended to 12 and the zone in the south near the Egyptian border was widened to 15. The different distances were set to keep Palestinian fishermen away from Israel's borders for security concerns, he said. Therefore, the zone off the shore of central Gaza was the most expanded, given its distance from the border. The Israeli army also is allowing, under the recent truce understandings, for steel cables and wires to be brought in for fishing boats, as well as some items that have been banned since 2006 because they could be used for nefarious purposes other than their intended use. Israeli authorities are still reviewing whether to permit the entry of fiberglass, which is needed to repair damaged boats. This [zone expansion] should have been preceded by [admitting] the necessary materials to allow the fishing boats to travel this distance, Ayyash said. Gazas fishermen have become accustomed to sailing only in the limited zone for many years, and most no longer have large boats and nets. Fishermen prepare their nets at the Gaza seaport in Gaza City, April 3, 2019. (Entsar Abu Jahal/Al-Monitor) Israels practices have destroyed the fishing sector, Ayyash lamented. The sector has been hit by an unprecedented stagnation of 75%, with about 6,000 fishermen abandoning the sector because of Israeli practices. Al-Monitor talked with Mahmoud al-Asi, a fisherman for 60 years, who said it's too soon to predict when or if the sector will recover. The decision was surprising and many fishermen were unable to prepare their equipment and nets for traveling the new distance that they had been denied for many years. Add to this, many of them don't have the necessary equipment and sufficient funds to buy fuel to sail to this distance. But they are optimistic about this expansion, hoping it will be further stretched and that Israel won't reverse its decision," he said. This was my grandparents profession and I have 10 children, all of whom are fishermen. But amid the deterioration of the situation, I advise my grandchildren to search for another job." Asis nephew, Darwish al-Asi, has been a fisherman for 35 years. He spoke with Al-Monitor while lifting his net April 3 at the Gaza seaport. The fish quantity today was very small, not what we expected. We hope things will improve in the coming days, especially as we are approaching the sardine fishing season that begins in mid-April and is one of the most important seasons for us," he said. Another fishing season starts in mid-September and ends in November, he said. The last 10 years have been very hard on fishermen, who suffered terrible losses and could barely make daily ends meet and provide for their families," Asi added. A group of fishermen was shot at today, although they didn't cross the authorized distance. They were fishing within a 5-nautical-mile area. Fishermen around the world fear only the dangers of the sea, but Gazan fishermen fear those of the sea and Israel." Muin Rajab, an economics professor at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, told Al-Monitor, The fishing sector is one of the most important productive activities in the Gaza Strip. Its recovery is linked to the authorized fishing zone. The wider this zone, the greater and more diversified the number of fish caught. He complained about the bitter situation in Gaza: Gazan fishermen face great risks and hardships that have pushed many of them to stop fishing, which is exactly what Israel wants. Rajab continued, Israel often quickly reneges on its promises under illusory pretexts. However, the expansion decision, if maintained, would have a great positive impact on fishermen and all fishing-related transactions. Citizens would be able to purchase high-quality fish at reasonable prices. Most of the residents of the Gaza Strip have been denied a fish meal amid the scarcity and high price." MOSCOW Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Moscow on Monday to meet with his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin, arriving just days after a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. If theres one Middle Eastern leader who meets with Putin more frequently than Netanyahu, its the Turkish president. In 2018 alone Erdogan had 13 meetings and eight phone conversations with his Russian counterpart. Netanyahu, meanwhile, had his 13th encounter with Putin since December 2015 Thursday. Last week's visit was Netanyahus second trip to Russia this year, whereas for Erdogan this visit was already his third. The timing and use of the visits are also remarkable. While the Israeli prime minister paid a snap visit before the critical domestic parliamentary election to address the most urgent matters, the Turkish leader went after no less critical local elections on a long-scheduled trip to plan a variety of strategic initiatives. As Netanyahu seeks Putins personal boost for the Israeli political campaign, Erdogan eyes ways to ensure that Ankara's relationship with Moscow enables Turkey to grow the regional muscle it has long desired while working not to let ongoing crises with the West to undermine his standing at home. Against the background of previous contacts that in the last few months have evolved primarily around Syria, this time the visit focused heavily on the bilateral relationship and was comprised of three main parts: reenergizing practical cooperation on various tracks; developing business and trade relations; and cementing humanitarian contacts via the launch of the Russian-Turkish Cross Year of Culture and Tourism. Putin and Erdogan both praised the current dynamics in bilateral relations, pointing to the 15% increase in mutual trade that is now estimated at $25 billion and setting a high bar for the volume to grow to $100 billion. Major projects are being implemented: the Akkuyu power station, which we are to launch by 2023 in accordance with Turkeys wishes, and the Turkish Stream pipeline with its onshore and offshore legs recently connected, Putin said. Erdogan replied, Indeed, the construction of its offshore section has been completed. The onshore part is being laid as planned. We are to finish the construction of this part on time. Amur Gadzhiev, director of the Moscow-based Modern Turkey Research Center, told Al-Monitor, The negotiations outline some very concrete tasks, including in energy cooperation, military-technical cooperation and many more areas. If you look at who was present in the respective delegations, its easy to spot that Moscow and Ankara are serious about taking bilateral relations to a qualitatively new level. Theyve long talked about the strategic nature of the relationship, now its for real. Gadzhiev, who is also a fellow at the Turkish desk of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, pointed to the importance of mutual gestures between Putin and Erdogan during the visit. It was President Erdogans first foreign visit after the municipal elections and Putin was among the first to show his support for the Turkish leader. This couldnt have gone unnoticed in Ankara. In turn, the visit comes at a time of mounting pressure on Turkey from the United States over Ankaras purchase of the Russian S-400 anti-aircraft system. In response, Putin proposed that Erdogan further deepen the military cooperation between the two states, Gadzhiev added. Putin, in his opening remarks at the eighth session of the High-Level Cooperation Council, said, Our countries have major goals in strengthening defense cooperation. First of all, this concerns completing the implementation of the contract for the supply of the S-400. ... Also on the agenda are other promising projects related to supplying modern Russian military products to the Republic of Turkey. The buzzword at the session was mutually beneficial. When Putin and Erdogan proceeded to another Kremlin hall to meet with members of business communities from the two states, the Russian president sought to impress them with numbers. In 2018, trade in [the agriculture] sector was up 7%, reaching $3 billion. Mutual investment stands at about $20 billion. Today, the Russian Direct Investment Fund will sign an agreement with the Turkish sovereign wealth fund on creating a joint investment platform of $1 billion to be invested in promising sectors of the two countries economies. There is also potential to develop cooperation with the Republic of Crimea. Vacant niches are being quickly filled there, including by foreign investors, Putin said. Erdogan echoed the sentiment, Expanding our dialogue with Russia has been very beneficial for us. Ever since the 1990s, economic and trade relations have become the driver behind Russia-Turkey relations. Mr. Putin and I have been considering the idea of working together with the business community for a long time now. We are ready to provide preferential treatment options for Russian businesses. We are not treating your firms as foreign or Russian investors, but regard them as our own, our local firms. The Turkish president also suggested that Moscow and Ankara convert bilateral financial settlements to national currencies as soon as possible so we can be protected against foreign exchange market fraud. The parties discussed prospects for a mutual non-visa regime which, rather interestingly, Putin said can be implemented following the settlement of the Syrian crisis. Our special services have to work out special parameters on this issue and this work is already in progress, he said. For now the parties agreed to a visa-free regime only for holders of official passports. If you think that our talks today were all serene and that all we did was praise each other, you are wrong, Putin joked at the joint press conference with Erdogan. The two indeed failed to agree on the rate for the Russian gas exported to Turkey as Putin said both Gazprom and its Turkish counterparts insist on different formulas to calculate the price. Perhaps the biggest expectations from the meeting, which concern Syrias northeast and Idlib, didnt see a solution either. Erdogan made it abundantly clear Turkey wasnt going to put up with the Kurdish forces in Syrias northeast. The YPG and the PKK are as much of a terrorist threat to the region as Daesh, he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State. Yet he seemed to have accommodated, at least rhetorically, the Russian idea that the issue should only be settled with political measures and with Syrias integrity as a state intact. Moscow, in turn, has made it clear its not entirely happy with Turkeys failure to implement the Sochi agreement on Idlib, but Putin made a generous gesture talking about Russia being patient and understanding all the complications Ankara is facing. Idlib is an acute issue and the Sochi agreements couldnt be fulfilled but its doable. Recently, our defense ministers met to discuss it. Weve failed to create a joint monitoring center, and it [resolution of the crisis in Idlib] wont be as fast as we hoped, but well make it happen. We are set to eliminate all terrorist nests, but to switch to the Syrian settlement we need to fix the Idlib issue. This can be done only together with our Turkish partners and thats the path well pursue, Putin said. The talks have crystallized the two elements of Russias current approach to Turkey. First, on most issues sensitive to Ankara, Moscow seeks to convey the type of empathy Erdogan doesnt encounter either with the United States or Europe. Second, the meeting was meant to look beyond the Syrian file to the bilateral relations. Putins remarks suggest he genuinely believes that both of the ongoing Syrian security problems Idlib and the northeast will be settled soon or later. The clock may be ticking for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as he seeks to control all of Syria, but Turkey and especially Russia can afford to take their time. When this happens, however, Moscow and Ankara would need some other basis to rely on to keep the mechanism of the relationship functioning. A focus on the ongoing conflicts, as important as it is, somewhat distracts from the strategic direction Putin and Erdogan seek to take the relationship. And the much-debated delivery of the S-400 may be the first serious sign of this course. By backing the opposition, the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) used a surgical strategy in Turkey's local elections March 31 to help defeat the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Kurdish votes were the key to the AKP's loss in many areas, including big metropolises such as Istanbul and the capital, Ankara, and other important centers such as Antalya, Mersin and Artvin. President Recep Tayyip Erdogans narrative that a win for his party would be necessary as a matter of national survival didn't bring the AKP the victory he sought. This narrative referred to the threat he said is posed by the Kurdish movement led by the HDP inside the country and by the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Syria on Turkey's border. Before the elections, Erdogans government launched heavy security operations in mainly Kurdish cities including Cizre, Nusaybin and Sur. Erdogan portrayed these operations as part of Turkeys war on terror against outlawed Kurdish militants. But the governments efforts were in fact weakening democracy and damaging peoples morale in the region. For example, the government replaced the elected mayors of many cities and towns with officially appointed trustees. In addition, some 7,000 people were imprisoned, including HDP officials and activists. Kurdish groups have been targeted by military operations, such as Turkey's move on Afrin in Syria. Erdogan also repeatedly threatened to wipe out the autonomous Kurdish structure there to appeal to and consolidate his nationalist-conservative base ahead of the elections. At that time, the AKPs prime goal was to prevent the HDP from again winning those municipalities that had been put under trustees. And Erdogan didnt hesitate to say that these cities would be put back under trustee control once again should the HDP win there if his party retained power overall. Yet despite Erdogan's strong psychological pressure and heavy-handed practices against the Kurds, the HDP regained control of provincial capitals in Diyarbakir, Mardin, Batman, Siirt, Van and Hakkari, which had been under trustees' control. It also took Kars from the AKPs ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). On the other hand, the HDP lost some mainly Kurdish centers to the AKP, including Agri, Sirnak and Bitlis provinces, and Tunceli (also known as Dersim) to the Communist Party of Turkey. In 2014 local elections, the HDP had won 11 provincial capitals and 91 towns. Since then, people who had to leave their cities and towns during the armed clashes between Turkish security forces and outlawed Kurdish militants werent able to return to their hometowns for elections. The massive security forces placed in these cities and towns played a role in HDP losses. Moreover, experts say these clashes led to considerable anger among the Kurdish residents of these cities against the outlawed Kurdish militants, and this also played a role in the HDP losses However, as mentioned, HDP voters were critical in the AKPs loss of Istanbul and other major cities in the countrys western regions. It's important to see what Erdogan will learn from this situation. Will he opt to win over the Kurds who made him lose, or will he stick to his cooperation with the nationalist circles inside the Turkish bureaucracy and pursue his vengeance? Given his pragmatism and the economic crisis the country is facing, there are those who believe that Erdogan is likely to be more conciliatory in foreign policy issues, and that he could opt to de-escalate tensions with the EU and the United States by softening his firm stand with Syria. Yet renewed peace talks between Erdogans government and the Kurds are still unlikely for two reasons. First, to launch a new dialogue with the Kurds, Erdogan would have to terminate his alliance with the MHP and nationalist cliques inside Turkey. This front wont allow him open up to Kurds. Second, Erdogan has caused so much damage to the Kurds that nobody from their camp will easily extend a hand to him. However, the Turkish military, intelligence bureaucracy and civilian extensions of the state could once again opt for peace, instead of for hawkish policies, as it did at the end of the 1999s. Apart from these possibilities, an election alliance led by the Republican Peoples Party (CHP) also may open a new door to the Kurdish political movement in Turkey. An alliance of social democrats, nationalists and Kurds can be seen as a social alternative or as allowing the Kurds to open up an area to maneuver for themselves. This was Erdogans nightmare scenario, Hakki Ozdal, a columnist for the independent news website Gazete Duvar, told Al-Monitor. As for Erdogan, what are his options? Can he terminate his alliance with the MHP and form an alliance with the Kurds? Most Kurds don't believe in this scenario, as they think his alliance with the MHP also means an alliance with the Turkish state bureaucracy and hence that it wouldn't be easy for Erdogan to give it up. Therefore the question to ask should be, Will MHP leader Devlet Bahceli abandon their alliance? Erdogans alternative choice for an alliance is the Kurds. He may want to revert to earlier times, but Kurds wont do it. Erdogan didnt even get the backing of the state to challenge the election results. Nothing to do with his 'matter of national survival' [narrative] worked. State organs saw this, Ozdal added. I believe a wing of the state put limits on Erdogan and saw that he couldnt fully control the state on the night of elections. Otherwise he would have done it. That's why he will now try to improve his relations with the West and the state. While preserving the alliance with the MHP, he may well release some detainees to lower tensions. Ertugrul Kurkcu, an HDP lawmaker, also thinks Erdogan wont have enough maneuvering space to allow him to terminate with his alliance with the nationalists. Kurkcu said Erdogans weakness in three areas will open the way for other powers. First, as a whole, the oppositions power is growing. Second, the opposition is aware of this and is thus able to stand up against Erdogan. Erdogan became weak in his coalition with MHP and other ultranationalist groups and now cant resist their demands. Third, AKP fault lines have become active. Before attempting any international action [such as improving relations with other countries], Erdogan will try to find a way to sort it out internally. External conditions have changed, A very complex equation [both] internally and externally wont allow Erdogan to be the single decision-maker. The MHP and his local supporters wont let him turn to Kurds again. Moreover, Erdogan suffers from a serious loss of believability, Kurkcu told Al-Monitor. Kurkcu said opening a new page with the Kurds would depend on the policy of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), along with input by imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and the possible emergence of other actors besides Erdogan. The HDPs determinant position in the elections was accepted by the Kurdish masses. A harmony developed with the liberal wing of the CHP. Now it's important to see how the PKK reads the situation. I dont anticipate armed clashes, but they [would have to] be ready to negotiate, Kurkcu added. Can there be a new initiative from the state? Kurkcu said that while military and intelligence groups previously supported the AKP's efforts to reconcile with the Kurds, these groups "are not in power anymore" and that pathways to such reconciliation are blocked. "Ocalan's isolation shows the state doesnt have any intention for peace. Of course, this doesnt mean the negotiation option is totally unavailable. If new openings are to be made, these will be because of the Kurds' choices. Also, like in Rojava [a Kurdish and multicultural area of northern Syria], international pressure will have a say, Kurkcu said. To make the Kurds of Turkey a credible partner in domestic politics would require Ankara to give up its goal of wiping out Kurdish gains in Syria. But so far, Turkey is showing no such flexibility. Kimberly Walker has a story about most of the items in her her Five Points gourmet grocery store and gift shop. Specializing in small batch foods, Walkers store carries things you wont typically find at a chain supermarket or big box store. The North Carolina potato chips whose name represents world hunger. The Georgia ginger snaps that honor cancer victims. The honey made by a man whose life changed when his wife bought him a bee hive for his 40th birthday. Walker meets the makers of these products at wholesale events at AmericasMart in Atlanta and learns what she calls their back stories to share with her own customers. With three distinct segments, gourmet snacks and condiments; kitchen textiles and ware; and fresh pre-made carryout dinners from local caterers, Walkers Market has found a niche. Last year, we grossed $150K, Walker says. The market has a huge selection of tea towels, bar accessories, and crystal-look acrylic wear, as well as seasonal and holiday items currently decorations and basket stuffers for Easter. In addition to food items, Walker's Market sells decorative items for special occasions and holidays, such as Easter. Some vendors approach Walker to see if they can get in on the action at her three-year-old store, which relocated about a year ago from a house on Pratt Avenue to a storefront on Wellman Avenue. Such was the case for Bronnie Cox, owner of Bronnies Brittle, one of the newer brands featured at Walkers Market. Cox says her business partner, Robin Bagwell, was researching stores to place the gourmet brittle, which is made in an Irondale, Alabama, commercial kitchen and available in original peanut, chocolate with sea salt and butterscotch with sea salt flavors. A friend in Huntsville suggested they check out Walkers Market. When they visited the website, We said, Oh, this is it, this is so where we want to be, recalls Cox. They e-mailed Walker through her website and asked if they could send her some product samples in hopes of making it on the markets shelves. Tasting was believing for Walker, who describes the brittle in three words: Oh. My. Goodness, she says. It is to die for. Walker has similar sentiments about most everything she sells. Most of the gourmet food items Walker's Market sells come from the South. The majority of Walkers Market products are from the South, including cocktail syrups and gourmet popcorns from South Carolina, and multiple flavors of Virginia peanuts. The market also carries a line of products from Stone Hollow Farmstead in Harpersville, Alabama, including such unusual items as pickled blueberries, and phenomenal goat cheese in many flavors, Walker says. Not to mention craft beer pretzels from Florida, and cheese balls from Opelika. Soon, Walkers Market will sell the one-of-a-kind goat cheesecake manufactured by Belle Chevre in Elkmont. Walker prides herself on being the sole local carrier of many items. In fact, she makes a point of asking whether anyone else in Huntsville is selling products before she agrees to do so. Although some customers buy the gourmet foods as gifts, others come in to satisfy a hankering, or to stock their own pantries, Walker says. The market can hardly keep some of its products in stock. Such is the case for cheddar cheese dips, laced cookies and tomato basil soup produced by Robert Carey Food Group, of Highland, N.C., and Huntsville. Walker and her husband, Bob, and his cousin Carey Walker and wife Angela, recently bought and renamed the company formerly owned by Bobby Lee. The signature product, Bobby Lees Cheese Dip, is also for sale in the snack refrigerator of a new Huntsville hotel, and will soon be sold in stores elsewhere as the Walkers manufacturing venture takes off. Always quick to go are the markets to-go entrees, made by local catering companies Catering by Narvel, Clementines, and Carltons Catering. Walker's Market in Huntsville sells pre-made meals from local caterers. Walker and participating caterers discuss what foods may be popular any given week, depending on factors such as the weather, or what produce is in season. Customers can check the weeks menus online, but items are sold on a first-come, first-served basis. Its not unusual for the market to sell 60 to-go meals (packaged for one, two or four people) in a single day, says Walker. Judy Howard of Huntsville, owner of an interior design business featuring her name, has been a regular customer since Walkers Market opened and a frequent consumer of the take-out casseroles. With her busy lifestyle, I dont have time to cook, or I dont feel like it, says Howard, who buys a casserole at least once a week. I havent had a bad meal, period, or even a mediocre meal, she says. Walker, a native of Huntsville and Huntsville High graduate, obtained a marketing degree from the University of North Alabama and worked off and on for many years for WAAY-TV and radio and HiWAAY Information Systems, businesses owned by her family. She and her husband, Bob, owner of Pro Electric Inc., have two children, Katherine, 25, a certified public accountant in Atlanta, and Robert, 21, a student in Huntsville. The couple also raised two nephews they consider their children, Walter, 30, who works at Pro Electric, and John, 28, a gunsmith at Bullet and Barrel. Walker has one employee, Spencer Anglin, who works full-time. For more information, visit the web site at Walkersmarket.com. Soos Weber says shes approaching the winter of her life, but she still appreciates the gifts the earth offers every season Weber, a retired city ecologist, will head up volunteers at the 49th Earth Day celebration on Saturday, April 20, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Monte Sano State Park, 5105 Nolan Ave.The event is sponsored by the park and by the Flint River Conservation Association. Weber was a budding wildlife enthusiast by the age of five, when she saw birds mostly robins dying of DDT exposure in her Troy, Michigan, suburb. They twitched in my hands, she said, and then they died. Never an armchair environmentalist, she became active at age 13 when her father told her about Rachel Carsons book, Silent Spring, which described the poisons we were putting into the environment. She still has her University of Florida bumper sticker that reads, Ban DDT. As secretary of the Student Wildlife Society, Weber worked with others across the country to stop the use of the insecticide DDT. She learned that people can change what happens to the earth. DDT was banned in 1972. This years Earth Day celebration includes music, food, exhibits, and demonstrations. Microwave Dave will play, along with the Musgrove Session and Wolves a Howlin. Theres a farmers market with locally grown produce, as well as food trucks. There are hands-on activities like building a bat house, making a native plant mud bomb, touching locally found fossils, and rubbing a snake at the Slitherin reptile booth. Visitors can watch raptors, like hawks and owls, as they are released into the sky at the scenic overlook of Big Cove. Theres also a family bike ride to OShaughnessey Point, led by the staff of Trailhead Bikes, as well as a NASA weather balloon release. In the past, Earth Day celebrations have been held at Burritt Museum, Redstone Arsenal, Hays Nature Preserve, and at Monte Sano State Park for the last six years. Its a popular place and Weber hopes church groups, civic clubs, families, and hikers will come to celebrate. Theres a $10 charge for any size vehicle, Weber says. Bring your friends and family. Visitors to the park may see something extra this Earth Day: a doe and her fawns crossing the road, or a few mountain goats that share the bluffs and trails. Theres no charge for the viewing of the wildlife. They walk the same earth we all do. A $50 million manufacturing facility will bring 400 new jobs to Athens in a ripple effect of the giant Mazda Toyota Manufacturing USA plant under construction in Huntsville. Gov. Kay Ivey announced Wednesday at Athens City Hall that Toyota Boshoku will build its supplier facility about 30 miles from the $1.6 billion MTMUS plant being built in eastern Limestone County. When we talk about building on our successes and maintaining our momentum, this is how its done, Ivey said. We share with our companies our unparalleled workforce. We create a very positive business-friendly climate that encourages success and growth. We work with the companies that choose to be made in Alabama, that they will be excellent in their endeavors. The Toyota Boshoku facility is the first announcement of indirect jobs to come to north Alabama as a result of the Mazda Toyota plant. Those indirect jobs are expected to be possibly more than twice as many as the 4,000 direct jobs coming to the MTMUS plant once its operating at full capacity. Youre probably talking about 12,000 employees, maybe 15,000, Alabama Secretary of State Greg Canfield said Wednesday in an interview with AL.com. The new Athens factory will produce seat systems for vehicles built at the MTMUS plant. The Toyota Boshoku facility will be on 42 acres in the Breeding North Industrial Park on Sanderfer Road. The industrial park is south of U.S. 72 and west of U.S. 31. The company anticipates starting construction around May 1, 2019. The industrial site includes the current location of Jimmy Gill Park on Sanderfer Road near the Hine Street intersection. Marks said the company is assisting the city of Athens in relocating the park with the blessing of the Gill family. According to the Toyota Boshoku America website, the company develops and manufactures automotive interior products, filters, powertrain components and fabric goods and Toyota Boshoku worldwide has about 41,409 employees. The companys U.S. manufacturing sites are in Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Kentucky. Joining Ivey at the announcement was Shuhei Toyoda, chair of Toyota Boshoku, as well as Alabama Secretary of Commerce Greg Canfield, Speaker of the House Mac McCutcheon, state Sen. Arthur Orr and Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks. Athens attracting one of the first Tier 1 suppliers for MTMUS speaks to our citys attractiveness as a community and our great working relationship with several entities on industrial development, Marks said in a statement. From the state of Alabama to our Limestone County Economic Development Association and our other partners, we work well together to help industries invest in our community and provide jobs for our citizens. Athens appreciates Toyota Boshoku being the latest to invest in our city. Ivey highlighted that the Toyota Boshoku facility is the first of whats expected to be a wave of new industry coming to north Alabama, an extra infusion of growth on top of the MTMUS plant. This is only the beginning of a growing cluster of automotive suppliers with Mazda Toyota Manufacturing, Ivey said. Canfield said state officials are working to secure more suppliers for north Alabama. Toyota Boshoku is the first formal announcement of a new supplier to Alabama, Canfield said, while some suppliers already in Alabama are pursuing deals with MTMUS. We are currently working with Mazda Toyota on their supply chain strategies so there are going to be other announcements that will follow, Canfield said. There are existing suppliers that are already embedded in the state who are competing for and possibly being awarded other contracts. Ultimately, Canfield said the indirect jobs associated with the MTMUS plant could be between 8,000 and 12,000 additional jobs -- a ripple effect expected to become an economic wave for the Huntsville area. Once we get up and operational with 4,000 direct employees at the (original equipment manufacturer) plant, at that time, we will probably see two to three times the number of employees in the automotive supply chain, Canfield said. Were going to do everything we can to have as many of them in Alabama. We are fully aware and expect that well see some activity in Tennessee as well as Mississippi. Toyoda said Athens was an appealing location for the Toyota Boshoku plant. When we began our search for a new site to build our production facility, we looked at many locations," Toyoda said in a statement. "After an extensive search, we determined that Athens Alabama is the perfect fit. We are grateful for the assistance from the State of Alabama, the City of Athens and Limestone County to make this project a reality. Updated today, April 10, 2019, at 3:41 p.m. with new information throughout. The Alabama House of Representatives approved a General Fund budget today with a $40 million increase for the states troubled prison system. Gov. Kay Ivey had requested the increase before last weeks Department of Justice report alleging unconstitutional conditions in mens prisons in Alabama. But the money will be applied to one of the key causes cited by the DOJ. About $30 million is aimed to hire 500 more correctional officers and increase pay by 20 percent to help keep more officers on the job. The DOJ said a severe staff shortage exacerbated dangerous conditions that led investigators to conclude there is reasonable cause to believe the conditions violate the Eighth Amendment. The 500 new officers would be only a step toward a court order to add 2,000 new officers over the next few years. The budget would increase the General Fund appropriation for the Alabama Department of Corrections to $517 million in 2020, $40 million more than this year and $70 million more than last year. Overall, the budget passed on a 103-0 vote by the House calls for spending $2.1 billion from the General Fund, about 4 percent more than this year. After passing the budget, the House passed a bill to give state employees a 2 percent cost of living raise. That was also part of Iveys budget request. It would be the second straight year for state employees to receive a COLA after going a decade without one. State employees received a 3 percent cost of living raise this year. The House added an amendment to name the pay raise bill after Rep. Dimitri Polizos, R-Montgomery, who died on March 27 after a heart attack. Polizos had been sponsor of the legislation. The budget bills move to the Senate. They advanced more easily than in many previous years. The Legislature has frequently resorted to borrowing or one-time funding sources to prop up the General Fund. That wasnt necessary for next years budget. Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, chairman of the General Fund committee, said a strong economy led to increased revenues from insurance premium taxes, taxes on online sales and other sources. Also, the Alabama Medicaid Agency, the biggest spender of General Fund dollars, is expected to carry over money from this year and requested a smaller General Fund appropriation for next year. Clouse said lawmakers had to take a long-range view because Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Program, ALL Kids, will need hefty increases in 2021. Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, said legislators should be concerned about one potential spending obligation that was not in the budget. Ivey is considering a plan to engage private companies to build three new mens prisons and lease them to the state. A Request for Expressions of Interest posted by the Alabama Department of Corrections projects the lease payments at $78 million a year. England said the Ivey plan could bind lawmakers to lease payments every year without seeking approval to fund new prisons. The Legislature needs to take on this responsibility and wrestle it away from the executive branch, England said. A spokesman for the ADOC said in a statement the Request for Expressions of Interest is part of a collaborative effort with state legislators to gather information and determine how to proceed on prisons. The Expression of Interest (EOI) is a helpful part of the overall qualifications and proposal process and will allow the corrections industry to provide valuable and transparent input into the facilitation of the Alabama prison plan, which is a collaborative effort with state legislators. This process will enable the state to make an informed and definitive decision on the appropriate path forward," spokesman Bob Horton said in a statement. In 2016 and 2017, the Legislature rejected plans initially proposed by former Gov. Robert Bentley to issue bonds to pay for prison construction. The ADOC has said initial estimates for the cost of the three new prisons would be about $900 million. The ADOC says it can make the lease payments with money saved by consolidating services and closing many of the existing prisons. Updated at 8:26 p.m. to include full statement from the ADOC. Update: Athens City Superintendent Trey Holladay said the disturbance that led to the lockdown at Athens High School Wednesday afternoon was related to a parent trespassing on school property, an incident that occurred as the school was meeting with families and students about a disciplinary matter. A childs parents trespassed into an area of the school where they could not go, Holladay said. Thats the reason the police were involved at that point. Athens High School has two full-time resource officers, Holladay said. Those officers made the decision to call the police for support, he added. The sad thing is as one parent was meeting with the principal to resolve it, and they were resolving it, the other parents decided to make a pretty good scene, Holladay said. Videos posted to social media, reportedly from the school, show police appearing to wrestle a person to the ground as students try to pull the person away. Four arrests - one parents and three students - were made in connection to the incident. All were charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Following the incident, other Athens students posted reactions to social media that Holladay said were inappropriate. We are aware of those and will deal with those, too, he said. Athens Police Chief Floyd Johnson said an investigation into the incident is underway. Were going to do a full investigation to get to the bottom of what happened, Johnson said. We probably wont have answers to everybodys questions today, but well investigate everything. Johnson asked anyone who witnessed the incident who has not already spoken to officers to call 256-233-8700. Lockdown has ended at AHS. School will continue as normal. As a precaution, there will be an increased police presence on campus for the remainder of today. Athens High School (@AHS_Alabama) April 10, 2019 Earlier: Athens High School is on lockdown after what was described as a parent-initiated altercation. According to an announcement Athens City Schools Office of Communications director Chris Hamilton, the situation is under control and more information will be released later. A heavy police presence was reported at the high school on Wednesday afternoon. Updated April 12 at 7:29 a.m. to reflect number of arrest and charges. A bill to eliminate marriage licenses in Alabama and instead have couples file an affidavit that probate judges would record as part of a marriage document moved a step close to becoming law today. The House Judiciary Committee approved the bill by Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Range. Albritton has tried to pass similar bills since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015. After the Supreme Court decision, probate judges in some Alabama counties stopped issuing marriage licenses altogether because they did not want to license same-sex marriages. Albritton said his bill would eliminate the discrepancy. This will allow everyone to be married in their home county, Albritton said. The Senate passed Albrittons bill by a vote of 26-0 on March 21. Todays approval by the House Judiciary Committee puts it in position for final passage by the House. Current law says couples wanting to get married must obtain a license from a probate judge. The law says probate judges may issue licenses but does not require them to. Theres still counties that will not issue marriage licenses, Albritton said. They take the word may to the extreme, if you will. Albritton did not know exactly how many but said there were probably about seven such counties. Albrittons bill said probate judges shall record each marriage if couples provide the proper documentation. That includes affidavits saying they are of legal age, are not already married, are not related and are competent to enter a marriage. I would suggest this is the end of the state telling people who they can and cannot marry. A license is permission, Albritton said. His bill would also eliminate the requirement in current law to hold a ceremony to solemnize a marriage. Current law requires the minister, judge, retired judge or person otherwise authorized to perform a ceremony to sign the marriage license before it is recorded as a certificate of marriage. A bill by Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Range, would eliminate marriage licenses in Alabama and replace them with a document containing an affidavit that married couples would file with probate judges. The committee approved the bill on a voice vote today. Rep. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, voted against it. Coleman said she opposed the bill because of its origins, the resistance of some probate judges to licensing same-sex marriages after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. I do remember the original dialogue where it came from, Coleman said. So that was my no vote. It was still one of those kind of protest votes against what I felt was the original reason why we were here with this bill in the first place. This story was edited at 8:02 a.m. on April 11 to correct a spelling error. Alabama and national politics. The Alabama Senate Judiciary Committee today approved a bill supported by Attorney General Steve Marshall intended to give the governor more direct authority over the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles. The bill, by Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, would make the director of the board an appointee of the governor and would define the directors authority as the chief executive of board operations. Currently, the three-member board appoints the director. The governor appoints the board members, who are confirmed by the Senate. The current statutory structure of our board makes them accountable to no one, Marshall told the Judiciary Committee. That is the basis for this legislation. The bill would write into state law restrictions on the earliest certain violent offenders can be considered for parole. Those restrictions are currently in board regulations but Marshall said they need to be in the law to be enforced. A key restriction that would be added to the law is that offenders convicted of certain violent crimes cant be considered for parole until they serve at least 85 percent of their sentence or 15 years, whichever is less. Crimes that are covered by that restriction include murder, attempted murder, first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree sodomy, sexual torture, first-degree robbery with serious physical injury, first-degree burglary with serious injury and first-degree arson with serious injury. In October, Marshall and Ivey met with the parole board after some prosecutors and victims advocates raised concerns about the board considering granting too many offenders early parole consideration. Ivey placed a temporary moratorium on early paroles and ordered the board to develop a corrective action plan. Marshall said today one board member told him and the governor that reducing the inmate population in Alabamas overcrowded prisons was a consideration for the board. Marshall said prison population should not be a factor in the boards decision on whether to grant paroles. The law says the boards guidelines shall promote the use of prison space for the most violent and greatest risk offenders. Wards bill adds to that sentence, "while recognizing that the boards paramount duty is to protect public safety." One specific case drew much of the attention about questions over parole board policies. Jimmy ONeal Spencer was charged in the July 2018 murders of a 7-year-old boy, the boys great-grandmother and another woman in Guntersville. Spencer had a long criminal record but was granted parole in November 2017. Wards bill increases the boards obligations to exercise due diligence in notifying victims or victims representatives about parole hearings in certain cases. Several senators on the Judiciary Committee today opposed changing the law to authorize the governor to appoint the Pardons and Paroles director. Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, said Board Director Eddie Cook has done an outstanding job. Marshall said the proposed change was not directed at Cook. Ward said he has worked on the bill for the last year with the governors office and the attorney general. Ward said the biggest change is the appointing authority of the director. Theres a feeling that because you have a part-time board there is a lack of accountability of the directorship. Thats where the biggest concerns come in, Ward said. Rep. Connie Rowe, R-Jasper, is sponsoring a parole board reform bill in the House. The Alabama Senate Judiciary Committee discussed but chose not to vote this morning on a bill that law enforcement officials say would weaken the states ethics law. The committee chairman, who moved to delay action on the bill, said it was unlikely to be considered again during this legislative session. I have a hard time seeing that bill coming back, Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, said. Its just too controversial too fast. Theres a lot of questions in there. Theres a lot of concerns. Youve heard from the members. Youve heard from the public. There are just a lot of concerns." The bill, by Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Range, would rewrite the ethics law and would place no limits on gifts of monetary value from lobbyists to public officials, the Associated Press reported. The lobbyists would have to report the gifts. Ethics Commission Executive Director Tom Albritton said the change in the ethics law would encourage corruption. A spokesman for Attorney General Steve Marshall said it would weaken the ability of the AGs office to enforce the ethics law. Sen. Albritton said his purpose is to clarify the law, not weaken it. The one clear aspect of the present law is that it lacks clarity, he said. The senator said his bill would make punishments proportional to the seriousness of crimes and define what he said are now overlapping and sometimes conflicting authorities of state agencies. Ward carried the bill over after allowing senators on the committee to ask questions and make comments. Sen. Albritton did not object to the decision to delay a vote on the bill, saying it was clear from the comments that lawmakers wanted to move slowly on the bill. The Judiciary Committee approved a bill to prohibit racial profiling in traffic stops. That bill, by Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, passed the Senate last year but died in the House of Representatives. Smitherman has said African-Americans are more likely to be stopped by police for no reason other than their race and cites his own personal experiences. Committee approval today moves the bill to the Senate. The Judiciary Committee was scheduled to hold a public hearing on a bill to repeal the requirement for a permit to carry a concealed handgun. The committee ran out of time and will hold the public hearing next week. The committee room was overflowing with people expecting the public hearing. Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Tuscaloosa, has sponsored the pistol bill for several years. Allen said people shouldnt have to get a permit to exercise their Second Amendment right to carry a gun. Under Allens bill, people could still get a permit but would not be required to do so. Many law enforcement officials have opposed the bill, saying the permit requirement is an important law enforcement tool. Updated at 9:13 a.m. to say the committee approved the racial profiling bill. This story will be updated again. Updated at 9:47 a.m. to say the committee delayed a vote on the ethics bill. Updated at 10:45 a.m. to say ethics bill probably not returning this session. Updated at 1:43 p.m. to correct wording in quote from Sen. Cam Ward. Updated at 1:50 p.m. to add quote from Sen. Albritton. Alabama and national politics. Alabama Gov. Kay Iveys office announced Wednesday a $38,336 grant that will go toward establishing a statewide database to enable the tracking of property seized by police during arrests. The money, which is provided to the state from the U.S. Department of Justice, will go to the Alabama Justice Information Commission for the development of a civil asset forfeiture plan. The plan includes the development of a database. Our police and deputies work long and hard to enforce laws and keep our communities safe, Ivey said in statement. Establishing these regulations will ensure that seizures related to crimes are done above board and without question. Jim Plott, spokesman with the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, which is administering the grant, said the database will list all seizures, forfeitures and disposal of property provided by law enforcement agencies. That information can be used in requests for statistical data required by federal agencies when local agencies may be seeking grants, and it presents a clear record should any concerns arise involving a law enforcement agency, said Plott. A database that tracks civil asset forfeitures has been discussed and debated in Montgomery for some time. Last year, lawmakers nearly approved legislation to require the development of a database but it was defeated during the waning days of the session following opposition from law enforcement groups. In late February, the Alabama District Attorneys Association announced the creation of the Alabama Forfeiture Accountability system that allows law enforcement to voluntarily provide details on property seized during arrest. Carla Crowder, executive director of Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice in Montgomery, said transparency is welcome and needed," but that more was needed. The Institute for Justice, in grading states based on their civil asset forfeiture laws, gave Alabama a D- largely because it maintains a low bar to forfeit an asset even if no criminal conviction is needed. The practice of property seizures by police has drawn criticism in Alabama and nationally and received new attention with a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. In an Indiana case, the court ruled that authorities violated the constitutional prohibition on excessive fines when they seized a $42,000 vehicle from a man who pleaded guilty to selling $225 worth of heroin to undercover officers. Following the ruling, some Alabama-based organizations and lawmakers have called out for civil asset forfeiture reform including possible outright repeal of the practice. A host of lawmakers, including state Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur who co-sponsored the reform measures last year, and has a similar bill this year believe a criminal conviction should be required before law enforcement can seize someones property. Crowder said she supports the bipartisan solution that is backed by Orr. The sensible solution to the government overreach allowed by our current civil asset forfeiture scheme is to require a criminal conviction before the government can take someones property," she said. "Alabama needs the reforms outlined in this bill, not a plan and not more delays. This story was updated at 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10, 2019, to include comments from Carla Crowder, executive director at Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice in Montgomery. After recent Brunei laws were set in place, making homosexuality punishable by death, there has been a public outcry to boycott Brunei-owned companies, including an airline. Activists are petitioning the Australian government to ban Royal Brunei Airlines from landing in Australia, as this could bring harm to the LGBT community, according to SBS News. If someone in Brunei is found to be gay, they could be stoned to death. "The last thing you expect to happen if you board a flight from Australia - as a law-abiding citizen - is to run the real risk of falling victim to a shocking law that could potentially see you jailed, or even executed," the petition reads, according to SBS. The petition has so far been signed by 13,000 people. Gov. Kay Ivey will make a major economic development announcement in Athens on Wednesday, according to a media advisory released Tuesday by her office. There was no immediate word Tuesday about the details of the announcement. City of Athens officials declined to comment beyond a short statement from Mayor Ronnie Marks. The Athens announcement described the event as an "industrial announcement." Gov. Ivey has announced she will be joining us for the announcement, and we look forward to welcoming her to Athens and sharing more information on Wednesday afternoon, Marks said in the statement. The event will take place Wednesday afternoon at Athens City Hall. Athens is located in Limestone County, site of the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing USA facility thats in the Huntsville city limits. That development, the largest economic development announcement in state history, calls for a $1.6 billion investment and the creation of 4,000 jobs. A man was convicted of 14 federal charges related to rolling back odometers on vehicles at his used car lot in south Huntsville. Randy Eugene Greene was found guilty of 11 counts of tampering with vehicle odometers and three counts of bank fraud. The 62-year-old will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Abdul K. Kallon on July 17. Greene was convicted of rolling back odometers between 2014-16 at RJs Auto Sales on South Memorial Parkway, according to federal prosecutors. The lot has since been under new ownership. The largest discrepancy in the changed odometer reading was approximately 218,678 miles, federal prosecutors said in a news release. The average discrepancy in the mileage on the odometers for the various vehicles was 122,046 miles. During a four-day trial, eleven people testified about purchasing vehicles from Greene. Each said they wouldnt have bought the vehicle or paid the price if they knew the true mileage, prosecutors said. Additionally, auto auction dealers testified about the mileage that was on the vehicles when they were sold to Greene. This type of economic fraud hurts both consumers and financial institutions, said U.S. Attorney Jay Town in a statement. Our investigators and prosecutors will continue to protect the public from fraud whenever it occurs so that they have confidence when making vehicle purchases, what is traditionally the second largest consumer purchase Americans make. This conviction reinforces the message to every individual who would engage in this kind of thieving behavior for personal gain that the United States Attorneys Office will bring the weight of a federal prosecution upon them and make their victims whole, Towns statement continued. Greene was convicted of defrauding Redstone Federal Credit Union, which financed three vehicles on which the odometers had been changed, according to Towns office. The jury returned the guilty verdicts after deliberating for about 20 minutes, prosecutors said. It is very important that consumers and financial institutions know that the vehicle being purchased from any auto dealership represents the true odometer reading, said U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Michael Williams in a statement. Anyone who bought a vehicle at RJs in the past five years and might be a victim is asked to call the U.S. Secret Service at 256-922-5408. Each bank fraud charge is punishable by up to 30 years in prison. On each of the tampering charges, Greene faces up to three years in prison. A suspect is charged with murder in the stabbing death of a man in Huntsville. Fred Lee Todd, 44, is held in the Madison County jail with bail set at $75,000, records show. Todd is charged in the slaying of 39-year-old Jeremiah Montgomery, said Huntsville police Lt. Michael Johnson. It happened April 4 on Evans Avenue, just west of Memorial Parkway, in northwest Huntsville. Todd showed up outside the home and attacked and chased Montgomery with a knife, Johnson said. During the attack, one of Montgomerys family members got a knife of his own and tried to defend Montgomery, according to police. Eventually, the relative tried to run over Todd with his car, Johnson said. When officers arrived around 9 p.m., they said they found Todd injured and pinned under the car. Johnson said the family member isnt being charged with a crime because he was defending others from Todd. Todd was taken to the hospital for treatment and arrested after his release. Police said Todd previously dated Montgomerys wife. Update: An earlier version of this story included incorrect information about the circumstances of the killing and the relationships between those involved. Police released corrected information on April 12, 2019. A person wanted in connection to the murder of a Grand Bay man was arrested in Mississippi Wednesday. Dirk Lambert Jr. of Moss Point, MS, was arrested and charged with the murder of Noel Christopher Benson, 50, who was shot and killed Tuesday night, according to Jackson County (MS) Sheriff Mike Ezell. Benson, who is from Grand Bay, was shot at Lamberts home in Moss Point. His body was found inside his truck in nearby woods several hours later, according to law enforcement. There is no clear motive in the murder. Lambert is currently being held without bond. Alabama animal advocates are fighting a bill in the state Legislature that would take regulatory power over dog breeders away from cities and give it to Montgomery, while permitting big pet stores to sell puppies from large, out-of-state breeders. The pet store regulation bill sponsored by state Sen. David Sessions (R-Mobile) passed out of the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry committee last week and headed to the Senate floor. It would make legal selling dogs in Alabama from sources including a high-volume breeder located in or out of this state that meets the bills requirements. The Senate was in session Tuesday afternoon, and a call to Sessions about the bill was not immediately returned. The bill would require dealers who sell dogs in Alabama to be licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and have no violations of that agencys regulations. It says the state, not cities, will have the authority to regulate pet stores selling any dogs in Alabama. Animal advocates say the legislation would permit stores to buy from large breeders, including some whose practices have drawn criticism in the past. Those practices include keeping puppies isolated in wire cages to avoid infection and other diseases. Their feet never touch the ground, Huntsville Animal Services Director Dr. Karen Sheppard said Tuesday. Huntsville and Athens both passed ordinances in recent months to control the source of adoptable dogs within their jurisdictions. There was some concern that, one day, a new pet store might want to come in and sell USDA puppy mill puppies, Sheppard said. The Huntsville ordinance establishes conditions for breeders who want to sell animals in the city. Among other things, it requires them to provide puppies daily outside exercise, necessary food and water and protection from the elements in unstacked cages with solid floors. It prohibits the sale of puppies from dogs bred more than twice in any 18-month period and requires detailed records. Breeders also are required to buy a license that costs $1,000 and is renewed annually. Sheppard acknowledged that the supply of shelter pets is dropping as more owners have their pets sterilized. Small dogs and puppies are also snapped up quickly from her shelter, Sheppard said, and she sympathized with people who want particular breeds theyve seen or heard about. My interest is focused on my shelter pets, Sheppard said, and I want them adopted out. But the history of big puppy mills includes horror stories, she repeated. Expensive animals obtained this way can be unhealthy and not socialized properly, Sheppard said. Sheppard isnt alone. The Greater Birmingham Humane Society posted an alert on Facebook April 5 saying its staff and our partners are deeply concerned about Sessions bill. It could permanently stop our ability to get protection for puppies and their parents in puppy mills, the Birmingham group said. Thats a reference to the evolving strategy of seeking animal protection statutes from cities like Huntsville and Athens that are willing to act and not from the state, which hasnt been willing. The Birmingham Humane Society said Sessions bill was drafted by lobbyists to appear to be an animal welfare bill regulating puppy-selling pet storesIt has a fatal flaw. It protects puppy mills by securing their pet store supply chain because provisions allow pet stores to source from both unregulated, unlicensed breeders that operate with zero oversight and USDA-licensed breeders without certain violations under the Animal Welfare Act. But the USDA has stopped making violations public or releasing reports on specific breeders, the Humane Society said. Its impossible to know which ones have clean records and which dont, the society said. Sheppard is hopeful the bill will fail if word about its provisions gets around. I just cant believe they would pass it, she said of Alabama lawmakers. A man was killed this afternoon in a tiny north Alabama town after forcing his way into a home and shooting at the owner, authorities said. Phil Lynn Orr, a 53-year-old from Courtland, was killed with the homeowner returned fire, said Adam Buchanan, an Alabama Law Enforcement Agency spokesman. The homeowner, who hasnt been publicly identified, was uninjured. Officers were called to investigate the fatal shooting at 340 Water Street around 2:40 p.m. The home is in Courtland, a tiny town in Lawrence County. Because the towns police department lacks the resources the investigate a homicide, the Lawrence County sheriffs office was initially called to investigate, authorities said. During the brief initial investigation, it was determined that a person involved in the shooting has a relative that works for the Sheriffs office, said Sheriff Max Sanders in a press release. The sheriff didnt provide further details. The State Bureau of Investigation has since taken over the case. Further details werent immediately released. Updated at 7:05 p.m. with the slain mans name and other details. A shooting in Calhoun County left one man dead and another behind bars. Piedmont police officers responded Tuesday to a report of someone shot at a home in the 4000 block of Gadsden Highway, said Chief Freddie Norton. Once on the scene, they found 40-year-old Joseph Solomon Nicholas Haywood suffering from a single gunshot wound to the chest. Haywood was taken to Gadsden Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Norton said investigators arrested Jessie James Beecham, 23, on a murder charge. He is being held in the Calhoun County Jail on $60,000 bond. The chief said Beecham has a preliminary court date set for May 6. A motive has not been released. An Ensley teen has been indicted in the 2018 shooting death of a man at Birmingham apartment complex. A Jefferson County grand jury issued the capital murder indictment against 16-year-old Corey Lamont Beckwood on April 5, according to court records made public Wednesday. He also is charged with two counts of attempted murder. The deadly shooting happened Nov. 17 and killed 34-year-old Eric Jermaine Jackson. The charge is capital because the victim was inside a vehicle when he was shot. A motive has not been disclosed. West Precinct officers responded just before 1:30 a.m. Saturday to the parking lot of The Hamilton Apartments in the 1900 block of Avenue O on a report of gunshot victim. Once on the scene, officers found Jackson in a back seat of a white SUV wounded and unresponsive. He was pronounced dead on the scene. Investigators said the shooting happened at nearby Smart Food Mart in the 900 block of 20th Street Ensley. A woman then drove the victim to the apartment complex seeking help. The rear window of the SUV had been shot out. Hours after the killing, Birmingham police released surveillance photos from the store, asking the public to help identify the suspect. He was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force four days later in east Birmingham. Birmingham police and Jefferson County sheriffs deputies set up a perimeter around a home after receiving information the suspect was there. They knocked on the door and could hear a lot of moving inside but nobody would answer the door. The homeowner gave lawmen permission for the marshals to enter the home. Ultimately, they found Beckwood hiding behind a stove in the kitchen. He had pulled out the stove, climbed in behind it and moved it almost back into place. He was taken into custody without further incident. Beckwood remains held without bond. A court date has not yet been set. U.S. Air Force General John E. Hyten, the current head of the U.S. Strategic Command who grew up in Huntsville, has been nominated to be the next vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Air Force secretary said Tuesday. Hyten wasnt born in Huntsville but moved to the city in 1965 where his father worked for NASA on the Saturn V rocket. He graduated from Grissom High School and earned an undergraduate degree in engineering from Harvard and an MBA from Auburn University at Montgomery. In his new position, Hyten will work alongside Army Gen. Mark Milley, who will be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He must be approved by the Senate.. Hyten is currently Americas top nuclear commander and has commanded the U.S. Strategic Command since 2016. He also headed the Air Force Space Command and is an advocate of space-based defenses for U.S. assets. Every military operation that takes place on the planet today is fundamentally tied to space some way or the other, Hyten said in a 2015 speech in Huntsville about the changing nature of war. Then you realize that change has to happen now. Hyten has returned to his boyhood home to participate in military and space-related events such as the Association of the U.S. Armys annual spring meeting. He used Huntsville as an example of change for the better in a 2015 Armed Forces Week speech. Change is not a bad thing, Hyten said. Look at Huntsville today and at the Huntsville of 1966, its amazing. Coastal Alabama leaders are joining up in opposition over two pieces of legislation that would remove cities from enforcing plastics. The Mobile City Council, on Tuesday, voted unanimously to vocalize its opposition to SB244 and HB346 the two legislative instruments that preempt cities from regulating so-called auxiliary containers or impose taxes and charges on them. The containers include plastic bags, bottles, cups, other any other packaging. City leaders in Orange Beach, Dauphin Island, Fairhope and elsewhere are also sounding alarms over a measure that would preempt local governments from imposing restrictions. Coastal-based environmental groups representing 4,500 members have already written to local lawmakers expressing their concerns. What we dont want is the Legislature (deciding) to prohibit us from taking any action whatsoever, Mobile City Councilman Joel Daves said. Water worries The measure is scheduled to go before the House State Government committee for a 3:30 p.m. hearing today. If approved by the committee, it could go to the full House and Senate chambers for a vote on Thursday. Already, one coastal lawmaker has voted against it. Republican State Sen. Chris Elliott of Daphne was one of two No votes in the Senate Governmental Affairs committee on Wednesday. His opposition focused on SB244, sponsored by state Sen. Steve Livingston, R-Scottsboro. We live on the water, said Elliott. We see what goes into the water. We see what comes down the rivers into the waters. Unfortunately, that water contains entirely too much plastic. Elliott and others say the concerns for them go beyond environmental regulations. They say removing city governments from having the ability to regulate plastics could be economically harmful for a region where abundant waterways serve as a tourist draw. Anything along the coast, the economy is tied directly to the environment, said Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier, who said his council could vote on a similar resolution as Mobile next week. We will have a good economy as long as we have a good, healthy environment, said Collier. We found that out with the (BP) oil spill nine years ago. Indeed, the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster and subsequent oil spill hindered an entire tourism season along the Gulf Coast. Since then, thanks in part to a strong economy, annual tourism records have been broken every year for the state. More than 35 percent of the states overall tourism impact comes from Mobile and Baldwin counties, where the beaches remain the top attraction. But the pollution issue is a concern throughout the Mobile region and the Mobile Bay watershed, which encompasses 65 percent of the land area for Alabama and includes portions of Georgia and Mississippi. The watershed is a deemed a vast network of 250 separate waterways, including rivers, creeks, bayous and bays, with the Mobile Bay serving as the endpoint for numerous rivers. We see plastics pollution more than anyone else does, said Casi Callaway, executive director with Mobile Baykeeper. We are the bottom of the watershed. Everything they do in Montgomery and Birmingham flows down to us in the Mobile Bay. Mobile Baykeeper, in a letter to state lawmakers, sent a letter explaining some of the environmental hazards and economic concerns for allowing plastics to flow unregulated into waterways. Among the information cited was a study that indicated the worlds oceans will contain more plastics in weight than fish by 2050. Other information contained in the letter, which was signed by leaders from a dozen coastal environmental awareness groups: - In 2017, during a one-day cleanup, volunteers removed 96,745 pieces of litter weight more then 35,000 pounds from Alabamas coastal locations. - During a 2014 coastal Alabama cleanup, the most frequently found items included cigarette butts, plastic bottle caps, food wrappers, beverage bottles, grocery bags and plastic straws. Our economy depends on clean water more than anywhere else in the state, said Callaway. The Mobile City Council, following its vote, sent a letter to the Mobile County legislative delegation and described the city as currently fighting an avalanche of litter that poses significant risk to our economy and environment. The letter indicates Mobile has reached a crisis point. The city, about five years ago, faced mounting fines and entered into expensive contracts to search for ways to clean up its waterways as federal and state environmental regulators demanded them to be clean up. In 2012, alarming pictures surfaced of a large floatables polluting Dog River just south of Mobile -- following a heavy rainstorm. The group, Dog River Clearwater Revival, soon formed to bring awareness to the river, and litter worries have been a top concern for Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpsons administration since he was elected in 2013. We want to make sure we have the right to pass laws at the local level that are going to protect us at the local level, said Callaway. This 2012 picture submitted to AL.com shows a polluted watershed in Mobile, Ala. (photo submitted by Rob Nykvist). Uniformity Advocates for the legislation say they want to have a uniformity throughout the state when it comes to regulating plastic bags and wrappers that are commonly found in grocery stores, restaurants and other businesses. Nancy Dennis, spokeswoman at the Alabama Retail Association, said her organization is part of a coalition of pro-business groups advocating for uniformity statewide. The main goals, as far as were concerned, is that there be uniformity so that there is not a hodgepodge of local bills that relate to plastic bags, Styrofoam cups, take out containers and straws, Dennis said. The bill does not prevent bans from happening. They just have to happen on the state level. Callaway said the legislation is being pushed by outsider groups, and The Montgomery Advertiser reported that the bills are modeled after similar legislation elsewhere backed by the American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC, which is a conservative bill-writing organization that receives funding from the powerful right-wing organizations including the Charles Koch Institute. Rep. Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, who is sponsoring the House bill, said hes received calls from concerned grocers in the state worried about taxing plastic bags. We put enough restraints on small business as it is, Ledbetter said. The people who support small business want to see it thrive and we dont want to penalize people. And the reason for having this across the state is we want everyone to have a level playing field. Ledbetter said he understands the concerns from coastal leaders, and said that increase litter fines might be the better approach. At the end of the day, thats causing it, Ledbetter said. Its not the bottle but the people misusing it. Fairhope Mayor Karin Wilson, whose scenic city abuts the Mobile Bay and is considered the fastest-growing city in Alabama, said she isnt sure whats really behind the push to get the legislation approved. As best as I can tell, there isnt a county in the state that has moved to ban plastic bags and other single-use plastics, Wilson said. The question shouldnt be whether or not we support it, but why is it even being presented in the first place. Ledbetter said hes heard rumblings from around the state in support of taxing bags. There was an idea out there that there might be a movement and its part of the reason to get out in front of it, he said. Callaway said that her organization is supportive of increased restrictions on plastics, but admits there is no push in Alabama to pursue an outright ban. Only three states have implemented bans on single-use plastic bags: California, Hawaii and New York. The New York ban goes into effect next year. Numerous cities and counties have voted in their own bans including Boston, Chicago, Seattle and Los Angeles. State lawmakers have introduced at least 95 bills this year related to plastic bags, according to an analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Most of the bills place fees on plastic bags, while others are similar to the Alabama proposals in that they would preempt local government action. Callaway said that Mobile Baykeeper has been working with individual businesses within the city to make changes. For instance, some restaurants and bars have removed plastic straws, forks and knives. Were talking about ways to reduce single-use plastics, said Callaway. People are getting it along the coast that single-use plastics affect our waterways, marine life, and therefore tourism and the economy. In Orange Beach, City Administration Ken Grimes said there is a similar effort going on to limit and reduce the use of plastic straws and single-use plastics. Local control and decision making on things like this topic need to remain local, Grimes said. Being stewards of the Alabama Gulf Coast, we have a responsibility to reduce plastics and such entering our waterways as we protect the marine life, birds and all species around our shorelines. This story was updated at 1:43 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10, 2019, to include comments from state Rep. Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville. The Cayman Islands recently legalized gay marriage, but the government has called to appeal this ruling, leading rights groups to protest. And they arent the only ones who are unhappy, the British government is displeased with the decision to appeal the ruling as well, according to Cayman 27 News. Colours Cayman, an LGBT rights group, staged a demonstration following the decision. No matter what push back we get we will keep fighting for our rights, keep fighting for our visibility and representation, everything else that everyone else enjoys and takes advantage off or maybe takes for granted, said Billie Bryan, President of Colours Cayman, according to Cayman 27 News. The Cayman legislators are still debating on the motion to appeal. An open dialogue between the protesters and the Sudanese army could pull Sudan from the brink of failed statehood. In the early hours of Monday, April 8, a failed regime took a giant step towards turning its country into a failed state. Just as people were preparing for the dawn prayers, security forces attacked protesters encamped in front of the headquarters of the Sudanese army in the capital Khartoum. They fired tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition in an attempt to disperse the sit-in. Snipers from a building across the street were also targeting the protesters. Mass casualties were only avoided due to the intervention from the military, who ushered protesters into the armys headquarters compound. They also engaged in a firefight with the attacking security contingent and allied militias. By Tuesday, the total number of casualties had reached 14, five of them soldiers. That was a turning point in the four-months-old protests that erupted on December 19 last year, presenting the most serious threat yet to the regime of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. The bloody confrontation represented a point of no return for both the regime and its challengers. The protesters had made their first breakthrough, managing to amass the largest protest yet, and succeeding in encircling the army HQ. The move was purposefully planned to coincide with the 34th anniversary of the overthrow of the military regime of former President Gaafar Nimeiri on April 6, 1985. The protesters success in occupying and holding territory in the capital was significant on its own, as earlier attempts to organise sit-ins had been brutally and swiftly crushed by the security forces. The combined symbolism of the event and the site, together with the brutal (if abortive) crackdown, tested the regime and revealed cracks in its edifice. The military, especially the young officers manning the barricades, have shown open sympathy with the protesters, and readiness to fight and die protecting them. This was ominous, since such an unpopular regime could not last a day without army support. It is true that the top army leadership was quick to dismiss reports of a rift, and pledged allegiance to the regime. A high-level security meeting on the eve of the attempted crackdown resulted in a stern warning that the army would not permit the country to slip into chaos. This was a clear warning of the very crackdown that followed, and a declaration that the army would back it. The regime thus made it clear that it would stop at nothing in its quest to hang on to power. Those holding the balance within the army appeared to be backing it. But it is not yet known for how long. If this course of action is maintained, the outcome is easily predictable. Massacres would be perpetrated, followed by fragmentation of the military, then the country. We have seen this in Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Chad, Liberia, etc. Sudan, which already has about five ongoing civil conflicts, is a more likely candidate for state failure than many. When the Fragile State Index (previously Failed State Index) was launched by the Fund for Peace in 2006, Sudan occupied the first spot on the list for two consecutive years, never going below third place through 2013. This year, it is number 8. However, that classification reflects negatively on the validity of the Index. The years from 2005 to 2010 were, in fact, a period of surprising stability, regardless of the disastrous war in Darfur. Following the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005, and the achievement of high levels of oil production at good world prices, the country witnessed an unprecedented level of prosperity and political stability. International support and enthusiasm were never more palpable, in spite of continuing conflict in Darfur. In fact, the crisis in Darfur became a new avenue for international engagement, bringing the worlds largest UN peace operation to the country. Unlike neighbouring countries like the DRC, the Central African Republic, Somalia and Libya, the regime remained highly cohesive, and in full control, including a monopoly on atrocities. Things began to change to the worse after the disputed 2010 elections, which contributed to the secession of South Sudan the following year, and with it the loss of 70 percent of the countrys oil revenue. The regime kept losing opportunities to engage constructively with opponents, turning progressively into a black-hole state, with power centred almost exclusively in the hands of an increasingly authoritarian and isolated president. The December protests were a belated wake-up call, but the regimes response has made it into yet another disaster. Instead of engaging in constructive dialogue with the opposition to reach the sort of deals worked out in Ethiopia or Morocco, the regime dug in, and the president kept concentrating more power in his own hands, even at the expense of close loyalists and the so-called ruling party. His isolation now appears complete. In the past few days, many more loyalists and allies have defected. However, the clashes with the military are the most disturbing sign. It is unlikely that the military would continue standing on the sidelines for long. As the economy, which was the trigger of the protests in the first place, continues its nose-dive, exacerbated by the disruptive impact of the protests and the paralysis of the government, the status quo will become unsustainable. If no peaceful resolution is forthcoming, then we must fear eventual disintegration. Nevertheless, the escalation has apparently generated two hopeful signs. For the first time, the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), which has led the protests since December, announced its intention to start a dialogue with the military about the transition. Previously, the SPA and all components of the protest movement were adamant that there would be no dialogue with the regime or must go, full stop (tasgut bas), as the popular protest slogan puts it. This intransigence remained one of the greatest obstacles to progress towards a peaceful transition. It was exacerbated by threats of dire consequences for the regimes stalwarts and their wider popular base after this fall. Fears of the consequences must have been behind the disastrous and failed recent attempt to crack down. The fact that the protesters have now shown openness to dialogue with the military is likely to hasten a breakthrough. The second positive sign came from the so-called Troika, the three countries that have become the de facto sponsors of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement the UK, US and Norway. In a statement issued in on April 9, they called on the government to release all political detainees, stop the use of violence against peaceful protesters, remove all restrictions to freedoms, lift the state of emergency and allow for a credible political dialogue in a conducive environment with all key Sudanese actors that has as its basis the goal of a political and economic transition to a new type of Sudan. If the government were to take these steps, then the Troika will support such a political process and in time could work to help resolve some of the long term economic challenges that Sudan faces. This sounds like a very promising carrot, under the circumstances. These two constructive gestures promise a credible way out of the current impasse, if pursued sincerely by both the opposition and the regime, and if the international community could show a commitment that has been conspicuously absent in the recent past. As in Darfur and other major disasters around the world, the international community usually starts to mobilise only too late, after the worst has already befallen the hapless victim, and it usually offers too little. This opportunity should be seized, and the regime should use it, to take the lead in ending restrictions and entering into a serious dialogue with the protesters. If need be, the army should take a firm stand against those obstructing such a process. Otherwise, a supposedly failed state will genuinely become the epitome of failure and disrepair, at a huge cost for its population, neighbours and the international community. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. Home-sharing platform Airbnb has announced it will back off a plan to remove Jewish settler homes in the occupied West Bank from its rental listings to end lawsuits brought by the hosts. Israeli lawyers filed a class action suit against Airbnb in November immediately after it said it planned to remove from its rental listings Jewish settler homes in the West Bank that are at the core of the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians. On Tuesday, the company said the agreement settled all legal actions brought by hosts and potential hosts who went to court. Airbnb will not move forward with implementing the removal of listings in the West Bank from the platform, the San Francisco-based company said in a news release. 181121134252041 We will continue to allow listings throughout all of the West Bank, but Airbnb will take no profits from this activity in the region. Profit generated from Airbnb listings in the West Bank will be donated to non-profit groups dedicated to humanitarian aid in various parts of the world, according to the startup. The decision would have affected around 200 homes in Israeli settlements that had been listed on the platform. Arvind Ganesan, of New York-based Human Rights Watch, called Airbnbs retreat from the decision disappointing. Donating profits from unlawful settlement listings, as theyve promised to do, does nothing to remedy the human suffering they have acknowledged that their activities cause, said Ganesan. By continuing to do business in settlements, they remain complicit in the abuses settlements trigger. An Amnesty International report published earlier this year argued that digital tourism giants Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and TripAdvisor are profiting from war crimes by offering services in Israeli settlements. The London-based rights groups Destination: Occupation report called on the companies to stop listing tourist accommodation, activities and attractions in settlements in occupied territories, including occupied East Jerusalem. In doing business with settlements, all four companies are contributing to, and profiting from, the maintenance, development and expansion of illegal settlements, which amount to war crimes under international criminal law, the report said. Around 400,000 Israelis live in settlements that dot the occupied West Bank and range in size from tiny hamlets to large towns, in addition to 200,000 living in settlements in East Jerusalem. Al Jazeera Media Network has scooped a record number of prizes at the prestigious New York Festivals TV and Films awards, including the Broadcaster of the Year award for Al Jazeera English, which it won for a third consecutive year. Judges awarded the Qatar-based network 18 gold, 17 silver and 14 bronze medals at the ceremony in New York on Tuesday, putting the overall tally at 49. Among the winners were 101 East, the English channels weekly current affairs programme featuring stories from across Asia and the Pacific, and the Al Jazeera Investigative Unit, which recently uncovered discussions between Australias One Nation party and the powerful US-based National Rifle Association gun lobby over relaxing weapons laws in the Pacific Island nation. The observational-documentary Witness and the environmental show Earthrise were also honoured at the awards. Giles Trendle, managing director of Al Jazeera English division, said the networks prizes represented a gratifying validation from our industry peers of the professionalism of our work and the importance of what we do. Around the globe our journalists work day and night to inform and empower people with accurate, impartial and independent content, Trendle said. It is not an easy job. We face challenges in the context of increasing attacks on journalists and media organisations. The number of journalists and media workers killed while carrying out their jobs rose again in 2018 to 94, reversing a downward trend of the previous three years, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). US-based NGO the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), meanwhile, put the number of journalists jailed last year at 251, with Turkey, China and Egypt accounting for more than half of all the reporters put behind bars. Al Jazeera Arabic reporter Mahmoud Hussein has spent more than two years in an Egyptian prison without formal charges. Human stories The New York Festivals TV and Films competition honours programming in all lengths and forms from more than 50 countries. This years Grand Jury was composed of prominent international broadcast and film industry executives from over 30 countries across six continents. This year also marked a debut in the New York Festivals for Al Jazeeras Digital Division with AJ Shorts, which specialises in short documentaries of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, which won two gold medals and a bronze. Director of Digital Innovation Carlos Van Meek described the awards as an honour and said it was a great privilege to tell the stories of incredible people from different parts of the world. Al Jazeera Digital strives to keep human stories at the heart of its content. Its encouraging to see our efforts being appreciated, he added. Human rights organisation warns against complacency and says more needs to be done to abolish death penalty. At least 690 prisoners were executed in 20 countries in 2018, marking a 31 percent fall from at least 993 the previous year, according to Amnesty International that reported the fewest deaths by capital punishment in at least a decade. A total of 2,531 death sentences were also imposed in 54 countries last year, decreasing from 2,591 recorded worldwide in 2017 according to a report published on Wednesday by the UK-based rights group that hailed the significant decline in global executions. As in previous years, China, where figures believed to be in the thousands are classified as a state secret, remained the most prolific executor, Amnesty said, followed by Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Iraq accounting for 78 percent of total reported executions. Its very encouraging that known executions were the lowest at the end of 2018, but it is challenging to define clear reasons for the decreases and whether these reductions will be sustained in the coming years, Oluwatosin Popoola, Amnesty International adviser on the death penalty, told Al Jazeera. Executions in Iran dropped by 50 percent in 2018 following amendments to drug legislation that increased the minimum amounts of drugs for death penalty offences. The change meant executions were put on hold while cases were reviewed. Iraq, which executed at least 52 people, and Pakistan, which executed more than 14, also showed a downward trend. Meanwhile, Somalia almost halved its executions from 24 in 2017 to 13 last year. Amnestys report comes after London-based NGO Harm Reduction International (HRI) revealed a drop of 68 percent in executions worldwide for drug crimes from 288 to 91 in 2018. 190311214738671 Popoola said that while the global figures of executions undoubtedly tell a positive story for 2018, there were also concerning developments which show that its not yet time to lift the pressure. The death penalty continued to be used in many cases against international law and standards in the absence of a fair trial and for non-lethal crimes such as drug-related offences, he said. Amnesty found increases in executions in Japan, Singapore, South Sudan, Belarus and the United States. Japan and Singapore both recorded the highest number of executions in a decade. Methods of recorded executions included beheading in Saudi Arabia, electrocution in the US, and hanging, lethal injection and shooting in other countries. Calls for reform in Pakistan Following a 77 percent decline in executions, Pakistan was not ranked among the top five executing countries for the first time in four years. While the dramatic decrease in executions is heartening to see, Pakistan was far from structural reform, according to Sarah Belal, executive director of rights group Justice Project Pakistan (JPP). This drop in executions cannot be taken as a correction to Pakistans abhorrent history of handing out death sentences and executing the mentally ill, juveniles and those wrongfully convicted, said Belal. According to Amnestys report, at least 250 people were sentenced to death in Pakistan a 25 percent increase from 2017. With more than 4,600 awaiting execution, according to data received by JPP, Pakistan has one of the worlds largest death row populations. In a leading case last year, Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman, was acquitted of blasphemy and released from prison after eight years on death row. The Supreme Court verdict in October sparked days of protests by far-right religious groups, death threats and chaos across the country. JPPs Belal said the landmark case not only sets a good precedent but is also an indictment of Pakistans disproportionate use of the death penalty against the most vulnerable. Pakistani protesters burn a poster image of Christian woman Aasia Bibi in Hyderabad, Pakistan [File: Pervez Masih/AP] She said her organisation is working with the new government to reform the process of filing a mercy petition and reducing the number of offences punishable by death currently at 33 among other things. Closer to abolition Meanwhile, other countries took steps towards abolition last year, Amnesty said. In June, Burkina Faso abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes, while both The Gambia and Malaysia declared an official moratorium on executions. No executions were reported in Bahrain, Bangladesh, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Palestine and the United Arab Emirates. In December, a record high of 121 countries at the United Nations General Assembly voted in favour of establishing a moratorium on executions with a view to abolish capital punishment. Nevertheless, people continue to be sentenced to death. Data obtained by Amnesty showed 109 death sentences were imposed in Malaysia last year bringing the number of people awaiting execution to 1,275, nearly three-quarters of them convicted for drug-related offences. The government is expected to introduce legislation to abolish mandatory death sentences when parliament next sits in July, after a conservative backlash against plans for complete abolition. I strongly believe that the government knows exactly what is the right thing to do, Amnesty International Malaysias Executive Director Shamini Darshni Kaliemuthu said in Kuala Lumpur. They know they need to abolish in totality. What we need is a roadmap on how we are going to get there. By the end of 2018, the total number of countries that had abolished the death penalty for all crimes remained at 106. The number that had abolished in law or in practice was 142, the report said. Only a minority of countries in the world actively use the death penalty today, so we are closer to the complete and global abolition of the death penalty, more than ever before, added Amnestys Popoola. But with more than 19,000 prisoners still on death row around the world, Popoola said more was needed to end the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment which has no place in the 21st century. We cannot afford to rest on our laurels, but continue to call on countries that use the death penalty to abolish this punishment. Additional reporting by Kate Mayberry The very first picture of a black hole is here, finally. In a major breakthrough, astronomers on Wednesday unveiled the highly anticipated image, which shows a dark core, encircled by a fiery orange halo of white-hot gas and plasma. You have probably seen many, many images of black holes before, but they were all simulations or animations. And this [image] is so precious to all of us because this one is finally real, Professor Heino Falcke of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), an international collaboration behind the image said at a news conference in Brussels. A series of simultaneous press events were held around the world on Wednesday to share the announcement. The supermassive black hole in the photo is 50m light-years away in a galaxy known as Messier 87 (M87). Capturing the image at such a distance is comparable to photographing a pebble on the surface of the Moon. Its a distance that we could have barely imagined, Frederic Gueth, an astronomer at Frances National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and co-author of the studies detailing the findings told AFP news agency. The unprecedented photo so often imagined in science and science fiction has been analysed in six studies co-authored by 200 experts from 60-odd institutions and published on Wednesday in Astrophysical Journal Letters. From Brussels: "Finally! No more simulations. You are looking for the very first time, at a real black hole." #EHTblackhole #realblackhole #blackholecam pic.twitter.com/HH3m4v3fHH Event Horizon 'Scope (@ehtelescope) April 10, 2019 Seeing the unseeable No single telescope is powerful enough to capture an image of a black hole, one of the star-devouring entities scattered throughout the universe and obscured by impenetrable shields of gravity. Thus, over several days in April 2017, eight radio telescopes in Hawaii, Arizona, Spain, Mexico, Chile and the South Pole zeroed in on M87 as well as Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, the galaxy that contains Earth. Researchers said that Sagittarius A* was too active to capture a clear picture, but the M87 black hole which measures 40bn kilometres across was more photogenic. In a historic feat by @EHTelescope & @NSF, a black hole image has been captured for the 1st time. Several of our missions observed the same black hole using different light wavelengths and collected data to understand the black hole's environment. Details: https://t.co/WOjLdY76ve pic.twitter.com/4PhH1bfHxc NASA (@NASA) April 10, 2019 Though the telescopic data was gathered two years ago, completing the image took time due to the massive undertaking of delivering hundreds of terabytes of data too much information to travel on the internet worldwide by plane. We have achieved something presumed to be impossible just a generation ago, astrophysicist Sheperd Doeleman, director of the EHT at the Centre for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian said. We have seen what we thought was unseeable. NASA described the image as a historic feat in a Twitter post, while scientists not involved in the EHT have suggested the achievement could be worthy of a Nobel Prize. Adding weight to a century-old theory Iconic physicist Albert Einstein first theorised the existence of black holes in his 1915 theory of general relativity but thought the idea was too outlandish to exist in reality. Since then, the confounding entities have been studied by scientists around the world, including most prominently, by the late British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. David Sobral, an astrophysicist at Lancaster University, told Al Jazeera that imaging the supermassive black hole was an enormous achievement for humankind. It completely confirms our idea that black holes really do exist and now the next step is we can start doing physics with it. We can really start to test the predictions and perhaps learn something new, he said. Unlike smaller black holes that come from collapsed stars, supermassive black holes like the one in the image released on Wednesday are mysterious in origin. Situated at the centre of most galaxies, they are so dense that nothing, not even light, can escape their gravitational pull. The image adds further weight to Einsteins general theory of relativity [Lucien Aigner/Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images] The fact that no light can escape makes viewing black holes difficult. The EHT scientists were looking for what is known as the black holes shadow or silhouette disrupted matter and radiation circling at tremendous speed at the edge of the event horizon in order to capture an image. The black hole featured in the now-famous photograph has an event horizon the area around it where light and matter begin to fall inexorably into the hole as big as our entire solar system. Astrophysicist Dimitrios Psaltis of the University of Arizona, an EHT project scientist, said the size and shape of the shadow matches the precise predictions of Einsteins general theory of relativity, increasing our confidence in this century-old theory. Imaging a black hole is just the beginning of our effort to develop new tools that will enable us to interpret the massively complex data that nature gives us. The British PM due in Brussels for an emergency EU meeting to discuss UKs request to delay Brexit until June 30. London, United Kingdom Brexit is going through yet another crunch week. It is unlikely to be the last as the European Union appears likely to grant the United Kingdom another extension at an emergency European Council summit on Wednesday evening. The heads of the 28 EU member states, including the UK, are meeting in Brussels on Wednesday evening to discuss a request by British Prime Minister Theresa May for an extension until June 30. But a longer extension with a clause to end the UKs membership earlier if a deal is passed a so-called flextension emerged as a more likely outcome on Tuesday. The UK was originally scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, but the last European Council meeting ended with a decision to give the UK a two-tier deadline of May 22 should the withdrawal agreement be passed in the House of Commons, or April 12 if not. By this date, only two days from now, May was to present the Council with a solution to the Brexit conundrum. And while the British parliament has failed to reach an agreement on other Brexit options, talks between Mays Conservative party and the opposition Labour party have so far not produced results. Extension or flextension? A day before the summit, May flew to Berlin and Paris in an attempt to secure support for her request from the EUs two most influential leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron. The latter has been vocal about his concern in granting the UK another extension without clear evidence that May has a new Brexit strategy. While Merkel has remained open to a long delay to avoid a damaging no-deal Brexit, Germanys EU affairs minister talked about very strict conditions for any extension of Article 50, the part of the EU treaty that sets out the rules to leave. European Council President Donald Tusk, on the other hand, suggested offering the UK a flexible extension. In a letter to European Council members on Tuesday, Tusk urged leaders to consider an extension for as long as necessary and no longer than one year. Our experience so far, as well as the deep divisions within the House of Commons, give us little reason to believe that the ratification process can be completed by the end of June, Tusk argued in the letter. He added that this would avoid repeated short extensions and emergency summits while giving the UK time to leave whenever it is ready. With European Parliament elections due on May 23-26, EU leaders have been adamant that should the UK still be a member of the EU by then, it would have to hold elections because its non-participation could threaten the functioning of the EU from a legal perspective despite expert opinion remaining divided on this issue. The UKs Electoral Commission began preparations for the poll this week. The elections would be cancelled if a deal is passed before May 23. According to a draft conclusions document circulated by Brussels correspondents late on Tuesday, the European Council could agree to an extension lasting only as long as necessary, while the UK would have to leave on June 1 if it failed to hold elections. Hardline Brexiteers have vowed they would make life difficult for the EU if they were to be part of the next parliament. The chair of the European Research Group (ERG) of Eurosceptic MPs tweeted this week that: If a long extension leaves us stuck in the EU we should be as difficult as possible. We could veto any increase in the budget, obstruct the putative EU army and block Mr Macrons integrationist schemes. Talks with Labour After MPs rejected the deal the British prime minister negotiated with the EU for the third time on March 29 the original Brexit day the prime minister turned to opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn to find a way out of the impasse. Labour has been pushing for a closer relationship with the EU after Britains exit from the block, including a customs union. But talks failed to lead to an agreement before Wednesday summit, with talks due to continue on Thursday. So far, Labour has been less than enthusiastic about the negotiations, accusing May of being unwilling to compromise. Should the idea of a cross-party agreement fall through, May has committed to putting a series of Brexit options to a vote in the House of Commons, and to being bound by the results. Two rounds of indicative votes to find alternatives to Mays deal have so far ended with MPs voting down all options. These could include holding a second referendum on any deal agreed by parliament. No deal While both sides have committed to avoiding a no-deal Brexit and the British parliament passed a law to force an extension request and prevent the UK from crashing out of the EU, April 12 remains the default option under Article 50. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Tuesday that a no-deal Brexit could push the UKs economy into a two-year recession and that the country would be hit harder than the rest of the EU. The National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said earlier this year that while the UKs economy would be negatively affected in the long-term, an immediate no-deal recession could be avoided if contingency measures were in place. Based on our estimates, if there is a strong reaction of policy the likelihood of a recession would be mitigated and reduced, Arno Hantzsche, a senior economist at NIESR, told Al Jazeera. However, he added that contingency measures would only have a limited impact and that is because some of the things associated with a no-deal Brexit, like queues at the border, and the higher bureaucratic cost of moving goods and services across the border, will be there and will be significant. The Institute for Government in London and fact-checking organisation Full Fact said on Tuesday that according to evidence they have examined, the government has not yet met its own goals for no deal preparedness in a number of areas. In other areas, analysts warned, there simply isnt enough published evidence to assert the government is ready for the worst-case scenario. As Brexit negotiations continue, Irish residents are wary of a future with a potential hard border. A major sticking point in reaching a deal on Brexit has been the Irish backstop a clause Theresa May agreed with the EU to prevent a hard border in Ireland. Working-class communities in Northern Ireland have already experienced years of economic hardship. They fear rising food and basic commodity prices could go up even further if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. Al Jazeeras Charles Stratford reports. Mnuchin tells US media that the US has pretty much agreed on enforcement mechanism with China to deal with trade deal. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday that US-China trade talks continue to make progress and the two sides have basically settled on a mechanism to police any agreement, including new enforcement offices. Mnuchin, speaking on CNBC television, said that a call with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on Tuesday night was productive and discussions would be resumed on Thursday. Weve pretty much agreed on an enforcement mechanism, weve agreed that both sides will establish enforcement offices that will deal with the ongoing matters, Mnuchin said, adding that there were still important issues for the United States and China to address. Mnuchin declined to comment on when or if US tariffs on $250bn worth of Chinese goods would be removed. I think we have some very important issues to address but both sides are working very hard, he told the business news cable broadcaster. Some of the chapters are close to finished, some of them still have technical issues, he added. 190404205653816 Although US President Donald Trump said recently that a deal could be ready around the end of April, Mnuchin declined to put a timeframe on the negotiations, adding that Trump was focussed on getting the right deal. No deadline Trump said last week a conclusion in the talks was probably four weeks away but since discussions began earlier this year to end the nine-month trade war, the finishing line has repeatedly slipped further into the future. As soon as were ready and we have this done, hes ready and willing to meet President Xi [Jinping] and its important for the two leaders to meet and were hopeful we can do this quickly, but were not going to set an arbitrary deadline, Mnuchin said. The US is demanding that China implement significant reforms to curb the theft of US intellectual property and end forced transfers of technology from US companies to Chinese firms. 190315131813523 Washington also wants Beijing to curb industrial subsidies, open its markets more widely to US firms and vastly increase purchases of US agricultural, energy and manufactured goods. Dire warnings from the UN about whats happening in Syrias last rebel-held province. The UN says there has been an alarming rise in civilian casualties in Syrias last opposition-controlled province. It says 90 civilians, half of them children, were killed in March. The bombardment of Idlib by the Syrian government has intensified, despite a ceasefire. The opposition blames the government and says it has been targeting residential neighbourhoods and markets. Moscow is one of the governments main backers and says it is helping it eliminate what it calls a terrorist threat in the province. Al Jazeeras Zeina Khodr reports from Beirut. Beijing Kunlun Tech Co Ltd, the owners of Grindr, discussed with the U.S. government whether they should sell the popular gay dating app. This comes after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a panel that recognizes security risks, notified the owners of their concerns about potential data issues with the app, according to Reuters. Grindr holds personal information such as addressed, messages, and even users HIV status. "We are in talks with CFIUS at the moment. We have not reached any agreement with CFIUS as of the day of the announcement. We will disclose any future development," Kunlun said in a brief filing with the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission. Kunlun took over Grindr in 2016, and is considering an auction process, thought hey havent made a decision yet. More than 4,000 cholera cases and seven deaths from the illness reported in Mozambique. The death toll from a storm that crashed into southeast Africa last month has risen above 1,000, with more than 4,000 cases of cholera reported among survivors in Mozambique, the hardest-hit country. The United Nations has described Cyclone Idai as one of the deadliest storms on record in the southern hemisphere. The cyclone made landfall the night of March 14 near the Mozambican port city of Beira, bringing heavy winds and rains, before moving inland to neighbouring Zimbabwe and Malawi. Zimbabwe on Wednesday updated the number of dead to 344, while Mozambique has reported 602 deaths. In Malawi, 59 people died in heavy rains before the onset of Idai. The final death toll may never be confirmed. Zimbabwes efforts were confined to the recovery of the deceased and the government will send pathologists to Mozambique to assist with identifying the dead, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said on Wednesday. Some 257 people were listed as missing when the storm struck and 15 were now considered dead, she told reporters. Zimbabwe has appealed for international support to raise $613m to help with the humanitarian crisis and cover food imports. 190404170952343 Cholera outbreak More than two million people, 1.85 million of them in Mozambique, were affected by Idai. The UN is seeking $282m to fund emergency assistance over the next three months. Since a cholera outbreak was declared on March 27 in Mozambique, the government has recorded 4,072 cases of the disease and seven deaths. The majority of the cases have been reported in Beira, which was badly hit by the storm and subsequent flooding. Running water has recently been restored, reaching around 60 percent of a population of around 500,000. Cholera is spread via contaminated water or food and can become deadly in hours if not treated. Patients that receive medical care usually recover from the disease within a few days. More than 745,000 doses of oral cholera vaccine have been distributed since the vaccination campaign launched last week, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. Malaria is another concern as floodwaters recede, with more than 7,500 cases reported, according to the government. Democrats introduce bill to end Trumps ban on travellers to the US from several Muslim-majority countries. Washington, DC US Democrats introduced legislation on Wednesday to reverse President Donald Trumps controversial ban on travel to the United States by people from five Muslim countries. Thousands of American citizens have been forced to live apart from their spouses, their lives put on hold. Thousands of children will not get to spend time with their grandparents, said Senator Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat and lead sponsor of the bill with Democrat Representative Judy Chu of California. Thousands of people have been denied the opportunity to either grieve the passing of a loved one or to celebrate a marriage or a birth. Trump campaigned during the 2016 presidential election on a promise to ban Muslim immigrants and refugees from entering the country. A week after taking office in January 2017, he signed an executive order suspending the USs refugee programme and blocking travellers from several Muslim-majority countries. Hundreds of travellers were detained at US airports and thousands of previously issued visas to the US were revoked, disrupting international air travel and sparking outrage and protests. The wording and implementation of the order were revised by the Trump administration to meet legal challenges and the so-called Muslim ban was upheld by the US Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision. That iteration of the ban included restricted travel for most individuals from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. The ban also includes restrictions on North Koreans and some individuals from Venezuela. In 2018, the US State Department rejected more than 37,000 visa applications due to the ban, up from less than 1,000 the previous year when the restrictions had not fully taken effect. 190227210725292 Supporters of the Democrats legislation said Trumps ban has unfairly targeted Muslims and has separated families. The administration maintains the ban targets countries that have failed to provide enough information for the proper vetting of prospective travellers. The Democrats bill would amend the US Immigration and Naturalization Act to curtail broad language in present law that allows Trump to suspend the entry of specific groups into the US. The bill is backed by Senator Dick Durbin, the No 2 Democrat in the Senate, and members of the Senate running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Hateful effort Three Muslim members of the House of Representatives Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib and Congressman Andre Carson supported the bill at a press conference in Washington, DC. When I ran for office I ran on a promise to end the presidents hateful effort to ban a single religion from entering this country, said Omar, a former refugee from Somalia elected to the House from Minnesota in 2018. 180626142504629 When I was 12 years old, I myself came here from a refugee camp. It was a difficult journey fleeing a horrible war, she added. We spent four years in a refugee camp seeking refuge in the United States. But I came to this country because I believed even as a child the promise of liberty, equality and justice that was the promise of the United States of America. Twenty years later it seems those fundamental ideals are in peril. My birth country is now on the so-called list of countries that banned from coming into the United States, she said. Ilhan Omar wipes tears from her eye as she speaks about Trump administration policies towards Muslim immigrants at a news conference by members of the US Congress [Jim Bourg/Reuters] Khizr Khan, a Pakistani-American whose son was killed serving in the US Army in Iraq in 2004, joined the politicians and other community group leaders and major US civil rights groups in support of the bill. This bill not only imposes congressional oversight on this imperial president and his government but it helps to lift the ban that has shattered so many lives, Kahn said. 180923161416653 The bill was supported by Farhana Khera, president and executive director of Muslim Advocates, Rabbi Jonah Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and Mana Kharrazi, executive director of Iranian Alliances Across Borders. The bill is expected to pass the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives later this year, but will face opposition from Republican leaders in the US Senate, making prospects for passage unlikely before the 2020 election. Under pressure to show they have solutions, Democrats are honing proposals to address the surge of families entering the United States at the southern border, a problem they say President Donald Trumps restrictive immigration policies are inflaming. House Democrats plan to introduce legislation soon addressing the recent waves of Central American migrants reaching the border. Senate Democrats are pursuing multiple tracks, including exploring whether talks with the White House might be feasible. The House measure, described by politicians, aides and lobbyists, would stand virtually no chance of winning approval by the Republican-led Senate, let alone getting Trumps signature. But it would let Democrats show voters theyre responsive to the rush of migrants that has overwhelmed federal officials and left border communities struggling to cope rather than simply objecting to Trumps moves. The bill, which is reportedly still being finalised, is expected to increase federal resources at border entry points for processing refugees, counselling children and treating people needing medical care. It would create centres in Central America where asylum applications could be processed and provide aid to reduce poverty and violence in the region so fewer people would flee. 190408222448091 You dont just wait for people to show up at the border. Its the worst way to deal with it, said Democratic Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, whos working on the legislation with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler and Democratic party leaders. Manufactured crisis Democrats say Trump has exacerbated the situation at the border by aggressively detaining migrants caught entering between official ports of entry and slowing the processing of asylum seekers, which can take months or longer. This is a manufactured crisis, said Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego. Trump has accused Democrats of obstructing. He complained on Tuesday about their refusal to tighten asylum laws, restrict immigration by relatives of migrants already in the US or ban the release of detained migrants until their court dates a practice used by recent administrations, including his own. They dont want to act, Trump said. In the Senate, Democrat Dianne Feinstein, a senior member of the Judiciary committee, said she plans to introduce a bill that would beef up immigration courts to reduce a huge backlog of cases and prohibit the separation of migrant families. The measure would face an uphill battle. Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said Democrats were in early discussions about what legislation to craft and were trying to arrange meetings with the White House on the issue. But he cautioned that last years collapse of immigration talks with Trump did not bode well. 190405152304422 This president is not an easy person to work with on this subject, Durbin said. He doesnt like the law No one disputes that the number of migrants seeking entry into the US is swelling. Authorities were expecting to prevent 100,000 people, mostly families, from crossing the southern border last month, the most in 12 years. In response, Trump has moved to cut nearly $500m in aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, whose citizens have trekked towards the US in growing numbers. He has curbed the number of asylum applications that authorities process. He has been blocked by a federal court from forcing refugees to wait in Mexico while their cases are decided. And he has warned hell close the southwest border, a threat hes intermittently eased and renewed. Frustrated with his teams resistance to carrying out some of his policy proposals, hes also replaced Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and moved to purge other top officials at the department. Democrats, joined by many Republicans, said Trumps shake-up was unwise. He doesnt like the law, said Democratic Congressman Steny Hoyer. And hes firing people who are determined that they have to act within the confines of the law. I think thats very dangerous. Trump says the US faces a security and humanitarian calamity. In a letter to politicians last month, Nielsen asked for immediate congressional assistance to address a system-wide meltdown. She requested funds for more detention beds, medical teams and processing facilities but specified no dollar amounts. Democrats are sceptical of such requests. Theyve already taken and transferred money from things to their ridiculous wall, said Democrat Pramila Jayapal, referring to Trumps effort to build a border wall that Democrats have called ineffective. Its pretty difficult for me to say Id give them more. Id have a lot more accountability built in, and Id cut the amount were giving to Homeland Security until they can show us they really need it. 190405152304422 Democrats contend that Trumps goal is to rile up his conservative voters as his 2020 re-election campaign gets under way. Hes shown that over and over, hes just anti-immigrant. And this is a campaign talking point for him, Democrat Nanette Barragan said. Republicans say Democrats are simply out to block Trump. They dont want to give Trump any victory on anything, ever, said Republican Congressman John Katko, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee. The ruling party has projected PM Modi as defender of national security as India gears up for first phase of elections. Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh A small cavalcade of cars, mini trucks and autorickshaws weaves its way through the cramped and dusty lanes of Ghaziabad, a suburb of Indias capital, New Delhi. One of the mini trucks has large, black speakers tied at the back, which blare out patriotic songs from Bollywood films. Supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), wearing saffron scarves and caps, line both sides of the roads as they raise slogans for their high-profile candidate, General Vijay Kumar Singh. Singh, a former chief of the Indian army and minister of state for foreign affairs in the Narendra Modi government, is seeking re-election in the constituency he won with a record margin in 2014. Standing with local BJP leaders in a red Toyota convertible, he waves at his supporters holding marigold garlands to present to their leader. The windshield on Singhs vehicle has a large sticker that says chowkidar (watchman). In the 2014 elections, Vikas (development) was the war cry that helped the Hindu nationalist BJP post a thumping victory against the Congress-led alliance. But in 2019, national security has become the partys call to arms as it prepares to defend the political turf it captured in the last election. National security is always an issue. At times it goes up and at times it comes down, Singh told Al Jazeera at the end of his road show in Ghaziabad on Sunday. The recent military standoff with Pakistan in the wake of a deadly suicide attack on security forces in India-administered Kashmir and the resultant surge in nationalist sentiment across the country appear to have handed the BJP the perfect ruse. Hindu nationalist base Until then, the ruling party was seen struggling to counter opposition attacks over rising unemployment, the highest in 40 years, and the deepening farm crisis. The security-themed campaign received a boost last month when Prime Minister Modi added chowkidar as a prefix to his Twitter handle. In less than a day, dozens of top BJP leaders and hundreds of thousands of Modis online fans added chowkidar to their twitter handles. The prime minister even held a video conference with nearly two million security guards from across the country, where he said the word chowkidar has become synonymous with patriotism and honesty. I want to ask first-time voters: Can you dedicate your first vote to the courageous pilots who struck Balakot [in Pakistan-administered Kashmir]? Can your first vote be in the name of the courageous martyrs who lost their lives in Pulwama (India-administered Kashmir)? said Modi, addressing an election rally in Ausa in Maharashtra. Speaking with Al Jazeera, BJP spokesperson Vijay Chauthaiwale said that his party expects the security issue to definitely resonate with the people, especially due to the attack in Kashmir. He accused the opposition of weakness on security and terrorism, saying: That is why they dont want to debate it. Using platforms of national security and patriotism, issues which hang heavily in these elections, has also allowed the BJP to revive some of the traditional Hindu nationalist demands. In its election manifesto released on Monday, the party said it would scrap article 370 of the Indian constitution that grants special status and political safeguards to the disputed territory of Kashmir under Indian control. The manifesto also underlined the partys commitment to constructing a temple for the Hindu god Ram at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh in place of a medieval-era mosque destroyed by Hindu mobs in 1992. Pressing issues Critics have accused the BJP of trying to divert voters attention from far more pressing issues such as unemployment or farmers distress. We are not shy of our performance on economy, job creation or building infrastructure. But at the same time, we are also drawing peoples attention towards security, while the Congress [party] is shying away from it, BJPs Chauthaiwale said. Security analyst Ajai Shukla said he is not surprised that the discourse in the general elections has moved to security and not issues of economy or rural distress. This is convenient for the BJP because they can make a better case on security given the tone of jingoism that suffuses the political dialogue and the political narrative in India today, he told Al Jazeera. Shukla believes the BJPs campaign strategy is going to pay it dividends. Other issues may be on the voters minds, but the BJP is hoping it would be compensated by those who would be won over to its cause on the strong leadership issue and on taking strong steps against Pakistan and in Kashmir. Shukla believes the opposition Congress is no match for BJPs high-pitched election campaigning. You have got two arguments: the national security argument made by the BJP and the job creation and farmer distress argument made by the Congress. The arguments may be juxtaposed against one another, but the skill and vigour with which the parties make the case before the voters are what will govern which one of them carries the day. And in that the BJP is doing better than the Congress, he said. Social justice? If chowkidar is the name of the mood in the BJP camp, the Congress campaign is trying to hammer home the word nyay (justice) which is also an acronym for the flagship income guarantee programme proposed in its manifesto: Nyoontam Aay Yojana (NYAY). The Congress leadership rejects the assessment that it has failed to match the BJP on security and says it is only a distraction from the real issues. The BJP knew it had not delivered in the last few years. They knew that their promises to the people of the country had turned into jokes. It was expected that they would resort to some emotive issue, Syed Naseer Hussain, a Congress party Member of Parliament, told Al Jazeera. Electoral body says the Bollywood biopic has the potential to disturb the level playing field during the elections. A biopic about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described by his opponents as propaganda has been barred from release during the national elections, a government body overseeing the polls said. Indias election commission said on Wednesday any biopic which has the potential to disturb the level playing field during the elections should not be displayed. Under Indian election rules, the publication of any content deemed as campaign material including advertisements, films and even social media requires the election commissions prior approval. Congress, the main opposition party, said the film flattered Modi and had slammed the timing of its cinematic release as hundreds of millions of Indians prepare to start voting in national elections on Thursday. It had lobbied for the movie which tells the story of the Hindu nationalist leaders ascent to power from his days selling tea at a train station to be withheld from cinemas until voting in the mega-elections ends on May 19. The commission, in its statement outlining its decision, said it was vital that the power of media is not used in such a manner which affects the general conduct of the elections. Al Jazeera reports on the hopes of people in India, a day before voting in the general election gets under way. Millions of farm workers have converged on Indias major cities to find ways to survive economic pressures back home. At the same time, an estimated 15 million new graduates join the countrys job market each year. These are some of the Indians relying on politicians keep their promises as they head to the polls from Thursday. Al Jazeeras Sohail Rahman reports from New Delhi. Despite flooding that has killed 70, Irans efforts to establish an insurance fund are hampered by a lack of resources. Tehran, Iran As Iranians continue to deal with the aftermath of deadly floods across the country and the government scrambles to provide relief, the need for a natural disasters insurance fund is once more deeply felt. Since mid-March, massive floods have hit 26 of Irans 31 provinces, leaving at least 70 dead. They have forced evacuations, ravaged infrastructures, and incurred heavy losses on the agriculture sector. The government of President Hassan Rouhani has been mounting relief efforts, enlisting the help of the cash-strapped banking system in the form of cheap or interest-free loans. The growing but underdeveloped insurance sector has also quickly started reimbursing for damage, while municipalities in some areas hit hardest by the floods provided insurance coverage for local citizens. However, as might have been predicted under current harsh economic conditions amplified by US sanctions, the annual budget was never going to be enough to cover the hefty damages. Left with no other choice, officials are mulling withdrawal of as much as two billion euros ($2.25bn) from the countrys already strained sovereign wealth fund. This has suddenly revived a long-standing discussion surrounding the formation of a nation-wide natural disasters insurance fund and whether Irans response to the floods would have been different if such a fund had been in place. I call on all relating entities to regard the bill to establish a natural disasters insurance fund much more seriously as it can be very consequential, Gholamreza Soleimani, head of Central Insurance of Iran, said in a speech last week. The recent floods are a serious warning for occurrence of natural disasters in the country and the more serious measures that need to be adopted to contain them, he said. The idea of establishing such a fund was first floated 16 years ago. It has since been going back and forth within Irans complicated and time-consuming legislative apparatus. Unfounded expectations The bill for the formation of the fund was last in the spotlight in November 2017 when a massive 7.3 magnitude earthquake shook the western parts of Iran. That catastrophe killed more than 600 and left much devastation, some of which has yet to be repaired. There has been unprecedented flooding across most of the country since mid-March with 70 people killed, according to the countrys emergency services [Hossein Mersadi/AFP] At the time, then-Head of Central Insurance Abdolnasser Hemmati, who currently sits at the helm of the Central Bank of Iran, highlighted the bill and called for its immediate passage through government and parliament. The main mandate of the envisioned fund was to accelerate renovation and rebuilding the houses that are affected by earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters. More than 85 percent of residential units are not currently covered by fire insurance, the type of insurance that also contains earthquake coverage, Hemmati said in 2017. The fund was slated to contain mandatory insurance policies in addition to a host of optional features to better cover flood, earthquake, hurricane, lightning and tsunami damages. Central Insurance had also proposed making fire insurance policies mandatory across the country. The bill was fast-tracked and managed to receive a green light from the parliament. However, the Guardian Council, Irans top constitutional watchdog that needs to approve parliament-ratified legislation before they are turned into law, refused to pass the bill. State of limbo The 12-member body cited ambiguities concerning the resources of the fund, arguing that the Rouhani government needs to own up to the expenses and formally commit to providing them. Facing a widening budget deficit, the government declined, leaving the bill in a state of limbo with no sign of a breakthrough in sight. The fund has no chance of being established until the Guardian Council is appeased. Members of parliament have therefore been pushing the government, but to no avail. The government says the bill must be approved as was presented and there is no need for new resources to be injected to the fund, but the parliament believes the fund will fall short without new resources, Farid Mousavi, a member of the parliaments economic commission told the Persian-language daily newspaper Aftab-e Yazd. An ineffective fund would only create unfounded expectations for the people, which could end up doing more damage than good, the Tehran MP added. Rouhani has already faced criticism over delayed or otherwise lacklustre relief efforts. His administration, on the other hand, has pointed out that US sanctions have prevented a flow of foreign financial aid, a claim that was corroborated by the Iranian Red Crescent. So Rouhani will likely continue to redirect resources towards more immediate concerns. Despite many natural disasters over the decades, costing the lives of citizens and billions of dollars in damages, Iran may postpont the establishment of a natural disasters insurance fund to a time when the governments resources are not so constrained. With most votes counted, Netanyahus Likud party seems better placed to form coalition government after a close contest. Jerusalem Israels incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on course for a record fifth term, election results show. Netanyahu has an advantage as nearly all right-wing parties have declared their support for him, Israeli media reported. The Likud party, with the help of other right-wing parties, are likely to muster enough support to get a majority in the 120-seat parliament, known as the Knesset. It is a night of colossal victory, Netanyahu, 69, told supporters at Likud headquarters. The Likud party and the centrist Blue and White party led by Netanyahus main rival Benny Gantz tied at 97 percent of votes counted. The two main parties won 35 seats apiece. It is a night of colossal victory Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli PM Likud, which gained five seats compared with the 2015 elections, needs 61 seats to form the government. Netanyahu and his main challenger Gantz were quick to claim victory in the elections. The skies may look overcast but they cannot conceal the sun of hope that we have brought to the Israeli people and society, Gantz, 59, wrote in an open letter. United Torah Judaism, Shas, Yisrael Beiteinu, Union of Right-Wing Parties and Kulanu are parties from the right-wing bloc that have passed the 3.25 percent threshold to enter Knesset, obtaining 30 seats combined. This places the right-wing bloc in a 10-seat lead over the left. In the centre-left bloc, Labor, Meretz and the Arab parties of Hadash-Taal and Balad-Raam obtained 20 seats. Despite a low voter turnout among Israeli Palestinians, the Arab lists of Hadash-Taal and Balad-Raam passed the threshold gaining six and four seats respectively. However, their total of 10 Knesset seats is lower than in the 2015 elections, when the Arab joint list won 13, making them the third-largest faction in the 20th Knesset. An hour before voting closed, Israeli Palestinian turnout was at 46 percent, well below the 61 percent turnout nationwide. Palestinian turnout in the 2015 election was 63 percent. The New Right, Zehut and Gesher parties did not pass the threshold. 190409132945326 Mitchell Barak, an Israeli political pollster and analyst, told Al Jazeera that it is a remarkable achievement for a party to obtain 35 seats, referring to both frontrunners. Gantz has come out of literally nowhere. Four months ago he created a party that is now at least tied for being one of the largest parties today, and bigger than any party has been in recent memory, maybe 10 years or so, Barak said. However, Gantzs biggest mistake is that he chose to have a rotation agreement [as prime minister] with Blue and White cofounder Yair Lapid, former finance minister and TV personality. Israelis like leaders and they want one leader. They dont want a power-sharing arrangement, Barak said. Barak said that Netanyahu now has plenty of options for forming a coalition. He can partner with the parties from the right-wing bloc or choose to have a national unity government with the Blue and White party. Once the final results are announced, parties that have made it to the Knesset will submit their recommendations for prime minister to President Reuven Rivlin. Rivlin will then decide which party leader has the best chance of forming a coalition government, to be determined in a few weeks. Political analyst Ofer Zalzberg told Al Jazeera that the critical issue is not which party receives the most votes but which party can secure the recommendations of 61 Knesset members to form the next government. Gantz had to generate potential alliances, for instance, with the ultra-Orthodox or among former immigrants from the Soviet Union. Thats why he made an error when he formed an alliance with Lapid, Zalzberg said. The message that the Israeli public has sent is very clear. They support him, they support his policies of apartheid, they support his policies of colonisation. Diana Buttu, a Palestinian analyst By merging into a single list with Lapid, he acted in the opposite way. Lapid is a nemesis of the ultra-Orthodox; they wouldnt recommend him as prime minister. This rotating [premiership] agreement between Gantz and Lapid was ruinous and it assured that the ultra-Orthodox will recommend Netanyahu. Although Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation in occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank and living under Israeli siege in the Gaza Strip do not have voting rights in the Israeli elections, it is the Palestinian population that will be most affected by the new government. Diana Buttu, a Palestinian Haifa-based analyst and former legal adviser to Palestinian peace negotiators, told Al Jazeera that Netanyahus renewed mandate will allow him to continue his policies of apartheid, colonisation, and racism. Buttu said that for as long as Netanyahu has been prime minister, the Palestinian Authority has been urging the international community to intervene during the bombing of Gaza, construction of settlements, demolition of Palestinian homes, passage of the nation-state law and regarding the annexation of the West Bank. [Netanyahu] is ideologically opposed to Palestinian freedom [and] hes going to continue to do whatever he wants against Palestinians, Buttu said. The message that the Israeli public has sent is very clear. They support him, they support his policies of apartheid, they support his policies of colonisation and they support a racist. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to win re-election after his main rival conceded defeat. With more than 99 percent of votes counted, Netanyahus Likud party was set to lead a right-wing bloc with 65 of the 120 seats in parliament. His main challenger, Benny Gantz, accepted the result on Wednesday, acknowledging that he had failed to unseat the prime minister. We respect the decision of the people, he told reporters. Although Gantzs Blue and White Party was set to win a similar number of seats to Likud, there was no obvious path for its leader to find a parliamentary majority. 190407110322201 A number of right-wing parties expressed their support for Netanyahu and are on course to give him a parliamentary majority. Addressing a jubilant gathering of supporters early on Wednesday, Netanyahu praised the crowd for an almost inconceivable achievement. I was very moved that the nation of Israel once again entrusted me for the fifth time, and with even greater trust, he added. Final results are expected to be announced on Thursday. Despite facing the possibility of being indicted on charges of corruption, fraud and breach of trust in three cases, Netanyahu is now set to embark on a record fifth term in office and will also become Israels longest-serving prime minister. His previous terms have been marked by a rightward shift in Israeli policy towards the occupied Palestinian territories, as peace talks with the Palestinians have collapsed and the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank had accelerated. In the run-up to the election, he said he would annex Israeli settlements if he won a fifth term. I think the whole rules of the game are changing, because now Israel is clearly superimposing all of Greater Israel on all of historical Palestine, said Hanan Ashrawi, PLO executive committee member. They have totally cancelled any agreements. They have nullified the two-state solution. They have totally negated the requirements of peace. They have totally violated international law. Now we need a whole new strategy to deal with this. US President Donald Trump phoned to congratulate Netanyahu on his victory, the Israeli leader said later on Wednesday. Trump told reporters at the White House that Netanyahus re-election improved the chances of a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. Hes been a great ally and hes a friend. Id like to congratulate him on a well-thought-out race, Trump said. However, Diana Buttu, a Palestinian Haifa-based analyst and former legal adviser to Palestinian peace negotiators, told Al Jazeera that Netanyahus renewed mandate will allow him to continue his policies of apartheid, colonisation and racism. Buttu said that for as long as Netanyahu has been prime minister, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has been urging the international community to intervene during the bombing of Gaza, construction of illegal settlements, demolition of Palestinian homes, passage of the nation-state law and regarding the annexation of the West Bank. [Netanyahu] is ideologically opposed to Palestinian freedom [and] hes going to continue to do whatever he wants against Palestinians, Buttu said. The message that the Israeli public has sent is very clear. They support him, they support his policies of apartheid, they support his policies of colonisation and they support a racist. Israels President Reuven Rivlin is due to begin meeting with the political parties who won entry into the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, next week to see who they will support for prime minister. He will then select a leader to try and form a coalition. 190410002223703 Voter turnout was 67.9 percent, down from 71.8 percent in 2015. Turnout in the Arab community was significantly lower, standing at 46 percent an hour before the polls closed. Despite a low voter turnout among Palestinians, the Arab alliances of Hadash-Taal and Raam-Balad passed the threshold, gaining six and four seats respectively. However, their total of 10 Knesset seats is lower than in the 2015 elections, when the Arab Joint List won 13, making them the third-largest faction in parliament. Some voters blamed the low turnout on the split between Arab factions, which had united for the 2015 vote, while there was also a campaign to boycott the election. On Tuesday, Likud activists placed 1,200 hidden cameras in Palestinian polling areas, prompting the Central Elections Committee (CEC) chairman Judge Hanan Melcer to file a complaint to police. Netanyahu responded saying there should be cameras everywhere to ensure a fair vote. The cameras were subsequently removed. Additional reporting by Mersiha Gadzo in Jerusalem South Korean president to hold talks with Trump while North Korea looks for support in the region. Seoul, South Korea South Korean President Moon Jae-in is stepping into his role as mediator again as he flies off to Washington for a meeting with United States President Donald Trump on Thursday. He is hoping to salvage what is left of the aborted Hanoi summit where the US and North Korea failed to reach an agreement at the second time of asking. But as Moon heads to the US, North Korea is looking to old friend Moscow, as Kim Jong Un seeks a way out from under the sanctions that are now overwhelming the countrys economy. The Trump-Moon meeting in Washington comes a few hours after Pyongyang hosts its 14th Supreme Peoples Assembly, where many expect North Koreas leadership to reveal its path with regards to its relations with the US. There are rumours that Kim will be meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last month, a Kremlin spokesperson revealed that plans were under way for the event with the date and location to be decided. This comes almost a year after Moscow first extended the invitation to North Korea. Last month, Pyongyangs chief of staff visited Moscow before heading to Vladivostok, a key port city on Russias east coast and a strategic trade post in Russia-Korea relations. With sanctions taking their toll on North Korea, Kim has also been pushed to seek support from its neighbour. According to Kim Jae-chun, professor of international relations at Sogang University in Seoul, North Korea is in more economic trouble than was expected. Last week, Daily NK reported multiple factory closures since the failed Hanoi summit put hundreds of North Koreans out of work. Pyongyang once again shelved plans for the grand opening of a massive beach resort on the countrys east coast. Analysts believe sanctions are making it difficult to import the necessary materials to finish the project. The sanctions are working, said Kim Byungki, professor of international security and development at Korea University. Agricultural production is not able to deliver. Not because theres no land or fertiliser, but because theres no oil. 190228160948599 Putins offer of a meeting, which Kim may have put on hold as he gauged progress with the US, may suddenly have become more attractive. Last month, Russia delivered 2,200 tonnes of wheat to North Korea through the World Food Program to help curtail what the Russian Embassy in Pyongyang called unfriendly interpretation of sanctions by some countries. For Moscow, a meeting with Kim is a chance to grow its influence in East Asia and rejoin the peacemaking process on the peninsula, which it has been largely left out of in recent years, said Kim Hyuntaek, a professor of Russian Studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. They waited a long time. Theyd like to make their voice heard, said Hyuntaek. Big ask for President Moon And as Russia joins China in calling for easing of the sanctions on Pyongyang, these voice may differ from those coming out of Washington. Moscow has also encouraged inter-Korean dialogue as the best way to resolve conflict on the peninsula, urging Seoul to make its own choices and not just rely on its alliance with Washington, said Hyuntaek. However, none of this is likely to help President Moons case as he, yet again, puts his reputation on the line to barter on North Koreas behalf. With no developments, Moon will have to sell Trump the same step-by-step approach to denuclearisation or perhaps a watered-down version of what was apparently turned down in Hanoi. 190328014837331 Moon is thinking theres going to be a middle ground, said Kim Jae-chun of Sogang University. Only Moons inner circle knows the details of what is on offer in Washington and Kim Jae-chun suggested liaison offices in the US and North Korea could be one item of discussion. President Moon could also float the idea of formally ending the 1950-1953 Korean War, which has existed under a ceasefire. Reopening the Geumgang Mountain tourist site might also be on the agenda, said Jae-chun, since South Korean businesses also invested in its development. While the South Korean president knows the odds he faces in Washington after Trump made it clear in Hanoi that he was after a big deal, Moons job now is to persuade the US president to agree on a smaller step. Trump, meawhile, will be under pressure to hold firm by officials like his national security adviser John Bolton, who North Korea has blamed for the collapse of the Hanoi talks. They are odds Moon will have to go with. He only has a single five-year term to leverage his relationship with the North Korean leader. President Moon always presents himself as a mediator, said Jae-chun. He understands, given the deadlock, this is the last opportunity to play that role. Moon has openly stated his hopes for Korean reunification. It was his herculean effort that saved diplomacy ahead of the Singapore summit, where Trump and Kim struck a bond, if not a deal. Repeating that success in Washington will be a tall order, but Moon is working on the belief that momentum is something neither side is willing to throw away. Both countries have come too far to go back to the status quo, said Kim Jae-chun. At a meeting in the Vatican last Friday, rights groups asked for the Popes help in decriminalizing homosexuality. About 50 people met with Pope Francis secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, to discuss the human-rights violations they found in the Caribbean, according to CNN. Parolin said he would pass the information along to the Pope. The representatives called on the Church to "work for the decriminalization of homosexuality and for the abolition of all forms of punishment for consented intimate sexual acts between adults, and for all states to declare illegal the application of the so-called conversion 'cure' therapies, CNN reported. In the past, the Catholic Church has upheld that people would not be discriminated against based on their sexuality. Senior political analyst Marwan Bishara discusses the effect Netanyahus potential fifth election victory could have on Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip. Elections results have shown Benjamin Netanyahu on course for a record fifth term as Israeli prime minister. Diana Buttu, a Palestinian Haifa-based analyst and former legal adviser to Palestinian peace negotiators, told Al Jazeera that Netanyahus renewed mandate will allow him to continue his policies of apartheid, colonisation, and racism. Al Jazeeras senior political analyst Marwan Bishara explains why the outcome could have devastating effects on Palestinians as Netanyahu plots to annex Palestinian land in violation of international law. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski is accused of accepting bribes from the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. Perus former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has handed himself over to police after a judge on Wednesday ordered he be detained for 10 days as part of an ongoing money-laundering investigation. A video shared on Twitter by Perus Public Ministry showed Kuczynski exiting a police car accompanied by officers, reportedly to attend a medical examination, which the judges order requires prior to his detention. The order, from the Third Court of Preparatory Investigation, is also directed against Kuczynskis former secretary Gloria Kisic Wagner and Jose Luis Bernaola Nuflo Kuczynskis chauffeur. Special Prosecutor Jose Domingo Perez authorised the order, which also says that raids will be carried out on the properties of the three detainees, as well as Kuczynskis office, with the aim of obtaining materials for the Public Prosecutors Office. Police officers were standing outside Kuczynskis home in Limas financial district, a Reuters witness said. According to the judicial order, published by Peruvian newspaper El Comercio, prosecutors are seeking bank account information, electronic deposits, documents related to property sales, public deeds and other objects of crime. Popularly known by his initials PPK, Kuczynski led Peru for two years. He resigned last March following congressional efforts to impeach him for his alleged role in a region-wide corruption scandal. The 80-year-old is accused of accepting bribes in exchange for lucrative government contracts awarded to the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, which has admitted to bribing politicians across Latin America, including in Ecuador and Brazil where it is known as the Lava Jato or Car Wash scandal. Kuczynskis lawyer Nelson Miranda called Wednesdays order arbitrary in comments broadcast on local TV and said he would file an appeal. Kuczynski has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and had vowed to cooperate with prosecutors investigating Odebrechts ties to local politicians. Corruption has plagued Peruvian politics for decades. The countrys last five presidents, including Kuczynski, have either been jailed on corruption charges or are currently under investigation for fraud. Opposition leader Keiko Fujimori is also embroiled in an ongoing corruption investigation related to undeclared financial contributions to her 2011 presidential campaign. Operation comes weeks after reports says US is responsible for killing of 14 Somali civilians in five 2017-18 air raids. The US Africa Command (AFRICOM) says it has resumed air raids against the al-Shabab group in Somalia after a brief pause that followed a critical report condemning the shroud of secrecy around civilian deaths caused by the US military. The latest operation was carried out on Tuesday near Jilib, a town in Somalias Middle Juba region, southwest of the capital, Mogadishu, and killed one fighter, Africom said in a press release on Wednesday. Currently, we assess no civilians were injured or killed as a result of this air strike, it added. The aerial bombardment is believed to be the first since Amnesty International said in March 18 report that 14 civilians had been killed and seven wounded in the course of five air raids between April 2017 and December 2018, all attributed to the US military. 190320060920824 The civilian death toll weve uncovered in just a handful of strikes suggests the shroud of secrecy surrounding the US role in Somalias war is actually a smokescreen for impunity, said Brian Castner, Amnestys senior crisis adviser on arms and military operations. Initially, AFRICOM denied that its operations had resulted in any civilian deaths, but on Friday the command acknowledged that a woman and child had been killed in an April 2018 raid. AFRICOM made the admission after receiving information that it said had not been passed on previously. The Amnesty report came as the US military was stepping up its operations in Somalia, carrying out 28 air raids since the beginning of 2019, compared with 47 in the whole of 2018 and 35 in 2017. The United States is backing the Somali governments military campaign and the African Union (AU) mission against al-Shabab. The al-Qaeda affiliate was forced out of Mogadishu in 2011 and then progressively from other major cities by AU troops, but it still controls large swaths of rural territory, from which they launch frequent attacks against government and security targets, including in the capital. During the 5th International Arctic Forum, President Putin announces five-year plan to increase shipping cargo along the Northern Sea Route. Vladimir Putin has asked the international community to help develop the Northern Sea Route which connects the Arctic from the Far East to the West. The Russian president spoke at the 5th International Arctic Forum in Saint Petersburg attended by leaders from several northern countries. The route, which is frozen most of the year, has become more accessible due to global warming. Putin wants to increase the amount of cargo passing through the route tenfold over the next five years. Al Jazeeras Step Vaessen reports. Meeting comes a day ahead of the opening of the countrys parliament and also a US-South Korea summit. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called a full meeting of a top committee of the ruling Workers Party to address what he described as the prevailing tense situation, state media reported. The gathering of the Central Committee comes after Kims Hanoi summit with US President Donald Trump ended without an agreement in February, and as South Korean President Moon Jae-in flies to Washington for talks with the US leader. But the Norths official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) appeared to indicate that Kim may be focussing on Pyongyangs continued push to develop its economy. In a meeting with senior officials on Tuesday, the North Korean leader ordered them to display an attitude befitting the masters of the revolution and construction under the prevailing tense situation and thus follow through on the new strategic line of the Party, KCNA reported. 190228160948599 Last April, Kim declared that the ruling partys new strategic line would be socialist economic construction and its quest for nuclear development was complete. Kim made a deep analysis of the matters pending urgent solution in the party and state, KCNA said, adding that at Wednesdays meeting the central committee will decide the new orientation and ways of struggle in line with the need of the prevailing revolutionary situation. The meeting also comes ahead of the opening of the countrys rubber-stamp legislature on Thursday. It would be difficult for Kim to lay out a new policy direction while Trump continues to express a willingness to maintain dialogue, according to Cheong Seong-chang, an analyst at the Sejong Institute. Party reshuffle Instead, Wednesdays meeting could involve a reshuffle of party officials including Kim Yong Chol, the Norths top envoy for talks with the United States, who has been blamed the most for the failure of the Hanoi summit, he said. It would signal a green light if he is replaced with a more flexible and practical figure, but if he stays, denuclearisation talks wont be easy, said Cheong. Trump and Kim held their first landmark summit in Singapore last June, where the North Korean leader signed a vaguely worded deal on the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. But the failure by the pair to reach agreement at their second summit in Hanoi which ended without even a joint statement raised questions over the future of the wider process. A senior Pyongyang diplomat told reporters last month that the North was considering suspending nuclear talks with the US. More than 20,000 people flee their homes as violence between ISIL and Taliban escalate. Afghan Special Forces, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) and the Taliban are preparing for a three-way battle in eastern Afghanistan. ISIL started an offensive against the Taliban two weeks ago in Kunar province a fight that has displaced more than 20,000 people. Now the Afghan government says it is getting involved. Al Jazeeras Charlotte Bellis reports from Kunar. In visit to Texas, the US president says he may have to mobilise more of the US military at the border. US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would have to mobilise more of the military at the border with Mexico after listening to stories from people attending a Republican fundraiser in Texas about migrants crossing the border. Im going to have to call up more military, Trump said without elaborating. The president interrupted his discussion with Republican donors in the city of San Antonio in south-central Texas to bring in reporters to listen to the stories about the border. Many, many dead people, Trump said, referring to migrants who he said had died along the journey. Trump, who drew sharp criticism for falsely saying during the 2016 presidential campaign that Mexico was sending rapists and drug runners to the United States, said on Wednesday that those comments were tame compared with the stories he had heard since. Over the last year, Al Jazeera has spoken to many residents along the border who have criticised Trumps description of the southern frontier. Humanitarian workers in the region have also said that the political climate created by Trump has made doing their work harder. The president has made immigration a signature issue of his presidency and his re-election campaign. He declared a national emergency over the issue earlier this year in an effort to redirect funding from Congress to build a wall along the US southern border a move thats being challenged in the courts. Last year, Trump sent thousands of troops to the border as large waves of mostly Central American migrants and asylum seekers made their way north. There are currently about 5,000 active-duty and National Guard troops near the border, though that number fluctuates. 190405152304422 We support our federal partners, Pentagon spokesman Army Lieutenant Colonel Jamie Davis said when asked about Trumps comments. Trump in February deployed an additional 3,750 US troops to the countrys southwestern border to support Customs and Border Protection agents. Later that month, Democratic governors of states including Wisconsin, New Mexico and California withdrew their National Guard troops, saying there was not enough evidence of a security crisis to justify keeping them there. Democrats prepare legislation Trumps comments on Wednesday came as the immigration debate ramps up on the southern border and Washington. 190410171735165 Democrats are reportedly working on bills to address the surge of families entering the US. House Democrats plan to introduce legislation soon addressing the recent waves of Central American migrants reaching the border. Senate Democrats are pursuing multiple tracks, including exploring whether talks with the White House might be feasible. Democrats accuse Trump of manufacturing a crisis at the border by aggressively detaining migrants caught entering between official ports of entry and slowing the processing of asylum seekers, which can take months or longer. Trump has also moved to cut nearly $500m in aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, whose citizens have trekked towards the US in growing numbers. He has curbed the number of asylum applications that authorities process. He has been blocked by a federal court from forcing refugees to wait in Mexico while their cases are decided. And he has warned hell close the southwest border, a threat hes intermittently eased and renewed. The US president accuses Democrats of obstructing, and refusing to act. Trumps orders direct the EPA to change a part of the US clean water law to speed up gas, coal and oil projects US President Donald Trump issued two executive orders in the heart of the Texas energy hub on Wednesday that seek to speed gas, coal and oil projects delayed by coastal states as he looks to build support in the run-up to next years election. Trumps orders direct his Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to change a part of the United Statess clean water law that has allowed states, on the basis of environmental reasons, to delay projects such as pipelines to carry natural gas to New England and coal export terminals on the West Coast. Trump issued the orders at a training centre for union members in the petroleum industry in Houston, an event sandwiched between fundraising events in Texas for the 2020 campaign. Outdated federal guidance and regulations issued by the EPA have caused confusion and uncertainty leading to project delays, lost jobs and reduced economic performance, a senior administration official told reporters in a conference call. We are not trying to take away power from the states, but we are trying to make sure that state actions comply with the statutory intent of the law, the official added. 190312111528605 In favour of Big Oil But environmentalists have decried the orders. Trump can try to rewrite regulations in favour of Big Oil, but he cant stop people power and our movement, May Boeve, the head of 350.org, told Reuters news agency. The orders will direct the EPA to review and update guidance issued during the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama on the so-called 401 provision of the Clean Water Act. The measure required companies to get certifications from states before building interstate pipelines approved by the federal government. New York state used it to block pipelines that would send natural gas to New England, forcing the region at times to import liquefied natural gas from countries including Russia. In 2017, Washington Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat and 2020 candidate for president, denied a water permit for the Millennium Bulk Terminal, a coal export facility that would have expanded the ability of companies to send Western coal to Asian markets. Inslee, who has centred his campaign on tackling climate change, slammed Trumps latest tactic on energy. 190409211335702 If Donald Trump is proposing it, it a) violates science and b) probably violates any sense of economic growth, because we know the largest economic growth is now coming from the development of new energy technologies, Inslee said on the sidelines of a conference in New York. Energy dominance The executive orders are part of the Trump administrations policy of energy dominance to increase oil, gas and coal production, but forcing the EPA changes will take time. The official said the agency would have to follow normal procedures, including a comment period, and that projects already tied up in litigation are obviously a much longer-term issue. One of the orders will direct the transportation secretary to propose allowing liquefied natural gas, a liquid form of the fuel, to be shipped in approved rail cars, a change that could increase its flow between terminals and markets. The executive orders could also speed projects in Texas. 190409174235453 Energy investors vying for permits to build oil export terminals along the Gulf Coast say they have worked closely with Trump officials in a bid to speed regulatory reviews of facilities capable of loading supertankers. US and state agencies overseeing permit applications have taken too long to approve projects, the investors said, adding they were worried their projects would miss the most profitable years of the US crude export boom. Four energy groups led by Trafigura AG, Carlyle Group, Enterprise Products Partners LP and Enbridge Inc have applied to build terminals in Texas. IRS says theres no rule against subjects of an audit from publicly releasing their tax filings. US President Donald Trump, facing a congressional deadline for his administration to provide his tax returns, said on Wednesday that he wont do it while hes under audit by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Trump told reporters at the White House in the United States that I would love to give them, but Im not going to do it while Im under audit. The IRS says theres no rule stopping subjects of an audit from publicly releasing their tax filings. Democrat Richard Neal, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has asked the IRS to turn over six years of the presidents tax returns by the end of the day. Trump has broken with decades of precedent by not voluntarily releasing his returns to the public. Trumps position has long been that he is under audit and therefore could not release his returns. But in recent weeks, he has added to the argument, saying publicly and privately that the American people elected him once without seeing his taxes and would do so again. Remember, I got elected last time the same exact issue, Trump said. Frankly, the people dont care. 190405204924513 The president has told those close to him that the attempt to get his returns were an invasion of his privacy and a further example of the Democratic-led witch-hunt like Special Counsel Robert Muellers probe meant to damage him. Trump has repeatedly asked aides about the status of the House request and has inquired about the loyalty of the top officials at the IRS, according to one external adviser who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations. Follow the law Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who supervises the IRS, said on Tuesday that hes not seeking direction from the White House on whether to comply. He said the department would likely respond by Neals deadline but didnt say whether he would provide the returns as demanded. Democrats dont expect the department to comply, but they havent sketched out their next steps. 190404004311712 Neals initial letter sent a week ago, didnt lay out any consequences for the IRS if it didnt comply, and a spokesman said a likely course would be a second, more insistent, letter. We intend to follow through with this, Neal said on Wednesday. Ill let you know fast. The request for Trumps tax filings is but one of many oversight efforts launched by Democrats after taking back the House in last autumns midterm elections. Neal is relying on a 1920s-era law that says the IRS shall furnish any tax return requested by the chairmen of key House and Senate committees. Mnuchin told politicians that his department would follow the law but hasnt shared the departments interpretation of the statute. The White House did not respond to questions as to whether the president asked Mnuchin or the IRS head to intervene. The presidents outside lawyer also did not respond to a request for comment. The head of the IRS faced questions from politicians for a second day on his response to Neals request. You are on the receiving end of a very aggressive political campaign by the Trump administration It is your job, and your job alone, to respond to Chairman Neals request, Ron Wyden, the senior Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, told Commissioner Charles Rettig. 190325135838313 Wyden cited the importance of the IRS being independent of political pressure. Were working on a response with counsel and we will respond, Rettig said. Rettig had agreed with Democrats on Tuesday that it was primarily his decision to make, though he reports to Mnuchin. You must be aware that were a bureau of Treasury, and Treasury supervises us, he told Wyden. Rettig said he hadnt been instructed not to comply with the request by anyone acting on the White Houses behalf. Rettig, who formerly was a Beverly Hills tax lawyer, was appointed by Trump and took the helm of the IRS last October. During the 2016 campaign, he defended Trumps decision to break with tradition by refusing to release his tax filings. Under questioning at his confirmation hearing last August, Rettig pledged to uphold the political independence of the IRS. Auckland, New Zealand New Zealands parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favour of legislation to ban semi-automatic and military-style weapons. The changes were first proposed by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern just days after a gunman carried out an indiscriminate shooting spree in two Christchurch mosques, killing 50 Muslims. We are here because of them, and I believe they are here with us, supporting what we are doing here because these weapons were designed to kill, and they were designed to maim and that is what they did on the 15th of March, Ardern told parliament on Wednesday. The gun reform bill also enacts a ban on pump action shotguns with detachable and non-detachable magazines and parts that enable firearms to be converted into more powerful weapons. Just one of the of 120 members of parliament opposed the legislation, called The Arms (Prohibited Firearms, Magazine and parts) Amendment Bill. Twenty-eight-year-old Brenton Tarrant, the self-confessed white supremacist charged over the mosque attacks, purchased his weapons legally online and modified their capacity by using 30-round magazines. He held an A category gun licence, the standard licence for gun owners in New Zealand. I cannot fathom how weapons that could cause such destruction and large-scale death could have been obtained legally in this country, Ardern said. 190404042725489 We are here as an almost entirely united Parliament there have been very few occasions when I have seen Parliament come together in this way and I can not imagine circumstances where that is more necessary than it is now, she added. The first step Police Minister Stuart Nash said the new law is just the first step of many to make our country safer. The bill still needs to be granted Royal Assent by the governor-general of New Zealand, seen as a formality, and is expected to officially pass into law on Friday, exactly four weeks after the attacks. The legislation has been pushed through in under two weeks, with gun owners given just one day to make oral submissions on the fast-tracked laws. More than 13,000 New Zealanders provided written submissions on reforming The Arms Amendment Bill which were considered by the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee. It recommended only minor changes with Chairperson Michael Wood revealing around 60 percent of the submissions were in favour. The president of the Islamic Association of New Zealand, Mustafa Farouk, said the speed with which the legislation was passed was necessary to honour the victims of the countrys worst-ever attack. It tells our community that our government took what happened in Christchurch seriously. The laws also are part of telling the families of the victims that they will get justice. Farouk told Al Jazeera: New Zealand is showing the world that the interest of wider society is greater than individuals or lobbyists. Other countries can borrow a leaf from New Zealand regarding how to create a cross-party agreement and expedite passing such legislations. New Zealand has around 250,000 licenced firearm owners, many of them farmers who use weapons to help eradicate pests. Exemption denied Advocacy organisation Federated Farmers had asked for an exemption for hill and high country farmers who could demonstrate a genuine need for semi-automatic weapons. That request was denied. Instead, farmers will now have to employ specialist contractors, approved by the police, to eliminate pests. Rural security spokesperson Miles Anderson said the organisation understood the governments desire to urgently put in place restrictions that could improve public safety. Right from the start, we came out in support of that aim. But we believe political expediency and the cramped timeframe to get new restrictions into law has been at the expense of getting practical policies in place that will work both for public safety and animal pest control and that will stand the test of time, he told Al Jazeera. New Zealanders will still be able to use guns capable of firing only 0.22 or lower calibre rimfire cartridges from a magazine that can hold no more than 10 cartridges, and lesser-capacity shotguns that can hold no more than 5 cartridges. One member of the Select Committee has already suggested that tweaks to the new legislation may well be required in the second tranche of firearms legislation changes to come later in the year. In our view, it would have been better to get the details right in the bill currently in front of Parliament, Anderson added. Owners of banned firearms and magazines will be able to claim compensation, with the government also announcing on Wednesday the first details of a buy-back scheme. An independent group of advisors will create a price list for the programme, with the date of manufacture and make of the weapon to be taken into account. Only people who legally obtained the firearms will be eligible. To date, more than 300 weapons have been handed over during the amnesty, which is set to last until the end of September. The amendments set to be passed into law are just the first in a set of reforms to the Arms Act which have been signalled by the Government. Its focus will now turn to reforming the vetting process to address what the police minister describes as long-debated questions around gun registers and the licensing regime. Its expected that the bill will be drafted by June. After only one year in space, the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) on the International Space Station has given researchers a new understanding of how lightning is created, and how thunderstorms can affect the atmosphere and the climate. The first measurements from the facility that is flying 400 km above Earth outside Europe's Columbus laboratory, reveal how so-called 'terrestrial gamma-flashes' form in the atmosphere. The flashes occur in connection with lightning and thunder storms and are short bursts of high-energy x- and gamma- rays. Researchers in the science team have also received unprecedented measurements showing a wealth of blue lightning above thunderclouds. The discoveries were published at a European Geosciences Union conference in Vienna today. In following papers this year researchers will describe in more detail how lightning creates terrestrial gamma-flashes, that were first discovered in 1993. "We are seeing new things and have gained so much knowledge on the internal anatomy of lightning. Besides the terrestrial gamma-flashes our recordings show lots of blue lightning that spread like fireworks above thunderclouds. It looks crazy," says Torsten Neubert, lead scientist for the ASIM project at DTU Space working with scientists from the University of Bergen, Norway, and the University of Valencia, Spain. Danish ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen filmed the first blue jets from space showing the lightening firing upwards several times in quick succession. "The International Space Station is an ideal place to monitor these kind of phenomena as it orbits relatively low over our planet and covers areas where thunderstorms are common," says ESA's Astrid Orr, "the results are exciting as we are learning new things about our planet." The recordings were important - partly because they are the best shots ever taken - partly because they are taken from an angle that makes it easier for researchers to understand what is happening. Andreas comments: "ASIM is an excellent example of the exciting and important research we carry out aboard the International Space Station. Research that will contribute with new knowledge about our world. Filming the blue lightning was undoubtedly one of the highlights of my mission in 2015." For the past six months, Danish company Terma, who heads the technical part of the project, has completed an upgrade of the software that controls ASIM's two main instruments. The Modular X- and Gamma-ray Sensor is complemented by the Modular Multi-spectral Imaging Array that consists of two cameras and three photometers that detect flashes of light at different wavelengths. "The updates will offer the researchers better measurements, because the instruments have become more sensitive in relation to capturing gamma radiation and gigantic lightning above the clouds. It will also improve the time accuracy between the two instruments to better than ten millionths of a second, which again will improve the analysis of the signals from the many sensors," says project manager Ole Hartnack from Terma. "We have worked for over 14 years developing and building ASIM - to see results coming in so soon that are beyond expectations is amazing to be a part of" says Nikolai Ostgaard, scientist from the University of Bergen. There are larger plans for future of ASIM too, the science team is considering using the observatory to study aurora and meteors over Earth in years to come. Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. After a year off, organizers say they are set to have the "best show ever." Joe Biden is the frontrunner for the Democrat Party nomination for president of the United States in the 2020 presidential election. Out of a field of eighteen Democrat candidates so far, Biden is polling at between 26 percent and 33 percent. That is a commanding lead. When voter preferences are divided 18 ways, it is an even more significant lead. Laughably, Biden is talked about as the "moderate" Democrat candidate for president. To be sure, Biden has a far better persona than any of the other candidates. Biden is the far-left extremist you can take home to meet your tradition-minded grandparents. Biden will charm your neighborhood backyard party while flipping steaks on the grill. Biden is the national Democrat you would most like to have a few beers and pizza with, regardless of political beliefs. In other words, Biden is the best fake. Biden is a liberal from a time when anti-American, at-war-with-reality, and even communist revolutionaries learned to hide who they really are. The only thing that has changed is that Democrats have decided that it is better now to be open and honest about their radical beliefs and agendas. Most Democrats have stopped pretending. Biden is still pretending. Christine O'Donnell ran against Joe Biden for U.S. senator from Delaware in 2008. I was Christine's campaign manager and her Treasurer for her 2008 nomination contest. She was nominated by the Delaware Republican Party in May 2008. I would have enthusiastically stayed on as her campaign manager throughout 2008, but we agreed on a plan to find some unity choice, well known in Delaware, to bring all the various factions of the DEGOP together. Point is, 2008 was the last campaign when Biden set his own agenda and campaigned on his own choice of issues. By August 2008, Barack Hussein Obama over speculation that he would make Hillary Clinton his running mate announced that Joe Biden was his choice for vice president. (Christine then challenged Biden for the lack of respect to Delaware voters of running for both U.S. senator and vice president on the same ballot.) Christine, I, and others tried to tell conservatives nationwide that Joe Biden is a genuine liberal and a serious threat. She tried to raise the call to arms that Biden could be challenged with a modest amount of money in small Delaware. That research in 2008 was the last time we got a true read on Joe Biden's not Barack Obama's freely chosen positions. I set up a website, "The Biden Quiz" i.e., how well do you really know Joe Biden? highlighting Biden's liberal policies, beliefs, and agenda, in which we appealed to conservatives nationwide. As an attorney active in politics since Reagan-Bush 1984, I spent more than a hundred hours doing the research and double-checking every fact for accuracy and reliable citations to sources. Some highlights at that point in time from "The Biden Quiz": On November 29, 2007, Biden announced plans to impeach Pres. Bush for any military action to halt Iran's development of nuclear bombs threatening U.S. cities. Details here. Biden was then the third most liberal U.S. senator, according to The National Journal , based on Biden's 2006 voting record. Biden's U.S. Senate votes were rated more liberal than Ted Kennedy's. , based on Biden's 2006 voting record. Biden's U.S. Senate votes were rated more liberal than Ted Kennedy's. The non-partisan National Journal found that Biden voted for liberal positions in Congress 76.8% of the time. found that Biden voted for liberal positions in Congress 76.8% of the time. Biden received an 8% approval rating for his votes in the Senate by the U.S. Border Council, showing Biden's support for unsafe, uncontrolled borders in an age of terrorism. Biden earned an "F" (11%) from the National Taxpayers Union for his Senate votes in 2006, as a "Big Spender." Biden voted to provide social benefits to illegal aliens in May 2006. Biden supported a path to citizenship for illegal aliens. Biden received an "F" from the National Rifle Association. Biden received a rating of 16% by the Christian Coalition for his anti-family voting record. Biden voted to allow gun-manufacturers to be sued by trial lawyers. Biden was given a 32% approval rating from the United States Chamber of Commerce, indicating an anti-business voting record. U.S. senator Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) said Biden is "ultra-liberal." Biden voted against parental notification before underage girls have abortions (which could be covering up statutory rape by older men). Biden voted no in July 2006 on notifying parents of minors who are taken to another state for an abortion (which could be coerced). Biden was the most pro-abortion senator in the U.S. Senate, not only for his beliefs, but because of his relentless manipulation of the confirmation process for judges, to frustrate the will of the American people, and his distortion of the legal system to promote abortion. Biden received a 100% approval rating for his votes in the Senate from NARAL Pro-Choice America in four of the last five years (36% in one year, 2003). Biden led the left-wing political lynching of Robert Bork in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Biden received a 0% rating from the National Right to Life Committee for his votes during the 107th Congress. Biden voted against criminal penalties for harming an unborn baby during the commission of another crime in March 2004. Biden voted against a ban on abortions on military bases. In 2007, Biden voted against a congressional resolution designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. Biden said in July 2007 that he really voted for the Congressional Authorization for military force in Iraq (effectively a declaration of war)...not to go to war in Iraq. Biden wanted to end America's efforts to isolate Iran and its efforts to restrain Iran's imperialistic and colonial ambitions in Lebanon and Iraq. In June and July 2007, Biden called for immediately deploying U.S. troops in Darfur (Sudan). Biden foolishly says Muslim jihadists can be stopped in a religious civil war in Darfur with only 2,500 U.S. soldiers. This would be a repeat of the "Black Hawk Down" disaster in Mogadishu, Somalia, in Clinton's first year, with too few U.S. soldiers under-equipped. Biden opposes U.S. financing of abstinence programs to combat HIV-AIDS in Africa. In 2007, he cosponsored the HIV Prevention Act, which would end President Bush's mandate that one third of funds be earmarked to abstinence-based prevention programs. Biden demanded that the Pentagon under President George W. Bush announce our plans for winning the war in Iraq in public (including to our enemies), merely to satisfy liberal curiosity and impatience, rather than allow President Bush to make plans in secret for military security and the protection of our armed forces. In September 2000, Biden voted to allow proliferation of military technology by China. That is, he voted against trade sanctions on China even if China is caught selling high-grade military weapons around the world. There is one way for the Republican party to always lose: if we never try. If we never fight. When we tried to get conservative organizations and publications to promote "The Biden Quiz" and warn voters back in 2008 how liberal Joe Biden is, professional conservatives didn't care. They didn't try to fight the liberals. In 2006, Christine exclaimed to me in exasperation over the phone that "Delaware Republicans aren't even trying to win! They only care about looking good while they are losing!" When I recently discussed (in these pages) the degree of responsibility for the current catastrophic flooding that should accrue to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), I clearly stated that the entirety of flooding could not have been prevented by the Corps or any other organization. However, the severity and frequency of flooding throughout the Missouri River basin most specifically, what has resulted in all but nine of Nebraska's 93 counties being under a federal disaster declaration has increased dramatically due to one reason only, and it ain't climate change. Average runoff in the Missouri River basin above Sioux City between the completion of the dams in 1967 and 2004 (when the management priorities were altered) averaged 25.19 million acre-feet (MAF). The average runoff between 2004 and 2018 is 25.3 MAF, a statistically insignificant difference. The 20042018 average includes two of the three highest runoff years since the advent of the dams, 41.3 MAF in 2018 and 61 MAF in 2011. However, the 19672004 average includes seven of the top ten runoff years since the dams began operation, including the second highest runoff recorded: 49 MAF in 1997. Yet, despite these stressors, before the Corps abandoned flood control as the highest priority of the dam system, these seven top ten high runoff years resulted in flooding far less severe and significantly less frequent than that seen since the change. Why? There is much more to the "management" of the Missouri River basin than just how and when to drain water. In the interest of habitat restoration, etc. (the highest priority since 2004), tens of thousands of acres surrounding the river and more than a thousand miles of riverbank have been mechanically altered by the Corps not with an eye to controlling flooding, but rather to facilitate the "reconnection of the river with its floodplain," believed to be a necessity in achieving the goal of species and habitat preservation and restoration. When the Corps believed that protecting people and property was a more worthy aim than fish and wildlife, the riverbanks were stabilized, shored against erosion and high-water events. The channels were kept largely free of silt infill to facilitate the draining efficiency of the river that essentially deals with the runoff of vast millions of square miles of mountain and plains snow and rain. Dikes were built and maintained. Levees, too. Chutes (secondary channels of a meandering river) were closed to inhibit the ability of the river to overcome its banks in seasons of high-water. All these things (and more) combined to permit millions of Americans to develop the reclaimed lands, for farming, ranching, and homes. Indeed, these millions of Americans were encouraged to do so by their elected representatives, who happily took credit for the resulting economic benefits and increased tax revenues. Until 2004, the government kept its end of the bargain, and flooding, while still a danger, was dramatically lessened in frequency and severity by the prudent operation of the dam system and the mechanical restructuring of the river itself. That last paragraph, while perfectly reasonable to normal folks, is cause for outrage and seething anger among the increasingly radical environmentalist left, which is enamored of a dream of "rewilding" vast sections of North America via the "recovery" of river basins. One might ask, "Recovery from what?" In a word, the answer is "man." Environmental groups like the Sierra Club and American Rivers advocate the wholesale removal of dams, even if it requires the forced relocation of millions of people and their businesses. They seek a continent with untamed rivers, devoid of human interference with the perceived "natural processes" of ebb and flood. At this level of green-think, it is more religion than science, with devotion measured in antipathy for the needs of mankind whenever there is conflict with nature. There is a recurrent phrase used in Corps and other agencies discussions of "river recovery." That phrase is "reconnecting the river to its floodplain." The importance of this concept to the overall goal of "river recovery" can be readily seen in the anthropomorphic spall that surrounds its use, as if the river is a mother cruelly separated from her child, the floodplain, by the heartless brutality of man. What does "reconnecting the river to its floodplain" mean? Just ask the plaintiffs who recently won a 375-million-dollar judgment against the Corps for causing repeated flooding and enhancing those floods' severity. The phrase is a euphemism for letting the river flood despite decades of efforts to prevent just that. Since 2004, the Corps has been notching levees and dikes and re-opening old river chutes, destabilizing the once-shored riverbanks and encouraging shallowing and widening to facilitate the construction of "emergent sandbar habitat" believed to be beneficial to the endangered Least Tern and Piping Plover bird species and the Pallid Sturgeon, a dinosaur of a fish that somehow managed to survive for millennia without the Corps's assistance. The Corps's mechanical alterations of the river have combined to the detriment of flood control by raising the WSE (water surface elevation), dramatically reducing the ability of the river to accept runoff from adjoining fields and the hundreds of tributaries that all rely on the Missouri. It is this engineered reduction in capacity, combined with ill considered maintenance of unnecessarily high reservoir and river levels throughout the system, that made certain that the freakish snowmelt generated by the "bomb cyclone" of early March had nowhere to go except everywhere it should not have been. That is why flooding has increased in frequency and severity, not climate change, nor a failure of the dam system to work as designed. Rather, the dam system's design has been thwarted in service to an environmentalist dream of a return to an untamed river, free to nourish Mother Earth with its life-giving waters as Mother River again embraces her beloved child, the floodplain. To hell with those in the way. The author writes from Omaha, Nebraska and welcomes visitors to his website, www.dailyherring.com. In people's perception, both revolutionaries and laypersons, Marxism has always been the theory of socialism and a call for revolution. However, this is a misconception or even an urban myth regarding genuine, orthodox Marxism. The false understanding of Marxism was implemented in our subconscious, first of all, by founders of Marxism themselves. They exhibited profound inconsistency between the tenets of their theory and their political activities. Secondly, Soviet propaganda replaced the true meaning of Marxism with its revisionist version, Marxism-Leninism. First of all, Marxism is a theory of communism the extreme and particular case of socialism, characterized by the complete socialization of property, complete collectivization of consciousness, worldwide economic planning, and wealth distribution according to any needs. Socialism, as a rule, did not set itself such daunting tasks. There are multiple approaches to socialism and just one theory of communism. The doctrine of communism could neither encompass all ideas of the diverse socialist camp nor even be portrayed as the only accurate representation of socialist thoughts. To the great surprise of many, orthodox Marxism is a concept of the evolution of human society rather than a theory of revolution. Marx never explicitly called the workers to the barricades; his materialist conception of history merely explained why communism would inevitably replace capitalism. He understood revolution as a qualitative change in the societal mode of production, not as a violent event like the French Revolution. He advertised his teaching as a revolutionary breakthrough in the understanding of historical and societal processes. Indeed, one does not need to be equipped with the comprehensive theory of societal evolution in order to commit a revolutionary putsch. The founders of Marxism understood that the revolution could not be fomented at will. Engels pointed out in Principles of Communism that communists "know all too well that revolutions are not made intentionally and arbitrarily, but that, everywhere and always, they have been the necessary consequence of conditions which were wholly independent of the will and direction of individual parties and entire classes." Therefore, the prediction and predetermination of a revolution signify neither a call for a revolution nor its incitement. Originators of Marxism demonstrated far-reaching contradictions in their public activities and theoretical works, which could be considered somewhat paradoxical. The "Marx paradox" is as follows: on the one hand, Marx claimed the discovery of the laws of human societal development, but on the other hand, he was reluctant to use them in his daily life as a philosopher, sociologist, and economist. It is rather a strange situation, like Isaac Newton discovering the laws of motion and not using them in solving theoretical and everyday problems. Marx should have supported classical liberals in their effort to squeeze the most from capitalism, to run it to the highest point, where assumed intrinsic contradictions of capitalism reach a point of no return, and the new social formation would be born. This would have been Marx's consistent behavior if he had followed his own materialist conception of history. Instead, Marx took an active part in various political activities, from establishing the International Workingmen's Association (First International) to editing a program of the German Socialist Party. Marx and Engels also acted as educators striving for the emancipation of the working class, instigation of its self-consciousness as a future agent of the historical process. Such a paradox can be explained by the fact that Marx was a revolutionary activist first and a philosopher second, or rather he was a second-grade philosopher (his philosophical and economic provisions were entirely rebuffed by such prominent representatives of Austrian School of Economics as Bohm von Bawerk, Ludwig von Mises, Hans-Hermann Hoppe and falsified by experience). Marx started his anti-capitalism crusade long before he had crystallized his economic and philosophical doctrine. Only in more mature years did he begin following his theoretical tenets more rigorously. He considered the financial demands of socialists and trade unionists to be the obstacles that inhibited the evolution of capitalism and, thus, postponed the victory of communism. Marxism gave the socialists hope that revolutionary changes were about to occur. The Left was waiting for the hiccups that Marx prescribed to arise in capitalism, and when their expectations had not been realized for a considerable duration of time and according to Marx's recipe, they declared a crisis of Marxism. How did the Left overcome the crisis? The leading theoreticians of the Left started a revision of certain provisions of Marxism. Some of those non-conformist revisionists were the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin. Unlike other revisionists, they portrayed Marxism-Leninism as the logical development of orthodox Marxism in times of imperialism. However, in reality, they rejected two main provisions of Marxism: Marx designated a mass proletariat movement as an agent of change, whereas Lenin replaced it with a vanguard revolutionary party; Marx theorized the coming of communism simultaneously in all industrial countries, but the Bolsheviks strove for a revolution in a single agrarian country. The revisionism of genuine Marxism undertaken by the Bolsheviks preached a violent overthrowing of power. Since the Bolshevik Revolution, Marxism-Leninism had started to occupy a central role in socialist thought and even had become synonymous with the socialist movement for some time. The Bolsheviks eradicated their companions from early on Revolutionary Socialists, Mensheviks, Trotskyists, and Anarcho-Communists and established a dictatorship that outlawed any other political views. Leninism contaminated the notion of Marxism and socialism in general. The communist propaganda labeled other currents of socialism as utopian, unscientific, vulgar, social-fascist, and in general as enemies of the working class. After World War II, the Soviet Union further strengthened its position as the only correct bearer of genuine socialist and communist rhetoric. Italian fascists and national socialists of Germany annihilated Social Democrats, Anarchists, and Communists in their respective countries. In turn, the Soviets crushed fascism and Nazism and gained a monopoly on socialist thoughts within the controlled territory of Eastern Europe. Marxism-Leninism had become the only legitimate remainder of the Left's movements, as victors on both military and ideological fronts. The gigantic communist propaganda machine tirelessly shaped public opinion within the Soviet Union, in the socialist camp, and most importantly in Western countries. Thus, over the course of 70 years of brutal ideological wars, Marxism-Leninism eclipsed the authentic provisions of orthodox Marxism, as well as other currents of socialism. The truth is that Marxism-Leninism is not the original Marxism. When the modern Left (especially in the United States) argues that genuine Marxian socialism has not been realized yet in any country, including the Soviet Union, it is a bit right. However, leftists use this argument to prove that the socialist idea is not a dead end in the evolution of mankind, but is alive and striving. A failure of institutionalized socialist regimes is explained as a betrayal of great Marxian ideas by negligent intellectuals and practitioners of socialism of the past. Neo-Marxists should have recognized that Marx actually betrayed himself first. In order to follow exact Marxian thoughts, the Left must overcome a Marxian paradox, enthusiastically be involved in restoring pure liberal capitalism, and patiently wait until developed capitalism wins in all countries. Then we will see what happens. We naturally look at the impact of illegal immigration as it affects us. This is understandable and appropriate, but there is another reason to want an end to this invasion of people from Central America. What happens to a country when its young adults all leave? What kind of future does a country have? A significant portion of the illegal immigration tsunami headed to the U.S. is from the Central American countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. In our sound-bite culture, politicians routinely toss off comments about how we should "invest in these countries" to get people to stay there. Sounds simple -- stick here, carrot there. But it's not so simple. All three of these countries are rife with endemic corruption and crime that is so rampant, it dwarfs the government itself. A perusal of the State Department website, the CIA website, and Infoplease quickly paint a picture of these troubled republics. Guatemala has among the highest murder rates in the world at 52/100,000 compared to an average of 28/100,000 for the U.S. and official corruption combined with powerful gangs and soul-crushing poverty fill much of their 14.4 million people with despair. The country is a major transit area for cocaine and heroin with an estimated 1000 metric tons of cocaine per year passing through and 46,000 are living with HIV/AIDS. The CIA website lists Guatemalas problems as: weak governance endemic poverty food insecurity severe violence citizen insecurity inequitable access to economic opportunities and social services Would you stay there? El Salvador, home of MS-13, is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America, with a population of 6.4 million. They lead the region in per capita inflow of remittances from the U.S. Their murder rate is 71/100,000. The same list of problems shown above apply here as well. So, what about Honduras? The State Department estimates that Honduras has about 1 million citizens living in the U.S., of which 600,000 are illegals. Considering their native population is about 9 million, that's a lot. In 2015, their murder rate was 67/100,000. The State Department website diplomatically refers to "ineffective law enforcement" as an issue contributing to the crime rate. If you add to this 22,000 people with HIV-AIDS and the fact that 57% of the population lives in urban areas, you begin to get a picture of the issues at hand. I'll skip Nicaragua, which is in a full-blown locked-up dictatorship by Jose Daniel Ortega Saavedra and his vice president (and wife) Rosario Murillo. All three of these countries have a governmental structure that puts most of the power in the hands of the leader flanked by an ineffective unicameral congress and a corrupt judiciary. None of these countries appear to have ever had a decent government and have no idea what one would look like. Even catastrophic insurrections and civil wars have not improved the lot of the people. I am reminded of Ambrose Pierce's definition of revolution: "a brief respite between misgovernments." Remittances from abroad are the lifeblood of the regional income and are going up rapidly. The Washington Examiner notes: "Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador all said that natives in the United States sent over $17 billion home last year alone. Since 2009, legal and illegal immigrants from those three nations have shipped $120 billion home, according to an immigration expert citing United Nations and Latin American banking data." This means that we are paying the common folk while some very rich people loot their rather abundant natural resources, which include gold and silver. Any new incoming money source seems to be immediately viewed as a resource by corrupt elements of every stripe. So having pointed all this out, what are we doing to help these people? On paper things look great. They are in lots of international organizations with cryptic initials: the IMF, the UN, OAS, WTO, and the World Bank. No point in even saying what the initials stand for, it's all lip service where these countries are concerned. They are also in a trade agreement called the U.S.-Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR). The U.S. also has programs to help out. There is the Plan of the Alliance for Prosperity and the Central American Regional Security Initiative. Sounds great, but not working. The only effective thing we seem to do for them is provide a safety valve, which is not good for us. We need to turn off the illegal-immigration-turned-routine-career-path spigot. One thing is for sure -- we as outsiders cannot make things better. Their problems are endemic and deeply rooted. Whether it be revolution or fresh political thinking, it has to come from the inside. I don't know the solution to this travesty, but one can guess what a solution might look like. These three countries have things in common -- a common Mestizo (Amerindian-Mayan) racial and cultural heritage and Christianity, both of which shape common social norms. Maybe these things can become the basis of progress. They have a big supply of youth and energy; more than half the population of Guatemala is under 19. They sorely need a credible leader arising from the grassroots, someone who can light an ember of hope. It will take a long time to convince the citizens that things can change, but constructive nationalism and patriotism will not take hold until it is based on something meaningful and relatable to them. How can any leadership structure develop if all the young men and women just leave? Big political changes are the activities of the young and idealistic. It is possible to create an influential movement on a large scale -- no one with a brain thinks that these "caravans" of migrants have an organic origin. You only have to look at the legal principle of "cui bono," meaning "who benefits." A lot of very influential globalists are interested in the chaos that results from these immigrant crowds. While we are trying to cope with this invasion, they are cleaning up financially and politically. These globalists both inside and outside the U.S. are determined to drown us in Central American bodies until our systems break down. They mobilized the young people, but for their own ends. There must be some young people who want to stay in their own country and work for change -- people we can support. Somebody has an idea of how to start down this path and my guess is that those people do not work in the U.S. State Department. Department of State workers are all happy to go down with the good ship Tolerance; they are singularly uninterested in getting anything done. We can't just take all these Central Americans into the U.S., nor should we. We shouldn't be absorbing the flower of their youth into the lowest level in our economy just so they will keep our corrupt officials in power forever by becoming malleable voters. It's sucking the lifeblood out of these countries and disabling all hope of prosperity for their citizens. The right to vote is a cornerstone right that is essential to a well-functioning democracy. This idea was enshrined both in the Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution and is protected by five separate amendments. But every single right comes with responsibilities, and the greater the right, the greater the responsibilities. The outcomes of elections shape a political course for the nation and fundamentally affect the lives of every American. That is why it is so troubling to hear Democrats' fallacious propositions to alter voting rights. Their main idea is to expand voting rights to new population groups. Recently, they proposed to grant voting rights to 16-year-olds. "I myself have always been for lowering the voting age to 16," speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said. "I think it's really important to capture kids when they're in high school, when they're interested in all of this, when they're learning about government, to be able to vote." Oh, sure, Nancy you would like to capture them, all right. Have you ever wondered what the reason is for a long list of age-related legal restrictions? All of them are based on the stages of physical and psychological development of a person, including the natural development of the human brain. Undoubtedly, there are lots of smart teenagers out there scoring sky-high on SATs and ACTs. The fact is, it doesn't matter when it comes to good judgment it is something they can't excel in yet, because the rational part of the brain isn't fully developed until age 25 or so. Also, recent research has found that adult and teen brains work differently. Adults think with the prefrontal cortex, the brain's rational part. This is the part of the brain that responds to situations with awareness of long-term consequences. Teens process information with the amygdala, which is the emotional part responsible for immediate reactions, including fear and aggression. All of these facts are from the realm of science something Democrats seem to have declared war on. But I honestly believe that the top Democrats are extremely intelligent people and know exactly what they are doing. Considering a rapid radicalization of the Democratic agenda and overall political style that dismisses basic knowledge of government, economy, and social issues with a simultaneous raise of violent methods of political struggle, American teenagers are undoubtedly a group that Democrats would die to "capture" as the energetic voters and fighters that tend to be idealistic and easily manipulated with the emotional arguments that picture a perfect world of a common well-being and absolute kumbaya. Then just point at the enemy who stands between them and the socialist paradise and the enemy will be torn apart. (The "enemy" is easily recognized by the red hat.) The other group that clearly should be refused voting rights at least for those who have their prefrontal cortex fully developed are non-citizens. For if a person does not owe any allegiance to a country, why should he decide on that country's course? Isn't it also obvious that letting non-citizens and illegal aliens to vote encourages them not to legalize their status and stimulates others to come to this oh, so liberal country to take advantage of its generosity? Again, it is somehow hard to imagine that all of those Democratic U.S. representatives who opposed a legislative measure condemning voting in U.S. elections by illegal aliens do not understand the consequences of non-citizens executing voting rights. They say illegal aliens are a "part of our community" and therefore should have their say. Nice. So if my neighbors decide to live on my backyard, should I invite them to decide on my family budget, or should I call the police? Should 11 million illegals cast their vote just as law-abiding citizens, enjoying the rights and benefits of being Americans without any obligations and duties to the countries? How fair is that? It certainly seems fair to the House Democrats as long as they get those votes blue. In a continuation of the perverted logic "the lives of illegals are affected by the results of elections, and therefore they should participate" may be stretched to absolute nonsense, and it already has been. "America should allow other countries to vote in the 2020 elections," runs the Independent. "This is a country which calls itself 'leader of the Free World' and has huge global influence in terms of foreign policy and economics. Now that Trump won't acknowledge basic things like climate change, it's time other countries had a say," claims the author. As absurd as it sounds, the globalized world order without borders, governed by the supranational institutions, where state sovereignty goes obsolete, is a fundamental leftist belief. It is nothing but a slightly transformed idea of a stateless communism conceptualized by Karl Marx. All of this has nothing to do with the people's true interests, but only aims at the absolute power. Where else can we find our voters? muse the leftists. Ah, but behind bars, among the 6.1 million felons! "You're paying a price, you committed a crime, you're in jail. That's bad," believes proud socialist Bernie Sanders. "But you're still living in American society and you have a right to vote." One of the provisions of the so-called "For the People Act," a bill proposed by the House Democrats, is luckily not as radical as the one that has been just voiced by Bernie. It would allow felons to vote only after they leave prison. It is not the first desperate attempt of the Democrats to swing elections in their favor at the cost of felons' votes. In dramatic 2016, Virginia's Governor Terry McAuliffe took executive action to restore voting rights to at least 173,000 ex-felons. At the same time, New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order to restore voting rights to felons on parole. Now, I'm not arguing that the voting rights of those who have already served their time should not be redeemed at all. Restoring voting rights is one of the mechanisms of reintegration of inmates back into society. Here, the Democrats are doing a good deed for bad reasons. Overall, the Democrats' attempts to expand their voter base by introducing new legal groups of voters instead of re-engaging with the existing ones indicate their inability to promote their agenda in the "era of Trump," as they call it. When the policy that finally "puts America first" bears fruit, when economy is on the rise, and people can actually experience the benefits of it, what can you possibly offer in its place? Nothing rational, of course rather, lies and deception while searching for supporters. At a contentious hearing on Capitol Hill, Attorney General William Barr told lawmakers he had assembled a team of investigators to examine the origins of the FBI's counterintelligence operation against the 2016 Donald Trump campaign for president. Barr also said he would investigate the application process used by the FBI to convince a FISA judge to grant a surveillance warrant against Trump campaign employee Carter Page. Fox News: The FBI's July 2016 counterintelligence investigation was formally opened by anti-Trump former FBI agent Peter Strzok. Ex-FBI counsel Lisa Page, with whom Strzok was romantically involved, revealed during a closed-door congressional interview that the FBI "knew so little" about whether allegations against the Trump campaign were "true or not true" at the time they opened the probe, noting they had just "a paucity of evidence because we are just starting down the path" of vetting the allegations. Page later said that it was "entirely common" that the FBI would begin a counterintelligence investigation with just a "small amount of evidence." Former FBI Director James Comey would testify later that when agency initiated its counterintelligence probe into possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and the Russian government, investigators "didn't know whether we had anything" and that "in fact, when I was fired as director [in May 2017], I still didn't know whether there was anything to it." The collusion investigation did not take place in a vacuum. At the time, the FBI was considering opening an investigation into the Trump campaign during the summer of 2016, there was other alarming intelligence indicating that the Russian government was making a massive effort to interfere in the presidential campaign. The signals intelligence pointed to are several Russian companies with ties to Vladimir Putin involved in the cyber-attack on American democracy. A hacking operation directed at the DNC, RNC, and several Democratic individuals was run by a shadowy group of Russians with ties to the GRU. So when Carter Page was running around Washington and Moscow bragging about how he had Trump's ear, it wasn't hard to see why American counterintelligence would be alarmed. And if you add Paul Manafort's close business ties to pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians who were tight with Putin, the prospect of "collusion" became more than a theoretical exercise. Of course, neither of those two men is going to jail for colluding with Russia. Now, having said all of this, the FBI should have realized after a very short period of time that there was absolutely nothing to the collusion charge. It was anti-Trump agents and officials who flogged the story for all it was worth, withholding information and giving false evidence to the FISA court, and leaking damaging information that drove this ridiculous investigation forward. Barr told lawmakers at a contentious hearing earlier Tuesday that he was reviewing the bureau's "conduct" in particular during the summer of 2016. The attorney general's explosive testimony marked his first Capitol Hill appearance since he revealed the central findings of Mueller's investigation, and he indicated the full report with redactions would be made public within the week. Mueller's investigation completed last month without securing the indictment of a single American for collusion with Russia or obstruction of justice, "despite multiple offers from Russian-affiliated individuals to assist the Trump campaign." "I am reviewing the conduct of the investigation and trying to get my arms around all the aspects of the counterintelligence investigation that was conducted during the summer of 2016," Barr said at the hearing. Barr also was questioned about the initial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants approved to surveil members of the Trump campaign, including former Trump aide Carter Page. Republicans have called for a careful review as to whether the FBI, in violation of Page's constitutional rights and FBI procedures, misled the FISA court or withheld exculpatory information, and Barr testified that a DOJ review of the FBI's FISA practices was in progress. The I.G. report on the FBI's Clinton email investigation cited political bias as one reason she was absolved of wrongdoing. Barr is very likely to find similar anti-Trump bias (more accurate to say hatred) at work in this counterintelligence operation. But I doubt that the A.G. will find fault with the original reasoning behind opening an investigation in the first place. There was too much going on with the Russians and their attempts to interfere in the election of 2016 for the FBI not to take the idea of collusion seriously. The fault occurred when Trump-haters got a hold of the investigation and used it for partisan political purposes. "Power to the education establishment!" it could become the rallying cry for Democrats during their 2020 presidential nominating convention in Milwaukee. "Power to local parents and taxpayers" well, not so much. In hawking a proposal to use federal power to give public school teachers a hefty pay raise (more than $13,000) over the next four years, U.S. senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) is catering to a massive group of voters. Apparently, Harris is trying to buy delegates. It is a shrewd ploy. After all, activists from two of the biggest teacher unions the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) have made up as much as one fifth of the delegates to recent Democratic conventions. Nothing pleases NEA-AFT panjandrums more than guaranteed raises in teacher pay at taxpayers' expense. The unionists could help Harris win delegates in the party primaries and then actually be some of those delegates in Milwaukee. Shrewd political ploys often spawn rotten public policy. In this case, Harris would insert federal bureaucrats deeply into the heart of local education policymaking, a role the Constitution does not assign to the national government. Federalism is not a concern for those who embrace socialism or lean socialist. However, it should be for Americans who want to preserve constitutional limits on centralized government. Furthermore, the notion that hiking the estate tax by an unspecified amount, thereby "soaking the rich," would pay the entire tab for this ploy is fallacious. Less noticed is a provision whereby the feds would put up 10 percent of funding for a guaranteed base salary for all public school teachers, with states "incentivized" to put up the other 90 percent. That smells like a big mandatory hike in state taxes. Additionally, the Harris ruse negates the possibility of reforms enabling school districts to take productivity into account in promoting and compensating teachers, or parting ways with those who have demonstrated they are ill suited for teaching. Instead, it is all about benefits dispensed in lockstep on a standardized scale. In selecting their convention city, Democratic leaders surely realized Milwaukee has been the epicenter of a very different kind of education reform during the past 29 years one that empowers parents to choose the school that best fits their child's needs. In fact, Milwaukee's school voucher program has grown from a few hundred pupils in 1990 to 28,000 today; most participants are minority children from low-income neighborhoods. Unfortunately, NEA and AFT have used their political war chests to influence Democrats to slime parental choice programs and demonize vouchers. The party chose Milwaukee just months after a vehemently antischool choice governor, former state schools chief Tony Evers, took office vowing to freeze enrollments of voucher students in private schools, a step that would send the institutions into a death spiral. Expect to hear a lot of convention rhetoric about the need to replace "failing" vouchers in Milwaukee and elsewhere with even more prescriptive (and expensive) government programs, such as Harris's $315-billion teacher pay raise. The narrative about voucher failure is false. Civil rights leader Howard Fuller, Milwaukee's school superintendent just before the advent of vouchers, recently wrote of long-term studies showing positive effects of voucher-aided choice on students' reading and math achievement. And in October, when Gov. Evers was still Wisconsin's top educrat, the state's education department reported Milwaukee voucher students had outscored their public school peers for the third year in a row on the ACT college admissions exam. Other research shows that Milwaukee's voucher students graduate high school at a higher rate than their public-school peers and commit crimes as young adults at a lower rate than contemporaries who had attended the city's public schools. If the Milwaukee Democratic Convention gives a platform for the proponents of top-down control of education, it should present an even greater opportunity for advocates of liberty and individual empowerment to make their case. Federalized teacher pay versus universal educational choice now is the time to frame the debate. Robert Holland (holland@heartland.org) is a senior fellow for education policy at The Heartland Institute. Recently, in my home state of Indiana, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg created quite a media stir by flirting with the idea of running for president in 2020. The lying and corrupt news media are enraptured with him because if he enters the race, he will be the first "openly gay" candidate, as if that qualification alone is reason for voters to send him to the White House. Mayor Pete is a man with an impressive resume so far. He's a Rhodes scholar, can speak eight languages, is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, and is a three-term mayor of a city. However, his claim to fame in the eyes of the news media, and the qualification he seems to stress most, is that he's gay. The problem with Buttigieg isn't the fact that he's a homosexual, or even that he "married" another homosexual man, although using that term is a gross distortion of the meaning of the word "marriage." The problem is that despite his obvious intelligence, he's willfully ignorant when it comes to understanding the Bible, even though he tosses out references to Scripture and his Christianity in order to support his homosexuality. It's as if his experience as a gay man has given him profound theological insight and a new way to interpret Bible passages and directives. This past Sunday, Buttigieg went on the attack against former Indiana governor and current vice president Mike Pence because Pence is a Christian who has the audacity to use the Bible as his guide through life. Pence doesn't bash anyone with Scripture or yell "repent, sinner!" on a street corner. Yet Buttigieg took it as a personal affront that Pence wouldn't jump on the nearest Pride Parade bandwagon and wave the queer flag with him. Did Pence insult or harass Buttigieg and call him disparaging names for being a homosexual? No Pence's original sin, in the eyes of Buttigieg and the liberal media, is his support of the 2015 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) when he was governor of Indiana. RFRA, as it was originally written, was an attempt to protect Christians from being forced to provide goods and services (cakes, photography, etc.) for same-sex couples, which echoed the federal 1993 law. It passed, and all hell broke loose in Indiana, courtesy of the news media. Less than a week later, a watered down version of the bill became Indiana law and deemed that LGBT individuals couldn't be discriminated against (fired) in the workplace unless they work for a church or they are clergy. Governor Pence signed it, and politicians patted themselves on the back for "fixing" the law, but the perpetually offended left was still angry because Pence didn't work to protect and promote their perversion. So last week, flavor-of-the-moment Buttigieg saw an opening for a cheap shot and said: "Speaking only for myself, I can tell you that if me being gay was a choice, it was a choice that was made far, far above my pay grade. And that's the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand: If you've got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator." Yes, the "Mike Pences" of the world don't accept the delusion that homosexuals are born that way, and they understand that sodomy is condemned several places in the Bible, even though Pence never said that in public. Buttigieg cannot get past any disagreement with his chosen lifestyle and pretend marriage, so he must go on the attack while playing the victim. Mayor Buttigieg has proven himself to be a fool when it comes to interpreting the Bible and a moron when it comes to picking a fight with a good and decent man such as Vice President Pence. Hopefully, our nation still has enough voters with rational minds to reject this ridiculous attempt by Buttigieg to play the victim while misinterpreting Scripture that has guided the Jewish and Christian faiths for thousands of years. With the wall still in the works, President Trump isn't sitting idle as 1.5 million illegal migrants prepare to storm the U.S. border this year. He's moving swiftly to get some kind of handle on the migrant surge by strengthening the U.S.'s loophole-filled system of laws that have made immigrating here illegally more attractive to would-be migrants than following U.S. law. He's pulling up the drawbridge. OANN reports that Trump's new package of measures, which should be complete by this summer, may just be the invisible architecture to deter illegal immigration as effectively as a wall. With the migrant surge forming, it can't come soon enough. OANN reports: President Trump is preparing to make some dramatic changes to immigration policies. He has reportedly directed top White House officials to take a more aggressive stance on immigration. This comes as record-high numbers of immigrants are reaching the southern border, pushing Customs and Border Protection to its breaking point. Some of the changes include a new way of analyzing asylum claims by comparing the person's fears to the actual conditions of their home country. Regulatory changes will also make it harder for "difficult or low-skilled" immigrants to enter the country, while making it easier for high-skilled immigrants who will likely be self sufficient. Additionally, the government will also be allowed to hold migrant children longer than the current 20-day limit. There's also this, from the Daily Caller: The White House plan to go after remittance payments falls in line with a proposal from former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is being considered to replace outgoing DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Kobach told Breitbart News on Tuesday that this will be an effective way for President Donald Trump to compel the Mexican government to take more enforcement action against Central Americans trafficking through their country. Kobach told Breitbart, "The threat I propose is one that actually helps us if we follow through on it. That is the threat of ending remittances from the majority of people in the United States from Mexico who are here illegally," adding "they don't want to risk losing that massive flow of foreign capital. In most years, it's their second biggest source of foreign capital." What we are seeing here is a legal wall going up, much as a physical one is going up. Walls, as Richard Fernandez noted in his brilliant piece here, are basically sorting tools: "'Everybody knows' that bridges are good and walls are bad. But events in Central America and the Middle East suggest that walls may actually play an important role in governing the global world after all," he writes. After making a doozy of an argument illustrating that, he concludes: "Walls will eventually be understood as places where information can be intelligently applied. What can be added to that is that legal infrastructure is a wall, too. If you read The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else, by Hernando de Soto, you will also recall the important arguments made about invisible architecture, with a particularly strong chapter on the importance of legal order. Columnist Debra Saunders made a good case the other day that this is where change is most critical, arguing that it is even more important than a wall, writing: Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen recently argued that a law which prevents immigration officials from promptly returning minors from the so-called Northern Triangle countries and a court decision that limits how long the government can hold minors serve as loopholes that "create a functionally open border." That's why Mark Krikorian of the pro-enforcement Center for Immigration Studies always has argued that changing immigration law and enforcement would be far more effective than building a wall not that he's opposed to spending on a wall. Trump's push for the wall shows that he is working to keep to his 2016 campaign promise: But it really can't do much to discourage economic migrants who ultimately would not qualify for asylum but nonetheless believe they will be able to get into the United States through a port of entry. That's the problem with Trump's beloved wall. It may resonate with his base, but it won't bring about the changes the base wants. Suddenly, we are seeing that someone in the White House understands that extremely well and is presenting the legal changes she mentions. It would also be good to see more strengthening and enforcement on the existing U.S. law to ensure that the migrants coming in are unlikely to be public charges a longtime U.S. law that is being widely flouted now, and holding officials responsible for allowing in migrants who are obviously going to present costs and problems. It is important, because the migrant surge as it is now is about importing poverty. The unvetted migrants rolling in are not only bringing poverty, social disintegration, a lack of skills, the lowest education levels in the hemisphere, the lowest English skills in the hemisphere, and low social capital with them, they are coming to claim U.S. public services, taking far more out than they will ever be able to put in in taxes. Schools, in red districts gone recently blue in the last congressional election, are particularly susceptible to being flooded by indigent migrant children, brought in for their value to allow their parents instantly into the country without vetting. Who's coming in and getting that instant customer service legal immigrants don't get? Well, people like Mirian Zelaya Gomez, a single mom with two kids and a fondness for Instagram luxury-life glamour shots who got her name in the news as "Lady Frijoles," the Honduran caravan migrant who disdained donated Mexican food in Tijuana, and who told the press she was migrating to the states to get free medical care for her kids. She's since been arrested for assaulting a relative who had given her housing in Dallas. Here she was, being booked: Image credit: Telemundo T39 shareable video screen shot. The Latino commenters on these threads are loaded with contempt for this person's arrogance and entitlement, writing time and again that it's time to build a wall. Examples of abusers of the system such as this do incense many Hispanics in the U.S. same as they do the rest of the country, and their observed fury is obviously a reason why so many are supporting President Trump - in a majority percentage higher than the general U.S. public overall. Why are people like this being allowed in at all, while legal immigrants to the states must wait ten years and pay thousands of dollars in costs? Zelaya treated her entry to the states for exactly the price she paid for it - which was nothing. What Trump is ultimately doing now in his new legal reforms to wipe out abuses - is making immigration to the states again something that has value. When Mayor de Blasio declares an emergency, then, by golly, it is truly an emergency. Notwithstanding the deluge of tens of thousands of illegal aliens streaming across the southern U.S. border and the president's declaration of a national emergency to stem the flow, a mere 250 unvaccinated Yeshiva students in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn is a DEFCON-3, drop-dead emergency of the highest order. Mayor Bill is demanding proof of immunization under threat of private school closures and fines of $1,000 per violator. "We have a situation now where children are in danger. We have to take this seriously. Every one of us has to feel responsibility for the situation because measles is so contagious, can spread so quickly," de Blasio said at news conference at a Williamsburg library on Tuesday morning. Of course, the same Mayor Bill recoils at the mere suggestion of demanding proof of citizenship from tens of thousands of nonU.S. citizens waltzing across the southern border...much less an immunization record from each. The leading cause of death for U.S. citizens under the age of fifty is not measles, but the illegal use of fentanyl, which pours in across the southern border by the truckload. Yet Brooklyn is under Mayor Bill's martial law, while the border is come one, come all. There is a workaround for families who wish to become Brooklyn "dodgers" of Mayor Bill's vaccination crackdown: send the Yeshiva kids on a field trip to Mexico, and simply let them walk across the border back into the U.S. No one will dare ask them for their immunization record, and the cultural enrichment exercise will certainly merit extra credit. Image: Public Advocate Bill de Blasio via Flickr. LG is considering an attempt to outdo the transparent smartphone Tony Stark has been using through numerous Marvel films for many years now by making it foldable. The company recently experimented with such a solution and deemed it at least remotely viable, as evidenced by the fact it ended up filing for a patent describing it. Unsurprisingly, the documentation attached to the filing that was finally approved by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday is rather vague and doesnt touch upon the actual materials one could use to create such a futuristic-looking device, though LGs previous research in the segment points in the direction of OLED panels. One unique detail mentioned in the documentation is the screens ability to render itself opaque in a matter of seconds, return to full transparency equally quickly, or do something in between and e.g. only show as a users hand if the information its displaying hits a certain opacity threshold. The contraption can be operated from both the front and back regardless of whether its folded or not, LG claims. Its presently unclear whether the Seoul-based electronics giant already prototyped the concept to any degree Advertisement The overall form factor of the device is tablet-like, i.e. closer to Samsungs Galaxy Fold than what LG is reportedly planning to commercialize in the second half of the year. While the company spent the entirety of 2018 insisting how it wont feel pressured to jump into the foldable smartphone game too soon just because its rivals are doing so and will only pursue the concept when the time is right, it either had a change of strategy or made similar breakthroughs at similar times. LG is hardly the first smartphone manufacturer to explore the possibility of making small-sized panels transparent in order to allow for new smartphone designs and functionalities. In fact, this isnt even the companys initial foray into the concept of transparent screens; nearly a year passed since LG showcased a massive transparent TV at SID and the firm is already capable of delivering extremely flexible displays, which it intends to prove with its rollable OLED TV coming out this year. Yes, coming out as in consumers will actually be able to walk into a store and buy it. Samsung was reportedly considering a semi-transparent display for the Galaxy S10 lineup but ended up scrapping the idea around the turn of this year. LGs largest domestic and international rival has also been looking into transparent displays, even going as far as to consider the same idea of combining them with foldable OLED panels and use the resulting contraption as a smartphone basis, according to patent documentation uncovered nearly a year ago. Advertisement Granted, LGs concept appears to be more refined, at least from an automation perspective, though theres no indication that either company is currently actively working toward commercializing such unprecedented gadgets on any market level. Still, Marvels writers might soon have to make their brainstorming sessions much more intensive if they want to ensure Tony Starks tech keeps its magical appearance going into the next decade. MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation has announced its intention to actively seek out partnerships in the OLED display industry via an initiative aimed at spreading and reducing the cost of next-gen devices featuring touch, stylus, and fingerprint support. The company, well-known for its OLED display driver integrated circuit (DDIC) technology, is effectively looking to standardize those types of technology through strategic team-ups, driving growth across the entire industry. Beyond those applications, MagnaChip is hoping to leverage its more than 40-years of engineering, design and manufacturing experience in the industry as well as over 3,000 patents in collaboration with its partners assets to pursue new OLED functionality. That will include efforts from the South Korean Semiconductor manufacturing company to standardize and discover new innovations in the IoT and automotive sectors. The first of the partnerships wont focus solely on smartphones Advertisement The first of the those unveiled by MagnaChip is a tie-up with widely-popular IC design house ELAN Microelectronics. Citing various market reports predicting that as many as half of all smartphones will feature OLED panels by 2021, MagnaChip indicates that the collaboration will be wide-reaching and comprehensive. The companies expect to utilize their combined assets and high demand for key applications to aid in that growth. Efforts will center around everything from smartphones and other mobile devices such as tablets to navigation and infotainment systems as well as brake light and interior lighting systems in the automotive sector. In effect, the companies hope to address what they view as a shortage of implementation of the richer, battery-efficient flexible OLED panels across the IoT spectrum. Simultaneously, the companies hope to address cost barriers to including the panels in a wider diversity of products. Stylus support appears to be a primary focus here and, for MagnaChip, the team-up represents an opportunity to not only address higher demand for stylus input on screens across the board thanks largely to ELANs existing support for pen protocols set in place by Microsoft, Wacom, and Huawei. It will also allow the company to improve its OLED DDIC components and their use, setting and creating new de facto industry standard solutions. Advertisement That includes those required to enable unspecified new enhanced features and uses for the technology. What does this mean for users? For now, fine details on the partnerships are slim and those that are available are relatively vaguely stated. At the heart of the matter, MagnaChip seems poised to drive rampant growth for the IoT industries in which it has already played a key role. Summarily, thats by joining with companies that would ordinarily be customers or that build complementary parts in the modern display puzzle. Advertisement MagnaChips DDIC components typically reside under the hood with display panels, driving the diverse functionality seen in many modern flagships and other gadgets. ELAN Microelectronics rounds out the equation as a touchpad and touchscreen stylus IC developer. Put simply, the partnerships wont automatically provide any immediate result to consumers since the activity is predominantly taking place in the hardware segment of the supply chain. That wont necessarily remain true moving forward since joining with other leaders in the industry should help bolster innovation in development. Through the partnerships, MagnaChip will be better placed to meet the needs of those other companies with its own solutions and collaboration can be undertaken on as-yet-unseen solutions too. In the long run, that should equate to more new user-facing display-based features and more cost-effective generations of current features across a much larger array of gadgets. The first Redmi-branded smartphone powered by Qualcomms Snapdragon 855 chipset will not have a pop-up camera, according to GizmoChina citing the brands new CEO, Lu Weibing, who reportedly debunked the rumor in a recent post on the Chinese social network Weibo. Moreover, the source claims that the recently-leaked render supposed to reflect the flagships design is fake, which means that the flagships exterior remains shrouded in mystery, at least for the most part. The phone should have a full-screen approach Although the previous render showcasing a pop-up camera is reportedly fake, it seems to have gotten one particular design detail right, namely the full-screen design. According to the source, Redmis Snapdragon 855-powered device has been captured on camera once before in a photo featuring Xiaomis Lei Jun testing another notched smartphone image embedded below. Advertisement The same photo also incidentally captured a couple of devices in the background, of which the one sporting a red paint finish is supposed to be the mysterious upcoming Redmi flagship. It doesnt seem to have any display notches or cutouts but features a full-screen design with minimal bezels all around. The selfie conundrum Its understandable why some industry watchers may have concluded that the Snapdragon 855-powered Redmi flagship will have a pop-up camera particularly given the flagships alleged full-screen approach, but if the front-facing sensor is not motorized as initially suspected then the question remains: how will the device handle selfies? Advertisement So far, flagships aiming to push the display boundaries to new limits have done so either by employing a notch or display cutout for the front-facing camera similar to Redmis own Note 7 Pro introduced last month or the Samsung Galaxy S10. Another solution employed by some OEMs came in the form of a motorized pop-up camera or a more intricate slider form factor defining the smartphones entire design. In rarer cases, OEMs like ZTE went as far as equipping their full-screen smartphones with a secondary rear-facing display, thus allowing users to capture selfies using the rear-facing cameras with the help of the secondary panel doubling as a viewfinder. But judging by the information made available so far, the upcoming Redmi flagship wont have a display notch or cutout, and wont make use of a pop-up camera. Its unlikely to be as excessive as the dual-screen Nubia X, so could this mean that the device will have a slider form factor? Theres no way to be sure as of this writing, but the only other explanation would be that Redmi has somehow solved the technical difficulties surrounding in-display front-facing cameras and its flagship could be amongst the first in the industry to boast this feature. Advertisement With no official word on how the device will solve this selfie conundrum, these are only speculations and only time will tell how the flagship will shape up. It remains to be seen when Xiaomis Redmi will be ready to introduce its Snapdragon 855 flagship to the world but more design details are bound to emerge ahead of the smartphones release, whether it will take place in the first or the second half of 2019. Samsung introduced its new Galaxy A smartphone series in Poland earlier today. The announcement revolves around several models which have been launched previously in other markets, while at the same time marking the OEMs first official acknowledgment of the Galaxy A20e model which made it in the headlines before through various leaks, rumors, and a premature listing on Samsungs own UK portal. Now the Samsung Galaxy A20e is as official as it can be, and unsurprising given the moniker, the device can be described in a few words as a smaller version of the fully-fledged Galaxy A20. The unit resides in the lower mid-range segment which is fitting for its moniker, particularly given that the Galaxy J series has been phased out. Similar specs, smaller package Advertisement The Samsung Galaxy A20e follows a philosophy similar to the Galaxy S10e flagship. It is to the Galaxy A20 what the S10e represents for the standard Galaxy S10, i.e., a smaller device with little-to-no shortcuts in terms of features. Compared to the standard variant which is equipped with a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display, the Samsung Galaxy A20e has a smaller 5.8-inch TFT panel but retains the same 19:5:9 aspect ratio and 1,560720 resolution. Given the smaller footprint, the Galaxy A20e also relies on a smaller 3,000mAh battery as opposed to a 4,000mAh unit, but once again no other shortcuts have been taken and likewise, the 3,000mAh package supports 15W fast charging. Advertisement The Samsung Galaxy A20e has a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner and makes use of the octa-core Exynos 7884 chipset developed in-house, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal memory expandable via microSD by up to an additional 512GB. The smartphones rear panel accommodates the same camera configuration as its sibling, namely a 13-megapixel shooter coupled with a secondary wide-angle 5-megapixel sensor, while the Infinity-U display and its U-shaped notch houses an 8-megapixel selfie shooter with an f/2.0 aperture. As for the exterior design, the Samsung Galaxy A20e looks identical to the Galaxy A20 except for the obvious smaller footprint. Otherwise, both phones share the same DNA and unlike other models in the series including the Galaxy A40 and higher most of which are based on the so-called 3D Glasstic design language the lower-end A20e is based on a plastic unibody. Advertisement Responding to the needs of European consumers Samsung hasnt revealed any exact launch details pertaining to the Galaxy A20e but interestingly enough, the OEM stated that the device along with the Galaxy A40 has been created specifically to meet the needs of European customers who tend to gravitate towards smaller screens. This could very well mean that the Samsung Galaxy A20e will remain exclusive to the European market, but then again this isnt the case for the Galaxy S10e flagship so regardless of the reasons why the device was created in the first place, it may still become available in other market regions outside the Old Continent. Advertisement So far the Galaxy A20e has been confirmed to hit the shelves in black and white flavors but pricing is unknown. The full-sized Galaxy A20 launched in Russia for 13,990 Rubble or the equivalent of just under 200, and its logical to assume that the smaller Galaxy A20e will have an even lower price tag once it hits the shelves in Europe. Only time will tell if the model will expand its reaches and launch in the U.S through carrier support or unlocked. The story of Xiaomi flagship Android smartphones started way back in 2011, when the company announced the Xiaomi Mi 1. Over the years, Xiaomi had introduced quite a few devices, but were here to focus on the companys primary Mi flagship lineup of smartphones, not including the Mi Note and Mi MIX devices that were introduced at some point in time. To this day, Xiaomi introduced quite a few major flagship smartphones, some of which shipped in more than one variant, which is also something well mention here. Down below, you will find a breakdown of every single one of those Mi flagships, and it is also worth noting that the article will be updated when new phones get announced. The design of Xiaomis phones changed quite a bit over the years, and the same happened with specifications, needless to say. Xiaomi Mi 1 Advertisement The Xiaomi Mi 1 was announced back in August 2011 (it was rebranded to Mi 1S a year later, for different markets), and as pretty much every phone from that point in time, it sported rather noticeable bezels. The phone itself is not all that big, at all, as it sports a 4-inch display. The device includes three navigation keys below the display, the Mi logo above the display, and a single 8-megapixel camera on its back. A 2-megapixel camera is included on the phones front side. The Xiaomi Mi 1 is fueled by the Snapdragon S3 dual-core processor from Qualcomm, and the device includes 1GB of RAM. The Xiaomi Mi 1 came with 4GB of RAM, and a 1,930mAh battery. The phone was priced at 1,999 Yuan ($310) at launch, and it took Xiaomi two months to bring it to market in China, it was available for pre-order in August, but it didnt ship out to consumers until October. Xiaomi Mi 2 Advertisement The Xiaomi Mi 2 arrived in the same month as the Mi 1S, but the Mi 2 was a full-fledged successor to the Mi 1. This handset also includes capacitive navigation buttons below the display, but its bezels are thinner than the ones on the Mi 1. The Xiaomi Mi 2 was the very first smartphone to ship with the Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor by Qualcomm, and the device features a 4.3-inch HD (1280 x 720) display, which is also an improvement over the Mi 1. The Xiaomi Mi 2 comes with 2GB of RAM and 16GB / 32GB of storage, while expansion via a microSD card is not available. An 8-megapixel camera is included on the back of this smartphone, while a single 2-megapixel unit is placed on its front side. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean came pre-installed to the device, along with MIUI 5 skin from Xiaomi. The device includes a 2,000mAh battery, which is removable. Xiaomi Mi 3 Advertisement The Xiaomi Mi 3 was announced about a year after the Mi 2, in September 2013, while it was released in December that same year. The Xiaomi Mi 3 offers a somewhat different design compared to the Mi 2, it is noticeably boxier. The phone still features capacitive navigation buttons, but its bottom bezel is considerably thinner compared to the Mi 2. The companys logo is placed above the display, and speaking of which, the Mi 3s display is considerably larger compared to the Mi 2s. The Xiaomi Mi 3 features a 5-inch fullHD (1920 x 1080) LCD display, while the phone itself is made out of plastic, just like its predecessor. The device is fueled by the Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, while it comes with 2GB of RAM and 16GB / 64GB of non-expandable storage. A 13-megapixel camera is placed on the back of this phone, while a 2-megapixel camera is included on the devices front side. This handset features a 3,050mAh non-removable battery, which was considered to be quite large at the time. The device shipped with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, and MIUI 5. Xiaomi Mi 4 Advertisement The Xiaomi Mi 4 got announced in July 2014, sooner than expected, as it arrived only 10 months after the Mi 3. The Xiaomi Mi 4 is less boxy than the Mi 3, and it offers a set of navigation keys just like its predecessor. The Mi 4 includes a display of the same size as the Mi 3, and the resolution is also identical, the phone sports a 5-inch fullHD LCD display. Android 4.4.3 KitKat comes pre-installed on this device, with Xiaomis MIUI skin. The Xiaomi Mi 4 is fueled by the Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor by Qualcomm, and that SoC is not a huge step forward compared to the Snapdragon 800, but it was a solid processor back then. The phone arrived in both 2GB and 3GB RAM variants, with 16GB and 64GB of storage, respectively. A 13-megapixel camera is included on the back of this phone, an 8-megapixel camera is placed on the front, while the device includes a 3,080mAh battery. The Xiaomi Mi 4i and Mi 4c were also announced, but those were mid-range phones. Xiaomi Mi 5 Advertisement The Xiaomi Mi 5 was the first flagship in this series of smartphones to offer a glass back, and it was announced in February 2016. The phone includes a curved back side, while it also sports a fingerprint scanner on the front. Two capacitive keys flank that fingerprint scanner / home button, while the phone looks like a considerable improvement of the Mi 4 in terms of the design. The device also includes a frame made out of metal. The Xiaomi Mi 5 features a 5.15-inch fullHD (1920 x 1080) display, 3GB / 4GB of RAM and 32GB / 64GB / 128GB of non-expandable storage. The phone is fueled by the Snapdragon 820 octa-core processor, and it ships with Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box. A 16-megapixel camera is included on the back of this phone, while a 4-megapixel unit is placed on its front side. This phone ships with a 3,000mAh non-removable battery, while its backplate is easily removable and replaceable. The Xiaomi Mi 5s arrived in September 2016, and it is an improvement over the Mi 5, but not a major new release, thats for sure. This handset is fueled by the Snapdragon 821, and it includes the same display as the Mi 5. The device arrived in both 3GB and 4GB RAM variants, while it is made out of metal, and it looks somewhat different compared to the Mi 5. Advertisement Xiaomi Mi 6 The Xiaomi Mi 6 represents an evolution of the Mi 5s design, it was announced in April 2017. The Mi 6 is considerably heavier than its predecessor, and instead of a physical home key, it includes a capacitive one, which doubles as a fingerprint scanner. This phone also comes with two capacitive keys on each side of the home key, and it was the first phone in the series to sport two rear-facing cameras. The phone is made out of metal and glass, just like its predecessor. The Xiaomi Mi 6 comes with Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box, while it is fueled by the Snapdragon 835 octa-core processor. The phone sports 4GB / 6GB of RAM and 64GB / 128GB of storage. Two 12-megapixel cameras are included on the back, while the phone sports a single 8-megapixel unit on the front. The Mi 6 includes stereo speakers, while a non-removable 3,350mAh battery is also a part of the package. Advertisement Xiaomi Mi 8 Xiaomi has decided to skip the Xiaomi Mi 7 naming, and it jumped from the Mi 6 straight to the Mi 8 in May of 2018, when the phone got announced. The Xiaomi Mi 8 is a huge change compared to the Mi 6, it is a lot larger than the Mi 6, not to mention that it comes with a rather noticeable notch at the top of the display. The phone is made out of metal, and it sports considerably thinner bezels than the Mi 6. The Xiaomi Mi 8 includes two vertically-aligned cameras on the back, and it got announced in the Mi 8, Mi 8 Pro, Mi 8 SE, and Mi 8 Explorer Edition variants. Only the Mi 8 SE is not a flagship-grade phone, though. The Xiaomi Mi 8 features a 6.21-inch fullHD+ (2248 x 1080) Super AMOLED display, and is also the first phone in the series to offer an OLED panel. The phone is fueled by the Snapdragon 845 octa-core processor, and it includes 6GB / 8GB of RAM. The phone arrived in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB storage variants, while it does not offer microSD expansion. Two 12-megapixel cameras are included on the back of this phone, while a single 20-megapixel unit is available on the front. A 3,400mAh non-removable battery is also a part of the package, while the phone shipped with Android 8.1 Oreo and Xiaomis MIUI skin back when it launched. Xiaomi Mi 9 The Xiaomi Mi 9 is made out of metal and glass, like the Mi 8, but the device offers a somewhat different in-hand feel. The Mi 9 is arguably a much more appealing device than the Mi 8 in terms of the design, as it replaces the Mi 8s huge notch with a tiny, teardrop notch. The bottom bezel is extremely thin, and the phone offers a rather high screen-to-body ratio. This handset includes an in-display fingerprint scanner, and three rear-facing cameras, which make it the first phone in the series to offer three rear-facing cameras. The Xiaomi Mi 9 sports a 6.39-inch fullHD+ (2340 x 1080) Super AMOLED display, 6GB / 8GB of RAM and 64GB / 128GB of non-expandable storage. The phone is fueled by the Snapdragon 855 octa-core processor, while 48, 16, and 12-megapixel cameras are placed on its back. A single 20-megapixel unit is included on the phones front side, while the phone came with a 3,300mAh non-removable battery, and 27W fast wired charging. The device also includes 20W fast wireless charging, while Android 9 Pie comes pre-installed on it, with MIUI 10. Are you lost in the wild? Sorry, but the page you're looking for has not been found Try checking the URL for errors, goto home or try to search below. The best bang for your buck! This option enables you to purchase online 24/7 access and receive the Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday print edition at no additional cost * Print edition only available in our carrier delivery area. Allow up to 72 hours for delivery of your print edition to begin. Print edition not available for Day Pass option. Marysville, CA (95901) Today Rain likely. Becoming windy in the afternoon. High 47F. Winds SSE at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.. Tonight Windy with a steady rain this evening. Showers continuing overnight. Low 44F. Winds SSE at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch. Founded in 1987 as a private repatriation club flying helicopters, FAI moved into business jet flying two years later. Today, it also has offices in Dubai. Over the past three decades, Nuremberg-based FAI has grown its fixed wing fleet from a single Citation 500 and two rescue helicopters (Eurocopter AS 350 and Airbus BK 117) to become Germanys largest business jet operator with 25 jets and over 13,500 hours logged in 2018. FAIs air ambulance business has grown too and today FAI is a global market leader in air ambulance patient transport by jet aircraft, having logged more than 200,000 total hours of ambulance missions inside 30 years. Siegfried Axtmann, FAI Aviation Group Founder and chairman, said: Reaching 30 years is a great achievement for our company and I am very proud of how far we have come. The companys growth and success is testament to our commitment to safety, service and continued investment. It also highlights the importance of our tremendous team of people, now 200-strong, who have made our business what it is today. I look forward to continuing to grow our business to meet the needs of our customers. Endorsing FAIs success Jeffrey Emmenis, founding partner of Switzerland-based Vertis Aviation, adds: We value responsiveness, dependability and knowledge. As an operator that strives to deliver the same high quality of standards consistently as we do, FAI is one of our go-to operators. Siegfried and his team have been consistently supportive of our business and remain the consummate professionals. We salute them on their 30-year anniversary and look forward to working with them in decades to come. Irena Deville, managing director EMEA of AVIAA added: In its 30 years of operation, FAI has grown into and firmly established itself as an operator that always strives to do better operationally, commercially and financially. It is no surprise they saw AVIAAs potential early on and we are extremely proud to be working with the forward thinking, energetic FAI team. Last year, the company was further strengthened by a significant minority stake investment by Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company (Mumtalakat), the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Bahrain, further opening up the Middle East market. Siegfried Axtmann, FAI Aviation Group Founder and chairman A new survey from MTV Entertainment Group and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found 46% of Americans in Generation Z, those age 13 to 24, said the pandemic has made it harder to pursue their education or career goals, compared to 36% of Millennials and 31% of Generation X. Have you experienced similar negative impacts from the pandemic? You voted: The sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now. Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market. In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender. India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex. Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted. But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted? Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner. If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems. I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now. I want more variation in masturbation I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own. If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end. What is sex toys for Indian? Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation. It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms. They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable. Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner. The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner. It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past. In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping. Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order. In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing. Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome. Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own. But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance. More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around. Sextoy situation in India Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years. In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India. Mumbai Kolkata Bangalore Delhi Chennai Hyderabad These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India. In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well. If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too. If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it. What are Sextoys for beginner? Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms. Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy. I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion. I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy. If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma. Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it. Advantages of using sextoy for Indians There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways. Can have stimulating sex Can develop new sexual zones If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern. However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways. You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation. Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever. There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure. This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it. When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems. It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms). For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles [Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou... Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India. Sextoy for beginner men in India So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners. For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men! The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men Masturbator Cock rings Love Doll Sex Lubricants Toys for the prostate Lets check each one in detail. Masturbator The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products. It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands. Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands. They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.) Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much. Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! ! Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa SEXToys India PR (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018 Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood. If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ... [For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien... Cock Ring A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis. It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow. It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber. In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection. Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction. It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it. Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time. Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function. Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy. You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect. [Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat... Love Doll Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex. There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women. Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price. The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true. You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste. There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice. You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls. If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here Thorough explanation of the charm of sex dolls! Have you ever heard of sex dolls that are used primarily for pseudo-sex purposes? It is a doll that is quite close to... Sex lubricants Sex lubricants are used as a substitute for lubricating fluid during sex or as a lubricant for men to use masturbator rules. It is not uncommon for women to have difficulty getting wet, depending on their physical condition, or to have difficulty getting wet due to their constitution. Forcing the penis into the vagina at such times can cause painful intercourse. There are various types of Sex Lubricants, some with a warming effect, some with a cooling effect, and some with a scent. Changing the Sex Lubricant used during play is recommended as a good sex accent. If you want to learn more about Sex Lubricants, click here. What is sex lubricant?Explain the difference and usage of each ingredient The word "sex toy" may seem like a hurdle to overcome, but lotion is actually one of the most familiar sex toys. Many... Toys for the Prostate Another sextoy for men is prostate toys. The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line. Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men. Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men. What is the prostate? The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm. You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus. By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms. Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.) The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation. Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure. sextoy for beinner women in India The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy. The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy. Vibrator. Dildo Electric Masserger Lets check out what each one is in detail. If you want to check out womens toys, click here. [BEST25]Sex Toys for Women in IndiaThat Can Help You Have an Orgasm There are many women who pretend to feel orgasm during sex. But don't worry, you don't have to pretend to feel orgasm... Vibrators A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator. Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy. It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy. Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women. For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators. Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex. Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself. This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual. Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men. When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons. Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most... Dildo A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis. It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass. A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it. They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well. It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device. A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo. Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands. For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis. This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one. To learn more about dildo, please click here. What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th... Electric Masserger A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores. It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low. Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels. Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation. It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure. For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm. It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out. If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager? To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here. What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th... How to choose a sextoy for Indian Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one. Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points: Does the size fit you (the partner)? Does the size fit you (your partner)? Is the environment able to produce sound without problems? Price range First of all, the choice of size is quite important. Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women. For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage. Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems. Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise. If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level. Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it. Finally, there is the price range. The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest. Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy. Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy? I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance. For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics. If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out. How to buy sextoys in India The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping. For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below. Sextoy is one of them. Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping. SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India. They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry. Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card. To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy. ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal. Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on. Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture. Cautions for Indians using sextoy When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind Keep sex toys clean Watch out for electrical leakage Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone. Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there. It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case. In addition, many sextoy devices are powered by a power source, so if they are not waterproof, there is a possibility of electric shock or malfunction due to wetness. Some may even develop heat during continuous use. If the fever becomes too much, you may get burned, so be careful. If you get a fever during use, stop driving the sextoy immediately and refrain from using it. You will enjoy sex more if you keep it safe and use it correctly. Summary What did you think? In this article, we have introduced the recommended sextoy for the beginners of sextoy in India. The sextoy market is growing rapidly in India and it will continue to grow steadily in the future. As India is a rather closed-minded country, it can be difficult to be open about ones sexual habits and values. However, being faithful to ones desires by properly dissolving ones sexual desire is very effective for ones physical and mental health. If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try? Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women. I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it. Large global coking coal miners are achieving Ebitda ranging from $70-100/MT. Kolkata: There is an apparent decoupling between coking coal and steel prices in the recent past. While steel prices have weakened from the CY 2018 highs, thanks mostly to an increasing trade tensions and a slower pace of global economic growth, coking coal prices have not followed suit. In fact, they remained at elevated levels, nibbling at the margins of steelmakers. However, if what the latest ICRA report is anything to go by, this apparent decoupling is not likely to sustain over a longer timeframe. At prevailing prices, some large global coking coal miners are achieving Ebitda ranging from $70-100/MT of coal sold which comes close to the Ebitda levels achieved by some large integrated global steel players. Supported by the high profit levels of miners, capital spending in expansion projects is expected to pick-up. "A natural corollary of high coal prices is supply response from miners. We have seen this happen in CY2018, when Australian coking coal exports increased year on year by 5 million tonne, supported by buoyant steel and coking coal prices. This trend of rising exports from Australia is likely to continue in CY2019 as well. We expect coking coal supplies from some of the major exporting nations like Australia, Indonesia, Mozambique, South Africa, and Canada to increase by over 10 million tonne in CY2019," said Jayanta Roy, Senior VP and Group Head - Corporate Sector Ratings, ICRA. Superstar shared the teaser on Twitter and wished his fans Happy Ugadi. Mumbai: Superstar Mahesh Babu is leaving no stone unturned to amp the excitement of his fans for the upcoming film Maharshi. After sharing teasers and posters, the film now reveals to have three distinct looks of the actor. The two looks of Rishi as a swanky entrepreneur and other as an angry young man has got his fans excited to get a peek into the third look. After the remarkable performance as Chief Minister in Bharat Ane Nenu, he slips into the characters of a charming college boy and a dapper businessman and another surprise attire for his next. Superstar shared the teaser on Twitter and wished his fans Happy Ugadi. The actor had promised to release the most awaited teaser of his film Maharshi for his fans, making their Ugadi even more special. The teaser got the attention of his fans and crossed millions of likes within minutes of its release. Actor Mahesh Babu's fanbase knows no bounds, nationally as well as internationally, carving a niche for himself. The actor has created an immense buzz for his upcoming film across India, as his films are not only viewed in metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai but also in Punjab. The first look and teaser of Maharshi released on his birthday and it received an exceptional response from the masses, the film is slated to release in April 2019. Meanwhile, Bhojpuri actor-producer Sudip Pandey has also announced a film on the life of Kaushik called Black Tiger. Indian filmmakers with a penchant to do spy stories are cashing in on the life story of the spy Ravindra Kaushik. While Ek Tha Tiger was loosely based on his life story, the latest release Romeo Akbar Walter too touches on stories similar to Kaushiks escapades. But, the new Arjun Kapoor film has finally acknowledged the presence of the man as not just as an Indian citizen but also promises to tell his real-life story with due credits. Directed by Raj Kumar Gupta, it will be called Ravindra Kaushik: The Black Tiger. Filmmakers here dont want to part with any royalty or for that matter acknowledge the sources from where they derive their inspiration. Unlike others, Raj Kumar Gupta and his company Raapchik Films Pvt Ltd have given Kaushiks name in the title of the film as well, informs a source from the Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association (IMPPA) where Gupta registered the title last week. Ravindra Kaushik, a theatre actor who was good with his different get-ups was allegedly hired by the RAW to infiltrate into Pakistan. Administered circumcision to pass off as a Pakistani Muslim, the actor went on to be a double agent and was later arrested and died in Pakistani custody. He was given the title Black Tiger by former home minister SB Chavan even though the Indian government had disowned him. Meanwhile, Bhojpuri actor-producer Sudip Pandey has also announced a film on the life of Kaushik called Black Tiger. Interestingly, while Kaushik was an actor who turned into a spy at the age of 23, Indian actors are now turning into a spy at his expense. Sanskriti Media The raids took place at about 15 to 20 locations, triggering widespread condemnation and protests by the leaders of the ruling coalition. The BJP accused the chief minister of leaking the information about the raids beforehand, thereby violating the oath of secrecy taken at the time of assuming office. (Photo: File) Bengaluru: The income tax department has written to the Chief Electoral Officer seeking legal action against Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and a host of his cabinet colleagues for allegedly intimidating tax officers and obstructing them from discharging duties, sources said Tuesday. The chief minister, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, and host of other state ministers along with their supporters had staged a demonstration near the income tax office on March 28, accusing the Centre of using central agencies, such and income tax department, enforcement directorate and CBI, to intimidate the opposition. The protests took place when tax raids were in progress across the state. In his letter, dated April 5, Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (Goa-Karnataka region) B R Balakrishnan said, Reports in electronic media depict that the protest was led by chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, Ministers D K Shivakumar and S R Mahesh, former home minister Ramalinga Reddy, Dinesh Gundu Rao, MLA and KPCC president. This was followed by specific statements including personal allegations against the director general of income tax by Ministers H D Revanna and C S Puttaraju. The voluntary and disruptive actions of people holding high offices obstructed public servants from discharging their public functions, wrote Balakrishnan, adding that the protests aimed at derailing the ongoing search proceedings against the contractors and engineers and causing damage to the reputation of the personnel of the department. Balakrishnan, stated in his letter, that when people holding high public offices including constitutional posts, make false statements and instigate and involve in criminal activities with the purpose of adversely affecting the process of the law and preventing government officials form discharging their duties, such activities and statements criminally intimidate and harm the personnel of the department with greater intensity. The income tax official demanded cases should be registered against all those who took part in the protests for unlawful assembly, intentional insult, breach of peace, statements conducing to public mischief, criminal intimidation, obstructing public servant from discharging their duties and threat of injury to public servant under IPC sections 143, 504, 505, 506, 186 and 189. The raids since March 28 fetched unaccounted cash of Rs 8.14 crore and unaccounted jewellery worth Rs 1.69 crore, the department stated in the letter adding that no MLA, MLC or minister was searched in the said proceedings. A day prior to the raids, the chief minister had expressed his apprehensions that income tax raids on Congress and JD(S) leaders and ministers were in the offing, which he called the politics of vendetta of the Centre. The raids took place at about 15 to 20 locations, triggering widespread condemnation and protests by the leaders of the ruling coalition. Minister Puttaraju had claimed that his house in Mandya and his nephews house in Mysuru were among those raided by the I-T officials. The BJP accused the chief minister of leaking the information about the raids beforehand, thereby violating the oath of secrecy taken at the time of assuming office. A bench headed by Chief Justice Rajan Gogoi said it is not inclined to enlarge Yadav on bail in the cases. The bench rejected Yadav's arguments that he has been in jail for 24 months, saying in comparison to the 14-year sentence awarded to him, 24 months was nothing. (Photo: File) New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the bail plea of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav in multi-crore fodder scam cases. A bench headed by Chief Justice Rajan Gogoi said it is not inclined to enlarge Yadav on bail in the cases. The bench rejected Yadav's arguments that he has been in jail for 24 months, saying in comparison to the 14-year sentence awarded to him 24 months was nothing. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Yadav, said there were no recoveries and no demand and the only major offence under which he was convicted was conspiracy. The bench said merits of the case will be decided by the high court. "At present, we are only hearing the bail appeal," it said. The CBI had yesterday vehemently opposed in the apex court the bail plea of Yadav, saying the ailing leader suddenly claimed to be "fully fit" to undertake political activities in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Yadav, who has been in hospital instead of jail for last over eight months, had sought bail on medical grounds and for leading his party simultaneously, the CBI had said while arguing that granting of bail to him would set "very wrong precedent" in cases involving "serious corruption in high offices". Accusing Yadav of undertaking political activities from a hospital in Ranchi, the probe agency had said: "Simultaneous raising of pleas for bail on medical grounds and bail to guide the party and to carry out all essential responsibilities as a party president in ensuing Lok Sabha election are mutually contradictory and manifests that in the garb of bail on medical ground the petitioner in essence wants to pursue his political activities which is impermissible in law." The agency, in its response filed to Yadav's bail plea, had referred to the high-profile political leaders who have visited him in hospital in last few months including Ahmed Patel, D Raja, Derek O' Brien, Sharad Yadav and Hemant Soren. The convicted person occupied the constitutional office of the Chief Minister of one of the largest states in the country and has been held guilty of "misappropriation of Rs 75.48 crores in four fodder scam cases" and is still undergoing trial in two cases for misappropriation of Rs 139.45 crore, it had said, adding Yadav may influence the trial in the two pending cases. The RJD chief, lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi, had challenged the January 10 verdict of the Jharkhand High Court dismissing his bail plea. The three cases in which Prasad has been convicted are related to the over-Rs 900-crore fodder scam, which pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of money from the treasuries in the Animal Husbandry department in the early 1990s, when Jharkhand was part of Bihar. The RJD was in power in Bihar with Prasad as the chief minister when the scam had allegedly taken place. In the high court, the RJD supremo cited old age and poor health for grant of bail. Yadav (71) said he was suffering from diabetes, blood pressure and other ailments and that he had already obtained bail in one of the fodder scam cases. He has been convicted for fraudulent withdrawal of money from the Deoghar, Dumka and two Chaibasa treasuries situated in Jharkhand. He is currently facing trial in another fodder scam case pertaining to the Doranda treasury and has been undergoing treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) at Ranchi for the last few months. China was the only nation then that did not back the proposal, much to Indias disappointment. New Delhi: In what could turn out to be a huge diplomatic success for New Delhi, there are strong indications that China may finally reverse its stand and vote in favour of the United Nations designation of Pakistan-based terrorist and Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist sometime next month. The Indian and Chinese governments are in touch on the matter and there is great optimism, well-placed sources told this newspaper on Wednesday. The move is likely to give a strong boost to Sino-Indian relations and strengthen the Wuhan spirit between the two nations, a reference to the informal summit at the central Chinese city of Wuhan last year between the top leadership of the two countries. If Azhar is designated as a global terrorist next month by the UN, it will come as a huge boost to Indias position and is expected to further increase pressure on Pakistan to take action against terrorists operating from its soil. It may be recalled that China had last month placed a technical hold on the proposal that had been moved at the UN Security Council by the United States, Britain and France. It may also be recalled that the proposal had been backed by 14 out of 15 UNSC members. China was the only nation then that did not back the proposal, much to Indias disappointment. Despite Indias efforts to convince it, China has been steadfast in blocking the proposal at the UNSC in an action seen as support for its all-weather friend Pakistan. JeM had masterminded the Pulwama terror attack on February 14 that had brought India and Pakistan to the brink of an all-out conflict in Februarys last week. India had demanded in February that all members of the international community support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council. The designation of Azhar as a global terrorist, as and when it happens, will reportedly lead to a global financial assets freeze against him and also a travel ban. China too appears to have veered around to the realisation that continued blocking of the designation of Azhar as a global terrorist will hurt its image as there is a near-consensus globally for action against such terrorists. Beijing has also been realising that Sino-Indian relations will be hit badly unless it changes its stand. The expected reversal of the Chinese position next month could also be a strong signal to Islamabad that it has to take action against terrorism. In the past month, there had been two strong indications that India had not given up on China. Top Indian government sources had said on March 16 that despite its disappointment, India would show patience with China. The next day, on March 17, in words that were extremely encouraging for India, Chinese ambassador Luo Zhaohui had expressed confidence that the issue would be resolved, adding that China had only put a technical hold and that there would be further consultations. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had pointed out last month that the proposal to list Azhar as a global terrorist was first moved at the UN in 2009 by India then under the UPA government as a lone proposer, adding that in 2019, under the NDA government, India now has worldwide support. The proposal had been mooted four times in the past decade, but could not go through in the face of Chinese opposition. Malik has been shifted to the Tihar jail now. New Delhi: The NIA on Wednesday arrested Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik in connection with a case of terror funding lodged by the agency sometime back. Malik was bro-ught to the capital late on Tuesday evening following directions of the special NIA court in Jammu which allowed his custodial interrogation by NIA. Malik has been shifted to the Tihar jail now. He was earlier in February taken into preventive custody by the J&K police and shifted to Jammus Kot Balwal jail. JKLF was banned by the home ministry and the organisation is also facing two CBI cases. These cases are related to the kidnapping of Rubaiya Sae-ed, daughter of then Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sa-yeed, in 1989, and the killing of four IAF personnel in 1990. The NIA had lodged a separate case in May 2017 against some separatist leaders, including unkno-wn members of the Hurriyat Conference, along with some terrorist organisations Hizbul Mujahi-deen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, LeT and other outfits and groups. Touching upon the national security, Modi also attacked Congress leaders supporting those who want to separate J&K from India. Taking a dig at the 'corrupt' character of the Congress, Modi alleged that another scam has been added to the list of the party. (Photo: ANI) Junagarh: Advertising the work done by the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) in the last five years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi affirmed that people were proud of him for giving a corruption-free regime to India. Addressing a political rally in Junagarh, Gujarat, on Wednesday, Modi said, "I have come here to give an account of the work done in five years... I have come here to take your order for the next five years... Are you proud of the work done by your son, this chowkidar?" On national security, Modi attacked Congress leaders for supporting those who want a separate Jammu and Kashmir and a separate Prime Minister for them. Taking a dig at the "corrupt nature" of the Congress, Modi alleged that another scam had been added to the list. "A new scam, along with evidence, has been added to the account of Congress leaders -- the Tughlaq Road Chunavi Ghotala," Modi said. Modi accused the Congress of looting money meant for the poor and pregnant women. "First, Karnataka was an ATM for the Congress, now MP has also become an ATM," he said. Following the same tone, Union Minister Finance Minister Arun Jaitely attacked Opposition for calling any action against corruption as political vendetta. It has become a growing culture of opposition parties to call any action against corruption as political vendetta. Legitimate action against corruption is no vendetta as claim of vendetta has never been a legitimate defence in corruption. Chowkidar Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) April 10, 2019 In the blog titled, ''Legitimate action against corruption is not vendetta," Jaitely lashed out at the most promising scheme of the Congress. "This is the hypocrisy of Indian politics. After inflicting injustice they have the audacity to speak of Nyay," Jaitely wrote in the blog. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. The world is apparently set to run out of food by 2050 if we dont cut down on meats. Over the years, major studies have repeatedly warned that there needs to be massive reduction of meat-eating to avoid the dangers of climate change. This means we have to get used to the concept of vegan meats and insect protein. While the West has woken up to the idea already, India is still largely unaware of the terms or even the extent of the food crisis facing the world. Seema Singh, chief clinical nutritionist at Fortis Hospital in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, says, It is in our interest, however, that we wake up to the trend, especially as these foods are likely to be on our plates sooner than we anticipate, she says. In January, a report published in the British medical journal The Lancet wrote that meat consumption around the world needed to drop by 50 per cent if we are to tackle the food crisis. Warning signs! The World Economic Forum recently explained that the global population is expected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050, which will put our food supplies under a lot of stress. The demand will be 60 per cent higher than it is at present, but factors such as climate change, rapid urbanisation and soil degradation means that the availability of arable land would have shrunk. The meat industry is one of the primary contributors to food shortages as raising animals for food requires massive amounts of water, energy and land, explains PETA India. For example, scientists estimate that animals need up to 10 kilograms of grain to produce only one kilogram of meat. Moreover, animals raised for food can produce up to 20 per cent of toxic gases such as ammonia and methane worldwide contributing to climate change, a separate report by US environmental research organisation Worldwatch Institute says. Says Seema Singh, The food crisis in India is real as agricultural lands are also rapidly giving way to urbanisation. The lack of proper income is also forcing farmers to quit working on their fields and head to cities. The same scenario is prevalent within the cattle rearing communities and this kind of imbalance is bound to have an effect on all of us. Suitable substitutes Commonly used meat substitutes can include tofu, vegan meat, gluten-free, textured vegetable protein, mushrooms, jackfruit, lentils, beans and legumes. Interestingly, vegan foods are already widely available at almost all supermarkets, restaurants and food stores in Europe and the United States. This is because food companies have been working hard behind the scenes to experiment and improve the taste, texture and variety of meat alternatives over the last few years. And the options seem to have improved greatly, with everything from imitation shrimp to meat-free buffalo wings now available. Major food companies have been taking huge leaps. While US-based Tyson Foods, the worlds second largest meat company announced plans for its own line of plant based meats recently, Nestle, in its biggest move yet into the meat-free market, launched a new plant-based burger in Europe this week and also unveiled plans for the United States. Burger King launched its meatless Whoppers, Burger King is looking to add more non-meat items to its menu, and KFC confirmed it was testing meatless chicken for its UK customers. McDonalds has already added a soy-based McVegan burger in Sweden and Finland. This, even as Pizza Hut has vegan pizza pies on its menu in Britain. Changing Indias tastes Amit Bajaj of Vezlay Foods is confident that India will catch up, though the information around the concept has been slow. He says, We are one of the first soya product suppliers in India. We have created innovative ready-to-eat food products with the same texture as meat. Tailored to Indian taste, the product range includes soya seekh kabab, shami kabab, nuggets, soya chops, soya leg pieces, soya noodle (gluten-free) and even soya chikka. It was during his time as an MBA student in International Business in Paris in 2007 that Bajaj saw people turning vegetarian and becoming health conscious. After Paris, Bajaj shifted to London to work in research and development and saw how healthy and food conscious people were. When I came back to India in 2008, I saw every street lined with junk food. So I decided to follow my passion and started the company in 2010, he said. A 10 year old kid goes out of his way trying to save the planet. Where most will nod their heads and say impossible simply, a 10 year old kid from Assam has proven that nothing is impossible if there is zeal within oneself. The 5th standard student, Suhan Mallick has started taking care of our mother earth himself along with he has travelled all across in India to talk to influential people who can help him succeed in his dream. But this entire episode is not leaving studies. 3 years back when started learning about environment, he used to cry out loud whenever he saw someone tried to cut down a tree. But, soon he understood that only stopping people around him will not do. He dreams of India becoming greener and pollution free. Along with this aim, he also wishes to promote eco-tourism and wants people take the Save Rhinos project more seriously. Though it is not possible for him to run the campaign throughout the year, he tries to reach as many people during his summer vacation and winter vacation. Though, one might come to a conclusion thinking that he seeks fame out of the cause. All the kid has to say is, People may not take me on a serious note. But when John Abraham or Akshay Kumar or the prime minister himself speaks about the cause, people are bound to listen to them. That is the reason I want to spread awareness among them so that it is passed on to others through them. In the recently organised Rongali carnival in Guwahati, the boy took an initiative and got 500 plants from the state government and distributed them for free. People coming to the fest had plans for buying stuffs of their choice. But at the end, they couldnt neglect and crowded in front of Suhans stall to collect plants. There were even people who collected quite a few for themselves and their family and friends as well. Sajida Mallick, mother of Suhan says, We were amazed to see Suhan react aggressively as he saw getting a tree chopped down. Soon he started saying that he wanted others to feel for these plants as well.Whenever this story will be told, a lot will feel that it is only possible as he belongs from affluent family. But the surprise is still waiting. Suhans father is an Uber driver. As he has confessed, he could not think of travelling to all these places and meeting all these personas if not for his son. Whenever he felt that he wont be able to sponsor his sons trip, he did not stop supporting him. Instead, he takes loan from people whom he knows. In the meantime, the campaigner has met political heads, celebrities and other social influencers of our nation. He says his greater aim is to promote Assam as well as India as an eco-tourism hub. He has invited people to visit Assam get a taste of what is actual eco-tourism. A student of mere 10 years can understand the grave danger that is hanging upon our heads but those who feel the issue and still ignore it are the ones who better act now before it gets too late. Aditi Iyengar, 16-year-old 10th grader from Bengaluru will be giving a speech on this deadly disease at The Tibetan Childrens Village in Dharmashala. How painful it is to see someone you know with a tumor that caused death and the end-result says, the dreadful breast cancer killed the person. How painful it is to see someone you know with a tumor that caused death and the end-result says, the dreadful breast cancer killed the person. Aditi saw the trauma of her family friends mother in person. She was not aware of her condition nor of the treatment. She was not aware that these are the symptoms for breast cancer. She was not aware of the immediate treatment that she is supposed to go with. Eventually that caused the death of the person. Aditi who has seen this phase of suffering wanted spread awareness about it. She is visiting the Tibetan Village Center to conduct a speech about breast cancer awareness. Aditi Iyenger, a 16-year-old 10th grader from National Public School, HSR Layou, who is also a traveler, artist, author and photographer by passion from Bengaluru was determined in her motive to spread awareness of breast cancer. Aditi said, The social stigma regarding breast cancer amongst women is high. Firstly, women are not aware and secondly the taboo they are stuck with. I have not been able to do any campaigns but what persuaded me is the extreme percentage of deaths universally due to lack of awareness. Seeing the state of her family friends mother, observing the statistics of deaths, noticing the lack of awareness made her take this lead. Brought up in a metropolitan city, seeing the advancements and the moving generation inspired her to spread awareness in the remote areas among growing kids, illiterate women and the tribal people. She is going to give a speech and interact with the kids and women of that locality. She chose that place where there is a community in exile for the care and education of orphans and refugees from the Tibetan Childrens village. Her interest in spreading awareness made her to intern in places like Virtusa and HCG (Health Care Global Enterprises Ltd. Hospital). She says, I learned machine and deep learning which are programmes to identify cancer. My visit to a cancer hospital in Chennai, notes and information from my biology teacher and various research material is now assisting me with the speech. A file photo of students in Tibetan Childrens Village Aditis speech will focus on simple self-examination techniques, regular screening using mammograms, risk factors, primitive signs and symptoms of breast cancer. It also suggests the healing of breast cancer with early detection and treatment. The lack of awareness of this cancer, the lack of screening, low prioritisation on health care that eventually leads to the death of the victim. Though there are many survivors, it happened because of early detection. Ultimately the point is low awareness amongst women is leading to death. Preventing cancer is impossible but it can be detected therby diminishing the percentage of deaths due to breast cancer. From the early 30s, India has been recording high breast cancer incidences amongst the age groups of 50 to 64. 1 in 28 women develops cancer during her lifetime. Looking at the urban statistics, 1 in 22 women is likely to develop breast cancer during her lifetime whereas in rural areas, 1 in 60 women develops breast cancer in her lifetime. In the speech, she recommends the use of artificial intelligence through machine learning, deep learning with the help of advanced technology used in accurate prediction of the tumor. The data of these could be the test data from Fine Needle Aspiration Test or from mammogram images. Aditi adds, I will be talking about lifestyles, family history, screening and its avoidance. I will highlight various lifestyles and its factors that causes breast cancer that are avoidable. There is a high chance of cancer if there is a history of breast cancer, so it is important to get yourself screened. Avoiding exposure of radiation, encouraging breast-feeding, maintaining perfect health and avoid hormonal pills are few ways which reduce the chance of getting breast cancer. I will also highlight how Tibetan Yoga helps breast cancer patients deal with other health issues like insomnia leading to trauma. Aditi also says, My internship of 14 months helped with the necessary information. My visit to a pathology lab helped me understand the analysis, development and process of cancer. My intention is to reach out to those in remote areas and spread awareness amongst them. Creating awareness is the crucial step that helps a lot of women. I will also be reaching out to the high school girls and teachers to motivate them to spread the learnings of breast cancer amongst others. A pinch of knowledge, little insights about the cancer, little research and being aware of the technology too helps. I conclude by inspiring them saying what we are left behind with is a resolve to stay strong, stay brave, and respect ourselves, live with dignity and fight like a girl! Police have intensified patrolling in several major as well as other intersections across the national capital. The police has seized Rs 1crore from a BMW in Vasant Vihar, and arrested a bootlegger along with huge quantity of illicit liquor in Jahangirpuri area. New Delhi: Ahead of the general elections of 2019, the Delhi police is keeping a strict vigil on security and illicit flow of money and liquor. In two separate incidents, the police has seized Rs 1crore from a BMW in Vasant Vihar, and arrested a bootlegger along with huge quantity of illicit liquor in Jahangirpuri area. The Lok Sabha polls, conducted in seven phases, will begin on Thursday (April 11) and continue till May 19. Delhi will vote on May 12 and the overall results will be declared on May 23. Police have intensified patrolling in several major as well as other intersections across the national capital. On Tuesday night, the police seized Rs 1crore in cash from a BMW car in South-West Delhis Vasant Vihar area. A police team was deputed at a picket near a church on Poorvi Marg in Vasant Vihar area on Tuesday night to check vehicles carrying cash and other prohibited articles in view of the forthcoming elections, said Devendra Arya, DCP, South-West district. During checking, a BMW car was stopped and while frisking through the car, the cash amounting to Rs 1crore was found inside the car, said the DCP. Other agencies including the income tax department have been informed about the seizure, the DCP added. In a separate incident in North-West Delhis Jahangiruuri area on Tuesday night, highway motorcycles patrolling in the area intercepted a car going towards Kashmere Gate from Mukarba Chowk packed with cartoons. DCP (North-West) Vijayanta Arya said that out of suspicion the police stopped the vehicle but the driver tried to flee. However he was nabbed and was identified as Paramjeet (28), a native of Rohtak, Haryana. On checking the vehicle, 32 cartons, each carton containing 50 quarter bottles, were recovered. The seized liquor were meant For sale in Haryana only. The Election Commissions flying squad and the Maharashtra Congress on Wednesday had jointly raided registered office premises of UPL. Reacting on this, Piyush Goyal admitted that his brother Pradeep is one of the directors of UPL. Mumbai: Congress demands CBI inquiry into the incident of campaign material found at United Phosphorus office at Khar. It is a blatant case of code of conduct violation as the campaign material found in Khars office had pictures of armed forces and the company belongs to Pradeep Goyal, the brother of the BJP minister Piyush Goyal, said Congress. The Election Commissions flying squad and the Maharashtra Congress on Wednesday had jointly raided registered office premises of UPL where it was fo-und that electronic propaganda material for BJP was being manufactured without ECs permission. Following this, the EC has lodged a police complaint in the matter with Khar police, which has taken cognisance and launched further investigations. The flying squad also found pictures of defence aircraft, Army, Air Force, surgical strikes and recorded clips of voice messages of Prime Minister Naren-dra Modis speeches appealing people to vote for the BJP. This is a blatant case of model code of conduct violation as the EC has already made it clear that the armed forces cannot be used for election purposes. The BJP is engaged in making lakhs of these electronic pamphlets for distribution without the EC clearance, said Sachin Sawant, Congress spokesperson. Reacting on this, Piyush Goyal admitted that his brother Pradeep is one of the directors of UPL. But he is an independent director, who does not have day to day role in companys functioning. Moreover, people now no more believe in the allegations made by Congress. An estimated 900 million voters (9.4% new voters) are battling the influence of fake news before they cast their votes. India has witnessed a series of incidents which are the consequences of Fake News, resulting in mob lynchings and unrest in communities. A survey by Social Media Matters and Institute for Governance, Policies and Politics has found that over 53% of the population has received fake news over various social media platforms due to the upcoming elections. It has been noted that Facebook and WhatsApp are the platforms which are being used excessively to misinform the users. An approximate of 1 in Two Indians have agreed to have received Fake News in the last 30 days. As India gets ready to take the polls this year, an estimated 900 million voters (9.4% new voters) are battling the influence of fake news before they cast their votes. Since half-a-billion voters have access to the internet, fake news can have a massive impact on the elections which start on April 11. The survey '#DontBeAFool' was conducted by SMM and IGPP to interrogate dissemination, penetration and impact of fake news spread via social media about the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2019. India has witnessed a series of incidents which are the consequences of Fake News, resulting in mob lynchings and unrest in communities. During the election season, the escalation of fake news paces faster and eventually impacting the decision of the voters. The results show staggering figures which state that 62% of the population believes that the upcoming elections will be influenced by the misinformation that the users are receiving. The age group that has led the conversation form 54% of the sample population and are between 18-25 years of age. The survey has been undertaken by 56% males, 43% females and 1% by transgenders. #DontBeAFoolis intended to understand voters perspective post they are infused with misinformation during elections. The findings of this survey are based upon a sample size of 628 voters across the country who have expressed their views and personal experiences of identifying Fake News through various social media platforms. Facebook and WhatsApp are the leading platforms being used to disseminate misinformation. The survey, however, states that 96% of the sample population has received fake news via WhatsApp. 41% of the population stated that they made efforts to authenticate news by searching it on Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Towards a positive note, 54% of the sample population has suggested that they have never been affected by Fake News, but 43% of them have known people who have been misled by the same. The Sentry Mode allowed the police to see the video of 21-year-old Jeremiah Jefferson who broke into a backseat window of the Tesla. A man tried to break into a Tesla but his plans were foiled because the Sentry Mode alerted owner Jed Franklin who informed the police about the crime. If you own a Tesla Model 3, there are all chances in the world that someone with ill intentions will try to damage the luxury vehicle. To help you know who scratched the exteriors or whose pet dog watered the tyres, Tesla introduced Sentry Mode, which proved quite useful in a recent case. A man tried to break into a Tesla but his plans were foiled because the Sentry Mode alerted owner Jed Franklin who informed the police about the crime, Mashable reported. The Sentry Mode allowed the police to see the video of 21-year-old Jeremiah Jefferson who broke into a backseat window of the Tesla parked in San Francisco. The feature, introduced in February, is similar to a home alarm. Once triggered, it goes into Standby mode and uses the cars external cameras to detect threats. If it detects someone breaking in, it goes into an Alarm state, increasing the brightness on the display and music on maximum volume. In all cases of threat detection, a message to the owner will be flashed. Roy Choi's Climb in the Culinary World: Lessons to Take From the Chef How Chef Roy Choi Rebounded From Rock Bottom (and What You Can Learn From It) Roy Choi has hit rock bottom a couple of times. Known as one of the founders of the food truck movement, the chef has become a culinary icon, but it took him a long time to get to the top. I always use the George Clooney example: You may get your ER at 40, and then the next 20 years, youre the sexiest man in the world, the 49-year-old chef tells AskMen. Sometimes, st happens that way. RELATED: Sensible Career Advice to Become Successful Choi has always had a tough time fitting into conventional do-as-youre-told society, and it wasnt until he moved from traditional kitchens into food trucks that he found success. He breathed fire into a burnt-out concept, delivering creative flavors on wheels and revolutionizing fast food with his Korean taco truck Kogi. That brought him national acclaim and sparked a movement that many other chefs would follow. From alcohol to gambling addiction, there were a lot of detours along his path to success. Now, the man who has been on the Time 100 list of most influential people twice (2011 and 2016) is a model that success can be found at any age, at any odds. We were on-hand for the introduction of his restaurant Best Friend at the newly renovated Park MGM in Las Vegas, where celebrities including Katy Perry joined for the opening. We caught up with him to learn about his journey to get some lessons on how to rebound from rock bottom. 1. Clarity Can Come When You Least Expect It Born in South Korea in 1970, Chois family moved to Los Angeles in 1972. It was challenging enough being a South Korean trying to fit in posh Orange County, but things got worse in his teens. His creative personality just didnt quite fit into the traditional go to school/get a job/work 9-to-5 box. The more that this path felt wrong to him, the more he searched for things to make him feel right. It was really difficult. I went through a lot of drugs and gambling all the way into my mid-twenties, says Choi. I could never express myself in the traditional forms and it sent me spiraling into anxiety, depression, and addiction because I had to abandon my creative feelings and go and get a traditional job, try to go to school. The gambling addiction led Choi into a five-year spiral where at the bottom, he lost friends, slept in motels, and was drinking every day. It wasnt until he just happened to be lounging on a couch one day when Emeril Lagasses cooking show came on the TV that Choi had an epiphany. At my lowest point, I found cooking. I was watching TV and saw the Emeril show and it spoke to me. I went out and started researching the culinary world and chefs that I knew nothing about. Then I moved to New York and went to culinary school, and everything just fit like a glove. Its been on ever since. 2. Patience Counts as Much as Passion Of course, theres that famous saying fall down seven times, get up eight. Its often easier said than done with a lot of these motivational quotes and thats how it was for Choi. After he broke out of the gambling addiction, he got on track, went to cooking school, and eventually earned a good job. However, at the height of the recession in 2008, Choi lost his job and was again knocked backed down. It wasnt until a random phone call sparked the idea to start a food truck and sell tacos around the city that changed everything for him again. I guess the moral of the story is sometimes, it takes 30 years to get there, but it doesnt mean you cant get there, says Choi. Sometimes people are lucky, and they get there at 16 or 17. But sometimes you get there at 36 or 38, and it opens up a whole new world. 3. Learn to Value Yourself When it comes to your relationship with yourself, you can either be your own friend or your own enemy. The challenge is that when were struggling in life, its easy to be more of the latter and beat ourselves up for not being where we think we should be. That pattern only pulls you deeper. RELATED: Top 10: Highest-Paying Jobs in the U.S. If youre constantly telling yourself, I cant afford this, I dont deserve that, life sucks, and youre only eating stty food and drinking the cheapest coffee, you are not valuing yourself, he says. Go out one day and treat yourself. Go out and have the best sushi you can find, or go to the best barista in your city and have just a cup of cappuccino, and tell yourself that you deserve this. I think that is very empowering. [T]hose little raindrops will start to fill the bucket to make you whole again. 4. Let Others in to Help I think that a lot of times, we all want to help each other and be a part of each others lives. Its just we dont allow ourselves into each others lives, he says. Thats even more the case when were down in the dumps. We may close ourselves off from the outside world and thats when things can spiral in the wrong direction as we try to sort things out ourselves. Choi recommends opening yourself up even if it doesnt feel comfortable. Allowing someone into your life doesnt mean you have to allow them fully in. Even little moments are important, Choi points out. I think back to Kogi street food on the street. Those were those little moments where someone would be standing in line and say to someone else, Hey, I read that book too, and then that opens up a small conversation. All of the sudden, youve shared a moment with someone. The more of those moments we have, the universe creates a better pathway for all of us. Those brief bonding experiences can help you heal when youre at your low, and start getting you back to feeling better about yourself. 5. The Path to Success Isnt Always a Straight One Many are taught to follow a linear life path: Go to college, graduate, get a job, get a better job, repeat until its time to retire. Choi paved a very different path for himself and now encourages others to question and resist rigid models of living. Were in that structural hierarchy where were climbing the ladder, and everything is supposed to lead to the next thing, he says. We dont prepare ourselves for the fact that sometimes you have to go through some st and you may get a miracle when you least expect it way down the line. We never encourage or support each other that that may happen. We have to break this mold that if you dont succeed by 23 or 24, or if you dont do these specific things by a certain time, that everything else in your life is just worthless, he insists. Thats a really small pool to dive into from the top of a building. 6. Big Changes Can Begin Quietly The idea of shifting gears and making huge life changes can be daunting, and as a result, many people remain stuck in careers and lifestyles that dont suit them. Choi relates, and now recommends starting small, with a receptive mindset. I dont think its that easy to just abandon your life because you have to pay bills, but it shouldnt be the only thing that your life is beholden to, he says. Even if you are that square trying to fit in the round hole, then along the way, my advice is that you just continue to keep your sensors open and listen. Things might happen. Even if you dont know what it is, to just always to be open to whatever is coming your way. If its a phone call that says, Lets go sell tacos on the street, then its a phone call that might shift everything in your life. It happened to me. You Might Also Dig: Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. How about we stay with the topic of why some atheists are angry a bit longer? I have an example of the sort of thing that ticks me off, and I suspect that I'm not the only atheist who feels the same way. I was not happy when I first learned that the state of Mississippi would be replacing our license plate design with one displaying the state seal which contains the inaccurate "in god we trust" message. I do not believe in any gods, much less trust in an unspecified one of them. But to be honest, my main issue with the new plates was that they were ugly. I really liked the old design and thought it was one of the more attractive ones I had seen. Of course, this was my main issue only because I naively assumed there would be an alternative design which those of us who were not interested in promoting imaginary beings could select without having to pay extra. As it turns out, this was not the case. Drivers in Mississippi now have two choices. We can either affix the ugly new god-promoting plates to our vehicle or we can pay extra for an alternative plate design. How much extra? I believe the alternatives are anywhere from $25-$50 per year on top of what we already pay. If it was a one-time fee, I'd probably just hand over the "atheist tax," but having to pay it each year seems like a bit much. My brand new godly plate arrived in the mail last weekend, and it is now on my car. Although it is undeniably ugly, I have to admit that the size of the god-pushing part and the colors they used makes it hard to make out the words unless you are less than a foot from the plate. Even when I am directly behind another vehicle at a stoplight, I can't make out the objectionable words on the plate. It is nothing like the alternative plate option that spells out "GOD BLESS AMERICA" in huge block letters across the plate. While I do hope various secular groups follow through on their threats to sue Mississippi to force them to provide an alternative of equivalent cost, I will be surprised if they prevail. It seems like the time to oppose this would have been when the state decided to promote a god on the state seal. Now the state can claim that they just put the state seal on our plates. Of course, the difference is that they are now legally requiring atheists to display this message or pay extra for an alternative. That seems like a clear violation of separation of church and state, and it should not be legal. Deutsche Bank Wealth Management has appointed Mubashar Ayoob as head of its wealth management business in the Gulf region. Ayoob is a seasoned private banker with 23 years of industry experience gained at Merrill Lynch and UBS. He joined Deutsche Bank in Dubai in October 2011 and has since been highly instrumental in driving the growth of Deutsche Bank Wealth Managements business in the Gulf region. In his new role, Ayoob will manage the team in the region and other locations while continuing to service some of the banks largest relationships in the Gulf. Ayoob is taking over from Fred Hilal, who has left Deutsche Bank. In his role, Ayoob will also join Deutsche Banks Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Executive Committee and its UAE Executive Committee. Ayoob will report to Loic Voide, head of wealth management Middle East & Africa (MEA) and member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Bank (Switzerland). Ambitious growth targets Ayoobs appointment builds on nearly a decade of investment in human capital and platform in the Gulf and underpins Deutsche Bank Wealth Managements commitment to the region. Ayoob and his team of relationship managers, located in Dubai, Geneva, Bahrain and Frankfurt, are looking to increase assets under management by 50 per cent over the next three years. To support Ayoob in meeting this ambition, Deutsche Bank Wealth Management will actively seek to enlarge its coverage team this year, within the region and at other major locations. Proven UHNW solutions and Corporate & Investment Bank capabilities The Gulf region (excluding Saudi Arabia) is home to around 3,000 Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) individuals, and estimates suggest a rise of this number by approximately 20 per cent over the next five years. With its state-of-the-art investment platform and offering, Deutsche Bank Wealth Management has the capabilities to service a growing UHNW clientele across the full spectrum of its needs, from cash management and traditional portfolio management to complex structuring and alternative asset classes. Moreover, Deutsche Bank Wealth Managements lending capabilities cater to complex and differentiated needs, where required, benefiting from direct access to Deutsche Banks powerful Corporate & Investment bank. - TradeArabia News Service Prosecutors said that they will recommend a sentence in the lower end of the range. They have also agreed to seek a year of supervised release and a $US$40,000 fine. The court will calculate its own sentencing. Caplan, one of the highest-profile parents accused in the scandal, was said to have paid US$75,000 to have a proctor boost her daughters ACT score. Thirteen parents have agreed so far to plead guilty. Willkie has also ousted Caplan from the firm, confirming to Law.com that he is no longer a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP. Mr. Caplans departure is a result of his involvement in the college admissions matter and his recent statement regarding his intent to plead to a criminal charge, the firm said. At Willkie, nothing is more important to us than our integrity and we do not tolerate behaviour that runs contrary to our core values. We remain focused on our responsibilities to our clients, partners and employees. Under the law in New York, where Caplan was admitted in 1992, a lawyer is automatically struck off when convicted of a felony. Caplan said he will plead guilty no later than the end of the month. McDonald is a former senior associate in the insolvency team at Ashurst and is a current member of the executive of the Federal Litigation Section Member of the Law Council of Australia. Both Pip and Tom have been integral to our success in Australia to date, demonstrating truly exceptional contributions to our business, as well as our clients and partners, said Vannin Capital CEO Richard Hextall. With the breadth of their combined experience and exceptional reputation in the market, Vannin is in a strong position to capitalise on the opportunities that exist in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Gadens hires rising star from Addisons for IPT Hazel McDwyer has joined Gadens as a partner in the intellectual property and technology team in Sydney. The former Addisons special counsel has more than 20 years of experience and was named a Rising Star and a Recommended Lawyer for Intellectual Property Law in the Asia Pacific Legal 500 directory in 2017. The Safe Car Wash app was actually launched in 2018, as part of an initiative meant to fight labor slavery from the Church of England and the Catholic Church. Between June and December last year, no less than 900 possible cases of modern-day labor slavery have been recorded through the app at British hand car washes, figures released to University of Nottinghams Rights Lab and cited by The Guardian show.The app uses a simple checklist to tick off items that could possibly identify illegal labor, starting from the price of the service (if its too cheap, its suspicious), lack of protective equipment for staff and signs of fear in staff, to whether there are caravans or camping gear near the site, and whether payment is made only in cash.Based on these criteria, users have spotted about 900 possible cases of labor slavery. Thats the good news; the bad news is that only 18 percent of drivers called the slavery helpline after using the app, even though a message prompted them to do so.Estimates show that there are over 18,000 hand car washes in the UK and, while the majority of them operate in the realm of legality, many dont. The app helps to offer a better appreciation of this side of the industry and to ultimately bring those who profit from it to justice.Investigations and operations on hand car-wash activities have identified the sector as a high-risk area for labor exploitation. Though often operating in plain sight, a great challenge in tackling abuses is the lack of data on the size and scope of the industry and the nature and prevalence of labor exploitation, Dr. Akilah Jardine, research associate at the Rights Lab, tells The Guardian.Sadly, the findings so far confirm what we already feared that many car washes do not protect their workers, Bishop Alastair Redfern, chair of the Clewer Initiative, adds. Our conversations with colleagues from law enforcement suggest that the data from the Safe Car Wash app is providing another piece in the puzzle of how to combat this complex crime. We hope to continue to build on this progress.On the bright side, the app has served to raise public awareness on the issue, Bishop Redfern adds. Most smartphones come with NFC, and through this technology, Digital Key detects an authorized smartphone. An antenna is located in the drivers door handle for locking and unlocking the 2020 Sonata, but theres another one in the wireless charging pad. Put your phone in there after you enter the car, and once again, Digital Key allows the driver to start the vehicle.Panic Alert, remote engine start from up to 30 feet, emergency alarm, and trunk open are a few other functionalities of the Digital Key. Up to four authorized users can use it for any given 2020 Sonata, facilitating car sharing. Preferred settings are also stored by the Digital Key. In other words, the mid-size sedan automatically adjusts the radio presets, sound settings, seat positioning, and side mirrors. Hyundai utilizes Trustonic Application Protection to secure the Digital Key. A multilayered security approach is a must when communicating to and from the customers phone. Its up to us to ensure this can happen in a scalable and secure way, commented Ben Cade, chief exec of Trustonic.Digital Key adds convenience for 2020 Sonata owners and allows us to be ready for future shifts in the mobility space, such as car sharing, added Manish Mehrotra, director of digital business planning and connected operations at Hyundai Motor America. According to the automaker, future uses for Digital Key could include car rentals, triggering when a vehicle travels outside a designated area, and autonomous parking.Digital Key will be demonstrated later in April at the New York Auto Show, the venue where Hyundai will unveil the uhm, Venue. The small crossover goes official on April 17th. As for the Sonata, three engine options have been announced to date, starting with the 2.0-liter GDI, 2.5-liter GDI, and topping with the 1.6 T-GDI in the Sonata Turbo Serco, a leading global provider of essential public services, has appointed Phil Malem as its new chief executive officer for the Middle East region. The company, which employs some 4,500 people in the region, delivers a wide range of services to the healthcare, rail, aviation and education sectors. Prior to this, Malem was the managing director of engineering and design in the Middle East & Africa (MEA) at Atkins and led the transport and infrastructure business in the region. A specialist in the energy sector, Malems other career highlights include his role as a nuclear site director in the UK. He will also be a member of Serco Groups Executive Committee operating from Sercos Dubai office. Lauding the appointment, Group Chief Executive Rupert Soames said: "It a pleasure to welcome Malem to Serco and to its Middle East business. He brings with him many years experience of the Middle East successfully delivering world-class services to a wide range of customers." On the new role, Malem said: "It is a real privilege to have the opportunity to lead the organisation in the region and I am looking forward to working on the fantastic projects that we are delivering for our clients." "I am especially pleased to have joined when our contract with the Dubai Road and Transport Authority for the operations and maintenance of the Dubai Metro has just been extended by two years, effective until September 2021," he stated. "We will continue to ensure leading operational performance, with 99.9 per cent availability and 99.5 per cent punctuality. Last year saw us surpass a record 204 million journeys and we look forward to the challenges ahead in 2019 and beyond," he added.-TradeArabia News Service The Toyota Tacoma leads the rankings with 58,183 examples of the breed while the GMC Canyon is on the lowermost spot with 6,954 units. Looking at the bigger picture, sales of mid-size pickups in the United States are up 13.84 percent over the first quarter of 2018. More to the point, 128,273 workhorses compared to 112,676 last year.But what about the Honda Ridgeline? The unibody pickup didnt fare well either, selling 6,952 units compared to 7,005. Turning our attention back to the Ranger, what do these results mean in the long run for the Ford Motor Company First of all, theres no denying that dealerships will offer discounts. Secondly, the bean counters are biting their nails for not offering a manual option and a six-cylinder engine. The biggest mistake, however, is that Ford took too long to bring the Ranger back to the United States.There are pictures on the Internet of the 2021 Ford Ranger , and so far, were aware that Ford is working 24/7 to bring the next generation to market. Volkswagen made a deal with the Blue Oval to use the platform for their next-generation Amarok, but so far, its not known if the German marque will bring that truck to the United States.With the arrival of the Jeep Gladiator for the 2020 model year, the mid-size segment is getting even busier, posing another problem for the Blue Oval. On the downside, the Wrangler with a bed and Ram know-how is the most expensive pickup in the segment.Nissan is working on a replacement for the Frontier too, which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. The newcomer could roll out as early as September 2020 for the 2021 model year. EV Even though the Model 3 is theof the moment, the Model S still boggles the mind with the dual-motor Performance option. The electric sedan also happens to be a sweetheart of the aftermarket, which offers armoring, convertible, and shooting brake modifications.Nows time to talk about the Tesla Roamer, the latest conversion to feature the Model S as the donor vehicle. Going official in Lansing on April 17th at an event organized by the Michigan Energy Office, the car is a working prototype with an expected top speed of 150 miles per hour and a range of 200 miles.Both the Long Range and Performance top 155 miles per hour, and in the case of the Long Range, Tesla quotes up to 335 miles. The question is, whats the purpose of the Roamer in the first place? Theres no other way of saying this, but Travis Rabenberg created this outlandish EV in the hopes of breaking the Guinness World Land Speed Record for an electric motorhome.Entrepreneur, author, and world traveler, Travis plans to drive the Roamer from England to Dubai to encourage sustainable travel. The destination is the World Expo 2020, which will open its doors on October 20th with a parade of electric vehicles of all shapes, sizes, and purposes.The foundation of the Tesla Roamer is the Model S P90D, which was discontinued in November 2016 with the introduction of the P100D (a.k.a. Performance). Not bad for a camper van that targets 150 miles per hour, let alone an electric RV with a thumpin great solar panel and four auxiliary lights on the roof. Though it stretches only over 3km (1.86 miles), it has over 1,000 light poles, most of them estimated at about $1,000 apiece. The irony is that no car ever passes on this deserted road, as it serves to connect 2 villages and those drivers that do travel on it report the extra light is more of a nuisance if anything else.As for how this came to happen, Oddiverse cites HSW.cn and says that it was all down to announced plans that the stretch of land would be requisitioned by the state. Villagers tried and found a way to raise the financial value of the land by installing extra light poles.The street lights started popping up along the 3km road linking the village of Taojia to nearby farms and vineyards in 2016, when it was announced that the land it traverses would be requisitioned by the local government for the expanding Xian International Trade & Logistics Park, the publication says. In such cases, peoples properties are usually demolished and they receive compensation from the state, so people started raising money for street lights so they could demand a higher compensation.The plan backfired. Villagers were informed that compensation for the land would not include the light poles, which had been installed illegally. They were also urged by authorities to take them down themselves, or bulldozers will be sent in to take care of the job and they would also be facing penalties.And thus ends the short but glorious story of the worlds most ridiculous but bright (but oh-so-ridiculous) road ever. CSL Behring, a global biotherapeutics leader, has inaugurated its regional headquarters at Dubai Science Park (DSP), a holistic science-focused business community dedicated to the development of the local healthcare sector. The opening of the new office will strengthen the companys presence in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, ultimately leading to better patient care and increased awareness of treatment options for critical medical conditions. The inauguration drew the participation of Markus Staempfli, vice president and general manager for Intercontinental Commercial Operations at CSL Behring, Mohammed Haggag, general manager of CSL Behring MEA, and Marwan Abdulaziz Janahi, managing director of DSP and chairing member of the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Equipment Taskforce of the Dubai Industrial Strategy 2030. Biotherapeutics is one of the fastest-growing segments of the pharmaceutical industry. Its annual growth is estimated at more than 10 per cent, compared to conventional pharmaceuticals at seven percent. The UAEs positive investment climate and its attractiveness as a hub for pharma and healthcare activities has encouraged multiple international companies to set up locally, especially in niche industries. CSL Behring is a leader in the $24 billion plasma market. The companys commitment to innovation is reflected in its development of breakthrough therapies to reduce the risk of early recurrent cardiovascular events, improve the outcomes of organ transplants, and treat sickle cell disease, -thalassemia and autoimmune diseases. Marwan Abdulaziz Janahi said: As a keen enabler of world-class healthcare one of the national priorities of the UAE Vision 2021, DSP is proud to host pioneers in the field such as CSL Behring. The inauguration of the companys regional headquarters aligns with our strategy of attracting internationally recognised pharma and healthcare players. With its collaborative environment and wide range of business offerings, DSP can support CSL Behring in achieving its growth objectives and bringing state-of-the-art treatments to the residents of the GCC region. Markus Staempfli said: The opening of our new office in DSP demonstrates our growth and the increasing demand for our life-saving products. We remain committed to delivering on our promise to patients, and will continue to deepen our footprint in the MEA region to reach more people with medicines that can help transform their lives. With global operational headquarters based in Pennsylvania, USA, CSL Behring owns one of the worlds largest plasma collection networks and operates six research facilities around the world. As part of its growth strategy, the company has placed a strong emphasis on expansion in emerging markets in order to better serve patients needs through leveraging the latest technologies to develop and deliver innovative therapies for rare and life-threatening diseases. CSL Behrings foray into the MEA region is expected to create employment opportunities for local talent. Currently home to over 350 business partners, Dubai Science Park provides a conducive environment for science companies to setup, grow and flourish. The business community aims to contribute to consolidating Dubais position as a preferred destination for local and international companies within the science sector. TradeArabia News Service Five months after Airbnb announced the company would be removing their listings from the West Bank, the team has decided not to move forward with the original policy following backlash in Israel and the U.S. Details: The decision is part of a lawsuit the company settled with hosts and potential hosts. However, Airbnb will not accept any of the profits from the West Bank listings, instead donating the money to humanitarian nonprofits. The company said it will do the same for listings with Abkhazia in South Ossetia, another disputed region. "Airbnb has always opposed the BDS movement. Airbnb has never boycotted Israel, Israeli businesses, or the more than 20,000 Israeli hosts who are active on the Airbnb platform. We have always sought to bring people together and will continue to work with our community to achieve this goal." Airbnb's official statement The European Union is offering the United Kingdom an extension to complete Brexit until October 31 rejecting Prime Minister Theresa May's request for a shorter extension through June 30. A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted. Details: EU leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, advocated for a longer extension believing 3 months wouldn't be enough to get out of the gridlock between British leadership, reports Bloomberg. The EU will review the status of Brexit in June. French President Emmanuel Macaron was opposed to the longer extension and pushed for more conditions to be added, per Bloomberg. Go deeper: Everything you need to know about Brexit U.S. and Japanese search and rescue teams found the wreckage Wednesday of an F-35 fighter jet that crashed into the Pacific Ocean, but the pilot's still missing. Details: The F-35A fighter jet vanished from radar during a training mission from Misawa Air Base in north-eastern Japan Tuesday evening local time. Japan has grounded its 12 remaining F-35 fighter jets at the Misawa base temporarily, Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya said, according to the BBC. Between the lines: The Lockheed Martin stealth jet is "the most affordable, lethal, supportable and survivable aircraft ever to be used," according to the F-35 Lightning II Program web site. The big picture: This was the second crash involving the stealth jet within 7 months. In September, a U.S. Marine Corps F-35B fighter jet crashed in Beaufort, South Carolina. Investigators found a faulty tube was the likely cause of that crash, which prompted the Pentagon to temporarily suspend F-35 flight operations. In a report published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, scientists report that a deposit of teeth and bones, recently discovered in an island cave in the Philippines, may have belonged to a newly identified species closely related to humans and "unknown previously to science," per the Washington Post. Details: The newly named and uncovered Homo luzonensis fossils found in the Callao Cave of Luzon Island date back to the Pleistocene epoch, between 2.6 million and 11,700 years ago. This is the fourth extinct human species discovered within the last century, showcasing that evolution was less linear than previously thought. The remains would suggest that these individuals lived during the time that Homo sapiens spread from Africa elsewhere around the world. To date, efforts to draw DNA from the remains have been unsuccessful. What they're saying: We continue to realize that [for] thousands of years back in time, H. sapiens was definitely not alone on Earth, said the author of the report Florent Detriot, a paleoanthropologist with the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. But but but: The study authors dont have any heads, according to New York University anthropologist Susan Anton, who is dubious about the results of the report. A Democratic Senate duo is introducing legislation today taxing carbon emissions, in the shadow of the largely symbolic but far higher profile debate about the Green New Deal. The big picture: The bill, sponsored by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Brian Schatz of Hawaii, is the latest in a series of broad bills springing up in Congress after a near decade of mostly inaction on comprehensive climate policy. Driving the news: At least three bills are forthcoming, with one already floated. Some of these were introduced for the first time last Congress. The Whitehouse and Schatz bill is similar to the one they introduced last Congress, which divided the money raised to the public and to other purposes. This bill would achieve more reductions in carbon emissions than the last version. Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania is going to re-introduce his own version of a carbon tax bill that he proposed last Congress alongside then-Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), who lost his reelection bid. This bill eliminates the federal gasoline tax and uses the money raised for various purposes. Democrat Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota is crafting a clean energy standard bill, per her office. A bipartisan group of House members re-introduced another version of a carbon tax bill in January. This bill returns the money raised from the tax to the public. But, but, but: None of these bills are likely to become law anytime soon given Republican political leaders, including President Trump, dismiss the issue, and theyre controlling much of Washington right now. Instead, these bills are a sign of a debate, long relegated to Washingtons back burner, re-emerging. Whether that translates into actual policy passing is a big open question. Whats next: Expect more focus on the Green New Deal, which, despite its lack of detail compared to the aforementioned bills, is grabbing all the attention. Go deeper: Democrats left turn on climate change Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) vowed at a town hall near the Parkland school massacre site in Florida Tuesday he would make curbing gun violence his 2020 campaign priority, the Sun-Sentinel reports. What he's saying: Standing beside Parkland activists Cameron Kasky, 18, and Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter died in the 2018 shooting, he said he'd discuss issues including education and climate change during his campaign. "But my pledge to you tonight is that this issue comes first," he said. Details: Swalwell praised activists borne out of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school massacre for inspiring lawmakers as well as the whole nation, according to the Guardian. "Hope died in Parkland over a year ago," Swalwell said. "But in a uniquely American way, through the strength and courage of our children, hope was born here, too." The big picture: Swalwell proposes to implement a federal ban and buyback of military-style assault weapons similar to New Zealand's action following the March 15 Christchurch mosque attacks. "We can have a country where you can keep your pistols, keep your rifles, keep your shotguns, but were able to unite and take the most dangerous weapons out of the hands of the most dangerous people," he said at the town hall, Go deeper: Eric Swalwell: Everything you need to know about the 2020 candidate President Trump told reporters Wednesday morning that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's election victory was "a good sign for peace." "Everybody said you can't have peace in the Middle East with Israel and the Palestinians. I think we have a chance. I think we have now a better chance with Bibi having won." Driving the news: Netanyahu scored a fifth term in office with his election win yesterday, declaring that he will be "prime minister for all" even as he faces a slew of corruption indictments. Trump called Netanyahu from Air Force One to congratulate him for his victory in the elections, Netanyahu's office said in a statement. Netanyahu thanked Trump for his support, and the two leaders agreed to continue working closely together. Earlier this morning, national security adviser John Bolton told Hugh Hewitt's radio show that now that the Israeli elections are over, the Trump administration will launch its highly anticipated peace plan in "the very near future." "Weve been working, President Trump, Jared Kushner and others, for a couple of years now on a Middle East peace plan. Weve been in the preparatory stages to getting it ready. And I think were going to see that coming out in the very near future. That opens all kinds of prospects. Then the struggle against Irans efforts to subvert peace and security in the region continues. And Netanyahu will play a big, big part in that, along with President Trump." Go deeper: 6 things you need to know about Netanyahu's election victory President Trump praised Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Tuesday, after U.S. lawmakers raised concerns about Egypt's planned Russian arms purchases, human rights issues and moves to keep the former general in power until 2034. I can just tell you hes doing a great job. Great president." President Trump on Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Details: Trump didn't mention Egypt's human rights issue as he referred to Sisi as "my friend" several times during their meeting in front of reporters. However, the White House said in a statement later the U.S. "encourages the Egyptian government to preserve space for civil society and to protect human rights." The other side: A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers said in a letter sent to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Monday they had "serious concerns about the erosion of political and human rights" in Egypt. The letter, signed by 17 senators including Foreign Relations Committee chairman Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and ranking member Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), urged Pompeo to raise their concerns with Sisi. A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted. The opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) has promised a political assessment of an unexpected tax audit of one of the businesses belonging to its wealthy leader, Gagik Tsarukian. Officers of the State Revenue Committee (SRC) raided a Tsarukian-owned market outside Yerevan and confiscated its financial records on Tuesday. The SRC said the search conducted at the Arinj Mall market was a part of a tax evasion investigation launched by it. The Arinj Mall director, Samvel Hakobian, suggested that tax inspectors suspect that he has underreported daily fees collected from around a thousand kiosks selling various goods inside the market. He ruled out the possibility of such tax fraud. The tax raid came just hours after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians My Step alliance and the BHK traded fresh accusations in a continuing scandal caused by a transgender activists speech delivered in the Armenian parliament last week. Pashinian accused a senior BHK lawmaker of organizing a political provocation against the parliament majority loyal to him. Tsarukian and his associated rejected the accusation. Gevorg Petrosian, a senior BHK figure, said later on Tuesday that the SRC investigation may well be politically motivated. We think that the [former ruling] HHKs good traditions are continuing, he told reporters at Arinj Mall. Whenever there is some political escalation it reflects on Tsarukians businesses. This smacks of political persecution. In a statement, the SRC denied any political motives behind the probe. Petrosian seemed unconvinced by these assurances when he spoke to RFE/RLs Armenian service. They confiscated documents and after studying them will say whether or not a [tax evasion] alert received by them is substantiated, he said. When they voice their evaluation we will come up with our political evaluation of that. The BHK finished second in the December 2018 parliamentary elections and holds 26 seats in Armenias current 132-member parliament. Tsarukians party supported last springs velvet revolution and joined Pashinians first cabinet formed in May 2018. Pashinian fired his ministers affiliated with BHK in October, accusing the party of secretly collaborating with the HHK. Shiptek 2019, an international conference on maritime, offshore and oil and gas, will discuss latest developments and focus on key market trends at the 10th edition of the event to be held next week in Dubai, UAE. Organised by Biz Events Management in association with Aries Group of Companies, the conference and awards ceremony will take place on April 16 and 17, at the Dusit Thani Hotel. Continuing the legacy of its predecessors, the conference shall focus on key market trends, giving attendees a unique insight into the opportunities that exist. Blessed with a continuum of leaders foresights, ShipTek shall provide its delegates a clear idea about future trade patterns, and become a platform for them to forge new foundations for longer term business growth. Besides the much-appreciated conference, the event shall also witness 10th Shiptek International Maritime/Offshore/Oil& Gas Awards where industry veterans who have been instrumental in proposing creative and innovative maritime shall be honoured for their accomplishments. The event is being sponsored by P & O Maritime as Badge Sponsor; Cadmatic as Award Sponsor; Lukoil as Table Top Sponsor; Foresight OffShore Drilling, Albwardy Damen, Heritage Offshore & Engineering Services, FOSRAMS, Nico International, SOLAS, Arka Global Marine Services, Total Lubmarine, Bureau Veritas, and Saifee as Associate sponsors; UFO, Cargo Connections, Project Cargo Network, Freightbook, Sharjah Ports Authority, Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority, and Kalba City Municipality as Supporting Organisations. Our media partners include Marasi News, Port News, World Oils, Ship2Shore, Maritime Sky, Robban Assafina, Middle East Business, Marino News and OPCA, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Official Yerevan has dismissed international concerns about the state of LGBT rights in Armenia, saying that the United Nations and the European Union should show more respect for the Armenian society. The EU and the UN voiced those concerns on Tuesday in response to a furious backlash against an unprecedented speech delivered by a transgender activist in the Armenian parliament on April 5. The activist, Lilit Martirosian, complained about widespread hostility and discrimination against sexual minorities in the socially conservative country during parliamentary hearings on human rights. Martirosians appearance on the parliament floor was denounced by both pro-government and opposition parliamentarians, who accused each other of making it possible. It also sparked angry street protests by nationalist groups championing traditional Armenian values. Some of their members openly advocated violent actions the Armenian LGBT community. In a joint statement, the EU Delegation in Armenia and the Yerevan-based embassies of EU member states condemned hate speech, including death threats directed at Ms. Lilit Martirosian, her colleagues and the LGBTI community as a whole. They urged Armenian law-enforcement authorities to guarantee the physical safety of sexual minorities. The UN office in Yerevan issued a similar statement deploring the recent rise in hate speech and threats of violence against human rights and LGBTI activists. Reacting to those statements, the Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Anna Naghdalian, insisted that Yerevan is fully committed to protecting human rights and will not tolerate any illegal actions. She stressed at the same time that human rights are, as a rule, effectively protected if they become part of a social consensus and are perceived as universal social and moral values. Therefore, in this context, our international partners should demonstrate more respect and sensitivity towards the Armenian society and refrain from undue engagement in the public debate, even if they disagree with its tonality, Naghdalian said in written comments. We would like to remind that the principle of public morality is part of international commitments on human rights and cannot be ignored, she added. The head of Armenias National Security Service (NSS) said on Wednesday that the arrest of a social media user highly critical of the government must not be viewed as a crackdown on dissent. Speaking to reporters, Artur Vanetsian again refused to identify the individual charged with inciting ethnic, racial or religious hatred. Asked whether he or she is well known, Vanetsian said: I cant tell. Vanetsian announced the arrest on Friday, saying that the suspect ran a Facebook page containing derogatory and even offensive posts on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his associates. The page was most recently updated on Thursday evening. Earlier on Thursday, Pashinian ordered Vanetsian to clamp down on criminal circles which he said spend millions on manipulating public opinion through the press and social media. Vanetsian would not say whether the ensuing NSS investigation has already identified anyone financing the spread of fake news. That will be fully clear when the investigation reaches a point where it will be possible to disclose its findings, he said. Vanetsian also insisted that the NSS, which is the successor agency to the Armenian branch of the Soviet KGB, is not targeting critical voices. He said it is only acting against public statements that contain elements of a crime. We are not taking about a fake page criticizing the government, he said. You can now see thousands of fake pages criticizing the authorities. It doesnt mean that we must deal with that criticism. An NSS spokesman said earlier that the National Bureau of Expertise, which is part of Armenias law-enforcement system, has looked into the arrested suspects Facebook page and concluded that it contains calls for violence against Armenias politicians and citizens. The bureau also found negative evaluations of an unnamed Armenian national hero and an ancient cathedral in Echmiadzin as well as statements undermining interethnic relations, according to the NSS. Some opposition politicians and civil rights activists have expressed concern about Pashinians order, saying that it poses a threat to freedom of expression. Other critics claim that the Armenian government, which took office after last years democratic velvet revolution, itself finances thousands of anonymous Facebook accounts used for attacking and insulting Pashinians opponents. Vanetsian denied this. By Trend Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops 20 times, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said April 10, 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. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Leman Mammadova Anglo-Asian Mining Plc., a British company engaged in the gold, silver and copper extraction in Azerbaijan, plans to spend $ 1.84 million on geological exploration program in the Ordubad contract area this year, the company said. The program includes geological desertification studies and other researches aimed at the acquisition of geological exploration and technological reports, as well as exploring other metals for the purpose of evaluating future production potentials. It was noted that the favorable geological structure shows that there are many porphyry minerals in Ordubad. The program on geological work for 2018 covers 5,504 surface samples and the results of the survey are expected to be achieved in the second quarter of 2019. Ordubad contract area covers an area of 462 square kilometers. Anglo Asian Mining Plc. is a gold, copper and silver producer with a broad portfolio of production and exploration assets in Azerbaijan. Anglo-Asian Mining produces gold in Azerbaijan within the framework of the PSA (Production Sharing) agreement, signed on August 21, 1997. The share of Azerbaijan in the contract is 51 percent, the British company Anglo Asian Mining Plc. - 49 percent. Under the production sharing agreement, Anglo Asian Mining Plc. has the right to develop six fields in south-west of Azerbaijan: Gadabay, Ordubad, Gosha Bulag, Gizil Bulag, Vejnali and Soyutlu. According to the agreement, 400 tons of gold, 2.5 thousand tons of silver and 1.5 thousand tons of copper are expected to be extracted from these deposits. The extraction of the first gold at the Gadabay deposit began in 2009, the extraction of silver - in 2010. Gold extraction from the Gosha field is carried out from the third quarter of 2013. In the summer of 2015, the company began production at the Gadir field, and in September 2017 - the Ugur field. Anglo-Asian Mining invested $ 4.5 million in geological exploration for precious metals in 2018. In 2019, the company plans to pay dividends to shareholders in the amount of not less than $0.06 for each share. In 2018, dividends for each share amounted to $ 0.03. Anglo-Asian Mining increased the gold production in Gadabay by 17 percent to 83,736 in 2018. During the reporting period, the company mined 72,798 ounces of gold, 1,645 tons of copper, 210,184 ounces of silver. Gold production increased by 22 percent, silver - by 21.6 percent, while copper production decreased by 17.4 percent. In 2018, 59,481 ounces of gold ingots were sold, an average of $ 1,265 per ounce. In 2017, 43,496 ounces of gold ingots were sold at an average price of $ 1,265 per ounce. In addition, last year the company sold 7,675 tons of copper concentrate worth $ 15.4 million. Azerbaijan, a country rich in mineral resources, started industrial production of gold in July 2009. About 900 fields were registered in Azerbaijan's state and territorial balance of reserves of mineral resources. Moreover, Azerbaijan is taking consecutive measures in the mining industry, which will ensure greater transparency and even greater attraction of foreign investment and its withdrawal from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative did not slow down the development of the country's mining industry. Azerbaijan has its rich gold deposits. Gold mostly is produced in Dashkasan (AzerGold CJSC) and in Gadabay (Anglo-Asian Mining, Britain) regions of the country. The Ministry for Ecology and Natural Resources estimates that the country is able to produce about 10-15 tons of gold per year. --- Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Rashid Shirinov Azerbaijan's Agency for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and the Dubai SME have agreed to expand cooperation, the Agency stated. At a meeting between the Chairman of the Board of the Agency Orkhan Mammadov and the Dubai SME CEO Abdul Baset Al Janahi, held within the framework of the 8th Annual Investment Meeting in Dubai, the parties expressed interest in cooperation and exchanged views on expanding ties. In particular, they discussed the establishment and development of cooperation between SMEs of Azerbaijan and the UAE. For this, the parties agreed to expand ties, organize events in Baku with the participation of SME representatives of the two countries, as well as implement joint projects in Azerbaijan based on UAE investments. The 8th Annual Investment Meeting was launched on April 8. The meeting discusses investment opportunities for business development, trends in investment promotion and cooperation in this area, as well as the exchange of experience and the establishment of new ties. This year the meeting is attended by more than 10,000 representatives of public and private institutions from more than 140 countries, as well as experts and well-known scientists. Azerbaijan's Agency for the Development of SMEs was created to ensure consistency of reforms, as well as improving the business regulation system and applying effective coordination, enhancing the role and competitiveness of SMEs in the country's economy, and ensuring their access to financial sources. The goals of the Agency also include the creation of favorable conditions for the development of SMEs in the regions and the attraction of local and foreign investments to this area. It is worth noting that Azerbaijan plans to increase the share of SMEs in GDP to 60 percent by 2025. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Armenias illegal activity in the Azerbaijani territories harms the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through negotiations, said Hikmet Hajiyev, head of the foreign policy department of the presidential administration of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Trend reports with reference to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry. Hajiyev made the remarks at the international conference Impact of Illegal Economic Activities in Conflict Areas on Human Rights held in Geneva with the organizational support of the Azerbaijani missions to the UN and other international organizations, as well as the UN University for Peace. Vagif Sadigov, the permanent representative of Azerbaijan to the UN, who opened the event, announced the objectives of the event and spoke about the impact of illegal activities in conflict areas on human rights. Rector of the UN University for Peace Francisco Rojas Aravena stressed that in the absence of peace there will be no development and progress, and illegal activities will increase. Hikmet Hajiyev in his opening speech noted that as a result of the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia, illegal economic activities were carried out there, resources were used illegally and property rights of IDPs were violated. In this regard, Hajiyev drew the attention of participants to a number of such practical examples and spoke about the illegal activities of the famous Swiss company Franck Muller, as well as Airbnb. He noted that the illegal activities carried out by Armenia in the Azerbaijani territories are detrimental to the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through negotiations and serve to protract the conflict. Hajiyev also stressed that Azerbaijan is making active contribution to the development and mainstreaming of the topic of illegal activities in the conflict areas. The conference was held with the participation of experts from Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and Azerbaijan in the form of two working sessions. During the event, representatives from Angola, Azerbaijan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone highlighted the current situation in these countries in this area. The speakers who delivered speech during the first session stressed that the respective states are responsible for the illegal activities of companies in conflict areas. During the speeches, the need to create specific instruments of binding nature in this area was noted. During this session, the speakers also voiced opinions on the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council in connection with the Armenian occupation of the Azerbaijani territories, the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in connection the case of Chiragov and Others v. Armenia, illegal remittances to the occupied territories and other issues. During the second session, the rapporteurs noted that other countries are responsible for non-recognition of the illegal regimes established in the occupied territories. During this session, Azercosmos OJSC presented satellite imagery showing the illegal economic activities of invading Armenia in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, environmental damage, burning forests and other violations. During this working session, the issue of the destruction of the material and cultural heritage in the conflict areas was also discussed, and information was provided that Armenia is pursuing a targeted policy in the occupied Azerbaijani territories aimed at the complete removal of Azerbaijans trace. Permanent missions under the UN Office in Geneva, international lawyers conducting research on the topic, as well as more than 120 NGO representatives took part in the event. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend The ceasefire monitoring on the contact line between the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, in the direction of Azerbaijans Aghdam district, held in accordance with the mandate of personal representative of the OSCE chairperson-in-office on April 10, ended without incidents, Trend reports referring to the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan. The Personal Representative's field assistants Simon Tiller, Ghenadie Petrica and representative of the HLPG Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph Bosshard carried out the monitoring on the territory of Azerbaijan. Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk, the Personal Representative's field assistants Mihail Olaru and Ognjen Jovic, Colonel Yuri Dudchenko carried out the monitoring on the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan occupied and controlled by the armed forces of Armenia. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Twelve political parties in Azerbaijan did not submit a financial report for 2018 to the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Azerbaijan, commission secretary Mikayil Rahimov said at a meeting of the CEC, Trend reports. According to him, the chairmen of 6 of these parties have passed away. Although members of 2 of these parties submitted a report, they were not accepted due to the lack of the signature of the chairman, Rahimov noted. "It was not possible to contact the other political parties," Rahimov added. The CEC secretary also said that the process will be completed by the end of the week, which the Ministry of Justice will be notified of. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend The results of the survey, conducted by the French Opinion Way Research Institute testify to the Azerbaijani realities, editor-in-chief of the Ses newspaper, political expert Bahruz Guliyev told Trend on April 10. The survey confirmed that Azerbaijani citizens, voters support Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and have high confidence in the president, he said. The main factor stipulating the high rating of the leader not only in Azerbaijan, but also in the world is his unity with people, the expert stressed. Over the past year, the president took all the necessary steps for the sake of the well-being of people, Guliyev said. The consistent measures were taken to ensure a decent living for people. While talking to citizens, the president listened to their problems. He added that along with social, economic, cultural development thanks to the presidents policy, which was continued over the past year, stability and security were also fully ensured in Azerbaijan. "The policy being pursued by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev over the past year has attracted special attention, Guliyev said. Azerbaijan is demonstrating a new model of development in social, political and economic spheres to the world. The fact that during various meetings, events, the president is close to citizens, quickly responds to solve their problems, listens to their problems, is a new model, new experience in the world," he said. The high confidence expressed by the respondents during the survey once again shows that the Azerbaijani citizens support their president and his policy, Guliyev added. The survey has confirmed the correctness of the policy being pursued in Azerbaijan, the unity of the leader and people." --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Leman Mammadova Sericulture in Azerbaijan is a branch of agriculture that raises non-oil potential of the country's economy. The production of fresh cocoons in Azerbaijan is planned to be increased up to 6,000 tons by 2025. The creation of mulberry seedling farms in order to expand silkworm feed base is also envisaged, the Ministry of Agriculture told Trend. At the states expense, 3.5 million seedlings have been brought into the country in past three years from the People's Republic of China to strengthen silkworm feed base and have been planted with Chinese technology in 350 hectares in 38 regions of the republic on the basis of division. These seedlings have leaf yields for the silkworm production with high fertility in local soil and climate conditions. In this regard, in order to implement the State Program, sprouts from seedlings, which were imported from China in the previous years, were planted on the area of 1 hectare belonging to the Tartar Regional Agrarian Science and Innovation Center. It is planned to cultivate 200,000-250,000 pieces of mulberry seedlings here. Nowadays, sericulture is one of the main directions in the agriculture development chosen by the state. As part of the implementation of the State Program of Azerbaijan on the development of cocoon and silk production for the period 2018-2025, one million mulberry seedlings were imported into Azerbaijan from the People's Republic of China. The first results of the State Program are already evident. If in 2015, a total of 236 kilograms of cocoons were collected in the country, in 2016 already 70.7 tons were produced, and in 2017 this figure reached 245.2 tons. In accordance with the state program of cocoon and sericulture, it is envisaged to increase production in the industry to 6,000 tons of cocoons annually by 2025. Last year 514 tons of cocoons have been collected. Sericulture has been spread throughout the country since ancient times and is still developing today. The history of sericulture in Azerbaijan dates back to almost 1,500 years. When it comes to silk in Azerbaijan, the first place that comes to mind is the ancient city of Sheki, which once considered the largest center for the production of silk and silk farming in the Middle Ages. Delicate fabrics, beautiful clothes, and colorful kelagayis (silk headscarf) manufactured by Sheki craftsmen from raw silk, were exported to foreign countries, so the city became famous for its silk throughout the world. In the Soviet period, Azerbaijan ranked second after Uzbekistan for the production of silk cocoon but was considered first in fiber quality. Agjabedi as one the Aran regions districts is predominantly agricultural area. Cotton, flour and sericulture flourish in the region since former Soviet Union period. The production of silkworm cocoons in the Agjabedi region of Azerbaijan is planned to reach 50-60 tons. In 2018, the production of silkworm cocoons reached 37 tons, having increased 2.2 times over a year. The farmers' income from the production of silkworm cocoons exceeded 330,000 manats. --- Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Oppo, a leading global smartphone brand, has partnered with UAE-based telecom group Etisalat to test the compatibility of Oppo 5G smartphones with Etisalats 5G network for commercial use. This is the first 5G smartphone test between carrier and smartphone in GCC region. Oppo connected with regional telecom service providers, regulators, and global ICT solution providers to accelerate the commercialization of 5G enabled smartphones at the 5G Mena 2019summit held in Dubai from April 7-9. At this years 5G Mena summit, Zhang Zhi, 5G expert from Oppo presented the companys vision of being a 5G era pioneer. This included a keynote speech on 9th April as well as a panel discussion with representatives from Etisalat and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority. While the underlying 5G network infrastructure is vital to a connected future, the capacity of super-powerful 5G networks only matters when people can leverage these benefits in their everyday lives, said Andy Shi, preside of Oppo Middle East & Africa. This makes the pivot to 5G all the more important to our industry. This year is the first of 5G commercialization and is set to be a game-changer that revolutionizes the smartphone industry, adds Shi. At Oppo, we have always focused on the user experience and know that todays consumers expect their smartphone to leverage 5G to bring about more immersive, seamless and intuitive digital services. Khaled Elkhouly, chief consumer officer, Etisalat, said: We at Etisalat are excited to work closely with Oppo to test the compatibility of its 5G smartphones with our 5G network, ensuring that user experience reaches the level for commercial use. It is part of our commitment to build partnerships with world leading smartphone manufacturers and technology leaders, and enable our customers to enjoy the best-in-class performance and our 5G network that boasts of ultra-high speeds and low latency services. Our managements strategy to focus on digital innovation and to Drive the digital future to empower societies have led to investments in superior and state-of-the-art technology solutions on the network. With continuous investments in technology and innovation on the network, Etisalats infrastructure can enable 5G connectivity today for all fixed and mobile devices expected to be launched in the first half of this year, added Elkhouly. At the summit, Zhang Zhi highlighted Oppos belief that 5G will form the essential foundation for our future smart world. He added that 5G will enable realization of the Internet of Everything vision, and emphasize experience over everything else. 5G will further empower the development of cognitive intelligence and accelerate the evolution of the Artificial Intelligence of Things, or AIoT. Oppo remains committed to be one of the key contributors to the 5G ecosystem in the region and is helping shape the next generation of connectivity through contributions in research, software and hardware development, deep consumer insight and a robust ecosystem of strong industry partners. The company recently launched its 5G Landing Project with several operator partners to accelerate the commercialization of 5G products and services worldwide. Last month, Oppo also announced that its first 5G smartphone has successfully passed 5G CE tests conducted by Sporton International Inc., making it compliant with EU requirements in areas such as wireless, electromagnetic compatibility, health and safety. Oppo formed a 5G standardization team as early as 2015 to focus on the research and development of 5G standards. To date, Oppo has obtained more than 1,000 global patents related to 5G technology, and partnered with industry heavyweights such as chipmaker Qualcomm on their 5G Pioneer initiative. The company is consistently ranked among the top five smartphone brands in the world and in January 2019 opened its second regional hub within the UAE, making Dubai its new centre for operations in the Middle East & Africa. TradeArabia News Service By Trend Greece and Bulgaria have agreed to work on the updated schedule of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas, Trend reports. The remarks were made during a meeting between Bulgarias Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova and Greek Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Giorgos Stathakis, according to a message from Bulgarian Energy Ministry. During the meeting, the ministers discussed the necessary follow-up to the projects implementation. The two sides expressed commitment to work on an updated schedule for the project so that the interconnector could be put into operation in 2020 in synergy with the launch of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), reads the message. During his visit to Sofia, Minister Stathakis confirmed that IGB is a priority project for the Greek side as well. The ministers stressed that the key priority is the successful completion of public procurements for the project. "All tenders for the project are expected to be completed by the end of April. The sides also discussed the forthcoming signing of an intergovernmental agreement to stabilize the tax regime for 25 years," said the message. IGB is a gas pipeline, which will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijani gas, in particular, the gas produced from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz 2 gas and condensate field. IGB is expected to be connected to TAP via which gas from the Shah Deniz field will be delivered to the European markets. The initial capacity of IGB will be 3 billion cubic meters of gas. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project, which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, will contribute to a more competitive environment in European gas market, Trend reports citing a message from TAP AG consortium. Natural gas consumption in Europe continues to rise. While gas meets 54 percent of energy needs in Italy, it costs around 30 percent more than the European average. Once operational, TAP will diversify supply sources and contribute to a more competitive environment, 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). --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade Georgia is ready to explore opportunities to increase energy flow through the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, said Mamuka Bakhtadze, Prime Minister of Georgia, Trend reports. He made the remarks during the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in France, answering the question of Azerbaijani MP Ganira Pashayeva. Azerbaijan is a strategic partner of Georgia, he said, adding that the two countries together have implemented historical projects, such as Baku-Tbilisi-Kars, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, also Southern Gas Corridor and many others. We think that we are not fully utilizing the resources of the Caspian Sea and of course, we can contribute to the energy security of Europe more. We have this dialogue with our European colleagues. There are few capacities for example in Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and of course, we will be very happy explore this opportunity together with Azerbaijan to increase the energy flow in our corridor, added Georgian PM. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline has been established to ensure access to crude oil produced at ACG field in the Caspian Sea under the "Contract of the Century". The length of the pipeline is 1,768 km, 443 km runs through Azerbaijan, 249 km - through Georgia and 1,076 km - through Turkey. Daily transport capacity of the pipeline is 1.2 million barrels. The crude oil delivery to the first tanker at the Ceyhan terminal took place in the summer of 2006. The first delivery of approximately 600,000 barrels of Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) crude oil, transported through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, was loaded on the British Hawthorn tanker on June 4, 2006 and dispatched from the new Ceyhan Offshore Terminal. Being a strategic project, it is the first direct link between the Caspian Sea and the Mediterranean. BTC Co. shareholders are BP (30.10 percent); AzBTC (25.00 percent); Chevron (8.90 percent); Equinor (8.71 percent); TPAO (6.53 percent); Width (5.00percent); Total (5.00 percent), ITOCHU (3.40 percent); (2.50 percent), Exon Mobile (2.50 percent), ONGC (BTC) Limited (2.36 percent), This pipeline, which is considered to be the main artery of energy export in the region, has played an important role in the extraction of the Caspian Sea's rich energy resources and bringing them to the world markets. Azerbaijan and Georgia maintain high-level relations in all spheres, especially in energy field. Both countries have already taken initiatives for global projects in the region. Presently, SOCAR is the major supplier of natural gas, oil and oil products to Georgia. It is noteworthy that Georgia is a key transit country for Azerbaijan, through which the Azerbaijans main pipelines are laid for the supply of oil and gas to the west. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Turkey may receive the S-400 missile systems earlier than scheduled, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trend reports referring to the Turkish media. According to him, it was expected earlier that Turkey would receive the first supplies of S-400 missile systems in July 2019. He noted that despite appeals by the US, Turkey will not abandon the purchase of the S-400. "This is an issue that has already been resolved for Turkey," said Erdogan. Initial reports of negotiations between Russia and Turkey on the supply of S-400 surfaced in November 2016. The signing of a contract was confirmed by the Russian side on September 12, 2017. Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that the S-400 air defense systems will be deployed from October 2019. The supply of the S-400 air defense systems to Ankara cost $2.5 billion, head of the Rostec state corporation Sergey Chemezov said in December 2017. Turkey is the first country, a NATO member, which will receive the S-400 air defense systems from Russia. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Iran's Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade said that 55 percent of Iran's non-oil exports go out to 15 neighboring countries, so the country is looking to expand its reach. Reza Rahmani said that Iran is looking to launch new trading offices in Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. "We have increased the trade relations with Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Lebanon," Rahmani said, Trend reports citing the official website of Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade. Rahmani called increasing the economic cooperation with Oman, Iraq and Lebanon as the gateway to the Arab market. "The Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade's plans for the current year will be boosting exports, domestic production and activating mines," said the official. "Oman, with regard to free trade with 27 countries, is the gateway to a 500-million population market, which Iran must take advantage of, to increase its economic and trade relations," he said. The minister noted that while 55 percent of Iran's non-oil exports account for neighboring countries, but only 2 percent of those countries' imports account for Iran, and the country looks to up the figure to 5 percent. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Turkey and Greece will discuss regional issues during the visit by Deputy Foreign Minister of Turkey Sedat Onal to Athens, the Turkish Foreign Ministry told Trend. Onal will visit Athens on April 12. As part of the visit, a meeting is expected with Greek Foreign Minister Dimitrios Paraskevopoulos. The bilateral relations of the countries will be also discussed at the meeting, the ministry said. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will visit the Netherlands, the Turkish Foreign Ministry told Trend April 10. Cavusoglus visit will take place April 10-11 as part of the seventh meeting of the Turkey-Netherlands conference. Relations between Turkey and the EU, regional problems, the fight against terrorism will be the main topics of the meeting. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Abdul Kerimkhanov The United States is ready to work on a common agenda and deepening ties between the United States and Kyrgyzstan, said U.S. President Donald Trump during the presentation of credentials to Kyrgyz Ambassador Bolot Otunbayev. The meeting took place on April 8 at the White House in Washington. Ambassador Otunbayev, in his address to President Trump, stressed that Kyrgyzstan is looking forward to developing cooperation with the United States and opening new horizons for the Kyrgyz-American dialogue. He also expressed the opinion that today all the conditions have matured in order to bring Kyrgyz-American cooperation to a new level and open a new page in relations between the two countries. For his part, Trump congratulated Otunbayev on his appointment as ambassador to the United States and wished him success on his new post. Donald Trump emphasized the role of Kyrgyzstan as a regional leader in maintaining democratic values, and also noted that the American side is ready to work on a common agenda and deepening ties between the two countries. We see opportunities for interaction in order to ensure economic growth and expand commercial ties between our countries. Together we can help build a safer, more democratic and prosperous world, said Trump. The United States was among the first to recognize the independence of Kyrgyzstan, establishing diplomatic relations with it on December 27, 1991. Trade turnover between Kyrgyzstan and the United States was $24.4 million at the end of 2018, of which $17 million accounted for U.S. exports, the rest - on imports. --- Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Abdul Kerimkhanov Despite the change of power in Armenia, the Ministry of Defense, the prosecutors office and the Investigation Committee continue to hide cases of torture in the army. Instead of solving the problems existing in the army, they try to silence those who raise them, told participants of the discussion held in Yerevan on April 8. Back in 2015, commander in the military unit in Meghri tortured conscript Arthur Hakobyan. Hakobyan claimed that during his service he periodically encountered inhuman treatment. As a result, after more than a year he had mental problems. The guy was transferred to a military hospital, later he was demobilized. A criminal case was initiated, which, however, was subsequently closed. After petitions by lawyers, the Court of Cassation recognized a violation of Hakobyans right to be free from torture. The prosecutors office resumed the investigation of the case, but the lawyer of the Helsinki Association Ara Garagezyan is seriously concerned that the case was sent to the same department that once closed it. To ensure an effective investigation, Garagezyan proposes to consider this case to the Special Investigation Service, since it deals with cases of torture. The lawyer notes that despite the recognition by the Court of Cassation of the violation of Hakobyans right to freedom from torture, the case was not resumed on this basis, but under the article inhuman treatment of a subordinate. Garagezyan said nothing has changed in the Prosecutor Generals Office and the body carrying out the proceedings, they continue to conceal cases of torture and investigate under other articles. The lawyer intends to apply to the European Court of Human Rights. Human rights activist Zhanna Aleksanyan is convinced that the defence ministry continues not to pay due attention to complaints about the state of health of servicemen. She added that in many cases when soldiers declare health problems, the Defense Ministry immediately calls them simulators. Aleksanyan recalls that a soldier-conscript Armen Ozanyan was called up with high pressure and damage to the central nervous system. The guy's well-being periodically deteriorated. His parents wrote a letter to the Ministry of Defense with request to transfer Armen to a zone located in low terrain so that his pressure would return to normal. Instead, he was sent to combat positions. Human rights activist notes that the Ministry of Defense is offended when there is talk about deaths in military units. Remarkable, representatives of the Ministry of Defense, the Military Prosecutors Office and the Investigative Committee rejected a proposal to participate in the discussion. According to the Vanadzor office of the Helsinki Civil Assembly, deaths due to ceasefire violations were reduced by three times, the deaths due to road accidents increased by half, the death rate due to health problems increased by more than 40 percent in 2018, compared to 2017. --- Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Abdul Kerimkhanov China is looking for a way to increase trade with Iran and invest in that country, said the chairman of the China International Contractors Association (CHINCA), which accounts for 23 percent of global investment. Fang Qiuchen said that the trade between Iran and China is attracting attention, and various Chinese companies are implementing large projects with their Iranian counterparts, IRNA reports. He noted that Iran and China have good connections in energy, petrochemistry and trade. Fang informed the Chinese held a large fair at the Tehran International Exhibition Center in 2018. Saying that famous Chinese companies are interested in cooperation with Iran in the field of infrastructure and energy, he expressed readiness to implement joint projects under the leadership of the leaders of the two countries. Fang stressed the need for information exchange between Chinese and Iranian companies and said that this would help further cooperation. He also said that CHINCA plays the most important role in investments outside of China. The Chinese official added that the organization has 1,500 members who work in the construction, energy and petrochemical industries. Fang noted that CHINCA announced that it invested $241 billion in 2018. China International Contractors Association (CHINCA) is the national organization formed by Chinese international project investors, contractors, labor service companies and related service providers. CHINCA has been actively performing its duty of communicating members' appeals, strengthening industry self-discipline and providing professional service since its establishment in 1988, aiming to drive sound development of members and promote rapid and healthy progress of China's international investment and economic cooperation. CHINCA now has more than 1,300 members , among which over 1,000 are engaged in international project engineering, contracting and investment, representing about 90 percent of the whole industry business value, distributing in more than 190 countries and regions. For years, more than 60 members of CHINCA have been listed in Engineering News-Record Top 250 International Contractors and several key members among the Fortune Global 500. CHINCA members have undertaken various projects in the fields of transportation, power and electricity, housing, petrochemical industry, telecommunication, water conservancy, and industrial and manufacturing construction. Member companies of labor service cooperation are engaged in dispatching technical and managerial personnel and skilled contract workers outside China in the areas of manufacturing, construction, transportation, medical service, IT service, catering, agriculture, husbandry, and fishery industries, etc. CHINCA members also include service providers like financial institutions, insurance companies, logistics companies, consulting and law firms, as well as machinery, equipments and building materials suppliers. Diplomatic relations between Iran and China were established on August 16, 1971. The volume of Iranian-Chinese trade reached a historically high value of $ 20 billion in January-Jule 2018. China has repeatedly stressed that the country will maintain a high level of bilateral relations with Iran, regardless of the position of third countries. In turn, Iran last year significantly eased visa rules for China, increased the volume of energy exports and began to show interest in various multilateral economic formats in Asia with Chinese participation. --- Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Shanghai (Gasgoo)- JAC Motors released its new product planning on April 9, saying it plans to launched three all-new modelsthe A432, the S432 and S811, and seven upgraded models from 2019 to 2021. Of that, NEV models are scheduled to be rolled out include the iEVA60, the iEVA432, the iEVS4, the X811 (compact SUV) and a brand-new A00-segment sedan. On the same day, the iEVA60 officially hit the market with two variants, priced between RMB179,500 and RMB189,500. At the launching ceremony, JAC Motors announced the prices of six NEV models applicable to transition period for new NEV subsidy policy, including the iEV7S, the iEVA50, the iEVA60, the iEV7L, the iEV6E Upgrade and the iEV6E Sports. The price with green-car subsidy of the iEV6E Upgrade is as low as RMB59,500. The automaker is about to set the iEVS4 all-electric SUV into the market at the impending Auto Shanghai 2019. The presale of the new model has already started on January 28 with prices ranging between RMB130,000 and RMB170,000 (after subsidy). The iEVS4 reportedly boasts a combined driving range of 420km, outnumbering that of the BYD Yuan EV535. JAC Motors reported on April 9 that its sales in March fell 17.51% over a year ago to 44,317 units, among which the all-electric passenger vehicle (PV)'s sales amounted to 6,616 units, showing a year-on-year jump of 31.5%. For the first quarter of the year, the carmaker saw the cumulative all-electric PV sales leapt 28.26% to 15,007 units. Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV), part of Saudi-based Abdul Latif Jameel Energy (ALJ), a leader in renewable energy projects, said that its latest project in Australia, the Lilyvale solar plant, is now up and running. The 100 MW ac project produced its first Kwh of energy last month and is expected to reach full capacity in the coming months following a testing phase. Located in the Queensland Central Highlands region, the Lilyvale solar plant will generate enough power to supply 45,000 homes, while avoiding the emission of 175,000 tons of CO2 per year. This is the fourth project connected by the company in Australia, with a total of 276 MW AC under operation Lilyvale is the second large-scale solar installation of FRV in Queensland. FRV signed a PPA with Ergon Energy Retail for the full plant capacity in January 2017. The project was financed in September 2017 with a group of banks comprising the Banking Group of Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), the Bank of Tokyo and Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd (MUFG) and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). Carlo Frigerio, managing director of FRV in Australia, said: "Australia continues to be a key market worldwide for renewable energy investments. With projects like Lilyvale, FRV is delighted to participate to the country's ongoing energy transformation and transition to sustainability and care for the environment. Fady Jameel, deputy president and vice chairman of Abdul Latif Jameel, said: "We are proud to announce this project milestone, and to be contributing to Australias drive for clean energy. Australia is a strong and promising market for FRV and Abdul Latif Jameel Energy, and we see significant potential to expand investment in the years ahead and spearhead the development of the sector in the country and further afield. Abdul Latif Jameel Energy has committed to significantly expanding FRVs international operations, with plans to invest $900 million in 2019 alone, and the longer term goal of increasing the total installed capacity of our projects around the world over eight-fold in the next five years, from 0.7 GW at the beginning of 2019 to 5.8 GW by 2024,he added. FRV has developed a total of six solar operating or committed projects in Australia with an accumulated investment of around $0.7 billion since 2012: Royalla (20 MW AC) in the Australian Capital Territory, Moree (56 MW AC) in New South Wales, Clare (100 MW AC) and Lilyvale (100MW AC) in Queensland, Goonumbla (67.8 MW AC) in New South Wales and Winton (85 MW AC) in Victoria. Abdul Latif Jameel Energy was formed in 2012, and today is a leading, independent power producer, and a premier service provider of operations and maintenance in the renewable energy sector, with interests in 16 countries worldwide with capabilities in renewable energy including solar photovoltaic, wind, waste-to-energy, and environmental solutions including desalination, water and waste water treatment. TradeArabia News Service Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) said it has joined hands with Canadian company Enbala to build the regions first Virtual Power Plant (VPP). A VPP is a smart network of distributed, small and medium scale generation units such as solar photovoltaic, battery storage and flexible loads. The aim is to increase the visibility of distributed energy resources (DER), and maximise their value by providing grid services such as peak shaving, frequency regulation or energy balancing. The pilot VPP is a result of a fruitful research collaboration between Dewas Research and Development Centre at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park and Enbala, said a statement from the Dubai utility. It will act as a platform that aggregates selected distributed energy resources and manage the mixed portfolio as a single conventional power plant connected to the grid. The advanced technology uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enable integration of various types of energy into Dewas smart grid, it added. "We are working to achieve the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to make Dubai the smartest and happiest city in the world, and fulfil the objectives of the UAE Centennial 2071, the UAE Vision 2021, and the Dubai Plan 2021 to make Dubai a smart and sustainable city," remarked Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, the managing dirctor and CEO of Dewa. "In line with Dewas vision to become a globally leading sustainable innovative corporation, we seek to shape the future of the local, regional, and global energy sectors," he noted . "We will do this by keeping pace with the Fourth Industrial Revolution and adopting innovative disruptive technologies to anticipate and shape the future of energy. The virtual power plant will increase renewable energy integration capabilities, supporting the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 to produce 75 per cent of Dubai's total energy from clean energy sources," he added. "Within the world of distributed energy management, this is a very exciting and game-changing project. We are honoured to be a part of this far-reaching initiative that is sure to take energy sustainability to new levels. The world will be watching Dewas clean energy initiatives with great interest," said Trent Bowers, the chief commercial officer of Enbala.-TradeArabia News Service Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX), the regions leading derivatives exchange, said it has reaached an agreement with RakBank, to launch a Mini-Gold Futures product, offering investors the chance to trade gold in smaller denominations. The contract will be the first-of-its-kind, and is in response to feedback from market participants that emphasized a strong desire from smaller investors to increase their exposure in the precious metals market, said statement from DGCX. The Mini-Gold product will be made available on the DGCX platform and cleared by the Dubai Commodities Clearing Corporation (DCCC). Initially, delivery will take the form of electronic transfer at RakBank, although as the contract develops it is envisaged that the additional capability of physical redemption will be added, it stated. The launch of the Mini-Gold contract is targeted for Q3 subject to the appropriate approvals, it added. CEO Les Male said: "The DGCXs decision to expand its precious metals portfolio is a direct result of the partnership we forged with RakBank in 2017. We are delighted to have built on this relationship, and excited to announce the launch of the Menas first exchange listed Mini-Gold product together." "There is a strong desire to own gold in the UAE, but at present, it is difficult for smaller investors to buy Gold Futures given the large size of the contracts. This significant move will open up access for them and permit accumulation of Gold as part of their savings, while ultimately contributing to the development of the regions bullion market," he added. RakBank's Managing Director of Treasury Vikas Suri said: "We were very pleased to join hands with the DGCX and DMCC two years ago to start work on the development of a platform that would allow customers, large and small, from across the region to acquire gold at competitive prices with just a click of a button through an integrated Digital Banking platform." "I am delighted to note that this vision has now become a reality and that the end product of a significant amount of hard work, commitment and determination from all sides has culminated in the agreement to launch the DGCX Mini-Gold product," he noted. "This is part of our exciting RAKGOLD project to create the UAEs first full service, end to end bullion banking offering and we look forward to supporting the new contract as both a market maker and gold clearer," he added.-TradeArabia News Service John Cox can be reached at 661-395-7404. Follow him on Twitter: @TheThirdGraf. Sign up at Bakersfield.com for free newsletters about local business. Joseph Luiz can be reached at 395-7368 or by email at jluiz@bakersfield.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @JLuiz_TBC. You can reach Sam Morgen at 661-395-7415 or smorgen@bakersfield.com. You may also follow him on Twitter @smorgenTBC. Reader: The bar that TBC sets for those reporters that contribute to its op-ed, national and world news pages is not set very high. As a matte W Amman, a leading luxury hotel in Jordan, is celebrating its first anniversary this month. Ever since the vibrant hotel was inaugurated one year ago, its iconic status was unmistakable. W Amman effortlessly left its mark on the citys modern skyline and popular culture by hosting events that sparked the interest of its guests and local visitors. Developed by Eagle Hills and part of Marriott International, W Amman is inspired by Jordans enigmatic mix of heritage and lust for all that is trendy. The hotel gives hospitality a new definition while placing Jordan as a fab destination amongst unconventional, style-conscious travellers. A promotional experience aptly named Dare to Discover took global and regional influencers on a supreme tour of the kingdom and showcased its touristic prowess, naturally landing W Amman its rightful spot in Conde Nasts 100 Hot List. The hotel was also featured in the worlds most coveted travel and lifestyle publications, namely, Harpers Bazaar, Travel + Leisure, Hotelier Middle East and Caterer Middle East. Exactly one year ago, W Amman opened its doors to modern jet setters and quickly positioned itself as a patron of art and design, said Esra Parin, W Amman general manager. Jordan has always been popular for its hospitality and our social spaces give its youth the stage to strut their creative energy the result is an electric mix you dont find anywhere else. The first year of W Amman validates its never stop attitude. The hotel hosted events that amplified every single one of W Hotels passion points; fashion, design, music and fuel. Hotel guests and prominent local figures were invited to revel in a W-worthy private dinner. Pioneering Jordanian women from various design disciplines took centre stage as they shared their success stories in the bold What She Said event, a continuation of W Hotels global series of inspiring women speakers. Helipad Yoga literally lifted guests to a higher state and owned the moment on and off air. Keeping up with whats new in fashion, W Amman collaborated with talented local designers, paired with Fashion Trust Arabia, a non-profit helping Arab designers build their brand and gain international exposure, and sponsored the highly anticipated Jordan Fashion Week, which included commissioning XisFound to customize a piece inspired by W Ammans bold look and attitude. The hotel also fashioned a new meaning for T-Time. No scones were served, but rather a dose of original style from rising designers. W Amman stole the art scene with imaginative exhibitions by renowned artists as Her Royal Highness Princess Nissa Raad and Zaina El Said. Putting art for a good cause, the hotel teamed up with Wadi Finan Art Gallery to raise funds in support of the King Hussein Cancer Foundation. It also unveiled an exhibition entitled Road to Awareness as part of Marriott Internationals campaign to aid children across Africa and the Middle East. Looking back at our first year, all I can say is we are not holding back, and we will continue to push boundaries and deliver to our guests the extraordinary travel experience they seek, Parin added. - TradeArabia News Service Almost 300 people enjoyed eggs, coffee and all things breakfast during the 28th annual Catholic Charities of Southeast Texas Breakfast with the Bishop event Saturday hosted at St. Anne Catholic Church in Beaumont. Bishop Curtis Guillory attended the event for his 19th time as bishop. He said he loves attending because the event gets people from every denomination and from all walks of life into a single room. We may disagree on the doctrines and on what we believe but we all agree on feeding the hungry. This event allows us to all get together and help the organization do that, Guillory said. The Catholic Charities of Southeast Texas works throughout the year to help the less fortunate. Colton Morris, the spokesman for the organization, said people often overlook the charitys willingness to help anyone who needs assistance. Many think we will only help those who are Catholic, but we dont, he said. We have over six different programs that we work on throughout the year so this fundraiser event helps us cover the costs of those other programs. Some of the other programs offered through the organization include immigration services, parish social ministry, counseling, disaster response and hospitality. Their biggest fundraiser for the year is the Harvest of Hope Gala generally held near the end of the year. The Breakfast with the Bishop event was open to all different religions and had a goal of raising $30,000, Morris said. If a Baptist or a non-believer would come to the Catholic Charities, they would help them just as any other Catholic. I think it is important for Catholics to see people and other religions say thank you for doing this, the Rev. James Fuller of Calder Baptist Church said. Though transitioning to retirement, Guillory said he still looks forward to attending the event next year whether he is bishop or not, calling the event a symbol of unity. Erica.Apodaca@beaumontenterprise.com Twitter.com/erica_a10 The number of Bahraini nationals visiting Turkey rose 38 per cent in the first two months of 2019 to 20,792, according to the latest data released by the Turkish Consulate General Cultural and Tourism Office in Dubai. Turkey is one of the largest outbound tourism markets for people living in the Gulf countries. In February 2019, around 1,670 million international tourists visited Turkey, which is 9.38 per cent more compared to the same period in 2018. In 2018, the number of Bahraini nationals visiting Turkey jumped 29.66 per cent to 77,075, compared to 59,442 in 2017. Tourist flow from GCC to Turkey continues to rise, due to a number of factors that include increased number of attractions and relaxation in the visa formalities. However, this is a fraction of the total number of visitors from Bahrain, when expatriate residents are included. Tourism revenues increased 12.3 per cent reaching $29.5 billion in 2018, in comparison with $26.2 billion the revenues collected in 2017. Official data revealed that 81.8 per cent of the income came from foreign visitors and 18.2 per cent from Turkish citizens living abroad. Salih Ozer, attache of Culture and Information, Turkey to the UAE, said, Tourist flow from the GCC countries to Turkey continues to grow and I am happy to see the growth trend continues this year, despite headwinds in the global economy. Turkey remains an oasis of peace and tranquillity and offers a large number of tourist attractions. It offers greater value for money when compared to other popular tourist destinations across the world." Turkey and the Gulf countries share centuries-old social, cultural and economic ties. The repeated visits of the friendly visitors from the GCC countries help fuel the growth of our economy, he said. Turkey welcomed just over 46 million visitors in 2018, including 39.49 million foreigners and 6.62 million Turkish citizens from abroad. Nearly six million foreigners coming to Turkey in 2018 were from Russia -- an increase of 26.49 per cent compared with 2017 -- and 4.5 million visitors were from Germany, up by 25.88 per cent from the previous year, according to the ministry's statement. - TradeArabia News Service In an effort to avoid perceptions of official partisanship in elections, Jefferson County commissioners are considering creating a new position specifically to manage the election process. County Clerk Carolyn Guidry most recently brought up the idea of creating an election administrator position to the Commissioners Court this week. Officials are split on whether it would have the intended effect with few consequences. Among the concerns: how much it would cost to fund the position, how to find qualified candidates who dont appear overly partisan and how difficult it might be to get rid of an administrator deemed to be abusing elections. Tax Assessor/Collector and Voter Registrar Allison Getz, who is in charge of the countys voter rolls and registering new voters, said shes open to discussing the idea but hasnt heard a reason compelling enough to want to give up her duties. I like the fact that we have checks and balances between the two offices, she said. But I am not averse to an election administrator. Guidry, who runs county elections and some contracted races for local agencies, said shes been in favor of creating an election administrator position since she was first elected in 2004. Ive been talking about it since I got here because I think elections officials shouldnt be a part of the elections process, she said. I think its a conflict of interest and I dont think elections should be partisan. Guidry brought up a recent scenario in which a candidate for a runoff election thought there should be more early polling locations in the candidates area. When she couldnt change the process from the way its been done, Guidry said, she came off negatively despite not having ulterior motives. She said that could have hurt her own re-election campaign for clerk. The county also recently experienced a situation where Democrats and Republicans were at odds about dozens of mail-in ballots that were flagged and ultimately rejected for possible discrepancies in signatures. Guidry said that situation has been addressed with the creation of a signature committee. The Texas Elections Code has specific requirements for what an elections administrator can and cannot do in relation to political parties. For example, administrators are prohibited from running for or holding political office. An election administrator who does either of these would immediately lose their position. Additionally, making political contributions or publicly supporting or opposing a candidate or measure are a Class A misdemeanor. Such activity would result in termination and make the elections administrator ineligible to be appointed to the position again. Chris Davis, elections administrator for Williamson County, is president of the Texas Association of Elections Administrators. He said hes unaware of instances where this piece of the code had to be invoked, although there was one case in which an elections administrator tried to have the rule changed but ultimately stepped down before running for office. The position of election administrator was created in the early 1980s to take the duties of administrating an election, keeping track of voter rolls and registering new voters and put them in one position, Davis said. Today, nearly half of the states counties have them, Davis said. The ratio is more than three in four in counties of Jeffersons size and larger. I think its safe to say that the vast majority of registered voters in Texas live in counties where elections are conducted by election administrators, he said. Commissioners Court on Monday asked the county auditor to get more information about how the position works in similarly sized counties. In the past, Guidry said, commissioners have been against the idea because they didnt want to create another level of government. They also wanted to ensure the office doesnt cost the county more than the new position is worth. Davis said offices with an election administrator at the helm arent traditionally money-making opportunities for the county, but they generally have more time to take on contracts running elections for municipalities, school districts and other agencies that then brings in small amounts of money to the elections office. The state allows us to tack on a 10 percent administrative fee onto our budget to maintain what we have and educate staff, he said. Its not a money-making department, but we can be partially self-sufficient and commissioners courts usually like that. County Democratic and Republican party chairs Cade Bernsen and Judy Nichols, respectively, both said theyre also open to hearing more about the position. Nichols said she wants to ensure there are swift and efficient remedies to remove an administrator who may be abusing the election process for partisan reasons. Bernsen said he doesnt see how the positions creation is a bad thing, but the county needs to look closer at the details. Any election administrator would be appointed by the county elections board, which is made up of the county judge, county clerk, tax assessor/collector and representatives from both political parties. The election administrator generally reports to the county judge. kaitlin.bain@beaumontenterprise.com twitter.com/KaitlinBain The Ascott Limited, the worlds largest serviced residence owner-operator, continues to roll out its expansion portfolio in Saudi Arabia with the signing of a new property in Al Khobar. Citadines Al Aziziyah Al Khobar is set to open in late 2021 and will be Ascotts seventh residence in the kingdom, and its third in the city of Al Khobar. The 92-unit residence is currently under construction on King Khalid Road in the popular Al Aziziyah district to the south of the city. The location benefits from convenient transport links: King Khalid Road itself is the citys main arterial highway, while the nearby King Fahd Causeway links Saudi Arabia with Bahrain. Dammam railway station is a short drive away and connects the Eastern Province to the Saudi capital, Riyadh. When operational, Citadines Al Aziziyah Al Khobar will feature 36 studio apartments, 25 one-bedroom apartments and 30 two-bedroom apartments, as well as a 157-sq-m penthouse. Facilities will include a residents lounge, swimming pool and gym, and a three-storey adjacent car park for visitors use. Guests will also be within easy reach of the neighbourhoods public beaches, restaurants, shops and recreational facilities, including Half Moon Bay and Al Khobar Corniche. We are very pleased to announce details of our latest serviced residence in Saudi Arabia in partnership with Nebras Tourism Company, said Vincent Miccolis, Ascotts regional general manager for Middle East, Africa and Turkey. In the four years since we launched our first property in Saudi Arabia, weve established a market-leading presence with an expanding portfolio of international-standard properties in key destinations." Al Saggaf, general manager of Nebras Tourism Company, said: We are delighted to partner with the Ascott Limited and introduce the Citadines brand into Al Khobar. Saudis oil-rich Eastern Province is a key metropolitan region with Al Khobar as one of its fastest growing cities, Miccolis said. Citadines Al Aziziyah Al Khobar will appeal to both business and leisure travellers who seek modern comforts, business connectivity and customized services. Furthermore, the propertys impressive amenities will appeal to long- and short-term visitors who enjoy the convenience and flexibility of a centrally-located serviced apartment. Saudi Arabia represents an important growth territory for Ascott over the next few years, with further openings in the pipeline across the kingdom. - TradeArabia News Service Authorities in Bexar County arrested more than 50 people on felony DWI charges in March, court records showed. The suspects, 53 in total, were arrested on charges that included intoxication assault, intoxication manslaughter, driving while intoxicated with a child and a third DWI offense. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox Among those charged with intoxication manslaughter was Nicole Woodard, 32. On March 14, Woodard struck and killed Andrew McGarity, 37, who was walking on the sidewalk near the 800 block of Enrique M. Barrera Parkway, according to San Antonio police. Woodard had a 7-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl in the car with her when the crash happened, police said. RELATED: SAPD: Intoxication manslaughter suspect had 2 children in car during fatal crash Another suspected drunk driver, Kimberly Shields, allegedly had three children in the car with her when she was pulled over on March 9, records showed. She was charged with three counts of driving while intoxicated with a child. Here are the number of charges broken down for March. Some people may be facing multiple charges: Intoxication assault (third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison): 5 Intoxication manslaughter (second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison): 1 Driving while intoxicated with child passenger under 15 years old (state jail felony punishable by up to two years in prison): 7 Driving while intoxicated third or more (third-degree felony): 43 MySA.com has tracked the felony DWI issue in Bexar County since 2015. A mugshot for Leonard Ibarra, who was charged on March 31 with two counts of intoxication assault, was not available, according to Bexar County Jail officials. 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 new wire fraud scam is targeting employees at KVC Health Systems, a midsize nonprofit agency for child welfare based in Olathe, Kan., according to CNBC. The behavioral health system said around two or three times a month, employees receive phishing emails from hackers to reroute their paychecks by direct deposit. "They might just say, 'I need to update my direct deposit information,'" Eric Nyberg, director of information technology at KVC, told CNBC. "Or they start with, 'Hey, do you have a second?' and if that target person responds, then they go from there." The emails are often well written, cordial and lack the misspellings, grammar mistakes and punctuation abnormalities that often alert employees to phishing attacks, Mr. Nyberg said. This wire fraud scheme is trying to connive human resource personnel to change an employee's bank account and routing information, so the paychecks get directly deposited to the hacker's desired account. When the money gets rerouted to the hackers, the organization is required to replace the stolen funds. KVC has had a few misses, but has not transferred any paychecks to scammers, according to Mr. Nyberg. While these scammers don't often get away with stealing tens of thousands of dollars, the threat is real. To combat the fraud scheme, Mr. Nyberg said KVS is focused on training employees on a simple truth: "The CEO is never going to email you out of the blue and ask you for any deposit changes. And if you have any sliver of a doubt, call the person who is making the request," he told CNBC. Natural language processing is also being developed to flag the phishing emails before they hit an employee's inbox. Help India! Engineer Sheikh Abdul Rasheed (Er. Rashid) is a firebrand politician and lawmaker from North Kashmirs Langate. He remains in news usually and is known for his hard-hitting views on Kashmir. Despite being a legislator, he demands the right to self-determination for the people of Jammu and Kashmir for which he was beaten up once in mainland India. An independent candidate who won two back-to-back Assembly elections, he has his own party Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) and is a crowd puller. Hundreds and thousands of people participate in his rallies and listen to him carefully. Despite being termed as a Pro-India Politician, he continuously demands plebiscite for the state. Being a two-time MLA, he doesnt enjoy any kind of security as he believes that he is a peoples leader. Er. Rashid decided to contest for Lok Sabha elections for Baramulla Parliamentary constituency and is campaigning in full swing for himself. In an exclusive interview with TwoCircle.nets Kashmir correspondent, Auqib Javeed, Er. Rashid spoke about his plans on how to represent Kashmir in parliament, Kashmir Politics and many other issues. Here are the excerpts: Support TwoCircles If you win in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from North Kashmir what will you do which will be different from what others have done? I represented Kashmir in Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly for the last 10 years, I will do the same on a bigger platform (Parliament). I will persuade the Indian leadership that we are not terrorists and extremists. We simply want the resolution of Kashmir issue keeping the aspiration of the people on board. You are often seen as a maverick, openly defying the government and speaking the language of separatists. How would you define yourself? If telling the truth and talking about people aspiration is separatism, then I am proud to be one. Tell me where I have said anything wrong? I met PM Modi last year and I told him if people from Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir want to be part of India then hold a plebiscite and let them be part of India but he had no answers. So calling me a separatist is wrong. Maybe I can vote for India tomorrow. I never said I will vote for Pakistan or an independent state, but we have every right to decide our future. Separatists are saying that by contesting elections politicians are legitimising the occupation here. What do you have to say? I am sorry to say that they may be sincere but confused. Why are they saying so now? Ask Geelani Sahib how many times has he contested elections. Why did they contest election then? The truth remains always the truth. If J&K is a dispute in 2019, it was also disputed when they contested elections. This is an absolutely silly argument and they need to change it. Unless and until they change their approach, they will send entire Kashmir to hell. I dont even want to discuss it, I have respect for them. So do you mean they should also contest elections and fight for Kashmir dispute within Indian Constitution? See the world is not cruel; the way we see it, there are good people in the world and they will support us in our issues. Imagine if Geelani sahib, Shah Faesal and Er. Rashid would be in the Indian Parliament, what will New Delhi do? They can jail us but the world will support us. Hurriyat needs to change its ways so that this dispute will be resolved. Do you think elections can be rigged like 1987 in order to keep you away from Indian parliament? State can do anything at anytime but I want to inform them that it will be last nail in the coffin of all those forces who believe in democracy. The fear of rigging the elections always remains there since 1987. It will be stupid on behalf of state if they did anything silly in the elections. On one side you are demanding Plebiscite for the state while on the other side you are taking an oath of allegiance to India? Let me put a counter question to you, who was Indias first Prime Minister? It was Jawaharlal Nehru, didnt he take an oath of Indian constitution? So how did he talk of right to self determination for the state of Jammu and Kashmir? If people say Er. Rashid is a traitor then Nehru is the biggest traitor and if the Indian constitution allows me to fight for our fundamental rights, then the UN charter clearly states that self-determination is my right. Ex-IAS turned Politician Shah Faesal has finally supported you in the upcoming elections, what do you have to say? Let me tell you that when Shah Faesal resigned, I was the first person to offer him in my party and told him that we will fight together but the only condition was it should that we have to work for the resolution of Kashmir issue, a resolution which should be accepted by the people of both sides of the LoC (Line of Control). So then I asked him to support me in the coming elections and yesterday he finally did. I am thankful to him. So, would you support him in Assembly elections? I am ready to support Uddhav Thackeray, Sakshi Maharaj and Mohan Bhagwat if they speak for the rights of deprived people. It is not the question of a Muslim, Hindu, Shia or Sunni, its question of justice and justice has no religion neither does cruelty. As far as Shah Faesal is concerned, if he talks about the aspirations, emotions and rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, I am ready to support him anywhere. In the run-up to the LS polls, both NC and PDP have intensified their attacks on Centre while asserting regional aspirations, how do you see this pre-poll posturing? They are the ones responsible for all our miseries. They are representing Delhi in Kashmir rather than Kashmir in Delhi. Their non-seriousness has dumped us in the graveyard. Their disappointment has let others to leave the job and serve the people. I was an Engineer and left the job to serve the people, likewise, Shah Faesal did and there are so many others who are leaving their jobs just to serve the people, as the regional parties failed to do so from so many years. They are doing dramas to stay relevant now. BJP has been able to make some inroads in Kashmir, thanks largely to PC-led by Sajad Lone. What do you think of BJPs prospects in the coming elections in Kashmir valley? They will not succeed here but having a strong state machinery and the people like Sajjad sahib, they are trying their best to get some seats here but I must tell you that the Politics is battle of Ideas and I have no objection if BJP is working in Kashmir, let people reject them, why should we be afraid? BJP leaders have renewed their rhetoric against Art 370. Do you see any real threat to Art 370 or is it just a political gimmick? Where is Article 370? It has been eroded already. We have been left with Article 35-A and now the BJP is playing this card to make Kashmiris defensive and is playing a psychological war in the state, nothing else. But we have to work for the resolution of Kashmir issue and that is the biggest issue for us. If BJP comes to power at the Centre, how do you think it will shape the politics of J&K? Facts and history dont change. They have to accept the facts. Their muscular policy will not work in Kashmir. They have done the absolute worst to Kashmir and have fired every shot, but did anything change? What next? What will they do? What is your take on the crackdown on Jamaat and JKLF? What can be the political ramifications of this exercise? It has a long history. In the 1990s when militancy started here, New Delhi divided Kashmiris first into moderates and hardliners. Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) was called a secular group while the Jamaat was called a hardliner. Then Yasin Malik left the gun culture and was welcomed, he even met former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. If Yasin Malik has left arms and Jamaat-e-Islami have quit the armed struggle why they are being pushed to the wall? By doing this, the Centre is simply digging their grave in J&K. In your opinion is the future of Kashmir safe with India? See, I am not against India, I am even saying that if people from that side of the LoC want to be with India, I have no objection but let the people decide what they want. Hold a plebiscite and people will decide about their future. What solution do you have in mind for Kashmir problem? Nothing less than the right to self-determination. Four of the top vendors hospitals used to participate in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program are Allscripts, Cerner, Epic and Meditech, according to 2018 ONC data. Sixteen hospitals and health systems posted job listings seeking EHR and IT expertise during the past two weeks: Editor's note: This is not an exhaustive list. Job listings were compiled from job seeker websites. Allscripts: 1. Memorial Sloan Kettering (New York City): Seeks an informatics systems analyst. 2. Sutter Health (Sacramento, Calif.): Seeks an applications analyst. 3. Providence Health and Services (Renton, Wash.): Seeks a physician compliance executive director. 4. NYC Health and Hospitals (New York City): Seeks a coordinating manager. Cerner: 1. Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, Calif.): Seeks a clinical laboratory information systems analyst. 2. Maury Regional Health (Columbia, Tenn.): Seeks a clinical informatics director. 3. Shriners Hospital for Children (Tampa, Fla.): Seeks a clinical applications analyst. 4. Munson Healthcare (Charlevoix, Mich.): Seeks a clinical software applications systems analyst. Epic: 1. Covenant Health (Lewiston, Maine): Seeks a clinical informatics manager. 2. Rush University Medical Center (Chicago): Seeks an EHR analyst. 3. Children's Hospital and Medical Center-Omaha (Neb.): Seeks a virtual care systems analyst. 4. Orange Regional Medical Center (Middletown, N.Y.): Seeks a health information exchange analyst. Meditech: 1. Hudson Regional Hospital (Secaucus, N.J.): Seeks an IT director. 2. Montrose (Colo.) Memorial Hospital: Seeks an EHR analyst. 3. Bonner General Health (Sandpoint, Idaho): Seeks an information systems clinical analyst. 4. Medical City Healthcare (Dallas): Seeks a clinical informatics analyst. From reimbursement landscape challenges to dwindling patient volumes, many factors lead hospitals to file for bankruptcy. Here are 12 hospitals that filed for bankruptcy since Jan. 1, beginning with the most recent: 1. De Queen (Ark.) Medical Center filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 3. The hospital, owned by an affiliate of Kansas City, Mo.-based EmpowerHMS, entered bankruptcy after facing financial challenges for months. Electricity was temporarily shut off in some parts of the hospital in February due to nonpayment, and the hospital subsequently stopped providing patient care. 2. Prague (Okla.) Community Hospital, owned by an affiliate of EmpowerHMS, entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 21. A judge allowed a new company to take over management of Prague Community Hospital in early March after the hospital experienced payroll issues and lacked funds for supplies. 3. I-70 Community Hospital in Sweet Springs, Mo., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 21. The bankruptcy filing came after CMS ended its provider agreement with the hospital, which voluntarily suspended its license for 90 days on Feb. 15. I-70 Community Hospital is owned by an affiliate of EmpowerHMS. 4. Haskell County Community Hospital in Stigler, Okla., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 17. The hospital, owned by an affiliate of EmpowerHMS, entered bankruptcy with less than $50,000 in assets and at least $1 million in liabilities. 5. Drumright (Okla.) Regional Hospital, owned by an affiliate of EmpowerHMS, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 17. The hospital entered bankruptcy with less than $50,000 in assets and upward of $10 million in estimated liabilities. 6. Oswego (Kan.) Community Hospital entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 17. The bankruptcy filing came after the hospital, owned by an affiliate of EmpowerHMS, abruptly closed Feb. 14. 7. Fairfax (Okla.) Community Hospital, owned by an affiliate of EmpowerHMS, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy March 17. The hospital entered bankruptcy with less than $50,000 in assets and at least $1 million in liabilities. 8. Horton (Kan.) Community Hospital entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy March 14, just two days after it closed. In its bankruptcy petition, the hospital said it has less than $50,000 in assets and liabilities of between $1 million and $10 million. Horton Community Hospital is owned by an affiliate of EmpowerHMS. 9. Hillsboro (Kan.) Community Hospital, owned by an affiliate of EmpowerHMS, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 13. According to documents filed in the bankruptcy case, the hospital has at least $10 million in assets and at least $10 million in liabilities. The hospital owes more than $334,000 in real estate taxes, making the Marion County (Kan.) Treasurer the unsecured creditor with the largest claim against the hospital. 10. Lauderdale Community Hospital in Ripley, Tenn., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 8. The hospital, owned by an affiliate of EmpowerHMS, has faced financial challenges for months, and a federal judge appointed a receiver to oversee the hospital's finances in February. 11. Washington County Hospital in Plymouth, N.C., entered bankruptcy in February after creditors filed an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition. The hospital, owned by an affiliate of EmpowerHMS, missed payroll Feb. 8 and suspended all medical services Feb. 14. 12. Penobscot Valley Hospital, a 25-bed critical access hospital in Lincoln, Maine, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Jan. 29. "We have made tremendous strides over the last three years in bringing our operational costs in line with revenue," Hospital CEO Crystal Landry said in a press release. "Legacy debt is the issue here, and Chapter 11 allows us to restructure that debt so we can keep our doors open and ensure that our community continues to have a hospital close to home." More articles on healthcare finance: 9 hospitals with strong finances Indiana hospital closes, lays off 269 employees 8 recent hospital, health system outlook and credit rating actions A study of more than 1,400 health system-backed initiatives showed three primary areas where organizations can generate revenue through nontraditional strategies. For the study conducted by Boston-based Partners HealthCare and New York City-based private equity firm Fitzroy Health C-suite executives, board members, venture capital executives and others at 74 U.S. health systems and academic medical centers were interviewed. Researchers identified more than 1,400 initiatives that health systems have pursued to generate new revenue and placed them in 10 categories. Researchers ended up with three primary levers of value creation that can provide sustainable revenue. They are: Bringing care model innovations to market , such as Aurora, Colo.-based UCHealths partnership with RxRevu, a digital health company that offers providers medication information within the EHR , such as Aurora, Colo.-based UCHealths partnership with RxRevu, a digital health company that offers providers medication information within the EHR Transforming cost centers into profit centers , such as Navicent Healths Flex Health, a workforce management company spinout , such as Navicent Healths Flex Health, a workforce management company spinout Generating royalties from drugs, devices and diagnostics, such as Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia investing in Spark Therapeutics Access the full study here. More articles on healthcare finance: RCM tip of the day: Talk to patients about billing before service Colorados plan to reduce healthcare costs Philadelphia hospitals parent company sees pathway to stability Massena (N.Y.) Memorial Hospital's board voted unanimously to apply for Critical Access Hospital designation as financial problems mount, according to NPR affiliate NCPR. The vote, which took place April 8, is aimed at retrieving federal assistance to manage the taxpayer-owned hospital's roughly $15 million of debt. Over the past three years, admissions and revenues have declined at Massena Memorial. While this has caused financial instability, hospital leadership thinks it will allow the hospital to apply for CAH status. Pat Facteau, Massena Memorial's interim CEO, told NCPR the move would bring in more than $3 million to the hospital. "That's additional reimbursement of $3.5 million based upon where we were in 2018, so that's $3.5 million to our bottom line. It's basically cash," he said. Massena Memorial did not qualify for the CAH designation three to four years ago, which requires hospitals to have a maximum of 25 beds, have an average length of stay of four or fewer days, and provide 24/7 emergency care services. While Massena Memorial has 50 beds double what the CAH program requires Mr. Facteau said that because the hospital is only averaging 17 patients a day, he thinks Massena Memorial will qualify for the program. He expects the process to take six to eight months, according to NCPR. More articles on healthcare finance: Walmart increasingly comparing physicians over cost: 5 things to know 105-year-old Ohio hospital closes Arkansas hospital files for bankruptcy Germantown, Tenn.-based Baptist Memorial Hospital installed a new robotic system that helps stroke patients regain strength, coordination and control, WMC, an NBC affiliate, reports. The bionic robot arm, which is designed by Bionik Laboratories, helps increase movement of patients who have a neurological condition or injury. With the technology, a patient can complete up to 1,000 movements an hour, an increase from the average 50 movements per hour that patients perform without it, according to the report. "Moving from 50 movements an hour to 1,000, that higher frequency of simple repetition, helps a patient heal faster and better." Bionik Laboratories CEO Eric Dusseux, MD, told WMC. The robot's artificial intelligence technology also maintains patients' progress and can print reports directly from its system. Kerrville, Texas-based Peterson Health named Cory Edmondson president and CEO, effective May 6. Five things to know: 1. Mr. Edmondson is currently senior vice president of strategic development for Midland (Texas) Health. 2. He joined Midland Memorial Hospital in 2001 as director of community health services. 3. He is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. 4. Mr. Edmondson holds an MBA in healthcare administration from William Howard Taft University in Santa Ana, Calif. 5. He succeeds Pat Murray, who is retiring at the end of April after leading Peterson Health for 19 years. SSM Health Good Samaritan Hospital in Mount Vernon, Ill., tapped Jeremy Bradford to serve as its president permanently, according to The Southern. Three notes: 1. Mr. Bradford became interim president of the hospital Jan. 21. 2. He joined St. Louis-based SSM Health as regional vice president of operations in its Southern Illinois region in March 2018. 3. He has 19 years of experience in healthcare leadership. More articles on executive moves: 23 latest hospital, health system executive moves Excela Health CEO, COO unexpectedly step down: 4 things to know Memorial Hospital at Gulfport names CFO Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Erlanger Health System may have to upend its board of trustees if a bill targeting ties between governing bodies and public hospitals is signed into Tennessee law, according to the Times Free Press. The bill, which passed the state's Senate and is moving through its House, aims to protect consumers who live near a county or publicly owned hospital. It would prevent hospital authority trustees and former trustees from signing an employment agreement with an authority until at least 12 months after the trustee's tenure of service on the board. The bill would not affect private or nonprofit hospitals. The Times Free Press reviewed a list of current and former trustees from Erlanger to see if anyone would be affected by the bill. A hospital spokesperson told the publication "it would be premature for Erlanger to speculate who this bill impacts at this point." After reviewing conflict of interest disclosures trustees have to complete, the Times Free Press found current physician board members could have to choose between ending any financial ties with Erlanger or staying on the 11-member board. Erangler's Board Chairman Mike Griffin told the publication having physicians on the board is "a tremendous asset." He added, "I am hopeful that the bill, in its final form, will not impact physician participation on Erlanger's board." More articles on leadership: California hospital apologizes after dozens of patients claim they were secretly recorded Justice Department seeks to speed hearing to get rid of ACA Franciscan Children's nursing director adopts baby who had no visitors for 5 months Massena (N.Y.) Memorial Hospital's board of managers rebuked a social media post made by a member that cast the hospital's finances and patient services in a negative light, according to the Watertown Daily Times. During a board of managers meeting April 8, Massena Memorial endoscopy clerk Clyde Leffler said a comment made by veteran board member Paul Morrow was offensive to employees of the hospital. Mr. Morrow, who responded to a March 25 Facebook post, said in a comment: "News Flash MMH is losing one Million dollars a Month with a [sic] average daily census of 11 patients. On top of losing 450 [to] 500 patients during the past few years. And guess why? many of them left because of poor service and the attitude of our employees," according to the post cited by the report. Mr. Leffler responded to the comment during the meeting, saying, "I find that offensive. To say that is wrong. We work hard here at Massena Hospital. We go above and beyond here." Mr. Morrow told the board his comment was based on statements he heard from patients, according to the Watertown Daily Times. Loretta Perez, the board's chair, said the hospital's board members "need to be positive toward our hospital. I don't think we should be negative toward our hospital. We have a lot of positive things happening at this hospital." On April 8, board members also voted unanimously to apply for Critical Access Hospital designation as financial problems mount. More articles on leadership: California hospital apologizes after dozens of patients claim they were secretly recorded Justice Department seeks to speed hearing to get rid of ACA Franciscan Children's nursing director adopts baby who had no visitors for 5 months The CEO of WhidbeyHealth in Coupeville, Wash., will get her bonus upon retirement in spite of considerable public comment on the matter, according to the South Whidbey Record. WhidbeyHealth commissioners said April 8 that WhidbeyHealth CEO Geri Forbes will take home her annual incentive compensation. The president of the Whidbey Island Public Hospital District board of commissioners said the decision was based on Ms. Forbes' performance before her July 1 retirement date. She completed 80 percent of her 2018 goals, according to the report. Under Ms. Forbes' contract, commissioners have to pay incentive compensation that equals up to 25 percent of her base salary, which was $390,000 last year. Board president Ron Wallin said due to significant public comment, the commissioners will not award the same type of compensation agreement in the next CEO's contract. In March, the editorial board of a local newspaper called for more transparency into why Ms. Forbes is leaving her post. The editorial board also requested more information about the hospital's budget and facilities. At the time Ms. Forbes announced her retirement, the South Whidbey Record reported that WhidbeyHealth's commissioners were scrutinized after Ms. Forbes received a bonus despite a construction budget that was $3 million more than expected. The board is in the process of calculating Ms. Forbes' bonus. The leaders of the EUs six eastern neighbours Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, will attend an anniversary celebration hosted by EU Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels, followed by talks where they are expecting discuss the need for progress in the areas of the rule of law, governance, and anti-corruption. New Europe reports in its article EU and Eastern Partnership countries to reaffirm ties that according to sources, there is the possibility that EU foreign ministers will endorse to develop the Eastern Partnership agenda beyond 2020. The Eastern Parternship has evolved against the background of not always easy political context and the security challenges of our partner countries, said a senior EU official said ahead of the meeting. This is not a framework that is designed to make countries choose between Russia or the European Union, but based on voluntary cooperation, the official added. The meeting comes at a time when four of the six members are in a state of flux. Insurgent presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky, a television comedian and political newcomer who is widely seen as being on track to win the presidency in the second round, easily defeated the incumbent, Petro Poroshenko, in the first round with 30.6% of the vote. The Ukraine elections are expected to be addressed at the meeting with the EUs foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini. It will be interesting to watch Zelensky in terms of the Minsk process, because there are no policies we can see at this stage, an EU diplomat told the media. The programme aims to encourage Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine to undertake reforms, in return for closer relations and economic benefits from the West. The upcoming meeting will see the countries foreign ministers pledge to develop the Eastern Partnership agenda beyond 2020. Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine have all struck association agreements with the EU under the Eastern Partnership program and Azerbaijan is expected to initiate an updated partnership deal with the bloc in May. There are concerns going into this years meeting as elections in Moldova have split the country into bitter, rival pro-Western and pro-Russian forces. This has also come at a time when the EU has expressed concerns about the levels of corruption in the country, which has had the knock-on affect of undermining democracy in the country. Similar concerns have emerged in Georgia, which a decade ago was the symbol of a functioning and reformed post-Soviet state, due to the consolidation of power by the countrys unelected national leader, Bidzina Ivanishvili. Much like in Ukraine, the situation in Georgia has grown increasingly worse in recent years as the courts and rule-of-law have been attacked by Ivanishvili and his ruling Georgian Dream party. The NYC Hospital Alliance and New York State Nurses Association have reached a tentative contract agreement affecting more than 10,000 New York City nurses. The tentative four-year collective bargaining agreement covers nurses at Montefiore, Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian systems. It includes across-the-board wage increases of 3 percent in each year of the contract and full retroactive pay, as well as $100 million to hire nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Montefiore Medical Center and Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai St. Lukes hospitals, according to news releases from the alliance and union. It also offers retirees additional health benefits, includes a recommitment from alliance hospitals to fill all current open nurse positions and an agreement to spend $100 million to hire nurses. The agreement, which would expires on Dec. 31, 2022, comes after nurses planned a strike for April 2.That strike was postponed, pending further bargaining. More articles on human capital and risk: Workers to protest Kaiser's treatment of Medicaid patients Nurses at 2 California hospitals picket over contract terms After strikes, California hospital settles disputes with 2 unions Seven out of nine defendants were convicted April 9 for their roles in a bribery and kickback scheme involving now-defunct Forest Park Medical Center in Dallas, according to The Dallas Morning News. The federal trial, which kicked off in February, centered on bribes and kickbacks Forest Park Medical Center allegedly paid to surgeons to steer surgeries to the hospital. The scheme allegedly involved Forest Park Medical Center officials making $40 million in illegal payouts to surgeons in exchange for referrals. The surgeons used the funds to market their practices. The seven defendants convicted in the case, including four surgeons, were found guilty of conspiracy to pay and receive healthcare bribes and kickbacks, according to the report. Several of the surgeons charged in the case denied any wrongdoing. They claimed healthcare attorneys told them the marketing agreements they entered into, which were at the center of the kickback allegations, were legal. Lawyers representing some of the defendants in the case told The Dallas Morning News they plan to appeal. More articles on legal and regulatory issues: Feds charge 24 in $1.2B telemedicine fraud scheme Former CEO of pain clinic chain guilty in kickback scheme Florida healthcare exec convicted in $1.3B fraud case Top executives from telemedicine companies and the owners of durable medical equipment companies were among 24 defendants charged for their alleged participation in a healthcare fraud scheme that resulted in more than $1.2 billion in losses, according to the Department of Justice. According to federal prosecutors, the complex scheme began with telemarketers calling Medicare beneficiaries and getting them to accept free or low-cost DME braces, regardless of medical necessity. The call centers would transfer Medicare beneficiaries to telemedicine companies for consultations with physicians, who allegedly prescribed the orthopedic braces to patients who they had never met. The call centers would sell the prescriptions to DME companies, which shipped the braces to beneficiaries, billed Medicare and paid kickbacks to physicians. "These defendants who range from corporate executives to medical professionals allegedly participated in an expansive and sophisticated fraud to exploit telemedicine technology meant for patients otherwise unable to access healthcare," Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski said in a press release. "I commend the Criminal Division prosecutors and our partners from U.S. Attorney's Offices and law enforcement agencies across the country for their unrelenting efforts to stop this alleged fraud before more money was stolen from American taxpayers." In addition to the criminal charges announced April 9, CMS said it is taking action against 130 DME companies that submitted $1.7 billion in claims, of which more than $900 million was paid out. More articles on legal and regulatory issues: Former CEO of pain clinic chain guilty in kickback scheme Florida healthcare exec convicted in $1.3B fraud case 5 latest healthcare industry lawsuits, settlements Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina and several American Family Care urgent care centers agreed to an in-network contract, according to the Greenville News. American Family Care, a national chain with more than 200 urgent care centers across 26 states, had been negotiating with the insurer for the past few months, according to the report. The feud started after some newer centers in the state were not included in BCBS of South Carolina's network despite older ones being part of the provider group. More articles on payers: Trump administration sued over New Hampshire's Medicaid work requirements 5 must-reads on payer-provider relationships Sutter Health, Anthem sign new contract Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., unveiled his new "Medicare for All" Act April 10 to "guarantee healthcare to every American as a right, not a privilege." Five things to know: 1. Fourteen Democratic senators signed on to his Medicare for All Act, which vows to replace all other insurers including commercial payers, employer-sponsored payers and Medicaid with a single government-sponsored plan. 2. The legislation would wipe out all out-of-pocket expenses for Americans, including insurance premiums, deductibles and copayments. Coverage would also include dental, hearing, vision, and home- and community-based long-term care services. 3. In addition, the act aims to lower drug prices by allowing the federal government to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies. 4. The Medicare for All Act does not provide an estimated price tag. It also doesn't specify what tax increases would be required to cover the projected $30 trillion such a program could cost over 10 years, according to Politico. 5. The Federation of American Hospitals, which represents more than 1,000 hospitals, strongly opposed to the bill: "Medicare for All means that Americans would lose the coverage they trust. Medicare for All repeals the ACA, it repeals the employer-based coverage 180 million people depend upon, it repeals Medicare, it repeals Medicaid and throws millions of kids off the insurance they have today. It will force patients into an untested system that will disrupt care for every American," the group's CEO, Chip Kahn, said in a prepared statement. Hours before one of its top executives was set to testify at a House hearing on insulin prices, Sanofi introduced a program that will lower the drug's cost for some patients. Under the plan, diabetes patients can buy up to 10 products, including vials and pens, for $99 per month. The plan applies to uninsured patients or those who pay cash for the drug in the U.S. The new program will begin in June. Previously, one vial of insulin cost $99 and a box of pens cost $149. This means patients who needed multiple items often paid hundreds of dollars a month, according to CNBC. The move comes as insulin manufacturers face intense pressure from Congress and the Trump administration to lower the cost of the 100-year-old, lifesaving medication. It also came hours before the drugmaker was scheduled to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the rising price of insulin. Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and three pharmacy benefit managers also are scheduled to testify. According to Sanofi executives, the move isn't an attempt to please lawmakers. "It is unacceptable to Sanofi that some people living with diabetes are struggling to pay for their insulin, so we have moved to act creatively and aggressively to help address affordability and access needs," said Michelle Carnahan, head of North America primary care at Sanofi. Walgreens is partnering with VillageMD to open several primary care clinics in Houston. The primary care clinics will be located beside five Walgreens stores. The 2,500-square-foot clinics will give patients access to primary care physicians, pharmacists, nurses and social workers. The first five clinics are scheduled to open by the end of 2019. The two companies are exploring whether to expand the primary care clinics, which will be called Village Medical at Walgreens. "This collaboration with VillageMD demonstrates our ongoing commitment to create neighborhood health destinations that bring affordable healthcare services to customers and provide a differentiated patient experience to the communities we serve," said Pat Carroll, MD, Walgreens CMO and group vice president of healthcare services and clinical programs. This is the latest test for Walgreens, which is already piloting urgent care centers adjacent to several stores in partnership with Humana. Walgreens rival CVS Health is also testing out HealthHubs in Houston market. More articles on pharmacy: PBM hearing should prompt bill to ban 'secrecy' in drug industry, senator says Republicans tell drugmakers that complying with House probe could hurt their stock prices Hawaii primary care network opens in-house pharmacy Some Illinois nurses have been wading through floodwaters and canoeing to hospice patients' homes after the Mississippi River flooded some areas of the Quad Cities, reports WQAD News 8. The nurses, Stephanee Petersen and T.A. Peterson, work for Nashville, Tenn.-based Hospice Compassus. Twice a week, the nurses have been traveling through floodwaters to reach a hospice patient on Campbell's Island, which sits in the Mississippi River in Illinois. Some days, the trip can take up to three-and-a-half hours. "These patients need us. We can't have the floodwaters keep us from doing [our] job," Ms. Peterson told WQAD News 8. "This is the time when they need us the most." More articles on clinical leadership & infection control: New Jersey nurse staffing improved after public disclosure law enacted, study finds CDC's secrecy of drug-resistant outbreaks in hospitals sparks patient safety debate 78 measles cases reported in 1 week, says CDC Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina will grant $750,000 to Charlotte, N.C.-based Atrium Health to increase its virtual clinic access for local elementary schools. Three notes: 1. The grant will extend over three years to expand Atrium Health Levine Children's hospital's school-based virtual clinic to additional schools in Cleveland County. 2. The clinic was launched in 2017 to improve access to pediatricians while children are at school. Using audio and video technology, students are evaluated by a pediatrician located remotely at Levine Children's Shelby Children's Clinic, and parents are invited to join in-person or via audio or video. "The virtual clinic provides families the opportunity to seek medical care for their school-aged children more readily," Patricia Grinton, MD, director of Levine Children's Shelby Childrens Virtual Clinic, said in a news release emailed to Becker's Hospital Review. "The students are evaluated for healthcare needs while they remain at school and their parents continue their daily activities, such as work." 3. Since rolling out the telemedicine program, the virtual clinic has reduced unnecessary emergency department visits by 55.6 percent for those students seen via virtual appointment. The kickback trial involving Forest Park Medical Center owners and physicians ended yesterday with seven defendants receiving convictions and one acquittal, according to a report in the Dallas Business Journal. Four things to know: 1. The jury found co-administrator Mac Burt guilty in 10 of 11 counts against him. Four physicians were also convicted in the case: Douglas Won, MD, was found guilty of one of two counts against him. Michael Rimlawi, MD, was convicted in three of four counts against him. Shawn Henry, DO, was convicted in three of four counts against him. Mike Shaw, MD, was convicted in all four counts against him. Two other individuals Jackson Jacob, the owner of companies that Forest Park channeled payments through, and workers compensation insurance consultant Iris Forrest were also convicted of charges in the case. 2. The trial revolved around a large conspiracy in which the physician-owned hospital received $200 million in "questionable insurance benefits" after compensating physicians for referrals. According to the report, the hospital provided around $40 million in bribes and kickbacks that were described as consulting fees or payment for the physicians to market their practices. 3. The principle founders of Forest Park made plea deals and cooperated with the government. 4. Sentencing has not occurred for the individuals convicted in this case. For a quarter of a century of an open confrontation between Armenia and Azerbaijan for the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and the adjacent regions, the images of the conflict have gone beyond the concepts of "inter-ethnic" or "interstate." At the core of the conflict is a virtual world view that goes beyond the natural, everyday life conception. The basis of the political mobilization of the ethnos is not moral laws or norms of the international law, but peculiar ideologized schemes meeting the needs of the existence of the modern doctrine of Armenian security. To understand the ideological maintenance of the conflict, it is necessary to understand that Armenias aggression against Azerbaijani in Nagorno-Karabakh is not a classic war for natural resources or the territories vital for existence. In the course of the conflict, Armenia has lost more than gained. The features of deindustrialization have emerged In the economy, due to which the subsistence farming largely dominates in the private sector. The expenses of the Armenian side to support the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh have increased many times over the past two decades. It is impossible to talk about any reimbursement of expenses by investors, since the occupation has not brought any actual profit, and therefore, there is no economic justification for the aggression as well. Moreover, as a result of the occupation, the international community represented by the UN defines Armenia as an aggressor party, and this allows official Baku to raise the issue of imposing sanctions policy on Yerevan and self-proclaimed Karabakh up to the imposition of an embargo on the supply of weapons or dual-use technologies at any time. The Karabakh war is not a civil war or a war for self-determination since the goal of Armenian separatism is deeper economic penetration into Armenia and neighboring republics. The declared isolation of the occupied territories is an exclusively political screen since even separatists consider the existence of two Armenian republics inappropriate. It is no secret that if recognized, Nagorn-Karabakh will be integrated into Armenia. There is a risk of the spread of separatist tendencies in the countries of traditional residence of the Armenian diaspora (Georgia, Abkhazia). The Armenian separatism seeks to mobilize ethnic potential in the interests of acquiring geopolitical significance outside the South Caucasus. This concerns Ukraine, Russia, and Syria, since, during the civil war, refugees of Armenian origin were given an opportunity to live in the occupied Nagorn-Karabakh. The systematic idealization of the Karabakh war over time acquired the importance of the Armenian International forces consolidation. Most of Armenians live outside their own state, therefore the ideologists of Armenian nationalism see the convergence of the diaspora as one of their primary tasks. At the end of the 1980s, it was the Armenian separatism in Nagorno-Karabakh that was used as a unifying factor for a predominantly dispersed ethnic group. The Armenian diaspora can be divided into western and eastern. The descendants of Armenian emigres in the USA, France, Belgium, Italy, who left the South Caucasus and Asia Minor during different periods of history, belong to the western diaspora. The descendants of Armenians entrenched in the South Caucasus region, as well as in Iran, Syria, Russia, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, and until recently in Azerbaijan, are considered the eastern diaspora. The 1555 Peace Treaty between Turkey and Persia is considered by Armenian historians hinting to a cultural break as the year of the division of Armenia into western and eastern. In the West, Armenians failed to consolidate into single political structures, limiting themselves to lobbying their interests in individual states, but the majority of Eastern Armenians were united within the framework of the Soviet state. During the Soviet times, the Soviet Armenians and their congeners from other countries were divided by an iron curtain, the existence of which suggested an ideological split. For many years, Armenians in the Soviet Union lived in accordance with completely different moral values and social orientations than their fellow countryman abroad. Taking into account the fact that the number of the diaspora traditionally exceeds the number of autochthonous population of the modern Republic of Armenia, Armenian nationalism has chosen armed aggression as the motivational basis for uniting the diaspora on the eve and after the collapse of the USSR. The current sluggish state of conflict is beneficial for the Armenian leadership since it serves to support the idea of a peculiar national abode of the Armenian people in the context of global transformations. With the growing number of migrants in the EU countries, the Armenian nationalism fears the clashes between Christian and Muslim cultures possible in the foreseeable future, since the traditional political influence and the associated financial capabilities of the diaspora in the West may suffer significantly. The Armenian authorities never refuse the diasporas direct financial investments, which means that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can be maintained as long as possible. Journalism, according to a well-known saying, is the first draft of history. My own experience leads me to think that the second draft, in the equally well-known words of Henry Ford, is usually bunk. It took a centenary to get what looked like a polished draft of the events of 1916. Yes, sorry, it's Brexit, where even the first draft is anything but satisfactory. It turns out that dissatisfaction was the attitude of the man to whom the saying is usually attributed - Philip Graham, publisher of the Washington Post from 1946-63 . As often happens, the full quotation significantly changes the meaning. Mr Graham may not have been the first to use the phrase, but his exact words were: "So let us today drudge on about our inescapably impossible task of providing every week a first rough draft of history that will never really be completed, about a world we can never really understand." There's a lot of truth in that. One could scarcely get a better description of trying to follow Brexit and convey what is happening to the public. The troubling thought is that the rough first draft which is now circulating seems seriously inadequate. In particular, it skips rapidly over the crucial point that UK approval of a withdrawal deal failed because of the Irish Question. The point is crucial because, as the new ESRI analysis of Brexit options shows, approval of the withdrawal agreement before the original deadline of March 29 would have been the best of the four possibilities laid out in the analysis. The best for Ireland, north and south, that is. Getting such a deal should have been the relentless focus of Irish policy. Instead, the outcome of the 2019 version of the Irish Question was left in the hands of the DUP MPs, while the two governments, and even the Tory Brexiteers, looked on. To arrive at such a situation can only mean serious policy failure. The ESRI report shows just how serious, because the consequences of failure are far more immediate and damaging than the benefits of success would have been. The analysis is the first to try to forecast the impact of the different kinds of Brexit. Instead of models for the whole economy, it concentrated on the effects on trade of tariffs and non-tariff measures under different scenarios. This allowed the researchers to consider three; Deal, No-Deal, and Disorderly No-Deal. Deal would see the UK make an orderly agreed exit from the EU, with a transition period to 2020 and a free trade agreement between the UK and the EU after that. Under no-deal there is still an orderly period of adjustment for trade, but ultimately the stringent WTO tariff arrangements apply, along with non-tariff barriers. The disorderly exit is one where there are additional disruptions to trade between the UK and the EU beyond those which are inevitable in any no-deal departure. Such a scenario implies a political crisis which would prevent even temporary measures to reduce the immediate disruptions. Even the deal scenario will have negative effects. One alarming thing is that the forecasts suggest that there is little long-term difference between the civilised no-deal and the disorderly one. In the first case, Irish economic output in 2030 would be 4.8% lower than if there had been no Brexit at all. With a disorderly one, the loss of output is 5%. There is, however, a major difference in the short run. The analysis finds that by the end of next year, a deal would see Irish output 0.6% lower, while no-deal would result in a shortfall of 1.2%. But a disorderly exit would cut 2.4% off Irish growth in just two years. If an orderly deal can somehow be secured, the loss of output after 10 years would still be a not insignificant 2.6%. It is worth remembering that this loss would be concentrated in certain sectors and regions, where the impact would be worse than this, but it would be a lot more manageable than the consequences of a crash-out. If one could apply the ESRI methodology to the fragile Northern Ireland economy, the results might well be worse than for the Republic. It is beyond any methodology to analyse the unknowns of the backstop, where Northern Ireland would remain in the UK but keep the EU regime, but there seems little reason to suppose that it would significantly reduce the economic damage to either jurisdiction, since west-east trade matters much more than cross-border to both. But the backstop is about politics rather than economics: an attempt to find an answer to the new Irish Question. Had it succeeded, it would have been the greatest achievement of Irish diplomacy since staying out of the Second World War. But it failed, as it was always likely to do, and is no longer relevant. The bizarre events of the last fortnight may have created an unexpected but welcome opportunity to discard the zero-sum rhetoric about the border in favour of much less provocative, and far more relevant discussions on the wider arrangements. There is every possibility that achieving the ESRI definition of a deal, with a transition period and a free trade agreement at the end, will make the border question largely irrelevant when the new regime is fully in place. The Irish government had a justifiable fear that, by leaving things to the end, this country might be squeezed between the UK and the EU. Perhaps it chose the wrong response, although it could not have foreseen Mrs May's disastrous general election. But that was then, and now is very different. It cannot be a question of doing nothing while events take their course. Whatever or whenever the final outcome, thoughts should be turning already to the future economic governance of the island. Any opportunities to begin the process should be seized, as and when they arise. In a working paper for Dublin City University's Brexit institute, Trinity College associate professor Etain Tannam charts the failures of all-island governance since the Good Friday Agreement. Despite all the megaphone diplomacy of the last two years, the agreement is meaningless without its institutions. The northern one has collapsed and the British-Irish one, the Inter-Governmental Council (IGC) was pretty much abandoned by the two governments. Both will have to be resuscitated if the peace is to be preserved. It may be all about politics but the trick could be to concentrate on the economics. The better they are handled, the less damaging the politics will be. As Dr Tannam says, the IGC was the obvious institution for both governments to discuss Brexit in the wake of the referendum, but it is also the obvious focus for securing an orderly deal and managing the Irish question after Brexit, whatever the final outcome. It is in the nature of the question that it will not go away. Well hidden in the debates, but laid bare by Tanaiste Simon Coveney last week, was another Dublin fear - that its membership of the EU might be compromised by playing too active a role on the island's future during negotiations. Fair enough, but what happens when negotiations are finished, even if successfully? The Irish Government will have to find ways to play its proper role on north-south and UK issues, while preserving the integrity of its EU status. It is an unenviable task. Britain can be expected to look for Irish support in the inevitable squabbles over regulation and trade post-Brexit. Ireland cannot be seen as a stalking horse, but it is entitled to pursue the economic and political well-being of the whole island in a post-Brexit world. Dr Tannam argues that, after Brexit, what she calls "the dense institutional framework and extensive policy competence of the EU" means we must not only have to dust off the neglected all-island institutions but develop them more vigorously than before, without at the same time infringing on EU responsibilities. She suggests bilateral approaches to areas of British-Irish concern such as free travel, energy and infrastructure, all within the remit of the EU. There is a couple of years' worth of useful debate in that short sentence, and it is high time it began. The former Calverts Tavern in Armagh, which was home to the popular Spiders nightclub Armagh is set to get a new place of worship - in a former pub and nightclub. Independent church Vibe has applied for planning approval to convert a vacant bar and nightclub in the city into an "ecclesiastical" site. It is now using its website to sell a seat in its extended church - and in the process fund the 1.5m building project. The church is based at Little Barrack Street, where it promises worshippers "passionate preaching from God's word in a way that is easy to understand". It also has a cafe which raises money for the Third World. Now it is asking Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Council for permission to extend from Little Barrack Street into neighbouring premises. The church is requesting a change of use to allow for an extension for the purpose of "ecclesiastical use". The location, 3 Scotch Street, used to be the home of Calverts Tavern, with Spiders Nightclub located at the back. While a change of use from a church into a pub is a common occurrence - for example, pub giant Wetherspoon's is engaged in a long-term project to convert a former Methodist Church in Belfast into one of its bars - it is rare for a bar to be turned into a church. Armagh is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland and is graced by two St Patrick's cathedrals - one Church of Ireland and the other Catholic. Vibe is one of its newer religious movements, beginning in 2006 as a group of young people. It hopes to have services for 850 people a day in the new building. The building will be able to seat 425 at a time, though it is hoping to hold double services. "We would like you to purchase a seat for these 850 people," its website said, explaining worshippers can fund seats by paying 30 per month for five years. The website added: "Like any good house you need a seat to sit in. Seats are a funny thing. They are really important but not much thought is really given to them. "Each person, in each seat, in every meeting, whether a church meeting or something else, has a personal story to tell, a purpose in life to live for and an opportunity to encounter Jesus." Sinn Fein councillor Garath Keating welcomed the development of the Scotch Street site. "I'm absolutely delighted by this building being brought back into use as it's been lying vacant for the last number of years," he said. And while he had not experienced the church's ministry himself, he had used its coffee shop. "They are a group of really good people who do great things, including reaching out to other nationalities living in Armagh," Mr Keating added. The Ulster Farmers' Union has joined its colleagues in Britain to write to their counterparts in Europe to warn that a no-deal Brexit would be "economically disastrous". The UFU and the National Farmers' Unions of Wales, Scotland and England say that it is in every nation's interests to avoid a disorderly exit. And as Prime Minister Theresa May met the leaders of France and Germany to press her case for an extension to the UK's departure from the EU until June 30, the unions said that time was also needed for recognition of the needs of farming businesses across Europe. EU leaders will meet today for a summit on Brexit to decide whether or not to grant the UK's request for an extension. Yesterday UFU president Ivor Ferguson said farmers were facing "unbelievable" uncertainty. He said: "Like all EU farming unions, our organisations represent thousands of farming families and it is unbelievable and unacceptable that we are still operating without any certainty on a future trading relationship. "This is having real world business consequences right now, as well as causing unnecessary stress and huge anxiety for farmers, both at home and across the EU, who simply don't know what trading conditions they will be operating under in the future. "We continue to call for politicians to ensure free and frictionless trade and alignment on high standards of production." Mrs May held meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin yesterday to urge them to back her extension request. Meanwhile, Mr Ferguson said he was concerned at the attitude of Brexiteers in Westminster to a crash-out and the prospect of higher levels of cheap food imports. Speaking at the UFU's Annual Presidents' Dinner at the Lough Erne Resort and Spa on Friday, Mr Ferguson said: "It is concerning to hear some MPs at Westminster, mostly staunch Brexiteers, pushing to open the UK market to cheaper, lower standard food imports. "UK food prices are the third lowest in the world, and yet consumers enjoy some of the highest environmental and animal welfare standards. "Opening up our home market to cheaper imports would have serious consequences for farmers and their businesses in Northern Ireland." And he said that he was concerned and disappointed by the ongoing Stormont stalemate. "We have heard the excuses, but it is time Northern Ireland had a functioning devolved government again," he added. Bombardier has said it will continue to cut costs at its Belfast plant as unions prepare to ballot staff for fresh strike action over the Canadian firm's approach to redundancies. In November the aerospace manufacturer, led in Belfast by Michael Ryan (right), announced plans to cut 490 full-time workers, equivalent to 10% of its workforce in east Belfast. It followed Bombardier's announcement that it would shed 5,000 jobs globally. But unions are unhappy with the number of compulsory lay-offs. Unite said its representatives have been forwarding proposals for workers willing to sign up for voluntary redundancy packages. The union said that just days after announcing up to 40 voluntary redundancies, Bombardier has announced a further 30-35 compulsory redundancies. Unite said it has agreed a consultative ballot of the workforce with GMB union representatives, which will take place on April 29. Unite regional co-ordinating officer Susan Fitzgerald said that Bombardier had reached "a nadir" for its Belfast workforce, which she said it had now halved since 2014. She described a mood of "sadness and indignation" among staff and issued a direct challenge to the Canadian manufacturer's corporate management in Montreal. "We cannot sit back and watch as Bombardier goes the same way as Belfast shipbuilding, with job cuts ongoing until the very sustainability of operations is at risk," she said. "This workforce will not go down easily. This workforce has key skills covering R&D, right through to design and production; if this is lost it won't be replaced. "Cutting back on jobs and skills in Northern Ireland is not a strategy for growth, however the financial markets may view it. Instead of cutting back, Bombardier bosses must invest and bring back employment to Northern Ireland." Bombardier said the company would continue to work with staff and trade unions on their "transformation progress". "We acknowledge the impact on our workforce and their families and we continue to explore opportunities to help mitigate the number of compulsory redundancies," it added. "A significant number of Belfast employees have already accepted voluntary packages. "However, we need to continue to cut costs and improve the efficiency of our operations to help ensure our long-term competitiveness." The Republic's Central Bank is preparing to appoint a partner to help manage its deposit guarantee scheme as the UK prepares to leave the European Union. Some elements of the scheme have been managed by a UK firm, but all bank data transferred to a service provider in relation to the scheme must remain in the EU. Last year the Central Bank, which is led by Governor Philip Lane, sounded out potential partners via a request for technical dialogue. That sought to help the Central Bank consider and assess options available to it, and to secure feedback from the market. It has now decided to proceed with a full tender for administering the service in the event of a bank crash. In the event of a liquidator being appointed to a covered credit institution, the Central Bank is obliged to pay compensation up to 100,000 per person per institution to depositors who are deemed eligible under the rules of the scheme within specified deadlines. The covered credit institutions include banks such as AIB, Bank of Ireland, KBC Ireland and Permanent TSB, but also less well known entities such as UniCredit Bank Ireland, Depfa Bank and Dell Bank International. While credit unions are covered under the deposit guarantee scheme, they are not part of the outsourcing process for which the Central Bank is currently seeking tenders. The process has also begun to find a successor to Philip Lane. She has got to be the most unlikely, successful high-fashion clothes designer you're ever likely to meet in Northern Ireland. For amidst all the young, arts college educated and formally trained designers displaying their latest creations at Belfast Fashion Week was Jacki Sleator - a 68-year-old retired librarian from Co Tyrone. Jacki, who is completely self-taught, not only designs one-off pieces of couture but even makes and dyes some of the fabric they are cut from. In just a few years she has amassed a customer base which is worldwide, selling her pieces as far away as Japan, Mexico and North America. She creates striking tops, dresses, jackets, hats and gloves using only the finest Merino wool and top quality silk in her designs. Each piece has a unique pattern and colour which, due to the nature of the process, is impossible to re-create. Highly skilful hand stitching, learnt over the course of several decades, is used to assemble each finished item. Jacki, from Stewartstown, explains: "When people are wearing my clothes, there's no danger of them turning up to an event only to see someone else wearing the same thing. I couldn't make an identical garment, even if I wanted to." Jacki has been making clothes since she was a teenager, but it was only when she discovered the magic of making felt fabric a few years ago that she became passionate about creating her own fashion designs to sell. Ten years ago, when she retired from the Northern Ireland Library Service, she launched her business from home, selling internationally through her website and social media platforms. Jacki grew up in Stewartstown with three brothers and two sisters. One of her sisters is now deceased and the rest of her siblings have left Northern Ireland. She has two brothers in Australia, a sister in Canada and a brother in London, all of whom she visits as often as she can. Her parents Thomas and Anna are both deceased. Her dad, who was a carpenter, passed away a number of years ago from lung cancer aged 70, and her mum Anna had dementia and died in 2004 aged 85. Growing up in the Fifties and Sixties, Jacki made her own clothes as there wasn't the same choice of fashion for teenagers as there is now. Her mum sewed and would have helped her with her designs. "In those days there were no teenage clothes," Jacki says. "The age range was up to 11 and then from 40 onwards in terms of fashion. "I liked an individual look and so I made my own clothes. "Also at the time you were taught how to be self-sufficient and we would have learned how to knit and sew and would have bought fabric and yarn to make clothes we couldn't afford to buy. "I learnt to sew at school and mum also sewed and we both helped each other." She went to Trinity College in Dublin, graduating in 1972 with a degree in general studies and then completed a post graduate diploma in library studies. She secured a job with the Northern Ireland Library Service which she loved, eventually retiring in 2012. Jacki, who is single, says she never met anyone she felt she could settle down with and was enjoying her independence too much to get married. Outside of a fulfilling career she pursued her love of sewing by attending classes at night school. She says: "I was still really interested in fashion so I went to Lisburn Institute part-time to do a City and Guilds in Fashion and Design and I made great friends. "Then I discovered a recreational tailoring class in Portadown Tech which was terrific and a place where I really honed my skills and practical sewing techniques. "At the class we started to get designer ends of fabric like really good tweeds and they were really special, very good quality - and having such good quality fabric made you want to give whatever you was making a really good finish." Jacki attended the class for several years until the mid Eighties when, tragically, her mum was diagnosed with dementia. She had to give up the night class, but using a team of professional carers, she was able to continue to work full-time while caring for her mum in the evenings. Her mum was adamant she did not want to go into a nursing home and Jacki was relieved that she was able to care for her at home. She says: "I was very lucky to be able to keep her at home and that was down to the great team of carers who came in and looked after her during the day. "I would go to work and completely switch off and focus on my work and then when I got home I would switch off from work and focus on mum. I think mentally it was good for me to keep working. "Mum passed away in hospital after a fall in 2004, so I was able to keep her at home right up to the end." A few years later, in 2009, Jacki picked up a leaflet on a felt making workshop. She wasn't put off by the fact that the one-day course was in London and she enrolled, flying over and back on the same day. What she calls "the magic" of making felt left her mesmerised by the creative process and she went back to learn more at a five-day summer school in Cornwall. "After that I was really hooked. I made a jacket in those five days which I still love to wear," she says. "I got involved in hand dying fabric and worked with silk and mostly natural products. "It is a very organic process, being able to dye your own material and add texture to create three dimensional results. You can make a jacket seamless and every time you get very different results. "Everything is done by hand. I love the way that making and hand-dying felt creates exquisite colours, texture and drape. It's like no other fabric and the magic happens in between the layout and finished product and all the surprises you get from the finished piece which cannot be replicated in the same way again. That is the magic of it." Now in control of the entire process, after making her own felt and dying her fabrics she then adds fine silk and wool to further enhance each bespoke piece. It's labour intensive but also a labour of love which is obvious in the fine detail of each of her exquisite handmade pieces. One jacket can take five full days to make and will sell for around 500. Jacki says: "It takes a lot of patience, imagination and lots and lots of time to produce each item, so they're not cheap. "However, customers know that everything I do is the product of top quality workmanship, and there is no other garment or design like them, anywhere in the world. "It is a slow process but I find it very therapeutic and when you are being creative mentally it is very satisfying." Jacki is a regular at St George's Market but it is online that her pieces have been appreciated on a global scale, selling to people in Canada, the US, Japan, France, Germany and Sweden. Belfast Fashion Week was her first major showcase and she was thrilled to see her creations on the catwalk. "There were about 500 women in the audience and seeing my clothes worn by professional models was fantastic. It went really well and I've had great feedback on social media," she says. As her reputation spreads Jacki faces the dilemma of how to increase her output while not sacrificing the fine quality that make each of her handmade items so unique. "I don't want to go down the wholesale route as I don't want to lose control of my products and whatever I make I'm not going to repeat it again," she says. "You can make felt with a machine but it wouldn't look anything like mine and I want to keep mine exclusive. "I am trying to run it as a business but the amount of hours I put into each piece means that it is difficult to get a return on it. "As well as looking stunning, I want all of my clothes to be a pleasure to wear. I follow fashion and I am influenced by colours, styles and trends but I am not a slave to it and I try to be a bit more individual in my designs." Jacki is grateful to be doing something she loves and has no regrets that she didn't follow fashion earlier in her career. She adds: "I really enjoyed working as a librarian and it is nice to be able to do this at this stage of my life. It is good to retire and have something to do that I love so much, it is very satisfying, but I have no regrets." Mid Ulster politician Denise Mullen was just four-years-old when she witnessed her father Denis being shot dead on the doorstep of her family home. The SDLP councillor says the suppressed horrific memories and childhood trauma she suffered resulted in her being diagnosed with cancer four years ago. The 47-year-old Moy mother-of-two sons - Colm (18) and Conor (9) - was told shortly before the last council elections that she had pseudomyxoma peritonei. The rare cancer - which took the lives of the Belfast Telegraph's political editor Liam Clarke and Hollywood star Audrey Hepburn - centres around the appendix. Denise says she is certain that seeing her dad murdered by the notorious loyalist Glenanne gang in 1975, hearing them shoot at her mother Olive as she fled across fields to safety and sitting in her blood-soaked nightie at her dead father's side awaiting help caused her to fall ill in later years. She believes suppressing emotions and trauma to the pit of her stomach - near where the appendix in situated -led her to develop this specific cancer. She says she was diagnosed almost by accident. "Four years ago in December I was getting into my car in Dungannon and a car came up the street and clipped me," she adds. "The wing mirror just hit me on the back. It was sore and I remember muttering a few choice words. By the time I got into the car the pain was gone. "Later that week I was back at work for the first time since the Christmas holidays and felt very unwell sitting at my desk. Basically it felt like I was having contractions in my stomach every 20 minutes. I thought it was the result of getting hit with the car. "I clocked out of work and went around to see the nurse at the GP surgery and she sent for the doctor who sent me straight to Craigavon Area Hospital. "They did tests. My bloods were normal. At 1am they decided to send me for keyhole surgery to see what was going on. The next day I recall being told they removed my appendix. "Two weeks later I got a call from a secretary in the oncology department asking me if I could be at the hospital the next morning. At the time I had no clue about medical things and I didn't catch on what oncology was. I actually told the girl on the phone I had to work, had no time to be sitting in the hospital and we ended the call there. "Ten minutes later my GP rang and asked me if I had just had a call from the oncology department. He told me it was imperative I be at the hospital in the morning. I asked him to tell me what it was about and he explained that I had a tumour on my appendix and that it was cancer." Denise says everyone has a different reaction to finding out they have cancer. She says her reaction was pure defiance. "I remember sitting in the car in the bank car park when the GP was explaining it all to me," she says. "He said the word cancer and I just listened. When I came off the phone I didn't even shed a tear, if I'm honest. I literally said into myself 'to Hell with you cancer, you'll not beat me'. "The next day I was down at the hospital bright and early and they explained that it was pseudomyxoma peritonei, a rare form of cancer of the appendix, and that I would have to have surgery. The doctor told me that there were only about 12 people in Northern Ireland with this form of cancer. He told me that the tumour was at the end of my appendix and was the size of a teaspoon. I wanted to know what caused it, but there were no answers to that. "I didn't tell anyone in my family for a while. The first person I called when I left the hospital was Alasdair McDonnell. He had been really good to me over the years and he was also a doctor. He was as much shocked as I was and told me that they would be with me every step of the way. I really didn't have anyone else to talk to about it. I kept it to myself for a couple of days, wondering what I was going to do, and how I was going to tell my boys and my mother. "I told my brother. And I suppose because of the childhood that we had, he said to me 'well you know what you'll have to do, you'll just have to get on with it'. And some people thought that was a bit cold, but that's just the way our lives had panned out. We really just had to get on with things and this was no different. "I told my mum that I had been diagnosed and she told me later that she went home and shouted to God at the top of her voice 'why have you done this to us?' "It wasn't until I took ill a few weeks after I was diagnosed, while we were away at Easter, that I had to tell the children about what was going on. "We had been away for a few days in Donegal and I was rushed by ambulance to Letterkenny Hospital with excruciating pains in my stomach. It felt like my whole stomach was on fire. It was absolutely horrendous. "I had to tell my boys at that point and I remember the look on their little faces. I told them I was going to be okay. "I told them that I was getting surgery and that they were going to take it away and everything was going to be fine. "I had a few hospital stays along the way and they were very trying. Seeing my boys leave at night was living Hell. Before the last election, four years ago I was signing my nomination papers from hospital bed and organising posters and leaflets from there, too." At the start of July, Denise went into theatre for six-hour surgery to remove half of her bowel, her gallbladder and several lymph nodes. She didn't need chemotherapy. She says the cancer is gone, although she has to have regular check-ups. "I'm almost afraid to say that I am cancer free," she says. "I do have two lumps in my stomach, one the size of a mandarin orange, that I need to have removed but the doctor says they are not cancerous. "They never tell you that you are cancer free. I attend the Royal Victoria Hospital twice a year and I have all these tests done. Those tests are my worst nightmare. I can't cope with them. Whenever I have to go for them and I am going through the MRI machine - where you are totally encased in this machine and you have to stay so still - I get through it by thinking please God make my mother or my children not ever have to go through this. "Four years on from diagnosis, I feel fine about it. There are times when my energy levels are low and there are times I am angry because I had to go through it. Other than that I feel well. "I still have symptoms, one of which is swelling in my stomach as fluid builds up. There are times when I can look like I am nine months pregnant and I have been asked when the baby is due. "That is one of the side effects of the cancer I had, and it will be here with me forever." Denise says she believes the trauma she experienced as a child has contributed to her developing this certain type of cancer. "I was 10-years-old before I told anyone what I saw the night my father was murdered," she says. "My mother wasn't well and I didn't speak of it. I pushed it down to the pit of my stomach. Your appendix is at the pit of your stomach. I went through my childhood having panic attacks, gasping for breath, being a loner, pushing all those memories down so much that my emotions inside me were actually suffocating me. I feel those oppressed emotions from I was four years of age, buried in the pit of my stomach, made me ill." However Denise says she is positive about the future. "I just take one day at a time," she says. "I have a really positive mental attitude. I know so many people who have gone through cancer and they are the most positive people. "Having cancer has changed my perspective on life. Even in my business, it has made me so easy going. And I would have been stressed out for years worrying if my house was tidy, my dishes were done, my cupboards were orderly or if something wasn't sitting perfectly. Since I got cancer, I don't give a hoot. As long as the children are happy, mummy is happy. We are getting by and there is food on the table. "Going through cancer has also made me think life is too short, people should be kinder to one another. There is just no time for hate and negativity." The DUP has accused the Prime Minister of "holding out a begging bowl to European leaders" after she made the case for a delay to Brexit. Theresa May spent yesterday holding talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin as she asked for a longer extension to Brexit until June 30. Read More However, European Council president Donald Tusk has suggested EU leaders grant the UK a longer extension to Brexit than Mrs May has requested. Mr Tusk said there was "little reason to believe" that the ratification of Mrs May's beleaguered Brexit deal could be completed by the end of June. He called for the European Council to discuss an alternative, longer extension, such as a "flexible extension" lasting "as long as necessary and no longer than one year". DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds MP said the negotiation between the Prime Minister and the leaders of France and Germany "is humiliating and embarrassing for the United Kingdom". "The problems the Prime Minister is attempting to solve were not created by the decision to leave the European Union, rather the ineffective negotiations by the Prime Minister to implement that decision," he claimed. "A solution was put forward by the House of Commons on 29th January through the Brady amendment, which could have charted a course by which Parliament could have supported a deal. "Instead of treating this proposal seriously, the Prime Minister has effectively accepted the backstop and opted not to stand up to Brussels. "Nearly three years after the referendum the UK is today effectively holding out a begging bowl to European leaders." Mrs May has asked for the date of Brexit to be delayed until June 30 at today's crunch summit, with the possibility of an earlier departure if the UK's withdrawal deal is ratified. MPs backed her call in a Commons vote yesterday afternoon as they approved a Government motion for Mrs May to seek an extension to June 30 by 420 votes to 110, a majority of 310. However, 97 Conservatives rebelled by opposing the plan, including former Brexit Secretaries David Davis and Dominic Raab. But Mr Tusk called for the European Council to discuss an alternative, longer extension, such as a "flexible extension" lasting "as long as necessary and no longer than one year". Mr Tusk wrote in a letter to the heads of the 27 remaining member states ahead of today's summit: "The flexibility would allow to terminate the extension automatically, as soon as both sides have ratified the withdrawal agreement. "The UK would be free to leave whenever it is ready. And the EU27 would avoid repeated Brexit summits. Importantly, a long extension would provide more certainty and predictability by removing the threat of constantly shifting cliff-edge dates. "Furthermore, in the event of a continued stalemate, such a longer extension would allow the UK to rethink its Brexit strategy." He suggested that the EU would grant an extension rather than allowing Britain to leave without a deal on Friday, saying that, given the "risks posed" for those on both sides of the English Channel, "I trust that we will continue to do our utmost to avoid this scenario". Mr Tusk's letter came after the PM arrived in Paris for talks with Mr Macron, who in recent days has warned that an extension to the Article 50 withdrawal process is not guaranteed. Earlier, over a working lunch, Mrs May and Mrs Merkel had agreed on the importance of an "orderly withdrawal" from the EU, Downing Street said. The unanimous agreement of all 27 remaining EU states is needed to avoid a no-deal Brexit on the scheduled date of April 12. The visits came as the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said Brussels could amend the political declaration on future relations with the UK "within a few hours or days" to incorporate the customs union arrangement being discussed in cross-party talks between the Government and Labour. But there were signs of resistance in Mrs May's Cabinet to compromise with Labour, with International Trade Secretary Liam Fox warning that a customs union would leave the UK "stuck in the worst of both worlds". Meanwhile, the cross-party talks seeking to break the Brexit impasse will resume tomorrow, with Labour saying the Government had not yet made a "clear shift" in its position. The Presbyterian Church said yesterday was "a sad day" after Queen's University confirmed it will sever links with Union Theological College. The University's ruling senate yesterday officially notified the Presbyterian-run college of its decision to separate following two critical reviews. It's believed that it could cost the college a significant six-figure sum each year. Queen's also intends to end links with the three other colleges that make up the Institute of Theology. The Presbyterian Church said it regrets the decision after a "difficult and unsettling period" for both Queen's and UTC. Around 150 theology students are admitted to UTC each year, with some being trained for the ministry. Following reviews in 2016 and 2018, Queen's suspended admission to undergraduate programmes. The criticisms by Queen's included the "highly problematic" situation of a single denomination providing all theology provision, as well as a lack of female teachers. The university said that it had now considered "the longer-term implications" of the 2018 review. This means Queen's will no longer award theology undergraduate degrees or postgraduate courses after current students finish. The existing arrangements with all four theological colleges will run to the end of the current term on August 31 and will not be renewed. A temporary memorandum of understanding will now be developed, to allow current students to complete their programmes. "The university is committed to ensuring that its educational standards are met for existing students for the remainder of their studies and will be working constructively with UTC to achieve this," Queen's said. Rev Trevor Gribben, clerk of the General Assembly and general secretary of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, said: "After a long and mutually beneficial academic relationship that has lasted for nearly a century, we are naturally disappointed and deeply regret today's decision by the Senate of Queen's University." While recognising the decision, he said that the Church regretted more had not been done to find a solution. "It is important that we acknowledge that this has been a difficult and unsettling period for both institutions, especially in the context of last summer's intense reporting and speculation around the relationship between Queen's and Union College," he added. Rev Gribben said that it was at this point UTC was informed by Queen's that it was taking active steps to review its links. He said UTC remained committed to active engagement in teaching and research "that extends our theological understanding of important issues in contemporary life". Looking to the future, he said UTC would work "constructively" with Queen's for the benefit of existing undergraduate students. "After such a long and fruitful relationship this is indeed a sad day," he said. "It is our hope and prayer, however, that these long-established institutions, which are literally side-by-side, will continue to prosper, working to further understanding as communities of learning and attracting students from home and overseas to study here." Yesterday Vladimir Putin spent the entire day with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They call each other friends and, as journalists calculated, their meeting on Monday was the tenth obe in the past year and a half and the third one this year. In addition, presidents of Russia and Turkey spoke at least two dozen times on the phone. What is the reason for this huge number of contacts? Western media write that Putin and Erdogan have a lot in common: both believe the West treats them unfairly, both position themselves as strong men. However, they meet so often not because they're trying to be friends against someone, but because both countries need to maintain political and economic bilateral contacts. Here's some aspects of cooperation between the two countries. Economy As Vladimir Putin said at yesterdays meeting with Erdogan, last year the trade turnover between two countries increased by 16%, reaching $26 billion. Investments reached $20 billion. Cooperation in the energy sector has strategic nature. Rosatom is building the first Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey - four power units with a total capacity of 4,800 megawatts will be built. The first unit should be launched in 2023 - by the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic. Construction of the Turkish Stream is progressing in accordance with current schedule. Military-industrial complex As for cooperation in the military-industrial complex, today implementation of contract on the devlivery of S-400 systems to Turkey is being discussed. There are also other promising projects in the framework of military-industrial cooperation. Syria Syrian conflict became a serious challenge for Russian-Turkish relations. Yesterday, Putin and Erdogan agreed in coordination with Syrian government, opposition and the UN to help launch the work of Constitutional Committee as soon as possible, and also discussed the state of the Idlib de-escalation zone. Moscow and Ankara believe that it's necessary to preserve sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Syria, and think that the country can't be divided into zones of influence. Meanwhile, during a meeting with Putin, Erdogan said that he wouldn't turn a blind eye to the threat of situation in northern Syria to Turkey: "Terrorist organizations pose a threat to calmness and stability of our region... YPG troops are attempting to carry out terrorist acts. YPG is a terrorist organization for us." Tourism Turkey is becoming increasingly popular among Russian tourists, who visit not only Turkish resorts, but also historical and cultural attractions. Last year, six million Russians visited Turkey. I believe that in 2019 this record will be broken. We need to move forward with the issue of visa liberalization, and I hope that these steps will be taken soon. We actively discuss this issue, Erdogan said. In the near future, the issue of abolishing visas for professional drivers will also be resolved. Humanitarian cooperation As for humanitarian contacts, in February a meeting of rectors of Russian and Turkish universities was held in Ankara. As part of the program of exchange of experience between news agencies, Turkish journalists came to Moscow for an internship, and a similar internship for Russian journalists is planned for the summer. 2019 has been declared the Year of Culture and Tourism in both Russian Federation and Turkey. Concrete blocks stacked beside an ATM machine at a Centra store near Maghera A filling station has resorted to using concrete blocks to protect its ATM machine after a recent spate of cash machine thefts across Northern Ireland. The Centra store on Glenshane Road near Maghera has stacked the blocks on either side of its hole-in-the-wall machine to prevent it being targeted by thieves. They were put in place on Monday after brazen thieves used a digger to rip a cash machine from the wall of O'Kane's filling station in nearby Dungiven in the early hours of Sunday. CCTV footage of last weekend's robbery shows a gang of masked men approaching the ATM in the digger just after 4am and tearing it from the wall of the filling station, causing significant damage. The cash machine is then placed in a van that had a hole cut in its roof before the thieves make off. The entire incident lasted just over four minutes. Nine ATMs have been stolen in eight separate incidents here this year, with the police stepping up their surveillance of cash machines in a bid to catch those responsible. Areas targeted by the raiders include Ballymena, Moira, Omagh, Dungannon, Newtownabbey and Irvinestown. A spokesman for Centra Glenshane said the steps had been taken for "peace of mind". He added: "The blocks were up years ago when this was happening previously and then taken away when the forecourt was being tarmacked. "Now they're back up again as a deterrent because of the real risk of the ATM being taken." Retail NI chief executive Glyn Roberts said the action is symptomatic of the concern among business owners caused by the raids. "This is the most telling image that sums up the extent of fear among retailers that they are going to be targeted next," he added. "It's no position for any small business owner to be in whereby they are piling up blocks to protect their store as if they are somehow under siege. "It's terrible that independent retailers are being awoken in the middle of the night to be told that their shop has been smashed up and their ATM robbed. "That is completely soul-destroying for them." Mr Roberts added: "From speaking to retailers, there is a sense of dread among them that this weekend they could be next and it's not acceptable for any business owner to feel that way." Police have defended their response to the ATM thefts, saying they "can't be everywhere at once". In a post on social media at the weekend, the PSNI in Craigavon said officers simply could not predict which cash machine would be targeted next by the gangs. "I could sit for hours at an ATM but no sooner am I round the corner than a team of crooks arrive," the post said. "The idea that we can watch them 24/7 is pure fiction." Mr Roberts is due to hold a further meeting with the PSNI tomorrow to discuss the ongoing problem of ATM robberies for local retailers. "We have to continue to press the police to catch the criminal gangs behind these robberies," he added. "We need to see greater progress and the PSNI pulling out all the stops to get those behind this in front of a court." Barry McElduff resigned as West Tyrone MP after posing with a loaf of bread on his head on the anniversary of the Kingsmill massacre. He apologised saying he never set out to hurt the families of those killed in the IRA attack. The brother of a victim of the Kingsmill massacre has accused Sinn Fein's Barry McElduff of a "lack of decency" after the council candidate claimed that he took an undeserved hit by resigning as an MP over an online controversy. Colin Worton, whose brother Kenneth was one of 10 Protestant workmen murdered by the IRA in 1976, also slammed Mr McElduff for seeking sympathy in order to make a political comeback. "I'm not surprised that he's playing the victim," he said. "Sinn Fein has always been good at that." Mr Worton was speaking after Mr McElduff suggested it was unfair that he had to quit as West Tyrone MP after posing with a Kingsmill-branded loaf on his head on the 42nd anniversary of the massacre in January 2018. The Fermanagh and Omagh District Council candidate opened up to a local newspaper about his desire to "re-emerge" following a difficult year. "It's been a very challenging personal experience but I'm trying to show character and resilience by returning to make a political comeback," he said. In the interview with the Ulster Herald, Mr McElduff claimed that many of the residents he has encountered on the campaign trail have offered him quiet encouragement. "Nothing is noisy, nothing is brash, nothing is loud," he added. "It's really people empathising with me in perhaps taking a hit that maybe I didn't deserve to take." Mr Worton, whose brother is believed to have shielded a Catholic textile factory colleague after their minibus was stopped by gunmen in the brutal attack, expressed disappointment last night. "We believed he meant what he said when he apologised and we thought he did the right thing by resigning, but obviously his decency is only from the tooth out," Mr Worton said. "He hasn't learned his lesson at all. "Sinn Fein has never learned its lesson. They glorify murder and violence at every opportunity because they still believe in their so-called heroes." Mr Worton also expressed frustration with the leadership of Sinn Fein. He said: "I believe he got a nod and a wink from the hierarchy within the party. "He has obviously been told they aren't going to close any doors to stop his comeback." Mr McElduff maintained he has taken responsibility for his actions. He has always said the video posted on Twitter was a joke which had caused "unintentional" offence. In November the Public Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute Mr McElduff due to insufficient evidence. Last night Mr Worton said his elderly mother Bea (92) - who revealed details of disturbing phone calls in the wake of the scandal - never believed Mr McElduff would stay out of the spotlight for long. "She's lived a long life and is never surprised at what Sinn Fein is capable of," he said. The pensioner previously said she was "hurt to the back bone" over Mr McElduff's behaviour, following dozens of nuisance calls to her house by anonymous people asking for 10 slices of Kingsmill bread. Mr Worton said he is baffled how "any ordinary decent Catholic" could empathise with Mr McElduff and he appealed to them directly to reject divisive politics at the ballot box next month. Ulster Unionist councillor Chris Smyth said Mr McElduff's selection was a "callous slap in the face for those who he offended last year". "Barry McElduff did not take a hit he didn't deserve," he said. "In fact, I believe that his punishment of one year of political exile doesn't even begin to rectify the things that he did." A West Belfast man who claimed he lost part of his leg in a car accident during a loan fraud racket has been ordered to pay back almost 45,000 in compensation. Liam Victor William Buckingham (48), of Beechmount Grove, had pleaded guilty to seven charges of fraud by false representation. At Belfast Crown Court yesterday, prosecutors said around 7,700 was to be paid back to Clonard credit union off the Falls Road. In an attempt to secure a loan in September 2014, Buckingham claimed he had "lost part of a leg as a result of a car accident and that he expected to receive compensation". A barrister for Buckingham, who formerly worked as a cleaner at Sainsbury's, said he was currently unemployed and would not be in a position to carry out community service because of his "disability problems". "He normally worked nights to avoid interacting with other people," she said. Judge Kevin Finnegan said he would give the defendant credit for making restitution, adding: "I'm going to impose a probation order for two years to assist you in your learning problems and disabilities." A Belfast teenager has been jailed for stealing a Kit Kat - after confirming he was happy to be put behind bars. James Kelly was ordered to serve a month in the Young Offenders Centre (YOC) for the theft of the 1 chocolate bar and disorderly behaviour at the scene. The 19-year-old, of no fixed abode, admitted carrying out the offences at a Co-Op store on the city's Upper Malone Road on Tuesday. Belfast Magistrates' Court heard he took a salted caramel flavour Kit Kat without paying for it. Prosecutors said he also shouted and swore at customers, refusing to modify his behaviour when police arrived. Defence lawyer Norman Shannon told the court Kelly can't remember the incident because he was so drunk. Mr Shannon disclosed that his client was only released from custody in January following a previous conviction for assaulting his brother. According to the solicitor Kelly's life has "unravelled a bit" having previously expressed an interest in computers or joining the army. "He's happy enough if he goes to the YOC for a short period," Mr Shannon submitted. "There's a sense of hopelessness about him... one doesn't like urging the court to put him in the YOC, but there seems to be no alternative. It's very sad." Sentencing Kelly to one month in custody for both offences, District Judge Fiona Bagnall said: "Hopefully things will take a better turn." Tiernan McCready was honoured by police for his bravery. A schoolboy has been dubbed a hero by police after he intervened in the attempted abduction of an 18-year-old girl. Tiernan McCready was in Londonderry's Bogside area last Wednesday night when he noticed three men grab an 18-year-old girl and attempt to get her into a van. Upon seeing the attempted abduction, Tiernan intervened and shouted at the men and led the girl away to safety. He then returned home and told his mother who rang the police. Grateful police officers presented Tiernan with the PSNI Badge of Honour and a box of Maltesers as a token of their appreciation and praised him on the 'PSNI Foyle' Facebook page, saying "this is what a hero looks like". "Most adults would be paralysed in shock, confusion or fear and fail to act till it was too late. Tiernan reacted instantly," the post read. "Let that sink in. This could have been the start of a potentially serious and harrowing crime. That girl could have been my child, my sister, your child, your family member." "This doesnt go anywhere near to paying off the debt our community owes this boy. Our youngsters often get a bad rep but remember the vast majority are brave and big hearted just like Tiernan." Tiernan has been widely praised across social media for his actions. Inspector William Calderwood confirmed that police in Derry are investigating a report of a suspicious approach in the Brandywell area on Wednesday April 3. At around 8.15pm a local parent reported that her son had witnessed three men in a van approach a teenage girl on Leckey Road a short time earlier," he said No other reports have been received to-date, however we are keen to identify the girl and establish exactly what has happened. Officers would also like to speak to anyone who may have seen a white van in the area that night. Please contact police on 101, quoting reference 1318 03/04/19." A convicted drug dealer has joined the DUP on the campaign trail ahead of next month's local government elections. Mark Officer, has been pictured canvassing with the party's Oldpark candidates Dale Pankhurst and Gillian Simpson. He also signed Mrs Simpson's nomination forms as she hopes to win a seat on Belfast City Council. Officer was sentenced to 20 months in prison in 2015 after cocaine worth nearly 1m was seized when a car was stopped by police in Belfast. Read More Police searched a house in the Shankill area linked to Officer and found a significant amount of cocaine in various levels of purity, along with equipment associated with mixing the drug, including a hydraulic press. Around 275 grams of cocaine located in the house was found to be of 63% purity - meaning it had not yet been cut and prepared for distribution to the public. A prosecutor said it was the Crown's case that Officer had involved himself in mixing the drug at the address. Sentencing both men, Judge McFarland spoke of the drugs operation which was uncovered and said that while he accepted Officer had acted under some degree of pressure, he had however involved himself in processing the drug. He served half of the sentence in prison and half on license. A DUP spokesperson said that Officer now wanted to put his conviction behind him and give something back to the community. "Mr Officer was previously convicted of a criminal offence for which he has expressed remorse," the spokesperson said. "He wishes to move forward and play a positive role in the community. As part of this he has assisted DUP candidates on a voluntary basis." Health officials have refused to say what action they took after a doctor misdiagnosed a patient who later died from a heart attack. The Southern Trust has come under fire for its refusal to reveal whether it ever referred the doctor in question to the General Medical Council (GMC). Read More It has also refused to say whether it restricted the doctor's clinical duties after the "preventable" death of Denis Doran, a businessman from Lurgan, Co Armagh. Marie Ferguson, whose daughter was at the centre of a medical cover-up after she died, said: "I am disgusted to think another family has had to fight to find out the truth about the death of their loved one. "It's not good enough." A coroner ruled last week that Mr Doran (57), who was waiting for an appointment at the trust's Rapid Access Chest Clinic, died from a heart attack in November 2016 two months after he was wrongly diagnosed with a hernia by Dr Mohammod Asaduzzeman. The doctor had earlier told the court he had no knowledge of the Rapid Access Chest Clinic and also admitted he may not have read Mr Doran's notes before interpreting an abnormal ECG as normal. In his ruling, Patrick McGurgan described Mr Doran's death as preventable and said the outcome would have been different if he was properly diagnosed and given the necessary treatment. Just moments before he gave his findings to the court the Southern Trust revealed that 13 patients passed away while waiting to be referred to the Rapid Access Chest Clinic in 2016. As a result Mr McGurgan ordered the Southern Trust to review the 13 deaths. When asked by this newspaper to explain what investigations were carried out following the death of Mr Doran and whether Dr Asaduzzeman was referred to the GMC, the professional body for doctors that ensures they are fit to practise, the trust refused to answer. The trust has not yet been in touch with the families of the 13 people at the centre of the new probe. A spokesman said: "The trust is complying with the coroner's directions following last week's inquest. "The trust is continuing to review these cases and will be in contact with the families as soon as possible." Reacting to the revelations, Mrs Ferguson continued: "It's horrific, it just seems like another cover-up." Her daughter Raychel was one of five children whose deaths in Northern Ireland hospitals were examined by the Hyponatraemia Inquiry. The inquiry chair, John O'Hara QC, published his report in January 2017, in which he called for the introduction of a duty of candour for medical professionals. He said this was an essential measure after he was repeatedly confronted by witnesses who "had to have the truth dragged out of them". "It is time that the medical profession and health service managers stop treating their own reputations and interests first and put the public interest first," he said. Mrs Ferguson added: "I am angered by this but not surprised. "This proves once again how important it is that we have a duty of candour in Northern Ireland, but I don't think we'll ever get it. "The findings of the Hyponatraemia Inquiry seem to have been forgotten about. "Quite often all families want is the truth and they don't want to have to drag it out of the doctors and nurses, they just want to know at the time what went wrong and to get an apology. "It seems like lessons havent been learned." A woman in her 60s has been treated for shock after an arson attack on her Londonderry home. The attack took place in the Greenhaw Avenue area of Shantallow on Tuesday night. At around 8:30pm it was reported that a number of bins were alight spreading to a nearby oil tank at the back of a house in the area, causing it to go on fire. The fire then spread to the house, causing substantial damage to the property and neighbouring homes. A women in her 60s who was inside the property at the time of the incident, but managed to get out. She was treated for shock at the scene. Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service attended the scene and dealt with the fire. There were no reports of any injuries. Sergeant Swanson appealed for information. We are also investigating a possible link to damage caused to a car parked in the Greenhaw Avenue area of Shantallow sometime between 9:30pm and 10:30pm. It is believed that a slate was thrown through the rear window of the car, causing damage to the vehicle," he said. Enquiries are continuing and we would appeal to anyone who witnessed anything suspicious in the area to contact police at Strand Road on 101, quoting reference number 1330 9/4/19. 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. Police at the scene of the alert in Castlewellan yesterday Police believe the discovery of a mortar tube and command wire in Co Down prevented a potential attack by dissident republicans on the security forces. The items were recovered in Castlewellan after being found by a member of the public in the Drumnaquoile Road area on Monday afternoon. The PSNI then implemented an extensive clearance operation, which lasted into yesterday afternoon. Detective superintendent John McVea said it was likely the mortar tube was left by the road for collection by another dissident. He said the tube did not contain a mortar device. It was left behind a wall outside a derelict house and was in relatively good condition, indicating it had been left there recently. Detective McVea added: "We are very pleased to have this item recovered - undoubtedly it was in the future intended to be used in an attack against the security forces. "There is a derelict farm building in the immediate vicinity. "The device, the mortar tube, was left just by the wall. It was not covered in any way. "It was in very good condition and there were no signs it had been left to the elements for any length of time and certainly we are working on the theory that it was left there in very recent times." The PSNI said the mortar tube and command wire will now be subject to detailed forensic examination. The chairman of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland Mark Lindsay condemned those who had left the items where they could also have endangered the lives of passers-by. He added: "What this shows is the need for constant vigilance. "We cannot relax our guard in the face of a determined dissident republican threat to officers and, indeed, the wider community. "I have no doubt that this was intended for officers out doing their best for the entire community. "This is yet another demonstration of the bankrupt nature of those who seek to inflict pain and suffering on the community. "The terrorists don't care who they hurt. And I would appeal to anyone with information about those who were planning to carry out an attack to contact the PSNI." Mr Lindsay added: "We have to put these mindless individuals behind bars. Only through the all-out support of the community will we be able to rid Northern Ireland of these murderous gangs." DUP Policing Board member and North Antrim MLA Mervyn Storey said it is vital that those responsible for such devices are brought to justice. "This is a significant discovery which would appear to have foiled attempts by republican terrorists to bring violence onto our streets," he said. "Everyone will hope that evidence can be gathered which will lead to that outcome," he added. "The items appear to have been recently prepared and it demonstrates the need for ongoing vigilance against such terrorists. Those who are attempting to copy the failed tactics pursued by others in the past must face a united stance by the community in opposition," he said. Sinn Fein MP Chris Hazzard said there was "absolutely no place for this type of activity in our society". "I welcome that these materials have been taken out of circulation and out of the hands of those who cause death and destruction in the community," he said. Alan Lewis, a UUP representative in the area, described those who discarded the components and device as "reckless mindless idiots with no regard for public safety". He added: "In 2019 we should be far beyond such activity where people expect to live in peace without fear of harm. "This discovery is a clear and stark reminder that there are very dangerous individuals still intent on causing destruction, death and mayhem." Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101, quoting reference 721 08/04/19. The 'Russia - into the future' charitable club together with the Council for Youth Affairs under Patriarch announced the launch of the 'Stars for Children' program and other initiatives. The chairman of the Council for Youth Affairs under Patriarch, Inal Ardzinba, said that the 'Russia into the future' club was established quite recently on the initiative of the Council under the patriarch. Our first initiative is to support the orphanage in Sergiev Posad. The main goal we set in this framework of this charitable program is building a special adaptation center for orphanage graduates." The director of the Sergiev Posad residential care facility deaf-blind children and youth with disabilities, Galina Epifanova, said that the facility has been operational for 55 years: "We are located not far from the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius. 200 children live and study in our residential care facility. These are children with different problems: totally deaf-blind, weak-sighted and deaf, hard-of-hearing and blind, blind with speech underdevelopment and other children with multiple severe disabilities.They live in four departments: the preschool department; the department for children who receive the general education, a department for children who have intellectual disorders in addition to hearing disorder and vision disorder, as well as a social labor department to prepare them for professions." According to Galina Epifanova, children participate in creative events, festivals and concerts with famous artists: "A lot of efforts are invested in these children by our teachers. The center that we want built for our graduates will provide an opportunity for further rehabilitation and preparation of our pupils to independent life. Spiritual education is one of the important tasks we do in our institution. We have a temple, specially built for our students. Children go to church on Sundays and public holidays, attend church services, assist the priest at the altar, sing in church choir." As part of the Stars for Children program, famous Russian artists will hold charity events aimed at supporting children from social institutions. Calling to help children, Peoples Artist of Russia Nikolai Baskov said: "One can be rich or poor, but the main thing is to have a soul. It doesnt matter how much you earn. But you can write, read, have fun, go places, forgetting that that a huge number of people cannot do it. Feasible help does not depend on how much money you donated. Even if you donate five rubles, first of all, it is a spiritual message. Everything we do from a pure heart comes back to us. Therefore, do not forget do good deeds... Somehow a priest told me: "The goal in life of every human is to become a better person, better at everything: in his actions, in relation to the family, friends, no matter what we want, what we aspire to." "I hope our project will be heard and we will find new friends. Im sure that not only philanthropists will help us, but we will be supported by the government as well," Baskov said. The scene in Dungiven, Co Londonderry, after a cash machine was ripped from a wall and stolen in the latest of a spate of ATM thefts. Photo credit: David Young/PA Wire Lady Sylvia Hermon has suggested that dissident republicans in Northern Ireland could use money from stolen ATM machines to fund attacks on police in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The independent unionist MP was speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday after a spate of of ATM thefts across Northern Ireland in recent months. Earlier this month police warned that dissident republicans may be profiting from involvement in the thefts. Read More During Northern Ireland questions Lady Hermon said that there are fears stolen cash machines could be being taken by dissidents planning to use the money to fund attacks against police in the event of a no-deal Brexit. "Has the minister been made aware by the police service of Northern Ireland that dissident republicans are responsible for the recent spate of thefts of ATMs across Northern Ireland and are intent upon using that stolen money to purchase weaponry to attack police officers and others along the border in the event of a no-deal Brexit?," The North Down MP asked. Northern Ireland minister John Penrose said he could not comment due to ongoing police investigations, but acknowledged that there had been a "great deal of speculation about this matter". "I think all I can say, and I hope she understands, in my response here is that policing obviously is an operational matter and there are ongoing and live police investigations into this as we speak, therefore I can't really go much further into it," he said. Expand Close Lady Sylvia Hermon / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Lady Sylvia Hermon The theft of an ATM in Dungiven in the early hours of Sunday morning was the ninth ATM theft in Northern Ireland this year. On Monday police said that the discovery of a mortar tube and command wire in Castwellan, Co Down prevented an attack on police by dissident republicans. A recent report compiled by two senior Unesco officials said violence could occur in Northern Ireland "in as little as six weeks" following a no-deal Brexit. Earlier this year former PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde warned that a hard border would be exploited by dissident republicans He said there is no way to avoid the return of security patrols if there is a no-deal Brexit. The moment you see anything that starts to create the perception of a very hard distinction between north and south, it creates a catalyst that allows people to exploit that position and certainly dissident republicans would be in that category, he said. The Constitutional Research Council (CRC) donated a further 13k to the DUP. The DUP has received a further 13K in donations from the pro-Brexit group who supported the party with over 400k ahead of the EU referendum. The Constitutional Research Council (CRC) donated 435k to the party during the Brexit campaign, 282,000 of the money was spent on an advert in the Metro newspaper New documents show that the party accepted a further 13k in donations from the CRC in the months following the referendum. In October 2016, the DUP received a 6k donation, followed by a further 7k donation in March 2017. The DUP has told the BBC that it used the donations to "further the cause of unionism at home and abroad" and complied with electoral law at all times. CRC is chaired by Scottish Conservative Richard Cook, but the identities of those who make donations to the group remain unknown. Read More The latest donation came to light through Electoral Commission (EC) documents, which were published by the campaign group, the Good Law Project. The original 435k donation was not reported to the EC, but they accepted that the donation and it's donors were permissable. A BBC Spotlight programme investigated the donation, but the EC ruled that there were "no grounds" for an investigation into the issue. The most recent donations were both declared to the EC. Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson said the latest donation raised questions about who was behind the donations. The DUP and CRC have never revealed where this money came from and people are rightly asking why that should be the case," she said. The public have a right to integrity and transparency in their elected political parties so the DUP leadership should explain the source of these funds." The intruders fled on foot in the direction of Rinmore Drive. A gang of masked men armed with iron bars have assaulted a man in his home in Derry. The attack took place around 10:40pm at a property in Creggan Heights on Tuesday, April 9. The victim sustained a facial injury. A PSNI spokesman said: "The masked intruders then fled on foot in the direction of Rinmore Drive. "The victim, aged in his thirties, made his way to hospital for treatment. "Two women and a second male in the house at the time of the incident were not injured, however, this must have been a frightening ordeal for the victim and the occupants of the house. "Our enquiries are ongoing, and I want to appeal to anyone who was in the Creggan Heights area prior to, or around the time the incident was reported to us and saw a number of males in the area acting suspiciously, or anyone who has information which may assist our investigation to call detectives at Strand Road on the non emergency number 101, quoting reference number 1482 of 09/04/19." A lorry driver who admitted wrecking a memorial to murdered soldiers had his 12 month sentence reduced to six months on Wednesday. Jailing 44-year-old Robert McKeegan at Newry County Appeal Court, Judge Gordon Kerr QC said while he believed the original sentence was excessive, he added however I consider that a custodial sentence, an immediate custodial sentence, is fully justified. In the Magistrates Court last February McKeegan, from Beech Drive, Bleary, Craigavon, pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage to a memorial belonging to the Royal British Legion intending to damage such property or being reckless as to whether such property would be damaged on October 4 last year. Ordering McKeegan to be jailed for six months with a further six months to be spent on supervised licence, District Judge Peter Magill told him: The fact of the matter is that this was a quite appalling offence of wanton destruction of a memorial to the dead. Whether the dead were British soldiers or not matters little to this court - anyone who desecrates a memorial to the dead has stepped outside the bounds of any civilised society and the only penalty which is appropriate is a period of imprisonment. The prosecution reminded the court on Wednesday that at around 7.30am that morning, police received a report of criminal damage to a British Army memorial at Narrow Water, dedicated to the memory of 18 British soldiers murdered by Irish republican terrorised during a bombing in 1979. Counsel for the PPS outlined that from CCTV, McKeegan could be seen getting out of his lorry while on his mobile phone and kicking out at crosses and wreaths, damaging the memorial. There were a number of incidents relating to the memorial and this was the seventh report of damage since 2015, said the lawyer. As a result of extensive enquiries, he told the court police were able to track McKeegans lorry and arrest him two weeks later but during five police interviews, he made no comment or offered no explanation to officers, adding that the value of the damage was around 200. The memorial marks the 1979 IRA double bomb attack which killed 18 soldiers, the largest single loss of life suffered by the security forces. At the original sentencing hearing two months ago, the prosecution had submitted the judge could infer hostility because it was a British army memorial and given the history of this jurisdiction and the perceived perception of the British army representing a certain side of society and that this leaves no other reason for the criminal damage. In sentencing McKeegan at that stage, Judge Magill made it clear that Im not finding hostility as a factor and during his plea in mitigation on Wednesday, defence counsel Kevin OHare said it was clear from the pre-sentence probation report that McKeegan had absolutely no idea as to the background or significance of the memorial. Judge Kerr demanded however: Im meant to believe that just randomly, with no thought process whatsoever, he stopped at this monument and he decided to start kicking it for no reason whatsoever, Im really meant to believe that.....is there anything in Northern Ireland thats more significant than a poppy? Mr OHare contended that for McKeegan, theres a difference...between kicking a poppy wreath in ignorance, as probation suggests, and in the full knowledge of the historical atrocity that happened at that particular site. The lawyer conceded that while McKeegan had a criminal record, there had been no offences since 2006, submitting that a stable relationship and gaining his HGV licence along with working six days a week, had a stabilising effect on him, further submitting that going to jail would result in him losing that job. Judge Kerr revealed however that in April 2016 at Dublin Circuit Court, McKeegan had been fined 2,000 Euros for various driving offences, mainly relating to his lorry tachograph. When Mr OHare said McKeegans bosses continued to employ him, the judge said he was astounded. Sentencing McKeegan to a six month jail sentence, Judge Kerr said that unlike the lower court, he had the benefit of the probation report and from that and defence submissions, his view was that there was no particular animus on McKeegans part. The scene at Ardoyne roundabout after a car drove into the crowd Police officers treat Phoebe Clawson after she was struck by a car driven by Aughey in Ardoyne in July 2015 An Orangeman jailed for dragging a schoolgirl under the wheels of his car at an interface has signed the council nomination form of DUP councillor Dale Pankhurst. John Aughey was jailed for one year after colliding with a crowd of pedestrians at the Ardoyne shopfronts in July 2015 during a nationalist protest over the Orange Order's bid to march past the sectarian flashpoint. One teenager became trapped under the car suffering serious injuries. Mr Pankhurst, who is running for re-election to Belfast City Council in the Oldpark ward said that it was a personal decision to ask Mr Aughey to sign his forms. Read More John Aughey has been a long term family friend and neighbour. I have known him for many years and I thought it nice to ask him to sign my nomination papers," Mr Pankhurst said. "I do not think for one minute this will deter anyone from contacting me regarding constituency issues. My record speaks for itself." Mr Pankhurst pointed out that a number of convicted criminals were standing and canvassing for Sinn Fein, Shankill bomber Sean Kelly attracted criticism when canvassing for Sinn Fein candidate John Finucane ahead of the 2017 General Election. Expand Close John Aughey Photopress Belfast / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp John Aughey "Convicted IRA terrorists are Sinn Fein representatives and have served sentences for offences including, bombing, shooting, attempted importation of arms and explosives, murder, and much more," he said. Six people, including several police officers, were injured when Aughey attempted a U-turn into a parking bay. He said he was driving home from a march and had performed the manoeuvre in a "blind panic" as he believed his car was coming under attack. His Nissan Pulsar collided with those standing, resulting in serious injuries caused to the then 16-year-old girl who was struck and thrown onto the bonnet before coming trapped under the vehicle. Expand Close Dale Pankhurst / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dale Pankhurst The teenager - who sustained fractures to her collarbone, pelvis and ankle - was rescued after the vehicle was lifted onto its side by police and others present. Whilst under the car, Aughey drove over her and she was dragged under the wheels for three seconds. She subsequently said that she felt had Aughey run over her a second time, she would have died. A loyalist camp was set up a Twaddell Avenue in protest at a Parades Commission decision to bar a return-leg march past the Ardoyne shop fronts on the Crumlin Road in 2013. It was dismantled in October 2016 after an agreement was reached to allow the lodges to complete their march. DUP leader Arlene Foster has accused the Prime Minister of "demeaning the strength of this great nation" in her "weak" approach to the Brexit talks. Mrs Foster said the decision to leave the EU was not the problem but rather Theresa May's "ham-fisted" approach to the talks and accused the Prime Minister of trying to force people into backing her Brexit deal. The MLA made the comments ahead of a meeting with chief EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and with MEP Diane Dodds and Conservative MPs Ian Duncan Smith and Owen Paterson. This is a useful opportunity to once again set out why we oppose the Withdrawal Agreement and urge the EUs Chief Negotiator to acknowledge the concerns of those we represent in Northern Ireland by making the changes outlined by Parliament on 29 January," she said. In parliament on January 29 MPs backed a backbench amendment tabled by Sir Graham Brady. The amendment demanded the backstop by replaced by unspecified "alternative arrangements". However, the EU and the Prime Minister have said there can be no change to the withdrawal agreement and it will form part of any deal. Read More Mrs Foster added: "We want to see a sensible deal which works for every part of the United Kingdom and respects the referendum result. However, we cannot settle for a deal which would undermine the economic and constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom. "The European Union has spoken much about protecting the peace process and the Belfast Agreement but has consistently ignored the views of unionists who do not want a new border erected between Northern Ireland the rest of the United Kingdom." That is a weak approach and demeans the strength of this great nation. Arlene Foster Relations between the Prime Minister and the DUP have continued to deteriorate as Theresa May continually seeks to find agreement on the Withdrawal Agreement. While the Tories and the DUP have a confidence and supply arrangement to allow Theresa May to run her government, it is Labour the Prime Minister has turned to in order to find the support needed for her deal. On Wednesday evening EU leaders met at an emergency summit to discuss the Mrs May's latest request for a delay to Brexit. It is rumoured she will be offered a long delay with an option to leave earlier should agreement be found. Arlene Foster continued: "Despite the Prime Minister being warned about the opposition to her Withdrawal Agreement, she has limped along and tried to force people into a cul-de-sac where they have no option but to support her deal. "That is a weak approach and demeans the strength of this great nation. It is also foolish as it traps the UK and burdens future generations with a bad deal. "Our great democratic principles have been damaged. It is outrageous that almost three years after people voted to leave the European Union, we are potentially facing another European election in the United Kingdom. "The uncertainty we face is not the fault of the voters. The Prime Minister should recognise that the decision to leave the EU is not the problem but rather the ham-fisted manner in which the negotiations have taken place. Police in south Belfast are searching for a middle-aged man who tried to entice a young woman into his car. The report of the attempted abduction is believed to be the latest in a series that have occurred in the area. The incident happened on Friday, March 29 at 2pm as the woman was walking to the gym along side streets off the Tates Avenue area. She was approached by a man in a small silver-coloured car with a Republic of Ireland registration who pulled up and asked her for directions. The man then attempted to get her to enter the car several times before she fled the scene on foot. He is described as being aged in his 50s and of slim build with grey hair and grey facial hair. He also spoke with a southern Irish accent. The woman was left shaken but unharmed following the incident. According to police, similar incidents have been reported in the area over recent weeks with young females being the prime target. Detectives at Lisburn Road Police Station are investigating the matter and are appealing for anyone with information to contact them on the non-emergency number 101. Police have ruled out the a dissident republican link to the recent spate of ATM thefts across Northern Ireland. In the House of Commons Lady Sylvia Hermon stated the groups were responsible and intent on using the money from the stolen machines to fund attacks on police and others along the border in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The theft of an ATM in Dungiven in the early hours of Sunday morning was the ninth such incident in Northern Ireland this year. Police have established a special task force of detectives to investigate the incidents. Earlier this month, an officer said that while there was no evidence linking the thefts to dissident republicans "all crime in Northern Ireland usually goes back to paramilitaries". There are concerns among retail groups ATM providers could decide to remove machines from rural areas, potentially leaving communities without access to a cash machine in their area. Read More During Northern Ireland questions on Wednesday Independent North Down MP Hermon asked the Government if it was aware dissident republicans were responsible and using the funds to buy weaponry for Brexit-related attacks. In response Northern Ireland minister John Penrose said he could not comment due to ongoing police investigations, but acknowledged that there had been a "great deal of speculation about this matter". Police were able to confirm there is no current link to dissident republicans as part of their investigations. Crime Operations Assistant Chief Constable Barbara Gray said: At this time it is the assessment of the PSNI that dissident republican groups are not involved in the orchestration of recent ATM thefts in Northern Ireland. Chairman of Azerbaijan's Agency for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Orkhan Mammadov held a meeting with the Dubai SME CEO Abdul Baset Al Janahi in Dubai. Azerbaijan's Agency for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and the Dubai SME have agreed to expand cooperation, the Agency stated. The meeting was held within the framework of the 8th Annual Investment Meeting in Dubai. At the meeting, the parties expressed interest in cooperation and exchanged views on expanding ties. In particular, they discussed the establishment and development of cooperation between SMEs of Azerbaijan and the UAE. For this, the parties agreed to expand ties, organize events in Baku with the participation of SME representatives of the two countries, as well as implement joint projects in Azerbaijan based on UAE investments, Trend reported. Residents of Victoria Square apartments in Belfast city centre have been forced to immediately evacuated because of "serious structural issues with the building". The BBC reports a structural issue was identified in February and assessments of the building have led to residents being forced to vacate their homes on Wednesday. A letter to residents said those apartments along a damaged structural column were affected with repairs taking place as soon as possible. As a result all residents have been told to leave the building. A spokesman for the management company said the decision to evacuate came at the direction of structural engineers and as a safety precaution. He said they were expecting a 20-week timescale for the repair work. It's not thought the shopping centre is affected. When it was built, there were 106 apartments in the Victoria Square complex with a mix of one, two and three bedroom properties, including penthouses. The first residents moved into the 400m retail and residential development in 2008. SDLP Botanic Representative Gary McKeown said: "My first thoughts are with the residents affected by this evacuation. To be told to leave their home with immediate effect will be causing great shock and concern. "While ensuring the safety of the public is paramount, it is essential that residents are supported over the course of the 20-week period expected for the repairs to be completed. "I have contacted the management company seeking assurances that residents will get all the assistance they need." The sister of a veteran aid worker who was killed in a car crash in Central America has spoken of her "immense pride" over the Co Tyrone woman's charity work. Sally O'Neill, originally from Dungannon, became one of Ireland's most respected humanitarians through her 37-year career with Trocaire. She had been working with a Guatemala human rights organisation when she died along with three co-workers north of Guatemala City on Sunday. Her sister Kate Lewis spoke to the Belfast Telegraph yesterday on what would have been Ms O'Neill's 69th birthday. "We're all in shock, and with her being so far away makes it all seem unreal," she said. "My sister never really regarded herself as being retired and that energy remained undimmed. Some of her work was in a voluntary capacity with prisoners and homeless people." Ms Lewis said her sister had been especially proud to have received an honorary law degree from Ulster University in 2017. "On the day I remember she told the students: 'You've had this great education, go out there and make the most of it'," she said. "I must say I found that very touching. She continued that message with students in Latin America as well. "A big driving force for her was the question: 'How do you make things better for people at the bottom of the heap?' "The way she saw that was improving their life circumstances, having enough to eat and so on. "That allowed them to lift their eyes to higher things like education and taking part in society." Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced, but Ms Lewis said it was likely her sister would be laid to rest in her adopted homeland of Honduras. "Sally had made her home in Honduras. Her husband and one of her children live there now, so her heart was in two places. One was in Honduras the other was in Dungannon. "Even though she's lived away for 20 years she was very much at the heart of our family." She said the family's thoughts were also very much with Ms O'Neill's three colleagues. "Other people are going through the same pain we had and it is very difficult," she said. "They're in our thoughts as well. "These were people she would have worked with and known very well. "If Sally had been living she would be thinking: 'What about their families, what can we do for them?' "That was just very much her approach." Two London-based students have avoided jail for stealing thousands of pounds worth of equipment during raids on an Apple Store in Belfast. Sharmaarke Ismail and Ibrahim Mohamed both received two-month suspended sentences due to the time they spent on remand in custody. Belfast Magistrates' Court heard the academic high-achievers became involved in a "hair-brained scheme" after travelling to Northern Ireland for either a university open day or to go sightseeing. Ismail, 20, of Berne Road in Croydon, pleaded guilty to stealing goods valued at 4,242 from the Apple Store at Victoria Square on September 28 last year. He also admitted taking a 220 scarf from a nearby Cruise store. Mohamed, 20, from Brooke Drive in Lambeth, entered guilty pleas to the theft of 1,565 worth of Apple products and going equipped for theft with a high-strength magnet. They were arrested near the Victoria Square retail centre after police viewed CCTV footage of the first shoplifting incident. Searches recovered a range of Apple products, including wireless headphone sets and disc drives, from their backpacks. Prosecutors previously described it as a planned and sophisticated thieving operation. But defence barrister Declan Quinn, representing Ismail, contended that it had been a foolish move to go back to the scene of the crime. "Whoever came up with this hair-brained scheme didn't think it though very well," he said. "Having previously stolen from the Apple Store, the defendants returned to Victoria Square and were seen by police who happened to be there investigating the matter a day before." Mr Quinn told the court his client had come to Belfast with friends for a sightseeing trip. "It's a popular tourist destination now from Britain," he said. Counsel added that Ismail is studying for a marketing degree at Middlesex University, although his convictions could impact on his future job prospects. Agreeing with those submissions, District Judge Fiona Bagnall commented: "Young people don't think of these things." Mohamed's lawyer, Sean O'Hare, said he had travelled to Belfast with the intention of attending a university open day. "He foolishly decided to take advantage of the fact they were not known in the area and had obviously managed to get away with the (original) offences," Mr O'Hare told the court. Both defendants were in custody for a number of weeks before securing bail. Sentencing them to two months imprisonment, Judge Bagnall suspended the terms after acknowledging those periods already spent behind bars. Police said they investigated all reports of crime to the best of their ability. Four people are to appear in court charged with the theft and criminal damage of candidate posters for the forthcoming local government elections. The charges follow after police stopped a suspicious vehicle in the Portrush area on Tuesday night and found stolen election posters. The posters had been stolen from locations around the North Coast, police said. Parties across the political spectrum have complained of the theft and damage of their campaign posters over recent weeks and from right across Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein accused the police of "indifference" to the thefts following a spate of incidents in the south Antrim area. However the PSNI said it was taking the necessary steps to investigate the incidents and determine if there was a sectarian motivation. One man had previously been arrested for theft of posters in kilkeel. He was later released pending further investigation. Read More "Some of you out there will scoff at this post," said police of the Portrush arrests, "and allege political policing however in our eyes when any member of the public reports a crime to ourselves it is investigated to the best of our ability irrespective of religion, race, disability or sexual orientation. "Please reflect on what your own expectations would be if you became a victim of crime." A Dublin auction house owner has defended selling a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launcher "used by the IRA" for 10,000 (8,628) after he was quizzed by gardai. The anti-tank weapon was exhibited as part of Whyte's Eclectic Collector sale on Saturday and fetched almost twice as much as the guide price. "I understand why victims of IRA violence would be upset," Mr Ian Whyte said. "But I also believe it is important to collect these weapons as reminders of the horrors of war and terrorism." The auction house director - who came under fire last month from victims campaigner Kenny Donaldson who accused him of seeking to profit from terror - revealed he was questioned by gardai seeking to establish the history of the RPG. A Garda spokesperson said officers who carried out the full investigation are satisfied the Bulgarian-made weapon was only advertised as being similar to the model used by the Provisional IRA during the Troubles. "It is not believed to have been used in that conflict," they added. Mr Whyte, who previously told this newspaper he had "no idea" if the weapon was used by the IRA or not, also confirmed it was previously on view at the Roddy McCorley Historical Society museum in west Belfast. "I answered questions over the phone and officers were ultimately satisfied that this weapon has never been used by the IRA," he added. "I never claimed that it was." The weapon was deactivated by the Birmingham Gun Barrel Proof House in August 2013. Whyte's website claimed "the RPG was used by the Provisional IRA in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 1998" against British Army observation posts and military bases. It also noted that Beechmount Avenue in Belfast became known as 'RPG Avenue' due to the number of attacks in the area. Last night Mr Whyte, who has been in the business for over 50 years, said the sale included weapons "from 2,000BC right up until 2,000AD" including spearheads and axes. "There were also lots of historical artefacts relating to the Home Rule campaign, the 1916 Easter Rising and the 1939 IRA proclamation," he said. "A number of RUC riot gear items also sold for more than expected. I have always sold material from both sides of the divide and will continue to do so." The inscribed Skulgarde helmet which once belonged to the RUC's controversial Special Patrol Gr oup sold alongside a gas mask and baton for 480 (415). Fidel Narvaez, former consul of Ecuador to London, Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks and barrister Jennifer Robinson gave details of the alleged spying (Nick Ansell/PA) The Ecuadorean Government has been accused of an extensive spying operation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange which has led to a police investigation into claims of extortion. Meetings with lawyers and a doctor inside the Ecuador embassy in London over the past year have been secretly filmed, WikiLeaks said. The anti-secrecy organisation said it had been offered all the material from an unnamed person in Spain, if it paid three million euros. WikiLeaks editor Kristinn Hrafnsson said he travelled to Spain to meet the person and was shown videos of meetings Mr Assange has held in the past year, as well as a copy of a legal document left briefly in a room in the embassy. A judge in Spain is now investigating the allegations, Mr Hrafnsson told a press conference in London. Mr Assange has been living inside the embassy for almost seven years, believing he will be extradited to the United States for questioning over the activities of WikiLeaks if he leaves the building. Me Hrafnsson said attempts to expel Mr Assange from the embassy had been escalating, leading to a warning from WikiLeaks last week that it could happen within hours or days. He added: The only reason it was averted is because we heard about it and published the information. He said there was an extensive spying operation against Mr Assange, conducted from within the embassy. Police in Spain were told about the documents and videos being offered for sale and the information has been passed to an investigative judge, said Mr Hrafnsson. Any assurance from the UK Government that he would not be extradited is not believable.Jennifer Robinson Fidel Narvaez, a former diplomat at the embassy, told the press conference that the Government of Ecuador was not protecting Mr Assange any more, even though he has been granted diplomatic immunity. He said: The Government of Ecuador is making everything possible to end the asylum. WikiLeaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson said a complaint about the spying allegations was being made to the United Nations ahead of a planned meeting between Mr Assange and a UN Special Rapporteur later this month. We remain concerned about the co-operation the Ecuador government is giving the United States. We know there is a sealed indictment in the US to prosecute him as a priority. No one can credibly deny that risk that is the reason he was granted asylum. Expand Close Fidel Narvaez, former consul of Ecuador to London, Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor of WikiLeaks and barrister Jennifer Robinson at Doughty Street Chambers in London (Nick Ansell/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Fidel Narvaez, former consul of Ecuador to London, Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor of WikiLeaks and barrister Jennifer Robinson at Doughty Street Chambers in London (Nick Ansell/PA) Any assurance from the UK Government that he would not be extradited is not believable. Mr Hrafnsson said Mr Assange was now living in a Truman Show operation, with restrictions on his communications and visitors, introduced after Lenin Moreno became President of Ecuador last year. WikiLeaks assumes the secretly recorded information has been handed to the administration of US President Donald Trump. Videos offered for sale included a medical examination of Mr Assange by a doctor in a room inside the embassy, said Mr Hrafnsson. He added: It was recorded and found its way to a dubious individual in Spain. Prime Minister Theresa May and Sir Tim Barrow, the UKs Permanent Representative to the EU, arrive at the European Council in Brussels where European Union leaders are meeting to discuss Brexit. (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Theresa May could cling to power for as long as a year, as EU leaders looked set to offer the UK a lengthy delay to Brexit. Most EU leaders at an emergency summit in Brussels appeared ready to back European Council president Donald Tusks proposal of a long extension to Article 50 talks. But agreement was being held up by French President Emmanuel Macron, who insisted: For me, nothing is settled, and in particular no long extension. Mrs May has asked for a delay to June 30, with a break clause allowing the UK to leave as soon as Parliament has ratified her Withdrawal Agreement. She told MPs last month that as Prime Minister she would not delay Brexit beyond the end of June. But arriving in Brussels, she played down the significance of the comment, insisting that the important issue was securing the flexibility to leave early and avoid having to take part in European elections in May. Tory sources said that the PM stood by commitments made to the backbench 1922 Committee that she would hand over to a successor for the second phase of negotiations after ratification. Expand Close Donald Tusk and Mrs May with Luxembourgs prime minister Xavier Bettel (centre) (Leon Neal/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Donald Tusk and Mrs May with Luxembourgs prime minister Xavier Bettel (centre) (Leon Neal/PA) Mr Tusks proposals could postpone the opening of the next phase, dealing with the future UK/EU trade and security relationship, to the spring of 2020. And agreement in Brussels would ease the pressure to force Brexit legislation through, allowing MPs to quit Westminster on Friday rather than give up a second week of their Easter break. Mrs May set out her case for a short extension in a one-hour presentation behind closed doors, during which she answered questions from the leaders of the 27 other member states. She then left the room to allow the EU27 to discuss the UKs future in her absence over a dinner of scallop salad, loin of cod with brown shrimps and iced macadamia nut parfait. This is the moment Theresa May and Angela Merkel shared a laugh over an iPad before EU leaders sat down for Brexit extension talks pic.twitter.com/G2YVEcyuh5 PA Media (@PA) April 10, 2019 An apparently relaxed Prime Minister laughed and smiled with Angela Merkel as the German chancellor showed her pictures on her tablet computer depicting the pair wearing jackets of exactly the same shade of blue as they addressed their parliaments earlier in the day. Mrs Merkel told German MPs that the EU27 may well go for a longer delay, although the UK would be allowed to leave very quickly if Parliament approves a withdrawal deal. But as he arrived in Brussels, Mr Macron insisted that for me, nothing is settled, and in particular no long extension. And he was reported to have dug in his heels in the round-table discussion, insisting on a short extension and warning that no-deal Brexit would be better than allowing the UK to remain as a disruptive influence for months on end. One diplomatic source was quoted as saying: It will take hours before we pull him down from his tree. Expand Close Mr Macron greets Mrs May in Paris (Stefan Rousseau/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Mr Macron greets Mrs May in Paris (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Mrs May said: I have asked for an extension to June 30, but what is important is that any extension enables us to leave at the point at which we ratify the Withdrawal Agreement, so we can leave on May 22 and start to build our brighter future. In a swipe at the Brexit rebels who blocked her deal from passing through Parliament in time to leave on the scheduled date of March 29, Mrs May said: I know many people are frustrated that the summit is taking place at all, because the UK should have left the EU by now. I greatly regret the fact that Parliament hasnt been able to pass a deal that would have enabled us to leave in a smooth and orderly way. But I and the Government continue to work to find a way forward. We have been talking with the opposition. Theres been serious and constructive talks and they will continue tomorrow. Prime Minister @theresa_may is in Brussels for the European Council summit #EUCO @10DowningStreet pic.twitter.com/M4WFXl6qt7 UK Mission to the EU (@UKMisBrussels) April 10, 2019 Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite rejected suggestions that countries like hers now held Britains fate in their hands. It is only up to the UK to decide, she said. Your countrys future is only in your hands, nobody else. Its only up to you. You decide your fate, not us. We would only like to help you make this decision. Labours Jeremy Corbyn welcomed comments from Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar suggesting he is ready to contemplate a role for the UK in helping decide EU trade policies if it remains in a customs union after Brexit. Mr Varadkar said that it would be in the UKs interests to remain within the European trading bloc. And he added: Its also in our interest to have the UK to be in our bloc and I think we would be generous in understanding that the UK couldnt be a silent partner and would have to have a say in decisions being made. The Irish prime minister @LeoVaradkar has confirmed this evening that Labours alternative plan for a new customs union with a UK say on future trade deals is credible and deliverable.https://t.co/hlomXy0Xnq Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) April 10, 2019 A customs union arrangement with a British say on trade deals is a central plank of Labours plan for Brexit. Mr Corbyn responded with a tweet: The Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar has confirmed this evening that Labours alternative plan for a new customs union with a UK say on future trade deals is credible and deliverable. The unanimous agreement of all 27 remaining EU states is needed to avoid a no-deal Brexit at 11pm on Friday, April 12. Fire spreading across the hills on Harris (Katrina Craig/PA) Firefighters have tackled a gorse fire which is said to have spread rapidly on the Isle of Harris. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service was called out at 5.28pm on Tuesday near Mill Road, by Loch Direcleit, between Tarbert and Kendebig. A spokeswoman told the Press Association the fire spread rapid on the moor and four pumps were in attendance along with beaters and a hose reel. She said Police Scotland were also in attendance to help with traffic management as smoke covered the road. Twitter user Katrina Craig said the blaze was dangerously near homes. Speaking to the Press Association, she said: No one was evacuated as far as we could see. They were beating the fire at the side of the road, it wasnt out of control though. When we first drove up, the flames were blowing towards the road, you could feel the heat. Fire crew let oncoming traffic through, although traffic coming from Tarbet was still held up. Fire is still on-going on the hill at various points. After firefighters extinguished the blaze, the road reopened shortly before 8.30pm. Sir Roger Scruton has been sacked from his post as a Government adviser after he sparked fresh controversy with unacceptable comments on Islamophobia. The philosopher was dismissed as a housing tsar with immediate effect, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government confirmed. A spokeswoman said: Professor Sir Roger Scruton has been dismissed as chairman of the Building Better Building Beautiful Commission with immediate effect, following his unacceptable comments. A new chair will be appointed by the Secretary of State, to take this important work forward, in due course. Downing Street said Sir Rogers comments were deeply offensive and completely unacceptable and that it was right that he had been dismissed. He was appointed because of his expertise in the built environment but his comments are clearly distracting from the work of the commission and it is no longer right for him to act as a Government adviser, a No 10 spokeswoman said. The Government dismissed calls to fire the academic as a housing adviser last November after it emerged Sir Roger had said Islamophobia was a propaganda word and described homosexuality as not normal. Sir Roger came under renewed criticism after commenting on the controversy. His claim that Islamophobia does not exist, a few weeks after the devastating attack in Christchurch, is extremely dangerous.Dawn Butler The New Statesman America quoted Sir Roger as repeating his claim that Islamophobia was a propaganda word invented by the Muslim Brotherhood in order to stop discussion of a major issue. Sir Roger said it was nonsense for critics to accuse Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban of anti-Semitism or Islamophobia. He said: The Hungarians were extremely alarmed by the sudden invasion of huge tribes of Muslims from the Middle East. Referring to philanthropist George Soros, Sir Roger said: Anybody who doesnt think that theres a Soros empire in Hungary has not observed the facts. Remarking on last Novembers controversy, Sir Roger said: Its upsetting because its meant to undermine your authority. And authority is the only thing I have, authority that comes from hard work and thinking. What surprised me was the kind of people who repeated this. You expect people who spend their lives on Twitter to have this store of malice but when it comes up in Parliament, as it did, I was astonished. Labour led calls for him to be sacked, with the shadow women and equalities secretary Dawn Butler accusing him of invoking the language of white supremacists. Responding to Sir Rogers dismissal, shadow communities secretary Andrew Gywnne said: Labour called for Roger Scruton to be sacked from the start and the Tories should never have handed him the job given what was known about his disgusting, hateful remarks. If his views are unacceptable to the Government now, why were they acceptable when he previously said that date rape is not a crime, that homosexuality is not normal, that Islamophobia is a propaganda word, and peddled anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about George Soros? The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government James Brokenshire should apologise for defending Mr Scruton as a champion of free speech and for saying our criticism of him was misinformed and ill-judged. Mr Brokenshire also said due diligence had been conducted on Mr Scrutons appointment, so he must explain what this entailed, what processes he followed and how he reached his decision. The Government should also strip him of his knighthood. Royal Institute of British Architects president Ben Derbyshire said it was right for the Government to dismiss Sir Roger. At RIBA we also argue for better building quality but our doubts about the impartiality of this commission were clearly justified, Mr Derbyshire said. Time and effort have been wasted and we should now move on from stylistic obsessions to the issues that lie at the heart of solving the housing crisis. The Government must focus on the real priority here: ensuring that all communities benefit from high quality homes and well-designed neighbourhoods. European staff in the health service will be supported to stay in Scotland regardless of the outcome of Brexit, Jeane Freeman has said. In a letter to EU and EEA citizens working in the NHS, the Health Secretary said that although she had hoped for greater clarity over the Brexit process, her top priority will continue to be ensuring the rights of people living in Scotland. She also reiterated the application process for EU citizens aiming to remain in the UK after Brexit, and outlined the advice published by the Scottish Government under its Stay in Scotland campaign launched last week. The UK is preparing to leave the EU. This will affect EU citizens who have chosen to live here. To help you stay, we have produced a package of support to guide you through the steps you need to take. Find out more at https://t.co/QIZSYvTeBV pic.twitter.com/36ZMF8D4bm ScotGovEurope (@ScotGovEurope) April 5, 2019 In her letter, Ms Freeman told EU citizens: Your contributions are very much valued. We want you to continue to live and work in Scotland. We are very grateful for the work you do and the contribution you make, not just to patient care but also to the health, care and wellbeing of Scotland as a whole. Ms Freeman also sent a joint letter in partnership with the interim health and social care spokesman at the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, Stuart Currie, to those working in social care. In that letter, Ms Freeman and Mr Currie expressed their thanks to staff and confirmed any professional qualifications and registrations held by EU citizens would continue to be valid even if the UK leaves the European Union without a deal. The letter said: We recognise that some staff might be worried about what might happen to their professional registration if we leave the EU without an agreement. We can confirm that you will not need to do anything and will remain on the register for as long as you continue to meet all the normal requirements of continued registration. Thank-you again for all that you do. We hope that this letter provides some comfort and reassurance in these uncertain times. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu condemned the U.S. move to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guards a "terrorist group." "These kinds of decisions will pave the way for instability in our region," AFP cited Cavusoglu as saying. According to him, the decision against the "official army of Iran... was incomprehensible." The minister also criticised previous "one-sided" American sanctions against Iran and "pressure" on other countries by Washington to adhere to them. Washington's move against the Revolutionary Guards was the first time that the United States has branded part of a foreign government a terrorist group. Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay said ministers do not want a long Brexit delay (John Stillwell/PA) Ministers remain determined to take Britain out of the EU at the earliest opportunity, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay said, as Brussels appeared poised to grant a lengthy delay to Britains departure. Theresa May meets the leaders of the remaining EU 27 later on Wednesday to press her case for a further extension to the Article 50 withdrawal process to June 30 to allow her more time to get a deal through Parliament. But amid increasing frustration among EU leaders, European Council president Donald Tusk is recommending a longer delay of up to a year, with an opportunity to leave before then if a deal is agreed. However the prospect of an extended delay has infuriated many Conservative MPs, already angry that the UK has missed its original departure date of March 29. In the Commons on Tuesday, 97 Tory MPs voted against a motion backing Mrs Mays call for an extension which only passed with the support of opposition MPs. Mr Barclay insisted the Prime Minister did not want to see a lengthy delay, which was why the Government was asking only for an extension to the end of June. He said the UK could still leave before that date if it got an agreement through Parliament in time and that ministers were committed to leaving at the earliest opportunity. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) I dont want to see a long extension. The Prime Minister doesnt want to see a long extension. That is why the request today is to June 30 in order that we can leave as soon as possible, he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. Mr Barclay however sidestepped questions as to whether Mrs May could remain in office if the EU insisted on a longer delay, saying it was the failure of MPs to support a deal which had handed the initiative back to Brussels. That is a consequence of Parliament, not the Government. The Government has agreed a deal with the EU. It is Parliament that has forced this on the Government, he said. There are times when you need to give time time. My letter to EU leaders ahead of tomorrows #EUCO: https://t.co/bAsz4Qx36s#Brexit Charles Michel (@eucopresident) April 9, 2019 Mr Tusk, in a letter to the leaders of the remaining EU27, said there was little reason to believe that the ratification of Mrs Mays beleaguered Brexit deal could be completed by the end of June. He called for the European Council to discuss an alternative, longer extension, such as a flexible extension lasting as long as necessary and no longer than one year. Mr Tusk wrote: The flexibility would allow to terminate the extension automatically, as soon as both sides have ratified the Withdrawal Agreement. The UK would be free to leave whenever it is ready. And the EU27 would avoid repeated Brexit summits. Importantly, a long extension would provide more certainty and predictability by removing the threat of constantly shifting cliff-edge dates. Expand Close Theresa May met French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris ahead of the EU summit (Stefan Rousseau/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Theresa May met French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris ahead of the EU summit (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Furthermore, in the event of a continued stalemate, such a longer extension would allow the UK to rethink its Brexit strategy. Mr Tusk also warned that neither side should be allowed to feel humiliated at any stage in this difficult process. On Tuesday, Mrs May staged a whistle-stop tour of European capitals for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin to prepare the ground for another potentially difficult meeting in Brussels. The unanimous agreement of all 27 remaining EU states is needed to avoid a no-deal Brexit on the scheduled date of April 12. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) EU leaders will gather for talks with European Parliament president Antonio Tajani on Wednesday evening, before hearing from Mrs May. They will then meet for dinner without her to agree a response to the UKs extension request. A press conference with Mrs May is likely to be held after the summit, and the PM is expected to update MPs on Thursday. Meanwhile in Westminster, Labour claimed the Government had not yet made a clear shift in its position in cross-party talks designed to break the impasse. Discussions will resume on Thursday. The Police Federation is boycotting the Dorchester hotel in protest at Bruneis anti-LGBT+ laws (Sophie Hogan/P) The Police Federation has joined the backlash against anti-gay laws in Brunei by moving its annual bravery awards away from the Dorchester hotel. Chairman of the organisation John Apter said on Twitter that doing nothing was not an option after the tiny but extremely wealthy Asian nation brought in a punishment of stoning to death for gay sex. Actor George Clooney and Sir Elton John were among celebrities who announced they would no longer stay at any of a string of luxury hotels including the Dorchester which are owned by the Sultan of Brunei. I can confirm that following recent events we have made the decision to move the @PFEW_HQ Bravery Awards away from the #Dorchester Hotel. My values, the PFEW and policing as a whole would not allow us to be associated with such a regime. John Apter (@PFEW_Chair) April 10, 2019 Mr Apter said: I can confirm that following recent events we have made the decision to move the @PFEW_HQ Bravery Awards away from the #Dorchester Hotel. My values, the PFEW and policing as a whole would not allow us to be associated with such a regime. In a second tweet he went on: This decision does not reflect on the staff at the Dorchester Hotel however, doing nothing was not an option. An alternative venue has been identified and I will make sure the Bravery Awards are as special as they have always been. This is the right decision. The Brunei Investment Agency (BIA), through the Dorchester Collection, owns Londons the Dorchester and 45 Park Lane as well as Coworth Park in Berkshire. Also in its portfolio of hotels, among the worlds most exclusive, are two of Hollywoods best-known establishments, the Bel-Air and the Beverly Hills. The Police Federation represents more than 119,000 officers in England and Wales up to the rank of chief inspector. Its annual bravery awards are held to celebrate extraordinary feats of courage. In a further statement issued through the Police Federation, Mr Apter said hotel management had refunded the deposit for the event and been incredibly understanding. He said: We cannot in all conscience support a regime which is so fundamentally opposed to the values of respect, diversity and equality we hold so highly within our organisation and policing as a whole. And although the decision is no reflection on the staff of the hotel itself who have always done their utmost to ensure that the event is a success, it is the right one. Local management at the hotel has reimbursed us after cancelling the deposit and have been incredibly understanding in these circumstances for which I am grateful. Theresa May looks set to be offered a lengthy delay to Brexit as she meets EU leaders in Brussels for a crunch summit. European Council president Donald Tusk has recommended that leaders of the remaining 27 EU countries approve an extension of up to a year, with a break clause allowing the UK to leave as soon as it ratifies its Withdrawal Agreement. And German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that they may well go for an extension beyond the June 30 date requested by Mrs May. But French President Emmanuel Macron warned as he arrived at the summit that nothing is settled, and in particular not a long extension. The special European Council on #Brexit has started. First off: UK's Prime Minister May asks the EU leaders for possible Brexit extension. Later, the 27 EU leaders discuss her proposal. All details about the meeting https://t.co/0y1W9ie2DJ #EUCO pic.twitter.com/4rcztPRsOB EU Council (@EUCouncil) April 10, 2019 Mr Macron said he was impatient to hear what Mrs May had to say, adding: We must understand today why this request, what is the political project which justifies it and what are the clear proposals? The Prime Minister told MPs in March that as Prime Minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30, sparking speculation that she could resign rather than wait longer for EU withdrawal. But arriving in Brussels, she dodged the issue of whether she would accept a longer extension, insisting that her priority was to secure the right for the UK to leave once ratification is complete. Expand Close Mrs May was due to hold talks with European Council president Donald Tusk ahead of the summit (Stefan Rousseau/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Mrs May was due to hold talks with European Council president Donald Tusk ahead of the summit (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Asked twice what she would do if the deadline offered by the EU27 was later than the end of June, Mrs May said: I have asked for an extension to June 30, but what is important is that any extension enables us to leave at the point at which we ratify the Withdrawal Agreement, so we can leave on May 22 and start to build our brighter future. In a swipe at the Brexit rebels who blocked her Withdrawal Agreement from passing through Parliament in time to leave on the scheduled date of March 29, Mrs May said: I know many people are frustrated that the summit is taking place at all, because the UK should have left the EU by now. Prime Minister @theresa_may is in Brussels for the European Council summit #EUCO @10DowningStreet pic.twitter.com/M4WFXl6qt7 UK Mission to the EU (@UKMisBrussels) April 10, 2019 I greatly regret the fact that Parliament hasnt been able to pass a deal that would have enabled us to leave in a smooth and orderly way. But I and the Government continue to work to find a way forward. We have been talking with the opposition. Theres been serious and constructive talks and they will continue tomorrow. In a pre-summit trip to Berlin and Paris on Tuesday, Mrs May made a last-ditch effort to win support from Mrs Merkel and Mr Macron for her proposal, which would allow the UK to leave on May 22 and avoid the need for elections to the European Parliament. But Mrs Merkel said that the EU27 may well go for a longer delay, although the UK would be allowed to leave very quickly if Parliament approves a withdrawal deal. We will shape this extension in such a way that, whenever Britain has approved the Withdrawal Agreement, Britain can then complete its orderly withdrawal very shortly after, she told German MPs. Other leaders said that the main condition likely to be imposed in return for any extension was that Britain should prepare for European Parliament elections, though it need not actually vote if ratification is achieved earlier. Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite rejected suggestions that countries like hers now held Britains fate in their hands. It is only up to the UK to decide, she said. Your countrys future is only in your hands, nobody else. Its only up to you. You decide your fate, not us. We would only like to help you make this decision. Meanwhile, Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar indicated that he would be prepared to contemplate a role for the UK in helping decide EU trade policies if it remains in a customs union after Brexit. Its also in our interest to have the UK to be in our bloc and I think we would be generous in understanding that the UK couldnt be a silent partner and would have to have a say in decisions being made said Mr Varadkar The unanimous agreement of all 27 remaining EU states is needed to avoid a no-deal Brexit at 11pm on Friday, April 12. We are taking stock of #Brexit preparations and provides practical guidance to #Prepare4Brexit and ensure coordinated EU approach in 5 areas. More in our press release https://t.co/soXs3Bgi46 and in our thread pic.twitter.com/bOtvwbAvsl European Commission (@EU_Commission) April 10, 2019 European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said Brussels was fully prepared to cope in the event of a no-deal Brexit. This is not our desired outcome but we are not afraid of it. We are prepared, he said. The Prime Minister remains under intense pressure from Conservative MPs who oppose any further delay. The best Brexit for the UK is for us to be able to leave in an orderly way, to be able to leave with a dealTheresa May At Prime Ministers Questions, Tory backbencher Craig Tracey said she should abandon her diluted deal and take Britain out on World Trade Organisation terms, while Henry Smith warned that an extension would cost the UK 1 billion a month. Mrs May however told MPs that Britain would already be outside the EU if they had been prepared to vote for her Withdrawal Agreement. The best Brexit for the UK is for us to be able to leave in an orderly way, to be able to leave with a deal, she said. We could actually have been outside the EU by now if we had managed to get the deal through. Expand Close Justice Secretary David Gauke said Theresa May could carry on for another year to see Brexit through (Dominic Lipinski/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Justice Secretary David Gauke said Theresa May could carry on for another year to see Brexit through (Dominic Lipinski/PA) Pro-EU Justice Secretary David Gauke suggested Mrs May could carry on as PM until she has taken the country through the current phase of the negotiations and Britain has finally left the EU. I dont think we should be rushing to change our leader when there is a big task to be done, he told BBC Radio 5 live. If we are going through that process of trying to get Parliament to support a deal to find a way of breaking this deadlock, then Theresa May continues to be the right person to lead us through that process. The depth of the anger within the Tory ranks was underlined by a Commons vote on Tuesday, when 97 Tory MPs voted against a motion backing Mrs Mays call for an extension which only passed with the support of opposition MPs. My letter to @eucopresident Donald Tusk: Any decision by the Prime Minister to accept a long extension to Article 50 is likely to be challenged in the UK courts. pic.twitter.com/D4AFcsYvEV Bill Cash (@BillCashMP) April 10, 2019 Meanwhile, veteran Tory Eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash has written to Mr Tusk warning that an extended delay was likely to face a legal challenge in the British courts, thus further prolonging the uncertainty surrounding the UKs exit from the EU. In a letter to the leaders of the remaining EU27, Mr Tusk said there was little reason to believe that the ratification of Mrs Mays beleaguered Brexit deal could be completed by the end of June. He called for the European Council to discuss an alternative, longer extension, such as a flexible extension lasting as long as necessary and no longer than one year. There are times when you need to give time time. My letter to EU leaders ahead of tomorrows #EUCO: https://t.co/bAsz4Qx36s#Brexit Charles Michel (@eucopresident) April 9, 2019 EU leaders will gather for talks with European Parliament president Antonio Tajani on Wednesday evening, before hearing a presentation from Mrs May. After answering their questions, the PM will leave the room to allow the EU27 to discuss Britains future in her absence over dinner. What the papers say April 10 (PA) Brexit leads most of Wednesdays papers as EU leaders gather in Brussels for another crunch summit when they will be asked to sign off on a second extension. Britains departure from the bloc is set to be delayed by up to a year after the Prime Minister was warned her proposal of another short extension was too much of a risk, the Daily Telegraph says. The front page of tomorrow's Daily Telegraph 'May's fate sealed with a kiss as EU plots long Brexit delay' '#tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/wSXQ8uQEIR The Telegraph (@Telegraph) April 9, 2019 Theresa May was told ahead of the summit that she needs to present a clear plan with credible political backing, The Independent reports. INDEPENDENT DIGITAL: EU leaders to offer Brexit delay until end of year #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/eWeg8d2j9W Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 9, 2019 The rebuff comes despite Mrs May visiting the leaders of France and Germany on Tuesday in an effort to persuade them to back her proposal, The Guardian says. Guardian front page, 10 April 2019: May's hopes dashed as EU targets longer Brexit delay pic.twitter.com/aYdbk0wnU8 The Guardian (@guardian) April 9, 2019 The Metro reports that French president Emmanuel Macron is expected to push for the longer delay to Brexit. But he has been urged not to humiliate Mrs May as the price of granting a long extension, The Times reports. The Times 10/4/2019 Theresa May meets Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on the eve of a European summit to decide on the postponement of the Brexit date. 9/4/2019. Photo : Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images#thetimes #tomorrowspaperstoday #brexit #gettyimages @thetimes pic.twitter.com/xY5ih8UZN2 The Times Pictures (@TimesPictures) April 9, 2019 The Daily Mail says a years delay to Brexit is a humiliating prospect and tough conditions are likely to be attached. Among these will be a refusal to reopen the controversial withdrawal agreement, the Daily Express reports. Tomorrow's @Daily_Express front page - Brussels boss tells PM to accept one-year delay in hope Britain will rethink #Brexit leading us to ask - will we ever escape EU's clutches? - Royal role for unknown actress as she gets set to play Princess Diana#tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/MwkNzxQmRn Daily Express (@Daily_Express) April 9, 2019 Back in Westminster, a third of Tory MPs defied a Government whip to vote against an extension to Article 50 in the Commons, the i reports. In other news, the Daily Mirror leads with a report on MPs houses. Tomorrow's front page: MPs make millions selling homes you helped pay for#tomorrowspaperstoday https://t.co/4Vh1wmJxJm pic.twitter.com/s7BMhHOv88 The Mirror (@DailyMirror) April 9, 2019 The Sun reports on a prank involving former foreign secretary Boris Johnson. Tomorrow's front page: A TV car host has admitted to secretly dipping his member in Boris Johnson's pint for a laugh. https://t.co/E7GDk2IlxU pic.twitter.com/lloGoR2KLQ The Sun (@TheSun) April 9, 2019 And the Daily Star says Chinese consumers are buying up British pork, increasing costs for customers. Chinas panda diplomacy initiative has been popular over the years (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) Two panda bears on an extended loan from China were welcomed to their new house in Copenhagen during a ceremony fit for Denmarks queen. Queen Margrethe inaugurated the Panda House built for Zoo Copenhagens new residents, who arrived last week in cargo containers under Chinas popular panda diplomacy initiative. Expand Close Denmarks Queen Margrethe opens the Panda House in Copenhagen Zoo (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Denmarks Queen Margrethe opens the Panda House in Copenhagen Zoo (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) The 160-million kroner (18.48 million) enclosure, designed by Danish architect Bjarke Engels in the shape of a yin-yang symbol, is located in the heart of the zoo and features a panda-themed restaurant. The 78-year-old queen untied a red velvet ribbon to officially welcome six-year-old male Xing Er, and Mao Sun, a five-year-old female, to their Danish accommodations. The public will be able to see the pandas for the first time on Thursday. Congratulations to all of us. We now have two pandas in a fabulous enclosure that we can look at for many, many years, Margrethe said. Expand Close The pandas arrived last week in cargo containers (Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The pandas arrived last week in cargo containers (Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) They are to be separated and brought together again during the mating season. Xing Er replaced another male panda China originally picked to go to Denmark after it was discovered he could not procreate. China has lent out pandas as a sign of goodwill to fewer than two dozen nations. Any cubs born during the 15-year loan period are considered Chinas. The bears are national treasures of China and a symbol of peace, the Chinese Ambassador to Denmark, Deng Ying, said. In February 2018, China loaned two pandas to Finland. Two others arrived in June 2017 at Berlins Tierpark zoo, where the first visitors were German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping. A Japan Coast Guard vessel and US military plane search for the Japanese fighter jet (Kyodo News via AP/PA) A Japanese air force F-35 stealth fighter has crashed into the Pacific Ocean during a night training flight, the countrys defence ministry said. The F-35A stealth jet disappeared from radar while flying off the eastern coast of Aomori and parts of the jet were found late on Tuesday, the Air Self-Defence Force said. The pilot is still missing. The jet went missing about half an hour after taking off from the Misawa air base with three other F-35As for anti-fighter battle training. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) The UK currently owns 17 F-35B Lightning stealth fighter jets, and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has pledged that a total of 138 will be bought. Japanese defence minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters the cause of the disappearance is not immediately known. He said 12 other F-35s at the Misawa base would be grounded. The pilot is a man in his 40s, Mr Iwaya said. Expand Close The Japanese air force F-35 stealth fighter crashed into the Pacific Ocean (Kyodo News/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Japanese air force F-35 stealth fighter crashed into the Pacific Ocean (Kyodo News/AP) The F-35 family of jets are the first to combine radar-evading stealth technology with supersonic speeds and the ability to conduct short take-offs and vertical landings. The aircraft has the ability to operate from land and sea. Japan started deploying the expensive US-made F-35s since last year, part of its plan to bolster its defence spending and weapons capability in the coming years to counter potential threats from North Korea and China. Under guidelines approved in December, Prime Minister Shinzo Abes government plans to buy 147 F-35s, including 105 F-35As, costing about 10 billion yen (69 million) each. Retired Lieutenant Colonel Richard Dick Cole, the last of the 80 Doolittle Tokyo Raiders who carried out the daring US attack on Japan during the Second World War, has died at a military hospital in Texas aged 103. A spokesman said Mr Cole died at Brooke Army Medical Centre in San Antonio. Mr Coles daughter, Cindy Chal, said he was having some heart issues but had walked into the emergency room. Expand Close Dick Cole (Devon Ravine/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dick Cole (Devon Ravine/AP) Mr Cole, who lived in Comfort, Texas, had stayed active even in recent years, attending air shows and participating in commemorative events including April 18 2017, ceremonies for the raids 75th anniversary at the National Museum of the US Air Force near Dayton, Ohio. Ms Chal said her father enjoyed every minute of his long, distinguished life. Mr Cole was mission commander Jimmy Doolittles co-pilot in the attack less than five months after the December 1941 Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour. The Raiders launched their assault on April 18, 1942, in B-25 bombers from the USS Hornet. Suspecting they had been detected by Japanese patrols, they left farther away from Japan than planned. The crews of the 16 planes were very quiet as they neared Japan, Mr Cole recalled, saying his role next to Mr Doolittle was to be seen, not heard. You didnt speak until spoken to. But the country song Wabash Cannonball started running through his head and he unconsciously began tapping his toe, which caught Mr Doolittles attention. He shot Mr Cole a look, he recalled with a laugh. Expand Close Dick Cole after the presentation of a Congressional Gold Medal honouring the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders (Gary Landers/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dick Cole after the presentation of a Congressional Gold Medal honouring the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders (Gary Landers/AP) Mr Doolittle soon ordered bomb bay doors opened, and the attack was on against what turned out to be limited anti-aircraft fire in the surprise attack. They then headed to China, running out of fuel. Mr Cole said Mr Doolittle gave the command to prepare to bail out as they neared the coast, adding: I wish you all good luck. Mr Cole said it was scary to parachute into a dark unknown in rough weather. His parachute caught in a tree, leaving him dangling but safe. Chinese partisans helped lead him and other Raiders to safety. Three Raiders died trying to reach China, and eight were captured by Japanese soldiers. Three were executed, and a fourth died in captivity. We don't want to be remembered any more than the rest of the people who took part in beating the JapaneseDick Cole Mr Cole recalled that Mr Doolittle was distraught at first, upset that he had lost all of his planes and some of his men. Mr Doolittle would later receive the Medal of Honor. The raid inflicted scattered damage while providing a psychological lift back home. The stunned Japanese military diverted resources after a string of Pacific successes. Seven decades later, we are still awed by the sheer audacity of the Doolittle raid and the incredible men whose grit and bravery made it possible, Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi of California said when the Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to the Raiders in a 2015 ceremony. Though time has thinned their ranks, it will never dim the daring of their deeds. Mr Cole continued to fly missions in the China-Burma-India theatre until 1944, and had peacetime service assignments in several states. Mr Cole attributed his longevity to being an optimist and living a life of moderation. He said he believed he spoke for all Raiders when he said they did not want any more recognition than all the others who put their lives on the line in the war effort. We dont want to be remembered any more than the rest of the people who took part in beating the Japanese, Mr Cole said. They started it, and we finished it. Ms Chal said a memorial service is planned for April 18 at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio. She said her father will be buried later at Arlington National Cemetery. If the weekend rumour mill at Westminster is accurate, then Theresa May faces an imminent risk to her premiership. But disposing of May as Prime Minister will solve nothing, because she is not the problem. The problem for the Conservatives is themselves and their irreconcilable differences over membership of the European Union. Incensed by her bold initiative to enter into talks with the detested Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, to achieve a last-minute, cross-party Brexit deal, her backbenchers have been stirred into a furious revolt. Instead of supporting this belated attempt by both major parties to come together in the national interest to work out a compromise deal on Brexit, the Conservative Right-wing are determined to scuttle it. Since 1973, when the UK joined the-then Common Market, there has been a recurrent civil war within the Conservative Party about Britain's continued membership of Europe. Under Thatcher, largely because she was no friend of Europe, the differences were less pronounced, but when John Major became leader, the civil war was renewed and dogged his premiership. His real achievement was to hold the Tory party together and resist the demands of the Eurosceptics. By 2015, such was the serious threat to the Tories from the rising popularity of Ukip that something radical had to be done to counteract their increasing support, especially among Conservative voters. Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, a brilliantly effective political communicator and campaigner, was increasingly popular among both Conservative and Labour grassroots voters. Without his determined leadership, Ukip would have continued to be a rather eccentric and isolated group of political cranks, vainly protesting about Britain being in the EU. Prime Minister David Cameron thought that the mere promise of a referendum on the UK's continued membership of the EU would do the trick of holding at bay this threat to Tory electoral success. This short-term political ploy was successful and saw off the threat from Ukip and helped the Tories to win power and continue in office. The problem was, although a referendum had been promised by Cameron, he did not really believe that the British people would vote to leave the EU. Therefore, irresponsibly, no plan to leave Europe was ever drawn up by the Cameron government, as they blithely saw no need to do so. So, whenever the British people voted on June 23, 2016, to leave the EU, Cameron was devastated and felt obliged to resign as Prime Minister. May inherited from a demoralised Cameron a government that was ill-prepared to leave the EU and was left with the task of implementing Brexit, about which there was no consensus within the political Establishment. Theresa May, without doubt, made serious mistakes herself by establishing overly strict 'red lines', which, ironically, were designed to appease the hardline Brexiteers in her own party. She also failed to engage with the Labour Opposition to get a political consensus on such a hugely contested issue. She is now paying a costly price for those earlier mistakes. However, at the very heart of the matter, the Prime Minister's sorry situation is only a symptom of a deep fault line within British politics, which is not capable of resolution in the course of this week. The deep division in Britain over Europe is profound. It impacts on all parties and has polarised the British people. It has the potential to irreparably split the Conservatives in two. This crisis is the major watershed in modern British politics, having already plunged Westminster into mayhem and institutional paralysis. As time is running out, the May-Corbyn negotiations may well be too late to rescue the Brexit process from meltdown. Probably the best that can be achieved is an agreement to continue negotiations on issues including the customs union, a confirmatory people's vote and a joint agreement to ask Brussels for a flexible, longer extension to Article 50. This, at least, would permit a proper period of time to allow the necessary compromises to take place between the two parties and the avoidance of a disastrous 'no-deal' Brexit. However, a longer extension will legally necessitate European elections taking place and further infuriate the Tory Brexiteers to undermine May and her cross-party talks. The elections could also cause a Brexit backlash that could see Ukip and the new Farage-led Brexit Party punish the Tories for delaying Brexit, thus further weakening May's tenuous grasp on power. And if May was eventually deposed, the talks and any progress made therein would be likely to unravel. We are still at the cliff-edge of Brexit and the antics of the Brexiteers are the most destabilising factor in all of this. The DUP would be well-advised to stay out of this mother of all political crises. An Ipsos MORI poll, published last week and based on answers gathered from 1,084 adults aged 16-75 across Great Britain between February 22 and 26, suggested that just over a third of the British public wanted Northern Ireland to remain in the United Kingdom. The question asked was: "If there were to be a referendum in Northern Ireland on its future, would you personally prefer NI to choose to Stay in the UK or Leave the UK and join the Republic of Ireland?" Some 36% preferred Stay, 19% Leave, 9% didn't know and 36% "don't mind either way". To be honest, those figures surprised me. Fair enough, 36% is hardly a thumping please-stay-with-us endorsement from pan-UK unionists across Great Britain, but set against just 19% in favour of Irish unity, it's not bad at all. And while 36% not minding "either way" what choice we make may look like a triumph for we-couldn't-care-less-about-you apathy, it also suggests that unionism here (which has always been different to unionism outside Northern Ireland) doesn't raise any particular ire among our fellow citizens. Given the huge profile that the DUP has earned as a consequence of its Confidence and Supply Agreement with the Government - along with its role in scuppering a number of possible deals in a series of votes in the House of Commons - I wouldn't have been surprised if the margins between Stay in the UK and Irish unity had been much closer. And given the amount of particularly hostile coverage the DUP has attracted from elements from both mainstream and social media, as well as from sites that champion Remain, it strikes me as noteworthy that more damage doesn't seem to have been done to the case for Northern Ireland remaining within the United Kingdom. The UUP's Steve Aiken responded to the poll by saying, "There is no marked call for the end of the Union." He is right. But then he added, "There is also no room for complacency. The DUP's association with the ultra wing of the Tory party and the almost daily resorting to undiplomatic language by the ERG (European Research Group) wing of their party isn't doing unionism any favours." Aiken may have a point. Other polls have suggested that there is a willingness among elements of both Remain and Leave to jettison the Union if the particular interests of the DUP and Northern Ireland unionism are a hindrance to their final goals (either not leaving the EU at all, or leaving even with a deal that results in Northern Ireland being treated differently). Interestingly, this latest poll suggests that those who voted Remain were more likely (23%) to want Northern Ireland to leave the United Kingdom than those who voted Leave (15%). Sir Jeffrey Donaldson took a slightly broader view: "The poll shows clearly that support for Northern Ireland remaining within the Union is twice that expressed for a united Ireland. Arlene Foster has outlined the need to put forward a positive case for the Union and there is a need for unionists to ensure this case is made right across the United Kingdom." Donaldson's response is, I think, an indication that, while he acknowledges that this poll shouldn't set off the panic alarm for unionists in Northern Ireland, nor should it be taken as a justification for the usual sort of sanguine, it'll-be-all-right-on-the-night response we have come to expect. In other words, he accepts that the 36% saying they "don't mind" either way if the Union is broken is something that should concern, albeit not scare, unionists in Northern Ireland. During the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, there was a clear majority among the public in the rest of the UK that hoped that Scotland would choose to stay. So, it should probably worry Northern Ireland unionists that, in the words of Roger Mortimore, professor of public opinion and political analysis at King's College London, "Many fewer Britons, it seems, would mind if Northern Ireland decided to leave the Union." It seems to be less of a case of telling us to get out and more of a case of telling us that no obstacles will be put in our way if we decide to go. In essence, that has been the policy of successive governments as well. The "constitutional guarantee" says that Northern Ireland will remain within the UK until a local majority decides otherwise. The border poll provision in the Belfast Agreement pushed the door a little wider, with the promise of a referendum if the Secretary of State thinks it "likely" (albeit with no specific details of how "likely" is defined) that the pro-Union side would lose. But since October 1972 - when a Green Paper set out the constitutional guarantee in its present form - there has been very little evidence that any UK government or Prime Minister is prepared to prioritise the Union over everything else; preferring, instead, to present themselves as impartial brokers between the two sides. Yet, Theresa May was the latest PM to talk about the importance of the Union: indeed, I think she may have been the one who first used the phrase "precious Union". But she introduced a backstop proposal which she knew had the potential to refashion the dynamics of the Union and diminish the constitutional link between GB and Northern Ireland. Her argument - one which seems to be supported by a majority of MPs - is that the "constitutional guarantee" is the key to the Union. By that logic, the backstop is not, in and of itself, an existential threat to the Union; since the Union can only end if a majority in Northern Ireland votes to end it. But if the backstop leads to Northern Ireland being treated significantly different to the rest of the UK, then it is that difference which diminishes the Union and changes the nature and purpose of the constitutional guarantee. Northern Ireland's future is not going to be determined by an opinion poll in GB, or by a UK-wide referendum. It will be determined in Northern Ireland. Sir Jeffrey Donaldson is right when he says that there is a "need to put forward a positive case for the Union and there is a need for unionists to ensure this case is made right across the UK". But it isn't just enough to keep repeating that particular mantra. Nor is it enough to keep on saying that there is no poll indicating a majority for Irish unity anytime soon. The primary task of political/electoral unionism is to sustain a pro-Union majority in Northern Ireland. Without that majority, unionism has no role and no future. Which means that unionists finally have to realise that membership of that majority should also be open and welcoming to tens of thousands who presently regard it as cold, insular, exclusive and relentlessly opposed to their moral values and lifestyles. It is always good to be invited back to Northern Ireland, and this week provides a very timely opportunity to be updated on the latest health and social care developments. It's both a challenging and promising period - the pace of change has clearly been increased. Reviews on key specialties have been advanced and concrete proposals in areas like stroke and breast assessment are now out for public consultation. Others will follow. Read More Change in health and social care can often prove difficult and controversial. It's the same all over the world - and for good reason. We are dealing with vitally important and much valued services. However, let's always remember that avoiding change is not a safe or responsible course of action. Without transformation, services will continue to deteriorate. More of the same means just that - longer waits for treatment, increasing pressure on staff. If you want to build reliable health care for the future, the status quo is not an option. That's what our expert panel made clear in its report "Systems Not Structures". It's why we used the phrase "burning platform" to graphically describe the unsustainable nature of the current situation. Growing demand for services, increasing numbers of older citizens with complex care needs, technological advancements - they all point to the need to do things differently. When our report was published, it was clear there was a widespread appetite for change. The consensus across different political parties and across the health and social care system was very encouraging. I hope that consensus can be sustained. We have to keep reminding ourselves of the costs of avoiding change, of leaving the "burning platform" to blaze unchecked. As our report said: "There is an unassailable case for change. If we do not change the way we provide health and social care, the situation will only continue to get worse - the demand will continue to increase, activity will remain static and waiting times will continue to lengthen." It's important to remember that there are two sides to the health transformation coin. I have said before that in the face of increased specialisation and ever rising demand, it is not practical or desirable to try to deliver specialist services everywhere. For some specialist hospital treatments, it's necessary to consolidate provision in regional centres of excellence. That helps secure improved outcomes for those accessing treatment as access to latest standards of care and sustainable staffing levels can be maintained. At the same time, there are many services that can and will be decentralised - provided closer to people's homes, in the likes of GP centres rather than in hospitals. You can see that starting to take shape with the Multi Disciplinary Teams initiative in NI - professionals like social workers, pharmacists, mental health professionals and physiotherapists working alongside GPs. We need to help people look after their health and well-being in their own homes and communities, wherever possible. That means providing the right care, in the right place, at the right time. Many other countries are facing the same challenges and choices. Change is not easy. It requires us to give up what we have in exchange for something new. That needs a degree of courage from all of us. However, there is widespread acceptance it is the right thing to do. I wish you well as you continue to move forward. Professor Rafael Bengoa was chair of the expert panel which produced the October 2016 report "Systems Not Structures - Changing Health and Social Care" Turkey may sign another deal with Russia on S-400 missile system deliveries if the United States refuses to supply Patriot air defense system to Ankara, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told NTV channel. "If the U.S. does not want to sell Patriot to us, tomorrow we may buy another S-400 system and we also can purchase other air defense systems," Daily Sabah cited the minister as saying. According to Cavusoglu, it is absurd to question Turkey's NATO membership over its S-400 deal with Moscow, especially when some NATO countries have Russian S-300 missiles and this doesn't conflict with their membership. Rebuffing U.S. threats to cancel a deal for F-35 jets if Russia's S-400s are delivered, the Turkish minister said that Ankara could buy fighters jets from another source until it is able to produce its own Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the deliveries of S-400 missile systems to Turkey may be carried out by this July or earlier. A military observer of the TASS news agency, retired Colonel Viktor Litovkin, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that Turkey could expand military-technical cooperation with Russia, buying not only its air defense systems, but also fighters. "As for S-400, the only question is how quickly Russia will manage to produce them, if Turkey orders another batch - it takes time, and there are a lot of contracts now: first we need to execute the contract on S-400 with China, then Turkey's current contract until July, next is India. That is, the expansion of supplies is realistic, but obviously it will not happen next year," he noted in the first place. "If we talk about Ankara's search to replace the F-35 fighter jets, then our Su-35 jet is no worse, it can completely replace the F-35. Of course, the problem is that Turkey has financially invested in the consortium that produces F-35, along with other nine countries, so the Americans are obliged to give Turkey those 100 jets, which were ordered and paid-up, so Ankara will look for ways to get these fighters. But if it is impossible, Turkey can give Russia an order for the Su-35," Viktor Litovkin said. Professor at Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University Togrul Ismayil recalled that initially Turkey didn't rule out larger purchases of S-400. "If the Americans do not sell their Patriot surface-to-air missile systems, Turkey will have to buy alternative systems to strengthen its defenses, and if the S-400 has already been successfully purchased in Russia, it can buy them again. At the same time, Turkey can only use the S-400 for the internal defense system, as it cannot be integrated into the NATO system," the expert pointed out. He said that the purchase of Russian fighters is possible if the U.S. did not transfer F-35 jets to Turkey. "Among the countries that can replace these aircraft, Russia stands out for its experience and high quality fighters. Naturally, Turkey will consider aircraft purchases in Russia as an alternative - the Americans are not monopolists in this matter," Togrul Ismayil stressed. Is baptism required for Christians? Do I have to be baptized to be saved? Will I go to hell if I never get baptized? Christians both new and old wonder these questions and are sometimes afraid to ask. There are different views on whether it is required for salvation in some Christian circles, but scripture is abundantly clear on the topic. In short, a baptism is not required for someone to enter into heaven. Here is what the Bible says we do need, and the history of how baptisms came to be. The history of baptism. The Christian baptism has its root in much older tradition. People that converted to Judaism were baptized in a ritual bath called mikvah. The ritual, where the person was immersed in water, was a public statement that they wanted to join a community of faith. They chose to believe in the religion and live it out in the daily life. When Jesus was baptized, He was starting His life of ministry. Those who did so after Him were making a public statement of their belief in Jesus as the Messiah and their decision to be in the Christian community. At the time of John the Baptists ministry, he called for the Jewish people to repent in preparation for the arrival of the Messiah. Jesus is our salvation. Baptism is a symbol of identification and not of salvation. A baptism is not a requirement to get into heaven, because its only a public profession of the faith. Multiple scriptures point out that it is not what truly saves a person. What does save a person is acceptance of Jesus into our lives, confession of our sins to Him, and believing that the Lord raised Him from the dead (Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 9:22; Revelation 1:5; Romans 10:9-10). It is Jesus that if a person believes in, can receive forgiveness for their sins and eternal life. Some people have believed that Acts 2:38 is stating that a water baptism is tied to salvation. It states You must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesu Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. At first glance, it does appear to be that way. However when we look at the context of the scripture we see there is more to the statement. The Apostle Peter was preaching a sermon on incredibly intense topics including death, salvation and the resurrection of Jesus. Acts 2:41 says that those Paul was preaching too that received His Word were baptized, and 3,000 souls were added to the Church that day. It was believing the Word of God which got the people born again, not water baptism. John distinguishes between his baptism, which was done with water, and the Baptism done by Jesus Christ which is done with the Holy Ghost, and with fire Baptism by water is an act a born again believer chooses to do as an outward sign of their salvation to the public. It symbolizes their death to self and rebirth in Jesus Christ. Baptism by the Holy Ghost is what takes place in the heart when one is saved and is a critical aspect of salvation. Baptisms can still play a very important role in the life of a believer. The baptismal waters represent a burial ground, where we are shedding off our old life because we are choosing to accept Jesus Christ into our hearts. When a person is immersed in water during baptism, he should see his old nature as being dead, buried and gone. When he is raised out of the water, he should see himself raised up as a new creation, with a brand new life. In other words, baptism is the outward sign that he is now dead to sin and alive to God (Romans 6:11-13). While baptisms are great for many reasons, they are not a prerequisite to get into heaven. If we choose to accept Jesus as our true Savior then we can reach eternal life with the Lord. Baptisms are just a great option for those new to the faith to publicly announce that they are accepting the Lord and changing that identity. Who is the most influential prophet in the Bible? That is the sort of question that sends scholars running because there are too many good arguments for too many different prophets. A number of them could take home the prize, but here are a few that would make just about everyones shortlist. Given that the Bible is stuffed full of prophets, they are, obviously, not all included on this list. The prophets here, however, are not limited simply to those who have books named after them. Instead, anyone who received a revelation from God that in some way changed or heavily influenced their life and future counts as a prophet. Jesus, however, is notably not mentioned. It seems rather unfair to pit the influence of the Son of God against mere mortals. So, of those mere mortals, who would take home the crown? Abraham Abrahams name may not come up in conversations about the Bible as much as people like Moses or Jesus, but there is no doubting Abraham was an essential part of the biblical story. Without him, there would not have been a story at all. Without Abraham, there is no Isaac. Without Isaac, there is no Jacob. Without Jacob, the Tribes of Israel never exist. This would mean no Moses, no David, no Solomon, no Daniel and eventually, no Jesus. In addition to being, through his grandson, the father of many, Abraham was the recipient of the first covenant. Gods promise was first made to Abraham, and much of the remainder of the Old Testament is filled with how that promise comes to fruition. Without Abraham, the original covenant would not exist. That makes this often-sidelined character awfully influential in the overarching narrative. Joseph, Son of Israel There are an awful lot of Johns, Josephs and Marys in the Bible. Most of them also happen to be quite important to the overall story. Joseph, son of Israel, is no different. He is one of the better known characters in the Old Testament, but his influence on the rest of the story is sometimes forgotten. People seem to be under the mistaken impression that Josephs part in the story comes to an end with the conclusion of Genesis. His choices in Genesis, however, drive the rest of the biblical story. Josephs actions in Genesis save Egypt and later his family from famine. As a result, the descendants of Jacob proliferate and remain in Egypt. They are then oppressed, enslaved and eventually led to Israel via a miracle at the Red Sea. Had Joseph not been in Egypt and not saved its people from famine, the sons of Israel would have starved in Canaan. Even if they had not died out entirely, it is likely their numbers would have been greatly reduced. They would also never have gone through the Exodus. Without Joseph, the Bible only would be one book long. Moses Moses is arguably the best known character from the Old Testament. His story certainly gets more attention than most. The tale of the Exodus also forms the backbone for the next several thousand years of Jewish faith. Without Moses, none of this would have occurred. The Israelites would still be enslaved in Egypt and might have been absorbed into Egyptian society rather than managing to maintain their own culture and language. This would have meant that there was no return to the Promised Land, no Israelite kingdom and no New Testament. In addition to being the leader of the Exodus, Moses was also the one who received and passed on the rules and revelations that would become the Jewish Law. The Israelites successes and failures to adhere to these laws comprise the vast majority of the Old Testament. The laws also shape the way people in the New Testament think and act. The Mosaic Laws also helped the Jews to maintain a cultural identity despite being scattered across the world and persecuted for centuries. To this day, Moses law remains a cornerstone in Jewish culture, faith and identity. Isaiah Isaiah is probably the first person many people think of when they are asked about the prophets of the Old Testament. He almost certainly tops the list when that question is asked of Christians. After all, Isaiahs prophecies are by far the most oft-quoted ones in the New Testament. Isaiahs influence, however, was not limited to his predictions of Christs coming. He was also indispensable to people in his own time. During Isaiahs lifetime, the Sennacherib led the Assyrians in their invasion of Israel. The Assyrians were famous for their brutality toward the people they conquered. When facing the Assyrian army, it was often better to fall in battle than face their nonexistent mercies when the fight was over. Conquered captives faced an orgy of agony that included tortures such as being skinned alive, impalement and dismemberment. When the Assyrians marched on Israel, Isaiah counseled Hezekiah on how to proceed. Isaiahs advice was not enough to save Lachish, Israels second greatest city, but it did manage to keep Jerusalem from falling into Assyrian hands. John the Baptist John the Baptist has elements of both a New Testament prophet and an Old Testament prophet. He, in many ways, follows the style of a prophet from the Old Testament. He lives somewhat outside of society but remains deeply respected by so many people that he cannot truly be considered an outsider. At the same time, his message differs greatly from the Old Testament prophets. His message focuses on the coming of the Messiah and dangers to the soul, not physical manifestations of Gods wrath such as invading armies. As such, John represents the transition from a world governed by the old covenant to one ruled by the new. In his time, John played an essential role in preparing the world for the coming of Jesus. In addition to encouraging a new wave of Jewish convictions and faith, he was also the one who baptized Jesus Himself. Deciding who the most influential prophet was in the Bible is exhausting. Every named character has been remembered through the millennia for a reason. As such, it is difficult to say for certain who had the greatest impact. All of them shaped the future for thousands of years to come, and all of them will continue to do so for centuries after this. When it really comes down to it, who can measure the impact a butterflys wings will have? Abu Musa (center) reacts to news that his daughter, Nusrat Rafi, died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital after suffering severe burns when she was doused with kerosene and set on fire, April 10, 2019. A female student at an Islamic boarding school died Wednesday at a hospital in Dhaka after being severely burned in an on-campus attack four days earlier when she was doused with kerosene and set on fire, officials said. The victim, Nusrat Rafi, 18, who studied at the Sonagazi Islamia Senior Fazil Madrassa in the Chittagong division of southeastern Bangladesh, was allegedly attacked by a group of female students on Saturday at the school. The attack occurred after she and her family filed a complaint with police about alleged sexual misconduct by the schools principal, identified as Siraj-ud-Daula. Nusrat Rafi died. We tried our best, Dr. Samanta Lal Sen, coordinator of the National Institute of Burns and Plastic Surgery, told journalists at around 9:30 p.m. Family members broke down in tears after the doctors declared Rafi dead. They killed my daughter, Rafis mother, Shirin Akter, said as she wailed over the loss of her daughter. "We want justice." Rafi suffered burns to 80 percent of her body, with around half of the injuries listed as deep burns, hospital officials said. On Monday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordered that Rafi be given the best care and be transferred to Singapore for advanced treatment. Hours later, Rafi was placed on life support. Sen said the teen's condition did not allow for the five-hour flight to Singapore. I will continue to protest Mahmudul Hasan, the victims brother, said he had accompanied his sister to the school on Saturday morning to take exams, when a burka-clad person told Rafi that her friend was being beaten on the buildings roof. Once there, she was accosted by four others wearing burkas who told her to drop sexual assault charges against the madrassa principal, Hasan said. The suspects then doused her with kerosene, he said. Hasan rushed Rafi to a local hospital, before she was transferred to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital as her condition deteriorated. Hasan said she told him about the people who set her on fire and about the sexual assault, adding that her complaint against the principal was genuine and she refused to drop it. He said he taped a statement from his sibling, which can be heard on social media. I will continue to protest ... I will complain to the prime minister, she could be heard saying in the message. Officials have said that Rafi also made a recorded statement at the hospital on Sunday. Since the attack, people in Sonagazi have formed human chains to demand that those responsible be punished. Rafi was a very courageous girl. She showed us how to unmask the rogues. She continued to protest even before her death. We want justice for this premeditated murder, neighbor Abdul Quader told BenarNews in a phone interview. Hasina's press secretary, Ihsanul Karim, told BenarNews that the premier had ordered the arrests of those responsible. Police said they have arrested seven people, including the principal. Meanwhile, authorities on Wednesday announced that the officer-in-charge of the Sonagazi police station, Moazzem Hossain, had been removed from his post for negligence of duties. Authorities also tasked the police specialized investigation unit to complete the investigation. An officer prepares ballot boxes and materials for next weeks election in the Tanah Abang Youth Center, in Jakarta, April 10, 2019. Indonesias election monitors are paying close attention to West Java, the countrys most populous province, a week before presidential and parliamentary elections amid concerns of vote buying and intimidation, officials said Wednesday. Indonesians will go to the polls on April 17 to elect a president and members of parliament at national, provincial and municipal levels. It will be the first time the presidential and parliamentary elections are held on the same day. Incumbent President Joko Jokowi Widodo will face former general Prabowo Subianto in a repeat of the 2014 presidential election. Home to nearly 33 million eligible voters, West Java came third in an election vulnerability index released by the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) on Tuesday. It trailed the rebellious province of Papua and the central Java province of Yogyakarta, which together represent about 6 million voters, less than one-fifth of West Javas total. Bawaslu said West Java is vulnerable to threats to free and fair elections such as voter intimidation, campaign disruptions and vote buying. Because of the large number of voters, political parties and presidential candidates are fighting tooth and nail in West Java, Bawaslu commissioner Mochammad Afifuddin said. The potential for problems is real, he told BenarNews. Afifuddin did not provide details of such violations in West Java but said the index took into accounts events dating back to a year ago. Nationally, the vulnerability index is moderate, but slightly increased from September 2018. Bawaslus head of enforcement in West Java, Sutarno, said vote buying was a major concern. The agency has taken action on cases of vote buying and two cases have been brought to trial. We have received many reports (of vote buying). We have been conducting investigations, Sutarno was quoted as saying by the local news website Ayobandung.com. Last year in preparation for the 2019 vote, the national police put West Java on the list of top areas vulnerable to electoral disruptions, including threats to security and public order. Starting in 2016, the province saw a series of massive anti-government rallies by conservative Muslims, including protests against alleged blasphemy by the then-governor of Jakarta, Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama. The next year brought a standoff between a terrorist suspect and police in Bandung, the provincial capital. Despite the report, Jokowi chief of staff Moeldoko sought to allay any concern about security. All are committed to holding safe elections. The police and security forces are on guard in anticipation of troubles, Moeldoko said. Any means necessary The executive director of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), Titi Anggraini, said she is concerned the election will not be entirely free of vote buying. The candidates, especially those running for parliament, are pragmatic. The most important thing for them is to win, by any means necessary, Titi told BenarNews. Last month, a legislative candidate from the Golkar Party in Central Java, Bowo Sidik Pangarso, was arrested by investigators from the Corruption Eradication Commission on suspicion of vote buying. Investigators said they seized 8 billion rupiah ($565,000) from Bowo. Cash in hundreds of envelopes allegedly was to be distributed at dawn on election day, a practice known as dawn attacks. That is proof that the general election will be marred by the practice of vote buying, Titi said. A researcher at Indonesia Corruption Watch, Almas Sjafrina said poor political education among the electorate is making it hard to eradicate vote buying. The recruitment of political candidates is opaque and not transparent, with little attention paid to candidates track records, Almas said. Burhanuddin Muhtadi, a pollster and lecturer at Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, wrote last year that the practice of handing out cash or items to influence voters is pervasive in Indonesia. My Ph.D research found that as many as one in three Indonesians was personally exposed to the practice in the previous national election. That would put Indonesia in third place on the list of countries with the most vote-buying practices, he wrote on Conversation.com. A U.S. federal judge ordered that $13.75 million (714 million Philippine pesos) be distributed to thousands of victims of human rights abuses committed during the dictatorship of the late Ferdinand Marcos, plaintiffs lawyers said Wednesday. The funds are to be taken from the sale of artworks by masters that were kept by the Marcos family and were declared as ill-gotten wealth, said Robert A. Swift, lead attorney for the nearly 10,000 rights victims. Weve been in collection mode for 23 years, Swift told BenarNews. He said litigation began even earlier, in 1986, after President Marcos was removed from office. The dictator was ousted by a popular revolt that year, ending his two two-decade regime, under which thousands of activists were killed or went missing while his family looted state coffers. Marcos fled to Hawaii and died there of natural causes in 1989. There was no hesitation by the judge in ordering the transfer of funds, Swift also said in a statement. Class counsel will now focus on the distribution of $1,500 (77,700 pesos) to each eligible claimant. Swift said the money would be distributed, starting in May in the southern Philippine city of Butuan. I will send eligible class members letters advising them where and when they may come to receive a check, Swift said in the statement. The attorney said he did not have faith in the Philippine postal system to deliver the checks because mail could get lost. We have set up 16 delivery locations in the Philippines, he told BenarNews, adding that some were on southern Mindanao Island. It will be completed by the second week of July. Found money On Tuesday in New York, Federal Court Judge Katherine Polk Failla directed the Philippine government to agree to the settlement and to receive $4 million (207.7 million pesos) in compensation, according to Swift. You might say it was found money, Swift said of the government compensation. On Wednesday in Manila, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo insisted the government should have final say on the distribution of the funds. Manilas solicitor general tried to block the settlement, stressing that any payout should be approved by the government. Its the Philippine government that should decide. Do they have jurisdiction over us? Panelo said. Despite the government claim, Failla found that the plaintiffs lawyer in New York had actual and apparent authority to enter into negotiations, overruling the solicitor generals argument, according to Swift. The litigation in New York was initiated following the sale of the Water Lily painting by Claude Monet for $32 million (1.66 billion pesos) by Marcos crony Vilma Bautista. Bautista, a former secretary of Imelda Marcos, was sentenced two years ago by a New York court to up to six years in prison for selling stolen art works and lying about it on her tax returns. Filipino Lawyer Rod Domingo said most of the victims were poor and old and the funds mainly would go toward the purchase of medication. Many of the victims of the human rights abuses are dead, so the money will provide needed assistance to their families, Domingo said in a statement. This will be the third round of compensation from the U.S. court for the victims. Previous payments were for $1,000 (51,800 pesos) and $1,100 (57,000 pesos), respectively. Swift said the second compensation came from a $10 million (518 million pesos) settlement with a British billionaire who had purchased the Monet from Bautista. After their exile, Marcos widow, Imelda, and their children were allowed to return to the Philippines where they have regained political clout. In January 2011, a court in Hawaii held Imelda Marcos and the couples son, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in contempt for refusing to furnish information and for continuing to use frozen assets of the estate. It ordered them to pay a fine of $353.6 million (18.3 billion pesos) for the victims benefit. Over several years following the former dictators death, the Philippine government has been able to recover $683 million (35.4 billion pesos) from Swiss bank deposits. Swift said Philippine officials have been difficult to deal with and have not been willing to accept U.S. court rulings. The Duterte administration has carried on the policy of a lot of Philippine administrations, Swift told BenarNews. All Marcos property is their own, he said referring to the government. Jeoffrey Maitem in Manila and Joseph Jubelag in General Santos City, Philippines, contributed to this report. After the Thai foreign minister criticized officials from other countries for showing up at a Bangkok police station as an opposition leader answered a summons, the American embassy and European Union mission responded Wednesday by saying it was standard diplomatic practice to send observers. Don Pramudwinai, the foreign minister of Thailands military government, had lashed out Tuesday at various foreign embassies for dispatching observers to watch while Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, leader of the Future Forward Party, arrived at the Pathumwan police station on Saturday where he was charged with sedition and other alleged offenses. Don accused the foreign missions of breaching diplomatic protocol and interfering with Thailands judiciary system. The U.S. Embassy regularly attends court proceedings in high profile cases around the world in order to observe fair trial guarantees and respect for rule of law, embassy spokeswoman Jillian Bonnardeaux told BenarNews. This is a standard diplomatic practice. The U.S. interest in this case, as in many other cases, is to observe the judicial process and obtain first-hand information about the handling of the case, she said, noting that embassys charge daffaires had attended a meeting with a senior official from the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier on Wednesday regarding the court proceedings on April 6. The meeting was convened at the ministrys request, she said. Officials representing several nations including the United States, as well as the European Union (E.U.) and United Nations human rights officials, met Thanathorn outside the police station, according to press reports and Thanathorns supporters. Diplomats from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain were also present at the police station, according to reports. The Future Forward Party leader was charged with sedition, aiding criminals and taking part in a political gathering of at least 10 people four years ago, when the Thailands junta had outlawed large assemblies of a political nature, officials said. Thanathorns party, which is popular with young voters, won 30 of 350 parliamentary seats that were contested in the March 24 general election, whose final and complete results have yet to be made official. The polls marked the first election in Thailand since the military seized power in a May 2014 coup. On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Delegation of the European Union to Thailand also confirmed that it sent a representative to observe the hearing of charges against Mr Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit at Pathumwan police station in Bangkok on 6 April 2019. Observation of hearings and trials is standard diplomatic practice worldwide. Its purpose is to enhance understanding of adherence to international standards such as human rights and due process, the spokesperson said. Such observations are in no way indications of political preference or support for specific actors, the E.U. official added, noting that the delegation also expressed its gratitude to Thai police for co-operating in facilitating the observation and for offering to brief the diplomats present. Busadee Santipitaks, director general of the Thai foreign ministrys information department, meanwhile confirmed that its deputy permanent secretary, who is responsible for handling relations with foreign missions, met Wednesday with officials from the U.S., E.U., France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Finland and Belgium. The deputy permanent secretary conveyed to them the ministrys disappointment and worries about the presence of representatives of foreign embassies at the Pathumwan police station as Thanathorn responded to the summons over the weekend, Busadee said in a statement. The foreign presence there in particular created an image that can be interpreted as encouraging to Thanathorn and taking sides in the Thai political context, the ministrys spokeswoman said, alleging that the showing had breached diplomatic practices and interfered with Thai internal affairs. Therefore [we] asked the embassies to take steps to prevent this from happening again, Busadee added. Petty Officer 3rd Class Jacqueline Hogan Matthees, a 2015 Cane Bay High School graduate and native of Moncks Corner, South Carolina, is one of these sailors serving at the Fleet Weather Center. The Council of Europe will place a commemorative star plaque in the memory of former Georgian prime minister Zurab Zhvania at its headquarters in Strasbourg, the Georgian parliaments press office announced. "We are very proud that a commemorative star to Zurab Zhvania will be placed at the CoE," Vice Parliament Speaker Tamar Chugoshvili said. "Stars are given to politicians who contributed much to the council," she explained. In addition to the name and surname of the former Georgian PM, the star will also include historic worlds by Zhvania pronounced at the CoE assembly 20 years ago, when Georgia became the 41st member of the council, Agenda.ge reported. The words are: "I am Georgian, and therefore I am European." Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Russia, Turkey, Germany and France may hold a new summit on the Syrian settlement in the near future. "French President Emmanuel Macron recently called with such a demand," Daily Sabah cited the Turkish leader as saying. Erdogan said that Russian President Vladimir Putin "also welcomes the idea." At the same time, he noted that for holding the summit in this format there is the need to "achieve progress on setting up Syrias constitutional committee." On October 27, the leaders of Russia, Germany, Turkey and France held four-way talks on Syria in Istanbul. The three-hour summit, which was held for the first time in this format, confirmed that the sides call for a political and diplomatic resolution to the Syria conflict. Plus, Bill's Message of the Day, my take on the first leg of the Trump-O'Reilly History Tour. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices For Immediate Release, April 10, 2019 Contact: Sophia Ressler, (206) 399-4004, sressler@biologicaldiversity.org Washington House to Vote on Bill to Protect Endangered Fish, Rivers From Toxic Suction Dredge Mining OLYMPIA, Wash. In a vote that could come as early as today, the Washington House of Representatives will consider a bill to protect salmon and waterways from harmful suction dredge mining. The destructive mining practice vacuums up stream bottoms and riverbeds in search of gold. It also destroys important habitat for endangered fish and increases sediment and toxic mercury in waterways. Suction dredge mining is currently not tracked or monitored in Washington, despite the states commitment to restoring salmon habitat. The bill, S.B. 5322, would prohibit suction dredge mining in habitat for endangered salmon and help bring Washington into compliance with laws protecting fish and water quality. It would also create rules similar to measures in California, Oregon and Idaho meant to protect water quality and endangered species. This bill will go a long way toward protecting Washingtons salmon and waterways from this toxic mining, said Sophia Ressler, a Washington-based staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. Taxpayers have spent millions of dollars to restore salmon habitat, but we still allow a small group of hobby miners to trash critical spawning areas. Creating common-sense measures to regulate this harmful mining practice is an essential step for protecting our endangered salmon and the highly imperiled orcas that rely on them for survival. Background Suction dredge miners use gas-powered dredges to suck up the bottom of riverbeds and streambeds. This suspends heavy metals and other sediments, putting endangered fish like salmon and bull trout, and their habitat, in peril. Washington does not currently require water-quality permits or even nominal fees for the practice, and there is no monitoring or tracking of suction dredge mining. Idaho, Oregon and California have all enacted programs to ensure compliance with the Clean Water Act and protect endangered species. Washington is the only state with endangered Pacific salmon and whales that allows suction dredge mining without effective regulatory oversight. The bill would protect water quality and wildlife, while continuing to allow recreational mining on other waterways with a permit. It has been passed by the state Senate and, if approved by the state House, would go to the governor for signature.. Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) were also exchanged with the Directorate of AYUSH Chandigarh administration on undertaking research on epidemic diseases A two-day Convention on World Homeopathy Day was recently conducted in New Delhi The convention was inaugurated by Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH Dr. Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha. The World Homoeopathy Day is observed to commemorate the birth anniversary of the founder of Homoeopathy, Dr. Christian Fredrich Samuel Hahnemann. Dr. Kotecha in his inaugural address emphasised the Ministrys efforts to bridge the gap between science and tradition through researches in the field of AYUSH. He further said that the Ministry is equally dedicated to validate Homoeopathy through focused research, enhance its manufacturing and production standards, as well as assure the best quality education in the homoeopathy colleges. On this occasion Joint Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH, Roshan Jaggi said that a link between the academic and research environments is an essential dimension to identify and evolve mechanisms of synergy between scientists and educators. Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) were also exchanged with the Directorate of AYUSH Chandigarh administration on undertaking research on epidemic diseases like Dengue, Influenza like illness, Chikungunya, Tuberculosis and other infectious diseases and with JSPS Government Homeopathic Medical College, Ramanthapur, Hyderabad for undertaking clinical research . Fellowships will support groundbreaking research in healthcare ANSYS, a global leader in engineering simulation, and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) will accelerate groundbreaking research across healthcare through a newly launched PhD fellowship program funded by ANSYS. Over five years, ANSYS will fund PhD fellowships to accelerate healthcare research with an underlying social impact. "ANSYS is supporting the next generation of inventors to sustain continuous growth and innovation in the healthcare sector," said Rafiq Somani, area vice president - India and South Asia Pacific, ANSYS. "Through this PhD fellowship program, we will provide students from IIT Bombay the resources they need to innovate and deliver cutting-edge advancements to India and the rest of the world." In addition, ANSYS will also fund PhD fellowships to accelerate environmental sustainability, conservation of resources and technology research. Healthcare sector stakeholders have long advocated for a single regulator, believing that the current dual framework creates a regulatory arbitrage not conducive to offering the consumer maximum protection. Butsi Tladi, MD of Alexander Forbes Health A form of insurance Market conduct Just as the public and private healthcare sectors need to work together for South Africa to achieve universal healthcare, the same applies to government departments and regulators. "A silo approach to these complex issues will only serve to detract the process and delay progress. The dual regulation of participants in the medical scheme industry is not ideal, and in some areas creates conflict," says Butsi Tladi, managing director of Alexander Forbes Health.The Conduct of Financial Institutions Bill (Cofi) Bill, aimed at regulating how the financial services industry treats its customers, was published by the minister of finance in December for public comments until Monday April 1. The Bill advocates removing core regulatory functions from the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) and placing them with the Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA).Tladi says medical schemes are a form of insurance, even the CMS acknowledges this in their submission on the Cofi Bill. Greater alignment is in the interest of the industry. Because of the varied nature of insurance products, including health insurance products, The FSCA has had to develop a depth of skill to regulate this dynamic industry.Had we appreciated this fact, and allowed the best suited government entity to spearhead our National Health Insurance efforts, we would have made far more progress, she says.It is also clear to Tladi that the FSCAs ability to regulate market conduct of financial institutions is more advanced. In fact, CMS already refers compliance relating to conduct to FSCA for consideration.Through related legislations such as the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (Fais) Act, FSCA has proven that it is far more capable of managing possible conflicts of interest in the provision of independent advice to consumers.The Cofi Bill approach is refreshing in that it sets out the specific intention of the law, rather than setting rules for compliance. Compliance with the spirit of the law, rather than narrow technical compliance will be important. If we appreciate the efforts of the Competition Commissions Inquiry into Private Healthcare, then we must welcome efforts that support and facilitate better competition and innovation. Furthermore, Cofi aims to promote financial inclusion and transformation, particularly that of emerging black-owned financial institutions. Q&A w/ Holly Meadows, Bookmarks' Best Marketer 2019 Holly Meadows, editor of Cosmopolitan SA walked away with the award for 'Best Marketer' at the 11th annual Bookmark Awards hosted at The Forum in Bryanston last month. Holly Meadows, editor of Cosmopolitan SA. Image supplied. Here, she shares how she leveraged Cosmopolitan's media platforms and went global with hashtags #COSMOxLaverne and #SayYesToLove reaching 17-million within 72 hours, securing her the win and title of Best Marketer for 2019... How does it feel to be named Bookmarks 'Best Marketer' for 2019? How does it feel to be named Bookmarks 'Best Marketer' for 2019? Here, she shares how she leveraged Cosmopolitan's media platforms and went global with hashtags #COSMOxLaverne and #SayYesToLove reaching 17-million within 72 hours, securing her the win and title of Best Marketer for 2019... Elaborate on the importance of celebrating digital creative work in 2019. Why do you think award shows like these are important? Elaborate on the importance of celebrating digital creative work in 2019. Why do you think award shows like these are important? Comment on the overall standard of digital work in SA. Is there anything you think the industry can improve on? Comment on the overall standard of digital work in SA. Is there anything you think the industry can improve on? Who do you look up to and admire in the industry? Who do you look up to and admire in the industry? What is currently on your agenda? What is currently on your agenda? Looking further into the crystal ball, what's next for you? Looking further into the crystal ball, what's next for you? Juanita Pienaar's articles About Juanita Pienaar Juanita is the editor of the marketing & media portal on the Bizcommunity website. She is also a contributing writer. Juanita is the editor of the marketing & media portal on the Bizcommunity website. She is also a contributing writer. Fantastic! As editor of Cosmopolitan South Africa, its important to me to leverage the brands media platforms to engage with our millennial and Gen Z audiences in conversations that matter. Our win was predominantly pitched around our February 2018 edition featuring Laverne Cox as the brands first ever transgender cover star. My team and I flew to New York to shoot the Emmy-nominated actress.On social media, the campaign hashtags #COSMOxLaverne and #SayYesToLove reached 17-million within 72 hours and the story went global with coverage on E! News, Teen Vogue, Huffington Post and Allure, among others. The objective of the February issue was to disrupt hetero-normative ideas around Valentines Day and look at love in 2018 including acceptance of self, others and non-binary relationships.The goal was to play a small part in providing visibility for the LGBTQ+ community, of which Laverne has become a revolutionary icon. The edition included an investigative feature on the 'corrective' rape crisis, a rainbow list of activists and allies who have spearheaded change in South Africa, debates about coming out at work and a fashion spread featuring important LGBTQ+ voices.Since then we like to think weve spearheaded many important conversations around topics such as why we need to end tampon tax, body diversity in media and ending millennial apathy when it comes to voting in our general electionsIts important for the industry to set a benchmark for excellence that we can all celebrate and strive toward. I am also a big believer in connecting with media creatives and sharing insights and knowledge, The Bookmarks is a fantastic platform to do exactly that.The standard here in South Africa is high, we have incredible talent and exceptional creative work coming out of this country. Its important we recognise that. If theres anything to improve on Id say it would be more collaborative conferences for sharing best practices and successful case studies.Gosh! A lot of people. Internationally I really admire the work the team at Cosmopolitan US has done around the importance of sex education in schools . I also admire Michelle Lee, EIC of Allure especially her recent branded content partnership around breaking down beauty standards We have just gone to print with our May issue! May marks our Beats Issue so you can expect Spotifys most downloaded female artist of 2018 on our cover and an inside fashion collaboration with local rap queens currently reigning in a very male-dominated industry.Weve also partnered with the app TickTock for a Cosmo lip sync battle challenge that well be revealing in the next few weeks. On the branded content front, were excited to launch a very special campaign in partnership with Stayfree around menstrual education.A lot! We have our Cosmo Influencer Workshop in Cape Town on 27 April where you can learn about what it takes to be an influencer and how to make money off your feed, plus loads of Instagram worthy photo opportunities. We are very excited to host our Cosmo Career Summit on 4 May in Johannesburg.The summit is catered to women who want work advice and includes a line-up of inspiring talks from celebrities like Bonang Matheba and industry experts like finance coach Mapalo Makhu. There are panel discussions around everything from how to pitch your startup to potential investors and how to develop a leadership identity. At Cosmo were about service and how we can help her live her best life ever. The deliveries of Russias S-400 missile systems to Turkey may be carried out by this July or earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said shortly after his visit to Moscow. According to him, there is a great international interest in Ankaras purchase of the S-400. "Our ministers are frequently asked whether Turkey has changed its decision. We tell them 'this is a job completed, all is ready.' The delivery of the S-400 missile defense system was supposed to be in July, it may be done earlier," the Turkish president noted. Erdogan commented on Washingtons criticism against Ankara over the S-400 deal. "We are here as one of the strongest military powers of NATO. When such criticism is being made, how come nobody mentions this side of Turkey? I mean, why shouldn't one of NATO's strongest militaries have a strong air defense systems?" Daily Sabah cited him as saying. The Turkish leader also responded to an ultimatum by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who had called on Turkey to make a choice between partnership with NATO and the S-400 deal. "NATO's general-secretary is not Pence. Stoltenberg had already said the last word with his remarks and he did that a few times," the Turkish president stressed. This job expired on 7 May 2019. Russia is interested in expanding military and technical cooperation with other countries and is ready to consider plans on signing new contracts on delivering S-400 missile defense system to Turkey, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The spokesman noted that Russia has certain capabilities and technological competence, looking for the opportunities to expand this cooperation. "This is absolutely normal practice," TASS cited him as saying. Peskov emphasized that military and technical cooperation is a very important area of Russias cooperation and interaction with many countries. "The implementation of this cooperation signals a special level of bilateral relations development. This also refers to Turkey," the Kremlin spokesman concluded. Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Turkey could sign another deal with Russia on S-400 missile system deliveries if the U.S. refused to supply Patriot air defense system to Ankara. French President Emmanuel Macron will meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Pyotr Poroshenko on Friday, the Elysee Palace press service told TASS on Wednesday, adding that before the meeting, Macron would receive Poroshenkos election rival Vladimir Zelensky, TASS reports. "The president will meet with Ukrainian President Poroshenko at 18:00 on Friday, and he will receive Mr. Zelensky - another candidate who entered the runoff - at 15:00 on the same day," the press service said. The press service declined to elaborate the meetings agenda, saying that the parties would discuss bilateral matters and might also touch upon cooperation within the Normandy Quartet. Man Dug His Fathers Grave For A Photo Shoot! Life oi-Syeda Farah Noor An artist can go to any extent to express their emotions through their pieces of art. One such case is of an artist who took pictures with his dad's skeleton. The artist in question had a childhood dream and that was clicking a picture with his dead dad's bones. Once the pictures were shared online, they created a lot of chaos. Check out the details of the entire episode. He Always Wanted To Get A Picture With His Dad Siyuan Zhuji is a 33-year-old man who claimed that it was 'his dream' to take a photo with his father's bones. Siyuan, who is an artist by profession, claimed that his father died of liver cancer when he was three years old. He Removed His Dead Dads Bones From His Tomb The Chinese artist has sparked controversy after he posted photos of himself with his late father's remains after removing the bones from his tomb. He Removed The Bones And Arranged Them Into A Skeleton Siyuan Zhuji is said to have exhumed his father's remains and also arranged them into a skeleton before he lied naked beside them for a photo shoot. The photo shoot was done by his wife. He Posted The Pictures On A Chinese Website Siyuan had reportedly posted the pictures of himself with his dead dad's bones on a Chinese website, just a day after Tomb-Sweeping Day. This is apparently the China's annual festival where people pay respect to the departed. Netizens Reactions After Seeing His Post Once he posted the pictures, his account was reported by netizens who were furious for his actions. People abused him of using cheap ways to gain fame. What do you think of this story? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. GET THE BEST BOLDSKY STORIES! Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 10, 2019, 17:40 [IST] Georgia will have a deep-water port. This is in our vital interest, - Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze told journalists, InterPressNews reports. According to the PM, he was personally engaged in negotiations for the project. "I was personally engaged in negotiations for the Anaklia port project for a long time. I fully support this project. Our priority is that the private sector be able to realize this project. In addition, I would like to reiterate that Georgia will have a deep-water port. This is in our vital interest," Mamuka Bakhtadze said. South Africa: The story behind your fishy meal Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Senzeni Zokwana has encouraged South Africans to support the ABALOBI app that tells the story behind the fish on their plates. We are already in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution, where technology has taken over to make life easier. A patron can order a seafood meal in a well-established restaurant and be able to track who caught the fish, how was it caught, when was it caught and be able to link directly with the fisher who caught the fish on your plate through a simple QR [quick response] code scan that comes with your meal. That is what we mean by storied fish. One can even send a text message to the fisher or fisher family and connect with them. This is about recognising small-scale fishers, who have a sincere connection with the ocean and its life. This innovation creates consciousness about how socially fair and ecologically responsible go hand-in-hand in the context of small-scale fisheries, and our efforts to achieve sustainability, the Minister said on Tuesday at a departmental briefing. ABALOBI, small-scale fisher in isiXhosa, is the name given to the mobile app suite by small-scale fishers involved in the co-development process. ABALOBI aims to enable small-scale fishing communities to be incorporated into information and resource networks, which include fishery monitoring, maritime safety, local development and market opportunities. Spearheaded by a registered Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) known as ABALOBI NPO, the ABALOBI initiative seeks to empower small-scale fishing communities to use information and communication technologies (ICTs) to engage in a range of activities that enable them to participate fully, equitably and effectively in small-scale fisheries governance. The initiative, which was announced during the 2015 World Fisheries Day celebrations, consists of a series of mobile applications. It aims to ensure equitable beneficiation through participation in a fully traceable, fair and inclusive value chain that secures equitable and sustainable seafood from hook to cook, like seafood with social and ecological story. The concept of ABALOBI was born out of brainstorming sessions between the University of Cape Town researchers, the national Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and several small-scale fisher community representatives. This followed discussions on the implementation of the Small-Scale Fisheries Policy and United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries. Zokwana said the ABALOBI app initiative is directly in line with the current establishment of the small-scale fisheries sector, with about 11 000 fishers from the four coastal provinces of the country, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Western Cape. ABALOBI has seen over 200 fishers in five fishing communities in the Western Cape participating in pilot sites. Currently, Zokwana said, there are over 120 top restaurants sourcing a diversity of fish directly from small-scale fishers through the ABALOBI MARKETPLACE app, and this has significantly cut out middlemen and significantly increased a fairer price for fish sold by small-scale fishers. He said the department will soon be signing yet another strategic partnership agreement with ABALOBI to roll out ABALOBI throughout the small-scale fishing sector. We will continue to drive transformation and diversification within the sector, bringing those who were previously disadvantaged as critical players, Zokwana said. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2019-04-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. The OPEC states reduced oil production by 534,000 barrels a day in March to 30.02 million barrels a day, mostly due to reduction in Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Iraq and Iran, OPEC said in a report. Thus, the OPEC+ oil output cut deal was fulfilled by 155%. Saudi Arabia's oil output has fallen by about 1.3 million bpd from its all-time high at 11.1 million in November. In March, the Saudis took another 324,000 bpd off the market, bringing output to just under 9.8 million bpd. Following a series of blackouts that disrupted oil operations, Venezuelas production plunged by 289,000 bpd to 732,000 bpd in March, CNBC reported. In turn, output from Iran has fallen from 3.33 million bpd to 2.71 million bpd due to U.S. sanctions. The next biggest decline came from Iraq, which cut production by 126,000 bpd in March to just over 4.5 million barrels. The declines were offset by Libya, where output surged by 196,000 bpd to nearly 1.1 million bpd. OPEC, Russia and other non-member producers are reducing output by 1.2 million bpd from Jan. 1 for six months. The producers are due to meet on June 25-26 to decide whether to extend the pact. A senior analyst of 'Uralsib', Alexei Kokin, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted Saudi Arabia reduced oil production so significantly, as it fulfilled its previous promises, He added that the contribution of other countries to the over-fulfillment of the deal was insignificant. "The rest of the countries mostly comply with quotas, with the exception of Nigeria and Venezuela. At the same time, Saudi Arabia seeks to keep prices at levels close to $70 per barrel, and does everything it can, including voluntary refusal of certain volumes and over-fulfillment of obligations under the deal. In general, this is connected with the country's internal priorities, budget parameters and raising funds," Alexey Kokin noted. The effect of Saudi Arabia's efforts in late March - early April was reinforced by other events. "The military conflict shaking Libya escalated recently, which potentially has a great importance for the market, because stopping the production of Libyan oil is a loss of 1 million barrels per day. Therefore, I do not exclude that the OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee may advise to increase production in May, since oil from Venezuela, Libya, perhaps Iran may leave the market, if the U.S. cancels sanction waivers for India and China. Then they might discuss output increases," the senior analyst of 'Uralsib' concluded. Azerbaijani Defense Minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov met with Russian Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mikhail Bocharnikov on April 10, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. During the meeting, prospects for the development of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia in military, military-educational, military-medical and other spheres, including new projects in the field of military-technical cooperation aimed at enhancing the combat capability of the Azerbaijani Army were discussed. The sides exchanged views on organizing working meetings between delegations of the Defense Ministries of the two countries, conducting joint military exercises, continuing mutual visits of warships of both countries in the Caspian Sea and other issues. The ambassador introduced newly appointed military attache of Russia in Azerbaijan, Colonel Andrei Alexensev to Hasanov. The defense minister congratulated the new military attache in regards to the beginning of his activity in Azerbaijan and wished him success in expanding military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia. A court in Prague has reportedly suspended consideration of extradition issue of Narek Sargsyan, who is the nephew of former Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan, the Zhamanak daily reported. Narek Sargsyan, put by Armenian law-enforcement authorities on wanted list for a string of crimes, had been located with the assistance of Interpol and detained in Prague last year. Narek Sargsyan was said to have been carrying a fake Guatemalan passport of Franklin Gonzales. According to the daily. Narek Sargsyan's extradition is required by the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia. "According to the information that has come down to us, Czech law enforcement agencies have suspended the extradition proceedings, having redirected Narek Sargsyan to the refugee camp. At the same time, a separate case is being investigated in the Czech Republic regarding the acquisition of a fake passport by him," ARKA cited the article as saying. "The Armenian Prosecutors Office has not been officially informed by the Czech side about the release and refusal to extradite Narek Sargsyan. At present, the process of transferring this person to the law-enforcement bodies of Armenia continues," the General Prosecutor's Office said in comment to the daily. A criminal case was launched against Narek Sargsyan on June 26, 2018 on charges of illegal acquisition, sale, storage, transportation and carrying of weapons, ammunition, explosives devices, as well as illegal sale, manufacture of drugs, psychotropic drugs and their precursors. Turkey will look for alternatives if it cannot receive F-35 jets from the United States, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said. Rebuffing U.S. threats to cancel a deal for F-35 jets if Russia's S-400s are delivered, Cavusoglu said that Ankara could buy fighters jets from another source until it is able to produce its own, Anadolu Agency reported. Professor Tom Gordon at the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum Music was one of the first ways in which they communicated with the Inuit, said Professor Tom Gordon of the missionaries. A retired musicologist from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Gordon has spent many years studying the influence of the Moravian church on the musical landscape of this sparsely populated region, which lies about a thousand miles northeast of the Bowdoin campus. According to legend, he says, the first Moravian arrived on the Labrador coast in the 1760s after a spell in Greenlandand met with the local Inuit. He introduced himself to the chief shaman and they exchanged music. The shaman did a drum dance for him, which the missionary described as being something with animal sounds to it. And then the missionary sang a hymn in Greenlandic Inuktitut, and the story goes (of course it was told by the missionary), that the Inuit were suddenly completely silent and listened with total absorption. Regardless how accurate this story is, said Gordon, the missionaries successfully used this European music as a means of inducing Inuit to join their church, to become Christians. Gordon recently visited the Bowdoin campus to talk about how Moravian missionaries used music when colonizing the Labrador Inuit, and the Inuit then recast this music to express their own values. His lecture marked the opening of A Resounding Beat: Music in the Inuit World, an exhibition at the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum that runs through the end of 2019. Check Out This Audio Report: The UN Security Council will hold urgent closed-door consultations on April 10 on the crisis in Libya, diplomats said. Britain and Germany, which holds the council presidency, called for the meeting a day after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate halt to the fighting. UN envoy Ghassan Salame will brief the council on his decision to postpone a national conference aimed at drawing up an election roadmap. "We cannot ask people to take part in the conference during gunfire and air strikes," AFP cited him as saying. The national conference, which had been scheduled for April 14-16 in the central city of Ghadames, aimed to fix dates for legislative and presidential elections, and work towards a new constitution. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 9/4/2019 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Advertisement Advertise With Us Peoples Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier will be holding a campaign rally in Brandon on April 17. Frank Godon, vice-president of the partys Brandon-Souris electoral association, confirmed Bernier will be holding the rally next Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Victoria Inn. He said the event will be a chance for the public and party members to ask questions of the party leader. More to come in Wednesdays newspaper. The Brandon Sun Peoples Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier will hold a campaign rally in Brandon on April 17. Frank Godon, vice-president of the partys Brandon-Souris electoral association, confirmed Bernier will be holding the rally next Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Victoria Inn. He said the event will be a chance for the public and party members to ask questions of the party leader. More to come in Wednesdays newspaper. The Brandon Sun Baku has changed and gotten better in recent years, yet retaining its unique charm, film director Vladimir Menshov told the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza on the sidelines of the opening of the VGIK Days in the capital of Azerbaijan. "Baku is my hometown, and not just because I was born there. My relatives live here, one of my two Baku cousins has already died, and the second is alive and well, they have grandchildren and sons. My old and new friends live here. For example, Eldar Kuliyev, we tried to enter VGIK 60 years ago together and both failed. But he was admitted the next year, and I entered the Moscow Art Theater School only a few years later," the film director said. Returning to the changes occurred in the architectural appearance of the Azerbaijani capital, the master noted that the city managed to preserve the national color, keeping up with the times. "I am glad that such buildings as the film theatre and the central part of the city were preserved. At the same time, it's really hard to recognize Baku now - amazingly beautiful buildings have been built in recent years. I love this city. It's warm here," he shared personal impressions. He added that, just like in the Soviet times, Baku remains a major cinema center. "In Soviet times, many great films were shot here, and there are many interesting premieres now as well," Menshov noted. Vladimir Menshov answered questions from the floor and gave advice for young filmmakers. "The main thing is to study. Learning from masters, learning from each other. I advise my students and students of VGIK: guys, learn from us and learn from your classmates. Indeed, when an interesting course is formed, then the learning process begins," the film director said. At the same time, according to him, despite the importance of studies and education, you can't teach talent. "It is always news. Nobody knows where it comes from. It is always stunning - "like, where did it come from?" It can be said about the works of my friend, wonderful director Vagif Mustafayev. I saw his talent at the Higher Directing Courses, and now he a venerable director, shooting great films. I remember his wonderful comedic short films full of subtle humor. It was a brilliant debut, and I am pleased with his bright creative fate," the master concluded. A decrease in demand for pregnant mares urine from Pfizer Canada has left several Manitoba ranchers without a buyer for their product. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/4/2019 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Advertisement Advertise With Us TIM SMITH/BRANDON SUN Pfizer Canada, whose Brandon plant is pictured, has seen a decrease in demand for pregnant mares urine, which is affecting several Manitoba ranchers. (File) A decrease in demand for pregnant mares urine from Pfizer Canada has left several Manitoba ranchers without a buyer for their product. The company said in a statement that a drop in demand for pregnant mares urine (PMU) means it has reduced its rancher network by five farmers. This is a significant drop in the Prairies, where 19 farmers previously supplied the product to the Pfizer plant in Brandon. PMU is used to make Premarin, a medication used for estrogen hormone replacement therapy in post-menopausal women. Faye Little, a farmer at Little Valley Quarter Horses, said she and her husband voluntarily opted out of the program with Pfizer as a means of easing into their retirement. "Were getting up there, we wanted to retire and it has been very good business for us, so theyve been good to us, weve been good to them, so I think it was just time that we said goodbye." While Little voluntarily opted out, other farmers were dropped. In a statement, Pfizer Canada director of corporate affairs Christina Antoniou said the company was working to help affected farmers. She added that the company appreciates the challenges that may face producers who will no longer receive contracts for PMU collection, and as such, it will provide compensation for the care of the mares and foals as they transition out of the network. Affected ranchers will also be eligible for equine placement assistance. "As part of its normal business analysis, Pfizer continually reviews PMU collection requirements. Any future decisions will also be informed by an evaluation of the hormone therapy market, prescribing trends and related raw material and inventory requirements." The company is still committed to making Premarin, but future plans with PMU producers are dependant on demand for hormone replacement. Several other ranchers contacted by The Brandon Sun declined to comment on the story. Norm Luba, executive director of the North American Equine Ranching Council, said ranchers were told about the cut by the Pfizer about two weeks ago. "Every year we have increases, decreases and then (Pfizer Canada) looks at the inventory they have in reserve and they make a calculation based on what their contractual needs will be, but its always based on products demand," he said from Kentucky. Production of PMU is usually a value-added enterprise for ranchers and not their main source of income. Virtually all producers are also horse breeders or have cattle. The drop in demand is "not welcome news" for the industry, but Luba said people recognize decisions are made based on demand. Pfizer offered assistance packages for the affected farmers and marketing help to find homes for the horses previously involved with urine production. He said the most recent news could be because of the drop in baby boomers, who because of their age were the biggest consumers of Premarin. It is also reflective of the market returning to equilibrium as four new ranchers were added to the PMU producer network two years ago. "This is the most prescribed hormone replacement product for women worldwide and theres been competition in the market for decades so its just basically the market reflecting what the needs are for womens healthcare," Luba said. "This is simply a levelling off. Literally, it changes year-to-year and its just responding to market demand." dmay@brandonsun.com Twitter: @DrewMay_ Engaging in social media might not be the healthiest of pastimes, according to a young researchers recent study. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/4/2019 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Advertisement Advertise With Us Grade 12 student Aiden Simard shows his project on adolescent anxiety and social media at the science fair on Tuesday. (Melissa Verge/The Brandon Sun) Engaging in social media might not be the healthiest of pastimes, according to a young researchers recent study. Aiden Simard, a Grade 12 student at Neelin High School, spent six weeks carrying out a research study that focuses on the connection between social media and anxiety in adolescents. Paige Oversby "Viewing that theres an increasing epidemic in adolescent anxiety and stress as well as an increase in social media, I wanted to see whether or not these two things were increasing in tandem," Simard said. He was one of approximately 500 grades 1 through 12 students in the Westman area whose projects were displayed at the Western Manitoba Science Fair during the Brandon University Healthy Living Centre on Tuesday. Finalists will go on to the Canada-Wide Science Fair next month in Fredericton, N.B. There has already been interest in his findings from professors at Brandon University, he said, including one who wants to share his research with their class and another wants to get it published online. On top of that, the University of British Columbia has offered him $3,000 to continue his research. For six weeks, Simard monitored participants stress levels based on qualitative stress scores, systolic blood pressure and cortisol levels, which is a hormone released due to stress. He limited participants use of social media throughout the process, starting with an hour per day for the first week, decreasing their exposure to 30 minutes the next week and so on. After reading their blood pressure, qualitative stress and cortisol levels, he concluded that social media was having a negative effect on adolescent mental health. "On average, once participants had reduced social media, their stress scores decreased almost 50 per cent, the cortisol levels in the hormones in their blood decreased almost 50 per cent and same with blood pressure," he said. It was all linked together." Although participants stress levels ultimately dropped, there was an increase at 1.4 weeks. Thats what Simard likes to call the withdrawal period. Once participants reached the third week, the adaptation period kicked in and their stress levels were much lower, according to the data he collected. To figure out cortisol levels, he used a cortisol testing kit and sent the samples off to the lab so they could test them. The classmates he used for participants in the study were initially hesitant, but they ended up coming around. "Theyre glad that they were a part of it," he said. "They are so much more aware of it and way social media affects them personally." None of them are sticking to the 10 minutes per day like they were at certain points of the experiment, he said, but its not nearly as high as it was before. Now that he has the data, its about future impacts and what they can do with the information to make sure people are aware of the negative impacts of social media. "Everybody has a phone in their pocket," Simard said. "100 years ago, everybody had a pack of cigarettes in their pocket. Before the media and before the government made the population aware of all the negative impacts it had on you, people would smoke every day, and same thing here. People arent aware of the negative impacts social media has on mental health and physiological health, and until people are made aware nothing is going to be changed." mverge@brandonsun.com Twitter: @Melverge5 Youngster finds green-minded way to clean A Grade 7 student has found a more environmentally friendly way to clean up household stains. Paige Oversby presented her science project at the Science Fair at the Brandon University Healthy Living Centre on Tuesday. Her findings were that homemade, natural cleaners worked better than OxiClean for clearing up spills. "I thought the OxiClean would work better than most of the homemade cleaners, but it was actually way lower than the homemade cleaners," Oversby said. "It will definitely help the environment because theres no waste from them, theres no extra containers you have to dispose of after." She had three different cleansers one made with lemon juice, vinegar and water, another made with lavender essential oil, vinegar and water, and another with rosemary, orange rinds, vinegar and water. Her classmates enjoyed it, too. They found that the cleaners was edible, with no trips to the hospital afterward. "Kids in our grade were actually eating the cleaners and they said they tasted like salad dressing," she said, adding that as such its safe for pets who might consume the products. "(Our dog), she comes in our house sometimes and she licks everything." The Brandon Sun OTTAWA - A House of Commons committee is urging the government to work with NATO to determine Russia's military intentions in the North and get help to protect the country's Arctic sovereignty. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/4/2019 (979 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he attends a plenary session of the International Arctic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia on April 9, 2019. A House of Commons committee is urging the government to work with NATO to determine Russia's true military intentions in the North in order to protect the country's Arctic sovereignty. That's the top recommendation of a report tabled today by the Commons foreign affairs and international development committee based on a study it began last June. Its release comes one day after Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined an ambitious plan to increase Russia's Arctic presence, including expanding its fleet of nuclear-powered ice breakers and building new ports and other infrastructure. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Dmitri Lovetsky OTTAWA - A House of Commons committee is urging the government to work with NATO to determine Russia's military intentions in the North and get help to protect the country's Arctic sovereignty. That was the top recommendation of a report tabled Wednesday by the Commons foreign-affairs committee based on a study it began last June. It arrived one day after Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined an ambitious plan to increase Russia's Arctic presence, including expanding its fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers and building new ports and other infrastructure. With Arctic sea ice melting, Putin said he plans to dramatically increase Russian cargo-ship traffic in northern shipping lanes. Russia, the U.S., Canada, Denmark and Norway are trying to settle jurisdictions in the vast territory as disappearing polar ice opens new and lucrative possibilities for oil and gas exploration as well as shipping. The Russian leader invited foreign companies to invest in projects at both ends of the Arctic shipping route, from Murmansk in Russia's northwest to the Kamchatka Peninsula in the east. In contrast, Wednesday's report says that the "Canadian Arctic continues to suffer from an infrastructure deficit" and that "vigilant foreign and defence policies are not, on their own, enough." "There is also the national imperative of ensuring vibrant communities," the report says. It says a "direct line" can be drawn "between Northern and Indigenous empowerment and the assertion of Arctic sovereignty." The report urges Canada to work with its partners in NATO's governing body, the North Atlantic Council, to better understand Russia's military intentions in the Arctic and to consider the most appropriate and "measured response." It makes clear this is about "deterring and defending against any threat to the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization." "Russia has been rebuilding and modernizing its military capabilities and has demonstrated a willingness to challenge the international rules-based order. Perhaps most alarming, with new missile technology, Russian aircraft and submarines can now strike targets at great distances, including from launch points well outside of North American airspace and waters," the report says. "There is a need for deterrence through the collective will of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization." Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland's office said Canada's sovereignty in the Arctic is "well-established" and the government will respond to the report in detail in due course. "Canada co-operates with all Arctic Council members, including Russia, to advance shared interests such as sustainable development and environmental protection, the role of Indigenous peoples, oceans, climate change adaptation and scientific research," said spokesperson Adam Austen. "Canada is firmly asserting its presence in the North, ensuring we have the capability and capacity to protect and patrol the land, sea and sky in our sovereign Arctic territory. We remain firm and steadfast in defending Canada's interests in the Arctic." The Arctic Council is a bloc of eight northern countries that also includes the United States. On Tuesday, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said he "can't talk about Russia's actions and reasons" for its Arctic behaviour but he said the North forms a significant part of the Liberal government's new defence policy. Six Arctic patrol vessels will be undergoing trials shortly and the Canadian Forces have done Arctic exercises with NATO partners, including the United States, he noted. "We are taking our Arctic sovereignty very seriously," he said. "We're sending a very strong message." In the past, the Liberals have tried to work with Russia within the Arctic Council. But Russia's aggressive posture elsewhere its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, fomenting of separatism in eastern Ukraine, and allegations of cybermeddling and foreign election interference have strained co-operation on the Arctic. Alison LeClaire, the senior Arctic official at Global Affairs Canada, told the Commons foreign-affairs committee last June that Russia's contributions at the Arctic Council were "important and worthwhile" but she said its behaviour elsewhere in the world hasn't helped. "With respect to co-operation with Russia, one need only look at a map of the circumpolar north to understand why working with them is in our interest. Together we share 75 per cent of the Arctic area," she said. Canada is well aware of Russia's increased military activities in the North, including military drills, the reopening of bases, investments in its northern fleet and increased surveillance capabilities, said LeClaire. "However, Russia's military presence in the Arctic is still much more modest than it was in the 1980s," she testified. "Canada sees no immediate military threat in the Arctic, but we remain vigilant and are working with our allies and partners to keep the Arctic as a zone of peace and co-operation, a goal we share with Russia." ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Newfoundland and Labrador has announced it will become the second province to ban plastic bags. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/4/2019 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A shopper places her goods into her car outside a supermarket in Christchurch, New Zealand, Friday, Aug. 10, 2018. Newfoundland and Labrador has announced it will become the second province to ban plastic bags. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Mark Baker ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Newfoundland and Labrador has announced it will become the second province to ban plastic bags. The provincial government introduced legislation on Tuesday allowing it to ban their use at stores and other retail outlets. It says the ban won't take effect for between six and 12 months, to give consumers time to get in the habit of bringing reusable bags. Prince Edward Island passed a similar ban last June, to take effect this coming July 1. Many municipalities plan similar bans, amid a national conversation about single-use plastics and their environmental impact. Newfoundland and Labrador says public consultations found 87 per cent were in favour of a ban. "The consultations we conducted in March indicate the strength of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians convictions: they do not want plastic bags to be distributed at retail locations," Environment Minister Graham Letto said in a statement. "To protect the environment and improve the waste management system, we have introduced amendments to the legislation that will allow us to draft regulations to ban the retail plastic bag." The province says its regulations will address issues including adjustment time for businesses; alternatives to plastic bags and whether those require a fee "to limit their overconsumption"; and any possible exceptions. But the Canadian Plastics Industry Association disputed the results from what it called the province's "biased" consultation, saying it was only an attempt to divert attention from poor landfill management practices. "The bag ban issue is all about politics, a pre-election ploy about what the government sees is an easy win so they can look green," Joe Hruska, the association's vice-president of sustainability, said in an emailed statement Wednesday. "An expert panel last September advised that plastic bags are not a problem on the island and that the science does not support a ban. The core environmental problem the island faces according to the expert panel is windblown litter from poorly managed landfills. You can ban the bag, but it will not solve the island's serious windblown litter problem." According to Greenpeace Canada, Canadians generate about 3.25 million tonnes of plastic garbage each year, which the environmental group says could fill 140,000 garbage trucks. As well, the federal government says more than 150 million tonnes of plastic waste is clogging the oceans worldwide. Ikea and A&W are the latest big chains to join the war against single-use plastics, with each promising to limit waste production amid a growing public outcry over pollution. A global team of scientists that included a Canadian researcher allowed the world to "see the unseeable" on Wednesday, revealing the first ever captured image of a black hole. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/4/2019 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. This image released Wednesday, April 10, 2019, by Event Horizon Telescope shows a black hole. Scientists revealed the first image ever made of a black hole after assembling data gathered by a network of radio telescopes around the world. (Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration/Maunakea Observatories via AP) A global team of scientists that included a Canadian researcher allowed the world to "see the unseeable" on Wednesday, revealing the first ever captured image of a black hole. The picture, depicting an orange and black ring of gravity-twisted light around the edge of an abyss, came about as a result of an international collaboration of more than 200 academics and images compiled from eight Earth-based telescopes positioned around the world. Avery Broderick, an associate professor at Ontario's University of Waterloo and faculty member at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, said the image helped convert science fiction into "science fact" while bolstering theories at the core of modern physics. "This is the first time that we've been able to push Einstein's theory of gravity down to the edge of the observable universe," Broderick told The Canadian Press in a phone interview from Washington, D.C., hours after the image was unveiled. "Prior to that, it was an extrapolation. We had a lot of good reasons to believe Einstein, he hadn't failed us before, but this is the first time we were able to push into that untested region." A black hole is a region in space where the pulling force of gravity is so strong that light is not able to escape. Unlike smaller black holes that come from collapsed stars, supermassive black holes such as the one captured in the new image are mysterious in origin. Situated at the centre of most galaxies, including ours, they are so dense that nothing can escape their gravitational pull. The image captured shows the hot, shadowy lip of a supermassive black hole, theorized by Einstein more than a century ago and confirmed by observations for decades. It is along this edge that light bends around itself in a cosmic funhouse effect. The image came about through the efforts of the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, a global project that worked over several decades to deepen global understanding of one of science's most extreme phenomena. The image researchers captured is not of the black hole closest to earth, however, but of one at the centre of neighbouring galaxy Messier 87 that was easier to observe by telescope. It is about 6 billion times the mass of our sun and located about 53 million light years from Earth. One light year is equal to 9.5 trillion kilometres. The black hole's "event horizon" the point of no return where light and matter begin to fall inexorably into the hole is as big as our entire solar system. While much of the matter around a black hole falls into a death spiral, never to be seen again, the new image captures gas and dust circling just far enough to avoid its clutches. Researchers said the image, taken over four days in 2017 from the eight telescopes, involved incredible good luck for the scientists involved. Astronomers had "to have the perfect weather all across the world and literally all the stars had to align," said Jessica Dempsey, a co-discoverer and deputy director of the East Asian Observatory in Hawaii. Dempsey said the measurements were taken at a wavelength the human eye cannot see, so the astronomers added colour to the image. They chose gold and orange, resulting in a photo that Dempsey said reminded her of the flaming Eye of Sauron from the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Broderick, who said he began developing models of what black holes may look like more than a decade ago, said the real photo is "quite similar" to the predictions he and his fellow researchers put forward. Seeing the image for the first time, he said, evoked feelings of relief, excitement and "wonder at the marvellous nature of the universe." He said having concrete proof of a black hole in hand opens new possibilities for future research, especially for scientists bent on bridging the knowledge gap between the physics governing the observable world and the quantum mechanics at work among the tiny particles that make up the universe. "Black holes are the thorn in the side of unification of bringing quantum mechanics into agreement with general physics," he said, adding the new image helps researchers develop a more thorough understanding of how they operate. "It's entirely conceivable ... that we could see something that could point the right way." Johns Hopkins astrophysicist Ethan Vishniac, who was not part of the discovery team but edits the Astrophysical Journal Letters where the research was published, pronounced the image "an amazing technical achievement" that "gives us a glimpse of gravity in its most extreme manifestation." "Pictures from computer simulations can be very pretty, but there's literally nothing like a picture of the real universe," he said. with Files from the Associated Press OTTAWA - Romania's top diplomat in Ottawa says his country is moving as fast as it can to minimize a gap in the provision of lifesaving medical evacuations for injured UN peacekeepers after Canada ends its mission in Mali. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/4/2019 (979 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Canadian infantry and medical personnel disembark a Chinook helicopter as they take part in a medical evacuation demonstration on the United Nations base in Gao, Mali, on December 22, 2018. Romania's top diplomat in Canada says his country is trying to move as fast as possible to minimize a looming gap in the provision of lifesaving medical evacuations for injured UN peacekeepers and staff in Mali. But Bogdan Manoiu tells The Canadian Press that the Romanian military needs to upgrade its helicopters and train its aircrews before they can be deployed. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld OTTAWA - Romania's top diplomat in Ottawa says his country is moving as fast as it can to minimize a gap in the provision of lifesaving medical evacuations for injured UN peacekeepers after Canada ends its mission in Mali. The problem, says Bogdan Manoiu, is the helicopters the Romanian government plans to send are undergoing significant upgrades and the aircrews who will fly them need to be trained neither of which can be rushed. "Those helicopters will be deemed as having new capabilities. So it's an extensive, major upgrading. It's not something superficial," Manoiu told The Canadian Press in an interview. "And the other side of the coin is that the troops have to be prepared in order to use those capabilities. And then the UN itself has to certify the new capabilities. So this is why it is taking that long." Manoiu's comments follow the Trudeau government's most recent refusal to extend Canada's mission in Mali past the end of July, when the eight helicopters and 250 military personnel there will cease operations. Romania agreed last year to take over from Canada by sending its own helicopters and peacekeepers to provide medical evacuations as well as logistical support to the UN mission in northern Mali, which aims to stabilize the country following a rebellion and a military coup. But the Romanians have said they won't be ready to start operations until mid-October, which has created the threat of a months-long gap that the UN says will hurt its efforts in the sprawling West African nation. With the Liberals having repeatedly rebuffed the UN's requests to keep the Canadians in Mali longer, some including the House of Commons defence committee have turned their attention to getting Romania there faster. The committee recently recommended Canada offer transport aircraft to help Romania ferry its troops and helicopters to Mali, while sources say Canadian military experts have been in touch with Romanian counterparts. That included a visit to Bucharest by the previous commander of Canada's peacekeeping force in Mali, Col. Chris McKenna, in March. While he welcomed any assistance that Canada or any other country is willing to offer to speed the arrival of Romanian peacekeepers in Mali, Manoiu said it is too early to say whether transport aircraft would help. And while he admitted the gap was "an element of concern," Manoiu said Romania respects Canada's decision to leave at the end of July and has not asked it to stay longer. "We do not ask the Canadians to extend the mission," he said. "We respect that. They say (they will leave) July 31, fine. We said we would replace them, excellent. Now it's about the joint endeavour to minimize the gap." The UN formally asked Canada at the end of the February to stay in Mali until mid-October, but Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland rejected that request following a peacekeeping summit in New York last month. UN officials told the Commons' defence committee during a recent visit to Mali that without the Canadians or Romanians, they would be forced to "scale down operations." The government has offered little explanation for its decision not to extend the mission. The committee's report did suggest military officials are worried about the helicopters' mechanical condition and want them ready for crises back home, though others have linked the decision to this fall's federal election. Follow @leeberthiaume on Twitter. OTTAWA - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday became the latest politician to call out a suburban Montreal mayor who compared Quebec's recently tabled secularism bill to ethnic cleansing. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/4/2019 (979 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Dr. William Steinberg speaks to reporters following a news conference in Montreal, Friday, April 5, 2019, where he called on Quebecers to oppose the Quebec government's newly tabled Bill 21. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes OTTAWA - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday became the latest politician to call out a suburban Montreal mayor who compared Quebec's recently tabled secularism bill to ethnic cleansing. Speaking to reporters in Ottawa, Trudeau repeated his opposition to Bill 21 but said Hampstead Mayor William Steinberg's comments were unacceptable and that the mayor needs to apologize. "We don't need to go to extremes," Trudeau said. "We can debate the bill without going too far. There are people who are extremely worried by this bill, and I understand them. But we shouldn't use words like that." Bill 21 would prohibit public servants in positions of authority including teachers from wearing religious symbols. Steinberg, whose suburb has a population of about 7,000, drew the wrath of Quebec's political class last Friday when he said Bill 21 "is ethnic cleansing, not with a gun but with a law." On Tuesday Steinberg rejected multiple demands for an apology, including from Quebec Premier Francois Legault. William Steinberg, mayor of the Montreal borough of Hampstead attends a news conference in Montreal, Friday, April 5, 2019, where he called on Quebecers to oppose the Quebec government's newly tabled Bill 21. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes He said people were twisting his words and that he was referring to "peaceful ethnic cleansing." He said he fears an apology would detract from his criticism that the bill will cause religious minorities to leave the province. Conservative MP Alain Rayes told reporters Steinberg should apologize "as fast as possible." The MP from Quebec said he supports Bill 21. He said Quebec's "legitimate" government was elected on a promise to table a secularism bill. In Quebec City, the Liberals and governing Coalition Avenir Quebec accused each other of prompting Steinberg's remarks. "For sure, what the CAQ is doing in Quebec generally invites this sort of excess," interim Liberal leader Pierre Arcand said. "There are bills that are divisive, and obviously that often leads to excesses." Legault responded that the Liberals failed while they were in power to address Quebecers' unease around religious symbols in the public service. "That certainly allows people to become divided," he said. TORONTO - An Ontario woman who posed as a nurse and left people with lasting injuries by giving them cosmetic treatments she wasn't qualified to perform will spend nearly two years behind bars. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 9/4/2019 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. TORONTO - An Ontario woman who posed as a nurse and left people with lasting injuries by giving them cosmetic treatments she wasn't qualified to perform will spend nearly two years behind bars. Shiva Ashkani of Brampton, Ont., was sentenced after being found guilty of eight charges against former patients, including three counts of assault with a weapon, one count of aggravated assault and one count of fraud under $5,000. Court heard that she claimed to be a registered nurse and a medical cosmetician with decades of experience in providing botox and collagen injections. Three people she treated reported agonizing pain, fear of contracting blood-borne diseases, permanent scarring and significant financial losses as a result of Ashkani's procedures. Superior Court Justice Alfred O'Marra sentenced Ashkani, who has a history of mental illness, to two years less a day in jail plus three years of probation. The jail time fell short of the 3.5 years requested by prosecutors but while O'Marra felt Ashkani's offences merited the harsher sentence, he said her mental illness had to be factored into the equation. "She knowingly injected substances and applied material to the faces of her victims that brought significant psychological and physical pain, as well as financial harm," he wrote in his March 28 sentencing decision. "I take into account however ... the need to ensure her access to treatment and continuing control and supervision." O'Marra said Ashkani's fraudulent cosmetics treatments got underway in 2015, three years after she was accused of aggravated assault and assault with a weapon in an attack on her husband that left him with a ruptured spleen. Some time before February 2015, O'Marra said Ashkani posted an ad on classified site Kijiji touting her non-existent medical credentials. The ad claimed Ashkani was a registered nurse with 13 years of experience working alongside surgeons. It also claimed she had spent 21 years working as a medical cosmetician with jobs in Beverly Hills, Calif., Vancouver and Toronto. Court heard the owners of a Toronto tanning salon with plans to hire a registered nurse for beauty treatments brought Ashkani on board after coming across her ad in July 2015. According to O'Marra's decision, Ashkani performed botched botox and collagen filler treatments on two women connected with the tanning salon, including the site manager. Court heard the manager fell ill after the injection, saw the skin around her eyes begin to blacken, and wound up with a scar in the middle of her forehead. O'Marra said the woman spent more than $4,000 to correct the damage and was threatened with physical violence after she lodged a complaint about Ashkani. The other salon client reported a rash and discolouration around her eyes after a treatment with Ashkani. O'Marra said the third victim was a woman who received treatment starting in February 2015 both at her own home and at a business Ashkani was running in Brampton. That client, the judge wrote, received both botox and filler injections as well as a chemical face peel after viewing falsified documents outlining Ashkani's fraudulent credentials. A victim impact statement offered a harrowing account of the chemical face peel procedure. "I was in such excruciating pain with whatever substance she applied to my face that it was physically impossible to endure," the statement read. "I began to experience serious side effects (swelling and open weeping sores) ... I was placed on antibiotics for three months for the infection that developed under my skin." Despite spending more than $5,200 on followup care after Ashkani's treatment, court heard the woman has permanent scarring to her face. O'Marra also noted the client had to miss work and sustained lasting emotional trauma. O'Marra said all three victims had to undergo blood tests to ensure they had not contracted HIV or hepatitis as a result of their treatments, noting they were never told exactly what substance they were injected with. All paid between $500 and $800 for their treatments, court documents show. The sentencing decision said Ashkani has been diagnosed with both bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder, adding she also has a history of making "suicide gestures." After her conviction in December 2017, O'Marra said Ashkani was hospitalized for reasons related to her mental health. A psychiatrist assessed whether or not she was fit to proceed with the sentencing process and ultimately ruled she could. Given her psychiatric history as well as the gravity of her offences, O'Marra's decision emphasized the need for Ashkani to have a prolonged period of supervision both in and out of a correctional setting. "In my view, the community would be better protected by having Ms. Ashkani under an extended period of supervision," he wrote. A car dealer being pursued by the Revenue for ten years in a bid to recover a 4.97m judgment has been warned he is at grave risk of being jailed a third time for contempt over allegedly still giving the Revenue the runaround. The president of the High Court, Mr Justice Peter Kelly, issued the warning after a Revenue receiver said he believes John Alex Kane, of Granard, Co Longford, had last month orchestrated moving his neighbours' cattle onto his lands, on which Tricolour flags were also placed, to frustrate a planned sale by the receiver. Patrick and Clare Nannery, who own the cattle and have some 200 acres adjoining the Kane lands, had told the receiver they had nothing to do with moving the cattle, were very annoyed about it, and Ms Nannery had described Mr Kane and other members of his family as "a shower of fucks". Mr Nannery had said he had no dealings with the lands and had alleged the Kanes were moving cattle, the court was told. Mr Nannery had said the Kanes were "pups" and "a bad breed" and had informed the receiver he had removed the cattle from the Kane lands back onto his own lands. Mr Kane denied any involvement in moving the cattle and suggested the Nannerys are bringing the cattle onto his lands. The judge said "cattle dont have a mind of their own and cannot climb over a fence" and it did not appear to be in the neighbours' interest to move their own cattle onto the Kane lands. Mr Kane also complained the Revenue were seeking to move against a former pub property, the Bent Elbow at Stradone, Co Cavan, which he said belongs to his wife. The Revenue believes that property was purchased with undeclared monies of Mr Kane's with a view to convert it into a fully serviced car workshop and it is seeking to appoint Mr Kirby as receiver over that property. Gary McCarthy SC, for the Revenue, got orders on Wednesday to advance the Revenue application concerning that property and also got orders directing the Jaguar firm to provide tracking information concerning a 2017 Range Rover allegedly purchased by a relative of Mr Kane. The firm had indicated it would neither object nor consent to such an order. Mr McCarty also said, arising from "worrying developments" concerning the frustration of the receiver's efforts to sell lands, the Revenue was reluctantly seeking to have Mr Kane jailed a third time for contempt. After Mr Kane sought time to respond to the receiver's sworn statements, the judge agreed to provide that but warned him: This is your last chance and there wont be any more. The judge said he did not know how many times Mr Kane had been before the court and told him his behaviour has been characterised by chancing your arm and chicanery of one sort or another. It was time to get a bit of sense and not to continue with this game because, in any showdown with Revenue, it has to win because it cannot tolerate a situation of people thumbing their noses at them over tax debts, the judge said. Mr Kane was last November offered an "excellent" deal by the Revenue which gave him a chance to end all this "for a lot less than the judgment", the judge said. Under that deal, Mr Kane was, inter alia, to pay sums totalling 450,000 by next November, to file tax returns from January 2017 to date, to allow for various parcels of land to be sold and to account for all vehicles sold from a premises at Rathcronin, Co Longford. 47 vehicles were to be accounted for. If he did so, the Revenue was to discharge a judgment mortgage it had registered against a substantial property in Co Longford in the name of Lucy Pinfold. It had also indicated it would not object to Mr Kane trading and not take further steps to enforce judgment while maintaining it could still execute against the 2017 Range Rover and the former Bent Elbow property. Today, the judge heard Mr Kane has filed tax returns and is up to date with payments of the 450,000. A final sum of 120,000 is to be paid in November. The Revenue in July 2009 obtained judgments for 4.97m against Mr Kane and 5.27m against his brother, Pauraig Kane, over unpaid taxes in connection with the operation of their SUV business in Granard. It also got orders freezing the brothers accounts below some 10m and directing them to fully disclose their assets. OCallaghan Properties have placed a Cork city centre development on the market today with a guide price of 34m. The Half Moon Street mixed-use asset which was developed in 2009 by OCallaghan generates a current gross annual income of 2,606,500. The Lavitts Quay building extends to 119,589 sq ft of retail and Grade A office accommodation and tenants include Apple Europe, Boots pharmacy, Henry J Lyons one of Irelands leading architectural practices in addition to Matthews, the clothing and footwear retailer, and Kopper Hair Salon. The office space is currently let to Apple Europe at 22 per sq ft and there is currently vacant retail space at ground and lower ground floor level. Speaking of the launch, Brian OCallaghan of OCallaghan Properties said: "We are delighted to bring our Half Moon Street development to the market as a direct response to the high levels of interest from both Irish and international investors in Cork in recent months. We are currently developing the largest office complex in Cork at Navigation Square and the sale of Half Moon Street will further help to position Cork as a high-quality investment location for institutional investors. Domhnaill OSullivan of Savills, who along with CBRE are handling the sale, said: We are expecting interest to be strong from the onset not only is this a highly desirable investment opportunity in terms of location, unit potential, mix, and design, but there is a dearth of assets of this grade on the marketplace. "Whats more it is surrounded by a myriad of local amenities with a waterfront setting and extensive views of the River Lee. Its close proximity to prime retail on Patrick Street and Opera Lane will also prove attractive to prospective investors. Kyle Rothwell of CBRE added: This is Boots flagship Store in Cork and the office space leased to Apple offers significant asset management and reversionary potential. We believe this will appeal to both domestic and international firms looking for strong value add potential. A Carlow man whose farm was strewn with skeletal remains has lost an appeal against the severity of his three-year prison sentence for shocking levels of animal cruelty. James Kavanagh (aged 48) pleaded guilty to 30 counts of causing or allowing animal cruelty at his property at Raheenleigh, Myshall, Co Carlow in April 2015. Kavanagh was sentenced to three years imprisonment and ordered to pay 35,000 towards the ISPCAs costs, which totalled 59,149, by Judge James McCourt on February 22 last. Judge McCourt also disqualified Kavanagh from having any involvement with dogs or horses for life. The maximum penalty is five years and a fine of up to 250,000. His wife, Jennifer Kavanagh, was given a wholly suspended 12 months sentence on the same occasion after she admitted 30 counts of allowing animal cruelty. Upholding the sentence today, President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham said 340 dogs and 11 horses had to be removed from Kavanaghs premises over 11 days. In addition, 20 dogs and four horses had to be euthanised for humane reasons. The Circuit Court heard from Garda Catriona Denneny and Conor Dowling of the ISPCA. Mr Justice Birmingham said the scene they encountered was truly shocking and involved atrocious levels of animal neglect and cruelty. A number of dead dogs were discovered, some of which had apparently been killed and eaten by other dogs. The premises were strewn with skeletal remains, dead sheep, and rotting horse carcasses. Gardai witnessed dogs eating dog and horse carcasses as it appeared this was their only source of food. A total of four horse carcasses were found in separate dog enclosures. According to the book of evidence, the horses did not show any signs of being shot or given lethal injections (as this would have poisoned the dogs). Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy commented during the hearing that de facto the horses were being fed to dogs. He (Kavanagh) was allowing them to be fed to dogs. Mr Justice Birmingham said all of the animals had health problems. Almost all of the animals were distressed, in pain and discomfort, and suffered from multiple afflictions and diseases, including parasitic infections. Many of the animals were also severely emaciated, starving, dehydrated, soaked in urine, and caked in excrement. Burnt out fires were discovered on the premises revealing the remains of dogs, horses and sheep. Some small breed dogs were discovered crowded together in inadequate-sized cages with no freedom to move, no access to food or water and no shade from the sun. Kieran Considine a vet for Carlow County Council stated that the dogs showed signs of contagion, pathological conditions and cannibalistic tendencies. Mr Considine also raised concern about the immediate serious risk to public health due to the feeding of carcasses and the accumulation of waste close to a water treatment plant and the River Burren. Kavanagh claimed his premises had become a dumping ground for dogs after the introduction of Pet Passports in December 2014 which required all dogs and cats to be microchipped. It appears, though, that Kavanagh actively sought out dog breeders and others and offered to take dogs with a view to having them rehomed, Mr Justice Birmingham said. He said Kavanaghs wife, Jenny, was licensed to operate a dog breeding establishment by Carlow County Council. However, Kavanagh discovered it was financially more rewarding to take in dogs and transport dogs, mostly to rescue centres in England. These centres paid between 40 to 50 per dog and also covered the travel expenses. Kavanaghs barrister, Colman Cody SC, acknowledged that what occurred was neglect, perhaps neglect on a grand scale, but was distinct from cruel and intentional infliction of suffering. Mr Cody said that the premises had been inspected by Carlow County Council in October 2014 and that, therefore, the shocking state of affairs in April 2015 must be seen as having been time-limited. Mr Justice Birmingham said it was a case of commercial activity on a very large scale and it is an inescapable conclusion that failing to care for animals formed part of the business model. He said it was a case of exceptional seriousness, measured by the evidence of Conor Dowling, Chief Inspector with the ISPCA, who commented that he had never come across anything like it. Dealing with the situation of one of the horses that had to be euthanised, Mr Dowling said the animal suffered unnecessarily from severe malnutrition and poor husbandry in one of the worst cases of cruelty he had the displeasure of attending over the last 10 years. In terms of dog welfare, Mr Dowling said the scale and severity of what he witnessed was way above anything else he had dealt with. Mr Justice Birmingham, who sat with Mr Justice John Edwards and Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, said the sentence fell well within the range of appropriate sentences for offending of such seriousness and the court accordingly dismissed the appeal. He said the sentencing judges task was not an easy one because thankfully, there have been few, if any, comparable cases. Welcoming the judgment, Mr Dowling, of the ISPCA, said he hoped Kavanaghs sentence sent the message out that such levels of animal cruelty will not be tolerated. Dogs Aid patron and animal rights activist, Linda Martin, said she welcomed the fact the sentence was upheld. This is a precedent now. This is going to make people realise that if you abuse animals, Ireland is not going to tolerate that anymore, and I think that is very, very important. She said Ireland was known as the Puppy Farming Capital of Europe, which was a terrible moniker to have. There are at least 1,000 premises out there like this (Kavanaghs). Trust me, north, south, east and west, all operating with appalling cruelty, for the owners to make vast amounts of money. Im not saying dont breed dogs, because there are very decent breeders out there, and those dogs are very well cared for. Im talking about the people who have hundreds of breeding bitches in the most appalling conditions. And the message has to go to them, were not going to tolerate it any longer. In his judgment, Mr Justice Birmingham said there was one further matter the court wished to comment upon. He said the court had been asked to deal with Kavanaghs case within weeks of the Circuit Court hearing due to the tragic loss of his teenage son in a road traffic accident. The pressure to cope that had been placed on Kavanagh was compounded by the shocking, indeed one can say, disgusting, response there has been on social media to the tragedy that has befallen the Kavanagh family. He said the court did not wish to appear hard-hearted or indifferent but the courts role was confined to reviewing the correctness, or otherwise, of sentences imposed at first instance. The developments post-sentence in this case are very unusual, perhaps even to the point of being unique, and they are of course matters which the Executive is perfectly free to consider. Students have sent an email to the Minister for Education expressing their frustration at the poor conditions they're enduring at a secondary school in North Cork. Nearly three years ago a major fire broke out at the Patrician Academy in Mallow and caused extensive damage. Yet students say not a single block has been laid on the school site since, while they've been taught in different outside locations and had to endure a prefabricated toilet block which is a health hazard. Eoghan Kenny, a member of the student council, penned the correspondence on their behalf and told Minister Joe McHugh they "feel the government and your department in particular, have neglected our school". "I regularly see you opening state-of-the-art school buildings across the country and as students we ask ourselves are we not equal to those students? And if we are equal, why are we being subjected to such harsh conditions?" Eoghan wrote. He said that for four months of his Transition Year, a number of year groups were being taught in dressing rooms in the local GAA complex. "For the remaining months of fourth year, we were situated in the nearby primary school. For all of my fifth year, my year group and I were situated in the local centre for the Irish Wheelchair Association, and in spite of our teachers' best efforts this situation was far from ideal," Eoghan wrote. This year they have returned to the school campus. "However, we are working out of prefabricated rooms that are too cold in the winter and are beginning to become too hot to even sit in as we enter summer," Eoghan said. He and his classmates say the prefabricated toilet facilities are rotting away, are constantly flooded and are thus a health hazard and not fit for purpose. "During a recent Whole School Evaluation (WSE), inspectors from your department noted the lack of facilities on campus i.e. only one construction room to cater for 550 boys and only one science lab that has access to gas," he told Minister McHugh. Through an email you may try to convince us that you havent forgotten our school or that planning is underway, but until we see actual building progress being made, we cannot and will not take your word for it. Eoghan pointed out that they had to fund their own school gym and AstroTurf and have to cap the number of students entering the secondary school due to inadequate space. "For nearly three years now, not one single block has been laid on the school site, illustrating the lacklustre response from your department. Do you really think this is good enough? If your son was a student in our school, would you think these sub-standard conditions were an acceptable environment to learn in," Eoghan told the minister. It is understand planning permission will be lodged next month with construction likely to start in the latter half of next year. A teenage boy has been engaging in criminal and drug-related activity which could lead to him becoming a target for gangland figures because of a refusal to return him to a secure care unit, the High Court has heard. The boy was recently arrested and charged with the attempted robbery of a man in St Stephen's Green when there was an alleged attempted stabbing of the victim after he handed over his backpack to the teen. It is also claimed the boy was involved in another incident in which a 14-year-old boy's bike was robbed before he was viciously beaten up. Deirdre O'Donohoe BL, for the at-risk boy's mother, said the boy, who has been in care since 2003, had been in a secure facility between January 2018 and January 2019 when that placement ended. He has effectively been living in a homeless hostel since then and his behaviour has "spiralled out of control", counsel said. Despite requests from care workers and his mother that he be returned to secure accommodation due to his extreme behavioural and psychological difficulties and being a danger to himself and others, the Child and Family Agency (CFA) has refused to do so. A CFA committee which decides whether minors should be put in secure facilities decided last month he did not "meet the threshold" for such a placement. As a result, his mother brought a one-side only represented (ex parte) application today to the court seeking to quash that decision on grounds of irrationality and unreasonableness. Mr Justice Garrett Simons granted the application and said the matter could return before the normal weekly childcare list of the High Court. Ms O'Donohoe, for the mother, said notwithstanding the decision of the CFA committee, both the boy's team leader and his court-appointed guardian believe he should be returned to special care. Of particular concern to the mother was the CFA committee had said, in its decision, that the criminal elements of the boy's behaviour required to be addressed through the criminal justice system. This arose out of other allegations against him for the theft of glasses and assault of a member of his care staff. Since then, there had been the further allegations of attempted robbery and the beating up of the 14-year-old boy. The boy's court-appointed guardian had said it "beggars belief" that someone who had gone through the special care system would not be accepted by the CFA committee in the light of what has happened. The guardian said if this boy did not meet the threshold, then he did not know who did. There was further concern about his anti-social behaviour, use of illicit substances and some self-harming behaviour. Counsel said his guardian believed that living in a homeless hostel did not meet the needs of a vulnerable young man who, in his current setting, will continue to take drugs and be "a prime target" for gangland figures. Mr Justice Simons said given the boy's team leader has a different view to the CFA committee, the case met the low threshold for granting leave for judicial review. It seemed to him that, at the very least, there was some explanation called for in relation to the CFA committee's decision. EU leaders are set to offer British prime minister Theresa May a year-long Brexit extension this evening to avoid a no deal cliff edge - but with strict conditions that risk causing another diplomatic war. European Council president Donald Tusk will put forward the plan to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and other leaders at the special EU summit in Brussels this evening, provided Britain participates in next month's MEP elections. However, French president Emmanuel Macron and other member states are expected to insist the deal comes with conditions which would prevent Britain using the new delay to undermine the EU. At this evening's EU summit, which is expected to begin with a 90-minute discussion with Ms May from 5.30pm Irish time before EU leaders meet privately, officials will discuss: * Ms May's bid to obtain an extension to June 30, which is unlikely to be accepted by the EU * Mr Tusk's suggestion of a 12-month "flexi"-extension which would allow Britain to leave at any time over the next year if they are able to pass a deal through parliament * add ons to Mr Tusk's plan that would insist Britain is only allowed a year-long extension if it agrees to run candidates in next month's MEP elections * further conditions to only allow Britain to remain for one year if it takes a back seat to future EU budget talks and other matters * and a third back up option to the June 30 and year-long extensions which could see Britain crash out with no deal on June 1 if London refuses to take part in the MEP elections It is understood French president Emmanuel Macron and others are keen to tie down the conditions to the year-long delay before it is offered to Ms May. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said yesterday it is vital the EU leaves the light on for Britain and offers it a deal that can be accepted, while Mr Tusk said it is important the EU does not to humiliate the UK. A suspected arson attack on cars belonging to off-duty Gardai in Co Louth has been condemned. The overnight incident was described as "intimidation" by Louth TD Declan Breathnach. The cars were parked in a private housing estate in Knockbridge and, at this stage, it is thought one was set on fire and this resulted in damage being caused to the cars parked beside it. The three vehicles belong to off-duty Gardai. Deputy Breathnach, who lives in Knockbridge, said: Intimidation of Gardai or officers of our State is not something the vast majority of citizens of this State support. I condemn such actions by those criminals whos activity in my area is not reflective of the residents of Knockbridge or Co Louth, he added. The Garda Press Office did not confirm who owned the vehicles. In a statement, it said, Gardai in Dundalk are investigating an incident of criminal damage that occurred to a car at a house in Knockbridge, Dundalk in the early hours this morning. It said that no one was injured and investigations are ongoing. A man who repeatedly rammed a garda patrol car at the conclusion of a high-speed chase has been jailed for four years. Keith Duffy (31) with an address at Kempton Green, Navan Road, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to endangerment, dangerous driving and criminal damage at various locations in the Dublin 7 area on March 30, 2018. Garda Sean Kelly told Aideen Collard BL, prosecuting, that on the date in question gardai were on the lookout for a van involved in a robbery the previous day and a patrol car spotted the van being driven by Duffy in the Cabra area. The van took off at speed when gardai approached and a chase ensued which lasted 26 minutes. At one point during the chase the van stopped on one side of a humpback bridge and waited for the patrol car, then attempted to ram the car when it arrived, forcing it onto the footpath. Two further patrol cars took up the chase which concluded when the van turned into a cul de sac at Newgrange Road. The van reversed, twice rammed into a garda patrol car and attempted to ram the car a third time only to be blocked by another patrol car. Gda Kelly said the window of the van had to be smashed to remove the accused. He said that in his 10 years in the district, this incident was the worst dangerous driving I have ever dealt with. Duffy has 66 previous convictions. These include convictions for careless driving, drunken driving, driving without a licence and criminal damage. Gda Kelly agreed with Ronan Prendergast BL, defending, that Duffy was sent into a spiral by the death of his grandmother earlier that month and he began abusing illicit substances. Mr Prendergast said his client apologised to all gardai involved with the case. Judge Pauline Codd sentenced Duffy to five and a half years imprisonment, but suspended the final 18 months on condition that he keep the peace and be of good behaviour and follow the directions of the Probation Service for a period of 18 months. She said the offences were aggravated by the fact that they took place in the context of gardai doing their duty. She commended the gardai for their conduct and their courage on the night. Additional evidence Duffy also pleaded guilty to robbery at Kielys Chemist, Ballyfermot Road, Ballyfermot, on March 29, 2018. Garda Clodagh Donohue told Ms Collard that on the day before the ramming incident Duffy entered the shop in Ballyfermot with another man and told the woman running the pharmacy that he was sorry, but he wanted valium. Gda Donohue said Duffy went behind the counter holding a hammer or a metal bar. He instructed the other man to spray the woman with pepper spray in the event of her pressing the alarm. The two men stole drugs with a total value of 225 and fled the scene. Some of the drugs and a hammer were later found in the van by gardai. Judge Codd also sentenced him three years imprisonment for the robbery offence, which will run concurrently with the other sentence. She disqualified Duffy from driving for 10 years. A Liverpool man is to be extradited to the UK, where he faces life in prison for possession of firearms and class A drugs. UK authorities had sought the surrender of Adam James Wood (aged 32) with an address at Woodlands Road, Liverpool, for 12 offences related to possession of firearms, ammunition and drugs. Mr Wood was arrested here on foot of a European Arrest Warrant in 2017 and taken to the High Court in Dublin, where extradition proceedings were brought against him. The Liverpool-born man has a scar on his left hand and a tattoo in the centre of his neck saying Ciara, according to a description provided by UK authorities. The warrant, issued by Liverpool and Knowsley Magistrates Court, states that police found firearms and ammunition as well as phones containing images of firearms and ammunition at Woodlands Road and North Sudely Road, addresses in Liverpool, on August 6, 2014, and September 3, 2014. Police also found heroin and cocaine at his address in the Woodlands Road address. It is alleged that the items can be forensically linked to Mr Wood and his associates, the warrant states. He is also wanted for conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to cause fear or unlawful violence. There is evidence of a dispute between associates of Wood and another Liverpool male, the warrant states. The dispute has involved the brandishing of and use of firearms to cause fear and criminal damage. The maximum sentence in respect of some of the offences is life imprisonment. Mr Woods lawyers opposed his extradition to the UK on a number of grounds, including an argument related to Brexit. However, Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly, the High Court judge in charge of extradition, today rejected each point of objection. She made an order for his surrender in accordance with the European Arrest Warrant Act of 2003. Dressed in a grey jacket and blue jeans, he confirmed that he had no fear of flying. He has been in custody throughout the proceedings and Justice Donnelly ordered that he continue to be detained in prison until he is extradited, but brought back before the High Court if not surrendered within 25 days. However, she said that she would hear an application for a certificate to appeal his surrender tomorrow. Additional reporting by Ruaidhri Giblin New Zealands two premier civilian formation flying teams have confirmed they will be performing at next years Warbirds Over Wanaka International Airshow. One year out the New Zealand Warbirds Associations Roaring Forties Harvard display team and the Yak-52 display team have confirmed they will be on the flightline in Wanaka at Easter 2020. The Harvard has been synonymous with the Airshow since the very first event in 1988, and to celebrate the 30th Anniversary in 2018 there was a mass flypast of 11 of the aircraft type. For 2020 the Roaring Forties will be under the command of new Team Leader Dave Brown. Dave says there have been a few changes in personnel as some of the older pilots hand over the baton and theyre already working up some exciting displays for upcoming airshows including Wanaka. We will possibly work up a 6-ship display for Wanaka and you can guarantee that the noise from a 6-ship opening loop will be impressive, says Dave. Meanwhile, a big crowd favourite of the past few Wanaka Airshows, the 9-ship Yak-52 team, has also confirmed theyll be heading to Wanaka next Easter from their bases in New Plymouth and Pauanui. New Plymouth Team Leader, Brett Emeny, says the Yak team is quite unique in that the two groups practice their routines separately and then bring them together to perfect the combined display before heading south. The Yak boys really love Wanaka, especially as its where we first performed in public our 9-ship loop, a feat which we believe was a world-first for a Yak-52 team. Tickets for the 2020 Airshow have been on sale for a couple of months and already sales are ahead of the same time before the last Airshow. Event Manager, Mandy Deans, says traditionally a lot of the early interest is from international visitors and this time is no different. We have a number of tour groups promoting our event, particularly in Australia and the feedback and early bookings have been very positive, says Mandy. Warbirds Over Wanaka International Airshow is being held at Wanaka Airport next year, April 10th, 11th & 12th 2020. Tickets are on sale on 0800 224 224 or at www.warbirdsoverwanaka.com A 47-year-old man with 20 previous criminal convictions who sued after he claimed he was knocked off his bicycle by a car which failed to stop has been awarded 20,000 by the High Court. Mr Justice Michael Hanna said his impression of recovering drug addict Thomas ONeill was he was not lying and he did suffer injuries when he was struck by the car and ended up in a ditch in North Dublin almost five years ago. Thomas ONeill, who is currently serving a sentence at Midlands Prison and who at the time of the accident lived in Balrothery, Dublin, had sued the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland as a result of the accident on June 18, 2014, near Ballyheary Road, Swords, Dublin, as he cycled home from a fishing trip. It was claimed the driver who left the scene failed to keep an adequate lookout and failed to swerve to avoid the collision. Mr ONeill, who it was claimed was knocked unconscious, sustained injuries including swelling on his right jaw and also had injuries to his back and arm. He claimed his mouth opening was restricted after the accident. The claims were denied. The court heard Mr ONeill has 20 previous convictions and is currently serving a six-year sentence at Midlands Prison after breaking into a Cork house armed with a yard brush. File photo of the interior of Midlands Prison. He was sentenced to eight years imprisonment with two years suspended by Cork Circuit Criminal Court last year. He told the High Court today he was ashamed and sorry in relation to the circumstances of his convictions. In his judgement, Mr Justice Hanna described Mr O'Neill as a person with a long criminal record and a former drugs user whose addiction had blighted his life and the lives of a lot of other people who have suffered under the consequences of his need to rob and steal. But the judge said notwithstanding his serious criminal record, Mr O'Neill was entitled to make a claim in relation to the accident and was entitled to seek a recovery in law. Mr O'Neill's account of the accident, he said, had been borne out by the hospital records. A taxi driver who came upon the scene, the judge said, was a Good Samaritan who had offered help and gave his name and phone number on a piece of paper. The absence of that note, the judge said, presented a difficulty in the case but he said the taxi driver came to court to give evidence and was doing his best to tell the truth. The judge said the taxi driver supported Mr O'Neill's account of the accident. There was also a lacuna in relation to how the bike was returned to Mr O'Neill's residence after the accident, but another witness who had taken photographs of it gave evidence and the photograph showed damage consistent with Mr O'Neill's account of the accident. Mr O'Neill, he said, had presented himself at a garda station some days after the accident and did make reference to being knocked down but the garda noted he was in an intoxicated and incoherent state. Mr Justice Hanna said within a matter of days of the accident Mr O'Neill went off the wagon and this would explain the situation in the garda station. Mr O'Neill, he said, has a very significant history of serious drug abuse and it just about offered a plausible explanation as to the lapse and also could explain the lack of memory on certain things. Failure to construct a maternity hospital alongside the new 1.7bn children's hospital on the St James's Hospital (SJH) campus in Dublin would be a financial and medical catastrophe. The warning from the former Master of the Coombe, Prof Chris Fitzpatrick, will be made at the Public Accounts Committee tomorrow along with calls to reconsider the location for the national children's hospital. He expressed concerns for critically-ill newborns in the new children's hospital without plans for a maternity hospital on the same site. The obstetrician and gynaecologist said there is still uncertainty about co-location for a maternity hospital on the same site. This was based on recent government and project statements about the children's hospital. Its fair to say that there is widespread scepticism that maternity co-location will or even can happen, adds Prof Fitzpatrick. With costs for the children's hospital now at over 1.7bn and a completion date of 2023 with no sign of a co-located maternity hospital, there was a need to assess the situation, and not just continuing blindly. He called for independent testing of the St James's site as a potential site for a maternity hospital. Prof Fitzpatrick said each year over 200 critically ill new-born infants are transferred within hours of birth from maternity hospitals to specialised children's facilities in Dublin. The mortality in this group of babies ranges between 5%-18% but the numbers of infants at risk will increase with better scans and more patients coming from the North. Due to the dangers associated with transit after birth, delivering those babies without prenatal diagnosis and access to paediatric services are serious, warns Prof Fitzpatrick. Moving babies across the city in ambulances is and would be hazardous. It is also of the utmost importance that these critically-ill babies are cared for close to their mothers during the most vulnerable period of their lives and that their mothers are not on the post-natal wards of maternity hospitals in different parts of the city. Despite the long delays, the change of site to SJH, the exorbitant costs, the stunning architecture and all the spin - they [babies] will still be travelling in ambulances around Dublin, separated from their mothers. A consultant's report recommending John Delaney be appointed Executive Vice President of the FAI was commissioned only after media queries into a 2017 100,000 loan from him to his employer were submitted. FAI President Donal Conway confirmed under questioning that the commissioning of the Jonathan Hall report which recommended the change of role for Mr Delaney occurred after the first query from Sunday Times in early March. Under questioning from Fine Gael TD Noel Rock, it emerged that the FAI Board considered a "draft" of the Hall report before the final version was adopted. No fundamental changes were made between the draft version and the final version, Mr Conway said. Mr Conway also confirmed the report adopted by the board on March 22, one day before the Gibraltar match, the night Mr Delaney resigned as CEO. During the afternoon session of the Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Sport, there was stinging criticism of Mr Delaney and the FAI board over the failure to disclose the loan for 18 months. To the public, it looks like the board is a cartel, you are closing rank and you are not being honest with the public, said Fianna Fail's Transport and Sport spokesman Robert Troy. Since this morning you have been ambiguous, vague and selective. You are hiding behind the reports from Grant Thornton, Mazars. Can you not be honest with the public? Sinn Fein's Imelda Munster said Mr Delaney "has behaved disgracefully, he furnished a statement but refused to answer any questions. It is farcical and a disgrace." Mr Delaney's refusal to answer questions was probed and Mr Conway said he knew as of yesterday that Mr Delaney was not going to answer any questions at committee. Mr Conway said he was limited by advice as to what he could say but it was certainly not his desire to show any disrespect to members. FAI President Donal Conway. It is not my intention to show any disrespect. What I can and can't answer is guided by advice. We all know the areas which we can and can't go into. If that is evasive, I have no option on that Deputy, he said. Despite a number of attempts to draw Mr Delaney into answering questions on the loan and his change of job, he stated that we would not be adding to the statement, he read to the committee this morning. Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy accused the board of being very passive in not being aware of being made aware of the 100,000 until March of this year. FAI Honorary Treasurer Eddie Murray said he was less than happy that as the person who signed off on the accounts not to have been informed of it. "I found it unsatisfactory, to say the least, he said. When asked to clarify as to why Mr Delaney, Mr Murray and a third board member did not inform their colleagues of the loan, Mr Conway said he assumed there must have been an understanding that there was no requirement to report the matter. Kerry TD, Michael Healy-Rae, who was not a committee member, but who was allowed to speak, drew criticism after he lavished praise on Mr Delaney and failed to ask any questions. He said John Delaney is guilty only of being passionate about football, will get the mother of all welcomes when he comes to Kerry and says his track record is second to none. Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger branded Mr Healy-Rae a joke. Earlier: FAI board not told about bridging loan for two years; John Delaney unable to answer questions on legal advice The board of the Football Association of Ireland was not told for almost two years of the 100,000 interest-free loan from its former CEO John Delaney, it has been confirmed. At a tense and somewhat farcical hearing of the Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Sport, TDs and Senators were told that in April 2017, an immediate cash flow issue arose which needed to be resolved within a matter of a few hours. An internal three-person finance committee which included Mr Delaney discussed the fact that cheques issued by the FAI, were they to be presented for cashing, could cause the organisation to exhaust its funds, including its 1.5 million overdraft facility with Bank of Ireland. FAI President Donal Conway confirmed to committee members that the matter of the 100,000 loan was only disclosed to the board in early March 2019 when queries from the Sunday Times about it were received. Mr Conway read into the record evidence relating to the 100,000 loan and confirmed that on April 25th 2017, a short term cash flow issue arose. He said FAI board members discussed that a potential situation arose whereby there may have been insufficient funds in the body's accounts to meet cheques that had been issued. Mr Delaney issued a personal cheque for the amount of 100,000 which was cashed the next day to meet the bill from one unnamed contractor. Mr Delaney was repaid a short time later and it was confirmed that no documents related to the loan existed, no interest was levied or paid. Mr Conway said the board accepts the situation was exceptional. Former FAI Chief Executive John Delaney has said he regrets the embarrassment caused by the granting of a 100,000 loan by him to the organisation in 2017. Giving his opening statement after several delays at the Oireachtas Sports Committee, Mr Delaney spelt out the circumstances as to how he came to cut the cheque making clear that the FAI had all but exhausted its 1.5 overdraft with Bank of Ireland on April 25, 2017. As a result, cheques issued by the FAI may not be fully met, and as the body only had a few hours to resolve the issue, Mr Delaney decided to issue the cheque. He demanded that the cheque only be lodged if needed and was told by the FAI's director of finance that it was needed to meet a payment to a third-party creditor the next day, April 26, 2017. Mr Delaney made it clear that the 100,000 payment was not made known to the FAI board for 18 months until media queries were lodged with the organisation in March 2019. Donal Conway, FAI President, confirmed that while some members of the board were aware of the payment, the board was not formally informed until Mr Delaney made it known that queries from the Sunday Times newspaper had been received about it. Mr Delaney told committee members that beyond his statement, on legal advice, he was not in a position to answer any further questions. He also delivered a warning to committee members that given some of them have made highly prejudicial comments and the recent Kerins judgement, I would ask committee respect my position I cannot answer any further questions. Mr Delaney said he was only able to answer questions in relation to his current role as Executive Vice President. A short time later, committee member Ruth Coppinger said they were "being gagged" because of the Kerins ruling, describing the hearing as a "frustrating process". Earlier: Former FAI Chief Executive John Delaney has said he regrets the embarrassment caused by the granting of a 100,000 loan by him to the organisation in 2017. Giving his opening statement after several delays at the Oireachtas Sports Committee, Mr Delaney spelt out the circumstances as to how he came to cut the cheque making clear that the FAI had all but exhausted its 1.5 overdraft with Bank of Ireland on April 25, 2017. As a result, cheques issued by the FAI may not be fully met, and as the body only had a few hours to resolve the issue, Mr Delaney decided to issue the cheque. He demanded that the cheque only be lodged if needed and was told by the FAI's director of finance that it was needed to meet a payment to a third-party creditor the next day, April 26, 2017. Mr Delaney made it clear that the 100,000 payment was not made known to the FAI board for 18 months until media queries were lodged with the organisation in March 2019. Donal Conway, FAI President, confirmed that while some members of the board were aware of the payment, the board was not formally informed until Mr Delaney made it known that queries from the Sunday Times newspaper had been received about it. Mr Delaney told committee members that beyond his statement, on legal advice he was not in a position to answer any further questions. He also delivered a warning to committee members that given some of them have made highly prejudicial comments and the recent Kerins judgement, I would ask committee respect my position I cannot answer any further questions. Former FAI chief executive John Delaney with Director of Competitions Fran Gavin (red tie) on their way into an Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport. Picture: Leah Farrell/Rollngnews.ie Mr Delaney said he was only able to answer questions in relation to his current role as Executive Vice President. Mr Delaney said he is "truly saddened" that Sport Ireland saw fit to withdraw funding from the FAI. Before he spoke, Committee chairman Fergus O'Dowd gave voice to the depth of frustration felt by committee members at the lateness of the arrival of Mr Delaney's statement. The committee hearing continues. Earlier: 100k loan to FAI was to overcome short-term cash flow issues, Oireachtas committee told A 100,000 interest-free loan was given by John Delaney to the FAI in April 2017 to overcome short-term cash flow issues, the Oireachtas Sports Committee has heard. In somewhat farcical scenes this morning, the committee was forced twice into private session as both FAI President Donal Conway and Mr Delaney presented new evidence which had not been given to the committee in advance, as is the norm. Following the first break, Mr Conway read into the record evidence relating to the 100,000 loan and confirmed that on April 25, 2017, a short term cash flow issue arose. He said FAI board members discussed that a potential situation arose whereby there may have been insufficient funds in the body's accounts to meet cheques that had been issued. Mr Delaney issued a personal cheque for the amount of 100,000 which was cashed the next day to meet the bill from one unnamed contractor. This is how John Delaney is going to play it at the Oireachtas committee.#FAI #dubw pic.twitter.com/FoWVnXS9E0 Ruth Coppinger (@RuthCoppingerSP) April 10, 2019 Mr Delaney was repaid a short time later and it was confirmed that no documents related to the loan existed, no interest was levied or paid. Mr Conway said the board accepts the situation was exceptional. He also confirmed that the FAI has also advised Sport Ireland that recent public comments made by the FAI did not accurately reflect the Boards level of awareness of the existence of the 100,000 payment to the Association in 2017. In his opening statement, he also confirmed that the FAI did break the rules by not informing Sport Ireland of the loan. We acknowledge that certain circumstances arose in April 2017 which were not reported to Sport Ireland. We will work with Sport Ireland in order to establish a process to ensure the FAI are, in future, fully compliant with clause 4.3, he said. He said Sport Ireland has always supported the FAI and understands the cyclical nature of our funding. Mr Conway added that Sport is a very different business to others. The qualification stage process of football is unique. Financial fluctuations are the norm and cash flow is often irregular. The disappointment of the failure of the mens senior team to qualify for World Cup 2018 had a major impact on match attendance and, subsequently, cash flow, he said. FAI executive vice-president John Delaney before his appearance before an Oireachtas committee this morning. Photo: INPHO/Morgan Treacy. Earlier: Oireachtas committee questioning FAI and Delaney over loan A delegation from the FAI, including former chief executive John Delaney, is appearing before the Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport today. Mr Delaney is being questioned on the circumstances of a 100,000 loan from him to the body in 2017. The hearing comes after State funding to the FAI was suspended yesterday. Sport Ireland withdrew commitment for 1.35m the FAI admitted it broke the rules by not disclosing the alleged bridging loan. This morning's committee is focusing on issues of governance and finance at the soccer body. The hearing will attempt to decipher the exact terms of the loan and what the FAI board knew about it. Committee chairman Fergus ODowd said the hearing will "be fair, focused, but robust and the questions will be in line with the clear remit of the committee". Additional reporting by Digital Desk staff More than 20,000 disclosures of domestic violence against women and children were made to Women's Aid last year. In its Impact Report for 2018, the national domestic violence charity revealed that its phone helpline and Dublin-based services were contacted more than 19,000 times. Of this, almost 17,000 disclosures of domestic violence against women were made, as well as almost 4,000 disclosures of child abuse. One in four women who contacted the organisation were experiencing abuse from a former husband or partner. The annual report by Women's Aid will be launched today in Dublin by Minister for Children Katherine Zappone at an event chaired by Miriam O'Callaghan. The charity is highlighting the link between child abuse and domestic violence and is calling for greater recognition of the risk to children. It says improved State interventions and protections are needed, especially when granting access to children for perpetrators of domestic violence. "Immediate interim measures" to ensure that no contact is allowed until safe contact can be guaranteed, it says. Domestic violence is a serious crime against women and children in Irish society but one that remains hidden and minimised," said the Director of Womens Aid, Margaret Martin. "We are very concerned about the number of disclosures to Women's Aid of children being directly abused and exposed to domestic violence. "It is heart-breaking to listen to women who are living in a constant state of fear for their children and themselves. "As much as they can, women work hard to protect their children and to keep their childrens lives as safe, stable and normal as possible despite the domestic violence. This fear is heightened when women have to facilitate access to the children for the man who has been perpetrating domestic violence. A fathers right to access should not outweigh a childs right to safety. Child protection and safety should be prioritised in all custody and access proceedings. To do anything less is to fail women and children," she said. Women's Aid says that children are bearing witness to violence against their mothers, including threats, emotional, physical and sexual abuse. They may also have overheard abusive incidents or seen the aftermath of it. Last year, women reported that their children had experience abuse including being hit, slapped, shouted at and called names, and in some cases, sexually abused. Women's Aid responded to 44 calls a day on its helpline, and heard that women were also experiencing financial abuse, with many saying that because of this they were being forced to choose between staying in an abusive relationship and facing poverty. Children have been told they will be killed alongside their mothers, Ms Martin said. The charity said that children are being put at risk by court rulings allowing access by perpetrators of domestic violence and last year heard over 483 disclosures of women being and 255 disclosures of children being abused during access visits. "In cases where abusive ex-partners are granted access including overnight access, this increases the contact women must have with them, her anxiety, and the risk to her and the children. However, this needs to change as a matter of urgency," Ms Martin said. Womens Aid said that it is "imperative" that the risk posed by a perpetrator of domestic violence to the children and the impact of such abuse on them is assessed and that immediate interim measures are taken to protect the children including the rebuttal presumption of no contact until safe contact can be guaranteed. A recent Joint Committee of Justice and Equality on Reform of the Family Law system is also criticised for failing to reach out to frontline organisations supporting victims of domestic violence through the court process. The Impact Report contains recommendations to address this issue, including the courts ensuring that the safety of children is taken into account, the availability of experts and the training of staff in agencies that support victims of domestic violence to understand the impact of abuse on women and children. Ms Martin also said the "scandalous situation" of insufficient refuge space for women and children needs to be addressed. Currently, Ireland only has one-third of emergency accommodation recommended by the Istanbul Convention and the refuge places that do exist are often full to capacity," she said. When the National Helpline staff and volunteers have tried to find a refuge place for women and her children, on 52% occasions, the refuge was full. "This is an unacceptable situation and leaves our support workers having to tell women and their children that there is no safe place to go on too many occasions." You can contact Women's Aid on its 24 hour National Freephone Helpline at 1800 341 900 and can access more information on www.womensaid.ie A filling station in Co Derry has gone to great lengths to project its ATM after a spate of robberies on both sides of the border in recent times. The Centra store in Maghera put large concrete blocks around the ATM after a cash machine was ripped from the wall in nearby Dungiven over the weekend. The large blocks were put in place as there have been eight such robberies in the region this year, according to the Irish News Jamesies filling station on the Glenshane Pass in Co-Derry, the main route between Derry and Belfast. In these incidents, thieves are using stolen diggers to rip the ATMs out of the walls. Just last week, an ATM was stolen in Castleblaney, Co Monaghan which led to road closures as these incidents accelerate on both sides of the border. Yesterday, the Irish Examiner reported that gardai in Donegal are on high alert after the theft of a digger and the attempted theft of another in the county. Garda Sgt Eunan Walsh appealed to members of the public to be vigilant. "Obviously we have to keep an open mind on these robberies or attempted robberies because of the recent spate of thefts of ATMs," he said. "The latest attempt to steal a digger happened in Letterkenny over the weekend when a machine parked beside the Letterkenny Community Centre was interfered with. "We're not sure if this is in any way connected with these ATM thefts but we have to consider all options," he added. Messages on a mans phone showed that he was not only a drug dealer but was also involved in collecting drug debts, a judge has said. Text, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp messages on the phone of Conor McCarthy of 15 High St in Skibbereen in Co Cork were read out in court where the 26-year-old was contesting charges of having cannabis and cocaine for the purposes of sale and supply on April 28 last. Det Garda Andrew Manning of the West Cork Divisional Drugs Unit told Judge James McNulty that a search carried out under warrant at Mr McCarthys home led to the discovery of cocaine in his wallet and cannabis in his car. Mr McCarthy admitted possession to both substances for his personal use but denied he was dealing drugs. The court heard the value of both substances seized was 80 although Mr McCarthys solicitor, Ray Hennessy, said the figure was lower. Det Garda Manning also discovered 1,050 in Mr McCarthys wallet - which Mr McCarthy said was savings - and a bag containing 17 smaller plastic bags. The Garda also seized his phone which contained messages involving saved and unsaved contacts. Contents of the message exchanges read out in court included one referring to "baggies. Other exchanges included buddy in Bantry looking for stuff, will you do me a favour, put half a gram in each bag, whats the story with the money? You cant keep ignoring me forever. One message referred to a tick list and another to the need for payment, adding Hope so for your own safety. Another said no excuses, I will be visiting your home today. In court Mr McCarthy, a father-of-two, said of the messages: It does not prove that I was sending those messages or receiving them. He told the judge it could be others using his phone as he had given out his PIN number to his friends. Mr McCarthy had 14 previous convictions including three for assaults, but had no history of drug offences. Convicting him, Judge McNulty said it was disturbing that Mr McCarthy would send a message to the effect of threatening to doorstep someone, quoting part of the message: You are bringing a whole load of trouble around your family. He sentenced Mr McCarthy to two 12 month sentences for possession of cannabis and cocaine for sale and supply, a three-month sentence for cocaine possession, and a probation bond. Mr McCarthy appealed the verdict. Ryanair has issued an apology after an Arab Spring activist was prevented from boarding a flight to Dublin today. Iyad El-Baghdadi said he was denied boarding at Berlin airport this morning because he was a refugee. Mr El-Baghdadi is a prominent human rights activist and writer who attracted international attention during the Arab Spring in 2011. Born in Kuwait and raised in the UAE, he secured political asylum in Norway in 2015. He said on Twitter: "I'm at the airport in Berlin and I'm being denied boarding by @Ryanair because I'm a refugee. I'm heading to Dublin. The Irish government website says I can travel but @Ryanair says I can't. If you love me, make some noise." There was no reason given for the refusal, he said. "I don't blame the gate agents or even the supervisor for that matter. Institutional discrimination is structural and not personal," Mr El-Baghdadi said. "I don't feel good about them but I don't hate them or fault them. My insults were directed at Ryanair, not a particular person." Ryanair said the incident was due to an error by a handling agent at the airport and offered Mr El-Baghdadi an alternative flight and compensation. In a statement to the Irish Examiner, a spokesperson for the airline said: "This customer was denied boarding because of an error made by our handling agent in Berlin. Ryanair has since made contact with the customer directly and he will travel with us later today. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused". Mr El-Baghdadi has since confirmed that he will arrive in Dublin at 7.45pm, more than seven hours after his original flight was scheduled to arrive. He is travelling to the city for a meeting and will now spend less than 24 hours in the country before he travels onwards to Oslo. Mr El-Baghdadi said he had checked with the Irish embassy before travelling that he would be permitted to enter the country and says he presented a printout from a government webpage to staff at Berlin airport. The Department of Justice and Equality says on its website that holders of a Convention travel document issued in accordance with Article 28 of the Geneva Convention are permitted for short stays of up to 90 days in Ireland. Holders of such documents are exempt from an Irish visa requirement for short stays if they are issued by a European State which is a contracting party to the "European Agreement on the Abolition of Visas for Refugees". Norway is included as one of the countries on this list. The Irish Refugee Council said in response to Mr El-Baghdadi's comments on Twitter that it was "not the first time we have heard of people being refused travel". The Council said that Ryanair and Irish Government guidance is clear and that "perhaps more training and awareness raising [is] needed for ground staff" at the airline. Derry Girls fans were left in tears following an emotional season two finale last night. The episode centred around Bill Clinton's visit to Derry in 1995 and his historic speech that followed but it was James's decision to leave Derry that had fans grabbing for the tissues. SPOILER ALERT The wee English fella told the girls he was moving back to London to live with his mum Kathy McGuire. He had been offered the chance to work with her business which meant leaving Derry forever. As he told the girls the news he claimed it shouldnt matter as he wasnt a Derry girl like them anyway. In an emotional scene, Michelle - who has a love/hate relationship with her cousin - dropped her guard and tried to convince James that he did in fact belong in Derry. Being a Derry girl, its a f***in' state of mind Sadly Michelles plea failed and James decided to make his way back to England, leaving fans devastated. Crying at james leaving #DerryGirls Shauna (@littlelawchick) April 9, 2019 It wasnt until the crew were in the crowd at Bill Clintons public appearance that James reappeared to tell them that he changed his mind. Im a Derry Girl, he shouted as he raced to meet them. A line that fans have now clung to. I welled up at I AM A DERRY GIRL Scott Bryan (@scottygb) April 9, 2019 "I am a Derry Girl". #derrygirls that was far too short a series pic.twitter.com/Bx8ljNldpt jo kilkenny (@jokilkenny) April 9, 2019 I AM A DERRY GIRL #derrygirls Sarah Phelps (@PhelpsieSarah) April 9, 2019 Some even requesting it be displayed on show merchandise. Somebody start printing "I am a Derry Girl" on t shirts please. I need one. mark cousins (@markcousinsfilm) April 9, 2019 Does anyone else predict a Primark collection on the horizon? A fire has broken out at a major shopping centre complex in Thailand's capital, killing at least two people and injuring more than a dozen, officials said. The extent of the fire at Bangkok's Central World complex, which includes a hotel and an office tower, was small but it caused the shopping centre's evacuation, which was still going on at least an hour after the fire began. The fire department said the blaze was extinguished but that smoke still needed to be released from several floors. Firemen could be seen entering the building with masks and oxygen tanks. Bangkok governor Assawin Kwanmuang initially told reporters that three people died, one at the scene and two at hospital. He later said that two people were confirmed dead but did not explain the discrepancy. The city's Erawan Emergency Radio network said 17 people were injured. Thai media reported that at least one of the people who died had jumped from one of the complex's buildings. Mr Assawin said the fire was believed to have started in a document storage room in one of the buildings that is part of the complex. Video posted on social media soon after the fire began showed a person jumping from one of the complex's buildings. There is/was a fire at #Bangkok CentralWorld convention center wing, the staff food court by the looks of it. pic.twitter.com/F2rH8HRMl5 Conny Brunnkvist (@connyb) April 10, 2019 Thai media reported that at least one of the people who died had jumped from a building. Images on social media showed large flames raging out of what appeared to be a rear portion of the complex, and hundreds of evacuated shoppers filling a large open square next to the shopping centre. Central World said in statements posted to its social media accounts that the fire broke out at around 5.40pm local time. It said it immediately began evacuating people from the building and that firefighters brought the blaze under control within half an hour. The fire broke out during the congested city's evening rush hour. Sirens from emergency vehicles wailed as they tried to make their way through gridlocked traffic. Central World sits at a major intersection surrounded by shopping complexes, shrines and high-rise hotels popular with foreign tourists. It is near the main junction for Bangkok's elevated train lines, as well as the Erawan Shrine, which was the site of a deadly bombing in 2015. The centre would typically have been busy with shoppers as well as diners heading to the many restaurants inside. Central World was among several Bangkok buildings set on fire by arsonists during mass anti-government protests in 2010. It is part of one of Thailand's best-known chains of shopping centres controlled by the Central Pattana property development company, which operates retail complexes across Bangkok and other parts of Thailand. It in turn is a division of the family-owned Central Group holding company. The former husband of a British woman detained in Dubai for calling his new wife a "horse" had reported her to British police for alleged harassment nearly four years ago, it has emerged. Laleh Shahravesh, from Richmond, south-west London, potentially faces jail after she appears in court in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday over allegations she insulted Samah Al Hammadi on Facebook. Ms Shahravesh, 55, was arrested after touching down in a Dubai airport with her 14-year-old daughter on March 10 and was reportedly held under the nation's controversial cybercrime laws. Laleh Shahravesh (right) with her 14-year-old daughter, Paris. Pic: Detained in Dubai. Officers confirmed that Ms Shahravesh's ex-husband, Pedro Correia Dos Santos, previously made an allegation about her to Scotland Yard. "In October 2015, police were contacted by a 48-year-old man living in Dubai concerning claims of harassment against a 52-year-old woman living in London, who was known to him," a statement from the force said. Police spoke to both parties and the case was closed without any arrests. Ms Hammadi told the Daily Mail that they made a complaint to Dubai police after Ms Shahravesh refused to relent in her behaviour. "She has been abusing him, sending him emails, even to his boss in the bank, saying I am a bitch, that I took him from her, that she doesn't have money. He sent emails asking her to stop. It did not stop," Ms Hammadi said. Campaign group Detained in Dubai has taken up Ms Shahravesh's case, with chief executive Radha Stirling saying Ms Hammadi had "stubbornly refused" to drop the complaint. Ms Shahravesh was married to Mr Correia Dos Santos for 18 years and they lived together in Dubai for eight months before she returned to the UK with their daughter. A few months later, in 2016, she received divorce papers and saw from photos on Facebook that Mr Correia Dos Santos had remarried. In one later post, written in Farsi, she said: "I hope you go under the ground you idiot. Damn you. You left me for this horse." In March, Ms Shahravesh and daughter Paris travelled to Dubai for Mr Correia Dos Santos's funeral a week after his death from a heart attack. The mother was arrested and her passport was seized. Paris wrote to Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum pleading for her mother's release. Speaking to the Mail Online this week, Ms Shahravesh said: "Never in a million years did I think I would find myself in this situation over something that was written three years ago." Police have raided more than 30 premises linked to suspected far-right extremists in Berlin and three other eastern German states. German news agency dpa reported that the raids were mainly centred on Brandenburg state and the region around Cottbus, about 62 miles south-east of the capital. New Zealand's parliament has passed sweeping gun laws that outlaw military-style weapons less than a month after mass shootings at two mosques in the city of Christchurch left 50 people dead and dozens wounded. A Bill outlawing most automatic and semi-automatic weapons and banning components that modify existing weapons was passed by a vote of 119 to 1 in the House of Representatives after an accelerated process of debate and public submission. The Bill needs only the approval of New Zealand's governor general, a formality, before becoming law on Friday. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke emotionally during the Bill's final reading of the traumatic injuries suffered by victims of the March 15 attacks, whom she visited in Christchurch Hospital after the shootings. "I struggle to recall any single gunshot wounds," Ms Ardern said. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern consoling a woman last month after the terror attack in Christchurch. "In every case they spoke of multiple injuries, multiple debilitating injuries that deemed it impossible for them to recover in days, let alone weeks. They will carry disabilities for a lifetime, and that's before you consider the psychological impact. We are here for them. "I could not fathom how weapons that could cause such destruction and large-scale death could be obtained legally in this country." A 28-year-old Australian man, Brenton Tarrant, has been charged over the attacks. Ms Ardern, who has won international praise for her compassion and leadership since the shootings, was able to win rare bipartisan support for a Bill that makes it illegal to own a military-style semi-automatic rifle. The only dissenting voice was from the libertarian ACT Party, which has one politician in parliament. The law includes a buy-back scheme under which owners of outlawed weapons can surrender them to police in return for compensation based on the weapon's age and condition. Anyone who retains such a weapon after the law formally passes on Friday faces a penalty of up to five years in prison. Some exemptions have been allowed for heirloom weapons held by collectors or for professional pest control. Memorials at the scene of the terror attack at one of the mosques in the city of Christchurch last month. Ms Ardern said politicians had a responsibility to act on behalf of victims of the shootings. "We are ultimately here because 50 people died and they do not have a voice," she said. "We in this house are their voice. Today we can use that voice wisely." She added: "We are here just 26 days after the most devastating terrorist attacks created the darkest of days in New Zealand's history. "We are here as an almost entirely united parliament. There have been very few occasions when I have seen parliament come together in this way and I cannot imagine circumstances where that is more necessary than it is now." Ms Ardern said there was some opposition from firearms owners, but that the response to the proposed legislation was overwhelmingly positive. "My question here is simple," she said. "You either believe that here in New Zealand these weapons have a place or you do not. If you believe, like us, that they do not, you should be able to believe we can move swiftly. "An argument about process is an argument to do nothing." The Vatican has for the first time opened its own investigation into the case of Emanuela Orlandi, a 15-year-old Vatican citizen who disappeared in the summer of 1983. The Orlandi family's lawyer Laura Sgro confirmed the probe. She said "the secretariat of state has authorised the opening of an investigation into a grave in the Teutonic Cemetery inside the Vatican," after an anonymous tip-off indicated that investigators should look where a statue of an angel in the cemetery is pointing. The Vatican had previously said it was handling a request from the Orlandi family to reopen a grave close to the statue of an angel holding a sheet bearing the words Rest in Peace. Emanuela Orlandi. Interim Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti declined further comment. Emanuela was the daughter of a Vatican employee who lived with his family in the tiny city state. She was 15 when she disappeared after a music lesson in Rome. The family have long demanded to see Vatican documentation about the enduring mystery. The cold case attracted fresh attention at the end of October when two sets of remains were found in the basement of the Vatican Nunciature, an extraterritorial Church property located in Rome's city centre. The identification of at least one of the bodies as female led to immediate speculation in Italy that the findings might eventually shed light on one of the country's most persistent mysteries. Investigators said at the time that preliminary examinations of the bones indicated they belonged to a woman probably in her thirties. But, despite the age of the bones, the Orlandi family lawyer said they would wait for DNA results. One hypothesis for Emanuela's disappearance is that she was not killed immediately but instead held for years against her will. Investigative sources, however, told Italian media in the following weeks that the bones were too old to be related to the Orlandi case. For more than 35 years, Italian media have been obsessed with the fate of Emanuela. Over the years, many rumours have swirled about what happened to her - including conspiracies tied to the Mafia and the plot to assassinate Pope John Paul II. This Service Agreement (Agreement) is entered into by and between Briefing.com, Inc. a Delaware Corporation with a principal address at 401 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1910, Chicago, Illinois 60611 (Briefing.com), and reader (Reader) and shall become effective, as appropriate, upon either activation of a Register button on the website upon which the Services reside (the Site) or upon use of the Site by Reader (Effective Date). 1) Grant of License. a) Briefing.com grants to Reader the nonexclusive right to use the Services herein and the information, content, materials and tools provided via the services (collectively, "the Services") solely for Reader's personal, internal, noncommercial use in accordance with the terms and conditions of this Agreement and any user documentation that may be provided online by Briefing.com. Certain materials on the Services may be made available by Briefing.com for download and/or printing by Reader. Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, Briefing.com grants Reader the limited permission to download and print such materials for Reader's personal, internal, noncommercial use only; provided that all copyright notices and other proprietary or cautionary legends appearing on the originals are duplicated on all copies thereof. b) Notwithstanding any provision in the terms and conditions of this Agreement, Briefing.com reserves the right, in its sole discretion, at any time, to change or modify (i) the Services, (ii) any particular information, content, materials and tools provided via the Services, (iii) terminate the Services all together and/or (iv) on notice to Reader (which may consist of a notice posted on the Site), these terms and conditions. Reader's use of the Services following any such change constitutes Readers agreement to follow and be bound by such terms and conditions, as changed. In addition, Briefing.com reserves the right, in its sole discretion, at any time and for any reason to terminate access to the Services of any Reader. 2) License Restrictions. Reader agrees not to reproduce, retransmit, disseminate, sell, distribute, publish, broadcast, circulate or commercially exploit the information available through the Services in any manner or for any purposes without the express written consent of Briefing.com, nor to use the information available through the Services for any unlawful purpose. In no event may Reader offer the use of the Services as a part of a service bureau, time-sharing, or other similar arrangement. Reader agrees to access the Services manually by request at all times and not programmatically by macro or other automated means. Reader is prohibited from using any type of automated method of retrieving data from the Services without the prior written consent of Briefing.com. This includes, but is not limited to, programs termed as spiders, snakes, robots, mirroring type programs, and custom written programs or any other manually or automatic application or device to download, retrieve, index, archive or reproduce, circumvent the security, structural integrity or navigation of the Site. Notwithstanding the language herein, recognized search engines may use commercially accepted methods to index the Site. If Reader wishes to use the Services in any manner not expressly permitted by this Agreement, Reader may request permission from Briefing.com by giving to Briefing.com a written description of the intended use and such other information as Briefing.com may request. Only an authorized representative of Briefing.com may grant such permission. The granting of such a request may entail an additional fee payable by Reader. 3) Briefing.com's Proprietary Rights. All right, title and interest in and to the Services, and all information, content, materials and tools made available through the Services, in all languages, formats and media throughout out the world, including all copyrights and trademarks therein, are and shall continue to be the exclusive property of Briefing.com or its affiliates and/or its licensors and independent third party information and content or data providers (such licensors and third parties are referred to as the "Providers"), or used under principles of fair use. Nothing contained herein shall create, nor shall be construed as, an assignment to Reader of any right, title or interest in or to the Services or any information, content, materials or tools made available through the Services; it being acknowledged that all right, title and interest in and to the Services or any information, content, materials or tools made available through the Services is expressly reserved by Briefing.com or the Providers. Reader agrees that it will do nothing inconsistent with Briefing.com's or the Providers' ownership of, or rights in, the Services or any information, content, materials or tools made available through the Services. 4) Potential Registration. Briefing.com has free non-subscription areas within the Site which do not require registration of any kind. A Reader is free to access these areas of the Site without submitting any personal contact information. Briefing.com also has several subscription areas on the Site. In order to use these subscription areas on the Site, a Reader must first complete a registration form. During registration a Reader is required to provide contact information (such as name and e-mail address). We use this information to contact the Reader about services on our Site for which he has purchased a subscription to access; and unique identifiers (such as, username and password). We request information from the Reader on our subscriber form. A Reader must provide contact information (such as name, e-mail, and mailing address) and financial information (such as credit card number, expiration date). This information is used for billing purposes. If we have trouble processing an order, the information is used to contact the Reader. 5) Fees. To the extent that Reader has subscribed to any Services, depending upon the length of term and payment frequency for the Services as chosen by Reader, Reader agrees to either pay in advance via check, or have payment drawn for the Services from his/her credit card account on file at the time payment is due for a two (2) year, one (1) year, quarterly or monthly basis and in advance. After the Effective Date, annual accounts only are eligible for pro-rated refunds within the first 30 days of their annual term. 6) Sales or Use Tax. To the extent that Reader has subscribed to any Services, Reader agrees to pay any applicable taxes, whether state, county, local, city, sales, consumption, value-added, excise, use or other taxes, when due, imposed on Reader with respect to the Services, together with any interest or penalties thereon. 7) Future Services. To the extent that Reader has subscribed to any Services, the terms and conditions of this Agreement (including but not limited to the Agreement renewal date) will be binding on any additional Services subsequently subscribed to as well as any remaining Services after termination of any Services occurs. 8) Fee Increases. a) To the extent that Reader has subscribed to any Services, if necessary, Briefing.com may increase fees for the applicable Services at any time by giving thirty (30) days written notice to Reader, however Reader may terminate only those Services affected by giving written notice to Briefing.com prior to the effective date of such increase. b) To the extent that Reader has subscribed to any Services, fees for the Services specified may be increased by Briefing.com at any time during the term of this Agreement on written notice to Reader if Briefing.com becomes aware that any information provided by Reader is not accurate. 9) Term and Termination. a) Term. To the extent that Reader has subscribed to any Services, the Subscription Term of this Agreement will begin on the Effective Date and shall continue for an initial term as chosen by Reader on the web based sign-up page, an off-line written agreement or with Briefing.com Customer Service for the Services subscribed to, unless terminated earlier as provided herein. THEREAFTER THIS AGREEMENT SHALL AUTOMATICALLY RENEW FOR SUCCESSIVE RENEWAL TERMS AT THE FEE THEN IN EFFECT, UNLESS EITHER PARTY PROVIDES NOTICE TO THE OTHER PARTY OF ITS DECISION NOT TO RENEW THE AGREEMENT AT LEAST THIRTY (30) DAYS PRIOR TO THE TERMINATION OF THE THEN-CURRENT TERM. Any such notice of termination must be in writing and addressed to service@briefing.com. b) Termination. i) To the extent that Reader has subscribed to any Services, Briefing.com may terminate this Agreement: (1) upon 30 days' notice to Reader if Reader is in breach or default of any term or condition of this Agreement, provided that such breach or default is not cured within said 30-day period; or (2) immediately if Reader becomes insolvent, makes a general assignment for the benefit of creditors, files a voluntary petition of bankruptcy, suffers or permits the appointment of a receiver for its business or assets, or becomes subject to any proceedings under any bankruptcy or insolvency law, whether domestic or foreign, or has wound up or liquidated, voluntarily or otherwise. (3) immediately if the Reader is found to be redistributing or otherwise using the Services in a manner in any way detrimental to this Agreement. ii) Upon the effective date of any termination or expiration of this Agreement for any reason, Reader shall cease all use of the applicable Services, each Password will be deactivated and Reader shall no longer be permitted access to the Services. Termination for any of the foregoing shall not affect Briefing.coms entitlement to any sums due hereunder, and Reader shall not be entitled to any refund of any portion of the fees paid. 10) Disclaimer of Warranties and Other Disclaimers. a) Reader agrees that neither Briefing.com, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, agents or representatives, nor the Providers, nor any officer, director, employee, agent, affiliate or representative thereof shall have any liability, contingent or otherwise, for the accuracy, truthfulness, timeliness, reliability, completeness or correct sequencing of the Services or the information made available through the Services, or for any decision made or action taken by Reader in reliance upon such information or the Services, or for interruption or delay of any data, information or any other aspect of the Services. b) Neither Briefing.com nor its affiliates or the Providers warrant that the Service and the information obtained from the Services is appropriate for Reader's needs, that the Services will be available at any particular time or location, or that any defects or errors in the Services will be corrected. Certain information accessible through the Services may be provided by parties with whom Briefing.com has no relationship. Other information that Briefing.com obtains from the Providers is obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Nevertheless, due to various factors, including the inherent possibility of human and mechanical error, the accuracy, truthfulness, timeliness, reliability, completeness or correct sequencing of such information in the Service is not and cannot be guaranteed by Briefing.com, the Providers or by any persons creating or transmitting such information. c) THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY. ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY WARRANTIES OF ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, TIMELINESS, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NONINFRINGEMENT ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED. READER RECOGNIZES THAT THE ACCURACY OF ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICES SHOULD BE CHECKED BEFORE READER RELIES ON IT. d) USE OF THE SERVICES AND ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICES IS SOLELY AT READER'S RISK. IN NO EVENT SHALL BRIEFING.COM OR THE PROVIDERS BE LIABLE FOR LOSS OF PROFITS OR DATA, USE OR INTERRUPTION OF BUSINESS, TRADING LOSSES OR DAMAGES THAT RESULT FROM INCONVENIENCE, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO READER'S USE OF THE SERVICES, EVEN IF BRIEFING.COM OR THE PROVIDERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR ARE OTHERWISE AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF ANY OF THE FOREGOING. IN NO EVENT SHALL BRIEFING.COM'S OR THE PROVIDERS AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR BASED UPON THIS AGREEMENT REGARDLESS OF THE FORM IN WHICH ANY LEGAL OR EQUITABLE ACTION MAY BE BROUGHT, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY ACTION IN TORT OR CONTRACT, EXCEED THE FEES PAID BY READER, IF ANY, TO BRIEFING.COM PURSUANT TO THIS AGREEMENT e) READER ACKNOWLEDGES THAT INFORMATION AND CONTENT AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SERVICES MAY CONTAIN COMPUTER VIRUSES OR OTHER CONTAMINANTS, INCLUDING, BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO, TROJAN HORSES, TRAP DOORS, BACK DOORS, EASTER EGGS, WORMS, TIME BOMBS, CANCELBOTS OR OTHER MALICIOUS COMPUTER PROGRAMMING ROUTINES, MALICIOUS CODES OR INSTRUCTIONS THAT ARE INTENDED TO DAMAGE, DETRIMENTALLY INTERFERE WITH, SURREPTITIOUSLY INTERCEPT OR EXPROPRIATE, MODIFY, DELETE, DAMAGE OR DISABLE ANY SYSTEM OR SYSTEM DATA. SHOULD READER DOWNLOAD ANY SUCH INFORMATION OR MATERIALS FROM THE SERVICES, IT IS READER'S RESPONSIBILITY TO PERFORM ANY SCANNING OR OTHER ANTI-VIRUS PRECAUTIONS AS READER DEEMS NECESSARY. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL BRIEFING.COM BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY ANY INFORMATION OR MATERIALS DOWNLOADED FROM THE SERVICES AND READER ASSUMES FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH ALL NECESSARY SERVICING OR REPAIRS OF ANY EQUIPMENT OR DATA READER USES IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICES. 11) Linking and Framing. The Services may offer links to other websites. Some of these sites may be affiliated with Briefing.com, while others are not. Briefing.com is not responsible for the contents of any website pages created and maintained by organizations independent of Briefing.com. Visiting any such third-party website pages is at Reader's own risk. Briefing.com has no control of these third-party website pages, nor can it guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of information in third-party website pages, or that such third-party websites are free from errors or viruses or other harmful software. Reader's use of such information is voluntary, and Reader's reliance on such information should be made only after thorough independent review. Reader agrees that Briefing.com shall not be held liable for any trading activities or other activities that occur on any website Reader accesses through links on the Services. A reference to commercial products or services within any such third-party website pages does not constitute or imply an endorsement by Briefing.com. Reader acknowledges that Briefing.com is responsible neither for the availability of, nor the content located on or through any third-party website pages. No authorization or permission is given for framing or linking to any pages of the Site or any of its content, whether in whole or in part. 12) Reader Responsibilities. a) Briefing.com is a publisher. Briefing.com is not a registered broker-dealer or a registered investment adviser. Reader understands that the Services is furnished for Reader's personal, noncommercial, informational purposes only, and that no mention of a particular security in the Services constitutes a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold that or any other security, or that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. Reader further understands that Briefing.com will not advise Reader personally concerning the nature, potential, value or suitability of any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, investment strategy or other matter. To the extent any of the information contained in the Services may be deemed to be investment advice, such information is impersonal and not tailored to the investment needs of any specific person. Reader acknowledges that Reader is responsible for Reader's own financial decisions. b) Reader accepts responsibility for the confidentiality and use of any passwords, access codes, account numbers and customer codes numbers that Reader may receive for access to and use of the Services ("collectively, "Passwords"). Reader is prohibited from transferring or sharing Reader's Passwords and from revealing Reader's Passwords to any unauthorized person. Reader accepts responsibility for all activity that occurs through or under Reader's Passwords. Reader agrees to notify Briefing.com immediately if Reader becomes aware of any loss, theft or unauthorized use of Reader Passwords. c) Reader's provision of personally identifiable information, and Briefing.com's use of such information, is governed by Briefing.coms Privacy Policy. 13) Financial Disclosures. a) Decisions to buy, sell, hold or trade in securities and other investments involve risk and are best made based on the advice of qualified financial professionals. Any trading in securities or other investments involves a risk of substantial losses. The practice of Day Trading involves particularly high risks and can cause Reader to lose substantial sums of money. Before undertaking any trading program, Reader should consult a qualified financial professional. Please consider carefully whether such trading is suitable for Reader in light of Reader's financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. b) The Services are for informational purposes only and should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or an endorsement, recommendation or sponsorship of any company or security by Briefing.com, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees or agents. Reader acknowledges and agrees that the Services are not intended to supply investment or financial advice. Briefing.com offers no advice regarding the nature, potential value, or suitability or any particular security, transaction, investment or investment strategy. Reader acknowledges and agrees that the use of the Services, and any decisions made in reliance upon the Services, is made at Reader's own risk. 14) Indemnification. Reader agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Briefing.com, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives and the Providers and their respective officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives, from and against any and all claims, losses, liability, costs and expenses (including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys fees) arising from or relating to Readers use of the Services or the information made available through the Services, any violation of the terms and conditions of this Agreement by Reader or any violation by Reader of any applicable law, statute or regulation. 15) Miscellaneous. a) Assignment. None of the rights granted hereunder may be assigned, sold, or otherwise transferred by Reader without the prior written consent of Briefing.com. Briefing.com may assign, sell or otherwise transfer its rights or obligations to any Briefing.com subsidiary, affiliate or controlled entity without Reader's prior approval, or assign this Agreement to any acquirer of all or of substantially all of such partys assets or business or equity securities. Any attempt to assign or transfer any of the rights, duties or obligations under this Agreement in contravention of this paragraph is void. b) Third Party Beneficiaries. The terms and conditions of this Agreement are subject to any requirements of Briefing.coms Providers under Briefing.coms agreements with such Providers, including such additional financial and contractual requirements as may be imposed by such Providers from time to time. Such Providers are intended beneficiaries of this Agreement. Providers may enforce the terms and conditions of this Agreement against Reader by legal proceedings or other appropriate means. c) Force Majeure. Briefing.com shall not be deemed to be in default of any provision of this Agreement or for failure in performance, resulting from acts or events beyond the reasonable control of Briefing.com and arising without its fault or negligence. Such acts shall include, but not be limited to, acts of God, civil or military authority, interruption or failure of electronic or mechanical equipment or communication lines, telephone or other interconnect problems, civil disturbances, acts of war or terrorists, strikes, fires, floods or other catastrophes. d) Relationship of the Parties. Nothing contained in this Agreement shall be construed to imply a joint venture, partnership, or principal-agent relationship between the parties; and, neither party by virtue of this Agreement shall have any right, power or authority, express or implied, to act on behalf of or enter into any undertaking binding the other party. e) Notices. Any and all notices permitted or required to be given hereunder shall be in writing and shall be deemed duly given: (i) upon actual delivery, if delivery is by hand; or (ii) delivered by a major commercial rapid delivery courier service; or upon receipt by the transmitting party of confirmation if delivery is by Telex, telegram, facsimile or electronic mail; or (iii) upon delivery into the United States mail if delivery is by first class postage paid, registered, or certified return-receipt-requested mail. Each such notice shall be addressed to service@briefing.com at the address indicated above regardless of form or to any other address as the respective party may designate by notice delivered pursuant to this Section. f) Non-Waiver. No term or provision hereof shall be deemed waived or any breach excused, unless such waiver or consent shall be in writing and signed by the party claimed by the other to have waived or consented. Any consent by any party to, or waiver of, a breach by the other, whether express or implied, shall not constitute consent to, waiver of, or excuse for any other different or subsequent breach. g) Partial Invalidity. If any term or provision of this Agreement shall be found to be illegal or unenforceable, then notwithstanding such illegality or unenforceability, this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect and such term or provision shall be deemed to be deleted. h) Governing Law, Jurisdiction and Venue. This Agreement shall be deemed to have been made in, and shall be construed pursuant to the laws of, the State of Illinois. The parties agree that any action or proceeding arising out of or related to this Agreement shall be brought only in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois or the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, and the parties hereby consent to such venue and to the jurisdiction of such courts over such proceeding and themselves. Briefing.com makes no representation that the Services are appropriate or available for use in locations outside the United States, and access to the Site from locations where the provision of such information or services may be illegal is prohibited. Readers who determine to access the Services from such locations do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with all applicable local laws. Banks face a fresh showdown with shareholders over executive pay and risk copping second "strikes," senior bankers warn, after the regulator urged boards to put less weight on financial targets when paying bonuses. In an attempt to improve bank culture, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is expected to propose restrictions on bank executive pay in the coming weeks. Chairman Wayne Byres last month signalled it would be calling on boards to give more consideration to non-financial factors such as customer outcomes when determining bonuses, as recommended by the royal commission. Top bankers warn there is a showdown coming on executive pay. Credit:Jessica Shaprio But senior bankers have told the Sydney Morning Herald and Age such a change is likely to be resisted by key investors, some of whom have previously worried that non-financial targets can be more easily gamed. The bankers' warnings were played down by institutional investors and proxy advisers, who insisted they were not opposed to non-financial targets, provided these were transparent and justified. The debate comes after National Australia Bank, Westpac, and ANZ Bank received first "strikes" of more than 25 per cent against their remuneration reports last year. Another strike this year at any of these banks would trigger a vote on whether to spill the board. Embattled rare earths group, Lynas Corp, has defended its decision to reject Wesfarmers' $1.5 billion bid last month, telling investors it would not have been vulnerable to the "highly opportunistic conditional proposal" if it was not for challenges it faces in Malaysia. Worker protests outside Malaysian parliament on Wednesday. "We would also like to acknowledge the feedback received from many shareholders that they are surprised and disappointed with the reported conduct of Wesfarmers, in particular, their decision to engage with the Malaysian government at a time of sensitive and complex regulatory negotiations," Lynas said in the letter signed by chief executive Amanda Lacaze and chairman Mike Harding on Wednesday. Loading Wesfarmers executives, including chief executive Rob Scott, met with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, ahead of the PM's announcement on Friday that Lynas - or any Lynas suitor - would now have to extract radioactive residue from its ore before it is shipped to Malaysia for processing. Mining giant Rio Tinto and two former executives have launched a spirited defence against allegations of securities fraud by the US sharemarket regulator relating to the company's acquisition of Mozambique coal assets for $US3.7 billion ($4.65 billion), which were sold just three years later for only $US50 million. In fresh filings in the civil matter being heard in New York, Rio Tinto, former chief executive Tom Albanese and former chief financial officer Guy Elliott denied allegations by the Securities Exchange Commission that they failed to promptly inform the market about concerns over the valuation of the assets identified after the acquisition. Rio Tinto has denied the bulk of the allegations. Credit:Will Willitts US authorities took Rio Tinto, Mr Albanese and Mr Elliott to court in October 2017 over the company's valuation of coal assets in Mozambique it purchased in 2011 for billions of dollars. The Australian corporate regulator has also launched civil legal action against Rio Tinto, Mr Albanese and Mr Elliott alleging they engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct over the valuation of the Mozambique assets. Rio Tinto, Mr Albanese and Mr Elliott are vigorously defending the Australian case. Most CEOs make headlines when their annual pay is notably high. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is getting attention for 2018 pay that's notably low - and one that gives a symbolic wink to its own history. Last year, according to a regulatory filing from Monday, the social media platform reported that it paid Dorsey $US1.40 (yes, one dollar and forty cents), a nod to the company's former 140-character limit. Twitter boss Jack Dorsey has a single-digit salary. Luckily for him, that's not all he makes from running the social media site. Credit:Paul Jeffers It's an unusual twist on what's been called the $US1 salary club - a wealthy, rarefied group of founder-CEOs with such massive equity stakes in their companies that base annual salaries are token and inconsequential. While many companies have given their CEOs a $US1 payday - whether because they are wealthy founders or wanted to make a symbolic gesture during a crisis or tough times - it's unusual to see them "do something fun with it," said John Roe, head of ISS Analytics. That project is supposed to deliver as much as 12.5 billion litres of water a year from the Suttor River in central Queensland, but was approved without requiring a full environmental assessment under the so-called water trigger. Loading For now, though, the focus is on how the Queensland government will assess the groundwater-dependent ecosystem management and the black-throated finch management plans. Lucas Dow, the chief executive of Adani Mining, indicated on Tuesday that the state government will be the target of lobbying efforts. The independent evaluation and endorsement by CSIRO and Geoscience Australia verifies that the measures outlined in the plans will ensure groundwater at the mine, and the ecosystems that depend on it, are protected," he said in a statement, adding that it will drill more than 100 monitoring bores to track underground water levels. While the 18-month process at the federal level had proceeded with a "certainty of process and timing", the Queensland government had "continued to shift the goal posts when it comes to finalising the outstanding environmental management plans for the mine and is standing in the way of thousands of jobs for Queenslanders". A key difference, though, will be that the Queensland environment and science department - and not Minister Enoch - will be making the decision on both the groundwater assessment and plans to protect the endangered black-throated finch. "The conditions for approval at a federal level aren't as strong and mandatory as the conditions of approval at the state level," Jo-Anne Bragg, the chief executive of EDO, says. Moreover, the concerns the CSIRO and Geoscience raised and how they were treated will likely come under close legal scrutiny by both the state government and environment groups. Buried in the CSIRO groundwater review, for instance, are a series of concerns about how the huge open-pit coal mine will affect the nationally significant Doongmabulla Springs. Just what will happen to the Rewan and Clematis formations remains uncertain, including whether a "red line" reduction of water levels of 0.2 metres will be crossed. "The sensitivity analysis shows that if either of [the hydraulic conductivity of the two formations] were changed to their expected values then the drawdown at the springs would be greater than 0.2 metres," the CSIRO said. "If both were changed it would be greater again." Adani's response is given in the report as the model review was "outside scope/objective" of the plan. However, Carmel Flint, a national coordinator of the Lock the Gate alliance, said the CSIRO doubts of the impact were "a bombshell in the document". Despite those concerns, a briefing by the federal environment department on April 5 and a yet-to-be-released summary of "actions agreed to by Adani", were enough to defuse both CSIRO and Geoscience Australia's misgivings. "CSIRO is of the view that Adani's responses should satisfy the recommendation to update the ground water models," the agency said, according to a three-paragraph letter sent hours after the briefing. "We don't know who was in the room, what information was provided and how long they met for and we don't even know what's in the final plan itself," Tim Beshara, federal policy director of The Wilderness Society, said. "But what we do know is that having agencies being rushed into signing off on opinions based on verbal briefings is bizarre in the extreme," he said. "And we do know that senior government figures were reported in the media making political threats to the Minister around this approval, Mr Beshara said, a pressure that Minister Enoch said on Tuesday she was "very concerned about". The EDO's Ms Bragg said the state government's task of assessing Adani includes a host of other approvals that relate to early-stage preparation of the mine - such as monitoring existing conditions - and a more detailed list of activities such as land-clearing that needs to be ticked off before the first ounce of coal is extracted. She says the buzz is in part because of their Instagram-friendly packaging, but also the women behind the brands. She says of Go-To, "[it's] a great product, great packaging, a highly engaging tone of voice and [an] incredibly popular founder". This aligns with what Anastasia Lloyd-Wallis, general manager consumer insights and projects at retail consultancy group Retail Doctor, says is the psychology behind cult products: consumers are either drawn in by the scarcity of the product and thus its specialness, or because they want to align themselves with a community or tribe. And a happy, dewy tribe with glowing skin and great #shelfies? Of course we want in. Loading Lloyd-Wallis says cult products can create an "emotional connection" between the consumer and the retailer, which in turn drives loyalty. This is something particularly relevant to the millennial consumer who, as research suggests, are more likely to buy into a product when they feel aligned to the brand. "Millennials are looking to connect in higher rates than other demographic, they want to feel that they brand they're supporting is one they identify with and they put more thought into where they spend their money," she says. This also speaks to a shift away from purely transactional purchases into experiental ones; the cute selfie mirrors in the Glossier stores, say, or a relatable founder who speaks your language on social media. A cult product can be tricky to manage, though, and Lloyd-Wallis warns brands should continue to evolve their offering and most importantly, listen to their customers to understand what they want beyond the data. Lisa Claycomb, founder and president of Genie beauty created a hit with her Genie Instant Line Smoother. The brand has now sold nearly six million bottles of it. Claycomb says, in the early days, the success took her by surprise. "One of the difficult things about having a cult product is scaling our business and managing inventory to meet demand," she says. Loading "We were so naive in the beginning that we didnt know what a giant hit the product was ... We were so busy we didnt even celebrate when we hit the first million mark. We should have known but we just had our heads down working and trying to figure out what was next for us." The best part for Claycomb has been the feedback in person, and via email and social media from her customers. "It sounds strange to think you can change someones life with a cosmetic but now I know you can," she says. So what's the next big thing? Marita Burke is betting on beauty devices and the rise of natural beauty. Loading "There is a big push towards skincare as an overall category and in particular those that fit within the natural, mindful space, which are ingredient-conscious and naturally derived. Fragrance is definitely having a moment and we have witnessed this first-hand with the launch of Buly into our stores in February. Its a great time in beauty right now," she says. WHAT TO BUY THIS THURSDAY Your weekly recommendation for a late-night shopping trip ... Dermalogica Rapid Reveal Peel. Now that I am longer breastfeeding, getting serious about my hormonal pigmentation (oh you'd best believe I had the "mask of pregnancy" i.e brown blotches of melasma) is on my dance card. Before I look into anything more hardcore such as lasers (which can actually be ineffective on hormonal pigmentation) I'm adding in gentle AHA peels and products with vitamin C for brightening and evening out skin tone. One product I'm finding brightens my skin is Dermalogica's Rapid Reveal Peel. It comes in a 10-pack for weekly use (but you can also do a three day kickstart, which I did because time is precious!). It's got AHA extracts, lactic acid, fruit enzyme and rice brain extract, all good things for getting rid of dull skin and also fine lines. $128, Dermalogica.com.au Treasurer Josh Frydenberg joined the ranks of Springfields Police Chief Wiggum of the Simpsons, and South Parks Officer Barbrady, in his Q&A performance this week, adhering to the mantra: Move along, nothing to see here. Frydenberg ducked a direct answer to almost every question. He looked ridiculous claiming that we are back in the black this financial year when we clearly are still in deficit and the wafer-thin surplus in 2019/20 is only a forecast. His unwillingness to admit the extent to which our national debt had increased under the Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison governments was comical. Of course, there is plenty to see here. The governments electoral strategy based on the budget is to exploit the perception that it's a better economic manager. The back in black slogan is fundamental to this. Unfortunately for the Coalition, this is old politics it will no longer be the key electoral differentiator. The governments economic narrative that the good times are rolling on is not resonating with the lived experience of an increasing majority of voters, who are struggling, day in, day out, to meet the seemingly ever increasing costs of living, while their wages are flatlining, their debt is at record levels, they have run down their savings, and their house prices are falling. A clash between two Jewish election candidates over religious identity has given the battle for one of Melbournes inner-city seats a bitter edge even before the federal election has been called. The clash between Liberal hopeful Kate Ashmor and Josh Burns, her Labor rival for the seat of Macnamara, at a candidates' forum this week is making waves among the seat's Jewish residents, where the community's vote is considered vital to hopes of victory. Liberal candidate Kate Ashmor makes her point as Labor's Josh Burns takes notes. Mr Burns and his Labor colleagues were left seething on Sunday evening after Ms Ashmor accused her opponent of not being proud to be Jewish because he did not have a mezuzah, a traditional symbol of religious devotion, in his campaign office. Responding to a question from the floor about the meaning of Zionism, Ms Ashmor told the meeting at the Glen Eira Town Hall that it was about being proud to be Jewish. An allegedly intoxicated man stole a truck from a construction site and drove it through a cafe in Sydney's CBD in the early hours of Wednesday, police say. Police were called to George Street just after 2am to reports that light rail construction workers had detained a man who stole a truck from their worksite. The truck crashed into Regiment CBD cafe in the city, before construction workers dragged the driver from the vehicle. Credit:Steven Siewert The construction workers told police an unknown man hopped into a three-tonne truck that was parked at the light rail construction works near Martin Place. The man allegedly drove the truck through the work site on George Street, before it crashed into the front windows of the Regiment CBD cafe. A US national has been arrested in California in connection with the death of a man whose battered body was found bound and gagged by the side of the road in Sydneys Olympic Park. NSW Police have travelled to San Diego to extradite Alex Dion over the killing of Wachira "Mario" Phetmang, 33. Wachira "Mario" Phetmang was found dead near Sydney's Olympic Park. Credit:NSW Police Mr Phetmangs body was found wrapped in plastic and covered in a mattress protector just metres from a major on-ramp along Homebush Bay Drive on June 6 last year. His last known whereabouts were at a service station at South Hurstville two weeks before that. Despite some promising rain, south-east Queensland's drinking water supply has fallen below 70 per cent capacity, sparking fresh warnings about water use. Seqwater, which manages the region's dams and drinking water supply, reported dam levels across the region fell by 1 per cent in March to hit the 70 per cent marker. Wivenhoe Dam, which supplies water to south-east Queensland, has dropped below 59 per cent capacity. Credit:Robert Rough Chief executive Neil Brennan said the dam levels were at their lowest since February 2010. "While the recent cooler weather has seen water use back to about 170 litres per person per day we are now heading into the traditionally driest period of the year," he said. The West Australian government's tourism body has forked out a purported $1.2 million to bring Channel Tens reality TV hit MasterChef back to the state for a week in Season 11. Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws revealed 'Project Shine' involved Tourism WA paying for a 'recce' trip as well as 85 people (crew, contestants and judges) flying to WA for 14 days, with personnel costs including locally contracted technical crew, payroll tax, holiday pay, superannuation, work cover, and accommodation at three separate locations. MasterChef is coming to WA. Credit:AFR While total cost was redacted from the documents, an entertainment industry insider said the cost was about $1.2 million and that the decision was controversial within Tourism WA. It appears the reconnaissance trip was completed, as a schedule was being prepared on February 5, and later that month a staffer from production company Endomolshine Australia emailed, Thank you so much for showing us WA last week. We had a fantastic time and we are so excited, to which a Tourism WA staffer wrote, It was great to have the time to show you a small snapshot of WA. 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. Terminally ill patients could be protected by new safe access zones at hospitals to prevent harassment from activists protesting against voluntary euthanasia. The Andrews government says it will carefully consider whether protest buffer zones - such as those in place at abortion clinics - were needed to protect patients. The pamphlet that was handed to cancer patients outside Peter Mac A fringe group of anti-euthanasia protesters have vowed to continue their campaign outside the entrance to the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, where they have been handing pamphlets to cancer patients describing voluntary euthanasia as "patient killing by doctors." Carers and people with disabilities have shared their experiences working with Centrelink to receive their support payments after a Geraldton mother spoke out about having to continuously provide proof her son still had Down Syndrome. Parents and carers of people with Down Syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, motor neuron disease and even those who had lost limbs wrote to WAtoday to express their concern, and to support Michelle Cassin in her calls for a national permanent disability register. James and mother Michelle. We have two autistic children and a diabetic child we too have had to confirm (their conditions). Neither of these diagnoses goes away either, one woman said. Every time Centrelink makes us jump through the hoops for our son who has a developmental delay I tell them Id like nothing more than to reply hes cured of this genetic disability - we dont need or want your money anymore!, another said. Human Rights Watch says Australian universities should consider a proposed free speech code as a way to protect students and staff from Chinese government pressure on campuses. The model code proposed by former High Court chief justice Robert French faces an uphill battle, with universities and the Labor Party unconvinced threats to academic freedoms are serious enough to warrant the measure. Universities are not convinced there is a need for the code. Credit:Rob Homer In his review of free speech on campus, commissioned by the Morrison government in response to growing concerns, Mr French found "claims of a freedom of speech crisis on Australian campuses are not substantiated" but recommended a voluntary code to strengthen protections. His code lays out principles to ensure that the free speech and academic freedom of staff and students are not unduly restricted, guaranteeing the right to engage in free-flowing inquiry, commentary, discussion and freedom of association. That's where we'll leave our live coverage of the first day of the 2019 election campaign. It's going to be an intense contest as the Coalition and Labor fight to emerge victorious on May 18. Seeking to overcome the bitter leadership ructions of the last few years, Scott Morrison has made clear the Coalition's focus will be on the economy and budget. Bill Shorten says Labor is a united team with a plan to deliver a "fair go" for ordinary Australians. Stick with us as we cover all the key issues and developments of the campaign, with journalists across the country providing the best news, analysis and opinion. You can follow the politics coverage of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on Twitter here and on Facebook here. If you'd like unlimited access to our work, subscribe to the Herald here or the Age here. Middle-class Australians are being squeezed into lower incomes or absolute poverty at some of the fastest rates in the developed world, according to a new international report that warns of the growing threats from job automation. Ahead of an election campaign that will be dominated by appeals to a "fair go" and "equality", a report from the OECD released on Thursday said high-income earners in Australia were grabbing a larger share of national income, leaving less for the rest. A new OECD report has found the world's middle income earners, including those in Australia, are being squeezed Credit:James Alcock Australia is one of four rich nations - including Britain, the US and the Netherlands - where there has been a "significant fall" in the number of people on middle and upper-middle incomes. Middle income is defined in Australia as those households earning between $US19,537 and $US52,097 in purchasing power parity dollars. The High Court has thrown out a last-ditch legal challenge against laws that ban protesters from harassing patients and staff outside abortion clinics. In a unanimous decision, the court rejected challenges by anti-abortion activists Kathleen Clubb and John Graham Preston against laws introduced in Victoria and Tasmania. Anti-abortion protesters John Graham Preston and Kathleen Clubb outside the High Court in Brisbane on Wednesday. Credit:AAP Both legal bids were heard together although they applied to separate laws. The judgment was handed down in the High Court in Brisbane. The court also rejected appeals by Ms Clubb and Mr Preston against convictions they received for breaching buffer zone laws. WA's historic King Edward Memorial Hospital is set for closure, with planning to start on a new women's and maternity hospital to be built in Nedlands. The move is part of the McGowan Government's shake-up of the state's health system released on Wednesday morning. Perth's 100-year-old King Edward Memorial Hospital is set to close, with the government planning for a new women's and maternity hospital. Premier Mark McGowan told 6PR's Gareth Parker there was no date scheduled for when the hospital's doors would close for good, but the government was spending $3.3 million on planning for a new hospital at the Queen Elizabeth II hospital campus. The new women's and maternity hospital would be built near Perth Children's Hospital. New Delhi: A Roman Catholic bishop has been charged by Indian police with repeatedly raping a nun in her rural convent. Bishop Franco Mulakkal was charged with rape, illegal confinement and intimidation, said Hari Sankar, a district police chief in the southern state of Kerala, India's Catholic heartland, on Wednesday. Franco Mulakkal, centre, after being questioned by police in Kochi last September. He has now been charged with rape. Credit:AP The nun who made the accusations, who has not been publicly identified, said she went to police last year only after complaining repeatedly to church authorities. Eventually, a group of fellow nuns launched unprecedented public protests to demand Mulakkal's arrest. He was arrested but released after a few weeks. President Donald Trump called Netanyahu to congratulate him, saying that with the victory, "I think we'll see some pretty good action in terms of peace." Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, centre, greets attendees at the Likud party headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel. Credit:Bloomberg "Look, everyone said - and I never made it a promise - but everybody said you can't have peace in the Middle East with Israel and the Palestinians," Trump said. "And I think we have, now, a better chance with Bibi having won." Lapid vowed that Blue and White would "embitter the lives" of Netanyahu and his allies from the opposition, and push for investigations into other allegations of corruption by the long-reigning premier. "We are going to turn the Knesset into a battleground," Lapid said. Two of Netanyahu's potential allies, hawkish former Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman and economic-centric Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, have yet to formally confirm they would sit with Netanyahu and could emerge as wild cards. In any case, the country faces what could be weeks of political negotiations over the composition of a ruling coalition. Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz salutes on Tuesday night. Credit:AP But under nearly every scenario, Netanyahu was the big winner. He had fought a tight, ugly race against Gantz, whose new party emerged as a viable alternative to Netanyahu's decade in power. But most of its support seems to have come at the expense of the venerable Labor and leftist Meretz parties, which both earned historic lows in the election. Gantz, who had declared victory on election night, said Wednesday his party would "respect the decision of the people and we will respect the decision of the president." Loading The spotlight now falls on President Reuven Rivlin, who will consult with party representatives next week before picking the candidate with the best chance of assembling a parliamentary majority. Together with his current Jewish ultra-Orthodox and nationalist partners, Netanyahu seemed to have a clear path toward building a coalition government that has a majority in parliament. Rivlin said that for the first time, his discussions with party leaders would be broadcast on live television "in the name of transparency." With a victory, Netanyahu would capture a fourth consecutive term and fifth overall, which this summer will make him Israel's longest-ever serving leader, surpassing founding father David Ben-Gurion. "It's a night of tremendous victory," Netanyahu told supporters early Wednesday, adding that he had already begun talking to fellow right-wing and religious parties about forming a coalition. Netanyahu's message of unity contrasted with his campaign theme in which he accused Gantz of conspiring with Arab parties to topple him. Arab leaders accused Netanyahu of demonising the country's Arab community, which is about 20 per cent of the population. His attacks on the Arab sector fuelled calls for a boycott and appeared to result in relatively low turnout by Arab voters. Though the Palestinian issue was rarely mentioned in the raucous campaign, Netanyahu in the final stretch pledged for the first time to annex parts of the occupied West Bank in a desperate bid to rally his right-wing base. Netanyahu has reneged on election eve promises before, but should he follow through on this one, it would mark a dramatic development and potentially wipe out the already diminishing hope for Palestinian statehood. Ahmed Majdalani, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the Palestinians will seek the help of the international community to try to block any such plans. He said that the outcome of the election means a boost for what he called the "extreme right-wing camp" in Israeli politics. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, speaks at the Likud party headquarters in Tel Aviv, Credit:Bloomberg Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official, said Israel chose to entrench "the status quo of oppression, occupation, annexation and dispossession." The 69-year-old Netanyahu has been the dominant force in Israeli politics for the past two decades. His campaign has focused heavily on his friendship with Trump and his success in cultivating new allies, such as China, India and Brazil. But his corruption scandals created some voter fatigue. Gantz was able to challenge Netanyahu on security issues, normally the prime minister's strong suit, while also taking aim at his alleged ethical lapses. Israel's attorney general has recommended charging Netanyahu with bribery, breach of trust and fraud in three cases, and a potential fourth case emerged during the campaign. He will only decide on indicting Netanyahu after a legally mandated hearing. Legal experts expect at least some charges to be filed, which could result in a short term in office for Netanyahu and another round of elections. Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be headed towards a historic fifth term, with close-to-complete unofficial election results giving his right-wing Likud and other nationalist and religious parties a solid majority in parliament. The outcome affirmed Israel's continued tilt to the right and further dimmed hopes of a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Re-election will also give Netanyahu an important boost as he braces for the likelihood of criminal charges in a series of corruption scandals. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves with wife Sara at the Likud party HQ in Tel Aviv early on Wednesday morning. Credit:Bloomberg With 97.4 per cent of the vote counted, Likud and its traditional political allies were in command of a 65-55 majority in parliament. A couple of small parties were still teetering along the electoral threshold and fighting for their survival, so the final make-up of the next parliament has yet to be decided. Final results are expected on Thursday. Two of his potential allies, hawkish former defence minister Avigdor Lieberman and economic-centric Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, have yet to formally confirm they would sit with Netanyahu and could emerge as wildcards. In any case, the country now faces what could be weeks of political negotiations over the composition of a ruling coalition. Minneapolis: The fiance of Australian life coach Justine Ruszczyk Damond choked back tears on the witness stand while recounting the night he discovered his future wife had been shot dead by a police officer outside their Minnesota home. Mohamed Noor arrives at for a hearing in Minneapolis over the fatal shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond. Credit:AP Don Damond appeared in a Minneapolis court house as the first witness in the trial of Mohamed Noor, the police officer charged with Ruszczyk's death. Noor fatally shot Ruszczyk in July 2017 after she called police to report a possible sexual assault happening near her home in Minneapolis. The 40-year old was barefoot and wearing pyjamas at the time. Prosecutors have charged Noor, 33, with two counts of murder and one of manslaughter. "This is because we are changing the law, not because these people have done anything wrong." All MPs voted in favour of the bill, except ACT's David Seymour who had said there hadn't been enough consultation with the public. A girl carries flowers to a memorial wall following the mosque shootings in Christchurch, which left 50 dead and 39 wounded. Credit:AP Earlier in the day Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reflected on her hospital visit to victims of the mosque shootings. Ardern, who was the first to speak during the reading of the bill, said she was proud of the work that had been done to get the bill passed. "We are ultimately here because 50 people died and they do not have a voice. We in this house are their voice. Today we can use that voice wisely." She told the House the weapons used in the Christchurch terror attack were designed to kill. When she visited the hospital, not one victim had just one gunshot wound, she said. "I struggle to recall any single gunshot wounds. In every case they spoke of multiple injuries, multiple debilitating injuries that deemed it impossible for them to recover in days, let alone weeks. They will carry disabilities for a lifetime and that's before you consider the psychological impact. We are here for them." She recalled how after the attack she spoke to the Police Commissioner and how he described to her the nature of the attack that had occurred, the nature of the weapons that had been used - and that they had been obtained legally. "I could not fathom how weapons that could cause such destruction and large scale death, could be obtained legally in this country." Straight after that she made the decision to ban the weapons, knowing parliament would be with her, she said. "We are here just 26 days after the most devastating terrorist attacks created the darkest of days in New Zealand's history," she said. "We are here as an almost entirely united Parliament there have been very few occasions when I have seen Parliament come together in this way and I can not imagine circumstances where that is more necessary than it is now." She had heard a minority argument about process. "My question here is simple. You either believe that here in New Zealand that these weapons have a place or you do not. If you believe, like us, that they do not, you should be able to believe we can move swiftly. "An argument about process is an argument to do nothing." The law was not demonising legitimate use of firearms and she took the feedback as an endorsement that fair and legitimate use had been acknowledged and responded to within the new law, she said. She also acknowledged the buyback scheme for compensation, which would be worked up over the next few weeks. "We will operate fairly." Latest News Finsure to be sold by BNK Shock as one of Australia's biggest aggregators announces $151m sale Hejaz seeking to become first Islamic bank Three key new hires as sights set on achieving ADI status Recent research has revealed that while 76% of brokers believe that comprehensive credit reporting (CCR) will have a significant influence on the mortgage decision process, an alarming 83% of consumers remain unaware of the changes currently being implemented or how their personal finances may be affected. The CCR regime was implemented on 1 July 2018 with the intent to include positive data on credit reports in addition to the standard negative information available, such as missed payments, in order to provide lenders with a more complete picture of prospective borrowers finances. While many view the change as a positive, others worry over the lack of consumer awareness and urge the industry to make a push for more widespread education. Aaron Milburn, director of sales and distribution at Pepper Money said that the ongoing implementation of CCR measures has been "severely underplayed. The natural rhythm of the market is changing, but consumers remain unaware, he said, going on to cite the horrific transition to CCR in New Zealand, another market inhabited by under-informed consumers. While the CCR regime is intended to benefit consumers, and certainly can under the correct circumstances, it can also have negative or complicating implications that consumers would benefit from understanding beforehand. Pepper CEO Mario Rehayem recently spoke to Peppers emphasis on education across the board, for brokers and consumers alike, especially in the midst of current industry upheaval. The CEO said that the big fours fluctuating appetite for who they will lend to directly contributed to the climate that resulted in the royal commission. However, it was not the commission proceedings themselves, but the lead up and public interviews that spooked banks and customers and led to a clampdown, a response that Rehayem stressed cannot be reversed and will have longstanding impacts. Over the last year, Pepper has sat down with more than 3,500 brokers in one-on-one or group sessions to discuss how to best communicate with consumers to manage their expectations, inform them of the available products, and explain future regulatory happenings such as CCR. Latest News Finsure to be sold by BNK Shock as one of Australia's biggest aggregators announces $151m sale Hejaz seeking to become first Islamic bank Three key new hires as sights set on achieving ADI status A well-known industry association has launched a LinkedIn campaign to promote its members who provide commercial, equipment, and asset finance lending services. Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) head of marketing and communications, Stephen Hale, dubbed the online platform a crucial channel for the industry and trusts that the campaign will plug SME leaders into the network of commercial and asset finance brokers. Hale said, "Finance professionals and SME owners are generally time-poor and will tend to use online information to seek out potential service providers. They are looking for specialised professionals who have the commercial acumen to solve their cashflow and investment problems. We have consulted a number of asset and commercial brokers, including members of the MFAAs Equipment & Commercial Finance (E&CF) Forum from around the country, to gain insight on the pain points of their SME customers, which has enabled the MFAA to develop relevant messaging to effectively target the Australian small business market. The campaign will reach 510,000 SME owners, operators, and finance professionals and encourage them to connect with a local commercial and asset finance broker. The LinkedIn ads will be live April to June. The MFAA then plans to analyse the insights and customer feedback to formulate future campaigns. George Obeid, MD of third party at Judo Capital and president of the MFAA E&CF forum, said, The broker market has experienced significant impacts with recent regulatory curbs to residential lending and this has no doubt presented a unique opportunity for brokers looking to diversify into commercial and equipment finance. "Early engagement with SME customers and a clear understanding of their business needs is the critical step for brokers looking to build and grow their business in this segment. However, this requires a holistic strategy built around education, training and development and a core understand of the 4Cs of lending (character, capacity, capital and collateral), which in turn will further strengthen the relationship and service to business customers," he added. Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC 84th Precinct Brooklyn HeightsDUMBOBoerum HillDowntown Piggy bank crime Cops cuffed a woman who they say hit a man with a piggy bank at a Schermerhorn Street apartment on April 2, police said. The victim sustained a cut to his face and a swollen eye after the woman allegedly hit him with the piggy bank in the apartment between Smith and Hoyt streets at 8:17 p.m., according to police. Bike bandits A couple of bad guys nabbed a Citi Bike from a man on Court Street on April 3. According to police, one punk told the victim, Im gonna shoot you, and he simulated a firearm in his pocket just before 9 p.m. near Schermerhorn Street. The toughs hit the man in the face before hijacking the bike from the victim, police said. Midday mugging Two marauders mugged a man at Montague Street on April 6. The thieves punched the victim in the face and ran off with his debit cards, subway pass and drivers license between Montague Terrace and Hicks Street at 12:45 p.m., police said. Fake out A crook punched and robbed a woman on Nevins Street on April 6. According to police, the victim agreed to meet the thief near Wyckoff Street at 10:40 p.m. to purchase a cellphone from him. Before the victim could complete the transaction, the tough punched the woman and ran off with her cellphone and cash, police said. Wont go easily Police arrested a man who they say hit an officer after refusing to leave a Fulton Street store on April 1. The man allegedly refused to leave the shop near Hoyt Street after he was told multiple times to leave at 4:40 p.m., police said. According to police, the man hit an officer in the knee after cops arrived to arrest him. Store fight Cops cuffed a woman for allegedly hitting a person at an Atlantic Avenue department store on April 4. The woman allegedly hit the victim in the face in the store near Boerum Place at 9:20 a.m., police said. Spending spree Some lout syphoned more than $2,000 from a womans bank account at a MetroTech bank on March 20 . The crook started using the victims debit card at the bank between Myrtle Avenue and Gold Street sometime between 1:30 and 11 p.m., police said. According to police, the woman had ordered a new debit card to her Beverly Road apartment and it never arrived. The victim reported the crime on April 1, police said. Subway rat A scoundrel swiped a womans bag at the Schermerhorn Street subway on March 21. According to police, the woman realized her bag was not on the seat as the subway doors closed and left the station near Hoyt Street on March 21 at 8 p.m. She reported the theft on April 2, according to authorities Phone grab Four bandits stole a womans phone at MetroTech Center on April 2. The group of goons asked the victim for help just before 10 p.m., and when she got off the phone, they snatched it from her hand and ran into the subway station near Jay Street, police said. Two phones stolen A jerk stole a mans phones and wallet at a Willoughby Street shop on April 2 . According to police, the man left behind his two cellphones one of which doubled as a wallet at the store near Pearl Street, and when he came back at 4:30 p.m., they were gone. The thief was caught on surveillance walking out of the business with the victims belongings, police said. Smooth criminal Cops cuffed a man who they say stole a mans phone on Flatbush Avenue on April 3. The suspect allegedly took the victims cellphone from his jeans near State Street at 12:51 p.m., police said. According to police, when an officer tried to arrest the man, he refused to put his hands behind his back and allegedly ran away. Backpack bandit A purloiner stole a womans backpack at an Atlantic Avenue store on April 4. The wretch seized the victims bag containing her credit cards and personal identification while she turned around to pack up her purchases at the shop near Boerum Place at 10 p.m., police said. Purse snatched A purse snatcher robbed a woman at Nevins Street on April 4. The rapscallion grabbed the womans bag from her shoulder as she got off the bus near Flatbush Avenue at 2:15 p.m., police said. According to police, the bandit fled to the Nevins Street subway station. Six golden rings A looter stole more than $1,000 from a Water Street merchant on April 7. Some punk lifted six gold rings from a small business near Anchorage Place sometime between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m., according to police. Natallie Rocha Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC Brooklyn Paper Radio this week hit the waves to talk the latest news regarding the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, as well as the playoff-bound Brooklyn Nets. Co-hosts Zach Gewelb and Johnny Kunen were joined by reporter Kevin Duggan, as the trio spoke with Peter Bray, the executive director of the Brooklyn Heights Association, about the fall out following last weeks town hall as it relates to the BQE. Bray said that a threshold has been achieved, given that the city will no longer be trying to force a highway onto the Brooklyn Promenade. In fact, it was the day of the most recent town hall that the city revealed a new expert panel to consider some other solutions. Clearly the city is saying that it made a mistake before with its original two plans, that it didnt widely consider other options, and now its time to talk a fresh look and the fact that the panel was announced on the day of the town hall meeting It didnt surprise us, Bray said. Kunen then pitched his own idea on how to solve the BQEs issues: make the triple cantilever an above ground two story tunnel. Bray didnt dismiss the idea, saying that all creative ideas need to be put into the hopper. Moving on, Gewelb and Kunen talked about the exciting playoff-clinching weekend for the Nets and how they might match up against either the 76ers or the Toronto Raptors. Nets coverage will continue on next weeks show as we discuss the teams first-round match-up. We encourage listeners to email bpnew sroom @schn epsme dia.com with comments on the Nets playoff chances and the BQE. Were happy to read some of the comments on next weeks show. Adding to the woes of the crippled Jet Airways, a European cargo services provider has seized one of its Boeing planes at the Amsterdam airport for non-payment of dues. The aircraft was to operate a flight (9W 321) to Mumbai from Amsterdam Thursday, an airline source said. "The cargo agent seized Boeing 777-300 ER (VT-JEW) of at the Amsterdam airport as the airline could not clear his dues," the airline source told PTI Wednesday. The airline has grounded more than three-fourths of its fleet due to non-payment of lessors' rentals and is operating just about 25 planes out of its 123 earlier. Due to cash crunch, the airline has been paying only part salaries to its over 16,000 employees which forced a section of its pilots on Tuesday sending a legal notice to the management which is currently being headed by the lenders led by State Bank of India. The airline has confirmed the cancellation of the said flight attributing to "operational reasons". In a statement, said flight 9W 231 from Amsterdam to Mumbai scheduled for April 10, has been delayed due to operational reasons. The aircraft had flown to Amsterdam from Mumbai Tuesday and was scheduled to return Thursday, the source added. 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 In early January, Jet Airways and its main lender, State Bank of India, met with aircraft lessors to assure them there was a plan to rescue the debt-laden carrier so it could pay them, sources familiar with the matter said. The idea was to shore up confidence in one of India's biggest brands, squeezed by low fares and high costs. But some lessors quickly lost patience as the bank did not provide details and Jet's founder angrily defied them to take back planes. At one point, the airline's usually jovial founder and chairman, Naresh Goyal, banged his fist on a table, ... India's trade ministry says it cannot impose a ban on electronic cigarette imports as there is no legal basis for doing so, an internal government memo viewed by Reuters shows, in a boost for those looking to tap into the country's growing vaping market. This comes amid repeated calls for a ban from the country's health ministry, which urged states and government agencies last year in an "advisory" to step up efforts to halt sales and imports, warning vaping devices pose a "great health risk". The country has 106 million adult smokers, second only to ... The Indian National Congress, and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) were among the top spenders in the week before phase one of elections (April 11). Parties other than the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accounted for four of the top five pages with highest advertising spends for the week ended April 6. However, they still lag when it comes to overall spends. The top five pages in terms of cumulative spends are still those supporting the BJP. The Congress topped the list of pages with the highest spends for the week ended April 6. Others in the list included the TDP, Jagananna ki ... While the two Himalayan states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh hold relatively little importance in terms of seats when it comes to Lok Sabha election compared to other big states, the nine seats in these states may well prove to be decisive if no single party gets an absolute majority. These two states happen to be the only ones in India with servicemen comprise more than one per cent of total voter base. Whats more, almost 10 per cent of the 2.5 million ex-servicemen in the country reside in these two states. Service voters as defined by the (ECI) include three broad categories of voters armed force personnel, armed police personnel of a state serving outside the state, and government employees posted outside India (mainly Indian Foreign Service officials, embassy staff and their families). Service voters cast their vote through postal ballots, unlike other Indians who queue up outside polling booths to vote on an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM). Uttarakhand goes to the polls in the first phase of elections on April 11, while Himachal Pradesh does so in the last on May 19. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi repeatedly mentioning surgical strikes and air strikes in his election speeches, and invoking the death of CRPF jawans in Pulwama, things could take an interesting turn in both Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. The inauguration of the National War Memorial in Delhi by Modi earlier this year, with a large number of ex-servicemen in attendance, could further boost Modis and, therefore, the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) appeal among this class of voters. While service voters comprise 1.4 per cent of all voters in Himachal Pradesh, their share of total in Uttarakhand is 1.2 per cent. As was evident from funeral processions of killed soldiers in their home towns, the influence of armed forces and feelings of nationalism and patriotism run high in areas that contribute a significant number of young men and women to Indias armed forces. According to the Indian government, there were almost 120,000 and 110,000 ex-servicemen in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, respectively. Of the nine constituencies in these two states, the most crucial parliamentary constituency when it comes to service voters is Garhwal in Uttarakhand. Almost three per cent of all voters here are service voters. There were 36,956 service voters in Garhwal in the 2014 general elections. Of the 14 Assembly constituencies in Garhwal, service voters formed almost five per cent of the total voters in three of them Chaubattakhal, Landsowne and Karnaprayag. Garhwal is followed by the Kangra and Hamirpur parliamentary constituency in Himachal Pradesh, and Almora in Uttarakhand, when it comes to high proportions of service voters. They comprise almost two per cent of total voters in Kangra and 1.9 per cent in Almora and Hamirpur. There are almost 23,500 service voters on an average in these three constituencies. Among all high service voter constituencies, it is probably Almora that has Assembly constituencies with the highest proportion of service voters. In the Didihat Assembly constituency of Almora, service voters form almost six per cent of the electorate. While the two Himalayan states have a high proportion of service voters, a considerably large number of service voters can also be found in more populous states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Haryana. These are the only states that had over 100,000 service voters on their rolls. But more than service voters, it is the votes of ex-servicemen and their families that could favour the BJP in certain states. Five states in India Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Maharashtra have a total of 1.3 million ex-servicemen, almost half of all ex-servicemen in the country. Additionally, there are almost 300,000 ex-servicemen in the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The BJPs election manifesto starts off with a wide range of promises specifically targeted at national security and soldiers welfare. Among others, these include planning for the resettlement of soldiers three years before their retirement, in accordance with their preferences, provision for skills training, soft skills training, financial support for higher education, housing and for starting an enterprise. The highlight of BJPs national security promise is its zero tolerance policy that would give a free hand to security forces in combatting terrorism. BATTLE OF MANIFESTOS Even if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gets 160 seats out of 545, were coming back to power. And Narendra Modi will be Prime Minister again. This was not a Modi bhakt speaking but the resigned observation of an aide of a top minister in the Modi cabinet. The aide conceded that in the first phase in Uttar Pradesh for instance where in 2014, BJP had got all eight seats, this time they might get two Gautambudhnagar (or NOIDA) and Ghaziabad. We are losing three, four seats from every state he said. But it will take no more than 20 minutes ... Addressing a rally in Junagarh in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said his government had worked to bring the corrupt to the doors of jail in the last five years and if he was given another chance, they would be inside. In the last five years, I have brought them (the corrupt) to the doors of jail. If given the next five, they will be inside, Modi said, targeting Cong leaders. Modi claimed that the Congress in its poll manifesto has said everybody should get bail even if they commit a serious crime. For whom is this provision, is it for your ... With Rahul Gandhi visiting Wayanad with sister Priyanka to file his nomination on April 4, the Congress party in the state was euphoric. The district, which so far does not have a railway line, or easy access to the nearest town throughout the day, and most importantly, a medical college, is pinning its hopes on the biggest candidate it has seen to date to fulfil these wishes. "I ... 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 Type address separated by commas Your Email: A survey of 21 global funds and strategists show most expect him to return, an outcome that may be baked into asset prices. With valuations already high, the disappointment if he fails to get a majority, needs to form another coalition -- or loses the poll -- may deflate the rally thats made India the first among markets valued at more than a $1 trillion to hit a new peak this year. Numbers ... 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 Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of creating a "divide between Hindus and Muslims in the country" and of lying to the nation. "Modiji you have no other topic other than Pakistan and Muslims. You have created a divide between Hindus and Muslims in the country by instilling hatred for Muslims in the hearts of the Hindus," he said at a public rally here. "The ruler of a nation should not lie and the one who lies cannot be a ruler," Khan, who is contesting polls from the Rampur seat, added. The former cabinet minister in the Akhilesh Yadav government asked people from Dalit and backward communities to realise the power the two communities had in the upcoming elections. "My friends from the Dalit and backward communities, you need to unite. After 70 years you have got this opportunity to decide who will unfurl the tricolour at the Red Fort. You have got the right after a long time. The one on whose head you place the crown will be India's ruler," the SP leader said. Without taking names, Khan targeted former SP leaders, Amar Singh and Jaya Prada, by stating that people whom he had introduced to Rampur and UP politics now wanted to end him and his political career. Jaya Prada is contesting as a BJP candidate from the Rampur parliamentary constituency. Uttar Pradesh will see polling in all seven phases of the Lok Sabha elections beginning April 11 and ending on May 19. The results will be declared on May 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Algerian Parliament on Tuesday (local time) confirmed upper house Speaker Abdelkader Bensalah as the interim president of the country, even as thousands of protesters expressed disappointment with the appointment of the 76-year-old key aide of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who stepped down from the post earlier this month after week-long demonstrations. The agitators, mostly students, chanted "out with the system", in protest against Bensalah's appointment as acting head of state for 90 days. They expressed disappointment with the move as Bensalah is a part of the ruling dispensation they have been seeking to remove in the last few months, Al Jazeera reported. Police responded by firing tear gas, water cannons and used pepper spray and batons in a bid to dispel the crowd. Although Bensalah's appointment is in accordance with the Algerian Constitution, the demonstrators are unhappy with the move as the 76-year-old is a seasoned establishment insider, besides having close links to Bouteflika. According to the process, the interim president has to conduct the elections within 90 days and cannot legally contest in the polls. Notably, Bensalah, who was confirmed to the post by the Algerian Parliament, does not have any backing of the opposition parties, which abstained from voting during the session. In a televised speech, Bensalah vowed to hold free and fair polls within 90 days of his tenure and expressed hope that a new president elected to power would be committed to building a "new Algeria". He also announced plans to create a sovereign body on an urgent basis, with the help of politicians and electorate, in order to lay down the required conditions for "honest and transparent" elections. On April 2, Bouteflika resigned as Algeria's president before his mandate was to end on April 28, after remaining in power for about 20 years. This came after a press statement issued by Bouteflika's office had said that the president will take steps to ensure "state institutions continue to function during the transition period", adding, his "resignation would occur before April 28, 2019". The statement further noted that Bouteflika would "take important measures to ensure the continuity of the functioning of the state institutions during the period of transition." Algeria has been witnessing protests since February against Bouteflika following his announcement that he was keen on contesting for a fifth term. However, he later gave in to the protesters' demands and abandoned his re-election bid. Bouteflika had also delayed the presidential election indefinitely, originally scheduled to take place on April 18, and stated that he would only step down after a new Constitution was passed. Protests continued over Bouteflika's continued hold of power, after which the 82-year-old ailing leader decided to step down from the post, thereby succumbing to public pressure. He rarely made public appearances since suffering a stroke in 2013. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday staged a protest in front of Chief Electoral Officer Gopal Krishna Dwivedi's office here to protest the "illegal and unethical" Income Tax raids on his party's leaders. "I am asking the Income Tax department who are they to do only one side raids, only one political party- Telugu Desam Party (TDP). When elections around, it is level playing field automatically they have to treat everyone equal. You have to get information then only go for raids otherwise if you do these type of things it is unjustifiable, incorrect, illegal and unethical," Naidu told reporters here after the meeting. "Narendra Modi wanted to demolish democracy. That is why I launched the programme 'Save Democracy, Save India'. He has fear. From Delhi, ECI is transferring... Election Commission office has become BJP office. It cannot be tolerated," he said. Earlier in the day, Naidu wrote a letter to the Election Commission of India (ECI) accusing it of handling election-related matters pertaining to his state in "undemocratic" and "arbitrary" way especially in the transfer of officials. "In Andhra Pradesh, ever since the elections were announced and code of conduct came into force, income tax authorities have been targeting only the TDP candidates party workers and its sympathisers, thus creating an atmosphere of fear and terror. None of the candidates belonging to other political parties have been targeted, projecting a message that the TDP candidates and sympathisers alone are the culprits," Naidu said. He said it was "strange and surprising" that whenever a complaint goes from YSRCP and within hours a police officer is transferred without verifying the facts and giving a chance to the latter to explain his stand and the ground situation. On Tuesday, I-T had raided premises in various locations related to TDP MP Galla Jayadev. The Chief Minister in his letter alleged that the ECI is transferring officials without any reason. "The Election Commission of India transferred District Collector of Srikakulam, only a day after he joined the assignment. The DG of Police Intelligence and SP's of Kadapa and Srikakulam were also shifted without giving any reasonable opportunity to them. The Chief Secretary was again transferred recently. This officer has impeccable track record throughout his career," the letter read. Elections to the 175-member Andhra Pradesh Assembly are scheduled to be held on April 11 simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls. The counting of votes will take place on May 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As part of the recent study, researchers tried to understand how artificial intelligence can help in the fight against human trafficking. A group of computational researchers, experts in artificial intelligence (AI) and other members of the community are joining forces with policy experts, law enforcement officials, activists and survivors to help put the pieces together. "Imagine the techniques that Google and Facebook are using to make a profit--understanding people, the way they connect, what their interests are, what they might buy or the activities they engage in," said Dan Lopresti, lead researcher. "We can apply those same techniques--data mining, text mining, what's called graph mining--AI that's being used for legitimate and really profitable purposes, to track these illicit behaviours," added Lopresti. The findings were discussed in the Code 8.7: Using Computational Science and AI to End Modern meeting. Although traffickers have embraced the Internet and social media platforms to recruit potential victims and advertise to customers, according to Lopresti, the same networks provide opportunities for rooting out criminal activity. As part of the study, Lopresti helped organise a two-day conference at the United Nations in February called Code 8.7: Using Computational Science and AI to End Modern Slavery. The conference brought together top researchers, policy makers, social scientists, representatives of the tech community and survivors for a deep dive into the topic. The name Code 8.7 refers to Target 8.7 of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals which seek to end forced labour, modern slavery, and human trafficking by 2030, and the worst forms of child labour by 2025. For Lopresti, the time is ripe to move beyond our reliance on good--but fortuitous--observations to uncover crimes of human trafficking. It is time, he says, to leverage to support trained law enforcement in tackling this complex issue. "Finding a solution to the problem of human trafficking is not just a technical one. It also involves social policy and politics. As a researcher, if you don't understand this, you could come up with a solution that you think is elegant mathematically but is totally irrelevant in the real world. So that's why we wanted to be in the same room with the social scientists and the policymakers," Lopresti explained. Since 2015, Jennifer Gentile Long, a graduate of Lehigh and chief executive officer of Aequitas -- a resource for prosecutors working on cases of human trafficking and gender-based violence-- and Lopresti have collaborated on computer-science-based efforts to help AEquitas manage and make use of a large amount of text data in legal documents to support the organization's work in helping prosecutors build stronger cases. "It was amazing to see experts in all these fields come together and try to coordinate efforts so that people are working toward solutions, not working haphazardly. They are making a true impact on this crime--identifying victims at points where they are missed, providing opportunities to leave and find safety, identifying perpetrators, and looking at policy in a coordinated effort. And it's so great to see Lehigh, in a way, sitting at the head of the table," Long asserted. During the conference's closing session, survivors of human trafficking shared their stories with attendees. "It reminded everyone that even though we are talking about information, data, and policy, which all seem abstract, the data is real people. You can't treat a problem like this abstractly," said Lopresti. " alone can't solve the problem but when we combine it with training efforts to develop highly skilled, trauma-informed investigators and prosecutors, we can enhance victim identification and safety," Long added. Lopresti, who is an expert in document analysis and pattern recognition, is working with RIIC Director Julia Kocis , prosecutors, law enforcement officials, and other Rossin College computer science and engineering faculty members--Jeffrey D Heflin, Sihong Xie, and Eric PS Baumer--to help overcome the challenges of turning vast amounts of data, primarily from police incident reports, into something useable, despite limited resources. "If an expert sits down and reads enough of these, he or she will find a common thread--this person is related to this place, which is related to this activity, which is related to this other person. The trouble is, they've got millions of these reports and just don't have enough time to read through them. We're developing natural language techniques, text mining and data mining techniques that are oriented to processing lots of data to identify patterns of behavior that would reflect illegal activities related to human trafficking," Lopresti said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Wednesday denied to have carried out searches in the premises of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) sitting MP from Guntur, Galla Jayadev. "No premise of the MP candidate Galla Jayadev was searched," Y D Sharma, Commissioner of Income Tax and official spokesperson of CBDT said in a statement. He further said that the residence of Gurappa Naidu was searched by the Income Tax Department on Tuesday after information was received on a toll-free-number that cash was kept at his residence. According to the Income Tax Department, Rs 45.4 lakh cash was seized. "An information had been received on toll-free-number that cash was kept at the residence of Gurappa Naidu which was to be used in the General Elections," the statement said. "It was only at the time of recording his statement late in the night that he (Gurappa Naidu) revealed that he was giving services to Galla Jayadaev, MP, TDP also in his capacity as a cost accountant," the statement added. On Monday, it was reported that I-T sleuths had conducted raids in the offices of Galla Jayadev, sitting TDP MP from Guntur. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday staged a protest in front of the Chief Electoral Officer Gopal Krishna Dwivedi's office here to protest the "illegal and unethical" I-T raids on his party leaders. Election to the 175-member Andhra Pradesh Assembly is scheduled to be held on April 11 simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls on April 11. The counting of votes will take place on May 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday paid tributes to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Bheema Mandavi, his driver and three personal security officers, who lost their lives in Naxal attack on Tuesday. The mortal remains of Mandavi were brought to the BJP's office in Dantewada. On Tuesday, Naxals attacked the convoy in which Mandavi was travelling and killed all five including his driver and three PSOs. Baghel had condemned the attack but denied any security failure. "Had Bheema Mandavi listened to the police, he would be alive now. But he did not heed their advice sent the DRG force back. He went out without giving prior information," the Chief Minister said on Tuesday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Expressing his displeasure over separatist leader Yasin Malik's arrest, Conference (NC) chairman Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said that crackdown on separatist leaders would result in the rise of discontent in the Valley. "I am very disappointed with this move. Nothing can be gained out of this. The more they are oppressed, the more discontent will increase," Abdullah said. Abdullah, also a former Union Minister, suggested the government not to arrest the people with a different ideology. He said: "People may be of different opinion. It does not mean you will arrest them for keeping a different opinion)." Criticising Malik's arrest, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said: "This is not India's way." Earlier in the day, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik was arrested by the Investigative Agency (NIA) in connection with a 2017 terror funding case in New Delhi. The NIA court has sent Malik to NIA remand till April 22. Malik was taken to the capital on Tuesday evening from Jammu jail after the NIA secured a production warrant against him in connection with a terror funding case in Jammu and Kashmir. Last month, the Central government had banned his organization -- Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), saying the outfit is actively engaged in inciting secession and is illegally funnelling funds for fomenting terrorism. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sent a plea seeking direction to Election Commission of India (ECI) to ban Jammu and Kashmir politicians Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti from participating in the Lok Sabha elections to another bench for hearing on April 12. The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed on April 8 seeking a ban for the three leaders who have been former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, for their "seditious and communal" statements against the Constitution. The petition filed by an advocate alleged that the statements given by the three leaders were against the Constitution, adding that the court or the ECI should bar or impose conditions on their entry into the general elections. Seven-phase Lok Sabha polls are set to begin on April 11 and will go on till May 19. The counting of votes will take place on May 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday stayed the release of 'PM Narendra Modi', a biopic on the Prime Minister, till elections are over citing that the film "disturbs the level-playing field." The film was scheduled for release tomorrow, coinciding with the start of the Lok Sabha polls. "Any biopic material in the nature of biography/hagiography sub-serving the purposes of any political entity or individual connected to it, which is intended to, or which has the potential to disturb the level playing field during the elections, should not be displayed in the electronic media including cinematograph during the operation of MCC", the Commission said in a statement. The Modi biopic was initially scheduled for release on April 5 but its release date got postponed to April 11, which falls in the first phase of polling of Lok Sabha elections. The poll body also stated that any complaints on this matter will be examined by a panel headed by a retired Supreme Court or High Court judge. This statement from the Election Commission came after receiving complaints against movies 'NTR Laxmi', 'PM Narendra Modi' and 'Udyama Simham'. Modi's biopic helmed by Omung Kumar has also been criticised by the opposition parties, which believe that the biopic may give an undue advantage to BJP in the polls. (ANI) On Tuesday the Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking stay on the release of the Vivek Oberoi-starer biopic stating that it is for the Election Commission (EC) to take a call whether the movie violated the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) or not. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday issued a show cause notice to Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao finding him prima facie guilty of violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) during a March 17 rally in Karimnagar. In its notice to the Chief Minister and President of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the Commission stated: "The Commission has received a complaint from M Rama Raju, State president, Viswa Hindu Parishad wherein the complainant has stated that you have tried to secure votes by passing derogatory remarks "EE HINDU GAALU......BONDU GAALU......DIKKUMALINA......DARIDMPU GAALTI" and DESHAM LO AGGI PETALE, GATTAR LEVALE" against Hindus while addressing an election rally at Karimnagar on March 17." MCC came into force right after the ECI announced the schedule for General Elections on March 10. "Commission, is prima facie, of the opinion that by making the aforesaid statement which has the potential of disturbing harmony and aggravating the existing differences between social and religious communities, and appealing to communal feelings, you have violated the above said provisions of the Model Code of Conduct," the notice read. The Commission has asked the Chief Minister to submit explanation in this regard on or before April 12. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Chandra Narayan Yadav Memorial Maternity Hospital, made on an Indian grant of Nepalese Rupees 26.90 million, was inaugurated by Ambassador of India to Nepal, Manjeev Singh Puri, here on Wednesday. The 25-bedded maternity hospital is built to provide access to maternity and health care services to the people of 50 village development committees (VDC) in and around the district of Siraha. Constructed through a Government of India grant, the hospital is equipped with ultrasound facilities, a blood bank, an emergency room, ICU, CCU, major OT, a minor OT, and other basic facilities. The hospital is being run by the Chandra Narayan Yadav Memorial Trust under the principle of no profit/no loss basis. The newly built infrastructure will help reduce the maternal and child mortality rate in the region. The inauguration ceremony was attended by numerous political and community leaders, including the Nepali Congress central committee member and chairman of Chandra Narayan Memorial Trust, Sita Devi Yadav. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday said that the military aggression displayed by India against Pakistan is a clear threat to stability in the region. During an interview to Radio Pakistan, Qureshi noted that as a peace-loving country, Pakistan is "committed to peaceful and normal relations in its neighbourhood." However, he added that Pakistan is capable to frustrate any 'misadventure', apparently referring to India. "Our conduct as a nuclear weapon state will continue to be defined by restraint and responsibility," Qureshi said adding Pakistan will maintain credible minimum deterrence to ensure its national security. Qureshi on Sunday had alleged that Pakistan has reliable intelligence inputs India "is hatching a new plot and may resort to military aggression" against the country between April 16 and 20. "An incident similar to Pulwama could recur in the occupied Kashmir Valley," Ary News quoted him as claiming, referring to the Jaish-e-Mohammed perpetrated February 14 Pulwama terror attack. However, India rejected Qureshi's claims, dubbing it as "irresponsible and preposterous" statement made by Pakistan "with a clear objective of whipping up war hysteria in the region." Qureshi further reiterated that Pakistan is prepared to take concrete steps to ease tension and work for friendly relations with India, which also includes resuming talks on Kartarpur corridor. "Our neighbours also need to understand that the only way forward is dialogue," Qureshi was quoted as saying. Qureshi pointed out that the threat to peace and stability stems from the Kashmir dispute, a major cause of contention between India and Pakistan, which remains unresolved for about half a century. Qureshi said that India's denial to the Kashmir right of self-determination and its blatant human rights violations have led to frustration amongst the Kashmiri youth. This is the reason that the freedom struggle in occupied Kashmir has gained momentum and caught attention," he said. Tension between India and Pakistan sparked following the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. Forty CRPF personnel had lost their lives in the attack that was claimed responsibility by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group. The incident provoked international condemnation and pressure on Pakistan, urging it to intensify crackdown on terror groups operating from its soil. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Urging the voters of Amethi to get rid of their "missing MP," BJP leader and Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday said that India got independence years back. "I would request the voters of Amethi to also get rid of their missing Member of Parliament," she said, while talking to ANI. Attacking Congress president Rahul Gandhi who represents Amethi in the Lok Sabha, she said: "People are saying that Rahul Gandhi won from Amethi and went to Waynad and Smriti Irani despite losing came back to Amethi. This has become a topic of discussion among the voters. " In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Smriti Irani had unsuccessfully contested against Congress president Rahul Gandhi from Amethi. She said that she will file her nomination papers in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday. Amethi goes to polls on May 6 in the 5th phase of the elections. Elections in UP are scheduled to be conducted in seven phases starting from April 11 and ending on May 19. The counting of votes will take place on May 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Israel's right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday appeared to secure a clear majority for the fifth time in the Parliament. The elections for the 21st Knesset or the National Legislature was viewed as a closely fought battle between Netanyahu's Likud Party and opposition candidate Benny Gantz's Blue and White party. Citing preliminary results of the elections, The Times of Israel confirmed that with 97 per cent of the votes counted, neither of the candidates' parties had captured a ruling majority, but Netanyahu was clearly in a strong position to form a coalition government with other right-wing factions that have backed him. More than 6.3 million voters exercised their franchise to elect members of 120-seat Knesset on Tuesday in 10,000 polling stations across the country. Despite reeling under a series of corruption allegations, Netanyahu is seeking a fifth term in office. If he wins, he would become Israel's longest-serving leader surpassing founding father David Ben-Gurion. Meanwhile, Gantz, a former Israeli army general, claimed victory in the ensuing parliamentary polls and said that the public "has had their say" and the elections have a "clear winner" and a "clear loser". With both leaders claiming victory on Tuesday night, a clearer picture emerged on Wednesday as the results began streaming in, painting Netanyahu as the winner. In the final days of his election campaign, Netanyahu had vowed to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank if re-elected. The leader even dubbed himself as the underdog and warned that "the right-wing government is in danger". Final results were expected by Friday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) pilots union has served a legal notice to the management of the airline over delays in the payment of salary. In the notice addressed to CEO Vinay Dube, the National Aviators Guild (NAG) has threatened to initiate legal action unless the salaries of the pilots due from January to March are cleared by April 14. The pilots, via their counsel, claimed that despite raising the issue time and again with the management, the schedule of payment is getting delayed each time. "My client calls upon the management of Jet Airlines to pay the salaries outstanding for the months of January, February and March 2019 by April 14 2019 (and future monthly salaries by the 1st of each proceeding month), failing which my client shall be constrained, instructed to inform you, to resort to all constitutional and legal methods available to it to ensure payment of the salaries of its members," the notice read. The 25-year-old airline, which shattered Air India's monopoly, has been surviving while facing bruising competition from low-cost airlines and fluctuating crude oil prices. On March 25, Chairman and his wife Anita holding 51 per cent of the equity resigned from the board and transferred control to the lenders. Thereafter, an interim management committee was created to manage and monitor daily operations and cash flow. According to reports, Jet has a debt of more than Rs 8,500 crore besides unpaid dues to aircraft lessors, employees and suppliers. Journalist Priya Ramani has pleaded not guilty and claimed trial as a Delhi court frames defamation charge against her in a case filed by former Union Minister MJ Akbar. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM), Samar Vishal, also granted permanent exemption to Ramani from personal appearance in the hearings to follow. Ramani had earlier appeared before ACMM who had granted her bail on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 in February. The matter has been listed for further hearing on May 4. Ramani was the first woman to accuse Akbar of sexual harassment during the #MeToo campaign. Akbar, the former Minister of State for External Affairs, had filed a defamation case against the journalist for accusing him of sexual misconduct. The allegations levelled against him forced him to resign from the Union Cabinet on 17 October 2018. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, adequate security measures have been taken for a peaceful election in Tripura West parliamentary constituency, said a senior police official here. Polling for the constituency will take place on Thursday in the first phase of elections.Superintendent of Police for West Tripura district, Ajit Pratap Singh, said, "Right from the day of the announcement of the election, the border has been sealed. And 48 hours before the polling, the BSF is on alert." Singh said that the police deployment is in two layers - booth level security in which central paramilitary forces will be deployed and the patrolling party which will move throughout for area domination. In addition, there will also be police deployed in plain clothes for intelligence gathering.Special vigilance will be undertaken by Central paramilitary forces in the vulnerable areas from a day prior to the polling. Singh added that candidate security has been taken very seriously and the five and state party candidates have been given double escort and PSO (personal security officer) to make their security foolproof. Independent candidate's security has also been kept in mind and fulfilled as per demand. In total, 6, 47, 840 electors will be casting their vote in 787 polling stations of which 21 have been identified as vulnerable and 111 as critical. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress president Rahul Gandhi is set to file his nomination from Amethi parliamentary constituency today. This comes after his decision to contest from Wayanad in Kerala set off a controversy. Rahul's brother-in-law and businessman Robert Vadra, who is also in Amethi, took to Facebook and wrote, "My best wishes to Rahul for a successful, productive and a healthy future, to create the change INDIA requires. Always in your support." Ahead of Rahul Gandhi's visit, the District Collector office has been decorated with flowers. Rahul will be for the second consecutive time contest against Union Textile Minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani from Amethi. Irani on Tuesday took a jibe at Vadra while downplaying his campaigning for Congress in Amethi and asserted that farmers will run a parallel campaign during his stay to save their lands from him. Speaking to ANI, Irani said, "Robert Vadra's campaign will definitely benefit BJP. Wherever Vadra will go, the farmers will come out to save their land. So even if Congress runs an "Aashirwad campaign", farmers of the region will campaign for saving their land". Earlier, Vadra had announced that he would be campaigning for the Congress party in the ensuing Lok Sabha election. Besides Amethi, Rahul Gandhi will also be contesting from Wayanad seat in Kerala. He filed his nomination for the seat on April 4. He was accompanied by his sister and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The Congress chief filed his nomination papers at the district collectorate in Kalpetta. The seven-phase Lok Sabha election will start from Thursday and will end on May 19. The result will be announced on May 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nepal on Wednesday deployed a team to find out the height of the world's highest peak, Mount Everest. This comes after speculations regarding shrinking of Mount Everest's height started floating after Nepal was hit by a devastating earthquake measuring 7.9 Richter scale in April 2015. A group of four officials from the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation set off for the peak after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli bid them farewell, the Prime Minister's Secretariat said in a statement. "It will be the first time that Nepal is measuring the height of Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest). You all please bring the measurement on centimetres also. The measurement conducted by you will be the only official height of the Mount Everest," the Secretariat quoted Prime Minister Oli as saying. The team comprises of Chief Survey Officer Khim Lal Gautam and Survey Officer Rabin Karki, Suraj Singh Bhandari and Amin Yubraj Dhital. Amongst them, Chief Survey Officer Gautama and Survey Officer Bhandari will make it to the top of the Everest whereas the two other officials will remain at the base camp assisting the surveyors and monitor activities at an altitude of 5,364 meters. The team is expected to return to Kathmandu within a month while the report is expected to be announced by end of this year. The survey will be conducted according to different categories, including Precise Levelling, Trigonometric Levelling, Gravity Survey and GNSS survey which covers 285 points with 12 different observation stations. The first kind of survey would help in finding the height from the Southern Plains of Nepal to the selected control points; the second is performed from selected control points, the point of precise levelling. The Gravity Survey will define the local surface that corresponds to sea level and its imagined extension under (or over) land areas and the fourth survey determines the location of gravity points benchmarks as well as the top of Everest. The centuries-old belief regarding the height of Mount Everest measuring 8,842 meters will be verified at earliest of 2020. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister for Railways Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said that because of the "delay" in acquiring Rafale fighter jets by the Congress party, the Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots have to fly "MiG" fighter planes. Sharpening his attack on the Congress party, he said: "If it were left to the Congress party, they will never let us buy any defence equipment without any interest or compensation. Had they acquired the Rafale fighter jets without any delay, our IAF pilots would not have been flying MiG," said Goyal, while addressing a gathering at 'India moving towards Super Power' event here. The Railway Minister also lauded the IAF pilots for striking down Pakistan Air Force's (PAF) F-16 fighter jet during an aerial strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist camp at Balakot in Pakistan on February 26. "Airforce doesn't have a modern aircraft. Still our pilots with their 'capabilities' stuck down the F-16 fighter jet of PAF." He also accused the Congress party of colluding with the "other party", which did not get selected during the L1 bidding process of Rafale fighter jets. The Union Minister also slammed the Congress for its election manifesto, stating that their proposal to repeal sedition law would be "good" for the terrorists. "Commit the crime and you will not be jailed. You will easily get the bail, too," he said. The Congress in its manifesto has said that it would do away with Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) if voted to power. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said that Pakistan had opted for a "measured response" to India's February 26 air strikes by bombing an empty area just across the Indian border. During an informal chat with a group of foreign journalists, Khan said that he was awakened by a phone call at 3.30 a.m. on February 26 when a Pakistani military official informed him that Indian warplanes had just crossed the border and conducted strikes on Pakistani soil. Pakistan opted for a "measured response" and bombed an empty area just across the Indian border, he said. "They hit our trees, so we thought we would hit their stones," The New York Times quoted Prime Minister Khan as saying. He was talking to the journalists upon completion of his first eight months in office. As a "peace gesture", he had announced the release of Indian Air Force pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman in Pakistan Parliament on February 28. The Wing Commander was held captive by Pakistani authorities on February 27 after his MiG 21 Bison went down during a beyond visual range combat with Pakistani jets. Before his plane was hit, Varthaman shot down an F-16 of the Pakistan Air Force. He was released by Pakistanon March 1. According to the newspaper, Prime Minister Khan seemed quite cognisant that the last thing Pakistan wanted was a war. The Indian Air Force had hit a terrorist training camp in Balakot in Pakistan on February 26 in retaliation to February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF soldiers lost their lives. The responsibility for the Pulwama attack was claimed by Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). On the threat from Paris-based Financial Action Task Force to blacklist and sanction Pakistan, Prime Minister Khan said, "We can't afford to be blacklisted." The Task Force, a global agency, takes measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Mayawati on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of running the government on fake promises. "All the statements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after 2014 about Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Muslims were fake. PM Modi runs the government on fake promises," BSP chief said while addressing an election rally here. The BSP chief also alleged that Prime Minister Modi runs the government on the basis of thinking of the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Accusing BJP and Congress of not doing anything for Dalits, she said: "BJP and Congress didn't speak a word on the reservation. There is no chance for both of them to form a government this time." She also termed the Central government's recent move to give 10 per cent reservation to the economically weaker sections (EWS) in the general category as an election gimmick. The Lok Sabha election is set to be conducted in seven phases beginning April 11. The last phase of elections will be held on May 19. The results will be declared on May 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that the Supreme Court has accepted that there is some form of corruption in the Rafale deal. "Supreme Court has accepted that there is some form of corruption in the Rafale deal and that 'Chowkidar Ne Chori Karwayi Hai," Rahul told media persons after filing his nomination for Amethi Lok Sabha seat here. His comment came after the Supreme Court earlier today dismissed the Centre's preliminary objections claiming 'privilege' over three Rafale documents cited in petitions seeking review of the December 14 verdict on the fighter jet deal. In a unanimous judgement, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi allowed the admissibility of the three documents and said that the review pleas will be heard on merits. "We deem it proper to dismiss preliminary objections and hold and affirm the review petitions will be adjudicated on the basis of relevance of the three documents whose admissibility was questioned by respondents," Justice Gogoi said. The bench said the date of hearing the review pleas will be decided later. The review petitions were filed against the apex court's December 14 judgement refusing to order a probe into the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France. Arun Shourie, who is among the petitioners seeking review of the Rafale verdict, said, "Our argument was that because the documents relate to defence. You must examine them. You asked for the evidence and we have provided it. So the court has accepted our pleas and rejected the arguments of the government." The Centre had claimed "privilege" over the Rafale documents and their admissibility as evidence in the case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz were on Tuesday (local time) indicted in connection with the Ramzan Sugar Mills case. Sharif and Hamza appeared before an accountability court here, where they were indicted in the matter. The father-son duo pleaded not guilty to the charges, Geo News reported. In February, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had alleged that Sharif misused his post as the former Punjab chief minister to build a bridge amounting to Rs 500 million to facilitate the Ramzan mills. Sharif had allegedly issued illegal orders for the construction of the bridge, the NAB had said. On February 14, Sharif was granted bail by the Lahore High Court in this matter as well as in connection with the Ashiana Iqbal Housing scheme case. The PML-N chief was indicted in the Ashiana case as well. On the other hand, Hamza's bail was extended by the court till April 17. He was directed by the Lahore High Court to submit bail bonds amounting to Rs 10 million. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tata Sponge Iron Ltd (TSIL), a subsidiary of Tata Steel, has completed the acquisition of Usha Martin's steel for Rs 4,094 crore. "TSIL completed the acquisition of steel undertaking including captive power plants on April 9 pursuant to a cash consideration (after adjustment for negative working capital and debt like items) payable to Usha Martin of Rs. 4,094 crore," it informed stock exchanges in regulatory filings. This is subject to further hold backs of Rs 640 crore, pending transfer of some of the assets including mines and certain land parcels, TSIL added. On September 22, Tata Steel had announced signing of definitive agreements to buy Usha Martin's steel The acquisition cost was then pegged between Rs 4,300 to 4,700 crore. TSIL later entered the steel business as part of a long-term strategy and Tata Steel identified it as the appropriate entity for the acquisition. Tata Steel holds 54.5 per cent of shareholding in TSIL. Usha Martin's steel business has a rich mix of carbon steel and alloy steel catering to automotive sector and high-end wire rod manufacturers. The acquired business comprises a one million tonnes per annum alloy-based long products making facility in Jamshedpur, an operational iron ore mine, a coal mine under development and captive power plants. The TSIL board had approved a plan to finance the buy through issue of rights share up to Rs 1,800 crore, external borrowings up to Rs 2500 crore and issue of non-convertible redeemable preference shares of Rs 1,000 crore. TSIL is debt-free with free cash reserves of about Rs 670 crore. Usha Martin's gross revenue of the steel business in the financial year ended March 31, 2018 was Rs 3,441 crore. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Trinamool Congress (TMC) has written a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner expressing discontent over the transfer of Cooch Behar Superintendent of Police (SP) Abhishek Gupta. In the letter which was submitted on Tuesday night, TMC termed the transfer "an arbitrary and biased order" of the Election Commission of India. The party also alleged that the transfer was done on the behest of the BJP. "From the events unfolded in the recent past, it is amply clear that such order of transfer has been passed at the behest of the ruling party at Centre i.e. BJP, its leaders as well as its local representatives in West Bengal, especially in view of the statements issued by its leaders during the recent election meeting held at Cooch Behar," the party claimed. TMC also alleged that BJP leaders during an election meeting on April 7 had threatened Gupta of "dire consequences." "In the presence of the Prime Minister, Mukul Roy has hinted that Abhishek Gupta, the Superintendent of Police will be robbed of his uniform. He obliquely hinted that he would soon be replaced and/or transferred by the Election Commission as if he has full control over the Election Commission," TMC said in its complaint. "Your action clearly indicates that such decision has been taken as per his instruction and compel us to question the bona fide of the decision," read the letter. Through the letter, the party has requested the EC to review its order and ensure a free and fair election in the state. A TMC delegation led by Derek O'Brien is also expected to meet the Chief Election Commissioner later today in this regard. Polling for the 42 Lok Sabha seats at stake in West Bengal will be held in all seven phases from April 11 to May 19. Two parliamentary constituencies of West Bengal- Cooch Behar and Alipurduar - will go to polls on April 11. The counting of votes will take place on May 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior advocate H S Phoolka in a letter to Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said that the transfer of senior Special Investigation Team (SIT) officer Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh by the Election Commission (EC) will hamper the investigation into the sacrilege cases. Calling Singh's transfer "unfortunate," Phoolka said: "The investigation has reached a very crucial stage and is likely to be concluded soon. At this stage, his transfer is likely to adversely affect the investigation." Further adding that the action is "overstepping" on the part of the ECI, he said: "The officer, being in SIT, is not in any way connected to the election duty and has no direct role in the conduct of the elections." "The ECI has no power to ask for the transfer of an officer who is not connected with the election process in any way." Requesting Punjab government to send a letter informing the EC about the adverse effect of its decision on the investigation, Phoolka said, "Punjab government has asked for a review of the order but has not made the case of adverse effect on the investigation. I request you to send another letter urging these grounds for the review of the order." Earlier, the EC had ordered the Punjab government to transfer Singh for violating the Model Code of Conduct. Punjab government had subsequently posted Singh as Inspector General of Police (IG), Counterintelligence, in Amritsar. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (local time) had a telephonic conversation with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, where the two leaders discussed Iran and human rights issues. "They (Trump and Saudi Crown Prince) discussed Saudi Arabia's critical role in ensuring Middle East stability, maintaining maximum pressure against Iran, and the importance of human rights issues," The Hill quoted the White House as saying in a statement. The telephonic call between Trump and the Saudi Crown Prince comes after Riyadh's human rights issues came under the lens following the death of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year. The Donald Trump administration has been facing immense criticism from lawmakers for its response to Khashoggi's murder. Khashoggi, who was a journalist with The Washington Post and a vocal critic of the Saudi regime, was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 last year, where he had gone to obtain paperwork certifying his divorce with his former wife Alaa Nassif in order to be able to marry his Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz. After presenting several contradictory theories, Saudi Arabia acknowledged that Khashoggi was killed in the consulate premises in what it had described as a "rogue operation". According to US intelligence agencies, Khashoggi's murder was enacted upon orders given by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. However, Saudi Arabia has repeatedly rejected all the allegations against its Crown Prince, adding that it is committed to bringing the perpetrators to justice. The US on Monday barred the entry of at least 16 Saudi nationals into the country over their alleged involvement in the murder of Khashoggi. In the same day itself, Washington designated elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a "foreign terrorist organisation" in a bid to pressure Iran into abandoning "its deadly ambitions." This is the first time that the US labelled another country's governmental entity as a terror body. The designation makes it illegal to provide any materials to Iran's paramilitary organisation formed in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution to defend its government. Hours later, Iran retaliated by designating the US as a "state sponsor of terrorism", and labelled the US Central Command (CENTCOM) in the Middle East as a "terror group". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (local time) said that he was "not looking" to revive his administration's policy of separating migrant families at the US-Mexico border. Trump's comments came after several media reports suggested that the US President was planning to reinstate the policy. Although Trump denied such reports, he said that such a policy is effective to tackle illegal border crossings. "We're not looking to do that. No!" The Hill quoted Trump saying during a press briefing at the Oval Office with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi sitting next to him. While Trump contended that the policy would prevent people from illegally crossing the US, he asserted that he had no plans to reinstate the practice. "Once you don't have it, that's why you see many more people coming. They're coming like it's a picnic because, 'let's go to Disneyland,' " he said in a lighter vein. Several media reports on Monday had said that former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who resigned on April 7, had opposed the move of the revival of the family separation policy, saying it was a violation of Trump's executive order. After reportedly trading barbs with Trump over immigration issues, Nielsen stepped down from her post. Last year, the Trump administration had established a "zero-tolerance" immigration policy, in which authorities could arrest and prosecute those caught trespassing the US-Mexico border, which ultimately led to the separation of thousands of migrant families. The move invited immense criticism among both the Democrats and Republicans, with most of them questioning the morality of the separation policy. Subsequently, Trump halted the separation by signing an executive order, saying that only the US Congress could tackle the burning issue. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Falling short of a complete apology, British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday said the UK "deeply regrets" the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre and called it a "shameful scar" on the British-Indian history. "The tragedy of Jallianwalla Bagh in 1919 is a shameful scar on the British-Indian history. As her Majesty, the Queen said before visiting Jallianwala Bagh 1997, it is a distressing example of our past history with India. We deeply regret what happened and the suffering caused," May said at the British Parliament. Hundred years on, the United Kingdom is yet to give a full apology for the gruesome attack on unarmed protesters in Amritsar in 1919. Highlighting this, Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "I think the people, in memory of those who lost their lives in the brutality of what happened, deserve a full, clear and unequivocal apology for what took place on that occasion." The Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place on 13 April 1919 when troops of the British Indian Army under the command of Colonel Reginald Dyer fired machine guns into a crowd of unarmed protesters, along with Baishakhi pilgrims, who had gathered in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, Punjab. The British government had released figures stating that 379 innocent people had died while 1,200 were wounded in the brutal tragedy. The British Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, outlined that the "passage of a century" cannot "wipe away the stain of lost lives" in the massacre. "Churchill called it monstrous, David Cameron said it was shameful. It was both - one of the most appalling episodes in British history. The passage of a century will not wipe away the stain of innocent lives being taken at the Amritsar massacre," he tweeted on Wednesday. . (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three women have been arrested for beating a police PRD personnel at a district hospital in Sitapur, police said. "On Tuesday, the PRD personnel Rita Kumari was on duty at the district hospital. A few women tried to skip the line. When the PRD personnel objected, the women thrashed and slapped her," Sitapur Circle Officer Yogendra Singh told media persons.Soon after receiving the report, Kotawali police rushed to the district hospital to take stock of the situation. The three women have been brought to the police station and a case has been registered on them. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Wikileaks on Wednesday alleged that Ecuador has been spying on its founder Julian Assange, who has taken asylum in the Embassy of Ecuador here for almost seven years now. The charges were made by the website's Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson during a presser here on April 10. "Ecuador's government caught in massive espionage operation against Julian Assange which spied on his legal, medical visits, stole legal notes during the middle of a court hearing against them, secretly cooperated with US prosecutors, and tried to extort him for 3M Euro," Wikileaks claimed. "We know that there was a request to hand over visitor's logs from the embassy and video recordings from within the security cameras in the embassy," Hrafnsson said, claiming that the information had been sought by the Trump administration in the United States, according to Sputnik. The editor stressed that the alleged secret spying on Assange, if true, is a "clear violation of his right to privacy." Wikileaks had previously claimed that Ecuador would be evicting Assange from its premises in London, exposing him to arrests upon ouster. "The only reason why this was averted, in our opinion, is the fact that we learned about it and we were able to publish that information. That was the only reason why it was stopped - probably, temporarily," he added during the presser. Hrafnsson claimed that ever since Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno has taken office, the "pressure on Assange has escalated." "But such a move (Assange's eviction) now seems likely...Since Lenin Moreno was elected president, the pressure on Assange has escalated. Ejecting him from the embassy would be a clear violation of his Ecuadorean citizenship and asylum rights," he said. "It would put him at risk of extradition to the US, where he would very likely face charges that could see him jailed for 30 or more years. Assange published evidence of American war crimes," the editor stated, adding that Assange is a "hero, not a criminal." At the time of seeking asylum from Ecuador in 2012, Assange was wanted by Swedish prosecutors for questioning regarding sexual assault allegations, which have been dismissed by the founder as politically motivated. This came shortly after WikiLeaks released a large number of classified and sensitive documents about the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which provoked investigations in the United States against the Wikileaks founder. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kashmiri Separatist leader Yasin Malik has been arrested by Investigative Agency (NIA) in connection with 2017 terror funding and conspiracy case here on Wednesday. The NIA court has sent him to NIA remand till April 22. Malik was brought here on Tuesday evening from Jammu jail after the NIA secured a production warrant against him in connection with a terror and separatism funding case in Jammu and Kashmir. Last month, the central government had banned his organization Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), saying the outfit is actively engaged in inciting secession and is illegally funnelling funds for fomenting terrorism. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The northeastern states are likely to see a tripartite battle in these elections, with the local parties gaining strength in the erstwhile Congress bastion on local issues and sentiments, even as the BJP makes inroads there, say political experts. Though the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have a substantial base in the northeast, as many as 67 parties, categorised by the Election Commission as state parties and registered unrecognised parties, are strengthening their base in the eight NE states. Of the eight states, Sikkim, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram are currently governed by local parties. In Assam, Tripura, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh too the state parties have significant role in governance. According to an Election Commission notification last month, there are 18 state parties in different northeastern states. Only one of these, the National People's Party (NPP) has a pan-regional presence in Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Assam and leads the government in Meghalaya. Meghalaya has their highest number of state parties (four), followed by three each in Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland, two in Sikkim and one each in Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh. Besides the state parties, the EC notification said there are 49 registered unrecognised parties in the seven of the eight states, excluding Arunachal Pradesh. Assam has the highest number of 18 registered unrecognised parties, followed by nine in Manipur, eight in Sikkim, five in Meghalaya and three each in Tripura, Nagaland and Mizoram. According to experts, the local parties have struck a chord because they operate at the grassroots level. Haobijam Gitajen Meitei, General Secretary of the Manipur People's Party (MPP), one of the oldest parties (set up in 1968) in the region, told IANS regional or local parties know the issues of the region and the sentiments of the people. The MPP, now an ally of the ruling BJP in Tripura, has headed governments in Mizoram in 1972, 1974 and 1990. According to Meitei, the regional parties also understand the diversity of the region better than national parties. The Mizo National Front (MNF) is another old regional party, which fought the November 2018 Assembly polls as a constituent of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) and secured 26 seats in the 40-member Assembly, ousting the Congress from power in its last northeast bastion. Political analyst and academician R.L. Sailo said the MNF, which emerged from Laldenga's Mizo National Famine Front (MNFF), set up to protest the government's "apathetic attitude towards the famine situation in the Mizo areas" of Assam in 1959, has over the years won over the local population. Before becoming a political party, the MNF had signed the historic Mizo peace accord with the central government in 1986 and then formed the government in Mizoram twice, first under Laldenga (1986-88) and then under Zoramthanga (1998-2008). While Mizoram has an MNF government, regional parties lead the coalition governments in Meghalaya (NPP) and Nagaland (Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party) with the BJP playing minor allies in both states, said political analyst and writer Samudra Gupta Kashyap. In Assam and Manipur, the regional parties are part of the BJP-led coalitions. While the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bodoland Peoples Front (BPF) are the BJP's allies in Assam, the NPF (Naga People's Front) and the NPP are allies in Manipur. The BJP, with an absolute majority, is leading governments in Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura. "Understanding the importance of regional parties, the BJP not only forged a strategic alliance and an umbrella body called the Northeast Democratic Alliance (NEDA) with regional parties in 2016, but also played up local sentiments in almost every election," Kashyap said. In Assam, the BJP joined hands with the AGP and the BPF, picked up the Bangladeshi influx issue and rode the wave created by the jati-mati-bheti (identity-land-homestead) slogan to oust the Congress in 2016. "Similarly, it picked up the tribal identity protection issue in Tripura and partnered with the IPFT (Indigenous People's Front of Tripura)," Kashyap told IANS. Following the BJP strategy, the Congress had also adopted a plan of playing up regional or local sentiments, he added. Though the Congress has no ally in Assam, it is trying to whip up sentiments on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which has been opposed by all regional parties. Of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the northeast, home to 45.58 million people as per the 2011 census, seven seats are reserved for tribals who constitute 27-28 per cent of the population. Veteran political commentator Sanjib Deb said the current political situation in the northeast could not allow national parties to govern them without the regional parties' support. "National parties have their own pan-India political strategies and policies. Similarly, the regional parties have their own agenda and demands that cannot be endorsed by national parties," Deb told IANS, adding the IPFT's demand for statehood in Tripura was not supported by its dominant partner, the BJP. Conrad K. Sangma-led National People's Party (NPP), which aims to be the alternative to the Congress and the BJP in the Northeast, has set up base in six of the eight northeastern states, excluding Tripura and Sikkim. Sangma, the Chief Minister of Meghalaya, earlier this month launched an arm of NPP in Assam with a plan to contest 14 Lok Sabha seats. The NPP, set up in 2013 by former Union Minister and Lok Sabha Speaker P.A. Sangma after his expulsion from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in July 2012, is the dominant ruling party in Meghalaya with 20 legislators. Besides, it has five MLAs in Arunachal Pradesh, four in Manipur, and two in Nagaland. The NPP is also a junior partner of the ruling BJP in Manipur and Nagaland. (Sujit Chakraborty can be reached at sujit.C@ians.in)) --IANS sc/vm/rtp/pcj (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As many as 83 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) along with adequate number of state police personnel, mobile patrolling units and Quick Response Teams are being deployed in West Bengal's two Lok Sabha seats, which will vote in the first phase of 2019 polls on Thursday, a top police official said. The Cooch Behar Lok Sabha seat with roughly 1.8 crore voters, has 2,010 polling stations while Alipurduar, in the foothills of north Bengal, has a 1.64 crore strong electorate and 1,834 polling stations. Both the districts have got a thick security cover, with both national and international borders sealed, in tune with the Election Commission's promise to take adequate "measures" to conduct free and fair polls. However, the long-standing demand of the state's opposition parties to deploy central force troopers in all polling stations might not get addressed in the first phase of polling, as according to senior officers, paramilitary personnel will be deployed only in the booths identified as "critical". "A total of 83 companies of CAPF will be deployed in the two seats for the first phase of polling. State police force will also be deployed in adequate numbers. Both the police forces will help each other in guarding the booths and the polling premises. The state police also have a role to play," Central police observer for West Bengal Vivek Dubey told IANS. "The state police force will also do a good job. CAPF personnel will be deployed in all the critical booths. The areas will be covered by mobile patrolling teams and Quick Response Teams. They will be frequently monitoring the areas," he said. Cooch Behar's new Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar Singh, who took charge on Tuesday after the EC shunted out Abhishek Gupta just two days before the polls, said 47 companies of central forces will be deployed in the district for Thursday's election. He said out of 2,010 polling stations in the constituency, close to 700 have been identified as critical where CAPF personnel will take charge of security. "We are trying to accommodate the central forces in as many booths as possible. Out of 2,010 booths, close to 700 booths have been identified as critical. 45 companies of CAPF personnel will be deployed in those booths. One company will be in the district strong room and another will be with the Quick Response Team. "I have been posted here before. So at least I am familiar with the topography. Let's see what I can do. I will try my level best. The most important thing now is the deployment of central force and state police force in all polling stations. Our aim is to hold tomorrow's (Thursday's) election in a free and fair manner," he added. Dubey said 36 companies would be deployed in Alipurduar, of which 22 have been already pressed into service. The Cooch Behar district, that is set to witness a four pronged battle between state's ruling Trinamool Congress, the BJP, the Left and the Congress, saw large-scale demonstrations by poll officials demanding deployment of central forces at every polling booths a few days back. State government employees and teachers engaged for Lok Sabha election duties said that are apprehensive about their security ever since poll official Rajkumar Ray's body was found on train track near north Bengal's Raiganj station during last year's Panchayat election. Similar protests sprung up in Alipurduar but the district administration issued a press note directing all the assigned personnel to take part in poll duty and warned stern action against those unwilling. --IANS mgr/ssp/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Over 900 artistes and people from the field of literature on Wednesday appealed to fellow voters to vote without pressure and prejudice, and elect a "mazboot sarkar" (strong government), not a "majboor sarkar" (helpess government), in the wake of challenges like terrorism. The long list contains some prominent names like actor Vivek Oberoi, classical vocalist Pandit Jasraj, music composer Shankar Mahadevan, Kuchipudi dancing duo Raja-Radha Reddy, theatre artiste Waman Kendre, Dhrupad vocalist Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar and Statue of Unity sculptor Ram Sutar. As per what 93-year-old's son Anil Sutar told IANS, a recent meeting of Indian artistes was held by BJP MP and Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) president Vinay Sahastrabuddhe, when they were asked of their opinion on the ruling government. The group, which came out openly in support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has also said that they need the present government to continue. In the statement, they said: "We, creative artistes and persons belonging to the field of literature appeal to all our fellow citizens to cast their vote and exercise their right to elect the new government without any pressure and prejudice." "We believe that during the last five years, India has seen a government that has delivered corruption-free good governance and development oriented administration. During this period, globally India has acquired greater respect. It is our firm conviction that the continuance of government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the need of the hour." Film actor Deepak Karanjikar, asked for his reason to sign on the statement, told IANS that the ruling government has made some "fundamental changes". He cited a "cultural mapping project of all Indian artists" which was approved a year ago and is still in the pipeline. Citing similar reasons, vocalist Wasifuddin Dagar said that "what good has been started must continue". Previously, recent statements from filmmakers, scientists, writers and artists have appealed to voters to vote out hatred and divisive politics. --IANS sj/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday hit out at the Congress and other opposition parties for calling income tax raids in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka a political vendetta. In a blog, he said public funds were being siphoned off in both the states, inviting searches by the income tax authorities but none of them have yet replied to the charges on merit. "It has become a routine practice to call any action against corruption as political vendetta. Claim of vendetta has never been a legitimate defence in corruption. Those who commit such large acts of corruption have to be judged on the merits of the action itself," the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader said. "In the public space, evidence has come in relation to Karnataka where allocations made for public welfare to the Public Works Departments were being round-tripped by engineers for a political purpose," he added. Jaitley said in Madhya Pradesh, an "institutional mechanism" has been created where money that is meant for development and social welfare of the weaker sections is being channelled into "Regrettably, none of the two state governments have replied to the allegations on merits," he said. Replying to the argument given by the accused as to why they are being singled out and their political rivals are not being searched, he said: "Is there a Right to Equality that no action can be taken till the opponents are charged? Revenue departments act objectively on the basis of material available and take action when they are satisfied that a case of search operation is made out." Money meant for the most vulnerable section of the society is being siphoned off which shows the mindset of those indulging in such an act, he said. "They do not even spare those who live in destitution. This is the hypocrisy of Indian After inflicting such injustice they have the audacity to speak of Nyay," he added. --IANS bns-ps/mag/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who was diagnosed with a chest infection and admitted to the Max Hospital here on Tuesday, could be discharged in the next two days and plans to spend some more time in the national Capital, his aide said. The 83-year-old Buddhist monk flew down from Dharamsala after "he experienced some discomfort yesterday morning", Tenzin Taklha, his private secretary, told IANS on the phone. "The doctors checked on His Holiness and he was diagnosed with a chest infection. He is undergoing treatment and doing much better. He might be discharged in two days," Taklha added. A Max Hospital spokesperson refused to comment on the Dalai Lama's health. The 14th Tibetan spiritual leader has lived in India for 60 years since fleeing his homeland in 1959 after a Chinese Army crackdown. The Tibetan government-in-exile, based here, is not recognised by any country. --IANS sj/rtp (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) on Wednesday announced it has selected Swedish telecommunications manufacturer to expand its pan- voice over LTE (VoLTE) services to offer HD-quality calling over and smart watches. Airtel will deploy the Cloud VoLTE solution to deliver VoLTE services onto a customer data centre. "We remain committed to building a future-ready network as part of our network transformation programme 'Project Leap' and deliver best-in-class digital experience to our customers," said Randeep Sekhon, CTO, As part of "Project Leap", Airtel is offering innovative communication services. The Cloud VoLTE solution enables high-definition voice (HD voice) and provides modern communication service experiences across many types of devices, over LTE, Wi-Fi, and future 5G access. According to the latest "Ericsson Mobility Report", is expected to have more than 780 million VoLTE subscriptions by 2023. VoLTE will also be the foundation for enabling 5G voice calls on different types of 5G devices. "We are delighted to support Airtel by delivering our Ericsson Cloud VoLTE solution. We start today with expanding HD voice over LTE services across India, which will establish a platform to easily introduce new innovative services in the future," informed Nunzio Mirtillo, Ericsson's Head of Market Area, South-East Asia, Oceania and Ericsson Cloud VoLTE is an industrialised solution to deliver VoLTE services onto a customer data centre Cloud. Nearly seven crore voters in the Telugu states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are eligible to exercise their franchise in the elections to 42 Lok Sabha constituencies on Thursday. The stage is set for polling in 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in Andhra Pradesh and 17 constituencies in Telangana. Voters in Andhra Pradesh will also cast their votes to elect 175-member Assembly. A little over 3.93 crore voters in Andhra Pradesh will decide the fortunes of 319 candidates for Lok Sabha seats and 2,118 candidates in Assembly polls. Authorities have set up 46,120 polling stations, of which 9,000 booths are considered sensitive. Elaborate security arrangements have been made in all 13 districts of the state. Officials said besides the 55,000 state police force, 60 companies of Andhra Pradesh Special Police (APSP), 5,666 personnel from other states and 197 companies of the central armed police forces were deployed. Ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) are locked in a direct fight for power. Jana Sena of actor Pawan Kalyan, which is making its debut and contesting in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the left parties, may influence the verdict in few constituencies. The prospects of both Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress, which are contesting on their own, appear bleak. In 2014 elections, the TDP had bagged 102 seats while its then ally BJP had won four seats. The YSRCP had won 67 seats. Two Independents were also elected. In the simultaneous elections held for the Lok Sabha, the TDP had bagged 15 seats while the BJP got two. YSRCP candidates were elected from eight constituencies. Chief Minister and TDP President N. Chandrababu Naidu, YSRCP President Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Jana Sena leader and actor Pawan Kalyan, Naidu's son Nara Lokesh (both making their electoral debut), Naidu's brother-in-law and actor N. Balakrishna and state Congress chief Raghuveera Reddy are among the prominent candidates. Key contestants for the Lok Sabha include former Union Ministers Kishore Chandra Deo, Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Kotla Surya Prakash Reddy (all TDP), M.M. Pallam Raju and J.D. Seelam (Congress), D. Purandeswari (BJP), state BJP chief Kanna Lakshminarayana and former CBI Joint Director V.V. Lakshminarayana (Jana Sena). In Telangana, nearly 2.97 crore voters will decide the fortunes of 443 candidates in the single-phase polling. The state has 34,603 polling stations including 5,749 sensitive stations. Jitender, Additional Director General of Police, said besides 55,946 personnel of Telangana Police, 9,700 personnel from other states, 145 companies of central armed forces and 25 companies of Telangana State Special Police were deployed. Nizamabad constituency will be entering the record books with a record number of candidates and maximum number of EVMs. A total of 185 candidates including 178 farmers are in fray, and 12 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be used in each polling booth. The farmers filed the nominations to highlight their problems including lack of remunerative prices for their produce. Telangana Chief Minister and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) President K. Chandrashekhar Rao's daughter K. Kavitha is seeking re-election from Nizamabad. Buoyed by the landslide victory in the recent Assembly elections, TRS is confident of winning 16 seats, leaving Hyderabad for its ally All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). Opposition Congress is demoralised with the defection of 10 MLAs and other leaders to the TRS over the last one month. In 2014 elections, the TRS had bagged 11 seats while the Congress had won two. The TDP, BJP, AIMIM and the YSRCP had secured a seat each. The TDP and the YSRCP are not contesting the elections this time in Telangana. K. Kavitha, Vinod Kumar (both TRS), state Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy, former Union Minister Renuka Chowdary (Congress) and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi are among the prominent candidates. --IANS ms/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After days of pulls and pressures and flip-flops, maverick Gujarat legislator Alpesh Thakore finally resigned from the Congress on Wednesday, along with another MLA owing allegiance to his Gujarat Kshatriya Thakore Sena, claiming that the party's state leadership had "sidelined" him and not given him respect. Alpesh Thakore, who is an MLA from Radhanpur, however, said that he and his associate Dhavalsinh Jhala, the legislator from Bayad, would continue as MLAs and would "never join the BJP". They would, however, campaign for Swarupji Thakore who is contesting the Banaskantha Lok Sabha seat as an Independent and Natwarji Thakore fighting the Unjha Assembly by-election, both in north Gujarat. In his resignation letter to state Congress President Amit Chavda, the OBC leader claimed he, his community and supporters were feeling "cheated" and "ignored" within the party set-up and were suffocated. "The youth of my organization are angry over insults and being ignored by Congress. To me, my organization is supreme... It is my organisation's order that I should not be at the place where I am ignored, insulted and betrayed." Speaking to reporters later at his office in Ahmedabad, he said while he had resigned from all posts of Congress, he would continue to remain a legislator. Hinting at his future, he said: "We will show the strength of our organization and it is we who will make the king of the state in 2022." Congress sources said Alpesh Thakore had been smarting after the party denied him a ticket to contest the Patan Lok Sabha seat, which he claimed he could easily win, and chose veteran party hand and former MP Jagdish Thakore. The party also ignored the Thakore Sena's demand for ticket to contest the Sabarkantha and Banaskantha seats. The development came hours after the core committee of the Gujarat Kshatriya Thakore Sena, which he had himself floated several years ago, late on Tuesday night, decided to sever all ties with the Congress and exhorted Thakore to resign from the party. "During our meeting we decided that the Thakore Sena would have no ties with the Congress. We did not consult Alpesh Thakore but we have conveyed him to make up his mind within 24 hours," Jagat Thakore, member of the Thakore Sena, told reporters. Alpesh Thakore had joined the Congress ahead of the 2017 assembly elections and was elected from Radhanpur seat on a party ticket. He recently met Congress President Rahul Gandhi and conveyed his displeasure against the functioning of the party's state leadership. However, days after this, he claimed his issues were sorted out. He was learnt to be miffed with the party leadership that they selected senior Congress leader Jagdish Thakore for the Patan seat. Asked about this, he said: "We have no issues. You may give tickets to whoever you want but at least consult and take the youth in confidence." --IANS desai/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A body of medical workers in West Bengal on Wednesday approached the Election Commission, complaining a shortage of technicians in various hospitals as they had been deployed on election duty. "For the 17th Parliamentary Election the commission has deployed a lot of medical technologists for election duty. We request the commission to release them from the duty so that the emergency health services do not suffer," Samit Mondal, Secretary of West Bengal Progressive Technologist Association, said here. He explained that they are engaged in emergency services like blood banks, ICCU, X-ray and so on and their absence creates a lot of problems in the smooth functioning of hospitals. "The patients are deprived, so we have submitted a letter requesting them the solve the problem urgently," Mondal added. --IANS bnd/ssp/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After campaigning for the first phase of polling ended on Tuesday evening, the BJP is gearing up to show its strength in campaigning for the second and third phase of Lok Sabha elections, which are scheduled for April 18 and April 23. Several party leaders, including party President Amit Shah, will be holding public rallies on Wednesday in Uttar Pradesh. "Amit Shah will address gatherings on Wednesday first at Bhagwat Inter College in Kasganj, Etah and then at P.D. Jain Inter College in Firozabad to pitch for BJP candidates," state media in-charge Manish Dixit said. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will also address several gatherings in the state. --IANS hindi-mag/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Producer Boney Kapoor on Wednesday invited popular Tamil star Ajith Kumar to Bollywood after being impressed with his performance in his upcoming production venture "Nerkonda Paarvai", the Tamil remake of "Pink". Boney forayed into the southern market with "Nerkonda Paarvai", which stars Ajith in the role of a lawyer. "Saw the rushes of Nerkonda Paarvai. Happy. What a performance by Ajith. I hope he agrees to do Hindi films soon. Have three action scripts; hope he says yes to at least one of them," he tweeted on Wednesday. Ajith, who has predominantly worked in Tamil industry, had starred in a key role alongside actor Shah Rukh Khan in "Asoka", his sole Hindi outing. Reports have already emerged that Boney is planning to get Ajith to do a Hindi film soon. An official announcement on the development is awaited. Directed by H. Vinoth, "Nerkonda Paarvaia" also stars Vidya Balan, Mahat Raghavendra, Shraddha Srinath, Andrea Tariang and Abhirami Venkatachalam, among others. Apparently, it was late Sridevi's wish that Ajith does a film in her husband's production. "While working with Ajith in 'English Vinglish', Sridevi had expressed her desire that Ajith does a Tamil film for our home production. Nothing exciting came up till one day last year; Ajith suggested remaking 'Pink' in Tamil. She immediately agreed as she thought it was the most appropriate and timely film to make and Ajith would bring all the elements required to make it into a great Tamil film," Boney had previously said. The film features music by Yuvan Shankar Raja. Popular lensman Nirav Shah has cranked the camera. Boney also confirmed that he has another project with Ajith in the offing. "We hope to bring the remake of 'Pink' to theatres on August 10. We are subsequently doing another film together and that will be scheduled to go on the floors in July 2019 and will be released on April 10, 2020," he said. --IANS hp/mag/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Government sources have indicated to IANS that they are pursuing four quarries - Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Jatin Mehta - all economic offenders and fugitives from the law relentlessly. In each case, a carefully calibrated strategy is in place to bring the culprits to book, and more importantly, home. A major breakthrough is expected shortly, in the middle of the elections. While Neerav Modi and Mallya are ensconced in Britain and the local criminal justice system is in their pursuit, the Indian government is trying all the necessary tactics to bring both diamantaires Choksi and Mehta back from the Caribbean islands. Government-to government negotiations are on with Antigua and Barbuda for Choksi and St Kitts and Nevis for Winsome Diamonds' Mehta. Availing of the controversial paid citizenship programme provided by many of the islands in the Caribbean, diamantaire Mehul Choksi and Winsome Diamonds' promoter Jatin Mehta have taken citizenship in these parts. Mehta became a citizen of St Kitts and Nevis some years ago while Choksi took Antigua and Barbuda citizenship recently. These islands provide visa-free travel to 132 countries. Citizenship through investment has become popular among Indian economic offenders. Investigating agency sources also revealed that Choksi and Mehta are the principal targets of this exercise. The government-to-government communication revolves around securing both targets through extradition, which is difficult because there are no extradition treaties with these countries. Mehul Choksi may be picked up in the Caribbean, while Nirav Modi who remains under arrest in London are most wanted. The lack of extradition treaties has made these islands a safe haven for India's uber rich. Other countries like Grenada, St Lucia, Dominica also have similar citizenship by investment programmes. India has appealed to these small islands with a pitch that they are economic offenders and fugitives for committing financial crimes. Dominica and St Lucia give citizenship and a valid passport for just $100,000 which is chump change for ultra rich Indians on the run. If your spouse needs a similar passport then it is $165,000 in St Lucia and $175,000 in Dominica. Meanwhile, Grenada gives a similar passport for $200,000. Predicated on its nine-point agenda presented in the G-20 Leaders' Summit held on November 30, 2018 and December 1, 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for action against fugitive economic offenders, Indian diplomats in conjunction with Interpol and domestic probe agencies are determined to bring all four back. India has pursued the agenda against fugitive economic offenders in various forums of the G20, like, Finance and Sherpa Tracks, Anti-Corruption Working Group and the Denial of Entry Experts Network. Consequently, Leaders' Declaration, adopted at the G20 Buenos Aires Summit, inter alia, says: "We will further explore the links between corruption and other economic crimes and ways to tackle them, including through cooperation on the return of persons sought for such offences and stolen assets, consistent with international obligations and domestic legal systems. We ask relevant international organizations to report back to us on those issues during the next presidency." This reflects the will exhibited by the G20 members to tackle the issue of return of persons sought for economic offences and stolen assets through international cooperation. This came after the government got the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill in July 2018 by both Houses of Parliament. The Bill allows for a person to be declared as a fugitive economic offender (FEO) if: (i) an arrest warrant has been issued against him for any specified offences where the value involved is over Rs 100 crore, and (ii) he has left the country and refuses to return to face prosecution. To declare a person an FEO, an application will be filed in a Special Court (designated under the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002) containing details of the properties to be confiscated, and any information about the person's whereabouts. The Special Court will require the person to appear at a specified place at least six weeks from issue of notice. Proceedings will be terminated if the person appears. The Bill allows authorities to provisionally attach properties of an accused, while the application is pending before the Special Court. Upon declaration as an FEO, properties of a person may be confiscated and vested in the Central government, free of encumbrances (rights and claims in the property). Further, the FEO or any company associated with him may be barred from filing or defending civil claims. The nine-point Agenda for Economic Offenders presented in Buenos Aires: * Strong and active cooperation across G-20 countries to deal comprehensively and efficiently with the menace fugitive economic offenders. * Cooperation in the legal processes such as effective freezing of the proceeds of crime; early return of the offenders and efficient repatriation of the proceeds of crime should be enhanced and streamlined. * Joint effort by G-20 countries to form a mechanism that denies entry and safe havens to all fugitive economic offenders. * Principles of United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (UNOTC), especially related to "International Cooperation" should be fully and effectively implemented. * FATF should be called upon to assign priority and focus to establishing international co-operation that leads to timely and comprehensive exchange of information between the competent authorities and FIUs. * FATF should be tasked to formulate a standard definition of fugitive economic offenders. * FATF should also develop a set of commonly agreed and standardized procedures related to identification, extradition and judicial proceedings for dealing with fugitive economic offenders to provide guidance and assistance to G-20 countries, subject to their domestic law. * Common platform should be set up for sharing experiences and best practices including successful cases of extradition, gaps in existing systems of extradition and legal assistance. * G-20 Forum should consider initiating work on locating properties of economic offenders who have a tax debt in the country of their residence for its recovery. --IANS prs/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Andhra Pradesh will vote for the state Assembly and Lok Sabha simultaneously on April 11 and caste arithmetic will again play a key role in deciding the winner. But it is to be seen if the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) would retain its hold over Kamma, Kappu and Other Backward Castes (OBCs) and whether its rival, the YSR Congress would get support from Reddy, Schedule Caste (SC), Muslims and Christians. The state is witnessing a fierce contest between Chandrababu Naidu's TDP which came to power in 2014 and YS Jaganmohan Reddy's YSR Congress even though the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress and new entrant Jan Sena are expected to remain only a side show. The TDP, which contested with the BJP in 2015, has 15 Lok Sabha MPs while the YSR Congress won seven seats and the BJP bagged three. The TDP got 106 out of 175 Assembly seats and formed the government. A caste analysis of 2014 Lok Sabha election results shows that the TDP and the BJP got major support from Kamma, Kapu, OBC and Upper caste communities while the YSR Congress got a major share of Reddy, SC, Muslims and Christian votes. The NDA's vote share in 2014 general election was 29.10 per cent against 28.90 per cent of votes secured by the YSR Congress. The dynamics has changed a bit in 2019. Kappus, influential in coastal region, had supported the TDP earlier, but this time there is a split in the community as some may rally behind new entrant Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena Party which has aligned with the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Left. The Kappus have been demanding reservation which was promised by the TDP but could not be delivered due to legal issues. On the other hand, the YSR Congress is consolidating its position among the SC and OBC voters apart from the minorities. --IANS gd/prs/pg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China on Wednesday said it was not aware of the ill health of the Dalai Lama and that Beijing has the right to choose his successor, not the Tibetan spiritual leader. The Dalai Lama, 83, has been admitted to a hospital in Delhi with a chest infection but is reported to be in a stable condition. Beijing calls the Dalai Lama a secessionist, a charge denied by the spiritual leader who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising and has been living in India since then. Last month, the Tibetan monk said that his successor might come from India. Beijing had reacted angrily, saying it was the Chinese government which had the say on the issue. The Chinese Foreign Ministry reiterated it on Wednesday. "I am not aware of the physical condition of the 14th Dalai Lama. As for the reincarnation, this is clear that particular inheritance of the system of Tibetan Buddhism has fixed rituals and we have relevant regulations to respect this heritage (system)," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said here. Lu was answering a question about the Dalai Lama taking ill and his successor. "The 14th Dalai Lama was himself recognized according to the fixed religious rituals and was approved by the then central government. So reincarnation of the Dalai Lama should be following national laws and regulations and the religious rituals," Lu added. Beijing says it reserved the right to appoint the Dalai Lama's successor in line with the conventions set by Chinese emperors. However, many Tibetans believe that the soul of a venerated Buddhist monk will reincarnate in the body of a child after his death. The current Dalai Lama was born in 1935 and identified as the reincarnation of his predecessor when he was two years old. India is home to some 100,000 Tibetans, many of whom fled Tibet along with the Dalai Lama. --IANS gsh/soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Accusing the Congress-led governments of promoting middlemen in defence deals and allowing them to get away, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday it was becoming clear how much wealth AP (Ahmed Patel) and the family made in defence deals. Calling Congress members past masters at 'haath ki safai', Modi said accused the party of allowing tainted defence middlemen, like Ottavio Quattrocchi and Christen Michel, to escape India. He was speaking at a poll campaign rally at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee stadium near here. "Dalals like Michel were allowed to run to Dubai. They thought, like Quattrocchi was allowed to escape, this matter too would also be closed. They did not know that a chowkidar will come and would bring back all middlemen, from the depths of hell. Now the truth is coming forward. The web of 'dalali' is falling in place," Modi said. --IANS maya/pgh/pcj (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) David Malpass on Tuesday took office as the president of the World Bank Group, and said he looks forward to undertaking the task with enthusiasm. Malpass made his debut as the 13th president of the World Bank at its headquarters in Washington on Tuesday morning. "I want to thank the Board of Directors and the Governors for selecting me," he told reporters, reports Xinhua news agency. Malpass, former undersecretary for international affairs at the US Treasury Department, was chosen by President Donald Trump in early February as the US candidate for the post, following the abrupt resignation of former World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim. Malpass, 63, has secured approval from the World Bank's board after a campaign without competition. The World Bank Group announced in a statement Friday that he was selected as its president for a five-year term beginning on April 9, 2019. "There is a clear mission for the bank: poverty alleviation and shared prosperity. These goals are urgent, and I think we need a clear focus on achieving outcomes," he said. Malpass also highlighted challenges such as climate change, women's role in economic growth, and the need for stronger growth. "The bank has resources, it has staff, it has the ability to actually have an impact," he said. Candidates picked by the US , the World Bank's largest shareholder with 16 percent of its voting power, have all ended up assuming the leadership post since the institution's inception in 1944. Malpass, who once criticised the World Bank, has raised concerns within the international development community over his skepticism about the role of the bank and multilateralism. --IANS vc (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress's maverick Gujarat legislator Alpesh Thakore, who had been keeping the party on tenterhooks for some time, resigned on Wednesday, over his "side-lining" by state leaders in several key issues. Thakore was due to address a press meet soon to formally announce his decision. The development came hours after the core committee of the Gujarat Kshatriya Thakore Sena, which he had himself floated several years ago, late on Thursday night, decided to sever all ties with the Congress and exhorted Thakore to resign from the party. "During our meeting we decided that the Thakore Sena would have no ties with the Congress. We did not consult Alpesh Thakore but we have conveyed him to make up his mind within 24 hours," Jagat Thakore, member of the Thakore Sena, told reporters. "We have made it clear that if he wishes to be with the Congress, he must leave the Thakore Sena and if he remains with the Thakore Sena, he should sever ties with the Congress and resign as an MLA," he added. According to Jagat Thakore, the Congress has been side-lining the Thakore Sena in selection of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections as well as in taking important decisions. Congress sources said Alpesh Thakore had been smarting after the party denied him a ticket to contest the Patan Lok Sabha seat, which he claimed he could easily win, and chose veteran party hand and former MP Jagdish Thakore. The party also ignored the Thakore Sena's demand for ticket to contest the Sabarkantha and Banaskantha seats. Thakore Sena's Swarupji Thakore has already filed his nominations in Banaskantha, while another member Natwarji Thakore is contesting the by-election to Unjha assembly constituency, as Independent candidates. A prominent OBC leader, Alpesh Thakore had joined the Congress ahead of the 2017 assembly elections and won from the Radhanpur seat on a party ticket. He recently met Congress President Rahul Gandhi and conveyed his displeasure against the functioning of the party's state leadership. The OBC leader had claimed his community and supporters were feeling "cheated" and "ignored" but later claimed his issues were sorted out. --IANS desai/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Election Commission (EC) has stopped Bollywood biopic "PM Narendra Modi" from releasing on April 11, when the Lok Sabha election begins, but a web series on the Prime Minister -- released just over a week ahead of the polls -- has been playing on. The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea seeking a stay on the film's release over concerns it may tilt the balance during the elections, and put the ball in the EC's court. And the poll panel on Wednesday ruled that any material which disturbs a level playing field should not be displayed, stalling the film's release until the elections end. "PM Narendra Modi", directed by Omung Kumar B, stars Vivek Anand Oberoi as Modi. The film, granted a 'U' certificate for unrestricted exhibition by the Censor Board, narrates the story of Modi from his humble beginnings to becoming the Prime Minister. The trajectory of Eros Now's Original Series "Modi: Journey Of A Common Man", helmed by "OMG - Oh My God!" famed director Umesh Shukla, is also similar. It quietly made its way to the OTT space, but there has hardly been any brouhaha over its content or timing, save its mention in a letter penned by 66 ex-bureaucrats to President Ram Nath Kovind raising questions on how the EC did nothing besides seeking more details on the series. But Shukla made light of it. "The content of my series is not such that there will be complaints to the EC unnecessarily. It's a normal human's story. Maybe it has to do with the medium of Internet. Maybe the code of conduct is different... I don't know the rules, but if there was something (a complaint), we would have heard about it," Shukla told IANS. Five episodes out of 10 went live on April 3, just over a week before the first phase of polling begins. It tells the story of Modi's life from when he was all of 12, and traverses through his youth to becoming the Prime Minister. Defending the timing of the show's release, Shukla said: "It was not planned this way. It is a coincidence. I was working on it since 11 to 12 months. It could have come out one month earlier as well, but it got delayed owing to some technical glitches. "And it doesn't make a difference to me if people say it is coming at this time, because even when I came up with 'Oh My God!', people said it was too controversial (as it was a film about a case against God and it was releasing around the Ganpati festival). But I don't give too much attention to all this. "All I am saying that it's a back story of the PM. I have to say that I changed as a person when I read about him, and I always feel he is a combination between Swami Vivekananda and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The web series is my tribute to him. "My web series is not about politics. It is more about a character and his journey." The response to the show so far, according to Shukla, is best described in one word. "Brilliant". "It is more than I expected. People are really liking it because it is very detailed and realistic. It is relatable. It includes few stories people never knew about Modi, so the untold stories are leaving the audience surprised," Shukla said. He said there is no "fiction or fabrication" in the show, and the remaining five episodes of which may go live later this week. Written by Mihir Bhuta and Radhika Anand and based on Kishor Makwana's "Modi: Common Man's PM", the show stars Faisal Khan, Ashish Sharma and Mahesh Thakur depicting different phases of Modi's life. "It took us 11-12 months to bring this show to life. The project was shot extensively in Gujarat... In his village Vadangar, in his school, in Palanpur, Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad. We shot in Uttarakhand, Kolkata and Mumbai too," he said of the 45-day shooting schedule. As for the casting, Shukla said he never wanted to rope in actors caught in an image trap. "I always wanted someone with good acting skills and limited exposure. I found that in Ashish, Faisal and Mahesh... I had told them we didn't want any mimicry. We wanted them to observe and adapt mannerisms as we didn't want a caricaturish portrayal." (Radhika Bhirani can be contacted at radhika.b@ians.in) --IANS rb/sug/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that secrecy of information through electoral bonds is essential to curb black money in political funding. Making its submission in this regard to the apex court, the Centre justified why anonymity is a positive step in countering the flow of black money in the system. Attorney General (AG) K.K. Venugopal in his submission said: "Electoral bonds are meant to eradicate black money in political funding...as we have no State funding of elections. Political parties get funds from supporters, affluent persons, etc. The funders all want their political party to come to power. But if their party does not, then there could be repurcurssions....so secrecy is required." The government informed the Supreme Court that many companies prefer anonymity for various reasons. For example, if a particular company funds a political party and it does not come power, the company could be punished by their own shareholders. The donations made through electoral bonds are actually from white money, the AG said, adding that if agencies are willing to ascertain the source of money, they can scrutinize it through banking channels. Though the government is in favour of anonymity in electoral bonds, the Election Commission of India (EC) has an opposite view, the EC's counsel said. "We are not against electoral bonds. We are only opposed to the anonymity associated with it", he said. The EC emphasized that it wants transparency in political funding, while the disclosure of the identity of the funders as well as the recipients of funding is essential for democracy. "People have the right to know about the antecedents of their representatives and the political party that candidate represents" said the ECI counsel. The hearing will continue later in the day. --IANS ss/bc (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey's procurement of the Russian S-400 air defence systems is a national security deal and is in the delivery stage, the media reported on Wednesday. "The agreement concerning the S-400 is a done deal, we are today at the point of delivery. The calendar for deliveries is proceeding," Erdogan told journalists on his way back to Turkey from a summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, according to Hurriyet Daily News. The S-400 deal, which has attracted worldwide interest, is "a completed job and everything is ready," the Turkish President said. The Ankara-Moscow S-400 deal was inked in December 2017, when the parties signed a $2.5 billion agreement for two batteries of the system, Russia's most advanced long-range anti-aircraft missile system. Turkey will be the first NATO member country to acquire the system. Responding to Washington's criticism of the deal, Erdogan said the steps taken by Ankara for its national security do not target any third country or hand over the will on Turkey's sovereignty rights to a third country. Last week, the Pentagon announced that it halted "deliveries and activities" related to Turkey's procurement of the F-35 fighter jets if Ankara insisted on the S-400 deal. The US also rejects sales of Patriots to Turkey in case of the latter's purchase of Russian systems. --IANS soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid the controversy surrounding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's biopic, the release of which was stalled by the Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday, IANS revisits another film that rocked the country during the Emergency. Directed by Amrit Nahata, a three-time MP from Rajasthan, 'Kissa Kursi Ka' can be termed as the first political spoof in Indian cinema made in 1975, just before the declaration of the draconian Emergency in June. Starring Shabana Azmi, Raj Kiran and Utpal Dutt, the film was a satire on the of Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi, making apparent references to the latter's Maruti car project. However, after the Censor Board's revising committee sent the film for clearance to the Union government, a show-cause notice raising 51 objections was slapped on the makers of the film by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. By the time, the Emergency was declared. Subsequently, all the prints and the master-print of the film were picked from the Censor Board office and brought to the Maruti factory in Gurugram (then Gurgaon) where they were burned. Nahata later remade the film with a new cast, which was released in 1978. The unreleased version of the film is remembered for marking the beginning of the end of Sanjay Gandhi, who had to go to jail facing charges of burning its prints. 'Kissa Kursi Ka' also emerged as a powerful tool at the hands of the Janata Party and eventually led to the debacle of the Indira Gandhi-led Congress in the 1977 Lok Sabha elections. The Shah Commission established by the Janata Party government in 1977 to probe the excesses committed during the Emergency found Sanjay Gandhi guilty of burning the negatives of the film along with V.C. Shukla, the Information and Broadcasting Minister at the time. Sanjay Gandhi, who was also accused of influencing witnesses, spent a month in Tihar Jail after being denied bail by the Supreme Court. Shukla was jailed for two years though the verdict was overturned later. Nahata was a two-time Congress MP from Rajasthan. He joined the Janata Party after the Emergency and became an MP on its ticket in 1977. Hailing from Jodhpur, he joined the Congress in 1962 and contested his first Lok Sabah elections in 1967 and won from Barmer. Nahata was re-elected from Barmer in 1971 after he defeated Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) heavyweight Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. In 1977, he became a Janata Party MP from Pali in Rajasthan after defeating Mool Chand Dagan of the Congress. Known for his outspoken nature, Nahata did not even spare the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi about whom he once said: "India has got such a Prime Minister in the form of Indira Gandhi who has no trust in morality. For her, results are everything and to attain these results, any channel can be followed." In his film career, Nahata directed three movies -- 'Sant Gyaneshwar' (1965), a religious biopic, 'Raton Ka Raja' (1967), a crime thriller, and the political satire 'Kissa Kursi Ka' (1975).Nahata passed away in 2001 at the age of 72. --IANS arc/arm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a historic feat, astronomers announced on Wednesday that they have captured the first-ever image of a black hole in a distant galaxy -- the biggest tribute to the late Stephen Hawking who theorised about the existence of black holes emitting radiation in the universe. The image -- taken by a network of eight telescopes across the world -- shows luminous gas swirling around a supermassive black hole at the centre of "Messier 87", a massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) said in a statement. Described by the scientists as "a monster", the black hole resides 55 million light years from Earth and has a mass 6.5 billion times that of the Sun. The team of scientists took almost 12 years to capture the image of a black hole. "We have taken the first picture of a black hole. This is an extraordinary scientific feat accomplished by a team of more than 200 researchers," said Sheperd S. Doeleman from the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard and Smithsonian and Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Project Director. The EHT is a global network of radio telescopes that work together as one virtual, Earth-sized telescope, with a resolution sharp enough to "see" a black hole's shadow. The breakthrough was announced in a series of six papers published in a special issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Black holes are extraordinary cosmic objects with enormous masses but extremely compact sizes. The presence of these objects affects their environment in extreme ways, warping spacetime and superheating any surrounding material. "If immersed in a bright region, like a disc of glowing gas, we expect a black hole to create a dark region similar to a shadow - something predicted by Einstein's general relativity that we've never seen before," explained Heino Falcke of Radboud University, the Netherlands. The space-time phenomenon was theorised by Einstein more than a century ago and later by British theoretical physicist Hawking who died last year. His theoretical prediction was that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation. Multiple calibration and imaging methods revealed a ring-like structure with a dark central region -- the black hole's shadow -- that persisted over multiple independent EHT observations. According to the EHT, the black hole's boundary -- the event horizon from which the EHT takes its name -- is around 2.5 times smaller than the shadow it casts and measures just under 40 billion km across. "The confrontation of theory with observations is always a dramatic moment for a theorist. It was a relief and a source of pride to realise that the observations matched our predictions so well," elaborated EHT Board member Luciano Rezzolla of Goethe Universitat, Germany. "We have achieved something presumed to be impossible just a generation ago. We have taken a picture of a black hole," noted Doeleman. --IANS na/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The gateway to western Uttar Pradesh, Saharanpur will see a cracker of a contest in the Lok Sabha polls with all the three main contenders - BJP, SP-BSP-RLD and Congress - focusing on the seat and putting up a strong fight. Saharanpur goes to the polls on April 11 along with seven other seats in western Uttar Pradesh and the trend of voting here could have an impact on polling in the rest of the seats of the politically crucial state that sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sahha. The significance of Saharanpur can be judged from the fact that the Uttar Pradesh BJP started its campaign for the Lok Sabha elections from the constituency and Bahujan Samaj Party-Samajwadi Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal held their first joint rally here. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath began the Lok Sabha campaign from Shakumbhari temple in Saharanpur district as an apparent move to counter the SP-BSP-RLD alliance's campaign from Deoband, which has India's largest Islamic seminary. The SP-BSP-RLD rally on Sunday at the Tibia College Ground here saw massive crowds with people saying that the show of strength of the three parties was bigger than the rally addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Adityanath had said at an event that the opposition alliance's choice of Deoband was an indication "of its orientation and priorities". The Shakumbhari temple is about 40 km from Deoband. BJP President Amit Shah had launched BJP's Parivartan Yatra in 2017 from Saharanpur. This district and other places in western Uttar Pradesh had set the trend for the BJP's landslide in the Assembly polls. The party's performance in western Uttar Pradesh was better than in most other parts of the state. But the situation is not the same for the BJP in this election. There appears no visible Modi wave, yet there is no marked anti-Modi sentiment either among people in large parts of western Uttar Pradesh. The party appears unlikely to win all the eight seats that go to the polls in the first phase. The outgoing BJP MP Raghav Lakhanpal - a young leader who has studied management - was the winner last time as both the Congress and the Samajwadi Party had put up strong Muslim candidates and their votes got divided. The scenario has repeated itself with the Congress again fielding Imran Masood, who lost to Lakhanpal by about 65,000 votes. The Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded Fazlur Rahman, who also has considerable clout in the area. Masood had made "chop Narendra Modi into pieces" remark in 2014 elections and was asked to issue a public clarification by his party. His cousin Shadan Masood, son of his uncle Rasheed Masood, had contested as a Samajwadi Party candidate. Muslim voters in the constituency appeared divided in their support for the two candidates. Muslims, along with Dalit and Jat, make up more than half of 17.22 lakh voters in the constituency and together form a formidable combination. The constituency has an estimated six lakh voters from the Muslim community, around 3.5 lakh Dalit voters and about two lakh from the Jat community. Rakam, a 30-year-old security guard, said people in his village will vote for the Grand Alliance candidate as SP-BSP-RLD will get the maximum seats in Uttar Pradesh. "The BJP has cheated us in the name of development. We have been given gas connection, but don't have money to fill the cylinder," he said. Some voters, however, said they will vote for the Congress as the grand old party can form the government in the Centre. "I voted BJP in last the Lok Sabha polls because of Narendra Modi but not this time. I will vote for the Congress," says Mohammad Ishan, a carpenter. Mohammad Ajmal, a resident of Khatakheri, said the coalition candidate will divide Muslim votes. Prospects of Congress' Imran Masood look good, especially after Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi's meeting with Bhim Army Chief Chandrashekhar in Meerut last month. The Bhim Army emerged from Saharanpur and it has found a place among Dalit youths in western Uttar Pradesh. Priyanka Gandhi held a roadshow in Saharanpur on Tuesday. The Saharanpur Lok Sabha constituency includes five Assembly seats -- Behat, Saharanpur, Saharanpur Dehat, Rampur Maniharan and Deoband. (Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in) --IANS rak/prs/pg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Launching a blistering attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday charged it with looting the country, saying in five years of his government, he has brought the Congress to the doorstep of jail. "Give me another five years, and I will ensure they (Congress leaders) are in jail," Modi said while addressing a rally in Junagadh in his home state Gujarat which has 26 Lok Sabha seats, and where polling is due on April 23. Dubbing the Congress manifesto as 'Dhakosla Patra' (a 'document of hypocrisy'), the Prime Minister criticised the Congress for promising removal of sedition laws. "They want our army to be defenceless. They want to protect the 'tukde-tukde gang' -- no matter how big their crime is, they have the right to get bail. Why are they (Congress) doing it? Are they preparing for jail? I have brought them to the doorstep of jail in five years. Give me another five years, and I will ensure they are in jail," Modi said. "Congress wants power to loot money, and there is only one family in the Congress. The party has held out only false promises in the name of poverty removal. The country can only prosper if it is safe and secure," Modi said. "There is not a single slur left with the Congress which its leaders have not used for your son, Modi. They have always had problems with Gujarat. First it was Sardar Patel, then Morarji Desai and now it's me. They wonder how this Gujarati 'chaiwala' has become the PM," Modi said. "If you want to compare BJP and Congress, it's simple: Look at the track records of both parties. While Congress's is a tape record, the BJP's record shows determination for the country's security and a fight against terrorists," Modi said. "The Congress tape record has only one song in it: 'Modi hatao'. Is this the same Congress which was nurtured by Sardar Patel? " he asked. On Kashmir, Prime Minister said the Congress wanted a different prime minister for J&K. "Is it possible for a country to have two prime ministers?" he asked. "I want you to vote BJP to ensure its victory in all 26 seats so that we could continue development of the country. And I want even more: We should ensure that all these anti-Gujaratis should lose their deposits, " Modi said. The Prime Minister requested the first-time voters of the state to dedicate their vote to a party committed to the security of the country. "When you are going to cast your first vote, I urge you to dedicate that vote to the country, only to country's interest and for the government committed to the security of the country," he said. --IANS Amit-desai/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Google has introduced a new open platform called "Anthos" to run and manage apps from anywhere. Based on the Cloud Services Platform that Google announced in 2018, "Anthos" lets users run applications on existing on-premise hardware investments or in the Public Cloud. "Anthos not only allows customers to deploy Google Cloud in their own data centres but also gives them the flexibility to build, run and manage their workloads within their data centre, on Google Cloud, or other cloud providers (Multi-Cloud), without making any changes," said Thomas Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud. "Anthos" will also let users manage workloads running on third-party clouds like Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure. "We are excited that partners including Cisco, Dell, HP, Intel, Lenovo and VMware are offering joint solutions with us," Kurian told the gathering at the "Google Cloud Next" event here on Tuesday. Google also announced "Anthos Migrate" in beta, which auto-migrates virtual machines (VMs) from on-premises, or other clouds, directly into containers in Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) with minimal effort. "Google Cloud's software-based approach for managing hybrid environments provided us an innovative, differentiated solution that was able to be deployed quickly for our customers," said Darryl West, Group CIO, HSBC. --IANS na/mag/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After Election Commission pulled up Doordarshan for not giving balanced poll coverage, Information and Broadcasting ministry secretary Amit Khare has written to Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vampati to ensure full compliance of Model Code of Conduct guidelines. In his letter, Khare also asked Prasar Bharati to develop robust internal system to address concerns expressed by EC and suggested creation of a monitoring mechanism to check any oversight. He also wrote that all the divisions of the national broadcaster should follow the instructions. Sources said the national broadcaster already has a set of guidelines which were formed in consultation with the EC and which were being followed for several year. But on this occasion, the guidelines, which were being adhered to as "golden principles" for fair representation, were violated, as observed by the EC. Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) keep the EC informed about the time allotted to different political parties. Several parties have made representations to the EC on violation of Model Code of Conduct. One of the objections has been on one of the events of Prime Minister that was aired for an hour on Doordarshan. The CPI(M) had earlier complained about Prime Minister's announcement on India's successful anti-satellite launch Mission Shakti, but EC had given clean chit and found no violation of the election code. --IANS gd/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India has been under an undeclared Emergency and it is different from the one imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975 as she never called the then opposition leaders "anti-national" or "unpatriotic" and did not kill minorities, Dalits and even journalists, says Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad in his memoir. In his autobiography titled "Gopalganj to Raisina: My Political Journey", which went on sale on Sunday, he narrates how the very idea of India enshrined in the Constitution is threatened under the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule. "Though there is no official censorship, several media houses, owned by major corporates, hesitate to air opinions or shows that are unpalatable to the Modi government," he has written. He also highlights the incident of four senior-most Supreme Court judges holding a press conference saying the democracy is in danger. Drawing a parallel between the Emergency of 1975 and "the undeclared one of today", Prasad said then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had at least resorted to constitutional provisions to declare it. "That Emergency was different from the present spell in the sense that Indira Gandhi put many of us behind bars, but she never abused us. Neither she nor her Ministers or party leaders ever called us 'anti-national' or 'unpatriotic," he said. "She never unleashed vandals to defile the memory of (B.R.) Ambedkar, the architect of our Constitution. She didn't unleash mobs to kill and maim minorities and Dalits in the name of religion and caste. Cattle-traders were not persecuted and killed on doubts of possessing beef." Journalists and writers were jailed, but never killed by Gandhi, her ministers did not question morality of young students in educational institutions, including Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and the dissenters were not asked to go to Pakistan, Prasad said. "The assassins of Mahatma Gandhi were not worshiped during the 1975 Emergency," he said. The former Bihar Chief Minister also said Gandhi lost to the Janata Dal in 1977 and regained power in 1980, but she did not "utter blatant lies" and made "false promises" to attract voters. Taking a dig at Modi, the RJD leader said: "She (Gandhi) never said she would give two crore jobs every year to the youth or deposit Rs 15 lakh into the account of every Indian, she did not promise 'acche din' (good days) or unleash lynch mobs to bring about 'bure din' (days of trouble) on the minorities and the Dalits." Claiming that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) -- ideological fountainhead of the BJP -- played "a dubious role" in the BJP movement and they used it to gain recognition in society. "We had not heard of Modi, Jaitley or Venkaiah Naidu during the Emergency," he said. --IANS spk/pg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The country's largest oil marketing company (OMC) Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has once again stopped fuel supply to Jet Airways. However, the airline said that other fuel retailers continue to supply its aircraft. According to a senior IOC official, the company had stopped fuel supply to Jet Airways from 3 p.m on Wednesday over non-payment of dues by the airline. Last week, the IOC had stopped fuel supply to Jet Airways for some time before restarting the same after receiving assurances over payment of dues from the airline. Jet Airways is already in the midst of a severe liquidity crisis that has affected its operations and resulted in the grounding of several of its aircraft. The airline is currently operating only 26 aircraft as several planes from its earlier fleet size of around 120 remain grounded for non-payment of lease rentals. The development comes after the lenders of the debt-ridden airline invited Expressions of Interest (EoI) for stake sale in the company to recover dues worth Rs 8,000 crore. The airline owes the over Rs 8,000 crore to a consortium of lenders, led by the State Bank of India. --IANS rv/sn/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's main rival, Benny Gantz, declared victory in parliamentary elections on Tuesday night, vowing to unite Israel and be "everyone's prime minister." "This is a historic day for Israel," Gantz said at the headquarters of his newly-formed centrist party of Blue and White in Tel Aviv as hundreds of supporters cheering and shouting "the next prime minister is coming!" "I will be the prime minister of everyone and not just those who voted for me. No one from a party that is not ours should worry. We all need to think about how we can work together, how we can bring everyone into the discussion," he said. Gantz, ex-chief of forces and a political newcomer, said Israel's long-serving incumbent prime minister needs to step down, Xinhua news agency reported. "We wish to thank Benjamin Netanyahu for his service for the state of Israel," he said, promising to form Israel's next government. "The will of the voters should be respected," he said. Exit polls on Israel's three main TV news channels showed contradicting results, with one poll indicating a landslide victory to Gantz's Blue and White Party while the other two showing a tied. Both Gantz and Netanyahu claimed victory in the closely-fought parliamentary elections. Official results are expected early on Wednesday morning. --IANS vc (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to secure a record fifth term in office on Wednesday after more than 95 per cent of the votes gave the right-wing bloc a lead over the left in the general election, the media reported. Palestinian officials in Ramallah said they were not surprised by the results of the general election in Israel and expressed concern over the rise of Netanyahu's right-wing bloc. US President Donald Trump said Netanyahu's re-election was a "good sign for peace". With 97 per cent of the votes in Tuesday's contest counted, Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party was tied with ex-military chief Benny Gantz's centrist Blue and White alliance with 35 seats each. But the Prime Minister's right-wing/ultra-Orthodox bloc held a decisive lead and he was thus en route to forming a majority governing coalition. Likud and its right-wing allies were set to be the largest bloc with 65 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, the Times of Israel reported. The daily said that Gantz's party had insufficient support from other parties to prevent Netanyahu staying in power for what will be a fifth term. The figures come as the 69-year-old Prime Minister faces corruption allegations. The hearing is expected to take place in July and the decision on the final indictment will come some six months later. However, the election result means Netanyahu could become Israel's longest-serving Premier, overtaking Israel's founding father David Ben-Gurion. The final results were expected by Friday. "Israelis have voted to maintain the status quo, as far as the occupation of Palestine," said Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary-General Saeb Erekat. "They voted for apartheid and to an endless occupation." Calling Netanyahu a "great friend", Trump said: "I'd like to congratulate Bibi Netanyahu. It looks like that race has been won by him. It may be a little early but I'm hearing he's won it and won it in good fashion." "He's been a great ally and he's a friend... that was a well fought out race I can tell you." The Arab parties lost three seats in the Knesset because of their differences and failure to run in a joint list, political analysts and activists in the Arab sector were cited as saying by the Jerusalem Post. Only half of the Arab voters cast their ballots in the election despite appeals by the leaders of the Arab parties. Exit polls had predicted a closely-contested race with no clear winner, prompting both Netanyahu and Gantz to claim victory on Tuesday night. "It is a night of colossal victory," Netanyahu said, thanking his supporters, the members of his party and his wife, Sarah, who he kissed before and after the speech and who never left his side. "It will be a right-wing government, but I will be Prime Minister for all. I'm very touched that the people of Israel gave me their vote of confidence for the fifth time and an even bigger vote of confidence than previous elections. Gantz, 59, had also claimed victory, citing preliminary exit polls which showed his party had won more seats than Likud. "We won! The Israeli public has had their say! Thank you to the thousands of activists and over a million voters. These elections have a clear winner and a clear loser. Netanyahu promised 40 seats and lost. The President can see the picture and should call on the winner to form the next government. There is no other option!" he said. But Wednesday morning results showed that Netanyahu was likely to form a governing coalition with the backing of other right-wing factions. --IANS soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Even as the country's largest oil marketing company (OMC) Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) resumed fuel supply to Jet Airways, the woes of debt-ridden carrier are far from over as one of its aircraft was seized in Amsterdam over non-payment of dues. A Europe-based cargo firm Worldwide Flight Services seized Jet's 777-300 ER at Schiphol Airport over outstanding dues on account of handling charges. The aircraft was supposed to operate the Amsterdam-Mumbai flight. In a statement, the airline said that flight "9W 231 AMS BOM of 10th April 2019 has been delayed due to operational reasons." However, the airline got some relief on the fuel front as the IOC resumed supply after stopping it from 3 p.m. on Wednesday over non-payment of dues, a senior IOC official said. The fuel retailer, however, did not divulge details about any payment or assurance made by the cash-strapped airline over dues payments. Nonetheless, industry insiders said that the lenders of the airline might have made a part-payment towards the dues. The airline's operations were not effected during the day, as other retailers continued to supply fuel to its aircraft. Last week, the IOC had stopped fuel supply to Jet Airways for some time before restarting the same after receiving assurances over payment of dues. That time, some payments were said to have been made to the fuel retailer after the lenders provided an emergency funding relief of Rs 33 crore last Friday. Apart from vendors, the airline's aircraft lessors too are upset with the current financial situation, with some of them requesting the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to de-register their aircraft leased to the company. The de-registration request section on DGCA's website showed that lessors have applied to de-register 24 aircraft owing to unpaid dues. The airline currently operates 26 aircraft, including Airbus A330s, Boeing 777s, 737-800 and ATRs, to various destinations like London, Toronto, Singapore, Amsterdam, Paris, Bangkok and domestic sectors like Mumbai-Delhi, among others. The airline apparently owns 16 out of these 26 aircraft. Jet Airways is in the midst of a severe liquidity crisis that has affected its operations and resulted in the grounding of several of its aircraft. The latest development came on a day when lenders of the debt-ridden airline tweaked the terms for stake sale and also extended the submission deadline for Expression of Interest bids from prospective buyers. At present, the airline owes over Rs 8,000 crore to a consortium of lenders led by the State Bank of India. On Tuesday, the airline was served a legal notice by a section of its pilots demanding payment of salaries -- which is due since January 1, 2019 -- by April 14. Subsequently, airline's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Vinay Dube said that the company is working with the lenders on the balance sheet restructuring plan and will inform the employees about the progress of the process by early next week. --IANS rv/sn/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "Madam Secretary" creator Barbara Hall says telling a political story in the present "highly charged atmosphere," in the US comes with challenges, but she is determined to build on that world and help everyone be part of the larger debate. Taking notes from the real political sphere, "Madam Secretary" stars Tea Leoni as Elizabeth McCord, the determined Secretary of State who drives international diplomacy and negotiates global issues while creating a balance between her life at the White House and home. It is being aired in India on AXN. "We are telling a political story in a highly charged political times here in the US, and that has its challenges," Hall told IANS in an email interview. "But it also means a large number of people are engaged in a political debate and they share a vocabulary with us. Stories that might have been unfamiliar to them before, are very recognisable. I always said I wanted to do a show about that wasn't so polarised and polarising. I wanted everyone to come to the discussion. And I feel we've been very successful with that," she said. The show, which premiered in 2014, is known for tackling timely issues like #MeToo movement, foreign policy and ethics within the White House. According to Hall, the thing that sets the show apart is that it's about the Secretary of State. "The State Department is a world, which has been woefully under-explored in popular culture. I also think it's a departure to tell a story about a powerful woman who has a functioning marriage and family life. The trope in the past has been that if a woman is successful, the rest of her life is broken. I wanted to fly in the face of that," said Hall, the showrunner and executive producer of "Madam Secretary", which is in its fifth season. Apart from running the critically-applauded show, Hall is famous for her writing skills. She has written novels like "Dixie Storms", "A Better Place" and "Charisma". She has also released two solo albums -- "Handsome" in 2005 and "Bad Man" in 2013. She was the showrunner of the "Judging Amy" that ran from 1999 to 2005, and created "Joan of Arcadia", which ran two seasons from 2003 to 2005. She was also a co-executive producer on "Homeland". Talking about her inspiration for "Madam Secretary", she said: "The inspiration was really all three of the former female Secretaries of State. I think the arena of the State Department was a natural fit for television." On the question if McCord is an idealised version of former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, she said, "It's true Secretary Clinton was one of the people whose approach to the job I explored. But I also looked at all of their experiences." "However, it was also important to add an element of fish out water, which is why this character didn't come from the world of As far as it being idealised, I'm definitely interested in creating an aspirational tone for a political drama," she said. Replying to a question if working on the show changed her perception about women in politics, Hall said, "I don't think it has changed my mind about women in politics, except to make me even more aware of how many strides we still need to make. Right now we are fortunate to have a record number of women entering the presidential primary and that's certainly helping to normalise the image of women in positions of authority." On the Indian finding a place in the narrative, she said: "My ultimate vision is always for worlds coming together rather than colliding. We have featured stories with India and women in positions of authority there, and I'm sure we'll do more." What's next? "It is 'Madam Secretary'. I do have some ideas for other arenas I'd like to explore down the line. I might stay in the world of politics for a bit." (Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in) --IANS sug/rb/pcj (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's helicopter lost the way while she was flying on Wednesday from Darjeeling district's Siliguri to Chopra in North Dinajpur district to address an election meeting. The pilot veered from the location of the meeting venue at Chopra and mistakenly flew to Bihar, and continued to circle the sky before the copter was brought back to the proper route by the air controllers. As a result, the helicopter took 55 minutes to reach the venue, as against the normal time of 22 minutes. Banerjee herself told the people about her ordeal during the speech. "We lost the way. We were supposed to reach in 22 minutes, but we had to search for the location for all of 55 minutes. So I got late. You have been inconvenienced, but it was good that the sky was clear," she said. There was much concern and tension at the meeting venue in Chopra as the helicopter was not sighted for a long time after it was announced around 12.55 p.m. that it had departed from Siliguri. --IANS ssp/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mark Mathews' story of overcoming fear and adversity to become one of the world's leading big wave surfers is a truly inspirational one. From being just another boy in coastal Australia who used to enjoy surfing with his mom to eventually conquering some of the biggest and heaviest waves around the world, his journey has been turbulent yet hugely successful. So, it was only befitting that the 36-year-old joined the players at the Rajasthan Royals camp recently and shared some of that inspiration. The Australian was hosted by the players and the staff at the Marriott in Jaipur for an insightful interaction. For someone with a hugely successful career spanning twenty years, Mark Mathews had a surprisingly child-like energy during his talk. Aptly titled 'Life Beyond Fear', his presentation also had an array of exhilarating videos featuring his surfing escapades along with his team around the world. At the same time, he spoke about how he was always supported by his mother in his formative years of surfing. It didn't take too long for Red Bull to sign him up for a contract and he has never looked back ever since. The idea of surfing being a team effort, may not have made complete sense to anyone new to the sport - until Mark threw light on his amazing support staff of rescuers and photographers who used to join him around the world. Mark also spoke about how his career took an unexpected U-turn when he met with a life-changing surfing accident off the New South Wales coast in 2016. As a result, he ended up with a dislocated knee, major nerve damage, snapped ligaments and torn artery. While his career was on the verge of an untimely end, Mark was inspired by a young quadriplegic boy who he met during that time. He shared his thoroughly rousing story of recovery which began ever since, leaving everyone at the Royals camp spellbound at the end of it. Mark's evening with the Royals came to a close after a round of questions by some of the players including Jos Buttler and Steve Smith. Sanju Samson, an enthusiastic surfer himself, shot his hand up when Mark had initially asked everyone about who was into surfing. There's no doubt that everyone at the RR camp was left more inspired than ever by his story of life beyond fear. --IANS bbh/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By WestKyStar & Mercy Apr. 09, 2019 | 10:11 PM | PADUCAH Dr. Farrell received doctorate degrees in both medicine and philosophy from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Neb. He completed his neurosurgery residency and internship at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Ore. Dr. Farrell previously worked at Hampton Roads Neurosurgical and Spine Specialists in Newport News and Williamsburg, Va., and he is a member of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and the American Medical Association. Dr. Farrell is now part of the regions largest multi-specialty physician network, Mercy Health Physicians, which consists of nearly 150 providers serving in more than 25 locations throughout western Kentucky. Dr. Farrell joins Jonathan Couch, DO, and nurse practitioner, Tiffany Cates at Mercy Health Paducah Neurosurgery. With Dr. Farrells addition, Mercy Health-Paducah Neurosurgery now offers surgical solutions for carpal tunnel syndrome and ulnar neuropathy. Mercy Health Paducah Neurosurgery is located in Suite 143 in the Marshall Nemer Medical Office Building. The practice can be reached by calling 270-538-6600. For more information concerning Mercy Health-Lourdes Hospital, including a complete online medical directory, visit mercy.com. Neurosurgeon Brian Farrell, MD, PhD, has joined Mercy Health Paducah Neurosurgery, 1532 Lone Oak Rd., Suite 143, in a collaboration between Mercy Health and University of Louisville Physicians. Former Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday asked people to defy ban on highway in Jammu and Kashmir and also warned India of a Palestine-like situation in Kashmir. Protesting against the national highway ban on civilian traffic on the national highway on Sundays and Wednesdays, Mufti said in Pantha Chowk area of Srinagar on Wednesday: "Jammu and Kashmir's relation with New Delhi is not like a Palestine-Israel relation. If New Delhi wants to convert our relation like the Palestine-Israel, then they have to be ready for a Palestine like situation as well." She told people to defy the highway ban order as it amounted to subjugation of Kashmiris and their economy. "People should drive their vehicles on the highway to defy the order. We will see who takes action against them," she said during the protest. The decision to ban civilian and public transport on the national highway on Sundays and Wednesdays was taken by the state government to ensure safety of security forces convoys on the highway. The decision was taken in the aftermath of February 14 terror strike on the highway in Pulwama district in which 40 CRPF troopers were killed. Authorities have said the ban would not apply to medical emergencies, movement of lawyers, doctors, tourists, government employees, school buses and agriculturalists. Authorities said magistrates have been deputed on all crossings on the national highway to permit bona fide civilian movement. The decision to selectively allow civilian movement has not been able to address the common man's anger. Local traders dealing in perishable items like vegetables, mutton and other such items argue their goods perish on storage as they are unable to carry on normal business during Sundays and Wednesdays in markets on the flanks of the national highway. --IANS sq/pg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An angry mob on Wednesday ransacked the office of the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in Jammu and Kashmir's curfew bound Kishtwar town. The mob defied curfew and ransacked the SSP's office despite the security forces using tear smoke shells to disperse them. The protesters were demanding transfer of the SSP and the District Magistrate (DM) of Kishtwar after a militant on Tuesday killed RSS leader Chandrakant Singh and his security guard near the Kishtwar district hospital. The militant also decamped with the service rifle of the slain security guard. Authorities called out the Army to assist the civil administration for maintaining law and order. Bharatiya Janata Party rebel leader Choudhary Lal Singh, who has formed his own political party - Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan, was disallowed entry into the town on Wednesday as authorities feared Singh's arrival could stoke trouble. Curfew continued in Kishtwar town without any relaxation on Wednesday. Internet services were also been suspended in the town as a precautionary measure. --IANS sq/pg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi while in his public address in Gujarat's Junagadh on Wednesday accused the Congress of looting the money meant "for the poor and pregnant women" in the country, terming it as a new scam by the Congress, which he named "Tughlaq Road election scam". "Now, the Congress scam has got a new name, but with proof," Modi said at a rally in Gujarat's Junagadh. "The Congress is indulging in a 'Tughlaq Road election scam', in which money meant for the poor pregnant women is being usurped to fill their own leaders' bellies." Congress President Rahul Gandhi's official residence as a lawmaker, is on Tughlaq Lane in New Delhi. Similarly, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath's residence as an MP is also on road called Tughlaq Road. Modi said Madhya Pradesh had become the "new ATM" of the Congress, while referring to the searches conducted by the Income Tax department in MP. "You must have seen in the media in the last few days how cash filled sacks were found from Congress leaders. It has not even been six months of forming the government in that state," said Modi. He claimed that the Congress was interested in coming to power for looting. "The entire story of Congress is a story of a single family," Modi said. Addressing another rally in Songadh in Tapi district of Gujarat, Modi alleged that the Congress party was trying to "fulfil the demands of Pakistan". Launching a blistering attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday charged it with looting the country, saying in five years of his government, he has brought the Congress to the doorstep of jail. "Give me another five years, and I will ensure they (Congress leaders) are in jail," Modi said while addressing a rally in Junagadh in his home state Gujarat which has 26 Lok Sabha seats, and where polling is due on April 23. Dubbing the Congress manifesto as 'Dhakosla Patra' (a 'document of hypocrisy'), the Prime Minister criticised the Congress for promising removal of sedition laws.A "They want our army to be defenceless. They want to protect the 'tukde-tukde gang' -- no matter how big their crime is, they have the right to get bail. Why are they (Congress) doing it? Are they preparing for jail? I have brought them to the doorstep of jail in five years. Give me another five years, and I will ensure they are in jail," Modi said.A "Congress wants power to loot money, and there is only one family in the Congress. The party has held out only false promises in the name of poverty removal. The country can only prosper if it is safe and secure," Modi said.A "There is not a single slur left with the Congress which its leaders have not used for your son, Modi. They have always had problems with Gujarat. First it was Sardar Patel, then Morarji Desai and now it's me. They wonder how this Gujarati 'chaiwala' has become the PM," Modi said. "If you want to compare BJP and Congress, it's simple: Look at the track records of both parties. While Congress's is a tape record, the BJP's record shows determination for the country's security and a fight against terrorists," Modi said. "The Congress tape record has only one song in it: 'Modi hatao'. Is this the same Congress which was nurtured by Sardar Patel? " he asked. On Kashmir, Prime Minister said the Congress wanted a different prime minister for J&K. "Is it possible for a country to have two prime ministers?" he asked. The Prime Minister requested the first-time voters of the state to dedicate their vote to a party committed to the security of the country. "When you are going to cast your first vote, I urge you to dedicate that vote to the country, only to country's interest and for the government committed to the security of the country," he said. --IANS Amit-Desai/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid a major controversy, the Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday ordered stoppage of release of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's biopic even as it was considering a complaint against the telecast of NaMo TV. Earlier, the EC spokesperson had indicated that NaMo TV had also been banned till the end of elections. However, later in the day, she clarified that she had said so because she "misinterpreted" the poll panel's order on Modi biopic, believing it applied to the TV channel as well. Regarding the NaMo TV, the spokesperson said some clarifications were sought from the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer on Tuesday regarding pre-certification of political advertisements on the channel by the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee. "These clarifications have now been received and are being processed in the Commission," the official said. Earlier in the day, the Election Commission stopped the release of Modi's biopic till the Lok Sabha elections conclude, saying that any material which disturbs a level playing field should not be displayed. "Any biopic in the nature of biography or hagiography sub-serving the purposes of any political entity or any individual entity connected to it or which has the potential to disturb the level playing field during the elections should not be displayed in electronic media, including cinematograph during the operation of MCC (model code of conduct)," the EC said in its order. It also said that any poster or publicity material concerning any such certified content which either depicts a candidate for furtherance of electoral prospect directly or indirectly shall not be put to display in the electronic media in the area where MCC is in force. The order issued by the poll panel added that in case of a violation, a committee constituted by the Commission would examine the same and suggest appropriate action. The committee would be headed by a retired Supreme Court judge or a retired Chief Justice of any high court. The EC said it had received complaints about certain films, namely "NTR Laxmi", "PM Narendra Modi" and "Udyama Simham", which "claimed to either diminish or advance the electoral prospect of a candidate or a political party in the garb of creative freedom". Though the display materials claimed "to be part of creative content, it has been contended that these have propensity and potentiality to affect the level playing field" which is "not in consonance with the provisions of model code of conduct", it said. The Commission added there is an emergent need for intervention in such political content "intended (or purported to be) for benefiting or discrediting the electoral prospects" of any candidate or political party, for ensuring a level playing field. --IANS vv/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Over 900 artistes and people from the field of literature on Wednesday came out openly in support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying the country needs a "Majboot Sarkar" and not a "Mazboor Sarkar". The statement issued under the banner of "Nation First Collective", has been signed by Pandit Jasraj, Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Shankar Mahadevan, Malini Awasthi, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt among others. "We, creative artistes and persons belonging to the field of literature appeal to all our fellow citizens to cast their vote and exercise their right to elect the new government without any pressure and prejudice," they said. They said that during the last five years, India has seen a government that has delivered corruption-free good governance and development oriented administration. "During this period, India has acquired greater respect globally. It is our firm conviction that the continuance of the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the need of the hour," they said. The group said when challenges like terrorism are before all of us, we need a "Majboot Sarkar" and not a "Mazboor Sarkar". "Hence, we need the present government to continue," the artists said. --IANS bns/pgh/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Days after UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath triggered a controversy by referring to the Indian Army as 'Modi ki sena' and was reprimanded by Election Commission, Goa's Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho on Wednesday while referring to the post-Pulwama air strikes said that Modi sent that "his air force" across the border to kill terrorists. Godinho, who was one of the several speakers to take the stage ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's poll campaign speech at an indoor stadium near Panaji, first lauded late Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar for making Goa proud by carrying out surgical strikes, post the Uri terror attack. The Goa Minister then lauded Modi for sending across "his air force" to kill terrorists to avenge the Pulwama terror attack. "Our son of the soil carried out surgical strikes after Uri. What did he show? That a Goan can do what America can do, what Israel can do, India can also do. A Goan did this -- Parrikar did this. We should be proud of this," Godinho said. "Pakistan used to scare us with a dummy, saying they had nuclear weapons. Modiji called its bluff. What did he show? By dispatching his air force, terrorists were killed by crossing the border, he exhibited the strength of the country," Godinho said. --IANS maya/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump said that the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election headed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller was an attempted coup d'etat, adding that he would like the Department of Justice to investigate his claim. "It was an illegal investigation. It was started illegally. Everything about it was crooked," Efe news quoted the US President as saying to reporters outside the White House on Wednesday. "This was an attempted coup," he claimed. "This was an attempted takedown of a president, and we beat them." The US President said that although the investigation was headed by people who "really" hate him, the probe found no evidence that his campaign team conspired with the Kremlin to ensure that he won the 2016 election and also failed to find evidence that he had committed obstruction of justice in trying to derail or delegitimise the probe. "What they did was treason. What they did was terrible. What they did was against our Constitution and everything we stand for," Trump said. Trump repeated that he had not read Mueller's report and said he had no interest in doing so, given that - he said - he has many other matters to deal with. "As far as I'm concerned I don't care about the Mueller report," Trump said. "I've been totally exonerated. No collusion. No obstruction." He said he had to concern himself with China, North Korea, Venezuela and many other world problems rather than spend time "worrying about something that never, ever should have taken place." After about two years of work, on March 22 Mueller delivered his final report on his investigation to US Attorney General William Barr. Two days later, Barr sent a letter to Congress in which he said that the report did not find evidence that Trump's campaign conspired with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election, but he also stated, quoting the report, that it did not "exonerate" Trump on obstruction. Democratic lawmakers have insisted on the need to make the full report public, something that Barr has opposed claiming that it is necessary to edit it and redact certain portions to prevent classified information from being released. Barr has not ruled out the possibility that he might open an investigation into Mueller's probe, an option that would have the support of the White House, as Trump alluded on Wednesday. In his remarks, Trump seemed to urge Barr to scrutinise Democratic motivations in the independent investigation he has repeatedly called a "witch hunt," saying "Hopefully, that will happen. There is a hunger for that to happen in this country like nothing I've ever seen before, including all of the millions of people that voted for me." --IANS vin/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said on Wednesday that by aligning with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), her father, Mufti Sayeed, had captured the "Jinn in the bottle". Addressing an election rally in Anantnag district, Mehbooba Mufti said by joining hands with the BJP, her late father, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, had captured the Jinn in the bottle given the strong right-wing ideology of the BJP. "The mandate given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 was a golden opportunity for him to resolve the Kashmir issue. "My father said many times that Modi has a two-fold mandate -- he is a Prime Minister of the BJP, and is backed by RSS and Bajrang Dal and other Hindu parties, which gives him the power to take bold initiatives. "In 2014 Assembly elections, Mufti Sahib had appealed people to give him 40 seats, but the fractured mandate which saw BJP winning 25 seats meant that the PDP had no option, but to drink a cup of poison by joining hands with the saffron party. "By joining hands with BJP, Mufti Sahib captured the Jinn in the bottle. "The Jinn who talks about abrogation of Article 370, 35A today and the Jinn who has closed the national highway for two days a week. "The same Jinn through the NIA (National Investigation Agency) is now not sparing even leaders like Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and taking others to Tihar jail." She claimed her father had set preconditions before joining hands with the BJP. "These preconditions were to have a dialogue with Pakistan and the Hurriyat leaders. He had set a precondition that Article 370 would not be touched. "BJP had agreed to return power projects to the state and work for removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA)," she said. She warned the Central government that if Article 370 and 35A are abrogated, there would be such a conflagration from Kashmir that would destroy the entire south Asian region. --IANS sq/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After losing from two Assembly seats in 2017, Congress General Secretary Harish Rawat's clout is at stake as he is locked in an intense electoral battle with Uttarakhand BJP President Ajay Bhatt in the prestigious Nainital seat, which will go to polls on Thursday. It's a straight duel between Rawat and Bhatt, though BSP's Navneet Agarwal is also likely to get votes from the sizeable Dalit and Muslim population in the area. Rawat, known for his astute election skills, faced three consecutive defeats in 1990s in the hands of BJP's Bachi Singh Rawat from the Almora seat. In 2004, he pitted his wife Renuka against Bachi singh Rawat, but failed to taste success. After Almora seat became reserved, Rawat shifted base to Haridwar where he won the parliamentary election in 2009 with a huge margin and became a Minister in the Manmohan Singh ministry. In 2014, he became the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand but lost both the Assembly seats he contested in 2017. This time, Rawat shifted base to Nainital after getting the whiff that sitting BJP member Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, a former Chief Minister, will not contest. Rawat, being bullied by the BJP for suffering a series of defeats, has remained unperturbed. "I have my own conviction and courage. I am a determined man and the people are with the Congress this time," he said. Bhatt too exuded confidence that he would win with a big margin. "The Narendra Modi wave is at its peak now. We will win with huge margin," said Bhatt who is contesting the parliamentary election for the first time. While Bhatt is getting support from Koshiyari and other top state BJP leaders, Rawat is being backed by the half a dozen party MLAs of Congress. The Leader of the Opposition Indira Hridayesh, a known opponent of Rawat, claimed that she has organised eight public meetings in the Haldwani area in favour of Rawat. --IANS str/pgh/pcj (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's wife on Wednesday pleaded not guilty in a new corruption case where she was charged with accepting a bribe of 5 million ringgit ($1.22 million) related to a school solar project. Rosmah Mansor, who has been on trial over the embezzlement of state funds, allegedly received the money on December 20, 2016, from a private company, Jepak Holdings, in exchange for helping them to secure a contract to supply and install solar energy panels in 369 schools in the state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. Jepak had secured the contract, called "Project Bersepadu System Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Hybrid", valued at 1.25 billion ringgit ($350 million), without an open tender, according to the statement by a Kuala Lumpur court. Mansor, 68, who faces 19 other allegations of corruption, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if convicted in this case, which the High Court will hear on July 10. Najib, who has 42 charges of corruption against him, and his wife are accused of siphoning millions of dollars to their private accounts from the state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Najib, 65, who served as Prime Minister from 2009 to 2018, appropriated about 2.6 billion ringgit, a media investigation had revealed in 2015. The first of a series of trials against Najib on corruption charges began on April 3. He, however, denies all corruption charges. After winning the elections in May 2018, the new Prime Minister and Najib's former mentor, Mahathir Mohamad, reopened the investigation into the alleged corruption in the state fund. In addition to Malaysia, half a dozen countries, including the US, Switzerland and Singapore, continue to investigate the embezzlement of the Malaysian state fund. The US Justice Department estimated $4.5 billion had been diverted from 1MDB of which about $1 billion may have been laundered in the US through the purchase of real estate , yachts, jewellery and works of art, among other goods. --IANS soni/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rocky, Earth-like planets with high levels of radiation, orbiting our closest stars could be hosting life, suggests a new study raising excitement about exoplanets. Previously, the discovery of fierce radiation had dashed hopes that nearby exoplanets may have life. But, astronomers at the Cornell University in the US found that all of life on Earth evolved from creatures that thrived during an even greater ultraviolet radiation assault than nearby exoplanets like Proxima-b which receives 250 times more X-ray radiation than Earth. The Earth 4 billion years ago was a chaotic, irradiated, hot mess, not unlike what is happening on some of the nearest exoplanets. Yet in spite of this, life somehow gained a toehold and then expanded, the study revealed. The same thing could be happening at this very moment on some of the nearest exoplanets, according to the researchers including Lisa Kaltenegger, Associate Professor at Cornell University. For the study, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society journal, the team modelled the surface ultraviolet environments of the four exoplanets closest to Earth -- Proxima-b, TRAPPIST-1e, Ross-128b and LHS-1140b -- and are potentially habitable. Those planets orbit small red dwarf stars which, unlike our sun, flare frequently, bathing their planets in high-energy radiation. The researchers compared the models to Earth's history, from nearly 4 billion years ago to today. High levels of radiation cause biological molecules like nucleic acids to mutate or even shut down. Although modelled planets receive higher ultraviolet radiation than that emitted by our own sun today, it is significantly lower than what Earth received 3.9 billion years ago. "Given that the early Earth was inhabited, we show that ultraviolet radiation should not be a limiting factor for the habitability of planets orbiting M stars. Our closest neighbouring worlds remain intriguing targets for the search for life beyond our solar system," the researchers said. --IANS rt/pg/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An expedition team, assigned to remeasure the height of the world's tallest mountain peak, left for Mount Everest on Wednesday. Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli called upon the government-nominated climbers to derive the true height of the peak. "It will be the authentic data regarding the height of the tallest peak once you come up with the report," Oli told the team members at the Prime Minister's Office here. Nepal accepts the altitude of the mountain peak at 8,848 metres, measured by the Survey of India in 1954, according to officials of the Department of Survey of Nepal. According to the department, four government officials -- Khimlal Gautam, Rabin Karki, Suraj Singh Bhandari and Yuvaraj Dhital -- are among members of the expedition team, Xinhua news agency reported. The Nepali government's efforts to remeasure the height of Mount Everest comes amid speculations that it shrunk after the 2015 earthquake. Although expedition teams from various countries measured the altitude and produced diverse results, Nepal never became part of those expedition teams. China, which first measured the height of the mountain in 1975 and reassessed it in 2005, reported the rock base of the peak at 8,844.43 metres with 3.5 meters of snow. Mount Everest is known in Nepali as Sagarmatha and in Tibetan as Chomolungma. It was given its official English name, Everest, by the Royal Geographical Society in 1865, upon a recommendation by Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India. Waugh named the mountain after his predecessor in the post, Sir George Everest, despite Everest's objections. --IANS soni/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Zealand's Parliament on Wednesday passed the gun reform bill, banning all types of semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles, less than a month after the Christchurch carnage in which 50 people died. The gun reform bill, which passed 119-1 after its final reading in Parliament, is expected to become law on Friday after it receives royal assent from the Governor General. The new curbs bar the circulation and use of most semi-automatic firearms, parts that convert firearms into semi-automatic firearms, magazines over a certain capacity and some shotguns. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced changes to the law after the deadly mosque shootings by self-proclaimed white supremacist Brenton Tarrant in Christchurch on March 15. "I could not fathom how weapons that could cause such destruction and large-scale death could have been obtained legally in this country. I could not fathom that," she said in Parliament on Wednesday. "I could not hand-on-heart go down and face not just the media, not just the public, but the victims that had been left behind from this terror attack and tell them hand-on-heart that our system and our laws allow these guns to be available and that was okay. Because it was not. "I made a decision after that briefing that I would go down that day and, without having the chance to question the Parliament, know that Parliament would be with me. And they were," she was cited as saying by the New Zealand Herald. Holding back tears while addressing Parliament, she said they were there "because of the victims and families" and that when she visited the injured in hospital none of them had just one gunshot wound. "They will carry disabilities for a lifetime and that's before you consider the psychological impact. These weapons were designed to kill and they were designed to maim and that is what they did on the 15th of March." Brenton Tarrant, an Australian, faces 50 murder charges and 39 attempted murder charges. Ardern, who won praise for her compassion and leadership since the massacre, was able to win rare bi-partisan support for a bill that makes it illegal to own a military-style semi-automatic rifle. According to reports, the law includes a buy-back scheme under which owners of outlawed weapons can surrender them to the police by September 30 in return for compensation based on the weapon's age and condition. More than 300 weapons have already been handed in. Anyone who retains a banned weapon after the law formally passes on Friday faces a penalty of up to five years in prison. The Prime Minister had called the Christchurch attacker a terrorist and said she will not utter his name. --IANS soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The opposition on Wednesday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Rafale fighter jets deal after the Supreme Court rejected the Centre's preliminary objections on the use of three documents and allowed review petitions to be heard on merit. Soon after the apex court's judgement allowing documents filed by former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, journalist-turned-politician Arun Shourie and activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan to be examined, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said the "skeletons" in the Rafale deal were tumbling out one by one. "Modiji, you can run as much as you want, but sooner or later the truth comes out. The skeletons in #RafaleScam are tumbling out one by one. And now there is 'no official secrets act' to hide behind," Surjewala tweeted. "Supreme Court has upheld a time honoured legal principle. A rattled Modiji had threatened to invoke Official Secrets Act against independent journalists for exposing his corruption on #Rafale. Don't worry Modiji, an investigation is going to take place now, whether you like it or not," he added. Meanwhile, CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury accused the Modi government of "compromising" national security for "corruption and cronyism" in an important defence deal. "They tried to evade accountability, denied a JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee), hid price from CAG (Comptroller of Auditor General), tried to first mislead, then stall any hearing in the Supreme Court. Important that culprits are booked. "Modi and his minions have falsely claimed that they have a "clean chit" in the Rafale scam. But the proofs have come tumbling out one after another. It has been the most corrupt and most compromised government in India's history. Now is the time to throw it out," he tweeted. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the Supreme Court's judgement has proved that Modi was involved in Rafale corruption. "Modiji was speaking everywhere that he has got cleanchit in Rafale. Today's Supreme Court judgement has proved that he had done theft in Rafale, cheated the Army, and misled the apex court to hide his crime," Kejriwal tweeted. BSP chief Mayawati attacked Modi saying his efforts to "hide corruption" in the Rafale deal has "failed". She said Modi should "apologise for lying" in Parliament and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman must resign. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav attacked the BJP saying that the party has been destroying institutions that safeguards the Constitution. "The BJP has made the institutions that protect the Constitution 'hollow'. On one hand, the spinal cord of the Election Commission has been broken, on the other hand, police watches crime being committed as a mute spectator." The Supreme Court in an unanimous judgment on Wednesday rejected the preliminary objections raised by the central government, as a result the Rafale review petitions will now be heard on merits. The court will look into the documents published. The court rejected the Centre's claim of privilege over the three documents that were annexed by the former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, journalist Arun Shourie and lawyer Prashant Bhushan in their plea. The plea sought the recall and review of 2018 judgment giving clean chit to the government for acquiring 36 ready to fly Rafale fighter jets. --IANS rak/in/mag (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress on Thursday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over remarks of his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan that peace talks prospects with India were better if Modi won the polls, saying Islamabad seemed to have officially allied with Modi. Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said the Pakistan Prime Minister and ISI want that such a Prime Minister should continue in India under whom "internal strife continues to blow, where the atmosphere of hatred and division gets perpetuated by the actions of the powers that be, where peace is a casualty in the country and where directly or indirectly forces inimical to India continue to get space". "It seems that Pakistan has now officially allied with Modi ji. Imran Khan seems to wish for Modiji's success," Surjewala said. He said the entire country saw Modiji's love for then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the ISI "when he went uninvited to Pakistan and then invited ISI to India". "It seems that the love affair with Imran Khan now continues. We want to say Imran Khan and Pakistan will never succeed nor will the firecrackers, in Modiji's language, burst in Pakistan, for Modiji is going to lose the 2019 election," he said. Surjewala said Pakistan wants that while its relationship with China should be strengthened, it wants to isolate India. "Let me say today as a citizen of India, that Pakistan Prime Minister's diabolical design and wish will never come true. We will defeat every force that perpetuates and propagates hatred, division in this country and Imran Khan's friend Modiji and his party will be decimated by the people of India," Surjewala said. Modi had on Wednesday accused Congress of speaking the language of Pakistan. BJP leaders have also said that remarks of Congress and other opposition leaders were being quoted in the neighbouring country. Imran Khan had expressed the hope during an interview that India-Pakistan peace had a "better chance under Modi". He also said that if the next Indian government were led by the opposition Congress party, it might be too scared to seek a settlement with Pakistan over the Kashmir issue. "Perhaps if the BJP - a right-wing party - wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached," he said, adding he believed Modi too would be interested to restart the dialogue despite the current impasse. --IANS ps/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A press meet in Nagpur and media screenings of the movie "PM Narendra Modi" in Delhi and Mumbai were cancelled on Wednesday as the Election Commission stopped the biopic's release, till the conclusion of 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The film was scheduled to hit the screens on Thursday. The poll panel ruled any material that disturbs a level-playing field should not be displayed. The EC said any poster or publicity material concerning any such certified content, which either depicts a candidate for furtherance of electoral prospect directly or indirectly, shall not be put to display in the electronic media in the areas where model code of conduct is in force. Vivek Anand Oberoi was in Nagpur to hold a media meet at the press club on the film, which traces Modi's life from his humble beginnings to the post of the Prime Minister. The film's publicity team also informed the media of cancellation of press shows. Makers of "PM Narendra Modi" are yet to make a statement on the EC decision. The EC decision has come just a day after the Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking a stay on the release of the Vivek Anand Oberoi-starrer and put the ball in the EC's court. --IANS rb/pcj (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Punjab Governor V.P. Singh Badnore on Wednesday declined an invite from the British High Commission here to attend the birthday celebrations of Queen Elizabeth-II, stating that the event was falling on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by the British forces on April 13, 1919. The development came on a day when UK Prime Minister Theresa May expressed regret over the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, describing it as a "shameful scar" on British Indian history. "Thank you very much for the invite as a special guest at Her Majesty the Queen's birthday party at your residence. Let me wish Her Majesty long life and good health. While it would have been my privilege to be there but for the fact that it is falling on the eve of the hundredth anniversary of the brutal massacre at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar. Therefore, I express my inability to attend the same," Badnore said in an official communication to British Deputy High Commissioner Andrew Ayre. Hundreds of unarmed Indians, including women and children, were killed by British forces led by Brigadier General Reginald Dyer inside the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on April 13, 1919. The massacre was one of the darkest chapters in India's freedom struggle."It was only yesterday that British Minister Mark Field, while responding to a debate at the Westminster Hall in the House of Commons, expressed 'deep regrets' and assured the House that the issue pertaining to an apology for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar was in progress," said Badnore, who's also the Administrator for the Union Territory (UT) of Chandigarh. "Even British Prime Minister Theresa May has termed the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy 'a shamefuI scar'. In the wake of the above, it may not be appropriate for me to be present on this occasion as Jallianwala Bagh has always been a very emotive issue in Punjab," Badnore said in his letter. A number of dignitaries from Chandigarh have been invited for the British High Commission event. Queen Elizabeth will turn 93 on April 21. She was coronated as Queen in 1953. --IANS js/arm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Taking a potshot at Rahul Gandhi without taking his name, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that the Congress president lied incessantly perhaps because he was burdened by the sins of his father (Rajiv Gandhi) who was allegedly involved in the Bofors artillery deal. Addressing an election rally here, Modi also compared Gandhi to an "expert pickpocket." The Prime Minister accused Gandhi of taking unfair advantage of late Manohar Parrikar's ill-health by using a courtesy call made in January this year to spew more untruths about the Rafale deal. "Sometimes I think why is he lying so much? I suspect that perhaps the sins of his father from the Bofors deal are weighing on his mind. In order to wash them, he is smearing the same sins on the rest of the world," Modi said. "But he does not know that birth and inheritance can fetch you the reins of a party, but how will he earn credibility from 125 crore people," Modi asked. Inked in 1986, the Bofors deal is considered to be one of the main reasons for the defeat of the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections. Comparing Gandhi to an "expert pickpocket", Modi said that just like a pickpocket runs along with the mob crying "thief, thief" after picking his victim's pocket, the "naamdaar" Congress President tried a similar strategy when he met the ailing Parrikar on a courtesy visit, but used it to spin another lie subsequently. "He tried to do the same thing with Manohar Parrikar. 'Naamdar' went to enquire about Parrikar's health, but he uttered such white lies after stepping out that one cannot even imagine," Modi said, calling Gandhi's tactics unfair, especially because Parrikar was fighting for his life at the time. Former Goa Chief Minister Parrikar died on March 17 following a prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer. "In such a situation, he had to come out to clarify the canards spread by the liars. Such a huge lie was caught, but there was innocence on the face. There was not even a frown on his brow. This shows his insensitivity," Modi added. The Prime Minister also accused the Congress of creating political instability at a time when Parrikar's health was sinking. "They (Congress) should be ashamed of themselves. They do not even have the wisdom to acknowledge and respect such a (health) crisis. The manner in which the Congress leaders made statements at the time is against the culture of Goa and India," Modi said. --IANS maya/arm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court order to review the Rafale deal on merits saying that "truth has prevailed" and challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a debate on the deal. Speaking to the media after filing his nomination papers here, Gandhi said, "A few days ago, the Prime Minister gave an interview to a news channel. On questions related to the Rafale deal, he said that the Supreme Court had given him a clean chit." "And today the Supreme Court has accepted that there is some corruption in the deal," he said. Launching a direct attack on Modi, the Congress leader said the Supreme Court order had made it clear that the watchman (Modi) allowed the theft to happen. "Names of two people are likely to come out if investigations take place in the deal," he added. The Congress leader also challenged the Prime Minister for a debate on the Rafale deal, on demonetisation and on BJP President Amit Shah's son's rising fortunes since the saffron party came to power at the Centre. Gandhi was accompanied by his mother Sonia Gandhi, sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and brother-in-law Robert Vadra during the filing of his nomination papers at the District Magistrate's office. Priyanka later tweeted, "Today for the nomination of my brother, our entire family was present. Some relations are close to the heart. For my father, it (Amethi) was his karmabhumi, and for us it is a pure place." Gandhi, who arrived in Amethi's Munshiganj guest house earlier in the day, held a massive five-km long road show in his Parliamentary constituency accompanied by his sister and brother-in-law and their children Rehan and Mariya on a truck. Huge hoardings declaring Rahul Gandhi as the 'future Prime Minister' dotted the route. In what was apparently a massive show of strength by the Congress in Amethi, thousands of supporters braved scorching heat to follow the convoy, shouting slogans and showering rose petals. Party workers also carried cut-outs of Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in their hands. The convoy also included members of the Ambedkar Sewa Samiti carrying blue flags with Sonia Gandhi's photograph and the slogan 'Ab Nyay Hoga'. Rahul Gandhi is facing a stiff challenge from Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Smriti Irani, who is contesting against him for the second time. Rahul Gandhi defeated Irani by a margin of over one lakh votes in 2014. Rahul Gandhi has represented Amethi thrice in the Lok Sabha since 2004. Sonia Gandhi represented the seat before him from 1999 to 2004. Amethi votes on May 6, in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha polls. Counting of votes will take place on May 23. Besides Amethi, Rahul Gandhi is also contesting from Kerala's Wayanad. --IANS aks/rtp/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may take more time to examine the Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) and India Bulls Housing Finance Ltd (IHFL) merger deal, an official source said on Wednesday. "It (LVB-IHFL merger) may take time for examination," a source said, adding the central bank may seek more information also on the proposed merger after going through the proposals from the entities. An email sent to the RBI on the issue has not elicited any response so far. The All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) had urged RBI Governor Shakthikanta Das not to allow the proposed merger of LVB with IHFL. The central bank should instead merge LVB with one of the public sector banks, AIBEA General Secretary C.H. Venkatachalam had said in a letter to the RBI Governor. RBI earlier said it is yet to approve Lakshmi Vilas Bank-IHFL merger. In a statement the RBI had noted that it would examine the proposal as per extant regulatory guidelines and directions. Last week, the board of Lakshmi Vilas Bank approved a scheme of amalgamation with the IHFL. LVB stock closed on Wednesday at Rs 88.40 per share, down 4.43 per cent on its previous close on the BSE, while IHFL, at Rs 825.50, a share was down 0.73 per cent. --IANS ana/sn/bc (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) When Jason LeBlanc JD19 chose to pursue law school, the decision was a big one he was the first in his family to do so, moving far from home in Colorado. But after he was paired with mentor Rebecca Kueny JD13, he was amazed by her unconditional support of students and future lawyers, he said in his Mentor of the Year nomination letter. Law school can be a harsh environment sometimes, he said, but Kueny encouraged him to keep going. Whether it was answering my late-night phone calls or helping me in my summer work, Rebecca acted above and beyond the call of duty, he said. At a reception April 4, Willamette Law named Kueny Mentor of the Year. The award is named after late Oregon Supreme Court Justice Edward H. Howell, who became active in the colleges student mentoring program after he retired. Willamette Law also honored two other mentors with the Hon. Mary Mertens James Award Salem attorney and last years Mentor of the Year Nani Apo JD13 and Allison Boomer JD09, a magistrate judge for the Oregon Tax Court with the Hon. Mary Mertens James Award. The award is given only to five-time nominees for Mentor of the Year. Kueny, who specializes in elder law at her own law firm in Salem, says the recognition is meaningful because she doesnt always know how she affects people. But she remembers every person who changed her career trajectory. I know the person who rooted for me when I was taking the LSAT to get into law school, and I know the many people who gave me guidance about what classes to take and what to do with my summers, she said. Theres no way I would be here without those people, and I am glad that I was there for the people Ive mentored. My biggest hope is that everyone else in law school does the same for their community. LeBlanc said that he feels incredibly fortunate to have been one of Kuenys mentees. Recommending (her) for Mentor of the Year is but only a start in thanking her for her time and support, he said. I hope to honor Rebecca in striving to become a strong mentor myself some day. Retired Justice of Madras and Calcutta High Court C.S. Karnan will be taking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency, the retired judge said. "I have decided to contest in Varanasi constituency against Modi. I am now in Varanasi doing the preliminary work for filing of my nomination," the 63-year-old retired justice told IANS. He has already filed his nomination for the Central Chennai Lok Sabha seat and Varanasi will be his second constituency. Karnan filed his papers as a candidate of Anti-Corruption Dynamic Party (ACDP) floated by him in 2018. Karnan was the first sitting judge to be convicted for contempt of court. He underwent a six-month prison sentence after his retirement in June 2017. --IANS vj/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused bail to former Bihar Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad in the multi-crore fodderscam case. Kapil Sibal appearing for Lalu Prasad cited judgement of the Supreme Court where the court had in similar case granted bail to a petitioner. Sibal said Lalu Prasad has already served 22 months in the cases. CJI replied that he has to serve the sentence in each case. "There is no demand and recovery and this is a case of conspiracy," Sibal said. To which, the Chief Justice said: "I'don't think we can grant you bail," and dismissed the Special Leave Petition The fodder scam, exposed in 1996, involved the embezzlement of around Rs 1,000 crore from the state exchequer for the purchase of fictitious medicines and fodder for cattle in the early 1990s. The RJD chief has been lodged in Ranchi's Birsa Munda Jail since a Central Bureau of Investigation court convicted him in three cases related to the scam. He already faces more than 13 years in jail. --IANS sumit/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Income-Tax office filed a complaint with the Election Commission against Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy for staging a protest demonstration at its office in the city on March 28 over the raids on contractors in the state, an official said on Wednesday. "We have forwarded the complaint to the state director of police to inquire into the incident, as elected representatives holding constitutional posts participated in the protest demo with others against a tax office and its officials," a poll official told IANS. Besides Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara, state Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar, Congress Legislative Party leader Siddaramaiah and Congress state unit president Dinesh Gundu Rao staged protest with leaders and cadres of the ruling allies - JD-S and Congress. "The protest by ministers and legislators against the tax office was an unlawful assembly and a threat to the life of tax officials when the model code of conduct for the 2019 election was in force since March 10, recalled the official. The chief minister, his deputy and some cabinet ministers descended on the tax office in the city centre with JD-S and Congress leaders hours after I-T sleuths launched a search operation on contractors of public works in Bengaluru, Mandya and Hassan in the southern state. "The protest was staged, slogans were raised against our top officer and threatening speeches were made by the leaders of the alliance partners even after the officer clarified that no raids were launched on ministers or legislators," an I-T official told IANS. Refuting Kumaraswamy's charges, the top official said on March 28 that raids on contractors were based on credible information received. aceNo MP (Member of Parliament), MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly) or minister have so far been covered in the searches, which are being carried on contractors and connected persons across the state," said I-T Director- for Karnataka B.R. Balakrishnan in a statement then. In series of tweets, a rattled Kumaraswamy accused the tax office of planning raids on important leaders of the ruling parties. "The police will investigate the case and take action," the poll official added. The tax office also wrote to the state revenue department on the protest and speeches made, accusing its officials of making selective raids. "The activities of the tax office should not be politicised, personalised or trivilised. In particular, statements which sound like an incitement to violenceAissued by persons holding responsible posts are deplorable," said Balakrishnan. Claiming all the raids resulted in collecting credible evidence on tax evasion, Balakrishnan said the searches on politically exposed persons have covered the entire political spectrum. --IANS fakir/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Thousands gathered here on Wednesday to bid their final goodbyes to veteran politician and Kerala Congress-Mani Chairman, K.M. Mani, who passed away in Kochi on Tuesday evening. His body was kept for the public to pay homage at the hospital where he breathed his last. His mortal remains were on Wednesday morning placed in a state-owned bus for the final journey to his party headquarters in Kottayam from where the bus will go to his home town Pala, where the funeral would be held on Thursday evening. The bus, which was accompanied by several vehicles, will make a few stoppages enroute to Kottayam for the public to pay their last respects. Traffic stopped at all major roads as thousands came out to bid Mani goodbye. Afterwards, the body will be placed at the Thirunakkara grounds, a place considered lucky by Mani who announced all his political moves from the ground. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will be paying his last respects at the ground. Mani was suffering from a lung ailment and was in the hospital for the past one week. He had been unwell since January. He joined the undivided Kerala Congress in 1965 and went on to become its undisputed leader. Over the years, his party underwent several splits. Mani's record of being the longest-serving legislator in the Kerala Assembly began in 1967 when he represented his home constituency Pala in Kottayam district -- from where he won a record 13 elections. First becoming a Minister in 1975, he served as Minister in six other governments, and holds the state record of having presented 13 budgets. At present, his party is the third biggest ally of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF). As a mark of respect, the UDF has decided to suspend all election campaign work till 4.30 p.m. on Thursday. --IANS sg/mag/bc (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A day ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in Bihar's Gaya constituency, police on Wednesday recovered two IED bombs and one local-made bomb, which were placed near a government school, police said. The bombs, which were defused upon seizure, were recovered in Chakarbanda area, police official Sushil Kumar said. Pamphlets announcing Maoists' call to boycott the Lok Sabha elections were also recovered from the site. On April 8, Maoists had appealed to the people in Aurangabad to boycott the polls. Campaigning came to an end on Tuesday for four of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar going to polls in the first of the seven-phased polls in the state. Gaya, Nawada, Jamui and Aurangabad -- all Maoist-affected areas -- will go to polls in the first phase on April 11. --IANS ik/mag/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Yesteryears' actress and Trinamool Congress MP from Bankura, Moon Moon Sen, who is now contesting the Lok Sabha polls from West Bengal's Asansol seat, has declared that her movable assets have soared over four times to Rs 4.68 crore during the last five years. She had declared movable assets of about Rs 1.03 crore before fighting her maiden election in 2014, where she scored a major upset by defeating Communist Party of India-Marxist heavyweight Basudeb Acharia. According to Sen's latest affidavit, her movable assets include Rs 3.15 lakh cash in hand, bank deposits worth Rs 2.16 crore, investments worth about Rs 2 crore in mutual funds and life insurance with current fund value of Rs 5 lakh. She possesses 1,352 grams of gold worth Rs 42 lakh and 70 cents diamond valued at Rs 4.6 lakh. Sen, daughter of legendary Bengali film actress Suchitra Sen, has shown Rs 5.01 crore of immovable properties including three inherited flats, with a built up area of 2,050 square feet each, in south Kolkata. Sen and her husband Bharat Kishore Dev are joint owners having 50 per cent each of a flat at Juhu in Mumbai, which was bought in 1992. Her husband possesses Rs 37.59 lakh in movable assets as compared to Rs 38.71 lakh declared in 2014. Sen, who holds a post graduate degree in comparative literature from Jadavpur University, has not been accused of any offence. --IANS bdc/ssp/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump has lashed out at a judge for blocking his policy of sending asylum seekers to Mexico to await court hearings in their cases. "A 9th Circuit judge just ruled that Mexico is too dangerous for migrants," he tweeted. "So unfair to the US." His policy would have returned migrants back over the border while they sought a legal right to stay in the US, the BBC reported. The legal defeat comes as migrant numbers at the US-Mexico border surged to their highest since 2008. Trump was said to be livid after US immigration officials estimated border apprehensions in March had topped 100,000. The San Francisco ninth district judge's order on Monday against the migrant policy is not due to go into effect until this Friday, giving US officials a chance to appeal. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which implements Trump's immigration directives, is in turmoil following a major shake-up. DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen quit on Sunday after being summoned to the White House by the president. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley called on Trump on Monday to halt the leadership purge at the agency. The senior senator told the Washington Post he was "very, very concerned" about reports of possible further DHS dismissals. "The president has to have some stability and particularly with the number one issue that he's made for his campaign," Mr Grassley said. "He's pulling the rug out from the very people that are trying to help him accomplish his goal." Last week Mr Trump rescinded his own nomination of Ronald Vitiello as director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Speaking to Fox News on Monday, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said: "It's time to do things a little differently. "The president's looking around to reshape his team so he can have the people in place to carry out his agenda." There are also reports that the president is preparing to toughen his stance on immigration. According to the New York Times, Trump is considering implementing further limits on asylum seekers, ending birthright citizenship, and closing ports of entry at the Mexican border. But Trump denied on Tuesday reports that his administration was planning once again to separate families caught crossing the border. --IANS vc (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) European Council President Donald Tusk says the EU should consider offering the UK a "flexible" delay to Brexit of up to a year, with the option of leaving earlier if a deal is ratified. He said there was "little reason to believe" a Brexit deal would be approved by the extension deadline that UK Prime Minister Theresa May has requested -- 30 June, the BBC reported. Writing to EU leaders, he said any delay should have conditions attached. It is up to EU members to vote on the proposals at a summit on Wednesday. Tusk said granting the June 30 extension that May has been seeking "would increase the risk of a rolling series of short extensions and emergency summits, creating new cliff-edge dates". And if the European Council did not agree on an extension at all, "there would be a risk of an accidental no-deal Brexit", he added. "One possibility would be a flexible extension, which would last only as long as necessary and no longer than one year, as beyond that date we will need to decide unanimously on some key European projects." A draft EU document circulated to diplomats ahead of the emergency summit also proposes an extension but leaves the date of the proposed new deadline blank. The BBC said the document referred to an extension lasting "only as long as is necessary and, in any event, no longer than XX.XX.XXXX and ending earlier if the withdrawal agreement is ratified". The UK is currently due to leave the EU at 11 p.m. on Friday. So far, UK MPs have rejected the withdrawal agreement May reached with other European leaders in 2018, so she is now asking for the leaving date to be extended. She met French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin for talks ahead of the summit. Merkel said a delay that ran until the end of this year or the start of 2020 was a possibility. --IANS in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, UK Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday expressed regret over the worst bloodbath committed by the British Army during the colonial period, terming it as a "shameful scar" on British Indian history. "The tragedy of Jallianwala Bagh of 1919 is a shameful scar on British Indian history. As Her Majesty the Queen (Elizabeth II) said before visiting Jallianwala Bagh in 1997, it is a distressing example of our past history with India," said the British leader while replying to questions in the House of Commons. "The United Kingdom deeply regrets what happened and the suffering caused in Jallianwala Bagh tragedy." Former British Prime Minister David Cameron had described the tragedy as "a deeply shameful event in British history" during a visit to India in 2013. On April 13, 1919, British forces led by Brigadier General Reginald Dyer opened fire in Jallianwala Bagh on thousands of unarmed and peaceful protesters, including women and children, killing hundreds of them. The Jallianwala Bagh houses the martyrs' memorial which was established in 1951 to commemorate the massacre. It is managed by the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Trust. In February this year, the Punjab Assembly unanimously passed a resolution to mount pressure on the Centre to seek a formal apology from the British government "for one of the worst ever bloodbaths in the world". The Assembly resolution stated that "an apology for the massacre would be a befitting tribute to the martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh during its centenary year". "It was a dastardly act perpetrated upon the innocent people who had converged at the Jallianwala Bagh on the fateful day of Baisakhi on April 13, 1919, to protest against Rowlatt Act of the Imperial rulers," the resolution said. A recently released researched book "Jallianwala Bagh, 1919 - The Real Story" by author and columnist Kishwar Desai indicated that the British rulers of that time were unnerved by the unrest in Punjab in general, and Amritsar in particular, which led them to do something which could "teach a lesson" to the citizens. --IANS soni/bg (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's assertion that India was going to "annex" Kashmir has failed to evoke any reaction from the UN's leadership. Asked during a briefing on Tuesday by a Pakistani journalist for reactions on Khan's statement, Secretary General Antonio Guterres's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said: "I have not seen those comments and we tend not to comment on things that have not happened." General Assembly President Maria Fernanda Espinosa's spokesperson Monica Grayley said: "On your particular question today, I don't have any comment." She added: "But we will recall that Espinosa visited both countries and a few weeks ago, when we had tensions in the region she asked for calm and constructive dialogue." Espinosa had visited India in August before she took over as the President of the General Assembly, and Pakistan in January after she assumed the office. Khan had linked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's pledge to annex Israeli settlements on the occupied West Bank to Bharatiya Janata Party manifesto's proposal to end the special status for Kashmir under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and called them election ploys. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis) --IANS al/pg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Apr 10, 2019 | By Thomas German automobile manufacturer Audi AG is expanding the use of 3D printers in production. Custom-designed and locally printed auxiliary tools from the 3D printer help employees on the production lines. A separate department will be responsible for implementation at the Neckarsulm site in the future. The team at the startup/analysis center has already firmly established polymer 3D printing in the craft-scale R8 factory at the Bolllinger Hofe. The team develops ideas for new or optimized tools in close collaboration with their colleagues on the production line. The team under project manager Waldemar Hirsch design the tools on site and print them on the 3D printer. During a one-week workshop last December, the expert team trialed the use of this fast, convenient service for volume production in the factory. The team identified several hundred applications where printed auxiliary tools offer substantial savings potential. By establishing a separate specialist department for 3D printing, we are professionalizing this already successful project. Even more employees will be able to benefit from the experienced expert team and the custom auxiliary tools in the future, said Helmut Stettner, the Neckarsulm plant manager. But Audi is also using the project to actively drive cultural change. The employees on the production line are directly involved in the development process for the 3D-printed tools. Hirsch gives top priority to focusing on the employees and their needs. When designing a prototype, it is very important to us that we fulfill our colleagues wishes exactly, he said. Our goal is to provide our Audi colleagues the 3D-printed tool as quickly as possible, thus supporting them in their daily work. The process is another building block in the companys digital transformation. For Audi it marks an important step in the evolution of production into a modern smart factory. The use of the technology enhances flexibility and efficiency in addition to enabling the products to be customized as suggested by the employees. The decision to establish the new department supports the creation of a cross-site network. Ultimately the entire Volkswagen Group will benefit from the expertise in Neckarsulm, said Stettner. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: The US is threatening to impose tariffs on European goods worth billions of dollars, intensifying a long-running dispute over aircraft subsidies, media reported. The US Trade Representative proposed levies on hundreds of categories of exports on Tuesday in retaliation for the European Union allegedly providing subsidies to Airbus (EADSF). The goods range from Airbus jets and their components to European staples like wine, cheese and frozen fish, according to CNN. These exports are worth about $11 billion every year to European countries, roughly equal to the damage the US believes the subsidies inflicts on Boeing (BA) and the US economy. "When the EU ends these harmful subsidies, the additional US duties imposed in response can be lifted," US Trade Representative Lighthizer said in the statement. The proposed tariffs are subject to public consultation in the US and arbitration at the World Trade Organisation, which is expected to deliver its findings in the summer. The dispute dates back to 2004, when EU authorities said Boeing received $19 billion in unfair subsidies from federal and state governments between 1989 and 2006. The US government filed a similar claim that year over European subsidies to Airbus. The World Trade Organisation has handed down favourable rulings to both sides, underscoring the complexity of the dispute. The trade watchdog said last month that the US had failed to stop giving Boeing illegal tax subsidies in Washington State, but cleared it of other allegations. It issued a similar ruling last year in the case brought by the US over Airbus. It said Europe had breached some rules on subsidies, but dismissed other allegations. The tariff threat issued by the US on Tuesday risks further escalation. "Our ultimate goal is to reach an agreement with the EU to end all WTO-inconsistent subsidies to large civil aircraft," Lighthizer said. A spokesperson for the European Commission said on Tuesday that the bloc could soon launch its own retaliation tied to the Boeing case. "The EU remains open for discussions with the US, provided these are without preconditions and aim at a fair outcome," the spokesperson added. American threats to hit the European Union with tariffs come amid rising trade tensions between the bloc and President Donald Trump's White House. Trump is considering whether to impose tariffs of up to 25 per cent on European vehicle imports, a threat that has unnerved automakers in the industrial powerhouse of Germany. The US has already imposed tariffs on European steel and aluminum exports. The European Union retaliated with tariffs on more than $3 billion worth of American exports in June. The levies hit products such as motorcycles, orange juice, bourbon, peanut butter, cigarettes and denim. --IANS vc (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.) Voters of rugged, high mountain passes of Himachal Pradesh's Lahaul and Spiti valleys, which are still largely covered with snow, have threatened to prohibit politicians from canvassing in their area for the Lok Sabha polls. They want both the main political parties -- the BJP and the Congress -- to come out with concrete plans to protect their traditional rights on local natural resources, including forests and to provide basic amenities. Otherwise, they say there will be no entry for the politicians in Lahaul-Spiti district having 23,407 voters in the Mandi parliamentary constituency, one of country's largest and toughest. The successive governments in the state have failed to notify and implement the Forest Rights Act (FRA) of 2006, Save Lahaul-Spiti Society President Prem Katoch told IANS over phone. He said the Central government has framed the FRA rules in 2008, but the state government has not implemented them. Katoch said that the healthcare in the entire district was the most pathetic. "For more than six months, the people in Lahaul and Spiti are cut off from the rest of the world owing to closure of road links with onset of snowfall in December. During this period, there is no provision of specialist doctors in the entire district," he said. "For every minor complication, we have to rush to other towns like Kullu and Shimla for treatment. During winter, the only mode of communication is the state-run helicopter and that runs once in a fortnight," he added. Not open throughout the year, the landlocked Lahaul Valley, comprising over two dozen small and scattered villages, remains cut off owing to heavy snow accumulation from December onwards on the Rohtang Pass (13,050 feet) -- the only connection with Manali in Kullu district. The road links restore only by mid-May when the snows melt. Helicopters are the only mode of transportation for the locals during winter. The Rohtang tunnel, which is under construction and will run beneath the Rohtang Pass, will ensure all-weather connectivity between Lahaul Valley and Manali. The Save Lahaul-Spiti Society asked the political parties to strengthen telemedicine facilities. Also, it sought an assurance on strengthening telephone and road networks in the entire district that shares border with Tibet in China. Lahaul-Spiti district, spread over 13,835 sq km, is a place of remote, untouched beauty with just 31,528 people. The entire district has 92 polling booths. Interestingly, state's remotest polling station Tashigang is located in the Spiti Valley. "We have requested the government several times. Now, the election is the best time to highlight our grievances," said Parkash Chand of Kibber village in the Spiti Valley. He said after the notification of the wildlife sanctuary their entry into the forest had been banned and their local rights had come to an end. "The government should come out with a suitable rehabilitation plan," he added. BJP outgoing MP Ram Swaroop Sharma said he is aware of their problems. "We have strengthened medical facilities in Lahaul and Spiti and try to improve them more." Similarly, Congress greenhorn Ashray Sharma said: "Our government will come out with a suitable action plan with focus on strengthening communication network, especially along the international border." He said Sharma has failed to construct an airfield in Lahaul-Spiti. For quite some time, state's Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur districts, both dominated mainly by Buddhists, are echoed with slogans "avan adhikar kanoon lagoo karo" (implement the Forest Rights Act) and "ahamare gaon mein hamara raj" (self-rule in our village). The locals say the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 aims to redress the historical injustice that forest-dwellers have experienced, particularly the denial of their rights to forest land and resources. "The law lays down all procedures for claim-filing and verification, but the (local) administration is unwilling to understand the provisions of the Act and is using the law as per its own convenience," said social activist Akshay Jasrotia, who has been advocating implementation of the Act. Pleading against the poll boycott, Chief Electoral Officer Devesh Kumar said the Border Road Organisation (BRO) has been asked to initiate the process for allowing short-term usage of the 8.8 km Rohtang tunnel for facilitating transportation of men and machinery and election-related material to the Lahaul Valley. Polling for the four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh - Shimla (reserved), Kangra, Mandi and Hamirpur - is scheduled for May 19. (Vishal Gulati can be reached at vishal.g@ians.in) --IANS vg/pgvg/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The impact of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and political ignorance about traditional wood carving industry in Saharanpur may play a major role in the Lok Sabha elections in the western Uttar Pradesh constituency where polls are due on Thursday. The world-renowned wood carving business in Saharanpur is in "dying stage". Politicians as well as the government, people linked to the occupation claim, have not come up with any assurance or plan to check the trade's slide. The annual wood carving industry of Saharanpur was pegged at about Rs 400 crore as it supported the livelihood of about 2 lakh artisans -- both Muslims and Hindus. However, over 60 per cent of artisans, several entrepreneurs in the trade said, have left their occupation and have taken to plying e-rickshaws for their livelihood. The first major jolt to the business came in July 2014 when communal riots broke out over a piece of land. After the riots that claimed three lives, the district administration clamped curfew. Goods containers were stranded on the outskirts of the city for over a fortnight. Several export orders were cancelled, recall residents. Exports form a substantial part of the total economy of the wood carving industry. The main export destinations are the US, Europe, Brazil, Canada, China, Singapore, Sweden and Kuwait. The manufacturers suffered substantial losses post demonetisation on November 8, 2016. A new tax regime that was implemented on July 1, 2017 deadlt a blow to the industry because maximum transactions related to the trade were done in cash. Mohammad Javed, an entrepreneur, told IANS that the trade is based on credits and it got disrupted after the GST implementation. "After the 2014 riots, the craft business suffered huge losses. As we tried to recover, came demonetisation and the GST, completely paralysing the industry. Today banks are not extending loans to our business. Saharanpur has Over 3.5 lakh voters. Over 70 per cent of Muslim population and 30 per cent of Hindus were in the occupation. "Most of them have left the job and shifted to other works. The BJP candidate never came to us in the last five years. No one is there to hear our problems. So, we have decided to vote for Congress which has supported our business," Javed said. Abuzar Wood Carving owner Azhar Hassan said he has been dealing in both the domestic market and in exports and currently he is having a lot of problems in both. "Since the implementation of GST, foreign demands have gone down as businessmen don't want to pay extra amount due to confusion in the tax structure. Many foreign customers have facilitated employment to several artisans living in the city. We are doing business on the basis of local demands. It is becoming increasingly difficult to meet even basic expenditure," said the 56-year-old businessman. Mohammad Yunus, a handicraft artisan, said most like him have left the occupation and started plying battery-operated rickshaws. "The business is in dying stage. I am in the occupation since 1948 and never thought that the trade would go through such a bad patch. Only Congress can do justice now," said Yunus. Mehboob, a teacher and resident of Sheikhpura village, told IANS that there was no major employment avenue in the area. There were over 10,000 micro handicraft units in Saharanpur district and about 100 organised factories, which largely catered to the export market. "The situtation is now changed", said Rahul Joshi, a fire safety worker, adding several factories and units have shut shop. (Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in) --IANS rak/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Google-owned YouTube shut down the comment section on its livestream of a congressional hearing on white nationalism after it got filled with hateful comments. Many of the comments on the livestream expressed anti-Semitic views or decried multicultural societies while others expressed white pride, the CNET reported on Tuesday. Facebook's public policy director Neil Potts and Alexandria Walden, counsel for free expression and human rights at Google, had on Tuesday appeared before the US House Judiciary Committee to discuss the role of the platforms when white nationalism is on the rise. Both companies have been under mounting pressure to combat hate speech following a string of hate-ridden events. They have also been accused of fuelling white supremacy. The flood of toxic comments on the livestream during the congressional hearing demonstrated the difficulty tech companies, which often rely on users to flag inappropriate comments, face while monitoring activity on their platforms. "Hate speech has no place on YouTube. We've invested heavily in teams and technology dedicated to removing hateful comments/videos," the Google-owned video service tweeted. "Due to the presence of hateful comments, we disabled comments on the livestream of today's House Judiciary Committee hearing." Potts told the committee that it is not "simple" for the world's largest social network, with over two billion users worldwide, to decide which posts it should keep and which it should pull down, because of the huge amount of information that flows through the site. Echoing the remark, Google's Walden said that removing hate speech can be complex because content may be offensive but not violate YouTube's policies against hate speech or incite violence. It is also contentious because there are disagreements on where to draw the line between political speech and hate speech, the report noted. "Overaggressive enforcement can also inadvertently silence voices that are using the platform to make themselves heard on these important issues," Walden said. When asked if their sites were neutral platforms or editorial publications, Potts said Facebook is a tech company, while Walden said Google's YouTube is a "free and open platform" for users to upload their own content, the report noted. --IANS rt/mag/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Stray cows and nilgais foraging on standing crops with little fear and recent rain have left Kamal Singh, a 45-year-old marginal farmer in Khair tehsil of Aligarh, distraught. It has cost him more money to harvest his entire potato crop, sown on less than half a hectare, than what he is likely to get in the market. Singh is a beneficiary of the PM Kisan Nidhi, under which the Centre has promised Rs 2,000 each in three instalments to farmers with less than two hectares of land. He is, however, yet to get the money since the plot of land is under the name of his father and subdivided ... One person was killed and 15 others were injured Wednesday when a tempo traveller overturned in Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh district, police said. The vehicle was carrying devotees to Sheetlan Dham temple when the accident occurred in Lalganj area here, ASP, Shivji Shukla said. The driver of the vehicle apparently dozed off and lost control of the vehicle, police said. All the vehicle's occupants were rushed to a hospital, where Dheeraj (20) died during treatment while the injured are in stable condition, they said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) : The 178 farmers, who filed nomination papers here for the parliamentary elections scheduled Thursday, would continue their stir against the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) for failing to fix minimum support price for their produce. Kisan Khet Mazdoor Congress State president Anwesh Reddy, one of the leaders coordinating the protest, told this to PTI Wednesday. Nizamabad hit headlines after the farmers demanded the MSP for turmeric and red jowar (sorghum) and also set up a turmeric board here. With a large number of farmers contesting the polls, the the vote-bank of ruling party candidate was bound to be dented, Reddy said. "The fight will continue until the demands are met. Many farmers will file nominations and contest in MPTC (Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency) and ZPTC (Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency) elections also," Reddy said. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Raos daughter and sitting MP Kavitha is seeking re-election from the Nizamabad constituency. TRS Rajya Sabha member D Srinivass son D Arvind is contesting on a BJP ticket. AICC secretary Madhu Yashki Goud is also in the fray. Chief electoral officer (CEO) Rajat Kumar, keeping in view the large number of contestants, said that normally for every 10 polling stations the election commission has only one magistrate in place, but here this would be doubled with one magistrate for every five polling stations. He said 12 ballot units (BUs) would be coupled in a series and attached to a control unit in them shape of an inverted 'L' The Election Commission is using M3 type of EVMs which can support upto 24 BUs. Each BU would have 24 names. In a normal situation, the EC keeps 15 or 16 engineers in a constituency for troubleshooting, but here it would arrange for as many as 600 engineers. An official release had said the election commission had instructed the CEO to place order for 26,820 BUs, 2,240 CUs and 2600 VVPATs of M3 make. Meanwhile, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Jitender said special arrangements have been made for Nizamabad with additional deployment of four companies of central forces in the constituency. Over 2.97 crore voters, including 1504 transgenders, would exercise their franchise for 17 parliamentary constituencies in Telangana. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Twenty-seven per cent of the Congress candidates and 19 per cent of the BJP candidates fielded for the first phase of Lok Sabha election, to be held on Thursday, have serious criminal charges registered against them, according to an analysis by ADR India, an advocacy group. The two national parties have fielded 83 candidates each for the first phase of the election. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has fielded eight candidates in the first phase, of which three, which comes to around nearly 38 per cent, have serious criminal charges registered against them, said a statement by Association of Democratic Reforms. The candidates have made self declaration about their pending serious criminal charges. Six candidates of the Nationalist Congress Party are in the fray, of which two, nearly 33 per cent, have serious criminal charges registered against them. Of the five candidates fielded by Trinamool Congress, none face criminal charges. The Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded 32 candidates in the first phase of the election. Nineteen per cent face serious criminal charges. The Communist Party of India has fielded eight candidates, of which only one has serious criminal charge registered. Ninety-one Lok Sabha seats across 20 states and Union Territories will go to polls on Thursday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) French and Malian troops killed or captured more than 30 extremists and dismantled a jihadist training camp during a major counter-terrorism operation near Mali's border with Burkina Faso, the French military told AFP on Friday. The operation is the first since French forces set up a base south of the bend of the Niger River, building an advance position outside the town of Gossi in the heart of the restive Gourma region. "Over 30 members of armed terrorist groups were neutralised," the military said, a term meaning that they were killed or captured. A French military doctor was also killed during the operation, the military previously reported. The operation, lasting about 10 days, was launched in late March in Gourma, a crossroads region in Mali's central belt that flanks the border with Burkina Faso. The doctor was killed when his vehicle hit a mine, bringing to 24 the number of French defence force members killed in counter-terrorism operations in the region since 2013. Some 4,500 French troops are deployed in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad in a mission codenamed Barkhane to help local forces try to flush out jihadist groups. The Gourma area is a haven for armed groups who hole up in dense forests along the border with Burkina Faso to the south, including a group suspected of carrying out several cross-border attacks. Around 700 French troops and 150 Malian troops took part in the air and ground operation against these bases, the military said. On the other side of the border Burkina Faso deployed troops "to prevent any attempt by the enemy to escape towards the south of the zone," French military spokesman Patrik Steiger said. The operation first targeted the Foulsare forest in the southwest of Gao province, the military said. The French air force and commandos carried out preliminary strikes as dozens of French armoured vehicles in Gossi joined a Malian base at Hombori, 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the Burkina border, which served as a springboard for a joint ground attack. Troops found "a logistical base" containing rocket launchers and other weaponry, but no jihadists. "The enemy deserted the area when Barkhane arrived and did not seek to fight," Steiger said. The second phase of the operation, which caused the losses on the jihadists' side, targeted several sites including a training camp in the Serma forest, according to the military. A pick-up truck, a dozen motorbikes and arms and ammunition, including large amounts of material used to make roadside bombs were seized, the military said. Extremists linked to Al-Qaeda took control of Mali's vast desert north in early 2012, but were largely driven out in a French-led military operation that began in January 2013. But huge areas are still in the grip of lawlessness, despite a 2015 peace agreement with some armed groups that sought to definitively stamp out the jihadist threat. Since then, jihadist attacks have shifted from the north towards the more densely-populated centre of the country, where it has fanned the flames of local ethnic conflicts which date back years. Around 15,000 people have fled their homes in the central region of Mopti alone, according to aid groups. President Ibrahim Boubabar Keita, under mounting pressure to improve security, on Tuesday chaired a senior military panel focussing on the centre of the country. Last Friday, at least 30,000 people marched in Bamako, the capital, to protest at the surge in the violence. Organisers estimated the turnout at 50,000. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Apr 10, 2019 | By Thomas Swedish metal giant Sandvik has unveiled what was described as the worlds first smash-proof 3D printed guitar. The guitar's body was manufactured with titanium powder using a Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) 3D printer. The layers, each thinner than a human hair, built up to make the body of the guitar. The guitars neck and fretboard were machined by Sandvik Coromant in one machine from a solid block of recycled stainless steel. The back of the guitar's neck is hollowed out from the inside and is only 1mm thick in places. The guitars volume knobs and tailpiece which anchors the strings, were also created with 3D printing. Additive manufacturing allows us to build highly complex designs in small production runs, said Amelie Norrby, additive manufacturing engineer at Sandvik. It lets us create lighter, stronger and more flexible components with internal structures that would be impossible to mill traditionally. And it is more sustainable because you only use the material you need for the component, minimising waste. To prove their resistance, Sandvik challenged rock legend Yngwie Malmsteen to smash it! The Swedish heavy metal legend is known for his virtuoso performances as well as the fury he unleashes on his guitars. Malmsteen has produced 30 albums and claims to have broken a hundred in his illustrious nearly four-decade career. That made Malmsteen the perfect choice for Sandvik to test out their 3D-printed titanium guitar. In the film, Malmsteen plays the guitar in front of an excited crowd in a rock club outside Miami after which he does his very best to destroy it. This guitar is a beast! Sandvik is obviously on top of their game. They put the work in, they do their hours, I can relate to that, Malmsteen said. The result is amazing. I gave everything I had, but it was impossible to smash. Sandvik engineers teamed with renowned guitar designer Andy Holt, of Drewman Guitars, to match Malmsteen's exacting musical standards and his lightning-fast playing style. Weve had to innovate from the top down. Theres not a single part of this guitar that has been made before. Its a piece of art, really, explains Holt. The weak point in any guitar is where the neck joins the body. Sandvik solved the problem by milling the neck and the main hub of the body as one piece. You could use the guitar as a hammer and it wouldnt break, Holt said. The next challenge was to strengthen the fret and neck as they extended into the guitars body. That solution took the form of a new, super-light lattice structure that was sandwiched between the guitars neck and fretboard. Made from hyper-duplex steel, a recent Sandvik innovation, the lattice structure is the strongest in the world for a given weight. "We don't make products for consumers, so people don't realize how far in the forefront our methods are," says Klas Forsstrom, President of Sandvik Machining Solutions. "Creating a smash-proof guitar for a demanding musician like Malmsteen highlights the capabilities we bring to all complex manufacturing challenges." Watch how the world's first smash-proof 3D printed guitar was made: Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: Four persons have been arrested for allegedly taking bets on Tuesday's Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings in the national capital, police said Wednesday. The accused identified as Harish Arora (31), Nav Karan Singh (25), Ashish Mangal (21) and Gurbej Chhabra (36) were nabbed from a hotel in Delhi's Preet Vihar area on Tuesday following a tip-off, they said. During the raid, the accused persons were caught red-handed tracking the match between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders on television and updating betting odds, win-loss data through mobile phones, police said. The arrested were using one phone for obtaining online rates and other phones for passing on information to the punters and seeking bets, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast) Chinmoy Biswal. Interrogation revealed that the accused were organising the bets to "earn quick money" during this IPL season. Gurbhej was well-versed with this system of betting and was previously arrested in a gambling case in 2007, the DCP said. The accused used to book a hotel room during the matches and used to operate from there itself, officials said. Biswal said the bookies were using the betting assistant 'I-book' software on their laptops to keep a record of their clients' bets. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Six suspected drug peddlers have been arrested by the police from Jammu and Samba districts, officials said Wednesday. While one person was held in Jammu the other five accused were nabbed in Samba, they said. Following a tip-off, a police team intercepted an SUV at Ban toll plaza in Jammu and seized two kg of cannabis on Tuesday afternoon, the officials said. The driver of the car, Mohd Alam Dar, hailing from South Kashmir's Anantnag, was arrested and a case registered against him, they said. The other five accused were held in Samba in two separate incidents on Wednesday, the officials said. Gourav Chouhan alias Sunny and Bachan Kumar were arrested in the Supwal area after 84 gram of cannabis was recovered from their possession by a police team patrolling the area. The contraband was seized and a case registered against the accused at Samba police station, they said. In another incident, three men riding a motorcycle were intercepted by the police, and during check, 103 gram of heroin was recovered from their possession, the officials said. The accused -- Rajat Thakur, Bashir Ahmed and Mudasar Khan -- were arrested and a case registered against them at Bari Brahmana police station, they said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 60 farmers were Wednesday arrested for forcibly trying to enter the office of the CEO to lodge a complaint against political parties accusing them of neglecting farmers, a police officer said. The farmers agitating under the banner of Naba Nirman Krushak Sangathan (NNKS) clashed with the police when the cops stopped them from meeting the Chief Electoral Officer, he said. The agitating farmers wanted to meet the CEO. They were told by police to a send a delegation to meet the CEO but all of them wanted to meet the CEO. However, police denied entry to all the agitators leading to the clash. "The NNKS rejected our suggestion to send a delegation to meet the CEO. They did not listen and demanded that all of them will meet the CEO. We had to arrest them. About 60 protesters have been arrested," said Bhubaneswar DCP, Anup Sahoo The NNKS has been agitating in Odisha demanding price, prestige and pension for farmers. They alleged that the leaders did not listen to their demands and went to polls. "The farmers have come here to ask the Election Commission if the government will give them price, prestige and pension. We did not intend any violence but were stopped by the police. We will not return without speaking to the CEO and placing our demands," NNKS convenor Akshya Kumar said. He said the farmers would not allow elections if their demands were not fulfilled. The NNKS leader blamed all the political parties. "Parties use us and forget farmers after elections," Kumnar said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress and other opposition parties said on Wednesday that a vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a vote for Pakistan as they seized on Imran Khan's remarks that there may be a better chance of Indo-Pak peace talks and settling of the Kashmir issue if the BJP is voted back to power. In a scathing attack, the Congress also said Pakistani premier Khan's remarks reflect that Pakistan has "officially allied" with Modi. During an interaction with a small group of foreign journalists in Islamabad, Khan had said he believes there may be a better chance of peace talks with India and settling the Kashmir issue if Modi's party BJP wins the general elections. Khan said other parties would be afraid of right-wing backlash in case of a settlement on the Kashmir issue. Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala launched a blistering attack on Modi over Khan's comments. "Pak has officially allied with Modi! A vote for Modi is a vote for Pakistan!" Surjewala tweeted. "Modi ji, first there was love for Nawaz Sharif and now Imran Khan is your dear friend," he added in a tweet in Hindi. The truth is out in the open, Surjewala claimed. Prime Minister Modi has been accusing the Congress of being supportive of Pakistan's narrative following the Balakot air strikes. He has also slammed opposition leaders for asking questions on the strike, saying such statements were helping Pakistan. CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury lashed out at Prime Minister Modi over Khan's remarks, saying now it was known who Pakistan wants as PM. "Pakistan has been the only issue of Modi's election campaign, where he has scurrilously tried to link it to opposition. Now we know who Pakistan actually wants as PM, the only Indian PM to have invited ISI to a military base, and the only one who went to Pakistan uninvited," he said. "We have serious concerns about foreign governments influencing our democratic election process. Last year, it was reported that ISI wants Modi as PM. Now Pakistani PM says it," Yechury said. Aam Aadmi Party Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also seized on Khan's remarks, saying if Modi wins in the general election, crackers will be burst in Pakistan. "Why does Pakistan want Modi ji to win. Modi ji should tell the country how deep are his relations with Pakistan. All Indians should know that if Modi wins, crackers will be burst in Pakistan. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi Police has arrested three people, including a 25-year-old woman, for allegedly robbing her neighbour and then strangling her in Rohini's Sector-16 area, officials said Wednesday. The accused have been identified as Sumit Kumar (22), Vikas Kumar (25), residents of Vijay Vihar and Ruby (name changed), they said. According to Joy Tirkey, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime), on Monday at around 1:30 pm, one Geeta Saxena, a resident of Sector-16 in Rohini was found dead at her home. She was strangulated with her scarf. The house was found ransacked. Some cash and jewellery were found missing and the entry seemed friendly. Gold ornaments of the deceased were also missing, the DCP said. During investigation, police got a tip-off on Tuesday about Sumit and Vikas. A trap was laid and both the accused were arrested from Sector-24 in Rohini on Tuesday evening. Ruby was also arrested on Wednesday morning, they said. Their interrogation revealed that Ruby had told Sumit she was in dire need of money. She also told him about Saxena who had spent a lot of money on her daughter's wedding recently, Tirkey said. They planned to rob Saxena as she mostly stayed alone at her flat during the day time. Her husband, an auto driver, returned home only at night and her two sons used to live some place else, he said. Sumit roped in his friends Vikas and Ashu for the job. The plan was that Ruby would visit Saxena and soon Sumit, Aashu and Vikas would follow her after getting a missed called from Ruby, he added. On Monday at around 12 pm, when the gang struck, Saxena was busy cleaning her house. They threatened her and asked her to keep quiet and hand over all her valuables, police said. When Saxena resisted, all four of them strangled her with her scarf. Thereafter, they removed the gold rings, bangles and a chain that she was wearing and fled with jewellery and whatever cash they could find in the house, the DCP said. Some of the looted jewellery and Rs 7,000 was recovered from them, police said, adding efforts are being made to apprehend Aashu. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) : As Andhra Pradesh goes to its first general election Thursday post bifurcation, all arrangements have been made for smooth conduct of the poll in 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly seats. This is the first general election in the state after bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and creation of Telangana in June 2014. There are a total of 3,93,45,717 registered voters, including 1,94,62,339 male, 1,98,79,421 female and 3957 transgenders. Of the total, 10.15 lakh are first-time voters in the 18-19 age group. The state has 56,908 service voters while 5323 NRIs from the state are also registered as voters. As many as 2,118 and 319 candidates are in the fray for 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats respectively. In 2014, 77.96 per cent polling was recorded in 13 districts and Election Commission authorities expect the percentage to go beyond 80 per cent this time. Of the total 46,120 polling stations, 8514 have been classified as critical and 520 as Left-wing Extremism-affected. Arrangements have been made for video recording of the polling process in all places, while webcasting would be done from about 28,000 polling stations. State Chief Electoral Officer Gopal Krishna Dwivedi said on the eve of polling day that 197 companies of Central Armed Police Force have been deployed across the state in addition to 51,525 state police personnel, 60 companies of AP Special Police, 4500 Karnataka and 736 Odisha police for security. The total number of security personnel deployed is 1.20 lakh. Polling would end at 4 PM in the Left-wing extremism affected areas,mostly those bordering Odisha and Chhattisgarh. "There is shortage of security personnel compared to the previous elections. We are deploying even ex-servicemen from Tamil Nadu for poll duties. We have deployed adequate armed security personnel in areas that have Maoist influence," Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Ravi Shankar Ayyanar said. As many as three lakh personnel would discharge election duties on polling day. The authorities are using 2,684 GIS and GPS-based vehicle and personnel tracking devices, 67 drones and 1,200 body-worn cameras for surveillance and security monitoring. Over Rs 200 crore in cash and valuables like gold and silver was seized in the last one month as part of the enforcement measures. Liquor worth over Rs 25 crore was also confiscated. The CEO said mobile phones would not be allowed into the polling stations and taking selfies was also prohibited. "Action will be taken against violators of this norm. Even polling staff who allow this violation will also be punished," Dwivedi warned. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Nagaland, Abhijit Sinha Wednesday said all arrangements have been made for the smooth conduct of election to the lone Lok Sabha seat in the state on Thursday. The CEO appealed to the electorate to exercise their franchise for the Lok Sabha election and byelection to the Aonglenden Assembly seat without any fear and ensure ethical and informed voting. Sinha also urged the 12,13,777 electorates, including over 16,000 first time voters, not to be influenced by any inducement but to consciously use their franchise. Everything has been put in place for the conduct of peaceful polls for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland and the by-election to 26-Aonglenden Assembly constituency, he said. The CEO said all polling parties have left for their respective polling stations and are expected to reach the 2,227 polling stations spread over 12 election districts in the state. He said 75 companies of security forces including Central Armed Police Force, IR and State Police and Home Guards supplemented by over a 1000 village guards have been deployed in the polling stations. The candidates for parliamentary poll are Congress nominee K L Chishi, NDPP candidate Tokheho Yepthomi, NPPs Hayithung Tungoe and Independent Dr M M Thromwa Konyak. The by-poll to Aonglenden Assembly segment is a straight contest between the Congress nominee Alemjongshi Longkumer and Sharingain Longkumer of ruling NDPP. Aonglenden seat has a total of 12,436 electorates including 6,146 male and 6,290 female voters. Voting will be held on Thursday from 7 am to 4 pm. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prominent OBC leader from Gujarat and MLA Alpesh Thakor quit the Congress Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Gujarat Kshatriya Thakor Sena, an outfit floated by him, decided to sever its ties with the Congress. It also asked Thakor to resign from the Congress. Speculation was rife that Thakor may quit the Congress as he was unhappy with the local party leadership. Though he was keen to contest from Patan Lok Sabha seat, the Congress chose former MP Jagdish Thakor. After emerging as a prominent OBC leader in Gujarat, he had joined the Congress before the 2017 Assembly polls and won from Radhanpur seat in Patan district. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a setback to the Congress in Gujarat days before the Lok Sabha elections, OBC leader Alpesh Thakor Wednesday quit the party. Thakor, appointed national secretary after joining the party in 2017, said in a letter to Gujarat Congress chief Amit Chavda that he was resigning from all the posts in the party due to insults and betrayal. "I should not stay in a party where I am being insulted, ignored and betrayed," he said. "Poor youth of my community were angry and upset as they were ignored and insulted. For me, Thakor Sena is supreme....My Sena had asked me to leave a party if we are ignored, insulted and cheated there," he added in the letter. Amit Chavda said he will speak with Thakor before saying anything to the media. Addressing a press conference later, Thakor said he was not joining the ruling BJP. "Thakor Sena helped Congress win almost 43 seats during the 2017 Assembly polls. But our youth were sidelined and even humiliated after the elections got over. I had repeatedly asked the party leaders to give suitable posts to our youth in their organisation," he said. At the press conference, Thakor was accompanied by two Congress legislators from the Thakor community -- Bayad MLA Dhavalsinh Zala and Bechraji MLA Bharat Thakor. Zala and Bharat Thakor said they were not resigning from the party or as MLAs, but supported Alpesh Thakor. "I am not joining the BJP. I am not resigning as an MLA. I am not going to do poll campaigning for or against any Lok Sabha candidate (of Congress or BJP). I will campaign for Thakor Sena candidates who are contesting from Banaskantha Lok Sabha seat and Unjha assembly seat (by-poll)," Alepsh said. The OBC leader claimed that some Congress leaders in Gujarat were "selling" poll tickets. He also alleged that the Congress' in-charge for Gujarat, Rajiv Satav, "did nothing despite my repeated requests to give proper posts to our youth." Earlier Wednesday, the Gujarat Kshatriya Thakor Sena, an outfit floated by him, had given him an ultimatum to resign from the Congress within 24 hours. Thakor was miffed after the Congress did not give him ticket from Patan Lok Sabha constituencuy in Gujarat. Nor were his associates considered for ticket. The Congress has fielded Geeta Patel, an associate of Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel, from Ahmedabd East. Alpesh had also fallen out with the state Congress leadership, alleging that "weak leaders" were at the helm of affairs in Gujarat, an apparent reference to Chavda. He recently met Congress president Rahul Gandhi and conveyed his complaints against the state leadership. An MLA from Radhanpur, Thakor said he has not resigned as legislator. After emerging as a prominent OBC leader in Gujarat, Alpesh Thakor joined the Congress before the 2017 Assembly polls and won from Radhanpur in Patan district. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Drilling Commenced at Earaheedy Zinc Project Perth, April 10, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Rumble Resources Ltd ( ASX:RTR ) ("Rumble" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that it has commenced diamond core drilling at the Earaheedy Project. The drill programme will initially target up to four first order gravity targets recently identified (total six targets identified). The Earaheedy Project is located approximately 110km northeast of Wiluna, Western Australia.HighlightsDiamond Core Drill Programme - Commenced- Drilling has commenced on two diamond core holes designed to test the large gravity drill targets EG1 and EG3, with contingency holes planned for gravity targets EG4 and EG6- The large EG1 gravity drill target is up to 1.5km in strike length and up to 300m in width (similar width and length to the Pillara Zn-Pb Deposit located in the Lennard Shelf of Western Australia)The gravity iso-shells are compelling drill targets that potentially represent large, mineralised zinc ore bodies, based on following:- The gravity targets are located over the main interpreted basement extension fault and likely represent high to moderate angle fault breccia zones with high potential to host economic base metal mineralisation- Importantly, modelling determined the dip of gravity targets are in line with the basement fault which could reflect mineralisation intrusion- Large zinc metal accumulation identified within project from historic drilling with zinc mineralisation over an area of 20km by 3.5km (zinc horizon) - example intercept:o 11.3m @ 4.34% Zn, 0.85% Pb from 150.2mIncludes 2.3m @ 14.42% Zn, 1.15% Pb from 150.2m- Widespread Zn and Pb metal distribution surrounding the gravity targets- Significantly all gravity targets are located within the flat lying carbonate unit that hosts the known zinc-lead horizon (from historic drilling)- No historic drill-holes previously intercepted the first order gravity targets being drill tested by RumbleTarget Style- Rumble is targeting Mississippi Valley Type (MVT) high-grade zinc deposits associated with basement faults (high angle breccia fault zones) within flat lying carbonate rocks- Exploration has shown similarities to the historical Pillara (Blendevale) Zn-Pb deposit located in the Lennard Shelf of WA, with a strike of 2km, discovered between 80m to 500m below surface for a resource of 20Mt @ 8.3% Zn, 2.5% Pb, 17ppm Ag(see Note 1 below)Project OverviewRumble has an option agreement with Fossil Prospecting Pty Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of ASX Listed Zenith Minerals Ltd - ( ASX:ZNC )) to acquire a 75% interest in E69/3464. Rumble owns 100% of the contiguous application E69/3543.Zinc and lead mineralisation with elevated silver is associated with the Navajoh Dolomite Member (also known as the Sweetwaters Well Member) of the Yelma Formation. The Yelma Formation is the lower unit of the 5000m thick Earaheedy Basin (Palaeoproterozoic). Sphalerite, galena, pyrite and marcasite (coarse grain) occurs as stratiform/stratabound ore fill veins and breccias, dissolution cavity fill, disseminated, stylolitic and fault fill mineralisation styles (Mississippi Valley Type). Broad spaced drilling (completed in the 1990's) defined oxidised and primary Zn-Pb mineralisation (zinc dominant) over a strike of 20km. The mineralisation is associated with a flat lying to shallow northeast dipping laterally continuous dolomite to shale horizon. The initial drill spacing was 5 to 10km. The current drill program spacing is approximately 2km by 1km.Review of the historic drilling has concluded that approximately half the drill holes did not intercept the target horizon.A total of 64 drill holes were previously completed within the project area (E69/3464), with 35 drill holes intercepting the stratiform zinc horizon (including partial end of hole intercepts). The historic drilling was completed by Renison (RGC) 1991 -1992 and Zenith in 2007 (8 RC holes completed). Rumble is confident that all holes are located accurately and the sampling and assay techniques represent best practice for the period.Mineralisation has been defined over an area of approximately 20km by up to 3.5km in width and is completely open.Six First Order Gravity Drill Targets (see Image 3, 4 and 5 in link below)Two surveys covering an area of 24km2 were completed on 100m by 100m and 200m by 100m spacings (1080 stations). The surveys targeted the main basement fault zone (interpreted from aero-magnetics) and the stronger base metal drill-hole intercepts from the historic drilling. Gravity inversion modelling has defined six (6) first order drill targets that occur over the main basement fault structure (see Image 3 in link below). The targets are determined by variations in density contrasts (iso-shells). Targets EG1 to EG6 (see Image 3 & 5 in link below) are defined by the 0-200 (0.20 g/cm3) iso-shell.Of Importance:- The six gravity targets sit below the overlying Frere Iron Formation and their dip length strongly correlates with width of the carbonate formations that host the historic Zn mineralisation (see image 4 in link below).- The steep dip of the gravity targets (steep southwest) also reflect the inferred dip of the underlying basement fault.- The depth of the gravity targets gradually deepen to the southeast in line with the basement fault and dip of the hosting sediments.- The gravity targets (EG1 to EG6) are interpreted to be associated with high angle fault/fault breccias that extend from the basement and are hosted in the main carbonate units.- The targets represent bodies defined by density contrasts and these bodies may reflect denser carbonate rich zones or more significantly (based on the widespread Zn and Pb metal distribution), base metal mineralisation (epigenetic replacement).- The gravity targets (iso-shells) are up to 1.5km in strike length (EG1) and up to 300m in width.- Review of the historic drilling has indicated no drill hole has intercepted any of the gravity targets.- Historic drill holes that are close to the gravity targets include TDH19 (approximately 250m into the hanging wall of target EG1 - see image 4 in link below) which returned a wide low-grade intercept of 56m @ 0.46% Zn from 209m.Diamond Core Drilling Commenced (see Image 3, 4 and 5 in link below)- Two diamond core holes will test gravity targets EG1 and EG3 with contingency holes for gravity targets EG4 and EG6.- Image 4 (see link below) highlights the proposed diamond core drill hole into target EG1.Target Potential and StyleThe target style for the Earaheedy Zn project is considered Mississippi Valley Type (MVT) with economic sphalerite - galena mineralisation hosted in high to moderate angle fault/fault breccia.Widespread flat lying carbonate replacement by low grade Zn and Pb sulphides has been delineated by historic drilling at Earaheedy. The area of flat lying mineralisation is very significant (20km by 3.5km) indicating extensive metal input and is completely open along strike and down dip. The historic drilling is wide spaced and has not tested the zone within the carbonates overlying the main basement fault.Previous work by Rumble has highlighted strong metal zonation Zn:Pb ratios paralleling the basement fault (refer to ASX Announcement 12/10/2017 - Option Agreement to acquire Earaheedy Zinc Project). Metal zonation is characteristic of MVT deposits in the Devonian Lennard Shelf of Western Australia and has proven to be a useful vector to aid in delineating high-grade faults mineralisation.The exploration completed to date at the Earaheedy Project has shown similarities to the historical Pillara (Blendevale) Zn-Pb deposit located in the Lennard Shelf of Western Australia (previously mined by BHP and Billiton from 1987 at Cadjebut, continued by Western Metals until 2003 and Teck/Xstrata between 2006 and 2008). The Pillara deposit occurred over a strike of 2 km and was located 80 to 500m below surface. The geological resource was 20Mt @ 8.3% Zn, 2.5% Pb, 17ppm Ag (based on 3% cutoff)(see Note below). The deposit produced 10.3Mt @ 6.9% Zn and 2.3% Pb. Of note, the discovery drill-hole (8m @ 8.9% Zn, 3.5% Pb below 210m)(see Note below).Note: Reference: Murphy G C 1990 - Lennard Shelf Lead-Zinc deposits: in Hughes F E (Ed.), 1990 Geology of the Mineral Deposits of Australia & Papua New Guinea The AusIMM, Melbourne Mono 14, v2 pp 1103-1109To view figures, please visit:About Rumble Resources Ltd Rumble Resources Limited (ASX:RTR) (FRA:20Z) is an Australian based exploration company, officially admitted to the ASX on the 1st July 2011. Rumble was established with the aim of adding significant value to its current gold and base metal assets and will continue to look at mineral acquisition opportunities both in Australia and abroad. Hitting out at SP-BSP alliance candidate Akshay Yadav and PSP(L) founder Shivpal Yadav, BJP chief Amit Shah Wednesday said the uncle-nephew (chacha-bhatija) duo were trying to spread rumours. Speaking at an election rally here, Amit Shah said, "Uncle-nephew are trying to spread rumours. Family-oriented (parivaarwaadi) parties thought Uttar Pradesh was their fiefdom. Sometimes they field their brother, sometimes their sons. They have not done any good to UP, and it is the BJP government, which has brought back the state on the path of development." Shah said the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samajwadi Party have not done any developmental work in the state. The BJP chief said, "The BJP does not work for a particular section of society, but for the entire country. In UP, the BJP will win 73 to 74 Lok Sabha seats." He also urged the Firozabad voters to defeat the uncle-nephew duo, and help the BJP win the polls. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A strong anti-incumbency, caste and corruption are the major factors that could determine the outcome of the elections to Lok Sabha and the state Assembly in Andhra Pradesh as over 3.93 crore voters get to exercise their franchise on Thursday. Polling for all 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly seats would be held in one go from 7 AM to 6 PM in the state. For the 175 Assembly seats, 2,118 candidates and for the 25 Lok Sabha seats 319 contestants are in the fray. Telugu Desam Party president and AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu would be seeking election to the Assembly for the ninth time from Kuppam constituency in his native Chittoor district, while his son Nara Lokesh is making his electoral debut this time from the backward classes-dominated Mangalagiri segment in the capital region, Amaravati. Leader of Opposition and YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy an aspirant for the Chief Minister's post is fighting his second Assembly election from his family's pocketborough Pulivendula. Film star Pawan Kalyan, whose Jana Sena jumped into the electoral battlefield for the first time, is contesting from Bhimavaram and Gajuwaka Assembly segments. This is the first general election in the state after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, and formation of Telangana, in June 2014. Chandrababu Naidu termed the elections a "life and death issue" for the people of the state while the principal opposition YSR Congress propogated that this would be the final electoral battle for the former, the self-styled "senior-most politician" in the country. For the first time in its 37-year-old history, the Telugu Desam Party is fighting the April 11 elections on its own, without an ally, but there were clear hints that it has a "tacit understanding" with the Jana Sena. Kalyan had openly supported the TDP-BJP combine then allies in 2014 but chose a different approach this time. Of the 175 Assembly seats, the TDP won 101, YSRC 68, BJP 4, Navodayam Party 1 and an Independent one in 2014. Of the 25 Lok Sabha seats, the TDP bagged 15, YSRC 8 and BJP 2. In the Assembly polls, the TDP polled 44.61 per cent of votes while the YSRC got 44.58 per cent. The BJP's 2.18 per cent vote share in the Assembly election made all the difference, enabling the TDP to clinch power. Also, one caste (Kapu and its sub-sects) and two districts (East and West Godavari) tilted the scales in TDP's favour in 2014. The TDP lost that advantage this time, with its ties with the BJP severed and the entry of Jana Sena into the battlefield. That could well be the clincher for the YSRC, which is making a desperate attempt to capture power, having missed the chance by a whisker in 2014. Of the total 34 seats in two Godavari districts, the TDP won 26, BJP two and an Independent (TDP rebel) one, taking its combined tally to 29. The YSRC did not win a single seat out of 15 in West Godavari, hurting its race to power. The trend in 2019 could, however, be reversed with the opposition party making strong inroads in these two rich districts. It's here that the Jana Sena could play the spoiler for either of the main rivals, eating mainly into the caste votes. The Rayalaseema region with four districts remains the YSRC's citadel though the TDP enjoys a strong hold over Anantapuramu. But the severe infighting could prove ominous for the ruling party that bagged 12 out of 14 seats in 2014. There is not much good for the TDP from north coastal Andhra as well, as the YSRC is said to be turning the tide in Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts. It could be a close call for either in Visakhapatnam district. TDP's strong hopes lie in Krishna and Guntur districts that have a predominant Kamma electorate and also they being part of the state capital region Amaravati. The YSRC is seeking to continue its dominance in SPS Nellore and Prakasam districts that gave it a sizeable number of legislators last time. Exodus of important leaders from the TDP in these districts could brighten the YSRC's fortunes. The BJP and the Congress are also contesting all the 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly seats on their own but they are virtually not in contention. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Necessary arrangements, including adequate deployment of security personnel in insurgency-hit districts, have been made for the smooth conduct of elections in two Lok Sabha seats and 57 assembly constituencies in Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday. "Randomization of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and polling parties have been completed. "Polling parties, along with consignments for 518 remote and inaccessible booths out of the total 2,002 polling stations in the state, have already reached their destinations," Additional Chief Electoral Officer Kangki Darang said. The polling teams will reach the remaining booths on Wednesday evening, he said. On the security arrangements for the polls, Inspector General of Police Sunil Garg said, "We have deployed 45 companies of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) comprising ITBP, CRPF, IRBn, along with over 7,000 state civil police personnel." Maximum security personnel have been deployed in insurgency-hit Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts, he said. "New wireless sets have been procured and additional wireless sets have also been arranged from Delhi-based Directorate of Coordination Police Wireless (DCPW) for effective communication," the IGP said. Mobile phones have been arranged where wireless sets do not function for officials to pass on information through WhatsApp while dak runners would be pressed into service where both systems are not accessible, he said. Critical polling stations would be guarded by the CAPF besides the state police to ensure peaceful voting, the IGP said. The flying squads and static surveillance team, appointed by the Election Commission, along with the state police has till now seized cash over Rupees six crore in the state, Garg added. A total of 181 candidates, including 11 women, are vying for 57 out of the total 60 assembly seats in the state. Seven candidates, including one woman, are trying their luck in the Arunachal West parliamentary seat along with five candidates for the Arunachal East Lok Sabha seat. The ruling BJP had already opened its account in the assembly polls by winning three seats unopposed. The winners are Kento Jini from Along East constituency in West Siang district, Taba Tedir from Yachuli seat in Lower Subansiri district and Phurpa Tsering from Dirang seat in West Kameng district. Deputy Chief Electoral officer Liken Koyu said 13,262 polling personnel have been engaged for 2,202 polling booths, including 518 polling stations which had to be reached on foot. Twenty-six general observers, one special expenditure observer, 22 expenditure observers, two police observers, an accessibility observer and 484 micro observers have been deployed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the polls, Koyu said. A total of 7,94,162 voters, including 4,01,601 women, are eligible to exercise their franchise in 2,202 polling stations spread across the state. There are also 3,000 odd physically challenged voters in the state. This time, there are also 11 polling stations exclusively for women. Polling Station no 52 at Naharalagun, under Itanagar Assembly constituency, has the highest number of voters at 1340, while Malogam polling station under Hayuliang constituency in remote Anjaw district bordering China has only one female voter. Luguthang polling booth under Mukto constituency in Tawang district is the highest polling station located at an altitude of about 13,583 feet. Eleven polling stations have been set up exclusively for female voters, the sources said. The state has 281 vulnerable polling booths and 662 critical polling stations. The BJP has fielded candidates in all the remaining 57 assembly seats while the Congress is contesting in 46 seats, the NPP in 30 seats, JDU in 15 constituencies, JDS (12), PPA (9) and the All India Party (AIP) in one seat. There are also 11 independents in the fray for the assembly polls in the state. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former union minister Arun Shourie, one of the review petitioners in the Rafale case, Wednesday said he was delighted by the unanimous verdict of the Supreme Court dismissing Centre's "peculiar argument" on admissibility of privileged documents. The apex court on Wednesday dismissed preliminary objections raised by the Centre that documents on which claimed"privilege" cannot be relied upon to re-examine the verdict in the Rafale fighter jet deal with France. "We are delighted it is an unanimous verdict dismissing Central government's peculiar argument on admissibility of documents. Centre's argument meant no wrong can be done in the defence deal," he told PTI. Shourie is one of the review petitioners along with former union minister Yashwant Sinha and activist advocate Prashant Bhushan. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Austria said Wednesday it was considering a law to make it mandatory for big internet platforms to register their users and deprive those behind hate posts of anonymity. "Unfortunately there have been an increasing number of clear violations, denigrations and humiliations online in the past under the cover of anonymity. That's why we need a framework for more responsibility online," Chancellor Sebastian Kurz wrote on Twitter. The new law would take effect in 2020 and would make it mandatory for platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to register their users, said Gernot Bluemel, minister in charge of EU affairs, art, culture and media. It would be up to the platforms themselves to decide the form of registration, but authorities would be able to access users' identities in case of hate postings or on suspicion of other laws being broken, he said. "The online space should not be a space without laws," Bluemel told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting, adding that Austria aimed to set a precedent for other countries in the matter. French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this year caused controversy by suggesting a ban on anonymous postings on social media. In Austria, the law would have to be approved MPs as well as the European Commission to make sure it is in line with EU guidelines that stipulate, for example, that member states cannot regulate a platform provider more strictly than its country of origin. The proposed law would only apply to internet platforms that have a certain reach -- more than 100,000 users or 500,000 euros ($430,000) annual turnover in Austria -- as well as online media that receive more than 50,000 euros in state aid, Bluemel said. Austrian opposition parties have criticised the proposal, saying it restricts online freedom and gives even more user data to online giants, such as Facebook, which is already under fire over how it handles such information. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Austrian city of Klagenfurt indefinitely suspended its bus services Wednesday after a case of measles was detected in one of the drivers. "All bus traffic is suspended until further notice in order to prevent infection," the city's KMG public transport operator announced. The company runs all public transport in the southern city of 100,000 inhabitants, which is also the state capital of Carinthia. It took the unusual measure after it was revealed that one driver had been diagnosed with measles on 3 April. Since then two further suspected cases have been reported. KMG said it was working to establish "the vaccination status of all drivers" before authorising bus services to restart and was embarking on a deep clean of its vehicles. The resurgence of measles, a once-eradicated and highly-contagious disease, is linked to a growing anti-vaccine movement in richer nations -- which the World Health Organization has identified as a major global health threat. On Tuesday, New York mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency in parts of the city, ordering all residents of certain districts in Brooklyn to be vaccinated to fight a measles outbreak concentrated in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The nomination of BSP candidate from Barmer Pankaj Choudhary, an IPS officer who was dismissed form the service last month, was rejected Wednesday for lack of requisite documents, an election official said. Choudhary said he has decided to challenge the rejection in the high court. District Election Officer Himanshu Gupta said, "The nomination of BSP candidate Pankaj Choudhary was rejected as it lacked important documents that needed to be enclosed." Reacting to the development, the 44-year-old alleged his nomination was rejected under a "political conspiracy". "I will challenge the decision in the Rajasthan High Court." Choudhary, who was sacked from the Indian Police Service on march 6 for violating service rules, was fielded by the Mayawati-led party. He filed his nomination papers on April 8. He said that under section 9 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, he had to submit to the election officer a certificate issued by the Election Commission that he was not dismissed for corruption or for disloyalty to the State. According to the section, any person dismissed from an office under the Centre or state government for corruption or for disloyalty to the state is barred from contesting elections for a period of five years from the date dismissal. Choudhary claimed he was dismissed from the service for "family reasons" and, therefore, this clause did not apply on him. He also said that he had on April 1 applied for the required certificate and Election Commission officials had told him it will be issued within the stipulated time period. But it didn't come, he said. Rajasthan has 25 Lok Sabha seats and polling in 13 constituencies will take place on April 29 and remaining 12 on May 6. The Barmer constituency, which has 19.32 lakh voters, will go to polls in on April 29. Choudhary was dismissed on March 6 for allegedly having an extramarital relationship, which, as per his dismissal order, violated rule 3 (1) of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968. Chaudhary, who hails from Varanasi, has been the Superintendent of Police of Jaisalmer between February and July 2013 and Bundi between January and September 2014, and had courted controversies during his tenures in both the districts. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Attorney General William Barr is returning to Capitol Hill for a second time this week as lawmakers, the White House and the American public anxiously await his release of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report. Barr will speak to a Senate appropriations subcommittee Wednesday, the second of two days of hearings about his department's budget. Like members of the House on Tuesday, senators are expected to be more interested in the nearly 400-page document than the budget details. Barr told the House lawmakers that he expects to release a redacted version "within a week." Justice Department officials are scouring the report to remove grand jury information and details relating to pending investigations, among other materials. Democrats have escalated criticism over Barr's handling of the document and say they will not accept any redactions. The House Judiciary Committee has approved - but not yet sent - subpoenas for the report, and top Democrats have said they are willing to take the battle to court. At the House hearing, Barr bluntly defended himself, arguing that portions of the document need to be redacted to comply with the law. He said he's open to eventually releasing some of the redacted material after consulting with congressional leaders, but he drew a line at releasing grand jury material, which would require court approval. He said Democrats are "free to go to court" themselves and ask for the grand jury information. Barr wouldn't discuss the substance of Mueller's findings but did explain some of his process for receiving and reviewing the report and what to expect when it is released: He said the redactions will be color-coded and accompanied by notes explaining the decision to withhold information. "This process is going along very well and my original timetable of being able to release this by mid-April stands," Barr said. Democrats said they were concerned that a four-page summary letter of the report's main conclusions Barr released last month portrayed the investigation's findings in an overly favorable way for President Donald Trump. The letter said that Mueller did not find a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump associates around the time of the 2016 election and that Barr did not believe the evidence in the report was sufficient to prove the president had obstructed justice. Barr said "the letter speaks for itself" and revealed that he gave Mueller an opportunity to review the letter, but he declined. Republicans defended Barr, with Alabama Rep. Robert Aderholt comparing Democrats' questions to theories surrounding President John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination. "So many of the questions here today have gone toward a grassy knoll conspiracy theory," Aderholt said. Across the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he had no concerns with Barr's handling of the report: "I think it really comes down to a question of whether you trust Bill Barr or not. And I do." Barr said in the summary that Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether the president obstructed justice and instead presented evidence on both sides of the question. Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein decided that the evidence was insufficient to establish obstruction. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.ZY., said he was unsatisfied with Barr's answers to the appropriations panel, saying he could issue subpoenas "very quickly" if the report is released with redactions. "We've done everything we could for the last weeks and weeks to try to reach an accommodation with the attorney general under which we would see the report and the underlying evidence," Nadler said. "He has been unresponsive to our requests. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The West Bengal government is yet to accept the Centre's new Agriculture Export Policy, an official of the state said Wednesday. The Agriculture Export Policy, 2018 seeks to double farm exports to 60 billion by 2022 from $30 billion last year, and will invest Rs 1,400 crore to set up specialised clusters in various states for different produces to push exports. "The new Agriculture Export Policy is yet to be accepted by the state government," Agriculture Marketing Joint Secretary AK Das said, while addressing members of the Merchants' Chamber of Commerce. He said 17 Krishak Bazaars have been integrated with the online national platform eNAM portal. The market fee has been exempted for perishable products such as fruits and vegetables and semi-perishables such as onion and potato, he said. West Bengal has 130 Sufal Bangla markets where produce is bought from farmers are aggregated for large corporates to source their requirement. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Replacement Prospectus - Revised Timetable Sydney, April 10, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Hastings Technology Metals Limited ( ASX:HAS ) (Company) refers to its prospectus dated 9 April 2019 (Original Prospectus) pursuant to which a non-renounceable pro-rata entitlement offer was made to eligible shareholders (Rights Issue).The Company advises that it has today issued a replacement prospectus (Replacement Prospectus) to reflect changes made to the timetable for the Rights Issue.The revised timetable in connection with the Rights Issue is now as follows:Announcement of Rights Issue Offer - Tuesday, 9 April 2019Lodgement of Prospectus with ASIC and ASX - Wednesday, 10 April 2019Company sends letters to Shareholders - Thursday, 11 April 2019"Ex" Date - Friday, 12 April 2019Record Date - Monday, 15 April 2019Prospectus and Application Form dispatch to Eligible Shareholders - Thursday, 18 April 2019Opening Date of Rights Issue Offer - Thursday, 18 April 2019Last day to extend the Rights Issue Offer closing date - Monday, 29 April 2019Closing Date of Rights Issue Offer - Thursday, 2 May 2019Securities quoted on a deferred settlement basis - Friday, 3 May 2019Shortfall notification date - Tuesday, 7 May 2019Issue of Rights Shares and Deferred Settlement Trading Ends - Thursday, 9 May 2019Anticipated date for despatch of holding statements for Rights Shares and Rights Options - Thursday, 9 May 2019These dates (other than the date of the prospectus and date of lodgement of the prospectus with ASX and ASIC) are indicative only. The Company will release to the ASX a Replacement Prospectus that incorporates the revised timetable set out above.The Company reserves the right, subject to the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), ASX Listing Rules and other applicable laws, to vary the dates of the Rights Offer, including extending the Closing Date or accepting late applications, either generally or in particular cases, without notice.Further information on the Rights Issue is set out in the Replacement Prospectus for the Rights Issue, which will be mailed to eligible shareholders shortly after the Record Date. Persons should consider the prospectus before deciding whether to acquire securities and will need to complete a personalised entitlement acceptance form that will accompany the Replacement Prospectus.To view Replacement Prospectus, please visit:About Hastings Technology Metals Ltd Hastings Technology Metals Ltd (ASX:HAS) (FRA:5AM) is advancing its Yangibana Rare Earths Project in the Upper Gascoyne Region of Western Australia towards production. The proposed beneficiation and hydro metallurgy processing plant will treat rare earths deposits, predominantly monazite, hosting high neodymium and praseodymium contents to produce a mixed rare earths carbonate that will be further refined into individual rare earth oxides at processing plants overseas. Neodymium and praseodymium are vital components in the manufacture of permanent magnets which is used in a wide and expanding range of advanced and high-tech products including electric vehicles, wind turbines, robotics, medical applications and others. Hastings aims to become the next significant producer of neodymium and praseodymium outside of China. Hastings holds 100% interest in the most significant deposits within the overall project, and 70% interest in additional deposits that will be developed at a later date, all held under Mining Leases. Numerous prospects have been identified warranting detailed exploration to further extend the life of the project. Brockman Project The Brockman deposit, near Halls Creek in Western Australia, contains JORC Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources, estimated using the guidelines of JORC Code (2012 Edition). The Company is also progressing a Mining Lease application over the Brockman Rare Earths and Rare Metals Project. Hastings aims to capitalise on the strong demand for critical rare earths created by the expanding demand for new technology products. The Uttar Pradesh Police Special Task Force busted an IPL betting racket and arrested eight persons in connection with it, officials said Wednesday. "The STF arrested eight persons from Kanpur and Varanasi for IPL betting. Over Rs 30 lakh, foreign currency (350 Dirham), laptops, television, mobile phones, five registers and two vehicles have been seized," the STF said in a statement. During interrogation, the arrested persons admitted to their involvement in the racket. Cases have been registered in Kanpur and Varanasi, the STF statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Elaborate security measures are in place in four Lok Sabha constituencies of Bihar Gaya, Jamui, Nawada and Aurangabad - where nearly six million voters would decide the fate of 44 candidates in the first leg of the seven-phased general elections on Thursday. According to Additional Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Kumar Singh, central para military forces, Bihar Military Police and Special Armed Police will be deployed outside a total of 7,486 polling stations across these parliamentary constituencies all of which are naxal-infested. Arrangements have been made for live webcast of polling at 350 polling booths besides helicopters and air ambulances will be pressed into service to deal with any exigency, Singh said. He also said foldable wheelchairs will be made available at the booths to differently-abled or 'Divyang' voters and vehicles for ferrying them to and from the polling stations may also be provided where required. A total number of 45,000 poll personnel have been deployed to conduct the election process, he added. Prominent among those who are the fray in these constituencies are LJP MP from Jamui Chirag Paswan who is locked in a straight contest with his predecessor RLSPs Bhudeo Chaudhary. Chaudhary, who was earlier with the JD(U), had won the seat in 2009 as an NDA candidate. Altogether nine candidates, including a woman Vishnu Priya of little-known outfit Bahujan Mukti Party, are in the fray for the reserved seat where their fates will be decided by 17.09 lakh electors. In Gaya, another reserved constituency, former chief minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) president Jitan Ram Manjhi, who is a several term MLA, would make yet another attempt to enter the parliament. Altogether 13 candidates, all of them males, are in the fray there though the contest is being seen primarily between Manjhi and JD(U)s Vijay Kumar whose mother Bhagwati Devi, a daily wage earner, had made history in the 1990s by getting elected to the Lok Sabha. The total number of voters in Gaya is 16.99 lakhs. In Nawada, where 11 men and two women are in the fray, the fight is being seen mainly between two greenhorns, the wife of a former MLA who got disqualified upon conviction in a rape case and the brother of a mafia don-turned-politician. RJDs Vibha Devi married to Raj Ballabh Yadav and LJPs Chandan Kumar whose brother Suraj Bhan Singh used to be a dreaded gangster in the 1990s before entering politics, are making their debut from the seat which is currently held by Union minister Giriraj Singh, who has moved to Begusarai. The constituency has 18.92 lakh voters. In Aurangabad, second term MP Sunil Kumar Singh looks forward to retaining the seat for the BJP with the primary challenge coming from HAMs Upendra Prasad. There has been considerable unrest within the state Congress over former MP Nikhil Kumar, whose late father and wife too have represented the seat many times, not being given the ticket from the opposition 'Mahagathbandhan'. A total of nine candidates, all of them males, are in the fray from the seat where the number of voters is 7.37 lakhs. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An interesting battle is on the cards in the five Lok Sabha seats of Uttarakhand going to polls in the first phase on Thursday with the BJP banking on the success of Balakot air strikes to garner votes and the Congress betting on the alleged Rafale scam to dent the prospects of the saffron party. As in the past elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress are once again locked in straight contests on all the five seats which have been going en bloc to either of them alternately. In 2009, the Congress had won all the seats while the BJP wrested them in 2014. The saffron party is confident of retaining its 5-0 tally while the Congress is making every effort to stage a comeback in the hill-state after the 2017 assembly poll rout when the BJP won 57 of the 70 seats to storm to power. The Congress and the BJP have emerged as the dominant parties in Uttarakhand in all the general elections held since the state's creation except once in 2004 when Samajwadi Party's Rajendra Singh had won the Haridwar seat. Having fielded party veteran and former chief minister Harish Rawat from Nainital against BJP's Lok Sabha poll debutante Ajay Bhatt and state Congress chief Pritam Singh against sitting BJP MP Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah in Tehri, Congress hopes to make the going tough for the saffron party. However, the ruling party remains unnerved and has its own reasons to explain its confidence about bagging all the the seats. "Balakot air strikes have triggered a wave in support of Narendra Modi which is even stronger than the one in 2014. Our candidates this time are bound to win with bigger margins," Pradesh BJP spokesman Munna Singh Chauhan said. The BJP whose campaign has centred around Narendra Modi's strong leadership hopes to make the most of India's counter terror offensive in Balakot after Pulwama especially since the hill-state had a large number of serving and ex military personnel. The party has also raised the issue of Congress promising to review the AFSPA and doing away with the anti-sedition law in its manifesto to stoke sentiments against the Congress. The Congress on the other hand has primarily targeted the prime minister by raising the issues of Rafale deal and his alleged failure to address agrarian distress and unemployment. The fortnight long campaign saw the grand old party also trying to make the most of its Nyay Yojana promise in its manifesto to credit Rs 72000 per annum directly into the accounts of 20 per cent of the country's poorest families which Rahul Gandhi terms as a "surgical strike" against poverty. The BJP may find the going tough in Nainital and Tehri constituencies but the Modi factor may help the party sail through ultimately, poll watchers here said, adding that the candidates too have their own strengths. While state BJP president Ajay Bhatt who faces Rawat in Nainital is credited with piloting the party to a thumping victory in the 2017 assembly polls, Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah, despite the allegations of not being an "active MP", wields considerable clout as she hails from the erstwhile Tehri royal family which has a traditional and loyal support base. "The Shah family members are worshipped as demigods in Tehri. No one can challenge them on their home turf," Rajesh Raturi a resident of New Tehri said. When asked whether state Congress chief Pritam Singh can pose a challenge to her, Raturi said though a prominent leader, Pritam Singh's influence is confined to Chakrata segment of the constituency only. The Pauri/Garhwal Lok Sabha seat too is drawing people's attention as sitting BJP MP B C Khanduri's son is fighting on a Congress ticket against BJP's Tirath Singh Rawat, who is considered to Khanduri senior's protege. Both claim to have the former chief minister's blessings even though B C Khanduri has not come out in support of either of them. With both the nominees fighting to claim Khanduri's legacy it would be interesting to see who will have the last laugh. In Almora reserved seat it would be a fight between two sitting MPs-- Pradeep Tamta of the Congress who is a member of the Rajya Sabha and Ajay Tamta of the BJP, a member of the 16th Lok Sabha. Ajay had defeated Pradeep by a margin of nearly one lakh votes in 2014 and are facing each other once again. Meanwhile, sitting BJP MP from Haridwar and former chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank faces Congress's Ambarish Kumar who is a senior leader but is fighting his first Lok Sabha poll from the seat and seems to be having the odds stacked against him against a seasoned opponent. Viewed as minor player in the clash between two titans, the Bahujan Samaj Party is also contesting from four seats while the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, which had spearheaded the statehood movement, has put up candidates on all the five seats. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Ranchi Lok Sabha seat Ramtahal Chaudhary Wednesday resigned from the party after he was denied a ticket to contest for a sixth time from the constituency. Chaudhary told a conference that he would contest as an Independent candidate from the Ranchi Lok Sabha seat. "I have resigned from the partys primary membership and sent the letter to Jharkhand unit president Laxman Gilua. I will file nomination papers as Independent candidate from Ranchi on April 16," Chaudhary said. His announcement comes days after the BJP announced Jharkhand Khadi Gramodyog Board Chairman Sanjay Seth as its nominee from Ranchi, where elections will be held on May 6. Chaudhary, a five-time BJP MP said he was not even consulted by the party before the announcement of the candidate from Ranchi. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi unit of BJP organised a traders meet Wednesday where the party leaders spoke about misconceptions regarding sealing, GST and demonetisation, which they said would be huge factors in the minds of traders when they go out to vote. Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari accused the AAP of trying to "mislead" people by claiming the BJP is responsible for the sealing. "The AAP had put some banners accusing the BJP of being responsible for sealing. I am against sealing and even broke the lock of a house that was sealed. I was cautioned against doing so because that could mean I would not be able to fight elections, but I still went ahead," he said. Over 6,000 properties in Delhi were sealed between December 2017 and January this year on the instructions of a Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee. Tiwari said there were some issues when GST was launched, but overtime changes were made to make it convenient for people. He said traders had voiced their concerns to him and he had worked to ensure GST was reduced on several items from 28 per cent to 18 per cent. Delhi BJP incharge Shyam Jaju credited the traders for ensuring demonetisation could be implemented. He said even the ministers were not in the know and said traders supported them. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Refuting Congress' allegations of harming the interests of and MTNL, Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha Thursday said the two public sector companies have been suffering due to decisions taken under the UPA regime. "Congress must do its homework before making false and baseless allegations against our economic policies. Both the PSUs have been suffering due to decisions taken under UPA regime. They were forced pay huge amount of money for spectrum," Sinha told PTI. Both and were asked to match the 3G and BWA spectrum price determined in auctions that were held in 2010 across all circles where they operate. The price of spectrum swelled multi-fold unexpectedly at the end of the auctions and both the PSUs had to shell out money for pan-India spectrum while other players had the option to choose service area for 3G and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum. Both the PSUs have been making losses since 2009-10. Last week, opposition Congress accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of promoting firms of "his crony friends" at the expense of state-owned and Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala accused Modi of conspiring to close down public-sector telecom firms by not allowing them adequate finances to come out of the red. He alleged that BSNL's board has accepted three back-breaking suggestions that will destroy the future of 54,000 families -- of reducing retirement age from 60 to 58 years, voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) and blocking allocation of 4G spectrum. Both BSNL and have sought additional spectrum for 4G services. The government has sought the view of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on quantum, spectrum allocation method and price. BSNL has started providing 4G services in parts of the country. The Prime Minister's Office last week asked the Department of Telecom (DoT) to expedite proposals on revival of the PSUs. Sinha said the DoT has sought opinion of the Attorney General before taking any action. "We are actively working to resolve all the issues for sustainable revival of BSNL and MTNL," Sinha added. While the PSUs have requested that VRS be granted to employees, BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava had denied considering reduction of retirement age or laying off employees. Congress had alleged that on April 6, 2019, the licence of state-owned MTNL shall be cancelled if it does not pay a whopping Rs 11,000 crore to renew its licence via TRAI and the services of its 7.7 lakh broadband users may get jeopardised. MTNL has said that its licence is valid and till 2021 and it continues to run its telecom services. BJP leaders in Chhattisgarh took to social media Wednesday to express grief and anger over the death of a party MLA in Naxal attack, replacing their profile pictures with a black circle. Former chief minister Raman Singh, state BJP chief Vikram Usendi, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Dharamlal Kaushik and others changed their profile pictures on Facebook and Twitter as a mark of protest. BJP MLA Bheema Mandavi was killed in a Naxal attack in Dantewada district Tuesday. The state BJP media cell member Hemant Panigrahi said the party has also released a short video featuring Mandavi and his statements against the Naxals to pay tribute to him. Mandavi was the lone BJP leader to win from Bastar division which has 12 assembly constituencies in 2018 polls. He was elected from Dantewada for the first time in 2008. In 2013 he lost to Congress' Devti Karma, wife of Congress leader Mahendra Karma who was killed in the Jhiram valley Naxal attack in May earlier that year. But in 2018 he defeated Devti Karma. Mandavi and four security personnel were killed when Naxals blew up their vehicle near Shyamgiri village, around 400 km from Raipur, Tuesday. The attack came two days ahead of voting in the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 24-year-old man was arrested from Bihar for allegedly cloning debit and credit cards of customers in Maharashtra's Nashik district by obtaining secret passwords, and withdrawing lakhs from their bank accounts, police have said. Police seized a cloning machine, Rs three lakh cash, cloned cards, a video camera and a motorcycle from the accused Javed Khan who was hiding in Patna. A court in Nashik Tuesday remanded him in police custody for 14 days, district Superintendent of Police (Rural) Arati Singh told reporters Tuesday. Police have also traced Rs 11.6 lakh in the bank accounts of the accused. Based on a complaint lodged by a local resident of fraudulent money withdrawal, Nashik police registered an FIR and launched investigation. After analysing the CCTV footage, the police zeroed in on Khan, the SP said, adding that the accused was tracked down to Patna. Explaining the modus operandi of the accused, the SP said he would stand behind unsuspecting customers entering ATMs and film them secretly using a video camera while they withdraw money. The accused would then use the video information to make duplicate cards, the SP said, adding that the cloned cards were mainly used to withdraw money in Rahta in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. Other accused are on run, the police officer said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court Wednesday said the Centre cannot withhold documents from disclosure under the RTI Act citing national security if it is established that retention of such information produces greater harm than disclosing it. The observation was made by Justice K M Joseph in his 38-page separate but concurring judgement in which the Supreme Court allowed the plea relying on leaked documents for seeking review of its judgement on the Rafale fighter jet deal with France. It dismissed the government's preliminary objections claiming "privilege" over them. Justice Joseph said the RTI Act through Section 8(2) has conferred upon the citizens a "priceless right by clothing them" with the right to demand information even in respect of such matters as security of the country and matters relating to relation with foreign state. "No doubt, information is not be given for the mere asking. The applicant must establish that withholding of such information produces greater harm than disclosing it," Justice Joseph said. He said the premise for disclosure in a matter relating to security and relationship with foreign state is public interest. "Right to justice is immutable. It is inalienable. The demands it has made over other interests has been so overwhelming that it forms the foundation of all civilised nations. The evolution of law itself is founded upon the recognition of right to justice as an indispensable hallmark of a fully evolved nation. "The preamble to the constitution proclaims justice -social, economic or political, as the goal to be achieved. It is the duty of every State to provide for a fair and effective system of administration of justice. Judicial review is, in fact, recognised as a basic feature of the Constitution," he added. The judge said that Section 8(2) of the RTI Act manifests a legal revolution that has been introduced in that, none of the exemptions declared under sub-section(1) of Section 8 or the Official Secrets Act, 1923 can stand in the way of the access to information if public interest in disclosure overshadows, the harm to the protected interests. Justice Joseph said that Section 24 of the RTI Act also highlights the importance attached to the unrelenting crusade against corruption and violation of human rights. "The most important aspect in a justice delivery system is the ability of a party to successfully establish the case based on materials. Subject to exceptions it is settled beyond doubt that any person can set the criminal law into motion. It is equally indisputable however that among the seemingly insuperable obstacles a litigant faces are limitations on the ability to prove the case with evidence and more importantly relevant evidence. "Ability to secure evidence thus forms the most important aspect in ensuring the triumph of truth and justice. It is imperative therefore that Section 8(2) must be viewed in the said context. Its impact on the operation on the shield of privilege is unmistakable," he said. He said that a citizen can get a certified copy of a document under the RTI Act even if the matter pertains to security or relationship with a foreign nation if a case is made out. Justice Joseph said if such a document is produced before the court then surely a claim for privilege cannot be made by the government. "It is clear that under the Right to Information Act, a citizen can get a certified copy of a document under Section 8(2) of the RTI Act even if the matter pertains to security or relationship with a foreign nation, if a case is made out thereunder. If such a document is produced surely a claim for privilege could not lie," Justice Joseph said. The judge said that though there is no unqualified right to obtain information in respect of matters under Section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act, the court cannot be wholly unaffected by the new regime introduced by Parliament under the RTI Act on the question regarding a claim for privilege. It is pertinent to note that an officer of the department is permitted under the RTI Act to allow access to information under the Act in respect of matters falling even under Section 8(1)(a) if a case is made out under Section 8(2). He said the context for material being considered by the court is relevancy, and there can be no dispute that the manner in which evidence is got -- that it was procured in an illegal manner -- would not ordinarily be very significant in itself. The judge said that the three documents in question have been published in 'The Hindu' and it is true that they have not been officially published but the correctness of the contents per se of the documents are not questioned. "The case does not strictly involve in a sense the claim for privilege as the petitioners have not called upon the respondents to produce the original and as already noted the state does not take objection to the correctness of the contents of the documents. The request of the respondents is to remove the documents from the record. "In the writ petition out of which the review arises the complaint is that there has been grave wrong doing in the highest echelons of power and the petitioners seek action inter alia under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act," Justice Joseph said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Youanmi Gold Settlement Proceeding of Transformational Deal Perth, April 10, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Venus Metals Corporation Ltd ( ASX:VMC ) has entered a binding term sheet with Rox Resources Ltd ( ASX:RXL ) to enable VMC to settle the Youanmi Gold Mine purchase and Rox will fund aggressive exploration in the project area through three Joint Ventures formed with VMC.- The Youanmi Gold Mine option-to-purchase transaction was announced by VMC on 28th May 2018 -see ASX release for full details "Transformational Deal for Venus - Youanmi Gold Mine Purchase Option"- Under the existing VMC call option deeds that enable VMC to purchase the Youanmi Gold Mine (see Figure 1 in link below), total consideration payable by Venus is $5.45m. VMC intends to issue $3m of its securities (voluntary escrowed ) and pay approximately $1,800,000 in cash to the vendor of Oz Youanmi Gold Pty Ltd and pay $650,000 to St Clair Resources Pty Ltd (St Clair) contemporaneously on the completion date of the transaction entered into with Rox.- Rox will earn a 50% interest in the new Youanmi Gold Mine Joint Venture (OYG Joint Venture) by paying VMC $3,000,000 in cash consisting of a $250,000 exclusivity fee already paid and on the completion date $2,550,000 and issuing 25,000,000 Rox securities @ 0.008c to VMC valued at $200,000); additionally Rox will sole fund $2,000,000 towards drilling programmes and other relevant on-ground expenditure within the OYG Joint Venture tenements (see Figures 2 and 3 in link below) and cover costs of holding the project. Rox will manage this Joint Venture.- Rox can increase its stake in the OYG Joint Venture on or before 30 June 2021 at its election by acquiring an additional 20% from VMC for a further payment of $3,000,000 in cash to VMC or at VMC's election at that time the payment of $1,500,000 in cash and issue $1,500,000 of Rox securities to VMC.- VMC's expenditure commitment in the OYG Joint Venture once Rox has earned its interest in the joint venture will be carried by Rox at VMC's election via a non-recourse loan in the unincorporated JV, which is also linked to further Rox funding clauses on a favourable decision to mine involving project finance for VMC's interest in the OYG Joint Venture at that time.- VMC will be entitled to a 0.7% Net Smelter Royalty on all gold and other minerals produced from tenements of the OYG Joint Venture, this is in addition to VMC interest in the OYG Joint Venture.- Rox will sole fund $1,000,000 into VMC 's regional exploration tenement package at Youanmi. Rox can earn a 50% interest in gold rights only via two additional exploration Joint Ventures entered with VMC known as the Venus Joint Venture and Youanmi Joint Venture. VMC will be the manager of the regional exploration Joint Ventures. Following the Rox earn-in, the Joint Ventures will be standard contributing or dilute arrangements. Venus retains 100% of its interest in all other minerals including Vanadium, Lithium, Zinc, Cobalt and base metals in relation to the tenements regarding these two Joint Ventures.The binding term sheet entered into between VMC and Rox is subject to various conditions precedent, usual for a transaction of this nature, completion is expected to take place as soon as possible (completion date).Commenting on the transaction, Mr Matthew Hogan, MD for Venus said:"Joining Forces with Rox Resources at Youanmi is a great deal for Venus, in regard to the way in which the Company has managed to arrange the settlement of the Youanmi Gold Mine acquisition which is with minimal dilution to VMC shareholders coupled with mitigating risk.The mine site is highly prospective for further additions to the established JORC resource estimates for 1.19 million ounces within the mining leases, and significant drill testing programs will commence as soon as possible on numerous geochemical and EM anomalies identified along strike to the north and south from the recent Penny West discovery site by Spectrum Metals Limited.Venus looks forward to a long and constructive engagement with Rox Resources at Youanmi".BACKGROUNDVMC has an extensive tenement holding in the Youanmi Greenstone belt in Western Australia VMC holds all the exploration rights north and south of the Penny West deposit where high grade gold discovery extensions have recently been announced by Spectrum Metals Limited (see Figure 4 in link below).In 2018, VMC entered into two option agreements to enable it to purchase the historical Youanmi Gold Mine Mining Leases (see Figure 2 in link below), and all associated infrastructure and the mine village (refer ASX release 28 May 2018) (see Figure 5 in link below). The Youanmi gold mine is located 480km to the northeast of the city of Perth, Western Australia, and is accessed by the sealed Great Northern Highway for a distance of 418km from Perth to Paynes Find and thence for 150km by the unsealed Paynes Find to Sandstone road.Widenbar and Associates produced a total JORC 2012 compliant resource estimate for the Youanmi Gold Mine of 1,190,600 ounces of gold (combined Near Surface and Youanmi Deeps) (refer ASX releases 28 May and 29 June 2018) (Tables 1 and 2; Figure 6)(see link below).EXPLORATION POTENTIAL AROUND THE MINEIn addition to the above resources, considerable potential remains within the Youanmi Project to further define additional gold resources, both near surface and underground. Five separate open pits occur over a 2km strike zone. The gold mineralization occurs in multiple shear zone lodes throughout and at the current gold price there is potential to develop a single "super pit" to connect the separate open pits into one big open cut. Significant drill intersections from some 200m below the defined underground resources indicate that the main ore shoots may have strong continuity down plunge.Widenbar and Associates estimate a near-surface exploration target* of 2.0 to 2.6 million tonnes at 1.05 to 1.30 g/t Au and a Deeps exploration target* of 135,000 to 200,000 tonnes at 10 to 15 g/t Au. Importantly, these targets are in addition to the JORC 2012 Resource Estimates already provided (ASX release 29 June 2018).* An estimate of the exploration target potential of a mineral deposit in a defined geological setting where the statement or estimate, quoted as a range of tonnes and a range of grade, relates to mineralisation for which there has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource.A substantial RC drilling programme has been scheduled to commence on the OYG Joint Venture Mining Leases as soon as all required statutory approvals have been received and after the completion date.REGIONAL EXPLORATION POTENTIALA Heli-borne EM XciteTM (HEM) survey was carried out over the VMC Joint Venture tenements in February 2018 (ASX release 21 February 2018). The HEM survey targeted potential conductive horizons along 23 kilometres of the Youanmi Shear Zone. Several EM conductors were identified (ASX release 23 March 2018) and may represent increased sulphide contents related to gold mineralisation such as at the historical Youanmi Gold Mine and the high-grade Penny West Gold Mine, both located along the Youanmi shear zone.VMC is planning to drill test priority conductor targets along the Youanmi Shear Zone north of the recent discovery by Spectrum Metals Limited (see Figure 4 in link below) near the historical Penny West Gold Mine (SPX: ASX release 5 March 2019). In addition, several other priority targets north and south of the Penny West Gold Mine and within the Youanmi greenstone sequence have been identified (see Figure 4 in link below) from historical geochemical and drill data, and will also be drill tested.A substantial RC drilling programme has been scheduled to commence as soon as all statutory approvals are in place and after the completion date.To view tables and figures, please visit:About Venus Metals Corporation Limited Venus Metals Corporation Limited (ASX:VMC) is a West Australian based Company with a focus on gold and base metals exploration. The Company aims to increase shareholder value through targeted exploration success on its projects. The Company's major gold project is the Youanmi Gold Mine, located 500km north east of Perth. The Youanmi Gold Mine is now jointly owned by Venus Metals (30%) and Rox Resources Limited (70%) (OYG JV); Indicated and Inferred Resources of the mine is 1.7 million ounces of gold. Exciting new discoveries at the Youanmi Gold Mine have been made at the Grace prospect in footwall granites where very high grades of free milling gold have been intersected, including 25m @34.7g/t Au from 143m (RXRC 287) and 13m @60.49 g/t from 181m (RXRC 239). The Grace Prospect may substantially add to the Youanmi Gold Mine resources. The Centre and the EC took contrary stands in the Supreme Court on Wednesday over political funding with the government wanting to maintain anonymity of the donors of electoral bonds and the poll panel batting for revealing the names of donors for transparency. The top court was hearing the plea of NGO, Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR)', which has sought interim reliefs that either the issuance of electoral bonds be stayed or the names of the donors be made public to ensure transparency in the poll process. The Centre told a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi that the electoral bond scheme was meant to "eradicate black money in political funding" and the anonymity of donors is to be maintained for various reasons such as fear of repercussions on a firm if the other political party or group wins. "We have no policy of state funding of elections. Funds are received from supporters, affluent persons and companies. They all want their political party to win. If their party does not win then they apprehend some repercussions and hence secrecy or anonymity is required," Attorney General K K Venugopal told the bench, which also comprised Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna. The Election Commission (EC), represented by senior lawyer Rakesh Dwivedi, opposed Centre's submissions and said secrecy allowed in the electoral bonds scheme "legalises anonymity". "Anonymity must go. We want transparency. We want reforms. We cannot go one step forward and two steps backwards. We want free and fair polls," Dwivedi said, adding that the poll panel was not against the scheme as such, rather it was opposed to "anonymity attached to it". It said the right to vote means making an informed choice and knowing the candidate was only "half of the exercise" and citizens should must know the parties which are funding the candidates. The government amended various laws including the Income Tax Act, the Representation of Peoples Act, the Finance Act and the Companies Act and came out with the scheme for electoral bonds, which are in the nature of bearer instruments capable of being purchased by a citizen or a company from a PSU bank. At the outset, lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, referred to the alleged deficiencies in the electoral bonds scheme and said that it was a "retrograde" step as it was against the concept of free and transparent elections. Alleging that the party in power was the major beneficiary of the scheme, he said that either it be stayed or the identity of the donors be disclosed. He said electoral bonds may be the "kick backs" to the ruling political parties and referred to the replies of the poll panel underlining that the changes made in the law will have serious repercussions on the transparent funding of political parties. He alleged that the poll panel had strongly objected to the changes made in the law and the government, through the banks from where the bonds have been purchased, would be able to know the details of donors. The Attorney General, at the outset, said that the allegations that nobody would know about the donors was wrong as the Income Tax department any time can know as to who purchased the bonds. He, however, advocated maintaining anonymity of the donors saying that huge money is required for contesting elections and keeping in mind the apprehensions of the donors, their identity should not be disclosed. "The donations are made from white money. If government agencies need to check, they can check through banking channels," Venugopal said. "Real purpose of the entire scheme has been to curb the black money in the elections. Mind boggling amount of black money had been used during elections and donations were given in cash. Now under this scheme, payments are made through proper banking channels," he said. Referring to reports, he said that over 43.8 per cent of total spending in Lok Sabha polls used to be black money and this scheme would curb this effectively. On the nature of information which may be disclosed in electoral bonds, the law officer said that he would take instruction and come back. The bench would resume the hearing on the plea on Thursday. Earlier, the apex court had refused to grant interim stay on the electoral bonds scheme of the central government on funding to political parties and asked the petitioner NGO to file an appropriate application for it. ADR's application has sought stay on the Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018, which was notified by the Centre in January last year. In its affidavit, the Centre has said the electoral bonds "attempt at bringing greater transparency, ensuring KYC compliance and keeping an audit trail in comparison to the earlier opaque system of cash donations. "Accordingly, the concern of the Election Commission of India that electoral bonds will enable foreign companies to influence Indian policies is without any legal or factual merit," it said. On February 2 last year, the apex court had sought the Centre's response on a plea moved by the CPI(M), which had termed the issuance of electoral bonds by the government as "arbitrary" and "discriminatory". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China played a constructive role in easing tension between India and Pakistan, Chinese Ambassador Luo Zhaohui has said, in a reference to heightened hostilities between the two countries following the Pulwama attack. On India's push to designate Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, the envoy said China attaches importance to it and is willing to strengthen communication with New Delhi to find a "proper solution" to it. The Chinese envoy touched upon a range of issues, including contentious ones, in a write-up published in a Chinese embassy journal titled China-India Review. "The recent tension between India and Pakistan has drawn broad attention from the international community. China has actively promoted peaceful dialogue and played a constructive role in easing the tension," Luo wrote, without elaborating. The Pulwama terror attack, claimed by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), escalated tension between the two nuclear-armed neighbours and even sparked fears of a full-blown conflict. On February 26, India carried out an aerial strike on a training camp of the JeM in Pakistan's Balakot. Pakistan retaliated the next day by unsuccessfully attempting to target Indian military installations. After the Pulwama attack, a fresh proposal to designate Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council was moved by France, the UK and the US. However, China blocked the bid by putting a technical hold on the proposal. "On the issue of listing in the 1267 Committee of the UN Security Council, China attaches importance to and understands India's concerns and is willing to strengthen communication with India to find a proper solution," the Chinese envoy said. He said China-India relations are mature enough to see that the differences are properly managed. Referring to the Doklam episode, Luo said bilateral ties had reached a "stormy phase" and plunged into a "low point", but the situation improved following last year's Wuhan summit between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said the summit had a far-reaching impact in bringing the ties into the "fast lane" with "higher quality and greater speed". "The development of China-India relations is like rowing against the current," he said, adding the two sides should focus on fully implementing the consensus reached between Modi and Xi, and make preparations for the second informal summit. Luo also proposed four specific steps to further deepen Sino-India ties which include stepping up efforts to manage differences, keeping up the warmth of bilateral relations, raising the speed of cooperation in diverse fields and increasing people-to-people and cultural exchanges. He said both countries should give positive consideration to signing a free trade agreement as well as an investment protection pact, besides addressing the trade deficit from an institutional perspective. "At the international level, China-India relations are taking on a greater global significance as the balance of power in the world is rapidly evolving and the international system is under severe strain," he said. "Against the backdrop of anti-globalisation and rampant trade protectionism, China and India are working together as two major emerging markets to promote economic globalisation and free trade," he added. On the overall ties, he said China-India relations have a rare historic opportunity to take the relations to a new level, which could make them vital partners in shaping an Asian Century. He said the proactive cooperation between China and India on pressing global economic issues will not only benefit the two partners, but will also strengthen solidarity and cooperation among developing countries and foster a just and equitable international order. "We should make joint efforts to make China-India friendship and cooperation surge forward like the Yangtze river and the Ganges, write a new chapter in the tango between the 'dragon' and the 'elephant', and enable the 'Peacock' and 'Phoenix' to fly in unison," he said. Luo also pitched for realising at an early date the goal of USD 100 billion bilateral trade as proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The monthly journal was re-launched on Wednesday at an event at the embassy in the presence of a gathering of diplomats, foreign policy experts and academicians. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China on Wednesday asserted that any successor to the Dalai Lama should have its approval as the 83-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader was admitted to a hospital in India with a chest infection. According to the hospital in New Delhi, his condition was stable. Asked whether China has any plans to appoint his successor, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a media briefing here that the Chinese central government has to approve the Dalai Lama's successor chosen through the reincarnation system. "I am not aware of the physical condition of the 14th (the present) Dalai Lama," he said. As far as the reincarnation issue is concerned, it is clear that the reincarnation is a particular inheritance system of the Tibetan Buddhism. It has fixed rituals, he said. "We have relevant regulations to respect and protect this heritage. The 14th Dalai Lama himself was recognised according to the fixed religious rituals and was approved by the then central government. "So the reincarnations including that of the Dalai Lama should follow our national laws, regulations and religious rituals," Lu said. The Tibetan spiritual leader has been admitted to a private hospital in New Delhi with a chest infection and his condition is stable, hospital sources in New Delhi said Wednesday. While Beijing views the Dalai Lama as a separatist who seeks to split Tibet from China, the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate says he only seeks greater rights for Tibetans, including religious freedom and autonomy. Since he fled Tibet in 1959 to escape from the Chinese occupation, the Tibetan spiritual leader has been keeping China on tenterhooks about his successor. Last month, China rejected the Dalai Lama's assertions that his successor could come from India and a nominee by China would not be respected. "The reincarnation system has been there for hundreds of years. The 14th Dalai Lama has also been recognised in the religious rituals approved by the central government. "So the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama should follow the national rules and regulations and the religious rituals," another spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Geng Shuang told reporters on March 19. China also defended its policies in Tibet in a white paper released here last month, highlighting that Tibet's GDP grew by 191 times since China took over the Himalayan region in 1950. The white paper countered the US criticism of its governance in Tibet, saying that support of Tibetan independence no longer exists. Releasing a white paper on Tibet showcasing its development under the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) here on March 27, Tibet's executive vice governor Norbu Dondrup denied there was any significant support for Tibet as a separate political entity. "The issue of Tibetan independence does not exist," he said. About 150 Tibetans have committed self-immolation in different parts of Tibet since 2009, calling for the return of the 83-year-old Dalai Lama from his exile in India and improvement of human rights in the Himalayan region. China says Tibet for centuries has been its territory well before People's Liberation Army (PLA) took control of it in 1950. The white paper coincided with the US State Department report which documented access problems to Tibet in a report to Congress mandated by the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act, passed with bipartisan support in December. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Chinese national was arrested Wednesday by Customs officials for allegedly trying to smuggle into the country gold valuing about Rs 23 lakh at the Delhi airport. The accused was intercepted upon his arrival from Hong Kong. A detailed personal and baggage search of the passenger resulted in the recovery of one gold chain, gold bar and a gold bracelet, collectively weighing 734 grams, a statement issued by the Customs Department said. The market value of the gold that has been seized is assessed to be Rs 23.63 lakh, it said, adding that the man was arrested. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Left parties Wednesday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over comments made by his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan in support of the BJP and said with this statement the neighbouring country has made it clear who it wants as India's next PM. CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said that Khan's statement raised concerns over foreign governments "influencing" the outcome of the general elections in India. In an interview to foreign journalists, Khan has said he believed there was a better chance of peace talks with India and settling the Kashmir issue if the BJP wins the general elections. "Pakistan has been the only issue of Modi's election campaign, where he has scurrilously tried to link it to opposition. Now, we know who Pakistan actually wants as PM, the only Indian PM to have invited ISI to a military base, and the only one who went to Pakistan uninvited," Yechury tweeted. "We have serious concerns about foreign governments influencing our democratic election process. Last year, it was reported that ISI wants Modi as PM. Now Pakistani PM says it," he said. Khan said other parties would be afraid of right-wing backlash in case of a settlement on the Kashmir issue. "Perhaps if the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)....wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached," Khan told a small group of foreign journalists in the interview. CPI leader D Raja questioned Khan's locus standi on commenting on the government of a neighbouring country. "It is not his business to comment on the government of India. It will be decided by the people of this country. How does Khan know that the other governments will not support the peace process between the two countries? Now, it is for Modi to answer why Imran Khan is batting for him. Has Modi asked him to bat for him and his party?," Raja asked. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) / -- India leads in Asia Pacific region in terms of development and investments potential Alternative living arrangement gains popularity in Asia Pacific including India, thanks to convenience and cost efficiencies The co-living market is taking off in Asia Pacific including India as more people migrate to cities for jobs or education opportunities. This is opening up new opportunities for real estate developers and investors around the region, says JLL's 'Co-living in Costly Cities - Asia Pacific' report. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/678101/JLL_Logo.jpg ) With property prices rising in gateway cities, co-living offers residents shorter and more flexible lease terms compared to condominiums, as well as ready-to-move-in convenience. According to a case study in the report, operators could save up to 25 per cent in expenses over the traditional renting model. At the same time investors also stand to benefit from significant savings. By working with co-living operators that play a multi-functional role - the building manager who handles maintenance, property manager who collects rent and letting agent who sources for tenants - it eliminates the need to pay the three different layers of fees in a traditional residential property. Across the region, India is leading the way for co-living. The undersupply of student accommodation, coupled with the market size, are a huge draw for developers and start-ups. Institutional investors and venture capital firms have found their way to India, with the likes of Goldman Sachs and Warburg Pincus investing in the sector. "Co-living bridges a housing gap that traditional living categories do not support," explains Vijay Rajagopalan, Head - Alternatives Business, JLL India. "Since co-living spaces are fully furnished with cleaning and maintenance services, tenants only need to deal with one operator instead of paying for deposits, utilities, furniture, and agent fees." "The co-living business model varies significantly due to lease structures and ownership models," he adds. "Many co-living operators are asset light, so they work from a profit-sharing lease or management agreement, while others prefer fixed market-based leases where they can guarantee landlords a fixed income over a longer period. Due to the ability to scale operations, co-living operators can potentially provide higher incomes to property owners and deliver efficiencies around cleaning, furniture and utilities." Although the co-living sector is still in its early stages of development in most parts of Asia Pacific including India, JLL predicts that it will evolve to appeal to a larger and broader tenant base over time. Touted as two of Asia's costliest cities to live in, Singapore and Hong Kong have a small number of established operators seeking rapid expansion, despite the lack of space. Singapore has seen its fair share of co-living investments, including Hmlet's funding from Aurum Investments and Sequoia India and Singapore Management University's partnership with The Ascott Limited to manage lyf@SMU. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's underperforming hotels and serviced apartments are converting to co-living spaces as building owners seek to improve rental yields. Elsewhere, the rapid evolution of China's multifamily rental market has made it one of the most developed co-living markets in the world. Several developers have actively bid on land sites earmarked for rental property and set up their own branded co-living operators. By contrast, Australia has been lagging behind due to the undersupply of multifamily en bloc products and tax policies on residential rental businesses. But residential market prices are softening, prompting more developers to shift towards the burgeoning built-to-suit sector. "Over time, we're likely to see co-living take a higher market share in Asia Pacific as tenants continue to drive demand and investors chase higher yields. Higher consolidation activity is also on the cards as smaller players will get absorbed by bigger players with more built-to-suit products available in the market," concludes Nick Wilson, Head of Capital Markets Research, JLL Asia Pacific. For more information, please download 'Co-living in Costly Cities - Asia Pacific' here. About JLL India JLL is India's premier and largest professional services firm specialising in real estate. With an estimated revenue for FY 2018-19 expected to be approx. INR 4,000 crore, the Firm is growing from strength to strength in India for the past two decades. JLL India has an extensive presence across 10 major cities (Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Kochi and Coimbatore) and over 130 tier II & III markets with a cumulative strength of close to 11,000 professionals. The Firm provides investors, developers, local corporates and multinational companies with a comprehensive range of services. This includes leasing, capital markets, research & advisory, transaction management, project development, facility management and property & asset management. These services cover various asset classes such as commercial, residential, industrial, retail, warehouse and logistics, hospitality, healthcare, senior living and education. JLL India won the Five Star Award for 'Best Property Consultancy at the International Property Awards Asia Pacific 2018 -19. The Firm was also recognised amongst the 'Top 100 Best Places to Work in India' in 2017 & 2018 in the annual survey conducted by Great Place to Work and The Economic Times. It has also been acknowledged as 'Property Consultant of the Decade' at the 10th CNBC-Awaaz Real Estate Awards 2015. For further information, please visit jll.co. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said the BJP considers its alliance partners as a sign of strength ('mazbooti') and not as a compulsion ('majboori'), pointing out the party had taken along all allies when forming the government in 2014, despite having majority. "The same will be seen this time. We view Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) as a natural ally. He deserves as much credit for the state's progress as the cooperation of the Centre," said Singh, who is a former BJP president, at a rally in Purnea Lok Sabha seat with Kumar sitting beside him. The union home minister had last week held two rallies in the state for Lok Janshakti Party's Chirag Paswan in Jamui and the party's candidate in Nawada. In Purnea, he canvassed for JD(U) MP Santosh Kumar who is pitted against Uday Singh of the Congress. Singh also addressed rallies in Banka and Madhepura Lok Sabha seats, both of which are being contested by Nitish Kumar's party, before going to Araria where he canvassed in support of former BJP MP Pradeep Singh. At the rallies, Singh praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Balakot air strike after the Pulwama terror attack and questioned the opposition party's objection to Modi "getting credit for the same". He accused the Congress of "repeatedly fooling the people of the country with promises of removing poverty". "From Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi in the past to Rahul Gandhi at present, all play the same tune -- 'garibi hatao' -- but end up enjoying power in the name of the poor. The people of the country are no longer going to fall in the same trap. "Under Modi's leadership, India's standing is rising globally. The time may not be far away when we will leave China and the US behind," Singh added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The commerce ministry has asked the three agencies, which have been tasked to prepare a report on proposed mega trade agreement RCEP, to get into greater details of issues involved in the pact and hold industry specific consultations, an official said. Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and the Centre for Regional Trade, an autonomous think-tank under the Department of Commerce have been tasked for the exercise. It was suggested during a presentation made by these agencies to Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu yesterday. "The minister asked them to make their study more granular and also hold industry specific consultations to understand their issues and concerns. They have to see whether the industry is prepare to export to RCEP members like China or not," the official said. Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a proposed mega free trade agreement being negotiated by 16 countries. RCEP bloc includes 10 countries of ASEAN (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and their six free trade pact partners namely Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and New Zealand. It aims to cover among the issues related to goods, services, investments, economic and technical cooperation, competition and intellectual property rights. These agencies are being involved as serious concerns were raised by certain section of industry and government departments on the pact. Presence of China, with which India has a huge trade deficit, in the bloc is a major concern to domestic players. Time and again, domestic industry players have said that giving duty free access to China will led to flooding of Chinese goods in Indian market. The negotiations have entered the sixth year. During the last five years, over 20 rounds of negotiations at the expert level were held. Besides, seven ministerial meetings and seven inter-sessional meetings have been held so far. RCEP members want India to eliminate or significantly reduce customs duties on maximum number of goods it traded with them. India's huge domestic market provides immense opportunity of exports for RCEP countries. But lower level of ambitions in services and investments, a key area of interest for India, does not augur well for the agreement that seeks to be comprehensive in nature. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The commerce ministry has asked its health counterpart to frame law banning manufacture and sale of e-cigarettes in the country as in the absence of a domestic legislation, it would not be possible to put a blanket ban on its imports, sources said. The health ministry had asked the commerce ministry to issue a notification banning import of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS), including e-cigarettes and flavoured hookah. "Without banning domestic sale and manufacturing of ENDS through a law, it will be an infringement of global trade norms to put an import ban," one of the sources said. In August last year, the health ministry had issued an advisory to all states and Union Territories (UTs) to stop the manufacture, sale and import of ENDS after the Delhi High Court took strong exception to the Centre for delay in coming up with appropriate measures to tackle the "new emerging threat" of e-cigarettes in the country. In March, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization also directed all drug controllers in states and UTs not to allow the manufacture, sale, import and advertisement of ENDS, including e-cigarettes and flavoured hookah, in their jurisdictions. Over 1,000 doctors from 24 states and three UTs in April this year urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to enforce a ban on ENDS before it becomes an "epidemic in India", especially among the youth. Electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes are devices that do not burn or use tobacco leaves but instead vaporise a solution, which a user then inhales. The main constituents of the solution, in addition to nicotine, are propylene glycol (with or without glycerol and flavouring agents). In its general advisory to public in August 2018, the health ministry had said that as per the World Health Organization report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2017, governments of 30 countries like Mauritius, Australia, Singapore, Korea (Democratic People's Republic), Sri Lanka, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Bahrain, Iran, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, have already banned ENDS. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A case has been lodged at a court here against former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti over their remarks that abrogating Article 370 and 35A, that grant special status to the state, will lead to its freedom from the country. Advocate Rajesh Chandra Sharma filed the complaint Tuesday before the court of Muzaffarpur Chief Judicial Magistrate seeking trial of the chiefs of the National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party under Sections 124A (sedition) and 34 (common intent for a criminal act) of the Indian Penal Code. The petitioner has alleged that he felt "hurt" by the statements of Abdullah and Mufti, that appeared in a Hindi daily on April 9. He alleged their remarks could "fan unrest and mutiny" in the country. Their fierce political rivalry notwithstanding, Abdullah who heads the NC, and Mufti, who leads the PDP, had come out in unison against the BJP's manifesto promise of scrapping Article 370 annul 35A of the Constitution. The two articles grant special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Reacting to the BJP manifesto, Abdullah Monday said abrogating Article 370 will pave way for "freedom" for people of Jammu and Kashmir. Mufti had also said on Monday that abrogating Article 370 would lead to freedom of the state from India. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Feasibility Study and Project Finance Updates Perth, April 10, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Cardinal Resources Limited ( ASX:CDV ) ( TSE:CDV ) is pleased to announce an update to our Feasibility Study ("FS") and Project Finance ("PF") activities in respect of the Company's Ore Reserve at the Namdini Gold Project in Ghana (ASX/TSX release dated 3 April 2019).- The Namdini Gold Project Feasibility Study is progressing rapidly and is now expected to be delivered this quarter, one quarter ahead of schedule- Cardinal's Project Finance Advisor, Cutfield Freeman (London), is assessing term sheets for project finance which have been received from banks and other project financierso Strong interest shown from a number and variety of different potential project financierso Independent Experts appointed to minimise delays with due diligenceCardinal's Chief Executive Officer / Managing Director, Archie Koimtsidis stated:"The entire Feasibility Study team has been performing an exceptional job of bringing together the Feasibility Study for Cardinal's Namdini Gold Project well ahead of its original planned completion of Q3 CY2019."Finalisation of the Feasibility Study within this quarter will be a significant step forward for the Company as it continues to substantiate the significant value inherent in the Namdini Gold Project for investors."The Pre-Feasibility Study has already demonstrated the robust nature of our Namdini Gold Project, and provides a strong body of work which has been leveraged off for the Feasibility Study. The Feasibility Study will factor an optimisation study that has recently been undertaken on the Namdini Gold Ore Reserve, to ensure the optimal Stage 1 pit design to accelerate capital payback and maximise returns for shareholders."Study Manager Lycopodium, continues to accelerate the full integration of all project disciplines and to coordinate the efforts of our other study partners including Golder Associates and Knight Piesold."Lycopodium are a highly respected mining services company that has over 25 years' Global experience in the minerals industry, designing and building large-scale mines, processing plants and associated infrastructure, particularly in Africa and West Africa."Project Finance UpdateProject Finance Advisers, Cutfield Freeman, have been working closely with Cardinal to ensure that Cardinal is well positioned to execute project finance for the Namdini Gold Project as swiftly as possible following completion of the Feasibility Study.There has been very strong interest received from a range of potential financiers, providing the Company with a strong degree of confidence that it will be capable of securing the required project funding package on favourable terms.Cardinal's Project Finance team is continuing to evaluate Indicative Term Sheets from a number of project financiers - traditional senior debt lenders to possible corporate scenarios.To view Project Development Partners, please visit:About Cardinal Resources Ltd Cardinal Resources Ltd (ASX:CDV) (TSE:CDV) (OTCMKTS:CRDNF) is a West African gold exploration and development Company that holds interests in tenements within Ghana, West Africa. The Company is focused on the development of the Namdini Project with a gold Ore Reserve of 5.1Moz (0.4 Moz Proved and 4.7 Moz Probable) and a soon to be completed Feasibility Study. Exploration programmes are also underway at the Company's Bolgatanga (Northern Ghana) and Subranum (Southern Ghana) Projects. Cardinal confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in its announcement of the Ore Reserve of 3 April 2019. All material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning this estimate continue to apply and have not materially changed. Congress candidate Ramesh Rathod, contesting from Adilabad parliamentary constituency, was injured when the car he was travelling in rammed a roadside tree at a village near Adilabad, police said here Wednesday. His gunman, driver and Personal Assitant sustained minor injuries, they said. The accident occurred at around 10 PM Tuesday when the car rammed into the tree at Mavala village, they said. All of them were shifted to a hospital, where Rathod is still undergoing treatment. The driver said he was taking Rathod to Utnoor from Adilabad when the accident occurred. Police said a case was not registered as no complaint was lodged. All India Congress Committee in-charge of Telangana R C Khuntia spoke to Rathod over phone and enquired about his health and wished him a speedy recovery. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress on Wednesday said Pakistan has now "officially allied" with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a vote for him would mean a vote for the neighbouring country. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, however, said Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's design and wish will never come true as people of the country will defeat Modi in this Lok Sabha election as they never allow forces that perpetuate and propagate hatred and division in the country. The Congress leader was reacting to Khan's statement that he believes there may be a better chance of peace talks with India and settle the Kashmir issue if Prime Minister Modi's party BJP wins the general elections. "Pakistan has now officially allied with Shri Modi ji. Pakistan Prime Minister appears to say that a 'Vote-for-Modi is a vote for Imran Khan'. It seems that Pakistan has now officially allied with Modi. Imran Khan seems to now wish for his friend Modi Ji's success," he told reporters. Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel also took a jibe at Prime Minister Modi, saying "the true colours are out" and termed the statement from Khan as "mahamilavat", a phrase used by Modi to describe the opposition's 'mahagathbandhan' - a grand alliance of all opposition parties to defeat him. "Their true colours are out. This is called Mahamilavat," Patel said on Twitter, while tagging a picture of Modi. Surjewala said the entire country has seen Modi's love for Nawaz Sharif and ISI when he went "uninvited" to Pakistan and then "invited" ISI to India. "It seems that the love affair with Imran Khan now continues. We want to say Imran Khan and Pakistan will never succeed nor will the firecrackers in Modi ji's language burst in Pakistan, for Modi ji is going to lose the 2019 election," he said. Surjewala said Pakistan Prime Minister and the ISI want that a prime minister should continue in India where the internal strife continues to blow, where the atmosphere of hatred and division gets perpetuated by the actions of the powers that are and where peace is a casualty in the country, where directly or indirectly forces inimical to India continue to get space. He said Pakistan wants to isolate India while its relationship with China be strengthened. "Let me say as a citizen of India that Pakistan Prime Minister's diabolical design and wish will never come true. We will defeat every force that perpetuate and propagate hatred division in this country and Imran Khan's friend Modi Ji is and his party will be decimated by people of India," he said. "Pak has officially allied with Modi! A vote for Modi is a vote for Pakistan!" Surjewala also tweeted. India will go to elections in seven phases beginning from Thursday. "Perhaps if the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)....wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached," Khan told a small group of foreign journalists in an interview. He said other parties would be afraid of right-wing backlash in case of settlement on the Kashmir issue. Khan said Kashmir was the central issue between the two countries. India maintains that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the country and Pakistan is in illegal occupation of a part of the state's territory. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has been admitted to a private hospital in Delhi with a chest infection and his condition is stable, hospital sources said Wednesday. The 83-year-old, a globally revered figure and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, had come down here from Dharamshala for a check-up at the Max Hospital in Saket on Tuesday. "He was brought to Max Hospital yesterday with a case of chest infection. The Dalai Lama was later admitted and will be under treatment for a couple of days. He is in a stable condition," a source said. The 14th Dalai Lama was here for the past few days for attending a global learning conference that ended on April 6. He returned to Dharamshala from New Delhi on Monday. The Dalai Lama had fled to India in early 1959 to escape from Chinese occupation, and lives in exile in the hill town of Dharamshala. At the event, he had also spoken about ageing and reincarnation, and reiterated that he was the "son of the Nalanda tradition" referring to the rich Buddhist heritage of the Nalanda University in Bihar. China has said the successor to the Dalai Lama must be chosen according to religious rituals and historical conventions as well as the backing from the ruling Communist Party. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The death toll in the nitrogen cylinder explosion at the ordnance factory here rose to two on Wednesday, officials said. SHO of Armapur police station Ajit Verma said M P Mahto, an examiner, had succumbed to his injuries at a private hospital. Assistant engineer MS Rajput was killed, while eight others sustained serious injuries when a nitrogen cylinder exploded at the ordnance factory on Tuesday, Verma said. The ordnance factory's general manager Mukul Kumar Garg said the light field gun (LFG) was being tested under the supervision of engineers and examiners at the testing wing of the factory when a nitrogen cylinder attached to the barrel of the gun went off, killing the assistant engineer on the spot, while Mahto succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday. "An inquiry has been constituted to ascertain the cause of the explosion and suggest remedial measures," Garg said and added that a detailed report about the incident would be sent to the Defence Ministry. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) ISXPay Australian Card Processing Update Melbourne, April 10, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Further to our announcement dated 6th February 2019, iSignthis Ltd ( ASX:ISX ) ("the Company"), on behalf of its various Australian subsidiaries trading as ISXPay(R), is pleased to announce it has entered into more than 10 payment facilitation agreements for processing of cards, with merchants who are holders of Australian Financial Service Licenses (AFSL).Highlights- ISXPay(TM) now processing Australian merchants in $AUD, $USD, $GBP, $EUR, $SGD, $HKD- Includes best of class multicurrency options to complement CFD, FX & Equity brokers- Incorporates full Paydentity(R) platform, with electronic verification, DVS and our patented payment instrument verification (PIV), for rapid KYC onboarding to AUSTRAC safe-harbour requirementsThe merchants are all established businesses, and operate within ISX's target processing GPTV range, and have accepted MSF% and terms consistent with our previously released announcements.The Company's card processing arrangements are independent of iSignthis eMoney (AU) Pty Ltd.'s APRA ADI application, and services to these 10 Australian based merchants are expected to commence later this week.The Company's initial focus in Australia has been on AFSL regulated merchants and market makers including CFD, FX, Binary and equities traders, where Paydentity(TM) and multicurrency operations provide a competitive advantage to the Company and our merchants. The technology behind Paydentity(TM) is patented and has now onboarded more than 1.6m persons to a KYC standard.Multicurrency is a key differentiator between ISXPay and all other Australian ADI's who offer card acquiring, with the exception of the NAB which offers up to 8 currencies. ISXPay offers 16 currencies, including $AUD, $USD, $GBP, $EUR, $SGD, $HKD mentioned above. The NAB, and the other Big 4 ADI's, are not considered to be competitors in ISXPay's target merchant sector.Qualified Australian merchants may also open EURO (EUR) denominated eMoney (EMA) IBAN accounts, with eMoney accounts available in other currency denominations, including USD$, GBPGBP, HKD$, SGD$, CAD$, AUD$ and CHF, by Q2 2019. Australian dollar denominated accounts will follow post successful APRA ADI licensing.The Company will report on the size of its Australian book and actual (annualised) Gross Processed Turnover Value progressively and separately to its EU GPTV book, as the volumes and take-up are confirmed by actual transactions. The Company cannot at this stage estimate how rapidly the GPTV will grow in Australia, with trend data expected within 6-8 weeks.The Company's Australian based sales team continues to seek out other merchants and merchants in other categories, with the Company poised for further growth in Australia.About iSignthis Ltd iSignthis Ltd (ASX:ISX) (FRA:TA8) is a hybrid monetary financial institution and also a RegTech leader in remote identity verification, payment authentication with deposit taking, transactional banking and payment processing capability. iSignthis provides an end-to-end on-boarding service for merchants, with a unified payment, electronic money and identity service via our Paydentity(TM) and ISXPay(R) solutions. By converging payments and identity, iSignthis delivers regulatory compliance to an enhanced customer due diligence standard, offering global reach to any of the world's 4.2Bn 'bank verified' card or account holders, that can be remotely on-boarded to meet the Customer Due Diligence requirements of AML regulated merchants in as little as 3 to 5 minutes. Paydentity(TM) has now onboarded and verified more than 1.5m persons to an AML KYC standard. iSignthis Paydentity(TM) service is the trusted back office solution for regulated entities, allowing merchants to stay ahead of the regulatory curve, and focus on growing their core business. iSignthis' subsidiary, iSignthis eMoney Ltd, trades as ISXPay(R), and is an EEA authorised eMoney Monetary Financial Institution, offering card acquiring in the EEA, and Australia. ISXPay(R) is a principal member of Mastercard Inc, Diners, Discover, (China) Union Pay International and JCB International, an American Express aggregator, and provides merchants with access to payments via alternative methods including SEPA, Poli Payments, Sofort, PRZ24 and others. Probanx Solutions Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of iSignthis Ltd, provides API based access to CORE Banking solutions, SEPA Core, SEPA Instant and SEPA business scheme, for neobanks, banks, credit unions and emoney institutions, and provides a bridge to the Eurosystem's Central Bank of Lithuania's CENTROLink service. A Wednesday admits charge against Priya Ramani in a case filed by ex-Union minister after she levelled allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Ramani, who appeared before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal, however, pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. Akbar, who resigned as Union minister on October 17 last year, filed a private criminal complaint against Ramani after his name cropped up on as the #MeToo campaign raged on in Ramani accused Akbar of sexual misconduct, a charge denied by him. The court listed the matter for hearing on May 4 and also granted permanent exemption to Ramani from personal appearance. Delhi Youth Congress activists Wednesday staged a protest near Income Tax Bhawan here against the alleged politically motivated raids on party leaders under the Narendra Modi government. The protesters were marching from Delhi Congress office towards the Income Tax Bhawan when they were stopped by a police contingent. Delhi Youth Congress (DYC) president Vikas Chhikara said the BJP was using central agencies against the opposition but not against its "corrupt" leaders, he said. "Why are they not taking actions against the sons of BJP ministers whose salaries have gone up hundred times in the last five years. There are no CBI and Income Tax (IT) department raids conducted in there offices and residences," Chhikara said. A statement by the DYC said, "The raids by the investigating agencies are to influence the general election". The Income Tax Department Sunday launched pre-dawn raids at 52 locations, including in Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, against close aides of MP Chief Minister Kamal Nath and others on charges of tax evasion and hawala transactions, officials had said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The picturesque Darjeeling hills in West Bengal is gearing for a pitched battle between two Gorkhas in the Lok Sabha elections, as development and restoration of democracy top the poll planks, relegating the long-standing demand for a separate Gorkhaland. For the first time in three decades, the call for a separate Gorkhaland state is not a poll issue in the hills, with parties, including the indigenous GJM and GNLF, stressing on minimum wages for tea workers, potable water, electricity, education and employment. The Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency, which goes to polls on April 18, is set to witness a keenly-fought contest between the two warring factions of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) -- one led by its supremo Bimal Gurung and his one-time protege Binay Tamang. Gurung is supporting BJP's Raju Singh Bisht, while Tamang is in favour of TMC's Amar Singh Rai. The saffron party also has the support of another prominent hill party, the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF). "The polls will establish who among Gurung and Tamang is the supreme leader of the hills. The people of the hills are with Gurung. Tamang has compromised with the TMC in order to serve his own vested interests," Loksang Lama, the working president of the Bimal Gurung faction of the GJM, said. Lama's view were echoed by leaders of the Tamang camp, who felt whoever loses will no longer be accepted as a leader of the Gorkhas. The ruling TMC in West Bengal is yet to win the Darjeeling seat even once since its inception in 1998, while the BJP has emerged victorious twice. "We are stressing on the overall development of the hills, which it has been deprived of for the last 10 years. Our agenda is development. The BJP MPs have done nothing for the people of the hills," said Rai. The TMC is against the separate state of Gorkhaland. The BJP and Gurung's faction of the GJM feels restoration of democracy, which has been "missing" following the 104-day long strike in the hills over the demand of Gorkhaland in 2017, is the most important aspect in the polls. "People here will vote for restoration of democracy in the hills. They haven't forgotten the atrocities committed by the TMC during the agitation," Bisht told PTI. He said a "permanent political solution" is the need of the hour in Darjeeling, but remained non-committal on the demand for a separate statehood. Darjeeling, dominated by the Gorkha community, besides the Lepchas, the Sherpas and the Bhutias, has a total of 16 candidates in fray, including TMC's Rai, BJP's Bisht, CPI(M)'s Saman Pathak and Congress's Shankar Malakar. Apart from three hill assembly segments -- Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong, which are held by the GJM -- the constituency also includes four other assembly segments in the foothills and plains -- Matigara-Naxalbari, Siliguri, Phansideoa and Chopra. Two are held by the Congress and one each by the CPI(M) and the TMC. The Darjeeling seat, located between the Indo-Bangla border and the Indo-Bhutan border with Sikkim as neighbour, is of immense strategic importance as the Siliguri Corridor is considered to be a lifeline or "chicken's neck" to the entire north east. The constituency has a total of 15,98,863 voters out of which 8,06,298 are male and 7,92,543 female. Darjeeling was represented by BJP leaders Jaswant Singh and Surinder Singh Ahluwalia in Parliament in 2009 and 2014, respectively, with support of the GJM. In 2014, the BJP had won the seat by securing 42.73 per cent votes, whereas the TMC bagged 25.47 percent votes. The statehood demand and implementation of the sixth schedule of the Constitution had been major poll planks in the hills at various times, since the beginning of the protracted Gorkhaland movement in 1986. The BJP, which is eyeing a third term in the constituency, has made no mention of Gorkhaland in its manifesto. It has, however, promised Scheduled Tribe tags for 11 Gorka sub-communities. Meanwhile, CPI(M)'s Pathak hoped that people would vote for the party as both the TMC and the BJP "failed" the people of the constituency. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Aviation regulator DGCA announced it de-registered seven Boeing 737-800 aircraft of Jet Airways on Wednesday, allowing its lessors to take the planes out of the country so that it can be leased to any other airline. During the last a few weeks, Jet Airways has been grounding its aircraft in tranches due to non-payment of dues to its lessors. While the airline has a fleet of about 119 aircraft, Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said on April 4 that only 26 aircraft of Jet Airways are flying "currently". The DGCA announced on its website that seven de-registered Boeing aircraft belong to lessors such as Crolly Aviation, Mardal Aviation, Allenwood Aircraft Leasing, Dungarvan Aircraft Leasing, Elphin Aircraft Leasing, Carlow Aircraft Leasing and Ballyhaunis Aircraft Leasing. All aforementioned seven companies are based out of Dublin in Ireland. They had put in the IDERA (irrevocable deregistration and export request authorisations) requests with the DGCA on and around April 3. The regulator also showed on its website that lessors have put in IDERA requests to de-register 24 other aircraft, which were leased to Jet Airways. Once the lessor puts in the IDERA request for an aircraft, the DGCA checks if that plane has any pending dues with any airport, oil companies, etc. Once it is established that plane has no pending dues, the de-registration is permitted. The lessor can then take the plane out of the country and lease it to any other airline company. Meanwhile, a European cargo services provider seized one of Jet Airways' Boeing planes at the Amsterdam airport for non-payment of dues on Wednesday. Also, for the third time in a week, national oil marketer Indian Oil on Wednesday stopped fuel supply to Jet Airways for non-payment of dues. Due to cash crunch, the airline has been paying only part salaries to its over 16,000 employees which forced a section of its pilots on Tuesday to send a legal notice to the management, which is currently being headed by the lenders led by the State Bank of India. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday said that the only way for Pakistan and India to move forward is through dialogue and underlined that major international players have a responsibility towards ensuring strategic stability in the South Asian region. Addressing a National Conference on Strategic Stability in South Asia here, he said that recent events were a "reminder of the heavy responsibility" that both Pakistan and India have to bear in working towards addressing the "underlying challenges" to strategic stability in the region. He said the two countries "need to commit to a peaceful environment that is conducive to the socio-economic development and welfare of the people." Tensions flared up between India and Pakistan after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) killed 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14. Amid mounting outrage, the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured an IAF pilot, who was handed over to India on March 1. Qureshi said that the South Asian security environment is in a "state of flux" and Pakistan expects the outside players to be mindful of their responsibility in terms of arms supplies to the region. He hoped the key players would recognise the need for objective and even handed approach which is not tainted by considerations of geo political dominance and defining new regional security paradigms. The foreign minister called on outside parties to be "mindful" of their responsibility in terms of arms supplies to the region in pursuit of their geo-political strategies. The foreign minister said Pakistan is opposed to conventional and nuclear arms race in the region. He said India's "massive acquisition of conventional arms coupled with its offensive doctrine such as cold start and expansion of strategic assets including nuclear submarines are developments with serious security implications for Pakistan." The foreign minister said Pakistan needs a "willing and constructive partner to tackle the myriad daunting challenges" that the region is facing. "A peaceful neighbourhood is the sine qua non [an essential condition] to build prosperous societies," he was quoted as saying by Dawn. He said the country specific exemption by the Nuclear Supplier Group has had negative implications for strategic stability in the region. Qureshi said the "recent belligerence" displayed against Pakistan and the assumption that the country could be subject to punitive strikes at will is a clear manifestation of threats to stability in the region. Qureshi said that Pakistan has shown it is prepared to take concrete steps to ease tension and work for friendly relations with India with Kartarpur corridor like initiatives. India also need to understand that the only way forward is dialogue, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) More than 40 doctors will be visiting the slums of the national capital to conduct health check-ups and connect people with the Centre's Ayushman Bharat scheme as part of a campaign of the Delhi BJP. The campaign will be launched on Friday. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a doctors' cell, which comprises over 500 medical practitioners. Doctors from the cell, some of whom are also office-bearers of the saffron party, will be part of the campaign. "They will conduct health check-ups and spread awareness about the scheme. Families with ID cards of other places will be linked to the health scheme and those with Delhi ID cards will be told how the chief minister (AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal) has not implemented the scheme in the national capital," an office-bearer of the Delhi BJP said. The campaign will initially be launched in 24 slum areas at places like Burari, Kirari, Chanakyapuri, Dallupura etc. "The aim of the campaign is also to tell people how Kejriwal has been cheating them. The campaign will go on for 10-15 days," the BJP leader said. Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari has been hitting out at Kejriwal, accusing him of being an "egoist" and depriving the people of the city the benefits of the Ayushman Bharat scheme. He has also been urging the chief minister to implement the scheme in the national capital. "Kejriwal is not implementing the Ayushman Bharat scheme in Delhi because of his ego. He thinks if the scheme is implemented, it will add to the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Tiwari had said earlier. In December last year, Union Health Minister J P Nadda had also urged the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi to implement the scheme, saying not only the people of the national capital, but those from other states staying here were also not getting the benefits under the initiative. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Retired IPS officer Julio Ribeiro said Wednesday that the Election Commission of India (ECI) does not command the same respect it enjoyed earlier. The former Mumbai police commissioner is among 66 retired bureaucrats who have written to the President expressing displeasure about the functioning of the ECI. "I feel saddened that the Election Commission, an autonomous constitutional authority responsible for conducting elections, does not enjoy the respect which it did earlier," he told PTI here. Ribeiro, hailed for his role in containing the insurgency in Punjab in the 1980s, is known for candidly airing his views on social and political issues. "The EC (once) had good reputation not only in India but also world-over for conducing elections in a free and fair manner," he said. "Political parties respected the Election Commission then. The situation is different now," he said. "The EC needs moral authority and should be straight-forward so as to conduct the (poll) process fearlessly," he added. Sixty-six former bureaucrats including Ribeiro wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind earlier this week expressing concern about the EC failing to deal with alleged cases of poll code violation, particularly those involving the BJP. The instances cited by them included Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the nation about the launch of India's first anti-satellite weapon, release of web-series "Modi: A Common Man's Journey", and the "lethargy" in respect of the EC's action on the launch of NaMo TV channel. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Govt Kaehne #9-29 Well Permitting Update Well Permitting Update - Powder River Basin, Wyoming Perth, April 10, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Eon NRG Limited ( ASX:E2E ) ( OTCMKTS:ICRMF ) ("the Company" or "Eon") reports progress on permitting of its first well, the Govt Kaehne #9-29, located in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming.Onsite meetings with land surface owners and government authorities have been completed. The well location has been staked, and site surveys and pad design are in progress.Final lodgment of the drilling applications with the state and federal authorities are scheduled this quarter. Once the drilling permits are issued, the well pad will be constructed, following which the drilling rig will be mobilized to commence drilling.The Govt Kaehne #9-29 well is expected to be drilled to a depth of ~6,200 feet and should take approximately12 days to reach total depth (TD).Upon reaching TD, drill stem testing and open hole logging will then be performed to evaluate the reservoir and deliverability. Assuming well success, completion of the well for production is estimated at a further 45 days, with oil production and sales to follow soon thereafter.CEO, John Whisler, said "These are exciting times for Eon, as the Govt Kaehne #9-29 drilling program gets underway. The opportunity to discover significant oil resources in the coming months is a potential company changer for Eon, and the WTI oil price moving through $64 per barrel is timely and good for our business."About the Govt Kaehne #9-29 Well:The Govt Kaehne #9-29 well is considered to be a low risk conventional well targeting production of light sweet crude oil from the Sandstone reservoirs of the Dakota Formation (Lower Cretaceous Age) at a depth of ~6,200'. The directionally drilled well will penetrate the Muddy Formation as a secondary target at a depth of ~6,000'.This well will target high quality, oil saturated reservoir, in a structurally high position relative to offset wells. Offset well initial production (IP) rates are prolific (refer map above) and this new well could add significantly to the Company's existing production. The Company holds 100% ownership in all the PRB leases with a 12.5% mineral interest royalty burden delivering an 87.5% net revenue interest to Eon. The estimated dry hole cost of the well is $1.2M. The well location has good access for transportation and is near the town of Gillette, a major oil service center for the PRB.The Dakota formation is a Lower Cretaceous fluvial point bar sandstone. Reservoir characteristics from published core data in the offset wells show an average porosity of ~21% (15-30% range), average permeability of 99 millidarcy (max 237 MD) and an average net pay thickness of 21'. The well is positioned to penetrate between 30' and 40' of Dakota pay. The Dakota formation has a strong water-drive which results in higher recovery factors versus depletion-drive reservoirs. The water-drive provides pressure support with minimal pressure drop at the wellbore resulting in consistent oil production and wells with higher ultimate recoveries (EUR).Glossary:BOPD - Barrels of Oil per dayEUR - Economic Ultimate RecoveryMD -MillidarcyPermeability - the measurement of a rock's ability to transmit fluids, typically measured in darcies or millidarcies.Porosity - The percentage of pore volume or void space, or that volume within rock that can contain fluids.PRB- Powder River Basin, WY USAAll reference to dollars or $ mean US$ unless otherwise stated.To view figures, please visit:About EON NRG Ltd EON NRG Ltd (ASX:E2E) is an USA onshore focused energy exploration and production company. The Company's growth path is through drilling of high impact oil exploration wells, supported by its 100% owned and operated long life oil and gas production assets and associated cashflow. The company also has a battery minerals division with prospective leases in Nevada which are at the early stages of low-cost exploration. Elaborate security arrangements have been put in place in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla Lok Sabha seat as separatists and militants have called for a boycott of the elections on Thursday. The Baramulla seat -- spread over 15 assembly segments in three districts of north Kashmir -- will go to polls on Thursday along with 90 other constituencies across the country in the first phase of polling. Officials said authorities have established 1,749 polling stations at 1,387 locations for over 13.12 lakh voters to exercise their franchise. "Adequate security arrangements have been put in place to ensure that people come out to exercise their franchise without any fear," election officials said Wednesday. The separatists and militants have called for a boycott of the elections. Some of the areas in the constituency, particularly falling in Kupwara and Bandipora districts, are still snowbound, but poll staff and material has already been dispatched to respective polling stations, the officials said. Those in the fray include Muhammad Akbar Lone of the National Conference, Farooq Ahmad Mir of the Congress, Raja Aijaz Ali of the People's Conference, Mohammad Maqbool War of the BJP, Jahangir Khan of NPP, Abdul Qayoom Wani of PDP and independent candidates Javid Ahmad Qureshi, Syed Najeeb Shah Naqvi and Abdul Rashid Sheikh. None of the nine candidates have earlier been elected either to the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha. PPD stalwart Muzaffar Hussain Baig had won the 2014 Lok Sabha election from the Baramulla seat, but he chose not to seek re-election this time. Baig had defeated Sharief-ud-Din Shariq of the National Conference by a margin of 29,219 votes. While the 2014 elections in this north Kashmir constituency was a virtual head on contest between the PDP and the NC, a multi-cornered contest is expected this time around with emergence of People's Conference as the third regional force in Kashmir. Former Langate MLA Abdul Rashid Sheikh's decision to contest the Lok Sabha polls has spiced up the contest as former IAS officer Shah Faesal has extended him support of his newly formed Jammu and Kashmir People's Movement. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A fast-track court in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat district has convicted five people of animal cruelty and sentenced them to three years of imprisonment. Fast-track court judge Abid Shamim on Tuesday also slapped a fine of Rs 10,500 on each of the accused -- Kapil, Alijan, Ashraf, Yusuf and Tehseen -- after holding them guilty under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. According to prosecutor Anuj Dhaka, on July 13, 2016, police intercepted a truck during checking and recovered 16 live animals and a dead buffalo at Bhadal in Baghpat, following which a case was registered. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Polish novelist Olga Tokarczuk, who scooped last year's Booker International Prize for fiction, was named Tuesday among five female nominees for this year's prestigious literary award. Six writers in total have been shortlisted for the British-based prize which celebrates the translated English-language versions of novels from around the world. Tokarczuk, who won the 2018 award with the translation of "Flights", is nominated this year for "Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead". She is nominated alongside Jokha Alharthi from Oman -- the first shortlisted writer from the Gulf -- France's Annie Ernaux, Marion Poschmann of Germany, Juan Gabriel Vasquez from Colombia and Chile's Alia Trabucco Zeran. The winner is to be announced in London on May 21. The 50,000 pound (USD 65,000, 58,000 euro) prize is divided equally between the winning book's author and translator. "Wisdom in all its forms is here," said historian and author Bettany Hughes, who chairs the judging panel. "Unexpected and unpredictable narratives compelled us to choose this vigorous shortlist. Subversive and intellectually ambitious with welcome flashes of wit, each book nourishes creative conversation. "We were struck by the lucidity and supple strength of all the translations." The International Prize, which has been running since 2005, is the counterpart to the Booker Prize, which is awarded for books originally written in English. The International Prize is open to books translated into English and published by British publishers between May 1, 2018 and April 30, 2019. "Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead" by Tokarczuk, considered the most talented Polish novelist of her generation, starts with the disappearance of an eccentric woman's dogs. When two local hunters are murdered, she is drawn into the investigation. Alharthi's "Celestial Bodies", translated from Arabic, tells of Oman's transformation through the loves and losses of three sisters. Ernaux's novel "The Years", originally written in French, is a narrative of France from 1941 to 2006, told through memory and impressions of the past. "The Pine Islands" by Poschmann, who has won both of Germany's premier poetry prizes, is about a journeyman lecturer who flees his cheating wife for Japan and goes on a pilgrimage following the travel writings of a poet. "The Shape of the Ruins" by Vasquez is a fictional account of his investigations into conspiracy theories surrounding the assassinations of Colombian politicians. "The Remainder" by Trabucco, also translated from Spanish, tells the story of three children of ex-militants overcoming Chile's complex past. The shortlist: ============== -- Jokha Alharthi (Oman): "Celestial Bodies" -- Annie Ernaux (France): "The Years" -- Marion Poschmann (Germany): "The Pine Islands" -- Olga Tokarczuk (Poland): "Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead" -- Juan Gabriel Vasquez (Colombia): "The Shape Of The Ruins" -- Alia Trabucco Zeran (Chile): "The Remainder" . (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court Wednesday dismissed the bail plea of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav in multi-crore fodder scam cases. A bench headed by Chief Justice Rajan Gogoi said it is not inclined to enlarge Yadav on bail in the cases. The bench rejected Yadav's arguments that he has been in jail for 24 months, saying in comparison to the 14-year sentence awarded to him 24 months was nothing. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Yadav, said there were no recoveries and no demand and the only major offence under which he was convicted was conspiracy. The bench said merits of the case will be decided by the high court. "At present, we are only hearing the bail appeal," it said. The CBI had yesterday vehemently opposed in the apex court the bail plea of Yadav, saying the ailing leader suddenly claimed to be "fully fit" to undertake political activities in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Yadav, who has been in hospital instead of jail for last over eight months, had sought bail on medical grounds and for leading his party simultaneously, the CBI had said while arguing that granting of bail to him would set "very wrong precedent" in cases involving "serious corruption in high offices". Accusing Yadav of undertaking political activities from a hospital in Ranchi, the probe agency had said: "Simultaneous raising of pleas for bail on medical grounds and bail to guide the party and to carry out all essential responsibilities as a party president in ensuing Lok Sabha election are mutually contradictory and manifests that in the garb of bail on medical ground the petitioner in essence wants to pursue his political activities which is impermissible in law." The agency, in its response filed to Yadav's bail plea, had referred to the high-profile political leaders who have visited him in hospital in last few months including Ahmed Patel, D Raja, Derek O' Brien, Sharad Yadav and Hemant Soren. The convicted person occupied the constitutional office of the Chief Minister of one of the largest states in the country and has been held guilty of "misappropriation of Rs 75.48 crores in four fodder scam cases" and is still undergoing trial in two cases for misappropriation of Rs 139.45 crore, it had said, adding Yadav may influence the trial in the two pending cases. The RJD chief, lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi, had challenged the January 10 verdict of the Jharkhand High Court dismissing his bail plea. The three cases in which Prasad has been convicted are related to the over-Rs 900-crore fodder scam, which pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of money from the treasuries in the Animal Husbandry department in the early 1990s, when Jharkhand was part of Bihar. The RJD was in power in Bihar with Prasad as the chief minister when the scam had allegedly taken place. In the high court, the RJD supremo cited old age and poor health for grant of bail. Yadav (71) said he was suffering from diabetes, blood pressure and other ailments and that he had already obtained bail in one of the fodder scam cases. He has been convicted for fraudulent withdrawal of money from the Deoghar, Dumka and two Chaibasa treasuries situated in Jharkhand. He is currently facing trial in another fodder scam case pertaining to the Doranda treasury and has been undergoing treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) at Ranchi for the last few months. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi Police has arrested four persons for allegedly making illegal online transactions after getting ATM card credentials of people, police said Wednesday. The accused have been identified as Pankaj (29), a resident of Mangolpuri, Rishabh Saxena (19), a resident of Uttam Nagar, Sujit (22) and Rakesh Kumar, residents of Loni in Ghaziabad. Police have also recovered 12 mobile phones, five ATM cards and 17 SIM cards issued on fake identities from the possession of the accused. According to a complaint filed by the man, he received a phone call where a caller told him the last four digits of his credit card and offered him reward points worth Rs 10,000, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), North district, Nupur Prasad, said. The caller further informed that the offer would expire by 4 pm. Thereafter, the caller requested him to share the OTPs. As soon as the victim shared the OTPs, total three fraud transactions amounting to Rs 60,000 (Rs 20,000 each) were done from his credit card, the DCP said. During investigation, details from the bank where the credit card of the complainant exists were obtained. After analysing data, the transactions were linked and found that the accused transferred the money into a virtual wallet registered with Mobikwik merchant and later the amount were cashed through a petrol pump, she said. Police identified the real beneficiary of the cheated amount, following which Kumar was arrested, police said, adding that on his instance three other accused were also arrested. During interrogation, the accused revealed that Sujit and Vikas used to make calls to various customers of the bank. All data, including bank account details and contact numbers of the victims were arranged by one Pawan, who used to worked with a back end team of a bank, the DCP said. Two more persons, including Pawan, are still absconding, police added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) For the first time, the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune has introduced a course in film criticism and review of art. The 20-day course would be conducted from May 28 to June 19, 2019 in Delhi in association with the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), an official release said. Talking about the course, Bhupendra Kainthola, Director, FTII, said it meets a long-standing demand of cinema critics, film reviewers, film bloggers, research scholars, film academics, and just about anyone who has more than ordinary interest in cinema. He said one needs to know how to "read" a film in order to review it, the tools for which will be provided through this course. The course would be helmed by Bhopal-based filmmaker Rajula Shah, an FTII alumnus. Talking about the course, Shah said it has been designed to provide a basic grounding in the discipline of film criticism and to train the participants into becoming a serious viewers of cinema. She said the course includes the study of significant films in the history of cinema through the prism of critical thinking. The course is being conducted under FTII's countrywide film education outreach initiative SKIFT (Skilling India in Film and Television) under which over 135 short-term courses have been held in 37 cities across the country covering over 5,800 learners. The course is open to all, with no age bar, and the last date for applying is April 22, 2019. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Near the northern Greek island of Alonissos lies a remarkable ancient shipwreck: the remains of a massive cargo ship that changed archaeologists' understanding of shipbuilding in antiquity. Now this spectacular find is to become the first ancient shipwreck to be made accessible to the public in Greece, including to recreational divers. Greece's rich underwater heritage has long been hidden from view, off-limits to all but a select few, mainly archaeologists. Scuba diving was banned throughout the country except in a few specific locations until 2005, for fear that divers might loot the countless antiquities that still lie scattered on the country's seabed. Ancient shipwrecks and even many more recent ones are still off-limits. Now that seems to be gradually changing, with a new project to create underwater museums. Divers will be able to tour certain shipwrecks and non-divers will experience the sites through virtual reality in information centers on land. The first of these sites is the Peristera shipwreck, named for the uninhabited Greek island opposite Alonissos where it was discovered in the early 1990s. The cargo ship was laden with thousands of amphoras, or vases, probably containing wine, when it sank in the late 5th century B.C. All that survives is the cargo, the exposed parts of the wooden ship having long since rotted away. But the sight is spectacular. Thousands of ancient vases, the vast majority intact, lie in layers. Fish, sponges and other sea creatures have made the amphoras their home, adding color and life to the site. In some places, the cargo towers above divers as they pass along the perimeter of the wreck. "It is very impressive. Even I, who have been working for years in underwater archaeology, the first time I dived on this wreck I was truly impressed," said Dimitris Kourkoumelis, the lead archaeologist on the project preparing the site for visitors. "It's different to see amphoras ... individually in a museum and different to see them in such concentration." The wreck still holds mysteries. Only a small part has been excavated, and experts have yet to determine how or why it sank, or what other treasures it might have carried beneath the estimated 4,000 amphoras in its hold. There are indications a fire had broken out on board, but it's unclear whether that contributed to its sinking. "Was it a piracy act? Was it overloaded?" said Elpida Hadjidaki, the first archaeologist to excavate the site. These questions remain unanswered. The Peristera wreck is the largest ship of its time to have been found and its discovery was of major significance to historians. "Up to then, we thought that large ships that were carrying 1,500 amphoras and were up to 70 tons, they were built by the Romans in the 1st century B.C.," Hadjidaki explained. "Well, now we have a ship that was not built in the 1st century B.C., it was built in the 5th century B.C., it carried 4,000 amphoras and God knows what else and it's 126 tons." Hadjidaki said she is thrilled the wreck is being opened to visitors. "It's fantastic. Twenty-five years ago, I was the first person that proposed that and people were jumping at me, they thought I was crazy," she said. "Why should we keep it to ourselves? We have to give knowledge to people." The first test for guided tours of the wreck, which lies at a depth of about 22-28 meters (72-92 feet), was carried out last weekend with small groups of recreational and professional divers. A thorough briefing, complete with historical information and the rules of the dive, preceded the short boat ride from the tiny harbour of Steni Valla on Alonissos to the site. On the wreck itself, explanatory signs have been suspended along the perimeter. The initial feedback has been positive. "It was an amazing opportunity ... to dive at last on an ancient wreck," said Kostas Menemenoglou, a 39-year-old recreational diver from the central town of Volos. "It was a fantastic experience. It's really like diving into history." Three other shipwrecks in the Pagasitic Gulf in central Greece are also included in the project, which is part of a European Commission-funded BlueMed program, which plans to expand the project to Italy and Croatia. More test dives will be held this summer and next year, with hopes of fully opening the sites to recreational diving in early 2021. "Accessible archaeological sites are one of the most interesting projects not just a Greek project but a worldwide project," said Kourkoumelis, who noted it has taken a long time to get to the point of allowing visitors to access an ancient wreck. "It took years. And that's logical, because underwater ancient sites and particularly ancient shipwrecks are exposed ... and fragile," he said, noting it was crucial to properly set up the project and the dive conditions, making sure the sites are protected before they can be opened to the public. "All the conditions must be ensured so that these sites remain safe in the future and for future generations," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Insured losses from natural catastrophes in 2018 were USD 76 billion, the fourth highest one-year total, according to the latest sigma report from the Swiss Re Institute, and more than 60% of the losses resulted from secondary perils. The insured losses from natural catastrophes in 2017 and 2018 together were USD 219 billion, the highest ever for a two-year period. In 2017, when aggregate natural disaster insurance claims were the highest ever in a single year, more than half were due to secondary perils. Losses from secondary perils are rising due to urbanisation, rising concentration of assets in areas exposed to extreme weather conditions, and climate change. Global insured losses from natural catastrophes in 2018 were USD 76 billion, the fourth highest on sigma records Over 60% of the losses resulted from so-called secondary perils, small-to-mid sized events or secondary effects of a primary peril Combined insured natural catastrophe losses for 2017-2018 were USD 219 billion, the highest ever over a two-year period Swiss Re Institute expects losses from secondary perils will rise due to growing assets in areas exposed to more extreme weather conditions Insurers need to focus more on primary and secondary perils to be able to underwrite catastrophe business sustainably and build global resilience Read the full news release The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu government to provide helpline numbers to enable students and parents register complaints regarding irregularities and sexual harassment in schools besides conduct of tutorial classes by teachers after school hours. Justice SM Subramaniam gave the direction recently on a petition by R Renganathan, a government school head master, seeking to quash the order passed by the Commissioner of Coimbatore Municipal Corporation, transferring him to another school. Dismissing the petition, the judge said, "... this Court is of the considered opinion that no interference is required as such a transfer would not affect the service conditions of the writ petitioner nor the transfer affect normal life... Thus, the writ petition is liable to be rejected." Referring to growing indiscipline in educational institutions which 'affects' the nation's development, the judge said, "This Court, with great pain, records that growing instances of sexual harassment in schools, colleges and Universities are causing greatest concern both to parents as well as to society at large." "Even young school children are not spared. However, authorities are not showing any sensitiveness towards these issues. They are pretending to be sensitive, but actually not," he observed. The court also expressed concern over failure to improve the system in order to avoid growing offences of sexual harassment in schools, colleges and universities. Noting that only very few cases of sexual harassment were reported in the public domain, he said, activities in schools are not only to be monitored by authorities, but also by parents and other interested persons. If any such incidents are noticed, then parents and students must be in a position to immediately register a complaint using a toll free telephone number, which is to be provided by the department of the state, the judge said. He further said, in the event of receiving any complaint from any person, authorities must immediately conduct an enquiry and ascertain the truth. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Delhi High Court judge Wednesday recused himself from hearing a plea seeking a direction to the Election Commission to bar Jammu and Kashmir politicians Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti from participating in the Lok Sabha election as they have allegedly made "seditious" statements. Justice A J Bhambhani, who was part of the division bench headed by Chief Justice Rajendra Menon, recused himself from hearing the matter. "List it before a bench in which one of us, that is, Justice Bhambhani, is not a member," the chief justice said. The matter would come up for hearing before another bench on April 12. The petition filed by a lawyer alleged that the "seditious and communal statements" given by the three leaders were against the Constitution, adding that the court or the EC should bar or impose conditions on their entry into the Lok Sabha. All the three leaders are former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir. The petition has arrayed the EC, the Union of India, the Delhi Police, National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti as parties to the petition. The plea moved by advocate Sanjjiiv Kkumaar has also sought a direction to book them under various charges, including sedition and inciting hatred, of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act. "Issue directions to the respondent number 1 (EC) to ban the NC and the PDP from Lok Sabha election 2019 as respondent number 4 and 6 (the three leaders) are presidents of their respective parties and represent their parties and their ideologies," it alleged. "Will it not be a mockery of democracy to allow those people and parties to participate in the Lok Sabha election when people/parties openly call for sedition to divide Mother India on the basis of religion (Muslim majority) and two prime ministers (for Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of India)," it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior leader said Tuesday he suspected that the wanted war and not peace and accused the saffron party of trying to cover up its government's "gross failures" by taking a hard line in its manifesto on "what they call national security." Chidambaram, training his guns on for its position on Articles 370 and 35A, said suggesting the repeal of these constitutional provisions would sow the seeds of a "major disaster" in To a question on how his party was going to counter the nationalism pitch of the BJP, reflected in its manifesto, Chidambaram in an interview to PTI in Sivaganga district, said, "The cannot speak about what it did and failed and what it failed to do". "BJP's manifesto does not speak about demonetisation. It no longer speaks about 2 crore jobs, which is an admission of failure. Because they have to cover up these gross failures they are now taking a hardline on what they call national security." For 10 years during the UPA rule, he said, India was absolutely secure without any threat of war between India and Pakistan or China. "There was no fear that any day, anytime war will break out between India and Pakistan. Therefore, to say that it is only BJP which can keep India secure is complete rubbish," he said. "In fact it is the hardline and the boast and the exaggerated claims made by BJP which has aggravated tension on the border. People in border areas are living in fear that war may break out anytime. I have a suspicion that BJP wants a war. I don't think they want peace. They want a war." Answering another question, he said an assurance to review the Armed Forces Special Powers Act was a demand from the Northeast and J&Kasmir and friendly political parties. "It is also a reflection of the judgment delivered by Supreme Court in the Manipur enforced disappearance cases. We have said the immunity will be withdrawn only in three situations: enforced disappearance, sexual violence and torture," he said. He demanded to know who in the BJP defended such things. "They must specifically answer the question. Do you support enforced disappearance, sexual violence and torture? Do you support immunity in these three situations?" Asked if BJP's assurances in its manifesto to extend the PM Kisan scheme to all farmers and pension for small farmers will overshadow the Congress's Minimum Income Support Scheme (Nyay), he said it "will not." The PM Kisan scheme gives a paltry amount to farmers, he said adding Rs 6,000 per year per family works to Rs 17 per day per family and the PM Kisan amount goes to absentee (landlord) and owner-farmers but not to the tenant-farmer, he said. "So roughly 2/3rd of the actual tillers do not get any benefit from PM Kisan Scheme," he said adding such nuances are understood by the common people and farmers in rural pockets. On the other hand, Congress's Minimum Income Support Scheme is not targeting farmers alone but all the poor, he said. On varying estimates in sections of the media on the cost of the Nyay scheme with some pegging it at over 5 per cent of the GDP, he said, "We know what the estimate is". "Those who make these outlandish estimates neither understand mathematics nor economics. At its highest, when the scheme is fully rolled out, say in five years, when the entire five crore families are covered, it will cost Rs 3.6 lakh crore a year and that works out to, at today's GDP (size of which is Rs 210 lakh crore) 1. 8 per cent." In five years, the GDP will grow to about Rs 400 lakh crore and it will cost less than 1pc of the GDP then, he said. On pre-poll surveys suggesting advantage NDA, he said, "I do not go by these surveys, because the sample size is small and the sampling method is not scientific". Asked if aspects like scrapping the National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test and importance to autonomy of states in his party manifesto was an influence of the DMK over the party, he said, "No". "We are a national party. What we have said applies to all states in the country. The believes that the time has come to transfer some subjects from concurrent to the State list." On NEET, he said complaints against it did not come from Tamil Nadu alone. Asked about Union minister Arun Jaitley stating that the BJP manifesto was aimed at "depleting poverty," he said "look at their record". "Unemployment has increased and it is now at a 45-year-high of 6.1 per cent. That has aggravated poverty. Growth rate has declined," he said. Farm sector is in distress and farm prices have declined in the last two years and real farm wages have not increased in the last 4 years according to the economic survey. "So by any measure, by any standard, poverty has not reduced under BJP. The BJP is incapable of adopting and implementing policies that will reduce poverty," he alleged. "The existing GST will go. We will put in place GST 2.0," he said. On his partymen hailing him as the brain behind the Congress manifesto and a hero for them, he said, "The manifesto is the hero of this election, it is a collective effort not of party leaders, but of people." Asked if he found any aspect in the BJP manifesto creditable, "Yes, they have continued our programmes, they have continued MGNREGA which is creditable... So wherever they have continued our programme why should I deny them credit?" he said. On the prospects of victory for his son in the Lok Sabha election from here, he said he is confident the DMK-Congress alliance will sweep the polls in Tamil Nadu. Pakistan's Premier Imran Khan has said he believes there may be a better chance of peace talks with India and settle the Kashmir issue if Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party BJP wins the general elections. India will go to elections in seven phases beginning from Thursday. "Perhaps if the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)....wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached," Khan told a small group of foreign journalists in an interview. He said other parties would be afraid of right-wing backlash in case of settlement on the Kashmir issue. Khan said Kashmir was the central issue between the two countries. India maintains that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the country and Pakistan is in illegal occupation of a part of the state's territory. Tensions flared up between India and Pakistan after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) killed 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14. Amid mounting outrage, the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured an IAF pilot, who was handed over to India on March 1. Khan has said that Pakistan was taking action against all militants groups including the JeM. Khan said that groups like the JeM were being disarmed under a serious drive to eliminate militancy from Pakistan. "We have taken the religious schools of these groups under state control. It is first serious effort to disarm the militant outfits, he said. Khan said action was taken because it was important for the future of Pakistan. He also rejected the impression that Pakistan was compelled by the world to taken such an action. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India's buffalo meat exports fell 3.7 per cent to Rs 22,925 crore in April-February of the last fiscal, mainly due to nearly 10 per cent decline in its volume, according to data released by agri-trade promotion body APEDA. During the April-February period of 2018-19, the country exported 1.11 million tonnes of buffalo meat for Rs 22,925 crore. The exports stood at 1.23 million tonnes worth Rs 23,800 crore in the same period previous year, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) said. The country's basmati rice exports rose to Rs 28,599 crore from Rs 23,793 crore during the period under review. In volume terms, basmati rice shipments increased to 3.85 million tonnes from 3.62 million tonnes. However, non-basmati rice exports fell sharply to Rs 18,621 crore from Rs 21,321 crore. In volume terms, shipments declined to 6.71 million tonnes from 8.04 million tonnes. The total rice exports from India fell over 9 per cent to 10.56 million tonnes during the April-February period. In value terms also, total rice shipments dipped to Rs 47,220 crore from Rs 45,114 crore. Despite fall in buffalo meat and rice exports in value terms, the overall exports of agri and processed food products increased to Rs 1,13,614 crore during April-February compared to Rs 1,07,220 crore in the year-ago period. Pulses exports during the period under review rose to Rs 1,633 crore, from Rs 1,179 crore, while shipments of guargum rose to Rs 4,263 crore from Rs 3,713 crore. The exports of dairy products went up to Rs 2,838 crore, as against Rs 1,672 crore. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In an "innovative outreach", an imposing mural on the premises of India's Permanent Mission to the UN depicts a multi-pronged theme of environmentally sustainable green jobs, Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary, the International Labour Organisation's centenary celebration and India leading the global greening effort as documented recently by NASA. The mural, on the sidewall of the Permanent Mission of India to the UN here, was created by French artist, originally from Portugal, Victor Ash to commemorate the centenary celebrations of the International Labour Organization (ILO) as well as Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary. The mural, an innovative collaboration with the ILO and non-profit organization Street Art for Mankind', was inaugurated Tuesday. The imposing white, black, grey and green mural depicts a gigantic weightless astronaut, floating in space, a green lndia visible in the astronaut's helmet visor. Gandhi's portrait and the number 150' are on the astronaut's spacesuit's left arm while a patch with the ILO logo and the numeric '100' is on the right arm. India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said the ILO worked with the India's Permanent Mission to promote a global concern - environmentally sustainable green jobs. He said the mural's theme also has other elements of India - green jobs, the NASA report and Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary. "Rare is an occasion that you can get so many themes together," Akbaruddin said as the mural was inaugurated in the presence of ILO Director-General Guy Ryder as well as top UN diplomats. "We hope that this innovative outreach, which goes beyond diplomatic outreach, reaches out to people on the street in a form that is comprehensible to them." "We diplomats work on resolutions, outcomes, documents but this is our combined effort to promote green jobs in a much more sustainable manner," he said. Looking down on Earth, the astronaut in the mural sees that the world is a greener place than it was 20 years ago. India is amongst those contributing in significant measure to this increase in the greening on Earth and the same was corroborated by the recent data from the NASA satellites. A recent NASA study had said India and China are leading the global greening effort. The NASA study, which observed that the world is a greener place than it was 20 years ago, was based on data received and analysed from its satellite. The greening in India is mostly from croplands (82 per cent) with minor contribution from forests (4.4 per cent), the NASA study, published on February 11, said. Akbaruddin voiced appreciation for Ash for being able to "artistically depict the multiple themes in a way that all of us can comprehend." Ash said he was honoured to participate in the project, which gives a message that it's important for nations to work together for a greener future. "I painted the astronaut because astronauts are also workers, they carry all the machines and tools when they go up in space. I think the future of workers will also be space," he told PTI. He added that astronauts often say that when they are in space, they don't see borders when they look down at Earth. There are no borders, it's only in our minds. Ash, who has been doing street art and murals since the 1980s, finished the mural in one week. "Big murals like this are a good way to give messages. Very often art is not understood by most people. I use very simple message in what I do so people can understand very easily," he said. The mural also depicts the ILO's objective of transformation to a greener and low-carbon economy with the potential to create around 24 million new jobs globally by 2030, contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. "The Green India in the mural represents the importance of green jobs to sustainable development and responds to the global challenges of environmental protection, economic development and social inclusion, the Permanent Mission of India to the UN said adding that with the Green Jobs Initiative, the ILO and its partners seek to promote economies and enterprises with reduced environmental impact while generating meaningful employment and the regenerating natural resources. "There is a growing acknowledgement that the strategy of grow first, clean up later' is not sustainable, economically, socially or environmentally. This has led to an awareness and willingness to act," the Indian Mission said. India was one of the first countries in Asia Pacific to collaborate with the ILO on the Green Jobs Initiative. "Some may consider this counter intuitive, given our large population. To us, it is no surprise. The leader of India's struggle for independence, Mahatma Gandhi, whose 150th anniversary is being celebrated, always held that 'The earth, air, land and water are not an inheritance from our forefathers but on loan from our children'," it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A murder trial involving an Indian-origin businessman charged with strangling his wife to death at their home in Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region of England has got underway at a UK court. Gurpreet Singh, 43, is accused of killing his second wife 38-year-old Sarbjit Kaur with an "unknown accomplice" in Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region of England, in February last year. Singh, a proprietor of Dhanda Properties in Wolverhampton was arrested and charged by West Midlands Police in May 2018 after their initial line of inquiry of a botched robbery led them to suspect her husband. Birmingham Crown Court was told on Tuesday that the investigations revealed that Singh had previously also offered 20,000 pounds for the murder of his first wife, Amandeep Kaur, four years ago. Her death certificate notes that she died of a brain haemorrhage in Punjab in 2014 and it remains unclear if that was a case of murder as well. "Clearly, Gurpreet has a habit of not getting on with his wives," Prosecutor David Mason told the court. In reference to the murder of Sarbjit, the businessman told police that he found her dead after he returned home from picking up his children from school. However, there was no sign of forced entry at the home and the CCTV from a neighbouring property captured "an unknown character" in a hooded jacket going into the couple's home. It is claimed that the person was a known accomplice of Singh, who has an alibi for the time of the murder. "After Singh has got back from the school run we say he had already clearly planned to kill Sarbjit. He had obviously recruited someone else to help him," Prosecutor barrister David Mason told the jury. "Whether it was a colleague, hired help, mistress, perhaps we will never know. But that person knew when to go to the house, knew that he or she would be let in by the defendant and, when in the premises, helped to murder Sarbjit and make it all look like a burglary that had gone dreadfully wrong," he said. The unnamed accomplice is believed to have thrown chilli powder in the victim's face to incapacitate her before killing her. A post-mortem examination had revealed that Sarbjit died as a result of asphyxiation. Singh pleads not guilty to the murder of his second wife and soliciting the murder in 2013 of his first wife and mother of his two children. The trial, which opened this week, is expected to last six weeks. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The petitioners in the Rafale deal case are using certain documents with the intention to present a selective and incomplete picture of internal secret deliberations relating to national security, the Defence Ministry said, in its reaction to the Supreme Court's order on the contentious issue. The apex court on Wednesday rejected the government's contention that sensitive documents accessed by the media on the Rafale deal can't be evidence and said it will examine the papers while reviewing its order of December 14 last year when a clean chit was given to the deal. The top court said review petitions against its earlier verdict dismissing all petitions against procurement of Rafale jets will be decided on merits. "It is reiterated that the petitioners are using documents with the intention to present a selective and incomplete picture of internal secret deliberations on a matter relating to national security and defence," the defence ministry said. Classified documents were sourced by the media over the Rafale deal. Citing internal reports of the Defence Ministry, The Hindu daily had come out with a series of stories including one on how the Defence Ministry had objected to parallel negotiations carried out by the Prime Minister's Office on the deal. Citing the sensitive documents, the petitioners in the case had sought a review of the Supreme Court's December 14 order in the case. The Centre had claimed privilege over the documents pertaining to the Rafale fighter jet deal with France and said those documents cannot be considered in evidence as per Section 123 of the Indian Evidence Act. In its reaction, the defence ministry said the documents presented by the petitioners are failing to bring out how the issues were addressed and resolved and necessary approvals of the competent authorities taken. "These are selective and incomplete presentation of the facts and records by the petitioners," the ministry said. It said the government provided the requisite information as desired by the Supreme Court and also to the petitioners as per directions of the court. "The government also provided all records and files as required by CAG. The main concern of the government is relating to availability of sensitive and classified information concerning national security in public domain," it added. The judgment makes it clear that during the hearing of the review petition the bench will look into not only the question of pricing of the jet but also selection of Indian offset partner of Dassault which manufactures Rafale. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Iran ordered tens of thousands of residents of the southwestern city of Ahvaz to evacuate immediately on Wednesday as floodwaters entered the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province, state television reported. The province's governor, Gholamreza Shariati, said he ordered the evacuation of five districts as a "precautionary and preventive move to avert any danger", Iran's Tasnim agency reported. The districts have an estimated population of between 60,000 and 70,000. Shariati asked young men to "help us in building dykes and to assist in the evacuation of women, children and the elderly." "The Dez and Karkheh rivers have for the first time joined each other near Ahvaz and are now flowing towards the city," Shariati told state TV, adding that this was unprecedented. "These two rivers are far away from each other, but the huge volume of floodwater caused them to join up." Shariati said a sixth district was also put on standby for possible evacuation. Khuzestan province has been struggling with major floods due to heavy rains as well as floodwater coming from the north. It is the latest in a series of unprecedented floods that have hit the normally arid country since March 19, killing at least 70 people. The country's northeast was first swamped on March 19 before the west and southwest of the country were hit on March 25. On April 1 the west and southwest were again swamped by floods when heavy rains returned to the area. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The contest for Uttarakhand's Almora seat, one of the five in the state going to polls Thursday, will be a battle between two Tamtas, one from the BJP the other from opposition Congress. BJP's Ajay Tamta, a sitting MP and Union Minister of State for Textiles, and Congress' Pradeep Tamta, a Rajya Sabha member, are in the fray for the Almora Lok Sabha constituency, the only reserved seat in the state. While the BJP nominee has cited improved rail, road and air connectivity as his achievements in the last five years, the Congress candidate has talked of the failures of the Modi government in shaping a Himalayan policy. "Had the Modi government implemented the V K Chaturvedi Report on Himalayan development, the funds to spend on infrastructure projects of the state would have poured," Pradeep Tamta said. Ajay Tamta, on the other hand, has said that historic works has been done for development of the constituency during his tenure. "It was during my tenure that the broad gauge rail line was gifted to the people of Pithoragarh and Champawat districts from Tanakpur," he said, adding that the Pithoragarh airport was linked with the UDAN scheme due to his efforts. Voters and poll-watchers said they are keeping a close watch on the poll, but didn't give a clear favourite. "Ajay Tamta has been in constant touch with local voters in the last five years, but Pradeep, already a sitting Rajya Sabha member, has not been that commonly seen," said Chanshekher Dwivedi, a resident of Bageswar. Rama Devi, who hails from Kharkot village and attended rallies of both the parties in Pithoragarh, said, "We are watching every move." While she said she was impressed by the Modi government's move to "teach a lesson to Pakistan", Congress president Rahul Gandhi's assurance to give Rs 72,000 annually to the poorest 20 per cent families of the country also attracted her. The "thin" turnout at Pradeep's campaign meetings in the constituency are an indication that he has so far failed to strike a chord with the voters, a poll watcher said. "Instead of raising local issues, he has been talking only about the failures of the Modi government, drawing a lukewarm response from the people," he added. Ajay Tamta is bound to benefit from staying in touch with the electorate as he toured the area frequently during the last five years, propagating schemes of the Modi government, the poll-watchers added. "Ajay Tamta will definitely reap electoral benefits because of works such as the under-construction all-weather road, broad gauge rail services from Tanakpur rail head and the social welfare schemes for the poor announced by the Centre," said Bhagwan Singh Rawat, president of the Pithoragarh Jan Manch, said. But voters cannot be taken for granted this time as the "Modi wave has waned" over the past five years, Rawat claimed. "All the programmes announced by the Modi government, be it the all-weather road, air services or the Kisan Samman Nidhi, have failed. These could not help in reducing migration from the remote villages of the constituency," he alleged. The Almora constituency has a total of 13,21,658 voters, spread over 14 assembly segments of four districts including Almora, Pithoragarh, Bageshwar and Champawat. In the 2014 general elections, Ajay had defeated Pradeep by a margin of 95,690 votes. According to Rawat, the need of the hill people is employment, but the Modi government failed to open any new venture in the region that could give the unemployed youth an opportunity. Meanwhile, voters alleged that sitting MP Ajay Tamta has not been attentive to local issues but the "Modi wave", though fading, will help him. "We are not happy with the performance of our MP," Ramesh Goswami, a shopkeeper in Bageswar district, said. Ajay Rathor, an advocate and political activist in Pithoragarh town, claims the air strike on a terrorist camp in Pakistan will benefit the BJP as the constituency is home to a large number of retired army personnel. However, a section of voters was vocal in counting the "failures" of the BJP governments at the Centre and the state. "We are still facing lack of health facilities, school teachers and roads to all corners of the constituency," said Dhiraj Koranga, resident of Almora town. Some of the villages have also called for poll boycott to draw the attention of the administration towards incomplete road projects. Pithoragarh District Magistrate V K Jogdande said the administration has reached out to Dungri, Kanadhar, Namik and Pangla villages and listened to the problems raised by residents. "We assured them that works on long-pending road projects will begin shortly after the elections. We hope they will come and vote in big numbers on April 11," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) More than 33 lakh voters will decide the fate of 33 candidates in the twin parliamentary constituencies of Jammu and Baramulla which are going to polls on Thursday in the first phase of the seven-phased general elections. The separatists have called for a strike on Thursday to protest against the elections and the "NIA aggression" against Hurriyat Conference leaders and their kin. The high-pitch campaigning for the two constituencies ended Tuesday without any untoward incident. In Jammu, 20,05,730 voters including 10,40,876 males and 9,64,834 females will cast their votes at 2,740 polling stations to decide the political fortune of 24 candidates. The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Jugal Kishore is seeking re-election from the seat, while the Congress has fielded its senior vice president and former minister Raman Bhalla who is supported by the National Conference (NC). The constituency, spread over four districts of Jammu, Samba, Poonch and Rajouri and covering 20 assembly segments, was won by Kishore in the 2014 general elections, defeating veteran Congress leader and two-time MP Madan Lal Sharma by a margin of over 2.57 lakh votes. Kishore is facing a tough contest this time as the NC is backing the Congress candidate, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has decided not to field any candidate to ensure that the "secular votes" are not divided. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) too have decided to support the Congress. Besides the BJP and the Congress candidates, the voting in the constituency will also seal the fate of two-time minister and two-time MP Choudhary Lal Singh, chief of Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan as well as National Panthers Party patron Bhim Singh. "We have put in place all the necessary arrangements, including security setup. we are committed to hold free and fair polls," a poll official said. There are 244 polling stations falling along the International Border (IB) and the Line of Control (LoC) in Samba, Jammu, Rajouri and Poonch districts of the constituency and contingency has been put in place in case there is shelling from Pakistan side, the official added. Top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah have canvassed for the saffron party's candidate in a bid to retain the seat, while Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh too held several rallies in different parts of Jammu region on Monday. Notably, the Congress' star campaigners were missing in action in the region and the party mostly banked on the services of veteran leaders including former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and erstwhile 'Sadre-e-Riyasat' (president) and scion of Dogra dynasty Karan Singh. In the Baramulla parliamentary constituency, spread over 15 assembly segments of Kupwara, Baramulla and Bandipora districts in north Kashmir, more than 13 lakh voters will seal the fate of nine candidates. There are a total of 13,08,541 electors including 6,74,417 males, 6,34,083 females and 41 belonging to the third gender. The constituency has 7,953 persons with disability (PwD) voters and 157 VVIP (Voter Verification and Information Programme) electors. For the smooth conduct of elections, the authorities have established 1,749 polling stations at 1,387 locations in the Baramulla constituency. Returning Officer for Baramulla Parliamentary Constituency Dr G N Itoo informed that 9 candidates are in the fray for the seat. Prominent among them are Haji Farooq Ahamd Mir of the Congress, Mohammad Maqbool War of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Jahangir Khan of the NPP, Abdul Qayoom Wani of the PDP and Mohammad Akbar Lone of the NC. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Theresa May on Wednesday described the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar as a "shameful scar" on British Indian history but stopped short of a formal apology sought by a cross-section of Parliament in previous debates. In a statement, marking the 100th anniversary of the massacre, at the start of her weekly Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, she reiterated the "regret" already expressed by the British Government. The massacre took place in Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on Baisakhi in April 1919 when the British Indian Army troops, under the command of Colonel Reginald Dyer, fired machine guns at a crowd of people holding a pro-independence demonstration. According to the British government records, 379 people, including men, women and children were killed and around 1200 injured in the firing. "The tragedy of Jallianwala Bagh of 1919 is a shameful scar on British Indian history. As Her Majesty the Queen (Elizabeth II) said before visiting Jallianwala Bagh in 1997, it is a distressing example of our past history with India," she said in her statement. "We deeply regret what happened and the suffering caused. I am pleased that today the UK-India relationship is one of collaboration, partnership, prosperity and security. Indian diaspora make an enormous contribution to British society and I am sure the whole House wishes to see the UK's relationship with India continue to flourish," she said. In response, Opposition Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn demanded that those who lost their lives in the massacre deserve a "full, clear and unequivocal apology for what took place". May's statement comes a day after British MPs at Westminster Hall of the Parliament complex debated the issue of a formal apology for the April 13, 1919 massacre to mark its centenary this Saturday. Foreign Office Minister Mark Field had told MPs that he had been "compelled" by the arguments to raise the issue of going further than the "deepest regret" expressed over the killings during the British Raj. "I feel that we perhaps need to go further... I have now been persuaded - not just by this debate - to take a different approach," the minister said, adding that the government had to also consider the "financial implications" of any apology for events of the past. "These issues are an important way of trying to draw a line under the past. Therefore, this is work in progress and I cannot make any promises," he said, holding out some hope of a formal apology over the incident. The debate was tabled by Conservative Party MP Bob Blackman, who opened proceedings with a strong sentiment of "shame" as he called on the British government to apologise. "General Dyer was vigorously defended by - I say this with shame - the Conservative party, as well as most of the military establishment. He evaded any penalties post inquiry, as his military superiors advised that they could find no fault with his actions, his orders, or his conduct otherwise," Blackman said, in reference to the British general who had ordered the shooting at a Baisakhi gathering in Amritsar 100 years ago. "As we approach the 100th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar on 13 April 1919, it is clear that there needs to be a formal apology from the United Kingdom government that accepts and acknowledges their part in the massacre," said Indian-origin Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill. "This is the right time for the (British) Prime Minister to publicly apologise," added fellow Labour MP Virendra Sharma. In wrapping up the outcomes of the debate, Blackman concluded that children in British schools should be taught about the tragedy because people should know what happened in Britain's name and that "saying sorry - apologising for this massacre - is the right thing to do". The pressure on the Cabinet minister mounted further on Wednesday as he received a letter signed by 80 MPs stressing that he must consider their call for an "apology anew". "Relations between the UK and India today are friendly and constructive. Yet that does not mean an apology would not be good," notes the letter, initiated by Labour MP Pat McFadden. During a previous debate in the House of Lords earlier in the year, it was confirmed that UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt was "reflecting" on demands for a formal apology to mark the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre this week. Following Theresa May's latest statement on the issue in the Commons, it remains to be seen if the UK government will follow up with any further statements in the lead up to the 100th anniversary on Saturday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The family of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi denied being in talks to reach a settlement out of court with Saudi authorities Wednesday, following reports that his sons had taken payouts. "Currently, the trial is taking place and no settlement discussion had been or is discussed," read an English statement posted to Salah Khashoggi's verified Twitter account. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The last surviving member of a morale-boosting secret United States air raid that stunned Japan during World War II has died. Lieutenant Colonel Dick Cole "has slipped the surly bonds of Earth & reunited w/his fellow Doolittle Raiders," General Dave Goldfein, United States Air Force Chief of Staff, wrote on Twitter. "We offer our eternal thanks & condolences to his family. We will proudly carry the torch he & his fellow Raiders handed us." US media reported that Cole, who died aged 103 on Tuesday in Texas, was the last survivor of 80 Doolittle raiders air crew members. Cole was copilot of the plane led by Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle who led the raid by 16 B-25 bombers, each with a five-man crew. On April 18, 1942 -- four months after Japan's surprise attack against the US at Pearl Harbor -- the US Army Air Forces bombers took off from the deck of a US Navy aircraft carrier that sailed to within a few hundred miles (kilometers) of Japan. "Medium bombers had never been flown from a carrier," the National Museum of the US Air Force said on its website. "The Raiders dropped their bombs on oil storage facilities, factory areas and military installations. "Although the brilliant strike caused relatively little physical damage, it stunned the Japanese population -- their embarrassed leaders had promised the mainland would never be attacked," the museum said. On the homefront, of the US attack caused morale to soar "from the depths to which it plunged following Japan's many early victories," it added. A photograph of Cole with his crewmates, all wearing bomber jackets, showed him tight-lipped, wearing a tie, and with the thumb of his left hand hooked into the side pocket of his pants. In May 2014 President Barack Obama signed a law to award the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian recognition Congress can bestow, on the 80 members of the Doolittle team. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A total of 3,09,233 differently-abled voters have registered themselves for the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra which will be held in four phases beginning April 11, an election official has said. The official from the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said that additional facilities will be provided to such voters for exercising their franchise. Of the 3,09, 233 differently-abled voters, 51,605 electors are visually disabled and have low vision, while 35887 voters are hearing and speech impaired, he said, adding that 1,61,920 voters have Osteogenesis while 59,821 voters are physically disabled. "Ramps, wheel chairs and volunteer facilities are provided for differently-abled voters at the polling booths. Visually disabled and physically handicapped voters are permitted to take a companion along with them," the official said. He said a Braille script facility is provided on the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for the visually disabled and low vision voters. The official said the Election Commission has kept the target of "Accessible Elections" with the objective of increasing differently abled voters in the voting. A large number of differently-abled voters have been registered for the Lok Sabha polls with the cooperation of the Differently-abled Welfare Commissionarate and Non Governmental Organisations, he said. Some of the facilities and amenities given at polling booths include an arrangement for voter assistance centres, first aid facilities, drinking water and toilets at booths, information Notice Board for the guidance of voters, free conveyance for handicapped voters at polling booths, specially assisted polling booth for differently-abled in selected schools and Identity Card for visually-disabled voters in Braille script. Elections for all the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra will be held on April 11, 18, 23 and 29. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday said the upcoming Lok Sabha elections will drive BJP out of power and ensure that Narendra Modi will never again be the prime minister. The Trinamool Congress will help form the next government at the Centre, she claimed and urged the people to vote for it. Banerjee said TMC will not allow NRC in Bengal or amend the Citizenship Bill. "This time it is a very important election. This election is to defeat the BJP. It is to drive out the BJP from power ... This election is to make sure that Narendra Modi can never be the prime minister of the country again. We must ensure that they (BJP) never come back," Banerjee said at an election rally at Chopra in Uttar Dinajpur district. "The TMC will form the next government. We will drive out the BJP from the country," she said urging people to vote for Trinamool Congress. Taking a jibe at Modi, Banerjee said that for the past four-and-half years the prime minister was busy touring foreign countries. "Suddenly he has become so conscious about the welfare of his countrymen". "Five years ago he was the chaiwala and now he is suddenly the chowkidar. And after the elections people will not find him anywhere. For four and half years he was busy touring the globe and now there is no employment here, farmers have died failing to pay their debts ... He was mum when people were lynched. I call him (Modi) dangabaaz (rioteer) and a lutera (looter)," she said. Banerjee said that TMC will not allow BJP to implement NRC in West Bengal. "If anyone tries to touch anybody in West Bengal, we will not spare BJP. They (BJP) are conspiring to drive away everybody from the country in the name of amending the Citizenship Bill ... We will not let them amend the Bill," she said. Urging the electorate not to cast their votes for the Congress, the TMC chief further alleged that RSS was helping that party's candidates in West Bengal. Not naming anyone, she alleged that the Congress candidate (Adhir Chowdhury) fighting from Baharampore and former president Pranab Mukherjee's son contesting from Jangipur seat (Abhijit Mukherjee) are being supported by the RSS. "Here Congress is an ally of the BJP ... The RSS earlier used to practice parade wearing half pants but now after the demonetisation it has become so big," she said. "If you vote for the Congress vote or for CPI-M, it will eventually give strength to BJP," she added. Banerjee said no one from BJP, the Congress nor CPI-M had visited Darjeeling in the past five years but she had made it a point to visit the Hills almost every month. "Where were these leaders in the last five years ? You have not seen them (the BJP, Congress and the CPI-M). They all are one here in West Bengal. Do not vote for them," she said. The Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency is set to witness a keenly-fought contest between the two warring factions of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) -- one led by its supremo Bimal Gurung and another by his one time protege Binay Tamang. The TMC is yet to win the Darjeeling seat even once since its inception in 1998, while the BJP has emerged victorious twice. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A court here on Wednesday sentenced a man to life imprisonment for hacking to death his 19-year-old son over a domestic dispute in 2015. District judge Rajendra Majgaonkar convicted Suresh Dhodi (46), a resident of Kurze village in Talasari taluka in Palghar district of Maharashtra, and also imposed a fine of Rs 2,500 on him. Prosecutor Deepak Tare told the court that Dhodi used to doubt his wife's character and frequently beat her up over the issue. However, his children used to intervene and rescue her from his clutches. On April 23, 2015, Dhodi had an argument with his wife in the wee hours and started thrashing her. His son Nitin came to his mother's rescue. However, Dhodi picked up an axe and attacked his son, who died. The court also convicted Dhodi for assaulting his wife and daughter. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The hotel which towers high above the city, is situated in the centre of the city, providing easy access to Setifs new tram line and Setif International Airport just 20 minutes drive away. Hospitality giant, Marriott International recently opened a new hotel in Algeria, Four Points by Sheraton Setif in partnership with Prombati SPA. The Four Points by Sheraton brand is part of US-based Marriott International and includes over 250 hotels in more than 40 countries. The hotel which towers high above the city, is situated in the centre of the city, providing easy access to Setifs new tram line and Setif International Airport just 20 minutes drive away. Four Points is our ninth property in Algeria and a great addition to our rapidly growing portfolio in North Africa. Situated in a prime area in the city centre the hotel offers the brands renowned comfortable hospitality experience that meets the needs of todays modern traveler, said Alex Kyriakidis, President and Managing Director, Middle East and Africa, Marriott International. It features 191 rooms including 13 suites and inter-connecting rooms designed for families and groups. Business facilities include four meeting rooms equipped with the latest technology, a 24-hour business services and a dedicated events team. Other facilities at the hotel include a 24-hour fitness centre and an outdoor pool. The hotel has two dining venues: Brezza an Italian restaurant serving tapas on the 17th floor and Zitoune, a Magherbine-inspired all-day dining restaurant. A 23-year-old man was apprehended by the CISF for allegedly concealing a knife in his shoes at Indore airport on Wednesday, officials said. They said Maitu R Poyam from Kondagaon in Chhatisgarh was intercepted during a security check. He was supposed to take a flight to Raipur in Chhattisgarh. He has been handed over to police to ascertain why he sneaked in the shoe-length knife, the officials said. Carrying arms, ammunition and sharp objects in the aircraft is banned under the Indian aviation rules. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Many observers see the 2019 election as an inflection point in Indian history, according to a latest US Congressional report which said that a repeat performance by the ruling BJP in the polls could herald a new era of single-party dominance. In the report prepared primarily for US lawmakers, the independent Congressional Research Service (CRS) on the ongoing elections said that Prime Minister "has become the primary, if not sole target of the opposition", but no individual challenger has emerged. The CRS reports warns that a continuation of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led administration could entail an "unwelcome continuation of its perceived illiberal policies". "A repeat performance could thus herald a new era of single-party dominance. Perhaps more crucially, the election pits an unabashedly Hindu nationalist prime minister and ruling party against an array of more secular minded parties, some focused on the interests of India's large lower-caste and Muslim minorities," said the CRS report. The CRS is the bipartisan and independent research wing of the US which prepares reports on various domestic and global issues for the lawmakers for information purposes only. The reports, prepared by subject experts, are not considered an official view of the US While president chief Rahul Gandhi, "the inheritor of a family dynasty that includes three past prime ministers, has the highest profile among potential leaders of an opposition coalition, the CRS report says the opposition's zeal to oust the NDA has led to some unusual alliances "In January, the leaders of two powerful Uttar Pradesh-based parties agreed to set aside their bitter rivalry to cooperate in defeating the BJP. Other influential regional parties are maneuvering toward a potential opposition grand alliance," said the report dated March 28. Prime Minister Modi and his BJP aspire to win another five-year term with a ruling majority. The Congress party historically dominant, but badly defeated in 2014seeks to build on recent state-level wins and potentially ally with powerful regional opposition parties to dislodge the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in New Delhi, according to the report accessed by PTI. "Many observers see the upcoming election as an inflection point in Indian history. BJP's 2014 win, with 52 per cent of Lok Sabha seats, marked an end to 30 years of coalition politics at the national level," it said. "Coalition governments are sometimes faulted for instability, but they may also compel leaders to negotiate and take account of a wider variety of perspectives, while secure majority governments can lead to complacency and arrogance," the CRS said. Noting that secularism has been a more-or-less enshrined value in India, although its conception in both theory and practice varies widely, the Congressional report says Indian voters may face a landmark choice between two overarching identities for their country -- one, a pluralist, secular polity where religious minorities enjoy full equality; the other, a nation in which roughly 250 million non-Hindu citizens must accept Hindu majoritarianism, with potentially dire consequences for for India's civil liberties. Authored by CRS's Specialist K Alan Kronstadt, the report observes that given weak economic performance, the BJP-led government arguably is seeking to generate voter enthusiasm through Hindu identity. The February Pulwama terrorist attack and Balakot air strikes by is likely to benefit the ruling party, the report said. "The February 2019 bombing in Kashmir, blamed on a Pakistan-based terrorist group, and an unprecedented retaliatory airstrike on Pakistani territory, pushed foreign affairs into the headlines and triggered a sharp spike of Indian nationalism that is widely expected to benefit the incumbent BJP," it said. As far as India-US relationship is concerned, it is unlikely to have any impact irrespective of any government that comes to power after the May general elections, it said. The trend toward closer bilateral ties most likely will continue regardless of a leadership change in New Delhi, it said. "Many analysts contend that Modi and the BJP have been and would continue to be more open to aligning with US regional strategy perhaps especially that seeking to balance against growing Chinese influenceand more energetic in pursuing economic reforms than would be any likely alternative Indian leadership," it said. Actor Mark Hamill believes the audiences might be suffering from the "Star Wars" fatigue. The 67-year-old actor is the original star of the franchise, having played the role of Luke Skywalker in George Lucas' original trilogy. After missing out on the prequel trilogy, Hamill reprised his role in JJ Abram's "Force Awakens" and Rian Johnson's "The Last Jedi". During an interview with the Awards Chatter Podcast for The Hollywood Reporter, Hamill agreed that in the aftermath of under performing spin-off "Solo: A Star Wars Story", the audiences might be a little tired of the franchise. "Yes. I'm not gonna tell them how to run their business, but is there a possibility of 'Star Wars fatigue'? Yeah, I think there is," the actor said. "I've experienced it, to a certain degree. But they never listen to my ideas anyway, so who needs 'em?" he added. When asked about his favourite film in the franchise, Hamill said it is the 1980 film, "The Empire Strikes Back", which, according to the actor, looks at the often not-so happy endings of the stories. "I guess I'd probably have to go with 'Empire', only because it was so unexpected to have the protagonist be so soundly defeated, losing the hand and the dad Vader, all of it was pretty unexpected. "And it was so cerebral: Yoda is such an important addition to the mythology and I thought it was so clever of George, the concept of the Force, so that you could talk about religion and spirituality without making people uncomfortable. So for that alone," Hamill said. The actor is expected to be back as Luke Skywalker in the franchise's upcoming "Episode IX", which is expected to release later this year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Over 1,500 awareness programmes were organised by election officials across Noida and Greater Noida in the past one month as they reached directly to around five lakh people with an aim to increase voter turnout in the Lok Sabha polls, officials said Wednesday. The constituency, with 22.97 lakh voters, goes to polls on Thursday in the first leg of the seven phased elections in the country. Gautam Buddh Nagar witnessed a turnout of 60 per cent in the 2014 Lok Sabha poils, which was an improvement on the 2009 figure of 48 per cent, according to Election Commission statistics. The turnouts in Noida and Greater Noida were lower than the national average of 66 per cent in 2014 and 58 per cent in 2009. However, SVEEP officials (Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation), better known as SVEEP, said this time around they left no stone unturned to raise awareness among voters across sectors and villages in the district, holding up to 50 awareness programmes daily over the past 30 days. However, some locals, who work at places that do not have elections Thursday, said they would have loved if they were allowed a day-off on the voting day. The SVEEP is a flagship program of the Election Commission for voter education, spreading voter awareness and promoting voter literacy in India. "We reached directly to more than five lakh people across Gautam Buddh Nagar this time. We particularly engaged children and youth and exhorted them to encourage their parents and acquaintances in turn to go out for voting on April 11," said Rajeev Tyagi, the nodal officer for SVEEP in the constituency. The officials went on a whirlwind tour of Noida and Greater Noida, conducting 1,500 programmes and interactive sessions at community centres, bus stands, shopping malls and other public places. "We went to 168 sectors, 91 villages and utilised the Sunday gatherings at Raahgiris where 10,000 to 30,000 people participated," Tyagi,also the General Manager of the Noida Authority,said. "We have exhorted people to mark their presence in the 'Desh Ka Mahatyohar'. Voting is our right and responsibility," Tyagi said. Some of the Noida residents who work outside the city said it would have been better if they had got off for voting on Thursday. "There should be leave for employees to cast their votes. Accessibility to polling centre must be ensured," said Ashwini, a resident of Sector 137, who works in Delhi. Noting that several voters have faced problems in getting their voter ID cards with picture, he said the election commission should have expedited the printing of voter ID cards. "Why should I wait for it when my name has already been included in the voters list?" he asked. Ashwini said he is planning to cast his vote early in the morning so as to be able to reach work in time. Chaitali Sharma, a resident of Greater Noida west, who works in Faridabad, said employers should have considered the situation and an off day would encourage service class people towards voting. "Fortunately my company has allowed work-from-home on poll day. But, after casting my vote early in the morning, I will go to office as I have an important meeting to attend," she said. Sharma, a software engineer, said she has not received physical copy of her voter ID card but has confirmed that her name is on the voter list. "Of course it's a difficult process, but understandable because the work load on election officials would have increased manifold. A better planning could have prevented this difficulty for citizens as well as officials," she said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Facing criticism for closing down the national highway connecting Jammu with Srinagar, the Union Home Ministry took refuge in statistics to claim the ban was for only 15 per cent of total weekly hours. Underlining that the ban became necessary in the backdrop of the Pulwama terror attack, it issued a statement on Wednesday and said the step has been taken for ensuring safe movement of forces till May 31. The statement comes at a time when the ministry has to file its reply to the Jammu and Kashmir High Court which has directed it to respond by April 19 to a bunch of petitions challenging the decision. In its statement, the ministry gave statistics in its defence stating the total duration of prohibition is for 24 hours out of 168 hours in a week, which amounts to only 15 per cent of the time. Terming it "deliberate and mischievous disinformation" campaign about traffic restrictions on the national highway connecting Jammu with Kashmir Valley, the ministry said, "The state government...has already clarified in unambiguous terms, that out of seven days in a week, only reasonable restrictions have been imposed, that too for 12 hours, two days in a week. This has been done to ensure safe movement of forces and at the same time minimising the inconvenience to public." "While regulations for movement of civilian traffic were already in place during convoy movement, the state government has now come out with a planned movement of security forces on the national highway for a short duration -- up to May 31, 2019," the ministry statement read. The regulations have been imposed "just" for a total 15 days keeping in view the convoy efficiency and security of the personnel, "particularly in the backdrop of Pulwama attack on February 14, 2019 and a similar unsuccessful attempt on March 31, 2019", it stated. The High Court had on Monday issued a notice to the union ministries of home and defence and the state government to furnish a reply by April 19 to petitions challenging the traffic order as it was violation of fundamental rights of the people. Political parties held protests against the ban on April 7 as well as Wednesday. Former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has termed this order as a reflection of a BJP-led mindset of turning Kashmir into a colony like British-era. The Army has already stated that it is not going to follow the order of the state government as it will continue to run its convoys as per the need, officials said. Reacting to the assertions made by the ministry that alternative routes like old national highway were available and that such restrictions were imposed from time to time in other parts of the country for movement of the convoys of security forces, former chief minister Omar Abdullah said the statement of the home ministry was full of lies. "This press release sets a new record for the number of untruths told in the same statement. I don't know where to start with the sheer lies being told by this unnamed 'senior MHA official' except to say there is hardly a word of truth in it," Omar tweeted. Later, he said, "I would really like to know when such an order was issued in the past and which part of the country faces such restrictions on highway and how to connect with the old highway between Jammu and Srinagar?" "Certain vested interests are raking up this issue with utter disregard to the precious lives of security personnel that could be lost in Pulwama-like attacks and are sensationalising the issue without any consideration for the national security," the government statement read. "These planned restrictions, which came into force from April 3, have by and large stabilised and are being properly implemented by the state government without any inconvenience to the public at large," it added. Omar Abdullah again led a protest march on Wednesday demanding revocation of the order. "We have been continuously asking the government to rethink on this order since the day this 'Tughlaqi farmaan' was issued. There is no need for such a ban," he told reporters. According to the order issued on April 3 by state Home Secretary Shaleen Kabra, no civilian traffic will be allowed to move from Baramulla in north Kashmir to Udhampur in Jammu region on Sundays and Wednesdays till May 31. The restrictions on civilian traffic on the 271-km highway will remain in force from 4 am to 5 pm, said the order, which follows the suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama. The highway passes through important towns such as Anantnag, Awantipora, Pampore, Srinagar, Pattan and Baramulla. According to Omar Abdullah, the Army has said they did not demand this ban. "Former Army chief Gen V P Malik has termed this order a dumb idea. So, this small protest is to tell the government that please revoke this order and allow free movement of people on the highway," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress president Rahul Gandhi Wednesday hit out at both BJP and the ruling TMC for failing to waive farm loans and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is living in fear as he might have to go to jail if there is investigation in the Rafale scam. He trained his guns at TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee for her comments blaming Congress's inability to put up a fight against BJP as the reason for the saffron party's rise. It is Congress which is fighting against BJP across the country and unlike TMC, which had been part of the NDA in the past, it has never aligned with the saffron party, Gandhi said. "Just like Narendra Modi has not kept his promises, Mamata Banerjee has not waived the loans of farmers," he said. Reiterating his "chowkidar chor hain" barb at Modi, the Congress president said "Modi's facial expressions have changed as he is suffering from the fear of going to jail if there is an investigation into the Rafale scam. After Congress comes to power we will conduct investigation into the Rafale scam and send all those guilty, including Modi, behind bars". Referring to the Supreme Court's judgement during the day allowing leaked documents to be relied upon by petitioners seeking review of its Rafale judgement and dismissing the government's preliminary objections claiming "privilege" over them, Gandhi said Modi has been exposed before the nation. Congress in its history of 70 years has never aligned with BJP unlike TMC, which had been part of the NDA in the past, Gandhi said. Banerjee had on Tuesday blamed Congress for the rise of BJP and on Wednesday accussing Congress candidates in Murshidabad district- Abhijit Mukherjee in Jangipur and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in Bahrampur - of having tacit understanding with the BJP-RSS. Sharpening his attack on Modi, the Congress president accused him of trying to create two Indias - one for his "friends" like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Anil Ambani and Vijay Mallya and another for poor farmers of the country. The Congress, Gandhi said at his second election rally in Bengal, would never allow BJP to do that as unlike Modi he "is not afraid of thieves like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi". Referring to NYAY scheme proposed by the Congress which proposes to give Rs 72,000 annually to poorest of the poor in the country, he said the funds for it would come from the pockets of industrialists like Anil Ambani and Nirav Modi who had looted the public money. "For the last five years the poor and the downtrodden people of the country have tolerated a lot of torture at the hands of Modi and BJP. "Modiji had said that he would give Rs 15 lakh to all bank accounts ... But we will give Rs 72,000 annually to the poorest of the poor whose monthly income is below Rs 12,000", he said. Gandhi claimed that the prime minister has waived loans worth Rs 3.5 lakh crore taken by 15 super-rich people, whom he dubbed as "Modi's industrialist friends", but couldn't waive the farm loans of the poor farmers. "If Modi can put money in the bank account of thieves then Congress can also put Rs 72000 in the bank accounts of poor and honest farmers. We keep our promises unlike Modi and Mamata Banerjee," he said. The Congress president said that the party has waived all loans of farmers after coming to power in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh in December 2018. "If thieves like Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi do not go to jail after looting public money, then why should farmers just because they have failed to repay their farm loans?" he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday accused the Congress of a "Tughlaq Road election scam" where money meant for poor, pregnant women was looted from people. At a poll rally, Modi also claimed that the Nehru- Gandhi family targeted leaders from Gujarat like Sardar Patel and Morarji Desai and was now targeting a 'chaiwala' like him. Notably, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath's residence as an MP is at 1, Tughlaq Road in New Delhi, while Congress president Rahul Gandhi's residence as an MP is 12, Tughlak Lane in the national capital. The Income Tax Department recently conducted raids on close aides of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress leader Kamal Nath and others in four states on Sunday. The CBDT, that frames policy for the I-T department, had said the department has also detected a trail of Rs 20 crore suspect cash allegedly being moved to the "headquarters of a major political party in Delhi" from the house of an important person who lives on Tughlaq Road, home to many VIPs. "Searches in Madhya Pradesh have detected widespread and well-organised racket of collection of unaccounted cash of about Rs 281 crore through various persons in different walks of life, including business, and public service," it said. During a poll rally at Junagadh town in Gujarat, Modi, without naming Congress leaders, said in the last five years, he had brought them to the doorstep of jails and if he is elected again, they will be inside prisons. He took a swipe at the opposition party, saying it is known by many names as far as scams are concerned. "Now, it has got a new name, but with proof. The Congress is indulging in a 'Tughlaq Road chunavi ghotala (election scam)', in which money meant for the poor is being usurped for their own leaders. Money meant for pregnant women is looted," Modi said. Referring to the raids, Modi said, "You have seen in the media in the last three to four days, how sacks full of cash were found from Congress leaders. It has not even been six months of the government in MP." "Initially, Karnataka was the ATM of the Congress, now Madhya Pradesh has become its new ATM," he said. Modi said the situation in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh was no different and that the Congress was only interested to come to power to loot people. The developments in MP are just a "trailer" and "nothing will be left in our hands if the reigns of the country are given in Congress's hands," he said, adding that the "story of Congress is a story of one family". Modi claimed that the Congress in its poll manifesto has said everybody should get bail even if they commit a serious crime. "For whom is this provision, is it for your leaders? In last five years, I brought them to the doors of jails and if you give me next five years, they will be inside," he said. Taking a jibe at the Congress, Modi said while the air strikes were conducted against Pakistan, it affected the opposition party in India. "It was the Congress which got a stomachache," he said. "Modi wants to remove terrorism and they want to remove Modi. There is no abuse left which the Congress has not used against your son, your 'chowkidar' (watchman)," he added. Modi said the opposition party supports those who want to separate Jammu and Kashmir from India and a separate prime minister for the region. Recalling Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's contribution during the freedom struggle, Modi said Patel asked the Army to bring the situation under control amidst mayhem while former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru "kept on looking". "Had he (Sardar Patel) not been there, India would not have even got Kashmir. He (Patel) merged hundreds of princely states...and Nehru handled one princely state (Kashmir) by himself, because of which even today our soldiers are getting martyred," he said. History was witness to the Nehru-Gandhi family targeting political leaders from Gujarat like Sardar Patel and Morarji Desai, Modi claimed. "Now my turn has come. They are worried that they managed Sardarsaheb, made Morarjibhai fall, but this chaiwala? He completed five years (tenure) with strength," he said. At another rally in Songadh in Gujarat, Modi targeted the Congress over its manifesto promise to repeal sedition law and reduce forces from Kashmir. The only "business" of Pakistan is to export terror, Modi said. "Are people who want to break the country into tukde- tukde (pieces) not anti-nationals?... Congress is now saying that they will repeal the sedition law. Can we expect this from a 125-year-old party?," Modi said. The BJP began using the phrase "tukde tukde gang" to refer to students accused of raising anti-India slogans in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in 2016 and has generalised the phrase to attack those it accuses of sympathising with Maoists and separatists. "The Congress manifesto is an attempt to fulfil the demands of Pakistan," Modi said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday trained guns at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, saying he was "burdened" with "Bofors sins" of his late father and therefore wrongly accusing others of corruption. Launching a blistering attack on Congress, he accused the country's oldest political party of "playing games" in defence deals when in power. Addressing a poll rally here, Modi, without naming Gandhi, equated him to a cunning "pickpocket", who himself screams "chor, chor" and joins the crowd after getting caught in the act to confuse others. The prime minister recalled how the Congress in the past targeted former defence ministers George Fernandes and Manohar Parrikar. Referring to the Vajpayee government's decision to buy coffins to carry mortal remains of martyrs, Modi said Congress had unnecessarily targeted honest people like Vajpayee and Fernandes over the issue and not allowed Parliament to function for weeks. "Atalji's government had allowed to bring bodies of martyrs to their homes in coffins to give opportunity to the people to honour those who give up their lives (on borders). "Caskets were purchased under George Fernandes' watch for the martyrs. But the Congress did not spare even honest individuals like Atalji and Fernandes. Kept speaking lies. Boycotted Fernandes in Parliament. Humiliated him. It is their old habit. The same thing they tried with Parrikar," he said. Modi referred to Gandhi's visit in January this year to then ailing Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who was the defence minister when the Rafale jet deal was signed with France in 2016. After the meeting, Gandhi claimed Parrikar had spoken about the Rafale deal, a claim rejected by the late CM. "The entire country saw, Naamdar (dynast) went to enquire about well-being of Parrikar, but spoke such a lie that none could imagine. "When Manohar ji was battling for life, in such a situation, he had to come out to clarify to those who were lying. A big lie was caught, but there was no trace of remorse on their face. And because of such a lie, people do not trust them," the prime minister said. The PM then referred to the controversial Bofors deal of mid-1980s to target the Congress president, who has repeatedly alleged corruption in the Rs 58,000-crore Rafale deal signed by the NDA government. "I wonder why they speak so many lies. Perhaps he is burdened with his father's (late Rajiv Gandhi) sins of Bofors. And to wash it off, committing the sin of imposing sins on others. "You may get reins of party in legacy, but from where will you create credibility in the hearts of 125 crore countrymen? Congress can stoop to any level for power," Modi alleged. The Bofors defence deal was believed to be one of primary reasons for the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress's defeat in the 1989 Lok Sabha polls. Modi said every defence deal signed by the Congress government was suspicious. "The Congress played such games in defence deals...(that) there was no defence deal during Congress's regime which was not suspicious. "They took 'dalali' (commission) in Bofors. Agent Quattrocchi 'mama' was allowed to escape. As a result, our Army could not get a single (Howitzer) gun. Because no one wanted to be partner in Congress's sins," he said. The PM accused the Congress of delaying the Rafale deal, which was finalised after the BJP-led government came to power at the Centre in May 2014. "When the force proposed to purchase Rafale jets, it saw some progress during Atalji's tenure. The close agents of Naamdar family of Congress got involved in it later. "The result was that the deal got stuck for years and the strength of forces reduced. Before 2014, amid atmosphere filled with scams, Congress closed the box of Rafale deal (put it in the cold storage)," he said. Modi said the Congress had no clue that wrongdoings in defence deals signed under its watch will come out when a "chowkidar" (watchman) takes charge. "There was graft in the VVIP chopper deal too. Same trick was used as in Bofors. Agents like Michelle mama were allowed to escape. "They thought this matter too would get under carpet like it happened after Quattrocchi was allowed to run. They had no clue that a chowkidar will come and bring back the agents they allowed to run away, even from 'paatal' (underground)," Modi said. The "truth" about dubious deals is coming out, he said. "The truth is now coming out... How much the family got is coming to the fore. They have been master of how to hide their chicanery...even magician Sarkar won't be able to do it," the prime minister said. Referring to the I-T Department raids on close aides of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Modi said the opposition party wants to be in power to loot (the poor). "After 15 years, they got a chance in Madhya Pradesh. It has been only a few days of their government there, but they have engaged in loot," he said. Goa, which has two Lok Sabha seats, will vote on April 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress president Rahul Gandhi Wednesday sharpened his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing him of trying to create two Indias - one for his "friends" like Nirav Modi and Anil Ambani and another for poor farmers of the country. Gandhi said that if Congress is voted to power, he will ensure investigation into the Rafale scam and that the guilty including Prime Minister Narendra Modi are put behind bars. Hitting out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for forging an alliance with BJP in the past, Gandhi rubbished her allegations against the Congress. "It is the Congress which is fighting tooth and nail against BJP in the coutry," he told an election rallly here in north Bengal. Alleging that the "facial expression" of Narendra Modi has changed, Gandhi said "He can't speak properly at various rallies. This is because he is afraid that because of Congress there might be an investigation into the Rafale scam and he might go to jail," Gandhi said. Referring to Congress' NYAY scheme, Gandhi said the funds for giving Rs 72,000 per year to the poor would come from the pockets of businessmen Anil Ambani, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya who have looted the public money. "Modi wants to create two Indias - one for his friends like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and another for the poor farmers and honest people. Congress will never allow this. I am not afraid of thieves like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. Narendra Modi might be," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Furious over the recent Income Tax (I-T) raids on his partymen and a top I-T official seeking action against him, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has called Prime Minister Narendra Modi "worse than Hitler". The Janata Dal (United) leader is apparently upset over the recent statewide I-T crackdown on his partymen and others and the state Income Tax Commissioner's letter to the Election Commission (EC) seeking legal action against him and the Congress and JD(S) functionaries who protested against the action outside the I-T department here. "Modi is a dictator -- a man worse than Hitler. He is the worst prime minister who brought a bill to confiscate the personal properties of individuals," Kumaraswamy told his supporters here on Tuesday night. Principal Chief I-T Commissioner (Goa-Karnataka region) B R Balakrishnan has written to the state chief electoral officer, seeking action against Kumaraswamy and others for allegedly intimidating I-T officers and obstructing them from discharging their duties during the raids. He has also demanded that cases be registered against all those who took part in the protests for unlawful assembly, intentional insult, breach of peace, criminal intimidation and threat of injury to public servant under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Kumaraswamy fumed over the I-T official's letter, which also sought action against Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, state minister D K Shivakumar, state Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao and other Congress and JD(S) functionaries who took part in the March 28 protest. Kumaraswamy had led the protest outside the I-T office on Queen's Road in Bengaluru following the raids, alleging that the Modi government was using central agencies to target the opposition as part of its of vendetta. "Where is Balakrishnan, who sent notices to us?," the chief minister asked, adding that the I-T official sent 300 people to raid the premises of certain contractors from Hassan, Mysuru and Mandya, who belonged to the JD(S). "He is threatening us. He has written a three-page letter to the EC," he said. Kumaraswamy sought to know why only the contractors of Mandya, Mysuru and Hassan were targeted. "Aren't there contractors in other districts? Where else did the I-T officials go? I am not the one who is going to be scared," he said. Defending those from whom unaccounted cash was found, the chief minister said the money found from the contractors was meant for the routine work of the state government and was supposed to be released in their favour before March 31. "It was not accumulated for spending in the election," he added. Kumaraswamy accused Balakrishnan of nurturing ambitions to bag a gubernatorial position post retirement and alleged that hence, he was acting like a BJP agent. "Will Modi remain tethered to a peg in Delhi? He is out to make Balakrishnan governor in June post his retirement. "That is the reason why he (Balakrishnan) is working like a BJP agent," he said. The chief minister alleged that Balakrishnan's letter to the EC was typed at the BJP headquarters. On the basis of the letter, he said, certain BJP leaders went to the governor seeking prosecution against him. "I too have documents to prove that money belonging to the people of Karnataka was drawn and deposited in some people's accounts," Kumaraswamy said. A BJP delegation, led by Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, submitted a memorandum to Governor Vajubhai Vala on Tuesday seeking action against Kumaraswamy for claiming to have prior information about the I-T raids. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Madhya PradeshPolice Wednesday registered cases against officials of seven companies, government departments and others including "politicians" in the Rs 3,000 crore e-tender rigging racket. The racket, where e-tender portal of the government was hacked to manipulate tenders and grab contracts, was allegedly operating when the BJP was in power. The development comes three days after the Income Tax department raided places linked to aides ofChief Minister Kamal Nath. The EOW has filed cases against directors and marketing representatives of seven companies, unknown officials of five state government departments and politicians, a senior EOW official said here. They were charged under IPC section 420 (cheating), the Information Technology Act and Prevention of Corruption Act. The seven construction companies involved in the alleged racket were GVPR Limited, Ms Max Maintaina (both based in Hyderabad), The Hume Pipe Limited and JMC Limited (both based in Mumbai), Sorathia Velji Limited and Ms Madhav Infra Projects (both based in Vadodara) and Ram Kumar Narwani Limited (based in Bhopal), the EOW said in a release. Some officials of Bhopal-based OSMO IT Solution which issued 'signature certificate' for e-tenders too have been charged. Government departments including Jal Nigam, Lok Nirman Vibhag (Public Works Department and its Project Implementation Unit), MP Road Development Corporation and Water Resources Development had floated nine tenders which were tampered with. Some officials of two software firms which developed the e-tendering portal of the MP Electronic Development Corporation are also under scanner for leaking information which allowed hacking of the portal, the EOW official said. The companies allegedly hacked the MP e-tendering portal to quote lowest rates and bag projects worth Rs 3,000 crore between January to March2018. These tenders were later cancelled. In the run-up to the November 2018 Assembly polls, the Congress had targeted the BJP government over the alleged racket. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, starring Vivek Oberoi, has received a certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), ending days of uncertainty over its release. The film, titled "PM Narendra Modi" and directed by Omung Kumar, has been criticised by the opposition parties, who claim that the biopic could give undue advantage to the BJP in the polls as it will arrive in theatres before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court had dismissed a petition filed by a Congress activist seeking stay on the film's release, saying the Election Commission would be an "appropriate" place to seek the redressal. The CBFC issued a 'Universal' certificate to the film ahead of its release on April 11, the same day when the seven-phase polls begin. "We are very happy that we got the 'U' certificate from the Censor Board, and finally the film will be releasing on April 11. We are also very relieved that the Supreme Court has rejected the plea... It is clear now from everywhere," producer Sandeep Singh said in a statement. "I hope no political parties across India has any problem, because the Election Commission, the CBFC, and all the courts have cleared all the pleas, and our film is ready for release. We are grateful to each and everyone who have prayed for us," he added. Producer Anand Pandit said "justice has been served" as the film has cleared its "final hurdle" towards getting released in theatres. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hitting back at Narendra Modi for his relentless attack on it, the Congress party on Wednesday said the country is tired of "fake acronyms" coined by the prime minister and expects gravitas from the person occupying the top post. The opposition party also said that BJP chief Amit Shah has "lost his political balance" and is trying to outdo his boss in framing "childish" acronyms and levelling "senseless" accusations. At his political rallies, Modi has continuously targeted Congress, once accusing it of indulging in a "Tughlaq Road election scam" and looting the money meant for the poor, referring to Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath's residence in New Delhi at 1, Tughlaq Road. He also claimed that the Nehru-Gandhi family targeted leaders from Gujarat such as Sardar Patel and Morarji Desai and was now targeting a "chaiwala". On Tuesday, Shah accused Congress president Rahul Gandhi of doing "ILU ILU with terrorists", saying senior Congress leader Sam Pitroda has advocated talks with Pakistan. "The country is now tired of fake acronyms being coined by prime minister. It is extremely childish, imprudent, unacceptable and flimsy. It also shows the lack of gravitas or understanding and comprehension of serious issues of governance on the part of the prime minister," Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said. "This country can't be run on acronyms... Is this election about who can make better acronyms or is it election about who can make a better India," he asked. Surjewala asked why Modi is not talking about creation of jobs and about black money of Rs 80 lakh crore that he was supposed to bring in 100 days. He also asked why the prime minister is not speaking about agrarian distress, the down turn in economy and in manufacturing sector. "Why is he not speaking about problems of traders and shopkeepers," he asked. To a question on Shah's statement in Nagpur, Surjewala said the BJP chief has "lost his political balance" fearing an imminent defeat in the Lok Sabha election beginning on Thursday. "Amit Shah is also attempting to outdo his boss in framing childish acronyms and levelling senseless accusations. Unfortunately, Modi ji and Amit Shah ji feel that sensible dialogue and a constructive vision is not the way forward in India. "They are seriously mistaken. "Modi ji and Amit Shah ji feel that abuse and hatred is a solution to all political-ills when it comes to them facing defeat." Surjewala accused them of polarising people on religion and caste lines to cover "their failures and bring them votes". "Modi ji and Amit Shah ji feel that humiliating and mocking their opponents should be the only way to win election. They are seriously mistaken," he said. The nation, he said, is about progress, this nation is about cohesiveness, this nation is about inclusiveness, this nation is about showing the way to the entire world and humanity that is 'Bhartiya Sanskriti'. "The Congress party stands for a better, progressive, inclusive and forward-looking India and this country is tired of childish acronyms being...used every day," Surjewala said. "I sincerely hope that after losing this election, they will take lessons from Class I again since the degrees are still in doubt and have never been seen. They will again take admission in the Adult Education Programme and learn lessons about India's culture," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to be headed toward a historic fifth term as Israel's prime minister on Wednesday, with close-to-complete unofficial election results giving his right-wing Likud and other nationalist and religious parties a solid majority in parliament. The outcome affirmed Israel's continued tilt to the right and further dimmed hopes of a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Re-election will also give Netanyahu an important boost as he braces for the likelihood of criminal charges in a series of corruption scandals. With 97.4 per cent of the vote counted, Likud and its traditional political allies were in command of a 65-55 majority in parliament. A couple of small parties were still teetering along the electoral threshold and fighting for their survival, so the final makeup of the next parliament has yet to be decided. Final results were expected Thursday. Two of his potential allies, hawkish former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and economic-centric Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, have yet to formally confirm they would sit with Netanyahu and could emerge as wildcards. In any case, the country now faces what could be weeks of political negotiations over the composition of a ruling coalition. But under nearly every scenario, Netanyahu was the big winner. The long-time Israeli leader had fought a tight, ugly race against centrist ex-military chief Benny Gantz, whose nascent Blue and White party emerged as a viable alternative to Netanyahu's decade in power. The near-final results showed it deadlocked with Likud at 35 seats. But most of its support seems to have come at the expense of the venerable Labor and leftist Meretz parties, who both earned historic lows in Tuesday's election. The spotlight now falls on Israel's president, Reuven Rivlin, who will consult with party representatives next week before picking the candidate with the best chance of assembling a parliamentary majority. Together with his current Jewish ultra-Orthodox and nationalist partners, Netanyahu seemed to have a clear path toward building a coalition government that has a majority in the 120-seat parliament. Rivlin said that for the first time, his discussions with party leaders would be broadcast on live television "in the name of transparency." With a victory, Netanyahu would capture a fourth consecutive term and fifth overall, which this summer will make him Israel's longest-ever serving leader, surpassing founding father David Ben-Gurion. "It's a night of tremendous victory," Netanyahu told supporters early Wednesday. "I was very moved that the nation of Israel once again entrusted me for the fifth time, and with an even greater trust." He said he had already begun talking to fellow right wing and religious parties about forming a new coalition. "I want to make it clear, it will be a right-wing government, but I intend to be the prime minister of all Israeli citizens, right or left, Jews and non-Jews alike," he said. Netanyahu's message of unity was a sharp contrast from his campaign theme in which he accused Gantz of conspiring with Arab parties to topple him. Arab leaders accused Netanyahu of demonizing the country's Arab community, which is about 20 percent of the population. His attacks on the Arab sector fueled calls for a boycott and appeared to result in relatively low turnout by Arab voters. Overnight, with fewer of the votes counted, Blue and White still appeared to be ahead by one seat and Gantz projected optimism that he would be tasked with building a coalition. But by morning, he seemed to have realized his dream of becoming prime minister was lost, even if he didn't formally concede defeat. "Though the skies appear gloomy, nothing is final. There could be changes and some political options could open up," he wrote to his supporters. "Our voters asked for hope and we gave it to them. They wanted a different way and we outlined it." Though the Palestinian issue was rarely mentioned in the raucous campaign, Netanyahu had in the final stretch pledged for the first time to annex parts of the occupied West Bank in a desperate bid to rally his right-wing base. Netanyahu has welched on election eve promises before, but should he follow through on this one, it would mark a dramatic development and potentially wipe out the already diminishing hope for Palestinian statehood. An aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the outcome of the election raised Palestinian fears about an Israeli annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank. Ahmed Majdalani said Palestinians will seek the help of the international community to try to block any such plans. He said that the outcome of the election means a boost for what he called the "extreme right-wing camp" in Israeli Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official, said Israel chose to entrench "the status quo of oppression, occupation, annexation and dispossession." The 69-year-old Netanyahu has been the dominant force in Israeli for the past two decades and its face to the world. His campaign has focused heavily on his friendship with President Donald Trump and his success in cultivating new allies, such as China, India and Brazil. But his corruption scandals created some voter fatigue. Along with two other former military chiefs on his ticket, Gantz was able to challenge Netanyahu on security issues, normally the prime minister's strong suit, while also taking aim at the prime minister's alleged ethical lapses. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Netflix has announced that newcomer Emma Corrin will be essaying the role of young Princess Diana on its hit royal drama, "The Crown". The actor will play Princess Diana from the fourth season onwards, the streaming giant said in a statement. "Beyond excited and honoured to be joining 'The Crown' for its fourth season. I have been glued to the show since the first episode and to think I'm now joining this incredibly talented acting family is just surreal," Corrin said. "Princess Diana was an icon, and her effect on the world remains profound and inspiring. To be given the chance to explore her through Peter Morgan's writing is the most exceptional opportunity, and I will strive to do her justice," she added. Princess Diana was married to the Prince Charles from 1981 to 1996. She died in Paris in a car crash in 1997. Morgan, who created the two-time Emmy-winning series, said Corrin possesses the "innocence and beauty of a young Diana". "Emma is a brilliant talent who immediately captivated us when she came in for the part of Diana Spencer. "As well as having the innocence and beauty of a young Diana, she also has, in abundance, the range and complexity to portray an extraordinary woman who went from anonymous teenager to becoming the most iconic woman of her generation," he said. Corrin is the latest actor to join the new cast of "The Crown", as the show jumps forward in time with different stars playing the Royals every two seasons. Claire Foy, who played the young queen first two seasons, has been recast with Oscar winner Olivia Colman. Tobias Menzies has been cast in the role of Prince Philip. Helena Bonham Carter will play Princess Margaret, taking over from Vanessa Kirby; Jason Watkins will play former UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Ben Daniels will portray Antony Armstrong-Jones. Corrin will soon be making her film debut with historical drama "Misbehaviour", opposite Keira Knightley and Keeley Hawes. The third season of "The Crown" will premiere on Netflix later this year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tightening its noose around separatists of Jammu and Kashmir, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested JKLF chief Yasin Malik and questioned Mirwaiz Umer Farooq again in connection with a terror financing case, officials said here. Malik was brought to the national capital Tuesday evening after a special NIA court in Jammu gave the go-ahead for his custodial interrogation by the probe agency, they said. He was produced before a special court which remanded him in the NIA custody till April 22. The NIA spokesman said in a brief statement that Malik, who was already under detention under the Public Safety Act, was arrested in a terror funding case. Malik, whose Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front was recently banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), was shifted to Tihar jail Tuesday evening under police protection from Jammu's Kot Balwal prison. He is also facing two CBI cases which includes kidnapping of Rubaiya Saeed, daughter of then Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, in 1989, and the killing of four IAF personnel in 1990. In a related development, the Mirwaiz was questioned for the third consecutive day by the NIA. The questioning revolved around funding of his party, Hurriyat Conference and Joint Resistance Front, an amalgam of his moderate Hurriyat Conference as well as the hardline faction led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and JKLF. There were reports that both the separatists were confronted with each other but there was no confirmation officially about it. The NIA registered a case on May 30, 2017 against separatist and secessionist leaders, including unknown members of the Hurriyat Conference, who have been acting in connivance with active militants of proscribed terrorist organisations Hizbul Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and other outfits and gangs. The case was registered for raising, receiving and collecting funds through various illegal means, including hawala transactions, for funding separatist and terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir and for causing disruption in the Valley by way of pelting stones on the security forces, burning schools, damaging public property and waging war against India, the probe agency said in the FIR. Hafiz Saeed, the Pakistan-based chief of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the front for the banned LeT, has also been named as an accused in the FIR. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The National Investigation Agency on Wednesday arrested JKLF chief in connection with a case related to the funding of terror and separatist groups in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said here. Malik was brought to the national capital Tuesday evening after a special court in Jammu gave the go ahead for his custodial interrogation by the probe agency, they said. The Jammu and Liberation Front chief, who was shifted to Tihar jail under police protection, was taken into preventive custody in February by the Jammu and police and shifted to Jammu's Kot Balwal jail. The NIA on Wednesday filed a charge sheet in a court here against seven persons, including four Maoists and their sympathisers, for killing Andhra Pradesh's Araku constituency MLA and another former legislator. A case was initially registered by Dumbriguda police station, Visakhapatnam district, in connection with the killing of MLA Kidari Sarveshwara Rao and ex-MLA Siveri Soma on September 23, 2018 near Livitiputtu village by members of CPI (Maoist), a proscribed outfit. They were killed when they were going to Sarai village in their vehicles to attend "Grama Darshini", a mass interaction programme. The case was investigated by a Special Investigation Team constituted by the Andhra Pradesh government. Later, the case was taken over by NIA. On Wednesday, the central agency filed a charge sheet before a special NIA court in Vijayawada against three accused Yedala Subba Rao, Gemmili Sobhan and Korra Kamala (residents of Visakhapatnam) and four absconding CPI (Maoist) cadre Venkata Ravi Chaitanya, Jalumuri Srinu Babu, Kameswari and Jappirayingi Satti Babu under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Explosive Substances Act, Indian Arms Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, an official statement said. Initially, three accused Yedala Subba Rao, Gemmili Sobhan and Korra Kamala were arrested by SIT on October 13, 2018. Investigation established that the arrested persons were sympathisers of CPI (Maoist). They conspired with other outfit members and facilitated the killing of Kidari Sarveshwara Rao and Siveri Soma by providing information about Grama Darshini event, details on the movement of the duo to Maoists and also by providing logistical support, the NIA said. Investigation also revealed that CPI(Maoist) members and absconding underground Maoists Venketa Ravi Chaitanya, Andhra-Odisha border special zonal committee member, Jalumuri Srinu Babu, divisional committee member of Koraput division and other Maoist cadre were actively involved in the killing of the MLA and the ex-MLA, it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "The Vampire Diaries" star Nina Dobrev says there is a constant fear among the actors about getting typecast in certain roles. During Variety's "My Favourite Episode" podcast, the 30-year-old actor, who headlined The CW show for six seasons, said till date she is offered "vampire scripts". "It's what we're all fighting all the time. Just because someone is known to do one thing doesn't mean they don't have it in them to do everything. Everyone does. It's just whether they're given the opportunity," Dobrev said. "If I tell you how many vampire scripts I get offered, you would laugh. Of course at some point, I want to tackle -- I want to do an HBO show, I want to do premium cable. I'd love to do a period piece. I want to be a chameleon in that way," she added. Dobrev also talked about HBO's smash-hit series "Big Little Lies", saying she wants to be part of such powerful stories. "That finale episode was so powerful, especially because of the journey that all of those characters had gone on up until that point," she said. "I think that it was a perfect episode all around. Everything got wrapped up, the questions were answered, all of the characters found resolve, other than Perry (Alexander Skarsgard), but that's OK. We don't want him to have resolve," she added. The actor said she is now looking forward to the second season of "Big Little Lies". "I cannot wait for next season. That bond and that womanhood is something that's really strong. It's great that we're seeing it translated on film and in life and that it was right before the (#MeToo) movement, but the timing could not have been better," she added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Election Commission Wednesday informed that the notification for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections in the state, covering 14 parliamentary constituencies, has been issued. According to the Election Commission, the parliamentary constituencies going to polls are Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj (SC), Lucknow, Raebareli, Amethi, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Barabanki (SC), Ayodhya (earlier known as Faizabad), Bahraich (SC), Kaisarganj and Gonda. Candidates will be able to file their nomination papers till April 18. Scrutiny of the nomination papers will be done on April 20, while April 22 is the last date to withdraw the candidature. Polling will be held on May 6 from 7.00 am to 6.00 pm. There are 2.47 crore voters in the 14 parliamentary constituencies. This include 1.32 crore male voters and 1.14 crore female voters. The count of voters in the age bracket of 18-19 years is 3.39 lakh, while the number of voters aged 80 years is 4.84 lakh. The number of voting centres is 16,126; while there are as many as 28,702 polling booths. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Organization of American States said Tuesday it recognizes opposition leader Juan Guaido's envoy as Venezuela's delegate to the regional body until new elections are held in the country. After a heated debate, the OAS permanent council made the decision by a vote of 18 in favour, nine against, and six abstentions. One delegate was absent. The new delegate is Gustavo Tarre. The move is yet another blow against President Nicolas Maduro, and was vehemently opposed by the delegate of the beleaguered leader, who is locked in a power struggle with Guaido. Guaido, head of Venezuela's National Assembly, is recognized by more than 50 countries, led by the US, as the oil-rich but economically crippled country's legitimate interim president. The OAS permanent council brings together the ambassadors of all 34 OAS member states. It is the organization's top body. The council asked OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro to send the text to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The text states that "Nicolas Maduro's presidential authority lacks legitimacy and his designations for government posts, therefore, lack the necessary legitimacy." It recalled that back in June of last year it declared that elections in which Maduro won another term were illegitimate. On January 10 it withdrew its recognition of Maduro as president and said authority in Venezuela rested in the assembly led by Guaido. The countries that voted against Tuesday's decision were Venezuela, Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Dominica, Grenada, Mexico, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Uruguay. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah Wednesday said Narendra Modi will have to answer for Pakistani premier Imran Khan's "endorsement" for his second term as prime minister. Khan told a small group of foreign journalists in an interview that he believes there may be a better chance of peace talks with India and settle the Kashmir issue if the BJP wins the general elections. Opposition parties latched onto the remarks to attack Modi. "Modi will have to answer that because it was Modi only who, till now, was saying that Pakistan and militants want the BJP to lose, but it has become clear today that it is the Pakistan which wants Modi to win again," Abdullah told reporters here. In the interview, Khan said other parties would be afraid of right-wing backlash in case of settlement on the Kashmir issue. "Perhaps if the BJP wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached," he said. Earlier, in a tweet, Abdullah -- a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir -- said Khan had "endorsed" Modi for a second term. "So much for Modi Sahib telling the country only Pakistan & its sympathisers want BJP to lose. Imran Khan has just endorsed him for a 2nd term," Abdullah said. "Just imagine what all the 'Chowkidar' handles would be doing to @RahulGandhi & the Congress right now if Imran Khan had endorsed RG as PM in these elections? Who is the 'tukde tukde' gang now?" the NC vice-president said in another tweet. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah Wednesday led a protest march here to defy the state administration's order banning civilian traffic on Srinagar-Jammu national highway for two days a week. Abdullah, along with his party leaders and activists, staged a sit-in on the highway near Pantha Chowk area in the outskirts of the city demanding revocation of the order. "We have been continuously asking the government to rethink on this order since the day this 'Tughlaqi farmaan' was issued. There is no need for such a ban," he told reporters. According to the order issued on April 3 by state Home Secretary Shaleen Kabra, no civilian traffic will be allowed to move from Baramulla in north Kashmir to Udhampur in Jammu region on Sundays and Wednesdays till May 31. The restrictions on civilian traffic on the 271-km highway will remain in force from 4 am to 5 pm, said the order, which follows the suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama. The highway passes through important towns such as Anantnag, Awantipora, Pampore, Srinagar, Pattan and Baramulla. According to Abdullah, the Army has said they did not demand this ban. "Former Army chief Gen V P Malik has termed this order a dumb idea. So, this small protest is to tell the government that please revoke this order and allow free movement of people on the highway," Abdullah said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Opposition parties Wednesday hailed the Supreme Court's decision allowing leaked documents to be relied upon by petitioners seeking review of its Rafale judgement, saying the Modi government now has "no official secrets act" to hide behind and a probe into the "scam" will take place. In a setback to the Centre, the Supreme Court allowed leaked documents to be relied upon by petitioners seeking review of its Rafale judgement and dismissed the government's preliminary objections claiming "privilege" over them. While welcoming the decision, the Congress alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi can "run and lie" as much as he wants but truth comes out eventually. "Modiji, you can run and lie as much as you want but sooner or later the truth comes out. The skeletons in Rafale scam are tumbling out one by one. And now there is 'no official secrets act' to hide behind," Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said. Modiji, you can run and lie as much as you want, But sooner or later the truth comes out. The skeletons in #RafaleScam are tumbling out one by one. And now there is no official secrets act to hide behind. 1/2 Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) April 10, 2019 "SC has upheld a time honoured legal principle; A rattled Modiji had threatened to invoke Official Secrets Act against independent journalists for exposing his corruption on Rafale. Don't worry Modiji, an investigation is going to take place now, whether you like it or not," he said in a series of tweets. SC has upheld a time honoured legal principle; A rattled Modiji had threatened to invoke Official Secrets Act against independent Journalists for exposing his corruption on #Rafale. Dont worry Modiji, an investigation is going to take place now, whether you like it or not 2/2 Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) April 10, 2019 Reacting to the development, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury alleged that the government has compromised on security. "Modi and his govt have compromised security for corruption and cronyism in an important defence deal. They tried to evade accountability, denied a JPC, hid price from CAG, tried to first mislead, then stall any hearing in Supreme Court. Important that culprits are booked," he said on Twitter. "Modi and his minions have falsely claimed that they have a 'clean chit' in the Rafale scam. But the proofs have come tumbling out one after another. It has been the most corrupt and most compromised govt in India's history. Now is the time to throw it out," he said. The Centre had submitted that the privilege documents were procured by petitioners in an illegal way and used to support their review petitions against the December 14, 2018 judgement of the apex court dismissing all pleas challenging procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France. The Congress has been accusing Modi of helping industrialist Anil Ambani make a profit of Rs 30,000 crore by favouring him as the offset partner in the The government has denied any wrongdoing in the fighter jets deal. Anil Ambani has also rejected all allegations. (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 Congress on Wednesday cited a media report to claim that Pakistan has "officially allied" with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said a vote for him would be a vote for the neighbouring country. Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala launched a scathing attack on Modi over the report quoting Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan saying he believes there may be a better chance of peace talks with India and settling the Kashmir issue if Modi's party BJP wins the general elections. Khan said other parties would be afraid of right-wing backlash in case of a settlement on the Kashmir issue. "Pak has officially allied with Modi! A vote for Modi is a vote for Pakistan!" Surjewala tweeted. "Modi ji, first there was love for Nawaz Sharif and now Imran Khan is your dear friend," he added in a tweet in Hindi. The truth is out in the open, Surjewala claimed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan military on Wednesday took a group of international media personnel and foreign diplomats on a tour of the seminary and its surrounding areas in Balakot, where India carried out a counter-terror operation on JeM's biggest training camp 43 days ago. Tensions flared up between India and Pakistan after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) killed 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14. Amid mounting outrage, the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured an IAF pilot, who was handed over to India on March 1. According to BBC Urdu, the group was flown from Islamabad in a helicopter to Jabba in Balakot. They visitors trekked for about one-and-a-half hour to reach the madrassa on the top of a mountain surrounded by lush green trees. The group, while going up, also saw a ditch on a hillside where India jets dropped its payload, according to Pakistan military. About 150 students, aged 12-13, were present inside the seminary building and were being taught Quran when the group reached inside the madrassa, they said. The visit by the group lasted for about 20 minutes and the participants were allowed to take pictures and even some of them spoke to the teachers present there. Army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor held formal and informal chat with the reporters. "This is an old madrassah and has always been like this," he said, indicating that Indian claim of hitting it was not true. This was the first formal visit of foreign media and diplomats to the place about which India claimed that its strike killed scores of militants. The purpose of organising the trip was apparently to fortify Pakistan's claim that Indian failed to destroy any structure or kill anyone during the ariel attack of February 26 which brought the two nations to the verge of a war, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The party of exiled former Maldives president Mohamad Nasheed has won the country's first outright majority in parliament in its democratic history, officials results showed Wednesday. The final count released by the Election Commission shows Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) won 65 of the 87 seats in parliament in elections held Saturday -- a more than two-thirds majority. His party will rule without needed to form a coalition, an unprecedented election outcome for the Indian Ocean archipelago nation. The MDP's closest rivals, the Jamhooree Party and Progressive Party of the Maldives, both won five seats. Two minor parties and independents secured 12 seats among them. Nasheed -- who until five months ago was still in exile -- has vowed to use his party's thumping mandate to usher in a new era of stability and democracy in the Maldives. The holiday destination popular with honeymooners is only just emerging from years of strongman rule, political crises and corruption scandals miring the government and judiciary. Nasheed's comprehensive victory was another rebuke for his rival Abdulla Yameen, who was dumped as president in a shock election defeat in September under a cloud of corruption and embezzlement allegations. Yameen did not run but his party -- the Progressive Party of Maldives -- only collective five seats. Nasheed was barred from running in the presidential election but his former deputy, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, emerged triumphant over Yameen. Nasheed returned to the Maldives in November after the Supreme Court quashed a terrorism conviction against him. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Biju Janata Dal supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Wednesday accused the BJP of conspiring to stop disbursement of funds to farmers in Odisha under the Kalia scheme Patnaik alleged that the Election Commission of India stopped disbursal of funds to farmers under the Kalia (Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation) scheme on the basis of BJP's complaint. "I will not allow stopping of Kalia scheme as long as I am alive," Patnaik said at an election meeting in Sundergarh Lok Sabha Constituency where BJD has fielded former Congress chief minister Hemananda Biswal's daughter Sunita Biswal as its candidate against Union Minister and BJP nominee Jual Oram. He said the BJD government on the first day of its oath taking after election will release two instalment of Rs 10,000 to farmers under Kalia scheme. Stating that the people of Odisha as his family, Patnaik said he would serve them till the "last breath." The chief minister appealed the people to press conch symbol while electing their MP and MLA in elections Addressing another election meeting during at Hemagiri in Sundargarh district, Patnaik, targeted local MP Jual Oram and said: "A person from the area is an Union Minister but he (Jual Oram) can never dare to discuss about the issues of the region with his high command.""But for us (BJD), the people of Odisha are our high command," Patnaik said. The BJD president also criticised the BJP led Central leaders, and said they (BJP leaders) come to Odisha only during election season. "They (Central leaders) need to be asked what happened to the promise of second bridge on Brahmani river and Super Speciality Hospital in Rourkela. Why scholarships for SC & ST students were stopped?," Patnaik said. On the BJP's 'double engine' slogan (formation of BJP government both at Centre and Odisha), Patnaik said the empowerment of women is the real 'double engine' for development. He said the BJD had fielded a woman in Sundergarh Lok Sabha seat and she should be blessed by the people. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of violating the model code of conduct by referring to Balakot air strikes, Punjab Chief Minister Wednesday moved the Election Commission of India seeking action against him. Amarinder Singh shot off a letter to the poll panel, seeking action against the prime minister. Terming Modi's reported speech in Maharashtra, shockingly disgraceful, the chief minister said it was a clear case of violation of the code of conduct, which constitutes the bedrock of free and fair election. Amarinder Singh also said the failure to check such instances suggested bias on the part of the Election Commission. In his letter to CEC Sunil Arora, the chief minister strongly protested against the prime minister for allegedly using the success of the Balakot air strikes by the Indian Air Force and the sacrifice of the martyrs of the Pulwama attacks to woo the first-time voters. That a person of the stature of the prime minister should indulge in such shameful acts makes a mockery of the democratic process of election and undermines the independence of the Election Commission as well as the armed forces, who have always prided themselves on their secular character, the chief minister wrote. Amarinder Singh described as extremely unfortunate the fact that the prime minister was being allowed to engage in this kind of prejudicial behaviour, without the Election Commission taking any action to put a stop to such wilful violation of the code of conduct, for the past several weeks. That the prime minister has been allowed to continuously and brazenly resort to such gimmickry to woo voters raises suspicions of bias on the part of the Election Commission, with the impression going out that the poll body is not coming down hard enough on those violating its own code, he said. The chief minister pointed out that the ECI had asked political parties not to use photographs of defence personnel in its campaign. Despite the EC directive, the PM, however, continues to malign the memories of the martyrs and exploit their sacrifices in a petty attempt to garner votes, said Amarinder Singh, lashing out at Modi and the Bhartiya Janata Party for using the Balakot air strikes and the martyrdom of the security forces to exploit the sentiments of the voters, particularly the new ones. Their television campaign ads were also playing this theme with total disregard to the code of conduct, in utter contempt of the due process of election, he alleged. The chief minister said if the prime minister was so concerned about the sacrifices of the security personnel, he should announce compensation of Rs 1 crore for the families of each of the martyrs instead of exploiting their martyrdom for promoting his vested interests. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore has declined to attend the birthday celebration of the Queen of England, being organised here on Wednesday evening by the British Deputy High Commission, citing the 100th anniversary of the "emotive issue" of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre on April 13. Badnore, who was invited for the event as a special guest, wrote a letter this evening to British Deputy High Commissioner Andrew Ayre, citing his inability to attend the function. The governor, who is also the administrator of Union Territory Chandigarh, wrote, "Thank you very much for the invite as a special guest at Her Majesty the Queen's Birthday party this evening at your residence. Let me wish Her Majesty, a long life and good health." But, he added, he could not attend the event as it was being organised just days ahead of the 100th anniversary of the brutal massacre at 'Jallianwala Bagh' in Amritsar. The governor, however, mentioned the good relations that the two nations enjoy after India got its independence from the British rule. "We have been supporting each other in diverse fields of mutual interest, such as business, trade, education etc. Bilateral economic ties between the two are strong, vibrant and wide-ranging. India is the second-largest investor in Britain and Britain too is once of the largest investors in India," he wrote. He further mentioned the British Minister Mark Field's response to a debate in the British House of Commons, expressing "deep regrets" for the massacre and that the issue pertaining to an apology was a "work in progress". "Even the British Prime Minister Theresa May has termed the 'Jallianwala Bagh' tragedy 'a shameful scar'," the governor wrote. "In the wake of the above, it may not be appropriate for me to be present on this occasion as 'Jallianwala Bagh' has always been a very emotive issue in Punjab," he mentioned. On Wednesday, May too had stopped short of making a formal apology. The massacre happened on Baisakhi in 1919 when troops of the British Indian Army under the command of Colonel Dyer fired machine guns at a crowd of people holding a pro-independence demonstration, leaving several dead and scores injured. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday asked the United Nations to recognize Juan Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, telling the Security Council: "Nicolas Maduro must go." Washington will present a draft resolution to the Security Council aimed at recognizing Guaido and appointing his representative as the ambassador to the world body, Pence told the council. "The time has come for the United Nations to recognize interim president Juan Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela and seek his representative in this body," Pence said. The United States is among some 50 countries that recognize Guaido, the opposition leader who declared himself interim president in January, and consider Maduro to have lost legitimacy. Maduro has maintained control with support from the military, Russia and China. Russia last month sent troops to Caracas, raising tensions between Washington and Moscow. A draft resolution recognising Guaido is certain to be vetoed by Russia. A bid by the United States to win support for elections failed at the Security Council in February, with Russia and China vetoing a US-drafted resolution. After appealing for UN recognition for Guaido, Pence turned to Venezuela's Ambassador Samuel Moncada, who was seated in the council chamber, and said: "With all due respect Mister Ambassador, you shouldn't be here." He advised him to return to Caracas and convey the message to Maduro that "his time is up. It's time for him to go." The United States called the council meeting after a UN report detailed the heavy toll of the crisis from the collapse of Venezuela's oil economy. Seven million people -- 25 per cent of Venezuela's population -- are in need of humanitarian aid, lacking basic access to food and medical care, UN aid chief Mark Lowcock told the council. Malnutrition rates have trebled over the past five years, particularly affecting children under five, and power outages are worsening access to clean water, threatening a major spread of disease. More than 3.4 million people have left the country -- triggering a migrant crisis in neighbouring countries, and that figure is expected to reach five million by the end of the year. "There is a very real humanitarian problem in Venezuela," said Lowcock, who asked the council to support a ramping up of the international aid response. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Several people have been taken hostage and a policeman killed in an attack by Boko Haram militants in a troubled region of southeastern Niger, a senior official told AFP on Wednesday. The jihadists, some of them believed to be wearing suicide vests, launched the assault on various parts of the city of Diffa on Tuesday night and it was "still in progress" Wednesday morning, the official said. Residents described hearing gunshots and loud explosions near the police station. Two jihadists have been killed, according to provisional figures. "The attackers, hunted by the security forces, have holed up in the home of a policeman and taken several people hostage," the official said, who wanted to remain anonymous. One Diffa resident told AFP the police are "still trying to dislodge them." Diffa is close to northeastern Nigeria and borders the Lake Chad basin. It has suffered repeat attacks from Boko Haram. An estimated 27,000 people have been killed and two million displaced since Boko Haram launched its insurgency in northeastern Nigeria in 2009, a campaign that has spilled over to Niger, as well as Burkina Faso and Chad. Across Niger, 88 civilians were killed by Boko Haram in March alone, and more than 18,000 people forced to flee their villages, according to the United Nations. The UN has said it is alarmed by the "rapid deterioration of the security situation" in the Diffa region. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) All arrangements have been made for the first phase of polling Thursday in seven Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, election officials said Wednesday. Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Hansraj Ahir are among those in fray in these seats in Vidarbha region, which will see a direct fight between the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance and the Congress-NCP-led combine. Polling will begin at 7 AM amid tight security and end at 6 PM, said officials Wednesday. Security has been beefed up after an IED blast Wednesday in the Naxal-affected Gadchiroli district, where polling will be held Thursday. A CRPF jawan, who was escorting a polling party, was injured in the blast, police said. Nitin Gadkari (Nagpur) and his Cabinet colleague Hansraj Ahir (Chandrapur) -- both from the BJP -- are among prominent candidates in the fray in the first phase that covers seven out of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in the Vidarbha region in Eastern Maharashtra. The constituencies going to the polls Thursday are Nagpur, Ramtek (SC), Wardha, Bhandara-Gondiya, Yavatmal- Washim, Gadchiroli-Chimur (ST) and Chandrapur. The remaining three parliamentary seats in the region - Akola, Buldhana and Amravati - will vote in the second phase on April 18. Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats, will vote in four phases. The BJP-Sena combine had won all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Vidarbha in 2014. A total of 116 candidates are in the fray in these seven seats, which were once a Congress bastion. As many as 1,33,00,978 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the seven Lok Sabha seats, the officials said. In Nagpur, Gadkari, the sitting BJP MP, is pitted against Congress candidate Nana Patole, while in Chandrapur, Ahir's main rival is Suresh Dhanorkar of the Congress. In Ramtek, sitting Shiv Sena MP Krupal Tumane is facing former bureaucrat Kishore Gajbhiye of the Congress. Yavatmal is witnessing a fight between Shiv Sena MP Bhavana Gawali and Congress leader Manikrao Thakre, while in Wardha, sitting BJP MP Ramdas Tadas is up against Charulata Tokas of the Congress. In Bhandara-Gondiya, Nana Panchbuddhe of the NCP is taking on BJP's Sunil Mendhe. In Gadchiroli-Chimur, sitting BJP MP Ashok Nete is locking horns with Congress candidate Namdeo Usendi. A total of 2,037 polling centres have been set up in the Nagpur Lok Sabha Sabha constituency which has 21,26,574 voters, including 10,45,937 women and 66 of third gender. Addressing a press conference here Tuesday, Nagpur police commissioner B K Upadhyay said tight security arrangements have been made in the city to ensure free and fair voting. A total of 5,000 police personnel have been deployed for election duty, he said. These include personnel from central paramilitary forces, the State Reserve Police Force, the Maharashtra police and Home Guards, the IPS officer said. Quick Response Teams have been put on highalert to respond immediately to any situation, the police commissioner said. Nagpur district collector Ashwin Mudgal said the local administration is fully prepared for the polls. Mock polling will be conducted at 6.15 AM in the presence of representatives of the candidates in the fray before actual voting begins, the officials said. Gadkari, along with his family members, is expected to cast his vote at a polling booth in the Mahal area at around 9.30 AM. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat is expected to exercise his franchise at the polling booth at Bhauji Daftari School, Mahal, at around 7 AM. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is also expected to cast his vote in the early hours of polling in Nagpur. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi were among star campaigners who addressed rallies in Vidarbha. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump has said he's in love with Kim Jong Un, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday agreed that the North Korean leader is a "tyrant." Pompeo, who flew to Pyongyang four times last year as the Trump administration sought an opening with North Korea, was taken to task as he testified before a Senate subcommittee. Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, pointed to Pompeo's denunciations of Venezuela's leftist President Nicolas Maduro as a "tyrant" and asked if he would use similar language for Kim. "Sure. I'm sure I've said that," Pompeo replied. The comment may irk North Korea, which has signalled it is open to a third summit with Trump after a February meeting in Hanoi ended in stalemate. Seeking a potentially landmark denuclearisation accord, Trump has repeatedly praised Kim and last month said he had blocked major new sanctions planned for North Korea out of affection for its young authoritarian leader. North Korea has also been careful not to criticize Trump, while accusing his aides of "gangster-like" behaviour. Pompeo, however, was unwilling to label as a tyrant Egypt's military ruler turned president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who was hailed by Trump earlier Tuesday in a White House meeting. "There's no doubt that it's a mean, nasty world out there. But not every one of these leaders is the same," Pompeo said. "Some of them are trying to wipe entire nations off the face of the Earth and other are actually partnering with us to help keep Americans safe," he said. "You might call them tyrant, you might call them authoritarian, but there a fundamental difference, and therefore a fundamental difference in the way the US should respond," he said. Pompeo hailed Sisi's offensive against fighters of the Islamic State extremist movement in the Sinai peninsula. Sisi took power in a 2013 coup against elected president Mohamed Morsi, an Islamist, with authorities shortly afterward killing 700 protesters who had assembled in two Cairo squares. Human rights group say that North Korea has one of the world's most egregious records, with Kim's regime forbidding all dissent and running a massive system of political prisons in which between 80,000 and 130,000 people are detained along with their family members for suspected dissent. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday refused to reaffirm US support for a Palestinian state after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu pledged to annex West Bank settlements. Testifying before a Senate subcommittee just as Israel wrapped up tight elections, Pompeo declined to respond when Democrats asked him to back a two-state solution. "Ultimately the Israelis and Palestinians will decide how to resolve this," Pompeo replied. Pompeo said that President Donald Trump's aides Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt would soon lay out a proposal "to resolve a problem that's been going on for decades and decades that previous administrations couldn't solve." "We're hopeful that we have some ideas that are different, unique, which will allow the Israelis and the Palestinian people to come to a resolution of the conflict," Pompeo said. Kushner, who is also Trump's son-in-law, has close family ties to Netanyahu, who was locked in a tight race to remain prime minister against centrist former military chief Benny Gantz. Days before the election, Netanyahu broke precedent by saying that he would annex at least parts of the occupied West Bank. Unilateral annexation "indicates no agreement with the Palestinians," Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, told Pompeo. "It sounds like you've already abandoned what has been a bipartisan foreign policy of opposing the annexation of any or all of the West Bank by Israel," he said. Trump has strongly supported Netanyahu and taken a series of major actions long sought by Israel, including recognizing Jerusalem as capital of the Jewish state. Gantz criticized Netanyahu's annexation pledge, calling it "irresponsible" and questioning why a prime minister who has served for 13 years was making such a historic decision on the eve of an election. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Wednesday held that the publication of three documents by 'The Hindu' on the Rafale jet deal, on which the Centre had raised preliminary objections claiming "privilege" over them, were in consonance with the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech. The apex court further said that the publication of the documents in the newspaper reminded it of its various judgments upholding the freedom of the press which have also been echoed by the US Supreme Court from time to time. In the famous case of New York Times Company vs United States relating to the publication of the "Pentagon Papers", which contained information about the political and military involvement of the federal government in the Vietnam War, the US Supreme Court had refused to recognise a right in the executive government to seek a restraint order or publication of the papers. The judgment penned by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, on behalf of himself and Justice S K Kaul who were part of the three judge-bench delivering the verdict, said the apex court of the United States had refused to recognise the right of the government to restrain publication primarily on the ground that the First Amendment guaranteed freedom of the press and the US Code did not contemplate any restriction on publication of items or material specified in the Code. "By a majority of 6:3, the US Supreme Court had declined to pass prohibitory orders on publication of the "Pentagon Papers" on the ground that the Congress itself not having vested any such power in the executive, which it could have so done, the courts cannot carve out such a jurisdiction as the same may amount to unauthorized judicial law making thereby violating the sacred doctrine of separation of powers," the CJI said. The top court said the principle of law depicted in the "Pentagon Papers" case would apply to the facts of the Rafale case. "There is no provision in the Official Secrets Act and no such provision in any other statute has been brought to our notice by which Parliament has vested any power in the executive arm of the government either to restrain publication of documents marked as secret or from placing such documents before a court of law which may have been called upon to adjudicate a legal issue concerning the parties," the CJI said. The court said no law enacted by the Parliament specifically barring or prohibiting the publication of such documents on any of the grounds mentioned in Article 19(2) of the Constitution has been brought to the court's notice. "The fact that the three documents had been published in The Hindu and were thus available in the public domain has not been seriously disputed or contested by the respondents. "No question has been raised and, in our considered opinion, very rightly, with regard to the publication of the documents in 'The Hindu' newspaper. The right of such publication would seem to be in consonance with the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech," Justice Gogoi said. Justice K M Joseph, who wrote a 38-page separate but concurring judgment, also highlighted the role of media with respect to Freedom of Speech. The judge wrote that the press in India has greatly contributed to the strengthening of democracy in the country and it will have a pivotal role to play for the continued existence of a vibrant democracy in the country. "It is indisputable that the press out of which the visual media in particular wields power, the reach of which appears to be limitless. No segment of the population is impervious to its influence. It must realise that its consumers are entitled to demand that the stream of information that flows from it, must remain unpolluted by considerations other than truth. "I would think that freedom involves many elements. A free person must be fearless. Fear can be of losing all or any of the things that is held dear by the journalist. A free man cannot be biased. Bias comes in many forms. Bias if it is established as per the principles which are applicable is sufficient to vitiate the decisions of public authorities. The rule against bias is an important axiom to be observed by judges," Justice Joseph said. The judge said the press, including the visual media, cannot be biased and yet be free. "Bias ordinarily implies a pre-disposition towards ideas or persons, both expressions to be comprehended in the broadest terms. It may stem from personal, political or financial considerations. Transmitting biased information, betrays absence of true freedom. "It is, in fact, a wholly unjustifiable onslaught on the vital right of the people to truthful information under Article 19(1)(a) which, in turn, is the bedrock of many other rights of the citizens also. In fact, the right of the press in India is no higher than the right of the citizens under Article 19(1)(a) and is traced to the same provision," Justice Joseph said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed the opposition for terming the Supreme Court's observation Wednesday in the Rafale case as a jolt to the Modi government, claiming that the verdict on the merit of the case is yet to be delivered. he Supreme Court Wednesday allowed leaked documents to be relied upon by petitioners seeking review of its Rafale judgment and dismissed the government's preliminary objections claiming "privilege" over them. The opposition parties' stand that the Supreme Court's decision is a jolt to the government is "prayojit (sponsored)", Prasad told reporters at Bakhtiyarpur, about 50 km from the Bihar capital. "The court has merely said that it would examine even those documents which the government holds are privileged, or have been appended to the petition in an unauthorised manner," he said. Prasad said, "The Supreme Court is yet to come out with a verdict on the merit of the case on the review petitions." "The government is on a strong footing as the apex court has already said that no commercial interests were involved in the deal which was necessary for national security", he said. The Centre had submitted that privilege documents were procured by petitioners in an illegal way and used to support their review petitions against the December 14, 2018, judgment of the apex court dismissing all pleas challenging procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France. "The Rafale deal was necessary to strengthen the Indian Air Force. The IAF had a dearth of state-of=the art aircraft. A sponsored campaign is being carried out against the government on the issue," he alleged. "We respect the Supreme Court's order," the union law minister who is the BJP candidate for the Patna Sahib seat, added. He said as far as the opposition parties and their "sponsored campaign" is concerned, they will be given a befitting reply by the people of this country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Accusing Congress president Rahul Gandhi of gross contempt of court, the BJP on Wednesday said he attributed to the Supreme Court what it had never said in its order on the Rafale deal. Addressing a press conference, senior party leader and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "The Congress president probably doesn't read even half a paragraph of the court's order, but here, by saying that the court has has said 'chowkidaar chor hai', it is verging on contempt of court." The president of a party which has been in power for so many years has shown his frustration by attributing words to the apex which were not uttered, she said. The minister added that the court order was limited to whether it should consider the documents the government said were illegally obtained by petitioners. Taking a potshot at Gandhi, she said he is out on bail and was accompanied at his nomination filing in Amethi by "the family" -- as described Christen Michel, an alleged middlemen in VVIP chopper deal. Gandhi has crossed the line of decency in his comments on the court, she said, adding that he is repeatedly misleading people on the Rafale fighter jet deal. Buoyed by the Supreme Court order allowing petitioners seeking a review of the Rafale judgment to rely on leaked documents, Gandhi claimed the apex court has made it "clear" that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "committed a theft". Gandhi then challenged Modi to a debate on the Rafale military aircraft deal, which the Congress claims involved corruption, a charge repeatedly rejected by the government. Asked whether the court order is a setback for the government, Sitharaman said, "Not at all." She said things would now become crystal clear. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP on Wednesday accused Congress president Rahul Gandhi of "gross contempt of court", saying he attributed to the Supreme Court what it never said in its order on the Rafale deal. BJP leader and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also asserted that the court's order, which allowed leaked documents to be relied upon by petitioners seeking review of its Rafale judgment while rejecting the government's objections, was not a setback and that the Congress will not be able to "shows its face". The matter will become crystal clear in the court, she told reporters. Citing the order, Gandhi claimed the court has accepted that "chowkidar chor hai", a reference to his allegation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a thief, and that he gave money to industrialist Anil Ambani. Lashing out at the Congress chief, Sitharaman said he had crossed the line of decency in his comments on the court's order and added that it underlines his frustration that he was attributing words to the SC that it never uttered. The order was limited to whether the documents, which the government had argued should not be considered by the court as they were obtained illegally, should be accepted by the apex court or not, she said. Gandhi does not read even half a paragraph of the court's order and goes by what his advisers tell him, Sitharaman claimed, accusing him of gross contempt of court. Noting that Gandhi was accompanied by his mother Sonia Gandhi, sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and her husband Robert Vadra who is being probed for controversial land deals among others when he filed his nomination from Amethi seat, the BJP leader in a swipe at him said Christian Michel had referred to them as "the family". Michel is under arrest for his involvement in the alleged corruption in the VVIP chopper deal. The BJP has used some of his alleged disclosures to accuse the Gandhi family of involvement in the case, a charge rejected by the Congress, which has in turn charged the government with misuse of probe agencies for political purposes. Attacking Rahul Gandhi, Sitharaman said he is himself out on a bail a reference to the National Herald case and has been telling lies to throw muck at Modi who, she added, does not face any charge. Asked about his challenge to Modi for a debate, she said the Congress leader should first answer whether the court's order has said what he alleged in his reaction. She declined to comment on Pakistan's premier Imran Khan's comments that there may be a better chance of peace talks with India and settle the Kashmir issue if BJP wins the general election. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a setback to the Centre, the Supreme Court Wednesday allowed leaked documents to be relied upon by petitioners seeking review of its Rafale judgement and dismissed the government's preliminary objections claiming "privilege" over them. The Centre had submitted that privilege documents were procured by petitioners in an illegal way and used to support their review petitions against the December 14, 2018 judgement of the apex court dismissing all pleas challenging procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France. "We dismiss the preliminary objection raised by Union of India questioning the maintainability of the review petition," a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph said. The apex court said it will go ahead with the hearing on the review petition on the basis of new documents referred by petitioners. The CJI pronounced the verdict on his behalf and for Justice S K Kaul. The second concurrent judgment was pronounced by Justice K M Joseph, who said he agreed with the conclusion of the judgment written by the CJI. The chief justice said Justice Joseph agreed with the judgment delivered by him but gave different reasoning. The judgment makes it clear that during the hearing of the review petition the bench will look into not only the question of pricing of the jet but also selection of Indian offset partner of Dassault which manufactures Rafale. The top court said review petitions against its December 14 verdict dismissing all petitions against procurement of Rafale jets will be decided on merits. The apex court said it will fix a date for hearing review petitions. Former union minister Arun Shourie, who is one of the review petitioners, said he was delighted by the unanimous verdict. "We are delighted it is an unanimous verdict dismissing Central government's peculiar argument on admissibility of documents. Centre's argument meant that no wrong can be done in the defence deal," Shourie said. The other two petitioners are former union minister Yashwant Sinha and activist advocate Prashant Bhushan. On March 14, the apex court had reserved verdict on the preliminary objections raised by the Centre on admissibility of privileged documents annexed by Sinha, Shourie and Bhushan in their review petition. Classified documents were sourced by the media over the Rafale deal. Citing internal reports of the Defence Ministry, the Hindu had reported that the Defence Ministry had objected to parallel negotiations by the government. The Centre had claimed privilege over documents pertaining to the Rafale fighter jet deal with France and said those documents cannot be considered in evidence as per Section 123 of the Indian Evidence Act. The Centre had contended that no one can produce them in the court without the permission of the department concerned as those documents are also protected under the Official Secrets Act and their disclosure is exempted under the Right to Information Act as per Section 8(1)(a). A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had on December 14 dismissed all Public Interest Litigations (PILs) against the deal between India and France for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets, saying there was no occasion to "really doubt the decision making process" warranting setting aside of the contract. The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With UPA president Sonia Gandhi and sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra by his side, president Wednesday filed his nomination papers for the Amethi Lok Sabha seat at the Collectorate here. Rahul was also accompanied by Priyanka's husband Robert Vadra and their two children to send a message that the entire family gives much importance to the bastion, party leaders said. The chief and his family were greeted by party workers, who gathered in the city, despite hot weather conditions, to get a glimpse of their leaders. The three-time MP from Amethi will take on Union Minister and nominee Smriti Irani in the Lok Sabha election in a virtual direct contest as the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in Uttar Pradesh has decided not to field a candidate from the seat. This time, the Congress president is contesting a second seat, Wayanad, in Kerala where he had filed his papers on April 4. Before filing his documents at the Collectorate at Gauriganj, Rahul embarked on a three-km-long roadshow in an open vehicle. On his way, crowds on both sides of the road showered rose petals and marigold flowers on him and cheered for the Congress chief, who waved back at them. Surging crowds of Congress supporters walked along Rahul's vehicle as it made its way to the Collectorate through areas in Munshiganj, Darpipur and Gauriganj. Since morning, Congress supporters, wearing tricolour caps and scarves, were out on the streets holding placards and posters in preparation for their party president's visit. They raised slogans and often broke into impromptu dance at the beat drums.The streets were lined with Congress flags, and hoardings and posters with pictures of Rahul and party general secretary UP East Priyanka Gandhi. Some banners read 'Vikas ki andhi, Priyanka Gandhi' and 'Amethi ka sansad, desh ka PM'. Enthusiastic youngsters on motorcycles moved around making videos of the event on their mobile phones. UPA chairperson Sonia, who was not part of the roadshow, reached the Collectorate to back her son. She will file her nomination papers from neighbouring Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency on Thursday. BJP's Smriti Irani is likely to file her nomination papers on Thursday. In the 2014 general elections, Irani was defeated by Rahul by over one lakh votes. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is scheduled to hold a roadshow at the same place as Rahul's roadshow and also a public meeting in support of Irani on Thursday. Amethi goes to polls on May 6 in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha RailWire Wi-Fi by RailTel is now live at 1600 railway stations across the country, with Santacruz railway station in Mumbai becoming the 1600th station to become a RailWire Wi-Fi zone, the Western Railway said Wednesday. RailTel Corporation, a "Mini Ratna (category-I)" PSU, is one of the largest neutral telecom infrastructure providers in the country owning a pan-India optic fibre network on exclusive Right of Way (ROW) along Railway track. RailWire is a retail Broadband initiative of the RailTel, which envisages extending broadband and application services to the public. "In order to fulfil the promise of bringing fast and free Wi-Fi at all stations (except the halt stations) within a year, team RailTel is tirelessly working to achieve the target and in this process, WR's Santacruz station became the 1600th railway station of the Indian Railway which has now been equipped with RailWire Wi-Fi connectivity," the WR said in a statement. WR CPRO (Chief Public Relations Officer) Ravinder Bhakar said Reay Road station of the Central Railway became the 1000th station to be covered under free wi-fi facility two days back. "Now Santacruz station has become the 1600th station in the country to have fast free RailWire Wi-Fi," he said. RailTel CMD Puneet Chawla termed the development as an outstanding achievement. "RailTel has provided high speed Wi-Fi at 985 stations with own/other funding and at 415 A, A1 and C category stations, associating Google as the technology partner for radio access, while using the RailTel backbone for broadband connectivity. RailTel has also completed work of providing Wi-Fi to 200 stations with support of Universal Service Obligatory Fund of GoI," Chawla said. RailTel started providing the free public Wi-Fi service at Indian railway stations with a vision of turning Railway stations into a platform for digital inclusion. The idea behind providing free Wi-Fi to these very small stations catering to mainly rural/low population density areas is to provide the people with state of the art Wi-Fi facility. Explaining the modalities of using Wi-Fi network, the statement said the user has to switch on the Wi-Fi mode in the smartphone and select the RailWire Wi-Fi network. "After the RailWire homepage network automatically appears on the smartphone, the user has to enter his or her mobile number on this homepage. The user will get one-time password (OTP) in form of SMS in the message box which has to be entered in the home page of RailWire. After entering OTP, users will be able to access high speed internet and can start browsing," it stated. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Reserve Bank Wednesday said it has imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh on UP Postal Primary Co-operative Bank, Lucknow for violation of norms regarding shifting of its branch. The RBI had issued a show-cause notice to the bank, in response to which the lender submitted a written reply. After considering the facts of the case and the bank's reply in the matter and personal hearing, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) came to the conclusion that the violation was substantiated and warranted imposition of penalty. The Rs 1 lakh penalty has been imposed on the co-operative bank "for violation of RBI Instructions/Guidelines for shifting of its branch without obtaining prior approval from RBI", the central bank said. On Tuesday, the RBI had imposed certain restrictions on The Mudhol Co-operative Bank, Bagalkot district, Karnataka till its "financial position improves". From the close of business on April 8, 2019, the bank has been barred from granting or renewing any loans, make any investments, and acceptance of fresh deposits, without prior approval of RBI in writing. "In particular, a sum not exceeding Rs 1,000 of the total balance in every savings bank or current account or any other deposit account may be allowed to be withdrawn" subject to conditions stated in the RBI directions, it said. The RBI, however, added that the directions issued to The Mudhol Co-operative Bank should not per se be construed as cancellation of the banking licence. The bank will continue to undertake banking business with restrictions till its financial position improves, it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Claiming the BJP has brought back dignity and respect to Muslim women, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday urged them to recognise their "true brothers" as he referred to the Centre's step to ban triple talaq. "We have freed our Muslim sisters from hundreds of years of abuse and captivity, which they were subjected to. The wicked practice of triple talaq was being used as a weapon to exploit them in many ways. "By abolishing the process, we have brought back their dignity and respect... I want my Muslim sisters to recognize their true brothers. Women power must be respected. India got its freedom in 1947, but now we have to fight a battle for the dignity of the women," he said said at an election meeting here. Attacking the opposition parties, Adityanath said, "You must have seen the rally in Kerala when Rahul Gandhi went to file the nomination. There were no flags of India or the Congress party. The only flags present there, were of the Muslim League. The Congress is suffering from 'green virus'." He also targeted the Congress manifesto on issues of AFSPA and sedition law saying, "The Congress has promised to revoke the special powers given to Army. It also promised to dilute the punishment awarded to those who shout anti-national slogans." The Congress has in its manifesto promised to review the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), that gives immunity to security personnel in 'disturbed areas'. "It won't be surprising if Rahul Gandhi announces allowance for stone pelters in Kashmir next. Their intentions are quite clear and their 'hand' (apparently referring to election symbol of Congress) is stained with the blood of the nation," Adityanath said. The chief minister also hit out at the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. "The moment the SP came to power, they initiated the process of withdrawing cases against anti-nationals and terrorists. While during the BSP's reign, 39 sugar mills were shut down leaving the farmers helpless. "However, when the BJP came to power in the state, we paid Rs 62,000 crore arrears to sugarcane farmers. We have made sure that the farmers get paid in the same season. If someone delays the payment of farmers, we will not hesitate to put him in the jail," he said. In a jibe at previous governments over power supply situation in the state, he said, "Dacoits prefer darkness for their evil deeds. How could the previous governments ensure uninterrupted power supply as they were supporting such crimes. Since the time we have come to power, we have ensured continuous power supply even in villages." The BJP leader appealed to voters to support the BJP "to make India an economic and military super-power under the strong leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a setback to the Centre, the Supreme Court Wednesday allowed the plea relying on leaked documents for seeking review of its Rafale judgement and dismissed the government's preliminary objections claiming "privilege" over them. The Centre had submitted that the three privilege documents were unauthorisedly removed from the Defence Ministry and used by the petitioners to support their review petitions against the December 14, 2018 judgement of the apex court which dismissed all pleas challenging the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France. A three-judge bench delivered two separate but unanimous verdicts rejecting the objections raised by the Centre that those documents were not admissible as evidence under Section 123 of the Indian Evidence Act, and no one can produce them in court without the permission of the department concerned as those documents are also protected under the Official Secrets Act. The Centre also failed to impress the bench, comprising Chief justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, that the disclosure of those documents was exempted under the Right to Information Act as per Section 8(1)(a) and those who conspired in photocopying the papers committed theft and put national security in jeopardy. CJI, who wrote the judgement for himself and Justice Kaul, noted that all the three documents were in "public domain" and published by prominent daily The Hindu were "in consonance with the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech". CJI said: "We deem it proper to dismiss the preliminary objections raised by the Union of India questioning the maintainability of the review petitions and we hold and affirm that the review petitions will have to be adjudicated on their own merit by taking into account the relevance of contents of the 3 documents, admissibility of which, in the judicial decision making process, has been sought to be questioned by the respondents in the review petitions." The CJI, who penned the 18-page judgement, said the documents used by former Union ministers Yaswant Sinha and Arun Shourie and lawyer Prashant Bhushan in their plea were published in The Hindu' in February and one of the papers was also published by The Wire'. "The fact that the three documents had been published in the Hindu and were thus available in the public domain has not been seriously disputed or contested by the respondents. "No question has been raised and, in our considered opinion, very rightly, with regard to the publication of documents in The Hindu' newspaper. The right of such publication would seem to be in consonance with the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech," Justice Gogoi said. Senior advocate Vikas Singh, who appeared for another petitioner Vineet Dhandha, said today's judgement makes it clear that during the hearing of the review petition the bench will look into various issues on the Rafale jet deal including the question of pricing and also selection of Indian offset partner of Dassault. The two judges also noted no law enacted by Parliament specifically barring or prohibiting the publication of such documents on any of the grounds mentioned in Article 19(2) of the Constitution has been brought to its notice. "In fact, the publication of the said documents in The Hindu' newspaper reminds the Court of the consistent views of this Court upholding the freedom of the press in a long line of decisions," the judges said. The apex court said there is no provision in the Official Secrets Act and no such provision in any other statute has been brought to its notice by which Parliament has vested any power in the executive to restrain publication of documents marked as secret. While rejecting the contention that there was a protection from publication of the documents relied upon by the petitioners, it said, "Insofar as the claim of privilege is concerned, on the very face of it, Section 123 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 relates to unpublished public records and as noted the documents have already been published in different editions of The Hindu' newspaper". A claim of immunity against disclosure under Section 123 has to be essentially adjudged on the touchstone of public interest, it said. To satisfy itself that public interest is not put to jeopardy by requiring disclosure, the Court may even inspect the document in question though the said power has to be sparingly exercised, it added. The immunity claim is plainly not tenable, it said. On RTI Act, it said that when the documents are already in the public domain, "we do not see how the protection under Section 8(1)(a) of the Act would serve public interest". Dealing with the submission of Attorney General K K Venugopal, who questioned the manner in which the documents were procured by the petitioners, the apex court referred to its previous judgement. It said a view was taken that the "test of admissibility of evidence lies in its relevancy, unless there is an express or necessarily implied prohibition in the Constitution or other law evidence obtained as a result of illegal search or seizure is not liable to be shut out". Justice Joseph, who gave different reasons for concurring with the CJI, said: "The correctness of the contents per se of the documents are not questioned. "Lastly, the case does not strictly involve in a sense the claim for privilege as the petitioners have not called upon the respondents to produce the original and ...the state does not take objection to the correctness of the contents of the documents. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court Wednesday dismissed Lalu Prasad Yadav's plea seeking bail in multi-crore fodder scam cases, dashing hopes of the RJD supremo for electioneering during the Lok Sabha polls. The top court said Yadav is a convicted man and the period spent by him in the jail is nothing in comparison to the 14-year sentence awarded to him. A bench of Chief Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna while dismissing Yadav's appeal said, "We don't think we can release you on bail". At the outset, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Yadav, said he has been convicted in four cases and has served jail terms of 24 months, 22 months, 20 months and 14 months respectively. "In one of the cases, several persons who were holding influential positions were acquitted but I was convicted and sentenced for 14 years," he said. To this, the bench said in total Yadav has served 24 months in four cases and he cannot split the sentence awarded to him. Sibal said there were no recoveries of any kind from him in the case, no demands were made and the only major offence under which he was convicted was conspiracy. The bench said the high court will look into the merits of the case and at present it is only hearing the bail appeal. Sibal said: "If I am released on bail, I would not run away. My appeal is not being heard in the high court. Currently High court is hearing appeals of 2004 onwards." The apex court bench said that now there are courts meant for expeditious trial of criminal cases against politicians and it can request the Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court to transfer the cases for trial to the special court. "Let the high court decide the merit of the case in appeals against your conviction and sentence," it said. Sibal contended, "What is the danger if I am released on bail? I have served 24 months in the jail". The bench then said: "Going by your statement, the 24 months in jail is nothing in comparison to 14 years jail term," and added, "there is no danger except that you are convicted". Terming the mood of the court to be unfortunate, Sibal again asked the reason as to why he was not being granted the relief. The bench replied, "Why? because you are a convicted man. Sorry, we don't think we will release you on bail. The Special Leave Petition (appeal) stands dismissed". The CBI had yesterday vehemently opposed in the apex court the bail plea of Yadav, saying the ailing leader suddenly claimed to be "fully fit" to undertake political activities in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Yadav, who has been in hospital instead of jail for over eight months, had sought bail on medical grounds and for leading his party simultaneously, the CBI had said while arguing that granting of bail to him would set "very wrong precedent" in cases involving "serious corruption in high offices". Accusing Yadav of undertaking political activities from a hospital in Ranchi, the probe agency had said: "Simultaneous raising of pleas for bail on medical grounds and bail to guide the party and to carry out all essential responsibilities as a party president in ensuing Lok Sabha election are mutually contradictory and manifests that in the garb of bail on medical ground the petitioner in essence wants to pursue his political activities which is impermissible in law." The agency, in its response filed to Yadav's bail plea, had referred to the high-profile political leaders who have visited him in the hospital in last few months including Ahmed Patel, D Raja, Derek O' Brien, Sharad Yadav and Hemant Soren. The convicted person occupied the Constitutional office of the Chief Minister of one of the largest states in the country and has been held guilty of "misappropriation of Rs 75.48 crores in four fodder scam cases" and is still undergoing trial in two cases for misappropriation of Rs 139.45 crore, it had said, adding Yadav may influence the trial in the two pending cases. The RJD chief, lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi, had challenged the January 10 verdict of the Jharkhand High Court dismissing his bail plea. The four cases in which Yadav has been convicted are related to the over-Rs 900-crore fodder scam, which pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of money from the treasuries in the Animal Husbandry department in the early 1990s, when Jharkhand was part of Bihar. The RJD was in power in Bihar with Yadav as the chief minister when the scam had allegedly taken place. In the high court, the RJD supremo cited old age and poor health for grant of bail. Yadav (71) said he was suffering from diabetes, blood pressure and other ailments and that he had already obtained bail in one of the fodder scam cases. He has been convicted for fraudulent withdrawal of money from the Deoghar, Dumka and two Chaibasa treasuries situated in Jharkhand. He is currently facing trial in two another fodder scam case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of funds to the tune of over Rs 130 crore from the Doranda treasury and has been undergoing treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) at Ranchi for the last few months. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court Wednesday asked the Coordinator of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam to take steps to minimise the "inconvenience" of the people who have filed claims before authorities after being left out in the draft NRC. A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice R F Nariman took note of submissions of state NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela that it has been verifying the citizenship claims of left out persons on the basis of "family tree" and land records. Verification of claims on the basis of family tree was being conducted near the place where most of the relatives of the claimant are residing, he said. The bench has now posted the matter for hearing on May 8 and asked Hazela to file a report on the progress made towards finalisation of the NRC. The apex court has already made it clear that it will not extend the July 31 deadline for publication of the final Assam NRC. It had said the NRC work and Lok Sabha polls can go on simultaneously in the state. On February 5, the apex court had observed that the Centre is "hell bent" on stalling the Assam NRC work while rapping it for seeking suspension of the process during the polls citing non-availability of security forces. The draft Assam NRC was published on July 30, 2018 in which the names of 2.89 crore of the 3.29 crore people were included. The names of 40,70,707 people did not figure in the list. Of these, 37,59,630 names have been rejected and the remaining 2,48,077 are on hold. The first draft of Assam NRC was published on the intervening night of December 31, 2017 and January 1 in accordance with the top court's direction. Names of 1.9 crore people out of the 3.29 crore applicants were incorporated then. Assam, which had faced influx of people from Bangladesh since the early 20th century, is the only state to have an NRC, first prepared in 1951. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Buoyed by the Supreme Court order allowing petitioners seeking a review of the Rafale judgment to rely on leaked documents, Congress president Rahul Gandhi claimed the SC has made it clear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi committed a theft. Rahul Gandhi then challenged Modi to a debate on the Rafale military aircraft deal, which the Congress claims involved corruption, a charge repeatedly rejected by the government. Gandhi recalled a recent interview by the prime minister, in which Modi had said the Supreme Court had given a clean chit to his government on the Rafale deal. Now the SC has made it clear that 'chowkidarji' (watchman) has committed a theft, Gandhi told reporters here after filing his nomination papers from the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency. He claimed the apex court has accepted that there is some corruption in Rafale. The apex court, which had earlier cleared the Modi government of accusations of corruption over the Rafale deal, Tuesday said it will hear a review petition on the basis of the new documents, referred to by the petitioners. But Gandhi appeared to interpret the order as an acceptance by the Supreme Court that there was corruption in the deal on the French aircraft. "I am happy and I have been saying so for months that Hindustan's PM has given the air force money to (industrialist) Anil Ambani, and the SC has accepted it. The SC is going to investigate it," he said. I want to directly challenge that the SC has said that you have indulged in corruption, he said. Come let's debate... the country wants to know about corruption, the Rafale deal, demonetisation and Amit Shah's son." The reference was to Jay Shah. Last year, a newspaper portal had claimed that his firm recorded a huge increase in turnover after the BJP-led government came to power. Jay Shah had then filed a defamation suit against the organisation. Gandhi claimed that Modi will not be able to look him in the eye if the two debate the Rafale deal. I want to thank the SC. It's a very happy day. The SC has talked about justice. Justice has prevailed," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bombay High Court bench in Goa on Wednesday started hearing the final arguments on an appeal filed against the acquittal of the accused in an 11-year-old case related to the death and rape of British teenager Scarlett Eden Keeling. The Central Bureau of Investigation has charged two youths Samsung D'Souza and Placido Carvalho for the death of the 15-year-old British girl at Goa's Anjuna beach in 2008. However, Goa Children's Court Judge Vandana Tendulkar had acquitted both the accused, citing a lack of evidence against them. In Feb 2017, the CBI filed a petition before the high court, claiming the judge did not apply her mind when delivering the judgment, due to which both the accused were set free. Scarlett's bruised, semi-nude corpse was found on the Anjuna beach on Feb 18, 2008. Two locals D'Souza and Carvalho were accused of leaving the girl to die on the beach after drugging and sexually abusing her. The case, initially investigated by Goa police, was handed over to the CBI by the state government after Scarlett's mother, Fiona Mackeown, raised doubts on the investigation. Goa Children's Court, after examining several witnesses, on September 23, 2016 acquitted both the accused, eight years after the death of the 15-year-old girl. Representing the CBI before the division bench of justices R D Dhanuka and Prithviraj Chavan, senior counsel Ejaz Khan said there was no delay on the part of the investigating agencies to probe the case, as told by the trial court while acquitting the accused. Seeking conviction of both the accused, Khan went through the statement of various witnesses recorded by police, the CBI and the magistrate during the probe. Khan told the bench that since the case was initially probed by state police, it was in the nature of "further investigation" conducted by the CBI and the trial court judge erred in holding that it was a fresh investigation. The next hearing will be held on Thursday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Separatists have called for a strike on Thursday to protest against the polling for first phase of Lok Sabha elections in Kashmir and the "NIA aggression" against Hurriyat Conference leaders and their kin. Jammu and Baramulla Lok Sabha constituencies are going to polls in the first phase on Thursday. "The complete shutdown (Hartal) is against the so-called Indian parliamentary elections that are going to start from tomorrow from Baramulla parliamentary constituency, against NIA aggression including shifting of JKLF chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik, rigourous questioning of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and repeated summoning of sons of Syed Ali Shah Geelani to Delhi," the separatists said in a statement on Wednesday. They said the strike is also to protest against the closure of Kashmir's main highway for civilians for two days in a week and recent attack by the police and the security forces on inmates at Central Jail in Srinagar. Appealing to the people to stay away from voting, the separatists said the shutdown will be observed in areas which are going to polls in the valley in subsequent phases of the elections. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The stage is set for over 13 lakh voters to exercise their franchise for the West Tripura Lok Sabha seat which would go to the polls on Thursday. Chief Electoral Officer, Sriram Taranikanti said, elections would begin at 7 am and would continue till 5 pm and adequate security arrangements have been made. The CEO said 13,47,381 voters including 6,82,044 male and 6,65,327 female voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in 1679 polling stations of the constituency. "Adequate security measures have been taken, 99 per cent voters have received their voter slips, 30 polling stations would be fully manned by women and a total of 3030 postal ballots have been cast so far for the West Tripura parliamentary constituency," Taranikanti told reporters. Altogether, 13 candidates including BJP's Pratima Bhowmick, CPI(M) nominee Shankar Prasad Datta and Subal Bhowmick of the Congress are in the fray. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechuri have campaigned in the state. Director General of Police Akhil Kumar Shukla said 64 companies of Central Arms Police Forces (CAPFs) have been deployed in different areas of the state along with state police and Tripura State Rifles (TSR) for the first phase of the polls. The DGP said since the declaration of the poll schedule 1570 non-bailable and permanent warrants have been executed, 60 election related cases were registered, 44 accused persons arrested. Shukla said the BSF has sealed 856 km long Indo-Bangla international border in Tripura so that no untoward elements could enter into Indian territory to carry out any subversive activity. He said 21 polling stations were identified as vulnerable and 111 as critical in West Tripura constituency. Tripura has two Lok Sabha seats - West Tripura and East Tripura. Election to the East Tripura seat will be held on April 18 during the second phase. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The stage is set for polling in all 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in Telangana on Thursday with elaborate arrangements being made to ensure a free and fair poll. Having swept the Assembly polls held in December last, the ruling TRS is hoping for an encore in the company of AIMIM while the opposition Congress and BJP appear to be focussed on winning select number of seats. As many as 443 candidates (418 male and 25 female) candidates are in the fray in the 17 constituencies. Over 2.97 crore voters, including 1504 transgenders, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the state, which has a total of 34,604 polling stations. Polling would be held from 7 AM to 4 PM in 13 Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-effected Assembly segments under five parliamentary constituencies, and from 7 AM to 5 PM in all other Lok Sabha constituencies. Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency is a special case in this parliamentary election as 185 candidates, including more than 170 farmers, are in the fray. The peasants have entered the fray to highlight their demand for remunerative price to turmeric and red jowar. The Election Commission has decided to conduct the poll in Nizamabad with EVMs (12 EVMs in each booth) despite the large number of candidates. Polling in Nizamabad would be begin at 8 AM and end at 6 PM as mock polling is expected to take more time compared to other constituencies in view of the large number of candidates. Congress leader Renuka Chowdary (Khammam), AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi (Hyderabad), state Congress president N Uttam Kumar Reddy (Nalgonda), sitting TRS MP K Kavitha (Nizamabad), daughter of TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao, are among the prominent candidates who are in fray. Addition DG ( Law and order) Jitender said special arrangements have been made for Nizamabad with additional deployment of four companies of central forces in the constituency. As many as 145 companies of central paramilitary forces and 9,000 policemen from other states have been deployed besides over 55,000 state police for security arrangement, the police official said. TRS leaders have repeatedly said their aim was to bag 16 seats for the party, leaving the remaining one for AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi, who is seeking to win for the fourth time from Hyderabad. In the December seven, 2018, Assembly elections, the TRS bagged 88 seats in the 119-member House, while the Congress bagged only 19. The BJP could manage only one seat and the Amit Shah-led party, in fact, forfeited deposits in more than 100 Assembly segments. Compounding problems for the Congress, ten of its MLAs announced their decision to join the TRS during the last month. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the TRS bagged 11 seats, and the Congress two. The BJP, TDP, YSRCP and AIMIM shared one each. The TDP, YSRCP and one Congress Lok Sabha member later joined the TRS. Campaigning for the coming Lok Sabha elections appeared low key compared to the high-pitched one seen during Assembly polls in December. KCR and his son and party working President K T Rama Rao campaigned vigorously, constantly attacking BJP and Congress, saying these two national parties failed to deliver when in power and the time has come for regional parties to take centre stage. KCR said if TRS won 16 seats, it would play a key role in national He claimed that none of the national parties-BJP or Congress would secure a majority on its own to form the government at the Centre. Among national leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and BSP supremo Mayawati canvassed for their respective parties. Highlighting the "family rule" of KCR, Modi warned that TRS' association with Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM party would mean "speed-breaker" for Telangana's development. Owaisi canvassed for TRS candidates at some places. KCR earlier termed AIMIM as TRS' friendly party. Rahul Gandhi alleged during election rallies that both the BJP and TRS have a tacit understanding and hence vote for TRS is like voting for BJP. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Stalking, throwing feces, restricting personal freedom and showing tattoos are among the crimes categorised as new "soft violence," by Chinese police as they launched nation crackdown against organised crime. The move comes as many mafia-style gangs in China have deliberately turned to "soft violence" instead of downright violent criminal behaviour amid the nationwide campaign against organised crime, the officials said. "Soft violence" has long troubled law enforcement personnel at the basic level as no regulation clarifies what this behaviour is or tells them how to deal with it, Du Hangwei, vice minister of Public Security told state-run Global Times. The "public security bureaus should implement the new regulations carefully," he said. Revealing personal information, damaging property, home invasions, setting off firecrackers, playing funeral music or placing wreaths to threaten others, are also considered "soft violence," the daily quoted the official as saying. Groups of people that try to threaten others by organised behaviour's, including wearing the same clothing or showing off tattoos or special slogans will be treated as mafia-style gangs, it said. The clarification of "soft violence" indicates that the campaign will be more specific, Zhi Zhenfeng, a legal expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences told the daily, noting that the specific legal standards will be enacted soon in accordance with laws. The campaign against organised crime started in January 2018 and is expected to last three years. It has entered a critical year in 2019, state-run Xinhua agency reported. Zhi warned that even though the campaign has made some progress, uprooting the "protective umbrellas" of organised crime will continue to be the fundamental mission of the campaign. Su Wei, a professor at the Party School of the Communist Party of China Chongqing Municipal Committee, said the campaign relates to various fields of society, including companies, village gangs and even college campuses. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Clashes between Sudanese security forces and protesters holding a large anti-government sit-in outside the military's headquarters in the capital Khartoum killed at least 11 people including six security forces, the government's spokesman said Wednesday. Information Minister Hassan Ismail, who also serves as the Sudanese government spokesman, did not give further details on the violence a day earlier. Sudanese security forces tried again to break up the sit-in, which began over the weekend, killing at least 14 people on Tuesday, activists behind the demonstration said, disputing the government's figure. Attempts by security forces to break up the sit-in have killed at least 22 since Saturday, including five soldiers who protest organizers said were defending the sit-in. The demonstration is the latest in nearly four months of anti-government protests that have plunged Sudan into its worst crisis in years. The protests initially erupted last December with demonstrations against a spiraling economy, but quickly escalated into calls for an end to embattled President Omar al-Bashir's 30-year rule. Sudan's state agency meanwhile said the country's ruling party will organize a rally Thursday in support of al-Bashir in Khartoum. A photo of a woman protester in a traditional white Sudanese dress and golden, moon-shaped earrings went viral on social media, instantly becoming a symbol for the role of women in the uprising against the autocratic leader. The image drew a comparison to America's Statue of Liberty and the ancient Nubian Sudanese queens known as kandaka who live on in Sudanese folklore as women who accomplished and sacrificed for their country. Her white dress is traditionally worn by professional Sudanese women in the workforce, said Hammour Ziada, a Sudanese novelist. "The outfit is symbolic of the identity of a working Sudanese woman that's able to do anything and at the same time keep her culture and traditions," he said. Video circulating online showed the woman, Alaa Salah, singing traditional songs to protesters in the sit-in outside the military's headquarters. She chanted: "They burned us in the name of religion, killed us in the name of religion, jailed us in the name of religion," while a crowd around her shouted "revolution." The image was taken by activist Lana Haroun on Monday during the third day of the sit-in outside the military's headquarters. It has since received 55,000 likes and was picked up by Twitter Moments. The protests against al-Bashir gained momentum last week after Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in power for 20 years, resigned in response to weeks of similar protests. Saturday's marches marked the 34th anniversary of the overthrow of former President al-Nimeiri in a bloodless coup. It was one of the largest turnouts in the current wave of unrest. The military removed Nimeiri after a popular uprising in 1985. It quickly handed over power to an elected government. The dysfunctional administration lasted only a few years until al-Bashir a career army officer allied with Islamist hard-liners and toppled it in a coup in 1989. Al-Bashir has banned unauthorised public gatherings and granted sweeping powers to the police since imposing a state of emergency last month, and security forces have used tear gas, rubber bullets, live ammunition and batons against demonstrators. Security forces have responded to the protest movement with a fierce crackdown, killing dozens of people. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A court conducting trial in the 1993 Suleman Bakery case, where seven policemen are accused of opening fire on innocent persons during the 1993 riots, heard audio recording of wireless messages to the police control room Wednesday. The recording was played in the court of additional sessions judge U M Padwad here. Krishna Desai, a wireless operator at the Mumbai police headquarters then, confirmed that there was a message from Pydhonie police about firing on a police team from inside the bakery. "After hearing so many messages I realised that the situation was unprecedented," the witness told court. Seven policemen are accused of firing indiscriminately inside Suleman Bakery in South Mumbai on January 9, 1993, killing nine persons. They are facing trial on various charges, including murder. Their defence is that they fired only in retaliation as there was firing from inside when the police team raided the bakery. In November last year, the trial court ordered that recordings of police wireless messages be heard to check if their transcription was correct. As part of evidence, the prosecution has produced two audio cassettes containing recordings of wireless messages received by the police control room from the areas where riots took place that day. In 2016, defence lawyers claimed discrepancies in the recordings and the transcripts submitted by the prosecution, and demanded that the recordings be played in the court. The court was supposed to hear the recordings Tuesday, but could not do so for want of a tape recorder. Around 900 people died in riots in Mumbai following the demolition of Babri masjid in Ayodhya in December 1992. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A surrendered militant was arrested after remaining absconding for the last 17 years in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district, police said. The surrendered militant was accused in a murder case, they said. On specific inputs, a special team raided a place and arrested the accused Mohd Irfan alias Babloo of Gandoh belt in Doda district, police said. Irfan had been evading arrest in a 2002 case registered against him under section 302 of the Ranbir Panel Code (RPC), they said. The accused was working as a labourer with a private contractor at Gran Morh Reasi, they added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tata Trusts and Microsoft India Wednesday inked a pact to to jointly rejuvenate handloom clusters in the eastern and north-eastern parts of the country. Both the entities have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard, Tata Trusts and Microsoft India said in a joint statement. As part of the collaboration, Tata Trusts and Microsoft will leverage each other's strengths to provide business and communication skills, design education and digital literacy to handloom weavers so that they may build a sustainable future. "Through this initiative, we want to empower artisans and bring them up to par making them competitive in the industry," Tata Trusts Chief Program Director R Pavithra Kumar said. Microsoft India CVP Cloud & Enterprise and Managing Director Anil Bhansali said the company is focused on reviving some of the forgotten and fading handloom forms in India's textile heritage as part of its philanthropy programs in India. "Our partnership with Tata Trusts will help reach down to the grass-root level of the weaver clusters and train them, hence building a digitally inclusive society. We aim to use our Project Sangam to empower the weavers across India so that they can adopt and deploy digital tools to improve their craft," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Gujarat Kshatriya Thakor Sena, an outfit floated by Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor, has decided to severe its ties with the grand old party and asked the legislator to resign from it and clear his stand within 24 hours. Speculations were rife that Thakor may quit the Congress as he was unhappy with the local party leadership. Though he was keen to contest from Patan Lok Sabha seat, the Congress chose former MP Jagdish Thakor over him. The party also ignored Thakor Sena's demand for ticket to a member of the outfit from Sabarkantha Lok Sabha seat. "The Thakor Sena, during the core committee meeting here late Tuesday night, passed a resolution to severe ties with the Congress. We have not consulted Alpesh Thakor before taking this decision," Jagat Thakor, a member of the outfit, told reporters here. "After the meet, we told him to make his stand clear within 24 hours. If he wants to remain with the Congress, then he has to leave the Thakor Sena. And if he wants to be with us, then he has to resign from the party and as an MLA," he said. The Congress was "ignoring" the Thakor Sena while taking important decisions, including selection of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, he said. Though Alpesh Thakor heads the outfit, he was not present in the meeting. After emerging as a prominent OBC leader in Gujarat, he joined the Congress before the 2017 Assembly polls and won from Radhanpur seat in Patan district. He recently met Congress president Rahul Gandhi and conveyed his displeasure against the functioning of the party's state leadership. The OBC leader claimed his community and supporters were feeling "cheated" and "ignored". He also said that some "weak leaders" were at the helm of party affairs in Gujarat, an apparent reference to state party president Amit Chavda. The MLA could not be contacted for his comments in the matter. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Trinamool Congress Wednesday accused the Election Commission of bias and submitted a memorandum to the poll body against transfers of top police officers in West Bengal just before the first phase of voting in the Lok Sabha elections. Party leaders Derek O'Brien, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray and Chandan Mitra lodged a nine-point memorandum protesting what they called was "EC bias". "People are saying Nirvachan Commission has become Nikamma Commission. Enough is enough. Transfers of good, honest senior police officers of Bengal are being decided by a traitor who now works out of the BJP Central office in Kolkata," said Derek, indicating the hand of former TMC MP Mukul Roy, who is now in the BJP, in the removal of the Cooch Behar Superintendent of Police Abhishek Gupta by the poll body on April 9. In the memorandum, the TMC has also said the removal of Kolkata Police Commissioner Anuj Sharma along with those of Bidhan Nagar Police Commissioner Gyanwant Singh, Birbhum SP Shyam Singh, Diamond Harbour SP S Selvamurugan and Airport Division DCP Avaru Rabindranath, have been effected "without following proper procedure". "In this case, we have observed that the transfers were made soon after complaints were made and instructions issued by BJP leaders who publicly claimed" that such action were taken by the ECI at the initiative of their party, the memorandum alleged. Earlier, in a letter to the chief election commission on Tuesday, the TMC had alleged that Gupta's transfer was "arbitrary, motivated and biased" and claimed the poll body was taking instructions from BJP leaders. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A video that President Donald Trump re-tweeted that included the soundtrack of a Batman movie was pulled from his account due to copyright violations. "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they call you racist," read the text at the start of the fan-made 2020 Trump campaign video, as pictures of Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton flashed on the screen. The video, which Trump reposted Tuesday evening, showed images of his presidency, including his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. "Your vote proved them all wrong," the two-minute video said, calling Trump's 2020 re-election a "great victory." The soundtrack of the video was composer Hans Zimmer's "Why Do We Fall?" from the 2012 movie "The Dark Knight Rises" - and movie Warner Brothers, which owns the Batman franchise, was not happy. "The use of Warner Bros.' score from The Dark Knight Rises' in the campaign video was unauthorized," the movie studio told Buzzfeed "We are working through the appropriate legal channels to have it removed." By Wednesday all that was left on Trump's Twitter feed was a dead link with a message that read "This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner." The video, however, garnered 101,000 likes and 31,000 retweets before it was pulled. This is not the first time that the president has retweeted controversial fan-made material. Previous cases include the image of the president body slamming a CNN logo. Musicians including Pharell Williams and Aerosmith have also complained about Trump using their music for political purposes. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ex-Soviet Turkmenistan's strongman leader broke ground on a new and presently nameless city close to the capital Ashgabat Wednesday. Speaking at a groundbreaking ceremony, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said some 70,000 people will populate the new city. The fact that it has yet to be named is likely to lead to speculation that it will be named after Berdymukhamedov, who oversees a leadership cult that draws frequent comparisons with North Korea. "In three to four years this will be a new city shining (under) the Sun, designed for the happy life of every family and every person. All of this for our beloved people," Berdymukhamedov said. He demonstratively shovelled three loads of cement onto the foundations as part of the ceremony. The 61-year-old leader announced the likely costly construction plan, defying signs of an economic crisis in the Central Asian country. "This is a colossal project and will require considerable resources, but our state is economically strong enough to implement the most ambitious plans," Berdymukhamedov said of the emerging building site on "virgin land" 20 kilometres from the capital. "We will never spare resources for the welfare of the people," he added. Berdymukhamedov did not mention the cost of the project that according to the state Turkmengosproekt institute will include a "Higher International School of Horse Breeding," residential and administrative buildings, museums and sporting infrastructure. Images distributed by Turkmengosproekt indicate the new city will be covered in the same trademark facades that have put Ashgabat into the Guinness Book of Records for its density of white marble. The city will become the new centre of the president's native Ahal province. Earlier this year, Berdymukhamedov's son became the province's deputy governor. Turkmenistan's authoritarian regime has been accused by international rights groups of diverting energy revenues towards vanity projects of little long-term benefit to the population. An oil price crunch in 2014 and the cessation of a longstanding gas export relationship with Russia in 2016 were seen as motivating the government to cut back on subsidies that made utilities like water, gas and electricity free of charge. Berdymukhamedov, a former dentist, came to power in 2006 following the death of predecessor Saparmurat Niyazov who transformed himself from a Communist leader into a "Turkmenbashy", or "Father of the Turkmen" after independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. In 1993, Niyazov renamed a Caspian port town in the west of the country Turkmenbashy in celebration of that moniker. Neighbouring Kazakhstan recently renamed its capital "Nur-Sultan" in honour of its longtime ruler Nursultan Nazarbayev. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US forces in Afghanistan revised on Tuesday the death toll from a Taliban attack the previous day near the main American base in the country, saying three service members were killed but not a contractor who was initially reported among the fatalities. The U.S. and NATO Resolute Support mission issued a statement "to clarify initial reporting" about Monday's roadside bombing of an American convoy near the main U.S. base. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. The Pentagon said later that all three service members killed were Marines. The mission said a roadside bomb hit the convoy near the Bagram Airfield, killing three American service members, and said "the contractor who was reported as killed, is alive." The statement said "the contractor, an Afghan citizen, was initially treated along with other injured civilians, later identified as a contractor and treated at Bagram Airfield." Three other U.S. service members were also wounded in the attack. The base in Bagram district is located in northern Parwan province and serves as the main U.S. air facility in the country. The wounded were evacuated and are receiving medical care, the statement said. Christopher Slutman, a 15-year New York City fire department member, was among the three Marines killed. He leaves behind his wife, Shannon, and three daughters. "Firefighter Slutman bravely wore two uniforms and committed his life to public service both as a New York City firefighter and as a member of the United States Marine Corps," Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said in a written statement. The Pentagon identified the two other Marines killed as Cpl. Robert A. Hendriks, 25, of Locust Valley, New York, and Sgt. Benjamin S. Hines, 31, of York, Pennsylvania. In their claim of responsibility, the Taliban said they launched the attack and that one of their suicide bombers detonated his explosives-laden vehicle near the NATO base. The conflicting accounts could not be immediately reconciled. On Tuesday, local Afghan officials said at least five Afghan civilians were wounded in the commotion after the attack on the American convoy. Four were passersby and the fifth was a driver of a car going down the road, said Abdul Raqib Kohistani, the Bagram district police chief. Abdul Shakor Qudosi, the district administrative chief in Bagram, said American soldiers opened fire immediately after their convoy was bombed. Monday's U.S. fatalities bring to seven the number of U.S. soldiers killed so far this year in Afghanistan, underscoring the difficulties in bringing peace to the war-wrecked country even as Washington has stepped up efforts to find a way to end the 17-year war, America's longest. There are about 14,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan, supporting embattled Afghan forces as they struggle on two fronts facing a resurgent Taliban who now hold sway over almost half the country and also the Islamic State affiliate, which has sought to expand its footprint in Afghanistan even as its self-proclaimed "caliphate" has crumbled in Syria and Iraq. Last year, 13 U.S. service members were killed in Afghanistan. The Taliban have continued to carry out daily attacks on Afghan security forces despite holding several rounds of peace talks with the United States in recent months. The Taliban have refused to meet with the Afghan government, which they view as a U.S. puppet. Meanwhile, the Taliban have agreed to take part in an all-Afghan gathering later this month in Qatar, where the insurgents maintain a political office. But the Taliban say they will not recognize any government official attending the gathering as a representative of the Kabul government, only as an individual Afghan participant. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A US jury has found a former Roman Catholic priest who was captured in Morocco guilty of sexually abusing a boy at a veterans' cemetery and Air Force base in New Mexico. The jury reached the verdict against 81-year-old Arthur Perrault on Wednesday following a trial in Santa Fe in which several men testified that they had been abused by him as children. The person involved in the charges said Perrault had touched him inappropriately as many as 100 times. Authorities believe Perrault had numerous victims in New Mexico. However, the federal charges against him stemmed only from the treatment of one boy at Santa Fe National Cemetery and Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, where Perrault had been a chaplain. Authorities said the federal charges of aggravated sexual abuse and abusive sexual contact carry no statute of limitations and the two sites are within federal jurisdiction. Perrault's case marks a rare federal criminal prosecution of a former Catholic priest in the state where dozens of clergy abuse victims have won more than USD 50 million in settlements from the Santa Fe Archdiocese, which has filed for bankruptcy protection as a result of lawsuits. Federal authorities said their decades-long pursuit of Perrault showed how far they were willing to go to hold him accountable. Perrault maintained in court proceedings that he was innocent of the charges. Church officials in Connecticut sent Perrault to a retreat in the secluded mountain town of Jemez Springs north of Albuquerque in the 1060s after he was accused of inappropriately touching young males. The facility was operated by the religious order Servants of the Paraclete. The FBI returned Perrault to the United States to face charges in September after he was arrested in Morocco a year earlier on an Interpol warrant. Before his arrest, Perrault had been teaching for a decade at an English language school for children, authorities said. Merrica Heaton, a consular official with the US State Department, testified that Perrault acknowledged "misconduct involving young boys" in New Mexico as she checked on him in a Tangier jail. He expressed surprise and disappointment that the US government continued to pursue him for decades-old transgressions, she said. Perrault's attorney questioned the truthfulness of his victim and highlighted for jurors that his accusations against Perrault came in 2014 when media reports of abuse allegations against the former priest emerged. At trial, Perrault entered and exited the court room with the aid of a walker, and he used a hearing aid to listen to his accusers' testimony. He could face a maximum penalty of life in prison on the charge of aggravated sexual abuse. The charge of abusive sexual contact carries a maximum of 10 years in prison. A sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled. In 2016, the Santa Fe Archdiocese published a list of 74 clergy members, including Perrault, who had been credibly accused of sexually abusing children in New Mexico. The list was made public after decades of pressure from victims and their family members. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Vatican is opening an internal probe into the case of Emanuela Orlandi, a teenager who disappeared in 1983 in one of Italy's darkest mysteries, media reports said Wednesday. The Holy See has "authorised the opening of an investigation", the family's lawyer Laura Sgro told Italian media. The Vatican declined to comment. Orlandi, the daughter of a member of the Vatican's police, was last seen leaving a music class aged 15, and theories have circulated for decades about who took her and where her body may lie. The Vatican said last month that it may open a tomb within its grounds to see if it holds the girl's remains, after Sgro received an anonymous tip-off telling her to look inside the marble-topped grave. 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. "After 35 years of a failure (on the part of the Vatican) to collaborate, the opening of an investigation is an important step," Orlandi's brother Pietro was quoted by media as saying. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) OPEC's oil output dropped sharply last month as a result of steep production cuts in Venezuela and kingpin Saudi Arabia, the cartel said on Wednesday. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' combined oil production plunged by 534,000 barrels per day in March, it said in a report citing secondary sources. OPEC does not release its own production data. Venezuela, in the throes of political troubles, sanctions and repeated power blackouts, pumped 289,000 fewer barrels per day than the previous month, taking production to 732,000 bpd. This compares to the more than a million barrels per day Venezuela was pumping at the start of the year, and its production capacity of nearly two mbpd in 2017. Kingpin Saudi Arabia's production, meanwhile, fell by 324,000 bpd, according to OPEC's sources, the report said. This, analysts say, is a result of the kingdom's determination to support oil prices in line with a production cut deal between OPEC countries and non-member Russia that is to run until June. These efforts appear to be paying off. Oil prices rose at their fastest pace in 14 years over the first quarter of the year. On Wednesday the WTI futures contract, the benchmark for US production, stood at $64.42 and its European counterpart, Brent, at $70.95. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Vivek Oberoi, who is playing Narendra Modi in the biopic on the prime minister, cancelled a scheduled press meet here on Wednesday after the Election Commission banned its screening during poll period. The EC's order came a day before the film was to be released. Oberoi was scheduled to speak to media-persons in Maharashtra's Nagpur city in the afternoon, but he cancelled the meet after the EC announced its order. The first phase of Lok Sabha polls starts on Thursday. The EC banned the biopic's screening during poll period, saying a film that subserves purpose of any political entity or individual should not be displayed in the electronic media. The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by a Congress activist seeking stay on the release of the biopic and said the EC would be an "appropriate" place to seek the redressal. The plea sought deferment of the biopic's release till the completion of the Lok Sabha polls, alleging that it was designed to "manipulate, influence and impress viewers and voters. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Leading telcos Vodafone Idea, Bharti and have paid the government over Rs 10,000 crore in spectrum dues slated for April 10, but debt-ridden Reliance Communications has so far not deposited its outstanding amount of Rs 492 crore, a source said. The payments are towards the latest installment in deferred spectrum liability for radiowaves bought in the past auctions. The source privy to the development told PTI that the country's largest operator has made payment of over Rs 6,277.1 crore to the Department of (DoT) towards its spectrum dues. The company, which has put in motion a Rs 25,000-crore rights issue, had paid Rs 3,042.7 crore to the department in March as part of a previous installment. While Bharti has made payment of Rs 2,745.8 crore and paid Rs 1,109.1 crore, the embattled Reliance Communications has not yet made payment of about Rs 492 crore as on the due date. Typically, are given a grace period of 10 days after the due date by the DoT to make the stipulated payment. Bharti Airtel, and did not comment on mails sent to them. Reliance Communications too declined to comment on the issue, but an industry observer noted that RCom has repeatedly written to the DoT, seeking return of excess bank guarantee encashment. The next round of installments for the operators is scheduled for September-October. The government, in March last year, enhanced number of annual installments for from 10 to 16 years to provide relief to the debt-laden The industry argues that the sector has lost 42 per cent revenue from sales of telecom services on quarterly basis between April-June 2016 and July-September 2018. They have said the debt level on four mobile operators is at around Rs 5 lakh crore, and 60 per cent of the liability is from obligations. has earlier sought two-year moratorium on annual of over Rs 10,000 crore, citing high debt levels and stress on the balance sheet. In all, the amount to be paid by Vodafone Idea is estimated to be around Rs 11,900 crore this year, spread over multiple instalments through the year. The company - formed from the merger of Vodafone and Idea Cellular - has embarked on a massive fund raising drive - Vodafone Idea's Rs 25,000 crore rights issue opened Wednesday, and the telecom operator is offering 2,000 crore shares at a price of Rs 12.50 a share. The rights issue will close on April 24, 2019. Bharti too has received market regulator Sebi's approval to raise up to Rs 25,000 crore through rights issue. / -- Vidyashilp Academy recently hosted the 2019 closing ceremony of the Indian chapter of 'Mission Possible', an initiative by the United Nations Association's agency WFUNA. The program convened 77 students from two cities Vidyashilp Academy in Bangalore and Meridian School, Banjara Hills from Hyderabad. The closing ceremony was the culminating event of the Mission Possible program where student groups presented the work they had taken up in their communities for the past 6 months. This is a platform where active global citizens talk about the change they have brought about in their local contexts. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/766744/Vidyashilp_Academy_Logo.jpg ) This national-level conference saw some strong presentations from the students about their work contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Students presented the projects developed as part of the program curriculum and shared the outcomes and experiences gathered over the past year. The event began with the guest speakers who engaged in a dialogue session with the students. The panel providing feedback to student presentations comprised of Ms. Monica Burba, WFUNA's Global Citizenship Consultant - New York, Ms. Neena Gupte, Program Manager from Project Management Institute Educational Foundation, Mumbai and Ms. Soujanya Ganig, National Program Coordinator along with the Mission Possible Faculty mentors from VSA. Following the dialogue session, the Mission Possible students presented their projects that addressed several of the Sustainable Development Goals. The students of Vidyashilp Academy along with other agents of change from India provided solutions to global issues through youth-led advocacy and project management. Fifteen student-led projects, addressing 10 out of 17 SDGs, were presented. Various teams presented their projects pertaining to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as providing quality resources to the visually impaired students with regards to industry, innovation and infrastructure facilities to schools for the blind, reducing inequalities and providing sanitary products for promoting well-being and hygiene at government schools. Overall, the students demonstrated and adhered to the management skills and the 21st-century outlook for addressing the local issues in the communities as laid out by the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Speaking on the occasion, Mrs. Kalai Selvi, Head of the School, Vidyashilp Academy said, "We started our association with WFUNA 4 years ago, it's encouraging to see the number of student participants steadily increasing. From 13 students in 2015-16, we have 120 students this year working on the SDG's. We feel so delighted to see our children and their parents equally engaged in this social commitment. Listening to one group of our students while they shared that a differently abled teacher when asked to use the Braille based board game, the joy she and her colleagues sensed was unparalleled. Initiative to create resources to help children who are visually challenged speaks volumes about Shilpites' genuine desire to be change influencers. We feel inspired by our student's sensitivity while handling issues and their goals to bring more meaning to their lives and others. This initiative offers the most significant lessons of life and a journey for our students to prepare themselves for global citizenship." "Being present at the closing ceremony at Vidyashilp Academy was life-changing. I was very proud to see the students' confidence and excitement for their projects. These students are going to change the world," said Ms. Monica Burba, WFUNA's Global Citizenship Consultant - New York. The event came to a close with an award felicitation for the students. Recently, the students also visited WIMUN 2019 Future Leaders programme organized by the World Federation United Nations Association at New York. 1200 delegates from 70 countries participated for WIMUN, where Tejas Dutt and Anika Mohapatra bought laurels by winning 'Diplomacy Award'. Vidyashilp Academy Vidyashilp Academy is a private, co-educational school located in Jakkur, Bangalore, India. The school is affiliated to The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) and the University Of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE). at Vidyashilp goes beyond the confines of a textbook. The pedagogical focus lies in enabling students to learn from application and experience and inculcate critical thinking from the very start. For more information, visit us at https://www.vidyashilp. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) WikiLeaks on Wednesday claimed that it was being blackmailed by "dubious characters" who had obtained security camera footage of founder Julian Assange inside Ecuador's embassy in London. Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, accused Ecuador authorities of gathering thousands of photographs and videos, which then found their way into the hands of a group in Spain, who were demanding $3 million (2.7 million euros) not to publish them. "We learned some individuals in Spain were passing around information, that they had a massive trove of documents... from inside the embassy," he told reporters in London. "I asked them what documents they had and I got an email back. He said 'this material has a price'." The documents include thousands of photographs and gigabytes of video footage showing Assange meeting with lawyers and visitors and of him receiving a medical check-up. "It's not hard to see that as extortion," said Hrafnsson, adding that the Spanish police had opened an investigation. "Of much greater concern is this material gathering and spying by the Ecuadorian government," he said, calling it "illegal and extremely unethical". "Since (President Lenin) Moreno took power in Ecuador, Julian Assange has been living in a Truman Show type situation," he claimed. The editor also accused embassy staff of photocopying a legal document belonging to Assange's lawyer Aitor Martinez. WikiLeaks believes that the United States is working with Ecuador to extradite Assange to face charges, and that the embassy documents were "quite likely shared with the Trump administration", although it offered no proof of this. The group, which rose to prominence by publishing leaked US intelligence documents, said that "very reliable sources" had told them Ecuador was last week preparing to kick Assange out of its London embassy, where he was granted refuge by previous president Rafael Correa in 2012. "The only reason why this was averted, in our opinion, is that we learned about it," said Hrafnsson. Ecuador said on Tuesday it was reassessing Assange's asylum claim, revocation of which would lead to his arrest by the British authorities for skipping bail. The Australian sought refuge at Ecuador's embassy seven years ago to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced accusations of sexual assault that prosecutors in Stockholm have since abandoned. Assange has refused to leave the embassy to avoid extradition to the United States to face charges over his website publishing huge caches of hacked State Department and Pentagon files in 2010. The 47-year-old Australian, who denies the rape claims, said he feared Sweden would pass him on to US authorities if he was extradited. The Swedish chief prosecutor dropped proceedings against him in 2017. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Meteorological Department has issued a fresh yellow weather warning for rainfall in Himachal Pradesh on April 12, an official said Wednesday. The MeT Department issues colour-coded warnings to alert the public ahead of severe or hazardous weather which has the potential to cause "damage, widespread disruption and/or danger to life". Yellow is the least dangerous out of the weather warnings - it indicates the possibility of severe weather over the next few days that could affect the public. Meanwhile, the weather remained dry over the state during the last 24 hours, the MeT Department said. The minimum temperature increased by two to three degrees Celsius and the maximum temperature increased by one to two degrees Celsius. The highest temperature in the state was recorded in Una at 35.8 degrees Celsius, whereas lowest temperature was recorded in tribal district Lahaul-Spiti's administrative centre Keylong at 3.2 degrees Celsius, the MeT Department said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Zimbabwe's government has promised to exhume and rebury the bodies of thousands of people killed during a 1980s military campaign aimed at crushing dissidents, state media reported Wednesday. The Herald newspaper cited the secretary in the justice ministry, Virginia Mabhiza, as calling the reburials part of measures supported by President Emmerson Mnangagwa to bring closure to the killings between 1983 and 1987. She did not say when they will start. Mnangagwa was state security minister and enforcer for then-leader Robert Mugabe at the time, publicly supporting the campaign. Like Mugabe he has refused to apologise for his alleged role but recently said people should be free to talk about the killings. In Operation Gukurahundi or "the early rains that blow away the chaff" in the local Shona language a North Korean-trained brigade rampaged through Matabeleland. A 1997 report by the Catholic Commission on Peace and Justice, drawing on more than 1,000 interviews, said 10,000 to 20,000 civilians were killed. The killings only ended when Joshua Nkomo, a leader in the war for independence and rival of Mugabe with strong support in the Matabeleland region, agreed to join the ruling party in 1987. Many of the dead were buried in shallow graves, mass graves and disused mines. Others disappeared, according to the 1997 report and witness accounts. Mabhiza said Zimbabwe's government will assist people whose parents died in the campaign to get proper identity documents, as well as medical help for those injured. She also promised "protection mechanisms for those affected by Gukurahundi to be free to discuss their experiences." Previously, several people were arrested for discussing the killings in public while artworks depicting the era were banned from public view. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The double whammy of concerns over softening global growth and the fear of US-EU trade war after the US President Donald Trump threatened on Tuesday to impose tariffs on $11 billion worth of EU products, weighed on investor sentiment on Wednesday. The S&P BSE Sensex lost 354 points or 0.91 per cent to settle at 38,585, with Bharti Airtel (down nearly 4 per cent) being the biggest loser and Tata Motors (up around 5 per cent) the top gainer. HDFC duo, TCS, Infosys and RIL contributed the most the index's fall. Market breadth was in favour of declines as out of 2,711 companies traded on BSE, 1,392 scrips declined and 1,144 advanced while 175 securities remained unchanged. In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended 52 points or 0.33 per cent lower at 15,369 whereas the S&P BSE SmallCap index ended flat at 14,969, down just 3 points or 0.02 per cent. The broader Nifty50 index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended below the 11,600 level at 11,584, down 88 points or 0.75 per cent. Volatility benchmark India VIX ended over 4 per cent higher at 21.09. Financial stocks bled the most in trade, followed by metals and IT. Realty stocks, on the other hand, advanced the most. The Realty index ended at 276.85 level, up over 1 per cent. Shares of Tata Motors ended nearly 5 per cent higher at Rs 215.65 apiece on the BSE on the expectation of margin expansion due to an improvement in Jaguar Land Rover (JLRs) businesses. Shares of Praj Industries nearly 11 per cent during the session after the company announced it has signed a Construction License Agreement (CLA) with US-based Gevo Inc to commercialise the technology for the production of isobutanol using sugar-based feedstocks, such as juice, syrup, and molasses. The stock, eventually, ended at Rs 147 apiece on BSE, up around 7 per cent. Wipro ended nearly 3 per cent higher at 281 on the BSE after a report said the company is likely to announce share buyback worth of Rs 12,000 crore. On the other hand, Vodafone Idea closed over 3 per cent lower at Rs 16.35 apiece on the BSE. Jayadev Galla, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP and the richest candidate in the Lok Sabha elections 2019, has said the Income Tax Department raids at his company's premises were nothing short of a political vendetta by the Narendra Modi government. He said he was being targeted for "political reasons" and that PM Modi was trying to influence the elections by selectively targeting TDP leaders in the southern state. He said he was being treated like this because he had been an outspoken critic of PM Modi. "It is happening at three locations where my election team was staying. I am demanding an explanation of why we are being targeted. This country under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going down a fascist path. Because I have spoken against him, initiated a non-confidence motion against him, I am being targeted like this," said Gala, reported ANI. The Income Tax department sleuths on Wednesday raided the residence of Gurrappa Naidu, the Chief Accountant of Galla's company, Amara Raja Batteries. The questioning lasted for around six hours. Gala came to limelight after his speech went viral on social media during the no-motion confidence initiated against the NDA government in July 2018. With assets worth over Rs 680 crore, Galla is the richest Lok Sabha election candidate in the Lok Sabha elections 2019. Galla, 53, is the Managing Director of Amara Raja Group, a multinational company that makes Amaron batteries. Also Read: BJP strategy for allies is about 'creeping acquisition' followed by a 'hostile takeover,' says TDP MP Galla Galla is contesting the elections from the Guntur constituency in Andhra Pradesh, which is also the place where he won his debut polls in 2014. He will be competing against Modugula Venugopal Reddy of the YSR Congress Party and Valluru Jayaprakash Narayana of the BJP in this parliamentary seat. In the speech in the Lok Sabha last year, the Indian-American politician began by giving a reference to a Telugu movie and said that the southeastern state had only seen 'empty promises' since the Modi government came into power in 2014. He added that both the Congress and BJP had betrayed Andhra Pradesh. "Mr Prime Minister if you don't keep your promises, the BJP will be destroyed in Andhra Pradesh. It is not a threat, it is a shraap (curse)", NDTV quoted the politician as saying. Also Read: Legitimate action against corruption not political vendetta: Arun Jaitley on I-T raids As per reports, Galla is among the 'most active' lawmakers in Parliament. He had asked as many as 496 questions in the Lok Sabha and moved six bills, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). "He had attended 85 per cent of the Parliamentary sessions and has gained the reputation as one of the more articulate MPs in the Lok Sabha," the report added. Jayadev Galla had moved to the US at an early age and studied Economics and Politics at the University of Illinois. He is married to Padmavathi, the daughter of a Telugu film star. Edited by Manoj Sharma In a big setback to the government, the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the Centre's "preliminary objections", allowing the admissibility of three documents in the Rafale deal as evidence in re-examining the review petitions filed against the SC's December 14 judgement. Earlier the government had claimed "privilege" over the leaked Rafale documents under Section 123 of the Indian Evidence Act and told the SC these papers couldn't be considered as bases to re-examine its verdict on the controversial Rafale fighter jet deal. The Supreme Court has also said "as far as the question of hearing of review plea on Rafale judgement is concerned, it will give a detailed hearing later on". Arun Shourie, who filed review plea in Rafale deal verdict: Our argument was that because the documents relate to Defence you must examine them. You asked for these evidence & we have provided it. So Court, has accepted our pleas & rejected the arguments of the Govt. pic.twitter.com/5S2xI0lkiV ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 "There are three Rafale documents whose publication comes under Official Secrets Act, 1923," the government told the SC. The verdict on the "preliminary objections" was announced by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi. The court had earlier reserved its verdict on March 14 after the Centre raised objections over the validity of these leaked documents. Former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan had filed a review petition in the SC on its December-14 judgement, in which it dismissed all petitions against the Rafale jet deal. "Only after we decide the preliminary objection raised by the Centre, we will go into other aspects of the review petitions," the SC bench had said. "Only if we overrule the preliminary objection, we will go into other details," it added. The SC decision on the government's objection came after Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, told the court that no one could produce such documents in the court without the permission of the department concerned as those documents are also protected under the Official Secrets Act and their disclosure was exempted under the Right to Information Act as per Section 8(1)(a). Lawyer Prashant Bhushan had contended the Centre's objections were "mala fide and totally untenable arguments", and that it couldn't claim "privilege" over the published documents which are in public domain. Edited by Manoj Sharma Narendra Modi did 'bypass surgery' in Rafale deal; his role should also be probed, says Rahul Gandhi The Election Commission of India (ECI) has stopped the release of biopic 'PM Narendra Modi' for the duration of 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In its statement, the election body said that any material disturbing the level playing field in favour of any political party or individual should not be displayed. Opposition parties have been calling for a ban on the movie in view of Model Code of Conduct (MCC). The ECI said that it has also received complaints about 'NTR Laxmi' and 'Udyama Simham'. "Any biopic material in nature of biography sub-serving the purpose of any political entity or any individual entity connected to it, which has potential to disturb level playing field during the election, should not be displayed in electronic media including cinematograph during the operation of MCC," the ECI said in its statement. The ban on the PM Modi biopic is likely to extend to NaMo TV. Apart from the ban on the film, the order from the EC also calls for keeping content which furthers a candidate's electoral prospects away from the electronic media. This might lead to the channel being taken off air till the Model Code of Conduct is in place. "Any poster or publicity material concerning any such certified content, which either depicts a candidate (including prospective) for the furtherance (or purported to further) of electoral prospects, directly or indirectly, shall not be put on display in electronic media in the area where MCC is in force," the ECI order said. The ECI decision to ban the screening of PM Narendra Modi comes a day before its release. The biopic on PM Modi was supposed to be released on April 11 after earlier delays. The release of the film was deferred last week on grounds of pending certification clearance from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), which it secured yesterday. The original release date for biopic PM Narendra Modi was April 12. It was moved ahead to April 5 by the producers citing public demand. Before the CBFC certification yesterday, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea filed by a Congress activist seeking a stay on the release of the biopic and asked him to raise the matter before the ECI. The Supreme Court said it dismissing the petition for the stay on the release of the film as it was "premature" since the movie was yet to be certified by the CBFC. The court said in its judgement that even if the film was released on April 11, it would be appropriate for the plaintiff to seek redressal from the Election Commission. The Congress activist had sought a stay on the biopic's release till the completion of the Lok Sabha elections. In his plea, he had alleged that it was designed to "manipulate, influence and impress viewers and voters". ALSO READ: Lok Sabha election 2019 Live: Rahul Gandhi files nomination from Amethi; supporters chant 'Abki baar, 5 lakh par' ALSO READ: Lok Sabha Election 2019: Poll dates, full schedule, voting FAQs, election results, constituencies' details An European cargo services provider seized one of the planes operated by Jet Airways in Amsterdam on Wednesday over non-payment of dues. The plane, a Boeing 777-300 ER (VT-JEW), was meant to be used for the Jet Airways' flight 9W 321 from Amsterdam to Mumbai. "The cargo agent seized Boeing 777-300 ER (VT-JEW) of Jet Airways at the Amsterdam airport as the airline could not clear his dues," an airline source told PTI. However, the airline stated that its flight 9W 321 scheduled for April 10 between Amsterdam and Mumbai has been cancelled due to operational reasons. The wide-body long-distance aircraft had landed at Amsterdam airport on Tuesday and was supposed to return to Mumbai on Thursday. ALSO READ: Jet Airways crisis: Naresh Goyal offers to pledge remaining stake in lieu of Rs 1,500 crore infusion Reports earlier this week had suggested that the Boeing 777 planes in Jet's fleet could be repossessed due to delayed repayments. The cash-strapped airline has defaulted on payments worth more than $18 million to its global lenders, including Citibank, which had financed its purchase of the Boeing 777s on the back of guarantees from Export-Import (EXIM) Bank of the US. Indian Oil cuts fuel supply to Jet Adding to its woes, Indian Oil stopped fuel supply to Jet Airways for the third time in past eight days over non-payment of dues. The state-owned oil marketing company reportedly stopped supplying jet fuel to the airlines in Mumbai, New Delhi and Hyderabad airports. ALSO READ: The rise, the fall and the challenges of Jet Airways Indian Oil had cut fuel supply to Jet earlier this month on March 4 and 5. The service was restored after assurances from the airline management. On the other hand, lenders of Jet Airways extended the deadline for submission of initial bids for stake purchase in the ailing airline to April 12. SBI Capital Markets, which issued Expression of Interest (EoI) document on April 8, has extended the deadline for submission of initial bids to April 12. Potential bidders can send their queries till April 11. As part of the resolution plan for debt-laden Jet Airways, the lenders are looking to restructure "existing facilities and infusion of funds by way of loans or acquisition, subscription of up to 75 per cent of equity share capital of the company". ALSO READ: Jet Airways sale: Nobody interested in buying lenders' stake on Day 1 OCallaghan Properties have placed the Half Moon Street development in the heart of Cork City Centre on the market today with a guide price of 34m reflecting an initial yield of 7.07%. Savills and CBRE are handling the sale. The mixed-use asset which was developed in 2009 by OCallaghan Properties, generates a current gross annual income of 2,606,500 and is one of the most significant prime investment opportunities to launch to the market in Cork in recent years. Situated in a waterfront setting on Lavitts Quay, the building was designed by Wilson Architects and is anchored by Apple Europe and Boots pharmacys flagship Cork store. The building extends to 119,589 sq ft of retail and Grade A office accommodation and other tenants in situ include Henry J Lyons one of Irelands leading architectural practices in addition to Matthews, the clothing and footwear retailer, and Kopper Hair Salon. The Grade A office space is currently let to Apple Europe at 22 per sq ft which offers significant reversionary potential given recent lettings for newly built office space in Cork have reached 32.5 per sq ft. Other notable asset management opportunities include letting the currently vacant retail space at ground and lower ground floor level. The Half Moon development sits in the heart of the city adjacent to the Crawford Art Gallery and Cork Opera House and is within walking distance of Opera Lane and Patrick Street, Corks prime retail offering. Domhnaill OSullivan of Savills, "We are expecting interest to be strong from the onset not only is this a highly desirable investment opportunity in terms of location, unit potential, mix, and design, but there is a dearth of assets of this grade on the marketplace. Whats more it is surrounded by a myriad of local amenities with a waterfront setting and extensive views of the River Lee. Its close proximity to prime retail on Patrick Street and Opera Lane will also prove attractive to prospective investors." Kyle Rothwell of CBRE added, "This is Boots flagship Store in Cork and the office space leased to Apple offers significant asset management and reversionary potential. We believe this will appeal to both domestic and international firms looking for strong value add potential." Source: www.businessworld.ie Greenfield Global Inc yesterday announced plans to establish a new EU manufacturing headquarters in Portlaoise. Greenfield is Canadas largest producer of alcohol and fuel ethanol, and one of the largest alcohols and solvents companies in North America. The project is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland and is expected to create 75 high-quality jobs over the next five years. The new roles will be in a range of operations - production, quality, supply chain and sales functions. The new 3,800 sq. metre manufacturing headquarters in Portlaoise will be constructed on the IDA Ireland Business and Technology Park and is expected to be operational in the second quarter of 2020. An estimated 100 jobs are expected to be created during the construction and fit-out phase of the project. Minister for Justice and Equality Charlie Flanagan, who attended yesterday's announcement, said, "The significant number of jobs being created here today is a very welcome boost to the economy of Portlaoise and I want to thank the IDA for all they did to secure them. Most of all however, I want to congratulate Greenfield Global. I look forward to their success, and indeed growth, here in Portlaoise." "Our commitment to building a world-class GMP manufacturing facility in Portlaoise is our first foray into manufacturing outside of North America," said Greenfield President and CEO Howard Field. "This facility will ensure we have the capacity to meet increased demand from our life science customers throughout Europe and the region. Greenfield is an ambitious company, focused on continually investing in innovation, our people, and our products. We are proud to have this opportunity to expand our operations and become a part of Ireland`s economic success." Source: www.businessworld.ie Britain's Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn met Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)'s deputy leader Nigel Dodds, the DUP's lawmaker Sammy Wilson on Tuesday as part of the opposition party's talks with MPs to break Brexit deadlock, the Daily Mirror reported on Tuesday. The DUP's principal concern is avoiding divergence with the rest of the United Kingdom, which Labour believes its alternative Brexit plan provides for, a Daily Mirror political editor tweeted. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie Sterling edged up on Wednesday but remained within its recent trading range as investors prepared for the European Union to grant Britain a second Brexit delay that, while reducing the threat of a no-deal exit, creates new uncertainties. Brussels is expected to grant Prime Minister Theresa May another delay to Brexit at an emergency summit on Wednesday but the bloc's leaders are likely to demand she accepts a longer extension than she proposed, and with conditions. May wants to postpone the departure date to June 30 from April 12, but in Brussels a flexible extension until the end of the year or until March 2020 was shaping up to be the most likely option, EU diplomats said. "We understand why this is being met with limited enthusiasm in the FX markets. Firstly, no-deal risks were already marginal with the EU never realistically going to reject the UK's request," said MUFG analysts in a note. "Secondly, a potential longer extension opens up a Pandora's Box of uncertainties that aren't particularly attractive." The pound was helped higher by better-than-expected economic growth numbers. Britain's economy grew at 0.2 percent in February, against a forecast of no growth in a Reuters poll of economists, thanks to pre-Brexit stockpiling. Sterling rose 0.3 percent to hit the day's high of $1.3086 , before settling around $1.3070. That leaves the pound firmly within the $1.29 to $1.32 range it has traded within for the last two weeks. Against the euro, the pound strengthened 0.1 percent to 86.19 . Implied volatility gauges for the British currency - market expectations for price moves - over the next week and month have come down sharply . "Despite overnight reports pointing to EU intentions to offer the UK an extension ... that could last for up to a year, the pound barely moved. This is a good illustration of how markets look at sterling these days; with skepticism and caution, somehow immune to news and rumors," said Ricardo Evangelista, an analyst at online trading service ActivTrades. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie A company established by the prestigious Tsinghua University plans to divest most of its stake in a domestic tech firm to meet Beijings call to downsize their company stakes. The deal is just the latest move by Tsinghuas very profitable holding company to unload some of its assets since the central government began last year pushing Chinese universities to focus more on education and less on business. Tsinghua Holdings Co. Ltd. plans to sell 21% of its 25.75% stake in Tsinghua Tongfang Co. Ltd., an information and energy-conservation technology company, to an investment unit of China National Nuclear Corp., in a deal valued at 7 billion yuan ($1.04 billion), the Shanghai-listed Tongfang said in a statement last week. After the deal, Tsinghua Holdings will retain 7.1% of Tsinghua Tongfang, which includes a 2.35% stake held by one of its subsidiaries. The deal is still pending approval from authorities such as the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. Tsinghua Holdings, which was set up by Tsinghua University in 2003, owns dozens of companies operating in industries that include integrated circuits, energy, environmental protection, health care and online education. As of the end of 2017, the company had 431.9 billion yuan in assets, representing an annual increase of 22.4%, according to the Shanghai Clearing House. Its profit grew more than 1.5 times that year to 6.3 billion yuan, with revenue up by 26% to 120.7 billion yuan. The purpose of the deal is to implement Beijings reform on colleges commercial assets, and to improve Tongfangs growth and competitiveness by inviting investors that can serve Tongfangs long-term strategic development goals, according to a separate statement (link in Chinese) from Tsinghua Holdings. This was followed by a similar pact in August, when Tsinghua Holdings said it would unload part of its 51% stake in Tsinghua Unigroup Co. Ltd., which produces smartphone chips and provides cloud services. In May, Beijing rolled out guidelines to reform enterprises under colleges and universities, which were told to follow the path of state capital management reform and focus on education. After Chinas ruling Communist Party sent anti-graft inspectors last year to centrally administrated universities like Tsinghua, the school vowed to restructure its businesses and downsize indirectly owned equities. Founded in 1997, Tongfang offers products and services used in areas such as public safety, industrial production and energy conservation. For the first three quarters of 2018, the company reported a net loss of 572 million yuan on revenue of 16.6 billion yuan. Contact reporter Mo Yelin (yelinmo@caixin.com) Yancoals owner has advised China and Australia to work on their relationship. Photo: Peter Rae/The Australian Financial Review (AFR) Australian coal will be hardest hit as China cuts imports of its key energy source to tackle oversupply, and implements policies favoring domestic suppliers and cleaner alternatives. Thats the warning from industry officials, traders and miners, who told a major coal conference in Shanghai on Tuesday that Chinas cuts to Australian coal imports would be greater than from other suppliers such as Indonesia and Russia, confirming the fears that existing restrictions and delays would drag on. While officials denied import restrictions were politically motivated, Chinese coal traders said privately Australian exports was being targeted. One trader said Australian coal was now banned at all ports in China, but two others said the situation was unclear and coal was still getting through. The grim outlook at the Coaltrans China conference was the latest blow for the embattled coal industry, under pressure from the environmental lobby and restrictions on imports imposed by Beijing since January. Coal is shaping up as a key federal election issue in Australia, with the proposed Adani coal mine in Queensland splitting Coalition MPS. Li Wei, managing director of Chinese state-owned enterprise Yankuang Group which controls Yancoal of Australia said businesspeople and politicians from both countries must work more closely together to improve the diplomatic relationship. We should have more communication between the public, businesspeople and politicians from the two countries, Li told The Australian Financial Review on the sidelines of the conference in a rare interview. Australia should [learn to put] itself into someone elses shoes. However, he said he was not concerned about demand from China, saying Australia exported high-quality coal and Yancoal also exported to Japan and South Korea. Asked if opposition to the Adani mine and Labors environmental policies would make it harder for Chinese companies to invest in Australia, he said: There are always risks in overseas operations. Traders, analysts and officials told the conference that China faced an oversupply of coal which would hurt imports. Australia accounted for 29% of Chinas coal imports last year, second to Indonesia at 45%, the conference was told. They also said China could agree to source more of its energy supply, including coal, from the United States as part of a trade deal with Washington. Rodrigo Echeverri, head of research at Noble Resources, said the coal industry faced a big, big problem because gas was cheap and there was a glut of supply in the Chinese thermal coal market. He said Chinas coal inventories were at their highest levels since 2015. Echeverri said the expected fall in China imports would mostly hurt Australian mid-CV (calorific value) coal by 15 million tons, while Indonesian coal demand would remain strong. Im being nice; this was before the meetings last night, he said of the forecasts made before he spoke to industry players in Shanghai the previous evening. Now Im feeling a bit more negative. There could be some more American coal in the Chinese market. Im quite convinced of that, he said. The problem is high CV from Australia is really not going to find a home in China. It is going to have to go somewhere else. Many observers at the conference said there was a political component to Chinese demand, although it was not something officials would talk openly about. If China reaches an agreement with the U.S. there has to be a drop in Australian exports it has to be Australian right? said Chris Atkinson, the manager of market analysis at Anglo American, said. The Australian dollar and mining stocks fell sharply earlier this year following reports than ports in Northeast China had banned Australian coal. The Chinese and Australian government denied the report, but confirmed shipments were being held up by up to 45 days. The move to ramp up environmental checks on Australian coal is worrying the Australian government and mining industry, although it is not believed they are aware of an outright ban. China will not confirm any move that is seen to favor domestic coal, and traders say the issue is too politically sensitive to talk about on the record. Wang Hongqiao, vice president of the China National Coal Association, said there would always be demand from China for coal, but it currently faced an oversupply. We will have a slight surplus of capacity, he said, adding that China would produce an additional 100 million tons of coal this year. China has approved 12 new coal mining projects this year as it focuses on higher-quality and more efficient mines after closing down thousands of inefficient operations. Wang later said that restrictions on Australian coal were not politically motivated and based on supply and demand. We dont have any prejudice on Australian coal, he told the AFR. This regular activity and environmental checks on Australian coal is a market decision. Thermal coal exporter New Hope Corp said last month revenue from exports to China fell sharply over the six months to Jan. 31, sending its shares down. The company has, however, been able to make up the shortfall by selling to other markets in Asia. Many analysts believe there is a permanent shift taking place in how China sources coal, which has long-term implications for Australian miners and the nations economy. But others say it is the temporary result of the amalgamation of small Chinese coal mines, which means coal is being cleared cheaply at a time when demand has slowed. This story was originally published in The Australian Financial Review. A listed Chinese online education firm is in a back-and-forth tussle with the regulator about its planned purchase of the operator of a popular WeChat account, a deal which could set a precedent for acquisitions in the booming online content industry. On Tuesday, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued a second notice (link in Chinese) in as many weeks to Qtone Education Group, demanding further details regarding the companys plan to acquire Hangzhou Bajiuling Culture and Innovation Co. Ltd., the operator of Wu Xiaobo Channel, a WeChat account that publishes business analysis and opinion. This came after the Shenzhen-listed Qtone published a 96-page document (link in Chinese) Monday in response to the regulators first set of inquiries, which was issued late last month. Earlier, Qtone announced that it would issue new stock and exchange it for 96% of Bajiulings shares in a deal worth around 1.5 billion yuan ($223 million). Bajiulings Wu Xiaobo Channel is managed by former financial journalist Wu Xiaobo and his wife Shao Bingbing. Wu, 50, first rose to fame after writing several bestsellers about Chinas economy and has since amassed a sizeable following online. Created in 2015, Wu Xiaobo Channel had 3.5 million followers at the end of 2018, around 10,000 of which were paid subscribers. In addition to paid users, Bajiuling also makes money from advertising and online finance courses. In 2018, the company had a net profit of 75 million yuan on revenue of 232 million yuan. Wu and his wife owned a combined 25.62% stake in Bajiuling, according to corporate registration information, company data provider Tianyancha showed. They would together own about 7% of Qtone if the deal goes through. Regulators are cautious about mergers and acquisitions in the new-media space, due to the limited number of precedents and the difficulty of putting a price to such companies assets. The Shenzhen bourses questions about the deal have centered on to what extent Bajiulings business relies on Wus personal popularity and intellectual property, over which it does not exercise exclusive ownership. In addition to Bajiuling, Wu also holds stakes in a couple of other companies that are either in direct or partial competition with Bajiuling, including Hangzhou-based publisher Lanshizi, raising questions at the regulator about his commitment to the company. In response, Wu promised not to make money from his personal brand outside Bajiulings platform for the next few years, according to Qtones statement on Monday. The statement added that Bajiulings staff would be subject to a comprehensive noncompete agreement after the acquisition. Qtone has tried to project an image of Bajiuling as a media organization rather than as simply an extension of Wus personal brand. Wus personal appeal and influence did indeed help Bajiuling accumulate clients in the early stage of development, but his value to the firm is different from an influencers intellectual property, the companys statement said. The regulators Tuesday missive also raised other questions, including whether Bajiuling had received the necessary publishing approval from the countrys media regulators and regarding the authenticity of the companys sales reports. Bajiuling and Qtone have until Friday to hand in documents answering these inquiries. Zhao Runhua contributed to the story. Contact reporter Mo Yelin (yelinmo@caixin.com) Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact. Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here. Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing. You are our people. You Care. We Care2. One amongst the nationalised banks in India, Allahabad Bank, has released a recruitment notification for the post of Specialist Officer (SO). The notification was released for a total of 92 vacancies, out of which 14 in JMG Scale-I & 78 in MMG Scale-II in various specialized fields. Candidates have to satisfy all the prerequisites set by the Allahabad Bank to apply online. The selection of the candidates will be based on the online written examination followed by an interview. The selected candidates can earn upto Rs 45,950 per month. Interested candidates can apply online until April 29, 2019. Top 5 Bank Jobs In April 2019: Apply Online For SBI, IDBI And Syndicate Bank Allahabad Bank Number of Vacancies Security Officer - 10 Vacancies Civil Engineer - 4 Vacancies Manager (Fire Safety) - 1 Vacancy Manager (Law) - 15 Vacancies Company Secretary - 1 Vacancy Manager (IT) (Network Manager) - 2 Vacancies Manager (IT) (Security Administrator) - 2 Vacancies Manager (IT) (System Administrator) - 2 Vacancies Manager (IT) (Big Data Analytics) - 2 Vacancies Financial Analyst- 51 Vacancies Manager (Equity/Mutual Fund Desk) - 2 Vacancies CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Specialist Officer Organisation Allahabad Bank Educational Qualification Varies from one post to another. Job Location Across India Salary Scale Rs 23,700 to 45,950 Industry Banking Application Start Date April 9, 2019 Application End Date April 29, 2019 Age Limit The minimum age limit is 21 years and the maximum age limit is 35 years for the post Manager (Fire Safety) and Company Secretary The age limit is 24 to 35 years for Manager (Equity/Mutual Fund Desk). For all other posts, the age limit is 20 to 35 years. Candidates have to note that the age relaxation will be provided to SC, ST, OBC and government servants. Click here for the recruitment announcement Application Fee Candidates have to pay Rs 600 as application fee through online payment gateway. Candidates belonging to SC, ST & PWD categories are exempted from the application fee. How To Apply Candidates should visit the official website of the Allahabad Bank to apply online for Specialist Officer (SO). The website to apply online is https://www.allahabadbank.in/Recruitment.aspx. The last date to apply online is April 29, 2019. FSSAI Recruitment 2019: Application Window Opens For 275 Vacancies One amongst the premier educational institutions of India, Kurukshetra University, has released a recruitment notification for the post of Clerk. The notification was released for a total of 198 Clerk vacancies. Candidates who meet all the eligibility conditions set by the Kurukshetra University can apply online for the Clerk post. The selection of the candidates will be based on the written examination. The selected candidates can earn upto Rs 63,200 per month. Interested candidates can apply online until May 15, 2019. FSSAI Recruitment 2019: Application Window Opens For 275 Vacancies Kurukshetra University Number of Vacancies General: 66 vacancies SC: 32 vacancies BC-A: 26 vacancies BC-B: 14 vacancies EWS: 18 vacancies ESM: 28 vacancies ESP: 06 vacancies PWD: 08 vacancies CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Clerk Organisation Kurukshetra University Educational Qualification Graduate from a recognized University Skills Required Typing speed of 30 words per minute in English Job Location Haryana Salary Scale Rs 19,900 to 63,200 per month Industry Education Application Start Date April 9, 2019 Application End Date May 15, 2019 Also Read: Top 5 Bank Jobs In April 2019: Apply Online For SBI, IDBI And Syndicate Bank Age Limit The minimum age limit is 18 years and the maximum age limit is 50 years. Click here for the recruitment announcement Application Fee All the male candidates of Haryana/ female and male candidates of other than Haryana have to pay Rs 1200 as application fee. The female candidates of the general category of Haryana have to pay Rs 600 as application fee. However, it is Rs 300 for male and female of SC/BC-A/BC-B/EWS category of Haryana state only. Selection Procedure The selection of the candidates will be based on the marks obtained in the aptitude test and others. The distribution of total marks out of 100 are described below. Phase Test Total Marks I Type Test (on Computer only) 30 II Computer Appreciation & Application Test 20 III Aptitude Test 30 IV Academic Qualification (Physically Original Document Verification) 20 Aggregate Marks 100 How To Apply Candidates should visit the official website of the Kurukshetra University to apply online for the Clerk post. The website to apply online is https://eapplicationonline.com/KU2019/Pages/Index.aspx. The last date to apply online is May 15, 2019. Allahabad Bank Invites Applications For 92 Specialist Officer (SO) Vacancies Washington House Democrats who focus on education peppered U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos with questions about her vision for school choice, arming teachers, and federal education law during a lengthy, often confrontational hearing here Wednesday. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., the committee chairman, set the tone when he highlighted the Education Departments core mission of ensuring equitable opportunities for all students. Unfortunately under the presidents fiscal 2020 budget, it would be nearly impossible to meet that challenge, he said. That budget request would cut 10 percent from the departments $71 billion budget and eliminate 29 programs covering literacy, educator training, and more, but is highly unlikely to pass Congress. DeVos, meanwhile, repeatedly stressed that her vision and plans focused on students not systems, citing the proposed $5 billion Education Freedom Scholarships that would provide tax credits to support private school tuition, transportation, after-school tutoring, and other educational services. When discussing the promise of boosting student apprenticeships to give students more pathways to success, for example, in a discussion Rep. Steve Watkins, R-Kan., DeVos said, There is no one-size-fits-all approach. But we need to, from this level, make sure that the impediments that are there are broken down to the greatest extent possible. But Rep. Jahana Hayes, the 2016 National Teacher of the Year and a newly elected Democrat from Connecticut, provided perhaps the most dramatic moments of the hearing when she raised the issue of using federal Title IV grant funds for arming teachers, which triggered a big controversy for DeVos last summer. During her questioning of DeVos, Hayes entered into the record and highlighted a department memo, which she said was obtained through an information request from the group Democracy Forward, an anti-corruption group. A portion of the memo stated that DeVos had the authority, if she chose to use it, to decide whether it would be permissible to use the grant money for firearms and training teachers to use guns. According to the Every Student Succeeds Act, Title IV grantswhich currently get about $1.2 billion in federal aidare to be used for student well-being, school safety, and academic enrichment. It is ... reasonable for the Secretary to disallow this particular use of the funds absent specific Congressional authorization, and it is unlikely that this interpretation would be subject to a successful legal challenge, Jason Botel, a former top staffer to DeVos, wrote to Kent Talbert, a senior adviser, in July 2018, according to the memo Hayes submitted. He added that DeVos had discretion to interpret the law on this issue. The same memo states that, Arguments can be made for and against permitting the use of Title IV, Part A funds for purposes such as firearms for schools staff. It also says ESSA nearly clearly authorizes nor prohibits using money for guns or arming teachers. In response to Hayes, DeVos repeated what she said last summer: that she neither supported nor opposed using that money for such purposes, and that this decision was ultimately up to states. Hayes was unsatisfied with that response. You have the ability to make a decision. Your silence is a decision, Hayes responded. Wednesday marked DeVos first appearance before the House education committee after Democrats won the House last November . Dating back to last summer, Democrats on Capitol Hill have indicated that if they were to regain control of the House, they would take DeVos to task on a number of issues . DeVos first apperance before a House panel controlled by Democrats last montha budget subcommitteeled to a national uproar over proposed elimination of federal funding for the Special Olympics . The issue prompted enough outrage on social media and elsewhere that two days later, the president announced he was rescinding that proposal . Ultimately, decisions about which programs receive federal aid lie with Congress, not the president. Republicans on Wednesday were eager to focus on DeVos support for school choice and the Freedom Scholarships, They were also critical of the approach Democratic lawmakers took. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., the committees top Republican, said Democrats had not used the hearing to make good-faith inquiries into how the Education Department serves students. This is a gotcha hearing, Foxx said near the end of proceedings. Choice in the Spotlight At Wednesdays hearing, Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, had her own pointed exchange with DeVos about the Freedom Scholarships proposal. She compared its potential impact to that of the 2017 tax cuts signed by the president, which she said ultimately benefited the rich. Its the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard, Fudge said. By any other name, it is a voucher. Vouchers function differently than scholarships based on tax credits, because vouchers provide public revenue directly to parents in order for them to use towards private school tuition. Some critics say the tax-credit scholarship proposal ultimately amounts to transferring public funds into private hands, although DeVos team calls that claim inaccurate . Fudge then challenged DeVos about tax-credit scholarship programs in Florida and Georgia, asking her if she knew that they had had no impact on student achievement. DeVos shot back, Youre wrong, and told Fudge shed be happy to share data with her about the programs effect. A recent Urban Institute study found that Florida students receiving the scholarships were more likely to attend college and earn a bachelors degree than comparable peers who did not receive them, although the study also acknowledged that other factors not measured by the study could have influenced those results. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., grilled DeVos about her approach to oversight of charter schools , calling it a pressing question. In response, DeVos highlighted the waiting lists for charter schools in the District of Columbia and New York City. She cast the issue of oversight more expansively than Grijalva: If [charter schools] cant serve students well, they shouldnt exist. The same should be true for traditional public schools. When Grijalva called teachers grossly underpaid and asked what she thought the federal government should do about it, DeVos said, The states and local communities have the most direct input into that, and highlighted the budget proposal to create vouchers for teachers professional development . Grijalva replied, My point is that they should get more pay. Meanwhile, Republicans were keen for DeVos to talk about how the Freedom Scholarships could be used in a variety of ways. In a discussion with Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., about students in rural areas with no nearby private schools, DeVos noted how the scholarships could pay for things like course choice and the creation of micro-school communities within schools students already attended. Theres really limitless ideas that you could come up with to really tailor-make the options for the students that youre serving, DeVos said. At one point, she compared the Freedom Scholarships favorably to a bill from Democrats to increase federal aid for school infrastructure, saying, "$100 billion for buildings, versus $5 billion for students. She also highlighted Trumps push to double funding available for private school vouchers in the District of Columbia. Accurate Information Is Critical Democrats also zeroed in on how DeVos had handled state ESSA plans. Del. Gregorio Sablan, D-Northern Mariana Islands, the chairman of the House subcommittee that handles K-12, asked DeVos if she was aware that according to one estimate, 40 states were not disaggregating student achievement data for at least one subgroup that federal law required them to publicly report. (For more on this issue, go here.) DeVos responded, I did not approve any plans that did not comply completely with the law. Sablan took another crack at the issue, citing an Alliance for Excellent Education report from last year that 12 statess ESSA plans did not include subgroups of students in all their school ratings. When DeVos reiterated that her team was monitoring states to ensure they followed the law, Sablan made his displeasure clear. We cannot advance equity without this information, Sablan said. Accurate information is critical for parents, educators, and policymakers. In a Tuesday meeting with state education chiefs, Scott also pressed this point, telling them ESSA doesnt constitute a blank check that lets them ignore vulnerable students. Republicans have stressed that the law provides states with significant flexibility in creating school improvement systems and school report cards that share student achievement data with the public. Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., pressed DeVos as to why she was not making public the applications for waivers from ESSA for issues such as a cap on the share of students who can take alternative state exams due to cognitive disabiliites. Underwood said being transparent on this issue was a core civil rights issue, but DeVos said she would not make the departments website a filing cabinet and use it to publicize these applications. Civil Rights and Special Education Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., brought up the issue of Obama-era transgender guidance, which DeVos revoked in 2017 and was intended to ensure transgender students could access school facilities based on their gender identity. When she asked DeVos whether she was aware of how these students often struggled with academic achievement and attendance, the secretary responded that her office for civil rights was committed to ensuring students could access their education free of harassment and discrimination. But DeVos did not share further details on her views. A 2017 report from the advocacy group GLSEN found that students who reported being bullied for gender expression (which may overlap with gender identity) had higher rates of absenteeism than those who did not report such bullying. A recent court decision on special education also came up. Rep. Donna Shalala, D-Fla., asked DeVos about where the department stood with respect to a March federal court ruling that the department cannot further delay a 2016 Obama rule that would change states monitoring process for how students of color are identified for and disciplined in special education services . We are in the process of implementing the ruling, DeVos eventually said after a lengthy back and forth with Shalala, adding that she thought she could share the departments timeline for the issue in about a week. Shalala said the department should move quickly, telling DeVos, Children are suffering every day. Photo: Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos arrives at a House education committee hearing on April 10, 2019. (Andrew Ujifusa/Education Week) Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . And follow the Andrew Ujifusa half of Politics K-12 @AndrewUjifusa . Dennis Williams, who in 2016 tried desperately to infiltrate Chattanooga Volkswagen with union workers, has now retired from the cancerous United Auto Workers labor chattel. But as openly-worried UAW executives are lining up to sing clear-and-bright to federal agents in hopes of lighter sentences in a monumental union scandal, our boy Dennis has to be looking in the rear view mirror. Williams, upon retirement, was given a stunning severance package that includes a lavish lake cottage with opulent fixtures on Black Lake, near Cheboygan in the upper part of the state. Granite countertops, toney appliances even a secret room to hide has just been built. To that end, everybody in the UAW world wanted to hide when it was revealed in page-one headlines across the state that the Williams shrine was actually built by non-union members again you cant make this up -- because they were cheaper and just as good. Whoa, what is coming is so strong it is scary. You need to focus as hard as you can because for our VW rank-and-file to suddenly invite a gasping labor union inside its gates defies all imagination, any shred of common sense, and becomes a threat so great to our community it is painful even before it hurts. Dont take it from me but think of a guy on the assembly line who has an autistic son, another who is caring for his dad, and a quality of life for your family in Tennessee. Some people at out VW plant are dancin with the devil. Stop! Wipe away all you have just read about the UAW.Whoa, what is coming is so strong it is scary. You need to focus as hard as you can because for our VW rank-and-file to suddenly invite a gasping labor union inside its gates defies all imagination, any shred of common sense, and becomes a threat so great to our community it is painful even before it hurts. Dont take it from me but think of a guy on the assembly line who has an autistic son, another who is caring for his dad, and a quality of life for your family in Tennessee. Some people at out VW plant are dancin with the devil. This is beyond my comprehension * * * EXCERPT FROM THE MEMPHIS COMMERCIAL APPEAL (April 9, 2019) Five years after Tennessee political leaders resisted UAW efforts to unionize Volkswagen Chattanooga, plant workers have called for another union election. The United Auto Workers union lost its 2014 bid to represent autoworkers in the East Tennessee plant. This time, autoworkers sense a union-friendly White House, a new governor in Nashville and a rising desire on the plant floor for a voice in VW Chattanooga. "This was a decision made by the Chattanooga workers," said Brian Rothenberg, spokesman for the Detroit-based union. The members have taken it into their own hands. A group of Chattanooga VW employees filed a petition Tuesday with the National Labor Relations Board calling for the plant's production and maintenance workers to vote on April 29 and April 30. About 1,700 employees are eligible to vote. In the 2014 vote, VW workers rejected the union on a 712-626 vote that surprised many automotive analysts. Before the election, executives at Volkswagen, which operates unionized plants throughout the world, had quietly endorsed the UAW. * * * EXCERPT FROM THE DETROIT FREE PRESS (March 2019) GM is in the process of idling five North American plants, including Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly and Warren Transmission in Michigan. It ended production last week in Lordstown, Ohio. The UAW is suing over the Lordstown closure, and Unifor, the Canadian autoworker union, is waging a bitter campaign over the scheduled closure of Oshawa Assembly in Ontario. * * * EXCERPT FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (March 3, 2019) -- TOLEDO, Ohio Hundreds of workers at four General Motors plants slated to close this year are facing a painful choice: Take the company's offer to work at another factory possibly hundreds of miles away even if that means leaving behind their families, their homes and everything they've built. Or stay and risk losing their high-paying jobs. The automaker says nearly all of its blue-collar U.S. workers with jobs in jeopardy have work waiting for them. Many from the targeted factories in Michigan, Ohio and Maryland already have voluntarily transferred to plants in the Midwest and South, not wanting to take a chance. * * * EXCERPT FROM THE DETROT FREE PRESS (March 12, 2019) from the Toledo, Ohio, bureau Hundreds of workers at four General Motors plants slated to close this year are facing a painful choice: Take the company's offer to work at another factory possibly hundreds of miles away even if that means leaving behind their families, their homes and everything they've built. Or stay and risk losing their high-paying jobs. The automaker says nearly all of its blue-collar U.S. workers with jobs in jeopardy have work waiting for them. Many from the targeted factories in Michigan, Ohio and Maryland already have voluntarily transferred to plants in the Midwest and South, not wanting to take a chance. * * * EXCERPT FROM THE DETROIT FREE PRESS (March 11, 2019) UAW President Gary Jones announced Monday that worker strike pay has increased from $200 to $250 a week effective immediately, as more than 900 union leaders gathered on Day 1 of the unions bargaining convention at Cobo Center in Detroit. The union that represents about 156,000 autoworkers employed by General Motors, Ford Motor Co., and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will begin negotiating new contracts this summer. Activism and solidarity, that is what secures our power, Jones told a cheering crowd. The stakes are high. We are ready, Jones said to a standing ovation. We are ready to gear up and fight for what is right. We are ready to fight for our brothers and sisters and act as one. He noted that weekly strike pay will jump to $275 a week in January 2020 (It is believed that a vehicle manufactured on a union assembly line will cost almost $1,000 more than a similar vehicle built on a non-union plant. The difference? The UAW represents about 400,000 workers but also must support 700,000 retirees) * * * WHEN NISSAN WAS OPENING its plant in Canton., Miss., it is said: In one organizing drive, a Northerner and a Southerner learned Southern workers could use some flahrs. The Northerner showed up the next day with fliers. They went untaken and unread. The Southerner showed up with carnations. They were quickly snapped up. The Hamilton County Election Commission on Wednesday authorized up to $70,000 more in potential legal expenses - mainly involving a lawsuit brought by the Tennessee Democratic Party seeking to keep Republican Robin Smith off the ballot for the House District 26 race. The lawsuit was dismissed and Ms. Smith won the seat and has been serving. However, the lawsuit is still alive. Attorneys are preparing for oral argument before the Tennessee Court of Appeals. Mike Walden, Election Commission chairman, said County Attorney Rheubin Taylor will continue to be the main lawyer for the panel. But he said additional funds needed to be set aside for outside counsel. The Election Commission earlier hired Chattanooga attorney Stephen Duggins to represent the panel in the Smith lawsuit at a rate of $290 per hour. Mr. Walden, who earlier called the lawsuit "frivolous," said up to $50,000 more was needed for legal costs. Election Commissioner Chris Clem said there needed to be enough to fully pay attorney Duggins, who was at the morning meeting. So another $20,000 was added., Democrats maintain that longtime Rep. Gerald McCormick's late withdrawal from the District 26 race was invalid. He said his employer was requiring that he take a new position in Nashville. Rep. McCormick and his wife, Kim, earlier bought a house in Nashville and put their home in Middle Valley up for sale. Democrats say Robin Smith's name should not have been allowed on the ballot. Ms. Smith, who formerly headed the state Republican Party, had called the lawsuit "a frivolous effort to disenfranchise thousands of District 26 voters." She said, "I have kept the faith that our courts and their wisdom would see this lawsuit for what it really was a political gimmick by a desperate party attempting to secure a seat in the legislature for an admitted socialist who even lives outside the district and would never win the support of the people at the ballot box. "I am saddened by this effort. Tennessee Democrats have cost Hamilton County taxpayers thousands and thousands of dollars, placed the voting rights of our citizens at risk, and attempted to damage the reputations of several people without regard for the truth or facts in this case. For this, the Tennessee Democratic Party should shoulder the responsibility for reimbursing the taxpayers of Hamilton County. They have proven that their efforts and energy are directed literally towards frivolous nonsense and delegitimizing our elections instead of promoting real policy ideas on the issues that matter most to District 26 voters." Southern Adventist Universitys School of Social Work, in partnership with the Chattanooga Police Department, will host a poverty simulation training exercise on Monday, April 22. Open to the community, this interactive, immersion experience will help participants gain a new understanding of the challenges facing individuals living on low income. Held from 1-4 p.m. at The Well, 1800 Rossville Ave., this event will also provide participants with the skills necessary to plan, promote, and facilitate a poverty simulation in their own communities. Based on real people and their daily realities, this simulation is not a game. Registration is required for this free event. Social workers can earn continuing education credit for a fee of $10. For more information and to register, visit southern.edu/povertysimulation. For the first time, a team of scholars and archaeologists has recorded and interpreted Cherokee inscriptions in Manitou Cave, Al. These inscriptions reveal evidence of secluded ceremonial activities at a time of crisis for the Cherokee, who were displaced from their ancestral lands and sent westward on the Trail of Tears in the 1830s. These are the first Cherokee inscriptions ever found in a cave context, and the first from a cave to be translated, said Jan Simek, president emeritus of the University of Tennessee System and Distinguished Professor of Science in UTs Department of Anthropology. Dr.. Simek is a co-author of the study Talking Stones: Cherokee Syllabary in Manitou Cave, Alabama, published recently in Antiquity. They tell us about what the people who wrote on the walls were doing in the cave and provide a direct link to how some Native Americans viewed caves as sacred places. The research team that worked to understand the nature and meaning of these historic inscriptions included scholars from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees, and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma as well as Euro-American archaeologists. The researchers concentrated on two main groups of Cherokee inscriptions found in Manitou Cave, a popular tourist site near Fort Payne, Al. Until now, indigenous uses of the cave had been unrecorded, as typical archaeological evidence like artifacts or deposits have been removed during its time as a tourist attraction. The first inscription records an important ritual event that took place in 1828, translated as The leaders of the stickball team on the 30th day in their month April 1828. A nearby inscription reads We who are those that have blood come out of their nose and mouth. Stickball is a Cherokee sport similar to lacrosse. It is far more than a simple game, Dr. Simek said. It is a ceremonial event that often continues over days, focusing on competition between two communities who epitomize the spirit and power of the people and their ancestors. A second series of inscriptions is located on the ceiling nearer to the entrance of the cave. The ceiling inscriptions are written backwards, as if addressing readers inside the rock itself, Dr. Simek said. This corresponds with part of one inscription which reads I am your grandson. This is how the Cherokee might formally address the Old Ones, which can include deceased Cherokee ancestors as well as comprise other supernatural beings who inhabited the world before the Cherokee came into existence. The inscriptions analyzed by researchers indicate that caves like Manitou were seen by the Cherokee as spiritually potent places where wall embellishment was appropriate in the context of ceremonial action. Since their work in Manitou Cave, the researchers have identified several caves with similar inscriptions. They will continue to collaborate as scholars from the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes and archaeologists. Our research has shown that the Cherokee voice in Alabama did in fact outlast the Trail of Tears, Dr. Simek said. We will continue to document and protect these previously unknown records of indigenous American history and culture. Along with Dr. Simek, the studys authors are Beau Duke Carroll, who took part in the research as a graduate student in UTs Department of Anthropology; Alan Cressler of the US Geological Survey; Tom Belt, a member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees and coordinator of the Cherokee Language program at Western Carolina University; and Julie Reed, a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and former faculty member in UTs Department of History, now at Pennsylvania State University. A Rhea County woman is charged with TennCare fraud for falsely reporting her income and household composition in order to obtain TennCare benefits. The Office of Inspector General, with the assistance of the Rhea County Sheriffs Office, on Wednesday announced the arrest of Kayla Hickman, 27, of Dayton. She is charged with TennCare fraud and theft of services over $10,000 for allegedly failing to report that the father of her two children lived in her home and contributed to the household income. Both factors made her ineligible for TennCare. Tennessee citizens are easily angered when people abuse federal and state tax dollars intended to help those in need, Inspector General Kim Harmon said. We appreciate the assistance of the local law enforcement in coordinating the arrest in this case. TennCare fraud is now a Class D felony punishable by up to four years in prison. Theft of services over $10,000 is a Class C felony that carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison. District Attorney General Mike Taylor is prosecuting. The OIG, which is separate from TennCare, began full operation in February 2005 and has investigated cases leading to more than $3 million being repaid to TennCare, with a total estimated cost avoidance of more than $163.6 million for TennCare, according to latest figures. To date, 3,077 people have been charged with TennCare fraud. Through the OIG Cash for Tips Program established by the Legislature, Tennesseans can get cash rewards for TennCare fraud tips that lead to convictions. Anyone can report suspected TennCare fraud by calling 1-800-433-3982, toll-free, from anywhere in Tennessee; or log on to www.tn.gov/tnoig/ and follow the prompts that read Report TennCare Fraud. What a great birthday gift that junior Caroline Cornett received when she was recently notified that she had achieved a perfect 36 composite score on the ACT college entrance exam. Ms. Cornett is the sixth student at Signal Mountain Middle High School to achieve this, putting her in the Top 1 percentile of all students who take the ACT. March was the second time Ms. Cornett took the ACT. She thought it was pretty hard and was already planning to take it again this summer. Thankfully, that is not necessary. What a fun coincidence that Ms. Cornett was notified of the perfect score on her 17th birthday. News of Ms. Cornetts achievement was no surprise to teachers at Signal Mountain. Caroline is an extremely dedicated and talented student who puts her heart into everything she does, said Kathy McCormack, chairman of the schools Math department. Ms.. McCormack has taught Ms. Cornett in several high-level math courses and also observed her as a participant in the Technology Student Association, which she had served as faculty sponsor for years. Ms.Cornett is a top student who is active in many academic enrichment activities, which also include Model UN (MUN), Youth in Government (YIG) and Mock Trial. She will serve the next school year as the secretary general for MUN 2020, the highest student position at the Southeastern High School Model United Nations Conference, and was chair of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) committee this past year. Ms. Cornett has also earned several recognitions at YIG and will be speaker of the Red House at next springs state conference. And she was a member of the team that won a repeat district title and recently placed third at the state high school Mock Trial conference. Last summer, she was nominated, selected and served as a participant in the 2018 Tennessee Governors School for International Studies. Ms. Cornett also is an active member of the schools Leo Club, National Honor Society, Beta Club, Mu Alpha Theta math honor society and runs with the high school cross country and track team. This past year, she helped found a local chapter of Threads of Care that held a successful coat drive over winter and spring clothing drive to provide items for the homeless. Outside school, Ms. Cornett is active in student ministries with Signal Presbyterian Church. When time allows, she enjoys reading and playing with her dog, Shiloh. I am so proud of Caroline and all of her accomplishments, said Lorri Whitney, Signals teacher of Gifted programs and personal finance who also serves as faculty sponsor of several clubs including YIG, Model UN, and Mock Trial. This score is further proof of her hard work and dedication to learning in every facet of her life. Signals Executive Principal Shane Harwood agreed. We are so proud of Carolines ACT accomplishment and all of the time and effort she puts into doing her very best at everything she takes on, he said. Whether it be scoring a perfect ACT score, serving in various school and community leadership roles, or spearheading a service project to help others, Mr. Harwood noted, Caroline serves as a shining example of the amazing things that can be accomplished by those who dedicate themselves to their goals and having a positive impact on others. Andy and Robin Cornett are proud of their daughter, who is known for being motivated and a very hard worker who enjoys helping others when she gets the opportunity. While some people may think things come easy to kids who are academically smart, Mrs. Cornett said, The important thing about Caroline is she accomplishes great things, but she works really hard for them. When asked about tips for others studying for the ACT, Ms. Cornett advised doing a lot of practice tests and to look at the answers that come with the questions, which could be misleading, so its good to know what theyre looking for when they ask a question. And, try to stay motivated, she added. Ms. Cornett also took advantage of the ACT Prep classes that Signal offered during free periods at school. She said those often discussed strategy for taking the ACT. Again, Ms. Cornett is the sixth student to score a perfect composite on the ACT college entrance exam since SMMHS opened its doors a decade ago. The first was 2016 graduate Andy Vernetti, followed by 2018 graduates Tamjeed Azad and Dana McCormack, current seniors Jack Poss and Max Burk, and now, Caroline Cornett. SMMHS is proud of the academic rigor that we provide to our students, said Sherry Dagnan, junior and senior school counselor at the school. The number of perfect ACT scores that we have had, Ms. Dagnan said, are an appropriate reflection of the commitment our students, teachers and staff have made to providing a quality education to every student in our building. Hits 96, WDOD-FM, announces a new mobile app that will allow for registration, artist information and up to the second notifications that marks a milestone for the event. Further, Hits 96 has hit a record number of registrations at this point over all other years, eclipsing 100 racers sooner than ever before. Event Organizer and Hits 96 afternoon personality, Brad Steiner said, Developing a mobile app that allows us to communicate in a whole new way with the community was a dream we thought was years and years away. With the lineup being as big as it is and the race registrations being at a record high we thought now was the time. Previously announced performers include Madison Beer, Fletcher, Drax Project, LIVVIA, MKTO, and NOTD. Mr. Steiner adds, Not only will we have an amazing lineup of performers and a record number of racers, we are proud to welcome back Big Al Mack from the Kidd Kraddick Morning Show that will act as our emcee for the show. For over 20 years, Big Al Mack has been a Kidd Kraddick Morning Show staple and will make his return to Chattanooga after previously arriving to award a local Middle School with a playground renovation. Mack says, I am so excited to come to The Running of the Chihuahuas! And I promise I wont step on any! The Running of the Chihuahuas features over 150 racing chihuahuas, musical performances, kids area, and more for free starting at 2 p.m. Added to this years event will be an on-site only giveaway for an exclusive showcase with a Hits 96 artist that will be announced in the coming days. Mr. Steiner said, We have a very special artist coming to Chattanooga to play for Hits 96 listeners ONLY and will be giving 150 tickets away to the show all day at the Running of the Chihuahuas 12. We cant wait to tell you who is coming. Registration is open and available at www.runningofthechihuahuas.com or www.hits96.com on a first come, first serve basis. Spectators are encouraged to participate, for free, starting at 2 p.m. at the First Tennessee Pavilion. Music begins at 3 p.m. and racing begins, tentatively, at 6 p.m. If interested, sponsors are being accepted by calling 321-6200. I owe it to Tennessee American Water to acknowledge their prompt response. Within a few hours after my request for help was published here, a nice woman named Leah called to answer my question about missing water bills. I missed her call, but returned it as soon as possible. She said that a glitch in the water company's system had somehow lost track of me and about a dozen of my neighbors, and only my complaint had made that apparent to them. And she assured me that I will soon be receiving an up-to-date and fair water bill. The neat part of it all is, I learned that the deliberately remote and impersonal water company really does have at least one local (423) telephone number that allowed me to talk immediately with a real person who was able to figure out exactly what my problem was. Unfortunately for everyone else in Chattanooga, I failed to ask Leah's permission to post her otherwise unlisted phone number. So others with similar local questions will just have to do the best they can, the same as I did for a month, and call the 1-866 number. That one, I understand now, rings in the offices of several pleasant and enviable women who work in Pensacola. Oh, of course I intend to file Leah's local number in case I have water problems in the future. Larry Cloud Lookout Valley Today, the I am Hamilton video feature spotlights Patrick Smiley, a custodian at East Ridge Elementary Schools. Mr. Smiley gets to school bright and early every day to get the building ready for the children and the teachers of East Ridge Elementary. He also brings along his smile and is ready to share a hug or a high-five with a child as he goes about his job each day. He knows every child by their first name, said Pam Rogers, a teacher at East Ridge Elementary. Mr. Smiley goes above and beyond every day, not only for the teachers and school, but for the children. "Smiley creates jobs in the cafeteria and school for children, which contributes to the success of the school because the little jobs help the children feel needed and important," officials said. I want to make sure I keep the kids in comfort mode, Mr. Smiley said. I laugh and talk with them and show them that school is not a bad place to be, and it makes me feel good when they come and talk to me. He has a contagious smile, said Kali ONeal, a teacher at East Ridge. Mr. Smiley will brighten your day with a good morning and a high five. I am Hamilton spotlights the contributions of alumni, teachers, parents, students, support workers and community members in providing opportunities for children in the classrooms of Hamilton County Schools. "Better opportunities for children today mean a brighter future filled with possibilities for our graduates, their families and the community," officials said. To nominate someone for I Am Hamilton, send an email to communications@hcde.org with the name of the person you would like to nominate, the school the individual is connected to in Hamilton County Schools, the persons title and what makes the person special to Hamilton County Schools. You can nominate a graduate, teacher, parent, student, support worker, community member or anyone playing a special role in a school in the district. Also, include your name, school or location, and title. Chattanooga native Adair (Anne Clarke) Sanders will be at Star Line Books Saturday beginning at 2 p.m. where she will share the story of her journey from attorney to the creator of the Allison Parker Mystery Series. During the 30-plus years that Adair represented clients in state and federal courtrooms, becoming a writer never crossed her mind. However, at the urging of a close friend and after the death of her father in 2007, Adair felt called to write the story of her familys generational dysfunction. Although still practicing law, Adair spent her evenings writing, and thus was birthed her first book, a memoir, aptly entitled Biologically Bankrupt. Three years later, having exited her firm in early retirement (an act which greatly peeved many of her male partners), Adair decided to take a dialogue writing class at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, N.C. Low and behold, two days into the week-long class, Allison Parker, trial lawyer extraordinaire, made her appearance known to Adair, and the rest is history. As Sick As Our Secrets, An Allison Parker Mystery, was released at the end of 2014, inviting the reader to follow the spunky Alabama lawyer as she uncovers a trail of sex, blackmail and murder. Secrets was followed by What Comes Around in 2015, placing Allison on the trail of a serial killer who is murdering women across the South. Ashes to Ashes, the third book in the series, made its debut in November 2016 and asks the reader to help uncover who tried to kill P.I. Frank Martin, and why. Book four, Suffer the Children, takes the reader into the uncomfortable reality of homegrown terrorism, while Wolf, book five in the series, has an international cast of characters both good and bad. Adair resides in Brevard, N.C. where she is a founding member of the Brevard Authors Guild, the Chattanooga Writers Guild, and the North Carolina Writers Network. In addition to Biologically Bankrupt and the Allison Parker Mystery Series, Adair is also the author of Out of the Ashes, A Collection of Essays. All of Adairs books will be available for purchase and signing at Star Line Books Saturday. Its been almost 50 years since The Beatles broke up. As far as the bands two surviving members are concerned, thats just a number. In the case of Ringo Starr, the former Beatles drummer was working his way through a tour of Japan in April. Hes headed to North America later this summer. As for Paul McCartney, the great songwriter and performer also continues to tour in 2019. During a recent jaunt through South America, Paul managed to turn up on the Billboard Hot Tours list for his earnings in March. Actually, Paul didnt just place on the Hot Tour list; he nearly topped all artists after earning a small fortune for four concerts played over the course of a week in Brazil and Argentina. (By average earnings, he indeed was No. 1.) In fact, at the age of 76, hes pulling in box-office receipts that put almost everyone else in the business to shame. Paul averaged over $4.4 million per show in the last week of March. No one dreamed of $4 million shows when The Beatles began touring in 1963. |Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images How many recording artists can fill 50,000-seat stadiums these days? There arent many, but Paul McCartney is definitely one of them. On March 26-27, he averaged over 45,000 fans per night at Alliance Parque in Sao Paolo, Brazil. In dollar terms, Billboard quoted it at $8.7 million for the two-night stand. But hed just come from an even bigger show in Buenos Aires, Argentina. For his March 23 gig at Campo Argentino de Polo, he took in a staggering $5.7 million for a single show. That nearly matched his take from two nights ($11.8 million, $5.9 million per show) in Buenos Aires back in 2016. But that only accounted for three shows. With his fourth and final stop of the week (March 30 in Curitiba, Brazil), Paul added another $3.7 million to the coffers. That put his earnings at $4.45 million per show. Paul still stages $100 million tours and is the richest rock star of all time. Paul McCartney plays for 65.000 people during the Up and Coming Tour at Morumbis stadium, Sao Paulo, Brazil. | Paulo Fridman/Corbis via Getty Images While Pauls tour earning in 2019 are stunning, he established his dominance in this area many years ago. In 2015, he posted $56.5 million in earnings. Two years later, he stunned everyone with a $132 million take for the One on One tour in the 2017 calendar-year. That massive sum came for 37 shows on the year, meaning he averaged over $3 million per concert. Once you start adding these numbers together, its easy to see how Paul became the richest rock star of all time. Of course, it all began with his career as a founding member of The Beatles. But his wealth grew to unfathomable levels after he went solo. He had a number of No. 1 singles and albums through the 1970s and 80s. When his wife Linda died at the turn of the century, she left him a sum estimated near $200 million. Since he was already worth around $500 million and continues posting huge earnings to this day, you can understand how Paul became the first billionaire rock star. In worth, his net worth stands at and could exceed $1.2 billion. Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! When Prince Charles married his first wife, Lady Diana Spencer, in 1981, she became Her Royal Highness Princess of Wales. After the two divorced in 1996, she had to give up her HRH title but retained her princess title and continued to be referred to by the public as such. Following Dianas death, Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles went public with their relationship and tied the knot on April 9, 2005. But many have wondered since that day if she inherited the Princess of Wales title and if so why doesnt she ever use it. Here are the answers to those questions plus if Camilla will actually become queen one day. Camilla Parker Bowles | Chris Jackson-WPA Pool/Getty Images Is she the Princess of Wales? Camilla is indeed the Princess of Wales and that became official the day she and the Prince of Wales said I do. However, she does not use that title because of how people still associate it with Princess Diana. Instead, Camilla goes by the feminine version of Prince Charles dukedom, which is the Duchess of Cornwall. When she married Charles Camilla was not popular or well liked, [though] this has changed a lot since the marriage as Camilla has taken on a lot of patronages and Charles is a lot happier, explained Marlene Koenig, royal expert and author of the blog Royal Musings. Still, [there was] a lot of tension and anger among a certain element of the populationso it was decided that Camilla would be styled as the Duchess of Cornwall, even though, of course, she is the Princess of Wales. What are Camillas other titles? In addition to HRH Princess of Wales and HRH Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla gained a couple of other titles when she married the future king of England. When visiting Scotland she goes by Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Rothesay and whenever shes in Cheshire, England, she goes by the Countess of Chester. Camilla Parker Bowles and Prince Charles | Indigo/Getty Images Will she become queen? When the pair got hitched, Camilla said then that she would go by princess consort rather than queen consort once her husband is crowned. But times have changed and Clarence House recently removed a statement from its website stating that she would be princess consort when the time comes. Royal experts agree that Charles wants to make her Queen Camilla and most likely will. The official line is that when Charles becomes king, Camilla will become princess consort. I personally think that is nonsense, said Charlie Proctor, editor-in-chief of Royal Central. When Charles takes to the throne, Camilla will become queen consort. The monarchy is not a popularity contest, and you cant change titles in fear of certain people still having chips on their shoulders. Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams agrees adding that When Charles becomes king he is widely expected to make Camilla queen consort, as every king has always had one. This is not popular in the polls but is now thought pretty certain to happen. Read more: Why Camilla Parker Bowles Parents Didnt Want Her to Marry Prince Charles Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are just weeks away from meeting their firstborn and, the Duchess of Sussexs mother, Doria Ragland is reportedly preparing for an extended trip the United Kingdom to support her daughter and son-in-law in this next chapter of their lives. Its no secret that Meghan Markle and Doria Ragland have a close relationship. The royal mother-in-law was the only member of the duchesss family at the royal wedding last spring and has even gone against the royal norm and accompanied her daughter on an engagement last September. Will Doria Ragland join Meghan Markle in the delivery room? Find out what we know, ahead. Doria Ragland and Meghan Markle | OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images Who will meet the royal baby first? According to family rules, the monarch is the first person notified of a royal birth. And while that might still ring true, it doesnt mean Queen Elizabeth is always the first person to meet the newest member of the family. When Prince William was born, Her Majesty was his first visitor, given his spot in line to the royal throne. However, she waited until after he was home to meet Prince Harry. Will Queen Elizabeth be the first person to meet Prince Harry and Meghan Markles baby? Our guess is probably not. Based on past royal births, it seems as though the queen is only the first to show up when meeting her first grandchild or a future king (although, she wasnt Prince Georges first visitor). Chances are either Prince Charles or Doria Ragland will be the first ones to greet the little royal. Will Doria Ragland join Meghan Markle in the delivery room? Meghan Markles birth plan has been rumored for months with claims suggesting she might opt for a home birth, is considering natural birthing techniques, and even some that say she will go the traditional route and welcome her firstborn at the hospital St Marys where her husband (and many other royal family members) were born. In addition to where and how she will give birth, some wonder who will be there for her during labor and delivery. We have no doubt that Prince Harry will obviously join his wife in the delivery room but what about Doria Ragland? Given their close relationship, the Duchess of Sussex could ask her mother to join her in the delivery room when she welcomes her first child (and Doria Raglands first grandbaby). However, the royal family has yet to confirm the possibilities (and probably wont until long after the royal baby makes his or her appearance). If Meghan Markle does not ask her mother to be in the room with her, we have no doubt that the grandmother-to-be will wait anxiously outside to greet her grandbaby for the first time. When Prince William and Kate Middleton welcomed their firstborn, Carole and Michael Middleton were Prince Georges first visitors. That said, its unclear whether or not the Duchess of Cambridge asked her mother to join her in the delivery room. Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! Meghan Markles estranged half-sister, Samantha Markle, never seems to run out of negative things to say about the Duchess of Sussex and with a new special about Prince Harry and Markle, it seems Samantha was given yet another opportunity to throw shade. Meghan Markle | Kirsty Wigglesworth Pool/Getty Images Is Meghan Markle jealous of Kate Middleton? Since rumors of a feud between Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton never seem to fade, it was only logical that Samantha would weigh in with her take on why the duchesses dont get along. Samantha shared her thoughts in the TLC special Meghan & Harry: A Royal Baby Story, explaining: I believe that there is a jealous streak in Meg. She does like to be the center of attention. I feel like thats a part of what is happening now. Will Meghan Markle hire a nanny? Theres been quite a bit of debate over whether Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will have help once the baby comes and Samantha thinks they will probably hire staff, noting: I think Meg will definitely get a nanny. She continued: Im pretty sure that her threshold for stress could be quite low in the beginning. How many rooms in Frogmore? I can see them all being filled with nannies Meghan is very strong-minded, and there will definitely be a butting of heads, but Meghan could learn and grow from that. So if the nanny is strong enough, then she wont be left in tears. Samantha goes on the attack There was plenty to discuss when it came to whether or not Meghan should allow her father, Thomas Markle, to be a part of Baby Sussexs life. Samantha didnt hold back (no surprise), noting: I certainly think its unfair to overshadow how integral dad [Thomas Markle] was in [Meghans] life. She continued, Its not that we were never there. Weve gone to your dance recitals, holidays, Thanksgivings Now all of a sudden we dont exist. You cant hurt people like this and then turn around and flip the script and play victim . Samantha added that she thinks its important that children have a bigger sense of their family and where they come from. I would like to think that this child would have access to the best parts of grandad and get to know that side of the Markles. During the special, Duncan Larcombe, author of Prince Harry: The Inside Story, also remarked about the possibility that Thomas will be a part of Baby Sussexs life, sharing I cant think for a moment that Thomas Markle will ever be able to meet his grandson or granddaughter. She did have a few nice things to say Samantha wasnt completely negative when it came to talking about Markle, including sharing her thoughts on the Duchess of Sussexs birth plan. Samantha surprisingly gave Meghan quite a of credit, remarking: I think between her own natural endorphins and peace and meditation, and the medical staff standing by, I think she will do very well Hopefully she will give birth in whatever comfortable, safe setting she feels best in. For the past few weeks, multiple media outlets have been focused on Prince William and Kate Middletons Norfolk neighbor, Rose Hanbury. Unsubstantiated tabloid reports have claimed that Hanbury and the duchess were best friends but had some type of falling out. No one knows if those reports are actually true or just ridiculous rumors but they have put the spotlight on Middletons circle of friends. Heres a look at the people who are tight with the Duchess of Cambridge today as well as the other women she reportedly cut out of her life and why. Catherine, Duchess Of Cambridge | Samir Hussein/Samir Hussein/WireImage) Who are Middletons closet friends? Most of Middletons friends live their lives away from the public eye but she has been spotted out and at events with a few of them over the years. They include Sophie Carter, who used to date Williams best friend Thomas van Straubenzee, and Alicia Fox-Pitt who went to school with Middleton and recruited her for the Sisterhood rowing team. Middleton and her husband also have a group of couples they hang out with often and one of those couples are the Meades. Like Hanbury, James and Laura Meade are their neighbors in Norfolk but they knew each other long before that. Laura is Prince Louis godmother and James is the godfather of Princess Charlotte. Who has been her friend since they were teens? Emilia Jardine-Paterson | Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images The Duchess of Cambridge has been best friends with Emilia Jardine-Paterson for years . The ladies have known each other since they were teenagers and attended Marlborough College together. Years later when Middleton and William briefly broke up, it was Jardine-Paterson who took her friend on a trip to Ibiza, Spain. Jardine-Paterson is also one of the godparents of Prince George and helped Middleton decorate both her Kensington Palace and Anmer Hall homes. The women William and Middleton no longer speak to Wiliam, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge | Gareth Fuller WPA Pool/Getty Images Before gossip sites started dissecting whether the duchess is feuding with Hanbury or not. There were reports about a few other women Middleton cut out of her life. The Express noted that the two ladies who Middleton and her husband dont speak to anymore are Isabella Ansthuther -Gough-Calthorpe and Carly Massy-Birch. According to royal author Katie Nicholl, the former is the sister of one of the princes friends and he met up with her during his 2007 split from Middleton. Nicholl wrote in her book, William and Harry, that when they got back together Middleton insisted that William was not to contact her again. In The Making of a Royal Romance, Nicholl claimed that Massy-Birch made Middleton feel awkward during a party in college and outed her and Williams relationship before they were ready to go public. After that, they hardly ever said another word to each other. Read more: What Prince William and Kate Middleton Are Doing To Stop Nosey Fans From Watching Their Every Move Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! Bob Fosse was a film and Broadway legend, a choreographer and director famous for bringing musicals like Chicago and Cabaret to life on stage and screen. Gwen Verdon was a Tony-winning star widely regarded as the best dancer ever to brighten the Broadway stage, according to her New York Times obituary. FXs new show Fosse/Verdon explores their professional and romantic partnership. It stars Sam Rockwell as Fosse and Michelle Williams as Verdon. Verdon started dancing at a young age Gwen Verdon in Damn Yankees | Warner Brothers/Getty Images Given Verdons background, its hardly surprising she ended up with a career in show business. Born in 1925, her mother was a member of the famous Denishawn dance troupe, and her father was an electrician at MGM. She started dancing as a child, and by the time she was 6, she was performing professionally as the fastest little tapper in the world. Verdon married at 17, had a son named Jimmy, and quit dancing. But the marriage ended in divorce after five years, and Verdon started performing again. She worked in Hollywood, working with choreographer Jack Cole and appearing in small parts in movies like The Merry Widow and On the Riviera. In 1953, she made a splash on Broadway as a featured dancer in Can-Can. Audiences loved her performance, but the shows star wasnt thrilled that shed stolen the spotlight. Verdon almost quit, but she ended up sticking it out, winning her first Tony Award for her work in the show. She met Fosse in 1955 After Verdons first experience on Broadway, she returned to California. But when she was offered a part in a new musical called Damn Yankees, she agreed to give it a try. The shows choreographer was Fosse, and the two soon embarked on a romantic relationship, though Fosse was still married to his second wife. Damn Yankees won Verdon her second Tony. The pair followed that success with the musicals New Girl in Town and Redhead, for which she won two more Tony Awards. She and Fosse married in 1960, and Verdon stepped away from the stage for five years. In 1963, she gave birth to a daughter named Nicole. Return to dancing and Chicago After several years away from the spotlight, Verdon returned to performing in 1966 with a starring role in Sweet Charity. Her performance earned her a fifth Tony nomination. While Fosse and Verdons creative partnership was fruitful, their marriage was rocky. Fosse had numerous affairs and also struggled with drug and alcohol abuse. The couple eventually separated in 1971, but they remained close and never divorced. Professionally, Fosse continued to rely on Verdon, particularly with the troubled production of the film version of Cabaret, which he directed in 1972. (He won a Best Director Oscar for the movie.) As she approached her 50s, Verdons career as a dancer was nearing its end. But she wowed audiences for one final time when she originated the role of Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago, a project that had long been close to her heart. Keeping Fosses legacy alive After Chicago, Verdon continued to work in film and television, appearing in movies like Cocoon and shows like Homicide: Life on the Street. Following Fosses death in 1987, she was instrumental in keeping her former husbands legacy alive, including helping to create the 1999 musical Fosse. She died in 2000. Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! Ever since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced they were expecting a baby, the world has been eager for any and all news about the new royal baby. Markle has attracted attention for everything from her chic pregnancy style to her all-natural approach to childbirth. While the royal couple hasnt really revealed much to the public about their actual birth plans, a new report suggests that Meghan Markle could take a unique approach to bring her baby into the world. But, are there additional risks? Markle prefers to keep things natural 8 Times Meghan Markle (and Dad-to-Be Prince Harry!) Got Real About the Challenges of Pregnancy https://t.co/2Fhzm3bkua People (@people) April 10, 2019 Well before her marriage to Prince Harry, Meghan Markle was known as much for her love for health and wellness as for her acting skills. Markle likes to stick to organic foods, and reportedly keeps her and her husbands fridge well-stocked with only the healthiest of treats. She also knows the importance of staying active, and practices yoga, which she is quite familiar with considering her mother is a yoga instructor. Pregnancy causes many women to feel fatigued, and hardly up to the challenge of walking, much less exercising on a regular basis. Markle definitely doesnt seem fazed by the struggles of pregnancy and has been traveling the world for her royal duties even while her baby bump grows larger and larger. Markles holistic approach to pregnancy includes outfitting the babys nursery in the finest materials, including, reportedly, eucalyptus-infused vegan paint on the walls to promote relaxation and calm. How did Kate give birth? While this is Meghan Markles first pregnancy, her sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, is a pro. The Duchess of Cambridge has given birth to three children since shes been married to Prince William and likely has a lot of great advice for Markle about everything from the actual birth to recovery from labor. It seems that in one way, at least, Markles childbirth experience could differ wildly from Middletons. Kate Middleton gave birth to all three of her children at St. Marys Hospital, in an exclusive, more private area called Lindo Wing. According to a new report, Meghan Markle is actually considering a home birth, shunning the use of the queens doctors to deliver her baby. Would a home birth be safe for Markle? REVEALED: Meghan Markle's bold home birth plan https://t.co/BPOlVOTACD Daily Mail Femail (@Femail) April 9, 2019 Home births are a relatively popular choice in the United States and are catching on in the United Kingdom as well. They are not unprecedented in the royal family either, as Queen Elizabeth actually gave birth to her four children either at home in Buckingham Palace, or her smaller residence, Clarence House. Although home births are growing in popularity, there are still some misconceptions about the process. Many people still feel that home births are unsafe, but there are actually very minimal risks with home births, and in several ways, they can be considered safer than hospital births. One positive aspect of home birth is the reduced risk of infection. Giving birth in a hospital setting means that the mother and baby are surrounded by hundreds of other people, some that have illnesses or other issues that could affect a compromised immune system. Home birth could mean that the mother is less stressed as she goes through labor, considering she will be in a safe, familiar place. Meghan Markle | Samir Hussein/Samir Hussein/WireImage There are only a few situations where home birth isnt recommended. Those situations include high-risk pregnancies, serious pregnancy complications, or when the mother is carrying multiples. Of course, if Markle decides on home birth and ends up having complications during labor, she would immediately be transferred to a hospital for close monitoring. Ultimately, many women choose home births because they want to have more freedom in their childbirth journey. For someone like Meghan Markle, who is under intense public scrutiny, it makes total sense that she will want to keep her childbirth experience as private and personal as possible. The unknown can be frightening for anyone, no matter the stage or season. Anytime we step outside our comfort zone and try something new, we may hear that little voice of doubt inside that says, "Can I really do this?" How loud and clear that voice is depends on one's mindset. (ANSA) - Rome, April 10 - Eight migrants are missing off Libya, the Alarm Phone rescue alert service said Wednesday. The service got a phone call about 6 a.m. from a dinghy in difficulty carrying around 20 people including women and children, it said. The migrants told Alarm Phone that eight people were missing at sea and the dinghy was shipping water. Alarm Phone said some of the people on board said they would be killed if they returned to Libya. All competent authorities have been alerted, Alarm Phone said. The Mediterranea Saving Humans migrant rescue NGO said: "urgent intervention is needed to save these people". Italy has closed its ports to migrant rescue NGO ships. Alarm Phone added: "The Seawatch plane has established visual contact with the blue wooden boat, confirming that there are around 20 people on board and no engine". The Libyan Coast Guard said it was moving in to rescue the migrants. "Efforts are ongoing to save them," said Libyan Navy spokesman Ayob Amr Ghasem on the phone to ANSA. The dinghy is off Abu Kammash, about 20 km from the Tunisian border, he said. 1. Host a Refugee Perhaps the most hands-on way to help a refugee is to host them in your home. This is a big decision to make as you would be allowing someone whom you barely know to live in your home. If this is a route that you decide to go, always go through a reputable organization that does all of the proper screenings including health and criminal history screenings. Amid the growing world refugee crisis, an increasingly popular question is: what is the correlation between refugees and crime rates in cities and towns where many refugees have been resettled? If you are considering hosting a refugee in your home, this may be a question you have. In 2017 the New American Economy Research Fund analyzed the link between refugees and crime rates in the United States. The group looked at the 10 U.S. cities that received the most refugees proportionate to their pre-existing population. In nine out of 10 cities the group found that crime rates actually went down, and in some cases, they went down significantly. In Southfield, Michigan, for example, the violent crime rate decreased by 77.1 percent and in Decatur, Georgia it went down by 62.2 percent. Other places had less impressive drops like Clarkston, Georgia which only had a 4.8 percent decrease. W. Springfield, Massachusetts, was the only outlier in this study with a violent crime increase of 87.9 percent. According to the New American Economy Research Fund, however, this dramatic increase is likely due to a raging opioid crisis that was being investigated by the FBI before the refugees began to come into the area. With that in mind here is more information on how you can go about hosting a refugee: According to Fast Company, Refugees Welcome International works similarly to Air BnB. This means that you can host a refugee in your home while you are living in it. Refugees Welcome International also offers those who share their homes, funding. According to the organizations website their help the home owner by providing rent money for the refugee staying with you. Refugees Welcome International currently operates in 16 countries, though the U.S. is not one of them. Americans can host a refugee in a similar way through Positive Action in Housing. Photo courtesy: Getty Images/Spencer Platt/Staff Easter egg shaped treats reading Aborto Ya which is Spanish for Abortion Now were distributed by teachers to children in Argentina. According to Life Site News, the eggs were passed out by members of a radical feminist group called The Feminist Front Evita Montonera as a part of a Holy Week pro-abortion protest. Spanish news website Portco Noticias said that teachers in La Matanza public schools gave their students green sugar-coated egg-shaped treats as a part of a pro-abortion campaign called Abort the surprise. The outlet wrote, a large group of teachers grouped in the Feminist Front Evita Montonera decided to take advantage of Easter to give a blow of marketing. Under the motto "Aborta la sorpresaita", green eggs were distributed with the slogan "Aborto Ya" written in sugar cream in different schools of La Matanza. The outlet noted that parents did not take the action well or lightly. The move was both supported by some and found inappropriate by others. One person supporting the distribution praised the move on Twitter deeming it a good effort to raise awareness about abortion among young people. Meanwhile, others found it wildly inappropriate. One person criticizing the distribution of the eggs wrote on Twitter that it was a total shame and repudiation noting that most parents repudiated this. Another person viewed it as inappropriate indoctrination of children as it exploited Easter to bring awareness to a divisive issue. On Facebook, more people spoke out about the protest. According to Portco Noticias, one person urged protestors not to involve children in issues like abortion writing, Children are innocent and do not have to be slaves of adult ideologies. According to Life Site News, in December, the Argentine Senate shot down a proposed abortion bill that would decriminalize the act. Since then, progressives and radical feminist have been taking to the streets for marches and demonstrations in an attempt to legalize the divisive procedure. Photo courtesy: Autumn Mott Eodeheaver/Unsplash Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will continue serving as the countrys prime minister after winning Tuesdays election. According to The Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu won about 65 seats out of about 120 seats in Israels parliament. The election marks Netanyahus fifth term in office, making him the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history. "It's a night of tremendous victory," Netanyahu told supporters early Wednesday. "I was very moved that the nation of Israel once again entrusted me for the fifth time, and with an even greater trust. "I want to make it clear, it will be a right-wing government, but I intend to be the prime minister of all Israeli citizens, right or left, Jews and non-Jews alike," he said. Supporters of Netanyahu were concerned leading up to the election as the prime minister faced a pending criminal indictment on bribery and fraud charges. A hearing is expected in July and a final indictment could come as soon as six months later. "This is a clear beginning of Netanyahu's fifth term, but his fifth term might end up being his shortest one", says Reuven Hazan, a political scientist from Jerusalem's Hebrew University. "In another year, we might be in a battle for either leadership of the Likud or another election." Netanyahu had campaigned in the election against ex-military chief Benny Gantz. He recently announced leading up to election day that he planned to annex parts of the occupied West Bank. In response, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said it would look to the international community for help blocking an annexation. Photo courtesy: Getty Images/Amir Levy/Stringer A syndicated columnist says two airports that banned Chick-fil-A from their facilities engaged in anti-Christian, unconstitutional behavior and that its a preview of a future where anyone who affirms traditional views on sexuality will be shunned. A New York government body blocked Chick-fil-A in late March from opening in the Buffalo, N.Y., airport, merely one week after the San Antonio City Council blocked a Chick-fil-A from opening in that citys airport. In both instances, government officials expressed concerns about the corporations position on LGBT issues. Chick-fil-A is owned by Christians. Columnist Rich Lowry labeled the actions McCarthyite. This is about punishing the Georgia-based company for the faith of its leadership, Lowry wrote. The official bans are anti-Christian, unconstitutional and a harbinger of a larger effort to hunt down and punish any organization that has uncongenial views on sexual morality. The pushback against Chick-fil-A came as a ThinkProgress report criticized the restaurants owners for their donations to the Salvation Army, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Paul Anderson Youth Home. Needless to say, a lot of other people are guilty of the same offense, given that the Salvation Army raises about $2 billion a year, Lowry wrote. To consider all that the Salvation Army does its thrift shops, aid for the homeless, disaster relief, anti-trafficking programs, Christmas gifts to needy children, and much, much more and reduce the organization to an allegedly anti-LGBT group is perverse. For its part, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes stands accused of seeking to spread an anti-LGBTQ message to college athletes. Its true that FCA asks its leaders to forswear homosexual acts, but it also wants them to pledge not to engage in heterosexual acts outside of marriage and, for that matter, refuse to use drugs, alcohol, or tobacco. Chick-fil-A, Lowry noted, does not refuse to serve or hire anyone. The latest campaign against Chick-fil-A is based on the idea that it is impermissible for it to associate with any group with a traditional Christian understanding of sex and marriage, for any purpose whatsoever, no matter how unobjectionable or noble, Lowry wrote. The government officials, he wrote, need a remedial lesson in the Constitution, which forbids discrimination against private companies on the basis of political or religious viewpoint. It is the enemies of Chick-fil-A who are intolerant and out-of-the-mainstream, Lowry wrote. They desperately need to abandon their tawdry McCarthyite crusade and Eat Mor Chikin. Michael Foust is a freelance writer. Visit his blog, MichaelFoust.com. Photo courtesy: Getty Images/Tom Pennington/Stringer Update (April 24): Pastor Chu Yiu-mingwho shared his testimony and offered a biblical defense for human rights in a Hong Kong courtroom earlier this month will likely not serve time for his role in pro-democracy demonstrations. Chu and eight other activists were found guilty of public nuisance then sentenced Wednesday to 16 months in prison. While Chus fellow Occupy central founders Benny Tai and Chan Kin-man will begin their prison terms immediately, the 75-year-old pastor had his punishment suspended due to his age and public service, the New York Times reported. At this point, he is not expected to be required to serve his sentence. A researcher with Human Rights Watch called the punishments a chilling warning to all that there will be serious consequences for advocating for democracy. ------ A Baptist pastor in Hong Kong turned the stands of a Hong Kong courtroom into his pulpit, quoting Scripture and calling for justice in the name of God, after he and ... 1 Sweden's rejection of Christian refugees Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment For many years, Swedish authorities have been deporting Christians to countries where Christians are persecuted and killed. Countries like Afghanistan, which Open Doors describes as the second most dangerous country for Christians in the world, second only to North Korea. This is an ongoing crisis: several Christians were deported from Sweden to Afghanistan just a few weeks ago, and more deportations are planned to take place soon. Read more at https://www.christianpost.com/voice/sweden-condemns-christians-death.html 3 historic black churches burned down, FBI investigates; members share pain, unite in worship Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Days after a "suspicious" fire destroyed the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Mary Thomas Espree was one of about 80 displaced members who attended a service Sunday morning at Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church in Opelousas, Louisiana. It was only recently, the 70-year-old told the Advocate, that she had a premonition that the only church she had known throughout her life would have been razed by fire. She had no idea however, it would be so soon. "I didn't know it would be so soon, but I knew it would happen," she said. "The Lord put it in my spirit that it would happen at Mount Pleasant too." And when Espree learned of the fire that took her church, it hit her hard. This was where Espree was christened, baptized and married. I teared up. There was a lot of hurt. That has been my church all my life," she told the Daily World." I was a lost soul and going there has kept me straight. It was like, 'Why did someone want to burn my church?' And thats what the FBI and other local law enforcement agencies are now seeking to find out, according to CBS News, after Mount Pleasant became the third historically black church over 100 years old to burn down in St. Landry Parish in a span of 10 days last week. St. Marys Baptist Church was the first reported church fire on March 26 and Greater Union Baptist Church went up in flames a week later, NBC News reported. The church has been part of me and I am what I became because of the church. I really didnt know what to do. But I know now the answer is in Gods hands, Espree told the Daily World Sunday as she tried to console herself as she worshiped. Louisiana State Fire Marshal H. "Butch" Browning, who addressed congregants from Mount Pleasant on Sunday, told them after the worship service that, combined with help from the FBI, nearly 200 people are working on the fire investigation. Right now, what we have to say is that the fires are suspicious, Browning told NBC News. We do believe that crimes have occurred. We believe that the three fires obviously are not coincidental, they are related. He noted however that the perpetrators of the fires also gave church members an opportunity to share their faith. "There's a reason why I'm standing before you all," Browning said, according to the Advocate. "Unfortunately, the obvious reason is because there's been a horrendous crime placed on this church and its people, but I think it's bigger than that. You see, when this is over with, we've now formed a bond, and we've formed a purpose. And that higher purpose is to spread the good news of what our creator did to us and what he has in store for us." He urged the church members to pray for those who torched their building and that whoever is responsible for the attack would turn themselves in and repent. "Let's pray for the people responsible and all the churches that have surrounded and embraced you all," Browning said. "We'll get that person a whole lot better help than the justice system will ever get them because we're going to help them find God, and we're going to use that to stop this cancer that's going on that's executed through crime." Pastor Gerald Toussaint, who leads both Morning Star and Mount Pleasant, said the congregations will continue worshiping together until his burnt church is rebuilt. It's sad that our society has stooped this low to do something like that, Toussaint, 56, told NBC. At St. Marys, some members took it as a sign from God when their Bibles, which were seared, survived the fire. I think its a sign, Shameka Mallet, who has been a parishioner at St. Marys her entire life, said. It's kind of devastating. My mom was buried here, my grandfather was buried here, and my aunties were married here, Mallet said. Despite the devastation however, Toussaint said the tragedy has been a greater catalyst for community. This caused us to call each other more than we ever called each other, he told NBC. Now we can pull together. Rick Warren warns pastors that fast church growth 'can be a cancer,' shares antidote to discouragement Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment ANAHEIM Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California urged church leaders to focus on obedience to Gods mission rather than boosting congregation numbers, as fast growth can be cancer. Im not really impressed with ministries that grow fast. Fast growth can be a cancer, Warren said at the Closing Gala of Proclaim 19, the NRB International Christian Media Convention in Anaheim, California, last month. What I am interested in is the long haul people who consistently serve Jesus Christ year after year after year. Im interested in finishing well, and I want you to finish well. Your ministry matters to God. It matters to the Kingdom. We need you to stay in the race. We need you to not get tired. We need you to not quit. We need you to not give up. We need you to finish your race." With church attendance plateaued or declining nationwide, Warren outlined several ways church and ministry leaders can fight discouragement, beginning with, Never forget how much God loves me. Youve got to keep that constantly in focus, he reminded attendees. Everything in your ministry flows out of Gods love, Gods mercy, Gods grace. The problem is we can get so busy working for God, we forget how much God loves us. Your first purpose in life is not to love God. Your first purpose in life is to let God love you. The Bible says you were created as an object of Gods love. Second, he encouraged pastors to avoid the temptation to fake it, adding: If youre going to be used by God, if youre going to be effective for God, if youre going to last in ministry, youve got to be authentic, youve got to be genuine, youve got to be yourself. Youve got to keep it real. God, the pastor contended, did not create you to be somebody else and those who focus on pleasing everyone end up experiencing ministry burnout. When you get to Heaven, God isnt going to say, Why werent you more like Billy Graham? The reason we try to fake it is because we try to please everybody. Only a fool would try to do what even God cant do. Even God cant please everybody. Third, Warren emphasized that ministry leaders need to be outward-focused, as those who are focused on themselves quickly become discouraged. Every time you forget about this principle and you forget that its not about you, youre either going to get fearful or youre going to get prideful or youre going to get bitter in ministry, Warren said. Everybody in this room has a unique life message that God wants to share with the world, but your life message is not about you. Its about Him. Its about our Savior Jesus Christ." God is more interested in why you do what you do than He is what you do. A lot of people start off as servants and end up as celebrities. They forget why they do what they do, and all of a sudden it is all about them, he said. Fourth, Warren exhorted those in ministry to remember that Gods power is often manifested in weakness: When I first started off in ministry, I didnt even know I had any weaknesses, Warren said. Then I discovered them, and I denied them. Then I went from denial to hiding them. Then I went from hiding them to rationalizing them. Then finally I went to accepting them, and today, like Paul, I glory in my weaknesses because when I am weak, He is strong. Humility, he contended, is not denying your strengths, but being honest about your weaknesses and thinking of yourself less. Finally, the pastor encouraged those gathered to remember that God never wastes pain: Your greatest ministry will come out of your deepest pain if youll be honest with God, honest with yourself and honest with others, he offered. Concluding his message, the pastor advised listeners to take time to rest and ultimately stay focused on eternity. The reality is, every time you get tired, you lose your perspective. You dont think about Heaven when youre tired. You think about what youre feeling right now. When youre tired, you dont have a good perspective, he said. We need you to last. We need you to not flame out or to burn out or to rust out. Rick and Kay Warren founded Saddleback Church in 1980. Today, the church is one of the largest in America, with a weekly attendance of over 22,000 people. The Lake Forest-based church says it was the first to send the Gospel to all 197 official nations in the world. Warren is best known as the author of The Purpose Driven Life, one of the best-selling nonfiction books in publishing history. It has sold over 50 million copies and been translated into 74 languages. Mark DeYmaz shares how churches can generate multiple sources of income by leveraging their assets Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma Prominent multiethnic church movement leader Mark DeYmaz is warning that tithes and offerings will no longer be enough to sustain healthy churches and suggests that congregations look for alternatives like creating for-profit businesses to generate more revenue. DeYmaz, who founded Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas in 2001 and co-founded the Mosaix Global Network in 2004, will release in October his new book, The Coming Revolution in Church Economics: Why Tithes and Offerings Are No Longer Enough, and What You Can Do About It. The book will expand on a chapter from his 2017 book, Disruption: Repurposing the Church to Redeem the Community. The 57-year-old author shared insights from his yet-to-be-released work while speaking at the Evangelical Press Associations Christian Media Convention this week. Right now, very few I would say in my experience less than 5 percent of churches are thinking about the future, that is, the coming disruption of economics, DeYmaz told a packed ballroom of Christian journalists, writers and publishers. One sociological problem facing churches that will lead to the decrease in tithing and offerings, DeYmaz said, is the rapidly changing population. By the 2030s, he stressed that the population will decrease in the United States due to fewer babies being born. With an aging population, he contended that many older churchgoers today will age out of the workforce and have less money to give to their churches. He noted that about 75 percent of the wealth in Christianity today is held by people who are 65 or older. Millennials and Gen X and those coming after do not think about money or give money the way boomers, older people do because most of the church has been built on a transactional model, he explained. And the idea is to get more butts in the seat, right? Because more butts are in the seat, more bucks in a plate, right? Those days are gone. Another issue he highlighted will be the emergence of artificial intelligence taking jobs away from people. AI, by 2030, will take away 12 to 22 percent of jobs in the world in the next 12 years, he continued. Thats an Oxford [University] statistic. He pointed out that a friend of his is the pastor of a church in Baltimore, Maryland, that lost $100,000 overnight when the Baltimore-based corporation Under Armour laid off 400 people. Because of this, the pastors salary and the church budget decreased and a number of church programs were cut. It's not that those 400 people won't be able to get other jobs, it's just how fast that happens, DeYmaz said. As exponentially more families in America today are reliant on two or more streams of income than they were decades ago, DeYmaz said churches should be looking for ways to generate multiple sources of income. The American Church in the 21st century is living as if one paycheck tithes and offerings takes care of everything. But it doesnt, he asserted. And we have to disrupt the way we think about what we're branding. At Mosaic Church, they have a yearly budget of about $1.2 million, DeYmaz later told The Christian Post in an interview. Only 70 percent of that budget comes from tithes and offerings while the rest is generated through smart economics. DeYmaz explained that disruptive churches should stand on three legs: spiritual, financial and social justice. However, many churches today are only standing on the spiritual leg, he contended. As DeYmaz is a proponent of multiethnic worship, he stressed that churches need to work to end segregation in the church and solve justice issues impacting their own local community. Additionally, he said, churches need to be innovative when it comes to revenue generation. The second leg of the stool is how to integrate. We need to integrate disruptive witness in our local communities to advance social justice, compassion and mercy by creating one umbrella nonprofit, he detailed. There's reasons for that. But this also bleeds into economics and why you would do this. Starting separate nonprofits As for Mosaic Church, it established a nonprofit entity called Vine and Village in 2008. You create one nonprofit, think about this [as] two sisters who live in the same house who share the resources, split the cost, etc., he told the crowd. You move your compassion and justice work out from under the budget of the church into the budget of the nonprofit. You can't scale if it's under the budget of the church, he added. And secondly, when your compassion and justice work is under your social justice side, other churches will send you money. Did you know that? Churches don't write checks to other churches. But if you say hey, I've got a food distribution program that's part of Vine and Village, they'll send you their money and they'll send you the people. [It will] qualify for local, state and federal grants. On and on I could go. He stressed that it's a smart move economically and allows churches to show people that the church is interested in what is going on in the communities in which they sit. In our case, Vine and Village focuses and leverages all of our assets like a laser beam on the people of 72204 [a Zip code for an area of Little Rock with 30 percent poverty], he added. One offshoot of Vine and Village is The Orchard, which is the largest food distribution program in the city of Little Rock that serves 20,000 people each year in a Zip code of 32,000 people. Vine and Village also runs other programs such as a chess club for at-risk children. Another nonprofit program established by Mosaic Church is called Immerse Arkansas, one of the first programs in the country to work with kids who age out of the foster care system. By moving [it] out from under the budget of the church, it received over $2 million in grants in 10 years, DeYmaz said of Immerse Arkansas. One year, we got a five-year grant for $800,000. It is smart economics because you wouldn't get those grants if it was under your [church] budget. DeYmaz contended that justice and economics are the evangelism of the 21st century. This is no longer bring Billy Graham to your city, he explained. Tremendous man, amazing, we would all agree. [But] that was the 20th century. That is not how you lead people to Christ in the 21st century. You know how you do it? Justice and economics. This is the future of the American Church. Jesus didn't say let me hear your words. He said, let them see your good works. And if there was ever a time the society needed to see good works, it's right now. In order for a church to be disruptive in the economic sense, it should be doing things like repurposing property, creating jobs, generating tax revenue for the community and putting the talents of church members to use in the appropriate ways to further the mission of the church. This entire 60,000 words [of the book] can be summed up in a question or a statement: How do you as a pastor, how does the church leverage its assets? he asked. [Those assets] are people money and buildings to bless the community. How do we leverage our assets to bless and advance the Gospel, advance the common good, and at the same time generate for-profit sustainable income? Utilizing people, money and buildings According to DeYmaz, churches need to make the most out of the property they have. As an example, he mentioned how Mosaic Church (now located in a former K-Mart store) is generating income by leasing out about half of the building to a fitness club since 2013. The fitness club pays about $8,000 per month for 50,000 square feet. The reason behind the leasing of part of the building was to help offset the $7,400 per month the church pays on its mortgage. Because of the lease with the fitness center, DeYmaz said, 20 jobs and about $26,000 in tax revenue was created for the local community. Another way to generate income is for churches to monetize existing services. Most churches give out free coffee on Sundays for churchgoers. For Mosaic Church, the coffee costs roughly $3,000 per year, DeYmaz said. Although some churches put out a donation jar, they are never made completely whole on the coffee they serve. To solve this problem, Mosaic started selling sausage biscuits wrapped in aluminum foil purchased at a wholesale store in its cafe area. The entrepreneurial endeavor has not only offset the cost of the coffee but generated extra income that the church has put toward youth summer camp scholarships. Considering most churches are smaller than the average K-Mart store, DeYmaz told CP that smaller churches can do things like rent out unused offices or classrooms to an organization in their area looking for a cheaper rent option. In his interview with CP, DeYmaz explained that churches can also generate income by renting out their buildings for events like weddings or to another church in the area to worship on Sunday nights. Some churches might allow other churches to use their worship space free of charge because they believe it to be part of ministry. But DeYmaz believes it would be wise for those churches to start charging. But if you keep doing that you might not be here in 10 years, he warned. So charge them something. You don't have to get top dollar, but get something. Bigger churches, he added, might have print shops that can be used to generate money. Starting for-profit businesses Churches and other nonprofit organizations are legally allowed to start for-profit companies so long as the for-profit entities pays their share in taxes and as long as the profit from the companies go back to support the church or nonprofit that launched them. Although starting a for-profit entity can be daunting for clergy, DeYmaz stressed that pastors dont need to fully understand how to operate a business so long as they can place that responsibility on lay persons in their congregations with experience running a business. Some churches also pay for janitorial services. Instead, DeYmaz said, churches could create their own cleaning service business by paying employees to not only clean the church building but also take on contracts to clean other buildings in the community. Send your janitors out in the community. They get contracts on other places and net $30,000 a year and clean your church for free, he told CP. While some people facing tough financial times might just rely on God or have faith that things might turn around, DeYmaz asserted that God calls on churches and Christians to be good stewards of what they are given. Jesus tells the story of a master, right? [He gave one man] five talents, two to another, one to another. When he comes back, what did he say? DeYmaz asked during his speech. The one with the five says Here's your five and I give you five more. [The second] says Here's your two and I made you two more. What does the master say? Well done good and faithful servant. Good and faithful steward, right? The [other] guy sat on his asset. Christians combat depression and suicide too; pastors and ministers share how they get through Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The depression rate worldwide is on a continual rise and Christians are not immune. With multiple headlines of pastors who died by suicide throughout the United States, The Christian Post decided to reach out to ministers to talk about how they combat their darkest moments. Throughout the years, several popular Christians have been vocal about their battles with depression and anxiety, from Charles Spurgeon to Perry Noble, and artists Mandisa and Lecrae. Just last year, the suicide of Inland Hills Pastor Andrew Stoecklein shook the American Church after he admitted he was dealing with depression. An alarming number of pastors and Christian leaders have taken their own lives in the last five years. Despite the increasing notice of depression and suicide nationally, the resources to help people in the church struggling with these thoughts or feelings are scarce. According to the World Health Organization, depression at its worst leads to suicide and it affects 300 million people worldwide. Its estimated that 15 percent of people will experience depression at some point in their adult lives. A 2019 survey shows a diverse mix of countries with the highest suicide rates. Among the top four are: Lithuania, Russia, Guyana, and South Korea. The U.S. is No. 27 on the list. More people reportedly die of suicide than homicide in America. Among young adults, the suicide rate for people 18 to 19 years old is up 56% from 2008-17. Depression among 20- to 21-year-olds doubled between 2009-17, and anxiety and hopelessness among 18- to 25-year-olds jumped 71% from 2008-17. Reports show that more than 253 million prescriptions were written for antidepressants in the U.S. The percentage of those diagnosed with some form of distress jumps by 30% every year. Christian pastors and music ministers offered advice and practical tools they use to combat the widespread outbreak of depression and anxiety. (ANSA) - Amman, April 10 - Jerusalem belongs to the three monotheistic religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, President Sergio Mattarella said on a visit to Jordan Wednesday. "Having entrusted to the Hashemite dynasty the role of Custodian of Jerusalem was a wise choice because Jerusalem is a universal city, which belongs to the three great monotheistic religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and one must bear in mind this particular specificity," he said while meeting King Abdullah II on the second day of his state visit to Jordan. Getting away for the weekend in Columbus Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Columbus is somewhat unusual as state capitals go. It holds the distinction of being the states biggest city. By contrast, the capitals of most states are smaller, more obscure cities that were often chosen as part of a political compromise. The population (879,170) is also still growing, unlike most other cities across the Midwest. In fact, last year Columbus was ranked as the fourth fastest-growing big city in the country. Speaking of the Midwest, Columbus reminds me of the geographically vague Springfield, the fictional TV town in The Simpsons. Yes, Columbus is Midwest in the eyes of demographers in the federal government, but its also in the Rust Belt. At the same time, it has the big city feel you wouldnt associate with the rural Midwest. Adding to all of this is Ohio State University, which numbers more than 61,000 students and 34,000 professors, administrators and other staff. The cultural and geographical vagueness of Columbus is why many chain restaurants, including McDonalds, consider it the perfect test market. What to do and see The presence of the states flagship public university means the cityscape punches above its weight in art, culture and, increasingly, food. This becomes evident when visiting Short North, a neighborhood that along High Street between downtown and campus. Here you find the kind of bars, eateries and shops that you would expect given not only the huge student population, but also the number of hipsters and urban yuppies. A block off High Street is North Market, which is worth going if only for the people watching on a late Saturday morning. Of course, you can also buy food, produce and more from the merchants at the food hall-cum-market. Back downtown at the aptly named Capitol Square is the Ohio Statehouse. Despite being overshadowed by countless office towers and other modern edifices, the antebellum Greek Revival capitol is spectacular in its simplicity. Best of all, doors are open seven days a week with free guided tours Monday through Friday. From the Statehouse continue up East Broad Street. Along the way you cant help but notice several old churches. My favorite is the cathedral-looking First Congregational Church. The best-kept secret in Columbus has to be the Jubilee Museum. Housed somewhat haphazardly in a former parochial school is a collection of anything and everything Roman Catholic, including saintly relics and magnificent embroidered copes. Some of the objects date back centuries and rival what you find in considerably more famous museums. Do plan accordingly as visiting hours are limited (10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday). You will also want to visit both the Columbus Museum of Art, known for its early modernist art collection, and the recently opened National Veterans Memorial and Museum. Where to stay and eat I stayed at Hotel LeVeque, an upscale boutique-inspired hotel under Marriotts Autograph Collection brand. The hotel, which opened a couple years ago after an extensive restoration of an art deco-era skyscraper, is within walking distance of everything to see and do in downtown Columbus. Be sure to spend some time along the revitalized riverfront, which features 175 acres of parkland. M at Miranova, one of only two AAA four-diamond restaurants in Columbus, is highly recommended for dinner. For something more casual try the dining room at Wolfs Ridge Brewing. How to get there All major airlines fly into John Glenn Columbus International Airport. Spires and Crosses, a travel column exclusive to The Christian Post, is published every week. Follow @dennislennox on Twitter and Instagram. Joni Eareckson Tada released from hospital, thanks God for 'marvelous' healing Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Joni Eareckson Tada, an evangelical author and speaker, announced shes been released from the hospital and thanked God for healing her lungs just two weeks after she was hospitalized for severe pain and difficulty breathing. On the Joni and Friends website, Tada shared a photo of herself smiling with her hands raised in front of a hospital entrance. She captioned the photo: I just signed my discharge papers and I am Free! Praising God for healing of my lungs. Fresh air never felt so good! God bless you for praying me to this marvelous release after 14 days in the hospital! Onward and upward. In an update posted a day earlier, Tada revealed that her discharge was delayed because the hospital wanted to make certain that all the proper medical equipment arrived at her home prior to her release. And for that, I am grateful to God! she said. My song today? Holy Spirit, you are welcome here, come flood this place and fill the atmosphere. Your glory, God, is what our hearts long for, to be overcome by your presence, Lord! God is moving in these medical hallways, she continued, and I have enjoyed my prayer assignment over the past 14 days here at the hospital! Looking forward to tomorrow!! On March 27, Tadas ministry reported that she had been hospitalized for observation and medical oversight after experiencing severe pain and difficulty breathing. The issues, the update said, occurred in the weeks following the completion of a series of radiation treatments for a recurrence of cancer. Knowing the truth of that promise of James 5:16, Joni and Ken would be most grateful for your prayers today, reported the California-based ministry, Joni and Friends, referring to Tada and her husband. As they express confidence that God is in control, the support of prayerful concern would be deeply appreciated. In addition to founding Joni and Friends in 1979, Tada has also served as a senior associate for disability concerns for the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, an adviser to the American Leprosy Mission, and the National Institute on Learning Disabilities. She was first diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer eight years ago and underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy treatment. In 2015, she was declared cancer-free. But last November, doctors discovered a small cancerous tumor within a small nodule which had developed over the site of her mastectomy. When I received the unexpected news of cancer from my oncological surgeon, I relaxed and smiled, knowing that my sovereign God loves me dearly and holds me tightly in His hands, Tada said at the time. What good is it if we only trust the Lord when we understand His ways? That only guarantees a life filled with doubts. In February, Tada provided an update explaining that she was nearly done with radiation treatments: All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize, she said, adding that she wants to honor Christ as best I can through this ordeal. Karen Pence defends husband from attack on faith by gay presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Karen Pence, wife of Vice President Mike Pence, fended off an attack on her husbands faith Tuesday from openly-gay Democrat presidential candidate and mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg. Speaking Tuesday on The Brian Kilmeade Show on Fox Radio to promote a book she wrote with her daughter, Pence expressed surprise that Buttigieg would target her husband, who is a former congressman and governor of Indiana when they have always had a great relationship. I think in our country we need to understand you shouldnt be attacked for what your religious beliefs are and I think kids need to learn that from a young age that this is OK, what faith people have; we dont attack them for their faith, she said. Buttigieg, 37, recently drew criticism from conservatives for declaring that his same-sex marriage has moved him closer to God, and telling Vice President Mike Pence and conservative Christians to quarrel with God if they have a problem with his homosexuality. "My marriage to Chasten has made me a better man and yes, Mr. Vice President, it has moved me closer to God," Buttigieg declared during a speech at the LGBT Victory Fund's annual brunch in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, according to USA Today. "And that's the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand, that if you've got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator." Karen Pence insisted, however, that she doesnt believe her husband has an issue with Buttigieg and suggested he may just be attacking the vice president for political gain. Whats kind of funny is I dont think the vice president does have a problem with him but I think its helping Pete to get some notoriety by saying that about the vice president, but again it just goes back to this religious liberty, she said. People came to America for religious liberty and I think thats something that we as Americans need to continue to teach our kids about and fight for. In a tweet on Tuesday morning, Alyssa Farah, the vice presidents press secretary said the last time her boss publicly commented on Buttigieg was in 2015 when he came out as gay. Since some are asking: the last time we recall Pence even mentioned @PeteButtigieg was in 2015, after news that Pete came out, Pence said: I hold Mayor Buttigieg in the highest personal regard. I see him as a dedicated public servant and a patriot, Farah wrote. In her Tuesday interview, Karen Pence asked Buttigieg if he had a problem with that 2015 comment. "I'm just like, 'Pete, did you not like that,' because that's what the vice president said about him," she said. "So what's the problem with that?" In a tweet on Tuesday afternoon, Buttigieg appeared to respond to her, suggesting that Pence was being polite. "People will often be polite to you in person, while advancing policies that harm you and your family. You will be polite to them in turn, but you need not stand for such harms. Instead, you push back, honestly and emphatically. So it goes, in the public square," he wrote. Kathie Lee Gifford leaves Today Show and releases powerful short film, 'The God Who Sees Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Daytime TV host Kathie Lee Gifford had her final day on NBC's "Today" show Friday, after 11 years of co-hosting. Before making her official exit, the Emmy Award winner released a short film, titled The God Who Sees, featuring Nicole C Mullen. The "modern oratorio" was directed by Gifford and shot in Israel. Mullen, the star of the film and the voice of the song and narration sings and shares about multiple characters in the Bible who have had desert experiences but God saw them through. "Can you identify with Hagar the single mother, Ruth the widow, David from shepherd boy to King ... but still struggling? Or how about Mary of Magdela whose mental illness was caused by demonic forces? Ever been afraid, uncertain, worried, on the run?" Mullen wrote in an Instagram post about some of the people she mentions in the song. The title is based on one of God's biblical names El Ro-ee which translates to "The God Who Sees Me." Hagar gave God the name in Gen 16:13. The song begins in the Old Testament and shows how God is faithful all the way through and ultimately shares the Gospel of Jesus Christ. "God was giving us something special, Gifford testified in a behind-the-scenes promotion for the project. The respected entertainer linked up with Mullens to create the song. After writing it out, it was recorded in one take at a studio in Nashville. Gifford believes God then told her to shoot the video as a short film in Israel. "It needed the Holy Land. It needed to set this woman representing all the people in the desert experiences that they're having. Then I started seeing what she should be wearing, how she should have her hair, how the wind should take a scarf that she's carrying. I knew from going to Israel as often as I have where I wanted her on a ledge singing," she revealed. Both Gifford and Mullen said her hope is that people are touched by the Holy Spirit when watching the film and feel "the power of His presence" that will "bring them to their knees." The author of The Rock, the Road, and the Rabbi, also would like for the film to encourage people to visit Israel too. "Come to the Holy Land. Visit it. Go to the places where these things actually happened," Gifford emphasized. Watch the full "The God Who Sees" film below: Michigan health center apologizes to senior citizens for Christmas, Charlie Brown censorship Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A Michigan-based health center has reportedly given a verbal apology to two senior citizens who were stopped from telling visiting students about the religious aspects of Christmas, including while reading A Charlie Brown Christmas. Last week, the conservative law firm the First Liberty Institute sent a letter to the Kalkaska Memorial Health Center on behalf of two residents of Kalkaska Senior Living Center. According to the letter, Joan Wilson and Wilma Wells were stopped by a teacher from telling kids from the Centers Child Development Center and Preschool about the birth of Jesus during a Christmas-themed visit last December. In an email sent out to supporters on Tuesday afternoon, First Liberty reported that the Center had issued an apology to Wells and Wilson and agreed to speak to their employees about the incident. We are grateful to KMHC officials for acting swiftly and apologizing to Joan and Wilma, said Keisha Russell, associate counsel for First Liberty, in a statement included in the email. Our clients are relieved this ordeal has been settled quickly. According to First Libertys letter of complaint, sent on April 4, an unnamed teacher told Wells not to explain to the kids why people celebrate Christmas. Later on during the visit, according to the letter, Wilson read A Charlie Brown Christmas to some children. When she attempted to explain the part where the nativity was mentioned, the unnamed teacher suddenly ended the visit. As a government-owned facility, the Kalkaska Memorial Health Center is subject to the constraints of the U.S. Constitution through the Fourteenth Amendment, wrote Michael Berry of First Liberty in the letter. Here, the CDCP teachers actions constitute unlawful discrimination and violate the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment to the Constitution. In response to the coverage of the incident, the Center released a statement through a local CBS affiliate on April 5 explaining that a preliminary investigation into the incident found no wrongdoing. While we take any claims of discrimination very seriously, thus far our preliminary investigation has uncovered no discriminatory acts and several factual inaccuracies in the letter from First Liberty, stated the Center at the time. For example, the book actually read was not authored by Tim Burton, nor was it entitled 'The Nightmare Before Christmas.' The book read was the classic 'The Night Before Christmas.' The Freedom From Religion Foundation also defended the Center, with the secularist group releasing a statement on Monday saying that government-sponsored education cannot include religious promotion. Not only was the teachers decision legally sound, it was the best way for the preschool to ensure that none of its impressionable students was subjected to religious proselytizing as part of this government-sponsored event, stated FFRF. NAACP calls recent black church fires domestic terrorism; some pastors now sleeping inside sanctuaries Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment President and CEO of the NAACP Derrick Johnson called the recent burnings of black churches in Tennessee and Louisiana domestic terrorism. Some pastors have reportedly started sleeping in their houses of worship to fend off would-be arsonists. What is happening in Tennessee and Louisiana is domestic terrorism and we must not turn a blind eye to any incident where people are targeted because of the color of their skin or their faith. The spike in church burnings in Southern states is a reflection of the emboldened racial rhetoric and tension spreading across the country. But this is nothing new, Johnson began in a statement Monday. For decades, African-American churches have served as the epicenter of survival and a symbol of hope for many in the African-American community. As a consequence, these houses of faith have historically been the targets of violence. The NAACP stands vigilant to ensure that authorities conduct full investigations." The FBI and other local law enforcement agencies in Louisiana are now seeking to find out why Mount Pleasant Baptist Church became the third historically black church over 100 years old to burn down in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, in a span of 10 days last week. St. Marys Baptist Church was the first reported church fire on March 26 and Greater Union Baptist Church went up in flames a week later, NBC News reported. A local Louisiana official, who did not provide specifics about the ongoing investigation, told CNN that the fires had been intentionally set and some pastors in south-central Louisiana's Cajun and Creole Country have been sleeping in their churches to fend off other possible arson attempts. "I feel our district was being targeted because all three of the churches were in our district," Pastor Freddie Jack, the Seventh District Missionary Baptist Association president, told CNN's Don Lemon on Monday. "At first we thought it might have been an electrical problem, but then when the second church ... burning occurred I realized it was our sister church. ... Then two days later the third occurred so at least [to] me, [it] made me think that we're being targeted." A fourth but smaller fire that erupted on March 31 at the predominantly white Vivian United Pentecostal Church in Caddo Parish, more than 200 miles north of St. Landry, is also being investigated. Julius Alsandor, mayor of Opelousas, which is 75% black, told CNN the church burnings are "hideous." "The relevance and the impact on the people in the surrounding communities and especially the congregation of each of these churches, it's hurtful and there may be some fear that is being exhibited by those who are a part of the three churches," he said. We don't know why, we don't know when, we don't know who," the Rev. Gerald Toussaint of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church told CNN affiliate KATC. "We will let the authorities handle that, but we just know a higher power and a higher authority who can bring this thing to fruition." AR Bernard says he'll work with Trump but not on evangelical advisory board Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment MIAMI BEACH, Florida Pastor A.R. Bernard explained Tuesday why he left President Donald Trump's evangelical advisory board but will continue to work with his administration on issues of concern. Bernard, who left the evangelical advisory board in August 2017, clarified that he has continued to work with the Trump administration and HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson on the inner city initiative, formally known as the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council. Bernard is founder and pastor of Christian Cultural Center, a nondenominational megachurch in New York City with over 40,000 members. Trump announced the formation of the council, to be led by Carson, on Dec. 12. "With the creation of todays council, the resources of the whole federal government will be leveraged to rebuild low-income and impoverished neighborhoods that have been ignored by Washington in years past. Our goal is to ensure that Americas great new prosperity is broadly shared by all of our citizens," Trump said at the time. Earlier that same month, Bernard announced a partnership between his church, the private sector, and government to build a $1.2 billion affordable housing development in Brooklyn. On Tuesday, Bernard recalled that he left the Faith Leaders Initiative, commonly known as the evangelical advisory council, because "to the public it comes across as" endorsing "everything the president says." "However," he continued, "I'm still available for the inner city initiative, issues of religious freedom, ... whatever I can do to bring my talents to bear." Bernard also clarified that he won't "exploit this" by letting "the media use me to go on the talk show circuit to bash my evangelical colleagues" who remain on the board. He was speaking on a panel at the Faith Angle Forum with Pastor Dimas Salaberrios on the issue of racism, Christianity and the 2015 white supremacist-inspired shooting at Emanuel Baptist Church in Charleston, South Carolina. He was asked about his decision to leave the evangelical advisory board during the Q&A part of the 2.5-hour presentation. "I'm a gun-toting Republican," Bernard began, then recalled the story of his decision to leave the board. "I believe that in order for change to take place, people who disagree with each other have to be willing to find common ground, sit down and work together," he said. "I was willing to do that in spite of things that were present even before I got on the advisory council. I got the call. I attended the meeting." Most of the 27 members on the board were "evangelical colleagues," Bernard said. In particular, he "felt the need to be at the table because there were maybe four persons of color." "We need to be at the table," Bernard recalled thinking at the time. "We need to have a voice, speak into this administration on issues that are particular to our community." When he heard the other evangelical voices on the board, they expressed concerns about issues like abortion, same-sex marriage and Israel, Bernard said. And when one member of the board said, "money's not the issue for us, we've got that so we don't need your money," Bernard spoke up and said, "hold it, we need the money," in defense of the needs of his community. At the time, that interaction solidified Bernard's view that he needed to participate in the board. He also mentioned that others on the board, such as Franklin Graham, "were friends and relationships that continue to this day." Two events changed his mind, however. First, the media discovered and published the names of those on the board in April 2017, and along with that media coverage came the perception that those on the board were endorsing and supporting Trump. "That changed the nature of the relationship," Bernard said, "and put us under pressure because now we're seen as this advisory body to the president, committed and supportive of everything that he had to say." While that bothered him, it alone wasn't enough to push him off the board. Bernard "had meetings with some of the key leaders in the African-American community," he recalled, who told him, "we want you there, we need to have someone at the table." So he was able to overlook some of the negative aspects of Trump. "I was able to distinguish between his personal morality and moral judgments, as opposed to moral judgments that affected society as a whole, the common good." But that changed, Bernard said, with the second event Trump's response to the racial unrest and white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. "So when Charlottesville came up, I waited to see how he would respond, and when he vacillated the way he did, that was problematic. When he finally drew that false equivalence, that was the straw that broke the camel's back," Bernard said. Trump blamed both sides for the violence and said there were "very fine" people among the white supremacist marchers. While there were violent Antifa counter-protesters at the march, Trump was criticized by many for failing to add moral clarity to the racist messages and to calm the tension. Conservative evangelical columnist David French wrote at the time, "Donald Trump loves people who love him, and the vile and vicious alt-right has loved him from the beginning. Today, he loved them right back." Trump's lack of a moral center, which he displayed in reaction to the racism in Charlottesville, led Bernard to leave the board. "I said, OK, he's not a moral man, I'd prefer that. But he's not immoral, I would understand that. He's amoral, which means he's transactional. If you go whichever direction suits the transaction at the time, that's unpredictable. I can't follow that kind of leadership," he said. Howard University president says safe space activism can be counterproductive Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment NEW YORK Howard University President Dr. Wayne Frederick suggested Friday that creating safe spaces at historically black colleges and universities can be counterproductive if it means disengaging from partners who can advance their cause. Frederick made the point during a panel discussion on the future of historically black colleges and universities at the National Action Network's annual convention with presidents of several other HBCUs, including: David Wilson of Morgan State University, Phyllis Worthy Hawkins of Bennett College, Roslyn Artis of Benedict College and Herman Felton Jr., of Wiley College. Howards first motive when it was founded in 1867 was equal rights and knowledge for all . When Howard University was founded in 1867, the 17th president of the United States, a known racist, Andrew Johnson, was the one who signed that charter. The same day he signed the charter to start Howard University he vetoed a reconstruction act, Frederick noted. The prominent HBCU leader made an apparent connection with the current political climate without naming President Donald Trump, who is repeatedly branded as racist by political foes and former associates. My point is that we have to be at the table, he argued. If the men who started Howard University did not go to the table and insist that that president sign that particular charter despite his racist views, we would not be in existence today. And we are at a time in our country where we are often talking about safe spaces but I want us all to think about something, he continued. The term safe space, is commonly associated with universities, but includes other locations like workplaces, where people who feel marginalized can come together and share their experiences of being a part of the marginalized community. Activism for safe spaces, which remains a controversial concept, is driven primarily from the separatist impulses associated with the politics of identity on many college campuses, the Los Angeles Times said. Some people believe that safe spaces insulates them from not just hostility, but the views of people who are not like them. Our HBCUs are safe spaces but we must recognize that they are not safe spaces because we are allowing the other spaces to be unsafe, Frederick warned the throng of black activists who had gathered to hear the discussion. Enrollment at HBCUs is on the rise, according to federal data. In 2017, some 298,138 were enrolled at HBCUs, a jump of 2.1 percent over the previous year. Theresa Price, founder and chief executive of the National College Resources Foundation, which hosts the Black College Expo, told The Washington Post last month that students are increasingly coming to see HBCUs as a safe haven from racist views she argues which have become more easily expressed publicly since the election of President Trump. I think definitely the political environment has encouraged people to take a better look at the schools, Price said. Frederick argued, however, that HBCUs should be treated as spaces where all students succeed in a way that strengthens them to fully engage with society. Lets not be fooled. People want us to go to our corner and occupy that corner. They want us to not be a part of broader society. And Im going to advocate that if we make our HBCUs strong we will make America strong. But we will also make America safe for all of our citizens, he added. While Frederick and the other presidents highlighted the value and the necessity of HBCUs in building the black middle class and producing graduates in STEM fields, he also pointed to the recent college admissions scandal involving wealthy parents and their children gaining access to elite colleges. We have a contemporary experience right now in this country where college admissions [is concerned]. We have been able to demonstrate that the institutions that we deem elite have a different admissions standard for those who have the means versus those who dont. And as you can tell, there are probably quite a few underrepresented minorities who applied to those schools whose parents arent wealthy enough to buy their [way in] that is indicative of all the societal issues that we have, Frederick said. Mike Huckabee identifies 'biggest threat' to moral fiber of US, why it's the Church's fault (EXCLUSIVE) Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment ANAHEIM, California Redefining gender and sexual identity is the greatest threat to the moral fiber of America, said former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, and the fault lies with the Church. The biggest threat to biblical principles today is the failure to apply a biblical standard of maleness and femaleness, Huckabee told The Christian Post during a sit-down interview last week in Anaheim, California. We are creating this illusion that there is no gender, there is no identity, and I'm blaming the Christian Church. The 2008 and 2016 Republican presidential candidate explained that Californias introduction of no-fault divorce in 1970 created the mindset that marriage wasnt really that important and that one could go in and out of it without a second thought. Prior to that time, some kind of marital fault had to be demonstrated before a divorce could be granted. Thats when we first started losing that sense of sacredness of what marriage meant, he argued. So I'm not really that surprised that same sex-marriage has become in vogue because the Christian Church were the ones who essentially abdicated a strict responsibility about what biblical marriage should look like. Once you've destroyed that, why can't you have any and everything? he continued. The gender dysphoria we're seeing today is largely due to the fact that the Church has failed to present very clearly the words of Jesus and Genesis 5:2: Male and female He created them. Huckabee pointed out that society today celebrates single parenting and posits the idea that fathers really arent necessary when it comes to raising children. There are some people who are in single parenthood, not because they want to be, but because they were forced to be. And we ought to give [them] all the support, he clarified. But we should never pretend that it is as good as a loving mother and father in a home where a child sees both genders play out their norms because that's the modeling of behavior that would be ideal for a child to grow up in. Huckabee, who served as a Southern Baptist pastor before entering politics, said that in order for things to change, the Church needs to clearly present a biblical view of gender and identity even though its not considered politically correct. People are afraid that if they are really biblical, it will alienate people and I think that's nonsense, he contended. Yes, it will alienate some people who are more interested in preserving the lifestyle they have chosen than a lifestyle that will be practical and will work. But it will also be a lifesaver for the people who are really looking for genuine truth. The younger generation, Huckabee said, is obsessed with saying: "Heres what I feel, heres what I believe, heres what I think," and "this is my truth." We need to be bold and say, It doesn't matter what you feel. It doesn't matter what you think, or what you believe; what matters is truth, he said. Real truth is objective; its not subjective. We may see things differently, but there's only one truth. Parents, he added, have an obligation to teach this truth to their children and to protect and shield them from destructive political agendas. I worry for my grandchildren because somebody with an iPhone can easily expose them to pornography and other disgusting things that no 6-year-old kid should see and should have to have explained to them, he said. Parents have to, more than ever, have very tight supervision and have screening tools, supervision, and limited time frames when it comes to iPads and iPhones. I know it sounds archaic, but you don't let your children play in a busy street. Why? Because they could get hurt. Why do you not let them just have unrestricted access to a mobile device? It's because they can actually get hurt. I think parents have a harder role to play than ever before because there's so much content out there, and very little of it is wholesome and so much of it is really hurtful. Huckabee, who today hosts a weekly program on the TBN Network, told CP that in an increasingly divided society, its becoming harder to find common ground with those who hold opposing viewpoints. The Left, in particular, he said, wants little to do with those who disagree with them. We try to get people from the other side of the aisle to come on my show, and we find it's very difficult because they don't want to do it. They want to stay in their own water even though we make it clear that were not going to brush them, he said. Its really unfortunate. The only thing I know to do is to keep trying. Earlier in the day, Huckabee spoke at the TV & Film Summit at Proclaim 19, the National Religious Broadcasters International Christian Media Convention. He recalled that he told Matt Crouch, chairman and president of TBN, Id like to do a television show that is unlike what people are used to. Id like to have a show that is a variety show enough politics to keep it interesting, but not so much to raise everybodys blood pressure to 300 over 200. I do believe there is a place for a show thats wholesome, refreshing, variety, thats entertaining, informative, inspirational all of those things in an hour that it moves fast enough that nobody is just lost in a deep, long segment, he said. Huckabee said his goal is to tell stories that matter and give a platform to ordinary people who are doing extraordinary things. It just makes me feel really good to know that there are still people in the human race who are absolutely remarkable and have Gods imprint in their soul, he said. Presidential candidate Beto ORourke tells voters systemic racism is killing black mothers and babies Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment NEW YORK Former Texas representative and 2020 Democrat presidential candidate Beto ORourke told black voters Wednesday that systemic racism is partly responsible for black mothers and their infants dying at a higher rate than their white counterparts. Speaking to a predominantly African American audience at Al Sharptons National Action Network convention at the Sheraton Times Square hotel, ORourke said that even when women of color have access to health care their lives and that of their infants continue to be impacted by systemic racism. We have an infant mortality discrepancy between white and black America that is worse today than it was in 1850, 15 years before the abolition of slavery, he said. Infant mortality, according to the CDC, is the death of an infant before his or her first birthday. The infant mortality rate is the number of infant deaths for every 1,000 live births. We have a maternal mortality crisis in this country. It is three times as deadly for women of color, ORourke continued. And it is not just owing to the fact that we do not have universal health care for every American, which we must. And its not just to blame on the state of Texas, the epicenter of the maternal mortality crisis that has shut down more than a quarter of its family planning clinics, denied so many women the right to a cervical cancer screening, family planning help or a provider of any kind, he said. It is the way that this country was founded. It is the system in which these women are living right now. The daily weathering that they endure when even they are able to get health care, it is not sufficient, it is not enough and it only begins to help to explain these discrepancies, he said. A year ago, The New York Times reported that in 1850, when babies died so often parents regularly waited a year before naming them, the black infant-mortality rate was 340 per 1,000, while for whites, the rate was 217 per 1,000. Recent government data now shows that black infants in America are now more than twice as likely to die when compared with white infants despite advances in medical care. Some 11.3 black babies die per 1,000, compared with 4.9 per 1,000 white babies. The CDC says more than 22,000 infants died in the United States in 2017. The five leading causes of infant death in 2017 were listed as: birth defects, preterm birth and low birth weight, maternal pregnancy complications, sudden infant death syndrome, and injuries. The Maternal Health Task Force at the Harvard Chan School, also noted that black women in America die at a rate that ranges from three to four times the rate of their white counterparts 42 deaths per 100,000 live births among black women versus 12 deaths per 100,000 live births among white women as of 2010. It is a disparity that has remained unchanged for the past six decades. After much lobbying from activists, such as Charles Johnson IV, son of TV Judge Glenda Hatchett who lost his wife, Kira, at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after a scheduled C-section more than two years ago, Congress unanimously approved a bill that was signed into law by President Donald Trump last December to investigate Americas growing maternal mortality rate. The bill, H.R. 1318, Preventing Maternal Deaths Act of 2017, reauthorizes, amends, and expands the Safe Motherhood initiative within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including authorizing support for State and Tribal Maternal Mortality Review Committees that meet certain requirements. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., who is one of the original sponsors of the bill, dedicated it to the mothers who we have lost, such as Johnsons wife, when Congress passed the bill last year. Beutler explained that the U.S. is ranked 47th globally for maternal mortality, and has a record on the issue that is worse than Irans. Many are shocked to learn that the U.S. has not only the worst maternal mortality rate in the entire developed world but that these rates are on the rise. Seriously folks, were worse than Iran, she said. Every year between 700 and 900 maternal deaths occur in the United States and Ive seen tears brought to the eyes of many a colleague when they learn that over 60 percent of these deaths could have been prevented, according to the CDC, she explained. (ANSA) - Amman, April 10 - President Sergio Mattarella on Wednesday was thanked by a group of Italian tourists in the Amman Citadel, which the head of State was visiting as part of an official trip to Jordan. "Thank you president for everything you are doing for us", said the tourists from Piedmont, who also sang the national anthem in his honor. Mattarella spoke to the group before going to the royal palace for a meeting with King Abudallah II. Christians mourn, repent for their silence on abortion: 'We have to own this' Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment RICHMOND, Virginia Hundreds of pro-life Christians came together on Saturday not to protest or rally but to repent for their silence and complicity in abortion. Something is desperately wrong with our hearts when we can drive by these abortion clinics every day and sit silently by and do nothing," said Elizabeth Johnston, who organized the Day of Mourning in Richmond. "We walked by the cries of these babies. We have to own this. We are in the 11th hour in our country. If we dont turn from our wicked ways now as a nation, we are toast." Participants were dressed in black at the "solemn assembly" where they prayed and fasted, asking God for forgiveness for the prevalence of abortion in the United States. "Today is not a pep rally, a fundraiser, a protest or a political meeting; today is Gods," said Johnston, widely known as the "Activist Mommy" on social media. "Its the church getting the mote out of our own eyes." Too many congregations in the United States have taken a seat on the sidelines and are not engaged in this important life and death issue," she explained to The Christian Post. There are so many ways that Gods people can make a difference on the abortion issue. We could be active politically, we could be at the abortion clinics, praying and offering help to these women who feel very alone oftentimes. We could be adopting and fostering. If every church would adopt or foster one child, the orphan crisis in our nation would be over. I think a whole church can handle providing support for a family to adopt or foster a child. The Benham Brothers, the twin Christian entrepreneurs whose reality TV series was canceled in 2014 after LGBT activists protested their socially conservative views, stressed to Christians that this wasn't a "political issue." Rather, abortion should be considered a "Gospel issue." Dad wasnt out to be an abortion issue fighter, he was out to be a Kingdom advancer, explained Jason Benham, referencing how his father, Philip, once baptized the Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade. He went on to note how he and his brother David decided to not be silent about their views on both abortion and same-sex marriage, despite immense pressure from social progressives. We were raised in a pro-life family and for us, we got a chance to see in the belly of the whale, so many folks who had large platforms if we look at pastors who had large platforms who would say nothing about it," Benham noted as he stood in front of two banners showing photos of in utero babies. One banner read Their blood cries out and referenced Genesis 4:10 while another banner read Rend your heart, not your garments and referenced Joel 2:13. And now, being on this side, knowing what we felt in that moment, when we were so scared, now we look at those pastors with a little different eye. Because when your image, your influence, and your income is determined by people liking you, you will be silent when you should be speaking. That is the idol of our day. Local pastors led prayers on Saturday, asking forgiveness for American churches failing to combat abortion. Medical professionals also joined and asked forgiveness for their peers who performed the procedure. We were so happy to have pastors on the stage, repenting over the sin of abortion. Dozens from the medical community on stage mourning and repenting over what the medical community has done to these babies, Johnston commented. You know, doctors take an oath to do no harm to children and abortion is a violation of that oath. And so, we were so pleased to have dozens from the medical community on stage with us here and it was just a great time of mourning and reconnecting with God and getting our hearts right with God. The Day of Mourning event was held in Richmond largely in response to comments made earlier this year by Democratic Governor Ralph Northam regarding late-term abortion. In January, Northam defended a proposed bill that would have stripped away many legal restrictions on abortion in an interview with WTOP, with critics charging that his comments endorsed infanticide. When we talk about third-trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of the mother, obviously, with the consent of the physician, more than one physician by the way, said Northam at the time. And its done in cases where there may be severe deformities, where there may be a fetus thats not viable. So in this particular example, if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable. It would be resuscitated if thats what the mother and the family desired and then a discussion would ensue between the physician and the mother. Amid the prayers on Saturday, 8-year-old Blythe Mullen went on stage to call her birth mother a hero for choosing adoption instead of abortion. "Because she chose life for me, I am living out the purpose God has for my life," said Mullen, as she stood next to her adoptive mother, Jessica. "God's heart is for life for all." Bishop E.W. Jackson, a clergyman and politician who lost an election for lieutenant governor against Northam in 2013, stressed that in addition to mourning and repentance, those gathered were called to fight for the lives of unborn children, because they need someone to fight for them. We are here out of love. Were not here advocating violence. Were not here because we want some abortionist to be killed or we want some clinic to be bombed, said Jackson. We condemn that behavior because that is as evil as what they are doing inside those clinics. But nevertheless, we fight, because the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God. The Day of Mourning was held at the Greater Richmond Convention Center on and livestreamed on Vimeo. The first Day of Mourning observance was held in February in New York, in response to the state government passing legislation that effectively legalized abortion up to the moment of birth. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment As the dust is settling in Israel after the latest elections, here are five simple facts that will help you sort out whats happening on the ground. 1) In Israel, you vote for parties, not for people. Its true that each party has a titular head, with Benjamin Netanyahu being the head of Likud. But when you vote, you do not vote for the person but for his (or her) party. If you want to see Netanyahu elected, then you vote Likud, but even then, you cannot vote him in. All you can do is get his party the most possible votes in order to form a ruling coalition, which leads to the second point. 2) In order to govern, you must form a coalition with at least 61 Knesset seats. There are 120 seats in the Israeli parliament, called the Knesset, and so, a majority of 61 seats is needed to have a majority. You would think, then, that for Netanyahu to remain prime minister, his party simply needs to win the majority of the vote, yielding at least 61 seats. Well, theres no chance of that happening, since there were 40 parties (count em!) competing for votes in this election, with at least 11 parties winning at least 3.25 percent of the vote, thereby giving them at least four seats (which is the minimum). That means that Likud, Netanyahus party, which won less than 40 seats, must work with other parties to form a government, and this is where it gets dicey. 3) Netanyahus right-wing coalition is lurching further right. Its true that the overall race between the two leading parties, Likud vs. Blue and White (a newer party), was very close. But the total votes for right-leaning parties clearly outnumbered the total for left-leaning parties, meaning that Netanyahu has the only real path to form a coalition. Significantly, with both the Likud party and the Blue and White party getting the same number of seats (35, as of this writing at 12:24 AM, EST on April 10), the next two parties were both ultra-Orthodox, namely, Shas and UTJ (United Torah Judaism; they won a total of 16 seats, divided evenly). Without them, Netanyahu hasnt the slightest chance of forming a majority government. Not surprisingly, these ultra-religious parties have one real focus, and that is the well-being of their communities, now numbering about 1 million people. And the main focus of those communities is for the men to pray and study Torah and rabbinic literature day and night at the expense of other Israelis. In the view of these religious Jews, this is their sacred service to God, in keeping with Israels calling, and what they do is for the good of the whole nation. (Thats another major reason why the vast majority of the men do not serve in the military.) For other Israelis, especially the more secular, this is a selfish drain of resources and manpower, hence leading to much resentment. Unfortunately, these religious Jews also oppose Jewish believers in Jesus, and it is important to them to maintain significant control on who can immigrate to Israel, among other things. So, to join the coalition, they insist on such government appointments, and they regularly receive them. Its also likely that, feeling a mandate with his win, Netanyahu will take more steps to expand settlements in Judea and Samaria (commonly called the West Bank), if not annex the whole territory. And what will the consequences be? Thats a big, open question. 4) Netanyahus victory is historic. This will mark his 5th term in office, meaning that he will have served longer than any other prime minister in Israels history. He has done much to keep his nation secure, he has been a strong leader on the international platform, and he has forged new, fruitful coalitions with other nations. And he has done this while overcoming a consistently hostile, left-leaning media. Sound familiar? (Should I mention that, like President Trump, Netanyahu has been married three times? Or that he was caught in an adulterous affair some years back?) 5) Even with a victory and a new government formed, Netanyahu is not out of the woods. There are corruption charges hanging over the prime ministers head, and it is very possible that he could be taken to court. On the other hand, there might well be reluctance to try to take down a newly and duly elected leader of the nation. And even if he was found guilty, theres no guarantee he would be forced to resign. Still, the days ahead are marked with uncertainty. Where, then do we stand today? In overly simplified terms, Israel has voted to put security first, perhaps even heartened by the strong relationship between Trump and Netanyahu (in stark contrast with the icy relationship that existed between President Obama and Netanyahu). And, while the centrist-left gained power, the shift was not that dramatic. The constant attacks by Hamas from the West, the presence of Hezbollah in the North, the very real threat posed by Iran, and the dire possibility of a Hamas-run government in the West Bank, make security the number one priority for many. What this will mean for the Palestinians, as well as for Messianic Jews, remains to be seen. For those who believe in the power of prayer, I recommend using Isaiah 62:1-7 as a template. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Someone asked a wise older pastor his view of the end times. He smiled and said, The Lord put me on the preparation committee, not the planning committee. He spoke for us all. We cannot control how the Lord chooses to end history. Our theories about the future are just that. The word of God is too practical to focus extensively on an issue that possesses no pragmatic value for our lives. If I could prove a particular theory of the end times to you, would such knowledge change your life today? Nonetheless, sincere Christians passionately debate those issues which relate to eschatology (the doctrine of last things or the end times). In this essay, well briefly survey the various options held by biblical interpreters. And well seek practical applications for our lives today. Theories about the future Regarding the book of Revelation and other eschatological biblical texts, seven approaches find support among evangelical scholars. The preterist approach Listed in no particular order, we begin with the preterist approach. This position asserts that Revelation and other eschatological literature was written primarily for the encouragement of their immediate audiences, not to predict or speak to the future. Scholars in this tradition emphasize the apocalyptic nature of eschatological literature. Apocalyptic (from the Greek word for unveiling) was a popular literary approach from 200 BC to AD 200. It used symbolic, visionary, and dramatic elements to convey encouragement and hope to persecuted people. Preterists argue that Revelation matches every description of apocalyptic literature, except that it names its author (apocalyptic writings are typically pseudonymous). And so they interpret Revelation as we understand Philippiansa first-century book with perennial spiritual application. They would not see the book or other eschatological literature as predictive in nature, but as intended first for their original, persecuted audiences. The continuous-historical approach A second approach is known as the continuous-historical school. It sees Revelation and other eschatological texts as forecasting the development of history. It located specific texts with specific events through history. While this approach was popular with Luther, Calvin, and other reformers, it is the least popular of the seven today. The spiritual principles approach A third interpretive method views eschatological texts with regard to spiritual principles. It sees Revelation and other literature as teaching spiritual facts (good will triumph, Gods people must persevere, etc.), but does not relate these passages to specific historical events or issues. The next four approaches focus in various ways on the millennium, the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth described in Revelation 20:1-6. Postmillennialism Postmillennialists believe that the church will usher in the kingdom on earth for a thousand years and that Jesus will return after (post) this millennium. At one time, this was a very popular position, but, following two World Wars, it is much less attractive today. Amillennialism Amillennialists (from the Greek word a for no) believe there will be no literal millennium. Many in this approach find seven cycles within the book of Revelation, each descriptive of life on earth from Jesus ascension to his return. For them, Israel is the church today, awaiting the Second Coming of our Lord. Dispensational premillennialism Dispensational premillennialism views Revelation and other eschatological texts primarily as a forecast of the very last days of history. It separated Israel and the church, believing that any promises made to Israel in the Old Testament have been or will be fulfilled literally. Interpreters using this approach divide history into dispensations, various time periods when God dealt with humanity in different ways. Jesus will rapture the church out of the world so God can return to his work with Israel during the Great Tribulation. This period will culminate in Jesus return to earth and the millennium (thus premillennialism), followed by the final judgment and eternity in heaven or hell. This is the most popular position with many laypeople and pastors in conservative traditions, especially in the South. The Scofield Study Bible, Dallas Theological Seminary, and similar schools have done much to advance this approach. Historic premillennialism Historic premillennialism believes that Jesus will return to earth prior to the millennium but does not expect a rapture or seven-year Great Tribulation. It typically views Old Testament prophecies as fulfilled in the church, the spiritual Israel. This is probably the most popular position today in conservative scholarship. So what? No one knows when or exactly how Jesus will return to earth. But we know that he will. As we consider the divisive subject of end-times theories, three guiding principles may be helpful. 1: Interpretive approaches must not divide fellowship. We can agree on the essentials of the Christian faith while disagreeing about this speculative theological area. 2: We should always interpret the Bible according to its intended meaning. Scripture can never mean what it never meant. If a suggested interpretation would hold little or no relevance or meaning for the original audience of Gods word, it is suspect for us as well. 3: We must be ready to meet the Lord whenever that day arrives. He may come for us today, or we may go to him. Our earthly lives may end in physical death or Jesus return, but we will all one day stand before his throne (2 Corinthians 5:10). And we have only today to be ready. Tomorrow is promised nowhere in Gods word. So live every day as if it were your last because one day youll be right. Originally posted at Denison Forum. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Last month, Phil Bryant, the governor of Mississippi, signed a bill that bans abortions after a doctor can detect a fetal heartbeat during an ultrasound, unless the mothers health is at extreme risk. The law, set to go into effect in July, would effectively ban nearly all abortions after about six to eight weeks. Kentuckys governor signed a law that prohibits abortions after six weeks. That law was blocked by a federal judge who ruled that the law was potentially unconstitutional. As constitutional interpretation stands right now, he is probably correct. Even so, even abortion advocates are acknowledging that the days of Roe v. Wade may well be numbered. Which leaves us with an obvious question: Whats next? Even if we see a complete reversal of Roe that explicitly states that a woman has no constitutional right to an abortion, abortion will still remain legal in many states, especially on the east and west coasts. Its also possible that rather than overturn Roe, the Supreme Court will slowly chip away at it on a case-by-case basis, expanding the list of restrictions on abortion that can pass constitutional muster. While some frustration with such a slow incrementalism is understandable, theres little, if anything, we can do about it. The Court will decide Roes fate on its schedule, not ours. In either case, heres whats becoming increasingly clear: The battle over abortion is shifting away from the federal government to the states, and will ultimately shift to the individual conscience. Weve already seen some of this shift at work. During the past decade or so, pro-life activists worked to elect pro-life legislators on the state level who would enact legislation that would test the limits of abortion license by limiting the time, the place, or the manner of abortion procedures. As a result, 27 states have enacted waiting periods, another 18 mandate some kind of counseling, and more than 40 have laws limiting how far along in the pregnancy an abortion can be performed. In fact, nearly 300 such measures have been passed by states in the past decade. Currently, at least eleven other states are considering heartbeat bills like Mississippis and Kentuckys. At the same time, and especially since the 2016 election and the appointments of Supreme Court justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, advocates have begun to sense a real threat to the current abortion regime. So theyve responded with state measures of their own, the most recent (and infamous) examples being laws in New York and Vermont that legalize abortion right up until delivery. Thats only part of their preparations. A new book, called Handbook for a Post-Roe America, lays out a strategy to promote access to abortion even if most states outlaw it altogether. Among other things, it advises women who might become pregnant to start saving money, not only for an abortion itself but for traveling expenses, and it even provides maps to help them with planning. We must resist the temptation to scoff at this if for no other reason than the book underscores an often overlooked reality: Even if Roe is completely overturned, most Americans will still live within driving distance of a state where abortion will be legal. Im not suggesting that the proposed laws are unimportanton the contrary, pass more of them! I only wish to remind us that our goal is to make abortion unthinkable as well as illegal. And that means our work has only just begun. In fact, it may very well be the hardest part of our job is still ahead of us: making the pro-life case without the benefit of political tailwinds. Let me be clear. Ill be happy to see Roe go. We will throw a party when it happens. But celebrations must be short-lived. Our work continues. And therefore, so must our preparationswhether to defend life, protect religious freedom, to educate and mentor young Christians Thats why I ask you to consider joining our Colson Fellows Program. Study with outstanding worldview thinkers, read the best books on faith and culture, fellowship with committed believers, and most of all, develop a strategic plan for kingdom work where God has placed you. Check out the Colson Fellows Program at Colsonfellows.org. Resources Colson Fellows Program, websiteThe Case for Life: Equipping Christians to Engage the Culture, Scott Klusendorf | Crossway Publishing | 2009 Originally posted at Breakpoint. Rwanda genocide 25 years later: How a Christian nation overcomes its troubling past Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment RWANDA The doors to the church building were open as the sound of prayer and worship echoed into the street for all to hear as pedestrians, cars and loud dirt bikes went by. Dozens were gathered for a service at an Anglican church in the town of Kacyiru, just outside of the landlocked African nations capital city. The worship band was decked out in blue robes as they belted their songs of praise, thanking the Lord for all that He has done and is doing to restore unity to the once genocide-ridden country. Churchgoers heard a sermon from a visiting evangelical pastor that mirrored the motto that Rwandan churches and the Rwandan central government have stressed since the end of one of the worst human rights atrocities in decades: the need to live as one body under Christ. Or in the secular sense, the need for people to coexist as one Rwanda. Although just two-and-a-half decades removed from the brutal murder of nearly 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus by extremist Hutus and security forces, the predominantly-Christian country today looks much different than it did in the summer and spring of 1994. Heavenly Father, we thank you that we can see in Christ that You made it possible for us to be one, to be one body, to be one Church, Pastor Daniel Ledema prayed on a mid-February Sunday morning. We know that this is something that we could never have achieved ourselves. [Please] break our hearts to help us see what are some of those walls that should be broken down and walls that should be put down. Sunday marks the 25th anniversary of the beginning the genocide against the Tutsi, one of the worst atrocities in world history. With the permeation of extremist anti-Tutsi ideology through radio and newspapers, thousands of Hutus were pushed to mass violence after a plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana was shot down on April 6, 1994. In the 100 days following, at least 800,000 or more people were killed, most of whom were minority Tutsis or moderate Hutus accused of being Tutsi lovers. Despite Rwanda being about 90 percent Christian at the time, neighbors killed neighbors and Christians killed Christians in some of the most horrific ways imaginable. No mercy was spared even for children and infants. In some cases, babies were killed while in their mothers arms. In addition to communal violence, security forces were also responsible for the deaths of thousands of Tutsis, many of whom were killed inside of churches or other buildings they were told would be safe. But today, there are genocide memorials and mass graves throughout the country filled with broken remains to educate and remind the next generation of Rwandans what a massive lack in education and the persistence of dangerous ideologies can do to communities that had once coexisted peacefully. Today, the nation the size of Maryland but twice as populated is largely unified. The government no longer officially recognizes tribal and ethnic differences, something that used to be front and center on a persons official government identification. The country serves as an example of how a nation scarred from genocide pulled together with the help of government programs, churches and nonprofits to overcome ethnic division. With neighbors having killed neighbors, the only way forward for many communities was for people to wholeheartedly embrace the radical forgiveness expected of them by their savior, Jesus Christ. While social tension in Rwanda is not perfect with anger and pain impacting at individual and familial levels, Hutu-Tutsi tension generally isnt felt at a national level anymore. With reconciliation having occurred in many communities, the focus now is on how to not only keep people unified but also how to improve the quality of life for people living in the densely populated nation of 12 million people. Without many desirable resources like gold and diamonds, and an economy reliant on agriculture, about 20 percent of Rwandas population lives in extreme poverty and 44 percent live in moderate poverty, according to World Vision Rwanda Integrated Program Director Ananias Sentozi. The average income is about $150 per month. But as part of the Rwandan governments Vision 2020, the desire is to see Rwanda become a middle-income country. Although that may not happen by 2020, Rwanda has seen economic growth. Over the last several years, the government, churches, and nonprofits like the evangelical-minded World Vision International have worked in some cases together to find ways to create better lives for these impoverished communities. Moving beyond reconciliation, the goal is to help move people from dependency to dignity. Unity, togetherness, and oneness Unity and reconciliation have been a national goal set by the Rwandan government led by the Rwandan Patriotic Front and President Paul Kagame, the former military leader who commanded the RPF rebel force that ended the genocide. Kagame has been elected to three terms since he took office in 2000 and his current term ends in 2024. Despite concerns about how the RPF-led government has silenced political dissent, cracked down on the press, strictly governed and taken a stronghold on the Rwandan political system, Rwandans who spoke with The Christian Post were largely appreciative of the push the RPF has made in the last two-plus decades in challenging Rwandans to seek forgiveness, reconcile and work together to improve Rwanda. After the genocide, about 100,000 Hutus were arrested and imprisoned for alleged involvement in the genocide, some of whom were innocent, locals say. With those many suspects awaiting trial, it would have taken over a lifetime to handle all those cases. Struggling to dole out justice on such a massive scale, the federal government instituted a system of community justice in the early 2000s called the Gacaca court, where perpetrators could be tried among their peers in their communities who witnessed the crimes they committed. Along with that was an emphasis on the idea that perpetrators should go back to their communities to seek forgiveness. Several perpetrators were let out of prison to be tried in their community courts where victims could attest to the crimes they committed. In many cases, perpetrators were forgiven by their victims. Considering there was much work to do to rebuild the destroyed communities, many perpetrators were released from prison and sentenced to work toward the reconstruction of homes and buildings in their communities. Some communities even established associations of genocide perpetrators and survivors working together to rebuild the homes. Over time, with teachings from the government and churches, more relationships were reconciled. "The motto for our country is unity, togetherness and oneness," Jean Bosco, a Catholic priest serving in the rural village of Rugango in Rwandas Southern Province, told reporters who visited him during a World Vision press trip. "Because there was one mission to reunite Rwandans and build the country, it was easy for the government and the church to come together to make that a reality." Boscos parish last year, with the help of World Vision Rwanda, the nations largest humanitarian organization that has been active in the country since 1994, set up classes for genocide perpetrators and victims to help them embrace the biblical call to forgive those who trespassed against them and call for those who have wronged to repent. The classes are open to all community members even if they are not part of the parish. One student of the class was a Pentecostal man who is the lone survivor from a family of 40. Boscos parish is one of many churches across the country that have partnered with World Vision to help foster reconciliation among Hutu and Tutsis in their communities. With an evangelical mission, World Vision began in 1994 providing relief and assistance. The charity later transitioned to focus on fostering unification in the Rwandan communities. In addition to the teachings on forgiveness, the months-long course in the Rugango parish culminates into a business cooperative among the members of the group. As a way to help economically empower the poor agricultural community, the first class of 84 graduates from the course launched a beekeeping enterprise that they hope will one day bring about financial gain. The parish launched a second group of perpetrators and survivors that are now going through the months-long course. Rugango community leaders plan to hold more reconciliation classes in the future. So far, over 160 people in their village have taken the course. Despite the fact that it has been 25 years, those memories never go away and crimes never really go away, the class facilitator Mukankrange Vestine, who lost several members of her own family during the genocide, said. So, they are blessed to leave them behind. While many international humanitarian organizations were present during the immediate aftermath of the genocide, many are no longer active there. One that has remained present in Rwanda for the last 25 years has been World Vision, which has branches in nearly 100 countries. Now that reconciliation has been achieved in many Rwandan communities, World Visions focus these days lies in faith and development work. World Vision seeks to teach villagers to look deeper in themselves to see their true potential. Yes, our motto is the mind, the heart, and the pocket, Aimable Nsengiyumva, who heads up World Visions cluster office in the Southern Province, said. We start with the mind, which changes the heart. When the mind is changed, the heart changes. When the heart is changed, [so is] the pocket. 1 2 3 4 Next Parents have no veto right on LGBT lessons, says Damian Hinds Education Secretary Damian Hinds has said that parents who are unhappy about LGBT lessons in schools have no right of veto. He issued the clarification in a letter to Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers. LGBT issues will be taught as part of relationships and sex education lessons becoming compulsory in schools from September 2020. Mr Hinds said there were "myths" circulating about the nature of the lessons, which he said were about ensuring all young people feel "included". Elsewhere, he said the lessons about "developing young people's understanding of the importance of healthy and respectful relationships with all people". "It is regrettable that myths and misinformation about the forthcoming relationships education changes in primary schools, circulated often by individuals with no links to the education system, are undermining the hard work of head teachers, and the legitimate right of parents to be consulted on what their children are being taught about relationships," he said. "It is important that we continue to work hard, in partnership with you, to dispel myths and reinforce the fact that these important changes to relationships. education (and RSE) will ensure all children learn about the wide variety of relationships in society throughout their school careers." He continued by saying that while schools needed to listen to the views of parents and deliver the lessons in an "age appropriate" way, parents could not veto them altogether. He said: "I want to reassure you and the members you represent that consultation does not provide a parental veto on curriculum content. "We want schools to consult parents, listen to their views, and make reasonable decisions about how to proceed (including through consideration of their wider duties)and we will support them in this. "We trust school leaders and teachers to make the right professional choices and act reasonably when considering consultation feedback, and are clear that dedicated public servants faithfully discharging their duty have an absolute right to feel confident and safe." The letter follows protests by Muslim and Christian parents at Parkfield Community School in Birmingham over LGBT lessons. Hundreds of parents withdrew their children from the No Outsiders programme, which was later suspended at the school. Quakers join in criticism of Westminster Abbey over nuclear weapons ceremony The Quakers have become the latest critics of a service taking place at Westminster Abbey next month to commemorate 50 years of nuclear deterrents in British waters. The abbey has already come under fire from Church of England bishops and peace campaigners over the service on Friday 3 May. The service is being hosted by the Royal Navy to mark 50 years of continuous patrols by the UK's nuclear submarines. The Quakers have written to the Very Rev John Hall, Dean of Westminster Abbey, urging him to reconsider the service. In the letter, Quakers recording clerk Paul Parker said nuclear weapons were "faithless". "To threaten humanity and the planet with nuclear annihilation is in our view contrary to what God would have us do," he said. "It is indeed imperative that we all continue to pray and work for peace throughout the world, but peace is not served by the maintenance, possession and threat of use of nuclear weapons." Westminster Abbey said the service was being held to "recognise 50 years of continuous at sea deterrent" and "pray for peace throughout the world". Despite the opposition, the Abbey has not moved to cancel the ceremony. The Bishop of Colchester, the Rt Rev Roger Morris, and the Bishop of Chelmsford, the Rt Rev Stephen Cottrell, have both said that the ceremony contradicts Church teachings. Kate Hudson, general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said the service was "morally repugnant". "This sends out a terrible message to the world about our country. It says that here in Britain we celebrate weapons - in a place of worship - that can kill millions of people," she said. "If the Defence Secretary doesn't cancel this service, we call on the Church authorities to step in to stop it." The campaign group has vowed to hold protests at Westminster Abbey on the day of the service if it is not cancelled. Thousands of young people sign petition demanding stricter laws on prostitution in the Netherlands Some 42,000 young people have signed a petition demanding that it be made illegal to visit a prostitute in the Netherlands. The Exposse movement, which has brought together Christian and feminist groups, gained momentum after powerful images about the worth of women were posted to Instagram. The images showed people holding black and white letter boards with slogans like "Ik ben onbetaalbaar" (I'm priceless), "what if it was your sister?", and "prostitution is both a cause and consequence of inequality". In the Netherlands, where Amsterdam's famed Red Light District is a tourist hotspot, prostitution has been legal since 2000. The country is one of the most permissive in the world when it comes to regulating the sex industry, with the law permitting prostitution to take place as long as it is "sex between consenting adults". But campaigners argue that the current system exploits vulnerable women and has fuelled human trafficking. They are pushing for the Netherlands to follow the 'Nordic model' rolled out across Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Northern Ireland and France, where punishment is borne by the buyer and not the seller. They argue that the Nordic model has reduced the demand for buying sex and made these countries less of a target for human traffickers. Exposse movement co-founder Sara Lous, who has worked in a rehabilitation centre for ex-prostitutes, told the BBC that "so much is going wrong" with the Netherlands' current decriminalisation approach to selling sex. "We have so much human trafficking and Amsterdam is most vulnerable because of the high demand for cheap sex," she said. She believes the women currently involved in prostitution are capable of finding other work. "They should have help to find other skills," she said. A board member on the sex-workers' collective Proud, who goes by the name Foxxy, disagrees and says that the current system offers the best protection for sex workers. "This petition is not in the sex workers' interest. It's people who read the Bible who are trying to stop us," she told the BBC. "If this happens sex workers will work illegally. Then we're more likely to be victims of violence. Clients will know we can't go to the police. "We will be much more at risk, clients will try to take condoms off, we're more at risk of being exposed to HIV. It happened in France when they started this Nordic model." Louise Gleich, Senior Policy Officer on Human Trafficking at Christian advocacy group CARE, said welcomed the campaign, though. She agreed with campaigners that criminalisation was an effective way of reducing demand for paid sex and levels of human trafficking. "CARE believes that people were created for purpose, not purchase. Buying someone's body is a violation of their fundamental dignity as a human being," she said. "There is clearly strong support for a new approach in the Netherlands towards prostitution, especially among well-informed young people. "This is hugely significant because the Netherlands has some of the most liberal laws anywhere in the world, as evidenced by the infamous red-light district in Amsterdam." She said she wanted to see the rest of the UK follow the example of Northern Ireland, the only part of the country where it is illegal to purchase sex. "It's high time a new law was introduced at Westminster and at the Scottish Parliament to bring Great Britain into line with Northern Ireland so the purchase of sex is criminalised in every part of the UK," she said. Summa de Arithmetica: The birth of modern business The remarkable story of a Renaissance book described as a foundational text in the history of capitalism. The work of Luca Pacioli, who was a friend to Leonardo, Summa de Arithmetica is offered at Christies in New York on 12 June Mathematician Luca Pacioli (circa 1445-1517) was one of the leading lights of Renaissance humanism, seamlessly moving between the realms of the secular and the spiritual. Today he is considered the father of modern accounting for his book Summa de Arithmetica, which, as our short film explains, contains the first printed description of double-entry bookkeeping and marks the birth of modern business. Published in 1494, such a book is rarely seen at auction and on 12 June, Christies in New York will be offering a first edition of the Summa with an estimated value of up to $1.5 million. A Franciscan friar and a humanist with a passion for art, Pacioli is described by Margaret Ford, Christies International Head of Books and Manuscripts, as the ultimate Renaissance man. As well as recovering mathematical texts that had largely been forgotten, he was well versed in art, architecture, business and astronomy, which, says the specialist, made him an ideal friend for the painter Leonardo da Vinci, with whom he lived and worked for a time. Leonardos masterpiece, The Last Supper, was completed at the height of his friendship and collaboration with Pacioli. Born in the town of Borgo San Sepolcro in Tuscany in about 1445, Pacioli was fortunate, as Giorgio Vasari confirms in Lives of the Artists, to meet two indomitable Renaissance men in his youth. The first was the inscrutable painter and mathematician Piero della Francesca (1416-1492), who included his protege in several of his paintings. The second was the lively polymath Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72), with whom Pacioli lived in Rome. Luca Pacioli (1447-1517). Summa di arithmetica, geometria, proporzioni e proporzionalita. Venice: Paganinus de Paganinis, November 1494. Estimate: $1,000,000-1,500,000. Offered in a dedicated sale on 12 June at Christies in New York From these men, Pacioli learned the values of Renaissance humanism. Alberti, in particular, believed in the importance of mathematics as a key to understanding the arts and science. For the young Pacioli, who had shown prodigious talent for the subject, it secured him a position as a tutor to the sons of a merchant family in Venice, the trading centre of the world. It was here that he met tradesmen from the Middle East and Africa and studied the different methods of commerce, says Ford. Pacioli discovered there were three things necessary to good business: capital (cash and credit), accurate bookkeeping and good inventory control. It was also in Venice that he rediscovered the writings of earlier scholars, in particular Fibonacci (1170-1250), who had been largely forgotten. Fibonacci was the Italian mathematician who had helped to introduce the Hindu-Arabic number system to Europe, and whose ideas continue to have an impact through the sequence that bears his name. Pacioli wasnt an egg-head sitting in a library. He was out in the world, applying his learning to real life Margaret Ford, International Head of Books and Manuscripts Paciolis aim was to compile a summary of mathematics and to make it commonly available in the hope that it would improve peoples lives. The Summa is a very modern book, says Ford. He deliberately chose to write in the vernacular rather than in Latin, so that his voice went beyond the scholarly world. Essentially a how-to of accountancy, Summa explains double-entry bookkeeping, which is fundamental to any tradesman. Not only that, but it introduced the symbols for plus and minus as well as offering advice on the ethics of business. In one entry Pacioli exhorts his reader to learn from the wise and teach the ignorant yourself, that is, dont learn from ignoramuses who have more leaves than grapes. Two of Summa de Arithmeticas 615 large and densely typeset pages Leonardo was so impressed with the Summa that he persuaded his patron, Lodovico Sforza, to invite Pacioli to teach mathematics at the court of Milan. Leonardo and Pacioli studied perspective together, and later collaborated on a book called Divine Proportion. In 1499 their work was jeopardised when the French invaded and ransacked Milan. Sforza escaped to Germany. Leonardo and Pacioli also fled, eventually reaching Florence in 1500. A portrait of mathematician Luca Pacioli and Unknown Young Man, attributed to the Italian Renaissance artist Jacopo de Barbari, circa 1495-1500, and now housed in The Capodimonte Museum in Naples. Photo: Scala A portrait of Pacioli painted by Jacopo de Barbari (circa 1460-1516) at this time reveals little of this trauma. It depicts the mathematician as a man of science, his hand resting on the now famous Summa while he draws a geometric figure with the other, demonstrating a theorem by Euclid. The rhombicuboctahedron, half-filled with water and hanging from a string, is rumoured to have been inserted by Leonardo. The man standing behind him is possibly his patron, the Duke of Montefeltro. Sign up today The Online Magazine delivers the best features, videos, and auction news to your inbox every week Subscribe 5 minutes with... An important Riesener commode William Strafford, European Furniture and Decorative Arts specialist at Christies in New York, explains why this commode represents a landmark moment in the career of the 18th centurys most celebrated cabinet-maker With the rise of the guild, master craftsmen and the marchand-merciers the celebrated dealers and tastemakers of the time Paris became the epicentre of European style in the 18th-century. As highly skilled craftsmen flocked to the French capital, technical development and artistic innovation continued apace, and the luxury goods market boomed. French tapestries, lavish silks, porcelain, clocks and cabinet-work were commissioned by Royals and aristocrats across the continent. One such example, an exquisite Louis XVI ormulu-mounted, satin-wood, amaranth and sycamore commode, comes to auction on 30 April as part of the Desmarais Collection: A pied-a-terre in New York. The commode is stamped by Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806), arguably the most celebrated cabinet-maker of the late 18th century and a favourite of Marie-Antoinette. Its a magnificent example of Rieseners unparalleled technical skill, for which he has always been internationally renowned, says William Strafford, European Furniture and Decorative Arts specialist at Christies in New York. Made in 1774, the break-fronted commode with marble top was commissioned by Madame Randon de Pommery for her bedroom in the Hotel du Garde-Meuble. Supported on four short out-turned feet, it boasts two principal drawers beneath a frieze divided into three shallow drawers. The remarkably life-like floral marquetry, inlaid in a trapezoidal central panel with curved sides, is flanked by fruiting laurel branches of gilt-bronze. William Strafford takes a close look at the gilt-bronze laurel branches that would develop into one of the cabinet-makers most distinctive motifs The grand proportions of the commode, the scrolling foliage and naturalistic depictions of flowers are, says our specialist, characteristic of Rieseners mature style. Its laurel branches are also the second known example of what would become one of the cabinet-makers most distinctive motifs as he developed his signature style for the Royal court. Under the regulations of the guild system in 18th-century France, furniture production was divided into its constituent parts. Tens of artisans to include ebenistes (cabinet-makers), bronziers (bronze-casters), ciseleurs (chasers) and doreurs (gilders) could be involved in the production of one luxury piece. The process of crafting a commode of this quality would have been extensive, expensive and extremely labour-intensive, says Strafford. This commode would have served as an announcement piece. It was Rieseners way of showing the Court what he was capable of William Strafford The commode marks a pivotal moment in the cabinet-makers career. In 1774, the year of its commission, Riesener was appointed cabinet-maker to the king. This commode would have served as an announcement piece, says Strafford. It was Rieseners way of showing the Court what he was capable of. Indeed, the 1774 commode did serve as an important prototype for three subsequent Royal commodes, delivered to the French Royal Family between 1776-1778. All three of these commodes follow the overall form of the Pommery commode, but refine it further to befit their Royal patrons. Theres a richer scheme of gilt-bronzes and the addition of geometric parquetry panels adds greater depth. The painted inventory number on the reverse of the Riesener commode is identified in a number of documents held in the French National Archives As the 1774 commode was commissioned by Madame Randon de Pommery for the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne, an organisation within the royal household responsible for the upkeep and furnishings of all Royal chateaux in France, it was documented in the same manner as a piece of royal furniture. The painted inventory number 2803 to the reverse identifies it in a meticulous series of documents and inventories still held in the French National Archives. These include Rieseners bill in December 1774 for 1586 livres, which he then reduced to 1300 livres, perhaps to gain further favour with his new employers. Sign up today Christie's Online Magazine delivers our best features, videos, and auction news to your inbox every week Subscribe Toronto The Next Generation Science Standards call for science teachers to bring more computational thinking into middle school science. Two pilot projects at the American Educational Research Association meeting highlight why thats difficult, and two potential ways to do it. Computational thinking draws on concepts from computer scienceincluding organizing and analyzing data and modelingto link science, technology, engineering, and math concepts and help students think about complex problems. As the use of technology and complex problem-solving becomes a bigger part of the workplace, education and business leaders alike have pushed for the concept to become a bigger part of STEM classes. This can be a very powerful strategy for students to learn science concepts as well as important problem-solving skills across various disciplines, said Danielle Cadieux Boulden, a researcher with North Carolina State University. But it has proven tricky to integrate, she said. The problem is, even though computational thinking has recently been very widely embraced, theres really no consensus pathway of how this is going to look in classroom practices, Boulden said. Computational thinking is not yet entirely embraced by the K-12 community and in particular with the teachersthey are not exactly sure what this is going to look like in practice with their students. At a symposium on the subject at AERA this week, researchers from North Carolina State University and from the University of Colorado, Boulder, highlighted two pilot programs to use computer modeling and environmental sensors to use computational thinking to enhance standard science units. Telling Computational Stories In Colorado, researchers Alexandra Gendreau Chakarov and Quentin Biddy are developing a series of storylines, scenarios based on real-life news events that set up students to collect data and solve problems using environmental sensors. The researchers, along with partners at Utah State University, are piloting the curriculum with three science teachers and one integrated STEM teacher of 200 students in grades 5-8. The teachers learn to frame science concepts through computational thinking and co-develop storylines over four summer workshops. For example, in one storyline, students watched a video about a school being closed due to mold exposure. The video launched a discussion of molds life cycle, health effects, and how it could be found and dealt with in their own school. Students used digital environmental sensors to test for mold near bathrooms, drinking fountains, and other areas on campus, then collected and analyzed the data. At one school that actually found mold, the class developed a report and mold remediation plan which they presented to the principal. While the curriculum is still in development, the researchers found after the first pilot, 82 percent of the students reported wanting to do another sensor-based project again, and 88 percent understood links between their computational activities and the science concepts in the standards. The sensors cost about $100 for four students, but Chakarov said in the next iteration, the researchers are testing micro-bit sensors which provide a wider variety of information and cost about half that. Modeling Diseases: Bumping and Blocks In a separate project, North Carolina State University researchers think teaching students to code and model before helping them understand what they could use the skills for is putting the cart before the horse. In a curriculum unit exploring epidemics, students first modeled a disease in person walking around the class and bumping into one another to transfer an illness as the teacher tracked the number of students infected in each iteration. That exercise allowed them to explore basic data collecting and predictions before starting to model on computers. The embodied-cognition activity actually allowed the students to embody the science ... and so it allowed us to talk about the benefits of joining that within a modeling environment instead of having to keep track of this by hand, said Jennifer Houchins of North Carolina State University. So it allowed for that connection to why we would want to be doing this in a modeling environment. The team initially taught students to model from scratch using an open-source tool called blockly , but later modified the program to provide a set of example analysis code that students modify and take over throughout the class as they learn the scientific concepts and coding practices. They also embedded video-based tutorials to help students and teachers with coding specific pieces of the model, such as incorporating the time period in which different types of viruses are contagious. Were offloading some of that overwhelming nature of coming into a blank environment and not really knowing how to get started, Houchins said. They use a prebuilt model to do some initial scientific exploration, get more comfortable with the environment and then they start modifying the code there. Taking over coding themselves allowed students to feel more ownership ... But also it allowed us to get the students into more complex scientific topics a little more quickly because they werent having to learn [coding the analysis] at the same time. Over the course of the unit, students learned to incorporate human behaviors and properties of different diseases to chart and predict different epidemics. The researchers are still developing the pilot in the next year. Creating a well-balanced curriculum is time intensive and requires many iterations in order to get it right, Houchins said. You have to make important design decisions to support students in both the [computational thinking] and science practices. Getting that balanced is really critical, so that youre not striving to one side or the other. Image Source: Getty Related: Do you have a question about education research, or just want to know what the evidence says about that pesky instructional problem? Let me know! Drop me a line at ssparks@epe.org, or (ANSA) - Rome, April 10 - Some in Europe are throwing petrol on the flames of conflict in Libya, Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini said Wednesday. "We are throwing water onto the fire but I have the clear impression that some people, in Europe too, are pouring petrol onto the fire and I don't think everyone has peace at heart," he said. "Let's hope good sense prevails but it's clear that if they bomb the airport the Coast Guard is in difficulty. "There's the risk of destabilising the area, there's Algeria next door and we are doing everything possible at the diplomatic level to stop the clashes". Salvini said eastern Libyan strongman General Khalifa Haftar was "wrong" to launch an offensive on the UN-backed government in Tripoli. "You don't reach a solution with arms," he said. Amid cheers and applause, President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a pair of executive orders designed to boost the oil and gas industry. Speaking at the International Union of Operating Engineers training center in Crosby, Trump told a crowd of roughly 300 people that the "era of job-killing regulations is over." The two orders were drafted to help with pipeline construction from New England to the Mexico border. RELATED: Trump to order EPA to review pipeline permitting "With the help of the people in this room, the United States is now the number one producer of oil and gas in the world," Trump said. After the signing, Trump is in route to a private fundraiser at the Lone Star Flight Museum in southeast Houston. Trump was greeted by thousands of supporters who lined the streets of Crosby to catch a glimpse of him and his motorcade. Trump landed shortly before 3 p.m. at Ellington Joint Reserve Base, where he was welcomed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. The Houston visit is part of a day long series of events in Texas. Trump touched down in San Antonio this morning and attended a fundraiser at a private club. 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. President Donald Trump has a full day of fundraisers and other events in Texas on Wednesday. The New York billionaire-turned-president is expected to depart Joint Base Andrews in Washington. at 9:20 a.m. EST to begin his Texas tour with a visit to San Antonio. President Trump is expected to arrive at the San Antonio International Airport at 11:50 a.m. CST and then travel to The Argyle, a private club off Patterson Avenue where he is expected to participate in a private roundtable with supporters and speak at a fundraiser luncheon. The president is expected to leave San Antonio International Airport at 2 p.m. and arrive at the Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base in far southeast Houston at 2:50 p.m. From the base, Trump is expected to travel to the 900 block of Foley Avenue in the suburb of Crosby where he is expected to speak at the International Union of Operating Engineers International Training and Education Center at 3:40 p.m. As part of his speech, Trump is expected to sign two executive orders to boost the oil & gas industry. Business & Politics: A full peek at Trump's Houston executive orders The first order will direct the Environmental Protection Agency to update federal guidance on the Clean Water Act, seeks to legalize liquefied natural gas shipments by rail, speeds up renewals for energy project right of ways, seeks to remove barriers to investing in certain energy projects and compels two federal agencies to study and issue reports on energy issues in New England and the West Coast. Under the second order, the State Department will be directed to speed up the permit process for cross-border energy projects to 60 days. The current permitting process for pipelines and electricity transmission lines between the United States, Mexico and Canada can take years. Fuel Fix: Get daily energy news emails in your inbox President Trump is expected to leave Crosby at 4:30 p.m. and travel to the Lone Star Flight Museum on the 11500 block of Aerospace Avenue in Houston where he is expected to participate in a private roundtable with supporters and speak at a fundraiser luncheon. Trump is expected to leave the Lone Star Flight Museum at 6:45 p.m. and return to Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base where he will fly back to Washington, D.C. Marriott Marquis Houston's winding, Texas-shaped swimming pool claimed the runner-up spot on lifestyle outlet Travel Agent Central's The Coolest Hotel Pool of 2019 contest. The annual ranking is a March madness-style competition. Houston's pool faced off against the TRS Yucatan in the final round, eventually losing to the exotic resort watering hole. Of the Marriott's Texas pool, the outlet writes: "For a truly out-of-this-world experience, head on down to Texas, where the space-themed Marriott Marquis Houston is home to a lazy river that's truly Texas-sized and Texas-shaped! This July is a particularly good time for spaceflight buffs to visit, since the hotel is offering a special "Mission to the Moon" package to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing." HoustonChronicle.com: Chronicle celebrates 50th anniversary of moon landing The winner, TRS Yucatan Hotel's Helios Beach Club in Playa del Carmen, definitely seems worthy of its title. It boasts a three-tier infinity pool with a view of the Caribbean. In addition to in-pool lounge seating and Balinese beds, there's also a poolside bar serving Mediterranean bites and cocktails. The Mexican hotel is situated within the Grand Palladium Resort & Spa in the Mayan Riviera. Other finalists include Archer Austin Hotel in Austin, Timbers Kauai Ocean Club & Residences in Hawaii, Sanctuary Cap Cana in the Dominican Republic, Jade Mountain in St. Lucia and the Hoshinoya Taketomi Island in Japan. 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. More than two months after the drug raid that left two people and a dog dead, there's still a swirl of unanswered questions: Were Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas - the targets of the botched operation - really drug dealers, as police claimed? Who made the mysterious 911 call that authorities still won't release? What actually happened inside 7815 Harding Street the day of the ill-fated raid? This month, attorney Mike Doyle - the lawyer representing Nicholas' family - joined us on "Behind the Walls" to lay rest to some of the rumors and voice new concerns. For one, he explained exactly why he doesn't think the couple sold drugs. But he also talked about why he wants the police department to set the record straight - and he pushed back against some of Chief Art Acevedo's claims in the weeks since the gun battle. Susan Barber Currently, Doyle said, there's no ballistics analysis - or none that's been released - and the families are still waiting on autopsy results. And there's no video from inside the home during the raid, though neighbors captured some footage from outside. But Doyle did offer some answers, and shed light on his plans moving forward. It all started in January, when a woman called police to report that her daughter was using drugs inside the small Pecan Park home. Using that tip, police allegedly sent in a confidential informant to do an undercover heroin buy - a transaction that became the basis to justify the Jan. 28 raid. That afternoon, when undercover narcotics officers burst in the door, they shot a dog that lunged at them, setting off a gunbattle that ended with two civilians dead and five officers injured. Afterward, police realized they couldn't find the informant, raising questions as to whether the drug buy actually happened. The officers involved have since retired under investigation, and Houston police, the FBI, and the Harris County DA's Office all launched separate probes into it. To listen to this interview, you can use the player on this page, search for "Behind the Walls" on Apple Podcasts or go to your favorite podcast app and click subscribe. Look for new episodes every two or three weeks and, in between, follow my prisons coverage in the Chronicle. This week, our regular cohost Lance Lowry was out, but you can catch up with his news through his nonprofit, the Texas Correctional Institute and follow St. John Barned-Smith - who also joined me on this week's show - at the Chronicle. In addition to deciding two City Council races, Dickinson voters in the May 4 election will consider whether to reauthorize a sales tax that has been in effect for eight years to fund road projects. In 2011, city voters approved a measure to charge a quarter cent per $1 spent in the city to fund street maintenance. Every four years, due to whats called a sunset clause, the city must present that proposition to voters to determine if theres still enough support to maintain it, Mayor Julie Masters said. After we adopted it in 2011, it passed again when we had to take the vote back to residents in 2015, she said. Hopefully, voters will support (the sales tax) so we can keep moving forward. The program provides the city with about $1 million a year for projects including perform construction, repair and general maintenance on streets. Weve had a really long history of not spending enough money on building or repairing really good roads, Masters said. Were trying to build or repair roads that will last, and there are lot of them that need work; so its a slow process. Weve been working on this program since about 2005, trying to build as many roads out of concrete as we can, and those roads are lasting. Of course, we want to keep that up, but we have some challenges to face. Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc on many roads, with many sitting under water for days and others being pounded by heavy trucks and machinery for months. it was literally tons of debris in these trucks, Masters said. The wear and tear on the streets was horrible, and all the rains weve had since Harvey is killing us. We hope to use the money from the sales tax along with some Hurricane Harvey money to help us really beef up our roads. The city is working on an overlay program for less-traveled roads and redoing the subgrade and asphalt on others that see heavier traffic. The overlay program is a program that just gets people a decent driving surface until we can get to the road to replace it, Masters said. The subgrade is where the strength of the road comes from. Right now, were identifying streets that need the most work and doing cost comparisons. There are a lot of moving pieces. In Dickinson City Council races, Position 2 incumbent Bruce Henderson is running against Kevin Edmonds and Sean Skipworth, while Position 6 incumbent William H. King, III is running against H. Scott Apley. Position 4 incumbent Wally Deats is unopposed. Skipworth, 37, said desire to serve the city stems from Harvey in addition to his belief that the city could benefit from some fresh faces and perspectives on council. "Dickinson has big dreams, but we aren't sure how to get there. We need a voice on City Council that ensures our day-to-day goals are all working toward that greater vision," said Skipworth, a government professor at College of the Mainland. "The membership of City Council has not changed in six years. Despite widespread concerns with leadership, only two incumbents drew challengers in the last two election cycles. I'm running because I believe you have to be the change you want to see. "One challenge we'll face is improving our city's infrastructure after years of neglect. Another will be attracting new residents and businesses to Dickinson after Harvey," he said. "(I would approach that challenge) by setting goals that respond to our citizen's vision for the city. We'll use data to prioritize our planning process and we'll regularly monitor our progress. We'll hold ourselves accountable by displaying the status of projects publicly and in real time." If elected, Skipworth said he would work to evaluate and streamline processes involving maintenance and transparency. "Communication and community relations needs to be improved," he said. "Many feel the city stonewalls citizens when complaints arise." Attempts to reach other candidates were unsuccessful. Houston's economy continued to expand in March, according to a survey of supply chain executives on manufacturing activity. Manufacturing activity in the Houston area continued to grow in March and activity was significantly up from February, according to the report by the Institute for Supply Management that surveys area executives. Google Maps Walgreens and VillageMD, a large national network of primary care physicians, will launch a collaboration to open large, state-of-the art clinics next to the drug stores at five Houston locations, the companies announced Wednesday. The first of the 2,500-square-foot clinics is expected top open by years' end, although the location was not immediately available, a Walgreens company spokesman said. Crude closed at a five-month high after U.S. government data showed the biggest decline in gasoline stockpiles since 2017, offsetting an increase in crude inventories. Futures in New York rose 1 percent on Wednesday, while gasoline prices jumped 3.5 percent. Domestic fuel stockpiles tumbled more than analysts expected, while crude supplies expanded for a third straight week, according to the Energy Information Administration. "It seems like this is more of a gasoline story," said Rob Thummel, managing director at Tortoise, which handles $16 billion in energy-related assets. We're "continuing to see healthy declines in gasoline inventories, which ultimately bodes well for crude, because there will be demand for crude as well." PREVIOUSLY: Oil stumbles as Putin clouds outlook for more production curbs Oil has climbed more than 40 percent in New York this year as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries works to trim output and help balance global oil markets. Further supply threats due to fighting in Libya, as well as troubles in Venezuela, have also supported crude oil. Yet, gains remain limited due to fears of a slowing global economy. On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund predicted this year would see the weakest growth since the financial crisis. Fighting near the Libyan capital continued, forcing the United Nations to postpone an international peace conference to reconcile feuding factions and threatening to plunge the country back into civil war. West Texas Intermediate for May delivery climbed 63 cents to settle at $64.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices remain above the 200-day moving average after they breached that level earlier this month for the first time since October. POWERED UP: Can electric cars survive Trump? Gasoline for May delivery closed at $2.0692 a gallon, the highest level since October. Brent for June settlement advanced $1.12 to close at $71.73 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The global benchmark crude traded at a premium of $7.08 to WTI for the same month. See also: Goldman Says for a Peek Into Oil's Future, Go Back to 1990s Meanwhile, the EIA report also showed U.S. crude stockpiles rose 7.03 million barrels last week to the highest level since November 2017. U.S. crude production held at a record 12.2 million barrels a day. --With assistance from James Thornhill, Heesu Lee and Grant Smith. 2019 Bloomberg L.P. (ANSA) - Verona, April 10 - Vinitaly and Verona are about to land in China through a new multi-channel platform called "Wine to Asia", created by the trade fair organisation. Veronafiera is the majority shareholder in the newco, with sole partner Shenzhen Taoshow Culture & Media, which is part of Pacco Communication Group Ltd based in the city of Shenzhen - a metropolis of nearly 15 million residents - and also active in Beijing, Chengdu, Xi'an and Shanghai. The initiative is planned for 2020 and was presented on Wednesday on the final day of the 53rd Vinitaly international wine and spirits exhibition. The city chosen for the new initiative is one of the most dynamic areas in China, a crossroads between Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which counts over 100 million residents. Veronafiere President Maurizio Danese said the "Far East is an area to be constantly monitored". "We've created a permanent initiative for it, as foreseen in our industrial plan, after more than 20 years of continued activity," Danese said. A new mobile food pantry is helping Houston residents still affected by Hurricane Harvey get the nourishment they need, thanks to efforts from CITGO and the Houston Food Bank. The food pantry is a part of the disaster relief initiative, Fueling Good. Rebuilding Lives., and was unveiled at a ceremony on Monday, April 8, at Volunteers of America Texas on Yale Street. It will deliver food to as many as 10 stops each week in the neighborhoods of Independence Heights, Northline and Acres Homes. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner attended the ceremony and said that Houstonians having access to nutritious foods is a critical but often forgotten piece of the recovery process for many still trying to bounce back from the hurricanes destruction This is a fantastic initiative and Im proud to be part of the unveiling, Turner said in a press release. Houston is a great city because it is home to people, organizations and companies that care for one another. And there is no better example than CITGO. CITGO joined the Houston Food Bank in supporting the new pantry to assist in giving residents better access to healthy foods. CITGO is working hard to make a difference in the lives of those affected by Hurricane Harvey, said Larry Elizondo, CITGO general manager, community relations, CSR and legislative affairs, in the release. As an engaged corporate citizen of the Gulf area, were committed to long-term recovery efforts, not just cleanup in the immediate aftermath of a storm. These mobile food pantries will ensure that the people in the communities where we live and work have access to affordable, healthy food, regardless of their situation. Two additional food pantries were unveiled earlier this month in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Lake Charles, La. Brian Greene, president and CEO of Houston Food Bank, said the food banks ability to help people depends heavily on relationships with organizations like CITGO. With the donation of the mobile pantry, we will be able to go directly into neighborhoods in our community that need assistance the most, Greene said in the release. This trailer creates a mini mobile grocery store that improves access to healthy foods, such as fruits and vegetables, for low-income and food-insecure families. It will also serve as a roaming Food for Change market for locations that do not have adequate space to build out a pantry in their area. To date, CITGO has pledged $11.5 million toward storm recovery efforts through 2020 by helping people rebuild their homes and offering relief in Texas and the immediate Gulf area. tracy.maness@hcnonline.com Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office A 14-year-old boy has been arrested after authorities found a crude 3D-printed pistol at his home that was used to send a threat to his Katy school, police said. The unidentified student of Harmony School in the 23400 block of Grand Corner was taken into custody by the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday after a classmate received a text message alluding to the threat. Admittedly, we'll indulge in sinfully rich desserts all year long, every chance we get. But when they're gratis, that's even more reason to go for an extra-decadent dose. Upscale South African restaurant Peli Peli is celebrating 10 years of business by giving away one free dessert per table now through Sunday. Dinner with a side of Instagram: Photogenic Houston restaurants The three sweet options have us pretty excited right about now. Choose from sticky toffee pudding, rich chocolate mousse cake or the signature Melktart. A house take on a traditional South African milk pie, it's made with milk custard, fresh nutmeg and honeycomb sugar. A house-made crust seals the delicious deal. To take advantage of Peli Peli's birthday deal, you'll be asked for a password. Simply say the words "happy birthday" to your server, and enjoy your complimentary treat. This offer is good at all three Peli Peli locations: the Galleria, Cinco Ranch and Vintage Park. Marcy de Luna is a digital reporter specializing in social media, the famous, and food. You can follow her on Twitter @MarcydeLuna and Facebook @MarcydeLuna. Read her stories on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com. | Marcy.deLuna@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message 3 1 of 3 Jan Caudron, Contributor / Getty Images Show More Show Less 2 of 3 StatePoint Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Spring has finally arrived with temperatures in the 80s approaching 90 degrees! Perhaps, it is time to go from those big wintery reds to transition into something more weather appropriate like a Rose wine. What exactly is a Rose wine? A Rose wine is normally a red wine grape that you make using a white wine process! A winemaker takes a grape like Zinfandel, Sangiovese, Merlot, and even Cabernet Sauvignon and allow a let grape skin time, like a few hours, to come into contact with the grape juice to impart a pin, salmon, shrimp color to the juice. When a winemaker makes a white wine, the juice is immediately separated from the skins so those white grape skins can add a brown tint to the wine. With red grapes, the grapes skins are in contact for a few hours with the juice to impart that pink color with the skins immediately removed from the juice via a wine press where the grape juice is pressed and squeezed from the skins and pulp to provide that special pink color and that nice fruity bouquet and taste to the juice. These Rose wine are lighter and more fruit-forward than those big red wines. These Rose wines are a perfect accompaniment to a warm Spring day. A 21-year-old man arrested Saturday admitted to following a customer into a womens restroom at a Conroe Hobby Lobby and recording her as she entered a stall with his cell phone camera. Todd Michael Starkweather, of Conroe, was charged with invasive visual recording, a state jail felony, according to court records. He openly admitted what he was doing, and he knew it was wrong, Conroe Police Department spokesman Sgt. Jeff Smith said in an interview. Starkweather is said to have followed a woman into a store restroom with his phone either filming or photographing her as she walked into a stall. Upon seeing Starkweather, the woman started shouting and he fled running, according to Smith. CONROE: DPS office closed due to water main break Hobby Lobby employees called police on Starkweather for criminal trespass after spotting him at the store following the incident. We had been looking for him and he came in a month later, Smith said. The vigilant employees recognized him immediately. Once in police custody, a cooperative Starkweather admitted to the allegations against him, Smith said. His phone was confiscated and it will undergo forensic testing, Smith added. No other victims have come forward, Smith said. There may be, possibly, other victims. Anyone who thinks Starkweather may have targeted them is asked to call Conroe Police. NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. A manager at the store forwarded further inquiries about the incident to Conroe Police. As it remains under investigation, no additional details on the case would be made available, Smith said. As of Tuesday afternoon, Starkweather was out on a recommended $21,500 bail. jose.gonzalez@chron.com twitter.com/jrgzztx Texas students will be reintroduced to the "lost art" of cursive writing in the 2019-2020 school year. Thanks to the increase in computers, tablets and standardized testing, cursive writing decreased as early as 2005. More than a decade later, the now-rare skill will become a requirement for Texas elementary students to master. High profile politicians or celebrities typically dont beat a path to the small town of Crosby. In fact, Kim Harris, Crosby-Huffman Chamber of Commerce president, cant remember anybody really famous coming to the area. That is about to change. On Monday, the White House announced that President Donald Trump on Wednesday would be coming to the town northeast of Houston to speak to the International Union of Operating Engineers at the IUOEs International Training and Education Center in Crosby. Trump is scheduled to fly into the Houston area shortly before 3 p.m. Undoubtedly, this is a unique event for our community, and we recognize its historical importance, Viviana Killion, Director of Media Relations for Crosby ISD posted on the districts Facebook page. GONE TO TEXAS: Trump heads to Houston Wednesday to boost oil and gas sector She announced that STAAR testing scheduled for Wednesday would be moved to the next day and that there would be an early dismissal at 1 P.M. We cant confirm the exact time that the Presidential motorcade will be passing through. However, we feel confident that the early dismissal times will allow students to be transported home without significant delay due to road closures, the announcement read. Shirley Dupree, executive director of Huffman ISD Human Resources and Communications, said that even though President Trump will be visiting Crosby, not Huffman, people in Huffman are still excited. Harris said that she and Stephanie Walden, the Chamber Coordinator, plan on walking over from the Chamber building to see the presidential motorcade come down FM 2100. She has been in touch with the Crosby Lions Club, which puts out flags for all holidays, to see if they can line FM 2100 with flags. From what Harris has heard, Trump will come to the training center, give a short speech, and then leave Crosby. The impact is great that hes coming, she said. I wish he would stop in at our little town here and say hello to somebody or something. Dan and Jennifer Meaux, who run the Crawfish Shack in Crosby, were invited to hear Trump speak by State Representative Briscoe Cain (the event is invite-only) and are excited to see Trump in person. GRIEDER: Policy advisor Stephen Millers influence with Donald Trump is bad news for Texans He doesnt expect the presidential visit to have any impact on his business. But all of our employees are excited, he said. Theyre going to be at The Shack and watch the motorcade pass by. I think its good for Crosby, he said. Its going to be hectic with the traffic, but, other than that, it helps put Crosby on the map a little more. Some Crosby businesses have put messages on their marquee boards welcoming the president. I think it just gives people an opportunity to really reflect on his purpose for being here, and it really has to do with jobs and job creation, from what I understand, said Huffman ISDs Dupree. And I think that makes people in our area feel good. I think that when he comes to your area, it makes the community feel like, Wow! Hes thinking about us and the people in our communities. Helping deter crime in Conroe and around Montgomery County may soon be only a social media post away. The Conroe Police Department and the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office have launched a partnership with an Amazon-owned mobile app where neighbors can update each other of potentially criminal activity. A longtime slogan was If you see something, say something, Well, were hoping that if you see something, youll say something, you also share something, Conroe Police Department Chief Jeff Christy said Thursday during a press conference at sheriffs office headquarters. The Neighbors app allows users to anonymously share real-time information by uploading camera surveillance footage, photos and messages for people to view and read within a five-mile radius of their address. Users can also comment on shared content. This provides Montgomery County Sheriffs Office and the Conroe Police Department with another effective, innovative tool in our fight against crime, Sheriffs Office spokesman Lt. Scott Spencer said. Residents can download Neighbors using app stores available through iOS or Android. Those living in the county may also download it by texting MCTX to 555888. In Conroe, the app can be downloaded by texting ConroePD to the same number. In Montgomery County, there are already 65,000 registered Neighbors app users, Spencer said. Traditionally, in law enforcement, we rely on neighborhood watch to gather data and to know crime incidents in neighborhoods, Sheriff Rand Henderson said. The Neighbors app is a modern version of that. Its neighbor knowing neighbor. Spencer said there will be personnel monitoring shared content on the app, but said a number for how many employees will be doing so was currently unavailable. Thursday afternoon, some Conroe residents within a 2-mile radius of downtown Conroe using the app could see a feed with shared content such as surveillance video of a boy ringing a doorbell and scampering off. In another instance, commenters pointed out video of a man ringing a doorbell and saying Hello fell short of its Aggressive and was visibly angry when I said no user-submitted caption. More unusually, however, is another shared video showing a man ringing a homes doorbell at 12:30 a.m., asking if he could come in because he was cold. One video shows a man outside a door in the dark of night, peering through a doors window as he tried to pull the screen door open. The app is a part of Ring, a home security company Amazon bought last year. Spencer said Ring was not providing financial resources to either Montgomery County agency. Ring spokeswoman Morgan Culbertson said the app is also being used in Missouri City and Pearland. The sheriffs office and Conroe Police sought to assure residents the app would not encroach on anyones privacy. The information is only (available when) shared with law enforcement. Its not like we have access to that information, so theres no Big Brother effect to it, Henderson said. The Houston Gateway Academy's board of directors voted Monday to indefinitely suspend Superintendent Richard Garza and IT Specialist Ahmad Bokaiyan after the two were indicted on federal embezzlement charges. In a statement, attorneys for the school wrote that the board and others first learned on Friday that Garza and Bokaiyan were accused of siphoning more than $250,000 from the charter school network in 2014. As part of their suspensions, neither Garza nor Bokaiyan will be allowed on school property, and their access to school equipment, documents and materials has been revoked. Francisco Penning, currently chief of academics and leadership development at the charter network, has been tapped to take over for Garza. RELATED: Charter school superintendent, IT employee charged with embezzlement Bob Wynne, an attorney for the school, wrote that the school will work to assure parents, students and the community that it remains committed to serving its students. "The allegations, if true, are completely contradictory to the fundamental mission, objectives, and purpose of the school," Wynne wrote. "Accordingly, the Board of Directors, as well as the entire school community, takes the allegations extremely seriously and views this matter with the utmost concern." The Board of Directors also is pursuing a contract with an accounting firm to conduct a forensic audit. The board hopes that audit will verify the federal charges against Garza and Bokaiyan and will guide their future actions. READ ALSO: Charter school Gateway climbs list after 'long process' Garza was indicted on six charges last week, including one count of conspiracy, two counts of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, three counts of wire fraud and two counts of engaging in monetary transactions involving criminally acquired property. Bokaiyan was charged with conspiracy and three counts of wire fraud. In an indictment handed down last week, a grand jury found evidence that Garza awarded a $280,841.85 no-bid contract to a group called Hot Rod Systems to build an IT infrastructure at a new school, even though construction on the school had not yet begun. Hot Rod Systems was owned by Bokaiyan. Prosecutors say the two agreed that Bokaiyan would wire some of that contract money into one of Garza's personal bank accounts, and within days of receiving the contract money from Garza, Bokaiyan wired the superintendent $164,381. The indictment alleges Garza used more than $50,000 of those funds to buy a new Nissan Armada sport utility vehicle, more than $86,500 to help purchase a condominium, and nearly $26,000 to help make payments on a house loan in Cypress. An attorney for Garza, who was officially retained on Monday, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. shelby.webb@chron.com twitter.com/shelbywebb A group of 11 alleged gang members have been charged in connection with 41 armed robberies in Houston, mostly at local meat markets, from July 2018 to February 2019, according to the Harris County District Attorney's Office. The group, described in a press release as a "loose-knit coalition" of members from multiple Houston-area gangs mostly targeted La Michoacana meat markets that cater to Latinos. Merrick West, 21, Bryant West, 20, and Eric West, 26, all face federal firearms charges in connection with the robberies. Tom Grant, 18, and Jacquez Keli, 17, both face aggravated robbery charges in Harris and Galveston Counties. LAWSUIT: Woman sues Houston Astros for $1M, alleges T-shirt cannon fired by Orbit broke her finger Anthony Watterson, 20, was charged with aggravated assault in Harris County. Five others were charged with aggravated robbery in Harris County, including Jamaris Hayes, Keondrick Scyrus, Devonte Ransom, Brandon Johnson and Charles Johnson. "The evidence shows these crews robbed everywhere but their own neighborhoods, as they preyed on businesses and terrified innocent people," District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a prepared statement. "Now they will have to stand in court and face judgement." The suspects included people who physically carried out the robberies and the "shot callers" who scouted the locations and planned the crimes, the release said. Most of the robberies lasted about two minutes. The suspects would usually fire guns into the air then snatch cash from the register and check cashing booths, the release said. DEER PARK: Month after ITC explosion at plant, fire investigators enter tank farm In one instance, a suspect held a customer at gunpoint to force the cashier to unlock the check cashing booth, which was protected by ballistic glass, the release said. The press release did not specify the suspect's associated gangs. Authorities said most meat markets were located in Harris County, as well as the Galveston and Beaumont areas. More arrests are possible as the investigation continues in coordination with the ATF's Crime Gun Strike Force, which includes local and federal agencies, the release said. The agencies who assisted in the case include the Houston Police Department, the Harris County Sheriff's Office, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas. The Galveston Police Department, the Beaumont Police Department and the Harris County District Attorney's Office also investigated. Julian Gill is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | julian.gill@chron.com | NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. CAIRO - The press office of the Libyan National Army (LNA) of which Khalifa Haftar is general commander has announced it has taken a position in El-Azizia, some 45 km south-west of Tripoli. "The base of the fourth Brigade el-Azizia returns to the homeland after violent fighting and clashes", it said. The statement also said that "machine guns" were taken along with an unspecified number of "prisoners". On Saturday, an official source of the coalition of militants defending Tripoli and Premier Fayez al-Sarraj from Haftar's attack, which has been ongoing since last Thursday, announced that the LNA had withdrawn from el-Azizia to Garian, 40 km to the south. A teacher development specialist and a plant operator in the race for a Pasadena ISD trustee seat each say they would focus on boosting student achievement and examining district spending if elected. Jose Cazares and Chad Sullivan are in a three-way race with Position 5 incumbent Kenny Fernandez in the May 4 election. Fernandez was elected in 2015. A Dobie High School alumni, he is co-owner and president of North American Shipping Agencies and the the owner of Little Longhorns Daycare in the Southbelt area, according to biography information on the Pasadena ISD website. Attempts to interview Fernandez about his campaign were unsuccessful at presstime. Jose Cazares Cazares, 47, who works for Houston Independent School District as a teacher development specialist, hopes to leverage his experience to help students prepare for life after high school. I am running to bring a much-needed change to the Pasadena Independent School District Board of Education, said Cazares, who said he has worked 26 years in education in roles that have included bilingual education teacher and district administrator. He said that if elected, he would focus on ensuring students have options regardless of the path they choose after graduation and that they develop necessary technical skills and a strong work ethic. My primary focus will be student achievement across all content areas, Cazares said. I also want to help our schools build students with strong leadership skills. Our students need to know how to work in collaborative teams, communicate effectively and be problem-solvers. I would like to increase technical career course work, university and college partnerships and technology-based instruction, he said. He favors expanding prekindergarten education and boosting funding for after-school programs, gifted and talented education and special education. Cazares said one of the first challenges he would address as trustee would be to analyze district spending from a data-driven standpoint. If elected, he said, I will immediately conduct a detailed budget analysis in order to assess the effectiveness of all the current school district programs, departments, and administrative level personnel. I will do this to effectively measure the performance and the direct impact of these programs and people on student achievement. If the data shows that there is minimum or no impact on the student learning, then you can be sure that budget cuts would be the next action step, Cazares said. If the data shows positive gains, then I will do everything possible to expand and allocate the necessary funds to keep the progress moving. Chad Sullivan A plant operator and union unit president, Sullivan, 35, said he wishes to serve on the board so he can give back to the community. I have always found service to the community important. I think that it is important that the school board best represent all the students, staff and Pasadena community in its entirety. I think that above all whomever sits on the board should have these things in mind, he said. Sullivan said that if elected, he would like to contribute to the boards reputation for fiscal responsibility and putting students first. Utilization of resources have kept operating costs in line and increased technology in the district and the access students have to it, he said. PISD has done an excellent job of adapting to the changes in education while being mindful of the community in which it serves. I would like to see continued graduation rate increases and empower students to find a path in education that suits them. This would include driving vocational initiatives in the district, dual-credit education (and) workforce readiness. He said that one of the biggest challenges facing Pasadena ISD relate to finances. Budgets are always a concern when the state and federal government are the financiers, Sullivan said. I would expect challenges to come in the form of pressure on an already tight budget system. Our community continues to see growth and many of our schools operate at or above design capacity, he said. We will have to meet that challenge. We have to set our district priorities and make sure we have the funds to manage the things we find most important for the growth of all of our students. The two candidates for the city of Pasadenas District E position have differing views about the disagreements that frequently arise on the council over issues facing the city. Joseph Thomas, who is vying against incumbent Cody Ray Wheeler in the May 4 election, said he is tired of seeing council members disagree just to disagree. Youre not going to get things done if you just argue about things, said Thomas, 50, who works as a credit manager for National Oil Well Varco. We got to come to a consensus and work together. However, Wheeler, a 33-year-old project manager for JW Turner Construction who has been on the council for six years, said disagreement and discussion are healthy in city government and that he will continue to voice his opinions. If you put nine people in a room and theres no discussion or disagreement about anything, thats a little strange, said Wheeler, who is mayor pro tem. I think everyone (on City Council) is giving their best effort to do whats best for their district and the city of Pasadena. I dont always get my way. Nobody always gets their way. But at the end of the day, were all working toward making Pasadena a better place, he said. The candidates also differ in assessing Mayor Jeff Wagners first term in office. Thomas applauded the mayors response and leadership when Hurricane Harvey struck in August 2017. Mayor Wagner was out front and leading the way. For a man to be able to do that and bring the resources that he did in the short amount of time he did, really impressed me, Thomas said. Hes a person who stands by his word, and you just got to be impressed with that. But Wheeler believes the city needs to be more fiscally responsible. We got to get our spending under control, Wheeler said. Weve raised water rates, trash rates and property taxes, all while giving tax abatements to corporations. We have to look out for working-class families. I think putting the tax burden on working families while giving the big businesses a golden parachute is not right, he said. When I make decisions and take votes on council, at the core and heart of every issue, I think, How is this going to effect working families? Wheeler said. Last month, he voted against an ordinance passed in a 5-3 vote in which the city will partner with the city of Grand Prairie to present a holiday attraction that will include drive-through viewing of lights. Wheeler said he didn't like that the attraction, which would include a holiday village, would be funded by taxpayers who then will be charged for admission and parking. Thomas, 50 said his No. 1 priority as a council member would be to be readily available to listen the concerns of residents and be their voice. I cant sit back and complain about things if Im not willing to get up there and do something and be active, Thomas said. I just want whats best for the city of Pasadena, and the best way I can do that is taking an active role on City Council. Thomas also wants to ensure police officers and firefighters in Pasadena are supported. Theyre the folks who put their life on the line on a daily basis, and we need to help them out, he said. Wheeler cited accomplishments on council that include construction of a new fire station in the district, planting trees and providing local parks with new equipment. When he looks back on his time on the council, he says his first two terms were very tumultuous, citing the voting lawsuit the city ended up settling for $1 million in 2017. A federal judge ruled in January of that year that the council system then in use in Pasadena intentionally diluted Latino voting strength. Voters approved that system, which added two at-large council positions and removed two district seats, in a 2013 charter change election initiated by the former Mayor Johnny Isbell. Chief U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal ordered the city to revert to a previous system of eight district positions. We were able to protect the integrity of our elections and make sure that every part of the city has representation, said Wheeler, who testified in the lawsuit and had spoken against the voting system that was overturned. I think that was really huge for our citizens moving forward. Both Thomas and Wheeler are military veterans and members of the American Legion Post 521. The candidates are going door-to-door to listen to the concerns the citizens have, which Wheeler says is the most important part about the election process. He said he doesnt like when candidates run unopposed. You know, I put my life on the line for America and for democracy, and I believe everyone has the right to run, said Wheeler, who served two tours in Iraq in the Marines. I think its actually healthy when we run elections, because when you run a campaign, it forces the candidate to get out there and really find out what people are feeling at the ground level. It forces them to have conversations about taxation, about debt, about the way were spending their money and about the programming the citys doing. Thomas, who served in the Army, said hes gone to neighborhood meetings, put up yard signs and attended council meetings and events throughout the city. Im trying to get more information on how individuals feel about certain things and getting the message out, he said. Thomas said that if hes elected, he would work with council members and the mayor for the betterment of District E and the entire city. Wheeler said he would continue to put in the work he has been doing. I think people know where I stand, he said. If they keep up with city politics, they know that I was raised here in Pasadena, I have Pasadena values and Im not afraid to speak my mind. Early voting for the May 4 election begins Monday, April 22. For more information about the election and where to vote, click here. tyler.johnson@chron.com AUSTIN - Claudia Golinelli held out hope that the man who employed her and her husband, Alex, would finally pay back the $11,000 owed to them. The couple had seen the Lone Star State's booming construction industry as a way to provide a modest living for their two young children. Claudia, who is undocumented, came to the United States with their daughter in 2004 and Alex followed a year later after a "mafia" group in El Salvador threatened to kill his mother, the Daily Beast reported. They'd soon find work as electricians. But things got bad in January 2014, when their employer refused to pay them a dime until their work was finished on a new supermarket. After the family missed three months of mortgage payments and was on the verge of losing their home in the Dallas suburbs, the employer finally said they would be paid on Feb. 28, 2014, if the Golinellis came to the job site to pick up the money. RELATED: Pew Research Center: 20 U.S. metro areas with the highest number of unauthorized immigrants Yet when they pulled up to the supermarket in Roanoke, Texas, the couple saw the building's superintendent had called the police and accused the couple of stealing materials and tools. "I felt very frustrated because he literally set a trap for us, and he wanted us go to jail instead of actually paying us," Alex said in a March interview with The Washington Post. "He didn't think about how my family was going to be unprotected." More than five years later, little has changed: The Golinellis say they are still owed about $10,000, money they don't expect to ever see. Though police ultimately chose not to charge them (or their employer), the Golinellis' case highlights the exploitative underbelly of the construction industry in Texas, where workers' rights advocates say the state's undocumented workforce remain largely unprotected from wage theft and unsafe, potentially fatal working conditions. The couple's story is highlighted in "Building the American Dream," a documentary that premiered last month at South by Southwest. In the film, undocumented workers in Texas talk about how their lives have been affected by an under-regulated industry, all while facing an uncertain future amid the Trump administration's ongoing immigration crackdown. Wearing stickers bearing the film's title while walking around a Hilton in downtown Austin last month, Claudia and Alex told The Post, through an interpreter, that what's unfolding in Texas echoes the crippling fear felt by undocumented workers nationwide. "The government will always want us to feel suppressed, and the government will always want us to feel that fear because that's a good way to exploit us," Claudia said. "I hope this story makes people feel empowered and it makes those people that are going through the same situation feel like they have the power to speak up." In Texas alone, there are nearly half a million undocumented construction workers, according to a 2013 study from the Workers Defense Project, an organization that advocates for immigrant workers, and the University of Texas at Austin. For years, the construction lobby and business associations have pushed back against increased regulation and lobbied Texas lawmakers to pass legislation limiting worker protections, says Juliet Barbara, the project's communications director. Cristina Tzintzun, co-founder of the Workers Defense Project, said in the film that the group found one in five workers in Texas were denied payment, and that half of those cases involved undocumented contractors. There was also a darker side to what was unfolding with undocumented workers. On July 19, 2015, Roendy Granillo started feeling sick while installing a hardwood floor at a home in Melissa, north of Dallas. When his family came to the United States from Mexico, Granillo, 25, was healthy and had dreams of starting a business with his father. Co-workers say Granillo, who had a dangerously high temperature, told his bosses he wasn't feeling well and asked for a water break around 10 a.m., but the contractor insisted he had to keep working. Later on that 97-degree day, Granillo died of heat stroke. "I feel an emptiness in my heart that isn't going away," his mother, Graciela, said in the film. "As time goes on, you wish you could see him." Granillo's death, which highlighted the fact that there's no state or federal law mandating that construction workers get regular rest, served as a catalyst for the city of Dallas passing an ordinance into law in December 2015 that requires 10-minute breaks for every four hours of work. Since then, Austin is the only other city in Texas to implement a rest-break law for the construction industry. "I think it would have helped my brother if he got to say, 'Hey, I'm tired, I need a rest break,' " Granillo's sister, Jasmine, said in the documentary. When she was a student at the University of Texas, filmmaker Chelsea Hernandez read about a scaffold collapse in 2009 that killed three workers during the construction of a luxury student condominium on campus. The moment at 21 Rio, where a one-bedroom apartment goes for nearly $2,000, never left Hernandez. "It struck me that with all these new high-rises that were drastically changing the look of Austin, someone was not getting paid, someone was getting injured, someone was dying while building what we know of as Austin," Hernandez said. "I wanted to showcase the real cost of destruction and the price of progress." In their own fight for fairness, the Golinellis turned to the Workers Defense Project for help about two months after the encounter with police at the supermarket construction site. Eventually, the Texas Workforce Commission, a government agency for the state's employment matters, opened an investigation into their wage-theft claim. In 2016, the commission found that the subcontractor was in violation of state labor laws. One day in October that year, the Golinellis received a check for $421. It was a small amount, but a step in the right direction. The tone of the night, however, would soon change. Driving home, Claudia said, she was pulled over for speeding by police, who turned her over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation proceedings. She said she was later released under supervision, adding that she had to check in with ICE every three months. Claudia told The Post she now has two years before her next check-in. (Alex is not in deportation proceedings.) She said the risk of being deported since that night, which happened during the Obama administration, has intensified under President Donald Trump. She compared ICE's treatment of undocumented people to "hunting animals." "It does feel like 'Planet of the Apes,' where there is this kind of species that has to eliminate this other species in order to survive," she told The Post. Alex says he hopes the film can show undocumented people that they belong in American society. "I really hope that people become aware that, based on President Trump, who has said that immigrants are criminals who steal, people see the reality of the situation," Alex said. "The reality is that for us, a large part of our life is just working for our families. We are honest people. I hope our story takes away those lies and that people can see the reality for immigrants." Inside a quiet room at the Hilton, the Golinellis laugh to cover up their anger at the $10,000 they never expect to get back. They say the employer, who isn't named in the film or by the couple, sent them an IRS form in which he falsely stated he had paid them their full wages. Barbara said they sent proof of the incorrect form to the IRS, but that the agency "did not pursue them to ensure that the taxes were paid." Though Claudia and Alex were able to recover $1,500 from a lien they filed, the employer has refused to pay, despite the Texas Workforce Commission ruling in the couple's favor, Barbara said. The family continues to do electrical work to support their children, Francesca and Alessandro. Claudia said she knows whatever uneasiness they face from work or the government will be worth it to see her children succeed. "We come to this country with a dream and we realize that this dream is not our dream. It's a dream for our children: for them to have a better life," she said. "The reason why we continue to tolerate these injustices is because I feel that my children are going to have a great future." Curious just how far your dollar goes in Eldridge/West Oaks? According to Walk Score, this Houston neighborhood requires a car for most errands, isn't particularly bikeable and has some transit options. Data from rental site Zumper shows that the median rent for a one bedroom in Eldridge/ West Oaks is currently hovering around $965. So, what might you expect to find if you've got a budget of $1,200/month? Read on for a roundup of the latest rental offerings, via Zumper. (Note: prices and availability are subject to change.) Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions. 14698 Briar Forest Drive, #2015 Listed at $1,200/month, this one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment is located at 14698 Briar Forest Drive, #2015. The unit offers stainless steel appliances and a dishwasher. Animals are not allowed. There isn't a leasing fee associated with this rental. (See the complete listing here.) 1335 Trace Drive Next, there's this one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment situated at 1335 Trace Drive. It's listed for $1,146/month. The apartment offers in-unit laundry. Pet lovers are in luck: cats and dogs are allowed. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee. (Take a gander at the complete listing here.) 1600 Eldridge Parkway, #8891 Finally, here's a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment at 1600 Eldridge Parkway, #8891, that's going for $1,140/month. The unit offers stainless steel appliances, a dishwasher and carpeting. Pets are not welcome. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee. (Check out the complete listing here.) This story was created automatically using local real estate data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback. A Harris County grand jury on Wednesday indicted the Arkema chemical company and a top executive on felony assault charges for allegedly misrepresenting what was known about an industrial disaster at its Crosby plant during Hurricane Harvey, leading to the injury of two deputy sheriffs. The unusual move to use assault laws to prosecute a polluter was announced by Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg at a news conference. She alleged that the company and its vice president for logistics, Michael Keough, falsely informed county emergency management officials that Arkema had real-time data monitoring of chemical tanks. As a result, Ogg said, deputies and first responders were sent into the path of harms way, where they were exposed to toxins that sickened them and required hospital visits. The third-degree felony carries a penalty of 2 to 10 years in prison. In the wake of several recent plant fires and explosions in the Houston area, Ogg said she wants to send a message to polluters that havent been swayed by financial penalties. The facts show Arkema knew of the dangers, withheld vital information, and unleashed harm on first responders and the community, Ogg said in a written statement. This felony indictment is a wake-up call to companies that would pollute our air and waterways, ignore best practices in safety, and put our communities at risk. Attorneys for Arkema and Keough assailed the newest charges as an example of prosecutorial overreach. Its an unprecedented allegation of assault. Do you think you can assault somebody you never met or saw? asked Rusty Hardin, the Houston defense attorney representing Arkema, in an interview. The prosecution has been in search of a theory from the very beginning, he said of the DAs office, which is also prosecuting Arkema for allegedly violating state environmental laws. The difference is that another individual is being called a felon and will have to wait for trial for everybody to figure out, Holy cow that wasnt a crime! How did he get charged? Dan Cogdell, an attorney for Keough, said in a written statement that he was appalled by the decision to charge his client criminally. He said Keough was in Pennsylvania during Harvey, when he gathered the list of chemicals at the site and sent it to the command center at the scene. He also provided needed safety information hours before the first fire occurred that, if followed, would have enhanced the safety of first responders. There has, quite literally, never been a prosecution like this for one singular reason what Mike did wasnt a crime, Cogdell said, adding that Keough passed on the best information he had and was himself relying upon. Furthermore, Cogdell said by phone, you cant recklessly commit the offense of assault by misrepresenting information. I like Ogg, I supported her financially, but instead of financial support this year, I might mail her a penal code because she needs to read it. On HoustonChronicle.com: HOW A DISASTER HAPPENS: Documents show failures that led to Harvey chemical fires The new charges come as prosecutors prepare for a May trial on allegations that Arkema and two executives were responsible for the reckless release of toxic chemicals during Harvey. Investigators found that the companys emergency plan provided little direction to employees on how to handle major floods, and as a result, it couldnt keep combustible organic peroxides cool, according to federal documents. Its main power transformers and backup generators were not high enough off the ground, investigators found. Arkemas last line of defense failed when flood waters inundated the fuel tanks that power freezer trucks. Over the next week, nine trailers of organic peroxides erupted in flames, sending pillars of fire and thick plumes of black smoke into the air. The first fire started in the middle of the night of Aug. 31, 2017, with fumes from one trailer containing organic peroxides sweeping over the evacuation zone, where sheriffs deputies were patrolling. Law-enforcement officers manning the perimeter and medical staff responding to the scene reported vomiting and gasping for breath, according to a civil lawsuit filed against Arkema by the first responders, including David Klozik and Bryan Sweetman, the two sheriffs deputies named in Wednesdays indictment. In all, 23 people were briefly hospitalized. On HoustonChronicle.com: SILENT SPILLS: For Crosby residents a bitter taste about Arkema A U.S. Chemical Safety Board investigation said the company had been warned of flood risks a year before Harvey hit by its insurer at the time. Questions have been raised about why company officials didnt move the material out of the plant before the storm hit, or once they saw water levels continue to rise. Arkema officials and attorneys say no amount of planning could have protected the site from unprecedented flooding, making it impossible to prevent its chemicals from catching fire. Ogg said the new charges stemmed from interviews that the district attorneys office conducted with witnesses in preparation for the coming trial. Arkema, CEO Richard Rowe and plant manager Leslie Comardelle were charged in August with reckless emission of an air contaminant under the Texas Water Code. The charge carries a penalty of up to five years in prison for the individuals, and a fine of up to $1 million for the corporation. Harris County prosecutors say Arkema turned over 45,000 records about their operations during Harvey, but contend that it withheld incriminating documents. in response to a request for a speedy trial by Arkemas attorneys. Arkema is a French multinational company that manufactures chemicals used to create plastic products. Many of its proprietary compounds are organic peroxides, which must be kept at temperatures well below freezing to prevent the chemicals from catching fire. Its relatively rare for companies to be criminally charged, even more so locally, said Rena Steinzor, a professor at the University of Maryland Law School and a member scholar at the Center for Progressive Reform, which specializes in health, safety and environment regulations. Prosecutors are careful and cautious and dont bring cases against alleged white-collar criminals that they dont think they can win, said Steinzor, the author of Why Not Jail? Industrial Catastrophes, Corporate Malfeasance, and Government Inaction. Steinzor has called for increasing prosecutions of white-collar crime in an occupational and environmental context to motivate mid- and upper-level managers to stop putting the public at risk. Even if companies and top-level officials are criminally charged, traditionally it is not with with crimes against persons, Ogg said. But she argued that the evidence in the Arkema case supported the new reckless assault charge. The last time a chemical company faced criminal charges for a major incident in Texas was in 2005. BP paid $50 million in fines for an explosion at the Texas City refinery that killed 15 workers and injured almost 200, but no one from the company served prison time. The law is so weak in terms of protecting the public from environmental polluters and criminals that it requires creativity and out-of-the-box thinking from local prosecutors, said Ogg, a Democrat. She said her offices environmental crimes division and the fire marshals office are taxed and need more resources to adequately protect the safety of the people. And Ogg, who stressed that she supported responsible businesses, wouldnt rule out the possibility of future charges against Arkema or other companies. One person was killed and two others were critically injured when the KMCO chemical plant in Crosby caught fire earlier this month. Last month, an Intercontinental Terminals Co. tank farm in Deer Park caught fire and burned for several days, closing the Houston Ship Channel and drawing national attention. As you know weve had other environmental calamities happen within the last several weeks, she said. If investigations produced evidence of a crime, she added, youll see them brought before grand juries. For his part, Hardin said prosecutors should be looking at people who intend bad things and want to do bad things and not people who do everything they can to safely guard others and to combat what is an unprecedented national tragedy. The evidence shows they did everything they could, it just wasnt enough perla.trevizo@chron.com Neshak Chantal Musinbabigwi is set to graduate from Eisenhower High School this year. She has 16 college offers to choose from. And Tuesday, the 18-year-old got to quiz Mayor Sylvester Turner in front of an audience. Her first question: What did you struggle with most in high school? Musinbabigwi is a fellow at OneGoal, a nonprofit that partners with 24 schools to help Houston students achieve a post-secondary education. On Tuesday, OneGoal received $325,000 from AT&T, the largest contribution of the companys $1 million in donations to seven Houston nonprofits. AT&T announced the initiative, called Believe Houston, at a Tuesday news conference at the nonprofit BakerRipley, which will receive $15,000. Other nonprofits that will receive funds are the Greater Houston Community Foundation, $300,000; Genesys Works, $165,000; the Travis Manion Foundation, $119,000; Black Girls Code, $60,000; and the Oasis Institute, $30,000. There are a lot of underserved communities throughout the city of Houston, Turner said. I want to be able to say to people regardless of the way you live, regardless of what neighborhood you grew up in, every neighborhood is a neighborhood of opportunity and a neighborhood of promise. You dont have to live in River Oaks in order to succeed. The program dovetails with Complete Communities, Turners signature neighborhood initiative. Complete Communities launched in April 2017 with a goal of revitalizing areas through public-private partnerships. It has five pilot neighborhoods: Gulfton, Near Northside, Second Ward, Third Ward and Acres Homes. Nearly two years after the programs launch, Turner recently announced the appointment of Shannon Buggs to direct the program and a Complete Communities Improvement Fund with $10 million in the bank out of a $25 million goal. The mayor is expected to announce four additional Complete Communities within the coming weeks. In response to Musinbabigwis question, Turner remembered how his teachers would ask what kids did over summer break. The Turner family could not afford to go anywhere, he said. So once, he made up a vacation based on a book. I said, Hell, I cant tell you nothing I didnt go there, lady, I just read about it, Turner said, laughing. Corey Anthony, AT&Ts chief diversity officer, said AT&T began conversations with the city about its work in other cities and wound up launching Believe Houston. If you look at the work the city is already doing especially Mayor Turner and his office around Houstons Complete Communities, there are opportunities for us to partner there, he said. AT&T has other Believe programs in Chicago, New York and Dallas. In Dallas, the initiative centers around homelessness; in New York, the company uses it stores to educate families about protecting children online; in Chicago, AT&T focuses on reducing gun violence. sarah.smith@chron.com NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. A divided Harris County Commissioners Court declined to give County Court At Law Judge Bill McLeod a reprieve Tuesday after he inadvertently resigned last week, opting instead to appoint a replacement. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said letting McLeod remain as a holdover judge until a special election for the seat in 2020 was too risky, since he almost would certainly have to recuse himself from cases to which the county was a party, as Commissioners Court would have the power to remove him at any time. Instead, the court voted 3 to 2 to appoint Houston lawyer Lesley Briones to hold the seat through next year, on the recommendation of Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia. I think voters deserve a judge who can be absolutely independent, as he was elected to be, Hidalgo said. This would put us in the untenable position that he would no longer be an unbiased person, because he would be beholden to Commissioners Court. Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack and Precinct 4s Jack Cagle voted against the appointment. Cagle told Briones he could not support her since the nomination was made just minutes earlier and he did not have a chance to review her qualifications. Briones, a Yale Law School graduate and general counsel to the Laura and John Arnold Foundation until December, accepted the appointment on the spot. I have deep respect for the law and I respect that you made a hard decision, and I respect the consternation in this room, Briones said. But know that I will work extremely hard for everyone. The Harris County Attorneys Office concluded last week that McLeod had triggered a provision in the Texas constitution which considers an announcement by anyone holding a judicial post that he or she is seeking another office an automatic resignation. Assistant County Attorney Douglas Ray said McLeod had designated a campaign treasurer to run for chief justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. He also had announced his intent to seek the position in online posts and was listed in Harris County Democratic Party literature as a candidate. These things are out there, and if you combine them all together (we) reached the conclusion that Judge McLeod did trigger the automatic resignation provision, Ray said. McLeod told the Houston Chronicle last week he was unaware his announcement would force him from the bench. In a tearful, four-minute address to Commissioners Court Tuesday, he apologized for his error and asked for a second chance. He held up a copy of the Texas Constitution and noted the document is hundreds of pages long. Its over 87,000 words. Its the second-largest state constitution in our Union and Im sorry I didnt have it down, McLeod said, at times halting to collect his thoughts. I have always had the best interests of every single resident in Harris County at heart. McLeod said he no longer plans to run for the state Supreme Court and pledged to remain dedicated to his county post. He said he would not challenge his resignation in court, fearing a lawsuit would cost the county a large sum. A number of speakers spoke in support of McLeod, describing him as a compassionate, fair jurist and a hard worker who deserves another chance. Thunderbolt Transmission owner Skip Hartley, whose business had a case before McLeod, praised the judges professionalism. It would be a shame to not let him continue on the bench, Hartley said. This man is good government and, by golly, we need to keep him. The three Democratic members who control the court were not swayed. After a brief executive session, Garcia made a motion to appoint Briones to the post, drawing cries of disapproval from McLeod supporters. At one point, a deputy constable shouted to restore order, a rare occurrence in Commissioners Court. His fate known, McLeod sat silently, his hands clasped. He shook hands with Radack before departing the chamber. Friends and colleagues hugged Briones after the meeting, which dragged past seven hours. They described her as a sharp lawyer who would excel as a judge. She is the kind of person who is regularly, every day, at work before the sun goes up, and she leads by example, said Sandra Thompson, a professor at the University of Houston Law Center. Garcia defended nominating and approving Briones on such short notice instead of delaying a decision until the next court session in late April so members of the public could offer input. Her name appeared nowhere on Tuesdays agenda and many residents in attendance greeted her nomination with surprise. The court has to continue to move, Garcia said. Its incumbent on us to keep the docket moving. Garcia said he previously did not know Briones, but heard she was interested in the post, reviewed her credentials and determined she was well-qualified. McLeod was one of more than 50 Democratic judges who swept into office in November. He is the second jurist of that group to leave the bench. Criminal Court Judge Cassandra Hollemon died in February after a brief illness. McLeod remains eligible to run for his previous seat in 2020. Zach Despart covers Harris County for the Chronicle. You can follow him on Twitter or email him at zach.despart@chron.com . A 20-year-old woman has been charged in last months crash that killed a man in a wheelchair and the woman who stopped to help him cross a busy street in the Heights. Jada Mimms was charged Monday with failure to stop and render aid after the crash on North Shepherd Drive, near 8th Street, on March 30. Lesha Adams, 55, and Jesus Perez, 63, were killed in the collision. OUT OF CONTROL: Why Houston is so deadly for drivers and pedestrians Adams was driving her two daughters home from dinner just before 9:30 p.m. when she spotted Perez in a wheelchair, trying to cross the street near a Kroger supermarket. She pulled over her car and got out to help him cross the street. According to the criminal complaint filed against Mimms, she told a Houston police officer that something hit her car, and she couldnt see through the windshield anymore because of the damage. She said she stayed in a nearby parking lot for a few minutes. Both Mimms passenger, and her grandfather said that she drove to her grandfathers home. He then urged her to return to the scene, the charging document states. ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Good Samaritans effort to help man in wheelchair ends in tragedy The police officer observed blonde hair in the windshield of the vehicle, which would have been visible to (Mimms), the affidavit said. Police concluded that Mimms had been gone for 30 minutes before returning to the scene of the crash. She did not show signs of intoxication, according to the charging document. Sean Teare, a prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorneys Office, said that Mimms eventual return to the scene of the crash makes no difference. We charge if you leave, thats it, he said. If you come back 30 minutes later, that doesnt help anyone. Prosecutors are still investigating the cause of the crash, which could lead to more charges, Teare said. Mimms was in custody as of Wednesday morning on a $30,000 bond. If convicted, she can face up to 20 years in prison. Mimms grandfather, reached on Wednesday, said he was not ready to talk about the incident yet. Her attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment. massarah.mikati@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. Google Maps A man is on the run after shooting his ex-girlfriend in the leg and killing her kitten at her west Houston apartment, according to police. The suspect opened fire on the woman and her young feline around 9:20 p.m. at an apartment complex in the 6100 block of Winsome Lane, police said. No stations will close, but significant changes are coming to Houston's Fire Department as a result of Proposition B, Chief Sam Pena said Tuesday. "We are not going to be shutting down any fire stations with this proposal," he said, quashing weeks of rumors about station closures. The chiefs remarks to the city councils Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee came amid continued public squabbles over implementing Prop B, the voter-approved measure that requires the city to pay firefighters the same as police officers of equal rank and experience. Pena previously had said that absorbing HFDs roughly $25 million share of Prop Bs estimated $80 million cost would require reducing hundreds of positions, some of which would come from attrition. Last month, he said he likely would pursue a change in the departments schedule structure, reducing it from four shifts to three. He publicly detailed that plan on Tuesday. It would allow firefighters to work the same 20 24-hour shifts every 72 days, though in some of those weeks they would work more shifts. In others, they would have longer breaks. The current, four-shift model forces firefighters to work occasional extra shifts, though Pena has said there is a high absentee rate on those so-called Debit Days. Under a three-shift model, they would get regular shifts off. "We considered the impact on the community and we believe that, with these recommendations, we are maintaining public safety, he said. Pena also laid out updated figures showing how many fewer firefighters the department may employ in the fiscal year that begins July 1. He proposed to further reduce HFDs head count last measured at 3,999 by 287 personnel. The reduction would give the fire department 3,712 employees in its fiscal 2020 budget, or 378 fewer than in 2019. The reduction includes 67 fire cadets who received 60-day layoff notices last week, Pena said. He also again called for Prop B to be phased in, which he said would avoid layoffs while allowing HFD to invest in more equipment, among other things. Even before Prop B, he said, he had mulled the idea of switching the departments shift structure as a way to lower costs. Its not (about) cost saving, he said. Now, its just about maintaining staffing. This is just about maintaining public safety. Marty Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association, disagreed, saying the proposal would hurt public safety no matter how you spin it, no matter how you discuss it. We absolutely respect and sympathize with (Pena), he told the council committee. But gutting HFD from the inside is not the solution. Mayor Sylvester Turner has asked city departments to cut their budgets by 3 percent. That is expected to result in the layoffs of about 100 employees in other departments. On Monday, he announced that nearly 70 vacant positions from roughly 21 departments will be eliminated. They need to be filled, but we are not going to fill them," Turner said. The city also is readying to send 60-day layoff notices to another 47 municipal department employees this week. Some of the pink slips, Turner said, will go to those in the parks department, the library, public health. There will be no layoffs at the Houston Police Department. Reporter Jasper Scherer contributed to this story robert.downen@chron.com A drug deal centered around $100 worth of marijuana last month ended with one man's shooting death and another man facing a capital murder charge, according to Harris County prosecutors. Justin Deon Bouldin, 29, has remained in Harris County Jail without bond since he was charged Tuesday. He is accused of fatally shooting China Ogbonnaya, who accompanied a friend who arranged the drug sale in the 1700 block of Kuykendahl in north Harris County, prosecutors said during Bouldin's probable cause hearing Tuesday. Authorities said Bouldin tried to rob the man who set up the deal before shooting Ogbonnaya in the head. HOUSTON CRIME: 11 alleged gang members charged in dozens of meat market robberies across Houston area The incident started March 9 in a parking lot in front of a business on Kuykendahl Road, where the victim's friend arranged the drug sale through text messages with Bouldin, prosecutors said. The shooting and the moments leading up to the violence were captured on a nearby surveillance camera. Prosecutors said Bouldin was seen backing into a parking space with others in his vehicle. Another vehicle pulled into a nearby parking space. Both vehicles waited for about 30 minutes before Ogbonnaya and the friend arrived in two separate vehicles, prosecutors said. The friend told police he wanted Ogbonnaya following him "in case the deal went bad," prosecutors said. Once all four cars were parked, Bouldin got into the passenger seat of the friend's vehicle. "My people needed to see the marijuana first," Bouldin allegedly told the friend. Bouldin then signaled to his vehicle, and a person approached them. That person was seen on video pulling the friend out of the vehicle with the help of Bouldin and a third person, authorities said. The friend said he started running toward nearby businesses, fearing he would be shot. That's when he heard two gunshots ring out in the parking lot, prosecutors said. Ogbonnaya was struck at least once by the gunfire. Police eventually found him in the parking lot, and he was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital via Life Flight. The victim's friend, whose car was stolen, said he didn't know anything about the people who apparently knew Bouldin. Bouldin's defense attorney at the probable cause hearing said he didn't have any prior felony or violent convictions. He previously faced numerous possession of marijuana charges, but this appears to be his first felony charge in Harris County, records show. The attorney added that Bouldin was recently awarded disability payments for a serious car crash three years ago that left him with a fractured skull and memory loss, among other injuries. His next hearing is scheduled for June 20 in the 248th Judicial District Court in Harris County. Julian Gill is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | julian.gill@chron.com | NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. A Houston teens capital murder trial in the deaths of his parents will resume Tuesday after a recess, attorneys said. Antonio Armstrong, Jr., who is now 19, is standing trial in the double-slaying of his parents on July 29, 2016. Through six days of testimony, prosecutors have brought evidence to show inconsistencies in Armstrongs story and have established a motive that Armstrong was disgruntled with his mother and father over being disciplined at home. Defense attorneys are trying to prove reasonable doubt in the case, and have alleged that prosecutors and investigators didnt do enough to investigate other suspects. The trial could last through the end of the month. ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Judge rejects appeal from death row prisoner whose lawyer slept during trial Prosecutors neared the end of their sworn witnesses on Tuesday this week and called up the former girlfriend of Armstrongs older brother. Defense attorneys said during opening arguments that the brother, Josh Armstrong, could be a suspect in the slayings. The former girlfriend told jurors that she was with Josh Armstrong in his apartment, just a few minutes away from his parents house, on the night of the killings. She testified that she went to bed around 10 or 11 p.m. and woke up around 2 a.m. to hear her boyfriend say his parents had been shot, defense attorney Rick DeToto said. The time period when she was asleep could have allowed enough time for the brother to leave the home, DeToto said. The familys accountant also testified before the jury, confirming that the Armstrongs were spiraling into debt and living beyond their means. They had a trust fund with some money stored away, which DeToto described as evidence that the prosecutors are using to establish another motive for Armstrong to kill his parents. DeToto described both testimonies as having nothing there. Prosecutors aren't commenting to reporters during the trial. The shooting was first reported to police around 1:40 a.m., when Armstrong called 911 to say he heard gunshots in his parents' room and that he was hiding in his closet. Police found the murder weapon, which belonged to the father, in the kitchen downstairs next to a threatening note. Investigators have questioned how an intruder could have had the time and lack of sense to leave the evidence behind, as well as how they got out of a home that appeared secure when police arrived. The last of the prosecution's witnesses are expected to be heard on Tuesday. After, the defense's witnesses will take the stand. Armstrong, who was 16 at the time of the deaths, is being tried as an adult. He faces life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years. Because he was a juvenile at the time of the killing, he would not be eligible for the death penalty. 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. Amnesty International reports a 31% drop in 2018 over the previous year. Last year, executioners took the lives of 690 people compared to 993 in 2017. The five major executioners are China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Iraq. In Iran, the number of executions dropped by 50 per cent. London (AsiaNews/Agencies) Executions in the world are falling for the first time in ten years, this according to Amnesty Internationals 2018 annual review, which was released yesterday. According to the NGO, China still leads the way, but official figures are unknown because they are classified as a state secret". The human rights group believes that thousands of executions are carried out in that country. However, some positive signs are visible. [T]he number of executions carried out by several of the worst perpetrators has fallen significantly, said Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty Internationals Secretary General, adding that even the most unlikely countries are starting to change their ways and realise the death penalty is not the answer. In total, worldwide death penalty figures dropped by 31% in 2018, from 993 in 2017, to 690 last year (China not included). The leading executioners after China are: Iran (253), Saudi Arabia (149), Vietnam (at least 85) and Iraq (at least 52). Vietnamese authorities decision to release figures for last year was unprecedented for the Southeast Asian nation, Amnesty noted. Use of the death penalty dropped in Iran by 50 per cent, following a change to its anti-narcotics laws, as well as in Iraq, Pakistan and Somalia, the rights group notes in its annual review. However, it rose in Belarus, Japan, Singapore, South Sudan and the United States, whilst Thailand resumed executions for the first time in a decade and Sri Lanka is threatening to do the same. In the latter, President Maithripala Sirisena lifted a 40-year moratorium, posting an executioner wanted ad. Brunei is not in the annual review, but in early April, the countrys ruler reintroduced stoning for gays and adulterers. Finally, the group notes a positive trend to end the inhumane treatment of prisoners. For example, Burkina Faso abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in June. In February and July respectively, Gambia and Malaysia both declared an official moratorium on executions. Slowly but steadily, global consensus is building towards ending the use of the death penalty, Naidoo said. Amnesty has been campaigning to stop executions around the world for more than 40 years, he added, but with more than 19,000 people still languishing on death row worldwide, the struggle is far from over. A Houston teens capital murder trial in the deaths of his parents will resume Tuesday after a recess, attorneys said. Antonio Armstrong, Jr., who is now 19, is standing trial in the double-slaying of his parents on July 29, 2016. Through six days of testimony, prosecutors have brought evidence to show inconsistencies in Armstrongs story and have established a motive that Armstrong was disgruntled with his mother and father over being disciplined at home. Defense attorneys are trying to prove reasonable doubt in the case and have alleged that prosecutors and investigators didnt do enough to investigate other suspects. The trial could last through the end of the month. Prosecutors neared the end of their sworn witnesses this week and called up the former girlfriend of Armstrongs older brother. Defense attorneys said during opening arguments that the brother, Josh Armstrong, could be a suspect in the slayings. The former girlfriend told jurors that she was with Josh Armstrong in his apartment, just a few minutes away from his parents house, on the night of the killings. She testified that she went to bed around 10 or 11 p.m. and woke up around 2 a.m. to hear her boyfriend say his parents had been shot, defense attorney Rick DeToto said. The time period when she was asleep could have allowed enough time for the brother to leave the home, DeToto said. The familys accountant also testified before the jury, confirming that the Armstrongs were spiraling into debt and living beyond their means. They had a trust fund with some money stored away, which DeToto described as evidence that the prosecutors are using to establish another motive for Armstrong to kill his parents. DeToto described both testimonies as having nothing there. Prosecutors arent commenting to reporters during the trial. The shooting was first reported to police around 1:40 a.m., when Armstrong called 911 to say he heard gunshots in his parents room and that he was hiding in his closet. Police found the murder weapon, which belonged to the father, in the kitchen downstairs next to a threatening note. Investigators have questioned how an intruder could have had the time and lack of sense to leave the evidence behind, as well as how they got out of a home that appeared secure when police arrived. The last of the prosecutions witnesses is expected to be heard on Tuesday. After, the defenses witnesses will take the stand. The longer recess is due to a conference that state District Judge Kelli Johnson, who is presiding is over the case, is attending on Thursday and Friday. A juror will also be on vacation until Monday evening, court coordinator Mary Leal said. Armstrong, who was 16 at the time of the deaths, is being tried as an adult. He faces life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years. Because he was a juvenile at the time of the killing, he would not be eligible for the death penalty. samantha.ketterer@chron.com One suspect is dead and two others remain at large in connection with a home invasion in southwest Houston, police said. A man returned to his home around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 7500 block of Quail Valley Meadow Drive when the three suspects ambushed him and forced him inside the residence. A man accused of killing his wife at a Fort Bend County home was on the run Tuesday night after he fled the state with their two young children, authorities said. The kids, ages 1 and 3, are safe after the husband left them with a relative in an unspecified state before continuing his flight from justice, police said. The mother of the children was found shot to death soon after 5:45 p.m. when a welfare check was requested at their home in the 19200 block of Mustang Pointe in Richmond, Fort Bend County Sheriffs Office spokesman Maj. Chad Norvell said. RECALL: Listeria fears prompts Houston company to recall packaged food The welfare check stemmed from the husband calling a family member to say he had shot his wife, Norvell said. The couple was not identified. The good news is that the kids are OK, Norvell said. He declined to say where the husband is believed to be because local authorities are waiting on a judge to sign off on a warrant to search the house and arrest him. Authorities in the state where he has fled to is working to apprehend him, Norvell said. He has communicated with other family members. Hes still using his phones, the spokesman added. nicole.hensley@chron.com NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. A jury here heard the screams and wails of a San Antonio mother who found her 40-year-old son dead in a pool of blood at his Southwest Side home as the murder trial of Laura Flores Messick opened Wednesday. Rachel Paniagua was the first to arrive at the home of her son, Chason Montez DeOca, who was fatally shot and had his throat cut June 10, 2017, in the 7600 block of Muleshoe Lane. Messick, who pleaded not guilty before Judge Catherine Torres-Stahl, is accused of murder in the death of DeOca, her boyfriend, allegedly after the two argued. According to an arrest affidavit, Messick told police she shot the man and cut his throat to see if he was dead. As the trial opened, San Antonio Police Officer Alejandro Trejos body camera video was played for the jury, which was taken as the officer walked into the home. DeOca's body could be seen lying in the hallway, and Paniagua's anguished cries heard. Ay, mijo! Oh my God, no my God! Paniagua cried out on the video. Not my son! Oh, my God, my Lord, my father God. In her opening statement, prosecutor Talia Triesch told the jury the defendant confessed to the crime on video, bragged about it to a jail inmate and had spent time going in and out of the home after the shooting to gather her things. This isnt a whodunit. We know exactly who killed him, she confessed on video, the prosecutor told the panel. This is more like howd she do it. Defense attorney Edward Garza told the panel his client could have been defending herself. He said the couple had gone through a very tumultuous week, were involved in a stormy relationship, and that the victim was the one who brought out the gun. What are you supposed to do when someone pulls out a gun, Garza told the jury. Was she in her right to defend herself? On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio woman accused of killing boyfriend in bathroom According to an arrest affidavit, Messick told police she was standing in the restroom when she and DeOca, who was her boyfriend, began to argue. She allegedly shot the man as he stood in the hallway of his home in the 7600 block of Muleshoe Lane on the Southwest Side. Authorities found DeOca, a decorated Iraq War veteran who served in the U.S. Army, lying in a pool of his own blood. A 9mm shell casing was found in the bathroom, the affidavit stated. He had been shot once in the chest and his throat was cut open. Messick emerged as a suspect in the shooting after authorities interviewed close family members and other witnesses. The affidavit stated that Messick told police she was thinking, What an (expletive). What a jerk, when she allegedly shot DeOca, and that she cut his neck with a knife because she wasnt sure he was dead after she shot him. The case is being heard in the 175th state District Court. If convicted of murder, Messick faces up to life in prison. Elizabeth Zavala covers county and state courts in San Antonio. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863 Lockheed Martin officials say they have developed a viable way to put humans on the moons surface by 2024 four years earlier than first planned amid growing efforts by other countries to gain a foothold on the lunar surface. The Colorado-based company outlined a plan Wednesday that would tap key projects already in the works by NASAs human space exploration experts, including the Orion spacecraft, a planned mini space station orbiting the moon and a new lunar lander. The cost for the accelerated schedule is unknown, but officials said additional resources would be needed. This is not just a singular mission in 2024, Tim Cichan, a Lockheed space exploration architect said at the 2019 Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. Its the start of a long campaign. Lockheed Martins announcement comes just a few weeks after Vice President Mike Pence at the National Space Councils March meeting in Alabama directed NASA to put humans on the moon four years ahead of the 2028 target date by any means necessary. Though its still unclear what the NASA plan would look like or how much it would cost, NASA on Monday released a presolicitation notice calling on companies to develop human lunar landers. In a statement Wednesday, NASA officials said they are happy that companies such as Lockheed are developing ideas to help the agency toward its goal of an accelerated human lunar landing. "We will need everyone working together, government, industry leaders and international partners, united to meet this generational opportunity to land the next man and first woman on the moon," the statement read. Start bending metal next year Lockheed officials say they have been studying the issue for some time, but on Wednesday they stressed that this was not an all-Lockheed plan, adding that it would take many companies and many nations to reach the goals. They are, instead, offering a potential solution. That solution, which has not been approved by NASA, would use all the same elements as a 2028 moon landing. But theyd be developed at a faster pace. To have a lander ready in 2024, we need to start bending metal next year, with tooling in-house now, said Rob Chambers, Lockheeds director of Human Space Exploration Strategy. Under Lockheeds plan, NASA would continuing moving forward with the Orion spacecraft, which is supposed to launch on the back of the Space Launch System rocket in June 2020 without humans on board. Lockheed is the prime contractor on the Orion capsule. Two years later in 2022, the first phase of the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway the proposed mini space station that would orbit the moon would be sent into space on the back of a commercial rocket. This first phase would include a power and propulsion element. That same year, the second Orion-SLS mission would launch with humans aboard. It would be enhanced with a docking system not originally planned that will allow it to connect to the Gateway elements already in the moons orbit. The third Orion mission would launch in 2024, carrying a four-person crew to the lunar space station. From there, the crew would board a newly constructed lander and head for the moons South Pole the location of choice for the Trump administration. The lander would consist of two elements: one that could bring astronauts to the surface, and another that could bring them back to the station. "We're going to need resources to make this happen and we're going to have to work differently than we have before," said Lisa Callahan, Lockheed's vice president of programs and general manager. "But I think it really is feasible, and we're super excited about it." New budget proposal on the way The main problem with the plan, however, is that the SLS rocket is significantly behind schedule. Originally expected to launch in 2017, NASA has now said that a June 2020 launch of the rocket is unlikely. Space agency officials for a time even toyed with the idea of launching Orion on the back of a commercial rocket so that it could stay on schedule. That idea was quickly nixed, however. Boeing was awarded a contract in 2012 to build two Space Launch System cores for NASA, one for the first, uncrewed Orion flight and one for the flight that would carry Americans around the moon. So far, the rocket has cost NASA about $12 billion. The SLSs problems did not come up in Lockheeds prepared remarks, but Chambers said the company will start working on the third Orion spacecraft this fall so that it can be ready for launch by August 2023. Work on a lander would need to begin early next year to be ready for launch in 2024, he added. The cost is still unclear. Even NASA is unsure how much money it would need to return to the moon four years early. The budget proposal submitted to Congress by the Trump administration actually slashed NASAs funding by $500 million for the coming fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has said that the agency is working on a new budget proposal taking into account Pences new directive for Congress. Its not yet known when the new proposal will be ready. Alex Stuckey writes about NASA and science for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey. Nearly a year ago, the U.S. Department of Education said it was putting on hold for two years the implementation of an Obama-era rule that had the potential to affect how millions of dollars in federal special education dollars could be spent. Nearly a month ago, a judge reversed the Education Departments delay , saying it was an arbitrary and capricious decision. On Wednesday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was pressed by Rep. Donna Shalala, a Democrat from Florida, on the departments plans in the wake of the court decision. We are currently reviewing the district court order and deciding on next steps. We are moving toward implementation, DeVos told Shalalasimilar to the response she gave when she was asked the same question by Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut in late March. Youve had a month to review the order. The order isnt very complicated, Shalala told DeVos. The underlying issue, though, is complex. The Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act requires states to monitor how districts identify minority students for special education, discipline them, or place them in restrictive settings. Districts found to have significant disproportionality in one or more of these areas must set aside 15 percent of their federal special education funding to spend on remedies. The rule would require states to take a standard approach in determining the significance of the problem, rather than each state creating its own threshold. The upshot is that many more school districts are expected to be identified as having problems in one or more of these areasand thus will have to divert some of their federal money to addressing it. It was a little alarming to hear theyre moving toward implementation, said Selene Almazan, the legal director for the Council for Parent Attorneys and Advocates. The council successfully sued the department to overturn the delay. I dont even know what that means. Less alarmed, however, are state special education directors, who would be in charge of overseeing this process, said Valerie Williams, director of governmental relations for the National Association of State Directors of Special Education. Had there been no delay, the new policy would have been in place for the 2018-19 school year. And despite the Education Departments actions, many states were already moving forward with complying with the rule because they had invested so much time and effort in compliance, Williams said. The department has also released a brief statment saying it is reaching out to each state to find out its timeline toward compliance and how it can assist with any issues that arise due to the delay and reinstatement of the rule. In her back and forth with Shalala, DeVos said shes also concerned about overidentification or underidentification of students in need of special education services. I think we share the same goal in ensuring that student needs are met. The IDEA currently requires that states monitor districts for student overidentification, but recent research has stated that minority students are actually less likely than white peers to be enrolled in special education . By the end of her conversation with Shalala, the education secretary promised to share a timeline for implementation in a week. But its got to be reasonable, Shalala said. As you well know, equity delayed is equity denied. The spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism will remain in care at the Max Super Specialty Hospital in South Delhi for a few days. His personal doctor reassures that "there is no reason to worry". Beijing has always considered him a "wolf in sheep's clothing", even though the Dalai Lama has renounced his political office. New Delhi (AsiaNews) - The Tibetan world is anxious following news that the Dalai Lama was admitted to a hospital in New Delhi yesterday, suffering chest pains. His assistant Tenzin Taklha reports to Reuters that doctors have diagnosed the 83-year-old leader of Tibetan Buddhism with a pulmonary infection and for this he will remain in the hospital for two to three days. The assistant reassures the faithful by adding that "now his condition is stable". Furthermore, he has no imminent commitment planned, so he will be able to make a full recovery. Phayul, headquarters of the Tibetan diaspora in Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh), reports some details on the sudden admission of the religious leader: After having returned on April 8 to the McLeod Ganj residence from a five-day visit to the Indian capital, the Dalai Lama contracted fever and cold, which caused the lung infection. Dr. Sadhutsang Tsetan Dorjee, his personal physician, says he is currently being treated at the Max Super Specialty Hospital in Saket, South Delhi. " There is no need to worry as there is no major concerns for Kunduns health [the Tibetan name of the Dalai, ed]", he concluded. Tenzin Gyatso, XIV Dalai Lama, fled from Lhasa in 1959, during a Tibetan revolt against Chinese military rule, finding refuge in India. Although he has tried many times to dialogue with Beijing, to safeguard the autonomy of Tibetan religion and culture, threatened by a "cultural genocide", the Communist Party has always branded him as a "dangerous separatist" who wants Tibet's independence . In the desire to be able to return to Tibet, in 2011 he gave up his political office to remain only spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. But the Chinese Communist Party continues to consider him a "wolf in sheep's clothing". One of the greatest concerns of the Chinese Communist Party is to be able to dominate the succession of the XIV Dalai Lama. For this, in 1995, Beijing imprisoned Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the Panchen Lama (the second Tibetan Buddhist office) recognized by the Dalai and imposed a Panchen Lama chosen by the Party, Gyaincain Norbu. Later China established that any "reincarnation of a lama", in order to be true, needs Party approval. Recently, in mid-March, the Dalai Lama stated that his future reincarnation could emerge in India and not in China. The Harris County Democratic Party is launching a speaker series next month that will feature candidates seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, the local party announced Wednesday. U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., will kick off the series May 4 at St. John's United Methodist Church in Houston, according to a news release from the party. The event is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The party did not announce if other candidates are scheduled to participate yet, though a statement released Wednesday made clear that all Democratic presidential hopefuls are invited. For now, the field consists of 18 candidates, including two Texans: former congressman and U.S. Senate nominee Beto O'Rourke, and former San Antonio mayor Julian Castro, who also served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development. "We are thrilled that there are so many great candidates running, and hope to have them all come visit our voters," Democratic Party Chair Lillie Schechter said in a statement. "A competitive primary will allow for great dialogue on important issues in our base. We will be supporting wholeheartedly the Democratic Candidate for President, no matter who it is." The party's announcement coincides with President Donald Trump's Wednesday visit to Texas. He is scheduled to announce an energy-related executive order in Crosby between fundraising stops in San Antonio and Houston. The party will charge a $5 admission fee to the speaker series events, which are open to the public. Proceeds will go to the Harris County Democratic Party. In announcing the series, the party did not reveal details about the format of the events, though they were described as "public conversations" intended to cover local, state and national issues. The event marks Gillibrand's first scheduled visit to Texas as an official candidate, and the second of her overall campaign. She visited Dallas and Austin in February, and in a statement Wednesday expressed her excitement to again meet with Democrats in Texas. "I'm looking forward to sharing with them my vision for an America where quality and affordable health care is a right, hard work is rewarded with policies like paid family leave, and greed and money are eliminated from politics," she said. Gillibrand has twice been re-elected to her Senate seat since she was appointed in 2009 to fill Hillary Clinton's unexpired term. She is not the only non-Texas Democrat who has targeted the delegate-heavy state early in the campaign. U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., visited Texas last month, including Houston. U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., as well as South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper each visited Austin in March for the South by Southwest festival. Former Maryland Rep. John Delaney and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard each participated in CNN town halls at the festival, along with Buttigieg. O'Rourke officially launched his campaign with a three-city tour of Texas, including Houston. Castro, meanwhile, has scheduled a rally Wednesday in San Antonio also the site of his campaign kickoff to coincide with Trump's visit. 28412 Wind is a clean origin of renewable energy that creates no air and water pollution. Considering wind is free, operational costs are nearly zero once a turbine is built. Industry specialists predict that if the pace of the growth continues until 2050, one-third of the world's electricity needs will be fulfilled by wind power. However, the disadvantages include complaints from locals that wind turbines are ugly and noisy. From an ecological point of view, the slowly rotating blades can also kill birds and bats. Moreover, the wind is variable, and if its not blowing, turbines dont generate electricity. Mass production and technological advancements are making turbines cheaper. Renewable Energy Consulting/Service Companies: Heliolytics, RPCS Aalborg University (AAU) researches in Denmark are developing a wind turbine power converter with a built-in battery system capable of absorbing and emitting energy as needed, thus eliminating production. The project is a partnership between the AAU, rsted and the Swedish Corporate Research Center of ABB, funded by the Innovation Fund Denmark with DKK 6 million. The purpose of this funding is to close the disruption caused by winds. The problem with wind turbines is that they produce electricity "as the wind blows." When high winds are present, production increases and electricity prices fall; when the wind decreases, production decreases and electricity prices rise. Is a problem for the grid and a lousy deal for the owners of the wind turbines? The project aims to answer the problem faced by offshore and onshore wind turbine operator. Currently, equipment has to be acquired by many suppliers, which creates mismanagement in the supply chain for the operator, which means challenges in coordinating and optimizing the system. The funded project has the predetermined potential to significantly reduce costs and increase thy profitability of the wind turbines be combining several functions in on the product. This project will make the wind turbines the iPhone of the industry. This project has the potential to disrupt the energy business. The goal of the project is to develop a full proof solution that integrates battery storage with wind turbine operation, which has the potential to lower the cost of the electricity production, and it has higher chances to deliver renewable energy with the same or higher levels of security and resilience as fossil fuels. The advantage of this research, in optimizing turbine operation, and potentially lowering the cost of electricity production; both of these are necessary if the renewable energy companies want to dominate the market. Check this out: Top Renewable Energy Consulting/Service Companies by Bernardo Cervellera Since yesterday evening the faithful have been holding a sit-in to protect the sanctuary, located in the district of Taibai, a very poor mountainous area. The authorities want the whole diocese to join the Patriotic Association. The faithful ask all Christians to pray for the preservation of the sanctuary and the salvation of the population. Rome (AsiaNews) - At least 600 government officials and policemen arrived this morning in front of the Marian shrine of Mujiaping to destroy it. The shrine is located in the Diocese of Fengxiang (Shaanxi), the same where the authorities destroyed the Qianyang church on 4 April. Alerted to the authorities intentions, late last night, about 200 faithful from the area gathered on the steps leading to the church to defend the sanctuary. "We are willing to lay down our lives," one of them said. However, the number of police officers and officials is almost three times as many, so it will be very difficult for them to be stopped. The Marian shrine of Mujiaping is located on a mountainous area of the district of Taibai, in the midst of very poor populations. The church itself is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, but people use it as a place of pilgrimage to a statue of the Virgin housed in the shrine. The police plan to destroy the sanctuary, the historic gate from which one enters the steps that leads to the church, the statue of Our Lady that welcomes pilgrims. The faithful ask all Christians to pray for the preservation of the sanctuary and the salvation of the population. In the coming days the authorities have planned the destruction of other churches, at least three. The violence that is sweeping the Fengxiang churches has a specific goal, confirmed by the faithful: the authorities want the places, the people, the priests and the bishop to belong to the Patriotic Association, the control body of the Communist Party, which wants to build a Church that is "independent" of the Holy See. "If you don't sign up, we will destroy everything," an official is reported to have said. In the Chinese ecclesial landscape, the Diocese of Fengxiang, led until 2017 by Msgr. Luke Li Jingfeng has a special character: it is the only diocese where neither the faithful nor the bishop are members of the Patriotic Association, although there has been an Office for Religious Affairs since 2001. From 2017, the bishop is 54 years old Msgr. Peter Li Huiyuan. CheckSum Expands Its Sales Team in Mexico Published: 10 April 2019 by Chelsey Drysdale by Chelsey Drysdale ARLINGTON, WA April 2019 CheckSum, a leading provider of test systems, fixtures and programs, proudly announces the hiring of Ana Orozco as its new Sales Manager in Mexico. Orozco made the move to CheckSum after directing the successful launch of modem, internet services, and related connectivity technologies throughout Latin America for the Askey Corporation. Prior to her stint as Sales Director for Askey Ms. Orozco worked as a sales representative for BP Sales, servicing major contract manufacturers in the Guadalajara region. As Mexico Sales Manager, Orozco will be based in Guadalajara but will have sales responsibility for all of Mexico. We are excited to add someone with Anas industry experience to our team, and look forward to working with her to expand our Mexico business, currently our most successful sector in the world, stated Brian Nelson, North American Sales Manager at CheckSum. For more information about CheckSum, visit www.checksum.com. OHCHR Moldova: Apel deschis pentru aplicatii din partea OSC-urilor pentru a beneficia de suport in desfasurarea activitatilor de advocacy la nivel international in contextul celui de-al treilea ciclu de EPU a R. Moldova On Tuesday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency in select ZIP codes in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a part of New York with a large Orthodox Jewish community where 228 cases of measles have been confirmed since October. The outbreak, the New York Department of Health said, originated with people who had traveled to Israel, where as of this past November, there were over 1,000 cases. Health officials want to curb the spread of the virus before Passover, when they anticipate mass travel to Israel, Europe, upstate New York, and other parts of the US. The city ordered mandatory vaccinations for anybody who had been in contact with infected people; violators face a fine of up to $1,000. De Blasios measles mandate has tested the information ecosystem in Williamsburg, where many in the Orthodox community eschew traditional news coverage, sometimes deeming it biased against them. That, in turn, has opened the gates for targeted, and often misleading, information about measles and the vaccine. The issue has become so contentious nationwide that last month Facebook announced it would limit the spread of anti-vaccine hoaxes and groups, Instagram blocked anti-vaccine hashtags like #vaccinescauseautism and #vaccinesarepoison, and YouTube banned monetization on anti-vaccine videos. ICYMI: Six rare images that capture Trumps TV addiction These measures, however, may not reach the Orthodox communities where measles has taken hold. The mandate is a waste of time, says a mother who is a member of an Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn. Honestly most Hasidim in Williamsburg dont have access to the news or social media, she told me in a text message on Tuesday. Its a completely insular community, I dont even know anyone in Williamsburg. So unless they poster everywhere it will be a lost cause. On March 29, I met with the mother in her apartment. She paged through Tzim Gezint (For Health), a glossy magazine-style brochure she picked up at her pediatricians office that urges parents to vaccinate their children. The mother doesnt live in Williamsburg, but she is active in the anti-vaxxer (she prefers the term pro-informed choice) movement, and neither of her toddlers have been vaccinated for measles. The mother is a rarity in her congregation. Soon after New York County issued its March 26 ban on unvaccinated children in public spaces, she received a congregation-wide email from her rabbi, saying that he had consulted with rabbinical and medical authorities, and asking that anyone who chooses not to vaccinate themselves or their children not attend services or any community events until the health crisis ends. The mother and her husband hide their decision not to vaccinate from the rest of the community for fear of being shunned and shut out of local private schools. Sign up for CJR 's daily email Like most congregants in the mothers sect, she does not own a television. The more traditional members of her community dont use smartphones. Community print and online papers in Yiddish and English existbut she gets most of her news from WhatsApp. Its like our craigslist, the mother says. Theres always free food and free clothes on offer. Her access to health media, too, is selective. She reads scientific studies on vaccines at a paceshe estimates over one hundred in the past three years. She first heard about the current measles outbreak on an anti-vaxxer WhatsApp group of roughly 50 other women she belongs to. (There is a counterpart group for fathers as well.) While she receives publications encouraging vaccines and explaining the science behind them, the mother reads them, but doesnt believe what they say, and calls them condescending. Tzim Gezint, the publication produced by the Hudson Valley Health Coalition and the New York State Department of Health to target the local Jewish community, she says, is propaganda based on emotion to scare people, basically brainwashing. Tzim Gezint was originally sent to every household in Monroe County and is now distributed in local pediatricians offices in New Yorks Orthodox communities. It is one of the only publications Orthodox families have access to when deciding whether or not to vaccinate their children. Just imagine how you would feel if your unvaccinated child was the one to put a young cancer patients life at risk, the mother reads, mocking the brochure. ICYMI: Absolutely shocking: Journalists on edge over proposed bill The mother also shows me a strongly pro-vax opinion piece by Rabbi Aaron E. Glatt, MD in one of the papers she reads, The Lakewood Scoop, which is run out of Ocean County, New Jersey. Anti-vaxxers in the mothers community explain their concerns in religious terms, in part as a rabbinical dispute over the principle in Jewish law of pikuach nefesh, or that saving a life is more important than any other religious consideration. The mother takes that to mean she is required to maintain the purity of the body; to try to improve on it is to question Gods work. Glatt, on the other hand, writes that it is a mitzvah [good deed] and chiyuv [requirement] to get vaccinated. . . . I feel compelled to publicly speak out against non-vaccinated assisted death. Others in Brooklyn are outspoken advocates for vaccinations in the Jewish community. Albert Friedman, who is Hasidic Orthodox and the publisher and editor of Di Zeitung, an independent Yiddish language paper, says he has published regular articles about the measles outbreak since news of it broke in October. He prints about 9,000 copies of his paper a week and does not track online page views, though he says he has readers as far off as Israel and Australia. On Tuesday afternoon he rushed to meet deadline on content covering de Blasios mandate and New York Governor Andrew Cuomos response questioning the legality of the move. Di Zeitung encourages vaccination, though Friedman receives occasional complaints from anti-vax mothers. Listen, there is zero religious reason not to vaccinate, he says. I tell them get me a letter against vaccines from any rabbi and Ill publish it. I never got any letter yet. (The mothers rabbi, she says, is easy-going about refraining from vaccinations.) Orthodox Jewish nurses also recently spoke to WNYC about their frustration over the Vaccine Safety Handbook: A Handbook for Parents, more commonly known as Peach magazine, which disseminates conspiracy theories about vaccinesincluding that they contain tissue from live, aborted human fetusesto the community. Peach landed on community doorsteps over two year ago and the Hudson Valley Health Coalition published Tzim Gezint in response in 2017. Some vaccines are grown using animal cells, but then they run through a purification process that most prominent Orthodox rabbis consider kosher. Anti-vaxxers remain skeptical; Peach references the Nuremberg trials in its comparison of vaccines to medical experimentation. The editor of Voz Iz Neias? (What Is News?), a New York-based news blog, says the Orthodox anti-vax movement is an iteration of the larger anti-vax movement in the US. There is no such thing as a religious reason for not being vaccinated, the editor, who is Charedi Orthodox and protects his identity from the community, says. He also uses his platform to give the outbreak maximum coverage, so the community can be informed of the danger. However, he does voice concern that the Rockland County ban on unvaccinated minors in public places will increase prejudice against the Jewish community. Meanwhile, the conflict has grown heated within the community. In an interview outside de Blasios press conference yesterday, the editor of Voz Iz Neias? recorded a confrontation between an Orthodox pediatrician, named only as Dr. Adler, and Orthodox anti-vaxxer women. How can you take away my religious exemption? one mother asked him. The research youre doing is coming from lies, Adler said. As for the mother I visited? If authorities learn that the mother is not vaccinating her children, she says she will simply pay the $1,000 fine. I will move out of New York if it will mean I can live my religious life in peace, she says. ICYMI: I wrote a story that became a legend. Then I discovered it wasnt true. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Amanda Darrach is a contributor to CJR and a visiting scholar at the University of St Andrews School of International Relations. Follow her on Twitter @thedarrach. Political polarization is a serious problem. Chris Evans, the actor who plays Captain America, hopes to unify the nation with a new outlet aimed at reducing partisanship and promoting respectful discourse. On Saturday, CNN revealed that he is developing a website that will present Democratic and Republican takes on the countrys most pressing matters. But fixing partisanship with partisan chit-chat is a bit like trying to cure diabetes with Skittles. If youre watching this, I hope youll consider contributing to my new civics engagement project called A Starting Point, Evans says in a teaser. Its a website designed to provide succinct answers to common questions by presenting both the Democratic and Republican point of view on dozens of issues across the political landscape. The idea for the site stemmed from his own quest to find an unbiased source of information, he explains. I just thought, Why isnt there a place I can go to hear both sides of an issue in a succinct way that I can trust? ICYMI: Absolutely shocking: Journalists on edge over proposed bill To help, Evans enlisted senators Cory Booker, Lisa Murkowski, Tim Scott, and Amy Klobuchar, as well as Dan Crenshaw, a congressman. On video, hes seen sitting down with them, saying that he has a list of questions; they can decide which ones they want to respond to and provide links to two or three articles for further reading. Not a lot more details are available (Evanss publicist did not respond to an inquiry from CJR). From the outsetthe launch date is unknownA Starting Point appears a ham-fisted effort that might boost misinformation and partisanship. On the surface, theres something appealing about thisits good to be exposed to ideas beyond our filter bubblesbut theres also a real risk of giving equal weight to concepts and arguments that shouldnt be equated, Margaret Sullivan, media critic for The Washington Post, tells CJR via email. Are we going to hear both sides of voter suppression, for example? Both sides of the need for drastic action on climate change? The term both sideswhich harkens back to Donald Trumps infamous response to the tragedy in Charlottesville (I think there is blame on both sides, hed said, after white supremacists killed an activist fighting for racial equality)isnt the best phrase to use when promoting a source of information. Evans mentions in the teaser that his site will give a politician the chance not only to galvanize your base, but you might change some minds. Andrew Beaujon, a Washingtonian senior editor, tells CJR, Its this centrist fantasy that if we only listened to each other wed be able to make up our own minds about an issue and suddenly John F. Kennedy Jr. is going to come back to life and become president and everything is going to be like The West Wing. Sign up for CJR 's daily email Beaujon has other doubts: When politicians come on and lie to himand theyre gonna to lie to himhow is he going to handle it? Is he going to factcheck? Beaujon also takes issue with the promised additional reading. How do we know that that material is going to be honest? It wont be honest. Its not going to be white papers. Its gonna be news articles they believe agree with them. Airing politicians, rather than experts, means broadcasting party talking points. Youre getting spin, Igor Bobic, a politics reporter at HuffPost, tells CJR. It happens on a daily basis in Congress. Sullivan agrees. What we need most in the news media is more deep reporting, more knowledgeable analysis and more thoughtful commentary, not more of the false equivalency thats created so much trouble already, she says. There is a need for thoughtful public debate about politics, but Evans doesnt seem to be creating the platform for it. I think its always a good idea to have more information about issues available to voters especially around election time, Bobic says. Its nice that Evans is willing to try, he adds, but if your goal is to create an informed electorate and getting people to discern what is true and what is notespecially in this time and age and this administrationIm not sure how that would accomplish that goal. In my opinion, journalists can do a better job of helping you serve as the bullshit detector on whats going on in Washington. ICYMI: I wrote a story that became a legend. Then I discovered it wasnt true. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Justin Ray is an audience editor at the Los Angeles Times. Follow him on Twitter @jray05. On March 26, St. Mary Baptist, a historically black church in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, was set alight. One week later, so was Greater Union Baptist, another black church in St. Landry. After the latter incident, Earnest Hines, a deacon at a third black church in the area, Mount Pleasant Baptist, wondered if it would be wise to install security cameras: the successive fires surely couldnt be a coincidence, he told NBC. Two days later, Hines watched as Mount Pleasant, too, burned. The three fires (and a fourth, at a predominantly white church in a different parish) have attracted national media coverage in the past few days. Much of it has been cautiousa reflection, it would seem, of views on the ground. Local officials have invoked suspicious elements in the fires and acknowledge they are no coincidence, but have not yet said who started them, or why. Establishing those facts may take time: key evidence has likely burned. In their absence, community leaders are circumspect. I cant say for one reason or another that the actual burning was a racist act or a hate crime until we can determine who caused them, Freddie Jack, president of a local Baptist association, told CNNs Don Lemon on Monday. We need the facts. ICYMI: You may hate metrics. But theyre making journalism better. To this point, at least, the story has felt undercoveredbut so do lots of stories, especially those emanating from underserved communities and areas. Its more useful, perhaps, to say this story has felt atomized. With some exceptionslike Whoopi Goldbergs monologue, yesterday, on The Viewindividual reports, while factually informative, have not added up to the broader conversation they beg us to have: a conversation about hate. The lack of hard conclusions is one reason for this; another, perhaps, is that nobody has been killed or physically hurt. But racists have burned black churches so many times in our history that we can surely center the Louisiana fires historical parallels and symbolism, without having to wait for definitive proof of motive. Why must hate have a body count for us to prioritize it? America did have a conversation on hate yesterday: in Washington, where the House Judiciary Committee addressed the rise in hate crimes and white nationalism, and the role of big tech companies in enabling it. The hearingwhich came less than a month after a white-nationalist terrorist livestreamed a killing spree at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealandwas an opportunity for answers and accountability, but was hijacked; it became a triumph of alternative fact, as Yahoos Alexander Nazaryan put it. Republican lawmakers invited Mort Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, and Candace Owens, of the right-wing group Turning Point USA, to testify. Klein called the Christchurch shooter a left-wing terrorist; Owens sparred with Democratic Representative Ted Lieu over her previous comment that Hitler wanted to make Germany great, and called the Southern strategythe idea that Republicans played on racial fears to win Southern votes in the 1960s and 70sa myth. Outside the room, YouTube disabled comments on its livestream of the hearing because they were filled with hate speech. Many articles about the hearing painted it, accurately, as an embarrassing, off-the-rails mess. Of those I read, however, only Nazaryans, for Yahoo, mentioned the Louisiana church burnings. Journalists didnt give Owens a platform to spin the history of US racism yesterday; Republicans in Congress did that. But amplifying her historyover and above the history thats on vivid display in Louisiana right nowcedes control of the narrative to those who would distort it. Sign up for CJR 's daily email In a rich report for NBC Newsheadlined Blackness isnt safe, anywhere: How the church burnings in Louisiana send a dangerous messageJanell Ross offered the context so much coverage has been lacking. The cause of the fires and the specific motivations of anyone who may have set them have not yet been released, she wrote. But the magnitude of the loss and the reasons black churches may have been a target are much more clear. Lets root the conversation on hate in that. Below, more on Louisiana, Congress, and hate: Domestic terrorism: On Monday, the NAACP broke with the cautious tone that has characterized much discussion of the church fires. In a statement, Derrick Johnson, its president and CEO, called the fires domestic terrorism. He wrote: We must not turn a blind eye to any incident where people are targeted because of the color of their skin or their faith. The spike in church burnings in Southern states is a reflection of the emboldened racial rhetoric and tension spreading across the country. On Monday, the NAACP broke with the cautious tone that has characterized much discussion of the church fires. In a statement, Derrick Johnson, its president and CEO, called the fires domestic terrorism. He wrote: We must not turn a blind eye to any incident where people are targeted because of the color of their skin or their faith. The spike in church burnings in Southern states is a reflection of the emboldened racial rhetoric and tension spreading across the country. Ugly echoes: For the local Advocate newspaper, Claire Taylor writes that the fires in St. Landry Parish recall simultaneous fires that burned three black churches in the nearby Baton Rouge area in 1996. Back then, Taylor reports, it took the authorities six months of investigations to conclude that a hate crime had been committed. For the local Advocate newspaper, Claire Taylor writes that the fires in St. Landry Parish recall simultaneous fires that burned three black churches in the nearby Baton Rouge area in 1996. Back then, Taylor reports, it took the authorities six months of investigations to conclude that a hate crime had been committed. A win for the haters: For Wired, Issie Lapowsky has a good writethrough of yesterdays hijacked House hearing on hate. The hearing succeeded in doing just one thing pitting minority groups against each other, she writes. The haters, in other words, got their wayand the tech giants that have allowed those hatemongers to fester and find each other got off scot free. For Wired, Issie Lapowsky has a good writethrough of yesterdays hijacked House hearing on hate. The hearing succeeded in doing just one thing pitting minority groups against each other, she writes. The haters, in other words, got their wayand the tech giants that have allowed those hatemongers to fester and find each other got off scot free. Revisionist history: For New Yorks Intelligencer, Ed Kilgore deconstructs Owenss narrative on Republicans Southern strategy. As a white southerner who grew up in the era in question, and watched the southern switch and the southern strategy in action day in and day out, I just cant let denialists like Owens have the last word. Other notable stories: ICYMI: Ethics bill leaves Georgia journalists on edge Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Jon Allsop is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Review of Books, Foreign Policy, and The Nation, among other outlets. He writes CJRs newsletter The Media Today. Find him on Twitter @Jon_Allsop. A federal commission decision that an employer had a duty to protect a social services worker who was stabbed to death by a client, even though the company did not violate any specific safety standard, reinvigorated advocates who are calling for adoption of a national workplace violence prevention standard. Arent Fox, a national employment practices law firm, said in a blog post that the March 4 decision by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission is groundbreaking and puts employers in the health care industry on notice that they must address the risk of physical assault by patients. Employers can also expect that OSHA will begin to cite employers in other industries for incidents of workplace violence where it is reasonably foreseeable that their employees may be subjected to violence in the course of performing their workfor example, companies that provide guards in a correctional facility, said the blog written by Arent Fox partner Mark S. Dreux and associate Alexandra M. Romero. The commission upheld two serious citations issued to Integra Health Management under the general duty clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, rejecting the employers argument that it could not put safeguards in place because criminal acts of violence are inherently unpredictable. In the past, an administrative lave judge had specifically rejected citations issued for injuries caused by workplace violence under the general duty clause, Dreux said during a telephone interview Tuesday. Integra had hired a 25-year-old woman who was fresh out of college as a service coordinator in Florida for a program that seeks to provide health care to individuals, such as persons suffering mental illnesses, who tend to avoid doctor visits. In September 2012, the employee was assigned to a patient who suffered from schizophrenia and had a long history of violence. The patient attacked the employee with a knife during a visit to his home, stabbing her nine times while chasing her across his front yard. OSHA cited Integra for exposing employees to the hazard of being physically assaulted by members with a history of violent behavior. Integra appealed, but the commission affirmed the citations because Integra had not taken prudent steps to protect is employees with measures such as performing background checks on patients, initiating red flags to notify employees that a patient has a criminal history or instituting a written workplace violence prevention program. Here there is a direct nexus between the work being performed by Integras employees and the alleged risk of workplace violence, the commission said in its decision. Integra requires its service coordinators to meet face-to-face with members, many of whom have been diagnosed with mental illness and have criminal backgrounds as well as a history of violence and volatility. Attorney Kevin McCormick of the Whitford, Taylor, Preston law firm in Baltimore, who defended Integra in the case, said in his view the commission stretched the law to find a safety violation when no standard was violated. He said he was especially disappointed because the two of the three commissioners who ruled against the employer were appointed by President Donald Trump. Even with Republicans on the OSHA Commission, there doesnt seem to be an interest in coming up with a standard so everybody knows what you are supposed to do, McCormick said. They had an opportunity to make it clear that there needs to be a workplace violence standard and they punted. Labor advocates are hoping that the commissions decision will help bring about a national workplace violence prevention standard. As of now, the only standard that exists is in California, which enforces federal workplace safety rules through a state-run program. Carmen Comsti, an attorney for the California Nurses Association, said no matter what the hospitals say, workplace violence is predictable and nurses are often the victims. She said certain medications are known to cause violent reactions in some patients. Patients with a history of violence can be flagged so that nurses attending to them can bring another employee with them when they provide care. Comsti said the Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that health care workers are four times more likely to be injured by workplace violence than the general workforce. Comsti said that the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United supports legislation that has been introduced in Congress that would create a national standard for workplace violence prevention. The House Workforce Protections Committee heard testimony on House Resolution 1309 on Feb. 27. A similar measure has been introduced in the Senate. A survey by National Nurses United found that 5% of 286 registered nurses who responded had filed workers compensation claims and 9% had changed or led their job because of workplace violence in the prior year, according to testimony submitted to the House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee. More than half reported anxiety, fear or increased vigilance. Nevertheless, the group says that efforts to persuade OSHA to adopted a standard appear to have stalled. Countless acts of assault, battery, and aggression that routinely take place in health care settings demonstrate a frightening trend of increasing violence faced by healthcare workers throughout the country, the organization said. In addition to innumerable anecdotal and media accounts, several national surveys document the prevalence of violence committed against healthcare workers. Its the other dirty problem for U.S. coal one that could cost utilities billions to clean up. Even as the Trump administration tries to revive the industry, some states are pushing utilities including Duke Energy Corp. and Dominion Energy Inc. to finally deal with the ash left over from burning the fuel. Utilities have for decades diluted the waste, which includes such toxins as arsenic, boron, lead and radium, and stored it in open pits called ponds. And while coal plants air pollution and greenhouse gases get more national attention, residents and officials in some states are now forcing plant operators to clean out their ponds. North Carolina last week ordered Duke Energy to get rid of remaining ponds and remove ash to landfills with impermeable linings, a move that the company said could cost it $5 billion. In March, Virginias governor signed a law requiring Dominion Energy to excavate its ponds, and South Carolina utilities pressed by lawsuits are emptying and closing theirs. Typically separated from rivers and groundwater by clay, rocks, and dirt, the ponds have at times burst, unleashing thousands of tons of waste into rivers in Tennessee and North Carolina. The spills in the Southeast, a Trump stronghold, have created pressure to act despite the administrations ideology, said Lisa Evans, senior counsel with the Earthjustice environmental law group. There was political capital there on the side of doing more, she said. The locations of these large toxic disposal sites on treasured rivers tipped the scales toward more protection. Slurry Immersion Coal-ash ponds were for years considered the simplest disposal method, and hundreds dot the landscape from the plains through the South. Environmentalists have long viewed them as slow-motion disasters. They say the ponds leach toxins into the water table year after year even without major accidents like a 2008 spill near Knoxville, Tennessee, that buried 300 acres in slurry. Utilities call those fears overblown, but President Barack Obamas administration in 2015 required groundwater monitoring, closure of leaking ponds and a ban on new ones without an impermeable barrier. Trumps Environmental Protection Agency, whose administrator Andrew Wheeler is a former coal lobbyist, last year loosened those rules, granting utilities more time to comply and giving states leeway to suspend monitoring. Mothers Fear Southeastern states are pushing forward anyway, and some neighbors feel a hard-won vindication. Theres many things you have to fight for in your life, but this is one thing that my children wont have to fight for, said Amy Brown, who lives near a pond in Belmont, North Carolina, west of Charlotte. Brown has sparred with Duke since 2015, when the state advised her not to use well water for drinking or cooking, due to elevated levels of vanadium and chromium 6. I have two children, and I started thinking, What have my children been exposed to? she said. How much water had they drunk? How many pacifiers had I washed off? How many baths had they taken? Duke insists the chemicals occur naturally in nearby groundwater and says the state rescinded its warning. But the company, complying with a state law, paid to hook up Browns home to municipal water so she wouldnt have to use her well. Stormy Weather Although the coal-ash issue simmered for years, recent spills pushed it to the fore. In 2014, a drainage pipe burst at a Duke pond in Eden, North Carolina, pouring 39,000 tons of ash waste into the Dan River, which supplies drinking water to both North Carolina and Virginia. After Hurricane Florence last fall, floodwaters swamped two other Duke facilities, sending waste into North Carolinas Cape Fear and Neuse rivers. South Carolina almost suffered a similar fate. After Florence, the swollen Waccamaw River poured into an ash pond already excavated by the South Carolina Public Service Authority, better known as Santee Cooper. The utility mounted an all-out defense of an adjacent pit still being cleaned. The waters came within 6 inches of topping a portable barrier atop the dike. It totally inundated a pit thatd had a million tons in it, but the pit didnt have any ash left in it, said Frank Holleman, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. Otherwise, you and I would have been talking about one of the worst environmental catastrophes in South Carolina history. Local Powers Spills galvanized public pressure, even in a region where utilities have long enjoyed substantial clout. The areas changing politics also may have played a role: Both Virginia and North Carolina currently have Democratic governors. North Carolinas Roy Cooper campaigned on cleaning up ponds in his 2016 bid to oust Republican predecessor Pat McCrory, who had previously worked for Duke. Weve seen the damage this pollution can do, Cooper said in a statement after the state ordered Duke to excavate its ponds. Now the cleanup of remaining coal ash needs to move ahead efficiently and effectively. Removing the contents, however, is neither speedy nor cheap, which is why many operators still resist it. Wet Work Water must be slowly siphoned and cleaned. Solid waste must be excavated, along with soil below. Utilities can build their own landfill with an impermeable barrier, or truck the sludge to an existing one. Either way, the fill must be covered with another rain barrier. Duke wanted the option to simply remove the water, cap the ponds and leave the ash in place. The company said that being made to excavate the North Carolina facilities will pile as much as $5 billion onto costs already estimated at $5.6 billion across the Carolinas. Monitoring wells have found contaminants leaching into groundwater at the sites themselves, but tests farther away have found that chemicals attributed to the ponds are naturally present, said spokesman Bill Norton. Its always right at our plant, or right adjacent to it, but it hasnt impacted anyones drinking water, he said. However, North Carolina officials last week decided removing the waste would best protect public health. Environmentalists point to data that utilities file as part of the Obama-era rules. Earthjustice concluded that 91 percent of plants with ponds showed toxins in groundwater exceeding safety standards. They consider the industrys high cost estimates including Dukes a ploy. Industry has a history of grossly overinflating the cost of any environmental action its been required to do, Evans said. (Michael R. Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, financially supports the Sierra Clubs Beyond Coal campaign, which seeks to retire the nations coal-fired plants.) Copyright 2021 Bloomberg. Consumers want natural meatand the biggest meat companies want to sell it to them. American shoppers are reaching for healthier, more environmentally and animal-friendly meat products, with 39 percent saying all-natural is the most important claim when purchasing red meat, according to a recent survey by Mintel. But theres one problem: The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that when it comes to meat and poultry, the term natural means only that the product has no artificial ingredients and has been minimally processed. It doesnt mean anything when it comes to antibiotics, hormones or preservatives. Companies such as Tyson Foods Inc., Pilgrims Pride Corp. and Hormel Foods Corp. have been snapping up smaller, outwardly progressive competitors in the burgeoning organic food space, seeking to capitalize on changing consumer tastes. At the same time, however, some of the major meat companies have been offering their own products as natural, replete with labels featuring blue skies and green fields. On April 8, the Superior Court of the District of Columbiaa jurisdiction with stringent consumer protection lawsdismissed a lawsuit by the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) alleging Hormel was misleading consumers. The court held that as long as manufacturer labels are approved by the USDA, the advertising can use the natural claims. [I]f a producer can accurately use a term in a label, the court wrote, the producer should be able to use the same term in its advertising. Hormel said in its most recent quarterly filing that its Natural Choice line of meats showed excellent growth. But in a 600-plus-page court filing in January, in which Hormel responded to the ALDF lawsuit, the company disclosed how it makes some of its Natural Choice products, as well as its perception of what consumers think theyre buying. In statements disclosed in the filing, a company executive said the same pigs it uses to make its famous Spam brand meat product are also used in Natural Choice pork products. Those pigs are often given antibiotics and are rarely allowed outdoors. Its a massive attempt to manipulate and dupe the consumer to purchase something they have no intention to purchase, said David Muraskin, a food project attorney at Public Justice and lead lawyer for ALDF. The group said it plans to appeal the April 8 ruling. Our position has always been that Hormel Natural Choice products are produced, labeled, and marketed in conformance with all applicable laws and regulations, Hormel said in a statement. The USDAs Food Safety and Inspection Service has specifically reviewed and approved the labels for Hormel Natural Choice branded products, including scrutinizing and approving the Natural and Preservative-related language. Hormels marketing director said many consumers assume natural means no antibiotics. Internally, Hormel employees questioned whether they were meeting consumer expectations, specifically around antibiotics, according to the court filing. The companys director of marketing said in an email quoted in the document that many consumer[s] assume Natural=RWOA [Raised Without Antibiotics]. Hormel stated in the filing that she was simply making an observation. Consumer comments cited in the court filing often focused on the no preservatives claims, with one stating, for example, We love your [Natural Choice] meats, my husband is allergic to nitrates, so thankful for your products Hormel stated that, at most, the commenter purchased Natural Choice products because of the taste and because the commenters husband had no allergic reaction. Some of the natural ingredients used as preservatives in Natural Choice products are high in nitrates. Theres a difference between whats legal and whats ethical, Nikolas Contis, a senior partner at brand consultant PS212, said of the Natural Choice marketing. I think its unethical. They know the words are misleading. Hormel on Wednesday rejected Contiss assertion, saying it disagrees with any implication that the advertising or labeling for the Hormel Natural Choice brand is misleading. Most animals raised for meat in the U.S. spend their lives in conventional indoor agricultural systems, routinely receiving antibiotics and sometimes growth promoters. While this isnt what most consumers likely envision as natural, its a system that allows them to eat as much beef, pork, turkey and chicken as they wantno matter where they live or the time of year. According to the court filing, Hormel executives said that these practices are deployed at the independent farms raising their animals, and that there is no difference between those raised for Spam and those destined for Natural Choice. (Hormels Applegate brand, a small organic label it purchased in 2015, was not at issue in the lawsuit.) There is no separate manner in which the pigs raised for Hormel Natural Choice products are versus any other of Hormels products, so Spam or any lunchmeat or bacon product, Corwyn Bollum, Hormels director of pork procurement, said in a deposition cited in the court filing. That means only a fairly small percent of the pigs slaughtered for Natural Choice had any outdoor access, he said. Some pigs used in Natural Choice products received antibiotics and/or the growth promoter, ractopamine, according to other statements cited in the filing. And its not just the pigs: Hormel Foods acknowledges that some cattle that [sic] used in Natural Choice beef products receive hormones, the company wrote in the filing. It also stated that turkeys used in Natural Choice products may receive antibiotics. Antibiotics are routinely administered to livestock to prevent disease, though the practice has been linked to a growing public-health crisis of antibiotic resistance in humans. Producers are supposed to allow enough time between the administration of antibiotics and the slaughter of the animal, such that the drugs have been flushed from its system, said Colin Johnson, a swine specialist with the Iowa Pork Industry Center in Ames, Iowa. He added, though, that trace amounts of some antibiotics remain legal. Id assume natural wouldnt have ractopamine. Then theres ractopamine, a drug that changes animal metabolism to make the meat leaner and heavier. The drug is banned in China, Russia and the European Union, and tests of its safety for humans are limited. In the U.S. and dozens of other countries, however, the drug is legal to use. American pork producers reduced their usage after Chinas ban in 2011, since they look to that market for significant exports. Id assume natural wouldnt have ractopamine, Johnson said, though he added that the substance isnt harmful to humans. Antibiotic residues are very uncommon, Hormel said in a statement. If our testing indicates a positive, that raw material is not used in our food production and does not enter the food chain. The advertising claims about preservatives, like no preservatives or artificial ingredients and no nitrates or nitrites added, are also misleading, ALDF alleged in its original complaint in 2016. On its website, after its no preservatives claim, Hormel adds the statement except for those naturally occurring in cultured celery and cherry powder. Celery juice powder is naturally high in nitrates. Additionally, many Natural Choice items also contain lactic acid starter, a bacterial culture. The Center for Science in the Public Interest said bacterial cultures convert the nitrates into sodium nitrite, a meat preservative it warns should be avoided because studies link its consumption by children and pregnant women to cancer. (CSPI for this reason specifically advises consumers to be wary of natural hot dogs and cured meats boasting of no added nitrite.) We continue to stand behind Hormel Natural Choice products, Hormel said in its statement. Hormel Natural Choice products are minimally processed and contain no artificial ingredients or chemical preservatives, and thats clearly stated on the package. The trial of Jennifer Wenisch, 27, a former IS morality policewoman, opened yesterday in Munich. Together with her husband, a Caliphate fighter, she bought a child and her mother. Chained under the sun, the girl died "in scorching heat". The accused could get life in prison. The case highlights the problem of foreign fighters returning to their countries of origin. Munich (AsiaNews/Agencies) A that trial opened yesterday in Munich, Germany, amid massive security, sees a German woman charged with war crimes, Jennifer Wenisch, 27, joined the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria and Iraq. She and her husband are accused of letting a five-year-old Yazidi slave girl die of thirst. The case is the first of its kind in the world for crimes committed by former Caliphate jihadists against the Yazidi minority, particularly affected by the madness of Sunni radicals. Wenisch is charged with various charges: murder, murder as a war crime, membership in a terrorist organisation and violation of the German War Weapons Control Act. If she is convicted, she could get life in prison. German prosecutors allege the German foreign fighter and her IS husband bought the Yazidi child and her mother, a co-plaintiff in the trial, as slaves whom they held captive whilst living in Mosul, an IS stronghold in Iraq, in 2015. After the girl fell ill and wet her mattress, the husband of the accused chained her up outside as punishment and let the child die an agonising death of thirst in the scorching heat, prosecutors charge. For her part, The accused allowed her husband to do so and did nothing to save the girl. German media report that the defendants husband, Taha Sabah Noori Al-J., beat both Yazidi mother and child and that his wife also once held a pistol to the womans head. Wenish, who reportedly had a troubled past and left school at an early age, eventually converted to Islam in 2013, and travelled in mid-2014 from Germany via Turkey and Syria to Iraq where she joined IS. Recruited in mid-2015 to an anti-vice squad in the groups self-styled hisbah morality police, she patrolled city parks in IS-occupied Fallujah and Mosul. Armed with an AK-47 rifle, a pistol and an explosives vest, her task was to ensure strict IS rules on dress code, public behaviour and bans on alcohol and tobacco. In January 2016, months after the Yazidi childs death, the accused visited the German Embassy in Ankara to apply for new identity papers. When she left the mission, she was arrested by Turkish security services and extradited several days later to Germany. Because of a lack of evidence against her at the time, she was allowed to return to her home in Lower Saxony, but quickly tried to return to IS territory. Her trial raises questions about the fate of IS foreign fighters, most of whom have been rejected by their country of origin. The EU Commission estimates that about 42,000 people joined terrorist groups between 2011 and 2016, including 5,000 from Europe. At first many governments refused to repatriate their citizens, but pressure from the United States forced some countries to give in. Macedonia was the first; in 2018, it repatriated seven militants. In January, France examined the possibility of taking back 130 men and women, but has done nothing so far. Germany too is taking its time, closely monitoring developments in Paris. About the photo: A woman takes a selfie in front of Cloud Gate, known as the Bean, during a snow storm in Chicago on Feb. 9, 2018. Photographer: Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg A potentially record-breaking storm is squeezing the warmth from spring as it brings snow and howling winds across the U.S. Great Plains and threatens to flood rivers from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The giant system, set to strengthen Wednesday, has sparked blizzard warnings from Colorado to Minnesota and could drop more than two feet (60 centimeters) of snow in South Dakota and as much as 8 inches in Minneapolis, the National Weather Service said. Severe thunderstorms will hit Texas and the Mississippi Valley. The system threatens to delay wheat and corn planting. It is pretty extensive, David Roth, a senior branch forecaster at the U.S. Weather Prediction Center, said by telephone. The storm, which will pack near-record low pressure, could be on par with the massive system that triggered flooding across Nebraska and Iowa last month. Snow and rain area already falling across the Great Plains and Midwest. The storm will build over Wyoming Wednesday, cross Nebraska Thursday and then hit Minneapolis, said Rob Carolan, owner of Hometown Forecast Services. Farther south, the storm will push dry winds across Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas raising risk for wildfires. Flood Risk The Mississippi River is already at moderate-to-major flood stage in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa. The Red River is at major flood stage in Fargo, North Dakota. Because the Mississippi is flooding none of this is welcome, Roth said. Nonetheless, the Mississippi should be able to handle this weeks storm, because water levels are currently falling, said Matt Roe, spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans. The Corps has begun to close the Bonnet Carre spillway upstream from New Orleans, designed to prevent flooding. High water has restricted Mississippi barge traffic to daylight and has limited the amount of freight that can be hauled, said Austin Golding, president of Golding Barge Line in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Right now, the river is entirely navigable, but the hardest parts to traverse are the bridges in Vicksburg and Baton Rouge. May will be nasty if it gets hot up north and the snow melt accelerates after this winter system they are encountering now, Golding said. Weather Whiplash This systems icy reach wont extend to Chicago, which will get rain and have a low of 39 Fahrenheit (4 Celsius) Wednesday before temperatures rebound into the 60s by Thursday. Detroit and Toronto will also be spared, Carolan said. As the storm passes, weather will whiplash between extremes in many places. On Tuesday, Denvers temperature reached 78 degrees. Wednesday, however, the city is under a blizzard warning with readings set to plunge to 21, the weather service said. Cheyenne, Wyoming, will go from 71 on Tuesday to 18 degrees late Wednesday. While the storm bulldozes its way across the central U.S., mild air on the East Coast will keep temperatures in New York in the high 50s and low 60s through the rest of the week, the weather service said. The snow and rain across the northern Midwest will delay corn and wheat planting, said Dan Hicks, a meteorologist with Freese-Notis Weather Services in Des Moines, Iowa. Farther south, from Kansas to Southern Illinois, planting is unlikely to be interrupted. Copyright 2021 Bloomberg. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A typical high-end urgent-care clinic does everything it can to provide a good patient experience, right down to a refrigerator stocked with vitamin water and a tinkling indoor waterfall in the waiting room. Its a soothing patient experience, but how will the clinic keep those vibes going after the patient leaves? Entrepreneur Nathan Spoden, 30, believes consumers prefer health care providers that send appointment reminders via text and offer a billing portal that explains each charge in plain English. MedPilot, a health technology startup now based in Cleveland, can provide that kind of patient service. The company was founded in New York, and relocated to Clevelands South Marginal Road about a year ago. It came back to fulfill the bring-it-home dreams of its boomerang co-founders Spoden and Chief Marketing Officer Matt Buder Shapiro. Spoden, the chief operating officer, grew up in Mentor; Buder Shapiro, 28, is from Shaker Heights. The companys third co-founder and CEO, Jacob Myers, is from San Francisco. MedPilot also wanted to be part of northeast Ohios health care technology sector alongside the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals and Explorys. In less than a year, MedPilot has grown from five to 30 employees and attracted $2 million in investments. Its on track to hire an additional 40 employees this year. The company, headquartered on South Marginal Road in Cleveland, brings artificial intelligence and machine learning to patient billing, marketing surveys, follow-up appointment reminders and other doctor-to-patient communication. MedPilot has sold its specialized software and algorithm mostly to local and national urgent care chains and physician groups representing a total of 350,000 patients. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles has invested in the company and will be Medpilots first client that is a large health system, Spoden said. Weve become an automated solution for health care providers to plug into their patient billing process to create not only a better experience, but help reduce costs and increase efficiency, Spoden said. Jon Pinney, managing partner of the law firm Kohrman, Jackson & Krantz, made a six-figure investment in MedPilot. Pinney learned of the company from Chantel Moody, corporate partnerships director for health at Plug and Play, which is also a MedPilot investor. Pinney intends to introduce the MedPilot guys to more potential investors and clients. They do a great job with pitches, Pinney said. Cleveland is a medical town and (MedPilot) plays well with that strength. Im very optimistic it will continue to progress to a multi-million dollar business soon. MedPilot aims to grow by fixing billing problems that can ruin a patients experience. Billing is such a major pain point, and we attack that pain point for the patient, Buder Shapiro said. The companys billing portal provides definitions for complicated insurance jargon and explains each charge clearly. Text reminders for payments take into account the size of a payment balance and how long it has gone unpaid. MedPilots algorithm looks at various factors, such as patient demographics and payment history, to offer a customized payment plan. MedPilot also sends texts and emails to remind patients about appointments. The software does not define medical conditions, and can send paper bills if desired. You as the patient dont see us, Buder Shapiro said. Youre communicating with your health care provider. Were in the background. Dr. Robert Haber, a Beachwood dermatologist, initially signed on with MedPilot because Buder Shapiro is his patient. Haber also recognized that patients could have a good experience with his staff, but wind up unhappy over a billing snafu. Snail mail still accounts for most of the communication with patients, Haber said via email. Ive always believed in the most cutting-edge technology in dermatologic care, which is why I wanted to engage MedPilot to fully enhance my practice from a technology perspective. My patients and I have been incredibly pleased with the results so far. The idea for MedPilots software and algorithm sprang from Spodens previous consulting work involving medical billing. Spoden saw that patient billing was an afterthought, so he wanted to bring artificial intelligence and machine learning to the problem. There are competing companies focused only on patient collection, but MedPilot keeps its eye on improving patient experience. What differentiates us is the AI that were using, Spoden said. Were building a knowledge base on patient billing, and have something that can automatically communicate with patients on a providers behalf. The company launched in 2015, and signed up its first customers in 2017. Spoden and Buder Shapiro shared a longtime dream of running a Cleveland-based startup. They recognized Clevelands growing importance as a health care innovation hub. They knew they could find technical talent and clients here, but questioned how easily they could raise financial backing. Their apprehensions on that score were unfounded. On Saturday, April 13, the company plans to announce a Series A round of fundraising, with a goal of between $3 and $5 million in investments. Were trying to change the narrative that this is a terrible city to be in, Buder Shapiro said. Clevelanders hear that narrative so much, they start to believe it. Investors and tech talent are plentiful here, but the region lacks a large startup community that comes together informally and is willing to share resources, the men agreed. We just like to meet anyone we can. I wish more people did that, Spoden said. I know in Palo Alto thats pretty normal. In New York, thats normal. In Cleveland, people are more like, thats my investor, dont talk to him. In the future, MedPilot may add features that allow patients to see medical test results, ask a chatbot about health questions and receive a reminder via Facebook Messenger. We want to be the best communication engine in health care, and were not going to stop until we get there, Buder Shapiro said. CLEVELAND, Ohio A long-vacant Cleveland school and a high-rise building in downtown Akron are among the candidates to receive tax incentives in the latest round of the competitive Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit program. The program, administered twice a year by the Ohio Development Services Agency and now in its 22nd cycle, provides tax credits to leverage private redevelopment of historic buildings across the state. So far, the tax credit has gone to 410 projects touching 557 historic buildings in 68 different communities, according to ODSA. The latest round drew 51 applications, including nine in Northeast Ohio. Applicants in this region sought incentives for three projects in Akron, four in Cleveland, one in Cleveland Heights and one in Ashtabula. In all, the state received requests for nearly $60 million in incentives, but its likely that less than half that amount will be granted. ODSA estimates it has about $27 million available for this round. The largest request in Northeast Ohio was for redevelopment of Akrons Mayflower Manor, a 16-story building that dates back to the 1930s. Cleveland.com reported in November on plans to renovate the building, which already provided subsidized housing, but now will be geared toward tenants over age 55. A New-York based commercial real-estate company specializing in subsidized housing for seniors purchased the building and has said it plans to invest more than $10 million in the project, according to Cleveland.com. The project is seeking a $4 million historic-preservation tax credit from the state. The state program, which developers can apply for along with a similar federal program, allows applicants to ask for incentives of up to 25 percent of costs associated with rehabilitating a historic building, and up to $5 million per historic building. In Cleveland, the largest request is for redevelopment of the former Henry W. Longfellow Elementary School at 650 E. 140th St. in Collinwood. Project developers have asked the state for a nearly $2.4 million tax credit for converting the building into affordable apartments for seniors. Connecticut-based Vesta Corp. plans to develop 30 apartments in the former school building and erect a new building behind the school that will contain 63 units. The project is expected to cost more than $20 million, Cleveland.com reported in February. Cleveland Metropolitan School District shuttered Longfellow in 2010, leaving the building vacant for several years before it was slated for demolition, according to the Cleveland Restoration Society. Due to what it deemed the architectural significance of the building, which was built in 1924 and designed in the Dutch Baroque Revival Style by architect Walter McCornack, the society advocated for saving and redeveloping the school. A historic photo of the former Longfellow elementary school, which was built in 1924. (Cleveland Restoration Society)Cleveland Restoration Society To us, this was a win-win for everybody, said Michael Fleenor, the societys director of preservation services. Also in the running for state tax credits are the Bristol and Sarah Redman apartment buildings in Cleveland; the University Club in Akron; the former Bryon W. Robinson Residence in Akron; a property in Cleveland Heights with historic ties to Medusa Corp. and the historic Hotel Ashtabula. A project titled Tinnerman Steel Range Co. in Cleveland is seeking nearly $1.7 million in tax credits. About half of this rounds applications are for projects in Cincinnati. Winners will be announced on or before June 30. SOLON, Ohio -- An official emergency declaration should have been issued following a Feb. 24 windstorm that closed two major thoroughfares for 24 hours and left some residents without power for twice that long. That was the first conclusion reached in the After-Action Report issued April 5 by Solon Fire Chief Bill Shaw, which is to be presented to City Councils Safety and Public Properties Committee at 6 tonight (April 10). Shaw characterized the actions taken by the individual departments -- police, fire, service, recreation and senior citizens -- as exemplary. But he added that, by declaring an emergency and appointing a single public information officer, there could have been better coordination of social media messaging that instead was done at different times by police, fire and administration. "While overall the messages were similar, they were not consistent," Shaw noted in the last section of the report, entitled "Lessons Learned/Areas for Improvement." This also would have allowed the city to communicate earlier with residents, some of whom were still unaware that the Solon Community Center was open overnight Feb. 25-26 as a warming shelter. In terms of information that needed to be relayed to residents without power, normal communication channels would prove to be ineffective due to the power outage, Shaw stated. He added that after 24 hours, there was little likelihood that residents' personal electronic devices still had any battery life left. The fire department then drove through neighborhoods using loudspeakers to alert residents that the Solon Community Center was open. This method was somewhat effective, as residents did call fire administration to ask what the people in the fire truck were saying over the speakers, Shaw added. Under the section "Identifying residents in need, particularly the elderly," Shaw commended the Solon Senior Center, calling the department instrumental in making contact, if only with those seniors who were signed up. The limitation for the department was that they could only attempt to contact seniors who have identified themselves to the department, Shaw said, adding that the senior center is still the best resource for reaching out to the elderly during a disaster. Shaw also noted that only one storm-related injury was reported, involving an elderly resident suffering from hypothermia in her home when she was found by relatives on Feb. 25. The combination of high winds and a drop in temperature from the 50s into the 20s over the course of Feb. 24 led to indoor temperatures in homes without power dipping somewhere in between. Shaw noted that the police department itself was without power for 24 hours, with additional problems caused by the lack of a backup generator at the jail. At the same time, not all intersections had portable generators. The city has 13 generators for such emergencies, but there are as many as 20 traffic control boxes on major thoroughfares that are pre-wired to accept an emergency generator. Road closures remained in effect for over 24 hours on Cochran near Hall Street, where a pole was sheared off at the base, and on SOM Center Road in two separate locations: the area of Ledge Hill Drive and again in the Metroparks. At both of those spots on Ohio 91, trees had fallen down over the roadway onto wires. City officials learned later that extended delays for electrical crews with The Illuminating Company were caused by continued high winds that made it unsafe to work out of a bucket truck. By the evening of Feb. 26, most of Solon had its electricity restored and shelter operations were discontinued. Four residents had stayed at the Community Center the previous night. In addition to having extra batteries and a National Weather Service emergency band radio on hand, Shaw earlier urged residents to sign up for Cuyahoga Countys upgraded Ready-Notify system, in which Solon is a participating municipality. Read more news from the Chagrin Solon Sun here. BRECKSVILLE, Ohio The city will consider tax increment financing using new property taxes, generated from a land development, on infrastructure improvements to help finance the proposed Valor Acres at Brecksville and Miller roads. Last week, City Council heard a presentation by Gregory Daniels, partner with the Columbus law firm Squire Patton Boggs, about tax increment financing, commonly known as a TIF agreement. We believe (a TIF) is the best option to develop the (Valor Acres) property and the area infrastructure, Mayor Jerry Hruby told cleveland.com in a Tuesday email. (Our) legal counsel is recommending the TIF (state) statutes as a proven and successful option to enhance economic development. Law Director Dave Matty said Brecksville has never used a TIF agreement to finance a project, although in other cities TIFS are relatively common. For example, in 2013, Strongsville City Council approved a TIF to help finance a new Giant Eagle Market District on Pearl Road. Under the Strongsville-Market District TIF, a portion of new property taxes generated from the new supermarket can be used on city infrastructure improvements, including road and sewer projects, over 30 years. The improvements can occur anywhere on Pearl or Royalton Road, or on streets intersecting those roads. Project owners like Giant Eagle in Strongsville, for example dont pay less taxes under a TIF. Rather, a portion of the new tax money goes to infrastructure improvements instead of normal property tax recipients, including Cuyahoga County and local school districts. Brecksville-Broadview Heights schools would not lose any if its existing property taxes under a Brecksville TIF. However, depending on the type of TIF agreement, the district might not receive some or any of the additional property taxes generated from improvements to the Valor Acres site. Brecksville city officials and the Valor Acres developer, DiGeronimo Development LLC in Independence, have already approached school officials about the possible TIF, Hruby said. The school board discussed the issue April 3. School board President Kathleen Mack said the district is noncommittal at this time regarding a TIF, since the city has just begun the process of looking into one. The board of education is appreciative of the partnership it shares with the city of Brecksville, Mack told cleveland.com in a Monday email. We are hopeful that the TIF agreement will be mutually beneficial to not only the development of this property but also the financial future of our district. Valor Acres, a 103-acre multiple-use project, may include stores, restaurants, apartments, hotels, hospitals, manufacturing plants, offices and-or laboratories. It will stand on the former site of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Brecksville hospital. TIF types On April 2, Daniels told council that Ohio law provides for several different types of TIFs. One is a non-school TIF because the local school district isnt affected. The Brecksville-Broadview Heights schools would receive whatever additional tax money generated from an increase in the Valor Acres property value after improvements are built it is due. A non-school TIF doesnt need district approval. However, a school TIF would require school board approval. Thats because at least some of the additional tax money the schools would normally receive due to the property improvements would instead go toward Valor Acres and-or city infrastructure improvements. Daniels said a school district might approve a school TIF if it sees value in the project receiving TIF money. The city, developer and school district would negotiate the terms of a school TIF agreement. With another type of TIF, Daniels said, TIF money can be appropriated, for the most part, only for public infrastructure improvements that would benefit a project in Brecksvilles case Valor Acres. Such improvements might include construction of roads, sewers and utility lines and equipment. The money might also be spent on a narrow range of private expenses, such as property acquisition by the developer. Yet another type of TIF allows spending TIF funds on any urban redevelopment or improvement in the city. This type of TIF can also be used to pay for private improvements, like a parking garage. Sometimes the money is directed back into the main project, which in Brecksvilles case is Valor Acres. Councilman Jack Petsche asked if the citys Fire Department, funded largely by property taxes, would be hurt financially by a TIF. Daniels said the city can reimburse the fire department for property taxes it would not receive due to the TIF with additional income taxes generated by new jobs in Valor Acres. Daniels said its too early to know what type of TIF is best for Brecksville. He said he would first have to gather gobs of financial and project data from the city and DiGeronimo Development. He said if the city hires him, he would represent the citys interests. We are just at the investigation stage of learning about tax-increment financing and its process, Hruby told cleveland.com. Therefore, it is too early to tell which TIF statute we may utilize. Hruby said the city has asked two Squire Patton Boggs lawyers, including Daniels, to provide quotes for services. We await the proposals and (will) have further discussions between the city and the developer, Hruby said. PARMA, Ohio -- Since the beginning of the year, Parma City Schools Superintendent Charles Smialek has been visiting various buildings in the district with the simple idea of listening to the community speak about what it wants from its schools in the 21st century. The discussion during the Parma City Schools master planning for strategic consolidation meetings centers around building needs in relation to constructing new schools throughout Parma, Parma Heights and Seven Hills. The most recent meeting took place Monday night (April 8) at Normandy High School. It went very well, with probably 75 to 80 attendees, which was excellent, Smialek said It was definitely our highest-attended meeting so far. Of the 80 people, Id estimate about a third was staff and two-thirds were community members. What was great, folks stuck around and spoke informally and asked questions. We always use these meetings to get a great deal of input from the community. Well process that, record it and then we post that to our website. The superintendent called the meetings -- which are co-hosted by the Cleveland-based GPD Group leading the master planning effort -- general input sessions where community members are asked various questions: What type of grades does the district want to keep together? How many high schools are important? How many extracurriculars are important? What do they want to see in a new building? The meetings are tied to the Parma City Schools recent facilities assessment from Thomas Porter Architects as part of the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC) Classroom Facilities Assistance Program. Smialek said the issue is no longer consolidation -- which for decades in the district has been considered heresy -- but instead the need to replace the districts existing 15 buildings, the majority of which were built in the 1950s and 1960s. Another factor is an enrollment decrease from roughly 12,000 students a decade ago to 9,900 this school year. Were trying to use this process to educate people on the OFCC process and where were at in it, Smialek said. We talk about the conditions of our buildings. We talk about the OFCC report that shows all of our schools -- except for one (Normandy High School) -- are above 66 percent on the renovation/rebuild ratio. Any building above 66 percent or at 66 percent (the state) will not give you any money to renovate. For the buildings that surpass the 66 percent ratio, the district would be responsible for 69 percent of the cost of each new building, while the state would pay 31 percent. During the master planning meetings, the superintendent said they talk to attendees about what 21st century facilities look like, having toured new buildings in North Ridgeville, North Olmsted and Strongsville. Whats going to happen is over the summer well work with GPD to come up with some specific plans, Smialek said Then in the fall, the community will be invited to provide input on specific options. The master planning for strategic consolidation meetings are designed to not only illuminate community members on what the district is hoping to accomplish, but directly tie that decision to resident input. Its our optimistic belief that once people understand these are new schools were talking about, that eases some of that apprehension, Smialek said. Its not that were going to only have two high schools by closing one. No, were closing all three and well have two new campuses. Thats the type of proposal we hope to put forward to people," he said. Naturally, before the district can move forward with any consolidation plans, the residents must approve a new money levy, which hasnt happened since 2011. When we go to ask people for a bond issue that is going to increase their taxes, we want to make sure we can coherently describe why, Smialek said. The folks who have conversations with us feel that in the past, we havent been transparent as a district. That a small group of people have said, Heres what were doing and nobody had a chance to give input or understand the why behind that plan. So the one takeaway is people have been grateful for the time were putting into having these community meetings. Remaining meetings are scheduled at Parma Senior High School (6:30 p.m. April 29), Valley Forge High School (6:30 p.m. May 13) and the Parma Snow Branch Library (1:30 p.m. May 18). Read more news from the Parma Sun Post here. CANTON, Ohio -- A teenage boy is accused of fatally shooting a 14-year-old girl last month in Canton, police say. The 13-year-old boy is charged with aggravated murder in the death of Sylvia McGhee, 14, who was found dead around 4 a.m. March 30 on the 1000 block of Bieyl Court SW, just a few blocks south of Aultman Hospital. McGhee suffered a gunshot wound to her head, police said. The boy also faces a felony charge of obstructing justice in connection with giving false information to detectives, according to police. The boy was an acquaintance of the victim and had known her for an extended period of time, Canton police Lt. Dennis Garren said in a news release. The juvenile on Wednesday entered a plea of not true." He is expected to appear in court on May 28 for a pretrial hearing. Detectives continue to investigate, Garren said. To comment on this story, visit Wednesdays crime and courts comment section. AKRON, Ohio -- An Akron woman with a history of failing to control her dogs was charged with 21 misdemeanors after her pit bulls attacked four people last month in East Akron, according to police and court records. Diane Yanke, 58, of East Archwood Avenue, faces five counts of having a vicious dog, and three counts each of serious physical harm caused by a dog, having an unsecured pit bull, having an uninsured pit bull, having an unconfined pitbull, having an unvaccinated pit bull and one charge of operating a kennel, Akron Municipal Court records show. Yankes three dogs attacked four people, including a postal service worker, on March 4, according to Akron police. The first attack happened as a 36-year-old social worker got out of her van on Reed Avenue, according to a police report. She reported the dogs pulled her to the ground and began biting the lower half of her body. A 32-year-old neighbor heard the womans scream and tried to intervene, police said. In trying to get the dogs off the woman, he was bitten numerous times in his left arm, according to a police report. The dogs ran over to a 38-year-old mail carrier and bit his left thigh, police said. The mail carrier pepper-sprayed them and the dogs ran east. The social worker and neighbor were brought to Summa Health with extensive injuries, according to police. About half an hour later and a mile away, the dogs attacked again, police reported. A 57-year-old woman reported she was walking on the 1100 block of Milton Street between Roscoe Avenue and Chittenden Street when she was mauled by three dogs who bit her head, arms and legs. A group of men who were driving by saw that she needed help. First, they tried to pull the woman away from the dogs by dragging her into the moving car. When that did not work, the men got out and began hitting the dogs with sticks, which prompted the pack to run away. Paramedics brought the woman to Summa where she was also treated for extensive injuries, police said. The March 4 attacks werent the first time Yankes pit bulls attacked people in East Akron, court records show. Yanke pleaded no contest and was found guilty of having a vicious dog and unsecured pit bull in connection with a Sept. 18, 2018 attack on Archwood Avenue, according to Akron Municipal Court records. She was sentenced to serve 180 days in jail but the entirety of that sentence was suspended. Yanke was also ordered to obey all laws for one year, until Oct. 30, 2019. Less than three months later, Yanke was in court again after a Dec. 13 incident on Merton Avenue, court records show. Yanke pleaded guilty to having an unsecured pit bull and was sentenced to serve 60 days in jail, with 60 days suspended. She was again ordered to obey all laws until Feb. 20, 2020, as well as to obey all laws related to pit bulls. Yanke is expected to appear in court April 26 for a pretrial hearing before Judge Jerry Larson. To comment on this story, visit Wednesdays crime and courts comment section. Want more Akron news? Sign up for cleveland.coms Rubber City Daily, an email newsletter delivered at 5:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland police are searching for someone who shot a man who later died as he sat in a car late Tuesday on the citys West Side. Investigators have not released the name of the man shot multiple times just after 11:45 p.m. on Fortune Avenue near Bosworth Road. Cleveland police officers were investigating a report of shots fired when they found the man shot in the drivers seat of a car, police said. An ambulance took him to MetroHealth, where he was pronounced dead. Witnesses reported hearing gunshots before they saw several men running away from the car, police said. No suspects have been identified in the case, police said. To comment on this story, visit Wednesdays crime and courts comments page. WILLOUGHBY, Ohio -- A 20-year-old man pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of assault after he attacked a 17-year-old boy he said he caught molesting a 5-year-old boy in Eastlake. Willoughby Municipal Court Judge Marisa L. Cornachio accepted the plea and also agreed to enter Adams into a diversion program as part of the deal. A felony charge of felonious assault was dismissed as part of the deal. My client has no prior criminal history whatsoever, Adams attorney Richard Perez said during the hearing. He said his client acted in the heat of the moment and he doesnt expect him to do anything like this ever again. The incident related to his charges happened about 8:15 p.m. March 21 at a home on East 363rd Street near Vine Street. Adams walked in a room and saw the boy sexually abusing the child and started fighting him, police said. Adams and the 5-year-old boy are not related, Eastlake Police Chief Larry Reik said. Adams said Wednesday that he lost his temper and blacked out. The boy he attacked was left with bumps, bruises and a cut above one of his eyes that required stitches. Lake County prosecutors are seeking to try the 17-year-old boy accused of assault as an adult. He is currently charged with rape in juvenile court. Adams told a group of reporters after the hearing that he is thankful for all of the support everyone gave him during this time. Adams plans to donate the money he received in a GoFundMe to assist with his case to a charity. He said he has not decided which one. The fundraiser was originally put together to help with attorney fees. Its been very overwhelming and stressful, he said. I was hoping for this (whole case) to be dismissed but Im happy with this. When asked if hed like to say anything to the 17-year-old boy, he declined. If youd like to comment on this story, visit Wednesdays crime and courts comments section. The election on 17 April is critical for the future of the young democracy. Many Indonesians fear actions by fundamentalist movements. The military stands for national unity. For Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, there is zero tolerance for those who undermine unity. Jakarta (AsiaNews) The Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) are ready to intervene against any attempt to undermine the smooth running of the next general election, said Air Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, in a message addressed to the nation one week before the vote on 17 April (see video below). Known as a man with few words, Hadi Tjahjanto came across as resolute in his latest public appearance. Speaking yesterday in Ancol (North Jakarta) at an anti-terrorism event, he stressed that anyone who wants to destabilise Indonesia, threaten national unity and challenge the pluralist ideology of Pancasila or the 1945 Constitution will have to deal with the TNI. Behind Hadi Tjahjanto stood the chiefs of staff of each Armed Force and members of commando units from the Navy (Korps Marinir), the Air Force (Kopaska), and the Army (Kopassus), all in combat fatigues. In a firm voice, the Commander said that "the TNI has always been neutral, as stipulated by the law, during the political race for power. Anybody or any group who will disrupt the election will be faced with harsh actions by TNI. We are ready to guarantee the vote for our next national leaders and MPs, the marshal adds. The TNI is the last defender of the NKRI*s existence. [There shall be] No compromise with any disruptive actions to dissolve the NKRI. Zero tolerance. This is what I want to say to my fellow Indonesians and I strongly hope that you will easily understand. For Indonesians, Hadi Tjahjantos statement is a clear reference not only to subversive Islamist armed groups, but also to those trying to poison the electoral atmosphere with hatred and fake news. Many fear that the latter may trigger violent reactions by fundamentalist groups and supporters of identity policies. For the first time in Indonesian history, about 192 million eligible voters will elect on the same day president, vice-president, members of the lower house (DPR) and members of the upper house (DPD). For many observers, the election is a "critical day" for the future of the young democracy, which is threatened by Islamism. According to General (Ret) Abdullah Mahmud Hendropriyono, the first head of Indonesia intelligence Agency (Badan Intelijen Negara, BIN), the vote will be "a political clash between two opposing ideologies: pluralism vs fundamentalist Islam." * NKRI: Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia, Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. People in Ohio should know that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) continues to work within the Ohio General Assembly to promote legislation that threatens the rights and health of Ohioans. The latest example is Senate Bill 33, which would impose severe penalties on peaceful protesters who might be demonstrating against the latest environmental outrage in our state, most notably those being undertaken by the fossil fuel industry. SB 33 is overkill. Supporters claim that it would protect vital infrastructure against vandalism. But Ohio already has plenty of laws that that punish vandals and trespassers. SB 33 is merely designed to intimidate to discourage citizens concerned about environmental damage from demonstrating and to create a chill amongst environmental organizations who could face heavy fines if the most tenuous of connections can be established between its positions and the actions of an individual who might act irresponsibly. ALEC continues to write model legislation like SB 33 that legislators latch on to and promote. It is time for our state legislators to stop working for ALEC and to start working for us, the people of Ohio. They can start by voting down SB 33. Ron Prosek, Mentor CLEVELAND, Ohio A 65-year-old man has been reported missing on the citys East Side and police are concerned he could be in danger. According to a police report, Frederick Johnson was last seen on Saturday afternoon in the area of East 126th Street and Abell Avenue, near the Mount Pleasant neighborhood. Johnsons residence is in the 3300 block of East 143rd Street, which is about one mile east from where he was last seen. Police say they have searched the area but have not located Johnson. Johnson is 5-foot-7, 160 pounds with grayish-brown hair and brown eyes. He also has a beard and mustache. He was wearing a blue jacket and jeans and had white and black shoes. Anyone with information can contact Cleveland police. To comment on this story, visit Tuesdays crime and courts comments page. CLEVELAND, Ohio Cuyahoga County plans to install solar panels on three county buildings. Panels are to be installed this fall on the roofs of the Medical Examiners Office in Cleveland, the animal shelter in Valley View, and the Harvard Road Garage in Newburgh Heights, a news release states. The solar panels will provide three percent of the energy needed for the Medical Examiners Office, 13 percent of the energy for the animal shelter, and 25 to 30 percent of the energy for the Harvard Road Garage, the release says. The county intends to buy the electricity generated by the panels from Enerlogics Solar LLC, the release states. Third Sun Solar Systems will install the panels, the release says. Weve seen the energy savings solar panels bring to both buildings and homes of Cuyahoga County residents, Director of Sustainability Mike Foley said in the release. Were looking forward to continuing to create positive, sustainable change through County operations and in the community. CLEVELAND, Ohio Defense attorneys for Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish and the prosecutors from both the Ohio Attorney Generals Office and Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office all met in secret Wednesday with a judge overseeing the special grand jury impaneled to hear evidence in an on-going corruption probe. Its the second time in recent months that group met with visiting Judge Peter Handwork in secret. Its unknown why the group met with Handwork or what was discussed in either meeting. The corruption probe began with prosecutors examining the countys IT department but has since grown to encompass the countys jails. Attorneys Steve Dettelbach and Larry Zukerman, who represent Budish, were the first to show up at Wednesdays meeting. Dettelbach was not present at the first meeting on March 9. Senior Assistant Ohio Attorney General Dan Kasaris also attended the meeting. He is the lead prosecutor on the probe, along with Assistant Cuyahoga county Prosecutor Matthew Meyer, who is operating under the attorney generals office direction. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael OMalley, along with several others, including assistant county prosecutor James Gutierrez, also attended the meeting. All involved either declined comment or did not return phone messages seeking comment, including OMalley, an OMalley spokesman, and a spokesman for Attorney General Dave Yost. Handwork when reached later in the day by phone said he would not comment on anything involving the matter. Zukerman did not return messages seeking comment and Dettlebach declined comment. The same group minus Dettelbach and OMalley met with Handwork on March 9 on the 23rd floor of the courthouse. Handwork at the time told Cleveland.com that the entire matter was under seal. The meetings appear to show Budish and his attorneys have sought to get involved in the ongoing corruption investigation. Budish is not a defendant in any case and has not been charged with any crimes. OMalleys appearance at the meeting also remains unclear. His office began the corruption investigation into Budishs administration and secured indictments in January against three of the executives administrators, including former jail director Ken Mills. After the indictments, OMalley recused himself from the probe. In court filings, he requested the recusal because of a potential conflict with his oversight of the criminal investigation and his offices duty to represent the county in a civil lawsuit filed in December over conditions at the county jail. Eight inmates died in the jail in 2018 and the U.S. Marshals Service found inhumane conditions and civil rights violations. OMalley wrote in a court filing at the time that certain Cuyahoga County officials who may eventually be implicated in the criminal probe have been named in a civil lawsuit filed in December by seven inmates who argue that their civil rights were violated. Yosts office took over from there. Meyer and Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Paul Soucie remain on Yosts team for continuity. Gutierrez started on the corruption case, but has since stepped away. Yosts office directed a raid on Budishs office two weeks after taking over the case and seized Budishs cellphone, computer and other items. Budish and his attorneys have said publicly they are cooperating with the investigation and blamed the investigation on Budishs political enemies. He has not said who those enemies are. He also called the raid a political stunt. Dettelbach also has accused Meyer, Soucie and Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office investigator Robert DeSimone of having a conflict of interest because they worked on the investigation under OMalley before OMalley recused himself. The corruption probe has yielded six indictments thus far; three under OMalleys direction and three under Yost. Mills, Chief Talent Officer Douglas Dykes, and former IT administrator Emily McNeeley have been indicted on a variety of felony and misdemeanor charges. Each has pleaded not guilty and their lawyers vowed to fight the charges. Those charges were filed prior to OMalleys recusal. Attorney general prosecutors on Monday secured indictments against one former and four current Cuyahoga County corrections officers who are accused of civil rights violations against three inmates, including one who died. Four of the officers former officer Martin Devring, Cpl. Nicholas Evans and officers Robert Marsh and Timothy Dugan pleaded not guilty Wednesday to their charges. The fifth officer, Cpl. Idris-Farid Clark, has not been arrested but a warrant is out for his arrest. Q: Can please tell me if the new compliant drivers license will allow me to drive across into Niagara Falls? I dont have a passport or a passport card. Ive been told conflicting things. Of the several BMV offices that Ive called, some said yes, it would allow me access and others said no, that I still needed the passport card or traditional passport. Can you please shed some light on this? J.R., Willard A: I researched and found the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol said enhanced drivers licenses are accepted for travel to and from Canada by land and sea -- not by airplane. But Ohio has something different -- "compliant" IDs. I asked the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles whether Ohio's compliant IDs would be accepted. Here's what spokeswoman Lindsey Bohrer said: The enhanced card is different than a compliant card. The compliant card that Ohio offers has no impact on international travel. We do not offer an enhanced DL, therefore the person will need their passport when going to Canada. I also learned that for Ohio to offer enhanced IDs, like many other states do, it would require legislation from the Ohio General Assembly. The enhanced IDs confirm identity and citizenship. Remember, to board a commercial airplane even for domestic flights or enter a federal building starting in October 2020, you must have a compliant ID or a passport. To get the compliant ID, you must have documents to prove: 1. Full legal name, date of birth and proof of legal U.S. presence. For most of us, this will be proven by either a birth certificate or passport. 2. Social Security number. This can be proven by a Social Security card, a W-2 or 1099. (Why not a tax return, when it's OK to prove street address? It's not clear.) 3. Street address. This can be proven by any of a long list of documents, including a utility bill, a credit card or bank statement, a federal or state tax return, a certified school record or transcript, your BMV mail-in registration notice, a property tax record, a selective service registration acknowledgement card, etc. The full list is here. Q: In a recent column about prepaid debit cards, you said: "The merchant can ping the card for $1, or whatever the amount, and the card will come back as valid. What do you mean? The merchant would charge the card, or withdraw the charged amount? The word "ping" in that or similar sense is neither in Webster's, nor in Amer. Heritage, nor in the Slang dictionary. Please explain. T.O., Cleveland A: I wasnt being cute, or making up my own word, although Ive been known to do that from time to time. When merchants ping a card, it means they put through a charge for a small amount, usually $1, just to make sure the card is valid. After the charge is authorized, they dont actually process the transaction, so it falls off of your account and you dont owe anything. To reach Teresa Murray, email moneymatters@plaind.com or call or text 216-316-7064. She cannot respond to all queries or comments. Previous columns: cleveland.com/moneymatters On Twitter: @TeresaMurray On Facebook: www/facebook.com/MurrayMoneyMatters LAKEWOOD, Ohio - Municipal Court Judge Pat Carroll has stopped using a fixed schedule to set bail because he believes it can be unfairly applied and result in the needless jailing of poor defendants. The Lakewood courts schedule, similar to schedules used by many of the other municipal courts in Ohio, listed bail amounts for various crimes that could be applied to suspects arrested at times when the court was not in session. In a phone interview and email exchange with cleveland.com, Carroll said he changed his policy based in part on evidence he has witnessed in his own court. In the past, someone charged with drunken driving by a Lakewood officer would need to post $364 to get out of Lakewood Jail, he said. But if a state trooper makes the arrest in Lakewood, the suspect is processed at another location and could be released to the custody of a sober adult without having to post bail. And the rate at which suspects fail to appear for court hearings has not been significantly different between those who posted bail and those who did not, wrote Carroll in an email. As such, the bond serves little other purpose than a down payment for a fine if the defendant is later found guilty. Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer have been advocating for bail reform through its ongoing Justice for All series that began in 2016. The series included a report on the unfair nature of bond schedules, which are based solely on the charge against a suspect rather than whether the suspect poses a risk to society. Carroll believes basing bail solely on the level of offense has become outdated. Someone with a mental illness or drug addiction could pose a threat to themselves or the community even if the offense they have been charged with is minor. Conversely, someone facing a more serious charge may have a responsible job and no criminal record, suggesting a strong likelihood of following a judges orders. In many cases, conditions of bond, such as no firearms or contact with the victim, continued treatment programs, and other conditions with pretrial monitoring are more effective than posting cash to get out of jail, Carroll wrote. Carroll said his probation department is able to provide the assistance required in some instances, but that he eventually will ask the Lakewood City Council for more money to conduct pretrial services. Carroll also recognizes that a fixed bond schedule could force someone to remain in jail simply because of an inability to come up with the money. Not only is this unfair to the defendant, Carroll wrote, but it adds to the taxpayers burden to support the operation of the jail. Carroll said that he or a magistrate will continue to set bonds for all felonies and for more serious misdemeanors, such as domestic violence or violation of a protection order, but that all other defendants can be released without bail. If the policy dictates that bail must be set by a judge or magistrate, the police or prosecutor will be required to contact the court within 48 hours. They also must provide the judge with detailed information, such as a defendants criminal history, driving record, issues of mental health or substance abuse, occupation and/or source of income and any active warrants or pending protection orders against them. Carroll said he developed his customized method of risk-assessment based on his experience and through discussions with others, including former Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Ron Adrine, who spearheaded bail reform in Cleveland. The Cleveland court has adopted the well-known Arnold Foundation method for assessing whether a suspect poses a risk if released on bail. Carroll said he would like to adopt a formal risk-assessment program if only because the person who takes his place one day may not have his level of experience. Carroll became Lakewood municipal judge in February of 1990 and is in his last term. Carroll said he would like to see other municipal courts adopt bail policies similar to the one he now has in place, but that some judges like bail schedules because they view them as a deterrents to crime. Carroll doesnt think thats the case. Nobody chooses where to get in a bar fight based on the bond schedule of the local municipal court, he said, adding that most people dont even know such schedules exist. COLUMBUS, Ohio The Ohio General Assembly sent a bill to Gov. Mike DeWine on Wednesday afternoon that would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected. The House passed the bill 56-40, mostly along party lines, as people on both sides of the abortion debate loudly protested outside the chamber. Shortly after, the Ohio Senate voted 18-13, also largely on party lines, to agree to changes made in the House to Senate Bill 23. DeWine has said he would sign a heartbeat bill. The bill would ban abortion as soon as six weeks into a pregnancy. Recent Baldwin Wallace University polling showed 43 percent of Ohioans oppose the ban and 41 percent support it. The governors of North Dakota, Arkansas, Kentucky, Iowa and Mississippi have signed fetal heartbeat bills into law. Many of them have been challenged, and all courts that have ruled thus far have determined theyre unconstitutional. Only one case has hit the U.S. Supreme Court -- North Dakotas law. The high court decided against hearing it. However, abortion opponents hope the U.S. Supreme Court will eventually rule on the laws and ultimately strike down Roe v. Wade -- which makes abortion legal if the fetus isnt viable. Abortion opponents hope the high court replaces the viable standard with a heartbeat standard. This is not a Democratic or Republican issue, said Rep Candice Keller, a Middletown Republican who is the executive director of an anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center. This is not a religious issue. This is an issue of humanity and morality. Rep. Beth Liston, a Dublin Democrat who outside the legislature is a physician and Ohio State University internal medicine professor, said the bill isnt based on science. At six weeks, fetuses are a cluster of cells smaller than a grain of rice, she said. At 12 weeks, they are two inches. Fetuses at six and 12 weeks are not the widely accepted standard of defining life in medicine, she said. Simply put, you need lungs and a brain in order to live," she said. And theres no science or technology that we have that can replace that need." Jail time, fines Doctors and others who perform an abortion after a heartbeat has been detected or when failing to do an abdominal or transvaginal ultrasound before an abortion are punished under SB 23, including: Facing a fifth-degree felony, punishable by six to 12 months behind bars and a $2,500 fine. Doctors would face further disciplinary action before the State Medical Board of Ohio - including revoking or suspending a license. A $20,000 Medical Board fine would go into a new state fund for foster-care and adoption services. Women could sue abortion providers for wrongful death under the bill, and a doctor couldnt use as legal justification that the measure is unconstitutional unless a court rules it so. The bill doesnt have any exceptions for rape and incest. There is an exception to preserve the health of a woman after a heartbeat has been detected. Abortion providers would have to document the womans medical issues and keep copies of them for seven years. The woman would have to sign a form acknowledging she is allowing an abortion and the unborn human individual that the pregnant woman is carrying has a fetal heartbeat and that the pregnant woman is aware of the statistical probability of bringing the unborn human individual that the pregnant woman is carrying to term, according to legislative documents analyzing the bill. Failed amendments A handful of amendments introduced by Democrats failed. Rep. Janine Boyd, a Cleveland Heights Democrat, introduced an amendment that would have allowed exemptions for rape and incest, but it failed. Also failing was an amendment introduced by Rep. Tavia Galonski, an Akron Democrat, to remove the statute of limitations for rape offenses and to eliminate spousal exemptions to rape. On my doctor's lab coat is a button that reads, "Not A Doctor". Politicians should not be making health care decisions for half Ohio's population. #StopTheBans https://t.co/jcus6IrdiA Kent #BestWhipSmith Smith (@KentKSmith) April 10, 2019 Supporting the bill Republicans in favor of the bill said that they wanted to protect the unborn babies. Rep. Tim Ginter, a Columbiana County Republican and ordained minister, quoted several Bible verses to argue that the fetus has a soul. He said that abortion supporters who rely on their faith to inform their beliefs are mistaken. This is not the mothers body," he said. "This is a separate entity. Rep. Ron Hood, a Pickaway County Republican, pointed to the inevitability of legal action. Will there be a lawsuit? Yeah, were counting on it," he said. "Were excited about it. Because this will be the law that ultimately reverses Roe v. Wade. Or there is several things they could do. They could hand it down to the states. Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, who has reached out to Democrats recently to get support for legislation, said hes not concerned about the bill -- which he voted for --eroding his relationship with Democrats. He said they always understood they would agree on 95 percent of the issues and disagree on 5 percent. COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio House is expected to pass a bill Wednesday afternoon that prohibits abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as soon as six weeks -- before many women know theyre pregnant. If the House passes Senate Bill 23, it could head back to the Senate -- which is also having a session Wednesday afternoon -- for a vote on whether to concur with amendments in the House. The bill could potentially be passed by the General Assembly and on its way to Gov. Mike DeWines desk by Wednesday evening. SB 23 punishes doctors and other medical professionals who perform abortions either after a heartbeat is detected or for failing to do an abdominal or transvaginal ultrasound to check for a heartbeat. People who perform abortions in violation of the bill would face criminal penalties and fines. Specifics about the bill can be found here. The Ohio General Assembly, which has a Republican supermajority, has passed nearly two dozen abortion restrictions in the past eight years. Lawmakers frequently say they want to protect "the life of the unborn. Gov. Mike DeWine has said hell sign a heartbeat bill. Bill opponents say it interferes with a womans ability to choose whether to keep a pregnancy, which they say could affect the rest of her life. If the bill passes, all seven of the states surgical abortion clinics could close, since abortion would be generally banned at six weeks, said Gabriel Mann, a spokesman for NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio. However, Iris Harvey, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, said at a demonstration Wednesday morning that its clinics will continue to treat women -- even if the bill passes. If this is what it takes, well see you at the Supreme Court," she said. Republicans hope the more conservative makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade, which says abortions are unconstitutional if the pregnancy isnt viable. SB 23 sponsor Sen. Kristina Roegner, a Hudson Republican, said that a heartbeat is a better measure of life than viability. WASHINGTON, D.C. - When Niles-area Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan announced his presidential bid last week, Republicans in Ohio and nationally trashed him as a legislative lightweight. In over 16 years in Congress, hes passed no legislation other than renaming two federal buildings," a Republican National Committee press release said of Ryan. He has two legislative accomplishments in over 16 years in Congress renaming two federal buildings, echoed an Ohio Republican Party statement. Republicans are using the officially designated authorship of bills passed by Congress to level similar criticism at most of the Democrats in Congress who are running for president. But that can be a misleading measure of a lawmakers effectiveness. On California Rep. Eric Swalwell, the GOP says: Has passed a total of two pages of legislation, one of which renamed a post office." On former Texas Rep. Beto ORourke: Only passed one bill in Congress: naming a courthouse. On Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders: Has only passed three bills in nearly three decades: two of them renamed post offices. On Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Shes ineffective, Warren has never had a bill signed into law. For the record, the congressional legislative database actually says Ryan authored three bills that became law. One named a post office in Tallmadge after a local Marine who died in combat; Marine Lance Cpl.l Daniel Nathan Deyarmin, Jr.. Another named Akrons federal building and courthouse after former Congress member John F. Seiberling. The third relinquished the federal governments rights to a career center in Ravenna so the state of Ohio could sell the building to Portage County. University of Akron political scientist David Cohen says the number of bills that members of Congress are officially credited with authoring is not a useful way to determine whether a legislator is successful because so much of what Congress does is driven by its leaders. No matter how hard they work on legislation, few members of Congress are listed as the main sponsor of bills unless they chair the committee that produced them. Cohen noted that much of Ryans service is on the Appropriations Committee, which determines federal spending. Ryan uses his post as an Appropriations subcommittee chairman to author bill language that channels money to programs that benefit his district and the state of Ohio. Over the years, these included grant programs that aided pregnant women at risk for domestic violence, Cohen said, and another grant program that helped local fire departments rehire laid off firefighters. Cohen said Ryans 16 years in Congress is more time than many other candidates served, and said Ryans budgeting experience would help him as a presidential candidate, because mastering the budget process is key to policy making in Congress. I dont think his legislative record or legislative experience should be discounted at this point," Cohen said of Ryan. Republicans are going to attack every announced Democratic candidate in the field - it would be campaign malpractice if they didnt do that." Ryan is proud of his record in Congress, says his spokesman, Michael Zetts. Zetts said Ryan has obtained millions of dollars in federal funding for economic development projects in his district, including infrastructure improvements for the cities of Youngstown, Kent and Akron, and for military bases in Ravenna and Youngstown. Zetts said Ryans achievements over the years include leading efforts to establish the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute in Youngstown and serving as the lead Democratic sponsor of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, a sweeping bill addressing all aspects of drug addiction, overdose treatment, recovery services, and prevention. Whether it is securing facility and equipment upgrades for our active duty servicemembers, implementing better care for our veterans, increasing resources to combat the opioid epidemic, strengthening retirement security, combating wage stagnation, boosting American manufacturing, or providing funding for local transportation projects in the state of Ohio Congressman Ryan has fought and will always continue to fight for the American people," said Zetts. Having few official legislative credits to ones name is very much a bipartisan phenomenon. The same legislative database that Republicans used to trash Ryan shows that Northeast Ohio Republican Congress members Jim Jordan of Champaign County and Dave Joyce of Bainbridge Township havent authored any legislation signed into law. It credits Holmes Countys Bob Gibbs with authorship of two bills that were signed into law, one of which renamed a post office in Ashland. In examining the records of congressional Republicans who sought the White House in 2016, the database shows Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul hasnt had any bills signed into law. South Carolinas Lindsey Graham authored one law during his Senate career, and Texan Ted Cruz has authored two, one of which passed before he ran for president. Of the five laws passed by Floridas Marco Rubio, one was adopted before his presidential run. Asked whether Republican presidential candidates and members of Congress who havent officially passed many bills were ineffective, Republican National Committee spokeswoman Mandi Merritt didnt answer and instead responded: Examine his message or his record and the result is the same: Tim Ryan is an unaccomplished, political opportunist who is more concerned with his next move than delivering results for Ohioans. We will leave it up to the Democratic Party voters in the early states to decide if Tim Ryans congressional record merits him running for president, added Ohio Republican Party spokesman Evan Machan. COLUMBUS, Ohio The Ohio General Assembly sent a bill to Gov. Mike DeWine on Wednesday afternoon that would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected. The House passed the bill 56-40, mostly along party lines, as people on both sides of the abortion debate loudly protested outside the chamber. Shortly after, the Ohio Senate voted 18-13, also largely on party lines, to agree to changes made in the House to Senate Bill 23. During the campaign for governor, DeWine said he would sign a heartbeat bill. The bill would ban abortion as soon as six weeks into a pregnancy. Recent Baldwin Wallace University polling showed 43 percent of Ohioans oppose the ban and 41 percent support it. The governors of North Dakota, Arkansas, Kentucky, Iowa and Mississippi have signed fetal heartbeat bills into law. Many of them have been challenged, and all courts that have ruled thus far have determined theyre unconstitutional. Only one case has hit the U.S. Supreme Court -- North Dakotas law. The high court decided against hearing it. However, abortion opponents hope the U.S. Supreme Court will eventually rule on the laws and ultimately strike down Roe v. Wade -- which makes abortion legal if the fetus isnt viable. Abortion opponents hope the high court replaces the viable standard with a heartbeat standard. This is not a Democratic or Republican issue, said Rep Candice Keller, a Middletown Republican who is the executive director of an anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center. This is not a religious issue. This is an issue of humanity and morality. Rep. Beth Liston, a Dublin Democrat who outside the legislature is a physician and Ohio State University internal medicine professor, said the bill isnt based on science. At six weeks, fetuses are a cluster of cells smaller than a grain of rice, she said. At 12 weeks, they are two inches. Fetuses at six and 12 weeks are not the widely accepted standard of defining life in medicine, she said. Simply put, you need lungs and a brain in order to live," she said. And theres no science or technology that we have that can replace that need." Jail time, fines Doctors and others who perform an abortion after a heartbeat has been detected or when failing to do an abdominal or transvaginal ultrasound before an abortion are punished under SB 23, including: Facing a fifth-degree felony, punishable by six to 12 months behind bars and a $2,500 fine. Doctors would face further disciplinary action before the State Medical Board of Ohio - including revoking or suspending a license. A $20,000 Medical Board fine would go into a new state fund for foster-care and adoption services. Women could sue abortion providers for wrongful death under the bill, and a doctor couldnt use as legal justification that the measure is unconstitutional unless a court rules it so. The bill doesnt have any exceptions for rape and incest. There is an exception to preserve the health of a woman after a heartbeat has been detected. Abortion providers would have to document the womans medical issues and keep copies of them for seven years. The woman would have to sign a form acknowledging she is allowing an abortion and the unborn human individual that the pregnant woman is carrying has a fetal heartbeat and that the pregnant woman is aware of the statistical probability of bringing the unborn human individual that the pregnant woman is carrying to term, according to legislative documents analyzing the bill. Failed amendments A handful of amendments introduced by Democrats failed. Rep. Janine Boyd, a Cleveland Heights Democrat, introduced an amendment that would have allowed exemptions for rape and incest, but it failed. Also failing was an amendment introduced by Rep. Tavia Galonski, an Akron Democrat, to remove the statute of limitations for rape offenses and to eliminate spousal exemptions to rape. On my doctor's lab coat is a button that reads, "Not A Doctor". Politicians should not be making health care decisions for half Ohio's population. #StopTheBans https://t.co/jcus6IrdiA Kent #BestWhipSmith Smith (@KentKSmith) April 10, 2019 Supporting the bill Republicans in favor of the bill said that they wanted to protect the unborn babies. Rep. Tim Ginter, a Columbiana County Republican and ordained minister, quoted several Bible verses to argue that the fetus has a soul. He said that abortion supporters who rely on their faith to inform their beliefs are mistaken. This is not the mothers body," he said. "This is a separate entity. Rep. Ron Hood, an Ashville Republican who opposes abortion, pointed to the inevitability of legal action. Will there be a lawsuit? Yeah, were counting on it," he said. "Were excited about it. Because this will be the law that ultimately reverses Roe v. Wade. Or there is several things they could do. They could hand it down to the states. Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, who has reached out to Democrats recently to get support for legislation, said hes not concerned about the bill -- which he voted for --eroding his relationship with Democrats. He said they always understood they would agree on 95 percent of the issues and disagree on 5 percent. The Maldivian Democratic Party, led by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, won 65 seats out of a total of 87. The agreements signed with China are under careful scrutiny. Male (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) led by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has swept the parliamentary elections that were held on April 6th. The political force, back in vogue after the long exile of its leader Mohamed Nasheed, who returned home just five months ago, defeated the opposition of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) winning two-thirds of the seats in Parliament (called People's Majilis ), that is 65 deputies out of a total of 87. The new parliamentary composition thus gives a free hand to what was announced by Solih on the eve of the vote: scrutinize the infrastructure agreements with Beijing for the New Chinese Silk Road, which created incurable debts and led the country to the brink of bankruptcy. Yesterday, former president Nasheed said: "The government continues to examine the agreements signed by the previous government, many of which - it is our fear - depended on large-scale corruption. We must allow the authorities to analyze these agreements with forensic attention". The electoral campaign was played precisely on the fight against the corruption of the regime of Abdulla Yameen, head of the PPM and historical rival of Nasheed, the first democratically elected president in the Maldives and very close to India. Various commentators, especially from the Indian side, argue that the political turnaround of the archipelago, where 340,000 Sunni Muslims live, has now begun. An editorial published two days ago in the Delhi daily Hindustan Times recalls that Yameen persecuted political opponents last year, indicted two Supreme Court judges who had criticized him, restricted civil liberties by declaring a state of emergency . The tightening on the life of the country has aroused a widespread discontent that has found its final expression in the surprise election of Solih to the presidency, last September. The conditions for Nasheed's return home and the start of a reform process were laid. Among the most important on which the next Parliament will work, the introduction of the minimum wage and the imposition of the first tax collection system. COLUMBUS, Ohio - When lawmakers voted to ban abortions when a fetal heartbeat is detected, they largely voted along party lines. But there were some exceptions. No Democrats in either chamber voted for the so-called heartbeat bill. Some Republicans, on the other hand, voted against it. The bill is controversial, partly because there are no exceptions for rape or incest. Voting against the bill in the Ohio House were Republican Reps. Gayle Manning of North Ridgeville, Scott Ryan of Licking County, Rick Carfagna of Delaware County and Steven Arndt of Port Clinton. Below is a complete list of representatives by last name and how they voted. Some readers may have to click here to see the list. Representatives first names and details about their districts can be found here. Voting against the bill in the Senate were Republican Sens. Matt Dolan of Chagrin Falls, John Eklund of Geauga County, Nathan Manning of North Ridgeville and Stephanie Kunze of the Columbus area. Below is a complete list of senators by last name and how they voted. Some readers may have to click here to see the list. Here is the roll call in the #senate Which quickly voted to go with changes made in the Ohio house to #heartbeat #abortion bill. pic.twitter.com/PscVpnLE9P Laura Hancock (@laurahancock) April 10, 2019 Senators first names and details about their districts can be found here. Senate Bill 23 is headed to Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican who has said he would sign a heartbeat bill. CHICAGO -- Water: We drink it and use it every day. It is vital for all known forms of life. Here in the Great Lakes region, we are fortunate to have so much of it. Indeed, the Great Lakes -- Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario -- account for more than 20 percent of the worlds fresh water and provide drinking water for millions of people, including my children and grandchildren. Yet, we have taken our abundance for granted. In 1909, Canada and the United States, understanding the importance of our shared waterways, signed a binational treaty, The Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909, to manage them together via the International Joint Commission (IJC). One of the provisions of the treaty required that waters flowing across the boundary shall not be polluted on either side to the injury of health or property on the other. By 1912, the discharge of sewage and manufacturing waste had led to outbreaks of cholera and other public health problems. In response to this, the IJC launched an investigation into the pollution, requested jointly by both the United States and Canadian governments. Ultimately, the findings of this investigation prompted actions to remediate the pollution and safeguard clean drinking water. But as the 1969 Cuyahoga River fire - which helped spur the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972 - showed us, that treaty was only a starting point. Despite the progress that has been made, there is still much work to be done. For decades, we have polluted our lakes with toxins from manufacturing plants, sewage, and phosphorus runoff from farming. We have been careless about keeping invasive species in check, and as a result, our ecosystem, waterways and communities have suffered. Bruce Heyman is the former U.S. ambassador to Canada. A number of U.S. presidents have made efforts to protect the Great Lakes, but the creation of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) by President Barack Obama in 2009 was the long overdue accelerator we needed. And we showed ourselves to be a good-faith actor when we came together again with Canada in 2012 to sign the updated Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, and renewed our joint commitment to protecting our shared waterways. Since its inception, the GLRI has worked to: aggressively address the proliferation of invasive species in the lakes; restore habitat for local wildlife; reduce phosphorus runoff; and complete cleanup and restoration projects of toxic substance in areas of concern - all in an effort to make our waters safe for animals to live in and humans to drink. While the aim of the GLRI is to environmentally protect and restore the Great Lakes, it has also stimulated the economies of the surrounding areas. A recent study from the Great Lakes Commission found that every dollar spent on the GLRI by the federal government generates $3.35 in economic development from recreation, tourism, and other industries. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is committed to supporting the community and combating the very real threats that still exist to the health of the Great Lakes, the vibrancy of their ecosystems and the safety of our drinking water. Since President Donald Trumps election, his administration has threatened to decrease support for the GLRI, and, as expected, his 2020 budget - released in February - proposed a 90 percent cut for the GLRI, all but eliminating their funding. This was a devastating blow for the GLRI and the tens of millions of people in the United States and Canada who rely on the lakes. But in a surprising turn, Trump said during a campaign rally on March 28 in Michigan, I support the great lakes. Always have, and went on to announce that he is "going to get, in honor of my friends, full funding of $300 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which you have been trying to get for over 30 years. In reality, all budgets Trump has proposed to Congress since he has been in office have included cuts to the program. But Congress has overruled Trump and given GLRI the full $300 million each year. This announcement by Trump and positioning of himself as a champion of the Great Lakes is a blatant disregard for and misrepresentation of facts. The process of drafting a national budget proposal is - or, at least, should be - a months-long, laborious process on the part of the Executive Office of the President, chiefly the Office of Management and Budget with input from all federal executive departments and independent agencies. Trumps recent announcement to reverse his proposed funding cuts indicates that either he circumvented these channels when he initially proposed the budget, or that he is now unilaterally ignoring the expertise of those he consulted. Either case clearly demonstrates a breakdown in the basic functioning of the executive branch, and is just one more example of how Trump overrides and undermines his own government. He will gamble with anything in order to further his own image, and he sets fires so that he can put them out and be declared a hero. We as Americans, regardless of our political persuasions, must stand firm in the values we hold dear, in the face of a president determined to dismantle them. Among these values are clean water, our relationship with Canada and respect for the very structure upon which our government was built, without which our nation will surely fail. Bruce Heyman is the former U.S. Ambassador to Canada and co-author of an upcoming memoir, The Art of Diplomacy: Strengthening the Canada-U.S. Relationship in Times of Uncertainty, to be published later this month. *************** Have something to say about this topic? Use the comments to share your thoughts. Then, stay informed when readers reply to your comments by using the Follow option at the top of the comments, and look for updates via the small blue bell in the lower right as you look at more stories on cleveland.com. CLEVELAND, Ohio Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is planning a Sunday campaign event in Lordstown, per a report from The Vindicator. Sanders visit would mark the second presidential visit to the community following the shuttering of the General Motors plant in Lordstown and Sanders first visit to Ohio since jumping into the 2020 race. He announced a swing through Midwest battleground states on Monday that included Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania and initially looked to be skipping the Buckeye State. The report in The Vindicator said details werent available yet, but could be announced as soon as today. Lordstown High School could be the site of the public rally, which would be in the afternoon before his 5 p.m. rally in Pittsburgh, the report says. The trip to Lordstown would come just days after Sanders released a proposal for a nationwide ban on so-called right-to-work legislation, laws that prohibit labor organizations from collecting union dues from nonmembers who benefit from negotiations. Despite the potential political potency the idled site that used to manufacture the Chevrolet Cruze presents, Lordstown has remained largely untouched by the Democratic presidential candidates, even after Republican President Donald Trump, who campaigned in the area in 2017, promised jobs would return and blamed the union in part for the site closing. U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, a Youngstown-area Democrat whose district includes the facility, is the only candidate who has repeatedly mentioned the site on the trail since declaring last week. Former U.S. Rep. Beto ORourke of Texas also visited the area on the trail, meeting with the head of the union representing Lordstown GM workers during his visit to Northeast Ohio. In recent weeks, Sanders has emerged as the front-runner of the crowded Democratic pack. With a dedicated base of support and fundraising numbers that dwarf the other candidates $18 million since announcing his run the Vermont senator is looking to build on his unlikely rise from the 2016 election. CLEVELAND, Ohio U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent running for president as a Democrat, will visit union workers this Sunday in Lordstown, the campaign announced Wednesday. Sanders will hold a town hall meeting with members of the United Auto Workers and the American Federation of Teachers at 1 p.m. at Lordstown High School. The event is closed to the public. Sanders, 77, released details of a Midwest tour earlier this week that appeared to skip over Ohio, with visits to Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Some national Democrats have openly talked about the fact that Ohio is trending Republican, much to the chagrin of liberals in the state. But the senator included a late addition to the schedule, with plans to visit the town thats been in crisis mode since General Motors announced the closure of a Chevrolet Cruze production factory that was the economic lifeblood of the community. The Lordstown GM factory closure left 1,400 workers without a job. Other businesses in the area that relied on the factory have felt the ripple effects. Politically, the factory represents something of a weak point for Republican President Donald Trump, who won Ohio and finished strong in the traditionally Democratic Mahoning Valley. Trump visited nearby Youngstown in 2017 and promised factory jobs were returning to the area, going so far as to tell the crowd to not sell their houses. Since the plants idling, Trump has criticized the workers at the facility, with particular ire directed at Dave Green, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112, the union representing GM workers. Trump attacked Green in a tweet, saying the union leader ought to get his act together and produce. While local outrage ensued, national attention from the crowded Democratic primary field has been minimal, even after Trump condemned the union once more during an official White House appearance in Lima. U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, a Youngstown-area Democrat whose district includes the factory, has been the de facto leader of pushing the Lordstown issue among the presidential candidates. Former U.S. Rep. Beto ORourke of Texas also made an impromptu stop and spoke with Green during his March visit to Northeast Ohio. Sanders visit comes days after he proposed a national ban on so-called right-to-work legislation laws aimed at weakening collective bargaining by eliminating union dues for nonmembers who benefit from negotiations and the introduction of his latest bill in Congress for universal health care. Sanders finds himself occupying unfamiliar, but welcome, territory at the moment: front-runner of the Democratic primary. While he proved popular in the 2016 election, he never once led eventual nominee Hillary Clinton in delegates, including losing the Ohio primary. An $18 million haul in the first fundraising quarter, higher name recognition than almost every other candidate and serious miscues by and intensified scrutiny of former Vice President Joe Biden have left Sanders atop the crowded field. by Melani Manel Perera In the village of Siyambalanduwa, the church has been closed for years due to the opposition of Buddhist monks. The protests have also prevented catechism lessons. Alocious, 94, the first Catholic in the settlement, prays every day: Please Lord, bring back our church to us." Monaragala (AsiaNews) For years, Catholics in Siyambalanduwa have celebrated Mass outdoors, under a tamarind tree. They have been unable to use their church because of opposition by local Buddhists; yet, they still dream the day they will get their place of worship back. About 30 Catholics live in the village, which is part of Monaragala parish. The main church is 37 km away. One of catholic residents is Alocious, 94-year-old Catholic man in a wheelchair. "My greatest wish before dying is to attend Mass inside the church again and resume catechism classes, he said. I pray every day: Please Lord, bring back our church to us. Last Sunday, Fr Sunil Wijerathna, parish priest in Monaragala, travelled to the village to celebrate the Mass. Most residents in Siyambalanduwa are Buddhist, but some Catholic and other Christian families live in the village. Alocious was the first Catholic to settle there, married to a Buddhist. "My children follow the religion of their mother. I always pray to God to give us consolation. Fr Sunil explains that Catholics can no longer use the local church due to opposition from Buddhist monks and believers. The Catholic community has never suffered material attacks, but it is the victim of constant discrimination by the majority. Anthony Fernando, a village official, said that between 2011 and 2016, Buddhists organised various protests against catechism lessons and the kindergarten, waving flags and banners. During one protest, they burnt the cross on the church facade (pictured). "We do not want any conflict with Buddhists or the members of other religions, said Anthony Perera, another Catholic. We only want our church, catechism and kindergarten. We are sure that we will get our church back and get back to worshipping. Enjoy a World of Fun at Spring Carnival April 10, 2019 Carnegie Mellon University's annual Spring Carnival is showing how easy it is to be green and have fun with this year's theme of "Planet Earth." The opening ceremony, which will take place at 3 p.m. Thursday, April 11, on the Midway will include remarks by CMU President Farnam Jahanian, Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Gina Casalegno, and Spring Carnival Co-Chairs Hannah Koschmeder and Stephen Clark. The CMU Pipe & Drum and Kiltie bands will perform. The multi-story booths have been built around the "Planet Earth" theme and include interactive games and elaborate decorations. More than 19 student organizations have built booths, including "The Lion King," "The World Wide Web" and "The Jungle Book." A proud CMU tradition since Spring Carnival 1920, this year's Sweepstakes Buggy Races will kick off at 8 a.m. on Friday, April 12. Before the races, participating teams will display their latest designs at the Buggy Showcase from noon - 2 p.m. on Thursday in the Cohon University Center's Wiegand Gym. Amy Chen, a senior in psychology, is a driver for Fringe, which is celebrating its 50th year of racing, whose members recently talked about the Buggy experience. "Being a driver is really fun," Chen said. "I love going fast and going around the course." This year's carnival will run concurrently to Reunion Weekend, which features the 1st, 5th, 10th, 25th and 50th reunions for the undergraduate classes of 2018, 2014, 2009, 1994 and 1969. Students have stepped up activities this year to include a new ride built by students in Skibo Gym as an homage to the former Old Mill ride at Kennywood Park. "The Old Mill is a love letter to old traditional dark rides," said Roly Garcia, the project director for The Old Mill Ride and a junior information systems major. Architecture students are reaching new heights with the entrance way to Carnival. "To have this project go from an idea to an actualization is priceless," said Ghalya Alsanea, a fourth-year architecture student. "The archway was created to be sustainable. It can be disassembled and reassembled to be reused later on. The pieces can be used to create tables or chairs." The School of Architecture is honoring the achievements of retiring professors Omer Akin and Volker Hartkopf at a 4 p.m. celebration. on Saturday, April 13. The Tartan Tuba Band will be hosting a sing-a-long as they play some of Queen's greatest hits at TuBahemian Rhapsoday at 5 p.m. on Thursday at the Midway Stage. Mobot is Carnegie Mellon's beloved abbreviation of mobile robots. This year is the 25th anniversary of the Mobot Races, in which participants race their mobots along a slalom-type course on the sidewalk in front of Wean Hall. The Mobot Races will take place at noon on Friday with the award ceremony following at 3 p.m. in Rashid Auditorium. Tents on the Midway are open to everyone and are filled with activities, demonstrations and more. In the Wellness Tent activities include pet therapy, music and massages. The activities tent will have caricature and balloon artists and Super Anthony Fighting Robots. Jimmy O. Yang with Julia Shiplett will take the stage for the sold-out Carnival Comedy Show on Thursday, and DRAM with Special Guest Vanic will perform on Saturday. Tartans Got Talent, a talent show will be back for a second year. The show will take place from 8-10:30 p.m. on Friday at the Midway Stage. Deans from CMU's Pittsburgh campus and Provost Jim Garrett will be getting soaked starting at noon on Friday, April 12 on the Cut during "Douse-a-Dean," an annual tradition that supports Special Olympics of Pennsylvania. "With the dean's ability to raise funds within their own schools and programs and the good-natured competition that's developed between the deans to see who can raise the most money, the fund raising has gone through the roof," said Lt. Joe Meyers of the Carnegie Mellon University Police Department. "Last year, the deans, by themselves, raised over $15,000 for Special Olympics." See the full schedule on the Alumni Association website or download the CMU Event app. It's too early to make a bet on Zillow and its fledgling home-flipping business even under new management led by co-founder Rich Barton, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Tuesday. The online real estate marketplace expects core business revenue to grow 56% within the next five years, but their cash-burning plan to buy and sell homes could take just as long to realize $20 billion in annualized revenue. Cramer thinks that's too long to wait and see if the program will work. "I liked the old Zillow, even if it was slowing down a bit, as it was a lot less risky," the "Mad Money" host said. "I'm not yet sold on the new Zillow, even with a much better class of CEO." Barton returned to Zillow as CEO after co-founder Spencer Rascoff stepped down in February after 10 years in the role. Zillow announced the home-flipping concept nearly a year ago and the stock has taken a number of tumbles since. The company wants to buy 5,000 homes a month, which could be an expensive endeavor, Cramer said. Zillow, which has dominated its industry, faces further pressures because its core business is not growing as fast as it once did, he added. Cramer thinks the pivot to investing in houses was ill-advised, citing British investment bank Barclays' downgrade of the stock from hold to sell last month. On Monday, the American investment bank Cowen upgraded the security from market perform to outperform, throwing its faith behind the new leadership. But Cramer said it will be a wait-and-see gamble. "Maybe Rich Barton can orchestrate a phenomenal turnaround at Zillow," Carmer said. "I'm glad he's running things again. But I think this headlong rush into the house-flipping business could prove to be very risky and, even if it works, there will absolutely be some brutal speedbumps along the way." In October, Cramer said the new venture is not what Zillow's shareholders signed up for. "Investors ... don't want an interest-rate-sensitive company that owns homes; they bought Zillow because it's a high-margin, asset-light online real estate play with a fabulous multi-year growth story," he said then. In February, RBC Capital Markets' internet analyst Mark Mahaney said Barton, who was behind the launches of Expedia and Glassdoor, is the right choice to get the job done. But his firm also thinks it's a risky move. "It's just, it is a big swing, it's a big risk," Mahaney told CNBC. "I want to see him bring his magic back to the company before we get constructive on the shares." Zillow's shares are up more than 16% in 2019, but is down nearly 30% since this point last year. The stock dipped 1.19% Tuesday. Thomas Barwick | Stone | Getty Images Gender diversity training programs have become almost as common as Ping-Pong tables and free snacks at tech offices. A recent report from AnitaB.org, formerly known as the Anita Borg Institute, found that 8 in 10 tech companies offer formal gender diversity training programs, a number that's been increasing steadily upward for the last three years. Amid the #TimesUp and #MeToo movements, companies are facing a rising wave of criticism from investors, employees and the public to address the issue. Plus, now that the talent war is so fierce, companies are prioritizing this issue. They want to cast a wide net so they can attract employees of all backgrounds. They can no longer afford to keep a culture that isn't all inclusive. The trend toward more training belies a growing body of research showing that such programs often don't work. Still, tech companies and experts say there are benefits to diversity training, and robust programs that compliment other diversity and inclusion initiatives can truly benefit a company. At the same time, companies realize they have to move the needle and spark change. Statistics tell the story. Companies are less likely to hire women than men for entry-level jobs, even though women are more likely to hold a college degree. The disparities continue as they move through their careers. For every 100 men promoted to a manager role, only 79 women are promoted, according to research by McKinsey and LeanIn.org. If companies continue to promote and hire at current levels, the number of women in management would increase by only 1 percent over the next 10 years. More from At Work: IBM artificial intelligence can predict which workers are about to quit Basecamp CEO Jason Fried: 'One of tech's worst inventions is the shared calendar' "You need a systemic, sustainable approach," says Sara Taylor, president and founder of deepSEE Consulting, which provides diversity and inclusion training for organizations. "Check-the-box training is not going to make a difference." For this to work, the corporate culture has to be one that is committed to inclusion, according to Diane Gherson, senior vice president of human resources at IBM. As she explains, IBM chair, CEO and president Ginni Rometty "is leading a movement to develop a diverse workforce worldwide." This year the CEO instituted worldwide inclusion standards requiring all of the company's 350,000 employees to adhere to. On the gender front, Gherson notes that there are now 50,000 female engineers in the IBM workforce. Moving the needle is not easy, but crucial. Nearly half of millennials want to work at diverse companies, a 2017 research report by the Institute for Public Relations revealed. But efforts to boost diversity at organizations have been slow at best. Women still hold fewer than a third of all tech jobs, reports PayScale. Once in tech jobs, women are less likely than men to be promoted and more likely to switch industries. Gender diversity training is aimed at stanching those losses, with specific programming intended to help all workers understand the value of gender diversity and reduce the barriers to gender-inclusive teams. The training itself can take myriad forms, from one-time online training sessions to ongoing, more holistic programs. As they attempt to make their training more effective, tech companies are increasingly moving toward the latter. A sense of belonging It's easy to understand why. The sector has drawn criticism for a lack of female representation at all levels. As companies focus on hiring more women, diversity training will make them feel they belong in the workplace and ensure they are promoted at the same rate as men, experts say. The most effective diversity training takes a more intersectional approach, offering training that aims to make all underrepresented groups feel comfortable, beyond just women. "Aggressive recruiting goals don't matter much if the people you hire don't feel represented and supported," says Square spokeswoman Samantha Verdile. At Square the company has a variety of training initiatives, including voluntary "Interrupting Bias" training, which offers participants tools to spot and cut off bias as they see it happening in real time. The organization has also developed an "inclusion playbook," which provides research-backed tools that leaders can implement as needed on their teams. Leaders might be coached to ask for initial input on a project via a shared document rather than in a group meeting, for example, to allow for input from voices that may not be the loudest or strongest. Or they might try keeping a log of who they're spending time with during work to see whether some direct reports are consistently getting more or less time than others. Making such training voluntary is key to its success, Taylor says. "Everyone from rank-and-file employees through senior leadership should go through the training, but you don't want folks to feel like it's being pushed on them," she says. "When employees feel as though they have to go, rather than that they want to go, they don't take it in." Instead of making training mandatory on a set time and day, companies should incentivize employees by providing different training options and making additional leadership opportunities available to those that have completed the training, Taylor says. For example, a company might say that 25 percent of the members of a hiring panel this year need to have completed gender diversity training, Taylor says. That number might go up to 75 percent by next year and 100 percent in three years. The company's not requiring that employees take the training, but those who want to be on the hiring panel will choose to do so. Everyone from rank-and-file employees through senior leadership should go through the training, but you don't want folks to feel like it's being pushed on them. Sara Taylor president and founder of deepSEE Consulting It's also important to make sure that the company's leadership is sharing the value of the training and discussing their experience going through it. That's been working at PayPal, where the organization is having all of its 18,700 employees participate in its "conscious inclusion" training this year but opted not to dictate when individual employees participate. The training aims to help employees understand how different identities shape the way they interact with the world and how they can change those interactions to be more inclusive. Participants share personal stories and insights, and trained facilitators hired by PayPal help to promote conversation and talk about areas for improvement. As employees take part in the 90-minute training, they've been discussing their experiences with colleagues, prompting them to sign up as well. "We wanted to change the approach so that people felt like they wanted to do it," says Louise Pentland, the company's executive vice president and chief business affairs and legal officer. "It becomes a little bit viral." The training itself takes place in a live small-group environment of just 30 people. The company opted for that setting in an effort to make participants feel more comfortable to engage and speak freely. 'You have to invest in this forever' U.S. Attorney General William Barr arrives to testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on April 10, 2019 in Washington, DC. "I'm not suggesting that those rules were violated, but I think it's important to look at that. And I'm not talking about the FBI, necessarily, but intelligence agencies more broadly," Barr said. "I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal," Barr said in testimony during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee's hearing on the Trump administration's fiscal 2020 budget proposal. Barr has come under fire by Democrats for his handling of the yet-to-be-released, 400-page final report from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian election interference. He told lawmakers that he believes U.S. government agencies spied on the Trump campaign. Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday confirmed that his Justice Department will be reviewing the origins and the methods of investigations into then-candidate Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Many Republicans on Capitol Hill, especially those closely allied with Trump, have called for an investigation into the beginnings of the government's Russia probes throughout Mueller's 22-month probe into Kremlin interference in the 2016 election, potential Russian collusion with Trump's campaign and possible obstruction of justice by Trump. Their calls have grown louder in the wake of Barr's summary of the principal conclusions from Mueller's yet-to-be-released report, in which Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded that the special counsel did not find sufficient evidence to merit an obstruction charge. Bar told a House subcommittee Tuesday that he expected that a version of the Mueller report with redactions would be out "within a week." On Wednesday, however, Barr told the Senate panel that "the report's gonna be out next week." Barr acknowledged that much investigation on this topic has already taken place, and that the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General is still investigating the matter. He explained that his probe would take a holistic look at the investigations, both from government agencies and congressional committees. "One of the things I want to do is pull together all the information from the various investigations that have gone on, including on the Hill and in the department, and see if there are any remaining questions to be addressed," Barr said. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., the subcommittee's ranking member, asked Barr to explain why he was taking this action. "I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal. It's a big deal," he said, adding that the Vietnam War generation in which he grew up was very concerned about spying on antiwar Americans by the government. Shaheen asked Barr to clarify that "you're not suggesting, though, that spying occurred" within the Trump campaign. Barr responded: "I think spying did occur." The most important question, he added, is "whether it was ... adequately predicated. I'm not saying it wasn't adequately predicated, but I need to explore that." Trump, speaking to reporters Wednesday morning before Barr's testimony began, blasted Mueller's probe, referring to it as an "attempted takedown of a president." "What they did was treason," Trump added. Barr swapped out the term "spying" for "unauthorized surveillance" when Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, asked the attorney general if he wanted to use more precise language. "I think the word 'spying' could cause everybody in the cable news ecosystem to freak out," Schatz said. Other Democratic lawmakers offered more direct criticism of Barr's testimony. "The top law enforcement officer of the country should not casually suggest that those under his purview engaged in 'spying' on a political campaign," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in a statement. "This type of partisan talking point may please Donald Trump, who rails against a 'deep state coup,' but it also strikes another destructive blow to our democratic institutions," Schiff added. "The hardworking men and women at the DOJ and FBI deserve better." Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., called Barr's language "irresponsible" in a tweet. Warner TWEET At the tail end of the hearing, Barr clarified: "I am not saying that improper surveillance occurred. I'm saying that I am concerned about it and looking into it. That's all." An Australian start-up that develops robots which use artificial intelligence is hoping to soon sell its technology to the wider market. The company, called Agerris, specializes in both "air and ground field robotic systems" for agriculture. It uses tech that has been developed at the University of Sydney's Australian Center for Field Robotics. Earlier this week, Agerris secured 6.5 million Australian dollars ($4.64 million) in funding in the hope of developing and trialing products that can then be commercialized. Early stage investment fund Uniseed said the money would be used to commercialize "robotics platforms, intelligent automated tools and artificial intelligence" with the aim of boosting agricultural productivity and sustainability. Uniseed, together with Carthona Capital and the BridgeLane Group, co-ordinated the investment. "Farmers worldwide will need to increase production through enhancing agricultural productivity, yet many often struggle to afford the best customized advice for their farm, leading to sub-optimal yields and efficiencies from their crops," the CEO of Agerris, Salah Sukkarieh, said in a statement issued on the University of Sydney's website. Sukkarieh explained that livestock farmers were facing a range of "competing and complex issues," citing the example of high labor and fuel costs and concerns surrounding animal welfare and mismanagement. "Our platforms help to mitigate these challenges and help increase productivity by giving farmers smart precision farming approaches, made possible through our advances in sensor technology and farming automation," he added. "At the same time, our technology also enhances animal welfare and environmental sustainability." One of Agerris' platforms is called Swagbot. An autonomous, ground-based vehicle, it uses onboard AI and other intelligent tools to undertake tasks such as identifying and eradicating weeds and monitoring pasture. It also has the capacity to herd livestock, and will be able to monitor the welfare of animals. Technology is driving change across the agriculture sector. At the end of March 2019, fruit grower T&G Global announced that robotic harvesters were being used to carry out a commercial apple harvest in New Zealand. The automated apple-picking robots have been developed by Abundant Robotics, a California-based technology firm. "Developing an automated apple harvester requires solving a number of complex technical problems in parallel, from visually identifying harvestable fruit and physically manipulating it to pick without bruising, to safely navigating the orchard itself," Dan Steere, the CEO of Abundant Robotics, said at the time. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. Apple is on an incredible run. The stock has soared nearly 30 percent this year, gaining $200 billion in market cap in that time. Shares of the tech giant closed slightly lower on Tuesday, snapping nine straight days of gains and breaking what would have otherwise been its longest daily winning streak in more than eight years. In Wednesday's premarket the stock was down nearly 1%. Tuesday's decline notwithstanding, Apple has bounced back since its steep slide at the end of 2018. Shares of the tech giant have gained 26% this year, outpacing the tech sector and the broader market, which are up 22% and 15%, respectively. Some strategists including Miller Tabak's Matt Maley say the stock may have run too far, too fast. He believes a pullback would be healthy, and that investors should use any upcoming dips as buying opportunities. "On a near-term basis, it could be getting ready for a pullback," he said Tuesday on CNBC's "Trading Nation." "If you look at its RSI chart it's getting overbought." The relative strength index, or RSI, is a momentum indicator that technicians use to evaluate overbought and oversold conditions in a stock. And given Apple's 40% bounce from its Jan. 3 low, Maley argues that the stock is overbought. Maley also notes that based on the chart's pattern, the stock may soon take a breather. Looking at performance from the late 1990s to the present, he points out that each time the stock has had a sharp move higher like this year there's been a subsequent pullback. But he believes any dip will be short lived, and he remains bullish on the long-term trajectory. "I think ... people who like the stock might want to look to buy it on its next dip rather than chase it at these levels, but long term, the stock looks great," he said. Last month, Apple announced three new subscription services, including a TV service, gaming bundle and all-you-can-read magazine subscription. The company also said it will release its own credit card Apple Card in partnership with Goldman Sachs. Strategic Wealth Partners' Mark Tepper believes the company's shift to more of a services-focused business will continue to drive the stock higher. "We are bullish now that they're transitioning to services and wearables. What we're really seeing is analysts are finally beginning to apply different multiples to their different business lines, which is good. Investors now have an opportunity to get in close to the ground floor on that transition," he said on "Trading Nation." He wasn't always a believer, noting that he was bearish on the stock last year when the company warned about slowing iPhone sales. But now he thinks the stock is a name to own for the long term, since it now appeals to value investors and GARP (growth at a reasonable price) investors, meaning "the sandbox is twice as big." "Sentiment on the Street has never been more negative on Apple. It's typically a consensus buy, and right now it's 50-50. And as soon as the Street flips, the stock's going to soar, so we do like it," he said. Disclosure: Strategic Wealth Partners owns shares of Apple. A woman is seen shopping on ASOS the online fashion store on a laptop. British online fashion retailer ASOS on Wednesday reported an 87 percent drop in first-half pretax profit, hurt by poor trading in the run-up to Christmas and logistical hiccups as it entered the U.S. market. The company stuck to its guidance for sales, profit margins and capital expenditure for the full year as it invests heavily in its technology platforms and infrastructure such as warehouses and distribution centres. "ASOS is capable of a lot more," said Chief Executive Officer Nick Beighton in a statement. "We have identified a number of things we can do better and are taking action accordingly." Profitability fell over the first half due to discounting at the retailer, which sells own-label and branded fashion to a young client base through its website and app, but improved in the second quarter. Changing shopping habits and uncertainty over Britain's exit from the European Union have led to heavy promotional activity among retailers in Britain, which accounts for less than a third of sales at ASOS. ASOS's new U.S warehouse has struggled to cope with demand, hitting sales there and adding to challenges in France and Germany. The company issued a shock profit warning in December which sent its shares plummeting to a four-year low. Pretax profit for the six months through February came in at 4 million pounds ($5.2 million) on sales up 14 percent to 1.31 billion pounds. This was in line with analysts' expectations. ASOS maintained its full-year guidance for 15 percent sales growth and a 2 percent profit margin at the level of earnings before interest and tax (EBIT). European leaders will decide on Wednesday whether to grant the U.K. another extension to its departure from the bloc, due to take place on Friday April 12. The EU's 28 leaders, including British Prime Minister Theresa May, are heading to Brussels for an emergency summit dedicated to Brexit. This after May asked the bloc for a second delay to the U.K.'s departure. The summit begins at 17:00 London time and May will formally present her case for requesting a short delay to Brexit until June 30, asking for the option to leave if a deal is agreed by the U.K. Parliament before then. It's widely expected that the U.K. will be granted a longer, flexible extension with conditions attached, however, according to an invitation letter sent to EU leaders by European Council President Donald Tusk on Tuesday. "I believe we should also discuss an alternative, longer extension. One possibility would be a flexible extension, which would last only as long as necessary and no longer than one year," Tusk said in his letter. He called for a longer delay to avoid "the risk of a rolling series of short extensions and emergency summits, creating new cliff-edge dates." Conditions that the U.K. could have to abide by, Tusk noted, would include no re-opening of negotiations over the withdrawal agreement (the Brexit deal) on offer. The U.K. could leave earlier than a newly agreed departure date if a deal is in place and Tusk reiterated that the U.K. could revoke Article 50 (the departure process) at any time. A draft EU document circulated to diplomats ahead of the emergency meeting of EU leaders proposes an extension but leaves the date blank. It also notes that an extension cannot be used to undermine the EU or to start trade talks. BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - APRIL 10: Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May arrives ahead of a European Council meeting on Brexit at The Europa Building, The European Parliament on April 10, 2019 in Brussels, Belgium. Theresa May formally presents her case to the European Union for a short delay to Brexit until 30 June 2019. The other EU leaders will then then discuss how to respond at a dinner without her. (Photo by Thierry Monasse/Getty Images) Thierry Monasse | Getty Images News | Getty Images EU leaders are gathered in Brussels to decide whether to grant the U.K. another extension to its departure from the bloc, currently due to take place on Friday. According to a draft document seen by CNBC, British Prime Minister Theresa May is set to get a second delay to the U.K.'s departure from the EU. However, it's uncertain at this stage how long this extension will last and which conditions will be imposed. Several EU leaders arriving in Brussels Wednesday said that they would prefer a short delay, but the most important issue was to avoid an abrupt break-up between both sides of the English Channel. Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, told CNBC that the conditions behind a second delay will depend on what May tells her 27 counterparts. "What's your (U.K.) plan?... How can we ensure that the U.K. will be a loyal partner?" he asked. The U.K. was meant to leave the Union on March 29, but May decided to request an extension a week prior to that given that she did not get enough backing for the deal that she negotiated on with the rest of the EU. At a summit in late March, the 27 EU leaders agreed to give an extension until April 12 or May 22, depending on whether May found the approval needed for her agreement. There are growing concerns that if the U.K. is allowed to remain in the club for longer, it will interfere with critical European decisions, including on the next European budget. There's also frustration in European circles on the lengthy process of Britain leaving the EU. "I hope we are not going to have a meeting every week about Brexit," Xavier Bettel, the Luxembourg prime minister, told CNBC Wednesday. If European leaders do not approve an extension Wednesday night, the U.K. will leave the EU without a deal, bringing huge uncertainty to businesses and citizens. However, even in the case of a second delay, this possibility cannot be ruled out at a later stage. "We never can exclude anything here," Bettel said, when asked about a no-deal Brexit. How long? Below are excerpts from a CNBC interview with Germany's Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and CNBC's Annette Weisbach. AW: Thank you very much for agreeing to speak to us today. Let us preview the IMF meeting and your topics in Washington. What's on top of the agenda there? OS: We will discuss about the slower growth which we see all over the world and we have to understand what is the necessities we should do for getting into a better situation. Anyone knows that one of the main questions is to avoid that there is a political impact that is increasing uncertainty and if we would be successful with this, especially in trade questions, that will help a lot. It's also a question that anyone is waiting how Brexit will, will happen and anyone is hoping that this will be an agreed alternative with the outcome, with an outcome that is better for the people and for the economy. On the other hand there are a lot of questions that should be solved in the future. One is how we tackle the question of tax avoidance and what we can do to get a better situation. Many corporates use the opportunities they have from the digitalization of of the economy and the more virtual world which is linked to that and use the opportunity to pay no taxes or nearly no tax anywhere and it is necessary that we get some agreement so we can avoid this and we get something which is minimum taxation. There is a good discussion among the IMF and the OECD, the G7 and the G20, and I think it's necessary that we get great progress this year. AW: Let me pick on your comments about the cooling of the economy. It's also called synchronised downturn what would you suggest is a good countermeasure against that downturn we are seeing? OS: We have slower growth, this is something different to a downturn. So we have not a situation which could be called a recession and some of the perspectives we have for the second half of this year and the next year are quite optimistic about further development. But it's obvious that the biggest problem for the world economy today is the uncertainty coming from political difficulties which are on the table. One of the questions is the trade tensions between the United States and China, another one is the possible trade difficulties or debates between the United States and Europe. Though I hope we will have a very good and consensus oriented way to deal with the questions which are to be solved. And there is the question which is linked to the Brexit and some other problems we have in the world. And so it is up to us as the leaders in all the different governments of the world to produce a situation where the economy and the citizens can do their things without being bothered by all the things that are coming from the political scenery. AW: Let us talk about the potential trade tensions between Europe and the United States. We just heard that the U.S. is threatening tariffs on various products coming from Europe. What should the European response be? OS: I'm confident that we'll have a chance for a good debate between the United States and Europe and that we won't have difficulties coming from tariffs and things like that. So it is necessary to find an agenda where we could start talks about all the different questions that would be solved. And as I already said I'm confident that this is feasible. What anyone is to understand is that there is a European economy. It is more and more difficult to differentiate between the German and the French and the Spanish and the Portuguese and the Czech or the Polish economy. We are combined in a single market and this has a lot of outcomes. For instance, many of the corporates active in Europe are producing at several places and that they build new plants all over Europe. So it is really a European economy, it is becoming more and more important to understand this and this is why it's very good that the discussion about the further relations between the United States and the European Union are on this level between the European Commission and the American government. And my view is that we should find a solution because we have a lot of things in common, especially being a democratic state and this is something which always should be in mind when we discuss questions which are just economic ones. AW: You are referring also to the technology companies, some of which are not paying taxes, or not enough taxes in the European Union. Are you alluding to the fact that we should get a bit tougher on them in Europe so that they also have to pay their taxes properly here? OS: My biggest concern with the tech companies is that they tend to pay taxes nowhere. So it is a global question and I see very much that there is a common approach between the United States for instance and Germany and Europe discussing about minimum taxation. If you look at the details of the corporate tax reform the American Congress passed the last time it is about fighting against tax avoidance as well and implementing something which is a system of minimum taxation. And I think we should find a global agreement on that question. This will help a lot. On the other hand we should find a solution for the question how to deal with the fact that many of the tech companies are not really producing at many places in the world and that our system of tax, and taxing, is really very much related to the place of production and how we can get an outcome that they are also paying taxes somewhere and possibly that all the countries where they have profits are participating in that. But the main question still is in the end that they pay their, that they pay their fair tax which anyone else is doing. The citizens, the smaller, bigger corporates which are in the traditional fields. AW: There's also a kind of a change of thinking when it comes to competition policy when we're talking about these big technology firms -- the tech firms -- do you think there is, or would you support a case to sort of break them up eventually? If they are getting too big or too powerful like Amazon and Facebook? OS: At this stage we are discussing about regulation and we have a lot of regulation about how to use the street, about insurances, about all the fields of life. And it is necessary because otherwise good business competition cannot happen. And if you look at the fields of the new technologies and tech companies we see that there is not always really a regulation which is done by Democratic states and parliaments. And I think this should be the next step that we understand how, for instance, we can do something about privacy. How we can make sure that there is enough competition -- that new companies have a chance to be real competitors to those that are already in the market. And there are a lot of problems and we should start to solve them. AW: Let's talk about Brexit. In your opinion, what's the scenario, how will the Brexit saga eventually end? OS: I'm still confident that there will be majority in the Parliament for agreeing to the treaty between the European Union and the United Kingdom. I'm really happy that now they're started a debate between majority and minority between Tories and Labour and the British Parliament. Coming from a tradition of having a bipartisan agreement, tradition in Germany I'd say this should happen in questions of national importance. And so it would be very good for the United Kingdom, it would be good for the citizens of the United Kingdom, and for all of us in Europe if we could get an agreement with the European Union and the UK. AW: Would you support any reopening of that deal which Theresa May has with the European Union? Because there are MPs in Parliament calling for a reopening. OS: The main question now is to get an agreement within the parliament. And we are all following this debate. I'm still a big fan of the tradition of pragmatism in Great Britain -- this works for centuries, something which was relevant for the parliament as well. And I'm sure that this tradition will be the basis for a solution. AW: Do you think Brexit uncertainty is already weighing on economic activity on the continent? OS: So far we cannot see that there is a big impact on the economic development in Europe are coming from the ongoing debate about Brexit. We are well prepared for both, an agreement and a Brexit without an agreement, but anyone knows that it would be better to have something which is a deal. And so we are still hoping for an outcome that makes this feasible. AW: Let's move onto the European elections. It's quite likely that populist parties will be represented quite a bit more than before. Do you think that it could actually hamper any progress on European reforms like the European banking union? Is that a concern to you? OS: Looking at the European elections I hope that many people are aware of the need for progress in Europe. And since this is now a question which is top one in the TV broadcasting and all the newspapers and the radio stations and in the internet I'm sure that there will be a bigger participation in European elections than we had in the years before. And this really will help the Democratic parties and the different competitors of this field to be successful. And I think it's also a very good development that like in the last election there will be candidates for running for being the president of the European Union because this is a way of democratization -- all the citizens know that with their vote they influence who will be the next president. This is a chance for democracy. I'm quite optimistic about banking union. We made a lot of progress especially in the last year. We prepared a lot of decisions which will make it more easy to get the last steps. My view is that this is already a fixed built house. We are just working on the roof. AW: Good luck with that. I think the common deposit scheme will be an interesting one, especially the German side didn't really want to agree to it. Is there movement on it? OS: We have decided about a lot of progress in the last year as I already said. For instance we decided that there should be more eligible capital and all the banks. That we have a common aim of reducing non-performing loans. That we are getting better and tougher supervision how to deal with new non-performing loans and that we will have a backstop after the SSM which will give us the opportunity to deal with even the crisis of a big bank which gives a lot of stability to the banking system in Europe. And what people do now is to discuss about the further developments, the roof of the house. And I think it will take some time. There will be progress in the next one or two years and the needs for that are very clear. We must understand the whole scenario and we should look to other countries who have a big banking union, like for instance the United States and we should try to learn from them. Possibly this will give us new solutions to our minds, and we will find a solution which is not right at the special topics which were on the agenda in the last years but it might help us to be more successful than in the past. AW: A lot of people are also talking about who is going to head up the new Commission, because that kind of also determines who might be the next ECB President. So there is reportedly interest from France to head up the Commission. Is that something also that you are hearing? OS: We now have democratic elections and there are frontrunners and they are running for becoming the President. As you might understand being from the Social Democratic Party I'm very much in favor of Frans Timmermans. AW: If it's Frans Timmermans, then there is room for say Weidmann being the frontrunner for the ECB -- would you support that? OS: I think about the question who will follow Mr Draghi we will start to debate in summer this year, not earlier. AW: OK, let us move on to the difficult topic of banks in Germany. We currently are undergoing a potential revolution of the banking industry with merger talks between Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank. In Frankfurt, the narrative is very much so that Berlin has triggered these talks. Why? Is that also your perception? OS: There are debates between banks and it is their case to find a solution. AW: But given the potential amount of job cuts which could emerge, which could be triggered by the merger, is that not difficult? OS: There is nothing new to add to all the things that are already said. And it is a question between private companies and we are not yet in this situation to comment on that. AW: OK just one last question on that topic because UniCredit is said to be interested in Commerzbank and there are rumours that actually this could not be backed by Germany because it's an Italian bank. Is that something that would be a concern to you a cross-border merger? OS: I think I could always repeat what I already said. AW: Let's move on to Germany. Recent economic data in Germany was poor. Export data is showing us that the weakness we are seeing was not just a soft patch but it's clearly a prolonged weakness. Would you consider any fiscal stimulus to actually spur the economy to boost the economy? OS: The situation in Germany is very similar to the global development and this is not that surprising since Germany is one of the countries which is very much active on the global market as importer and exporter. And there a lot of companies even Middelstand companies that are active in the global market and the world market. I think it is absolutely clear that if there is a slower growth worldwide we will also see it also in Germany. On the other hand we have a very special situation and the labour market is doing well. We have the highest employment rates and the highest number of people employed since decades. So it's a very good situation. And all the forecasts we have say us that there will be more people employed in this year or the next year. So this is not a bad situation and we should not have a wrong judgment about the situation. It is just slower growth and the expectation is that this will be will change in the end of this year and beginning of next year that we will not just have more people employed but also better growth. And this must also come from some of the decisions that have been done in Germany and in Europe. For instance, the Government's decision to go out of the use of coal for producing electricity and heating within 20 years will have the outcome of big investments in the private sector for full force strength and great electricity and gas and for building new capacities for producing electricity. This will have also an impact on the economic development. And this is the same coming from the decision of the European Union about the CO2 pollution that is allowed coming from the CO2 emissions coming from cars and trucks. My view is that it will be billions that will be now spent by the big corporates and the car industry not just in Germany but especially in Germany for being the leaders in the electromobility and plug in hybrid production which will change the scenario in Europe, absolutely. Which will also have an impact on growth because all these investments will have effects on the economy. AW: Yes that's completely right I guess. But the other side of the matter is also that the mass market for those electrified cars it's kind of hard to envision that it will work in a short time given the higher price of cars. So if you look for example at Norway they have a lot of incentives in place for electrified cars and this is working. So do you think that is a good idea also for Germany to have much more incentives to buy into it? OS: We have a lot of incentives for buying electrified cars. I think they will be more important in the future especially because there is the European regulation and the car manufacturers will have to avoid a situation where they have to pay extra penalties because they are not, they are missing the aims which are laid down. And on the other hand we will have some new incentives and I proposed that we will support all those who are buying cars by corporates because the majority of the new bought cars are bought not by private buyers but by companies, corporates. This will change the fleet and this will also help the big car industry players that they are successful with their electrification strategy and so we have a European market which is producing the need for electrified cars and we will have a world market for that. And I think we are now at the stage where the corporates where the companies are deciding that they would meet the challenge. AW: We live in a very interesting time in industrial policy by nation states is back in full force. So what's your idea would you support an organized industrial policy for Germany as well? OS: Discussing about industrial policy is an advantage. I urged the debate in my country to go on that question but to my view it is not just thinking about state aid, it's more thinking about how we understand the development of industries and what we can do to make their business more successful. And this is not just for big corporates it's also for small and medium sized companies and their expectations. We should understand what is the need coming from industrialization. What will be the new technological developments. What can we do that those who are willing to be the front runners could be successful and if we have the right and good understanding we will be more effective without political strategies. AW: My last question. Are you worried Germany runs the risk of running behind in the global economy? OS: I think that Germany has a very good mix which will be important in the global economy even in the future. The manufacturers are really successful and they are selling all the things they produce and they are very successful also in remodeling their goods and their production into what is called the Internet of Things. And so this is a combination of digitisation and of industry and so there is a good chance for being successful. I'm really optimistic looking at the future of what is here and understanding the development of the economy of Europe and Germany. AW: Thank you very much. ENDS For more information, contact: Jonathan Millman - jonathan.millman@cnbc.com / +44 (0)7788 307 996 About CNBC CNBC is the leading global broadcaster of live business and financial news and information, reporting directly from the major financial markets around the globe with regional headquarters Singapore, Abu Dhabi, London, and New York. The TV channel is available in more than 415 million homes worldwide. CNBC.com is the preeminent financial news source on the web, featuring an unprecedented amount of video, real-time market analysis, web-exclusive live video and analytical financial tools. CNBC is a division of NBCUniversal. For more information, visit www.cnbc.com. A homeless man, takes down tarps he had used to protect his possessions during an El Nino driven storm in San Francisco, California. The estimated cost to end homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area is $12.7 billion and additional billions annually to fund ongoing services to the needy, according to a report released Wednesday. "By virtually every measure, the Bay Area's homeless crisis ranks among the worst in the United States," said a report released by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, a think tank focused on policy issues. California's nine-county Bay Area from Sonoma in the north to Santa Clara in the south has roughly 28,200 people experiencing homelessness, ranking it third nationally after New York and Los Angeles, respectively, according to the report. It estimated the average per unit cost of housing each homeless person in the Bay Area region at $450,000 but also noted that housing costs in San Francisco are more than $700,000 per unit when land is factored in. Using the $450,000 per unit cost of Bay Area housing, the report estimates it would cost $12.7 billion "to end homelessness under current methods of building and providing services." It also said providing services at about $25,000 per person annually to half of the region's homeless population over 10 years would require another $3.5 billion. "The real issue is there's not enough affordable housing," said Nan Roman, president and CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group. "And rents for modest apartments have increased much faster than low-income people's incomes have gone up." A Zillow Research study released in December that found when people spend more than 32% of their income on housing costs there's "a more rapid increase in homelessness." In sky-high-rent areas such as San Francisco, the median is 39% and sections of Silicon Valley over 35%. "Even the affordable, subsidized housing that does exist in the region is often inaccessible to many who need and qualify for it," said the Bay Area Council's report. "A tight rental market also means that landlords can be more selective in choosing their tenants, so that even with a [federal] voucher in hand, many will not be able to find a landlord willing to rent to them on the private market." According to the report, the Bay Area needs to do more to grow its overall housing supply for extremely low-income households and to enhance diversion programs that prevent homelessness. "Despite a growing economy and low unemployment, homelessness in the Bay Area grew at an annualized average of 2% between 2011 and 2017," the report said. "The growth of homelessness during an economic expansion is attributable to the region's inability to build homes at a rate appropriate for its job and population growth." Wednesday's report said permanent housing units, though, can be built for as low as $100,000 per unit but when the region's land costs are factored in costs soar. At the same time, it estimated the costs of shelter and transitional housing sites at below $40,000 per bed per year. Overall, California has nearly 130,000 people experiencing homelessness, or 24% of the nation's total homeless population, according to U.S. government estimates. New York follows with about 92,000 homeless individuals and then Florida with just over 31,000. A report by the state's nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office in 2016 concluded it "would require an annual funding commitment in the low tens of billions of dollars" to extend housing assistance to those low-income Californians who don't receive such assistance. The Bay Area group's report comes as California Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing pressure from mayors to increase state funding for homeless programs. As a supervisor in San Francisco more than a decade ago, Newsom championed an initiative called "Care Not Cash" designed to curb homelessness by slashing welfare payments to the city's homeless and instead favoring housing and other social services. The Democratic governor proposed $500 million in his 2019-20 state budget to encourage local governments to build emergency shelters and support facilities for people facing homelessness. He also is seeking $25 million to assist homeless disabled individuals in applying for disability payments. "We haven't been doing enough to support cities," Newsom told reporters last month after meeting with a group of mayors on the homelessness crisis. "The budget just changed. This was an important meeting. I did not just listen, I took notes and I'm taking direction. And it's not just about more money, it's about reprioritizing some of those investments." Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said he's confident Boeing will figure out a software fix for the 737 Max jets involved in two crashes that killed 346 people over five months. "We have the ultimate confidence in Boeing. They are a great partner. Our largest fleet partner is Boeing. I know they're going to get to the right answer. ... We'll stay close to Boeing and see how they progress," Bastian said Wednesday morning on CNBC's "Squawk Box." The aircraft hasn't been allowed to fly since mid-March. But Delta, which doesn't have any 737 Max jets in its fleet, has largely avoided the fallout from the prolonged grounding, reporting Wednesday that it had record revenue and a big jump in profit for the first quarter that beat Wall Street's expectations. The airline industry has been reeling from the aftermath of the crashes in Ethiopia on March 10 and Indonesia on Oct. 29. Boeing said it will cut 20 percent of its 737 Max production as it works on a software fix. Bad data feeding into the aircraft's automated flight system is suspected as a possible cause of the crashes. The company's shares have have fallen nearly 9% in the past month. Wall Street analysts recently downgraded Boeing and Southwest Airlines; American Airlines, which has 737 Max jets in its fleet, cut its revenue guidance for the first quarter and canceled 1,200 flights. Delta has largely been insulated from the fallout. Facebook is rolling out several new features across its apps to combat content violations and improve safety as part of an effort to rebuild trust with users. Starting Wednesday, Facebook is updating its new community standards to include a section that lets users track the updates made each month, allowing people to see what is and isn't allowed on the site. It's also including explanations on specific policy changes to explain why content is removed. The company is increasingly relying on third-party sources to combat fake news and is looking to journalists, academics and fact-checking experts to promote reliable stories. "We need to find solutions that support original reporting, promote trusted information, complement our existing fact-checking programs and allow for people to express themselves freely without having Facebook be the judge of what is true," Guy Rosen, Facebook's vice president of integrity, and Tessa Lyons, the head of news feed integrity, said in a statement. Since last year's Cambridge Analytica scandal and the continuing fallout of the 2016 election, Facebook has been regularly hosting media calls to discuss its role in reducing the spread of misinformation and harmful content after the company was blamed for allowing voters to be improperly influenced in national elections. To get a handle on misinformation that's being distributed by video, Facebook is expanding its fact-checking program with the Associated Press. That effort will also cover Spanish-language content. The updates come about a month after Facebook was criticized for its handling of a livestream showing a massacre at a mosque in New Zealand. The company added a feature in 2017 to filter harmful content, but Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg the technology failed to flag the livestream. Facebook is also making changes to its other properties. Instagram is updating its algorithm to crack down on posts that are deemed inappropriate even if they don't technically violate guidelines. For example, posts with sexually suggestive content won't appear under the Explore feed. For the Messenger app, Facebook is introducing a verified badge to help people recognize scammers and users who are pretending to be other people. Users will be given more blocking capabilities and additional control over who can message them. WATCH: How Facebook might change to accommodate regulation More than nine months after President Donald Trump helped Foxconn break ground on its would-be $10 billion plant in Wisconsin, little progress can be seen, a new report says. The Verge, in a report published Wednesday, found that even locals are unsure of Foxconn's plans. Construction seems largely stalled despite the electronics company's recent promise that its new factory would begin assembling liquid crystal display screens by the end of 2020. In a trip to Wisconsin last month, The Verge found that while Foxconn had taken out renovation permits on several sites that would contribute to what it calls its "AI 8K+5G ecosystem," people with knowledge said those working on the project don't have contracts and have not been paid. One building that was meant to be part of Foxconn's technology hub never sold, according to The Verge, after the owner became fed up with Foxconn's constant changes of plans. The owner said he'd held off on converting a floor of the building into apartments after Foxconn expressed interest, but once the company tried to negotiate $500,000 off the contract after going back and forth several times on whether it would need the floor, the owner terminated the contract, according to The Verge. In a statement, a Foxconn Technology Group said, "Foxconn's plans to build the Gen6 advanced manufacturing facility at the Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park (WVSTP) are on track as scheduled. Any assertion to the contrary is unfounded. Construction is expected to begin by Summer 2019 and we expect production to commence in Q4 2020." The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Since Trump attended the groundbreaking of the Mount Pleasant site in late June 2018, the project has seemingly been in flux amid trade tensions between the U.S. and China. The project was considered an important piece of Trump's reelection bid, since it was meant to fulfill a campaign promise of bringing back jobs to the U.S. Taiwan-based Foxconn is a major supplier to Apple, and the Wisconsin plant would be Foxconn's first facility outside of Asia. In late January, an assistant to Foxconn's CEO told Reuters it was still evaluating the types of jobs it would create at the Wisconsin site, saying it wanted to create a "technology hub" rather than a factory. This was a sharp deviation from the type of facility and jobs locals and political leaders believed Foxconn would create. Rather than mainly blue-collar jobs, the assistant told Reuters, about three-quarters of the jobs would be "knowledge" positions in R&D and design. The day after the Reuters report, Foxconn released a statement affirming it was still moving forward with construction in Wisconsin after talks with the White House but did not clarify the types of jobs it would create. The number of jobs Foxconn is promising to create in the state has also declined over time. The company initially said it would create 13,000 jobs in the state but later said its hiring pace had slowed. A source told Reuters in January that Foxconn will likely hire about 1,000 people by the end of 2020, rather than the 5,200 it initially expected to employ by that time. Read the full report at The Verge. Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube. Watch: Foxconn says it will move forward with Wisconsin facility As student debt grows, so do the plans to squelch it. A new federal program offers up to $75,000 in student loan relief for those who work for three years in the health-care field, battling the opioid epidemic. South Korean automaker Hyundai announced this month that it will give $900 to people with student debt who buy or lease a car from the company. The offer is only available at dealerships in California and Phoenix right now. Meanwhile, student loan assistance, which started as a niche offering by a handful of companies, is finding its way into the mainstream menu of workplace benefits. Some of the other ideas are pretty creative: New Jersey, for example, considered establishing a lottery for borrowers burdened by student debt. Other ways of garnering money to eliminate your education debt don't rely on luck, but rather require rolling up your sleeves or knowing historical facts. Keep in mind, however, that these endeavors aren't free aid. The funds are taxable even in the case of money received from an organization in return for volunteer work. "All money you receive for volunteering or win on a trivia app or lottery is considered income by the IRS," said Mark Kantrowitz, a student loan expert. Here are some of the ways to get other people to pay off your debt. 1) At your job Wang Zhao | AFP/Getty Images "In order to attract and retain talent, employers are looking at offering contributions to people's student loans," said Katie Berliner, account executive at benefits firm YouDecide. Companies that have offered their employees help with their student loans include Aetna, Penguin Random House, Nvidia and Sotheby's. A spokesman for Fidelity said nearly 60 companies including Hewlett Packard Enterprise, New York Air Brake and Millennium Trust are currently (or will soon be) using its student debt employer contribution program. (Fidelity also offers a student debt benefit for its own employees.) "Do a quick Google search and find the employers who are out there doing this," Berliner said. Most likely, the company you're interviewing with won't offer the benefit, yet that shouldn't stop you from asking about it, Berliner said. "In the course of the interview, there comes a point where the interviewer says, 'Do you have any questions?'" Berliner said. "It would not be out of line to say: 'I want to get your perspective on whether you think this a valuable benefit.'" 2) Volunteering Borrowers can enroll with the Shared Harvest Fund. Users create a profile and list the social causes they're interested in, such as gender equality or homelessness. You'll work on projects for nonprofits and businesses and receive a monthly stipend of $250 to $1,000. 3) Packing up and moving Maine Ikea is looking to expand in the U.S. but not in the way you might suspect. The Swedish furniture and home goods retailer, known for its massive stores spanning more than 300,000 square feet, will open its first "city center" location ever, in New York's Upper East Side, on Monday. Ikea says it ultimately plans to roll out more than a dozen small-format shops nationwide to reach city dwellers looking for kitchen accessories, furniture and organizational tools for tinier homes. Situated along a stretch of Third Avenue, home to Bloomingdale's, Home Depot and CB2, Ikea's first small-format shop is meant to serve as a "planning studio" for shoppers to pick out items they want delivered to their homes. It will offer lower-priced shipping and delivery, in addition to assembly services, help with financing and a buy online, pick up in store option. On the lowest level of the three-story space, which spans about 17,000 square feet, Ikea has three private rooms and a handful of computer stations dedicated to design planning sessions that can be booked by customers by appointment. The move to Manhattan comes at a time when many other retailers have been experimenting with pint-sized locations in urban areas. Target has opened a few small-format shops within New York and has one planned down the street from Ikea's new store. Macy's is trimming back some of its real estate, including testing out pop-up marketplaces at its Herald Square flagship in New York, while Kohl's is cutting up its stores to bring in new tenants like Aldi and Planet Fitness. Many companies are thinking small. "We are just fundamentally in a transformational period, where we are really spending a lot of time listening to customers and their needs," said Leontyne Green Sykes, chief operating officer of Ikea's U.S. retail operations. "This actually addresses consumers' needs very directly. It's focused on what we learned from consumers about what they need in smaller spaces. ... This is devoted to people who live in Manhattan and New York." Ikea says it's planning to open at least 30 such "city center" locations in coming years, looking to cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington and Chicago, in addition to adding more shops potentially in New York. Getting away from the suburbs today, "a lot of people are moving into cities," Skyes said. "We are excited to see how we can continue to expand [Ikea's 'city centers']. ... We will continue to look for ways to meet our customers where they are." Here's a look inside the new store. The outlook for most of India's state lenders remains "quite weak" despite extensive reforms in the banking sector, according to a senior asset manager. While it is predicted that corporate asset quality for India's public sector banks will improve from here on, the sheer volume of bad assets that they own puts a bit of a dampener on their future, said Rana Gupta, managing director for Indian equities at Manulife Asset Management. "They still need to run out their coverage, so credit cost will still be high," Gupta told CNBC's "Street Signs" on Tuesday. Additionally, high managerial costs and low profitability would mean most of those banks are not generating capital, he said. "Therefore, barring the top one or two state-owned banks, (for) the balance the outlook still remains quite weak," Gupta said. "In fact, we would expect, whenever the election is over and the new government comes in, if it's a stable government, we'd expect more consolidation to follow." Customers exit from a State Bank of India Bank (SBI) branch in Mumbai, India. Dhiraj Singh | Bloomberg | Getty Images Banks are a key source of funding for Indian companies. Public sector financial institutions control about 70 percent of all banking assets in India and they have had the highest exposure to bad loans. To tackle the problem, the government and the country's central bank the Reserve Bank of India introduced a series of measures to clean up the struggling lenders. That includes the merger of three public sector banks. The bad debt situation has shown signs of improvements through recent bank earnings reports as well as resolutions happening under India's insolvency and bankruptcy act. The central bank previously predicted that the ratio of gross non-performing assets may decline further. Supreme Court decision That said, the recovery in the banking sector may potentially stall after last week's Supreme Court ruling that voided the central bank's guidelines on how lenders should resolve their bad debts. Ratings agency Moody's had already signaled the decision was bad news for banks. The RBI guidelines, issued in a circular released in February last year, said lenders could no longer use loan restructuring schemes to delay recognizing bad debt. Banks were given 180 days to put resolution plans in place for defaulting assets worth over 20 billion rupees (about $291 million). If companies missed repayment even for a day, lenders were required to identify them as defaulters, therefore file for a resolution plan. If a resolution did not happen by the 180-day period, banks were required to file insolvency proceedings against those borrowers within 15 days. Benjamin Netanyahu's win in Israeli elections has triggered fears that his right-wing coalition may seize control of the disputed territory of the West Bank and its population of 2.6 million Palestinians. Netanyahu has won his fifth term as Israel's Prime Minister, ringing in a victory for the country's right wing and religious community and threatening an even more fraught relationship with the Palestinians. News coverage carried on well into the early morning hours of Wednesday, with leaders of both major parties declaring victory at various points as Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party remained neck-and-neck with rival Benny Gantz's center-right Blue and White party for seats in Israel's Knesset. But despite tied numbers for the two parties on Wednesday morning 35 seats each, with 97 percent of votes counted all that mattered was the strength of each side's coalitions and Netanyahu won that argument convincingly. "This will be a very, very right wing government," Amos Hochstein, a former U.S. diplomat and Obama administration official, told CNBC via phone on Wednesday. "This is a decisive and massive election victory for Netanyahu, a decisive election for the right wing in Israel. It's not a close election not even a little bit close." As no major party has ever won a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, Netanyahu and Gantz had to rely on the smaller parties in their coalitions winning enough votes to tip their group over the halfway mark and win a majority of seats. Gantz, despite early enthusiasm for his newly formed party, led by three former army chiefs of staff, failed to achieve that. The right wing and religious parties in the Likud-led coalition won more seats than the left, centrist and Arab parties combined. The combination of last night and the Trump administration is the final end of the two-state solution. Its done. Its over. Amos Hochstein Former U.S. diplomat and Obama administration official Observers noted the low turnout of Arab Israeli voters, who comprise some 20 percent of the country's population. But their turnout would not have made a huge difference, Hochstein said. "The real issue here is that the country's identity has been shifting for 20 years further to become demographically more right wing and more religious. And that trend is likely to continue and go further to the right, because demographically, that's what's growing." Destroying a two-state solution Israeli voters "have said no to peace and yes to the occupation," Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator, said Tuesday night. Netanyahu's tenure, which this summer will become the longest in the country's history, has seen Israel take an increasingly hard line on the Occupied Palestinian territories, expanding Israeli settlements into the West Bank that have been designated by the UN as illegal under international law. Thanks to enthusiastic support from the Trump administration, Netanyahu has been emboldened to pursue right-wing policies he now says that if he wins, he will annex the West Bank, home to around 2.5 million Palestinians. Gantz called this pledge "irresponsible." While many observers brushed it off as campaign rhetoric, the Trump administration's unwavering support makes this a real possibility, believes Jake Walles, who served as U.S. consul general in Jerusalem from 2005 to 2009 and is now a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "A nnexation in the West Bank, which may get support from the Trump Administration, would probably set in motion a series of events that would finally destroy the possibility of a two state solution," Walles told CNBC on Wednesday. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with US President Donald Trump at Ben Gurion International Airport on May 23, 2017 in Jerusalem, Israel. Kobi Gideon | GPO | Getty Images The U.S. under Trump, in a stark rejection of policy norms, has already recognized Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights and the status of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, issues that had been previously regarded by the international community as subject to negotiation between the Israelis and Palestinians. And Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, addressing a congressional hearing Tuesday, refused to say how the U.S. would respond to an Israeli annexation of the West Bank potentially reversing more than 60 years of U.S. policy that rejects annexations as illegal land-grabs. He also refused to reaffirm U.S. support for the two-state solution. "The combination of last night and the Trump administration is the final end of the two-state solution," Hochstein said. "It's done. It's over." The UN classifies Israel as an occupier state over the Palestinian territories, whose occupations following the 1967 Six-Day War are still considered in violation of international law. More than 1.5 million Palestinians live in refugee camps across the Middle East today. Corruption and the economy Other issues important to voters were the economy and corruption. Netanyahu has been dogged by allegations of corruption and bribery, with Israeli police saying he accepted some $300,000 in bribes over the last decade. The looming indictment for Netanyahu didn't deprive him of victory, but these allegations could now play into how he conducts his foreign policy. "(In) a narrow right wing government, Netanyahu's legal problems will make him more dependent on his coalition partners, and they will press him to implement a hard right agenda, including his election promise on annexation in the West Bank," Walles said. Young Israelis have also lamented rising living costs and wealth inequality, which the OECD says is among the highest in the world. But for Israel's booming tech-driven economy, investors are comfortable that business will continue as usual. "I don't think the elections in Israel really have any impact on that," Daniel Cohen, general partner at Israeli tech investment firm Viola Ventures, which oversees $3 billion in assets, told CNBC's Hadley Gamble. Israel's gross domestic product has increased by 70 percent since Netanyahu's premiership began in 2009. "All the startups sell into the global markets, we're much more affected by what's happening in the Nasdaq than what's happening in the political scene," Cohen said. Risks of heightened violence A JetBlue Airways Corp. Airbus A321 plane taxis outside of Terminal 5 at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York. JetBlue Airways on Wednesday said it is planning to launch its first service to London in 2021, an aggressive move by the low-cost airline that's aimed at luring lucrative corporate travelers away from entrenched rivals that already dominate air travel across the Atlantic. Major international airlines like Delta, American, United and their European partners currently account for most of the trans-Atlantic market. More than three-quarters of trans-Atlantic service last year was operated by airlines in the largest alliances among carriers, according to consulting firm ICF. JetBlue, which has been debating offering trans-Atlantic service for about three years, currently services the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and northern South America, in addition to its U.S. network. The airline hinted it would add other destinations in Europe. Multiple-daily flights from New York and Boston to London would begin in 2021, using a long-range version of the Airbus A321. JetBlue shares were up 0.5% in postmarket trading. The stock surged about 4% on Tuesday after CNBC reported that the airline appeared to be readying an announcement for flights to Europe. JetBlue executives hope the carrier's popular Mint business class will entice high-paying corporate travelers away from larger and more traditional rivals. Featuring lie-flat beds, Mint also provides travelers with better food and amenities kits that aren't offered in standard coach. The expansion to Europe presents several challenges to JetBlue. While the service may still be several years away, rival airlines will likely have an aggressive response in price and service to the new entrant, said Henry Harteveldt, a former airline executive and founder of travel-industry consulting firm Atmosphere Research Group. "I think it's very risky and I think JetBlue's the one who needs to be worried." JetBlue said it plans to offer Mint across the Atlantic "for a fraction of what other airlines are charging today for premium seats." "Twenty years ago, our founders had a simple formula for choosing a new market it had to be overpriced, underserved, or both," Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue's president and COO said in a news release. "London is the largest metro area JetBlue doesn't yet serve from both Boston and New York, and we could not be more thrilled to be changing that in the years ahead. The fares being charged today by airlines on these routes, specifically on the premium end, are enough to make you blush." Round-trip business-class tickets from the New York City area to London on United, Delta and American for the first week of May were more than $8,200. "None of these guys are going to give up a fraction of market share without a fight," said Harteveldt. JetBlue also said it has not decided which London airport it plans to serve and it needs approval to be able to fly there. London Heathrow is more convenient for many business travelers but obtaining landing slots there will be a challenge, Harteveldt noted. The airline plans to design new Mint cabin specially for the trans-Atlantic routes with more of the lie-flat seats and other new features, JetBlue said. JetBlue has expanded Mint to key cross-country routes in recent years to include routes from Boston and New York to cities like San Francisco, Seattle, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, as well as to popular leisure destinations like Aruba, St. Lucia and Barbados. The airline had dropped hints about the long-considered service to London over the past several months, including a save-the-date email sent to employees about an "all hands" meeting on April 10 in New York whose background featured an upholstery pattern used on the London Tube. New York University professor Aswath Damodaran said Lyft should be traded closer to $59 per share with a valuation of $15 billion in an interview on CNBC's Fast Money Tuesday. That would wipe about $2.2 billion off its $17.2 billion valuation as of Wednesday and cut its share price by about $1. Wednesday's drop alone shaved about $2 billion from Lyft's market capitalization. Lyft shares hit a new 52-week low on Wednesday as the stock tumbled nearly 11% while investors expect its larger rival Uber to formally file to go public on Thursday. Lyft's drop also follows skepticism about the ride-hailing service's valuation from a top authority. "The driver is a free agent. The customer is a free agent. There is absolutely no stickiness in the business, and they know it. That's the basic problem I have with the ride-sharing business not just Lyft," Damodaran said. Damodaran's criticism of ride-hailing extended to Uber as well, but the company's valuation is expected to dwarf Lyft's, with Reuters reporting it will seek between $90 billion and $100 billion. CNBC confirmed that Uber expects to make public its IPO registration on Thursday and plans to sell about $10 billion worth of stock, making it one of the largest-ever tech IPOs. Lyft has had a tough go during its first couple weeks on the public market. The stock's IPO price was $72, but now stands at $60.12, down more than 14 percent in one week. -CNBC's Leslie Picker contributed to this report. Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that Wednesday marked a new 52-week low for Lyft. Watch: Lyft goes public but has no clear path to make a profit In last night's premiere of the CNBC original documentary "The Profit: My Roots," Marcus Lemonis unveiled stories of his Lebanese heritage that had once been a mystery. In the 90-minute documentary, Lemonis traveled back to Lebanon for the first time since his adoption from a Beirut orphanage at the age of nine months. Lemonis made an emotional visit to the orphanage, where he learned the names of both of his biological parents through birth records. While information regarding Lemonis' birth father remained scarce, the documents held a significant number of details about his birth mother including an old phone number, her place of work, and more surprisingly, her Syrian background. "I spent the first three or four days puzzled by my uncomfortableness here," Lemonis said in the documentary. "I was like a fish out of water. Why was I open to doing this? It struck me square in the face when I turned the corner in the orphanage and I saw an 80-year-old-plus nun who almost looked at me and greeted me as if I was her long-lost relative. I would use the word 'spiritual' or 'moving' or 'cathartic.' It was crazy for me." There are still unsolved pieces to the story. While it is clear that Lemonis' birth mother was from Syria, it is unclear how he ended up at the orphanage or whether his birth parents were married. Beyond the discoveries about his adoption, the documentary also highlights the culture of Lebanon through the eyes of thriving entrepreneurs, many of whom talk to Lemonis about their experiences during the country's civil war. "Lebanon and its people have changed me," Lemonis said. "They're a reminder that life can be rebuilt." The CNBC original documentary "The Profit: My Roots" can be watched on demand. Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday that Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg "knows better" days after the South Bend, Indiana, mayor made waves by critiquing Pence's record on LGBT equality. "He said some things that are critical of my Christian faith and about me personally. And he knows better. He knows me," said Pence, who served as governor of Indiana when Buttigieg came out as gay during his reelection campaign for mayor. The vice president's comments came during an interview with Joe Kernen on CNBC's "Squawk Box" that will air at 6 a.m. ET on Thursday morning. "But I get it. You know, it's look, again, 19 people running for president on that side in a party that's sliding off to the left. And they're all competing with one another for how much more liberal they are," Pence said. Pence was responding to comments that Buttigieg, who is expected to officially launch his campaign for president Sunday, made over the weekend during an event hosted by the LGBTQ Victory Fund. "I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand, that if you have a problem with who I am, your quarrel is not with me," Buttigieg said. "Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator." Buttigieg has skyrocketed to the front of the Democratic pack since announcing the formation of an exploratory committee in late January. Buttigieg, an Afghanistan war veteran, has said that his marriage to his husband has brought him closer to God. Pence has faced scrutiny from LGBT activist groups over his opposition to gay marriage and his support, while governor, for a "religious freedom" bill that opponents said targeted gays and lesbians. Business groups including the Indiana Chamber of Commerce had opposed the measure. Pence signed the bill shortly before Buttigieg came out. The former governor, who President Donald Trump once reportedly joked "wants to hang them all," referring to gay people, said Wednesday that he stood by his view of marriage. "But that doesn't mean that we're critical of anyone else who has a different point of view," he said. Pence said that as governor, he "worked very closely with Mayor Pete" and that they "had a great working relationship." He noted that, as governor of Indiana, he implemented the Supreme Court's decision that made gay marriage the law of the land. When reached for comment on Pence's remarks, a representative for Buttigieg's campaign referred CNBC to the candidate's previous statements. Buttigieg, apparently responding to similar comments that Pence made in 2015, wrote in a post on Twitter this week that people "will often be polite to you in person, while advancing policies that harm you and your family." "You will be polite to them in turn, but you need not stand for such harms. Instead, you push back, honestly and emphatically. So it goes, in the public square," Buttigieg wrote. Buttigieg tweet Read the full exchange: Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc., listens during an Economic Club of Washington discussion in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018. More than 4,500 Amazon employees this week urged the company to take aggressive action on climate change and reduce its carbon footprint. Workers called on Amazon to stop offering custom cloud-computing services that support the oil and gas industry in extracting more fossil fuels. They also said Amazon has failed to disclose a company-wide plan to reach zero carbon emissions within the timeline required by science, and that its 100% renewable energy goal has no deadline. The letter represents the biggest employee-driven push against climate risk in the tech industry yet, as activist tech workers increasingly launch public campaigns to pressure employers on issues like workplace sexual harassment and employee wages. "Amazon has the resources and scale to spark the world's imagination and redefine what is possible and necessary to address the climate crisis," the employees wrote to Amazon's board of directors and CEO Jeff Bezos. "We believe this is a historic opportunity for Amazon to stand with employees and signal to the world that we're ready to be a climate leader." The letter accused Amazon of donating to climate-delaying legislators, citing the company's donations in 2018 to 68 members of Congress who voted against climate legislation. Workers also urged Amazon to terminate all custom solutions specifically designed for oil and gas extraction and exploration, undergo a "complete transition" from fossil fuels and reduce its pollution in vulnerable communities. The employees are pushing Amazon to approve a shareholder resolution that would force the company to unveil a plan to combat its carbon footprint. The resolution was filed in late 2018, and would be voted on next month. The 4,520 employees, all of whom attached their names to the letter, comprise less than 1 percent of Amazon's workforce, according to FactSet data. On Wednesday morning, they released the letter with just over 3,500 names; later in the afternoon, the total rose to over 4,000. It's rare for tech employees to release their names publicly when criticizing their employers, especially at this scale. For instance, hundreds of Google employees walked out last November to protest the company's handling of sexual misconduct, but few names were attached to the protest. An Amazon spokesperson did not comment on the letter but told CNBC the company is taking many steps to address climate change. "Earlier this year, we announced that we will share our company-wide carbon footprint, along with related goals and programs. We also announced Shipment Zero, our vision to make all Amazon shipments net zero carbon, with 50% of all shipments net zero by 2030," he said. On Monday, Amazon announced a renewable energy initiative to build three new wind farms. The company's last renewable energy project was two years ago. Other tech companies, including Apple, are also taking steps toward using carbon-free sources for manufacturing and data processes. Apple announced Thursday that 21 manufacturers in its supply chain have committed to getting their electricity from renewable sources. "In our mission to become 'Earth's most customer-centric company,' we believe our climate impact must be a top consideration in everything we do," the workers said. "We have the power to shift entire industries, inspire global action on climate, and lead on the issue of our lifetimes." Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the percentage of Amazon's work force that signed the letter. It is 0.5 percent. Electronic signage at the headquarters of Morgan Stanley in New York. Morgan Stanley has won an auction to buy an additional 5.5 percent stake in its China mutual funds joint venture, in a deal that will make it the top shareholder of Morgan Stanley Huaxin Fund Management Co. The Wall Street bank, which currently owns 37.4 percent in Shenzhen-based Morgan Stanley Huaxin, won the bid on March 30 to buy the additional stake for 25.04 million yuan ($3.73 million), according to the auction notice on Taobao.com. Morgan Stanley is buying the stake from a private shareholder in a court-appointed auction, which will see its stake surpass that of Huaxin Securities, which owns 39.56 percent of the joint venture. The purchase needs to be approved by China's securities regulators. Morgan Stanley declined to comment. Moves by Morgan Stanley to boost ownership in the fund venture comes as China is opening up its financial sector worth trillions of dollars from insurance to asset management and brokerage - for bigger foreign participation. China has in recent months allowed many foreign financial institutions to either set up new businesses onshore or expand their presence through majority ownership in domestic joint ventures. Under new rules announced in late 2017, Beijing has also paved the way for foreigners to own up to 51 percent in their local mutual fund ventures. Besides the fund management business, Morgan Stanley also has a securities joint venture with Huaxin, in which the Wall Street bank raised its stake to 49 percent in 2017. The bank has previously expressed an interest in raising the stake further. Oil supplies from OPEC sank by half a million barrels a day in March, hitting a four-year low, as Saudi Arabia continued to slash output and Venezuela's production plunged amid ongoing economic crisis. The monthly production decline amounts to roughly half a percent of global oil demand. The drop is greater than the total monthly output of four of OPEC's 14 members. The producer group, along with Russia and other nonmember countries, is trying to keep 1.2 million barrels per day off the market through June, following a collapse in crude prices at the end of 2018. The production curbs by the so-called OPEC+ alliance aim to drain oversupply from the oil market and boost prices. OPEC's output fell by 534,000 bpd in March to 30.02 million bpd, according to independent sources cited by the group in its monthly report. This year, supply from the group has fallen by more than 1.5 million bpd, helping to drive international Brent crude prices 30 percent higher. The headline OPEC output was the lowest since February 2015, when the group pumped 29.97 million bpd, though its membership has changed several times since then. Much of the March decline is due to Saudi Arabia's willingness to aggressively cut production. In March, the Saudis took another 324,000 bpd off the market, bringing output to just under 9.8 million bpd and delivering on Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih's vow to pump well below 10 million bpd. Saudi output has now fallen by about 1.3 million bpd from its all-time high at 11.1 million in November, when the kingdom's production surged to offset U.S. energy sanctions on OPEC-member Iran. The terminal decline in Venezuelan output continues to help OPEC+ cut global oil supplies. Following a series of blackouts that disrupted oil operations, Venezuela's production plunged by 289,000 bpd to 732,000 bpd in March. Venezuela, already mired in a years-long economic crisis, is now grappling with U.S. sanctions against state-owned oil giant PDVSA and a political standoff between socialist leader Nicolas Maduro and opposition figure Juan Guaido. Outdoor apparel company Patagonia filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Anheuser-Busch InBev, claiming that the brewer's Patagonia beer is a "copycat brand." Patagonia alleges that AB InBev is trying to take advantage of the apparel company's goodwill. AB InBev only recently began testing its Patagonia brand stateside, after years of success in Argentina. Through its food business Patagonia Provisions, the apparel company started brewing its own beer, called Long Root, in 2016, and it recently launched its second beer several weeks ago. The company claims in its lawsuit that a representative from AB InBev recently reached out to it about the special grain used in its beer. The Ventura, California-based company claims that AB InBev has used marketing such as a similar logo and launching at ski resorts where Patagonia ski apparel is popular to confuse consumers. AB InBev has also advertised on billboards that it will plant a tree for every case sold, according to legal filings. Patagonia, the outdoor apparel company, has a reputation as an environmentally friendly company. "In short, AB has done everything possible to make it appear as though this PATAGONIA beer is sold by Patagonia," the filing said. Patagonia is asking that a California federal court recognize that AB InBev has infringed on and diluted its trademark and engaged in unfair competition. AB InBev has a U.S. trademark for the Patagonia brand, but the plaintiff argues that it should never have obtained the trademark in the first place. It also is asking to have AB InBev repay its lost profits, any profits gained by the brewer's Patagonia beer, punitive damages and attorney fees. "While both parties have a shared passion for sustainability, we will defend our trademark rights and believe this lawsuit to be without merit," an AB InBev spokesperson said in a statement. Patagonia's lawsuit is the second time in less than a month that a company has accused AB InBev of trying to hoodwink consumers and infringe on trademarks. MillerCoors, the U.S. subsidiary of Molson Coors Brewing, sued Budweiser's parent last month for its controversial corn syrup ad campaign that began airing during the Super Bowl. MillerCoors alleged that the rival brewer singled out corn syrup for criticism because it would confuse and mislead consumers about its own use of the ingredient, in addition to misusing MillerCoors' trademarks in its ads. Patagonia did not respond to a request for comment from CNBC. Private jet company Vista Global agreed to acquire JetSmarter, betting that the value of JetSmarter's technology will outweigh the controversy and lawsuits still dogging the company. Terms and price weren't disclosed. The deal, once approved, will be an equity swap, with JetSmarter investors receiving equity in Vista Global. Vista said it plans to integrate JetSmarter's digital booking technology, which allows customers to easily book a private jet through an app, into its VistaJet, Vista Lease and XOJET private jet brands. "Vista Global's reach and infrastructure will take JetSmarter to the global stage to fully realize its potential," said Vista's chairman and founder, Thomas Flohr. But the deal will also saddle Vista with JetSmarter's legal battles and controversies. JetSmarter faces over a dozen federal lawsuits claiming JetSmarter is a "fraud" and "unlawful bait-and-switch." A CNBC investigation found the company sold multiyear memberships for more than $97,000 promising free private jet flights, but later started charging members for their flights. The investigation also revealed concerns over JetSmarter's security procedures and passengers who tried to bring drugs and large amounts of cash on board. On a JetSmarter flight last September, with small children on board, a passenger threatened to kill other passengers and threatened to decapitate anyone who tried to stop him. The flight made an emergency landing and the passenger was arrested and charged with making terroristic threats. People familiar with the matter told CNBC that the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are both asking questions about JetSmarter. Vista declined any interviews and didn't comment on any problems at JetSmarter. It's unclear whether Clearlake Capital, the leading investor in JetSmarter, agreed to indemnify Vista against certain legal or member claims against the private jet service. Vista, based in Dubai, is one of a number of private jet companies raising capital to buy out competitors and lead consolidation in the private jet industry. With $200 million in funding from Rhone Capital, Flohr acquired private jet charter company XOJET last year. JetSmarter has been one of XOJET's biggest customers over the years, since JetSmarter doesn't own its own planes but acts as a digital booking service for seats and charter flights. The deal marks a surprising end to 30-year-old JetSmarter founder Sergey Petrossov's vision of taking the company public and creating the Uber of private jets. The company, founded in 2012 and based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, grew to more than 8,000 members, with celebrity endorsers such as Kim Kardashian and investors such as Jay-Z and the Saudi royal family. Initially it sold memberships for $7,500 and promised members unlimited private jet flights. By 2016, it claimed a valuation of $1.5 billion, becoming the first "flying unicorn." But after losing millions of dollars a month, the company was quickly burning through its investment. In 2018, after raising the price of its memberships, the company suddenly changed its membership terms and began charging members for flights. The changes resulted in a flurry of lawsuits and complaints. JetSmarter this month agreed to a settlement with members of a class-action arbitration in Florida that includes a $3 million settlement fund and an offer of free memberships and flight credits for members. In its settlement, JetSmarter stated that it "strongly denies these allegations and believes the facts will show that at all times it complied with the membership agreement and all applicable laws." Vista said that after the deal, JetSmarter customers will benefit from the "reach, resources, operational expertise of Vista Global group." Lawyers involved in the arbitration settlement said the Vista acquisition will not change the terms of the agreement. In previous statements, JetSmarter said it "adamantly rejects any allegations of fraud or 'bait-and-switch' tactics" and that it is "more positive about the health of our business than ever." It has acknowledged "a number of members are unhappy with certain changes," but said the "vast majority of our core customers understand the necessity of these decisions to ensure the long-term viability of JetSmarter." Petrossov couldn't be reached for comment and was not mentioned or quoted in the Vista Global press release. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is once again wading into the topic of politics. Buffett, who supported Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election and has previously weighed in on whether or not executives like Michael Bloomberg or former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz would make good candidates, said in a recent interview that there is one question he would want to ask the field of candidates planning to run for the White House in 2020. "I want to hear what they tell people who disagree with them," Buffett told Yahoo Finance on Monday. "I would like to ask a candidate: 'What are you for that the majority of your followers are against?'" That's the best way to be sure that a candidate really believes in a particular issue, according to Buffett. "That's really the test," he says in the interview. Those comments from Buffett came in response to a question about whether the billionaire would ever ask a candidate what they think about the economy or other issues. Buffett laughs and points out that any candidate would probably just "tell me what I want to hear" to win his support, which is not what the billionaire would want. For Buffett, being strong-minded but having enough respect to hear out someone with a different opinion or point of view is a positive thing. For example, Buffett and his Berkshire Hathaway right hand man Charlie Munger, "disagree on a few things," Buffett told CNBC in 2018, and that's often been helpful. "Charlie, he's given me a lot of good advice over time," Buffett told CNBC in a 2016 interview. "And, I may hate to take it to a certain degree, but sometimes but my decisions have been better. I've lived a better life because of Charlie." Billionaire Ray Dalio also thinks listening to those who disagree with you is essential. It's a hallmark of the culture that Dalio has created at his hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, which he calls "radical transparency." "I just wanted to see things through [employees'] eyes and to have them see things through my eyes so that together we could hash things out to discover what's true," Dalio said. Billionaire tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel also likes to ask a question similar to Buffett's question when interviewing job candidates: "What important truth do very few people agree with you on?" The question is more difficult to answer than you might think, Thiel writes in his book, "Zero to One," as it requires candidates to show both creative-thinking skills as well as the courage to voice an unpopular opinion. "It's intellectually difficult because the knowledge that everyone is taught in school is by definition agreed upon," according to Thiel. "And, it's psychologically difficult because anyone trying to answer must say something she knows to be unpopular." Meanwhile, Buffett identifies Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders as one presidential candidate who would not be afraid to answer Buffett's question about unpopular views he holds. Buffett tells Yahoo Finance that Sanders' followers see him as "authentic," adding: "if you asked him what he was for, that most people might be against, he would tell you." Don't Miss: Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger haven't had a fight in 60 years here's why Like this story? Subscribe to CNBC Make It on YouTube! Its been nearly a month since Gary Hoey released his 21st album Neon Highway Blues on Provogue Records and the album is still holding steady on Billboards Top Blues Albums Chart. Neon Highway Blues popped onto the chart at No. 2 during the last week of March and has (at the time of writing) remained in the top 20. Its Hoeys first release since 2016s Dust & Bones, an album that also crept onto the charts as another Hoey foray into the genre in which he feels most at home. Like Dust & Bones, Neon Highway Blues embraces the participation of Hoeys contemporariesbut this time, Lita Ford isnt the only one pitching in. Eric Gales, Josh Smith and Lance Lopez each appear on one of the albums 11 tracks, enabling Hoey to swap licks with Gales on album opener Under the Rug, Smith on the slow burner Mercy of Love and Lopez on the rollicking Damned if I Do. Hoeys son, Ian, also steps in to play guitar alongside his father on Dont Come Crying, a track that was recorded when Ian was 16 years old. The collaboration is one of the most touching on the record, a humbling demonstration of Hoey as the experienced bluesman introducing his listeners to someone who, from the sound of it, is likely to become part of the genres next generation. I totally forgot where he was playing and where I was playing, Hoey said in an official press release about the pride he felt while listening back to the recorded track. It brought tears to my eyes. The father-son jam session isnt the only noteworthy moment on the album. Recorded in Hoeys New Hampshire home studio and produced by Hoey himself, Neon Highway Blues seems to be precisely the album Hoey wanted to release: an occasionally funky, often dance-inducing blues indulgence with blistering licks sprinkled throughout that Hoey had significant control over throughout the creative process. Gales contributions on Under the Rug make the song one of the albums best, though each of the four songs on which guests appear tend to be stronger than Hoey performing with his band alone (he does seem to be having a blast during these collaborations, after all). Even so, the instrumental album closer Neon Highway Blues ties an appropriate ribbon around the album as a nod to the decades Hoeys spent hitting the road with his lyrics and gear in tow, always the dedicated performer. Its a strong album from an artist whos logged more time than many on tour and in the studio, and its nice to see his efforts acknowledged on the charts. The Review: 7.5/10 Cant Miss Tracks Under the Rug Mercy of Love Dont Come Crying The Big Hit Dont Come Crying Review by Meghan Roos Buy the album: Amazon | Amazon UK An empty bottle of Insulin lispro by French multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi is photographed as an arranged illustration in London on February 21, 2019. Sanofi said Wednesday it will sell monthly supplies of insulin for a fixed price of $99 for patients paying with cash in the U.S. as the pharmaceutical giant faces intense pressure from the Trump administration and Congress to lower the cost of its nearly 100-year-old, life-saving medication. The move is a pre-emptive one as the French drugmaker is set to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the rising prices of insulin later in the day. Executives from insulin producers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are also set to testify in the hearing titled, "Priced out of a lifesaving drug: Getting answers on the rising cost of insulin." Sanofi said people can buy up to 10 products whether vials, pens or a mix of both for $99. This includes all of Sanofi's insulin brands. Sanofi first introduced the program ""Insulins Valyou Savings" last year, though it was more expensive. One 10 milliliter vial of insulin cost $99 and a box of pens cost $149, meaning that people who needed multiple items could end up paying hundreds of dollars. Patients can participate in the program regardless of their income level. The drugmaker says this isn't an attempt to woo lawmakers. The company said it decided to expand the program after hearing stories of people rationing their insulin because they couldn't afford it; some even died as a result. "It is unacceptable to Sanofi that some people living with diabetes are struggling to pay for their insulin, so we have moved to act creatively and aggressively to help address affordability and access needs," said Michelle Carnahan, the head of North America primary care at Sanofi. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates more than 30 million Americans have diabetes. The annual cost of insulin for people with Type 1 diabetes in the U.S. nearly doubled from 2012 to 2016 to $5,700 from $2,900. For more on investing in health-care innovation, click here to join CNBC at our Healthy Returns Summit in New York City on May 21. Drugmakers argue these prices are simply the price that's advertised, not what consumers actually pay. But people without insurance may be forced to pay upfront, sometimes leaving them with a mountain of debt. Drug companies blame pharmacy benefit managers, sometimes called "middlemen," for the sticker shock some patients see. They argue that PBMs should pass the rebates negotiated with manufactures along to patients. PBMs deny rebates are to blame for high drug prices. CVS Health and other pharmacy middlemen told a Senate committee on Tuesday that drugmakers, in their pursuit of profits, are to blame for high drug prices. The Trump administration earlier this year proposed a rule to end the industry-wide system of rebates, a change that Sanofi and other pharmaceutical companies welcomed. Sanofi isn't the first company to announce reducing prices. In March, Eli Lilly announced plans to sell a half-price version of its blockbuster insulin medication Humalog, and also disclosed for the first time what it charges wholesalers versus what many patients typically pay. Senate Democrats unveiled a proposal Wednesday to significantly expand tax credits for children and low-income households and provide fresh ammunition for attacking President Donald Trump's tax cuts. The effort is led by Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who had toyed with launching a 2020 presidential campaign but decided to focus on working-class issues as a lawmaker. The new bill would roughly quadruple the earned income tax credit for childless workers, increase the credit for households with children and create a new benefit for children under age 6. The proposal has the backing of Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranked Democrat in the Senate; Ron Wyden of Oregon, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee; and Michael Bennet of Colorado, who is planning to run for president. Under the plan, known as the Working Families Tax Relief: The tax credit for low-income households without children would jump from a maximum of $530 to $2,070. It would also expand the eligible ages to 19 to 67 from the current 25 to 64. That credit would rise by roughly 25% for families with children. Households could receive a one-time, interest-free advance on those credits worth up to $500. Families with young children could also claim a new tax credit of up to $3,000. The senators argue that the plan would have broad ramifications, especially for poor families. They estimate it would lift 7 million people out of poverty, including 3 million children, and increase incomes for 46 million households. "As Americans are filing their taxes, more and more people are seeing the Trump tax scam for what it was a handout to millionaires and billionaires at the expense of working people and families," the lawmakers said in a statement. The plan does not include corresponding tax increases on the wealthy or for raising the corporate tax rate measures that have gained traction among progressives and have been embraced by several Democratic presidential candidates. The senators also did not provide an estimate of how much the proposal would cost. Republicans hold a 53-47 advantage in the Senate, making it unlikely that Democrats will pass the measure any time soon. The bill has 44 co-sponsors in the Democratic caucus. The three holdouts are Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Dianne Feinstein of California and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. Still, the bill gives Democrats a fresh political tool to hammer the GOP and Trump with the 2020 elections on the horizon. The measure is intended to be a counterpoint to the sweeping overhaul of the tax code that Trump signed at the end of 2017. Democrats have criticized the law as primarily benefiting corporations and the wealthy and appear to be winning the messaging battle. According to the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, only 17% of voters believe they will receive a tax cut as a result of those changes. More than a quarter said their taxes would go up. Democrats have pressed their advantage with a slew of proposals targeted at reducing taxes for working families and expanding the social safety net. Brown has long pushed to expand the low-income tax credit and give workers early access to their refunds, but this latest bill goes further. It also echoes a proposal from Sen. Kamala Harris of California, a Democratic presidential hopeful. Her bill, the Lift Act, would provide a refundable tax credit worth up to $6,000 for households with or without children and allow them to receive payments in an annual lump sum or monthly installments. An aide to Brown said the price tag and how to to pay for it would be part of the debate over the bill. Democrats also intend to highlight that the Republicans' tax cuts will cost $1.5 trillion over a decade and has contributed to higher deficits over the past year. Weber, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and chair of the European People's Party, added that there hasn't been any "fresh, new start, no new idea" of what London wants to do. "That's why I'm very critical on further prolongation. But it's up to Theresa May to convince us." "I must say, for the moment, I don't see that Theresa May is coming back with a big new method," Manfred Weber, a candidate in the running for president of the European Commission when a leadership changes takes place later this year, told CNBC. The European Union is gearing up for a critical summit Wednesday to decide whether to grant a second extension to the Brexit process. Failure to reach an agreement will mean that the U.K. will crash out of the EU Friday at 11 p.m. BST. U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May has no fresh ideas to overcome the Brexit impasse, making it harder for Europe to grant another delay, EU lawmaker Manfred Weber told CNBC Tuesday. The 27 European countries agreed last month to give a first delay to the U.K.'s departure, after Theresa May failed to get approval for her Brexit deal a 585-page document that she negotiated with the EU. Since then, the prime minister asked U.K. lawmakers to vote on her deal once again, but it got rejected a third time. With strong criticism for her deal coming from within her own party, Theresa May decided to start talks with the opposition party in search for a consensus over what Brexit should look like. However, thecross-party talks that began last week have failed to bear any fruit and the prime minister is still lacking a majority behind her deal. As a result, she has asked her 27 counterparts to grant another delay, until June 30. "The message is no prolongation without clarification. We need from the British side a clarification. We need an idea of what they want to achieve, what they want to do, what are the next steps," Weber told CNBC. Different European capitals have said that they need a very good reason from London in order to delay the U.K.'s departure. French ministers, for example, have made it clear there cannot be a perpetual extension. According to Weber, a good reason would be "to go back to the people" to clarify what the country wants, be it via a general election or a second referendum. "But again, that's up to the British friends to decide." The EU has also been at odds over how long the delay could last. Certain countries out of the 27 believe that Brexit should happen as soon as possible to avoid clashing with European Parliamentary elections in late May. Other member states believe that a long extension would be better, so they don't have to discuss extensions all the time. "A short-term extension is the most appropriate way to go forward," Weber told CNBC. The question is not that the U.K. needs more time to discuss the process, "the question is whether (the U.K. is) ready to decide." European leaders are gathering in Brussels at 6 p.m. CET. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the U.S. and China are making progress on a trade deal, including resolving a key sticking point that's been dragging out the process. "We've pretty much agreed on an enforcement mechanism. We've agreed that both sides will establish enforcement offices that will deal with the ongoing matters. This is something both sides are taking very seriously," Mnuchin told Sara Eisen on CNBC's The Exchange on Wednesday. "We are really focused on the execution of the documents." Mnuchin declined to comment on whether the U.S. will use tariffs as an enforcement tool. President Donald Trump has previously said his administration's tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods could stay in place even after the two countries strike a deal. China has pushed for the removal of duties as part of an agreement. The secretary revealed that the meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on Tuesday was "productive." "We went into late last night, and we have another call scheduled for tomorrow morning ... we still have some important issues to address, but both sides are working very hard on this agreement," Mnuchin said. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Mnuchin are negotiating with Chinese representatives to work up a long-term trade deal with China. The world's two largest economies have imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of goods. Trump said last week that a trade deal may be reached in four weeks, but Munchin said there isn't a specific timeline. "We are hopeful we can do this quickly, but we are not going to set an arbitrary deadline," Mnuchin said. "If we can complete this agreement, this will be the most significant changes to the economic relationship between the U.S. and China in really the last 40 years. The opening of the Chinese economy will be a tremendous opportunity with structural changes that will benefit U.S. workers and U.S. companies." President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order to advance construction of the Keystone XL pipeline at the White House in Washington January 24, 2017. President Donald Trump will issue an executive order that aims to prevent states from blocking pipelines and other energy infrastructure by using authority granted to them under the Clean Water Act. Senior administration officials on Tuesday previewed the action and several others, which are contained in two executive orders that Trump will sign during a trip to Texas on Wednesday. They are the latest in a series of executive orders by Trump meant to roll back energy regulations and promote fossil fuel development. The new executive order represents a shot from the White House in the ongoing battle between beltway Republicans and Democratic governors opposed to fossil fuel developments in their states. It has been anticipated for nearly three months and is expected to be challenged in court. The state powers are laid out in federal law, and a presidential order cannot override them, some lawyers and energy analysts have said. Under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, companies must obtain certifications from the state before they can build federally-approved infrastructure, like pipelines, within that state's borders. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with US President Donald Trump at Ben Gurion International Airport on May 23, 2017 in Jerusalem, Israel. President Donald Trump on Wednesday congratulated incumbent Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his apparent win in the country's elections. "I'd like to congratulate Bibi Netanyahu, it looks like that race has been won by him," Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House. "It may be a little early, but it looks like he's won it in good fashion." "He's been a great ally and he's a friend," Trump said. "That was a well thought out race." Trump later called Netanyahu on the phone to congratulate him, the prime minister's office said in a statement. As of Wednesday morning, vote counts appeared to give Netanyahu a historic fifth term in office. His Likud party was deadlocked with the new Blue and White party led by former military chief Benny Gantz with 35 seats each in the 120-member parliament. But Likud and its traditional political allies were in command of a 65-55 majority, according to The Associated Press. Israel's president, Reuven Rivlin, will consult with party representatives next week before picking the candidate with the best chance of assembling a parliamentary majority, according to AP. Trump said a government led by Netanyahu would improve the odds of reaching a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. "The fact that Bibi won, I think we'll see some pretty good action in terms of peace. Everybody said, and I never made it a promise, 'you can't have peace in the Middle East with Israel and the Palestinians.' But I think we have a chance, and I think now we have a better chance with Bibi having won," Trump said. Trump is one of the staunchest allies Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition have had, even surpassing the traditionally close alliance that Israeli leaders and American presidents have maintained for 70 years. Early on in his first term, Trump named his son-in-law, White House adviser Jared Kushner, to lead an effort to come up with a Middle East peace plan. Now, two years later, the White House has yet to unveil any firm proposals on the subject. Asked on Wednesday about the status of the efforts, National Security Adviser John Bolton said, "We've been in the preparatory stages to getting it ready. And I think we're going to see that coming out in the very near future." In the absence of a road map for peace, however, the Trump administration has instituted several U.S. policies in the Middle East that experts interpret as having helped boost Netanyahu's domestic political fortunes. Among them: Trump's 2017 decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, breaking decades of official U.S. policy. At the time, Trump called the move "a long-overdue step to advance the peace process and to work towards a lasting agreement." But few experts in the region believed the embassy move would, in fact, advance the peace process. "It's not just that it's provoked violence or that it's made the United States look like the biased broker instead of the honest broker," former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk said of the embassy move in 2018. "It also has set the process back in a way that all this loose talk about how it's going to advance peace is ludicrous." In the run-up to the election, Trump last month recognized Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria during Six-Day War in 1967 and subsequently annexed. On the eve of the election, the Trump administration announced Monday that it would designate an entire branch of the Iranian military as a terrorist organization. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has about 125,000 active duty troops in Iran, and its members are engaged in nearly all aspects of Iranian society. Like the embassy move before it, the decision to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization was unilateral and was not done in concert with U.S. allies in Europe or Asia. It remained unclear Tuesday exactly how the designation would affect individuals and businesses operating outside the United States. During a call with reporters Monday, a senior administration official dodged the issue of whether the United States had a plan to win European support for the designation. The official also declined to say whether the announcement was deliberately timed to give Netanyahu a boost in the polls. Over in Israel, the prime minister took credit for the IRGC announcement, thanking Trump in Hebrew on Twitter for "responding to another of my important requests, which serves the interests of our countries and countries of the region." BIBI TWEET HEBREW Netanyahu's English-language version of the tweet also thanked Trump, however, it made no mention of any request that Trump had acted upon. BIBI TWEET ENGLISH Herman Cain's path to the Federal Reserve Board could get blocked before President Donald Trump even nominates him. At least three GOP senators plan to vote against the former Godfather's Pizza CEO and Kansas City Fed chairman if Trump formally chooses him for the central bank seat, according to multiple reports. If Cain loses one more Republican and all Democrats oppose him as expected, his path to the Fed board would be blocked. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, expects to oppose Cain's nomination if it comes before the Senate, a spokeswoman for the Romney confirmed. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has said she will not support Cain for the Fed seat, according to a spokeswoman for Murkowski. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., also reportedly plans to vote against Cain, who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2012. A spokesman for Gardner did not immediately respond to CNBC's request to comment. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he will have to direct more American troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, after his supporters shared graphic stories about illegal immigration during a meeting in San Antonio. "I'm going to have to call up more military," said Trump, who was flanked at the roundtable event by a small group of local officials and ranchers. Trump has sent thousands of troops to the border before. In early February, the Pentagon announced a deployment of about 3,750 active-duty troops less than two weeks before the president declared that the situation at the southern border constituted a national emergency. Trump also lashed out at media outlets who have refused to count the construction of replacement barrier along the border as "new" sections of his long-promised wall. "I ripped down a wall" that was "useless, and we built a new one," Trump said. "Some of them said we didn't build a wall ... what they don't say is that we ripped it down" because "it was garbage." Trump told the reporters, "You're dishonest people, many of you." The roundtable was part of two scheduled fundraising events in Texas one in San Antonio and the other in Houston. Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told reporters earlier Wednesday that she expected Trump's reelection campaign would raise at least $6 million from the two events alone. Trump did not elaborate on when he would send more military personnel to the border, or how many he planned to deploy. The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC's questions about the president's remarks. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. Trump relayed to the media some of the anecdotes he had been told about the danger on the border. "We start talking and the first person gets up and says, 'Sir, we have many people dying. Coming across the border,'" Trump said. "'They'll be dropped off and they start walking and they'll say Houston's right down the road. But it's actually 300 miles away. And we find dead people from Guatemala, from Honduras, from El Salvador, From Mexico. All over.'" The president also said that the troops sent to the border have to use more restraint than they otherwise would. "Our military, don't forget, can't act like a military would act. Because if they got a little rough, everybody would go crazy," Trump said. "They have all these horrible laws that the Democrats won't change, they will not change them. And I think they will pay a very big price in 2020 for all of the things, whether it is the fake witch hunt they start out, or whether it is a situation like this. I think the border is going to be an incredible issue," Trump said. CNBC's Amanda Macias contributed to this report. U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he leaves the White House April 05, 2019 in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump thinks Americans don't care about seeing his tax returns. But most voters want the president to release his tax information or support Democratic efforts to get the documents if Trump refuses to share them, according to polls. Speaking to reporters Wednesday before traveling to Texas, Trump claimed he would "love" to release his tax returns but will not do so "while [he is] under audit." The president is locked in a legal battle with House Democrats, who asked for six years of tax returns last week as they seek information about Trump's financial holdings and potential conflicts of interest. The president refused to release his tax returns during his 2016 campaign, breaking with decades of precedent. "Remember, I got elected last time," Trump told reporters on the White House lawn. "The same exact issue, with the same intensity, which wasn't very much. Because frankly, the people don't care." Voters care more than Trump would like to admit. A majority, or 51%, of registered voters support Democrats' efforts to obtain the president's tax returns, versus 36% who oppose the push, according to a Morning Consult/Politico poll released Wednesday. Among independent voters, 46% back the Democratic lawmakers' effort, while 34% do not. The Morning Consult/Politico poll of 1,992 registered voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. President Donald Trump and Mohammed bin Salman meet at the White House in Washington, March 14, 2017. U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman by phone on Tuesday, discussing Riyadh's role in Middle East stability, maintaining pressure on Iran and the importance of human rights issues, the White House said. Washington's Middle East ally faces rising pressure over its handling of the war in Yemen and moves to stifle internal dissent, including the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and prosecution of women's rights activists. A bipartisan chorus of U.S. lawmakers has called on the White House to harden its stance toward Saudi Arabia after Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. U.S. intelligence believes the crown prince ordered the killing, which Saudi officials deny. Trump has said the U.S. partnership with Saudi Arabia is important for the U.S. economy and maintaining stability in the region. The U.S. State Department on Monday publicly designated 16 people for their role in Khashoggi's death and said they and their families would be barred from entering the United States. The United States on Monday also designated Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, drawing an angry reaction from Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday. The White House said Trump used the call with the crown prince to discuss ways of "maintaining maximum pressure against Iran." Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition battling Iranian-backed Houthi insurgents in Yemen. President Tayyip Erdogan said the delivery of Russian S-400 missile defense systems to Turkey may be brought forward from July, the pro-government Sabah newspaper reported on Wednesday. Turkey's planned purchase of the Russian system has put it at odds with NATO ally the United States. Erdogan was speaking to reporters on his plane while returning from a trip to Russia earlier this week. The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday that Britain would grow by 1.2 percent in 2019 -- as long as it avoids the shock of a no-deal Brexit. That would be faster than Germany's 0.8 percent and only a touch slower than France's 1.3 percent. Britain's economy has held up better than many economists expected since the 2016 Brexit referendum although it has slowed ahead of its departure from the European Union and as the world economy loses momentum. Gross domestic product grew by 0.2 percent from January, the Office for National Statistics said. Britain's economy unexpectedly grew in February, helped by clients of manufacturers rushing to stockpile goods ahead of Brexit, official data showed on Wednesday. A vehicle being produced at Nissan's factory in Sunderland in the U.K. However, Britain still looks set for its weakest growth in a decade this year, according to forecasts from the IMF and the Bank of England which assume a Brexit deal will be done. Prime Minister Theresa May will seek a new delay to Brexit when she meets EU leaders on Wednesday, just two days before Britain is due to leave the bloc without the cushion of a transition deal. Wednesday's data showed that over the three months to February, the economy grew by 0.3 percent, holding at the same pace as in January -- which was revised up from a previous estimate -- and stronger than a forecast of 0.2 percent in the Reuters poll. Manufacturing output jumped by 0.9 percent in February from January, stronger than all forecasts in the Reuters poll and accounting for about half of the overall economic growth rate. The ONS said it seen signs that clients of manufacturers were stockpiling goods to get ahead of any border delays in the event of a no-deal Brexit which was scheduled for March 29 but was subsequently delayed. An ONS official said orders were being brought forward to beat the Brexit schedule, suggesting a likely drag on the numbers for coming months. The statistics office said it could not quantify the impact of stockpiling on the data. Britain's dominant services sector grew by 0.1 percent in monthly terms in February, held back by the 12th fall in a row in the financial services sector - the longest such run on record -- while construction rose by 0.4 percent. There were signs that the slowdown in the global economy was also weighing on Britain's economy. Export volumes fell by 0.4 percent in the three months to February from the three months to November while imports jumped by 6.8 percent. So far, Britain's exporters have shown no sign of being helped by the fall in the value of the pound caused by the 2016 Brexit referendum. The ONS said it could not say whether the increase in imports was driven by pre-Brexit stockpiling. Residents are seen in an area next to a dam owned by Brazilian miner Vale SA that burst, in Brumadinho, Brazil January 25, 2019. Brazilian prosecutors intend to file criminal charges against Vale and employees of the mining giant following a deadly dam collapse at a company mine in January, the Wall Street Journal reports. Investigators have gathered enough evidence to bring charges connected to the disaster, Jose Adercio Leite Sampaio, the lead prosecutor in the inquiry told the Journal. That evidence shows certain employees working at the mine knew the dam was unsafe, but it remains to be seen whether directors were aware, he said. The breach in a dam containing mining waste at Vale's Corrego do Feijao mine in southeastern Minas Gerais sent torrents of muddy sludge ripping through the area and killed about 300 people near the city of Brumadinho. The charges under consideration include murder, manslaughter, environmental damage and false representation, Sampaio told the Journal. The false representation charges are being leveled at employees of both Vale and German inspections company Tuev Sued, which certified the dam was safe shortly before the collapse. A report completed by Tuev Sued in September raised concerns about the dam, identifying problems with the drainage infrastructure and faulty monitoring systems, the Journal reported in February. Prosecutors will investigate whether senior Vale officials understood the risk of collapse in the coming months, Sampaio told the newspaper. Shares of Vale were were down slightly following the report. Read the full story here. Walgreens will open primary care doctors' offices in some of its Houston stores through a partnership with VillageMD, the companies announced Wednesday. VillageMD will operate primary care clinics in five Walgreens stores, working with social workers, nurses and Walgreens' pharmacists. The 2,500-square-foot offices will be inside the Walgreens stores, though they will have a separate storefront and a door connecting the two spaces. These clinics differ from Walgreens' existing walk-in clinics, which typically treat people for acute conditions like cough and flu. They are primary care doctors' offices where people can go for their annual physical and any other ailment they would normally see their doctor for. "Patients are looking for primary care, and it's something our system is really in need of is more access to high-quality primary care," said Dr. Patrick Carroll, Walgreens' chief medical officer. For more on investing in health-care innovation, click here to join CNBC at our Healthy Returns Summit in New York City on May 21. Walgreens will shrink the stores' retail space to make room for the offices. The company declined to say which products it will remove. The locations will include six to eight exam rooms, as well as a waiting area, Carroll said. The first locations of the concept, called "Village Medical at Walgreens," are slated to open by the end of the year. "What the Village Medical at Walgreens is going to offer is really high-quality primary care that can both improve quality and reduce costs at very convenient locations with a huge benefit quite honestly of that pharmacy support to work on adherence [to prescription drugs]," Carroll said. Walgreens in recent years has signed a number of partnerships to bring more health services in its stores. It operates senior health centers with Humana, urgent care centers with UnitedHealth Group, dental clinics with Aspen Dental and diagnostic testing with LabCorp, among others. Both Walgreens and CVS are trying to figure out how best use store locations, where sales of traditional drugstore products like candy and greeting cards are struggling. Offering teeth straighteners, nutritionists and doctors are some of the experiments they're currently testing. Part of CVS' pitch for acquiring health insurer Aetna last year was the idea the combined company could provide better care and make people healthier. CVS opened its new health-focused concept stores, called "HealthHUBs" in Houston earlier this year. They include services to help customers manage chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension and asthma. Carroll said it's a coincidence that both companies are testing new formats in Houston and that Walgreens has been eyeing the market for some time. He said Walgreens is exploring whether to expand the VillageMD test to other markets. Correction: The clinics will be located inside Walgreens' pharmacies with separate entrances outside. The company originally said the clinics would be "next to" the drug store. Rep. Maxine Waters, chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin squabbled at a hearing, with Mnuchin going so far as to threaten to not testify before the committee again if he was not allowed to leave. "If you'd wish to keep me here so I don't have my important meeting, and continue to grill me, then we can do that. I will cancel my meeting and I will not be back here," Mnuchin told the California Democrat at Tuesday's faceoff. "I will be very clear, if that's the way you'd like to have this relationship." At the hearing, Democrats questioned him about when he will respond to requests for access to President Donald Trump's tax returns. As the testimony ran past three hours, Mnuchin asked to leave to attend a meeting with a foreign dignitary and clashed with Waters. She repeated that he was free to leave and fired back when Mnuchin said she should dismiss the meeting and "take the gavel and bang it." "Please do not instruct me as to how I am to conduct this committee," Waters said. CEOs of seven of the largest U.S. banks are set to appear before the committee on Wednesday, including J.P. Morgan's Jamie Dimon and Goldman Sachs' David Solomon. Would you keep working longer than you want to, or under-fund your own retirement, if it meant your children wouldn't have to take on student loan debt? A lot of millennials would be willing to make the sacrifice. That's according to investment company Ameriprise, which surveyed 453 older millennials, classified here as those ages 30 to 37, who had at least $100,000 in investable assets. While this was not a large sample size and respondents are wealthier than average, other studies that considered millennials and their children's college costs have found similar results. More than any other generation, milllennials want to help their kids pay for college. Only about 41% of Gen X (ages 38 to 53) and 21% of baby boomers (ages 54 to 69) with $100,000 to invest said they delayed or would be willing to postpone their own retirement to pay for their children's higher education. Financial experts urge caution. While you may have good intentions when you plan to help your kids afford college, they say, doing so at the expense of your retirement is a mistake. "You're not a bad parent if you're not helping fund your kids' education," Charles Sachs, a Miami-based financial planner, tells CNBC Make It. If you have got extra money to put away for their education, Sachs says, great, but it's not wise to risk your future to prioritize your kids' college costs. 'Put on your own oxygen mask first,' experts say For many millennials, helping their children with college is an emotional decision, says Doug Boneparth, a financial planner and a member of CNBC's Advisor Council. Many of them have had to shoulder student loan debt themselves and would like to alleviate that burden for their kids. "There's an emotional side to it," Boneparth says, that millennials "don't want their children to go through" having to pay back loans. But you want to avoid making decisions based on your feelings, he says. Once your emotions are involved, "that's typically when solid financial thinking goes by the wayside." Opting to under-fund your retirement in favor of saving for your kids college and planning to work indefinitely to make up the deficit are just not practical, experts say. Especially when you consider that a majority of Americans say they already plan to need to work long after the age of 65 "out of financial necessity," according to Pew Charitable Trusts. There's a reason on an airplane they say to put on your own oxygen mask before helping a child. Mark Beaver financial advisor in Dublin, Ohio For many people, it just may not be feasible to put off retirement. In a 2015 survey fielded by Voya Financial, 60% of retirees say they had to retire before they planned to. About 16% said the unexpected change was due to health reasons. "We have no idea what college will even look like in 15 to 20 years, but we know with a fair amount of certainty that [millennials] will either not want to work or not be able to work one day," says Kaleb Paddock, a financial planner based in Parker, Colorado. Focus on yourself first, says Mark Beaver, a financial advisor in Dublin, Ohio: "There's a reason on an airplane they say to put on your own oxygen mask before helping a child." Make sure you are on track with your emergency fund and putting money away for retirement before beginning a college savings plan. And when it comes time to pay for college, your children will likely have options. You can use a number of different loans, scholarships and grants to finance college, says Las Vegas-based financial planner Luis Rosa. "Consider the fact that there's pretty much financing available for most life decisions, except retirement," Rosa says. How parents should plan for the future If you're a millennial parent, experts say there are a few higher priorities you should deal with before you start putting money into your children's college funds. First: Set up an emergency savings account. Most experts recommend that you have three-to-six months of living expenses set aside in an account earmarked for a crisis. If you really want to make your money work for you, keep it in a high-yield online savings account like Ally's, which is currently paying 2.2% APY. You should "have some emergency savings to protect you from life's bumps," says Carol Fabbri, a financial advisor in Conifer, Colorado. "Whether it's a broken arm or a lost job, you need a cushion." Next, try to max out your retirement accounts. "The best thing young parents can do to help pay for college in the future is to begin saving for retirement early," says David McPherson, a financial planner based in Falmouth, Massachusetts. That's because a parent who is well-situated financially can better help their kid when the time comes. "Everyone comes out ahead if the parents start saving for retirement early," McPherson says. What you need to know about 529 plans If you still have money leftover after maxing out your retirement accounts, experts recommend putting it into a 529 college savings plan. These are tax-advantaged accounts specifically designed to help families save for education costs. About 30 states offer tax deductions for those contributing to a 529. Plus, investments made in these accounts grow tax-free. Every state has a plan for residents and several states allow anyone to participate, even if you don't live there. "If you aren't sure how to invest in a 529, many of the target-date options are a great choice," Beaver says. They will automatically adjust the investments based on the child's age so when they get to high school, there is less risk in the portfolio. "You wouldn't want a 529 to decline in value potentially right before they enroll in college," he says. If you have kids, you should open a 529 right away even if you're not investing money regularly. "If the children have at least 10 years until starting college, then 529 plans still make sense," says Minneapolis-based financial planner Laura Nickolay. The longer you wait to open one, the less it will pay off. The best thing young parents can do to help pay for college in the future is to begin saving for retirement early. David McPherson financial planner Bazaar Corporate Radar | Feb 22, 2021, 12:00 AM IST Bazaar Corporate Radar Bazaar Corporate Radar is your window into the minds of top CEOs, Boardrooms, global economists, fund managers and sector analysts. If it?s making news, you?ll find it on Bazaar Corporate Radar. Colorado Politics is published both in print and online. Our website features subscriber-only news stories daily, designed for public policy arena professionals. Member subscribers also receive the weekly print edition of our award-winning newspaper, containing outstanding features and news stories, in their mailboxes every Saturday. FIRST LOOK: Here is what you need to know today Legal wrangling: NUS, NLIU Bhopal shine in moot court competitions in Chandigarh and Singapore Three days of intense debate between the law graduates from around the world saw National University of Singapore winning the global round in the 10th Leiden-Sarin International Air Law Moot Court Competition held in Mohali in Punjab, India yesterday. The nail-biting finale saw Singaporean law students push their rivals from Leiden University of the Netherlands to the second position. In all, 18 teams from 11 countries, including Canada, China, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Germany, Hong Kong and India, participated in the event held at the Army Institute of Law at Mohali. A mock court before which law students argue imaginary cases for practice and prove their worth, the moot has become a regular part of training for lawyers worldwide. The nail-biting finale saw Singaporean law students push their rivals from Leiden University of the Netherlands to the second position. In all, 18 teams from 11 countries, including Canada, China, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Germany, Hong Kong and India, participated in the event held at the Army Institute of Law at Mohali. Photo courtesy: ail.ac.in Following the formula of the Model United Nations, the activity creates a legal conundrum between fictitious entities or mock legal cases. In this particular dispute between Republic of Akira and the Government of Mayur, Singapore won in a Mohali court, local newspaper The Tribune reported. The conflict between the two fictitious countries was over the use of Akiras airspace and the countrys request to Mayur for the extradition of two of her nationals running a troll factory and manufacturing drones. Besides winning the trophy, the Singapore team also received a letter of offer for an internship in the UN body International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), from its Director Jiefang Huang. Bombarded with queries on the Vienna and the Beijing conventions and a plethora of other treaties and international laws, V Santosh, Liew Zhi Hao, and Carina Tay of Singapore convinced the judges with their spontaneity and legal knowledge. The arguments before the ersatz International Court of Justice were appreciated by its president, Justice Mahesh Grover of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The other judges were Huang of ICAO and Prof Dr Regula Dettling-Ott, University of Bern, Switzerland. The all-encompassing event organised by the Sarin Memorial Legal Aid Foundation and the Leiden University at the Army institute was appreciated by the participants, 50-member international jury from 40 countries, and the audience. The dinner parties hosted for the visitors saw even the judges swaying to the reverberating beats of Punjabi music, performing bhangra and gidda. 10 years ago we founded the Leiden Sarin International Air Law Moot Court Competition in Delhi, now bringing it back in a week to Chandigarh! Spot your signatures! @Leiden_IIASL @UniLeidenNews #Avgeek #airlawmoot pic.twitter.com/cfqnCQjHDJ Nitin Sarin (@Deaphen) March 28, 2019 Prof Pablo Mendes De Leon, Director, International Institute of Air and Space Law of Leiden University, commended the organisers. Former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court and President of the Sarin Memorial Legal Aid Foundation, Justice SS Sodhi, Secretary-General of the Foundation, ML Sarin, and moot coordinator Nitin Sarin congratulated the winners and the participating teams. The next years competition will be held in Shanghai, Sarin said. Moot courts have become bigger events with larger prizes and reputations at stake recently. Last week, the NLIU Bhopal team had become the first team from India to win the Ian Fletcher International Insolvency Law Moot Court Competition held at Singapore from March 29 to 31. The competition is regarded as the most prestigious global competition in insolvency law. The winning team comprised Aishwarya Srivastava, Udyan Arya, Christina Shaju and Kuhoo Mishra. The NLIU Bhopal team defeated teams from National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore Management University (SMU), Leiden University of Netherlands, University of British Columbia from Canada and Queensland University of Technology of Australia among others. Eminent international judges: Judge of Appeal, Singapore, Justice Steven Chong; Southern District of New York, USA, Chief Justice Cecilia Morris and Supreme Court, India Retd Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri were on the adjudication panel. Will set up institutional mechanism for diaspora if voted to power: BJP Manifesto Unveiling an exclusive to-do list on the foreign policy front, Bharatiya Janata Party has promised to set up an institutional mechanism to engage with the Indian diaspora worldwide if voted to power in the upcoming General Elections. In its poll manifesto released ahead of Lok Sabha elections starting tomorrow, the leading party in ruling coalition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) said it will also launch an extensive outreach campaign to engage the overseas Indians and firm up a single window counter to help them when in need. Launch of BJP's "Sankalp Patra" for 2019 Lok Sabha Elections at BJP HQ, 6A Deendayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi. Photo courtesy BJP "We will create an institutional mechanism to deepen the relationship of culture and heritage with people of Indian origin, and to regularly engage with them," said the manifesto titled Sankalp Patra, literally meaning "The Charter of Resolution." "We will simultaneously launch Bharat Gaurav campaign to increase interaction among the Indian diaspora and enable their continuous engagement with the Indian missions," it said. The manifesto promises to strengthen the MADAD portal as "single-point avenue" for information and services for Indians living abroad. Under External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, the online consular services management portal MADAD has been hugely popular for its quick disposal of problems faced by the Indian overseas. We will launch Bharat Gaurav to increase interaction among the Indian diaspora. #BJPSankalpPatr2019 Download Bharatiya Janata Party Sankalp Patra, Lok Sabha 2019 at https://t.co/WNrZOKc9BW pic.twitter.com/SQnh1SIamt BJP (@BJP4India) April 8, 2019 Among the range of listed promises such doing away with Article 35A, 370 of Constitution that gives special privileges to state of Jammu and Kashmir, building Ram Mandir, pension for farmers, and so on, the manifesto also promises to strengthen the foreign policy front to secure India's position as global power. The globe-trotting Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoys almost a celebrity status among the Indian diaspora, going by their huge turnout to see him in every country he visits. His popularity is complemented by Swaraj who too enjoys global popularity because of her prompt resolution of problems posted by Indians in distress on her Twitter handle. The globe-trotting Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoys almost a celebrity status among the Indian diaspora .Photo courtesy: MEA The poll-bound, right-leaning BJP is keen on leveraging the "Advantage NRI" in this elections over its rivals such as Congress which has comparatively little or no global footprint among diaspora. "We believe that Indias time has come. She is emerging as a power and connecting stakeholders in a multi-polar world. The rise of India is the new reality and we shall play a major role in shaping global agenda in the 21st century," the BJP manifesto said, in an appeal to newfound identity of India as VishwaGuru (the global guru) among the Indians settled across the world. "While pursuing our national developmental and security interests, the ancient Indian vision of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world as one family) will form the basis in our global co-operation for progress, prosperity, peace and security, especially with friendly countries and neighbours," the manifesto said. "Besides working to secure and safeguard 'global commons', we will strengthen our role as 'first responder' for disaster relief and humanitarian assistance and develop partnerships for disaster resilient infrastructure," it said. The Sankalp Patra also dwells on global coordination on knowledge and technology, stating that the new government will make knowledge exchange and transfer of technology for the development of all countries "a major focus" of diplomatic relations. "As a part of this, we will endeavour to create an International Space Technology Alliance for better coordination and cooperation on issues related to space technology to ensure that the benefits of space technology reach all, especially the smaller countries," it said. Modi's popularity is complemented by EAM Sushma Swaraj (pictured) who too enjoys global popularity because of her prompt resolution of problems posted by Indians in distress on her Twitter handle. Photo courtesy: MEA Modi government also promises to strengthening the diplomatic cadre and outreach. "We will increase the strength of the diplomatic and allied cadres to keep pace with our increasing global engagement and enhanced stature of India in the world. In addition, we will facilitate the participation of experts in foreign policy-making through a robust mechanism," it said. "We will establish a full-fledged University of Foreign Policy, the first of its kind in the region, to focus on academic study and research on foreign policy and geopolitical issues relevant to India and capacity building of our and friendly foreign diplomats. Indias states will be actively assisted in their international outreach for economic development," it added. "Significant interactions such as Russia-India-China (RIC) and Japan-America-India (JAI) will be strengthened. To forward our Neighbourhood First policy, we will extensively leverage forums such as BIMSTEC, to accelerate regional coordination and economic co-operation with countries in our neighbourhood. Act East Policy, cooperation with ASEAN and ensuring an open, inclusive, prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific will be pursued vigorously," the manifesto said. Under Sushma Swaraj, the online consular services management portal MADAD has been hugely popular for its quick disposal of problems faced by the Indian overseas. Photo courtesy: MEA The Modi government also vowed to combat terrorism through global forums. "We will effectively pursue co-operation against global evils, such as terrorism and corruption through forums like UN, the G20, BRICS, SCO, Commonwealth, etc," it said. "We are committed to taking concrete steps on international forums against countries and organisations supporting terrorism, and we will take all necessary measures to isolate such countries and organizations on the global stage," it said. "To ensure the same, we will work towards establishing a 'Comity of Nations Against International Terrorism' as a voluntary multi-lateral forum based on the principles of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism," the manifesto added. Macron warned by other EU leaders not to humiliate May exit strategy and would not damage long-term relations with London. The Times Tusk recommends EU insists on year-long delay Daily Telegraph which dashes Mays hopes The Guardian Brussels seeks UK promise not to be disruptive FT Commentators latch on to Merkels failure to greet May The Times DUPs Dodds brands talks humiliating News Letter European leaders have urged President Macron not to humiliate Theresa May as the price of granting her a long Brexit extension. In an appeal before tonights critical summit, Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, called on EU leaders to treat Britain with respect or risk poisoning future relations. Mr Tusk warned that the French presidents favoured approach of an extension with good behaviour review clauses would create constantly shifting no-deal cliff edges and continued uncertainty for European businesses and citizens. Instead he appealed to the 27 member states to offer Mrs May a flexible extension of up to a year, which would come to an end as soon as Britain had ratified the withdrawal agreement. This, he argued, would allow Britain to rethink its Comment: Long delay could leave EU playing no-deal chicken with a Brexiteer Asa Bennett, Daily Telegraph The harsh reality of any extension David Allen Green, FT >Yesterday: Hammond suggests MPs will revoke Article 50 rather than allow no deal Philip Hammond raised the prospect that MPs will revoke Article 50 this week rather than allow Britain to leave without a deal if Brexit talks collapse. The Chancellor warned on Tuesday that the value of the pound could fall significantly if Theresa May fails to reach agreement on a Brexit delay with Brussels. He suggested that the impact of uncertainty on the markets could encourage MPs to vote to reverse Brexit by revoking Article 50. David Lidington, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, is said to have warned that the Government would no longer be in control and that Parliament and the Speaker would determine how to proceed. Mr Hammond and Mr Lidington made the comments during a meeting on Tuesday morning in which ministers including Michael Gove, Jeremy Hunt, James Cleverly and Chris Grayling war-gamed a series of scenarios for this week. Daily Telegraph Ministers mull nuclear option of tabling Withdrawal Agreement Bill The Sun ERG in chaos after rebel group splits Daily Express Mays last gambit to bounce MPs into backing her deal Daily Express Comment: Deep state was never going to allow such an outcome Philip Johnstone, Daily Telegraph The ERG are putting Brexit in jeopardy Daniel Kawczynski, Daily Telegraph Editorial: Both sides must avoid a no-deal exit The Times >Today: ToryDiary: The Spartans. Will they escape Tory gravity, and soar to another planet? Or sink back into Celestial Body Conservative? >Yesterday: Video: WATCH: Merriman backs a second referendum If I get fired, so be it May and Corbyn as far apart as ever after talks stall Extending uncertainty not an option, ministers say Daily Telegraph Fox says customs union would be worst of both worlds The Sun Leadsom says Merkel could re-open the Withdrawal Agreement FT Theresa Mays hopes of persuading European Union leaders that she can reach a deal with Labour to break the Brexit deadlock appeared doomed last night after cross-party talks broke down without progress. Sources on both sides of the negotiations said that four hours of detailed discussions yesterday had served only to show just how far away the two parties were.Labour said that ministers had failed to offer any further concessions to break the deadlock and feared that Mrs May was being prevented from compromising by cabinet hardliners. Meanwhile, senior Conservative sources questioned Labours sincerity in wanting to come to a deal, pointing to division among Jeremy Corbyns backbenchers on a second referendum. The Times More: Barnier urges UK to accept customs union Daily Telegraph Talks founder on proofing deal against hard-Brexit successor FT Johnson wont be able to fix the deal, Eurocrats vow The Sun Comment: There is still time to change tack to a better deal Shanker Singham, Daily Telegraph Reinventing politics wont solve this mess Daniel Finkelstein, The Times >Today: Robert Halfon MPs column: Labour, Corbyn Kim Jong-un, for that matter. Id talk to anyone, anywhere to ensure that Brexit takes place. >Yesterday: James Fraynes column: Cross-party co-operation over Brexit is initially popular, but it will swiftly sour in practice Tugendhat signals exit from upcoming leadership contest The Conservatives will be finished if they become only a party of Brexit, one of the likely candidates to succeed Theresa May said yesterday. Matt Hancock, the health and social care secretary, said the party needed to demonstrate more optimism to justify continuing in power Mr Hancock was joined by Penny Mordaunt, the development secretary, and Tom Tugendhat, 45, chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, to discuss a new report showing the potentially ominous prospects for the Conservative Party. Ms Mordaunt, 46, and Mr Hancock, 40, are both expected to run when Mrs May steps down. Mr Tugendhat told The Times Red Box podcast after the event that he would not be standing, despite previously indicating an interest. The Times Tory contenders try to appeal to younger voters FT Grassroots could pass motions calling on May to quit Daily Telegraph as MPs say shell be out after local elections bloodbath The Sun >Today: Priti Patel MP in Comment: Its time to stand up for Britain and to trust our members >Yesterday: Mark Wallace: Anger at May will cost Tories dear in local polls The Prime Minister has destroyed our electoral hopes A Conservative Councillor, Times Red Box Who can blame young voters for ditching the Tories? Madeline Grant, Daily Telegraph But even Tory veterans are shocked at the response theyre getting when out campaigning for the local elections on May 2. Doors have been slammed in faces and by people who voted Conservative not just last time but at every election on record. Others barely get past hello before they are bombarded with a volley of four-letter abuse, sparked simply by the sight of a blue rosette. Several local Conservative offices have had their own leaflets back by return post, torn to pieces or scrawled with the word Traitor. Utterly horrendous is how one long-serving volunteer in a true blue area described it this week. The reason for this unbridled fury, disgust and loss of trust is obvious. The Sun Editorial: May should set out a timetable for departure Daily Telegraph >Yesterday: Video: WATCH: The Conservative Local Election Broadcast goes big on the B word: bins Johnsons father to bid to be a Euro candidate Boris Johnsons father has thrown his hat into the ring to be a Conservative candidate in the event Brexit is delayed so long that the United Kingdom ends up holding elections to the European Parliament this year. Stanley Johnson confirmed to The Telegraph that he had lodged his application to be a candidate in London after Conservative party chiefs announced in a call-out to parliamentary hopefuls that they will be contesting the European Elections on 23rd May 2019. Mr Johnson, who served as an MEP from 1979-1984, called for British politicians to take an absolutely positive approach towards engaging with the European institution due to the tremendous impact its activities can have. Daily Telegraph Voters are looking to the extremes Ana Nadibaidze, Times Red Box Idea of serving another term is shocking Patrick OFlynn, Daily Telegraph To be, or not to be, an MEP Ian Duncan, Times Red Box Dont boycott the election, spoil your ballot Allison Pearson, Daily Telegraph >Yesterday: MPs Etc.: The practicalities of fighting a Euro election look no more appealing than the principle of holding one Ministers 1) Hinds says LGBT lessons are a matter for heads, not parents Ministers 2) Truss announces 95,000 cap on public-sector golden goodbyes The education secretary has weighed into the row about LGBT lessons in primary schools, warning that parents should not be given a veto on what schools teach. Damian Hinds said it was right that parents were consulted and involved in developing how schools deliver relationships education, but insisted what is taught, and how, is ultimately a decision for the school. His intervention was welcomed by headteachers who have been calling for more support from the government in the face of spreading protests against relationships lessons that teach primary school children about LGBT families. Protests began earlier this year at Parkfield community school in the Saltley area of Birmingham, but opposition has since spread to other schools in the city and further afield, with some parents demanding that the lessons should be halted. The Guardian A 95,000 cap on golden goodbyes in the public sector will be introduced to stop huge exit payments, the government has announced. Local councils will be banned from handing out six-figure payouts as part of a new clampdown. More than 1,600 employees received payments of more than 100,000 in 2016-17, at a cost of 198million. Local government payouts accounted for half of this amount. In total exit payments across the public sector amounted to 1.2billion in 2016-17 The government has launched a consultation outlining how the government will introduce the 95,000 cap. The civil service, local government, police forces, schools and the NHS are included in a first round of implementation which will cover the vast majority of public sector workers. Daily Telegraph Five thousand public employees receive six-figure payoffs The Times Government slammed over way aid budget is spent through charities The Sun Comment: We must crack down on public sector waste Liz Truss MP, Daily Telegraph Ministers 3) Hammond faces fresh fury over fuel duty Labour suspend another candidate over antisemitism Fury erupted Tuesday night as Philip Hammond raised fresh fears that he will scrap the fuel duty freeze to find more money for public services. In a challenge to The Suns Keep it Down campaign, the Chancellor told MPs he will have to balance savings for motorists against the costs of the exchequer when he draws up the spending review later this year. He complained last year that keeping the price of petrol down had cost the Treasury 46billion since 2011. And his latest comments suggest he is once eyeing up a tax raid on hard-pressed families and businesses on the forecourt. Mr Hammond told the Commons on Tuesday that lorry drivers would have had to pay an average 23,000 extra on fuel since 2010 in added fuel duty, had the freeze not been introduced. The Sun A Labour council candidate has been suspended after The Timespresented the party with social media posts he made about Israel and Jews. Harry Virco, a candidate in next months local elections for Fylde borough council in Lancashire, wrote on Twitter last year: Has Israel & the Jewish people learned nothing from their persecution under Hitler? Yes they have! They now know how to persecute other people & especially children. Mr Virco has been suspended by Labour pending an investigation. A party spokeswoman said that it took all complaints about antisemitism extremely seriously. A party source added that although it was too late to remove Mr Virco from the ballot paper, he would sit as an independent if elected. The Times as Tories face fresh Islamophobia row The Guardian SNP facing grassroots challenge over currency plans Dodds defends donation from unionist donor group SNP bosses are facing the prospect of a grassroots challenge over controversial changes to its currency proposals after independence. Party activists who want to see an immediate switch to a new Scottish currency are to oppose the leaderships plans to retain the pound for an indefinite period after a Yes vote. This is line with the recommendations of the partys recent Sustainable Growth Commission and means a new currency would only be adopted after six key fiscal tests are met. Finance secretary Derek Mackay is leading the push for this, along with party deputy leader Keith Brown. They have a joint motion at the party conference later this month to make a new Scots currency official party policy after independence after the tests are met, replacing the idea of retaining the pound as part of a currency union with the UK. The Scotsman DUP Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds has defended is party accepting a further 13,000 donation from a pro-Brexit campaign group in the months after the EU referendum, it has been reported. The Constitutional Research Council (CRC) had previously donated 435,000 to the DUP during the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign, most of which was spent by the party on pro-Brexit advertising. The information on the latest CRC donation are contained in internal Electoral Commission documents, which were published by the campaign group the Good Law Project, an anti-Brexit campaign group. The CRC is reported to be a group of pro-union business people chaired by Richard Cook, a former vice chairman of the Scottish Conservatives. News Letter Netanyahu on course for fifth term in Israel B Right-wing bloc heads towards narrow victory FT News in Brief: A deal with Corbyn would blow up the Government, and might not pass Iain Martin, Reaction Can the government nudge us towards a better internet? Alex Krasodomski-Jones, CapX Millennials: winning over a generation badly let down Mark Littlewood, 1828 The problem with no-fault divorce Melanie McDonagh, The Spectator How the idea of advocating a principled (if unpopular) political position was lost Robert Wilton, UnHerd enjamin Netanyahu looked on the brink of securing a fifth-term as Israels prime minister on Wednesday, seeing off a centrist challenge despite facing criminal corruption charges. With nearly all votes counted, Mr Netanyahus Likud had won the same number of seats as Blue & White, a centrist coalition run by led by former general Benny Gantz, but the prime minister had a much clearer path to forming a coalition. This is a night of tremendous victory, Mr Netanyahu told his cheering supporters in Tel Aviv. I am very moved that the people of Israel again put its faith in me, for the fifth time. If the final tallies are confirmed, it will cement Mr Netanyahus reputation as the most successful election-winner in Israeli history and prove that his brand of divisive Right-wing politics is the countrys dominant political force. Daily Telegraph Ben Roback is Head of Trade and International Policy at Cicero Group. Rarely in the Trump White House is there such thing as a quiet week. Perhaps nothing better sums up the last fortnight that the resignation/firing/ousting of Kirstjen Nielsen, the Secretary for Homeland Security the nature of her departure depending on whose account you believe. Per the usual flood of immediate leaks to the press, reports suggest the President tweeted out the news moments before she could announce it formally herself. Nielsen will stay in the role until April 10, but the transition will be made harder after Claire Grady, the Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, announced she is also to leave the department. That creates confusion at a time when Donald Trump is taking an even harder line on immigration, seeking to make it the defining issue of not just his re-election campaign but the entire 2020 general election. When not embroiled in staff turnover, the White House has been devoting more time re-focusing efforts on its trade policy. The President has stuck to campaign promises made around the notion of global trade working against America and harming US jobs. On that subject, he polls well an October 2018 CNN/SSRS survey showed the Presidents approval rating for handling foreign trade up eight points to 43 per cent. This followed the announcement of a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada, the USMCA. Whilst the White House celebrated a formal signing ceremony as a major victory in November 2018, remember that it requires the legislatures of all three countries to approve the agreement. Trade policy in Washington is turning increasingly towards the EU and China. First, the EU. Trump holds deeply sceptical views of the European Union, hence his consistent backing for Brexit both before and after the 2016 referendum. The layers of political bureaucracy and pooling of sovereignty in the name of shared security and prosperity go directly against the Presidents America First vision of nation-state supremacy. That will not stop the US pursuing trade talks with the bloc, but prospects for success appear limited. Europe and the US launched exploratory talks in July 2018 to reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers in the bilateral trade. Last month, after a round of negotiations in Washington Robert Lighthizer, the US Trade Representative, said the United States has reached a complete stalemate with the EU over agricultural demands. The impasse looks difficult to overcome given the total disparity in positions. In short, Lighthizer included a long list of ambitious agriculture goals in January when the United States released its negotiating objectives for the potential trade agreement, whilst Cecilia Malmstrom, the EU Trade Commissioner, has said the EU will will not discuss agriculture. It is unclear how this latest attempt at boosting EU-US trade will suffer a different fate to the doomed TTIP negotiations. Emmanuel Macron adds a new layer of complexity which browsers of this site will no doubt be accustomed to reading having combined his own objections to agricultural provisions with the United States decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord. I am not in favour of having new trade deals, in whatever form, with whoever is, with partners that do not have the same climate standard than we have because that would be unfair competition for our companies, our farmers, he said. President Trump also looks in no mood to engage with an open mind, tweeting yesterday in no uncertain terms his anger at EU trade policy. It will soon stop! the President said, but with such significant hurdles to overcome it is neither clear when nor how. Second, China. Last week, the Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency reported the US and China negotiating teams had achieved new progress in the ninth round of high-level economic and trade talks. They took place in Washington and were concluded with a meeting between Liu He, Chinas Vice Premier, and Trump. The White House was cooler on the progress of talks, stating significant work remains but that delegation members would be in continuous contact to resolve outstanding issues. That all points to a far more optimistic outlook compared to EU-US trade. Trump recently went as far as saying theres a very good chance of reaching a trade deal with China, in the midst of a months-long tariff war between the two economic powerhouses. But much like EU-US talks, no matter the progress made at a technical level, it remains to be seen whether the presidents personal instincts could help or hinder the deal. The Chinese he refers to as tough negotiators but great friends, whereas the presidential bromance between Trump and Macron seemed to have fizzled out almost immediately after it began. The prospects for progress between the US and China appear far greater in the immediate future than between the US and EU. Dr David Shiels is a Policy Analyst at Open Europe and also works on contemporary political history. The prospect of participating in European Parliamentary elections was never going to be an attractive one for the Conservative Party. Having repeatedly promised that the UK would leave the EU by March 29, the Prime Minister herself has said that participating in such elections would be suboptimal. Wherever the blame lies for the Brexit delay, it will be hard for the party to campaign for votes in an election they said should not happen. Leaving Brexit aside, voters have traditionally used the European elections as an opportunity to punish the incumbent Government. In 2014, the Tories came third and, though UKIP is no longer the force it was then, there are new challenger parties which might tempt voters this time around. A new poll opinion for Open Europe conducted by Hanbury Strategy suggests the Conservative Party has reason to be wary about participating in the European Parliament (EP) elections. Of those questioned, 23 per cent said they would vote Conservative compared with 37.8 per cent for Labour and 8.1 per cent for the Liberal Democrats. UKIP and the Greens polled 7.5 per cent and four per cent respectively. The SNP were on 4.1 per cent. As for the two newcomer parties, the Brexit Party led by Nigel Farage polled 10.3 per cent and Change UK / The Independent Group polled 4.1 per cent. The polling only gives vote share for Great Britain. (The elections in Northern Ireland will be significant given the prominence the border has assumed in the Brexit debates). These figures come with some health warnings. It is not yet certain that the UK will participate in the European Parliamentary elections, so voters may not yet be focussing on the question. Both main parties could lose out in an election campaign, but Labour could have something to gain. There could be a tactical advantage for Labour in prolonging the cross-party talks and putting the Tories through the ordeal of more elections. There are, however, several other points worth drawing out from Open Europes polling which are important from the Conservative Partys point of view. First of all, Tory voters seem to be less loyal to the party when it comes to the European elections. This is perhaps not surprising, given that one Conservative MP hinted that she would not be campaigning for the party in the elections if they took place. Of those who say they would vote Conservative at a general election, only 76.5 per cent said they would vote for the party in the European elections. This compares to 91.5 per cent of Labour voters in a general election who say they would also vote for the party in the European Parliamentary elections. Labour also seemed to be more strongly supported by Remain voters than the Conservatives were by Leave voters, since 30 per cent of Leavers questioned said they would back the Conservatives in the European elections, while 47.7 per cent of Remainers said they would back Labour. However, when the question was put slightly differently, 23 per cent of Conservative voters in a general election said they would be very likely to vote for Nigel Farages Brexit party at the EP elections, compared to 14.7 per cent of Labour voters who said they would be very likely to support Change UK / The Independent Group, which has taken a strongly pro-Remain position. Another important point to note is that Labour has a strong lead over the Conservatives in all age groups apart from those over 55. Indeed, the voting intention for the European elections show that the Conservatives are only marginally ahead of Labour in the 55-64 age category (24.1 per cent compared to 23.3 per cent) and it is only in the 65+ category that the party is significantly ahead (33.6 per cent compared to 19.7 per cent). It is also in these age categories that support for the Brexit Party is strongest, though Change UK and UKIP have more varied levels of support. These findings are consistent with the trend found by Onwards recent report into generational voting patterns, which suggests that the divide between older and younger voters is greater than ever. The big factor in any European Parliament election is turnout, which has been traditionally much lower in the UK than for General Elections. Here again the Conservatives may be at a slight disadvantage, since Remain voters seem more motivated to vote in the European elections: 37.8 per cent of Leave voters said they were 10/10 likely to vote, compared to 46.9 per cent of Remain voters. Older voters showed stronger views on the turnout question, with the highest percentage saying they were most likely to vote and also the highest percentage of those least likely to vote. Overall, the picture for the Conservative Party looks worse in the European elections than it does for the general election. If they go ahead, these elections will offer voters a chance to register a protest against the incumbent Government and also send a strong signal about Brexit, whichever way they are inclined on the matter. The proportional system with a regional closed list benefits the challenger parties and gives them an opportunity to establish an electoral foothold in British politics. On the other hand, there could be confusion on both the Remain and Leave side as the new parties compete for attention and send conflicting messages, resulting in greater fragmentation and the regional list system could produce some quirky results. Change UK has an opportunity to take some of Labours Remain support, but may struggle with brand identity, establishing that it is an anti-Brexit party. As for the two main parties, the Conservatives stand at an obvious disadvantage going into the elections, but there are risks for Labour too. Labour has more to lose by having its divisions forced into the open, and clearly risks losing support of Remainers unless it delivers another referendum. The Conservatives pro-Brexit credentials will be challenged, while they could also lose support from Remainers. Squeezed on both sides, the party will need to find a message that is about delivering Brexit in a pragmatic and sensible way. Priti Patel is MP for Witham, and a former Secretary of State for International Development. Our Party is the greatest and most successful political Party in history. Nowhere in the world is there a political party with a better record of success at being democratically elected and running Government. Theres a reason for that. It is because our values chime with those of the British people. Therefore, as someone who is first and foremost a Conservative activist, I like many others feel the anger and frustration of our members and supporters with what is now happening over Brexit. Having come together to support the referendum that we promised in our 2015 Manifesto, we then outlined a clear vision for our future outside the EU while having a close and equal partnership. We took it to the people in 2017 and, while we suffered a difficult and bruising result as we lost our majority, we polled more votes and secured the highest vote share in a generation. Even after that shock, we still pulled together and performed well for a governing party in last years local elections. We were buoyed by what we saw as the Governments determination to fulfil its promise to the people and take us out of the EU on 29 March -with a deal agreed with the EU or without. Like others, I believed from what the Government said that the national interest would be defended and the referendum result delivered. Acting in the national interest is fundamental to our DNA as a Party, and when a Conservative Government is standing up for the national interest it motivates and inspires all of us activists to knock on more doors, deliver more leaflets and raise more money. However, since the deal with the EU was agreed, the attempts by the Government to impose it on our country have caused a level of anger that I have not seen in my 30 years as an activist. And the more Ministers become entrenched in their positions, the more our members are becoming dissatisfied and despondent. I believe that the capitulation to Brussels of the Government and the lack of faith in our democracy, freedom and country displayed by others has caused huge damage to our grassroots alongside the political games in Westminster which have sought to undermine the referendum result. While Ministers get questioned by journalists in the comfort of TV and radio studios under a tight time limit, with a series of lines they can reel off, our volunteers and activists bear the brunt on the doorstep. On cold and wet mornings and evening they are out there knocking on doors relentlessly campaigning to get the Conservative message across and candidates elected in crucial council elections. And, on the doorsteps, wherever I have been, the state of Brexit has been just about the only subject voters want to speak about. Our activists want to persuade the public to vote in vital local elections to help us win councils and deliver good quality local services. But instead they are left to pick up the pieces of the great betrayal taking place in Westminster. This week, the Governments effort to do a deal with Jeremy Corbyn has made their mood even worse. Those of us who were angered by the feeble negotiation with the EU are now livid because the Government is trusting a man who sides with the terrorists who attack our national interest, has let anti-Semitism run rife in the Labour Party, allows Labour supporters to launch vile attacks on us and would wreck our economy. This does not serve the national interest, and it is a huge political error to give Corbyn a voice and credibility when he has consistently flip-flopped on the EU and on Brexit. We should never forget that while our country suffered the horrors of terror caused by the IRA, including the attack on our Party Conference in 1984 and the brutal murders of Conservative MPs, Corbyn was a terrorist sympathiser. Our members, volunteers and activists are doing all they can to keep this dangerous man and his vile allies out of power only to now see the Government start a love-in with him. The fact that the Government has fallen so out of touch with the mood of our own members is astonishing. Now is the time to fulfil our promise to the people and leave the EU. We can and should do this on Friday no more excuses, no more tricks just Brexit and the unlocking of our countrys freedom and our democracy. Leaving the EU on Friday would help us to bring the country together as well as galvanise our activists. We would deliver our promise on the biggest political issue we face. We can then the focus on the many other issues where Conservative policies are needed and which excite and animate our activists. A renewed focus would also mean that the Party centrally ends the distain shown to our members. I have in previous articles on this site given my views on how the Party nationally should renew and trust the grassroots through genuine reform of the membership, electing the Party Chairman, hosting policy forums and holding a members day at Party conference. Our members, like the British public, want to see a Conservative Government standing up for our country. They also want to see a it stand up for the values which we believe in freedom, enterprise and opportunity. Those values are shared widely by the British people and resonate with them. We must enshrine them into the policies we pursue at a national and local level. Over the last eight years, we have introduced many reforms to help people to succeed. Raising the tax-free threshold to cut tax bills for millions, cutting taxes on business, keeping fuel duty down and supporting investment in businesses has helped our country establish a record number of businesses, supporting record numbers of people in work. That record has never been more important than in the current political climate, when our country faces the threat posed by militant left-wingers. Socialism would reverse everything this country has gained from the 1980s on. The Conservative achievements of the last eight years, including record levels of employment, and the number of business and enterprise created, would be driven away our defences shredded, our pride diminished and our country bankrupted. We would instead go back to an era of anti-capitalist slogans and placards which might grab headlines but do not transform lives, create jobs, provide better public services or raise Britains standing in the world. The upcoming electoral cycle should provide a strong platform to remind people of the very real dangers of the alternatives and to champion the cause of freedom in deeds as well as in words. With our great country facing the threat of hard-left socialism from Corbyns Labour Party, we need to give the public powerful and strong reasons to vote Conservative and support the Party that backs freedom, enterprise and opportunity. We must believe in our activists and get behind our members and supporters. Lets get Britain out of the EU on Friday, and energise our members with the Conservative values we share, to secure a better future for Britain. Robert Halfon is MP for Harlow, a former Conservative Party Deputy Chairman, Chair of the Education Select Committee and President of Conservative Workers and Trade Unionists. Let me get one thing clear: as someone from a Jewish background, the anti-Semitism infecting Labour fills me with dread, and I have experienced it locally in Harlow. Her Majestys Opposition is socialist rather than social democratic and all Conservatives have a duty to oppose it. So I understand the anguish about Theresa May dealing with Jeremy Corbyn. Like most Tories, I would rather we had a bold centre-right agenda, making the case for fairer capitalism, enveloping blue collar conservatives, white van conservatives, with DNA Conservatism of lower taxes and the free market. However, when it comes to voting on the EU, we can choose either to vote idealistically or for the least worst option, given the current political realities. Politics must be the art of the possible. Idealism only works if there is a majority in Parliament to get those ideas through. So when I plan to vote on the fourth Meaningful Vote on Parliament I will take the below irrefutable facts into consideration. We have to accept that much of Parliament is for staying in the EU, a long delay or a second referendum all of which I am opposed to. Everything that has happened since the Second Meaningful Vote failed to pass the Commons has been moves towards a Peoples Vote, delay or revocation. It does not matter who is Party Leader, whether it be Mother Teresa or Theresa May the arithmetic of Parliament does not change. Only Tory plurality in the Commons and an arch-Remainer House of Lords. Even were a charismatic leader elected, who managed to unite most of the Conservative Party, this does not change the lack of a majority in the Commons, or the Conservative minority in the Upper Chamber. Corbyn is literally a thread away from Downing Street, thanks to the disastrous 2017 election, which wiped out the gains from 2015. We are also unpopular in many parts of the country, because of the painful effects of austerity and the rising cost of living. The Brexit shenanigans have made it worse. We have no majority in Parliament, made worse because of four Tory defections. Three of these defectors have no love of any kind for their old party. Whilst difficult to happen, an early general election is not impossible. It is true that MPs have to vote for it, but a few renegade Parliamentarians upset about the handling of Brexit make a General Election less unthinkable than it might seem. DUP support for the Conservatives is no longer guaranteed. Given the current opinion polls and the anger from the public against the political class, I dont think that even the most Pollyannish type Conservative would think that an general election would bring anything less than a wipeout at worst, another hung parliament at best. So when I choose how to vote on the EU deal, my whole purpose will be to avoid these four scenarios, particularly 1 and 2 above avoiding either a long extension, a second referendum, or not leaving at all, with the possibility of a Corbyn Government. For these reasons, I dont care who Theresa May talks to about a deal whether it is Corbyn or Kim Jong-un. When we next vote on the above, the least worst option may be the only one that avoids 1, 2, 3 and 4. That means getting some for Brexit over the line so that we legally leave the EU. May met with Corbyn a few weeks ago after the First Meaningful Vote. No one appeared to see it as such a problem then. Indeed, the Labour leader was criticised for initially refusing to talk to the Prime Minister. Rather than get worked up about the talks with Labour, we should be reflecting what the current political realities are whether we like it or not. It may be when all this is over (if it ever is) there is a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to decide what went wrong; who the guilty men and women are; why the negotiations with the EU have gone the way they have, how the 2017 election was ever allowed to happen et al. But all that is for another day. The priority now must, must, must be to unify the country, keep the Conservative Party together, stop Jeremy Corbyn entering Downing Street and to retrench, re-inforce and regroup ready for the mighty battle ahead hopefully in 2022. Andrew Gimsons PMQs sketch: If the Prime Minister is so lifeless in the House, how can she carry conviction in Brussels? Craig Tracey, since 2015 Conservative MP for North Warwickshire, used the first question of the day to urge the Prime Minister to grasp an opportunity and make a success of it. Here is his question in full, delivered in a mild, almost apologetic tone of voice: I fully agree with the Prime Minister when shes repeatedly said that we need to both honour the result of the referendum and our manifesto commitments, which mean leaving the customs union and single market, so does my Right Honourable Friend agree with me that if the best way to do that, rather than deliver a diluted deal which is unrecognisable to many of us who voted to leave, is to go under WTO rules, we should grasp that opportunity and believe in the ability of the British people and a Conservative Government to make a success of it. Theresa May responded: I believe that a Conservative Government will make a success of whatever the situation is in relation to Brexit. Oh dear. The Prime Minister who has been dealing with the matter since July 2016 cannot tell us what the situation is in relation to Brexit. She added that she still believes it is best to leave in an orderly way with a deal. A more underwhelming performance, lifeless, stilted, tired, impervious to the feelings of her listeners and unable to raise anyones spirits, would be hard to imagine. And this is the person who is travelling to Brussels to negotiate on our behalf. If she cannot speak with conviction in the Commons, how can one imagine she will do so when she meets European leaders? No wonder a considerable number of MPs on both sides of the House declined to attend PMQs. There was nothing to learn here, and it was painful to listen to this dutiful, uncommunicative, humiliated Prime Minister. No Tory backbencher had a go at her in the way that half a dozen of them did last week. They will not kick her when she is just off to Brussels. But the glum faces of her colleagues on the front bench reinforced the feeling that it is time to let someone else have a go at negotiating Brexit. Jeremy Corbyn complained that child poverty is worse in Swindon and Stoke-on-Trent than it is in Surrey. He is getting ready for a general election. Celestyal Cruises has announced it is taking its program west in the fall of 2020 for six departures into the Adriatic visiting seven new destinations in Italy, Montenegro, Croatia and Greece. The new Adriatic itineraries will all be onboard the Celestyal Olympia as the company builds up toward year-round deployment. Our new, 2020 Adriatic itineraries, combined with the recent launch of the Eclectic and Three Continents itineraries in 2019/2020, represents 33 additional weeks of operation, bringing us even closer to our objective of sailing year-round and offering our guests even more choices of destinations throughout the Aegean, Mediterranean and now the Adriatic, said Chris Theophillides, CEO. We are thrilled to be visiting these new destinations at less crowded and congested times of the year to provide our guests with a much better experience and a chance to explore the magical Christmas markets and take a deeper dive into the cultural, culinary and historic treasures that these destinations offer. The itinerary consists of four seven-night cruises departing Venice, Italy on December 5, 12, 19 and 26 and calling on Corfu and Patras, Greece, followed by Kotor in Montenegro and Dubrovnik and Split in Croatia, with fares starting at $999 per guest. Dubrovnik will also be available for guests as an embarkation port. There will be two positioning cruises, the first on November 30 with a five-night cruise starting in Athens and ending in Venice, calling on Katakolon and Corfu in Greece, Kotor, Montenegro and Dubrovnik, Croatia. A seven-night cruise will also depart on January 2, 2021 from Venice with an overnight stay and ending with an overnight stay in Athens along with calls in Dubrovnik, Croatia, Kotor, Montenegro, Corfu and Katakolon, Greece. Fares start at $839 per guest. The move into the Adriatic follows Celestyals recent launch of its new Eclectic Aegean itinerary starting in October, 2019, which takes the line back to Istanbul and introduces guests to Volos, Greece, for excursions to the mountains of Meteora, and to Canakkale, Turkey, for excursions to Troy and Gallipoli. Celestyal also recently launched its Three Continents this December, with five sailings calling at Alexandria and Port Said, Egypt, at Ashdod, Israel, at Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey, at Limassol, Cyprus, and at Rhodes in Greece. The Greater Victoria Harbour Authority (GVHA) has signed a long-term berthing agreement with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, according to a statement. The 12-year agreement, from 2019 to 2030, will provide Norwegian with a guaranteed berth at Pier A South at the Victoria Cruise Terminal. GVHA is provided with certainty of cruise business for 12 seasons, which further extends opportunities for capital and long-term investment in the terminal. GVHA will retain operational flexibility, allowing for efficient utilization of their terminal facilities when determining their schedule of cruise ship calls. The agreement also strengthens GVHAs relationship with a major cruise brand, opening the door for future collaboration on homeporting, capital investment, and community involvement, according to a press release. We are pleased to sign this agreement with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., which has been a partner of the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority since we formed in 2002, said Lindsay Gaunt, Director, Cruise Development, Greater Victoria Harbour Authority. This agreement reinforces our strong relationship with Norwegian Cruise Line, while still allowing us to continue to grow our business and maximize the use of our three berths. As we grow our presence in the Pacific Northwest we are excited to extend our partnership with the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority and bring more guests to the region, said Howard Sherman, Executive Vice President of Onboard Revenue and Destination Development. For the past several years, an increasing number of cyberecrime groups have adopted techniques and procedures traditionally used by state-sponsored actors. This trend has caught many organizations unprepared, especially small and medium-sized businesses whose defenses are generally focused on regular malware. [ How much does a cyber attack really cost? Take a look at the numbers.. | Get the latest from CSO by signing up for our newsletters. ] The term advanced persistent threat (APT) is typically used to describe targeted attacks where hackers compromise systems with custom or hard-to-detect tools and then perform lateral movement using stealthy techniques that often involve manual hacking. This type of approach has historically been used by groups interested in espionage with the goal of remaining undetected for extended periods of time so they can observe and steal as many secrets as possible. Meanwhile, cybercrime groups were known to use malware bought from underground markets, to exploit known vulnerabilities, to launch widespread attacks, and to generally focus on getting a quick return on their investment rather than being stealthy. First and foremost, cybercrime groups differentiated themselves from espionage ones by having a financial motive like stealing money directly from victims' accounts, stealing data that could be monetized in some way, forcing victims to pay ransoms and fake fines and so on. However, the majority of significant cybercrime attacks observed recently used APT techniques, so the technical borders between them are disappearing and these groups are learning from each other, Costin Raiu, director of the Global Research and Analysis Team at Kaspersky Lab, tells CSO. Now, some cyberespionage actors regularly use commercial and publicly available malware to complicate attribution efforts and there are cybercrime groups for whom stealthiness and manual hacking have become important components in their operations. The North Korean Lazarus group, for example, is an unusual APT group that used to engage in espionage and sabotage, but which has transitioned to financially motivated attacks. Over the past few years, the group has hit central banks and cryptocurrency exchanges around the world, possibly in an attempt to steal funds for the North Korean government, which has been under global economic sanctions for a long time. On the other side, cybercrime groups like Carbanak have stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from banks and other financial institutions from around the world by using APT-style attacks. These new, more sophisticated cybercrime groups lurk inside their victims' networks for weeks or months to gain extensive access and learn the organization's workflows before they hit. Why is the APT landscape changing? "I think there are two broader trends that are at play," says Tim Maurer, author of Cyber Mercenaries: The State, Hackers, and Power and co-director of the Cyber Policy Initiative at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a foreign-policy think tank. "The first one is that in some countries the relationship between the state and the criminal underground is actually one where criminals will be allowed certain types of the activities as long as it's to the benefit of the state." There have long been rumors in the security community that intelligence agencies in countries like Russia or China are contracting cybercriminals for intelligence operations, either directly or through intermediaries. An example of this came to light in 2017, when the U.S. Department of Justice indicted two officers of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) for hiring a known criminal hacker to break into Yahoo's network. The recruitment of cybercriminals into intelligence operations can obviously lead to an exchange of more sophisticated techniques, tactics and procedures (TTPs) that can then be used in criminal activities as well. However, Maurer believes that this convergence of techniques between the two types of actors is more illustrative of a second trend that he finds more worrisome, and that is the general proliferation of cyber capabilities and actors. "I think there is this constant dynamic of learning from the best," Maurer tells CSO. "Sometimes criminals might be better than states in what they developed and sometimes states will be better, and the two actors will learn from each other. And that's because so much of this information becomes available publicly and globally." According to Maurer, considerably more countries now have offensive cyber capabilities than 10 years ago and to get those capabilities, some states have borrowed malware tools from cybercriminals, either because they were good or because they wanted to disguise their own activities. Similarly, when the Shadow Brokers group leaked the EternalBlue exploit, which is believed to have been part of the NSA's toolset, both state-sponsored and criminal groups integrated it into their operations. As more states are developing these tools and are either using them or losing them, like it happened with EternalBlue, the tools will become available to criminals who will then copy them, Maurer says. "Then criminals will become more advanced and some of the states that might just be entering the game will start using the more sophisticated criminal tools. It's a spiral and only the best resourced companies can keep up with this threat evolution over time." What APT techniques are cybercriminals adopting? Many cybercrime attacks today make use PowerShell and other utilities found on Windows systems by default. In the security industry this tactic is known as "living off the land" and makes detection harder because unlike traditional malware programs, these tools are not inherently malicious. PowerShell is widely used to automate system administration tasks and even though Microsoft has added options to restrict its use, IT teams can't afford to disable it entirely because it would make their job much harder. PowerShell abuse is also associated with another tactic that has become common in recent years: fileless attacks. These are attacks where hackers inject malicious code into the memory of legitimate processes that run on a system by using a variety of techniques like remote thread injection, APC, atom bombing, process hollowing, local shellcode injection or reflective loading. The goal is to avoid creating binary files on disk that could be detected by antivirus programs. Aside from executing as the initial payload, PowerShell is also often used to achieve persistence by adding rogue scripts to the system registry or to scheduled tasks to reinfect the system after reboot. That's because the code injected into the memory of other processes is cleared when the system is shut down. One of the cybercrime groups that almost exclusively uses fileless techniques is FIN7, which is possibly a division of the larger Carbanak group. While Carbanak is known for attacks against banks and other financial organizations, FIN7 targets primarily retailers and companies from the restaurant and hospitality industries. Its goal is to compromise point-of-sale systems and steal payment card data. The U.S. Department of Justice indicted three suspected high-ranking members of FIN7 in August and said that the group has compromised more than 6,500 point-of-sale terminals at over 3,600 business locations across the U.S., stealing more than 15 million payment card records. Both cybercriminals and state-sponsored groups also abuse free and open-source tools that were designed for legitimate purposes like penetration testing. These tools include the Metasploit framework, the PowerSploit framework, Empire PowerShell, the Cobalt Strike framework and many other freely available utilities for credential dumping, file wiping and other operations. One of the biggest problems that security companies and malware researchers face is that an increasing number of groups are abusing PowerShell and many of the scripts they use are copied from GitHub and other public sources, so it's becoming very hard to attribute attacks to specific groups, Raiu says. Registration data for command-and-control servers, technical similarities to previous attacks, the occasional use of custom tools like keyloggers, screenshot grabbers and exploits, can also be used to link attacks to certain groups, Raiu says, but in general, it's becoming harder and harder to do attribution, he concluded. How do APT attacks from cybercrime groups impact companies? When developing IT security strategies and deciding how to spend their limited security budgets, businesses and other organizations work with threat models. This means they determine what type of threats and actors pose the biggest risks to their industry and systems and prioritize resources to counter them. As a result, many companies that are not typical targets for cyberespionage might not have implemented strong defenses for APTs and now have a blindspot when it comes to this new wave of hybrid cybercrime attacks. To detect APT-style attacks, companies need more than endpoint antivirus programs and firewalls. They need security information and event management (SIEM) and advanced endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions. These products monitor system and network activity and logs for potentially suspicious behavior and generate alerts, which security teams need to look at. This means they require more specially trained staff to manage, which can be a serious problem for small and medium-sized businesses due to budget constraints and the cybersecurity skills shortage in general. Even large organizations that can afford to deploy such solutions often have trouble dealing with the large amount of alerts they generate. This can lead to backlogs and alert fatigue where security staffers dismiss potentially important alerts too easily due to their sheer number and frequency. Unfortunately, it's common for companies to buy feeds with millions of threat indicators that generate thousands of alerts per day instead of subscribing to smaller feeds that only catch real things, Raiu says. So, it's also about the quality of the feeds used for these tools, as well as the resources available to investigate the alerts. Of course, outsourcing all these tasks to a managed security service provider is always an option and many security companies offer such services to SMBs. According to Raiu, businesses should consider the fact that they might not be able to prevent a sophisticated persistent attacker from breaking in, so they should focus on solutions that could decrease the time it takes to detect such compromises and respond to them. This means having monitoring solutions in place that can detect anomalies in network and Internet traffic or in endpoint behavior. "I think it is possible to do this even for smaller companies that don't have large budgets," Raiu says. Tim Maurer believes that for small- and medium-sized companies, the migration to cloud might also potentially be a good solution to protect themselves against these types of sophisticated attacks, because it allows them to benefit from the expertise of the cloud providers' large security teams and better technology. 3 1 of 3 WCSU / Contributed photo Show More Show Less 2 of 3 WCSU / Contributed photo Show More Show Less 3 of 3 The Western Connecticut State University Department of Music will celebrate its 24th annual Jazz Festival from Thursday, April 25 through Saturday, April 27, showcasing the universitys student and faculty jazz musicians, and featuring noted bassist Ron Carter and the acoustic jazz of the Robert Glasper Trio to Danbury for featured concerts. The opening concert at 7 p.m. on Thursday will feature university jazz musicians, including the WCSU Jazz Vocal Ensemble, under the direction of Adjunct Professor of Music Atla DeChamplai; the WCSU Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Assistant Professor of Music Dr. Matthew Doiron; and Frankensax, under the direction of Adjunct Professor of Music Andrew Beals. BRIDGEPORT In filmmaker Douglas Tirolas experience, there is a spot in nearly every Connecticut town that residents and visitors alike should patronize at least once. In Westport, where Tirola lives, that spot is the Westport Country Playhouse. In Fairfield, Tirola said, its the gazebo on the town green. And, in Bridgeport, the place that everyone must visit is Bloodroot, the vegetarian restaurant and feminist bookstore at 85 Ferris St. that has clocked more than 40 years in the city. Tirola was introduced to the restaurant through his mother and her friends, and said hes always been impressed with the commitment of the eaterys owners, Selma Miriam and Noel Furie. These are two people with a set of beliefs, and they have tried to live their lives personally and in business as true to those beliefs as possible, said Tirola, whose past work includes the documentary Drunk, Stoned, Brilliant, Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon. Largely because of his admiration for Furie, Miriam and their commitment to their ideals, Tirola made them the subject of his latest documentary, Bloodroot, which will screen at the San Francisco Film Festival Thursday and Saturday. Miriam and Furie are traveling to California for the festival, and are expected to attend the screenings. Both women said theyre equal parts excited and nervous, largely because this will be the first time theyve seen the film. We have no idea what to expect, Miriam said. Furie agreed, but said that since Tirola spent several years working on the project, shes confident about the end result. We know him and he knows us pretty well by now, she said. The Bloodroot story stretches back to 42 years ago, when the two opened the restaurant with intent of creating a spot that was open to all at a time when women dining out without a man was still somewhat frowned upon. The vegan and vegetarian menu is served cafeteria style, with diners busing their own tables. Over the years, the restaurant became a hub for both feminists and the lesbian community, and has played host to such famous writers and feminists as Adrienne Rich and Audre Lorde. The restaurant has also put out cookbooks and offered cooking classes. Tirola said the goal of the film is to put a spotlight and Miriam and Furie and how their vision has sustained over time. I grew up in Westport and this was a place with a story that I remember, said Tirola, whose company, 4th Row Films, is based in New York. He called Miriam and Furie feminist icons, and hes approaching this film as a way to tell their story. Telling that story involved a lot of quality time together, the women said. Hes been watching us cook in the kitchen and filming that, Furie said. It was a little hard, doing double duty like that doing the work in the restaurant (and being filmed). Miriam said she hopes that, however the film turns out, people come away from it with a deeper understanding of the restaurant and its role in the community and the feminist movement. Were very, very different from any other restaurant, she said. I think the movies going to make that clear. Contributed Photo / Monroe Police Department / Contributed Photo MONROE Police are investigating the presence of a suspicious person at an office building on Route 25 Tuesday afternoon. According to Lt. Stephen Corrone, police received a call around 4:15 p.m. from an employee of one of the businesses in the building at 188 Route 25 about an unknown male hovering in the rear hallway of the building. When the employee confronted the man, Corrone said, he fled the building and took off in his car. STRATFORD Two Stratford teens expected to be arraigned on arson charges in Waterbury Wednesday will instead face a judge Thursday, according to a lawyer representing one of the suspects. The 18-year-old Bunnell High School students Christopher Sakowicz and Vincent Keller were arraigned Tuesday in Bridgeport on charges connected to the Jan. 13 fire that destroyed the Shakespeare theater in Stratford. Both remained behind bars Wednesday, but were not transported to court in Waterbury as expected to face charges in connection with a Jan. 15 fire at the Southbury Training School, according to Frank Riccio II, Kellers lawyer. He said they would likely face a judge Thursday instead. Police sources have said the pair are also suspected of setting a number of other fires throughout the state, including fires in West Haven Feb. 8 and Feb. 17 and a March 24 blaze that damaged construction trailers at Silver Sands State Park in Milford. But Riccio said it remains to be seen what specific charges theyll face and whether theyll be prosecuted as adults in the other cases, as they are in the Shakespeare theater arson. The lawyer said hes waiting for more details on the allegations before he can discuss the case publicly. Its too early to comment because its very early on in the process and the evidence has not yet been provided, he said. A lot of emotions and responses In the days since the allegations came to light, Stratford Mayor Laura Hoydick said shes heard a variety of reactions from residents. Some are very angry. Some are sad because the theaters down and youth (allegedly) did it, Hoydick said. Theres sympathy for the (suspects) families. Theres a lot of emotions and a lot of responses. She said officials would also review a $239,000 contract to mothball the building awarded in December 2017 after arrest warrants in the arson case revealed the suspects allegedly entered the theater through an unlocked door. Ed Goodrich, a member of the task force overseeing what will happen at the property who organized a vigil in the fires aftermath, raised questions about the work Monday. As I understand, every exterior door except for the front doors did not have handles, so I dont know how it could be unlocked, per se, Hoydick said. But it obiovusly wasnt secure, because they somehow got in. I guess we can look into what the contract was and how it was signed off. Insurance details, restitution? Meanwhile, the town is expected to net roughly $1.2 million in an insurance payout from the blaze, according to Hoydick. The town submitted a claim totaling $1.7 million to its insurance company last week and anticipates receiving net proceeds of about $1.2 million. The towns expenses for the fire and cleanup included $467,939 to the Dalling Construction Company for clearing the site, $61,461 in police overtime, $7,776.84 in public works overtime and $4,017 in fire department overtime. The town received a check from Dalling for $28,200 for steel reclaimed from the rubble, according to the mayor. During the public forum before Mondays Town Council meeting, Linda Palermo asked if the town could seek damages from the defendants charged in connection with the blaze Sakowicz, Keller and Logan Caraballo, a 17-year-old from Shelton. Who will be responsible for the damages? Palermo said. The parents, because of their age? Hoydick said its unclear. I dont know if there is a mechanism, she said. I think the insurance company can try to minimize their losses. I havent had the discussion with anybody yet about it. Staff writer Dan Tepfer contributed to this story. 3 1 of 3 Contributed Photo / Shelton Police Department / Contributed Photo Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Contributed Photo / Shelton Police Department / Contributed Photo Show More Show Less 3 of 3 SHELTON Two New York residents were charged in connection with an identity theft and credit card scheme after an investigation by city police. Jahquane Rennix, 19, of Queens, N.Y., and Jordy Diggins, 28, of Mount Vernon, N.Y., were each charged with 13 counts of credit card thefts, 13 counts of third-degree identity theft, 13 counts of sixth-degree larceny and 13 counts of conspiracy. BRIDGEPORT The Pothole Killer has returned to the city to repair the roads as warmer weather sinks in. The machines, created by Pennsylvania-based Patch Management, arrived in Bridgeport on Monday to fill potholes throughout the city in the coming weeks. Residents can expect to see the two machines on city streets for two, possibly three, weeks. The city-wide plan to repair potholes began Monday with one of the machines on loan in the East Side. The other machine on loan started off on the West Side. The two machines worked toward the center of Bridgeport. Once that work wraps up, the Pothole Killer machines will be sent to the North End and the South End, again meeting in the middle. The city currently owns three machines that repair potholes. Bridgeport leases the Pothole Killer for at least two weeks annually for major city-wide repairs. Repairs will begin on main roads and continue with emergency roads. Secondary roads on hospital routes will be repaired after, followed by all other secondary roads. Once the potholes are repaired, city sweepers will be sent out every 10 days to clear any gravel that might remain in the area. The driver of The Pothole Killer controls a hydraulic boom, that clears the pothole of any debris and applies liquid asphalt to fill and seal the pothole. Finally, the pothole is topped off with a dry aggregate coating, made from recycled tires. The whole process to fill one pothole takes about 90 seconds. Once the machine repairs a pothole, it is immediately ready to handle traffic. Repairs on a pothole can last up to several years. See the machine at work by visiting: youtube.com/watch?v=isNaP6CqmJ8. With the tax-filing deadline just days away, entrepreneurs would be wise to ask their tax preparers six key questions. Because the 2018 tax year is the first year the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has applied to returns, there are new forms, new rules, new elections and new software that can significantly impact your income. Related: Finally, the Feds Are Cutting Startups Some Slack: Why the New Tax Law Is a Game-Changer In short: This tax-filing season is a very different animal than previous ones because there are so many more decisions to make. So, be sure to ask your tax preparer's advice on both the 2018 returns youre filing now and the 2019 returns you'll be preparing or next year. And, while it may be too late to do a lot about your 2018 return, you can be ready for 2019 if you start preparing now, while your advisor's information is still fresh on your mind. Here are the top six questions to ask your tax preparer: 1.Should I file an extension? With the new law impacting tax returns for the first time, filing for an extension is one of the best things you can do. There are new forms, elections and software to deal with; many things have changed; and its better to take your time this year. Example: Investment expenses are no longer deductible on a personal return. 2. Should I take a home office deduction? Also of note is the home office deduction; it's a bigger deal this year because property taxes and state income taxes, combined, are limited to $10,000; and on top of that, you may not have enough deductions to rise above your standard deduction of $24,000 as a married couple filing jointly. So, the questions should be, first, What would the tax consequence be if I took "home office"? And, second, How do I do that? Related: 6 Misunderstood Business Tax Deductions for Your 2018 Year-End Planning 3. As an owner, can I qualify for the 20 percent pass-through deduction? This is a new 20 percent deduction on your net business income, and can significantly impact a small business. If your company is an S Corp, Sole Proprietorship or Partnership, you also need to ask whether you are a specialized service-trader business (lawyer, accountant, consultant). If the answer is yes, there are income limitations for taking this deduction. For example, if your taxable income is over $157,500 as a single individual, or $315,000 as a couple, then your deduction could be limited. 4. As an owner, should I change from "Accrual" to "Cash" accounting? If, in the past, your business's gross income was more than $10 million, you could not use the cash method of accounting. As of the new law, the ceiling has been raised from $10 million to $25 million. Ask your tax preparer if you should change to a cash method. Then, if you decide to make that change, know that there are elections to be made and forms to file. The cash method lets you pick up income only when its received, and take deductions only when theyre paid -- versus the accrual basis of accounting, which recognizes income only when its earned and expenses only when they're incurred. If the tax consequence of changing to a cash method is positive -- which it is in most cases -- ask your advisor, "What has to happen in order to do that?" 5. As a retail owner, should I deduct my inventory for the end of 2018? Prior to the 2018 tax year, retailers could deduct inventory only after it was sold. The 2018 tax year is the first for which a retail owner can deduct inventory when it's bought, versus after it's sold -- for items costing less than $2,500. Why is this important? Consider what happened when I talked about this tax change during a presentation to pharmacists: A participant later told us that his certified public accountant had told him he would owe $400,000 in taxes for 2018, which would put him out of business. After confirming with that CPA that he could deduct his 2018 inventory, even if it was not sold, his tax bill was reduced from $400,000 to $45,000! As a result, his business was saved, and he remained an important local retailer for those in need of medications. The takeaway: These tax decisions can really matter, not just for you, but for your customers and community. 6. As a real estate investor, do I take a lump sum bonus depreciation or spread it out? This deduction can be significant, as of the new tax law. For example, a $100,000 investment in real estate in 2018 could produce as much as $150,000 of deduction. So, ask your tax preparer, "If I take the bonus depreciation, how will that affect my tax situation?" Next ask: "If that depreciation creates a loss for, lets say, my real estate activity, how can I offset other income with the real estate loss?" Overall, entrepreneurs must recognize that taxes are their single biggest expense, necessitating that they take the time to learn the most important questions to ask at tax time. The right questions can make a huge difference for an entrepreneur's business, family and community. Related: How the New Tax Law Affects Your Real Estate Business And although all these new questions, elections and forms will likely make tax prep more expensive than it was last year, ultimately entrepreneurs can save millions over their business's lifetime by asking the right questions now. Related: April 15 Is Almost Here! Here Are the 6 Tax-Filing Questions Entrepreneurs Should Ask Tax Preparers Now. Take The Toll Out Of Tax 5 Things at Stake for Indian Entrepreneurs This Election Season Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved In a sign of the changing times, a city in Virginia is opposing the building of a casino but in favor of allowing legal medical marijuana. This is clearly a reversal of past policies in the South, where gambling casinos and lotteries were approved while the use of marijuana was prohibited. The new thinking was summarized by Dewey Williams, an evangelical Baptist preacher in the city of Bristol, who told the Virginia Mercury that a proposed casino is an attack on the Bible Belt. I dont think anybody in their right mind could say if we get a casino well be safer, well be happier, families will do better, there will be less suicide, less divorce. But marijuana? Williams said hes seen the good it can do those who are suffering from illness. Related: Sluggish Bureaucracy Is Blamed for Disappointing Marijuana Tax Revenues in Massachusetts Department store converted to cannabis grow Bristol, with a population just shy of 18,000, is located on the state's southern border with Tennessee. The city is among the most conservative places in Virginia. It delivered the state's second-highest proportion of votes to Donald Trump in the 2016 election. Its also been hard hit by the downturn in the coal industry. Despite the economic hardships, the city council has allowed a local company to move ahead on a cannabis project. Dharma Pharmaceuticals, which won one of five state licenses to produce THC and CBD extracts, plans to grow cannabis in what used to be the J.C. Penney department store. They will employ about 150 people in a vacant shopping mall. The company will be using a CO2 process to extract CBD and THC oil from the plants. The extracts can, in turn, be sold to patients with state approval and a doctors prescription. Residents applauded the plan at a community meeting last year. Related: Will Medical Cannabis Sales Eventually Surpass Recreational Sales? Casino controversy However, plans to build a casino have no gone over so well. Two coal industry leaders, Jim McGlothlin and Clyde Stacy, proposed putting a casino in the old Bristol mall, which is expected to employ thousands of people. McGlothlin and Stacy vowed to put $250 million into the casino, according to the Mercury. But many oppose the venture on moral grounds (primarily the Baptists in town) and fears over the spread of gambling addiction. Some also are wise to the potential failure of casinos. Tammy Baines, who works at a pawn shop in the city, told the Mercury that casinos have failed in places like Atlantic City and smaller towns around the country. Shes also seen how people are struggling as a worker in the pawn shop. They come to us because theyre already struggling. You hate to think that they might spend every last dime they have on a chance to either make more money or lose everything, she said. State lawmakers have commissioned a study to weigh the pros and cons of legalizing gambling. Follow dispensaries.com on Twitter to stay up to date on the latest cannabis news. Related: In a Bible Belt City: No to Casinos, Yes to Cannabis 10 Super Successful People Who Don't Care That You Know They Enjoy Cannabis Martha Stewart Living the CBD Life Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Vice President Mike Pence urged the United Nations Security Council to revoke the credentials of Venezuela's U.N. envoy and throw its support behind interim President Juan Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela. "The Western Hemisphere has spoken with a clear voice -- nations across the world have spoken -- and now it's time for the United Nations to speak," Pence told the Security Council on Wednesday where he announced the U.S. would soon introduce a resolution supporting Guaido. "Nicolas Maduro is a dictator with no legitimate claim to power, and Nicolas Maduro must go," he said, referring to the country's president. At one point during the hearing, Pence looked over at Venezuela's envoy and said, "With all due respect, Mr. Ambassador, you shouldn't be here. You should return to Venezuela and tell Nicolas Maduro that his time is up. It's time for him to go." The U.S. has been seeking to lead a coalition of nations to isolate Maduro's regime and shore up support for Guaido, the opposition leader who was declared interim president by the country's national assembly. But a U.S. resolution calling for free and fair elections earlier this year was stymied by Russia and China, who have long been allied with Maduro's government. A new resolution is likely to face similar opposition. With the crisis at a stalemate, humanitarian conditions in Venezuela have continued to decline. A report last week said the country's health system is in "utter collapse." It cited the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles and diphtheria, rising infant mortality and sharp increases in the transmission of infectious diseases including malaria and tuberculosis. Child malnutrition is widespread, according to the report by researchers at Human Rights Watch and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Following Pence, Russia's U.N. envoy said his country wants to see an end to the humanitarian crisis, but he blamed the current situation on western interventions, saying the U.S. is "shamelessly expropriating Venezuelan assets." The International Monetary Fund suspended the Maduro regime's access to almost $400 million from the fund, according to two people familiar with the matter, cutting off one of the government's few remaining sources of hard currency. Pence's comments come as Secretary of State Michael Pompeo prepares to travel to South America this week to press for change in Venezuela. Pompeo will make stops in Chile, Paraguay, and Peru before heading to Cucuta, Colombia, the border town with Venezuela through which the U.S. has attempted to deliver humanitarian aid earlier this year. Pence said the U.S. will provide an additional $60 million in humanitarian aid for Venezuela -- though, like earlier efforts, it wasn't clear how that assistance would get into the country. STORY LINK Pound Sterling Japanese Yen (GBP/JPY) Exchange Rate Rises as UK Economy Expands Faster than Forecast Pound Japanese Yen (GBP/JPY) Exchange Rate Rises on Better-than-Forecast UK GDP Sterling (GBP) Rises as UK Manufacturing at Highest Level in Over a Decade Japanese Yen (JPY) Falls as Machinery Orders Slump Pound Yen Outlook: Will the GBP/JPY Exchange Rate Rise on a Fresh Wave of Brexit Optimism? Like this piece? Please share with your friends and colleagues: The Pound Sterling Japanese Yen (GBP/JPY) exchange rate rose, and the pairing is currently trading at an inter-bank rate of 145.6480.Sterling likely rose as data released on Wednesday revealed that Februarys GDP rose by 0.2% despite expectations that the economy would remain stagnant.The rise was largely driven by the services sector.Februarys rise added with Januarys unusually strong gain of 0.5% points towards the economy having expanded by 0.4-0.5% in Q1 2019.On an annual basis, in the quarter leading to February, the economy expanded by 2%, which likely buoyed Sterling as this is the highest rate of growth since late 2017.The data has been cautiously welcomed by economists, and Ian Stewart, Chief Economist at Deloitte said:The UK is proving more resilient than expected in the face of a global slowdown and Brexit headwinds. The pace of growth could be choppy, but the UK is likely to grow about the same pace as the Euro area this year.The Pound (GBP) rose against the Japanese Yen (JPY) as both UK manufacturing and industrial production rose higher than expected in February.Industrial production rose by 0.6% and manufacturing production surged by 0.9%, likely on the back of Brexit stockpiling.Manufacturing levels are now at its highest since April 2008.Commenting on the data, Chief Economist at Make UK, Seamus Nevin said:While the positive performance of manufacturing will come as a relief after months of concern survey anecdotal evidence suggests that the results may, once again, be due to no-deal Brexit contingency planning, stockpiling and declining export demand for UK goods rather than a sign the economic fundamentals are sound.This, along with the increasing global economic slowdown again reinforces why British businesses need certainty on what form of Brexit the country is headed for. Businesses are trying to standstill until the Brexit fog clears but in doing so they are actually going backwards.Februarys annual machinery orders fell by a lower-than-forecast -5.5%, which did little to aid the Japanese Yen (JPY) against Sterling (GBP).However, month-on-month orders rose by 1.8%, the first rise in four months.Februarys rise was supported by robust demand in the manufacturing sector.Overseas demand for Japanese machinery rose by 19% to 985 billion, a good sign for the Japanese Yen as this is a good indicator of future exports.Looking ahead to this evening, the Pound (GBP) could rise against the Japanese Yen (JPY) following the emergency European Council summit.The European Union is expected to grant Theresa May an extension to Article 50, with reports suggesting this extension could be up to a year.If the EU leaders grant the Prime Minister an extension, it is likely this will cause the Pound to rise on a fresh wave of Brexit optimism as the UK will avoid crashing out of the union on 12 April.The Prime Minister is expected to continue cross-party discussions after the summit which could buoy Sterling.If talks between Labour and the Conservatives prove successful the Pound Japanese Yen (GBP/JPY) exchange rate could rise. International Money Transfer? Ask our resident FX expert a money transfer question or try John's new, free, no-obligation personal service! ,where he helps every step of the way, ensuring you get the best exchange rates on your currency requirements. TAGS: Pound Yen Forecasts Our own Bruce Siwy and Eric Kieta talk about their true-crime cases in Return To View: The Roundtable news Dear Editor: I am a retired physician, practiced in Kingston for more than 30 years, and plan to live and die here. I am interested in a viable medical system. I spoke to Saugerties Chamber of Commerce two years back, supporting a single-payer system for New York, now known as the Health Act that is pending approval in state Senate. As the Senate is solidly in Democratic control, it will come up for discussion and approval. As a physician, I believe a single-payer system can and must be put in place. I am a senior citizen covered by Medicare and Medicare supplement, paid from my pocket. I am happy with the coverage. Many seniors who have Medicare cannot afford to pay for supplement from their fixed income. The fundamentals of single-payer, or Medicare for all, are simple. Insurance companies do not do anything for my health except profit from it by denying me care. Insurance companies skim approximately 20 cents on a dollar as profit for their shareholders, adding expensive layers of administration on top of the the overhead in doctors offices, none of which help my care. Doctors should be paid a salary based on their education and health outcomes of their patients, not based on number of procedures or tests they administer. Medicare should be allowed to shop for drugs in the open market. That will increase competition while providing safe products. Let the free market rule. America has the worst health care based on outcome for its citizens and the least affordable among all the developed countries in the world. I am certain a taxpayer-funded system is affordable and can be done to benefit all citizens. Take the insurance companies out of the equation, pool all the money currently spent on Medicare, Medicaid, VA and all employer-paid health care benefits, and make it available for all citizens of America. Thomas Koshy Kingston, N.Y. WEST CHESTER Sunoco should not be permitted to construct its Mariner East pipeline through property owned by Chester County because the company improperly switched construction techniques after the county gave it access to the land through permanent easements, according to a lawsuit. The suit filed in Chester County Common Pleas Court asks that a permanent injunction be issued against Sunoco, barring it from constructing the controversial Mariner East 2 pipeline on land at the Chester County Library in West Whiteland, as well as portions of the Chester Valley Trial that parallels Route 30 through that township, unless it uses a bore drilling method of constriction. The suit, filed on behalf of the three county commissioners and the county itself, contends that Sunoco disregarded language in the agreements for supplemental permanent easements, specifically the companys intent to undertake open trench construction for Mariner 2 on the Chester County Library property without county permission and in the absence of any temporary construction easement, according to a press release. This legal action follows the county commissioners decision earlier this year to terminate two temporary easements though county property for pipeline construction, and the simultaneous decision to intervene in litigation filed by residents in Chester and Delaware counties before the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission against the company for its pipeline plans. The lawsuit was spurred on Friday, when Sunoco informed the county that it would begin construction of the Mariner 2 pipelines on the Chester County Library property via traditional open trench method, rather than the bore method that had been included in agreements the county signed in 2017. That decision drew an immediate reaction from the commissioners. At a site meeting last Friday between county staff and Sunoco representatives it became clear that Sunoco was going to proceed with the open trench method of installation at the Chester County Library property without providing written justification or county permission, said commissioners Chairwoman Michelle Kichline in the release. This action violates the terms of the supplemental permanent easement. Normally, when it comes to the installation of pipelines, municipal and county governments are restricted in our options to regulate. State regulators and legislators have essentially made us powerless to stop the process, added Kichline. But in this instance, the county as the landowner has the right to insist that Sunoco follows the terms of the supplemental permanent easement to the letter of the law. By Sunoco not agreeing to follow those terms I have concerns that they may place our citizens at risk, she said. Commissioners Vice Chairwoman Kathi Cozzone further noted that the commissioners, believe that Sunoco will be unable to construct the Mariner 2 pipeline on the county library property within the existing 50-foot right-of-way and in a manner which ensures public safety and welfare. By Sunocos unauthorized action to begin construction, we deemed it necessary to file this lawsuit to ensure that any construction across county property is done properly and does not adversely impact the surrounding neighborhoods, Cozzone added. Commissioner Terence Farrell added, Now that Sunoco is crossing county property, we are able to formally petition the Court of Common Pleas and request the issuance of a permanent injunction prohibiting Sunoco from constructing the Mariner 2 pipeline in a manner that could place our citizens in jeopardy. All three commissioners are seeking re-election to the board in the May primary. Lisa Dillinger, a spokeswoman for the company, was out of the office and could not be reached. No other company representative could be contacted immediately. In February, the commissioners announced that they would file a motion to intervene in the PUC action that opposes the pipeline construction because of safety concerns. They said that for more than two years the county Department of Emergency Services had been formally requesting crucial pipeline emergency safety information and procedures from Sunoco, either directly or through the PUC and Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, in order to prepare mass notification plans and neighborhood emergency practices in the event of a Mariner East pipeline disaster. The commissioners contended those requests have gone unanswered. Thus, they said they had decided to join with the complainants in the case of Flynn vs. Sunoco because of shared interests. Other governmental entities, such as the West Chester Area School District, have also asked to intervene in opposition to the pipeline. At that same time, the commissioners notified Sunoco that the county planned to terminate two temporary easements on the library property that were granted to the company in 2017 a work space easement and an access road easement for the new pipeline constriction. Work on the property did not commence within the term of the temporary easements, the county contends, so the commissioners letter informs Sunoco that it no longer entitled to utilize the countys librarys property. There were no terms for renewal of the temporary easements within the 2017 agreements. In the news release issued Wednesday about the civil lawsuit, Kichline said, Sunoco must understand that the County owns this property and we have the right to ensure as they cross County land that adjacent neighbors and our citizens are not adversely affected in any way. The suit was prepared on behalf of the county by the West Chester law firm of Buckley, Brion, McGuire & Morris. The case has been assigned to Judge Ann Marie Wheatcraft. No hearing date has been set. A few months ago, leaders of Labour-controlled Slough Borough Council added their signatures to a 'Breaking Point' campaign of councillors fighting against 'breathtaking levels of cuts that austerity has made to budgets'. Their angry calls for an end to the cruelty of austerity were led by council leader James Swindlehurst, who was joined by all his Labour colleagues in signing the national petition in protest at pressures on social-care spending. Mr Swindlehurst has often hit out at the financial challenges faced by his council. Roger Parkin , the interim chief executive at Slough Borough Council, earned 595,077, the most of any council employee in the country Mr Swindlehurst has often hit out at the financial challenges faced by his council. So when hiring a new chief executive, he blogged that the recruit must handle a tough fiscal climate: 'The council continues to feel the squeeze of Government austerity and it's now more important than ever to be focused on the right priorities.' Yet it is hard not to question some of the council's own priorities. For the TaxPayers' Alliance lobby group has revealed that this unfashionable Berkshire town handed its interim chief executive an astonishing 595,077, topping its annual Town Hall Rich List. Roger Parkin was given a basic annual salary of 112,159 topped up by early pension payments of 339,903 plus a severance bung of 142,215 when he left the job at the end of 2017. Perhaps this helps explain why the 150,000 Slough residents are being squeezed hard by Mr Swindlehurst and his council pals, who have just raised council tax bills by almost three per cent. Slough has long been an unfair butt of jokes and jibes, from John Betjeman's poem proposing its obliteration Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough/ It isn't fit for humans now through to The Office, that whippet-smart TV satire set there by Ricky Gervais. Yet today it symbolises the shameful trend for fat cats milking the public purse. For schools, hospitals, railways and universities now seem consumed by the greed that stains so much of the private sector, bleating about the need to find the right people as they shovel huge chunks of cash into the pockets of their most senior officials. It is bad enough to see so many business bosses with snouts in the trough as they suck up huge sums from shareholders, regardless of performance or skill. Now we see the same tactics and hear the same pathetic excuses with pen-pushers in the public sector, only this time with money taken from hard-pressed taxpayers. When so many of them are leading complaints about austerity, this sticks in the craw especially while some of the people trousering taxpayers' money are overseeing the sale of playing fields, closure of libraries, slashing of bus routes and reduction of vital care services. Many council workers earn far in excess of Prime Minister Theresa May's salary of 150,000 The new TaxPayers' Alliance report reveals there are 607 other council officials dotted around the country who are deemed worthy of higher pay than the Prime Minister's 150,402 salary a rise of 50 on the previous year. And Essex is the worst offender, with a shocking 55 bureaucrats on six-figure salaries almost double the number pocketing such pay levels the previous year. Thirteen of these officials took home more than Theresa May. Meanwhile, this same Tory-run council, stuffed with high earners sitting around at its meetings in Chelmsford town hall, has sparked furious protests over plans to cut at least one-third of its 74 libraries and reduce evening bus services. Hackney and Birmingham councils, catering to some of the poorest communities in the country, each paid 28 senior staff packages totalling 100,000 or more as did North Lanarkshire in Scotland. Lambeth another constituency catering to a poorer community had 15 senior staff on packages of over 100,000. Joe Blott, Wirral's managing director for delivery, managed to deliver himself a total pay package of 569,423 including his pension and severance money. In Bath, Birmingham and Northumberland, officials won financial packages in excess of 400,000. Bear in mind that Birmingham, once a model town hall but more recently engulfed by bad management, is in such dire straits that it has ramped up council tax by the maximum 4.99 per cent permitted without a public vote. It has even dimmed street lights and is slashing hundreds of jobs yet this is all down to 'brutal' Government cuts, according to Labour council leader Ian Ward. I do not dispute that austerity is biting hard in many town halls. Indeed, one major problem with the policy was how a cowardly Coalition government dumped the biggest cutbacks on local authorities, leading to huge strains on vital services. This was all the more inflammatory when billions were blown on the ever-swelling foreign aid bill. Smug ministers helped communities in Cambodia and China at the expense of their own citizens in Cardiff, Cleethorpes and Coventry. Yet handing eye-watering pay packages to hundreds of top officials is not only a disgraceful waste of public money it also totally undermines the many justified complaints about struggling local services. Sadly, the same avarice corrodes other parts of the public sector. So universities say they are struggling, some laden down by debt and slashing jobs yet almost half their vice-chancellors took home more than 300,000 last year. Many school chiefs earn more than the Prime Minister. The head of a school in Holland Park, West London, once dubbed the 'Socialist Eton', has doubled his pay in seven years to 260,000, while the boss of an academy chain collected 440,000. The NHS has also been infected. The highest paid GPs can earn almost 600,000 while the interim manager at St George's University Hospitals Foundation Trust in London was recently found to be earning the equivalent of 700,000 a year. Two ambulance trust chiefs were also handed more than half a million pounds in total packages while the average paramedic working long hours to save lives in stressful situations earned 35,136 in 2017, including allowances and overtime for all those tense late nights. The same self-indulgence can be seen at the top of the public sector from the BBC nabobs in Broadcasting House through to some top cops and the suits running often shambolic railways. Bonuses have become commonplace just for doing core jobs. These people echo the private sector by claiming they must earn fortunes to ensure the best candidates for complex posts. Yet studies have found excessive high pay hurts morale and shown that the benchmarking of salaries against the mean pay of peers in a sector leads to an automatic spiral in earnings. 'A few months ago, leaders of Labour-controlled Slough Borough Council added their signatures to a 'Breaking Point' campaign of councillors fighting against 'breathtaking levels of cuts that austerity has made to budgets'. Their angry calls for an end to the cruelty of austerity were led by council leader James Swindlehurst, who was joined by all his Labour colleagues in signing the national petition in protest at pressures on social-care spending' These grasping attitudes are one more reason for the loss of faith in our institutions, the breakdown of trust across Britain and a rising fury over inequality at a time when many ordinary folk are frustrated by stagnant pay, low wages and a gradual shift towards agency work. They also help explain that shock surge in the 2017 election campaign by Labour under Jeremy Corbyn, with his carefully targeted talk of special fat-cat taxes and rampant nationalisation at the heart of his disastrous economic policy, which could wreck Britain. This country is on a knife-edge over Brexit, which could result in a Corbyn-led government especially at a time when the Conservatives are so weak and divided it is becoming difficult to discern what on earth they stand for even if they still support capitalism, let alone austerity or fiscal prudence. Public faith in bodies designed to bind the nation together has been badly tested. Sleazy self-enrichment at the taxpayer's expense, accompanied by hideous hypocrisy of fat cats bleating over cuts, can only further erode any sense of communal spirit. Advertisement A selection of world famous paintings have been reimagined to show what they would look like in a 21st century home. Using CGI technology, Home Advisor took works by Vincent Van Gogh, Wassily Kandinsky, Konstantin Korovin and others and recreated in real life the bedrooms, kitchen and dining spaces they had depicted in their paintings. The impressions highlight the colours and decorations which were popular at the time of paintings and offer a fascinating insight into how times have changed. Vincent Van Gogh's 'The Bedroom' Van Gogh described his 1888 painting of his room in the French town of Arles as an 'evocation of peace and relaxation'. The simplicity of the furniture and wabi-sabi (the Japanese idea of imperfection) feel of the chipped paintwork on the walls and floorboards instantly creates a feeling of calm and simplicity. The jerky angles and inclusion of three claustrophobic walls tend to undo some of those calming effects. 'Our CG image emphasises the use of natural light from the window, the hanging mirror and contrasting shades of the doors, all of which create a more spacious feel,' Home Advisor wrote. Slide me Van Gogh described the painting of his room in the French town of Arles as an 'evocation of peace and relaxation', which is what is represented here in the 1888 artwork and the recreation Grant Wood's 'The Sun Shine on the Corner' American painter Grant Wood is most famous for his 'American Gothic' piece depicting a farming couple outside their wooden Iowa home. Wood's 'Sun Shine on the Corner' from 1928 is a little less stern but shares those elements of rural farm life and quiet reflection. The conservatory, which is pictured here, has very dull surrounds but still conveys style with the dappled lighting on the bench - which is the feature of the painting. Wood's only used two colours - white and green - to build the earthen textures, which has carried over into the CGI modern preview. Slide me The conservatory, which is pictured here, has very basic surrounds but still conveys style with the dappled lighting on the bench - which is the feature of the painting Wassily Kandinsky's 'Interior (My Dining Room)' Kandinsky was evolving from figurative to abstract art when he painted his dining room in 1909 and the shift in tone was very obvious in this work. His choice of colours for this piece were likely subjective rather than what he was actually seeing. However, the affection he feels for the space could inspire today's swatch-wielding home decorator - so long as they were interested in bold, contrasting colours and shapes. 'Our CGI render reveals the textures and shapes that made Kandinsky's dining room such a welcoming place,' the publication wrote. Slide me Kandinsky was evolving from figurative to abstract art when he painted his dining room in 1909 and it's very obvious in this work Konstantin Korovin's 'Interior' The bare log walls and wooden floor of Korovin's impressionist kitchen stand in stark contrast to Kandinsky's vibrant dining room, despite being produced just four years later. The rustic style emphasises the 'impulsive spontaneity' Korovin was known for and the smaller details where never left untouched. CGI has produced a near-perfect replica of the scene, including the table of various utensils and cutlery he had included. Slide me The bare walls and wooden floor of Korovin's impressionist kitchen stand in stark contrast to Kandinsky's vibrant dining room, despite being produced just four years later Roy Lichtenstein's 'Interior with restful paintings' The irony of the 'restful paintings' title here, done by pop art pioneer Roy Lichtenstein, is that it doesn't feel very restful or quaint at all. His signature use of stripes and dots - derived from the early colour printing process of newsprint - make it a claustrophobic and very strong on the eyes. Those paintings in the background were also done by Lichtenstein, making it a 'painting within a painting'. Lichtenstein's 2D take is intended to evoke the flatness of a comic strip as much as the space of a real-life room. Slide me Those paintings in the background were also done by Lichtenstein's, making it a 'painting within a painting' Eduard Petrovich Hau's 'Empress Alexandra Feodorovna's Sitting Room, Cottage Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia' Hau's watercolour of the Tsarina of Russia's sitting room looks rather posh, decorated richly with stained-glass, and gothic-revival chandelier and screens. Alexandra's study was part of a cottage especially built for the Tsarina as a chance to 'rest her eyes from all that gold' in her even more formal home at Peterhof Palace. Interestingly the image almost looks like a photo of itself, but the CGI version takes it up a notch. An Australian mum has sparked debate on social media after sharing photos of her organised pantry with a set of 'aggressive' rules on the door. The mum shared the snaps to Facebook to highlight her organisation but the rules pinned to the door led to thousands of 'outraged' responses. 'Don't ask me where every thing is coz (sic) I labelled everything. I spent two days organising this pantry, if you mess it up I WILL CUT YOU. With much love, Mum,' the board reads. This mum's pantry (pictured) couldn't be more perfectly organised, however, its the black pinboard sign in the corner that's got people talking Poll Is the mother in the wrong? Yes No Is the mother in the wrong? Yes 73 votes No 135 votes Now share your opinion Although the board is clearly there as a joke, many believed she had crossed a line. 'I'd never put a sign up like for my children to read. I don't get why people think it's funny,' wrote one. 'A loving display of motherhood goals right there,' another added. 'Pretty sure this type of threat warrants opening a case with child protection,' a third said. While many were outraged over the sign, some commenters also said they loved the mum's handiwork While many were outraged over the sign, some commenters also said they loved the mum's handiwork. 'Well, I mean... pantry goals right there,' one said. While another said: 'When I see things like this it inspires me to ask someone else to come and do it for me.' 'Unpopular opinion,' a third said, 'I hate the signs whenever they're used. But the pantry is goals.' Pippa Middleton looked effortlessly stylish as she took her dogs out for a walk in west London this morning. The Duchess of Cambridge's younger sister, 35, wrapped up warm as she pushed baby Arthur through Chelsea in his 1,100 Bugaboo pushchair. Joining the new mother for the walk were two of her adorable pet dogs, a black Labrador and a Cocker Spaniel named Rafa. Pippa Middleton looked effortlessly stylish as she took her dogs out for a walk in west London today Protecting herself from the April chill, Pippa donned a thick black cardigan and pretty blue shirt under her heavy grey coat. The mother-of-one slicked her auburn hair back from her face, and covered her eyes with a pair of 136 round Rayban sunglasses with a metallic trimming. Keeping the look simple, Pippa wore minimal make-up and kept her jewellery look plain, wearing a simple pair of earrings. Showing off her attention to detail, Pippa tied her hair in a slick pony with a pretty beige hairband. Protecting herself from the April chill, Pippa donned a thick black cardigan and pretty blue shirt under a heavy grey coat Always one to dress practically, Pippa paired her black jeans with buckle-detail black boots to finish off the look. Pippa has kept a relatively low profile since she and husband James Matthews welcomed their first child together in October last year. However she has been keen to stay active in the first months of motherhood, and has been spotted walking with Arthur many time, often near the 17M family home. The mother-of-one slicked her auburn hair back from her face and covered her eyes with a pair of 136 round Rayban sunglasses with a metallic trimming. Pippa has been keen to stay active in the first months of motherhood and has been spotted walking with Arthur many time, often near the 17million family home Like busy parents everywhere, Pippa made the most of the storage of the tray under the pushchair and had a handbag tucked inside. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a couple with millions at their disposal, Pippa and James spared no expense when it came to choosing their son's pushchair. The state-of-the-art pushchair is from Dutch-based brand Bugaboo, favoured by celebrity parents including Gwyneth Paltrow, Victoria Beckham and Sir Elton John. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a couple with millions at their disposal, Pippa and James spared no expense when it came to choosing their son's 1110 pushchair Pippa's older sister the Duchess of Cambridge, 37, is also rumoured to have purchased a Bugaboo design ahead of the birth of Prince George in 2013. The newly-released Bugaboo Fox Classic model comes complete with high-spec additions like hand-stitched handlebars and eco-friendly fabrics - perfect for parents used to the finer things in life. It also boasts features designed to make the precious cargo as comfortable as possible, including a quilted micro twill lining and advanced all-wheel suspension system that sounds befitting of a high super car. The newly-released Bugaboo Fox Classic model comes complete with high-spec additions like hand-stitched handlebars and eco-friendly fabrics - perfect for parents used to the finer things in life Hands-on father James has also been seen taking his son out, and was the picture of pride as he pushed him through London. Pippa married financier James, elder brother to Made In Chelsea star Spencer,in May 2017, and their first child - Arthur Michael William - was born in October 2018. The pair live together in Matthews' sprawling Chelsea mansion, which they renovated ahead of their son's arrival. Pippa married financier James, elder brother to Made In Chelsea star Spencer,in May 2017, and their first child - Arthur Michael William - was born in October 2018 The Duke of Sussex has today announced a partnership with Oprah Winfrey as co-creators and executive producers of a forthcoming mental health documentary series for Apple. Prince Harry, 34, has previously spoken out about battling 'numerous breakdowns' while coming to terms with mother Diana's death, and Oprah, 65, revealed that he jumped at the chance to get involved about a project that is so close to his heart. The multi-part documentary series, which the pair has been working on for 'several months' during a number of 'secret meetings in London', will focus on both mental illness and mental wellness, and aims to inspire viewers to have an honest conversation about the challenges they face. This commitment builds on Harry's long-standing work on issues and initiatives regarding mental health, and has seen him share his personal experience and advocate for those who silently suffer. Scroll down for video The Duke of Sussex today announced a partnership with Oprah, as co-creators and executive producers of a mental health documentary series for Apple. Harry is seen in London this month Excited: Oprah discussed the partnership during an interview on CBS This Morning, which took place in New York on Wednesday, revealing that she pitched the idea to Prince Harry In 2017, together with The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Harry, launched Heads Together, a mental health initiative spearheaded by The Royal Foundation. The Duke of Sussex said today: 'I am incredibly proud to be working alongside Oprah on this vital series which we have been developing together for several months. 'I truly believe that good mental health mental fitness is the key to powerful leadership, productive communities and a purpose-driven self. 'It is a huge responsibility to get this right as we bring you the facts, the science and the awareness of a subject that is so relevant during these times. 'Our hope is that this series will be positive, enlightening and inclusive sharing global stories of unparalleled human spirit fighting back from the darkest places, and the opportunity for us to understand ourselves and those around us better.' There are reportedly plans for Harry to 'appear on camera', though it hasn't been decided whether he will be interviewed by the chat show host. The Sussex Royal Instagram account confirmed the news in a post today, revealing they were excited to announce the collaboration. And in an interview with CBS in New York on Wednesday morning, Oprah revealed exactly how the project came about, explaining that she actually pitched the idea to Prince Harry during a discussion about global issues. 'I asked [Prince Harry] the question, "What do you think are the most important issues facing the world right now?" and he said there are two,' Oprah revealed. Oprah was a guest at Harry and Meghan's wedding at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle last May, and she is said to have formed a friendship with Meghan's mother Doria Ragland 'He said climate change and mental wellness, mental fitness and mental health.' She went on: 'As you know, he's spoken about his own issues and what he went through after his mother died and how being able to talk about it has benefited him. 'So it's a passion of his and, at the end of the conversation, I said, "Oh, I'm going to be doing this thing with Apple. It's a big concern of mine too and I want to try to erase the stigma," and he said at the end of the conversation, "If there's anything I can do to help."' It was then that Oprah decided to pitch the idea of Harry partnering with her on the Apple project, with the TV titan revealing that, since signing on, the royal has been incredibly involved in building the series. 'He's co-creating and executive producing,' she explained. 'We've had several meetings, secret meetings in London. I've flown there with the crew, sitting in sessions, talking about the directions we're going to take.' 'Our hope is it will have an impact on reducing the stigma and allow people to know that they're not alone and allowing people to speak up for it and identify with it.' Oprah was a guest at Harry and Meghan's wedding at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle last May, and has also formed a friendship with Meghan's mother Doria Ragland. The Sussex Royal Instagram account confirmed the news in a post today, revealing they were excited to announce the collaboration Harry has previously opened up about his own battle with depression, revealing that he 'very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions'. Brother William, pictured with Harry last May, urged him to speak to someone In April 2018, just weeks before the royal wedding, Oprah and Doria, 62, spent the afternoon together at Oprah's $88 million 'Promised Land' mansion in Santa Barbara bonding, doing yoga, and eating kumquats from her garden. Oprah later shared that the pair had eaten a meal together and snacked on a dessert made from kumquats freshly picked from Oprah's garden. 'She said, "I love kumquats," and I said, "I have a kumquat tree!"' Oprah detailed in June 2018, while promoting a new TV series. The TV legend has also formed a close bond with Meghan herself, and praised the royal warmly during her CBS This Morning interview on Wednesday, saying that she is 'not only everything that we perceive of her as being - graceful and dynamic in holding that position - but she just has a wonderful, warm, giving, loving heart.' Oprah added that Meghan does not read any press about herself, saying: 'She actually does not read anything, which I find, you know remarkable. 'I think that's remarkable in spite of all that's going on, she doesn't read anything.' However, despite Oprah's relationship with the royal, the Duchess of Sussex, who is due to give birth to the couple's first child in the coming weeks, is not thought to be involved in the project. Harry has spent many years working with veterans across the world with the Invictus Games Foundation and the Endeavour Fund, and convened the top UK military service charities to work together. Oprah attended the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, seen last May, and is friends with the couple He continues to work with communities throughout the UK and young people across the Commonwealth, to break the stigma surrounding mental illness and broaden the conversation of mental wellness. Harry has previously opened up about his own battle with depression, revealing that he was 'very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions'. Speaking last year, he said: 'I started to have conversations and actually all of a sudden this grief that I have never processed started to come to the forefront and I was like, there is actually a lo of stuff here that I need to deal with. 'For me personally, my brother, you know, bless him, was a huge support to me. 'He kept saying 'This is not right, this is not normal, you need to talk to someone'. In 2017, Harry, whose mother passed away when he was just 12, gave a candid interview on Bryony Gordon's Mad World podcast. He said: 'I can safely say that losing my mum at the age of 12, and therefore shutting down all of my emotions for the last 20 years, has had a quite serious effect on not only my personal life but my work as well. 'I have probably been very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions when all sorts of grief and sort of lies and misconceptions and everything are coming to you from every angle.' Whenever the Duchess of Sussex steps out in something - it sells out in minutes. But one popular item she wore, back in 2017, is now back in stock. The brown Sarah Flint ballet pumps she wore to the Invictus games in 2017, and gained a waiting list of over 25,000 people, are now available to buy again. The designer leather styled pointed shoes, with a slight heel and a bow on the top cost $345.66 (264.14) on the brand's website. But if you want to get yourself a pair of identical shoes - then you'll have to be quick, as some sizes have sold out already. The brown Sarah Flint ballet pumps Meghan wore to the Invictus games in 2017 now has a waiting list of over 25,000 people The designer leather styled pointed shoes, with a slight heel and a bow on the top cost $345.66 (264.14) on the brands website Meghan wore the flat shoes to finish off her casual but stylish outfit of ripped blue jeans and a white shirt, when her and Harry had one of their first official public outings nearly two years ago. Now the shoes, which also come in a variety of other colours, are back in stock - but already US size 3 and 4.5 are sold out. The brand describes the flat shoes, called the Natalie, on their website as Italian Vachetta calf leather, with 3mm of extra padding for more comfort. Sarah Flint is an American brand, based in New York, which have lots of other pretty ballet pump designs, as well as heels. The brand describes the flat shoes, called the Natalie shoe, on their website as Italian Vachetta calf leather, with 3mm of extra padding for more comfort Meghan wore the flat shoes to finish off her casual but stylish outfit of ripped blue jeans and a white shirt, when her and Harry had one of their first official public outings nearly two years ago The brand describes the flat shoes, called the Natalie, on their website as Italian Vachetta calf leather, with 3mm of extra padding for more comfort. It's not the first time people have gone wild for her Meghan's shoe choice - on the same trip she wore 115 trainers from French footwear brand Veja and they sold out straight away. Last year it was also revealed that one of her favourite footwear designers was Italian brand Aquazzura, when she was spotted wearing some of its designs - including a 4 in heeled shoe called the Deneuve. While her old Instagram account showed that she was a big shoe fan, when she posted a picture of her 20,000 collection - with included designers including Christian Louboutin and Jimmy Choo. A mother has criticised Poundland for selling a babygrow emblazoned with the words 'Lock Up Your Daughters' across the front - claiming it teaches boys how to be sex pests. Rebecca Roache, a senior lecturer in philosophy at Royal Holloway University of London, accused the budget retailer of sexism after she spotted the 1.50 garment while shopping at the store in Witney, Oxfordshire. She took to social media to share a photo of the clothing, alongside the caption: 'It's never too early to start training boys to be sex pests, eh @Poundland? #everydaysexism.' The mother-of-two argued that the slogan sends out an irresponsible message to young children and while some parents have flocked to support her by saying the clothing 'places the male infant as a sexual aggressor,' others have branded her an 'oversensitive snowflake.' Rebecca Roache, a senior lecturer in philosophy at Royal Holloway University of London, accused the budget retailer of sexism after she spotted the 1.50 babygrow while shopping at their store in Witney, Oxfordshire The furious mother went on to brand the outfit 'depressing' due to its 'sexual context' and insinuation that 'men dominate women,' which could influence a child's attitudes towards women in later life. 'It sends out this message that boys will be boys - they can just run wild and do not need to take responsibility for their actions or whatever they do,' explained Rebecca. 'It is a subtle message but implicitly there is a sexual context to it that men dominate women. She continued: 'It is just inappropriate and sends out a misogynistic message when they cannot even speak or walk yet.' 'If this is the first message they are getting told, then when they do reach the age when they are sexually active, it is sending out the wrong message.' Rebecca (pictured) said: 'It sends out this message that boys will be boys - they can just run wild and do not need to take responsibility for their actions or whatever they do. 'It is a subtle message but implicitly there is a sexual context to it that men dominate women. 'It is also assuming that everyone is heterosexual and to be sold to children under a year old is depressing.' The blue babygrow, which retails for 1.50 in Poundland, is available for newborns to infants up to 12 months. It was sold alongside a pink babygrow aimed at girls with the slogan: 'mummys [sic] little diva.' Danielle Gillett, 33, from Colchester, Essex, who is mum to four-year-old son Albert said: 'It is just awful because it places the male infant as a sexual aggressor. 'It would not be put the other way around saying 'lock up your sons.' Parents have flocked to support the furious mother online saying the clothing 'places the male infant as a sexual aggressor' but others have branded her an 'oversensitive snowflake.' She added: 'If I saw one of my relatives putting their child in it I would feel the need to explain why it is wrong - it makes me feel uncomfortable. 'All clothing for boys tends to have vehicles on and it can be hard to get gender neutral clothes. 'It is not a joke - everything affects you and especially things in the media. 'These messages massively affect your children - my son even recognised the Cadbury font and knew it meant chocolate.' The blue babygrow is sold for 1.50 in Poundland and is available for newborns to infants up to 12 months (stock image) Mother-of-two Jessica Bentley, 35, from Hertfordshire explained: 'They are just stereotyping what girls and boys should be. 'It is putting girls as the victims and I agree it paints boys as sex pests..' However, others have spoke up in support of the babygrow on a forum for parents online and described it as 'a bit of fun'. 'Get over yourselves, you oversensitive snowflakes. It is just a bit of fun and nothing else. The world really has gone made,' penned one, while another said: 'I think it's cute. There are far worse things going on in the world than implying your child is handsome.' A third commented: 'Not to my taste but I don't think it is promoting the wrong idea. 'People are just looking for a reason to be offended these days, bigger problems to worry about in the world than this vest.' A spokesperson for Poundland commented: While we appreciate the feedback, its one of our best selling baby grows, so it appears most customers appreciate the humour. Celebrity chef Niger Slater revealed he had to be comforted by Nigella Lawson during emotional scenes in the stage adaptation of his memoir, Toast. The play, based on the chef's 2004 autobiography, retraces Slater's unhappy childhood and the death of his mother, when he was nine-years-old, and is currently showing at The Other Palace in London's West-End. Slater, 61, told the Evening Standard that the last words he said to his mother, Kathleen, still haunt him today, and seeing their final confrontation reenacted on stage reduced him to tears. 'Those last words I say to my mother "I hope you die". I really lost it. I had Nigella next to me and she held me. 'It was so sweet, it was the most wonderful thing. It was so comforting because its not the last words you want to say to your mum.' Nigel Slater, 61, with fellow cook Nigella Lawson at the press night for a play based on his memoir toast. He's revealed that Nigella helf him as he cried over scenes depicting the death of his mother Kathleen Actress Victoria Hamilton playing Nigel's mother and Oscar Kennedy as a young Nigel Slater in BBC movie Toast, which was released in 2011 A film based on the same autobiography was released in 2011, but the chef said the play truly 'captured the story and the spirit' of his book, and was more 'visceral'. He previously told the Guardian he had a 'loveless' childhood, and turned to cooking for comfort. Talking about his mother's death, he said: 'I wasn't asked if I wanted to go to the funeral, or if I wanted to see her, it was not that kind of family at all. So I never said goodbye. I suppose.' His father then married Joan Potter, who Slater described as previously being the family cleaner, in his book. Baker Lily Vanili and Nigel Slater on the set of Toast at The Other Palace, during the press night afterparty And his portrayal of his step-mother as a chain-smoking, overfeeding gold digger, was far from generous. 'Suddenly "mother" was a woman who wore curlers in her hair. Who smoked. Who swore. I just could not believe my father would tolerate this,' Slater said in the same Guardian interview. Nigel's estranged step-sisters said in 2011 that their mother was nothing like the woman portrayed in the film released the same year by the BBC. Ann Perrens told the Mail on Sunday: 'Mum didnt have blonde hair, didnt wear short skirts, high heels and seamed stockings. And she didnt swear and cackle or wear curlers. Slater said he regretted 'oversharing' about his relationships with his step-mother in his 2004 autobiography My mum wouldnt speak like that and she was never a cleaner. She just helped in the house as a favour. She didnt get paid. Its all rubbish. The main part of the drama was about ridiculing my mother,' she added. 'The first time you see her, shed got her head in an oven and was wiggling her bum. Without that, it would have been boring. The cook has since said he regretted 'oversharing' about his step-mother. 'Knowing what I know now, at this ripe old age, I would have behaved very differently with my stepmother,' he told Radio Times in 2018. 'I would have realised she was in a very difficult position, and my father was in a very difficult position, too.' Queen Letizia looked as stylish as ever as she arrived at the Real Monasterio de la Encarnacion in Madrid today. The wife of King Felipe, 46, was all smiles as she visited the new accessibility facilities installed at the royal monastery. Showing off her stylish wardrobe, Letizia opted for a silk green Sandro scarf dress that was complete with paisley print reminiscent of scarves. And it was like seeing double as the royal appears to be such a fan of the designer dress, she also wore it during an engagement last December. Queen Letizia, 46, looked glowing in green as she attended a guided tour of the refurbishing of the Incarnation Royal Monastery in Madrid. The facilities have been accommodated for people with reduced mobility and visual disabilities The Spanish Queen hung a black jacket over her shoulders to give the repeated outfit - which she first wore back in 2018 - a fresh new look During her visit, Letizia attended a guided tour of the refurbishing of the Incarnation Royal Monastery and was greeted by Vice president Carmen Calvo. The facilities have been accommodated for people with reduced mobility and visual disabilities. Wearing her hair loose and elegantly flicked at the ends, she tucked her tresses behind her ears to reveal a pair of dainty silver earrings. The midi dress was first worn by the stylish royal when she attended the closure of Afammer International Congress at the Marriot Auditorium Hotel in Madrid last December. There, she teamed it with the same black patent black shoes by Prada, and a clutch by Nina Ricci. But to give the same outfit a fresh look, she fashionably balanced a smart black jacket on her shoulders for the monastery visit. Queen Letizia of Spain wore the same green silk midi dress during the closure of AFAMMER International Congress at the Marriot Auditorium Hotel on December 13, 2018 in Madrid, Spain (pictured right) Wearing her hair loose, Letizia tucked her flowing locks behind her ears as she was given a guided tour of the monastery The Spanish Queen was in great company as she was shown the new accessibility facilities that had been installed. She paired her outfit with some classy patent black pointed heels The Royal Monastery (above) that Queen Letizia visited is a convent of the order of Recolet Augustines The wife of King Felipe (pictured) looked as if she was paying great interest as she received a talk on the plans for the monastery, which is located in Madrid The Royal Monastery of the Incarnation or Real Monasterio de la Encarnacion is a convent of the order of Recolet Augustines. The institution mainly interned women from noble families, and was founded by the Queen Margaret of Austria, wife of Philip III, and so is was well endowed with wealth. It's been a busy week of engagements for Spain's glamorous Queen, who joined the Spanish Minister of Economy and Business Nadia Calvino during a visit to the School of Engraving and Graphic Design of the Royal Mint on Monday. The royal opted for neutral tones and matched a tan leather Hugo Boss skirt with a beige coat, and complemented her colour scheme with brown leather court shoes with a chunky heel. She is also due to appear at the inauguration of the exhibition "Angeli" of the Foundation "The Ages of Man" tomorrow. Queen Letizia Of Spain, pictured with Vice president Carmen Calvo, visited the new accessibility facilities installed at 'Real Monasterio de La Encarnacion' The royal looked animated as she engaged in conversation with those involved in the new installments at the monastery Flashing a smile for the photographers, Letizia looked as stylish as ever - despite a busy week of engagements. Pictured with Vice president Carmen Calvo (left) Good Housekeeping has revealed where you can purchase the best gins in the UK - and Waitrose, Tesco and Asda all made the top three. A panel of consumers and experts, including spirit tutors from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust, blind taste tested the gins, which they drank neat and then diluted with water, in order to not impair their taste. The testing panel based their scores on a variety of criteria - from pleasant aroma to appearance. And a 39.50 dry gin sold by Waitrose dominated the competition across all categories, with its savoury taste and botanical hints of rosemary, thyme, olive, and basil. Overall Winner: Waitrose's Gin Mare, 39.50, 70cl. Tasters loved its savoury taste and botanical hints of rosemary, thyme, olive, and basil. It was awarded an impressive 88/100 All gins were split in six categories. Coming joint first in the pink gin category, the most disputed category of the taste test, were Tesco and Asda. Tesco's 17 Limehouse Pink was praised for its red berry flavour and fruity aroma, while tasters applauded Asda's 16 Extra Special Premium Pink's forest fruit flavours, which contained splashes of vanilla, raspberry, strawberry and mint. Both pink gins were awarded an impressive score of 84 out of 100. When it came to crowning the best sloe gin - a red liqueur made with gin and sloe (blackthorn) drupes - Good Housekeeping turned to East London-based distillery Mothers Ruin, which sells its gin for 27.50. Tesco's Limehouse Pink, 17, 70cl, with red berry flavour and fruity aroma (left) and Asda's Extra Special Premium Pink, 16, 70cl, were both crowned the joint best pink gin, scoring 84/100 The sample scored 79 out of 100, and testers loved its hints of citrus and dark berry, as well as its sweetness and smooth texture. Sainsbury's offered the quirkiest flavour of all, with its 24 Tanqueray Flor de Sevilla gin. It was commended for its lovely subtle but sweet flavour, with notes of orange sorbet. And for gin enthusiasts on a budget, Lidl won the Flavoured Gin Liqueur category with its Hortus Pomegranate and Rose Gin Liqueur, which scored 75 out of 100. The bottle is a bargain at 9.99, with its sweet and floral aroma. Finally, the tasting panel found that Sainsbury's makes the best own-brand gin with 83 out of 100. Its 20 Drury 173 Craft Gin delighted tasters with its sherbet, grapefruit and lemon zest aroma with fresh lemon, grapefruit and herb flavours. Best sloe gin: Mothers Ruin, 27.50, 50cl. Testers loved its hints of citrus and dark berry as well as its sweetness and smooth texture. 79/100 Best quirky flavoured gin: Sainsbury's Tanqueray Flor de Sevilla, 24, 70cl. Testers said its flavour contained notes of orange sorbet. 76/100 Best flavoured gin liqueur: Lidl's Hortus Pomegranate & Rose Gin Liqueur, 9.99, 50cl, for gin lovers on a budget. 75/100 M&S also received a special mention, as it came runner-up in the same category, scoring 79/100. Vicky Chandler, the Digital Food Editor for Good Housekeeping said: 'Gin continues to be the drink of the moment, and because of its popularity, there are more options than ever before. 'Tasting over 100 gins from sweet liqueurs to London Dry, we want to make the consumers choice a little bit easier when theres so much choice. 'Its great to see such a mix of supermarket and craft gins scoring high marks across the categories, proving that there is something for everyone regardless of taste preference and budget!' Best supermarket gin: Sainsburys Drury 173 Craft Gin, 20, 70cl. Testers praised its sherbet, grapefruit and lemon zest aroma with fresh lemon, grapefruit and herb flavours. 83/100 Cleaning sensation Mrs Hinch's book 'Hinch Yourself Happy' has become the second fastest selling non-fiction title ever, just a week after it was released. Sophie Hinchliffe, 28, from Essex, who boasts 2.3 million followers on Instagram, took to the social media network to thank her fans following the news. The book, which covers a range of topics such as how cleaning can soothe anxiety and stress, as well as revealing her must-haves, knocked autobiographies by Michelle Obama and Alex Ferguson off the top spots of The Bookseller's chart. Just last week the book made it to the number one spot on Amazon's bestsellers list overnight, just a day after its release. Online cleaning sensation Mrs Hinch's book Hinch Yourself Happy has become the second fastest selling non- fiction title ever just a week after its released. Sophie Hinchcliffe, 28, from Essex, is seen outside the ITV studios last week Website 'The Bookseller' confirmed the news today, writing: 'Hinch Yourself Happy is still the second fastest-selling non-fiction title ever, beating fellow autobiographies Alex Fergusons My Autobiography (Hodder) and Michelle Obamas Becoming (Viking) for single-week sales. 'It has sold 160,302 copies in its first week on sale to sweep straight into the UK Official Charts'. Sophie took to her Instagram stories to thank her fans, writing: 'Can't believe it! Hinchers this is all because of you. Thank you!'. The cleaning sensation's book Hinch Yourself Happy, pictured, was released at midnight last week, and knocked autobiographies by Michelle Obama and Alex Ferguson off the top spots Sophie took to her Instagram stories to thank her fans, writing: 'Can't believe it! Hinchers this is all because of you. Thank you!'. Last week the ex-hairdresser also revealed on Chris Evans Breakfast Show that she'd 'never say never' to hiring a cleaner. While promoting the book on its launch day, Chris Evans told Mrs Hinch she'd soon be 'so busy you'll have to hire a cleaner.' Mrs Hinch was quick to shut the idea down before agreeing to 'never say never' but adding that she'd be 'really upset if someone cleaned my toilet.' When asked how she became such a sensation, Mrs Hinch told Virgin Radio that she simply 'cleaned her sink.' The expectant mother then said she originally made her home Instagram account as she thought her friends would get annoyed with all the updates on Facebook. Mrs Hinch, pictured on This Morning last week, whose real name is Sophie Hinchliffe has taken the number one spot on Amazon's list of bestselling books with Hinch Yourself Happy Mrs Hinch also revealed to fans that she's tried to get in contact with another clean-queen Marie Kondo. She said: 'I love her. I've sent Marie Kondo a DM and am hoping she gets in touch.' Yesterday the best-selling author revealed that she does not do a daily clean and or make her bed every day. Sophie claimed that despite her love of household chores, she doesn't clean every day, and isn't worried about finding time when she gives birth to her first child. 'I'm so laid back about it,' she claimed, 'My bed is not made this morning and I'm not worried about it.' Mrs Hinch thanked her more than two million followers on Instagram, pictured, for buying her book and helping to make her number one on the Amazon bestsellers list last week Kim Kardashian West revealed she channeled former first lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis by wearing the icon's $379,500 watch when visiting with President Donald Trump at the White House. The 38-year-old met with President Trump last May to request a pardon on 63-year-old Alice Marie Johnson's life sentence without the ability of parole for a first-time nonviolent drug offense. During the important meeting, Kim decided to wear Jackie's watch after purchasing it at a New York City auction because it gave her 'some power'. Empowered: Kim Kardashian, 38, says she wore Jackie Kennedy's Cartier watch when visiting President Donald Trump at the White House in May, with the strap just visible on her left wrist Icon: The former first lady (pictured in December 1969) was gifted the watch in February 1963, just nine months before husband President John F. Kennedy was assassinated Focused: Kim (pictured arriving to the White House) purchased the watch anonymously in 2017 for $379,500 after it went up for auction. She said the watch gave her 'some power' 'I bought Jackie Kennedy Onassis's watch at auction,' Kim told Vogue for its May issue. 'I wore it when I went to the White House. It gave me some power: Let's get in there and get this done!' The former first lady's gold Cartier Tank watch with a black band was auctioned off at Christie's in New York City back in 2017. Beautiful: The 18-karat Cartier Tank watch was first manufactured in 1962. Jackie's brother-in-law gifted her the watch in 1963 It was expected that the stunning jewelry item would go for $120,000 at most, but Kim ended up purchasing the watch for $379,500 anonymously. Later, Kim was revealed as the buyer of the priceless jewelry item. There are no diamonds or jewels on the watch. Instead, the effortless piece is rimmed in 18-karat gold with an old-fashioned watch face and black band. The watch was first manufactured in 1962 and given to Jackie by her brother-in-law Prince Stanislaw 'Stas' Radziwil in February 1963, just nine months before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. An added addition to the watch is an engraving, which reads: 'Stas to Jackie, 23 Feb. 1963. 2.05am to 9.35am.' Jackie was photographed in multiple iconic pictures wearing the watch, and Kim believed the accessory could bring her some power while visiting the White House for the first time. Icon: An added addition to the watch is an engraving, which reads: 'Stas to Jackie, 23 Feb. 1963. 2.05am to 9.35am.' Jackie is pictured wearing the watch in Israel in May 1978 Revealed: For Vogue's May issue, Kim spoke about her experience arguing for clemency for Alice Marie Johnson. The woman was the reason why Kim first visited the White House Advocate: After Kim (pictured in Vogue) visited the White House in May, President Trump granted a pardon to Alice for the crime she committed in 1996 When visiting the White House, Kim wore an oversized black suit with matching black shirt underneath and neon yellow heels. The watch on her wrist was not visible in pictures. But the trip with the added fashion accessory paid off as the president granted Alice clemency in June for the crime she committed in 1996. Kim also revealed to Vogue how she first got involved in Alice's case. 'Alice found me,' she told the magazine. 'It was meant to happen.' The reality star stumbled upon Alice's story on Twitter after one of her friends shared information about the case. Alice's story of injustice stuck with Kim, who thought it was time to enforce change. 'Here's a grandmother who took part in her first-time nonviolent offense and received the same sentence as Charles Manson,' Kim said. 'I just thought, This is so wrong and so bizarre, and how could that be? I sent it to my attorney and said, "What can we do? Does she need better lawyers?"' Kim made the decision to visit the White House and plea directly to the president on behalf of Alice, but her decision was met with pushback from those around her. 'Everyone was telling me, "Dont go, your career will be over; you cant step foot in there," she admitted to the publication. But the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star ignored the critics and decided to go despite her political differences with the president. Advocating for rights of others struck a cord with Kim, and she revealed she is now in her first year of a four-year apprenticeship with a San Francisco law firm. She intends to take the California bar exam in 2022 to become a lawyer. Crown Princess Mary, 47, and Queen Margrethe, 78, of Denmark looked effortlessly chic as they visited Copenhagen zoo today. The Danish royals were seated front row for the opening of a new enclosure that will house two pandas. Queen Margrethe, who was joined by her daughter-in-law, opted for a sophisticated monochrome look for the occasion. She took a lead role in the grand opening of the premises, which will open to the public on Thursday, and offered her congratulations to the zoo. The royals looked wrapped up for their visit and wore chic coats in light colours along with cool accessories and leather gloves Margrethe II of Denmark and Crown Princess Mary opened the panda house in Copenhagen. The pandas Xing Er and Mao Sun arrived to Copenhagen on 04 April, but so far it has only been Zoo's professional staff who have had access to the pandas. The royal paired an asymmetric cream coat with black leather gloves and matching earrings for the occasion. Queen Margrethe wore her tied back and added a splash of colour to her look with a vibrant red lipstick. Meanwhile, Crown Princess Mary, 46, stunned in a powder blue coat teamed with navy accessories as she joined her mother-in-law for the monumental event. The gorgeous piece was eye-catching on a grey day, and she paired it with a patterned grey and black scarf. Queen Margrethe offered her congratulations as she opened the panda plant at Copenhagen zoo, which will house two pandas that were a gift from China's president during a state visit in 2012 The Danish royals engaged in conversation and appeared to take great interest as they toured the enclosure. Both made an impact as they visited the newly built facility which will welcome two pandas, named Xing Er and Mao Suni, as part of a Danish and Chinese research project. 'Congratulations to all of us. We now have two pandas in a fabulous enclosure that we can look at for many, many years,' Margrethe said. The enclosure, which is in the shape of the Chinese Yin-Yang symbol, is set to open to the public tomorrow. The royals were shown around the panda plant at Copenhagen zoo, which will house the two pandas, namned Xing Er and Mao Suni, which the Queen received as a gift from China's President at the state visit in 2012 Queen Margrethe and Crown Princess Mary were present at the inauguration of the panda plant at Copenhagen Zoo The pandas are to be separated and brought together again during the mating season. Xing Er replaced another male panda China, who was originally picked to go to Denmark after it was discovered he couldn't procreate. China has lent out pandas as a sign of goodwill to fewer than two dozen nations. Any cubs born during the 15-year loan period are considered China's. The bears are 'national treasures of China and symbol of peace,' the Chinese Ambassador to Denmark, Deng Ying, said Wednesday. In February 2018, China loaned two pandas to Finland. Two others arrived in June 2017 at Berlin's Tierpark zoo, where the first visitors were German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The best-known case of panda diplomacy was in 1972, when a arrived in the U.S., two months after President Richard Nixon's trip to China, ending 25 years of isolation and tension between the two. Features barber shop, three restaurants, two coffee kiosks and new 'Primarket' Incredible drone footage has been released of Primark's biggest ever store, which is set to open in Birmingham city centre tomorrow. The video showcases the sheer scale of the impressive shop, which will be the largest in the world. Boasting 160,100 sq ft of retail space at Primark's 187th store in the UK, it is more than 5,000 sq ft bigger than the retailer's existing largest store in Manchester, which covers 155,000 sq ft. The new flagship superstore in Birmingham city centre boasts five floors of fashion, as well as a new Disney cafe, a stylish hair salon and barbers, and a custom T-shirt printing lab. The superstore will also employ almost 1,000 people. Incredible footage showcases the sheer scale of the enormous shop, which is the world's largest Primark The covers are off! The world's biggest Primark will open its doors to the public tomorrow for its grand opening The incredible footage reveals the five floors of the massive shop, which promises to feature amazing fashion for amazing prices Around 5,000 people are expected to turn up on Birmingham high street for the grand opening at 10am tomorrow. A number of lucky 'friends and family' members were given the opportunity to have a look around the new superstore earlier this week, with one saying 'no expense has been spared'. 'It's going to take on the Bullring as the city's number one shopping destination,' gushed one excited visitor. 'It's an amazing shop compared with what was here before.' The new flagship superstore in Birmingham city centre boasts five floors of fashion as well as a new Disney cafe, a stylish hair salon and barbers and a custom T-shirt printing lab The Disney cafe, which features interactive tables for children to play with, is one of three restaurants on the site - the others being the Mezz restaurant and the Primarket cafe One visitor to the store yesterday said it's going to take on the Bullring as the city's number one shopping destination One visitor said the shop, which has three eateries, is 'truly transformational' and will be the top destination in Birmingham The Disney cafe, which features interactive tables for children to play with, is one of three restaurants on the site; the others being the Mezz restaurant and the Primarket cafe. Also on site is Duck & Dry Xpress, Primark's largest ever beauty studio for nails, make-up, hair, eyebrows and lashes, as well as Mills barbers for male customers. The central escalator block at the heart of the building is emblazoned with slogans like 'Hello Brum' and 'find your amazing' lit up in neon blue. There are also digital window displays to entice passing shoppers, as well items from its latest clothing range dedicated to Harry Potter, which first launched in September 2017. Find your way around Birmingham's new Primark superstore Floor 2: Kids, lingerie, Primark cafe with Disney, toilets Floor 1: Womens - clothing, accessories, shoes - Home, Custom Lab T-shirt printing, Primarket - tech, stationery, toys - Primarket Cafe, toilets Floor 0: Womens - clothing, beauty - Duck & Dry Xpress Beauty Studio, Exit to High Street Floor -1: The Mezz Restaurant. Coffee Kiosk, toilets Floor -2: Mens - clothing, accessories, shoes, Mills Barbers, Coffee Kiosk, Exit to Moor Street Advertisement The garments worn by mannequins, unveiled yesterday, suggest Primark's favourite shades this season will include yellows, greens, creams and browns. There's even a custom T-shirt printing station, where Disney fans can get their own text below an image of their favourite character on official Disney tees, which start at 5 for children's sizes. A visitor on yesterday's members tour told Birmingham Live: 'It's the same with official Barcelona T-shirts, which could be 30 or 40 euros abroad but which I think will be less than 10 here. 'The shop is truly transformational. It will be the top destination in Birmingham. 'Children will love going through the Disney archways shaped like Mickey Mouse ears on their way in to the themed cafe.' The infamous Primark changing room queues should also be a thing of the past, with the main changing area boasting 32 cubicles, and you'll be able to do a refund or exchange at any till in the store. There are also facts about the flagship store's hometown dotted around the walls, with one reading: 'Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery holds the largest collection of Pre-Raphaelite art in the world.' The Disney cafe, which has archways shaped like Mickey Mouse ears, is bound to be a hit with adults and children alike As well as its stylish Duck & Dry beauty salon, there's also a Mills barbers for male customers A Primark spokesperson previously told how the store will create more than 500 new jobs in the area, while 430 colleagues will transfer from its existing location in Birmingham There are digital window displays to entice passing shoppers, as well items from its latest clothing range. The garments worn by its mannequins, unveiled yesterday, suggest Primark's favourite shades this season will include yellows, greens, creams and browns. A Primark spokesperson previously told how the store will create more than 500 new jobs in the area, while 430 colleagues will transfer from its existing location in Birmingham. They added: 'The store will have the latest trends in womenswear, menswear and kidswear including footwear and accessories, as well as lingerie, beauty and homeware,' said the spokesman. 'In addition to amazing fashion at amazing prices, this store will have many new features. 'The store will also have a personalisation service, recharge seating areas and free WiFi.' As Game of Thrones fans excitedly await the final season's premiere on Sunday, those based in New York can get a taste of the Westeros juiciness at Shake Shack in the former of a cheeseburger. The food chain is currently offering two special menu items at its Madison Square Park location in Manhattan in honor of the HBO series. There is, however, one catch: Customers need to order in Valyrian if they want the special burger and milkshake. Get a taste: Shake Shack is selling a Game of Thrones themed burger and shake in honor of the new season Coming up: The eighth and final season premieres on HBO on Sunday Clever: The Dracarys Burger and Dragonglass Shake should be ordered in Valyrian, so Shake Shack has drawn up this handy translation guide Shake Shack has announced two special menu items that are available now. The Dracarys Burger carried the Valyrian word for 'Dragonfire' so naturally, it's a bit hot. The a spicy double cheeseburger topped with bacon, Monterey Jack cheese, and ShackSauce. It costs $11 and will be available through April 21. There's also the $7 Dragonglass Shake, named after the word used in Westeros for volcanic glass. It's mint and white chocolate flavored and topped with shards of toffee. While both the menu items have Valyrian names, customers can also use other words in the language to place their order. And for those who don't know how to speak it, Shake Shack has release a handy guide with translations for 'hello,' 'I would like,' and 'bend the knee for a meal of ice and fire. Cookies! In anticipation of the final season, Nabisco has released limited-edition Game of Thrones Oreos with special themed packaging Drink up: Mountain Dew has created a special Game of Thrones can, which appears plain white until it's cold and then it reveals Arya's kill list Johnnie Walker whiskey released Johnnie Walker White Walker, a limited edition whisky bottle with thermochromic ink 'to give fans a frosty surprise message when frozen' Shake Shack isn't the only brand excited that winter is coming. In anticipation of the final season, Nabisco has released limited-edition Game of Thrones Oreos with special themed packaging. Mountain Dew has created a special Game of Thrones can, which appears plain white until it's cold and then it reveals Arya's kill list. And in October, Johnnie Walker whiskey released Johnnie Walker White Walker, a limited edition whisky bottle with thermochromic ink 'to give fans a frosty surprise message when frozen'. City officials warned parents are holding 'measles parties,' where they intentionally expose their unvaccinated children to an infected child in the mistaken belief that doing so is a safe way to create immunity. 'I understand that parents may be afraid of getting their children vaccinated,' said Oxiris Barbot, the city's health commissioner. 'I know that getting vaccinated is far safer than getting measles. The measles outbreak in Brooklyn, primarily among Orthodox Jewish children, prompted New York City on Tuesday to declare a public health emergency, requiring unvaccinated people in the affected areas to get the vaccine or face fines of up to $1,000. The city's largest outbreak since 1991 of the once virtually eradicated disease has mainly been confined to the Orthodox Jewish community in the borough's Williamsburg neighborhood, with 285 cases confirmed since October, Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference. That's up sharply from only two reported cases in all of 2017. 'This is the epicenter of a measles outbreak that is very, very troubling and must be dealt with immediately,' de Blasio said. He was joined by city health officials who decried what they called 'misinformation' spread by opponents of vaccines. The measles virus is highly contagious and can lead to serious complications and death. While there have been no confirmed deaths so far, 21 people have been hospitalized, with five admitted to intensive care, officials said. All but 39 of the confirmed cases are in children. Measles 'parties' stems from the once-popular trend of 'pox parties' - intentionally exposing children to chickenpox, before the Varicella vaccine was rolled out in 1995. In an attempt to 'naturally' build up their kids' immunity to viruses, parents would get them all together, expose them to the virus, to get it over and done with. Deliberately exposing a child to chickenpox comes with risks. Exposing kids to measles is even more dangerous. The virus can escalate into severe complications such as hard-to-treat bacterial infections, pneumonia and inflammation of the brain. What's more, the more children in the community have it, the higher risk of exposure for kids with weakened immune systems and pregnant women, who need to avoid the virus. These days, exposure parties are largely a thing of the past. The vaccine offers the same immunity boost without the ordeal of enduring the virus. A dead or weakened form of the virus is injected into a child, stimulating antibodies to recognize the virus without making them sick. But health experts are concerned by the booming number of parents in Brooklyn who are skeptical of vaccines. The outbreak is part of a broader resurgence in the United States, with 465 cases reported in 19 states so far this year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The United States declared measles eliminated from the country in 2000 thanks to widespread vaccination, meaning it is no longer constantly present. But vaccination rates have declined in recent years, according to infectious disease experts. The Brooklyn outbreak has been traced to an unvaccinated child who became infected on a visit to Israel, which is also grappling with an outbreak, according to New York City's Department of Health. Officials from the Department of Health will check vaccination records of anyone who has been in contact with infected patients in certain parts of Brooklyn, officials said. They will impose fines of up to $1,000 on those who have not received the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and cannot give other evidence of immunity, such as having previously had the measles. It is the first time New York City has ordered mandatory vaccinations in recent history, according to health officials. Community leaders and doctors welcomed the move. 'We will make sure that everybody who is allowed will be vaccinated,' Rabbi David Niederman, the president of the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg, said in a phone interview. 'The schools are cooperating, everyone's cooperating.' He said he had seen misinformation circulate around the tightly knit community, but that most families trusted the Health Department. 'You get phony, phony articles and studies, so yes, some people will fall for that,' he said. 'They will do anything and everything to improve the health of their children.' Doctors in affected communities said an anonymously produced anti-vaccine booklet targeting Orthodox Jews that contained false information had appeared in the mail over the last couple years, which had sown doubts and hesitancy among some parents. 'In general, the Orthodox community does immunize,' said Dr. Joseph Kaplovitz, who works at the NYU Langone Stepping Stones Pediatrics clinic in Brooklyn's Borough Park. Dr Jeffrey Dick of Kindercare Pediatrics in Williamsburg said his practice had seen at least a dozen measles cases in recent months, but also an uptick in families seeking vaccinations as worry about the outbreak spread. The mandatory vaccination order follows one from the Health Department last week requiring yeshivas and day-care programs serving Williamsburg's Orthodox Jewish community to exclude unvaccinated children or face fines or closure. Another outbreak has hit Orthodox Jewish families in New York's Rockland County. Officials there banned children not vaccinated against measles from public spaces last month. That order was overturned by a state judge on Friday, local media reported. The order is being appealed by Rockland officials. Federal officials are also tracking outbreaks in New Jersey, California, Michigan and Washington state. A growing and vocal fringe of parents oppose vaccines believing, contrary to scientific evidence, that ingredients in the vaccines can cause autism or other disorders. Women with the most deadly type of breast cancer have hope from a simple test which shows if they will respond to treatment. 'Triple-negative' breast cancer, most common in women under the age of 40 and affecting more than 8,000 women every year in the UK, is so aggressive it can survive chemotherapy. About a third of women see the standard chemotherapy fail and the cancer come back within three years. However, scientists have discovered a test which identifies these women, so that they can be given a different type of chemotherapy likely to work better. The test is for a protein called NUP98, which is thought to switch on genes that help cancer cells survive chemotherapy. It can be found using a simple biopsy of breast tissue, with results available to doctors within 24 hours. Women with the most deadly type of breast cancer - triple negative - have hope from a simple test which shows if they will respond to treatment Women with high levels of the protein are 10 times more likely to see their cancer come back, raising their risk of dying, and are half as likely to benefit from the standard chemotherapy, researchers who looked at results for more than 500 women found. They say the test could be available for women within a decade, following trials on the first breast cancer patients in five years. Dr Niamh Buckley, who led the study of breast cancer patients from Queen's University Belfast, said: 'We know that triple-negative breast cancer is a very aggressive form of the disease. 'For women who have been diagnosed, we want to tailor their treatment to give them the best possible chance of survival. 'This test will hopefully help us to identify women who should be given an alternative form of chemotherapy and could stop breast cancer coming back in these women, saving their lives.' Around one in seven breast cancers are triple-negative, meaning they are negative for 'receptors' on cancer cells which receive signals to divide. Other types of breast cancer, like 'oestrogen receptor-positive' breast cancer, can be treated with wonder drugs like tamoxifen which damage the machinery allowing the cells to multiply. But women with triple-negative breast cancer have no such drugs, meaning surgery and chemotherapy are their only chance of survival. That is why it is so important that the standard chemotherapy, using drugs called anthracyclines, works. The newly discovered test, reported in the journal BMC Cancer, could help to identify the one in three women for whom this type of chemotherapy will not work. It picks up those women with high levels of NUP98, which blocks the chemotherapy meant to kill off cancer cells by destroying their DNA. It is not fully understood how the protein works, but it may switch on genes which repair the DNA damage or help cancer cells survive it by blocking the signal which kills them when they are damaged. If these women can be singled out, they can be given a treatment more likely to work so that their cancer will not come back or spread to their liver or brain and become terminal. They can instead have a different type of chemotherapy, such as one type using drugs called 'taxanes' to stop cancer cells dividing. The test, found using breast tissue from more than 100 women with triple-negative breast cancer and confirmed using a database of another 450 patients, uses a substance which reacts with NUP98. The protein is tagged with a brown dye in women's breast tissue sample, so that it can be easily spotted in the laboratory. Women with high, rather than low levels of NUP98 are seven to 10 times more likely to see their breast cancer come back after chemotherapy. Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive of Breast Cancer Now, which funded the study, said: 'This is a very promising discovery. It's really encouraging that testing for levels of NUP98 could help ensure patients get the type of chemotherapy that's most likely to be effective for them as early as possible.' A man developed kidney failure after taking 12 times the recommended amount of vitamin D every day. The unnamed 54-year-old, from Canada, had been taking the bumper dose drops for two-and-a-half-years after being advised it by a naturopath. But his health took a turn for the worse when he took a two week holiday and spent eight hours a day sunbathing - exposure to the sun helps the body to produce vitamin D. Medical tests showed his blood creatinine levels were climbing, which is a sign the kidneys are struggling to work. Doctors then found a dangerous build-up of vitamin D and calcium in his blood had impaired the function of his kidneys. A 54-year-old man from Canada developed kidney failure after taking 12 times the recommended dose of a vitamin D supplement It took a year to get the patient back to health - but he has been left with chronic kidney disease and may need dialysis in later life. The patient, who did not have a history of bone loss or vitamin D deficiency, took a total of 8,000-12,000IU a day. The recommended amount for people in Canada is a maximum 1,000IU - four times lower than guidelines for people in Britain. Doctors, led by Bourne Auguste, a nephrologist at Toronto General Hospital, said they were concerned other people would make the same mistake. Mr Auguste told Global News: 'He thought that vitamins are harmless. 'And his logic, which one can understand looking back, is that the more vitamin D I take, the stronger the bones will be.' For unknown reasons, the patient said he was seeing a naturopathic, a specialist that suggests alternative methods such as homeopathy to try and treat illnesses. She advised the man take eight drops of a brand daily which contained 500IU per drop, according to the report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. This would have come to 4,000IU - the maximum that is recommended a day in the UK by the NHS before it could become harmful. But, unknowingly, the man bought another vitamin D product that contained 1,000IU per drop. After returning home from a two-week trip to Southeast Asia, he went to his doctor. However, it is unclear why he attended. His creatinine level had increased from his baseline of 100 mol/L before the trip, to 132 mol/L. HOW MUCH VITAMIN D IS SAFE TO TAKE? Some groups of the population are at greater risk of not getting enough vitamin D. Everyone over the age of five years is advised to consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms (400 IU) of vitamin D, but most people will get enough in the summer. The amount of vitamin D contained in supplements is sometimes expressed in international units (IU), where 40 IU is equal to 1 microgram (1g) of vitamin D. If you choose to take vitamin D supplements, 400 IU a day will be enough for most people. People who take supplements are advised not to take more than 4000 IU of vitamin D a day, as it could be harmful (this is equal to 100 micrograms or 0.1 milligrams). This applies to adults, including pregnant and breastfeeding women and the elderly, and children aged 11 to 17. Children aged 1 to 10 shouldn't have more than 2000 IU a day. Babies under 12 months shouldn't have more than 1000 IU a day. Some people have medical conditions that mean they may not be able to take as much vitamin D safely. There's no risk of your body making too much vitamin D from sun exposure, but always remember to cover up or protect your skin before the time it takes you to start turning red or burn. Source: NHS Advertisement His doctor thought he could be suffering from dehydration or heat stroke, and told him to stop taking his high blood pressure and diuretic medication. But after four weeks, his creatinine level had risen to 376 mol/L despite having no obvious illness. He was then referred to a kidney specialist. It was then that the man was quizzed about his health background and told to stop taking supplements and eating calcium rich foods. The patient was given medication and counselled on how to reduce the toxicity to his kidneys. Almost one year after diagnosis, his calcium and vitamin D levels have returned to normal, but he has stage 3B chronic kidney disease. The kidneys have an important role in making vitamin D useful to the body by converting the source into the active form of vitamin D that is needed by the body to help absorb calcium and phosphorous. Vitamin D toxicity is rare but its widespread availability in various over-the-counter products could be risky for people who are uninformed, the authors said. There's no risk of your body making too much vitamin D from sun exposure or food choices. The doctors wrote: 'Our experience informs us that patients and clinicians should be better informed about the risks regarding the unfettered use of vitamin D. 'Given new findings from the US Preventive Services Task Force, current Canadian guidelines regarding its use in low-risk individuals should be revisited.' The authors said that a dose greater than 10,000IU per day for several months is not recommended to anyone. It's not known exactly how much time is needed in the sun to make enough vitamin D to meet the body's requirements. A boy has been left with a gaping hole in his leg after being bitten by a poisonous spider, his mother claims. Bobby Barnett, nine, was taken to his GP and A&E, where it was believed he had simply been bitten by a tiny insect called a gnat. He was sent home with antibiotics, but over the next few days, Bobby's mother Emma Barnett, 34, panicked as the wound grew. It rapidly turned into a gaping and infected hole and he had to be rushed to hospital near his home of Canvey, Essex. Ms Barnett claims doctors told her that the poison from the spider's bite had eaten away at the flesh. Bobby Barnett, nine, of Canvey, Essex, has been left with a gaping hole in his leg after being bitten by a poisonous spider, his mother claims Bobby was taken to his GP and doctors at A&E, who both believed he had simply suffered a gnat bite. They prescribed antihistamines and later, antibiotics Ms Barnett, a primary school teacher, claims doctors told her that the poison from the spider's bite had eaten away at the flesh. Pictured, while in its worse state Bobby has been 'scarred for life', his mother said. His case comes just weeks after experts warned dangerous spiders are increasing in numbers in the UK. Ms Barnett, a primary school teacher, said: 'It was shocking seeing the decaying flesh. My mum has a strong stomach but she gagged straight away. 'We took him back to A&E and he was put on an IV drip and they confirmed it was a spider bite and that the poison had begun eating his flesh. 'I just knew something wasn't right. I didn't want to tell a doctor how to do their profession, but I wished I'd have trusted my gut as his mum.' Ms Barnett told The Echo her son reacts to gnat bites, which look similar to mosquito bites, quite badly and that they are itchy. He was bitten on the Monday, but by the Thursday it had become swollen and so Ms Barnett applied Savlon, an anti-septic cream. By the end of the day, the after school club Bobby attends called his mother to say he was limping on his leg. Teachers lifted his trousers and found his bite was weeping so he was taken for an emergency appointment at the GP. Bobby, pictured in hospital during the ordeal, was bitten on the Monday. By the Sunday - after two trips to see doctors - he was on an IV drip The GP said it was an uninfected bite and he was given antihistamine and pain relief and told to return if it didn't improve within 24 hours. But Ms Barnett said: 'The way the bite was looking I just knew it was infected so I was quite surprised when the nurse just prescribed antihistamine and pain relief. 'Then while Bobby was with his Nan, she called me and said we need to take him to hospital as it looked really infected.' At an emergency appointment at Orsett Hospital, the wound was dressed and Bobby was given antibiotics, to Ms Barnett's relief. She said: 'We were told to leave a dressing on for 48 hours. After 48 hours we lifted up the dressing and I was devastated.' The wound wasn't improving and had become inflamed. By the Sunday, the flesh had started to fall away. After doctors admitted Bobby had been bitten by a spider, Ms Barnett said they were seen by Broomfield Hospital to decide if he needed plastic surgery. They said Bobby did not need plastic surgery but told Ms Barnett to keep a close eye on the wound and to look out for signs of sepsis. Ms Barnett said: 'He will be scarred for life, but he has been so amazing throughout it all,' she said. Scientists in February have warned a large spider which resembles a black widow is spreading rapidly across the world, including the UK. The Noble False Widow, Steatoda nobilis, native to Madeira and the Canary Islands, has been present in the south of England for more than a hundred years. But now, after a long period of stasis, it has recently started to appear in the north of England, plus other new locations around the globe. Last week, Essex was named as the spider bite capital of the UK, with more spider bites being dealt with in Essex hospitals than the rest of the nation. Of the 650 species of spider found in the UK, only about 12 species have been recorded as being able to bite humans. Of these, only two or three have been known to give a significant bite, according to the Natural History Museum. Some spiders are venomous and their bites can cause nausea, vomiting, sweating and dizziness. Bites can also become infected or cause a severe allergic reaction in rare cases, according to the NHS. John Smith was playing on the frozen Lake Sainte Louise in St Charles, Missouri, with two friends in January 2015. Suddenly, the ice cracked beneath them and the three boys plunged deep into the sub-zero water. John's two friends managed to escape, but the then-14-year-old sank to the bottom and was underwater for 15 minutes. First responders rushed him to St Joseph Hospital West and tried to revive him for nearly 45 minutes, but they were unsuccessful and he was declared dead. But as his mother, Joyce, cried and prayed over his body - John's heart began beating again. The incredible story has been being into a blockbuster movie starring Chrissy Metz and John, now 18, hopes his journey inspires others to maybe believe in miracles themselves. John Smith, 18 (left and right), fell into a frozen lake in St Charles, Missouri, in January 2015 and was underwater for 15 minutes. First responders tried to revive him for nearly 45 minutes, but were unsuccessful His mother, Joyce, began to pray over his body and, minutes later, his heart started beating again. Pictured: John in the hospital Joyce was getting ready to go pick her son up when she got a phone call from a friend informing her of the accident, she told CBN. Doctors said there was nothing more they could do and told her she could go see him. '[I] walked up to the end of the bed and felt his feet, how cold and gray they were,' she told PEOPLE. 'I remembered in church all my life hearing this scripture that says: "The Holy Spirit will raise Christ Jesus from the dead".' Joyce, now 68, said she knelt over her son's body, crying and praying and asked God to 'give me back my son'. She says that, just a few minutes later, John's heart began beating again. Doctors told Joyce and John's father, Brian, that the teenager had suffered extensive brain damage and was in organ failure. They told the Smiths there was a one percent chance John would make it through the night and, if he did, he would likely be in a vegetative state for the rest of his life. Yet John slowly began recovering and, 16 days after he landed in the hospital, he walked out - stunning the medical community and sowing his family's seeds of faith even deeper. This is not the first instance of someone being declared dead only to later 'come back to life'. Doctors told Joyce and John's father, Brian, that the teenager had suffered extensive brain damage and was in organ failure. Pictured, left to right: John, Brian and Joyce John slowly began recovering and, 16 days after he landed in the hospital, he walked out. Pictured: John Smith poses with first responders during a dedication ceremony at the Lake Saint Louis Community Association in March 2019 In Poland, a 91-year-old woman woke up in a morgue 11 hours after doctors told her family she had passed away, reported the BBC. In 2014 in Mississippi, a 78-year-old man who had been declared dead woke up in a funeral home in a body bag, reported The Guardian. Such cases are known as Lazarus syndrome, when circulation spontaneously returns to the body long after CPR has stopped. The syndrome is in reference to Lazarus, the man that Jesus Christ allegedly rose from the dead, according to the New Testament. According to Medical News Today, Lazarus syndrome was first reported in medical literature in 1982 and there have been at least 38 reported cases. Doctors are unsure of why the rare phenomenon occurs, but there are some theories. One is that CPR builds up pressure in the chest and, when CPR stops, it goes down and give the heart a reboot, according to a 2016 article. Another is that the dead person merely looks dead and is actually suffering from catalepsy, a neurological disorder in which the muscles become stiff and remain whatever position they are placed, breathing slows and a heartbeat is at nearly undetectable levels. The phenomenon is known as Lazarus syndrome, which is when circulation spontaneously returns to the body long after CPR has stopped. At least 38 cases have been documented since 1982. Pictured: Actress Chrissy Metz, left, and John attend the premiere of Breakthrough The incredible story has been turned into a blockbuster movie Breakthrough starting Chrissy Metz as Joyce. Pictured: Joyce, played by Metz, by John's beside in the hospital Today, John says he has no memory of the accident and shockingly suffered no permanent damage. He told PEOPLE that he struggled with trying to trying to figure out how he survived the ordeal. 'I had to deal with answering the question of "Why me?"' he told the magazine. 'After time and a lot of prayer and mentoring, I eventually saw that God is the only way to get through something like this.' His story is the inspiration behind the new film Breakthrough starring Chrissy Metz of NBC's This Is Us as Joyce and 15-year-old Marcel Ruiz from Netflix's One Day At A Time as John. Breakthrough, which is produced by 20th Century Fox and distributed by Disney, comes on the heels of other Christian-themed movies such as Unplanned and Heaven Is For Real. 'I have always loved true stories. We all want something to believe in,' Metz told Parade. 'We hold tight to hope through the winding road of life, and we come out on the other side of traumatic events stronger and more compassionate and closer to ourselves, our families and our communities. Boston Children's Hospital is suing a Saudi Arabian prince for $3.5 million in medical bills for a child whose care he offered to pay for. Prince Abdelilah bin Abdelaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Faisal Al Saud is being sued for allegedly dodging charges related to a two-year-old Saudi girl. The little girl suffers from type 1 spinal muscular atrophy, a rare and devastating genetic movement disorder and her family could not afford the treatment, which was only available in the US. Her ongoing treatment has cost about $4 million, and yet the prince has not made good on his heroic promise to pay up the full sum, according to the lawsuit Boston Children's Hospital filed against him on Tuesday. Boston Children's Hospital (pictured) is suing a Saudi Prince for $3.5 million in medical bills after he allegedly got a two-year-old girl with a movement disorder admitted on the promise he would sponsor her care - but since November 2017, he's only paid $750,000 The Prince - as he is referred to throughout the lawsuit - and his personal physician agreed to sponsor the patient, who was only admitted to Boston Children's in light of that agreement, the suit says. Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a rare genetic disease that strikes about one in every 6,000 babies born. In the past, SMA was considered often fatal to children by around this little girl's age - two years old - but it's now thought of as a disease on a spectrum, and some patients may live long and relatively independent lives, while others may have poorer prognoses. People with the disease are born without a protein that keeps motor neurons - nerve cells that carry messages from the brain through the spinal cord to control muscles - from dying off. SMA tends to affect the muscles close to the body's core - like the shoulders, hips and thighs - most dramatically. With the mildest forms, patients may simply be weak in those areas. At its most severe, the disease can disable the muscles required for breathing and swallowing. The only FDA-approved treatment for the SMA, Spinraza, was given the agency's green light in 2016. Spinraza is one of the most expensive drugs in the world, at $125,000 an injection. Children and adults should receive six injections the first year of treatment, for a total of $750,000. The treatment is estimated to cost $350,000 every year thereafter. The drug is not available in Saudi Arabia. So far, the two-year-old's injections and other care has racked up $4 million and counting, since she was admitted in November 2017, the hospital's lawsuit claims. Dr Philip Camp, who is allegedly friendly with and treats the Prince at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, assured Boston Children's that the Prince was 'entirely serious about paying the cost personally, and has the means.' According to the court document, the Prince and his alleged personal physician and 'agent,' Dr Hamdy, have paid just $750,000 of the little girl's mounting medical bills. '[Boston Children's Hospital] has continued to care for this patient at great expense and burden to BCH. BCH seeks immediate payment of all unpaid bills with interest to allow it to continue serving Jane Doe and the other patients in its care,' the suit says. And it continues to do so, but time is running out before the Prince will have to pay up or face the jury trial the hospital demanded in the lawsuit. A woman has given birth to a 'three-parent baby' in the first ever clinical trial to test the controversial procedure. The 32-year-old Greek woman had four failed IVF attempts before she heard about the trial by Spanish doctors. The Barcelona-based team used a technique called maternal spindle transfer (MST) to put DNA from one of her eggs into a donor's egg before it was fertilized with sperm. On Wednesday, the team announced the woman had given birth to a 6.5-pound boy at 7.46am on April 9, and both mother and baby are in good health. The milestone has been hailed as a breakthrough that could get around female infertility issues while preserving the mother's genetic material. But a University of Oxford ethics professor questioned the ethics of toying with genes for infertility rather than to treat genetic disorders. The 32-year-old Greek woman had four failed IVF attempts before hearing about the trial in Spain. Experts warn it raises questions about using the technique for fertility rather than disease 'The main ethical issue (or one of the main issues) that will arise from this Spanish/Greek enterprise is whether using MSTs for treating infertility that is not related to mitochondrial disease is morally permissible,' said Professor Cesar Palacios-Gonzalez. The trial's leader Dr Nuno Costa-Borges, co-founder of Barcelona-based Embryotools, insists the procedure is far less sinister than critics fear. He says it is like egg donation, but in this case 99 percent of the baby's genes come from its mother and father, and just one percent from a third party. 'For some patients, it's very hard to accept that they cannot get pregnant with their own [eggs],' he said. 'Spindle transfer may represent a new era in the IVF field, as it could give these patients chances of having a child genetically related to them.' The spindle transfer method was implemented by Embryotools and Athens-based clinic Institute of Life. Dr Panagiotis Psathas, president of Institute of Life, hailed the birth as a medical milestone. 'Today, for the first time in the world, a woman's inalienable right to become a mother with her own genetic material became a reality. 'As Greek scientists, we are very proud to announce an international innovation in assisted reproduction, and we are now in a position to make it possible for women with multiple IVF failures or rare mitochondrial genetic diseases to have a healthy child. 'At the Institute of Life, our commitment is to continue to help even more couples facing fertility issues to have children with their own DNA, without having recourse to egg donors.' Legal experts warn the trial puts more pressure on the US to think again about its ban on mitochondrial replacement as more countries open the door to aspiring parents around the world. I. Glenn Cohen, a Harvard health law professor, warned American parents may well seek the treatment elsewhere, and it won't be clear how many three-parent babies are in the country. How the maternal spindle transfer is performed 'There is simply no way for any country to truly insulate itself from alterations through mitochondrial replacement therapy entering a country's gene pool,' Cohen told STAT. Two three-parent babies have been born using MRT since the procedure was invented, one in Mexico and one in Ukraine - both sparking global controversy. Mitochondrial replacement therapy was first invented at Oregon Health and Science University in 2009 in animal experiments. But in 2015, the US banned its use for human pregnancies fearing that it could be a slippery slope to genetic modification. That same year, the UK gave the procedure the green light, publishing guidelines on how it could be used. And last year, scientists in Newcastle were granted permission to create Britain's first three-parent babies for two women with heritable genetic diseases. South Africa: Nissan announces R3bn investment in Rosslyn plant Many more motorists around the world will be driving Nissan vehicles produced in South Africa. On Wednesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa officiated over the Japanese automotive giants announcement of a R3 billion investment at its Rosslyn plant in the capital. Its a matter of great pride for us that many more motorists around the world will be driving vehicles that bear the industry and craftsmanship of South African workers, said the President at the official ceremony held in a country where the automotive sector is an essential part of its industrialisation. The investment comes following South Africas inaugural Investment Conference in the latter part of 2018. At the conference, South Africa announced that it wanted to raise R1.4 trillion over the course of the next five years. Welcoming the investment, the President said many may have dismissed it as a pipedream that would never happen. However, the country is proving them wrong in the drive to raise the funds. The President, who toured the automotive manufacturers facility and took the time to pose for selfies with workers, was pleased with how machines have not taken over the production line of vehicles. Despite this, Nissan has invested R150 million in the training and upskilling of workers, which will prepare them for the future of work in an era of technological advancement. The investment will see Nissan produce its new Navara pick-up van for the local as well as international market. Production of the vehicle at the plant is due to commence next year. In this era of technological advancements and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we must be deliberate in making the necessary investment to preserving jobs as well as creating more jobs, said the President. Artificial intelligence, he said, must not be seen as being job destructive but as an advancement that can create jobs. Machines must enhance the work done by humans and not displace them. Its significant that none of 1 800 workers here will lose their jobs; 400 new jobs will be created mainly in the manufacturing operations because of this new investment, he said. Jobs and local content Nissan, which has been in the country over the last 56 years, will add a further 1 200 full-time jobs across the value chain with the start of the production of the new Navara for the local and continental market. We see Africa as [a place] we can make a real contribution to and improve the lives of the people who live here through industrialisation, said the companys Africa Managing Director, Mike Whitfield. The production of the vehicle will initially include a 35% local content element, which will be ramped up to reach 60% local content in total. This will generate an estimated R5.8 billion new economic value every year in the immediate region, said Whitfield. Incubation Nissans investment, together with the Automotive Industry Development Centre (AIDC), will also see the incubation of at least 15 new black-owned component suppliers. A subsidiary of the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GGDA), the centre is a state-of-the-art facility for skills and development training within the automotive sector. President Ramaphosa welcomed the incubation process. Its also significant that more jobs will be created in the value chain through the development of new suppliers of locally manufactured components, said the President, adding that this move will contribute to the empowerment of local SMMEs. The President welcomed the incubation facility that will facilitate the transfer of knowledge and skills for emerging black industrialists to play a meaningful role in the value chain of the automotive sector, thereby contributing to the countrys transformation efforts. Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said many of the words automotive companies are looking to the African market for their products. One of the good reasons for that is the integration process on the continent is actually making progress in terms of the African Free Continental Trade Area (AfCFTA). We expect the continent to industrialise, said the Minister. Ease of doing business Speaking on the ease of doing business in South Africa, President Ramaphosa, who got an opportunity to get inside the new Navara vehicle, said government is taking steps to ensure the reliable availability of electricity. We are working closely with Eskom management and other stakeholders to fix operational issues, he said. In recent weeks, South Africans have experienced load shedding. The President said the investment was a clear vote of confidence in South Africas automotive industry, which contributes 7.1% to the gross domestic product. This investment by Nissan is an expression of confidence. Its a clear signal that we are on path of growth and renewal, he said. - SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2019-04-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. When Jason Wasmund came down with body aches and chills in mid-February, he just assumed he had the flu. But the next day, his fever hit 103F and he complained of severe pain in his left leg so his wife, Cassie, took him to the emergency room at Kearney Regional Medical Center in Nebraska. Doctors told Cassie that the father-of-two had contacted a mystery infection that developed into sepsis, when the body attacks its own organs and tissues. When Jason, 43, didn't respond to antibiotics after being in the ICU for three days, he was airlifted to the University of Nebraska Medical Center. There, surgeons amputated his left leg to stop the infection from spreading, but told Cassie he had just a seven percent chance of surviving, reported The Kearney Hub. Amazingly, Jason did survive - although he is back in the hospital after his stump developed a pus pocket, which will need to cleaned out and sewn back up. Jason Wasmund, 43 (pictured, left and right), of Kearney, Nebraska, was taken to the ER in mid-February with a fever of 103F and pain in his left leg. Doctors told his wife that he had contracted a mystery infection his left leg, which developed into sepsis Three days later, Jason was unable to breathe on his own so he was transferred to the University of Nebraska Medical Center and put on a ventilator. Pictured: Jason and Cassie with their nine-year-old son Jaxon (left) and their seven-year-old daughter Jaycee (second from right) Cassie told the newspaper she started worrying about her husband's condition in February when he became delirious and couldn't answer any questions she was asking. Jason was moved to the intensive care unit the same night that he was admitted to Kearney Regional Medical Center. 'He went from super-healthy to the ICU by Monday night,' Cassie told The Hub. Doctors told her that Jason had contracted an infection in his left leg but that they didn't know its cause. They suspect bacteria may have remained in his body after an old scrape or wound. Either way, the infection had spread to his leg and his body was now going into septic shock. I was screaming at the doctor: 'You can't take his leg!' Cassie Wasmund, Jason's wife Sepsis is a life-threatening condition in which chemicals that the immune system releases into the bloodstream to fight an infection cause inflammation throughout the entire body instead. Many doctors view sepsis in three stages progressing from sepsis to severe sepsis and finally septic shock, which can result in death. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 1.7 million Americans develop sepsis every year, and at least 270,000 die. The CDC also says that one in three people who die in a hospital have sepsis. Usual care for sepsis sees doctors increasing doses of IV fluids as well as vasopressors, drugs that constrict blood vessels and raise blood pressure. Three days later, Jason was unable to breathe on his own so he was transferred to the University of Nebraska Medical Center and put on a ventilator. Cassie traveled with him to Omaha while her mother watched their nine-year-old son Jaxon and their seven-year-old daughter Jaycee, reported The Hub. She said the day after Jason arrived in Omaha, doctors told her that they would need to amputate his left leg to stop the infection from spreading. 'I was screaming at the doctor: "You can't take his leg!"' Cassie told The Hub 'But I didn't know the severity of it. They had already taken him [into the operating room] when they called me.' Jason didn't wake up until eight days after the amputation and it took an additional two days until he fully regained consciousness. He told The Hub that he wasn't told his leg was amputated and his brain didn't register that it was no longer there. 'I'd look down and see a leg. My brain still thought it was there,' he said. Jason said it finally hit him while he was in physical therapy when he tried to use his left leg to catch himself as he fell backwards, but couldn't. Two weeks later, Jason was transferred to the Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Omaha where he underwent physical and occupational therapy, learning how to navigate on crutches and in a wheelchair. The day after her arrived in Omaha, surgeons were forced to amputate his leg to the knee to stop the infection from spreading. Jason didn't wake up until eight days after the amputation and it took an additional two days until he fully regained consciousness. Pictured, left and right: Jason and Cassie Surgeons gave the father-of-two just a seven percent chance of survival. Currently, Jason is recovering, but is back in the hospital after his stump developed a pus pocket, which requires surgery to clean out. Pictured, left to right: Cassie, Jaycee, Jaxon and Jason 'After three days, they allowed me free reign of the place, but a physical therapist was shocked when I stood up and made it to the door with a walker,' he told The Hub. Jason was discharged on March 22 and allowed to return home, where his condition remained steady for about a week-and-a-half. On April 8, he was admitted to the ICU, Cassie wrote in a Facebook post. The next day, she revealed that scans showed a skin abscess (pus-filled pocket) in his stump and an infection in his femur. On Wednesday, doctors took Jason in for surgery to reopen his wound, clean it, and cut a small portion of the bone if necessary. He will need to be on antibiotics for six weeks to fight any further infection. 'Please keep him in your prayers,' Cassie wrote. 'This is a setback in getting life back to normal and it's hard to accept.' Shares in Indivior crashed 75 per cent today after the drug company said it was facing a fine in the US of up to 2.3billion - leading analysts to suggest it could bankrupt the firm. Indivior said a grand jury in the Western District of Virginia had issued an indictment of 28 charges against the firm related to fraud. The charges, issued in connection with a federal criminal investigation initiated by the US Department of Justice in 2013, detail a host of allegations including conspiracy to commit mail, wire and healthcare fraud. Shares in drug maker Indivior crashed 75 per cent on Wednesday after said it is facing a fine of up to 2.3billion According to the indictment, Indivior 'obtained billions of dollars in revenue from Suboxone Film prescriptions by deceiving healthcare providers and healthcare benefit programmes into believing that Suboxone Film was safer, less divertible, and less abusable than other opioid-addiction treatment drugs'. Suboxone, an opioid addiction treatment, accounts for around 80 per cent of Indivior's revenue. But the firm has seen its share price plunge since last June when competitors threatened to make cheaper generic versions of the drug. Analysts at Jefferies said they do not believe Indivior has the resources to pay such a fine, 'hence we believe it would require either a major rights issue or could lead the company to bankruptcy'. Shares tumbled more than 70 per cent at one point as investors fled from the stock but recovered slightly to 36.25p - a drop on the day of 69.7p or 66 per cent. Indivior has taken a battering since last June - when shares were trading as high as 492p - when it was revealed Indian competitor Dr Reddy's had been given license to produce a generic alternative to Suboxone - and despite court challenges from Indivior the news has been generally bad ever since. Drug problems: The Indivior share price over the last 12 months. The fallout also threatens to engulf Reckitt Benckiser, which owned Indivior until 2014. The FTSE 100 giant said in a statement: 'This indictment is not against RB Group plc or any other group company and we currently have no additional or new information in respect of this matter, apart from what has been publicly issued by the Department of Justice and Indivior.' Reckitt has set aside 313million to cater for any knock-on effects. Shares in Reckitt were down nearly 7 per cent at 5,977p. A US investor has sold the entirety of its 25 per cent stake in the Topshop and Topman brands back to Sir Philip Green - the controversial high street tycoon behind Arcadia Group. Leonard Green & Partners, a Los Angeles private equity firm, bought the stake in Green's fashion empire in 2012 for a reported 350million. At the time, the investment was touted as the next step for the brand in its quest to break into the American market. Sir Philip Green (above) owns fashion empire Arcadia, which includes Topshop and Burton Two Leonard Green directors resigned from the board of Arcadia last month. Leonard Green told the Evening Standard that its move 'simplifies the shareholding structure' of Topshop and would allow the Arcadia board to focus on its restructuring options. Arcadia - which also owns Dorothy Perkins, Burton and other clothing brands - is mulling a range of restructuring options, including possible store closures. A spokesman for Leonard Green said the firm 'remains supportive of the business and has the opportunity to repurchase its stake in the future'. Arcadia Group is mulling a range of restructuring options, including possible store closures Arcadia's restructuring plans have already attracted the attention of MP Frank Field, who chairs Parliament's Work and Pensions Select Committee and has been a long-term thorn in Sir Philip's side. Following reports that Arcadia will halve contributions to its pension fund as part of efforts to cut costs, Field said on Wednesday that Sir Philip was up to 'old tricks again'. He said: 'Does he really think he's going to get away with his old tricks again? 'Run the business down, pocket whatever cash is left, stiff the pensioners and sail off on the Lionheart leaving employees, pension schemes and his long suffering creditors in the lurch? Not if we have anything to do with it.' Mr Field has written to The Pensions Regulator asking what factors would be taken into account when considering the proposal to slash pension contributions. British drug maker Indivior faces bankruptcy after the US Government accused it of overseeing a multi-billion pound fraud to drive up sales of its opioid addiction treatment. The FTSE 250 firm's shares crashed by more than 70 per cent after prosecutors claimed it had engaged in a 'truly shameful scheme' that put profits before the health of patients. It is accused of using shaky evidence to falsely claim a new version of its Suboxone treatment was safer than rival products and raking in billions of pounds from subsequent sales. Indivior's shares crashed by more than 70 per cent after prosecutors claimed it had engaged in a 'truly shameful scheme' that put profits before the health of patients If found guilty, the company will be ordered to hand over at least 2.3billion. But analysts have warned Indivior cannot afford to pay. Shares fell 72 per cent, or 75.9p, to 30.05p - valuing it at just 219million. It was worth 774million before yesterday's sell-off and 3.6billion last summer. Every year millions of Americans use opioids to manage pain triggering an addiction epidemic that has been described as the worst drugs crisis in US history. More than 72,000 people in the US died from drug overdoses in 2017 alone, according to official figures, with two thirds of these linked to opioids. Announcing the charges brought by a federal grand jury, American prosecutors said 'the deadly opioid epidemic continues to devastate communities and families across our nation'. They said Indivior and its executives were 'in a position to know the harm opioid abuse inflicts' but had chosen to 'profit illegally from the pain of others'. Jody Hunt, of the Department for Justice, said: 'Opioid addiction is a national epidemic. Rather than marketing its opioid-addiction drug responsibly, Indivior promoted it with a disregard for the truth about its safety and despite known risks of diversion and abuse.' Mark Herring, another prosecutor, added: 'Our indictment alleges a wide-ranging and truly shameful scheme to put profits over the health and well-being of patients trying to manage substance use disorder and opioid dependence.' Indivior fought back against the allegations, issuing an eight-page statement in its defence. 'Put simply, Indivior is not a contributor to the opioid epidemic,' it said. 'Rather, its medicines are a key part of combatting it.' The charges centre on Suboxone, by far the Indivior's most profitable drug, which earned it 680million in sales in 2013 alone. At one stage Suboxone tablets dominated the market for treating opioid addiction in the US, accounting for 85 per cent of sales. But the expiry of the medicine's patent in 2009 raised the prospect of copycat versions being sold by rivals, and Indivior bosses were desperate to delay this, according to American prosecutors. In 2010, the company launched a film version of Suboxone that could be placed under the tongue and dissolved. It then launched a marketing campaign which aimed to persuade doctors to stop prescribing tablets and replace them with the film version. But while Indivior argued the film was safer because it was less likely to be abused and more difficult for children to accidentally use the company 'lacked any scientific evidence' to support this, prosecutors say. It also set up a 'Here to Help' internet and telephone scheme which put patients in touch with doctors who the company 'knew were issuing careless, clinically unwarranted prescriptions' for the medicine. Then in 2012, as rivals were close to launching generic tablets, Indivior announced it would stop selling its own Suboxone tablets completely and told regulators they posed a risk to children who might accidentally eat them. 'In fact, Indivior executives knew the primary reason for the discontinuance was to delay the approval of generic tablet forms of the drug,' prosecutors said. Scandal piles pressure on Reckitt's 101m man Rakesh Kapoor Reckitt Benckiser's shares fell 6.5 per cent as it risked getting dragged into the scandal over sales of opioid addiction treatments by Indivior. The consumer goods giant, which makes Durex condoms, Vanish detergent and Nurofen painkillers, owned Indivior during the period when American prosecutors say it fraudulently marketed its Suboxone product across the US. Reckitt is not named as a defendant in the case. It spun off Indivior in 2014 and the two firms are now completely separate. Rakesh Kapoor took over as chief executive of Reckitt in 2011 and stressed the benefits of Suboxone film in quarterly results calls But charges filed by the US Department of Justice alleged plans to fraudulently market the film version of Suboxone as safer than tablets went back as far as 2009. They say this was done despite a lack of scientific evidence to back the claims up. It is potentially embarrassing for Rakesh Kapoor, who took over as chief executive of Reckitt in 2011 and stressed the benefits of Suboxone film in quarterly results calls. In addition to potentially wiping out Indivior, which faces a 2.3billion fine, analysts warned the charges could also put Reckitt in jeopardy. In a note to investors, UBS analysts pointed to a warning in the company's annual report, which said it was in discussions with the US Department of Justice over Indivior but could not be assured it would reach a settlement. Reckitt has set aside more than 300million for possible charges related to the scandal, but it said: 'The final cost for the company may be substantially higher than this provision.' It is the latest headache for outgoing boss Kapoor, 60, who also faces a possible investor revolt over his pay and lucrative pension payments. He has been paid 101million since taking the helm at Reckitt. One of Britains largest security firms could fall into foreign hands. G4S is being targeted by Canadian rival GardaWorld following a near halving of its share price in less than two years. In a statement to the stock market yesterday, Garda confirmed a report in the Evening Standard that it was looking to buy part or all of G4S. G4S is being targeted by Canadian rival GardaWorld following a near halving of its share price in less than two years Shares in G4S jumped 19.7 per cent, or 36.35p, to 221p its highest level since October last year and valuing it at 3.4billion. The interest from Garda comes after G4S was stripped of a contract to run HMP Birmingham earlier this month following a dramatic rise in drug use and violence within the prisons walls. The scandal follows a series of errors made by the firm, including charging the Government for electronically tagging offenders who were already dead or in jail, losing prisoners in heists on the way to court, and failing to find enough security guards to staff the 2012 Olympic Games in London. G4S still runs four prisons, one young offenders centre and two immigration detention centres in the UK. In a statement, Garda said it was in the preliminary stages of considering a bid for the company. Analysts at Jefferies said an offer for the entirety of G4S seems a stretch given the large amount of debt weighing down both companies. At the end of 2018, G4Ss debt pile was 1.6billion. G4Ss languishing share price over the last several months has made the company look cheaper to predators than at any point since 2016. Before yesterdays sudden jump, the stock had slumped by 26.8 per cent over the last year alone. Just last month G4S reported a 63 per cent drop in 2018 profits to 143million, after it was forced to pay thousands of staff for lost meal and rest breaks. It had to cough up between 100million and 130million to settle the lawsuit in California, which covered 13,500 staff employed between 2001 and 2010. G4S, which employs almost 600,000 staff across 90 countries, said in March it had received interest from potential bidders for its cash business, which transports money by armoured van. But if Garda buys G4S outright, the British company, currently the largest stock market-listed security firm worldwide, will disappear from the FTSE 250. Owned by a group of investors headed by its founder, 55-year-old entrepreneur Stephan Cretier, Garda is one of the worlds biggest privately owned security businesses. Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis said the supermarket's turnaround is close to completion as he unveiled a bumper 29 per cent rise in profits. Britain's biggest grocer rewarded investors by almost doubling its dividend to 5.77p per share after raking in 1.7billion of profits in the year to February 23. Same-store sales rose 1.4 per cent to boost total revenues by 11.2 per cent to 63.9billion. Lewis, who uncovered a 250million accounting scandal at Tesco just two weeks after arriving from Unilever, hailed his turnaround as nearing the end. Profits boost: Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis said the supermarket's turnaround is close to completion as Britain's biggest grocer rewarded investors by almost doubling its dividend 'After four years we have met, or are about to meet, the vast majority of our turnaround goals,' he said. 'I'm very confident that we will complete the journey in 2019/2020. I'm delighted with the broad-based improvement across the business.' The 54-year-old's bullish tone sparked speculation that he could be looking to leave the top job at Tesco. Lewis has been credited with making the supermarket popular among customers again after the fraud and a string of profit warnings shattered its reputation. Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, asked: 'Will Dave Lewis ride off into the sunset now he is achieved, in his own words, 'the vast majority' of his turnaround goals?' Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at online trading platform Markets, added: 'Job done: Tesco can confidently say the turnaround under Dave Lewis is as good as complete.' But Lewis denied he was looking to move on from the supermarket, insisting that there was more work to be done. He added that Tesco will outline further plans for its future in June, raising the possibility of a share buyback for investors. 'The job is not done,' Lewis said. 'As a team we're completely committed to what comes next.' Lewis, nicknamed Drastic Dave for his ruthless cost-cutting while at Unilever, implemented a dramatic shake-up when he arrived at Tesco almost five years ago. He has overseen a 3.7billion merger with cash-and-carry firm Booker, carried out the biggest overhaul of Tesco's own-brand range in its 100-year history and launched its own budget supermarket, Jack's, in an effort to take on German discounters Aldi and Lidl. But he has been forced to make difficult decisions in recent months with 9,000 jobs now on the line as part of a major cost-cutting drive. Cuts are expected at Tesco's head office and in stores as it prepares to close deli counters at around 70 of its supermarkets. Lewis said the move was likely to result in around 4,500 redundancies but warned more could be on the way. 'The cuts are a reflection of change in customer behaviour. It's very impactful when we make a change like this. There will be more changes, we'll work them through,' he said. Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said Lewis deserved praise for steering Tesco through a difficult period. 'He took over a business that was reeling from the inroads made by Aldi and Lidl into the UK supermarket sector, and one of the first things on his plate was dealing with an accounting blunder,' he said. 'Five years down the road and the supermarket has rebuilt profits and dividends, and gathered consistent sales momentum. It's now in much better shape to deal with the challenges it faces.' Tesco's shares rose 3.6 per cent, or 8.4p, to 242.3p. Sir Philip Green has lost the backing of one of his biggest investors as he embarks on a major-cost cutting drive across his retail empire. US private equity firm Leonard Green has ditched its 25 per cent stake in Topshop, seven years after it splashed out 350million on the investment, which valued the fashion chain at 2billion. Leonard Green snapped up the stake as part of a deal to aid Topshops overseas expansion, which is now likely to be reversed. Troubles: Sir Philip Green has lost the backing of one of his biggest investors - US private equity firm Leonard Green The stake has been sold back to Arcadia for an undisclosed sum. Greens Arcadia group includes Topshop, Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge and Wallis and has 570 stores, hundreds of concessions and 18,000 staff. The sale of the Topshop stake came as Green faced a fresh attack from MP Frank Field, the chairman of the House of Commons pensions committee, over the 550million black hole in the Arcadia retirement fund. Green, 67 is understood to be looking to cut annual payments into the fund from 50million to 25million. But Field accused him of being up to his old tricks following the collapse of BHS with a 571million pension black hole. It went under after Green sold it for 1 to Dominic Chappell. Field said: Sir Philip had proven himself no knight of British retail quite the opposite. Does he really think hes going to get away with his old tricks again? Run the business down, pocket whatever cash is left, stiff the pensioners and sail off on the Lionheart [Greens yacht] leaving employees, pension schemes and his long suffering creditors in the lurch? Not if we have anything to do with it. In an effort to get the business back on track, Green wants to shut stores and cut contributions to Arcadias pension scheme. The Pension Regulator is currently in talks with trustees of Arcadias scheme. Leonard Green confirmed it has sold its stake with its two directors Adam Levyn and Jonathan Sokoloff resigning from Arcadias board. It said it had the opportunity to repurchase its stake in the future. It said: The transfer simplifies the shareholding structure of Topshop/Topman Limited and enables the Arcadia board to focus on the restructuring options. Green is understood to be planning an insolvency procedure called a company voluntary agreement which will allow Arcadia to secure rent reductions and shut stores. Once popular brands, Topshop and Miss Selfridge have been outflanked by internet-only firms such as Asos and Boohoo. Topshop and Topman racked up losses of 10.9million in the year to August 2017, down from profits of 59million a year earlier. Australians face the starkest policy choice in a generation with an election to be held in just five weeks. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is odds-on favourite to be Australia's next prime minister, despite the government campaigning strongly against his renewable energy and negative gearing policies to help younger people afford a home. Betting agency Sportsbet is predicting the biggest federal Labor majority in 76 years, in an election where four Liberal ministers would lose their seat. More than 16.2million voters are heading to the polls in five weeks in an election which could see a government voted out of office for only the eighth time since World War II. Prime Minister Scott Morrison arrived at Government House in Canberra on Thursday morning to speak to Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove about dissolving Parliament. Australians face the starkest policy choice in a generation with an election to be held in just five weeks (pictured are Bill Shorten with wife Chloe and Scott Morrison with wife Jenny) Mr Morrison arrived at Government House in Canberra on Thursday morning to speak to Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove about dissolving Parliament Mr Morrison arrived at Government House in Canberra on Thursday morning Mr Shorten told Daily Mail Australia last month his policy agenda was the most ambitious since Gough Whitlam won the 1972 election by campaigning on the theme, 'It's Time.' His Labor Party is vowing to have Australia source 50 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. Labor also wants half of all vehicles sold in Australia within 11 years to be electric or hybrid cars, a very dramatic increase from the 0.2 per cent market share they have now. The Opposition also wants to slash carbon emissions by 45 per cent by 2030. Prime Minister Scott Morrison will call a May poll when he visits Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove at Government House in Canberra to have Parliament dissolved Opposition Leader Bill Shorten (right with wife Chloe) is odds-on favourite to be Australia's next prime minister, despite the government campaigning strongly against his renewable energy and negative gearing policies to help younger people afford a home Labor's plan is much more ambitious than the Coalition's goal of a 28 per cent reduction in carbon pollution over the same time frame. The Opposition is also vowing to scrap negative gearing tax breaks for future purchases of existing property, so fewer investors are competing with younger Australians wanting to buy their first home. Possible Labor gains Dunkley, Victoria, Liberal: notionally Labor 1.2 per cent Corangamite, Victoria, Liberal: notionally Labor 0.1 per cent Capricornia, Queensland, Nationals: 0.6 per cent Forde, Queensland, Liberal: 0.6 per cent Gilmore, NSW, Liberal: 0.8 per cent Flynn, Queensland, Nationals: 1.1 per cent Robertson, NSW, Liberal: 1.2 per cent Banks, NSW, Liberal: 1.5 per cent Petrie, Queensland, Liberal: 1.7 per cent Dickson, Queensland, Liberal: 1.8 per cent Hasluck, Western Australia, Liberal: 2.1 per cent Page, NSW, Nationals: 2.3 per cent Boothby, South Australia, Liberal: 2.8 per cent Chisholm, Victoria, Liberal: 3.0 per cent La Trobe, Victoria, Liberal: 3.2 per cent Dawson, Queensland, Nationals: 3.4 per cent Bonner, Queensland, Liberal: 3.4 per cent Swan, Western Australia, Liberal: 3.6 per cent Pearce, Western Australia, Liberal: 3.7 per cent Leichhardt, Queensland: 4.1 per cent Reid, NSW, Liberal: 4.7 per cent Brisbane, Queensland, Liberal: 6.1 per cent Deakin, Victoria, Liberal: 6.5 per cent Source: Seats where Labor has the shortest Sportsbet odds. Margins are based on electoral redistributions since the 2016 election, as analysed by Malcolm Mackerras Advertisement Labor has promised to stop wealthy retirees, who don't pay income tax, from getting tax refunds for when they receive share dividends. The Opposition says its winding back of negative gearing and its tax crackdowns on shareholders will save $80billion over the next decade. The government, which lacks a parliamentary majority, is opposed to both of these policies and has been campaigning fiercely for the Baby Boomer vote. Mr Morrison, who became PM in August, will call a May election, a week after his Treasurer Josh Frydenberg delivered a Budget giving annual tax cuts of up to $1,080 for 10 million Australian workers earning up to $126,000 a year. Mr Shorten has vowed to match the tax cuts and give even more to lower income earners on less than $40,000 a year, who were promised $255 a year in the Budget. His Budget-reply speech also offered a $2.3 billion policy whereby the Commonwealth would pay the medical bills of cancer sufferers - five years after the Opposition Leader's mother Ann died of breast cancer. The Liberal-National party Coalition last week unveiled the first Budget surplus in 12 years - something a federal Labor government hasn't delivered since 1989 when Bob Hawke was prime minister. The government, however, is plagued with disunity, having disposed Tony Abbott in September 2015 before right-wing forces brought down his prime ministerial successor Malcolm Turnbull in August 2018. Both major parties are committed to sending asylum seekers to offshore processing centres at Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. Labor, however, is open about them being allowed to move to New Zealand, following an offer from Kiwi Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. When Labor was last in government former prime minister Kevin Rudd in 2008 dismantled the Pacific solution. This led to a surge in boat arrivals, rising from just three in the 2007-08 financial year, to 117 in 2009-10. Or put another way, the number of asylum seekers surged from 25 to 5,327, figures from a Parliament House research paper showed. Labor also wants half of all vehicles sold in Australia within 11 years to be electric cars (Tesla Model X pictured), a very dramatic increase from the 0.2 per cent market share they have now, as part of a plan for 50 per cent of Australia's energy to come from renewables by 2030 The policy change also coincided with the deaths of 48 people, mainly asylum seekers from Iran and Iraq, as their boat sunk and washed on to cliffs at Christmas Island in December 2010. Possible independent gains Warringah, NSW, Liberal: Winter Olympic champion Zali Steggall has an even money chance of defeating former PM Tony Abbott, whose odds are marginally shorter than his opponent campaigning on the issue of climate change Cowper, NSW, Nationals: former independent Rob Oakeshott is the short-priced favourite to win this Mid-North Coast electorate. He backed a Labor minority government in 2010 Advertisement The Coalition has now lost 50 Newspolls in a row to Labor, trailing the Opposition 46 to 54 per cent after preferences. If replicated at the election, the government would suffer a 4.4 per cent swing against it causing the Liberal and National parties to lose 12 seats. Betting agency Sportsbet, however, has Labor picking up 23 seats from the Coalition, which would see its seat numbers swell to 93 in the expanded 151-member House of Representatives. The Liberal and National parties would see their seat tally plummet from 75 now to 53, marking the worst electoral drubbing for the conservative side of politics since 1943. This would give Mr Shorten the biggest federal election majority since March 1996, when John Howard's Liberal-National Coalition defeated Paul Keating's Labor Party in a landslide. It would also mark the biggest Labor majority since John Curtin was prime minister during World War II. Both major parties are committed to sending asylum seekers to offshore processing centres at Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. But when Labor was last in government, boat arrivals surged after it abolished the Pacific solution (asylum seeker boat at Christmas Island pictured) Mr Shorten is on course to be the first prime minister since 1914 to have won an election after taking over as Opposition Leader from the time his party was defeated at the polls. Sportsbet predicted ministers Peter Dutton, Christian Porter, David Coleman and Ken Wyatt would lose their seats. Possible Liberal gains Wentworth, NSW, Independent: 1.2 per cent Indi, Victoria, Independent: 4.8 per cent Advertisement The betting agency is predicting the Liberal Party will lose to Labor the seat of Boothby, in Adelaide's southern suburbs, which it has held since 1949. It also had former independent Rob Oakeshott as the short-priced favourite to pick up Cowper, on the New South Wales Mid-North Coast, from the Nationals, where former minister Luke Hartsuyker is retiring. But the betting market had the Liberal Party winning back former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull's old seat of Wentworth, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, as another former PM Tony Abbott narrowly held on to his nearby electorate of Warringah. Veteran election analyst Malcolm Mackerras was less optimistic about Mr Shorten's chances of a Labor landslide, predicting it will win 83 seats, up from the 69 it won in 2016, and factoring in an electoral redistribution in two Liberal-held seats in Victoria. 'I think he's performing very well,' he told Daily Mail Australia. The Coalition, under his scenario, would see its seat tally drop from 75 to 64, as the Liberal Party regained the northern Victorian electorate of Indi, where independent Cathy McGowan is retiring. Mr Morrison, who became PM in August, will call a May 18 election, days after his Treasurer Josh Frydenberg (pictured with son Blake) delivered a Budget giving tax cuts of up to $1,080 for 10 million Australian workers earning up to $126,000 a year Mr Turnbull's old seat of Wentworth could also be another Liberal gain, as Dave Sharma defeated independent Dr Kerryn Phelps, who won an October by-election and pushed the government into minority territory. Mr Turnbull's arch nemesis Mr Abbott was tipped to lose his Sydney northern beaches electorate of Warringah to winter Olympian Zali Steggall, with Sportsbet and opinion polls showing a close contest. 'I think Sharma has a slightly better chance of winning Wentworth than Abbott has of retaining Warringah,' Mr Mackerras said. 'Dave Sharma is thought to be a very good candidate who belongs to basically the moderate side of the party. Mr Turnbull's arch nemesis Tony Abbott (left) was tipped to lose his Sydney northern beaches electorate of Warringah to winter Olympian Zali Steggall (right) 'More particularly, people put Kerryn Phelps in to express their anger about the Liberal Party sacking Turnbull. Now that anger's over, they'll say, 'Well, Sharma's a good candidate'.' Mr Mackerras saw Attorney-General Christian Porter losing his Perth-based seat of Pearce, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton losing his Brisbane electorate of Dickson and Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt losing his eastern Perth electorate of Hasluck. Mr Mackerras, an honorary fellow with the Australian Catholic University, however, predicted Immigration Minister David Coleman would hold his marginal south-west Sydney seat of Banks, despite its narrow 1.4 per cent margin. It overlaps with the state seats of East Hills and Oatley, which recorded swings to the Liberal Party at the March state election. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton (pictured) is tipped to lose his Brisbane seat of Dickson while Attorney-General Christian Porter is regarded as being in danger in his Perth seat of Pearce Mr Mackerras said while Mr Morrison wasn't particularly popular across Australia, his Liberal Party had stronger support in that part of Sydney, which for six decades had supported Labor at a state and federal level. 'I think in southern Sydney, he's doing very well which is part of the reason why I think Banks will stay with the Liberal Party,' he said. 'Apart from that, I just don't think people think much of him. 'He doesn't come across to me as being at all competent. 'He certainly doesn't come across as deserving to be Prime Minister.' Dawson, in north Queensland, would also stay with the Nationals , with renegade backbencher George Christensen (right with maverick independent Bob Katter) campaigning for the government to fund a coal-fired power station He also predicted the Nationals would keep their most marginal seat of Capricornia, in central Queensland, despite assistant minister Michelle Landry holding it by a very slim 0.6 per cent margin. Dawson, in north Queensland, would also stay with the Nationals , with renegade backbencher George Christensen campaigning for the government to fund a coal-fired power station. 'Areas that are near to possible new coal mines stay will stay with the Nationals,' Mr Mackerras said. 'They're close enough to the Bowen Basin developments.' Even before the election begins, electorate distributions in the Liberal-held Victorian seats of Corangamite and Dunkley already favour Labor, which means sitting government members Sarah Henderson and Chris Crewther will need to increase their vote to keep their jobs. A man and woman were arrested on Monday on suspicion of vandalizing a slavery memorial at the University of North Carolina with racist graffiti in what could be a pro-Confederacy demonstration. Ryan Barnett, 31, and 50-year-old Nancy McCorkle were apprehended by UNC police, who believe the pair defaced the Unsung Founders Memorial a statue dedicated to slaves and other African-Americans on the schools Chapel Hill campus, on March 31. The pair have been accused of scrawling racist and other deplorable language all over the bronze and granite sculpture, according to the schools Chancellor, Kevin Guskiewicz. Investigators say the duo, who they believe belong to a group called the Heirs to the Confederacy, also stole a UNC flag from the campus system office and replaced it with a Confederate battle flag. Ryan Barnett (left), 31, and 50-year-old Nancy McCorkle (right) were apprehended by UNC police on Monday, accused of defacing the university's Unsung Founders Memorial The Unsung Founders Memorial is a statue dedicated to slaves and other African-Americans on the schools Chapel Hill (pictured) Barnett faces additional charges for reportedly urinating on the Unsung Founders Memorial, as well as vandalizing an art installment outside of the universitys Hanes Art Center, which was also marred with hateful language and racial slurs, according to police. Both McCorkle and Barnett were arrested on initial charges of vandalism and ethnic intimidation. Police havent yet revealed how came to be named as suspects in the case. But according to WRAL, investigators had been reviewing surveillance footage of the incident. Barnett is scheduled to appear in court on April 22, followed by McCorkle on April 25. The Unsung Founders Memorial was erected in 2002 after the graduating class of the same year raised $54,000 to bring the sculpture, showing men and woman holding up a granite block, to life. An inscription written in gold on the top of the stonework reads: The Class of 2002 honors the Universitys unsung founders the people of color bond and free who helped build the Carolina that we cherish today. The graffiti has since been removed from the statue, Guskiewicz confirmed in a statement. Both McCorkle (pictured draped in a Confederate flag) and Barnett are thought to belong to the activist group Heirs of the Confederacy Barnett (pictured) faces additional charges for reportedly urinating on the Unsung Founders Memorial, as well as vandalizing an art installment outside of the universitys Hanes Art Center Investigators say the duo also stole a UNC flag from the campus system office and replaced it with a Confederate battle flag Barnett and McCorkles alleged vandalism comes in the same academic year that another statue on campus, a confederate monument known as Silent Sam, was knocked over by protesters in August, 2018. The memorials toppling came in the midst of a wider national conversation regarding the purpose confederate statues serve and if theyre appropriate to still display in the wake of the Charleston Church shootings perpetrated by Dylann Roof in 2015. Roof's rampage that killed nine churchgoers ultimately led to the removal of a Confederate flag from the statehouse in Columbia. The Silent Sam statue has never been reinstated to its original spot, and in January the university removed all other traces of the monument, placing its base and commemorative plaques in a secret location. The vandalism comes in the same academic year that another statue on campus, a confederate monument known as Silent Sam, was knocked over by protesters The Silent Sam statue has never been reinstated to its original spot, and in January the university removed all other traces of the monument The group Heirs to the Confederacy held events in support of 'Silent Sam' last year, including prayer services, according to the group's website. UNC's former chancellor justified the monument's banishment, calling it too controversial and too disruptive. It had first been instated in 1913, in dedication to the sons of the university who died for their beloved Southland 1861-1865. Governors of the academic facility have until May to decide what to do with the statue. The deadline was issued in December after the schools board rejected a $5.3 million proposal to build a home for the monument, according to CNN. With the clock ticking down to Brexit, a tiny German village is preparing to take centre stage at the heart of Europe. When Britain leaves the bloc, Gadheim, which has a population of 76, will become the new geographical centre of the European Union. Since Croatia joined the EU in 2013, the centre of the European Union has been a small Bavarian town called Westerngrund. It takes about an hour to drive the 43 miles (69 kilometres) from the current midpoint of Westerngrund, in southern Germany, to Gadheim which is further south-east. A sign proudly reading the 'future centre of the EU' already greets visitors outside the hamlet. An EU flag flutters in the wind near a red-white pole, marking the new geographical centre of the bloc which will be in Gadheim, Germany, once Brexit takes place Westerngrund in Bavaria will lose it title as the geographical heart of the EU and will be succeeded by Gadheim, 43 miles away On a nondescript piece of farmland, a pole is ready and waiting to hoist the EU flag once Britain finally does bow out of the EU. For Westerngrund, it will be a sad day when it waves goodbye to the title it gained when Croatia joined the EU in 2013. The exact spot is currently marked with a plaque, a map, and the EU flag, while multiple signs highlight Westerngrund's claim to fame. While the geographical centre of the EU has moved slightly at various times, it has remained in Germany since the European Union expanded from 15 to 25 countries in 2004. A red-white pole, which marks the new geographical centre of the European Union, waiting to hoist an EU flag once Britain leaves the bloc Gadheim is too small to have its own mayor, and falls under the jurisdiction of the mayor of nearby Veitshoechheim, Juergen Goetz. He hopes the new title could put the village firmly on the map. He said: 'Of course we are counting on additional tourists coming to the region and in particular to Gadheim.' Local residents are getting excited too, with one even urging Goetz to make Theresa May an honorary citizen of Gadheim. He added: 'That's clearly a bit difficult. Of course Gadheim has a reason to celebrate, but I think that for Europe as a whole it won't be a good day.' The official centre of Europe is defined by the French Geographical Institute (IGN). Federal agents on Tuesday broke up a billion dollar Medicare scam that peddled unneeded orthopedic braces to hundreds of thousands of seniors. Two dozen people were charged, including doctors accused of writing bogus prescriptions. The Justice Department said the scheme relied on overseas call centers to pry Medicare numbers from beneficiaries. Authorities also announced charges against owners of call centers, telemedicine firms and medical equipment companies that shipped unneeded back, shoulder, wrist and knee braces. Profits from the scheme were laundered through offshore shell companies and then used to buy high-end cars, yachts and luxury homes here and abroad, officials said. Medicare's anti-fraud unit said it's taking action against 130 medical equipment companies implicated. The companies billed the program a total of $1.7 billion, but not all of it was paid out. The Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, HHS Office of Inspector General agents and other law enforcement officers lead Tuesday arrest that were made in Queens, New York in connection to the billion dollar scheme The loss to Medicare was estimated at more than $1.2 billion. The Health and Human Services inspector general's office said the fast-moving scam was fueled by kickbacks among the parties involved. The FBI, the IRS and 17 U.S. attorney's offices took part in the crackdown. 'The telemedicine we are talking about is basically a tele-scam,' said Gary Cantrell, who oversees fraud investigations for the HHS inspector general's office. 'We are not talking about the use of advanced technology to provide better access to care.' Officials said the scam was detected last summer as complaints from beneficiaries poured in to the Medicare fraud hotline. They said telemarketers would reach out to seniors offering 'free' orthopedic braces, also touted through television and radio ads. Interested beneficiaries would be patched through to call centers, part of what officials described as an 'international telemarketing network' with operations in the Philippines and throughout Latin America. The Health and Human Services inspector general's office said the fast-moving scam was fueled by kickbacks among the parties involved. The FBI, the IRS and 17 U.S. attorney's offices took part in the crackdown After verifying Medicare coverage, the seniors would be transferred to telemedicine companies for consultations with doctors, who wrote prescriptions for orthopedic braces, regardless of whether the patients needed them or not. Sometimes the same patient would get several braces. The call centers would collect prescriptions and sell them to medical equipment companies, which would ship the braces to beneficiaries and bill Medicare. Medical equipment companies would get $500 to $900 per brace from Medicare and would pay kickbacks of nearly $300 per brace. Officials said it's one of the biggest frauds the inspector general's office has seen. Charges were being brought against defendants in California, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas. Cantrell said federal agents had gained cooperation from people familiar with the various schemes. Officials said it's one of the biggest frauds the inspector general's office has seen 'The breadth of this nationwide conspiracy should be frightening to all who rely on some form of health care,' IRS criminal investigations chief Don Fort said in a statement. 'The conspiracy ... details broad corruption, massive amounts of greed and systemic flaws in our health care system that were exploited by the defendants.' Attempts to reach defendants named by the Justice Department were unsuccessful. In several cases telephone numbers associated with the individuals were disconnected. Others did not respond to messages. The investigation is continuing. Authorities asked doctors who have been involved with telemedicine and medical equipment fraud to voluntarily come forward. Health care fraud is a pervasive problem that costs taxpayers tens of billions of dollars a year. The true extent of it is unknown, and some cases involve gray areas of complex payment policies. Charges were being brought against defendants in California, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas Experts say part of the problem is that Medicare is required to pay medical bills promptly, which means money often goes out before potential frauds get flagged. Investigators call that 'pay and chase.' In recent years, Medicare has tried to adapt techniques used by credit card companies to head off fraud. Law enforcement coordination has grown, with strike forces of federal prosecutors and agents, along with state counterparts, specializing in health care investigations. Officials said the government has options to recoup at least some of the money lost to Medicare, including seizing fraudsters' assets and accounts, as well as property purchased with the proceeds of the scam. The Medicare beneficiaries drawn into the orthopedic braces scam didn't have to pay anything up front, but Cantrell said they have been harmed as well: A beneficiary's private information, once in the hands of fraudsters, can be resold for many illegal purposes. Additionally, if a beneficiary whose information was misused ever does need an orthopedic brace, he or she may encounter waiting periods from Medicare. The program limits how often it pays for certain supplies and equipment. 'It can be very attractive to receive equipment,' Cantrell said. 'But after giving out your identifying information, it could be compromised to perpetuate additional fraud. There is no fraud without the ID number of a Medicare beneficiary.' Race will no longer be factored into admissions at Texas Tech University's medical school following an agreement with the Trump administration, potentially previewing how other complaints over affirmative action are handled under Education Secretary Betsy Devos. The resolution resolves a complaint filed in 2004 against Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. But notably, the resolution is the first of its kind under the Trump administration, which last year rescinded Obama-era guidelines meant to promote diversity among students. The civil rights office of the Education Department also has ongoing investigations into policies at Yale and Harvard. Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine will no longer consider race as a factor in its admissions process, it was reported on Tuesday Under the agreement with Texas Tech's medical school, the admissions department will 'discontinue all consideration of an applicant's race and/or national origin.' The resolution was signed in February but first reported Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal. The original complaint was filed by Roger Clegg, president and general counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity, which opposes affirmative action. On Tuesday, the group posted to its website a March letter to Clegg from the Education Department, which said that school officials acknowledged in interviews that internal reviews 'does not specifically consider the necessity for continued use of race-conscious admissions policies or whether race-neutral alternatives would be effective in achieving a similar level of diversity.' The agreement between the school and the Trump administration is a potential preview of how other complaints over affirmative action are handled under Education Secretary Betsy Devos (seen above on March 28) It went on to say the department 'has concern' that the medical school's admissions process may not be narrowly tailored. The Trump administration's Justice Department has signaled concern about the use of race in admissions decisions. The department, for instance, sided last year with Asian-American plaintiffs who contend in a lawsuit against Harvard that the school unlawfully limits how many Asian students are admitted. In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court granted affirmative action policies a victory by permitting race to be among the factors considered in the college admission process. Conservatives have said such programs can hurt white people and Asian-Americans. The Justice Department under Trump has been investigating a complaint by more than 60 Asian-American organizations that say Harvard University's policies are discriminatory because they limit the acceptance of Asian-Americans. The department joined Students for Fair Admissions, the group behind the case, which has urged the disclosure of 'powerful' evidence showing that Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Harvard is violating Title VI of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act. Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance. Harvard says its admissions policies comply with U.S. laws and that it has worked to boost financial aid to ensure economic, as well as racial, diversity in its classes. United Airlines are offering super cheap flights from Sydney to Los Angeles. The return flight from Sydney will set you back just $806 - working out to be only $403 each way. This offer runs between April and July on the website I Want That Flight. The 15-hour flight is the second longest out of Australia - with Qantas' Perth to London taking the top spot at 15 hours and 40 minutes. The return flight from Sydney will set you back just $740 - working out to be only $370 each way - the offer runs between May and June But if a holiday in LA doesn't tickle your fancy, United has also slashed their direct flight from Sydney to Houston down to $853 return - running between July and August. For Australian routes, United Airlines uses its 787-9 Dreamliners - meaning passengers can enjoy include larger windows and better air quality. You also might be able to get more shut-eye, as the Dreamliners are quieter than other aircraft. Virgin Australia is advertising fares from $683 return and Delta from $728 - between April to July 2019. But it isn't only the the US that's on sale, this week budget airline Scoot advertised flights from Australia to Greece for just over $300 one way. Passengers can travel to Athens for $309 out of Perth, $319 from the Gold Coast and $329 from Sydney and Melbourne, as part of their April sale. The deal is only around until April 12 - but you can fly at these prices until March 2020. Passengers can travel to Athens for $309 out of Perth, $319 from the Gold Coast and $329 from Sydney and Melbourne, as part of Scoot's April sale But there's a catch - things like baggage and food will cost more. An additional cost of $137 will get you a checked 20 kilogram bag, a meal, drink and snack. Despite the additional costs, Australians are still coming out on top - normally a return ticket from Australia to Europe can cost anywhere from $1,300 upwards. A ticket on Qatar Airways for the same Sydney to Athens route in May and June would set you back $1,461 return. Deals and flights are subject to change. A massive five metre saltwater crocodile that stalked a school and thought the lunchtime bell meant it was getting fed has been shot and killed. The predator was found lurking in Cowal Creek, which runs behind Northern Peninsula Area State Colleges Injinoo Junior Campus in Cape York, Far North Queensland. Earlier last month, a different crocodile was filmed snatching a dog from the same creek while horrified primary school students watched on. Scroll down for video A five metre crocodile was lured by the school bell, thinking it was going to be fed, but was instead shot by rangers. Pictured above is a 3.7m crocodile captured near the school in 2014 A Department of Environment and Science spokesman told Cairns Post that the animal was a danger to the students. The five metre crocodile was lured by the school bell, thinking it was going to be fed, but was instead shot by rangers. 'Due to the unacceptable risk the crocodile posed to human safety, including students at the nearby school, along with the animal's dangerous behaviour, a decision was made in partnership with traditional owners to humanely euthanise the crocodile,' the spokesperson said. Injinoo-based land and sea ranger Angelina Williams said: 'Every time the (school) bell rings, a croc comes around, because the kids are throwing their food scraps over the fence, into the creek.' 'The croc that was filmed was probably coming in to get the scraps,' she said. Last month, a crocodile was filmed snatching a dog from along the creek's bank while horrified primary school students watched on A 3.7metre crocodile was pulled in from the same creek in 2014 and euthanised after repeatedly stalking students at lunchtime. The school principal at the time dubbed the predator 'Pavlov's Croc', referencing a Russian physiologist's theory about classical conditioning. Ivan Pavlov made the accidental discovery in the 1890s when he was researching salivation in dogs. After ringing a bell while feeding dogs he found that the test subjects would begin to salivate even when no food was provided. A distraught Victorian mother has revealed the anguish of hopelessly watching her teenage daughter die while giving birth. Mooroopna woman Sommer Warren, 18, died at Shepparton's Goulburn Valley Health in October 2014, nine days past the date she was due to give birth. Evidence presented to the Coroners Court of Victoria on Tuesday found Ms Warren had no pulse for up to three minutes before hospital staff staff began CPR. A panel of doctors concluded she died from a hypertensive crisis, causing a seizure which led to cardiac arrest. Ms Warren's mother Leisa Scammell told the inquest her life has fallen apart since losing her first-born child five years ago. The grief stricken mother said her obsession over the death ruined her own relationship as well as with her two daughters and disrupted her career. Sommer Warren died at Shepparton's Goulburn Valley Health in October 2014, nine days past the date she was due to give birth She lambasted the Shepparton hospital for its treatment of her daughter during the pregnancy, and after she was admitted to give birth. Ms Scammell has refused to go back to the hospital since, opting for her other two daughters to seek medical treatment elsewhere. 'Sommer put her trust in medical professionals and they simply weren't listening to her fears,' Ms Scammell told the inquest. 'I watched on hopelessly as Sommer deteriorated while in labour. My last memory of my daughter is seeing her eyes roll back in her head and going into a seizure. 'I've become obsessed with finding answers why Sommer died.' Ms Scammell said her grandson Lincoln's birthday would 'always be remembered as a day he lost his mum'. Husband Leigh Hitchcock has been forced to take care of the baby without his partner 'At no stage did I contemplate losing my girl or that she wouldn't be holding her baby son,' she said. The inquest was told Ms Warren experienced high blood pressure after being induced into labour on October 6, 2014. She became drowsy and her eyelids started flickering, but there was a significant delay in attempts to revive her when she had no pulse. Expert doctors were split on whether Ms Warren suffered the serious condition pre-eclampsia, which could have categorised her pregnancy as high-risk. Two of the doctors specialising in obstetrics Dr Bernadette White and Professor Jonathan Hyett said her obstetric management was reasonable and they did not consider her condition to meet the requirements of pre-exclaimpsia or eclampsia. The mother Leisa Scammell has refused to go back to the hospital since, opting for her other two daughters to seek medical treatment elsewhere While obstetric anaesthetists Dr Andrew Ross and Dr Forbes McGain, disagreed in their assessment and said they suspected she had the disease and her treatment should have been handled differently, according to ABC News. Dr Forbes McGain told the court that the 'real trouble is on the final day', referring to the time anaesthetist Jayakumar Rangaswami administered an epidural. All of the doctors expressed concern over the three minute period before they in gave Ms Warren CPR when she started cardiac arrest. In a written statement, Dr Rangaswami said Ms Warren was distressed before being given the epidural but he put that discomfort down to labour pain. The inquest before coroner Audrey Jamieson will resume on May 20. A Muffin Break store manager has admitted retrieving out-of-date ham from a bin, but claims she just did it to 'take a picture'. The manager at the cafe's store at Westfield Chermside in Brisbane's north has been accused of texting staff with threats saying they will lose their job if they keep throwing away expired meat. She did not deny taking the out-of-date ham out of the bin when confronted, but bizarrely claimed she just wanted to photograph the meat. Scroll down for video A Muffin Break store manager (pictured) has admitted retrieving out-of-date ham from a bin, but claims she just did it to 'take a picture' 'Because I need to take a picture. That's the reason,' the manager said when asked why she took the meat out of a bin by 9News. But the manager claimed she never served expired meat to customers, replying 'of course not' when asked if the ham she pulled out of the bin was sold. Staff at the store have accused her of telling them they will lose their jobs if they keep throwing away expired ham, sparking an investigation by Muffin Break. 'The price of a bag of shaved ham are $10.25, times 2 are $20.25... was been ready to wasted,' read a text message sent by the manager provided to The Courier-Mail. 'There are lots of stuff has been wasted like this way, however this shop really can't afford this waste anymore.' The manager texted staff saying she had plenty of job applicants and could replace them if she wanted. The manager (pictured) claimed she never served expired meat to customers, replying 'of course not' when asked if the ham she pulled out of the bin was sold 'I have received a few good resumes.. if new girls are doing better than you, they are going to take over your shifts,' the messages read. A teenage staff member said she and her colleagues felt pressured into following the orders despite food safety regulations. Muffin Break, whose motto is 'Always Fresh,' told Daily Mail Australia a full investigation is underway with operational staff onsite on Tuesday and Wednesday. 'Muffin Break is committed to the highest standards of food safety and workplace health and safety, and we do not condone these alleged practices,' the spokesman said. 'We are still investigating the matter, however our initial findings indicate that the ham was not used in any products for sale. 'We will continue our investigations and take appropriate actions based on the final findings.' Buskers will now have to audition for a top spot in Melbourne's city centre as the council bids to filter out less desirable performers. In order to perform in Bourke St Mall buskers will now need to take part in a public audition, according to new permit regulations that came into effect on Wednesday. The 10-minute audition was brought in by Melbourne City Council in an attempt to maintain quality standards and distribute performers evenly throughout the city. Buskers will now have to audition for a top spot in Melbourne's city centre - as council bosses crack down on less desirable performers New permit regulations that came into effect on Wednesday reveal in order to perform in Bourke St Mall, buskers will now need to take part in a public audition Busker and moderator of Facebook group Melbourne Buskers, Dwayne Andrew told Daily Mail Australia the new rules are welcomed but there's room for improvement. 'While there is room for improvement, for the most part it's a pretty good thing,' Mr Andrew said. Mr Andrews said one of the best outcomes of the revised busking guidelines is how the council has stopped street traders pretending to be buskers. 'They have stopped 41 different classes of activity they've deemed are not busking but are in fact street trading,' he said. From late June, acts such as portraiture, caricature, balloon twisting and calligraphy will no longer be classified as busking and will need to obtain street trading permits. 'Most of those activities do a bit of performance, but they're not doing it for tip. They are items for sale - it's not busking,' Mr Andrew said. 'Those people pretending to be buskers are also taking up the limited number of spots for the actual buskers for themselves, which is about 10 on Bourke Street.' Mr Andrew said in order to be considered for a coveted spot on Bourke St applicants must have had a general permit for six months and also complete the audition. In order to be considered for a coveted spot on Bourke St, applicants must have had a general permit for six months and also pass the audition While the busking permits only apply to Bourke St Mall at this stage, the plan is to apply the ruling to other high-traffic locations within the city 'Potential performers then have to play an audition for the other street performers and a couple of members from the city council.' Councillor Rohan Leppert told ABC News the new ruling will also prevent overcrowding of buskers and street traders in the other areas of the city. 'We're not trying to stop any of the people going into street trading permits from plying their trade,' Mr Leppert said. 'It is about a distribution thing, mainly. It's also about how we regulate street trading, because there's a much more commercial element to it.' While the exclusive permits only apply to Bourke St Mall at this stage, Cr Leppert said the plan is to apply the ruling to other high-traffic locations within the city. Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Cr Leppert for comment. For the third year in a row, Austin has been declared the best city to settle down in the United States. The US News & World Report released its 2019 Best Place To Live in America list on Tuesday, only for the Texas city to once again reign supreme. Coming in second and third were Colorado cities Denver and Colorado Springs, respectively, followed by Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Des Moines, Iowa. For the third year in a row, Austin has been declared the best city to live in America The US News & World report evaluated the 125 most populous metropolitan areas in America for the list, examining everything from affordability to quality of life and job prospects. It considered each city's availability of health care, crime rates, and median household income. How many people were moving to the city or leaving it - known as net migration - was also a major factor. In addition to these statistics, the site also polled 2,500 people from across the US and asked where they would prefer to live to create a desirability index. The US News & World Report released its 2019 Best Place To Live in America list on Tuesday, only for the Texas city to once again reign supreme. In second place was Denver, Colorado Colorado Springs, Denver took the third spot with a perfect 10/10 desirability rating Coming in fourth was Fayetteville, Arkansas, which was experienced 'drastic growth' in recent years and become a 'center of higher education, culture, commerce, and entrepreneurialism' THE 20 BEST PLACES TO LIVE IN AMERICA 1. Austin, Texas 2. Denver, Colorado 3. Colorado Springs, Colorado 4. Fayetteville, Arkansas 5. Des Moines, Iowa 6. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota 7. San Francisco, California 8. Portland, Oregon 9. Seattle, Washington 10. Raleigh & Durham, North Carolina 11. Huntsville, Alabama 12. Madison, Wisconsin 13. Grand Rapids, Michigan 14. San Jose, California 15. Nashville, Tennessee 16. Asheville, North Carolina 17. Boise, Idaho 18. Sarasota, Florida 19. Washington, D.C. 20. Charlotte, North Carolina Advertisement Austin scored a 9 out of 10 in desirability and continues to have a net migration score higher than most cities on the list. Denver scored an 8.8 in desirability while Colorado Springs got a perfect 10. The report explains that both Colorado cities have been doing well thanks to booming cannabis and construction industries, respectively. Fayetteville only received a 5.5 in desirability, but received nothing lower than a 7 in terms of value, job market, quality of life, or net migration. The report fond that Fayetteville has experienced 'drastic growth' in recent years and become a 'center of higher education, culture, commerce, and entrepreneurialism'. Des Moines may be known as a fly-over state, but it received sky high marks in value, job market, quality of life, and net migration as well. While no Pacific Northwest city hit the top five, the West Coast still did well overall. San Francisco jumped from number 20 to number 7 this year, and was joined in the top 10 by Portland and Seattle, while San Jose, California nabbed the 14th spot. The same can't be said for the East Coast. Washington DC was the only Northeast city to make the top 20, falling to number 19 after earning the eighth spot last year. Des Moines may be known as a fly-over state, but it received sky high marks in value, job market, quality of life, and net migration and took the fifth spot San Francisco jumped from number 20 to number 7 this year, and was joined in the top 10 by Portland and Seattle, while San Jose, California nabbed the 14th spot Meanwhile, New York City found itself all the way in 90th place. 'Our Northeastern cities, which are epicenters of higher education and economic development, are not growing nearly as much as places in Florida, California and Texas,' Devon Thorsby, real estate editor for US News & World Report, said in a statement. 'Plus, they are expensive to live in. Top-ranked places have the characteristics people are looking for, including steady job growth, affordability and a high quality of life.' San Juan, Puerto Rico took the last spot once again as it continues to recover from the 2017 Hurricane Maria. Netflix is reportedly in the process of acquiring the famed Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles, the latest sign the streaming service is encroaching on territory once controlled by traditional Hollywood. The streaming giant, which was at odds with legendary director Steven Spielberg over its films' eligibility for Oscars, is currently in negotiations with American Cinematheque, a nonprofit company that owns the Egyptian as well as the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. But the acquisition does not signal that Netflix is intent on getting into the business of operating brick-and-mortar theater locations, a source familiar with the discussions told Bloomberg. Netflix reportedly wants to use the historic theater, which is located on Hollywood Boulevard, to host screenings and premieres. The Pharoah-themed venue was built in 1922 by Sid Grauman, the Hollywood master showman who also founded the famed Chinese Theatre. Netflix is in talks to buy the famed Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood (seen in the above file photo) Netflix reportedly wants to use the historic theater, which is located on Hollywood Boulevard, to host screenings and premieres The Egyptian, which cost $800,000 to build and took 18 months to construct, hosted the first-ever Hollywood premier, Robin Hood, which starred Douglas Fairbanks, in October 1922. More recently, the Egyptian hosted the Hollywood premier of Roma. Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron was chosen as best director for Roma, his sentimental black-and-white journey back to his childhood, and the film won two other Oscars, including for best foreign language. But it failed to win the top prize of best picture, which went to Green Book, despite a massive $30million public relations blitz by Netflix. Buying the Egyptian is the latest sign that Netflix is intent on strengthening its ties to Hollywood. In January, Netflix joined the Motion Picture Association of America, Hollywoods trade association which represents the five major film studios - Paramount, Sony, Universal, Walt Disney Studios, and Warner Bros. The streaming company has run into resistance from the traditional power centers in Hollywood who view it as a threat to their business model. Last week, movie theater owners converged on Las Vegas for their annual convention. Netflix was a big winner at this year's Academy Awards thanks to Roma. Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron was chosen as best director for Roma, his sentimental black-and-white journey back to his childhood, and the film won two other Oscars, including for best foreign language The hot topic of conversation at the meeting was Netflix. The worlds most successful streaming service sends some movies to theaters but has insisted on making them available on Netflix at the same time, or just a few weeks later. That has upset big movie chains, which refuse to show Netflix films and want a longer window of time to play films exclusively. The issue of how Netflix fits into, or threatens, the theater business dominated a press conference on Tuesday at CinemaCon, the theater industry trade show. 'All of your questions from the first 17 minutes or whatever are about Netflix,' grumbled John Fithian, president and chief executive of the National Association of Theatre Owners. Famed director Steven Spielberg has said Netflix films should not be eligible for Academy Awards He insisted that Netflix and theaters can happily co-exist, citing data that showed the biggest consumers of streaming video visit theaters more often. He also said Netflix had helped revive interest in documentaries, which had helped draw people to theaters to see them. Earlier, Fithian told a crowd in a Caesars Palace theater that films reached their full potential only with a 'robust theatrical release.' He spoke just after Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu said his film would not have had as big an impact if it had debuted on a streaming service. Some members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the group that hands out the Oscars, have been debating whether films must play in theaters for a specific length of time to compete for the awards, which could exclude Netflix or force the company to agree to longer exclusive theatrical runs. Spielberg, the blockbuster director, has said that he didn't believe Netflix films should be eligible for Academy Awards because they are not screened in cinemas for a sufficient period of time. Viewing Netflix, as well as other streaming services such as Hulu and Amazon, as television platforms, Spielberg, who is on the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, told ITV: 'Once you commit to a television format, youre a TV movie. If its a good show, you deserve an Emmy. But not an Oscar.' He added: 'A lot of studios would rather just make branded, tent-pole, guaranteed box office hits from their inventory of branded successful movies than take chances on smaller films. 'Those smaller films that studios used to make routinely are now going to Amazon and Netflix.' Spielberg's position has generated backlash among fans of Netflix, who say that the streaming service offers a platform for creative works from minority and women filmmakers who have not been given opportunities by the established film studios. Hollywood publication Variety reported on Tuesday that the Department of Justice had weighed in on the issue. Antitrust chief Makan Delrahim sent a letter to the academy warning that any changes that limited eligibility for the industrys highest honors 'may raise antitrust concerns,' according to Variety. An academy spokesperson confirmed it had received the letter and said any rule changes would be considered at an April 23 meeting. A source close to Netflix said the company was not involved with or aware of the Justice Departments letter. Advertisement Thousands of union members have shut down Melbourne in a huge protest to demand wage increases. Up to 200,000 workers are marching through the city for a demonstration called Change The Rules organised by the Australian Council of Trades Union. They are demanding more secure jobs and better pay and want Scott Morrison to call the federal election as soon as possible. Victorian Trades Hall secretary Luke Hilakari said: 'We want this election done with, the Prime Minister should call this election now.' Demanding change: Unions and workers protest at the steps of Parliament House on April 10, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia Workers are demanding more secure jobs and better pay and want Scott Morrison to call the federal election as soon as possible This image from the protests in Melbourne shows people marching with flags and banners while some hold their children on their shoulders Victorian Labor Premier Daniel Andrews (pictured) is joining the march. 'I won't be chaining myself to anything,' Mr Andrews on Tuesday Protesters held signs demanding better working conditions for nurses and aged care workers at the protest march Unions and workers protest down Swanston St on April 10, 2019 in Melbourne during an enormous protest march 'For regular Australians, every week it's getting harder and harder, there have been no wage increases and this government has shown no desire to change it.' Victorian Labor Premier Daniel Andrews is joining the march. 'I won't be chaining myself to anything,' Mr Andrews on Tuesday. He said the aim was not to cause disruption and that protesters are working with police. 'I think that protesters will have had conversations with authorities about how working people can make their point without completely disrupting the city,' he said. It comes after Melbourne was brought to a standstill on Monday when dozens of vegans protested in the CBD. Some 40 protesters were arrested and charged - including a 15-year-old - and commuters were left delayed and outraged. Demonstration: Thousands of union members have shut down Melbourne in a huge protest to demand wage increases Up to 200,000 workers are marching through the city for a demonstration called Change The Rules organised by the Australian Council of Trades Union Two protesters at the union protests in Melbourne. They are demanding more secure jobs and better pay Victorian Trades Hall secretary Luke Hilakari said: 'We want this election done with, the Prime Minister should call this election now.' They are demanding more secure jobs and better pay and want Scott Morrison to call the federal election as soon as possible It comes after Melbourne was brought to a standstill on Monday when dozens of vegans protested in the CBD Police in the NSW Tabelands arrested nine protesters after they stormed an abattoir on Mazamat Road and chained themselves to a conveyor at 4am. Protesters also marched in Hobart and through the Sydney CBD after meeting at Hyde Park. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the activists were 'green-collar criminals' who were harming Australian farmers. 'This is just another form of activism that I think runs against the national interest, and the national interest is being able to farm their own land,' he told 2GB. The protests were organised by an activist group called Aussie Farms. The Morrison government has vowed tougher penalties for the website after those running it refused to take down a map of farmers' addresses and contact details. 'I'm expecting state governments - as I'm sure they will - to do their jobs,' he said. A Russian Instagram star has covered her 270,000 Lamborghini Aventador with two million Swarovski crystals. The black super car, which before its modifications had a top speed of 217mph, was modified by a London company before Daria Radionova showed the car to the public. Ordinarily, supercars are supposed to be streamlined to allow their powerful engines - in this case a 6.5litre V12 - to push them through the air. The massive engine can propel the car to 60mph in just 2.8 seconds, while 120mph will come and go within 8.5 seconds. Daria Radionova commissioned a London bodywork shop to put two million Swarovski crystals on her 270,000 Lamborghini Aventador - which is capable of hitting 217 miles per hour Ms Radionova unveiled her unusual car last weekend after Cars in Cloaks completed the project, spending an estimated 700 hours over the course of two months fitting the crystals Ms Radionova, pictured, had previously commissioned someone to put crystals on her Lamborghini Huracan and her Mercedes CLS Cars in Cloaks who completed the project said: 'If Bruce Wayne was a girl this would be his car' However, placing two million crystals on the bodywork will likely impact the performance figures as they could increase weight and disrupt airflow over the car's bodywork. Radionova, who previously stuck crystals to a Lambourghini Huracan and a Mercedes CLS, showed off her latest car in London, taking it to Knightsbridge to show off. The work was completed by Cars in Cloaks who said: 'If Bruce Wayne was a girl this would be his car.' According to News.com.au the team spent 700 hours over the course to two months fitting all the crystals. Much is known about the life of Bob Fosse, the legendary choreographer who won an Oscar for his direction of Cabaret. The same cannot be said for Gwen Verdon, his just-as-talented wife and lifelong professional partner. That should be remedied in some ways with the release of the new FX series Fosse/Verdon, which takes a look at the paths of the two artists and makes it clear just how much the two needed one another, and just how little Fosse gave back at times. In the series Fosse is played by Oscar-winner Sam Rockwell, while Verdon is played by four-time Oscar nominee Michelle Williams. But despite Fosse getting top billing, this is Verdon's show thanks in large part to another remarkable performance from Williams. She manages to effectively convey how Verdon was able to make her way on the Great White Way thanks to her incredible talent, pluck and hard work. Scroll down for video Broadway babies: The FX series Fosse/Verdon follows the careers of Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon (above in 1966) Star: The series shines a light on the incredible career of Verdon, who starred in just seven Broadway productions - six of which earned her Tony nominations (Williams and Rockwell above) Verdon was the most in-demand actress on Broadway when she met Fosse, having just won a Tony for her role in the Cole Porter musical Can-Can. It was quite literally a show-stopping performance from Verdon, who on opening night had to be summoned back on to the stage from her dressing room when the audience refused to return to their seats after her big number. Fosse was choreographing Damn Yankees, and Verdon was going in for the role of Lola, a role that she was forced to audition for despite her recent acclaim. She won the part, and the rest is history. Verdon picked up the Best Actress in a Musical Tony for Damn Yankees and her two subsequent plays - New In Town and Redhead. She is the only actor to ever collect the Tony for her first four Broadway productions. Three were for her work with Fosse, and the two were married in 1960, with Verdon giving birth to daughter Nicole a few years later. She spent time raising her daughter before she returned to the stage in Sweet Charity, which was directed and choreographed by her husband. Unstoppable: Verdon won a Tony for each of her first four Broadway musicals - Can-Can, Damn Yankees, New Girl In Town and Redhead (Williams above) Behind the scenes: She then became a guiding force behind the scenes of Fosse's productions of Sweet Charity and Cabaret (Verdon in Can-Can in 1954, Fosse with his Oscar for Cabaret in 1971) Stepping out: Verdon left Fosse after years of his infidelity but the two never divorced and she was with him the night he died (Fosse above with Jessica Lange circa 1970) Fosse was then offered the chance to move into film, and Verdon became the unseen force who helped him put together Sweet Charity and later his most successful work Cabaret. The success of Cabaret put Fosse atop the A-list and that is when he and Verdon split, with his womanizing and affairs becoming too much for the actress. She still pushed hi however into doing Chicago, the musical she spent a decade trying to get off the ground. That finally happened in 1975, with Verdon originating the role of Roxie Hart at the age of 50 alongside Chita Rivera. It is now one of the biggest musicals in the world, and the seventh and final Broadway production in which Verdon would star. She was nominated for a Tony in all but one of those productions, with her foray into the dramatic proving to be a flop after Children Children was cancelled on opening night. Verdon never divorced Fosse, and the two were together the day that he died in Washington DC. The story of that romance, from beginning to end, airs beginning tonight on FX. Alexander Buchan collapsed at a house in Holbeach, Lincolnshire A teenage girl and two young men were arrested for alleged drug offences after a boy, aged 14, died. Alexander Buchan collapsed at a house in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, early on Saturday morning and was pronounced dead soon after by paramedics. A girl of 15 and two men, both aged 19, were arrested in connection with drug-related offences as rumours in the town circulated that Alexander had taken Ecstasy. The three teenagers were released on bail. The boys father, also called Alexander, said: All we have been told is that they found a pill in his pocket ... It is a parents worst nightmare. Alex was such a gentle, kind boy. He really was. He was so gentle, loving and helpful and was loved by all his family. This has come as such a shock.' Mr Buchan, 60, who is divorced from Alexanders mother, Lisa, 47, said he did not know the identity of the teenagers arrested in connection with the incident. We are just waiting for the police to tell us more, the father added. The schoolboy, who attended University Academy in the town, has two half-sisters from his mothers previous relationships, Beth Donnelly, 19, and Robyn Eyre, 28, who were too upset to comment yesterday. But in a tribute posted on Facebook, Miss Donnelly described her brother as the sweetest boy I know with a heart of gold. She added: My biggest regret is not telling you, I love you one last time. Know I always loved you with my whole heart and if I got on at you too much its because I cared for you so much and never wanted to see you hurt. But I couldnt protect you, clearly. Alexanders death comes two months after another teenager, Tyler Peck, 15, was found dead at a house in Salcombe, Devon, after taking what police described as an unknown substance. A spokesman said: Officers were called to an address in Fleet Street, Holbeach, in the early hours of Saturday morning' A woman in her 30s was later arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and supplying drugs, while a 39-year-old man was arrested and over supply of drugs. A Lincolnshire Police spokesman confirmed that all three arrests in Holbeach were in connection with drug-related offences, but said the cause of Alexs death had not yet been confirmed. A spokesman said: Officers were called to an address in Fleet Street, Holbeach, in the early hours of Saturday morning. A 14-year-old boy was found dead at the scene and his family have been informed. A 15-year-old girl and two 19-year-old men were arrested on suspicion of drug-related offences and have been released on bail. Our investigation into the circumstances is ongoing and anyone with information should call Holbeach Police Station on 101, quoting incident number 34 of April 6. An online fundraising appeal has been set up by Alexs family and a tribute read: As a family, we are trying our hardest to raise as much money as possible to give our boy the best possible send-off he deserves. Thirteen prison officers were taken to hospital after being attacked by teenagers at a young offenders' institution. The guards were among 20 assaulted in separate incidents at HMP Feltham in west London at the weekend. One officer suffered a broken nose and another was concussed after being repeatedly punched in the head. The notorious facility has faced a battle to keep gang rivalries in check after 'postcode' allegiances caused conflict among inmates. The Prison Service said the assaults, in which seven members of staff were bitten, were 'completely unacceptable'. A prison minibus was commandeered to drive injured officers to hospital. Thirteen prison officers were taken to hospital after being attacked by teenagers from HMP Feltham (pictured) in west London at the weekend The attacks are further evidence of the crisis blighting prisons in England and Wales, where self-harm, drug-fuelled violence and assaults on staff are at record highs. The disturbance took place in the section of the institution known as Feltham A which accommodates 180 boys, most aged 16 and 17. The other part of the facility, Feltham B, holds offenders aged 18 to 21. The perpetrators will face adjudication hearings over the next few days and could face police prosecution. A Prison Service spokesman said: 'We will never tolerate violence against our staff and will push for the strongest possible punishment, which could lead to them spending more time behind bars.' Mark Fairhurst, chairman of the Prison Officers' Association, said violence had been escalating at Feltham for weeks partly due to changes in the way it deals with misbehaving inmates. One officer suffered a broken nose and another was concussed after being repeatedly punched in the head Until December, they could be locked in a cell in the segregation block, known as the Care, Separation and Reintegration Unit, which is located in Feltham B. But after the High Court ruled in 2017 that a 16-year-old had been held unlawfully in the block, and inspectors described the regime there as 'impoverished' and 'punitive', its use was reduced and eventually stopped. Mr Fairhurst said the lack of effective punishments for the most challenging prisoners was putting staff at risk. He added: 'The violence against staff at HMP Feltham over the weekend is not acceptable. 'Replace the term 'children' with 'violent young criminals' and you more accurately describe what union members in the juvenile estate face.' Last month, the Independent Monitoring Board warned the Ministry of Justice that it needed to take 'urgent measures' to make Feltham safer after a rise in gang-related violence. It said: 'Gang-related loyalties are so great that they would not be able to stop themselves assaulting members from a rival gang, whether they know them or not.' Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's baby will become liable for taxes in the United States as soon as it's born, which is expected to be in the next few weeks. Due to the Duchess of Sussex's status as an American citizen who has been a resident five years, with at least two of them being since she turned 14, the royal child is obliged to share details of any income. It includes non-earned income over $2,100 until the prince or princess is at least 18. It means any property, jewelry or homes passed down from the British royals will become the business of the Internal Revenue Service while the US citizen child is too young to renounce its nationality. Prince Harry's royal baby will be liable for American taxes until it's at least 18. He's pictured with pregnant Meghan Markle February 25 in Morocco Any foreign trust fund is eligible for the tax in the US, even if the royal never steps foot on American soil. 'There is no other precedent of anybody else in the Royal Family who's been American. So nobody else has ever faced this circumstance before,' David Treitel, the founder of American Tax Returns Ltd, told CNN. California-born Markle, 37, still has to file a tax return in the US and report assets over $200,000 and gifts in excess of $15,797, despite her now being a resident of Windsor's Frogmore Cottage. Markle is US citizen so the child would have to wait until adulthood to renounce its citizenship Even if she renounced her US citizenship, she would still have to prove five years of tax compliance, which opens up her financial business to the IRS. The tax expert predicted it might cause the royals who receive their salaries from British taxpayers - to put more thought into how to manage gifting. 'The Queen has got to sit there and her advisers have to sit there thinking: well if I lend Meghan a tiara, if I have the baby use a beautiful silver rattle that was used by Queen Victoria, how much is that worth? What's the value of it? How much is to be reported to the States? It's a tough question, it's not easy,' Treitel said. Foreign financial accounts associated seventh in line to throne must be declared due to Markle being American. The Duchess of Sussex also has an obligation to file tax returns But an internal tax lawyer told CBS the royal accountants would have been prepared for this moment since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's relationship got serious. The pair met in London in July 2016. Stuart E. Horwich said they will have measures in place to make sure nothing unnecessary has to be revealed at risk of the IRS coming after the royal's money due to Markle-related missteps. 'I doubt anybody would be careless enough to create a situation where anything that was remotely sensitive would be releasable to the IRS,' Stuart E. Horwich told CBS. Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested that billionaires are driven by psychopathic personality traits while retweeting an opinion article about data that shows 20 percent of CEOs may be psychopaths. 'Justifying psychopathy because low empathy, narcissism, dishonesty + lack of deep emotional attachments are traits that have made a tiny handful of people billionaires (yet land many more people in prison while not getting adequate mental healthcare) is very 2019,' the New York Democrat wrote on Twitter Monday. She was responding to a CNBC article entitled: 'Most successful millionaire CEOs are psychopathshere's why it doesn't have to be a bad thing.' Ocasio-Cortez has been an outspoken critic of billionaires, having questioned earlier this year why anyone should have more than $10million. Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested that billionaires are driven by psychopathic personality traits on Monday while retweeting an opinion article about data that shows 20 percent of CEOs may be psychopaths. The New York Democrat is pictured on Tuesday The CNBC article was penned by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, a professor of business psychology at University College London and Columbia University. Chamorro-Premuzic writes: 'Some of the most iconic entrepreneurs have been associated with egoistic tendencies.' He specifically mentions Steve Jobs and Elon Musk as examples of icons whose 'disruptive personalities made them as innovative as they were difficult to work with.' 'Jobs got fired from his own company and displayed clear patterns of low empathy and antisocial behavior: Parking in the disabled parking spots and bullying and intimidating his employees,' Chamorro-Premuzic writes. 'Musk's narcissistic side has also been manifested rather often in his combative rants with investors, the media and his employees, as well as his confrontational and erratic social media presence.' He goes on to say 'its not all bad' because certain psychopathic tendencies can drive people to innovate and possibly become 'catalysts for good'. The manipulative 'catfish' who pretended to be Lincoln Lewis to get women to fall in love with her repeatedly duped Optus into granting access to her victims accounts. Lydia Abdelmalek, 29, from Melbourne, spent four years using fake Facebook profiles featuring the Home and Away star to lure women into her web of lies. She conned two of her victims - whose names have been changed to Jess and Emma for anonymity - into romantic relationships, and both believed they were being courted by the famous actor, the ABC exclusively revealed. Both women eventually realised, and after constant abuse, Emma commit suicide. Jess blocked Abdelmalek and repeatedly changed her number, but Abdelmalek would always find a way to contact her. Optus have issued an apology for their involvement in the scheme, unwittingly providing Abdelmalek vital information about her victims, including their phone numbers and home addresses, after they blocked her. Abdelmalek (pictured) was found guilty of stalking six people and is due to be sentenced in June HOW ABDELMALEK FOOLED OPTUS After her victim, Jess, blocked her and changed mobile phone numbers, Abdelmalek used the information she knew about Jess to impersonate her. She used the Optus website's Live Chat option to speak with an employee, who gave Abdelmalek access after she answered basic privacy questions. These questions included: - Name - Date of Birth - Phone number She was also able to provide the date that the number was disconnected, and the Live Chat worker responded with Jess's new number. Advertisement The telecommunications giant said simple human error was to blame, after Abdelmalek repeatedly used the Live Chat feature on the website to retrieve information. She only had to provide answers to three basic security questions to access her victim's new mobile number. She then sought access to her victim's online account, and - while posing as Jess - asked the chat service to send a temporary password to her boyfriend's account. The Optus staffer agreed, and sent the new login details through to an email that was not linked to the account. Abdelmalek gained access to the victim's new address and other personal details. Jess told a court she changed her number about six or seven times, and each time Abdelmalek found her again. At one point, the Live Chat failed to realise the wrong birthday had been provided . Abdelmalek repeatedly used the Live Chat feature on the website to retrieve information Police were able to track Abdelmalek's IP address to the numerous attempts via Live Chat to access Jess's information. She told the court she was forced 'to take time off work' in her attempts to always 'stay one step ahead' of her stalker. In a statement, Optus said: 'This information was inadvertently shared due to a human error when the perpetrator undertook a'persistent program to fraudulently access the customer's information.' They went on to say they would no longer be allowing 'high risk transactions', including changes to email addresses, in its live chat function. Abdelmalek repeatedly used the Live Chat feature on the website to retrieve information Actor Lincoln Lewis has slammed the manipulative 'catfish' who pretended to be the Home and Away star to get woman to fall in love with her Lewis described Abdelmalek's entire elaborate ruse as 'sickening'. 'Having your number, address, personal details illegally obtained & photos doctored was scary. Having them used to catfish people is sickening,' he wrote on Twitter. 'But nothing can give back or make right what this sick person did and took away from the victims. 'For everyone, but especially for those with kids, know who you or they are talking to online. be absolutely sure of it! Social media can be great but also a scary place as there are sick twisted people out there. Be safe. 'I also want to take this time to thank the incredible police & detectives who have worked tirelessly on this case over the last 8 years. You see the worst actions in people yet never give up. You are amazing. Thank you.' Abdelmalek was found guilty of stalking six people and is due to be sentenced in June, the ABC reported. She was able to deceive the women and manipulate them into becoming fearful for their lives. Lydia Abdelmalek (pictured), 29, from Melbourne, spent four years of her life tricking women using fake Facebook profiles She used profiles for Home and Away star Lincoln Lewis and Hollyoaks and Strictly Come Dancing heart-throb Danny Mac (pictured) to lure women into her web of lies Emma went to primary school with Lincoln Lewis - the son of rugby league legend Wally Lewis - who is best known for portraying Geoff Campbell on Home and Away. Emma worked as a flight attendant on international flights, and in 2011 she received a friend request from a Facebook profile claiming to be Lincoln Lewis. She had previously dated a friend of his. The pair began chatting and soon developed a romantic relationship online. They arranged to meet each other but he would suddenly cancel, claiming he was busy at the last minute. A mutual friend later revealed to Emma that the Facebook account was not real and the phone number she was given did not belong to Lewis. She called the real Lincoln Lewis, and asked him if they had been dating. 'No. What are you talking about?' the actor said in response. Emma told him about how she had been deceived, but he decided to end communication with her and later revealed he 'went into kind of a panic mode'. Lewis deleted his Facebook profile and tweeted two warnings to his fans telling them he was being impersonated by someone else in September 2013. The impostor told Emma their real name was Michael Jason Smith and that his friends had set up the fake Lincoln Lewis Facebook account as a joke. Despite the red flags, Emma maintained her relationship with Michael, saying she was in love with him (pictured) After their discussion, Emma called the phone number she had been chatting to and demanded the person on the other end show their face. She later told police she believed the impersonator was using real video footage of Lewis and with a different voice over the top of it. The impostor then told Emma their real name was Michael Jason Smith and that his friends had set up the fake Lincoln Lewis Facebook account as a joke. She told 'Michael' she had contacted the police and warned him not to talk to her again. Lydia Abdelmalek's elaborate 'catfish' ruse Melbourne woman Lydia Abelmalek, 29, targeted two air hostesses. She pretended to be soap stars Lincoln Lewis and Danny Mac. Abdelmalek conviced the women to stay in online relationships with the fake profiles she had created even when they uncovered her lies. She created a 'cast of characters' to help maintain her charade. Abdelmalek sent threatening messages to the women and manipulated them. The stress was too much for one of them to take and she killed herself. Abdelmalek was caught out when she turned up to a bank herself to deposit money into the bank account of one of her victims. She was convicted of stalking six people and will be sentenced in June. Advertisement Emma then received a random message from someone claiming to be her ex-boyfriend - but believed it was from Michael and questioned him about it. He lied and denied sending the message, but they eventually began talking again. Michael soon began sending more photos to Emma - but they were actually of British actor Danny Mac. Emma told police she spoke to Michael every day and they began having a romantic relationship. He then told her his name really was Mac, but he was using the 'Michael Smith' alias to avoid an ex-girlfriend who was stalking him. Abdelmalek then bombarded Emma with anonymous threatening messages, and Michael convinced her he had also received them. The catfish even made other fake Michael Smith accounts to throw Emma off the scent. Despite the red flags, Emma maintained her relationship with Michael, saying she was in love with him. Later, while she was working on a flight to Los Angeles, Emma received a message from someone saying her home in Queensland would be targeted by people with guns, prompting a police response. Another person called her telling her that if she hung up her intimate photos would be sent to her workplace. Abdelmalek (pictured) was able to deceive the women - whose names have been changed to Jess and Emma for anonymity - and manipulate them into becoming fearful for their lives Abdelmalek bombarded her victims with anonymous threatening messages (recreated messages pictured) Emails containing photos of an underwear-clad Emma in sexually suggestive poses were sent to her family members - at the same time care packages and romantic gifts were also being sent to her anonymously. The stress proved too much for Emma to deal with, and in 2017 she killed herself. Another flight attendant, single mother Jess, was also targeted by Abdelmalek. Jess met Lincoln Lewis on a flight in 2009, and they took a photo together. She then sent a message to the fake Lincoln Lewis Facebook account and he accepted. Similar to Emma's experience, Abdelmalek was able to convince Jess she was Lewis. With the help of the police, one of Abdelmalek's victims was able to convince her to deposit money into her account (recreated message pictured) Police investigated Abdelmalek (pictured) and found multiple mobile phones with usernames, passwords, numbers and photos of her victims and the people she pretended to be At one point, Jess mentioned she had bought her daughter a Bubble O'Bill ice cream and Abdelmalek responded with a photo of Lewis eating one as well. The lie was caught out when Abdelmalek - pretending to be Lewis - said the soap star was in Sydney, but the real Lewis tweeted a photo of himself watching a State of Origin rugby league game in Brisbane. Jess contacted the real Lewis, who told her she had been deceived. She began working with the Queensland Police to catch the scammer. Their phone calls were recorded, and she organised for the con-artist to send her money. CCTV cameras caught Abdelmalek depositing the money into Jess' account at a Westpac bank. Police investigated Abdelmalek and found multiple mobile phones with usernames, passwords, numbers and photos of her victims and the people she pretended to be. In court, a magistrate described the evidence against Abdelmalek as 'overwhelming'. Her motives remain unknown, as the only material gain she obtained was a discounted flight for her brother. Jess and Emma never met but bonded over the phone having shared the experience of being deceived by Abdelmalek. 'This person has blood on her hands as far as I'm concerned. She took Emma from her family,' Jess said. Airbnb has reversed its decision to remove rental listings of properties in Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territory. The home rental company announced on Tuesday it will back off a plan to remove Jewish settler homes in West Bank, which the UN has declared to be illegal under international law, to end lawsuits brought by hosts. In November, Airbnb sparked outrage when it said it was removing around 200 homes 'that are at the core of the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians'. Airbnb has reversed its decision to remove rental listings of Jewish settler homes in West Bank (pictured, some of the properties in Beitar Illit), which the UN has declared to be illegal under international law Israeli lawyers immediately filed a class action suit against the the San Francisco-based firm. Airbnbs announcement came after it was forced to settle in four lawsuits filed against it in the US and Israel. A company statement said Airbnb will allow listings throughout the entire West Bank but will donate all profits from its business in the region. Airbnb added that it will implement the same approach for listings in Moscow-backed separatist regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two other disputed areas where the company previously planned to take action. The class action suit had sought 15,000 shekels ($4,183) in damages for the lead plaintiff and each other settler host should Airbnb delete them from its listings, a spokesman said earlier. An Israeli soldier on guard in the settlement of Ariel in the West Bank during Israel's election campaign The decision would have affected around 200 homes in Israeli settlements that had been listed on the platform. Around 400,000 Israelis live in settlements that dot the West Bank and range in size from tiny hamlets to large towns, in addition to 200,000 living in settlements in annexed East Jerusalem. The international community considers the settlements to be illegal and a barrier to peace between Israelis and Palestinians. A major campaigner against Airbnb's earlier said 'Airbnb has realised what we have long argued - that boycotts of Jews anywhere, even just in the West Bank, are discriminatory. 'This is a huge blow to efforts to delegitimise the Jewish presence in the West Bank,' said Eugene Kontorovich, Director of International Law at the Jerusalem-based Kohelet Policy Forum. But Arvind Ganesan, of New York-based Human Rights Watch, called Airbnb's retreat from the decision disappointing. 'Donating profits from unlawful settlement listings, as they've promised to do, does nothing to remedy the "human suffering" they have acknowledged that their activities cause,' Ganesan said. 'By continuing to do business in settlements, they remain complicit in the abuses settlements trigger.' Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pledged to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank if he wins Tuesday's election. Exit polls showed him neck-and-neck with his main challenger, Benny Gantz. An Amnesty International report published early this year argued that digital tourism giants Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and TripAdvisor are profiting from 'war crimes' by offering services in Israeli settlements. The London-based rights group's 'Destination: Occupation' report called on the companies to stop listing tourist accommodation, activities and attractions in settlements in occupied territories, including East Jerusalem. The decision would have affected around 200 homes in the area that had been listed on the platform (file image) 'In doing business with settlements, all four companies are contributing to, and profiting from, the maintenance, development and expansion of illegal settlements, which amount to war crimes under international criminal law,' the report said. Israeli public security minister Gilad Erdan threatened to bar Amnesty from access to the Jewish state over its charge. Israel sees the movement to end illegal settlements in the West Bank as a strategic threat and accuses it of anti-Semitism -- a claim activists deny, saying they want only to see an end to Israel's occupation. Amnesty launched a campaign in 2017 calling on governments to prevent businesses based in their countries from operating in settlements. Israel passed legislation that same year banning entry to foreigners who support boycotting the country or its settlements. A vocal Trump supporter exploded at a Democratic congressman during a public hearing on Tuesday, suggesting that he had unfairly suggested she was a Nazi sympathizer. California Rep. Ted Lieu played a short excerpt from comments made by Candace Owens, a conservative activist who speaks for the Turning Point Project youth group. Speaking last year to a British audience, she sought to distinguish between Trump-style nationalism and Nazi 'National' socialism. Owens' choice of words at the time was panned by some as clumsy, and by others as friendly to Adolf Hitler. By the end of the House Judiciary Committee hearing, which focused on hate crimes and white nationalism, Owens was berating Lieu for taking her out of context and not offering her a chance to defend herself. And Donald Trump Jr., one of Twitter's hottest conservative flamethrowers, wrote that it was '[g]reat to see someone call out the Dems on their purposeful manipulation of facts for their narrative. Since the media runs with anything they say and is the marketing wing of the DNC they aren't used to getting called out for the repeated BS.' Conservative commentator Candace Owens blasted a Democratic congressman on Tuesday for insinuating during a Capitol Hill hearing that she is a Nazi sympathizer California Rep. Ted Lieu played a 30-second snippet from a longer answer Owens gave to a question about 'nationalism,' painting her as a defender of Adolf Hitler Donald Trump Jr. turned Owens into an instant political celebrity by rocketing video of the exchange through the conservative Twittersphere Lieu began his five minutes during the hearing: 'I don't know Ms. Owens. I'm not going to characterize her,' Lieu had said. 'I'm going to let her own words do the talking.' 'I'm going to play for you the first 30 seconds of a statement she made about Adolf Hitler,' he said, holding up his phone to a hearing room microphone. 'I actually don't have any problems at all with the word "nationalism." I think that it gets the definition gets poisoned by elitists that actually want globalism. Globalism is actually what I don't want,' Owens was heard saying. 'So when you think about, whenever we use the word "nationalism" the first think people think about, at least in America, is Hitler. You know, he was a national socialist, but if Hitler had just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well, okay, fine,' she continued in the recording. 'The problem is, is that he wanted he had dreams outside of Germany. He wanted to globalize, he wanted everybody to be German, everybody to be speaking German.' Owens works with the conservative Turning Point Project youth organization and is a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump Committee chair Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat, banged his gavel when he thought Owens called Lieu 'stupid' Lieu posed his question to Eileen Hershenov, senior vice president of policy at the Anti-Defamation League, referring to Owens. 'When people try to legitimize Adolf Hitler, does that feed into white nationalist ideology?' he asked. Hershenov said it does. A Republican Judiciary Committee member gave Owens, an African-American, the floor minutes later. 'I think it's pretty apparent that Mr. Lieu believes that black people are stupid and will not pursue the full clip in its entirety. He purposefully presented an extracted clip,' she scolded. Hearing the word 'stupid,' chairman Jerry Nadler leapt in. 'It is not proper to refer disparagingly to a member of the committee. ... the witness may not refer to a member of the committee as "stupid",' he ordered. 'I didn't refer to him as stupid,' she shot back. 'That's not what I said. That's not what I said at all. You didn't listen to what I said.' A stone-faced Lieu sat wordlessly, staring at Owens as she fired her rhetorical cannon. Don Jr. is an ally of the Turning Point project and rushed to Owens' defense as he praised her for calling out 'BS' from Democrats Lier sat stone-faced and listened to Owens tear him apart and accuse him of maligning her as a Nazi supporter 'He purposefully extracted, he cut off, and you didn't hear the question that was asked of me. He's trying to present as though I was mounting a defense of Hitler in Germany,' she boomed, 'when in fact the question that was asked of me was pertaining to whether or not ... I believed in nationalism, and that nationalism was bad.' 'And I responded that I do not believe that we should be characterizing Hitler as a nationalist. He was a homicidal, psychopathic maniac that killed his own people. A nationalist would not kill their own people.' Owens also said she works with Prager University, an online extension learning program, 'which is run by an Orthodox Jew.' She told the hearing room that she had 'sat on a plane for 18 hours' to attend the May 2018 opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. 'Not a single Democrat showed up,' Owens said. Tuesday's Lieu-Owens clash was a collision of strident voices on opposite ends of Washington's political spectrum. Lieu is known for using his sizable Twitter following to troll right-wingers. Owens is known for firing up conservative millennials, and for her association with the Turning Point project. CANDACE OWENS' FULL VIEW OF 'NATIONALISM' (2018) 'I actually don't have any problems at all with the word "nationalism." I think that it gets the definition gets poisoned by elitists that actually want globalism. Globalism is actually what I don't want. 'So when you think about, whenever we use the word "nationalism" the first think people think about, at least in America, is Hitler. You know, he was a national socialist, but if Hitler had just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well, okay, fine. 'The problem is, is that he wanted he had dreams outside of Germany. He wanted to globalize, he wanted everybody to be German, everybody to be speaking German, everybody to look a different way. That's not, to me, that's not nationalism. 'So in thinking about how we could go bad, down the line, I don't really have an issue with nationalism. I really don't. I think that it's okay. It's important to maintain your country's identity and to make sure that what's happening here, which I think is incredibly worrisome in terms of the decrease in the birth rate that we're seeing in the UK, is kinda what you want to avoid. 'So I'm not, I don't have any big problems with nationalism. it's globalism that I try to avoid.' Advertisement The organization, founded in 2012 by an 18-year-old, has attracted controversy since the beginning of Donald Trump's presidency which it rallied for. Last October the Miami New Times reported a Turning Point chapter at Florida International University included members who shared jokes 'about watching underage cartoon pornography and deporting Latina women' and shared 'racist' memes 'showing Syrian men raping a white Swedish woman at gunpoint.' The organization drew scorn in February for hiring a 'chief creative officer' who had been fired from two news outlets for plagiarism. Buzzfeed axed Benny Johnson in 2014 for copying writing from dozens of other publications. The same problem surfaced later at the Independent Journal Review. A Fox News Channel correspondent abruptly cut off the group's director of Spanish engagement in November, for comparing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to a sexually transmitted disease. 'She won't go away. She's like herpes,' said Anna Paulina. The Lord Chief Justice has blasted the peer who used parliamentary privilege to break an injunction and expose Sir Philip Green, saying he had made himself 'a one-person court of final appeal'. Lord Hain's decision to expose the Topshop mogul as being at the heart of a sexual harassment row was 'not compatible with the rule of law', Lord Burnett said yesterday. Former Northern Ireland secretary Lord Hain (pictured) named Sir Philip after he had blocked The Daily Telegraph from exposing alleged harassment towards his employees, which he has denied Lord Hain's decision to expose the Topshop mogul as being at the heart of a sexual harassment row was 'not compatible with the rule of law', Lord Burnett (pictured) said Lord Burnett, the head of the judiciary in England and Wales, said that 'for approaching 300 years it did not appear to occur to any member of either House that it was appropriate to use the freedom of speech in Parliament to undermine an order of a court'. But, he added, 'in the last ten years, however, there have been five breaches'. Former Northern Ireland secretary Lord Hain named Sir Philip after he had blocked The Daily Telegraph from exposing alleged harassment towards his employees, which he has denied. Sir Philip's lawyers said Lord Hain had failed to declare his role as an adviser to the Telegraph's law firm. On Monday, though, he was cleared of wrongdoing by the House of Lords' standards commissioner. German has overtaken French as the most valued second-language for employers, a study has found. Job vacancies for German speakers rose by 11.6 percent for the last three years while those for French speakers went up by just 1 percent, listings agency Indeed revealed. However, fewer pupils are taking German GCSE than in years before, so much so that some schools have dropped it from the curriculum entirely. The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany is lit with green lights after Earth Hour on March 30, 2019 Indeed said the findings showed the problem the UK faces with a rising need for linguists but fewer on the market, the Times reported. The most popular language A-level was Chinese and Indeed's figures showed demand for employees able to speak it was up by 35.4 percent since 2016. Another language making strides was Italian, with a 17.7 percent increase in relevant job vacancies. German had 1,221 job postings per million, French, 1,152; Chinese, 643; Spanish, 567; and Italian, 531. Indeed's managing director Bill Richards told the Times: 'For the past three years, German and French have jostled for the crown of the most in-demand spoken language in UK job titles, and one of the reasons for this lies in the economic ties between the UK and Germany and France. 'In 2016 Germany was the fourth-highest inward investor in the UK and in the same year, exports from the UK to Germany were the second highest behind the USA. 'The UK also imports more from Germany than any other EU country.' Mr Richards said there was a 'perfect storm' brewing with fewer linguists emerging from British schools and Brexit turning away potential employees on the continent. An aerial view taken on March 12, 2019 in Paris shows a view of the Elysee Palace and the Eiffel Tower in the distance Last year the number of pupils taking GCSE German exams was down by nearly a third from 2013, the Times reported, and a similar number had stopped sitting French exams. Meanwhile, Spanish was up four percent and Chinese up by ten points. Compounding the dearth of foreign language speakers are Office of National Statistics figures which say net migration from the EU is at its lowest in a decade. Two British fund managers, one with a serious heart condition, are set to be extradited to Sweden, where they face months in solitary confinement. A UK court has cleared the way for the businessmen to be sent for trial over an alleged 70million fraud on a Swedish pension scheme. Anthony Farrell, 51, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, and Christopher Thomas, 63, from Cranberry, both in Staffordshire, deny any wrongdoing. Anthony Farrell (above) and his former colleague Christopher Thomas are fighting extradition to Sweden. They say prosecutors' plans to put them in solitary confinement to stop them colluding is a breach of their human rights Scandinavian prosecutors say both men will be held in solitary confinement until their trial which could be 18 months away to prevent them colluding. Their lawyers argued this is a breach of their human rights at Westminster Magistrates' Court. Mr Thomas, a father of teenage children, suffered a severe heart attack in 2012 and has stents for ongoing chest pains. Mr Farrell was the chief executive and Mr Thomas a portfolio manager at Malta-based Temple Asset Management. TAM managed investments for Falcon Funds, a 213million pension fund. But its dominant investor, the Swedish Pensions Authority, suffered losses of 70million in 2017 and launched a criminal investigation, accusing Falcon and TAM of defrauding 22,000 pension investors. An anti-abortion Christian preacher who was told to 'shut-up' by angry commuters says he does not regret preaching on a packed train despite receiving death threats. US evangelist Philip Blair made headlines last week when he boarded a Sydney train at Martin Place and ranted about abortion. In a video posted to YouTube on Wednesday, Mr Blair issued an apology, claiming the public and media misinterpreted his preaching. He said he had been the target of death threats and thousands of aggressive emails since the train incident, due to what he claimed was misinformation. US evangelist Philip Blair (pictured) has issued an apology to Australia following an anti-abortion rant on a Sydney train 'I'm going to take a couple of minutes because I want to explain a few things, I want to convey more heart to you and I want to issue some apologies to I think a couple of people who deserve them,' he said. 'Quite frankly I'm tired of getting death threats and thousands of angry emails from a lot of people who are taking information for what it is instead of doing the research and finding out what the facts are.' Mr Blair said he understood that a lot people were 'emotionally distraught' and angry about what happened but hoped the Australian public could forgive him. 'Hopefully we can move forward, I love you guys,' he said. Mr Blair was slammed last week for preaching about abortion on a Sydney train and telling a man in a wheelchair he was 'too bitter' to be healed by God. The first controversial moment occurred on April 1 when he boarded the train and told commuters their 'sins' could be saved by Jesus Christ. The anti-abortion evangelist was slammed by commuters after shouting a sermon on a packed Sydney train 'We care more about saving the whales than we care about saving our unborn children,' he said in a video. He then got into a shouting match with commuter Malcolm Frawley. Mr Frawley was applauded by passengers on the train after telling Blair to 'shut-up' and accusing him of being selfish for ignoring repeated requests for silence. On Wednesday, Mr Blair said he did not apologise for the preaching but rather regretted how he handled the situation. 'I am a Christian, full gospel preacher and I try to walk with love as much as I can so, I'm not sorry for preaching on a train but I am sorry that when you watch the videos I do appear to be angry,' he said. 'It was never my intent to be angry. 'I did feel like I got upset towards the end because a lot of people were yelling at me when really my soul motivation for being on that train was to tell you ''look I care''.' Mr Blair said he's been the target of death threats since the train incident due to what he claims is misinformation The same day as the train incident, Mr Blair was filmed targeting a man in a wheelchair who was talking with a florist. 'You're in a wheelchair. God can touch you but you're too bitter to ask,' Blair shouted. Mr Blair also apologised to the man in the wheelchair and admitted it was wrong for him to generalise. 'I am also very very sorry for how the whole thing went down with the guy in the wheelchair,' he said. 'It was wrong for me to generalise that man, I don't know anything about him, I don't know the situation he's in.' Mr Blair went on to discuss how he continues to pray for people 'in need of help'. Blair made national headlines last week after a series of controversial public sermons 'We've prayed for people in wheelchairs to rise up and walk,' he said. Wednesday's video comes two days after the Christian preacher claimed a 'Satanic agenda' has spread through Australia. In a video posted on Monday, Blair declared Australia was being overrun by darkness while standing in front of Parliament House. 'A very pervasive Satanic agenda has spread throughout Australia,' he said. 'This is a battle cry to rise up against the forces of darkness that are overrunning our lands. Now is the time for prayer.' Blair has been in Australia since March 27, and regularly uploads videos of his public preaching to social media. He has spoken against evolution and abortion and is part of the Torch of Christ Ministries. Stephanie Hayden (pictured) tweeted an image of a court order which requires Mumsnet to name the anonymous user who allegedly defamed her A transgender activist has won a High Court ruling ordering Mumsnet to reveal the identity of a user who allegedly abused her. Stephanie Hayden tweeted an image of the court order, issued by Mr Justice William Davis, which requires the parenting website to name the anonymous user and provide their address, email and date of birth. On the caption she wrote: 'The days of defaming, abusing, and harassing transgender people on Mumsnet behind the cloak of anonymity are over.' The comments left by 'ALittleHelp18' contained claims of criminality that Ms Hayden said were defamatory, reported The Times, so obtaining the user's name could allow her to pursue legal action. Mumsnet now has until 4pm tomorrow to comply with the order. It did not contest the application, but its founder, Justine Roberts, said: 'Clearly, if we thought the details we released might be used maliciously, we would be happy to contest the order if one of our users asked us to do so.' Ms Hayden has been involved in several of online spats in recent years. In 2018, she reported Father Ted creator Graham Linehan to the police for 'transphobic harassment' after he shared a tweet saying she was a 'dangerous troll'. Sitcom writer Mr Linehan was given a verbal harassment warning by West Yorkshire Police after transgender activist Miss Hayden reported him for referring to her by her previous names and pronouns on Twitter. And in February, a mother was arrested in front of her children and locked up for seven hours after referring to Ms Hayden as a man online. The order, issued by Mr Justice William Davis, also requires the parenting website to provide the user's address, email and date of birth, if available Three officers detained Kate Scottow at her home before quizzing her at a police station about an argument with an Ms Hayden on Twitter over so-called 'deadnaming'. The 38-year-old, from Hitchin, Hertfordshire, had her photograph, DNA and fingerprints taken. Mrs Scottow denied harassing or defaming Miss Hayden and said she holds a 'genuine and reasonable belief' that a human 'cannot practically speaking change sex'. As well as potential police action, she is facing a 25,000 civil lawsuit over alleged defamation, use of private information and 'harassment'. She has also agreed to been made the subject of an injunction that bans her from writing about Miss Hayden online. High Court papers, filed by Miss Hayden, accuse Mrs Scottow of a 'campaign of targeted harassment' against Miss Hayden between September and December last year, allegedly motivated by her 'status as a transgender woman', including messages sent from two separate Twitter accounts. But Mrs Scottow's has filed a defence insisting: '[Mrs Scottow] holds a genuine and reasonable belief, which is fundamental to her existence and worthy of respect in a democratic society that a mammal, specifically a human, cannot practically change sex.' Ms Hayden has been involved in several of online spats in recent years. In 2018, she reported Father Ted creator Graham Linehan (left) to the police for 'transphobic harassment'. Kate Scottow (right) was arrested by police after referring to Ms Hayden as a man online Writing on online forum Mumsnet, Mrs Scottow who has also been served with a court order that bans her from referring to her accuser as a man claimed: 'I was arrested in my home by three officers, with my autistic ten-year-old daughter and breastfed 20-month-old son present. 'I was then detained for seven hours in a cell with no sanitary products (which I said I needed) before being interviewed then later released under investigation ... I was arrested for harassment and malicious communications because I called someone out and misgendered them on Twitter.' Confirming the arrest, Hertfordshire Police said: 'We take all reports of malicious communication seriously.' The court papers filed by Miss Hayden claim that, as a 'toxic' debate raged online over plans to allow people to 'self-ID' as another gender, Mrs Scottow tweeted 'defamatory' messages about Miss Hayden. Miss Hayden also campaigned against Sussex University over perceived 'transgender hostility' and was among those who pressurised a billboard company to remove a poster in Liverpool, which said the dictionary definition of 'woman' was an 'adult human female'. A woman standing proudly before crowds in Khartoum to sing revolutionary songs has become a symbol for the protest movement in Sudan. The picture was captured on Monday evening on the third day of mass demonstrations against President Omar al-Bashir outside the heavily guarded central military complex. Lana Haroun's image has been shared thousands of times and shows the woman dressed in white with large golden earrings, gesturing boldly before crowds while she sings her song. The woman chanted, 'In the name of religion they burnt us,' while the crowd called back, 'Revolution!' The woman can be seen dressed all in white, with golden earrings, as she stands on the roof of a car on Monday evening close to the heavily guarded intelligence headquarters in central Khartoum Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir delivers a speech at the Presidential Palace in Khartoum, Sudan February 22, 2019 Demonstrators take part in a protest demanding the departure of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, in Khartoum on Tuesday evening Sudanese protesters carry the national flag as they gather during an anti-government demonstration in front of the military headquarters in the capital Khartoum Haroun told CNN: 'She was representing all Sudanese women and girls and she inspired every woman and girl at the sit-in. She was telling the story of Sudanese women. ... She was perfect.' She had rushed over to take a picture of the woman as many could be seen holding their phones up high to record the moment. Even her clothing was said to hark back to the garments worn by brides of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and the demonstrations against military regimes from women in those eras. Thousands of people remained at the army's headquarters on Tuesday night - where they have been encamped since Saturday - bathed in a sea of light as they held up their mobile phones as torches. Angry protesters chanting 'overthrow, overthrow,' have taken to the streets of the capital and towns and villages across the country since December, in the biggest challenge yet to Bashir's two-decade rule. The country's police on Tuesday ordered its personnel to avoid intervening against the demonstrators. 'We call on God to preserve the security and calm of our country ... and to unite the Sudanese people... for an agreement which would support the peaceful transition of power,' a police spokesman said in a statement. The demonstrators blame Bashir - who came to power in a 1989 coup - for a worsening economic crisis. The protest movement had reached a new peak on Saturday when demonstrators braved volleys of tear gas to reach the military complex, urging the top brass to back them. A Sudanese woman is surrounded by men as they protest the government in central Khartoum on Tuesday evening Smiling demonstrators hold their flag as they take part in protests, with military personnel keeping watch over the citizens A Sudanese woman with her face painted in the Arabic words "Just fall, that's all" flashes the victory gesture during protests Soldiers meanwhile foiled repeated attempts by the feared National Intelligence and Security Service's agents to disperse the demonstrators with tear gas, witnesses said. On Tuesday the United States, the United Kingdom and Norway for the first time threw their weight behind the protesters, calling for a credible political transition plan in Sudan. 'The time has come for the Sudanese authorities to respond to these popular demands in a serious' way, the diplomatic missions of the three countries said in a joint statement. 'The Sudanese authorities must now respond and deliver a credible plan for this political transition.' Washington had imposed a trade embargo on Sudan in 1997 for Khartoum's alleged links to Islamist groups - sanctions that were only lifted in October 2017. The protesters' Saturday move on the sprawling military complex has triggered the largest demonstrations seen yet in the nearly four-month-long movement. Demonstrators continue to make their feelings known on the fourth day of mass protests as the army said they would not allow for chaos to take hold Men smile as they hold the V for victory sign in central Khartoum during protests on Tuesday evening Men and women can be seen gathered to call for the end of Bashir's regime on Tuesday evening Security agents twice fired tear gas on Tuesday at the protesters in abortive bids to end their sit-in, protest organisers said. The demonstrators have called on the army to protect them from the deadly crackdown by riot police and security agents during their four days camped outside its headquarters. Defence Minister General Awad Ibnouf has vowed the army would prevent any slide into chaos. 'Sudan's armed forces understand the reasons for the demonstrations and is not against the demands and aspirations of the citizens, but it will not allow the country to fall into chaos,' Ibnouf said on Monday, according to state media. The umbrella group spearheading the protests has appealed to the army for talks on forming a transitional government. Omar el-Digeir, a senior member of the group, said protest organisers had formed a council to open talks aimed at agreeing a 'transitional government that represents the wish of the revolution'. Sudanese military soldiers look on as demonstrators attend a protest on Monday evening Sudanese demonstrators chant slogans as they attend a protest rally demanding Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir to step down, outside the defence ministry in Khartoum Officials say 38 people have died in protest-related violence since December. But the country's main opposition leader and a key protest organiser Sadiq al-Mahdi said 20 people had been killed by masked men in morning attacks on the sit-in since it began on Saturday. Bashir, who toppled Mahdi's government in the 1989 coup, is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on charges of war crimes and genocide connected with the suppression of an ethnic minority rebellion in the western region of Darfur. Google has announced that its drone home delivery service will be coming to Australia. Tech company Wing, which is owned by Google's parent company Alphabet, said on Tuesday that it would be delivering food and products to suburbs of Canberra. Wing will be rolled out across Franklin, Crace and Palmerston, with plans to add two more suburbs in the next few months. The service will initially only be available to 100 households and will be free for the first three months. Scroll down for video The tech company Wing, owned by Google's parent company Alphabet, said on Tuesday that it would be delivering food and products to suburbs of Canberra Critics have questioned the safety of a drone delivery service amid concerns that drones could crash into people or animals. But Google previously said it could use rope to lower products rather allowing drones to land, according to Nine Finance. The first drone delivery was launched by Amazon in 2013 but it has enjoyed limited success. Currently, the internet giant is only operating its drone delivery service in parts of the U.S. with trials set to start in the U.K. Google said it could use rope to lower products rather allowing drones to land amid safety concerns about drone delivery services The biggest drone delivery service to date is run by Silicon Valley company Zipline which supplies Rwanda with medical supplies. The company have made 12,000 deliveries since 2016 to the African country, where road access is limited. Vegan protesters who target farmers' homes could face a year in jail under new laws proposed by Prime Minister Scott Morrison. If re-elected in May, Mr Morrison plans to change the laws to prevent vegan activists from using private information about farmers to harass them. Mr Morrison has promised to introduce punishments of up to 12 months in jail for people who make it easier for vegan activists to trespass onto farms and abattoirs. Protesters chained themselves to vehicles in Melbourne's central city, bringing peak hour traffic to a halt on Monday morning 'They are being targeted in the most mercenary way by an organisation that can only think of itself and not think of the real damage that is being done to the livelihoods of these hard-working Australians,' Mr Morrison told reporters in Launceston on Wednesday. He promised to introduce laws banning people from inciting criminal activity against farmers, with jail terms up to 12 months. Activist group 'Aussie Farms' is under fire after they publicly posted a map and personal details of farms across the country -inciting vegan protests. Vegan protesters who target farmers' homes could face a year in jail under new laws proposed by Prime Minister Scott Morrison The Aussie Farms website publishes an interactive map of farms across the country, which the organisation says exposes animal exploitation in a secretive industry. Vegan protesters on Monday launched a cross-border campaign targeting a busy Melbourne street, plus abattoirs and farms in Victoria, NSW and Queensland. It resulted in scores of arrests, criminal charges and a renewed call for farmers to take action, with the federal government committing to underwrite legal claims. Privacy laws were changed last Friday to potentially expose Aussie Farms' website to significant penalties for publishing farmers' addresses and contact details. A steam train service is set to be launched at Britains busiest station for the first time in 50 years. Two new steam journeys will run from London Waterloo between June and September. The Royal Windsor Steam Express will serve Windsor station, while the Sunset Steam Express will head to the Surrey Hills throughout the summer. Two new steam journeys will run from London Waterloo between June and September. The trains can carry up to 200 travellers and will be pulled by Mayflower, an engine built in 1948. It is the first time in nearly five decades a timetabled steam service has run from a major city. Juliet Sorley, of organisers Steam Dreams told The Daily Telegraph: I think it is down to nostalgia, the whole romance of steam travel people are looking for new and different experiences. Earlier this week the Clun Castle which once broke the record for the fastest steam-powered train chugged back into the action. Thirty years since its last British Rail service, the train, which can reach 96mph, took more than 250 passengers on a 13-hour journey from Birmingham to Oxford and back. This is the moment a Texas woman, dubbed Taco Truck Tammy, seemingly threatens to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement on food vendors parked on a street. In a video posted on YouTube Thursday, a woman is seen holding her cell phone up to record the people inside a truck selling tacos as someone on the receiving end also films the action. Claudia Lopez shares in the title of the clip: 'Racist woman talking about she's gonna call ICE on us for selling food in Dallas when we have a permit'. A Texas woman seemingly threatens to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement on food vendors parked on a street in a clip gone viral It begins with the complainer smirking as she points and says: 'OK, please move.' Voices from behind the camera can be heard responding that they intend to comply. The woman begins to walk away but turns back as they start talking again. It prompts her to hold the phone back up again and she appears eager to give more verbal input as the truck operators speak among themselves in Spanish. As she continues to watch and document their movements, one tells her in English: 'Go back inside.' The unidentified woman seems to oblige, but makes a backhanded remarks as she shoos them away with her hand and replies: 'OK, baby girl. Vamonos.' Her instruction for them to move on causes one of the vendors to tells her, 'I'm not your baby girl.' The video was posted by Claudia Lopez and is titled, 'Racist woman talking about she's gonna call ICE on us for selling food in Dallas when we have a permit' But at the same time the complainer yells as she heads away: 'I'll call ICE!' At that point the apparent suggestion that the operators are in the country illegally becomes laughable. The Austin Statesman reports the woman behind the clip, that received almost 40,000 views by Tuesday night, was Lopez. 'Okay, call ICE. Call them. Okay? You can call them. Call them right now,' the woman shouts after her. The vendor mumbles to herself as she packs up: 'F**k. I don't give a s**t who you call.' Another clip on the YouTube profile is titled: 'Exposing Popeye's rude... employees. They discriminated because I can't speak English. Racist.' Posted on YouTube Thursday, a woman shouts 'I'll call ICE' after telling people 'Vamonos' Many social media users were baffled at why the woman was so offended by having easy access to fast food. One woman posted: 'Is this the food taco truck tammy was upset about? Bc if so... its parked outside my apartments and i want some.' An outraged viewer tweeted: 'I am so disappointed that there are idiots like this living in my vicinity. I mean I knew they were here, but seeing them on video sucks. Looks to be a neighborhood in north Dallas, possibly somewhere near Greenville Ave. Go to hell Taco truck Tammy, whoever you are.' Another person tweeted: 'The fact that she threatened to call ICE tells us what we already know, ICE isnt protecting anyone. Its used to terrorize people of color. Just the mere fact that this b***h said it with such a haughty attitude speaks volumes. Taco truck Tammy really thinks shes better than us.' Taco Truck Tammy has since been identified as an East Dallas woman named Valerie. She told NBC DFW: 'I like tacos! Just not in my neighborhood!' Valerie claimed the women verbally attacked her first, allegedly saying: 'Get back in your house, b***h or we will kick your a**' She expressed regret at making the comments but says she's not racist and was frustrated about not being able to sell her house amid noise from construction work in the area. She says she came outside after hearing the truck's honking horn and seeing a worker buying lunch there. Valerie claimed the women verbally attacked her first, allegedly saying: 'Get back in your house, b***h or we will kick your a**.' She also blamed a recent death in the family for her go-to reference to the people being from abroad. 'It was just a moment of a very bad choice of words,' she said. 'I regret the comment at the end. It was a flippant comment. It doesn't really reflect who I am. It reflects my frustration.' An outbreak of African swine fever in China could send the price of pork and bacon soaring over the coming months, a British company has warned. York-based procurement firm Beacon said it is likely prices will continue to rise with an increased demand facing European suppliers. It comes after the deadly viral disease began affecting hogs on farms in East Asia last year after it was first detected in China in August. York-based procurement firm Beacon said it is likely bacon prices will continue to rise with an increased demand facing European suppliers. File pic Beacon said its supplier, Bidfood, has found that throughout 2019, German and Dutch bacon suppliers have seen a huge uplift in orders from China. There was an 18% increase in the price of bacon from February to April this year, according to Bidfood, Beacon said, and the market price of pork has risen by 38% in the last four weeks. The company also said another of its suppliers, Brakes, suggested that 30-50% of Chinese pig farms have been affected by the outbreak, which has increased pig prices around the world. Ben Charles, of Beacon, said: 'Brexit has been a driving force behind the price of pork throughout the first quarter of 2019, but the outbreak of African swine fever has mounted pressure on the market. 'The current increased demand that faces European suppliers makes it increasingly likely that prices will continue to rise throughout the rest of the year. 'Beacon will work closely with its leading suppliers to monitor these increases to ensure that demand does not outstrip supply and to mitigate price increases as much as possible.' According to the World Organisation for Animal Health, African swine fever is a 'severe viral disease affecting domestic and wild pigs', with no approved vaccine. 'Responsible for serious production and economic losses', the body said the virus is 'not a risk to human health' and can be spread by live or dead pigs. Vegan activists who post the personal details of farmers and their properties online could face a year behind bars under new laws proposed by Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Morrison has promised to introduce punishments of up to 12 months in jail for people who make it easier for vegan activists to trespass onto farms and abattoirs. Activist group 'Aussie Farms' is under fire after they publicly posted a map and personal details of farms across the country -inciting vegan protests. Scroll down for video Protesters chained themselves to vehicles in Melbourne's central city, bringing peak hour traffic to a halt on Monday morning A number of people also chained themselves to the vehicles that were draped in black and emblazoned with the web address of a vegan film documentary The interactive map lists the location of hundreds of rural properties - including livestock farms, meat-works and dairies. 'They are being targeted in the most mercenary way by an organisation that can only think of itself and not think of the real damage that is being done to the livelihoods of these hard-working Australians,' Mr Morrison said on Wednesday. He promised to introduce laws banning people from inciting criminal activity against farmers, with jail terms up to 12 months. More details of the proposed laws will be announced later today by Attorney General Christian Porter. Morrison's announcement comes after a string of synchronised protests across the country on Monday. More than 100 protesters Melbourne's peak hour traffic to a standstill when they chained themselves to vehicles outside Flinders Street Station. Activists also invaded abattoirs and farms in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland - actions Scott Morrison described as 'un-Australian'. One protester was charged with obstructing an emergency worker and could be jailed for five years. Two 17-year-olds, a 15-year-old and 36 adults were charged with offences relating to obstructing a roadway and resisting police. Vegan protesters who target farmers' homes could face a year in jail under new laws proposed by Prime Minister Scott Morrison Monday's coordinated protests come after a swarm of more than 150 radical animal rights activists stormed a Queensland cattle farm last month. Shocking footage of the protest showed a distressed farmer look on as activists entered the property at Millmerran, 75 kilometres west of Toowoomba. Lot feeder David McNamee later told Daily Mail Australia the vegans' actions were distressing for his family and had put his livestock at risk. Police have warned protesters who plan to repeat Monday's demonstrations that they should change their tactics or they will risk further arrests. The activists didn't just face opposition from police, with a number of hecklers slamming the protest, including a man wearing a clown mask who yelled 'eat more meat'. Vegetable growers have also condemned radical animal rights protesters and called for them to be arrested. AUSVEG said they stand behind farmers across the country, and have thrown their support behind the prime minister's proposal. 'It is appalling that vegan activists attack our fellow agriculture producers and their livelihoods,' AUSVEG CEO James Whiteside said. 'Ausveg is supportive of freedom of choice for Australian consumers.' He said the vegan protests assumed consumers were unable to make an informed decision for themselves. 'The radical views and actions of these individuals are not representative of the community, including those that are vegan.' A desperate search is underway for two missing schoolgirls, who were last seen at a doughnut store two days ago. Andrijanna Simun, 12 and Madison Taylor, 13, were last seen at the Perth shop on Monday about 11.40am. Neither of the girls have returned calls from their parents since they left school in Warnbro, in the city's south on Monday at about 8am. Andrijanna Simun (left), 12 and Madison Taylor (right), 13, were last seen at the Perth doughnut shop on Monday at about 11.40am The two girls are not related but were together when they disappeared, police said. First Class Constable Jade Shepley said both families of the girls were worried. 'We just want to know where they are,' she said. Anyone with information of their whereabouts are urged to contact Mandurah Police, who are conducting the search on 131 444. President Trump is claiming vindication for his dire warnings about illegal immigration as authorities struggle to cope with the influx of migrants pouring across the southern border. Everybody is now acknowledging that, right from the time I announced my run for President, I was 100% correct on the Border, the president tweeted on Tuesday. Remember the heat I took? Democrats should now get rid of the loopholes. The Border is being fixed. Mexico will not let people through! U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehend undocumented migrants after they illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in Mission, Texas on Tuesday Everybody is now acknowledging that, right from the time I announced my run for President, I was 100% correct on the Border, the president tweeted on Tuesday In a subsequent tweet, he wrote: The Democrats must end the loopholes on immigration' In a subsequent tweet, he wrote: The Democrats must end the loopholes on immigration. So easy to solve! Trump was presumably talking about asylum laws that allow migrants to stay in the country while their claims are being processed. Earlier on Tuesday, new data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection indicated that more than 103,000 migrants were arrested or denied at the Mexico border in March, a 35 percent increase over the month before and more than twice as many as the same period last year. About 92,000 of the 103,000 migrants were apprehended between ports of entry, while the remaining 11,000 appeared at ports of entry to claim asylum and were deemed 'inadmissible'. After the new data was released on Tuesday, CBP's Chief of Law Enforcement Operations Brian Hastings told reporters: 'We've arrived at the breaking point.' 'The current situation is unsustainable for border control operations,' he added. Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Patrol Agent Rodolfo Karisch addressed the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday and said a caravan-size influx of migrants comes through his sector each week Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Patrol Agent Rodolfo Karisch spoke at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing the same day and said a caravan-size influx of migrants comes through his sector each week. 'Much media attention has focused on caravans coming across from Central America,' Karisch said. 'But the fact is that RGV is receiving caravan-equivalent numbers every seven days.' The official said his sector has apprehended people from 50 different countries, including China, Bangladesh, Turkey, Egypt and Romania. The steady increase in migrant arrivals, which has been building over the past several months, is driven by a growing number of children and families, especially from Central America. Children and people traveling as families made up 67 percent of those arrested by Border Patrol agents between official ports of entry last month, officials said. The steady increase in migrant arrivals, which has been building over the past several months, is driven by a growing number of children and families, especially from Central America In March 2018, the same category made up one third of arrests. Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with the rising number of Central American migrants attempting to cross the southern border, and his ire has been directed at his own officials, Congress, and Latin American countries, who he says have not done enough to stop their citizens from traveling to the United States. On Sunday, Trump's top homeland security official, Kirstjen Nielsen, said she was stepping down, and a senior administration official said other agency leaders had not done enough to crack down on the surge in immigration. Immigration experts believe more migrants are likely to attempt to cross in the coming months, as numbers typically peak around May. The militant vegan behind protests across Australia has said he became an animal rights activist to make up for his 'white, male, middle-class privilege.' Chris Delforce, the director of animal rights documentary Dominion, runs the group Aussie Farms, which organised a day of national protests on Monday. Melbourne was brought to a standstill by 100 activists sitting on tram tracks while others in rural New South Wales and Queensland invaded farms and chained themselves to abattoir machinery. Chris Delforce (pictured), the director of animal rights documentary Dominion, runs the group Aussie Farms which organised a day of national protests on Monday Mr Delforce, a web developer in his day job, used to volunteer for poverty relief charities and travelled to Zanzibar and Indonesia to promote human rights before turning his hand to animal rights Mr Delforce, a web developer, used to volunteer for poverty relief charities and travelled to Zanzibar and Indonesia to promote human rights before turning his attention to animal rights. In a newspaper interview on Wednesday, he said he felt a duty to help because of his privileged background. 'As a white male in a middle-class upbringing, a lot in life is pretty much handed to me,' Mr Delforce told The Australian. 'As a person who has it pretty easy in life, I think it's my responsibility to do as much as I can to use my opportunities.' Mr Delforce made similar comments at the protests in Melbourne on Monday, saying: 'As someone born into a position of considerable opportunity and privilege, I have a moral opportunity to do whatever I can to help those less fortunate than myself.' Mr Delforce started an interactive map showing farms across the country. It has been slammed by the agriculture minister as an 'attack map' for activists National protest: Dozens of activists chained themselves to machinery at Carey Bros Abattoir at Yangan in remote Queensland and demanded the release of three lambs Born in Canberra, Mr Delforce (centre) has been an activist in Melbourne for nine years and even ran for the Animal Justice Party in last year's Victorian election He is the brains behind the controversial Aussie Farms interactive map, which names and shames livestock farmers and details their addresses, photos and even business numbers Born in Canberra, Mr Delforce has been an activist in Melbourne for nine years and even ran for the Animal Justice Party in last year's Victorian election. He is the brains behind the controversial Aussie Farms interactive map, which names and shames livestock farmers and details their addresses, photos and even business numbers. The organisation - a registered charity - was recently branded a 'despicable attack map for activists' by Agriculture Minister David Littleproud following a spate of vigilante acts against farms. Mr Delforce protested in Melbourne on Monday, telling reporters the event was about 'making as much noise as we can' for animal rights. 'The industry is telling people these animals are being killed ethically, that they are being killed humanely - the reality is... it's the furthest thing from humane,' he said. Taxpayers will be forced to pay for the disruption caused by vegan activists who shut down the Melbourne CBD (pictured) and targeted abattoirs In Melbourne, 39 people were arrested and charged - including a 15 year old - and commuters were left delayed and outraged (pictured) Mr Delforce believes Australians would embrace veganism en masse if they learned the 'inherent cruelty involved, the environmental damage and the detrimental effects on their own health' from meat-eating. On Tuesday, Mr Delforce said farmers should show footage of their animals being slaughtered to make people more aware of animal cruelty. He told Sunrise that farmers should show their pigs being gassed to death so customers can better understand where their food comes from. 'They need to be showing the footage of every single pig going into that chamber screaming and thrashing in agony,' said Delforce. 'The fact is these animals don't want to die.' 'They fight to the very last breath and there are plenty of cruelty-free alternatives. 'We can live happily without killing animals, so why wouldn't we?' Vegan protesters are scaring my cows, says farmer They claim to be animal lovers but Queensland farmer Jason Christensen revealed that vegans protesting on his farm terrified his cows. Cars of vegans turned up to protest on his farm on Monday morning. Three of his cows were so scared they jumped a fence onto the road - and one got caught and tangled. 'We had a couple of yearling heifers in a paddock just beside them and there were getting a bit stirred up,' he told The Project. 'They were a bit scared and didn't know what to think about all of these people standing around,' he said. Advertisement In Melbourne on Monday, 40 vegan activists were arrested and charged - including a 15-year-old - and commuters were left delayed and outraged. Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the protests as 'un-Australian' and said the activists were 'green-collar criminals' who were harming Australian farmers. Victorian Farmers Federation President David Jochinke also slammed the protests during the interview with Sunrise. He said he respected vegans' right to abstain from meat but said they should not disrupt family businesses and force their views on others. 'What we saw yesterday is completely unacceptable,' he said. 'We are open to having a discussion from where your food comes from and we encourage people to do that but we have to get down to the facts here, and that is that we have the world leading practices in agriculture. 'We don't accept anybody who doesn't adhere to the high standards that we have... and targeting farmers and their families is something we won't stand for.' The Morrison government has vowed tougher penalties for the Aussie Farms website after those running it refused to take down a map of farmers' addresses and contact details. A 48-year-old Western Sydney man has been critically injured in a horrific work site accident. Emergency services were called to Bond Crescent in Wetherill Park just before 10.30am on Wednesday after a 1.5 tonne pallet fell from about one-and-a-half metres in the air onto the construction worker. Three ambulances rushed to the scene, and he was taken by road to Liverpool Hospital in a critical condition, with serious injuries to his abdomen and pelvic area. The pallet is believed to have contained glass. Police have set up a crime scene at the work site, with tape seen around an empty pallet, nearby a white hard hat, blue plastic and what appears to be black clothing. A spokeswoman for Liverpool Hospital told Daily Mail Australia the man is in a critical but stable condition on Wednesday afternoon. A man, 48, is fighting for life after a 1.5 tonne pallet fell on him on Wednesday morning The man has serious pelvic and abdominal injuries, and was rushed to Liverpool Hospital (pictured is the scene at Wetherill Park) The pallet is believed to have contained glass (pictured) but was seen empty following the accident The accident comes just nine days after 18-year-old Christopher Cassaniti was killed at his workplace in Macquarie Park. Mr Cassaniti was working at the Lachlan's Line site in Macquarie Park, Sydney, on April 1 when part of the 15-metre high scaffolding 'catastrophically' collapsed on top of him. Mr Cassaniti, who just days earlier had celebrated his 18th birthday, and a 39-year-old colleague were buried under the steel poles. His colleague was pulled from the rubble in a critical condition, but survived the horrific accident. Mr Cassaniti's mother Patrizia, who served coffee at a mobile truck down the road, was on the site within minutes after the disaster and was told her son was trapped. Late on Tuesday night she posted a photo with her 'beautiful boy' on Facebook. She captioned it: 'My Guardian Angel... sooo much pain.' Union bosses believe that human error was the most likely cause. CFMEU national secretary Dave Noonan suggested the scaffolding was either not put up properly or overloaded, but would not be drawn on what exactly he believed had gone wrong. Emails have revealed that workers on the Macquarie Park construction site where 18-year-old Christopher Cassaniti (centre, with his parents) was killed on April 1 by falling scaffolding were warned about the safety of the site He told Daily Mail Australia the day after the accident: 'When scaffolding is used and erected correctly according to specifications, properly maintained and the ties are left in, and it's loaded only in accordance with the safe working loads that are appropriate to its design, then it doesn't fall down. 'Somewhere in that chain, something has gone wrong.' Months earlier, emails purportedly sent from Synergy Scaffolding to the builder, Ganellen, alleged 'lives were at risk' and claimed the danger at the building site was 'starting to get ridiculous', 7News reported. Daily Mail Australia does not suggest Ganellen caused the collapse, which is being investigated by SafeWork NSW. More to come. Ambulance workers said the man, who has not been identified, was taken to Liverpool Hospital in a critical condition The University of South Carolina will award a posthumous degree to Samantha Josephson, a student who was murdered after she mistook her killer's car for an Uber last month. USC Director of Public Relations Jeff Stensland confirmed to ABC4 that Josephson will be honored during a commencement ceremony in May. The 21-year-old was just weeks away from graduating with a political science degree when she was kidnapped and killed. Scroll down for video The University of South Carolina will award a posthumous political science degree to Samantha Josephson, a student who was murdered after she mistook the wrong car for her Uber last month. The 21-year-old was weeks away from graduating with a political science degree when she was killed on March 29 On March 29, Josephson got into a car that she mistakenly thought was her Uber as she was trying to return home from a bar near the USC campus in Columbia, South Carolina. The driver of the black Chevy Impala had the child lock activated to prevent her from escaping the vehicle and then attacked her, inflicting numerous wounds to her head, neck, face, upper body, leg and foot, using a sharp object. Her body was found dumped in Clarendon County, about 65 miles from Columbia, South Carolina by turkey hunters. Her suspected killer Nathaniel Rowland, 24, has been charged with murder and kidnapping. Surveillance images released by the Columbia Police Department show Josephson wearing an orange shirt and black pants and talking on the phone seconds before she disappeared Josephson got into the car seen above, which she and her friends mistakenly believed was the Uber she had ordered A funeral for the beloved college student was held last Wednesday at Congregation Beth Chain in West Windsor, New Jersey, near Josephson's hometown of Robbinsville. Seth Josephson, a cousin, spoke on behalf of the family. Nathaniel David Rowland, 24, was arrested for allegedly killing 21-year-old Samantha Josephson after she got into his car in Columbia at about 1.30am on March thinking it was her Uber ride 'The sadness that is being suffered will never end. It may wane in the future, but it will always leave a hole in the hearts of the fun-loving, generous, kind parents and sister today,' he said according to Patch. 'They don't know and can't contemplate how they can think of the future. 'Education and laws need to be put into place to protect people and the rideshare industry. With the millions of dollars it earns, the Ubers and Lyfts should be compelled to adjust their business model to better assure rider safety,' the statement continued. Family and friends gathered at the congregation to say their goodbyes and a burial is set to follow at Perrineville Cemetery. In the wake of Josephson's death, a bill called the Samantha L. Josephson Ridesharing Safety Act has been introduced in the South Carolina Legislature to require Uber and Lyft drivers to have illuminated signs. The bill also requires that an Uber or Lyft employee who stops working as a driver must return the light to the company, according to South Carolina State Rep. Seth Rose, a co-sponsor of the bill. Friends and family gathered for a candlelight vigil in honor of Samantha's life on March 31 Peers hugged each other and choked back tears as they remembered Samantha's life Her sorority sisters Alpha Gamma Delta laugh as they discuss her memories on Sunday A Returned and Services League club has been caught misleading its members about why it cancelled its upcoming ANZAC Day dawn service. The Glenorie RSL, in north-west Sydney, told members it had to cancel because police refused to authorise the service as it was vulnerable to a terrorist attack. But in fact club secretary Graham Bruce cancelled because members had decided to hold a separate service at a memorial hall and having two would split the community. The Glenorie RSL in north-west Sydney published a community notice (pictured) informing locals that its annual dawn service would not be held this year The Glenorie RSL (pictured), in north-west Sydney, told members it had to cancel because police refused to authorise the service as it was vulnerable to a terrorist attack The RSL published a community notice informing locals its annual service commemorating those who died fighting for Australia would not be held this year. 'Over the last 99 years, the Glenorie and surrounding districts have honoured our fallen from all wars, with a memorial held at dawn on the 25th day of April, the time ANZAC troops began landing at Gallipoli,' the notice attributed to club secretary Graham Bruce said. The notice claimed the police had refused to authorise the dawn service because of 'perceived safety issues' and attendees being 'exposed to vehicular weapons (as used by terrorists overseas)'. 'We all agree that it would pose too great a risk to allow the service to proceed on April 25 without the active support of the police, traffic authorities and Hornsby and Hills Shire Councils,' the notice said. Despite Mr Bruce's claims, New South Wales Police said they received an email from him on March 18 telling them the club would not be organising any events, 2GB reported. 'The intent to hold [the service] at the RSL club fell through when a faction of the community decided to hold their own service at the Memorial Hall,' Mr Bruce said in the email. 'Holding two services would split the community, therefore the RSL sub-branch decided to cancel its support, endorsement and involvement to any dawn service this year. Despite Mr Bruce's claims, New South Wales Police said they received an email from him on March 18 telling them the club would not be organising any events. Pictured: A dawn service in Canberra in 2018 'I sincerely hope that certain community members do not proceed as they planned.' The email is signed off by Mr Bruce. A NSW Police spokesman said the Glenorie RSL 'cancelled the service and advised police they had done so'. Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Glenorie RSL for comment. A man has left behind his birth certificate and a phone full of selfies during a failed attempt to steal a car. Kian Talty, 19, was caught trying to steal a car after breaking into a home in Edmonton, in Cairns' south, on Monday night. But Talty was easily caught by police after he left behind a bag containing the phone and birth certificate, as well as tax documents and a court charge sheet. The Woree man pleaded guilty to burglary and unlawful use of a motor vehicle at the Cairns Magistrates Court Police prosecutor Natalie Keys described the act as 'extremely brazen and incredibly stupid', The Cairns Post reported. The Woree man pleaded guilty to burglary and unlawful use of a motor vehicle at the Cairns Magistrates Court on Tuesday. The 19-year-old has a seven-page criminal record, including five pages from 2017 alone, mainly for burglaries and car thefts, the court heard. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service solicitor Brydie Bilic described Talty's attempted theft as a 'desperate offence'. Magistrate Alan Comans denied Talty bail because he would be an 'unacceptable risk' if he was released. He is due to be sentenced on May 21. A crane has collapsed into a house in Melbourne's inner west, injuring two people. It fell on the unoccupied house on Wednesday afternoon, causing major structural damage. Two men working on the construction site received minor injuries and were treated at the scene. A crane has collapsed into a house in Melbourne 's inner west, injuring two people It fell on an unoccupied neighbouring house on Wednesday afternoon, causing major structural damage The pair are stable, an Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman said. Police were called to the Schild Street site, where a house was being re-located, just before 1pm. Police, along with about 20 fire fighters, are at the scene. An MFB heavy rescue appliance, along with specialist search and rescue operators, are helping and Worksafe is investigating. An MFB heavy rescue appliance, along with specialist search and rescue operators, are helping and Worksafe is investigating Two men working on the construction site received minor injuries and were treated at the scene Advertisement A San Francisco home that once belonged to oil heir William Getty has been sold for a whopping $27million. The 107-year-old five-story mansion, which is 9,700 sq ft, has been completely redone to match the style of the residence when it was built in 1921. It features a glass garage, designed to show off an impressive car collection, and gorgeous sweeping views of the bay - including the Golden Gate Bridge. A San Francisco home that once belonged to oil heir William Getty has been sold for a whopping $27million this month The 107-year-old five-story mansion, which is 9,700 sq ft, has been completely redone to match the style of the residence when it was built in 1921 A number of the bedrooms feature large windows to show off the incredible sweeping views of the Bay Area All eight bathrooms feature marble flooring with a unique mosaic. There are also six bedrooms in the home, which is located in San Francisco's affluent Pacific Heights neighborhood. Living spaces feature rich walnut floors and the entryway has been designed with Calcutta marble flecked with gold, according to SFGate. One living room has a retractable skylight and there is also a large outdoor terrace that overlooks the San Francisco Bay. The home also has a glass four-car garage that has been designed to show off an impressive car collection to its full potential The kitchen now features a professional 10-burner stove and there is now radiant heat installed throughout the residence All eight bathrooms in the home feature marble flooring with a unique mosaic, such as the one seen in this all-white bathroom While the previous owners wanted the house to resemble its original state as much as possible, they also modernized it. The kitchen now features a professional 10-burner stove and radiant heat has been installed throughout the residence. The home has also been reinforced with steel beams, no doubt important in the earthquake-prone Bay Area, and the exterior's original stucco was replaced as well. 'The level of quality employed here is extraordinary,' said real estate agent Ludovico Mazzola. 'The home was preserved and updated and wasn't hacked to look like a modern monster.' One of the living rooms in the home features an incredible retractable skylight, in addition to those gorgeous Bay views And there is an outdoor terrace as well when the California weather is too good to stay indoors for the day (pictured) While the previous owners wanted the house to resemble its original state as much as possible, they also modernized it Mazzola said the home is a perfect example on how to preserve iconic San Francisco buildings. 'So many of these homes come on and they're not fully redone and they have only a few renovated rooms,' he said. 'The idea was to do a major overhaul as these homes deserve. They're icons of San Francisco, and often they're dilapidated.' William Getty, the grandson of billionaire industrialist J. Paul Getty, purchased the home with his socialite wife Vanessa for $11.5million in 2002. Living spaces in the home feature rich walnut floors (pictured) and the entryway has been designed with Calcutta marble flecked with gold There are also six bedrooms in the home, which is located in San Francisco's affluent Pacific Heights neighborhood The home's initial selling price was set at $30million in June and was officially listed for $29million in February William Getty, the grandson of billionaire industrialist J. Paul Getty, purchased the home with his socialite wife Vanessa (both pictured) for $11.5million in 2002 They sold the home in 2015 for $12.5million to Enrique Landa, a San Francisco-based real estate developer who wanted to renovate and then sell the residence. The home's initial selling price was set at $30million in June and was officially listed for $29million in February. The name of the new owner has not been released. Mazzola would only disclose that the buyer pool consisted of 'people in tech and venture capital'. This is just the 17th time in San Francisco's history that a home has been sold between $20million and $39million. An Australian teenager is fighting for his life after he was mauled by a rhinoceros. The 18-year-old and his local tour guide were both injured when the rhino charged at them in Nepal's Chitwan National Park on Monday. Jitu Mahato, a 50-year-old tour guide, was believed to be taking the tourist on a jungle walk when the rhino came after them. The 18-year-old and his local tour guide were both injured when the rhino charged at them in Nepal's Chitwan National Park on Monday Security, officials and other guides reached the duo shortly after and called emergency services. The injured tourist and guide were airlifted to Mediciti Hospital in Kathmandu for the treatment, a spokesman from Chitwan District Police Office told local news outlet Xinhua. The incident occurred 160km south of the country's capital Kathmandu. The national park is known for offering an array of elephant adventures and jungle safaris. The spokesman said 'the Australian national is presently in a very critical condition.' A morbidly obese man who abused and threatened Virgin airline staff over the phone won't go to jail - because he needs to lose weight. Paranormal investigator Kade Jones, 49, pleaded guilty in the Brisbane District Court on Wednesday morning to two counts of using a carriage service to harass. In June 2017, Jones abused and threatened staff at the airline, leaving them feeling scared, upset, belittled and degraded. In June 2017, Kade Jones (pictured) abused and threatened staff at the airline, leaving them feeling scared, upset, belittled and degraded The court heard Jones taunted a call service operator from the Philippines, and threatened an operator from Brisbane with legal action after he was transferred through to her. Commonwealth prosecutor Sam Hill told the court Jones - who works as a ghost hunter - had already been placed on a watchlist with the airline. He was banned from flying with Virgin in 2010 after he made a number of calls to the company. He had also had been convicted of similar offences on three other occasions dating back to 1998. But, Jones barrister Rob Glenday argued that prison would be too difficult for him due to his complicated obesity. He avoided jail time, but Judge Loury said if he harassed people over the phone again he would be sent behind bars regardless of his weight He submitted medical documents which said Jones needed to lose weight to get below 250kg before he could have an operation to assist with medical conditions. In sentencing, Judge Vicki Loury slammed Jones actions as offensive, threatening and racist. She said Jones had shown no contrition and provided no explanation for abusing the airline staff. She sentenced him to 12 months prison, but he's been released on a $2000 good behaviour recognisance for five years. Judge Loury said if he harassed people over the phone again he would be sent behind bars regardless of his weight. A man and a woman have been charged after allegedly having sex on the back seat of a bus, in the latest instance of hanky panky on public transport. It was broad daylight last Friday when the man, 23, from Windale and his female partner, 31, boarded the bus at Charlestown, about two hours' drive from Sydney. But a standard trip from point A to point B escalated quickly after 9.50am when police allege the pair 'engaged in sexual activity'. The disgusted driver ordered them to stop what they were doing and alight the bus at Warners Bay. The pair had not traveled far when they were kicked off the bus for allegedly having sex Police said the pair allegedly ended their romp but the man is accused of spitting at the driver on the way out. Their adventure wasn't quite finished and the pair attempted to board a second local bus. They were refused entry because the driver had already heard about their alleged romp. Police allege the pair then became aggressive. The man is accused of walking in front of the bus and 'attempting to remove the windscreen wipers'. The man was charged with affray, common assault, intimidation, offensive conduct and malicious damage. He was refused bail. New South Wales police allege a bus much like this was the scene of a daytime romp Wollongong man Shane Brennan received a criminal conviction for a train sex act last year A woman was charged with offensive conduct and inciting the commission of crime. She face court in May. Wollongong man Shane Brennan famously received a criminal conviction and a $700 fine for receiving oral sex on a train in March 2018. Shortly after his day in court, Mr Brennan asked Daily Mail Australia: 'How can you be so lucky and unlucky in the one day?' Boeing Co's legal troubles grew on Tuesday as a new lawsuit accused the company of defrauding shareholders by concealing safety deficiencies in its 737 MAX planes before two fatal crashes led to their worldwide grounding. The proposed class action filed in Chicago federal court seeks damages for alleged securities fraud violations, after Boeing's market value tumbled by $34billion within two weeks of the March 10 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX. Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg and Chief Financial Officer Gregory Smith were also named as defendants. Scroll down for videos Tuesday a new lawsuit accused Boeing of defrauding shareholders by concealing safety deficiencies in its 737 MAX planes. Max 8 jets, built for American Airlines, left, and Air Canada are parked adjacent to a Boeing Co. production facility in Renton, Washington on Monday Boeing 737 Max 8 built for Jet Airways as another made for Shenzhen Airlines stands behind at a Boeing Co. production facility. Orders and deliveries plunged in the first quarter as the plane was grounded. Boeing disclosed Tuesday that it received no new orders for the Max in March Boeing spokesman Charles Bickers had no immediate comment. According to the complaint, Boeing 'effectively put profitability and growth ahead of airplane safety and honesty' by rushing the 737 MAX to market to compete with Airbus SE , while leaving out 'extra' or 'optional' features designed to prevent the Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air crashes. It also said Boeing's statements about its growth prospects and the 737 MAX were undermined by its alleged conflict of interest from retaining broad authority from federal regulators to assess the plane's safety. Richard Seeks, the lead plaintiff, said Boeing's compromises began to emerge after the Ethiopian Airlines crash killed all 157 onboard, five months after the Lion Air crash killed 189. Richard Seeks, the lead plaintiff, said Boeing's compromises began to emerge after the Ethiopian Airlines crash killed all 157 onboard Indonesian investigators inspect wreckage recovered from Lion Air Flight JT 610 at the Tanjung Priok port on November 3, 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia. All 189 passengers were killed A line of Boeing 737 fuselages, eventually bound for Boeing's production facility, sit on flatcar rail cars at a rail yard Tuesday in Seattle Seeks said he bought 300 Boeing shares in early March, and sold them at a loss within the last two weeks. The lawsuit seeks damages for Boeing stock investors from January 8 to March 21. Shareholders often file lawsuits accusing companies of securities fraud for concealing material negative information that causes the stock price to decline upon becoming public. Chicago-based Boeing faces many other lawsuits over the crashes, including by victims' families and by participants in its employee retirement plans. Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg (pictured left) and Chief Financial Officer Gregory Smith (right) were also named as defendants Boeing said on Tuesday that aircraft orders in the first quarter fell to 95 from 180 a year earlier, with no orders for the 737 MAX following the worldwide grounding. On April 5, it said it planned to cut monthly 737 production to 42 planes from 52, and was making progress on a 737 MAX software update to prevent further accidents. The case is Seeks v Boeing Co et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, No. 19-02394. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont will unveil a new version of his 'Medicare for All' plan on Wednesday, shaking up the 2020 presidential election by reopening the debate over his call to eliminate private health insurance. Republicans are already sharpening their knives. One Capitol Hill aide to a senior senator told DailyMail.com on Wednesday: 'This ought to be fun. I can just see the ads now: "If you like your plan, you can't keep your plan".' Four of Sanders' fellow senators and rivals for the Democratic nomination are set to sign onto the updated single-payer health care proposal. The bill's reintroduction promises to shine a bright light on Democratic presidential candidates' disparate visions for the long-term future of American health care. Under fire from President Donald Trump and Republicans for the astronomical price tag of Medicare for All, some candidates who support the plan tout it as one of several ways to achieve more affordable coverage and lower the number of uninsured. And others who don't back it are instead focusing on safeguarding popular provisions of the Affordable Care Act, such as the one that protects coverage of pre-existing conditions. Sen. Bernie Sanders is trying to carve out healthcare reform as his signature 2020 presidential campaign issue, introducing an amped-up version of a Medicare For All Sanders has been pushing for a government-run 'single payer' system for years; he's pictured alongside New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in 2017 introducing an ill-fated Senate bill on a 'Medicare for All' proposal 'Of course, our No. 1 goal should be to make sure we keep in place those protections so people don't get kicked off their insurance,' Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat who isn't signed onto Sanders' bill, told reporters Tuesday. 'Then we also have to see the Affordable Care Act as a beginning and not an end.' Klobuchar supports a so-called public option, versions of which would allow Americans to buy into Medicare or Medicaid. Four other Democratic senators also running for president - Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand - back Sanders' single-payer plan, which would replace the current mix of private and government health insurance in the U.S. with a new system run by the government. But they have also signed onto at least one version of a public option. Warren pointed to 'a lot of different pathways' to universal coverage during a televised CNN town hall last month. 'What we're all looking for is the lowest cost way to make sure that everybody gets covered.' The debate is unfolding in the early stages of a Democratic primary in which some candidates have pointed to their support of Medicare for All to prove their progressive bona fides. But other Democratic contenders, including former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, have criticized Sanders' measure as politically infeasible. Under Medicare for All, Americans would no longer pay premiums or face insurance deductibles as the government-run system replaced private health insurance offered through employers, the mainstay of coverage for more than 160 million Americans. Big tax increases would be needed to finance such a system. The transition is likely to be complicated, dismantling the private health insurance industry and making major changes for hospitals, doctors, drug companies and other medical providers. 'What our system does is get rid of insurance companies and drug companies making billions of dollars in profit every single year,' Sanders told CBS News for an interview set to air Wednesday, adding that private insurance would largely exist solely for elective medical care such as cosmetic surgery. With Sanders' idea returning to the forefront, Republicans have a fresh opportunity to slam his plan as too costly and unworkable. 'So-called 'Medicare for All' means private insurance for none, kicking 180 million Americans off of their current plans,' said Kayleigh McEnany, spokeswoman for Trump's re-election campaign. ''Medicare for all' is a euphemism for government takeover of healthcare, and it would increase wait times, eliminate choice, and raise taxes.' She touted Trump's 'free market policies' as a better alternative. Trump has said he will take up health care after next year's election, essentially making it a central campaign issue. And his administration is arguing in court for the full eradication of the Affordable Cart Act, former President Barack Obama's signature health care law. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., warned in a Tuesday floor speech that the cost of Sanders' proposal 'is so steep that even left-leaning analysts are quietly admitting that the tax burden is virtually certain to land on the shoulders of the middle class.' Republicans are sharpening their knives at the prospect of running against a government takeover of medical insurance; 'This ought to be fun,' a Republican Senate aide said Wednesday: 'I can just see the ads now: "If you like your plan, you can't keep your plan"' Sanders' office released a paper outlining options to pay for his last version of Medicare for All, estimated to cost upwards of $1 trillion per year, although none of those options was included in the legislation itself. He and other supporters of Medicare for All have generally sidestepped the question of how they would pay for their plan. Instead, they say it offers the best chance for the nation to get control over health care costs by eliminating profiteering. His newest edition of the bill would also cover long-term care, an unmet need for most middle-class families. Several independent studies of Medicare for All have estimated that it would dramatically increase government spending on health care, in the range of about $25 trillion to $35 trillion or more over a 10-year period. But a recent estimate from the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst suggests that the cost could be much lower. Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, noted the emphasis by most Medicare for All supporters on 'multiple pathways' to universal coverage as a potential point of contrast and 'fodder for debate' with Sanders. In the absence of former Vice President Joe Biden, who has yet to launch a candidacy, Sanders is leading the Democratic field in early fundraising and campaigning as a front-runner. 'I think it really matters what you say to voters. That's the most important thing,' Tanden said. Her group has proposed a more robust version of the public option known as 'Medicare for America,' which is supported by former Texas congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke. Earlier this year, a poll from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation found that Americans like the idea of Medicare for All but that support flips to disapproval if it would result in higher taxes or longer waits for care. The poll found initial support of 56% to 42%. But support fell to 26% when people were told Medicare for All could lead to delays in getting care and to 37% when they were told it could mean higher taxes. William H. Macy didn't appear to be too concerned Tuesday about his wife's possible 10-month prison sentence over the college cheating scandal. The actor, 69, appeared to be planning some home improvements as she stopped by Anawalt Lumber Hardware store in Los Angeles, California for a spot of shopping. Macy was spotted grinning as he held a tray of plants in the nursery section, just one day after his spouse Felicity Huffman pleaded guilty after operation Varsity Blues. William H. Macy was seen smiling while shopping at Anawalt Nursery for plants and hose pipes Tuesday, a day after wife Felicity Huffman pleaded guilty in the college cheating scandal Shameless actor carried items to his vehicle as staff helped him around in Los Angeles Shameless star Macy concealed his eyes with dark sunglasses and covered part of his face with a wide-brim straw hat. He removed his circular frames at one point as her emerged from the store carrying a red water hose on each arm. But the screen favorite - who plays Frank Gallagher on the Showtime comedy series - didn't appear to get too much attention as he paraded around in a casual blue shirt and jeans. His appearance was despite many parents and students having expressed their anger at the 50 indicted for allegedly being involved in bribery to get children into prestigious colleges. Macy seemed to get all the help he needed carrying items to his vehicle from staff. He appeared to be sprucing up his home as he shopped in a straw hat and sunglasses He got to grips with his purchases at the hardware store, even removing his sunglasses and revealing his identity at one point The TV star attracted just minimal attention as he spent money on new items for the outdoors He's father to Sofia Grace, Georgia Grace and William H Macy III, but there was no sign of his family. In a statement, Desperate Housewives actress Huffman said she had 'betrayed' her oldest daughter, Sofia, by paying $15,000 to have someone else alter her SAT results to improve her chances of getting into a good school. 'I am ashamed of the pain I have caused my daughter, my family, my friends, my colleagues, and the educational community,' she said via a statement. 'I want to apologize to them and, especially, I want to apologize to the students who work hard every day to get into college, and to their parents who make tremendous sacrifices to support their children and do so honestly. 'My daughter knew absolutely nothing about my actions and in my misguided and profoundly wrong way, I have betrayed her. This transgression towards her and the public I will carry for the rest of my life. 'My desire to help my daughter is no excuse to break the law or engage in dishonesty.' He dressed casually in a blue shirt , jeans and Nike sneakers while picking up new purchases Screen star Macy didn't seem too concerned about his family's current legal troubles The TV star agreed to plead guilty on Monday to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud, a felony which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars. In return for her admission of guilt, federal prosecutors lowered the sentence drastically. Her plea agreement, which emerged on Tuesday, reveals how prosecutors are viewing her crime and its seriousness. Federal charges are rated on a scale of one to 43 for seriousness and that is what informs how long a sentence a defendant receives. Felicity Huffman exits the John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse in Boston last week as she faces charges in a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal Huffman's crime has been rated as a level nine crime which, because she has no criminal history, carries a sentence of between four and 10 months behind bars. It remains to be seen if that is exactly how long she will be jailed for. She will return to court May 24 for sentencing. In addition to jail time, she must pay $20,000, any restitution that the court decides upon and she will spend a year on supervised release. Huffman and 13 other wealthy defendants in the college bribery scam pleaded guilty on Monday and are likely to receive less than a year in prison. A California father who was arrested for allegedly shooting dead the mother of his young son during a custody exchange at a local police station has been charged with first-degree murder. The charge against Jacob Munn, 30, was announced on Tuesday by prosecutors in Los Angeles, KTLA-TV reported. Munn was also charged with possession of a firearm by a felon as well as other weapons-related offenses. If convicted of murder, Munn faces either life in prison or the death penalty. Jacob Munn, 30 (left), has been charged with murder in the shooting death of the mother of his son, 27-year-old Brenda Renteria (right), during a custody exchange Munn shared a photo of his son warning that he would 'never give up on you' The couple's 17-month-old son (pictured in a photo shared on Facebook by his father a week ago) escaped unharmed The Los Angles County District Attorney's Office has yet to decide whether to pursue the death penalty. Police say Munn killed the 27-year-old mother of his child, Brenda Renteria, with a shotgun in front of the Hawthorne police headquarters on Sunday. Renteria died at the scene. A relative of the victim, who witnessed the shooting, was seen breaking down crying in scene pictures as she was comforted by an officer. Munn, who has a violent criminal history, initially fled but was arrested in Hawthorne later that night following a manhunt. The couples 17-month-old son was present at the shooting but was not physically hurt. He was reportedly inside the police station at the time. The child has been taken into protective custody. I have 30 years with the department and Ive never seen anything like this before, Lt. Scott Hoaglund said in a press conference on Sunday, according to KCAL. Typically a police station is a safe place for people to make a child exchange and I would still recommend that people do that. A week before the tragedy, Munn posted on his Facebook page a photo of his son and wrote in the caption: 'No matter what i will never give up on you...#RoyalMunnFamily #Family1st #NothinbutLOVE.' On the day of the killing, he posted a cryptic status update that consisted of a single word: '.SOLID.' A relative of the victim, who witnessed the shooting, was seen breaking down crying in scene pictures as she was comforted by an officer The suspect reportedly used a shotgun to kill his ex, after which he fled from the scene, sparking a manhunt Two days prior, he posted on his page: '.STRONG.' According to investigators, Renteria had gone to the police station on Hawthorne Boulevard to pick up her son from the child's father. The mother had asked her family to come with her to the exchange because she feared Munn, KCAL reported. Munn operates a moving business in Temecula. Pictured on the right is his son as a baby On the day of the killing, he posted a cryptic status update that consisted of a single word: '.SOLID.' Two days prior, Munn posted on his Facebook page: '.STRONG.' While standing outside the lobby of the police headquarters, the parents began arguing. At some point during the exchange, Munn allegedly produced a shotgun and fired on Renteria, killing her just steps away from the front door of the police station. He then jumped back in his black Chevy pickup truck and sped off, police said. The vehicle, with a small cross hanging off the rear-view mirror, was later found abandoned in a Dennys parking lot half a mile south of the police station, but the suspect was nowhere to be found. The man's abandoned pickup truck was found half a mile south of the police station (pictured) Jacob Munn was found at 9pm Sunday not far from where his pickup truck was located It took police about three hours to track down Munn, who was taken into custody in the 4400 block of 134th street in Hawthorne, not far from where his pickup truck was found, at around 9.15pm. He is being held at the Los Angeles County Jail without bail, according to prosecutors. Munn has a prior criminal record that included an arrest in December 2017 on a charge of battery on a former companion A relative of the slain mother told NBC Los Angeles she and the father of her son had decided to meet in Hawthorne because it was a middle ground between their respective places of residence. 'I do not know if there was a restraining order in place, or if this was just an agreed upon location for them to make the exchange,' Los Angeles County Sheriffs Lt. Scott Hoglund told reporters Sunday. 'I do not know if there were any court papers involved in this.' Online records indicate that Munn has a prior criminal record that included an arrest in December 2017 on a charge of battery on a former companion. Munn is the owner of a moving business registered in Temecula, California, called Lionspaw Movers. His business' website states that Munn has worked as a mover for the past eight years. A call to a phone number associated with Munn's moving company went straight to voicemail Monday afternoon. An Irish couple who have been living in Australia for ten years face deportation after their son was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, and the potential cost of his treatment led to the rejection of their application for permanent residency. Anthony and Christine Hyde, from Dublin, migrated in 2009 and are living in the town of Seymour, Victoria, along with their son Darragh, three, who was born in Australia. Mr Hyde is a part-time bus driver while Ms Hyde is an assistant principal at the local primary school. Anthony and Christine Hyde moved from Dublin in 2009 and are living in a small town of Seymour, Victoria, with their son The couple met the criteria for a skilled visa and were able to apply for permanent residency in 2015. While undergoing medical tests as part of the application Darragh was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. The family then had their application rejected because if Darragh needs a lung transplant it would cost taxpayer money. The couple appealed the decision as their son was taking medication called Kalydeco, covered under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). 'It's made a huge difference. He has never had any hospital admissions and he doesn't go to the doctors any more or less than any other three-year-old,' Ms Hyde told Nine News. However, he was still seen as a 'burden' due to his reliance on the PBS-funded medication. They faced being deported because their son was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and treatment could cost taxpayer money The couple are set to appeal their case to the Administrative Review Tribunal on April 30. They have also set up a petition, which has almost 6,000 signatures and they hope to draw attention to their story and avoid being deported. 'Please sign and help us ask the Minister to let our son stay in Australia,' they said. A spokesperson from the Department of Home Affairs said: 'For certain visas, primary criteria for the grant of the visa requires that all members of a family unit satisfy certain requirements. 'If one of the members of a family unit does not satisfy these requirements, then the primary applicant will not meet the criteria for the grant of the visa.' Meanwhile more than 30 criminals ranging from a wife murderer and sex offenders to armed robbers and drug traffickers have been allowed to stay in Australia, despite having their visas cancelled. Over the last 10 months, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) has overturned 34 decisions made by delegates for the Home Affairs and Immigration ministers involving serious offenders. Meanwhile more than 30 criminals ranging from a wife murderer and sex offenders to armed robbers and drug traffickers have been allowed to stay in Australia, despite having their visas cancelled Among those given the green light, are Kenyan-born killer Paul Jason Margach, who was jailed after he repeatedly stabbed his wife Tina in front of one of their young children at their Melbourne home in 2004. Convicted African-born sex offender Malipo Muyobe also had his visa cancellation overruled, as did an unnamed Chinese triad organised crime gang member jailed for 13 years for trafficking a commercial quality of ecstasy and possession of ice. Mauritian stalker Jean Marie Amoorthum, who was convicted of stalking and threatening a young female with a knife, also had his cancellation overturned. Statistics from AAT's latest annual report show that the tribunal only affirmed 35 per cent, or 4,432, of the migration visa decisions made by ministerial delegates in 2017-18. The latest cases are on top of 164 criminals saved from deportation by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal between 2010 and 2018. Out of the previous cases, eight were convicted of murder, 23 were found guilty of armed robbery, 33 were drug dealers, 17 were rapists and eight were convicted of murder. This is the moment a brazen thief cons her victim by asking for directions before snatching her gold necklace as she pretends to hug her. Footage shows a young woman - travelling as a passenger in a dark Mazda saloon - approach the victim in a quiet street in Ealing, west London. After speaking to her through the car window, the thief gets out and puts her arms around the woman's neck to restrain her before swiping the jewellery in broad daylight and escaping in the car - MyLondon reports. The woman drapes her hands around the victim's neck in Ealing, west London, before making off with her necklace Police have warned local residents about the brazen new 'hugging' scam being used by gangs to target elderly and vulnerable people in the capital. Video of the incident - which began circulating on social media last week - shows the victim leaning towards the open rear passenger window as the thief apparently asks for directions. The elderly lady points down the road then waves goodbye as she resumes her walk along the footpath. As she hugs the elderly woman, the woman yanks her necklace off her neck after placing her hands around the victim's neck The woman (pictured in red) is seen here stepping out of the car to ask for directions from an elderly woman (left) The woman gets back into her car after pulling the necklace from her victim while pretending to hug her The young woman - wearing a red cardigan and blue jeans - then gets out of the vehicle and tries to shake the woman's hand before giving her a hug. She asks the old lady again for directions but things take a more sinister turn as the thief appears to offer her some sort of trinket. When she declines, the thief puts her arms around the victim's neck from behind and begins unclasping her necklace. The elderly woman tries to resist but is easily overpowered by the thief, who scurries back to the car and flees with the jewellery. Social media viewers were incensed by the footage. Parmjit Singh wrote: 'Watching that makes my blood boil. Love to catch them doing that.' Das Umbelina said: 'People have no respect. Get so angry when this happens.' Darren Paul asked: 'What the hell is wrong with people?' The Metropolitan Police has been approached for comment. A woman was left in horrific pain when a long-line-fisherman hooked in to her foot and started to reel her in, unaware he had a human on the other end. Emmeline Taylor said she was swimming with a friend at Ohope Beach in New Zealand when she felt like she had been bitten by a crab. 'I lifted my foot up and saw, to my horror, this big hook was caught deep in my foot near where my tendon goes to my ankle,' she told the NZ Herald. The longline fisherman 500m away began reeling in the line with an electric winch while the tide pulled her out to sea, doubling the pain. Her quick thinking friend broke the line line off and the horrified fisherman soon arrived to help and found Ms Taylor in horrible pain from her injury. A woman has been left in horrific pain after a long-line-fisherman hooked in to her foot and started to reel her in, unaware he had a person 'They were absolutely horrified. No long-liner wants to mutilate or catch a swimmer,' Ms Taylor said. Ms Taylor was unable to walk and was carried out of the water by her friend who took her to hospital. After a short stay in hospital, Ms Taylor is still recovering from her injuries and worries about the potential dangers from long line fishing. 'It could have easily been an eye; it could've easily popped out an eye. Or it could've been a little kid, it could've hooked their leg or their chest.' She said she would like to see regulations put in place at Whakatane District Council about where people could longline and swim safely. Nearby Tauranga City Council enacted bylaws last year that bans longline fishing between 10am and 5pm from December 15 to February 15 every year. It is also banned within 300 metres of any flagged lifeguard area. Whakatane District Council manager of public affairs Ross Boreham said that district councils have responsibility to the low water mark but beyond that is regional council jurisdiction. 'Our Places and Open Spaces team has given some thought to this and do not favour a bylaw, which would be difficult to enforce, but suggest that there is a duty of care for all beach users to take reasonable care that their activities do not adversely affect other users,' he said. NZ Sport Fishing has guidelines in place for longline fishing including mainatinaing a 500m clearnace from flagged areas, however, these guidelines are not law. Doctor Michael Farrell refused to provide police with a blood sample due to his 'fear of needles' An NHS doctor who was caught five times over the limit during a roadside breathalyser test refused to give a blood sample due to his phobia of needles. Doctor Michael Farrell was stopped in his car by police after officers suspected he had been drink-driving. The 45-year-old was then taken to police custody in Stockton-on-Tees where he refused to provide officers with a blood sample, claiming that a fear of needles was a 'reasonable excuse' to refuse them. Teesside Magistrates' Court was shown body camera footage of the GP in custody at 1.16am, minutes after his arrest in the early hours of January 6. Farrell continuously refuses the sample and a police constable tells him he is not 'thinking clearly' and is 'drunk'. He then goes on to warn Farrell that he would lose his licence if he didn't submit a sample. However Farrell, a former RAF medical officer, then demands to have 'legal representation' in the room before officers advise him that the process cannot be delayed while a solicitor is called. The clip shows the pair's 15-minute dialogue in a police station medical room, as a health care professional looks on. The officer says: 'You're heavily intoxicated. We're going round in circles.' Teesside Magistrates' Court was shown body camera footage of the GP in custody at 1.16am, minutes after his arrest in the early hours of January 6 Farrell is then hauled to the custody desk, before claiming he has a 'massive issue with needles.' He adds: 'I'm not refusing to provide a sample, I'm refusing to provide a blood sample because it involves pain.' The exchange ends with the officer asking: 'Are you willing now to provide a sample?' Farrell replied: 'Without legal representation, the answer is no.' The officer tell Farrell that he has had his chance before telling a colleague that 'there's only so many chances you can give someone when they are drunk.' Farrell (pictured above) said he was unwilling to provide a blood sample without having legal representation He told his colleague a roadside breathe test reading of 127 micrograms in 100 millilitres of breath - almost four times the UK drink driving limit. Farrell's solicitor, Michael Robinson, told the court: 'He didn't indicate he had refused, the police indicated he had refused.' He said that 'failures' by the police and his client's fear of needles would be used in his defence. But he admitted: 'The medical records don't specifically indicate that the fear exists.' The trial was adjourned by District Judge Tim Capstick to reconvene on May 14. Farrell is currently a partner in a Stockton-based NHS practice and a 'regional GP' for Virgin Healthcare. The court heard that he previously worked as an RAF medical officer, serving deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. President Donald Trump spoke on the phone with the Saudi Crown Prince - despite the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the country's Turkish embassy. Trump had a 'productive conversation' with Mohammed bin Salman about Middle East stability last night, according to a White House statement, reports Bloomberg. It added: 'They discussed Saudi Arabia's critical role in ensuring Middle East stability, maintaining maximum pressure against Iran, and the importance of human rights issues.' The news comes just a day after the U.S. State Department barred entry to 16 Saudi nationals over what it described as their role in the killing of the Washington Post columnist. Dissident writer Khashoggi was killed and dismembered October 2 in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a team of 15 agents sent from Riyadh, sparking unprecedented international scrutiny of the kingdom's human rights record. President Donald Trump spoke on the phone with the Saudi Crown Prince, pictured together in March 2018, despite the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the country's Turkish embassy But despite the fact that the Crown Prince was named as 'responsible' for the murder by the Senate, the Trump has refused to publicly take a stand against the country's de facto ruler. Trump has instead emphasized that Riyadh is a major arms importer for the United States and an important regional ally against Iran. A statement by the State Department listed the 16 individuals and said that they had been designated under the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act. The State Department previously revoked the visas of nearly two dozen Saudi officials and froze the assets of 17 others. After initially denying the murder, Riyadh said the operation was carried out by agents who were out of control. A trial of 11 suspects opened earlier this year in Saudi Arabia. But much of the case remains shrouded, including the precise role of Prince Mohammed. Republicans and Democrats alike have bristled over the White House's apparent embrace of the kingdom and its leadership, and have escalated their opposition to Saudi Arabia. Advertisement Britain is now heading for a humiliating Halloween Brexit after EU leaders ignored Theresa May and gave her until October 31 to pass her deal at a crunch summit that ended at 2am today. Mrs May had begged EU leaders to postpone Britain's departure until June 30 while she talks to Jeremy Corbyn - but this was rejected, leaving the PM in a precarious position having repeatedly said she could not 'countenance' Britain staying in the EU after that date. But the Prime Minister was handed a slim lifeline with the 27 states adding a 'flextension' ensuring the UK can leave earlier if she can convince MPs to pass a Brexit deal - but Brussels will not reopen the Withdrawal Agreement and change the Irish backstop to make that easier. The six-month extension will be accompanied by a technical review in June - described as a 'sop' for French President Emmanuel Macron who was slapped down by his colleagues after calling for punishing conditions and a short extension to be imposed on the UK. Speaking in Brussels at 2am Mrs May insisted the Halloween extension leaves the door open to the UK leaving as early as next month if she is able to get her deal through Parliament at the fourth time of asking. She said: 'What we have agreed means that we can actually leave the European Union before June 30. 'I know that there is huge frustration from many people that I had to request this extension. The choices we now face are stark, and the timetable is clear. So we must now press on at pace with our efforts to reach consensus on a deal which is in the national interest.' Asked if she owed the country an apology for not securing Brexit by now, Mrs May replied: 'Over the last three months I have voted three times to leave the European Union. 'If sufficient members of Parliament had voted with me in January we would already be out of the European Union'. But she added that she would she would seek more talks with Jeremy Corbyn today - but would not be drawn on when she planned to quit as former leader Iain Duncan Smith said she must stick to her promise to resign next month while veteran Brexiteer MP Sir Bill Cash said Mrs May must go immediately. Mrs May told reporters after the gruelling late-night summit that she still believed the UK could leave the EU by June and gave no indication that she planned to resign as the EU imposed a Halloween Brexit delay European Union Council President Donald Tusk urged Britain not to 'waste' the extension while European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was among those who smacked down Macron over his wish to punish Britain This morning Sir Tim Barrow wrote to Donald Tusk confirming that Britain would be accepting the extension offered last night The Prime Minister insisted she believed it was still possible to leave before May 23 and avoid taking part in European Elections that would cost the taxpayer up to 108million. Irish premier Leo Varadkar revealed that the UK would be automatically ejected without a deal on June 1 if it refused to elect MEPs. The election takes place almost three years after the referendum vote to leave and taking part will infuriate already incandescent Tory Brexiteers. Mrs May said: 'I do not pretend the next few weeks will be easy or that there is a simple way to break the deadlock in Parliament. 'But we have a duty as politicians to find a way to fulfill the democratic decision of the Referendum, deliver Brexit and move our country forward. Nothing is more pressing or more vital.' The Halloween date is seen as a compromise between the majority of the EU 27 leaders who wanted to delay Brexit until the end of the year or March 2020, and France's Emmanuel Macron, who emerged as a vocal opponent to a long extension. Macron beaten down by EU leaders as he tried to 'humiliate' Britain Macron leaves after punitive rules he wanted to impose on the UK failed Emmanuel Macron was slapped down by his EU colleagues last night after calling for harsh exit terms to be imposed on the UK. He was forced to back down after six hours of talks with EU leaders in which he fought against giving the UK the long extension to Brexit favoured by a majority of member states. He had initially insisted on a delay until the end of May, with the possibility of No Deal if Britain had not resolved the Brexit impasse by then. But after being rounded on by leaders at the Brussels summit, a compromise end date of October 31 was agreed. The French president backed down only after fellow leaders agreed to insert a review clause triggered on June 30 to consider whether Britain is keeping to its pledge not to wreck EU decision-making from within. Macron had argued that the UK be stripped of its privileges but early this morning Donald Tusk said: The UK will continue its sincere cooperation as a full member state, with all its rights, and as a close friend and trusted ally in the future. The summit fudge struck a compromise between member states which wanted a longer extension until the end of the year or early next year, and those who favoured a shorter delay. One diplomat said: Macron was the only one holding out for a short extension. Everybody else was flexible. He was on his own and left isolated. He was holding out for June 30 for a long time. The June review clause was a face-saver for Macron. Advertisement But European Council president Donald Tusk gave Theresa May a glimmer of hope that the UK could leave before October. He told an early-hours press conference that the 'course of action is entirely in the UK's hands'. In a message to Britain he added: 'This extension is as flexible as I expected and a little shorter than I expected. 'But it is still enough to find the best possible solution. Please don't waste this time.' He said Britain still had all the options on Brexit available during the extension, from approving the stalled divorce deal, to changing its leave strategy to cancelling the departure altogether. Leo Varadkar tweeted: 'We'll take stock of situation at our regular summit in June ... UK to take part in (European Elections) or must leave on June 1st without a deal.' The flextension also raises serious question about whether Mrs May will be in office to oversee Brexit, with mutinous MPs demanding she quit as soon as possible and senior figures already swarmiung to replace her. Reuters had earlier quoted a diplomatic source who said Mr Macron wants to actually offer Mrs May roughly what she wants, telling his counterparts a delay past June 30 would undermine the EU. The source suggested the French were being 'annoying, just posturing to show how important and powerful they are'. They added: 'He is in a bit of a schizophrenic situation - (his) domestic audience demands that he is tough on Britain for historic reasons. On the other hand, France is among the most-hit in any no-deal Brexit. It will take hours before we pull him down from his tree.' Sources suggested that as many as 17 of the 27 had wanted a much longer delay. But the October 31 date is a rough half-way compromise between the two. The Maltese prime minister Joseph Muscat confirm the dates on Twitter, saying: 'A Brexit extension until October 31 is sensible since it gives time to UK to finally choose its way. The review in June will allow EU27 to take stock of the situation.' The Prime Minister spent a little more than an hour this evening in a question and answer session at the emergency meeting before being kicked out while they decide the UK's fate over a lavish seafood dinner. She addressed the European Council session in the Belgian capital after president Macron had warned her that he was 'impatient' and that a long Brexit delay was not guaranteed. He appeared to wink today as he arrived in the EU's core - after being urged not to 'humiliate' the Prime Minister. He was set to demand the UK is subjected to a number of punitive conditions with a Christmas deadline to finally quit the trade bloc, but also raised the spectre of a no-deal Brexit, possibly on Friday. Speaking to reporters ahead of the start of the emergency meeting of national leaders he warned that 'nothing is settled', including a long delay, and he was 'impatient' to hear what Mrs May had to say. 'We must understand today why this request, what is the political project which justifies it and what are the clear proposals?' he said. 'It is 34 months since the British referendum, and the key for us is that we are able to pursue the European project in a coherent way. 'I believe deeply that we are carrying out a European rebirth, and I don't want the subject of Brexit to get in the way of that.' The Maltese prime minister confirmed the October 31 date, saying the June review would allow the EU to 'take stock of the situation' Mrs May leaving last night's European Council meeting at the Europa Building in Brussels, after her pitch for a short Brexit delay until June 30 failed Mrs May shared a joke with German chancellor Angela Merkel last night, ahead of the PM's pitch to EU leaders in which she is asking for a delay to Brexit until June 30 at the latest The two national leaders, both dressed in cobalt blue, appeared captivated by something on Mrs Merkel's iPad at the start of the meeting in Brussels They then shared the joke with European Council president Donald Tusk, who saw the funny side. He has suggested that the UK face a Brexit delay of up to a year Mrs May's performance was shorter than the one she gave at the previous Brexit summit in March, where she spoke for more than 90 minutes before EU leaders dismissed her request. An EU official later told Reuters that the 'sense is May is open to a longer extension as long as it can be terminated early' and her address had been 'more solid than usual, though not many specifics' in it. She used her own arrival in Brussels this afternoon to lash MPs for refusing to pass the Brexit deal, complaining 'we should have left by now', but dodged questions about her own future. German Chancellor Angela Merkel - whose mother Herlind Kasner passed away aged 90 just days ago - wanted a gentler, but longer extension, into 2020 - reflecting splits among the EU27. Arriving at the EU's headquarters the PM refused to say if she would quit if Britain was forced to swallow a longer delay - but insisted her aim is still to leave the EU on May 22 if she can win over Jeremy Corbyn. She said: 'What is important is that any extension enables us to leave at the point at which we ratify our Withdrawal Agreement. I know many people will be frustrated that the summit is taking place at all. The UK should have left by now'. President Macron is also believed to have called for regular 'behaviour reviews' of the UK, a bonfire of its EU powers and posts and a 'Boris-proof' lock preventing a new Tory leader causing havoc within the EU if she stands down, despite warnings from Donald Tusk and Angela Merkel not to poison relations with Britain. Before taking off for Belgium a frustrated Theresa May blasted MPs for not voting through her EU divorce deal after Tory Eurosceptic Henry Smith accusing her of throwing away 1billion-a-month in payment to Brussels if she accepted a longer Article 50 extension. Mrs May hit back: 'We could have been outside the EU by now if we'd managed to get the deal through Parliament and I'm continuing to work to deliver Brexit'. France's President Emmanuel Macron appears to wink as he shakes hands with Belgium's Prime minister Charles Michel as he arrived for a mini summit ahead of a European Council meeting on Brexit Theresa May spoke to the media as she arrived for the summit and expressed her frustration over the need for a Brexit delay because 'the UK should have left by now' EU leaders enjoyed a menu of scallops and cod, followed by a creamy nut dessert, as they discussed the UK's future - while Mrs May waited outside New vote 'within days' if Labour agree a Brexit deal with Theresa May Brexit legislation could be brought back to the Commons in days if the Government can reach a deal with Labour, ministers said last night. Two Cabinet sources told the Mail discussions were under way about the possibility of asking MPs to vote this week on the Withdrawal Agreement Bill in the hope of still leaving the EU next month. Ministers have also reserved the right to shorten the Easter break by asking MPs to sit on Monday and Tuesday next week if a deal looks close. Under one proposal, the Government would agree to allow free votes on key Labour demands, such as a customs union and a second referendum. If passed, these would then be incorporated into Theresa May's deal. But a Whitehall source last night said the 'high-risk' strategy would only be considered if ministers were certain that Labour were signed up to it. 'The problem is that if you put the Withdrawal Bill in front of MPs and they vote it down then you have lost if for this session. You would have to prorogue Parliament to bring it back so it's pretty high-risk.' Advertisement But with talks with Labour set to start again tomorrow, Mrs May and Jeremy Corbyn dodged the subject completely during Prime Minister's Questions. Despite the pressure Mrs May was able to share a joke with Mrs Merkel and Mr Tusk at the start of the Brussels meeting, laughing at pictures on the chancellor's iPad. It later emerged that they were looking at a side-by-side image the German leader and Mrs May wearing jackets of exactly the same colour as they took questions in their respective Parliaments earlier in the day. Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said today that Mrs May should not be allowed to 'drift on' if she accepts the EU's longer delay and must quit before she faces another confidence vote. He said: 'It's almost certain she would lose, it would be humiliating'. But Justice Secretary David Gauke suggested the PM could stay on for up to a year out of a sense of 'duty'. And in more bad news for the PM, a new Kantar opinion poll found the Tories have plunged nine points in a month, which would put Jeremy Corbyn in No 10 if there was a general election. Mrs Merkel told Germany's parliament today that EU leaders may well agree to a delay 'longer than the British prime minister (Theresa May) has requested'. She said she would meet French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of the summit with the aim of hashing out a common stance on the length of a further extension. DUP and Tory Brexiteers to press EU for 'sensible' Brexit deal in Brussels meeting tomorrow Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster has blasted Theresa May, revealing she will lead a quartet of hardline Brexiteers to Brussels tomorrow in search of a 'sensible' Brexit deal. Ms Foster and the party's MEP Diane Dodds will join former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith and ex-Cabinet minister Owen Paterson in travelling to Belgium to meet EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. Their meeting will come the morning after the Prime Minister's own visit to the heart of the EU machine to get a short Brexit extension. Mrs Foster said they would use their meeting to press home 'why we oppose the Withdrawal Agreement'. She suggested they want the EU to reopen the WA, something they have refused to do on numerous occasions, which has been accepted by Mrs May. Mrs Foster said she wanted the EU to make the 'changes outlined by Parliament on 29 January', a reference to the Brady Amendment passed by MPs - which they have previously refused to do. The DUP leader lashed out at the Prime Minister over 'the ham-fisted manner in which the negotiations have taken place', saying: 'Despite the Prime Minister being warned about the opposition to her Withdrawal Agreement, she has limped along and tried to force people into a cul-de-sac where they have no option but to support her deal. 'That is a weak approach and demeans the strength of this great nation. It is also foolish as it traps the UK and burdens future generations with a bad deal.' Advertisement 'I think the extension should be as short as possible. But it should be long enough to create a certain calm so we don't have to meet every two weeks to deal with the same subject.' DUP Westminster leader Nigel Dodds branded the talks 'humiliating and embarrassing' for the UK, and claimed Britain was 'effectively holding out a begging bowl to European leaders'. Tory MP Anne Main has said the UK was becoming a 'laughing stock' and called it 'appalling that we may be seeking an extension with no real sense of purpose'. Brexiteer Labour MP Kate Hoey said: 'It does seem really humiliating for this country to have our Prime Minister going over to the European Union to literally beg for an extension. What is this saying about our country?' During Prime Minister's Questions today Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said discussions were continuing in an attempt to find a compromise Brexit deal - but swiftly moved on. The Prime Minister faced a major Commons revolt last night, with 97 Tory MPs voting against any delay to the April 12 leaving date. Almost 80 more abstained, including a string of ministers. Labour backed the Brexit day delay, helping it pass by 420 votes to 110. But just 131 Tory MPs supported the PM's plan 40 per cent of the parliamentary party. Cabinet ministers Andrea Leadsom and Liam Fox, who both abstained, both publicly questioned the PM's tactics. Mrs Leadsom urged her to ask German chancellor Angela Merkel to reopen the withdrawal agreement despite the EU repeatedly ruling this out. Dr Fox hit out at suggestions Mrs May could agree to keep Britain in a customs union as part of a compromise with Labour. Solicitor general Robert Buckland told MPs the UK would be legally required to take part in European Parliament elections if it was a member state on May 23. But he suggested British MEPs might not have to take their seats if Westminster agreed an exit plan in the coming weeks. Furious Brexiteers say Theresa May must quit NOW as EU delays Brexit until Halloween - despite her vows to fight on for up to a year and take Britain out Theresa May is facing renewed calls to resign from furious Brexiteers after a six-month extension deal was agreed last night at an emergency EU council meeting in Brussels. The delay till Halloween, with a 'review' in June, was a compromise solution thrashed out in five hours of talks in Mrs May's absence, after Emmanuel Macron held out against a longer extension lasting into 2020. The Prime Minister, who has accepted the delay, had hoped to extend Article 50 no later than June 30, and her failure will infuriate hardliners. Veteran Eurosceptic MP Peter Bone was among those calling for Mrs May to step down yesterday, tweeting before the council revealed its decision: 'On the 20th March, at PMQs, I asked the PM about an extension to Article 50. 'She said "As Prime Minister, I could not consider a delay further beyond the 30th June." So, if the PM intends to keep her word, can we expect her resignation later tonight?' Mrs May's future was discussed at a meeting of the executive committee of the Tories' 1922 Committee of backbenchers, with senior MPs calling for her to go before the European Parliament elections on May 23. Meanwhile, rebels are hoping to get around rules preventing a no confidence vote in Mrs May until December by raising a petition of 10,000 members to re-write party rules. But Downing Street sources insist Mrs May will stand by her pledge to cling on to power until her withdrawal agreement is passed by Parliament. She echoed that stance last night, telling a press conference in response to a question about her future: What we have agreed tonight means we can actually leave the European Union before June 30. What we need is an agreement in Parliament that we can get through to enable us to leave. I want us to leave the EU with a deal as soon as possible. This decision enables us to do that. Scroll down for video. Boris Johnson arrives outside the Commons yesterday (left) and Theresa May leaves the European Council meeting on Brexit in Brussels, which last night agreed to extend the Brexit date for six months Veteran Eurosceptic MP Peter Bone was among those calling for Mrs May to step down yesterday, tweeting before the council revealed its decision: 'On the 20th March, at PMQs, I asked the PM about an extension to Article 50 Downing Street sources told The Times: She said she was prepared to stand down as prime minister once we had complete phase one of the negotiations. That is the ratification of the withdrawal agreement. The remains the case. Ultimately she understands the Conservative Party feels the sense that new leadership is required for the second phase of negotiations. In the hours leading up to the emergency meeting, Iain Duncan Smith called on Mrs May to to stand down before the Conservative Party conference in September. The whole thing is an utter car crash... I think the Cabinet has to have a moment with the Prime Minister and say, This cant go on, Im afraid, it really cant go on. DUP leader Arlene Foster, whose party props up the Tories at Westminster, savaged Mrs May's handling of Brexit, saying: 'The Prime Minister should recognise that the decision to leave the EU is not the problem but rather the ham-fisted manner in which the negotiations have taken place.' Tory MPs cannot try and force Mrs May out via a vote of no confidence until December. But rebels will try to exploit a loophole in the Conservative Party constitution which allows rules to be changed with a petition signed by 10,000 members. An unnamed MP last night raised the prospect with their constituency party chairman, writing in a message: Page 71 (Schedule 9) of the party constitution allows the constitution to be changed upon delivery of a petition to the Chairman of the Board with 10,000 member signatures. 'Has this been considered, as a way around the 12-month protection? They are easily that many members who would sign. Other MPs are believed to have sent similar instructions, according to The Telegraph. Last month, the Prime Minister offered to resign in May if MPs passed her Brexit deal. Half the Cabinet is opposed to a long Brexit delaying taking the UK beyond the European Parliament elections on May 23. On Tuesday, only 40 per cent of Tory MPs backed Mrs May's decision to seek a delay. But allies indicated yesterday that Mrs May would try to fight on, saying the pledge was conditional on Parliament backing a deal to take Britain out of the EU. The chairman of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady (pictured leaving Downing Street on Monday) has promised to pass on MPs' concern to Downing Street but has so far ruled out a new confidence vote Mark Francois and Iain Duncan Smith have both spoken in public about the prospect of Mrs May stepping down Justice secretary David Gauke said Mrs May could remain as PM for another year, adding: 'I don't think we should be rushing to change our leader when there is a big task to be done.' Last night there was little sign of an immediate Cabinet move. One minister said: 'We've got to get this done first.' The Prime Minister spent an hour appealing to EU leaders in person last night to agree a short delay to Brexit to avoid the UK leaving without a deal tomorrow. Leaders asked why, after three failed attempts to pass her deal, they should believe she could do it now. She told them that talks with Jeremy Corbyn on a soft Brexit compromise could see a version of her deal finally pass the Commons. Michael Gove is second favourite to win the leadership battle behind Boris Johnson Mrs May was then asked to leave the room while EU leaders decided the UK's fate over a cod and shrimp dinner. EU leaders were divided over tactics, with French President Emmanuel Macron demanding tough conditions on any extended British membership, including Mrs May agreeing to surrender the UK's veto and give up its seat on the European Commission. European leaders have grown concerned about a series of warnings from rebel Tory MPs that Britain would use a delay to try to frustrate the EU's agenda. Tory MP Mark Francois was yesterday lambasted by European Parliament vice president Mairead McGuinness, who told him to 'wise up' after he warned the EU would end up with 'perfidious Albion on speed' if the UK stayed in. Refusing to directly name the ERG vice-chairman, she said: 'That does a disservice to the UK. 'Can you imagine - the world is watching those individuals that I won't name making statements which are truly atrocious if they are democrats and elected. 'They're schoolboy politics and they really should wise-up and behave like politicians. This is far too serious for these type of comments to be made.' Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz joined Mr Macron in pushing for a short delay, arguing it would focus the minds of MPs who pay lip service to respecting the referendum result but refuse to vote for the deal. European Council President Donald Tusk urged leaders to extend Article 50 by a year to 'allow the UK to rethink its Brexit strategy'. Angela Merkel and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also back a long delay. Mr Duncan Smith will join Mrs Foster and former cabinet minister Owen Paterson in Brussels today in a fresh attempt to persuade the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier to drop his controversial Irish backstop plan. From hard Brexiteers to Remainers, the race for Number 10 Dominic Raab 10/1 Age: 46. Former Brexit Secretary. Diehard Brexiteer. Background: Son of a Czech-born Jewish refugee who fled the Nazis in 1938 and died of cancer when Raab was 12. EXPERIENCE: Lasted only four months as Brexit Secretary. Voted against May in leadership confidence vote. STRENGTH: Skilled debater who honed his skills as an adversarial lawyer with blue chip legal firm Linklaters. WEAKNESS: Seen as too clever by half and lacking people skills. VERDICT: In second place in ConservativeHome's leadership league table. Boris Johnson 4/1 Age: 54. Former Foreign Secretary. His support for Brexit was vital to Leave's win. Background: Known for being identified by just one name, Boris, for his show-off Classics references and for chaotic private life. EXPERIENCE: Twice voted London mayor. STRENGTH: Starry, charismatic and clever crowd-pleaser. WEAKNESS: Bumbling foreign secretary. May struggle to win MPs' support. A 'Stop Boris' campaign is likely. VERDICT: Party grassroots love him and he's top of the ConservativeHome league table by 12 points. Matt Hancock 12/1 Age: 40. Health Secretary. Arch Remainer. Background: Father bought their council house. Ran his own computer software business before becoming Chancellor George Osborne's chief of staff. EXPERIENCE: Cabinet minister for only 18 months. Seen as a 'coming man'. STRENGTH: One of life's Tiggers with ambition and enthusiasm to match his brainpower. WEAKNESS: Never knowingly modest, he once foolishly likened himself to Churchill, Pitt and Disraeli. VERDICT: Little known among Conservative Party members. Amber Rudd 25/1 Age: 55. Work and Pensions Secretary. Remain cheerleader. Background: Daughter of a Labour-supporting stockbroker and Tory-leaning JP. EXPERIENCE: Became Home Secretary after just six years as an MP. Resigned over the Windrush scandal after inadvertently misleading MPs. STRENGTH: Tough operator who was restored to Cabinet within six months. WEAKNESS: Holds seat with majority of only 346. Headmisstressy manner but an accomplished performer. VERDICT: Ninth in leadership league table. Esther McVey 33/1 Age: 51. Former Welfare Secretary. An ardent Brexiteer. Background: Spent the first two years of her life in foster care. Was a breakfast TV presenter before becoming a Tory MP on Merseyside. EXPERIENCE: As welfare minister was viciously targeted by Labour. STRENGTH: Tough and telegenic. Won plaudits with members for resigning from Cabinet over Brexit deal. WEAKNESS: Some say she doesn't have the intellectual fire power for top job. VERDICT: Ranked 14th in league table. Penny Mordaunt 33/1 Age: 46. International Development Secretary. Arch Brexiteer. Background: Her mother died when she was a teenager. Cared for younger brother. EXPERIENCE: Was a magician's assistant. Appeared in the reality TV show Splash! STRENGTH: Only female MP to be a Royal Naval Reservist. Attended Lady Thatcher's funeral in uniform. WEAKNESS: Inexperienced, having been in Cabinet for less than two years. Has never run a major Whitehall department. VERDICT: Edged up to 11th in ConservativeHome league table. Andrea Leadsom 16/1 Age: 55. Leader of the Commons. Ardent Brexiteer. Background: A former City trader. Mother of three. EXPERIENCE: Struggled in her first Cabinet post, as Environment Secretary. STRENGTH: Blossomed as Leader of the Commons, winning plaudits for taking on Speaker John Bercow. WEAKNESS: Stood for leader in 2016 but made ill-considered comment comparing her experience as a mother to the childless Mrs May. VERDICT: Has soared to the top of the ConservativeHome table of competent ministers. Michael Gove 4/1 Age: 51. Environment Secretary. High priest of Brexiteers. Background: Adopted son of a Scottish fish merchant. EXPERIENCE: Figurehead for Leave during referendum campaign. Cabinet heavyweight who's served as Education Secretary and Justice Secretary. STRENGTH: Brilliant debater with razor sharp intellect. WEAKNESS: Still suspected of having a disloyal gene after knifing Boris Johnson in last leadership contest. VERDICT: Popular with the Tory members, who, crucially, will vote for the new leader. Gavin Williamson 50/1 Age: 42. Defence Secretary. Converted Remainer. Background: From a Labour-supporting, working class family. Ran a pottery firm before becoming an MP. EXPERIENCE: Started his rise as Mrs May's Chief Whip. Leap-frogged experienced colleagues to land defence job. STRENGTH: Matinee idol looks and knack for self-promotion. WEAKNESS: Military chiefs nicknamed him Private Pike after Dad's Army character. Suggested missiles should be fitted to tractors. VERDICT: In 19th place in league table. Liz Truss 50/1 Age: 43 Chief Secretary to Treasury. Brexiteer. Background: Raised by Left-wing parents and as a child was marched through the streets on anti-Thatcher protest shouting: 'Maggie out!' EXPERIENCE: Joint-author in 2012 of a controversial booklet, Britannia Unchained, which alleged 'the British are among the worst idlers in the world'. STRENGTH: A genuine free-marketeer. WEAKNESS: Poor public speaker with a mixed ministerial record. VERDICT: Only 15th in ConservativeHome leaders league table. Sajid Javid 9/1 Age: 49. Home Secretary. Remainer who changed to Brexit after the referendum. Background: Son of a bus driver who came to Britain from Pakistan with 1 in his pocket. Was head of credit trading at Deutsche Bank. EXPERIENCE: Previously Culture and Business secretary, cracked down on union rights. STRENGTH: An extraordinary rags-to-riches back story that we will hear more of during the leadership campaign. WEAKNESS: Widely seen as a wooden and a poor speaker. VERDICT: In 4th place in ConservativeHome league table. Jeremy Hunt 8/1 Age: 52. Foreign Secretary Background: Eldest son of Admiral Sir Nicholas Hunt. Married to a Chinese wife and he speaks Mandarin. Before politics, set up an educational publisher which was sold for 30million in 2017. EXPERIENCE: Longest-serving health secretary in history. STRENGTH: Among the most experienced ministers in the field who, unusually, has made few political enemies. WEAKNESS: Some, though, regard him as a 'bit of a drip'. Verdict: Seen by many as man who could best unite party on Brexit. Advertisement What happens now that Brexit is delayed until Halloween? May faces a choice between fighting on, more talks with Labour or letting someone else take over Britain has been pushed into a six-month delay to Brexit tonight after Theresa May was humiliated again in Brussels. EU leaders are offering the UK a delay of Brexit until October 31 with a 'review' in June. The extension, agreed by the heads of state of the other 27 countries in the bloc, doomed the Prime Minister's hopes of winning a short delay until June 30 in which to pass a Brexit deal. But European Council president Donald Tuck said it was a 'flexible extension' suggesting we could leave before Halloween if a Brexit deal can find a majority in Parliament. Whatever happens, the PM must return to the Commons tomorrow to explain to MPs when and if Brexit will ever take place. It opens up a raft of possibilities, ranging from a short-term delay to not leaving at all. The big question is whether Theresa May will stay on, to make sure she at least is remembered as the leader who delivered Brexit. She has already agreed to step down once a deal is approved and senior Tories are jostling to replace her. And she has indicated that she would not countenance a delay to Brexit past June 30. However, she has clung stubbornly to 10 Downing Street thus far and despite much talk there is no clear way for the Conservatives to get rid of her. Tonight it appears she has suggested to EU leaders that she would stay on until a deal was indeed completed. Talks with Labour over a cross-party Brexit deal will continue on Thursday, and Mrs May has committed to allowing MPs a series of 'indicative votes' that would allow them to shape the type of Brexit they want. Previous indicative votes were inconclusive but a soft Brexit including a customs union could triumph this time round, having been close to victory before. The Prime Minister could also try to ram her Brexit deal through Parliament for a fourth time, but that seems almost certain to fail without some serious changes. Some Brexiteers, including the DUP, still want her to demand the EU reopen the Withdrawal Agreement, whose Irish Border backstop provision is the major stumbling block to it passing. But the EU has refused to do so and the Government accepts this is a non-starter. A delay to the end of October means that it could be a new Tory - or Labour - leader who sees us out of the EU. If a way can be found to convince Theresa May to resign the summer is likely to be spent in a Tory leadership campaign. But that could lead to a general election, which is a high risk for the Tories. What seems less likely at the moment is that there will be a second referendum. Theresa May is against one and Jeremy Corbyn looks happy to block one - to the fury of a large section of his MPs - if he can get an acceptable Brexit deal. What did Mrs May ask for? In a letter to Donald Tusk she formally requested an extension to Article 50 that will delay the UK's departure beyond April 12 to June 30 - but she also wanted a 'termination clause'. This would allow the UK to leave on May 22 - the day before European elections - if a deal can be pushed through the UK Parliament. However, this delay was a carbon copy of that sought by Mrs May before the last emergency summit in March - which was rejected. What did the EU say? Non, nein, nee and nem - that's no in a variety of EU languages. Despite French president Emmanuel Macron threatening to veto a delay and demanding if there was one it be short, the EU27 agreed to push Brexit to the end of October. But importantly they did include the termination clause, meaning we can still leave earlier if the Government - or MPs - can cobble together a deal that can win a majority of the Commons. Donald Tusk had said before the meeting that a 12-month 'flextension' to March 29 2020 is 'the only reasonable way out' of the crisis and had urged leaders of the EU's 27 member states to back him at Wednesday's summit. Ahead of the summit on Wednesday night, Mr Tusk urged the 27 leaders to consider a long delay because there was 'little reason' to believe the deal would be passed by MPs before the end of June. How did the EU make its decision? When the summit started at around 5pm on Wednesday, Mrs May first answered questions from EU leaders - building on a diplomatic blitz that included trips to Paris and Berlin on Tuesday . After a session lasting little over an hour she was kicked out of the summit so the other 27 EU leaders could decide what to do over dinner. Once they had a unanimous agreement on a delay Mrs May was asked to say Yes or No. At the last summit three weeks ago the EU leaders debated in private for almost six hours. When will Brexit be? It is hard to say - but it is almost certain not to be on Friday, when the UK had been due to leave without a deal. The PM clearly still wants to get out of the EU before European Parliament elections have to be held on May 22 but this is ultimately up to Brussels. Were she to pass the deal in the next couple of weeks, it is probably possible to conclude exit by around late May. What is happening in the cross party talks? The Prime Minister has said the divorce deal could not be changed but announced last week she would seek a new consensus with Jeremy Corbyn on the political declaration about the final UK-EU agreement. It is her final roll of the dice to save the deal. Talks broke down last Friday between ministers and officials from both parties, despite previous efforts being hailed as 'constructive'. After technical discussions on Monday, they finally resumed on Tuesday - but have now been adjourned again until Thursday. If the talks fail, Mrs May has promised to put options to Parliament and agreed to be bound by the result. She now has more time to call this vote. In a second round of indicative vote a customs union, Norway-style soft Brexit and second referendum were the leading options - but none got a majority of MPs. Why is she talking to Labour? Mrs May has abandoned all hope of winning over remaining Tory Brexiteers and the DUP on the terms of her current deal. Striking a cross-party deal with Labour on the future relationship will require Mrs May to abandon many of her red lines - including potentially on free movement and striking trade deals. To get an agreement with Labour, Mrs May will need to agree the political declaration should spell out a much softer Brexit than her current plans do. This might mean a permanent UK-EU customs union or even staying in the EU Single Market. What if Mr Corbyn says No? Mrs May said if she cannot cut a deal with Corbyn, she would ask Parliament to come up with options - and promised to follow orders from MPs. In a second round of indicative votes last week a customs union, Norway-style soft Brexit and second referendum were the leading options - but none got a majority of MPs. They would probably pass if the Tories whipped for them - but it would almost certainly mean ministers quitting the Government. The Institute for Government has mapped out how a crucial week in the Brexit endgame might unfold ahead of a possible No Deal Brexit on Friday Will May resign? Nobody knows for sure. Mrs May has announced she would go if and when her divorce deal passed so a new Tory leader could take charge of the trade talks phase. In practice, it drained Mrs May of all remaining political capital. Most in Westminster think her Premiership is over within weeks at the latest. As her deal folded for a third time a fortnight ago, she faced immediate calls from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn so stand down with instant effect. What is clear is there is already a fight underway for the Tory leadership. Does is all mean there will be an election? Probably, at some point though the immediate chances have fallen because of the latest events. The Commons is deadlocked and the Government has no functional majority. While the Fixed Term Parliaments Act means the Government can stumble on, it will become increasingly powerless. Mrs May could try to call one herself or, assuming she stands down, her successor could do so. Would May lead the Tories into an early election? Unlikely. She said last December she would not lead them into a new election and having admitted to her party she would go if the deal passes, Mrs May's political career is doomed. While there is no procedural way to remove her, a withdrawal of political support from the Cabinet or Tory HQ would probably finish her even if she wanted to stay. How is an election called? When would it be? Because of the Fixed Term Parliaments Act passed by the coalition, the Prime Minister can no longer simply ask the Queen to dissolve the Commons and call an election. There are two procedures instead. First - and this is what happened in 2017 - the Government can table a motion in the Commons calling for an early election. Crucially, this can only pass with a two-thirds majority of MPs - meaning either of the main parties can block it. Second an election is called if the Government loses a vote of no confidence and no new administration can be built within 14 days. In practice, this is can only happen if Tory rebels vote with Mr Corbyn - a move that would end the career of any Conservative MP who took the step. An election takes a bare minimum of five weeks from start to finish and it would take a week or two to get to the shut down of Parliament, known as dissolution - putting the earliest possible polling day around mid to late May. If the Tories hold a leadership election first it probably pushes any election out to late June at the earliest. Why do people say there has to be an election? The question of whether to call an election finally reached the Cabinet last week. Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay warned the rejection of Mrs May's deal would set in train a series of events that will lead to a softer Brexit - meaning an election because so many MPs will have to break manifesto promises. MPs voting to seize control of Brexit from ministers has only fuelled the demands. Labour has been calling for a new vote for months, insisting the Government has failed to deliver Brexit. Mr Corbyn called a vote of no confidence in the Government in January insisting the failure of the first meaningful vote showed Mrs May's administration was doomed. He lost but the calls did not go away. Brexiteers have joined the demands in recent days as Parliament wrestles with Brexit and amid fears among hardliners promises made by both main parties at the last election will be broken - specifically on leaving the Customs Union and Single Market. Tory MP Andrew Bridgen wants Mrs May replaced with a Brexiteer. He believes it would push Remain Tories out of the party and then allow a snap election with more Eurosceptic candidates wearing blue rosettes. What might happen? Both main parties will have to write a manifesto - including a position on Brexit. Both parties are deeply split - in many cases between individual MPs and their local activists. Under Mrs May, the Tories presumably try to start with the deal. But it is loathed by dozens of current Tory MPs who want a harder Brexit and hated even more by grassroots Tory members. Shifting Tory policy on Brexit to the right would alienate the majority of current MPs who voted to Remain. Labour has similar splits. Many of Labour's MPs and activists want Mr Corbyn to commit to putting Brexit to a second referendum - most with a view to cancelling it. Mr Corbyn is a veteran Eurosceptic and millions of people who voted Leave in 2016 backed Labour in 2017. The splits set the stage for a bitter and chaotic election. The outcome is highly unpredictable - the Tories start in front but are probably more divided on the main question facing the country. Labour is behind but knows it made dramatic gains in the polls in the last election with its promises of vastly higher public spending. Neither side can forecast what impact new political forces might wield over the election or how any public anger over the Brexit stalemate could play out. It could swing the result in favour of one of the main parties or a new force. Or an election campaign that takes months, costs millions of pounds could still end up in a hung Parliament and continued stalemate. This is the current forecast by polling expert Sir John Curtice. Tories plunge NINE points in a month amid Brexit chaos as more than half of voters say they now back a second referendum The Tory party has plunged nine points in the polls a new survey suggests today. Kantar's latest research suggests the Brexit chaos is finally hitting support for Theresa May's party as the PM seeks a second delay to leaving the EU. The firm found the Conservatives are backed by 32 per cent, down from 41 per cent in the same survey in March. The dramatic poll means Labour takes the lead with Kantar after rising four points, from 31 per cent to 35 per cent. The Liberal Democrats have also gained group, surged three to 11 per cent support in the new survey. Kantar's new poll also finds more than half of people now support putting the Brexit deal to a referendum. Kantar's latest research suggests the Brexit chaos is finally hitting support for Theresa May's party as the PM seeks a second delay to leaving the EU Across all voters, 51 per cent say it should have a public vote while just 32 per cent are opposed. Leave voters split 53 per cent to 35 per cent against, while Remain voters are heavily split 62 per cent to 22 per cent in favour. According to the poll if a new referendum were held, 41 per cent say they would Remain, with 35 per cent backing Leave - with just nine per cent saying they don't know and the rest vowing not to take part at all. Kantar's new poll also finds more than half of people now support putting the Brexit deal to a referendum. Across all voters, 51 per cent say it should have a public vote while just 32 per cent are opposed The Tories have been trending down in the polls in recent weeks as the Brexit chaos continues to grip the nation Fewer than one in four people say Britain should end the impasse by leaving the EY with No Deal, with one in three saying Brexit should be cancelled instead. A builder who choked his boss to death has been cleared of murder, manslaughter and assault and instead jailed for 20 weeks for theft. Paul Johnson killed Steve Coulson, 47, at his home in Stakeford, Northumberland, after putting him in a chokehold before raiding his safe and stealing 256 to fund his crack cocaine habit. Johnson, 34, failed to get medical help and remained in the flat for two hours, Newcastle Crown Court heard. Johnson admitted killing his friend and employer but was found not guilty of murder and assault with intent to rob and instead given a 20-week prison sentence. But he will be released immediately having served 183 days on remand in prison. Paul Johnson (left) killed Steve Coulson (right) after putting him in a chokehold Giving evidence last week, Johnson, who has no previous convictions and a caution from 2003, said he 'loved Mr Coulson to bits' but added his friend was 'very bad tempered'. He said earlier in the night he had taken his father's morphine and 50 of his cash to buy crack cocaine and planned to kill himself by jumping in a river. By 4.30am, he had called Mr Coulson and arranged to go to his home. But he claimed his friend went 'berserk' and was 'like a man possessed' so he put his arm around his neck from behind to restrain him. Johnson told jurors: 'He started shouting at me about work and drugs saying 'look at the f****** state of you, you need to do this and that, you need to sort your head out'. 'That's when he hit me, punched me in the eye like a rabbit punch. He was completely going crazy, I couldn't understand most of the stuff he was saying. 'He was slavering and screaming and I was trying to calm him down. I was under the impression he was going to attack me again. 'I put him in the choke hold and said 'Stevie calm down, calm down'. I released the pressure and he calmed down a bit. Johnson killed his friend at his home in Stakeford, Northumberland. Pictured, police at the scene 'That's when he picked up the dumbbell and swung at me. I moved my head out of the way and it just tipped me. If I had not moved my head it probably would have killed me. 'I got hold of him again. There was a bit of a scuffle at the end of the bed. I spun him around and got him in the choke hold again. 'I was screaming at him to calm down. He was going berserk, he was like a man possessed. I've never seen anything like it in my life. 'If I let go of him and let him back up I think he would have killed me. Eventually he blacked out, he just stopped writhing and jumping around. I let the pressure off and sat him down.' He said Mr Coulson 'made a noise' so he put him in the recovery position with a pillow under his head. Johnson said he didn't know Mr Coulson was dead when he left the flat and denied deliberately snapping the key in the lock. But he said he '100 per cent accepted his actions led to his death'. He added: 'I tried to restrain him to calm him down rather than hit him.' Johnson told the court Mr Coulson was a 'very close friend', adding: 'He had done lots to help me, especially after the death of my mother. He helped quite a lot on the day of my mam's funeral. He told me quite a lot about his past, about violent incidents.' Sentencing him, Mr Justice Butcher told Johnson: 'There was a degree of planning involved after the event which resulted in Mr Coulson's death. 'Only when those attempts failed did you discover the key to the safe. Mr Coulson's family have been caused additional distress as a result of the offence of theft.' Anti-euthanasia protesters have distributed 'misleading and distressing' flyers and harassed terminally ill patients outside a cancer clinic. A group of activists tormented cancer patients, their families and medical staff outside Melbourne's Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre on Wednesday. According to the ABC, the pro-life protesters called doctors and medical staff 'murderers' for 'legally assisting patients to commit suicide'. 'The extraordinary and unethical act of intentionally ending the life of a patient is attempted to be 'normalised',' the flyer reads. Anti-euthanasia protesters are distributing 'misleading and distressing' flyers (pictured) and are harassing terminally ill patients outside a cancer clinic A group were seen tormenting cancer patients, their families and medical staff by the protesters outside Melbourne's Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (pictured) 'Doctor-prescribed suicides and state-sanctioned extra-judicial executions will be legal here at Peter Mac.' The protest came ahead of the revision of voluntary assisted dying laws, which come into effect on June 19. The activists are believed to have been angered over an advertisement for a voluntary assisted dying care navigator position at the hospital. The hospital website described the position as: 'point of contact for members of the public, health practitioners and health services for information about voluntary assisted dying'. The historic voluntary euthanasia laws come into effect on June 19th and will allow people suffering a terminal illness with less than six months to live to opt for a medically assisted death. Active advocate for the laws and Reason Party MP Fiona Patten said staff, family members of patients and cancer patients themselves were heckled by the group. Active advocate for the laws and Reason Party MP Fiona Patten (pictured) said staff, family members of cancer patients and patients themselves were heckled by the group A woman who was visiting her husband with terminal cancer was approached by the protesters. 'This is just horrible,' Ms Patten wrote on Facebook. 'A woman with stage-four cancer was handed this awful flyer when visiting her dying husband and staff members are reporting that they are being labelled 'murderers' by activists as they go to work.' 'It would be a very low day for Victoria if I had to create laws to protect terminally ill people accessing the hospital.' Ms Patten said people who access healthcare have the 'absolute right' to privacy, dignity and not to be harassed. A New Zealand man is demanding answers after cash and a treasured World War I medal were allegedly stolen from his luggage en route to London in March. Passenger Barrie Gibb, 47, is seeking a refund from Emirates after more than $7,000 worth of euro currency and a war medal given to him by a great uncle as a boy disappeared from his luggage, which he claims was ransacked and lost for six days. The tradie from Timaru on New Zealand's South Island claims he became separated from his luggage after he was forced to sleep overnight at Melbourne Airport when the first leg of his flight from Christchurch was diverted to due to thunderstorms in Sydney, the New Zealand Herald reported. Emirates passenger Barrie Gibb (pictured on his flight) claims the airline left him stranded on the other side of the world without any money after cash was allegedly stolen from his luggage When he went to the boarding gate the next morning to resume his trip, he was told the flight was closed and that his luggage already on board couldn't be retrieved from the plane. He was put on another flight to Dubai and later arrived in London, where his luggage was nowhere to be seen. Mr Gibbs' luggage was tracked down six days later with a suitcase badly damaged, minus the cash and his great uncle's 1914-18 service medal for serving overseas in the New Zealand armed forces during World War I. 'I was stranded on the other side of the world without any money surviving on the kindness of people,' Mr Gibb told the publication. He claims he had to cut his three month visit to the UK short and wants a refund for the 420 (NZ$813) ticket he had to buy to return home. Emirates (stock image) says it had handled the matter in accordance with its procedures Mr Gibb also demanded a free ticket back to the UK to resume his trip and be reunited with his partner who lives there. He had travel insurance but said it didn't cover the missing money. 'To me, this is on Emirates. I want them to give me my money back and work out how they are going to sort out the medal,' Mr Gibb said. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Emirates and Mr Gibb for further comment. The airline told the NZ Herald in a statement that it had been in contact with passenger and had handled the matter in accordance with its procedures. The airline added it advises passengers to carry valuables in carry-on luggage. 'We appreciate the difficulties our customers face when baggage is mislaid and regret any disruption this may have caused.' The White House reportedly wants to force immigrants to pass a more difficult credible fear test when seeking asylum so less people make it across the border. Under current rules, asylum seekers must prove they either fear persecution or torture in their home country before their case is passed to an immigration judge. Around 90 per cent pass this first test, and are allowed into the country and given a Notice To Appear, but then only 10 per cent of these immigrants will be granted asylum, reports NBC News. Despite the low success rate, many potential asylum seekers spend months or years living in the U.S. while awaiting their court date. During this time, they are usually held in detention facilities. Now Trump's administration, led by anti-immigration ideologue Stephen Miller who acts as senior advisor to the president for policy, are trying to make the process more difficult. Trump's administration, led by anti-immigration ideologue Stephen Miller who acts as senior advisor to the president for policy, are trying to make seeking asylum in the U.S. more difficult There are also plans to let border agents conduct interviews with asylum seekers themselves instead of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers, NBC reports. The news comes as a judge blocked Trump's plans to make asylum seekers wait in Mexico before their court hearing on Monday. Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco granted a request by civil liberties groups to halt the practice while their lawsuit moves forward. The lawsuit, on behalf of 11 asylum seekers from Central America and legal advocacy groups, says the Trump administration is violating U.S. law by failing to adequately evaluate the dangers that migrants face in Mexico. The White House reportedly wants to force immigrants to pass a more difficult credible fear test when seeking asylum so less people make it across the border (pictured) President Donald Trump's administration says the policy responds to a crisis at the southern border that has overwhelmed the ability of immigration officials to detain migrants. When Trump took office, Miller helped design a ban on Muslim arrivals - a move that was ruled illegal in courts several times, until it was forcibly recast. And he provided Trump the arguments for a campaign to lock out the Guatemalans, Hondurans and Salvadorans crossing the southern border - arguing that they are made up of rapists, murderers, human and drug traffickers and gang members. His sway over his boss was already evident in January 2018, when he persuaded the president to renege on signing bipartisan immigration legislation. Republicans lashed out at Miller directly for killing a painstakingly-crafted deal. 'As long as Stephen Miller is in charge of negotiating immigration, we are going nowhere. He's been an outlier for years,' Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, has said. A giant deer-eating owl that could crush a child with its claws is on the loose in Ireland after escaping from its pen. Locals are being warned not to go near the Eurasian eagle owl which vanished from its home in Kildare after being startled by a cat. The powerful owl, called Tank, has a 6.5ft wingspan and feeds on deer, rodents and other birds. Owner Darren Jackson has warned people to stay away from his Eurasian eagle owl which escaped from his home in Kildare The powerful owl, called Tank, has a 6.5ft wingspan and feeds on deer, rodents and other birds. It could easily crush a child with its sharp claws Darren Jackson, who has owned the owl since she was ten days old, said on social media: 'She may pose a threat to people or children if someone went to pick her up. 'Each of her claws would have a tonne per point. She has four claws, so that's four tonnes of pressure. 'That could do some serious damage to an adult's hand or to the arm of a child.' He added: 'She has her jesses [a thin leather strap] and bell on and given her size she will be unmistakable. 'If she is in a tree top during the day, she will be mobbed by crows. This means they will try and chase her out of the area. Darren Jackson, who has owned the owl since she was ten days old, warned people not to try and pick her up 'If she is in a residential area, she is likely to try and rest under a bush she is tired or stressed but in that instance I would recommend people not to pick her up or try to catch her as there is a potential for them to be hurt by her talons if they don't know what they are doing.' Anyone who may come across the bird is asked to contact the National Parks & Wildlife Service, their local vet or gardai. Mr Bedingfield (pictured with partner Andrea Owenova) was found in the woods after an investigation at his workplace. He had made frantic calls to the police, saying: 'Please hurry' A financial adviser killed himself with a shotgun after wrongly convincing himself he faced losing his 20-year career over an 'honest mistake', an inquest has heard. Senior investment director James Bedingfield was unable to sleep and living in fear of being fired while he was the subject of an internal investigation. The 45-year-old had been assured his job at investment firm Investec was safe after he sent documents to a client not registered with the Financial Services Authority, then admitted erasing call recordings when he realised his mistake. But he shot himself in November last year in a wood close to his 1.3million mansion in Dronfield, Derbyshire, a coroner heard. Chesterfield Coroners Court was told that in the minutes before ending his life James made several frantic calls to the police, ambulance as well as to his loved one. His last words to a police call handler were: 'Please hurry!' Hours later armed officers found his body on the bench with a shotgun by his side. He had suffered severe head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. Although the circumstances surrounding his death appeared straightforward the inquest was dramatically halted when his family raised concerns over the police's response during the six hours from them being contacted to his body being discovered on the bench. During the hearing James was described as 'methodical' and 'conscientious' as well as a man 'who liked to be in control'. He was found dead in Frith Wood just after midnight on November 16 2018. The senior investment director was found dead in woods close to his 1.3million mansion (pictured) in Dronfield, Derbyshire Three days earlier he visited his GP and was prescribed sleeping tablets after admitting he was struggling to cope with the situation at work. He told the doctor he had fleeting thoughts of suicide but said he would never act on them. Only days before that he had been summoned to London to meet with the company's UK Managing Director over the investigation into his work. Mr Bedingfield had been with Investec for 22 years and had built up a successful career advising on investments and pensions. His portfolio of clients was worth 425 million. Mr Bedingfield, pictured with his long-term partner Andrea Owenova, had been struggling to deal with the investigation despite assurances his job was safe In a statement read to the court Divisional Director Matthew Beddall said his colleague and friend had devoted himself to making a success of his career, which was 'time consuming and stressful'. But he found time to organise charity events such as a bike ride to Paris to raise more than one million pound for good causes and was 'community minded'. Early last year James took on an outside client linked to the transfer of former British Steel pensions, who he sent some documents without approval. The unnamed man was not registered with the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Later the financial watchdog began investigating the client and contacted Investec. Mr Beddall said: 'In hindsight, James should not have sent him anything, but he had known him for a number of years. 'Then he also admitted he'd had unrecorded conversations with this man on his private mobile.' The court was told Investec employees all had company phones which recorded and logged conversations to ensure transparency. The error was not particularly serious but needed investigating, the inquest heard. James was also told his bonus was being deferred until the inquiry was over. His colleague said in the days before his death he seemed 'out of sorts' and had confided he had seen his doctor. Mr Beddall asked if had thought about harming himself, but he said 'No!' The day before the tragedy IT technicians had come to upgrade the computers in the firm's Sheffield office where Mr Bedingfield was based. This is the wood in which Mr Bedingfield's body was found. An inquest heard that he killed himself over an honest mistake at work 'I think James thought we were spying on him, but it was all pre-planned,' said Mr Beddall. 'He would not have lost his job in relation to the review at work. 'I still can't believe he has taken his life. I certainly did not realise the level of distress he was in.' On the 13th November his GP Dr Chris Duffy had concluded he was suffering 'an acute reaction to work stress' and prescribed him some sleeping tablets. He said James was 'pessimistic about the outcome of the investigation', but after speaking with him at length said he was 'at low risk of harming himself'. The financial consultant's partner of 12 years Andrea Owenova said he was 'very focused' on his career and was usually 'very good under pressure'. James Bedingfield (pictured) was found dead in the woods in Dronfield, Derbyshire, after turning a gun on himself, an inquest heard 'But a few weeks before he died he'd sent some paperwork to a client which he should not have done. It was an honest mistake,' she said in a statement. 'After that he began to doubt himself, the company offered to give him time off but he carried on because that's the type of person he was. 'He was worried what other people would think of him. At times he was crying and shaking which was not like Andrew at all.' She said on the day of the tragedy James had been off work and had taken the kids to school before returning home from a shopping trip to do some chores. He went upstairs and she left the house to collect their children, aged nine and 10, from school at around 5.30pm. She never saw him alive again. On her return she found his car on the drive, the front door unlocked and the house empty, she went upstairs and saw the door to the attic was open. When she looked inside she saw the gun safe was open and the shotgun, for which he had a licence and used for clay pigeon shooting, was missing. Quickly she checked on the property's CCTV and saw footage of James' locking the gates and driving away in a taxi. The taxi driver Mustaq Anwar said he knew James as a regular passenger in his cab. His fare was carrying a rucksack and asked to be dropped off near the wood. His parents had also raced to the couple's home after James sent a text to his mum saying 'sorry' and 'thank you for a lovely life'. Police Constable Michael Maughan said a minute after that message had been sent at 6.15pm James made the first of a series of 999 calls. Crucially 15 minutes later his family called the emergency number and made police aware he may have a shotgun. Officers heading to the wood were stood down and armed police units were scrambled which meant there was a delay in dealing with the emergency. It was almost six hours later that James' body was discovered. He had left letters at the scene for his loved ones. Asked about James' garbled phone messages PC Maughan, said: 'I believe that it was a cry for help and that he may not have wanted to go through with it. 'I think he would have felt that he had let himself down personally. But I spoke to his colleagues, he was very well loved by them and his clients.' But the constable said he could not answer the family's questions about the protocol Derbyshire Police had in place for such a situation and how their response was co-ordinated by senior officers. James Harvey, representing the family, said they had concerns over the police's handling of the incident and the apparent delays. Mr Harvey asked the court: 'Could someone have got to him before he did what he did?' He also asked about the way Investec had dealt with James' case in the weeks before his death. 'Investec did a lot, but James was clearly a very successful person, so what's the protection around people like that if that's taken away from them?' he said. 'It was a very stressful situation, mental health in the workplace is a very high profile issue these days, especially for men of a certain age.' Derbyshire Assistant Coroner Peter Nieto decided to adjourn the inquest to allow both the police and Investec to provide further information. He said: 'Were the police's response appropriate and timely and could the outcome have been different?' 'And there is the question as to whether the company had prior regard to James' mental health and how he would react (to the meeting). 'Clearly without this information we do not have all the answers,' Mr Nieto added. The coroner will give his conclusion when the inquest resumes at a later date. For confidential support, log on to samaritans.org or call the Samaritans on 116123. The US military is desperately trying to recover the wreckage of a Japanese F-35A stealth fighter which crashed over the Pacific yesterday amid fears China and Russia could beat them to it. Parts of the tail of the world's most sophisticated stealth jet have already been found after it disappeared off the radar 85 miles east of Misawa, Japan during a training mission. Eight ships and seven aircraft,including a U.S. Navy P-8 Orion maritime patrol plane, are looking for traces of the jet that is believed to have sunk to 5,000ft. The pilot of the aircraft is still missing. But experts today warned that Russia and China could also be trying to get their hands on the aircraft to discover its secrets. Tom Moore, a former senior professional staff member at the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tweeted: 'There is no price too high in this world for China and Russia to pay to get Japan's missing F-35, if they can. Big deal.' Scroll down for video Experts have warned that the jet could contain technologies that Russia and China would be able to steal. Pictured: Japan's Coast Guard searching for the rest of the wreckage A Japanese Air Force F-35A stealth jet taking off at the Misawa Air Base, where the crashed jet was stationed before Tuesday's crash 'Bottom line is that it would not be good,' retired US Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula told Business Insider. PROBLEMS PLAGUING THE F35 A 2018 report from the Pentagon's operational testing and evaluation arm uncovered a host of problems with all three versions of the F35: The F-35B's service life 'may be as low as 2,100 [hours],' a quarter of what was expected, due to structural issues. Some jets are expected to hit their service life limit and will need to be retired as early as 2026. Reliability issues mean that there are often not enough F35s in circulation for pilots to use them in training. The amount of time needed for repairs is extremely high. Report said there's no 'improving trend in' aircraft availability to fly training or combat missions. Cybersecurity testing indicated that there are several vulnerabilities which 'have not yet been addressed'. Tests carried out on air-to-ground attacks indicated 'unacceptable' accuracy levels. Pilots were forced to deal with 'pervasive problems' on a 'daily basis'. Test office director Robert Behler said in the assessment that improvements in maintenance systems 'are still not translating into improved availability'. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has previously stated the that F-35 'had a lot of opportunity for more performance'. Shanahan also said: 'I am biased toward giving the taxpayer their money's worth.' Computerized maintenance tool known as 'ALIS' doesn't 'yet perform as intended'. Some ALIS data and functions deficiencies have led to 'significant' reliability problems. Overall performance was said to be 'well below' the benchmark set by the Pentagon. Advertisement It is believed Russia and China could be using their advanced submarines to scour the ocean floor in search of the jet in order to steal vital technology on board. And experts have warned that parts of the jet could easily be replicated if they do recover the wreckage before US or Japanese search teams. 'The usefulness for Russia or China of recovering some or all of the wreckage would depend on how much damage the aircraft sustained upon hitting the water,' Justin Bronk, an combat aviation expert at the Royal United Services Institute, told Business Insider. 'The general shape of the jet is well known, as are its performance characteristics so not much to gain there but parts of radar and other sensors would be prime targets for recover and testing/even attempts at reverse engineering.' There was no word yet on the fate of the one pilot and a large chunk of the plane remains missing, Japanese Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya said. 'We have collected part of its tail' in search operations at sea with planes and vessels, Iwaya told reporters. 'We believe it crashed,' he added. The aircraft, less than one-year-old, was the first F-35 to be assembled in Japan and was only in the air for 28 minutes on Tuesday, a defence official said. It was at the front of a group of four planes out for training manoeuvres when it sent an 'aborting practice' signal and then disappeared from the radar, Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters. Japan's first squadron of the $1million jets became active just 11 days ago after 13 of the jets were formed into a new unit at the Misawa base. The UK government announced on Wednesday it was in close contact with the US's F-35 Joint Office over the crash and was considering grounding its fleet of 17 F-35s in response to the incident. The F-35 crash in the Pacific represents the first ever such opportunity for Russia and China to hunt for one of the planes as the jet has only crashed once before, and that time was on US soil. A Japan Coast Guard's helicopter hovers around the sea area where a Japanese fighter jet is believed to have crashed A U.S. military short take off and landing (STOVL) F-35B crashed near the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina in September prompting a temporary grounding of the aircraft. The cause of the crash on that occasion was later said to be a 'faulty fuel tube' - US defense officials said last October. Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the aircraft, said it was standing by to support the Japanese Air Self Defense Force as needed. The Pentagon said it was monitoring the situation. Japan started deploying the expensive U.S.-made F-35s since last year, part of its plan to bolster its defense spending and weapons capability in the coming years to counter potential threats from North Korea and China. Under guidelines approved in December, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government plans to buy 147 F-35s, including 105 F-35As, costing about 10 billion yen ($90 million) each. The first ever mission involving an F-35 happened in October when a US Marine Corps jet launched off the amphibious warship USS Essex and struck targets in Afghanistan. In May, Israel announced it had conducted the first combat missions using the F-35 but offered few details. Early reports suggest Tuesday's crash was a system failure and which could point to something being missed in the production process, experts said. Tuesday's incident was the first F-35 crash since A US pilot was forced to eject midair after the $100million fighter jet crashed in South Carolina last year The F-35 is the first to combine radar-evading stealth technology with supersonic speeds and the ability to conduct short take-offs and vertical landings. F-35 FACT SHEET Role: Fifth-generation all-weather stealth multirole fighter First flight: December 15, 2006 Cost per jet: F-35A - $89.2million F-35B - $115.5million F-35C - $107.7million Number built: 355 as of 20 December 2018 Max speed (F-35A): 1,930kph (1,200 mph) - First operational supersonic stealth fighter in history - Jet is almost invisible to radar because of its shape and the use of a fiber-mat which absorbs signals rather than reflecting them - The F-35 is equipped with one machine gun, air-to-air missiles and air-to-surface missiles. It can also carry up to six 910 kg bombs inside the body. Advertisement It has the ability to operate from land and sea and has previously been hailed as a huge leap forward in aerospace technology. But a Pentagon report published last year revealed that the F-35's development was plagued with problems - some of which are yet to be resolved. The Pentagon's operational testing and evaluation arm (OT&E) said reliability issues have drastically shortened the service life of the jets. And there were also said to be issues with the accuracy of its weapons and its susceptibility to cyber attacks. According to the OT&E report, the expected service life of the F-35B variants adopted by the Marine Corps 'may be as low as 2,100 hours,' - way below the expected 8,000 hour target. In fact, the report said the plane was so unreliable there was actually a shortfall in the amount available to train pilots on. As well as the reliability issue, the accuracy of its air-to-ground attack capabilities was said to be 'unacceptable'. The Pentagon report followed on from comments made by Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan who said the jet 'had a lot of opportunity for more performance'. A school bus and an ambulette carrying adults with developmental difficulties collided in New York on Tuesday, injuring ten. The crash happened near the New York-Connecticut border in Greenwich at around 3pm, police said. Nine people on the ambulette - a specially equipped non-emergency vehicle for disabled or convalescent passengers - were injured, but nobody's condition is life-threatening. The school bus was on its way to collect two children from Sacred Heart Greenwich, the school confirmed It collided with a specially-equipped vehicle carrying adults with developmental difficulties on Tuesday This included the driver and seven people with developmental disabilities, Greenwich Police Department Captain Kraig Gray told NBC New York. The injuries ranged from bruises to broken bones and head strikes. Gray did not provide further details. The school bus driver suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries, Gray said. He was carrying no passengers at the time of the crash. Ten people suffered non-life threatening injuries, including both drivers and eight passengers of the ambulette The accident happened on King Street, south of Rye Lake Avenue near the New York-Connecticut border at around 3pm yesterday The bus had been on its way to collect two students from Sacred Heart Greenwich, a Catholic all-girls school serving students aged three to 18 in preschool through twelfth grade. The school confirmed that one of its buses was involved in the crash to NBC. King Street, south of Rye Lake Avenue, was temporarily shut in both directions to allow officials to investigate the crash. A woman seriously injured at a Cancer Research Christmas party after being 'picked up' and dropped by an 'inebriated' Cambridge University scientist has lost her fight for compensation. High Court judge Mr Justice Lane said it could have been seen as 'health and safety gone mad' had Sandra Shelbourne's 300,000 claim succeeded. Mrs Shelbourne, 61, sued over devastating back injuries she says she sustained after being 'manhandled' at her works Christmas disco by scientist Robert Bielik in 2012. She claimed Cancer Research UK, her then employer, was responsible for the behaviour of the visiting scientist - who had downed 'vodka, red wine and beer' at the festive bash and picked up three other women before he grabbed Mrs Shelbourne. Sandra Shelbourne, pictured outside High Court earlier this year, has lost her fight for compensation Her barrister Robert Weir QC said that the 'drunken' scientist's antics had been 'an accident waiting to happen' and should have been stopped by supervising Cancer Research staff. But Mrs Shelbourne failed to convince Judge Gordon Catford at Southend County Court in May last year that Cancer Research UK should pay her massive damages. Now her appeal against that ruling has been rejected by the High Court, leaving her empty-handed. Mr Justice Lane said that it would go against 'common sense' for employers holding works parties to have their hands tied by red tape in the way her lawyers argued for. Throwing out Mrs Shelbourne's appeal, the judge said that if she had won damages, any future works party involving alcohol would require 'a written declaration signed by the attendees that they will not behave inappropriately, a risk assessment encompassing eventualities stemming from all forms of inappropriate behaviour, trained staff...and special training for those responsible for the provision of a risk assessment'. Robert Bielik, lost his balance and hold and dropped Mrs Shelbourne after he 'picked her up without her consent' as she was dancing with her friend at the party in 2012 'As a matter of common sense, that cannot with respect, be right,' the judge commented. During the hearing of the appeal, Matthew White, for the charity, said that an expectation that Christmas parties should be policed in such an organised fashion would be viewed by 'the ordinary man' as 'some version of health and safety gone mad'. The judge said: 'Although Mr Weir attempted to refute Mr White's categorisation of Mrs Shelbourne's case as 'health and safety gone mad' there is some merit in that categorisation'. He agreed that too much red tape would discourage employers from holding parties for workers. 'The archetypal reasonable person of the early 21st century would not regard this as a socially appropriate set of requirements to impose upon the organisers of any Christmas party or other similar social gathering, regardless of the circumstances,' he added. Expressing regret for Mrs Shelbourne's plight he said, 'It is, as Judge Catford found, extremely unfortunate that the incident occurred and that Mrs Shelbourne was injured. 'She deserves the court's sympathy. 'However the ascertainment of what social justice requires, which lies at the heart of the law on vicarious liability, is not a journey down a one way street. 'The desirability of enabling those who have suffered injury at the hands of others to recover adequate financial compensation needs to be balanced against the wider social consequences which may ensue from achieving this result. 'The appeal is accordingly dismissed,' the judge concluded. The bash, held at the charity's Cambridge Research Institute in December 2012, involved staff and guests enjoying a ceilidh, followed by food and a disco, before the dancefloor incident The court heard how the accident occurred at a Christmas party thrown at Cancer Research UK's cutting-edge hub on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in 2012. The bash, held at the charity's Cambridge Research Institute in December 2012, involved staff and guests enjoying a ceilidh, followed by food and a disco, before the dancefloor tumble. Judge Catford had found that the 'inebriated' and 'exuberant' Mr Bielik - who earlier in the evening had entertained revelers when he 'broke into operatic-style singing' - lost his balance and hold and dropped Mrs Shelbourne after he 'picked her up without her consent' as she was dancing with her friend. The scientist - an expert on brain scanning - was 'immediately apologetic' to Mrs Shelbourne, who had worked at the Institute for five years alongside her husband Wayne and their daughter. The judge also said that Robert Bielik 'would clearly be liable to Mrs Shelbourne in damages for trespass to the person and in negligence', but added that he was not being sued by her. Shocking footage has emerged showing two of Australia's most notorious inmates brawling inside one of the country's toughest prisons. Security cameras inside Goulburn's Supermax prison caught the vicious fight between Bassam Hamzy, 39, and Talal Alameddine, 25, in October last year. Hamzy, a convicted killer, was pummeled multiple times by Alameddine throughout the altercation. The fight was an apparent battle for power inside the prison. The pair were seen having a 'heated discussion' while in the rear yard of the correctional centre before punches were thrown. Bassam Hamzy (left), 39, was allegedly bashed by convicted terrorist Talal Alameddine (right), 25, in Goulburn's Supermax prison in October last year As the founder of Sydney gang 'Brothers 4 Life', Hamzy has been the most feared prisoner for more than 10 years. His time in the country's strictest prison has been littered with headline-making incidents. In 2008 he masterminded a methylamphetamine ring from inside prison, delivering more than a kilogram of the drug to Melbourne under the guise of a truck business. Running the business through a phone hidden in his cell, Hamzy made 19,523 calls in just a matter of weeks. That same year Hamzy used his smuggled phone to threaten a man who owed him $12,000. Hamzy was originally jailed for the 1998 shooting murder of a teenager outside a Sydney nightclub and has been a menace since entering custody. His earliest release date is June 14, 2035. Alameddine was sentenced to a maximum 17 years behind bars in May last year. He pleaded guilty to supplying the revolver used to murder police accountant Curtis Cheng in 2015 and recklessly possessing the same weapon in preparation for an act of terrorism. Hamzy reportedly often socializes with terrorist Khaled Cheikho (pictured), who is spending 27 years in jail for his crimes Revelations about the jailhouse bust-up came after Hamzy (pictured) - founder of Sydney gang 'Brothers 4 Life' - was unable to represent himself in the New South Wales District Court Who is Bassam Hamzy? Hamzy was convicted for the 1998 shooting murder of Kris Toumazis outside a Sydney nightclub. His sentence was extended when he masterminded a methylamphetamine ring from inside the prison. He converted to Muslim while behind bars and founded the violent Brothers 4 Life gang. His earliest release date is June 14, 2035. Advertisement Talal Alameddine: Alameddine supplied a gun to a schoolboy who shot and killed police accountant Curtis Cheng in 2015. He was sentenced to a maximum 17 years behind bars in May last year. Alameddine waved and blew kisses to supporters as he was led away from the NSW Supreme Court during sentencing Alameddine will be eligible for parole in August 2029. Advertisement Alameddine waved and blew kisses to supporters as he was led away from the NSW Supreme Court after being sentenced by Justice Peter Johnson. Schoolboy Farhad Jabar Khalil Mohammad, a 15-year old extremist supporter of ISIS, shot dead Mr Cheng outside Parramatta police headquarters on October 2, 2015. Alameddine will be eligible for parole in August 2029. Both men have now been charged with affray over the fight. Their cases were adjourned until June. The charges could see the men serve an additional 10 years behind bars on top their existing sentences. A 40-foot mother gray whale and her calf gently pushed two boatloads of tourists around and asked to be stroked. The incredible encounter, caught on camera by 63-year-old Oskar Lehner in Laguna Ojo de Liebre near Guerrero Nego, Mexico, also shows the majestic mammals dive underneath the boat. A tour guide said the aquatic visitors - which can weigh up to 29 tonnes - were still in the May in March as the mothers waited two months after giving birth before heading north to Alaska. The calf greets a boat load of tourists half a mile offshore at the Laguna Ojo de Liebre, Mexico The calf and its mother swim between the two boatloads of tourists and gently nudge the sides of the vessels Extraordinary video shows the two gray whales swimming between the tourist boats and lifting their snouts out of the water to be stroked. Dwarfing them, the mother whale is also shown encouraging her calf to take a dive under one of the vessels. Photographs show the calf getting up close and personal with the tourists by bringing its head out of the water and almost placing it on one of the boats. The university professor from Linz, Austria, who took the video, said it was a 'moving and emotional experience'. 'My partner and I were on boat tour that lasted about two and half hours, and the whales met us half a mile off the coast. The calf also brought its head out of the water and allowed its snout to be stroked by tourists The mother whale also brought her head out of the water behind the boats, at one point. She had been encouraging her calf to dive underneath them The whales snouts were also stroked after they put their heads out of the sea water Oskar Lehner, 63, took the fantastic footage in March, around the time that the whale mothers would head north to Alaska with their newborn calves 'What was remarkable about our encounter with the whales is how gently they were treating our boat - they could easily have flipped it whilst diving underneath, but didn't. 'However, they liked to push us like a toy in various directions which was quite entertaining; we never felt like we were in any danger. 'The mother whales were encouraging or even pushing their two-month-old babies to approach the boat and to play with us. The pair are photographed here approaching a boatload of 14 tourists in the sea The whales were happy to allow their snouts to be touched, according to the Oskar who took the video At one point the whales also blew a spray of water onto the tourists when they decided to take another breath 'According to our guide Shari the mothers were taking a nap while we were petting the babies. 'She also said that only 50 per cent of the babies survive the journey north.' Gray whales are not considered to be endangered by the IUCN, which says their population is stable. They live along coastlines around the Pacific Ocean, and are also seen near Iceland in the Atlantic. A 22-year-old student who adopted three slaughterhouse survivor dogs has revealed their transformation after escaping the Chinese dog meat trade. Skye Wardle, of Minsterworth, Gloucestershire, has taken the three animals into her care over the past three years - first adopting Clover in November 2016. The golden retriever was starved, left dehydrated and contracted pneumonia and canine distemper after being rescued from a dog slaughterhouse in Changchun. Golden retriever Bonnie was abandoned in Beijing (left), but he is now doing much better after being taken in by animal welfare assistant Skye Wardle in Gloucestershire (right) Nellie is a Samoyed dog who was rescued from a puppy mill that bred the animals for dog meat and was set on fire. She was treated for burns (left) and has recovered from her ordeal (right) Animal welfare assistant Miss Wardle then adopted another golden retriever, Bonnie, in March 2018 who was abandoned in Beijing, covered in sores and lice. She also had distemper, which has an 80 per cent fatality rate in puppies, and was left with myoclonus and involuntary muscle spasms causing a neurological tic. Eight months later, Miss Wardle found out about Nellie, a Samoyed dog who was rescued from a puppy mill that bred the animals for dog meat - and was set on fire. The pregnant dog survived the blaze and she was treated by a vet for her burns before giving birth to eight puppies. Seven survived and are they now in the US. Now, Miss Wardle has helped care for her three rescue dogs and is hoping to raise awareness of the benefits of rescuing and adopting pets instead of buying them. Miss Wardle has helped care for her three rescue dogs, including Nellie (pictured together) Nellie survived the blaze at the puppy mill and she was treated by a vet for her burns before giving birth to eight puppies. Seven survived (pictured) and are they now in the US Miss Wardle, whose mother Julie, 51, works for animal charities, said: 'We are all animal lovers and have always had lots of pets including dogs and horses. Nellie, a Samoyed dog who has been rescued 'We have always known about the Chinese dog meat trade and Yulin [dog meat festival], as it's publicly spoken about by celebrities such as Simon Cowell and Ricky Gervais. 'But we never thought we'd be able to adopt a dog from the meat trade. A friend of ours rescued a Spanish street dog from Rushton Dog Rescue and we saw their Facebook page. 'We saw they had started a project rescuing dogs from the Chinese dog meat trade, so I contacted them and was surprised to find out they had a golden retriever. 'We saw photos of him and immediately wanted him. Clover arrived in the UK in December 2016 and we went to Rushton Dog Rescue's farm in Somerset to meet him once he had been there a few days to settle. 'We adored him and signed the adoption papers and took him home that day. It was the same with Bonnie and Nellie - we agreed to adopt them and waited for them to pass quarantine and fly to the UK. Miss Wardle adopted Clover in November 2016 (left) and has nursed her back to health (right) Golden retriever Clover was starved, left dehydrated and contracted pneumonia and canine distemper after being rescued from a dog slaughterhouse in Changchun, China 'The adoption process was very easy. We contacted Rushton Dog Rescue and explained we had always had golden retrievers in the family, they recommended Clover to us and we knew we wanted him immediately. Bonnie is pictured snuggling up to Miss Wardle after being rescued from China Miss Wardle told how Clover, Bonnie and Nellie have compatible personalities, which has made the transition easier - although they all needed plenty of human love. She said: 'Clover is the sweetest boy, he is quiet, friendly and sensitive. I would say he is the most affected by the abuse he has been through, as they are manhandled and beaten, thrown around by metal poles around their necks in slaughterhouses. 'He is a cuddly boy but loves his own space and loves his walks where we he can walk for miles on his own exploring. 'Bonnie is a larger than life, hilarious character. She is small from stunted growth from her starvation as a puppy, but she makes up for it in personality. 'She is loud, loves to bark and play fight, she is funny and a real tough cookie, gets bowled over and trampled by the other two when playing and gets back up and carries on every time. 'She is the little boss, always starts the play fighting and is fiercely independent, even though she needs a lot of help and support with her myoclonus. Bonnie (left) with Clover (right) and Nellie (centre) have all been taken in by Miss Wardle The three rescue dogs, who now all live in Gloucestershire, enjoy their time on the beach 'She has definitely come out of her shell and changed the most since we adopted her, she was quiet and frail at first, very weak and her tic was very bad to the point she could barely sleep or stay crouched to go to the toilet. She has blossomed and grown into an amazing character. 'Nellie is a typical Samoyed and has been from the beginning. She has the 'Sammy spirit' and Sammy smile, is endlessly happy and adores her life. 'She absolutely loves chasing her ball and running, walking lots and cuddling up to us at night. Her and Bonnie have a special bond we noticed straight away.' Speaking about the positives of adopting dogs, she said: 'We would just like to raise awareness of the dog meat trade and rescuing and urge people to adopt instead of buying dogs. 'People have a common misconception that rescue dogs are difficult, problematic, or always cross-breeds and undesirable breeds who aren't family friendly.' Advertisement The horrors of the Korean War have been brought back to life and laid bare in a series of digitally colourised pictures. The vivid colour images show many different sides of the war between North and South Korea, which started in 1950 and ended with an armistice in 1953. One striking photo shows a Korean girl with her baby brother on her back tiredly trudging past a stalled M-26 tank, at Haengju Fortress in Goyang, South Korea. A Korean girl with her brother on her back tiredly trudging past a stalled M-26 tank, used by the US Army, at Haengju Fortress in Goyang, South Korea in June 1951 in the midst of the conflict that killed nearly five million people. It would be another two years after this photo was taken until the war ended with an armistice in 1953 American Marines run past the body of an enemy soldier partially buried in the marshland on the Korean Peninsula, September 1950. They're carrying semi-automatic and fully automatic rifles and have been soaked up to their chests after running through bogs Young captured North Koreans put their hands up and surrender as a US Marine (right) points a pistol at them following an ambush on September 20, 1950. In the background is one of the tanks which came ashore in the assault at Inchon, a South Korean city bordering the capital of Seoul US Marines carrying a wounded soldier on a stretcher through grassland in the large port city of Pusan in South Korea between August and September 1950 during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter. It was one of the first major battles that saw US troops pushed to the brink of defeat by the invading North Korean army Another shows US Marines carrying a wounded soldier on a stretcher through grassland in the large port city of Pusan in South Korea. A third image shows a Marine ordering captured North Koreans to keep their hands up and a weapons squad leader pointing out a North Korean position to his machine gun crew. The original black and white photographs were painstakingly colourised by electrician Royston Leonard, 55, from Cardiff, Wales, with each snap taking between four and five hours to complete. 'Adding colour brings to life the horror of war, of the trenches and not just another old black and white photo from long ago,' he said. Marines of the 5th and 7th Regiments are forced to retreat during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in December, 1950 amid blizzard conditions after being defeated by Chinese communist divisions. The battle took place a month after China entered the conflict in November, 1950. A brutal 17-day battle in freezing weather followed Eight British troops ride into battle on a tank with guns in hand before clashing with 30,000 Chinese troops crossing the Imjin River. Almost 100,000 soldiers from the British Army fought in the Korean War, suffering more than 1,000 casualties British troops crossing the Imjin River in tanks in 1951. Just 600 soldiers of the British Army took on a force of 30,000 Chinese troops. The British killed 10,000 Chinese soldiers and suffered just 59 casualties during the assault A mortar crew of The 5th Infantry Regiment - nicknamed the Bobcats - returns enemy fire in the Masan area in 1950. Clockwise from left: Corporal Orville Waldeman loads an explosive shell, Private Carl Cannon, Private Reginal Palmer (drinking from a can), Lt James B. Moore Jr. and Private Oakley Vanalstyn (kneeling) 'We must never forget and teach all our children so that it never happens again. The pictures are not nice but then nor is sending loved ones to war.' The Korean War was sparked by communist North Korea invading South Korea following a series of clashes by the border. The United Nations, with the United States as the principal force, came to the aid of South Korea, with China and the Soviet Union providing assistance to the North. The fighting ended on 27 July, 1953, when an armistice was signed. The agreement created the Korean Demilitarized Zone to separate North and South Korea, and allowed the return of prisoners. However, no peace treaty has been signed, and the two Koreas are technically still at war. Fighting with the 2nd Infantry Division, Sergeant First Class Major Cleveland (left), weapons squad leader, points out Communist-led North Korean position to his machine gun crew north of the Chongchon River on November 20, 1950 Men and equipment of the 73rd Heavy Tank Battalion await orders to board the LST's at the Pusan Docks. The Korean War was sparked by communist North Korea invading South Korea following a series of clashes by the border A British tank gets stuck rolling vertically down a steep hill during the war in the 1950s. The fighting ended on 27 July, 1953, when an armistice was signed. The agreement created the Korean Demilitarized Zone to separate North and South Korea, and allowed the return of prisoners This is the hilarious moment a pair of drunk friends had a sobering fall from a rooftop after one accidentally dragged the other over the edge and sent them both crashing on to the car below. The 28-year-olds ended up sprawled unconscious in a heap after planning to mimic their favourite hip hop stars by swigging from a bottle while dangling their legs over the edge of a roof. Their embarrassing Laurel and Hardy-esque tumble was captured by their friend, Alexandru Ionut Groza, 32, who now lives in Bournemouth, Dorset, but had returned to Botosani, Romania, to visit his family. The Romanian 28-year-olds who were trying to mimic their favourite hip hop stars by swigging from a bottle wile perching on the edge of the roof came crashing down on to a car His 34-second clip begins by showing one long-haired man wearing a white top standing on a grey car. In front of him is a relatively small building upon which his friend, dressed in dark clothes, is already sitting. The long-haired man passes his friend a bottle, before reaching for his outstretched hand which he clasps. The man on the roof then leans back to try to heave him over the edge, but his long-haired mate keeps his feet planted on the car and does not budge. As the rooftop man releases his grasp, his friend stumbles drunkenly on top of the car while Alexandru laughs hysterically from behind the camera. The long-haired man reaches for his mate's outstretched hand and plants his right foot on the edge of the roof, before only budging a few inches But on the final attempt, the white top-clad friend lifts both feet off the car and propels himself up towards the roof But the mates, desperate to recreate a scene from one of their beloved hip hop videos, do not give up and have another attempt. They grip hands again, but this time the long-haired man stretches his right leg up up on to the wall. He cautiously lifts his left foot up from the car's roof and tries to propel himself towards his friend, but is only brave enough to move an inch. Hoping to be third time lucky, the long-haired man raises both feet on to the wall in quick succession and launches himself on towards the roof. As he scrambles on the corrugated iron tiles, he loses his footing and falls backwards, dragging his friend off the roof with him. As he scrambles on the edge of the roof while his friend grips his hands and tries to heave him over the top, he slips The pair slam down on to the car's bonnet and appear to smash heads and briefly knock each other out, and the man in black even bounces on to the ground. Although they had a hard landing, both men walked away relatively unhurt. Alexandru, a courier, said: 'Two of my friends had decided it would be cool to drink some beer on a garage just like they've seen in classic hip hop videos. 'I knew what state they were in so I had a feeling that something funny would happen. 'This is why I didn't go over - I knew it was a bad idea from the outset. The pair crash back down and smash on to the car's roof in a heap, before one even rolls off onto the floor 'I wasn't surprised to see them fall off at all. But I had no idea it would be as hilarious as this - I loved the landing. 'Everyone who has seen the video has been left in stitches from it, they can't stop laughing. 'Despite the bad landing, thankfully they only had a few bumps from the fall and had no serious injuries. 'They now know they were filmed. Apart from being a bit embarrassed by it, they thought it was really funny.' Advertisement Two cute polar bear cubs have been photographed frolicking in the snow with their proud mother. The adorable snaps show the cubs exploring the world as they venture outdoors for the first time since their birth. From rolling around on the ground to falling into snow dens, Aleksey Rodak, 43, captured the shots last month at Novosibirsk Zoo, Russia. Aleksey, an amateur photographer and engineering builder, said: 'This was the first time the mother bear, known as Gerda, showed her cubs to the visitors outside of the closed enclosure. Gerda and her mate, Kay, already have two older cubs - Shilka and Rostik - but this time Gerda had two cubs at once, leaving the new mum with her hands full. Aleksey added: 'The gender or names of the cubs are not known yet, but this enclosure is the most popular in our zoo. All day there were lots of visitors observing this cute family.' The two bears were snapped running around outside in their enclosure for the first time since they were born at the end of 2018 Aleksey Rodak, 43, an amateur photographer, took the remarkable pictures last month at Novosibirsk Zoo near Russia's border with Mongolia In one of the pictures the mother bear, Gerda, could be seen playfully biting one of her cubs while rolling in the snow as it cried out Gerda and her mate, Kay, already have two older cubs - Shilka and Rostik - but this time Gerda had two cubs at once, leaving the new mum with her hands full The proud mother bear watched on as her youngsters played around in the enclosure and explored their new home in the snow UK businesses forced to stockpile supplies ahead of a possible no-deal Brexit sparked a minor economic surge in the months leading up to our aborted departure. New statistics reveal Britain's gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.3 per cent in the period between December and February compared with the previous quarter, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In February, the UK economy grew by 0.2 per cent versus January's 0.5 per cent. Both measures were ahead of economists' expectations, who had pencilled in zero growth for February and 0.2 per cent for the three-month period. At that time there were strong fears and warnings that Britain might leave the economic bloc on March 29 without a deal. This potentially could have led to chaos at the UK border, with badly hit imports and exports, and a shortage of raw materials. Rob Kent-Smith, head of GDP at the ONS, said: 'GDP growth remained modest in the latest three months. Services again drove the economy, with a continued strong performance in IT. 'Manufacturing also continued to recover after weakness at the end of last year with the often-erratic pharmaceutical industry, chemicals and alcohol performing well in recent months.' The UK economy received a small boost from firms stockpiling ahead of the original Brexit day of March 29, which was later postponed The ONS cited data that showed a surge in manufacturing output in March was linked to manufacturers and firms hoarding goods in the run-up to what was supposed to be Brexit. Companies stepped up production to build inventories in advance of March 29, Britain's original Brexit day, before the Conservative Government asked the EU for an extension. The manufacturing sector recorded 0.9 per cent of growth in February and followed on from 1.1 per cent the prior month. Manufacturing output is now at its highest level since April 2008, driven by domestic demand. It helped industrial production jump by 0.6 per cent during the second month of the year. The ONS data dump also showed that the construction sector eked out 0.4 per cent growth while services grew just 0.1 per cent. The figures were released ahead of tonight's emergency EU summit where Theresa May will beg for a short delay to Brexit. Theresa May spoke to the media as she arrived for the summit and expressed her frustration over the need for a Brexit delay because 'the UK should have left by now' She lashed MPs for refusing to pass the Brexit deal today as she arrived at a summit due to agree a second delay complaining 'we should have left by now'. The Prime Minister dodged questions about her own future as she prepared to beg EU leaders for terms on a new extension to the Article 50 negotiating period. Mrs May has landed in Brussels and said she wants an extension with a break clause so Britain can quit as soon as a deal gets through Parliament. She will say the delay should end on June 30. This evening she will give a 90-minute pitch on her plans - before dining alone while the 27 other leaders discuss her request, They are almost certain to reject it and force a delay lasting between December 31 this year and March 31, 2020. Emmanuel Macron appeared to wink today as he arrived in Brussels after he was urged not to 'humiliate' the Prime Minister. He is set to demand the UK is subjected to a number of punitive conditions with a Christmas deadline. As he arrived the French President warned nothing is certain and the EU27 must understand why Britain needs more time. German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants a gentler, but longer extension, into 2020 - reflecting splits among the EU27 that are set to delay a ruling long into tonight. Arriving at the EU's headquarters the PM refused to say if she would quit if Britain is forced to swallow a longer delay - but insisted her aim is still to leave the EU on May 22 if she can win over Jeremy Corbyn. She said: 'What is important is that any extension enables us to leave at the point at which we ratify our Withdrawal Agreement. I know many people will be frustrated that the summit is taking place at all. The UK should have left by now'. President Macron is also calling for regular 'behaviour reviews' of the UK, a bonfire of its EU powers and posts and a 'Boris-proof' lock preventing a new Tory leader causing havoc within the EU if she stands down, despite warnings from Donald Tusk and Angela Merkel not to poison relations with Britain. Before taking off for Belgium a frustrated Theresa May blasted MPs for not voting through her EU divorce deal after Tory Eurosceptic Henry Smith accusing her of throwing away 1billion-a-month in payment to Brussels if she accepts a longer Article 50 extension tonight. Mrs May hit back: 'We could have been outside the EU by now if we'd managed to get the deal through Parliament and I'm continuing to work to deliver Brexit'. But with talks with Labour set to start again tomorrow, Mrs May and Jeremy Corbyn dodged the subject completely during Prime Minister's Questions. An enraged mother has kept her daughter off school for five weeks after the 15-year-old was banned from wearing a 'medical earring'. Sarize Hill was furious when she was told her daughter Storm Jarrold could not wear the small stud to her Doncaster school. And has promised a continuing stand-off if Storm cannot wear the jewellery, which she claims helps her cope with severe migraines. Storm Jarrold (pictured), 15, was told by her Doncaster school that she could not wear the stud, which her mother claims helps her cope with severe migraines Mrs Hill says Storm may now have to consider moving to another school if the ban on the earring (pictured) is not lifted She said: 'It's a tiny little stud in her ear but because it's not in the lobe, the school says it is in breach of its policy on jewellery. 'It helps her with her migraines and since she has started wearing it she has been feeling a lot better. 'She's not wearing it as a fashion statement she's wearing it because it helps her feel better.' Mrs Hill says Storm may now have to consider moving to another school if the ban is not lifted. She said: 'She has had problems in the past and was bullied and she has had issues with her mental health and has been on medication because of it. Do earrings help with migraines? What you need to know about a daith piercing An earring used to help treat migraines is known as a daith piercing - located through the ears innermost cartilage fold. The theory of daith piercings helping to alleviate migraine is based on the idea of targeting a specific pressure point and replicating the principle of acupuncture. Generally, those who seek out the piercings to treat their migraines are people that have found acupuncture helpful but are looking for a long-term solution. But Dr Fayyaz Ahmed, a neurologist and trustee of The Migraine Trust, has said: 'There is no evidence that daith piercing work to help migraine.' There are also other complications with regards to getting a piercing such as an infection, swelling and scarring. Advertisement 'The school used to send her home all the time because she was feeling dizzy and suffering migraines and she was taking a lot of time off.' Mrs Hill says Storm has had a number of medical appointments with doctors and opticians to determine the cause of the migraines and is due to undergo an operation later this year for a sinus problem. She said: 'I read up how holistic jewellery can help relieve migraine pain so she got a piercing done, a tiny little stud. I even got her a translucent one so it can't be seen. 'Since then it has worked and at first she had no problems at school. 'It only came to light because she wore her hair up one day and a teacher spotted it.' Since then, Mrs Hill has kept Year 10 pupil Storm away from Hungerhill School and has had numerous meetings and conversations in a bid to resolve the issue. She said: 'They just tell me it is against their policy and procedure. They are allowed one small stud in each earlobe and nothing else, even though this one is just a holistic ear-ring that helps her with her migraines. 'I just want Storm back in school. They have told me that they will consider moving her to another school. I think that the school just doesn't like Storm and she's been victimised for it.' Helen Redford-Hernandez, headteacher at Hungerhill School (pictured), has said that there is a 'clear uniform policy which includes a section on the wearing of jewellery' Helen Redford-Hernandez, headteacher at Hungerhill School, said: 'We have a clear uniform policy which includes a section on the wearing of jewellery. 'This is published on our website under the section for parents and, is shared widely with parents, carers and students through regular newsletters, assemblies and other communications. 'The policy is understood and followed by the majority of our parents, who are very supportive and understand the need to make sure their children wear our uniform correctly and with pride. 'Our belief is that the uniform sets a clear standard of personal appearance and students are expected to comply with the policy at all times. 'It is with regret that, occasionally, the policy is not adhered to; in this case, we may ask students to go home and change, or, invite parents in for a meeting to resolve the issue.' A scooter rider in south China has narrowly avoided a serious crash thanks to his incredible reflexes. Footage shows the middle-aged motorist travelling along a busy road in Chaozhou, Guangdong province when a car suddenly appeared out of an alley and blocked his path. As he came within inches of a crash, the motorist's reflexes kicked in and he managed to make a 180-degree swerve to avoid hitting the car. Footage shows the middle-aged motorist travelling along a busy road in Chaozhou, Guangdong province when a car suddenly appeared out of an alley and blocked his path As the motorist came within inches of a crash, his reflexes kicked in and he managed to make a 180-degree swerve to avoid hitting the car. No one was hurt in the dramatic near-miss The video filmed last Friday shows another scooter rider stopping to check if he was all right. Thanks to the agile rider's quick reaction, no one was injured, according to The Paper. A shop employee who witnessed the dramatic near-miss told reporters that the scooter was travelling along the road at high speed. 'The man reacted really quickly and spun his scooter around,' he said. A shop employee who witnessed the incident said the scooter was travelling at high speed The clip has been widely shared online, with net users applauding the man's amazing reflexes 'The whole thing happened in about 10 seconds,' he added. The footage has been widely shared on social media, with many net users applauding the man's amazing reflexes. 'Incredible! But please drive slower next time and not risk your safety,' one comment read on Chinese microblogging site Weibo. 'Amazing skills!' another user said. 'Even the motorist beside him was impressed by his performance.' The mother of the ten-year-old girl who police believe was sexually assaulted in a public toilet says her daughter was bound and gagged during the brazen attack. The young girl said she was attacked in the public toilets at the Blair Athol Sport Community Club, 15km south of Adelaide's CBD, between 5pm and 5.30pm on April 3. A manhunt is underway for an Afghani man, aged between 30 and 50, who is believed to have attacked the young girl. The young girl said she was assaulted in the public toilets at the Blair Athol Sport Community Club, in south-west NSW, between 5pm and 5.30pm on April 3 A manhunt is underway for an Afghani man after an alleged brazen attack on a 10-year-old girl in public toilets last Wednesday The mother of the victim, who cannot be identified, told The Advertiser her daughter's mouth and eyes were covered with tape and her hands were tied behind her head. 'She's very scared, she said a man took her in the toilet,' the mother said. The young girl said she told the man her mother was outside, to which he said he 'didn't care'. The attacker was in the company of two girls aged between three and five, near the playground who called the man 'Dad'. The girl's mother said her daughter was forced onto the ground before the man told her to wash her hands. The victim managed to elbow her attacker before running from the toilet, hopping on her bike and fleeing. 'I'm very stressed, very scared and I am very sad. I want him found,' the mother said. Special Crime Detectives released an audio recording in Hazaragi/Dari language, as well as a computer generated image of the alleged attacker, to appeal directly to the Afghani community to help hunt down the predator. The man, aged between 30 and 50, allegedly assaulted the girl in public toilets at the Blair Athol Sport Community Club SAPOL also released CCTV footage of the young victim from the park on the day, in hope that someone may recall seeing her Detective Chief inspector Richard Lambert said people close to the club rooms, playground, car park or public toilets may have seen the alleged attacker behaving suspiciously or having unusual behaviour, between 4.30pm to 6pm. 'They may not have taken any notice because it may have look quite natural for him to be walking around and specifically walking towards the toilets with young girls,' he said. Detective chief inspector Lambert also said the attack was particularly distressing because of the age of the victim, the time of day and the fact it was committed during a sport event and while lots of people were around. He said it's concerning thinking about what may be occurring to the two young girls who were in his company. The suspect is described to have had dark hair with a fringe that partially covered his forehead and was believed to be wearing a grey top and peach shorts at the time. Police believe the man lives in the area but did not rule out that he may have driven to the park. SAPOL also released CCTV footage of the young victim from the park on the day, in hope that someone may recall seeing her. The attacker has not been linked to any previous reports of sexual assault in the area. A Chinese mother has been accused of child abuse after being caught on camera brutally kicking her three-year-old daughter while the girl was doing modelling work. It is believed that the mother was not satisfied with the girl's performance during a commercial shoot, therefore she wanted to punish the girl. A 10-second trending clip shows the child, who was wearing a yellow top and a white skirt, being savagely kicked in the backside by her mother. The parent has apologised in public. A Chinese mother has been caught in a viral video savagely kicking her young daughter in the backside as punishment. It is said the girl, a child model, had failed to pose properly in a shoot The shocking video was filmed on Monday evening in the city of Hangzhou after the girl, known as Niu Niu, had been working all day, according to a video report from BJ News. It is said that Niu Niu has worked as a fashion model for about six months and is popular among online stores who need cute children to pose for pictures while wearing their products. One shop owner, who has worked with Niu Niu, told BJ News that the girl not yet old enough to go to nursery - had overworked. He explained that her mother had sought 'many orders' from various clients at the same time to make money. In China, an experienced child model can earn 80-150 yuan (9-17) for each outfit they model. They are usually required to complete one shoot within four minutes, or 15 shoots in an hour. Footage of the incident was uploaded to the Chinese social media yesterday and quickly went viral. Viewers were shocked by the mother's behaviour and accused her of child abuse. A trending topic page titled 'the person who kicked the child model during photoshoot is her mother' has gathered more than 360 million views on China's Twitter-like Weibo. Insiders said three-year-old Niu Niu (left) had to model for many clients at the same time and was overworked. Many shops in China have removed pictures featuring the girl in protest One commentator 'Tang Xiaowan' wrote: 'The poor child is used by her parents as a means of earning money and has to endure violence.' Another angry viewer 'xa_lzx' claimed Niu Niu had been employed as an illegal child worker and that police should get involved. The viewer said: 'The child was not performing, she was working.' A third Weibo user 'ye you yao rao' said: 'The child is so young and has already worked many orders and lost the happy childhood she deserves. And her mother even behaved like this. This is scary.' One of Niu Niu's clients, a shop called 'Sweet Grandpa Baby', has condemned the parent. On its Weibo page, the store wrote: 'We only realised today that [Niu Niu's] mother is so unloving. This is infuriating.' Many shops have removed pictures featuring Niu Niu in protest against her parent's behaviour. Niu Niu's mother, who remains anonymous, issued a public apology today on Weibo. Child models in China can be required to finish one photo shoot in four minutes. In Huzhou, the 'town of child models', there are schools to train children to be a fashion star (file photo) She thanked the public for giving her advice and pointing out her mistake, but denied the allegations of child abuse. She said she had not intended to harm the girl and felt 'deeply sorry' for the matter. She begged the public to forgive her. In a follow-up interview with BJ News, she explained what happened in the video. She claimed that Niu Niu had kept running towards the road and the day was getting dark, therefore she acted out under stress. The mother said she loved her daughter, but added: 'No parent could claim that they have never beaten their child. I rarely beat my child normally.' She said Niu Niu did not sustain any injuries as a result of the kick. There is currently no law in China to prevent parents from using their children to earn money. Lu Bing, a lawyer, urged the authority to establish relevant laws and regulations to ban young children from taking part in commercial shows and photo sessions. Lu told China Women's Newspaper that companies and parents should not exploit children for their own interests. Nipsey Hussle's parents have paid tribute to the 'humble, spirited, respectful man' who 'wasnt scared of anything' following his death at the end of March. The 33-year-old rapper was shot multiple times in the head and torso in the parking lot of his clothing store in south Los Angeles. The funeral for Hussle, whose real name is Ermias Asghedom, will take place in Los Angeles tomorrow at the Staples Center, a 21,000-seat arena. Hussle's mother, Angelique Smith, told the LA Times: 'I would like for him to be remembered as a humble, spirited, respectful man who had, since his childhood, had an extraordinary and unlimited intellectual capacity.' She also said he always knew his own capability, and once begged a counselor to test him for a gifted program at his school. Nipsey Hussle's parents have paid tribute to the 'humble, spirited, respectful man' who 'wasnt scared of anything' following his death at the end of March Hussle's mother Angelique Smith, pictured, told the LA Times : 'I would like for him to be remembered as a humble, spirited, respectful man who had, since his childhood, had an extraordinary and unlimited intellectual capacity' His father Dawit Asghedom added that he always told the truth and wasn't scared of anything. Asghedom told the LA Times: 'It was like he was sent by God to give some love to bring us together because thats what his lyrics were saying, always. Hes not shy to tell the truth even though it might not look good. 'He wasnt scared of anything. [God] sent him to send a message. It looks like, "Your time is up because you have completed what I sent you to do."' The tributes come after Hussle's death certificate revealed he was pronounced dead 35 minutes after being shot repeatedly in the head and torso. Gang member Eric Holder, pictured, is in custody on murder charges He was pronounced dead at 3.55pm on March 31 at California hospital medical center, his death certificate, which was obtained by TMZ, reveals. Gang member Eric Holder, who goes by the rap name Sh***y Cuz, is in custody on murder charges. Hussle was outside the store with two friends when he was shot. He had been helping a recently-released ex-con friend pick out clothes to go and see his family in when he was shot. The cause of their argument remains unclear but police say it was a personal dispute. Hussle had been working to reduce violence in the neighborhood and was due to sit down with police chiefs to discuss how to stamp out gang warfare when he was killed. The musician was a former gang member himself but spent the last few years working on his music and developing the area where he grew up. Hussle leaves behind a seven-year-old daughter, a two-year-old son and his long-term girlfriend, actress Lauren London. His father Dawit Asghedom, pictured together, added that he always told the truth and wasn't scared of anything Advertisement Britain is set to be pushed into a year-long delay to Brexit tonight after Theresa May effectively axed the prospect of No Deal on Friday. The Prime Minister's hopes of a short extension that expires in June appear to be doomed as she prepares to fly to Brussels following PMQs today. Views among EU leaders vary - but the expiry of Article 50 looks likely to be shifted to at least the end of this year. Mrs May could get the option to break the extension early if her deal finally passes Parliament - but EU Council President Donald Tusk has gone public with warnings there is 'little reason' to believe it will ever happen. French President Emmanuel Macron has taken the most hardline stance, insisting Britain must be tied into strict rules to stop it misbehaving during any new delay. He is highly unlikely to actually veto the delay, however. When the summit starts at around 5pm this evening, Mrs May will first answer questions from EU leaders - building on a diplomatic blitz that included trips to Paris and Berlin yesterday. She will then be kicked out of the summit so the other 27 EU leaders can decide what to do over dinner. Only once they have a unanimous agreement on delay will Mrs May be asked to say Yes or No. At the last summit three weeks ago the EU leaders debated in private for almost six hours. A similar row this time would mean Britain's fate being decided at around midnight tonight. Whatever happens, the PM must return to the Commons tomorrow to explain to MPs when and if Brexit will ever happen. What has Mrs May asked for? In a letter to Donald Tusk she formally requested an extension to Article 50 that will delay the UK's departure beyond April 12 to June 30 - but she also wants a 'termination clause'. This would allow the UK to leave on May 22 - the day before European elections - if a deal can be pushed through the UK Parliament. However, this delay is a carbon copy of that sought by Mrs May before the last emergency summit in March - which was rejected. What has the EU said? Mr Tusk said that a 12-month 'flextension' to March 29 2020 is 'the only reasonable way out' of the crisis and has urged leaders of the EU's 27 member states to back him at Wednesday's summit. Ahead of the summit today, Mr Tusk urged the 27 leaders to consider a long delay because there was 'little reason' to believe the deal would be passed by MPs before the end of June. He said Brexit should be put off by 'no longer than one year' with Britain allowed to leave if and when the deal does somehow get through Parliament. If confirmed tonight such an extension is likely to spark fury among Tory Brexiteer MPs, with Jacob Rees-Mogg suggesting if we were kept in we should be troublesome to the rest of the EU, politically. And Mrs May has previously said she would not be able to accept such a delay - suggesting it could prompt her to resign. This could lead to a summer leadership battle in Tory ranks before a new, most likely Brexiteer leader, takes over. How does the EU make its decision? When the summit starts at around 5pm this evening, Mrs May will first answer questions from EU leaders - building on a diplomatic blitz that included trips to Paris and Berlin yesterday. She will then be kicked out of the summit so the other 27 EU leaders can decide what to do over dinner. Only once they have a unanimous agreement on delay will Mrs May be asked to say Yes or No. At the last summit three weeks ago the EU leaders debated in private for almost six hours. A similar row this time would mean Britain's fate being decided at around midnight tonight. When will Brexit be? It is hard to say - but it is highly unlikely to be on Friday as the law currently says. The PM clearly still wants to get out of the EU before European Parliament elections have to be held on May 22 but this is ultimately up to Brussels. Were she to pass the deal in the next couple of weeks, it is probably possible to conclude exit by around late May. If she fails again however, exit day will likely be pushed back by at least nine to 12 months - setting the stage for a change of PM in Downing Street and possibly either an election or a referendum, or even both. What is happening in the cross party talks? The Prime Minister has said the divorce deal could not be changed but announced last week she would seek a new consensus with Jeremy Corbyn on the political declaration about the final UK-EU agreement. It is her final roll of the dice to save the deal. Talks broke down on Friday between ministers and officials from both parties, despite previous efforts being hailed as 'constructive'. After technical discussions on Monday, they finally resumed yesterday - but have now been adjourned again until tomorrow. If the talks fail, Mrs May has promised to put options to Parliament and agreed to be bound by the result. Time is short to actually call this vote. In a second round of indicative votes last week a customs union, Norway-style soft Brexit and second referendum were the leading options - but none got a majority of MPs. What does Mrs May's shift mean? Mrs May has abandoned all hope of winning over remaining Tory Brexiteers and the DUP on the terms of her current deal. Striking a cross-party deal with Labour on the future relationship will require Mrs May to abandon many of her red lines - including potentially on free movement and striking trade deals. To get an agreement with Labour, Mrs May will need to agree the political declaration should spell out a much softer Brexit than her current plans do. This might mean a permanent UK-EU customs union or even staying in the EU Single Market. What if Mr Corbyn says No? Mrs May said if she cannot cut a deal with Corbyn, she would ask Parliament to come up with options - and promised to follow orders from MPs. In a second round of indicative votes last week a customs union, Norway-style soft Brexit and second referendum were the leading options - but none got a majority of MPs. They would probably pass if the Tories whipped for them - but it would almost certainly mean ministers quitting the Government. The Institute for Government has mapped out how a crucial week in the Brexit endgame might unfold ahead of a possible No Deal Brexit on Friday Will May resign? Nodbody knows for sure. Mrs May has announced she would go if and when her divorce deal passed so a new Tory leader could take charge of the trade talks phase. In practice, it drained Mrs May of all remaining political capital. Most in Westminster think her Premiership is over within weeks at the latest. As her deal folded for a third time a fortnight ago, she faced immediate calls from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn so stand down with instant effect. What is clear is there is already a fight underway for the Tory leadership. Does is all mean there will be an election? Probably, at some point though the immediate chances have fallen because of the latest events. The Commons is deadlocked and the Government has no functional majority. While the Fixed Term Parliaments Act means the Government can stumble on, it will become increasingly powerless. Mrs May could try to call one herself or, assuming she stands down, her successor could do so. Would May lead the Tories into an early election? Unlikely. Having admitted to her party she would go if the deal passes, Mrs May's political career is doomed. While there is no procedural way to remove her, a withdrawal of political support from the Cabinet or Tory HQ would probably finish her even if she wanted to stay. How is an election called? When would it be? Because of the Fixed Term Parliaments Act passed by the coalition, the Prime Minister can no longer simply ask the Queen to dissolve the Commons and call an election. There are two procedures instead. First - and this is what happened in 2017 - the Government can table a motion in the Commons calling for an early election. Crucially, this can only pass with a two-thirds majority of MPs - meaning either of the main parties can block it. Second an election is called if the Government loses a vote of no confidence and no new administration can be built within 14 days. In practice, this is can only happen if Tory rebels vote with Mr Corbyn - a move that would end the career of any Conservative MP who took the step. An election takes a bare minimum of five weeks from start to finish and it would take a week or two to get to the shut down of Parliament, known as dissolution - putting the earliest possible polling day around mid to late May. If the Tories hold a leadership election first it probably pushes any election out to late June at the earliest. Why do people say there has to be an election? The question of whether to call an election finally reached the Cabinet last week. Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay warned the rejection of Mrs May's deal would set in train a series of events that will lead to a softer Brexit - meaning an election because so many MPs will have to break manifesto promises. MPs voting to seize control of Brexit from ministers has only fuelled the demands. Labour has been calling for a new vote for months, insisting the Government has failed to deliver Brexit. Mr Corbyn called a vote of no confidence in the Government in January insisting the failure of the first meaningful vote showed Mrs May's administration was doomed. He lost but the calls did not go away. Brexiteers have joined the demands in recent days as Parliament wrestles with Brexit and amid fears among hardliners promises made by both main parties at the last election will be broken - specifically on leaving the Customs Union and Single Market. Tory MP Andrew Bridgen wants Mrs May replaced with a Brexiteer. He believes it would push Remain Tories out of the party and then allow a snap election with more Eurosceptic candidates wearing blue rosettes. What might happen? Both main parties will have to write a manifesto - including a position on Brexit. Both parties are deeply split - in many cases between individual MPs and their local activists. Under Mrs May, the Tories presumably try to start with the deal. But it is loathed by dozens of current Tory MPs who want a harder Brexit and hated even more by grassroots Tory members. Shifting Tory policy on Brexit to the right would alienate the majority of current MPs who voted to Remain. Labour has similar splits. Many of Labour's MPs and activists want Mr Corbyn to commit to putting Brexit to a second referendum - most with a view to cancelling it. Mr Corbyn is a veteran Eurosceptic and millions of people who voted Leave in 2016 backed Labour in 2017. The splits set the stage for a bitter and chaotic election. The outcome is highly unpredictable - the Tories start in front but are probably more divided on the main question facing the country. Labour is behind but knows it made dramatic gains in the polls in the last election with its promises of vastly higher public spending. Neither side can forecast what impact new political forces might wield over the election or how any public anger over the Brexit stalemate could play out. It could swing the result in favour of one of the main parties or a new force. Or an election campaign that takes months, costs millions of pounds could still end up in a hung Parliament and continued stalemate. This is the current forecast by polling expert Sir John Curtice. President Donald Trump has said that election results handing a narrow victory to right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu give a 'better chance' to a yet to be unveiled US peace plan. Netanyahu claimed victory in Israel's election despite still needing to negotiate the support of coalition partners to keep him in government and make him Israel's longest serving Prime Minister. 'I'd like to congratulate Bibi Netanyahu,' said Trump after nearly complete results put the incumbent premier in position to form a coalition. Trump predicted a boost to his administration's promised plan for a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 'The fact that Bibi won, I think we'll see some pretty good action in terms of peace,' Trump said. 'Everybody said you can't have peace in the Middle East with Israel and Palestinians. I think we have a chance and I think we now have a better chance,' he added. Benjamin Netanyahu looked set to become Israel's longest-serving Prime Minister after he claimed victory in the country's general election Trump has been vocal in his support of Netanyahu and recently recognised Israel's sovereignty of the Golan Heights Trump has enthusiastically backed Netanyahu, making controversial gestures of support to the hawkish leader, including recognition of Israeli sovereignty in the occupied Golan Heights area. The US peace plan has been long in the making but little detail has emerged about what it might propose. Palestinian leaders have already indicated they are deeply skeptical, given Trump's all-out support for Netanyahu. Israel was poised for a shift to the right after Netanyahu's claimed victory in the country's election, firing the starting gun on tough coalition talks. At the negotiating table will be the Otzma Yehudit party, whose leader was banned from running in the election over racist remarks and which has called for Arabs to be expelled from Israel. Also present will be two Ultra-Orthodox parties - Shas and United Torah Judaism, both long-term allies of Netanyahu - who increased their seats at this election. But the likely king-maker will be the right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party which has already started playing hardball by threatening to deny Netanyahu his majority. If Netanyahu can successfully navigate the talks, which could last until the end of May, his prize will be becoming the longest-serving Israeli Prime Minister in history. Benjamin Netanyahu looked set to become Israel's longest-serving Prime Minister after his Likud party and its right-wing coalition partners secured the most seats in the country's parliament (shown left). Rival Benny Gantz's Blue and White party and his allies fell short of forming a viable government (top right), with Arab parties collecting a total of 10 seats (bottom right) Netanyahu celebrated in front of supporters along with wife Sarah after exit polls showed his right-wing coalition with a clear path to power Before Netanyahu can be sworn in, however, he must navigate weeks of tough negotiations with his potential allies to form a government Under Israel's complex proportional representation voting system, no single party has ever won enough seats to claim a majority, so victory depends on intricate alliances between disparate groups. Netanyahu's Likud party and their likely allies walked away from the vote with 65 seats, compared to 45 for rival Benny Gantz's Blue and White party and their allies. Two Arab parties picked up a total of 10 seats. While the result puts Netanyahu in prime position to form the next government, the vote saw the make-up of his future coalition shift since the last election in 2015. Some of the Prime Minister's tradition allies - such as the New Right party - were kicked out of the Knesset and replaced with more extreme alternatives. Israel election results With 98 per cent of ballots counted, the results are... Likud: - 35 seats Blue and White: 35 Shas: 8 United Torah Judaism: 8 Labor: 6 Hadash-Ta'al: 6 Union of Right-Wing Parties: 5 Yisrael Beytenu: 5 Kulanu: 4 Meretz: 4 Ra'am Balad: 4 Likely right-wing alliance: Likud, Shas, UTJ, URWP, Yisrael Beytenu, Kulanu Likely centre-left alliance: Blue and White, Labor, Meretz Arab parties: Hadash-Ta'al, Ra'am Balad Advertisement Chief among them is the Union of Right-Wing Parties, itself comprised of three smaller parties - The Jewish Home, Tkuma, and Otzma Yehudit - the latter of which is known for its harsh views towards Israeli Arabs. The party's leader, Ben-Ari, was banned from running in the 2019 race for 'incitement to racism' after he branded Israeli Arabs 'enemies'. A sticking point during talks will be what role, if any, Otzma Yehudit gets in the new government. Netanyahu himself lobbied the union to include Otzma in its ranks during the election to avoid splitting the right-wing vote. He also showed his willingness to compromise to their demands after saying on the campaign trail that he would annex Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Rafi Peretz, leader of the union, demanded two ministerial roles on Wednesday in return for backing Netanyahu and refused to rule out a role in parliament for Otzma. Meanwhile the Yisrael Beytenu party began leveraging the five seats it won by refusing to back Netanyahu until 'clear answers' are given over the direction of the new government. Party leader Avigdor Liberman told the Times of Israel that he would not back Gantz, but would also not commit to backing Netanyahu. Should Yisrael back out of the talks it would bring Netanyahu's seat-share down to 60, denying him a majority. The biggest losers on election night were the New Right party, which contains two former senior ministers, and the 'dark horse' Zehut party, run by a pro-cannabis libertarian, who both failed to garner enough votes to enter parliament. New Right leader Naftali Bennett was still holding out hope on Wednesday morning that the uncounted 3 per cent of ballots would contain enough votes for his party to squeak into the Knesset, as they were just 4,300 short. But even if his party does secure the required votes, it will do little to change the outcome of the election, because he is allied to Netanyahu. Key to Netanyahu's talks will be the role of the Otzma Yehudit party, whose leader Ben Ari (pictured) was banned from running in the elections for racist comments about Arabs Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the Yisrael Beytenu party, began talks by threatening to walk away from the new alliance until 'clear answers' are given over the government's direction Benny Gantz had celebrated victory himself on Tuesday night after exit polls put him ahead, but as the night wore on his chances faded Gantz raised the prospect of 'a political manoeuvre' on Wednesday morning, but barring a major failure of coalition talks he has little chance of taking power Gaining ground was Ultra-Orthodox party Shas, which looks set to become the joint-largest party in the new coalition government alongside United Torah Judaism, another Ultra-Orthodox organisation. The combined powers of both parties will likely pull the new government to the Right, further dimming hopes of a negotiated solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Coalition talks are set to last throughout April and into May as Netanyahu thrashes out deals with his allies, before the new government is sworn in early in June. Both Mr Netanyahu and his challenger, former military chief Benny Gantz, leader of the rival Blue and White party, had declared victory in speeches to boisterous gatherings of supporters on Tuesday night. But as the night went on, there were growing signs that Mr Netanyahu's Likud was pulling ahead. 'It's a night of tremendous victory,' Mr Netanyahu told supporters. 'I was very moved that the nation of Israel once again entrusted me for the fifth time, and with an even greater trust.' He said he had already begun talking to fellow right-wing and religious parties about forming a new coalition. He said: 'I want to make it clear, it will be a right-wing government, but I intend to be the prime minister of all Israeli citizens, right or left, Jews and non-Jews alike.' The 69-year-old prime minister has been the dominant force in Israeli politics for the past two decades and its face to the world. His campaign has focused heavily on his friendship with President Donald Trump and his success in cultivating new allies, such as China, India and Brazil. But the corruption scandals created some voter fatigue. Along with two other former military chiefs on his ticket, Mr Gantz was able to challenge Mr Netanyahu on security issues, normally the prime minister's strong suit, while also taking aim at the prime minister's alleged ethical lapses. Israel's attorney general has recommended charging Mr Netanyahu with bribery, breach of trust and fraud. But earlier Mr Gantz also claimed victory in the election and said: 'We won! The Israeli public has had their say!' Mr Gantz, who has been vague on key policy issues, has presented himself as a clean, scandal-free alternative to Mr Netanyahu. By Wednesday morning, with 97 per cent of the votes counted, Likud and Blue and White had won 35 seats each. But Mr Netanyahu was in a stronger position to form a coalition government with the anticipated support of right-wing and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, Likud's natural allies. Such a coalition could rest on 65 votes in the 120-member parliament. Earlier in the night, with fewer of the votes counted, Blue and White still appeared to be ahead by one seat and Gantz projected optimism. 'Elections have losers and elections have winners. And we are the winners,' Mr Gantz told a victory rally shortly after midnight. Mr Netanyahu's message of unity was a sharp contrast from his campaign theme in which he accused Mr Gantz of conspiring with Arab parties to topple him. Arab leaders accused Mr Netanyahu of demonising the country's Arab community, which is about 20 per cent of the population. His attacks on the Arab sector fuelled calls for a boycott and appeared to result in relatively low turnout by Arab voters. The final results are subject to change. Some 40 parties took part in the election, and only those that receive at least 3.25 per cent of the votes make it into parliament. Benjamin Netanyahu voted in Israel's election on Tuesday as he bids to become the longest-serving Prime Minister in the country's history Once the final results come in, attention will turn to President Reuven Rivlin. The president, whose responsibilities are mostly ceremonial, is charged with choosing a prime minister after consulting with party leaders and determining who has the best chance of putting together a majority coalition. That responsibility is usually given to the head of the largest party. The election included several other surprises. The Labour party, which ruled the country for its first 30 years, tumbled to single digits in the parliament. If Mr Netanyahu is re-elected, attention will quickly focus on his legal woes. The attorney general has recommended a series of criminal charges against the prime minister but will only make a decision on indicting him after a legally mandated hearing. Legal experts expect at least some charges to be filed. Mr Netanyahu will likely focus his efforts on getting guarantees from his coalition partners to continue to back him if he is indicted, and perhaps find a way to grant him immunity from prosecution. Mr Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing and claimed he is the victim of a witch hunt. Rival Benny Gantz (pictured alongside wife Revital) has overtaken Mr Netanyahu in the polls, but the incumbent has a better chance of forming a coalition - giving him the advantage Mr Netanyahu urged voters to 'choose well' as he cast his ballot in the country's election alongside wife Sara at a school in Jerusalem Palestinian official Saeb Erekat lamented that the Israelis voted to maintain 'the status quo'. 'They want their occupation to be endless,' he said. If Netanyahu wins he will become the longest serving Israeli Prime Minister in history, surpassing founding father David Ben-Gurion. Casting his vote at a polling station in Jerusalem, Netanyahu urged Israelis to 'choose well', adding: 'This is a sacred act, the essence of democracy, and we should be thankful for that.' He added: 'You need to choose well, but I can't tell you for whom. Or I can, but I'm not going to. God willing, Israel will win.' Gantz, a retired military chief, voted in his hometown of Rosh Haayin in central Israel alongside his wife, Revital, calling on Israelis to vote and 'take responsibility' for their democracy. 6.4million people were eligible to cast votes and election day is a public holiday in Israel A woman casts her ballot as Israelis vote in the election at a polling station in Tel Aviv, Israel An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man stands behind a voting booth before casting his ballot in Israel's general elections 'Go to vote. Choose whoever you believe in. Respect each other and let us all wake up for a new dawn, a new history,' he said. The election has emerged as a referendum on Netanyahu and his 13 years overall in power, with the existential questions facing Israel rarely being discussed. Israel election timeline Israelis vote Tuesday in a high-stakes general election, but under the country's complex electoral process it could be weeks before a government emerges. Here is a timeline: April 10 The Central Elections Committee will release preliminary results after most ballots have been counted. About 40 parties ran in the election but only a dozen are likely to have garnered enough votes to get a seat in parliament. A day or two after the votes are counted President Reuven Rivlin will open consultations with the parties elected and ask them to recommend who is best placed to form a coalition government. April 17 The deadline for the elections committee to announce final official results, after ruling on any appeals or legal challenges. April 23 The elected legislators are sworn in at the opening session of the new Knesset, or parliament. April 24 The deadline for Rivlin to announce his choice for an attempt to form a coalition. The candidate has an initial 28 days to do the job, with a further 14-day extension available on demand. Should the attempt fail, Rivlin can again take soundings among the parties and ask another candidate to try to build a viable alliance. This time the attempt is limited to 28 days in total. If that too fails, two more attempts are granted to other candidates on a diminishing time scale and then fresh elections are called. End of May If all goes well and the initial coalition builder succeeds, they will present the new government, which will be sworn in at the Knesset in early June. Advertisement The 69-year-old prime minister has been the dominant force in Israeli politics for the past two decades and its face to the world. But his various corruption scandals have created some voter fatigue, and in recent days he's vowed to annex Jewish West Bank settlements if re-elected - a prospect that could doom the already slim hopes of establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel, which Netanyahu has previously wavered on. 'It's about time for a change,' said Barry Rifkin, a Jerusalem resident. As many as a half-dozen parties are teetering along the threshold for entering the Knesset, or parliament. A failure by any of these parties to get the required 3.25 per cent of total votes cast could have a dramatic impact on who ultimately forms the next coalition. The Israeli government needs a parliamentary majority to rule, and since no party has ever earned more than half of the 120 seats in the Knesset, a coalition is required. Netanyahu and Gantz have ruled out sitting together in government, so the next prime minister will likely come down to how many supporters each candidate can recruit. Israel's president, Reuven Rivlin, could play an important role. Though largely a ceremonial post, the president is responsible for choosing the candidate with the best chance of building a stable coalition government as prime minister. Rivlin told voters as he cast his ballot in Jerusalem that 'the only ones that will determine who will be prime minister, and what the next government will be, are you.' 'And in order for you to influence, you must vote,' he said. In the campaign's final days, Netanyahu has veered to the right and embarked on a media blitz in which he portrays himself as the underdog and frantically warns that 'the right-wing government is in danger.' His nationalist allies, however, see the move as a repeat of his 2015 election tactic to draw away their voters as he did four years ago when on election day, he warned of Arabs turning out in 'droves.' The scare tactics were seen as helping him seal a come-from-behind victory. An Israeli man votes for Israel's parliamentary election at a polling station in Ramat Gan, Israel Israeli Bedouin woman votes during general elections in the city of Rahat, Israel Inside a voting booth in Tel Aviv, Israel, as the country's Knesset elections get underway Arab turnout will be a major issue this time as well. Netanyahu's campaign against Arab politicians, together with the new alliance with anti-Arab extremists and the passage of last year's contentious nation-state law, which enshrined Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people alone, have deepened calls for a ballot boycott in Arab communities. But some hope these blows will have the opposite effect, fueling enough frustration to drive up the Arab participation rate, which is typically lower than that of Israeli Jews. A big Arab turnout could push smaller right-wing parties into the margins and even threaten Netanyahu's long rule. The leftist Meretz even put out a video urging Arabs to vote. 'Bibi is counting on you. Because if you don't vote, Bibi wins,' it said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. The Palestinian issue has been largely sidelined in the election campaign that has been long on scandal and short on substance. But in a reminder, the military says it imposed a 24-hour closure on the West Bank and Gaza throughout election day, based on its security assessments. Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz waves to his supporters after casting vote during Israel's general elections in Rosh Haayin, Israel Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu votes during Israel's parliamentary elections in Jerusalem, telling journalists it is a 'sacred process' Even if he is re-elected, Netanyahu could have a difficult time governing. Some of his allies have indicated they will no longer back him if formal charges are filed. Israel's attorney general has recommended indicting him on bribery and breach of trust charges in three separate cases. Rivals have also begun to question a deal in which Netanyahu reportedly earned $4 million on a German submarine sale to Egypt by owning shares in one of the German manufacturer's suppliers. Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing and claims the accusations are part of a liberal media's orchestrated witch hunt against him. Netanyahu has generated much of his popularity from projecting a tough image in the face of Iran's rising power and for keeping Israel safe and prosperous in a hostile region. But in Gantz he has encountered the rare opponent who can match his security credentials. Along with two other former military chiefs on his ticket, Gantz has attacked Netanyahu for failing to halt rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The telegenic Gantz, who has been vague on key policy fronts, has presented himself as a clean, scandal-free alternative to Netanyahu and has vowed to heal the rifts the longtime leader has created in Israeli society. A man casts his vote during the Israeli general elections in Tel Aviv, Israel Tory MP Sir Bill Cash says he believes it will be illegal for the UK to be kept in the bloc beyond Friday and will go to court if Theresa May accept any Article 50 extension An arch-Eurosceptic today warned the EU he will launch a legal challenge in Britain if they delay Brexit for up to a year tonight. Tory MP Sir Bill Cash says he believes it will be illegal for the UK to be kept in the bloc beyond Friday and will go to court if Theresa May accepts any Article 50 extension. Sir Bill, who represents Stone in Staffordshire, has made the legal action threat in a letter sent to European Council President Donald Tusk today. It says: 'Any decision by the Prime Minister to accept a long extension to Article 50 is likely to be challenged in the UK courts'. In the warning, which he asked 'be taken into account' during today's EU Council talks, Mr Cash wrote: 'It is a fundamental principle of British constitutional law that the Government may not use their powers - including their powers to make international agreements - so as to frustrate the intention of Parliament. He added: 'It is very important to note that Parliament's legal intention for the UK to leave the EU is not conditional upon a withdrawal agreement'. Mr Cash continued: 'There is a clear legal route for the legislative will of Parliament to be delivered: the UK can exercise its legal entitlement to leave the EU on April 12 2019 in accordance with Article 50(3). Mr Cash, who represents Stone in Staffordshire, has made the legal action threat in a letter sent to European Council President Donald Tusk today. English Democrats leader has filed High Court claim to prove UK has ALREADY left the EU to block extension The leader of the English Democrats has already launched a High Court battle claiming that the UK has already left the EU. Robin Tilbrook argues that Britain left the union on March 29 as originally planned, saying the PM's extension was not legally valid. The legal bid will be seen as a Brexiteer equivalent to Gina Miller's battle with the Government over triggering Article 50 in 2016. Speaking to MailOnline Mr Tilbrook said the argument that Britain had already left was 'very strong'. In the judicial review application, the English Democrats argue that Mrs May did not have the power to extend the exit date past March 29. 'Her purported request for an extension of the date of departure and the Government's purported agreement to such an extension is and was unlawful and is and was null and void,' the legal argument reads. Mr Tillbrook hopes the case will be brought before a court in the coming weeks. Professor Mark Elliott, Deputy Chair of the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge, has argued that the government was entitled obtain an Article 50 extension and change the exit day before asking Parliament to approve it. Meanwhile Thom Brooks, Professor of Law and Government at Durham University Law School, told MailOnline: 'Parliament did agree for the PM to have more time and both the UK and EU have agreed our 'deal' remains, or at least for now. This is through temporary extensions.' Advertisement 'A long extension, without any rationale for how it is needed in order to deliver the UK's exit from the EU, is simply not something to which the Prime Minister can lawfully agree. 'It would amount to a deliberate decision to frustrate the clearly-expressed will of Parliament as a matter of the rule of law.' A former appeal judge has already said the legality of Theresa May's delay to Brexit should be tested in a court. Sir Richard Aikens, who sat in the Court of Appeal from 2008 until 2015, spoke after the leader of the English Democrats political party launched a legal battle claiming that the UK has already left the EU. Britain was supposed to leave on March 29, but was granted an extension by the EU until April 12 at a meeting last in Brussels last month. Ministers remain determined to take Britain out of the EU at the 'earliest opportunity', Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay said, as Brussels appeared poised to grant a lengthy delay to Britain's departure. Theresa May meets the leaders of the remaining EU 27 later on Wednesday to press her case for a further extension to the Article 50 withdrawal process to June 30 to allow her more time to get a deal through Parliament. But amid increasing frustration among EU leaders, European Council president Donald Tusk is recommending a longer delay of up to a year, with an opportunity to leave before then if a deal is agreed. However the prospect of an extended delay has infuriated many Conservative MPs, already angry that the UK has missed its original departure date of March 29. In the Commons on Tuesday, 97 Tory MPs voted against a motion backing Mrs May's call for an extension which only passed with the support of opposition MPs. Robin Tilbrook has launched a High Court battle claiming that the UK has already left the EU. Former appeal judge Sir Richard Aikens (right) today said the case should go before a court The legal bid will be seen as a Brexiteer equivalent to Gina Miller's battle with the Government over triggering Article 50 in 2016 (pictured, Ms Miller in London last week) Mr Barclay insisted the Prime Minister did not want to see a lengthy delay, which was why the Government was asking only for an extension to the end of June. He said the UK could still leave before that date if it got an agreement through Parliament in time and that ministers were committed to leaving at the 'earliest opportunity'. 'I don't want to see a long extension. The Prime Minister doesn't want to see a long extension. That is why the request today is to June 30 in order that we can leave as soon as possible,' he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. Mr Barclay however sidestepped questions as to whether Mrs May could remain in office if the EU insisted on a longer delay, saying it was the failure of MPs to support a deal which had handed the initiative back to Brussels. 'That is a consequence of Parliament, not the Government. The Government has agreed a deal with the EU. It is Parliament that has forced this on the Government,' he said. A man wearing a Donald Trump T-shirt has yelled abuse at Muslims gathered at one of the mosques targeted in the Christchurch terror attacks. On Wednesday afternoon, the man was spotted by members of the Muslim community at the Masjid Al Noor mosque yelling abuse at those attending. The mosque was one of two attacked on March 15. Of the 50 men, women, and children whose lives were taken, more than 40 were at Masjid Al Noor. A man wearing a Donald Trump T-shirt has yelled abuse at Muslims gathered at one of the mosques targeted in the Christchurch terror attacks Yasmeenah Safiya was told about the man yelling abuse on Wednesday by her friend. The 17-year-old said her friend called her from the mosque in a distraught state asking if she had heard what happened. 'She was like, ''a guy just came in wearing a Trump shirt and he was shouting abuse at all of us'',' she told Stuff. A photo was posted to to the Muslims in Christchurch and Canterbury Facebook page showing the man who was allegedly abusing worshippers being escorted by two police officers. People pay their respects outside the Masjid Al Noor where a memorial was setup after the horrific attacks A caption to the post said the photographer saw the man at the 'front of the masjid wearing a shirt labelled ''Trump for New Zealand''.' The caption to the post claims the man 'was swearing and saying that all Muslims are terrorists and that we hate Jesus, in addition to saying that we all need to leave NZ, among other things.' 'He was there for about 15 minutes, he also kicked and tried to damage some of the memorial items along Deans ave in front of the masjid.' 'The police officer who was there let him go (claiming that he can't arrest him because he didn't break any laws) and afterwards the superior officer came on the scene and said they were trying to find him to arrest him.' Armed officers have been stationed at the mosque since the attack, however, the man was not arrested. Mourners during the vigil held at Forsyth Barr Stadium on March 21, 2019 in Dunedin, New Zealand, one of many held across the country A police spokesperson told Stuff the decision not to arrest the man was made so as to not 'potentially inflame the situation at that significant location.' Police are now looking for the man, according to the spokesperson. Yasmeenah said the incident was another example of racism, having experienced it firsthand on the day of the attacks. She had been heading toward Masjid Al Noor but was stopped by police so she parked in a nearby street and tried to get closer by foot, realising her friends were inside the mosque. Mourners carry a coffin of a victim of the New Zealand twin mosque attack during a funeral at the Memorial Park cemetery in Christchurch on March 22, 2019 Eventually, she returned to her car but claims she was accosted by a man standing nearby. 'He said some racist thing to me, and then I turned around and said 'what did you say?' And then he said 'you should have got shot as well'.' The young woman said she was shocked but was mainly focused on those inside the mosque. In speaking about the incidents, she says she wants people to be aware that racism is an ongoing concern. A Fulham fan living in the US is suing a California state after it banned his 'COYW' license plate fearing its slogan 'Come on You Whites' could have 'racist overtones'. University professor Jonathan Kotler, 73, has slammed the 'crazy' decision, claiming it has violated his free speech and the slogan only refers to the colour of the London club's shirt. He claimed officials at the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) were either 'thick or very PC' after launching his lawsuit on Tuesday. University professor Jonathan Kotler (pictured at a game), 73, has been a fan of Fulham FC for decades having watched a game during a visit to London The DMV said the abbreviation could 'have racial overtones' and carry 'connotations offensive to good taste and decency,' according to court papers. But Mr Kotler, a lawyer and constitutional scholar at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, rubbished those claims. 'It's just a shirt colour,' he told the BBC. 'The people at the DMV are either extra thick or very PC.' Mr Kotler, who was born in New Jersey and now lives in Calabasas, California, has been a fan of Fulham FC for decades having watched a game during a visit to London. Mr Kotler (pictured) is a lawyer and constitutional scholar at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism He applied for a plate that would read COY-W - an abbreviation of the slogan used by Fulham fans and hashtag seen on many Twitter posts about the club. His current plate currently reads FFC SW6 for the club's initials and stadium postcode. Mr Kotler said he'd sent officials plenty of information to explain his choice of plate and how many clubs in the UK were known by their colours. 'You can't allow bureaucrats to make decisions that are fundamental to what it means to be an American, and our free speech is one of those things,' he said. 'When the government starts to infringe on our rights, that's when the individual citizen must speak up.' Professor Kotler said he travels to watch Fulham on average around eight to 10 times a season, often taking the 11 hour flight on a Thursday and returning back in the US by Tuesday ready to teach his students. His current plate (pictured) currently reads FFC SW6 for the club's initials and stadium postcode His lawsuit asks the court to declare the DMV's criteria for personalised licence plates unconstitutional. The Department of Motor Vehicles said it does not comment on pending legal cases. But in its rejection letter to Mr Kotler it acknowledged the difficulties in balancing 'an individual's constitutional right to free speech and expression while protecting the sensibilities of all segments of our population.' The Tory party has plunged nine points in the polls a new survey suggests today. Polling firm Kantar's latest monthly research suggests the Brexit chaos is finally hitting support for Theresa May's party as the PM seeks a second delay to leaving the EU. The firm found the Conservatives are backed by 32 per cent, down from 41 per cent in the same survey in March. The dramatic poll means Labour takes the lead with Kantar after rising four points, from 31 per cent to 35 per cent. The Liberal Democrats have also gained group, surged three to 11 per cent support in the new survey. Kantar's new poll also finds more than half of people now support putting the Brexit deal to a referendum. Kantar's latest research suggests the Brexit chaos is finally hitting support for Theresa May's party as the PM seeks a second delay to leaving the EU The poll findings were published as EU leaders today urged Emmanuel Macron not to 'humiliate' Mrs May at tonight's historic summit where they are expected to impose a lengthy delay to Brexit on the UK Across all voters, 51 per cent say it should have a public vote while just 32 per cent are opposed. Leave voters split 53 per cent to 35 per cent against, while Remain voters are heavily split 62 per cent to 22 per cent in favour. According to the poll if a new referendum were held, 41 per cent say they would Remain, with 35 per cent backing Leave - with just nine per cent saying they don't know and the rest vowing not to take part at all. Fewer than one in four people say Britain should end the impasse by leaving the EY with No Deal, with one in three saying Brexit should be cancelled instead. The poll findings were published as EU leaders today urged Emmanuel Macron not to 'humiliate' Mrs May at tonight's historic summit where they are expected to impose a lengthy delay to Brexit on the UK. But the French president is the most hardline of EU leaders and wants to impose humiliating conditions on the delay - such as 'behaviour reviews' of the UK every three months that are designed to stop a new Prime Minister disrupting the EU. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Council President Donald Tusk have urged the French President to show respect to avoid souring relations - but Brexiteers claim the UK is already a 'laughing stock'. Mrs May flies to Brussels later to ask for a delay only until the end of June after another expected bruising from MPs at Prime Minister's Questions at lunchtime. But the EU is expected to demand delay of between nine and 12 months to 'allow the UK to rethink its Brexit strategy' along with a 'Boris-proof' clause stopping a new Brexiteer Tory leader ripping up Mrs May's deal. Kantar's new poll also finds more than half of people now support putting the Brexit deal to a referendum. Across all voters, 51 per cent say it should have a public vote while just 32 per cent are opposed The Tories have been trending down in the polls in recent weeks as the Brexit chaos continues to grip the nation It came as the Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay admitted the EU is now in control but tried to shift the blame by saying: 'The Government has agreed a deal. Parliament is refusing to honour the result of the referendum'. Angela Merkel is believed to have 'taken on' Emmanuel Macron in several recent phone calls while last night Mr Tusk made a personal plea for him to drop his request for a 'good behaviour' review for Britain every three months. He said: 'Neither side should be allowed to feel humiliated. Whatever course of action is taken, it must not be influenced by negative emotions. We should treat the UK with the highest respect, as we want to remain friends and close partners, and as we will still need to agree on our future relations'. DUP Westminster leader Nigel Dodds branded the talks 'humiliating and embarrassing' for the UK, and claimed Britain was 'effectively holding out a begging bowl to European leaders'. Tory MP Anne Main has said the UK was becoming a 'laughing stock' and called it 'appalling that we may be seeking an extension with no real sense of purpose'. Brexiteer Labour MP Kate Hoey said: 'It does seem really humiliating for this country to have our Prime Minister going over to the European Union to literally beg for an extension. What is this saying about our country?' Advertisement A Titanic survivor's letter reveals the 'unselfish' actions of the ship's builder who died with 1,500 others on its doomed voyage in 1912, as the sapphire engagement ring he gave to his fiancee heads to auction. Shipbuilder Thomas Andrews was famously last seen standing alone staring at a painting in the first class smoking room of the ship. In letter sent to Andrews' grief-stricken mother Lizzie, there is an account from the stewardess Mary Sloan who had been put into a lifeboat by the shipbuilder. The letter, written six weeks after the tragedy, was from a relative who had just visited Miss Sloan in Belfast. Part of it reads: 'My dearest cousin Lizzie, I came here to meet Miss Sloan - the little Stewardess who was on Tommie's ship...and I have sent a letter to poor wee Nellie to tell her how Miss Sloan can talk of no one but Tommie. 'She says he was just noble, just as he always was grand fellow, so un-selfish and so calm and so brave though he knew the hopelessness of all from the first.' The previously unpublished letter and a sapphire engagement ring Andrews gave to his fiance are now heading to auction. Shipbuilder Thomas Andrews (pictured left) tried in vain to have enough lifeboats for all passengers and crew on board the doomed liner but was overruled. His widow's gold and sapphire engagement ring was handed down to her youngest daughter, Vera Morrison, who has recently died (pictured right) Thomas and Helen's wedding in 1908. The shipbuilder went down with the 'unsinkable' ship he oversaw the building of, leaving behind his devastated wife Helen and their 16-month-old daughter Elizabeth Thomas Andrews was immortalised in James Cameron's 1998 epic movie where he was the first person to calculate that the ship would inevitably sink after striking an iceberg The shipbuilder tried in vain to have enough lifeboats for all passengers and crew on board the doomed liner but was overruled. Andrews was immortalised in James Cameron's 1998 epic movie where he was the first person to calculate that the ship would inevitably sink after striking an iceberg. He perished in the disaster and left behind wife Helen and baby daughter Elizabeth. His widow's gold and sapphire engagement ring was handed down to her youngest daughter, Vera Morrison, who has recently died. Her family have decided to part with the 18 carat gold ring which has a pre-sale estimate of 12,000. In the same auction is the previously unpublished witness account describing how Andrews was 'noble, unselfish, calm and brave' on the night of the disaster on April 14, 1912. The letter is valued at 3,500. Andrew Aldridge, of auctioneers Henry Aldridge and Son of Devizes, Wilts, said: 'The ring forms a unique link to one of the most important chapters in the life of Titanic's designer. 'He was the man who was calmness personified on the night of the disaster. He was facing certain death yet by all accounts he carried on doing the gentlemanly thing by helping women and children into the lifeboats. Andrew Aldridge, of auctioneers Henry Aldridge and Son of Devizes, Wilts, said: 'The ring forms a unique link to one of the most important chapters in the life of Titanic's designer' Thomas Andrews was last seen in the smoking room waiting patiently for his ship to go down. Andrews' was on board Titanic when it sailed from Belfast to Southampton ahead of its doomed maiden voyage to New York on April 10, 1912 In the 1998 Titanic movie actor Victor Garber played Thomas Andrews and was immortalised in the movie where he was the first person to calculate that the ship would inevitably sink after striking an iceberg. Shipbuilder Thomas Andrews was famously last seen standing alone staring at a painting in the first class smoking room of the ship (pictured) 'The ring was kept by his heartbroken widow for the rest of her life and has been handed down through the family. 'This is there first time ever it has ever been offered for public sale. Andrews was 'un-selfish and calm' as Titanic sank In letter sent to Andrews' grief-stricken mother Lizzie, there is an account from the stewardess Mary Sloan who had been put into a lifeboat by the shipbuilder. The letter, dated May 24, is written six weeks after the tragedy, was from a relative who had just visited Miss Sloan in Belfast. It reads: 'My dearest cousin Lizzie, I came here to meet Miss Sloan the little Stewardess who was on Tommie's ship and see her off to Belfast and I have sent a letter to poor wee Nellie (wife of Thomas Andrews) to tell her how Miss Sloan can talk of no one but Tommie. 'She says he was just noble, just as he always was grand fellow, so un-selfish and so calm and so brave though he knew the hopelessness of all from the first. 'She says he was graver than usual when she met him close to the doctor's cabin going up to the dining on the Friday evening. 'He was in evening dress but stopped to speak to her and seemed not to want to go on tho' (sic) the doctor was calling him to come on or he'd be late. 'He seemed to want to talk of home and told her his father had been ill 'and my wife hasn't been too well'. 'He seemed to be thinking of them so tenderly ......he said you'd had so much an anxious winter and the stewardess said to give him cheery ideas, some of Titanic 'she was just a perfect ship'. 'She said you could see where his heart was every minute.' Miss Sloan was interviewed by several publications in Northern Ireland on her return home and spoke very highly of Thomas Andrews. In the years after the sinking to her death she remained silent about the Titanic, being buried in East Belfast in 1949. Advertisement 'It is the ultimate token of love from one of the most important people involved in Titanic's story.' Andrews, of Comber, County Down, Northern Ireland, met Nellie in about 1905. He and friend and colleague Henry Harland, of Titanic shipbuilders Harland & Wolff, were both suitors of Nellie who ultimately chose Andrews. He proposed marriage to her in March 1906 and they married in 1908. At about the same time he was appointed managing director of Harland and Wolff and immediately began the job of overseeing the plans for a new superliner, the RMS Olympic for White Star Line. Construction for its sister ship Titanic began in 1909. Andrews' was on board Titanic when it sailed from Belfast to Southampton ahead of its doomed maiden voyage to New York on April 10, 1912. Four days later the 'unsinkable' liner struck an iceberg and started to sink. Andrews was famously last seen standing alone staring at a painting in the first class smoking room of the ship. In the Kate Winslet film he was depicted altering the time on the carriage clock on the mantle-piece as the ship went down. In letter sent to Andrews' grief-stricken mother Lizzie, there is an account from the stewardess Mary Sloan who had been put into a lifeboat by the shipbuilder. The letter, written six weeks after the tragedy, was from a relative who had just visited Miss Sloan in Belfast. Part of it reads: 'My dearest cousin Lizzie, I came here to meet Miss Sloan - the little Stewardess who was on Tommie's ship...and I have sent a letter to poor wee Nellie to tell her how Miss Sloan can talk of no one but Tommie. 'She says he was just noble, just as he always was grand fellow, so un-selfish and so calm and so brave though he knew the hopelessness of all from the first.' Five years years after the disaster Nellie remarried Henry Harland and the couple went on to have four children, with one of them being Vera Morrison. The ring and letter are being sold in Devizes on April 27. Tiffany Aching (pictured), formerly known as Lee Baker, split from Kathryn Smyth in 2016 but went on to pester her on social media A transgender army veteran who carried out a prolonged campaign of harassment against her ex-partner has been jailed. Tiffany Aching, formerly known as Lee Baker, split from Kathryn Smyth in 2016 but went on to pester her on social media. Miss Smyth took out a restraining order against the 6ft 2ins tall former soldier, who went on to breach it several times by contacting her online. A court heard Aching was desperate to get back at her for breaking up their long-term relationship by stalking her on Instagram for more than a year. Aching posted suggestive remarks towards Miss Smyth, who is in her 40s, and tried to share women's fashion tips with her. On one occasion Miss Smyth, who runs a cupcake business, posted on Instagram that she was suffering from 'obsessive cupcake disorder'. Aching, who served in the army as a combat medical technician, responded by saying: 'Definitely miss a certain someone's cupcakes.' Another time, Miss Smyth, from Bournemouth in Dorset, wrote: 'All you you need in life is high heels and cupcakes.' Aching, 47, again responded with her own thoughts, updating her own bio to read: 'Love how high heels make my legs look good.' She changed her own Facebook profile picture to one that contained the victim. And Aching also regularly turned up at Miss Smyth's home and work, leaving her feeling 'scared and insecure'. In September 2017, CCTV from her home captured Aching, at that point still Lee Baker, turning up at the house during the night. Aching (shown) posted suggestive remarks towards Miss Smyth, who is in her 40s, and tried to share women's fashion tips with her He then disappeared out of sight before reappearing several minutes later, when he was filmed shining a torch inside a car parked on her drive. The harassment went on from July 2017 and September 2018. Giving evidence during a trial at Poole Magistrates' Court, Miss Smyth said the constant harassment had left her feeling like she was 'being watched all the time'. She said: 'It's made me feel frightened, uneasy and like I can't live life. It's like I'm being watched all the time and I'm still frightened now. 'I've been suffering with depression and anxiety because of it and I've had to work shorter hours.' Aching failed to turn up for the trial and was found guilty of two charges of harassment; breaching a restraining order and of stalking in her absence. She was jailed 15 months when she appeared for sentencing at Bournemouth Crown Court. Nicholas Tucker, mitigating, said that Aching had only recently been released from a psychiatric unit and would be victim of 'merciless bullying' in prison. The Ecuadorean Government was today accused of 'extensive spying' against Julian Assange which has led to a police investigation into claims of extortion. The WikiLeaks founder's meetings with lawyers and a doctor inside the Ecuador embassy in London over the past year have allegedly been secretly filmed. The anti-secrecy organisation said it had been offered all the material from an unnamed person in Spain, if it paid 3million (2.6million). WikiLeaks also told how it assumed the information had been handed over to the administration of US President Donald Trump. Fidel Narvaez (left), former consul of Ecuador to London, looks at some of the footage, alongside WikiLeaks editor in chief Kristinn Hrafnsson and barrister Jennifer Robinson today Mr Narvaez, Mr Hrafnsson and Ms Robinson at Doughty Street Chambers in London today WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (pictured in May 2017) came under intense scrutiny after the website began releasing hundreds of thousands of classified US diplomatic cables WikiLeaks editor Kristinn Hrafnsson said he travelled to Spain to meet the person and was shown videos of meetings Mr Assange has held in the past year, as well as a copy of a legal document left briefly in a room in the embassy. A judge in Spain is now investigating the allegations, Mr Hrafnsson told a press conference in London. Mr Assange has been living inside the embassy for almost seven years, believing he will be extradited to the US for questioning over the activities of WikiLeaks if he leaves the building. Mr Hrafnsson said attempts to expel Mr Assange from the embassy had been escalating, leading to a warning from WikiLeaks last week that it could happen within hours or days. He added: 'The only reason it was averted is because we heard about it and published the information.' Meetings with lawyers and a doctor inside the Ecuador embassy in London over the past year have been secretly filmed, WikiLeaks said today This graphic shows where Assange can go within the Ecuadorean Embassy in London He said there was an 'extensive spying operation' against Mr Assange, conducted from within the embassy. Police in Spain were told about the documents and videos being offered for sale and the information has been passed to an investigative judge, said Mr Hrafnsson. Fidel Narvaez, a former diplomat at the embassy, told the press conference that the Government of Ecuador was not protecting Mr Assange any more, even though he has been granted diplomatic immunity. He said: 'The Government of Ecuador is making everything possible to end the asylum.' WikiLeaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson said a complaint about the spying allegations was being made to the United Nations ahead of a planned meeting between Mr Assange and a UN Special Rapporteur later this month. Mr Hrafnsson told a press conference that a judge in Spain is now investigating the allegations Mr Hrafnsson said attempts to expel Mr Assange from the embassy had been escalating, leading to a warning from WikiLeaks last week that it could happen within hours or days 'We remain concerned about the co-operation the Ecuador government is giving the United States. 'We know there is a sealed indictment in the US to prosecute him as a priority. No one can credibly deny that risk - that is the reason he was granted asylum. 'Any assurance from the UK Government that he would not be extradited is not believable.' Mr Hrafnsson said Mr Assange was now living in a 'Truman Show' operation, with restrictions on his communications and visitors, introduced after Lenin Moreno became President of Ecuador last year. WikiLeaks assumes the secretly recorded information has been handed to the administration of Mr Trump. Supporters of Julian Assange outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London last Friday An Assange supporter outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London's Knightsbridge last week Videos offered for sale included a medical examination of Mr Assange by a doctor in a room inside the embassy, said Mr Hrafnsson. He added: 'It was recorded and found its way to a dubious individual in Spain.' An Ecuadorean Embassy spokesman told MailOnline today: 'The embassy has no comment to make.' Assange's relations with his hosts have chilled since Ecuador accused him of leaking information about President Lenin Morenos personal life. Moreno has said Assange has violated the terms of his asylum. To some, Assange is a hero for exposing what supporters cast as abuse of power by modern states and for championing free speech. But to others, he is a dangerous rebel who has undermined the security of the US. Assange took refuge in the embassy to avoid being extradited to Sweden where authorities wanted to question him as part of a sexual assault investigation. Media gather outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London last week to cover the Assange story That probe was later dropped but WikiLeaks fears the US wants to prosecute him. WikiLeaks angered Washington by publishing hundreds of thousands of secret US diplomatic cables that laid bare often highly critical US appraisals of world leaders from Russian President Vladimir Putin to members of the Saudi royal family. Assange made international headlines in early 2010 when WikiLeaks published a classified U.S. military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters that killed a dozen people in Baghdad, including two Reuters news staff. Later that year, the group released over 90,000 secret documents detailing the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan, followed by almost 400,000 internal U.S. military reports detailing operations in Iraq. More than 250,000 classified cables from U.S. embassies followed, then almost 3 million dating back to 1973. A 27-year-old woman has had her left arm torn off in a savage attack by two bears at a camp site in Russia. The camper was severely bitten and mauled when she fed the predators through the bars of a cage at a private zoo at the site. A shocking video shows her writhing and moaning in pain as she lay on the grass moments after the attack. A 27-year-old camper lies in pain on the ground after having her arm ripped off by a bear at a private zoo One of the brown bears that mauled the camper when she fed the predators through the bars Her face was covered in blood and a raw wound is visible on her left arm. The horrific accident was at popular Zelenaya camp site near Blagoveshchensk in the Russian Far East. 'She was rushed to Amur regional hospital suffering from severe bleeding and pain shock,' reported The Siberian Times. 'Surgeons were unable to save her left arm which was amputated by doctors due to the severe damage caused by the wild bears.' Igor Borodin, chief trauma surgeon, said the two brown bears had seriously wounded her arm causing 'severe fragmentation'. Doctors amputated the arm 'above the elbow'. Her right arm was also 'badly injured with large tear wounds' but was saved by surgeons, he said. Another one of the bears that left the victim needing her left arm amputated following the vicious attack The woman is believed to have got inside an outer fence that is supposed to protect campers, and prevent them coming close to cage housing the dangerous animals. But a woman who filmed the victim after the attack claimed the victim 'wasn't even close to their cage'. A criminal investigation is underway to uncover how the attack happened. A similar tragedy occurred at the same camp site in 2016 when another female victim climbed over the fence to feed the bear. The horrific accident was at popular Zelenaya camp site near Blagoveshchensk in the Russian Far East Pictured: Cage with a warning prohibiting visitors from approaching it and getting close to animals A camper called Natalia said the victim and her group were drunk before the attack - and a paramedic at the scene claimed this may have caused the mauling. 'None of them were sober,' said Natalia. 'I often stay here with my children, and we saw these fences around the bears ourselves. The bears never made us feel threatened. 'What happened to that poor woman is awful, but then how of earth did she get there? 'I feel really sorry for the bears, too.' The private zoo was temporarily closed after the attack. An endangered hippo has been shot dead by a French hunter after wandering into a village in Senegal, sparking outrage from animal activists. The animal was killed on March 31 after it entered the village of Kedougou, in the country's south, and got itself caught in a septic tank. Police and firefighters were unable to free the trapped animal so called in Francois Huard, a professional hunter who manages the local safari resort Le Relais, to kill it. Mr Huard shot the animal five times in the head in front of villagers who were recorded cheering as the animal died. The hippo's body was then dragged away by a digger before being buried under loose soil. A hippo was shot dead in Senegal after wandering into the village of Kedougou before becoming stuck in a septic tank by the side of a road Mr Huard shot the animal five times in the head in order to kill it, while being watched by cheering villagers. Local officials said the killing was 'for everyone's benefit' Local authorities described the shooting as 'for everyones benefit', according to France 24, but animal activists described it as 'murder' and called for an investigation. Bamba Cisse, a lawyer in Dakar who specialises in crimes against wildlife, said: 'The hippo is an endangered species and by law, you can only kill it in a legitimate case of self-defense. The local governor called in French hunter Francois Huard to shoot the animal because there were no tranquiliser darts on hand 'But the footage shows the animal was trapped in a septic tank and, at the moment it was killed, it didnt pose a threat to anybody's life. 'The hunter said the governor had asked him to do it. We also need to open an investigation to determine the circumstances in which a governor has the power to ask a private citizen to kill an animal.' While local authorities have not officially commented on the video, a man identifying himself as Commander Moussa Ndour, head of wildlife in Kedougou, spoke in a video posted to Facebook. In the footage, he says the decision to kill the animal was made by the local governor after hearing that there were no tranquliser darts available. It was at that point that Mr Huard was contacted and ordered to kill the animal. It is not clear whether any action will be taken over the killing. An Arizona woman and her daughter have been arrested in connection with the death of her 77-year-old mother whose badly decomposed body was found in her home on Tuesday, 18 months after she was last seen. Tara Aven, 46, and her 24-year-old daughter Briar were arrested on Tuesday after police found the body of her mother Sandra inside her home. Police went to check on her when a friend called for a welfare check. Tara Aven, 46, (left) and her daughter Briar, 24, (right) were arrested on Tueday after police found the badly decomposing body of Tara's mother Sandra in her hoe They found her rotting body inside and believe she has been dead since 2017. Sandra Aven has been dead since 2017. Her badly decomposed body was fund in her home after a friend called police asking them to conduct a welfare check According to authorities, Tara and Briar have been cashing the older woman's checks for months. They were both charged with fraud and are in custody. Police say they are investigating Sandra's death as a murder and they expect to bring more charges. Her body had visible signs of trauma when it was found. It has been sent to a medical examiner. Tara and her daughter live next door to her mother. When officers arrived at the property to check on Sandra on Tuesday, Briar told them that she was not home. They went inside anyway and found the older woman's body. Tara and her mother admitted to police that they had been cashing the woman's checks every month. They had been being sent in the mail. The UK could ground its fleet of 120 million F-35 stealth fighters for a second time after a Japanese variant crashed into the Pacific Ocean yesterday. Parts of the sophisticated F-35A stealth jet have already been found after it disappeared off the radar 85 miles east of Misawa, Japan during a training mission. It comes just six months after one of the jets, an F-35B, went down near a military base in South Carolina, USA, leading the RAF to ground its fleet of jets for a first time. Britain, which plans to buy a total of 138 F-35 fighter jets (pictured) built by Lockheed Martin, declared its fleet of F-35B fighter jets ready for initial combat operations from land in January Parts of the sophisticated F-35A stealth jet have already been found after it disappeared off the radar 85 miles east of Misawa, Japan during a training mission. It comes just six months after one of the jets, an F-35B, went down near a military base in South Carolina, USA Today, the British Ministry of Defence revealed it was in close touch with US officials and is currently reviewing the status of its 17 F-35B fighter jets. 'We are sad to hear of the ongoing issue in Japan concerning one of their F-35A aircraft. There is currently very little information concerning the incident. 'We are in close contact with the US Joint Programme Office who will provide updates as soon as information becomes available 'Safety is of the utmost importance and very closely managed on the F-35 programme. We will continue to monitor the situation closely,' a spokesman said. Britain, which plans to buy a total of 138 F-35 fighter jets built by Lockheed Martin, declared its fleet of F-35B fighter jets ready for initial combat operations from land in January. At the time Gavin Williamson warned Britain's 'enemies', including Vladimir Putin, not to mess with Britain now that the RAF's new fleet of supersonic stealth fighter jets was combat ready. PROBLEMS PLAGUING THE F35 A 2018 report from the Pentagon's operational testing and evaluation arm uncovered a host of problems with all three versions of the F35: The F-35B's service life 'may be as low as 2,100 [hours],' a quarter of what was expected, due to structural issues. Some jets are expected to hit their service life limit and will need to be retired as early as 2026. Reliability issues mean that there are often not enough F35s in circulation for pilots to use them in training. The amount of time needed for repairs is extremely high. Report said there's no 'improving trend in' aircraft availability to fly training or combat missions. Cybersecurity testing indicated that there are several vulnerabilities which 'have not yet been addressed'. Tests carried out on air-to-ground attacks indicated 'unacceptable' accuracy levels. Pilots were forced to deal with 'pervasive problems' on a 'daily basis'. Test office director Robert Behler said in the assessment that improvements in maintenance systems 'are still not translating into improved availability'. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has previously stated the that F-35 'had a lot of opportunity for more performance'. Shanahan also said: 'I am biased toward giving the taxpayer their money's worth.' Computerized maintenance tool known as 'ALIS' doesn't 'yet perform as intended'. Some ALIS data and functions deficiencies have led to 'significant' reliability problems. Overall performance was said to be 'well below' the benchmark set by the Pentagon. Advertisement He said while speaking at RAF Marham in Norfolk: 'It means dont mess with us, because we have the capability and we have the people, and we have the will to always defend ourselves.' The jets will form the backbone of the UKs combat air fleet alongside the Typhoon jets which have now been fitted with advanced new weaponry. It grounded its fleet for a first time after the US crash to see whether they had a faulty fuel tube, but many were cleared for fight soon after. The MOD said at the time 'Safety is our paramount concern, therefore the UK has decided to pause some F-35 flying as a precautionary measure while we consider the findings of an ongoing inquiry. 'F-35 flight trials from the aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, are continuing and the programme remains on schedule to provide our armed forces with a game-changing capability.' Britain has committed to a 9.1 billion programme to buy 48 of the jets by 2025, and will be jointly operated by Royal Air Force and Royal Navy pilots. The lead manufacturer is US firm Lockheed Martin but across the 3,000 jets being built, 15 per cent of each one is comprised of parts from British companies. Eight ships and seven aircraft,including a US Navy P-8 Orion maritime patrol plane, are currently looking for traces of the Japanese jet that is believed to have sunk to 5,000ft. There was no word yet on the fate of the one pilot and a large chunk of the plane remains missing, Japanese Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya said. 'We have collected part of its tail' in search operations at sea with planes and vessels, Iwaya told reporters. 'We believe it crashed,' he added. The aircraft, less than one-year-old, was the first F-35 to be assembled in Japan and was only in the air for 28 minutes on Tuesday, a defence official said. It is the first crash of an A version of the fighter, which is designed to take off and land from conventional runways. The US crash in September last year came on the same day one of the jets landed on the HMS Queen Elizabeth for the very first time. The pilot involved in the US crash was able to safely eject before impact and no civilians were hurt. A pair of RAF F-35B Lightning stealth jets over the English Channel during Operation Point Blank, which featured aerial capabilities from the RAF, United States Air Force and French Air Force. An RAF F-35B Lightning stealth jet, a United States Air Force F-15 Strike Eagle and a French Air Force Rafale (left to right) fly in formation over the English Channel during Operation Point Blank The US F-35 pilot was forced to eject midair before the fighter jet crashed, leading the US to ground its fleet of the aircraft. The aircraft was completely destroyed during the training exercise, officials said. The crash was the first of its kind for the troubled F-35 program - the most expensive plane in history. The jet is capable of a short take-off and landing and this allows it to operate from the new 'Queen Elizabeth' class aircraft carriers and the vessels of allied nations. It is the first to combine radar-evading stealth technology with supersonic speeds and the ability to conduct short take-offs and vertical landings. And has the ability to operate from land and sea and has previously been hailed as a huge leap forward in aerospace technology. But a Pentagon report published last year revealed that the F-35's development was plagued with problems - some of which are yet to be resolved. Britain, which plans to buy a total of 138 F-35 fighter jets (pictured) built by Lockheed Martin, declared its fleet of F-35B fighter jets ready for initial combat operations from land in January The RAF has 17 of the planes and has pledged to buy 138. Earlier this year Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson warned Britain's 'enemies', including Vladimir Putin, not to mess with Britain now that the RAF's new fleet of supersonic stealth fighter jets was combat ready The Pentagon's operational testing and evaluation arm (OT&E) said reliability issues have drastically shortened the service life of the jets. And there were also said to be issues with the accuracy of its weapons and its susceptibility to cyber attacks. In Britian, the multimillion-pound supersonic aircraft will make up the reformed historic 617 'Dambusters' squadron. Initial estimates put the cost of the planes between 77million to 100million, although The Times claims they are expected to cost a staggering 150million each. It is believed the true cost of the plane has been bumped up to cover 'extra' costs such as software upgrades and spare parts. There are also concerns the 'stealth' F-35B are unable to transmit data to British ships and older jet without revealing its position. The plane's software system is vulnerable to cyber attack and cannot be tested independently by the UK. Matthew Dempsey, 18, has been arrested for the murder of his mother Mary in San Antonio on Tuesday Police investigating what was believed to be a robbery that went wrong have instead arrested the 53-year-old woman's son for murder. Mary Dempsey, from San Antonio in Texas, was found dead in her home by a relative at around noon on Tuesday. Her car, a beige Honda Accord, was missing from the driveway and the house looks as if it had been broken into, reports My San Antonio. Investigators have now arrested her 18-year-old son, Matthew Dempsey, for capital murder. Doug Greene, a spokesperson for SAPA, told My SA: 'It's a heartbreaking story. 'To find out that it was the son of the victim involved in this, it's just kind of hard to process but the evidence shows otherwise and we have to go by the evidence.' Dempsey was found with 'obvious trauma' to her body, but police have declined to specify further. They are still looking for her car. The SAPD said on Facebook: 'Detectives are still trying to locate the victim's vehicle that was taken from the scene. 'The vehicle is a 2016 Honda Accord, license plate: JWC2803. Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at (210) 224-7867.' The teenage daughter of a British woman facing two years in a Dubai prison over insulting comments on Facebook has begged her stepmother to drop the charges. Paris Shahravesh, 14, has asked Samar Al Hammadi to 'show that you have a heart' and 'loved my dad' by withdrawing her complaint. Her mother, Laleh, is facing jail over a series of social media posts, including calling his second wife a 'horse'. Earlier today, Paris revealed she has never been without her mother for this long before, and that she cries everyday. She appealed directly to her stepmother on ITV News, saying: 'Show that you have a heart and you loved my dad. 'And if you did, drop the case. It's just a few words, it's not a lot to ask for.' The teenage daughter of a woman facing two years in a Dubai jail for insulting her ex-husband's wife has begged her stepmother to drop the charges Paris Shahravesh, 14, is terrified she will not see her mum Laleh (pictured together) for months while she faces charges of insulting behaviour In a message aimed at her late father's second wife, Samar al Hammadi, pictured, she said: 'Show that you have a heart and you loved my dad' Pictured: Pedro Dos Santos and his second wife Samah al Hammadi, who is reportedly considering withdrawing her complaint She also claimed the situation reminded her of the loss of her father, Pedro Dos Santos, because they have been apart for so long. If the charges are dropped, Laleh will have her passport returned, but if the court decides to proceed she could be stranded in Dubai for several months while the case works it way through the court system. Paris added: 'Everyday feels a little harder. I've never been without my mum for so long. I hadn't seen my dad for a while before he passed away and it just feels like my life is repeating itself.' The teen has also said her late father would not have wanted her mother Laleh, 55, to be facing jail over the comments. Paris said: 'I know if my father were alive, he would be horrified by what is happening. 'I know he loved me, and would never want us to be going all through this. 'It took a long time for my family to work through all the emotions of the divorce, an all my mum and I wanted to do was say out goodbyes to my late father. 'Now I am afraid I will lose my mum.' The teen from Richmond, Surrey, has already written to the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, appealing for clemency for her mum. Mrs Al Hammadi is considering withdrawing her complaint when she comes face to face with Laleh in court on Thursday. Radha Stirling, from the campaign group Detained in Dubai, said Paris was the biggest victim in the dispute. Laleh's ordeal began in March when she and Paris flew to Dubai's to pay their last respects o Pedro (pictured as a family in happier times). Paris was also arrested but released and flew back to the UK Laleh said she wrote two comments in Farsi where she described 42-year-old Tunisian born Samah al Hammadi as a 'horse' and called her ex an 'idiot'. However Samah has claimed the abuse was more protracted and that Laleh sent many abusive messages Ms Shahravesh, left, and her daughter Paris, right, have been separated for almost a month She said: 'The real victim in this situation is undoubtedly Paris. She did nothing to deserve being separated from her mother, the only parent she has. 'This case has been devastating for her, and she is praying for compassion from the court tomorrow, so that hopefully, they can both get on with their lives.' Laleh and Paris were arrested when they flew into Dubai last month to pay their respects to Pedro who died from a heart attack aged 51. Paris was released and flew back to the UK while Laleh has had her passport confiscated. In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, Laleh said she has been left traumatised by the arrest and was missing Paris. 'I have never been apart from my daughter for so long,' she said. 'The thought of being away from her even longer does not bear thinking about. I am being destroyed mentally and I feel as if I am slowly dying. 'Never in a million years did I think I would find myself in this situation over something that was written three years ago. 'My life is in ruins. I am told I could go to jail but all I want to do is go home and give my daughter Paris a big hug. In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, Laleh said she has been left traumatised by the arrest. 'I have never been apart from my daughter for so long. The thought of being away from her even longer does not bear thinking about' Despite the acrimonious split, Laleh said she had reconciled with her ex and he visited them at their rented home last year 'Whenever we talk we are both in tears, but I have to try and be strong for her. I just don't know when this living nightmare is going to end. 'Sometimes I do not know what day it is as everything is a blur. How can something I wrote three years ago when I was not even in Dubai be used against me?' DUBAI HUMAN RIGHTS EXPERT DEMANDS SWIFT ACTION Radha Stirling, CEO of human rights organisation Detained In Dubai is officially representing Laleh. She said: 'Not only has Paris lost her father, but in going to visit him to say her final goodbye, she wound up in a frightening Middle Eastern police station, and is now without her mother. 'Every family member was teary and it was very emotional to speak with all of them. They are all extremely damaged by what has happened and I expect it will be a long and psychological recovery process for them. 'I call on Sheikh Mohammed to ensure Laleh is swiftly reunited with her daughter in London and to review the content and application of the UAE's cybercrime laws. 'I also call on Laleh's MP, Zac Goldsmith, and Jeremy Hunt to enter into diplomatic discussions with the UAE to ensure Laleh's safe return. 'It is simply unreasonable that a country wishing to attract Western tourism arrests and charges a woman for a Facebook post made years ago from outside of the UAE's jurisdiction. 'The post would never be prosecuted as a criminal offence in England, and if the UAE intends to detain tourists for posts made from England, it will find itself rendered a no-go zone to foreigners.' Advertisement Explaining why she made the post, Laleh said she was provoked by seeing the wedding photo just days after what would have been her wedding anniversary. 'I know I should not have reacted in the way that I did but I was hurting so much. I am sure most women would have reacted in the same way.' The comments were written in the Persian language of Farsi and Laleh thought nothing more about them as she attempted to re-build her life with Paris in Richmond, Surrey. Despite the acrimonious split, Laleh said she had reconciled with her ex and he visited them at their rented home last year. 'We had dinner together and he talked about coming over from Dubai to see Paris more often. There was no mention of the Facebook post. He would have known I was angry at the time, but it was all forgotten.' Laleh said she was able to gain access to her court file and was shocked to see her ex's widow had made another statement on March 23rd accusing her of making other insulting comments. 'I don't know why she wants to do this,' she said. 'To cause me so much pain and grief?' Laleh said claims by al Hammadi that she was subjected to a campaign of harassment are false. However al Hammadi claims that Ms Shahravesh sent abusive emails to her husbands relatives and HSBC work colleagues, and that her husband only complained to police in Dubai in desperation after she refused to listen to warnings by British police officers to stop posting abusive messages online. She is acting as a victim to save herself from the law I am a victim, not her, she said. She has affected my reputation and my life. She has affected the reputation of my husband even after his death. She needs to put this right and clean up her mess. Al Hammadi has said she will consider dropping the case if Laleh apologises to her on social media and gives a written statement to the court guaranteeing she wont do it again. The two women are expected to face each other in court on Thursday. Ms Stirling said it appeared Ms Al Hammadi bore a personal grudge against Shahravesh. She said: Ms Hammadi clearly wants to divert attention away from the case itself to rehash the blame and counter-blame between Laleh and her ex husband in the past. However, the two were actually able to patch things up enough for their daughter's sake and move beyond the pain of the divorce. Ms Hammadi appears to still hold a very personal grudge which she feels entitles her to press criminal charges against the mother of her late husband's daughter and unfortunately, the UAE's Cybercrime laws enable her to do that. Domenic Micheli, 36, (pictured) is charged with murder and aggravated assault of his former boss Joel Paavola in June, 2018 A Tennessee woman is suing the Department of Corrections and a halfway house in Washington D.C. over an escapee who is accused of killing her husband. News outlets reported Wednesday that Lana Paavola, 48, has accused the government department of negligence in their handling of Domenic Micheli, 36, who was arrested after trespassing at the White House in April, 2018. Authorities said Micheli later escaped from a halfway house and went to Tennessee, where he used a hatchet and a meat cleaver to kill his former boss, Paavola's husband, Joel, 46. Micheli is charged with murder and aggravated assault in the slaying on June 4, 2018. The lawsuit states that the corrections department and halfway house did not immediately report the escape, and says authorities failed to use Micheli's social media posts to track him down. Lana Paavola, a mother of five, filed the federal civil suit in US District Court in Tennessee on Tuesday, even though the criminal case against Micheli is pending. Lana Paavola (left) has accused the department of corrections of negligence over the killing of her husband, Joel (right) Weeks before the homicide, a D.C. federal judge ordered that Micheli be held at the Hope Village halfway house on Langston Place in the capital. At the time, Micheli was facing a charge of trespassing on White House grounds in and was awaiting further court proceedings in D.C. Paavola's suit alleges that Micheli escaped Hope Village sometime in mid-to-late May and the halfway house failed to promptly notify authorities about the escape, NBC4 reported. The document further states that Hope Village 'failed to take any steps to ensure that Mr. Micheli was apprehended before he would harm the public.' In her suit, Paavola alleges in the days between Michelis escape and the murder, the accused posted 'a series of bizarre and deeply concerning messages on Facebook' that police could have used to track him down. In one such post on May 26, 2018, Micheli claimed to be the 'Sun of God' and warned that 'there will not be any mercy doled out after this post.' Blake Carter, the attorney representing Paavola, told NBC4 that they have compiled a series of court records about recent escapes from Hope Village halfway house to use in their case. Micheli limped into the Gallatin Urgent Care facility in Tennessee just two hours after he allegedly killed his former boss with a hatchet Surveillance video from the facility shows Micheli limping in and out They include one instance where the center 'negligently released' a man in 2002 who would later commit a series of crimes, including the murder of a 9-year-old girl. Micheli was arrested on June 5, 2018, by Kentucky State Police along the I-65 near Bowling Green, some 60 miles northeast of Nashville. Police say Micheli attacked and killed Joel Paavola early on Monday at The Balance Training Center in Belle Meade, outside Nashville, while the 46-year-old was assisting clients with a workout. Micheli was pictured on surveillance camera stills released by police limping in and out of an urgent care facility in the nearby town of Gallatin less than two hours after the alleged attack. Lana Paavola claims authorities failed to use Micheli's social media posts to track him down before the killing following his escape from the Hope Village halfway house Joel Paavola (right), the owner of The Balance Training Center gym, pictured with one one of his children Micheli was reportedly fired from The Balance Training Center in 2017 after trying to get Paavola's clients to move to a gym Micheli was considering setting up. Security footage shows Micheli pacing back and forth in the parking garage below the shopping center where the Balance Training Center is located before allegedly carrying out the attack. Authorities say that Micheli went to the Belle Meade shopping center to target Paavola with a hatchet and a meat cleaver. Micheli, 36, was arrested by the Secret Service in April near the White House. He is pictured above in an undated Facebook photo The Balance Training center in Nashville, where Paavola was running an exercise class when he was killed Paavola was considered a fitness guru who would give speeches about living a healthy lifestyle. In a statement after his death, his family paid tribute to him and said he was devoted family man who loved to help others. 'His warm curiosity, captivating personality and devotion and passion for his life, his work and his family made him well known, and deeply loved, throughout the community,' the Paavola family said in a statement following his death. 'Joel was taken from this world too soon,' the statement continued, adding that Paavola 'lived a bright and energetic life' and touched the hearts of anyone who knew him. A Houston man arrived home just in time to save his family from three armed intruders who had broken in and were terrorizing his father and sisters. The incident occurred late on Tuesday night on the quiet cul-de-sac of Quail Meadow Drive in the Brays Oaks section of Houston, where three attackers ambushed a homeowner. The gang, who were waiting outside, had pistol-whipped the homeowner, who has not been named, before forcing him to open the door to the home. Once the door was unlocked, the men began ransacking the home, police said. Meanwhile, the man's two daughters, one a minor and the other aged 21, hid in a closet and pressed a panic button that triggered the home's alarm. Police respond late on Tuesday to the scene of the home invasion, the quiet cul-de-sac of Quail Meadow Drive in the Brays Oaks section of Houston The burglars forced the man to disable the alarm, but he was unable to because the daughters kept pressing the panic button, leading the robbers to discover the hiding girls, KTRK-TV reported. As the terror unfolded inside, the homeowner's son and wife arrived home, in separate vehicles. Realizing what was happening in the house, the son sneaked into the home to retrieve his pistol, while the wife remained in her vehicle. The son confronted the group, at least one of whom was armed with a gun. The son shot the armed burglar in the head, and the other two criminals fled. As they escaped, the fleeing burglars jumped onto the hood of the wife's vehicle while she and another child were inside. The terrified wife managed to drive away unharmed and flagged down a cop at a nearby Whataburger. The two fleeing home invaders escaped the scene by stealing the father's vehicle, a grey minivan. The criminal who was shot was transported to a hospital and declared dead. Police say he did not return fire when he was shot by the son. Houston police have not yet released a detailed description of the at-large criminals or the identity of the dead man. A department spokesperson did not immediately return a message from DailyMail.com seeking comment on Wednesday morning. Police say the homeowner was hospitalized overnight with 'medical issues,' but that no other injuries were reported. A California man accused of killing the mother of his 17-month-old son during a custody swap outside a police station was pictured in court for the first time on Tuesday when he was charged with first-degree murder. Jacob Munn, 30, appeared in the Los Angeles County Superior Court to be arraigned on charges of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a felon in connection with the slaying of 28-year-old Brenda Renteria, who was killed with a shotgun blast outside the Hawthorne police station on Sunday. If convicted, Munn could face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. Scroll down for video Jacob Munn, 30 (pictured), appeared in court Tuesday to be arraigned on charges of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a felon Renteria was a single mother raising three children: a girl and two boys (pictured with her eldest kids, left, and with her youngest son, right) A statement from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said that a decision whether to seek capital punishment for Munn will be made at a later date. Meanwhile, more information has emerged about the victim of the grisly killing, who was a single mother raising three children. Photos shared on a GoFundMe page launched by a family member show Brenda Renteria posing happily with her two eldest children, a boy and a girl, and with her youngest son who was fathered by Munn. As of Wednesday morning, just over $2,600 has been raised in donations, falling far short of the $15,000 goal. On Tuesday, Renteria's older sister, Elizabeth, wrote a moving Facebook post mourning her loss. No words can truly describe the trauma my family and I are going through at this time its [sic] unbelievable, she wrote. I ask that you all pray for my little sister Brenda, may her BEAUTIFUL soul rest in heavenly peace . I pray for the holy spirit to come upon our family so that we may have the strength we need to get through this devastating tragedy. Renteria (right) is survived by four siblings, including her sister Elizabeth (left) Munn (left) has been charged with murder in the shooting death of the mother of his 17-month-old son, Renteria (right), during a custody exchange Munn shared a photo of his son warning that he would 'never give up on you' The couple's 17-month-old son (pictured in a photo shared on Facebook by his father a week ago) escaped unharmed Besides her three children, Brenda is survived by her mother, who witnessed her violent death, her four siblings and two nephews. According to investigators, Renteria had gone to the police station on Hawthorne Boulevard on Sunday to pick up her son from the child's father, Munn. The mother had asked her family to come with her to the exchange because she feared Munn, KCAL reported. While standing outside the lobby of the police headquarters, the parents began arguing. At some point during the exchange, Munn allegedly produced a shotgun and fired on Renteria, killing her just steps away from the front door of the police station. A relative of the victim, who witnessed the shooting, was seen breaking down crying in scene pictures as she was comforted by an officer. A relative of the victim, who witnessed the shooting, was seen breaking down crying in scene pictures as she was comforted by an officer The suspect reportedly used a shotgun to kill his ex, after which he fled from the scene, sparking a manhunt The couples 17-month-old son was present at the shooting but was not physically hurt. He was reportedly inside the police station at the time. The child has been taken into protective custody. Munn fled the scene but was apprehended following a manhunt. I have 30 years with the department and Ive never seen anything like this before, Lt. Scott Hoaglund said in a press conference on Sunday, according to KCAL. Munn operates a moving business in Temecula. Pictured on the right is his son as a baby On the day of the killing, he posted a cryptic status update that consisted of a single word: '.SOLID.' Two days prior, Munn posted on his Facebook page: '.STRONG.' Typically a police station is a safe place for people to make a child exchange and I would still recommend that people do that. A week before the tragedy, Munn posted on his Facebook page a photo of his son and wrote in the caption: 'No matter what i will never give up on you...#RoyalMunnFamily #Family1st #NothinbutLOVE.' On the day of the killing, he posted a cryptic status update that consisted of a single word: '.SOLID.' Two days prior, he posted on his page: '.STRONG.' The man's abandoned pickup truck was found half a mile south of the police station (pictured) Jacob Munn was found at 9pm Sunday not far from where his pickup truck was located Munn has a prior criminal record that included an arrest in December 2017 on a charge of battery on a former companion A relative of the slain mother told NBC Los Angeles she and the father of her son had decided to meet in Hawthorne because it was a middle ground between their respective places of residence. 'I do not know if there was a restraining order in place, or if this was just an agreed upon location for them to make the exchange,' Los Angeles County Sheriffs Lt. Scott Hoglund told reporters Sunday. 'I do not know if there were any court papers involved in this.' Online records indicate that Munn has a prior criminal record that included an arrest in December 2017 on a charge of battery on a former companion. Munn is the owner of a moving business registered in Temecula, California, called Lionspaw Movers. His business' website states that Munn has worked as a mover for the past eight years. A call to a phone number associated with Munn's moving company went straight to voicemail Monday afternoon. Iraq has offered the US-led coalition to put hundreds of accused foreign jihadists on trial in Baghdad in exchange for millions of dollars. Western countries have been rocked by fierce public debate over whether to repatriate their citizens who joined ISIS, which held swathes of Iraq and Syria for years before losing its last speck of land last month. Around 1,000 suspected foreign ISIS fighters are in detention in northeast Syria, in addition to around 9,000 foreign women and children in Kurdish-run camps there. Iraqi officials are offering to put foreign jihadis on trial locally if they are paid $2m a suspect Iraqi officials believe the $2m figure is more cost effective than taking the suspects to Guantanamo Bay Iraq has proposed trying and sentencing the foreign suspects if the US-led coalition covers operational costs, three Iraqi officials have said. Once government source told AFP 'These countries have a problem, here's a solution. The source said Iraq had proposed a rate of $2 million per suspect per year, calculated based on the estimated operational costs of a detainee in US-run Guantanamo. 'We made the proposal last week but have not gotten a response yet,' the source added. A second official said Iraq had requested $2 billion to try the suspects as 'one of several options,' and could ask for 'more money to cover the costs of their detention.' Iraq has already tried and sentenced several hundred foreign ISIS members, and others are in detention in Baghdad awaiting trial. They include at least 12 French nationals who were transferred from Syria in February. A third Iraqi official said detainees from as many as 52 countries could be put on trial in Baghdad. 'Iraq proposed to the coalition setting up a special tribunal to try foreigners. There's been a constructive beginning to those discussions,' the source said. But setting up the court could be complicated, the official said, with questions over whether international funding for it would preclude any implementation of the death penalty. The source added that Iraq had opted to propose the arrangement to the US-led coalition as a whole because it was simpler than negotiating with each country individually. The US-led coalition did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment. Syria's Kurds have called for an international court in northeast Syria to try ISIS jihadists, but the US says countries should repatriate their own citizens. Austrian Interior Minister Herbert Kickl has called for a pan European project to set up tribunals in the Middle East to try ISIS militants captured in the region rather than bringing them home to face justice Transferring foreign fighters to Iraq for trial appears to resolve a legal conundrum for Western powers, many of whom fear they may not have enough evidence to convict ISIS members who claim they did not fight. However, human rights activists expressed concern over the offer. Maya Foa of Reprieve said: 'These reports raise the gravest spectres of the failed war on terror. The Government has truly learned nothing if it allows people to be rendered to Iraqs death row for the price per-head of keeping a prisoner at Guantanamo. 'Rather than dusting off the disastrous post-9/11 playbook, the Government should repatriate British nationals held in Syria so that they can be tried in UK courts wherever there are charges to answer.' Austria wants its citizens who have fought for ISIS to be tried in U.N.-style tribunals in the Middle East rather than brought home for prosecution. U.S.-backed forces last month announced the capture of terror group's last territory in Syria, eliminating its rule over a self-proclaimed 'caliphate'. But no clear international policy has emerged yet about how to deal with the militants captured there and at other strongholds. Austria's far-right interior minister, Herbert Kickl, today called for 'tribunals in the region' to be set up to deal with those who had left Austria and other European countries to join Islamic State, whom he referred to as 'ticking time bombs'. 'I have turned to the three EU commissioners responsible with the request that this be made into a pan-European project,' Kickl told a news conference after a weekly cabinet meeting, adding that Germany, Sweden and Finland support the idea. Roughly 100 'foreign fighters' who had travelled from Austria were in Islamic State combat zones in Syria and Iraq at the start of the year, Austrian media reported in February, citing an estimate Austria's main intelligence service. However not all of those were believed to be Austrians. The Interior Ministry declined to comment on that estimate, but Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl has said that among European Union countries and relative to its population Austria has one of the highest numbers of Islamic State fighters. Last month the Islamic State group's 'caliphate' was declared defeated by the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. But there is no clear international policy on how to deal with the militants captured in the last of ISIS territory Kickl said it would be cheaper and more efficient to organise trials in the Middle East at special tribunals rather than hold individual trials in various European countries. 'Just imagine, you would have to fly in witnesses from Iraq, Syria and elsewhere for a trial in Austria,' Kickl said, adding that Austria was capable of trying these people but that would be 'more complicated'. 'If the European Commission can support it and if we can agree on cooperation with the United Nations we will use what was done in Rwanda as a model,' Kickl said, apparently referring to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, a U.N. body based in the Tanzanian city of Arusha. A government spokesman said Kickl's proposal was supported by both Kickl's far-right Freedom Party and Chancellor Sebastian Kurz's conservatives, which together have taken a hard line on immigration and law-and order issues. American Airlines pilot David Copeland, 62, pictured, could face jail after admitting putting hundreds of lives at risk by turning up to Manchester Airport too drunk to fly An American pilot could face jail after he admitted putting hundreds of lives at risk when he was caught over the drinking limit for flying. David Copeland, 62, from Pennsylvania, US, who works as a pilot for American Airlines, was pulled over by security at Manchester Airport in February because they wanted to check his hand luggage. Security guard Jordan Fletcher found Copeland, due to fly to Philadelphia, was 'unstable on his feet' and he could smell alcohol on his breath. Police were called and he failed a breath test and then a subsequent blood test at a nearby police station. The court heard he had 27ml of alcohol per 100ml of blood, which is 7ml over the limit - but less than half the drink-drive limit. He appeared at Manchester Magistrates Court today where he pleaded guilty to performing an aviation task while intoxicated. District Judge Mark Hadfield condemned Copeland for putting people's lives at risk. Judge Hadfield said: 'Almost always a jail sentence is passed in these cases, not just because of the inconvenience caused, but because passengers are put at risk. 'He has put hundreds of people at risk. You are going to struggle to convince me to deal with it in this court.' Prosecuting, Andrew Hey, said: 'On February 7 of this year, Jordan Fletcher was working at Manchester Airport as a security officer. He had reason to speak to this defendant regarding hand luggage. 'Mr Fletcher said that, during his dealings, he asked the defendant various questions and he could smell intoxicants on his breath. He said he was acting in a peculiar manner and looked unstable on his feet. 'He informed his manager who called the police. PC Greenfield attended and he spoke to the pilot of the flight from Manchester to Philadelphia which was sat on the runway. 'He called to the defendant discreetly to ask him to leave the cockpit. The defendant said that he had alcohol 12 hours ago and had a coffee in the last 20 minutes. 'A sample of breath was taken which read 'Air Fail'. He was taken to a police station where he blood was taken which read 27mg per 100ml of blood - the legal limit is 20ml.' The court heard Copeland, pictured, was stopped by security to check his luggage but that they then found him 'unsteady on his feet' and he subsequently failed breath and blood checks He was due to fly from Manchester Airport, pictured, to Philadelphia in February Mitigating, Jane Novas-Morell said: 'It's largely unprecedented. This is an extremely low reading, 0.27 in blood, which equates to about 13ml in breath by my calculation. 'This defendant has pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. I would respectfully submit that this is, realistically, a case that could be dealt with by way of a fine. 'He was not largely over the limit, and experts have said he would have past the test if it was taken 30 minutes later. I also think it's unrealistic that they smelt it on his breath.' Sending the case to crown court for sentencing, Judge Hadfield said: 'You're not going to smell alcohol on your own breath. Given the risk that created, and I imagine on a long haul flight that numerous people would have been put at risk, it's a Crown Court matter. 'David Copeland, you have pleaded guilty to a very serious offence at the earliest opportunity. In my view, it's far too serious for this court, so it's going to be a Crown Court sentence.' David Copeland will appear at Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, on May 8 for sentencing. Oprah Winfrey praised her new friend Meghan Markle on Wednesday during an appearance on CBS This Morning. The Queen of Daytime TV said that the American princess 'is not only everything that we perceive of her as being - graceful and dynamic in holding that position - but she just has a wonderful, warm, giving, loving heart.' Host Gayle King, who is also a new friend of Markle and attended her baby shower in New York City last month, jumped in to add: 'She's very kind. She doesn't seem to buy into [her bad press] though.' Oprah then revealed that Markle does not read any of her press, before going on to speak about working with Prince Harry on a new docuseries for Apple about mental health. Scroll down for video High praise: Meghan Markle is 'graceful and dynamic,' said Oprah Winfrey on CBS This Morning (above), and has a 'wonderful, warm, giving, loving heart' Royal romance: The Queen of daytime TV also spoke about a new mental health docuseries she and Prince Harry, pictured with Meghan in March, are making for Apple 'She actually does not read anything, which I find, you know remarkable,' said Oprah. 'I think that's remarkable in spite of all that's going on, she doesn't read anything.' Oprah said that she has been spending a great deal of time in London recently as she works with Prince Harry on their new series. Speaking about how it came together, she said: 'I asked the question what do you think are the most important issues facing the world right now, and he said there are two. He said climate change and mental wellness, mental fitness and mental health. 'As you know, he's spoken about his own issues and what he went through after his mother died and how being able to talk about it has benefited him, Oprah said. 'So it's a passion of his and, at the end of the conversation, I said, "Oh, I'm going to be doing this thing with Apple. It's a big concern of mine too and I want to try to erase the stigma." 'And he said at the end of the conversation, "If there's anything I can do to help..."' That is when Oprah said she pitched the idea of Harry coming on to help build the series, and the TV titan said he has been incredibly involved in the project ever since. 'He's co-creating and executive producing, she said. We've had several meetings, secret meetings in London. I've flown there with the crew, sitting in sessions, talking about the directions we're going to take. 'Our hope is it will have an impact on reducing the stigma and allow people to know that they're not alone and allowing people to speak up for it and identify with it.' The Duke of Sussex was the one to break the news of the collaboration on Wednesday. Pass: Oprah (above at the royal wedding) revealed that Markle does not read her press 'I am incredibly proud to be working alongside Oprah on this vital series which we have been developing together for several months,' stated Prince Harry. 'I truly believe that good mental health mental fitness is the key to powerful leadership, productive communities and a purpose-driven self. 'It is a huge responsibility to get this right as we bring you the facts, the science and the awareness of a subject that is so relevant during these times. 'Our hope is that this series will be positive, enlightening and inclusive sharing global stories of unparalleled human spirit fighting back from the darkest places, and the opportunity for us to understand ourselves and those around us better.' There are reportedly plans for Harry to 'appear on camera', though it hasn't been decided whether he will be interviewed by the chat show host. This is not Prince Harry's first foray into raising awareness for mental health, having previously launched Heads Together in 2017, a mental health initiative spearheaded by The Royal Foundation, which worked on alongside his brother Prince William and sister-in-law Kate Middleton. That same year her spoke about his own struggles with mental health on the Mad World podcast. 'I sort of buried my head in the sand for many, many years. I can safely say that losing my mom at the age of 12 and therefore shutting down all of my emotions for the last 20 years has had a quite serious effect on not only my personal life, but also my work as well,' revealed Harry. Difficult day: He has been open about his own struggles with mental health in the past after losing his mother at a young age (Prince Harry above with his father and brother at Diana's funeral) The Sussex Royal Instagram account confirmed the news in a post today, revealing they were excited to announce the collaboration Harry added that it took decades for him to deal with it, but after a string of incidents that landed him in the tabloids, he finally managed to do just that, a move that eventually led him to meet his now-wife Meghan. 'I started to have a few conversations and actually all of a sudden, all of this grief that I have never processed started to come to the forefront and I was like, there is actually a lot of stuff here that I need to deal with,' he explained. Prince Harry said that his brother was a big help, as were his tours in Afghanistan and work on a number of charitable endeavors. 'I do feel in a good place, because of the process that I've been through over the last two and a half years, three years, I've now been able to take my work seriously, been able to take my private life seriously as well,' he explained on the podcast. 'And be able to put blood, sweat, and tears into the things that really make a difference. The things that I think will make a difference to everybody else.' Although Oprah has never confirmed how she and Meghan first became friends, she appears to have grown incredibly close to the royal couple, and was even a guest at their wedding in May. The TV legend even formed a close friendship with Meghan's mother Doria Ragland. In April 2018, just weeks before the royal wedding, Oprah and Doria, 62, spent the afternoon together at Oprah's $88 million 'Promised Land' mansion in Santa Barbara bonding, doing yoga, and eating kumquats from her garden. Oprah later shared that the pair had eaten a meal together and snacked on a dessert made from kumquats freshly picked from Oprah's garden. 'She said, "I love kumquats," and I said, "I have a kumquat tree!"' Oprah detailed in June 2018, while promoting a new TV series. However, despite Oprah's relationship with Meghan, the royal, who is due to give birth to the couple's first child in the coming weeks, is not thought to be involved in the Apple documentary project. A Georgia teenager pleaded guilty on Monday after she was accused of driving at 106mph and using Snapchat before crashing her car - an accident in which her best friend died. Cristina Pavon-Baker, 17, was driving to the Southlake Mall in Georgia in March last year with passenger Makayla Penn, 18, when she lost control of her Mini Cooper on a curve on I-75 North in Morrow, killing Penn. The girls were participating in senior ditch day at Community Christian School, a day chosen by seniors for the entire class to skip school. Pavon-Baker avoided trial after she pleaded guilty to first-degree vehicular homicide and reckless driving, 11 Alive reports. Prosecutors accused the teen of being on Snapchat at the time of the fatal crash - something Pavon-Baker's attorney Jackie Patterson has denied. The teenager was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but will spend three years in the Clayton County Jail before serving the rest on probation. After pleading guilty, she said: 'I just want to apologize and I do accept full responsibility. And I really want to express from the bottom of my heart how truly sorry I am.' Pavon-Baker had previously said she wishes she had died instead and thinks of Makayla every second of every day. 'I honestly wish it was me instead of her,' she told a press conference last year. 'Not a single second has passed where I don't think about Makayla and her family.' Following the plea, Makayla's mom, Melody Penn, said: 'I won't sit here and act like it's okay. It's not okay. None of this is okay. This year has been hell.' Cristina Pavon-Baker pleaded guilty to first-degree vehicular homicide and reckless driving on Monday over the crash that killed her best friend, Makayla Penn Makayla Penn (pictured), 18, was killed in the March 26 accident. Pavon-Baker said she wishes she had died in the crash instead of her best friend Authorities said the car ran off the road, flipped over several times and crashed into a tree. The force of the crash uprooted the tree, police said. Pavon-Baker was seriously injured in the crash and taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. Penn, 18, had to cut from the wrecked vehicle, and was pronounced dead at the scene. 'I remember when the accident happened, I was just praying Makayla was OK. I got out of the car and I ran to her side and I was looking at her ... I was just hoping that she was OK and praying,' Pavon-Baker said. 'I can't express how sorry I am that the whole accident happened.' Prosecutors said Pavon-Baker was traveling 106mph in a 65mph zone when she lost control of the car on a curve. Patterson said his client misjudged the curve and blamed the state for not putting signs up to warn drivers after 63 other crashes were reported at that curve. 'The ramp is inherently dangerous,' Patterson said at the time. 'We believe the state should have had those signs there prior to this tragic accident.' Speaking following her guilty plea Monday he added: 'She will have no felony conviction on her record. In fact, it will be expunged.' Authorities said the Mini Cooper (pictured) ran off the road, flipped over several times and crashed into a tree. The force of the crash uprooted the tree, according to officials Cristina Pavon-Baker was driving when she lost control of her car while going around a curve. Prosecutors said the 17-year-old was speeding and was allegedly on Snapchat Pavon-Baker was seriously injured in the crash and taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. Penn, 18, had to be cut from the wrecked vehicle, and was pronounced dead at the scene At an earlier bond hearing, Pavon-Baker asked the judge if she could keep her passport so that she could go on a cruise. She also asked her high school to allow her to participate in graduation, ABC13 reports. However, Makayla's mom Melody lodged a complaint. She said: 'I emailed the headmaster of that school and I told him that's unacceptable.' During the press conference in 2018, Pavon-Baker told reporters that life without her best friend has been 'terrible'. 'Life is not the same. There are so many times I just want to pick up the phone and call Makayla and I can't,' she said. Pavon-Baker will serve 5,000 hours of community service. Ryanair has been forced to apologise after refusing to let a prominent refugee board a flight to Ireland this morning. Iyad El-Baghdadi, an Arab Spring activist raised in the UAE, was told he wasn't allowed on the flight from Berlin to Dublin on Wednesday despite having the correct travel documents. The refugee obtained political asylum in Norway in 2015 and had a Norwegian travel papers when he was turned away from the 10.30am flight this morning. Arab Spring activist Iyad El-Baghdadi was told he wasn't allowed on the flight from Berlin to Dublin on Wednesday despite having the correct travel documents Baghdadi tweeted to his 122,000 followers to 'make some noise' about the incident He said Ryanair denied him boarding 'for no reason' and told him the supervisor was too busy to deal with the problem. Baghdadi tweeted to his 122,000 followers to 'make some noise' about the incident. Ryanair apologised following this backlash. The Irish airline said in a statement to MailOnline: 'This customer was denied boarding because of an error made by our handling agent in Berlin. 'Ryanair has since made contact with the customer directly and he will travel with us later today. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused.' Ryanair apologised following this backlash - but Baghdadi said he worries about refugees who don't have a social media following Baghdadi later revealed he'd been contacted by the airline and was being compensated. But he tweeted: 'I'm thinking about all the refugees who do NOT have 122k followers on Twitter and don't get such callbacks.' Refugees from outside the EU are allowed entry into Ireland for short stays of up to 90 days if they have travel documents issued by a European member state. A father found, Christopher Leonard (pictured), 42, hiding in a closet of his Texas home after the man allegedly came over to have sex with his 12-year-old daughter A father found a 42-year-old man hiding in a closet of his Texas home after the man allegedly came over to have sex with his 12-year-old daughter. The unidentified dad said he found Christopher Todd Leonard shirtless in his closet on November 2, 2018, while getting ready for work around 5.30am. Leonard, who was not aggressive, told the father that the girl invited him over to their home. At the time, he claimed that he was under the impression the girl was 21 years old. According to KPRC, Leonard said he had been talking to the girl through Facebook and Instagram. But the girl reportedly told police that Leonard knew she was 12. The 12-year-old told authorities that she had met Leonard while using public transportation a few weeks prior to the incident. She said he gave her his phone number and they contacted each other through texts and phone calls. When authorities looked through Leonard's phone, they also found sexually explicit messages that he had sent to the girl. 'The man literally brainwashed her,' the father told KPRC. 'Knowing this guy could have done something to my daughter and then knowing that I had another daughter that he could have done something to, it really affected me, and my family as well,' the father added. The dad (pictured) said he found Leonard on November 2, 2018, while getting ready for work around 5.30am. Leonard claimed the girl invited him over to their home. Police have issued a warrant for Leonard's arrest. He's been charged with online solicitation of a minor Police have issued a warrant for Leonard's arrest. He has been charged with online solicitation of a minor. Records show that Leonard has a criminal history. In the past, he was charged with possession of marijuana and cocaine as well as aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 1998. Authorities are asking that anyone with information regarding Leonard's whereabouts to contact Crime Stoppers at 713-222-8477. A video that President Donald Trump re-tweeted that included the soundtrack of a Batman movie was pulled from his account due to copyright violations. Trump on Tuesday tweeted the video, which featured images of Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton juxtaposed with images from Trump's two years in office. The text, set against the movie's score, read: 'First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they call you a racist. Donald J. Trump. Your vote. Proved them all wrong.' The video, which Trump reposted Tuesday evening, showed images of his presidency, including his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. 'Your vote proved them all wrong,' the two-minute video said, calling Trump's 2020 re-election a 'great victory.' Before: This was the original message tweeted by Trump before Warner Bros complained. It showed a more than two minute long video using the theme from The Dark Night Rises Woops: All that was left after the complaint from Warner Bros. about the unauthorized use of their copyrighted material What was there: This was the start of the video, which featured images of Trump with Kim Jong-Un and Brett Kavanaugh The soundtrack of the video was composer Hans Zimmer's 'Why Do We Fall?' from the 2012 movie 'The Dark Knight Rises' - and movie Warner Brothers, which owns the Batman franchise, was not happy. 'The use of Warner Bros.' score from The Dark Knight Rises' in the campaign video was unauthorized,' the movie studio told Buzzfeed News. 'We are working through the appropriate legal channels to have it removed.' By Wednesday all that was left on Trump's Twitter feed was a dead link with a message that read 'This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.' Actual movie: Warner Bros. objected to the use of the theme music to the 2012 Batman franchise which starred Christian Bale as Batman The video, however, garnered 101,000 likes and 31,000 retweets before it was pulled. This is not the first time that the president has retweeted controversial fan-made material. Previous cases include the image of the president body slamming a CNN logo. Musicians including Pharell Williams and Aerosmith have also complained about Trump using their music for political purposes. CrossFit millionairess Lauren Jenai has admitted that her decision to marry an accused murderer without insisting on a prenup makes no sense to other people but she is going ahead anyway. 'I've gut-checked myself,' she said in an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV. 'It is a little bit of an unusual situation. 'It was like ''What are people going to think?'' especially in the beginning. 'But at the end of the day, I love spending time with him, I love talking to him. We talk for hours every day, so, even though we are not together we have really come to know each other.' Jenai plans to marry Franklin Tyrone Tucker this summer probably inside the lock-up where he is awaiting trial for first degree murder. They haven't met face-to-face for more than 30 years. CrossFit co-founder Lauren Jenai, 47, is planning a summer prison wedding to inmate Franklin Tyrone Tucker, 47, who is accused of murder The couple had crushes on each other in high school but haven't met face-to-face in 30 years, only communicating through video chat, phone and letters. Jenai is pictured in this dated photo Lauren tells DailyMailTV that she was dating Tucker's best friend while they were in high school, so Tucker (pictured as a teen) didn't want to act on his feelings for her at the time Jenai insists Tucker is innocent and tells DailyMailTV they reconnected before his arrest but fell in love through these love letters and artwork he sent her from prison Lauren and Ty had crushes on each other as students at different Philadelphia high schools. But they never acted on their mutual attraction until now. At 16, Lauren was dating Ty's best friend, so even when another student played her a secret recording of him expressing his love for her, she didn't act on it. And nor did he. 'He didn't want to be in a position of stealing his best friend's girl,' she told DailyMailTV. 'And when he found out that I had heard him saying how much he was in love with me he got really embarrassed and nothing ever happened. 'I had a real crush on him too,' she added. Now, decades later and with their lives having veered in wildly different directions, the two 47-year-olds finally plan to marry. Their wedding is likely to be held inside the forbidding whitewashed walls of the southernmost lock-up in the mainland United States. Jenai is worth some $20million. She and her four children aged 10 to 13 live in an idyllic $800,000, 5-bedroom house, a couple of blocks from Mt. Tabor Park in Portland, Oregon. She made her fortune from her part in building the CrossFit exercise regime and then divorcing the company's co-founder, Greg Glassman. Home for the man she plans to call her husband is a stark cell inside the Monroe County Detention Center on Florida's Stock Island right next door to Key West. He has been there for 17 months, awaiting trial for a drug-connected murder. If found guilty he may never see life outside prison again. But despite that threat, Jenai insists that she will not demand a prenuptial agreement from a man with a history of assault, drug and gun charges in his past. 'A prenuptial would be inappropriate,' she told DailyMailTV. 'It would feel like there is a lack of trust in the relationship and I don't have any trust issues with Ty. 'Anyway, I don't hold on to my wealth tightly. I don't feel overly protective of the money that I have. 'I feel essentially that money is to help somebody who is in a terrible situation and I am fortunate to have the means to do that.' The couple write love letters to each other, and in this one Tucker said: 'There will never be any other woman in this world more beautiful to me than you are you don't just turn me on, I look at you and my heart just completely melts' Tucker paints in prison and collects inmate art, sending Jenai these hand made flowers made out of toilet paper. She calls them 'beautifully colored and really creative' Jenai and Tucker hadn't spoken in years when they reconnected on Facebook a few years back. Both were then living in Arizona, about 20 miles apart. But even then they didn't meet. Instead, Tucker set off - on foot - for Key West, a move that landed him in his latest trouble. Living in a warehouse squat he allegedly got involved in what became known as the 'tree house murder,' a sordid tale that ended in one death, one cutthroat injury, and murder charges against Tucker and two other men. Prosecutors admit there is no physical evidence that ties Tucker to the killing, it is only the words of his co-defendants and an alleged jailhouse confession. Tucker himself says he was so drunk on the November 2017 day Matthew Bonnet was stabbed to death that he remembers virtually nothing. But Jenai's offer to pony up $1million to bail him out of jail and have him live with her, 3,500 miles away on the other side of the country, was turned down by a judge in January. 'Part of the reason that I got so deeply involved is that on reading the reports of the crime and his involvement, the dots weren't connecting something was off,' Jenai told DailyMailTV. 'It is not in his character whatsoever to be in that situation 'The more I saw, the more I felt something was very, very wrong. I couldn't see why he was arrested even.' She got involved after a mutual friend told her that her schoolyard crush was in trouble. 'I wrote him a letter and gave him my phone number, to make sure he knew there was someone there for him,' she said. Jenai admits that her decision to marry Tucker makes no sense to others, but says 'at the end of the day I love spending time with him, I love talking to him' and she enjoys the notes and drawings he sends Jenai saves all the letters, drawings and artwork Tucker sends her and says their wedding in jail will be the first time they have seen each other in person in 30 years 'I felt compelled to spend as much time as I could to make it easier on him and I also wanted to make sure he had good representation. He was kind of living a bohemian kind of lifestyle and didn't have anyone to look after him.' They spoke several times over video. The jail does not allow any in-person visits. The more they spoke, the more they realized they still had feelings for each other. 'I would be excited for his calls, my heart would race and when we were talking I would have these warm, gushing feelings,' Jenai said. Jenai wrote to him. 'I told him: ''I don't know what's going on but I love talking with you, you make me laugh. We have so much in common, I just look forward to every time I'm talking to you. You make me happy.'' 'He called me saying ''I'm the luckiest man, but I had to get arrested for murder to find you!'' He was like: ''This would have never happened if I wasn't arrested.'' 'He said he was having the same feelings, but he didn't want to freak me out by making me uncomfortable with his feelings, but he was happy that I was having the same type of emotional connection that he was.' This is Monroe County Detention Center in Florida where Jenai and Tucker's summer wedding will likely take place The mother-of-four says a prenup to protect her $20million fortune is 'unnecessary' because it shows a 'lack of trust in the relationship' This is the tree house on Stock Island where police say Tucker murdered Matthew Bonnett by stabbing him in 2017 But now those video meetings have ended after Jenai was accused of acting inappropriately. She admits her 'boob fell out' during one talk. Her account got suspended for 100 years and Tucker was put in solitary confinement for 45 days, she said. Franklin Tyrone Tucker's romantic letter to Lauren Jenai from jail 'Im sitting here, just starting at your picture and loving you. Its been a pretty f***ed up day.I did finally get to hear your voice this morning and that should have made me outrageously happy but something in your voice sounded wrong. Dont ask me what it was but something sounded like you werent ok. I told myself later that you were probably just tired, not quite awake and not looking forward to the weight purge. 'Speaking of which, I hope you made weight kicked some serious a** today. You make me so proud, and I love hearing about your fights. Such a f***ing bada** and that turns me on to no f***ing endSpeaking of which, Im going to wait to send you my next dream/fantasy letter but just know I am staring at your face shot and wondering if you took this photo naked because there are no straps on your shoulders. 'Anyway, its like I told you today, there will never be any other woman in this world more beautiful to me than you areyou dont just turn me on, I look at you and my heart just completely melts. Although thats part of whats f***ing with me, when I thought something was wrong with you today and I cant be there for you.' Advertisement 'We were kind of love drunk and goofy,' she said. 'Initially we were both shy when we would see each other, but all that stuff kind of mellowed out and it became a bit more sexual in nature. 'And we got in trouble for that. 'Obviously I knew it was something that I wasn't supposed to do, but there are no specific written rules about the off-site video visitation. 'And I also didn't anticipate that he would get in trouble for something that I was doing.' The couple talk whenever they can. During her interview with DailyMailTV her phone rang. It was Ty. They both laughed like giddy schoolkids telling each other how much they love each other. Tucker often sends art work from inside the prison. 'He has taken up painting and also collecting inmate art, so he sends me things like beautiful flowers that are made out of toilet paper. They're beautifully colored and really creative.' They write each other love letters. In one, Tucker said: 'There will never be any other woman in this world more beautiful to me than you are you don't just turn me on, I look at you and my heart just completely melts.' The couple hopes to tie the knot in late July or early August if they can get permission from the authorities. 'Of course, not having a proper wedding night is not ideal,' Jenai said. 'Neither of us wants to get married in that environment, but it will be the first time we have been in the same room in 30 years, so it will certainly be emotional.' And Jenai still believes her husband-to-be will be acquitted on all charges. 'Then he'll come live with me in Oregon, at least initially because I don't want to uproot my children. Portland wouldn't be his first pick, but I think he'll like it once he gets here 'And honestly, Florida has soured a little bit for him because of his experience.' Theresa May faced a new racism storm today after Government adviser Sir Roger Scruton (file) made a series of inflammatory remarks in a magazine interview The controversial philosopher Sir Roger Scruton was fired as a Government adviser today over a series of 'white supremacist' remarks in a magazine interview. The academic, who advised the Government on housing policy, told the New Statesman that Islamophobia was 'a propaganda word invented by the Muslim Brotherhood in order to stop discussion of a major issue'. And of claims Jewish billionaire George Soros wields too much influence over Europe he said: 'Anybody who doesn't think that there's a Soros empire in Hungary has not observed the facts.' Sir Roger also rejected claims of mounting extremism in Hungary as he said 'the Hungarians were extremely alarmed by the sudden invasion of huge tribes of Muslims from the Middle East'. The Prime Minister faced immediate calls to fire him as a government official today. Without hours, Government sources said: 'Professor Sir Roger Scruton has been dismissed as Chairman of the Building Better Building Beautiful Commission with immediate effect, following his unacceptable comments.' Mrs May's deputy official spokesman said: 'These comments are deeply offensive and completely unacceptable. 'It is right that he has been dismissed.' Sir Roger's job survived a previous round of condemnation over allegedly anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and homophobic remarks. Former Chancellor George Osborne said: 'Yesterday, leading Conservatives rightly ask what they can do to reconnect to modern Britain. 'Today, these bigoted remarks from the man they bizarrely appointed to advise them on housing. 'How can Downing Street possibly keep Roger Scruton as a government adviser?' The Prime Minister (pictured today at PMQs) faced immediate calls to fire him as a government official today. Former Chancellor George Osborne condemned the 'bigoted' remarks and said Mrs May must sack Sir Roger immediately Labour MP Dawn Butler MP said his comments invoked the language of white supremacists Journalists and commentator David Aaronovitch asked whether Scruton was aware his comments would inevitably lead to his sacking Labour's Shadow Women and Equalities Secretary Dawn Butler said: 'These comments by Roger Scruton are despicable and invoke the language of white supremacists. 'His claim that Islamophobia does not exist, a few weeks after the devastating attack in Christchurch, is extremely dangerous, and his defence of the prejudice stoked by Viktor Orban's government in Hungary is appalling. 'He should never have been appointed but the Government should have sacked him when his horrific comments about rape, homosexuality, Islamophobia and antisemitism came to light, and when his association with far-right, neo-fascist organisations was exposed. 'Instead, they defended him, with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government praising him as 'a very brave defender of free speech'. In a statement the Muslim Council of Britain said Scruton had shared 'unashamedly bigoted ideas' 'Theresa May must sack Roger Scruton immediately. If she doesn't, it will be further evidence that she is turning a blind eye to the deep-rooted prejudices and racist views in the Conservative Party, and will again signal that her government endorses these disgusting views.' A No 10 spokesman said he had not seen the remarks but added: 'He is an adviser on housing. 'It does not sound like in these comments he was speaking for the Government.' The New Statesman also published a comment perceived by many as Sinophobic, quoting Scruton as saying: 'each Chinese person is a kind of replica of the next one and that is a very frightening thing'. However the full quote, which was truncated the magazine said for reasons of space, was a critique of heavy-handed interference by the Beijing government. Scruton said: 'They're creating robots out of their own people by so constraining what can be done. Each Chinese person is a kind of replica of the next one and that is a very frightening thing'. The academic and philosopher was appointed in November of last year, to a role on a commission advising the government on housing. Housing Secretary James Brokenshire said Scruton was the right man for the job when appointing him just five months ago James Brokenshire, the Housing and Local Government Secretary, said at the time: 'In the selection of commissioners, my priority is to assemble experts who can provide real expertise and challenge on design quality, and a commitment to building places that communities value and support. 'Professor Sir Roger Scruton is a global authority on aesthetics, and was knighted for services to philosophy, teaching and public education in 2016. He is one of the countrys leading living philosophers. 'His commitment to promoting beauty in the built environment is well known, and he has published extensively on the subject. He was an adviser on design to the coalition Government. 'As this was an advisory appointment, due diligence checks were carried out and considered prior to Sir Roger Scrutons selection as unpaid chair. With his experience and commitment to this important agenda, Sir Roger is the right person to chair the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission.' Scruton was knighted in the Queen's 2016 birthday honours list for 'services to philosophy, teaching and public education'. He first rose to wider prominence in 2008, when he presented a BBC Two documentary called Why Beauty Matters, about art and architecture, in which he argued for the importance and transcendental nature of beauty. His appointment caused immediate controversy after it emerged that in years past he had made comments dismissing homosexuality as 'not normal', date rape a 'supposed crime' and sexual harassment as 'advances made by the unattractive'. Last year the government stood by Scruton after it emerged he has claimed there was no such thing as date rape and that homosexuality was not normal The government faced called to sack him within a week after Buzzfeed News revealed Sir Roger, during a lecture called 'Sexual Morality for Heathens' at Rice University in Houston, Texas, in 2005, claimed women who made allegations of date rape were withdrawing their consent afterwards because 'the whole thing went too quickly.' 'Whole new crimes have come into existence, like this supposed crime of 'date rape,' he said, according to Buzzfeed. 'What that means is of course there is no such crime but nevertheless, when a woman cries "date rape", what she means is "the whole thing went too quickly". 'You know, "I was not prepared," and so consent is withdrawn, as it were, in retrospect.' He also said: 'Nowadays, of course, "sexual harassment" just means sexual advances made by the unattractive, who are the majority, so there is a huge injustice in this.' In a Telegraph article in 2007, Scruton wrote: 'Every now and then, however, we wake up to the fact that, although homosexuality has been normalised, it is not normal.' And on BBC Radio 4's A Point of View in October 2015 he said: 'The orthodox liberal view is that homosexuality is innate and guiltless. 'Like the Islamists, the advocates of this view have invented a phobia with which to denounce their opponents. 'Deviate in the smallest matter from the orthodoxy, and you will be accused of homophobia and, although this is not yet a crime, it is accompanied, especially for those with any kind of public office, by real social costs.' Despite the backlash over comments Sir Roger made about Islamophobia and homophobia, the government insisted in November he was an 'excellent' candidate to advise ministers on housing. The wrongful death lawsuit brought against 22-year-old Michelle Carter convicted of sending her suicidal boyfriend a series of text messages urging him to kill himself has been dismissed. Carter, of Massachusetts, was convicted in 2017 of involuntary manslaughter in the 2014 death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III. The 22-year-old woman, who was 17 at the time of Roy's death, began serving a 15-month sentence in February. Scroll down for video The wrongful death lawsuit brought against 22-year-old Michelle Carter (left, in a February 2019 booking photo ) convicted in the suicide of her boyfriend, Conrad Roy, 18 (right), has been dismissed Carter was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2017 and began serving a 15-month sentence in February (pictured at her sentencing) Shortly after her conviction, Roy's mother, Lynn, filed the wrongful death lawsuit seeking $4.2million in damages from future wages lost due to her sons death. Eric Goldman, an attorney for Lynn Roy, told the Boston Herald the case has been 'resolved' but declined to provide details. Court records reveal that the lawsuit was dismissed 'with prejudice and without costs,' meaning that Conrad's mother will not be able to file another wrongful death lawsuit in this case. Roy killed himself by filling his pickup truck with carbon monoxide in a Fairhaven, Massachusetts, parking lot on July 12, 2014. When he had second thoughts about killing himself and texted his girlfriend saying he was scared, Carter responded by instructing him to 'get back in' the truck. Carter and Roy both struggled with depression and Roy had previously tried to kill himself. They both lived in Massachusetts but met in Florida in 2012 while both were on vacation with their families. Their relationship consisted mainly of texting and other electronic communications. In dozens of text messages revealed during her sensational trial, Carter pushed Roy to end his life and chastised him when he hesitated. As Roy made excuses to put off his plans, her texts became more insistent. 'You keep pushing it off and say you'll do it but u never do. It's always gonna be that way if u don't take action,' Carter texted him he on the day he died. 'I thought you wanted to do this. The time is right and you're ready - just do it babe,' she wrote. 'You're finally going to be happy in heaven. No more pain. It's okay to be scared and it's normal. I mean, you're about to die,' Carter wrote in another. Carter encouraged Roy to kill himself with carbon monoxide inside his truck in 2014 But the juvenile court judge focused his guilty verdict on the fact that Carter told Roy over the phone to get back in his truck when it was filling with carbon monoxide. The judge said Carter had a duty to call the police or Roy's family, but instead listened on the phone as he died. At trial, Carter's lawyer argued Carter had initially tried to talk Roy out of suicide and encouraged him to get help. Her attorney said Roy was determined to kill himself and nothing Carter did could change that. Her appellate attorneys said there was no evidence that Roy would have lived if Carter had called for help. They also argued there wasn't enough evidence to prove that Carter told Roy to get back in his truck. Carter's case, which garnered international attention, is now the subject of a new two-part HBO documentary titled I Love You, Now Die, which premiered at SXSW in Austin last month. Jamal Khashoggi (pictured) was murdered in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul on October 2. His family earlier denied discussing an out of court settlement with Saudi authorities The son of killed Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi has appeared to acknowledge that financial compensation had been made to the family, but said it did not amount to an admission of guilt by Saudi rulers. Salah Khashoggi described King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as 'guardians to all Saudis'. 'Acts of generosity and humanity come from the high moral grounds they possess, not admission of guilt or scandal,' he said in a statement posted to Twitter. 'We, Jamal Khashoggi's family, were brought up by our parents to thank acts of good not disavow.' On April 1, The Washington Post reported the writer's children were given million-dollar homes and monthly payments of at least 7,600 in the aftermath of Mr Khashoggi's killing by Saudi agents in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last year. The Post, quoting current and former Saudi officials as well as people close to the family speaking anonymously, reported the payments were approved by King Salman. It is not unusual for the king to make so-called 'blood money' payments to victims of crimes or accidents in Saudi Arabia. An example of this was the king's pledge to pay thousands of dollars to victims of a 2015 crane crash in Mecca that killed more than 100 pilgrims and injured nearly 400 people days before the start of the hajj. Jamal Khashoggi's son Salah met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (pictured) and King Salman in Riyadh shortly after the journalist's murder. It was widely interpreted as an attempt to intimidate the family The Post reported that Mr Khashoggi's two sons and two daughters could also receive payouts of tens of millions of dollars each as part of 'blood money' negotiations after Saudi Arabia concludes a trial of 11 people charged in connection with the killing, describing the payments as an effort aimed in part at ensuring that the family continues to show restraint in their public statements. The statement by Salah Khashoggi apparently sought to clarify this, saying: 'The trial is taking place and no settlement discussion had been or is discussed.' 'The people who committed and were involved in this crime will all be brought to justice and face punishment,' the elder son's statement said. In its report, The Washington Post said that Salah is the only sibling who intends to continue living in Saudi Arabia and that his desire to remain in Jeddah with his family contributed to the siblings' deference to the authorities and caution in their public statements. The children of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi - including sons Salah (left) and Abdullah (right) are reportedly receiving thousands of dollars in payments by the Saudi state The Post also reported Salah has been responsible for financial discussions with Saudi authorities, and that it was the crown prince's younger brother, Khalid bin Salman, who helmed those discussions on the Saudi side. Prior to his killing, Mr Khashoggi had written critically of the crown prince in multiple columns for The Washington Post and had been living in exile for about a year, fearing he would be detained if he returned to Saudi Arabia as part of a wider crackdown on writers, activists and critics. After offering shifting accounts of what transpired, and under intense international and Turkish pressure, the kingdom eventually settled on the explanation that Mr Khashoggi had been killed by Saudi agents in an operation masterminded by two of the crown prince's top aides, who have since been removed from their posts. The kingdom denies the crown prince had any knowledge of the operation. His critics, however, point to US intelligence reports that say an operation like this could not have happened without his knowledge. President Donald Trump has defended US ties with Saudi Arabia, despite congressional pressure and a senate resolution blaming the crown prince for the murder. A Brazilian father shot and killed his daughter when she tried to stop him beating her mother during a jealous rage. Michele Magalhaes Rodrigues, 11, stepped in to help mom Darlene dos Santos Magalhaes, 32, while her dad Lucival de Oliveira Rodrigues, 34, was attacking her at the family's home Sunday night in Sao Jose de Itaporan, a town in the state of Muritiba. de Oliveira Rodrigues was angry and started beating his wife of 12 years when he confronted her about an affair, Brazilian news outlet Correio 24 Horas reported. He then shot young Michele and her five-year-old brother when they tried to intervene. Her mother and the boy survived. Michele Magalhaes Rodrigues, 11, was shot dead by her father after she tried to stop him from beating their mother at their family home in Brazil on Sunday, police say Lucival de Oliveira Rodrigues (right), went on the run after the alleged shooting. Cops say he started beating wife, Darlene dos Santos Magalhaes (left), when he confronted her about an affair. She survived the shooting Neighbors told police the family had friends over for a barbecue, and that de Oliveira Rodrigues had been drinking alcohol. He then turned violent when he asked his wife whether she had been cheating on him. The young girl and her five-year-old brother then allegedly pounced on their irate dad to save their mother from his punches. Magalhaes Rodrigues subsequently ran out of the living room after she was shot in the back. The girl tried to run away, but fell before she could get very far. Michele Magalhaes Rodrigues (right) was shot in back while she was in her home's living room and then was blasted in the back of the head when she ran out of the residence. She is pictured with her mother, Darlene dos Santos Magalhaes Lucival de Oliveira Rodrigues is wanted in Brazil after he allegedly shot dead his 11-year-old daughter. He also blasted his five-year-old son, who is still hospitalized De Oliveira Rodrigues then allegedly shot his daughter in head. Magalhaes Rodrigues was pronounced dead at the scene of the horrific crime. The gunman then turned and shot his son. The boy, whose name was not released, was taken to Santo Antonio de Jesus Hospital where he is being treated for his injuries. The Brazilian Civil Police were still looking for de Oliveira Rodrigues as of Wednesday morning. Authorities say Denver Police Officer Shederick Dobbin (pictured) used his department's National Crime Information Center database to look up information on an unidentified stripper who later was found dead A Denver Police officer accused of ditching work to attend a strip club and using the department's police database to look up the criminal history of a 22-year-old stripper who later was found dead, will begin a ten-day suspension on April 21. Records show officer Shederick Dobbin ran the late exotic dancer's name and the name of two of her colleagues through his department's National Crime Information Center database in July of 2018 after meeting her in June at PT's Showclub, a strip club in southwest Denver. Dobbin told investigators he looked up the woman to see if she had warrants and determine if she was 'someone I can be around,' according to a discipline letter obtained by the Denver Post. Detectives questioned Dobbin in mid-November after the woman turned up dead. John Romero, Public Information Officer for the Lakewood Police Department, confirmed the woman's age Wednesday morning, but declined to release additional details about her death, saying the case is still being investigated. He also confirmed Dobbin is not a suspect in the 22-year-old's demise. 'Hopefully in about a week or so we might have a little more information. Right now it's just a death investigation,' Romero told the Daily Mail. Surveillance video at PT Showclub in Denver shows Dobbins entering the establishment around 2.20pm on November 5 after leaving his workshift roughly an hour early without permission Dobbin said he last saw the woman on November 5 after leaving his scheduled 7am - 3pm shift an hour early without permission to visit the strip club where she worked. Surveillance video obtained by KDVR shows Dobbin entering PT Showclub around 2.20pm the same day. Denver Deputy Manager of Safety Mary Dulacki said Dobbin's improper actions had '[m]ore than a minimal negative impact on the professional image of the Department,' according to Denver7. This isn't the first time Dobbin has been in trouble for misusing the police database. He served a four-day unpaid suspension and lost two days paid vacation in November for sharing information about the investigation into a man suspected of assaulting a public works employee - with the suspect's girlfriend. The suspect later used to information to give false details about his clothing on the night of the assault - so he did not match the witness' description. The Denver Post reports Dobbin knew the man from Dobbin's other job working security at a nightclub, where the suspect's girlfriend also worked. Dobbin told investigators he met the now-deceased stripper while she was working at PT Showclub (pictured) back in June of 2018 Dobbin told investigators he last saw the dead stripper on November 5 after leaving his scheduled to visit the strip club where she worked Authorities haven't released the name or cause of death for the stripper, but said Dobbin is not a suspect in her death She called and asked Dobbin for a favor after a Denver police detective called her in an attempt to contact her boyfriend. Dobbin looked up the suspect's license plate number in the database and confirmed the car was part of an active investigation, according to a discipline letter obtained by the Denver Post. He also gave the club worker a physical description of the suspect, which the suspect later used to deny his involvement in the assault of the public works employing, claiming he was wearing something different than the man described by the victim. Denver's Police Department has a long history of officers inappropriately using the crime database for personal affairs. In 2016, the city's civilian oversight agency, known as the Office of Independent Monitor, found that Denver Police had been accused of using the NCIC dozens of times for personal affairs over the previous 10 years, such as looking up an ex's new boyfriend or a woman's phone number. The abuse 'involves the misuse of a power granted for official purposes, it may damage community trust in the DPD, and in some cases, it risks actual harm to community members,' Independent Monitor Nick Mitchell wrote in his 2015 annual report, according to the Denver Post. 'This creates various risks, including risks to citizen and officer safety, the possibility of citizen complaints and potential liability for the city,' he added. A Michigan woman was arrested on Sunday for allegedly leaving three dogs in a warm car for several hours as she gambled in a casino, killing two of them. Sherrill Langford, 50, was charged with three counts of animal torture and two counts of animal cruelty causing death, after security officials at the Four Winds Casino in Dowagiac discovered the animals in the parking lot. Security at the resort say there were alerted to Langfords vehicle after receiving a series of reports from concerned guests who spotted the three distressed dogs trapped inside a car. Sherrill Langford, 50, was charged with three counts of animal torture and two counts of animal cruelty causing death on Sunday Alongside the Tribal Police Department, security officials forced entry into the car in a bid to save the ailing pets but found that two were already dead. The third dog was found suffering from severe dehydration and is reportedly in a critical condition at the Cass County Animal Control shelter. Langford, from Flint, could face up to four-years in prison if convicted. Prosecutors say she left her three dogs in the parking lot of Dowagiac's Four Winds Casino while she gambled for 'hours' inside Authorities have not yet revealed how long they believe Langford allegedly left the dogs in her vehicle, but Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz described their suffering as lasting for hours. Following the reported discovery of her dogs, Langford was issued an additional charge of lying to a police officer, arrest documents show. Langford is due to be arraigned in District Court on April 17. A North Carolina mom is lucky to be alive after engaging in a shootout with a suspected burglar early Wednesday morning after he allegedly broke into the home she shares with her 10-year-old son. Police in Burlington, North Carolina received an emergency call from the home in the 600-block of Everett Street around 3.55am. They said the unnamed mom, 31, and her son were both asleep earlier when she heard someone breaking into their home through the kitchen window. The mom retrieved the handgun she owns and confronted the suspected 20 to 29-year-old male burglar who also was armed with a semi-automatic pistol, police said. The unnamed mom, 31, of Burlington, North Carolina and her 10-year-old son were asleep inside their home in the 600 block of Everett Street early Wednesday morning when the burglar broke in, police said Burlington Police said they were called to the scene at 3.55am The suspect opened fire on the mom who returned fire, forcing her attacker to flee. The woman and her son were reportedly unharmed, police said. There is no word yet on the condition of the burglar, who police said is still on the loose. Police said the woman will not face charges. Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call Burlington Police Department at (336) 229-3500. Edward Bartlett, 20, was selling cannabis to his friends to make money after leaving the family home. Police found 'cannabis cookies' along with more than 700 of the drug along with messages from customers. A judge allowed a young drug dealer to walk free and instead sentenced him to 'get the hiding you deserve from your dad', despite being caught with almost 1000 worth of cannabis. Edward Bartlett, 20, was selling cannabis to his friends to make money after leaving the family home. But Judge Niclas Parry warned him he was lucky not to go to prison - and that he should face the music at home. Judge Parry told him: 'Go and get the hiding you deserve from your dad. I'm the least of your worries.' Police found 'cannabis cookies' along with more than 700 of the drug along with messages from customers. Judge Niclas Parry told him: 'You have driven your family to despair.' 'You were bang at it. All the phones, the scales, the bags.' Barlett had left the family home to move in with his girlfriend - but had not been able to find a full-time job. Instead he turned to dealing cannabis but was caught by chance when police investigated a break-in at a neighbouring home. Prosecutor Julian Greenwood told Cardiff Crown Court how officers were called to a suspected break-in at a neighbouring flat to his girlfriend. Judge Niclas Parry warned him he was lucky not to go to prison - and that he should face the music at home Bartlett, of Nantyglo, Gwent, admitted possession with intent to supply cannabis, offering to supply the class B drug and simple possession After discovering it was a false alarm, police then noticed a 'strong smell of cannabis' coming from Barlett's girlfriends apartment. Inside they discovered 100 grams of the drug of 'street dealer value' worth between 715 and 965, mobile phones, weighing scales and plastic bags. Mr Greenwood said the phones contained 'drug-related text messages'. Bartlett, of Nantyglo, Gwent, admitted possession with intent to supply cannabis, offering to supply the class B drug and simple possession. The offences were committed on May 17, 2018. Roger Griffiths, defending, said Bartlett was looking for a job to make a fresh start Judge Parry told Bartlett that those who deal drugs usually end up in prison. But he was giving him a chance and, by not imposing a custodial sentence, he was helping him to look for a job. The judge added: 'This happened at a difficult period of your life. You are making something of your life.' Judge Parry handed out a 12-month community order and 250 hours of unpaid work. The judge ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs. The Police Federation has today joined the backlash against Brunei's draconian anti-gay laws by cancelling its bravery awards at the Dorchester hotel. From today, the nation has brought in a new penal code based on strict Islamic Sharia law which means homosexual acts, adultery and abortion are to be punished by death by stoning. Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales John Apter has now announced the organisation will be boycotting the London hotel - which is among the portfolio of assets held by the Brunei Investment Agency. Mr Apter said on Twitter that 'doing nothing was not an option', adding: 'My values, the PFEW and policing as a whole would not allow us to be associated with such a regime.' The Brunei Investment Agency (BIA) owns a number of of the world's most exclusive hotels, including London's the Dorchester Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales John Apter has now announced the organisation will be boycotting the London hotel George Clooney (left), Sir Elton John (right) and the American comedienne Ellen DeGeneres are among celebrities who announced they would no longer stay at any of the hotels in the Sultan's portfolio The Brunei Investment Agency (BIA), through the Dorchester Collection, owns a number of of the world's most exclusive hotels, including London's the Dorchester and 45 Park Lane as well as Coworth Park in Berkshire. The Sultan of Brunei sparked outrage around the world with the draconian new laws Also in its portfolio are two of Hollywood's best-known establishments, the Bel-Air and the Beverly Hills. George Clooney, Sir Elton John and the American comedienne Ellen DeGeneres are among celebrities who announced they would no longer stay at any of the hotels in the Sultan's collection. From today, the capital penalty will also be imposed for blasphemy or heresy against Islam. Those caught engaging in lesbian sex will be punished by forty lashes, while thieves are to suffer their right hands being chopped off. Repeat offenders will then lose a foot. Mr Apter said: 'I can confirm that following recent events we have made the decision to move the @PFEW-HQ Bravery Awards away from the #Dorchester Hotel. My values, the PFEW and policing as a whole would not allow us to be associated with such a regime.' Protestors outside The Dorchester hotel on Park Lane, London, demonstrating against Brunei's anti-gay laws Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, who has brought in laws making gay sex punishable by stoning to death, is an honorary Air Chief Marshal in the RAF and an Admiral of the Royal Navy In a second tweet he went on: 'This decision does not reflect on the staff at the Dorchester Hotel however, doing nothing was not an option. An alternative venue has been identified and I will make sure the Bravery Awards are as special as they have always been. This is the right decision.' Last Saturday, protesters broke through a barricade outside the Dorchester Hotel to rally against the Sultan of Brunei and his new LGBT laws. Around 500 people turned out to take part in the protest in Park Lane, central London, after the Sultan announced the change in law last week. The gathering, led by human rights activist Peter Tatchell, saw many of the protesters carrying placards and banners calling for homophobia to be stamped out, as well as rainbow flags. The Police Federation represents more than 119,000 officers in England and Wales up to the rank of chief inspector. Its annual bravery awards will be held in July. Laura Rosas, 33, was arrested on Monday for allegedly running the man over in the parking lot of a nightclub after an argument A woman has been charged with killing a man by running him over twice after an argument in a Texas bar. Laura Rosas, 33, was arrested on Monday night for allegedly murdering Emmanuel Ramirez, 30, OK Corral, a Latin nightclub in Fort Worth, Texas. She is accused of running him over twice in the parking lot in the early hours of Monday morning after an argument inside the club. It is unclear how they knew each other or what they were fighting about. Another woman who was allegedly in the car with her is yet to be named or charged. Rosas is also being held on an ICE detainer but details of her immigration status are not known. Police in Fort Worth say she and the other woman were in their car outside the nightclub when they saw Ramirez walk outside. It is unclear if they had been lying in wait for him. Rosas allegedly started driving towards him and knocked him over. She then ran him over for a second time before fleeing the scene. Emergency services were called to the parking lot at around 2.30am to treat the man but he was pronounced dead. Rosas was arrested on Monday night. She is being held on a single murder charge at the Tarrant County Jail. Federal prosecutors in New York interviewed two people in President Trump's inner circle as they investigated hush payments that went to porn star Stormy Daniels and former playboy model Karen McDougal. The Manhattan prosecutors have spoken to Hope Hicks, who served as Trump's press aide both at the Trump Organization, as well as Keith Schiller, Trump's longtime security aide and body guard, the Wall Street Journal reported. During the course of the investigation and following an FBI raid investigators discovered a recorded phone conversation between longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and Daniels' former attorney, Keith Davidson, according to the paper. Federal prosecutors in New York interviewed longtime Trump aide Hope Hicks when investigating hush payments to two women who claim they had affairs with President Trump. In addition to Hicks, an aide who followed Trump to the White House, they interviewed former body guard and longtime employee Keith Schiller They also uncovered information establishing phone calls between Schiller and National Enquirer boss David Pecker, who was party to negotiations between American Media Inc. and McDougal. Investigators asked Hicks about her contacts with Pecker, according to the Journal. McDougal received a $150,000 payment as part of a deal where she was promised columns and publication covers in exchange for an agreement not to disclose her story of an affair she says she had with Trump. President Trump has denied claims by Daniels and McDougal of an affair Porn star Stormy Daniels reached a nondisclosure agreement and accepted a $130,000 payment Former Playboy model Karen McDougal got a $150,000 from American Media Inc. McDougal told CNN she had a 10-month relationship with Trump and that he once tried to pay her after they first had sex President Donald Trump points to former communications director Hope Hicks shortly before making his way to board Marine One on the South Lawn and departing from the White House on March 29, 2018 President Trump refused to comment on the story when asked about it at the White House Thursday, saying he didn't know anything about it. The Southern District of New York is being viewed as a key area for investigation now that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has submitted his report to the Justice Department. Cohen, who is scheduled to report to prison next month, testified that he was 'directed' to reach the non-disclosure agreement where he provided a $130,000 payment to Daniels. He pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws, among other charges. Cohen also identified Trump as 'Individual-1,' the person named in court documents who directed him to carry out the scheme. Trump Longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen kept recordings that shed light on hush payments to women Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway told CNN Wednesday in response to the story: 'It doesn't surprise me at all that the SDNY has interviewed other people.' Hicks has been one of Trump's closest confidantes for years. She also spoke to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigators, who were interested in her role when Trump dictated a statement from Air Force One for Donald Trump Jr. about a Russian offer of dirt on rival Hillary Clinton. House Judiciary Committee investigators have also asked Hicks for information about Trump as the panel ramps up its own investigation. Existing Justice Department guidelines state that a president can't be prosecuted while in office, although legal observers say Trump could potentially be charged when he leaves, so long as a statute of a limitations has not expired. Schiller spent years as Trump's security chief before following him to the White House as director of Oval Office Operations. He received $225,000 in payments from the Republican National Committee after leaving the White House, MSNBC reported. Advertisement A historic blizzard that could break records for April has hit the Great Plains and Upper Midwest. Parts of six states were under blizzard warnings on Wednesday, in an area that included Denver; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Scottsbluff, Nebraska; and Pierre, South Dakota. Early on Wednesday morning, thundersnow was reported in Pierre and surrounding parts of South Dakota, as well as southern Minnesota. Snow accumulation had already reached 18 inches in parts of South Dakota by noon on Wednesday, with multiple feet possible by week's end. It came as a shocking reversal after warm spring weather in the region - Denver, for instance, saw a high of 78 degrees on Tuesday. Meteorologists said on Wednesday afternoon that the storm system had met the definition of a 'bomb cyclone', in which atmospheric pressure drops 24 millibars in 24 hours. Winter Storm Wesley will continue to hammer the Plains and upper Midwest with heavy snow and high winds on Thursday, including blizzard conditions, creating dangerous travel and possibly triggering scattered power outages Parts of six states were under blizzard warnings on Wednesday, in an area that included Denver; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Scottsbluff, Nebraska; and Pierre, South Dakota Alan Brown of Colorado Springs, Colo., attempts to clear ice from his truck's license plate as he prepares to continue the trek to Billings, Mont., while passing through Love's Travel Stop during a blizzard warning hitting southeast Wyoming Wednesday, April 10, 2019, in Cheyenne A truck travels east on Interstate 80 during a blizzard warning hitting southeast Wyoming and the Colorado Front Range on Wednesday in Cheyenne Snow blocks a walking sign after initial snowfall and before a blizzard warning went into effect for southeast Wyoming on Wednesday in Cheyenne. The storm was bringing snow to an area stretching from Colorado and into Montana Joshua Carpenter, with Meyer Outdoor Services, sprinkles salt on Peace Plaza sidewalk as snow falls Wednesday in Rochester, Minnesota Pedestrians opt for the skyway as snow falls Wednesday in downtown Rochester, Minnesota A tractor-trailer was disabled in the bad road conditions near Rapid City, South Dakota on Wednesday Other vehicles ran off the road in the Rapid City area as police urged everyone to avoid travel for any reason Blizzard conditions are seen in Perkins County, South Dakota on Wednesday morning as snow accumulates Some areas are predicted to see as much as two feet of snow by Friday, as seen in the forecast map above Last month, a deadly bomb cyclone hit Colorado and Nebraska, killing several people. Forecast models predict that the new storm, which is already disrupting travel with life-threatening blizzard conditions, will increase in strength between Wednesday and Friday, and could produce a blizzard of record proportions. High spring temperatures will give way to heavy snow, gale-force winds and life-threatening conditions across a swathe of the central United States running from the Rockies to the Great Lakes, according to the National Weather Service. 'This is potentially a life-threatening storm,' Patrick Burke, a meteorologist with the NWS's Weather Prediction Center in Maryland, said Wednesday. More than 500 flights were canceled at Denver International Airport on Wednesday, about a quarter of its total schedule, according to FlightAware.com, an airline tracking website. Airport officials said they had snow-removal crews in place. Conditions were near-whiteout on Wednesday in South Dakota, where state troopers came across this crash A view from Wednesday afternoon shows the treacherous conditions in northern South Dakota as snow accumulates South Dakota's highway patrol warned of hazardous road conditions in the western part of the state (seen above). 'Please stay home if possible,' the agency warned 'Thunder-sleet' and snow was reported in Brookings, South Dakota (above) on Wednesday morning Snow is seen early on Wednesday in Red Lodge, Montana, making roads hazardous and travel dangerous The storm is expected to bring blinding, heavy wet snow across the region, likely downing trees and causing widespread power outages, widespread road closures and making driving treacherous, Burke said. 'It's slow moving. It won't push farther east until Friday,' he said. Some areas of western Minnesota and southeast South Dakota were expected to get up to 30 inches of wet, heavy snow, the NWS said. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has closed state government offices in 52 counties. Numerous schools around the state have closed. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz says 'the National Guard stands ready' to rescue any stranded motorists. Parts of six states were put under blizzard warnings on Wednesday morning, as seen in the map above Wednesday's forecast shows bands of snow and rain covering the Plains and upper Midwest The storm is not predicted to move much by Thursday, potentially inundating certain areas with feet of snow Two factors may limit the flooding effect, forecasters said. Thawed ground will be able to absorb more precipitation than last month's frozen ground and a fall of heavy snow rather than rain will slow the runoff process. The coming storm was expected to exacerbate flooding along the Missouri River in areas where dozens of levees were breached in March, exposing communities to future surges. The river was not expected to crest in areas of Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri until between three to five days after the storm. The storm is expected to weaken and push off into the Great Lakes area and northern Michigan on Friday, bringing more rain and snow, the weather service said. A young brother and sister who both suffer from cystic fibrosis are being kept apart because of a horror bug that's resistant to antibiotics - and left one in a desperate fight for life. Melbourne siblings Claudia, 18, and Jordan Coll, 13, have spent most of their lives in hospitals battling CF - which attacks the lungs and digestive system. But since Claudia's health took a dramatic turn this week, the pair have been forced to avoid contact. The Coll family was told Claudia had just six weeks to live after Burkholderia cepacia - a pathogen that can cause immunodeficiency and pneumonia in people with CF - took hold of her lungs. Claudia, 18, and her brother Jordan, 13, (both pictured) must be kept apart while she recovers Claudia Coll (pictured) had to have a lung transplant after her health deteriorated due to Burkholderia cepacia 'A month ago we were told by doctors at Melbourne's Monash Children's Hospital her lung function was below 30 per cent,' Mr Coll said told Yahoo News. Doctors gave Claudia a life expectancy of just three years, but on Tuesday 'the unthinkable' happened. 'I was told with the lungs she has she has six weeks [to live], but if she gets worse that could have six hours,' Mr Coll said. That night, Claudia had a lung transplant which saved her life. 'A month ago we were told by doctors at Melbourne's Monash Children's Hospital her lung function was below 30 per cent,' said Claudia's father Peter Coll (pictured together) Doctors gave Claudia a life expectancy of just three years, but on Tuesday 'the unthinkable' happened But Jordan also has B. cepacia and he is not allowed to get close to his sister while she is recovering from the transplant, because the procedure weakens her immune system. 'With B. cepacia you never know what's going to happen. We don't know how long they could potentially be apart,' Mr Coll said. He said it was heart wrenching as they 'adore each other'. Claudia was six weeks old when she was diagnosed with CF. She has been admitted to hospital three or four times every year. She had to have part of her right lung removed in 2012. Following her latest health scare, family friends have set up a GoFundMe page to help care for Claudia - and support Mr Coll, who is the sole earner for the household. The page has amassed nearly $50,000 in just five days. 'I hope everyone understands what this means to us, as I work for myself,' Mr Coll wrote. Claudia was six weeks old when she was diagnosed with CF. She has been admitted to hospital three or four times every year 'If I dont work I dont earn money, as it currently stands I cant work at the moment as I can not focus on anything other than this.' Mr Coll said Claudia was still riding a 'rollercoaster' since her transplant, but she was 'soldering on'. 'When the antibiotics are winning the fight she can sit up for about 20 minutes and actually have a conversation, she is the amazing cheeky girl we all know and love,' he said. 'Last night she was feeling good and stepped the four steps to the toilet and her oxygen dropped through the floor and she started vomiting and couldnt breathe and she started having a panic attack. 'She had to be helped back to her bed and placed on oxygen to try to stabilise her, she then had fevers all night and barely slept it - she is soldering on.' Guettie Belizaire, 39, was arrested on Monday for allegedly assaulting the man during her overnight shift at the Brookshire Assisted Living Facility in Melbourne, Florida in December A Florida nursing home carer has been accused of raping an elderly patient with dementia after she was found naked in the man's room and he told police she jumped on him. Guettie Belizaire, 39, was arrested on Monday for allegedly assaulting the man during her overnight shift at the Brookshire Assisted Living Facility in Melbourne in December. Belizaire, who is a certified nurse, was allegedly found by coworkers naked and getting dressed in the man's bathroom at about 5am on December 13. Police said employees noticed the man 'distraught and confused' in his bed. 'She jumped on me and raped me,' the man told police when they were called to the facility. Police said employees at the nursing home had been looking for Belizaire after noticing she had been absent for more than 90 minutes. Belizaire denied ever being in the room with the victim but provided police with a DNA saliva swab. The elderly man, who suffers from dementia and Alzheimer's disease, was taken to a nearby hospital where a sexual assault kit was completed. The certified nurse was arrested and faced court on Tuesday after police said DNA came back linking her to the elderly dementia patient Police issued an arrest warrant last month for Belizaire on charges of lewds and lascivious molestation of an elderly person and abuse of an elderly person DNA evidence from the kit was returned to police on March 25 and police said it confirmed the victim's claim that he had been assaulted Belizaire. Police issued an arrest warrant for Belizaire on charges of lewd and lascivious molestation of an elderly person and abuse of an elderly person. Belizaire was taken into custody on Monday and faced a judge the following day where she was held on $10,000 bond. She will be arraigned next month. Belizaire was immediately suspended following the incident and later fired by the nursing home. 'At The Brookshire, the safety and well-being of our staff and residents is always our highest priority,' a spokeswoman for the facility said following Belizaire's arrest. 'Our center complies with numerous state and federal regulations, as well as internal policies that are designed to keep residents safe. 'While the ongoing investigation of this case prevents us from commenting on details, we followed all of the appropriate protocols, including the immediate suspension and eventual termination of the employee in question. We will continue to fully cooperate with local authorities and state agencies as their investigation continues.' A terrified holidaymaker in Hawaii was left dangling helplessly in the air after she got stuck while ziplining. In the clip, Nancy, from Illinois, is seen looking nervous while waiting for her turn on the tourist attraction in Hilo. The video, filmed by her husband Bill, then cuts to Nancy suspended in midair after she failed to grip the brake line at the other end in high winds. In the clip, Nancy, from Illinois, is seen looking nervous while waiting for her turn on the tourist attraction in Hilo in Hawaii She was left dangling in midair after she failed to grab the brake line at the other end. A Zipline Through Paradise employee then joined her in the middle to help her She was catapulted backwards and a Zipline Through Paradise employee had to join her at the bottom to pull her back. She then flipped upside down, walking herself and Nancy back to the platform along the wire on March 30. Bill said: 'My wife missed the brake line that she was thrown and went back towards the start. [She] dangled helplessly until she was rescued.' The brake block has a rope (or brake line) that should stay in reach of the zip line users, but it had drifted too far away because of the winds, leaving her screaming for help. He added: 'We took off side by side but when I got done I looked back for my wife and she had not reached the brake rope and was going backward, screaming in fear!' The zip line is over two miles long and at some points is 160 ft high. The employee pulled Nancy back to the platform by flipping upside down and walking along the wire President Donald Trump chastised Democratic congressman Ted Lieu as terrible for suggesting that vocal Trump supporter Candace Owens is a Nazi sympathizer. 'I think thats a terrible thing that he would do that,' Trump said of the congressman when departing for Texas from the White House Wednesday. 'I find her to be a very I know her I think shes a fine person, a fine young woman. And I think thats disgraceful that they would do that.' Trump said that he had not yet seen the interaction, which occurred at a public House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday focusing on hate crime and white nationalism. The president has praised Owens in the past, and in May 2018 tweeted that she 'is having a big impact on politics in our country,' and said her dialogue is 'so good for our country!' President Trump said California congressman Ted Lieu's actions at Tuesday's House Judiciary Committee hearing were 'terrible' Lieu played an audio recording of Owens speaking an event last year, and in doing so, suggested that she was defending Hilter and saying his style of 'National' socialism was OK During Tuesday's hearing, California Rep. Lieu, played a portion of a recording of Owens speaking to a British audience last year when attempting to distinguish between Trump-style nationalism and Nazi National socialism. He did not ask any questions of Owens, and instead said that the recording, which was widely viewed as clumsy at the time, would speak for her. 'I actually don't have any problems at all with the word "nationalism." Owens can be heard saying in the recording. I think that it gets the definition gets poisoned by elitists that actually want globalism. Globalism is actually what I don't want. 'So when you think about, whenever we use the word "nationalism" the first thing people think about, at least in America, is Hitler. You know, he was a national socialist, but if Hitler had just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well, okay, fine. The problem is, is that he wanted he had dreams outside of Germany. He wanted to globalize, he wanted everybody to be German, everybody to be speaking German.' Owens, who works for Turning Point Project youth organization, was able to respond to Lieu's accusations when a Republican member gave her the opportunity Donald Trump Jr defended Owens and praised her for 'call[ing] out the Dems' for 'purposeful manipulation of facts' A few minutes later, a Republican Judiciary Committee member gave Owens, a young black conservative woman, the opportunity to respond to Lieus suggestion in playing the year-old recording. 'I think it's pretty apparent that Mr. Lieu believes that black people are stupid and will not pursue the full clip in its entirety. He purposefully presented an extracted clip,' Owens said. 'He purposefully extracted, he cut off, and you didn't hear the question that was asked of me. He's trying to present as though I was mounting a defense of Hitler in Germany, 'when in fact the question that was asked of me was pertaining to whether or not ... I believed in nationalism, and that nationalism was bad, she continued, as Lieu sat there, having to listen to her defense. 'And I responded that I do not believe that we should be characterizing Hitler as a nationalist. He was a homicidal, psychopathic maniac that killed his own people. A nationalist would not kill their own people. Owens also works for Prager University, an online learning program that she said is run by an Orthodox Jew. Donald Trump Jr. praised Owens for her response to Lieu and said she did well is calling out Democrats for attempting to manipulate the narrative. 'Great to see someone call out the Dems on their purposeful manipulation of facts for their narrative," Trump Jr. tweeted. 'Since the media runs with anything they say and is the marketing wing of the DNC they aren't used to getting called out for the repeated BS.' Brad Pitt and Diane Keaton brought star power to a Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors hearing on Tuesday. The Hollywood legends urged board members to release $117.5 million in county funds for a lavish redesign of LACMA - the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The pair's pleas had a persuasive effect, with the nine-figure sum subsequently approved by the supervisors. On Tuesday, Brad Pitt (left) and Diane Keaton (right) both appeared at a Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors hearing, during which the urged members to grant $117.5 million in funding for a redesign of LACMA The extensive redesign of LACMA involves the demolition of existing buildings in order to make way for a futuristic structure by architect Peter Zumthor. The project is expected to cost $650 million. Much of the money has been raised by private donations, with Ryan Seacrest pledging $2.5 million in exchange for the naming rights of a museum cafe, according to The Los Angeles Times. The proposed building has been designed by acclaimed Swiss architect Peter Zumthor (LACMA prototype is pictured) Board members approved the multi-million dollar funding, making way for the LACMA overhaul (Peter Zumthor's prototype is pictured) During Tuesday's hearings, Keaton and Pitt sat side-by-side as they delivered their pleas for the LACMA overhaul. Dressed in her trademark bowler hat and sunglasses, Keaton, 74, praised Zumthor's architectural credentials. 'He's been honored with 16 awards including the Pritzker Prize and the RIBA Royal Gold Medal. Just imagine if you were an actor, that would mean you had won 14 Academy Awards, which is never going to happen!' she stated. Keaton wore her trademark bowler hat and sunglasses to the hearing, where she praise Zumthor's architecture Pitt persuasively told board members that he believes Zumthor 'builds from the soul' The LACMA Redesign -LACMA's director first began working with Peter Zumthor on a potential redesign of the museum back in 2009 - Four existing LACMA buildings will be demolished to make way for the new structure - The building is expected to stretch down the city's Wilshire Boulevard - It will be wrapped in glass on all sides and its main galleries will stretch across a single level Advertisement Pitt, 55, was similarly complimentary about the Swiss architect. 'He is an architect that builds from the soul, for the soul, I can't say enough about him' he exclaimed. However, Pitt was subsequently cut off by chairwoman Janice Hahn for going over his allotted time. 'We actors suffer from verbosity!' the star replied, as Keaton laughed alongside him. After the proceedings, the Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation page shared a photo of Pitt smiling alongside department employees following approval of the LACMA project. A proposal of the gigantic new building (mapped out in red) has been designed by Peter Zumthor Despite his star status, Pitt was cut off from the board's chairwoman for going over his allotted time Nearly one thousand people gathered in the Honduran town of San Pedro Sula on Tuesday evening to form a new caravan bound for the US border. The hopeful migrants first mobilized on social media, their number taking authorities by surprise as previous online appeals have failed to garner a significant response. There are more than 800, almost a thousand, a police official told AFP. Among the bustling crowd were a number of families with young children seeking to escape the rising violent crime and unemployment levels currently blighting the Central American country. Nearly one thousand people gathered in the Honduran town of San Pedro Sula on Tuesday evening, including hundreds of families with young children The bustling crowd scrambled to board minibuses departing from the Metropolitan Centerin the town, on their first leg of a 1,600 mile journey to the US border Families say they hope to escape the rising violent crime and unemployment levels currently afflicting much of Honduras The convoy first mobilized on social media, taking authorities by surprise Children and their parents huddled together and slept in the streets as they awaited more shuttles from the town center Many of the migrants set-off on their 1,600 mile journey to the border on Tuesday evening in a swell of overcrowded minibuses. Others huddled together and slept in the streets as they awaited more shuttles. We are done with this government, there is no work, said 27-year-old Alexis Perez ahead of the voyage. More of the congregation left on Wednesday morning and were pictured walking on foot and cramming into the back of pick-up trucks as they departed from the Metropolitan Center towards the Guatemalan border. Three similar large convoys have departed from Honduras heading to the US since October More members of the caravan left on Wednesday morning and were pictured walking on foot bound for the Guatemalan border Others crammed into the back of pick-up trucks as they left the Metropolitan Center Equipped with water and food supplies, the caravans journey is likely to take several weeks Three similar convoys of migrants have departed Honduras for the US in the past six months, all searching for work and a life away from drug-traffickers. One caravan boasted more than 2,000 people. But the asylum-seekers have sparked controversy in the US, where they are regularly invoked by President Trump, who has repeatedly called for the building of a wall across the US-Mexican border to prevent illegal immigration. Several thousand Central Americans have trekked across Mexico in caravans since last October, fleeing poverty and violence in their home countries. They travel together in the hope of finding safety in numbers against Mexican gangs that regularly extort, kidnap and kill the migrants, often in collusion with local authorities. African Australians have shared brutally honest answers to bizarre questions asked by white Australians. Nine people who were born in Africa and now live in Australia appeared on the ABC's You Can't Ask That on Wednesday, aiming to break down stereotypes against them. They answered questions sent in by the public, ranging from whether they grew up in a hut to intimate details such as how large their genitals are. The first question asked was whether or not the group spent their time living in a hut and Flora Chol, from Melbourne, laughed and said she gets asked often. 'People think Africa is made of hut. Africa is not only made of hut,' Awes Amin said. Ms Chol said she was born in a hospital and lived in a city and a 'normal' house, seeing a hut for the first time when she travelled to South Sudan. Fari said she had quite a 'suburban' upbringing while Nelson Dzadey was born in Preston Victoria and said he's never experienced a hut in his life. Keith and Krown, both from Melbourne, and Thelma White, from Darwin, did grow up in huts in small villages - with grass on the outside and the walls lined with mud. The group were shocked by the next question, which asked what it was like going from a 'primitive' society to Australia. African Australians have shared brutally honest answers to some of the most ridiculous and invasive questions they've been asked by white Australians (pictured Flora Chol left and Keith right) Keith said rather than ask what it was like going from a 'primitive country' it was probably better to explain what it was like to go from a developing country to a developed country. They explained many of them were often asked questions such as whether they've ever lived in a house or slept in a bed, or whether they grew up in a refugee camp. The group also explained that they have a 'collective culture' called 'Ubuntu', with Mr Amin saying they eat together, talk together and everyone knows their neighbours. The group were then asked whether African males have larger genitals compared to white Australians, and most responded with laughter. Ms White said it's a common question whereas Dr Casty Hughes, from Perth, said she couldn't answer as she had only been with one man, her husband. Krown wasn't shy for the camera and outright answered yes to the question, saying women put him on a pedestal. 'I've heard of African men with big d***s and I've also heard of African men with not-so-big dicks,' Ms White joked. She then continued to say it was 'sad' to reduce African men and women to the size of their genitalia. Ms Chol said it's disgusting how she gets treated by some people, with many calling her 'exotic' and often commenting on her features such as her lips. Another question the group were asked was whether or not racism in Australia was 'really that bad'. Dr Hughes answered with a flat 'yes', while Keith said he experienced 'pockets' of racism and others said it's now more subtle. Fari (pictured) said one day she was standing at a set of traffic lights when a man put his hand on her head and began massaging her skull, without asking whether he could Krown said sometimes it comes across in expressions, faces and body language and notices when people retreat away from him because of the colour of his skin. Mr Dzadey, who grew up in Melbourne his entire life, said some people take one look at him and decide he doesn't belong in Australia. The group all agreed they get annoyed when people comment on how smooth their skin is and whether they can touch their hair. Fari said one day she was standing at a set of traffic lights when a man put his hand on her head and began massaging her skull, without asking whether he could. Another question was whether all Africans were unemployed or working as taxi drivers due to being unemployed. The group answered with a resounding no, insisting they were all over-educated and dedicated to their work and study. Mr Dzadey (pictured), who grew up in Melbourne his entire life, said some people take one look at him and decide he doesn't belong in Australia 'I read a book whenever I'm on a train and I'll look at someone. I'll look... They just look at you like, "Whoa, you can actually read a book",' Krown said. Dr Hughes said when she arrived in Australia she had multiple degrees while Keith said he's been asked where he bought his degree from. Ms White said it's common for African people not to get jobs in Australia due to the colour of their skin. The final question the group was asked was why so many members of the African community are in gangs. Keith said it's important to acknowledge those who have been victims of crime are in fear and band together. Mr Wan disputed the idea of African gangs existing as gangs are 'organised crime groups' and these were just 'kids getting together'. Mr Dzadey asked why the entire race is looked at badly just because of the actions of a few youths, while Mr Wan claims it's an 'election-agenda' trying to eradicate the gangs. A reveller has suffered severe facial injuries after allegedly being glassed when he broke into a music festival near Melbourne. The 21-year-old man had gone to the Rancho Relaxo music festival at Hastings on the Mornington Peninsula with a group of friends - but they were quickly asked to leave because they didn't have tickets. As the man was walking out with a bag containing beer bottles, he was confronted by another man accusing him of stealing, according to 9News. Scroll down for video The group were asked to leave and as the man was walking out with a bag containing beer bottles he was confronted by another man accusing him of stealing After handing the bag over to be searched, he was allegedly hit in the face. The man suffered a shattered jaw, broken teeth, and cuts and will require surgery. The alleged attacker, Jonathan Ewington, handed himself into police on Tuesday. He was charged with intentionally and recklessly causing serious injury and was released on bail. He maintained his innocence. 'There was no intention to hurt anyone. I was just interested in getting the bags that I thought they had stolen out of the tent,' the 36-year-old told 9News. Officers want to speak to two female staff who were acting as security at the event, as witnesses say they yelled at the alleged attacker to stop. The victim's friend Hari denied they stole any beer. 'The only thing we did wrong was us going to the party,' he said. El Chapo's cartel is stepping up the bid to retain its position as the most powerful criminal organization in Mexico. The Sinaloa Cartel sent a warning message to their main rivals, the New Jalisco Generation Cartel, by setting cars on fire in the state where they are based, according to news reports. They also hung up a huge poster outside the parking lot town of Zapopan, which read: 'Weve come for what belongs to us. We do not steal. We do not extort. We do not kidnap. We are coming for everything you filthy possums.' It is the latest sign that the rival gangs are stepping up the violence to gain total dominance. The Sinaloa Cartel is seeking to overtake the New Jalisco Generation Cartel as the most powerful group in Mexico. On Monday night it left the following message which read: 'Weve come for what belongs to us. We do not steal. We do not extort. We do not kidnap. We are coming for everything you filthy possums' The Sinaloa Cartel allegedly set cars on fire at a parking lot in Zapopa, a city in the Mexican state of Jalisco, as a notice to the New Jalisco Generation Cartel Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada Garcia, the new leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, has given his henchmen the green light to hunt down members of the ew Jalisco Generation, Mexican news outlets have reported. The DEA once considered the Sinaloa Cartel to be the biggest threat to the United States. But in the last few years, especially since El Chapo's arrest, they have lost their dominance, and the New Jalisco Cartel have taken over. They are still operating in the states of Chihuahua, Sonora, Coahuila, Baja California, Baja California Sur and Sinaloa. With El Chapo behind bars, the Sinaloa Cartel is being led by El Mayo, a 71-year-old wanted by the FBI. Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera-Cervantes was once an ally of El Chapo and El Mayo. His group, the New Jalisco Generation Cartel, rose to power in 2018 to become the most powerful cartel in Mexico El Mayo, who along with El Chapo funded the criminal faction in the 1980's, for the most part has kept a low profile. He has rarely been seen in public and is now in hiding. The group is also spearheaded by El Chapo's two sons - Alfredo Guzman Salazar and Ivan Archivaldo Salazar. According to La Opinion, El Mayo has enlisted 'Los Demonios' ['The Devils'] as their hired muscle to carry out some of its dirty work. The New Jalisco Generation Cartel was once an ally of the El Chapo's and El Mayo's organization before it splintered off. By 2018, the organization led by Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera-Cervantes became the most powerful cartel in Mexico. The Sinaloa Cartel, once commanded by Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman (left), is looking to claim its spot as Mexico's most powerful criminal organization, With El Chapo behind bars in the United States, Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada Garcia (right) is now leading gang along with two of El Chapo's sons Pictures of Monday night's purported brazen attack shows the effect of an arson attack at a parking lot in western Mexican allegedly carried out by El Chapo's old cartel El Mencho is one of the 10 most-wanted men on the FBI's list and the U.S. Department of Justice is offering a $10million reward for his capture. The New Jalisco Generation Cartel is also been engulfed in an all out offensive against the Zetas Old School and the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, which has a major control the illicit sale of gasoline. Tuesday's alarming incident took place the same night after police officer Edgar Fredery Lopez Perez, 34, died during a shootout with three men. His partner was also wounded during the gun battle with the suspects, who all are under arrest. It's unknown if both incidents were related. At least 22 assassinations have been reported in Jalisco since last Friday. A university worker who stabbed his wife to death before killing himself in a suspected murder-suicide had an obsession with the 'size of his genitalia', an inquest heard today. He was convinced that his fears about his penis being too small were the cause of the anxiety and depression that led to him receiving mental health treatment. Thomas Kemp, 32, was found covered in blood outside the communal entrance to the Ipswich block of flats where the couple lived on August 6 last year. He apparently fell from a window, Suffolk area coroner Jacqueline Devonish said, adding that he had 'laceration' injuries. Thomas Kemp (left), 32, was found covered in blood outside the communal entrance to the Ipswich block of flats where the couple lived on August 6 last year. Police forced entry to their flat in Siloam Place and found the body of his wife Katherine Kemp (right), 31, in a 'pool of blood' Police found Katherine Kemp had suffered 28 knife wounds to her neck, chest, torso and limbs in the brutal attack Thomas Kemp apparently fell from a window (pictured), Suffolk area coroner Jacqueline Devonish said, adding that he had 'laceration' injuries Police forced entry to their flat in Siloam Place and found the body of his wife Katherine Kemp, 31, in a 'pool of blood'. An inquest at at Suffolk Coroner's Court in Ipswich today heard how Mr Kemp repeatedly revealed his concerns about his genitals to doctors and nurses while receiving treatment in the months before his death. The hearing was told how he revealed to medical staff that he had paid to visit four escorts in a bid to seek reassurance from them about the size of his penis. But he then became racked with guilt about being unfaithful to his wife Katherine and wasting family money. Mr Kemp confessed to his wife about his visits to prostitutes, saying it was not to seek sex, but to get an opinion about his penis. He was found dead with stab wounds after police forced their way into the flat and found his wife Katherine dead inside with 28 knife wounds to her neck, chest, torso and limbs. The cruise company worker also had defensive injuries to her hands suggesting she was trying to defend herself, said Suffolk area coroner Jacqueline Devonish. Suffolk Police revealed at the time that the death of Mrs Kemp was being treated as murder and her husband's death was not suspicious. Officers also confirmed that they believed there was 'no third party involvement' in the deaths. Tributes were left outside the block of flats in Ipswich soon after the suspected murder-suicide The inquest also heard that Mr Kemp had what he described as 'a melt down' in his local GP's surgery on September 18, 2017, when he said he wanted to kill himself. Dr Michael McCullagh said patient records showed he had been in a distressed state and had thrown himself on the floor. A doctor had to restrain him to stop him banging his head on the floor and strangling himself with his tie while waiting for an ambulance. Mr McCullagh added: 'He had a lot of issues and psychological problems. His perception about the size of his genitalia had become a mental obsession. 'He believed he was being bullied about it at work. He could not sleep and felt deeply guilty and more depressed.' Mental health nurse Chantal Eoche-Duval of the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust who assessed Mr Kemp who assessed Mr Kemp two days later, described him as 'a pleasant man with a kind nature'. She said in a statement read to the inquest that he revealed his fears about his penis and 'receiving jokes and digs about it'. He claimed that the jibes began when he was 17 and had to wear a small size uniform, leading to other teenagers joking that he had a small penis. He went on to say that he felt comments would also be made at work and he would believe that people were joking about his penis if they talked about the size of a piece of cake. She found that he had become 'anxious and paranoid' while showing obsessive traits and tendencies. Police at the scene of the suspected murder-suicide following the incident on August 6 last year Another mental health nurse Julie Murphy said she saw Mr Kemp on July 2 last year after he had threatened to throw himself down a stairwell while working as a course administrator at the University of Suffolk. She said in a statement that he had admitted becoming concerned that his penis was too small as a teenager. He confessed that he had sewn a sock between two pairs of underpants to wear as 'a piece' to make it appear that his penis was bigger when he was younger. Mr Kemp also told the nurse how his wife had constantly tried to reassure him about his penis. He also admitted having sex with prostitutes instead of simply talking to them, but it was not clear whether he had told his wife that, said Ms Murphy. She concluded that he had 'entrenched' fears about his penis, but showed no evidence of an acute mental illness or having psychotic features. Ms Murphy added: 'The impression was he was suffering from high level anxiety and a distorted view about the size of his penis. 'It had impacted on his well being for some time and resulted in him using escorts. He felt better about talking over his problems. 'We felt he would lose his relationship with his wife, should she become aware of his full use of escorts'. Mr Kemp's father John Kemp said in a statement that his son had suffered from low self esteem, but 'thought the world' of his wife. He added: 'I found his mental health problems hard and didn't want to accept that there was anything wrong with my boy.' John Kemp added that he was in 'complete shock and disbelief' about the deaths of his son and his wife. He said: 'I don't believe he would have killed her. They idolised each other. If he wanted to do it, I think should have wanted to go to.' Mr Kemp's mother Marion Mitchell said in a statement that her son had once told her that 'living with mental health issues was a living hell', but he did not want to discuss it with her. She said she last spoke to him on August 2 last year before she went on holiday when he said he had not slept for three days and had been sent home from work as he looked so unwell. Mrs Mitchell said that her son was 'besotted' with his wife. She added: 'It is horrible to think they have both gone and the reason for it.' The hearing continues. Meghan Markle's estranged father is still living a regular life in Mexico as preparations for the birth of the newest royal baby are stepped up, DailyMailTV can reveal. Unlike his ex-wife, Doria Ragland, 62, who is expected to travel to London for the birth, Thomas Markle Sr will not be there to meet his latest grandchild when he or she arrives. Instead, he will celebrate the arrival of his sixth grandchild alone at his modest home south of the border in Rosarito, Mexico. The 74-year-old was seen popping out for a takeout brunch but spent most of his time in his clifftop two-bedroom cottage in a quiet gated community. No plans have been made for Meghan Markle's estranged father Thomas Markle Sr to fly from his town in Mexico - where he's pictured grabbing food - to London for the birth of his sixth grandchild, DailyMailTV can reveal The 74-year-old was spotted picking up brunch in his small town of Rosarito, Mexico, where he is expected to stay during the birth of Meghan's first child The retired lighting director was seen visiting La Cocina de la Abuela, an all-day breakfast restaurant which boasts 'the best chiles rellenos in town' and where he bought a takeout meal. An onlooker told DailyMailTV that he barely said a word during the visit to the restaurant, only speaking up to place his order. 'He didn't mention Meghan at all,' the onlooker told DailyMailTV. 'It's hard to know if he is excited about the birth of his new grandchild or not. 'He just came in, ordered his food and left. He seems to have lost a bit of weight and looks healthier than he used to.' In London, preparations are being stepped up for the arrival of Prince Harry and Meghan's first child, with the Duchess thought to be leaning towards a home birth at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor. A source with knowledge of the preparations told DailyMailTV that Meghan, 37, will have a helicopter on standby in case she needs to get the private Portland Hospital in London at the first sign of any complication. The hospital has long been popular with famous mothers, with Victoria Beckham and the Duchess of York among the big names to give birth there. The source said: 'A natural birth is preferred but she will be in a facility with the best doctors there ready to perform a C-section if it becomes necessary to deliver the baby without complications.' Although Markle Sr may meet his new grandchild at a later date, with Meghan said to be preparing to offer an olive branch to her family after the birth, neither he nor any member of his side of the family clan are expected to travel to the UK for the arrival. Meghan is said to be preparing to offer an olive branch to her family after the birth, but none of the Markle clan are expected to travel to the UK for the baby's arrival An onlooker told DailyMailTV that Markle did not mention Meghan while he picked up his food and was therefore unable to gauge whether or not he was excited about the baby The source said Markle looked healthier and like he had lost weight, following his heart attack right before his daughter's royal wedding With the exception of Doria, all of the Markles missed out on the royal wedding last May with Markle Sr pulling out at the last minute after suffering a heart attack. Markle Sr was also at the center of a staged paparazzi photo scandal, after being caught faking pictures of himself being measured for a suit and toning up for the wedding. Despite the heart problem, he was seen driving up to Los Angeles the following week where he was spotted purchasing a McDonalds takeout and then a KFC meal in quick succession. He then had a second heart attack after the photo scandal and had to be admitted to a hospital in San Diego, California, for a stent operation. After being released from the medical center, he was seen purchasing a sugary Starbucks drink on his way home, accompanied by his friend Lori Davison, 39, and her 11-year-old daughter Jocelyn. Since then, the retired lighting director has spoken out repeatedly about his youngest daughter begging her to get in touch with him and claiming he has been cut out of her life. He has also spoken of his anger at her husband Prince Harry and appears to blame the royal for his estrangement from his daughter. Then, in February, he revealed the contents of a private letter from Meghan in which she asked him to stop speaking to the media and revealed her anguish over his attacks on her husband. Although Markle Sr has not had any further heart attacks, his frail health has resulted in his other daughter Samantha, 54, stepping up a media campaign to get Meghan to visit him. Son Thomas Jr, 52, has also repeatedly spoken out to beg Meghan and Harry to travel to Mexico to see Markle Sr and claimed their ongoing estrangement is making his health worse. Meghan's mother Doria Ragland is expected to fly to London in the weeks before Meghan welcomes her first child with Prince Harry, 34 The grandmother-to-be is rumored to be moving to the Windsor Estate to help out the royal couple, who have officially moved out of their Kensington Palace home and into their new cottage, which they reportedly spent $3.9million renovating In February, Samantha told DailyMailTV that Meghan should have skipped her lavish $500,000 baby shower in New York in favor of a visit to Rosarito a seaside town 20 miles south of Tijuana. Gang-plagued Tijuana was recently named the world's deadliest city thanks to an influx of migrants and a cartel turf war. She said: 'Setting all personal things aside, I understand a baby shower is an exciting time it's about getting with friends, getting things ready for the baby. 'But you are on this continent Meghan and I would just really love to see her have contact with my dad while she's here. 'Life is very short and you never know when you're going to get that opportunity again so it would seem par for the course and I hope it happens.' Although Doria will be with Meghan when she gives birth to her first child, the rest of the Markle clan are unlikely to have much contact with their new royal relation. Markle Sr has spoken repeatedly of his wish to see his new grandchild, which will be his sixth, but is likely to have to travel to London to do so a grueling 11-hour flight from San Diego. Still estranged from Meghan, he could later be brought into the fold, along with Samantha and Tom Jr, with an insider previously telling DailyMailTV that the American-born royal intends to proffer an olive branch following the birth. The source told DailyMailTV: 'Meghan understands the pressures of intense media scrutiny and she is saddened by what her family have had to endure. 'She plans to extend an olive branch to the family and invite them to visit after the baby is born her sister [Samantha Markle] included. 'Meghan hopes and prays that the baby will bring her family back together.' A young military couple in Louisiana who didn't know they were expecting a baby spoke of their shock this week after the birth of their healthy little girl. Grace Mawn, 19, went to the hospital with her husband Bryson, 20, after suffering severe abdominal pains the couple though were kidney stones. But when her waters broke in front of doctors the couple, who live in Shreveport, soon realized Grace was in labor. New mom Grace said she was on birth control and hadn't missed any periods in the months prior to the delivery. She also said she had not experienced any typical pregnancy symptoms. She even passed a pregnancy test back in January when she went on the pill. Grace, who plans to get her nursing degree and work in the NICU, told KSLA: 'I never felt her move during the pregnancy.' She added: 'I never had cravings, I never had morning sickness. Looking back now I did put on a little bit of weight, but it wasn't noticeable weight, so I didn't ever think about it. 'I had my normal cycle some months were a little lighter, but I thought it was the pill that I was on so I never thought anything about it.' Grace, 19, and Bryson Mawn, 20, from Shreveport became new parents to little Micaela Grace at the end of last month after thinking the new mom had kidney stones When Grace's waters broke in front of doctors the couple soon realized she was in labor Grace and Bryson, who is in the Air Force, had just left dinner with friends when they decided to go to the emergency room for her stomach pains. Grace, a catering manager at Chick-Fil-A, said: 'I knew when I felt something down there, I knew it wasn't a kidney stone. 'Whenever I look at her Im just like how the heck did that happen, but Im super grateful and I love her to death, Im happy.' Bryson, who is stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base, added: 'I was like okay, you probably have kidney stones youre going to be fine. 'They said "Its a girl," and she starts crying and the moment I heard that cry I was like "How is she alive? What is going on?" 'So many questions, so many scenarios going through my head of whats going to happen. 'We're both really young adults, we were children last week and we were put into parenthood in a night.' Grace and Bryson, who is in the Air Force, say they are 'super grateful and happy' after the shock birth and have now set up a GoFundMe page to help with the unexpected costs New mom Grace, left, said she was on birth control and hadn't missed any periods. She said she had not experienced any typical pregnancy symptoms in the months prior to the birth of Micaela Grace, right The couple have now set up a GoFundMe page to help with the unexpected costs of little Micaela Grace, who was born two weeks ago and is at the NICU at LSUS-Health. Bryson wrote: 'The night before this scary yet beautiful event my wife, Grace, was experiencing extreme abdominal pain that we confused as a possible kidney stone passing. While waiting for hours in the ER we never would have believed what we were about to go through. 'My little girl snuck her way into this world without either of us knowing at all. 'We didn't have months to save up money and prepare for a baby.' The family of three are being inundated with gifts and donations to help raise their newborn, with the page already topping more than $3,000. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday mocked US special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Kremlin interference in the 2016 presidential election, saying 'a mountain gave birth to a mouse.' In his first comments since Mueller finished his probe, Putin sought to cast the 22-month investigation as a failure and disregarded the special counsel's exposure of a Russian operation to put Trump in the White House. 'It was clear for us from the start that it would end like this,' the Russian leader said as President Donald Trump's administration and Congress sparred over making Mueller's still-confidential investigation report public. The full report is expected to be released within the coming weeks, with redactions including detailed descriptions of what has been omitted and why. Putin made the comments during an Arctic forum in St. Petersburg, Russia on Tuesday. Vladimir Putin (right) painted special counsel Robert Mueller's (left) investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election as a failure, during a forum in St. Petersburg, Russia on Tuesday. Putin ignored Mueller's indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence officers, accused of breaking into Democratic Party computers and the email accounts of officials with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign Attorney General William Barr wrote in a summary of Mueller's report that the special counsel found no evidence President Donald Trump's campaign team 'conspired or coordinated' with the Russian government to influence the election. 'We have been saying from the start that this notorious commission led by Mr. Mueller won't find anything, because no one knows better than us: Russia has not meddled in any US election,' Putin said. However, Mueller uncovered evidence of a Russian state-sponsored operation to interfere with the 2016 vote. He charged 12 Russian military intelligence officers with breaking into Democratic Party computers and the email accounts of officials with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Another indictment detailed Russia's use of fake social media accounts to spread divisive rhetoric and to undermine the US political system. Putin on Tuesday repeated Moscow's across-the-board disavowals of election meddling, with or without participation from the Trump campaign. He also reiterated that the Russian government had no contact with Trump when he visited Moscow as a businessman. Putin described allegations of collusion between Trump's camp and Russia as 'sheer nonsense aimed at a domestic audience and used for domestic political infighting in the United States.' Attorney General William Barr wrote in a summary of Mueller's report that the special counsel found no evidence President Donald Trump's campaign team 'conspired or coordinated' with the Russian government to influence the election. Barr is pictured testifying before a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the proposed budget estimates for the Department of Justice in Washington, DC on Wednesday Mueller found numerous people associated with President Donald Trump's campaign were receptive to Russia's help, but Barr's summary said the special counsel didn't find evidence of a criminal conspiracy in meetings and other contact between Russian and Trump campaign officials. Trump is pictured on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on Wednesday Mueller found numerous people associated with Trump were receptive to Russia's help, but Barr's summary said the special counsel didn't find evidence of a criminal conspiracy in meetings and other contact between Russian and Trump campaign officials. Putin alleged Trump's political foes now were 'searching for new pretexts' to undermine him. 'Those groups which are attacking the legitimately elected president, what are they doing?' Putin asked rhetorically, before providing his own analysis. 'They disagree with the choice of the American people and seek to reduce the results to zero.' Putin's rhetoric resembled Trump's statements disparaging Democrats. Asked if he agreed with Trump's description of the probe as a 'witch hunt,' Putin said, 'President Trump knows better.' At the same time, Putin insisted he wasn't vouching for the US president with his comments on Mueller's investigation. 'I'm not defending President Trump. We have plenty of disagreements,' Putin said. 'His administration has introduced numerous sanctions against Russia, something we disagree with and will never accept.' The Russian leader added that despite differences, Moscow and Washington have found some common ground on the conflict in Syria. Putin said he hoped the United States and Russia could focus on more areas of mutual interest, such as nuclear arms control, fighting terrorism and climate change. Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd has landed back in the UK to face justice, saying he regrets not speaking to the victim's family after the river tragedy. The fugitive was seen handcuffed as he was led aboard a Georgian Airways flight to London Gatwick earlier today. Flanked by Georgian prison guards officers, he looked grim faced as he departed the cell where he has been locked up since being arrested in January. Wearing an open neck white shirt, navy blazer and blue jeans, he was taken by prison van to the airport where he was handed over to the custody of two Metropolitan Police officers for the flight to London. On board the flight from Tbilisi today, Shepherd told reporters he 'wasn't thinking' when he went on the run just before his manslaughter trial last August and described why he was appealing the decision to charge him. He said: 'Charlotte's family appealed the CPS decision not to prosecute me after nine months. They appealed that decision and now I'm appealing this one.' Shepherd admitted he felt responsible for Charlotte Brown's death, but not to the extent of manslaughter, and said he wished he had spoken to her family in the aftermath of the tragedy to explain what happened, before the case came to court. Shepherd is pictured in his seat during his flight back to the UK ahead of a court appearance on Thursday at the Old Bailey Shepherd speaking to reporters on board his flight to the UK next to a woman who is thought to be a police escort Shepherd reading a book while in shackles as his flight from Tbilisi touched down at Gatwick He added: 'I regret that I did not speak to [Charlotte's family] sooner. I see that now. I wasn't thinking at the time, I was acting on emotional and fear and I made a mistake.' Shepherd said not speaking to Miss Brown's family was his second biggest mistake, after taking the boat out on the Thames in December 2015. He also claimed he did not leave Miss Brown in the water to drown and added that he told rescuers to 'leave me in the water and find her'. The 31-year-old is expected to appear at the Old Bailey in London tomorrow morning after touching down at Gatwick this evening. He was taken by Metropolitan Police officers ahead of his court appearance When asked why he handed himself in Shepherd said it was 'the right thing to do' and that he 'wanted to end the suffering his running away had caused'. Angela Deal, head of extradition at the CPS said: 'Jack Shepherd has returned to the UK to face justice following close co-operation between the CPS Extradition Unit, UK colleagues and the Georgian authorities, to ensure a successful extradition. 'He will first appear at the Old Bailey to be sentenced for the gross negligence manslaughter conviction in connection with the death of Charlotte Brown, and then at a later date in the south west over the grievous bodily harm charge.' He will be sent to jail to belatedly start his six-year jail sentence for the manslaughter of Miss Brown, who died when his speedboat flipped on the River Thames on their first date. He could also face extra jail time for his decision to run away. He skipped bail ahead of his Old Bailey trial last year and fled to Georgia where he began a new life in the former Soviet republic. Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd is finally being extradited from Georgia to the UK today after 10 months on the run from the law Shepherd is led away from his prison cell as he makes his way to a flight bound for the UK Shepherd, 31, has left his prison cell in Georgia and is due to fly to Britain imminently to begin a six-year prison sentence for the manslaughter of Charlotte Brown, 24 Shepherd is pictured in the back of a police van as he is taken to a local airport ahead of his flight to Britain this afternoon The trial went ahead without him and a jury found him guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence because his speedboat was defective and Shepherd who styled himself 'Captain Jack' - was drunk when it capsized. He told reports today he was prepared for prison life and that he had received legal advice that suggested his appeal would be successful. Shepherd was on the run for 10 months until a Mail investigation tracked him down in Georgia. He handed himself in to police on January 23, but spent two months fighting extradition, saying he wanted to stay in Georgia, where he found a glamorous new girlfriend, amateur model Maiko Tchanturidze, 24, who is the same age as Miss Brown when she died. She wept when she said goodbye in his prison in the capital Tbilisi earlier this week and vowed to stay true to him, saying: 'I will come to England to visit him in prison, if I can get a visa.' Amateur model Miss Tchanturidze, 24, declared she would wait for Shepherd and would apply for a visa to visit him in jail in London. Shepherd, who is married with a young son, will appear at the Old Bailey on Thursday where a judge is expected to order him to belatedly start his six-year sentence for the manslaughter of Miss Brown. Charlotte Brown who died after a speedboat crash on the Thames in December 2015. She was on a first date with Shepherd Maiko Tchanturidze at a court in Tbilisi last month for an extradition hearing for Jack Shepherd Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd faces years behind bars in Britain after he was found guilty in his absence last August and handed a six-year jail term The business consultant, from Clacton, Essex, died on her first date with Shepherd in December 2015 when he took her for a drunken ride in his defective speedboat which flipped on the Thames. Web designer Shepherd fled to Georgia ahead of his trial last July, and was convicted in his absence. He caused outrage by launching an appeal funded by legal aid from his hideaway and the Daily Mail offered a 25,000 reward in the hunt to find him. Shepherd started dating Miss Tchanturidze, a former TV journalist, within weeks of his arrival in the former Soviet republic, but neglected to tell her he was a wanted fugitive. After eight months together, he tearfully confessed to being a convicted killer shortly before handing himself in to police on January 23, but told her the accident was not his fault. Yesterday she said: 'I will definitely stand by him. I can't wait to see him again. Jack is fearful about what will happen, but he is holding it together. During the Old Bailey trial jurors were told Shepherd's speedboat was found to have a number of defects 'Saying goodbye was an emotional moment. But I know I will see him again. I will come to England to visit him in prison, if I can get a visa.' Miss Tchanturidze who took Shepherd to meet her family in Kutaisi, 140 miles west of the capital, last October has previously said: 'He is the best person in the world. Everything the media is saying about him is false.' Today Shepherd's glamorous Georgian lawyer Mariam Kublashvili also paid him a final visit. The former model, who starred on Georgia's version of Strictly Come Dancing, said: 'I felt like I was going to cry. This may be the last time we'll see each other.' No date has yet been set for Shepherd's appeal, which is based on perceived legal errors made by the judge in relation to his police interview. He has issued a reluctant apology to Miss Brown's parents but still blames her, insisting she was driving at the time the speedboat capsized. Whenever he is free again, he has said he will not return to his wife but wants to secure access to his two-year-old son. The Vatican has for the first time opened its own investigation into the case of Emanuela Orlandi, a 15-year-old Vatican citizen who disappeared in the summer of 1983. The Orlandi family's lawyer Laura Sgro confirmed the probe, saying: 'The secretariat of state has authorised the opening of an investigation into a grave in the Teutonic Cemetery inside the Vatican.' It follows an anonymous tip-off which advised Sgro to 'look where the angel is pointing'. The letter to Sgro also included a photograph of the tomb that features a marble angel holding a tablet reading 'Rest in Peace' in Latin. 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 The Vatican opened its own investigation after an anonymous tip-off which advised Emanuela Orlandi's family lawyer Laura Sgro to 'look where the angel is pointing'. The letter to Sgro also included a photograph of the tomb that features a marble angel holding a tablet reading 'Rest in Peace' in Latin (pictured) The tombstone is inscribed with a dedication 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, according to Italy's Corriere della Sera daily. 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. A poster calling for information on Emanuela Orlandi, who disappeared aged 15 from a Rome street in 1983 The Vatican had previously said it was handling a request from the Orlandi family to reopen the grave. '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. Interim Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti declined further comment. Emanuela was the daughter of a Vatican employee who lived with his family in the tiny city state. She was 15 when she disappeared after a music lesson in Rome. The family have long demanded to see Vatican documentation about the enduring mystery. The cold case attracted fresh attention at the end of October when two sets of remains were found in the basement of the Vatican Nunciature, an extraterritorial Church property located in Rome's city centre. The identification of at least one of the bodies as female led to immediate speculation in Italy that the findings might eventually shed light on one of the country's most persistent mysteries. Investigators said at the time that preliminary examinations of the bones indicated they belonged to a woman probably in her thirties. But, despite the estimation of bones' age, the Orlandi family lawyer said they would wait for DNA results. The Vatican has opened an investigation into the 1983 disappearance of 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi. An anonymous tip-off had previously claimed that the body is inside an angel-fronted tomb in a cemetery in the Vatican (pictured) The Orlandi family's lawyer Laura Sgro confirmed that the Vatican has 'authorised the opening of an investigation into a grave in the Teutonic Cemetery inside the Vatican'. The cemetery is pictured from the dome of St. Peter's Basilica One hypothesis for Emanuela's disappearance is that she was not killed immediately but instead held for years against her will. Investigative sources, however, told Italian media in the following weeks that the bones were too old to be related to the Orlandi case. For more than 35 years, Italian media have been obsessed with the fate of Emanuela. Over the years, many rumours have swirled about what happened to her. 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. A 'small number' of British children have left Syria and returned to the UK via other countries in the last year, it has emerged. The disclosure comes after the death of Shamima Begum's newborn baby prompted questions over the Government's policy on repatriating youngsters born in or taken to the war-torn country. Shamima, who was stripped of her British citizenship after leaving the UK to join Islamic State, had expressed wishes to come home but her son died in a Syrian refugee camp earlier this year. Questions were raised over the government's policy on repatriating youngsters born in or taken to Syria after the death of Shamima Begum's (pictured) newborn son Responding to a written parliamentary question, Home Office minister Baroness Williams of Trafford said: 'We can confirm that in the last 12 months there have been a small number of British children who have left Syria and returned to the UK via third countries.' The issue came under the spotlight earlier this year after Ms Begum, who left east London to join Islamic State in 2015, declared from a Syrian refugee camp that she wished to come home. But she was stripped of her British citizenship by Home Secretary Sajid Javid in an effort to block her return. Around 900 individuals have left the UK to travel to territory held by extremist groups in Syria (pictured) and Iraq. Ms Begum later gave birth to a baby boy, who died aged less than three weeks. The child was a British citizen, regardless of his mother's status. After facing criticism in the wake of the death, Mr Javid insisted the Government was unable to provide support to British nationals in Syria as there is no consular presence there. Ms Begum (pictured) expressed wishes to return to the UK after four years living in Syria, where her baby boy was born. In response to a written parliamentary question, Baroness Williams also noted that the Government does not have a consular presence in Syria, and advises against all travel to the country. She added: 'We will not put British officials' lives at risk to assist those who have left the UK to join a proscribed terrorist organisation. 'If a British child who has been in Syria is able to seek consular assistance outside of Syria, then we would work with local and UK authorities to facilitate their return if requested.' Sajid Javid has also staunchly defended the decision to revoke Ms Begum's citizenship. It was reported last month that her family have begun legal proceedings to challenge the move. The case prompted fresh debate over the approach to those returning or seeking to return from Syria. In February, Mr Javid suggested that hundreds of children may have been born to 'foreign fighters'. Shamima (pictured) left the UK in 2015 to join Islamic State, but she was stripped of her British citizenship when she expressed wishes to return home He said females account for a significant proportion of around 900 individuals who left the UK to travel to territory held by extremist groups in Syria and Iraq. Some may have taken their offspring with them, he said, while others may have had children whilst overseas. The 900 figure relates to the estimated number of people 'of national security concern' who travelled from the UK to engage with the conflict in Syria. Of those, approximately 20% have been killed overseas, while around 40% have returned to the UK. A 'significant proportion' of returnees are assessed as no longer being of a security concern, according to the Home Office. Attorney General Bill Barr said there was U.S. 'spying' against President Trump's 2016 campaign, telling senators Wednesday it was a 'big deal' as he announced he was assembling a team to review investigative conduct during the elections. 'I think spying did occur,' Barr said at a Senate hearing in response to a question from Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. Although he was non-specific about what he was referring to by spying, Barr mentioned the intelligence community. He spoke moments after President Trump complained of an 'attempted coup' against him, invoked 'treason,' and blasted the Mueller investigation as 'illegal' while calling for looking back at how it 'all started.' Trump has repeatedly demanded an inquiry into what he considers FBI and government misconduct during what became the Russia probe. In this file photo taken on January 15, 2019, William Barr, then US Attorney General nominee, testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC After using the term 'spying' which Trump also has invoked, Barr said: 'But the question is whether it was adequately predicated and I am not suggesting that it wasn't adequately predicated.' 'I am not suggesting those rules were violated, but I think it is important to look at that. And I am not talking about the FBI necessarily, but intelligence agencies more broadly,' he continued. Later he praised FBI Director Christopher Wray. 'I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal it's a big deal,' Barr said. 'The generation I grew up in, which was the Vietnam War period, people were all concerned about spying on anti-war people and so forth by the government. And there were a lot of rules put in place to make sure that there was an adequate basis before our law enforcement agencies get involved in political surveillance,' he added. Barr's comments came after President Trump delivered one of his signature rants against the Mueller probe. 'This was an attempted coup. An attempt to take down the president. And we beat them,' Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a Texas fundraiser. President Donald Trump erupted on Wednesday at Justice Department figures who he says attempted a 'coup' on his government through Special Counsel Robert Mueller's 'illegal' Russia probe Mueller has submitted his final report to Attorney General William Barr, who told congressional leaders he plans to redact sensitive portions that by law must not be made public, and then release the result in a matter of days 'I knew how illegal this whole thing was. It was a scam,' Trump said. 'What Im most interested in is getting started ... on going back to the origins of exactly where this all started,' the president continued, repeating his call for an investigation of the origins of the Russia probe. 'Because this was an illegal witch hunt and everybody knew it, and they knew it too, and they got caught.' 'What they did was treason. What they did was terrible. What they did was against our Constitution and everything we stand for,' Trump said. 'I think spying did occur,' said Barr Wednesday Activists participate in a 'Release the Report' rally in Times Square, April 4, 2019 in New York City. Barr said he would hopefully release a redacted report next week House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jerold Nadler said Barr's comments 'directly contradict' what the agency has said in the past 'Hopefully, that will happen,' Trump said. 'There is a hunger for that to happen in this country like nothing Ive ever seen before, including all of the millions of people that voted for me.' During Wednesday's hearing, Barr responded to a question about news reports that he had a special team looking at why the FBI opened a special investigation of Trump during the 2016 campaign. The origins of the probe have been dated to when the FBI learned that Trump foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos had told an Australian diplomat over drinks that the Russians had obtained information on Democrat Hillary Clinton. Republicans including Trump have also blasted the initial surveillance that a judge approved to monitor former Trump advisor Carter Page. They say the warrant was influenced by the 'golden showers' dossier assembled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele. 'As I said in my confirmation hearing, I am going to be reviewing both the genesis and the conduct of intelligence activities directed at the Trump campaign during 2016,' said Barr. 'And a lot of this has already been investigated, and a substantial portion of it has been investigated and is being investigated by the Office of Inspector General at the [Justice] Department. But one of the things I want to do is pull together all the information from the various investigations that have gone on, including on the Hill and in the Department and see if there are any remaining questions to be addressed,' he said. On Tuesday, Barr had revealed under questioning in the House that he was reviewing FBI conduct during the campaign. At the tail end of Wednesday's hearing, Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas asked Barr about his basis for saying spying occurred. 'I am concerned about it and I was asked about whether there was any basis for it, and I believe there is a basis for my concern but I'm not going to discuss the basis,' he said. An Ohio woman convicted of bestiality with a dog has now been accused of robbing a bank. Amber Finney, 35, who remains on probation stemming from her 2017 bestiality case, has been indicted by a grand jury on a single count of robbery. She is accused of walking into the Chase Bank branch on West Market Street in Warren last month and handing a teller a note demanding cash. Amber Finney, 35, of Ohio, has been indicted on a robbery charge for allegedly pulling off a bank heist last month Finney is accused of walking into the Chase Bank branch on West Market Street in Warren last month and handing a teller a note demanding cash Finney reportedly told the bank employee that 'she did not want to hurt her.' According to police, the teller informed Finney that she could only dispense $1,000 at a time, reported WFMJ. The woman allegedly accepted the money, and then walked out of the bank and made her way to the parking lot, where she was spotted meeting up with a man. Police officers who were called to the scene were able to track down Finney by following footprints in the snow. She was arrested at a home on Ward Street NW a short time later. Finney made headlines in 2017 when she pleaded no contest to a charge of bestiality under Ohio's newly enacted laws criminalizing sex with animals. The conviction stemmed from a disturbing incident in which Finney, who has three paw prints tattooed on her left shoulder, was caught on video having a sexual encounter with a dog on New Years Day. Finney made headlines in 2017 (pictured in a mugshot, left), when she pleaded no contest to a charge of bestiality (she is seen holding a cat, right) Finney was accused of performing sexual acts on a dog. Pictured above is one of her pit bulls According to a report by WKBN-TV, when police came to arrest her in April 2017, a sobbing Finney told police the recording was a fake and that she had been drugged with something slipped into her drink. In July 2018, Finney was arrested again on charges of obstruction official business, possession of drug abuse instruments and paraphernalia Police first learned about the incident on January 24 when they began receiving complaints from internet users claiming to have seen the video that featured Finney allegedly performing sex acts on a dog. According to a criminal complaint, Finney 'did knowingly engage in sexual conduct with an animal, or knowingly possess, sell or purchase and animal with the intent that it be subjected to sexual conduct.' She was sentenced to six months in jail, of which she served 30 days, and was ordered to remain on probation through 2022. In July 2018, Finney was arrested again on charges of obstruction official business, possession of drug abuse instruments and paraphernalia. The deadly possible consequences of global warming have been laid bare in a book that reveals the terrifying ways the human race could be wiped out. From a total food-system collapse, to a catastrophic sea-level rise and the return of lost deadly diseases, 'FALTER: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?' lists the lethal, and unexpected, ways that humans could become extinct. Author Bill McKibben, a scientist and environmental activist who wrote the influential End of Nature - one of the first books for a mainstream audience on climate change - has followed up with this doomsday study of possible homosapien endgames - which include rising tides, falling crops and exploding populations. Rising tides: While the melting ice sheets could trigger catastrophic natural disasters capable of decimating entire countries. In fact, increased seismic activity has been registered in Alaska and Greenland, suggesting this process has already begun Oceans heating up and disrupting photosynthesis leading to mass suffocation By the end of this century if the world's oceans continue to warm up they might become hot enough to stop oxygen production by phyto-plankton by disrupting the delicate process of photosynthesis, a 2015 study in the Journal of Mathematical Biology suggested. More than two thirds of the earth's oxygen comes from phyto-plankton so the disruption of photosynthesis would more than likely result in the mass extinction of life on earth through suffocation. While the melting ice sheets could trigger catastrophic natural disasters capable of decimating entire countries. In fact, increased seismic activity has been registered in Alaska and Greenland, suggesting this process has already begun. Melting icecaps sparking catastrophic tsunamis destroying coastal life Additionally, the increased seawater could create a bending in the earth's crust which would prompt a massive increase in volcanic activity with lava poisoning marine life. 'That will give you a massive increase in volcanic activity. It'll activate faults to create earthquakes, submarine landslides, tsunamis, the whole lot,' the director of University College London's Hazard Centre told Rolling Stone magazine. Scientists have evidence that such an event happened before. Some 8,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age, a section of Norway's continental shelf collapsed creating a series of gigantic waves which swept all signs of life away from coastal Norway to Greenland. Such was the violence of the waves, thought to be some 65ft tall, that a landmass connecting Britain to parts of Europe was drowned. Plague: Melting icecaps has revealed a treasure chest of well preserved artifacts and specimens for scientists to study. But they could also bring the return of lethal diseases trapped in permafrost Deadly diseases in frozen animals thawing out and contaminating the water supply Melting icecaps has revealed a treasure chest of well preserved artifacts and specimens for scientists to study. But they could also bring the return of lethal diseases trapped in permafrost. One example the book lists is a reindeer carcass that thawed after many thousands of years. The exposed body released anthrax into the surrounding water and soil which they infected two thousand reindeer grazing nearby, and they in turn infected some humans who hunted them - killing one 12-year-old boy. Permafrost creates the perfect conditions for microbes and viruses to survive because 'it is cold, there is no oxygen, and it is dark'. Scientists have managed to revive an eight-million-year-old bacterium they found beneath the surface of a glacier. While researchers believe there are fragments of the Spanish flu virus, smallpox, and bubonic plague buried in Siberia and Alaska, which could all infect humans should they be released from their frozen state. Decreased cognition: McKibben also points to the increased carbon dioxide levels impairing cognitive ability. Again, by the year 2100, carbon dioxide levels could rise to a thousand parts per million, while would cause a 21 percent cognitive regression Increased carbon dioxide causing decreased brain function McKibben also points to the increased carbon dioxide levels impairing cognitive ability. Again, by the year 2100, carbon dioxide levels could rise to a thousand parts per million, while would cause a 21 percent cognitive regression. A study on the effects of cognitive impairment through carbon dioxide poisoning showed the most pronounced effects on 'crisis response, information usage and strategy' functions within our brains, one Harvard study reported. Food supply breakdown causing mass starvation While humans have for large parts of the late twentieth and early twenty first century managed to keep ahead of an exploding global population, it has come at a great human cost. Farmers have been displaced in third world countries, forcing them into slums, while fertilizers, pesticides and machinery has increased production radically. However, that production could be completely halted with increased heat and drought, with studies on coffee, cacao and chickpea growth highlighting the damning effect warming has on them. Mass starvation: Cereals are the cornerstone of human nutrition providing the vast majority of the world's calories: corn, wheat and rice all evolved as crops in the climate of the past 10,000 years - so a sudden spike to that climate, at a rate evolution cannot maintain, means the crops will die and fail to grow in the new, parched land The food source humans most rely on, though, is also the ones that are most at risk. Cereals are the cornerstone of human nutrition providing the vast majority of the world's calories: corn, wheat and rice all evolved as crops in the climate of the past 10,000 years - so a sudden spike to that climate, at a rate evolution cannot maintain, means the crops will die and fail to grow in the new, parched land. A 2017 study in Australia, home to some of the world's highest-tech farming, found that 'wheat productivity has flatlined as a direct result of climate change.' Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? by Bill McKibben Wheat yields tripled between 1990 and 1990 but have stagnated since then as temperature increases and rainfall declined by nearly a third. In June 2018, researchers found that a two-degree Celsius rise in temperature - which is what the Paris accord is targeting - could cut U.S. corn yields by 18 percent. A four-degree increase - the earth's current trajectory would cut the crop almost in half. It is a similar story for corn, the planet's most widely grown crop. The systematic breakdown of mass agricultural farming would see the foundation of human sustenance wiped out, plunging the earth into a mass scavenging race for nutrition. Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? Senior Aircraftwoman Katie Wilson played the warped prank on her victim while working in a medical centre A 'highly valued' RAF medic grabbed a colleague's breasts as part of a 'grossly misjudged' office prank, a military court heard today. Senior Aircraftwoman Katie Wilson played the warped prank on her victim while working in a medical centre, leaving the woman upset and stunned by the assault. Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire, heard the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was shocked when Wilson grabbed her left breast as she walked past her in an office. When the woman walked back past again, 33-year-old Wilson, who is based at RAF Odiham, Hampshire, then squeezed her right boob as part of the joke. Judge Robert Hill today fined Wilson 800 - 400 for each attack. The medic had hoped to become a paramedic but now cannot due to the two convictions for sexual assault. The judge described the lewd prank as 'black humour' and said it was clear Wilson had 'thoroughly learned' her lesson. Wilson had been working as a medic in the RAF at the time of the assaults in June 2017, the court heard. It was heard the victim of the assaults had urged military police not to take action against Wilson, instead wanting to keep it a service matter. However Wilson was charged and then convicted of two counts of sexual assault following a trial. Judge Hill said: 'What you did was something that amounted to sexual assault. At no stage did you intend to cause serious upset to your victim but that's what happened. Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire, heard the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was shocked when Wilson grabbed her left breast as she walked past her in an office 'But what you did, which was, for want of a better expression, black humour, was touch the breasts of a colleague to shock her. When she walked back the other way, you did the same again. 'This was utterly misjudged and utterly inappropriate. You grossly misjudged the situation. However, we are convinced there was no sexual gratification in this for you and you are not a sexual predator. 'We would not have thought that it was appropriate for you not to be able to continue in your medical role, you are not someone that needs keeping away from people. 'From seeing you through the trial and now, I can say you have thoroughly learned your lesson.' The medic had hoped to become a paramedic but now cannot due to the two convictions for sexual assault During the sentencing, it was heard Wilson had been removed from her medic position and was being retrained as a steward, but the RAF was 'keen to retain her'. Mitigating, Kellie Enever told the court the offence involved no 'skin on skin' touching, with Wilson having touched her victim above her clothing. Ms Enever added: 'The victim has been very gracious and even said she did not want this to be taken further. 'However, it was and we are where we are. SAC Wilson can no longer work in the medical environment she was in. She had also wanted to train as a paramedic, but now cannot as she must notify people of the convictions. 'She is certainly highly valued by the RAF. They have supported her and retrained her as a steward because they recognise the skills this young woman has to offer. She has served significantly, including in Afghanistan.' Prosecutor Lieutenant Colonel Harry Mynors added: 'I have been told the RAF are keen to retain her in the service.' Judge Hill told Wilson they would not be dismissing her from the RAF or detaining her, instead fining her 400 for each of the two sexual assaults. He added: 'This amount will keep it below the point at which you are required to sign the sexual offenders register.' A two-year-old girl has been left fighting for her life after falling from a third-floor window in a block of flats. The incident occurred on Dumbarton Road, close to Boquhanran Road, in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, on Wednesday afternoon. She was taken to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow, where staff describe her condition as critical. Police outside the block of flats in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, where the girl fell out the window The two-year-old was taken to hospital but her condition is unknown. Pictured, police at the scene Detective Inspector Steve Martin is appealing for witnesses as a number of people attended to the toddler after the fall. He said: 'The little girl has sustained very serious injuries and we are trying to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident. 'As such we are keen to speak to anyone who witnessed the child fall or anyone who has seen her at the window prior to her falling. The youngster fell from the third-floor window of the block of flats in Scotland The toddler has been taken to the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow 'A number of people were in the area at the time and came to the assistance of the girl and it is important that we speak to all of these people, therefore if any of these people left before speaking to police, we urge them to contact police immediately. 'I also ask any motorists who were in the vicinity around 2.10pm to check their dash-cam footage to see if they have captured the incident.' Anyone with information is asked to contact 101 quoting incident number 1888 of April 10. A Scottish Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: 'We received a call at 1407 hours to attend an incident at Dumbarton Road, Clydebank. 'We dispatched an ambulance, the trauma team and our special operations response team to the scene and one patient was taken to the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow.' A jury has been unable to reach a verdict in the trial of a Delaware man who admitted to breaking the thumb off a $4.5 million ancient Chinese terracotta warrior statue during an ugly sweater at a Philadelphia museum. Michael Rohana, 25, was attending a Christmas-themed ugly sweater party at the Franklin Institute in December 2017 when he entered a traveling exhibit featuring the ancient statues. Authorities said Rohana took photos while posing next to a statue known as 'The Cavalryman' before snapping off the statue's left thumb. Rohana, who works as a shoe salesman, testified last week that he knew he had made a mistake as soon as he broke the statue. Michael Rohana, 25, was charged after he broke the left thumb of a $4.5 million ancient Chinese terra cotta warrior statue during an ugly sweater party at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia in December 2017 Authorities said Rohana took photos while posing next to a statue known as 'The Cavalryman' before snapping off the statue's left thumb. Pictured above is a before and after on the statue He said he put it in his pocket and fled immediately. Museum staff noticed the missing thumb weeks later and the FBI traced it to Rohana soon after reviewing surveillance footage of the exhibit. When the FBI questioned Rohana at his home he handed over the missing piece, which he had been keeping in a desk drawer in his bedroom. The thumb was returned to China so it could be reattached to the statue. The statues, which were built to protect emperor Qin Shihuangdi in the afterlife and date back to 200 B.C, were on loan from China at the time. The vandalism outraged Chinese officials. The jury deadlocked on Tuesday on the charges of theft and concealment of an object of cultural heritage. A mistrial was declared. Museum staff noticed the missing thumb (above after being broken) weeks later and the FBI traced it to Rohana soon after reviewing surveillance footage of the exhibit When the FBI questioned Rohana at his home he handed over the missing piece. The thumb was returned to China so it could be reattached to the statue Rohana's attorney had argued during his trial that his crime was a case of youthful vandalism and that he had been inappropriately charged under laws to punish planned museum heists, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. 'These charges were made for art thieves - think like Ocean's Eleven or Mission: Impossible,' his public defender Catherine C. Henry told jurros. She added the Rohana 'wasn't in ninja clothing sneaking around the museum'. 'He was a drunk kid in a bright green ugly Christmas sweater.' Assistant U.S. Attorney K.T. Newton argued that Rohana deliberately broke the thumb. 'He took it out of the Franklin Institute and he took it home. That is theft. That is stealing.' Prosecutors said they will decide by May whether to retry the case after the mistrial. The statues, which were built to protect emperor Qin Shihuangdi in the afterlife and date back to 200 B.C, were on loan from China at the time of the incident Charles Van Doren, the central figure in the TV game show scandals of the late 1950s has died. He was 93. His son, John, said he died of natural causes Tuesday at the Geer Village care center for the elderly in Canaan, Connecticut. Van Doren won a then-record $129,000 on the show 'Twenty-One' in late 1956 and early 1957. He was one of 14 contestants arrested in 1960, accused of lying before a Manhattan grand jury when they testified to never having received questions and answers in advance of their TV appearances on the quiz show. Van Doren eventually pleaded guilty to perjury for lying to the grand jury that investigated the scandal. Scroll down for video Charles Van Doren (pictured in 1959), the central figure in the TV game show scandals of the late 1950s has died. He was 93. His son said he died of natural causes Tuesday at a care center in Connecticut After 14 Monday nights on the Twenty-One, Van Doren (right) was dethroned by, Vivienne Nearing (left), a lawyer who was also one of the contestants embroiled in the quiz-show scandal Van Doren (seen in 1957 with Vivienne Nearing) won a then-record $129,000 on the show 'Twenty-One' in late 1956 and early 1957 He later admitted in testimony before Congress that he had been given advance answers. Van Doren spent the following decades largely out of the public eye. The scandal was dramatized in 'Quiz Show,' a 1994 film directed by Robert Redford and starring Ralph Fiennes as Van Doren. The movie also starred John Turturro. In 2008, Van Doren penned an article, titled All of the Answers, that was featured in The New Yorker. Van Doren explained that it all started after he met Albert Freedman, a producer for Jack Barry and Dan Enright, who created shows like 'Tic Tac Dough'. He wrote in the article that Freedman 'had persuaded me to take a test and that, depending on how I did, they might want me for a new show called 'Twenty-One,' which was structured like blackjack'. The scandal was dramatized in 'Quiz Show,' a 1994 film directed by Robert Redford and starring Ralph Fiennes (pictured in the film) as Van Doren Fiennes (pictured) is seen playing Van Doren in the Quiz Show film Not long after taking the test, Van Doren revealed that Freedman invited him to the show because ratings were down and 'a man named Herb Stempel was winning week after week, but he wasn't popular'. In the New Yorker article, Van Doren recalled Freedman telling him that he 'might' be the contestant to beat Stempel. During a meeting with Freedman, Van Doren recalled him saying: 'I've thought about it, Charlie, and I've decided you should be the person to beat Stempel. And I'll help you do it.' Van Doren wrote that it was Freedman who said 'no one will ever know' because the secret would be kept between them. 'How would you do it?' Van Doren asked. 'Jack would ask you a question you could answer and Stempel couldn't,' Freedman responded. Van Doren, along with 13 others, were arrested in 1960. They were accused of lying before a grand jury when they testified to never having received questions and answers in advance of their TV appearances. Van Doren (center) was booked at the Elizabeth Street station house Van Doren eventually pleaded guilty (right) to perjury for lying to a Manhattan grand jury that investigated the scandal. He admitted in testimony before Congress that he had been given advance answers. He's pictured with his wife Geraldine Ann Bernstein (left) in 1957 A week after the conversation with Freedman, Van Doren made his first appearance on Twenty-One on November 28, 1956. During the game, he was instructed that he had to reach 17 points in the first round and 21 points in the second round in order to defeat Stempel. They both reached the second round with 21 points each. A week later, on December 5, 1956, Van Doren beat Stempel. In that moment, Van Doren began his rise to fame. He wrote that he later learned that Stempel missed a question that 'he could have answered easily'. 'But they had him. If he failed to go along with his script, he could lose a lot of the money he had already 'won'.' Van Doren said over the course of 14 appearances he realized 'just how carefully controlled the show was'. He continued taking part in the scandal until his last appearance on March 11, 1957, when a lawyer named Vivienne Nearing dethroned him. 'At one point, it looked as if I could have won more than a hundred and fifty thousand dollarsexcept I couldn't, because Al had informed me that I would lose to her [Nearing,' Van Doren wrote in the article. 'On the evening of March 11th, Jack Barry asked both of us to name the kings of Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Jordan, Iraq, and Belgium,' Van Doren wrote. Van Doren (center, after his arraignment) spent the following decades largely out of the public eye. The scandal was dramatized in 'Quiz Show,' a 1994 film directed by Robert Redford and starring Ralph Fiennes as Van Doren 'According to our covert script, Nearing knew the answers and I didn't. For years after that, people enjoyed asking me if I knew the name of the one I missedthe king of Belgium,' he added. After his last appearance, Van Doren married his wife Geraldine Ann Bernstein, that same year. In 1958, Van Doren received a call from the Manhattan Assistant District Attorney, who wanted him to come in for questioning. By August 1959, the web of lies began to catch up with the contestants and investigators told Van Doren that his testimony contradicted what Stempel, his first opponent, said. Later that year, Van Doren told his side of the story during a congressional hearing in October. 'I asked permission to read my statement. In it, I told the entire story, for the first time. The committee members asked a few questions, but there was really not much else to say, and they told me that I was free to go,' he wrote. Along with Nearing and eight others, Van Doren pleaded guilty to second-degree perjury, for lying to the grand jury about getting answers from producers. Van Doren and the others who were arrested were never sentenced to jail. According to Van Doren's article, he believed that Freedman approached him about the game show because he was aware of his family's stature. Van Doren's father was Mark Van Doren, an American poet, writer and critic. He was a scholar and professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years. Mark Van Doren won the 1940 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Collected Poems 1922-1938. Most of his notable works were published in The Kenyon Review. Those include a collaboration with his brother Carl Van Doren, American and British Literature since 1890, The Poetry of John Dryden, and The Noble Voice. His mother, Dorothy, was a novelist and editor. And his uncle, Carl, had been a professor of literature, a historian and a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer. Van Doren himself held a bachelor's from St John's College in Maryland. He also had a master's in astrophysics and a Ph.D in English, both from Columbia University. He was an English instructor at Columbia University before the scandal. Van Doren is survived by his wife, his son, John, his daughter, Elizabeth, and three grandchildren. His brother, John, passed away in January. The new leader of the National Union of Students has been elected on a platform of calling for a national strike at Britain's universities. Zamzam Ibrahim, 24, said in her manifesto the strike would be for free education, better maintenance grants for less wealthy students and the return of a post-study work visa for people from abroad, her manifesto says. Ms Ibrahim sparked controversy in 2017 when online posts she made as a 16-year-old came to light, which said she wanted to 'oppress white people' and see an 'Islamic takeover'. She insists they were 'taken out of context' and her views have changed. Scroll down for video. Zamzam Ibrahim, currently NUS vice president for Society and Citizenship, was elected leader today at the organisation's conference in Glasgow (pictured) Ms Ibrahim sparked controversy in 2017 when online posts she made as a 16-year-old came to light, which said she wanted to 'oppress white people' and see an 'Islamic takeover'. She insists they were 'taken out of context' and her views have changed Ms Ibrahim was president of the students' union at Salford University and is the third female ethnic minority NUS leader in a row, taking the reins from Shakira Martin. She said in her election statement: 'Our national union and our education sector are facing some of the biggest challenges it has had to confront in living memory and is in dire need of transformation. 'Universities across the UK are facing bankruptcy, college students are unable to afford their journeys to class and racism is running rampant on our campuses. 'There has never been a greater need to rebuild our national union as the fighting, unwavering force that is primed to brave the challenges that lie ahead.' In the old posts, Ms Ibrahim suggested friendship between men and women is un-Islamic and opposed to the government's anti-radicalisation strategy, Prevent. In one message she responded to a question on AskFM on what book everyone should read. She said: 'The Quaraan. We would have an Islamic takeover!' In another message on the topic of the possibility of friendship between a man and a woman, she replied: 'I've had this debate with many friends! Maybe in some cases but Islamically it's incorrect for girls to be friends with a guy anyway! 'So I'm gonna say NO not the kind of friendship they can have with the same gender there is always boundaries.' In one tweet from May 9, 2012 under the hashtag #ifIwasPresident, she wrote: 'I'd oppress white people just to give them a taste of what they put us through!' Writing after the furore caused by the since-deleted tweets, Ms Ibrahim said they were sent at a time she was 'still working out who I was'. 'The adolescent comments of a young girl were twisted to make them seem far more sinister than they ever were intended to be,' she wrote on The Independent. 'There's no doubt this collection of social media posts was supposed to make me seem like a fanatical Muslim and a threat to British society. 'I find it strange that I even have to clarify this, but for the avoidance of doubt I will [again]: the comments clearly do not reflect my views today.' Ibrahim, currently NUS vice president for Society and Citizenship, was promoted at the organisation's conference in Glasgow Ms Ibrahim attended Bolton Sixth Form College before attending Salford to study business and financial management. Ms Ibrahim said today: 'I have been fighting for liberation, equality and against injustice throughout my time both within and out of the student movement. 'In response to media outlets deliberately targeting out of context, misrepresentative social media posts, they purposefully undermine young people particularly young Muslim women from coming forward to make a positive difference to society. 'I have worked with interfaith, anti-racist and diversity organisations, bringing communities together to foster inclusivity and respect. This work will be at the heart of NUS going forward.' While a kitten is learning to stalk and pounce, an older Tuxedo cat has apparently forgotten to pay attention to its surroundings, setting the stage for a hilarious moment caught on camera. A kitten is shown in a video recorded on January 7 sneaking up on its feline friend, startling the older cat and send him straight up into the air. The younger cat was brought in to keep the older pet company after the tailless cat was rescued by a Southern California family. The older cat in the clip was living outside on the porch of the home where the video was taken, with a colony of feral kittens, before he was taken in and given a friend to keep him company. In the video, the kitten can be seen perfecting it pounce before leaping at the older cat, scaring him into jumping into the sky. The older feline catapults itself several feet in the air in reaction to the unexpected contact from the kitten. The moment of the scare passes quickly, as the cat lands on all four paws and continues carrying on with his business. Video captured the moment a feisty kitten perfects its pounce by launching a playful attack on an older Tuxedo cat, who had been rescued by a family in Southern California A kitten is shown in a video recorded on January 7 sneaking up on its feline friend, before startling the older cat and send him straight up into the air The older cat in the clip was living outside on the porch of the home where the video was taken, with a colony of feral kittens, before he was taken in and given a friend to keep him company The family shared the story of how they ended up with the adorable twosome, starting with the older Tuxedo cat. 'He seemed much friendlier than the feral kittens, and we assumed he was an abandoned pet,' the family said. But the cat had a painful-looking abscess on its tail, so it was in need of medical attention. In the video, the kitten can be seen perfecting it pounce by leaping at the older cat, scaring him into jumping into the sky The older feline catapults itself several feet in the air in reaction to the unexpected contact from the kitten After contacting SpayShip, which operates as part of a nonprofit organization in North Hollywood, California, to trap the feral kittens, the family took the tuxedo cat to FixNation in the San Fernando Valley. While there, the cat had to have his tail amputated. 'While he was recovering we fell in love with his playfulness and decided that we needed to keep him,' the famiy said. 'We got him a little kitten friend and they bonded instantly. Their antics never fail to entertain!' Kim Kardashian West is opening up on her husband Kanye West's bipolar disorder, and says she was brought to tears when he first wore Trump's red Make America Great Again hat. The famed rapper announced his diagnosis of bipolar disorder to the world last summer, even scrawling 'I hate being bipolar. It's awesome' on his last album cover. He later told Donald Trump during an Oval Office visit in October he was misdiagnosed and instead suffers from sleep deprivation. Kim clarified that Kanye has once again accepted the bipolar diagnosis following 'conflicting assessments'. 'I think we're in a pretty good place with it now,' the Keeping Up star said. 'It is an emotional process, for sure. Right now everything is really calm. But we can definitely feel episodes coming, and we know how to handle them,' the reality star added. Kim Kardashian opened about her husband Kanye West's bipolar disorder in Vogue's May issue 'I think were in a pretty good place with it now,' Kim said on her husband's diagnosis adding he doesn't take medication because 'it just changes who he is' The to-be mother-of-four revealed that medication isn't an option for West because he doesn't like that it changes 'who he is'. 'For him, being on medication is not really an option, because it just changes who he is. Traveling a lot does set it off, so he doesnt travel as much as he used to. But honestly, I never want to speak for him, because I am not in his mind,' Kardashian said. In 2016 West was hospitalized for 'a psychiatric emergency' hours after he cancelled the reminder of his Saint Pablo tour. He'd go on to launch bizarre Twitter rants and open up about his disorder online, before later retracting it completely. In December 2018 he tweeted he was working on new music and was 'six months off meds I can feel me again'. Kardashian admitted that it's 'hurtful' to read comments online casting blame on her for West's rants and outbursts. 'I think some of the hurtful things that I read online . . . . What is she doing? Shes not stopping him. . . . Like its my fault if he does or says something that they dont agree with? Thats my husband. I share every opinion that I have and let him know when I think somethings wrong. Or if it comes to him being in the middle of a bipolar episode, Ill do everything to be supportive and help to calm the situation,' she added. The reality star went on the clarify that West does not have a political party he aligns himself with. In October 2018 West, clad in a MAGA hat, told Donald Trump during a meeting at the Oval Office that he was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder and is just sleep deprived In 2016 West was hospitalized for 'a psychiatric emergency' hours after he cancelled the reminder of his Saint Pablo tour. The artwork for his following album ye, released June 2018, included the phrase 'I hate being bi-polar. It's awesome' The Vogue feature titled 'The awakening of Kim Kardashian West' shows the reality star posing in a variety of glamorous dresses at home with her children North, five, Saint, three, and Chicago, one In that meeting West said, 'I had never been diagnosed [with bipolar disorder] until I was 39', 'it's not a disability, it's a superpower', and 'they tried to scare me to not wear this [MAGA] hat, my own friends, but this hat it gives me, it gives me power.' Bipolar disorder and its treatments Bipolar disorder, formerly known as manic depression, can cause people to have extreme mood swings. It gives them episodes of depression - feeling very low and lethargic - and mania, feeling very high and overactive. Treatment options for managing bipolar disorder include mood stabilizers or psychological treatment, such as talking therapy. Medications used to treat bipolar disorder include mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, antidepressants, antidepresant-antipsychotics and anti-anxiety medications. Some of the popular medications include Symbyax, benzodiazepines, Zyprexa, Abilify, and Seroquel. Side effects of such bipolar drugs include nausea, tremors, hair loss, weight gain, drowsiness and sedation, poor concentration, restlessness and low blood pressure. Source: WebMD and Mayo Clinic Advertisement 'He doesnt represent either side. But he doesnt want to be told what he should be. It can be confusing. I get it. The one thing that I respect so much is that he is who he is, no matter what anyone tries to tell him to do,' Kardashian revealed in the magazine. She added that when the Stronger rapper started to wear Trump's trademark red MAGA hat, it brought her to tears. 'I can be sitting there crying: OH, MY GOD! TAKE OFF THE RED HAT! Because he really is the sweetest person with the biggest heart. I stopped caring, though,' she said. 'Because I used to care so much. I was making it such an issue in our relationship. And in my life. It gave me so much anxiety,' she added. In the Vogue interview the starlet also revealed she's now studying law following her stint at the White House and plans to take the bar exam in 2020. The couple have made notable stops to the White House to visit Trump - in Kardashian's case to plead for the clemency of Alice Marie Johnson and in West's to discuss politics and launch a bizarre rant. She was inspired by her fight for justice for Alice Marie Johnson, 63, who was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole (and has already served 22 years) after she was convicted on federal drug and money laundering charges to which she had pleaded not guilty. In the Vogue interview the starlet revealed her plans to study law and take the bar in 2022 after successfully pleading for Alice Marie Johnson (center above) to be granted clemency Last summer Kardashian decided to begin a four-year apprenticeship with a law firm in San Francisco and plans to take the bar in 2022. 'First year of law school you have to cover three subjects: criminal law, torts, and contracts. To me, torts is the most confusing, contracts the most boring, and crim law I can do in my sleep. Took my first test, I got a 100. Super easy for me,' she said. 'The reading is what really gets me. Its so time-consuming. The concepts I grasp in two seconds,' she added. She's been working with the cofounders of #cut50, a national bipartisan advocacy group on criminal-justice reform, for months now - visiting prisons, petitioning governors and attending meetings in the White House. 'I had to think long and hard about this,' she said. 'The White House called me to advise to help change the system of clemency and Im sitting in the Roosevelt Room with, like, a judge who had sentenced criminals and a lot of really powerful people and I just sat there, like, Oh, s**t. I need to know more,' she added. 'I just felt like the system could be so different, and I wanted to fight to fix it, and if I knew more, I could do more,' she emphasized. When asked about collaborating with Kanye, she revealed that her fashion transformation is creditable to her rapper-turned-fashion designer husband. 'I saw what a response I gothe was right. Hes been my go-to stylist ever since. Ive always admired how hes marketed things or come up with ideas for his videos and his lookshe thinks ahead,' she said. Professional backgammon player Roderick 'Rod' Covlin was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on Wednesday for murdering his estranged finance executive wife a decade ago. Dressed in a white button-down shirt, the 46-year-old defendant broke down in tears and while photographed wiping his eyes with a tissue while listening to his mother, Carol, speak before learning his fate in State Supreme Court. A jury in March found Covlin guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Shele Danishefsky Covlin, 47, who was found strangled in the blood-filled bathtub of her Upper West Side apartment on New Year's Eve in 2009. Defense lawyer Robert Gottlieb says Covlin plans to appeal the verdict. Crocodile tears: Convicted wife killer Roderick Covlin, 46, cries at his sentencing hearing on Wednesday This is the moment Covlin hears his sentence of 25 years to life for his wife's murder Wednesday Covlin was found guilty in March (pictured in court, left) of strangling to death his estranged wife, Shele Danishefsky Covlin (pictured together, right), in 2009 Covlin grows emotional hearing his mother speak at the sentencing Rod and Shele were locked in a bitter divorce and custody battle over their children, and prosecutors argued that the husband was afraid that his UBS executive wife would cut him out of her $5.3million will. On New Year's Day, Danishefsky Covlin had been scheduled to meet with an attorney to change her will. Police initially thought Danishefsky Covlins death an accident. For religious reasons her Orthodox Jewish family objected to an autopsy. But as suspicions mounted her body was exhumed and the medical examiner determined shed been strangled. Covlin, who helped found the US Backgammon Federation, was charged in Danishefsky Covlins death in 2015, two months before he was to receive a settlement in a lawsuit over a $1.6million life insurance policy on his late wife. He denied killing her, claiming that he performed CPR on her and called 911 for help. UBS executive Shele Danishefsky (pictured) was in the midst of divorcing her husband Rod Covlin when he murdered her on December 31, 2009 At Covlin's sentencing Wednesday, the victim's family were given a chance to deliver impact statements describing their anguish and their rage. 'The existence of Rod Covlin is the strongest argument there is for the death penalty,' Shele's brother Fred Danishefsky said. 'He is an evil predator in the strongest sense of those two words.' Shele and Rod's children, Myles, who was two years old at the time of his mother's death, and Anna, who was nine, also addressed the court, defending their father. Anna, who found her mother's lifeless body in the tub, described her father as 'one of the most caring and loving people' she knows,' according to the New York Daily News. Her brother, now aged 12, begged the judge for leniency and professed his love for his father, as the New York Post reported. The prosecution, however, painted a drastically different picture of Rod Covlin, saying he has shown no remorse for his actions and made no amends. 'The Danishefsky family never gave up, and neither did we,' Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance said in a written statement released Wednesday. 'Roderick Covlin will now spend decades in prison for his domestic violence, depravity and deception, but family and intimate partner violence continues on in apartments across New York City.' Bogdanos said Shele was moving on with her successful life while the unemployed Covlin festered and, to top it off, she was taking steps to cut him out of her $5.3 million will. What started as a whirlwind romance ended in murder. They met at a dance for Jewish singles and both were smitten, at one point telling Shele's sister Eve Karstaedt they were running away to get married in Las Vegas. The pair wound up not eloping but were married in September 1998. Still, the ardor had cooled by the time their 10th-wedding anniversary arrived Covlin told Shele he wanted them to have an open marriage, which she, disgusted, rejected flat out. But, according to Karstaedt's testimony, Shele had by then found out her husband was already cheating on her. Shele's brothers Phil (left) and Fred Danishefsky (right) were on hand for Covlin's sentencing By January 2009, the situation deteriorated beyond repair. Shele wrote in emails to her sister that Covlin and his often out-of-control anger had been a nightmare to live with for a long time. That month, she confronted him about his infidelities and he admitted to cheating, Shele wrote in an email to her sister. By April 2009, Covlin was out of the marital home at Dorchester Towers apartment building on the Upper West Side, but ensconced in an apartment across the hall which Shele leased so he could have access to their children, Anna and Myles, then 9 and 2 respectively. A Mother's Day outing to the Botanical Gardens with the separated couple and their children ended in tears and recrimination when Covlin tore into Shele for not being respectful to his mother. A shaken Shele frantically texted Karstaedt, saying '**** hit fan' and that Covlin was moving his stuff back into her apartment. She met Karstaedt the next day at the shoe department at Lord & Taylor, where Karstaedt advised her sister the marriage was doomed. Covlin and Shele had a physical confrontation that week, according to the Covlins' nanny, Rose Reid. Shele filed for divorce by the end of the week. Covlin then tried to undermine her at UBS, where she had begun working at the start of 2009. Covlin complained to Shele's boss that she was on drugs and was ruining him financially and draining the joint checking account. John Alex, Shele's boss, testified that Shele had recently passed a new-hire drug screening and that Covlin had withdrawn $7,200 from the checking account while Shele had taken out a mere $800. In July, Covlin, who had unsupervised visitation with the children, did not return them to their mother at 9 p.m. as he was supposed to. Instead, he brought them to a hospital where he told doctors that Myles, then 2, said his mother had touched his genitals and bottom. Both the doctors and child protective specialists found no evidence Myles had been abused and closed the case. But Covlin's move did not sit well with the judge in the couple's divorce case, who curtailed Covlin's visitation requiring it to be supervised. She also ordered the unemployed Covlin, who was fired from his last job for playing online backgammon at work and taking too much time off to follow the backgammon tour, to turn over $425 in child support to Shele. Both were seeing other people by then; Shele had met a few people through J-Date and Covlin was trolling through the backgammon community via Facebook. In August 2009, Covlin travelled to Pennsylvania with a woman from upstate New York with whom he had shared a couple of dates. Patricia Swensen, a self-admitted 'functional alcoholic,' said Covlin went into a rage when talking about Shele, saying how he wanted to kill her. Covlin's mother, Carol, attended the emotional hearing Wednesday morning 'He wanted her dead,' Swensen said. 'His face, his eyes, they were getting glassy like has getting psychotic.' She said Covlin also wanted to hire hitmen to kill Shele's father Joel Danishefsky, because, he explained to Swensen, Covlin's money was tied up with his father-in-law. Prosecutors said Covlin was monitoring Shele's email and a witness testified that Covlin had put a keystroke logger on her computer. The prosecution alleged that armed with illegally-gleaned knowledge, Covlin was able to learn Shele was due to meet an attorney on Dec. 31, 2009 the day she was found dead in her bathtub by her 9-year-old daughter. On the day before her death, Shele's hairdresser paid her a house call, giving her a treatment to straighten her hair, which would come undone if she wet her hair over the next few days, a point hammered home by prosecutors. Later on Dec. 30, Shele returned home from a date around 8 p.m. and spent the evening with the children. Covlin meanwhile was holed up across the hall playing backgammon online with girlfriend Debra Oles, a married North Carolina woman he first romanced earlier that year. He and Oles played until 1:03 a.m. on Dec. 31, with Covlin signing off to do some work on his nascent backgammon federation. He texted her around 4 a.m. to tell her he fell asleep and that he had gotten no work done. His other nocturnal movements included two trips to the store the first involving an ostentatious and unusual offer by him to pick up something for the doorman, the other to buy two 2-liter bottles of seltzer, which the prosecution maintained in closing arguments was used to clean up Shele's blood from a sheet in her bedroom. Sometime after 7 a.m., Anna Covlin, who was never brought in to testify, called her father to say Shele was in the bathtub and not moving, Covlin related to responding officers. After finding his wife, he rolled her out of the tub, called 911 and began CPR, according to what Covlin told cops at the scene. Personnel from the Fire Department and EMS evaluated Shele and declined to start CPR because rigor mortis had set in. (Rigor mortis normally forms within three to six hours of death, which would give an approximate time of death as 1:25 a.m. to 4:25 a.m., the period Covlin was out of contact with Oles.) Footage from Covlin's Dorchester Towers home shows Covlin walking out of the elevator to get seltzer at 423am on December 31, 2009 which prosecutors claimed was to clean up evidence Jurors saw Shele's body, covered with a bedsheet, next to a bathtub filled with blood-tinged water at her apartment on New York's Upper West Side on December 31, 2009 Uniformed officers called for detectives to respond and that's when Covlin's road to riches hit a snag. Detectives were convinced the death was an accident Bogdanos said Covlin planted the idea there was blood in the tub and a cabinet door was half-torn off making it appear that Shele yanked it as she tried to stop from falling. The detectives spoke with Anna in the presence of Covlin's father and interviewed Covlin as well. Despite Covlin's claim he had dragged his wife from the blood-tinged water in the tub, his T-shirt was clean and dry a point apparently lost on the NYPD. A Crime Scene Unit detective testified he went to the scene and took some photos but had deferred performing a full forensic search until after the autopsy when it would likely be more apparent what he should look for. That plan came to naught when Shele's Orthodox Jewish family expressed reservations about an autopsy. Eventually, Shele's family relented and the police got an order of exhumation so that Shele's body could be examined. Dr. Jonathan Hayes of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said he found Shele's hyoid bone, also known as the tongue bone, had been fractured, a hallmark of strangulation. He deemed her death to be a homicide in April 2010 but it was not until July that investigators got a search warrant to scour the apartment. When her estranged husband was found guilty last month, Shele's brother-in-law Marc Karstaedt told DailyMail,com: 'The wheels of justice turn very slowly, and we always had confidence that ultimately this day would come. Finally, after nine years, we have justice for our beloved Shele. 'She was a beautiful person both inside and out, extraordinary in so many different ways and angelic and she was brutally murdered in a way that no one could imagine nine years ago and our lives have not been the same since.' The risk of being kidnapped or taken hostage is being added to the travel advisories issued by the State Department. U.S. travel advisories have until now included warnings about such things as crime, civil unrest or the potential for terrorism. The announcement comes days after the release of a California woman who had been held for a week after being kidnapped by gunmen in a national park in Uganda. The victims - Kim Endicott of Costa Mesa, California, and local driver Jean-Paul Mirenge - were freed on Sunday. The risk of being kidnapped or taken hostage is being added to the travel advisories issued by the State Department and includes 35 countries Kim Endicott, a Californian grandmother, was taken on April 2 along with her driver on the first night of her trip by unknown gunmen in Uganda's Queen Elizabeth National Park Police said the hunt for the kidnappers, including 'raids and extensive searches,' took place in southwestern Uganda. U.S. President Donald Trump has urged Ugandan authorities to find the perpetrators. The kidnappers had demanded a $500,000 ransom after abducting the two at gunpoint. The grandmother, 56, had spent five days being detained against her will. Ugandan authorities announced that they arrested eight suspects in connection with the kidnapping. Their arrests came as it was claimed that the Ugandan government paid $30,000 for her to be freed despite repeated denials from the police that they gave in to the kidnapper's demands. On Sunday, a female driver made her way to the border with the cash. She was met by someone from the kidnappers' side, they said, who took it then returned with Enicott and Mirenge Remezo. The pair then got on the motorbike driven by the rescue team and then boarded a small bus back to the Wild Frontiers base lodge where Endicott was seen getting out of the vehicle barefoot in a video obtained by DailyMail.com. Image released by Wild Frontiers tour company on Monday shows American tourist Kim Endicott, (right), and field guide Jean-Paul Mirenge, (left) a day after they were rescued She is yet to speak publicly about her ordeal but workers at the safari lodge said she was in 'good spirits' on Sunday and Monday. Meanwhile Tuesdays announcement puts 'kidnapping' as among the overseas travel hazards, which also include crime, terrorism, civil unrest, natural disasters, health hazards, and other dangers. The new 'K' indicator for the potential to be kidnapped is being issued for 35 countries. DailyMail.com obtained footage of the moment Endicott returned to camp, barefoot, in a van after being collected from the Congolese border. She was helped inside by armed guards President Trump tweeted that her captors should be brought to justice 'openly and quickly' The Department says the new category was added as part of an effort to give Americans comprehensive information about travel safety. Among the countries making the initial list are Afghanistan, Mexico, Lebanon, Venezuela and Uganda. The Department lists five states in Mexico that are Americans are advised against travelling to under any circumstances. They include the states of Colima Guerrero, Michoacan, Sinaloa and Tamaulipas. Other countries included on the for a risk of kidnapping and hostage taking include Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti and Iran. In a statement the Department said: 'The U.S. Department of State has no greater responsibility than the safety and welfare of Americans overseas. 'The Bureau of Consular Affairs works closely with the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs and the entire U.S. interagency to serve and protect Americans overseas and to prevent and resolve cases of kidnapping and hostage taking.' A police helicopter pilot could have been 'dangerously misled' by an incorrect maintenance manual before a crash that killed him and nine others, an inquiry heard. The aircraft crashed onto the roof of the Clutha bar in Glasgow on November 29, 2013, killing pilot David Traill, two crew members and seven customers. Marcus Cook, senior inspector at the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) was questioned by Donald Findlay QC, representing the family of victim Robert Jenkins, at the inquiry on Wednesday. The court hear that David Traill (pictured) may have been misled by the helicopter's maintenance manual A helicopter crashed onto the roof of the Clutha bar in Glasgow on November 29, 2013, killing pilot David Traill, two crew members and seven customers. Emergency services are pictured on the scene of the incident Mr Findlay asked Mr Cook if the pilot would have three to four minutes from one engine on the helicopter losing power due to fuel shortage and the second doing so. Mr Cook said it would not be minutes, but kilograms of fuel. He said: 'The maintenance manual is incorrect. It would be three to four kilograms - hence about a minute.' Mr Cook said he did not know how the mistake occurred and the maintenance manual had since been changed. Mr Findlay asked: 'If the pilot Captain Traill knew about the gap and understood it to be three or four minutes, he had been badly misled? 'If he knew,' Mr Cook replied. 'And dangerously misled,' Mr Findlay added. The wreckage of the helicopter was lifted clear following the crash (Andrew Milligan/PA) Mr Cook said: 'Your words.' Mr Findlay asked: 'Is there anything wrong with my words?' 'No,' Mr Cook replied. He said it was 'probably but maybe unlikely' that the pilot was aware of the manual as it was for maintenance. He said the pilot would have had 40 seconds to react when the first engine flamed out. When the second engine followed, there would have been less than 10 seconds to react. The inquiry is taking place at Hampden Park in Glasgow (Andrew Milligan/PA) He said there were indications the pilot attempted to have the helicopter auto-rotate to land with some degree of safety, but this did not work. Mr Cook said the first low fuel light, of five fuel warnings, would have come on when the pilot was around Bothwell, which is about 11 road miles from Glasgow city centre, and at that time he would have been expected to land within 10 minutes. The inquiry heard the AAIB report indicates the helicopter then went to Uddingston and Bargeddie. Mr Findlay asked: 'Why would anyone with the warnings and the knowledge of the amount of fuel on board then carry out an operation at Uddingston, let alone going on to Bargeddie, in that situation? Mr Cook said: 'I've absolutely no idea,' adding that he would not have done so. Mr Findlay asked Mr Cook how the crash happened. He replied: 'Unfortunately we could not come to a positive conclusion apart from not landing in 10 minutes.' The purpose of the FAI is to determine the cause of the deaths, establish whether they could have been prevented and enable the sheriff to make recommendations that could prevent fatalities in similar circumstances. More than 100 people were at the Clutha Vaults pub when the helicopter, returning to its base on the banks of the River Clyde, crashed through the roof. The inquiry is expected to involve around three months of evidence spread over six calendar months this year. The uncle and cousin of career criminal Henry Vincent, fatally stabbed in a botched burglary, have been ordered to repay just 1 each of the thousands they swindled from a vulnerable homeowner. David Vincent Snr, 51, and his 27-year-old son, also called David, conned Robert Etheridge for 6,000 by convincing him he needed urgent building work on his house in Dartford, Kent. The pair were jailed after pleading guilty in April last year, just three weeks after their 37-year-old relative Henry was killed. Together with a third man, they conned the 60-year-old, who was off work sick at the time, into believing fascia boards were rotten and his loft was infested with rodents, bird nests and maggots. David Vincent Snr and David Vincent Jnr after their brief hearing at Maidstone Crown Court on Wednesday They even showed him three dead rats as part of their deceit, and tried to extort a further 7,000. The conmen were jailed for fraud at Maidstone Crown Court in Kent in April last year and returned on Wednesday for confiscation proceedings. Career criminal Henry Vincent was wanted for another break-in when he died in April last year But when the court heard the fraudsters had no realisable assets, Vincent Snr and his son were ordered to repay the nominal 1 sum. Judge Charles Macdonald QC gave them seven days to forfeit the cash, or serve seven days' imprisonment in default. Their accomplice, 37-year-old John Baker, was also ordered to repay the paltry 1 within seven days or serve seven days in default as he too has no assets. But if the men come into money or assets in the future it would still be open to the court to seize them and award compensation to their victim. The total benefit of their fraud was stated during the hearing as 6,100 - the money taken from Mr Etheridge plus interest. Prosecutor Trevor Wright said: 'These are three defendants who appear for confiscation hearing. 'There are no recoverable assets. In the circumstances, I ask the court to nominate 1 in the case of each of these defendants. 'If at any point in the future this matter comes back before the court, the application, in time, will be made for compensation.' David Snr, wore a grey jacket, shirt and jeans at the hearing. His son was in a black jumper with blue jeans, and Baker wore tracksuit bottoms with a jacket. Their defence barrister Mark Dacey did not speak during the case. In a brief hearing, the judge told the men: 'Each defendant has shown he has no recoverable assets. 'Should there not be payment, the defendant will serve seven days imprisonment in default.' Vincent Snr still faces paying almost 24,000 in compensation in relation to a similar rogue trader scam, and was given just six months to pay at another court hearing two months ago. Richard Osborn-Brooks was released without charge after he left Henry Vincent with a fatal stab wound last year The scam involving the Vincents and Baker wearing jackets emblazoned with 'Ideal Home Improvements', was discovered when a concerned Mr Etheridge contacted his insurance company and police were alerted. A genuine builder who later inspected the work carried out concluded it was 'valueless, non-urgent and bodged', the court heard. There were also no infestations. Vincent Snr and his son, both from Orpington in Kent, were jailed for 21 months' imprisonment and 18 months respectively. Baker, from Eltham, south east London, was also sentenced to 18 months behind bars. All three pleaded guilty to fraud. The sentencing hearing took place three weeks after Henry Vincent died after the break-in at the home of pensioner Richard Osborn-Brooks, then 78, and his wife, Maureen, 76, in Hither Green, south east London, at 12.30am on April 4 last year. The crook, an unemployed and single dad of four from Swanley, Kent, fled the scene with an accomplice but collapsed in the street and died later from the stab wound to his upper body. Former RAC employee Mr Osborn-Brooks was initially arrested on suspicion of murder but later released without charge. The Vincents and Baker had targeted Mr Etheridge in November 2017, claiming a pigeon was stuck on the roof and offering to remove it. Having gained access using a ladder, Mr Etheridge saw his fascia boards being pulled away and was told they were rotten. The court heard he was quoted 1,100 and felt intimidated into paying. He was subsequently swindled out of more money when the men falsely claimed rain had leaked through the roof, beams were rotting, and there were infestations of rats, maggots and bird nests. The cash Mr Etheridge handed over was made up of 5,000 in savings, and 1,000 which was 'club float money' he had in his home. Despite being jailed for 21 months, Vincent Snr, who lives with his second wife, their young children and his ageing father was released in October last year. He was previously jailed for six years in 2003 after he and six other members of the Vincent clan, including his now deceased nephew, duped OAPs out of almost 450,000. Two months ago, the rogue trader was back in court for again fleecing elderly homeowners out of almost 24,000 in a similar scam. David Vincent Snr and his son pleaded guilty to fraud and were jailed in April last year But a judge spared him prison, saying he had decided to 'call his bluff' to see if he could stick to his promise to put his criminal past behind him. On that occasion Vincent Snr admitted two offences of fraud relating to bogus building work at two properties in Plumstead and Eltham in south east London. They were committed around the same time as the fraud on Mr Etheridge, but the career conman was not interviewed about them by police until he was already behind bars. In February this year, he was handed a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years, ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and made subject to a six-month tagged curfew between 7pm and 7am. However at that hearing, Vincent Snr, said to be earning 'meagre wages' as an electrician's mate, was given just six months to pay full compensation. When Judge David Griffith-Jones QC was asked to give him more time to pay, he replied that Vincent Snr could sell any assets he had to raise the money. The offences involved deliberate targeting of both victims, telling them their roofs were leaking and needed urgent repairs. He also poured water in various parts of the properties, and claimed he had been bitten by a rat infestation during one inspection. At that sentencing hearing, defence barrister Philip Rowley told the court Vincent Snr had realised since his release from prison that he was 'too old' to continue committing crime and wanted to 'lead a productive life'. Theresa May shared a light moment with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at today's crunch summit to determine how long Britain will have to stay in the EU. As the other EU leaders were taking their places at the table in Brussels, Merkel approached May and showed her an iPad. The Prime Minister pointed at it as her German counterpart smiled before they both burst into laughter. Mrs Merkel then showed the tablet to two colleagues, who gave more muted reactions, as did European Council President Donald Tusk. Body language expert Judi James suggested May's 'pantomime over-reaction' showed her desire to gain approval from the German leader - saying she was 'laughing like you laugh at your boss's dog photos'. Meanwhile, it was reported the two leaders were laughing at a side by side photograph of them taking questions in their respective parliaments this afternoon - both wearing a similar cobalt blue jacket. Mrs May shared a joke with German chancellor Angela Merkel tonight, ahead of the PM's pitch to EU leaders in which she is asking for a delay to Brexit until June 30 at the latest James told MailOnline: 'Mays almost pantomime response suggests she is keen to gain approval and even friendship from the German leader as her over-congruent reaction to what she is being shown looks otherwise out of character. 'Its the kind of response you see when the boss brings photos of their pet Labra-doodle or their kids to work and employees trying to curry favour respond with expressions and coos of delight and awe.' James suggested the episode showed the two leaders sharing a 'moment of exaggerated bonding'. 'As she looks at the screen May raises her brows and opens her mouth in a gesture of surprised delight,' she said. 'Her response goes down well as Merkel tilts her head and looks up to evaluate and enjoy Mays reaction. 'May takes her rituals one step further by pointing at the screen before straightening up with her mouth open. 'The rapport builds here as Merkel mirrors Mays expression, leading May to up things a notch by stabbing her finger at the screen and leaning back and roaring with laughter, which again receives the seal of approval from Merkels mirrored laughter.' The two national leaders, both dressed in cobalt blue, appeared captivated by something on Mrs Merkel's iPad at the start of the meeting in Brussels They then shared the joke with European Council president Donald Tusk, who saw the funny side James said May's reaction contrasted with the men who Merkel showed the tablet to. 'A couple of them look distinctly under-whelmed while Tusk just looks faintly awkward,' she added. It was a rare moment of levity for Mrs May, who faces the humiliating prospect of EU leaders forcing a delay of up to a year on the UK. Mrs May is currently begging them for one that runs until June 30 or until a deal can get through Parliament. This evening she is giving a pitch on her plans - before dining alone while the 27 other leaders discuss her request. They are almost certain to reject it and force a delay lasting between December 31 this year and March 31, 2020. Mrs Merkel wants a gentler, but longer extension, into 2020 - reflecting splits among the EU27 that are set to delay a ruling long into tonight. French President Emmanuel Macron (pictured at the council meeting today) has adopted a far tougher line on the delay than Mrs Merkel She said: 'What is important is that any extension enables us to leave at the point at which we ratify our Withdrawal Agreement. I know many people will be frustrated that the summit is taking place at all. The UK should have left by now'. President Macron has adopted a far tougher stance by calling for regular 'behaviour reviews' of the UK, a bonfire of its EU powers and posts and a 'Boris-proof' lock preventing a new Tory leader causing havoc within the EU if she stands down. The French president appeared to wink today as he arrived in the Belgian capital after he had been urged not to 'humiliate' the Prime Minister. He also raised the spectre of a no-deal Brexit, possibly on Friday. 'We must understand today why this request, what is the political project which justifies it and what are the clear proposals?' he said. 'It is 34 months since the British referendum, and the key for us is that we are able to pursue the European project in a coherent way. 'I believe deeply that we are carrying out a European rebirth, and I don't want the subject of Brexit to get in the way of that.' Before taking off for Belgium a frustrated Mrs May blasted MPs for not voting through her EU divorce deal after Tory Eurosceptic Henry Smith accusing her of throwing away 1billion-a-month in payment to Brussels if she accepts a longer Article 50 extension tonight. Mrs May hit back: 'We could have been outside the EU by now if we'd managed to get the deal through Parliament and I'm continuing to work to deliver Brexit'. But with talks with Labour set to start again tomorrow, Mrs May and Jeremy Corbyn dodged the subject completely during Prime Minister's Questions. A blogger has risked his life to post pictures on Twitter of centres where he alleges Chinese people are sent if social media accounts are found on their phones. The blogger known as Kasim claims that in China's heavily Muslim Xinjiang region those caught with Facebook on their phones are sent to re-education' centres to clamp down on their social media use. Re-education centres have swept across Xinjiang, a territory half the area of India. The government says the camps are re-education and training facilities, and have been highly successful in stopping attacks previously blamed on Islamist militants and separatists, but rights groups say they are internment camps. In China's Xinjiang region police are accused of seizing residents' phones and installing spyware on them to restrict what they can access. A blogger named Kasim said they are sent to 'concentration camps' if they are found with social media on their phones. He said he risked his life to post pictures of the locations of two of the camps on Twitter. One of the buildings is pictured Kasim posted a series of Tweets which include pictures of two buildings he claims are used as the centres. He said that people are being sentenced to 15 years there if police catch them with any social media like Facebook or Twitter on their phones. He described them as 'concentration camps' and posted co-ordinates of their locations. He also posted other pictures of locations around the secretive region which is says is like 'living in Nazi Germany'. Kasim posted a picture of this street in the region which has a surveillance camera A pictured of a CCTV camera in Chinas terrifying police state Kasim, who claims he used specialist sensors to bypass the Chinese Government's sensors and post his Tweets, told The Sun Online: 'China doesn't want you to know what's happening outside of China, so they've built a firewall. 'Police check your phone looking for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram any app not made in China. 'If they catch you with any of these apps, or in contact with someone abroad even someone from China who has now left the country they accuse you of hating communism, of hating China. 'Almost every police [officer] has handheld equipment they connect to your phone with a USB where they can scan everything on your phone, all your photos, everyone you've ever spoken to. Kasim claims he used specialist sensors to bypass the Chinese Government's sensors and post his Tweets. One of the pictures of what he claims is one of the camps is pictured He said police transfer everything to their own system, adding that 'iPhones only take about three minutes to scan' and other phones can take hours. He added those with Twitter or Facebook on their phone will be sentenced to 15 years in concentration camps.' In his latest tweet, he said: 'I risk my life to take some photos about China's Concentration camps and some street scenes, There are photos of two concentration camps in Yining of them used to be hostipal. A series of tweets. Retweet please. This is Ying hayat Concentration camp. He also claimed that in the region police are seizing residents' phones and installing spyware on them to restrict what they can access. Reports of police in China checking mobile phones is believed to be common and has been confirmed by rights groups. Kasim's picture of what he claims is one of the camps is pictured The blogger known as Kasim has posted a series of Tweets which include pictures of two buildings he claims are 'concentration camps', along with co-ordinates of their locations. Reports of police in China checking mobile phones is believed to be common and has been confirmed by rights groups. Lijan Zhao of the Chinese Embass said the term 'concentration camps'is 'Western propaganda'. He said China simply runs 'educational centres' to combat terror in which 'students' can be kept indefinitely. Chinese authorities in the heavily Muslim region of Xinjiang are believed to have ensnared tens, possibly hundreds of thousands of Muslim Chinese - and even foreign citizens - in mass re-education centres since spring last year. Such detention campaigns have swept across Xinjiang, a territory half the area of India, leading to what a US commission on China said is 'the largest mass incarceration of a minority population in the world today'. Chinese officials have largely avoided comment on the camps, but some are quoted in state media as saying that ideological changes are needed to fight separatism and Islamic extremism. Omir Bekali, a former detainee of one of the camps, said it was meant to strip detainees of their religious belief. He said inmates are asked to sing patriotic songs, conduct self-criticism and eat pork on Fridays, a holy day for Muslims, despite doing so being against their religious beliefs. Xinjiang deputy governor Erkin Tuniyaz and deputy foreign minister Zhang Hanhui previously said about the centres: 'Xinjiang's counter-terrorism and de-extremism efforts have created a new way to solve the symptoms and root cause of the difficult global issue of counter-terrorism, and are worthy of praise'. Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar wiped away a tear on Wednesday as she issued a call to end President Donald Trump's travel ban, calling it an 'invisible wall' against Muslims. 'I came to this country because I believed in the promise of liberty, equality, and justice,' said Omar, whose parents fled violence in her native Somalia and migrated to the United States. 'Trump may not have gotten his border wall but he made an invisible wall keeping out people around the world based solely on their religion.' Omar's emotional moment came when she joined other Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill in pushing a bill - the No Ban Act - that would repeal the president's travel ban. Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar wiped away a tear on Wednesday as she issued a call to end President Donald Trump's travel ban President Donald Trump's travel ban suspended refugees from entering the United States from seven countries - including Omar's birth place of Somalia 'When I ran for office I ran on the promise to end the president's hateful effort to ban a single religion from entering this country,' she said. 'I have said this before and I will say it again: I believe this ban will go down as a moral stain on this country's history,' Omar, one of the first Muslim American women in Congress, added. Omar's plea to end the ban comes as she faces fire from Republicans over comments she made last month in which she described the September 11th terror attacks as 'some people did something.' In a speech at a fundraiser for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Omar noted 'CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something, and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.' Several Republicans pounced on her words after footage from the event made it on to social media. 'First Member of Congress to ever describe terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11 as 'some people who did something.' Unbelievable,' said GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw in a tweet. Omar's emotional moment came when she joined other Democratic lawmakers in pushing a bill - the No Ban Act - that would repeal the president's travel ban Omar's plea to end the ban comes as she faces fire from Republicans over her description of the 9/11 terror attacks as 'some people did something' 'Ilhan Omar isn't just anti-Semitic she's anti-American. Nearly 3,000 Americans lost their lives to Islamic terrorists on 9/11, yet Omar diminishes it as: 'Some people did something.' Democrat leaders need to condemn her brazen display of disrespect,' wrote Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. The Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota pushed back against her critics, tweeting they were guilty of 'dangerous incitement, given the death threats I face.' 'This is dangerous incitement, given the death threats I face. I hope leaders of both parties will join me in condemning it. My love and commitment to our country and that of my colleagues should never be in question. We are ALL Americans!,' she wrote. Omar, who is one of the first Muslim women in Congress, came under fire earlier this year for suggesting that supporters of Israel were urging lawmakers to have 'allegiance to a foreign country.' It was at least the third time Omar has forced older, pro-Israel Democrats who run the House into awkward territory over U.S.-Israeli policy. The first was her claim, later retracted, that moneyed Jews buy the support of U.S. lawmakers via a pro-Israel group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, with a strategy that's 'all about the Benjamins baby.' The Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota is one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress The House ultimately passed a resolution condemning all hate language but Republicans criticized Democrats for not including Omar's name in it. On Wednesday, Omar shared the story of how she and her family fled her homeland after the Somalian Civil War in 1991 and spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya before coming to the United States. 'I came to this country because I believed, I believed even as a child the promise of liberty, equality and justice,' she said. 'My birth country is now on the so-called list of countries that are banned from coming into the United States,' she added. 'So I think about the little Ilhans who, like me, would like to be able to experience the American dream. They will no longer be able to fulfill that promise.' President Trump's travel ban lowered the number of refugees admitted into the United States to 50,000 and suspended refugee entry from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. The Democrats' bill would amend the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Act to curtail broad language in present law that allows Trump to suspend the entry of specific groups into the United States. It is unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled Senate. President Donald Trump celebrated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's election victory with a tweet about himself on Wednesday. 'Trump flags being waived at the Bibi @Netanyahu VICTORY celebration last night!' he wrote on Twitter, accompanied by a photo of Netanyahu supporter waving a Likud Party flag with one hand and a Trump 'Make America Great Again' flag with the other. The picture was shot in the wee hours of Tuesday night in Tel Aviv, as conservative Israelis celebrated exit polls predicting Netanyahu would serve a fifth term in office. Trump began a 10-minute White House press gaggle Wednesday morning by congratulating Netanyahu on maintaining his power. 'It may be a little early, but I'm hearing hes won it and won it in good fashion,' he said, calling his Israeli counterpart 'a great ally' and 'a friend.' President Donald Trump tweeted a congratulatory message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday that looked more like a campaign promotion for his own re-election Netanyahu, pictured with his wife Sara, will serve a fifth term as prime minister after right-wing and center-right parties won enough Knesset seats to form a governing coalition Trump wsa buoyed Wednesday by the news of his ally's victory as his administration works toward presenting a Middle East peace plan that will be more achievable with Netanyahu in power Tuesday's national balloting appeared to deliver the same number of seats in the 120-member Knesset to Netanyahu's Likud and the rival centrist Blue and White Party. But given his alliances with religious-rightist parties, Netanyahu will remain prime minister. 'We didn't win in this round. We will make Likud's life hell in the opposition," Yair Lapid, number two in the centrist party led by former military chief Benny Gantz, said in a statement carried on Israeli television. Netanyahu's office said Wednesday that Trump had called him from aboard air Force One on his way to Texas, and 'warmly congratulated' him. The prime minister thanked the president for his 'great support for Israel,' which he said included the White House recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. Trump responded in a tweet that he '[s]poke to Bibi @Netanyahu to congratulate him on a great and hard-fought win. The United States is with him and the People of Israel all the way!' Netanyahu campaigned on his foreign policy victories and tight relationships with Trump and other pro-Israel heads of state. A Netanyahu supporter wearing a mask with Trump's face marched with a sign reading in Hebrew 'guardian of Israel' and a Likud Party electoral portrait of Netanyahu in Jerusalem last week Trump and Netanyahu are strong allies; they held up a signed proclamation last month at the White House recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights Trump said at the White House that Netanyahu's victory will make it easier for his administration to promote an ambitious Middle East peace plan the ultimate deal for the billionaire real estate tycoon. 'I never made it a promise, but everybody said you can't have peace in the Middle East with Israel and the Palestinians,' he told reporters, adding: 'I think we have a chance.' 'And I think we have, now, a better chance with Bibi having won.' Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday during a Senate hearing that the U.S. will present a Middle East peace soon. 'We have been working on a set of ideas that we hope to present before too long,' Pompeo said. A television company that unlawfully filmed patients at a maternity clinic for a Channel 4 programme on stillbirths has been fined 120,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). London-based True Visions Productions (TVP) set up CCTV-style cameras and microphones in examination rooms at the walk-in centre at Addenbrooke's Hospital, in Cambridge. The company had been given permission to film by the city's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. But an investigation found that TVP failed to adequately inform patients, who were attending over pregnancy concerns, before they were filmed. London-based True Visions Productions (TVP) set up CCTV-style cameras and microphones in examination rooms at the walk-in centre at Addenbrooke's Hospital (pictured), in Cambridge Steve Eckersley, ICO director of investigations, said: 'Patients would not have expected to have been filmed in this situation, and many will have been very distressed when they learned such a private and potentially traumatic moment had been recorded. 'The recorded footage would have included the sensitive personal data of patients who could already be suffering anxiety and stress. 'We recognise the public interest in programmes that aim to educate and inform, but those responsible for making them must operate within the law, particularly when the subject involves the processing of highly sensitive medical information.' The filming, for Channel 4's Child Of Mine programme, started in July 2017 but stopped in November that year after the methods were revealed by the press. An investigation found 'limited notices' advising of the filming had been placed near cameras and in the waiting room, where letters were also left on tables. But the ICO found they 'did not provide adequate explanations to patients, with one notice incorrectly stating that mums and visitors would not be filmed without permission'. Data protection laws state that personal information must be processed fairly and transparently, and the body said 'a patient attending the clinic would not have reasonably expected there to be cameras in examination rooms and would expect to be made aware of any filming'. The company had been given permission to film by the city's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (file photo) The unlawfully obtained footage was not broadcast in the documentary, which was shown in October last year. A True Vision Productions spokeswoman said: 'We are disappointed in the outcome of the ICO's decision after we made strong legal representations that their approach is wrong. 'We are considering the decision and the potential for any appeal with our legal advisers.' A Channel 4 spokesman added: 'We note TVP's statement and are supportive of their position.' The trust said no footage was ever viewed by anyone without the 'express consent' of the patient and was automatically deleted after a few days. 'Our participation in this documentary in 2017 was driven by feedback from patients who feel that more needs to be done to raise understanding about stillbirth in the UK and we strongly support the view that stillbirth, while a difficult subject, is one which requires much greater awareness and discussion,' a spokesman said. 'While protocols were in place to protect privacy, we acknowledge the ICO decision and we are sorry for any distress caused.' Christian mother Asia Bibi spent nine years on death row after being accused of blasphemy Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan has promised Christian mother Asia Bibi will leave the country in a matter of weeks, five months after she was freed from death row on blasphemy charges. Ms Bibi, 53, spent nine years on death row before she was acquitted last October, but she still faces grave threats in her homeland. Protesters have viciously continued calling for her death after she was accused of outraging the Prophet Muhammad. 'There is a little bit of a complication. And I can't speak on the media about [it],' Mr Khan told the BBC, adding 'I can assure you she is safe and she will be leaving in weeks.' It is thought Ms Bibi will be reunited with her three daughters who earlier fled to Canada where they were granted asylum. A source close to Ms Bibi said: She is not safe until she gets out. There are powerful people who want her dead. Imran Khan speaking in July last year, he said the Ms Bibi was safe and travel away would be facilitated within weeks The daughters of Ms Bibi pose with an image of their mother while standing outside their home in Pakistan in 2010 Ms Bibi was accused of defiling the name of the Prophet Mohammed when she rejected calls from Muslim women to convert to Islam The ruling has infuriated Islamist protesters who say the 53-year-old 'should be murdered' for her crimes. They have warned the mother she won't be able to escape, as there are 'Muslims everywhere who want to kill her'. Ms Bibi's lawyer, who returned to Islamabad after fleeing the country amid death threats, called January's decision a victory for Pakistan's constitution and rule of law. The three-judge Supreme Court panel had 'insisted on very strict proofs of blasphemy' and found none, Mr Malook said. Pakistan's Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa who led the panel of judges dismissed the petition filed by radical religious leaders. The extremists had petitioned the court to overturn its acquittal and send her back to prison for execution. He said in court that Ms Bibi's accusers were guilty of perjury and if the case had not been so sensitive, they should have been jailed for life. 'The image of Islam we are showing to the world gives me much grief and sorrow,' Mr Khosa said. Bibi, a Roman Catholic from Punjab province, was sentenced to death in 2010 in what swiftly became Pakistan's most infamous blasphemy case. Blasphemy remains a massively inflammatory issue in Pakistan, where even unproven accusations of insulting Islam can spark lynchings. Many cases see Muslims accusing Muslims, and rights activists say blasphemy charges are frequently used to settle personal scores. Minorities - particularly Christians - are often caught in the crossfire. The allegations against Bibi date back to 2009, when Muslim women accused her of blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed, a charge punishable by death under Pakistan law. The mother of five was harvesting fruit with a group of Muslim women when a row broke out over a bucket of water. Islamist protesters (pictured protesting her in November 2018) have called for the 53-year-old to be lynched A supporter of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), a hardline religious party, stands over an image of Ms Bibi as they protest her acquittal last November The women said that because she had used a cup they could no longer touch it, because her faith had made it unclean. Prosecutors alleged that in the ensuing row the women said Ms Bibi should convert to Islam. It was claimed she made offensive comments about the Prophet in response. At her home she was given a beating, during which her accusers say she confessed to blasphemy. Police arrested her and she was sentenced to death. Ashley Luff, 32, ambushed Nathan Birch, 24 (pictured) outside TGI Friday's in Fareham, Hampshire armed with a knife and wearing gloves A jealous restaurant worker was convicted of trying to murder his ex-girlfriend's new partner by stabbing him 17 times after seeing the couple's first kiss streamed on Facebook Live. Ashley Luff, 32, ambushed Chantelle Price's new boyfriend Nathan Birch as he left work in Fareham, Hampshire, having become enraged after seeing the video of the pair's first kiss on the social media site. Armed with a knife and wearing gloves, Luff lay in wait, punching 24-year-old Mr Birch off his bicycle as he left work before repeatedly plunging the blade into him in a frenzied attack. Now Mr Birch and Miss Price, 24, have spoken about the horrific attack - but revealed it has 'made them stronger' as they are now engaged. Chef Mr Birch also said the attempted murder has had a serious impact on his mental health as he must now take sleeping pills as he 'wakes up every hour' and is 'always looking over his shoulder' at work. TGI Fridays worker Mr Birch suffered three wounds to his chest, one of which was 'directly over the heart', as well as wounds to his neck, back and arms and a punctured lung. Jurors at Portsmouth Crown Court, Hants, yesterday convicted Luff of attempting to murder Mr Birch after a week-long trial. He grinned and nodded as he heard the verdict. Speaking outside the court, Mr Birch said: 'It's made us stronger to go through that sort of thing. 'Chantelle has been great all the way through with everything. We got engaged on New Year's Eve, it felt right. 'Now this is out of the way and I don't have to worry about it, it has pushed me [and I want] to get married even more and start to live my life. 'Once it happened and I came out of hospital and started going back to work, obviously I was always looking over my shoulder. 'I know he's been locked up but I never knew what was going to happen or whether someone else was going to come after me. 'My sleeping at night became worse - I had to go to the doctor to get sleeping pills and that's still continuing. I keep waking up every hour or every couple of hours.' Miss Price, who split with Luff after five years, said: 'We can now get on with our lives. Hopefully we will get married next year.' Opening the case, prosecutor Simon Jones said just two weeks before the attack on August 19, last year, Luff saw a video of Miss Price and Mr Birch sharing their first kiss on Facebook. Angry with his former girlfriend of five years, Luff confronted Miss Price before sending a message to her new boyfriend telling him: 'This has hurt me and broke me, I still want and love her - it's killing me.. You better look after her.' The court heard Luff then called Mr Birch's workplace at TGI Friday's in Fareham, Hants, to ask when he would be working, before launching his 'deliberate and carefully planned' attack. Mr Jones said: 'The defendant suddenly appeared in front of Nathan. 'The defendant embarked upon a violent, frenzied attack, punching him to his body and although Nathan Birch tried to defend himself he was overpowered - it was no use. 'That's because the defendant had a knife on him and he was using it to stab Nathan multiple times.' Terrified Miss Price became concerned for her boyfriend's safety after he phoned her upon leaving work and was then attacked. During the trial, she said she could hear her ex-boyfriend Luff in the background before he fled the scene, leaving Mr Birch severely wounded. Luff knifed Mr Birch with a blade over and over two weeks after seeing him kiss his ex-girlfriend Chantelle Price in a Facebook Live video, Portsmouth Crown Court (pictured) heard However, Luff tried to claim he had never intended to seriously hurt Mr Birch, but was in fact just trying to steal his bike and had ended up acting in self-defence. Despite being brutally attacked, Mr Birch escaped when Luff fell as he tried to kick his victim into the ditch. When paramedics arrived at TGI Fridays, where Mr Birch worked, they had to re-inflate his collapsed lung and rush him to hospital. Gloves found in a nearby silver BMW were soaked in Mr Birch's blood.. Police also found the blood-coated knife in a nearby drain. Judge Roger Hetherington told Luff, who has convictions for attempted robbery and common assault, he would sentence him on May 17. The judge remanded the ASK Italian restaurant worker in custody. Speaking after the conviction, prosecutor Mr Jones added: 'Ashley Luff pre-armed himself with a knife and waited for Nathan Birch, who was riding his bike on his way home. 'There is no doubt that Nathan Birch could have died from his injuries, had he had not managed to escape and seek medical help. 'Ashley Luff claimed he acted in self-defence however there was no evidence to support his claims. We hope that with this verdict, Nathan Birch and his girlfriend will now be able to move on with their lives.' Holdson Marcelin, 38, was arrested in Palmetto Bay, Florida on Saturday on charges of burglary, criminal mischief and causing property damage The homeless Florida man who police say smeared his blood on the walls inside a local municipal building, causing $500,000 in property damage, appears to be the same person who Chicago Police arrested for a similar incident at a Trump Tower almost two years ago. Investigators in Palmetto Bay, Florida tracked down and arrested Holdson Marcelin, 38, on Saturday, charging him with burglary, criminal mischief and causing property damage. Local police who said they've had previous run-ins with Marcelin, explained that they had recognized him when they saw him on village hall surveillance footage recorded three days prior. The cameras allegedly recorded Macelin using a trash can to smash the glass at the building's front entrance around 11pm on April 3 before rampaging through the facility. Police say surveillance video shows Marcelin using a garbage can to smash the front entrance of Palmetto Bay's village hall building, around 11pm on April 3 Marcelin allegedly is seen on camera overturning office equipment and filing cabinets while destroying other items in the front lobby, including a large television. Police say he cut himself during the incident and started smearing his blood on the walls Marcelin reportedly was seen flipping over desks and filing cabinets while destroying other items in the front lobby, including a big-screen television. Police say the 38-year-old cut his hand during the incident before smearing his own blood on the walls and an American flag, which they say he dragged on his way out of the facility when he eventually fled the scene, according to ABC Action News. Chicago police said Marcelin broke glass, threw tables and chairs, and poured wine on the floors inside a Trump Tower restaurant, causing more than $10,000 in damage Palmetto Bay Mayor Karyn Cunningham was stunned when they saw the damage the next day. 'It almost seemed like some kind of rage,' she said. 'If there is something that has been taken, it would likely be a couple of days before they could figure that out, but at a glance, as you look around, based on what you said, it appears more in keeping with someone just set on ripping things apart as opposed to looking for because there's plenty of electronics and all kinds of things that could have been stolen, but instead they were just destroyed.' This isn't the first time Marcelin has been booked for rampant and seemingly-random destruction of property. He was arrested for breaking glass, throwing tables and chairs, and pouring wine on the floors inside a Trump Tower restaurant in Chicago, causing more than $10,000 in damage on October 3, 2017, according to Patch and the Chicago Tribune. Marcelin remains in jail without bond. A lawyer has not been listed on jail records. Former and current staffers to President Donald Trump felt scorned by other social clubs in Washington, D.C., so they created their own The 45 Club. Although not entirely a secret club, a former Trump campaign staffer familiar with the club told Politico that most details are kept under wraps because '[i]n this political climate, there's a lot of people who would not have pure intentions of coming.' Another former campaign staffer felt as though the club existed because current staffers are barred from all the other social clubs in the metro area. 'They're trying to create an exclusive club because they've been banned from every other exclusive club in D.C.,' the staffer said. Members of the club wear matching lapel pins that look like .45 caliber bullet casings Former Trump communications director Anthony Scaramucci will sometimes attend the 45 Club meetings and speak with members Members of the private club wear a lapel pin that depicts the butt end of .45 caliber bullet casing. It's common for alumni of presidential campaigns and administrations to form groups, but the 45 Club is more narrowly known as a refuge for junior staffers who have little connections in the capital because Trump often time hires 'outsiders.' 'When you've kept the Washington Illuminati at a distance, I think you're more likely to form groups of your own,' explained one club member. D.C. has largely shunned Trump staffers and supporters in general. Often times, dating app profiles will specifically state that the user will not talk to someone if they support Trump. Although Trump's name is not associated with the club, the number 45 serves double meaning both in their lapel pins and with Trump serving as the 45th U.S. president Big names within the Trump-world oftentimes attend 45 Club events, including 2020 Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale The two men who started the 45 Club, ironically, were never on the Trump campaign and never served in the administration, according to Kevin Chmielewski, a member of the campaign's advance team who went on to serve at the Environmental Protection Agency. 'We were all kind of pissed about it, because it's like, 'Who are you to do that?' Chmielewski said. The events, held at locations throughout the city not shared until an invitee RSVPs, often feature figures close with Trump, like his short-term communications director Anthony Scaramucci, former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, and Trump's 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale. A majority of the members of the 45 Club are young men, but overall, it appears the club is rather tame. '[H]aving survived the Trump campaign was hazing enough,' one club member said, citing that there was no sort of initiation ritual. Instead they hold gathering in nice places, like Morton's Steakhouse near the White House and Capital Yacht Club in the Warf, where link-minded and experienced individuals feel they have a safe space. Advertisement Many Americans struggle to make ends meet, but for those willing to live outside of the nation's largest cities it is possible to find a simpler way of life. A new report by GoBankingRates has crunched the numbers to identify the top cities where it's possible to live comfortably on less than $50,000 a year. Researchers calculated their results by using the 50/30/20 ratio, in which half of a person's income covers necessities, 30 percent goes toward discretionary items and 20 percent is for savings. Experts and the personal finance site factored in the cost of rent, groceries, utilities, transportation and health care under the 'necessities' category and then doubled the cost for every city to obtain the total income needed for each. This map illustrates the annual income needed in each of the top 10 most affordable cities in America Using that calculation, Springfield, Missouri ranked first in the nation on affordability, thanks in part to a low median rent of $495 a month. The city requires an income of $33,175.60 or $2,764.63 a month. However the median household income in Springfield is $29,563 below the state average of $37,934. With a population of 167,000, Springfield is the third-largest city in Missouri. It has a small town feel yet offers enough social and cultural options to feel like a city. El Paso, Texas ranked second on the list, with a needed income of just $34,692.56 or $2,891.05 per month. The border city has the second-lowest median rent on the list, at $595 a month, as well as low grocery and utility costs. With a population of 683,600, the city has a lot to offer, including proximity to Mexico and the Rio Grande. It's also been ranked one of America's safest cities several times. The median income is $44,416 well above the amount needed to live a comfortable life. Detroit ranked third on the list with a necessary income of $34,808.64, or $2,900.72 a month. Detroit has a population of 673,000 and a median income of $26,249. With a median rent of $600, the city is one of the more affordable places to live in America. Health care costs are also low, average about $230 a month. Fresno, California came in fourth, with a necessary annual income of $37,465.52 or $3,122.17 a month. California typically has a high cost of living, so Fresno's addition to the list is somewhat of a surprise. It has a median income of $41,455 and a population of 527,438. Rounding out the top five is Lexington, Kentucky, with a needed income of $37,729.04, or $3,144.09 a month. With a median rent of $750, living costs are relatively low in the city of 322,000 people. The median income in Lexington is $53,178 well above the amount needed to live the good life. This map illustrates how much residents take home after taxes on the average salary in each state. The darker green shades represent higher incomes, while darker blue shades indicate the lower range of post-tax income Next on the list was Albuquerque, New Mexico, which requires an income of $38,086.08 to live comfortably or $3,172.43 a month. The city has the lowest average monthly health insurance premium on the list - $224 and a low median monthly rent of $749. Albuquerque has a population of 558,545 and a median income of $47,413. In seventh place was Cincinnati, with a needed annual income of $39,036.80 a year, or $3,253.07 a month. The city has a population of 301,301 and a median income of $38,539. Wichita, Kansas came in eight place, with a bare minimum annual income of $39,387.20, or $3,282.27 a month. The city of 390,600 people has a median rent of $679 and a median income of $44,477. Tulsa, Oklahoma ranked ninth on the list, with a needed annual income of $40,075.04 - or $3,339.59. The city has a population of 401,800 and a median income of $47,005. Finally, Indianapolis rounds out the top 10, with a necessary annual income of $40,726.80, or $3,393.90 per month. The city of 872,700 people has a median rent of $775 and a low average cost of groceries at $335 a month. Median income is $59,566. A friend says Minnesota businessman Irwin Jacobs, 77, shot and killed his ailing wife before turning the gun on himself in a murder-suicide Wednesday morning A prominent Minnesota businessman and his ailing, wheelchair-bound wife have been found dead inside their sprawling mansion in what a friend of the couple described as a murder-suicide. According to the Hennepin County Sheriffs Office, officers responded to Irwin and Alexandra Jacobss Tanager Hill estate at 1700 Shoreline Drive in Orono shortly after 8.30am and discovered the bodies of a man and a woman in a bedroom. Dennis Mathisen, a close friend of the family, confirmed to the Minneapolis Star Tribune that the deceased were the Jacobs. According to Mathisen, Irwin fatally shot his wife before turning the gun on himself. He was 77 years old. The couple were reportedly found lying in a bed a next to a handgun. Police responded to the Jacobs family's 32-acre estate on Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota, and found Irwin and Alexandra Jacobs dead in a bed next to a handgun Alexandra and Irwin had lived in this 13,000-square-foot home in Orono for more than four decades The friend said he learned of the deaths and Irwin Jacobs' role in the murder-suicide from the mans grown son, Mark. Police have not officially identified the deceased, but said there is no risk to the public and that no suspect is being sought in their deaths. Mathisen revealed to the paper that Alexandra Jacobs had been confined to a wheelchair for the past year and was showing signs of dementia, and that her husband was distraught over the state of her health. Irwin L. Jacobs is pictured with his wife Alexandra and their three daughters When Mathisen last spoke to his friend three days before the tragedy, he said Irwin Jacobs sounded upbeat. Jacobs built his considerable wealth by buying, breaking up and selling failing companies for profit, earning him the moniker 'Irv the Liquidator' during the 1970s and 80s. Over the years, he served as CEO of several large corporations, including the now-bankrupt US boat-building giant Genmar Holdings. The family friend said Jacobs (pictured in 2000) was distraught over the health of his wife of 57 years, who was showing signs of dementia Jacobs, pictured in 2013, at one time planned to downsize and put his mansion on the market, but ultimately changed his mind In the 1980s, Jacobs owned a minority share of the Minnesota Vikings, which he sold in 1991. At the time of his death, Jacobs' portfolio included the household goods company JR Watkins Co, Jacobs Trading Co, and a host of other companies, among them multiple boat manufacturers. His son Mark, a graduate of Brown University, has served as CEO of Watkins Co since 1998. Irwin's son Mark Jacobs (pictured) reportedly told the family friend of his parents' murder-suicide He and Alexandra, who was an artist, had been married for 57 years and raised five children together. Their daughter Sheila has cerebral palsy and the Jacobses were said to have been major donors to the Special Olympics. In 2014, the family put their rambling hilltop estate on the market with a listing price of $22million, making it the second most expensive listing in the Twin Cities area at the time. The 32-acre property features a 13,000-square-foot main house, a guesthouse, a pool house and other structures. Speaking to the Star Tribune about his desire to downsize, Jacobs said of his six-bedroom, 10-bath abode that he had owned for more than 4 decades: I really thought I'd die here, but I didn't want to burden my wife if something happened to me.' Jacobs ultimately took the house off the market. Republican Scott Baio has launched an extraordinary attack on children's book author Laurel Snyder after she was invited to speak at his daughter's California private school on Monday. The former Happy Days star, 58, who is a staunch supporter of President Trump, described Snyder as 'vile' for her tweets critical of the Commander-in-chief. Taking to his own Twitter account, Baio wrote: 'This vile person spoke to my child and other children today at her school. See how she teaches her children to hate and disrespect people like President Trump and FLOTUS!' He added the hashtags 'classless'and trash'. Baio, who is father to 11-year-old daughter daughter Bailey, has been a registered Republican for decades, and famously spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2016. Scott Baio attached children's book author Laurel Snyder on Twitter for her anti-Trump postings. The actor is a staunch conservative and is pictured speaking at the 2016 Republican National Convention The actor didn't hold back when discussing the acclaimed author, who spoke at his daughter's private school Atlanta based Lauren Snyder is the author of six best-selling children's novels Snyder, meanwhile, is an acclaimed author of six children's novels including the best-selling National Book Award nominee Orphan Island. Baio took issue with several of the tweets Snyder has previously shared with her 9,800 Twitter followers. In February of this year she tweeted that Trump's State of the Union address was 'mostly echoes of the Holocaust'. She then tweeted: 'My kids are speculating whether @realDonaldTrump insisted Melania dye herself orange so that he could look normal by comparison'. Snyder has previously been critical of the Republican Administration, having shared multiple anti-Trump tweets Baio is a a friend and advocate of Trump. He is pictured with his wife Renee and daughter Bailey President alongside the President and Jeanine Pirro Baio (far right) is best known for his role as Chachi Arcola on Happy Days, which ran from 1974 until 1984 After Baio's Twitter attack on Snyder, many quickly sprang to the writer's defense. One asked the Hollywood actor: 'She's an author. She came to the school to discuss her (non-political) writing for young people, not her social media posts. Why harass for literally no reason? Good God, man, get a hobby.' Snyder thanked those who rallied around her, writing on Twitter Wednesday: 'I want to thank everyone in the #kidlit world (and beyond) for the support. Laurel thanked her followers for their support after Baio lashed out at her on Twitter 'We really have an incredible community, and I feel blessed to be part of it. I haven't been able to keep up with all the back channels, & can't reply to everyone right now. But it all mattered so much.' Last year, Baio hit headlines after he was accused of sexual assaulting his former Charles In Charge co-star, Nicole Eggert, back in the 1980s. Baio vehemently denied the allegations, and the Los Angeles country district attorney's office declined to file a criminal case as Eggert's accusations were beyond the statute of limitations. A red-brick house in Chicago that was once the home to notorious mobster Al Capone was sold on Tuesday for $226,000. The 2,820-square-foot two-flat on Prairie Avenue, sold for more than double its original asking price of $109,900. Capone first moved into the property with his mother and sister in 1923 after the family relocated to Chicago from New York. The names of Capone's mother Teresina and his wife Mae were on the title deeds and it was purchased at the time for a modest $5,000. A red-brick house in Chicago, (pictured), that notorious mobster Al Capone once lived in has been sold for $226,000 Considered a 'prisoner' at the home, Capone installed a secret tunnel from the basement to the garage to evade the watchful police (pictured: A police car sits outside the home in 1925) Listing agent Ryan Smith of Re/Max Properties told the Chicago Tribune: 'We had like 80 offers on it. We had a lot of press on it, so I think that helped it out.' He added: 'I have no idea what the buyers want to do with it. It needs to be modernized to todays standards.' The house was built in 1909 and sits on an extra-wide lot. The two-flat has had a number of owners since the Capone family. According to a Chicago Tribune news clipping from 1927, Capone 'was virtually a prisoner' at the home, with a police car often surveying for criminal misdeeds outside of the property on Prairie Avenue. A previous owner listed it in 2009 for $450,000, which dropped to $179,900, before it was taken off the market in 2016, according to the Chicago Tribune. The most recent owner lost it to foreclosure in 2018, a real estate agent told the newspaper. In 1989, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks and the Illinois Historic Sites Advisory Council both rejected bids to make the house an official landmark. Capones mother lived in the Park Manor home until she died in 1952, at the age of 84. The seller first listed the property in February. It has six bedrooms, hardwood floors, wood trim and molding and large, octagonal living rooms in each unit. Al Capone is considered to be one of America's most notorious gangsters, having overseen the US' largest bootlegging operation in Chicago during the Prohibition Some of the furnishings in the house date back to the 1950s and it has been widely reported that Capone built a tunnel that led from the home's basement to a detached garage to evade a police watch. Born in 1899 in Brooklyn, New York, to Italian immigrant parents, Capone went on to become the most infamous gangster in American history. It was when Capone's father died in 1920 that he entered into a life of crime when gang boss Johnny Torrio invited him to Chicago. There Capone presided over a business involving gambling and prostitution that eventually turned into the illegal selling of alcohol during Prohibition. 'Scarface' lived at the home with his mother, wife and sister. His mother, Teresina Capone, lived at the property until her death in 1952 Much of the home is considered to be relatively untouched since Teresina occupied the home. In a 1929 Chicago Tribune news clipping, noted the home's 'soft lighting and velvet rugs' Equipped with hardwood floors and high ceilings the abode still bares a number of other characteristics the Capone's originally furnished it with Capone bought the property for just $5,000 and its been on and off the market for much of the last 10 years Organized crime ruled the streets of Chicago during the 1920s, and Brooklyn-born Capone played an instrumental part in the mobs bootlegging operation, before heading up the organization himself. The Midwestern metropolis descended into lawlessness, as politicians and law enforcement were bribed into silence while the mafia waged bloody warfare across the city. Speaking to reporters in Chicago, Capone refused to apologize for his criminal operations and instead said he was doing a 'public service' to members of the city. But for all his showmanship and flashy outfits, a darker side to Capone lurked beneath the media's glare. Capone pictured on an unknown date with his mother Teresina, who lived in the home until her death in 1952 Trafficking alcohol during Prohibition was a lucrative business for organized crime and Bugs Moran, head of The North Side Gang, controlled the majority of shutdown breweries and distilleries that lined the north side of the city. Determined to monopolize the city's operations, Capone's outfit declared war on the North Side gang, and between 1922 and 1926, 474 mobsters were killed. Capone narrowly escaped death twice in 1925 and 1926 after being ambushed by North Side capos. The conflict came to a climax on February 14, 1929 - history's biggest single-day mob hit that saw seven members of Bugs Moran's North Side Gang executed against a wall by four assassins wielding machine guns disguised as uniformed policemen. They had been lured to the SMC Cartage Warehouse under the false promise of a stolen, cut-rate shipment of Canadian whiskey that belonged to Capone. While widely suspected of ordering the hit, Capone made sure to be in Florida when the the bullets were fired. In 1931 the U.S. government finally indicted Capone on 22 counts of income-tax evasion and he was sentenced to 11 years in prison. He served six years at Alcatraz before being released in 1939 to a mental hospital in Baltimore, where he remained for three years. He lived out his final days in Florida with his wife and died of cardiac arrest in 1947. He owned a mansion on Miami Beach, which was on the market for $15 million in 2018, according to the Miami Herald. The Washington Post filed a motion on Tuesday to dismiss the $250million lawsuit by the Covington Catholic teen caught up in a viral video scandal, arguing that their coverage was 'ultimately favorable' to the student and 'had nothing to do with politics.' Lawyers for the newspaper told a judge in Kentucky its stories of the encounter between Kentucky teen Nicholas Sandmann, 16, and a Native American activist Nathan Phillips were accurate. The paper's motion, filed in U.S. District Court in Covington, said the articles about the teen 'may not have been flattering of the Covington Catholic students but they do not give rise to a defamation claim by Sandmann.' It adds: 'Indeed, the Post's overall coverage including the articles that the Complaint fails to mention was not only accurate; it was ultimately favorable to him.' The Washington Post is seeking to get a $250million lawsuit by the Covington Catholic teen caught up in a viral video thrown out, arguing their coverage was 'ultimately favorable' to the student and 'had nothing to do with politics' Sandmann was widely portrayed as a racist over a January 18 video clip of him wearing a Make America Great Again hat and standing face-to-face with Nathan Phillips The incident sparked outrage on social media and in early articles, after the Post reported that the schoolboys 'surrounded' and 'taunted' 64-year-old Phillips. More extensive video of the events told a different story, showing the boys were subjected to racist abuse by a group of Black Hebrew Israelites, before Phillips waded into the group of students and banged his drum directly in Sandmann's face. A private investigation firm retained by Covington Diocese in Park Hills, Kentucky, found in a report no evidence the teenagers provoked a confrontation. The newspaper had claimed that a 'smirking' Sandmann stood in Phillip's path, blocking him from moving. But in their motion The Post argues: 'It was neither false nor defamatory for the Post to report the comments of eyewitnesses, including the only participants who were speaking publicly about the matter on the day that videos of the event went viral on the internet. 'Newspapers are often unable to publish a complete account of events when they first come to light. This story was an emerging one. No one could possibly have understood the initial article as having told the whole story.' The newspapers lawyers then noted a later front-page report of the 'investigative findings in the students favor.' Nicholas Sandmann, left, alleges the newspaper falsely labeled him a racist and said that the Post had engaged in 'targeting and bullying.' He was on field trip to Washington, D.C. when he was filmed standing in front of Native American Nathan Phillips, right Sandmann is seeking $250 million in damages, the amount that Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com and the world's richest person, pictured, paid for the Post in 2013 Sandmann's lawsuit claims that the newspaper 'wrongfully targeted and bullied' the teen to advance its bias against President Trump because the teen is a white Catholic who wore a Make America Great Again souvenir cap on a school field trip to the March for Life anti-abortion rally in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 18. Trump gave Sandmann his backing, quoting his suit and said: 'Go get them Nick. Fake News!' But The Washington Post argues: 'Most of the statements that referred to [Sandmann] were statements of the subjective feelings and motivation of the Native American man who saw himself as a peacemaker trying to calm a rowdy crowd of young people and protestors. That man was entitled to offer his subjective point of view, and the Post had a right to report it.' 'Politics has nothing to do with this case, and law warrants its dismissal,' it adds. Sandmann is seeking $250 million in damages, the amount that Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com and the world's richest person, paid for the Post in 2013. He is also suing CNN for $275million over its coverage of the same incident. A new blackout across large parts of crisis-hit Venezuela, including the capital Caracas, forced many to spend another night in the dark on Tuesday. The electricity shortage - the biggest in a week - hit a large section of the capital, with social media posts from residents across the country suggesting significant areas in at least 20 of the 23 states of Venezuela were also affected. An hour after the lights went out, some areas of the capital regained power. No reason for the blackout was immediately given by the government or the state electricity company Corpoelec. Power cuts have occurred sporadically since the massive blackout of March 7 left the country in the dark for five days, with electricity being rationed outside of Caracas The company set up to confront the crisis 'is working to reestablish the service', said state TV channel VTV. Opposition leader Juan Guaido - whose claim to be interim president is supported by around 50 nations - had previously called for protests against public service failures to be held Wednesday. Power cuts have occurred sporadically since the massive blackout of March 7 left the country in the dark for five days, with electricity being rationed outside of Caracas. Water supplies have also been interrupted, along with transport and communications, forcing many people to trim their work days to six hours. This file photo taken on March 26, 2019 shows a general view of Altamira neighbourhood partially illuminated during a power outage in Caracas, Venezuela People wearing El Universal newspaper uniforms sit inside a darkened office building during a power outage in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, March 25 The government of President Nicolas Maduro has blamed US-backed sabotage for the massive blackouts that have deprived millions of power, blaming 'electromagnetic, cyber and physical' attacks against the Guri hydroelectric power plant, which produces 80 per cent of the country's energy. The opposition blames a failure to maintain critical infrastructure and Guaido on Saturday launched what he promised will be a 'definitive' escalation of pressure to force the country's embattled leftist leader from office. He called for a huge nationwide turnout on Wednesday, urging his followers to redouble their efforts to maintain pressure. 'Everyone to the streets, let's start the final phase of the end of the usurpation!' He said. The United States meanwhile has stiffened its economic sanctions against Maduro, and one top US official warned Venezuela's military that it must protect the rights of peaceful protesters. People wait outside of their houses during a blackout in Caracas, Venezuela, 29 March Facing intense pressure at home and abroad, the Maduro government has sought to weaken Guaido. It has stripped his parliamentary immunity, authorised his prosecution for proclaiming himself acting president, and banned him from holding public office for 15 years. Guaido said last week he feared he could be abducted by government agents. Washington and its allies view Maduro as illegitimate since he took office in January for a second term following elections widely seen as deeply flawed. Maduro is supported by the Venezuelan military, China and Russia, and said on Wednesday he was inclined to accept international aid, following a meeting with the International Committee of the Red Cross. A UN Security Council meeting called by Washington is set to be held Wednesday to discuss the Venezuelan crisis. Theresa May was forced to steady herself at the dispatch box yesterday. Something from behind had disrupted her fragile equilibrium, much the same way as a mosquito bite to the neck disturbs the harmony of a peaceful sundowner. It occurred right at the start of PMQs when a critical question was raised about her request for another Brexit extension. The query came not from the opposing side of the chamber but from the PMs own benches. Henry Smith (Con, Crawley), a Eurosceptic once said to have had Ukip leanings, pointed out that a year-long extension would cost Britain an extra 1billion in EU subscriptions. Dosh, he added helpfully, which might be better spent on schools, policing and tax cuts. Mrs May turned to her interlocutor, her eyes narrowed like arrowslits, and hissed: We could actually have been outside the European Union by now, if we had managed to get the deal through. Prime Minister Theresa May listens to a question at PMQs on Wednesday afternoon at Westminster Henry Smith MP - an intense Eurosceptic - told Mrs May a year-long extensions could set the country back one billion pounds It was not so much a response as it was an acid-tinged message to her whole party: I wouldnt even be travelling to Brussels today if it wasnt for you lot. Ironically, there was no such trouble from Labours benches. The opposition has called pax on Brexit while cross-party talks continue. Down tools for now. Ceasefire. Mr Smiths intervention aside, the rest of the session was a bit of a washout. A soggy detente. Like watching one of those Tom & Jerry episodes when the warring pair put away their mallets to take a breather. The Government benches were sparsely attended. Three-quarters full at best. With this week supposed to be recess, its likely some were monitoring events from some Alpine schloss. Or perhaps theyve simply given up. In which case it should alarm them that Jeremy Corbyn has a spring in his sandals. Perhaps its because Labours humdrum legal eagle Sir Keir Starmer is now dealing with all that complicated Brexit stuff Jezza doesnt understand. Labours great leader entered the chamber with the bumptiousness of a Saturday night gameshow host. He flashed colleagues a chewy grin, allowing boyish squit Dan Carden (Lab, Liverpool Walton) to straighten his tie. There was even a bit of good will toward the Prime Minister during opening exchanges, the two of them swapping tributes to the Houses first female clerk, Sarah Davies. Mr Corbyn claimed he remembered the day Davies had started in the Commons and knew shed do well. Unlike you! screamed a heckler. Uncalled for. Mr Corbyn focused his attacks on council funding. Authorities were hard-up, he complained. He quoted one council leader who said he was really short of money. Not to be flippant, but in the entire history of local government, has there ever been one who has said otherwise? Theresa May speaking from the dispatch box in the House of Commons on Wednesday flanked by her front bench Newly appointed Brexit minister James Cleverly challenged Mr Corbyns figures from afar but made the mistake of distracting Sir Nicholas Soames from his midday reading matter. Do shut up, James! bellowed Soames. Well, thats the polite version of what he said. Mr Corbyn continued ploughing his pet subjects. Child poverty, food banks, government austerity. Worthy stuffy but the House appeared to miss the raw meat of Brexit. Behind him, Yvette Cooper (Lab, Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford) was rendered uncharacteristically mute. A toddler without its toys. Over in the ERG corner, there was no sign of Jacob Rees-Mogg (Con, North East Somerset), nor Boris. Sir William Cash (Con, Stone) and John Baron (Con, Basildon and Billericay) sat with the distasteful air of two club bores whove been informed the grilled sprats have been removed from the evening menu. Mrs May gestures towards her own ranks as she said she could have avoided difficulty if MPs had backed her deal Elsewhere, cheesed off Remainers Sam Gyimah (Con, East Surrey) and Justine Greening (Con, Putney) ignored proceedings and huddled around an iPad sharing a packet of jelly babies. There was an entertaining ding-dong with the SNP, when their Westminster leader Ian Blackford once again demanded a second referendum. Mrs May pondered why the SNP were so keen to stay in the EU when Scottish independence would mean them having to leave anyway. The ensuing melee resembled Glasgows Sauchiehall Street at chucking out time. At a quarter to one, Mrs May departed for Brussels, barely offering her benches a second glance as she exited the chamber. She wouldnt even have been going if it wasnt for that lot. GUILTY: MICHAEL FLYNN Pleaded guilty to making false statements in December 2017. Awaiting sentence Flynn was President Trump's former National Security Advisor and Robert Mueller's most senior scalp to date. He previously served when he was a three star general as President Obama's director of the Defense Intelligence Agency but was fired. He admitted to lying to special counsel investigators about his conversations with a Russian ambassador in December 2016. He has agreed to cooperate with the special counsel investigation. GUILTY AND JAILED: MICHAEL COHEN Pleaded guilty to eight counts including fraud and two campaign finance violations in August 2018. Pleaded guilty to further count of lying to Congress in November 2018. Sentenced to three years in prison and $2 million in fines and forfeitures in December 2018 Cohen was investigated by Mueller but the case was handed off to the Southern District of New York,leaving Manhattan's ferocious and fiercely independent federal prosecutors to run his case. Cohen was Trump's longtime personal attorney, starting working for him and the Trump Organization in 2007. He is the longest-serving member of Trump's inner circle to be implicated by Mueller. Cohen professed unswerving devotion to Trump - and organized payments to silence two women who alleged they had sex with the-then candidate: porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. He admitted that payments to both women were felony campaign finance violations - and admitted that he acted at the 'direction' of 'Candidate-1': Donald Trump. He also admitted tax fraud by lying about his income from loans he made, money from taxi medallions he owned, and other sources of income, at a cost to the Treasury of $1.3 million. And he admitted lying to Congress in a rare use of the offense. The judge in his case let him report for prison on March 6 and recommended he serve it in a medium-security facility close to New York City. GUILTY AND JAILED: PAUL MANAFORT Found guilty of eight charges of bank and tax fraud in August 2018. Sentenced to 47 months in March 2019. Pleaded guilty to two further charges - witness tampering and conspiracy against the United States. Jailed for total of seven and a half years in two separate sentences. Additionally indicted for mortgage fraud by Manhattan District Attorney, using evidence previously presented by Mueller Manafort worked for Trump's campaign from March 2016 and chaired it from June to August 2016, overseeing Trump being adopted as Republican candidate at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. He is the most senior campaign official to be implicated by Mueller. Manafort was one of Washington D.C.'s longest-term and most influential lobbyists but in 2015, his money dried up and the next year he turned to Trump for help, offering to be his campaign chairman for free - in the hope of making more money afterwards. But Mueller unwound his previous finances and discovered years of tax and bank fraud as he coined in cash from pro-Russia political parties and oligarchs in Ukraine. Manafort pleaded not guilty to 18 charges of tax and bank fraud but was convicted of eight counts in August 2018. The jury was deadlocked on the other 10 charges. A second trial on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent due in September did not happen when he pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the United States and witness tampering in a plea bargain. He was supposed to co-operate with Mueller but failed to. Minutes after his second sentencing hearing in March 2019, he was indicted on 16 counts of fraud and conspiracy by the Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., using evidence which included documents previously presented at his first federal trial. The president has no pardon power over charges by district and state attorneys. GUILTY AND GOING TO WEEKEND JAIL: RICK GATES Pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the United States and making false statements in February 2018. Sentenced to 45 days weekend jail and three years probation, December 17, 2018 Gates was Manafort's former deputy at political consulting firm DMP International. He admitted to conspiring to defraud the U.S. government on financial activity, and to lying to investigators about a meeting Manafort had with a member of congress in 2013. As a result of his guilty plea and promise of cooperation, prosecutors vacated charges against Gates on bank fraud, bank fraud conspiracy, failure to disclose foreign bank accounts, filing false tax returns, helping prepare false tax filings, and falsely amending tax returns. GUILTY AND JAILED: GEORGE PAPADOPOLOUS Pleaded guilty to making false statements in October 2017. Sentenced to 14 days in September 2018, and reported to prison in November. Served 12 days and released on December 7, 2018 Papadopoulos was a member of Donald Trump's campaign foreign policy advisory committee. He admitted to lying to special counsel investigators about his contacts with London professor Josef Mifsud and Ivan Timofeev, the director of a Russian government-funded think tank. GUILTY AND JAILED: RICHARD PINEDO Pleaded guilty to identity fraud in February 2018. Sentenced to a year in prison Pinedo is a 28-year-old computer specialist from Santa Paula, California. He admitted to selling bank account numbers to Russian nationals over the internet that he had obtained using stolen identities. GUILTY AND JAILED: ALEX VAN DER ZWAAN Pleaded guilty to making false statements in February 2018. He served a 30-day prison sentence and was deported to the Netherlands on his release Van der Zwaan was a Dutch attorney for Skadden Arps who worked on a Ukrainian political analysis report for Paul Manafort in 2012. He admitted to lying to special counsel investigators about when he last spoke with Rick Gates and Konstantin Kilimnik. His law firm say he was fired. GUILTY: W. SAMUEL PATTEN Pleaded guilty in August 2018 to failing to register as a lobbyist while doing work for a Ukrainian political party. Sentenced to three years probation April 2019 Patten, a long-time D.C. lobbyist was a business partner of Paul Manafort. He pleaded guilty to admitting to arranging an illegal $50,000 donation to Trump's inauguration. He arranged for an American 'straw donor' to pay $50,000 to the inaugural committee, knowing that it was actually for a Ukrainian businessman. Neither the American or the Ukrainian have been named. CHARGED: KONSTANTIN KILIMNIK Indicted for obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice. At large, probably in Russia Kilimnik is a former employee of Manafort's political consulting firm and helped him with lobbying work in Ukraine. He is accused of witness tampering, after he allegedly contacted individuals who had worked with Manafort to remind them that Manafort only performed lobbying work for them outside of the U.S. He has been linked to Russian intelligence and is currently thought to be in Russia - effectively beyond the reach of extradition by Mueller's team. INDICTED: THE RUSSIANS Twenty-five Russian nationals and three Russian entities have been indicted for conspiracy to defraud the United States. They remain at large in Russia Two of these Russian nationals were also indicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 11 were indicted for conspiracy to launder money. Fifteen of them were also indicted for identity fraud. Vladimir Putin has ridiculed the charges. Russia effectively bars extradition of its nationals. The only prospect Mueller has of bringing any in front of a U.S. jury is if Interpol has their names on an international stop list - which is not made public - and they set foot in a territory which extradites to the U.S. INDICTED: MICHAEL FLYNN'S BUSINESS PARTNERS Bijan Kian (left), number two in now disgraced former national security adviser Mike Flynn's lobbying company, and the two's business partner Ekim Alptekin (right) were indicted for conspiracy to lobby illegally. Kian, an Iranian-American was arrested and appeared in court charged with a conspiracy to illegally lobby the U.S government without registering as a foreign agent. Their co-conspirator was Flynn, who is called 'Person A' in the indictment and is not charged, offering some insight into what charges he escaped with his plea deal. Kian, vice-president of Flynn's former lobbying firm, is alleged to have plotted with Alptekin to try to change U.S. policy on an exiled Turkish cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania and who is accused by Turkey's strongman president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of trying to depose him. Erdogan's government wanted him extradited from the U.S. and paid Flynn's firm through Alptekin for lobbying, including an op-ed in The Hill calling for Gulen to be ejected. Flynn and Kian both lied that the op-ed was not paid for by the Turkish government. The indictment is a sign of how Mueller is taking an interest in more than just Russian involvement in the 2016 election. GUILTY AND AWAITING SENTENCE: ROGER STONE Roger Stone, a former Trump campaign official and longtime informal advisor to Trump, was indited on seven counts including obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and lying to Congress about his communications with WikiLeaks in January 2019. Convicted on all counts November 15, 2019, awaiting sentence Stone was a person of interest to Mueller's investigators long before his January indictment, thanks in part due to his public pronouncements as well as internal emails about his contacts with WikiLeks. In campaign texts and emails, many of which had already been publicly revealed before showing up in Mueller's indictment, Stone communicated with associates about WikiLeaks following reports the organization had obtained a cache of Clinton-related emails. Stone, a former Nixon campaign adviser who has the disgraced former president's face permanently tattooed on his back, has long been portrayed as a central figure in the election interference scandal. 'They got nothing,' he said of the special counsel's investigation. Stone gave 'false and misleading' testimony about his requests for information from WikiLeaks. He then pressured a witness, comedian Randy Credico, to take the Fifth Amendment rather than testify, and pressured him in a series of emails. Following a prolonged dispute over testimony, he called him a 'rat' and threatened to 'take that dog away from you', in reference to Credico's pet, Bianca. Stone warned him: 'Let's get it on. Prepare to die.' CLEARED: GREG CRAIG Greg Craig, President Barack Obama's White House counsel, was indicted for failing to register as a foreign agent. Mueller's investigators uncovered Craig's work on behalf the government of Ukraine while probing Manafort, who did business with Craig. Prosecutors released a grand jury indictment of Craig in April 2019, after Craig's law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP agreed to pay more than $4.6 million as part of a settlement. The prominent firm also acknowledged it had failed to register, and placed much of the blame on Craig, a senior partner there. Craig's lawyer blasted the decision as an abuse of prosecutorial discretion, and prepared to argue that omission of information during an interview is not tantamount to making false statements. The charges stem from a 2012 report Craig and the firm produced on behalf of the Ukrainian government on opposition figure and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. She was an opponent of Manafort's client , former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Craig was cleared on September 9 2019. A university rocked by 14 suicides in eight years has announced it will monitor student use of online academic resources to check for signs of mental breakdown. The University of the West of England said it will keep track of how often youngsters are logging into the university online portal for services such as course materials or the library. Any student who has not logged in for a long time will be flagged as potentially in trouble. Part of the campus of the University of the West of England, in Bristol. The monitoring programme has been introduced after 14 students killed themselves in just eight years This will trigger a phone call from a member of staff, who will offer the student mental health support if needed. The announcement came as the Bristol-based university released an official report into the 14 student deaths from 2010 to 2018. It found eight had already sought help for mental health issues. Half of the group had also re-sat exams or submitted 'extenuating circumstances forms' during their university time. The deaths were mainly among white male students whose average age was 21. In response to the tragedies, the university is implementing a number of well-being measures, including alcohol-free zones where students can socialise. The report said the new 'learner analytics system' will help staff find out if the 'level of academic engagement is lower than expected'. Since the university began piloting this technology last September, 50 per cent of students identified by the software have taken up the offer of extra help. Staff are introducing monitoring measures at the university's online portal so they can identify students who are struggling and offer them extra help to combat the stress [File photo] Jo Mitchell, who is in charge of student experience at UWE, told BBC Radio Bristol: 'When we contacted students because it looked like something wasn't quite right, 50 per cent actually did need additional help. 'Most of that was help and support with academic study because they had some concerns about time management. It wasn't anything more serious than that. But it still meant that we could help them before that anxiety became more difficult for them.' UWE vice-chancellor Steve West stressed the suicide rate was lower than in wider society. He stressed: 'In many ways, it's safer to come to university than actually to remain in a local community.' A London previous stones dealer is looking to sell the world's largest square emerald cut diamond but is refusing to discuss the price. The Graff Lesedi La Rona diamond weighs in at a staggering 302.37 carats and is colourless - which increases its value further. If that is not enough, the Gemological Institute of America described it as the 'largest, highest clarity, highest colour diamond ever graded' by the organisation. Laurence Graff, pictured with the Graff Lesedi La Rona diamond, which has been described as the 'largest, highest clarity, highest colour diamond ever graded' by the Gemological Institute of America The gemstone, which is about the same size as a large conker, is a square emerald cut Graff paid $53 million for the 1,109 carat Lesedi La Rona rough diamond in 2016 The top D colour grade diamond was cut from the 1,109 carat Lesedi La Rona rough stone found in Botswana in 2015. Graff paid $53 million for the rough stone and spent the next 18 months working on it. The stone was the second largest every discovered. Graff chairman Laurence Graff said: 'My love affair with diamonds is life-long and crafting the Graff Lesedi La Rona has been an honour. 'This diamond, our diamond, is beyond words. As well as the magnificent main stone, some 66 'satellite' diamonds were cut from the original rough piece of rock 'All our expertise, skill and accomplishment went into crafting this incredible diamond masterpiece, which is extraordinary in every way. 'The Graff Lesedi La Rona is an exceptional diamond with an exceptional cut and exceptional proportions, earning its place in history as the largest and finest of its kind in the world.' Some 66 'satellite' diamonds were also polished from the original rough stone, Graff added. Lesedi La Rona means 'Our Light' in Tswana, the main language of Botswana. Topless Page 3 models could have finally disappeared from mainstream national newspapers after the Daily Star published its last edition of the controversial feature. The Sun stopped showing topless Page 3 models in 2015 after high-profile campaigns such as No More Page 3. Government ministers branded the feature as 'old-fashioned sexism' at the time. As of 2015 the Star has been the only mainstream national paper to still picture topless women. But since the April 1 edition the models pictured on Page 3 have been covered up, ending the 50-year tradition in Fleet Street of publishing naked breasts. Ellie, 23, from Hertfordshire, could be the final topless model in a national newspaper if the Star keeps its new policy. Could this be the last topless Page 3 at the Daily Star? Ellie, 23, from Hertfordshire, pictured in the April 1 edition could be the last in mainstream national newspaper A source close to the Star said the change came due to a shift in tastes as 'times change'. The new policy will not see scantily-clad women removed entirely from the paper, but will see them merely covered up. The source told MailOnline: 'The move has been considered for some time. 'Topless girls were phased out in certain regions over several weeks and the last one appeared last week. 'Page 3 girls have been an important part of the Daily Star for decades but times and tastes change. 'We'll still have women on Page 3, they will just now be tastefully covered up.' Editor of the Daily Star Jonathan Clark told MailOnline the change was due to feedback and was merely a trial to gauge the reader's response. Jodie Marsh, who featured in Page 3 during its hay day, said she 'never felt exploited - in fact the opposite', when it was axed by the Sun in 2015 He said in a statement: 'The Daily Star is always looking to try new things and improve. 'In that spirit, we've listened to reader feedback and are currently trialling a covered-up version of Page 3.' But a source at the Star believes the controversial feature is unlikely to return, adding, 'never say never but I'm not expecting to see it back'. Britain's best-selling tabloid, the Sun, quietly dropped featuring pictures of topless glamour models in January 2015. Then-Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, who also held the women and equalities brief, said in 2015 that the move was 'long overdue'. At the time the Star said it was 'proud' to continue its Page 3, which it added 'brightens the day' for readers. Harriet Harman, who was Shadow culture secretary at the time, said the move means The Sun is 'moving into the 21st century'. The Girlguiding UK's Advocates panel said Page 3 is 'disrespectful and embarrassing' and that they are 'thrilled' it was being dropped. But the news also sparked an angry backlash from glamour models, who branded anti-Page 3 campaigners 'no bra-wearing, man-haters' and said the move would put women out of work. Page 3 pin-up turned bodybuilder Jodie Marsh, 36, hit out at the move in a series of angry tweets, saying she 'never felt exploited - in fact the opposite'. When the Sun axed Page 3 its rival the Mirror mockingly published a 'whole montage' of blue tits, great tits and coal tits. Advertisement An underwater photographer has captured terrifying images of a massive great white shark charging toward him. Kane Overall, 32, took the stunning photos from inside a shark cage off the Neptune Islands in South Australia. The female fish, who was more than three-metres long, can be seen baring her sharp teeth as she advances on the cage. Kane Overall, 32, took the stunning photos from inside a shark cage off the Neptune Islands in South Australia The female fish was more than three-metres long, and bared her sharp teeth as she advanced on the cage Mr Overall said he was unsure if he had captured the fearsome scene until he checked his camera. 'When I got up on the boat everyone crowded around the camera in the housing for a quick look and we were all blown away,' he said. 'I knew it was going to be a pretty wild shot but maybe too close as I was shooting 50mm.' Mr Overall said the shark hovered near the cage before making her move. Mr Overall (pictured) said he was unsure if he had captured the fearsome scene until he checked his camera The Neptune Islands are well known for shark tourism, with thousands of people flocking to the area each year to catch a glimpse of the apex predators 'It came in around two metres from the cage and then one time charged us for this shot and ended up turning off around two feet from my camera,' he said. The Neptune Islands are well known for shark tourism, with thousands of people flocking to the area each year to catch a glimpse of the apex predators. Sharks forage in the area for seals, as the islands are home to Australia's largest colony of long-nosed fur seals. Sharks forage in the area for seals, as the islands are home to Australia's largest colony of long-nosed fur seals The Online Harms White Paper has been accused of paving the way for The regulator could also remove non-compliant websites from search results Draconian laws designed to tame the web giants will not limit press freedom, the Culture Secretary said yesterday. In a letter to the Society of Editors, Jeremy Wright vowed that journalistic or editorial content would not be affected by the proposals. And he reassured free speech advocates by saying there would be safeguards to protect the role of the Press. Jeremy Wright vowed that journalistic or editorial content would not be affected by the proposals. He sought to reassure news chiefs that the Government would preserve Press freedoms The Government is facing accusations that its Online Harms White Paper paves the way for totalitarian-style censorship. The 98-page document laid out plans for an internet watchdog that would have the power to block websites from Britain if they did not adhere to its rules. The regulator could also remove non-compliant websites from search results and app stores, and stop users from accessing them via links on social media. The plans are designed to force lawless web firms to remove harmful material from their platforms. But they have sparked fears that they could backfire and turn Britain into the first Western nation to adopt the kind of censorship usually associated with totalitarian regimes. Former culture secretary John Whittingdale drew parallels with China, Russia and North Korea. Matthew Lesh of the Adam Smith Institute, a free market think-tank, branded the white paper a historic attack on freedom of speech. But yesterday Mr Wright sought to reassure news chiefs that the Government would preserve Press freedoms and ensure its plans did not have unintended consequences. The 98-page document laid out plans for an internet watchdog that would have the power to block websites from Britain if they did not adhere to its rules. The regulator could also stop users from accessing them via links on social media [File photo] This Government absolutely upholds the core principle of freedom of expression, recognising the invaluable role a free Press plays in our cultural and democratic life, he said. We are seeking to build sufficient safeguards into our proposals to protect those freedoms. The Governments stance on Press regulation has not changed. The Government strongly supports Press freedom and editorial independence. A vibrant, independent, plural and free Press that is able to hold the powerful to account is essential to our democracy. High quality journalism also plays a key part in tackling misinformation and disinformation. The letter was copied to the News Media Association, which represents around 2,600 national, regional and local newspapers and websites, as well as to the Independent Press Standards Organisation and to Impress, a state-sponsored rival watchdog backed by disgraced motor racing tycoon Max Mosley. Mr Wright reassured news chiefs over the white papers proposals to impose a duty of care on web firms. This would apply to any website that allowed users to post content or interact with each other regardless of whether they are a tech giant like Google or a smaller website such as an online news service, blog or review site. Mr Wright said the new web watchdog would not police moderated comments on news websites if they were already overseen by a regulator. The Government, which is consulting on the proposals, now faces pressure to make amendments before they become law. The letter (pictured) was copied to the News Media Association, which represents around 2,600 national, regional and local newspapers and websites, as well as to the Independent Press Standards Organisation and to Impress, a state-sponsored rival watchdog backed by disgraced motor racing tycoon Max Mosley Even after Mr Wrights reassurances, critics fear the new rules could still suppress legitimate news journalism, because they would apply to search engines and social media news feeds, and Google and Facebook may comply by setting their algorithms to exclude news stories on controversial subjects Mr Lesh said: Even if they exempt newspaper content from the scheme, there is still a serious danger that it could lead to certain news content being removed or hidden on search engines and social media sites. It will also serve to limit journalistic access to information by requiring social media companies to remove content. At the very least, the Government should make a distinction between news sources and user-generated content. This entire white paper is a serious threat to a free, liberal society. The Government should go back to the drawing board. A gun shop owner has been accused of selling hundreds of black market firearms, two of which police claim were used in the executions of high profile crime figures. Shane James Simpson, 46, was arrested at his Simpson Store in Port Kembla, about 100km south of Sydney, on Wednesday. At the same time, police raided homes in Jamberoo and Penrose. Police allege they have identified more than 300 pistols linked to the small-time arms dealer. Only 35 guns, including semiautomatic pistols, have been recovered and allegedly linked to organised crime. Police allege a number of weapons have been matched to past crimes, including several interstate drive-by shootings and two gangland murders in Sydney. A gun shop owner has been accused of selling hundreds of black market firearms, two of which police claim were used in the executions of high profile crime figures (pictured, Shane James Simpson) Shane James Simpson, 46, was arrested at his Simpson Store in Port Kembla, about 100km south of Sydney, on Wednesday Police allege they have identified more than 300 pistols linked to the small-time arms dealer Police said the alleged bust is one of the most significant operations involving illegal firearms and organised crime. Simpson is alleged to have submitted falsified paperwork to the Firearms Registry, allowing him to turn legal guns into black market weapons. Some automatic pistols sold fetched as much as $30,000 in the underworld circuit, police say. The guns had altered barrels and scrubbed identification numbers in what police describe as a munitions-style factory set up. The alterations to the weapons made it difficult to trace the origin of the firearm, police said. 'Once it was established that these weapons, we allege, were modified and being sold illegally and used in violent crimes, we acted immediately,' Acting Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith told Daily Telegraph on the arrest of Simpson. 'But we are still investigating and expect many more arrests will be made.' As police explained, the alterations to the weapons made it difficult to trace the origin of the firearm (pictured, Glock 34 found during search warrant of Robertson property at Brisbane in December 2017) Police have tipped the alleged bust as one of the most significant operations involving illegal firearms and organised crime (pictured, Beretta 92FS INOX found during drug related search warrant) The arrest was carried out by a task force set up in November 2018 to investigate the movement of firearms between states and territories. 'This is the beginning of the end for licensed firearms dealers who are into this sort of illegal operation,' Assistant Commissioner Smith said. Simpson has been charged with more than 50 firearm-related offences and refused bail. He will front Wollongong Local Court on Thursday. Tasia S. Young, 33, New Jersey set her boyfriend's home alight Sunday and was charged with arson, aggravated assault, criminal mischief and multiple counts of endangering another person A New Jersey woman set her boyfriend's home alight after he ordered her to leave following a threesome on Sunday, according to a police report. Tasia S. Young, from Woodbury, told authorities that her partner ordered her a cab home once they'd finished up. But she became angry because the third person in their sexual encounter was still in his apartment when she was prompted to exit. So the 33-year-old went to a nearby gas station to buy matches and emptied the contents of a lighter on and under the front door. Law enforcement says she told them she then lit a tissue on fire to start a blaze at the property she'd been turfed from. According to law enforcement she stated it was because she felt 'like she needed to hurt somebody'. In the police report she allegedly stated she was 'going through a lot' and ultimately came to the conclusion she would 'burn his house down'. 'Young even demonstrated during the interview how she sprayed the lighter fluid,' NJ.com states the police report said. Young ended up burning the property of the man involved in the dispute as well as one connected that six others lived in on Centre Street. Young ended up burning the property of the man involved in the dispute as well as one connected that six others lived in on Centre Street According to the report she believed the other woman was still inside at the time but she was not accounted for in the fire. A Facebook profile that appears to belong to the woman, states she has been in a relationship since 2017 and has been engaged since June 2018. However in certain posts from January she referred to herself as single. She also references being a mother in her social media profile which is filled with sexually charged references and memes about complicated relationships. Some posts from the last few months suggest she has been experiencing problems in her love life. She started fire after he told her to leave following threesome with another woman. The man ordered her a cab but the third person stayed in the apartment so she went to a gas station to buy matches and started a blaze with tissue One text image reads: 'I hate that I cry when I get mad because ppl take it as a sign of weakness when in all actuality it's because I'm trying to calm down the 27 ppl that live in my head. That's down to ride for a homicide.' Another cryptic post prompts a follower to respond, 'Don't hurt nobody' to which she replies: 'I won't.' However she has now been charged with arson, aggravated assault, criminal mischief and multiple counts of endangering another person. Some posts from the last few months suggest she has been experiencing problems in love life Advertisement Britain has been pushed into a six-month delay to Brexit tonight after Theresa May was humiliated again in Brussels. EU leaders are offering the UK a delay of Brexit until October 31 with a 'review' in June. The extension, agreed by the heads of state of the other 27 countries in the bloc, doomed the Prime Minister's hopes of winning a short delay until June 30 in which to pass a Brexit deal. But European Council president Donald Tuck said it was a 'flexible extension' suggesting we could leave before Halloween if a Brexit deal can find a majority in Parliament. Whatever happens, the PM must return to the Commons tomorrow to explain to MPs when and if Brexit will ever take place. It opens up a raft of possibilities, ranging from a short-term delay to not leaving at all. The big question is whether Theresa May will stay on, to make sure she at least is remembered as the leader who delivered Brexit. She has already agreed to step down once a deal is approved and senior Tories are jostling to replace her. And she has indicated that she would not countenance a delay to Brexit past June 30. However, she has clung stubbornly to 10 Downing Street thus far and despite much talk there is no clear way for the Conservatives to get rid of her. Tonight it appears she has suggested to EU leaders that she would stay on until a deal was indeed completed. Talks with Labour over a cross-party Brexit deal will continue on Thursday, and Mrs May has committed to allowing MPs a series of 'indicative votes' that would allow them to shape the type of Brexit they want. Previous indicative votes were inconclusive but a soft Brexit including a customs union could triumph this time round, having been close to victory before. The Prime Minister could also try to ram her Brexit deal through Parliament for a fourth time, but that seems almost certain to fail without some serious changes. Some Brexiteers, including the DUP, still want her to demand the EU reopen the Withdrawal Agreement, whose Irish Border backstop provision is the major stumbling block to it passing. But the EU has refused to do so and the Government accepts this is a non-starter. A delay to the end of October means that it could be a new Tory - or Labour - leader who sees us out of the EU. If a way can be found to convince Theresa May to resign the summer is likely to be spent in a Tory leadership campaign. But that could lead to a general election, which is a high risk for the Tories. What seems less likely at the moment is that there will be a second referendum. Theresa May is against one and Jeremy Corbyn looks happy to block one - to the fury of a large section of his MPs - if he can get an acceptable Brexit deal. What did Mrs May ask for? In a letter to Donald Tusk she formally requested an extension to Article 50 that will delay the UK's departure beyond April 12 to June 30 - but she also wanted a 'termination clause'. This would allow the UK to leave on May 22 - the day before European elections - if a deal can be pushed through the UK Parliament. However, this delay was a carbon copy of that sought by Mrs May before the last emergency summit in March - which was rejected. What did the EU say? Non, nein, nee and nem - that's no in a variety of EU languages. Despite French president Emmanuel Macron threatening to veto a delay and demanding if there was one it be short, the EU27 agreed to push Brexit to the end of October. But importantly they did include the termination clause, meaning we can still leave earlier if the Government - or MPs - can cobble together a deal that can win a majority of the Commons. Donald Tusk had said before the meeting that a 12-month 'flextension' to March 29 2020 is 'the only reasonable way out' of the crisis and had urged leaders of the EU's 27 member states to back him at Wednesday's summit. Ahead of the summit on Wednesday night, Mr Tusk urged the 27 leaders to consider a long delay because there was 'little reason' to believe the deal would be passed by MPs before the end of June. How did the EU make its decision? When the summit started at around 5pm on Wednesday, Mrs May first answered questions from EU leaders - building on a diplomatic blitz that included trips to Paris and Berlin on Tuesday . After a session lasting little over an hour she was kicked out of the summit so the other 27 EU leaders could decide what to do over dinner. Once they had a unanimous agreement on a delay Mrs May was asked to say Yes or No. At the last summit three weeks ago the EU leaders debated in private for almost six hours. When will Brexit be? It is hard to say - but it is almost certain not to be on Friday, when the UK had been due to leave without a deal. The PM clearly still wants to get out of the EU before European Parliament elections have to be held on May 22 but this is ultimately up to Brussels. Were she to pass the deal in the next couple of weeks, it is probably possible to conclude exit by around late May. What is happening in the cross party talks? The Prime Minister has said the divorce deal could not be changed but announced last week she would seek a new consensus with Jeremy Corbyn on the political declaration about the final UK-EU agreement. It is her final roll of the dice to save the deal. Talks broke down last Friday between ministers and officials from both parties, despite previous efforts being hailed as 'constructive'. After technical discussions on Monday, they finally resumed on Tuesday - but have now been adjourned again until Thursday. If the talks fail, Mrs May has promised to put options to Parliament and agreed to be bound by the result. She now has more time to call this vote. In a second round of indicative vote a customs union, Norway-style soft Brexit and second referendum were the leading options - but none got a majority of MPs. Why is she talking to Labour? Mrs May has abandoned all hope of winning over remaining Tory Brexiteers and the DUP on the terms of her current deal. Striking a cross-party deal with Labour on the future relationship will require Mrs May to abandon many of her red lines - including potentially on free movement and striking trade deals. To get an agreement with Labour, Mrs May will need to agree the political declaration should spell out a much softer Brexit than her current plans do. This might mean a permanent UK-EU customs union or even staying in the EU Single Market. What if Mr Corbyn says No? Mrs May said if she cannot cut a deal with Corbyn, she would ask Parliament to come up with options - and promised to follow orders from MPs. In a second round of indicative votes last week a customs union, Norway-style soft Brexit and second referendum were the leading options - but none got a majority of MPs. They would probably pass if the Tories whipped for them - but it would almost certainly mean ministers quitting the Government. The Institute for Government has mapped out how a crucial week in the Brexit endgame might unfold ahead of a possible No Deal Brexit on Friday Will May resign? Nobody knows for sure. Mrs May has announced she would go if and when her divorce deal passed so a new Tory leader could take charge of the trade talks phase. In practice, it drained Mrs May of all remaining political capital. Most in Westminster think her Premiership is over within weeks at the latest. As her deal folded for a third time a fortnight ago, she faced immediate calls from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn so stand down with instant effect. What is clear is there is already a fight underway for the Tory leadership. Does is all mean there will be an election? Probably, at some point though the immediate chances have fallen because of the latest events. The Commons is deadlocked and the Government has no functional majority. While the Fixed Term Parliaments Act means the Government can stumble on, it will become increasingly powerless. Mrs May could try to call one herself or, assuming she stands down, her successor could do so. Would May lead the Tories into an early election? Unlikely. She said last December she would not lead them into a new election and having admitted to her party she would go if the deal passes, Mrs May's political career is doomed. While there is no procedural way to remove her, a withdrawal of political support from the Cabinet or Tory HQ would probably finish her even if she wanted to stay. How is an election called? When would it be? Because of the Fixed Term Parliaments Act passed by the coalition, the Prime Minister can no longer simply ask the Queen to dissolve the Commons and call an election. There are two procedures instead. First - and this is what happened in 2017 - the Government can table a motion in the Commons calling for an early election. Crucially, this can only pass with a two-thirds majority of MPs - meaning either of the main parties can block it. Second an election is called if the Government loses a vote of no confidence and no new administration can be built within 14 days. In practice, this is can only happen if Tory rebels vote with Mr Corbyn - a move that would end the career of any Conservative MP who took the step. An election takes a bare minimum of five weeks from start to finish and it would take a week or two to get to the shut down of Parliament, known as dissolution - putting the earliest possible polling day around mid to late May. If the Tories hold a leadership election first it probably pushes any election out to late June at the earliest. Why do people say there has to be an election? The question of whether to call an election finally reached the Cabinet last week. Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay warned the rejection of Mrs May's deal would set in train a series of events that will lead to a softer Brexit - meaning an election because so many MPs will have to break manifesto promises. MPs voting to seize control of Brexit from ministers has only fuelled the demands. Labour has been calling for a new vote for months, insisting the Government has failed to deliver Brexit. Mr Corbyn called a vote of no confidence in the Government in January insisting the failure of the first meaningful vote showed Mrs May's administration was doomed. He lost but the calls did not go away. Brexiteers have joined the demands in recent days as Parliament wrestles with Brexit and amid fears among hardliners promises made by both main parties at the last election will be broken - specifically on leaving the Customs Union and Single Market. Tory MP Andrew Bridgen wants Mrs May replaced with a Brexiteer. He believes it would push Remain Tories out of the party and then allow a snap election with more Eurosceptic candidates wearing blue rosettes. What might happen? Both main parties will have to write a manifesto - including a position on Brexit. Both parties are deeply split - in many cases between individual MPs and their local activists. Under Mrs May, the Tories presumably try to start with the deal. But it is loathed by dozens of current Tory MPs who want a harder Brexit and hated even more by grassroots Tory members. Shifting Tory policy on Brexit to the right would alienate the majority of current MPs who voted to Remain. Labour has similar splits. Many of Labour's MPs and activists want Mr Corbyn to commit to putting Brexit to a second referendum - most with a view to cancelling it. Mr Corbyn is a veteran Eurosceptic and millions of people who voted Leave in 2016 backed Labour in 2017. The splits set the stage for a bitter and chaotic election. The outcome is highly unpredictable - the Tories start in front but are probably more divided on the main question facing the country. Labour is behind but knows it made dramatic gains in the polls in the last election with its promises of vastly higher public spending. Neither side can forecast what impact new political forces might wield over the election or how any public anger over the Brexit stalemate could play out. It could swing the result in favour of one of the main parties or a new force. Or an election campaign that takes months, costs millions of pounds could still end up in a hung Parliament and continued stalemate. This is the current forecast by polling expert Sir John Curtice. President Trump took another slap at Barbara Bush and her sons on Wednesday in their native state of Texas. Before he signed a pair of executive orders, the president noted the presence of the deceased first lady's grandson, George P. Bush, at the event in a suburb of Houston. 'This is the only Bush that likes me. This is the only one,' the president declared. 'Truly, this is the Bush that got it right.' The U.S. president added: 'I like him. He's going far.' Bush is the Texas land commissioner and the son of former presidential candidate Jeb Bush. President Trump took another slap at Barbara Bush and her sons on Wednesday in their native state of Texas at an event that her grandson attended President Donald Trump shakes hands with Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush at the International Union of Operating Engineers International Training and Education Center The Bushes were on Trump's mind this week, after Barbara's criticisms of him were revealed in a book He is also the nephew of former President George W. Bush and the grandson of former President George H.W. Bush. The family rose to political prominence in the state of Texas, which George H.W. represented in Congress and George W. presided over as governor. The Houston airport is named after George Bush senior. Trump landed at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base, not the international airport that bears the name of the deceased president whose family he couldn't resist jabbing. The Bushes were on his mind this week, after Barbara's criticisms of him were revealed in 'The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty.' The book relies on diary entries from the late first lady, including one pre-dating the presidency that says, 'Trump now means greed, selfishness and ugly. So sad.' She also wrote in her diary that she believed Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 presidential election. When she awoke the next morning, she 'discovered to my horror that Trump had won' and not the Democratic candidate. Both George W. and George H.W. Bush have said that they did not vote for Trump in that election. Jeb Bush said last month that another Republican should challenge Trump for the nomination in 2020. The U.S. president shrugged it all off during an interview this week, in which he was asked about Barbara's comments. 'I have heard that she was nasty to me, but she should be. Look what I did to her sons,' Trump told the Washington Times in an Oval Office interview last Thursday. He noted that he had an ugly rivalry with Jeb in particular, who he dubbed 'low energy' during the presidential campaign. 'Look, she's the mother of somebody that I competed against. Most people thought he was going to win, and he was quickly out,' Trump said. Jeb Bush dropped out of the 2016 contest three states in after repeatedly performing poorly against Trump. 'I hit him very hard in South Carolina,' Trump told The Washington Times last week. 'Remember? He was supposed to win South Carolina and I won it in a landslide. I hit him so hard.' The president also hit the former president, George W. Bush, for the Iraq invasion on the campaign trail. He said that Barbara's son 'lied' about weapons of mass destruction. He later said of the father and son former presidents: 'I know that when his father went in and his father actually did something pretty good because he pulled back. He didn't get into the trap. But I know that Saddam Hussein was taunting the father. 'He was saying all sorts of things because of the fact intelligently they pulled back,' Trump told Fox News. He said that Bush the younger wanted to avenge his father and got the U.S. into a war in the process. Britain provided 1 in every 8 of foreign aid handed out by 29 major countries last year, figures revealed yesterday. The country was the only G7 nation to hit the controversial target of spending 0.7 per cent of national income. The aid target made law by David Cameron saw UK spending increase by 487 million to 14.5 billion last year after the economy grew. Britain provided 1 in every 8 of foreign aid handed out by 29 major countries last year, figures revealed yesterday. Pictured, a plane which took supplies bought by foreign aid money to Eira, one of the main cities in Mozambique affected by cyclone Idai last month Britain revealed its aid spending figures for 2018 last week, but Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development figures yesterday showed how they compare to other nations. The UKs 0.7 per cent of gross national income is more than double the 0.29 per cent G7 average. None of the other nations Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States met the spending target. The US is the worlds largest aid donor in cash terms, but its 25.7 billion contribution is just 0.14 per cent of its national income. The OECD figures reveal that Britain is fifth in the league table of the 29 countries that are part of its Development Assistance Committee (DAC). Sweden is on top with 1.04 per cent of its income, followed by Luxembourg on 0.98 per cent, Norway 0.94 per cent and Denmark 0.72 per cent. In total, the 29 major donor countries gave 114.7 billion in aid, which worked out at just 0.31 per cent of national income. MPs and aid campaigners last night urged other nations to increase their giving. Tory MP James Duddridge said: Other countries need to step up in particular the US. The 0.7 per cent target isnt right for everyone, but more needs to be done by other nations and on this Britain is leading the way. We should be proud of what we do around the world. Britain was the only G7 nation to hit the controversial target of spending 0.7 per cent of national income. The graphic shows how other countries compare Sara Harcourt of the ONE Campaign said: The fall in global aid is alarming. Now is the time we should be stepping up, not walking away. Oxfams Toni Pearce said: Vulnerable people across the world rely on this essential lifeline when disaster hits. Britain continues to lead the way in helping developing countries face global challenges. A Government spokesman said last night: The aid budget is helping to tackle threats to the UK such as terrorism, organised crime and disease, as well as eradicating extreme poverty. It is working in the UK national interest. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced the federal election will be held on May 18. He met with Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove on Thursday morning to formally dissolve Parliament. The Liberal-National coalition is seeking a third, three-year term, but opinion polls have consistently put Labor ahead on a two-party-preferred basis. Mr Morrison is the third Prime Minister - after Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull - to lead a divided government since the Coalition came to power in 2013, and only took the helm in late August. Opinion polls suggest his nine-month reign will become one of the shortest since Federation in 1901, with four of his Liberal ministers tipped to lose their seats. The polls suggest Labor Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will become the eighth Prime Minister since 2007, following the unprecedented dumping of two first-term PMs. Australians face the starkest policy choice in a generation with an election to be held in just five weeks (pictured are Bill Shorten with wife Chloe and Scott Morrison with wife Jenny) Mr Morrison (pictured) announced on Thursday the election will be held on May 18, after meeting with Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove to dissolve the Parliament Mr Morrison arrived at Government House in Canberra on Thursday morning to speak to Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove about dissolving Parliament In announcing the date of the election, Mr Morrison said Australia was the 'best country in the world'. 'But to secure your future, the road ahead depends on a strong economy. And that's why there is so much at stake at at this election,' he said. 'It's a choice between a government that I lead and the alternative of a Labor government led by Bill Shorten. 'I believe in a fair go for those who have a go.' Mr Morrison said voters could be assured he would see out his term as Prime Minister should he be elected despite the leadership spill that saw him replace Malcolm Turnbull last year. 'We changed the rules in the Liberal party... those rules say that at the next election on May 18, if the Liberal-National Government is returned, if I'm re-elected as Prime Minister, then I will serve as Prime Minister because the rules have been changed to prevent the things that happened in the past,' he said. Mr Morrison pointed out how Labor had failed to deliver a single budget surplus the last time they were in power under Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard. 'The last time Labor was elected to form a government back in 2007 they inherited a strong economy and they inherited budget surpluses,' he said. 'In the space of one year they turned a $20billion surplus into a $27billion defecit. They turned strong borders into weak borders. 'And we have spent more than 10 years getting back to where we were. You vote Labor once, you pay for it for a decade. That's what history has taught us.' The election pits Shorten, a former union leader who has been Labor leader for six years, and Morrison, a leader who the Australian public is still getting to know. The campaign will produce a stark choice. While Mr Morrison was campaigning on economic management and promised tax cuts, Mr Shorten had a very different agenda, emphasising environmental measures and boosting health spending and wages for the lower paid. Mr Shorten is odds-on favourite to be Australia's next Prime Minister, despite the government's attacks on his renewable energy and negative gearing policies designed to help first home buyers. Prime Minister Scott Morrison will call a May poll when he visits Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove at Government House in Canberra to have Parliament dissolved Opposition Leader Bill Shorten (right with wife Chloe) is odds-on favourite to be Australia's next prime minister, despite the government campaigning strongly against his renewable energy and negative gearing policies to help younger people afford a home Betting agency Sportsbet is predicting the biggest federal Labor majority in 76 years, in an election where four Liberal ministers would lose their seat. The agency's market indicates Labor will win a comfortable majority, with 81 to 85 seats in the 151-seat House of Representatives More than 16.2million voters are heading to the polls in five weeks in an election which could see a government voted out of office for only the eighth time since World War II. Mr Shorten told Daily Mail Australia last month his policy agenda was the most ambitious since Gough Whitlam won the 1972 election by campaigning on the theme, 'It's Time.' Possible Labor gains Dunkley, Victoria, Liberal: notionally Labor 1.2 per cent Corangamite, Victoria, Liberal: notionally Labor 0.1 per cent Capricornia, Queensland, Nationals: 0.6 per cent Forde, Queensland, Liberal: 0.6 per cent Gilmore, NSW, Liberal: 0.8 per cent Flynn, Queensland, Nationals: 1.1 per cent Robertson, NSW, Liberal: 1.2 per cent Banks, NSW, Liberal: 1.5 per cent Petrie, Queensland, Liberal: 1.7 per cent Dickson, Queensland, Liberal: 1.8 per cent Hasluck, Western Australia, Liberal: 2.1 per cent Page, NSW, Nationals: 2.3 per cent Boothby, South Australia, Liberal: 2.8 per cent Chisholm, Victoria, Liberal: 3.0 per cent La Trobe, Victoria, Liberal: 3.2 per cent Dawson, Queensland, Nationals: 3.4 per cent Bonner, Queensland, Liberal: 3.4 per cent Swan, Western Australia, Liberal: 3.6 per cent Pearce, Western Australia, Liberal: 3.7 per cent Leichhardt, Queensland: 4.1 per cent Reid, NSW, Liberal: 4.7 per cent Brisbane, Queensland, Liberal: 6.1 per cent Deakin, Victoria, Liberal: 6.5 per cent Source: Seats where Labor has the shortest Sportsbet odds. Margins are based on electoral redistributions since the 2016 election, as analysed by Malcolm Mackerras Advertisement His Labor Party is vowing to have Australia source 50 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. Labor also wants half of all vehicles sold in Australia within 11 years to be electric or hybrid cars, a very dramatic increase from the 0.2 per cent market share they have now. The Opposition also wants to slash carbon dioxide emissions by 45 per cent by 2030. Labor's plan is much more ambitious than the Coalition's goal of a 28 per cent reduction over the same time frame. The Opposition is also vowing to scrap negative gearing tax breaks for future purchases of existing property, so fewer investors are competing with Australians wanting to buy their first home. Labor has promised to stop wealthy retirees, who don't pay income tax, from getting tax refunds for when they receive share dividends. The Opposition says its winding back of negative gearing and its tax crackdowns on shareholders will save $80billion over the next decade. The government, which lacks a parliamentary majority, is opposed to both of these policies and has been campaigning fiercely for the Baby Boomer vote. Mr Morrison called the election a week after his Treasurer Josh Frydenberg delivered a Budget giving annual tax cuts of up to $1,080 for 10 million Australian workers earning up to $126,000 a year. Mr Shorten has vowed to match the tax cuts and give even more to lower income earners on less than $40,000 a year, who were promised $255 a year in the Budget. His Budget-reply speech also offered a $2.3 billion policy whereby the Commonwealth would pay the medical bills of cancer sufferers - five years after the Opposition Leader's mother Ann died of breast cancer. The Liberal-National party Coalition last week unveiled the first Budget surplus in 12 years - something a federal Labor government hasn't delivered since 1989 when Bob Hawke was prime minister. The government, however, is plagued with disunity, having disposed Tony Abbott in September 2015 before right-wing forces brought down his prime ministerial successor Malcolm Turnbull in August 2018. Both major parties are committed to sending asylum seekers to offshore processing centres at Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. Labor, however, is open about them being allowed to move to New Zealand, following an offer from Kiwi Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. When Labor was last in government former prime minister Kevin Rudd in 2008 dismantled the Pacific solution. This led to a surge in boat arrivals, rising from just three in the 2007-08 financial year, to 117 in 2009-10. Or put another way, the number of asylum seekers surged from 25 to 5,327, figures from a Parliament House research paper showed. Labor also wants half of all vehicles sold in Australia within 11 years to be electric cars (Tesla Model X pictured), a very dramatic increase from the 0.2 per cent market share they have now, as part of a plan for 50 per cent of Australia's energy to come from renewables by 2030 The policy change also coincided with the deaths of 48 people, mainly asylum seekers from Iran and Iraq, as their boat sunk and washed on to cliffs at Christmas Island in December 2010. Possible independent gains Warringah, NSW, Liberal: Winter Olympic champion Zali Steggall has an even money chance of defeating former PM Tony Abbott, whose odds are marginally shorter than his opponent campaigning on the issue of climate change Cowper, NSW, Nationals: former independent Rob Oakeshott is the short-priced favourite to win this Mid-North Coast electorate. He backed a Labor minority government in 2010 Advertisement The Coalition has now lost 50 Newspolls in a row to Labor, trailing the Opposition 46 to 54 per cent after preferences. If replicated at the election, the government would suffer a 4.4 per cent swing against it causing the Liberal and National parties to lose 12 seats. Betting agency Sportsbet, however, has Labor picking up 23 seats from the Coalition, which would see its seat numbers swell to 93 in the expanded 151-member House of Representatives. The Liberal and National parties would see their seat tally plummet from 75 now to 53, marking the worst electoral drubbing for the conservative side of politics since 1943. This would give Mr Shorten the biggest federal election majority since March 1996, when John Howard's Liberal-National Coalition defeated Paul Keating's Labor Party in a landslide. It would also mark the biggest Labor majority since John Curtin was prime minister during World War II. Both major parties are committed to sending asylum seekers to offshore processing centres at Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. But when Labor was last in government, boat arrivals surged after it abolished the Pacific solution (asylum seeker boat at Christmas Island pictured) Mr Shorten is on course to be the first prime minister since 1914 to have won an election after taking over as Opposition Leader from the time his party was defeated at the polls. Sportsbet predicted ministers Peter Dutton, Christian Porter, David Coleman and Ken Wyatt would lose their seats. Possible Liberal gains Wentworth, NSW, Independent: 1.2 per cent Indi, Victoria, Independent: 4.8 per cent Advertisement The betting agency is predicting the Liberal Party will lose to Labor the seat of Boothby, in Adelaide's southern suburbs, which it has held since 1949. It also had former independent Rob Oakeshott as the short-priced favourite to pick up Cowper, on the New South Wales Mid-North Coast, from the Nationals, where former minister Luke Hartsuyker is retiring. But the betting market had the Liberal Party winning back former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull's old seat of Wentworth, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, as another former PM Tony Abbott narrowly held on to his nearby electorate of Warringah. Veteran election analyst Malcolm Mackerras was less optimistic about Mr Shorten's chances of a Labor landslide, predicting it will win 83 seats, up from the 69 it won in 2016, and factoring in an electoral redistribution in two Liberal-held seats in Victoria. 'I think he's performing very well,' he told Daily Mail Australia. The Coalition, under his scenario, would see its seat tally drop from 75 to 64, as the Liberal Party regained the northern Victorian electorate of Indi, where independent Cathy McGowan is retiring. Mr Morrison, who became PM in August, will call a May 18 election, days after his Treasurer Josh Frydenberg (pictured with son Blake) delivered a Budget giving tax cuts of up to $1,080 for 10 million Australian workers earning up to $126,000 a year Mr Turnbull's old seat of Wentworth could also be another Liberal gain, as Dave Sharma defeated independent Dr Kerryn Phelps, who won an October by-election and pushed the government into minority territory. Mr Turnbull's arch nemesis Mr Abbott was tipped to lose his Sydney northern beaches electorate of Warringah to winter Olympian Zali Steggall, with Sportsbet and opinion polls showing a close contest. 'I think Sharma has a slightly better chance of winning Wentworth than Abbott has of retaining Warringah,' Mr Mackerras said. 'Dave Sharma is thought to be a very good candidate who belongs to basically the moderate side of the party. Mr Turnbull's arch nemesis Tony Abbott (left) was tipped to lose his Sydney northern beaches electorate of Warringah to winter Olympian Zali Steggall (right) 'More particularly, people put Kerryn Phelps in to express their anger about the Liberal Party sacking Turnbull. Now that anger's over, they'll say, 'Well, Sharma's a good candidate'.' Mr Mackerras saw Attorney-General Christian Porter losing his Perth-based seat of Pearce, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton losing his Brisbane electorate of Dickson and Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt losing his eastern Perth electorate of Hasluck. Mr Mackerras, an honorary fellow with the Australian Catholic University, however, predicted Immigration Minister David Coleman would hold his marginal south-west Sydney seat of Banks, despite its narrow 1.4 per cent margin. It overlaps with the state seats of East Hills and Oatley, which recorded swings to the Liberal Party at the March state election. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton (pictured) is tipped to lose his Brisbane seat of Dickson while Attorney-General Christian Porter is regarded as being in danger in his Perth seat of Pearce Mr Mackerras said while Mr Morrison wasn't particularly popular across Australia, his Liberal Party had stronger support in that part of Sydney, which for six decades had supported Labor at a state and federal level. 'I think in southern Sydney, he's doing very well which is part of the reason why I think Banks will stay with the Liberal Party,' he said. 'Apart from that, I just don't think people think much of him. 'He doesn't come across to me as being at all competent. 'He certainly doesn't come across as deserving to be Prime Minister.' Dawson, in north Queensland, would also stay with the Nationals , with renegade backbencher George Christensen (right with maverick independent Bob Katter) campaigning for the government to fund a coal-fired power station He also predicted the Nationals would keep their most marginal seat of Capricornia, in central Queensland, despite assistant minister Michelle Landry holding it by a very slim 0.6 per cent margin. Dawson, in north Queensland, would also stay with the Nationals , with renegade backbencher George Christensen campaigning for the government to fund a coal-fired power station. 'Areas that are near to possible new coal mines stay will stay with the Nationals,' Mr Mackerras said. 'They're close enough to the Bowen Basin developments.' Even before the election begins, electorate distributions in the Liberal-held Victorian seats of Corangamite and Dunkley already favour Labor, which means sitting government members Sarah Henderson and Chris Crewther will need to increase their vote to keep their jobs. The UK's carbon dioxide emissions for 2018 were enough to melt an area of sea ice larger than the size of Cardiff, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham combined. Research from the WWF found that at current levels, carbon dioxide emissions from the UK result in the loss of around 386 square miles (1,000 square km) of Arctic sea ice every September. Separate research published yesterday found the Alps could lose 90 per cent of their glacier ice by the end of the century. Research from the WWF found that at current levels, carbon dioxide emissions from the UK result in the loss of around 386 square miles (1,000 square km) of Arctic sea ice every September The UK's carbon dioxide emissions for 2018 were enough to melt an area of sea ice larger than the size of Cardiff, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham combined The Arctic is warming more than twice as fast as the global average with devastating consequences for wildlife like Pacific walrus - which has been highlighted in the new David Attenborough documentary Our Planet, the charity said. Rod Downie, Chief Polar Advisor at WWF said: 'What is happening in the Arctic is nothing short of a crisis and the world needs to wake up and act. Sea ice decline is one of the most visible signs of climate change on our planet. 'And it's not just crucial to Arctic people and species like polar bears and walrus, but to the health of the planet as a whole.' 'The bright surface of the ice reflects sunlight away from the planet and back into space, helping to keep our planet cool. 'But when this ice melts, it is replaced by dark ocean which absorbs the sun's rays, heating up our planet. 'The twelve lowest Arctic sea ice extents on satellite record have all occurred in the last 12 years.' The Paris Agreement was signed in 2015 to rally all nations in a bid to limit climate change. It hoped to hold the increase in the global average temperature to below 2C (3.6F) 'and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C (2.7F)'. The world's climate scientists - the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - issued a stark warning late last year about just how much more dangerous the impacts for nature and humanity become once we pass 1.5C (2.7F) of warming. Earth has already warmed by an average of 1C (1.8F) over the last century. THE PARIS AGREEMENT: A GLOBAL ACCORD TO LIMIT TEMPERATURE RISES THROUGH CARBON EMISSION REDUCTION TARGETS The Paris Agreement, which was first signed in 2015, is an international agreement to control and limit climate change. It hopes to hold the increase in the global average temperature to below 2C (3.6F) 'and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C (2.7F)'. It seems the more ambitious goal of restricting global warming to 1.5C (2.7F) may be more important than ever, according to previous research which claims 25 per cent of the world could see a significant increase in drier conditions. The Paris Agreement on Climate Change has four main goals with regards to reducing emissions: 1) A long-term goal of keeping the increase in global average temperature to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels 2) To aim to limit the increase to 1.5C, since this would significantly reduce risks and the impacts of climate change 3) Governments agreed on the need for global emissions to peak as soon as possible, recognising that this will take longer for developing countries 4) To undertake rapid reductions thereafter in accordance with the best available science Source: European Commission Advertisement The Arctic is warming more than twice as fast as the global average with devastating consequences for wildlife like Pacific walrus - which has been highlighted in the new David Attenborough documentary Our Planet, the WWF said The Paris Agreement was signed in 2015 to rally all nations in a bid to limit climate change. It hoped to hold the increase in the global average temperature to below 2C (3.6F) 'and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C (2.7F)' 'There is hope and a clear solution available, but we are heading towards the point of no return,' a WWF spokesperson said. The nature conservation group is calling for clear commitments from the UK government to make climate action and the environment a priority across every department, commit to reaching a net of zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 and invest in a clean economy. In addition, the WWF is seeking to end support for fossil fuels, fracking and subsidies for oil and gas exploration - alongside halting the expansion of fuel-intensive airports in the UK. 'What we do in the UK is directly contributing to the acceleration of sea ice loss, as a result of climate change,' said WWF Head of Climate Gareth Redmond-King. 'People in the UK expect and deserve action and commitment from their leaders. We have the solutions at our fingertips, but what we're missing is the political will to deliver them in time.' 'We are the last generation who can halt catastrophic climate change. That is why we need to make our voices heard and fight for our world,' he concludes. 'There is hope and a clear solution available, but we are heading towards the point of no return,' a WWF spokesperson said. The group is calling for clear commitments from the UK government to make climate action and the environment a priority across every department The findings come after another study was published claiming melting glaciers around the world have contributed more than an inch to the world's rising sea levels. Unrelated research from Zurich found global warming is causing glaciers to melt and has already boosted sea levels by more than an inch (27 mm) since 1961. Based on their findings, the authors suggest that glaciers could almost disappear in some mountain ranges by 2100 (including the Caucasus, Central Europe, Western Canada and the USA and New Zealand ). Glaciers, not including the Greenland or Antarctic ice sheets, account for more than 40,000 cubic miles (170,000 cubic kilometres) of water. Glaciers in Alaska, Patagonia and in the Arctic regions were found to contribute the most to glacier ice loss. Global mass loss of glacier ice has increased significantly in the last 30 years and narrowed it down to a ten year window spanning from 2006 to 2016. This revealed a worrying statistic that 335 billion tons of ice is lost each year from glaciers alone. This corresponds to an increase in sea levels of almost 1 millimetre per year. 'Globally, we lose about three times the ice volume stored in the entirety of the European Alps - every single year!' says glaciologist Dr Zemp, who published the data in Nature. Advertisement Scientists have lifted the veil on the first images ever captured of a black holes event horizon. In a highly-anticipated string of press conferences held simultaneously around the world on Wednesday, the team behind the Event Horizon Telescope revealed the findings from their first run of observations. Using a virtual telescope built from eight radio observatories positioned at different points on the globe, the international team has spent the last few years probing Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way, and another target called M87 in the Virgo cluster of galaxies. While black holes are invisible by nature, the ultra-hot material swirling in their midst forms a ring of light around the perimeter that reveals the mouth of the object itself based on its silhouette. This boundary is known as the event horizon. 'We have seen what we thought was unseeable,' said EHT Director Sheperd Doeleman as he introduced the glowing orange ring that is the object at the center of Messier 87 (M87) and our first direct look at a black hole. The breakthrough adds major support for Einsteins theory of General Relativity and could help to answer longstanding questions on the nature of black holes. Scientists have lifted the veil on the first images ever captured of a black holes event horizon. In a highly-anticipated string of press conferences held simultaneously around the world, the team behind the Event Horizon Telescope revealed the findings from their first run of observations. The glowing orange ring shows the event horizon of M87, in the Virgo galaxy cluster WHAT IS AN EVENT HORIZON? The event horizon is theoretical boundary around a black hole where not light or other radiation can escape. When any of that material gets too close to the edge of the hole, known as the event horizon, its atoms are ripped apart. The nuclei disappear below the horizon, the much lighter electrons get caught up in the black hole's intense magnetic field and tosses them around at high speed. This twisting motion causes them to release photons, which is the main source of emission from matter close to the black hole. Advertisement The observations from the Event Horizon Telescope can now be counted among of the most significant scientific breakthroughs of the century. The April 10 event focused on the results from the first full run of the observatory network, which was conducted in 2017 through the collaboration of scientists operating eight radio observatories. While the image might seem unremarkable to some, these findings 'will transform and enhance our understanding of black holes,' said National Science Foundation Director France Cordova as she kicked off the live event in Washington DC. Developing the technology to get the image was a 'Herculean task' in itself the researchers said; no single telescope is powerful enough to image a black hole in such detail on its own. But, through international collaboration and an array of instruments, the team built a virtual telescope essentially as large as Earth itself, allowing them to peer into Messier 87, which lies 55 million light years away, to see the black hole at its center. The data required more than 'half a ton of hard drives,' according to Dan Marrone, Associate Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona. The eight telescopes collected 5 petabytes of data - or the 'equivalent of 5,000 years of mp3s,' or 'a lifetime of selfies for 40,000 people.' 'We now have visual evidence for a black hole,' Doeleman said. 'We now know that a black hole exists at the center of M87. Material moving around the black hole is moving at light speeds. 'We now have an entirely new way of discovering black holes that weve never had before, and like all new discoveries this is just the beginning.' The data put Einsteins theory to what could be its most rigorous test yet; the size and shape of the observed black hole can all be predicted by the General Relativity equations, which posits it to be roughly circular. The simulations (top row) are shown above alongside the image of the black hole itself (bottom row) 'We now have visual evidence for a black hole,' EHT Director Sheperd Doeleman said. 'We now know that a black hole exists at the center of M87. Material moving around the black hole is moving at light speeds.' Doeleman is shown above beside the groundbreaking image during the live event How did scientists capture an image of a black hole? As explained in the graphic, the method relies on observing the material that swirls around the edges before falling into the black hole itself. This heats up to extreme temperatures, causing it to emit bright light that appears as a ring around the black hole The team has been working for years to capture a silhouette of a black hole, also commonly referred to as the black holes shadow. 'Nature has conspired to let us see something that we thought was invisible,' Doeleman said. 'This is a long sought goal for us, and we hope that youll be inspired by it too.' The data put Einsteins theory to what could be its most rigorous test yet; the size and shape of the observed black hole can all be predicted by the General Relativity equations, which posits it to be roughly circular. 'What weve now confirmed is that General Relativity does not change when looking at black holes masses,' said Sera Markoff, professor of theoretical astrophysics at the University of Amsterdam. 'M87s huge black hole mass makes it a monster even by supermassive black hole standards. Youre basically looking at a supermassive black hole that is almost the size of our solar system.' The researchers estimate its mass to be roughly 6.5 billion times the mass of the sun. While black holes are invisible by nature, the ultra-hot material swirling in their midst forms a ring of light around the perimeter that reveals the mouth of the object itself based on its silhouette. This boundary is known as the event horizon. A simulation of the black hole is pictured alongside the history-making new image above Mareki Honma of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan unveils the first image of a black hole during a press conference in Tokyo, Japan. Simultaneous press conferences were held all around the world on Wednesday The effort has been working for years to capture a silhouette of a black hole, also commonly referred to as the black holes shadow. This is done by observing the ultra-hot material swirling around the black hole, as explained in the graphic above The breakthrough adds major support for Einsteins theory of General Relativity and helps to confirm our understanding of gravity. Simulations of the black hole are shown above 'The galaxies are growing, and we think it's through these types of interactions that black holes help shape the largest structures in galaxies and make them look the way they do today,' Markoff said. 'By looking at two black holes with extremely opposite energy, we can better understand the influence of black holes in the long course of our history.' Through international collaboration, the team built a virtual telescope essentially as large as Earth itself, allowing them to peer into the center of the Virgo A galaxy The international collaboration that makes up the Event Horizon Telescope effort includes observatories in the South Pole, Europe, South America, Africa, North America, and Australia all of which must be pointed directly at the object to measure the surrounding activity. Now, the researchers have a ton of data to pore through and countless analyses to run. The many different teams will each develop their own models to compare against each other on a larger scale. Eventually, they'll move on to study Sagittarius A, the supermassive black hole at the center of our own galaxy. 'We've seen the unseeable,' said Avery Broderick, Associate Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Waterloo. 'Now what does it all mean?' Pictured from left to right: Event Horizon Telescope Director Sheperd Doeleman, National Science Foundation Director France Cordova, University of Arizona Associate Professor of Astronomy Dan Marrone, University of Waterloo Associate Professor Avery Broderick and University of Amsterdam Professor of Theoretical High Energy Astrophysics Sera Markoff Security researchers have discovered three vulnerabilities in a popular Verizon Fios router model that could have allowed hackers to take full control of the device. The flaws, discovered by researchers at cybersecurity firm Tenable, affect Verizon's Fios Quantum Gateway router, which is used by millions of customers of the telecommunications giant. Verizon patched the bug in its latest software update after researchers tipped them off to the flaws in December. Scroll down for video Security researchers have discovered three vulnerabilities in a popular Verizon Fios router model that could have allowed hackers to take full control of the device HOW CAN YOU CHECK IF YOUR ROUTER IS AFFECTED? All Verizon routers running firmware version 02.02.00.13 should no longer be vulnerable to attackers. However, the firm cautions that a 'small fraction' of devices remain vulnerable. Here's how to check if yours is one of them: Open your web browser and enter your router's IP address. Enter the administrative password, which is usually on the router. After logging in, select 'System Monitoring' in the righthand corner. Under Firmware Version, it should say which version your router is running. Advertisement While the attacks require a significant amount of effort to carry out, anyone savvy enough can gain root access to the device, giving them full control over it, as well as the ability to view every device connected to the router. 'This type of attack is feasible for an attacker with an intermediate level of skill,' Tenable Senior Researcher Chris Lyne told Threatpost. 'The remote command injection does require the attacker to either know the administrative password or have captured and replayed a previous login request. 'If remote administration is enabled on the router, the attack can be carried out from anywhere with an internet connection,' he added. The attacker would also need to be in range of the device, but if remote administration of the device is enabled, it could be executed remotely, Lyne said. Lyne discovered the bugs by looking at the Access Control rules in the Firewall settings of the router's API for the web interface. After gaining root access to the device, the attacker would be able to inject commands into the operating system. The flaws, discovered by researchers at cybersecurity firm Tenable, affect Verizon's Fios Quantum Gateway router, which is used by millions of customers of the telco giant Researchers discovered two additional vulnerabilities, including the ability to capture a login request. These vulnerabilities enable a range of dubious activities to be carried out by attackers, including the ability to compromise smart home devices remotely. 'An attacker could tamper with the security settings of the device, change firewall rules or remove parental controls,' Tenable said in a statement. 'They could sniff network traffic to further compromise a victims online accounts, steal bank details and swipe passwords.' Luckily, Verizon resolved the vulnerabilities in firmware version 02.02.00.13. Most of the affected devices have been updated to this latest version, but Verizon cautioned that a 'small fraction of devices' remain vulnerable. Virgin Galactic's first test passenger has received her official commercial astronaut wings. It comes after she flew on the company's rocket plane to evaluate the customer experience in February. Virgin Galactic's chief astronaut instructor, Beth Moses, who is a former NASA engineer, became the first woman to fly to space on a commercial vehicle when she joined pilots David Mackay and Mike Masucci on SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity. Scroll down for video Virgin Galactic's first test passengers have received their official commercial astronaut wings. It comes after they flew on the company's rocket plane to evaluate the customer experience in February. After the successful flight, Virgin Galactic confirmed the plane soared as high as 55.85 miles, or 294,9007 feet (89.9 kilometres) In the cockpit of the supersonic plane sat two seasoned pilots, Chief Pilot Dave Mackay and Pilot Mike 'Sooch' Masucci. The pair was also joined by a third crew member in the cabin, micro-gravity expert Chief Astronaut Instructor Beth Moses, who will provide human validation for the data collected during the flight. The trio can be seen during the flight, above The wings were presented to the three-person crew at the 35th Space Symposium in Colorado by the Federal Aviation Administration's associate administrator for commercial space, Wayne Monteith. 'Commercial human space flight is now a reality,' he said. The February test flight nudged Richard Branson's space travel company closer to delivering suborbital flights for the more than 600 people who have paid Virgin Galactic about $80 million in deposits. Branson has said he hopes to be the first passenger on a commercial flight in 2019. The 90-minute flight, during which passengers will be able to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see the Earth's curvature, costs 190,000 ($250,000) a price that the company said will increase before it falls. The SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity passenger craft (R) is seen after separation from Virgin Galactic rocket plane, the WhiteKnightTwo carrier airplane (L) Richard Bransons aerospace company lifted off for its second attempt to reach the edge of space following its milestone accomplishment last December. WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo are be seen flying together just after liftoff in February for the firm's fifth supersonic powered test flight Richard Bransons aerospace company reached the edge of space for the second time. The firm confirmed the success on Twitter roughly an hour after liftoff HOW HIGH DID IT GO? Virgin Galactic uses an altitude of 50 miles (80 km) to designate the boundary of space. This is used by NASA and the U.S. Air Force for awarding astronaut wings. 'For Virgin Galactic, the major milestone that we perceive is the altitude at which NASA and Air Force folks get their astronaut wings, which is 50 miles,' George Whitesides, chief executive of Virgin Galactic, said last month. The long-held view, however, is that the edge of space begins higher than this, at an altitude of 62 miles (100km). Advertisement Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and Elon Musk's SpaceX are also in the space tourism race. Blue Origin has launched its New Shepard rocket to space, but its trips have not yet carried humans. SpaceX last year named Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa as its first passenger on a voyage around the moon, tentatively scheduled for 2023. Moses, who as a NASA engineer worked on the assembly of the International Space Station, is designing a three-day training program for Virgin Galactic's future space tourists. 'I gleaned a lot of firsthand information that we can roll into the design and then also into the training,' she said on her return to earth in Mojave, California, in February. The passengers, some of whom have been signed up since 2004, will train in a mock-up cabin at New Mexico's Spaceport America before their flights. Moses told Reuters she aims for customers to arrive in space 'not wondering what noise they just heard or being surprised by the G they just felt.' Virgin Galactic's Branson will also receive the annual Space Achievement Award at the symposium in recognition of the company's two crewed test flights, the first from U.S. soil since the final Space Shuttle mission in 2011. Radioactive fallout from nuclear meltdowns and weapons testing is nestled in glaciers across the world and could be released by global warming. Scientists have issued a stark warning that disappearing glaciers around the world are a hazardous time bomb as rising temperatures melt the icy residue. An international team of scientists studied the presence of nuclear fallout in ice surface sediments on glaciers across the Arctic, Iceland the Alps, Caucasus mountains, British Columbia and Antarctica. It found man-made radioactive material at all sites it looked at, often at concentrations at least 10 times higher than levels elsewhere. The comments come a day in a week that has seen several studies emerge calling for action to stop the melting of the world's glaciers. Separate studies found the Alps could lose 90 per cent of their glacier ice by the end of the century and the world's glaciers around the world have contributed more than an inch to the world's rising sea levels. Scroll down for video Switzerland's Pizol glacier, pictured in both 2006 and 2018. Projected rates of ice volume loss anticipate that this small glacier will completely disappear by 2100. Scientists have issued a stark warning that disappearing glaciers around the world are a hazardous time bomb as rising temperatures melt the icy residue 'They are some of the highest levels you see in the environment outside nuclear exclusion zones,' said Caroline Clason, a lecturer in Physical Geography at the University of Plymouth. When radioactive material is released into the atmosphere, it falls to earth as acid rain, some of which is absorbed by plants and soil. But when it falls as snow and settles in the ice, it forms heavier sediment which collects in glaciers, concentrating the levels of nuclear residue. The Chernobyl disaster of 1986 - by far the most devastating nuclear accident to date - released vast clouds of radioactive material Into the atmosphere. This caused widespread contamination and acid rain across northern Europe for weeks afterwards. 'Radioactive particles are very light so when they are taken up into the atmosphere they can be transported a very long way,' Dr Clason told AFP. 'When it falls as rain, like after Chernobyl, it washes away and it's sort of a one-off event. 'But as snow, it stays in the ice for decades and as it melts in response to the climate it's then washed downstream.' The environmental impact of this has been shown in recent years, as wild boar meat in Sweden was found to contain more than 10 times the safe levels of Caesium. Dr Clason said her team had detected some fallout from the Fukushima meltdown in 2011, but stressed that much of the particles from that particular disaster had yet to collect on the ice sediment. Research from the WWF found that at current levels, carbon dioxide emissions from the UK result in the loss of around 386 square miles (1,000 square km) of Arctic sea ice every September The Chernobyl disaster of 1986 - by far the most devastating nuclear accident to date - released vast clouds of radioactive material Into the atmosphere (pictured) As well as disasters, radioactive material produced from weapons testing was also detected at several research sites. 'We're talking about weapons testing from the 1950s and 1960s onwards, going right back in the development of the bomb,' she said. 'If we take a sediment core you can see a clear spike where Chernobyl was, but you can also see quite a defined spike in around 1963 when there was a period of quite heavy weapons testing.' One of the most potentially hazardous residues of human nuclear activity is Americium, which is produced when Plutonium decays. Whereas Plutonium has a half-life of 14 years, Americium lasts 400. 'Americium is more soluble in the environment and it is a stronger alpha (radiation) emitter. Both of those things are bad in terms of uptake into the food chain,' said Clason. While there is little data available on how these materials can be passed down the food chain - even potentially to humans - Dr Clason said there was no doubt that Americium is 'particularly dangerous'. As geologists look for markers of the epoch when mankind directly impacted the health of the planet - known as the Anthropocene - Dr Clason and her team believe that radioactive particles in ice, soil and sediment could be an important indicator. 'These materials are a product of what we have put into the atmosphere. This is just showing that our nuclear legacy hasn't disappeared yet, it's still there,' Dr Clason said. 'And it's important to study that because ultimately it's a mark of what we have left in the environment.' A previously unknown ancient ancestor has been discovered in the Philippines and could change what we know about human evolution. Bones and teeth of the newly described hominin were found in Callao Cave on Luzon island in the Asian archipelago. Named Homo luzonensis, the species stood at less than four feet tall, which scientists have gleaned from the small size of its teeth. The fossils were found to date back to a time period in the late Pleistocene era as recent as 50,000 years ago. It was during this time that our own ancestors and the Neanderthals were spreading across Europe and into Asia. It also had primitive looking fingers, and both the fingers and toes were curved - suggesting that the creature liked to climb. Scroll down for video A previously unknown ancient ancestor has been discovered in the Philippines and could change what we know about human evolution. Bones and teeth of the newly described hominin were found in Callao Cave on Luzon island in the Asian archipelago The specimens were found to date back to a time period in the late Pleistocene era as recent as 50,000 years ago. Several feet and hand bones, a partial thigh bone, and teeth from at least three ancient individuals were unearthed 'The fossil remains included adult finger and toe bones, as well as teeth. We also recovered a child's femur. There are some really interesting features for example, the teeth are really small,' Professor Piper said. 'The size of the teeth generally, though not always, reflect the overall body-size of a mammal, so we think Homo luzonensis was probably relatively small,' said co-author and lead member of the team, Professor Philip Piper from The Australian National University (ANU). 'Exactly how small we don't know yet. We would need to find some skeletal elements from which we could measure body-size more precisely.' Several feet and hand bones, a partial thigh bone, and teeth from at least three ancient individuals were also unearthed - believed to be two adults and one juvenile. The scientists said that the teeth are highly unusual, with strikingly small molars that are similar in size to those of modern humans. They shared other characteristics with far more primitive hominins, including one known for its massive jaws and teeth. 'It's quite incredible. The extremities, that is the hand and feet bones, are remarkably Australopithecine-like,' Dr Piper added. 'The Australopithecines last walked the earth in Africa about 2 million years ago and are considered to be the ancestors of the Homo group, which includes modern humans. 'So, the question is whether some of these features evolved as adaptations to island life, or whether they are anatomical traits passed down to Homo luzonensis from their ancestors over the preceding two million years.' Named Homo luzonensis, the species stood at less than four feet tall, information which scientists have gleaned from the size of its teeth. They contain a mixture of old and new features that have excited scientists and threaten to overturn accepted theories of human evolution Hominins are members of the human family tree more closely related to one another than to apes. Today, only one species of this group remains, Homo sapiens, to which everyone on Earth belongs. It was a different story 50,000 years ago, when several varieties of hominin co-existed. Now another name has been added to the list, Homo luzonensis, after scientists analysed an unusual set of fossil remains from Callao Cave. They included our own species, Homo Sapiens, and Neanderthals, both living in Europe and western Asia and the Homo floresiensis - or 'hobbits' - from Indonesia. All species of human, both living and extinct, are believed to have originated in Africa. They then moved out in two major waves of migration hundreds of thousands of years apart. Here, Calao cave, where the fossils were found While the molars were strikingly small - similar in size to those of modern humans - they shared other characteristics with far more primitive hominins, including one known for its massive jaws and teeth One of the foot bones examined had an anatomy distinct from all other known hominins, including modern humans. In addition, H luzonensis had toes identical to those of Australopiethecus, a primitive species that lived in Africa at least two million years earlier. Doctor Florent Detroit, from the Museum of Natural History in Paris said: 'The discovery of Homo luzonensis underscores the complexity of the evolution, dispersal and diversity of the genus Homo outside of Africa, and particularly in the islands of south-east Asia, during the Pleistocene.' The new species, Homo luzonensis, is named after Luzon Island, where the more than 50,000 year old fossils were found during excavations at Callao Cave All species of human, both living and extinct, are believed to have originated in Africa. They then moved out in two major waves of migration hundreds of thousands of years apart. The sole representative of the first wave is widely thought to have been Homo erectus, an intrepid traveller who spread across the globe more than 1.5 million years ago. However, this theory has looked increasingly shaky in recent years, especially with the discovery in 2004 of Homo floresiensis on the Indoniesian island of Flores. The latest find throws up even more doubts. Canadian anthopologist Doctor Matthew Tocheri, from Lakehead University in Ontario, wrote: 'Homo luzonensis provides yet more evidence that hints that H erectus might not have been the only globe-trotting early hominin.' 'Because Homo Luzonensis provides the first glimpse of a second hominin species living on a distant island at a time when H sapiens populations from Africa were beginning to spread across the world, one thing can be said for certain - our picture of hominin evolution in Asia during the Pleistocene just got even messier, more complicated, and a whole lot more interesting.' Amazon's automated Go stores will start accepting cash amid growing claims that the e-commerce giant is discriminating against those without access to banking or credit cards. Steve Kessel, Amazon's senior vice president of physical stores, told employees last month that the company's Go stores will have 'additional payment mechanisms,' according to CNBC. The move was announced after concerns arose that the automated stores fostered 'discrimination and elitism' by shunning consumers that use cash. Scroll down for video Amazon's automated Go stores will start accepting cash amid growing claims that the e-commerce giant is discriminating against those without access to banking or credit cards Amazon first launched its line of Go stores in 2016, with the first location opening near its Seattle headquarters. At the stores, consumers walk in, scan their phone on a gated turnstile to pull up their Amazon Go account, find an item that they want and then exit the store without the need to pay with a cashier. Cameras are located around the store to track customers, while weighted sensors are installed on the shelves to keep track of which products users take. After exiting the store, Amazon charges any purchases to the user's account. In order to charge consumers for their order, they're required to have a bank or credit card connected to their account. Additionally, in order to enter the store, consumers must own a smartphone. This inherently sets up barriers for lower-income customers who either don't own a smartphone or aren't established with a banking institution. Amazon opened its first cashierless store in Seattle two years ago (pictured) and has launched two additional locations in Seattle and another in Chicago Approximately 6.5 percent of U.S. households are unbanked, or do not have their own bank accounts, according to a 2017 report from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. By accepting cash, Amazon would be altering its model of cashierless stores. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that Go stores will soon let customers check out, use cash and then receive change. 'We are working to accept cash at Amazon Go,' the spokesperson told CNBC. Amazon currently has 10 Go stores located across the country, but is expected to open up some 3,000 stores by 2021, according to Bloomberg. As more cashless stores have continued to pop up, they haven't been welcomed by everyone. Earlier this year, New Jersey joined Philadelphia and Massachusetts in banning cashless stores in their areas. Additionally, San Francisco has discussed banning cashierless stores, while lawmakers in New York City, Chicago and Washington, D.C. have considered similar measures. A major breakthrough which claimed to have found methane on Mars may have been incorrect, a new study has found. A follow-up to last week's ground-breaking news reports the gas - which is essential for life - was not actually detected. Observations from the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) stationed 250 miles (400km) in April 2018 failed to detect the natural gas. Scroll down for video A follow-up to last week's ground-breaking news reports the gas methane - which is essential for life - was not detected by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) stationed 250 miles (400km) in April 2018 TGO's super-sensitive chemical analyser is capable of detecting methane at levels up to 100 times lower than were previously possible. It can also identify the type of carbon in methane - which could tell scientists whether the gas was likely to have been produced by geology or Martian bugs. Its failure to spot the gas where so many others have succeeded has mystified scientists. Dr Manish Patel, from the Open University, who is in charge of the Nomad chemical analysis instrument on TGO, said: 'The measurements we have made are very surprising. 'The methane previously detected by ground-based telescopes, the ESA (European Space Agency) Mars Express spacecraft and the Nasa Curiosity rover seems to have disappeared. 'Mars continues to confound us. The only way these results make sense with previous observations is if there is a new mechanism in the atmosphere, removing the methane at a rate far faster than thought possible. 'As always, Mars provides us with another mystery to solve.' The new findings were published in the journal Nature and presented at the European Geosciences Union meeting in Vienna. ExoMars is a two-part mission. The TGO will be joined in 2021 by the British-built Rosalind Franklin rover, now under construction by Airbus in Stevenage. The rover will be able to probe under the Martian surface for signs of past or present life. Two missions observing the red planet independently detected methane near Mars Gale Crater - a 96-mile-wide bowl where Curiosity landed in 2012 and which may be the site of an ancient lake - just one day apart and the confirmed data was released last week. Methane is said to be a promising clue in the search for life due to its links to biological activity on Earth. NASAs Curiosity rover first measured a strong signal of the molecule on 15 June, 2013. But, some experts questioned the reliability of the discovery. TGO's super-sensitive chemical analyser is capable of detecting methane at levels up to 100 times lower than were previously possible The spacecraft can also identify the type of carbon in methane - which could tell scientists whether the gas was likely to have been produced by geology or Martian bugs Now, a re-analysis of data collected by ESAs Mars Express has found that the orbiting craft picked up on the methane burp just one day after Curiosity, effectively confirming its presence. The data show one definite detection of about 15 parts per billion by volume of methane in the atmosphere, a day after Curiosity reported a spike of roughly 6 ppb, says lead author Marco Giuranna from the Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology. Although parts per billion in general means a relatively small amount, it is quite remarkable for Mars our measurement corresponds to an average of about 46 tonnes of methane that was present in the area of 49,000 square kilometers observed from our orbit, Giuranna said, Methane can be produced through both biological and geological processes, so its presence is not a definitive sign of life. But, it can point scientists in the right direction for where they should look. While it was initially thought that the methane was coming from inside the crater, the new analysis changes this. Other results from TGO, also published in Nature, describe the impact of a massive global dust storm that has enveloped the Red Planet. The spacecraft monitored the storm from the moment it began and studied how the dust affected water vapour in the atmosphere. Facebook is doubling down on its efforts to prevent the spread of misinformation on its platform and some of its apps. In a nearly 2,000-word blog post, Facebook unveiled a slew of new policies that the company will put into place to clamp down on false news stories, images and videos. The plan, titled 'remove, reduce and inform,' addresses one of the major criticisms against Facebook concerning the continued presence of harassment, hate speech and false content on its site. Scroll down for video Facebook is introducing new changes to how it tackles misinformation on its site, starting with new policies for Groups, News Feed ranking and its work with third-party fact checkers HOW IS FACEBOOK TACKLING FALSE INFORMATION? As part of a sweeping new plan, titled 'remove, reduce and inform,' Facebook is launching its toughest measures yet to tackle misinformation. Among the changes are: Expanding its partnership with the Associated Press and third-party fact checkers to 'debunk false and misleading information' Changing the News Feed algorithm to reduce the rank of sites that are linked out to more than they are linked to, using a new metric called 'Click-Gap' Some content will include a 'Trust Indicator' button that provides more context on a particular publication Reducing the reach of Groups that repeatedly post false information and putting more responsibility on administrators for policy violations Adding verified badges on Messenger and labeling messages that have been forwarded Reducing the reach of posts on Instagram that may contain false content but don't violate its community guidelines Advertisement Guy Rosen, Facebook's vice president of integrity, and Tessa Lyons, Facebook's head of News Feed integrity, broke down the policy changes in a lengthy post. Facebook has been using the 'remove, reduce and inform' strategy since 2016, but is now applying it in new ways. 'This involves removing content that violates our policies, reducing the spread of problematic content that does not violate our policies and informing people with additional information so they can choose what to click, read or share,' the post states. Facebook will now bring the hammer down on groups that 'repeatedly share misinformation' by limiting how widely their content is shared in the News Feed. This change affects all users globally starting today. 'When people in a group repeatedly share content that has been rated false by independent fact-checkers, we will reduce that groups overall News Feed distribution,' the firm stated. As part of the move, users can also remove their posts and comments from a group, even if they've left the group. Group moderators will also be held to higher responsibility for the types of content that populate their pages. 'When reviewing a group to decide whether or not to take it down, we will look at admin and moderator content violations in that group, including members posts they have approved, as a stronger signal that the group violates our standards,' the firm wrote in the blog post. A new feature called Group Quality will also show administrators a breakdown of the content flagged in the group, so they can gain greater insight into what kinds of content are considered false news. The plan, titled 'remove, reduce and inform,' addresses one of the major criticisms against Facebook concerning the continued presence of hate speech and false content on its site The News Feed is also being overhauled to an extent, with the launch of a new 'Click-Gap' metric that will help inform its algorithms on how to rank a certain post. This will impact how stories are ranked in the News Feed, by reducing the rank of sites that link out much more than they are linked to. For example, if a certain site is getting a disproportionate amount of traffic from Facebook's News Feed compared to the rest of the web, it will be demoted in the News Feed. 'Click-Gap looks for domains with a disproportionate number of outbound Facebook clicks compared to their place in the web graph,' the company said. 'This can be a sign that the domain is succeeding on News Feed in a way that doesnt reflect the authority theyve built outside it and is producing low-quality content.' As Wired pointed out, this could be bad news for smaller websites that aren't necessarily popular outside of Facebook and craft content or headlines that are meant to manipulate the site's algorithms. Some content on the News Feed will also include a 'Trust Indicator' button that provides further context around a publication. A few updates are arriving on Facebook's family of apps like Instagram and Messenger. Now, in a move that mirrors WhatsApp, Messenger will label forwarded messages and include a context button to 'provide more background information on shared articles.' Additionally, Instagram will now reduce the reach of posts that contain false information but don't violate the app's community standards. 'For example, a sexually suggestive post will still appear in Feed if you follow the account that posts it, but this type of content may not appear for the broader community in Explore or hashtag pages,' the firm said. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been criticized for his failure to reduce the spread of fake news, hateful posts and other negative content. Since then, he has launched a number of steps Facebook is also working closely with news organizations and outside experts to tackle misinformation more quickly. Among the updates are that it will continue to work with the Associated Press to 'debunk false and misleading video misinformation and Spanish-language content appearing on Facebook in the U.S.' In doing so, the firm says it can clean up false information from the site without Facebook having to be the arbiter of truth or make judgments around news content. The firm will continue to consult with academics, journalists and other parties to develop new ways to tackle misinformation. Facebook acknowledged that it will never be able to hire enough fact-checkers and moderators to keep an eye on all the content posted on its site. 'Our professional fact-checking partners are an important piece of our strategy against misinformation, but they face challenges of scale: There simply aren't enough professional fact-checkers worldwide and, like all good journalism, fact-checking takes time,' the company said. A prehistoric monument that boasts the worlds largest stone circle and now stands among the World Heritage Sites may have been designed to commemorate a single, humble house when it was built more than 5,000 years ago. Little is known about the history of Avebury henge, which sits less than 20 miles from its more famous neighbour, Stonehenge. But, recent research suggests the complex megalith had simpler origins than one might expect. A new study has found that the mysterious Neolithic monument on Salisbury Plain may have been built around the site of a 'relatively modest dwelling' that stood there before it. Scroll down for video But thanks to its more famous neighbour, Stonehenge, we know very little about Avebury henge. Now a study suggests the mysterious monument on Salisbury Plain may have been created to commemorate a humble house on the same site (stock) The theories about why Stonehenge was built include that it was a temple, a burial site or a creation of aliens visiting Earth. And, the story of Avebury's construction has remained just as mysterious. In the past, it's been suggested that the site had medieval origins. The latest findings, however, further support its ties to the Neolithic period. A research team led by the University of Leicester has now found evidence of pits and gullies in the ground for its walls, plus bowls and flint tools that are all indicative of Neolithic craftsmanship. They say Avebury henge, made up of multiple stone circles and standing stones, was probably built later to commemorate the people living in the house - who were so important they were honoured in this way. Researchers found evidence of pits and gullies in the ground for its walls, plus bowls and flint tools which suggest the house was built in the Neolithic period. The site is mapped above, revealing where there may once have been posts and stones that have not survived to today Professor Joshua Pollard, part of the team behind the theory from the University of Southampton, told the New Scientist: 'It's a monument that developed in a series of stages.' The researchers, writing in the journal Antiquity, state: 'If our new interpretation of the structure within the Southern Inner Circle as an Early Neolithic house is correct, the implications for understanding Avebury's origins are profound - the ancestry of one of Europe's great megalithic monuments can be traced back to the monumentalisation of a relatively modest dwelling.' The modest house Avebury is thought to honour would have stood for just one or two generations and measured just 22 feet (6.9 metres) across. But the family that lived there, or their descendants, are thought to have made enough of an impression to inspire a World Heritage Site. The graphic shows the features excavated during the 1930s - the last time a major investigation occured at the site. At the time, researchers identified stoneholes (red) and gullies (green) among other features Researchers used ground-penetrating radar to search for signs of the house, as the last major excavations took place in the 1930s. They say the henge has gullies thought to have been trenches for the house's walls and pits which may have held posts for an internal dividing wall. They dismiss suggestions that any house was Medieval in origin, based on the Neolithic pottery and flint tools including scrapers, a knife and axe found there. The structure of the house, north of one of the monument's largest stones called the Obelisk, is also thought to be similar to other Neolithic houses in Britain and Ireland. Facebook's long-awaited Clear History tool has been delayed yet again. Guy Rosen, vice president of integrity at Facebook, said on Wednesday that the tool has faced some setbacks in its roll out as a result of data engineering issues. Now, after almost a year since its initial launch, the tool is expected to arrive in the fall, according to Engadget. Scroll down for video Facebook's long-awaited Clear History tool has been delayed yet again. After almost a year since it's initial launch, the Clear History tool is expected to arrive in the fall 'We're working to re-engineer our systems, and how we process that data so that we can do it right,' Rosen said. 'That's why it's taking more time than anticipated.' Rosen announced the delay at an event detailing the company's sweeping new policies on preventing the spread of misinformation. The last update on Facebook's Clear History tool came earlier this year, after a BuzzFeed investigation explored the delay in bringing the tool online. Back in February, the company told the site that it would roll out the tool as soon as this spring. But users will now have to wait several more months before they'll be able to use it. The clear history tool enables users wipe clean any data that tracks websites they've visited, as well as scrub any records of what ads they've clicked on while logged into Facebook. The feature was revealed just a few months after Facebook revealed that some 87 million users' data had been harvested and shared with Trump-affiliated campaign research firm Cambridge Analytica. Called 'clear history,' the feature would scrub any records of what ad's you've clicked on while logged into Facebook. The tool is part of Facebook's 'arms race' to protect user privacy In the Clear History tool's absence, many have grown frustrated and impatient over what some say are the company's excuses for not releasing the tool almost a year later It was pegged as a way for users to regain some control over how their personal data is collected by Facebook. It's not yet clear how exactly the tool would work once implemented by Facebook. CEO Mark Zuckerberg first described the tool in the lead up to Facebook's F8 developer conference last May. Zuckerberg said the Clear History tool would function similarly to how users can erase their browser history by clicking a button. 'The idea is a lot of sites need cookies to work, but you should still be able to flush your history whenever you want,' Zuckerberg said. 'We're building a version of this for Facebook too. It will be a simple control to clear your browsing history on Facebook - what you've clicked on, websites you've visited, and so on. 'We're starting with something a lot of people have asked about recently: the information we see from websites and apps that use Facebook's ads and analytics tools,' he added. Facebook already has some privacy tools that let users control what information advertisers can use for targeting. For example, users can prevent advertisers from showing them ads based on their relationship status, among other characteristics. Advertisement Some people really do live the high life - because they call extremely lofty settlements home. Here MailOnline Travel reveals, in ascending order, the world's highest hamlets, towns and cities. Some are accessible only by dangerous hairpin-laden roads, some are snowed in for half the year and some are so remote the only TripAdvisor reviews are for the local volcanoes. Scroll down for a peek at populations surrounded by peaks. Flash, UK - 1,519 feet The highest village in Britain is Flash, pictured. It sits on the border of three English counties - Derbyshire, Cheshire and Staffordshire - and is known for its long snowy winters Flash has a population of around 200 people and in olden times was known as a centre of illegal activities Located in the Peak District National Park, the village of Flash is the highest settlement in the UK at 1,519 feet above sea level. It sits on the border of three English counties - Derbyshire, Cheshire and Staffordshire - and is known for its long snowy winters. Flash has a population of around 200 people and in olden times was known as a centre of illegal activities, including prize-fighting and counterfeiting money. Valdelinares, Spain - 5,540 feet The village of Valdelinares, pictured, is in the Sierra de Gudar mountain range in Spain at an elevation of 5,540 feet Sitting at 5,540 feet, Valdelinares, in the Sierra de Gudar mountain range, is the highest settlement in Spain. It has a population of just 141 people but in the summer months numbers swell with hikers and mountaineers. And during the winter skiers and snowboarders flock to the nearby ski resort. Charlotte Pass, Australia - 6,444 feet The village of Charlotte Pass in New South Wales, which is the highest settlement in Australia. Temperatures often drop to -10C here The village is named after Charlotte Adams who, in 1881, became the first European woman to climb nearby Mount Kosciuszko The highest village in Australia is Charlotte Pass in New South Wales, which sits 6,444 feet above sea level. It has an alpine climate meaning that temperatures regularly drop below minus 10 in the winter, when it transforms into a ski resort. The village is named after Charlotte Adams who, in 1881, became the first European woman to climb nearby Mount Kosciuszko. Ushguli, Georgia - 6,900 feet For most of the year, Ushguli in Georgia is inaccessible due to snow. It sits at 6,900 feet and is home to a population of just over 200 people If you want to visit Ushguli in Georgia then pick your moment carefully, because this hamlet, 6,900 feet up in the Greater Caucasus mountains, is blocked in by snowfall for long periods of time. Visitors who time it right get to explore a Unesco world heritage site with a spectacular 12th century church. And the views, as any of the 200 people who live there will attest to, are amazing. Khinalug, Azerbaijan - 7,710 feet Khinalug sits in the Greater Caucasus mountains, 7,700 feet up from sea level - and its population of 2,000 people endure temperatures of -20C in winter There is nowhere higher or more remote in all of Azerbaijan than Khinalug. It sits in the Greater Caucasus mountains, 7,700 feet up from sea level - and its population of 2,000 people endure temperatures of -20C in winter. The frigid conditions have never been a barrier to settlement, though. The first residents arrived more than 5,000 years ago. Shimshal, Pakistan - 10,200 feet Shimshal, pictured, located on Pakistan's border with China, sits at an elevation of 10,200 feet. It was inaccessible by road until 2003 Located on Pakistan's border with China, Shimshal is the highest village in the country at an elevation of 10,200 feet. It has just 400 residents and had been inaccessible to motor vehicles until 2003, when a road was built to the village. This hairpin-turn laden road, though, is not for the faint-hearted - it's considered one of the most dangerous in the world. Saint-Veran, France - 10,461 feet The picturesque village of Saint-Veran in France, which is located in the Alps and sits an elevation of 10,461 feet The highest settlement in France, Saint-Veran, is located in the Alps in the south west of the country. It has a tiny population of just 249 people and sits at an elevation of 10,461 feet. Although it has a small number of settlers, numbers often swell as the small commune is popular with tourists with a head for heights. Alma, USA - 10,578 feet Alma has a population of just 270 and is home to the highest branch of the United States Post Office Feeling peaky: Alma is surrounded by five mighty 14,000ft mountains The highest incorporated town in the United States, Alma, in Colorado sits at an elevation of 10,578 feet. And as the town's website points out, it's surrounded by five '14ers' - Sherman (14,007), Mt.Bross (14,172 feet), Mt. Lincoln (14,286 feet), Mt. Democrat (14,148 feet), and Mt. Cameron (14,238 feet). It has a population of just 270 and is home to the highest branch of the United States Post Office. La Paz, Bolivia - 11,942 feet The bright lights of the city of La Paz in Bolivia twinkle at dusk. The South American capital sits at an elevation of 11,942 feet in the Valley of the Andes Claiming the title for the highest capital city in the world is La Paz in Bolivia. The South American city sits at an elevation of 11,942 feet in the Valley of the Andes. But despite being the capital, the city, with a population of 789,541, is only the third biggest in Bolivia, behind Santa Cruz de la Sierra (population 1,364,389) and Cochabamba (900,414). Kibber, India - 14,200 feet The village of Kibber in India, located in the Spiti Valley of the Himalayas, is set at an elevation of 14,200 feet Located in the Spiti Valley of the Himalayas, Kibber in India is set at an elevation of 14,200 feet. There are around 80 houses in the village, which has a population of 366, and it relies on agriculture for its main income. Despite its remote location, Kibber boasts a civil dispensary, a high school, a post office, a telegraph office- and a community TV set. Parinacota, Chile - 14,435 feet The tiny village of Parinacota in Chile sits on a path to a volcano, 14,435 feet above sea level. It is well known for its 17th century church, which is pictured above on the right Located close to Chile's Lauca National Park, the tiny village of Parinacota sits on the path to a volcano, 14,435 feet above sea level and is populated by just 29 people. Its most notable building is the 17th century church that has stone walls and a hand-painted fresco inside. The nearby volcano of the same name is, by all accounts, mightily impressive and is critically acclaimed on TripAdvisor. Karzok, India - 15,000 feet Karzok is situated on the shore of Lake Tso Moriri in India at an elevation of 15,000 feet. It has a population of just over 2,000 Karzok, on the shore of Lake Tso Moriri in Kashmir, India, sits at the lofty elevation of 15,000 feet. The village has a population of just over 2,000 and is home to the Drukpa Buddhist Korzok Monastery. Agriculture is the biggest industry in Karzok - popular crops are barley, oats and vegetables. Komik, India - 15,050 feet Buddhist monks walk down a hill to the village of Komik, a remote village near India's border with Tibet that sits 15,050ft up The entrance sign to Komik declares it to be the worlds highest village with a road - and who are we to argue? This remote Buddhist village near India's border with Tibet sits 15,050ft up. It has a population of just 130 residents, with the village described as a collection of whitewashed mud-and-stone houses. La Rinconada - 16,728 feet The highest all-year-round permanent settlement in the world is La Rinconada in Peru, which is 16,700 feet above sea level The highest permanent settlement in the world is La Rinconada in Peru, which is 16,700 feet above sea level. It is located near a gold mine in the Peruvian Andes and due to the elevation, temperatures rarely reach more than 10 degrees. The town hardly attracts any tourists as it has very limited accommodation. And altitude sickness is a very real possibility. A mystery woman has claimed that Jessika Power's boyfriend Daniel Webb kissed her and tried to take her home at a Gold Coast bar two months ago. The woman, who went by the name 'Hannah', called into the Kyle and Jackie O Show on Wednesday and told the radio hosts that Jessika contacted her on Instagram on Tuesday morning to clarify the allegations. Daily Mail Australia can confirm Jessika did reach out to the girl regarding the 'cheating' claims, however later realised the incident occurred when Jessika and Dan were both single and on a break. Married At First Sight 'cheating' bombshell! 'Heartbroken' Jessika Power allegedly messaged a girl who claimed Daniel Webb 'cheated' on her during tryst on the Gold Coast Hannah told Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson that Jessika sent her a message saying she was 'heartbroken'. The message read: 'Hey babe, I'm sorry to message you, but I'm an absolute wreck right now. Can you please tell me what happened with Dan? I've just been through so much. 'I feel like maybe this will help me move on. This isn't the first cheating allegation I've suffered either. It's just so heartbreaking. I've moved my entire life here [Perth to the Gold Coast]. He's said he's never seen you in his life, but my gut just doesn't believe it.' 'My heart's been ripped out on television': The woman, who went by the name 'Hannah', called into the Kyle and Jackie O Show on Wednesday and told the radio hosts that Jessika contacted her on Instagram on Tuesday morning to clarify the allegations Hannah said she told Jessika 'straight out exactly what happened' between the pair that night at the Gold Coast venue. '[I told her] that we got introduced that night. We just had a conversation and then he tried to take me home and was being extremely persistent about it, and I didn't want a bar of it.' Hannah claimed Jessika responded by saying she 'will be okay', but just needed to 'recoup'. They were single at the time! Daily Mail Australia can confirm Jessika did reach out to the girl regarding the 'cheating' claims, however later realised the incident occurred when Jessika and Dan were both single and on a break 'My heart's been ripped out on television. It's just a hard situation,' she also allegedly wrote in the text. However, Jessika later realised that the incident occurred when she and Dan were both single. Jessika and Dan, 35, split on January 24 after filming the reunion, and did not reconcile until towards the end of February, when they became an exclusive couple once again. Following Hannah's sensational claims, another caller by the name of Zoe alleged that Love Island's Eden Dally, 26, 'slept with Jessika'. And there is more! Following Hannah's sensational claims, another caller by the name of Zoe alleged that Love Island's Eden Dally, 26, 'slept with Jessika' 'She actually hooked up with Eden after the first episode [of Married At First Sight] aired on TV,' she claimed. 'He [Eden] had sent her a direct message on Instagram.' Zoe then went on to claim that Jessika invited him to the Gold Coast from Sydney, and that the pair slept together: 'The pair 'f***ed on the Gold Coast' at the end of January.' Jessika has previously branded any claims she's been intimate with Eden as 'fabricated, untrue and highly defamatory.' He missed out on winning Ali Oetjen's heart on The Bachelorette last year, but that's not stopping Bill Goldsmith in his quest for love. In fact, so serious is Bill about finding The One, he watched the Nick 'Honey Badger' Cummins season of The Bachelor last year and wrote down the names of the girls he hoped to meet up with on Bachelor In Paradise. 'I wrote down a few names,' Bill, 31, confessed to 10 Daily on Tuesday. Scroll down for video 'I wrote down a few names': On Tuesday, Bill Goldsmith (pictured) revealed who he hopes to meet up with on Bachelor In Paradise after first scoping them out on the Nick Cummins season of The Bachelor He continued: 'I watched a bit of the Honey Badger season, so I think I said Brooke [Blurton], Florence [Moerenhout, Bachelor 2017], Shannon [Baff] and Tenille [Favios].' Bill added that he wanted to 'to fall in love and create a family, to be honest'. However, the handsome mechanical plumber also has his hands full dealing with competition from other alpha males on Bachelor In Paradise. 'I wrote down a few names,' Bill (pictured), 31, confessed to 10 Daily on Tuesday. 'I watched a bit of the Honey Badger season, so I think I said Brooke [Blurton], Florence [Moerenhout, Bachelor 2017], Shannon [Baff] and Tenille [Favios]' On a mission: Bill added that he wanted to 'to fall in love and create a family, to be honest'. Pictured: Brooke Blurton During Tuesday's premiere, Bill dramatically clashed with his former love rival Paddy Collier, 27, after he was accused of trying form 'alliances' with former contestants prior to arriving in Fiji. Their spat reached a head with Bill calling Paddy a 'moron', before the blond Brit responded by saying, 'Call me a moron again and I'll rip your head off.' Paddy said his source was 31-year-old Charlie Newling - who Bill memorably clashed with in the 2018 version of The Bachelorette. On the lookout! Mechanical plumber Bill took note of the some of the girls from The Bachelor 2018, including Brooke Blurton (left) and Shannon Baff (right) Talent quest: Bill also said he would like to meet Tenille Favios (pictured) on the current season of Bachelor In Paradise 'He's been talking to a few [girls], Charlie told me. He was talking to one your mates, Megan [Marx], to see if she was coming in.' Clearly irked, Paddy said Bill had 'jeopardised' his chances of finding love. 'There's no-one here I've built a connection with,' Bill responded angrily. During Tuesday's premiere, Bill (left) dramatically clashed with his former love rival Paddy Collier (right), 27, after he was accused of trying form 'alliances' with former contestants prior to arriving in Fiji for Bachelor In Paradise While Bill did admit Megan had messaged him back, he insisted 'that was the end of it'. The Melbourne plumber also hit back at claims by gym manager Paddy that he had 'breached confidentiality' by speaking to ex-stars of the series. 'Please - you go and tell every person in the nightclub you're in The Bachelorette!' fumed Bill. Former child star Elle Fanning marked her 21st birthday on Tuesday by triumphantly taking her first legal sip of champagne for all her 2.7M Instagram followers to see. The SAG Award nominee downed her drink on a Los Angeles rooftop and announced: 'Look who is legal! The celebrations have just begun #21!' The Georgia-born blonde looked sophisticated in a mint-green double-breasted pantsuit and pink blouse selected by stylist Samantha McMillen. Cheers! Former child star Elle Fanning marked her 21st birthday on Tuesday by triumphantly taking her first legal sip of champagne for all her 2.7M Instagram followers to see The SAG Award nominee downed her drink on a Los Angeles rooftop and announced: 'Look who is legal! The celebrations have just begun #21!' Elle (born Mary) also showed off a beautiful bouquet of light-colored flowers she received on her special day. Fanning's big sister Dakota joined her for cocktails to celebrate her adult milestone. The 25-year-old SAG Award nominee opted to wear a seventies retro Sleeper dress featuring ruching and puffed bell sleeves. '21 TODAY @ellefanning! Hard for me to believe,' the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actress gushed on Instagram. Chic: The Georgia-born blonde looked sophisticated in a mint-green double-breasted pantsuit and pink blouse selected by stylist Samantha McMillen Smells sweet: Elle (born Mary) also showed off a beautiful bouquet of light-colored flowers she received on her special day Toast: Fanning's big sister Dakota (L) joined her for cocktails to celebrate her adult milestone 'Dream outfit scenario going on today': The 25-year-old SAG Award nominee opted to wear a seventies retro Sleeper dress featuring ruching and puffed bell sleeves The Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actress gushed: '21 TODAY @ellefanning! Hard for me to believe...I will always be there to zip up your dress (and maybe hold your hair back tonight...just kidding!!) and help you in every way I can. I LOVE YOU!' 'It feels like yesterday that I woke up in the little cot next to Mom in the hospital, and asked "What is it?" Meaning did I have a new baby brother or sister? 'As we know, I had a sister, and my life got better in that instant. I will always be there to zip up your dress (and maybe hold your hair back tonight...just kidding!!) and help you in every way I can. I LOVE YOU!' Other celebrity well wishers included Naomi Watts, who co-starred with Elle in Gaby Dellal's 2015 drama 3 Generations as well as Alejandro G. Inarritu's 2006 drama Babel. 'Happy birthday!' Other celebrity well wishers included Naomi Watts, who co-starred with Elle in Gaby Dellal's 2015 drama 3 Generations as well as Alejandro G. Inarritu's 2006 drama Babel 'To this magical rascal!' Michelle Monaghan also Insta-storied warm tidings, having acted with Fanning in Shawn Christensen's 2017 drama The Vanishing of Sidney Hall and Sofia Coppola's 2010 drama Somewhere 'My girl!' The I Think We're Alone Now starlet's fellow Miu Miu model Doutzen Kroes shared smiley on-set snaps of the pair looking close Michelle Monaghan also Insta-storied warm tidings, having acted with Fanning in Shawn Christensen's 2017 drama The Vanishing of Sidney Hall and Sofia Coppola's 2010 drama Somewhere. The I Think We're Alone Now starlet's fellow Miu Miu model Doutzen Kroes shared smiley on-set snaps of the pair looking close. The Wildflowers songstress next plays 17-year-old British singing contestant called Violet Valenski in Max Minghella's directorial debut Teen Spirit, which hits US theaters this Friday. David Harbour and Alison Sudol were snapped enjoying a spring day walking through the Tribeca neighborhood in his native New York City on Monday. The actor, 43, and actress, 34, were arm-in-arm on the walk through the city, where Harbour has been promoting his upcoming motion picture Hellboy. Harbour, who plays police chief Jim Hopper on the Netflix hit Stranger Things, donned a black coat over a blue shirt with blue slacks with black dress shoes, sporting a full beard and sunglasses. Out and about: David Harbour, 43, and Alison Sudol, 34, were snapped enjoying a spring day walking through the Tribeca neighborhood in his native New York City on Monday Sudol, a native of Seattle best known for her work on the Fantastic Beasts series, wore an orange and yellow print throw over a white top with baggy white pants and off-white sneakers. She had streaks of purple in her mane, which she wore down and parted. The couple, who have been linked for about a year, was in the Big Apple as Harbour has made media appearances on Good Morning America, on the BUILD series and on SiriusXM in support of his new movie. Speaking with Michael Strahan on GMA, Harbour opened up on the nuances that separates Hellboy, originally conceived as a comic book character, from the others. 'His genetic destiny is to bring about the end of the universe ... but he wants to be a good guy - I kind of loved that paradox,' Harbour said, noting that the character is often in a fight with his own nature. Fast rise: Harbour is best known for playing police chief Jim Hopper on the Netflix hit Stranger Things On the move: The actor wore a dark suit as he made his way to film GMA in NYC on Tuesday Dapper: The leading man posed as he visited SiriusXM studios in NYC He continued: 'It's like I'm built to do the worst thing in the world, but I'm gonna try daily to be a good guy. The actor spent that the daily makeup process lasted around three hours every morning, and sometimes would fall asleep in the makeup chair. Hellboy, which also stars Milla Jovovich, Sophie Okonedo and Penelope Mitchell, hits theaters Friday. A newly unearthed snippet from Mel B's 2002 autobiography revealed she used to drive around naked with Geri Horner. In Catch A Fire: The Autobiography, Scary Spice, 43, revealed they were like 'boyfriend and girlfriend' and would 'flash their boobs while taking to the wheel in the early hours of the morning'. The saucy throwback comes hot on the heels of Mel's recent bombshell lesbian claims, which has said to have rocked Geri, 46, to the core and put their Spice Girls reunion tour at risk. Scroll down for video 'We would flash our boobs': A newly unearthed snippet from Mel B's 2002 autobiography revealed she used to drive around naked with Geri Horner Speaking of their cheeky moments together during their Spice Girls heyday, Mel wrote in the book: 'Sometimes Geri and I went to bed on Saturday afternoon, woke up around 2am, got dressed up and went to the all-nighter at Ministry Of Sound. 'We used to drive down the motorway with our boobs out for a laugh. It was hysterical until we noticed a weird-looking guy driving alongside us with a manic grin on his face. 'Oh my God, Geri, he looks like he is w****r. Suddenly we were scared. It was really frightening. For all we knew he was a complete nutter with an axe. 'Geri swerved into another lane and eventually we lost him. We were really shaken. Did it stop us flashing our boobs? No,' she hilariously concluded. 'Did it for a laugh': In Catch A Fire: The Autobiography, Scary Spice, 43, revealed they were like 'boyfriend and girlfriend' and would 'flash their boobs while taking to the wheel at 2am' 'Suddenly we were scared': Mel added that even a 'weird looking guy with a manic grin on his face' didn't stop them from 'flashing their boobs' Troubles: The saucy throwback comes after Mel's recent bombshell lesbian claims, which has said to have rocked Geri, 46, to the core and put their Spice Girls reunion tour at risk This comes after rumours bubbled over the weekend that the Spice Girls tour was in jeopardy after the Mel claimed she had enjoyed a romantic liaison with Geri in the 90s - prompting a reported rift between then. However, Geri proved that things were on course as she treated her fans to a glimpse at her dance rehearsals with a hunky choreographer on her Instagram page. Clutching a mic, Geri refreshed her memory on the Say You'll Be There routine that comes before her solo verse. To caption the video, Geri quoted Mel B's line: 'Won't you sing this with me!' 'Won't you sing this with me?' Despite reports of troubles behind the scenes, Geri has been practising the moves for the Spice Girls' sophomore single, Say You'll Be There 'If you, put two and two together': Say You'll Be There was the second hit for the Spice Girls in 1996 Proving she is concentrating on the highly-anticipated reunion - which kicks off in May around the UK - the mother-of-two looked focused as she mirrored the choreographer in front of her, dancing along to the single, which first stormed the charts in 1997. Wearing a black strap top and white skinny jeans with sporty white trainers, Geri sang her part of the lyrics and showed no sign of not being able to replicate the iconic routine when it comes time to take to the stage in a few weeks' time. 'Hi Si Ja Hold tight! Had so much fun today. Getting in a little early practice on those moves!' Geri captioned the snap, quoting the well-know line from the song. Geri sang her line 'Flamenco' after which Mel C could be heard on the track singing her line. 'You will see what our friendship is for!' Clutching a mic, Geri refreshed her memory on the routine that comes before her solo verse Sophomore: The band first performed the track on Top Of The Pops in October 1996 Slam it to the left: Proving she is concentrating on the highly-anticipated reunion - which kicks off in May around the UK - Geri looked focused as she mirrored the choreographer Geri's rehearsals comes as tweets from 2013 resurfaced in which she and Mel are seen making knowing comments to one another about lesbians. Replying to a tweet posted by the official account of Viva Forever, the short-lived Spice Girls musical that ran from 2012-2013, Geri wrote: 'Diamond [one of the Viva Forever characters] is one of my faves, she's so gentle, yet you can't stop watching her.' To which Mel B replied: 'Lesbian!' Geri then replied: 'I love lesbians!' To which Mel tweeted: 'Me too!!!' 'I love lesbians!' This comes as tweets from the pair in 2013 have resurfaced in which they are seen making knowing comments to one another about lesbians Breaking her silence: In a statement issued to MailOnline on Sunday, Geri reiterated her love for all four of her former bandmates and shared how much she was looking forward to touring In the heyday: Geri reiterated just how she loved all four girls, including Victoria Beckham (back, centre), who won't be reuniting with the girls in 2019 In a statement issued to MailOnline on Sunday, Geri reiterated her love for all four of her former bandmates and shared how much she was looking forward to touring with Mel B, Mel C, and Emma Bunton later this year [Victoria isn't taking part]. An official comment reads: 'It has been very disappointing to read about all these rumours again, especially on Mothers Day of all days. 'Geri loves the Spice Girls: Emma, Melanie, Melanie and Victoria [Beckham]. She would like [the fans] to know that what has been reported recently is simply not true and has been very hurtful to her family. 'Moving forward, Geri cant wait to see the girls and all the fans on the tour, have an amazing time with everyone, and make some new memories.' Speaking up: Friends said Mel and Geri were in a 'year-long' relationship back when they first met in 1994 [this picture was taken just before the Spice Girls' success] After the racy admission hit the headlines, Piers - who coaxed the confession from Mel in the first place on Piers Morgan's Life Stories - shared a clip of the moment on Good Morning Britain. Mel C was seen looking shocked in the audience as Mel confessed she had once bedded her bandmate. Piers was seen asking Mel: 'You were coming here to be brutally honest - did or didn't you sleep with Geri Halliwell? Did you sleep with her?' Looking bashful, Mel first tried to dodge the question, telling Piers: 'Yeah. We all slept in a bed together, but not like that, all of us.' Shock confession: Mel made the revelation during a taping for Piers Morgan's Life Stories last month Pure shock: Even bandmate Mel C claimed to have known nothing about it as she was seen looking shocked in the audience But Piers was relentless, probing: 'Did you sleep with Geri like that?' to which Mel smiled and nodded as a shocked Piers checked, 'Yes? Really?' She's going to hate me for this because she's all posh in her country house with her husband,' added Mel of Geri who is married to Formula 1 team boss Christian Horner. The camera then cut to Mel C, 45, with her mouth wide open, looking shocked by her bandmate's confession. Earlier Mel B had pleaded with her as the questions got awkward, calling out into the audience 'why can't you answer this for me?' 'I don't know anything, this is all new to me!' insists Mel C. She is a doting mother two daughters who she shares with her longtime love Ryan Gosling. And Eva Mendes showed off her parenting skills as she guided Esmeralda, four, and Amada, two, through the streets of Los Angeles on Tuesday. The 45-year-old actress opted for comfort as she kept things casual while ferrying about the kids. Busy: Eva Mendes showed off her mothering skills as she guided Esmeralda, four, and Amada, two, through the streets of Los Angeles on Tuesday The 2 Fast 2 Furious star donned baggy grey sweatpants as well as an almost matching t-shirt. A pair of turquoise flip flops added to the look's relaxed feel and she shaded her eyes with pink-framed lenses. She pulled her brunette tresses into a messy bun and looked gorgeous, showing off her natural look. Family time: The 45-year-old actress opted for comfort as she kept things casual while ferrying about the kids Esmeralda was full of energy as she dripped her mother's hand while they walked across the sidewalk. She was adorable in a floral blue dress and a pair of grey Adidas sneakers. Amad, meanwhile, looked comfortable in Eva's arms as she matched her mom in sweatpants and a t-shirt, but hers were green. Changes: Eva - who hails from Miami but grew up in Los Angeles, where her mother held a job at what was then Mann's Chinese Theatre - has not had a film release since 2015 Eva - who hails from Miami but grew up in Los Angeles, where her mother held a job at what was then Mann's Chinese Theatre - has not had a film release since 2015. The most recent acting credit on her IMDb page is her role as Cat in the mystery film Lost River, which was written and directed by Ryan. Ryan acted in the 2016 musical film La La Land, and when he won a Golden Globe for his performance last year, he heaped praise on Eva from the stage. I just would like to try and thank one person properly and say that, while I was singing and dancing and playing piano and having one of the best experiences I've ever had on a film, my lady was raising our daughter, pregnant with our second and trying to help her brother fight his battle with cancer,' he said. 'If she hadn't have taken all that on so that I could have this experience, it would surely be someone else up here other than me today. So sweetheart, thank you.' Ellie Bamber was transformed into the role of 1960s siren Mandy Rice-Davies on Tuesday, as she filmed scenes for The Trial Of Christine Keeler outside Bristol Crown Court. The former Les Miserables star rocked a blonde beehive, oversized glasses and a mint green frock as she filmed scenes with co-star Sophie Cookson, who plays the model Christine Keeler. The BBC drama will tell the true story of two models who were embroiled in a political scandal, when Keeler had an affair with the married Secretary Of State For War John Profumo. Gorgeous: Ellie Bamber was transformed into the role of 1960s siren Mandy Rice-Davies on Tuesday, as she filmed scenes for The Trial Of Christine Keeler with co-star Sophie Cookson Thanks to their voluminous hairstyles and tweed miniskirts, both Ellie and Sophie looked as if they had been plucked from the Swinging Sixties, as they filmed scenes together in Bristol. While Ellie opted for a mint-green ensemble with her voluminous blonde beehive, Sophie styled her brunette tresses into loose curls, along with a blue overcoat and classic orange outfit. As the series nears the end of filming, Ellie spoke to the Evening Standard about her role in the series, playing Keeler's friend Mandy Rice-Davies. Flawless: Ellie will take on the role of model Mandy Rice-Davies, the friend of Keeler who was embroiled in the Profumo Affair (right during the trial in 1963) Classic: Ellie was seen filming scenes on location outside Bristol Crown Court, sporting the Sixties blonde beehive with a mint green ensemble She told the publication that this series will be the first time the Profumo Affair has been told from a woman's perspective, adding: 'I think it's really important because they weren't prostitutes, they weren't w****s, they were just two very, very young women who were totally manipulated and called names that they definitely weren't. 'I think it's about time the truth comes out and people actually look at it without judgement.' The BBC six-part drama - set to for release in November - will explore 19-year-old Keeler's role in the scandal, which later became known as the Profumo Affair. Throwback: Sophie was also seen on location filming the scenes, donning a chic blue trench coat and orange head scarf (Keeler seen right around the time of affair) Candid: Keeler, who died in December 2017, once told the Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye that the events she was involved in back in the early Sixties 'stole [her] life' In 1961, Keeler had a brief fling with John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War, who was married to film actress Valerie Hobson. Profumo denied the affair in Parliament, but to further complicate matters, Keeler had also been seeing Soviet Navy Attache Yevgeny Ivanov. The ensuing scandal hurled the young model and her friend, Rice-Davies, into the public spotlight, and ruined many of those caught up in it. Back soon: The pair showed off their close bond on-set as they arrived for filming, as Ellie told the Evening Standard this is the first time the story will be told from the women's perspective Stephen Ward, the society osteopath who introduced Keeler to his friends in high places, committed suicide during his 1963 trial for living off immoral earnings. The model, who died in December 2017, once told the Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye that the events she was involved in back in the early Sixties 'stole [her] life'. Her son, Seymour Platt, echoed this point, as he noted to Bamigboye that his mother 'earned her place in British history, but at a huge personal price'. Xem them ... Tin bai cuoi cung Khong con du lieu e load Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes said that Britain was 'too much in its own past' He won an Oscar for the period drama Gosford Park and made a fortune when he created Downton Abbey, but Julian Fellowes is not afraid to bite the hand that feeds him. The writer and Tory peer criticised the British for dwelling on the past. Speaking in America, Lord Fellowes compared this country unfavourably with the US, which is far more focused on the future, he claims. America is a very forward-looking society, declares Fellowes, who lives in a manor house in Dorset. Its whats coming [and] whats next that inspires everyone. And he adds, witheringly: England, really if anything, its fault is the other direction, that its too much in its own past and everyone is dwelling on the past all the time. Dwelling on the past has, of course, transformed Fellowes life. He added: 'Everyone is dwelling on the past all the time. Pictured is the cast in front of Highclere Castle - the setting for Downton Abbey He was best known for playing Kilwillie in the BBCs Scottish drama Monarch Of The Glen when the celebrated Hollywood director Robert Altman asked him to write the screenplay for Gosford Park. Altman chose him because Fellowes who is married to a former lady-in-waiting to Princess Michael of Kent, Emma Kitchener knew how country house life operated. The films success inspired Fellowes to create another country house series, Downton Abbey, whose money-spinning success helped transform the fortunes of ITV. Fellowess other period dramas include The Young Victoria, Titanic and Vanity Fair. This week, filming started at Twickenham Studios on his latest period offering, Belgravia. Mr Fellowes made the comments in a speech in the US where he said: 'America is a very forward-looking society. Its whats coming [and] whats next that inspires everyone'. Pictured is Hugh Bonneville who plays Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham Fellowes, who was elevated to the peerage by David Cameron in 2011, made the comments while promoting his new film, The Chaperone, a Twenties drama about the rise of actress Louise Brooks, which has just been released in the U.S. Hollywood, the peer observes, has this forward-looking dynamic. So, you know, if the price you pay is that you make less period drama, I dont think its so high. Replaced as Prince Philip by an older actor in the next series of The Crown, Matt Smith is already missing playing the Queens Consort. I love him, and sort of always have, he admits. Teasingly, Smith adds of feedback from the Palace: I think a few of them have seen it. There may have been a note. There may have been a text, but Im not in a position to divulge such information. Spoilsport! Even Ray Winstones daughter is horrified by his fronting of TV adverts for online gambling giant bet365, but the geezer actor is a guaranteed winner. Newly published accounts for his personal service company, Ray Winstone Ltd, show that he had amassed 3.7 million in its bank accounts by last April. Thats a 400,000 increase in a year. Rays actress daughter Jaime Winstone has said: I disagree with gambling quite strongly. Theres a recession on and its just another way of making people with no money lose even more. Ive got a friend who has become hooked. Gambling damages lives. Sir Elton John gives his family band name 'The Johnettes' in thank you note to restaurant owner for hosting him, David Furnish and their two children Sir Elton John has taken to referring to his family - husband David Furnish and two sons, Zachary, eight, and Elijah, six - as 'the Johnettes' A solo musician since he left the group Bluesology more than five decades ago, is Sir Elton John planning to start his own band again? For I can reveal that he has taken to calling his family the Johnettes, in the manner of a Sixties pop combo. Sir Elton took his husband, the film-maker David Furnish, and their two sons, Zachary, eight, and Elijah, six, to Da Ivo restaurant in Venice for lunch on Sunday. And to say thank you to the owner, Giovanni Fracassi, he drew this charming doodle of his family. Next to it, he wrote, Elton John and the Johnettes. After Zacs birth, Sir Elton declared: I want music to be a huge part of his life. How long before the boys start tickling the ivories? He's the star of the new movie Crypto. And Luke Hemsworth looked snappy as he stepped out in a stylish black on black ensemble for a special screening plus a Q&A for his new film Crypto Monday. The 37-year-old actor, and older brother of Chris and Luke Hemsworth, also posed with Crypto screenwriter David Frigerio and director John Stalberg Jr. Luke in black: Luke Hemsworth stepped out in a snappy black on black ensemble for a special screening plus a Q&A for his new film Crypto The special screening was held at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, California, ahead of the April 12 release in limited theaters and on demand. Hemsworth was wearing a black on black suit with black shoes for his appearance at the screening and Q&A. The actor plays Caleb Duran, the brother of Beau Knapp's Martin Duran Jr. and son of Kurt Russell's Martin Duran. Lionsgate released a trailer for Crypto in March, teasing the family drama with the Duran's that gets tangled up in a crypto conspiracy. Black on black: Hemsworth was wearing a black on black suit with black shoes for his appearance at the screening and Q&A Stepping out: Knapp's Duran discovers that the Russian mafia is laundering money, with the trailer featuring a scene with Hemsworth showing Knapp a note left by the Russians Knapp plays a Wall Street banker, who connects a small-town art gallery to a global conspiracy, putting his own family in grave danger. His character Duran discovers that the Russian mafia is laundering money, with the trailer featuring a scene with Hemsworth showing Knapp a note left by the Russians. The cryptic note reads, 'Let's talk cowboy. Bring Everything. 3 PM. Cops = RIP.' The Crypto cast also includes Alexis Bleidel as Katie, Vincent Kartheiser as Ted and Jill Hennessy as Robin. Special event: The 37 year old actor, and older brother of Chris and Luke Hemsworth, also posed with Crypto screenwriter David Frigerio and director John Stalberg Jr Hemsworth will return as Ashley Stubbs on HBO's Westworld, which is slated to debut its third season sometime in 2020. He also stars in The Death Of Me, from director Darren Lynn Bousman, where he stars alongside Maggie Q and Alex Essoe. Hemsworth also returns to the big screen with the Australian war film The 34th Battalion, which has not yet been released He stars alongside Emilie de Ravin, Vinnie Jones and Stephen Lang, but no release date has yet to be given. Hemsworth is coming off a memorable cameo in Thor: Ragnarok, along with movies Encounter, River Runs Red and We Are Boats. Hemsworth: Hemsworth also returns to the big screen with the Australian war film The 34th Battalion, which has not yet been released Chris Hemsworth may play a superhero in the movies, but in real life he's just as fallible as any other normal parent. During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, alongside three of his Avengers: Endgame castmates, the Australian star revealed that he may have put his young daughter's safety at risk at Disneyland a couple of years ago. The Thor actor recounted the time when he cheated to make his little girl, India, taller so that she could ride an intimidating accelerated drop ride. It's a move that almost had catastrophic results. Scroll down to video Daddy mistake: Chris Hemsworth revealed he cheated to get his young daughter on to a Disneyland ride, which almost had catastrophic results This all started when host Jimmy Kimmel asked the cast - Hemsworth (Thor), Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) and Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) - about their trip to Disneyland last week to celebrate a $5 million grant to benefit children's hospitals. Flashing a big smile, Johansson went on to talk about how she, Paul and Chris went on the Guardian of the Galaxy ride. Moments later, Hemsworth began to tell his story how his daughter wasn't tall enough to get on the ride when it was previously called the Tower Of Terror, and how he devised a scheme to get her on. The Thor actor said he stuffed Snickers bars into he little girl, India's, shoes to make her tall enough for the old Tower Of Terror ride a couple of years ago Tall tale: 'I propped her up where she was this much short, walked up and I was like 'what about now?' So they're like 'okay, in you come' and I'm like yeah,' the actor recounted From bad to worse: Johansson jumped in and added that his plan was 'wildly irresponsible,' which Hemsworth assured her, 'it gets worse' 'She was really upset and I was like 'forget this, come here', so I grabbed a couple of Snickers bars and things and slammed it in the back of her shoe under her heel and I propped her up where she was this much short, walked up and I was like 'what about now?' So they're like 'okay, in you come' and I'm like yeah,' Chris said as the live audiences laughed. Johansson jumped in and added that his plan was 'wildly irresponsible,' which Hemsworth assured her, 'it gets worse.' 'We're at the top and I'm looking at her, she's strapped in and the seat is massive on her, and I'm like 'we beat the system honey, well done.' He then goes on to explain how India, now six, began to rise out of her seat when the ride dropped, and that he had to grab her so she wouldn't fly out. Wild ride: Hemsworth went on to explain how India, now six, began to rise out of her seat when the ride dropped down fast Close call: The Aussie star said he had to grab his daughter so she wouldn't fly out of the seat Lesson learned: 'Maybe there's a reason that there's a height requirement,' Hemsworth added 'I grab onto her and she's screaming the whole way down. Maybe there's a reason that there's a height requirement,' Hemsworth went on to say before Robert Downey Jr. interjected loudly, 'Maybe?!' 'So don't do that. She's fine. She's well,' Hemsworth concluded. 'I have to say it's very creative, the Snickers bars in the shoes,' Kimmel joked with a big grin on his face. 'That really is -- in a pinch.' Phoebe Burgess has reconciled with her NRL star husband Sam following their brief split late last year. And on Tuesday, the 29-year-old hinted that her marriage is back on track after sharing a cute Instagram photo of their son, Billy, while tagging Sam. Taking to Instagram, Phoebe gushed about Billy, who was dressed in a red and white striped outfit and holding a soft baby giraffe toy. Too cute! NRL WAG Phoebe Burgess, 29, (pictued) shared an adorable photo of her baby son, Billy and tagged her husband Sam 'Four months with our Big Billy. We love all 8.8kg of you (I'm sure it's all heart baby boy),' Phoebe gushed in the caption. The sweet post comes after Phoebe and Sam recently reconciled following their split in December. They briefly split over the Christmas holidays, just weeks after the birth of their second child Billy. 'Four months with our Big Billy. We love all 8.8kg of you (I'm sure it's all heart baby boy)' Phoebe gushed in the caption. (Pictured: Phoebe and Sam Burgess) It was previously reported that the couple's marriage split was 'messy', with a close friend saying that 'things [had] been bad for a while' before the couple parted ways. But in February, Sam reportedly moved out of his temporary home in Dover Heights and back in with Phoebe and the kids at their $3.8million Maroubra property. At the time, an insider told The Sydney Morning Herald they were 'working on things' for the sake of their young children. Separation: They briefly split over the Christmas holidays, just weeks after the birth of their second child Billy, butt he pair have since reconciled Last month, the couple were seen together at Gordon's Bay, with an onlooker telling Daily Mail Australia they 'looked very much back together'. Sam and Phoebe, 29, first met at an Avicii concert in Sydney back in January 2014 and by June 2015, they were engaged following a romantic holiday in Greece. The pair tied the knot in a stunning ceremony at the Southern Highlands estate in December 2015. He landed himself in hot water with two male co-stars during episode one of Bachelor In Paradise this week. And on Tuesday night, Bill Goldsmith, 31, earned another enemy in the form of a previous cast member Jake Ellis, who was watching the reality TV program from home. In a since deleted post, Jake filmed himself enjoying the premiere of the show, and when Billy appeared on screen he wrote '#FLOG' over the top of his video. 'FLOG': Former Bachelorette contestant Jake Ellis took a swipe at Bill Goldsmith and called him a 'flog' while watching Bachelor In Paradise on Tuesday night, after Bill attempted to get in touch with his ex-girlfriend, Megan Marx And again! Not content with just one platform, Jake then moved over to Facebook, where he made the same slur on a fan's post directed at Bill To dig the knife in deeper, Jake also posted two eye-roll emojis next to the hashtag. Not content with just one platform, Jake then moved over to Facebook, where he made the same slur on a fan's post directed at Bill. 'Anyone else think Bill is a d**k?,' the status updated read. Sliding in: Jake would have been left fuming when it was revealed during Tuesday's premiere that Bill had been slipping into his ex-girlfriend Megan's direct messages to see if she would be appearing on the show 'I seriously never knew why Sophie gave him the time of day,' they concluded. Underneath, Jake, the only commenter, wrote 'FLOG' again. It's no surprise that Jake has a disdain for Bill. He would have no doubt been left fuming when it was revealed during Tuesday's premiere that Bill had been slipping into his ex-girlfriend Megan Marx's direct messages to see if she would be appearing on the show. Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Jake for comment. Player: Whispers began to circulate around the resort that Bill had been forming alliances with female cast members outside of the show, including Megan Whispers began to circulate around the resort that Bill had been forming alliances with female cast members outside of the show. 'He's been talking to a few (girls), Charlie told me. He was talking to one your mates, Megan [Marx], to see if she was coming in.' co-star Paddy Colliar said as he confronted Bill with Nathan Favro. Paddy said his source was Charlie Newling - who Bill memorably clashed with in the 2018 version of The Bachelorette. Clearly irked, Paddy said Bill had 'jeopardised' his chances of finding love. 'There's no-one here I've built a connection with,' Bill responded angrily. Not fair: Clearly irked, Paddy said Bill was 'jeopardising' his chances of finding love in the resort Their spat reached a head with Bill calling Paddy a 'moron', before the blond Brit responded by saying: 'Call me a moron again and I'll rip your head off'. While Bill did admit Megan had messaged him back, he insisted 'that was the end of it'. The Melbourne plumber also hit back at claims by gym manager Paddy that he had 'breached confidentiality' by speaking to ex-stars of the series. Bachelor In Paradise continues on Wednesday night at 7.30pm on Channel Ten. Last week, she spotted wearing a diamond ring, sparking engagement rumors. But Emma Stone was not sporting the ring when she stepped out for dinner with her boyfriend Dave McCary on Tuesday night. The 30-year-old La La Land actress was spotted heading to Lattanzi Restaurant in New York City. Fiery: Emma Stone was not sporting the ring when she stepped out for dinner with her boyfriend Dave McCary on Tuesday night Emma cut a chic figure as she made her way into the midtown eatery, donning a heather peacoat. She kept the rest of her ensemble to a singular tone, opting for black pants and a black top. The Amazing SpiderMan star added a pair of black boots and had a black and tan purse thrown across her body. Her famed red tresses were left unencumbered and tumbled across her shoulders in fiery waves. La la oh la la: The 30-year-old La La Land actress was spotted heading to Lattanzi Restaurant in New York City Dinner time! Emma cut a chic figure as she made her way into the midtown eatery, donning a heather peacoat Fan favourite: She kept the rest of her ensemble to a singular tone, opting for black pants and a black top Dave wasn't far behind Emma as the couple arrive at the restaurant and she signed a few autographs for fans. The SNL segment director sported a sea green button down shirt along with a navy jacket. He donned glasses and blue hat along with jeans and white Converse All-Stars. Not far behind: Dave wasn't far behind Emma as the couple arrive at the restaurant and she signed a few autographs for fans Close: The SNL segment director sported a sea green button down shirt along with a navy jacket The Oscar winner has kept her relationship low-profile, with few sightings out and about and even less known about the rumored engagement, which was first reported by OK! Magazine in December. They first met when the fiery redhead hosted SNL in December 2016, and they have reportedly been low-key dating since October 2017. In the past, Emma was linked to The Amazing Spider-Man star, Andrew Garfield, 35, who she dated on and off again for three years before breaking up for good in 2015. They were one of the four couples who did not get the chance to relive their love story during Monday's finale of Married At First Sight. And on Tuesday, bride Melissa Lucarelli revealed the real reason why Martha Kalifatidis and Michael Brunelli's love story did not air. Speaking to Nova's Dylan and Hayley, the 38-year-old said: 'I think this season, if you didn't go and sleep with another husband or didn't yell at people or throw things, then you weren't really going to make the cut. 'You need to be juicy!': The real reason Martha Kalifatidis (L) and Michael Brunelli's (R) love story wasn't shown in the Married At First Sight finale has been revealed 'They didn't actually film myself or Dino, Martha, Michael and Ning and Mark, but they did film Lauren and Matt - but they just didn't show that,' she said. Upon being asked whether Lauren and Matt's conversation was 'boring,' Melissa said: 'You know what... I cant even remember what happened on the night.' 'You want air time? You need to be juicy.' Thank you, next! Speaking to Nova's Dylan and Hayley on Tuesday, bride Melissa Lucarelli said: 'They didn't actually film myself or Dino, Martha, Michael and Ning and Mark, but they did film Lauren and Matt - but they just didn't show that And although viewers did not get a chance to see Martha and Michael chat to the experts on Monday, they were offered a glimpse of their future plans during the final vows ceremony on Sunday. Throughout the experiment, Bondi makeup artist Martha, 30, shared her concerns about living in different states and on Monday, Michael vowed to relocate from Melbourne. 'I am willing to give up everything I have, to relocate for you,' said Melbourne primary school teacher Michael during the episode. 'You want air time? You need to be juicy': The talent manager, who was 'married' to Dino Hira (L) comically added: 'I guess it's because [those couples] didn't sleep with another husband... so we didn't make the cut!' During the countryside ceremony, Martha was first to read her vows. 'In so many ways, you're my polar opposite and it's this exact reason why I think that's why we make such a great match,' gushed Martha. 'I was immediately comfortable in your presence and I thought I could be entirely myself. You make me want to be a better person and I'm so grateful for the changes I see in myself. I've never met anyone like you.' True love! MAFS' Michael Brunelli and Martha Kalifatidis renewed their vows in an emotional ceremony on Monday In response, Michael said: 'My feelings to you are incredible, and being apart from you has made me realise how much I need you in my life. 'I am willing to give up everything I have to relocate for you. And there's only one reason that I feel the way I do about you, and that's because I love you. 'There's no one I would rather spend my life with.' After a year of dating, Survivor couple Joe Anglim and Sierra Dawn Thomas are getting hitched. Anglim, 30, and Thomas, 32, first met on Survivor: Worlds Apart in 2014, but they didn't start dating until last year. After travelling to Arizona for the wedding of Anglim's sister, they stopped in Utah on the way back, to camp for the night, the couple told People. Wedding bells: Survivor couple Joe Anglim and Sierra Dawn Thomas have gotten engaged The rock: Anglim, 30, and Thomas, 32, first met on Survivor: Worlds Apart in 2014, but they didn't start dating until last year 'We pulled in just as the sun was setting, and we decided to go for a little walk,' Thomas said. 'We found the perfect swinging chair facing the mountains and the most beautiful sunset. There were even some deer running across a dirt road!' 'We popped a bottle of rose,' she continues, 'and we were cheering in our clear plastic cups!' She added that, when Anglim started 'professing his love' for her, she still had no idea what was going on. Engagement story: 'We pulled in just as the sun was setting, and we decided to go for a little walk,' Thomas said. 'We found the perfect swinging chair facing the mountains and the most beautiful sunset. There were even some deer running across a dirt road!' 'I was unknowingly interrupting him,' she continued. 'He was explaining his love for me, and I would say, 'Yeah, baby. I love you too!'' 'But then he got off the swing, reached into his coat, and got on one knee,' she continued. 'It finally hit me what he was doing,' Thomas continued. 'I started crying, and he started crying! We were both crying.' Hit me: 'It finally hit me what he was doing,' Thomas continued. 'I started crying, and he started crying! We were both crying' 'I had no idea it was coming,' Thomas says, 'but we're going to live happily ever after! Anglim and Thomas first met on Survivor: Worlds Apart, where Thomas actually voted Anglim off in 10th place. Thomas wound up finishing in fifth place, and Anglim went on to appear in the Cambodia season the next year. Happy times: Anglim and Thomas first met on Survivor: Worlds Apart, where Thomas actually voted Anglim off in 10th place Thomas appeared in Survivor: Game Changers, where she was voted out on day 32 in ninth place. Anglim was voted off of Second Chances after he was deemed a 'physical threat' by others in the group. Survivor airs Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on CBS. Couple: Thomas appeared in Survivor: Game Changers, where she was voted out on day 32 in ninth place Married At First Sight's Susie Bradley has confessed to being 'in full-blown love' with disgraced NRL star Todd Carney. And now the couple have hinted at impending nuptials, as they were spotted looking at diamond rings at a Michael Hill jewellery store in Sydney on Tuesday. The pair dressed casually for the outing and were not shy in packing on the PDA. Wedding bells? Married At First Sight's Susie Bradley and her disgraced NRL star beau Todd Carney were spotted looking at diamond rings at Michael Hill Jewellers in Sydney on Tuesday Ring-a-ding-ding: The couple were shown several jewels by a member of staff during the outing Susie and Todd, who only went public with their romance last month, were spotted looking specifically at engagement rings at the affordable chain. The blonde cosmetic nurse had her eye on one particular ring and was seen trying it on for size. Upon exiting the store, Susie could not keep her hands off her beau, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and planting a kiss on Todd's cheek as they went up the escalator. Smitten: The pair packed on the PDA as they made their way up an escalator Susie highlighted her trim figure in a pastel blue woven singlet tucked into faded black skinny-leg jeans. The 25-year-old kept comfortable, opting for tan leather slip-on shoes and accessorised simply with stud earrings. Her blonde locks were tied into a messy ponytail and her beauty look consisted of false lashes and a glossy lip. Feeling nervous? At times, Todd appeared terrified at the prospect I want this one! The blonde cosmetic nurse had her eye on one particular ring and was seen trying it on for size Todd, 32, dressed down in a black ripped slim-fit T-shirt, skinny-leg black jeans, white thongs and a cap worn backwards. The sighting comes after Susie professed to being in 'full-blown love' with the ex-Cronulla Sharks player on Monday's Talking Married. 'It's totally amazing - I'm like a little schoolgirl,' Susie told host Jayne Azzopardi. 'I met someone after the show and I'm actually in full-blown love.' Affectionate: Todd was seen affectionately leaning on his girlfriend's shoulder at one point in the store So in love! The sighting comes after Susie professed to being in 'full-blown love' with the ex-Cronulla Sharks player on Monday's Talking Married Top of the crops: Susie highlighted her trim figure in a pastel blue woven singlet tucked into faded black skinny-leg jeans during the shopping expedition 'It's totally amazing - I'm like a little schoolgirl. I met someone after the show and I'm actually in full-blown love. 'I have been in love once before with my daughter's father and this nothing like that,' the mother-of-one added. Susie, who was partnered with Billy Vincent on MAFS, went Instagram official with Todd late last month. The blonde shared an intimate photo of the pair, and gushed about her new man in the post's caption, writing, 'I have waited so long for the day to come where this saying makes complete sense and now it finally does. 'One day someone will walk into your life and make you see why it never worked out with anyone else.' '@tcarney86 You are 100% that person and I am so incredibly in love with you,' she concluded. Up until then, Susie had only hinted at her fledgling romance with the sportsman. Rumours first emerged Susie and Todd were in a relationship after they were spotted getting cosy in Brisbane just a day after Valentine's Day. Perusing: Susie and Todd, who only went public with their romance last month, were spotted looking specifically at engagement rings at the affordable chain Nicollette Sheridan has landed roles on some of the most iconic prime time soap operas in television history. But now that she has left her latest iconic role on the reboot of Dynasty, the British-born actress was able to share a romantic day with her boyfriend in Malibu. And to make it a family affair, the couple brought along her beloved Golden Retriever, Oliver. Quality time: Nicollette Sheridan enjoyed a romantic afternoon with her beau and her beloved Golden Retriever, Oliver in Malibu on Tuesday The actress, who made her first big splash on TV as Paige Matheson in Knots Landing from 1986 to 1993, flaunted her enviable curves in a white sleeveless blouse and blue jeans. She matched it with a pair of navy strap heels, dark sunglasses and pulled much of her long blonde tresses back into a ponytail. Keeping her pooch close to her at all times with a dog leash, she led the way with her mystery man trailing close behind. He kept it casual in blue jeans, a white button down shirt and sneakers. Life is beautiful: The prime time soap opera icon was all smiles as she led the way in jeans, a sleeveless blouse and navy heels Real life priorities: The 55-year old actress announced she was leaving the Dynasty reboot after two seasons in February in order to spend time with her terminally ill mother The 55-year-old star finished her two-season run on the Dynasty reboot last month when her character, the iconic Alexis Carrington, met a fiery fate. She had announced her departure from the series in late February in order to spend time with her terminally ill mother. 'She's my hero,' Sheridan said on Access Live, when asked how she was holding up. 'It's a struggle, and I think anybody who has a parent or a love one who is going through this, finds a new consciousness and appreciation.' The British-born star (left) also starred in Desperate Housewives from 2004 to 2009 and Knots landing from 1986 to 1993 'I feel blessed that I am able to be here in Los Angeles with her and be by her side at this part of her journey,' she said, adding that her mother has Stage 4 cancer. Along with Dynasty and Knot's Landing, Sheridan also played Edie Britt on ABC's Desperate Housewives from 2004 to 2009. Sheridan and her mystery man were first spotted together in September 2018, and later made their red carpet debut at the Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild Awards February 16, 2019. When she stepped out on Bachelor In Paradise on Tuesday, Rachael Gouvignon looked like a whole new woman. The 32-year-old returned to Paradise for the second consecutive year, and her appearance was vastly different to how she looked back in 2016 when she competed for the affections of Richie Strahan. Arriving in Fiji in long turquoise pants patterned with a floral print and matching bandeau top, there was no missing the fact there was something different about Rachael. Scroll down for video What a difference a few years make! Rachael Gouvignon, 32, looks vastly different on this year's Bachelor In Paradise (right) compared to her appearance on The Bachelor in 2016 (left) Her long hair was drastically darker, while her face and lips appeared fuller. In November, video emerged of Rachael undergoing non-invasive VelaShape cellulite reduction on her bottom ahead of filming Bachelor In Paradise. 'I'm just being lazy,' she joked in the video as reported by Daily Mail Australia at the time. Looking for love: Rachael first shot to fame on Richie Strahan's 2016 season of The Bachelor, and her appearance has undergone a series of changes since then. Pictured on The Bachelor in 2016 Helping hand: On Instagram late last month, Rachael tagged a cosmetic surgery clinic on a photo of herself. Pictured in March Self-confidence: In an emotionally raw Instagram post back in January, Rachael admitted it took her a long time to accept her appearance. Pictured in April last year And on Instagram late last month, Rachael tagged a cosmetic surgery clinic on a photo of herself. The clinic, Cosmetique Cosmetic Surgery, claims to specialise in breast surgery, lip fillers, and dermal fillers. She also tagged a hair salon in Perth, Tryst For Hair, which specialises in hair extensions. Insecurities: 'I was a very insecure young girl, and wanted so desperately to fit in with the 'cool' kids! I never really looked in the mirror and liked what I saw,' she's revealed. Pictured in February last year Rachael also appears to have had eyelash extensions ahead of her appearance on this year's season of Bachelor In Paradise. In an emotionally raw Instagram post back in January, Rachael admitted it took her a long time to accept her appearance, having struggled with an eating disorder when she was younger. 'I was a very insecure young girl, and wanted so desperately to fit in with the 'cool' kids! I never really looked in the mirror and liked what I saw,' she revealed. Feeling good: Rachael said she's now at a place in her life where she feels happy and confident in herself. Pictured last week But she added she's now at a place in her life where she feels happy and confident in herself. 'I'm happy being me and don't need reassurance from anyone but myself. The confidence I have now, only came from working on myself every day both physically and mentally,' she wrote. Rachael first shot to fame on Richie Strahan's 2016 season of The Bachelor, and her appearance has undergone a series of changes since then. Most notably, Rachael has traded her highlighted brunette tresses for a set of deep, chestnut locks. In recent pictures, the reality TV star styles her hair in tousled and strongly defined curls. During her Bachelor heyday, the stunner wore her ombre-dyed caramel tresses in soft waves. New 'do: Most notably, Rachael has traded her highlighted brunette tresses for a set of deep, chestnut locks more recently. Pictured left in February and right in 2016 Her signature makeup look consisted of a natural visage, nude-toned lipstick shades and light bronze eye shadow. In more recent years, Rachael has switched to a more glamorous look. She regularly opts for thick winged eye liner, lashings of mascara, glimmering eyeshadow and cheek illuminator. Ooh la la! She now also chooses a more glitzy look when it comes to her makeup. Pictured in January She was left heartbroken by Richie, who then went on to choose Alex Nation as the winner of the show. The brunette also appeared on last year's season of Bachelor in Paradise, but she failed to form a meaningful connection with any of her male co-stars. She's hoping for a better outcome on this year's season of the spin-off series from the Bachelor franchise. She is well known for her love of designer handbags, so it is no surprise that PR queen Roxy Jacenko is creating a special place for her prized accessories. The businesswoman showed off footage of the 'beauty/birkin room' in progress at her recently purchased $6.5 million Vaucluse mansion on Instagram on Wednesday. The footage shows rows and rows of tall wall cabinets fitted with enough shelves to hold her collection of more than 30 designer handbags. 'This Birkin room will be good enough to move in to': PR queen Roxy Jacenko (pictured) showed off the special space she is building for her designer handbags at her $6.5 million Vaucluse mansion on Wednesday. The businesswoman has more than 30 luxury handbags valued at more than $1 million The room also features a professional makeup mirror with large LED lights. Roxy captioned the footage, 'We may end up divorced post renovations BUT this Beauty/Birkin room will be good enough to move in to.' Roxy, 39, and her husband Oliver Curtis, 33, have been busy with renovations on their six-bedroom home at Vaucluse in Sydney's exclusive eastern suburbs. Handy! The businesswoman showed off footage of the 'beauty/birkin room' in progress at her recently purchased Vaucluse mansion on Instagram. The footage shows rows and rows of tallwall cabinets fitted with enough shelves to hold her collection of handbags The power couple, who have two children - Hunter, 4, and Pixie, 6 - purchased the luxury property for $6.5 million late last year. Roxy's 'shrine' will accommodate a massive collection of handbags, valued at more than $1 million. In December last year, the blonde beauty added a Fendi grocery bag, valued at $2,500, to her collection of luxury handbags and totes. Star power: The room also features a professional makeup mirror with large LED lights She posted a photo of the fabulous food bag to Instagram with the caption, 'New arrival. @cosette.com.au, I love it.' Roxy has previously defended the accumulation of designer goods, telling OK! magazine: 'They're appreciating assets.' She also once told Daily Mail Australia that she stores the majority of her bags in a secure location away from her property. That's one way to beat the plastic ban! Roxy flaunted her $2,500 Fendi grocery bag late last year Just a few of her favourites! A photo of Roxy's Hermes handbag collection, which is now a few years old, shows she has versions in red, orange, brown, pink and black The prize in her collection is an Hermes Birkin handbag, which has an estimated retail value of $84,350. Roxy previously said she 'dreamed' of buying the accessory for years before eventually 'making it a reality'. The Sweaty Betty PR founder told Daily Mail Australia that she was particularly proud of the purchase because it's 'very rare'. So many designs! The Sweaty Betty PR founder is known for her obsession with designer labels Hermes Birkin bags can cost over $100,000 online at current prices. However, money seems to be no object for Roxy, who appears to have at least six Hermes bags in different colours. A photo of her collection, which is now a few years old, shows she has versions in red, orange, brown, pink and black. Just weeks after listing her Georgia mansion for $6.5 million, Sandra Bullock was spotted leaving her dentist's office in Beverly Hills. The 54 year old actress was spotted leaving out of the back exit of her dentist's office, returning to her vehicle while trying to keep a low profile. Her dentist excursion also comes just days after a report claimed she was once considered for the Neo role in The Matrix, before Keanu Reeves signed on. Incognito: Sandra Bullock sneaks out of the back exit of her dentist office on Tuesday The Speed star was spotted wearing a white t-shirt tucked into high-water khaki pants. She also had a light blue denim jacket draped over her shoulders while wearing a pair of black Gucci slip-on shoes. She was wearing a pair of sunglasses while holding her phone and another item while heading to her vehicle after the dentist. Stepping out: The Speed star was spotted wearing a white t-shirt tucked into high-water khaki pants Looking good: She later ditched the coat Just two weeks ago, Bullock listed three-acre oceanfront estate on Tybee Island near Savannah, Georgia, for $6.5 million. The massive lot not only includes the main house, but also a guest house occupies three acres on Tybee Island. The main residence is 3,360-square-feet while the guest house adds an additional 2,848-square-feet to the property. Premiere: Just two weeks ago, Bullock listed three-acre oceanfront estate on Tybee Island near Savannah, Georgia, for $6.5 million The estate has a total of seven bedrooms and five and a half baths and comes fully furnished. Bullock is coming off a big year in 2018, starring in the surprise heist hit Ocean's Eight and the hit Netflix film Bird Box. While she has a number of other projects in various stages of development and production, it was recently revealed by The Matrix producer Joel Silver they even considered her to play Neo in The Matrix. Sandy's estate: The estate has a total of seven bedrooms and five and a half baths and comes fully furnished 'We went out to so many people I dont remember. We were getting desperate,' said producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura said. "We went to Sandy Bullock and said Well change Neo to a girl."' He added that he and producer Joel Silver and I worked with Sandy previously on Demolition Man, and she, 'continues to be a very good friend of mine.' 'It was pretty simple. We sent her the script to see if she was interested in it. And if she was interested in it we would try to make the change,' he added. Elisabeth Moss has opened up about her beliefs in Scientology, and the complicated dynamics of her art. The Emmy award-winning star, 36, spoke Monday with The Daily Beast in a comprehensive chat in which she commented on her faith. Moss went in detail about about the contrast between the feminist roles she's championed on shows such as Mad Men and The Handmaids Tale, and many of the tenets of Scientology that might conflict with the former. The latest: Elisabeth Moss, 36, opened up about her belief in Scientology, and the complicated dynamics in balancing her beliefs with her art. She was snapped at SXSW in March 'Its a complicated thing because the things that I believe in, I can only speak to my personal experience and my personal beliefs,' Moss said. 'One of the things I believe in is freedom of speech. I believe we as humans should be able to critique things. I believe in freedom of the press. I believe in people being able to speak their own opinions. 'I dont ever want to take that away from anybody, because that actually is very important to me.' Moss said that it's critical for people to 'educate themselves for themselves and form their own opinion' before coming to their conclusions. Moss, who plays June Osborne on The Handmaids Tale, said the show represents a cross of 'something that is artistically fulfilling but is also personally fulfilling' to her, as it 'lines up so perfectly parallel with my own beliefs in freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the things that this country was actually built on.' To each their own: Moss said that it's critical for people to 'educate themselves for themselves and form their own opinion' before coming to their conclusions Signature role: Moss plays June Osborne on The Handmaids Tale Moss, asked to comment on controversies that Scientology has bumped up against, expressed how uncomfortable the topic can be, and how she typically avoids it altogether. 'Theres two things youre never supposed to talk about at a dinner - politics or religion - and of course Im doing The Handmaids Tale, which is politics and religion, so its a strange situation where youre going to be asked about these topics,' she said. 'I choose to express myself in my work and my art. 'I dont choose to express myself about it in interviews. I dont choose to talk about not just religion, but my personal life - who Im dating and that kind of thing.' Asked about purported anti-LGBT tenets within the church, Moss stressed she's 'obviously a huge feminist and huge supporter of the LGBTQ community' as well as free will. 'I cant speak to what other people believe, I cant speak to what other peoples experiences have been,' said Moss. 'Thats where I stand and the only place I can speak from is my own.' She is set to travel to exotic Bali next week. And former Big Brother star Tully Smyth will be sure to turn heads on the Indonesian island. The 30-year-old modelled some of the swimwear she will be packing in her suitcase in a selfie on Wednesday. Scroll down for video. Into the blue! Former Big Brother star Tully Smyth showed off washbaord abs in a skimpy bikini on Wednesday as she prepared for a holiday in Bali The blonde beauty showed off her slender legs and toned tummy in a skimpy turquoise bikini. 'Still on the hunt for some new kinis (sic) for Bali next week! Tag your favourite brands below,' she wrote in the caption of her post. In the background, both unopened and torn apart boxes lay strewn across the floor of her room, giving her followers an insight into the lucrative life of an influencer. Forever on holiday! The 30-year-old influencer's Instagram is full to the brim of bikini shots of her in remote locations The carefree selfie comes just weeks after the blonde model revealed that she had been placed on 'suicide watch' by Big Brother producers after she evicted from the show. Talking on the Shameless podcast in March, she admitted: 'They were concerned the public backlash was so bad that I might do something silly.' Tully explained that after she came out of the Big Brother house, she found out about the media attention, the death threats and public backlash from fans due to her cheating scandal with fellow housemate, Anthony Drew. Settled down: The carefree selfie comes just weeks after the blonde model revealed that she had been placed on 'suicide watch' by Big Brother producers after she evicted from the show in 2013 'Bless them, the producers and Channel Nine offered protection in different forms,' Tully said. 'So usually you stay the night in the hotel and then you go home the next day and then you're flown back up the next weekend for your meet and greet at Dreamworld. That didn't happen to me.' 'I was kept in the hotel, basically on suicide watch. I didn't know this at the time but they wanted to keep me on the Gold Coast under a watchful eye because they were concerned the public backlash was so bad that I might do something silly,' she said, adding that her best friend was with her the entire time. Hurricane Tully: The model explained that after she came out of the Big Brother house, she found out about the media attention, the death threats and public backlash from fans due to the cheating scandal Tully explained how after any contestant got the boot on the show, the first person they saw was the show's resident psychologist. She said the psychologist she saw told her straight about the public backlash and how her girlfriend Tahlia had broken up with her while she was on the show after she cheated. After admitting she felt 'panicked' at the time, the psychologist told her: "I can give you a Valium, or you can drink tonight." 'He said, "if you're going to go back to your hotel tonight and drink, I can't give you a calmative." But I have it, if you need it. I said, "you're going to give me both. You're going to give me Valium and I'm going to drink tonight." Tully added that she felt that the show's psychologist was 'an employee of the show,' and a 'puppet.' 'You go in and say "I feel like the show has done this and I think this is happening because of the show," and they say, "well, is it the show though?" She said that she felt 'betrayed' by producers after the show, saying she believes they tipped off paparazzi about the day and exact time her ex-girlfriend was moving out of their apartment. She's the former swimwear model-turned-founder of activewear label, The Upside. And Jodhi Meares proved she's still got it when she flaunted her age-defying figure at a the beach on Wednesday. Taking to Instagram, the 48-year-old showed off her long lean limbs and svelte frame in a cropped white rash-vest and skimpy bikini bottoms. She's still got it! Jodhi Meares, 48, (pictured) showed off her age-defying figure in a white rash-shirt and skimpy bikini bottoms at the beach The fashion designer donned a pair of tinted sunglasses and left her hair to hang loosely in waves after coming back from an ocean swim. 'Never coming home,' the caption read. Last year, Jodhi launched her new activewear and bikini line The Upside, after selling her successful label Tigerlily to Billabong over 10 years ago. Bronzed goddess: The fashion designer donned a pair of tinted sunglasses and left her hair in beach waves after coming back from an ocean swim New business venture: Last year, Jodhi launched her new activewear and bikini line, The Upside, after selling her successful label Tigerlily to Billabong over 10 years ago She told the Herald Sun last November that designing is 'her first love.' 'It's my heritage and it's been a really joyful process,' she told the publication. 'The beach and swimwear are my first loves and a resort collection is something we always talked about.' ''The beach and swimwear are my first loves': In November last year she told the Herald Sun that designing is 'her first love.' Inspired by 1970s glamour, the French coastline and bohemian fashion, the new line features leopard and camouflage prints, as well as paisley designs. Classic stripes and retro patterns also feature, bringing to mind classic French Riviera looks. A former model, fashion designer and television personality, Jodhi was married to billionaire James Packer between 1999 and 2002. Case of the ex: A former model, fashion designer and television personality, Jodhi was married to billionaire James Packer between 1999 and 2002. Pictured: 2015 The brunette bombshell split from her toy boy husband Nick Tsindos in March last year, after just 14 months of marriage. The pair married in December 2015, during a secret Hawaiian getaway with the stunning brunette telling Sunday Style she didn't expect to find love at her age. Last November, The beauty uploaded a candid essay about single life, which appeared to resonate with her, to Instagram. 'Stay single until you meet someone who isn't afraid of your intense emotional capacity, but who finds it fascinating,' the therapeutic passage read. She turned 21 on Tuesday. And Elle Fanning celebrated with a night out at celebrity hotspot Craig's in West Hollywood. The actress was joined by her Teen Spirit director and rumored beau Max Minghella, 33, who was seen arriving separately. Birthday girl: She turned 21 on Tuesday. And Elle Fanning celebrated with a night out at celebrity hotspot Craig's in West Hollywood Elle chose a very low-cut floral mini dress with long sleeves. The retro pastel number was gathered under the bust and had a bow. She paired the dress with pink satin platform sandals and a pale pink purse on a long shoulder strap. She left her blonde hair loose and added shimmery eye-shadow and glossy red lip color. Fashionista: Elle chose a very low-cut floral mini dress with long sleeves. The retro pastel number was gathered under the bust and had a bow Pretty: She paired the dress with pink satin platform sandals and a pale pink purse on a long shoulder strap Had company: The actress was joined by her Teen Spirit director and rumored beau Max Minghella, 33, who was seen arriving separately Max, the son of the late Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella, was dressed more casually in a red and black plaid shirt left unbuttoned over a white t-shirt. He had on shiny blue trousers and a pair of trainers. He is best known for his role as Nick Blaine in Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale. Teen Spirit, which he also wrote and executive produced, is his directorial debut and stars Elle as a shy teen who dreams of escaping her drab life and enters a singing competition. Celebrity offspring: Max, the son of the late director Anthony Minghella, was dressed in a red and black plaid shirt over a white t-shirt. He had on shiny blue trousers and a pair of trainers Couple? Max makes his directorial debut with teen spirit which stars Elle as a shy teen who enters a singing competition. They have not publicly commented on heir rumored romance While they are yet to confirm they are anything more than friends, Elle and Max sparked dating rumors in July 2018 when they were seen holding hands in Florence, Italy. They were also spotted the next month enjoying a night out together in London. The two have been busy promoting their movie together during the past several weeks with Max gushing over his leading lady. He called the actress 'brilliant' and credited her with making the finished movie what it is, telling UsWeekly: 'You actually have to have somebody who can show up and deliver every single time you turn the camera on without question, and she just does. Teen Spirit opens in theatres on Friday. They only have been dating for a year. But David Harbour and Alison Sudol are already in sync. The 43-year-old actor and his 34-year-old girlfriend both wore red as they attended the special screening of Hellboy in New York City on Tuesday night. Loved up: David Harbour and girlfriend Alison Sudol both wore red as they attended the special screening of Hellboy in New York City on Tuesday night The happy couple weren't shy about showing off their love as they walked hand-in-hand on the red carpet. David looked handsome in a three piece burgundy suit over a crisp white dress shirt with the top few buttons undone. His hair was worn in a combover as he sported a burly grizzled beard. Just us: The 43-year-old actor and his 34-year-old girlfriend weren't shy about showing off their love as they walked hand-in-hand on the red carpet Stunner: Alison looked gorgeous in a flowy bright red maxi dress Wow factor: Her silver locks were worn down and tucked behind her ear as she wore natural, complementary make-up on her face Alison looked gorgeous in a flowy bright red maxi dress. Her silver locks were worn down and tucked behind her ear as she wore natural, complementary make-up on her face. David also hammed it up with his co-stars on the red carpet including Milla Jovovich. Dapper: David looked handsome in a three piece burgundy suit over a crisp white dress shirt with the top few buttons undone Hamming it uP; David also hammed it up with his co-stars on the red carpet including Milla Jovovich. Altogether now: David seemed to have a blast with his co-stars The happy couple were seen arm-in-arm while out and about in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York on Monday. Sudol is a native of Seattle best known for her work on the Fantastic Beasts series. The couple, who have been linked for about a year, was in the Big Apple as Harbour has made media appearances on Good Morning America, on the BUILD series and on SiriusXM in support of his new movie. Speaking with Michael Strahan on GMA, Harbour opened up on the nuances that separates Hellboy, originally conceived as a comic book character, from the others. 'His genetic destiny is to bring about the end of the universe ... but he wants to be a good guy - I kind of loved that paradox,' Harbour said, noting that the character is often in a fight with his own nature. On the move: The actor wore a dark suit as he made his way to film GMA in NYC on Tuesday Dapper: The leading man posed as he visited SiriusXM studios in NYC He continued: 'It's like I'm built to do the worst thing in the world, but I'm gonna try daily to be a good guy. The actor spent that the daily makeup process lasted around three hours every morning, and sometimes would fall asleep in the makeup chair. Hellboy, which also stars Milla Jovovich, Sophie Okonedo and Penelope Mitchell, hits theaters Friday. She's currently in Los Angeles for a fashion shoot. But on Tuesday, Tammy Hembrow enjoyed time out with friends as she went to dinner at Catch restaurant in West Hollywood. Putting on a busty display, the 24-year-old donned an all-black ensemble, consisting of plunging black ribbon bustier and high-waisted satin trousers. Busting out! Tammy Hembrow showed off her cleavage in a plunging black bustier as she left a dinner with friends in Los Angeles on Tuesday night She teamed the outfit with a black messenger bag and matching pointy stilettos. Accentuating her chiseled bone structure, the model opted for heavily contoured makeup, lashings of mascara, a rosy blush and a nude pink lip. The mother-of-two's trademark blonde locks were worn in a very long ponytail that cascaded down near her midriff. Flawless: Accentuating her chiseled bone structure, the model opted for heavily contoured makeup, lashings of mascara, a rosy blush and a nude pink lip The casual outing comes after Tammy previously hit back at trolls who accused her of enhancing her derriere with surgery after her dramatic posterior transformation. Earlier this week, the Gold Coast model boasted about her 'natural booty' in another racy snap shared to Instagram. Flaunting her famous posterior, Tammy wrote in the caption: '[It's a] natural booty.' Bottoms up! It comes after Tammy boasted about her 'natural booty' recently, sharing this eye-popping snap to Instagram Stories In early February, the Saski Collection founder sent a clear message to Internet trolls who refused to believe her bottom is 'real'. 'Yay for lil natural booties,' she captioned a photo of herself in tight shorts. Tammy, who owns her own activewear label, boasts more than 9.3 million Instagram followers and 1.3 million subscribers on YouTube. Telling them to butt out! In early February, the Saski Collection founder shared this selfie with a clear message to critics who refuse to believe her bottom is 'real' She is the daughter of Australian director, screenwriter and musician Mark Hembrow and has four sisters - Amy, Emilee, Starlette and Ava. Until last year, she was engaged to Australian streetwear designer Reece Hawkins, who is the father of her two children, Wolf and Saskia. She was recently linked to U.S. rapper Tyga, who is the ex-boyfriend of Kylie Jenner. She is the undisputed star of The Mummy Diaries. And Billie Faiers' daughter Nelly Shepherd was up to her old tricks once more in scenes set to air on Wednesday night's episode as the hilarious tot, five, was seen to call her mum 'Bill' - despite being repeatedly scolded for doing so. Her naughty antics came as the former TOWIE star, 29, was desperately attempting to sort forms to renew the family's passports, having forgotten they were due for expiry and subsequently risked missing her Maldives wedding to beau Greg. Help! Billie Faiers' daughter Nelly Shepherd was up to her old tricks once more in scenes set to air on Wednesday night's episode as the hilarious tot, five, was seen to call her mum 'Bill' - despite being repeatedly scolded for doing so Nelly has taken centre stage on The Mummy Diaries due to her dramatic flare, cheeky nicknames and lovable demeanor - winning herself legions of fans. On the latest episode of the show, fans will see the latest installment in Nelly's antics, as she continues to call her parents by their first names. As they sat chatting at the table, an excitable Nelly - who Billie revealed had just had 'a doughnut with sprinkles' - was feeling mischievous as she said: 'Bill! Bill!' A stern Billie then responded: 'I'm not going to answer to that', to which cheeky Nelly replied: 'Alright I'll call you Billie' much to Billie's chagrin as she hit back: 'I'm not gonna answer to that.' Distractions: Her naughty antics came as the former TOWIE star was desperately attempting to sort forms to renew the family's passports, having forgotten they were due for expiry and subsequently risked missing her Maldives wedding to beau Greg Distracting: As they sat chatting at the table, an excitable Nelly - who Billie revealed had just had 'a doughnut with sprinkles' - was feeling mischievous as she said: 'Bill! Bill!' Following Nelly's naughty antics, Billie then awkwardly revealed she was frantically renewing her passport - as she veered close to the deadline ahead of their idyllic wedding in the Maldives last month. She said: 'I was meant to apply for the passports before Christmas and it kind of slipped my mind and it's getting close to the deadline.' While she tried to get on with her admin, an excitable Nelly draped herself over her mum and sang Fergie's 2013 song A little party never killed nobody. Help! Following Nelly's naughty antics, Billie then awkwardly revealed she was frantically renewing her passport - as she veered close to the deadline ahead of their idyllic wedding in the Maldives last month Hilarious: She said: 'I was meant to apply for the passports before Christmas and it kind of slipped my mind and it's getting close to the deadline' Despite admitting Nelly was 'hilarious', Billie was forced to tell her off as she said: 'If we don't apply for these passports we won't go to the Maldives and that would be terrible', before admitting she usually waits for the kids to go to bed to do work. The screening of the episode comes after Greg and Billie's boozy Maldives wedding which saw Nelly steal the show, Greg take to the stage and Billie dazzle with her beautiful wedding gown. In a slew of social media snaps, Mr and Mrs Shepherd eagerly documented the romantic ceremony and raucous reception that followed among the beautiful Maldives setting, just days after returning from their honeymoon. The Mummy Diaries airs on Wednesday night on ITVBe at 9pm Stop! Despite admitting Nelly was 'hilarious', Billie was forced to tell her off She has a sprawling property portfolio which up until recently included a $44 million apartment in Paris which she sold in February. And following the sale Paris Hilton appeared to be adding to her property portfolio, as she viewed a stunning beachfront property in Malibu on Tuesday afternoon. The 28-year-old heiress looked glamorous as she strolled to the property holding her beloved pooch Diamond Baby who she bought for $8,000 two years ago. On the prowl: Paris Hilton appeared to be adding to her property portfolio, as she viewed a stunning beachfront property in Malibu on Tuesday afternoon Paris, who is never one to shy away from an eye-catching look, slipped her svelte physique into a baby blue lace maxi dress with a plunging neckline. The reality star complemented her look with a blue bag, which she toted on her arm, while clutching her tiny miniature chihuahua in her manicured hand. Paris, who was joined by a male pal, teamed her flowing dress complete with cold-shoulder cut outs, with a pair of white ballet pumps. Sun spot: The reality star checked out the balcony of the beach house property Paris wore her signature platinum locks half swept back off her lightly made up face, while leaving strands of her golden tresses to cascade down her shoulders. The American media personality shielded her eyes from the beaming Malibu rays with a pair of white-rimmed shades with reflective lens'. Once of Paris' most notable properties was her lavish Hollywood mansion, where she hosted an abundance of parties for her close pals in the noughties. Party pad: Once of Paris' most notable properties was her lavish Hollywood mansion, where she hosted an abundance of parties for her close pals in the noughties Since the recent sale of her infamous party pad last month, the new owner has now put it up for rent for an eye-watering fee of $30,000 per month. The legendary Hollywood mansion, which was where global icon Kim Kardashian had her humble beginning styling the socialite over a decade ago before hitting the big time herself, is now a sought after destination for others to party in style. The sprawling abode, which has been listed by new agent Linn Renee Sivertsen, provides the perfect location for such festivities, with an incredible view of the city, an epic backyard for summer extravaganzas, as well as chic Spanish style interiors. The fashionista purchased the property in 2003 for $1.32 million before moving out in 2007. Paris has since re-branded herself as a DJ after her years as Hollywood's favourite party girl. On the romance front, Paris and actor Chris Zylka, 33, called off their engagement last November after he proposed in January 2018 after a year of dating. Paris and Jack Whitehall recently raised eyebrows after leaving flirty messages and liking each others Instagram pictures. As a Victoria's Secret Angel she's accustomed to turning heads. And Devon Windsor ensured all eyes would most definitely be on her as she attended the Whitney Museum's Gala + Studio Party in the Meatpacking District of New York on Tuesday. Dressed to impress for the occasion, the 25-year-old model sizzled in a plunging jumpsuit with a matching cropped jacket. Sassy in silver! Devon Windsor ensured all eyes would most definitely be on her as she attended the Whitney Museum's Gala + Studio Party in New York on Tuesday Devon showcased her phenomenal figure in the glittering one piece, which was slashed to the navel and cinched in at her tiny waist. Flaring out into a pair of ankle-skimming trousers, and clinging to her enviably pert posterior, the silver jumpsuit highlighted her sensational curves whilst remaining relatively demure. Adding to the glamour, Devon donned a matching cropped jacket, with the thousands of glistening sequins catching the light, and the eyes of admirers, as she sashayed past. Devon completed the look by styling her glossy golden locks in a high ponytail, whilst she kept her make-up simple, boasting cat eyeliner and a slick of nude gloss. Dressed to impress: Dressed to impress for the occasion, the 25-year-old model sizzled in a plunging jumpsuit with a matching cropped jacket Turning heads: Devon showcased her phenomenal figure in the glittering one piece, which was slashed to the navel and cinched in at her tiny waist Devon was flying solo on the outing, with her fiance Johnny Dex not seen on the outing. The couple became engaged last June, after more than two years of dating, with a very romantic proposal. While taking a plane ride, the blonde bombshell was able to see 'Marry Me?' spelled out on the sand of a private beach in the Bahamas. Leggy lady! Flaring out into a pair of ankle-skimming trousers, and clinging to her enviably pert posterior, the silver jumpsuit highlighted her sensational curves whilst remaining demure Top of the crops: Adding to the glamour, Devon donned a matching cropped jacket, with the thousands of glistening sequins catching the light, and the eyes of admirers Blonde bombshell: Devon completed the look by styling her glossy golden locks in a high ponytail, whilst she kept her make-up simple, boasting cat eyeliner and a slick of nude gloss Devon has walked in the coveted Victoria's Secret Fashion Show six times, last appearing on the runway for the lingerie label in November. She also appeared on E! series Model Squad, where she controversially compared the hardship of maintaining her blonde highlights to the discrimination faced by ethnic minority models in the fashion industry Devon later claimed the 'joke' had been taken out of context but said she understood it was an 'incredibly insensitive' thing to say and apologised for her comments. He marked one year of sobriety in December after a public alcohol-fuelled meltdown led him to overhaul his lifestyle. And Charlie Sheen looked happy and healthy as he stepped out in London for a candid Q&A at Annabel's on Tuesday, before making a cheeky quip about his nanny ex and urging fans to 'enjoy every moment' in the chat. The former Two and a Half Men actor, 53, cut a dapper figure as he arrived for his work engagement, clad in a crisp amethyst shirt, paired with a tailored black checked suit. Tales to tell: Charlie Sheen looked happy and healthy as he stepped out in London for a candid Q&A at Annabel's on Tuesday, before making a cheeky quip about his nanny ex and urging fans to 'enjoy every moment' in the chat Turbulent times: He marked one year of sobriety in December after a public alcohol -fuelled meltdown led him to overhaul his lifestyle (pictured 2012) The star completed his English gentleman-inspired ensemble with some leather shoes. Opting for a rakish look, the Anger Management star wore his brunette locks in a stylish quiff. The star looked delighted to be back among fans and friends as he flashed the peace signs for cameras before taking to the stage for a candid interview. The evening saw members and guests able to ask the controversial Hollywood star some in-depth questions. Dapper: The former Two and a Half Men actor, 53, cut a dapper figure as he arrived for his work engagement, clad in a crisp amethyst shirt, paired with a tailored black checked suit Looking good: The star completed his English gentleman-inspired ensemble with some leather shoes Oh dear: The star was his trademark outrageous self as he made a quip about 'hiring a nanny ten times less hot than your wife'. He dated ex-nanny Julia Stambler from 2017-2018 Showing off his sense of humour, he then advised one guest on hiring a nanny, saying: 'Make sure she is 10 times less hot than your wife.' Sheen famously dated his ex-wife Brooke Mueller's nanny Julia Stambler for more than a year starting in 2017, when she was 26 and he was 51. Stambler had been hired by his ex to look after their twins Bob and Max and it was reported Brooke had actually introduced Charlie to Julia. Charlie went public with the model at the beginning of June 2017 and was pictured stepping out with Julia at his daughter Lola's 12th birthday party. Mueller married Sheen in 2008. The pair were together for three years before splitting in 2011. Peace out: Charlie looked delighted as he flashed the peace sign outside the venue They welcomed their twin sons on March 14, 2009. He was infamously arrested on Christmas Day 2009, on suspicion of domestic abuse and filed for divorce in November 2010. After their divorce, Mueller was arrested on multiple occasions for drink driving and cocaine possession. She has struggled with alcohol addiction and in 2013, officials took Mueller's children on a warrant and custody was ultimately given to her brother Scott. In December 2014, full custody of her sons was returned to her by the court. Asked what would be his life advice would be later in the evening, he responded: 'Enjoy every moment. It can all vanish in a heartbeat, or the absence of a heartbeat!' Handsome; The award-winning actor was happy to be back on his speaking tour Describing himself, he continued: 'Just a guy who wants to do better for myself and those around me. I want to leave situations better than how I discovered them' He will return to the capital in June for a date at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. The star is throwing himself into his career following a turbulent time in his personal life. Following his meltdown, he changed his lifestyle, giving up booze, drugs and porn stars and focusing on exercise, healthy meals and a 9pm bedtime. 'I got so tired of letting everyone down, and ultimately myself down, that I made the decision the very morning of December 10, 2017, to embrace a newly unearthed direction and path,' he told DailyMailTV. 'I feel good, I've made some significant changes and I'm on the right track.' Sheen described how he relapsed after 11 years of sobriety when he found out he had HIV in 2012. A-list; Charlie was greeted by a stylish friend as he left the club 'Every night would start out with the best intentions, (it would) always wind up with good and decent people having to clean up my mess,' he said. 'And the other side of that is I got tired of apologizing for things I couldn't remember doing. 'To be engaged in a fantasy that it's gonna be different or it's gonna be more fun...it's all fiction.' In 2018 he also found himself in 'dire financial crisis and put his Beverly Hills mansion up for a sale at a discounted price. The nearly 9,000 square foot Mediterranean-style home in Mulholland Estates is now selling for $7,999,999. For the fans: The star was seen signing autographs for his fans as he made his way to the car Chat: The actor appeared happy with the latest stop on his tour as he chatted with a friend Better than ever: Following his meltdown, he changed his lifestyle, giving up booze, drugs and porn stars and focusing on exercise, healthy meals and a 9pm bedtime The property has proved to be a tough sell for the Two And A Half Men star: it hit the market in February 2018 at one dollar shy of $10 million. Since it was first made available on the real estate market, the actor has had to slash the asking price several times-- to no avail thus far. He has even put it up for rent at a cool $43,000 a month. Popular: Charlie was centre of attention as he signed autographs and memorabilia for fans Sheen bought the property for $7.2 million in 2006, but in 2018 he revealed he was in 'dire financial crisis', which included the property going into pre-foreclosure. He averted a fire sale by paying off some debts and missed payments that amounted to about $4.8 million, according to Mansion Global. The lavish abode acted as the home base for some of Sheen's wild and salacious parties, as well as his heavily-documented breakdown in 2011. He's currently on his Assassination Vacation Tour. And Drake decided to celebrate yet another impressive milestone with a lads' night out at Tape nightclub on Tuesday night after performing at London's The O2 arena. The Hotline Bling hitmaker, 32, appeared in good spirits as he was joined by retired Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt. Night out: Drake decided to celebrate yet another impressive milestone with a lads' night out at Tape nightclub on Tuesday night after performing at London's The O2 arena Drake cut a casual yet stylish figure for his night out in a pair of black trousers, a matching coloured top and a grey zip up jacket. He teamed the items of clothing with an oversized white padded jacket and black platform trainers, he finished his look with a gold chain necklace. Meanwhile, Usain, 32, looked effortlessly stylish in a pair of bleached skinny jeans and a crisp white shirt. He finished his look with a bold green silk tiger jacket with gold detailing around the neckline and pink stripes down the arms. Celebrity pals: The Hotline Bling hitmaker, 32, appeared in good spirits as he was joined by retired Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt Talented: Drake cut a casual yet stylish figure for his night out in a pair of black trousers, a matching coloured top and a grey zip up jacket Usain had revealed on his Instagram stories that he had attended Drake's concert at The O2 arena earlier in the evening. Drake's appearance comes after he was spotted on Thursday looking dressed to impress wearing a Graff diamond watch which required its own security detail. The rapper, who has a net worth of $100million, proudly showed off the design and although the cost of this watch has not yet been disclosed, the brand famously created another timepiece, the Hallucinations watch, which costs $55million. Handsome: He teamed the items of clothing with an oversized white padded jacket and black platform trainers, he finished his look with a gold chain necklace Stylish: Meanwhile, Usain, 32, looked effortlessly stylish in a pair of bleached skinny jeans and a crisp white shirt It's not the first time Drake's been seen out wearing an expensive watch. Back in October, he was pictured wearing a $750,000 erotic Richard Mille watch while out in Vegas. He also showed off his outfit, valued at almost $1million, during a video from the YouTube series, How Much Is Your Outfit? Funky: He finished his look with a bold green silk tiger jacket with gold detailing around the neckline and pink stripes down the arms The Toronto-born star wore a $979,000 outfit including a custom Brioni jacket valued at $11,000. Then there were $15,000 Tom Ford crocodile shoes, a $200,000 chain, and that expensive Richard Mille watch. Following Thursday's night on the town, a few days later the rapper headed to Annabel's on Saturday night for a mid-tour private party for himself and his VIP guests. Love Island's Ellie Brown was sure to show her ex Charlie Brake what he's missing as she took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a very racy snap. The buxom blonde posed for the camera topless, with just a pair of coconuts covering her modesty, from her sun-drenched trip to Bali. In the teasing snap, Ellie, 21, showcased her natural beauty as she stood in the pool with the fruits - decorated with Balinese flowers - in just a pair of bikini bottoms, locks slicked back from her face. 'Sweet with a kick!' Love Island's Ellie Brown was sure to show her ex Charlie Brake what he's missing as she took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a very racy snap Make-up free and sun-kissed, the reality starlet pouted for the camera, her toned waist glistening with water from the pool Behind her, palms lined the poolside of the hotel - where she is staying with Zara McDermott and Samira Mighty, also of Love Island fame. Their trip comes as Ellie's ex, Charlie, was spotted sharing a smooch with Amber Turner of The Only Way Is Essex. Partying at London hotspot Maddox last weekend, Amber, 25, - who is currently on a break from the ITVBe show - was reportedly spotted with Monaco-based millionaire Charlie in the VIP area. Saucy: Their trip comes as Ellie's ex, Charlie, was spotted sharing a smooch with Amber Turner of The Only Way Is Essex New flirtation? Amber was alleged seen sharing a smooch with Love Island star Charlie at London hotspot Maddox last weekend An onlooker told The Sun Online: 'Amber and Charlie seemed really flirty and friendly in the club and were with two other people. 'But when they got outside and were waiting for a taxi they were snogging like teenagers. 'There were loads of people about but they didnt seem to care who saw them. 'They actually made a cute looking couple. When the taxi came they got in with their mates and drove off.' Reality starlets Samira, Ellie and Zara are enjoying the Bliss Sanctuary for Women in Bali. Samira took to Instagram on Monday to share a sultry snap of herself flaunting her curvaceous figure in a bright yellow crotchet bikini. Bikini babe: Samira Mighty took to Instagram to share a sultry snap of herself flaunting her curvaceous figure in a bright yellow crotchet bikini on Monday during the girls' getaway Ladies only! Samira has travelled to Bali with Zara and Ellie to enjoy a much needed girls getaway at the Bliss Sanctuary for Women 'Moana all grown up,' she boasted in the caption. The trio marked their girls getaway with a group selfie, as Samira channelled her inner 50s diva in a peachy outfit with narrow sunglasses. Zara, 24, flaunted her incredible toned tummy in a black two piece as she posed by the pool with her arms stretched up. 'Woke up in Bali @blisssanctuaryforwomen,' she wrote in the caption. The following day, the stunner shared a snap of herself in a skimpy, polka dot bikini with a fruit smoothie in one hand and the other clutching her face. Poolside beauty: Zara, 24, flaunted her incredible toned tummy in a black two piece as she posed by the pool with her arms stretched up Fresh faced: The following day, the stunner shared a snap of herself in a skimpy, polka dot bikini with a fruit smoothie in one hand 'Fresh faced baby,' she wrote, along with a series of fruit emojis. 'Having the best time in this beautiful rainforest,' she added, tagging the resort. Ellie also posted a fairly covered up shot, posing with a delicious bowl of fruit and juice. She showcased a hint of her ample cleavage wearing a beige button up top. 'Breakfast at 5:30pm - body clock a little bit way,' the reality TV starlet said about her jet lag. Holiday mode: Ellie was also posing with a delicious bowl of fruit and juice Treat yourself! The blonde beauty took to her Instagram Story to show off her flawless make-up free visage as she enjoyed sips from a fresh coconut decorated with flowers The girls are enjoying a luxury getaway after becoming firm friends during the 2018 series of Love Island. All three have split with their Love Island beaus since the show wrapped in August, with Zara breaking things off from Adam Collard in February, while Samira and Frankie Foster went their separate ways within weeks of leaving the villa, as did Ellie and Charlie. Samira has since found love with Ibiza Weekender star Alex Dean. The Backstreet Boys last performed in Australia in 2015, two years after their 'In A World Like This' world tour. And as the American group gear up for another world tour in May, they've hinted Aussie fans won't wait as long this time to see the show. 'Sit tight. Were on our way. We will not miss Australia,' the band promised on Nova's Smallzy's Surgery this week. Scroll down for video 'We will not miss Australia!' The Backstreet Boys promised their DNA world tour will head Down Under during a chat with Nova's Smallzy's Surgery this week A.J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Nick Carter, Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson reunited as a five-piece in 2013, and have since released two more albums. 'Were bringing one of our best shows we've ever done I can only say from what we've seen from the past 20 days of rehearsals we have been in for this show,' they said. They added: 'It's going to be over the top, it's going to be huge, and it's going to be a spectacle, and something you've never seen!' 'We cant wait to put it on for you': The band promised the tour will be 'one of the best shows ever' (Pictured: 2016) 'We cant wait to put it on for you,' they said, hinting Australian dates will be added to their extensive world tour. The group celebrated their 20th anniversary together in 2013 by releasing and touring their eighth studio album: In A World Like This. In January this year, the American boy group released their ninth studio album, DNA, which they are touring in a world tour. Going strong! The group celebrated their 20th anniversary together in 2013 and have now released nine studio albums The Backstreet Boys begin their DNA world tour on May 11 in Portugal. So far they have 80 concerts scheduled across the globe, with their last show to be in Singapore on October 30. The Backstreet Boys were formed in 1993. It is the hotly anticipated The Sopranos prequel which tells the tale of the formative years of New Jersey gangster Tony, portrayed by James Gandolfini in the original series. And the legendary late actor's son Michael transformed into a young Tony Soprano as he was seen on the set of The Many Saints of Newark for the first time in New York on Tuesday. Michael, 19, whose father died from a heart attack in 2013, was the spitting image of his award-winning dad as he got into character to film the mafia flick set in 1960s Newark. Family: Perfect role: James Gandolfini's son Michael transformed into a young Tony Soprano as he was seen on the set of prequel The Many Saints of Newark for the first time in New York on Tuesday Mafia: The Walking Dead star Jon Bernthal, 42, was every inch the crime boss as he walked onto set, with the sighting his first appearance on set Michael donned a flowing brunette wig, paired with a denim jacket and flares as he got into character on-set, filming alongside The Walking Dead star Jon Bernthal, 42. This also marked the first time Jon had been seen on-set, with his participation in the drama announced earlier this year, although his exact role is being kept tightly under wraps. The teen actor, who flashed a beaming smile as he filmed, was spotted climbing into a vintage car with Jon, before shooting a brooding look into the distance. Jon channelled a 60s Mafia boss in a leather coat and high-waisted trousers, paired with slicked back locks. Spitting image: Michael, 19, whose father died from a heart attack in 2013, was the spitting image of his award-winning dad as he got into character to film the mafia flick set in 1960s Newark Mobsters: Michael donned a flowing brunette wig, paired with a denim jacket and flares as he got into character on-set (above with David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos, who co-wrote the upcoming film adaptation) Before The Family: The teen actor, was spotted climbing into a vintage car with Jon, whose role is being kept tightly under wraps, before shooting a brooding look into the distance The duo were also seen running through scenes with David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos, who co-wrote the upcoming film adaptation. The plot of the mob prequel is set in the era of the Newark riots in the 1960s, when African-Americans and Italians in New Jersey embroiled in an often fatal feud. The film also stars Vera Farmiga, Ray Liotta, Corey Stoll, Billy Magnussen, and John Magaro. Coming soon: The teen actor flashed a beaming smile as he filmed gritty scenes Drama: Michael looked excited to play the iconic role made famous by his father Good spirits: The cast and crew enjoyed a quick chat between scenes Wow: Jon looked every inch the mobster in a leather coat and high-waisted trousers, paired with slicked back locks Under wraps: The pair turned the clock back as they climbed into a vintage car Alessandro Nivola plays Dickie Moltisanti. He was the father of the character Christopher Moltisanti, played by the incomparable Michael Imperioli in The Sopranos Alessandro's Dickie Moltisanti will be familiar, at least in name, to any fan of the iconic HBO show as it is the surname of Christopher Moltisanti, played by the incomparable Michael Imperioli. Dickie was never seen during the drama's tenure on television but referenced several times as a sort of mentor of Tony Soprano, who was famously played by James Gandolfini. Filming: The stars got into character on the set of the prequel Brooding: Jon looked handsome as he filmed scenes with Michael Gritty: The plot of the mob prequel is set in the era of the Newark riots in the 1960s, when African-Americans and Italians in New Jersey embroiled in an often fatal feud Menacing: Jon cut a sombre figure as he filmed new scenes for the prequel The Soprano family tree is a bit of a twisted one as Dickie is the cousin of Tony's wife Carmela (Edie Falco), however Tony refers to her second cousin Christopher (Imperioli) solely as his nephew. Dickie is 'a charismatic but violent made man who falls in love with his father's much younger bride, a recent immigrant from Italy,' according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Sopranos centered around mob boss Tony Soprano and his dealings with his family and The Family while also seeking treatment for panic attacks. The hit show was one of the first of it's kind and ran for six seasons on HBO from 1999 to 2007. Chat: Michael chatted with David between takes on the set Good spirits: Jon cracked a relaxed smile as he caught up with David Cool customer: David channelled his inner mob boss as he posed up against a car Looking good: The star shot a sombre look as he climbed into a waiting car Wow factor: Jon looked handsome as he transformed into a 60s hunk for the shoot It made a star of actor James, won numerous awards including Golden Globes, Emmys and SAG Awards, and is often credited for the kicking off the stellar trend of television dramas in the 2000s and 2010s. Gandolfinis performance as Tony Soprano is widely regarded as one of the greatest performances in television history. Haunting: The drama is set for release in September 2020 Coming soon: Jon chatted with David as filming got underway Legendary: The Sopranos centered around mob boss Tony Soprano and his dealings with his family and The Family while also seeking treatment for panic attacks Gandolfini died suddenly of a heart attack while visiting Rome, Italy, on June 19, 2013. He was 51. Earlier this month, Michael told TMZ that he's psyched to be playing his famous father's character as a young man in the prequel. 'It's exciting to step into the shoes of my dad,' he said. 'I'm real excited, it's going to be great!' he said. Newark is set for release September 25, 2020. She has been living it up in the Caribbean with her beau Joseph Bates and son Indio. And Jodie Kidd continued the fun and frolics of her idyllic Barbados break on Tuesday as she was hitting the beach in sensational, bikini-clad style. The 40-year-old supermodel looked incredible as she showed off her age-defying physique for the fun and frolics on the shore with her nearest and dearest. Sexy ensemble: Jodie Kidd continued the fun and frolics of her idyllic Barbados break on Tuesday as she was hitting the beach in sensational, bikini-clad style Jodie was chilled out to the max on the shores as she showed off her physique and fresh-faced beauty among the fellow holidaymakers. The former Royal Marine turned creative agency exec appeared carefree as he chatted to the beauty, wearing a pair of trendy sunglasses. Jodie and Joseph were first seen holidaying in Barbados in October 2017, after she accompanied him on a disaster relief mission to Dominica following Hurricane Irma. According to the Daily Mail's Sebastian Shakespeare at the time, the duo had previously rowed in kayaks 120 miles down the Gironde, to recreate a World War 2 commando raid. Loved-up: The 40-year-old supermodel looked incredible as she showed off her age-defying physique for the fun and frolics on the shore with her nearest and dearest Emerging... She looked incredible as she headed out of the water in the sexy two-piece What lies beneath: Jodie hitched a ride on Joseph's back as they lurked around the water Turquoise delight: Her swimsuit made the most of her figure as she strutted her stuff Happy days: They looked happier than ever as she stepped out showing off her endless legs They then made their first public appearance at the 2018 Cheltenham Festival, but the couple have since denied they are engaged. The model first married internet entrepreneur Aidan Butler in 2005 after a year of romance, but the pair split after 18 months. She then embarked on a relationship with Argentinian polo player Andrea Vianini, and the pair welcomed son Indio together in 2011, before parting ways two years later. Hot stuff: Jodie was chilled out to the max on the shores as she showed off her physique and fresh-faced beauty among the fellow holidaymakers Hot stuff: She showed off her dark tresses after years as a blonde beauty Piggyback! They looked happier than ever as they frolicked in the sea Hot stuff: She was showing off her lean lithe frame as she hit the shores The blonde went on to tie the knot with author David Blakeley in 2014, but the marriage was collapsed in just four months. Jodie recently made a sensational return to the runway for London Fashion Week, after speaking to the Daily Mail about her struggles with anxiety. She said: 'I would like to write about anxiety next, having suffered from it for so many years. I would like to talk about it a bit more, even though I'm not an expert therapist. Through the years of suffering I've explored different avenues.' She's back! Jodie recently made a sensational return to the runway for London Fashion Week, after speaking to the Daily Mail about her struggles with anxiety Stunner: Jodie, who made one charity catwalk appearance in 2015, has talked of suffering from anxiety her whole life, which compelled her to stop modelling Lithe and lovely: She looked incredible as she strutted her stuff on the shores Jodie, who made one charity catwalk appearance in 2015, has talked of suffering from anxiety her whole life, which compelled her to stop modelling. 'It's not performance anxiety it's full-on anxiety,' she said. 'I had proper wobbles when I was in my late teens and there was a lot of pressure in the fashion industry, which made things worse... 'I had to stop. I could be backstage about to go on the catwalk, or even doing something as ordinary as the weekly shop, and I'd panic. I knew I couldn't walk down another catwalk again.' Hot stuff: She frequents the sunny climes of Barbados alongside a host of other stars She's the professional ballroom dancer who debuted as a judge on Network Ten's revamped series Dancing With The Stars last month. And on Wednesday, Sharna Burgess proved she doesn't need a dance floor to wow fans. The 33-year-old Australian star simply sizzled in a plunging leopard print ensemble as she appeared as a guest panellist on Channel 10's news program, The Project. The Wagga Wagga-born entertainer undoubtedly sent viewers wild as she flashed a hint of cleavage in the low-cut animal print number. Sharna continued to ooze sex appeal as she highlighted her plump pout with a pop of sultry, nude-brown lipstick. The 2018 winner of DWTS US enhanced her stunning features with a luminous makeup palette and styled her crimson locks into soft old Hollywood curls. News delivered VERY differently! Dancing With The Stars judge Sharna Burgess sizzles in plunging leopard print ensemble during guest appearance on The Project Meanwhile the Channel 10 star adorned her decolletage with a understated charm necklace. Last month, Sharna debuted as one of the new judges on Dancing With The Stars. She has joined Irish dancer Tristan MacManus and Strictly Come Dancing's Craig Revel Horwood on the judging panel. Sharna certainly has experience on the Dancing With The Stars franchise, having won the 2018 season of the US version with her celebrity partner Bobby Bones. Red hot! Sharna (pictured) enhanced her pretty features with a luminous makeup palette and styled her crimson locks into soft Hollywood curls She has also starred in 11 other seasons of the US franchise, having placed second in three of them. Prior to her judging debut, Sharna told People magazine that she 'can't wait' to see what the dancers have in store. 'Having been a pro on America's Dancing With The Stars for the last 12 seasons, I am so excited to be coming home to bring my knowledge and passion from the U.S. to this stellar line up of Aussie talent,' she told the US-based publication. 'I can't wait to see what these amazing dancers have in store for us all.' Sharna will return to the US for season 28 of the ABC show, which is expected to premiere in the fall. She's been left inconsolable after receiving threatening messages from the late Rana Habeeb. And Alison King was spotted filming new devastating Coronation Street scenes on Wednesday as her character Carla Connor continues to blame herself for the Underworld roof collapse, which killed her sister Kate's fiancee. The character, who goes missing on Friday's episode, has been left paranoid in recent episodes, sparking concern for her mental health. Heartbreaking: Alison King was spotted filming new devastating Coronation Street scenes on Wednesday as Carla Connor continues to blame herself for the Underworld roof collapse And in new filming pictures taken on Wednesday, it sees Carla hit rock bottom as she breaks down alone in a park. The worried character looks dishevelled as she sits by herself on a bench, crossing her arms and starring down at the floor. And Carla causes such concern that a jogger, played by actress Alice Offley, running past stops to see if she's OK and to talk to her. Will this be the support she needs and will she get help as her mental continues to spiral? Concern: The character, who goes missing on Friday's episode, has been left paranoid in recent episodes, sparking concern for her mental health Sad: And in new filming pictures taken on Wednesday, it sees Carla hit rock bottom as she breaks down alone in a park Only recently, it was announced that Alison had been nominated for Best Actress for her role of Carla Connor at the 2019 British Soap Awards. It is thought Carla is set to be part of a psychosis storyline that will build up to a dedicated mental health episode. A source told The Sun that the businesswoman will be hospitalised and placed on anti-psychotic drugs as residents continue to blame her for the tragedy. It was previously claimed that Carla's breakdown would coincide with the revelation of who was responsible for the roof collapse, setting the stage for a new villain to emerge on the Street. Worrying: The worried character looks dishevelled as she sits by herself on a bench, crossing her arms and starring down at the floor A friend?: And Carla causes such concern that a jogger, played by actress Alice Offley, running past stops to see if she's OK and to talk to her The source said: 'It all gets a bit much for Carla in the aftermath of the roof collapse and the pressure on her to keep people in jobs and the factory open. She eventually has a huge mental breakdown.' It was also claimed that Carla will go missing, with scenes airing on Friday, before it is revealed she has been sectioned, with the news also pushing her former flame Peter Barlow over the edge as he relapses on his alcoholism. The source continued: 'Before she's discharged she is put on anti-psychotic drugs and told she needs someone to look after her around the clock. Much to her familys confusion, she chooses Peter, with him quitting rehab to do so.' Carla has been a shadow of her former self in recent weeks as she struggles with the aftermath of the disaster, especially as residents continue to blame her for the collapse. Getting help?: Will this be the support she needs and will she get help as her mental continues to spiral? Alison pictured in-between scenes talking to co-star Alice The factory owner confessed that she knew the roof was unsafe at a memorial for Rana last week, who was crushed by the falling debris during the tragedy. Carla was finally arrested for her accused involvement in the crime, and she became public enemy number one on the cobbles. It was previously reported that Carla's breakdown would coincide with the revelation of the true culprit behind the factory collapse. So far fans have been kept guessing around who is responsible for the disaster, but five other suspects have already been teased by Corrie bosses. Coronation Street continues on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on ITV. Talented: Only recently, it was announced that Alison had been nominated for Best Actress for her role of Carla Connor at the 2019 British Soap Awards The haunting new trailer for the live action version of The Lion King has dropped. Fans of the 1994 Disney classic were treated to a dramatic 1 minute 50 second look at the film, due to be released on July 19. Recreated in spectacular CGI, Simba (Donald Glover) is seen being confronted by hyenas Kamari, (Keegan-Michael Key) Shenzi (Florence Kasumba) and Azizi (Eric Andre) as villainous uncle Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor) enters the elephant graveyard. Scroll down for video Evil: The haunting new trailer for the live action version of The Lion King has dropped - with a first look at murderous uncle, Scar Epic: Recreated in spectacular CGI, Simba (Donald Glover) is seen being confronted by hyenas Kamari, (Keegan-Michael Key) Shenzi (Florence Kasumba) and Azizi (Eric Andre) as villainous uncle Scar ( Chiwetel Ejiofor) enters the elephant graveyard The trailer opens with Simba and best friend Nala entering the eerie elephant graveyard as the voice of Scar (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) states: 'Life's not fair is it my little friend. Others spend their lives in the dark. Begging for scraps.' The frightening first glimpse of the evil and exiled lion is then shown as he confronts Simba and Nala, who cower in the darkness. He is flanked by his evil hyena comrades, who approach the cubs with menace. Simba's father and Lion King Mufasa is then seen standing on Pride Rock as the father-son duo survey their kingdom. Forbidden: The trailer opens with Simba and best friend Nala entering the eerie elephant graveyard Don't do it: Obeying his father's wishes. the young cubs enter the graveyard First look: The voice of Scar (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) states: 'Life's not fair is it my little friend. Others spend their lives in the dark. Begging for scraps' The voice of James Earl Jones, reprising his role from the first film says: 'Everything you see exists in a delicate balance' as a bewitched Simba stares with awe at an insect. The young lion is also seen meeting hornbill bird Zazu (John Oliver) who flies down to meet the latest addition to the pride. He continues: 'While others search for what they can take' as Scar is seen hatching plans with his evil companions. As Mufasa takes his son under his wing and shows him their kingdom, the voiceover continues: 'A true king searches for what he can give'. Simba is seen placing his tiny paw into his father's footsteps, symbolising the journey he is about to go on to become , The Lion King Remember who you are: The voice of James Earl Jones, reprising his role as Mufasa from the first film says: 'Everything you see exists in a delicate balance' as a bewitched Simba stares with awe The King: Simba's devoted father Mufasa shows his young son their kingdom Leading up to Mufasa's death, Simba is seen escaping a stampede of buffalos, as Scar makes his way to the cliff before murdering his brother. The malevolent uncle then banishes his young nephew following his father's death, after manipulating him into thinking it was his fault, shouting: 'Run away Simba! And never return' as the frightened child gasps. The trailer also features the first look at popular characters from the 1994 film including Simba's companions meerkat Timon (Billy Eichner) and warthog Pumbaa (Seth Rogen). Footsteps: Simba is seen placing his tiny paw into his father's footsteps, symbolising the journey he is about to go on to become, The Lion King Meeting: The young lion is also seen meeting hornbill bird Zasu (John Oliver) who flies down to meet the latest addition to the pride Troubled times: Leading up to Mufasa's death, Simba is seen escaping a stampede of buffalos, as Scar makes his way to the cliff Get out: The malevolent uncle then banishes his young nephew following his father's death, shouting: 'Run away Simba! And never return' as the frightened child gasps In one of the final scenes recreated in the new film, Simba, Timon and Pumbaa are seen singing Hakuna Matata as they walk along a fallen tree, in homage to the 1994 film. Simba is seen growing into a handsome young lion with his companions, as he bonds with childhood friend Nala (Beyonce) once more. Showing him returning to the kingdom to take on new King Scar, Mufasa continues: 'You must take your place, in the circle of life.' First look: The trailer also features the first look at popular characters from the 1994 film including Simba's companions meerkat Timon (Billy Eichner) and warthog Pumbaa (Seth Rogen) Homage: In one of the final scenes recreated in the new film, Simba, Timon and Pumbaaa are seen singing Hakuna Matata as they walk along a fallen tree, in homage to the 1994 film. Journey: Simba is seen growing into a handsome young lion with his companions The trailer ends with Simba returning to a gloomy Pride Rock as he roars before the battle to regain control of his kingdom, begins. This live-action version of The Lion King comes from director Jon Favreau, using the same kind of motion-capture technology he used to bring the animals in his 2016 adaptation of The Jungle Book to life. While this adaptation does boast an impressive new cast, James Earl Jones returns to voice his same role from the 1994 animated classic, King Mufasa. Reconnection: Simba bonds with childhood friend Nala (Beyonce) once more Sadness in his eyes: Baboon Rafiki (John Kani) reflects on the past in the Kingdom before Simba's return Comeback: The pride, now living under Scar's brutal regime are delighted at Simba's return The King: Showing him returning to the kingdom to take on new King Scar, Mufasa continues: 'You must take your place, in the circle of life' Anguish: The trailer ends with Simba returning to a gloomy Pride Rock as he roars before the battle to regain control of his kingdom begins Disney has set a July 19, 2019 release date for The Lion King, which is currently the only movie slated for release on that date. The Lion King is one of 10 movies Disney has slated for release in 2019, which could be the studio's biggest year to date. Other Disney movies opening next year include Dumbo (March 29), Avengers 4 (May 3, 2019), Toy Story 4 (June 21, 2019) and Star Wars 9 (December 20, 2019). Long live the King: Disney has set a July 19, 2019 release date for The Lion King, which is currently the only movie slated for release on that date She's a regular on the London party circuit. But Lottie Moss was seen partying across the pond on Tuesday night, attending the Twenty app launch party in Hollywood. The model and It girl, 21, showed off her flat stomach in a skimpy white bralet, turning heads as she left the VIP venue. Stepping out: Lottie Moss was seen partying across the pond on Tuesday night, attending the Twenty app launch party in Hollywood Lottie put the emphasis on her lean upper body in her revealing look, keeping covered up by ensuring the rest of her look was understated. The half-sister of supermodel Kate Moss layered up in a grey padded jacket and a pair of baggy jogging bottoms. She blow dried her blonde locks in a voluminous, straight style and enhanced her pretty features with rosy make-up. Looking good: Lottie Moss was seen partying across the pond on Tuesday night, attending the Twenty app launch party in Hollywood Casual: The half-sister of supermodel Kate Moss layered up in a grey padded jacket and a pair of baggy jogging bottoms Earlier this week, Lottie courted attention again when she stripped down to a striking scarlet bikini for a steamy mirror selfie posted on Instagram. The platinum-haired star had all eyes on her toned figure in a little two-piece while she posed in a very messy room. Hidden behind her iPhone, the Instagram sensation appeared to be feeling a bit shy when she covered her face while she posed in a bikini. Moss be style: Earlier this week, Lottie courted attention again when she stripped down to a striking scarlet bikini for a steamy mirror selfie posted on Instagram Handbags were scattered across the floor, a bottle of Ketchup could be seen on the bedside table and the bed hadn't been made. So it's no wonder Lottie apologised for the mess when she shared the temporary post with her 256k followers on Instagram. 'Wow OK my room is messy,' she penned across the saucy snap. Lottie showed off her wild side in a series of racy Instagram snaps shared on Saturday, as she posed topless for her fans. Cheeky; Lottie showed off her wild side in a series of racy Instagram snaps as she posed topless for her fans The socialite set temperatures soaring for the photos which saw her don a pair of tiny denim shorts and nothing else. Striking a pose on a balcony in the California sunshine, Lottie turns to the camera with a huge smile on her face. Another shot sees the blonde beauty flashing more of her assets, while a third required a little editing by the model as she preserved her modesty with a drawn on cross. The cheeky model captioned her sizzling series of photos: 'Free the nipple.' Baring all: The socialite, 21, set temperatures soaring for the photos which saw her don a pair of tiny denim shorts and nothing else The golden-haired model is the half-sister of supermodel Kate, 45, but she previously revealed doesn't feel pressured by her legacy. She said: 'My sister and I are two different people and she is on her path and I am on my own.' Kate has worked in the modelling industry for almost four decades and has graced the cover of British Vogue over 30 times. Editing! A third required a little editing by the model as she preserved her modesty with a drawn on cross Taking time to reflect on her career, the rising model recently penned on Instagram: 'Recently I have decided to completely reinvent myself as I wasnt happy in myself or where i felt I was going in life. 'Just a quick reminder that whatever point you are at in your life its never too late to pick yourself up and change', she added. She recently told The Sun: 'I've been asked a lot from Made In Chelsea. Obviously I'm friends with everyone on it. It's not for me. I quite like having a private life. I don't like everything being on TV.' However, she admitted she was a keen viewer of such shows: 'My guilty pleasure, which is really bad, is Ex On The Beach and Geordie Shore. I absolutely love them.' Previously, Lottie dated Made In Chelsea's Alex Mytton for nine months before they finally called time on their romance. Sister, sister! Lottie is working hard to step out of the shadow of her famous half-sister Kate Moss (R- in 1995) Rachael Gouvignon toppled over seconds after Richie Strahan, 33, rejected her for Cassandra Wood during Wednesday night's episode of Bachelor In Paradise. However the 32-year-old has now claimed the scene was edited to make it look like she collapsed in reaction to Richie rejecting her. Rachael, who placed fourth on Richie's season of The Bachelor in 2016, took to her Instagram story to share a post explaining her version of events alongside footage of her tumble. 'Just to clarify I fell off the stairs! Not a reaction to Richie's pick!' she captioned the clip. Rachael, who had expressed her interest in rekindling a romance with Richie earlier in the episode, took another swipe at the show's 'editing' in a separate post. 'I loved the edited version of it. Said no one EVER!' the post read. 'Just to clarify - I fell off the stairs!' Bachelor In Paradise's Rachael Gouvignon claims she was edited to look like she collapsed when Richie Strahan rejected her for Cassandra Wood in a shocking rose ceremony twist on Wednesday From the outset of the rose ceremony, Rachael appeared confident she would receive a rose from her former flame. 'I'd be very shocked if I went home. I'm confident I'll get Richie's rose,' she remarked. However the feeling was not reciprocated by the ropes technician as he decided to pick Cassandra from Nick 'The Honey Badger' Cummins season of The Bachelor. 'Just to clarify I fell off the stairs!' Rachael, who placed fourth on Richie's season of The Bachelor in 2016, took to her Instagram story to share a post explaining her version of events alongside footage of the tumble 'I loved the edited version of it. Said no one EVER!' Rachael, who had expressed her interest in rekindling a romance with Richie earlier in the episode, took another swipe at the show's 'editing' in a separate post Upon Richie choosing Cassandra, Rachael's eyes were seen widening in shock before she dramatically dropped to the ground. Rachael's concerned co-stars, Cassandra and Brittney were then seen quickly turning around to see whether she was alright following her fall. Earlier in the episode, Rachael and Richie endured another awkward exchange. Arriving in Fiji, the former Bachelor was greeted by his ex-girlfriend, Rachael - only to have no idea who she was at first. Rose - accepted! However the feeling was not reciprocated by Richie as he decided to pick Cassandra during the rose ceremony Woah! Rachael's concerned co-stars, Cassandra and Brittney were then seen quickly turning around to see whether she was alright following her fall Despite Rachael being a finalist on his season of the dating franchise, it took him a moment to recognise her. 'G'day,' Richie said as he approached Rachael, before giving her a second look. 'Oh, Rach! How are ya?' he added, awkwardly laughing and giving her a quick hug and kiss on the cheek hello. No idea: Richie Strahan appeared to have a case of momentary amnesia when he appeared on Bachelor In Paradise on Wednesday, failing to recognise Rachael Gouvignon She launched a size-inclusive line of denim two years ago. And Khloe Kardashian is enlisting the help of her nearest and dearest to launch the summer campaign of Good American, according to People. The 34-year-old entrepreneur posted behind-the-scenes images from the March photo shoot to her Instagram stories where True rocked a white linen dress from the range while Khloe opted for a belly-baring crop top and denim. Star power: Khloe Kardashian is enlisting the help of her nearest and dearest to launch the summer campaign of Good American, according to People 'I used to be a bigger size and I used to be ushered up all the way to basically the attic and my sisters could shop on the 'regular' floor and it was humiliating,' she said. 'We said if you want to carry our brand you have to carry the full-size range and not have the 'plus sizes' be in a different location. I don't want anybody to be a cookie-cutter shape or size. And not everybody wants to be a size 2!' Her line which was released on Oct. 18, 2016 and sold $1million on the day of its launch, becoming the 'biggest denim launch in apparel history' boasts a wide range of sizes to accommodate many shapes and initially carried denim but branched out into activewear, and most recently, floaty dresses. Proud: The 34-year-old entrepreneur posted behind-the-scenes images from the March photo shoot to her Instagram stories where True rocked a white linen dress from the range while Khloe opted for a belly-baring crop top and denim 'We weren't thinking about dresses but once we started venturing out to other categories it naturally took over and I'm so glad it did because I love these dresses so much,' she shared. 'It's really exciting to see where Good American has gone in two years.' Little True was certainly the star of the show as she perched onto her mother's hip wearing a dress from the new collection. Her curly brown hair peeked through a large white floral headpiece, with big diamond studs in her ears. And Khloe, the perfect model for her collection, showed off her fit figure in a crop top and jeans as the pair took inventory of a fridge full of food. 'We weren't thinking about dresses but once we started venturing out to other categories it naturally took over and I'm so glad it did because I love these dresses so much,' she shared 'We do Gymboree and art class, and she loves when everyone is staring at her,' Kardashian shared of her budding star daughter. 'And I'm always clapping for her. What am I creating?' And despite recent woes for Khloe's love life, she's staying focused on family and will soon celebrate True's first birthday on April 12. 'I want people to live a healthy and happy life, and that's the message I want to project to my daughter,' she shared. The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star finally called it quits with love-rat Tristan Thompson after he kissed Kylie Jenner's best pal Jordyn Woods at a house party in Los Angeles in February. Thompson was involved in multiple cheating allegations just days before True was born when DailyMail.com broke the story that he was caught kissing a woman at a nightclub in New York. Filming for the second season of Sex Education is set to begin shortly. And Emma Mackey was making the most of her free time as she was seen at Cannes Series Festival in France on Wednesday. The stunning actress, 23, cosied up to her boyfriend Dan Whitlam on the stroll, with the pair arm in arm on the outing. Stepping out: Emma Mackey was making the most of her free time as she was seen at Cannes Series Festival in France on Wednesday with her boyfriend Dan Whitlam Emma kept things casual yet chic for the outing, teaming a pair of frayed bleached jeans with a ribbed white T-shirt. Layering up, the French-British actress donned an oversized navy blazer and accessorised with chunky biker boots and silver hoops. The ombre-haired beauty cuddled up to Dan on the outing, who looked casual in a black T-shirt and trousers. Cute couple: The stunning actress, 23, cosied up to Dan on the stroll, with the pair holding hands and then going arm in arm on the outing Casually chic: Emma kept things casual yet chic for the outing, teaming a pair of frayed bleached jeans with a ribbed white T-shirt Two's company: The ombre-haired beauty cuddled up to Dan on the outing, who looked casual in a black T-shirt and trousers Emma - who plays Maeve Wiley in Sex Education - is attending the Cannes Series Festival as a jury member to judge programmes from across the world. It's not known how long Emma and Dan have been in a relationship for, but the Netflix series star first posted a picture of her beau in January 2018. Meanwhile, Emma recently discussed what it was like filming sex scenes in Sex Education with her on-screen boyfriend (Kedar Williams-Stirling) in a post #MeToo environment. Looking good: Layering up, the French-British actress donned an oversized navy blazer and accessorised with chunky biker boots and silver hoops Hard at work: Emma - who plays Maeve Wiley in Sex Education - is attending the Cannes Series Festival as a jury member to judge programmes from across the world Couple goals: It's not known how long Emma and Dan have been in a relationship for, but the Netflix series star first posted a picture of her beau in January 2018 She told ES magazine: 'The nudity and the sex stuff was fine, because I knew I had to do it. We had a workshop and worked with an intimacy co-ordinator. 'We were sorted really, there was a lot of self-love in the show, some full nudity and some half nudity.' Before the actress relocated to the UK, she grew up in the rural idyllic Sable-sur-Sarthe, north-west France, and was educated at a Catholic School. She said: 'It was really... nice, I went to a Catholic school and did loads of sport and I was really happy. I loved studying and was very bookish. It was quite a sheltered existence.' Downton Abbey's creator Julian Fellowes' new show Belgravia has started filming across the UK. The upcoming ITV series will include scenes from several stunning Victorian locations, including London, Edinburgh, Bath and Northumberland. While Downton Abbey's award-winning creative team will be reunited once again for the adaption of his novel, also called Belgravia, including Killing Eve's Colin Wratten producing. Exciting: Downton Abbey's creator Julian Fellowes' new show Belgravia has started filming across the UK Making up the star-studded line-up for the limited six-part series are Life on Mars' Philip Glenister, Sweetbitter star Ella Purnell and Four Weddings and a Funeral actor James Fleet. Also joining the talented cast are the likes of Green Wing's Tamsin Greig. The Crown's Harriet Walter, She's Out of My League's Alice Eve and Game of Thrones' Tara Fitzgerald. Belgravia, published in 2016, tells the story of secrets and dishonour amongst the upper echelon of London society in the 19th Century. Star-studded: Life on Mars star Philip Glenister will play character James Trenchard Line-up: Sweetbitter star Ella Purnell leads the cast made up of Green Wing's Tamsin Greig. The Crown's Harriet Walter and Game of Thrones' Tara Fitzgerald - to name a few! Legend: Four Weddings and a Funeral actor James Fleet is also in the line-up It starts when a businessman named James Trenchard (Philip Glenister) and his wife Anne Trenchard (Tamsin Greig) accept an invitation to the now legendary ball hosted by the Duchess of Richmond on the fateful eve of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. They attend with their daughter, who catches the eye of the son of one of the most influential families in England. That night sets into motion a series of events that will have consequences for decades to come. It later follows the families as secrets unravel behind the porticoed doors of Belgravia, one of Londons grandest postcode. Leading role: Green Wing's Tamsin Greig will be starring as Anne Trenchard in the period drama Filming: The upcoming ITV series will include scenes from several stunning Victorian locations, including London, Edinburgh, Bath and Northumberland (Downton Abbey's Highclere Castle pictured) Filming on the series will begin in the coming weeks and it is expected to air either later this year or early 2020. In a release announcing the show executive producer Gareth Neame said: 'Its fantastic to be working once again with Julian, a master storyteller. 'In Belgravia he has painted a wonderful backdrop of 19th century society against which intrigue and dynastic power struggles will play out.' Producers will be hoping to replicate the success of Downton Abbey, another Julian Fellowes creation, which pulled in record ratings, catapulted its actors to stardom and continues to enjoy buzz almost a decade after its first episode aired. Belgravia is a Carnival Films co-production with EPIX for ITV. Kim Kardashian has revealed she plans on taking the bar exam in 2022. In an interview with Vogue magazine, the reality star, 38, said she was inspired to pursue law after working to grant Alice Marie Johnson clemency last year. Kim began a four year long apprenticeship at a San Francisco law firm last summer in order to prepare for the exam, and now studies 18 hours a week with two practicing attorneys. Kim, Esq.? Kim Kardashian has revealed to Vogue she plans on taking the bar exam in 2022 Though Kim did not attend college or law school, she is able to pursue her dream through an alternative path. 'Reading the law' allows people to take the bar by apprenticing through a practicing lawyer or judge. Kim now meets with mentor lawyers Jessica Jackson and Erin Haney in order to complete a required 18 hours of supervised study every week. Meeting with Jessica and Erin also allows Kim to remain in Los Angeles, after months of traveling to San Francisco to complete her studies. Cover girl: Kardashian appears soaked on the May 2019 cover of Vogue Motivation: In an interview with Vogue magazine, the reality star, 38, said she was inspired to pursue law after becoming working to grant Alice Marie Johnson clemency last year This summer Kim will be taking the 'baby bar', an exam administered by the state that will allow her to study for three more years if she passes. Overall, the concepts have been coming easily to Kim. 'First year of law school, you have to cover three subjects: criminal law, torts, and contracts. To me, torts is the most confusing, contracts the most boring, and crim law I can do in my sleep. Took my first test, I got a 100. Super easy for me. The reading is what really gets me. Its so time-consuming. The concepts I grasp in two seconds,' she said. Class act: This summer Kim will be taking the 'baby bar', an exam administered by the state that will allow her to study for three more years if she passes Jessica predicts Kim will pursue a path in criminal law, though hesitated to say the reality star would actually appear in courtrooms. Kim's decision to begin a legal career did not come lightly. The daughter of famed lawyer Robert Kardashian explained to the magazine: 'I had to think long and hard about this.' After working side by side a team of lawyers and even meeting President Donald Trump, Kim knew it was time to educate herself in order to better help others. Family affair: The reality star posed at home with her children, North, Saint, and Chicago Kim revealed she felt in over her head after travelling to the White House in order to discuss matters of clemency. Though she was surrounded by her lawyers, she was inspired to make a difference all her own. 'It's never one person who gets things done; it's always a collective of people, and I've always known my role, but I just felt like I wanted to be able to fight for people who have paid their dues to society. I just felt like the system could be so different, and I wanted to fight to fix it, and if I knew more, I could do more.' Kim's aspirations to become a lawyer should come as no surprise to fans. Kim revealed she felt in over her head after travelling to the White House in order to discuss matters of clemency The reality star successfully helped get Alice Johnson freed from jail after she spent 22 years behind bars. Johnson was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole after she was convicted on federal drug and money laundering charges to which she had pleaded not guilty. In 2016 Kim also revealed she hoped to attend law school once things slowed down. Walking the walk: Kardashian met with President Donald Trump last year to discuss prison reform in 2018 'If things slow down and I had time, I really want to go to law school - just something I can do in my older age,' she told Wonderland magazine. Even Kim's personal lawyer has been impressed by her legal instincts. 'Kim, I've been doing this for 35 years and I said you missed your calling,' her lawyer Michael J. Kump told her in a Snapchat video in 2017. He continued: 'You really should be a lawyer. That's what you need to be. You've got the perfect instincts, you've got great judgement. Hailie Mathers has become a social media influencer since graduating from Michigan State University in June. So far the 23-year-old daughter of rapper Eminem already has 1.5million followers. The beauty seems to know very well what makes people come to her page: Bikini snaps. And during her recent trip to Hawaii, the blonde loaded up on images of her in swimwear much to the delight of her fans. Well done: Hailie Mathers has become a social media influencer since graduating from Michigan State University in June. And this month she has been sharing click bait The daughter in the sun: Eminen's offspring looked cut in her two piece as she waded in the pool by a waterdall Hip reference: 'Sorry TLC but ive been chasing waterfalls,' the star said in a reference to the TLC song Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls from the Nineties The looker was fit in a black bathing suit as she discovered the waterfalls in Hawaii. 'Sorry TLC but ive been chasing waterfalls,' the star said in a reference to the TLC song Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls from the Nineties. She added, 'Second picture is proof i got in and third is the reality shot once i saw some type of fish in there that looked like baby sharks.' Hailie seemed comfortable in her little suit as she posed on a rock like a 1950s pinup then was seen in the water. Lucky gal: The star was also seen on the beach in a similar outfit. She looked down at the sand as palm trees were behind her Followers called her 'stunning' and 'an example of a normal celeb kid.' The star was also seen on the beach in a similar outfit. She looked down at the sand as palm trees were behind her. The Michigan native noted that it was snowing back home and she was lucky to be in the warm weather. Hailie was also seen in a white workout outfit as she stood on a boulder looking out at the sea. What a life: Hailie was also seen in a white workout outfit as she stood on a boulder looking out at the sea. In her caption she had a wave emoji Another cover shot: And then there was a shot of her in a blue suit with a floppy hat. She noted a rooster almost made her fall off the tree branch she was perched on And then there was a shot of her in a blue suit with a floppy hat. She noted a rooster almost made her fall off the tree branch she was perched on. Fans went wild when they saw her in a yellow bikini earlier this month. The star was on the balcony of her Hawaii hotel. The rapper's little girl looked like a bikini model and her pose worked well. Aloha! The siren was soaking up the sun in a set of new ab-flaunting bikini snaps on social media earlier this month 'Aloha,' Hailie captioned some bikini snaps, leading her fans to assume she is in Hawaii. In the images, Mathers is perched on a lounge chair on the balcony of her hotel room wearing a trendy sunshine yellow bikini. Fitness is clearly a priority for the rapper's daughter, as she showcased her rock hard six-pack ab muscles. Hailie sizzled in a pair of tiny bikini bottoms and a knotted bikini top with off-the-shoulder sleeves. Wow! The fit Gen Z star flaunted her sculpted abs in a trendy yellow bikini while perched in a lounge chair Her brunette tresses were wavy and down and the starlet tucked a local flower behind one ear. Before her flight, Hailie snapped a photo with her luggage in a black bodycon dress and a denim jacket. She shared the snap on social media while promoting a new app. R & R: Mathers said on social media that she was 'taking some much needed vacay time' Her caption read: 'taking some much needed vacay time & just in time to share some of my outfit details since ive just started using the liketoknow.it app!' Hailie is the daughter of Marshal Mathers, better known as Eminiem, and his two-time estranged ex wife Kim. For years the hip hop mogul featured lyrics in several songs about his young daughter, so she has been well known to his fans since she was a baby. Famous fam: Hailie is the daughter of rap mogul Eminem and the pair are 'very close' The beauty and her rapper father are still 'very close.' Mathers graduated from Michigan State University last Spring and graduated with a psychology degree. Hailie told DailyMail.com at the time she was thinking of becoming a social media influencer and was particularly interested in the beauty industry. It seems she has gone down that road, regularly sharing curated content on her Instagram page from fashion posts to work out routines. Advertisement She stars as the Black Widow in the Avengers film franchise. And Scarlett Johansson ensured all eyes were on her as she appeared at the Avengers: Endgame fan event in London on Wednesday night. The 34-year-old stepped out for the event in a Tom Ford silk satin asymmetrical cut out jacket which had a plunging cut-out neckline, and tuxedo trousers, as she told MailOnline that fans will find the epic film conclusion 'cathartic.' Bold: Scarlett Johansson stepped out for the Avengers: Endgame fan event in London on Wednesday. She wowed in a black tuxedo jumpsuit with a plunging cut-out neckline Her outfit featured one long sleeve on the right and sleeveless on the right with the lapel covering her chest. She teamed the look with a pair of black heels and accessorised with shimmering chandelier earrings under her honey blonde locks styled up in a bun. The actress also showed off her forearm tattoo, a circle with a sun and cloud over a calm sea, as well as the gold and silver statement bracelet. Unique: Her outfit featured one long sleeve on the right and sleeveless on the right with the lapel covering her chest. It also showed her forearm tattoo of a sun and cloud over a calm sea Vampy: For make-up the actress rocked a vampy burgundy red lip, bold eyeliner and lashings of mascara, which contrasted her flawless complexion Stylish: Scarlett's look was accessorised with shimmering chandelier earrings under her honey blonde locks styled up in a bun For make-up the actress rocked a vampy burgundy red lip, bold eyeliner and lashings of mascara, which contrasted her flawless complexion. As she walked the blue carpet, Scarlett told MailOnline that she hopes die-hard fans are satisfied with the film, as it brings a story spread over a decade of films to an epic conclusion. She said: 'Gosh you know I hope that this movie is cathartic for people. I think the last film, Infinity War, was so shocking. 'I mean when the Russos and Kevin Feige pitched me the idea of the snap I was like woah thats brave, I mean where do you go from there? 'I couldnt imagine how, the Russos always say they like to write themselves into a corner and then figure out how theyre going to work their way out of it, which is so cool. Big film: As she walked the blue carpet, Scarlett told MailOnline that she hopes die-hard fans are satisfied with the film, as it brings a story spread over a decade of films to an epic conclusion Daring: Her daring outfit drew attention to her ample assets as she posed for photos Super skills: Her character is a former KGB super spy who joins S.H.I.E.L.D. agency, and is a member of the Avengers Flawless: Scarlett will take centre stage in the long-awaited Avengers: Endgame when it is released worldwide later this month Pals: As Scarlett reunited with Chris on the blue carpet, they were seen chatting happily, ahead of the film's long-awaited released later this month Off we go! Following her appearance at the fan event, Scarlett was seen leaving the Picturehouse Central, as she continued to sport her glamorous black ensemble 'So I hope that this movie is surprising for people, I think it really will and Im hoping people will have all their feelings. So many feelings, its awesome. Its so exciting to be a part of something that people are pumped for and I think, I hope, it will deliver.' The Hollywood superstar added: 'I think Im going to be really pumped, hopefully bittersweet satisfaction. 'Thats what Im hoping everybody feels, thats the kind of feeling I like to be left with when I see a movie is that sort of in-between feeling where you maybe want more of something else but it is the way it is, and it has to be that way - that sort of feeling.' Flawless: The star was every inch the Black Widow in her glamorous ensemble as she exited the lavish film event Amazing: The star highlighted her incredible physique in the skintight jumpsuit, as she made a glamorous exit from the fan event Leaving: It's just one of Scarlett's many stops on the worldwide press tour ahead of Avengers: Endgame's release at the end of April Vixen: She added some extra glamour to her look with some diamond silver jewellery pieces When asked about her favourite moment playing Black Widow, Scarlett said she'd always enjoyed filming scenes with Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye. 'Oh gosh, you know Ive had so many awesome fight sequences and great scenes, its hard to pick one. But I really love this characters relationship with the Hawkeye character,' she said. 'I think its just deep and theres a deep understanding, and theres love, and theres a true friendship there that I think you can feel onscreen which is really important because these two characters are characters that have a kind of crazy, dramatic, weird life where you think how can they be intimate with anybody, have an intimate friendship or an intimate relationship with anybody? 'Theyre so complicated and yet they see this like mindedness and likeness in one another and just forge this really deep, deep friendship. So all of this work Ive done with Jeremy Renner, and hes such a beautiful actor, has really been one of my great pleasures making this movie for sure.' Dapper: Chris Hemsworth, 35, was also in attendance for the fan event. The Thor star matched his suit with a printed button down shirt and brown shoes Beaming: Chris looked to be in good spirits as he arrived for the fan event, which also gave die-hard fans a taster of the long-awaited film Action men: The Thor star was joined by Ant-Man actor Paul Rudd at the fan event Pals: The pair looked thrilled to be reunited as they made their way down the blue carpet for the fan event, looking sharp in their matching suits Scarlett was followed by co-star Chris Hemsworth who cut a dapper figure in a tailored navy tartan suit the red carpet. The Thor star, 35, matched his suit with a printed button down shirt and brown shoes. When speaking to MailOnline at the fan event, Chris admitted he's been left baffled by some of the hilarious fan theories that have circulated ahead of the film's release. He said: 'I mean theyre clutching at straws at this point because they havent seen much, but just from the trailer that was released recently Thor and Captain Marvel have a brief interaction so immediately people say ''oh theres a relationship'', but I dont think we have time for a love story in this particular film, maybe a laugh!' Handsome: Paul - who celebrated his 50th birthday earlier this week - looked handsome in a burgundy checked suit, which he teamed with matching shoes Fan favourites: The two stars even greeting fans patiently waiting to meet them It's almost here! Excited fans were out in forced dressed in all manner of Avengers costumes for the occasion He was joined by Ant-Man actor Paul Rudd at the fan event. The 50-year-old looked handsome in a burgundy checked suit, which he teamed with matching shoes. The Hollywood stars spent time greeting excited fans at the huge event before posting for a group photo. Proud: As producer Trinh Tran walked the blue carpet, she also told MailOnline she's 'ecstatic' with the final film We're here! After walking the blue carpet the stars also posed together for a fun group snap Reunited: Later during the event, the trio reunited on stage for a group photo Long-awaited: Fans have been eagerly awaiting the film following Infinity War last year, and there are only a few weeks to go Happy: Scarlett and Chris were also seen rubbing shoulders together on the blue carpet Director duties: Back on the carpet the film's directors, the Russo Brothers, posed for a photo at the star-studded event As producer Trinh Tran walked the blue carpet, she also spoke to MailOnline about her views on the film. She said: 'I am ecstatic with this product, I think weve spent a lot of time and energy the last four years working on Infinity War and Endgame at the same time because we shot both movies back to back, so there was a lot of sleepless nights weve endured just to get to where we are, and I would say that given that this is closing a chapter to Phase 3. 'People dont miss it when youre in theatres, so try not to go to the restroom, just be prepared mentally for it because you dont want to miss any moment. I mean I get questions of whether theres a good moment to have a quick two minute break, there really isnt, you dont want to miss any of it.' When asked about her favourite fan theory she said: 'You know what, I think the one Ive recently read has been interesting and its the one that involves, and I wont say much, but it involves Thanos and Ant-Man. 'It is crazy, but its a lot of fun to see how people are coming up with these crazy theories out there.' 'I think there are always theories that are completely far out there and then there are ones that are like ok theyre kind of getting into the realm, I cant speak much about which one -not to spoilt the movie-, but there are ones that are closer than some others, I guess you could say.' Red carpet ready: Joe (left) posed with his daughter Ava in a frilly dress. While Anthony also opted for a black suit, his wife Ann dressed for the event in figure hugging dress (right) Time to go! Following the fan event, Chris was seen arriving at the celebrity hot spot the Chiltern Firehouse, having changed into a suave velvet blazer Beaming: Paul also continued to sport his red checked suit as he left Annabels for a fun-filled evening, after delighting fans with his appearance at the event And given that Marvel fans are some of the most die-hard in cinema, Trinh also told MailOnline that she loves seeing their investment after a decade and 21 films. She explained: 'The investment from the last ten years thats not just one movie, from literally if you were 10 years old and you spent your first time watching iron man and then now youre 20 and youre still invested in all these characters, I think thats the most exciting thing. We have true loyal fans who have stayed with us since the beginning until now.' And when asked what she do if she had the famous Infinity Gauntlet, she said: ' Thats a power I do not want, thats scary, I definitely dont want to do what Thanos did, although he really truly believes he did the right thing. 'God theres so much I would do, but I really dont want to be wielding a power like this! Take it away, pass it along. One last fight: In the new film, the remaining Avengers must team up to bring back their loved ones in one final stand against Thanos Avengers: Infinity War saw half of all life in the universe disintegrate after villain Thanos completing all five infinity stones on the Infinity Gauntlet. In the new film, the remaining Avengers must team up to bring back their loved ones in one final stand against Thanos. All of the film's cast have been tight-lipped around who will survive this final battle, after half of the team met a dramatic end during Infinity War. Avengers Endgame will be released in the UK on 25th April 2019, and the US on 26th April 2019. She grew up in France before her starring role in Sex Education shot her to stardom. And Emma Mackey looked sensational back on home turf as she posed on the pink carpet alongside boyfriend Dan Whitlam at the closing ceremony of the 2nd Canneseries - International Series Festival at Cannes on Thursday. The actress, 23, oozed glamour for the occasion, slipping into a black semi sheer gown with striking polka dot detailing. Hot couple: mma Mackey, 23, posed alongside boyfriend Dan Whitlam at the closing ceremony of the 2nd Canneseries - International Series Festival at Cannes on Thursday Emma commanded attention in the elegant, yet sexy, number which showed off her sensational physique. The bodice of the garment gave way to her long, lean legs which were boosted in a pair of towering black stilettos. She oozed old school glamour with her brunette locks pulled into a chic chignon, while her pretty features were enhanced with a striking coat of make-up. Emma added to the look with a pair of glamorous earrings and the thick strap detailing from her dress added to a choker effect. Wow: The actress oozed glamour for the occasion, slipping into a black semi sheer gown with striking polka dot detailing Fashionista: Emma commanded attention in the elegant, yet sexy, number which showed off her sensational physique Standing tall: The bodice of the garment gave way to her long, lean legs which were boosted in a pair of towering black stilettos Pretty: She oozed old school glamour with her brunette locks pulled into a chic chignon, while her pretty features were enhanced with a striking coat of make-up Her other half Dan looked dapper in a three piece suit and a slightly unbuttoned white shirt. Emma - who plays Maeve Wiley in Sex Education - is attending the Cannes Series Festival as a jury member to judge programmes from across the world. It's not known how long Emma and Dan have been in a relationship for, but the Netflix series star first posted a picture of her beau in January 2018. Meanwhile, Emma recently discussed what it was like filming sex scenes in Sex Education with her on-screen boyfriend (Kedar Williams-Stirling) in a post #MeToo environment. Handsome: Her other half Dan looked dapper in a three piece suit and a slightly unbuttoned white shirt Together: French actress Nora Arnezeder and British actor Guy Burnet looked happy at the event Glamorous: Guy went on to pose with stunning British actress Nina Toussaint-White She told ES magazine: 'The nudity and the sex stuff was fine, because I knew I had to do it. We had a workshop and worked with an intimacy co-ordinator. 'We were sorted really, there was a lot of self-love in the show, some full nudity and some half nudity.' Before the actress relocated to the UK, she grew up in the rural idyllic Sable-sur-Sarthe, north-west France, and was educated at a Catholic School. She said: 'It was really... nice, I went to a Catholic school and did loads of sport and I was really happy. I loved studying and was very bookish. It was quite a sheltered existence.' Pretty in pink: Canadian actress Katheryn Winnick stunned in a billowing pastel pink dress Sea-ing is believing: Polish born Canadian Paulina Miel stunned in a mermaid style dress They've flaunted their love while on romantic vacations around the world. But Sofia Richie and Scott Disick stayed close to home for a quick getaway to the seaside town of Santa Barbara, California, on Tuesday. The 20-year-old stunner showed off her killer curves in a neon green bikini as she soaked up the sun on the beach with her shirtless, 35-year-old beau nearby. Sofia Richie and Scott Disick stayed close to home for a quick getaway to the seaside town of Santa Barbara, California, on Tuesday Sofia's enviable physique was on display in an electric bikini top with straps around her shoulders and back. Her gym-honed abs were highlighted by a pair of hip-hugging matching bottoms with her toned and tanned legs catching sun rays. The daughter of Lionel Richie opted to go makeup-free while tanning on the sand, and kept her platinum blonde tresses tied up into a loose bun. Babe: The 20-year-old stunner showed off her killer curves in a neon green bikini as she soaked up the sun on the beach with her shirtless, 35-year-old beau nearby Sofia's enviable physique was on display in an electric bikini top with straps around her shoulders and back Model behavior: After some time sprawled across a lounger, Sofia covered up in a tight yellow bodycon dress Lovely: The daughter of Lionel Richie opted to go makeup-free while tanning on the sand, and kept her platinum blonde tresses tied up into a loose bun After some time sprawled across a lounger, Sofia covered up in a tight yellow bodycon dress. The model kept her accessories minimal with a small silver bracelet wrapped around her wrist and a cross pendant hanging from her neck. She shielded her eyes from the bright sun with a pair of circular sunglasses and carried white leather sandals in her hand. Cute: The model kept her accessories minimal with a small silver bracelet wrapped around her wrist and a cross pendant hanging from her neck Mellow: Her tight minidress featured thick straps and a high hem Vacation mode: Scott was on hand to enjoy some extreme rest and relaxation with his girlfriend in the beachy community less than 100 miles from Los Angeles Scott was on hand to enjoy some extreme rest and relaxation with his girlfriend in the beachy community less than 100 miles from Los Angeles. He kept covered in a vibrant orange sweater and chatted on the phone while walking to a lounge chair by the ocean. Disick sported a black pair of swim trunks and carried his shoes in one hand, with a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes. Work: He kept covered in a vibrant orange sweater and chatted on the phone while walking to a lounge chair by the ocean Barefoot: Disick sported a black pair of swim trunks and carried his shoes in one hand, with a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes Scott and Sofia headed out to dinner wearing his-and-hers khaki slacks, with Richie opting for a black turtleneck top. Their relationship took flight nearly two years ago after they were spotted canoodling on a yacht in Cannes, and a romance was later confirmed while the pair vacationed in Miami in September 2017. Scott shares three children with Kourtney - nine-year-old son, Mason, six-year-old daughter, Penelope, and four-year-old son, Reign. Rebel Wilson has loved her rise in Hollywood as she has starred in film such as 2012's Pitch Perfect and this year's Isn't It Romantic. Her fame has allowed the 39-year-old Australian to wear whatever she wants, she told the May issue of InStyle. 'I remember I didnt even go to a friends wedding in my 20s because I didnt know where to buy a dress in my size. Now it is the opposite. Now I have a wardrobe full of custom Givenchy.' said the blonde beauty. Benefits: Rebel Wilson has loved her rise in Hollywood as she has starred in film such as 2012's Pitch Perfect and this year's Isn't It Romantic. Her fame has allowed the 39-year-old Australian to wear whatever she wants, she told the May issue of InStyle And her family loves her wardrobe. 'My family is going to hate me for saying this, but they raid my closet because we wear similar sizes and they know I have the best fashion taste. I know what Im talking about now. So I find that I impart a lot of my knowledge, especially to plus-size girls. Wilson was on the cover to promote her new movie The Hustle, a remake of 1988s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, alongside Anne Hathaway. Next is the movie version of Cats. The comedienne also touched on how she feels about her looks. On the job: Wilson was on the cover to promote her new movie The Hustle, a remake of 1988s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, alongside Anne Hathaway 'Actually, when you get paparazzid and stuff, it does make you think about it. When Pitch Perfect came out, I became internationally famous, and people were hanging outside my house to take my photo. You have to think about it a bit more than a normal person. But Im a pretty low-maintenance chick. Through working with my stylist, Elizabeth Stewart, Ive learned all these little tips and tricks and they really work. Then you feel more comfortable when you have to dress up. There is also a great deal of pride when it comes to her success. 'If you look at the odds of someone from Australia making it, theyre pretty small. When I look at all the things Ive done in my career ... I feel like Ive got so much farther to go. But I am really proud, and, you know, I didnt have to sleep my way to the top. [laughs] Her last film: Rebel with Tom Ellis, Brandon Scott Jones, Betty Gilpin, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Adam Devine, and Alex Kis for Isn't It Romantic Wilson also tocuhed on her ambition - she is not only producing movies these days but she is coming out with a clothing and shoe line too. 'I think it comes from not having much as a child and seeing other people have stuff and just wanting to be financially secure. I always wanted to make something of myself. 'And, weirdly, I always believed I would be rich and successful even as a very young child, and I would say that to people. If you manifest [what you want], I really do think it comes true. Its not so much about having money. I like doing good, charitable things. But it is also nice when you dont have much. Like the first time I came to Paris, for example, I was on a Contiki tour, which was about 1,200 bucks for a month. You only got the food that was on the tour. I broke the bank when I bought some Pringles from a gas station. I put the trip on a credit card. At ease in LA: The looker was seen running errands alone on Tuesday 'I had to work off that debt at a sunglasses store and the cinemas and doing all sorts of jobs. When you look back on stuff like that, youre like, Whoa, Ive really come a massive way. The difference now is huge staying in a suite at the Ritz, going to whatever restaurant I want, and having lovely drivers take you around so you dont have to walk around to see the sights. .' And she has her eye on power positions in the future. ' I like Donna Langley, who runs Universal Studios. I think thats awesome. Also, I have this weird feeling that I might go into politics in Australia. As far as dating, it's been a struggle and Rebel explains why. 'People get very intimidated, which is weird, the idea that I would be intimidating to anyone. But it happens all the time, to the point that someone I really liked was so intimidated and got a lot of anxiety and couldnt have a relationship with me because Im in the public eye. They didnt want that, so that kind of sucked. If someone thinks theyre on a date with Fat Amy, thats not going to happen. Sorry, I can be almost as much fun, but Im not like that in real life..' She is the stunning brunette who never puts a foot wrong when it comes to style. And Kelly Brook showed off her sartorial prowess in a chic yet casual ensemble on her way to her radio show in central London. The 39-year-old wore a light pink sheer jumper over a fitted tank top that drew attention to her ample assets. Spring chic: Kelly Brook showed off her sartorial prowess in a chic yet casual ensemble on her way to her radio show in central London on Wednesday She teamed the look with a pair of figure-hugging skinny jeans that accentuated her pert derriere. To complete the look she accessorised with a pair of faux snake skin boots and gold hoop earrings. The brunette styled her luscious locks up in a pony-tail and kept her make-up simple with defined brows, mascara, peachy cheeks and pink lipstick. Commanding attention: The 39-year-old wore a light pink sheer jumper over a fitted tank top that drew attention to her ample assets Curves ahead: She teamed the look with a pair of figure-hugging skinny leg jeans that accentuated her pert derriere She was all smiles as she made her way to her daily breakfast show, showing off a glimpse of her Chanel handbag. This comes after she recently spoke about starting a family with her partner, Jeremy Parisi. In an interview with Fabulous magazine, she admitted: 'I've sat down and asked myself: 'Do I really want to have children? Is this something I really want to do?' 'I'm fine with it': Kelly (pictured with beau Jeremy Parisi) recently spoke about motherhood. She admitted: 'I've realised [having children is] not something I've always wanted' 'And I've realised that actually it's not something I've always wanted and I'm fine with it,' adding that there is an unkind stigma to being child-free. 'It's not anyone else's business how you live your life. I'm actually quite a selfish person I can barely get myself out the front door, let alone go and do a school run.' Kelly recently celebrated her fourth anniversary with the French-Italian martial arts instructor with a holiday in Portugal. Stephanie March stepped out in a fiery red gown for the Whitney Museum's Gala + Studio Party Tuesday in New York City. The former Law & Order star showed some skin with a sheer cutout running all the way down the side of the dress. The 44-year-old shared many inside looks at her night via Instagram. On fire! Stephanie March, 44, looked ravishing in red with a sheer panel running down one side Date night: With her second husband, Dan Benton, 59, hanging off her arm, March wore her perfectly maintained hair down, framing her face with her bangs pushed to the side Looking both tastefully sophisticated and ever so sexy, the actress rocked a floor length red get up with sparkling pumps. March married Benton two years after her divorce from Bobby Flay; seen in 2013 The long sleeved dress tightly hugged her neck, but showed off some skin with a sheer panel up the side. Add on a long slit on the left leg area and just a touch of the blonde's beautiful figure was revealed. With her second husband hanging off her arm, March wore her perfectly maintained hair down, framing her face with her bangs pushed to the side. Stephanie took the event by storm with tech investor Dan Benton, 59, looking suave in a black suit next to her. The smiling star posted a shot of her and her husband of two years outside the event, captioning it with, 'The Thomas Ford affair.' She tucked her hair behind one ear and held on to a gold clutch matching her shining shoes. Like what you see? Taking full advantage of the night, The Social Ones producer shared a mirror picture revealing the beauty admiring herself prior to leaving for the night Taking full advantage of the night, The Social Ones' producer shared a mirror picture revealing the beauty admiring herself. She thanked fashion designer, Karyn Starr, for the sassy apparel. After that, the stunner gave a look into the esteemed night, showing off the drink she was enjoying along with a photo of her next to the museum's curator, Scott Rothkopf. Ridiculous in red: She thanked fashion designer, Karyn Starr, for the sassy apparel Make it a double: After that, the stunner gave a look into the esteemed night, showing off the drink she was enjoying Special night: March shared a photo of her next to the museum's curator, Scott Rothkopf March looked effortlessly long and lean, years after having her breast implants removed Filled with guests like Diane Kruger and Hilary Rhoda, the party clearly tuckered Stephanie out as she later shared a funny shot of her taking off her painful heels. All partied out, she wrote across the relatable picture saying, 'Fin' - meaning finished in French. But even though the gala had ended, March still looked as flawless as she did upon her arrival. Save the feet: Filled with guests like Diane Kruger and Hilary Rhoda, the party clearly tuckered Stephanie out as she later shared a funny shot of her taking off her painful heels Beautiful: Even though the gala had ended, March still looked as flawless as she did upon her arrival March married Benton two years after her divorce from celebrity chef, Bobby Flay. The pair met through a mutual friend in 2015 and began dating three months after the papers were signed, following 10 years of marriage. Ironically, the couple made their public debut also at the museum, back in 2016 at the Inaugural Whitney Collection Award presentation. Ready for her close-up: The Victoria's Secret model posed with English fashion photographer Nigel Barker That was the same year that the on screen lawyer went through a terrifying experience with plastic surgery. While going through the divorce, Stephanie made the decision to get a breast augmentation. Months after the augmentation surgery, disaster struck when the right implant became infected and the scar burst open. Eventually, it was realized that the Texas native was allergic to her own implants. Ruffling feathers: Hilary Rhoda put her best foot forward in a mix of feathered lilac and tinsel-like strands of silver Now, the implants have been removed and the scars are gone. This year's Whitney Gala honored NYC mayor and patron of the arts Michael Bloomberg. Starting with cocktails, the high-profile event ended with a DJ and dancing at the studio. Also getting their groove on were Kruger, who rocked an extravagantly embellished jacket, and Devon Windsor, who stunned in a plunging silver Pamella Roland jumpsuit. Not to mention other star powers like Michael Kors himself, photographer Nigel Barker, Rhoda and Vanessa Williams, just to name a few. Elizabeth Hurley was flaunting her jaw-dropping figure in a skimpy black swimsuit on Wednesday, as she took to Instagram to post another snap from her sun-soaked Indian getaway. The actress, 53, looked incredible as she posed poolside on the holiday, which she's been enjoying to celebrate her son Damian's 17th birthday. The star highlighted her taut physique in the simple one-shouldered swimsuit with a side cutout, with her brunette tresses styled into effortless waves. Sensational: Elizabeth Hurley was flaunting her figure in a skimpy black swimsuit on Wednesday, as she took to Instagram to post a snap from her sun-soaked Indian getaway Elizabeth kept the caption of her post simple, writing the word: 'Glorious.' Fans were quick to praise Liz's amazing body in the post, with one writing: 'Beautiful woman,' while another commented that she looked: 'Staggeringly beautiful.' A third also wrote: 'What a beautiful nice girl.' Looking good! Fans were quick to praise the 53-year-old's amazing figure in the snaps, with one stating she looked: 'Staggeringly beautiful' The post comes just days after Elizabeth shared an amazing snap in a revealing mint green bikini, as she continues to enjoy a sunny break with Damian. The mother and son duo have been holidaying in the Ananda in the Himalayas. In a snap, the mother looked phenomenal in bright turquoise swimwear decorated with golden chains as she posed up a storm in the tropical resort. (Be)dazzled! Elizabeth Hurley, 53, slipped into a tiny turquoise bikini as she holidayed with her lookalike son Damian, 17, during Indian getaway on Tuesday The Bedazzled star clutched held of a floral sarong in the same shade of turquoise as her tiny swimwear from her brand Elizabeth Hurley Beach. She captioned the post: 'Small sun bathing break between meditations.' Also giving his fans a look inside their glam break away, Damian drove his admirers wild with another snap because he looks the spitting image of his mother. Among the crowd, one fan wrote: 'You are even more beautiful than your mother in her best/younger times. You should play Dorian Gray. As if Mr. Wilde was describing him looking at you...' Another complimented: 'As handsome as your eternally gorgeous mother.' (sic) Double take! Also giving his fans a look inside their glam break away, Damian drove his admirers wild with another snap because he looks the spitting image of his mother Soaking it up: The age-defying star, who is known for her roles in Bedazzled and Austin Powers, put on an eye-popping display in the crystal-embellished triangle bikini top Recently, Elizabeth paid tribute to her beloved son Damian on his 17th birthday. Her dazzling roster of celebrity pals including Elton John and Joan Collins were quick to echo the message. She shared a trio of images from throughout his life with the caption: 'Happy 17th Birthday to my heavenly @damianhurley1 . No one could have brought me more joy. You have made me a very proud mama'. Twins! Elizabeth and her son Damian look almost identical as they both appear to wear the same camo shirt Having a giggle: She frequently honours her son Damian on social media Elizabeth shares Damian with her ex, American businessman Steve Bing, who initially denied paternity of their child as he claimed he had a 'brief, non-exclusive relationship' with Elizabeth in 2001 however a DNA test proved he was the dad. She is famously close to her son and the duo are practically inseparable, with Damian scooping a role on Elizabeth's show The Royals. In the most recent snap in her collage, the duo looked incredibly sweet as they posed for a selfie while putting on giddy expressions. In the older snaps, Elizabeth looked incredibly ageless as she cradled the tot while making their firm bond plain to see. Happy days: Thursday was a special day for the actress, 53, as she took to Instagram to pay tribute to her beloved boy on his 17th birthday, while her dazzling roster of celebrity pals - including Elton John and Joan Collins - were quick to echo the message The whole gang! A slew of stars were quick to honour the teen on his birthday Damian, who has six godfathers including actor Hugh Grant and Sir Elton John and his partner David Furnish, is often rubbing shoulders with his mum's celebrity pals, as she insists she has an 'open house' policy in order for her son to meet her friends. Naturally the comments section was flooded with well wishes, including messages from Elton, David and Joan Collins. Damian took the time to individually reply to his nearest-and-dearest, as he professed his love for all his A-list correspondents. Fans meanwhile responded with a shock at their likeness Proud mama: In her stunning tribute to her son, she shared a trio of images from throughout his life with the added caption: 'Happy 17th Birthday to my heavenly @damianhurley1 . No one could have brought me more joy. You have made me a very proud mama' Way back when: Elizabeth shares Damian with her ex, American businessman Steve Bing (pictured in 2006), who initially denied paternity of the tot as he claimed they had a 'brief, non-exclusive relationship' however a DNA test proved he was the dad Elizabeth has previously confessed that she often ropes Damian into taking photographs of her - including her bikini-clad snaps she posts to social media. Following the confession, she ridiculed claims made suggesting she takes him on holiday to purposely play photographer. On their relationship, she told You: 'Damian is a great photographer, and he instinctively knows what younger people want to see, but thats all... 'Our downtime together is usually spent watching something scary on Netflix or Vikings on Amazon Prime. By default we spend a lot of time together and we are utterly comfortable in each other's company.' Her biggest fan! Elizabeth has previously confessed that she often ropes Damian into taking photographs of her - including her bikini-clad snaps she posts to social media The first song from Avicii's forthcoming posthumous album has now been unveiled a year after the Swedish musician's death. The track, entitled SOS and featuring American musician Aloe Blacc, will give fans a brief glimpse of the late Tim Bergling's highly-anticipated album TIM-set to be released on June 6. Speaking on the poignant pop production Aloe said: 'I feel like SOS was a song that was probably ahead of its time for when he wrote it.' Global superstar: The new track from the late Tim Bergling's highly-anticipated album TIM has been released The Swedish DJ, who was found dead on April 20, 2018 in Muscat, Oman at the age of 28, had created 90 per cent of the album before his passing. Speaking on the music Aloe added: 'He wrote these lyrics obviously about some of his battles and I think it's a really important topic to approach and to share, especially with his visibility and his access to ears and hearts. 'To give people the words to be able to say 'I need help.' He added: 'I remember when we did 'Wake me up' that was huge and that was the moment that defined the real impact that he had on music.' Following the DJ's death, a statement released by his family implied that he had taken his own life. Reflection: The Avicci track features the American musician Aloe Blacc who first worked with the artist in 2013 with Wake Me Up Memories: Speaking on the music Aloe said that he felt the lyrics described the Swedish DJ's battles The artist at work: The Swedish artist was found dead on April 20, 2018 in Muscat, Oman at the age of 28 In the studio: According to his co-songwriters and co-producers Albin Nedler and Kristoffer Fogelmark 90 per cent of the album was completed before his passing The statement read: 'Our beloved Tim was a seeker, a fragile artistic soul searching for answers to existential questions. 'An over-achieving perfectionist who travelled and worked hard at a pace that led to extreme stress. 'When he stopped touring, he wanted to find a balance in life to be happy and be able to do what he loved most - music. He really struggled with thoughts about Meaning, Life, Happiness. 'He could not go on any longer. He wanted to find peace. A visionary: Avicii, who rose to fame with his electronic music creations, was nominated for a Grammy Award for his work on 'Sunshine' with David Guetta in 2012 and 'Levels' in 2013 Candid: Co-songwriters and co-producers Albin Nedler and Kristoffer Fogelmark set to work in fulfilling Avicii's vision after his passing 'Tim was not made for the business machine he found himself in; he was a sensitive guy who loved his fans but shunned the spotlight.' After discovering personal notes written by the artist stating that he wanted Aloe to sing for the track, co-songwriters and co-producers Albin Nedler and Kristoffer Fogelmark set to work in fulfilling Avicii's vision. The pair, who first met the Swedish DJ in Los Angeles while he was working on his second album and went on collaborate with him on the track Pure Grinding, described how they soon became friends with the innovative DJ. Albin said: 'My first impression of Tim was that he was such a humble and warm person. On the artist: Albin and Kristoffer Fogelmark described how Avicii immediately came across as a warm and humble person Kristoffer said:-'He almost saw through you in a way. He knew you from the moment you met him and I think that's a skill. Talking about the DJ's artistic genius, the co-producers went on to describe the meticulous nature with which Avicii created his songs. Albin said: 'He had you sing one phrase like 50 times just over and over and at first we just thought ''why are we repeating this very line'' and then when we finally got it was like ''ok now i understand why he did that''.' In order to bring the song through to completion, Albin and Kristoffer were able to track and preserve Tim's exact keystrokes through the music program Fruity Loops. Kristoffer added: 'Afterwards, finishing them was ... I just get paralyzed by talking about it, but everything was about completing Tim's vision.' Albin added: 'He had a completely different way of playing piano and keyboard. 'As a result his fingers would sometimes strike an unusual key, which added to his unique sound. Tim's fingerprints are literally across the entirety of 'SOS'.' Married At First Sight viewers were left utterly distraught after Wednesday night's finale, as both couples' marriages came to an end. Taking to Twitter in droves viewers were left stunned when Jonathan sent Stephanie annulment papers in a Christmas card, after her endless complaints about their relationship. Things were from bad to worse for fans of the Channel 4 show, as a shock twist came when Jack dumped Verity three months after they decided to stay married, meaning that after four series, none of the show's couples have managed to stay together. Over: Married At First Sight UK fans were left distraught on Wednesday night, after the finale saw Jonathan and Stephanie's turbulent marriage come to an end When it came to Jonathan and Stephanie's marriage, things had grown so frosty that for many fans it was a case of when rather than if they would split. The final blow came when Stephanie introduced her husband to her beloved pet cats, only for him to suffer an allergic reaction and flee the house. Many viewers were adamant that she would be the one to end their marriage, but a shock twist came in the form of a surprise Christmas present. Awkward! When it came to Jonathan and Stephanie's marriage, things had grown so frosty that for many fans it was a case of when rather than if they would split Brutal: In a shock move, Jonathan sent Stephanie annulment papers on Christmas Day, yet she continued to blame him for the split Nasty: The move shocked many fans, who were adamant Stephanie would be the one to break things off After reading a message from Jonathan about 'going forward in friendship,' Stephanie was left speechless when she saw the card contained annulment papers, proving once and for all their marriage was over. After a day of silence between the pair, they finally decided there was no way back, and parted ways on somewhat amicable terms. Taking to Twitter many fans admitted they were only surprised to see Jonathan was the one to break off the marriage, with some sharing their hope he would one day find The One. We're done! But the move proved to be the final step the couple needed to end their marriage Toe-curling: Jonathan and Stephanie brought things to an early end, with many fans hoping he would go on to one day find The One One tweeted: 'Divorce papers on Christmas Day, Jonathan you savage (she deserved it).' Another added: 'Yay! Well done Jonathan for growing some and finding you self respect.' A third also tweeted: 'Steph has come across awful on this show. Poor Jonathan needs to get some self respect. He deserved better.' Strange: The pair had one final clash before parting ways for good, as Jonathan repeatedly insisted she keep the jewellery he bought for her Wow! Most fans were more shocked to see Jonathan make the first move to end the marriage, with many adding they weren't surprised to see the marriage annulled The drama didn't end there, as fans were dealt a devastating blow later in the episode when Jack and Verity also failed to go the distance. After hitting it off from the beginning, the couple seemed to be setting the stage for a long and happy future together, and despite failing to consummate their marraige, Jack admitted they had 'pleasured each other.' In their final meeting at Islington Town Hall, the couple did reveal they were going to stay married, and strolled into the sunset hand-in-hand. NO! The drama didn't end there, as fans were dealt a devastating blow later in the episode when Jack and Verity also failed to go the distance Cosy: After hitting it off from the beginning, the couple seemed to be setting the stage for a long and happy future together Doing great: In their final meeting at Islington Town Hall, the couple did reveal they were going to stay married, and strolled into the sunset hand-in-hand Shock: But it was sadly not to be, as a flash-forward revealed that Jack dumped Verity three months later But it was sadly not to be, as a flash-forward revealed that Jack dumped Verity three months later. Explaining his decision, Jack admitted there was simple a lack of connection between him and Verity, but hoped they could move forward and stay friends. Verity also shared her devastation with pals following the split, but insisted she did not regret taking part in the experiment. Upset: Fans were left reeling by the shock twist, with many struggling to cope with the roller coaster of emotions that came within the show's closing minutes Fans were left reeling by the shock twist, with many struggling to cope with the roller coaster of emotions that came within the show's closing minutes. One tweeted: 'I was so excited then instantly let down,' while another added: 'Right. That's it. Love doesn't exist. I'm staying single forever.' A third also posted: 'Nooo poor Verity I was totally invested in those two,' with a fourth posting: 'Love is dead. Such a shame!' No hope: One fan even proclaimed that 'love was dead,' after the much loved pairing failed to see a future together Fans had hoped that Jack and Verity would be the first couple to remain together following the experiment, but were sadly left disappointed. It remains to be seen whether the show will ever find a pair who are the perfect match. However it seems the show will continue to seek out couples willing to try the experiment, as a title card at the series' end said applications were open. Will it ever happen? It remains to be seen whether the show will ever find a pair who are the perfect match Teresa Giudice is having a hard time as her husband Joe Giudice is in ICE custody potentially awaiting deportation, according to her brother, Joe Gorga. 'She breaks down to me,' Gorga, 39, told Us Weekly about his sister, 46. 'It's just very, very hard. The family is going through a very tough time right now.' Gorga said that the Real Housewives of New Jersey beauty is putting 'up a good front,' and doing her best for her four daughters with Joe: Gia, 18, Gabriella, 14, Milania, 13, and Audriana, nine. Grace under pressure: Teresa Giudice, 46, is having a hard time as her husband Joe Giudice is in ICE custody potentially awaiting deportation, according to her brother, Joe Gorga Joe last fall appealed a judge's order to deport him to Italy, where he was born, after he wrapped up a 41-month prison sentence. 'She just has to keep it strong for those for little girls,' Gorga said. 'The girls are having it rough also. They're really struggling.' Gorga said that his relationship with his sibling 'is very tight right now' amid the family crisis. Teresa's brother said Joe Giudice is 'in a tough spot right now' as he's in ICE custody following his March release from prison. Out and about: Joe Gorga posed with wife Melissa at her 40th birthday bash in NYC last month Staying put: Teresa has said she will remain in the U.S. regardless of what happens, which her brother Joe supports 'ICE took him over - and he's miserable,' he said. 'He's in a really bad spot. He's locked up in a jail cell with bars. The other facility that he was at, he wasn't in a jail cell. 'So he's having a very, very hard time, and he really wants to get out. The guy is just in misery.' Teresa has stated she will remain in the U.S. regardless of what happens, which her brother supports. 'I believe she's making the right decision for her and for her girls,' he said. 'If he's deported, she's not going to go to Italy. She's not going to move her children. It's just that there's nothing to do in Italy. 'There's no jobs; the best you can do is work in a restaurant or work in a gas station. It's very difficult in Italy.' Troubled: The family remains fighting an uphill battle amid the fallout of past legal woes stemming from Teresa and Joe's 2014 fraud convictions, Gorga said Joe said that Joe Gorga speaks with his wife and daughters 'almost every day' amid the difficult time. 'Believe it or not, he could call as many times as he wants,' Gorga said. 'It's crazy. I mean, if he wants to call 30 times a day, he can. So they talk a lot. They haven't seen him yet but I know they're planning to go.' Gorga said the family remains fighting an uphill battle amid the fallout of past legal woes stemming from Teresa and Joe's 2014 fraud convictions. 'Imagine your life's on hold for five years,' he said. 'You don't know what's going on. It's hard. You're paying attorney bills and constantly bills, bills, bills and you try to catch up on the old tax bills and it's just life. Life is very hard for them.' They're never too far from each other's sides. And Caitlyn Jenner, 69, seemed to be in great spirits as she left a late lunch with Sophia Hutchins, 23, on Wednesday afternoon in Malibu, California. The Vogue covergirl rocked a tight striped dress while Sophia opted to shine in a metallic gold ensemble while leaving Kristy's Village Cafe in the Trancas Country Market near the west end of the upscale beach community. Ladies who lunch: Caitlyn Jenner, 69, seemed to be in great spirits with Sophia Hutchins, 23, on Wednesday afternoon in Malibu, California Caitlyn showed off her figure in a multi-directional, black, white and grey striped dress which featured short sleeves. She added inches to her already statuesque 6ft2in frame with a pair of black leather pumps and carried a matching leather bag by her side. The former Olympian who was born Bruce and assigned a male gender at birth wore her chocolate brown hair straight past her shoulders. The Vogue covergirl rocked a tight striped dress while Sophia opted to shine in a metallic gold ensemble while leaving Kristy's Village Cafe in the Trancas Country Market near the west end of the upscale beach community Sophia rocked a gorgeous gold minidress with a plunging neckline and long sleeves rolled up to her elbows. She accessorized her chic ensemble with pointy nude heels and a brown leather bag as her bright blonde hair caught the wind while the pair walked to their car. Later in the afternoon, the Pepperdine University alum 'stole Caitlyn's phone' to reveal some interesting backyard antics. Bold! Later in the afternoon, the Pepperdine University alum 'stole Caitlyn's phone' to reveal some interesting backyard antics 'There's Caitlyn out riding a tractor,' Sophia told Jenner's Instagram followers. 'Thanks Brody for the tractor.' 'I was wondering where she was and I heard this tractor in the backyard,' Sophia said in an Instagram story on Jenner's account. 'There's Caitlyn out riding a tractor. Thanks Brody for the tractor.' Hutchins panned out to show a yellow tractor moving dirt around their lush Malibu backyard as she tagged one of Caitlyn's son's in the clip. The attractive pair have been spotted out and about for more than a year now and recently celebrated Sophia's 23rd birthday with a celebration at home. Jenner has two children with Kris- Kendall, 23, and Kylie, 21, two children with ex-wife Chrystie Scott- Burt and Cassandra, and two sons with ex Linda Thompson, Brody and Brandon. She recently took time away from her show to deal with her Graves' disease. And Wendy Williams appeared to be much improved on Tuesday, when the 54-year-old talk show host stepped out in Midtown New York in leggings and a leopard print puffer jacket. The TV star traveled light, carrying just her iPhone for the day out. Feeling better: Wendy Williams appeared to be much improved on Tuesday, when the 54-year-old talk show host stepped out in Midtown New York in leggings and a leopard print puffer jacket Williams returned to the airwaves in early March, appearing on her eponymous daytime talk show after a leave of absence that lasted more than two months. Williams said she is feeling 'swell' now while vaguely touching on the reason she never returned from her holiday break. 'They are adjusting my thyroid meds, and then the eyeballs attached to the thyroid -- which is my Graves' Disease,' explained Williams. 'And I always have equilibrium stuff, with my vertigo and a million other things. And I'm the kind of patient -- if I cough, I'm thinking I'm dying.' And on Monday, the star mentioned her condition again on her show, explaining how it causes her eyes to 'pop' due to pressure near her eye region. 'Sometimes my eyes go like this ... they caught me with an eye pop, also.' Symptoms: On Monday, the star mentioned her Graves' disease again on her show, explaining how the condition causes her eyes to 'pop' due to pressure near her eye region Wendy was referring to a trip she made to a Walmart in Ellenville, New York, which garnered the attention of some media outlets. Williams was returning to her daytime talk program, The Wendy Williams Show, after a week off, opening up about her much-ballyhooed retail excursion about 90 miles northeast of Manhattan amid a camping trip with friends. 'I want to shout-out to my friends at the Walmart in a little-known place called Ellen, New York,' Williams said. 'We went up there and the Walmart is the social place. When Im away from the show, sometimes I do take selfies, sometimes. At four o' clock in the morning, Im sitting in this scooter taking pictures with people.' Setting the record straight: Wendy Williams, 54, on Monday opened up on her show about a trip she made to a Walmart in Ellenville, NY, which garnered the attention of some media outlets Williams said that it's an advantage she has her own platform to push back at some of the insinuations. 'One of the best things about being truthful to yourself and truthful to you and having your own show is I can come and dispel my own rumor,' Williams said. 'The headline was, "Poor, lonely Wendy needs a hug" - then it said, "She looks frail, she was by herself" - by herself?' Williams laughed off criticism of her decor on the middle-of-the night outing, citing the appropriateness when considering the time and place. In defense: Williams said that it's an advantage she has her own platform to push back at some of the insinuations Jumping to conclusions: Williams pointed out that she's dealing with Graves' disease, which can impact her appearance at times Change-maker: Williams also addressed her ongoing residence in a sober house, saying she hopes to shatter misconceptions in regards to the people who reside at said facilities 'Yep, a Wendy Show robe, I had leggings [on] - it was 4:00 in the morning in Ellenville, New York, what do you want me to wear? A ball gown?' The media personality sarcastically thanked her critics, adding, 'Do I look frail to you? I was just a little disgusted.' In the segment, Williams also addressed her ongoing residence in a sober house, saying she hopes to shatter misconceptions in regards to the people who reside at said facilities. 'Everybody thinks it's going to be the bum on the corner or whatnot and whatnot,' the New York native said. 'Sometimes you just need to go someplace and get one with your sobriety and your 12 steps.' She added: 'We are people with functioning careers who just want to check ourselves and get down with that 12 step. You know what I'm saying? There is such a stigma to substance abuse.' Gemma Collins and James 'Arj' Argent are reportedly set to launch their joint music career at the Jog On To Cancer fundraiser in London on Wednesday night. According to The Sun, The TOWIE star, 36, who has made no secret of her desire to crack America, will be taking to the stage to showcase her vocal prowess in front of a star-studded crowd. 'Gemma is so excited for her first big performance tonight,' a source told the publication of the star who will also be joined for a duet with her other half, with the pair singing Shirley Bassey's crowd-pleaser Big Spender. Exciting! Gemma Collins and James 'Arj' Argent are reportedly set to launch their joint music career at the Jog On To Cancer fundraiser in London on Wednesday night 'She can't wait to show off her vocals and prove she's got what it takes to be a pop star,' it was continued of her upcoming performance. It was recently revealed that Gemma will be hoping to fly across the pond to record her first single with producer Naughty Boy. Gemma is said to be flying out to the states to film a six-part series which will follow the reality TV personality as she tries to crack the US. Proving their tight bond, Naughty Boy, real name Shahid Khan, has regularly taken to his social media account with Gemma. Star: The TOWIE star, 36, who has made no secret of her desire to crack America, will reportedly be taking to the stage to showcase her vocal prowess It was revealed of her upcoming performance: 'She can't wait to show off her vocals and prove she's got what it takes to be a pop star' Joint: Gemma will be joined for a duet with her other half, with the pair singing Shirley Bassey's crowd-pleaser Big Spender High-profile pals: It was recently revealed that Gemma will be hoping to fly across the pond to record her first single with producer Naughty Boy Meanwhile, at the charity event in London on Wednesday, Gemma ensured all eyes on herself as she arrived at the event in a delighted mood. She showed off her style credentials in an off-the-shoulder black top which featured gold detailing on the neckline. She teamed it with a pair of criss-cross strap heels. Gemma shoulder length blonde locks were blowdried to perfection and she enhanced her looks with a heavy contoured base, completed with lashings of bronzer and false eyelashes. The star looked in her element as she posed for cameras, while arriving with her very own film crew. On the other hand, James put on a dapper display in a snazzy black suit and Burberry print tie as she arrived to the event. Looking good: Meanwhile, at the charity event in London on Wednesday, Gemma ensured all eyes on herself as she arrived at the event in a delighted mood Great: She showed off her style credentials in an off-the-shoulder black top which featured gold detailing on the neckline. She teamed it with a pair of criss-cross strap heels Babe: Gemma's blonde locks were blowdried to perfection and she enhanced her looks with a heavy contoured base, completed with lashings of bronzer and false eyelashes Energetic: Gemma was sure to put on a highly animated display Eyes on her: The star looked in her element as she posed for cameras, while arriving with her very own film crew Handsome: James put on a dapper display in a snazzy black suit and Burberry print tie as she arrived to the event Their sighting comes after proved they were back on track when they made an appearance on Celebrity Juice, set to air this Thursday evening - even if their sex life is not. During her appearance on Keith Lemon's show, the self-professed 'diva' made the startling confession that her dramatic fall on Dancing On Ice had 'really affected' things in the bedroom... because she can no longer get on her knees. As for Arg, his yo-yoing weight seems to be causing the main issue under the sheets. Recalling her shock tumble, Keith reminded Gemma: 'I think you said you bruised your boobs?' She added: 'Yeah and my knees. Its really affected our personal life. The knees are so bad I cant sort of do anything on them anymore. Its really affected us in the bedroom.' Happy: Proving that the night had gone well, Gemma waved to onlookers from the car as she headed home Heading home: James got comfortable in the front seat Secret: Their sighting comes after proved they were back on track when they made an appearance on Celebrity Juice, set to air this Thursday evening - even if their sex life is not According to a Maru/Matchbox poll, 52 percent of Americans and 48 percent of Canadians said they find out what's happening in the world through social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter About half of Americans and Canadians get their news primarily from social media, yet most don't trust this source of information, according to a survey released Tuesday. According to the Maru/Matchbox poll, 52 percent of Americans and 48 percent of Canadians said they find out what's happening in the world through social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Only television (64 percent) and news websites (49 percent) in the United States ranked higher as sources of news. But while trust in traditional news services including radio and newspapers rated above 80 percent in both countries, trust in social media was lowest among all sources at 43 percent in the United States and 32 percent in Canada. Political news is the most likely to contain misinformation, according to respondents. That was a significant concern for Americans (84 percent) worried about "fake news" in the upcoming 2020 US presidential election. But half were confident they could easily spot false or inaccurate information. "Social media is changing our relationship with the news," said Sara Cappe of Maru/Matchbox. "While it has become a common source of news and news-related information, people are less trusting of what they find there. The upside is that many feel more engaged with the news than ever before." The pollster interviewed 1,516 Canadians and 1,523 Americans for the survey commissioned by the Canadian Journalism Foundation, with a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points. Military strongman Khalifa Haftar's self-proclaimed Libyan National Army (LNA) says it has seized a barracks in the Aziziya area south of Tripoli The battle for Libya's capital intensified as the UN Security Council met Wednesday to discuss the crisis gripping the North African country, where armed rivals are locked in a deadly power struggle. The closed-door talks in New York come a day after the United Nations postponed a Libyan national conference aimed at drawing up an election roadmap because of fighting raging on Tripoli's doorstep. Libya has been riven by divisions since the NATO-backed overthrow of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with various armed groups and two parallel governments vying for territory and oil wealth. Heavy clashes were heard Wednesday in the Ain Zara district on the southeastern outskirts of Tripoli as military strongman Khalifa Haftar's forces pressed an assault aimed at taking the capital from the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA). "The clashes have intensified. We're afraid to leave the house," a resident told AFP by telephone from the area, where roads were reported to have been blocked, hindering people's efforts to flee. The violence has already displaced thousands and left several dozen people dead. The Libyan Red Crescent said it had evacuated civilians on Wednesday morning but had so far only had access to combat zones controlled by the GNA. Led by Fayez al-Sarraj, the GNA's authority is not recognised by a parallel administration in the east of the country, which is allied with Haftar. No caption Thirty families were evacuated from Ain Zara and Wadi Rabi, a district further south, to reception centres or to homes of relatives and friends, the Red Crescent said on its Facebook page. The UN Security Council began meeting behind closed doors to consider next steps, with diplomats saying Britain was discussing a possible draft resolution. "We agree with the secretary-general that there should be a ceasefire but at the moment we do not have a text," British Ambassador Karen Pierce told reporters ahead of the talks. - 'Cat and mouse' - Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), which controls swathes of the country's east, said it had seized a barracks in the Aziziya area around 50 kilometres (31 miles) south of Tripoli after "ferocious clashes". It said several fighters loyal to the UN-backed government had been detained and their weapons seized. "For the moment, it's still a game of cat and mouse," said a commander from a pro-GNA group. "We're still organising ourselves. The war hasn't truly started," he told AFP. The internationally recognised government carried out several air raids against LNA positions south of Tripoli, and also hit supply lines in central Libya, GNA spokesman Colonel Mohamed Gnounou said Tuesday. Haftar's forces appear to be advancing on two fronts, from the south and southeast of Tripoli, while coastal roads to the east and west of the city are defended by fighters loyal to the GNA. - Children at risk - NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance was "deeply concerned by the situation in Libya" Haftar has defied international calls to halt the surprise offensive launched on Thursday. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance was "deeply concerned by the situation in Libya." "The current military operation and advance on Tripoli are increasing the suffering of the Libyan people and putting civilian lives at risk," he said in a statement. The UN children's agency (UNICEF) said "nearly half a million children in Tripoli and tens of thousands more in the western areas are at a direct risk due to the intensification of fighting". The GNA's health ministry on Monday put the death toll in the fighting at 35. Haftar's forces have said 14 of their fighters have died. The UN said the clashes have displaced some 3,400 people. Although casualties remain limited so far, the International Crisis Group warned further escalation "could precipitate a humanitarian disaster". "If unleashed, a full-fledged offensive could become a proxy war between regional powers and cause innumerable casualties as well as immense devastation," it said in a report Wednesday. - Peace efforts stalled - Forces loyal to Libya's UN-backed government include militia fighters from the city of Misrata International efforts to end the Libyan conflict have repeatedly failed. Rival leaders agreed last year to hold elections before December 10, 2018 under a French plan, but that vote never materialised. The national conference, which had been scheduled for April 14-16 in the central city of Ghadames, aimed to fix dates for legislative and presidential elections, and work towards a new constitution. UN envoy Ghassan Salame, announcing its postponement, said: "We cannot ask people to take part in the conference during gunfire and air strikes." He expressed hope the meeting would take place "as soon as possible". Haftar, whose key allies are the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Russia, is a former Kadhafi military chief who has emerged as a major player in Libya's political struggle. His offensive threatens to plunge the country into a full-blown civil war and has thrown into sharp relief the divisions between world powers over how to end the chaos that has riven Libya since 2011. NEW DELHI (AP) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014 promising big-ticket economic reforms. But with unemployment rising and signature policies getting panned, Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party has adopted a nationalist pitch ahead of a general election that begins this week. The last time the BJP sought a second term was 2004, when it spent millions on an ad blitz projecting India as an economic powerhouse. The voters didn't buy it. Election results showed that people voted according to their caste, an ancient hierarchy in India that is outlawed by the constitution but still vital in Indian politics. Hindus comprise about 80% of India's 1.3 billion people, so the BJP is invoking its Hindu nationalist roots, with Modi at the forefront against the threat of Pakistan, India's Muslim-majority archrival. Voting will take place in seven phases over six weeks beginning Thursday. Nearly 900 million people, including 15.9 million first-time voters, are eligible to cast ballots in the world's largest democratic exercise. Around a million polling stations will be set up, and voters will choose 543 members of the Lower House of Parliament. A look at some of the key election issues and factors: FILE- In this Feb. 7, 2019, file photo, students from various organizations participate in a demonstration demanding more job opportunities in New Delhi, India. According to the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy, employment actually contracted in the year following demonetization by 3.5 million jobs. The think tank said unemployment reached 7.4 percent in December 2018, its highest rate in more than two years. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File) ___ JOBS Even though India continues to be one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, the Modi-led government's performance on the economy has come under criticism. A November 2016 demonetization program aimed to curb black market money by taking some rupee notes out of circulation. But it ultimately hurt the poor, and India's central bank said later that most of the illicit funds had re-entered the banking system. According to the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy, employment contracted in the year following demonetization by 3.5 million jobs. The think tank said unemployment reached 7.4% in December 2018, its highest rate in more than two years. Public subsidies to farmers have failed to steady India's agricultural sector. The first item in the opposition Congress party's election manifesto describes a plan for creating jobs. It also promises an income subsidy program for the poorest families and for farmers. ___ KASHMIR Amid growing scrutiny of Modi's economic record, a suicide attack in Kashmir killed 40 Indian paramilitary soldiers in February, helping the BJP hone its nationalist pitch. Analysts say Indian airstrikes inside Pakistan in response to the attack gave Modi a pre-election boost. BJP leaders quickly made national security a central plank of their campaign. In northern parts of the country bordering Pakistan, anti-Pakistan sentiment has always been strong because of the bloodshed during the countries' partition in 1947 and three wars since then. But anti-Muslim sentiment in India has become more common and more violent since the BJP came to power in 2014. At least three dozen Muslims have been lynched by self-styled Hindu vigilante groups or mobs on suspicion of illegally moving cows, sacred to Hindus, or eating beef, according to Human Rights Watch. ___ CASTE The BJP is mainly supported by upper-caste Hindus, while struggling to make headway with lower-caste voters and non-Hindus. Successive governments have sought to redress discrimination against those on the lower rungs by setting up quotas for government jobs and university spots. Currently, just under half of all government jobs and places in state-funded schools are allocated to the lower castes. With an eye toward elections, Modi's government last year passed a law carving out 10% quotas for lower-income Indians belonging to higher castes. ___ POLITICAL PUZZLE Modi has been on an electoral blitzkrieg across this vast country, promoting government development projects while blasting the alleged corruption within the opposition Congress party, a dynasty that began with India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi ruled the country for about a half a century after India won independence from Britain in 1947. Rajiv Gandhi's son, Rahul Gandhi, is now the Congress party leader and a potential candidate for prime minister if the opposition can stitch an alliance to stop the Modi juggernaut. That's easier said than done. Despite Congress victories in three key state elections in December, bucking a string of losses to the BJP since 2014, Gandhi has struggled to marshal widespread support for his beleaguered party, even after bringing his popular sister, Priyanka Gandhi, into the fold. The Gandhis would have to unite the opposition in order to take on BJP candidates in the vote-rich states of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Delhi. A split in opposition votes would likely benefit the BJP. ___ GIVEAWAYS Giveaways are essential in Indian politics. Some 270 million people - roughly 22% of the country's population - live in poverty, making giveaways particularly attractive to voters. In the past, farmworkers were offered cows and goats. In its interim budget in January, the Modi-led government announced that farmers would be paid 6,000 rupees ($85) annually, benefiting as many as 120 million households. The Congress party waived farmers' bank loans in the three states it won in December. It promised in its election manifesto to waive outstanding farmer loans elsewhere, and to decriminalize farmer loan defaults. ___ SYMBOLS A ladder, hand pump, bicycle, bow and arrow, bungalow, book, mango and banana are just some of the many objects voters will see on their electronic ballots, symbols of the dozens of political parties and independent candidates in the fray. Since only about a fifth of India's population could read or write at the time of the country's first election in 1951, the symbols were introduced on ballot papers to help the unlettered cast their votes. Nearly three-quarters of Indians can now read, but the icons remain evocative political symbols. Among the best-known symbols are the lotus flower for the governing BJP, and the outstretched palm-facing hand for Congress. The Aam Aadmi Party, or the Common Man's Party, which rules the state of Delhi, chose a broom as its election symbol, reflecting its pledge to sweep the political system clean of corruption. FILE-In this Feb. 15, 2019, file photo, Indian paramilitary soldiers patrol near the site of Thursday's explosion in Pampore, Indian-controlled Kashmir. A suicide attack on a caravan of Indian paramilitary soldiers in troubled Kashmir in February this year that killed 40 soldiers changed the election scenario for Modi and his party. Analysts say Indian airstrikes inside Pakistan in response to the attack gave Modi a pre-election boost. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin, File) FILE- In this Jan. 22, 2019 file photo, a man holds a phone showing a video of Muslim farmer moments after being beaten for allegedly smuggling cows in Mirzapur, India. Caste prejudice is endemic in Hindu-majority India, even though the constitution outlaws the practice. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is mainly supported by upper-caste Hindus and has struggled to make headway with lower-caste voters and non-Hindus. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) FILE- In this Jan. 16, 2019, file photo, a homeless man sleeps on a median strip in New Delhi, India. In India, some 270 million people - nearly 22 percent of the country's population - live in poverty, making giveaways particularly attractive to voters. The Modi government in its interim budget in January announced farmers would be paid 6,000 rupees ($85) annually, benefiting as many as 120 million households and income tax relief to the middle class. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File) FILE- In this Feb. 16, 2019, file photo, a young boy stands by the body of his father, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldier Mahesh Yadav, who was killed in a bombing in Kashmir, in Tudihar village, Uttar Pradesh state, India. A suicide attack on a caravan of Indian paramilitary soldiers in troubled Kashmir in February this year that killed 40 soldiers changed the election scenario for Modi and his party. Analysts say Indian airstrikes inside Pakistan in response to the attack gave Modi a pre-election boost. (AP Photo/ Rajesh Kumar Singh) In this Monday, April 8, 2019, photo, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi releases Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP's manifesto for the upcoming general elections in New Delhi, India. Modi came to power in 2014 promising big-ticket economic reforms. But with unemployment rising and signature policies getting panned, Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party has adopted a nationalist pitch ahead of a general election that begins this week.(AP Photo/Manish Swarup) FILE- In this Feb. 11, 2019, file photo, Congress party president Rahul Gandhi, center, looks on as his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, right, waves at supporters during a rally in Lucknow, India. Jawaharlal Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi ruled the country for about a half a century cumulatively after India won independence from Britain in 1947. Rajiv Gandhi's son, Rahul Gandhi, is now the Congress party leader and a potential candidate for prime minister if the opposition can stitch an alliance to stop the Modi juggernaut. (AP Photo/Nirala Tripathi, file) ABU ZENIMA, Egypt (AP) - Amid a stunning vista of desert mountains, a Bedouin woman, Umm Yasser, paused to point out a local plant, and she began to explain how it was used in medicine to the group of foreign tourists she was guiding. Umm Yasser is breaking new ground among the deeply conservative Bedouin of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Women among the Bedouin almost never work outside the home, and even more rarely do they interact with outsiders. But Umm Yasser is one of four women from the community who for the first time are working as tour guides. "It is against our culture, but women need jobs," the 47-year-old Umm Yasser said. "People will make fun of us, but I don't care. I'm a strong woman." They are part of Sinai Trail, a unique project in which local Bedouin tribes came together aiming to develop their own tourism. Founded in 2015, the project has set up a 550-kilometer (330-mile) trail through the remote mountains of the peninsula, a42-day trek through the lands of eight different tribes, each of which contributes guides. The project has been successful in bringing some income to the tribes, who often complain of being left out of the major tourism development of the southern Sinai, home to beach resorts and desert safaris. Until now, all the project's guides were men. Ben Hoffler, the British co-founder of the Sinai Trail, felt it was not enough. "How can we be credible calling this the 'Sinai Trail' if the women aren't involved?" But even after years of trying by Hoffler, almost all the tribes still reject women guides. Only one of the smallest, oldest and poorest tribes, the Hamada, accepted the idea. In this March 30, 2019 photo, Umm Yasser, the first Bedouin female guide from the Hamada tribe, looks at Umm Soliman as she plays the flute, near Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Umm Yasser is breaking new ground among the deeply conservative Bedouin of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Women among the Bedouin almost never work outside the home, and even more rarely do they interact with outsiders. But Umm Yasser is one of four women from the community who for the first time are working as tour guides. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) There are some conditions. The tourists can only be women, and the tours can't go overnight. Each day before the sun sets, the group returns to the Hamada's home village in Wadi Sahu, a narrow desert valley. The organizers also urge the tourists to photograph the guides only when they are wearing a full veil over the face that covers even the eyes with mesh. Umm Yasser was the first to join. She said she started hiking when she was a child and knows the mountains and the valley by heart. She convinced the families of three other women to allow them to work as guides. Their tribe is a poor one, living in small concrete houses strung along the Wadi Sahu. Electricity runs no more than five hours a night and there is no running water. It is isolated deep in the mountains of south Sinai, far from the tourism centers in Sinai along the Red Sea coast or near the famed Saint Catherine's Monastery. The men often leave the village to find work, either at resorts or in mines further south. "We need money to help support our families for basic necessities," Umm Yasser said. "We need blankets, clothes for the children, washing machines, fridges, books for school." The Sinai Trail came together in some of the hardest years for tourism. It was launched as an Islamic State group-linked insurgency intensified in the northern part of Sinai and a year after a Russian passenger plane crashed, killing all 224 passengers on board in a likely militant bombing. The violence has stayed far from southern Sinai, where tourist resorts are located - but the industry has had to push hard to win tourists back. On a recent tour joined by the Associated Press, 16 female tourists - from Korea, New Zealand, Europe, Lebanon and Egypt - were led by Umm Yasser and the other three women guides, Umm Soliman, Aicha, and Selima, through the rugged landscape in and around Wadi Sahu. "I think south Sinai is safe especially when you are in the care of Bedouins. ... This is where I feel at home. Every corner there is scenery and another beautiful view," said Marion Salwegter, a 68-year-old Dutch woman who travels to southern Sinai every year alone to escape the winters in Holland. During the two-day tour, the group hiked across an endlessly broad landscape of mountain peaks and valleys of dry riverbeds. While male Bedouin guides range far from home, the women tend to move closer, with an exceptionally rich knowledge of the surrounding mountains. The guides talked about the local plants and herbs, the history and legends of the area and pointed out the borders of the area's tribes. In the evening, the group returned to the Hamada tribe's village. The women sat on the floor of Umm Yasser's home and the tourists asked the guide about life in the village, marriage and divorce. Umm Yasser is skeptical other Bedouin women will join her as a guide or in working in general any time soon. But, she said, "There is no shame in working. This is what I believe in, and it makes me strong." Some attitudes are changing. Mohammed Salman, an elderly man from the Aligat tribe, said he thought the guides project was a great step for women. "If a woman wants to work, she should be able to have the right to," he said. "Many men say no, a woman's place is at home. But I'm sick of this ideology. She's a human being." Younger Bedouin girls tagged along with the group and talked about wanting to be female guides in the future. "This trip is going down in history and will be talked about," said Julie Paterson, a facilitator for Sinai Trail who often works with Bedouin women. "It might also go into Bedouin oral history." In this March 29, 2019 photo, a Bedouin girl holds plants she picked for her mother in the mountains near Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Four Bedouin women are for the first time leading tours in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, breaking new ground in their deeply conservative community, where women almost never work outside the home or interact with outsiders. The guides talk about the local plants and herbs, the history and legends of the area and point out the borders of the area's tribes. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) In this March 29, 2019 photo, an Egyptian 21-year-old student on a trek looks at water remaining after a rainfall, in the mountains near Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Four Bedouin women are for the first time leading tours in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, breaking new ground in their deeply conservative community, where women almost never work outside the home or interact with outsiders. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) ADVANCE FOR PUBLICATION ON WEDNESDAY, APR. 10, AND THEREAFTER - In this March 29, 2019 photo, tourists trek in the mountains near Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Four Bedouin women are for the first time leading tours in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, breaking new ground in their deeply conservative community, where women almost never work outside the home or interact with outsiders. The women guide groups of female tourists through the stunning mountain landscapes, part of a Bedouin-led project of hiking tours. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) In this March 30, 2019 photo, Umm Yasser, center, leads women on a trek in the mountains, near Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Umm Yasser is breaking new ground among the deeply conservative Bedouin of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Women among the Bedouin almost never work outside the home, and even more rarely do they interact with outsiders. But Umm Yasser is one of four women from the community who for the first time are working as tour guides. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) In this March 29, 2019 photo, a Korean tourist poses for a photograph for her friend on a trek in the mountains near Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Four Bedouin women are for the first time leading tours in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, breaking new ground in their deeply conservative community, where women almost never work outside the home or interact with outsiders. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) In this March 29, 2019 photo, tourists stop to look at the scenery on a trek in the mountains near Wadi Sahw led by Beduin women, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Four Bedouin women are for the first time leading tours in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, breaking new ground in their deeply conservative community, where women almost never work outside the home or interact with outsiders. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) In this March 29, 2019 photo, Umm Yasser poses for a photograph on a trek in the mountains near Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Umm Yasser is breaking new ground among the deeply conservative Bedouin of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Women among the Bedouin almost never work outside the home, and even more rarely do they interact with outsiders. But Umm Yasser is one of four women from the community who for the first time are working as tour guides. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) This March 30, 2019 photo, shows the scenery on a trek led by beduin women, near Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Four Bedouin women are for the first time leading tours in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, breaking new ground in their deeply conservative community, where women almost never work outside the home or interact with outsiders. They are part of Sinai Trail, a unique project in which local Bedouin tribes came together aiming to develop their own tourism. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) In this March 30, 2019 photo, Ben Hoffler, co-founder of the Sinai Trail, takes photographs on a trek in the mountains, near Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Until now, all the project's guides were men. Ben Hoffler, the British co-founder of the Sinai Trail, felt it was not enough. But even after years of trying by Hoffler, almost all the tribes still reject women guides. Only one of the smallest, oldest and poorest tribes, the Hamada, accepted the idea. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) In this March 30, 2019 photo, tourists stop to look at the view on a trek led by Beduin women, in the mountains, near Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Four Bedouin women are for the first time leading tours in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, breaking new ground in their deeply conservative community, where women almost never work outside the home or interact with outsiders. They are part of Sinai Trail, a unique project in which local Bedouin tribes came together aiming to develop their own tourism. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) In this March 30, 2019 photo, Julie Patterson, a Sinai Trail trip officer rests with guide Umm Yasser, on a trek in the mountains, near Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Umm Yasser is breaking new ground among the deeply conservative Bedouin of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Women among the Bedouin almost never work outside the home, and even more rarely do they interact with outsiders. But Umm Yasser is one of four women from the community who for the first time are working as tour guides as part of Sinai Trail. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) In this March 30, 2019 photo, Aicha, an Egyptian Bedouin from the Hamada tribe and one of the first female guides, plays the flute for tourists on a trek in the mountains, near Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Four Bedouin women are for the first time leading tours in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, breaking new ground in their deeply conservative community, where women almost never work outside the home or interact with outsiders. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) In this March 31, 2019 photo, an Egyptian student borrows a Bedouin wedding dress to pose for a photograph with Bedouin men from the Hamada tribe, in Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Four Bedouin women are for the first time leading tours in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, breaking new ground in their deeply conservative community, where women almost never work outside the home or interact with outsiders. The tourists can only be women, and the tours can't go overnight. Each day before the sun sets, the group returns to the Hamada's home village in Wadi Sahu, a narrow desert valley. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) In this March 29, 2019 photo, Umm Yasser, closes the windows of her home, in Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Umm Yasser is one of four women from the Hamada tribe who for the first time are working as tour guides. The tourists can only be women, and the tours can't go overnight. Each day before the sun sets, the group returns to the Hamada's home village in Wadi Sahu, a narrow desert valley. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) In this March 29, 2019 photo, Zahra looks at Yolanda the baby goat in Umm Yasser's home, in Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Four Bedouin women are for the first time leading tours in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, breaking new ground in their deeply conservative community, where women almost never work outside the home or interact with outsiders. The tourists can only be women, and the tours can't go overnight. Each day before the sun sets, the group returns to the Hamada's home village in Wadi Sahu, a narrow desert valley. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) In this March 30, 2019 photo, women eat in Umm Yasser's home in Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Four Bedouin women are for the first time leading tours in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, breaking new ground in their deeply conservative community, where women almost never work outside the home or interact with outsiders. The tourists can only be women, and the tours can't go overnight. Each day before the sun sets, the group returns to the Hamada's home village in Wadi Sahu, a narrow desert valley. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) In this March 30, 2019 photo, shows remains of a car used to as a base for shelter in Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Four Bedouin women are for the first time leading tours in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, breaking new ground in their deeply conservative community, where women almost never work outside the home or interact with outsiders. The tourists can only be women, and the tours can't go overnight. Each day before the sun sets, the group returns to the Hamada's home village in Wadi Sahu, a narrow desert valley. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) In this March 30, 2019 photo, shows the kitchen in Umm Yasser's home in Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Umm Yasser is breaking new ground among the deeply conservative Bedouin of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Women among the Bedouin almost never work outside the home, and even more rarely do they interact with outsiders. But Umm Yasser is one of four women from the community who for the first time are working as tour guides. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) In this March 31, 2019 photo, Umm Yasser, the first female Bedouin guide from the Hamada tribe, poses for a photograph in her home in Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, South Sinai, Egypt. Four Bedouin women are for the first time leading tours in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, breaking new ground in their deeply conservative community, where women almost never work outside the home or interact with outsiders. The tourists can only be women, and the tours can't go overnight. Each day before the sun sets, the group returns to the Hamada's home village in Wadi Sahu, a narrow desert valley. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) In this March 30, 2019 photo, a Bedouin woman wears traditional clothes and dances for women tourists in Umm Yasser's home, in Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Four Bedouin women are for the first time leading tours in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, breaking new ground in their deeply conservative community, where women almost never work outside the home or interact with outsiders. The women guide groups of female tourists through the stunning mountain landscapes, part of a Bedouin-led project of hiking tours in southern Sinai. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) In this March 30, 2019 photo, Umm Yasser offers tea to during a women's only circle of tourists and Bedouin from the Hamada tribe, at her home in Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Four Bedouin women are for the first time leading tours in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, breaking new ground in their deeply conservative community, where women almost never work outside the home or interact with outsiders. The women guide groups of female tourists through the stunning mountain landscapes, part of a Bedouin-led project of hiking tours in southern Sinai. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - If Australian opposition leader Bill Shorten becomes prime minister and visits the U.S., he can expect questions about a radio interview he gave three years ago in which he said some of then-presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's views were "barking mad." Trump seemed a long shot for the White House when Shorten gave the interview on May 27, 2016, during Australia's last election campaign. And Shorten, who leads the center-left Labor Party, seemed a long shot to become Australia's prime minister. He was trying to become the first Australian opposition leader to oust a prime minister after a single three-year term since 1931, when the Great Depression helped scuttle a Labor government. But Shorten came closer than many had expected. Conservative Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull scraped back into power with a single-seat majority in the House of Representatives, where parties need a majority of seats to form a government. Turnbull's conservative coalition had lost 14 lawmakers. In this June 19, 2016, file photo, opposition Labor Party leader Bill Shorten delivers a speech in Sydney. Shorten, an outspoken critic of U.S. President Donald Trump, is the favorite to become Australian prime minister. Shorten's party, the center-left Labor Party, has led the conservative coalition in most opinion polls in the last three years. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith, File) Turnbull pounced on Shorten's swipe at Trump as evidence that the Labor leader wasn't fit to lead Australia. Turnbull accused Shorten of potentially offending Australia's most important strategic ally by breaking a long-standing Australian convention of avoiding taking sides in U.S. political contests. Shorten had told a Darwin radio station that a Trump administration was among "the sort of scenarios you hope don't emerge." "I think Donald Trump's views are just barking mad on some issues," Shorten said. "America's a great friend of Australia; whoever they dish up we'll work with, but wow, Trump's sort of - it's sort of the ultimate victory of celebrity politics," he said. Shorten described Trump's popularity as the "ultimate protest vote," and warned that Australia should pursue policies of fairness and equality. The political landscapes in Australia and the United States have transformed since 2016. Shorten's party goes into the 2019 election campaign as a firm favorite. His party has led the conservative coalition in most opinion polls in the last three years. Turnbull was replaced by senior minister Scott Morrison in a revolt by ruling Liberal Party lawmakers at least partly because of the government's poor performance in opinion polls. The government lost two lawmakers and its majority in continuing blood-letting from the leadership change. Despite Labor's dominance in the polls, Shorten's personal popularity has remained relatively low. But Australia's system of compulsory voting means Shorten's lack of charisma is not the political handicap it might be in U.S politics. Because failing to vote is punished with a fine, voter turnout in Australia is always high even when the choices are not particularly attractive. While there are Labor lawmakers who are more popular with the Australian public, Shorten is a powerbroker who has enjoyed strong support within his party for the past six years of his leadership. The government had depicted Shorten as a puppet of the labor unions that donate to Labor's campaign war chest. The government has also portrayed Shorten as being reckless with policies that would harm the Australian economy. Energy policy is as contentious as any in Australia, which is the world's biggest exporter of coal and liquid natural gas. Labor wants to cut Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Australia committed in the Paris Agreement on climate change to reduce its emissions by 26 or 28 percent by 2030. Shorten, 51, was first elected to Parliament in the same 2007 election that swept Labor to power for the first time in more than 11 years. Morrison entered Parliament in the same election. Shorten has deep labor union roots. His father was a waterside laborer and union official, and his mother was a lawyer and university academic. He became involved in Labor politics as a student and was soon touted as a potential prime minister. He worked for less than two years as a lawyer before becoming a union official. Shorten first came to national attention as national secretary of the Australian Workers Union in 2006 when the Beaconsfield gold mine collapse in Tasmania state killed one miner and left two trapped underground for two weeks. His regular news conferences on behalf of the union representing the miners created a national profile before he entered Parliament the following year. But as a party power broker, Shorten played a key role in deposing two prime ministers through internal government leadership ballots in the face of poor opinion polling during Labor's chaotic six years in office. His history of fickle loyalty in ousting leaders he once supported may come back to haunt him as he seeks to lead the country. Theresa May has arrived in Paris where she will urge the French President Emmanuel Macron to back her case for a delay to Brexit at a crunch EU summit on Wednesday. The Prime Minister travelled from Berlin where she met German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a working lunch over which they agreed on the importance of an orderly withdrawal from the EU, Downing Street said. In recent days Mr Macron has warned that an extension to the Article 50 withdrawal process is not guaranteed. The visits came as the EUs chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said Brussels could amend the Political Declaration on future relations with the UK within a few hours or days to incorporate the customs union arrangement being discussed in cross-party talks between the Government and Labour. But there were signs of resistance in Mrs Mays Cabinet to compromise with Labour, with International Trade Secretary Liam Fox warning that a customs union would leave the UK stuck in the worst of both worlds. Mrs May has asked for the date of Brexit to be delayed until June 30 at Wednesdays summit, with the possibility of an earlier departure if the UKs withdrawal deal is ratified. MPs backed her call in a Commons vote on Tuesday afternoon as they approved a Government motion for Mrs May to seek an extension to June 30 by 420 votes to 110, majority 310. But European Council president Donald Tusk is recommending a year-long delay, while French Europe minister Amelie de Montchalin suggested Paris may insist on conditions limiting British influence on EU decision-making during the extension period. The unanimous agreement of all 27 remaining EU states is needed to avoid a no-deal Brexit on the scheduled date of April 12. Ms de Montchalin warned that the position of France has not changed and that the EU27s approval of Mrs Mays request is neither settled nor automatic. We want to understand what the UK needs this extension for, she said. Then comes the question of the conditions what role the UK wants to play during this extension, on what type of decisions it wants to play a role. In a clear sign of opposition to concessions to Labours demands, Dr Fox sent a letter to the chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee setting out in detail his opposition to a post-Brexit customs union. The letter, obtained by the Daily Telegraph, warns that such an arrangement would leave the UK unable to set its own trade policy but forced to open its markets to any country with which the EU struck a free trade agreement. In such a scenario the UK would have a new role in the global trading system we ourselves would be traded, he told Sir Graham Brady. Labour MPs leave the Cabinet Office after Brexit talks with members of the Government (Yui Mok/PA) As the famous saying in Brussels goes, if you are not at the table, you are on the menu. Leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom urged Mrs May to ask Mrs Merkel to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement forged with the EU last November something the EU has repeatedly said it will not do. Mrs Leadsom told ITV News: The Prime Minister is off to see Angela Merkel today and it would be fantastic if Angela Merkel will try to support a proper UK Brexit by agreeing to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement. There have been rumours over the weekend some senior members of the German government would be willing to do that in order to get Theresa Mays deal over the line. As the person with the responsibility to get the legislation through, if we get the Prime Ministers deal over the line because the EU has decided to support measures on the backstop, that would be the best possible outcome. But Mrs Mays official spokesman dismissed the idea, telling reporters: Any plan going forward would be based on the current Withdrawal Agreement. And Mr Barnier told a press conference in Luxembourg: The Withdrawal Agreement is not going to be reopened, is not up for negotiation again. That continues to be the case. The Political Declaration, which will set the framework for future relations, can be improved, we can provide an increased level of ambition if that is the wish of the UK. These ambitions for the future relationship, which could for example consist of adding to the free trade agreement on which we have agreed with the UK already a customs union, a genuine customs union. We are willing to improve and amend the Political Declaration rapidly, within a few hours or days. Mr Barnier said he hoped that Mrs Mays decision to speak to Labour would allow a new process to emerge in the House of Commons and ultimately for a new majority to emerge with regard to the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration. He added: This is what would provide meaning to the request which the UK Prime Minister has submitted for an extension. But Germanys deputy foreign minister, Michael Roth, said that, despite the opening of cross-party talks, so far absolutely nothing has changed and we are in a very, very frustrating situation here. Mr Roth warned: Within the European Union, there isnt an endless readiness to keep talking about delays so long as there is no substantial progress on the British side. The latest round of talks included Mrs Mays de facto deputy, Cabinet Office minister David Lidington, and Chancellor Philip Hammond from the Government side, with shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer and shadow chancellor John McDonnell from Labour. A Downing Street spokesman said the talks were productive and wide-ranging and would continue on Thursday after the European Council. We remain completely committed to delivering on Brexit, with both sides working hard to agreeing a way forward, appreciating the urgency in order to avoid European elections, the spokesman added. Environment Secretary Michael Gove said there had been constructive discussions, as he left the meeting, adding: There are number of issues where we differ, but we are anxious to ensure that we can carry on with this process. And shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey said: Weve had really constructive discussions today and covered a number of issues in great detail. Theres not really been any fundamental shift or a change in position of the deal itself. But were hopeful that progress will be made. Were continuing discussions with the Government over the coming days. Irish premier Leo Varadkar has said he is confident an agreement on extending the Brexit deadline will be reached at a crunch EU summit. The Taoiseach will fly to Brussels on Wednesday where EU leaders will discuss Theresa Mays request to delay Brexit. It comes as the EUs chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said Brussels could amend the Political Declaration on future relations with the UK within a few hours or days to incorporate the customs union arrangement being discussed in cross-party talks between the Government and Labour. Speaking in the Irish parliament, Mr Varadkar said: I sincerely hope that it will be possible to build sufficient consensus in Westminster to enable ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement and an orderly Brexit thereafter. From Irelands perspective, we are open to extending the deadline to allow time for these discussions to run their course and come to a conclusion. Above all, we want the Withdrawal Agreement to be ratified so that negotiations can begin on a future relationship, we, I hope and expect, can be a new economic partnership between the UK and the EU that is as close as can be achieved. Leo Varadkar said he is confident an agreement on extending the Brexit deadline will be reached at a crunch EU summit. All this will be discussed at the European Council tomorrow. There will be different views, but I am confident that we will reach agreement there. However, given the ongoing uncertainty in London, we need to continue our preparations for a no-deal. We also discussed the length of a possible extension & I look forward to discussing this further with my EU counterparts on Wednesday. There will of course be different views but I am confident we will reach agreement #Brexit Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) April 8, 2019 Mrs May has asked for the date of Brexit to be delayed until June 30, with the possibility of an earlier departure if the UKs withdrawal deal is ratified. Mr Varadkar described Mrs Mays letter to European Council President Donald Tusk as a positive step. He added: It offers welcome assurances that the UK will prepare for the European Parliament elections and will hold them, if the UK has not left the EU by 22 May. Importantly, from our perspective, the Prime Minister acknowledges that the Withdrawal Agreement cannot be changed, and that any solution must respect that Agreement in its entirety. The EU has always stated that the Withdrawal Agreement, which includes the backstop, cannot be re-negotiated. It is the outcome of almost two years of difficult negotiations between the EU and Ireland and the UK. It represents a finely balanced compromise, including the challenge of the UK leaving the EU without giving rise to the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland. He added that his ambition is to have a deep future relationship with the UK so that the backstop is never needed. However, until this happens, it is needed as an insurance policy to protect the Good Friday Agreement and ensure there is no hard border on the island of Ireland, he continued. It has been obvious for some time that the solution to the deadlock lies in London and that the impasse there could only be resolved in Westminster. It is very welcome that cross-party talks are now under way and that the focus of these is on the shape of the future relationship. SOFIA, April 10 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. -- Bulgarian emigrants have sent home some $2.4 billion last year, 8.6 percent more than a year ago, a World Bank report showed. (Trud, 24 Chasa) -- Bulgaria canceled a planned visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to Sofia following recent tensions between Sofia and Ankara over Cavusoglu's remarks for interference in Bulgaria's law on religious denominations. (Trud, 24 Chasa) TRUD - Bulgaria has beefed up its border with Greece with some 500 gendarmerie officers to prevent an eventual migrant inflows, Interior Minister Mladen Maronov said. -- Delyan Dobrev, a lawmaker from the ruling GERB party and former energy minister, quit the parliament following media reports his relatives have Bought apartments below market prices. (Trud, 24 Chasa, Monitor, Sega) By Marja Novak BRDO PRI KRANJU, Slovenia, April 10 (Reuters) - Slovenia plans to increase exports to 50 billion euros ($56.34 billion) by 2025 from last year's record 39 billion euro by supporting exporters and ensuring a stable and competitive economic environment, the country's economy minister said. Zdravko Pocivalsek also told an export conference on Wednesday that Slovenia wants to attract more foreign direct investment, which rose by 7 percent last year to a total of 14.7 billion euros. Earlier this week, Japan's Yaskawa opened a robot factory in Slovenia that will be export-oriented. "We have to increase the number of companies that are exporting, disperse our exports to states outside the European Union and focus on products that will bring higher value added," Pocivalsek told the conference. Slovenia exports about 80 percent of its production, with 80 percent of those exports going to the other EU states, mainly Germany, Italy, Croatia, Austria and France. Its main exports include cars, car products, pharmaceuticals and household appliances. The 100 largest export companies account for about as much as 56 percent of all exports. Pocivalsek said that exports are expected to rise by about 5 percent this year and FDI should reach about 0.5 percent of gross domestic product. The statistics office said on Tuesday exports in the first two months of 2019 rose by 12.5 percent. Slovenia hopes to diversify exports by increasing sales to Africa, Asia and South America over the coming years to ensure stability of its economy. "If we would not search for new markets, innovations, new ideas, we can be surpassed by others," Prime Minister Marjan Sarec told the same conference. ($1 = 0.8875 euros) (Reporting By Marja Novak) By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON, April 10 (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced legislation on Wednesday mandating that the executive branch disclose details about authorizations it gives companies on sharing sensitive nuclear energy information with countries looking to build reactors. Lawmakers have criticized the Trump administration for issuing seven so-called Part 810 authorizations to companies on sharing nuclear power information with Saudi Arabia and withholding information about them. They want to ensure the kingdom eventually agrees to strong nuclear power safeguards on uranium enrichment and reprocessing to avoid the risk of an arms race in the Middle East. Several lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives have asked the administration for details on the authorizations, but were told that even the names of companies that got them are proprietary. Previous 810 authorizations were made available to the public at the Department of Energy headquarters. "Congress cannot play its oversight role and ensure U.S. civil nuclear cooperation efforts do not encourage the spread of nuclear weapons-making capabilities" when presidential administrations withhold information from lawmakers, Senator Marco Rubio said. Rubio and fellow Republican Senator Todd Young introduced the bill with Democratic Senators Tim Kaine and Edward Markey. A similar bill is expected in the House. The Trump administration has had talks with Saudi Arabia, which has been resistant to safeguards in a civilian nuclear cooperation pact known as a 123 agreement, which is subject to congressional approval. Such a deal would have to be signed before the transfer of materials to build reactors. The administration has also been trying to convince Riyadh to agree to safeguards in a so-called Additional Protocol from the International Atomic Energy Agency. Markey asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a hearing to commit to sharing the 810 applications and authorizations. Pompeo said he would take the request under consideration but that other agencies have a voice in the authorizations, signed by Energy Secretary Rick Perry. Saudi Arabia says its plans are peaceful. But Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said last year the kingdom would develop nuclear arms if its rival Iran did. Riyadh plans to issue a multi-billion-dollar tender in 2020 to build its first two nuclear power reactors, sources said this month. Originally expected last year, the tender has been delayed several times. The United States, South Korea, Russia, China and France are competing for the business. U.S. reactor builder Westinghouse, owned by Brookfield Asset Management Inc, would likely sell nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia in any deal that involved U.S. technology. The bill, which faces an uncertain future in a tight congressional schedule, would amend the 1954 Atomic Energy Act to require the Department of Energy to turn over to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee reports on all 810 applications it receives and the authorizations it makes and denies. The chairs and ranking members of those committees could also ask the Energy Department for records on any 810 applications that are approved or pending, and the department would have 10 days to do so. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner Editing by Bill Berkrot and Leslie Adler) 4 hours ago 3 Remote Work Stocks to Buy as Some Companies Delay Return to Work Plans Just when many companies began anticipating welcoming employees back to the office, the Omicron variant has caused some to reconsider. Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Ford (NYSE:F) are two examples of companies that just announced they are delaying their return-to-work plans. But the repercussions of the pandemic extend beyond concerns about the health and wellbeing of employees. Read Article BrightSphere Investment Group, Inc. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of asset management services. It also focuses on the development of new business opportunities in domestic and international markets. The firm operates through the following segments: Quant & Solutions, Alternatives and Liquid Alpha. The Quant & Solutions segment leverages data and technology in a computational, factor-based investment process across a range of asset classes and geographies, including Global, non-U.S., emerging markets and managed volatility equities, as well as multi-asset products. The Alternatives segment comprises liquid and differentiated liquid investment strategies that include private equity, real estate and real assets; including forestry, as well as a growing suite of liquid alternative capabilities in areas such as long/short, market neutral and absolute return. The Liquid Alpha segment comprises of specialized investment strategies with a focus on alpha-generation across market cycles in United States. The company was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Boston, MA. Read More Anadarko Petroleum Corporation engages in the exploration, development, production, and marketing of oil and gas properties. It operates through three segments: Exploration and Production, WES Midstream, and Other Midstream. The company explores for and produces oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). It is also involved in gathering, processing, treating, and transporting oil, natural-gas, and NGLs production, as well as the gathering and disposal of produced water. The company's oil and natural gas properties are located in the United States onshore and deepwater Gulf of Mexico; and Algeria, Ghana, Mozambique, Colombia, Peru, and other countries. As of December 31, 2018, it had approximately 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent of proved reserves. The company was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas. Read More Orchids Paper Products Company manufactures and sells tissue products for at-home and away from home markets in the United States. Its products include paper towels, bathroom tissues, and paper napkins. The company offers its products under the Orchids Supreme, Clean Scents, Tackle, Colortex, My Size, Velvet, and Big Mopper brands; and licensed brands, such as Virtue, Truly Green, Golden Gate Paper, and Big Quality. It also sells parent rolls to other converters. The company serves discount retailers, grocery stores, grocery wholesalers and cooperatives, convenience stores, janitorial supply stores, and stores in the food service market. Orchids Paper Products Company was founded in 1976 and is based in Pryor, Oklahoma. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Valero Energy: AIR BP-PBF DEL PERU SAC, BELFAST STORAGE LTD, CANADIAN ULTRAMAR COMPANY, COLONNADE TEXAS INSURANCE COMPANY LLC, COLONNADE VERMONT INSURANCE COMPANY, DIAMOND ALTERNATIVE ENERGY LLC, DIAMOND ALTERNATIVE ENERGY OF CANADA INC., DIAMOND GREEN DIESEL HOLDINGS LLC, DIAMOND GREEN DIESEL LLC, DIAMOND K RANCH LLC, DIAMOND OMEGA COMPANY L.L.C., DIAMOND SHAMROCK REFINING COMPANY L.P., DIAMOND UNIT INVESTMENTS L.L.C., DSRM NATIONAL BANK, ENTERPRISE CLAIMS MANAGEMENT INC., GCP LOGISTICS COMPANY LLC, GOLDEN EAGLE ASSURANCE LIMITED, HAMMOND MAINLINE PIPELINE LLC, HUNTWAY REFINING COMPANY, MAINLINE PIPELINES LIMITED, MAPLE ETHANOL LTD., MICHIGAN REDEVELOPMENT GP LLC, MICHIGAN REDEVELOPMENT L.P., MRP PROPERTIES COMPANY LLC, NECHES RIVER HOLDING CORP., NORCO METHANOL LLC, OCEANIC TANKERS AGENCY LIMITED, PARKWAY PIPELINE LLC, PENTA TANKS TERMINALS S.A., PI DOCK FACILITIES LLC, PICKARD PLACE CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, PORT ARTHUR COKER COMPANY L.P., PREMCOR USA INC., PROPERTY RESTORATION L.P., PURE BIOFUELS DEL PERU S.A.C., PURE BIOFUELS HOLDINGS L.P., Parkway Pipeline, Premcor, Pure Biofuels Del Peru, SABINE RIVER HOLDING CORP., SABINE RIVER LLC, SAINT BERNARD PROPERTIES COMPANY LLC, SUNBELT REFINING COMPANY L.P., THE PREMCOR PIPELINE CO., THE PREMCOR REFINING GROUP INC., THE SHAMROCK PIPE LINE CORPORATION, TRANSPORT MARITIME ST. LAURENT INC., ULTRAMAR ACCEPTANCE INC., ULTRAMAR ENERGY INC., ULTRAMAR INC., Ultramar Diamond Shamrock, V-TEX LOGISTICS LLC, VALERO (BARBADOS) SRL, VALERO (PERU) HOLDINGS GP LLC, VALERO (PERU) HOLDINGS LIMITED, VALERO ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO ARUBA ACQUISITION COMPANY I LTD., VALERO ARUBA FINANCE INTERNATIONAL LTD., VALERO ARUBA HOLDING COMPANY N.V., VALERO ARUBA HOLDINGS INTERNATIONAL LTD., VALERO ARUBA MAINTENANCE/OPERATIONS COMPANY N.V., VALERO BROWNSVILLE TERMINAL LLC, VALERO CANADA FINANCE INC., VALERO CANADA L.P., VALERO CAPITAL CORPORATION, VALERO CARIBBEAN SERVICES COMPANY, VALERO COKER CORPORATION ARUBA N.V., VALERO CUSTOMS & TRADE SERVICES INC., VALERO EAST BAY LLC, VALERO ENERGY (IRELAND) LIMITED, VALERO ENERGY ARUBA II COMPANY, VALERO ENERGY INC., VALERO ENERGY LTD, VALERO ENERGY PARTNERS GP LLC, VALERO ENERGY PARTNERS LP, VALERO ENERGY UK LTD, VALERO ENTERPRISES INC., VALERO EQUITY SERVICES LTD, VALERO FINANCE L.P. I, VALERO FINANCE L.P. II, VALERO FINANCE L.P. III, VALERO FOREST CONTRIBUTION LLC, VALERO GRAIN MARKETING LLC, VALERO H2 PIPELINE COMPANY LLC, VALERO HOLDCO UK LTD, VALERO HOLDINGS INC., VALERO INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS INC., VALERO LIVE OAK LLC, VALERO LOGISTICS UK LTD, VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPLY (PANAMA) LLC, VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPLY COMPANY, VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPLY DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPLY DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPY INTERNATIONAL LTD., VALERO MARKETING IRELAND LIMITED, VALERO MKS LOGISTICS L.L.C., VALERO NEDERLAND COOPERATIEF U.A., VALERO NEDERLAND COOPERATIEF U.A., VALERO NEW AMSTERDAM B.V., VALERO OMEGA COMPANY L.L.C., VALERO OPERATIONAL SERVICES DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO OPERATIONAL SERVICES DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO OPERATIONS SUPPORT LTD, VALERO PARTNERS CCTS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS CORPUS EAST LLC, VALERO PARTNERS CORPUS WEST LLC, VALERO PARTNERS EP LLC, VALERO PARTNERS HOUSTON LLC, VALERO PARTNERS LOUISIANA LLC, VALERO PARTNERS LUCAS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS MCKEE LLC, VALERO PARTNERS MEMPHIS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS MERAUX LLC, VALERO PARTNERS NORTH TEXAS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS OPERATING CO. LLC, VALERO PARTNERS PAPS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS PORT ARTHUR LLC, VALERO PARTNERS SOUTH TEXAS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS TEXAS CITY LLC, VALERO PARTNERS THREE RIVERS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS WEST MEMPHIS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS WEST TEXAS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS WYNNEWOOD LLC, VALERO PAYMENT SERVICES COMPANY, VALERO PEMBROKESHIRE LLC, VALERO PEMBROKESHIRE OIL TERMINAL LTD, VALERO PLAINS COMPANY LLC, VALERO POWER MARKETING LLC, VALERO RAIL OPERATIONS DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO RAIL OPERATIONS DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO RAIL PARTNERS LLC, VALERO REFINING AND MARKETING COMPANY, VALERO REFINING COMPANY-ARUBA N.V., VALERO REFINING COMPANY-CALIFORNIA, VALERO REFINING COMPANY-OKLAHOMA, VALERO REFINING COMPANY-TENNESSEE L.L.C., VALERO REFINING-MERAUX LLC, VALERO REFINING-NEW ORLEANS L.L.C., VALERO REFINING-TEXAS L.P., VALERO RENEWABLE FUELS COMPANY LLC, VALERO SECURITY SYSTEMS INC., VALERO SERVICES INC., VALERO SKELLYTOWN PIPELINE LLC, VALERO TEJAS COMPANY LLC, VALERO TERMINAL HOLDCO LTD, VALERO TERMINALING AND DISTRIBUTION COMPANY, VALERO TERMINALING AND DISTRIBUTION DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO TEXAS POWER MARKETING INC., VALERO ULTRAMAR HOLDINGS INC., VALERO UNIT INVESTMENTS L.L.C., VALERO WEST WALES LLC, VRG PROPERTIES COMPANY, VTD PROPERTIES COMPANY, WARSHALL COMPANY LLC, and ZELIG COMMERCIAL INC.. Batero Gold Corp., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration and development of mineral properties in Colombia. The company primarily explores for gold, copper, and silver deposits. It owns a 100% interest in the Batero-Quinchia project, which consists of 1,407-hectare tenement and two applications for a concession contract of 169 hectares situated in the municipality of Quinchia, Department of Risaralda, Colombia. The company was formerly known as Angus Resources Inc. and changed its name to Batero Gold Corp. in July 2010. Batero Gold Corp. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Read More Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA provides dialysis care and related dialysis care services in Germany, North America, and internationally. It offers dialysis treatment and related laboratory and diagnostic services through a network of outpatient dialysis clinics; materials, training, and patient support services comprising clinical monitoring, follow-up assistance, and arranging for delivery of the supplies to the patient's residence; and dialysis services under contract to hospitals in the United States for the hospitalized end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and for patients suffering from acute kidney failure. The company also develops, manufactures, and distributes dialysis products, including polysulfone dialyzers, hemodialysis machines, peritoneal dialysis cyclers, peritoneal dialysis solutions, hemodialysis concentrates, solutions and granulates, bloodlines, renal pharmaceuticals, and systems for water treatment; and non-dialysis products, such as acute cardiopulmonary and apheresis products. In addition, it develops, acquires, and in-licenses renal pharmaceuticals; offers renal medications and supplies to patients at homes or to dialysis clinics; and provides vascular, cardiovascular, endovascular specialty, vascular care ambulatory surgery center, and physician nephrology and cardiology services. The company sells its products to dialysis clinics, hospitals, and specialized treatment clinics directly, as well as through local sales forces, independent distributors, dealers, and sales agents. As of December 31, 2020, it operated 4,092 outpatient dialysis clinics in approximately 150 countries. Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Bad Homburg, Germany. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Centene: APS Parent Inc., AWC of Syracuse Inc., Absolute Total Care Inc., AcariaHealth Inc., AcariaHealth Pharmacy #11 Inc., AcariaHealth Pharmacy #12 Inc., AcariaHealth Pharmacy #13 Inc., AcariaHealth Pharmacy #14 Inc., AcariaHealth Pharmacy Inc., AcariaHealth Solutions Inc., Access Medical Acquisition LLC, Access Medical Group of Florida City LLC, Access Medical Group of Hialeah LLC, Access Medical Group of Lakeland LLC, Access Medical Group of Miami LLC, Access Medical Group of North Miami Beach LLC, Access Medical Group of Opa-Locka LLC, Access Medical Group of Perrine LLC, Access Medical Group of Tampa II LLC, Access Medical Group of Tampa III LLC, Access Medical Group of Tampa LLC, Access Medical Group of Westchester LLC, Accountable Care Coalition Direct Contracting LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Chesapeake LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Community Health Centers II LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Community Health Centers LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Elite Providers II LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Elite Providers III LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Elite Providers IV LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Elite Providers LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Elite Providers V LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Elite Providers VI LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Elite Providers VII LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Florida Partners LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Georgia LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Maryland LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Maryland Primary Care LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Mississippi LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of New Jersey Inc., Accountable Care Coalition of North Texas LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Northeast Georgia LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Northeast Partners LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Northwest Florida LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Prime Health LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Quality Health II LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Quality Health III LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Quality Health LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Southeast Partners LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Southeast Physician Partners LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Southeast Texas Inc., Accountable Care Coalition of Southeast Wisconsin LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Tennessee LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Texas Inc., Agate Resources Inc., AirLogix, Ambetter of Magnolia Inc., Ambetter of North Carolina Inc., Ambetter of Peach State Inc., America's 1st Choice California Holdings LLC, American Progressive Life and Health Insurance Company of New York, Apixio, Apixio Inc, Arch Personalized Medicine Initiative LLC, Arkansas Health & Wellness Health Plan Inc., Arkansas Total Care Holding Company LLC, Arkansas Total Care Inc., B2B Gestion Integra S.L.U., B2B Salud S.L.U., Bankers Reserve Life Insurance Company of Wisconsin, Blackcrow Asistencia Medica S.L, Bridgeway Health Solutions LLC, Bridgeway Health Solutions of Arizona Inc., Buckeye Community Health Plan Inc., Buckeye Health Plan Community Solutions Inc., CCTX Holdings LLC, CMC Real Estate Company LLC, CT Poprad s.r.o., CT Presov s.r.o., Calibrate Acquisition Company, California Health and Wellness Plan, Cantina Laredo Clayton LP, Cardium Health Services, Care 1st Health Plan of Arizona Inc., Care1st Health Plan Administrative Services Inc., Carolina Complete Health Holding Company Partnership, Carolina Complete Health Inc., Casenet LLC, Casenet S.R.O., CeltiCare Health Plan Holdings LLC, CeltiCare Health Plan of Massachusetts Inc., Celtic Group Inc., Celtic Insurance Company, Cenpatico Behavioral Health LLC, Cenpatico Behavioral Health of Arizona LLC, Cenpatico of Arizona Inc., Centene Center I LLC, Centene Center II LLC, Centene Center LLC, Centene Company of Texas LP, Centene Europe Finance Company Limited, Centene Health Plan Holdings Inc., Centene Institute for Advanced Health Education LLC, Centene International Ventures LLC, Centene Investments LLC, Centene Management Company LLC, Centene Venture Company Alabama Health Plan Inc., Centene Venture Company Florida Inc., Centene Venture Company Illinois Inc., Centene Venture Company Indiana Inc., Centene Venture Company Kansas Inc., Centene Venture Company Michigan Inc., Centene Venture Company Tennessee Inc., Centro Inmunologocia De La Comunidad Valenciana S.L., Centurion Correctional Healthcare of New Mexico LLC, Centurion Detention Health Services LLC, Centurion LLC, Centurion of Arizona LLC, Centurion of Delaware LLC, Centurion of Florida LLC, Centurion of Kansas LLC, Centurion of Minnesota LLC, Centurion of Mississippi LLC, Centurion of New Hampshire LLC, Centurion of Pennsylvania LLC, Centurion of Tennessee LLC, Centurion of Vermont LLC, Centurion of West Virginia LLC, Centurion of Wyoming LLC, Chrysalis Medical Services LLC, Clinica Santo Domingo De Lugo S.L., Collaborative Health Systems IPA LLC, Collaborative Health Systems LLC, Collaborative Health Systems of Maryland LLC, Collaborative Health Systems of Virginia LLC, Comfort Hospice of Missouri LLC, Comfort Hospice of Texas LLC, ComfortBrook Hospice LLC, Community Medical Group, Community Medical Holdings Corporation, Comprehensive Health Management Inc., Comprehensive Reinsurance Ltd., Coordinated Care Corporation, Coordinated Care of Washington Inc., Country Style Health Care LLC, Discare CZ a.s., District Community Care Inc., Dr Magnet s.r.o., Elche-Crevillente Salud, Envolve Benefits Options Inc., Envolve Captive Insurance Company Inc., Envolve Dental IPA of New York Inc., Envolve Dental Inc., Envolve Dental of Florida Inc., Envolve Dental of Texas Inc., Envolve Health, Envolve Holdings Inc., Envolve Inc., Envolve Optical Inc., Envolve PeopleCare Inc., Envolve Pharmacy IPA LLC, Envolve Pharmacy Solutions Inc., Envolve Total Vision Inc., Envolve Vision Benefits Inc., Envolve Vision IPA of New York Inc., Envolve Vision Inc., Envolve Vision of Florida Inc., Envolve Vision of Texas Inc., Essential Care Partners LLC, Exactus Pharmacy Solutions Inc., Family Nurse Care II LLC, Family Nurse Care LLC, Family Nurse Care of Ohio LLC, Fidelis Care, Forensic Health Services LLC, Foundation Care LLC, Godgrace Asistencia Medica S.L., Golden Triangle Physician Alliance, Grace Hospice of Austin LLC, Grace Hospice of Grand Rapids LLC, Grace Hospice of Illinois LLC, Grace Hospice of Indiana LLC, Grace Hospice of San Antonio LLC, Grace Hospice of Virginia LLC, Grace Hospice of Wisconsin LLC, Granite State Health Plan Inc., Growly Asistencia Sanitaria S.L., HHS Texas Management Inc., HHS Texas Management LP, Hallmark Life Insurance Company, Harmony Behavioral Health IPA Inc., Harmony Behavioral Health Inc., Harmony Health Management Inc., Harmony Health Plan Inc., Harmony Health Systems Inc., Health Care Enterprises LLC, Health Net Access Inc., Health Net Community Solutions Inc., Health Net Community Solutions of Arizona Inc., Health Net Federal Services LLC, Health Net Health Plan of Oregon Inc., Health Net LLC, Health Net Life Insurance Company, Health Net Life Reinsurance Company, Health Net Pharmaceutical Services, Health Net of Arizona Inc., Health Net of California Inc., Health Plan Real Estate Holdings Inc., HealthSmart Benefit Solutions Inc., HealthSmart Benefits Management LLC, HealthSmart Care Management Solutions LP, HealthSmart Information Systems Inc., HealthSmart Preferred Care II LP, HealthSmart Preferred Network II Inc., HealthSmart Primary Care Clinics LP, HealthSmart Rx Solutions Inc., Healthy Louisiana Holdings LLC, Healthy Missouri Holdings Inc., Healthy Washington Holdings Inc., Heritage Health Systems Inc., Heritage Health Systems of Texas Inc., Heritage Home Hospice LLC, Heritage Physician Networks, Home State Health Plan Inc., HomeScripts.com LLC, Hospice DME Company LLC, Hospinet S.L., Hospital Polusa S.A., Hospital Povisa S.A., Hudson Accountable Care LLC, IAH of Florida LLC, Illinois Health Practice Alliance LLC, Infraestructuras y Servicios de Alzira S. L., Integrated Care Network of Florida LLC, Integrated Mental Health Management LLC, Integrated Mental Health Services, Interpreta Holdings Inc., Interpreta Inc., Iowa Total Care Inc., Kentucky Spirit Health Plan Inc., LBB Industries Inc., LifeShare Management Group LLC, LiveHealthier Inc., Louisiana Healthcare Connections Inc., MH Services International Holdings (UK) Limited, MHM, MHM Correctional Services LLC, MHM Health Professionals LLC, MHM Services Inc., MHM Services of California LLC, MHM Solutions LLC, MHN Government Services LLC, MHN Services LLC, MHS Consulting International Inc., MHS Travel & Charter Inc., MR Centrum Melnick s.r.o., MR Poprad s.r.o., MR Zilina s.r.o., Magnolia Health Plan Inc., Managed Health Network, Managed Health Network LLC, Managed Health Services Insurance Corporation, Maryland Collaborative Care LLC, Maryland Collaborative Care Transformation Organization Inc., Mauli Ola Health and Wellness Inc., Medicina NZ spol s.r.o., Meridian Health Plan of Illinois Inc., Meridian Health Plan of Michigan Inc., Meridian Management Company LLC, Meridian Network Services LLC, MeridianRx IPA LLC, MeridianRx LLC, MeridianRx of Indiana LLC, Michigan Complete Health, Mid-Atlantic Collaborative Care LLC, Nebraska Total Care Inc., Network Providers LLC, New York Quality Healthcare Corporation, Next Door Neighbors Inc., Next Door Neighbors LLC., North Florida Health Services Inc., Northern Maryland Collaborative Care LLC, Novasys Health Inc., OB Care, OB Klinika, Ohana Health Plan Inc., Oklahoma Complete Health Inc., One Care by Care 1st Health Plans of Arizona Inc, Operose Health (Group) Ltd., Operose Health (Group) UK Ltd., Operose Health Ltd., OptiCare Health Systems - Managed Vision Business, PANTHERx Rare Pharmacy, Panther Pass Co LLC, Panther Specialty Holding Co LLC, Pantherx Access Services LLC, Pantherx Specialty LLC, Parker LP LLC, Peach State Health Plan Inc., Penn Marketing America LLC, Pennsylvania Health and Wellness Inc., Phoenix Home Health Care LLC, Pinnacle Home Care LLC, Pinnacle Senior Care of Illinois LLC, Pinnacle Senior Care of Indiana LLC, Pinnacle Senior Care of Kalamazoo LLC, Pinnacle Senior Care of Missouri LLC, Pinnacle Senior Care of Wisconsin LLC, Premier Marketing Group LLC, PrimeroSalud S.L., Pro Diagnostic Group A.S., Pro Magnet CZ s.r.o., Pro Magnet s.r.o, Pro RTG s.r.o, Progress Medical A.S., Prowl Holdings LLC, QCA Healthplan Inc., Qualchoice Life and Health Insurance Company, Quincy Coverage Corporation, R&C Healthcare LLC, RMED LLC, RX Direct Inc., Rapid Respiratory Services LLC, Ribera Lab S.L.U., Ribera Salud II, Ribera Salud Proyectos S.L., Ribera Salud S.A., Ribera Salud Tecnologias S.L.U., Ribera Slaud Infraestructuras S.L.U., Ribera-Quilpro UTE, Salus Administrative Services Inc., Salus IPA LLC, Secure Capital Solutions 2000 S.L.U., SelectCare Health Plans Inc., SelectCare of Texas Inc., Seniorcorps Peninsula LLC, Servicios De Mantenimiento Prevencor S.L.U., SilverSummit Healthplan Inc., Social Health Bridge LLC, Social Health Bridge Trust, Specialty Therapeutic Care GP LLC, Specialty Therapeutic Care Holdings, Specialty Therapeutic Care Holdings LLC, Specialty Therapeutic Care LP, Sunflower State Health Plan Inc., Sunshine Health Community Solutions Inc., Sunshine Health Holding LLC, Sunshine State Health Plan Inc., Superior HealthPlan Community Solutions Inc., Superior HealthPlan Inc., The Practice Properties Limited, The WellCare Management Group Inc., Torrejon Salud S.A., Torrevieja Salud S.L.U., Torrevieja Salud UTE, Traditional Home Health Services LLC, Trillium Community Health Plan Inc., U.S. Medical Management Holdings Inc., U.S. Medical Management LLC, UAM Agent Services Corp., US Script, USMM Accountable Care Partners LLC, Universal American Corp., Universal American Financial Services Inc., Universal American Holdings LLC, WCG Health Management Inc., WellCare Health Insurance Company of America, WellCare Health Insurance Company of Kentucky Inc., WellCare Health Insurance Company of Louisiana Inc., WellCare Health Insurance Company of Nevada Inc., WellCare Health Insurance Company of New Hampshire Inc., WellCare Health Insurance Company of New Jersey Inc., WellCare Health Insurance Company of Oklahoma Inc., WellCare Health Insurance Company of Washington Inc., WellCare Health Insurance Company of Wisconsin Inc., WellCare Health Insurance of Arizona Inc., WellCare Health Insurance of Connecticut Inc., WellCare Health Insurance of Hawaii Inc., WellCare Health Insurance of New York Inc., WellCare Health Insurance of North Carolina Inc., WellCare Health Insurance of Southwest Inc., WellCare Health Insurance of Tennessee Inc., WellCare Health Plans, WellCare Health Plans of Arizona Inc., WellCare Health Plans of California Inc., WellCare Health Plans of Kentucky Inc., WellCare Health Plans of Massachusetts Inc., WellCare Health Plans of Missouri Inc., WellCare Health Plans of New Jersey Inc., WellCare Health Plans of Rhode Island Inc., WellCare Health Plans of Tennessee Inc., WellCare Health Plans of Vermont Inc., WellCare Health Plans of Wisconsin Inc., WellCare National Health Insurance Company, WellCare Pharmacy Benefits Management Inc., WellCare Prescription Insurance Inc., WellCare of Alabama Inc., WellCare of Arkansas Inc., WellCare of California Inc., WellCare of Connecticut Inc., WellCare of Florida Inc., WellCare of Georgia Inc., WellCare of Illinois Inc., WellCare of Indiana Inc., WellCare of Kansas Inc., WellCare of Maine Inc., WellCare of Michigan Holding Company, WellCare of Mississippi Inc., WellCare of Missouri Health Insurance Company Inc., WellCare of New Hampshire Inc., WellCare of New York Inc., WellCare of North Carolina Inc., WellCare of Ohio Inc., WellCare of Oklahoma Inc., WellCare of Pennsylvania Inc., WellCare of Puerto Rico Inc., WellCare of South Carolina Inc., WellCare of Texas Inc., WellCare of Virginia Inc., WellCare of Washington Inc., Wellcare Health Plans Inc., Western Sky Community Care Inc., Windsor Health Group Inc., Winning Security S.L., Worlco Management Services, and nirvanaHealth LLC. Conifex Timber Inc. primarily manufactures and sells lumber products in the United States, China, Canada, Japan, and internationally. It is involved in the timber harvesting, reforestation, and forest management activities; manufacture of finished softwood lumber from spruce, pine, and fir logs; manufacture, sale, and distribution of dimension lumber; processing logs into lumber and wood chips, as well as by-products or residues, such as trim blocks, sawdust, shavings, and barks; and providing value added lumber finishing services. The company also develops bioenergy and bio products; and operates a 36 megawatt biomass power generation plant, which produces renewable energy for commercial sale. The company was formerly known as West Fourth Capital Inc. and changed its name to Conifex Timber Inc. in June 2010. Conifex Timber Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Illinois Tool Works: A V Co 1 Limited, A V Co 2 Limited, A V Co 3 Limited, ACCU-LUBE Manufacturing GmbH - Schmiermittel und -gerate -, AIP/BI Holdings Inc., Accessories Marketing Holding Corp., Advanced Molding Company Inc., Allen Coding GmbH, Allen France SAS, Alpine Automation Limited, Alpine Engineered Products, Alpine Holdings Inc., Alpine Systems Corporation, Anaerobicos S.r.l., AppliChem GmbH, Arylux Hungary Elektromechanikus Alkatreszgyarto Kft, Avery Berkel France, Avery India Limited, Avery Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avery Weigh Tronix, Avery Weigh-Tronix (Suzhou) Weighing Technology Co. Ltd., Avery Weigh-Tronix Finance Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Holdings Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix International Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix LLC, Avery Weigh-Tronix Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Properties Limited, Azon Limited, B.C. Immo, Beijing Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Berkel (Ireland) Limited, Berrington UK, Brapenta Eletronica Ltda., Brooks Instrument (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Brooks Instrument B.V., Brooks Instrument GmbH, Brooks Instrument KFT, Brooks Instrument Korea Ltd., Brooks Instrument LLC, Buell Industries Inc., CAPMAX Logistica S.A. de C.V., CCI Realty Company, CFC Europe GmbH, CS (Australia) Pty Limited, CS (Finance) Europe S.a.r.l., CS Mexico Holding Company S DE RL DE CV, CSMTS LLC, Calvia Spolka z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnosci, Capital Ventures (Australasia) S.a r.l, Capmax Logistica S.A. de C.V., Celeste Industries Corporation, Coeur, Coeur (Shanghai) Medical Appliance Trading Co. Ltd, Coeur Asia Limited, Coeur Holding Company, Coeur Inc., Compagnie Hobart, Compagnie de Materiel et d'Equipements Techniques-Comet, Constructions Isothermiques Bontami C.I.B., Crane Carrier Company, Despatch Industries, Diagraph Corporation Sdn. Bhd, Diagraph ITW Mexico S. de R.L. De C.V., Diagraph Mexico S.A. DE C.V., Dongguan Ark-Les Electric Components Co. Ltd., Dongguan CK Branding Co. Ltd., Dorbyl U.K. (Holdings) Limited, Duo Fast de Espana S.A.U., Duo-Fast Korea Co. Ltd., Duo-Fast LLC, E.C.S. d.o.o., ECS Cable Protection Sp. Zoo, ELRO (Holding) AG, ELRO Grosskuchen GmbH, ELRO-WERKE AG, Elga Skandinavian AS, Elro Group, Eltex-Elektrostatik-Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Envases Multipac S.A. de C.V., Eurotec Srl, FEG Investments L.L.C., Fasver, Filtertek, Filtertek De Mexico Holding Inc., Filtertek De Mexico S.A. de C.V., GC Financement SA, Gamko B.V., Gun Hwa Platech (Taicang) Co. Ltd., HOBART Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Hartness International, Hobart (Japan) K.K., Hobart Andina S.A.S., Hobart Brothers International Chile Limitada, Hobart Brothers LLC, Hobart Dayton Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Hobart Food Equipment Co. Ltd., Hobart Foster Belgium, Hobart International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Hobart Korea LLC, Hobart LLC, Hobart Nederland B.V., Hobart Sales & Service Inc., Hobart Scandinavia ApS, Hobart Techniek B.V., Horis, ILC Investments Holdings Inc., ITW (China) Investment Company Limited, ITW (Deutschland) GmbH, ITW (EU) Holdings Ltd., ITW (European) Finance Co. Ltd., ITW (European) Finance II Co. Ltd., ITW (European) Finance III Co. Ltd., ITW (Ningbo) Components & Fastenings Systems Co. Ltd., ITW AEP LLC, ITW AOC LLC, ITW Aircraft Investments Inc., ITW Alpha Sarl, ITW Ampang Industries Philippines Inc., ITW Appliance Components EOOD, ITW Appliance Components S.A. de C.V., ITW Appliance Components S.r.l.a, ITW Appliance Components d.o.o., ITW Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, ITW Australia Property Holdings Pty Ltd., ITW Australia Pty Ltd, ITW Automotive Components (Chongqing) Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Components (Langfang) Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Japan K.K., ITW Automotive Korea LLC, ITW Automotive Parts (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, ITW Automotive Products GmbH, ITW Automotive Products Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Bailly Comte, ITW Befestigungssysteme GmbH, ITW Belgium, ITW Brazilian Nominee L.L.C., ITW Building Components Group Inc., ITW CER, ITW CP Distribution Center Holland BV, ITW CS (UK) Ltd., ITW Canada Inc., ITW Celeste Inc., ITW Chemical Products Ltda, ITW Chemical Products Scandinavia ApS, ITW Colombia S.A.S., ITW Construction Products (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW Construction Products (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., ITW Construction Products AB, ITW Construction Products AS, ITW Construction Products ApS, ITW Construction Products CZ s.r.o., ITW Construction Products Italy Srl, ITW Construction Products OU, ITW Construction Products OY, ITW Contamination Control (Wujiang) Co. Ltd., ITW Contamination Control B.V., ITW Covid Security Group Inc., ITW DS Investments Inc., ITW DelFast do Brasil Ltda., ITW Delta Sarl, ITW Denmark ApS, ITW Dynatec, ITW Dynatec Adhesive Equipment (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., ITW Dynatec GmbH, ITW Dynatec Kabushiki Kaisha, ITW EAE B.V., ITW EAE Mexico S de RL de CV, ITW EF&C France SAS, ITW EF&C Selb GmbH, ITW Electronic Business Asia Co. Limited, ITW Electronic Components/Products (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW Electronics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., ITW Epsilon Sarl, ITW Espana S.A., ITW FEG Hong Kong Limited, ITW FEG do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW Fastener Products GmbH, ITW Finance Designated Activity Company, ITW Finance Europe S.A., ITW Fluids and Hygiene Solutions Ltda., ITW Food Equipment Group LLC, ITW France Finance Alpha S.A.S., ITW GH LLC, ITW GSE ApS, ITW GSE Inc., ITW Gamma Sarl, ITW German Management LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings Y Compania Sociedad en Comandita por Acciones, ITW Global Investments II Inc., ITW Global Investments Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Europe GmbH, ITW Global Tire Repair Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Japan K.K., ITW Graphics (Thailand) Ltd., ITW Graphics Asia Limited, ITW Graphics Italy S.R.L. in liquidazione, ITW Great Britain Investment & Licensing Holding Company, ITW Group France (Luxembourg) S.ar.l., ITW HLP Thailand Co. Ltd., ITW Holding Quimica B.C. S.L. Sole Shareholder Company, ITW Holdings Australia L.P., ITW Holdings I Limited, ITW Holdings II Limited, ITW Holdings III Limited, ITW Holdings IV Limited, ITW Holdings IX Limited, ITW Holdings Inc., ITW Holdings UK, ITW Holdings V Limited, ITW Holdings VI Limited, ITW Holdings VII Limited, ITW Holdings VIII Limited, ITW Holdings X Limited, ITW Holdings XI Limited, ITW Hungary Finance Beta Kft, ITW ILC Holdings I Inc., ITW IPG Investments LLC, ITW Imaden Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW India Private Limited, ITW International Holdings LLC, ITW Invest Holding GmbH, ITW Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, ITW Ireland Unlimited Company, ITW Italy Finance Srl, ITW Italy Holding Srl, ITW Japan Ltd., ITW Korea LLC, ITW LLC & Co. KG, ITW Limited, ITW Lombard Holdings Inc., ITW Lys Fusion S.r.l., ITW M FILMS II LLC, ITW MH LLC, ITW Meritex Sdn. Bhd., ITW Metal Fasteners S.L., ITW Mexico Holding Company S. De R.L. de C.V., ITW Mexico Holdings LLC, ITW Morlock GmbH, ITW Mortgage Investments II Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments III Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments IV Inc., ITW Netherlands Administration BV, ITW Netherlands Beta B.V., ITW Netherlands Finance Alpha BV, ITW New Universal LLC, ITW New Zealand, ITW Novadan Sp. Z.o.o., ITW PPF Brasil Adesivos Ltda., ITW Packaging Technology (China) Co. Ltd., ITW Participations S.a r.l., ITW Pension Funds Trustee Company, ITW Performance Plastic (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Japan Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Korea Limited, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids OOO, ITW Performance Polymers (Wujiang) Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers ApS, ITW Performance Polymers and Fluids Group FZE, ITW Peru S.A.C., ITW Philippines Holdings LLC, ITW Poly Mex S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Polymers Sealants North America Inc., ITW Pronovia s.r.o., ITW Pte. Ltd., ITW Qufu Automotive Cooling Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Real Estate Germany GmbH, ITW Residuals III L.L.C., ITW Residuals IV L.L.C., ITW Rivex, ITW SMPI, ITW SPG Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Simco-Ion (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., ITW Slovakia s.r.o., ITW Spain Holdings S.L., ITW Specialty Film LLC, ITW Specialty Films France, ITW Specialty Materials (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., ITW Spraytec, ITW Sverige AB, ITW Sweden Holding AB, ITW Test & Measurement Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, ITW Test & Measurement GmbH, ITW Test and Measurement Italia Srl, ITW Test and Measurement Services Industry and Trade Ltd., ITW Texwipe Philippines Inc., ITW Thermal Films (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW UK, ITW UK Finance Beta Limited, ITW UK Finance Delta Limited, ITW UK Finance Gamma Limited, ITW UK Finance Limited, ITW UK Finance Zeta Ltd., ITW UK II Limited, ITW Universal II LLC, ITW Welding, ITW Welding AB, ITW Welding GmbH, ITW Welding Products B.V., ITW Welding Products Group FZE, ITW Welding Products Group S. DE R.L. De C.V., ITW Welding Products Italy Srl, ITW Welding Products Limited Liability Company, ITW Welding Produtos Para Solgdagem Ltda., ITW Welding Servicios Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Welding Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW de France, ITW do Brasil Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Ideal Molding Technologies LLC, Illinois Tool Works (Chile) Limitada, Illinois Tool Works (ITW) Nederland B.V., Illinois Tool Works Norway AS, Impar Comercio E Representacoes Ltda., Industrie Plastic Elsasser GmbH, Inmobiliaria Cit. S.A. de C.F., Innova Temperlite Servicios S.A. de C.V., Innovacion y Transformacion Automotriz S.A. de C.V., Instron (Shanghai) Ltd., Instron (Thailand) Limited, Instron Brasil Equipamentos Cientificos Ltda., Instron Foreign Sales Corp. Limited, Instron France S.A.S., Instron GmbH, Instron Holdings Limited, Instron International Limited, Instron Japan Company Ltd., Instron Korea LLC, International Leasing Company LLC, International Truss Systems Proprietary Limited, Isolenge - ITW Sistemas de Isolamento Termico Ltda., KCPL Mauritius Holdings, Kester, Kester Components (M) Sdn. Bhd., Kleinmann GmbH, Krafft S.L., Loma Systems, Loma Systems (Canada) Inc., Loma Systems BV, Loma Systems sro, Lombard Pressings Limited, Lumex Inc., Lys Fusion Poland Sp. z.o.o., M&C Specialties (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., M&C Specialties Co., MAGNAFLUX GmbH, MEHB Holdings Limited, MGHG Property LLC, MOA Enterprises Inc, Manufacturing Avancee S.A., Meritex Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Meurer Verpackungssysteme GmbH, Miller Electric Mfg. LLC, Miller Insurance Ltd., NDT Holding LLC, NOVADAN APS, Norden Olje AB, North Star Imaging Europe, North Star Imaging Inc., Nova Chimica S.r.l., Orbitalum Tools GmbH, PENTA-91 OOO, PR. A. I. Srl, PT ITW Construction Products Indonesia, Pacific Concept Industries Limited (Enping), Panreac Quimica S.L., Paslode Fasteners (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Peerless Machinery Corp., Penta Dnepr LLC, Penta Sever OOO, Penta Volga OOO, Polyrey, Premark FEG L.L.C., Premark HII Holdings LLC, Premark International, Premark International LLC, Prolex Sociedad Anonima, QSA Global Inc., Quimica Industrial Mediterranea S.L., Ramset Fasteners (Hong Kong) Ltd., Rapid Cook LLC, Refrigeration France, S.E.E. Sistemas Industria E Comercio Ltda., ST Mexico Holdings LLC, Sealant Systems International Inc., Sentinel Asia Yuhan Hoesa, Shanghai ITW Plastic & Metal Co. Ltd, Simco (Nederland) B.V., Simco Japan Inc., Societe de Prospection et dInventions Techniques SPIT, Speedline Holdings I Inc., Speedline Holdings I LLC, Speedline Technologies GmbH, Speedline Technologies Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Speedline Technologies Mexico Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Stokvis Celix Portugal Unipessoal LDA, Stokvis Danmark ApS, Stokvis Holdings S.A.R.L., Stokvis Promi s.r.o, Stokvis Prostick Tapes Private Limited, Stokvis Tapes (Hong Kong) Co. Limited, Stokvis Tapes (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes (Taiwan) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes BVBA, Stokvis Tapes Benelux B.V., Stokvis Tapes Deutschland GmbH, Stokvis Tapes France, Stokvis Tapes Italia s.r.l., Stokvis Tapes Limited, Stokvis Tapes Limited Liability Company, Stokvis Tapes Norge AS, Stokvis Tapes Oy, Stokvis Tapes Polska Sp Z.O.O., Stokvis Tapes Sverige AB, Stolvis Holdings II S.A.R.L., Technopack Industria Comercio Consultoria e Representacoes Ltda., Teknek (China) Limited, Teknek (Japan) Limited, Teksaleco Ltd., The Miller Group Ltd, Thirode Grandes Cuisines Poligny, Tien Tai Electrode (Kunshan) Co. Ltd., Tien Tai Electrode Co. Ltd., Unichemicals Industria e Comercio Ltda., VR-Leasing Sarita GmbH & Co. Immobilien KG, VS European Holdco BV, Valeron Strength Films B.V.B.A., Veneta Decalcogomme S.r.l., Versachem Chile S.A., Vesta, Vesta (Guangzhou) Catering Equipment Co. Ltd, Vesta Global Limited, Viltronics Soltec, Vitronics Soltec B.V., Wachs Canada Ltd., Wachs Subsea LLC, Weigh-Tronix Canada ULC, Weigh-Tronix UK Limited, Wilsonart International Holdings LLC, Wynn Oil (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd., Wynn's Automotive France, Wynn's Belgium BVBA, Wynn's Italia Srl, Wynn's Mekuba India Pvt Ltd, ZF TRW (Engineered Fasteners and Components), and Zip-Pak International B.V.. The following companies are subsidiares of Zimmer Biomet: Abbott Spine, Beijing Montagne Medical Device Co. Ltd., Beijing Montagne Medical Device Co. Ltd., BioMet, Biomet 3i Australia Pty. Ltd., Biomet 3i Belgium N.V., Biomet 3i Benelux Holdings N.V., Biomet 3i Dental Iberica SL, Biomet 3i LLC, Biomet 3i Mexico S.A. de C.V., Biomet 3i Netherlands B.V., Biomet 3i Nordic AB, Biomet 3i Portugal Lda, Biomet 3i Switzerland GmbH, Biomet 3i Turkey, Biomet 3i UK Ltd., Biomet 3i do Brasil Comercio de Aparelhos Medicos Ltda., Biomet Acquisitions (Unlimited), Biomet Argentina SA, Biomet Australia Pty. Ltd., Biomet Biologics LLC, Biomet Brazil Medical Device Ltda., Biomet C.V., Biomet CV Holdings LLC, Biomet Cementing Technologies AB, Biomet Chile SA, Biomet China Co. Ltd., Biomet Deutschland GmbH, Biomet Deutschland Holding GmbH, Biomet Fair Lawn LLC, Biomet Finance US LLC, Biomet France Sarl, Biomet Global Supply Chain Center B.V., Biomet Healthcare Management GmbH, Biomet Holdings B.V., Biomet Hong Kong CBT Ltd., Biomet Hong Kong Holding Ltd., Biomet Hong Kong No. 1 Ltd., Biomet Inc., Biomet Insurance Ltd., Biomet International Inc., Biomet International Orthopedics LLC, Biomet Leasing Inc., Biomet Manufacturing LLC, Biomet Mexico S.A. de C.V., Biomet Microfixation B.V., Biomet Orthopedics LLC, Biomet Orthopedics Puerto Rico Inc., Biomet Spain Orthopaedics S.L., Biomet Sports Medicine LLC, Biomet Trauma LLC, Biomet U.S. Reconstruction LLC, Biomet UK Healthcare Ltd., Biomet UK Ltd., CD Diagnostics, CD Diagnostics Inc., CD Laboratories Inc., Cayenne Medical, Cayenne Medical Inc., CelgenTek Innovations Corporation, Centerpulse Ltd, Changzhou Biomet Medical Devices Co. Ltd., Citra Labs LLC, Clinical Graphics, Compression Therapy Concepts Inc., Compression Therapy Products, D.S. Comp Ltd., Dornoch Medical Systems, Dornoch Medical Systems Inc., EBI Holdings LLC, EBI LLC, EBI Medical Systems LLC, EBI Patient Care Inc., ETEX Corporation, ETEX Holdings Inc., Electro-Biology LLC, Endius, Espanormed S.L., Etex, ExtraOrtho, Hakuho Company Ltd., IC Guided Surgery SRL, Implant Concierge LLC, Implant Innovations Holdings LLC, Implex, InnoVision Inc., Interpore Cross International LLC, JERDS Luxembourg Holding Sarl, Kirschner Medical Corporation, Knee Creations, LDR Brasil Comercio Importacao e Exportacao Ltda., LDR Holding, LDR Medical Hong Kong (branch), LDR Medical S.A.S., LVB Acquisition Inc., Lanx Puerto Rico LLC , Lanx Srl, Medical Compression Systems Inc., Medtech SA, Medtech SAS, Medtech Surgical GmbH, Medtech Surgical Inc., NORMED Medizin-Technik GmbH, ORTHOsoft ULC, Ortho Transmission, Orthopaedic Advantage LLC, Ospol Participacoes Ltda., Representaciones Zimmer Inc. S. de R.L. de C.V., Respondwell, SM Re Ltd., Scandimed Holding AB, Shanghai Biomet Business Consulting Co. Ltd., Synvasive Technology, Synvasive Technology Inc., ZB COOP C.V., ZB COOP LLC, ZB Cayman (Asia) Holding Ltd., ZB Cayman Island CBT 2 Ltd., ZB Dental India Private Limited, ZB EMEA 1 LP, ZB EMEA Finance UK 1 Ltd., ZB EMEA Finance UK 2 Ltd., ZB EMEA Finance UK 3 Ltd., ZB EMEA US UK LLC, ZB Hong Kong CBT 2 Ltd., ZB Hong Kong Holding Ltd., ZB Hong Kong Ltd., ZB Manufacturing LLC, ZB UK Group Holdings Limited, ZH2LX Barbados Branch (branch), Zfx, Zfx GmbH, Zfx Innovation GmbH, Zhejiang Biomet Medical Products Co. Ltd., Zimmer (Shanghai) Medical International Trading Co. Ltd., Zimmer Asia (HK) Ltd., Zimmer Australia Holding Pty. Ltd., Zimmer Biomet (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Zimmer Biomet Asel Alarabiya Limited Company, Zimmer Biomet Asia Holding B.V., Zimmer Biomet Asia Holdings Pte. Ltd., Zimmer Biomet Austria GmbH, Zimmer Biomet BVBA, Zimmer Biomet CBT, Zimmer Biomet CBT 2, Zimmer Biomet CMF and Thoracic LLC, Zimmer Biomet Canada Inc., Zimmer Biomet Centroamerica SA, Zimmer Biomet Comp Ltd., Zimmer Biomet Denmark ApS, Zimmer Biomet Dental Canada Inc., Zimmer Biomet Dental K.K., Zimmer Biomet Deutschland GmbH, Zimmer Biomet Distribution LLC, Zimmer Biomet Finance Srl, Zimmer Biomet Finance US Holding Inc., Zimmer Biomet Finland Oy, Zimmer Biomet France Holdings SAS, Zimmer Biomet France SAS, Zimmer Biomet GK, Zimmer Biomet Global Holdings Switzerland GmbH, Zimmer Biomet Hellas SA, Zimmer Biomet Ireland Limited, Zimmer Biomet Italia Srl, Zimmer Biomet Korea Ltd., Zimmer Biomet Nederland B.V., Zimmer Biomet New Zealand Company, Zimmer Biomet Norway AS, Zimmer Biomet OUS Holdings AG, Zimmer Biomet Polska Sp. z.o.o, Zimmer Biomet Portugal Unipessoal Lda, Zimmer Biomet Pty. Ltd., Zimmer Biomet Romania S.R.L., Zimmer Biomet South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Zimmer Biomet Spain S.L., Zimmer Biomet Spine Inc., Zimmer Biomet Sweden AB, Zimmer Biomet Taiwan Co. Ltd., Zimmer Biomet UK Ltd., Zimmer Biomet US 2 Holding Inc., Zimmer CBT I Holding Inc., Zimmer CBT II Holding Inc., Zimmer CEP USA Holding Co., Zimmer CEP USA Inc., Zimmer CIS Ltd., Zimmer CV Inc., Zimmer Caribe LLC, Zimmer Cayman Islands Holding Co. Ltd., Zimmer Co-op Holdings LLC, Zimmer Colombia SAS, Zimmer Czech sro, Zimmer Dental (Shanghai) Medical Device Co. Ltd., Zimmer Dental Chile Spa, Zimmer Dental GmbH, Zimmer Dental Inc., Zimmer Dental Italy Srl, Zimmer Dental Ltd., Zimmer Dental SAS, Zimmer Finance Ireland, Zimmer France Manufacturing Sarl, Zimmer Germany Holdings GmbH, Zimmer GmbH, Zimmer GmbH Euro IP Branch (branch), Zimmer GmbH Winterthur Branch (branch), Zimmer Gulf FZ LLC, Zimmer Inc., Zimmer India Private Ltd., Zimmer International Logistics GmbH, Zimmer Investments LLC, Zimmer Knee Creations Inc., Zimmer Luxembourg II Sarl, Zimmer Luxembourg Sarl, Zimmer Manufacturing B.V., Zimmer Manufacturing B.V. (branch), Zimmer Medical Malaysia SDN BHD, Zimmer Netherlands Cooperatief U.A., Zimmer Orthobiologics Inc., Zimmer Orthopedics Manufacturing Limited, Zimmer Production Inc., Zimmer Pte. Ltd., Zimmer Slovakia sro, Zimmer Southeast Florida LLC, Zimmer Spine Next Inc., Zimmer Spine SAS, Zimmer Surgical, Zimmer Surgical Inc., Zimmer Surgical SA, Zimmer Switzerland Holdings LLC, Zimmer Switzerland Manufacturing GmbH, Zimmer Tibbi Cihazlar Sanayi ve Ticaret AS, Zimmer Trabecular Metal Technology Inc., Zimmer Trustee Ltd., Zimmer UK Limited, Zimmer US Inc., and Zimmer do Brasil Comercio Ltda.. Reinsurance Group of America, Inc. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of traditional and non-traditional life and health reinsurance products. It operates through the following segments: U.S. and Latin America; Canada; Europe, Middle East, and Africa; Asia Pacific; and Corporate and Other. The U.S. and Latin America segment markets individual and group life and health reinsurance to domestic clients for a variety of products through yearly renewable term agreements, coinsurance, and modified coinsurance. The Canada segment offers individual life reinsurance, and to a lesser extent creditor, group life and health, critical illness and disability reinsurance, through yearly renewable term and coinsurance agreements. The Europe, Middle East, and Africa segment serves individual and group life and health products through yearly renewable term and coinsurance agreements, reinsurance of critical illness coverage that provides a benefit in the event of the diagnosis of a pre-defined critical illness and underwritten annuities. The Asia Pacific segment comprises individual and group life and health reinsurance, critical illness coverage, disability, and superannuation thr Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Procter & Gamble: "Procter & Gamble Services" LLC, "Procter & Gamble" LLC, Agile Pursuits, Agile Pursuits Franchising, Arbora, Arbora & Ausonia, Arborinvest, Billie, Braun (Shanghai) Co., Braun GmbH, Braun-Gillette Immobilien GmbH & Co. KG, Celtic Insurance Company, Compania Procter & Gamble Mexico, Compania Quimica S.A., Corporativo Procter & Gamble, Cosmetic Products Pty. Ltd., Detergent Products B.V., Detergent Products SARL, Detergenti S.A., Eurocos Cosmetic GmbH, FPG Oleochemicals Sdn. Bhd., Fameccanica Data S.p.A., Fameccanica Industria e Comercio Do Brasil LTDA., Fameccanica Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Fater S.p.A., Fountain Square Music Publishing Co., Gillette (China) Ltd., Gillette (Shanghai) Ltd., Gillette Aesop Ltd., Gillette Australia Pty. Ltd., Gillette Canada Holdings, Gillette Commercial Operations North America, Gillette Diversified Operations Pvt. Ltd., Gillette Egypt S.A.E., Gillette Group UK Ltd, Gillette Gruppe Deutschland GmbH & Co. oHG, Gillette Holding Company LLC, Gillette Holding GmbH, Gillette India Limited, Gillette Industries Ltd., Gillette International B.V., Gillette Latin America Holding B.V., Gillette Management LLC, Gillette Nova Scotia Company, Gillette Pakistan Limited, Gillette Poland International Sp. z.o.o., Gillette Poland S.A., Gillette U.K. Limited, Gillette del Uruguay, Giorgio Beverly Hills Inc., Hyginett KFT, Industries Marocaines Modernes SA, LLC "Procter & Gamble Novomoskovsk", LLL "Procter & Gamble Distributorskaya Compania", Laboratorios Vicks, Liberty Street Music Publishing Company, Limited Liability Company 'Procter & Gamble Trading Ukraine', Limited Liability Company with foreign investments Procter & and Gamble Ukraine, MDVIP, MERCK KGAA NPV, Marcvenca Inversiones, Modern Industries Company - Dammam, Modern Products Company - Jeddah, New Chapter, New Chapter Canada Inc., Olay LLC, Oral-B Laboratories, P&G Distribution Morocco SAS, P&G Hair Care Holding, P&G Industrial Peru S.R.L., P&G Innovation Godo Kaisha, P&G Israel M.D.O. Ltd., P&G K.K., P&G Northeast Asia Pte. Ltd., P&G Prestige Godo Kaisha, P&G Prestige Service GmbH, P&G South African Trading (Pty.) Ltd., PGT Health Care (Zhejiang) Limited, PGT Healthcare LLP, PPI ZAO, PT Procter & Gamble Home Products Indonesia, PT Procter & Gamble Operations Indonesia, Phase II Holdings Corporation, Procter & Gamble (Chengdu) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (China) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (China) Sales Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble (East Africa) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Egypt) Manufacturing Company, Procter & Gamble (Enterprise Fund) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Consumer Products Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Enterprise Management Service Company Limited, Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Health & Beauty Care) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Jiangsu) Ltd. China, Procter & Gamble (L&CP) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Procter & Gamble (Manufacturing) Ireland Limited, Procter & Gamble (Shanghai) International Trade Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Acquisition GmbH, Procter & Gamble Administration GmbH, Procter & Gamble Algeria EURL, Procter & Gamble Amazon Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Amiens S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Argentina SRL, Procter & Gamble Asia Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Australia Proprietary Limited, Procter & Gamble Azerbaijan Services LLC, Procter & Gamble Bangladesh Private Ltd., Procter & Gamble Blois S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Brazil Holdings B.V., Procter & Gamble Bulgaria EOOD, Procter & Gamble Business Services Canada Company, Procter & Gamble Canada Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Chile , Procter & Gamble Chile Limitada, Procter & Gamble Colombia Ltda., Procter & Gamble Commercial LLC, Procter & Gamble Commercial de Cuba S.A., Procter & Gamble Czech Republic s.r.o., Procter & Gamble DS Polska Sp. z o.o., Procter & Gamble Danmark ApS, Procter & Gamble Detergent (Beijing) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Deuttschland GmbH, Procter & Gamble Distributing (Philippines) Inc., Procter & Gamble Distributing New Zealand Limited, Procter & Gamble Distribution Company (Europe) BVBA, Procter & Gamble Distribution S.R.L., Procter & Gamble Eastern Europe, Procter & Gamble Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Procter & Gamble Egypt, Procter & Gamble Egypt Distribution, Procter & Gamble Egypt Holding, Procter & Gamble Egypt Supplies, Procter & Gamble Energy Company LLC, Procter & Gamble Espana, Procter & Gamble Europe SA, Procter & Gamble Export Operations SARL, Procter & Gamble Exportadora e Importadora Ltda., Procter & Gamble Exports, Procter & Gamble Fabricacao e Comercio Ltda., Procter & Gamble Far East, Procter & Gamble Finance (U.K.) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Finance Holding Ltd., Procter & Gamble Finance Management S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Financial Investments LLP, Procter & Gamble Financial Services Ltd., Procter & Gamble Financial Services S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Finland OY, Procter & Gamble France S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Germany GmbH, Procter & Gamble Germany GmbH & Co. Operations oHG, Procter & Gamble GmbH, Procter & Gamble Grundstucks-und Vermogensverwaltungs GmbH & Co. KG, Procter & Gamble Gulf FZE, Procter & Gamble Hair Care, Procter & Gamble Hellas Ltd., Procter & Gamble Holding (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Holding France S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Holding GmbH, Procter & Gamble Holding S.r.l., Procter & Gamble Holdings (UK) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Home Products Private Limited, Procter & Gamble Hong Kong Limited, Procter & Gamble Hungary Wholesale Trading Partnership (KKT), Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care Limited, Procter & Gamble Inc., Procter & Gamble India Holdings, Procter & Gamble Indochina Limited Company, Procter & Gamble Industrial - 2012 C.A., Procter & Gamble Industrial Colombia Ltda., Procter & Gamble Industrial S.C.A., Procter & Gamble Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Costa Rica, Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Guatemala, Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Panama, Procter & Gamble International Operations Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble International Operations SA, Procter & Gamble International Operations SA-ROHQ, Procter & Gamble International S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Investment Company (UK) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Investment GmbH, Procter & Gamble Italia, Procter & Gamble Japan K.K., Procter & Gamble Kazakhstan Distribution LLP, Procter & Gamble Kazakhstan LLP, Procter & Gamble Korea, Procter & Gamble Korea S&D Co., Procter & Gamble Lanka Private Ltd. Sri Lanka, Procter & Gamble Leasing LLC, Procter & Gamble Levant S.A.L., Procter & Gamble Limited, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Belgium N.V., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Berlin GmbH, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing GmbH, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing SA (Pty) Ltd, Procter & Gamble Marketing Romania SRL, Procter & Gamble Marketing and Services doo, Procter & Gamble Maroc SA, Procter & Gamble Mataro, Procter & Gamble Mexico Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Mexico Inc., Procter & Gamble Middle East FZE, Procter & Gamble Nederland B.V., Procter & Gamble Netherlands Investments B.V., Procter & Gamble Netherlands Services B.V., Procter & Gamble Nigeria Limited, Procter & Gamble Nordic, Procter & Gamble Norge AS, Procter & Gamble Operations Polska Sp. z o.o., Procter & Gamble Overseas India B.V., Procter & Gamble Overseas Ltd., Procter & Gamble Pakistan (Private) Limited, Procter & Gamble Partnership LLP, Procter & Gamble Peru S.R.L., Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals France SAS, Procter & Gamble Philippines, Procter & Gamble Polska Sp. z o.o, Procter & Gamble Portugal - Produtos De Consumo, Procter & Gamble Product Supply (U.K.) Limited U.K., Procter & Gamble Production GmbH, Procter & Gamble Productions, Procter & Gamble Productos de Consumo, Procter & Gamble RHD, Procter & Gamble RSC Regional Service Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble Retail Services BVBA, Procter & Gamble S.r.l., Procter & Gamble SA (Pty) Ltd, Procter & Gamble Satis ve Dagitim Ltd. Sti., Procter & Gamble Seine S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Service GmbH, Procter & Gamble Services (Switzerland) SA, Procter & Gamble Services Company N.V., Procter & Gamble Services Ltd., Procter & Gamble Share Incentive Plan Trustee Ltd., Procter & Gamble South America Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Spol. s.r.o. (Ltd.), Procter & Gamble Sports and Social Club Ltd., Procter & Gamble Sverige AB, Procter & Gamble Switzerland SARL, Procter & Gamble Taiwan Limited, Procter & Gamble Taiwan Sales Company Limited, Procter & Gamble Technical Centres Limited, Procter & Gamble Technology (Beijing) Co., Procter & Gamble Trading (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Tuketim Mallari Sanayii A.S., Procter & Gamble UK, Procter & Gamble UK Group Holdings Ltd, Procter & Gamble UK Parent Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble Universal Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Verwaltungs GmbH, Procter & Gamble Vietnam, Procter & Gamble d.o.o. za trgovinu, Procter & Gamble de Venezuela S.C.A., Procter & Gamble de Venezuela S.R.L., Procter & Gamble do Brasil S/A, Procter & Gamble do Brazil, Procter & Gamble do Nordeste S/A, Procter & Gamble-Rakona s.r.o., Progam Realty & Development Corporation, Redmond Products, Richardson-Vicks Real Estate Inc., Richardson-Vicks do Brasil Quimica e Farmaceutica Ltda, Riverfront Music Publishing Co., Rosemount LLC, SPD Development Company Limited, SPD Swiss Precision Diagnostics GmbH, Scannon S.A.S., Series Acquisition B.V., Shulton, Surfac S.R.L., Sycamore Productions, TAOS - FL, TAOS Retail, Tambrands Inc., Temple Trees Impex & Investment Private Limited, The Art of Shaving - FL, The Dover Wipes Company, The Gillette Company, The Gillette Company LLC, The Gillette co., The Procter & Gamble Distributing LLC, The Procter & Gamble GBS Company, The Procter & Gamble Global Finance Company, The Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Company, The Procter & Gamble Paper Products Company, The Procter & Gamble U.S. Business Services Company, This is L., US CD LLC, Vidal Sassoon (Shanghai) Academy, Vidal Sassoon Co., WEBA Betriebsrenten-Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Walker & Company Brands, and iMFLUX Inc.. Lloyds Banking Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of banking and financial services in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates through three segments: Retail; Commercial Banking; and Insurance and Wealth. The Retail segment offers a range of financial service products, including current accounts, savings accounts, mortgages, motor finance, unsecured loans, leasing solutions, credit cards, and other financial services to personal and small business customers. The Commercial Banking segment provides lending, transactional banking, working capital management, risk management, and debt capital market services to small and medium-sized entities, corporates, and financial institutions. The Insurance and Wealth segment offers life, home, and car insurance products; and pension, investment, and wealth management products and services. It also provides digital and mobile banking, and telephone services, as well as advisory services for savings, investments, and planning for retirement. The company offers its products and services under the Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Scottish Widows, MBNA, Schroders Personal Wealth, Black Horse, Lex Autolease, Birmingham Midshires, LDC, IWeb, and Agricultural Mortgage Corporation brands. Lloyds Banking Group plc was founded in 1695 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Read More Toyota Motor Corp. engages in the manufacture and sale of motor vehicles and parts. It operates through the following segments: Automotive, Financial Services, and All Other. The Automotive segment designs, manufactures, assembles and sells passenger cars, minivans, trucks, and related vehicle parts and accessories. It is also involved in the development of intelligent transport systems. The Financial Services segment offers purchase or lease financing to Toyota vehicle dealers and customers. It also provides retail leasing through lease contracts purchase by dealers. The All Others segment deals with the design and manufacture and sale of housing, telecommunications and other businesses. The company was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda on August 28, 1937 and is headquartered in Toyota, Japan. Read More Novan, Inc., a clinical development-stage biotechnology company, provides nitric oxide-based therapies to treat dermatological and oncovirus-mediated diseases. Its clinical stage dermatology drug candidates include SB204, a topical monotherapy for the treatment of acne vulgaris; SB206, a topical anti-viral gel for the treatment of viral skin infections; SB208, a topical broad-spectrum anti-fungal gel for the treatment of fungal infections of the skin and nails, including athlete's foot and fungal nail infections; and SB414, a topical cream-based gel product candidate for the treatment of inflammatory skin diseases. The company also develops SB207, an anti-viral product candidate for the treatment of external genital warts; WH602, a nitric oxide-containing intravaginal gel to treat high-risk human papilloma virus (HPV); WH504, a non-gel formulation product candidate to treat high-risk HPV; and SB019 for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2. Novan, Inc. has a license agreement with Sato Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; and a strategic alliance with Orion Corporation. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Morrisville, North Carolina. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Occidental Petroleum: 1PointFive Inc., 1PointFive P1 LLC, APC Aviation Inc., APC International Holdings LLC, APC Midstream Holdings LLC, APC Venezuela Srl, ARCO Long Beach, Altura Energy, Amarok Gathering LLC, Anadarko 20-25 Company, Anadarko 20-36 Company, Anadarko 20-47 Company, Anadarko 20-48 Company, Anadarko 20-49 Company, Anadarko Algeria Block 403 c/e Company, Anadarko Algeria Block 406B Company, Anadarko Algeria Company LLC, Anadarko Algeria Oil & Gas Company, Anadarko Brazil Investment I LLC, Anadarko Brazil Investment II LLC, Anadarko Canada E&P Limited, Anadarko China Holdings 2 Company, Anadarko Colombia Company, Anadarko Consolidated Holdings LLC, Anadarko Cote d'Ivoire Block 103 Company, Anadarko Cote d'Ivoire Company, Anadarko DBMOS Operator LLC, Anadarko Development Company, Anadarko Development Holding Limited, Anadarko E&P Onshore LLC, Anadarko Egypt Holdings Company, Anadarko Energy Holding Limited, Anadarko Energy Services Company, Anadarko Exploracao e Producao de Petroleo e Gas Natural Ltda., Anadarko Finance Company, Anadarko Gabon Company, Anadarko Ghana Mahogany-1 Company, Anadarko Global Energy S.a.r.l, Anadarko Global Funding 1 Company, Anadarko Global Funding II Ltd., Anadarko Guyana Company, Anadarko Holding Company, Anadarko International Development S.a.r.l, Anadarko International Energy Company, Anadarko International O&G Company, Anadarko International Trading Corporation, Anadarko Jordan Company, Anadarko Kenya Company, Anadarko LMM S.a.r.l, Anadarko Land Corp., Anadarko Mexico B.V., Anadarko Mexico S.a.r.l, Anadarko Midkiff/Chaney Dell BR Corp., Anadarko Midkiff/Chaney Dell LLC, Anadarko Natural Gas Company LLC, Anadarko New Zealand Company, Anadarko OGC Company, Anadarko Offshore Holding Company LLC, Anadarko Offshore Well Containment Company LLC, Anadarko Oil & Gas 5 LLC, Anadarko Peru B.V., Anadarko Petroleum, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Anadarko Realty LLC, Anadarko Rockies LLC, Anadarko Royalty Holdings Company, Anadarko UK Corporate Limited, Anadarko US Offshore LLC, Anadarko USH1 Corporation, Anadarko Venezuela Company, Anadarko Venezuela LLC, Anadarko Venezuela Srl, Anadarko WCTP Company, Anadarko West Texas BR Corp., Anadarko West Texas LLC, Anadarko Worldwide Holdings C.V., Atlantic Rim Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Aventine LLC, Baseball Merger Sub 2 Inc., Bear Branch Exploration LLC, Big Island Trona Company, Bitter Creek Coal Company, Bravo Pipeline Company, Cain Chemical, Cain Chemical Inc., Carbon Finance Labs LLC, Concord Petroleum Corporation, Conn Creek Shale Company, D.S. Ventures LLC, DMM Financial LLC, Deerwood Exploration LLC, Downtown Plaza II, Elk Hills Field, FLAG Development LLC, FP Westport Commodities Limited, FP Westport GmbH, FP Westport LLC, FP Westport Limited, FP Westport Services LLC, FP Westport Trading LLC, Fosters Mill Exploration LLC, Glenn Springs Holdings Inc., Globrep Representaciones S.A., Grand Bassa Tankers Inc., Grupo OxyChem de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Headwater II LLC, Houndstooth Resources LLC, INDSPEC Chemical B.V., INDSPEC Chemical Corporation, INDSPEC Chemical Corporation, INDSPEC Chemical Export Sales LLC, INDSPEC Holding Corporation, Ingleside Cogeneration GP LLC, Ingleside Cogeneration Limited Partnership, Interore Trading Ltd., Joslyn Partnership, KERR-McGEE TT E&P LTD., KM BM-C-Seven Ltd., KM International Insurance Ltd., Kerr-McGee Corporation, Kerr-McGee Natural Gas Company Inc., Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Onshore LP, Kerr-McGee Shared Services Company LLC, Kerr-McGee Stored Power Corporation, Kerr-McGee U.K. Energy Corporation, Kerr-McGee Worldwide Corporation, Kerr-McGee do Brasil Ltda., Kerr-McGee of Canada Northwest Ltd., Laguna Petroleum Corp., Laguna Petroleum LLC, Liwa Oil & Gas Ltd., MC2 Technologies LLC, Mariana Properties Inc., Marico Exploration Inc., Miller Springs Remediation Management Inc., Moncrief Minerals Partnership L.P., NGL Ventures LLC, Natural Gas Odorizing Inc., New OPL LLC, OEVC Energy LLC, OEVC Midstream Projects LLC, OIH LLC, OLCV CE Holdings ULC, OLCV CE US Holdings Inc., OLCV Net Power LLC, OLCV Services LLC, OOG Partner LLC, OOOI Chem Holdings LLC, OOOI Chem Sub LLC, OOOI Chemical International LLC, OOOI Chile Holder LLC, OOOI Ecuador Management LLC, OOOI Oil and Gas Sub LLC, OOOI South America Management LLC, OPM GP Inc., OPM Holdco LLC, OTCF LLC, OTH LLC, OXY CV Pipeline LLC, OXY Campus LLC, OXY Inc., OXY LPG LLC, OXY Libya E&P Area 103 BR4 B.V., OXY Libya E&P Area 35 Ltd., OXY Libya E&P Concession 103 Ltd., OXY Libya E&P EPSA 102 B.V., OXY Libya E&P EPSA 1981 Ltd., OXY Libya E&P EPSA 1985 Ltd., OXY Libya E&P NC 143 144 145 150 B.V., OXY Libya Exploration SPC, OXY Libya LLC, OXY Little Knife LLC, OXY Mexico Holdings I LLC, OXY Mexico Holdings II LLC, OXY Middle East Holdings Ltd., OXY Oil Partners Inc., OXY PBLP Manager LLC, OXY Support Services LLC, OXY Tulsa Inc., OXY USA Inc., OXY USA WTP LP, OXY VPP Investments LLC, OXY West LLC, OXY of Saudi Arabia Ltd., OXYCHEM (CANADA) INC., OXYMAR, Oakwood Exploration LLC, Occidental (Bermuda) Ltd., Occidental (East Shabwa) LLC, Occidental Advance Sale Finance Inc., Occidental Al Hosn LLC, Occidental Angola Holdings Ltd., Occidental CIS Services Inc., Occidental Canada Holdings Ltd., Occidental Chemical Asia Limited, Occidental Chemical Belgium B.V.B.A., Occidental Chemical Chile Limitada, Occidental Chemical Corporation, Occidental Chemical Export Sales LLC, Occidental Chemical Far East Limited, Occidental Chemical Holding Corporation, Occidental Chemical International LLC, Occidental Chemical Investment (Canada) 1 Inc., Occidental Chemical Receivables LLC, Occidental Chemical de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Occidental Chile Investments LLC, Occidental Chile Minority Holder LLC, Occidental Colombia (Series G) Ltd., Occidental Colombia (Series J) Ltd., Occidental Colombia (Series K) Ltd., Occidental Colombia (Series L) Ltd., Occidental Colombia (Series M) Ltd., Occidental Colombia (Series N) Ltd., Occidental Colombia (Series O) Ltd., Occidental Crude Sales Inc. (Canada), Occidental Crude Sales Inc. (International), Occidental Dolphin Holdings Ltd., Occidental Energy Marketing Inc., Occidental Energy Ventures LLC, Occidental Exploradora del Peru Ltd., Occidental Exploration and Production Company, Occidental Hafar LLC, Occidental International (Libya) Inc., Occidental International Corporation, Occidental International Exploration and Production Company, Occidental International Holdings Ltd., Occidental International Oil and Gas Ltd., Occidental International Services Inc., Occidental Joslyn GP 2 Co., Occidental LNG (Malaysia) Ltd., Occidental Latin America Holdings LLC, Occidental Libya Oil & Gas B.V., Occidental MENA Manager Ltd., Occidental Middle East Development Company, Occidental Midland Basin LLC, Occidental Mukhaizna LLC, Occidental Oil Asia Pte. Ltd., Occidental Oil Shale Inc., Occidental Oil and Gas (Oman) Ltd., Occidental Oil and Gas Corporation, Occidental Oil and Gas International Inc., Occidental Oil and Gas International LLC, Occidental Oil and Gas Pakistan LLC, Occidental Oil and Gas of Peru LLC, Occidental Oman (Block 27) Holdings Ltd., Occidental Oman Block 51 Holding Ltd., Occidental Oman Block 51 LLC, Occidental Oman Block 65 Holding Ltd., Occidental Oman Block 65 LLC, Occidental Oman Block 72 Holding Ltd., Occidental Oman Block 72 LLC, Occidental Oman Gas Company LLC, Occidental Oman Gas Holdings Ltd., Occidental Oman North Holdings Ltd., Occidental Oriente Exploration and Production Ltd., Occidental Overseas Holdings B.V., Occidental PVC LLC, Occidental Peninsula II Inc., Occidental Peninsula LLC, Occidental Permian Ltd., Occidental Permian Manager LLC, Occidental Permian Services Inc., Occidental Peruana Inc., Occidental Petrolera del Peru (Block 101) Inc., Occidental Petrolera del Peru (Block 103) Inc., Occidental Petroleum (Pakistan) Inc., Occidental Petroleum Corporation, Occidental Petroleum Corporation Political Action Committee, Occidental Petroleum de Venezuela S.A., Occidental Petroleum of Nigeria, Occidental Petroleum of Oman Ltd., Occidental Petroleum of Qatar Ltd., Occidental Power Marketing L.P., Occidental Power Services Inc., Occidental Qatar Energy Company LLC, Occidental Red Sea Development LLC, Occidental Research Corporation, Occidental Resource Recovery Systems Inc., Occidental Resources Company, Occidental Shah Gas Holdings Ltd., Occidental South America Finance LLC, Occidental Specialty Marketing Inc., Occidental Tower Corporation, Occidental Transportation Holding Corporation, Occidental West Texas Overthrust Inc., Occidental Yemen Ltd., Occidental Yemen Sabatain Inc., Occidental del Ecuador Inc., Occidental of Abu Dhabi (Bab) Ltd., Occidental of Abu Dhabi (Shah) Ltd., Occidental of Abu Dhabi Holdings Ltd., Occidental of Abu Dhabi LLC, Occidental of Abu Dhabi Ltd., Occidental of Bahrain Ltd., Occidental of Bangladesh Inc., Occidental of Colombia (Chipiron) Inc., Occidental of Colombia (Cosecha) Inc., Occidental of Colombia (Medina) Inc., Occidental of Colombia (Putumayo) Ltd., Occidental of Colombia (Teca) Ltd., Occidental of Colombia PUT-36 LLC, Occidental of Dubai Inc., Occidental of Iraq Holdings Ltd., Occidental of Iraq LLC, Occidental of Oman Inc., Occidental of Russia Ltd., Occidental of South Africa (Offshore) Inc., Occidental of Yemen (Block 75) LLC, Oceanic Marine Transport Ltd., Opcal Insurance Inc., Oryx Crude Trading & Transportation Inc., Oxy BridgeTex Limited Partnership, Oxy C & I Bulk Sales LLC, Oxy Canada Sales Inc., Oxy Carbon Solutions LLC, Oxy Carbon Storage LLC, Oxy Climate Ventures Inc., Oxy Cogeneration Holding Company LLC, Oxy Colombia Holdings LLC, Oxy Colombia TopCo Ltd., Oxy Delaware Basin LLC, Oxy Delaware Basin Plant LLC, Oxy Dolphin E&P LLC, Oxy Dolphin Pipeline LLC, Oxy Energy Canada Inc., Oxy Energy Services LLC, Oxy Expatriate Services Inc., Oxy FFT Holdings Inc., Oxy Holding Company (Pipeline) Inc., Oxy International Ventures Ltd., Oxy LPG Terminal LLC, Oxy Levelland Pipeline Company LLC, Oxy Levelland Terminal Company LLC, Oxy Low Carbon Ventures LLC, Oxy Midstream Strategic Development LLC, Oxy Oleoducto SOP LLC, Oxy Overseas Services Ltd., Oxy Permian Gathering LLC, Oxy Permian Plaza LLC, Oxy Petroleum de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Oxy Renewable Energy LLC, Oxy Salt Creek Pipeline LLC, Oxy TL LLC, Oxy Taft Hub LLC, Oxy Technology Ventures Inc., Oxy Transport I Company LLC, Oxy Vinyls Canada Co., Oxy Vinyls Export Sales LLC, Oxy Vinyls LP, Oxy Westwood Corporation, Oxy Y-1 Company, OxyChem Ingleside Ethylene Holdings Inc., OxyChem do Brasil Ltda., OxyChile Investments LLC, Oxychem Shipping Ltd., Permian Basin JV Tax Matters Member LLC, Permian Basin Limited Partnership, Permian VPP Holder LP, Permian VPP Manager LLC, Phibro, Placid Oil LLC, Ramlat Oxy Ltd., Rio de Viento Inc., Rodeo Midland Basin LLC, San Patricio Pipeline LLC, Scanports Shipping LLC, SequestCo LLC, Stetson Exploration LLC, Sun Offshore Gathering Company, Swiflite Aircraft Corporation, Transok Properties LLC, Troy Potter Inc., Turavent Oil GmbH [in liquidation], Tuscaloosa Holdings Inc., UP Petroleo III Ltd., Upland Industries Corporation, Venezuela US SRL, Vintage Gas Inc., Vintage Petroleum, Vintage Petroleum Argentina Ltd., Vintage Petroleum Boliviana Ltd., Vintage Petroleum International Finance B.V., Vintage Petroleum International Holdings LLC, Vintage Petroleum International LLC, Vintage Petroleum International Ventures Inc., Vintage Petroleum Italy Inc., Vintage Petroleum South America Holdings Inc., Vintage Petroleum South America LLC, Vintage Petroleum Turkey Inc., WGR Asset Holding Company LLC, WGR Canada Inc., Wardner Ranch Inc., Western Gas Resources Inc., Western Gas Resources-Westana Inc., Western Midstream Holdings LLC, Woodlands International Insurance Ltd., and YT Ranch LLC. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 10) Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro "Teddy Boy" Locsin, Jr. on Wednesday said he is not afraid of war amid China's actions in the West Philippine Sea. Responding to a netizen who asked for the stand of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Beijing's show of power in contested waters, Locsin said, "The stand is that it is ours. And they took it. World's highest court ruled that. Period." In July 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague recognized the Philippines' sovereign rights in its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea. The government calls this West Philippine Sea, where China has built artificial islands, prohibited Filipino fishermen from fishing and interfered in petroleum exploration. "Now the question is how to take it back. I personally have no fear of war," Locsin said. "One attack on a public vessel triggers World War 3 with the USofA which is impervious to attack from Asia." Duterte prefers compromise Meanwhile, President Rodrigo Duterte has been criticized for pursuing friendlier ties with China as he maintained the Philippines cannot afford to go to a war against the East Asian giant. Duterte on April 4 said he would ask his soldiers to "prepare for suicide mission" if China does not heed his warning to lay off Pag-asa Island, one of the biggest islands in the contested Spratlys, where Chinese vessels have swarmed. Duterte, however, stressed he'd rather go into a compromise instead of an all-out war with China. Earlier, the DFA called as illegal the deployment of Chinese vessels around Pag-asa Island and told Beijing that it would be adopting these actions if it does not renounce them. Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua said Beijing is verifying reports that its vessels have been surrounding Pag-asa. He said the ships may be manned by "unarmed" Chinese fishermen, but Malacanang said reports from the military suggest militiamen have been deployed there. Locsin, the country's diplomat, has since ordered the filing of a diplomatic protest. by BizReport Charitable donations is a good idea to explore. Donating to charity is a solid strategy to build a reputation of trust and demonstrate social responsibility. Most major corporations know this, and either run their own non-profit organization or donate to others. According to Business Insider, individuals and businesses donated a total of $410 billion to charity in 2017. Five percent of that total came from large corporations including Google, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo. Large corporations have more than enough income to donate millions of dollars each year, but disposable income isn't a requirement. A business of any size with any amount of revenue can start donating to charity. Still on the fence? Consider the following benefits of making regular charitable donations: 1. Charitable activity will strengthen your brand Your brand image is your company's biggest asset. Charitable giving strengthens your brand image in the public's eye. When your charitable activity is directly related to your industry, it shows you care extensively about the people in your niche. For example, in 2017, Wells Fargo donated $287 million to more than 14,500 non-profits, and its employees volunteered two million hours. The company also donated $45 million to programs that help home buyers make down payments. This type of charity gives Wells Fargo a good name in the financial industry and undoubtedly strengthens their brand. 2. Donating your products to people in need shows the world you care When people know your products are being donated to people in need, it makes a deeper impression than if you were to simply donate money to random causes. A good example of a company doing this is kidpik, a monthly clothing subscription service for girls. They partner with the GOOD+ Foundation to send brand new clothing items to girls in need. Kidpik's business model allows customers to return items they don't want, or they can keep the whole box and receive a 30% discount. For those who keep (and pay for) the whole box, they can donate items to the GOOD+ Foundation with a pre-paid envelope. 3. Charitable giving can inspire you to build a better product When Bombas launched a company that revolutionized the modern sock, they didn't set out to create happy feet. Their business model was founded on resolving an unmet need: getting socks to homeless shelters. When Bombas co-founder David Heath learned that socks are the most requested clothing item in homeless shelters, he couldn't shake it. He was shocked to learn that socks are a luxury for some people. An entrepreneur at heart, Heath and his friend Randy Goldberg came up with the idea to launch a sock company that would donate one pair of socks for every pair sold. The 1-to-1 donation model isn't new, but Bombas took it one step further. The company doesn't donate the same socks they sell. Rather, they engineered a special kind of sock that meets the specific needs of people who don't have the luxury of putting on a fresh pair of socks each day. The donated socks have reinforced seams, come in darker colors to hide wear, and get an anti-microbial treatment, so they don't need to be washed as often. Bombas launched in 2013 and has donated more than 18 million pairs of socks as of March 2019. 4. You'll attract conscious employees and/or business partners Many people prefer working for companies that donate time or money to charitable causes. By giving back to your community (or the world at large), you're potentially going to attract employees and business partners that want to be aligned with your causes. What kind of giving program do you want to launch? There are all kinds of philanthropic programs you can launch to give back, including matching programs, volunteer grants, scholarship contests, automatic payroll deductions, and employee product donation programs. If you're not in a position to start your own program, consider partnering with an existing non-profit. What non-profits exist in your industry that you can donate to, or volunteer with? Find a non-profit that aligns with your values and intentions, and start building your company's brand through giving. Tags: Rolls-Royce Holdings plc operates as an industrial technology company in the United Kingdom and internationally. The company operates in four segments: Civil Aerospace, Power Systems, Defence, and ITP Aero. The Civil Aerospace segment develops, manufactures, and sells aero engines for large commercial aircraft, regional jet, and business aviation markets, as well as provides aftermarket services. The Power Systems segment provides high-speed and medium-speed reciprocating engines, and propulsion and power generation systems for the marine, defense, power generation, and industrial markets. The Defence segment offers aero engines for military transport and patrol aircraft applications; and naval engines and submarine nuclear power plants, as well as aftermarket services. The ITP Aero segment engages in the design, research and development, manufacture and casting, assembly, and testing of aeronautical engines and gas turbines. It also provides maintenance, repair, and overhaul services for regional airlines, as well as business aviation, industrial, and defense applications. Rolls-Royce Holdings plc was founded in 1884 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Read More by BizReport The best external providers offer bespoke, flexible solutions at an attractive price. However, any form of outsourcing inevitably involves potential risk to the integrity and security of the client company's data. Moreover, when so much of this data is financial, the repercussions if data is stolen or misused are potentially very serious. If your business intends to outsource its accounting functions, you need to have complete confidence in your chosen provider's ability to safeguard your data and prevent its misuse. Technological and physical barriers are both important. We highlight thirteen of the most significant considerations. 1. CCTV and door entry security systems It is essential that CCTV and appropriate door entry systems secure the office premises of your chosen accounting service in order to monitor who enters and leaves the building, and when they do so. Needless to say, the outsourced accountancy service should retain all CCTV recordings for a minimum period of time. The Information Commissioner's Office provides useful guidance on the installation and use of CCTV, and on image retention. 2. Security screening of staff The accounting service should employ only those individuals who have passed a pre-employment security screen through the UK Disclosure and Barring Service. This should include a criminal record search and checks on identity and adverse personal financial information. These checks reduce the risk that staff at the accounting service will pose a deliberate threat to your company's data. 3. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) Online privacy is of paramount importance for an outsourced accounting service. Make sure your chosen provider safeguards client privacy via the use of an effective VPN that acts as a private tunnel between two devices while also encrypting your data. 4. Anti-virus software Computer viruses are a constantly evolving threat. The best anti-virus software protects against a range of malicious software (also known as "malware"), including adware, bots and botnets, key loggers, ransomware, rootkit, spyware, trojans and, of course, viruses. Most malware is designed to lurk on operating systems and remain undetected for as long as possible. Anti-virus software is the key to its detection and neutralisation. Any accounting service should have a robust anti-virus package that not only detects malware but also uses behaviour-monitoring to catch so-called zero-day malware that is designed to attack as soon as it infects an operating system. 5. Password managers Password managers store any number of passwords in an encrypted vault that is unlocked via a master password. Most can also generate complicated, hard-to-crack, random passwords. Although most security-conscious businesses regard password managers as essential, they are not immune to security breaches as illustrated by a number of high-profile hackings. However, the best password managers have strengthened their inbuilt security as a result of these attacks. Consequently, password managers remain an important plank in any online security system and you should expect your chosen accounting service to use one. 6. Back-up drive managers Back-up drive managers allow the restoration and recovery of material that is lost as a consequence of a storage drive failure. Differing from external, cloud-based storage, back-up drive managers act as a kind of library repository to retain a precise copy of particular files. These files are not usually accessed unless required and are often retained in a read-only state to ensure no-one can amend them without appropriate authority. 7. Personal technology Staff at accounting service may be subject to a contractual requirement to leave personal phones, smartwatches, tablets and laptops in locked lockers during their working hours. This reduces the risk that rogue staff members may use their own personal technology to steal client data. 8. Non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements It is often standard for an accounting service to enter into a non-disclosure and confidentiality agreement with its client. As the client, your business is able to set the parameters of the agreement in order to reflect your particular security concerns. Non-disclosure agreements are legally enforceable and any breach may result in a court-ordered award of financial damages. 9. Audit trails If something does go wrong and a data breach occurs, it is crucial to establish when it happened and who was involved. Comprehensive audit trails of all activities undertaken on an accounting service's computer systems can play an essential part in this. If asked, your chosen accounting service ought to supply you with an outline of its internal audit process. 10. Internet restrictions for staff An accounting service may choose to restrict internet access for its staff to those business sites that are necessary for work purposes. Where it does not routinely do so, it may agree to a client request to restrict internet access for the duration of a particular project. 11. Disable USB and DVD drives on staff computers In order to prevent unauthorised copying of client data, an accounting service may disable USB and DVD drives on its workers' computers. It may be prudent to ask if this is the case and, if not, what alternative security measures are in place. 12. Use of dual monitors or restricted print permissions Many accidental data breaches occur when documents are printed and then discarded without immediate shredding. Many accounting services choose to use dual monitors to reduce the need for their staff to print documents in order to make comparisons. Alternatively, or in addition, they may restrict print permissions so that only particular, authorised individuals are allowed to print documents. 13. GDPR The General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, is an EU regulation on personal data protection and privacy with automatic application to all UK businesses. Although it may have no obvious application to business or financial data that does not identify an individual, a well-drafted GDPR policy is a very useful gauge of how effectively a business approaches data security. Consequently, it makes sense to request a copy of the GDPR policy of any accounting service that your business is considering using. Tags: Varian Medical Systems, Inc. designs, manufactures, sells, and services medical devices and software products for treating cancer and other medical conditions worldwide. It operates through Oncology Systems and Proton Solutions segments. The Oncology Systems segment offers hardware and software products for treating cancer with radiotherapy, fixed field intensity-modulated radiation therapy, image-guided radiation therapy, volumetric modulated arc therapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, stereotactic body radiotherapy, artificial intelligence based adaptive radiotherapy, and brachytherapy, as well as quality assurance equipment. Its products include linear accelerators, brachytherapy afterloaders, treatment accessories, and quality assurance software; and information management, treatment planning, image processing, clinical knowledge exchange, patient care management, decision-making support, and practice management software. This segment serves university research and community hospitals, private and governmental institutions, healthcare agencies, physicians' offices, medical oncology practices, radiotherapy centers, and cancer care clinics. The Proton Solutions segment designs, develops, manufactures, sells, and services products and systems for delivering proton therapy for the treatment of cancer. The company has a strategic agreement with McKesson Corp. to supply treatment delivery systems and planning, services, and radiotherapy information system solutions to its U.S. Oncology Network and Vantage Oncology affiliated sites of care; and a strategic partnership with Siemens AG to represent Siemens diagnostic imaging products to radiation oncology clinics in the United States and other select markets. Varian Medical Systems, Inc. was formerly known as Varian Associates, Inc. and changed its name to Varian Medical Systems, Inc. in April 1999. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Read More The Most Extensive and Reliable Source of Information Related to the Mexican Drugs Cartels. You will not find this level of coverage anywhere else, join us! Send information, pictures or videos, you remain 100% anonymous. Envia fotos, videos, notas, enlaces o informacion todo 100% Anonimo. Borderland Beat? We love to have you in our team, send Sol Prendido or HEARST an email! Want to be a contributor or citizen reporter forBorderland Beat?We love to have you in our team, sendoran email! WARNING: Posts may contain strong violent material, discretion is advised. COMMENTS: We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 10) The controversial 2019 budget bill will finally be signed by Monday next week. This was confirmed by Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo in a statement Wednesday. "The Palace confirms that the ceremonial signing of the General Appropriations Act 2019 has already been calendared on the President's schedule on April 15, Monday," he said. Approval of the 3.757 trillion budget was delayed due to an impasse between the Senate and the House of Representatives over the itemization of of lumpsums after the bill was ratified by both chambers. The four-months delay forced economic managers to downgrade its economic growth target to a range of 6 to 7 percent from the previous 7 to 8 percent. It also caused the goverment to run on a reenacted budget. READ: Economic managers revise growth target downward over budget delay Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said that as of March, the government had failed to spend 46 billion, which would adversely impact the administration's infrastructure program. New Delhi: Vodafone Idea expects the sale of its 11.15 per cent stake in Indus Tower to complete in the next three-four months which could yield an estimated Rs 5,500 crore, a senior company official said Tuesday. Under a contract signed with Bharti Infratel in April 2018, the company has an option to sell the 11.15 per cent stake in Indus Tower for cash ahead of the merger of the country's largest mobile tower firm with the Bharti group firm. "As things stand now, that process is in NCLT and expectation is that it should be completed in the next 3-4 months timeframe. Before the merger is consummated, we have the right to receive that in cash. The value will fluctuate. "The value is dependent on Bharti Infratel (stock) price. At current Bharti Infratel price, the cash value is more than Rs 5,500 crore," Vodafone Idea Chief Financial Officer Akshaya Moondra told PTI. The company expects that the money raised from the stake sale in Indus Tower and the Rs 25,000 crore rights issue, which is opening on Wednesday, will give it long term war chest to compete in the market. "We believe that the proceeds from the rights issue coupled with the monetisation of our stake in Indus Towers Limited will allow us to make the required investments in the business to achieve our strategic goals," Vodafone Idea Chief Executive Officer Balesh Sharma said. The board of directors of Vodafone Idea on March 20 cleared the planned Rs 25,000-crore rights issue at a price of Rs 12.50 per equity share, a steep 61 per cent discount to the prevailing market rate. In a regulatory filing, the company had said the rights entitlement ratio has been fixed at 87 equity shares for every 38 shares held by eligible shareholders of the company on the record date, that is April 2, 2019. "Rights issue gives us good funding along with the two other monetisations that we are looking at - a long term war chest to continue on the stated strategy of ours. Our strategy primarily is to integrate the two network as quickly as we can to achieve much gain in coverage and customer experience on one side and profitability on the other because of synergies coming," Sharma said. Promoter shareholders -- Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group -- have reiterated to the board that they intend to contribute up to Rs 11,000 crore and up to Rs 7,250 crore respectively, amounting to a total of Rs 18,250 crore, as part of the rights issue. While Vodafone Group's entire funding will be considered as a foreign investment in the rights issue, Aditya Birla Group may also route funds from its foreign entities, according to sources. The promoter shareholders have also said that in case the rights issue is under-subscribed, each of the promoter shareholders reserves the right to take up part or whole of the unsubscribed portion, subject to stipulated law. When asked about the plan of action in case promoter shareholding in Vodafone Idea breaches 75 per cent cap, Moondra said there is interest from investors and he does not promoters holding to breach the limit. "We don't expect it to cross 75 per cent mark but because this is rights issue and there was some doubt whether Axiata-- one of our large shareholder will participate or not. The shareholders and promoters as a precautionary measure had taken the SEBI approval if they were to participate beyond their entitlement and in case they exceed 75 per cent. At this point of time, we do not see there will be a need to utilise that approval," Moondra said. According to a JM Financial report, minority shareholders will need to make an investment of at least Rs 5,410 crore in the rights issue to keep promoters holding at 75 per cent. Vodafone Idea is looking to invest proceeds from the rights issue, Indus Tower stake sale and partial sale of the optical fibre in telecom networks to expand 4G coverage from 61 per cent population at present to over 85 per cent population coverage by March 2020. Vodafone Idea is in discussion to sell 1.56 lakh kilometre of optical fibre. According to sources, it has received a combined valuation of Rs 20,000 crore for the mobile tower and optical fibre assets. The country has 106 million adult smokers, second only to China. (Representational Image) New Delhi: Indias trade ministry says it cannot impose a ban on electronic cigarette imports as there is no legal basis for doing so, an internal government memo viewed by Reuters shows, in a boost for those looking to tap into the countrys growing vaping market. This comes amid repeated calls for a ban from the countrys health ministry, which urged states and government agencies last year in an advisory to step up efforts to halt sales and imports, warning vaping devices pose a great health risk. The country has 106 million adult smokers, second only to China, making it a lucrative market for firms such US-based Juul Labs and Philip Morris International that plan to launch e-smoking devices in the country. Indias Jubilant group, one of whose units has the franchisee for Dominos Pizza and Dunkin Donuts outlets in the country, is already exploring importing Juuls vaping device, a company letter shows. Halting imports of e-cigarettes into India will be against multilateral commitments with the World Trade Organization, according to the internal government memo dated March 18. The country must first prohibit local sales through federal regulations that can stand the scrutiny of law, the memo adds. Once that is done, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) can announce an import ban, the memo said. As of now, the health ministrys advisory cannot be a legal basis for a ban, the trade ministry, which has the power to impose import bans, said in the memo that is not yet public. The DGFT did not respond to a request for comment. A health ministry official said the ministry will work with the DGFT to explore how a ban can be imposed. JUBILANT & JUUL Indias USD 12 billion cigarette market is dominated by companies such as ITC and Godfrey Phillips, both of which also sell e-cigarettes. Its vapor-products market was valued at USD 15.6 million in 2017 and is seen growing nearly 60 percent annually in the next few years, Euromonitor International estimates. Keen to tap into this growth, Juul has hired new executives in India and plans to launch its products in the country by late 2019, Reuters has previously reported. But Indias health ministry has called to block Juuls entry, saying its product was harmful and could undermine Indias tobacco-control efforts. A Jubilant unit, however, said in a letter to the health ministry dated Jan 11, that it had identified Juul as a highly safe product which has benefited millions of consumers. Jubilant Offshore said in the letter it was in advanced stages of importing and selling e-cigarettes in the country. A Jubilant spokesman said we believe there is demonstrable scientific evidence that such products are a viable alternative to cigarettes and that the group is exploring the category. Juul said it was in the process of evaluating India by having conversations with stakeholders. The benefits of e-cigarettes, most of which vaporize a liquid containing nicotine, have been a topic for much debate in the global public health community. Some say it helps shift smokers to less harmful products, but others argue it could create a new generation of addicts. As of 2016, e-cigarettes were banned in 30 of World Health Organizations 195 member states. In India, about a third of its 29 states currently ban e-cigarette sales. The country, home to the worlds second-largest population at 1.3 billion, has tough laws to deter tobacco use, which the government says kills more than 900,000 people annually. The NSE Nifty lost 87.65 points to settle the day at 11,584.30. Mumbai: Market benchmark BSE Sensex cracked about 354 points on Wednesday, led by a sudden sell-off in HDFC and HDFC Bank in the later half of the session. The 30-share Sensex index lost 353.87 points, or 0.91 per cent, to close at 38,585.35; the broader NSE Nifty dropped 87.65 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 11,584.30. HDFC Bank lost 2.07 per cent, while HDFC slumped 1.96 per cent. The HDFC duo collectively accounted for almost half of the Sensex's 354-point loss. Other top losers in the Sensex pack included Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, TCS, HCL Tech, Tata Steel, SBI, IndusInd Bank and Hero MotoCorp, declining up to 3.28 per cent. While, Tata Motors, HUL, Kotak Bank, Coal India, Sun Pharma, M&M, Bajaj Auto and ONGC were the gainers, rising up to 4.68 per cent. According to traders, market sentiment turned weak after the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its World Economic Outlook (WEO), once again downgraded global growth forecast to 3.3 per cent for 2019. The quarterly report "projects a slowdown in growth in 2019 for 70 per cent of the world economy," IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath said in a statement. India is projected to grow at 7.3 per cent in 2019 and 7.5 per cent in 2020, reflecting the recent revision to the national account statistics that indicated somewhat softer underlying momentum, the report said. Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased equity worth Rs 1,212.35 crore on Tuesday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares to the tune of Rs 688.65 crore, provisional data available with stock exchanges showed. Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Japan, China and Korea ended on a mixed note. In Europe, bourses in Germany, France and UK were trading in the positive terrain in early deals. The benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.67 per cent to USD 71.08 per barrel. Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated 12 paise to 69.18 against the US dollar intra-day. Mumbai: Superstar Mahesh Babu is leaving no stone unturned to amp the excitement of his fans for the upcoming film Maharshi. After sharing teasers and posters, the film now reveals to have three distinct looks of the actor. The two looks of Rishi as a swanky entrepreneur and other as an angry young man has got his fans excited to get a peek into the third look. After the remarkable performance as Chief Minister in Bharat Ane Nenu, he slips into the characters of a charming college boy and a dapper businessman and another surprise attire for his next. Superstar shared the teaser on Twitter and wished his fans Happy Ugadi. The actor had promised to release the most awaited teaser of his film Maharshi for his fans, making their Ugadi even more special. The teaser got the attention of his fans and crossed millions of likes within minutes of its release. Actor Mahesh Babu's fanbase knows no bounds, nationally as well as internationally, carving a niche for himself. The actor has created an immense buzz for his upcoming film across India, as his films are not only viewed in metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai but also in Punjab. The first look and teaser of Maharshi released on his birthday and it received an exceptional response from the masses, the film is slated to release in April 2019. Washington: Emboldened by the new conservative majority on the Supreme Court, anti-abortion lawmakers and activists in numerous states are pushing near-total bans on the procedure in a deliberate frontal attack on Roe V. Wade. Mississippi and Kentucky have passed laws that would ban most abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected which means as early as six weeks, when many women dont even know theyre pregnant. Georgia could join them if Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signs a measure that has been sent to him, and similar bills are pending in at least eight other states with anti-abortion GOP majorities in their legislatures. Alabama may go further, with legislation introduced last week to criminalise abortion at any stage unless the mothers health is in jeopardy. The chief sponsor of the Alabama bill, Rep. Terri Collins, acknowledged that the measure like the heartbeat bills is intended as a direct challenge to Roe, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalised abortion nationwide. To me this is an issue the court simply got wrong years ago, said Collins, who hopes President Donald Trumps appointments of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court lead to reconsideration of Roe. Staci Fox, Atlanta-based CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast, said these bans are blatantly unconstitutional and lawmakers know it they just dont care. The goal, she said, is to challenge access to safe, legal abortion nationally. Activists and legal experts on both sides of the debate agree that getting a Supreme Court decision on such a defining case is unlikely any time soon. The bans may face difficulties just reaching the high court, given that Roe established a clear right to an abortion during the first three months of pregnancy. Kentuckys heartbeat law has been blocked for now by a federal judge; abortion-rights lawyers are seeking a similar injunction in Mississippi before the law there takes effect July 1. The lower courts are going to find these laws unconstitutional, because the Supreme Court requires that outcome, said Hillary Schneller, an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights. However, some federal appeals courts around the country, such as the 5th Circuit, which covers Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, are viewed as having grown more conservative with the addition of Trump appointees. If even one circuit breaks with Roe v. Wade and upholds a heartbeat ban, that could be enough for the Supreme Court to take up the issue, said Justin Dyer, a political science professor at the University of Missouri. The Royal Foundation, which the princes run with their wives, aims to combat cyber bullying, and supports wildlife conservation, the military and other causes. (Photo: Instagram @Kensigntonroyal) London: Prince Harry and Meghan Markles first baby, due later this spring, will almost surely extend a long tradition of supporting royal causes, but those same customs will constrain the new prince or princess when it comes to politics. Meghan Markle used her celebrity to back Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election and attacked Donald Trump as misogynistic and divisive. The Los Angeles-born actress has worked as an ambassador for United Nations Women and the charity World Vision. A pregnant Markle, speaking in March on an International Womens Day panel at Kings College, London, addressed the likelihood that her child will grow up learning gender equality as much as the ABCs. Id seen this documentary on Netflix about feminism and one of the things they said during pregnancy was I feel the embryonic kicking of feminism, Markle said. I love that. So boy or girl or whatever it is, we hope that thats the case, with our little bump. But commenting on international politics could get her into trouble with the royal household. Politically incorrect The royal family for years has backed charities with social causes, and Queen Elizabeth has been patron or president of more than 600 of them, ranging from wildlife groups and sporting bodies to military organisations. But the royals are expected to steer well clear of politics, despite a long history of politically incorrect blunders. Harry had to apologize in January 2009 after a newspaper published video footage showing him referring to Asian army comrades with derogatory language. He also was pilloried for wearing a Nazi uniform at a costume party, a gaffe that sparked a global outcry. Theres no problem with Meghan speaking out on feminism, social justice and equality issues, but if she starts getting political shell be in hot water, said Katie Nicholl, author of Harry: Life, Loss, and Love. The Queen is politically neutral. She expects her family to be the same. Meghan seems to see activism as a family affair. Harry and I see the world so similarly in our approach of being very hands-on with things, Meghan said in February at a forum at the Royal Foundation. Make mother proud Harry and his elder brother William have followed in the footsteps of their mother Diana, whose work with AIDS and HIV patients and tackling landmines won global attention. In 2017, the princes led a campaign to erase the stigma of mental health illness and spoke of their personal struggle following their mothers death in a Paris car crash in 1997. The Royal Foundation, which the princes run with their wives, aims to combat cyber bullying, and supports wildlife conservation, the military and other causes. Even the start of Meghan and Harrys romance had roots in a social cause. They slipped off to Botswana shortly after they began dating in July 2016 in what Harry described as a crucial chance to get to know one another. Harry, who first visited the southern African country when he was 13, two months after his mothers death, is a patron of Rhino Conservation Botswana. It feels very second nature for that child to continue their efforts, said Mahogany Browne, a Brooklyn-based poet and author of Woke Baby, a board book encouraging the littlest progressives to toddle in pursuit of social justice. Travelling to Botswana, being philanthropists. It feels like it will be a familial charge. Umm Yasser, the first Bedouin female guide from the Hamada tribe, looks at Umm Soliman as she plays the flute, near Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. (Photo: AP) Abu Zenima: Amid a stunning vista of desert mountains, a Bedouin woman, Umm Yasser, paused to point out a local plant and she began to explain how it was used in medicine to the group of foreign tourists she was guiding. Umm Yasser is breaking new ground among the deeply conservative Bedouin of Egypts Sinai Peninsula. Women among the Bedouin almost never work outside the home and even more rarely do they interact with outsiders. But Umm Yasser is one of four women from the community who for the first time are working as tour guides. It is against our culture, but women need jobs, the 47-year-old Umm Yasser said. People will make fun of us, but I dont care. Im a strong woman. They are part of Sinai Trail, a unique project in which local Bedouin tribes came together aiming to develop their own tourism. Founded in 2015, the project has set up a 550-kilometer (330-mile) trail through the remote mountains of the peninsula, a 42-day trek through the lands of eight different tribes, each of which contributes guides. The project has been successful in bringing some income to the tribes, who often complain of being left out of the major tourism development of the southern Sinai, home to beach resorts and desert safaris. Until now, all the projects guides were men. Ben Hoffler, the British co-founder of the Sinai Trail, felt it was not enough. How can we be credible calling this the Sinai Trail if the women arent involved? But even after years of trying by Hoffler, almost all the tribes still reject women guides. Only one of the smallest, oldest and poorest tribes, the Hamada, accepted the idea. The first female Bedouin guides, from right, Selima, Umm Yasser, Umm Soliman, and Aicha, pose for a photograph in Wadi Sahw, South Sinai, Egypt. (Photo: AP) There are some conditions though. The tourists can only be women and the tours cant go overnight. Each day before the sun sets, the group returns to the Hamadas home village in Wadi Sahu, a narrow desert valley. The organisers also urge the tourists to photograph the guides only when they are wearing a full veil over the face that covers even the eyes with mesh. Umm Yasser was the first to join. She said she started hiking when she was a child and knows the mountains and the valley by heart. She convinced the families of three other women to allow them to work as guides as well. Their tribe is a poor one, living in small concrete houses strung along the Wadi Sahu. Electricity runs no more than five hours a night and there is no running water. It is isolated deep in the mountains of south Sinai, far from the tourism centres in Sinai, along the Red Sea coast or near the famed Saint Catherines Monastery. The men often leave the village to find work, either at resorts or in mines further south. We need money to help support our families for basic necessities, Umm Yasser said. We need blankets, clothes for the children, washing machines, fridges, books for school. The Sinai Trail came together in some of the hardest years for tourism. It was launched as an Islamic State group-linked insurgency intensified in the northern part of Sinai and a year after a Russian passenger plane crashed, killing all 224 passengers on board in a likely militant bombing. The violence has stayed far from southern Sinai, where tourist resorts are located but the industry has had to push hard to win tourists back. Umm Yasser offers tea to women's only circle of tourists and Bedouin from the Hamada tribe, at her home in Wadi Sahw, South Sinai, Egypt. (Photo: AP) On a recent tour joined by the Associated Press, 16 female tourists from Korea, New Zealand, Europe, Lebanon and Egypt were led by Umm Yasser and the other three women guides, Umm Soliman, Aicha, and Selima, through the rugged, landscape in and around Wadi Sahu. I think south Sinai is safe especially when you are in the care of Bedouins. This is where I feel at home. Every corner there is scenery and another beautiful view, said Marion Salwegter, a 68-year-old Dutch woman who travels to southern Sinai every year alone to escape the winters in Holland. During the two-day tour, the group hiked across an endlessly broad landscape of mountain peaks and valleys of dry riverbeds. While male Bedouin guides range far from home, the women tend to move closer, with an exceptionally rich knowledge of the surrounding mountains. The guides talked about the local plants and herbs, the history and legends of the area and pointed out the borders of the areas tribes. In the evening, the group returned to the Hamada tribes village. The women sat on the floor of Umm Yassers home and the tourists asked the guide about life in the village, marriage and divorce. Umm Yasser is skeptical other Bedouin women will join her as a guide or in working in general any time soon. But, she said, There is no shame in working. This is what I believe in and it makes me strong. Some attitudes are changing. Mohammed Salman, an elderly man from the Aligat tribe, said he thought the guides project was a great step for women. If a woman wants to work, she should be able to have the right to, he said. Many men say no, a womans place is at home. But Im sick of this ideology. Shes a human being. Younger Bedouin girls tagged along with the group and talked about wanting to be female guides in the future. This trip is going down in history and will be talked about. It might also go into Bedouin oral history, said Julie Paterson, a facilitator for Sinai Trail who often works with Bedouin women. Clad in an ivory coloured shift dress, Fariba Rawhani could easily pass off as a powerful technologist. Throughout the conversation, Fariba stressed on the absence of women at the helm of management and technology companies. The Iranian descendant, who is now a Canadian citizen, makes you wonder whether she is a feminist or not. She is the Chief Information Officer at Teranet, a leading delivery and transformation of statutory registry services company in Canada. Fariba was in Thiruvananthapuram recently on a whirlwind trip to launch Teranets new office at Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram. She explains how she learns many things from her journalist daughter, Anisa Mercedes, on a daily basis, where she is searching for truth. She sounds like a philosopher when she says, Humanity is one, no matter what we are, and we are members of a family where I always grew up in a just society. With a tad bit of disappointment, Fariba says the technology sector is facing major shortage of women. Traditionally, women prefer to work as business analysts, quality controllers and some in the management sector and few in development field. She says that these sectors are converging now and more women should come to the helm of companies. Fariba says she keeps giving more attention to women as she finds them more timid. But she quickly adds that through mentoring, they can conquer their fears. She has a reason to say so, as it will be the company that will be losing the talent which will be untapped unless you give the fairer sex an opportunity to excel. She admits that some people have advised her that she will face difficulties if she gives too much attention to women. All through her over-two-decades-long career as a leading technologist honcho, Fariba has felt that as she went up the ranks, there were fewer and fewer women. She reached the top echelons of power step by step climbing from the developer background. Fariba holds an MBA from the Ivey School of Business and studied Computer Science and Business Administration at the University of Vienna. She is a frequent speaker on subjects of technology, business transformation and global learning and is passionate about mentoring underprivileged youth as well as community and volunteer involvement. She had immigrated to Canada in the early 80s where she was on her own. With conviction writ large on her face, Fariba explains that nothing was given to her personally on a silver platter throughout her career. Yes, I always work harder than men. I am sure that there are men who work harder. But I think I work harder than anyone else, says Fariba, bursting into peals of laughter. She has no qualms in saying that men are confident and if they know only 50 per cent of the work, they convince you that they know 200 per cent. I am indebted to my mentor, Brendon Calder, director of a leading Canadian bank, who always pushed me to the wall to excel in my career which is synonymous for its male bastion, she says. Twenty-one years ago, her mentor offered her a job which she was not keen to accept, but he convinced her as he was adamant about enrolling her in his company. Fariba recalls fondly that she was the lone woman in all the meetings where he went out of the way without showing favouritism. Most recently, as the CIO of York University and the Executive Vice President and CIO of the Home Trust Company, Fariba was responsible for the digital transformation agenda, process and technologies innovation, advanced analytics and machine learning, as well as enhanced governance and collaboration across technology and business units. In her previous role as a technologist, Fariba was leading the global business wing. So, by the time she joined Teranet, she was keen to ensure that the global footprint was established in India as well apart from Canada and Ukraine. Fariba realised that majority of the employees on the payroll were from India, China and Canada, while Teranet has a work strength of over 1000 employees and a few hundred in the IT division. Not all her colleagues supported her idea of opening an office so far away in Nila and Pamba buildings in Technopark. But so far, the transition has been good for Fariba where a team of 40 people are working from Thiruvananthapuram. Faribas mantra has been seize the moment as she felt it is definitely an opportunity to spread the wings across the globe. Her strong belief is that the role of the CIO can bring in change through her global team where meaningful work is divided. Fariba is proud of her boss, Elgin Farewell, president and CEO of Teranet, who is also a great believer in providing equal opportunities. Fariba is hugely indebted to her parents, the Late Syed Abdul Rahman, an intellectual and a businessman and homemaker mother, 85-year-old Poran (pronounced as Puran). Fariba vouches that she will soon be returning to Thiruvananthapuram, not only to meet her team of colleagues, but to meet someone special at an orphanage here. She accidentally met a plus one girl student, Surya, who lacked confidence to face her life. She told her about the value of education and that as a representative of the next generation, she should be leading the world. I like to come back just for her, says Fariba with a smile. The incident occurred today afternoon when a huge quantity of mud fell on workers at the worksite following which they were buried alive. (Representational Image | AP) Hyderabad: Ten people including some women labourers working under the MNREGA scheme were killed when a huge mound of mud fell on them at a worksite in Telangana's Narayanpet district on Wednesday, police said. The incident occurred today afternoon when a huge quantity of mud fell on them at the worksite following which they were buried alive, they said adding efforts were on to rescue those trapped. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao expressed deep shock and anguish over the incident which he described as "unfortunate". Mr Rao instructed the officials concerned to provide all necessary care to those injured. The BJP accused the chief minister of leaking the information about the raids beforehand, thereby violating the oath of secrecy taken at the time of assuming office. (Photo: File) Bengaluru: The income tax department has written to the Chief Electoral Officer seeking legal action against Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and a host of his cabinet colleagues for allegedly intimidating tax officers and obstructing them from discharging duties, sources said Tuesday. The chief minister, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, and host of other state ministers along with their supporters had staged a demonstration near the income tax office on March 28, accusing the Centre of using central agencies, such and income tax department, enforcement directorate and CBI, to intimidate the opposition. The protests took place when tax raids were in progress across the state. In his letter, dated April 5, Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (Goa-Karnataka region) B R Balakrishnan said, Reports in electronic media depict that the protest was led by chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, Ministers D K Shivakumar and S R Mahesh, former home minister Ramalinga Reddy, Dinesh Gundu Rao, MLA and KPCC president. This was followed by specific statements including personal allegations against the director general of income tax by Ministers H D Revanna and C S Puttaraju. The voluntary and disruptive actions of people holding high offices obstructed public servants from discharging their public functions, wrote Balakrishnan, adding that the protests aimed at derailing the ongoing search proceedings against the contractors and engineers and causing damage to the reputation of the personnel of the department. Balakrishnan, stated in his letter, that when people holding high public offices including constitutional posts, make false statements and instigate and involve in criminal activities with the purpose of adversely affecting the process of the law and preventing government officials form discharging their duties, such activities and statements criminally intimidate and harm the personnel of the department with greater intensity. The income tax official demanded cases should be registered against all those who took part in the protests for unlawful assembly, intentional insult, breach of peace, statements conducing to public mischief, criminal intimidation, obstructing public servant from discharging their duties and threat of injury to public servant under IPC sections 143, 504, 505, 506, 186 and 189. The raids since March 28 fetched unaccounted cash of Rs 8.14 crore and unaccounted jewellery worth Rs 1.69 crore, the department stated in the letter adding that no MLA, MLC or minister was searched in the said proceedings. A day prior to the raids, the chief minister had expressed his apprehensions that income tax raids on Congress and JD(S) leaders and ministers were in the offing, which he called the politics of vendetta of the Centre. The raids took place at about 15 to 20 locations, triggering widespread condemnation and protests by the leaders of the ruling coalition. Minister Puttaraju had claimed that his house in Mandya and his nephews house in Mysuru were among those raided by the I-T officials. The BJP accused the chief minister of leaking the information about the raids beforehand, thereby violating the oath of secrecy taken at the time of assuming office. The disaster took place on April 10, 2016 after a cracker house caught fire during a competitive firework held at Puttingal temple, Paravur here. Kollam: Even three years after the Puttingal disaster that claimed 110 lives and left hundreds injured, the investigation agencies have not filed the chargesheet in the case. A judicial probe is still going on to find out the lapses of the administration and the police force. The disaster took place on April 10, 2016 after a cracker house caught fire during a competitive firework held at Puttingal temple, Paravur here. The draft chargesheet by the Crime Branch is awaiting the final approval from the district administration as it falls under the Explosives Act. The victims also did not get sufficient compensation as estimated by the PWD buildings department due to an upper sealing of Rs. 1.9 lakh as the fund is channelled from 'financial assistance under natural calamities.' The Crime Branch has found a total of 59 accused in the incident. Murder charges have been slapped on 37 of them, including the temple committee members and fireworks people. The order by the district magistrate to prevent the competitive fireworks, based on several reports from various government organisations and the tahsildar, was violated causing the accident. Puttingal temple devaswom managing committee secretary J. Krishnankutty Pillai had sought permission to conduct the fireworks on February 23, 2016. The order preventing the fireworks was issued by the ADM on April 8, two days before the disaster. However, neither the ADM nor the district magistrate has the power of attorney to review the order once issued. Only the land revenue commissioner could do it, but he was not contacted by the organisers. The reports suggested denial of permission for the event because there existed the possibility of using explosives beyond permissible limit as the event was competitive fireworks between two 'fireworks masters.' The judicial probe ordered into the tragedy had earlier come to a standstill with the resignation of commission retired Justice N. Krishnan Nair. The government also failed to provide sufficient facilities for the commission to start the inquiry. The commission later headed by Justice P.S. Gopinathan conducted various sittings and recorded the statements of witnesses, but the report is yet to be submitted. The top court said review petitions against its December 14 verdict dismissing all petitions against procurement of Rafale jets will be decided on merits. (Photo: File) New Delhi: In a setback to the Centre, the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed leaked documents to be relied upon by petitioners seeking review of its Rafale judgement and dismissed the government's preliminary objections claiming "privilege" over them. The Centre had submitted that 'privilege' (leaked or stolen) documents were procured by petitioners in an illegal way and used to support their review petitions against the December 14, 2018 judgement of the apex court dismissing all pleas challenging procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France. "We dismiss the preliminary objection raised by Union of India questioning the maintainability of the review petition," a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph said. The apex court said it will go ahead with the hearing on the review petition on the basis of new documents referred by petitioners. The CJI pronounced the verdict on his behalf and for Justice S K Kaul. The second concurrent judgment was pronounced by Justice K M Joseph, who said he agreed with the conclusion of the judgment written by the CJI. The chief justice said Justice Joseph agreed with the judgment delivered by him but gave different reasoning. The judgment makes it clear that during the hearing of the review petition the bench will look into not only the question of pricing of the jet but also selection of Indian offset partner of Dassault which manufactures Rafale. The top court said review petitions against its December 14 verdict dismissing all petitions against procurement of Rafale jets will be decided on merits. The apex court said it will fix a date for hearing review petitions. Former union minister Arun Shourie, who is one of the review petitioners, said he was delighted by the unanimous verdict. "We are delighted it is an unanimous verdict dismissing Central government's peculiar argument on admissibility of documents. Centre's argument meant that no wrong can be done in the defence deal," Shourie said. The other two petitioners are former union minister Yashwant Sinha and activist advocate Prashant Bhushan. On March 14, the apex court had reserved verdict on the preliminary objections raised by the Centre on admissibility of privileged documents annexed by Sinha, Shourie and Bhushan in their review petition. Classified documents were sourced by the media over the Rafale deal. Citing internal reports of the Defence Ministry, the Hindu had reported that the Defence Ministry had objected to parallel negotiations by the government. The Centre had claimed privilege over documents pertaining to the Rafale fighter jet deal with France and said those documents cannot be considered in evidence as per Section 123 of the Indian Evidence Act. The Centre had contended that no one can produce them in the court without the permission of the department concerned as those documents are also protected under the Official Secrets Act and their disclosure is exempted under the Right to Information Act as per Section 8(1)(a). A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had on December 14 dismissed all Public Interest Litigations (PILs) against the deal between India and France for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets, saying there was no occasion to "really doubt the decision making process" warranting setting aside of the contract. The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation. On March 14, the apex court had reserved verdict on the preliminary objections raised by the Centre on admissibility of privileged documents. (Representational image) New Delhi: The Supreme Court will Wednesday pronounce the verdict on the preliminary objections raised by the Centre that the documents on which it was claiming privilege cannot be relied upon to re-examine the verdict in the Rafale fighter jet deal with France. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi will pronounce the verdict. On March 14, the apex court had reserved verdict on the preliminary objections raised by the Centre on admissibility of privileged documents annexed by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie as also activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan in their review petition against the top courts December 14 judgment that dismissed all petitions against the Rafale jet deal. Only after we decide the preliminary objection raised by the Centre, we will go into other aspect of the review petitions, the bench said, adding that only if we overrule the preliminary objection, we will go into other details. The Centre had claimed privilege over documents pertaining to the Rafale fighter jet deal with France and said those documents cannot be considered in evidence as per Section 123 of the Indian Evidence Act. Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the Centre had contended that no one can produce them in the court without the permission of the department concerned as those documents are also protected under the Official Secrets Act and their disclosure is exempted under the Right to Information Act as per Section 8(1)(a). Bhushan had contended that the Centres objections were mala fide and totally untenable arguments. The top court had further noted that according to the AGs submissions there are three Rafale documents whose publication comes under Official Secrets Act, 1923. These documents were unauthorisedly published. You claim privilege under section 123 of Evidence Act. You want us to adjudicate and strike down the review on this basis. Bhushan had submitted a note countering the preliminary objections raised by the centre on maintainability of the review petitions, stating that preliminary objection are mala fide and totally untenable arguments. He had said government cannot claim privilege over the documents which are already published and is in public domain. Bhushan had said that Section 123 Indian Evidence Act only protected unpublished documents. While the Centre was making a submission that the documents can be withheld from disclosure under the RTI Act in view of the national security, the top court said Section 22 of the RTI Act gave it an overriding effect over the Official Secrets Act. It also said that under Section 24 of the RTI Act even security and intelligence establishments are not exempted from disclosing information in relation to corruption and human rights violations. The RTI Act brought a revolution. In 2009, your own government said file notings can be made available under the RTI. Let us not go back now, the bench has said. Bhushan further said that provisions of the RTI Act say public interest outweighs other things and no privilege can be claimed except for documents which pertain to intelligence agencies. He also said that there is no government-to-government contract in purchasing Rafale jets as there is no sovereign guarantee extended to India by France in the Rs 58,000 crore deal. He had submitted why the government didnt lodge any FIR when these documents started coming out in November 2018. He had further said that the government has itself filed a detailed CAG report regarding as many as 10 defence purchases and it is untenable on their part to now claim the privilege. The bench rejected Yadav's arguments that he has been in jail for 24 months, saying in comparison to the 14-year sentence awarded to him, 24 months was nothing. (Photo: File) New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the bail plea of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav in multi-crore fodder scam cases. A bench headed by Chief Justice Rajan Gogoi said it is not inclined to enlarge Yadav on bail in the cases. The bench rejected Yadav's arguments that he has been in jail for 24 months, saying in comparison to the 14-year sentence awarded to him 24 months was nothing. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Yadav, said there were no recoveries and no demand and the only major offence under which he was convicted was conspiracy. The bench said merits of the case will be decided by the high court. "At present, we are only hearing the bail appeal," it said. The CBI had yesterday vehemently opposed in the apex court the bail plea of Yadav, saying the ailing leader suddenly claimed to be "fully fit" to undertake political activities in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Yadav, who has been in hospital instead of jail for last over eight months, had sought bail on medical grounds and for leading his party simultaneously, the CBI had said while arguing that granting of bail to him would set "very wrong precedent" in cases involving "serious corruption in high offices". Accusing Yadav of undertaking political activities from a hospital in Ranchi, the probe agency had said: "Simultaneous raising of pleas for bail on medical grounds and bail to guide the party and to carry out all essential responsibilities as a party president in ensuing Lok Sabha election are mutually contradictory and manifests that in the garb of bail on medical ground the petitioner in essence wants to pursue his political activities which is impermissible in law." The agency, in its response filed to Yadav's bail plea, had referred to the high-profile political leaders who have visited him in hospital in last few months including Ahmed Patel, D Raja, Derek O' Brien, Sharad Yadav and Hemant Soren. The convicted person occupied the constitutional office of the Chief Minister of one of the largest states in the country and has been held guilty of "misappropriation of Rs 75.48 crores in four fodder scam cases" and is still undergoing trial in two cases for misappropriation of Rs 139.45 crore, it had said, adding Yadav may influence the trial in the two pending cases. The RJD chief, lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi, had challenged the January 10 verdict of the Jharkhand High Court dismissing his bail plea. The three cases in which Prasad has been convicted are related to the over-Rs 900-crore fodder scam, which pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of money from the treasuries in the Animal Husbandry department in the early 1990s, when Jharkhand was part of Bihar. The RJD was in power in Bihar with Prasad as the chief minister when the scam had allegedly taken place. In the high court, the RJD supremo cited old age and poor health for grant of bail. Yadav (71) said he was suffering from diabetes, blood pressure and other ailments and that he had already obtained bail in one of the fodder scam cases. He has been convicted for fraudulent withdrawal of money from the Deoghar, Dumka and two Chaibasa treasuries situated in Jharkhand. He is currently facing trial in another fodder scam case pertaining to the Doranda treasury and has been undergoing treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) at Ranchi for the last few months. Mani is survived by his wife Annamma, son Jose K Mani who is also a Rajya Sabha MP and five daughters. (Photo: ANI) Thiruvananthapuram: Veteran Kerala politician, K M Mani, a sitting MLA over the last 54 years who served as a minister in Kerala government for 25 years passed away in Kochi on Tuesday at the age of 86. Mani was elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly for the first time in 1965 from Pala constituency of Kerala's Kottayam district. A founder member of the Kerala Congress party he later formed the Kerala Congress (M), a key coalition partner of the Congress-led UDF in Kerala. As a mark of respect to the departed dignitary, the Kerala government on Wednesday urged the district collector and state police to accord full state honours to the former Kerala finance minister who breathed his last at a private hospital in Kochi. Mani who was suffering from COPD (Chronic Obstructive pulmonary disease) for several years was admitted to the hospital last week for chest infection. He is survived by his wife and six children. "As a mark of respect to the departed, I am to request you to accord full state honours with gun salute," an official statement by Joint Secretary to Kerala government B Sunil Kumar read. Kerala Congress (M) chairman K M Mani held the record of having presented 13, the maximum number of budgets and the longest serving MLA of Kerala Legislative Assembly after having won 13 consecutive elections. Soon after his death reports, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi expressed condolences to Mani's family: "Im sorry to hear about the passing of Shri K M Mani, a highly respected & beloved leader of the Kerala Congress who was elected MLA a record 13 times. My condolences to his family, friends and supporters in this time of grief. May his soul rest in peace," Gandhi posted on twitter. The mortal remains of the late leader will be taken from Ernakulam by road and placed in Kerala Congress (M) State Committee Office, Kottayam around 11 am on April 10 at Thirunakkara Maidan for paying public homage and from there to his native place in Pala. Mani is survived by his wife Annamma, son Jose K Mani who is also a Rajya Sabha MP and five daughters. The funeral of the late leader will take place on April 11 at Pala. Hyderabad: The Election Commission has banned the conducting of exit polls and publishing or publicising on print and electronic media during the period between 7 am on April 11 and May 19. On the directions of the EC, the Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Rajat Kumar issued a notification to this effect on Wednesday. The Election Commission said that the result of any exit poll in connection with the current general elections of the Lok Sabha and the state Assemblies in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim, and any by-elections from Assembly constituencies which are to be held simultaneously with LS elections, shall be prohibited. The EC also banned displaying any election matter including the results of an opinion poll of 48 hours ending within the hours fixed for conclusion of poll in the respective polling areas in connection with general and by-elections. Meanwhile, the EC has invoked the powers under Article 324 to prohibit the display/exhibit of any biopic/publicity material during the period in which the model code of conduct is enforced. The CEO said that the EC has issued orders on Wednesday prohibiting the display on electronic media including cinematograph of any biopic or publicity material in the nature of biography/hagiography subserving the purposes of any political entity or any individual entity connected to it. The EC said that it has noticed that there are instances when such political content is displayed on electronic media which may discredit or dismay the electoral prospect of a candidate or a political party. So far, the commission has received complaints against cinemas like Lakshmis NTR, PM Narendra Modi and Udyama Simham which have been claimed to either diminish or advance the electoral prospects of a candidate or a political party in the name of creative freedom. This is the third manifesto being brought out by the SWGM in the last one decade. Kochi: The Save Western Ghats Movement (SWGM) has placed a manifesto reiterating the voters pledge that the electorate in the states of Western Ghats should support only those candidates who will agree with the demands in the manifesto. This is the third manifesto being brought out by the SWGM in the last one decade. The previous two manifestos were issued during the 2009 and 2014 general elections. The key demand raised in the manifesto called for declaring and protecting the Western Ghats as Water Towers of South India. The other six demands included stopping wanton destruction by framing policies to conserve natural forests, bottom-up process of conservation by empowering Gram Sabhas, holding public hearings on Gadgil and Kasturirangan reports and avoiding undue politicisation and spread of misinformation around the reports, supportive policies to practice ecological agriculture and horticulture for a sustainable living, promotion of sustainable tourism, without big hotels and or housing complexes and supporting alternative energy policies that helps build local economies. The third manifesto, giving a detailed account of the ecological importance of Western Ghats, has framed the seven demands by taking into account the following factors. According to the SWGM the Western Ghats should have a minimum of 66 per cent of its geographical area under forests as against less than 30 per cent now. There is need to provide financial support to plant trees in revenue land, wildlife corridors. Another key factor calls for the strict adherence to the norms of the ecologically sensitive areas as directed by the National Green Tribunal. Land use changes from forests to build resorts and tourism infrastructure should be prohibited in forest areas. The natural forests, free flowing rivers and wildlife habitats/corridors will be preserved for the security of coming generations. School curriculum should include information about importance of Western Ghats as a resource that provides water and ecological security and the need to conserve them. Pledge to revive the MPs Forum on the Western Ghats, and hold regular meeting in the region to hear public voices, is another main theme in the manifesto. Natural regeneration instead of mono culture plantations; water conservation instead of building dams; and free flow of rivers and not diversion of rivers and MNREGA to be used to meet ecological regeneration and local livelihoods needs of the particular region, for building decentralised green economy are some of the other key suggestions. Ahmedabad: Finally, Gujarat Congress MLA and young OBC leader Alpesh Thakor resigned from the party on Wednesday. Talk of his resigning from the Congress and joining the BJP has been going around for quite some time. The desertion has come as a big jolt for the Congress, just before the elections. In his resignation letter to state party chief Amit Chawda, Mr Thakor wrote: I had joined the politics to work for my community and for poor. I wouldnt have joined the Congress in its worst times if I was here only for power. But let me say that I am feeling betrayed by the party. Party has not recognised my contribution. I feel insulted. Talking to the media later in the day, Mr Thakor clarified that he is not resigning as an MLA. Asked if he was joining the BJP, he said, I am not joining any party right now. I will continue to work for the community and will show our strength to the Congress. In response to his allegations, Congress spokesperson Jairajsinh Parmar said, He should clarify where and on which matter he was betrayed by the party. Thakor Sena is an outfit of the youth of the Thakor community in North Gujarat led by Mr Thakor. Yesterday, the outfit directed Mr Thakor to resign from the Congress within 24 hours because the community is being neglected by the Congress and there is no reason to stay with the party now. The Thakor Sena sprang up during Hardik Patels Patidar reservation agitation in the state in 2015. It had opposed any move to include the Patidar community in the OBC reservation quota. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. On April 4, the Cherla police detained four persons who were escaping on seeing the police personnel on the outskirts of Kalivery village. During the inquiry, the four persons were found to be sympathisers of the CPI Maoist party and working for the party. Hyderabad: Hours after the attack at Dantewada in Chhattisgarh, at least 15 militants were detained in Maoist-hit areas on Tuesday night by the Telangana police. The police have issued a high alert in the bordering districts of Telangana and Chhattisgarh and deployed additional security forces at polling stations located in sensitive areas. Soon after the attack at Dantewada, senior police officials of the state held a review meeting to lay out a strategy to prevent left wing extremists from entering the TS border, as the Chhattisgarh police would conduct combing in the areas where the attack took place in which an MLA and four police personnel were killed in a landmine blast. Searches were also conducted in the areas close to the border, to prevent extremists crossing the border. Bhupalpally, Mulug and Kothagudem districts of the state share a border with Chhattisgarh. Of the 15 Maoist sympathisers detained on Tuesday night, the Manuguru police detained seven persons, who were present at a public gathering discussing the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, armed with the information that they were militants of the CPI(ML). The police booked a case and took them into custody. On April 4, the Cherla police detained four persons who were escaping on seeing the police personnel on the outskirts of Kalivery village. During the inquiry, the four persons were found to be sympathisers of the CPI Maoist party and working for the party. Depending on the threat perception, security has been increased at the sensitive polling locations. We are alert enough to prevent untoward incidents, said a senior police official. It may be recalled that on April 1, a civilian was killed in an explosion of a pressure landmine at Nuguru village in Venkatapuram mandal, when he accidentally stepped on it during a forest visit. Reports later emerged that it was planted by the extremists to target police personnel. The body of one of the victims being dug out from under a mound of mud that killed 10 women NREGA workers in Thileru village on Wednesday. Hyderabad: In a tragic incident, at least ten daily-wage National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) workers hired for digging work in Thileru village in Telanganas Marikal mandal were killed when a huge mound of earth collapsed on them and trapped them at the worksite on Wednesday morning. All of them were women. At 8 am on Wednesday, the workers had as usual gone out to do trenching for the construction of an irrigation channel at Edmartippa hillock. At around 10.30 am, after two hours of work in the scorching heat, 30 workers were resting in shade at the foot of the small hill, when tonnes of earth cascaded down on them burying some of them alive. The bodies had to be extracted using earth-moving machines. No shade for workers a major problem: Activists Two of the workers have been hospitalised. According to the workers who survived, about 30 tractor loads of mud and clay pellets collapsed onto them and the ten women workers died on the spot. Some suspect that the mishap was caused due to the rain that fell on the site last night. The deceased have been identified as Anuradha, 30, Bheemama, 34, G. Buddamma, 36, B. Lakshmi, 32, K Lamamma, 36, M. Lingamma,34,Ch. Ananthamma, 42, P. Shekaramma, 50, B. Anathamma, 54, and Ch. Laxmi, 42. The neglect of the authorities in providing shade to the workers, which is compulsory as part of the scheme, has been blamed for the tragedy. Civil rights organisations in Telangana are demanding that sheets of cloth rather than plastic be used to provide shade. Sources said that insurance was also not provided for the workers. P. Shankar of the Dalit Bhaujan Front, said, Even these plastic sheets were not distributed to workers in most places. In some places, where plastic sheets are provided, they are not helping much during this season, as the shade is aggravating the heat, due to which the workers are hesitant to carry the plastic to the work site. This is a blatant violation of the Act and human rights of workers. He has demanded a judicial probe into the incident, and compensation of Rs 25 lakh to each family of the deceased. Other demands are distribution of cloth tents to workers, an audit of worksite facilities, and action to be taken against rural development officers for violating basic labour rights and human rights. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao expressed deep shock and condolences on the tragic incident. Bhopal: Days after Income Tax (IT) sleuths conducted raids on close aides of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) on Wednesday filed an FIR against unknown politicians and bureaucrats in connection with the Rs 3000 crore E-tendering scam. The scandal involving manipulation of software to temper with biddings in some projects of the state government to benefit a few private players, came to surface in January last year during the previous Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. The FIR was lodged on the basis of preliminary findings in the case and probe report of the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), New Delhi, a statement issued by EOW on Wednesday said. Preliminary findings in the investigation into the case suggested tempering of e-procurement portal to manipulate biddings for projects in five departments of the state government in 2018. The beneficiary companies in the manipulation included those based in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Baroda and Bhopal. Those named in the FIR included unknown officers of MP state electronic development corporation, employees of government departments concerned, and directors and officers of some private IT companies. Incidentally, the EOW probe into the e-tendering scam that took place during the previous government in the state came four days after IT raids conducted on houses and business establishments of the chief ministers officers on special duty, Pravin Kakkad and R K Miglani and two others Ashin Sharma and Prateek Joshi allegedly linked to them. The EOW decision to lodge FIR in the case came soon after the chief minister returned from his Delhi visit on Wednesday. BJP described the move by the EOW as a retaliation to the recent IT raids in MP. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu relaxes by playing with his grandson Nara Devaansh after a gruelling campaign that included addressing 110 public meetings across the state. Vijayawada: After almost a month of a long high-pitched campaign, Andhra Pradesh will go to the polls on Thursday for 175 assembly and 25 Parliament segments. It will be the first election in Andhra Pradesh after the state was divided in 2014. The state was formally divided after the 2014 polls. Around 2118 candidates for 175 assembly and 319 for 25 Parliament segments in the fray for Thursday's high stakes poll. Thursday's poll will decide the fate of YSRC cheif YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, TD supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena chief actor turned politician Pawan Kalyan. This is the first time that after the TD was founded that the party is going on the polls without an alliance. Last time in 2014, the TD went to the polls in alliance with the BJP. Jagan's YSRC is going it alone while the Jana Sena has an alliance with the BSP and Left parties. Last time Pawan Kalyan campaigned for the TD-BJP combine. Andhra Pradesh this time, will witness a multi-cornered fight with the TD, YSRC, Jana Sena, BJP and Congress candidates in fray. Kapus and backward classes who constitute more than half of the total electorate will decide who is going to be chief minister of the state. Andhra self-respect and pride, dominated Naidu's conspiracy theory campaign while Jagan went to people explaining what he will do if voted to power. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. Polling in Nizamabad will begin at 8 am and end at 6 pm a longer period than in other constituencies in view of the large number of candidates. Hyderabad: The stage is set for elections for 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana state on Thursday with security arrangements made to ensure free and fair polls. The EC has made elaborate arrangements for voters to cast their vote. Polling in Nizamabad will begin at 8 am and end at 6 pm a longer period than in other constituencies in view of the large number of candidates. The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti, which had bagged 11 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, is this time confident of sweeping 16 seats, leaving the Hyderabad seat for its ally the Majlis-e-Ittihadul Muslimeen (MIM). In the Assembly election held in December 2018, the TRS won 88 seats in the 119-member House, while the Congress won only 19. The BJP could manage only one seat and BJP candidates lost their deposits in 103 segments. The TRS leadership is confident of marginalising both the Congress, which has suffered from defections and desertions after the Assembly results, and the BJP, which has almost lost its base in many Assembly segments in the state. While the TRS is confident of winning 17 seats in the company of the MIM, the opposition Congress and BJP appear to be focused on winning select number of seats. The Congress leadership is confident of winning Nalgonda from where TPCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy is contesting, and also Khammam (Renuka Chowdary), Bhongir (Komatireddy Venkat Reddy), Chevella (Konda Vishweshwar Reddy) and Malkajgiri (A Revanth Reddy). The BJP hopes to win Mahabubnagar (D.K. Aruna), Secunderabad (G Kishan Reddy) and Peddapally (A Chandrasekhar). While all the 25 seats of Andhra Pradesh and entire 17 seats of Telangana will go for polling in the first phase, eight crucial seats of western Uttar Pradesh too will be covered on Thursday. These are Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida). New Delhi: The bugle for 2019 Lok Sabha elections will be sounded on Thursday, April 11, when 91 constituencies across 18 states and two union territories will cast their vote in the first phase of the seven phased polls. While all the 25 seats of Andhra Pradesh and entire 17 seats of Telangana will go for polling in the first phase, eight crucial seats of western Uttar Pradesh too will be covered on Thursday. These are Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida). Apart from this, all the five parliamentary constituencies of Uttarakhand will also witness polling on April 11. The eight seats of western Uttar Pradesh which will go to polls in the firstphase of Lok Sabha elections, sees the BJP facing a tough contest in all the seats due to the alliance of Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) against it. The Congress is also seeking to put up a good show and is likely to cut into votes of both the BJP and the combined alliance. A total of around 1.5 crore voters from these eight seats will vote in the first of the seven phases on Thursday. They are almost 10.45 per cent of the total over 14 crore voters who will poll for all the 80 Lok Sabha seats from the state. The first phase of polling in western Uttar Pradesh is crucial as any polarisation in this region as seen during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections may help the BJP get an impressive tally. Three union Ministers V.K. Singh (Ghaziabad), Satyapal Singh (Baghpat) and Mahesh Sharma (Gautam Buddha Nagar) are in the fray as is RLD chief Ajit Singh (Muzaffarnagar) and his son Jayant Chaudhary (Baghpat). In Muzaffarnagar, Ajit Singh, a candidate of the SP-BSP-RLD alliance, is pitted against former Uni-on minister Sanjiv Balyan, where Muslim voters dominate in all five assembly segments of this seat. There are approximately 17 lakh voters, among whom Muslims constitute over 26 per cent followed by 15 per cent Jatavs and around eight per cent Jats. In Ghaziabad, Union Minister V.K. Singh, who is seeking his re-election, is locked in a triangular contest with Suresh Bansal, the candidate of the SP-RLD-BSP coalition and Congress nominee Dolly Sharma, a young professional with a political lineage. From Gautam Budh Nagar (Noida), the fate of Union Minister Mahesh Sharma is at stake here in a triangular contest. The Congress has fielded Arvind Kumar Singh, while the BSPs Satveer is the joint candidate of the SP-BSP-RLD alliance. Union Minister Satyapal Singh is seeking re-election from Baghpat, a Jat dominated constituency. RLD leader Ajit Singhs son Jayant Chaudhary is contesting against him as the joint SP-BSP-RLD candidate. Uttarakhand will see 52 candidates vying for all the five Parliamentary seats in the first phase of the election. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. Kolkata: Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday declared that the transfer of police officers would not help the BJP anyway in the Lok Sabha Elections. She made it clear that all the officers belonged to the state and they would work according to the state government. Addressing an election campaign rally at Chopra in North Dinajpur a day before the first phase of the polls the West Bengal chief minister said, Can the election be held through transfer of officers? All the officers are ours. Remember all the state government officers work according to the state government. Keep it in mind that this is our government. She claimed, Nothing happens by changing the officers. The officers do not give votes. It is the public who give their votes. Do not listen to anyone. If anyone comes from New Delhi and uses force, he will leave after two days. Then only you will remain here. And our administration will be there. You need to be neither scared nor worried. Ms Banerjees assertion came a day after the Election Commission transfered superintendent of police (Cooch Behar) Abhishek Gupta. Meanwhile special central police observer Vivek Dube held a meeting with IPS officer Amit Kumar Singh, who replaced Mr Gupta, on the security arrangement for the polls. In the morning Mr Singh said, According to the criteria, we have tried to accommodate as much as paramilitary forces in around 700 critical polling stations. A total of 45 companies will be deployed at the booths, one company will be posted at the strong room and another as quick response team. KV Reddy of the Congress party is the richest candidate. (Photo: Twitter) New Delhi: Can a man with Rs 500 in his pocket be any kind of a challenge to a man who is worth Rs 895 crore? He can, because this is the world's largest democracy and it is poll time. The largest voting exercise in the world begins from April 11, and not only with it be a political show but also a show of money power. Here is a look at the richest and poorest candidates, identified by the Association for Democratic Reform (ADR). KV Ready -- Richest For the first phase, KV Reddy of the Congress party is the richest candidate. His family assets have been valued at Rs 895 crore. The Congress candidate will be fighting from Telangana's Chevella Lok Sabha constituency against BJP's B Janardhan Reddy. In the previous national election, his family assets stood over Rs 528 crore. Prasad V Potluri--- Second richest The second richest candidate in Thursday's election run is Prasad V Potluri or PVP as popularly known. He belongs to YSR Congress Party and filed his nomination from Vijayawada. PVP is the owner of several business firms in the Telugu states, including a production company called PVP cinema. Nalla Prem Kumar-- Poorest Candidate Holding asset worth Rs 500, JDU's Nalla Prem Kumar is the poorest candidate in Phase 1. Nalla is contesting from Telangana's Chevella Lok Sabha constituency. The ADR report shows that the most crorepati candidates are fielded by the Congress party, followed by the BJP. The results for the 2019 general elections will be announced on May 23. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. Taking a dig at the 'corrupt' character of the Congress, Modi alleged that another scam has been added to the list of the party. (Photo: ANI) Junagarh: Advertising the work done by the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) in the last five years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi affirmed that people were proud of him for giving a corruption-free regime to India. Addressing a political rally in Junagarh, Gujarat, on Wednesday, Modi said, "I have come here to give an account of the work done in five years... I have come here to take your order for the next five years... Are you proud of the work done by your son, this chowkidar?" On national security, Modi attacked Congress leaders for supporting those who want a separate Jammu and Kashmir and a separate Prime Minister for them. Taking a dig at the "corrupt nature" of the Congress, and on the recent raids on the party's leaders, Modi alleged that another scam had been added to their list. "A new scam, along with evidence, has been added to the account of Congress leaders -- the Tughlaq Road Chunavi Ghotala," Modi said. Modi accused the Congress of looting money meant for the poor and pregnant women. "First, Karnataka was an ATM for the Congress, now MP has also become an ATM," he said. Following the same tone, Union Minister Finance Minister Arun Jaitely attacked Opposition for calling any action against corruption as political vendetta. It has become a growing culture of opposition parties to call any action against corruption as political vendetta. Legitimate action against corruption is no vendetta as claim of vendetta has never been a legitimate defence in corruption. Chowkidar Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) April 10, 2019 In the blog titled, ''Legitimate action against corruption is not vendetta," Jaitely lashed out at the most promising scheme of the Congress. "This is the hypocrisy of Indian politics. After inflicting injustice they have the audacity to speak of Nyay," Jaitely wrote in the blog. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. Nakul Nath is contesting from Chhindwara constituency, where he is up against the BJP's Natthan Shah, a tribal leader and former MLA. (Photo: Twitter | Nakul Nath) Chhindwara: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath's son Nakul, who Tuesday filed his nomination for the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat, owns movable and immovable assets worth over Rs 660.01 crore. The figure, mentioned in his affidavit filed along with the nomination papers, is over five times the assets of his parents, which as per CM Nath's affidavit stood at over Rs 124 crore. Nakul Nath, a businessman-turned-politician, holds movable assets worth over Rs 615.93 crore while that of his wife Priya Nath is over Rs 2.30 crore, as per the affidavit. The value of his immovable assets is over Rs 41.77 crore while his wife does not own any immovable asset, as per the affidavit. The affidavit stated that Nakul Nath owned these properties in his own name as well as jointly and also through family controlled companies and trusts. Nakul Nath and Priya Nath don't own any vehicles, the affidavit stated. He owns 896.669 grams of gold bars, 7.630 kilogrammes silver, 147.58 carat diamond and stone jewellery worth over Rs 78.45 lakh while his wife possesses over 270.322 grams gold, 161.84 carat diamond and stone jewellery valued at over Rs 57.62 lakh, the affidavit said. As per Income Tax Return filed for the year 2017-18, Nakul Nath has shown annual income of over Rs 2.76 crore while his wife's income stood at over Rs 4.18 crore. He also has deposits in various bank accounts and shares in firms and institutes including Institute of Management Technology (IMT) in its Dubai and Sharjah campus and Span Air Private Ltd. The affidavit stated that Nakul Nath and his brother jointly own a total of 7.82 acres of land in Chhindwara district. The poll debutant also shared his five social media accounts including his website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and Blogger. Nakul Nath is contesting from Chhindwara constituency, where he is up against the BJP's Natthan Shah, a tribal leader and former MLA. Nakul Nath has a degree in Business Administration from Bay State College, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. Kolkata: Predicting his party's victory in the Lok Sabha Election Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday vowed to spare "no one" in the Rafale scam after returning to power. He bantered that the Supreme Court's order has scared Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose body language, he claimed, has changed. Addressing a rally at Raiganj in North Dinajpur of 24 hours before the first phase of the polls, Mr Gandhi also dismissed Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee's slur of an alliance between the Congress and BJP. He pointed out that it was Ms Banerjee who once forged a pact with the BJP. Emboldened by the SC directive the Congress chief said, "I can assure you that the Congress is going to defeat Mr Modi in this election. After that an inquiry will be carried out into the money theft in Rafale aircraft deal. I can give guarantee that those who were involved in stealing will face punishment. No one will be spared. This is the reality." He argued, "Today the Supreme Court stated that a scam has taken place in Rafale case. Chowkidar Chor Hai. We have changed the figure of Chowkidar. Did you see his body language? He has been scared. His body has started shrinking. He can not make an eye-to-eye contact with the country." Slamming Mr Modi Mr Gandhi alleged, "Returning home Chowkidar keep worrying that the Congress implicated him in the Rafale case and now he would have to go to jail if an investigation follows. He can not deliver his address nowadays properly. During his speech he looks at his side, up and down. He speaks in fear." He added, "Chowkidar Chor Hai. And the public has caught his theft. " Training guns on the West Bengal chief minister Mr Gandhi noted, "Mamataji is alleging that the Congress is not fighting with the BJP. Who raised Rafale issue? Who said Chowkidar Chor Hai? Who fought the Rafale case? It is the Congress which fought it." The Congress president underlined, "The Congress is fighting the BJP in each state. We do not go on back foot even for a single inch. Chowkidar is in the grip of a fear. Who left him sacred? It is the Congress. We fought for it. Can you tell me if the Congress has ever forged an alliance with the BJP?" He noted, "At least we did not do it in any state ever in the last 70 years. But did Mamataji forge an alliance with the BJP? She has done it. So it is the Congress which has been fighting against the BJP tooth and nail." At Raiganj on Tuesday Ms Banerjee told the Congress, "If a government has to be formed and the Congress will stakes claim to do it, how will you be able to do it? You are visible only in three-four states in the country. So the government formation will not be possible without all. You alone are not enough. Had you fought a bit well, there would not have been so much rise of the BJP." She claimed, "They rapidly rose due to your indulgence. Who is fighting the BJP: the Congress or the CPI(M) or the Trinamul? Have the BJP touched any leader either from the Congress or the CPI(M)? The BJP's fight is with the Trinamul. Do not forget that the Trinamul will form the government at the Centre, not any other party. Mr Gandhi also wondered why Mr Modi and Ms Banerjee did not provide loan waiver to the farmers. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. Voters can cast their votes from 7 am to 4 pm in 13 Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-effected Assembly segments under five parliamentary constituencies, and from 7 am to 5 pm in all other Lok Sabha constituencies. Hyderabad: The stage is set for elections for 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana state on Thursday with security arrangements made to ensure free and fair polls. The EC has made elaborate arrangements for voters to cast their vote. As many as 443 candidates (418 male and 25 female) are in the fray in the 17 constituencies. Over 2.97 crore voters, including 1,504 transgenders, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the state, which has a total of 34,604 polling stations. The Election Commission has deployed 3 lakh officers to conduct the election. Voters can cast their votes from 7 am to 4 pm in 13 Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-effected Assembly segments under five parliamentary constituencies, and from 7 am to 5 pm in all other Lok Sabha constituencies. The Election Commission has made special arrangements for the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency from where K. Kavitha, daughter of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, is seeking re-election, as several turmeric and red jowar farmers are in the fray to highlight their demand for remunerative prices for their produce. There are a whopping 185 candidates, including 170 farmers, in the fray in this segment, and the Election Commission has decided to conduct the poll in Nizamabad with EVMs (12 EVMs in each booth) despite the large number of candidates. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. As voters in 20 states prepare to cast their ballots for 91 Lok Sabha seats in the first of seven phases of the general election on April 11, Prime Minister Narendra Modis desperation is evident. In this make or break election, he is virtually begging for votes in the name of the Balakot airstrike and the Pulwama martyrs. It is as if the Indian Air Force fighter pilots and the Central Reserve Police Force martyrs were contesting the election on his behalf. Appealing to an estimated 15 million first-time voters, he said in Aurangabad: When you earn your first salary usually you dont keep it for yourself. You want to dedicate it to your mother or sister. Similarly, you can dedicate your vote for the Balakot airstrike, for the Pulwama attack victims Will you dedicate your vote to the brave men who conducted the Balakot strikes, to the CRPF men who lost their lives in the Pulwama attack? Prime Minister Modis attempt to leverage the death and bravery of the security forces is nothing short of scandalous. In 2014, he had mesmerised voters with a promise of delivering inclusive growth, corruption-free governance, employment for youth, and the prospect of doubling the income of farmers. Five years later, people have realised that the trailer was better than the film. Prime Minister Modi could not deliver on any of his economic promises. Instead, his maverick policies such a demonetisation destroyed jobs and small businesses. Markets turned chaotic with the hastily-introduced Goods and Services Tax, which was so badly framed that it had to be modified a record 376 times within 10 months of its inception. The governments claims of muscularity on security issues were punctured by spectacular terrorist attacks in Pathankot, Uri and Pulwama. A two-month-long standoff with China nearly threatened to turn ugly. Even the prospect of a real war with Pakistan has had to be dusted and brought out once more, barely weeks before polling. Prime Minister Modi is, therefore, not seeking re-election on the specificities of his governance record. Doing so risks arousing an anti-incumbency sentiment that will be difficult to counter. He has, however, failed to find a single unifying re-election theme. Despite cranking up the Pulwama terrorist attack and Indias response, the results of the Balakot bombing have become more and more unconvincing. The attempt at Hindu-Muslim polarisation, a card of last resort, has also not worked so far on the ground. It is back, therefore, to the Prime Minister invoking the spectre of a corrupt Opposition. Central investigative agencies like the income-tax department, the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation are being used to underline the alleged corruption of his many challengers. Raids by these agencies are then immediately taken as proof of corruption by Prime Minister Modi in his election speeches and finance minister Arun Jaitley in his daily blogs to frighten the voters into falling in line. Both Prime Minister Modi and finance minister Jaitley named UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and her onetime top aide, senior Congress leader Ahmad Patel, as alleged recipients of bribes in the AgustaWestland helicopter deal, although the main accused Christian Michael went to court to claim that he had not named anybody in his statements. These accusations made in the Enforcement Directorates chargesheet were leaked to the friendly media even before filing it in court. Usually the Central investigation agencies tone down their activism in election season. This time around, however, Opposition politicians and their associates are fair game from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh to Madhya Pradesh. Even before the investigations are completed, accusations are hurled. The Prime Minister had no qualms about stooping low to refer to MP chief minister Kamal Nath as Bhrishta Nath or Lord of Corruption! Madhya Pradesh is where the BJP is desperate to retain its 2014 tally of 27 out of 29 Lok Sabha seats. If corruption charges do not create sufficient alienation from the Congress and the Opposition, the Prime Minister is also buying insurance by tarnishing them as anti-Hindu, pro-Pakistan and pro-Muslim. His campaign speeches at Wardha, Nanded and Saharanpur show the extent he is willing to go to communally polarise the voters. In western Uttar Pradesh he made egregious references to the Muzaffarpur and Shaharanpur riots to create a communal rift within the alliance of castes and communities formed by the Opposition to challenge him. Prime Minister Modis last resort is to project the elections as a referendum about himself. Defence minister Nirmala Sitaraman told voters in Gujarat not to bother about who their local candidate was but vote for Prime Minister Modi. Mr Modi himself told voters in Odisha and Maharashtra that if they pressed the button against the lotus symbol, the vote would go directly to him. Such a campaign makes the party, the local candidate and the governments record completely irrelevant. However much they might fly up and down the country in chartered aircraft, other campaigners like party president Amit Shah or Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath are only there as supporting cast in Mr Modis mega campaign act. Yet, it might be useful to remember that although Yogi Adityanath has the persona to communalise voters, the party lost wherever he addressed public meetings during the November 2018 state Assembly elections. The rest of the BJPs well-known campaigners have been benched or retired. Former chief ministers of the party who have a national image, such as Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Raman Singh and Vasundhara Raje, are not being used in the partys campaign even in the states that they ruled. Others like veterans Lal Krishna Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi and Kalraj Mishra have been retired unceremoniously. They could have been used for campaigning for the party, but then they would have taken the focus away from Mr Modis persona, whose irreplaceability has to be the necessary election theme. Since nothing else seems to have caught the imagination of the voters, the BJP has made this general election largely about Mr Modi himself, its larger than life mascot. Hence the unimaginative slogan Phir ek baar, Modi Sarkar (Modi government once again). Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. The first of three major elections in Asia concluded on April 9 in Israel, two days before India votes in the first of seven phases in its Lok Sabha polls. The Indonesian elections follow around a week later. The Israeli election bears important similarities to that of India in the highly divisive campaigning by Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Benyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu. Mr Netanyahus Likud managed to pip principal rival Blue and White party, led by former Israeli Defence Forces chief Benny Gantz. Likuds 26.27 per cent of the vote, in a system of proportional representation, secured it 35 seats in the 120-member Knesset (Parliament). But catapulting Mr Netanyahu to a fifth term as Prime Minister are 32 seats won by his right-wing and ultra-Orthodox allies. The framing of electoral issues bears an uncanny similarity to the BJPs strategy in India, as the Israeli election played out on the theme of Democracy versus Security. Gil Troy in the Jerusalem Post wrote that as to the accusation that a culture of excusing corruption, dividing society, demonising opponents and embracing bigots undermines democracy, Netanyahu and his supporters shouted, Shut up, youre leftists. This is eerily like the BJP dubbing any criticism of their policies by Indias Opposition as merely a fulmination of the Tukde-Tukde Gang. The Blue and White party campaigned on a we-hate-Bibi platform, without any big ticket ideas on alternative policy approaches to Israeli security and economic dilemmas. The BJP is likewise attempting to make the election all about Mr Modi and divert attention from the BJPs governance deficit and economic under-performance. Is the re-election of Prime Minister Modi now a foregone conclusion? Pre-election polls show a drop in the NDAs numbers but still leaving the Congress-led rivals way behind. There is also the similarity of external help provided cannily to favoured politicians in Israel and India. US President Donald Trump upturned Americas West Asia policy and peace initiatives dating back to 1991 by endorsing Israeli occupation of the critical Golan Heights, captured by Israel in 1973. Mr Trump poured more gravy on Mr Netanyahus plate by designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the muscle and protector of the Islamic regime in Tehran, as terrorists. Even Russian President Vladimir Putin pitched in by arranging the return of the remains of an Israeli tank commander killed in Israels Lebanon war. In the case of India, the US-Saudi-Emirati alliance has been doling out favours at crucial moments to allow Mr Modi to build his persona as a crusader against terrorism and corruption and as counterfoil to Pakistan. The extradition of Christian Michel from the UAE on the last day of campaigning in the Rajasthan election was then followed by the deportation of Deepak Talwar and others as the Lok Sabha polls neared, to enable finger-pointing against the UPA over civil aviation scandals and the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal. Finally, the quick repatriation of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was arranged from Pakistan to boost Mr Modis image as a man of resolve. Unlike Mr Netanyahu, who faces corruption charges, Mr Modi as an incorruptible and strong leader is integral to his image. The Modi-Netanyahu relationship is undergirded by an unsaid ideological affinity between Hindutva and Zionism. The first official visit abroad by home minister Lal Krishna Advani, during the Atal Behari Vajpayee government, included Israel. Mr Modi as chief minister had already been to Israel. Mr Netanyahu, welcoming Mr Modi in Israel in 2017, noted that Israel had been waiting for an Indian Prime Minister for 70 years. Savarkar had written in the 1920s: If the Zionists dreams are ever realised - if Palestine becomes a Jewish state - it will gladden us almost as much as our Jewish friends. The concept of an ethnic democracy has been described by Israeli thinkers as a democratic state that is defined by and subservient to a single ethnic nation. The amendments to the Indian nationality law, now a part of the BJPs election manifesto, to confer citizenship only on non-Muslim minorities in the Saarc neighbourhood, advances the same idea. A secular nations asylum policy has to be religion neutral. Take the Ahmaddiyas of Pakistan, who are persecuted there even more than Hindus and whose holiest place Qadianis is in our Punjab. Why do they not qualify for asylum? India is not Israel, despite the affinities between those ruling India today and Israel. First, India does not have proportional representation, which denies a polarising party a higher seat-share in new electoral areas like West Bengal, Tamil Nadu or Kerala. Second, the sheer diversity of India makes it difficult to spread a national security message based on arousing fears uniformly across India. Third, language barriers provide filters through which it is more difficult to spread bigotry, mainly manufactured in the Hindi-speaking areas. Fourth, the principal Opposition party, the Congress, has largely avoided either being baited on security issues or make the election about the Prime Minister. Their election manifesto has kept focus on their own pro-poor and pro-farmer policies, with some avoidable takes on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). Finally, institutional collapse is still not complete in India. Coming to institutions, the Election Commission has regrettably retreated in the face of shameless partisanship by government agencies conducting raids only on the members of Opposition parties. But the Supreme Court has just restored balance by rejecting the governments plea that documents in the public space about the Rafale deal were inadmissible having been wrongfully obtained. It has thus opened up review of its earlier ruling based on incomplete information, given by the government in sealed covers on the pretext of public interest demanding secrecy. This has blown the lid off the governments slogan that its five years are unblemished by any charge of corruption or malfeasance. The Supreme Courts earlier ruling was being used by the government as a clean chit. The Modi government may yet regret having organised polling in major states in seven phases to allow for saturation campaigning by their principal campaigner - the Prime Minister. Word of mouth anecdotal accounts from where polling occurs on April 11 can build into a storm of public opinion that mushrooms. The Supreme Courts reopening of the Rafale deal undercuts a part of the BJPs narrative and provides the Opposition a vital riposte to the BJPs Modi-the-incorruptible slogan. Misuse of government agencies, the chicanery over bypassing regulations to start NaMo TV, the divisive campaigning by the likes of Yogi Adityanath and so on play differently in a civilisational and subcontinent-sized India than in tiny Israel. A tiny nation in constant state of war is hardly a model for a great power like India. The Lok Sabha results will tell if the people of India have seen through the BJPs Game of Thrones. This year we have seen televisions as much as 8K displays unveiled and in a rather familiar move by the Japanese tech giant, Sony has pushed the envelope by showing off a huge 16K resolution display in Japan. To get a better idea, the 16K panel features 16 times as many pixels found in a 4K UHD TV and as much as 64 times the amount of pixels found in a typical 1080p TV. To simplify this, it means that it can display a lot more detail than anything thats available as of now. As per a report by the BBC, when Sony displays it, users will get to view content on this screen without any blurring even though its size is larger than a bus. An expert speaking on this display states that it will take decades for the 16K tech to be freely available in consumer products. Apart from having an ultra-crisp display, it is also absolutely massive measuring 63-feet by 17-feet and is being installed at a research facility thats being built for Shiseido, a Japanese cosmetics brand in the city of Yokohama. The TV is said to be so large that it will stretch between the first and second floors. While the recently announced 8K display from Samsung utilized a single display, this model from Sony is made using multiple modular panels. Since they are bezelless, the modular panels are put together to give off the impression that its a singular screen. Sony has termed the tech used in this television as Crystal LED which is the companys branding for micro-LED display tech. The LED used in this 16K display does not require a backlight but it's still brighter than conventional OLED displays yet being able to achieve richer blacks. Sony also produced content for this display by making 16K footage of wildlife since practically very little 16K footage exists. At present, the high manufacturing costs would not enable this display to be made available for widespread use; but for now, Sony is making lower resolution Crystal LED displays for use in car showrooms, cinemas and theme parks. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Nearly half of bitcoin mining pools groups of miners that team up for economies of scale - are located in the Asia-Pacific. Chinas state planner wants to eliminate bitcoin mining in the country, according to a draft list of industrial activities the agency is seeking to stop in a sign of growing government pressure on the cryptocurrency sector. China is the worlds largest market for computer hardware designed to mine bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, even though such activities previously fell under a regulatory grey area. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Monday it was seeking public opinions on a revised list of industries it wants to encourage, restrict or eliminate. The list was first published in 2011. The draft for a revised list added cryptocurrency mining, including that of bitcoin, to more than 450 activities the NDRC said should be phased out as they did not adhere to relevant laws and regulations, was unsafe, wasted resources or polluted the environment. It did not stipulate a target date or plan for how to eliminate bitcoin mining, meaning that such activities should be phased out immediately, the document said. The public has until May 7 to comment on the draft. State-owned newspaper Securities Times said on Tuesday the draft list distinctly reflects the attitude of the countrys industrial policy toward the cryptocurrency industry. The NDRCs move is in line overall with Chinas desire to control different layers of the rapidly growing crypto industry, and does not yet signal a major shift in policy, said Jehan Chu, managing partner at blockchain investment firm Kinetic. I believe China simply wants to reboot the crypto industry into one that they have oversight on, the same approach they took with the Internet. Other bitcoin traders said they were not surprised by the governments move. Bitcoin mining wastes a lot of electricity, said one Chinese bitcoin trader who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the situation. Last week, the price of bitcoin soared nearly 20 per cent in its best day since the height of the 2017 bubble and breaking USD 5,000 for the first time since mid-November, though analysts and traders admitted they were puzzled by the surge. Bitcoin, which accounts for around half of the cryptocurrency market, was down by around 1.4 per cent on Tuesday, while other major coins such as Ethereum and Ripples XRP also fell by similar amounts. Traders in London said it was unclear how much the Chinese move was weighing on the market. The cryptocurrency sector has been under heavy scrutiny in China since 2017 when regulators started to ban initial coin offerings and shut local cryptocurrency trading exchanges. China also began to limit cryptocurrency mining, forcing many firms - among them some of the worlds largest - to find bases elsewhere. Nearly half of bitcoin mining pools groups of miners that team up for economies of scale - are located in the Asia-Pacific, a Cambridge University study said in December. Half of the network is probably located in China, said Alex de Vries, a consultant with PwC in Amsterdam who specialises on blockchain and researches cryptocurrency mining. He added that the number of mining facilities in the world is still limited to several hundred. Countries with relatively cheap electricity have emerged as major hosts of cryptocurrency mining. Mati Greenspan, an analyst with eToro in Israel, said any ban by China would cut a key supply of cheap electricity for the industry and raise the average cost to mine bitcoin. Chinese companies are also among the biggest manufacturers of bitcoin mining gear, and last year three filed for initial public offerings in Hong Kong, looking to raise billions of dollars. However, the two largest, Bitmain Technologies, the worlds largest manufacturer of bitcoin mining gear, and Canaan Inc have since let their applications lapse. People familiar with the deals said that Hong Kong regulators had many questions about the companies business models and prospects. Bitmain declined to comment on the NDRCs proposal to ban bitcoin mining. Canaan did not respond to requests for comment. According to Canaans IPO prospectus filed last year, sales of blockchain hardware primarily for cryptocurrency mining in China were worth 8.7 billion yuan (USD 1.30 billion) in 2017, 45 per cent of global sales by value. The prospectus forecasts that sales in China would rise to 35.6 billion yuan by 2020. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Qualcomm Technologies facilitates distributed intelligence from the cloud to the client edge and all points in between. Qualcomm Technologies announced that it is bringing the Companys artificial intelligence (AI) expertise to the cloud with the Qualcomms Cloud AI 100. Built from the ground up to meet the explosive demand for AI inference processing in the cloud, the Qualcomm Cloud AI 100 utilizes the Companys heritage in advanced signal processing and power efficiency. With this introduction, Qualcomm Technologies facilitates distributed intelligence from the cloud to the client edge and all points in between. In addition, Qualcomm Technologies is supporting developers with a full stack of tools and frameworks for each of our cloud-to-edge AI solutions. Facilitating the development of the ecosystem in this distributed AI model will help enhance a myriad of potential experiences for the end-user, including personal assistants for natural language processing and translations, advanced image search, and personalized content and recommendations. The Qualcomm Cloud AI 100 offers: More than 10x performance per watt over the industrys most advanced AI inference solutions deployed today An all new, highly efficient chip specifically designed for processing AI inference workloads 7nm process node bringing further performance and power advantages Available support for industry leading software stacks, including PyTorch, Glow, TensorFlow, Keras, and ONNX The Qualcomm Cloud AI 100 is expected to begin sampling to customers in 2H 2019. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Samsung Electronics announced that it has delivered the largest share of 5G network solutions in Korea, making it the leading 5G network vendor in the country. 5G service is now commercially available to consumers and enterprises by all three mobile carriers in 85 cities across the country. Korean operators have been transmitting 5G signals in Seoul and metropolitan areas since December 1, 2018, using 5G base station radios and 5G core solutions from Samsungs Networks Business unit. To further expand the 5G network, Samsung has supplied 5G core solutions and more than 53,000 5G radio base stations to Koreas three operators. Korean operators rolled out their commercial 5G networks using Samsungs 5G Massive-MIMO Unit (MMU) radio base station in the 3.5GHz spectrum. A key characteristic of Samsung MMUs deployed in Korea is that they are among the smallest and lightest in the industry, ensuring they can be easily installed in existing operators cellular sites requiring minimal changes. This ability to re-use an existing site has been key to enabling the Korean operators to deploy 5G network consisting of tens of thousands of radios within just a few months since the Dec 1st launch. The virtualized 5G core solutions, provided to all three Korean operators for their 5G commercial launch, support both legacy 4G networks and next-generation 5G services in Non-Standalone (NSA) mode. They can also migrate to Standalone (SA) mode through a simple software upgrade in the future. Samsungs solution implements many of the key technologies of 5G networks, such as Control and User Plane Separation (CUPS), which are essential for network operators to scale their networks and support the new services enabled by 5G technology. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Power cuts have occurred sporadically since the massive blackout of March 7 left the country in the dark for five days. (Photo:AP) Caracas: A new blackout across large parts of crisis-hit Venezuela, including the capital Caracas, forced many to spend another night in the dark on Tuesday. The electricity shortage -- the biggest in a week -- hit a large section of the capital, with social media posts from residents across the country suggesting significant areas in at least 20 of the 23 states of Venezuela were also affected. No reason for the blackout was immediately given by the government or the state electricity company Corpoelec. Opposition leader Juan Guaido -- whose claim to be interim president is supported by around 50 nations -- had previously called for protests against public service failures to be held Wednesday. Power cuts have occurred sporadically since the massive blackout of March 7 left the country in the dark for five days, with electricity being rationed outside of Caracas. Water supplies have also been interrupted, along with transport and communications, forcing many people to trim their work days to six hours. The government of President Nicolas Maduro has blamed US-backed sabotage for the massive blackouts that have deprived millions of power, blaming "electromagnetic, cyber and physical" attacks against the Guri hydroelectric power plant, which produces 80 percent of the country's energy. The opposition blames a failure to maintain critical infrastructure and Guaido on Saturday launched what he promised will be a "definitive" escalation of pressure to force the country's embattled leftist leader from office. He called for a huge nationwide turnout on Wednesday, urging his followers to redouble their efforts to maintain pressure. "Everyone to the streets, let's start the final phase of the end of the usurpation!" he said. The United States meanwhile has stiffened its economic sanctions against Maduro, and one top US official warned Venezuela's military that it must protect the rights of peaceful protesters. Facing intense pressure at home and abroad, the Maduro government has sought to weaken Guaido. It has stripped his parliamentary immunity, authorized his prosecution for proclaiming himself acting president, and banned him from holding public office for 15 years. Guaido said last week he feared he could be abducted by government agents. Washington and its allies view Maduro as illegitimate since he took office in January for a second term following elections widely seen as deeply flawed. Maduro is supported by the Venezuelan military, China and Russia, and said on Wednesday he was inclined to accept international aid, following a meeting with the International Committee of the Red Cross. A UN Security Council meeting called by Washington is set to be held Wednesday to discuss the Venezuelan crisis. However, Trump said the practice, which ended in June 2018 under heavy political and legal pressure, had in fact been useful in stemming the flow of illegal immigrants across the US-Mexican border. (Photo: File) Washington: US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he won't resume separating children of undocumented migrants, but insisted the policy does prevent people from treating illegal border crossings like a trip to "Disneyland." "We're not looking to do it," he told reporters at the White House. However, Trump said the practice, which ended in June 2018 under heavy political and legal pressure, had in fact been useful in stemming the flow of illegal immigrants across the US-Mexican border. "I'll tell you something: once you don't have it, that's why you have many more people coming," Trump said of migrants and asylum seekers. "They are coming like it's a picnic, like 'let's go to Disneyland,'" Trump said. Just last week he referred to the asylum process as a "hoax." Trump's battle to prevent illegal immigration and soaring numbers of asylum seekers has turned into the biggest political fight in the country ahead of next year's presidential election. The Republican is pushing hard for construction of hundreds of miles of new border wall and layers of razor wire. He says that the United States is "full" and cannot take any more migrants or even people fleeing violence in Central America. On Sunday, Trump abruptly announced the departure of the official in charge of fighting illegal immigration -- Homeland Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. According to US media reports, Trump's reshuffle could herald even harsher measures on the southern border. Confusion and rhetoric But Trump's latest comments reflect the confused nature of the White House's messaging on the sensitive immigration issue. Trump claimed that he never wanted children to be taken away from their parents when they crossed the border illegally or sought asylum. Instead he blamed this on his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama. "Just so you understand, President Obama separated the children. Those cages that were shown -- I think they were very inappropriate -- were by President Obama's administration, not by Trump. President Obama had child separation," Trump said. "You know it. We all know it. I'm the one who stopped it," he said. Obama did crack down on illegal immigration, resulting in large numbers of deportations and children were detained along with their parents. However, Trump hugely accelerated the tough measures with a so-called zero-tolerance policy. This meant that anyone crossing illegally would face automatic prosecution, leading to jailing of adults and immediate separation of their children. Before, families with children were largely allowed to stay together, whether on bail, in custody or being deported. By the time Trump's policy was halted, thousands of children had been removed and placed in temporary accommodation, leading to harrowing images and reports of administrative chaos in which parents were later unable to find their children. Last week, Trump threatened to impose steep import tariffs on Mexican automobiles if Mexico does not do more to stop would-be migrants on their trek north to the US border. However, the timing and practicalities of this were unclear. Previously, Trump said he would shut down the entire border to stop immigrants entering, but he then backed off in the face of worries over the economic impact. Another controversial policy of automatically returning asylum seekers to wait in Mexico was blocked Monday by a federal judge in California. The White House issued a statement Tuesday condemning the ruling and saying it would appeal. The court impedes the president's ability to stop an influx "crashing our immigration system and overwhelming our country," Trump's press office said. Taiwan: People may find this hard to believe and it may sound hypothetical, but this incident has actually happened in real life. A Taiwanese woman, named He, complained about having a swollen eye. She went to Fooyin University Hospital, and doctors there revealed to her that she has four living bees inside her eye feeding on her tears. The doctors, however, managed to remove all four bees from her eye socket. Hospitals head of ophthalmology Dr Hung Chi-ting said that he saw something strange in her eye at first and after carefully examining further under a microscope, he noticed that they were insects. He managed to pull them out one by one without damaging their bodies, reported The Guardian. Based on a video of Ms He and the hospitals press conference shared by Apple News Network, the bees entered her eye while she was plucking out weeds from a nearby graveyard. She felt something go in her eye, but shrugged it off thinking it must be dirt. This incident has been termed as worlds first. The next day, however, she found her eye swollen and went to the hospital. Doctors say Ms He recovered her 80 per cent eyesight only because of the fact that she didnt rub them much. The small bees, known as Halictidae, are attracted to human perspiration. They are commonly found near graves and in mountains. She and her doctor were horrified to discover four bees living under her eyelids, feasting on her tears. Taipei: The doctors at Fooyin University Hospital in Taiwan have performed a rare feat when they extracted four sweat bees alive from a womans tear duct. The Taiwanese woman named He, 29, went to the hospital this week complaining of a swollen eye. She and her doctor were horrified to discover four bees living under her eyelids, feasting on her tears. The hospitals head of ophthalmology Dr Hung Chi-ting said: I saw something that looked like insect legs, so I pulled them out under a microscope slowly, and one at a time without damaging their bodies. Agencies Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Likud party leader and his wife Sara wave to his supporters after polls for Israels general elections closed in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Wednesday. (Photo: AP) Jerusalem: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on path for victory in Israels election on Wednesday after nearly complete results put him in position to form a right-wing coalition and further extend his long tenure in office. The results from Tuesdays vote came despite corruption allegations against the 69-year-old premier and put him on track to become Israels longest-serving prime minister later this year. His Likud party looked set to finish with a similar number of seats in parliament to his main rival, ex-military chief Benny Gantz's centrist Blue and White alliance, Israeli media reported. But with 97 percent of the votes counted, results showed the Likud and other right-wing parties allied to him with some 65 seats in the 120-seat parliament. The results would seem to leave President Reuven Rivlin, whose task it is to ask one of the candidates to form a government, with little choice but to pick Netanyahu. Intensive coalition negotiations will follow and could drag on for days or even weeks. Final results were expected by Thursday afternoon, with ballots for soldiers and other special categories of voters yet to be counted. The close race between the two main parties had led to uncertainty after polls closed on Tuesday night and exit surveys were released. Both Netanyahu and Gantz claimed victory after the initial exit surveys that gave Blue and White the most seats. But even then Netanyahu appeared best placed to form a coalition, with both parties in any case falling far short of an outright majority. Netanyahu spoke in the early hours of Wednesday in Tel Aviv and called it a magnificent victory. What happens now? The British government had released figures stating that 379 innocent people had died while 1,200 were wounded in the brutal tragedy. (Image: file) London: Falling short of a complete apology, British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday said the UK "deeply regrets" the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre and called it a "shameful scar" on the British-Indian history. "The tragedy of Jallianwalla Bagh in 1919 is a shameful scar on the British-Indian history. As her Majesty, the Queen said before visiting Jallianwala Bagh 1997, it is a distressing example of our past history with India. We deeply regret what happened and the suffering caused," May said at the British Parliament. Hundred years on, the United Kingdom is yet to give a full apology for the gruesome attack on unarmed protesters in Amritsar in 1919. Highlighting this, Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "I think the people, in memory of those who lost their lives in the brutality of what happened, deserve a full, clear and unequivocal apology for what took place on that occasion." The Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place on 13 April 1919 when troops of the British Indian Army under the command of Colonel Reginald Dyer fired machine guns into a crowd of unarmed protesters, along with Baishakhi pilgrims, who had gathered in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, Punjab. The British government had released figures stating that 379 innocent people had died while 1,200 were wounded in the brutal tragedy. The British Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, outlined that the "passage of a century" cannot "wipe away the stain of lost lives" in the massacre. "Churchill called it monstrous, David Cameron said it was shameful. It was both - one of the most appalling episodes in British history. The passage of a century will not wipe away the stain of innocent lives being taken at the Amritsar massacre," he tweeted on Wednesday. May, during the Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, also highlighted current India-UK relations. "I am pleased that today the India-UK relation is one of collaboration, partnership, prosperity and security. Indian diaspora make an enormous contribution to British society and I'm sure that the whole House wishes to see the UK's relationship with India continue to flourish," she said. London: Theresa May on Wednesday described the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar as a shameful scar on British Indian history but stopped short of a formal apology sought by a cross-section of Parliament in previous debates. In a statement, marking the 100th anniversary of the massacre, at the start of her weekly Prime Ministers Questions in the House of Commons, she reiterated the regret already expressed by the British government. The tragedy of Jallianwala Bagh of 1919 is a shameful scar on British Indian history. As Her Majesty the Queen (Elizabeth II) said before visiting Jallianwala Bagh in 1997, it is a distressing example of our past history with India, she said in her statement. We deeply regret what happened and the suffering caused. I am pleased that today the UK-India relationship is one of collaboration, partnership, prosperity and security, she said. Prime Minister Khan seemed quite cognisant that the last thing Pakistan wanted was a war. (Photo: AP) Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said that Pakistan had opted for a "measured response" to India's February 26 air strikes by bombing an empty area just across the Indian border. During an informal chat with a group of foreign journalists, Khan said that he was awakened by a phone call at 3.30 a.m. on February 26 when a Pakistani military official informed him that Indian warplanes had just crossed the border and conducted strikes on Pakistani soil. Pakistan opted for a "measured response" and bombed an empty area just across the Indian border, he said. "They hit our trees, so we thought we would hit their stones," The New York Times quoted Prime Minister Khan as saying. He was talking to the journalists upon completion of his first eight months in office. As a "peace gesture", he had announced the release of Indian Air Force pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman in Pakistan Parliament on February 28. The Wing Commander was held captive by Pakistani authorities on February 27 after his MiG 21 Bison went down during a beyond visual range combat with Pakistani jets. Before his plane was hit, Varthaman shot down an F-16 of the Pakistan Air Force. He was released by Pakistan on March 1. According to the newspaper, Prime Minister Khan seemed quite cognisant that the last thing Pakistan wanted was a war. The Indian Air Force had hit a terrorist training camp in Balakot in Pakistan on February 26 in retaliation to February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF soldiers lost their lives. The responsibility for the Pulwama attack was claimed by Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). On the threat from Paris-based Financial Action Task Force to blacklist and sanction Pakistan, Prime Minister Khan said, "We can't afford to be blacklisted." The Task Force, a global agency, takes measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system. Islamabad: Pakistans Premier Imran Khan has said he believes there may be a better chance of peace talks with India and settle the Kashmir issue if Prime Minister Narendra Modis party BJP wins the general elections. Perhaps if the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)....wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached, Mr Khan told a small group of foreign journalists in an interview. He said other parties would be afraid of right-wing backlash in case of settlement on the Kashmir issue. Mr Khan said Kashmir was the central issue between the two countries. India maintains that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the country and Pakistan is in illegal occupation of a part of the states territory. Reacting to this Congress and other Opposition parties said on Wednesday that a vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a vote for Pakistan. In a scathing attack, the Congress also said Pakistani premier Khans remarks reflect that Pakistan has officially allied with Modi. Congresss chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala launched a blistering attack on Modi over Khans comments. Pak has officially allied with Modi! A vote for Modi is a vote for Pakistan! Mr Surjewala tweeted. Modi ji, first there was love for Nawaz Sharif and now Imran Khan is your dear friend, he added in a tweet in Hindi. The truth is out in the open, Mr Surjewala claimed. Prime Minister Modi has been accusing the Congress of being supportive of Pakistans narrative following the Balakot air strikes. CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury lashed out at Prime Minister Modi over Khans remarks, saying now it was known who Pakistan wants as PM. Pakistan has been the only issue of Modis election campaign, where he has scurrilously tried to link it to Opposition. Now we know who Pakistan actually wants as PM, the only Indian PM to have invited ISI to a military base, and the only one who went to Pakistan uninvited, he said. We have serious concerns about foreign governments influencing our democratic election proce-ss. Last year, it was reported that ISI wants Modi as PM. Now Pakistani PM says it, Mr Yechury said. PTI Stress and lifestyle are largely contributing to the rise of the neurodegenerative Parkinsons disease in young adults. City doctors say cases are on the rise, though the disease is mostly seen in elderly aged above 50. Dr N K Venkataramana, founder and chief neurosurgeon, SSNMC-Brains Neurosciences Centre of Excellence says a group of autoimmune and genetic disorders trigger the early onset. Taking care of such patients is becoming difficult due to lack of knowledge about therapeutic treatment, he explains. Lately, a 29-year-old mechanic was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease. The Bangladeshi national visited BGS Gleneagles Global hospital in Kengeri last year after progressive difficulty in walking, frequent falls, slurred speech, excessive salivation and difficulty in swallowing. The man was unable to perform daily activities and was chair-bound for over two years. He had no history of head injury, drug abuse or brain infection. It wasnt hereditary either. However, the genetic testing was positive for a rare mutation causing the early onset. Considering the advanced nature of the disease at an early age and the erratic response to medication, doctors discussed deep brain stimulation, a functional neurosurgery to improve the motor symptoms. The patient underwent the procedure and made significant improvement in just two weeks after the surgery. Medication came down to 30% and he was sent back to Bangladesh with advice on physiotherapy and rehabilitation. The case underlines the importance of early diagnosis and proper selection of patients for deep brain stimulation. Dr Suryanarayana Sharma, the consultant neurologist who treated the patient says early diagnosis, judicious medication, regular physiotherapy, choosing right patients for deep brain stimulation are key in the management of Parkinsons disease. A neurologist should differentiate Parkinsons plus syndrome from Parkinsons disease as management approach for both the conditions are different, he notes. Theresa May on Wednesday described the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar as a "shameful scar" on British Indian history, as the British Prime Minister marked the 100th anniversary of the tragic incident but she stopped short of a formal apology. At the start of May's weekly Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons she fell short of a formal apology sought by a cross-section of Parliament in previous debates and reiterated the "regret" already expressed by the British Government. "The tragedy of Jallianwala Bagh of 1919 is a shameful scar on British Indian history. As Her Majesty the Queen (Elizabeth II) said before visiting Jallianwala Bagh in 1997, it is a distressing example of our past history with India," she said in her statement. The massacre took place in Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar over Baisakhi in April 1919 when troops of the British Indian Army, under the command of Colonel Reginald Dyer, opened fire at a crowd of people holding a pro-independence demonstration. It claimed thousands of lives and injured thousands of others. Opposition on Wednesday pounded on the ruling BJP after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's remarks that there is a better chance for peace talks if Narendra Modi's return to power, saying it has now been revealed whom the neighbouring country really wants. Modi had been accusing the Opposition of playing to the tunes of Pakistan and even had used it in Gujarat when he had claimed that the ISI wanted to fix the Assembly results in favour of Congress and that it wanted senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel as the Chief Minister. As Khan's comments -- Perhaps if the BJP....wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached -- during an interaction with foreign correspondents in Islamabad became public, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Pakistan has "now officially allied" with Modi and that the Pakistan Prime Minister appears to say that a vote for Modi is a vote for Imran Khan. "Imran Khan seems to now wish for his friend Modi-ji's success...It seems that the love affair with Imran Khan now continues. We want to say Imran Khan and Pakistan will never succeed nor will the firecrackers in Modi ji's language burst in Pakistan, for Modi ji is going to lose the 2019 election," Surjewala said while Patel tweeted, "their true colours are out. This is called Mahamilavat." AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked why does Pakistan wish to have Modi to return. "Modiji, tell the country how deep is his relationship with Pakistan? All Indians should know that if Modi-ji wins, then crackers will burst in Pakistan!...It should be checked that Pakistan is helping the BJP to win elections," he said. CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said Pakistan has been the only issue of Modi's election campaign, where he has "scurriliously tried to link" it to opposition. "Now we know who Pakistan actually wants as PM, the only Indian PM to have invited ISI to a military base, and the only one who went to Pakistan uninvited. We have serious concerns about foreign governments influencing our democratic election process. Last year, it was reported that ISI wants Modi as PM. Now Pakistani PM says it," he tweeted. National Conference leader Omar Abdullah took a jibe at Modi's 'Mein Bhi Chowkidaar' campaign, saying "how soon before we see a Chowkidar Imran Khan twitter handle?" "Just imagine what all the Chowkidar handles would be doing to @RahulGandhi & the Congress right now if Imran Khan had endorsed RG as PM in these elections? Who is the tukde tukde gang now?" he added. AAP's Sanjay Singh said, "voice in Pakistan Narendra Modi 'once more'. Modi congratulated Imran Khan on Pakistan Day. Tell us what secret deal you have arrived with Pakistan? Why does Imran want Modi to be the Prime Minister?" CPI National Secretary D Raja said who will win in India will be decided by the people of this country. "How does Khan know that the other governments will not support the peace process between the two countries? Now, it is for Modi to answer why Imran Khan is batting for him. Has Modi asked him to bat for him and his party?," Raja said The second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in Hanoi on 27-28 February, ended with no result. The long-drawn back-channel negotiations that led to the Hanoi summit, ending in a fiasco, led analysts to ask if all had been lost in the negotiation process and if it will now be a return to heightened tensions. No one knows what actually transpired between Trump and Kim. It was presumed to have been a non-starter, until the revelation surfaced that Trump had handed Kim a piece of paper on February 28, written both in Korean and English, that included a blunt call for the transfer of Pyongyangs nuclear weapons and bomb fuel to the US. Though there was a lot of confusion on the interpretation of what denuclearisation meant as both sides had differing interpretations of the term, it was for the first time that Trump himself explicitly defined what he meant by it and did so directly to Kim. Since neither side gave a complete account of what transpired at the summit, the document is now finding fresh interpretation of the term. It seems that Trumps hawkish national security adviser John Bolton blew the lid by disclosing in television interviews about the document that Trump handed over to Kim, though he did not disclose the US expectation that North Korea transfer its nuclear weapons and fissile material to the US. If true, this was nothing short of Boltons long-held and hard-line Libya model of denuclearisation, which Pyongyang has rejected, terming it as insulting and provocative. The demand for North Korea to hand over its weapons is nothing new; it was proposed by Bolton in 2004 and he revived the proposal after he became the national security adviser. Under the denuclearisation model of 2004, components of Libyas nuclear programme were shipped to the US and its consequences are for all to see. Seven years after the denuclearisation agreement was reached between US and Libyas leader, Muammar Gaddafi, the US took part in a NATO-led military operation against his government and he was overthrown by rebels and killed. No wonder, Pyongyang termed Boltons plan as absurd and noted the miserable fate that befell Gaddafi. North Korea is obviously not expected to accept this Libya model. Whether the document clarified the US position and concise definition of what it meant by final, fully verifiable denuclearisation remains subject to speculation as the document remains classified. Given that North Korea has heavily invested in its weaponisation and missile programmes for decades, it would be unthinkable for Kim to give up these so easily. No wonder, it threatened to suspend talks with the US and made clear its intention to rethink its self-imposed ban on missile and nuclear tests, terming the US demand as gangster-like. If the claim of Reuters having seen the English version of the document that called for fully dismantling North Koreas nuclear infrastructure, chemical and biological warfare programme and related dual-use capabilities; and ballistic missiles, launchers, and associated facilities is to be believed, this is something impossible for Pyongyang to accept. The four key points in the document entailed that North Korea provide a comprehensive declaration of its nuclear programme and full access to US and international inspectors; to halt all related activities and construction of any new facilities; to eliminate all nuclear infrastructure; and to transition all nuclear programme scientists and technicians to commercial activities. Such unilateral demand on the part of the US without any sanctions relief was not music to Pyongyangs ears. Trump was probably seized of the fact that Pyongyang would react strongly at any mention of the Libya model and clarified in May 2018 that he was not pursuing a Libya model and that he was looking for an agreement that would protect Kim. So, was the Hanoi summit indeed a fiasco? Vu Minh Khuong of the National University of Singapore is of the view that the Hanoi summit strengthened three factors for shaping the foundation of any meaningful long-term agreement between the US and North Korea: mutual understanding, respect, and a shared vision of the future. He says the change in North Koreas image from being an evil empire in the US eyes to a potential long-term partner should be seen as a paradigm shift toward mutual understanding. The good news is that Trump does not want to impose additional sanctions as he is aware that the North Korean people are already suffering greatly. That could be a huge concession for Pyongyang. However, Pyongyang says that its demand at the Hanoi summit was that the US lift five key economic sanctions, not all sanctions, and alleges that the US has thrown away a golden opportunity. Trumps stance is that sanctions would remain in place until Pyongyang completely and irreversibly dismantles its nuclear programme. Given the way negotiations have progressed, with no breakthrough from two summits, a return to heightened tensions is feared. (The writer is currently Lok Sabha Research Fellow, Parliament of India) WASHINGTON (AP) Attorney General William Barr said Wednesday he is reviewing the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, declaring he believed the presidents campaign had been spied on and wanted to make sure proper procedures were followed. I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal, Barr told senators at a budget hearing that, like a similar House hearing Tuesday, was dominated by questions about special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. It was not immediately clear what spying Barr was referring to, but President Donald Trumps supporters have repeatedly made accusations of political bias within the FBI and seized on anti-Trump text messages sent and received by one of the lead agents involved in investigating whether the Trump campaign was colluding with Russia. Barr, who was nominated to his post by Trump four months ago, told a Senate appropriations subcommittee that though he did not have specific evidence of wrongdoing, I do have questions about it. His review is separate from a Justice Department inspector general investigation into the early days of the FBIs Russia probe, which Barr said he expects to conclude sometime around May or June. I feel that I have an obligation to ensure government power was not abused, Barr said. Barr also said he expected to release a redacted version of Muellers nearly 400-page report next week a slight change from the estimate he gave Tuesday, when he said the release would be within a week. Though he said the document will be redacted to withhold negative information about peripheral figures in the investigation, Barr said that would not apply to Trump, who is an officeholder and central to the probe. Democrats said they were concerned that a four-page summary letter of the reports main conclusions Barr released last month portrayed the investigations findings in an overly favorable way for Trump. The letter said that Mueller did not find a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump associates around the time of the 2016 election and that Barr did not believe the evidence in the report was sufficient to prove the president had obstructed justice. Pennsylvanians across the commonwealth are starting to receive direct mail and see headlines about the nuclear industry and its stated need for a bailout to keep its plants open. House Bill 11 was introduced recently in Harrisburg to do just this. Lets be clear: If state lawmakers go along with this, it wont be a bailout. It will be a handout paid by Pennsylvania families, businesses, schools and governments through their electric bills to some of the richest energy companies in the world. This handout will cost Pennsylvanians a half-billion dollars or more. It wont be the first time. Over the last half century, Pennsylvanians have paid billions of dollars to construct plants only to then pay billions more to subsidize nuclear shareholders in the deregulated electric industry. In fact, Pennsylvania has given handouts to the nuclear industry no less than three times: Pennsylvania paid for construction cost overruns in the 1970s and 1980s; offset supposed losses from electric deregulation from 1997-2010; and allowed the industry to keep its handout from deregulation when it was found that the industry made millions more in profits than anticipated. This latest request for a handout comes at a time when the PJM Market Monitor has calculated that Pennsylvania nuclear power plants collectively made $680 million in gross profits last year. PJM, an organization that coordinates the movement of electricity through all or parts of 13 states, including Pennsylvania, sells electricity from Pennsylvanias nuclear power plants on the wholesale marketplace. The only plant that isnt currently covering its marginal costs is Three Mile Island in Dauphin County, but its owner, Exelon, isnt exactly hurting. It is, after all, a Fortune 100 company that recently characterized its financial performance as a record-breaking year. Exelon projects that it will have a $7.8 billion cash flow over the next four years, to be used for reinvestment and debt reduction. During that same time frame, Exelon says it will invest nearly $23 billion to strengthen its existing facilities. Things apparently are getting even better for the Chicago-based company. In looking ahead to 2019, Exelon CEO Chris Crane said he expects the company will increase its dividend to investors by 5 percent. If he gets his way, a good chunk of that 5 percent will be paid by Pennsylvania ratepayers. Other states have taken the lead providing these handouts. A recent handout in Illinois is projected to cost customers $2.3 billion over a decade. The nuclear industry in New York will receive up to $7 billion over 12 years and more than 800,000 New Yorkers are already having problems paying their energy bills. Schools districts are paying surcharges totaling $8-23 million annually. A 2018 handout in New Jersey is costing customers $300 million annually. Penn State also has weighed in on this issue. In October, a university report questioned the findings in studies that are used to support nuclear industry handouts. Penn State found the information was flawed and cautioned against its use in upcoming public policy debates. An earlier study by Penn State professor Seth Blumsack refuted claims by House Bill 11 supporters that energy costs will increase by $788 billion if the bill fails to pass. In fact, Professor Blumsack found that energy costs for Pennsylvania could decrease if two plants, Three Mile Island and Beaver Valley, close. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissioner Andrew Place released his own analysis that supports Blumsacks findings. But that wont deter the nuclear industry. Despite record profits, it has indicated it needs its handout in place by June. A special interest group supporting the industry is doubling down, distributing direct mail pieces targeting state legislators across Pennsylvania. It predicts doom and gloom if Pennsylvanians dont fork over more than a half-billion dollars to an industry that made $680 million last year. Interestingly, these special interests are from Washington, D.C. This group wont pay for the handout. Pennsylvania residents and businesses will. SALT LAKE CITY Sen. Mitt Romney says he's "deeply troubled" about the vacancies in the Department of Homeland Security. "I think it is dangerous, dangerous given whats happening at the border, dangerous given the broad responsibility that the Department of Homeland Security has for protecting our nation. It is seriously troubling," he said. The Utah Republican's comments came during a Senate Homeland Security Committee meeting two days after President Donald Trump announced the resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Romney also expressed concern about the "transition process that has been carried out with regard to those vacancies," though he didn't single out Trump as being responsible for that. Trump tweeted Sunday that Nielsen would be stepping down and that U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan would replace her until someone is chosen to permanently fill the job. In addition, Trump has withdrawn his pick to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and ousted the head of the Secret Service. Romney's remarks also follow committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., saying Monday that he is concerned with a "growing leadership void within the department tasked with addressing some of the most significant problems facing the nation." Trump told reporters Tuesday he is not cleaning house at Homeland Security. "I never said I'm cleaning house. I don't know who came up with that expression. We have a lot of good people over there. We have bad laws," he said. At the hearing titled, "Unprecedented Migration at the U.S. Southern Border: Perspectives from the Frontline," Romney said Congress needs to pass measures to secure the border and have "systems that dont attract people here in such huge numbers." "If there were no fence, if there were no border patrol agents, if there were no ICE, and we just said, Hey, anybody that wants to come into this country, come on in, my expectation is that you would have tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions or more people who would tell you, Id rather live in the United States than somewhere else, for many, many reasons," he said. Romney reiterated his call for a nationwide e-verify system for hiring, calling it "essential if we are going to turn off the magnet that draws people into the country illegally." Sunday on NBC News' "Meet the Press," Romney echoed Trump's call for Congress to pass immigration legislation to toughen rules on asylum. Last week, Romney said the number of families and children coming across the southern border with Mexico seeking asylum has reached a crisis. They are being allowed to stay in the country without proper investigating or vetting, he said. "It's a real security risk and it's overwhelming our system, particularly on our border states," he said. SALT LAKE CITY When it comes to the way people vote in Utah, change is hard. Hard, but not impossible. In the next few days, we will see just how many cracks and fissures are developing in the stone-encrusted, traditional way of doing things, where every candidate on the ballot competes to see who gets the most votes outright. Over the last two years, Utah lawmakers have made it possible for cities to use a ranked-choice voting system in municipal elections, as a pilot project. Because 2019 is a municipal election year, and because April 15 is the deadline to commit to this, the time to sign up as a pioneer is rapidly approaching. So far, Payson, a city in Utah County with about 20,000 people, is the only place with a definite commitment. Vineyard, also in Utah County, and Kaysville, in Davis County, are planning to consider it. A few other cities, including West Jordan, Lehi and Cottonwood Heights, showed interest early and then stepped back. Pioneering a new twist on democracy can be politically scary. Thats especially true when most of Utahs county clerks, the ones in charge of actually counting votes, are against it. But if the experience of places nationwide that have adopted this voting method holds true, Payson soon will have a lot of company. Maine started small. Then last fall the folks there became the first to elect a member of Congress through ranked-choice ballots. Voters statewide approved the change, then approved it again after state lawmakers repealed it (Utah isnt the only state where lawmakers mess with ballot measures). Now, a bill is pending to use it in presidential elections, according to the Portland Press Herald. Santa Fe, New Mexico, tried it. Then Las Cruces came onboard, and now Albuquerque is considering it. And on it goes. Heres how it works: In races with three or more candidates, voters would be asked to rank their choices in order of preference. Then, if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the first-choice votes, the last-place finisher would be eliminated and all his or her second-through-whatever votes bumped up to first-through-whatever and distributed among the remaining candidates. The process would continue until someone has more than 50 percent. Michelle Barber, a councilwoman in Kaysville, calls it, a great thing. She persuaded the City Council to hold a special meeting Wednesday evening to begin considering this. I think its important for municipalities to be bold, she told me. Being bold can be difficult when your county clerk says its a bad idea. Along the Wasatch Front, the Utah County clerk appears to be the only one in favor. Because of this, Utah lawmakers this year made it possible for any city in the state to use a county other than the one in which it exists to count votes. Whether Kaysville residents feel comfortable shipping their ballots to Utah County this year, to the jurisdiction of a clerk they didnt elect, remains to be seen. Barber sees this as no different than if the city were to contract with a third party to count the votes or to do it itself (both also allowed by the new law). Ultimately, the city would be accountable for the results. When she ran for City Council in 2017, Barber was vying for one of two open at-large seats. People would tell her they wanted to vote for her and another person, but they worried that a vote for one would hurt the other. Ranked-choice voting would have taken care of that problem. People cant split votes when their preferences are ranked. The other clear advantage is that election would become more civil. You wouldnt want to bad-mouth an opponent if you might need his or her supporters to rank you second on the ballot. In some instances, candidates have collected enough second-place votes to eventually put them over the top. Elections conducted this way, tend to turn into issues-oriented races, Stan Lockhart, a leader of Utah Ranked Choice Voting, told me. As Ive written before, ranked choice voting isnt a perfect answer to all of democracys little problems. A perfect way to select a winner may not exist. It may even be a hard sell after last falls election, where 75.55 percent of registered voters in Utah cast ballots. Some people may wonder where the problem lies with our current system. The answer is that much of that high turnout was fueled by anger, as well as by the chance to vote in favor of a few high-profile ballot initiatives. The underlying issue of nasty campaigns and a general feeling of futility among many voters persists. Ranked choice voting deserves a chance, at least as a pilot project in municipal races. Then people can decide whether to keep it. The wide-margin victory of Lori Lightfoot in the runoff election for Chicago mayor is no surprise, and neither is the reaction of many news outlets. In contemporary politics and society, the gender, race and personal life of Mayor-elect Lightfoot get major emphasis. Meanwhile, there will be no escape from Chicagos grim fiscal challenges. This is not alarmist rhetoric, but harsh reality. Chicago historically was respected, indeed by many admired, as The City that Works, in several meanings of that word. Illinois poet and Lincoln biographer Carl Sandburg described the metropolis as the City of the Big Shoulders, a reference to the enormous industrial manufacturing base that created jobs and contributed significantly to long-term prosperity for the Midwest and America overall. Politically, Chicagos durable political machine provided a reliable base of Democratic Party strength. Jobs were available for immigrant groups, especially but not exclusively the Irish, when widespread prejudice excluded them from the prosperous corridors of established society. In the past, the Republican Party was also powerful, in the suburbs surrounding city precincts, and throughout most of the rest of the state. This gave Illinois status as a swing state in national elections. Both political parties as well as a range of other organizations held conventions in Chicago. For two decades following World War II, Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago orchestrated and reinforced the strength of his city. This year, the mayoral primary election confirmed the era of Daley family political dominance has passed, at least for now. His son Bill Daleys defeat in the primary is noteworthy. Voters want change, which gave Ms. Lightfoot a crucial advantage. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, her general election opponent, represents Chicago machine politics, today a burden. Federal investigation of City Councilman Ed Burke, an ally, is a related wound. Outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel grapples ferociously with massive financial shortfalls. Government overspending is the legacy of his predecessor Richard M. Daley. In striking contrast to this Daley, the father was a brilliant manager. Richard J. Daley ruled city government, and the Democratic Party, from 1955 until 1976. Daley Senior in leading Chicago combined an iron fist with a skillful hand. Earlier, he was Director of the Illinois Department of Finance and Clerk of Cook County. In both posts, he developed great skill in financial management, masked by his famous eccentric speaking style. Annual city budget reviews were legendary ordeals in discipline. This Daley also had great party power. Unlike his son, he was also chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party. Chicago then loomed larger compared with the suburbs, and political practices were less scrutinized. Current party chairwoman Preckwinkle lacks this advantage, and Daleys unusual skills. In 1976, Jimmy Carter carried Chicago by a wider margin than John F. Kennedy did in 1960. In consequence, Mayor Daley called Carter to announce the election was in the bag. In fact, Carter lost Illinois but won the election, the first time the state had gone against a presidential winner since 1916. Daley died suddenly in December that year. The real test of Chicagos new mayor will be old-fashioned management, not gender, race and lifestyle symbolism. Mayor-elect Lightfoot has impressive related professional experience. She has been a senior partner at respected and influential law firm Mayor Brown LLP. An ally at the firm is Republican leader Tyrone Fahner, former Illinois Attorney General. Metropolitan Chicago remains a global commercial center. Mayor Emanuels elections demonstrate decline of another historic prejudice: anti-Semitism. A dangerous idea is gaining traction in American politics, one that could have significant implications for religious liberty: court-packing. Since 1869, we have had only nine justices on the U.S. Supreme Court. That number has been fixed, and for good reason; it constrains the administration in power be it Republican or Democrat from installing an unspecified number of judges to dramatically shift the ideological balance of our courts. This time-honored norm has moderated our politics for well over a century. But a growing number of elected officials, including several presidential candidates, want to dispense with it altogether. Instead, they want to pack the court that is, increase the number of justices serving from nine to whatever number they deem necessary to win political control over the judicial branch. The consequences of such action would be catastrophic and irreversible: The court would no longer serve as a shield against oppression but as a political weapon in the hands of an angry majority. When this proposal was last en vogue in the 1930s, Democratic Sen. Burton Wheeler of Montana cautioned that it would effectively extinguish (our) right of liberty, of speech, of thought, of action and of religion. It is the effect this practice would have on our right of religion that concerns me most. I have spent a lifetime defending religious liberty in the public square. And so, when I see extreme ideas like court-packing seeping into the mainstream ideas that could undermine this most fundamental freedom I feel compelled to raise a warning. That so few grasp the severity of this threat to religious liberty exposes a glaring hole in our civic education. So perhaps a simple civics lesson is in order. Of all the rights delineated in the Constitution, the framers chose to list religious freedom first. This priority of place suggests that religious exercise has particular significance and merits special protection. Why? Because it goes to the very heart of who we are as human beings and how we make sense of our world. It implicates duties that transcend mere personal choice and become obligatory in the life of the believer. Religious liberty has served as the bedrock of our laws for centuries. And for most of our history, this right has been treated with the deference it deserved. But today, freedom of conscience is under unprecedented attack and court-packing is but one threat among many. In recent years, we have seen a flood of litigation, not to mention several legislative proposals, that would limit religious expression in the public square and subordinate individual belief to the demands of government. Increasing hostility to religious liberty requires us to be extra vigilant in protecting this freedom. I carried this vigilance with me every day as a United States Senator. Its what inspired me to write the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, my greatest legislative achievement. This landmark legislation prohibits substantial government burdens on the free exercise of religion, allowing all Americans to live, work and worship in accordance with their deeply held personal beliefs. Although I am retired from the Senate, my commitment to defending religious freedom is as strong as ever. Thats why Thursday the Hatch Center, the policy arm of the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation, will host its very first religious liberty symposium a bipartisan gathering of faith leaders, legal scholars and policy experts committed to defending the rights of conscience. Our program will feature an interfaith panel and a whos who of religious liberty luminaries, including keynote speakers Leonard Leo, the Executive Vice President of the Federalist Society; Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, a member of the UK House of Lords; and BYU Law Professor Brett Scharffs, the Director of the International Center for Law and Religious Studies. The symposium will be open to the public and will be held in the Moot Courtroom of the S.J. Quinney College of Law from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. From threats of court-packing to activist lawsuits, dangers to religious liberty abound. But by uniting people of various faiths and political backgrounds, we can build a coalition of common interest to preserve this precious freedom for future generations. Thats exactly what this symposium aims to do. I hope you will join me in defending religious liberty for people of all faiths. In a journal entry for June 10, 1847, Horace K. Whitney recorded that the 1847 pioneer company encamped in a circle at 1/4 past 6 P. M., in a beautiful grove of cotton wood trees, having come 17 miles to-day. Near here is a beautiful stream, about 3 rods in width, which, running with great rapidity empties into the river a short distance hence. It is called Deer Creek (see "The Journey West: The Mormon Pioneer Journals of Horace K. Whitney with Insights by Helen Mar Kimball Whitney," edited by Richard Bennett, page 268). The site was located at the present-day town of Glenrock, Wyoming. A simple, hanging interpretive panel says this site was visited in 1842 by Kit Carson and was named Rock in the Glen. That name presumably morphed into Glenrock, as it is now called. A decade after the pioneer company passed by, Brigham Young ordered a way station to be built to assist the thousands of pioneers who were yet to pass that way on their way West. It was used as a store, for blacksmithing, a corral, hotel and to facilitate the movement of mail. A Wyoming state interpretive panel now identifies the site and notes that it was known as Deer Creek Station to travelers on the Oregon-California-Mormon Pioneer Trail from 1857 to 1866. Erastus Snow described Deer Creek as the most delightful place we have seen since we left the states," stating that the creek or stream was about thirty feet wide and two feet deep, swift current and clear water. Another report stated that William Clayton caught two dozen fish in Deer Creek (see "The Mormon Vanguard Brigade of 1847," edited by Ronald Barney, page 169). SALT LAKE CITY Daniel Smithwick has experienced homelessness for the past year. He says it's easy to get discouraged and hard to stay optimistic about his situation. "Sometimes when we're here, I mean it's a real down point emotionally," he said Tuesday. "Emotionally, it drains you. We get to the point where we don't know what we want to do or how we're going to do it." Helping the Salt Lake homeless population answer those questions is exactly why Catholic Community Services of Utah decided to create a Homeless Kitchen Training program designed to teach restaurant skills to those experiencing homelessness to help make them employable and reach self-sufficiency. The 14-week program, slated to begin by September, will host 10 to 15 people in its first installment. Tuesday, several of Salt Lake's notable leaders ceremoniously broke ground on the expansion to St. Vincent de Paul Dining Hall to host the program. At least 60 people attended the event to celebrate the groundbreaking for the project. "It might give me a chance to open up other doors and get back my daughter wants me to get back to being productive," Smithwick, 59, said. To him, that means restored "freedom," and "a sense of hope." Smithwick, who is a client and works part time for the organization, said he wants those experiencing homelessness to know there are long-term solutions out there for them. "There's a lot of opportunities here for us to get back on our feet," he said. To host the program, the organization is expanding its operation at the dining hall located at 437 W. 200 South. Renovation should not interfere with its daily service of two meals a day, according to officials. Construction of the expansion is scheduled to finish by late fall this year. The project is funded by several private donations: ALSAM foundation, which gives primarily for education, medical research, human services and Catholic agencies and charities, donated $1.5 million to cover construction costs. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donated about $500,000 for equipment and supplies for the program. Zions Bank donated $50,000 to the program. The Miller Family Foundation matched the $50,000 Zions donation. Participants will receive hands-on training from experienced chefs, one-on-one case management for job placement and housing, and be placed into higher-wage positions in the restaurant industry, according to a news release. Participants will also be guaranteed a bed at a local homeless shelter. Matthew Melville, director of the organization's homeless services, said he encouraged Utah restaurants to get involved with the project and partner with the organization. "The soup kitchen has been, for 20 to 30 years we've been providing a meal, which is great, but now we can also provide training on top of that meal," Melville said. He said the organization is currently in the process of finding candidates for the program. Melville spoke at the groundbreaking Tuesday, joined by community advocate Pamela Atkinson, Gail Miller of the Miller Family Foundation and the Most Rev. Oscar A. Solis, bishop of Salt Lake's Catholic Diocese. Atkinson spoke about her love for her "homeless friends," and said the project will be a "huge success." "This is a blessing from God," Bishop Solis told the crowd. He shared his "deepest, profoundest gratitude" to all who helped start the program. He also said a prayer and a blessing and another priest read a scripture. Miller, who volunteers regularly at the kitchen, said she believes the program will "improve their lives and help those around them." "She comes here every Thursday," Smithwick said after the ceremony, pointing to Miller. "We talk every Thursday and I told her I saw a beautiful woman on a billboard that looked just like her and it was her. She's a good person." Smithwick said it "feels great" to know there are people like Miller in the community who want to help address homelessness in Salt Lake City. He also said it's common for others in the community to give up, stop functioning and seek short-term relief through drugs. "A lot of people stop to function and I told the ones doing drugs and stuff, I, too, was doing them, but it's just a temporary solution," he said. "It makes you numb to not feeling the emotional pain of being homeless, not knowing what you're going to do and stuff, but it's just temporary. Then when it wears off, you're back to the reality with less money." Still, Smithwick has hopes that things are looking up for him and his community. "A lot of people are starting to change their ways and have you noticed how it's clean out there? I told them just because we're homeless, we don't have to live with garbage all around us," he said. "It kind of labels us like we're terrible people and everybody's been pitching in (to clean up)." SANDY Sponsors of the annual SheTech Explorer Day hope that putting a feminine face on STEM careers will draw more girls into often male-dominated fields. And considering 2,500 high school girls from around Utah turned out for Tuesday's event promoting science, technology, engineering and math fields, the Women Tech Council may be onto something. "I really love to see so many girls come out from all over the state to feel empowered by all these girls and all these careers," said Nicole Zinger, a senior at Skyline High School who plans to pursue a career in aviation. She attended SheTech last year and volunteered to be a student board member this year, which consisted of helping plan the event and encouraging other girls to attend. Zinger said these events are helpful because they give girls the opportunity to speak with women and learn about their experience in tech careers. For her chosen field, she noted, fewer than 2 percent of the aviation industry is female, and the percentage of female pilots is even lower. The event at the Mountain America Exposition Center is meant to accomplish several goals, one official pointed out. "Expanding the number of women in tech has benefits far broader than diversity. It drives the bottom line revenue, profit and success of companies across industries," Cydni Tetro, president of the Women Tech Council, said in a statement. Sneha Balakrishnan, a software engineer at Adobe, was one of about 700 mentors and volunteers from industries across the state teaching the girls through group sessions, displays and experiments. When telling a group about a robot programmed to follow their face, she noted how the girls "sparked up," bringing a high level of energy to the room. Balakrishnan said she is the only woman on her seven-person engineering team, but the ratio is improving and Adobe is working to help women receive leadership training. The Women Tech Council has hosted SheTech Explorer Day for six years now. The first year drew about 250 girls, Tetro noted, but after Tuesday's event, the program has reached 15,000 girls. Tetro said when girls are able to talk with mentors in STEM careers and have a hands-on experience, they are more likely to consider technology careers. She said in surveys they have conducted, 90 percent of girls say they don't choose STEM careers because they don't know women in the field. "Its really hard for people to become something that they cant see, and so this is an opportunity to see other women who choose STEM careers and really see that you could become that person," Tetro said. Helen Knaggs, vice president of research and development at Nu Skin, helped teach a session on making and to share what working at Nu Skin would be like. Knaggs said when she began her career about 30 years ago, it was predominantly male, but things are changing. She said in her lab there are more women than men, however, their team of engineers consists of only men. "If theres one thing that I would like to get out of this it is to encourage more girls to become engineers we could certainly use them," Knaggs said. She also said there is a lack of women in upper-level positions, which would add to perspective and diversity. Kimberly Vara, a senior at Ogden High School, said she enjoyed the tech zone, an area where the students can talk with professionals and take part in experiments. "I really love the vibe that SheTech brings to all of these girls and it really just makes you think Wow, I really can be in STEM,'" Vara said. FARMINGTON When Randy and Tawra Tobler publicly shared the story of their son's suicide for the first time due to what police say is a growing crime of "sextortion," it was very difficult for them. But because they shared their story with the Deseret News, Davis County sheriff's detective John Peirce believes others will be saved. "The willingness of the Toblers to tell their story about what happened to Tevan has likely saved some lives. The victims that Ive talked to that weve opened up cases on, they are very emotional and they really want help. And they specifically reference this article as the reason they made a phone call," Peirce said. "Some of (the victims) were already sending money overseas. And in one case someone already lost their life and the family is still emotional over it. And that was within a couple of months of Tevan. The awareness alone is helping. Its helping nationally. READ MORE: Uncovering secret that led to son's suicide On Sept. 18, 2017, Tevan Tobler, 16, took his own life after he was tricked into sending an explicit video of himself. A female or someone posing as a female had encouraged Tevan to send a video. That person, now believed to be based in the Ivory Coast, used that video against the teenager and demanded money from him or risk having the video shared and his family being harmed. But even after sending money, the person or people extorting him wanted more until they finally encouraged Tevan to kill himself. Investigators served search warrants on Yahoo, Snapchat and Western Union to try and find the person responsible. The case was traced back to Africa and the Ivory Coast. Peirce, the lead investigator, even learned that the same scammer is responsible for a second suicide in France during another extortion attempt. But because authorities cannot extradite people from the Ivory Coast to America to face criminal charges, the investigation ended with no arrests, highly frustrating Peirce and other investigators. Since then, members of the Internet Crimes Against Children task force had been using Tevan's story without using his name during school assemblies to warn other teens about sextortion and the dangers of certain apps. The Tobler family agreed to talk for the first time about what happened with the Deseret News. The story that was posted on April 1 immediately went viral across the nation. As of Wednesday, the story had nearly 460,000 views at deseretnews.com and had been shared on social media by such organizations as the Utah Attorney General's Office, Pennsylvania National Guard Association, and the Maine National Guard Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program. Peirce said his phone has been ringing off the hook since then. And because of Tevan's story, two new sextortion investigations suspected of being committed by the same person or group have been opened. Furthermore, he said a family in Texas called him to share their story about their loved one a 22-year-old police officer who fell victim to sextortion and committed suicide. "We knew it was a bigger problem. We didnt know it was that bigger of a problem and we were surprised, Peirce admitted. In addition to opening new investigations, the detective said his office has since been able to learn a lot more about how these extortion groups operate. In many cases, they send a friend request on Facebook to the victim. Typically, the extorter uses a profile picture of an attractive female to catch the victim's attention. After accepting a friend request, the scammer begins working on the potential victim to gain their trust through a series of conversations using Facebook messenger, Peirce said. Eventually, the person asks the victims to move the conversation to their cellphone or a different app, and that's when they encourage the person to exchange explicit videos. The extorter also sends a video, but it's typically a file. "It is a real video, but its not what you think it is," Peirce explained. Once the victim sends a video, the demand for money and the attacks begin immediately. "That includes threats against family, threats against you, threats of fines, incarcerations, sharing the video with your loved ones. And by this point they already have your social media, in many cases your cellphone number. They have every single means and measures to try and extort you," Peirce said. "They are relentless. They dont stop. They use sophisticated methods to cover their identities. Even if you block the number, theyll get another and contact you." Many have asked what apps parents can use to help protect their children. Michelle Busch-Upwall, with the Internet Crimes Against Children task force, said there are many. The willingness of the Toblers to tell their story about what happened to Tevan has likely saved some lives. The victims that Ive talked to that weve opened up cases on, they are very emotional and they really want help. Davis County sheriff's detective John Peirce "I always tell parents to research to find what will best fit their needs. There are many that are free but there are also many that charge a monthly fee to use so it just depends on the kind of monitoring a parent wants," she said. One resource for parents is commonsensemedia.org, she said. Busch-Upwall recommends that parents check with their phone provider to find out which services they offer. "I have Verizon and I use the Verizon Smart Family which enables me to track the location of my daughter's phone, and I also use it for limits and controls, like data usage, time restrictions, limiting texts and calls as well as keeping track of her contacts and who is contacting her," she said. As for whether the new information that Peirce has received will allow him to reopen Tevan's case, he's not yet sure. And even then, there's the issue of extradition. One possibility is pressuring the government in the Ivory Coast and Africa to do more to crack down on sextortion cases. But Peirce said he has to be realistic. "Were at the mercy of what they want to do. And historically, that might be nothing. They might not want to do anything and thats why theres so much extortion coming out of those kinds of areas, he said. "Ultimately, we have no extradition treaty with the Ivory Coast, and our hands are going to be tied to the mercy of them. So realistically, the outcome might not change," Peirce said. "But because of the Toblers coming forward, we can at least raise awareness, and they really deserve a lot of credit for doing that." How livestreaming became a terrorist's tool Brandeis politics professor Jytte Klausen comments on the use of livestreaming in the terrorist attacks carried out on two mosques in New Zealand Photo/Mike Lovett Lawrence A. Wien Professor of International Cooperation Jytte Klausen A group of right-wing extremists attacked two mosques in New Zealand on March 14, an act of terror that is currently being called one of New Zealands darkest days. Jytte Klausen is a politics professor at Brandeis University studying jihadism and radicalization and the director and lead researcher for the Western Jihadism Project, a web database designed to study Al-Qaeda and ISIS-inspired terrorist offenders in Western Europe, the Antipodes, Canada, and the United States. Klausen believes there are a number of parallels, particularly the use of livestreaming , with the New Zealand attacks and those carried out by groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS. BrandeisNOW spoke to Klausen to learn more: BrandeisNOW: Do you see parallels in the way the perpetrators of the New Zealand attacks carried out their acts of terror, particularly with the use of a livestream , and the jihadists you study? Jytte Klausen: Yes, this is an example of a far-right extremist imitating ISIS. For example, Mohamed Merah, a terrorist who carried out multiple acts in Lyon France (in 2012) used a GoPro camera to record and publicize his crimes. This attack in New Zealand is a complete copycat incident. Its the type of insurgency-style guerilla warfare that ISIS carries out in Western Europe. BrandeisNOW: Was Mohamed Merah the first example of terrorists recording their attacks on video? JK: Merah really is the first example. He was a killer who carried out attacks on Jewish people in Lyon and the surrounding areas over a week-long period in 2012. He also killed immigrant-origin soldiers in the French army. He was extremely violent and wore a GoPro camera on his helmet while murdering people driving around on a scooter. Merah also had assistants who would take the video, download it, disseminate it and then post it online. BrandeisNOW: How widespread are attacks like these that are recorded and subsequently posted online and what other parallels do you see between this New Zealand case and other acts of terror? JK: There are many elements in this incident that incorporate very similar tactical elements of Mohamed Merah and other terrorists. Merahs acts, which he captured on video and posted, came as a rolling set of attacks that occurred over a period time. Similar attacks have also occurred in Barcelona in 2017 and in Brussels in 2016 and in Paris in 2015. What happened in New Zealand shares a parallel with these other attacks in that there was a group that meticulously planned multiple coordinated attacks, but also in the sense that there was one perpetrator who clearly intended to get caught. He used his time to get the message out. We are also now learning that the primary attacker in New Zealand was an Australian who lived in New Zealand but recently had been traveling in Europe where he claims to have had contact with far-right extremists. He was likely not detected ahead of time because he moved from one country to another to carry out the attack. So there are many elements of this attack that weve seen before. BrandeisNOW: Some people online are objecting to the use of the words terrorist and terrorism with regard to the attacks in New Zealand. Is there an actual, academic definition of the word terrorist? JK: That objection is misplaced. The academic definition of what constitutes a terrorist and terrorism is violence motivated by political goals and attacks on civilians with the intent of intimidating the general public or a government. Academics and law enforcement are generally consistent in their usage of the term. The target of terrorism is a set of victims that have been selected for their symbolic importance. Terrorists go after victims based on their symbolic value, which is why a GoPro or a live video stream is a gift to a terrorist. Its like reality television. All terrorism is, really, is theater. Klausen is the Lawrence A. Wien Professor of International Cooperation SALT LAKE CITY Google Cloud, the cloud services division of search giant Google, announced in a blog post that it's expanding its global cloud "infrastructure" to Salt Lake City, but the company confirmed to the Deseret News the move will not include construction of a new data center in the region. The Tuesday posting indicates the new service support will be online by 2020 and, along with another effort planned for Seoul, South Korea, will bring the company's portfolio of service regions to 23 globally. Theresa Foxley, president and CEO of EDCUtah, a private, nonprofit organization focused on business recruitment, said the expansion will be a boon for local businesses and innovators working on developing cloud-based products. Team Utah is delighted to welcome a Google Cloud region to Salt Lake," Foxley said in a statement. "This new region will improve cloud computing infrastructure for businesses operating in Utah, giving them faster access to Google Cloud products and services and bringing technical innovations even closer to where they do business. We look forward to welcoming the new region to Salt Lake City in 2020." While in a growth phase, Google Cloud lags far behind Amazon Web Services and Microsoft's Azure system in the broader market of cloud service providers. PLAIN CITY, Weber County The Weber County Sheriff's Office says investigators are still going through hundreds of VHS tapes owned by a man accused of sexually abusing a boy, but as of Wednesday they had not found any evidence of child pornography. Bart Duane Fife, 56, of Plain City, was charged March 15 in 2nd District Court with five counts of sodomy on a child and five counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, all first-degree felonies. The alleged victim, now an adult, told authorities that Fife sexually abused him from March 2004 to November 2005 when he was 9 and 10 years old, according to charging documents. "The complainant disclosed that he and (Fife) spent time together as part of a youth mentorship program and that the abuse started after he caught (Fife) watching a pornographic video," the charges state. "The complainant stated that he and (Fife) were matched together in the mentorship program for months and that the sexual abuse occurred throughout the entire time." On March 14, Fife was interviewed by sheriff's detectives and "admitted to multiple incidents" of abuse, according to the charges. Investigators then served a search warrant on Fife's home. According to the warrant, the pornographic video the victim allegedly caught Fife watching that started the year of abuse was a "VHS video that appeared to be homemade. There was an image of Fife and another person showing (their) genitals with their pants down." Detectives seized more than 760 VHS tapes from Fife's house, the warrant states, and more than 175 DVDs. As of Wednesday, investigators were still going through each one. Deputies also seized an award and a certificate from Big Brothers Big Sisters organization, the warrant states. Fife's next court hearing is scheduled for May 7. SALT LAKE CITY A medical assistant originally charged with murdering her boyfriend has been spared time behind bars after admitting she killed him in self-defense. Stephanie Dawn Payan, 43, "is a survivor. She is not a criminal," her attorneys argued in court documents. They contend she is a caring mother who fired one shot out of fear in August 2017, killing Guy Wells Mecham after he repeatedly threatened violence and shoved her. Prosecutors accused Payan of shooting Mecham in the back, in part out of anger, as he left his Duchesne house, but her attorneys said it's not clear he was leaving. He might have tried to retrieve a gun from his truck and hurt her or her teenage daughter, they argued. "She reacted by using a gun that she had bought and kept for just such a moment: defense," her attorney Scott Williams wrote in court filings ahead of the Monday sentencing hearing. Payan pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter last month, but a judge on Monday dropped the conviction even further from a felony to a class A misdemeanor "in the interest of justice," court documents show. Williams had sought the extra reduction, saying his client had "devolved into a post-traumatic stress state where she felt trapped and helpless." Payan and her daughter, then 14, moved from Heber City to Duchesne to live with Mecham, a mechanic. Before that, Mecham had once shoved Payan into a counter, breaking four ribs, her attorneys argued. After she and her teenage daughter moved in with him in the remote eastern Utah town, he began a "brutal assault" on them, threatening to hurt them and kicking their pet dog Gyzmo. On August 2, 2017, police found the body of Guy Wells Mecham, 51, inside his Duchesne home, 683 E. 300 North. The day he died, Mecham had come home in a rage, demanded money from Payan for his motorcycle and smashed his fist in a wall when she refused, ramping up threats against Payan and her daughter, Williams argued. He added that Mecham had been convicted of abusing two other women he lived with. After using her gun to fire one fatal shot at her boyfriend, Payan called her daughter's father and told him to come get their daughter and to call 911, court documents say. She later called police herself, saying "I am a nurse. I save people. I dont kill them. Williams said the mother and daughter have suffered enough and need each other's support. In a letter, Mecham's family members asked the judge to impose the maximum possible sentence. A mechanic who enjoyed building muscle cars and helping others, he had lost a nephew to suicide in 2009, followed by the deaths of his brother and his mother, and he suffered constant pain from an accident, they said. Mecham's brother and sister-in-law questioned why Payan hadn't taken her daughter and left. Eighth District Judge Samuel Chiara ordered Payan to three years of probation and 500 hours of community service. He suspended a one-year jail term, meaning the possible jail time is on hold as she is on probation. A charge of domestic violence in the presence of a minor, a third-degree felony, was also dismissed as part of the plea agreement. Free and confidential help for victims of domestic violence is available 24/7 by contacting the YWCA, Women in Jeopardy, 801-537-8600; or the Domestic Violence Hotline, 800-897-LINK (5465). Siddhant Karnick and Megha Gupta are considered to be one of the cutest couples of the TV industry. Siddhant, who was seen in Pyaar Ki Yeh Ek Kahaani and played the lead role in Ek Tha Raja Ek Thi Rani celebrated his second marriage anniversary just a few months back in 2018. But looks like all is not well between the two, who now seem to be living separately! Yes, you read that right. The much-in-love couple seems to be heading towards splitsville. But what went wrong in their perfect world? Let us look at their love story: While it may not be entirely clear how operators in particular are going to monetise 5G, there is certainly no shortage of announcements involving 5G rollout. Among the latest are three from the UAE, Iran and Sri Lanka. The UAEs Etisalat has said it aims to invest some $1.1 billion during 2019 on what it calls digital transformation, not least through the rollout of hundreds of 5G-enabled base stations by the end of this year. A pre-commercial 5G mobile network (using 3.5GHz spectrum) arrived in May last year. Expect 5G-capable handsets to be available in the UAE this summer. The companys CTO, Hatem Bamatraf, has highlighted the advances that will underpin flexible, high speed 5G networks, the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the changes these will bring, and stated that Etisalat is already exploring use cases with new technologies and services that will blend our physical and digital world. It wont be alone. In Sri Lanka Mobitel, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), plans investment of more than $50 million in 2019 to deploy a 5G network and to further develop its existing infrastructure. 5G trials are already underway, although its not clear when a mass-market launch will take place. Nevertheless, with 4G development also under way, it seems that the companys 3G network will soon be dropped. By contrast Iran seems to be some way behind, although 5G is said to be high on the agenda and preliminary work is already under way to allocate bandwidth and update regulations for 5G mobile services. The countrys aim, announced earlier this year by Irans ICT Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, is to deploy 5G and IoT networks by the first quarter of next year. Security researcher Elliot Alderson aka @fs0c131y has reported a vulnerability that enables an attacker to snoop on the victims network traffic and even record their phones screen for an hour. The French security researcher Elliot Alderson, aka @fs0c131y, has some new information to share about flaws in Samsung devices. He claims to have found a new vulnerability in all Samsung phones, which enables an attacker to capture the victims network traffic without their consent, given the hacker can gain physical access to their victims device. Additionally, the exploit enables the hacker to record the victims screen for up to an hour. Alderson disclosed the vulnerability to Samsung three weeks ago. The researcher has tweetstormed the exploit with a proof of concept and it all starts by booting up the Calculator app that is pre-installed on all Samsung phones. Typing (+30012012732+ in the calculator app will bring up DRParser Mode app. Typing *#9900# on the DO Parser Mode app boots up the Service Mode app, which has several critical options like logging network packet data and more. Three options on the Service Mode app menu are greyed out and out of them, Elliot used the "tcp dump start" command-line packet analyzer to capture network traffic. However, tapping the button asks for an OTP, which the researcher bypassed since it is a locally implemented mechanism and doesnt require an active net connection. Reversing the Service Mode app, the researcher was able to create a proof of concept via the CheckOTP method. This enabled him to enter the OTP key created in the prompt and enable capturing of network traffic. The network traffic capture log is saved on local storage. THREAD: If you have a @SamsungMobile phones, whatever your phone model, an attacker with a physical access to your phone can capture your network traffic without your consent. Let me show you pic.twitter.com/2e66MglPxE Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) April 10, 2019 The flaw not only enables one to snoop on network traffic, but also allows an attacker to record their victims screen for up to an hour. This is apparently done via the IMS LOGGER option, which is one of the three greyed-out options on the Service Mode app. Enabling the Record Screen" option from Filter Options when tapping on IMS LOGGER is said to do the trick, and the recording is saved on the local storage. Related Reads: Asus software update utility was hacked to install malware on thousands of computers, company issues fix Twitter aims to combat spammers by limiting daily follows to 400 Apple's Enterprise Certificate Program falls into more trouble as a recent report suggests that some group of professional developers have used the platform to develop a spyware app, capable of extracting data from users iPhone.Primarily, the program was introduced to make enterprise customers build and distribute customized apps, that were also not obliged to follow the App Store's content guidelines. This also allowed apps to have access over all sorts of data within an iOS device but the only rule of the program was, that the app should be used within the organization.This resulted into an opportunity for many fraudulent developers, where they started distributing unsafe apps on the App store by taking advantage of the Enterprise Certificate system.The latest in the list includes a stalkerware app that exists on a users device as carrier assistance app but it is capable of acquiring contacts, audio recordings, photos and video, real-time location data, or can even spy on conversations done with the infected iPhone.It was first discovered by a mobile security firm, Lookout , who stated that the app was being used for mobile networks in Italy and Turkmenistan. The app is developed by Connexxa, who are known for creating surveillance. Their last work was widely appreciated in which they created Exodus, based on Android for Italian authorities.Further investigations revealed that both the iOS and Android apps were linked to the same backend with pinned certificates.As soon as Apple got to know about the app's unauthorized activity, they revoked the app's certificate, which caused the app to stop functioning. However, in all the process, the company is yet to find out that how many of iOS users were targeted in this scam.Apart from this, some researchers have also discovered that developers are abusing the platform even more by offering apps that are usually banned from the app store e.g. porn and gambling apps. Moreover, this has also made hacked versions of the popular apps go viral in which users can stream music without any subscription fees, block advertisements or even enjoy in-app purchases without any charges.While the misuse of Apples Enterprise Certificate Program is becoming an issue with every passing day, Tim and his company will have to take desperate measures to protect the privacy of its users and promote safer environment on the app store.Photo: Jaap Arriens / NurPhoto / GettyRead Next: App Spending to Grow At Much Higher Rate by 2023 Revealed a Report India to buy 464 T-90MS tanks for Army's armoured regiments The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has given the go-ahead for the purchase of 464 more T-90MS main battle Tanks at a cost of about Rs13,448 crore ($1.93 billion). The T-90MS is the latest version of the tank with the Russian Army and the Indian Army's armoured regiments already have the T-90S. News agency TASS cited Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) as saying that it would continue to help its Indian partners in producing T-90MS, which have been rechristened Bhishma by the Indian Army. "Russia is prepared for prolonging the licence and building up the production of T-90 tanks in India in connection with the Indian governments decision to purchase more tanks for its armed forces," the FSMTC told TASS. The T-90MS has a guided missile system to annihilate armoured targets, including those equipped with explosive reactive armour (ERA), at ranges up to 5 kilometres. Jane's Defence Weekly claimed that the CCS met in early April to give the green signal to buy 464 T-90MS tanks. The tanks will be assembled at the Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF) in Avadi, Chennai from semi-knocked-down (SKD) kits from Uralvagonzavod, the Russian tank manufacturer. The tanks will arm 10 armoured regiments of the Army. Jane's quoted unidentified officers as saying that the proposal to assemble the tanks from SKD kits was taken as the HVF Avadi was not producing the T-90S at the desired pace. The HVF had in 2006-07 signed a contract to produce 1,000 T-90S tanks under licence from Russia by 2020. But the HVF has been able to supply only 350-400 T-90S till date. According to Russia's Rosoboronexport, the only state organisation for exporting the military hardware, the T-90MS tank has a new turret weapon station with an upgraded 125mm gun and an advanced highly automated digital fire control system (FCS) which can destroy enemy tanks, self-propelled guns and other armoured targets. The crew can detect, identify and destroy the targets during the day as well as night much more accurately with the help of FCS. The T-90MS also has a guided missile system to annihilate armoured targets, including those equipped with explosive reactive armour (ERA), at ranges up to 5 kilometres. The tank comes equipped with a protection system to insulate and help its crew operate in a Nuclear-Biological-Chemical attack environment. Tracking the sources of plastic pollution in ocean Plastic pollution in the world's oceans is now widely recognised as a major global challenge but we still know very little about how these plastics are actually reaching the sea. A new global initiative, led by the University of Birmingham shows how focussing on rivers and river mouths can yield vital clues about how we might manage this plastic crisis. The 100 Plastic Rivers Project is engaging with scientists in more than 60 locations worldwide to sample water and sediment in rivers. The aim is to better understand how plastics are transported and transformed in rivers and how they accumulate in river sediments, where they create a long-lasting pollution legacy. First results of the project are being presented at the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), held in Vienna, Austria, from 7-12 April 2019. They show a complex picture, with a huge diversity in types and sources of plastic in selected river estuaries in the UK and France. Professor Stefan Krause, of the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham, explains, "Even if we all stopped using plastic right now, there would still be decades, if not centuries-worth of plastics being washed down rivers and into our seas. We're getting more and more aware of the problems this is causing in our oceans, but we are now only starting to look at where these plastics are coming from, and how they're accumulating in our river systems. We need to understand this before we can really begin to understand the scale of the risk that we're facing." The 100 Plastic Rivers programme analyses both primary microplastics, such as micro-beads used in cosmetics, and secondary microplastics from larger plastic items that have broken down in the environment or fibres from clothing. A key part of the project is to establish a standard method for the sampling and analysis of microplastics, which can be used to provide an assessment of the plastic pollution of our river networks. The Birmingham team has produced a toolkit, with detailed instructions for sampling water and river sediments at locations where stream flow is known or measured and developed methods of automating and thus, objectifying the identification and analysis of microplastics. In a recently completed pilot study, the University of Birmingham team collaborated with the Clean Seas Odyssey citizen science project to test parts of the developed methodology based on sampling water and sediments from river estuaries around the UK and France Channel coast. By analysing the samples taken by interested members of the public, they were able to test the sampling protocol and develop a picture of the different types of polymers accumulated in river sediments at their confluence with the sea. The results of this initial survey showed a much wider variety of plastic types in the samples than had been anticipated. This shows that, even in relatively well-regulated countries like the UK and France, there are a variety of different sources contributing to a high concentration of microplastics in river systems. Inspirational augmented reality apps can improve brand attitude More and more companies are using Augmented Reality Marketing to interact with customers. Augmented Reality Marketing is a strategic concept that uses Augmented Reality (i.e. the Integration of digital information or objects into the subject's perception of the physical world), often in combination with other media, to expose, articulate, or demonstrate consumer benefits to achieve organizational goals. A recent BCG study indicates that many companies are still exploring the possibilities that AR offers. One of the main barriers to the use of AR as a Marketing tool is a solid understanding of how AR works and how it impacts business goals. A team of the three researchers Philipp Rauschnabel (Universitat der Bundeswehr Munchen, Germany), Chris Hinsch (Grand Valley State University) and Reto Felix (University of Texas) conducted an empirical study to assess the effectiveness of AR. The core results: First, even strong brands can benefit from inspirational AR content. Second, in order to be effective, marketers should focus on creating inspirational content, i.e. content that triggers consumers' imagination and motivates them to generate new ideas. To do so, they need to invest in professionally developed Apps that provide a realistic augmentation of the real world and to create hedonic content that consumers really want to consume; purely functional content might not contribute to branding goals. Third, when assessing the effectiveness of AR apps in enhancing brand evaluations, looking at the more traditional "star ratings" might not be the best idea. The researchers measured consumers evaluations before and after using an app and tried to explain the improvements in brand attitude. In sum, AR led to improvements among 40 per cent of the respondents. The key to success is, according to the results, that AR provides inspirational content. When comparing the improvements in brands between those consumers who had a high (vs. low) inspirational AR experience, the results are even stronger. More specifically, they were 4X stronger among those consumers who rated their AR experience as highly inspirational. The more general evaluation of the app (i.e. ranging from bad to good, as typically reflected in star ratings) was less effective. Reto Felix recommends that firms should "go beyond simple star ratings as the preferred way to measure the success of AR". "Although more research is needed to generalize these findings, our study provides the first evidence that AR can be an effective tool in brand management", Rauschnabel said. Indeed, the team of researchers is working on follow up projects to further validate these findings. In addition, the team is exploring further areas of AR Marketing. The researchers will be presenting additional research findings in June in Munich as part of the 5th international AR VR conference. Israel's Netanyahu set for a fifth term as prime minister Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looked set to win Israeli national election, securing a record fifth term in office despite running neck in neck with his challenger Benny Gantz, the country's three main television channels said. With 97 per cent of the votes counted, Netanyahus Likud Party was clearly in a strong position to form a coalition government with other right-wing factions that have backed him, although neither the ruling Likud Party of the opposition Blue and White party had captured a ruling majority. The veteran right-wing leaders Likud party and Gantzs new centrist Blue and White party both won 35 seats each, according to the Knesset website and Israeli TV channels. That would mean a five-seat gain for Likud. Ahead of the elections, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that if he secured another term in office, he would move to annex Jewish settlements in the West Bank. I wont clear a single settlement. And I will naturally ensure that we control the area west of the Jordan River, Netanyahu said during an interview with Israeli television. Netanyahu has promoted Jewish settlement expansion into the territory during his four terms as prime minister, but he had stopped short of saying he would annex settlements, until now. "It is a night of colossal victory," the 69-year-old Netanyahu told cheering supporters in a late-night speech at Likud headquarters, while cautioning that a "long night and possibly day" lay ahead awaiting official results. Fireworks flared behind him as his wife Sara applauded and kissed him. "He's a magician," the crowd chanted. Final results were expected by Friday. If he wins, Netanyahu, 69, will be on track to be the longest-serving prime minister in Israel's 71-year history. Netanyahu said he had already begun talks with prospective coalition allies. Netanyahu, in power consecutively since 2009, has been fighting for his political survival. He faces possible indictment in three graft cases, and has denied wrongdoing in all three. Rival Gantz, 59, earlier had also claimed victory, citing preliminary exit polls that were published soon after voting ended on Tuesday showed his party had won more seats than Likud. "We are the victors," said Gantz, a former military chief fighting his first election. "We want to thank Benjamin Netanyahu for his service to the nation." Despite both men claiming victory on Tuesday night, the picture became clear by the morning today as the results began streaming in, painting Netanyahu as the winner. During the campaign, Netanyahu highlighted his close relationship with US President Donald Trump, who delighted Israelis and angered Palestinians by recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2017 and moving the American Embassy to the holy city last May, while the rival parties accused each other of corruption, fostering bigotry and being soft on security. Two weeks before the election, Trump signed a proclamation, with Netanyahu at his side at the White House, recognising Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. Trump is expected to release his administration's long-awaited Middle East peace plan after the election. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider subscribing to our ePaper and/or free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. The Four Seasons Hotel, Spa & Leisure Club based in the scenic medieval village of Carlingford in County Louth has won the prestigious award for Spa Hotel of the Year Leinster 2019 by Irish Hotel Awards. The awards, in their third year were held in The Galmont Hotel & Spa, Galway on April 8. With over 300 guests representing hospitality professionals from across the island, the evening was a celebration of outstanding excellence in the industry. Four Seasons Carlingford General Manager, Adam Coburn said: Its an amazing achievement for the Four Seasons Hotel Carlingford and Luxe Spa and a reflection of the hard work of our wonderful staff led by Luxe Spa Manager Tara O Hanlon. Since opening Luxe Spa in June 2017, we have gone from strength to strength having recently been featured on Xpose for being only one of the five spas in Ireland certified by Christine Clinton Cancer Care Treatment. Shane Smith, Managing Director of NI Media who run the awards said: We would like to thank our sponsors Allied Irish Bank Merchant Services, Britvic & Greaseshield for supporting the Irish Hotel Awards. Each and every one of our members has been individually assessed and our winners here tonight were judged by a panel of industry professionals. Visit 4SeasonsHotelCarlingford.ie for more information about the hotel and our Luxe Spa A new documentary exploring the life of Dundalk poet Jim Craven is set to be broadcast this Easter Monday April 22 at 12 noon on LMFM. The radio documentary, which is a new Little Road Production, takes a look at the life and works of Craven (19351980), a poet inspired by Patrick Kavanagh and referred to by John B Keane as 'a dynamic genius. Born into a large family, he lived in the townland of Balregan in the Parish of Faughart, just a few miles north of Dundalk. The townland where he spent most of his life resulted in one of his local nicknames becoming the Bard of Balregan. Many also referred to him as the Laureate of Louth. His poetry explored many themes including childhood, nature, rurality, sexuality, love, violence, religion, mythology and history. He also wrote frequently on The Troubles, having been brought up only a stones throw from the border. In his lifetime, Jim had his work published in the Dundalk Democrat and in periodicals in the USA. Two books were published after his death - Selected Poems in 1983 and Nice of You Jim in 2005. His work was also included in Eugene Robert Platt's A Patrick Kavanagh Anthology in 1973 and Daniel J. Casey's Poetry of the Cuchulainn Country in 1978. Craven passed away at the age of 45 years on the 27th April 1980 in a car accident. Featuring Jims brother, Paddy Craven, who wrote a play about Jims life that was performed in the Town Hall in 2010, his niece Deirdre Craven, and his good friend Gerry Murphy, the documentary remembers both the man behind the poetry, along with the work that he created during his short life, in order to preserve it for the generations to come. Local artist Jinx Lennon is also featured throughout performing some of Jims many poems. The timing of the documentary is apt as we approach the 39th anniversary of Jims death and his yearly commemoration ceremony, which is open to all, and will take place after 10am Mass in Brid-a Chrin cemetery on Sunday April 28th. Funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) with the television license fee, this documentary will broadcast on LMFM Radio at 12 noon this Easter Bank Holiday Monday April 22nd 2019. A promo for the documentary can be heard on Soundcloud here Find out more about upcoming Little Road Production shows on their Facebook page You can also follow them on Twitter Julia Christie, the innovator and designer of the multi-award-winning baby nail trimmer the Nail Snail, has recently expanded her business outside of Australia and says that Done right, it can be the best thing for your business. After providing safer nail care to countless parents of toddlers, babies and newborns across Australia and selling over 20,000 nail trimmers since launching her product in 2017, going global was naturally the next step.In order to expand, Julia needed to have an understanding of the export industry. When it comes to exporting, were talking about a large chain that involves a multitude of activities linking key players such as telecommunications, transport and logistics, shipping, freight handling, licencing and technology. These are all interconnected and part of a collaboration between various private and governmental agencies, both here in Australia and overseas, says Julia. The Trade and Export Industry is surrounded by legal aspects that can heavily impact your business operations and can even lead to hefty losses or fines if you choose not to comply with government protocols. There are international rules that can vary such as tariffs and taxes, fluctuating depending on the country you are exporting to. The regulations regarding labelling, packaging, consumer protection, quarantine and product standards may also be different. In order to follow international protocols and to ensure a smooth progression of bringing the Nail Snail to international markets, Julia Christie relied on having well-written distribution agreements and systematic processes in place. Make sure you have an experienced export lawyer draft your distribution agreements and help you understand all its clauses. There is such a large amount of sensitive and business related information covered in these and all of it needs to remain confidential too. This is why I re-read the contract until I fully understood it and felt that all relevant aspects were covered. A good contract means that once you and your distributors or export partners sign it, you can feel 100% confidant, reported Julia. The general improvement of technology, trade finance, export agreements plus the favorable exchange rates especially for some countries, have encouraged more foreign buyers to purchase from Australian businesses. This can really increase business and lead to strong international partnerships. I treat every overseas shipment like it was my very first. I methodically go through the procedures to ensure that my Nail Snails are distributed in a safe and timely manner. Shipping to an unknown destination can be a tad stressful but with tracking numbers, references and internationally recognised barcodes, I feel secure knowing that my shipment will go smoothly from start to finish. Understanding the different technologies used in the process was all part of my learning curve, Julia said. Introducing her product to the global market has impacted positively on her day to day business decisions. Innovation in areas such as transport, logistics and timely deliveries have enabled her to not only grow her customer base but give her business that competitive edge. There are ample export resources and support service available; get support from experienced professionals and make sure you go over the fine print. Taking your product outside of Australia is a different game plan altogether. And, while it can be a worthwhile step to take, it is not to be taken lightly. Julia Christie is the designer of innovative baby nail trimmer the Nail Snail. She invented it after the terrible experience of injuring her newborn boy after using baby nail clippers. She has spent the last 5 years, raising 3 children, and building her company Christie & Christie to award-winning success not only in Australia, but internationally. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 10) A retired police officer and candidate for city councilor was shot dead Wednesday. Ramiro Bausa, who was running for city councilor of Legazpi, Albay was found dead in Cagbacong, Legazpi. According to the Bicol Police Regional Office, Bausa was meeting with a person by the road at around 3:20 p.m., after leaving his car. A witness said that he heard five gunshots and was approached by two men who told him to leave the area. Police are currently in hot pursuit of the suspects. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency in an attempt to curb a measles outbreak that continues to spread among the Orthodox Jewish community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The declaration mandates that any unvaccinated person living in certain Williamsburg zip codes receive the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine or face a violation and potential $1,000 fine. The declaration comes a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that the number of measles cases in the U.S. this year had spiked 20 percent over the week ending April 4, CNBC reported. The total for the country is now 465 cases, and 60 of the 78 cases reported last week were in New York City. "This is the epicenter of a measles outbreak that is very, very troubling and must be dealt with immediately," de Blasio said at a news conference in Williamsburg reported by The New York Times. "The measles vaccine works. It is safe, it is effective, it is time-tested." The city's decision comes after another order in December 2018, banning unvaccinated children from certain Brooklyn schools, failed to curb the outbreak that has infected 285 people in the city since last fall. The city said it would enforce the new order by checking the vaccination record of anyone in contact with the person infected in each new case reported to the city. New York City health officials also warned against the practice of "measles parties" where parents of infected and uninfected children arrange get-togethers to ensure children both catch and become immune to the disease at a young age. "As a parent, I have no doubt that each and every parent is making decisions based out of what they believe is best for their children," Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Dr. Herminia Palacio said, according to CBS New York. "But as a doctor, a public health practitioner, and a mom, I must warn you that exposing your unvaccinated child to measles is very dangerous, and it could even be deadly." One to two of every 1,000 children who get measles dies, according to the CDC. Further, one in every 1,000 children who fall ill develops a swelling of the brain that can result in deafness or intellectual disability. For the first time in 140 years, wolves have an official home in the Netherlands. Ecologists told BBC Radio 4 that a female wolf they had been tracking had stayed in the country for six months and could therefore be called "established," BBC News reported Tuesday. The ecologists had been tracking two females in the Hoge Veluwe nature reserve, which has now been designated as a wolf habitat, Dutch News reported. There is also evidence that a male wolf has been moving in and out of the area, and scientists told BBC that the wolves could form a pack within months. Ecologist Hugh Jansman of Wageningen University, who had been commissioned to investigate wolves in the area, told Dutch News their return would benefit the local ecosystem. "We shoot 50% of deer and 80% of boar to maintain a socially acceptable level. I think the wolves could do a lot of good," he said. But park director Seger Emmanuel baron van Voorst tot Voorst disagreed. "We are working hard on a daily basis to maintain the unique ecological balance of the park," he told EenVandaag, as Dutch News reported. "There will be big consequences if we let the wolves in." The return of wolves to many European countries has been controversial. Most were driven out by hunting in the nineteenth century but have returned in recent years, BBC News reported. Since wolves returned to France from Italy in 1992, there have been 12,000 incidents reported of wolves attacking goats or sheep. Farmers have turned to protective measures like guard dogs or electric fencing, and can receive compensation from the government if these measures are in place and their flocks are still attacked. Ecologist Roeland Vermeulen of Wolven in Nederland said that settled wolf populations were actually more likely to attack wild animals like deer or boar and that sheep were like "junk food" for transient or inexperienced wolves. The first wolves entered the Netherlands from Germany in 2015, and four were sighted between November 2018 and January 2019, Dutch News reported. Wolves killed 138 sheep in the Netherlands in the first half of 2018, BBC News reported, but experts noted that dogs kill around 13,000 sheep a year. Ranger Leo Linnartz told Dutch News that the Netherlands was "an outstanding place" for wolves, but said that local and national governments should help farmers adjust. "We've learned from Germany that wolves can be taught that catching sheep is pointless," he said. Vermeulen told the BBC Radio 4 that he thought the country had room for 22 packs of five to eight wolves each. California Sen. Kamala Harris first major policy proposal in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination: Giving every teacher a raise . Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., pitched a universal child care program just weeks after officially declaring her candidacy for president. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., another White House hopeful, envisions a $1 trillion infrastructure package that would include new resources to fix up K-12 schools. Those proposals seem tailor-made to appeal to teachers. And its not hard to figure out why. Reaching out to this energized demographic could harness the firepower of the #RedForEd movement, a grassroots, teacher-driven movement, which helped boost teacher pay in Arizona, Oklahoma, and West Virginiaand gave a leg-up to some Democratic candidates for state office. And it could help White House contenders rise above the cacophony of the Democratic field, which includes more than a dozen candidates and counting. I think seeing whats been going on across the country, in Kentucky, in Colorado, in West Virginia, in Oklahoma thats who we are. They should be courting us, said Megan Tuttle, an 8th grade social studies teacher who is serving a three-year term as president of the National Education Associations New Hampshire affiliate. I hope they come after us because weve been ignored and were finally standing up and saying, This is who we are, and were professionals and we want to be treated as such. And we vote. Thats the thing, we can get out the vote. Early Pitch Harris proposal is perhaps the splashiest pitch so far to cope with the teacher pay gap. Teachers make some $13,500 less than similarly educated professionals, according to Harris campaign. Harris, a freshman senator and former state attorney general, is promising to fix that by the end of her first term in the White House through a $315 billion initiative that would include some state matching funds. Harris decision to come out with a big proposal on teacher pay right out of the gate is a signal that teachers are going to be targeted for special outreach, said Lisette Partelow, the senior director of K-12 strategic initiatives at the Center for American Progress Action fund, which works on behalf of progressive candidates. I think the fact that some of these proposals are coming out so early in the campaign shows that they are a very high priority for candidates, said Partelow, who provided background information to the Harris campaign on teacher pay and would do so for other candidates interested in the issue. And the proposals are really big markers for what progressives should stand for when they say they support increases in teacher pay and bigger investments in K-12 education. Its pretty exciting. Harris isnt the only candidate thinking about teacher pay. At a recent event in Iowa, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey called for helping teachers by retiring their college debt, investing more in special education, and reworking the tax system so that teachers owe less, according to the Los Angeles Times. Lesser-known Democratic presidential candidates have also highlighted the issue on their websites. Andrew Yang, a businessman who helped found start-ups, says he wants to work with states to raise teachers salaries. Marianne Williamson, an author, promises new investments in teacher training, early-childhood education, and more. And former Rep. John Delaney of Maryland touts his support for expanding prekindergarten. Beyond School While such proposals are welcome, educators want more from candidates, teachers say. One of the major things that we are looking for is someone who understands its not just about our teacher pay, said Kelley Fisher, a kindergarten teacher in Arizonas Deer Valley school district, who has been active in her states #RedForEd movement. Shed love to see the candidates talk more about repairing school infrastructure or helping districts purchase high-quality curriculum. Were looking for somebody who wants to put the money back in our students so that we have everything they need to be successful. Tuttle also wants to see candidates talking about mental-health supports, a huge area of need in New Hampshire. But candidates may end up promising things for schools on the campaign trail that they cant deliver if they get elected, including higher teacher pay. The federal government just doesnt have that much control over education policy and spending, said Marguerite Roza, a research professor at Georgetown University. If youre a presidential candidate you are thinking of a federal solution, and public education hasnt been a federal responsibility, its a state and local responsibility, she said. Its sort of on the margins for the feds. Even if they dont have a specific proposal in mind, candidates have rushed to embrace the #RedforEd movement rhetorically before even announcing their candidacies. In a speech to the American Federation of Teachers in July, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., praised educators for being part of a political revolution. At a recent campaign event, Warren answered a question about her K-12 policy goals by highlighting her own background as a special education teacher. She said it would be pretty fabulous to have a schoolteacher in the White House, and pledged to seek more funding for schools. And during the Los Angeles teachers strike in January, Harris, Sanders, and Warren all cheered educators on Twitter for standing up for their students. Teachers as Allies It didnt always seem politically smart to cozy up to teachers, said Jeffrey Henig, the director of the politics and education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. It is different at least from recent election cycles where there was this concern about being seen as in the pocket of the teachers unions. Thats been ameliorated, he said. Teachers [are] more sympathetic allies, and that makes it a little bit easier for candidates to portray teachers as underpaid and underappreciated. For a long time, many voters assumed teachers were protected from economic downturns because of their union membership, Henig said. Thats shifted with growing awareness of how low teachers salaries are in parts of the country, thanks in large part to last years protests, he said. Candidates are still shopping for the endorsements of the NEA , a 3 million-member union, and the AFT , a 1.7 million-member union. Such endorsements bring campaign cash and, more importantly, volunteer muscle. Both unions have had a tough time in the endorsement game in recent presidential elections. Back in 2008, AFT picked then-Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary contest, and NEA didnt choose a favorite candidate in the primary. They both watched as then-Sen. Barack Obama clinched the nomination without their help. He went on to champion policies they hated, including teacher evaluations linked to test scores and getting rid of teachers at low-performing schools. In 2016, the unions tried to head off a rerun of the Obama years by backing Hillary Clinton heavily and early. That backfired when many of their members were outraged that Sanders didnt receive more consideration. This time around, the AFT has outlined an extensive endorsement process that will include candidate questionnaires, focus groups with members, social media forums, and more. NEA is still in the early stages of evaluating candidates. The union hasnt officially outlined its endorsement process, but it will involve a questionnaire to candidates, video interviews, and a lot of outreach to members on what they want to hear from the candidates, said Carrie Pugh, the NEAs political director. She said the union saw increased activism in the most recent midterm election. Thats on pace to continue in the primary, she added. Molly Blankenstein, a 2nd grade teacher at Hayshire Elementary in York, Pa., doesnt have a long history of political activism, but volunteered for Clintons campaign in 2016, in part because she feared a President Donald Trump. Two years later, shes determined to make him a one-term president. She likes a lot of what shes hearing from Democratic contenders, but she doesnt have a clear favorite yet. I dont know who I would go door-to-door for, Blankenstein said. But once she figures it out, I will definitely volunteer, I will definitely get involved. I feel like what I did last time wasnt enough. If I dont understand something, its hard to ask questions. The teacher moves on. You take the test and fail. So, she mainly hangs out with her classmates who speak Spanish. She finds the academics at her high school difficult; its so different from her previous school. In El Salvador, the teacher would teach and if you were interested you could study, if not, students could do what they like. Here in the United States, the pace is faster. If I dont understand something, its hard to ask questions. The teacher moves on. You take the test and fail. Then you go on to the next step. Paty is 18 now and has lots of adult responsibilities. She races to finish homework during lunch and free periods because she works. She waits tables in a restaurant almost every evening. By the time she finishes a 12-hour shift every Saturday, she has racked up 50 hours of work each week. Paty needs the money to pay for rent, her lawyer, and food. And she sends $100 dollars home to her family every week. She has a large family in El Salvador: her parents, an older brother and sister, and a younger brother. Her father is a farmer and they live in the countryside looking after cows and pigs. One day, her father told the family that a neighbor was going to the U.S. with a coyote. He asked Paty and her older brother if they wanted to go. Paty says her brother was fearful and said no. But she agreed to go; to be brave and find work to help her family. She says simply, the United States has more opportunities to study, to work. In El Salvador, even if you are smart, there is no school and no jobs. She gave her sister her clothes and said goodbye to her friends. I miss my home, my mother, my father, my brothers, my niece, everything, Paty said as she teared up. Twenty-two days after Paty left home, she arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border. It was December 2016. She had carried a backpack with some clothes and shoes, but when she had to cross the Rio Grande River, she had to leave everything behind. I come with nothing, she said, showing her open palms. Nothing. She was placed in a shelter for migrant youth in San Antonio for a few days and then moved to one in New Mexico. She doesnt know the names. Every weekday, she attended classes where she learned the English alphabet. But Paty wasnt interested in school back in El Salvador, and is not very interested here either. She would wait for weekends when they could play outside and go to church, even though you couldnt leave the compound. She was much happier when she moved to the facility in New Mexico because her minder wasnt as strict or serious and the girls got to do crafts sometimes. She made good friends in the shelter because no one had any family around. We dont have anybody else to talk to. They shared stories and said encouraging words to each other. When the time came for her to move to Virginia, all the girls in her unit started crying. She thinks of them often and wonders if they are still there, have moved somewhere else in the U.S., or are back at home in El Salvador. Paty talks to her parents five times a week and dreams of building a house for them in El Salvador. One day, I hope I will see them again, she said softly. And what if that day comes sooner than she imagines? Paty takes a second to translate the question in her mind and another to allow herself to imagine it. Then she smiles widely and lets out a burst of laughter. And as clearly as any American teenager, in perfect English, said: That would be incredible. Infineon Expands Development Site More Space for RF Innovation 10. April 2019, 10:18 Uhr | Ground-breaking ceremony for the new RF development centre in Linz, Austria, with Manfred Ruhmer, Managing Director of DICE, Peter Schiefer, President of the Automotive Division of Infineon Technologies AG, Sabine Herlitschka, CEO of Infineon Technologies Austria AG, Gerhard Riess and Peter Zeiner, Managing Director of DICE (from left to right). Infineon's new RF development centre in Linz, Austria, will provide 220 new jobs. The new building is designed for 400 employees who develop new RF components such as radar ICs for automobiles. Infineon Austria is creating space for 400 workplaces in research and development with this new location in Linz, Austria. In addition to the current headcount of 180 people working at the Linz site, Infineon is creating space for a further 220 research and development workplaces. Highly qualified expert staff are an essential prerequisite for this. To counteract the current shortage of skilled workers, it is important to instill more young people with enthusiasm for technology and make Upper Austria an attractive business location for international experts. Relevante Anbieter Sabine Herlitschka, CEO of Infineon Technologies Austria AG: As one of the leading research-focused industrial companies in Austria, our site in Linz is continuously focusing on the expansion of local expertise and global research tasks in the future-oriented field of high frequency technology. The local education institutions and research players provide a strong regional knowledge environment that enables outstanding innovations. Infineon helps to build clean, safe and intelligent vehicles and ensure reliable and swift communication of devices on the Internet of things communication between devices and people and among devices. The Linz site develops solutions for these important future markets. Peter Schiefer, President of the Automotive Division of the Infineon Group explains: Infineon is shaping the future of mobility and communication. Microelectronics accounts for the majority of all innovations in the car and in the smartphone. The further development of advanced driver assistance systems, smartphones, tablets and navigation devices is a powerful driver of growth for Infineon. And the semiconductor solutions for all of this are developed in Linz among other locations. With its development center for high-frequency components in Linz, Infineon is a pioneer in radar for automated driver assistance systems: The high-tech company launched the world's first 77 GHz radar chip to use silicon-germanium technology in 2009. These radar sensors are used in automated driver assistance systems such as distance warning and automatic emergency braking and make driving safer and more comfortable. With more than 100 million 77 GHz radar chips sold, Infineon is the technology and world market leader in this segment. The aim is to develop this safety technology further, since radar sensors will be part of the standard equipment of every new car in the future. Radar systems are, among other things, a requirement for autonomous driving. Douglas Death: Body of man identified Police say they have now identified the body of a man who died in Douglas earlier this week. Officers say he is a 43-year-old local man - his next of kin have been informed. Police were called to Church Road Marina on Monday evening. Isle of Man Constabulary will release the male's name in due course. The death is still being treated as unexplained. Brexit could be delayed for several months, says Merkel The UKs exit from the EU could be delayed for several months beyond the April 12 deadline, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday. Addressing lawmakers at the Bundestag before heading to Brussels for an emergency summit of EU leaders on Brexit, Merkel insisted that a no-deal divorce of the UK from the EU would not be in the interest of Germany. "I WILL SUPPORT THE EXTENSION" "If we can have a broad majority today, I would support an extension for several months," she said and argued that Britains ruling Conservatives Party and the opposition Labour Party should be given a reasonable amount of time to reach an agreement. British Prime Minister Theresa May asked the EU last week to delay the UKs departure date until June 30, after failing three times to win the Parliament's backing for her EU withdrawal agreement. Merkel said the EU could offer an extension longer than the one the British premier asked for, but she also underlined that such a move should not undermine the functioning of the EU institutions. EU leaders are scheduled to meet in Brussels on Wednesday evening for a special summit to discuss Mays request. On Tuesday, European Council President Donald Tusk offered the UK a flexible extension for Brexit not exceeding one year. Coast Guard rescues 43 migrants in Aegean Sea: Turkey The Turkish Coast Guard rescued some 43 irregular migrants attempting to illegally cross to Europe after their boat went adrift in the Aegean, security sources said on Wednesday. Coast guard squads rescued the Afghan, Iranian, Pakistani migrants off the coast of the northwestern Edirne province after learning an inflatable boat with children aboard was in trouble. 43 IRREGULAR MIGRANTS WERE RESCUED All the migrants were referred to the provincial migration office after health checks, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media. Separately, a group of 51 irregular migrants trying to illegally cross to Greece were held in western Turkey when their boat ran aground, also according to anonymous sources. The boat in the Canakkale province had been trying to cross the Aegean to Lesbos island, said the sources. Acting on a tip, gendarmerie teams on the coast of the Ezine district noticed a boat flying a Russian flag had run aground, said the sources. The gendarmerie held the migrants, of Afghan, Iraqi and Syrian origin, and arrested two Ukrainians and three Russians on suspicion of human trafficking. Turkey has been the main route for irregular migrants trying to cross into Europe, especially since 2011, the start of the Syrian civil war. Egypt would face sanctions over Russian Su-35s, says Pompeo Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, while addressing the US Senate, reportedly said that Cairo would face sanctions if it buys Russian Su-35 jets. The US warned Egypt on Tuesday against purchasing Russian Su-35 multi-role fighter aircraft, saying it would face sanctions should it go through with the procurement. SANCTIONS PURPOSES "Weve made clear that if those systems were to be purchased, the CAATSA statute would require sanctions on the regime," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a Senate budget hearing. "Weve received assurances from them that they understand that, and Im very hopeful that they will decide to not move forward with that acquisition," he added. The Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions (CAATSA) act was passed in 2017 to impose sanctions on Iran, North Korea and Russia. The aim of the legislation is to combat those countries' influences across the globe. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's top Republican and Democrat and 15 of their colleagues sent a letter to Pompeo Monday raising a number of issues, including Cairo's decision to reportedly purchase 20 Russian Su-35 fighter jets. The letter also voiced "serious concerns about the erosion of political and human rights" in Egypt and warned that the country is "unjustly" jailing at least a dozen Americans. Pompeo did not consider Egypt's leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi a tyrant after being asked by Senator Patrick Leahy. "I would not use that characterization,"Pompeo said. "Even though he locked up political opponents and claimed victory after a sham election?" Leahy asked. "Theres no doubt that its a mean, nasty world out there, but not every one of these leaders is the same. Some of them are trying to wipe entire nations off the face of the earth, and others are working with us to help keep Americans safe," Pompeo said in response. "You might call them a tyrant, you might call them authoritarian. But theres a fundamental difference in the way the United States should respond" he added. Pompeo said he had met with Sisi, who arrived in Washington on Monday, and talked to him about "cases concerning US citizens in Egypt," but didn't elaborate. Sisi has led Egypt since the 2013 ouster of elected President Mohammad Morsi. He was re-elected last year with nearly 98% of the vote after running virtually unopposed, with most major challengers either being jailed or stepping aside under pressure. Rights groups frequently accuse Egyptian authorities led by Sisi of trying and convicting political opponents on trumped-up criminal charges. Egyptian officials say all defendants receive fair trials and enjoy due legal process. EU is likely to delay Brexit in exchange for more conditions The European Union will grant Prime Minister Theresa May a second delay to Brexit but could demand she accepts a much longer extension. The European Union will grant Prime Minister Theresa May a second delay to Brexit at an emergency summit on Wednesday but the blocs leaders are likely to demand she accepts a longer extension with conditions. "IN MY VIEW A SHORT EXTENSION WOULD NOT BRING MUCH" In a sign of just how far the Brexit crisis has sapped British power, May dashed to Berlin and Paris on the eve of the summit to ask Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron to allow her to put off the departure date to June 30 from April 12 But in Brussels, a "flextension" until the end of the year or until March 2020 was shaping up to be the most likely option, EU diplomats said. Such an option would allow Britain to leave earlier if the Brexit deadlock in London could be broken. While it was not immediately clear what Merkel and Macron, Europes two most powerful leaders, agreed with May, an advance draft of conclusions for Wednesdays emergency EU summit said Britain would be granted another delay on certain conditions. "The United Kingdom shall facilitate the achievement of the Unions tasks and refrain from any measure which could jeopardise the attainment of the Unions objectives," read the draft seen by Reuters. As a full member state of the EU, Britain could in theory exercise a veto on any major policy decision. The draft left the end-date blank pending a decision by the other 27 national leaders on Wednesday evening in Brussels. "In my view, a short extension would not bring much," said Detlef Seif, deputy EU spokesman for Merkels parliamentary group. "There is no appetite to return to a new European Council every six weeks to decide whether to renew the extension." In European capitals there was weariness and exasperation with Britains tortuous Brexit divorce after 46 years of membership. "People are tired and fed up (with Britains indecision) - but what to do?" one EU diplomat said. "We wont be the ones pushing the UK off the cliff edge," EU diplomat added. EU president offers flexible extension for Brexit European Council president Donald Tusk says the EU should consider offering the UK a flexible delay to Brexit of up to a year, with the option of leaving earlier if a deal is ratified. The president of European Council on Tuesday offered the UK a "flexible extension" for Brexit not exceeding one year. "AN ALTERNATIVE AND LONGER EXTENSION" "One possibility would be a flexible extension, which would last only as long as necessary and no longer than one year, as beyond that date we will need to decide unanimously on some key European projects," Donald Tusk said in his letter to the leaders of EU countries ahead of the emergency Brexit summit. The EU leaders are scheduled to meet in Brussels on Wednesday for a special summit to discuss Mays request. On UKs Prime Minister Theresa May's request for a Brexit extension until June 30, Tusk said "an alternative and longer extension" should be discussed. "Given the risks posed by a no-deal Brexit for people and businesses on both sides of the English Channel, I trust that we will continue to do our utmost to avoid this scenario,"Tusk said. Stating that there are "deep divisions" in the UK parliament, he said it was unlikely that the ratification process could be completed by the end of June, and it would pave the way for further uncertainties. "The flexibility would allow to terminate the extension automatically, as soon as both sides have ratified the Withdrawal Agreement,"Tusk said, adding that the UK would leave the bloc whenever it is ready to do so. "And the EU27 would avoid repeated Brexit summits, he said. Tusk went on to say: "Importantly, a long extension would provide more certainty and predictability by removing the threat of constantly shifting cliff-edge dates." "Furthermore, in the event of a continued stalemate, such a longer extension would allow the UK to rethink its Brexit strategy," he adde. Mays Brexit deal was rejected three times by the British lawmakers, and last week British MPs also rejected four alternative proposals for the UKs exit from the EU. The UK is due to leave the bloc on April 12 pushed back last month from March 29 if the EU would not agree on an extension to Brexit. In a 2016 referendum, UK voters decided to leave the 28-member bloc after a more than 40-year-long membership. Greece is concerned over Hagia Sophia In late March, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said that Istanbuls Hagia Sophia museum will be converted back into a mosque. During a briefing on Tuesday, Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Markos Bolaris said that Greece hopes that Turkey will respect international law and the status of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople as a world heritage monument. "RESPECTS THE STATUS OF HAGIA SOPHIA" "Greece always refers to international law. It concerns not only politics but also culture. There is the United Nations, there is UNESCO. There is also the status of monuments. Our appeal to all is to respect international law, respect international treaties, respect neighbors. We create relations of friendship and good neighborliness, because these law-based relations create a favorable climate for development, for progress, for understanding, for cooperation between nations," Bolaris said. IT WAS CONVERTED INTO A MOSQUE IN 1453 Hagia Sophia, dubbed "8th Wonder of the World" by historians, is one of the most visited museums in the world in terms of art and architecture history. It was used as a church for 916 years. In 1453, it was converted into a mosque by Fatih Sultan Mehmet when the Ottomans conquered Istanbul. Following restoration work during the Ottoman era and the adding of minarets by architect Mimar Sinan, the Hagia Sophia became one of the most important monuments of world architecture. Japanese F-35 crashes into the Pacific According to the Japanese defense officials, a Japanese F-35 fighter jet, one of the world's most advanced warplanes, crashed into the Pacific Ocean while on a training mission. Search and rescue teams found wreckage from a Japanese F-35 stealth fighter that crashed over the Pacific Ocean close to northern Japan, but the pilot remains missing, authorities said on Wednesday. WRECKAGE CONFIRMED TO BE CRASHED JAPANESE F-35 The aircraft, less than one-year-old, was the first F-35 to be assembled in Japan and was only in the air for 28 minutes on Tuesday, a defense official said. It is only the second F-35 to crash in the two-decades it has been flying. The advanced, single-seat jet was flying about 135 km (84 miles) east of the Misawa air base in Aomori Prefecture at about 7:27 p.m. (1027 GMT) on Tuesday when it disappeared from radar, the Air Self Defense Force said. "We recovered the wreckage and determined it was from the F-35," a spokesman for the Air Self Defence Force (ASDF) said, adding that the pilot of the aircraft was still missing. The aircraft was at the front of a group of four planes out for training maneuvers when it sent an aborting practice signal and then disappeared from the radar, Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters. "Well need to cooperate with the US forces and I believe arrangements are being made for this," Iwaya said, adding the priority was on determining the cause of the accident. Japan has a total of 13 F-35s, including the one that crashed. The crashed aircraft was the fifth F-35 delivered to the ASDF, but the first assembled by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan OAS recognizes Guaido's envoy as Venezuelan ambassador Mexicos Ambassador to the OAS Jorge Lomonaco criticized Tuesday the decision taken by 18 out of 35 member states to recognize lawmaker Juan Guaidos envoy as the Permanent Representative of Venezuela The Organization of American States (OAS) said Tuesday it is recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaido's nominee as Venezuela's official delegate to the group until new elections are held. FOREING MINISTRY OPPOSED THE DECISION Venezuelas Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it opposed the decision to recognize Gustavo Tarre Briceno as a representative. The government called the decision a criminal and rampant violation of international law and the OAS charter. Venezuela's permanent representative at the UN, Samuel Moncada, said the US government is aiming to expel representatives of Venezuela from international organizations and impose people "that we are not sure whom they represent exactly." Venezuela's relations with the OAS have been poor for a long time. On April 27, 2017, it formally notified the OAS that it was withdrawing from the organization. The country's exit from the OAS will formally take effect this month on the anniversary of the decision. President Nicolas Maduro signaled Venezuela would abandon the OAS, which it accused of helping to foment economic and political instability as part of a plan by Washington to cause the collapse of the government. Maduro has threatened magistrates elected by the opposition National Assembly with jail time, prompting Colombia, Chile, Mexico and the US to offer them political asylum. L'opposant camerounais Maurice Kamto le 14 aout 2019 a Yaounde AFP/Archives/Reinnier KAZE Cameroons government is yet to come to terms with recent criticisms on its handling of the Anglophone crisis, as well as that of Maurice Kamto, leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM). The international community has made several demands for the government of Cameroon to release the CRM leader and over 150 members of his party, arrested after they staged a nationwide protest, against what they claimed fraudulent presidential elections of October 2018. Since then, Kamto and other leaders of the party, including sympathisers have been detained and face terrorism charges. The international community think his arrest is politically motivated, although government insists they committed crimes against fatherland. The international rights group, HRW, has condemned governments decision to ban a nationwide protest called by the opposition party. CRM militants planned to protest against the detention of its members and leaders of its party, detained in Yaounde on the 6th to the 13thof April. In a statement issued on Monday, the rights group expressed worry over continuous move to silence the opposition and other persons critical of governments actions. The international body bemoaned what it described as a crackdown on the Maurice Kamto-led MRCs right to assemble and to protest same. Human Rights Watch(HRW) in its outing cited a key instance where Territorial Administration Minister, Paul Atanga Nji, banned MRC demonstrations with the reason that it had destabilising motives. "The minister, Atanga Nji, also accused the MRC of an act of provocation, having chosen to organise demonstrations on April 6, a date which marks the anniversary of a 1984 coup attempt to oust President Biya. This move is part of a growing trend in Cameroon. Since late 2016, the government has repeatedly blocked peaceful anti-government protests with force, arbitrary arrest, and detention of protesters the group said. The statement also called on the government to lift up the ban on CRM party. "The governments ban on MRC rallies is a step backward for Cameroon and should be lifted immediately. Rather than forbid dissent and lock up opponents, the government should respect democratic principles and allow peaceful protest, urged the rights organisation. Last week, Minister Paul Atanga Nji, threatened to ban the CRM party, if they continued with their activities. He bluntly warned, If CRM officials, who seem to take pleasure in defying state authority, continue down this lane of public disorder and organise unauthorised manifestations intended to stir social uprising with unknown consequences, the Minister of Territorial Administration will be forced to apply the provisions of law No. 90-56 of 19 December, 1990, relating to political Parties, Atanga threatened. Russia is open to deliver more S-400 to Turkey His statement came after Turkey indicated it could order more S-400 systems from Russia in case of US refusal to supply Ankara with Patriot surface-to-air missile systems. Russia is open to the delivery of more S-400 air defense systems to Turkey, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. "THIS IS AN ABSOLUTELY NORMAL PROCESS" "Russia is open, Russia has the appropriate capabilities, technological competence and, of course, Russia is looking for opportunities to expand this military-technical cooperation. This is an absolutely normal process," Dmitry Peskov told reporters in the capital Moscow. Washington has balked at Turkey's purchase of the Russian S-400, and last week suspended delivery of parts and services for F-35 fighter jets. US officials have suggested Turkey buy the US Patriot missile system rather than the S-400, arguing it is incompatible with NATO systems and would expose the F-35 to possible Russian subterfuge. Turkey has responded that it was the US refusal to sell it Patriots that led it to seek other sellers, adding that Russia offered it a better deal, including technology transfers. S-400 missile system VIDEO Russian Helicopters CEO suggests copter co-production with Turkey Russia sees the possibility of launching joint helicopter production with Turkey, the head of a copter design and manufacturing company told. Speaking to Anadolu Agency on the sidelines of Mondays meeting in Moscow of the Turkish and Russian presidents, Russian Helicopters CEO Andrey Boginsky said he visited Turkey last week to talk with potential buyers. "WE SEE THE TURKEY MARKET AS ONE OF THE MOST PROMISING" Last year Russia and Turkey signed an agreement on three Ka-32 firefighting copters, but according to Boginsky, the numbers fall short of Turkey's true needs. "I say that not because we sell them, but because of our previous experience with other countries, he explained. Take the example of South Korea, where the territory is much smaller than the territory of the Turkish Republic. But there are about 50 such helicopters in operation there," Boginsky said. He added that the three copters would show the capabilities of Russian equipment. Boginskiy touted the Turkish markets potential and suggested exploring more areas of cooperation. "This [Ka-32] contract took place thanks to the support of the Russian export center, these machines are being delivered under the credit scheme, and of course, we see the Turkish market as one of the most promising," he added. "We understand that in addition to supplying equipment, both sides need the support of organizations such as leasing companies, the Russian export center," he said. Boginsky added that such issues were discussed for two days "to lay the necessary groundwork." He said Russia pays great attention to the aviation industry and export support, and so Russian organizations are ready to help with credits to potential consumers. Trump tries to stop states from delaying energy projects Trump will issue two executive orders seeking to speed gas, coal and oil projects delayed by coastal states as he looks to build support ahead of next years election. Trumps orders will direct his Environmental Protection Agency to change a part of the US clean water law that has allowed states, on the basis of environmental reasons, to delay projects such as pipelines to carry natural gas to New England and coal export terminals on the West Coast. "PROJECT DELAYS CAUSE ECONOMIC DECLINE" Trump will issue the orders at a training center for union members in the petroleum industry in Houston, an event sandwiched between fundraising events in Texas for the 2020 campaign. "Outdated federal guidance and regulations issued by the EPA have caused confusion and uncertainty leading to project delays, lost jobs and reduced economic performance," a senior administration official told reporters in a conference call. "We are not trying to take away power from the states, but we are trying to make sure that state actions comply with the statutory intent of the law." An environmentalist decried the planned orders. Trump can try to rewrite regulations in favor of Big Oil, but he cant stop people power and our movement, said May Boeve, the head of 350.org. The orders will direct the EPA to review and update guidance issued during the administration of President Barack Obama on the so-called 401 provision of the Clean Water Act. The measure required companies to get certifications from states before building interstate pipelines approved by the federal government. New York state used it to block pipelines that would send natural gas to New England, forcing the region at times to import liquefied natural gas from countries including Russia. In 2017, Washington state Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat and 2020 candidate for president, denied a water permit for the Millennium Bulk Terminal, a coal export facility that would have expanded the ability of companies to send western coal to Asian markets. Two party leaders claim victory in Israeli election Outcome uncertain as both Likud-led bloc and Blue and White alliance claim victory. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Tuesday that the right-wing bloc led by his Likud party has won a clear victory in Israels general election. BOTH PARTIES WON 35 SEATS IN KNESSET I want to thank the citizens of Israel for your trust," Netanyahu said in a statement I will begin forming a right-wing government with our natural allies this very night. However, one of the leaders of the Blue and White political alliance, former Israeli army chief Benny Gantz, also claimed victory. The Israeli public had their say! Thank you to the thousands of activists and over a million voters, Gantz said. Opposition candidate Benny Gantz With the polls closed, the Likud-led bloc lost against the Blue and White alliance led by Gantz and centrist politician Yair Lapid 37-33, according to Israels Channel 12. Meanwhile, Channel 11 said the alliance acquired 37 seats while the Likud bloc holds 36. However, Channel 13 reported that each side gained 36 seats in parliament. Voting took place at 10,720 polling stations across the country, while 96 stations at Israeli embassies and consulates abroad are open for voting, according to the country's electoral commission. UK deploys F-35s to Cyprus Cyprus Greeks which let the French government set up a basis in the island, have now saved a place for UK navy to deploy its F-35 jets. Britains new F-35B aircrafts depart their home station of RAF Marham in Norfolk later this year for Cyprus in their first overseas deployment. According to an article published on the UK MoD website, British Royal Navy started deploying F-35s to Cyprus, marking the first overseas deployment fo the new aircraft by the UK. "A NEW DEFENSE PARTNERSHIP" The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) has signed a new defense partnership with Cyprus, under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that will enhance defense and security co-operation between the two countries. The MoU for the new UK defense partnership was signed during a meeting in London between Cypriot Defence Minister Savvas Angelides and UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, it said. Cyprus is a valued partner and friend, and through signing this agreement we have reinforced our already close ties across defense for years to come. Our bases in Cyprus are a vital asset in our fight against Daesh with Typhoon and Tornado fighter jets that were instrumental in the territorial defeat of the terrorist group in Syria flying out of RAF Akrotiri. These formidable fighters are a national statement of our intent to protect ourselves and our allies from intensifying threats across the world. This deployment marks an important milestone in this game-changing aircrafts journey to becoming fully operational. UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said. ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, today announced that Mendel Rosenblum of Stanford University is the recipient of the inaugural ACM Charles P. "Chuck" Thacker Breakthrough in Computing Award. Rosenblum is recognized for reinventing the virtual machine for the modern era and thereby revolutionizing datacenters and enabling modern cloud computing. In the late 1990s, Rosenblum and his students at Stanford University brought virtual machines back to life by using them to solve challenging technical problems in building system software for scalable multiprocessors. In 1998, Rosenblum and colleagues founded VMware. VMware popularized the use of virtual machines as a means of supporting many disparate software environments to share processor resources within a datacenter. This approach ultimately led to the development of modern cloud computing services such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. The ACM Charles P. "Chuck" Thacker Breakthrough in Computing Award recognizes individuals or groups who have made surprising, disruptive, or leapfrog contributions to computing ideas or technologies. Recipients of the award are expected to give the ACM Breakthrough Lecture at a major ACM conference. The award is accompanied by a $100,000 cash prize, with financial support provided by Microsoft. Rosenblum will formally receive the award at ACM's annual Awards Banquet on June 15, 2019 in San Francisco. "The new paradigm of cloud computing, in which computing services are delivered over the internet, has been one of the most important developments in the computing industry over the past 20 years," said ACM President Cherri M. Pancake. "Cloud computing has vastly improved the efficiency of systems, reduced costs, and been essential to the operations of businesses at all levels. However, cloud computing, as we know it today, would not be possible without Rosenblum's reinvention of virtual machines. His leadership, both through his early research at Stanford and his founding of VMware, has been indispensable to the rise of datacenters and the preeminence of the cloud." As the name suggests, virtual machines are systems comprised of software, hardware, or a combination of the two, that enable one computer to behave like another. IBM and others developed the idea of virtualization in the 1960s to enable timesharing. However, as new methods of timesharing were developed and the price of hardware dropped, virtual machines fell out of favor. By the late 1980s, virtualization was considered an irrelevant and obsolete idea. In the late 1990s, Rosenblum and his students at Stanford University revisited the idea of virtual machines to develop system software for FLASH, an experimental large-scale multiprocessor. They recognized that existing operating systems could not support large numbers of processors, and modifying one to work efficiently on FLASH would have been very difficult. Instead, they decided to use virtual machines to run multiple operating system instances on FLASH, each with only a few virtual processors. The success of his work on FLASH prompted Rosenblum to found the company VMware in 1998 with Diane Greene, Edouard Bugnion, Scott Devine, and Ellen Wang. VMware popularized the use of virtual machines as a means of allowing any disparate software environments to share processor resources within a datacenter. Today, every commercial cloud environment, including major providers such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, is based on virtualization concepts developed by Rosenblum and his colleagues. "We're excited to see the contributions of Mendel Rosenblum recognized with the inaugural ACM Charles P. Thacker Breakthrough Award," said Eric Horvitz, Technical Fellow and Director of Microsoft Research. "The award was envisioned to honor the intellect and vision of Chuck Thacker, who was known for upending conventional thinking and introducing breakthrough innovations that changed the trajectory of computing. Mendel Rosenblum is a fabulous choice to receive the inaugural Thacker Award. Rosenblum sought to address a daunting new challenge by reimagining virtualization, an approach that many had bypassed. Virtual machines are essential to the way cloud computing functions, and it is hard to overstate the importance of cloud computing for the computing field as well as for industry more generally." ### Biographical Background Mendel Rosenblum is the DRC Professor in the School of Engineering and Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. In 1998, he co-founded VMware, a private company that developed many of the core technologies that underpin cloud computing today. As a subsidiary of Dell Technologies, VMware remains a leader in cloud computing and platform virtualization software and services, employing more than 21,000 people. A graduate of the University of Virginia, Rosenblum earned his Master's and doctoral degrees in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley. Rosenblum is a Fellow of ACM, and his numerous honors include receiving the ACM Software System Award for VMware Workstation 1.0; the ACM/SIGOPS Mark Weiser Award for innovation in operating system research; the IEEE Reynolds B. Johnson Information Storage Award (with John Ousterhout); and the ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award for his dissertation "The Design and Implementation of a Log-Structured File System." Rosenblum is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. About the ACM Charles P. "Chuck" Thacker Breakthrough in Computing Award The ACM Breakthrough Award celebrates Thacker's pioneering contributions in computing and his long-term inspirational mentorship of generations of computer scientists. The award recognizes individuals or groups with the same out-of-the-box thinking and "can-do" approach to solving the unsolved that Thacker exhibited. The award is accompanied by a prize of $100,000 and is presented at the annual ACM Awards Banquet. Recipients are expected to give the ACM Breakthrough Lecture at a major ACM conference of their choosing during the year following the announcement. Financial support of the ACM Breakthrough Award is provided by Microsoft. About ACM ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting computing educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field's challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession's collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking. Many people will remember last summer - not only in Switzerland, but also in large swathes across the rest of Europe, as well as in North America and Asia. Multiple places around the world experienced heat so severe that people died of heatstroke, power generation had to be curtailed, rails and roads started to melt, and forests went up in flames. What was truly sobering about this heatwave was that it affected not only one area, such as the Mediterranean region, but several across the temperate zones and the Arctic simultaneously. ETH researchers have concluded that the only explanation of why heat affected so many areas over several months is anthropogenic climate change. These are the findings of the recent study that ETH climate researcher Martha Vogel presented today at the European Geosciences Union press conference in Vienna. The paper resulting from this study is currently in review for an academic publication. Analysing models and observations In the study, Vogel, a member of ETH Professor Sonia Seneviratne's team, looked at the areas of the Northern Hemisphere north of the 30th latitude that experienced extreme heat simultaneously from May to July 2018. She and her fellow researchers concentrated on key agricultural regions and densely populated areas. In addition they looked into how large-scale heatwaves are projected to change as a consequence of global warming. To explore these phenomena, the researchers analysed observation-based data from 1958 to 2018. They investigated state-of-the-art model simulations to project the geographic extent that heatwaves could reach by the end of the century if temperatures continue to climb. Massive increase in the areas affected by intense heat An evaluation of the data from last year's hot summer reveals that, on an average day from May to July, 22 percent of agricultural land and populated areas in the Northern Hemisphere were simultaneously hit by extremely high temperatures. The heatwave affected at least 17 countries, from Canada and the United States to Russia, Japan and South Korea. By studying the measurement data, the researchers realised that such large-scale heatwaves first appeared in the northern hemisphere in 2010, then in 2012, and again in 2018. Prior to 2010, however, the researchers did not find any instances of such large areas being affected simultaneously by heat. Widespread heat extremes ever more likely Model calculations confirm this trend. As the earth grows warmer, widespread heat extremes become more and more likely. According to model projections, every degree of global warming will cause the area of land in key agricultural regions or densely populated areas in the Northern Hemisphere that is simultaneously affected by extreme heat to grow by 16 percent. Should global temperatures rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, then one-quarter of the northern hemisphere will experience a summer as hot as the summer of 2018 every two out of three years If global warming reaches 2 degrees, the probability of such a period of extreme heat rises to almost 100 percent. In other words, every year extreme heat will affect an area just as large as the 2018 heatwave did. "Without the climate change that can be explained by human activity, we wouldn't have such a large area being simultaneously affected by heat as we did in 2018," says Vogel. She is alarmed by the prospect of extreme heat hitting an area as large as it did in 2018 every year if global temperatures rise by 2 degrees: "If in future more and more key agricultural regions and densely populated areas are affected by simultaneous heatwaves, this would have severe consequences." Heat puts food security in jeopardy Professor Seneviratne adds, "If multiple countries are affected by such natural disasters at the same time, they have no way to help one another." This was illustrated in 2018 by the forest fires in Sweden: at that time, several countries were able to help with firefighting infrastructure. However, if many countries are battling major fires at the same time, they can no longer support other affected countries. The food supply situation could also become critical: if broad expanses of areas vital to agriculture are struck by a heatwave, harvests could suffer massive losses and food prices would skyrocket. Anyone thinking these assumptions are overly pessimistic would do well to recall the heatwave that swept across Russia and Ukraine in 2010: Russia completely stopped all its wheat exports, which drove up the price of wheat on the global market. In Pakistan, one of the biggest importers of Russian wheat, the price of wheat rose by 16 percent. And because the Pakistani government cut food subsidies at the same time, poverty increased by 1.6 percent, according to a report by aid organisation Oxfam. "Such incidents cannot be resolved by individual countries acting on their own. Ultimately, extreme events affecting large areas of the planet could threaten the food supply elsewhere, even in Switzerland," Seneviratne emphasises. She continued by pointing out that climate change won't stabilise if we don't try harder. At present, we are on course for a temperature increase of 3 degrees. The Paris Agreement aims for a maximum of 1.5 degrees. "We are already clearly feeling the effects just from the one degree that the global average temperature has risen since the pre-industrial era," says Seneviratne. ### Reference Vogel MM, Zscheischler J, Wartenburger R, Dee D, Seneviratne SI. Concurrent 2018 hot extremes across Northern Hemisphere due to human-induced climate change. Earth's Future, in review. [Geneva/San Francisco/Brisbane/Saarbrucken - 11 April 2019] Multi-actor partnership tests natural products and compound libraries for antibacterial activityDiscovery efforts will focus on World Health Organization's (WHO) priority pathogens The Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) is partnering with Calibr, the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), in particular its location Helmholtz-Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), and the University of Queensland's (UQ) Community for Open Antimicrobial Drug Discovery (CO-ADD) in its efforts to develop and ensure new antibiotics are globally available to all patients who need them. The agreement allows GARDP to access and test Calibr's ReFRAME compound library and HIPS natural products library. Both libraries will be screened by CO-ADD to discover novel compounds or combinations of drugs that will kill the priority pathogens identified by the World Health Organization in critical need for research and development of new antibiotics.1 With few antibiotics in development since the early 1990s, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major and rapidly growing global health challenge that is already making previously easy to treat infections harder to treat. Approximately 700,000 people worldwide die of drug-resistant infections every year and this number is expected to increase significantly in the future.2 Serious bacterial infections, and in particular Gram-negative bacterial infections, have been identified by the WHO as a global public health priority.1 "One of the biggest challenges in the fight against AMR is discovering new antibiotics to treat the critical priority pathogens. That's why it's essential we conduct novel discovery research to populate a robust pipeline," said Professor Laura JV Piddock, Director of Scientific Affairs at GARDP. "We're very excited about today's announcement. Natural products have yielded many of the antibiotics developed for clinical use to date. Through Calibr, we are aiming to identify compounds that will potentiate the activity of an important antibiotic rendered ineffective by resistance." This is GARDP's first discovery collaboration that links partners in Germany and the USA with Australia. Through this screening, GARDP seeks to identify novel compounds suitable for optimization and clinical development as drugs for patients. "There is an urgent need to find new antibiotics against pathogens that have developed drug resistance, and partnering with GARDP is a terrific opportunity to leverage Calibr's ReFRAME collection to explore whether existing drugs can be repurposed as effective antibiotics," says Arnab Chatterjee, Vice President of Medicinal Chemistry at Calibr, the drug discovery division of Scripps Research. "This is a superb opportunity allowing us to combine the expertise of GARDP, CO-ADD and HZI/HIPS in our search for novel antibiotics, especially against the most threatening pathogens according to WHO's classification. We very much hope that this joint development can be expanded and intensified in the future to also include, for example, additional partners from the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF)," says Prof Rolf Muller, Executive Director, HIPS and Head of Microbial Natural Products Department. "This new partnership is an exciting opportunity for UQ to engage with GARDP and their network of international collaborators, and make a real difference to the fight against antibiotic resistance by conducting novel discovery research," said UQ's President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Hj. "CO-ADD has been highly successful in helping the global chemistry community to identify over 1500 potential new antibiotics since its launch in 2015," said Dr Mark Blaskovich, co-founder of CO-ADD. "We are looking forward to applying our screening expertise to discover new antibiotics within the interesting libraries of compounds identified by GARDP. International initiatives such as this are essential to refuel the antibiotic pipeline, which has been neglected in recent years and placed us dangerously close to a return to the pre-antibiotic era, when even simple infections caused death. "The announcement of this multi-partner agreement comes as over 10,000 experts come together to present their latest findings at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases' annual conference. ### About GARDP GARDP is a not-for-profit research and development organization that addresses global public health needs by developing new or improved antibiotic treatments, while endeavouring to ensure their sustainable access. Initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Drugs for Neglected Disease initiative, GARDP is an important element of WHO's Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance that calls for new public-private partnerships to encourage research and development of new antimicrobial agents and diagnostics. http://www.gardp.org. About Calibr Calibr represents a first-of-its-kind, nonprofit translational research institute dedicated to creating the next generation of medicines. A division of Scripps Research and situated in the heart of San Diego's Torrey Pines Mesa biomedical research hub, Calibr is uniquely positioned to create and proliferate innovative partnerships. Calibr's research interests span a broad range of human diseases, including cancer, autoimmunity and inflammatory diseases, metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, infectious and neglected diseases, as well as age-related and degenerative diseases. About CO-ADD CO-ADD is a global open-access screening initiative launched in February 2015 to uncover significant and rich chemical diversity held outside of corporate screening collections. Established within the Centre for Superbug Solutions at The University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), CO-ADD is led by a multidisciplinary team including Principle Investigators Prof Matthew Cooper and Dr Mark Blaskovich, Project Leader Dr Johannes Zuegg (operations and cheminformatics), and Program Coordinators Dr Alysha Elliott (microbiology) and Dr Karl Hansford (chemistry). CO-ADD offers free testing against five pathogenic bacteria and two fungi, and has tested nearly 300,000 compounds submitted by over 300 academic groups from 45 countries, identifying over 1500 potential new antibiotics. CO-ADD is supported by funding from the Wellcome Trust, UQ and IMB. http://www.co-add.org/ About HIPS Scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, Germany, are engaged in the study of different mechanisms of infection and of the body's response to infection. Helping to improve the scientific community's understanding of a given bacterium's or virus' pathogenicity is key to developing effective new treatments and vaccines. The HZI is a member of the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF). http://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en The Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) in Saarbrucken is a location of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and was established by the HZI and Saarland University in 2009. Its researchers are searching mainly for new agents against infectious diseases, optimise these agents for application in humans and research ways how these agents can be transported best through the body to the site of action. http://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/hips Media Contacts GARDP: Susan Frade, sfrade@dndi.org +41 79 640 00 99HZI/HIPS : Susanne Thiele, susanne.thiele@helmholtz-hzi.de, +49 531 531 6181 1400CO-ADD: Dr Mark Blaskovich, m.blaskovich@imb.uq.edu.au, +61 (0)4 1495 5380 References 1 WHO. (2017). Global priority list of antibiotic-resistant bacteria to guide research, discovery, and development of new antibiotics. World Health Organization. 2 O'Neill, J. (Chair) (2016). Tackling drug-resistance globally: Final Report and recommendations. The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) operates a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes that are linked together. The Black Hole Cam (BHC) Team, led by astrophysicists from Goethe University in Frankfurt, the Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn and the Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, are part of this collaboration. "We are giving humanity its first view of a black hole -- a one-way door out of our universe," said EHT project director Sheperd S. Doeleman of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. "This is a landmark in astronomy, an unprecedented scientific feat accomplished by a team of more than 200 researchers." Black holes are extraordinary cosmic objects with enormous masses but extremely compact sizes. The presence of these objects affects their environment in extreme ways, warping spacetime and super-heating any surrounding material so that it glows. The theory of general relativity predicts that the heated material will illuminate the extremely warped spacetime, making a dark shadow visible. "If immersed in a bright region, like a disc of glowing gas, we expect a black hole to create a dark region similar to a shadow -- something predicted by Einstein's general relativity that we've never seen before," explained chair of the EHT Science Council Heino Falcke of Radboud University, the Netherlands. "This shadow, caused by the gravitational bending and capture of light by the event horizon, reveals a lot about the nature of these fascinating objects and allowed us to measure the enormous mass of M87's black hole." The black hole in the centre of M87 has a mass of more than six billion solar masses. The EHT observations indeed reveal a ring-like structure with a dark central region -- the black hole's shadow. The ring appears in multiple separate observations using different imaging methods that were analysed independently from each other. "Once we were sure we had imaged the shadow, we could compare our observations to extensive computer models that include the physics of warped space, superheated matter and strong magnetic fields. Many of the features of the observed image match our theoretical understanding surprisingly well," remarked Luciano Rezzolla, professor for theoretical astrophysics at Goethe University. "This makes us confident about the interpretation of our observations, including our estimation of the black hole's mass." The group headed by Luciano Rezzolla made fundamental contributions to the theoretical interpretation of the results throughout each stage of the observations: using supercomputers, they simulated how material revolves around the black hole in a ring-shaped disc (accretion disc) and gets pulled in, and how light rays are bent because of the extreme gravitation around the black hole. It was also important to rule out various alternatives to black holes that are also compatible with the theory of general relativity. "The confrontation of theory with observations is always a dramatic moment for a theoretical physicist. It was a relief and a source of pride to realize that the observations matched our predictions so well," said Luciano Rezzolla. The first direct image of a black hole required telescopes of unprecedented precision and sensitivity. The realization of this telescope - the Event Horizon Telescope - was a formidable challenge which required upgrading and connecting a worldwide network of eight pre-existing telescopes deployed at a variety of challenging high-altitude sites. These locations included volcanoes in Hawai`i and Mexico, mountains in Arizona and the Spanish Sierra Nevada, the Chilean Atacama Desert, and Antarctica. The EHT observations use a technique called very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) which synchronises telescope facilities around the world and exploits the rotation of our planet to form one huge, Earth-size telescope observing at a wavelength of 1.3mm. VLBI allows the EHT to achieve an angular resolution of 20 micro-arcseconds -- enough to read a newspaper in New York from a sidewalk cafe in Berlin. "The 30-m IRAM telescope on Pico Valeta in the Spanish Sierra Nevada is the most sensitive single-dish telescope within the EHT network," explained Karl Schuster, director of IRAM and member of the EHT board. "Bringing together the best radio telescopes on four continents we can reach an unprecedented sensitivity and spatial resolution, allowing scientists to carry out measurements at the very limit of what is physically possible." The second IRAM telescope, NOEMA in the French Alps, joined the EHT network in September 2018. The construction of the EHT represents an effort that has spanned many years, and serves as an example of global teamwork by researchers from many countries. Thirteen partner institutions worked together to create the EHT. Key funding was provided by the EU's European Research Council (ERC), the US National Science Foundation (NSF), and funding agencies in East Asia. "After decades of research where we could postulate black holes only indirectly, albeit with great precision, it was not until LIGO in 2015 that we were able to make the impact of merging black holes on space-time 'audible,'" explained Michael Kramer, Director at MPIfR and co-PI of the ERC Black Hole Cam project. "Now we can finally 'see' them, and investigate the extreme warping of spacetime they are causing in a unique way." "These results mark an important milestone for our understanding of the fundamental processes that determine the formation and evolution of galaxies. It is remarkable that in this project we were able to take our astronomical observations and their theoretical interpretation to the success we hoped for even faster than expected. In the future, scientists far beyond our field will clearly remember a time before and after this discovery," predicted Anton Zensus, Director at the MPIfR and Chair of the EHT Collaboration Board. ### Publications: https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/2041-8205/page/Focus_on_EHT The image of the black hole, and pictures of Luciano Rezzolla and his team can be downloaded at: http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/77255057 Caption for black hole image: Using the Event Horizon Telescope, scientists obtained an image of the black hole at the centre of galaxy M87, outlined by emission from hot gas swirling around it under the influence of strong gravity near its event horizon. Credit: Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration. Film material on the black hole (Simulations and background on the research at Goethe University) can be found here: https://youtu.be/l6iuC1I3mHo: How we made the black hole visible. Short version https://youtu.be/vrHL61cHAnA: How we made the black hole visible. Long version with personal statements https://youtu.be/_AOtZxUsfAw: Simulations of the shadow of a black hole (English) https://youtu.be/i1VJw3aj664: Simulations of the shadow of a black hole (Spanish) Further information: Prof Luciano Rezzolla, Principal Investigator of the European Black Hole Cam Experiment, Institute for Theoretical Physics, Faculty of Physics, Riedberg Campus, Phone: +49 69 798 47871:, rezzolla@th.physik.uni-frankfurt.de; https://astro.uni-frankfurt.de/rezzolla/ Please direct interview requests to Mrs. Steidl in Luciano Rezzolla's office per Email: steidl@ipt.uni-frankfurt.de Live-Streaming Links: EbS website: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/ebs/2/20190410), European Commission's YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=Dr20f19czeE Current news about science, teaching, and society can be found on GOETHE-UNI online (http://www.aktuelles.uni-frankfurt.de) Goethe University is a research-oriented university in the European financial centre Frankfurt am Main. The university was founded in 1914 through private funding, primarily from Jewish sponsors, and has since produced pioneering achievements in the areas of social sciences, sociology and economics, medicine, quantum physics, brain research, and labour law. It gained a unique level of autonomy on 1 January 2008 by returning to its historic roots as a "foundation university". Today, it is one of the three largest universities in Germany. Together with the Technical University of Darmstadt and the University of Mainz, it is a partner in the inter-state strategic Rhine-Main University Alliance. Internet: http://www.uni-frankfurt.de Publisher: The President of Goethe University Editor: Dr. Anne Hardy, Science Editor, PR & Communication Department, Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 1, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Tel: -49 (0) 69 798-13035, Fax: +49 (0) 69 798-763 12531, hardy@pvw.uni-frankfurt.de. John Fru Ndi Archives The Social Democratic Front, SDF party has threatened to block expected Municipal, Legislative and Regional Council elections this year in the country if the regime fails to stop the bloodbath and provide long lasting solutions to the socio-political crisis in the North West and South West regions and insists on organizing these elections within the present dispensation. The resolution was taken among other striking ones during the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party last March 23 and 24, 2019 at Nkolfoulou neighbourhood beside Soa under the presidency of the National Chairman of the party, Ni John Fru Ndi. Attended by SDFs Senators, Members of the National Assembly and Mayors, the NEC meeting turned out to be a stormy one due to the heat generated by hot deliberations on certain political issues concerning the way forward for the party, pushing the Chairman to suspend deliberations Saturday night and later reconvened for Sunday morning. Quizzed to know why the SDF has decided to take such a stance, Hon Joseph Mbah Ndam who doubles as Deputy Speaker at the National Assembly on the SDFs ticket responded to reporters that Ever since we resolved at the SDF convention not to boycott any election in the country again, we are now bent at making sure that the regime levels the playing ground for all political parties to compete. Unlike what happened at the presidential and senatorial elections last year, the SDF will not accept that elections are organized this year in the present dispensation which does not allow voters in the North West and South West regions to freely exercise their civic rights because of insecurity and threats. Asked if the SDF will take part at the upcoming Regional Council election, Hon Mbah Ndam said: Our party is very preoccupied with what is going on in the North West and South West regions and we are continuing to insist that if that situation is not resolved, it may be difficult to hold an election. The SDF is very willing to participate in any election but the circumstance in which we find ourselves in the North West and South West regions is so preoccupying. That is why we keep thinking that we must call on this government to make sure that the conditions are conducive for everybody. Around 80 percent of land area in Europe is used for settlement, agriculture and forestry. In order to increase yields even further than current levels, exploitation is being intensified. Areas are being consolidated in order to cultivate them more efficiently using larger machines. Pesticides and fertilisers are increasingly being used and a larger number of animals being kept on grazing land. "Such measures increase yield but, overall, they also have negative impacts on biodiversity," says UFZ biologist Dr. Michael Beckmann. "This is because even agricultural areas offer fauna and flora a valuable habitat - which is something that is frequently not sufficiently taken into consideration." In addition, previous studies have mostly examined the effects of intensified land use only from one perspective: either with regard to the increase in yield or the loss of biodiversity. "We unfortunately still know far too little about the relationship between the two and what price nature ultimately has to pay for increases in yield," says Beckmann. In the recent study, the team of scientists aimed to address this knowledge gap. To this end, the researchers sifted through some 10,000 topically relevant studies looking for those that collected measurement data for yield and biodiversity both before and after intensification measures. "The majority of the studies fell through the net in this respect. A mere 115 studies actually measured both parameters for the same areas, making them relevant for our purposes," says Beckmann. The 449 agricultural areas examined in these studies are, however, distributed around the globe, are located in different climatic zones and the time they have been in use varies greatly. To be able to use these studies for their analysis, the researchers developed a mathematical model that takes account of these differences and renders the data comparable. They then summarised the respective yield increases and biodiversity losses. "We were able to demonstrate that, on average, intensification of land use gave rise to an increase in yield of 20 percent but this is, at the same time, associated with a nine percent loss of species," says Beckmann. To obtain a more detailed insight into the impact of intensification measures, the researchers divided the agricultural areas into three classes of intensity - low, medium and high. Proceeding in this way made it possible to compare the results of all three agricultural production systems - arable land, grasslands and forest - with each other. Areas of medium intensity of use demonstrated the highest increase (85 percent) in yield following intensification measures. But they also had the greatest loss of species (23 percent). In contrast, areas that already had high intensity of use did not reveal any significant loss of species but still showed an increase in yield of 15 percent. "Initially, this sounds excellent: greater yield without loss of species," says Beckmann. "But where there was not much biodiversity left to start with due to highly intense usage, there is, of course, also not much that can be lost. In such cases, the critical point may have already been passed." In a comparison of the effects of intensification measures on arable land, grasslands and forests, forests performed best with regard to lower species loss. The study findings indicate that intensified land use may, in individual cases such as timber production, also lead to greater yields without any detrimental effect on biodiversity. The study makes clear how great the impact of the intensity of agricultural production can be for the protection of biodiversity. It reveals general trends and identifies gaps in our knowledge. Concrete recommendations for action in specific regions cannot be derived from the study, however. "Further research is necessary in order to understand the conditions under which land usage is linked to a low or an especially high risk to biodiversity," says Michael Beckmann. "This is the only way to ensure that we are able to apply intense land use practices and protect biodiversity at the same time. After all, species conservation can and must also take place in our cultivated landscapes." ### For decades, articles in research journals and the popular press alike have reported that being a family caregiver takes a toll on a person's health, boosting levels of inflammation and weakening the function of the immune system. Now, after analyzing 30 papers on the levels of immune and inflammatory molecules in caregivers, Johns Hopkins researchers say the link has been overstated and the association is extremely small. Caregiver stress explains less than 1 percent of the variability in immune and inflammation biomarkers, they report. Their new meta-analysis was published March 10 in The Gerontologist. "We're not saying that family caregiving can't be stressful, but there's a notion that it's so stressful that it causes deteriorating health and increased mortality. This can lead to fear of caregiving and a reluctance to care for loved ones in need," says first author David Roth, M.A., Ph.D., professor of medicine and director of the Center on Aging and Health at The Johns Hopkins University. "We're challenging that narrative as being too exaggerated." According to the National Alliance for Caregiving, more than 34 million people in the U.S. provide care for a chronically ill, disabled or aged family member or friend in any given year. The value of the services provided by these family caregivers is estimated at $375 billion annually. In 1987, a study concluded that caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease had decreased levels of certain immune molecules. Since then, other studies have suggested that family caregivers have increased mortality and rates of psychiatric diseases, decreased immune function and life span, and slower wound healing than other people. After noticing statistical weaknesses in a handful of recent papers on caregiving and immunity, Roth and his colleagues wanted to take a fresh look at the more than three decades of papers on these ideas. They focused their search on papers about immune or inflammatory biomarkers--molecules that can be detected through a blood test--and combed through databases of medical literature to find papers linking the chronic stress of family caregiving and these biomarkers. After reviewing 132 full texts, they narrowed the meta-analysis to 30 original, data-based papers. In all, the papers that Roth's group studied spanned from 1987 to 2016 and reported data on 86 biomarkers from 1,848 caregivers and 3,640 noncaregivers. When the researchers began reviewing the manuscripts, Roth says they immediately noticed concerning trends--for one, the studies were quite small. Of the 30 studies, 16 had fewer than 50 caregivers, with some having as few as 11 or 14. "A lot of these are small exploratory studies that can end up over interpreting what they find," Roth says. Roth adds that the studies tended to compare caregivers found in clinical settings with other adults recruited from senior centers, churches or other community organizations. "These people differ in many factors besides just who is a caregiver," Roth says. "Many of the so-called controls are healthy, socially active volunteers." Due to issues like this, 11 of the papers were given a "moderate" (instead of "low" or "minimal") ranking for potential bias. When the team combined the data into a meta-analysis, it found an overall effect size of caregiving on biomarkers of 0.164 standard deviation units. While the effect was statistically significant, the researchers reported that the association was generally weak and of questionable clinical significance. A standard deviation unit of less than 0.20, Roth says, is generally thought to indicate a small effect size. "It's not that we didn't find anything, but it's a whisper of an effect, not nearly as large as what people have been led to believe," says Roth. The team hopes its new look at the existing data helps encourage people to be more open to becoming caregivers. The researchers also hope it helps medical professions move away from the idea of caregivers as vulnerable. "Caregiving, if done right, can actually be an extremely beneficial, healthy activity that enhances your life because you're engaging in pro-social behavior," Roth says. The researchers are now conducting a large population-based study with carefully matched controls and biomarkers collected at multiple times in order to get even more detailed information on the connection--or lack thereof--between caregiving and the immune system. ### Other authors of the paper are Orla Sheehan and Jeremy Walston of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, William Haley of the University of South Florida, and Nancy Jenny and Mary Cushman of the University of Vermont. This work was supported by the National Institute on Aging (RF1AG050609). Nurse practitioners and nursing students can use local, real-time maps of opioid overdoses to inform their clinical work with adolescents in community health settings, finds new research from NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. "Analyzing community maps with data from emergency response teams can help us to design interventions that have the potential to change the trajectory of the current opioid crisis," said Donna Hallas, PhD, PPCNP-BC, CPNP, PMHS, FAANP, clinical professor and director of the pediatric nurse practitioner program at NYU Meyers. Hallas is the lead author of the study, which appears in the Journal of Pediatric Health Care. The opioid crisis has devastated communities across the country, but overdoses vary by region and neighborhood. For instance, opioid overdoses in the Bronx are concentrated in the South Bronx, while the northern part of the borough has seen relatively few overdoses. The Fire Department of New York (FDNY) and its emergency medical services (EMS) collect data that generate geospatial information system (GIS) maps for New York City's five boroughs. These maps, which provide real-time awareness of issues including drug overdoses, enable the FDNY and EMS to identify locations of street-level drug use that may lead to lethal outcomes and to plan their daily strategies in the fight against opioid overdoses. For this study, the FDNY shared its GIS maps with NYU Meyers researchers in order to develop an educational program for nurse practitioner (NP) preceptors who provide clinical educational experiences for NP students. This project is part of national efforts to improve interprofessional collaborations among traditional and nontraditional health care providers--for instance, primary care providers, EMS, and firefighters. NP preceptors were educated on a variety of facets of the opioid crisis, including reviewing opioid-prescribing practices in community-based centers and recommendations for changing prescribing practices to control pain using alternative medications. The preceptors were also introduced to New York State Department of Health's opioid data, which provide a high-level overview of long-term trends, including rates of overdoses at the borough/county level, naloxone administrations, and emergency room visits. The state-level data were compared with the FDNY GIS maps, which contain a finer level of detail, including the number of opioid overdoses as well as other drug and alcohol incidents, with heat maps showing locations and concentrations of incidents. The researchers focused on maps of the Bronx and Brooklyn, where students were working in primary care settings, including school-based health centers, federally qualified health care centers, community-based clinics, and hospital settings. "The importance of local GIS maps is that this information is available in real time so that interventions can be designed, evaluated, and changed quickly to meet the immediate needs of the community," said Hallas. The researchers found that the use of GIS maps did, in fact, better inform the care NP preceptors provided and the interactions about the opioid crisis they discussed with NP students, as measured by reviewing the students' weekly clinical notes. The analysis of GIS maps led to consistent screenings for risk-taking behaviors in the adolescent and young adult populations, thanks to students' timely awareness of community abuse issues. These screenings resulted in an increase in interventions by students, including motivational interviewing and an evidence-based model called SBIRT: screening, brief intervention, and referral to substance use treatment. "Traditional and nontraditional healthcare professionals have a unique opportunity to use visual technologies, such as GIS mapping, to identify hot spots early and then assess, diagnose, and treat those for whom opioid use, overdoses, and deaths are major problems," said Hallas. "We recommend collaborations between traditional and nontraditional healthcare providers as a strategy that holds promise for combating the opioid epidemic in local communities." ### In addition to Hallas, study authors include Robin Toft Klar, Julie A. Baldyga, Ilene Rattner, Ryan Waingortin, and Jason Fletcher of NYU Meyers. Klar spearheaded the instruction on the use of GIS maps for all graduate students and was the lead faculty for population health on this study. Fletcher led the comparative data analysis portion on this study. This project is supported by the Health and Human Resources Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (grant number D09HP29976). About NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing (@NYUNursing) NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing is a global leader in nursing and health. Founded in 1932, the College offers BS, MS, DNP, and PhD degree programs providing the educational foundation to prepare the next generation of nursing leaders and researchers. NYU Meyers has three programs ranked in the top 10 by U.S. News & World Report and is among the top five nursing schools receiving NIH funding, thanks to its research mission and commitment to innovative approaches to healthcare worldwide. By speaking the brain's language, the material is a portal between electronics and the brain WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- What if the brain could detect its own disease? Researchers have been trying to create a material that "thinks" like the brain does, which would be more sensitive to early signs of neurological diseases such as Parkinson's. Thinking is a long way off, but Purdue University and Argonne National Laboratory researchers have engineered a new material that can at least "listen." The lingua franca is ionic currents, which help the brain perform a particular reaction, needed for something as basic as sending a signal to breathe. Detecting ions means also detecting the concentration of a molecule, which serves as an indicator of the brain's health. In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers demonstrate the ability of a quantum material to automatically receive hydrogen when placed beneath an animal model's brain slice. Quantum means that the material has electronic properties that both can't be explained by classical physics, and that give it a unique edge over other materials used in electronics, such as silicon. The edge, in this case, is strong, "correlated" electrons that make the material extra sensitive and extra tunable. "The goal is to bridge the gap between how electronics think, which is via electrons, and how the brain thinks, which is via ions. This material helped us find a potential bridge," said Hai-Tian Zhang, a Gilbreth postdoctoral fellow in Purdue's College of Engineering and first author on the paper. In the long run, this material might even bring the ability to "download" your brain, the researchers say. "Imagine putting an electronic device in the brain, so that when natural brain functions start deteriorating, a person could still retrieve memories from that device," said Shriram Ramanathan, a Purdue professor of materials engineering whose lab specializes in developing brain-inspired technology. "We can confidently say that this material is a potential pathway to building a computing device that would store and transfer memories," he said. The researchers tested this material on two molecules: Glucose, a sugar essential for energy production, and dopamine, a chemical messenger that regulates movement, emotional responses and memory. Because dopamine amounts are typically low in the brain, and even lower for people with Parkinson's disease, detecting this chemical has been notoriously difficult. But detecting dopamine levels early would mean sooner treatment of the disease. "This quantum material is about nine times more sensitive to dopamine than methods that we use currently in animal models," said Alexander Chubykin, an assistant professor of biological sciences in the Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience, based in Discovery Park. The quantum material owes its sensitivity to strong interactions between so-called "correlated electrons." The researchers first found that when they placed the material in contact with glucose molecules, the oxides would spontaneously grab hydrogen from the glucose via an enzyme. The same happened with dopamine released from a mouse brain slice. The strong affinity to hydrogen, as shown when researchers at Argonne National Laboratory created simulations of the experiments, allowed the material to extract atoms on its own - without a power source. "The fact that we didn't provide power to the material for it to take in hydrogen means that it could bring very low-power electronics with high sensitivity," Ramanathan said. "This could be helpful for probing unexplored environments, as well." The researchers also say that this material could sense the atoms of a range of molecules, beyond just glucose and dopamine. The next step is creating a way for the material to "talk back" to the brain. The work was supported by multiple entities, including the Gilbreth Fellowship by the College of Engineering at Purdue University, the National Science Foundation, the Air Force Office for Scientific Research, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Office of Naval Research and the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. This research also aligns with Purdue's Giant Leaps celebration, acknowledging the university's global advancements made in AI and health as part of Purdue's 150th anniversary. This is one of the four themes of the yearlong celebration's Ideas Festival, designed to showcase Purdue as an intellectual center solving real-world issues. ### ABSTRACT Perovskite Nickelates as Bio-Electronic Interfaces Hai-Tian Zhang1,2 , Fan Zuo1, Feiran Li3, Henry Chan4, Qiuyu Wu5, Zhan Zhang6, Badri Narayanan4, Koushik Ramadoss1, Indranil Chakraborty7, Gobinda Saha7, Ganesh Kamath4, Kaushik Roy7, Hua Zhou6, Alexander A. Chubykin5, Subramanian K.R.S. Sankaranarayanan4, Jong Hyun Choi3and Shriram Ramanathan1 1School of Materials Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA 2Lillian Gilbreth Fellowship Program, College of Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA 3School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA 4Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA 5Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana47907, USA. 6X-ray Science Division, Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA 7School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-09660-6 Functional interfaces between electronics and biological matter are essential to diverse fields including health sciences and bio-engineering. Here, we report the discovery of spontaneous (no external energy input) hydrogen transfer from biological glucose reactions into SmNiO3, an archetypal perovskite quantum material. The enzymatic oxidation of glucose is monitored down to ~ 5x10-16M concentration via hydrogen transfer to the nickelate lattice. The hydrogen atoms donate electrons to the Ni dorbital and induce electron localization through strong electron correlations. By enzyme specific modification, spontaneous transfer of hydrogen from the neurotransmitter dopamine can be monitored in physiological media. We then directly interface an acute mouse brain slice onto the nickelate devices and demonstrate measurement of neurotransmitter release upon electrical stimulation of the striatum region. These results open up avenues for use of emergent physics present in quantum materials in trace detection and conveyance of bio-matter, bio-chemical sciences, and brain-machine interfaces. HOUSTON - (April 10, 2019) - Scientists are discovering new two-dimensional materials at a rapid pace, but they don't always immediately know what those materials can do. Researchers at Rice University's Brown School of Engineering say they can find out fast by feeding basic details of their structures to "deep learning" agents that have the power to map the materials' properties. Better yet, the agents can quickly model materials scientists are thinking about making to facilitate the "bottom-up" design of 2D materials. Rouzbeh Shahsavari, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Rice graduate student Prabhas Hundi explored the capabilities of neural networks and multilayer perceptrons that take minimal data from the simulated structures of 2D materials and make "reasonably accurate" predictions of their physical characteristics, like strength, even after they're damaged by radiation and high temperatures. Once trained, Shahsavari said, these agents could be adapted to analyze new 2D materials with as little as 10 percent of their structural data. That would return an analysis of the material's strengths with about 95 percent accuracy, he said. "This suggests that transfer learning (in which a deep-learning algorithm trained on one material can be applied to another) is a potential game-changer in material discovery and characterization approaches," the researchers suggested. The results of their extensive tests on graphene and hexagonal boron nitride appear in the journal Small. Since the discovery of graphene in 2004, atom-thick materials have been touted for their strength and range of electronic properties for composites and electronics. Because their atomic arrangements have a significant impact on their properties, researchers often use molecular dynamics simulations to analyze the structures of new 2D materials even before trying to make them. Shahsavari said deep learning offers a significant speed boost over such traditional simulations of 2D materials and their characteristics, allowing calculations that now take days of supercomputer time to run in hours. "Because we can build our structure-property maps with only a fraction of the data from graphene or boron nitride molecular dynamics simulations, we see an order of magnitude less computational time to get a full behavior of the material," he said. Shahsavari said the lab decided to study graphene and hexagonal boron nitride for their high tolerance to deterioration under high temperatures and in radiation-rich environments, important properties for materials in spacecraft and nuclear power plants. Because the Shahsavari group had already carried out more than 11,000 radiation cascade damage molecular dynamics simulations for another paper on 2D materials, they had incentive to see if they could reproduce their results with a much faster method. They ran thousands of "deep learning" simulations on 80 combinations of radiation and temperature for hexagonal boron nitride and 48 combinations for graphene, hitting each combination with 31 random doses of simulated radiation. For some, the researchers trained the deep learning agent with a maximum of 45 percent of data from their molecular dynamics study, achieving up to 97 percent accuracy in predicting defects and their effects on the material's characteristics. Adapting trained agents to different materials, they found, required only about 10 percent of the simulated data, greatly speeding up the process while retaining good accuracy. "We tried to figure out the corresponding residual strengths of the materials after exposure to extreme conditions, along with all the defects," he said. "As expected, when the mean temperature or the radiation were too high, the residual strength became pretty low. But that trend wasn't always obvious." In some cases, he said, the combined higher radiation and higher temperatures made a material more robust instead of less, and it would help researchers to know that before making a physical product. "Our deep learning method on the development of structure-property maps could open up a new framework to understand the behavior of 2D materials, discover their non-intuitive commonalities and anomalies, and eventually better design them for tailored applications," Shahsavari said. ### The National Science Foundation (NSF) supported the research. Computing resources were supported by the National Institutes of Health, an IBM Shared University Research Award in partnership with Cisco, Qlogic and Adaptive Computing, and the NSF-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. Read the abstract at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smll.201900656 This news release can be found online at https://news.rice.edu/2019/04/10/deep-learning-casts-wide-net-for-novel-2d-materials/ David Ruth, 713-348-6327, david@rice.edu Mike Williams, 713-348-6728, mikewilliams@rice.edu Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews. Related materials: Multiscale Materials Laboratory (Shahsavari Lab): http://rouzbeh.rice.edu/ George R. Brown School of Engineering: http://engineering.rice.edu Rice Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: http://www.ceve.rice.edu Images for download: https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2019/04/0415_DEEP-1-WEB-1vtolzf.jpg Rice University graduate student Prabhas Hundi, left, and Rouzbeh Shahsavari, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, are using deep learning techniques to speed up simulations of novel two-dimensional materials to understand their characteristics and how they're affected by high temperature and radiation. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University) https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2019/04/0415_DEEP-2-WEB-1odu2rm.jpg Rice University researchers used a microstructure model of radiation-damaged hexagonal boron nitride to help them study the benefits of deep learning techniques in simulating two-dimensional materials to understand their characteristics. (Credit: Prabhas Hundi/Rice University) 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. Latest studies confirm increasing burden of NAFLD in people with HIV infection as viral hepatitis prevalence and associated mortality decline 11 April 2019, Vienna, Austria: The increasing burden and risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) associated with HIV infection have today been highlighted in two studies presented at The International Liver Congress 2019 in Vienna, Austria. These studies found that, whilst prevalence and mortality rates associated with viral hepatitis in HIV-infected individuals have been declining, rates associated with NAFLD are increasing, leading to a risk of progressive liver disease. People living with HIV infection appear to be at greater risk of developing NAFLD than the general population. The prevalence of NAFLD worldwide has been estimated to be 25%, while the prevalence in populations with HIV has been far higher in most reported studies. NAFLD represents an important risk factor for the development and progression of liver disease,5 and with the availability of effective hepatitis B and C antiviral medications, it is conceivable that NAFLD could become the most prominent liver disease affecting individuals with HIV in the future. The first study presented in Vienna aimed to assess the prevalence and mortality trends of NAFLD, viral hepatitis, and other liver diseases in HIV-infected individuals. The records of >47,000 HIV-infected Medicare recipients in the USA were searched, and >10,000 individuals with liver disease were identified: 5,628 with HCV-related disease, 1,374 with HBV-related disease, 645 with HCV/HBV-related disease, 2,629 with NAFLD, and 198 with other liver diseases. During the 10 years between 2006 and 2016, the prevalence rates for viral hepatitis decreased from 27.75 to 24.17 per 100,000 population (p=0.009) whilst the rates for NAFLD more than doubled from 5.32 to 11.62 per 100,000 population (p<0.001). Mortality rates related to viral hepatitis also decreased from 3.78 to 2.58 per 100,000 population (p=0.006), whilst mortality related to NAFLD increased from 0.18 to 0.80 per 100,000 population (p=0.041). 'Our study shows that, as highly effective treatments for HBV and HCV infections lead to reduced associated mortality in HIV-infected populations, NAFLD is becoming an increasingly important cause of liver disease,' said Dr Zobair Younossi, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus in Falls Church, Virginia, USA, who presented the study results. The second study, involving teams from Canada, the UK and Italy, used a diagnostic algorithm based on current EASL guidelines in HIV-negative populations6 to identify individuals with NAFLD from two cohorts of adults with living with HIV without significant alcohol intake or viral hepatitis coinfection (the LIVEr disease in HIV [LIVEHIV] and Modena HIV Metabolic Clinic [MHMC] cohorts). Of the 1,228 HIV-infected individuals reviewed (mean age 50 years; 73% males; time since diagnosis 16 years), 31.8% had NAFLD. Based on elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels and/or significant fibrosis, 25.2% of these patients were considered to be at risk of progressive liver disease compared with 18.4% of patients without NAFLD. Independent predictors of liver disease progression requiring specialist referral were found to be male sex, diabetes, and duration of HIV infection. 'Applying current NAFLD guidelines developed for HIV-negative populations, we have identified significant proportions of patients with HIV infection at risk of NAFLD and progressive liver disease,' said Dr Sila Cocciolillo from the Royal Victoria Hospital, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Canada. 'We think this supports the need for dedicated monitoring of these patients, with referral to hepatology services when required.' Professor Philip Newsome (Vice-Secretary, EASL) said, "These studies indicate the changing profile of liver disease in patients with HIV - whilst viral hepatitis is still the major cause of liver disease in such groups, NAFLD is becoming a much commoner problem. This reinforces the need to study of therapeutic agents in patients with NAFLD and HIV, an area which is seldom examined." ### About The International Liver Congress This annual congress is the biggest event in the EASL calendar, attracting scientific and medical experts from around the world to learn about the latest in liver research. Attending specialists present, share, debate and conclude on the latest science and research in hepatology, working to enhance the treatment and management of liver disease in clinical practice. This year, the congress is expected to attract approximately 10,000 delegates from all corners of the globe. The International Liver Congress 2019 will take place from 10-14 April 2019 at the Reed Messe Wien Congress and Exhibition Center, Vienna, Austria. About The European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) Since its foundation in 1966, this not-for-profit organization has grown to over 4,000 members from all over the world, including many of the leading hepatologists in Europe and beyond. EASL is the leading liver association in Europe, having evolved into a major European association with international influence, and with an impressive track record in promoting research in liver disease, supporting wider education and promoting changes in European liver policy. Contact For more information, please contact the ILC Press Office at: * Email: press2@easloffice.eu * Telephone: +44 (0)1444 811099 Onsite location references Session title: 'NAFLD - Clinical burden natural history' Time, date and location of session: 17:15-17:30, 11 April 2019, Strauss 1-2 Presenter: Zobair Younossi, USA Abstract: The increasing importance of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in human deficiency virus (HIV) positive patients (PS-062) Session title: 'NAFLD: Diagnostics and non-invasive assessment' Time, date and location of session: 09:00-17:00, 13 April 2019, Poster Area Presenter: Sila Cocciolillo, Canada Abstract: Application of guidelines for fatty liver in two prospective cohorts of human immunodeficiency virus positive patients (SAT-286) Author disclosures Zobair Yonoussi has received consulting fees from Gilead, Intercept, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novo Nordisk, Shinogi and Novartis. Sila Cocciolillo has no relevant disclosures References 1. Maurice JB, et al. Prevalence and risk factors of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in HIV-monoinfection. AIDS. 2017;31(11):1621-32. 2. Younossi ZM, et al. Global epidemiology of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease - Meta-analytic assessment of prevalence, incidence, and outcomes. Hepatology. 2016;64(1):73-84. 3. Rockstroh JK. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in HIV. Curr HIV/AIDS Rep. 2017;14(2):47-53. 4. Verna EC. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in patients with HIV. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2017;2(3):211-23. 5. Kaspar MB, Sterling RK. Mechanisms of liver disease in patients infected with HIV. BMJ Open Gastroenterol. 2017;4(1):e000166. 6. European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL); European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD); European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO). EASL-EASD-EASO Clinical Practice Guidelines for the management of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. J Hepatol. 2016;64(6):1388-402. 11 April 2019, Vienna, Austria: Two independent national studies have reported high rates of liver disease progression and mortality among patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease/non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NAFLD/NASH). The studies reported today at The International Liver Congress 2019 in Vienna, Austria, found that within 10 years of diagnosis, up to 11% of patients with NAFLD/NASH had progressed to advanced liver diseases (defined as NAFLD/NASH patients with compensated cirrhosis [CC], decompensated cirrhosis [DCC], liver transplant [LT] or hepatocellular carcinoma [HCC]), and up to 27% of patients with NAFLD/NASH and CC had developed liver decompensation. Fatty liver is a complex condition that affects up to one-quarter of adults worldwide. The condition is considered to be the liver manifestation of metabolic syndrome and encompasses a histological spectrum from the relatively benign non-alcoholic fatty liver to NASH, which typically has an aggressive course. NAFLD/NASH can lead to cirrhosis or HCC, and is set to become the predominant cause of liver disease in many parts of the world; however, their natural history remains incompletely defined. 11 April 2019, Vienna, Austria: A prespecified interim analysis of the ongoing Phase 3 REGENERATE study has confirmed that obeticholic acid (OCA) is effective in the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) with liver fibrosis. The 18-month analysis, which was reported today at The International Liver Congress 2019 in Vienna, Austria, demonstrated that the 25 mg dose of OCA studied improved fibrosis in almost one-quarter of recipients, with significant improvements also reported in other histological markers of NASH. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is a severe form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and is characterized by the presence of steatosis, hepatocellular ballooning, and lobular inflammation. The condition is associated with rapid progression of fibrosis, which can eventually lead to the development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The global prevalence of NASH has been estimated to range from 1.50% to 6.45%, with almost 60% of individuals with NAFLD who undergo biopsy found to have NASH. There are currently no medications approved in Europe or the USA specifically for the treatment of NASH.2,4 Obeticholic acid is a potent activator of the farnesoid X nuclear receptor that was shown to improve liver histology and fibrosis in a Phase 2 clinical trial (FLINT) published in 2015. The Phase 3 trial reported today is the first study in NASH to be designed in conjunction with regulatory authorities, with the aim of achieving approval for OCA in NASH with fibrosis. In the analysis reported today, 931 individuals with biopsy-confirmed NASH and significant or severe fibrosis (stages F2 or F3) were randomized to receive OCA 10 mg/day (n=312), OCA 25 mg/day (n=308), or placebo (n=311). The primary endpoints of the study were either fibrosis improvement (greater than or equal to 1 stage) with no worsening of NASH or NASH resolution with no worsening of liver fibrosis on liver biopsy. The most pronounced benefits were observed in the OCA 25 mg treatment group. Once daily OCA 25 mg met the primary endpoint of fibrosis improvement (greater than or equal to 11 stage) with no worsening of NASH in 23.1% of patients (p=0.0002 vs placebo). Although the NASH resolution primary endpoint was not met, 35.1% of patients receiving OCA 25 mg showed improvements in hepatocellular ballooning (p=0.0011 vs placebo), and 44.2% of patients had lobular inflammation (p=0.0322 vs placebo). Dose-dependent reductions in liver enzymes were also observed. Pruritus, the most commonly-reported adverse event (AE), affected 51% of the OCA 25 mg/day treatment group, 28% of the OCA 10 mg/day treatment group, and 19% of the placebo group. More participants withdrew from the study due to pruritus in the OCA 25 mg/day group (9%) than in the OCA 10 mg/day (<1%) or placebo (<1%) groups. 'There is an urgent need for effective treatment regimens for NASH, a common liver disease which can lead to cirrhosis, liver failure and need for transplant,' said Dr Zobair Younossi, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus in Falls Church, Virginia, USA, who presented the study results. 'These first results from the REGENERATE study give us hope that a new targeted approach to NASH treatment may soon become available and potentially reverse some of the liver damage associated with this important liver disease.' Professor Philip Newsome, Vice-Secretary of EASL, said. 'These data are very exciting as they demonstrate for the first time in a phase 3 trial that medical therapy, in this case obeticholic acid, is able to improve liver fibrosis compared to placebo - a key treatment goal in NASH.' ### About The International Liver Congress This annual congress is the biggest event in the EASL calendar, attracting scientific and medical experts from around the world to learn about the latest in liver research. Attending specialists present, share, debate and conclude on the latest science and research in hepatology, working to enhance the treatment and management of liver disease in clinical practice. This year, the congress is expected to attract approximately 10,000 delegates from all corners of the globe. The International Liver Congress 2019 will take place from 10-14 April 2019 at the Reed Messe Wien Congress and Exhibition Center, Vienna, Austria. About The European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) Since its foundation in 1966, this not-for-profit organization has grown to over 4,000 members from all over the world, including many of the leading hepatologists in Europe and beyond. EASL is the leading liver association in Europe, having evolved into a major European association with international influence, and with an impressive track record in promoting research in liver disease, supporting wider education and promoting changes in European liver policy. Contact For more information, please contact the ILC Press Office at: Onsite location reference Session title: 'General session 1' Time, date and location of session: 15:15-15:30, 11 April 2019, Main plenary Presenter: Zobair Younossi, USA Abstract: Positive results from REGENERATE: a Phase 3 international, randomized, placebo-controlled study evaluating obeticholic acid treatment for NASH (GS-06) Author disclosures Zobair Younossi has received consulting fees from Gilead, Intercept, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novo Nordisk, Shionogi and Novartis. References European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL); European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD); European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO). EASL-EASD-EASO Clinical Practice Guidelines for the management of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. J Hepatol. 2016;64(6):1388-402. Lucas C, et al. A systematic review of the present and future of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Clin Exp Hepatol. 2018;4(3):165-74. Younossi ZM, et al. Global epidemiology of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease-Meta-analytic assessment of prevalence, incidence, and outcomes. Hepatology. 2016;64(1):73-84. Connolly JJ, et al. Future pharmacotherapy for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH): review of Phase 2 and 3 trials. J Clin Transl Hepatol. 2018;6(3):264-75. Neuschwander-Tetri BA, et al. Farnesoid X nuclear receptor ligand obeticholic acid for non-cirrhotic, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (FLINT): a multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2015;385(9972):956-65. Ratzui V, et al. REGENERATE: a Phase 3, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled multicenter study of obeticholic acid therapy for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. J Hepatol. 2016;64(2):S214-5. Globally, the estimates suggest that there are 170 new cases of traffic pollution-related asthma per 100,000 children every year, and 13% of childhood asthma cases diagnosed each year are linked to traffic pollution Globally, the estimates suggest that there are 170 new cases of traffic pollution-related asthma per 100,000 children every year, and 13% of childhood asthma cases diagnosed each year are linked to traffic pollution The country with the highest proportion of traffic pollution-attributable childhood asthma incidence was South Korea (31%), the UK ranked 24th out of 194 countries, the US 25th, China 19th, and India 58th Of the 125 cities studied, there was a large variation in the proportion of childhood asthma cases attributable to traffic pollution - from 6% in Orlu, Nigeria, to 48% in Shanghai, China. Of the ten cities with the highest proportion of cases, eight were in China, alongside Moscow, Russia, and Seoul, South Korea Authors suggest that pollution guidelines may need to be re-evaluated, as most children developing traffic pollution-related asthma lived in areas within recommended levels The first global estimates of their kind suggest that more than one in ten childhood asthma cases could be linked to traffic-related air pollution every year, according to a health impact assessment of children in 194 countries and 125 major cities worldwide, published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal. With 92% of cases developing in areas that have traffic pollution levels below the WHO guideline level [1], the authors suggest that this limit may need to be reviewed. "Nitrogen dioxide pollution appears to be a substantial risk factor for childhood asthma incidence in both developed and developing countries, especially in urban areas," says senior author Dr Susan Anenberg, George Washington University, USA. "Our findings suggest that the World Health Organization guideline for annual average NO2 concentrations might need to be revisited, and that traffic emissions should be a target to mitigate exposure." [2] Lead author Ploy Achakulwisut, George Washington University, USA, adds: "Our study indicates that policy initiatives to alleviate traffic-related air pollution can lead to improvements in children's health and also reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Recent examples include Shenzhen's electrification of its entire bus fleet and London's Ultra-Low Emission Zone congestion charges." [2] Globally, asthma is the most common non-communicable disease among children, and, according to the WHO, prevalence has increased dramatically since the 1950s. The reasons for this are multiple. Traffic-related air pollution may result in asthma development as pollutants may cause damage to the airways, leading to inflammation that triggers asthma in genetically predisposed children. Although it is not yet clear which specific pollutant within the traffic-related air pollution mixture is the source of asthma development, reviews by the US Environmental Protection Agency and Health Canada suggest that a causal relationship is likely to exist between long-term nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exposure and childhood asthma development. In the new study, the authors used NO2 as a surrogate for the traffic pollution mixture to focus specifically on the effects of traffic pollution on childhood asthma development. NO2 is a pollutant formed mainly from fossil fuel combustion, and traffic emissions can contribute up to 80% of ambient NO2 in cities. NO2 is just one component of air pollution, which is made up of many pollutants (including particulate matter, ozone, carbon monoxide), which are known to have numerous adverse effects on health. The authors combined a global dataset of ambient NO2 (modelled from ground-level monitors, satellite data, and land use variables such as road networks) with data on population distribution and asthma incidence to estimate the number of new traffic pollution-related asthma cases in children aged 1-18 years. Globally, the estimates suggest that there are 170 new cases of traffic pollution-related asthma per 100,000 children every year, and 13% of childhood asthma cases diagnosed each year are linked to traffic pollution. The country with the highest rate of traffic pollution-related childhood asthma was Kuwait (550 cases per 100,000 children each year), followed by the United Arab Emirates (460 per 100,000), and Canada (450 per 100,000). Of the 125 cities studied, there was a large variation in the estimated rate of traffic pollution-related childhood asthma - from 83 cases per 100,000 children every year in Orlu, Nigeria, to 690 cases per 100,000 children in Lima, Peru. These rates of traffic pollution-related asthma are influenced by asthma rates overall, as well as pollution levels, and may underestimate true levels in many low- and middle-income countries. This is because asthma cases often go undiagnosed in these regions. The largest number of cases of traffic pollution-related asthma were estimated for China (760,000 cases), which is likely a result of China having the second largest population of children and the third highest concentrations of NO2. Although less than half the size of China's burden, India had the next largest number of cases (350,000) due to its large population of children. The USA (240,000), Indonesia (160,000) and Brazil (140,000) had the next largest burdens, with the USA having the highest pollution levels of these three countries, while Indonesia had the highest underlying asthma rates. The country with the highest percentage of traffic pollution-attributable childhood asthma incidence was South Korea (31%), followed Kuwait (30%), Qatar (30%), United Arab Emirates (30%), and Bahrain (26%). The UK ranked 24th out of 194 countries, the US 25th, China 19th, and India 58th. The authors explain that India ranks below other countries for this metric because, although levels of other pollutants (particularly PM2.5) in India are among the highest in the world, NO2 levels from 2010-2012 in Indian cities appear to be lower than or comparable to levels in European and US cities. Two-thirds of traffic pollution-related asthma cases occurred in urban centres globally, and when suburbs were included this proportion increased to 90% of cases. The percentage of new asthma cases attributable to traffic pollution by city ranged from 6% in Orlu, Nigeria, to 48% in Shanghai, China, and largely reflected the variations in NO2 exposures within each region. Of the ten cities with the highest proportion of traffic pollution-related asthma cases, eight were in China (Shanghai, Tianjin, Beijing, Shenyang, Xi'an, Taiyuan, Zhengzhou, and Harbin) alongside Moscow, Russia, and Seoul, South Korea - all of which had high urban NO2 concentrations. Paris ranked 21st (33%), New York ranked 29th (32%), London 35th (29%), and New Delhi 38th (28%). The authors note some limitations, including that studies linking traffic pollution and asthma, and NO2 monitoring data are largely from North America, Europe and east Asia, and NO2 ground-level monitors are mostly in urban areas, so could overestimate pollution levels in rural areas. Due to limited data availability, the NO2 levels used in this study are for 2010-2012, whereas the population and asthma incidence rates are for 2015. Given recent global changes in NO2 levels (decreases in US and European cities, and increases in Asia), the estimates may not be exact and further research with the latest NO2 levels is needed. Writing in a linked Comment, Professor Rajen N Naidoo, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, says: "An important outcome from this study is the further evidence that the existing WHO standards are not protective against childhood asthma. Achakulwisut and colleagues estimated that approximately 92% of the childhood asthma incidence attributable to NO2 exposure was in areas with NO2 concentrations below the values of the WHO annual average guidelines. This strengthens the case for the downward revision of these global standards and for stronger national policy initiatives in countries without air quality standards. Furthermore, these findings not only support the association of NO2 exposure with childhood asthma incidence, but also, because this pollutant serves as an important proxy for broader traffic related air pollutants, highlight that urgent intervention is necessary to protect the health of those most vulnerable in society: children, particularly those with pre-existing respiratory disease." ### Peer-reviewed / Observational and modelling study / People **Country and city-level data available** NOTES TO EDITORS This study was funded by George Washington University. It was conducted by researchers from George Washington University, The University of British Colombia, The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, and Oregon State University. The labels have been added to this press release as part of a project run by the Academy of Medical Sciences seeking to improve the communication of evidence. For more information, please see: http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/AMS-press-release-labelling-system-GUIDANCE.pdf if you have any questions or feedback, please contact The Lancet press office pressoffice@lancet.com [1] WHO guidelines state that annual average NO2 concentrations should be 40 g/m3 (or 21 parts per billion). [2] Quote direct from author and cannot be found in the text of the Article. IF YOU WISH TO PROVIDE A LINK FOR YOUR READERS, PLEASE USE THE FOLLOWING, WHICH WILL GO LIVE AT THE TIME THE EMBARGO LIFTS: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpla/article/PIIS2542-5196(19)30046-4/fulltext The evolution of aquatic creatures to start living on land made them into more attentive parents, says new research on frogs led by the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath. A study by an international team of researchers, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, looked at the parental care of over 1000 species of frogs and toads, and found those that reproduced on land invested more time and effort looking after their offspring. The authors suggest that because parental care increases the rate of survival of their young, it has played a key role in the colonisation of terrestrial habitats, not only for amphibians but also early tetrapods which ultimately gave rise to mammals including humans. The parenting behaviour of frogs and toads is very diverse, with care ranging from constructing a foam nest or attending the eggs, to more elaborate forms such as internal brooding of offspring or cooperation between parents to protect and provide food for their young. Some frogs that lay their eggs on land protect them from drying out by urinating on them. Others brood their eggs in their stomach or look after their eggs or hatched tadpoles by carrying them on their backs. Parental care may last for weeks whilst the parents defend, nurture and nourish their developing young. There are even frogs that that skip the tadpole stage to give birth their babies as fully developed froglets that are readily capable of independent life. Dr Balazs Vagi, from University of Debrecen (Hungary), first author of the paper said: "Most people think about amphibians as an ancient group with simple social behaviours which need an aquatic habitat for its reproduction. "In fact, none of these are true in general. Most of the diversity of modern amphibians (8000 species, of which 7000 are frogs and toads) evolved after the cataclysm that wiped out the dinosaurs. "And they have striking adaptations to gain independence from water. Amphibian eggs and larvae are sensitive to drying out and are a favourable prey for many predators. But parents have invented different strategies to defend them, and to nourish offspring in nutrient-scarce habitats. "Protection was evolved many times both in male and female frogs, while nourishing is predominantly, but not exclusively, a task for the mother. The complex forms of caring co-evolved with sophisticated breeding systems, including cooperation in care and tenacious pair bonds in the most extreme cases." Professor Tamas Szekely, Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award holder from the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, said: "Frogs and toads exhibit some of the most spectacular variation in parenting across all vertebrates, although the origin and maintenance of this variation have been a puzzle. "Using the most detailed phylogenetic analyses of parenting in any taxa, we discovered that parenting relates to their ecology and life history. "Thus complex social behaviour such as parenting seems to allow frogs and toads to invade apparently unsuitable habitats such as deserts. "However, the spectacular variation exhibited by frogs and toads unfortunately is under an unprecedented threat by diseases, habitat loss and illegal trade of endangered species." The study found that frogs that laid larger eggs tended to care for and protect their eggs for longer. They also found that in species where males were larger compared to females, the fathers were more attentive than those species where males are substantially smaller than their mate. The findings suggest that parenting by males and females has co-evolved and that complex parenting traits have evolved several times in frogs and toads in response to breeding in terrestrial environments. The researchers propose that tetrapods, four-legged animals, may have evolved complex parenting behaviour in a similar way when they moved from living in water to colonise the land. The study also highlights the need for more work on frogs and toads. Amphibians (frogs, toads and allies) are among the most endangered vertebrates. By pulling together a vast amount of data on reproductive modes, life styles and ecology, the study will assist conservation efforts by making these data publicly available. ### Malachie Manaouda, ministre de la Sante Publique archives Representatives of some 20 Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, drawn from nine of Cameroons 10 Regions, have taken a strong commitment to foster community engagement in programmes geared at combating malaria. The CSO leaders expressed their commitment at the end of a capacity building workshop in Yaounde organised by Malaria No More, MNM, and the Global Fund in collaboration with Cameroons Ministry of Public Health, MINSANTE. The training, which spanned from April 3 to 5, was placed under the theme: Gender, Social Issues and Global Fund Processes to Improve Community Engagement in Malaria Programmes. Welcoming participants, the Cameroon Country Director of MNM, Olivia Ngou, said the training, bordering on such a theme was the very first in Cameroon. She said tools pertaining to Global Fund, GF, processes will be presented to the leaders as well as the role CSOs play in such processes in the country. We will build your capacities to enable you do effective work in your domain and be spokespersons of the GF processes in your communities. You are, undoubtedly, doing much work already, but the number of GF sponsored projects ongoing in Cameroon is not much. Our intention is to drill you on the processes so that we can apply and benefit more from such funding, she stated while appealing for total participation from the CSO representatives. In an overview of the training, the Senior Programmes Officer at MNM, Mirabell Kumfa, reiterated that malaria remains a primary burden in Sub-Saharan Africa and accounting in 2016 for 216 million cases and 445 000 deaths. She cited the programmes financed by the GF to stem HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Central and West Africa, remarking that the component to fight malaria either in the domain of prevention or care is known to have a relatively insufficient impact on communities. It was disclosed that the Community Rights and Gender, CRG, Regional Plat- form of the GF that serves as a technical assistance programme for Community Responses, Rights and Gender; aims at ensuring that people affected by the three dis- eases take a meaningful role in the GF procedures and ensure that the grants are responsive to their needs. It was also noted that during the implementation of the first phase of the CRG project for West and Central Africa, MNM conducted a study in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote dIvoire, Nigeria and the DRC to identify the main socio-cultural barriers to the elimination of malaria in the sub-region. After situational analysis of the social problems of gender, human rights related to the barriers to the prevention and treatment of malaria, a community guide on the notion of gender, social and human rights in malaria programmes and a manual to in- crease CSOs engagement in GF projects, processes and other malaria programmes were developed. Stating that the training workshop organised by MNM for CSO leaders was within the context of the second phase of the project, Kumfa said the use of the tools developed as well as techniques of developing community engagement plans for malaria programmes constituted high points of the training. Outlining key objectives and expected results, she said when the curtains are drawn on the training, the knowledge of representatives of CSOs on social, gender and human rights issues in the fight against malaria would have increased. A presentation of the situation of malaria in Cameroon was done by Dr. Germaine Ekoyol Ewane of the National Malaria Control Programme. CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- A persistent heartland myth paints the rural and small town Midwest as local, insular, isolationist - "the ultimate national safe space, walled off from the rest of the world," says University of Illinois historian Kristin Hoganson. Dig into the history, however, which Hoganson has done for a new book, and you find the myth is far from reality. The region has not been insular, but globally connected - in myriad ways stretching back to the advent of European colonialism. Rather than isolationist, it is "riddled with histories of foreign relations," often in service to agriculture. "It would take an entire atlas of maps layered on top of one another, transparency style, to convey the far-flung relationships that formed (this region)," Hoganson wrote in "The Heartland: An American History," being published in April by Penguin Press. Based on her research, Hoganson suggests that the "heart" in "heartland" should have a different connotation from that of the fixed symbolic core of the nation, the "quintessentially all-American place." Instead, she reveals a heart that's "alive and vibrant, pumping in the center of a vast network." A specialist in U.S. foreign relations history, Hoganson began her research for "The Heartland" in her own backyard, in central Illinois, looking deep into its past and following the leads where they led. She found a kind of cattle crossroads starting in the mid-1800s, with animals coming from Mexico, Indian Territory and Texas for fattening, as well as from Canada and Great Britain as breeding stock. That's the subject of the chapter "Meat in the Middle." The story with hogs was similar. The popular Berkshire breed came from Britain too, its ancestry partially from China. Midwest pork was shipped abroad thanks to British-financed U.S. railroads and British ships; while it helped feed the British Empire, Midwest pork also undercut British producers. That's the subject of the chapter "Hog Tied." Hoganson also found that Midwestern farmers, in search of export markets, often advocated for expansive foreign policies, not isolationism. They also forged agrarian alliances across national borders, largely through their pursuit of scientific agriculture. One result is the vast system of underground field tiles that helped turn many soggy acres into fertile cropland. Flipping the perspective conveyed by the term "flyover country," Hoganson instead looked at many ways the Midwest has been an aerial destination or center of activity. In a chapter titled "Flownover States," she chronicled the role the Midwest played in early ballooning and aviation, where the region's often-flat and predictable geography was seen as an asset. Likewise, its farmers played a leading role in support for mapping international migratory routes of birds, valued for insect control. Among many other stories in "The Heartland" are those of polar explorers and a globe-trotting congressman, of bioprospectors who brought the soybean from Asia, and of the displacement of the Kickapoo people, who start and end the book. "The U.S. heartland is the overlooked part of the country," Hoganson said. "It doesn't get much attention, and the attention it gets - the rural and small-town heartland, in particular - tends to be distorted through the lenses of stereotype and myth. This means not only that most Americans don't understand the big middle of the country, but also that people who live there are cut off from their own past." Hoganson understands this from a personal perspective. Though a product of deep Midwestern family roots, she was raised and educated on the East Coast. She bought into aspects of the local, insular heartland myth before arriving in central Illinois 20 years ago. On her first day in the Corn Belt county in which the university resides, however, she turned on the radio while unpacking. "Out came the weather forecast for Argentina and China and Brazil, and I realized that I had no idea where I had landed," Hoganson said. It planted a seed that would eventually become the book. Hoganson had focused her research on the "long 19th century" from the early national period to World War I, presumed to be a more locally focused, less globalized period. In writing "The Heartland," she wanted to explore "the back story to our globalized present," and in the place often seen as "quintessentially local." Upon finding more leads than she could follow, she pursued the ones that illustrated six main themes - human mobility, border brokering, economic ties, alliance politics, geographic awareness, and security. "The book is particularly relevant now because we're living in a time when talk about walls is ubiquitous," Hoganson said. "There are a number of people who think that this is who Americans are as a people, that we historically have gone it alone, and that this is what national greatness has involved. "That's a misrepresentation of the position of the United States globally and historically. Even for the seemingly most local, isolated places, it's not actually true." ### LAWRENCE -- The business world has been the center of a hot debate in recent years about noncompete clauses in employment contracts and the effects they have on profits, economic development and other factors. Yet the debaters often overlook how such clauses affect those who work under them: employees. A University of Kansas professor has co-written a study that found noncompete clauses do in fact influence how employees behave, and that behavior is to the benefit of employers. Business leaders, policymakers and journalists have all debated the clauses, often referred to as NCCs, and whether they promote or stifle innovation, help boost development or prevent optimum employee-employer matches. As the clauses have become more prevalent and ideological -- a popular story in recent years recounted how even fast food sandwich chains were using them -- the employees get lost in the mix. A new study shows employees in the mutual fund industry tended to be more productive, take fewer risks and align their behaviors with the goals of their employers. "There is an ongoing debate on the use of NCCs in the U.S. about whether they are good or bad," said Gjergji Cici, associate professor and Dean's Fellow in the KU School of Business. "This whole debate has spilled over into academia, and scholars want to see if higher enforcement of NCCs has more effect on economic development and other measures. We wanted to see how they're actually affecting the people who work under them, their actions and their output." Cici and co-authors Mario Hendriock and Alexander Kempf, University of Cologne, conducted their study using the mutual fund industry as a test laboratory. They chose that industry as it commonly uses NCCs and has a wealth of data available for employee output with regular filings and indicators for fund performances. The authors theorized that one of two effects would be observable among the fund managers working under NCCs. Either knowing that if they were fired, they would have a very hard time finding another job in the business they would work hard and be productive; or knowing that their outside options were limited, they would have less chance of promotion or starting their own outside firms, thus be less motivated to perform highly. After measuring output of mutual fund managers in three states with varying enforcement of NCCs, the researchers found the first effect dominated, regardless of how they controlled for various other factors. They studied about 200 fund managers in Texas, Florida and Louisiana from 1992 to 2004, as those three states had seen changes in the enforcement of NCCs in those years, seeing them increase in Texas, decrease in Florida and initially decrease, then come back in Louisiana. The results showed that when enforcement of NCCs was up, besides showing better performance, fund managers exhibited several distinct behaviors. First, they engaged in window dressing, or attracting new customers to increase fee revenues for their employers. The incentive also had a disciplining effect on their risks, meaning the managers who knew their NCC was more likely to be enforced tended to engage less in risk-taking that could exacerbate losses, drive clients away and lose money for their firms. They had less deviation in their portfolios than their peers, tending toward more secure, predictable investments. Finally, the managers engaged in fund tournament behavior less, meaning they were less likely to measure themselves against other fund managers and take risky behavior to catch up in performance if they fell behind. "Once again, they do all of this because they were concerned," Cici said. "By dressing up their portfolios, they can increase fee revenue for their fund family and decrease their risk of being fired. The NCCs seem to have an effect on behavior in that the managers take less risk and align their behaviors with their employers' goals." The researchers measured performance data from several sources including the Center for Research on Security Prices Survivor-Bias-Free U.S. Mutual Fund Database, which provides fund names, family names, monthly net returns, total net assets under management, investment objectives and similar information including net assets and turnover ratios. Cici recently presented the study at the American Finance Association meeting in Atlanta. NCCs are common in the financial industry because it is a knowledge-intense field, Cici said. Employers use the labor mobility measures to protect industry secrets, prevent employees from taking clients to competitors when they leave and various other reasons. Those who favor NCCs often argue they encourage training and development among employees in addition to protecting trade secrets. Those who argue against them often claim NCCs can stifle innovation by preventing employees from starting their own business and restrict optimal matches among firms and employees. Regardless of which side one comes down on in the debate, Cici said the findings show definitively that NCCs do have an effect on the employees who work under them and their performance. When policymakers and business leaders debate their use and regulation, they would do well to consider the influence they have on the employees, who have heretofore been overlooked in the debate, the researchers argue. ### AMHERST, Mass. - Today, in coordinated press conferences across the globe including one at National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C., an international team of astronomers including a team from the University of Massachusetts Amherst reveal that they have succeeded in unveiling the first direct visual evidence of a supermassive black hole and its shadow. To accomplish this feat, they coordinated eight ground-based radio telescopes around the world to form one Earth-sized Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), an array specially designed and finely networked to capture images of a black hole. This breakthrough was announced today in a series of six papers published in a special issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The main image reveals the black hole at the center of Messier 87 (M87), a massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster 55 million light-years from Earth. It has a mass 6.5-billion times that of the Sun. NSF director France Cordova said, "This is a huge day in astrophysics. We're seeing the unseeable. Black holes have sparked imaginations for decades. They have exotic properties and are mysterious to us. Yet with more observations like this one they are yielding their secrets. This is why NSF exists. We enable scientists and engineers to illuminate the unknown, to reveal the subtle and complex majesty of our universe." The EHT used telescopes at the South Pole and in Chile, Mexico, Spain, Hawaii and Arizona. The instrument array includes the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) in Mexico, operated jointly by the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica. Astronomy professor Gopal Narayanan, principal investigator for UMass Amherst's EHT mission, specializes in building spectroscopic imaging instruments and led the team building two radio astronomy receivers used to collect EHT data at the LMT. Because of its central geographical location and large aperture, the LMT has been critical to the success of the EHT array, Narayanan says. Also in the UMass Amherst delegation in Washington today are Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement Michael Malone, UMass Amherst's LMT principal investigator professor Peter Schloerb and astronomy graduate student Aleks Popstefanija. The UMass Amherst astronomers are co-authors on all six papers being released today. Narayanan points out that one of the exciting areas of modern astrophysics is the notion that in and around the singularity of space-time of black holes, the macroscopic world collides with the microscopic world. For example, physicist Stephen Hawking has conjectured that black holes are ideal laboratories where the concepts of quantum mechanics and general relativity can be melded into a grand unified theory of fundamental concepts. Narayanan says, "The place to study that is at the event horizon of a black hole. By detecting this one, we get to the point where we can test some of these theories and start to identify the fundamental laws that order the universe." The EHT observations allowed astronomers to look at the very heart of a super massive black hole and the event horizon surrounding it. As Hawking pointed out, material falling into a black hole poses an "information paradox," because the information carried in the particles falling into the black hole seem forever lost to the universe. "That goes against the conservation laws of physics," Narayanan says. Future EHT observations may be able help test some of the interesting theories on the problem of information paradox. The EHT observations reveal the image of black hole at the center of Messier 87 (M87), a massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. This black hole is 55 million light-years from Earth and has a mass 6.5 billion times that of the Sun. The new M87 event horizon image shows an asymmetric ring-like structure around a central dark region. Theories predicted that the massive gravitational potential of the central super-massive black hole would bend and capture the light emanated from the hot gas swirling at near the speed of light around the event horizon of the black hole, Narayanan explains. He adds, "The experiment was set up so that we expected to see this happen and, by golly, we did! These observations are the million-dollar images that confirm the theory." This experiment also yielded the first best evidence that super massive black holes exist at a size of not just 20 or 30 solar masses, but millions and billions of solar masses. The observations indicated a 6.5 billion solar mass object within the confines of the event horizon imaged. Together, the discoveries give "a shot in the arm to theorists," Narayanan points out, because it lets them test which of their ideas is supported by observable evidence. "It's very gratifying and immensely exciting to see the results coming out after years of work," he adds. "At times it looked like an impossible task. But we showed that you can collaborate on this scale and get results. The camaraderie and team spirit was a wonderful thing to see." Further, "During the stress and strain of observing at night and in the cold, there were jokes amidst all the technical problems. I'd be helping someone out in Hawaii or Chile while we discussed some technical issues online. It wasn't just telescopes collaborating, it was a lot of young people, women, minorities, many people doing a lot of hard work. It's been an amazing effort." ### Imagine that HIV is a sealed tin can: if you opened it, what would you find inside? An international team led by researchers at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM), Tufts University School of Medicine, and the University of Melbourne think they know. For the first time, they have visualized what the "open can" of the human immunodeficiency virus looks like, revealing a previously unknown virus shape and a very detailed image of the vulnerabilities of the virus. Published April 10 in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, this major breakthrough was made possible through the use of a molecular "can opener" to expose parts of the virus envelope that can be targeted by antibodies. "The characterization of the new shape of the virus envelope reveals unique details about the vulnerability of HIV that might be useful in strategies aimed at its eradication," said Andres Finzi, one of the lead authors of the study, a researcher at the CRCHUM and a professor at University of Montreal. "It certainly opens new paths in the fight against this deadly virus." When HIV infects cells of the human immune system, it uses its envelope's spike to attach itself to specific receptors on the cells, called CD4 and CCR5. Binding to the CD4 receptor triggers changes in the shape of the envelope that allow the virus to infect the host cell. The new research describes the use of small-molecule CD4-mimetic compounds designed and synthesized at the University of Pennsylvania to force the virus to open up and to expose vulnerable parts of its envelope, allowing the immune system cells to kill the infected cells. In an earlier study published in PNAS in 2015, researchers led by Finzi showed that exposing these vulnerable parts of the envelope facilitates the elimination of infected cells by a mechanism known as antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). How to map HIV's vulnerabilities Tufts researchers were able to visualize the previously unknown shape of the virus envelope using a new technology - single-molecule Forster resonance energy transfer, or smFRET - that allows researchers to see how distinct elements of the envelope move with respect to one another. This provides a direct means of seeing that the HIV envelope is a dynamic machine with moving parts that allows it to adopt various shapes in response to stimuli such as antibodies or small molecules. "We hope that visualizing the virus envelope's shape will help in the development of vaccine candidates that specifically exploit ADCC," said James Munro, a lead author of the study and assistant professor of molecular biology and microbiology at Tufts University School of Medicine who was part of the team that pioneered the use of smFRET to better understand how the HIV-1 virus infects a human cell in real time. "In the Thai vaccine trial, to date the only vaccine trial that showed a modest level of protection from HIV infection, generation of antibodies with ADCC activity was one factor correlated with protection from the virus." The smFRET results were confirmed using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), a technique adopted nearly 20 years ago by Isabelle Rouiller, a lead author of the study and an associate professor at the University of Melbourne, which has recently gained recognition by the scientific community. "It is fascinating how viruses protect themselves. Modern approaches such as single particle cryo-EM now allow us to look in detail at the molecular mechanisms developed through evolution. Directly visualizing the molecules at the surface of HIV will allow us to devise strategies to cure disease. It's a dream come true!" said Rouiller. In 2017, nearly 37 million people were living with HIV. Every day, 5,000 new infections are reported to health authorities around the world. ### This content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or other funders. The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, National Institute of Health Research, the American Foundation for AIDS Research and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (1K22AI116262). James Munro is also supported by the Gilead Sciences Research Scholars Program in HIV and the Campbell Foundation. Isabelle Rouiller is supported by the STEM-M Stimulus Fund - University of Melbourne, and Andres Finzi holds the Canada Research Chair on Retroviral Entry. Acknowledgements: In addition to the Universite de Montreal, Tufts University and the University of Melbourne, the paper's two dozen authors were also affiliated with McGill University, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard Medical School, Yale University, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Scripps Research Institute. To read: "An Asymmetric Opening of HIV-1 Envelope Mediates Antibody-Dependent Cellular Cytotoxicity" by Nirmin Alsahafi et al. in Cell Host & Microbe DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2019.03.002. https://www.cell.com/cell-host-microbe/fulltext/S1931-3128(19)30114-3 An international team, led by an archaeologist from the University of Southampton and the University of Bordeaux, has revealed the first example of Palaeolithic figurative cave art found in the Balkan Peninsula. Dr Aitor Ruiz-Redondo worked with researchers from the universities of Cantabria (Spain), Newfoundland (Canada), Zagreb (Croatia) and the Archaeological Museum of Istria (Croatia) to study the paintings, which could be up to 34,000 years old. The cave art was first discovered in 2010 in Romualdova Pe?ina ('Romuald's cave') at Istria in Croatia, when Darko Komso, Director of the Archaeological Museum of Istria, noticed the existence of the remains of a red colour in a deep part of the cave. Following his discovery, the team led by Dr Ruiz-Redondo and funded by the French State and the Archaeological Museum of Istria, with the support of Natura Histrica, undertook a detailed analysis of the paintings and their archaeological context. This led to the identification of several figurative paintings, including a bison, an ibex and two possible anthropomorphic figures, confirming the Palaeolithic age of the artworks. Furthermore, an excavation made in the ground below these paintings led to the discovery of a number of Palaeolithic age remains; a flint tool, an ochre crayon and several fragments of charcoal. Radiocarbon dating of these objects show an estimated age of around 17,000 years and other indirect data suggest the paintings date to an even earlier period - at around 34,000-31,000 years ago. Further research will be conducted in order to establish the precise age of the rock art. Findings are published in the journal Antiquity. This discovery expands the so far sparse register of Palaeolithic art in south east Europe. It makes Romualdova Pe?ina the first site where figurative Palaeolithic rock art has been discovered in this area. Together with Badanj in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the two are the only examples of rock art from the Palaeolithic period in the Balkans. Dr Aitor Ruiz-Redondo, a British Academy-funded Newton International Fellow at the University of Southampton and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bordeaux, said: "The importance of this finding is remarkable and sheds a new light on the understanding of Palaeolithic art in the territory of Croatia and the Balkan Peninsula, as well as its relationship with simultaneous phenomena throughout Europe." A new project started by Dr Ruiz-Redondo and his team, funded by the British Academy, will develop further research at these two sites during the next few years. ### Notes to Editors 1) The paper Expanding the horizons of Palaeolithic rock art: the site of Romualdova Pe?inahas is published in number 368 of the journal Antiquity and can be found here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/expanding-the-horizons-of-palaeolithic-rock-art-the-site-of-romualdova pecina/738597492507013D73EA8FDFB521A59F (DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2019.36) 2) Besides Ruiz-Redondo (PACEA, Universite de Bordeaux; CAHO, University of Southampton) and Komso (Archaeological Museum of Istria), the specialists Dr D. Garate (IIIPC, University of Cantabria), Dr O. Moro-Abadia (University of Newfoundland), Prof M.R. Gonzalez-Morales (IIIPC, University of Cantabria), Prof J. Jaubert (PACEA, Universite de Bordeaux) and Prof I. Karavani? (University of Zagreb; University of Wyoming) have participated in the study. 3) The University of Southampton drives original thinking, turns knowledge into action and impact, and creates solutions to the world's challenges. We are among the top 100 institutions globally (QS World University Rankings 2019). Our academics are leaders in their fields, forging links with high-profile international businesses and organisations, and inspiring a 24,000-strong community of exceptional students, from over 135 countries worldwide. Through our high-quality education, the University helps students on a journey of discovery to realise their potential and join our global network of over 200,000 alumni. http://www.southampton.ac.uk 4) For more information about Archaeology at the University of Southampton visit: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/archaeology/index.page For further information contact: Peter Franklin, Media Relations, University of Southampton. Tel: ++44 23 8059 3212 Email: p.franklin@southampton.ac.uk http://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/contact-press-team.page Follow us on twitter: http://twitter.com/unisouthampton Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/unisouthampton CHARLOTTE, N.C., & WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., April 10, 2019 - Atrium Health, Wake Forest Baptist Health and Wake Forest University today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to create a next-generation academic healthcare system. This enables three visionary healthcare organizations to invest in the health and well-being of people throughout the region, as well as contribute ground-breaking research and innovation to the world. Included in the announcement are plans to build on the excellence of Wake Forest School of Medicine and develop a second state-of-the-art campus in Charlotte. By signing a Memorandum of Understanding, the organizations have agreed to start a period of exclusive negotiations, with the goal of entering into a final agreement later this year. With a shared vision to further transform medical education, expand patient-centered research and innovation currently in place in Winston-Salem, and empower the next generation of clinical excellence, the three organizations are embracing the opportunity to revolutionize how people become and stay healthy, ultimately enriching countless lives and communities throughout North Carolina, the Southeast region and the nation. Best Care for All Today, Atrium Health is known as one of the most highly integrated not-for-profit healthcare systems in the nation with nearly 14 million patient interactions each year across 42 hospitals and more than 900 care locations. Wake Forest Baptist Health is a nationally-ranked academic medical center and regional healthcare system with 2.2 million patient interactions each year across seven hospitals and more than 400 care locations. "Phenomenal things can happen when like-minded partners, committed to the same transformative vision, come together in new ways to better serve our patients and communities," said Eugene A. Woods, president and CEO of Atrium Health. "For example, Wake Forest School of Medicine and Wake Forest Baptist Health are national leaders in studying how to help people age better, and with a much higher quality of life. Last year at Atrium Health, we cared for more than 350,000 patients over the age of 65, and by 2035, one in five U.S. residents will be over that age. Just imagine the powerful possibilities to advance modern medicine by linking breakthrough science directly with our patients in a way that significantly enhances their cognitive and physical functioning - and allows them to live independently for longer. This is just one of the unlimited opportunities we see ahead. We can truly transform healthcare throughout North Carolina and far beyond - one patient at a time and one community at a time." Together, these innovative organizations have an unprecedented opportunity to create a world-class healthcare system around a single mission, strategy and set of goals designed for one purpose - to continuously improve health for all communities they serve, from large cities to small rural communities, making care more accessible and affordable for the nearly 6.8 million residents near the systems' respective service areas. A combined organization would: Bring together Atrium Health's destination clinical programs such as Cancer, Children's, Heart and Musculoskeletal, along with Wake Forest Baptist Health's clinical leadership and differentiating research in Aging and Alzheimer's disease, Cancer, Cardiovascular disease, Diabetes and Obesity, Neurosciences and Regenerative Medicine; Transform health for communities served through innovative data and evidence-driven public health programs, value-based care models that improve social determinants of health, and next generation primary care experiences that seek to dramatically improve and maintain health and well-being; and Invest in a proposed Translational Research and Population Health Center in Winston-Salem, to accelerate the best possible practices for patients, while improving quality and making care more affordable for all, including drawing from the experience and track record of CHESS, the organizations' population health services company. A Next-Generation Medical School Today, Wake Forest Baptist Health is a nationally-ranked academic medical center, which works as one with the School of Medicine. As one of the nation's most selective medical training programs, Wake Forest School of Medicine receives more than 10,700 applications for 145 Doctor of Medicine positions each year, in addition to having top programs for Physician Assistants, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists and Doctor of Nursing Practice. Atrium Health's medical education programs are centered on continuity of relationships with patients, faculty, peers and the community. With a unique integration of educational programs with Atrium Health's medical group, learners have the rare opportunity to hone in on evidence-based care, affordability initiatives, as well as leading quality and patient safety best practices, as they partner with their patients across the care continuum. "This is an exciting prospect that will have positive state and national impacts in addition to benefitting the Charlotte and Winston-Salem communities," said Nathan O. Hatch, Ph.D., president of Wake Forest University. "By strengthening medical education in Winston-Salem and bringing a medical school to Charlotte, we will open many doors for future health care leaders and also play a nationally leading role in research." Together, these three learning organizations would create a distinguished environment to redefine physician training with a cutting-edge curriculum that develops focused skillsets to best support the future of medical care. This unique approach would connect patients, caregivers, clinicians, academics, students, entrepreneurs and future leaders, encouraging them to work in concert to expand modern and affordable treatment options, to alleviate barriers to care and to solve many of the most pressing healthcare issues of our time. Building on the momentum of the recently opened Wake Forest Bowman Gray Center for Medical Education in Winston-Salem's Innovation Quarter, the organization would begin to envision a second innovative campus in Charlotte over the next few years. A combined organization would: Educate nearly 3,200 total healthcare learners - including students, residents and fellows across more than 100 specialized training programs each year; Attract top medical education faculty to enhance innovative teaching methods and create new models of care, adding to the already 1,650 full-time and part-time faculty positions at Wake Forest School of Medicine and Atrium Health; and Offer the largest post-graduate fellowship program for Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants in the nation, as well as critical experience for medical student education throughout an integrated academic healthcare system. Patient-Centered Research and Innovation Today, Wake Forest School of Medicine is among the top U.S. academic medical centers, with more than $210 million in annual research funding from the National Institutes of Health and other external sources. Committed to addressing our nation's most challenging healthcare needs, the school focuses its research portfolio on six areas: Aging and Alzheimer's disease, Cancer, Cardiovascular disease, Diabetes and Obesity, Neurosciences and Regenerative Medicine. Atrium Health currently has more than 1,000 active studies underway across more than 50 sites of care, and an active research portfolio that has grown nearly 40 percent over the previous two years. "We are eager to bring this shared vision for our future to life with Atrium Health," said Julie Ann Freischlag, M.D., CEO of Wake Forest Baptist Health and dean of Wake Forest School of Medicine. "It's incredible to think about the impact we can make, together, advancing patient-centered research, a next-generation curriculum and active population health analytics across our combined footprint. We can create amazing outcomes that embrace true change - most importantly enhancing, extending and saving the lives of countless people." Together, these innovative organizations would have the remarkable ability to fuel new scientific discoveries through the advancement of large-scale research within the settings where patients are already receiving care. A combined organization would: Coordinate many large and ground-breaking multi-site clinical research collaborations around the U.S. that are affecting millions of lives today, such as the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT), the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), the Search for Diabetes in Youth (SEARCH) and POINTER, a U.S. study to protect brain health through lifestyle intervention; Care for over 340,000 patients struggling with cardiovascular disease, and nearly 1.4 million North Carolinians in rural areas of our state. By uniting each organization's research and clinical strengths, the new organization would have national rankings by U.S. News & World Report in seven Adult specialties and six Pediatric specialties; and Work toward growing scientific and analytics jobs in the Winston-Salem area. Over the next several months, Atrium Health, Wake Forest Baptist Health and Wake Forest University will diligently work together and explore the opportunities to enhance services, capabilities and drive greater efficiencies. More information about the proposed next-generation academic health system can be found at http://www.BestCareforAll.org. ### Researchers used CRISPR technology to disrupt every gene in over 300 cancer models from 30 cancer types and discover thousands of key genes essential for cancer's survival In one of the largest studies of its kind, researchers used CRISPR technology to disrupt every gene in over 300 cancer models from 30 cancer types and discover thousands of key genes essential for cancer's survival. The team, from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Open Targets, then developed a new system to prioritise and rank 600 drug targets that show the most promise for development into treatments. The results, published today (10 April) in Nature, accelerate the development of targeted cancer treatments and bring researchers one step closer to producing the Cancer Dependency Map, a detailed rulebook of precision cancer treatments to help more patients receive effective therapies. Every two minutes someone in the UK is diagnosed with cancer, and one in two people will develop cancer at some point in their lives. Surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are commonly used to treat cancer, however while they can be effective at killing the cancer cells, some patients don't respond to treatment and healthy tissue can be damaged, leading to unwanted toxic side effects for patients. Scientists and pharmaceutical companies are exploring new targeted therapies that selectively kill cancer cells, leaving healthy tissue unharmed. Currently, producing new effective treatments is very difficult; it costs approximately $1-2 billion to develop a single drug, but around 90 per cent of drugs fail during development. Therefore, selecting a good drug target at the beginning of the process can be seen as the most important part of drug discovery. Researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, GSK, EMBL-EBI, Open Targets and their collaborators have conducted one of the largest CRISPR screens of cancer genes to date, disrupting nearly 20,000 genes in over 300 cancer models from 30 cancer types to uncover which genes are critical for cancer survival. The team focused on common cancers, such as lung, colon and breast, and cancers of particular unmet clinical need, such as lung, ovarian and pancreatic, where new treatments are urgently needed. Scientists identified several thousand key cancer genes and developed a prioritisation system to narrow down the list to approximately 600 genes that showed the most promise for drug development. A top-scoring target present in multiple different cancer types was Werner syndrome RecQ helicase (WRN). The team found that cancer cells with a faulty DNA repair pathway, known as microsatellite unstable cancers, require WRN for survival. Microsatellite instability occurs in many different cancer types, including 15% of colon and 28% of stomach cancers*. The new identification of WRN as a promising drug target offers an exciting opportunity to develop the first cancer treatments to target WRN**. Dr Kosuke Yusa, co-lead author previously from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Open Targets, now based at the Institute of Frontier Life and Medical Sciences, Kyoto University, said: "CRISPR is an incredibly powerful tool that enables us to do science at a scale and with a precision that we couldn't do five years ago. With CRISPR we have discovered a very exciting opportunity to develop new drugs targeting cancers." Dr Francesco Iorio, co-first author from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Open Targets, said: "To give a new drug the best chance of succeeding in the very final phases of clinical trials, it is crucial to select the best and most promising drug target at the beginning of the drug development process. For the first time, in a data-driven way, we provide guidance at a genome-scale on which new therapeutic targets should be put forward for the development of new anti-cancer drugs." The collaboration between researchers at Sanger, EMBL-EBI and GSK, the Open Targets partners, bolster the translation of these research results into new treatments. The datasets produced in this new study lay the foundations for producing the Cancer Dependency Map***, a detailed rulebook for the precision treatment of cancer. Dr Mathew Garnett, co-lead author from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Open Targets, said: "The Cancer Dependency Map is a huge effort to identify all the weaknesses that exist in different cancers so we can use this information to empower the next generation of precision cancer treatments. Ultimately we hope this impacts on the way we treat patients, so many more patients get effective therapies. In the meantime, this tool will be freely available for scientists across the world to understand what makes a cancer a cancer, and how we might target different types of cancers much more effectively than we do today." Dr Fiona Behan, co-first author from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Open Targets, said: "With the Cancer Dependency Map, I really hope to revolutionise treatment for patients. I didn't get in this game to generate long lists of priority targets, I want to make a difference in a patient's life. Even a handful of new, more effective anti-cancer drugs in the clinic or an improvement in the drug development process as a result of this research would benefit an enormous number of patients." Professor Karen Vousden, Cancer Research UK's chief scientist, said: "What makes this research so powerful, is the scale. CRISPR provides a unique tool to accelerate discovery of oncology drug targets, and this study is a salient leap in a positive direction. "But we should remember that studying cells in the lab doesn't always reflect the complexities of cancer in the human body and so will not necessarily reflect how someone will respond to a drug. This work provides some excellent starting points and the next steps will be a thorough analysis of the genes that have been identified as weaknesses in this study, to determine if they will one day lead to the development of new treatments for patients." ### Notes to Editors: *I Cortes-Ciriano et al. (2017) A molecular portrait of microsatellite instability across multiple cancers. Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15180 **In a complementary paper also published in Nature, a team led by researchers from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in the United States conducting similar dependency mapping experiments also discovered a strong dependency on WRN in microsatellite unstable cancers, lending further support to WRN as a promising drug target. ***The Cancer Dependency Map at Sanger is a project with four components - drugs, models, genes and analytics - which together contribute to the production of a rulebook for the precision treatment of cancer. https://depmap.sanger.ac.uk/ Mapping the dependencies of cancers is an international effort by the Sanger Institute in the UK and the Broad Institute in the United States. Researchers aim to bridge the translational gap that exists between genomic sequencing and providing precision medicine to the many cancer patients. Genes that are critical to a cancer's survival represent dependencies: vulnerabilities that might serve as targets for designing new therapies or repurposing existing ones. Mapping these dependencies is essential to making precision cancer medicine a reality. Publication: Fiona Behan et al. (2019) Prioritisation of cancer therapeutic targets using CRISPR-Cas9 screens. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1103-9 Funding: This study was supported by Open Targets (OTAR015), SU2C (SU2C0-AACR-DT1213), Wellcome and others. Dr Mathew Garnett is a CRUK funded researcher. For the full list of funders please refer to the publication. Selected websites: Open Targets Open Targets is a pioneering public-private collaboration that aims to transform drug discovery by systematically improving the identification and prioritisation of drug targets and improving the success rate for developing new medicines. The consortium is a unique, pre-competitive partnership between companies and not-for-profit research institutes. The partners are GSK, Biogen, Takeda, Celgene, Sanofi, the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI). Open Targets combines the skills, knowledge and technologies of its partner organisations, offering a critical mass of expertise that does not exist in any single institution. Large-scale genomic experiments (Sanger Institute) and computational techniques (EMBL-EBI) developed in the public domain are blended with formal pharmaceutical R&D approaches to identify causal links between targets, pathways and diseases. This enables the partners to systematically identify drug targets, and prioritise them for further exploration. Find more at https://www.opentargets.org/ or follow @targetvalidate About Kyoto University Kyoto University is one of Japan and Asia's premier research institutions, founded in 1897 and responsible for producing numerous Nobel laureates and winners of other prestigious international prizes. A broad curriculum across the arts and sciences at both undergraduate and graduate levels is complemented by numerous research centers, as well as facilities and offices around Japan and the world. For more information please see: http://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en About GSK GSK - a science-led global healthcare company with a special purpose: to help people do more, feel better, live longer. We have 3 global businesses that research, develop and manufacture innovative medicines, vaccines and consumer healthcare products. We aim to bring differentiated, high-quality and needed healthcare products to as many people as possible using our scientific and technical know-how. In 2014 GSK became one of the founding members of Open Targets to systematically improve the identification and prioritisation of drug targets that could lead to safe and effective medicines. For further information please visit http://www.gsk.com About Cancer Research UK Cancer Research UK is the world's leading cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through research. Cancer Research UK's pioneering work into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has helped save millions of lives. Cancer Research UK receives no government funding for its life-saving research. Every step it makes towards beating cancer relies on vital donations from the public. Cancer Research UK has been at the heart of the progress that has already seen survival in the UK double in the last forty years. Today, 2 in 4 people survive their cancer for at least 10 years. Cancer Research UK's ambition is to accelerate progress so that by 2034, 3 in 4 people will survive their cancer for at least 10 years. Cancer Research UK supports research into all aspects of cancer through the work of over 4,000 scientists, doctors and nurses. Together with its partners and supporters, Cancer Research UK's vision is to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured. Cancer Research UK has extensive expertise in drug discovery and development as established through the charity's Therapeutic Discovery Laboratories and Centre for Drug Development. The organisation also has access to large scale clinical trial capabilities through the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) network. For further information about Cancer Research UK's work or to find out how to support the charity, please call 0300 123 1022 or visit http://www.cancerresearchuk.org. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. The Wellcome Sanger Institute T he Sanger is one of the world's leading genome and biodata institutes. Through its ability to conduct research at scale, it is able to engage in bold and long-term exploratory projects that are designed to influence and empower science globally. Institute research findings, generated through its own research programmes and through its leading role in international consortia, are being used to develop new diagnostics and treatments for human disease and to understand life on Earth. Find out more at http://www.sanger.ac.uk or follow @sangerinstitute About Wellcome Wellcome exists to improve health by helping great ideas to thrive. We support researchers, we take on big health challenges, we campaign for better science, and we help everyone get involved with science and health research. We are a politically and financially independent foundation. Wednesday, April 10, 2019 You could say some Ferrari of Los Gatos customers were addicted. They had a love affair with the car, and it became their non-romantic mistress. One customer bought, sold, and traded two or three Ferraris a week regularly. If you had unlimited resources and an open checkbook, Ferraris could satisfy the urge to indulge in something most people never experience. In my interview with Dennis Glavis, past general manager and 24-year employee at Ferrari of Los Gatos, he told about his best customer. My best customer was such a nice fellow. He was easy to get along with, and someone you enjoyed interacting with. His father had the distribution rights for Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola in parts of Taiwan and Mainland China. Guess that explains why this young man had access to unlimited sums of money. He lived in San Francisco and loved to visit the dealership in Los Gatos. When he couldnt make the drive, hed buy or sell a car over the phone. I remember the time he bought three Ferraris in one week. Another time he traded in the Ferrari he had purchased a day earlier for a different one over the phonehe hadnt seen either car. For him, it was like changing socks, recalled Dennis. One day my customer walked into the showroom and told me, I had a good dream last night. Im going to buy the car that appeared in it. We ordered it for him, and he reminded me of one other thing. The car must have the following numbers on the license plate. Numerology was very important to him. Dennis continued, And you get this diversity of customers. I remember the guy that bashed up the Lamborghini, and that was in one of your earlier stories (read the story here). Most of the customers were really, really nice people. It was like you were all part of the same club. The Love Affair Generated by Real Passion Customers had a strong passion for Ferraris. They were buying something extraordinary, not an everyday car or a Toyota pick up truck for an employee to use in their business. These people were obviously wealthy individuals that enjoyed being in a non-stressful environment where they could reward themselves with something they truly loved. This was especially true for the guys that bought the vintage cars. Dennis explained how one customer bought a 427 SC Cobra to use as his daily driver. At the time you could buy the 427 SC Cobra for around $15,000. My customer drove it back and forth to work every day. He traded that Cobra in on one of only 39 Ferrari 250 GTO. There were only 36 250 GTOs manufactured between 1962 and 1964. Today, this Ferrari is considered the most valuable car the world has ever seen. In 2018, one sold for $48.4 million at an RM Sothebys auction in California and then a second sold privately for somewhere between $70 and $80 million. Dennis knows his customer loved these classic cars, but hes not sure his old customer still has the Ferrari 250 GTO today. If he does, hes a lucky man. Dennis described the storage facility located across the street from the Ferrari of Los Gatos dealership lot. You know, we had a storage facility across the street that usually had about 10 old, cranky Ferraris in it. Those cars would probably be worth $150 million today. We didnt show them to all our customers, but when we did, they usually begged us to buy one. Interesting People with Unusual Stories Ferrari of Los Gatos customers were interesting and successful. For example, a story about the founder of Silicon Valley Eagle Computer rocked the Ferrari world and the Ferrari lifestyle because of the way the press portrayed it. They milked it as Silicon Valleys wretched excess, said Dennis. In 1983 on the day Eagle Computer went public, its CEO and Founder, Dennis Barnhart, rewarded himself by purchasing a new Ferrari. Later that day he had too much to drink and drove too fast on Reservoir Road a few blocks from company headquarters in Los Gatos. The car flew through the air, tore through 20 feet of metal guardrail, and crashed into the bottom of a ravine. Barnhart was dead on arrival at Los Gatos General Hospital, and his passenger was seriously injured. While it was bad judgment, the press took the angle that it was just another example of the craziness in Silicon Valley. Many wealthy CEOs had to have a Ferrari when their companies went public. It was an addiction they could not avoidit signaled they had arrived. Barnhart was 40 years young with a wife and three children. This interview with Dennis Glavis took place in 2018 at his Morgan West car dealership in Santa Monica, California. He can be reached at Dennis@morganwest.net. His story continues in the next post when he shares more memories of his 24 years at Ferrari of Los Gatos. Do you have any stories about Ferraris from the 1980s or any other time? Please share the story here, or leave a comment below. Wednesday, April 10, 2019 The manager abdicated his accountability and those around him did not call this out. The end result was a human tragedy that rivaled the holocaust: 2 million massacred and 15 million rendered homeless! For the utter callous, unplanned and irresponsible way that it was managed, Indias partition in 1947, makes it to the list of Great Management Disasters in history. The partition of the Indian sub-continent into the nations of India and Pakistan in 1947 was meant to ease tensions between two groups, but it led to a colossal human tragedy where two million lost their lives and fifteen million were rendered homeless. Evaluation of key facts points to gross mismanagement by the British who were in a hurry to leave the sub-continent after their coffers had been rendered empty post World War II. India had been a jewel in the British Crown for two hundred years, but suddenly after World War II, it turned into a liability for the Colonial Empire. The Labor Party led by Clement Attlee came to power in Britain in 1945 post World War II and set a target of June 1948 to grant independence to India. Post World War II, staying in India was no longer financially viable for the British. So when Luis Mountbatten landed in India in March, 1947 as the last Viceroy, his primary task was to determine the path for a transfer of power to an Indian government within the June 1948 deadline. The environment : Tensions were running high in India when Luis Mountbatten arrived as the last Viceroy. The two major political parties the Indian National Congress led by Nehru and the Muslim League led by Jinnah, were at odds with each other. Jinnah was insisting on dividing the sub-continent into a Muslim majority Pakistan and a Hindu majority India. He was concerned that the 25% Muslim minority would lose its voice in a Hindu dominated India. The Indian National Congress was strictly opposed to the division and Sir Winston Churchill, the leader of the opposition, was in favor of a gradual handover of power to India. Read: Churchill letter to Attlee A stark reminder to Mountbatten about the dwindling law and order resources at his disposal was the Direct Action Day riots in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in August 1946 that left about five thousand dead. Muslim League leader, Mohammad Ali Jinnah had called for a Direct Action Day on August 16, 1946 to drive home his demand for a separate nation for Muslims. Rioting erupted soon after a huge crowd collected in the center of Calcutta to demand a separate Pakistan. With policemen absent, the rioting lasted three full days before the army was called in. By then, about five thousand lives had been lost. This was the first sign of British abdication of responsibility and authority in India post World War II. Time, resources, scope and Budget : Viceroy Mountbatten had about a year to finalize the transfer of power to ensure a smooth transition to the new governments. Intelligence reports from the provinces of Punjab and Bengal indicated that there was unrest more administrative/law enforcement resources were needed to ensure peace in these provinces. But Britain was in a hurry to get out and the last battalion of armed forces was returned to Britain in June of 1947. With a depleted group of law and order resources at his disposal, Mountbatten dropped a bombshell independence would be granted and the sub-continent divided into India and Pakistan by August 15, 1947 in less than three months and almost a year ahead of the timeline set by Prime Minister Attlee. So in one stroke, Mountbatten had increased the scope of the initiative, cut the budget and resources available to enforce law and order and shortened the timeline for the completion of the project. In short, a perfect recipe for disaster had been created. Lack of Communication : While we place a lot of blame on Mountbatten and the British government, the political leaders Nehru and Jinnah added to the confusion by not communicating the implication of the partition. The announcement that the sub-continent would be partitioned into India and Pakistan and handed over to the respective governments within three months, took everyone by surprise and created confusion. What did the partition mean to the residents? Both Jinnah and Nehru intended Pakistan and India to be secular nations. This meant that the current population mix could stay unchanged. Mountbatten too, did not communicate that the boundaries would be laid out based on the 1941 census. The population panicked rumors started floating people started taking on themselves to facilitate the creation of the boundaries push out the minority as much as possible. The result: minorities on both sides ended up at the receiving end. The moment the plan was announced, ethnic cleansing started and due to a lack of law enforcement resources, the carnage kept getting bolder with each passing day. Sir Cyril Radcliffe, the head of the Boundary Commission finished drawing the boundaries and presented them to Mountbatten on August 9, 1947. But Mountbatten sat on it for one whole week, till August 17 two full days after independence. Both Nehru and Jinnah had no idea where their countries boundaries lay when they hoisted their respective national flags. And suddenly, two days after the new nations were formed, people realized that they were on the wrong side of the boundary. The ethnic cleansing that had started before independence, went into high gear. The British intent in delaying the announcement of the boundaries post transfer of power is a clear abdication of accountability. Mountbatten himself shared his decision for delaying the announcement he did not want the British to be entangled in the partition violence and held responsible for it. Planning/Logistics : While the political leaders were engaged in the partition yes or no debate, there was no thought given to the logistics of the partition. Sir Cyril Radcliffe was identified as the owner of laying out the boundaries, but he was given just one month to finish the job! No thought was put to how movement of people would be managed. All sides seemed to be hoping that there would be no movement of people across the two countries. But people did move en masse they moved on foot, on bullock carts and on cramped trains. With limited administrative support, hundreds of thousands of migrants died of starvation, exhaustion and lack of medical care. The most gruesome of all modes of mass transport were the trains, some mere coal wagons. Without proper escort, they ended up being mass graveyards in motion as they got attacked at various stations en-route to the final destination. The minuscule few that had armed escort were the ones that finally made it alive to their respective destinations. Since provincial governors had been providing reports of unrest in the border provinces, to not plan for mass migration was an abject dereliction of duty. Mountbatten was asked by a few leaders to be prepared for mass migrations, but he gave mere lip service, knowing he was short on resources. Watch: The Day India burned The result : About 2 million lost their lives across both sides of the border. 15 million were rendered homeless that meant thousands of refugee camps sprung up in both countries to provide food and shelter to the displaced masses. Lady Mountbatten was so horrified at the outcome that she herself started volunteering at the refugee camps. It took about a decade to resettle the migrants about 3% of the population ended up being migrants. On the demographic side, the entire landscape of South Asia underwent a drastic change. In 1941, Karachi, Pakistans first capital, was 47.6 per cent Hindu. Delhi, the capital of independent India, was one-third Muslim. By the end of the decade, almost all the Hindus of Karachi had fled, while two hundred thousand Muslims had been forced out of Delhi. The most impacted city though, was the bustling metropolis of Lahore one of the richest and most cosmopolitan cities in British India, culturally and economically. Lahore was in flames and several key landmarks like the Shahalam Market were razed. It took several decades to get back its vibrancy, but it was never able to regain its cosmopolitan vibe. Read: Post-partition Lahore Post-mortem : At the core of the tragedy was a lack of law enforcement resources and the hurried exit of the British. If Mountbatten had not compressed the one year timeline to less than three months after announcement of the partition, the chaos and the bloodshed couldve definitely been avoided. Sticking to the original timeline wouldve ensured re-establishment of law and order before transfer of power as depicted in the original timeline below: Mountbattens foremost task shouldve been to restore law and order and establish confidence in the administration across India after the Calcutta riots of 1946. It was clear that a bunch of miscreants were causing trouble across a few provinces and these elements needed to be brought to book instead of being given a free hand. After partition was announced, a lot of thought and effort needed to be spent on managing the logistics from communicating to the public about the process of laying out the boundaries to setting up transport and medical infrastructure to support migration. The two month timeline for handover of partition was ridiculous and shouldve been called out by the ruling Labor party as well as the political leaders Nehru and Jinnah. Nehru and Jinnah seemed more excited about taking on the reigns of government than thinking about the safety of their peoples. They shouldve spent a lot of time with the masses assuring them that minorities on either side of the boundaries could stay put without any fear of violence. The gradual transfer of power shouldve included appointing a few regional Governors with outside support of the British administrators, while retaining British control over key provinces like Punjab and Bengal. Gandhi, who was a brilliant mass-communicator, went into a shell, disappointed that the country was being partitioned. Gandhi took to fasting to induce mobs to give up violence. Instead, Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah shouldve pressed Mountbatten to boost the security infrastructure and set that as a pre-condition to any political dialog. Surprisingly, the carnage of the partition got lost in history books, maybe because the world was busy in re-construction after a deadly World War II or maybe the British Empire used its might to suppress any coverage. The leaders of Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan were tried under the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials, but no investigation or trial was carried out to book the guilty in the gross human carnage that followed the partition. Seventy years after the partition, India inaugurated the Partition Museum on August 25, 2017 in the city of Amritsar to maintain a central repository of stories, materials, and documents related to the post-partition riots and migrations that followed the partition. The world acknowledged the partition migration as the biggest mass migration in recent human history, yet stopped short of investigating what led to it. In the end, it was a clear abdication of accountability and responsibility on part of the British and Mountbatten. The crown jewel of the British Empire deserved a better parting gift than a hurried exit. Any stories you can share where the leaders abdicated accountability, leading to a disastrous outcome? Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 10) - Despite the threat of escalating tensions in Libya, the country's representative to the Middle Eastern nation says Filipinos are still holding out to see whether the situation will change before making the choice to leave. This is according to Elmer Cato, Charge d'affaires of the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli Wednesday. "Yesterday, we recommended raising the alert level from Alert Level 2 to 3, which means we are encouraging our kababayan [countrymen] here in Tripoli and surrounding areas to seriously consider repatriation. But unfortunately as of a few minutes ago, we only have 11 Filipinos who have requested assistance to be repatriated. I think most of our kababayans here in Tripoli are maintaining this wait-and-see attitude," he said. Cato said this is because most Filipinos in Libya have been in Tripoli during "some of the worst fighting in its history" and believe the situation will stabilize in the coming days. He said he also expects the number wanting to be repatriated to increase once fighting escalates. Officials are trying to convince Filipinos to leave, and are advising those in Tripoli to move to safer areas. There are around 2,000 Filipinos in Libya, with half of that number in Tripoli. As of posting, Cato said the situation in Tripoli was "business as usual," but it was not the same in other parts of the country. "A few kilometers away, in the outskirts, heavy fighting was reported until a few minutes ago," he said. Cato added, Filipinos in Libya have been reporting to them about the situation in the areas where they live. "Some have reported hearing exchanges of small arms and heavy weapons," he told CNN Philippines New Day. He also said they have received reports of heavy shelling in some residential areas, a situation he laments is "really unfortunate." Should the situation worsen, Cato said mandatory repatriation would be enforced. READ: DOLE: Forced evacuation of OFWs in Libya a possibility Cato said Filipinos in Libya who want to come home can get in touch with the Embassy, and families concerned about their kin in Libya can contact the Department of Foreign Affairs. Cato also said under the current alert level - Level 2 - the Philippines should not be deploying more workers to Libya. "If you would look at how we formulated the guidelines for Alert Level 3, unlike before when we would base restrictions on all Filipinos here in Libya, we made sure that the coverage this time would apply only to specific areas which is Tropoli and districts within a 100-kilometer radius of the capital," he said. Ambazonia leaders Archives Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, Tassang Wilfred, Nfor Ngala Nfor, Dr Henry Kimeng, Dr Cornelius Kwanga, Dr Fidelis Che, Prof Awasum Augustine, Dr Egbe Ogork, Barristers Eyambe Elias and Shufai Blaise failed to show up at the Yaounde Military Court Monday, April 8 where they are standing trial for their role in the unrest that has enveloped Cameroons North West and South West regions. The case was thus adjourned to Monday, April 29, 2019 given that the lawyers of the accused were also absent. Cameroon-info.net has now learnt that the defense counsel of the 10 Ambazonia leaders have sworn to ground all proceedings before the Yaounde Military Court relating to the matter until the Centre Regional Appeal Court gives a verdict on their appeal. The judge had ruled that the accused be tried in Cameroon but the defense team says the verdict should be reversed by the Appeal Court on grounds that the Ambazonia leaders are refugees and asylum seekers who should be sent back to Nigeria where they were arrested. As a result, the defense team failed to show up at the Yaounde Military Court while their clients refused to honour an extraction order for the prison to produce them in court. The lawyers are said to have made a written submission for the matter to be adjourned to one of three dates: May 3, 10 or 13, but the judge decided otherwise. It remains unclear how the matter will thus unfold. One of the lawyers, Barrister Ndong Christopher is of the opinion that they may not honour the April 29 rendezvous. During their last appearance, Military Judge Misse Njone first identified all ten detainees, read out their charges and went on to arraign them. He asked whether or not they were guilty of the charges leveled against them. It was Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, leader of the self-proclaimed state of Ambazonia who replied thus: I cannot answer that question. The defense team would then weigh in to oppose an attempt to arraign the suspects. They argued that the accused persons cannot be arraigned before a panel of judges consisting of two assessors Ngouongue and Edou Mewoutou Armand who had previously been recused. The team of lawyers defending the Ambazonia leaders said they had filed an appeal against an earlier ruling passed by the previous presiding judge, Colonel Mem Michel. The judge had ruled that all the accused persons will be judged in Yaounde even when the defense team had argued that their clients are either refugees or asylum seekers. They said a mandamus for the military tribunal to transfer the case file to the Appeal Court had been filed. Military judge Misse Njone denied seeing a copy of the said appeal even though the defense lawyers would insist that the court had been served with three copies of the appeal file. It is at this point that the judge suspended proceedings, resuming after about an hour. When the judge questioned the quality of the appeal, the lawyers fired back. This exchange again necessitated another suspension of the hearing for well over four hours. As the went tarried on, Barrister Eyambe collapsed, apparently due to the midday heat that was very much felt in the courtroom. A medical team from the clinic at the military tribunal only showed up thirty minutes later after some family members and friends had aided him to regain consciousness. The matter would then be adjourned to April 8. The Texas Workforce Commission on Tuesday approved a rule to classify on-demand workers that are hired for jobs through digital apps as independent contractors. The rule, which allows the tech companies to avoid paying unemployment taxes if they can prove their workers are marketplace contractors, had provoked the outrage of worker advocacy groups and sparked the concerns of small business owners that view the measure as a loophole for big tech companies. The TWC adopted the rule by a vote of 2 to 1. The rule had became particularly controversial in recent months due to intense lobbying by Handy, an app for booking home cleaners and other home services. State lobbying disclosure records show that Handy, headquartered in New York, began lobbying the workforce commission in 2017 to classify workers who get hired for on-demand work through online platforms as independent contractors. The gig economy is quietly undermining a century of worker protections, said Gary Warren of the Central South Carpenters Regional Council, a union for construction workers, at the meeting on Tuesday. Level playing field?: Local businesses say Texas rule limiting worker benefits in gig economy would hurt How to classify workers who pick up jobs such as delivering food, picking up passenger, cleaning homes and doing yard work through app-based services has been debated around the country. Workers advocates say they should be treated as employees and the tech companies that hire them should be responsible for the taxes and benefits that other employers provide. Gig economy companies argue they are not employers, but rather intermediaries between people buying and selling services. Emails obtained through a public records request and released by a workers advocacy group show that the commission largely adopted the language proposed by Handy during early conversations between the Texas Workforce Commission and the company. Handys lobbyists and others have pushed for similar rules or legislation across the country. Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee and Utah have approved marketplace contractor laws that treat most gig workers as contractors. Handy said in a statement that it is dedicated to developing policy that provides protections and benefits for workers and addresses a changing nature of work in the economy. The recent ruling by the Texas Workforce Commission is an important step forward in updating our employment laws to reflect these shared goals, a Handy spokesperson said in a statement. The commission denies it was unduly influenced and says the rule is a response to a changing workplace. The state said the presumption by the commission is still that a worker is an employee unless the employer can prove otherwise. At the meeting, Commissioner Chair Ruth Hughs said that the commission would still evaluate employment on a case-by-case basis, and that she was in favor of the rule to provide stability and predictability for employers in a growing sector of the economy. In no way will the mere existence of a website automatically confer independent contractor status, Lisa Givens, a spokesperson for the Texas Workforce Commission, said in a statement. Workers advocacy groups in Texas attended the meeting and sharply criticized the commissions decision. erin.douglas@chron.com Twitter.com/erinmdouglas23 The Mission Park Funeral Chapels Stone Oak stands right in the path of U.S. 281s expansion, but owner Robert Dick Tips has no plans for drive-thru viewings. They do exist, a chuckling Tips said of funeral homes that allow mourners to pay their last respects while behind the wheel of their car. But then he soberly added, No, sorry, I dont really have a desire to do that. The domed funeral home shut down at the end of last month to make way for the widening of 281 certainly not what Tips envisioned when he built it 13 years ago. We never knew the highway was coming through, Tips said. When we started out, not a clue. I would not have built where I built. I would have built further back. Land already has been cleared on both the north and south ends of the funeral home. Work crews last week razed Mission Parks corporate offices and some other small buildings Tips had owned. The funeral home is scheduled to be demolished April 18. Texas Department of Transportation officials first laid out a plan in 2001 to rebuild 281 from Loop 1604 to Borgfeld Drive into a freeway. However, litigation that opposed making it a toll road delayed the start of the project. Tips always believed any widening would occur on the other side of 281. April Ancira, vice president of Ancira Auto Group, which owned a Chrysler Jeep dealership on the east side of 281 across from Mission Park, had the same understanding. Around 2005, Anciras father, Ernesto Ancira Jr., intentionally built the dealership further back from 281 in anticipation of the widening taking place on the east side of the highway. It was a surprise when it turned out to be on the flip side, April Ancira said, echoing Tips. An Ancira partnership sold the dealership property to Northeast Independent School District in 2009. While Tips wound up selling his property and structure to TxDOT, it was hardly a total loss on his investment. Property records show TxDOT paid Tips about $23.8 million for 6.6 acres and the buildings in 2017. TxDOT allowed Tips to operate the funeral home essentially rent-free for the last two years. The agreement terminated Feb. 28, but Tips was given an extra month to vacate. Tips had owned the land he sold to TxDOT for so long that he made money in the deals, though he wouldnt say how much. He added he lost money on the sale of the building because its costing him more to build its replacement, which is being erected nearby. The property TxDOT acquired from Tips is part of the second phase of the highways expansion, stretching from Stone Oak Parkway north to Borgfeld Drive, south of the Comal County line. The $300 million project will add four lanes (two north and south), plus two lanes for high-occupancy vehicles, making it a 10-lane freeway On ExpressNews.com: More U.S. 281 expansion work on tap Deeds for the land where the funeral home is located and parcels directly south show the transfers to TxDOT were part of a settlement to avoid formal eminent domain proceedings and the added expenses of litigation. Tips retained the oil and gas rights. About 3.4 acres north of the funeral home and Tips Jewels Lane was acquired from Tips as part of a condemnation proceeding. TxDOT relied on one appraisal report for each parcel in determining what to pay for the property, agency spokeswoman Laura Lopez said. Tips and the state, though, are fighting over part of Northwind Boulevard, directly south of the land he sold to TxDOT. Tips sued TxDOT in May, alleging its trying to take Northwind without paying for it because it wrongly has concluded that the land in question already is a public road. A street sign for Northwind Boulevard contains the letters PVT, denoting the road is private. Hes asked a Bexar County district court to declare his company owner of the road and reject TxDOTs claim that the land has been a dedicated road for some time. Tips declined to discuss the suit, other than to say the two sides are talking. Lopez said the agency does not comment on pending litigation. In a response to the suit, state attorneys deny TxDOT has taken the land without compensation. TxDOT also has sovereign immunity from lawsuits, the response adds. Tips owns a lot of acreage in the area, allowing him to build a funeral home about a block away from the original just further back from 281. He said it will be a replica of the existing structure, assessed last year at almost $5 million by the Bexar Appraisal District. Parts of Mission Park Funeral Chapels Stone Oak are being used in the new building, including steel, air conditioning units and the cupola, Tips said. Workers were removing windows Monday. The agreement with TxDOT allows him to take materials for his new funeral home, he said. We wanted to recycle as much of that building as we possibly could, he said. When Tips was building the original funeral home in 2006, the San Antonio Express-New reported he was taking the family business to a new level. The 30,000-square foot building, costing $300 a square foot, included an industrial-style kitchen to handle large catering functions. The facility has hosted a few weddings and some receptions, Tips said. He referred to it as an event center. The days of the morbidly gloomy funeral homes are rapidly coming to a close, Tips said at the time. Today, his Mission Park Funeral Chapels and Cemeteries has 27 locations in San Antonio, Houston, Austin and elsewhere. Construction of the new funeral home has been slowed by rain, he said, but hes hopeful work can be completed by the end of the year. This isnt something that I wanted to do, Tips said. At my age (64), this was definitely not on my wish list, I can tell you that. Still, hes in full support of adding more lanes to 281. We were not excited about the fact that we were losing the building, Tips said. But Ive got to look at the big picture. The reality is, its needed out there. The road is needed. Im happy for it, quite frankly, because its not been fun to drive up and down 281 for anybodywho lives out there. Patrick Danner is a San Antonio-based staff writer covering banking and civil courts. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | pdanner@express-news.net | Twitter: @AlamoPD Just under 3,000 people wil pack Trinity Universitys Laurie Auditorium on Friday for internationally renowned musician Yo-Yo Mas sold-out performance of Bach solo cello suites. But many, many more will get to experience the performance. Thats because it will be simulcast at both the Mission Marquee Plaza, the community space on the former site of Mission Drive-In; and at Texas A&M International University in Laredo. The concert is part of the Bach Project series that Ma launched in August: 36 concerts of the cello suites performed across the globe over the course of two years. Each performance will be coupled with a Day of Action devoted to cultural engagement and exploring the impact of the arts on communities. The Day of Action connected to the San Antonio performance the only Texas concert in the series actually will take place in Laredo on Saturday. They felt that was the important gesture, to do something on the border, said John Toohey, president and executive director of Arts San Antonio, which is presenting the concert. Yo-Yo Ma Concert: 8 p.m. Friday, Laurie Auditorium, Trinity University, 1 Trinity Place. Sold out. Simulcast: Live performances begin at 7 p.m. and the Yo-Yo Ma simulcast begins at 8 p.m. at the Mission Marquee Plaza, 3100 Roosevelt Ave. Free. Info: artssa.org; 210-226-28891. See More Collapse On ExpressNews.com: Fiesta finery on display at ITC The audiences at the simulcast sites may actually have a better view, he said. And theyll get the full program, without any diminution. The Laredo simulcast always was part of the plan for Mas Texas performance. The San Antonio simulcast was added when it was clear that the concert was going to sell out in a few weeks and that a lot of people would miss out otherwise. We are in one of the smaller venues that will be on this tour, Toohey said. We thought, well, OK, a (simulcast here) is a no-brainer. Lets do that. Arts San Antonio is partnering with the World Heritage Office, which manages Mission Marquee Plaza, for the simulcast. Trinity University is handling the technical end of things. Potential concertgoers were asked to make reservations for the simulcast mostly as a way for Arts San Antonio to be able to reach them if weather or other unforeseen events prompted a change in plans. Toohey expects to be able to accommodate folks who decide on the spur of the moment to turn up at the Mission Marquee without reservations. The National Weather Service forecast for Friday night includes a slight chance of showers. The plan for the evening is for the Mission Marquee show to kick off an hour before Ma is slated to take the stage at Trinity. Urban-15s Carnaval de Santo will perform, as will the winners of the music portion of KPACs annual Sounds Like KPAC teen talent competition: violinist Nicholas Garcia-Hettinger, who is a student at Brandeis High School; and the Saxalorian Quartet, a saxophone ensemble based at Churchill High School that includes Ian Weidman on soprano sax, Craig Jaffe on alto sax, Ricky Dixon on tenor sax and Abbi Stewart on baritone sax. Nathan Cone, vice president of cultural and community engagement for Texas Public Radio, will be master of ceremonies. On ExpressNews.com: Meet San Antonios harpsichord maker Arts San Antonio staffers, including Toohey, will join Ma in Laredo Saturday for the Day of Action. The project fits in with the overall mission of the organization. We think that what were supposed to do is connect people from the community with globally significant artists, Toohey said. We think thats something we can do and should do. Thats probably the most gratifying part of this work. The day will begin at 9 a.m. with a short performance at Tres Laredos Park on the banks of the Rio Grande near the Gateway to the Americas International Bridge, which connects Laredo to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Ma will then cross the border to Nuevo Laredo, where he will do a repeat performance at Plaza Juarez at 11 a.m. Ma also will take part in conversations on both sides of the border with a cross-section of the community about the cultural life of the area and the role culture can play in the future. The day will end with a free pachanga at Tres Laredos Park, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., that will include a performance at 4 p.m. by Ma, the Laredo Philharmonic and mariachis of Rapsodia, a piece by Laredo composer Colin Campbell about the power of music to bring people together. That ties in with a driving idea behind the Bach Project. According to the New Yorker, Ma was struck by the powerful impact the Bach suites have on various groups, and he wanted to find a way to harness that and perhaps create a better future. The music is clearly meaningful to him. At his performance at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., last November, he said, What is this music for? It is to help me through life. Deborah Martin is an arts writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | dlmartin@express-news.net | Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN Kemende Henry Archives Senator Kemende Henry Gamsey, Barrister at Law and SDF Senator for North West almost brought down the walls of Cameroon's Senate Monday night, following in the tone and spirit of Senator Nfon Victor Mukete. In the presence of members of government and in what was supposed to be a question and answer session, Senator Henry Kemende, senator of the opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) party from the North West mounted the rostrum and held the house spellbound with an emotional outburst. Kemende, like Nfon Mukete said the pain is too much for the people of the North West and South West Regions, wondering why the authorities in Yaounde have decided to be indifferent. He thundered: You continue to make people to run away. You made Foncha run away. You made Muna to run away. And now, the oldest Senator, Nfon VE Mukete is almost running away. He is talking and you are not hearing. What kind of people are you? Kemende extolled the virtues of federalism, wondering why the state would be so insensitive to the demands of bona fide compatriots of the North West and South West regions. He regretted that the government is sticking to decentralization on grounds that the constitution presents Cameroon as a decentralized unitary state that shall so remain. Some senators of the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM) like Former Minister Charles Salle tried to silence the SDF firebrand senator. Reports have it that matters almost came to a head when some of the lawmakers almost went physical on their colleague. You must hear me till the end! Kemende replied. Apparently helpless, the President of the Senate, Marcel Niat Njifenji allowed Kemende to finish his submission before they went on to adopt the petroleum code late Monday night. In an earlier interview, Kemende told Cameroon-info.net that: The SDF believes that this entire decentralization struggle is a piecemeal solution to a problem that we know. They are solutions guided by personal interest and greed. It is a show of power drunkenness. People who have enjoyed power for ages dont want to let it go. They think that to be in power means controlling everything in the country. The SDF position remains the same. We want federation. We want a substantial devolution of powers, not decentralization. Senator Nfon Muketes position has rekindled the spirit of challenging the statusquo. It has given some of us the courage to speak out. Nfon Mukete has done it as a father, as one of the founders of this nation. He has actually proven to us that we have not been mistaken when we stood up against what is happening. Every region is capable of being a state and be allowed to manage its own educational system, judicial system and much more. The central authority should only have limited powers. Two years ago, Melissa Cabello Havrda narrowly missed out on the opportunity to represent the district where she grew up. In the 2017 race for City Councils District 6, the attorney came up 435 votes short against Greg Brockhouse, an ex-mortgage-bank executive and consultant who would go on to become one of the most vocal critics of the status quo at City Hall. Undeterred, Havrda decided to launch another bid for the West Side district. In doing so, she entered a race devoid of incumbents the seat became vacant after Brockhouse decided to challenge Mayor Ron Nirenberg. But Havrda is not the only familiar face in the race for District 6. Voters with long memories may also recognize Robert Herrera, who is running for the seat he held for a controversial single term more than 20 years ago. They will be joined by two political newcomers: an accountant who worked part-time under two District 6 councilmen and an after-school program specialist for Northside Independent School District. On ExpressNews.com: Eight vie for open seat in San Antonios City Council District 2 District 6 candidates Mario Adame Age: 32 Occupation: After school program specialist, Northside ISD Family: Single Education: Bachelor's in education, University of Texas at Austin In his own words: "I answer to the residents. That's how democracy works. Not on my beliefs will I act, but based on the beliefs of the community." Melissa Cabello Havrda Age: 44 Occupation: Attorney, partner at Casner and Cabello Havrda, PLLC Family: Married; three children Education: JD, St. Mary's University School of Law; MBA, University of Texas at San Antonio; bachelor's, St. Mary's University In her own words: "A lot of citizens in San Antonio are doing everything they can to get better, everything they can to get a leg up, and the system is just not working for them." Andy Greene Age: 58 Occupation: Certified public accountant; also worked part-time for councilmen Greg Brockhouse and Ray Lopez Family: Married; three grown children Education: Bachelor's in accounting, Le Moyne College In his own words: "I know how City Hall works. I know how the process of working with the other council members works. I think I'm the best person to carry that forward into the District 6 position." Robert Herrera Age: 63 Occupation: Part-time staffer for Congressman Vicente Gonzalez Family: Married; three children (one deceased), two grandchildren Education: Attended South Texas College In his own words: "I learned how to work the budget. I learned how to lobby for certain people to help you out on council. I also learned that you have to be transparent." See More Collapse These are the candidates for District 6, in the order they will appear on the ballot. Mario Adame, 32, works as an after-school program specialist at a community learning center in Northside ISD. Adame interacts on a daily basis with low-income students and their families, connecting them with programs and services. Adame, who has self-published three books of poetry, said his experiences working with youth and working-class families is the driving force behind his decision to pursue the District 6 seat. As a city, we need to highlight their priorities, he said, including creating safe home environments, improving public education and exposing children to job training early on. He also identified a lack of reliable internet access and the disconnect between school districts and families as problems he would like to address in the district. As a member of City Council, Adame said his top priorities would be visibility, accountability and transparency. According to campaign finance records, Adame had raised $1,080 in contributions and spent a little more than $1,400 as of March 25. Melissa Cabello Havrda, 44, is an attorney focusing largely on disability law as a partner at the law firm Casner and Cabello Havrda, PLLC. Havrda said her decision to represent disabled individuals and to run for City Council both stem from a story she revisits often. Walking through her grandfathers neighborhood as a child in the Culebra Park area, she recalls asking him why there were no sidewalks. She said he responded in Spanish, They dont care about us. As a little girl, it sparked a fire in me and it really has led me to practice law where I focus on helping people who normally dont have access to justice, Havrda said. It also led me to run for City Council for people like him, to make sure every citizen is being heard. If elected, Havrda said, she would like to focus on reducing property taxes, addressing traffic and transportation issues as well as public safety, three of the most common complaints of residents in the district. She said she would also prioritize the growth of small, local businesses on the West Side. The groundwork that her team laid during her campaign against Brockhouse two years ago seems to be paying dividends now, Havrda said, adding that she feels confident about the race. Havrda has earned the support of several prominent elected officials at the local and state levels, including Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, county commissioners Sergio Chico Rodriguez and Justin Rodriguez, former mayor Ed Garza and state representatives Diego Bernal, Ina Minjarez and Jose Menendez, according to her campaign website. Havrda has outraised her opponents by a wide margin, campaign finance records indicate. She garnered $12,170 in contributions and had more than $2,300 in cash-on-hand as of the March 25 financial filing deadline. On ExpressNews.com: Three challenging Gonzales in San Antonio City Council District 5 race Andy Greene, 58, is a certified public accountant with his own practice. For a decade, he also worked on a part-time basis for Brockhouse and former councilman Ray Lopez. For years Greene advised both councilmen on budgetary matters and infrastructure projects, experience he said acquainted him with the inner workings of City Hall and the neighborhoods of District 6. He also acted as a liaison with 13 neighborhoods in the district, he said. I know the district in and out, he said. I know how to work with the folks that are trying to get things done within San Antonio. Greene, who previously served as the campaign manager and treasurer for Lopez, has also been closely involved with improvements in Northside ISD for two decades. He served on the last three bond issue campaigns for the school district, including last year, when Northside voters overwhelmingly approved a $848.9 million bond package, the districts largest ever. As a council member, Greene would look to address what he called abysmal call times in the district, something he said could be accomplished by expanding and improving substations, along with working to train and retain police officers. He also said rising appraisals are a problem, as is traffic in the fast-growing district. Acknowledging that voters have opposed rail, he said he would be supportive of anything thats going to get people moving. Greene raised $3,630 in contributions and had more than $3,600 in cash-on-hand, according to campaign finance records. Robert Herrera, 63, does part-time constituency work for U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat from McAllen. Previously, Herrera worked in federal civil service, including for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, at then-Kelly Air Force Base and for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He was known as Bobby Herrera when he served as the District 6 councilman from 1995 until 1997, when he lost a reelection bid after a string of personal scandals that included legal troubles. Bexar County court records indicate he received probation and fines for two different instances of driving while intoxicated, once in June 1990 and again in August 1998. He received probation in both cases, according to records. Herrera, who was in his late 30s when he was elected to City Council, said during a meeting with the Express-News editorial board that he was single and young during his council tenure. He has also said that he matured after his son, Bobby Jr., died in a car accident in 2003. When I came on, I was young, fairly young, Herrera said. I was single at the time and doing all kinds of things maybe I shouldnt have. However, he said, the experience taught him how the system works at City Hall, his way around the city budget and how to work with others to get things done. During the editorial board meeting, Herrera said the city should improve transportation by making VIA buses accessible to more people and introducing further regulation of e-scooters. He was supportive of a property tax cap and said state legislators should undo the citys sick leave policy and nondiscrimination ordinance. Herrera had not filed a campaign finance report as of Tuesday. Lauren Caruba covers health care and medicine in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | lcaruba@express-news.net | Twitter: @LaurenCaruba President Donald Trump visited San Antonio for a closed-door fundraiser at The Argyle, the exclusive dinner club in Alamo Heights. Air Force One landed at the San Antonio International Airport in the late morning on Wednesday, where the president was greeted by numerous supporters as he walked off the plane. Trump then rode in a limousine to The Argyle behind a motorcade of police motorcycles, cruisers and ambulance trucks. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox At the private club, another group of supporters was on hand to welcome him; no protesters were evident. Through the tinted windows, we saw him press up (against the window) and wave, said Shari Pearson, decked in American-flag-decorated regalia and holding a Trump flag. And of course, I saw the hair. I said, Thats Donald Trumps hair. Pearson said there were about 50 people gathered near Crescent Street. Anne McGarraugh, 48, and her mother, Diane Weigle, also came to catch a sight of the president. They said it was exciting to see the president in San Antonio. We love Trump, Weigle said. Hes doing the very best he can for this country. Trumps event at The Argyle is a fundraiser. Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel, traveling in Trumps entourage, said they expect to bring in $6 million at the event. SUBSCRIBERS: At San Antonio rally, Castro blasts Trump, calling for 'compassion and not cruelty' in immigration The presidents presence in San Antonio led Julian Castro, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, to hold a rally downtown protesting Trumps immigration policies. Castro was mayor of San Antonio from 2009 to 2014 and also led the Department of Housing and Urban Development under President Obama. It is the presidents ninth time visiting Texas since he took office and the third this year. After the San Antonio event, Trump headed to Houston. Staff writer Jeremy Wallace contributed to this report. Dylan McGuinness covers City Hall and local politics in San Antonio. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | dylan.mcguinness@express-news.net | Twitter: @DylMcGuinness H.E Rowan Laxton Twitter The United Kingdom has indicated its will to help Cameroon, overcome its security challenges as attacks on civilians continue in the Far-North, Adamawa, East and Anglophone regions. The British High Commissioner to Cameroon, Rowan James Laxton held talks with the Minister Delegate at the Ministry of External Relations, in charge of relations with the Commonwealth, Felix Mbayu. Reports say the duo didnt only focus on security issues, but also Cameroons long lasting relationship with the United Kingdom and how they can strengthen ties. After the two hours meeting behind closed doors, Rowan told reporters that they both talked about a range of bilateral and regional issues, the Commonwealth and about some upcoming events in the United Nations. On security challenges, Rowan said they intended to help Cameroon. " some of the security challenges and what the British government can do to support Cameroon overcome these challenges, said Laxton. He further said his government continues to play a major role as a donor to the thousands of internally displaced persons and Cameroonian refugees. Laxton said his government which plays a major role as a donor will continue to support Cameroon to bear the burden. " We will continue to standby and support the government of Cameroon to address what is a difficult situation, the Diplomat continued. The High Commissioner stressed on the fact that his government this year, made a 2.5 million pound contribution to the United Nations Childrens Fund, UNICEF to support humanitarian relief efforts in Cameroon. It should be recalled that Britains reassurance of constant support to Cameroon comes at a time when relief organizations are calling for increased aid due to the increasing number of refugees and internally-displaced persons as a result of the armed conflict in the North West and South West regions Texas is one step closer to stomping out smoking for people under 21 after a bill favored by Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick passed on Tuesday. Senate Bill 21, filed by state Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, would raise the purchasing age for all tobacco products, including cigarettes and e-cigarettes. The Texas Senate passed the bill in a 20-11 vote after Huffman amended it to exempt active-duty military personnel. Increasing the age to purchase tobacco products in Texas to 21 will not only improve public health and save countless lives, it will save Texans billions of dollars in health care costs, said Patrick, who named Senate Bill 21 among his top 30 legislative priorities last month. Before it was amended, some Republican Senators criticized the bill, arguing it should not apply to young adults enlisted in the military, The Dallas Morning News reported Tuesday. The amendment allows Texans who are 18 and older and serving in the armed forces to purchase tobacco products with a valid military ID. Texas Take: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox A companion bill filed by state Rep. John Zerwas, R-Richmond, passed unanimously out of a Texas House committee last month, but does not include an exemption for active military. It is not clear if or when the Texas House might vote on the matter. For the bill to become law, both chambers would have to pass identical versions, and it would need to be signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. According to Texas 21, a coalition of organizations backing the effort, five of the 13 states that have adopted so-called Tobacco 21 legislation included military exemptions, which the organization says they strongly oppose. Texas 21 will be working with legislators to help them understand the importance of including the military in tobacco 21 legislation, said Claudia Rodas, southern region director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, in a news release. Our goal is a tobacco 21 law that protects all young Texans, including those who are willing to die to protect our country. Altria, which owns tobacco giant Phillip Morris as well as the makers of Copenhagen and Skoal snuff, expressed support for the legislation last month, when Senate Bill 21 had its first hearing. The bill is also supported by e-cigarette maker Juul Labs, which is part-owned by Altria. "We cannot fulfill our mission to provide the worlds one billion adult smokers with a true alternative to combustible cigarettes, the No. 1 cause of preventable death in this country, if youth-use continues unabated, said Ted Kwong, a Juul spokesman, in a statement. STAMFORD The success story of state thats how Mayor David Martin described his city Wednesday. The bottom line and I think you know this is that Stamford is succeeding, Martin told a crowd of some 200 builders, brokers, bigs and business people. Weve accomplished a lot, he said at the annual State of City address hosted by the Chamber of Commerce. But a lot more is in progress, he added. In his address short by the verbose mayors standards, which he joked is the two-hour mark Martin said the city remains the states crown jewel paraphrasing the term used by business publication Westfair. He pointed to a booming housing market, with thousands of apartment units built in recent years, and businesses flocking to open offices and headquarters downtown despite headwinds such as a flourishing mold crisis that he estimated will claim between $65 and $75 million over the next three years. The mold, which overtook an entire West Side magnet elementary school, pushing students and teachers into South End office space for the past year and the next, has taken money from several parts of the city budget, Martin said. The biggest issue is Westover school, he said. Road paving which Martin said is a priority got $4.8 million this fiscal year and was another big part of Martins address. Hes budgeted $5.6 million for Fiscal Year 2019-20, though mold may skim some, he said. Were paving and you can see weve got a lot of catching up to do, he said, adding the city is now progressing after years of lackluster attention to its pockmarked streets. Martin said lack of violent crime is another bright spot, but lamented a rise in property crimes, which he blamed on a trend of statewide car theft and car break-ins. Lock your cars and dont leave something that looks valuable, he said. Other than those points, Martins speech hewed closely to last years address, although this year he declined to don a hard hat. He cited many of the same traffic improvements and state projects now underway, including three bridge replacements. One twist from last year was his assessment of the Atlantic Street rail bridge replacement, which has knocked out car traffic on a slice of Atlantic Street for months. Martin on Wednesday said the project is going smoothly. Last year he predicted its going to be very bad. barry.lytton@stamfordadvocate.com; 203-964-2263; @bglytton Updated April 11, 2019 SALEM, Ohio A new bill was introduced April 10 to give incentives to established and beginning farmers in Ohio. This bill will allow income tax credits for established farmers who sell or rent their agriculture assets to beginning farmers. A beginning farmer is defined as an individual just starting to farm or who has been operating a farm for 10 years or less. An agriculture asset is defined as agricultural land, livestock, facilities or equipment. H.B. 183 was unveiled by Reps. Susan Manchester, R-84, and John Patterson, D-99, during a news conference. (Link downloads .pdf of bill language.) There is currently one cosponsor, Rep. Jon Cross, R-83, and the bill has been assigned to the House Agriculture and Rural Development Committee. Similar actions The legislation is patterned after a similar bill in Minnesota which began in 2018. Since then, 446 established farmers have received $2.3 million in tax credits, and 386 beginning farmers have participated in the program, receiving $375,000 in educational tax credits, according to Matt McDevitt, agricultural finance supervisor at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. According to Jenna Beadle, Ohio Farm Bureaus director of state policy, prior to Minnesotas final bill, most beginning farmer bills covered just the lease of land. Minnesotas legislation expanded the tax credit to include the sale, rental or lease of agricultural assets. A similar bill was introduced March 26 in Pennsylvania, Senate Bill 478. The why The number of farm families has shrunk over the years, said Patterson during the news conference. He said this bill will help those established farmers who are looking to retire but do not have a successor. The average age of a U.S. farmer is 58, according to the U.S. Census of Agriculture, and more than 31 percent of principal farm operators were 65 or older. There is a need to help the next generation of farmers get started in a very capital-intensive industry, Manchester said. It will set beginning farmers up for success by giving them the opportunity to farm and learn best practices through a financial management program. Participating beginning farmers must complete a financial management program, as identified by the state department of agriculture. (Scroll down to see additional eligibility requirements.) Tax credit The credit to the owner of the agriculture asset will be as follows; Five percent of sale price; Ten percent of gross rental income received from each of the first three years of the rental agreement; Fifteen percent of the cash equivalent of the gross rental income received from each of the first three years of the share rental agreement; These credits must be claimed for the taxable year during which the sale of agricultural asset occurs. For rent of share rent agreements the credit must be claimed for the three taxable years of the agreement. The bill has the support of Ohio Farm Bureau, Ohio Dairy Producers Association and Ohio AgriBusiness Association. We are very excited about the bill, said Beadle. She said Ohio Farm Bureau has been working to create policy for young farmers, identified as part of the Trends and Issues Conference. Beginning farmer qualifications A Ohio resident. Be looking to start or have been farming within the last 10 years. Not be related to the owner. Have a total net worth of less than $800,000. Provide the majority of labor and management of the farm. Have farming experience and or knowledge. Proof that farming will be a significant income for individual. Participate in financial management program which is to be approved by the director. A Brexit backing farmer who runs a fruit business in Kent said he 'might as well drop dead' if he cannot get the migrant labour he needs. Explaining the reasoning behind his decision to back Brexit in the 2016 EU referendum, 54-year-old David Figgis said he voted that way because it is 'better for my country' even though 'personally, it's a disaster'. Appearing on Channel 4's Dispatches: When the Immigrants Leave, initially aired on Monday night (8 April), Mr Figgis explained how he was fed up of being told what to do by non-elected bureaucracy based in Luxembourg. However, he told the programme: I was not, like most of the people in Britain, expecting the result we got. Friday morning, the phone dried up from Romania and Bulgaria. Why go to work in a country where youve been told youre not wanted? Well at least thats how they read it, and it is difficult, he said. To fill in this gap, farmers are now able to employ up to 2,500 non-EU migrant workers for work under a newly opened seasonal workers pilot. The pilot, announced by Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Defra Secretary Michael Gove in September 2018, will mean farms are able to employ migrant workers for up to six months. But farmers have seen a sharp decline in the number of seasonal workers since the UK voted to leave the European Union. Nick Marston, Chairman of British Summer Fruits, said farms are reporting staff shortages of 10-20% already, and to have any effect in terms of supporting the industry, around 10,000 are needed now not 2,500. Meanwhile, prominent politicians have also called for British people to fill roles vacated by EU workers after Brexit. A Conservative MP has said young Brits should 'get on their bikes' and take farming jobs to alleviate the shortage of migrant labour post-Brexit. Ukip has also said British students could provide labour for fresh produce industry to help cut migration. But when asked about what the implications are for David Figgis's horticultural business if he is unable to attract labour, he replied: Bluntly? No business. I might as well just drop dead because if I havent got anybody to pick the fruit, what are you going to do? Plans to modernise and update agricultural tenancy legislation to boost security for tenanted farmers have been published today. The 12-week consultation, launched in England and Wales, will seek views on reforms to agricultural tenancy legislation. The consultation looks at the removal of existing barriers to productivity improvements which would help bring about structural change, improving the overall competitiveness and sustainability of the tenant farming sector. Proposals include enabling tenants of Agricultural Holdings Act (AHA) agreements to hand over their lease to new tenant farmers on their retirement, encouraging earlier succession planning. It also looks at incentivising more landlords to let new Farm Business Tenancies of 10 years or more, giving tenants greater security to invest and grow businesses. Removing barriers which may currently dis-incentivise landlords and tenants from investing and making improvements to their AHA rented holdings is also touched upon. For example, there is currently the risk that agreed tenant interest payments made on investments can be lost during the rent review process. As the existing legislation on agricultural tenancy applies to England and Wales, two consultations will run for 12 weeks in both countries. Newly-appointed farming minister Robert Goodwill said the government is looking to open up more opportunities for the next wave of farmers to 'breathe new life' into the sector. We are exploring a number of options to reboot the sector, such as encouraging earlier succession planning and having more flexibility in current tenancy agreements, he said. The policy framework for agricultural tenancies needs to be fit for the future, and I welcome all views on the proposals set out in this consultation. Views will be sought from farmers in tenancy agreements, agricultural landlords and the organisations which represent these groups, as well as professional advisers and financial organisations in the sector. The government is also seeking to gather evidence on mortgage restrictions and repossession protections for farmland to better understand any issues that exist in this area. The proposals build on the work of the Tenancy Reform Industry Group (TRIG), which has provided advice on the key policy priorities for the tenanted sector as the UK leaves the EU. Julian Sayers, Chairman of TRIG, said the farming industry faces a period of 'significant change' to which both landlords and tenants must be in a position to adapt over the course of the next few years and beyond. I therefore encourage all those with an interest in land tenure, which has such an important part to play in the future of many of our agricultural business, to respond to the consultation, she said. The deadline for responses is 2 July 2019. Two men have been found guilty of attempted murder after firing a shotgun at another man on a Scottish farm in 2017. James McGurk, 42, was working on a car within a farmyard at Crosslee Farm, Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire when he was shot from behind on 31 October 2017. At the time, the police called the shooting, which struck the man's back, a 'targeted attempted murder'. He was taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, where medical staff described his condition as 'stable'. John Docherty, 46, and Don Templeton, 37, have now been found guilty of repeatedly discharging a shotgun at McGurk. The High Court in Glasgow heard how McGurk did not know who shot him because he was working on a car at the farm at the time. 'I can't remember much. It is all a blur to me. I got shot from behind. I heard a bang and I was propelled forward,' he said. The court heard how McGurk and Templton were 'pals', and that he wasn't involved in anything that would trigger someone shooting him. He told the court that Templeton had been angry about tools which were stolen. Docherty and Templeton will be sentenced next month. Powys County Council are offering a 108-acre stock rearing unit to be let on a Farm Business Tenancy from 1st June 2019 until 24th March 2031. Tanyffordd, Cemaes comes with a Grade II listed semi-detached 3 bedroom house, farm buildings, pasture/arable land and hill land. The council states that applicants should usually have a minimum of five years practical farming experience. This may include up to three years spent at college or university pursuing a relevant agricultural qualification. Tenants are encouraged to develop and expand their businesses with a view to moving to larger farms either within the County Farms Estate or in the private sector. With 144 holdings and 11,400 acres of land, Powys County Council's Farms Estate is the largest of its kind in Wales and the fifth largest in the UK. Requests for particulars should be made via email to county.farms@powys.gov.uk. Particulars issued via email will be free of charge. Paper copies will be issued at a charge of 15. Four UK farming unions have written to major European agricultural groups stating that a no-deal exit from the EU would be 'economically disastrous'. In a joint letter, the unions have pleaded with their counterparts in Europe seeking support in avoiding a no-deal scenario as the UK faces ongoing division amongst politicians and continued uncertainty. The Presidents of the NFU, NFU Scotland, Ulster Farmers Union and NFU Cymru say it is in 'every nations interest' that the UK avoids a 'catastrophic, disorderly' exit of the UK from the EU. Given the UKs request for a further extension, the unions have asked for sufficient time to be granted to establish a consensus that recognises the needs of farming businesses across Europe. The unions say any extension must be used 'constructively' which mustn't delay a no-deal, which they say will set up another 'cliff edge scenario.' For months now we have been calling for clarity. It is crucial politicians in the UK and across Europe prioritise the needs of businesses and the welfare and long-term prosperity of the agri-food sector, the union presidents said. Like all EU farming unions, our organisations represent thousands of farming families and it is unbelievable and unacceptable that we are still operating without any certainty on a future trading relationship. They added: This is having real world business consequences right now as well as causing unnecessary stress and huge anxiety for farmers, both at home and across the EU, who simply dont know what trading conditions they will be operating under in the future. 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. In the latest turn of events, The Election Commission of India (ECI) has banned the release of Vivek Oberoi starrer 'PM Narendra Modi' until the end of 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The election body said that the film which was to release tomorrow coinciding with the start of the Lok Sabha polls - "disturbs the level-playing field". Alia Bhatt Praises Boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor: 'His Eyes Are So Honest, You Can't Give A False Take' In its statement, the Election Commission said, "Any biopic material in nature of biography sub-serving the purpose of any political entity or any individual entity connected to it, which has potential to disturb level playing field during the election, should not be displayed in electronic media, including cinematograph." The release of the film was deferred last week on grounds of pending certification clearance from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), which it secured yesterday. The original release date for biopic PM Narendra Modi was April 12. However, the producers preponed the date to April 5 citing public demand. Earlier, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea filed by a Congress activist seeking a stay on the release of the biopic and asked him to raise the matter before the ECI. The Supreme Court said it dismissing the petition for the stay on the release of the film as it was "premature" since the movie was yet to be certified by the CBFC. The court said in its judgement that even if the film is released on April 11, it will be appropriate for the plaintiff to seek redressal from the Election Commission. The Congress activist had sought a stay on the biopic's release till the completion of the Lok Sabha elections. In his plea, he had alleged that it was designed to "manipulate, influence and impress viewers and voters". The party had earlier told the EC that the film was "no artistic venture. It is a political venture". Last week, Vivek Oberoi who plays Modi in the biopic stirred a controversy after he targeted the Congress, wondering "if they are scared of the film or of Chowkidar's danda". To this, the Congress replied, it's a "bogus film of a flop hero, a flop producer and is made on a flop person who has proved to be a zero." Student Of The Year 2: Tiger Shroff Is Feeling Lit About Being Back To College In The New Poster! The Press Needs To Write About The Snub The actor revealed that he is aware of the cold shoulder treatment October has received at the year-end awards and said, "The press needs to write about the film (not being nominated). Till date, I get at least one message a day for that movie." Praises Continue To Pour For The Film "Recently, Jacqueline Fernandez watched the film on a flight and called me to appreciate my performance. That is the royalty I am collecting," the actor further told the tabloid. Having Said That, Varun Is Happy To Perform At Award Shows The actor said that he is happy to go to (awards shows),' and to perform at the events and get paid for it', but also added that award shows have a lot of other criteria' at play when it comes to picking the winners.' Varun Says He Never Did The Film For Awards He further added, "I never did October for awards. I did it because the script clicked with me. Awards will come and go. This film will stay." Rakshit Shetty was last seen in his blockbuster film Kirik Party. The actor stayed away from the Silver Screen for a while. After a hiatus, he is returning to cinemas with his next, Avane Srimannarayana. He's playing the role of a cop in the film and is paired opposite Shanvi Srivastava. Rakshit's fans had been eagerly waiting to learn when the movie would be out. Producer Pushkara Mallikarjunaiah has confirmed that Avane Srimannarayana will hit theatres in August. He told Times of India, "Five days of work on the green mat portions will begin at a studio on Friday. The editing is complete, and only some patchwork and 11 minutes of shoot is left to be canned. So, considering the amount of work we have left, we will be releasing the film in August." This film has also set a new record. Usually, Kannada movies are completed in 30 to 40 days. If the film happens to be of a big budget, then the shoot may extend up to 150 days. Until Avane Srimannarayana, 160 days was the longest duration taken to shoot a movie completely. However, producer of Rakshit Shetty's forthcoming film has confirmed that Avane Srimannarayana was shot for 200 days. Shivrajkumar Says 'I Don't Know If I Have Been Worthy'; Did Dr Rajkumar's Legacy Make Him A Star? He told in an interview, "Usually, the movie's songs will be given more importance for shooting. But we decided to shoot the whole picture as exclusive. Each shot is unique, which contains more details. The movie will be released in different languages, so we shot in a way it should reach all kinds of audience." Dileep Dileep made it a point to wish the newly weds and that too in person. He also posed for a photo with the couple, which has gone viral in the social media. Dulquer Salmaan Dulquer Salmaan and Sunny Wayne started off their film career with the same film, Second Show. They have been best of friends ever since then and Dulquer Salmaan send out his lovely wishes to the couple on the special day. Nivin Pauly Nivin Pauly and Sunny Wayne had shared the screen space in the blockbuster movie Kayamkulam Kochunni that released in 2018. Nivin Pauly send out a short and sweet message wishing his Kayamkulam Kochunni co-star. Aju Varghese Aju Varghese was one of the first celebrities to wish the Sunny Wayne on the big day through his Facebook page. Interestingly, it was through his social media pages that the fans got to know about the news about the actor's marriage. Prayaga Martin Young actress Prayaga Martin too convyed the best wishes to the newly married couple. Prayaga Martin and Sunny Wayne had worked together in the film Pokkiri Simon. Unni Mukundan Popular actor Unni Mukundan too took to his Facebook page to send out his best wishes to Sunny Wayne on the big day. Kikus Jokes Upsets Alia? The actors not only shared each other's secrets but also spilled the beans on each other's obsessions on the show. Kiku Sharda, who plays the role of Bachcha Yadav also made everyone laugh. But, as per Navbharat Times report, Kiku may have gone overboard with his joke as after a point Alia Bhatt didn't seem to enjoy his jokes. Kiku Cracks Jokes On Alia Apparently, Kiku, who plays a fun segment called Ke Bhail Crorepati', made jokes on her like - How does a scooter start? - And then made noises like Bhatt, Bhatt, Bhatt, Bhatt...'. He also cracked another joke on Alia's father. He asked her, "Is Mahesh Bhatt into construction business". To which, Alia answered, "No." Kiku went on to say, "Then why did he make movies like Footpath and Sadak". Archanas Major Revelation Meanwhile, Archana Puran Singh made a major revelation when RAW's Mouni Roy and John Abraham graced the show. Archana revealed that she gets half the salary paid to Navjot Singh Sidhu for the show. Archana Gets Less Remuneration Than Navjot Singh Sidhu! Kapil asked the actors as to who would they want to become if they are given the power of a shape-shifting snake. To this, Mouni said that she would like to step into the shoes of iconic British actress Audrey Hepburn, while John, who was impressed with Kapil's sense of humour, said that he wanted to become Kapil Sharma. Later, Archana said she wanted to be Navjot Singh Sindhu for the simple reason as he took home double the salary than her. Last year, actress Sri Reddy became the talk of the town for a shocking reason when she stripped in public and claimed that several Tollywood producers exploit 'local girls' before showing them the door. While a few stars backed her bold actions, actor Pawan Kalyan lashed out at the feisty lady for 'sensationalising' her fight against casting couch. Following this, Sri Reddy publicly attacked the 'Power Star' and used some unparliamentary language against him. Months after the row, she is still upset with Pawan Kalyan. In her latest social media post, she called the Jana Sena Chief 'illiterate' and claimed that he failed his SSC examinations on several occasions. "Pawan Kalyan has no qualities to become the CM. He is illiterate. How can he manage IAS and IPS officers given his weak credentials? Pawan Kalyan has failed SSC too many times. He is the worst qualified politician in the State. His academic certificate itself is fake," said the actress. Sri Reddy also claimed that those who support the Gabbar Singh star are 'fanatical caste-conscious voters'. "The people who are supporting him are maniacal, they are fanatical caste-conscious voters. Such people are there in all communities," she added. These are some explosive comments and might create quite a buzz in poll-bound Andhra Pradesh. It will be worth watching whether PK responds to these comments in the near future. Did Ram Charan Convince Allu Arjun To Campaign For Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena? Deets Inside The European Union (EU) and China may not see eye-to-eye on a number of issues but when it comes to so-called Panda bonds and green bonds they do appear to be edging closer Despite testy negotiations, the two sides issued a joint statement on Tuesday when Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang visited Brussels At a press conference, European Council President Donald Tusk said, Negotiations have been difficult, but ultimately fruitful Li, meanwhile, said China would provide fair and open access to EU investors, while calling on the EU to reciprocate The joint statement commits both sides to conclude an ambitious EU-China Comprehensive... CALGARY, Alberta, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Pembina Pipeline Corporation ("Pembina" or the "Company") (TSX: PPL; NYSE: PBA) announced today that its Board of Directors declared a common share cash dividend for April 2019 of $0.19 per share to be paid, subject to applicable law, on May 15, 2019 to shareholders of record on April 25, 2019. These dividends are designated "eligible dividends" for Canadian income tax purposes. For non-resident shareholders, Pembina's common share dividends should be considered "qualified dividends" and may be subject to Canadian withholding tax. For shareholders receiving their common share dividends in U.S. funds, the April 2019 cash dividend is expected to be approximately U.S. $0.1426 per share (before deduction of any applicable Canadian withholding tax) based on a currency exchange rate of 0.7505. The actual U.S. dollar dividend will depend on the Canadian/U.S. dollar exchange rate on the payment date and will be subject to applicable withholding taxes. Confirmation of Record and Payment Date Policy Pembina pays cash dividends on its common shares in Canadian dollars on a monthly basis to shareholders of record on the 25th calendar day of each month (except for the December record date, which is December 31st), if, as and when determined by the Board of Directors. Should the record date fall on a weekend or a statutory holiday, the effective record date will be the previous business day. The dividend payment date is the 15th of the month following the record date. Should the payment date fall on a weekend or on a holiday the business day prior to the weekend or holiday becomes the payment date. Pembina's Board of Directors also declared quarterly dividends for the Company's preferred shares, Series 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19 and 21. Series 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 21 preferred share dividends are payable on June 3, 2019 to shareholders of record on May 1, 2019. Series 15, 17 and 19 preferred share dividends are payable on July 2, 2019 to shareholders of record on June 17, 2019. Series Dividend Amount Preferred Shares, Series 1 (PPL.PR.A) $0.306625 Preferred Shares, Series 3 (PPL.PR.C) $0.279875 Preferred Shares, Series 5 (PPL.PR.E) $0.312500 Preferred Shares, Series 7 (PPL.PR.G) $0.281250 Preferred Shares, Series 9 (PPL.PR.I) $0.296875 Preferred Shares, Series 11 (PPL.PR.K) $0.359375 Preferred Shares, Series 13 (PPL.PR.M) $0.359375 Preferred Shares, Series 15 (PPL.PR.O) $0.279000 Preferred Shares, Series 17 (PPL.PR.Q) $0.301313 Preferred Shares, Series 19 (PPL.PR.S) $0.312500 Preferred Shares, Series 21 (PPL.PF.A) $0.306250 Dividends on the preferred shares Series 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 21 are payable on the first day of March, June, September and December in each year, if, as and when declared by the Board of Directors to shareholders of record on the first day of the preceding month, or, if such payment or record date is not a business day, the next succeeding business day after the weekend or holiday. Dividends on the preferred shares Series 15, 17 and 19 are payable on the last day of March, June, September and December in each year, if, as and when declared by the Board of Directors to shareholders of record on the fifteenth day of the same month, or, if such payment or record date is not a business day, the next succeeding business day after the weekend or holiday. Conference Call and Webcast Details for First Quarter 2019 Results Pembina will release its first quarter 2019 results on Thursday, May 2, 2019 after markets close. A conference call and webcast have been scheduled for Friday, May 3, 2019, at 8:00 a.m. MT (10:00 a.m. ET) for interested investors, analysts, brokers and media representatives. The conference call dial-in numbers for Canada and the U.S. are 647-427-7450 or 888-231-8191. A recording of the conference call will be available for replay until May 10, 2019 at 11:59 p.m. ET. To access the replay, please dial either 416-849-0833 or 855-859-2056 and enter the password 4976398. A live webcast of the conference call can be accessed on Pembina's website at www.pembina.com under Investor Centre, Presentation & Events, or by entering: https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/1880618/81FD9B5DBEEB0D2BF7D38CA19EDC43B7 in your web browser. Shortly after the call, an audio archive will be posted on the website for a minimum of 90 days. Annual and Special Meeting of Common Shareholders and Special Meeting of Preferred Shareholders The Company will hold its Annual and Special Meeting of common shareholders ("AGM") on Friday, May 3, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. MT (4:00 p.m. ET) in the Ballroom at the Metropolitan Conference Centre, 333 - 4th Avenue S.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Company will hold its Special Meeting of Class A preferred shareholders on Friday, May 3, 2019 at 1:00 p.m. MT (3:00 p.m. ET) in the Grand Lecture Theatre at the Metropolitan Conference Centre, 333 - 4th Avenue S.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada. A live webcast of Pembina's AGM presentation can be accessed on Pembina's website at www.pembina.com under Investor Centre, Presentation & Events, or by entering: https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/1937359/0069DA07C36B92C7D7AC740E7FE09605 in your web browser. Participants are recommended to register for the webcast at least 10 minutes before the presentation start time. About Pembina Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corporation is a leading transportation and midstream service provider that has been serving North America's energy industry for over 60 years. Pembina owns an integrated system of pipelines that transport various hydrocarbon liquids and natural gas products produced primarily in western Canada. The Company also owns gas gathering and processing facilities and an oil and natural gas liquids infrastructure and logistics business. Pembina's integrated assets and commercial operations along the majority of the hydrocarbon value chain allow it to offer a full spectrum of midstream and marketing services to the energy sector. Pembina is committed to identifying additional opportunities to connect hydrocarbon production to new demand locations through the development of infrastructure that would extend Pembina's service offering even further along the hydrocarbon value chain. These new developments will contribute to ensuring that hydrocarbons produced in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and the other basins where Pembina operates can reach the highest value markets throughout the world. Purpose of Pembina: To be the leader in delivering integrated infrastructure solutions connecting global markets; Customers choose us first for reliable and value-added services; choose us first for reliable and value-added services; Investors receive sustainable industry-leading total returns; receive sustainable industry-leading total returns; Employees say we are the 'employer of choice' and value our safe, respectful, collaborative and fair work culture; and say we are the 'employer of choice' and value our safe, respectful, collaborative and fair work culture; and Communities welcome us and recognize the net positive impact of our social and environmental commitment. Pembina's strategy is to: Preserve Value by providing safe, environmentally conscious, cost-effective and reliable services; by providing safe, environmentally conscious, cost-effective and reliable services; Diversify by providing integrated solutions which enhance profitability and customer service; by providing integrated solutions which enhance profitability and customer service; Implement Growth by pursuing projects or assets that are expected to generate cash flow per share accretion and capture long-life, economic hydrocarbon reserves; and by pursuing projects or assets that are expected to generate cash flow per share accretion and capture long-life, economic hydrocarbon reserves; and Secure Global Markets by understanding what the world needs, where they need it, and delivering it. Pembina is structured into three Divisions: Pipelines Division, Facilities Division and Marketing & New Ventures Division. Pembina's common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under PPL and PBA, respectively. For more information, visit www.pembina.com. Forward-Looking Information and Statements This news release contains certain forward-looking information and statements (collectively, "forward-looking statements") that are based on Pembina's current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends. In this news release, such forward-looking information and statements can be identified by terminology such as "should", "may", "will", "continue", "if", "to be", "expects", and similar expressions. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements, relating to future dividends which may be declared on Pembina's common shares and preferred shares; the dividend payments and the tax treatment thereof; the timing for release of the first quarter 2019 results; and the timing of Pembina's annual and special meeting of common shareholders and special meeting of preferred shareholders. These forward-looking statements are being made by Pembina based on certain assumptions that Pembina has made in respect thereof as at the date of this news release, regarding, among other things: the ability of Pembina and any required third parties to effectively engage with stakeholders; oil and gas industry exploration and development activity levels; the success of Pembina's operations and growth projects; prevailing commodity prices, margins, volumes and exchange rates; that Pembina's future results of operations will be consistent with past performance and management expectations in relation thereto; the continued availability of capital at attractive prices to fund future capital requirements relating to existing assets and projects, including but not limited to future capital expenditures relating to expansion, upgrades and maintenance shutdowns; that any third party projects relating to Pembina's growth projects will be sanctioned and completed as expected; that any required commercial agreements can be reached; that all required regulatory and environmental approvals can be obtained on the necessary terms in a timely manner; that counterparties to material agreements will continue to perform in a timely manner; that there are no unforeseen events preventing the performance of contracts; that there are no unforeseen material construction, integrity or other costs related to current growth projects or current operations; and prevailing interest and tax rates. Although Pembina believes the expectations and material factors and assumptions reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date hereof, there can be no assurance that these expectations, factors and assumptions will prove to be correct. Readers are cautioned that events or circumstances could cause results to differ materially from those predicted, forecasted or projected. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not occur, which may cause actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and information. These known and unknown risks and uncertainties, include, but are not limited to: the regulatory environment and decisions; the ability of Pembina to raise sufficient capital (or to raise sufficient capital on favourable terms) to fund future expansions and growth projects and satisfy future commitments; failure to negotiate and conclude any required commercial agreements or failure to obtain project sanctioning; increased construction costs, or construction delays, on Pembina's expansion and growth projects; labour and material shortages; non-performance of agreements in accordance with their terms; the impact of competitive entities and pricing; reliance on key industry partners, alliances and agreements; the strength and operations of the oil and natural gas production industry and related commodity prices; the continuation or completion of third-party projects; actions by governmental or regulatory authorities including changes in tax laws and treatment, changes in royalty rates or increased environmental regulation; adverse general economic and market conditions in Canada, North America and elsewhere; construction delays; labour and material shortages; and certain other risks detailed from time to time in Pembina's public disclosure documents including, among other things, those detailed under the heading "Risk Factors" in Pembina's management's discussion and analysis and annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2018, which can be found at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements are expressly qualified by the above statements and speak only as of the date of this document. Pembina does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or information contained herein, except as required by applicable laws. For further information: Investor Relations, Scott Arnold, (403) 231-3156, 1-855-880-7404, e-mail: investor-relations@pembina.com, www.pembina.com Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 9, 2019) - Maritime Resources Corp. (TSXV: MAE) ("Maritime" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that is has increased the size of its previously announced non - brokered private placement from up to $5 million to up to $6.25 million through the issuance of a combination of units (the "Units") at a price of $0.10 per Unit and flow-through units (the "FT Units") at a price of $0.12 per FT Unit (the "Offering"). The other terms of the Offering, including the composition and attributes of the Units and FT Units, the appointment of certain advisors to the Company in connection with the Offering and the use of proceeds of the Offering are set out in the press release of the Company dated March 14, 2019, which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. 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 of America. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 (the "1933 Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons (as defined in the 1933 Act) unless registered under the 1933 Act and applicable state securities laws, or an exemption from such registration is available. About Maritime Resources Corp.: Maritime Resources holds a 100% interest in the Green Bay Property, including the former Hammerdown gold mine, located near the Baie Verte Mining District and Springdale, Newfoundland and Labrador. The Green Bay Property hosts a resource estimates on two deposits, the Hammerdown and the Orion deposits. Hammerdown contains measured and indicated resources of 925,670 tonnes grading 10.6 gpt for 315,535 ounces of gold and inferred resources of 1,557,000 tonnes grading 7.53 gpt for 377,000 ounces of gold. The Orion deposit contains measured and indicated resources of 1,096,500 tonnes grading 4.47 gpt for 157,600 ounces of gold and inferred resources of 1,288,000 tonnes grading 5.44 gpt for 225,300 ounces. CIM definition standards were followed for the resource estimate. The resource models used Ordinary Krig grade estimation within a three-dimensional block model with mineralized zones defined by wireframed solids. A cut-off grade of 3.0 gpt gold over 1.2 meters was used for reporting resources with capping of gold grades at 125 gpt at Hammerdown and 50 gpt at Orion. A specific gravity of 2.84 was applied. For additional information relating to the Hammerdown gold project, refer to the NI 43-101 technical report entitled "Pre-Feasibility Study Technical Report, Green Bay Property" with an effective date of March 2, 2017, which is available on the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral resource estimates do not account for mineability, selectivity, mining loss and dilution. These mineral resource estimates include inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is also no certainty that these inferred mineral resources will be converted to the measured and indicated categories through further drilling, or into mineral reserves, once economic considerations are applied. Qualified Persons Exploration activities are administered on site by the Company's Project Manager, NL Properties, Larry Pilgrim, P.Geo. In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, B. H. Kahlert, P.Eng. Vice President Exploration, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has prepared, validated and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release. The Company strictly adheres to CIM Best Practices Guidelines in conducting, documenting, and reporting its exploration activities on its exploration projects. On Behalf of the Board MARITIME RESOURCES CORP. Toronto Office 1900-110 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M5C 1T4 For further information, please contact: Garett Macdonald, President and CEO 416-365-5321 info@maritimegold.com www.maritimeresourcescorp.com The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Statements in this press release, other than purely historical information, including statements relating to the Company's future plans and objectives or expected results, may include forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties inherent in resource exploration and development. As a result, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Caution Regarding Forward Looking Statements: Certain information included in this press release, including information relating to future financial or operating performance and other statements that express the expectations of management or estimates of future performance constitute "forward-looking statements". Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding copper, gold and silver forecasts, the financial strength of the Company, estimates regarding timing of future development and production and statements concerning possible expansion opportunities for the Company. Where the Company expresses or implies an expectation or belief as to future events or results, such expectation or belief are based on assumptions made in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis. Such assumptions include, without limitation, the price of and anticipated costs of recovery of, copper concentrate, gold and silver, the presence of and continuity of such minerals at modeled grades and values, the capacities of various machinery and equipment, the availability of personnel, machinery and equipment at estimated prices, mineral recovery rates, and others. However, forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed, projected or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks include, but are not limited to, uncertainty as to whether this financing will be completed, interpretation and implications of drilling and geophysical results; uncertainty as to whether mineral resources will ever be converted into mineral reserves once economic considerations are applied, uncertainty as to whether inferred mineral resources will be converted to the measured and indicated categories through further drilling, or into mineral reserves, once economic considerations are applied, estimates regarding timing of future capital expenditures and costs towards profitable commercial operations. Other factors that could cause actual results, developments or events to differ materially from those anticipated include, among others, increases/decreases in production; volatility in metals prices and demand; currency fluctuations; cash operating margins; cash operating cost per pound sold; costs per ton of ore; variances in ore grade or recovery rates from those assumed in mining plans; reserves and/or resources; the ability to successfully integrate acquired assets; operational risks inherent in mining or development activities and legislative factors relating to prices, taxes, royalties, land use, title and permits, importing and exporting of minerals and environmental protection. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements and the forward- looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained herein are made as at the date hereof and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or revise any such forward-looking statements or any forward-looking statements contained in any other documents whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable security law. THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43990 SYDNEY, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Clarity Pharmaceuticals, a radiopharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of serious disease, is pleased to announce that Dr Gillies O'Bryan-Tear has joined Clarity's Board following his recent appointment to their Scientific Advisory Board in August 2018 (Clarity Announcement dated 23 August 2018). Dr O'Bryan-Tear joined the pharmaceutical industry in 1986 where he has spent 30 years in clinical development, medical management and commercial roles. In 2009, he became Chief Medical Officer of Algeta ASA, a listed Norwegian biotech company developing a radiopharmaceutical for prostate cancer, Xofigo, which was launched worldwide in 2013. Algeta was acquired in 2014 by Bayer AG for US$2.9 billion. Further details of Dr O'Bryan-Tear's background and experience can be found in the 23 August 2018 announcement. Dr O'Bryan-Tear commented on his new appointment, "I am excited to join Clarity's Board following my recent collaboration with the Company in the Scientific Advisory Board member role. The Company has seen significant growth in the last few years due to the rapid advances in the radiopharmaceutical industry as well as substantial development of its clinical trials. I am looking forward to having a more active role in growing Clarity and working together on our common goal of developing better diagnostic and therapeutic treatments for children and adults with cancer." Clarity's Executive Chairman, Dr Alan Taylor, added, "We are honoured to welcome Dr O'Bryan-Tear to our Board. We have had a successful collaboration with him as a member of our Scientific Advisory Board and he has contributed to progressing a number of key clinical trials. As Clarity is growing and expanding its clinical program, we are looking forward to working closely with Dr O'Bryan-Tear and utilising his expertise more extensively. We believe that his experience as Chief Medical Officer at Algeta will be invaluable to our future growth, and he will be joining a number of his former colleagues from Algeta, including fellow Clarity Board member, Dr Thomas Ramdahl, and Clarity CEO, Dr Colin Biggin." About Clarity Clarity Pharmaceuticals is a personalised medicine company focused on the treatment of serious disease. The Company is a leader in innovative radiopharmaceutical technology, developing targeted therapies and assisting in the drug development pipeline of novel therapies for companies globally. www.claritypharmaceuticals.com Media Contact Dr Alan Taylor Executive Chairman Ph: +61-(0)413-871-165 E: ataylor@claritypharm.com NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / April 9, 2019 / 1st April ,OKEx officially announced Blockcloud will be the very first project launch on their new platform - OK Jumpstar and OKB will be the only acceptable token for payment. OK Jumpstar is a platform powered by OKEX-top 3 crypto exchanges in China, which is to help quality blockchain projects go public and get listed in a liquid and world-wide market, and at the same time, help fuel the growth of the blockchain market and ecosystem healthily. Blockcloud has become one of the most popular Internet projects in the Asia and Russia recently. More and more people are struggling to understand the white paper of Blockcloud. We will briefly introduce what Blockcloud is and how the Future Internet will change our lives in this article. TCP/IP is a familiar word to us. TCP-the transmission control protocol, IP-the network interconnection protocol, the emergence of TCP / IP acts like a bridge, makes different computer networks interconnected, constitutes the basis of the current Internet. The TCP/IP is a prerequisite and the number one contributor to the great prosperity of Internet technology. However, TCP/IP was born in the 1960s and 1970s to support inter-military calls. It also uses the past IP-based communication method to connect devices, data and services with a centralized server. It increases the control cost of the network and reduces the efficiency of the network. It is not suitable for the dynamic Internet scenario, and it is hard to support the accessing of tens of billions or even billions of devices in the future. Blockcloud, in essence, is an extension of the existing Internet and is the underlying technology of the Internet that can upgrade and transform the current Internet. It combines the advantages of blockchain and next-generation Internet technology to build an underlying network protocol in the form of "building blocks", providing continuous connectivity support for dynamic networks, and supporting upper-layer applications more securely and efficiently. If the existing TCP/IP opens the valve for information flow, the new generation of TCP/IP will bring a beautiful new world of the Internet of Everything! Now that there are so many underlying public chains, what is the competitive edge of Blockcloud? -Blockcloud is at the bottom. At the bottom of the Internet, Blockcloud upgrades and improves existing network protocols to build a new generation of TCP/IP that significantly enhances the dynamic, credible, motivating, secure, fair and scalable nature of the network. It is just like making the roads wider, better and stronger so that the car on the top can run faster, more stable and safer. To be specific, Blockcloud can be applied to the existing applications, and also better support the blockchain public chains. If we regard IoT, blockchain and other traditional internet applications like cars, public chain projects as engines, tokens as fuel oil, then Blockcloud is the road. Only with the road, can cars drive more safely and freely, and can inform and resources exchange. How does Blockcloud achieve this? Firstly, Blockcloud introduces the Service-Centric Networking (SCN). Through the Service Access Layer (SAL), the control plane and the service plane are separated. Without the complicated specific IP address, the upper layer application can directly connect to the service via the service name, and the service provider can seamlessly change the address, migrate the service, by which, the network mobility and scalability are greatly improved. Secondly, solving the problem of insufficient trust and incentives in SCN networks by blockchain technology. Design a proof of service (PoS) mechanism to reliably verify services; Design the distributed peer-to-peer network Coral to save the service information; We devise a truthful continuous double auction (TCDA)mechanism to fairly distribute services. Design BLOC to provide incentives to trade miners and service miners. Thirdly, CoDAG(Compacted Directed Acyclic Graph) structure effectively records the transactions. Hybrid consensus protocol combines the advantage of both permission and permission less protocol and tries to achieve the best of both worlds. All of the above mentioned are realized in a loosely coupled and hierarchical structure. Which means each layer can evolve independently as if it has a life and empowers the whole system with great applicability and evolvability. Core team members come from top universities and enterprises worldwide, such as Princeton University, UC Berkeley, Tsinghua University, University of Tokyo, Peking University. Over 50% of the core team members holds a Ph.D. with over 80 publications on top conferences and journals and over 30 related patents. Blockcloud has the advisory board of world top scientists, including the Nobel Prize winner Oliver Hart as the economic advisor, and the former Obama White House economist Hoan Soo Lee as the chief economist. The technical advisory board includes 18 top scholars besides Fred Baker, one of Internet pioneers of the world, 2 IEEE Fellows and 5 National Distinguished Scientists, 4 members of Blockchain Special Committee of China Computer Federation and 15 professors. Blockcloud established close partnerships with top global groups such as Tencent, Huawei, Alibaba and listed companies. Blockcloud has cooperated with IETF, the most authoritative technology standardization organization on the global Internet, and CERNET which is the world's largest education network and IPv6 network. Till 2018 July, Blockcloud received a total investment of 14 million USD of 100+ investment institutions from 28 countries/regions worldwide, include: Genesis Capital,Frees Fund, Icodrops,Signum,OK Blockchain Capital,GBIC,BlueRun Ventures, Linear Venture, Fang Fond, etc. Dr. Ming, CEO of Blockcloud, said, "As a long-term practitioner engaged in the research and development of Internet underlying technology, Blockcloud hopes to introduce the concept and technical advantages of blockchain innovation into traditional network technology, upgrade and improve the Internet, and provide people with better network infrastructure and online experience for their production and life.' For more information about Blockcloud: Website: www.block-cloud.io Telegram: https://t.me/BlockcloudTeam Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlockcloudTeam Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlockcloudTeam contact@block-cloud.io SOURCE: Blockcloud View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/541531/5-Minutes-to-Know-about-Blockcloud New Company Merges 4C's Teletrax and iQ Media to Bring Together Paid and Earned Media Monitoring, Measurement and Signaling in Local, National and Global Markets 4C and iQ Media today announce the investment in and creation of a new entity, Kinetiq (www.kinetiq.tv), that combines iQ Media and 4C's Teletrax. Kinetiq will serve as the world's largest unified TV intelligence network, offering paid and earned media measurement, monitoring and signaling across local, national and global markets. Kinetiq will operate globally, with U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and European headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Kevin Kohn, CEO of iQ Media, will serve as CEO of Kinetiq with key management from 4C and iQ Media completing the leadership team. Existing investors from 4C and iQ Media, including Jump Capital, Edison Partners, GMH Ventures, Kayne Capital and Civolution Holdings will remain involved. The board of directors for the new entity is comprised of Kevin Kohn of Kinetiq, Dr. Alok Choudhary of 4C, Kelly Ford of Edison Partners, Sach Chitnis of Jump Capital, and one independent member to be appointed. Kinetiq's combined global TV intelligence network will enable broadcasters, brands, agencies and software partners to evaluate and measure TV and video with the same speed, accuracy and agility as digital. Kinetiq combines iQ Media's ability to identify paid and earned brand mentions, nationally and across all 210 U.S. DMAs, with the global Teletrax network: 85+ countries, across more than 250 global capture locations and approaching 2,500 TV stations. "Historically, TV attribution has been limited to paid advertising, overlooking the impact and return on brand exposure within the content-where audiences are most engaged," said Kevin Kohn, CEO of Kinetiq. "As advertisers and agencies evolve their paid TV strategies to include earned media and brand sponsorship, Kinetiq is uniquely positioned to help quantify the true return on these investments. We are thrilled to join forces with the talented team operating Teletrax to make this a reality." "Bringing together iQ Media and Teletrax creates powerful new solutions for the industry and efficiencies of scale for the company," said Lance Neuhauser, CEO of 4C. "We're excited to leverage the unmatched strength of Kinetiq's global TV intelligence network to fuel the media analytics available to brands through the Scope by 4C platform." Together, iQ Media and Teletrax bring Kinetiq's clients the most comprehensive understanding of TV performance currently on the market, including: TV Media Monitoring-Real Time or Retroactive: The ability to track and evaluate the entirety of earned media coverage, withunparalleled access to real-time and historical broadcast TV and media content-including more than 40 million hours of TV programming. Content Identification Tracking: Kinetiq employs fingerprinting and watermarking capabilities to offer global insight into where, when, and for how long your content was broadcast. Ad Catalogue as a Service: Kinetiq's growing ad catalog boasts more than 500,000 indexed ads from over 32,000 brands. The company plans to make the catalogue widely available, via subscription, for competitive analysis and creative auditing. The catalogue spans all 210 U.S. DMAs and national ads across the 85 markets Kinetiq serves. Sponsorship Measurement: A unified understanding of how brand sponsorships, in the form of events, athletes, product placements and properties, are performing in- and out-of-event across live TV. TV Attribution and Advanced Audience Segments: Through a network of connected smart TVs, Kinetiq can link TV brand exposures to household-level data and brands' first party data-measuring ROI across paid, earned and sponsorship. Second Screen Signaling: Kinetiq can activate ads on mobile devices and computers any time a brand is seen or heard on TV through signals sent to media buying platforms, including search, social media, mobile, and digital. Kinetiq's roster of clients includes Mercedes-Benz, Fox Broadcasting Company, Google, Mitsubishi, Newell Brands, US Bank, AP, and Reuters. Progress Partners represented iQ Media in the transaction. About Kinetiq Kinetiq is taking a bold new approach to TV data and analytics. Through the union of iQ Media and 4C's Teletrax, Kinetiq's intelligent monitoring, measurement and signaling solutions offer the most comprehensive view of TV performance across global, national and local markets. Kinetiq delivers valuable insights on audiences and engagement across all paid, earned and sponsorship investments. Brands, agencies, broadcasters and ISVs like Mercedes-Benz, Fox Broadcasting Company, and Google use Kinetiq to better understand their true ROI on TV, locally and globally. Headquarters are located in Philadelphia and Eindhoven, Netherlands. Visit www.kinetiq.tv for more information. About 4C 4C is a global data science and marketing technology company that delivers self-service software for brands to execute video-centric marketing and optimize business outcomes. Leading brands, global agencies, and media owners trust the Scope by 4C platform to identify their most valuable consumers and reach them across channels and devices. With nearly $2 billion in annualized advertising spend running through Scope, 4C enables unified audiences, activation, and analytics on linear television, social media, over-the-top content, and digital commerce. Founded in 2011 and based in Chicago, 4C has staff in 16 worldwide locations throughout the United States, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, and the Philippines. Visit www.4Cinsights.com for more information. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190409006061/en/ Contacts: Media Victoria Perlak Channel V Media victoria@channelvmedia.com 212-680-0179 The crypto asset markets have improved significantly in the course of 2019, with a 42.8% YTD increase in market capitalization, and 307.7% YTD increase in 24 hour trading volume. More notably, crypto assets other than Bitcoin have gained considerable market share, signaling a strengthened demand for such assets. Based on this, FORK has selected several blockchain networks with specific purposes, for funds to be staked on through its Pooling Platform. Additionally, FORK announces that it has plans to change its business name to better represent its revised model. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 10, 2019) - GLOBAL BLOCKCHAIN MINING CORP. (CSE: FORK) (OTC: GBCHF) ("FORK" or the "Company") announces that the operations of its platform for pooled masternode funding and blockchain network staking (the "Pooling Platform") are now underway with capital contributed from customers, and the Company is currently operating nodes on the Dash and Loki networks, with plans for participation on several other networks as well. This diversified approach comes in light of greatly improved conditions of the crypto asset markets, especially with reduced dominance of Bitcoin (BTC). As of yesterday, the crypto asset market had total capitalization of about USD $180 billion, with 24 hour trading volume of about USD $53 billion. At the beginning of 2019, total capitalization was about USD $126 billion, with 24 hour trading volume of about USD $13 billion. These figures represent a 42.8% YTD increase in market capitalization, and a 307.7% YTD increase in 24 hour trading volume. Additionally, in the past eight months, BTC has gone from a high point of representing 57.8% of the crypto asset market capitalization on September 12, 2018, to just over 51% as of yesterday. In this same timeframe, cryptocurrencies outside of the top ten on CoinMarketCap[1] categorized as "Other" went from representing 18.43% of the crypto asset market on September 12, 2018, to about 21.9% yesterday. Most notably, this growth of "Other" crypto assets occurred even with an overall price decline of Bitcoin, ending September 2018 at about USD $6,600, and falling to as low as about USD $3,200 in the middle of December. Yesterday's price of Bitcoin fluctuated slightly above and below USD $5,200.[2] Crypto Asset Business Update Giving regard to these market statistics which appear to favour crypto assets besides Bitcoin, the Company has established a business direction that places an initial focus on the Dash and Loki blockchain networks. As of this writing, the Pooling Platform consists of the following stakes: 2 Dash Masternodes (Required operating collateral: 1,000 DASH coins) Masternodes fully owned by FORK: 1 Customer Masternodes: 1 8 Loki Service Nodes (Required operating collateral: ~27,000 LOKI coins) Service Nodes fully owned by FORK: 2 Customer Service Nodes: 6 Apart from the Dash and Loki service nodes, the Company is also operating or plans to operate on the following networks: Stellar - Payments network and decentralized exchange. FORK recently acquired the Singularity Exchange, which is a custodian on the decentralized Stellar blockchain network. FORK charges transaction fees, and deposit/withdrawal fees for transactions initiated from Singularity on the Stellar network, in Stellar's native Lumen (XLM) currency. FORK anticipates collecting a holding of Stellar Lumens from these operations. KODAKOne - A blockchain-based image rights management platform developed by WENN Digital under license from photography pioneer Eastman Kodak Co ("Kodak"), using KODAKCoin as the platform's proprietary digital currency. In 2018, KODAKOne adjusted its roadmap to have KODAKCoin issued on the Stellar decentralized exchange, a decision that FORK's management believes is ideal given Stellar's reach and capabilities. The KODAKOne platform is set to be launched as a minimum viable product in June of 2019, according to the KODAKOne website (http://kodakone.com/roadmap.html). FORK owns 100% of the Stage I Pre-ICO offering of KODAKCoin. This stake will position FORK favourably on KODAKOne's blockchain network, with results that stand to materialize in a matter of months with the launch of KODAKOne. Moreover, through the Singularity Exchange, FORK will become one of the largest gateways and liquidity providers for KODAKCoin on the Stellar network. Bitcoin (Lightning) - Although the Company will be sunsetting Bitcoin mining, as mining rigs are either sold or have reached the end of their useful life, it does see strong potential in running nodes on the Bitcoin Lightning network, a layer two network which expedites and scales Bitcoin transactions. FORK is currently operating on Lightning's testnet, and will operate on Lightning's mainnet when it becomes commercially viable to do so. Ammbr - Wireless mesh network management platform, which the Company played a key role in developing with Singapore-based Ammbr Foundation Pte Ltd. ("Ammbr Foundation"). FORK also administered the crowdsale for Ammbr's proprietary network token AMR, which closed last month. With Ammbr Foundation's sister company AmmbrTech, Inc. ("AmmbrTech") FORK has formed a co-venture named Ammbr Telecom Inc. ("Ammbr Telecom") in which FORK owns 25% of the equity. Ammbr Telecom will conduct a rollout of the Ammbr network in northern Canada (as outlined in a press release dated April 4, 2019). Elixxir - A decentralized and private communications network, led by David Chaum, who is regarded as the "Father" of cryptocurrencies, and one of the world's foremost cryptographers. FORK has applied to Elixxir's BetaNet service operator program and it sees considerable potential for large-scale growth of the network. The Elixxir network remains in development, and FORK is aiming to be one of the initial service node operators on the network when it launches. Nuvo - Blockchain for social media networks, on which multiple niche-focused communities will operate, with the user benefiting from unbiased news feeds, and payment of NUVO token for many forms of engagement. FORK is playing a key role in the administration of the NUVO token crowdsale for UK-based Nuvo Cash Ltd. (as first announced in a December 13, 2018 press release). There is one community currently active on Nuvo called Jamaa (http://jamaa.com), which is made specifically for users in Africa. Jamaa presently has more than 13,500 users. Other networks are slated to be launched, including GameKarma (social media community for video gamers, set to launch May, 2019), Tambay (for users in the Philippines), and Seru (for users in Southeast Asia). FORK is already one of the major witnesses and stakeholders on the Nuvo blockchain network. Stratus - Originally developed as a standalone blockchain network for automated buying and selling of computing resources, Stratus is being modified to act as a layer two marketplace that will operate on top of the Filecoin, Storj, and Sia blockchain networks. Due to the infancy of these networks, Stratus will not launch immediately in this capacity. However, with the unique value that Stratus will add to these networks through its proprietary technologies and its base of interested users from the initial development of Stratus, it will be a scalable layer two storage network with a focus on the needs of enterprise users. FORK appreciates all interest received to date from parties who are interested in participating on the Pooling Platform. At this time, the Company does not have clarity on the legal status of the Pooling Platform as a security offering. It is therefore only available to accredited and institutional investors, or parties who are actively in the business of digital assets. Inquiries remain welcomed from interested parties regardless of their current eligibility, with updates to be given as developments occur. Planned Name Change As the Company has elected to shift its focus to staking and other blockchain network services, its management has elected to re-name the Company from "Global Blockchain Mining Corp." to "Metaverse Capital Corp.". The word "Metaverse" refers to what is effectively a digital universe, which is what the blockchain ecosystem is ultimately becoming. The name change is nearly complete as of this writing, and a separate release will be issued when this name change is finalized. "The crypto asset markets have improved very favourably in 2019, and this foreshadows a good future for FORK and its shareholders" said Shidan Gouran, President and CEO of the Company. "In any area of business, especially in technology, staying current and relevant is what creates long-term value. While our focus was once on Bitcoin, we were able to use our market intel to determine what are the most productive blockchain networks to focus on, which led us to our revised model in which we are currently seeing results. Our efforts are on being ahead of the curve as the blockchain ecosystem matures, and we are excited to see what happens in the rest of 2019 and beyond." FORK's recently acquired exchange initiatives remain active, with further information to be issued by way of a separate announcement in due course. On behalf of the Company: Shidan Gouran, President and CEO info@globalblockchain.io For more information please contact: Global Blockchain Mining Corp. Investor Relations ir@globalblockchain.io 1-888-983-4771 About Global Blockchain Mining Corp. With blockchain technology rapidly re-shaping the models of many companies, industries, and their business processes, Global Blockchain Mining Corp. ("FORK") places a focus on the common needs of early-stage blockchain adopters. Originally founded with a focus on crypto-mining, FORK has recently diversified its offerings by placing an emphasis on professional services such as developing and administering launches of tokens and digital assets. Adapting to changes in blockchain technology, FORK is also now utilizing its computing power to provide consensus services, such as the operation of masternodes, servicenodes, and witnesses which are alternative methods to cryptocurrency mining for generating and acquiring digital assets. . Investors, through their investment in the Company, are provided with exposure to these tokens, cryptocurrencies and digital assets without the lengthy, and complicated process that interested investors must undergo in order to gain exposure to these cryptocurrencies and digital assets. The Company is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") and its common shares trade under the ticker symbol "FORK". Additional information relating to the Company is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, the CSE at www.theCSE.com as well as on the Company's website at: www.forkcse.com Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information Forward-Looking Information: This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". The use of any of the words "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "would", "project", "should", "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. These statements speak only as of the date of this News Release. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks including various risk factors discussed in the Company's disclosure documents which can be found under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. [1] Top ten listed cryptocurrencies on CoinMarketCap are Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), Dash (DASH), NEM (XEM), Monero (XMR), IOTA (MIOTA), and NEO (NEO). [2] All of these figures are sourced from CoinMarketCap (http://coinmarketcap.com) To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43998 CAERPHILLY, Wales, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Caerphilly County Borough Council is the first local authority in Wales to sign an agreement with Thoughtonomy to adopt the company's award-winning Virtual Workforce platform. Helping to improve efficiency for both staff and customer experience, Thoughtonomy is an AI software company whose automation technology helps improve the productivity of a workforce. Thoughtonomy will help the council train and deploy digital workers to process a range of services that involve structured, logical, and repetitive procedures that require accuracy and consistency. Available 24 hours a day these digital workers will provide much needed additional capacity and enable Council staff to focus their efforts on more complex enquiries. Adding this new capability will enable the council to deliver services much more effectively and make a positive difference to their customers. Cllr Colin Gordon, Caerphilly County Borough Council's Cabinet Member for Corporate Services said, "As a council we are excited to work with Thoughtonomy and are looking forward to taking advantage of the benefits of their platform. Automation will allow us to concentrate more of our time on services that are important both to us and our customers; it will allow us to make time matter." Phil Sheen, Head of Public Sector at Thoughtonomy said, "We are thrilled to be working alongside the Caerphilly leadership who are team eager to leverage cutting edge technologies in order to further improve customer experience and enhance citizen outcomes. Local Authorities are being constantly challenged with making the most out of the resources they have available. We are confident that the new digital assistants will make a material difference to the Council's team and the community it serves." About Caerphilly County Borough Council Caerphilly County Borough Council is one of the largest local authorities in Wales, delivering over 600 council services to the 180,000 plus residents in serves. Over 80% rural, Caerphilly county borough benefits from having some spectacular countryside and open spaces, while also benefitting from its close proximity to major transportation networks. A key partner of the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal, Caerphilly County Borough Council is on a journey of transformation, with digital technology and innovation key enablers in this journey. About Thoughtonomy Thoughtonomy is a UK-headquartered AI software company that enables organisations and the people they employ to do more and achieve more. The company's award-winning SaaS platform, gives companies access to a pool of cloud based intelligent digital workers that can perform the repetitive, time-intensive tasks that slow people down. By integrating this digital workforce with their human teams, companies can accelerate growth and achieve a step change in efficiency. Thoughtonomy was founded in the UK in 2013 and now supports more than 200 clients spread across a wide range of industries in 29 countries. The company has offices in London and Manchester in the UK, as well as New York and Austin in the USA. To learn more please visit www.thoughtonomy.com/ Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/858869/Caerphilly_Castle.jpg Nearly half confess to judging their fellow counterparts for wearing it LONDON, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A national survey* reveals that 1 in 3 women across the UK are being shamed for fake tanning. The North West are the keenest tanners - 48% of women wear tan here Women in the North East are the most likely to wear tan for a confidence boost - 70% Liverpool is the top tanning city - 55% is the top tanning city - 55% The North West are the most judgemental - 48% of women admitted to it The South East wear the least tan - 73% said they never wear it Over half (55%) of women in Yorkshire wear fake tan before a holiday, compared to only a third (35%) of women in London wear fake tan before a holiday, compared to only a third (35%) of women in Women in the East of England are the least judgemental with only a third (33%) admitting to it Feeling shame can impact negatively on women's wellbeing, confidence and mental health. A new survey conducted by St.Tropez, the UK's number one and most trusted self tanning brand**, has found that shaming can be a very real part of some women's day-to-day life. So why the shaming? Who is doing it and why? 44% of women admit to judging their fellow females for wearing a sunless tan and over half a million women in the UK have experienced negative comments online, specifically for wearing fake tan. 60% of women who have experienced judging looks and insults say that their confidence was seriously knocked, they went straight home, and they did not wish to leave the house. Whilst 70% of the women surveyed admit a badly applied tan is the number 1 reason they judge another's appearance. Shocking. In an age where positive body confidence messages are high on the agenda in schools, the workplace and from consumer brands - it appears that it's women who need to start supporting the cause. But, in-spite-of the stigmas, the survey revealed that 42% of UK women who proudly wear fake tan cite their two main reasons for doing so as looking well and feeling confident. In addition, having a post-holiday tan also features in the top 3 confidence boosters, which also suggests that golden glowing skin inspires us to feel our best and on top of our game. These insights have led St.Tropez to boldly address the stigmas surrounding self tanning head-on, with a motivational campaign entitled You Set the Tone which aims to highlight that tanning is more about how you feel than how you look and a goal of empowering women to feel more confident, every day. Launching on the 10th April, the campaign aims to put the Self back in self tan and has the support of Philanthropist and Charity Founder, Katie Piper, as well as an army of brand fans. Katie said, "I'm backing St.Tropez's You Set the Tone campaign as it's vitally important for women to feel confident in their own skin and with their own bodies, and if a beauty product or regime can help them achieve this, it can only be positive. Every woman has an individual reason for how they wear their make-up or hair and it's no different with self tan. Tanning doesn't just add colour, it can also help to even out skin tone, cover up pigmentation or redness, allow you to wear less make up or go without heavy foundations. The survey findings show that us women need to be supporting and celebrating each other and finding ways to improve our self-esteem and ultimately, our mental wellbeing." St.Tropez is pledging to give women across the UK the tools to feel confident, look glowing and make tan-shaming for bad application a thing of the past with game-changing developments. New St.Tropez Purity Bronzing Water Gel, which sold out within hours of its official launch in February, is a one of a kind innovation that means no-streaks, no-transfer, no-stickiness and no-fake tan smell, and 88% of users** agree. Dr. Paul Evans, St.Tropez Innovation & Technology Director, says, "In developing our St.Tropez Purity Bronzing Water Gel, we knew that poor application and obvious streak marks were non-desirable effects. The gel technology breaks on contact with the skin to release an easily spreadable water texture that results in an even, flawless tan and in our user trials, 85% said they felt more confident with the Gel. It's easy to use and can be applied at any time of day or night, which we know is ideal for our discerning yet busy consumers." Michaella Bolder, St.Tropez Tanning Expert, says. "Self tanning in itself can be a bit intimidating and if the main reason women are being judged on their tan is poor application then St.Tropez are doing everything they can to provide products which are mistake-proof - after all, it's the safest way to tan. Self tanning technology has come a long way from the orange tones, patchy legs, stained hands perception of the past and whether you're a novice or regular tanner, there is a product for everyone. Tanning isn't a one look fits all, for some it's a deep dark bronze but for the majority, it's a natural, healthy post-holiday glow - but most importantly, it's one that suits them. It's empowering to be able to offer women that feeling of confidence and positivity all year round. The Purity Bronzing Water range is so easy to use, it's virtually impossible to apply it badly. I am proud to be working with a brand that champions women and You Set The Tone is the first step to ending the stigmas associated with tanning for good." Enough of the judgement. St.Tropez boldly empowers women to set their own tone. See the campaign video here: https://youtu.be/e7fDwlSXZCU * Survey conducted by Censuswide in March 2019 across the UK with a sample of 1,512 women aged 16-55 ** IRI MAT 52 Sept 2018 & Kantar Awareness Survey 2018, sample size of 521 women aged 16-64. *** Independent User Trial with 100 consumers - August 2018 (Video: https://youtu.be/e7fDwlSXZCU) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/847120/Self_Tan_Purity_Gel.jpg) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/847121/St_Tropez_You_Set_The_Tone.jpg) STOCKHOLM, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Last night, ECCO took home a Gold Medal in the 'employee engagement' category at the New York Festivals TV & Film Award for portraying its employees in three employer branding films. "How and why we do things will always define who we are as a company. Letting our employees tell their personal stories is both authentic and inspiring and will help position ECCO as much more than a great place to work," says ECCO's CEO Steen Borgholm. New York Festivals TV & Film Awards honours film productions from over 50 countries, and mirrors today's global trends and the next generation of talented story-tellers. ECCO was shortlisted in the category 'employee engagement' together with 9 other finalists. "Many companies struggle with communicating their values and turning them into more than just fine words on a piece of paper. The three employee portraits mirror the true life of an ECCO employee in a pure, honest and unfiltered way which is a great achievement for us to capture on screen," says ECCO's Head of Internal Communication Eva Kloch Norlyk, who together with the Danish film production company Leadit attended the event in Las Vegas. Watch the films on https://enter.ecco.com/en/life-at-ecco Further information contact: Communications Specialist Laila Steenfat at +45-40-34-29-09 (direct) or through ECCO's reception: +45-74-91-16-25. Alternatively via email: press@ecco.com About ECCO ECCO is one of the world's leading shoe brands, combining style and comfort. ECCO's success is built on products with a great fit and top-quality leathers. ECCO is a highly responsible company that owns and manages every aspect of the value chain from leather and shoe manufacturing to wholesale and retail activities. ECCO's products are sold in 99 countries from over 2,250 ECCO shops and more than 14,000 sales points. ECCO is family-owned, founded in Denmark in 1963, and employs 21,300 people worldwide. group.ecco.com This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/ecco-sko-a-s/r/ecco-wins-gold-medal-at-the-new-york-festivals-tv---film-award,c2784421 The following files are available for download: Service puts travelers in direct contact with an Icelandair Buddy to help alleviate the stress of trip planning LONDON, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Four in ten Brits feel 'stressed' and 'under pressure' when planning a holiday, due to the amount of sources of reviews and recommendations feel 'stressed' and 'under pressure' when planning a holiday, due to the amount of sources of reviews and recommendations One in five even feel 'overwhelmed' and many others 'confused' and 'anxious' about what they should and shouldn't book even feel 'overwhelmed' and many others 'confused' and 'anxious' about what they should and shouldn't book Over 50% of Brits have a desire to get more information first-hand from locals as they believe they have more knowledge than any other source have a desire to get more information first-hand from locals as they believe they have more knowledge than any other source New Buddy Hotline allows passengers to directly speak to or message an Icelandair Buddy for personal travel advice and recommendations when planning or on their trip All Buddies are Iceland locals and members of the Icelandair team Transatlantic airline Icelandair has launched its new Buddy Hotline service to connect passengers with Icelandair Buddies for personalised travel recommendations. The service aims to support travelers during or in the planning of their trip by providing trusted advice from locals. Travelers can connect directly by phone or message a Buddy, via an online messenger, who will be on hand from today to offer the ultimate 'insider' advice to help travelers make the most of their time away. From where to find the best fish restaurant in town, to where to discover a beautiful hidden spot for a picnic or enjoy a secluded geothermal hot pool, Icelandair's Buddies will have the answer. All Buddies are members of the Icelandair team who are knowledgable and passionate about promoting responsible tourism in the country. A new global study of holidaymakers conducted by Icelandair revealed that rather than enjoying the process of planning a trip, the volume of sources for travel advice can make the process confusing and daunting. Consequently, almost a third of Brits (30%) feel overwhelmed and many others 'confused' and 'anxious' about what they should see or do during their trip. Almost two thirds said they had experienced not being able to fit all their plans into a trip, which left one third feeling disappointed and as though they'd missed out. Travelers' feelings of stress, pressure and being overwhelmed are further exacerbated with trust in reviews and recommendations at a new low. Research reveals that 60% of Brits are more aware of the existence of fake reviews than five years ago, which has resulted in four in five now trusting reviews considerably less. From discovering hidden gems to experiencing authentic local culture, there is a growing appetite amongst travelers to explore the 'real' location they're visiting, with more than half of Brits interested in having direct access to local knowledge for a more authentic experience. As well as seeking advice from locals, many like to feel like a native while in another country, with one third eating like a local and 40% shopping locally in an attempt to travel more sustainably. Birna Osk Einarsdottir, CCO, Sales & Customer Experience, Icelandair Group, comments, "We know travelers are seeking more unique experiences guided by advice from trusted local sources. The research also shows that the increase in travel reviews and recommendations has brought an added pressure to consumer's holiday planning to fit everything in. Our new Buddy Hotline service feeds this consumer appetite for 'insider' knowledge and is a great fit with our staff who, as Icelanders, have such a passion for warmly welcoming and hosting travelers from across the world." The Buddy Hotline launches today and is available to all Icelandair passengers to enjoy from 10th April to 8th May. To find out more about Icelandair's Buddy Hotline and to take advantage by booking now visit icelandair.com/BuddyHotline. www.icelandair.com https://twitter.com/Icelandair https://www.facebook.com/Icelandair http://instagram.com/icelandair/ Notes to Editors *The global report included a survey of 16,000 of holidaymakers across North America, Europe and Scandinavia, including a survey of 2,000 respondents from the UK. It was commissioned in March 2019 by Icelandair. Icelandair Buddy Hotline The Buddy Hotline is a new service from Icelandair, which connects passengers of the airline directly by phone or via an online messenger with a 'Buddy' for trusted personalised 'insider' advice and recommendations to help them make the most out of their time away. The service will be available from 10th April to 8th May, and will be accessible before and during their holiday, for travelers who want tips and advice on the go or for those planning in advance. Icelandair Icelandair is a transatlantic airline and offers an opportunity for passengers to take a stopover in Iceland at no additional airfare. Since the 1960s, Icelandair has encouraged passengers to enjoy an Icelandair Stopover and now there's more choice and variety on offer than ever before, with the service available on all transatlantic routes from 24 European destinations to 18 North American gateways (including latest additions San Francisco, Kansas City and Dallas). Icelandair also offers flights between Iceland and the following destinations: Canada: Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver Europe: Reykjavik, Akureyri, Amsterdam, Bergen, Berlin, Billund, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dublin, Frankfurt, Geneva, Gothenburg, Glasgow, Hamburg, Helsinki, London, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Oslo, Paris, Stockholm and Zurich USA: Anchorage, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, Minneapolis, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa and Washington D.C. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/859008/Icelandair_Buddy_Hotline.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/859009/Icelandair_Buddy.jpg Service puts travelers in direct contact with an Icelandair Buddy to help alleviate the stress of trip planning REYKJAVIK, Iceland, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- 61% of Canadians have a desire to get more information first-hand from locals as they believe they have more knowledge than any other source Over one fifth of Canadians (21%) feel 'overwhelmed' when planning a holiday, due to the amount of sources of reviews and recommendations One third even feel 'anxious' (12%), 'stressed' (11%) or 'confused' (10%) about what they should and shouldn't book New Buddy Hotline allows passengers to directly speak to or message an Icelandair Buddy for personal travel advice and recommendations when planning or on their trip All Buddies are Iceland locals and members of the Icelandair team Transatlantic airline Icelandair has launched its new Buddy Hotline service to connect passengers with Icelandair Buddies for personalized travel recommendations. The service aims to support travelers during or in the planning of their trip by providing trusted advice from locals. Travelers can directly connect with a Buddy by phone or via an online messenger, to receive the ultimate 'insider' advice to make the most of their time away. From where to find the best fish restaurant in town, to where to discover a beautiful hidden spot for a picnic or enjoy a secluded geothermal hot pool, Icelandair's Buddies will have the answer. All Buddies are members of the Icelandair team who are knowledgable and passionate about promoting responsible tourism in the country. A new global study conducted by Icelandair revealed that over one fifth of Canadians (21%) feel overwhelmed by the travel planning process, and 33% feel 'anxious,' 'stressed,' or 'confused' about what they should see or do during their trip. These feelings are further exacerbated with trust in reviews and recommendations at a new low. Research reveals that 66% of Canadians are more aware of the existence of fake reviews than five years ago, which has resulted in 76% trusting reviews considerably less. From discovering hidden gems to experiencing authentic local culture, there is a growing appetite among travelers to explore the 'real' location they're visiting, and 61% of Canadians expressed interest in having direct access to local knowledge for a more authentic experience. In addition to seeking advice from locals, many like to feel like a native while in another country, with 49% shopping locally and 40% eating like a local in an attempt to travel more sustainably. Bogi Nils Bogason, President & CEO Icelandair Group, comments, "We know travelers are seeking more unique experiences guided by advice from trusted local sources. Our new Buddy Hotline service feeds this consumer appetite for 'insider' knowledge and is a great fit with our staff who, as Icelanders, have such a passion for warmly welcoming and hosting travelers from across the world." The Icelandair Buddies have a diverse range of personal passions and hobbies which will shine through with their advice for passengers. Have an appetite for adventure? Gulaug, a project manager, loves to get outdoors for a morning hike and can tell you where to enjoy some of Iceland's breathtaking landscapes loves to get outdoors for a morning hike and can tell you where to enjoy some of breathtaking landscapes In search of authentic Icelandic cuisine? Auur, a travel consultant, has his finger on the pulse of the hottest new spots to eat in town has his finger on the pulse of the hottest new spots to eat in town In need of some peace and tranquillity? Sigriur, a flight attendant , is excited to share some of her favourite geothermal pools for passengers to relax and reenergise the Icelandic way , is excited to share some of her favourite geothermal pools for passengers to relax and reenergise the Icelandic way Want to immerse yourself in Icelandic culture? Edda, a customer service supervisor, loves to pass on her passion for traditional Icelandic culture, partaking in knitting lopapeysa (a traditional Icelandic sweater) in her spare time The Buddy Hotline launches today and is available to all Icelandair passengers to enjoy from April 10 - May 8, 2019. To find out more about Icelandair's Buddy Hotline and to take advantage by booking now visit icelandair.com/BuddyHotline. www.icelandair.com https://twitter.com/Icelandair https://www.facebook.com/Icelandair http://instagram.com/icelandair/ Notes to Editors *The global report included a survey of 16,000 of holidaymakers across North America, Europe and Scandinavia, including a survey of 2,000 respondents from the UK. It was commissioned in March 2019 by Icelandair. Icelandair Buddy Hotline The Buddy Hotline is a new service from Icelandair, which connects passengers of the airline directly by phone or via an online messenger with a 'Buddy' for trusted personalised 'insider' advice and recommendations to help them make the most out of their time away. The service will be available from 10th April to 8th May, and will be accessible before and during their holiday, for travelers who want tips and advice on the go or for those planning in advance. Icelandair Icelandair is a transatlantic airline and offers an opportunity for passengers to take a stopover in Iceland at no additional airfare. Since the 1960s, Icelandair has encouraged passengers to enjoy an Icelandair Stopover and now there's more choice and variety on offer than ever before, with the service available on all transatlantic routes from 24 European destinations to 18 North American gateways (including latest additions San Francisco, Kansas City and Dallas). Icelandair also offers flights between Iceland and the following destinations: Canada: Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver Europe: Reykjavik, Akureyri, Amsterdam, Bergen, Berlin, Billund, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dublin, Frankfurt, Geneva, Gothenburg, Glasgow, Hamburg, Helsinki, London, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Oslo, Paris, Stockholm and Zurich USA: Anchorage, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, Minneapolis, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa and Washington D.C. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/858988/Icelandair_Buddy_Hotline.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/858990/Icelandair_Buddy.jpg Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 10, 2019) - TransCanna Holdings Inc. (CSE: TCAN) (FSE: TH8) ("TransCanna" or the "Company") announces that it anticipates the closing of escrow for the acquisition of the 196,000 square foot facility in California will be on or about Monday, April 15th. The Company will provide an update upon completion of the acquisition. For further information, please visit the Company's website at www.transcanna.com. About TransCanna Holdings Inc. TransCanna Holdings Inc. is a Canadian-based company focused on providing integrated 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. Media Contact TransCanna@talkshopmedia.com 604-738-2220 On behalf of the Board of Directors James Pakulis 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 anticipated timing of the closing of the facility acquisition and the use of proceeds from the financing. 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/43988 Edmonton, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - April 10, 2019) - Benchmark Metals Inc. (TSXV: BNCH) (OTCQB: CYRTF) (FSE: 87CA) (the "Company" or "Benchmark") - is pleased to report additional assay results from its historical drill-hole infill sampling program. Drill-hole CC15-13 assayed 1.58 g/t gold and 40.20 g/t silver across 58.24m with sampling ending in mineralization, while drill-hole CC15-14 assayed 0.77 g/t gold and 32.93g/t silver across 87.60m (including historic and new assays), further expanding the resource potential and leaving it open at depth. Lawyers is located in the Toodoggone Mineral District, on the eastern extent of the prolific Stikine Terrane that hosts the Golden Triangle region of British Columbia, Canada. CEO John Williamson commented:"Successful first-time sampling of unpublished historic drill-holes has generated more bulk-tonnage and high-grade gold and silver drill intercepts. The drill-holes show the resource potential at Cliff Creek and Dukes Ridge extends from surface and remains open on strike, in width and at depth along the Lawyers Trend. We continue to identify widespread gold and silver in parallel zones as well as around the main high grade zones that may be characteristic of a bulk tonnage deposit. All new assay results from the 2018 program will significantly impact the resource potential and provide targets for expansion in the 2019 drill program." The location map can be viewed at the Company's website. Cliff Creek and Dukes Ridge Zone Results The Cliff Creek and Dukes Ridge mineralized zones are comprised of a network of quartz veinlets and localized hydrothermal quartz breccias within strongly silicified and potassically altered andesite host rocks. Sampling of unreported historical holes at these zones has extended the gold and silver mineralization at depth and in width, providing new data to expand the published maiden mineral resource estimate. Within the mineral resource area, more extensive sampling has identified continuous near-surface bulk tonnage type mineralization, which remains open as it widens at depth. In several of the historic drill holes, the sampling or drill hole ends in mineralization, highlighting the potential to keep expanding the mineralized zones. Selected Infill and Step-out Drill Results CC15-05 From 208.24m to 273.17m 1.11 g/t Au 18.25 g/t Ag 64.93m interval From 278.05m to 279.24m 7.10 g/t Au 201.00 g/t Ag 1.19m interval CC15-10 From 83.00m to 98.45m 2.95 g/t Au 110.93 g/t Ag 15.45m interval From 100.58m to 118.26m 1.66 g/t Au 36.97 g/t Ag 17.68m interval CC15-13 From 240.65m to 298.89m 1.58 g/t Au 40.20 g/t Ag 58.24m interval* *Includes 280.71m to 282.93m 9.45 g/t Au 207.60 g/t Ag 1.22m interval From 306.80m to 309.16m 1.02 g/t Au 11.93 g/t Ag 2.36m interval CC15-14 From 215.00m to 302.60m 0.77 g/t Au 32.93 g/t Ag 87.60m interval DR15-01 From 50.00m to 106.00m 0.58 g/t Au 16.03 g/t Ag 56.00m interval From 111.00m to 134.72m 0.50 g/t Au 24.60 g/t Ag 23.72m interval The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Michael Dufresne, M.Sc., P.Geol., P.Geo., a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. About Benchmark Metals Inc. Benchmark is a Canadian mineral exploration company with its common shares listed for trading on the TSX Venture Exchange in Canada, the OTCQB Venture Market in the United States and the Tradegate Exchange in Europe. Benchmark is managed by proven resource sector professionals, who have a track record of advancing exploration projects from grassroots scenarios through to production. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS , Chief Executive OfficerJim Greig, Presidentjimg@BNCHmetals.comTel: (604) 260-6977 Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain certain "forward looking statements". Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that 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. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this news release and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43972 Continued focus on strong growth of its major online brands in France, Spain, Brazil Adevinta to build out leadership positions for its other international brands New listing positions Adevinta to lead continued online marketplaces consolidation internationally 10 April 2019, Oslo, Norway: Adevinta ASA, the international online marketplaces leader, announces the successful completion of its public listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange (Oslo Brs) today. The shares will be listed under the ticker symbols ADEA (A-shares) and ADEB (B-shares), and under ADE once the collapse of the two share classes has been completed, expected by end 2019. The official bell-ringing ceremony to mark the opening of the Brs and the beginning of trading in Adevinta shares was officiated today by Adevinta Board Chair Orla Noonan and CEO Rolv Erik Ryssdal. "Adevinta is a high quality leader in its sector and is ideally positioned for sustained high growth and expansion," said Noonan. "Today's listing is an important milestone for Adevinta," commented Ryssdal. "Our listing and pure-play status in online marketplaces enables us to pursue a more aggressive, agile expansion strategy, while keeping pace with the rapidly changing dynamics and technology of the marketplaces industry." "I'm delighted our listing has been received so well. We've seen strong interest and very positive reaction from investors to our new company," Ryssdal added. "The groundwork we have laid, and the continuing support of Schibsted as our main shareholder, provides a firm base for our ambitious growth targets." ABOUT ADEVINTA Adevinta helps local marketplaces thrive through global connections and networks of knowledge. The company operates digital marketplaces in 16 countries in Europe, Latin America and North Africa, with leading local brands including Leboncoin in France, InfoJobs in Spain, Subito in Italy, Willhaben in Austria, Shpock, and a 50% share of OLX Brazil, among many others. Adevinta's leading local brands form an integral part of life for users, with an average of 1.5 billion visits to its sites every month. Contact: Cassandra Lord Director of Communications Adevinta press@adevinta.com Attachment Hundreds of lawyers from US and UK firms weigh in on AI, industry-specific software, and other trends PALO ALTO, Calif., April 10, 2019, a leading provider of business applications for professional services firms, today announced the results of a survey designed to look at the dynamics that make for a successful law firm and lawyer. Despite growing awareness of the need for modern technology solutions to meet client needs and boost profitability, the survey showed that law firm use of technology designed specifically for legal applications still has a lot of room for improvement. The survey, conducted in partnership with YouGov, polled 258 lawyers at firms with 50+ employees: 133 in the US and 125 in the UK. It revealed that lawyers recognise the importance of using software that is purpose-built for their needs and those of their clients as opposed to generic solutions, but that many are still grappling with the outmoded technology that isn't industry-specific. The research shows that 46 percent of UK lawyers surveyed are using technology that does not meet their needs and that some lawyers are finding the technology they use is too complex and creates more work than it saves (28 percent). Many lawyers felt that their office technology experience would be improved if they had access to more intuitive software (42 percent) and if that technology had a better user interface (40 percent). Nearly half (48 percent) said software more tailored to the business of law would also help with this. The results also showed that over a third (38 percent) of UK lawyers, and 31 percent of US lawyers are considering a career change in the next year, and 19 percent of these UK and US lawyers cited the outmoded technology that their firm uses as a reason for this. In an increasingly competitive climate, where law firms are dealing with more data, the rise of the empowered client, and competition to recruit a new wave of tech-savvy millennials entering the workforce, there's a pressing need for UK firms to review processes and technologies in place to ensure that they are designed with lawyers and the industry in mind. Almost a third of UK lawyers surveyed (30 percent) said their firm doesn't use software technology as it could, and 42 percent listed investment in technologies that support legal service work among the things law firms must do in order to adapt/ remain competitive. Further to this, Artificial intelligence (AI) was a high-profile technology trend that many UK lawyers surveyed think will be valuable, with 49 percent recognising its value in tracking billable time, something that has been a priority for the industry. Others said its value lies in conflicts clearance (41 percent), and compliance with client billing documents (34 percent). While the results across the US and the UK remained mostly consistent, findings illustrated that UK lawyers (46 percent) were more likely than US lawyers (35 percent) to feel that the technology they use every day doesn't fully meet their needs, and more UK lawyers (42 percent) felt that law firms need to invest more in technologies that support legal work, when compared with US lawyers (20 percent). "When it comes to supplying technology solutions, there must be an appreciation of the processes and tasks that are unique to an industry and a specific employee's role," said Chris Turk, Intapp Regional Vice President, EMEA. "This is reflected in our survey results, which demonstrate that there is a clear demand for technology used by law firms to be more intuitive and, ultimately, tailored to the legal industry in order to fit the needs of lawyers today." "As I often tell my legal industry clients, law firms are at a tipping point with regard to technology," said Ralph Baxter, former chairman and CEO of the global law firm Orrick and advisor to law firms, legal technology startups and corporate law departments. "As the survey clearly demonstrates, firms need to invest now in technology that integrates quickly and contributes to business development, client service and internal processes. Further, they need to use technology, as their clients do, to deliver service better, faster and less expensively." All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 258 lawyers at firms with 50+ employees: 133 in the US and 125 in the UK Fieldwork was undertaken between 2/8/19 - 2/14/19. The survey was carried out online. About Intapp Intapp provides the first and only Professional and Financial Services Industry Cloud to help firms shift to a modernization strategy and gain a growth edge in today's competitive marketplace. Over 1,500 customers globally, including 96 of the Global 100 law firms, five of the top eight global accounting firms, and more than 600 capital markets and financial advisory firms, rely on us. We offer intelligent solutions - purpose-built for partner-led firms - spanning the entire client lifecycle, from strategy through origination and execution. Intapp is backed by Temasek and Great Hill Partners. For more information, visit www.intapp.com Media Contact Niall Moran niall.moran@aprilsixproof.com AprilSix Proof +44 (0)20 3141 2989 HARLOW, England, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Haag-Streit UK (HS-UK), the leading manufacturer and distributor of gold-standard optometry and ophthalmic equipment, enjoyed a successful Optrafair 2019 at Birmingham NEC on Saturday 30th March-Monday 1stApril 2019. HS-UK delivered a series of very successful CET-accredited sessions, which were run on the HS-UK stand in the dedicated Haag-Streit Academy education 'hub'. The 'Slit Lamp Masterclass' workshop was facilitated by Kirit Patel, Radlett Opticians. It covered effective examination of the patient and illumination & magnification techniques. This was a very popular and busy workshop which highlighted the superior quality of the Haag-Streit slit lamps and slit lamp imaging systems. 'Binocular Vision', hosted by Sam Laidlaw, HS-UK Product Manager, included information on understanding common binocular vision conditions and a discussion about practical clinical techniques. This was the first time HS-UK had run an educational session on binocular vision. It was very well-received by delegates and served as a great refresher for those who had not used these techniques in clinic recently. Grant Duncan, HS-UK Clinical Training Manager, hosted 'Wide-field, Confocal Multimodal Fundus Imaging'. It covered the definition and advantages of confocal imaging, wide-field imaging and the key clinical applications. Attendees received a FREE copy of CenterVue's 'Clinical Atlas'. Alongside all the education sessions, HS-UK also showcased a large selection of its product portfolio, including; the gold-standard Haag-Streit BQ 900 LED Slit Lamp with IM 900 imaging module and Octopus 600 perimeter. Other products exhibited included the; innovative AngioVue OCT-A and iScan OCT devices from Optovue; CenterVue DRS retinal camera and Eidon AF wide-field confocal scanner. Grant Duncan, HS-UK Clinical Training Manager, said, "We were delighted to, once again, participate in this year's Optrafair Educational Programme. We delivered 6 CET-accredited sessions over the 3-day event and had some very positive feedback from delegates. The 'Slit Lamp Masterclass' was a particular highlight with the session full-to-capacity. It gave attendees the opportunity to learn from our product experts and gain some valuable hands-on experience with our gold-standard slit lamps and imaging systems." If you missed Optrafair and would like further information on any of the HS-UK product portfolio, please call HS-UK on (01279) 883807. Many products are also available to purchase from the HS-UK e-shop at www.haagstreituk.com/eshop (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/847402/Optrafair.jpg ) Secure infrastructure supports digitalization and connects 44 sites in 15 countries on four continents Improves global end-user experience with application acceleration Polynt, a leading provider of chemical composites used in the production of plastics, paints, inks and adhesives, has signed a five-year contract with Orange Business Services for a global wide area network (WAN). The network meets Polynt's requirement for a seamless, global end-to-end communications solution following its merger two years ago with U.S. chemical company Reichhold. It will also support the growth of Polynt's international operations and serve as a platform for future unified communications technologies. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005394/en/ Polynt has signed a five-year contract with Orange Business Services for a global wide area network (WAN). (Photo: Business Wire) The new infrastructure will help Polynt, based in Bergamo, Italy, drive innovation inside the organization and take full advantage of further digitalization. It will connect 44 sites in 15 countries across four continents, including North and Latin America, Europe and Asia. Other benefits include increased network performance with redundancy and high resiliency. By consolidating network design and maintenance with one single provider, Polynt will reduce complexity and strengthen application performance and agility. Enterprise Application Management Orange Business Services will also provide Enterprise Application Management with Riverbed, a fully-managed service that delivers application acceleration and WAN optimization. This will significantly improve the end-user experience of using enterprise applications by accelerating response times. It also will give Polynt more visibility on the network and applications and allow it to use data centers more effectively. "We are pleased to have been chosen by Polynt as their preferred partner for their digital transformation, building on our excellent long-term relationship and continuously providing an outstanding customer experience. By combining highly resilient and redundant global services and coverage with our capability to deliver consistent solutions globally with a local touch, we are excited to support Polynt's global growth in the years to come," said Fabrice de Windt, senior vice president, Europe, Orange Business Services. "Developing a Global WAN with Orange Business Services will allow us to gain central control over our global IT infrastructure and to simplify contract management, making it easier to accelerate integration of new acquisitions to support our global expansion. Being able to operate a consistent technology in every site is the first step towards aligning our corporate culture everywhere in the world: Orange was the ideal partner in this pursuit, since its global footprint matches our own," said Annamaria Codari, Global IT Director at Polynt. About Polynt After the merger on May 2017 the new Polynt-Reichhold Group is a global Company in the Intermediates, Coating and Composite Resins, Thermoset Compounds, Gel-coats and niche Specialties. This combination enhances the Group's leading position as a global vertically integrated specialty chemicals player, with significant global presence in Europe, North America and Asia, a strategy initiated by Polynt with the successful integration of PCCR and CCP in the last years and now further reinforced by Reichhold's global scale, extensive product portfolio and R&D competencies. Polynt-Reichhold Group is known for its superior quality and impressive range of products and with its excellent distribution network it can provide first-class service to customers whatever their market. Customer Service and Technical Service teams are renowned for their customer focus, offering the best service even after products have left manufacturing. The Group strives to keep customers satisfied, assisting them in producing premium quality products every time they use its products. Product innovation is important for the Group's business and it's the reason for which it constantly works with customers to find solutions to problems. Introducing new or improved products ensures that Polynt-Reichhold Group continue not only to deliver what the market wants and needs, but also when it is wanted and needed. About Orange Business Services As the B-to-B division of the Orange Group, Orange Business Services focuses exclusively on serving enterprises around the world. Both a network operator and a digital services integrator, Orange Business Services leverages expertise in the areas of IoT, Cloud, Data and AI, application development and cybersecurity. It supports and protects companies at every stage of their data lifecycle, from collection, transport, storage and processing to analysis and sharing. With companies thriving on innovation, Orange Business Services places its customers at the heart of an open collaborative ecosystem. This includes its 25,000 employees, the assets and expertise of the Orange Group, its technology and business partners and a pool of finely selected start-ups. More than 3,000 multinational enterprises, as well as two million professionals, companies and local communities in France, rely on Orange Business Services. For more information, visit www.orange-business.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and our blogs. Orange is one of the world's leading telecommunications operators with revenues of 41 billion euros in 2018 and 264 million customers worldwide at 31 December 2018. Orange is listed on the Euronext Paris (ORA) and on the New York Stock Exchange (ORAN). Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trademarks of Orange or Orange Brand Services Limited. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005394/en/ Contacts: Press contact: Elizabeth Mayeri, Orange Business Services, elizabeth.mayeri@orange.com, +1 212 251 2086 SAN FRANCISCO, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The global mining equipment market size is anticipated to reach USD 284.93 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is projected to witness a CAGR of 11.7% over the forecast period. Introduction of new equipment based on automation technologies is expected to open new avenues for growth in the mining sector. High risk associated with mining operations has resulted in technological innovations in equipment manufacturing. Key suggestions from the report: Underground mining equipment is expected to be the fastest-growing segment over the forecast period due to increased investments for the development of underground mines Metal mining application is projected to witness the highest CAGR over the forecast period due to rising demand for base metals including silver, gold, and copper Coal mining segment is expected to witness considerable growth owing to greater coal exploration activities in countries, such as India , Russia , U.S., and China Some of the key companies in the mining equipment market include Caterpillar, Inc.; Komatsu Ltd.; and Sandvik AB Introduction of an autonomous fleet of equipment and increasing number of M&A are the major growth strategies adopted by these companies Read 230 page research report with TOC on "Mining Equipment Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Equipment (Surface, Underground Mining), By Application (Metal, Non-Metal, Coal Mining), By Region (MEA, APAC), And Segment Forecasts, 2018 - 2025" at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/mining-equipment-industry Companies including Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton have deployed a fleet of driverless trucks and drills with GPS technology at their mining sites. Additionally, OEMs such as Caterpillar Inc. and Komatsu Ltd. are retrofitting their existing fleet of trucks and drills with automation technology and are anticipated to introduce an additional line of products over the coming years. Key companies are digitizing their technical equipment to improve the mining operations productivity and safety. For instance, Anglo American Plc, a U.K.-based miner, is using digital twins, a virtual model of a technical process, to optimize its haulage fleet to track exploration and drilling activities at its Los Bronces site in Chile. As the digital mine is inching towards practicality, the subsequent nature of work is anticipated to witness a significant change at both, the mining site and back office. This change can be attributed to the growing adoption of technologies, such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). These technological advances are projected to redesign the job roles of employees instead of eliminating jobs, thus allowing people to use technology while working. The mining equipment market is witnessing challenges in the exploration of metals and minerals due to depleting natural resources with the need for better production output. In these circumstances, equipment providers and mining companies have an added responsibility of improving production efficiency and reducing water and energy consumption per unit of production. Despite the substantial contribution of the mining sector to the global economy, the industry's growth remains somewhat skeptical in many countries due to the perception that the sector contributes to environmental damage. To rebuild this trust, key companies are taking efforts, such as complying with sustainability standards, complete environmental disclosure, and taking significant steps toward corporate social responsibility. Grand View Research has segmented the global mining equipment market on the basis of equipment, application, and region: Mining Equipment Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2014 - 2025) - Underground Mining Equipment - Low Profile Dump Trucks (LPDT) - Load Haul and Dump (LHD) Loaders - Surface Mining Equipment - Electric Shovels - Excavators - Dumpers - Others - Crushing, Pulverizing, & Screening Equipment - Drills & Breakers - Others Mining Equipment Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2014 - 2025) - Metal Mining - Non-Metal Mining - Coal Mining Mining Equipment Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2014 - 2025) - North America U.S. Canada - Europe Germany U.K. Spain France Finland Sweden Poland Russia - Asia Pacific China India Japan Australia Indonesia South Korea Philippines New Zealand - Latin America Chile Peru - MEA Saudi Arabia South Africa Iran Egypt Ghana Find more research reports on Drilling & Extraction Equipments Industry, by Grand View Research: Oil & Gas Pipeline Leak Detection Market - The global oil and gas pipeline leak detection market is anticipated to witness significant growth. Incidence of leaks adversely affects the environment as well as the finances of the companies accountable to pay hefty amounts in the form of compensation or damage. The global oil and gas pipeline leak detection market is anticipated to witness significant growth. Incidence of leaks adversely affects the environment as well as the finances of the companies accountable to pay hefty amounts in the form of compensation or damage. Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) Market - The global Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) market is anticipated to witness strong growth over the forecast period owing to increasing drilling and production activities. Rising demand for premium pipes coupled with the advent of technologically advanced pipes. The global Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) market is anticipated to witness strong growth over the forecast period owing to increasing drilling and production activities. Rising demand for premium pipes coupled with the advent of technologically advanced pipes. In-Line Process Viscometer (ILPV) Market - Rapid increase in refining capacities on account growing energy need is expected to drive the global demand for ILPV. Gain access to Grand View Compass, our BI enabled intuitive market research database of 10,000+ reports 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. Contact: Sherry James Corporate Sales Specialist, USA Grand View Research, Inc. Phone: +1-415-349-0058 Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519 Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com Web: https://www.grandviewresearch.com Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/661327/Grand_View_Research_Logo.jpg LONDON, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Three years ago, in March 2016, BE OPEN and the Mayor's Fund for London announced their first joined project. Since that time the cooperation between the two foundations has benefitted thousands of younger people across London. The first MFL's programme supported by BE OPEN was 'Creativity Works.' It was designed to improve access to employment for young Londoners from disadvantaged backgrounds. The initiative provides a major boost to 16-24 year-olds across the city in the arts sector, benefitting young people through transferable skills, with the ultimate purpose to help them find a job or return to education or training. It uses the creative industries to increase confidence, skills and employability, offering personal development projects across fashion, film, music, digital multimedia, community arts and product design. It is an ongoing programme. Same year, the MFL and BE OPEN launched 'London Curriculum' for primary schools, an educational initiative set to revitalise teaching and learning across the city. Tailor-made specifically for primary school children, and spanning a range of arts and science disciplines, this programme aimed to reinvigorate core academic subjects with a local dimension, reverting to London as a source of inspiration. This not only affords children the perspective to approach unfamiliar subjects through a familiar point of reference, it also enriches their knowledge and appreciation for the global significance of their home city. In 2017, the City Pitch Leadership Programme launched across secondary and primary London schools. It offered hundreds of schoolchildren the chance to develop important leadership, teamwork, planning and presentational skills. By tasking children with conceiving and developing a community business idea and then pitching it at City Hall to a 'Dragon's Den' style panel in a bid for essential funding, City Pitch aimed to encourage and help young Londoners step up as leaders, learn new skills and make a real difference in their communities. All projects presented tangible ideas to make London an even better place to live for the next generation. Every school was awarded 1,500 to develop and get their ideas off the ground, along with sound advice from the panel. The MFL and BE OPEN has also had two children's' festivals at City Hall to celebrate their achievements in the programmes above. At one of the celebrations, Children's Commissioner for England Anne Longfield, OBE, said: "It's so important that children have a voice and are heard by the policy and law makers in the UK who make decisions about them This puts young people into decision-making positions and encourages organisations and businesses to hear what they have to say." On the same occasion, Joanne McCartney, Deputy Mayor of London, thanked BE OPEN and its founder Elena Baturina for support, and said, "London schools outperform those from other parts of the country with some of our most deprived areas providing good education, employment opportunities and housing for their most disadvantaged residents. I'm very proud of that and of all the hard work put in by teachers, students, their families and supporters. And also of the boroughs, community organisations and charitiesthat help children realise the potential a global city like London has to offer. But there's much more to be done and we won't rest until every child in London has the opportunity to make the most of their potential. That's why activities like the London Children's Festival are so important." Elena Baturina, Mayor's Fund for London Trustee and Founder of BE OPEN, said: "We are honoured and excited to have been working with the Mayor's fund on so many amazing initiatives that help young people have their say in shaping the future. At BE OPEN we genuinely believe in the transformational potential of younger generations. The whole ethos of BE OPEN is about inspiring and encouraging people to find creative ways of improving their environments, helping them to make a real change to our lives." MUNICH, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd. (Zoomlion) has impressed at bauma 2019 with an array of efficient, reliable and intelligent 4.0 generation crane products that emphasize environmentally-friendly technologies and industry-leading Intelligent Manufacturing (IM) and design standards. The centerpieces of Zoomlion's crane products display at bauma 2019 are the ZCC1300 crawler crane and ZRT850 rough terrain crane. Both models have been praised for their guaranteed safety features, intelligent control and management system, and reasonable price. "We hope to present our strongest crane products at bauma 2019. They showcase Zoomlion's exceptional research and development capabilities as well as continuous innovation to push the industry's development. Our goal is to always create better and more intelligent products for our clients worldwide," noted the Crane product manager of Zoomlion. As the earliest Chinese high-end equipment manufacturer with the capability to develop and produce truck bodies, chassis and crawler cranes, Zoomlion has engineered a comprehensive product portfolio of truck cranes, crawler cranes, all-terrain cranes, rough terrain cranes and lorry cranes, all widely applied in infrastructure, high-speed railways, harbors, oil field constructions and more. Intelligent, durable and sustainable Zoomlion's ZCC1300 crawler crane has been highly anticipated at bauma 2019 as a new generation medium tonnage 4.0 model integrating IM, intelligent control and information interconnection, and meeting the EU's EN13000 standard. The crane's alerts, fault messages, cumulative work statistics, positioning and orientation can be managed conveniently on Zoomlion's mobile application. The ZRT850 rough terrain crane is designed for oil field projects with strong functions, robust power and excellent maneuverability. The model is equipped with an advanced field bus control system and safety alert mechanism to ensure operational safety and efficiency, as well as a heavy duty chassis that supports multiple steering modes adaptable to different terrain conditions. The ZRT850 passed the ANSI certification in North America, the CE certification of the EU and EAC certification of CU-TR. Meanwhile, Zoomlion's building hoisting machineries also lead with the highest market share of global tower crane market. At bauma 2019, Zoomlion is debuting T7020-12H, a 4.0 flat head tower crane customized for the European market. Developed by Zoomlion's international team of engineers and technicians according to client specifications, it's an advanced edition of Zoomlion's 2015 Precast Concrete (PC) flagship tower crane T7020. Zoomlion Willbert, the German company with No.1 market share in Europe's high-end crane market, is showcasing its latest flat head tower crane WT260 at bauma 2019, which excels in hoisting capability, precision and safety features. About Zoomlion Founded in 1992, Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd. (Zoomlion) is a high-end equipment manufacturing enterprise that integrates engineering machinery, agricultural machinery and financial services. The company sells nearly 460 cutting-edge products from 55 product lines covering ten major categories. For more information, please visit http://en.zoomlion.com/. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/869556/Zoomlion_crane_ZRT850.jpg COMMERZBANK AG (London Branch) - Pre Stabilisation - Bank of China Frankfurt EUR 3yr Frn Pre-Stabilisation notice 10 April 2019 Not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful. Bank of China, Zweigniederlassung Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt Branch Floating Rate Notes due April 2022 - XS1979297238 Issued pursuant to the U.S.$40,000,000,000 Medium Term Note Programme Commerzbank AG (contact: Ian Turner; telephone: +44 207 475 1817) hereby announces, as Stabilisation Coordinator, that the Stabilising Managers named below may stabilise the offer of the following securities in accordance with Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU Regulation 596/2014). The security to be stabilised: Issuer: Bank of China, Zweigniederlassung Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt Branch Guarantor (if any): n/a Aggregate nominal amount: benchmark Description: Frn due 17 April 2022 Offer price: tbc Other offer terms: launched under USD40bn MTN programme, denoms 100k/1k, listing Hong Kong, payment date 17 April 2019 Stabilisation: Stabilisation Coordinator: Stabilising Managers: Commerzbank AG Bank of China Limited Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited BOCI Asia Limited Citigroup Global Markets Limited BNP Paribas Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg UniCredit Bank AG Stabilisation period expected to start on: 10 April 2019 Stabilisation period expected to end on: no later than 30 days after the proposed issue date of the securities Existence, maximum size and conditions of use of over-allotment facility. The Stabilising Managers may over-allot the securities to the extent permitted in accordance with applicable law. Stabilisation trading venue: Hong Kong In connection with the offer of the above securities, the Stabilising Manager(s) may over-allot the securities or effect transactions with a view to supporting the market price of the securities during the stabilisation period at a level higher than that which might otherwise prevail. However, stabilisation may not necessarily occur and any stabilisation action, if begun, may cease at any time Any stabilisation action or over-allotment shall be conducted in accordance with all applicable laws and rules. This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute an invitation or offer to underwrite, subscribe for or otherwise acquire or dispose of any securities of the Issuer in any jurisdiction. This announcement is not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any other jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful. END Announcement made at 5G MENASummit aims at bringing the next generation of connectivity experience to consumers DUBAI, UAE, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As a pioneer in 5G technology, OPPO connected with regional telecom service providers, regulators, and global ICT solution providers to accelerate the commercialization of 5G enabled smartphones at the 5G MENA 2019 summit held in Dubai from April 7-9, 2019. To further its commitment of developing the 5G ecosystem, the leading global smartphone brand also announced collaboration with Etisalat to test the compatibility of OPPO 5G smartphones with Etisalat's 5G network to ensure that user experience reaches the level for commercial use. This is the first 5G smartphone test between carrier and smartphone in GCC region. At this year's 5G MENA summit, Zhang Zhi, 5G Expert from OPPO presented the company's vision of being a 5G era pioneer. This included a keynote speech on 9th April as well as a panel discussion with representatives from Etisalat and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority. "While the underlying 5G network infrastructure is vital to a connected future, the capacity of super-powerful 5G networks only matters when people can leverage these benefits in their everyday lives," says Andy Shi, Preside of OPPO Middle East & Africa. "This makes the pivot to 5G all the more important to our industry." "This year is the first of 5G commercialization and is set to be a game-changer that revolutionizes the smartphone industry," adds Shi. "At OPPO, we have always focused on the user experience and know that today's consumers expect their smartphone to leverage 5G to bring about more immersive, seamless and intuitive digital services." Commenting on the collaboration with OPPO, Khaled Elkhouly, Chief Consumer Officer, Etisalat, said: "We at Etisalat are excited to work closely with OPPO to test the compatibility of its 5G smartphones with our 5G network, ensuring that user experience reaches the level for commercial use. It is part of our commitment to build partnerships with world leading smartphone manufacturers and technology leaders, and enable our customers to enjoy the best-in-class performance and our 5G network that boasts of ultra-high speeds and low latency services. "Our management's strategy to focus on digital innovation and to 'Drive the digital future to empower societies' have led to investments in superior and state-of-the-art technology solutions on the network. With continuous investments in technology and innovation on the network, Etisalat's infrastructure can enable 5G connectivity today for all fixed and mobile devices expected to be launched in the first half of this year," added Elkhouly. At the summit, Zhang Zhi highlighted OPPO's belief that 5G will form the essential foundation for our future smart world. He added that 5G will enable realization of the Internet of Everything vision, and emphasize experience over everything else. 5G will further empower the development of "cognitive intelligence" and accelerate the evolution of the Artificial Intelligence of Things, or AIoT. OPPO remains committed to be one of the key contributors to the 5G ecosystem in the region and is helping shape the next generation of connectivity through contributions in research, software and hardware development, deep consumer insight and a robust ecosystem of strong industry partners. The company recently launched its "5G Landing Project" with several operator partners to accelerate the commercialization of 5G products and services worldwide. Last month, OPPO also announced that its first 5G smartphone has successfully passed 5G CE tests conducted by Sporton International Inc., making it compliant with EU requirements in areas such as wireless, electromagnetic compatibility, health and safety. OPPO formed a 5G standardization team as early as 2015 to focus on the research and development of 5G standards. To date, OPPO has obtained more than 1,000 global patents related to 5G technology, and partnered with industry heavyweights such as chipmaker Qualcomm on their "5G Pioneer" initiative. The company is consistently ranked among the top five smartphone brands in the world and in January 2019 opened its second regional hub within the UAE, making Dubai its new center for operations in the Middle East & Africa. About OPPO OPPO is a leading global smartphone brand, dedicated to providing products infused with art and innovative technology. Based on the brand elements of young, trend-setting and beauty, OPPO brings consumers delighted experience of digital life. For the last 10 years, OPPO has been focusing on manufacturing camera phones, while innovating mobile photography technology breakthroughs. OPPO started the era of Selfie beautification, and was the first brand to launch smartphones with 5MP and 16MP front cameras. OPPO was also the first brand to introduce the motorized rotating camera, the Ultra HD feature and the 5x Dual Camera Zoom technology. OPPO's Selfie Expert F series launched in 2016 drove a Selfie trend in the smartphone industry. In 2017, OPPO was ranked as the number 4 smartphone brand globally, according to IDC. Today OPPO's business covers 40 countries and regions, and has 6 research centers worldwide, providing excellent smartphone photography experience to more and more young people around the world. About OPPO MEA In 2015, OPPO entered the Egyptian market. In 2016, OPPO set up its Middle East & Africa Sales Center in Cairo. The markets OPPO has entered in the Middle East and Africa include: Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kenya and Nigeria. OPPO set up its factory in Algeria in 2017, which made OPPO the first Chinese brand setting up factory in North Africa. Now, the factory goes into production. Based on the insights of local consumers in each country, OPPO MEA has started the progress of localization. And the localization includes all the perspectives towards each market - product localization, to further meet the core needs of users; marketing localization, to better communicate with local young customers; and team localization, to know our local consumers further and provide better service to the consumers. Within the last year, OPPO has started to adjust its product line in the Middle East region specifically. This has included the launch of its flagship OPPO Find X smartphone and the introduction of the OPPO R Series. OPPO will continue to evolve its local product line to offer more premium series to young consumers in the region. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/869564/OPPO_and_Etisalat_collaboration.jpg) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/869565/OPPO_at_5G_MENA.jpg) BEVERLY HILLS, CA / ACCESSWIRE / April 10, 2019 / NMS Consulting, Inc. ('NMSC') is pleased to announce its progress for 2019 year to date in regard to both new team members and new client mandates. The firm has seen its team grow significantly in the first quarter having onboarded more than 25 new management consultants across six of the firm's global locations. This brings the total global NMS Consulting professional staff to approximately 45 management consultants. We are pleased to highlight some of our recent additions. Working out of our Beverly Hills office is Mr. Duane Dennis who joins us as a Senior Consultant, bringing 25 years of management consulting experience including 11 years at leading management consulting firm, Mercer, and Mr. Bryan Craver as a Senior Consultant, who worked for 15 years at Hewlett-Packard. Additions to the New York office team include Mr. Joshua Gubitz as a Senior Consultant, who previously consulted for Pfizer and HSBC. Mr. Oscar Perez who joins us as a Senior Consultant bringing to NMS Consulting his experience working for Bain & Company, McKinsey & Company and The Boston Consulting Group. Additions to the Washington, D.C. office team include Ms. Lilit Vardanian who joins us as a Consultant. Ms. Vardanian previously worked for the National Institute of Health, Georgetown University and Astrazeneca. Additions to NMS Consulting's international team's Dubai/India group includes Mr. Shravan Punna. Mr. Punna's expertise spans across product design, roadmap, user research, social media strategy, internal operations, inventory management and supply chain management. Trevor M. Saliba, NMS Consulting Managing Partner, commented. 'I am truly excited about the caliber of individuals at NMS Consulting. These highly regarded professionals represent an array of skill sets, and through their experiences in management consulting and corporate strategy, working with both private sector clients and government agencies, the world's top consulting firms, and Fortune 500 companies, they have amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience that we are able to pass along to clients. The new additions to our team further our company's mission to provide our clients with large firm knowledge and experience while providing tailored, cost-effective, customized solutions.' In addition, the firm is pleased to announce new client mandates for the first quarter with clients who are in the green products, med-tech, agriculture, consumer products and building materials industries. About NMS Consulting NMS Consulting is a global strategic advisory firm focused on delivering client solutions across three business units: management consulting, corporate advisory and strategic communications. The firm provides strategic counsel to private and public companies, governments, philanthropic organizations and the individuals who lead them. For more information, please visit www.nmsconsulting.com. Media Contact: Terrie Gorman +1.310.855.0020 info@nmsconsulting.com SOURCE: NMS Consulting, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/541516/NMS-Consulting-Announces-2019-Q1-Progress-Continues-Growth-and-Expansion-Plan 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. FN Media Group Presents OilPrice.com Market Commentary LONDON, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Forget about peak oil. The real crisis hitting the commodity markets is peak gold. The Financial Post reports that "all major deposits have been discovered." Goldman Sachs forecasts there may be only 20 years of supply left. The world's gold majors may soon be in a real estate bidding war. Mentioned in today's commentary includes: Seabridge Gold Inc. (NYSE:SA) (TSX:SEA), Teck Resources (NYSE:TECK) (TSX:TECK), Teck Resources (NYSE:TECK) (TSX:TECK), Great Panther Mining (NYSE:GPR) (TSX:GPR). Endeavor Silver (NYSE:EXK) (TSX:EDR). For companies like Euro Sun (ESM, CPNFF), this could represent a major windfall. Their Rovina Valley project in Romania is the #1 copper/gold resource in Europe - with reserves totaling 7.5 million ounces of gold and 1.5 billion pounds of copper. Rovina's previous owner - Carpathian Gold - spent $51 million sinking 138,000 meters of drill holes to prove up the potential $13.3 billion resource. It's a similar and, perhaps even better image, than that of the Timok project in neighboring Serbia, and the company that owns Timok was just snapped up for $1.4 billion. And, unlike Nevsun, Euro Sun has its mining permits - the first issued in Romania since 2003. It could be in production within as little as 24 months. Here are five reasons to pay close attention: The World Is Facing Peak Gold Europe's #1 Copper/Gold Find Robust, Mine Ready Economics Their $1.4 Billion Serbian Neighbor Romania's First Mining Permit Since 2003 Reason #1 - The World Is Facing Peak Gold Reserves Simply put, the world is running out of viable gold reserves. In comments to the financial post, Ian Telfer, chairman of Goldcorp, said: "If I could give one sentence about the gold mining business it's that in my life, gold produced from mines has gone up pretty steadily for 40 years." According to the USGS, indicated and identified reserves are down from 57,000 tons in 2017 to just 54,000 today. That's a precipitous drop in two years. Meanwhile, demand is skyrocketing on the back of the highest central bank buying in 50 years. It's now at 4,345.1 tons, up 4% from just a year earlier. Goldman Sachs is already forecasting $1,425 per ounce. For Euro Sun (ESM, CPNFF), which has millions of ounces of 43-101 proven gold reserves, this represents a huge opportunity. Reason #2 - Europe's #1 Copper/Gold Find Amidst this active gold market, Euro Sun (ESM, CPNFF) might be perfectly positioned with their Rovina Valley project in Romania. Cantor Fitzgerald reports that "Rovina Valley, when up and running, will be Europe's largest gold and copper mine in terms of resources." According to their 43-101, the Rovina Valley property has reserves totaling 7.5 million ounces of gold and 1.5 billion pounds of copper. At today's prices, that's approximately $13.3 billion in resources. Their key project is located in the famed Golden Quadrilateral, where mining has taken place since the Roman period, over 2,000 years ago. The region has produced greater than 55 million ounces of gold, worth roughly $71 billion at today's prices. The Golden Quadrilateral Mining district has established power, transportation (road and rail) and all needed infrastructure for commercial-scale mining. Prior to being acquired by Euro Sun, Carpathian Gold spent approximately $51 million exploring, drill defining, and completing a PEA (2010) on Rovina Valley. The current 43-101 compliant resource (2012) was based on 138,000m of drilling completed by Carpathian over a period stretching from 2005 to 2014. Euro Sun acquired and now sits on an immense, proven resource. Reason #3 - Mine Ready Economics Euro Sun's Rovina Valley Project (ESM,CPNFF) has robust economics and upside. This a property that already has a Preliminary Economic Assessment, with 138,000 meters of exploratory drilling and a huge resource. At present, the current 43-101 compliant resource across all categories stands at 432.6 million tons of ore grading 0.54 grams per ton of gold and 0.16% copper. According to analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald, "If another ounce is never found, Euro Sun already owns a potentially extremely robust project." A recent test of the Euro Sun metallurgical plant delivered an average gold recovery of 73.2 to 81.5% and copper recoveries of up to 94.7%, without using cyanide. That's very favorable compared to industry averages. Their 2019 PEA estimates Phase 1 mine production of 108,000 ounces of gold and 13.3 million pounds of copper per year, worth $172,054,000 annually. It also projected all-in sustaining costs ("AISC"), on a gold-equivalent basis, at $742/oz. Current gold prices are around $1,300 an ounce. This gives Euro Sun roughly $558 of cash flow per gold-equivalent ounce. Reason #4 - Their $1.4 Serbian Billion Neighbor Another project, the Timok, developed by Nevsun Resources, is just a few hours away, in the same geological belt. It's one of the most promising copper-gold porphyry deposits in the world. And it could tell prospectors a lot about what Euro Sun (ESM, CPNFF) might be sitting on. Production estimates for the two properties are similar. According to their 2010 PEA, Eurosun estimates a 310,000-ounce gold equivalent production over a 19-year mine life versus 455,000 over 10 years for Timok. That's 5,890,000 ounces GE compared to 4,550,000. For Eurosun, that's $7.6 billion worth of copper and gold. In terms of Net Present Value, they're virtually identical at $1.197b and $1.198b respectively. In late 2018, China's Zijin Mining Group turned that NPV estimate into reality. They agreed to buy Nevsun Resources Ltd. for a stunning $1.41 billion. Like Timok, Rovina Valley has the size, scale, and grades that are attractive to large-tier and mid-tier gold and copper miners. But, Rovina also has another major edge over its Serbian neighbor. Reason #5 - The First Romanian Mining Permit Since 2003 When Zijin acquired Nevsun, they didn't have mining or environmental permits for the Timok property. In some jurisdictions, that might not matter. But this is Europe we're talking about. Environmental issues are serious. That's where Euro Sun (ESM, CPNFF) stands out. In November 2018, they were granted a 20-year mining license for their Rovina Valley project. It was fully approved by six senior cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister of Romania. This is the first mining permit issued in the country since 2003 when Gabriel Resources faced extensive protests over their plans to use cyanide for heap leaching. There have been no new mines in the country since then. These Factors Could Make Euro Sun A Prime Acquisition Target In 2011, gold peaked at a historical high of $1,917 per ounce. When it collapsed, it took the junior mining industry with it. Exploration dried up. Today world gold reserves are shrinking. If Goldman Sachs is right, there may only be 20 years of production left. For the world's gold majors, that's a life or death problem. Euro Sun's (ESM, CPNFF) Rovina Valley project could potentially be a "crown jewel" asset for any of the majors. It's the #1 copper/gold project in Europe, with robust economics. The property could be mine ready, with permits and a bankable feasibility study in 12 months. Today Euro Sun might represent an excellent takeover candidate. Other companies to watch in the gold-sphere Seabridge Gold Inc. (NYSE:SA) (TSX:SEA) Seabridge owns four core assets in Canada; the KSM project, which is one of the world's largest underdeveloped projects measured by reserves, Courageous Lake, a historically renowned property, and Iskut, a product of a recent acquisition by Seabridge. Recently, Seabridge closed a major extension deal to continue expansion at its KSM project. CEO Rudi Fronk stated: "We are pleased that our EA Certificate has been renewed until 2024 under the same terms and conditions, reaffirming the Government of British Columbia's support for KSM and the robustness of the original 2014 EA." Teck Resources (NYSE:TECK) (TSX:TECK) : Teck could be one of the best-diversified miners out there, with a broad portfolio of Copper, Zinc, Energy, Gold, Silver and Molybdenum assets. Its free cash flow and a lower volatility outlook for base metals in combination with a potential trade war breakthrough could send the stock higher in H2 of this year. Teck Resources recently received a favorable investment rating from Fitch and Moody's, and will likely benefit from its upgraded score. "Having investment grade ratings is very important to us and confirms the strong financial position of the company," said Don Lindsay, President and CEO. "We are very pleased to receive this second credit rating upgrade." Teck Resources (NYSE:TECK) (TSX:TECK) is a mid-cap Canadian mineral exploration and development company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. Its focus is on the Pacific Rim where it is in the process of developing several large mines Turquoise has seen its share price languish last year, and the successful development of its world-class Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia is of utmost important to the future of this miner. In the short term, investors can expect the share price to come back somewhat as the company looks undervalued by any means. If oil prices break out above $1320 per ounce, Turquoise Hill Resources is poised to profit from it. Great Panther Mining (NYSE:GPR) (TSX:GPR) Based in Vancouver, Great Panther is active in Brazil and Mexico where it explores for silver, gold, lead, and zinc ores. The second half of 2018 has been tough for the midcap miner, but its share price doubled last month, shortly after the acquisition of Beadell resources, which ads another 200,000 gold equivalent ounces to its reserve base. According to a recent statement in the press, the focus in the near-term will be on the integration of the Brazilian operations, the continued optimization of the Tucano gold mine, and advancing an exploration program to unlock the significant exploration potential of Tucano." Endeavor Silver (NYSE:EXK) (TSX:EDR) operates three silver-gold mines in Mexico, but it's also got three attractive development projects. Production has dropped and all-in sustaining costs have risen, leading to a negative cash flow. But the company has significantly reduced its debt, so its future is anything but bleak. 2019 could be a bit of a mixed bag for Endeavor Silver as earnings expectations remain negative for Q1. Its three mines in Mexico and a planned fourth mine in the Mexican state of Zacatecas are expected to see their output increase this year while the company has managed to keep AISC at reasonable levels last year, the question remains whether they can keep the costs low this year. By. Joao Piexe IMPORTANT NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER PAID ADVERTISEMENT. This communication is a paid advertisement. Oilprice.com, Advanced Media Solutions Ltd, and their owners, managers, employees, and assigns (collectively "the Publisher") is often paid by one or more of the profiled companies or a third party to disseminate these types of communications. In this case, the Publisher has been compensated by Euro Sun Mining Inc. to conduct public awareness advertising and marketing for Euro Sun Mining. Euro Sun Mining paid the Publisher fifty thousand US dollars to produce and disseminate this and other similar articles and certain banner ads. This compensation should be viewed as a major conflict with our ability to be unbiased. Readers should beware that third parties, profiled companies, and/or their affiliates may liquidate shares of the profiled companies at any time, including at or near the time you receive this communication, which has the potential to hurt share prices. Frequently companies profiled in our articles experience a large increase in volume and share price during the course of investor awareness marketing, which often ends as soon as the investor awareness marketing ceases. The investor awareness marketing may be as brief as one day, after which a large decrease in volume and share price may likely occur. This communication is not, and should not be construed to be, an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. Neither this communication nor the Publisher purport to provide a complete analysis of any company or its financial position. The Publisher is not, and does not purport to be, a broker-dealer or registered investment adviser. This communication is not, and should not be construed to be, personalized investment advice directed to or appropriate for any particular investor. Any investment should be made only after consulting a professional investment advisor and only after reviewing the financial statements and other pertinent corporate information about the company. Further, readers are advised to read and carefully consider the Risk Factors identified and discussed in the advertised company's SEC and/or other government filings. Investing in securities, particularly microcap securities, is speculative and carries a high degree of risk. Past performance does not guarantee future results. This communication is based on information generally available to the public and on an interview conducted with the company's CEO, and does not contain any material, non-public information. The information on which it is based is believed to be reliable. Nevertheless, the Publisher cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information. SHARE OWNERSHIP. The owner of Oilprice.com owns shares and/or stock options of the featured companies and therefore has an additional incentive to see the featured companies' stock perform well. The owner of Oilprice.com will not notify the market when it decides to buy or sell shares of this issuer in the market. The owner of Oilprice.com will be buying and selling shares of the featured company for its own profit. This is why we stress that you conduct extensive due diligence as well as seek the advice of your financial advisor or a registered broker-dealer before investing in any securities. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS. This publication contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding expected continual growth of the featured companies and/or industry. The publisher notes that statements contained herein that look forward in time, which include everything other than historical information, involve risks and uncertainties that may affect the companies' actual results of operations. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include, but are not limited to, changing governmental laws and policies, the success of the companies' drilling excursions and mining operations, the size and growth of the market for the companies' products and services, the companies' ability to fund their capital requirements in the near term and long term, pricing pressures, etc. INDEMNIFICATION/RELEASE OF LIABILITY. By reading this communication, you acknowledge that you have read and understand this disclaimer, and further that to the greatest extent permitted under law, you release the Publisher, its affiliates, assigns and successors from any and all liability, damages, and injury from this communication. You further warrant that you are solely responsible for any financial outcome that may come from your investment decisions. TERMS OF USE. By reading this communication you agree that you have reviewed and fully agree to the Terms of Use found here http://oilprice.com/terms-and-conditions If you do not agree to the Terms of Use http://oilprice.com/terms-and-conditions, please contact Oilprice.com to discontinue receiving future communications. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. Oilprice.com is the Publisher's trademark. All other trademarks used in this communication are the property of their respective trademark holders. The Publisher is not affiliated, connected, or associated with, and is not sponsored, approved, or originated by, the trademark holders unless otherwise stated. No claim is made by the Publisher to any rights in any third-party trademarks. DISCLAIMER: OilPrice.com is Source of all content listed above. FN Media Group, LLC (FNM), is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with OilPrice.com or any company mentioned herein. The commentary, views and opinions expressed in this release by OilPrice.com are solely those of OilPrice.com and are not shared by and do not reflect in any manner the views or opinions of FNM. FNM is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. FNM and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination and financial marketing solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. FNM was not compensated by any public company mentioned herein to disseminate this press release. FNM HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE. This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements. Media Contact e-mail: editor@financialnewsmedia.com U.S. Phone: +1(954)345-0611 AerCap Holdings N.V. ("AerCap") (NYSE:AER) has announced its major business transactions during the first quarter 2019: Signed lease agreements for 43 aircraft , including 6 widebody aircraft and 37 narrowbody aircraft. , including 6 widebody aircraft and 37 narrowbody aircraft. Purchased 17 aircraft , including 12 Airbus A320neo Family aircraft, 1 Airbus A350, 3 Boeing 787-9s and 1 Embraer E2. , including 12 Airbus A320neo Family aircraft, 1 Airbus A350, 3 Boeing 787-9s and 1 Embraer E2. Executed sale transactions for 21 aircraft , including 7 Airbus A320 Family aircraft, 2 Airbus A330s, 3 Airbus A340s, 6 Boeing 737NGs and 1 Boeing 767-300ER from AerCap's owned portfolio and 2 Airbus A320 Family aircraft from AerCap's managed portfolio. , including 7 Airbus A320 Family aircraft, 2 Airbus A330s, 3 Airbus A340s, 6 Boeing 737NGs and 1 Boeing 767-300ER from AerCap's owned portfolio and 2 Airbus A320 Family aircraft from AerCap's managed portfolio. Signed financing transactions for $1.9 billion About AerCap AerCap is the global leader in aircraft leasing with, as of March 31, 2019, 1,400 owned, managed or on order aircraft in its portfolio. AerCap has one of the most attractive order books in the industry. AerCap serves approximately 200 customers in approximately 80 countries with comprehensive fleet solutions. AerCap is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (AER) and has its headquarters in Dublin with offices in Shannon, Los Angeles, Singapore, Amsterdam, Shanghai, Abu Dhabi, Seattle and Toulouse. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain statements, estimates and forecasts with respect to future performance and events. These statements, estimates and forecasts are "forward-looking statements". In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "might," "should," "expect," "plan," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "predict," "potential" or "continue" or the negatives thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release are forward-looking statements and are based on various underlying assumptions and expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and may include projections of our future financial performance based on our growth strategies and anticipated trends in our business. These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and projections about future events. There are important factors that could cause our actual results, level of activity performance or achievements to differ materially from the results, level of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. As a result, we cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements included in this press release will prove to be accurate or correct. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the future performance or events described in the forward-looking statements in this press release might not occur. Accordingly, you should not rely upon forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results and we do not assume any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any of these forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable law, we do not undertake any obligation to, and will not, update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. For more information regarding AerCap and to be added to our email distribution list, please visit www.aercap.com and follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/aercapnv. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005406/en/ Contacts: For Investors: Joseph McGinley Head of Investor Relations jmcginley@aercap.com; +353 1 418 0428 For Media: Gillian Culhane Vice President Corporate Communications gculhane@aercap.com; +353 1 636 0945 HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / April 10, 2019 / Camber Energy, Inc. (NYSE American: CEI) (the 'Company' or 'Camber'), based in Houston, Texas, a growth-oriented, independent oil and gas company engaged in the development of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids, today announced the execution of a revised non-binding Letter of Intent in connection with the Company's previously announced planned acquisition of a midstream pipeline integrity services, specialty construction and field services company in an all-stock transaction. Louis G. Schott, the Interim CEO of Camber noted, 'We have revised the Letter of Intent based on discussions with the NYSE American. This positions both parties towards a planned closing in the next four to five weeks. Our team made a successful diligence trip this week to meet with the acquisition company's management.' Mr. Schott further stated, 'We are very enthusiastic about the acquisition and its potential for growth. If closed, this transaction will enable the Company to leverage its available cash reserves and build shareholder value through a change in business focus to pipeline service and construction. With our planned partner, we anticipate substantial opportunities to leverage growth in the markets the pending acquisition is targeting. In fact, we are currently reviewing several acquisition targets to further grow the business.' The closing of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, negotiation of final transaction documents and transaction terms, and other conditions, including, but not limited to the consent of the holder of our Series C Preferred Stock, executing an agreement with Camber's Series C Preferred Stock holder amending the Series C Preferred Stock to alter the conversion rights, and obtaining the requisite NYSE American approval. The terms of the Letter of Intent contemplate issuing the seller a new series of convertible preferred stock which will be convertible into between 67% and 70% of Camber's outstanding common stock on a fully-diluted basis (after shareholder approval as required under applicable NYSE American rules and requirements). The transaction may not close timely, on the terms set forth in the Letter of Intent, or at all. The transaction is subject to the conditions above, and the parties contemplate entering into a definitive agreement in connection with the transaction on or before May 7, 2019, which agreement and definitive terms associated therewith will be included on a Form 8-K filed by the Company. The transaction will result in the shareholders of the acquired entity obtaining voting control over the Company. In addition, the Company plans to pursue additional acquisitions in connection with this potential transaction. About Camber Energy, Inc. Based in Houston, Texas, Camber Energy (NYSE American: CEI) is a growth-oriented, independent oil and gas company engaged in the development of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids in the Texas Panhandle as well as other basins. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.camber.energy. Safe Harbor Statement and Disclaimer This release includes 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements give our current expectations, opinion, belief or forecasts of future events and performance. A statement identified by the use of forward-looking words including 'will,' 'may,' 'expects,' 'projects,' 'anticipates,' 'plans,' 'believes,' 'estimate,' 'should,' and certain of the other foregoing statements may be deemed forward-looking statements. Although Camber believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual future activities and results to be materially different from those suggested or described in this news release. These include risks inherent in natural gas and oil drilling and production activities, including risks of fire, explosion, blowouts, pipe failure, casing collapse, unusual or unexpected formation pressures, environmental hazards, and other operating and production risks, which may temporarily or permanently reduce production or cause initial production or test results to not be indicative of future well performance or delay the timing of sales or completion of drilling operations; delays in receipt of drilling permits; risks with respect to natural gas and oil prices, a material decline which could cause Camber to delay or suspend planned drilling operations or reduce production levels; risks relating to the availability of capital to fund drilling operations that can be adversely affected by adverse drilling results, production declines and declines in natural gas and oil prices; risks relating to unexpected adverse developments in the status of properties; risks relating to the absence or delay in receipt of government approvals or third party consents; risks relating to funding we may never receive pursuant to the November 2018 Stock Purchase Agreement; risks relating to extensions and approvals provided by the NYSE American; risks related to potential future acquisitions or combinations, including the acquisition disclosed above, and the risks of not closing such transactions; and other risks described in Camber's Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings with the SEC, available at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Investors are cautioned that any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected. The forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date hereof. The Company takes no obligation to update or correct its own forward-looking statements, except as required by law, or those prepared by third parties that are not paid for by the Company. The Company's SEC filings are available at http://www.sec.gov. SOURCE: Camber Energy, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/541514/Camber-Energy-Announces-Execution-of-Revised-Non-Binding-Letter-of-Intent-Relating-to-the-Acquisition-of-a-Pipeline-Service-and-Construction-Company Global Cosmetics Company Sponsors Barcelona Event for Leading Female Thought Leaders, Innovators and Trailblazers More than 55 years after Mary Kay Ash founded what is now one of the world's leading corporate champions of women's empowerment and entrepreneurship, Mary Kay Inc. continues its support of female leadership as a presenting sponsor of the International Women's Forum (IWF) Cornerstone Conference. The event, held April 10-12 in Barcelona, Spain, brings together thought leaders, innovators and trailblazers from around the world to explore global issues through a woman's lens. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005268/en/ Gema Aznar, General Manager of Mary Kay Spain (Photo: Mary Kay Inc.) The IWF Cornerstone Conference provides a dynamic opportunity to support female leadership on a global and local level. IWF is a member-and-mission driven organization of more than 7,000 diverse and accomplished women from 33 nations on six continents. Participants come together to share knowledge, provide a network of support and exert influence. Gema Aznar, General Manager of Mary Kay Spain, will introduce the "Fashion Forward" panel presented during the IWF Cornerstone Conference. Spain is a growing force in fashion, home to familiar brands including Zara, Mango and Desigual. This panel will explore the rapidly changing dynamics in this industry and examine some of the innovative ways designers and manufacturers are working to make fashion more sustainable. "Mary Kay was founded by a woman, for women and our sponsorship of the International Women's Forum further strengthens our efforts to empower women around the world," said Gema. "Mary Kay Ash's lifetime of achievements in empowering women made her a trailblazing entrepreneur and her lasting legacy made her an icon. We are proud to continue her work through this sponsorship and many others that provide a global platform to some of the most powerful and influential women of our time." Panel speakers at the Barcelona event include: Misha Nonoo (UK) , Designer and Creative Director of Misha Nonoo , Designer and Creative Director of Misha Nonoo Jennifer Fleiss (USA) , Co-Founder of Rent the Runway and Head of Business Development, Co-Founder and CEO of Jetblack within Walmart's Store No. 8 Incubator , Co-Founder of Rent the Runway and Head of Business Development, Co-Founder and CEO of Jetblack within Walmart's Store No. 8 Incubator Beatriz Bayo (Spain), Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at MANGO Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at MANGO Moderator, Maria Eugenia Giron (Spain), Executive Director of IE Premium and Prestige Business Observatory, board director and member of IWF Spain "We're excited to work with Mary Kay because the company's mission of promoting female entrepreneurship and leadership aligns so well with our own," said Stephanie O'Keefe, CEO of IWF. "It's vital to have relationships with corporate leaders like Mary Kay as we continue to make an impact for women worldwide." Each year, IWF convenes two international conferences offering a unique opportunity for thought leaders to examine global issues within a local context and through a woman's lens, including international progress, business, economics, enterprise and sustainability. Mary Kay is honored to also be a presenting sponsor of the 2019 World Leadership Conference in Toronto, Canada, on November 13-15, where thought leaders will come together with "Open Minds" to look at new ways to create, collaborate and connect. For more information about IWF, click here. About Mary Kay At Mary Kay, success lies in our dedication to irresistible products, a rewarding opportunity and positive community impact. For 55 years, Mary Kay has inspired women to achieve their entrepreneurial goals in nearly 40 countries. As a multibillion-dollar company, we offer the latest in cutting-edge skin care, bold color cosmetics and fragrances. Discover more reasons to love Mary Kay at marykay.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005268/en/ Contacts: Mary Kay Inc. Corporate Communications marykay.com/newsroom 972.687.5332 or media@mkcorp.com The New Location in Mount Juliet, Tennessee is Just a Short Drive from Nashville MOUNT JULIET, TN / ACCESSWIRE / April 10, 2019 / The founders of Sounds Good Stereo, a company that offers custom car audio installation and a wide variety of other products and services, are pleased to announce the grand opening of their new shop in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. To learn more about Sounds Good Stereo and their custom car stereo installation services, as well as their car and motorcycle audio products, marine stereo selection and more, please check out https://soundsgoodstereotn.com/about-us-sounds-good-stereo/. As a company spokesperson noted, the new location in Mount Juliet is a short and pleasant drive from Nashville, also known as Music City. "With one of our team members being born and raised right here in the Nashville, TN area, it was the perfect choice for our team," the spokesperson noted, adding that after a lot of searching and research, the team from Sounds Good Stereo chose the perfect facility in Mount Juliet, which is just 25 minutes from downtown and less than 20 minutes from the airport for their out of town clients. One of the many things that helps set Sounds Good Stereo apart from the competition, the spokesperson noted, is that the friendly and experienced team focuses solely on providing quality based audio systems for all types of vehicles-and nothing more. While some car stereo shops offer services like window tinting, tires and wheels, oil changes and more, Sounds Good Stereo is proud to specialize in custom car audio. Of course, they do offer related products like laser jammers, radar detectors along with their solid selection of audiophile car stereo systems. To help find the new location in Mount Juliet as easily as possible, customers are welcome to use the Google GMB map link. About Sounds Good Stereo: At Sounds Good Stereo, their team focuses on the client, vehicle acoustics, and customer expectations to deliver the best performing audio systems. What might work for one vehicle does not mean it will perform as intended in another vehicle. Their unique approach in designing audio systems and their attention to detail in installation sets the bar in the car audio industry. The team at Sounds Good Stereo is made up of award-winning, integration specialists that complete their services with precision, care, and the training to deliver a non-invasive installation into every vehicle. For more information, please visit https://soundsgoodstereotn.com/. Sounds Good Stereo 230 Fiberglass Dr., Suite 201 Mount Juliet, TN 37122 Contact: Don Lester don@soundsgoodstereo.com 6152375210 SOURCE: Sounds Good Stereo View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/541556/Sounds-Good-Stereo-a-Company-that-Offers-Custom-Car-Stereo-Installation-and-Much-More-Opens-New-Shop-in-Mount-Juliet Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - April 10, 2019) - : Maple Gold Mines Ltd. (TSXV: MGM) (OTCQB: MGMLF) (Frankfurt: M3G) ("Maple Gold" or the "Company") has recently completed an Induced Polarization ("IP") survey with Abitibi Geophysique using their OreVision technology, along strike to the east and northeast of the 6 km long resource area. The survey included 400m-spaced lines covering a total of approximately 40 line-km, over a very sparsely drilled 15 km2 area (see Fig. 1). Data inversions and interpretations are pending. IP technology has progressed significantly since the 1990s when most of the previous IP surveys were completed on the Douay property; modern IP technologies allow much greater depth penetration than historical surveys were capable of historically. The currently producing Vezza gold mine is located approximately 20km to the east of the IP grid shown in Fig. 1., and the Company is hopeful that today's improved IP technology will detect one or more sulphide systems that could also lead the Company's technical team toward new Vezza-type gold discoveries. Previous drilling east of the current resource area (Micon 2018) has in general been limited, very broadly spaced and shallow. However, there are encouraging observations from the past drill data, including similar geochemical signatures to the resource area and several intercepts >1 g/t Au that that were discovered up to 6km east of the current resource area. Maple Gold's President and CEO, Matthew Hornor, commented: "The completion of this IP survey reflects the Company's continued commitment to property-scale target generation. We control a very prospective tract of ground straddling the Casa Berardi fault zone and believe that new ideas and technologies have the potential to lead to new discoveries and technical breakthroughs for us at Douay. We plan to methodically develop and prioritize new prospective targets and selectively drill test our highest priority targets as they are defined." Fig. 1: OreVision IP survey lines covering potential eastern extension of the resource area, as well as additional targets to the NE along and near the Casa Berardi North fault. DDh samples >1 g/t Au projected vertically from hole trace. To view an enhanced version of Fig 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3077/44001_648e5cf714efca9b_001full.jpg Qualified Person The scientific and technical data contained in this press release was reviewed and prepared under the supervision of Fred Speidel, M. Sc, P. Geo., Vice-President Exploration, of Maple Gold. Mr. Speidel is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Speidel has verified the data related to the exploration information disclosed in this news release through his direct participation in the work. Click the following link to review the Company's QA-QC standards and protocols: http://maplegoldmines.com/index.php/en/projects/qa-qc-qp-statement. About Maple Gold Maple Gold is an advanced gold exploration and development company focused on defining a district-scale gold project in one of the world's premier mining jurisdictions. The Company's ~392 km Douay Gold Project is located along the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone (55 km of strike) within the prolific Abitibi Greenstone Belt in northern Quebec, Canada. The Project benefits from excellent infrastructure and has an established gold resource3 that remains open in multiple directions. For more information please visit www.maplegoldmines.com. ON BEHALF OF MAPLE GOLD MINES LTD. "Matthew Hornor" B. Matthew Hornor, President & CEO For Further Information Please Contact: Mr. Joness Lang VP, Corporate Development Cell: 778.686.6836 Email: jlang@maplegoldmines.com NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS PRESS RELEASE. Forward Looking Statements: This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively referred to as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation in Canada, including statements about the prospective mineral potential of the Porphyry Zone, the potential for significant mineralisation from other drilling in the referenced drill program and the completion of the drill program. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, uncertainties and management's best estimate of future events. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations and projections. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding timing and completion of the private placement. When used herein, words such as "anticipate", "will", "intend" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on certain estimates, expectations, analysis and opinions that management believed reasonable at the time they were made or in certain cases, on third party expert opinions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, and uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual events, results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future events, results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to Maple Gold Mines Ltd.'s filings with Canadian securities regulators available on www.sedar.com or the Company's website at www.maplegoldmines.com. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44001 New York, New York and Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 10, 2019) - NexTech AR Solutions (OTCQB: NEXCF) (CSE: NTAR) (FSE:N29) (the "Company" or "NexTech") announced today that it has acquired a high volume 3D scanner for 3D digital asset creation. The new equipment can scan as many as 300 objects per day; previously the Company was only able to complete 12 object scans per day. The increase in scanning volume is of critical importance as the Company continues to sign up new customers to its AR eCommerce platform. One of the key drivers of the business for AR eCommerce is NexTech's ability to streamline 3D digital asset creation for physical goods, which this 3D scanner acquisition achieves. "A key part of our AR eCommerce business will be to leverage technologies that allow us to democratize and streamline 3D digital asset creation for physical goods," said Evan Gappelberg, CEO of NexTech. "The big AR eCommerce players like Wayfair, IKEA and HOUZZ have their own in-house scanning capabilities, but they aren't offering it as a service to others. With our new ability to offer others 300 2D-3D scans per day we are effectively lowering AR adoption barriers by utilizing technologies that democratize and streamline 3D digital asset creation at scale." Gartner reports 100 million consumers will shop in augmented reality online and in-store by 2020. NexTech is building out its AR and AI eCommerce offerings, which include using AI to create a guided and knowledgeable curator that can be programmed to be used across all commerce. NexTech's 'full funnel' end-to-end eCommerce solution for the AR industry includes offering 3D product capture, 3D ads for Facebook and Google as well as 'Try it On' technology for online apparel, 3D and 360 degree product views and 'one click buy.' The platform is affordable, scalable, customizable, and most importantly, easy to integrate within an existing web interface, making NexTech one of the leaders in the rapidly growing AR industry, estimated to hit $120 billion by 2022, according to Statista. About NexTech AR Solutions Corp. NexTech is bringing a next generation web enabled augmented reality (AR) platform with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and analytics to the Cannabis industry, eCommerce, education, training, healthcare and video conferencing. Having integrated with Shopify, Magento and Wordpress its technology offers eCommerce sites a universal 3D shopping solution. With just a few lines of embed code, the Company's patent-pending platform offers the most technologically advanced 3D-AR, AI technology anywhere. Online retailers can subscribe to NexTech's state of the art, 3D AR/AI solution for $79/mo. The Company has created the AR industry's first end-to-end affordable, intelligent, frictionless, scalable platform. To learn more, please follow us on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook, or visit our website: https://www.nextechar.com. On behalf of the Board of NexTech AR Solutions Corp. "Evan Gappelberg" CEO and Director For further information, please contact: Evan Gappelberg Chief Executive Officer info@nextechar.com Media contact: Erin Hadden FischTank Marketing and PR ehadden@fischtankpr.com The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain information contained herein may constitute "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as, "will be", "looking forward" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements regarding the Company increasing investors awareness are based on the Company's estimates and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of NexTech to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, including capital expenditures and other costs. 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 and forward-looking information. NexTech will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43984 Las Vegas, Nevada--(Newsfile Corp. - April 10, 2019) - Oasis Cannabis, a premier 24-hour dispensary near the Strip and Downtown Las Vegas, is pleased to announce the results of its grand reopening weekend; the biggest three days in company history. Fully owned and operated by CLS Holdings USA, Inc. (OTCQB: CLSH) (CSE: CLSH.U), Oasis Cannabis had over 2,000 visitors and processed over 1,750 orders in the 3 days, with an average sale of USD $50.00 and a gross margin of 46%. Oasis Cannabis is focused on providing empowerment through education, compassionate care through attentive service, and community enrichment through the diverse community programs they offer. While the live art and music, food trucks, and excitement was consistent throughout the weekend, what stood out the most is the bond and relationship that the staff have with the customers. Many repeat customers showed up to support, as well as many new faces, and all were welcomed and treated with the upmost respect and attention. Andrew Glashow, President and COO of CLS Holdings USA, Inc., states, "I sincerely wish to thank the team at Oasis Cannabis for consistently delivering superior service and knowledge. To our customers, we appreciate you, and look forward to a long relationship." About Oasis Cannabis Oasis Cannabis has operated a cannabis dispensary in the Las Vegas market since dispensaries first opened in Nevada in 2015 and has been recognized as one of the top marijuana retailers in the state. Its location within walking distance to the Las Vegas Strip and Downtown Las Vegas in combination with its delivery service to residents allows it to efficiently serve both locals and tourists in the Las Vegas area. In February 2019, it was named "Best Dispensary for Pot Pros" by Desert Companion Magazine. http://oasiscannabis.com About CLS Holdings USA, Inc. CLS Holdings USA, Inc. (OTCQB: CLSH) (CSE: CLSH), is a diversified cannabis company that acts as an integrated cannabis producer and retailer through its Oasis Cannabis subsidiaries in Nevada, and plans to expand to other states. CLS stands for "Cannabis Life Sciences," in recognition of the Company's patented proprietary method of extracting various cannabinoids from the marijuana plant and converting them into products with a higher level of quality and consistency. The Company's business model includes licensing operations, processing operations, processing facilities, sale of products, brand creation and consulting services. http://www.clsholdingsinc.com Twitter: @CLSHusa Forward Looking Statements This press release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, the "forward-looking statements"). These statements relate to anticipated future events, future results of operations or future financial performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "intends," "expects," "plans," "goals," "projects," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements are only predictions, are uncertain and involve substantial known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, levels of activity or performance to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity or performance expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. We cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity or performance and we cannot guaranty that the proposed transactions described in this press release will occur. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date that they were made. These cautionary statements should be considered together with any written or oral forward-looking statements that we may issue in the future. Except as required by applicable law, we do not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements to conform these statements to reflect actual results, later events or circumstances or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. See CLS Holdings USA filings with the SEC and on its SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com for additional details. Contact Information Corporate: Chairman and CEO Jeff Binder jeff@clsholdingsinc.com 888-438-9132 Investors: Adelaide Capital Markets Jackie Kelly Jackie@adelaidecapital.ca 416-301-2949 To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43994 TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / April 10, 2019 / Toronto based CO2 GRO Inc. ("GROW") (TSX-V: GROW, OTCQB: BLONF, Frankfurt: 4021) attendance at the GFIA Global Ag Tech Conference April 1-2 in Abu Dhabi was successful and productive. GFIA stated there were over 7000 delegates from 122 countries this year. This Middle East based Conference is the largest global showcase of Sustainable Agriculture Innovation. GROW's objectives in attending the conference were two fold. To meet with potential Middle East and EU Agri Industrial Partners/Distributors which resulted in the following; Aaron Archibald, COO, CO2 GRO Inc. attended the GFIA conference on behalf of GROW. Aaron's presentation on CO2 Foliar Spray was very well received. GROW had a well-attended trade booth at the conference. GROW will take the next step with a major EU greenhouse manufacturer concerning how to work together. To meet potential Middle East, EU and other international customers the result of which is below; Aaron identified numerous quality revenue opportunities at the Conference. In addition, Aaron visited major indoor greenhouses that had expressed interest in the CO2 Foliar Spray technology, reviewing initial installation requirements and terms. Currently, none of these facilities can use CO2 gas due to excessive heat that has to be vented. This leaves CO2 Foliar Spray as the only logical value added CO2 gas service that can be integrated into existing spray racks. Aaron Archibald, COO, commented "we were fully booked with one on one meetings with potential Ag customers and clients. A very clear message from the conference is the great importance the Emirates government is placing on food security and sustainability, areas where we believe GROW can make a significant contribution. The GFIA Global Ag Tech Conference was tailor made to showcase our CO2 Foliar Spray technology". About CO2 GRO Inc. GROW's mission is to accelerate all indoor and outdoor value plant growth naturally, safely, and economically using its patent pending CO2 Foliar Spray technology. GROW's global target retail plant markets are food at $8 trillion per year (Plunkett Mar 2017), non-food at an estimated $1.2 trillion per year with retail tobacco at $760 billion (BA Tobacco 2017), floriculture at $100 billion by 2022 (MarketResearch.Biz estimate). Legal cannabis at $52.5 billion per year by 2023 (Statista) and legal US hemp CBD at $22B per year by 2022 (the Brightfield Group). GROW's CO2 technologies are commercially proven, scalable and easily adopted into existing irrigation systems. The CO2 technologies work by transferring CO2 gas into water and foliar spraying water across the entire plant leaf surface which is a semi permeable membrane. The dissolved concentrated CO2 then penetrates a leaf's surface area naturally like nicotine dissolves through human skin from a soluble nicotine patch. Foliar spraying of water, dissolved nutrients and chemicals on plant leaves has been used for over 60 years by millions of indoor and outdoor growers. To date, outdoor growers have not had any way to enhance plant CO2 gas uptake for faster growth. Indoor CO2 gassing has enhanced plant yields for over 60 years but 60% of the CO2 gas used is typically lost from ventilation. Current greenhouse CO2 gassing levels of up to 1500 PPM are not ideal for worker health and safety. GROW's safer infused CO2 Foliar Spray can be used by both indoor and outdoor plant growers with minimal dissolved CO2 gas lost and much greater CO2 plant bioavailability resulting in higher plant yields than both CO2 gassing and no gassing plant yields. Forward-Looking Statements This news release may contain forward-looking statements that are based on CO2 GRO's expectations, estimates and projections regarding its business and the economic environment in which it operates. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to control or predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements and readers should not place undue reliance on such statements. Statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update them publicly to reflect new information or the occurrence of future events or circumstances, unless otherwise required to do so by law. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For more information, please visit www.co2gro.ca or contact Sam Kanes, VP Communications and IR at 416-315-7477. SOURCE: CO2GRO Inc View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/541541/CO2-GRO-Provides-a-Summary-of-its-Participation-in-the-GFIA-Conference Marks the first time a company has identified biomarkers that hold the potential to stratify this subset of patients Study examined 1,953 significant autistic biomarkers, resulting in 2 significant markers tied to expressed genes and pathways responsible for speech development Biomarkers in the nonverbal subset were distinct from children with typical speech development with or without autism Biomarkers will help homogenize clinical trial participants and will be studied as possible diagnostic and prognostic indicators during trials New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - April 10, 2019) - Q BioMed Inc. (OTCQB: QBIO), a commercial stage biotech company, announced today the discovery of two novel biomarkers for pediatric nonverbal autism, identified in a subset of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This marks the first time a company has been able to identify biomarkers that hold the potential to stratify this subset of children. The study took into consideration 1,953 potential biomarkers and used Vineland II scores to stratify 240 children into three groups: verbal, semi-verbal, and nonverbal autism. Q BioMed CEO, Denis Corin highlighted, "This is a major breakthrough for these children and their families. To date, very little attention and research has been focused on these nonverbal autistic children. In partnership with the clinical and advocacy community, Q BioMed is leading the effort to better stratify this group, while also pursuing a treatment." Children of this subset typically never develop the ability to speak, or commence with language progression between 9-14 months and then regress. Most psychologists and physicians feel comfortable providing a diagnosis of nonverbal around the age of 7 years. Each year, an estimated 18,000-20,000 newborns will go on to become autistic and nonverbal in the U.S. Speaking to the benefit of the biomarker work completed to date by Q BioMed, Corin explained, "Children with ASD need safe, effective and targeted treatments that are tested under conditions that take their best interests into consideration. Today's announcement ensures we continue to take a tailored and patient-centric approach to find those children who will benefit the most from our efforts." One of the highlights of the biomarker study was the identification of known genes and pathways that are directly implicated in speech impairment. The studies also revealed comorbidities that manifest serologically as early as 18 months (the lower limit of detection to date) even though the children do not yet manifest clinical symptoms of these diseases. To date, the results would allow for the development of diagnostic capabilities for children as young as 18 months and as old as 6 years. Further studies are needed for children older than 6 years. Q BioMed will continue to enrich its data set for these biomarkers over time and work with its advisory committee, regulators and partners to incorporate these biomarkers into the QBM-001 trial design. In parallel, Q BioMed is finishing the formulation of QBM-001. The completion of formulation over the next couple months will then lead to subsequent regulatory filings and ongoing IND enabling studies. QBM-001 targets toddlers with pediatric nonverbal autism, where underlying commonalities - as further reinforced by this current biomarker study - lead to developmental delay, an autism diagnosis, and eventual nonverbal or very minimally verbal capability for the rest of their lives. About Pediatric Nonverbal Autism There are approximately 18,000-20,000 new cases of pediatric nonverbal autism in the U.S. each year and a similar amount in Europe. The majority of the children are diagnosed by the age of seven and fall within the autism spectrum. Individually, the economic costs for toddlers that become non- or minimally verbal is $10 million dollars on average per child over a lifetime. Collectively, an estimated $200 billion is spent yearly on individuals who are nonverbal in the U.S. Not all individuals who are nonverbal will benefit from QBM-001. However, with validated biomarkers, testing from trained specialists and genetic testing, children who fall in this targeted population can be identified, and will have a higher likelihood of responding to an approved treatment. About Q BioMed Inc. Q BioMed Inc. is a biotech acceleration and commercial stage company. We are focused on licensing and acquiring undervalued biomedical assets in the healthcare sector. Q BioMed is dedicated to providing these target assets; strategic resources, developmental support, and expansion capital to ensure they meet their developmental potential, enabling them to provide products to patients in need. Please visit http://www.QBioMed.com and sign up for regular updates Forward-Looking Statements: This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such statements include, but are not limited to, any statements relating to our growth strategy and product development programs and any other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could negatively affect our business, operating results, financial condition and stock price. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated are: risks related to our growth strategy; risks relating to the results of research and development activities; our ability to obtain, perform under and maintain financing and strategic agreements and relationships; uncertainties relating to preclinical and clinical testing; our dependence on third-party suppliers; our ability to attract, integrate, and retain key personnel; the early stage of products under development; our need for substantial additional funds; government regulation; patent and intellectual property matters; competition; as well as other risks described in our SEC filings. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in our expectations or any changes in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, except as required by law. Contact Denis Corin CEO Q BioMed Inc. +1(646)884-7017 Investor Relations +1(404) 995-6671 ir@qbiomed.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43970 LOS ANGELES, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- USA News Group - It seems that the move toward legalizing marijuana for medical use in new jurisdictions is creating a shortfall of supply in some states: a case in point is Rhode Island, which is falling behind in its ability to supply the stuff. Rhode Island offers a clear example of why the cannabis industry, which is already seeing major demand, is experiencing huge growth and the addition of a whole new infrastructure sprouting up to service the new markets. Legal cannabis companies impacted in the grower and producer category with a view to supplying medical marijuana include Aphria (NYSE: APHA) (TSX: APHA), AmeriCann, Inc. (OTC: ACAN), and Aurora Cannabis (TSX: ACB) (NYSE: ACB). And while state lawmakers in Rhode Island consider legalizing recreational weed, sales of medical marijuana have gone through the ceiling - surpassing all expectations. Based on the shifting attitudes towards legalization and growth in medical demand, marijuana focused companies have been realizing a significant lift. Over the last year, and particularly since Canada's wholesale legalization of pot, the demand has translated into a number of areas. Medical marijuana accounts for a significant portion of that growth. Several of the cannabis Licensed Producers (or LPs) are in the grower end of the business and combining their efforts with product development, sales and distribution. MYM Nutraceuticals Inc. is a developer of three sizeable growing operations that is broadly diversified into multi-brand development and product distribution. MYM Nutraceuticals Inc. (CSE: MYM) (OTC: MYMMF), is also an example of an early mover now shifting its focus toward the medical end of the business. Rhode Island's Medical Use Example According to published figures, RI's three medical marijuana dispensaries are on pace to sell about $56 million worth of medicinal pot in fiscal 2019. That comes directly from the state's top marijuana regulator. In actual sales, that represents $17.8 million, or roughly 46.6 percent more medical marijuana sales in 2019 than in fiscal year of 2018 - a significant increase. This new figure follows what was a record-breaking year in 2018 that amounted to about $38.2 million worth of marijuana sold. That was another significant increase over the previous year, accounting for one third more than was sold in in fiscal 2017. It's a clear trend that is picking up steam in Rhode Island, similar to other states where the legalization has become reality. It's also been a tax wind fall for the state; they collected about $2.75 million in various taxes during fiscal 2018 and are predicted to collect nearly twice that in fiscal 2019 or about $5.4 million. Although recreational cannabis has been legalized in just 10 states and Washington, DC, patients can use marijuana medicinally in 33 states and Washington, DC. And that number is only expected to rise in 2019 as many states look to adopt new legislation. Many states have existing bills in their legislatures and are going through the process. Producers and Distributors Moving into Medical The gap created by the demand for medical cannabis is seeing a rise in new companies, many from Canada where medical pot has been legal for 11 years. Canadian based MYM Nutraceuticals is an example of the efforts to move towards the medical market; MYM is making waves as a junior company moving up the ranks of the legal producers in Canada and expanding to the US along with other regions. MYM through its various joint ventures is currently building three large-scale production facilities in both Canada and Australia. Upon completion of these three projects, the total amount of greenhouse growing space is expected to exceed 2.7 million square feet. MYM Nutraceuticals is also diversifying; it has large grows in Canada and abroad, which they produce flower for and have the capability of doing extraction down to oil for an additional revenue stream. They also have a manufacturing facility in its final stages of completion that will allow the company to produce final consumables in the forms of transdermal patches, pills, tinctures and products of that nature for humans. Through subsidiaries develop and sell a variety of cannabis based natural products including custom-made cannabis products. MYM is focusing their business model to be in the medical segment, which they feel is a longer-term play, as opposed to a recreational pot. Why the Big Increases? Regulators explain that the list of qualifying conditions to enter the medical marijuana program in RI is pretty short but, but it covers a wide range of ailments such as severe pain, muscle spasms, nausea and other maladies. They also claim that some doctors over the border in nearby areas have been willing to write medicinal marijuana scripts for a large segment of Rhode Island's 18,200 registered patients with as they put it "few questions asked." The Governor tried and failed on an attempt to restrict certain doctors from participating in the medical pot program last year. Business is apparently brisk at a dispensary in Providence, where on some days patients can wait up to 25 minutes to make a transaction at one of 17 check-out stations. And the situation is similar at other centers around the state. According to a lead regulator, "People do not live close enough to these three centers," "and there's not enough competition in terms of pricing and offerings. So, when you look at the state's need, it's just not being met by the three existing compassion centers." "We do not have enough distribution or patient access right now," he said, explaining that the state's current three dispensaries were created in 2009. Back then, Rhode Island had fewer than 2,000 patients seeking medical pot. It Just Keeps Getting Bigger Nationwide, cannabis sales are expected to reach $3.8 billion in 2018, and up to $6.6 billion by 2025, according to projections from New Frontier Data. Using that benchmark, sales of the plant could reach up to $24.1 billion by 2025. Rhode Island's legalization proposal includes plans to triple the number of medical marijuana dispensaries to nine in order to meet the growing demand in that state. According to published data, Rhode Island is a good model since it leads the nation in per-capita marijuana consumption. Their new proposal would create six additional retail-only stores, but none of them would grow pot or manufacture any marijuana products. They are leaving that to the existing suppliers and manufacturers like MYM Nutraceuticals. Legislators have indicated that the nine dispensaries in the state could apply for licenses to sell recreational marijuana at a later date if the General Assembly approves recreational use. That could well happen during this session. For now, it appears that the nation's medical marijuana supplies, like Rhode Island's, will lag behind the demand, which is expected to ultimately plateau and gain a balance. But that may be for some years to come. Companies benefiting from the move towards legalization of medical marijuana and increased use of hemp products include: Aphria (NYSE: APHA) (TSX: APHA) bills itself as one of Canada's lowest cost producers, that produces, supplies and sells medical cannabis. Located in the greenhouse capital of Canada, Leamington, Ontario, Aphria provides pharma-grade medical cannabis, and quality patient care. AmeriCann, Inc. (OTC: ACAN) develops, owns and supports advanced medical cannabis cultivation and processing facilities nationwide. The Company has a multi-market portfolio of over 1,000,000 square feet of sustainable cannabis production infrastructure in various stages of development. Aurora Cannabis (TSX: ACB) (NYSE: ACB) has funded capacity in excess of 430,000 kg per year and operations across Canada and in Europe, making it is one of the world's largest cannabis companies. The Company is vertically integrated and horizontally diversified across every key segment of the value chain. For a more in-depth look into MYM you can view the in-depth report at USA News Group: http://usanewsgroup.com/2018/04/12/sector-diversification-is-the-key-to-a-happy-trading-portfolio/ Article Source: USA News Group http://usanewsgroup.com info@usanewsgroup.com Legal Disclaimer/Disclosure: This piece is an advertorial and has been paid for. This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment. No information in this Report should be construed as individualized investment advice. A licensed financial advisor should be consulted prior to making any investment decision. We make no guarantee, representation or warranty and accept no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion are those of USA News Group only and are subject to change without notice. USA News Group assumes no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission. Furthermore, we assume no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information, provided within this Report. DISCLAIMER: USA News Group is Source of all content listed above. FN Media Group, LLC (FNM), is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with USA News Group or any company mentioned herein. The commentary, views and opinions expressed in this release by USA News Group are solely those of USA News Group and are not shared by and do not reflect in any manner the views or opinions of FNM. FNM is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. FNM and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination and financial marketing solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. FNM was not compensated by any public company mentioned herein to disseminate this press release. FNM HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE. This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements. Media Contact Information: FN Media Group, LLC Media Contact e-mail: editor@financialnewsmedia.com U.S. Phone: +1(954)345-0611 The only place in the industry to discuss and view future water solutions for around the world WATEC Israel 2019 - take a sip from where water breakthroughs happen! TEL AVIV, Israel, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The 8th biennial WATEC international event will be held this year, from the 18 until the 21 November 2019, at the Peres Center for Innovation and the David InterContinental Hotel in Tel Aviv, with hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of visitors from all parts of the world. According to experts, the world is on the brink of a global water crisis, which can only be prevented through advance preparation. Therefore, the upcoming WATEC conference will not only address the latest water innovations, but will also look forward at the future of water around the world and how the impending crisis can be managed. Israel's reputation as the startup nation is already well-established as a global leader in a range of water usage and technology, such as desalination, monitoring and irrigation. This year the emphasis will be on True water technology development and execution (Digital Water; Water Urbanization; Innovation as a Policy and Innovative Policy Making; Women and Water Industry; Multi-Disciplinary Collaborations; Water Pricing; Water Ownership; The war over water from different sectors, Water Security and much more. Furthermore, WATEC is introducing a first-of-a-kind interactive display area, to showcase the latest developments and technologies: Digital Water; Solutions 360 and Mainstream. Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4aAfsS162M&feature=youtu.be Oren Blonder, chief commercial officer at Dorot Control Valves Water Systems, and Ari Goldfarb, CEO at Kando Environment Services, the co-chairpersons of WATEC, commented, "WATEC 2019 will mark an exciting departure from previous conventions. We are joining forces with the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Israel Export Institute to bring you Water Week - four days of international and local focus on water management, with WATEC 2019 featuring proudly as the flagship event. Sessions will incorporate workshops, roundtables and panel discussions with much interaction from all participants. The only conference that truly addresses the future of water and the water industry worldwide and does not simply exhibit pipes and other equipment, regardless of how large and lovely they may be." This year, Cleanvest, an Investor Summit will be held on the 18th November, which will bring together investors, entrepreneurs, technology providers, users, consumers and integrators, while uniting all with the goal to create a new eco-system through unique roundtable discussions, workshops and brain-storming sessions where water transformation occurs every single day in the water field. This Investor Summit will provide a unique platform to leverage these opportunities to accelerate water technologies for providing fresh water to future generations. During the Event, participants will be given a real and hands on experience of the Israeli solutions deployed on sites with customized tours. Access to safe water has a tremendous impact on the world. According to studies it's the 5th global risk facing the world today. In the last century, water consumption was increased by 600%. By 2050 water demand will grow by a further 55% leaving 40% of the global population in "water stressed areas"*. *https://water.org/our-impact/water-crisis/global-water-crisis/ WATEC 2019 will do its part in creating the community needed to face the challenges ahead of the world population. http://watec-israel.com TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / April 10, 2019 / Anthony Milewski, Chairman and CEO, Cobalt 27 Capital Corp. (TSX-V: KBLT) (OTCQX: CBLLF) (FRA: 270), met with the London Metal Exchange's Product Development department to discuss their electric vehicle battery materials initiatives. The London Metal Exchange (LME) is the world centre for industrial metals trading. With the launch of its new cobalt contract, we reached out the LME with some questions that we felt investors and Cobalt 27 shareholders would find interesting. What is the London Metal Exchange and what does it offer as a platform? The London Metal Exchange (LME) is the world centre for industrial metals trading. The prices discovered across the LME's three trading platforms - the Ring, the inter-office 'telephone' market and LMEselect, our electronic trading platform - are used as the global reference price and, both the metal and investment communities use the LME to transfer or take on risk, 24 hours a day. The LME has had a cobalt contract since 2010. Why is the Exchange launching a new cobalt contract now? The LME launched its physically-settled LME Cobalt contract in 2010, which has been a steady performer amongst a core group of supporters for a physically settled contract. That said, the LME has also seen growing appetite for a cash-settled contract over recent years with the rise in demand for Electric Vehicles (EVs) and battery metals. Last year, we consulted the market in order to identify the best risk management solutions. Following extensive engagement with the market, on 11 March 2019, we launched a cash-settled LME Cobalt (Fastmarkets MB) contract, to complement our existing physically-settled offering. This new cash-settled contract is settled against the Fastmarkets MB Standard Grade index, allowing market participants who have exposure to the aforementioned price in their physical contracts, to hedge across the cobalt value chain with no basis risk. What are the differences between the new cash-settled LME Cobalt (Fastmarkets MB) contract and the existing physically-settled LME Cobalt contract? There are several differences between the two contracts, but the most relevant are the settlement structure, settlement price and prompt date structure. Designed to mirror physical trading, daily prompts enable users of the physically-settled LME Cobalt contract to accurately hedge their physical transactions down to the day. The LME Cobalt (Fastmarkets MB) contract settles on the last business day of each month in accordance with the LME trading calendar, out to 15 months, to the price of the Fastmarkets MB Index. In contrast, the physically-settled LME Cobalt contract offers daily prompt dates out to three months, weekly prompt dates between three and six months, and monthly prompt dates from the sixth month onward out to 15 months. Cash settlement is a method used in certain futures and options contracts where, upon expiration or exercise, the seller of the financial instrument does not deliver the actual physical underlying asset but instead transfers the associated cash position. For sellers who do not wish to take actual possession of the underlying cash commodity, cash settlement is a more convenient method of transacting futures and options contracts. Cash settlement is also preferred by financial investors who bring additional liquidity reducing the bid-offer spread, and thus lowering the cost of trading. And what about the physical delivered contract? What will happen to that now? The LME recognises the ongoing market support for its physically-settled cobalt contract which has seen a steady uptake in recent months, with an increase in both trading volumes and stocks, and as such it will continue to offer a physically-settled option alongside the new cash-settled LME Cobalt (Fastmarkets MB) contract. Physical settlement enables short position holders to deliver warrants - a warehouse warrant for the storage of metal, issued by a LME-listed warehouse and in a form approved by the Exchange - against their positions, whilst long position holders will receive warrants, and ultimately, take physical delivery of the metal or close out their position. Physical settlement is preferred by a number of market participants such as cobalt producers who prefer the option of physical delivery, and the steady growth of the battery metals market in recent years has opened up the cobalt market to a number of new market participants wanting to gain exposure to the cobalt price and have the tools available to manage their price risk. In recent months we have heard of a number of cobalt producers who are interested in listing their brands on the LME and as part of our ongoing commitment to lowering barriers to market entry and serving the physical market, the LME has recently waived all brand listing fees for cobalt producers wanting to enter the market and list their brands on the LME. This waiver will last for 6 months, until October 2019, and any producers interested in listing on the LME should reach out to the team who will be happy to discuss this in more detail. Who is the new cash-settled contract for? Over the past few years, we have seen extreme volatility in the cobalt market which has a knock-on effect on the entire value chain, causing operational concerns - increasing financing costs, increasing counterparty risk and, ultimately, increasing the price of goods for consumers. Furthermore, the significant growth in EVs in recent years has bought new players to the metals market, with considerable capital to invest in this space. Up until now, these new market participants have struggled to manage their exposure to the cobalt price, especially along the forward curve, as they have not had the tools available to them. The new cash-settled LME Cobalt (Fastmarkets MB) contract provides exposure to the Fastmarkets MB Cobalt Standard Grade price, helping market participants to manage risk along the entire cobalt value chain. A few examples of market participants who can benefit from these hedging tools include: Miners, traders and hydroxide producers, as well as traditional consumers like the super alloy industry, whose procurement contracts are linked to the Fastmarkets MB Cobalt Standard Grade index Cobalt sulphate producers and consumers whose procurement contracts are linked to the Fastmarkets MB Standard Grade price, including the EVs and Lithium-ION batteries industry As liquidity grows, we expect a number of financial participants including funds and money managers to take an interest in the contract. The LME Cobalt (Fastmarkets MB) contract will be available to trade 24 hours a day across the LME's telephone market and from 01:00-19:00 London time on LMEselect, the LME's electronic market. What liquidity can we expect? Building liquidity is always the biggest challenge for new exchange-traded products generally, and especially for small markets like cobalt, but we expect liquidity to grow progressively as our members deploy the infrastructure upgrades that allow them to access this market. As observed in similar markets, we expect to see the majority of initial liquidity on the telephone market. However, over time we hope to see an increase in the amount of physical players benefiting from the contract and contributing towards an increase in on-screen liquidity and deep order book - providing the transparency and exposure that market participants require. We have also introduced a new membership category of Registered Intermediating Brokers (RIBs). These are brokers who facilitate trades between two parties - either LME members or clients - helping to grow liquidity in smaller niche markets such as the cobalt market. We have seen in the past how RIBs have greatly supported the initial liquidity in other new markets such as LME Steel Scrap and LME Steel Rebar, playing an integral role in helping these markets to grow. For more information about the LME's cobalt offering, please contact one of the team at product.development@lme.com I welcome shareholders to get in touch with any comments. Anthony Milewski, Chairman and CEO Cobalt 27 Capital Corp. About Cobalt 27 Capital Corp. Cobalt 27 Capital Corp. is a leading battery metals streaming company offering exposure to metals integral to key technologies of the electric vehicle and energy storage markets. The Company owns physical cobalt and a 32.6% Cobalt Stream on Vale's world-class Voisey's Bay mine,? beginning in 2021. Cobalt 27 is undertaking a friendly acquisition of Highlands Pacific which is expected to add increased attributable nickel and cobalt production from the long-life, world-class Ramu Mine. The Company also manages a portfolio of 11 royalties and intends to continue to invest in a cobalt and nickel focused portfolio of streams, royalties and direct interests in mineral properties containing battery metals. For further information please visit the Company website at www.cobalt27.com Forward-Looking Information: This interview may contain certain information which constitutes 'forward-looking statements' and 'forward-looking information' within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions which involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied by them. Examples of forward looking information and assumptions include future estimates of the worldwide supply and demand for cobalt and other metals and the effect that these changes could have on the short term and long term price of cobalt and other metals on the world markets, statements regarding the future operating or financial performance of Cobalt 27 including the net present value, metal recoveries, capital costs, operating costs, production, rates of return and payback. Forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may not prove to be accurate. Such statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations. Among those factors which could cause actual results to differ materially are the following: market conditions and other risk factors listed from time to time in Cobalt 27 Capital Corp.'s reports filed with Canadian securities regulators on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "projects", "plans", "anticipates" and similar expressions. These statements represent management's expectations or beliefs concerning, among other things, future operations and various components thereof affecting the economic performance of Cobalt 27. Undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements which are based upon management's assumptions and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including the business risks discussed above, which may cause actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers are cautioned that events or circumstances could cause results to differ materially from those predicted. Links: Some of the posted entries on in this interview may include links to 3rd party websites. Cobalt 27 has not reviewed all websites linked to or from this Site and is not responsible for the contents of any such websites. The inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by Cobalt 27 of the linked website or its content. Use of any such linked website is at the user's own risk. SOURCE: Junior Mining Network View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/541442/The-LMEs-New-Cobalt-Contract-A-History-of-Cobalt-on-the-London-Metal-Exchange VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 10, 2019 / EastWest Bioscience (the "Company" or "EastWest") (TSX.V: EAST) expands into Kentucky, USA with TSX approval. On April 1st, 2019, the TSX Venture Exchange gave EastWest Bioscience Inc. the green light to sell its products containing CBD in Kentucky, USA. Until recently, because of rules imposed by the TSX due to legal uncertainty regarding business operations involving any products derived from hemp, the Company was restricted from doing business in the USA. Now, with the TSX-V lifting those restrictions, the Company is free to manufacture and sell its CBD infused products under both US Federal and Kentucky State Law. "This is a significant milestone for EastWest as it immediately makes available to the consumer market, all our existing product SKUs and sets the stage for strong growth across our CBD infused product lines," states Rodney Gelineau, CEO of EastWest Bioscience. EastWest is moving rapidly, incorporating a wholly owned subsidiary, EastWest Science USA to distribute its line of CBD products. In accordance with its product roadmap, EastWest has been developing products in the USA for the CBD market. The Company now has a clear regulatory path to move these products from development, to manufacturing and distribution in the state of Kentucky. The Company has been in negotiations with consumer products manufacturers and distributors and will move products into consumer markets rapidly. The Company's first CBD products will be six CBD infused supplements under the Natural Advancement PLUS brand and two CBD infused hemp pet treats under the brand Natural Pet Science PLUS. "We started early with product development, a strategy which is now paying off," continues Gelineau. "Our business and product development teams have been carrying on the planning and development work for our CBD infused products, and the Company is excited to have this regulatory hurdle out of the way so we can begin the real work of doing business in the US, starting with the state of Kentucky". EastWest is now able to finalize a key partnership for a CBD processing and consumer goods manufacturing facility in Kentucky which will give it the ability to manufacture CBD directly, in an in-house facility. This partnership will provide EastWest exclusive access to an 18,000 sq. ft. facility situated on 6 acres in Marion County the heart of hemp country in Kentucky, USA, an area known for its premium hemp, excellent growing conditions, and long history of industrial scale hemp farming. The partner also has CBD equipment and a Kentucky License for growing and processing hemp and CBD. "Exclusive access to this facility will give EastWest a strategic US footprint in prime hemp country," states Gelineau. "Not only is this facility strategically important to our plan it is also the next step toward export to the EU." About EastWest Bioscience Group EastWest Bioscience is a vertically integrated wellness company with the infrastructure to become a global giant in the Hemp & CBD consumer health market. Since it was founded in 2016, EastWest continues to grow as a high-quality producer, manufacturer and distributor of multiple lines of premium hemp products. EastWest is strategically positioned in mainstream consumer markets with wholistic natural products and has developed distribution channels into mainstream stores and markets in Canada. The Company has a Health Canada licensed, GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) certified manufacturing facility and produces premium brands offering natural products for a preventive care lifestyle. EastWest consumer product lines are divided into four distinct brands: 1) Natural Advancement - natural biopharmaceutical health supplements; 2) Earth's Menu - all-natural hemp superfoods; 3) Natural Pet Science - pet food and pet supplements; and 4) Chanvre Hemp - all-natural health and beauty products. The organization will continue to focus on ongoing development of innovative, hemp-based consumer products through advanced science with clean, natural ingredients to complement its current product offerings. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS EASTWEST BIOSCIENCE GROUP "Rodney Gelineau" Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Director TSXV - Symbol: EAST Company Website: www.eastwestbioscience.com Contact: Nicholas Vincent - Investor Relations on 1-800-409-1930 or investors@eastwestscience.com. NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the terms and conditions of the Acquisition. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; and delay or failure to receive board, shareholder or regulatory approvals. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. 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 required by law. SOURCE: EastWest Bioscience Group View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/541506/EastWest-Bioscience-Receives-TSX-Approval-for-Operations-in-Kentucky-USA-with-Eight-New-CBD-Products Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 10, 2019) - MAX RESOURCE CORP. (TSXV: MXR) (OTC: MXROF) (FSE: M1D1) ("MAX" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has retained Maricom Inc. ("Maricom") to provide investor relations services to the Company with a special French focus in compliance with regulatory guidelines. Maricom is a Quebec-based communications firm focused on providing fully bilingual investor relations services with a special French focus to build and create awareness for companies in all stages of development in every key network. The firm brings unique expertise and will be providing a range of services, including presenting MAX business and milestones to its network of investment advisors, analysts and institutional fund managers. Maricom will work closely with MAX to develop and deploy a comprehensive capital markets strategy and campaign. Activities will include developing precise messaging, distributing that message cost-effectively and advising the Company regarding their branding, website and social media presence bilingually with Maricom's graph design and social media team. Maricom will also handle MAX French inquiries via phone and email. Under the terms of the agreement, Maricom has been retained for a 9 month period starting April 15th 2019 at $3,500 per month. The Company has agreed to grant 450,000 stock options to Maricom at an exercise price of $0.60, expiring March 20th, 2024. These options will be subject to vesting provisions in accordance with TSX Venture Exchange policies. About Maricom Maricom is a Quebec-based firm who provides a fully bilingual investor relations service. Our focus is mainly in Quebec via a strong French network as well as extensive ties and direct relationships with Bay Street to ensure our clients have exposure throughout Canada and beyond. Maricom also offers branding, social media consulting and document translation. For more information visit: www.maricom.ca About Max Resource Corp. MAX Resource Corp. is a mineral exploration company focused on the development of prospective projects in the rich mineral belts of Colombia. The Company has established significant exploration infrastructure and local community support for two very large prospective Colombian projects: the Choco Precious Metals Project, located 100 km south of Medellin, which covers or is adjacent to historic production of 1.5Mozs gold and 1.0Mozs platinum and the Gachala Copper Project, located 60 km east of Bogota. The Company is led by a seasoned management team with a track record of significant discovery and exploration success. For more information visit: https://www.maxresource.com/ ON BEHALF OF THE MAX RESOURCE CORP. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Brett Matich, CEO and President For further information, please visit the Company's website at www.maxresource.com or the Company's profile at www.SEDAR.com If you would like to be added to Max Resources' news distribution list, please send your email address to info@maxresources.com For additional information contact: Max Resource Corp. Tim McNulty E: info@maxresources.com T: (604) 290-8100 For Max Resource's French inquiries: Remy Scalabrini, Maricom Inc. E: rs@maricom.ca T: (888) 585-MARI No stock exchange or securities regulatory authority has reviewed or accepted responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Except for statements of historic fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to delays or uncertainties with regulatory approvals, including that of the CSE. There are uncertainties inherent in forward-looking information, including factors beyond the Company's control. There are no assurances that the commercialization plans for UXD described in this news release will come into effect on the terms or time frame described herein. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties that could affect financial results is contained in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43995 Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 10) A Malaysian kidnap victim who was rescued from Abu Sayyaf last week has died, the military said Wednesday. In a statement, the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) said Jari Bin Abdullah, who was rescued on April 4 in Sulu, passed away Tuesday afternoon at a hospital in Zamboanga City. Abdullah's death, which was caused by gunshot wounds he sustained during the rescue operation, was witnessed by his family, the Malaysian Consul General, and officials of the International Monitoring Team, according to the Westmincom. The Malaysian national's family executed a waiver consenting to the removal of his life support, the military added. "We extend our heartfelt sympathy to the families of Abdullah. Our troops are exhausting all efforts to defeat the Abu Sayyaf and bring justice to the victims of terror," Westmincom chief Lieutenant General Arnel Dela Vega was quoted as saying. Meanwhile, an Indonesian captive identified as Heri Ardiansyah was formally received by Indonesian Defense and Armed Forces Attache Colonel Sigit Himawan Sutanto in Manila Tuesday afternoon, the Westmincom said. The remains of another Indonesian kidnap victim named Hariadin were brought to Manila on Monday night. The two Indonesian nationals were rescued by the military in Sulu on April 5, but Hariadin died from drowning. Three ASG militants and the captives tried to escape pursuing troops in Simisa Island in Banguingui by swimming towards Bangalao Island, however, they were spotted by roving sea patrols. Hariadin drowned, while the three ASG members died in the encounter. SpendEdge, a global procurement market intelligence firm, has announced the release of their Global Servers Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005363/en/ Global Servers Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report. (Graphic: Business Wire) In this era of digitization and increasing penetration of the internet, countries are observing a pressing need for data localization to protect the national and economic interest. This is resulting in the development of multiple data centers that require servers as one of their integral components. Telecommunications, software and cloud services, healthcare, manufacturing, and BFSI, and government institutions are among the significant users of data centers and will account for an impressive spend momentum for the servers category during the forecast period. Request a Free Sample of this servers market intelligence report here! The growth of the servers category is set to receive a significant boost in the US as some of the technology giants reveal an investment of over USD 10 billion in establishing and maintaining data centers in the next five years. The advent of hyperscale data centers will primarily drive the category spend momentum in North America, Europe, and in some of the regions in APAC. Hyperscale data centers typically use a bulk of servers and are mainly leveraged by social network companies and cloud service providers. Insights offered in this servers procurement research report include supply market forecasts, major cost drivers, and category management insights. Such insights are relevant for both the buyers and the suppliers who seek a risk-free and a cost-effective procurement strategy. The category spend segmentation done in this market intelligence report will guide the investors in identifying the best investment areas as well as help them in identifying cost-saving opportunities in the marketGet free customization of this servers market intelligence report to get information tailored to your every requirement. "Onsite support, 24/7 support, and fixed resolution time are some of the critical supplier selection criteria that buyers must consider prior to finalizing their deal with the supplier," says SpendEdge procurement expert Tridib Bora. This servers procurement research report has estimated the following cost drivers to influence the category growth in the coming years: Growing market share of ODMs is a threat to established suppliers in the market Assessing in-house IT capabilities will help buyers maximize cost savings Purchase the full servers market intelligence report here! SpendEdge is now offering limited-time discounts on report purchases. Buy two reports and get the third one for free. SpendEdge's procurement market intelligence reports for the information technology category provide detailed supply market forecasts and cost drivers that impact category growth. Such information will help procurement managers as well as the suppliers to determine the total cost of ownership and change their procurement strategies accordingly. Additionally, SpendEdge's reports provide category management insights and information on the procurement best practices for the category. Report scope snapshot: Servers Category pricing insights Pricing outlook Total cost of ownership analysis Supplier cost structure Interested to know more about the scope of our market intelligence reports? Download a FREE sample Cost-Saving Opportunities Supplier-side levers Buyer-side levers Quantifying cost savings by negotiation strategies Want customized information from the servers procurement research report? Get in touch Category ecosystem Competitiveness index for suppliers Buyer power Supplier power score To view the table of contents of this market intelligence report, Download a FREE sample Do you purchase multiple reports in a year? Our subscription platform, SpendEdge Insights, provides ready-to-use procurement research reports for multiple categories. Now access the latest supplier news, innovation landscape, markets insights, supplier tracking, and much more at the click of a button. Start your 7-day FREE trial now Related Reports: Global Server Software Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report Global IT Application Development Services Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report About SpendEdge: SpendEdge shares your passion for driving sourcing and procurement excellence. We are the preferred procurement market intelligence partner for 120+ Fortune 500 firms and other leading companies across numerous industries. Our strength lies in delivering robust, real-time procurement market intelligence reports and solutions. To know more, https://www.spendedge.com/request-free-proposal View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005363/en/ Contacts: SpendEdge Anirban Choudhury Marketing Manager US: +1 630 984 7340 UK: +44 148 459 9299 https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us SpendEdge, a global procurement market intelligence firm, has announced the release of their Global Loyalty Programs Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005349/en/ Global Loyalty Programs Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report. (Graphic: Business Wire) Buyers from end-user industries such as e-commerce and banking are exhibiting prominent usage of loyalty programs to reward their customers for their loyalty. This is perceived as a part of their customer-centric business strategies which is acting as one of the primary driving forces behind the loyalty programs procurement. The proliferation of internet-users and the immense popularity gained by the social media platform are being effectively utilized by buyers to promote their loyalty programs, which is accelerating the category spend momentum to a significant extent. Request the Free Sample of this loyalty programs market intelligence report here! The adoption of personalized loyalty programs by buyers from the retail sector will drive the category momentum in the US even though the matured retail loyalty programs segment will impede the category growth to some extent. The adoption of loyalty programs is high in emerging economies such as China, Indonesia, and India owing to the rapidly improving retail formats because of the rising disposable income of consumers. This loyalty programs procurement research report offers a comprehensive analysis of the major cost drivers and its subsequent impact on the overall pricing. Current supply market forecasts and the spend opportunities for the suppliers are also offered in this market intelligence report. In this report, the category spend is analyzed from the perspective of the buyers and the suppliers. Want personalized information? Request free customization of this loyalty programs market intelligence report here! "Category managers are advised to partner with suppliers that employ methods such as sentiment analysis, ANN, and ML to understand the industry trends and analyze consumer behavior," says SpendEdge procurement expert Sumit Yadav. This loyalty programs procurement research report has estimated that the following factors will influence the category growth in the following years: Rising skilled labor shortage will increase category price during the forecast period Rising labor cost will be a key price driver for the category during the forecast period Buy the full loyalty programs market intelligence report here! SpendEdge is now offering limited-time discounts on report purchases. Buy two reports and get the third one for free SpendEdge's procurement market intelligence reports for the marketing category provide detailed supply market forecasts and information on cost drivers that impact category growth. Such information will help procurement managers as well as the suppliers to determine the total cost of ownership and change their procurement strategies accordingly. Additionally, SpendEdge's reports provide category management insights and information on the procurement best practices for the category. Report scope snapshot: Loyalty programs US market insights Supplier cost structure in the US Margins of suppliers in the US Category cost drivers Interested to know more about the scope of our market intelligence reports? Download a FREE sample Best practices Procurement excellence best practices Procurement best practices Sustainability practices Want customized information from the loyalty programs procurement research report? Get in touch Category ecosystem Competitiveness index for suppliers Buyer power Supplier power score To view the table of contents of this market intelligence report, Download a FREE sample Do you purchase multiple reports in a year? Our subscription platform, SpendEdge Insights, provides ready-to-use procurement research reports for various categories. Now access latest supplier news, innovation landscape, markets insights, supplier tracking, and much more at the click of a button. Start your 7-day FREE trial now Related Reports: Global Promotional Products Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report Global Outdoor Advertising Services Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report About SpendEdge: SpendEdge shares your passion for driving sourcing and procurement excellence. We are the preferred procurement market intelligence partner for 120+ Fortune 500 firms and other leading companies across numerous industries. Our strength lies in delivering robust, real-time procurement market intelligence reports and solutions. To know more, https://www.spendedge.com/request-free-proposal View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005349/en/ Contacts: SpendEdge Anirban Choudhury Marketing Manager US: +1 630 984 7340 UK: +44 148 459 9299 https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us Moss Landing, California--(Newsfile Corp. - April 10, 2019) - HQP Inc. ("HQP" or the "Company") announced today that its wholly owned and managed subsidiary Firecut, LLC has updated its website (www.firecutllc.com). The purpose of the website revisions were to promote the Company's top brands and to highlight new products, charitable contributions, upcoming events and competitions. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to purchase any securities in any jurisdiction in which such an offer or solicitation is not authorized and does not constitute an offer within any jurisdiction to any person to whom such offer would be unlawful. Further, the securities being offered by HQP have not been registered under the Securities Act, any state securities laws or the securities laws of any other jurisdiction and may not be offered or sold absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. For additional information HQP and to request our offering materials, please visit: www.hqp.global. About HQP Inc. HQP is a private company based out of Moss Landing, California. We are an early stage company that was organized to cultivate, process, distribute and market cannabis products. Our goal is to become one of the leading companies known for its high quality California-influenced cannabis products. Our principal investment objectives will be to achieve current income and capital appreciation potential for the Company by taking advantage of the opportunities that we believe exist in the cannabis industry. Forward-Looking Statements Statements in this press release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including those regarding the proposed offering of securities and the anticipated use of proceeds therefrom. These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this press release and are based on HQP's current intent, beliefs, plans and expectations. They involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future results, performance or developments to differ materially from those described in or implied by such forward-looking statements. HQP undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results over time, other than as required by law. Contact Information: Contact: Patrick Womack Executive Vice President Company: HQP Inc. Phone: (800) 652-1921 Email: invest@hqp.global Website: www.hqpglobal.com www.firecutllc.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44003 Recognition showcases growing partnership and deep expertise in Google Cloud NEWTOWN, Pa., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE: EPAM), a leading global provider of digital platform engineering and software development services, today announced that it has been recognized as the 2018 Google Cloud North American Breakthrough Partner of the Year. Google Cloud presented this year's award at the Partner Summit at Google Cloud Next '19 in San Francisco. "This award represents a new page in our longstanding relationship with Google, built on our shared software engineering heritage over the last decade, which has enabled us to do great work together for joint clients," said Arkadiy Dobkin, CEO & President, EPAM. "Today, EPAM is much more than an engineering partner. We are an innovation partner, a go-to-market partner and a real business partner for Google Cloud." A Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Premier System Integrator Partner and a Google Advanced Solutions Lab Partner, EPAM was recognized for its achievements in the Google Cloud ecosystem, helping joint customers become more agile and reduce costs by migrating and optimizing cloud-based solutions. EPAM's GCP expertise includes infrastructure consulting and migration, cloud-native application development, cloud optimization, data strategy and consulting, and machine learning and automation. EPAM currently has over 700 Google Cloud certified professionals and continues to host certification drives to increase its number of certifications. "We're thrilled to recognize EPAM as the 2018 Google Cloud North American Breakthrough Partner of the Year," said Carolee Gearhart, Vice President, Worldwide Channel Sales at Google Cloud. "EPAM has proven their expertise in Google Cloud and has demonstrated their commitment to customer success over the past year. We're excited to keep building on our partnership with EPAM as more and more customers look to our ecosystem to help them succeed in the cloud." To learn more about EPAM's expertise Google Cloud, visit www.epam.com/google-cloud . About EPAM Systems Since 1993, EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE: EPAM) has leveraged its software engineering expertise to become a leading global product development, digital platform engineering, and top digital and product design agency. Through its 'Engineering DNA' and innovative strategy, consulting, and design capabilities, EPAM works in collaboration with its customers to deliver next-gen solutions that turn complex business challenges into real business outcomes. EPAM's global teams serve customers in over 25 countries across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. EPAM is a recognized market leader in multiple categories among top global independent research agencies and was one of only four technology companies to appear on Forbes 25 Fastest Growing Public Tech Companies list every year of publication since 2013. Learn more at http://www.epam.com/ and follow us on Twitter @EPAMSYSTEMS and LinkedIn . Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes statements which may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the accuracy of which are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied include general economic conditions and the factors discussed in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. EPAM undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities law. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/722474/EPAM_Logo.jpg The launch follows exceptional results of the platform in Spain, the first country in Europe where it was introduced last year As CoverWallet continues to grow rapidly, Courtney Leimkuhler, former CFO at Marsh, joins the company's Board of Directors Zurich Insurance Group (VTX:ZURN), one of the largest global insurance companies, and CoverWallet, the tech company that is the easiest way to understand, buy, and manage business insurance online, today launched a platform for small and medium-enterprise (SME) insurance in Switzerland. The expansion marks the second European country where the online platform is available, building on the momentum of the release in Spain in 2018. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005565/en/ ZurichBusinessInsurance.ch is available in Italian, French, German, and English. (Graphic: Business Wire) "Thanks to the partnership with CoverWallet, we offer small businesses a new type of easy-to-deal with online insurance coverage. Our target group are micro-enterprises and startups, which usually lack the time and resources to deal with the topic of insurance protection," said Juan Beer, CEO Zurich Insurance in Switzerland. Through the platform, which is powered by CoverWallet and offers Zurich's insurance policies, SMEs can quickly learn about the types of coverage they need, get real-time quotes, purchase insurance, and manage their policies online, in minutes. Following the launch in Spain, Zurich deepened its relationship with CoverWallet in May 2018 and invested in the company, acquiring a minority stake. "Zurich is one of the most renowned insurance companies in the world, and our partnership underscores the value they see in making small business insurance available online," said Inaki Berenguer, CEO and Co-Founder of CoverWallet. "The partnership in Spain exceeded our goals, and we are excited to expand into additional countries to make insurance easier for businesses around the world." As CoverWallet continues to grow, the company is also announcing Courtney Leimkuhler has joined its Board of Directors. Leimkuhler was an executive at Marsh McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) from 2013 to 2017, serving as the CFO and interim COO of Marsh as well as the CFO of the Risk and Insurance Services segment. Prior to joining Marsh in 2013, she spent nearly a decade at the New York Stock Exchange where she was Executive Vice President and Head of Corporate Strategy during a period of transformation in the capital markets. Leimkuhler began her career at Goldman Sachs and earned her bachelor's degree and MBA from Harvard University. "There are tremendous opportunities in the insurance industry today driven by the application of new data science and technology. CoverWallet is seizing this opportunity and dramatically modernizing how small business insurance gets done," said Leimkuhler. "I'm looking forward to working with the team as they continue to scale their technology platform, grow CoverWallet for Agents, and expand internationally." For more information about the platform in Switzerland, which is available in German, Italian, English, and French, please visit www.zurichbusinessinsurance.ch. About Zurich Insurance Group Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) is a leading multi-line insurer that serves its customers in global and local markets. With about 53,000 employees, it provides a wide range of property and casualty, and life insurance products and services in more than 210 countries and territories. Zurich's customers include individuals, small businesses, and mid-sized and large companies, as well as multinational corporations. The Group is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, where it was founded in 1872. The holding company, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd (ZURN), is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and has a level I American Depositary Receipt (ZURVY) program, which is traded over-the-counter on OTCQX. Further information about Zurich is available at www.zurich.com. About CoverWallet CoverWallet is the leading tech company reinventing the $100 billion U.S. commercial insurance market for small businesses. Based in New York and launched in 2016, it has received more than $35 million in funding from renowned investors including Union Square Ventures, Index Ventures, Two Sigma, and Foundation Capital, as well as Zurich Insurance Group and Starr Companies. Powered by deep analytics, thoughtful design, and state-of-the-art technology, the company is the easiest way for small businesses to understand, buy, and manage insurance online. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005565/en/ Contacts: Hally Peck CoverWallet Director of Communications Hally.Peck@coverwallet.com +1 (646) 453-4168 Technavio has announced the release of their research report on the global radar level transmitters marker for the forecast period 2019-2023. This global radar level transmitters market analysis report segments the market by end-user (oil and gas, chemical and petrochemicals, water and wastewater treatment, food and beverages, power, and other end-users) and by geography (APAC, Europe, MEA, North America, and South America). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005520/en/ The global radar level transmitters market will grow at a CAGR of nearly 5% during the period 2019-2023. (Graphic: Business Wire) Global radar level transmitters market size will grow by USD 210.51 million during 2019-2023, at a CAGR of nearly 5%. The growing need for an uninterrupted flow of information even in remote places is driving the demand for wireless radar level transmitters. These transmitters come equipped with Bluetooth connectivity and improved battery life. Many vendors are providing such wireless radar level transmitters to power the industries. For example, Emerson Electric recently launched Rosemount 3308 GWR Wireless Level Transmitter. The transmitter can transmit readings and set parameters such as the data update rate and other functions remotely. Such emerging trends among vendors are expected to increase the demand for the wireless radar level transmitters during the forecast period. Request for a free sample and get illustrations, table of contents, list of exhibits, and example pages from this report Increased focus toward accuracy and reliability in level measurement process Accuracy and reliability of measurement are the significant challenges faced by both mechanical and electrical measurement devices. Most of these devices are insensible to change in dielectric constant and require frequent calibration. The NC radar and GWR level transmitters are immune to dust, vapor, and overcome the challenges faced by other electric measurement devices. They require low calibration and have high accuracy that make them suitable for level measurement in end-user industries. The increasing focus toward accuracy and reliability in level measurement processes will drive the growth of the global radar level transmitters market. "The radar level transmitters market will witness a massive growth in the APAC region. Increased expansion of food and beverage companies in the region has increased the use of automated level gauging solutions. In Europe, the increasing cross-border pipeline projects to supply oil and natural gas has led to a rise in the demand for radar level transmitters. Furthermore, there are plans to expand the pipeline network in Europe to supply natural gas. Many such advancements across geographies will fuel the growth of global radar level transmitters market over the forecast period," says an analyst at Technavio. Many chemical and petrochemical companies are investing heavily to expand their business. For instance, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical recently announced its plan to build two hydrogen peroxide plants in Oregon and Texas. The plant will have an annual capacity of 70,000 tons. Cargill, a leading F&B company, has announced its plan to build a new HM pectin production in Brazil. These factors are expected to increase the demand for radar level transmitters. View snapshot of the report for a more detailed overview of the market and the segmentation covered in this report This global radar level transmitters market industry research report provides an in-depth analysis of the primary drivers, upcoming trends, and challenges that will impact market growth over the forecast period. The report analyzes the competitive landscape and offers details on several radar level transmitter manufacturers including ABB Emerson Electric Co. Endress+Hauser Management AG Siemens VEGA Grieshaber KG Some of the key topics covered in the report include: Market Landscape Market ecosystem Market characteristics Market segmentation analysis Market Sizing Market definition Market size and forecast Five Forces Analysis Market Segmentation Geographical Segmentation Regional comparison Key leading countries Market Drivers Market Challenges Market Trends Vendor Landscape Vendors covered Vendor classification Market positioning of vendors Competitive scenario About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. Technavio's report library consists of more than 10,000 reports covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. Please contact our media team at media@technavio.comformore information. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005520/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 www.technavio.com HYDERABAD, India, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Tanla Solutions Ltd ("Tanla") (NSE: TANLA) (BSE: 532790) today completed the acquisition ("Acquisition") of 100% shareholding of Karix Mobile Pvt Ltd ("Karix") and its wholly owned subsidiary Unicel Technologies Pvt Ltd ("Unicel") from Banyan Investments Ltd ("Banyan"), a company owned by funds affiliated with GSO Capital Partners L.P. ("GSO"). Consideration for the Acquisition was approximately Rs.340 Crores, comprising: Rs.112 Crores in cash; Preferential Allotment to Banyan of 2.20 Crores Equity Shares in Tanla at a Face Value of Re.1 only, at a rate of INR 56.79 per share totaling Rs.125 Crores ; and Tanla assuming the debt on Karix's book of Rs.103 Crores . This acquisition is being funded by Tanla with cash on balance sheet. Post-acquisition, the shareholdings (on a fully diluted basis) of Tanla would be; Promoters: 31.2%, and GSO: 14.6%. As a result of the Acquisition, Karix has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Tanla (and Unicel will remain a subsidiary of Karix), effective April 10th, 2019. As a result of the Preferential Allotment to Banyan, Banyan will hold an observer seat on Tanla's Board of Directors. Tanla announces the appointment of Mr. Alex Howell (Managing Director at GSO) as observer on Tanla's Board. Alex is an alumnus of London School of Economics and brings with him more than 14 years of rich experience in financial markets in a number of areas such as M&A, leveraged & equity financings and public credit markets, having previously worked at Lehman Brothers, Nomura, and (since 2012) GSO. Commenting on the closure, Mr. Uday Reddy, the CMD of Tanla said: "Tanla's acquisition of Karix is a landmark event in Indian telecom history, bringing together two of the most influential players in the Cloud Communication ecosystem. The combined teams are fully energized to demonstrate substantial innovation and value-addition to delight stakeholders. The combination gives rise to exciting opportunity for shrinking processes, timelines and costs." Mr. Alex Howell added, "We look forward to this exciting new phase of growth of the combined entities and look forward to Tanla developing into a leader in Cloud Communications." About Tanla Tanla started its journey as the new millennium set in with a small group of mobile messaging experts, with base in Hyderabad, India, to create a world-class messaging service. Today, Tanla is a global leader in its domain as one of the largest Cloud Communication providers, handling over 90 bn business communications annually. Tanla is innovating the way the world communicates, continuously raising the bar through enhanced speed, ease and simplicity of Cloud Communication solutions, adopting cutting-edge technologies to meet the discerning needs of a diverse clientele, from enterprises to carriers across geographies. Tanla is a public limited company listed on leading Indian stock exchanges (NSE: TANLA, BSE: 532790). For Enquires, write to investorhelp@tanla.com Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/627459/Tanla_Solutions_Logo.jpg Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/869663/Tanla_Karix.jpg Experienced Enterprise Software and Cloud Executive Takes Reins for Next Wave of Growth; Current CEO Rode to Become Vice Chairman PALO ALTO, California, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- TIBCO Software Inc. , a global leader in integration, API management, and analytics, today announced that Dan Streetman has been appointed as its new chief executive officer, effective April 15, 2019. Streetman joins TIBCO from BMC Software, where he was executive vice president of worldwide sales and marketing. Current CEO Murray Rode has been named vice chairman of TIBCO. "Since its inception, TIBCO has helped businesses become smarter, faster, more innovative and more connected by harnessing real-time data and insights," said Rode. "Today's digital businesses require these capabilities for cloud and hybrid environments, which is precisely what TIBCO's Connected Intelligence Cloud provides. I am proud to be part of TIBCO and look forward to an even brighter future for our remarkable customers, dedicated partners, and talented employees. Dan brings a high level of energy and commitment to TIBCO that will ensure we continue to expand the reach and scale of TIBCO's Connected Intelligence Cloud to deliver game-changing innovation to the market." "Organizations across every industry are transforming themselves into digital businesses. Dan brings the leadership and enthusiasm to realize TIBCO's potential to help customers globally with their digital evolution," said John Stalder, principal at Vista Equity Partners. "Over the past five years as CEO, Murray has sharply focused TIBCO's product portfolio and streamlined the organization to create an industry-leading cloud and hybrid platform for digital business to position the company for accelerated growth. We're excited about the opportunities in front of TIBCO and are confident that Dan's experience and expertise will ensure an even greater impact on its customers around the globe." Streetman brings extensive strategy and technology experience, having championed digital transformations and growth initiatives in several leading companies. Leading global field operations at BMC Software, Streetman positioned BMC as a leader in multi-cloud management and drove a relentless focus on customer success. He previously held senior transformative roles at leading software companies such as Salesforce, C3, Amdocs, and Siebel Systems. Streetman also served in both active and reserve military assignments as an Airborne Ranger-qualified infantry officer in the U.S. Army; he deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and earned a Bronze Star and the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award, among other decorations. "In this transformative time for every industry in the global economy, customers are leveraging exponentially more data to power their digital enterprise. TIBCO's cloud-native platform helps customers interconnect everything and convert that data into real-time, actionable insights," said Streetman. "I'm excited to lead this iconic and innovative company into a new phase of accelerated growth." During Rode's five-year tenure as CEO, TIBCO launched its Connected Intelligence Cloud and deepened the company's technology portfolio with several acquisitions in markets such as API management, data virtualization, and data science. In 2019, TIBCO was named a leader in the Forrester Wave: iPaaS and Hybrid Integration Platforms, as well as a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Science and Machine Learning Platforms. As vice chairman, Rode will work with Streetman and the TIBCO board of directors to further develop the company's long-term platform strategy and ensure that investments continue to generate value for customers, partners, and employees. About TIBCO TIBCO fuels digital business by enabling better decisions and faster, smarter actions through the TIBCO Connected Intelligence Cloud. From APIs and systems to devices and people, we interconnect everything, capture data in real time wherever it is, and augment the intelligence of your business through analytical insights. Thousands of customers around the globe rely on us to build compelling experiences, energize operations, and propel innovation. Learn how TIBCO makes digital smarter at www.tibco.com . Media Contact: Lindsey Ashjian Torres TIBCO Software Inc. (650) 846-8862 publicrelations@tibco.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/518368/TIBCO_Software_Inc___Logo.jpg The Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM) of Heijmans N.V. was held on Wednesday, 10 April 2019 in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands. The key resolutions are as follows: Composition of the Supervisory Board Mr Sj.S. Vollebregt has been reappointed for a period of four years effective from the date of the AGM. In accordance with the schedule of retirement by rotation, Mr S. van Keulen retired as a member of the Supervisory Board following the closure of the AGM. Amendment to the Articles of Association The proposed amendment to the Articles of Association that forms part of the agreements made regarding decreasing the dividend and repaying the preference share capital has been approved. Power of the Executive Board to issue shares Extension of the nomination of the Executive Board as the competent body to issue ordinary shares for a period of 18 months from the date of the AGM was approved. This power is limited to 10% of the issued share capital currently outstanding, as well as 10% thereof if the issue takes place as part of a merger or acquisition or as part of the formation of a strategic alliance. 2018 Result Appropriation The Executive Board, subject to the approval of the Supervisory Board, and with an eye on the importance of the recovery of the 2018 balance sheet, has decided not to distribute a dividend on ordinary shares. This item was therefore not subjected to a vote. About Heijmans Heijmans is a listed company that combines activities related to property development, building & technology, roads and civil engineering in the areas living, working and connecting. Our constant focus on quality improvements, innovation and integrated solutions enables us to generate added value for our clients. Heijmans realises projects for private consumers, companies and public sector bodies, and together we are building the spatial contours of tomorrow. You will find additional information at our website: www.heijmans.nl. For additional information/not for publication: Media Marieke Swinkels-Verstappen Communications +31 73 543 52 17 mswinkels-verstappen@heijmans.nl Analysts Guido Peters Investor Relations +31 73 543 52 17 gpeters@heijmans.nl Attachment Tronics' US subsidiary now complies with the ISO 13485:2016 standard. This milestone recognizes the company's efforts to design, manufacture and sell MEMS products for diagnostic chips, in compliance with international standards specific to the medical devices industry. Grenoble, France and Dallas, TX, USA - April 10, 2019 Tronics, a TDK Group Company that manufactures custom MEMS products and standard inertial sensors, announces that its US subsidiary located in Dallas, Texas, is now certified to the ISO 13485:2016 quality management standard for medical devices, following the comprehensive audit of its quality management system by a global quality assurance and risk management auditor. Compliance with this internationally recognized standard demonstrates Tronics' ability to provide services tailored for the demanding applications of diagnostic chips. "This new milestone in Tronics' Corporate Quality Safety & Environment Strategy affirms our willingness to further meet the high requirements of the medical industry, and brings additional added value to our entire ecosystem in this field," says Julien Bon, Chief Executive Officer of Tronics. "This is an expression of our continuous commitment to act as a responsible and reliable partner, and to enable safer and more effective BioMEMS technologies for diagnostic chips." ISO 13485:2016 is the internationally recognized standard for a quality management system (QMS) specifically for vendors of medical devices and related services. It confirms that the company consistently meets customer and applicable regulatory requirements. The standard incorporates the latest QMS practices, both reflecting the evolution in medical device technology and focusing on risk management associated with the safety and performance of medical devices. In addition, both of Tronics' facilities in Crolles, France, and Dallas, USA, conform to the ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management standard, which reflects Tronics' ability to reduce the impact of its activities on the environment. As a next step Tronics in France will complete certification to the ISO 50001:2018 Energy Management standard. Both facilities have also passed an independent CSR Assessment Audit in 2018, underscoring Tronics' commitment to key corporate social responsibility topics such as Labor, Occupational Safety and Environmental Protection. Moreover, the assessment confirms that Tronics conducts its business in conformance with Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) Code of Conduct, the TDK Code of Conduct and the 10 Principles of the UN Global Compact. ----- About Tronics Microsystems Tronics Microsystems is a division of TDK's Temperature & Pressure Sensors Business Group that manufactures custom MEMS products and standard inertial sensors. Addressing high-growth markets relying on increasing miniaturization of electronic devices, the company provides custom and standard products especially to the industrial, aeronautics, security, and medical markets. Founded in 1997, Tronics is located in Crolles, near Grenoble (France) and in Dallas, Texas (United States), and has around 100 employees, most of them engineers and scientists. Following a tender offer ending January 2017, TDK Electronics AG (formerly EPCOS AG) now holds 74 percent of Tronics' shares. * ISIN code: FR0004175099 ALTRO About TDK Corporation TDK Corporation is a leading electronics company based in Tokyo, Japan. It was established in 1935 to commercialize ferrite, a key material in electronic and magnetic products. TDK's comprehensive portfolio features passive components, such as ceramic, aluminum electrolytic and film capacitors, as well as magnetics, high-frequency, and piezo and protection devices. The product spectrum also includes sensors and sensor systems such as temperature and pressure, magnetic, and MEMS sensors. In addition, TDK provides power supplies and energy devices, magnetic heads and more. These products are marketed under the product brands TDK, EPCOS, InvenSense, Micronas, Tronics and TDK-Lambda. TDK focuses on demanding markets in the areas of information and communication technology and automotive, industrial and consumer electronics. The company has a network of design and manufacturing locations and sales offices in Asia, Europe, and in North and South America. In fiscal 2018, TDK posted total sales of USD 12 billion and employed about 103,000 people worldwide. TRONICS CONTACT Karl Biasio Sales & Marketing Manager Phone: 00 33 4 76 97 29 50 info@tronicsgroup.com For more information: www.tronicsgroup-bourse.com/en/ ------------------------ Copyright Actusnews Wire Recevez gratuitement par email les prochains communiques de la societe en vous inscrivant sur www.actusnews.com Communique integral et original au format PDF:Telecharger le PDF Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 10, 2019) - Bravada Gold Corporation (TSXV: BVA) (OTCQB: BGAVF) (FSE: BRTN) ("Bravada") announces that the Highland Project Technical Committee composed of Bravada and Option/Joint Venture partner OceanaGold U.S. Holdings Inc. ("OceanaGold"), a wholly owned subsidiary of OceanaGold Corp. have approved a +US$400,000 exploration program for 2019. Planned work includes additional geological mapping, approximately 35-line-kilometers of detailed geophysics, 35-line-kilometers of soil sampling for assay and XRF study, and permitting for a 2020 drilling campaign. The project has been increased in size by 60% through staking additional claims and now consists of 163 claims (approximately 1,300 hectares/3,200 acres). As previously announced (see news release NR-09-18 dated December 20, 2018), OceanaGold may earn up to a 75 percent interest in Bravada's low-sulfidation Highland gold/silver project in Nevada's Walker Lane Gold trend. President Joe Kizis commented, "Highland has characteristics of the world's great Low-sulfidation gold deposits. The extent of alteration and veining is very large, and surface sampling and limited drilling have demonstrated that this large system is capable of hosting high grades of gold and silver. Extensive areas of sinter demonstrate that the gold zone has not yet been eroded and should be preserved in its entirety at depth. We believe the careful, systematic approach laid out in the work program will result in great success with the drill, as has been demonstrated by OceanaGold elsewhere in the world for similar deposits. Low-sulfidation deposits worldwide are among the most attractive, highest-margin gold/silver deposits, with many exploited by small-footprint, underground mining and relatively benign milling operations. An important characteristic of low-sulfidation deposits is that they typically occur as clusters of similar-grade deposits, many of which may be blind at surface. Discovery rates tend to be high in such districts long after mining has begun. Highland's location in an established mining region in Nevada reduces risks associated with land tenure, logistics, and capital and operation costs when compared to many regions of the world." About Highland - The Highland low-sulfidation-type project consists of 163 Federal lode claims for a total of approximately 1,300 hectares and is located along the Walker Lane Gold trend of western Nevada. Previous drilling by Bravada's US subsidiary intersected vein zones with locally high-grade intercepts; the Company's best hole, H02013, intersected 1.5 meters (m) of 66.9 grams of gold per ton (g/t) and 397.7g/t silver within a 12.2m intercept of 9.5g/t gold and 109.4g/t silver, with true thicknesses estimated at 65% of the intervals. A thin layer of alluvial gravel covers much of the property and several targets have been identified that have not been previously tested with drilling. About Bravada Bravada is an exploration company with a portfolio of high-quality properties in Nevada, one of the best mining jurisdictions in the world. The Company has successfully identified and advanced properties that have the potential to host high-margin deposits while successfully attracting partners to fund later stages of project development. With the addition of OceanaGold's option of Highland, four of Bravada's eleven Nevada properties are being funded by partners. As well, there are no NSR-type royalties to vendors that cannot be reduced. Bravada's value is underpinned by a substantial gold and silver resource with a positive PEA at Wind Mountain and the Company has significant upside potential from possible new discoveries at its exploration properties, most of which host encouraging drill intercepts of gold and which already have drill targets developed by the Company. About OceanaGold OceanaGold Corporation is a mid-tier, high-margin, multinational gold producer with assets located in the Philippines, New Zealand and the United States. The Company's assets encompass the Didipio Gold-Copper Mine located on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. On the North Island of New Zealand, the Company operates the high-grade Waihi Gold Mine while on the South Island of New Zealand, the Company operates the largest gold mine in the country at the Macraes Goldfield which is made up of a series of open pit mines and the Frasers underground mine. In the United States, the Company operates the Haile Gold Mine, a top-tier, long-life, high-margin asset located in South Carolina. OceanaGold also has a significant pipeline of organic growth and exploration opportunities in the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions. Joseph Anthony Kizis, Jr. (AIPG CPG-11513, Wyoming PG-2576) is the Qualified Person responsible for reviewing and preparing the technical data presented in this release and has approved its disclosure. On behalf of the Board of Directors Joseph A. Kizis, Jr., Director, President, Bravada Gold Corporation For further information, please visit Bravada Gold Corporation's website at bravadagold.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. This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. These statements are based on a number of assumptions, including, but not limited to, assumptions regarding general economic conditions, interest rates, commodity markets, regulatory and governmental approvals for the company's projects, and the availability of financing for the company's development projects on reasonable terms. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, the timing and receipt of government and regulatory approvals, and continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. Bravada Gold Corporation does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44004 PANAMA CITY, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Government and business leaders from the UAE and the Latin America and the Caribbean region (LAC) reinforced their commitment to improving bilateral ties and expanding economic cooperation at the third Global Business Forum (GBF) on Latin America, which began April 9th in Panama City, Panama. Organized by Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry in partnership with Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), GBF Latin America - Panama 2019 was attended by H.E. Juan Carlos Varela, President of the Republic of Panama; H.E. Jovenel Moise, President of Haiti; policymakers, ministers, top government officials and business leaders from the LAC and GCC regions. Speaking at the forum, H.E. Varela revealed that Panama and Dubai would plan to establish special working groups to foster cooperation in key sectors of mutual interest, including tourism, real state, free zones, among others, to achieve short term results and boost bilateral relations. H.E. Mohammed Ahmed Bin Abdulaziz Al-Shehhi, Undersecretary of Economic Affairs for the UAE Ministry of Economy noted that the UAE's policy of openness and strong commitment to economic diversification has enabled the country to look outward and build partnerships in different parts of the world. He noted that GBF Latin America is a continuation of that strategy as the event is key to increasing trade and business exchange. H.E. Majid Saif Al Ghurair, Chairman of Dubai Chamber, revealed Dubai Chamber's plans to open a fourth Latin American representative office in Mexico City later this year which he described as a strategic move that will enhance its efforts to expand trade between Dubai and Latin America. He noted that GBF Latin America - Panama 2019 comes at a time when bilateral economic ties are expanding rapidly as reflected in Dubai's non-oil trade with Latin America which has surged 46 percent from $4.6 billion in 2011 to $6.7 billion in 2018, while the emirate continues to boost its exports to the region. Editor's note Established in 1965, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry is a non-profit public entity, whose mission is to represent, support and protect the interests of the business community in Dubai by creating a favourable business environment, supporting the development of business, and by promoting Dubai as an international business hub. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/869769/Dubai_Chamber.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/811023/Global_Business_Forum_Latin_America_Logo.jpg Regulatory News: Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (LN:PSH) (LN:PSHD) (NA:PSH) today released its regular weekly Net Asset Value ("NAV") and performance returns on its website, https://www.pershingsquareholdings.com/company-reports/weekly-navs/. The NAV and returns were computed as of the close of business on Tuesday, 9 April 2019. PSH NAV per share as of close of business on 9 April 2019 was 23.91 USD 18.32 GBP and year-to-date performance was 38.8%. Weekly net asset value ("NAV") is calculated as of the close of business on each Tuesday and posted on the following business day. In the event that Tuesday is not a business day, the Company will calculate the close-of-business NAV as of the business day immediately preceding that Tuesday. The end-of-month NAV is calculated as of the close of business on the last day of the month and posted on the following business day. For weeks that include a month-end NAV report, PSH will provide only the month-end NAV and not report the Tuesday NAV. Monthly NAVs are published in accordance with the Decree on Conduct of Business Supervision of Financial Undertakings under the Wft (Besluit Gedragstoezicht financiele ondernemingen Wft). Performance is presented on a net-of-fees basis and reflects the deduction of, among other expenses: management fees, brokerage commissions, administrative fees and accrued performance fees, if any. The performance figure includes the reinvestment of all dividends, interest and capital gains. Depending on the timing of a specific investment, net performance for an individual investor may vary from the net performance as stated herein. Net performance is a geometrically linked time weighted calculation. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. All investments involve risk including the loss of principal. About Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (LN:PSH) (LN:PSHD) (NA:PSH) is an investment holding company structured as a closed-ended fund that makes concentrated investments principally in North American companies. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190410005878/en/ Contacts: Media Camarco Ed Gascoigne-Pees Hazel Stevenson +44 020 3757 4989, media-pershingsquareholdings@camarco.co.uk OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's Adevinta completed a long-planned initial public offering on Tuesday, valuing the fast-growing online classified ads group at more than 53 billion Norwegian crowns ($6.20 billion) ahead of its market debut on Wednesday. It was the Nordic nation's largest IPO since 2006 and the fourth biggest overall, exceeded only by the past listings of Equinor, Telenor and REC Silicon. A spin-off from media company Schibsted, Adevinta has set its sights on mergers and acquisitions in Europe, South America and North Africa, the newly formed company's chief executive told Reuters late last year. OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's Adevinta completed a long-planned initial public offering on Tuesday, valuing the fast-growing online classified ads group at more than 53 billion Norwegian crowns ($6.20 billion) ahead of its market debut on Wednesday. It was the Nordic nation's largest IPO since 2006 and the fourth biggest overall, exceeded only by the past listings of Equinor, Telenor and REC Silicon. A spin-off from media company Schibsted, Adevinta has set its sights on mergers and acquisitions in Europe, South America and North Africa, the newly formed company's chief executive told Reuters late last year. The break-up makes it easier for investors to value Adevinta's assets by comparing with listed peers such as Britain's Autotrader and Rightmove, Australia's REA Group and New Zealand's TradeMe. Adevinta's B shares were sold at 78 Norwegian crowns each during bookbuilding, in the upper half of an initial 70-82 crowns range set on April 1, the company said in a statement. While vote-heavy 'A' shares were not sold in the IPO, the share class typically attracts a premium to the 'B' shares, potentially giving Adevinta an overall market value of 55 billion crowns, a Reuters comparison with Schibsted showed. The new company eventually plans to merge the two share classes. Schibsted and its main owner, Blommenholm Industrier, will maintain a majority stake in Adevinta following the listing. From a modest start publishing newspapers, Schibsted built fast-growing websites and 'boot sale' apps in 22 countries, allowing private and professional users alike to advertise anything from secondhand items to cars, homes or jobs. Adevinta's brands include France's Leboncoin, Brazil's OLX and Britain's Shpock, among others. Schibsted will keep its newspapers and classified ads units in the Nordic region. The launch in 2016 of Facebook Marketplace weakened Schibsted's share price, but it rebounded on signs that global giants such as Facebook, Amazon and Alphabet's Google had so far had little impact on the company. ($1 = 8.5498 Norwegian crowns) (Reporting by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Gwladys Fouche and Jan Harvey) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. The commerce ministry has asked its health counterpart to frame law banning manufacture and sale of e-cigarettes in the country as in the absence of a domestic legislation, it would not be possible to put a blanket ban on its imports, sources said New Delhi: The commerce ministry has asked its health counterpart to frame law banning manufacture and sale of e-cigarettes in the country as in the absence of a domestic legislation, it would not be possible to put a blanket ban on its imports, sources said. The health ministry had asked the commerce ministry to issue a notification banning import of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS), including e-cigarettes and flavoured hookah. "Without banning domestic sale and manufacturing of ENDS through a law, it will be an infringement of global trade norms to put an import ban," one of the sources said. In August last year, the health ministry had issued an advisory to all states and Union Territories (UTs) to stop the manufacture, sale and import of ENDS after the Delhi High Court took strong exception to the Centre for delay in coming up with appropriate measures to tackle the "new emerging threat" of e-cigarettes in the country. In March, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization also directed all drug controllers in states and UTs not to allow the manufacture, sale, import and advertisement of ENDS, including e-cigarettes and flavoured hookah, in their jurisdictions. Over 1,000 doctors from 24 states and three UTs in April this year urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to enforce a ban on ENDS before it becomes an "epidemic in India", especially among the youth. Electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes are devices that do not burn or use tobacco leaves but instead vaporise a solution, which a user then inhales. The main constituents of the solution, in addition to nicotine, are propylene glycol (with or without glycerol and flavouring agents). In its general advisory to public in August 2018, the health ministry had said that as per the World Health Organization report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2017, governments of 30 countries like Mauritius, Australia, Singapore, Korea (Democratic People's Republic), Sri Lanka, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Bahrain, Iran, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, have already banned Fortis holds 27.82 percent of stake in RHT, comprising 25.14 percent held by Fortis Healthcare International Ltd (FHIL) and 2.68 percent held by the trustee-manager Three months after the acquisition of Religare Health Trust (RHT), Fortis Healthcare Ltd is reportedly planning to sell its stake in the Singapore-listed firm, a media report said. Fortis holds 27.82 percent stake in RHT, comprising 25.14 percent held by Fortis Healthcare International Ltd (FHIL) and 2.68 percent held by the trustee-manager, a unit of Stellant. "RHT Health Trust Manager Pte. Ltd. (in its capacity as trustee-manager of RHT Health Trust (RHT)) (the Trustee-Manager) wishes to inform unitholders of RHT (Unitholders) that it has been notified by Fortis Healthcare International Limited (FHIL), a controlling unitholder of RHT, and Stellant Capital Advisory Services Private Limited (Stellant), the sole shareholder of the Trustee-Manager, that they have each commenced discussions with various parties to explore the possibility of sale of their interests in RHT and the Trustee-Manager, respectively," FHIL said in a regulatory filing on Monday. The stake sale will help Fortis Healthcare to raise funds to fulfil its needs, Mint reported. The money raised through the sale is likely to be ploughed back into the Fortis business in India, Business Standard said. In January this year, Fortis Healthcare completed the acquisition of RHT Health Trust (RHT) assets. In February 2018, Fortis had announced that it had entered into definitive agreements with RHT to acquire the entire portfolio of assets of the Singapore-listed entity for an enterprise value of Rs 4,650 crore. RHT is promoted by brothers Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh who resigned from the board of Fortis Healthcare in 2018. The step was a part of a restructuring initiative aimed at consolidating the entire Indian asset portfolio comprising various clinical establishments and two operating hospitals of RHT Health Trust into Fortis. The assets include 12 clinical establishments, four greenfield establishment and two operating hospitals. With PTI inputs In a statement, Jet Airways said flight 9W 231 from Amsterdam to Mumbai scheduled for April 10, has been delayed due to operational reasons. Adding to the woes of the crippled Jet Airways, a European cargo services provider has seized one of its Boeing planes at the Amsterdam airport for non-payment of dues. The aircraft was to operate a flight (9W 321) to Mumbai from Amsterdam Thursday, an airline source said. "The cargo agent seized Boeing 777-300 ER (VT-JEW) of Jet Airways at the Amsterdam airport as the airline could not clear his dues," the airline source told PTI on Wednesday. The airline has grounded more than three-fourths of its fleet due to non-payment of lessors' rentals and is operating just about 25 planes out of its 123 earlier. Due to cash crunch, the airline has been paying only part salaries to its over 16,000 employees which forced a section of its pilots on Tuesday sending a legal notice to the management which is currently being headed by the lenders led by State Bank of India (SBI). The airline has confirmed the cancellation of the said flight attributing to "operational reasons". In a statement, Jet Airways said flight 9W 231 from Amsterdam to Mumbai scheduled for 10 April, has been delayed due to operational reasons. The aircraft had flown to Amsterdam from Mumbai on Tuesday and was scheduled to return on Thursday, the source added. On Tuesday, Jet Airways massively reduced its operations from its main hub Mumbai to just about 32 flights, said a PTI report quoting an airline source. Amid acute financial crunch, which has also forced it to delay salaries to employees and payments to banks, aircraft lessors and vendors, Jet Airways is struggling to remain afloat. "Jet Airways on Tuesday operated only 22 planes, bringing down daily operations to 32 flights from Mumbai, the main hub. This included 16 arrivals and departures each," the source said, adding the airline didn't operate the remaining four aircraft. According to him, of the 22 planes it operated, 16 were on the domestic routes and the rest were deployed in the international routes. Jet Airways could not be reached for comment. Civil aviation secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said had on 4 April said that Jet Airways was flying only 26 aircraft". Meanwhile, the crisis-hit airline's founder Naresh Goyal expressed willingness to pledge rest of his shares to the lenders on condition that they release the promised interim fund of Rs 1,500 crore without delay, said a media report. Pledging of Goyals remaining shares is critical to the plan by the banks' consortium to sell majority stake in the cash-strapped airline to a new investor. At the same time, interim funds are equally critical for Jet Airways keeping in view the various problems the airline is facing, said the report. With PTI inputs This is the third time that the public sector oil marketing company has cut fuel supply to Jet Airways in the past eight days, which is struggling to keep afloat amid acute liquidity crisis. New Delhi: For the third time in a week, national oil marketer Indian Oil Corp (IOC) on Wednesday stopped fuel Supply to cash-starved Jet Airways for non-payment of dues. The airline also faced the ignominy of losing one of its planes to a European cargo agent who seized one of its wide-body planes at the Amsterdam airport for payment related issues, a source said. This is the third time that the public sector oil marketing company has cut fuel supply to the airline in the past eight days, which is struggling to keep afloat amid acute liquidity crisis. "Indian Oil has stopped fuel supplies to Jet Airways in Mumbai, New Delhi and Hyderabad airports for its failure to clear dues," the source said. Mumbai is the largest base for the airline and it operates maximum flights from the city. On 4 and 5 March also the oil company had cut supplies to Jet Airways and restored only after getting an assurance from the airline management. Earlier in the day, a European cargo services provider seized one of its Boeing 777-300ER planes at the Amsterdam airport for non-payment of dues. "The cargo agent seized Boeing 777-300 ER (VT-JEW) of Jet Airways at the Amsterdam airport as the airline could not clear his dues," the airline source told PTI. The aircraft was to operate a flight (9W 321) to Mumbai from Amsterdam Wednesday on Wednesday. Jet Airways, however, said the flight was delayed due to "operational reasons." In a statement, the airline said flight 9W 231 from Amsterdam to Mumbai scheduled for April 10, has been delayed due to operational reasons. Jet Airways has been operating around 100 flights only with 26 planes as most of the fleet is grounded due to non-payment of lessors' rentals. Due to cash crunch, the airline has been paying only part salaries to its over 16,000 employees which forced a section of its pilots on Tuesday sending a legal notice to the management which is currently being headed by the lenders led by State Bank of India (SBI. Amid acute financial crunch, which has also forced it to delay salaries to employees and payments to banks, aircraft lessors and vendors, Jet Airways is struggling to remain afloat. In a bid to give financial relief to the ailing Jet Airways, the crisis-hit airline's founder Naresh Goyal expressed willingness to pledge rest of his shares to the lenders on condition that they release the promised interim fund of Rs 1,500 crore without delay, said a media report. Goyal reportedly told the lenders seeking to rescue the carrier that he would pledge the rest of his shares to them on condition that they release the promised interim loan funding of Rs 1,500 crore without delay, The Economic Times said quoting three people aware of the matter. Pledging of Goyals remaining shares is critical to the plan by the banks' consortium to sell majority stake in the cash-strapped airline to a new investor. At the same time, interim funds are equally critical for Jet Airways keeping in view the various problems the airline is facing, said the report. Jet Airways lenders, under the proposed bailout terms, would hold just over 50 percent of the airline, Goyal would hold 25.5 percent and the airline's second-largest shareholder Etihad Airways stake would be 12 percent. Goyal held 51 percent the airline, but pledged 31.2 percent with lenders as per the rescue deal. Meanwhile, Jet Airways has massively reduced its operations from its main hub Mumbai to just about 32 flights on Tuesday, said a PTI report quoting an airline source. Amid acute financial crunch, which has also forced it to delay salaries to employees and payments to banks, aircraft lessors and vendors, Jet Airways is struggling to remain afloat. "Jet Airways on Tuesday operated only 22 planes, bringing down daily operations to 32 flights from Mumbai, the main hub. This included 16 arrivals and departures each," the source said, adding the airline didn't operate the remaining four aircraft. According to him, of the 22 planes it operated, 16 were on the domestic routes and the rest were deployed in the international routes. Jet Airways could not be reached for comment. Civil aviation secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said had on 4 April said that Jet Airways was flying only 26 aircraft". On Tuesday, the pilots of the airline has threatened to resort to legal way if their delayed salaries were not cleared soon. After going soft on the management for over the past few months on pending salaries, Jet Airways domestic pilots body, the National Aviators Guild (NAG), threatened to take legal recourse if the dues are not cleared by early next week. In a legal notice to Dube, the guild that claims membership of around 1,100 domestic pilots, said each day they are left worried as salary arrears keep piling up. Pilots along with engineers and senior executives have not been paid for the last three months amid cash-crunch in the airline that began last July, and saw an ownership change last month with banks taking majority shares and founder chairman Naresh Goyal leaving the airline and halving his stake-holding in the airline. Meanwhile, the Jet Airways board is likely to meet in Mumbai on Wednesday and discuss the latest development, said an airline source. "The Jet Airways board will have its meeting in Mumbai where it is expected to discuss the operational issues besides the appointment of (former SBI chief) A K Purwar as the new chairman," the source said. With PTI inputs By Laila Kearney NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil fell from five-month highs on Tuesday after the International Monetary Fund cut its global economic growth forecasts and as Russia signalled it may retreat from its production-cutting deal with OPEC. A threat by Washington to slap tariffs on hundreds of European goods halted a rally in global equities, which also dragged on oil futures. Brent settled 49 cents lower at $70.61 a barrel, after hitting $71.34, its highest since November. By Laila Kearney NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil fell from five-month highs on Tuesday after the International Monetary Fund cut its global economic growth forecasts and as Russia signalled it may retreat from its production-cutting deal with OPEC. A threat by Washington to slap tariffs on hundreds of European goods halted a rally in global equities, which also dragged on oil futures. Brent settled 49 cents lower at $70.61 a barrel, after hitting $71.34, its highest since November. U.S. crude ended at $63.98 a barrel, down 42 cents on the day, after also reaching a five-month high of $64.79. "I think the IMF lowering global growth is really the biggest headwind today that oil futures are seeing," said Phil Streible, senior commodities strategist at RJO Futures in Chicago. The IMF cut its global economic growth forecasts for 2019 and warned growth could slow further due to trade tensions and a potentially disorderly British exit from the European Union. The IMF downgrade, its third since October, added to concerns a slowdown this year will hit fuel consumption and prevent crude prices from rising even higher. Prices also faltered as Russia, a participant in the OPEC-led supply cuts that expire in June, signalled on Monday it wants to raise output when it next meets with OPEC because of falling stockpiles. On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin said Russia did not support an uncontrollable rise in oil prices and that the current price suited Moscow. "We are ready for cooperation with OPEC in decision-making ... But whether it would be cuts, or just a stoppage at the current level of output, I am not ready to say," Putin told an Arctic conference in St. Petersburg. U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela have deepened the OPEC supply cut and concern has grown this week about the stability of Libyan output. The OPEC member pumps around 1.1 million barrels per day, just over 1 percent of global supply. Rising U.S. crude production and inventories continued to weigh on the market. U.S. crude production was expected to rise 1.43 million bpd in 2019 to average 12.49 million bpd, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Tuesday, up from its previous forecast for a rise of 1.35 million bpd. U.S. crude inventories rose by 4.1 million barrels last week, compared with analysts' expectations for an increase of 2.3 million barrels, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed after prices settled. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 1.3 million barrels, API said. The Energy Information Administration releases its oil data on Wednesday. (Additional reporting by Alex Lawler in London and Henning Gloystein Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Bernadette Baum) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. The company is helping empower multiple ancillary industries in the hospitality ecosystem by leveraging scale to make bulk procurement that supports local businesses, Oyo said in a statement. New Delhi: Hospitality firm Oyo on Wednesday said it has created over a lakh direct and indirect jobs in India and is aiming to double the number by 2020. The company is helping empower multiple ancillary industries in the hospitality ecosystem by leveraging scale to make bulk procurement that supports local businesses, Oyo said in a statement. "We are focused on enabling economic opportunities at every level and are committed towards generating gainful employment and entrepreneurship through our growing network of Oyo Hotels and Homes in India," Oyo India and South Asia chief executive officer Aditya Ghosh said. He added that over half of the 1 lakh jobs created by it were in smaller towns and cities of India. "As we grow at scale, so does the possibility of an entrepreneurial ecosystem of direct and indirect employment. We, therefore, aim to double economic opportunities created by 2020," Ghosh said. Every month, Oyo is utilising over 40 lakh toiletry kits across the 1,73,000 exclusive rooms that are part of its chain while procuring 40,000 units of linen, the statement said. In addition, the company has set up 22 Oyo Skill Institutes in the country for training frontline staff in every aspect of hotel management in India, it added. Oyo has footprint in over 500 cities across 10 countries India, China, Malaysia, Nepal, the UK, the UAE, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines and Japan. Under a contract signed with Bharti Infratel in April 2018, Vodafone Idea has an option to sell the 11.15 percent stake in Indus Tower for cash ahead of the merger New Delhi: Vodafone Idea expects the sale of its 11.15 percent stake in Indus Tower to complete in the next three-four months which could yield an estimated Rs 5,500 crore, a senior company official said Tuesday. Under a contract signed with Bharti Infratel in April 2018, the company has an option to sell the 11.15 percent stake in Indus Tower for cash ahead of the merger of the country's largest mobile tower firm with the Bharti group firm. "As things stand now, that process is in NCLT and expectation is that it should be completed in the next 3-4 months timeframe. Before the merger is consummated, we have the right to receive that in cash. The value will fluctuate. "The value is dependent on Bharti Infratel (stock) price. At current Bharti Infratel price, the cash value is more than Rs 5,500 crore," Vodafone Idea Chief Financial Officer Akshaya Moondra told PTI. The company expects that the money raised from the stake sale in Indus Tower and the Rs 25,000 crore rights issue, which is opening on Wednesday, will give it long term war chest to compete in the market. "We believe that the proceeds from the rights issue coupled with the monetisation of our stake in Indus Towers Limited will allow us to make the required investments in the business to achieve our strategic goals," Vodafone Idea Chief Executive Officer Balesh Sharma said. The board of directors of Vodafone Idea on 20 March cleared the planned Rs 25,000-crore rights issue at a price of Rs 12.50 per equity share, a steep 61 percent discount to the prevailing market rate. In a regulatory filing, the company had said the rights entitlement ratio has been fixed at 87 equity shares for every 38 shares held by eligible shareholders of the company on the record date, that is 2 April, 2019. "Rights issue gives us good funding along with the two other monetisations that we are looking at - a long term war chest to continue on the stated strategy of ours. Our strategy primarily is to integrate the two network as quickly as we can to achieve much gain in coverage and customer experience on one side and profitability on the other because of synergies coming," Sharma said. Promoter shareholders -- Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group -- have reiterated to the board that they intend to contribute up to Rs 11,000 crore and up to Rs 7,250 crore respectively, amounting to a total of Rs 18,250 crore, as part of the rights issue. While Vodafone Group's entire funding will be considered as a foreign investment in the rights issue, Aditya Birla Group may also route funds from its foreign entities, according to sources. The promoter shareholders have also said that in case the rights issue is under-subscribed, each of the promoter shareholders reserves the right to take up part or whole of the unsubscribed portion, subject to stipulated law. When asked about the plan of action in case promoter shareholding in Vodafone Idea breaches 75 percent cap, Moondra said there is interest from investors and he does not promoters holding to breach the limit. "We don't expect it to cross 75 percent mark but because this is rights issue and there was some doubt whether Axiata-- one of our large shareholder will participate or not. The shareholders and promoters as a precautionary measure had taken the SEBI approval if they were to participate beyond their entitlement and in case they exceed 75 percent. At this point of time, we do not see there will be a need to utilise that approval," Moondra said. According to a JM Financial report, minority shareholders will need to make an investment of at least Rs 5,410 crore in the rights issue to keep promoters holding at 75 per cent. Vodafone Idea is looking to invest proceeds from the rights issue, Indus Tower stake sale and partial sale of the optical fibre in telecom networks to expand 4G coverage from 61 percent population at present to over 85 percent population coverage by March 2020. Vodafone Idea is in discussion to sell 1.56 lakh kilometre of optical fibre. According to sources, it has received a combined valuation of Rs 20,000 crore for the mobile tower and optical fibre assets. Largest telco Vodafone Idea on Tuesday said its Rs 25,000-crore rights issue will open on Wednesday Mumbai: Largest telco Vodafone Idea on Tuesday said its Rs 25,000-crore rights issue will open on Wednesday. The fundraising is one of the largest by any company in the country and is being done as the industry bleeds amid a massive disruption caused by the entry of Reliance Jio, which has already become the third-largest by subscribers. The company, which got formed after the merger of the British telecom giant Vodafone and the Aditya Birla group's Idea Cellular after the entry of Jio, plans to issue up to 20 billion fully paid-up equity shares of Rs 10 face value at a price of Rs 12.50 per share. Both the promoter groups (Vodafone and Aditya Birla) have confirmed their participation of up to Rs 11,000 crore and up to Rs 7,250 crore, respectively, in the issue. In case the rights issue is undersubscribed, the promoters reserve the right to subscribe part or the whole amount of the unsubscribed portion, a statement added. It said issue will close on 24 April and the last date for request of split application forms will be 17 April. "We believe the proceeds from the issue, coupled with monetisation of our stakes in Indus Towers, will allow us make the required investments in the business to achieve our strategic goals," chief executive Balesh Sharma said. He marked out integration as the top priority for the two companies at present and added the two are moving faster than initially estimated on integration. Vodafone Idea scrip shed 1.74 percent to Rs 16.90 on the BSE as against 0.62 percent gains on the benchmark. Assam: In yet another case of cow vigilantism, an elderly Muslim man, Shaukat Ali, was beaten up and forced to eat pork, which is forbidden among followers of Islam, while his restaurant was vandalised by another group at some distance in Biswanath Chariali district in Assam on Sunday Guwahati: In yet another case of cow vigilantism, an elderly Muslim man, Shaukat Ali, was beaten up and forced to eat pork, which is forbidden among followers of Islam, while his restaurant was vandalised by another group at some distance in Biswanath Chariali district in Assam on Sunday. The incident came to light on Monday after a video showing a mob assaulting Ali, a 68-year-old restaurant owner, was circulated on social media platforms. Attention @sarbanandsonwal This old man was beaten up in Bishwanath Charialifor selling beef. Beef is not banned in Assam and the northeast. Many communities apart from Muslims consume beef. But interestingly self appointed gaurakshaks find only poor Muslim traders to harass. pic.twitter.com/I7lg1YMKu0 Berojgar BeingMuzakki (@Muzakki82091009) April 8, 2019 In the video, Ali is seen surrounded by a mob of 25 to 30 people, while one of them asks him why he sold beef and whether he possessed a licence to do that. Another man asks whether he is a "Bangladeshi", and if his name is enlisted in the National Register of Citizens (NRC). In the video, the mob is seen forcibly feeding meat to Ali, which they call "gahori" (pork). "Chew the meat and gulp it down your throat," the men are heard ordering him. Ali seemed baffled by the events because he has never had to live through such fear as a result of the business that his family has run for 35 years since his father set it up. Narrating the chain of events, he said that three days before he was attacked, around 15 boys barged into his restaurant asking where he had kept the beef. "I used to keep it in a room, away from sight. They searched and found the beef. They took videos of it. After that, I got scared and went to the mahaldar's office," said Ali. The mahaldars, or market managers, advised him not to sell beef. "Since then I stopped selling (beef)," said Ali. However, the group of boys who had threatened him earlier returned to his hotel on Sunday morning and asked if he was still selling beef. "But, they didn't find (beef). Then at around 3 pm, one mahaldar whose name is Maina, came to tell me that I cannot work in the market anymore. I was tense and decided to head home. On the way, Maina stopped me and asked where I was going. I told him I was going to offer prayers. He then took me to a paan shop nearby and asked me not to move from there as I might be hurt if I go alone. Then he left. I waited for almost one-and-a-half hours when the same group from three days ago appeared. They dragged me to a school and started thrashing me," narrated Ali, while also suspecting Maina's involvement in conspiring against him. Maina, one of the four managers at the market, is absconding, according to sources from the All Assam Minority Students Union (AAMSU). After Thursday's threat, Ali had contacted AAMSU, an organisation that voices concerns on harassment of the minority community in Assam, where he was advised to inform the mahaldar about the incident. An FIR (Case no. 80/2019) has been registered in relation to the incident at Biswanath Police Station under Sections 143/341/325/294(a)/295A/153-A(b) and 384 of the IPC. Subhan Chandra Das, officer-in-charge, Biswanath Police Station, said he received a phone call at around 4 pm on Sunday informing him that a man was being assaulted by a group. "Five other policemen and I immediately rushed to the spot. There, I saw a man was made to kneel down and (was being) punched and slapped by a mob. There were around 100 people. I made my way through the mob and stood behind the person trying to save him from the assault. The mob also tried to push me. Somehow, I put him in our vehicle. But the mob gheraoed (encircled) our vehicle demanding that we leave the man to them. I called for additional help. Paramilitary forces also came," said Das. The mob had by then started assaulting Kamal Thapa, another mahaldar, who had tried to save Ali. "We again went into the mob and rescued him as well," said Das, adding, "We have arrested one person identified as Dipen Baruah. We have identified a few more and located the homes of two. But they are absconding." The OC denied the suspects' allegiance to any political or religious outfit as per the "available information". Biswanath Chariali deputy commissioner Pabitra Ram Khaund said, "Cooked beef was being sold in one of the small restaurants in the weekly market and this has been going on for long, but nobody has come to the DC or the SP to complain about it as yet. Selling of beef is not banned here, but there are some sections of law under which you can ban the selling of beef if it breaches the tranquillity of the place. But, so far no such incident had occurred." Khaund said the district administration held a meeting with two organisations on Monday and two people were picked up for questioning while measures to contain the situation were being taken. Biswanath happens to be a peaceful place, but the video that has gone viral has created tension in the town, said the DC. "In this area, there are no problems as yet and on Tuesday, we have called a meeting with all the local organisations. The superintendent of police and I have been constantly on the move and are in close contact with the paramilitary, as elections are (scheduled) here in two days," he added. Five of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies of Assam go to the polls on 11 April in the first phase of the General Election. Thapa, who tried to save Ali from the mob violence, said the group had contacted him after threatening Ali on Thursday. "When Shaukat Ali came to me to inform about the incident (on Thursday), I asked him not to sell beef for a few days, as it was election time and the situation regarding selling and eating of beef in the country can escalate into anything. Shaukat agreed to follow my advice," he said. Kuddus Ali, a student leader who witnessed the attack on Ali, said, "Tension was brewing since Thursday when some people went to Shaukat Ali's restaurant and shot a video of the beef he (had) kept separately. The group asked him whether he had permission from the market committee to sell beef. The group later warned him not to sell beef." Kuddus Ali added that four or five places in the market have been selling beef for decades on weekly market days, which are Sunday and Thursday. The customers who consume it are served separately in a closed room. For others in the market, these shops serve tea and biscuits. Pork is also served by non-Muslim shop owners in the market, albeit not in closed rooms the way beef has been served by the Muslim shopkeepers over the past few decades. Shaukat Ali's son, Abdul Wahab, 14, said the restaurant they own in the market was established by his grandfather. "After his death, my father used to run it. On Sunday, he closed the restaurant early as it was a rainy day and there were not many customers. But he was dragged from his bicycle on his way to Phulphali, where we live, and was taken in front of Chariali Girls Higher Secondary School, a kilometre away from the market. He was tortured brutally. Now, he is admitted at the Biswanath Chariali Civil Hospital. The doctor attending to him told me that he almost has no skin on his back due to the torture. He has sustained chest and head injuries as well," said the teenage son. Mahmudal Hassan, district president of AAMSU and an eyewitness to the assault, said, "A person called Kalam called me up to inform that a person was being beaten up in the market. Immediately, I went to the police station. But, I was informed that a police team had left for the spot. I, too, went there and saw Shaukat Ali gheraoed by a mob. The mob had already beaten him up, there was blood all over his shirt, and he was almost losing conscious." Reportedly, Ali was thrashed with sticks and rods, and his bicycle was also destroyed by the mob. While he was being beaten, another group vandalised his restaurant, broke the utensils and ran away with gas cylinders, cooking pots and food items. "The group didn't find beef in his restaurant that day," said Hassan. Civil society organisations staged a protest against the incident in Guwahati on Tuesday. The author is Guwahati-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters JJP could also have benefited from AAP's young faces and its issue-centric politics, but the push to ally with the Congress raised doubts over its intent. Has it become just another small party seeking political expansion? From afar, Haryana appears to be in for a multi-cornered battle among a number of parties with infighting and factional feuds. But the fight is really between two parties the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP). The outcome of the Jind bypoll in January is proof of this. BJP's Krishna Midha trumped JJP's Digvijay Singh Chautala by a margin of 12,935 votes in what was a high-stakes battle for the Manohar Lal Khattar government. Chandigarh may be the official capital Haryana shares with Punjab, but Jind is its undisputed political citadel, a referendum for electoral relevance and glory of parties. Late last year, a group led by Ajay Chautala, elder son of former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, broke away from the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and formed JJP after a power struggle between Ajay and his brother Abhay Chautala. Today, the grandsons of the Chautala clan Dushyant and Digvijay spearhead the JJP. They now seek to retain the Jat vote and also attract the youth by redrawing its social policies to focus on women and first-time voters and laying the emphasis on education and employment. In contrast, the INLD candidate lost his security deposit in the Jind bypoll, and its alliance partner Bahujan Samaj Party also ended ties with the party after the result was declared. Om Prakash Chautala is in jail, and the old cadre is crumbling. INLD, which once enjoyed unparalleled support from Jats in rural Haryana, seems to be losing its core voter base to the family feud. Meanwhile, speculations of JJP allying with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are gaining strength, and a decision is expected soon. Till December, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had been addressing rallies in Haryana and talking about his alternative development model with the focus on schools and hospitals. Kejriwal also urged people to shun established political parties that have "played the Jat-non Jat card and divided the people of Haryana" and vote for AAP's change. "I appeal to the youth to support us and save the country. If these parties continue to rule for some more years, the country will not survive," he had said at a rally in Sirsa in December. The narrative could have worked well with JJP's focus on women's safety, health and education. "The Khattar government had promised that post-graduate medical colleges would be established in every district, but that has remained an unfulfilled promise," said Naveen Singh Jaihind of Haryana AAP, adding that 700 government schools have also shut down. If AAP forms an alliance with JJP in Haryana, it will throw itself into the Jat versus non-Jat narrative that it had projected to be against. In 2004, Dushyant Chautala had won the Jat-dominated seat of Hisar where the community makes up 33 percent of the population on an INLD ticket. The constituency covers the whole of Hisar district and parts of Jind and Bawana districts. Dushyant was all of 25 when he had won from the constituency in 2014. Jats, who make up a little less than 30 percent of the state's vote bank, favour strong leaders from the community. In 2014, Congress had won 10 of the 14 seats in the Jat-dominated Rohtak, Jhajjar and Sonepat districts. "BJP (leader Kishan Midha) won the Jind bypoll because former INLD MLAs with strong on-ground appeal had defected to the saffron party," Haryana JJP president Nishan Singh told Firstpost. Midha's family defected to the BJP from the INLD. In fact, he is the son of late INLD legislator Dr Hari Chand Middha. The JJP state president told Firstpost that the party's stand is ideologically anti-Congress, but alliances are political compulsions. Given the BJP's ability to consolidate the non-Jat vote and the Modi factor, which led the party to victory in 2014, the battle is clearly between these the saffron front and the JJP. All was well till AAP made plans to enter the Haryana contest riding on the back of its alternative politics the footwork of which is rooted in decentralised quality healthcare and education. Instead, Kejriwal's party chose to seek an alliance with the Congress, which even the JJP is opposed to. In January's recent Jind by-election, Congress fielded its national spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, who came in third and managed to garner just 22,740 votes. Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son campaigned for him vigorously, but this worked against Surjewala because of the Jat anger against Hooda for ignoring the constituency during his decade-long rule while executing development projects in Rohtak. The Jat vote slipped away from the Congress. Also, with the All India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti turning violent in their demand for reservation and at least 30 people dying in the protests in 2016, the community was also disenchanted with the BJP and its non-Jat chief minister. By default, this makes JJP the single-largest contender for the Jat vote. In 2014, though the BJP had won seven seats in Haryana, it had lost to INLD in the Jat-dominated constituencies of Rohtak, Sirsa and Hisar. The only seat that voted for the saffron party in the Jat belt was Bhiwani-Mahendergarh, but after the 2008 delimitation exercise, a big population of Ahirs got incorporated in the area. On 13 March, Kejriwal had appealed to the Congress to join the proposed alliance between his party and JJP in the state, but his Haryana ally snubbed the offer. With regard to strategy, what appears to have worked for AAP in Delhi and, to some extent, in Punjab's 2017 Assembly election was that it had consolidated the Opposition into itself when it emerged an independent third front by criticising the two warring parties. JJP could have benefited from AAP's young faces, such as Atishi and Raghav Chadha, and its issue-centric politics, but the push to ally with the Congress raised doubts about its intent. Has it become just another small party seeking political expansion? Meanwhile, BJP's lone Rajya Sabha MP from Haryana, General (retired) DP Vats said, "The alliance between AAP and JJP won't affect the BJP because this is a national election, and the two parties are irrelevant in the national scene. We won the Nagar Nigam elections and the Jind bypoll, which are indicative of the election to come." Poor strategising for one election might cost AAP many more. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh said it will not be cowed down by attacks and killings of its leaders to engineer a 1990-like situation of fear among Hindus, but sacrifices of its cadre will further strengthen our resolve against terrorism Jammu: Condemning the killing of its leader and his PSO in a terrorist attack in broad daylight in Kishtwar, the RSS Tuesday termed the attack a "security lapse" and called for extending the Army's 'Operation Allout' in the hilly district to prevent spread of terror in the Jammu region. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh said it will not be cowed down by attacks and killings of its leaders to engineer a 1990-like situation of fear among Hindus, but sacrifices of its cadre will further strengthen our resolve against terrorism. An RSS leader and his security guard were killed on Tuesday when a militant opened fire at a health centre in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar town, prompting authorities to impose curfew and call the Army to maintain law and order in the communally sensitive region, officials said. "We condemn terrorist attack on RSS Prant Seh Seva pramukh J&K Chanderkant Sharma and his PSO in Kishtwar today. It was an attack to create fear psychosis among Hindus in this belt. But we will not be cowed down by such attacks and killings of our people", J&K RSS chief Brig (Retd) Suchet Singh told reporters at the RSS office in Jammu. Brig Singh called for tightening of security in hilly district by saying there is a "security lapse" and there should inquiry into it. "The terrorists want to create fear psychosis and trigger migration of Hindus from these hills areas like 1990 situation. They want to demoralize people. There designs will never be fulfilled," he said. Admitting that there is increasing efforts by terrorists from Kashmir to spread their arch to this region, he said the security forces need be more vigilant and SOP needs to be corrected by creating checking points, bunkers as existed earlier. "The anti-national elements should be identified and arrested. But we have yet to bring to book the killers of BJP leader and his brother," he added. He called for handing over areas to army and deployment of forces in the belt. "Some areas should be handed over to the Army. More security forces should be deployed and operation Allout should be extended to Kishtwar also," Brig Singh said. He said that senior RSS functionary Chanderkant was heart and soul behind the morale of Hindus in the belt. He was a medical assistant in Kishtwar hospital, the RSS leader said, adding he left behind his wife and two sons one studying in class 10 and another in class 7. "Sharma was a force multiplier for the Hindus of the region during 1990, when militancy at its peak. he was made target by terrorists for keeping the morale of Hindus high in the area", Brig Singh said. The CUSAT CAT 2019 answer key for courses including MSc Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Instrumentation, Microbiology, BBA LLB, LLB, LLM programmes are available in online mode. CUSAT CAT 2019 answer key | The Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) released the answer key of Common Admission Test (CAT) 2019 on Wednesday. Candidates who had appeared for the exams, which was held on 6 and 7 April, can check the official website - admissions.cusat.ac.in, to download the same. The candidates can also raise objection, if any, against the CAT 2019 answer key till 11 April till 10 pm. Candidates should note that only those objections submitted through the link given on the homepage will be considered by the university. The CUSAT CAT 2019 answer key for courses including MSc Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Instrumentation, Microbiology, BBA LLB, LLB, LLM programmes are available in online mode. How to check CUSAT CAT answer key 2019: Step 1. Visit the official website - admissions.cusat.ac.in Step 2. select 'Candidate login' section Step 3. Enter User ID, password, and captcha Step 4. Click on 'sign in' button Step 5. Click on the links to check the response sheet and answer key Besides a security lapse, several factors like a failure to follow SOPs, ground-level Naxal intelligence, sudden changes made in the MLA's route plan, etc contributed in the successful execution of the Naxal plan to eliminate Bhima Mandavi Dantewada: Another election, another blast and a few more lives lost. The story doesn't seem to change in the Naxal-affected Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, where Maoists have proved that their war with the Indian State continues. Every time the Indian State embarks on a big exercise, or its top functionary comes calling in the hotbed of Naxal violence in the country, the Maoists respond with more violence, almost always taking the lives of innocent people. On Tuesday evening, the last day of campaigning for the Lok Sabha election which will be held in Bastar, comprising seven districts on 11 April, the sitting BJP MLA from Dantewada, Bhima Mandavi and four security personnel were killed in an attack by the Naxals. The incident becomes even more shocking because it comes at a time when security in the region is at its tightest as it goes to the polls. Tuesday's fatal blast and death of the only BJP MLA from the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency was almost a repeat of the 2013 Maoist attack on a Congress convoy that was on its way to the next stop on its campaign trail at Jheerum Ghati in which the entire top leadership of the Chhattisgarh Congress was wiped out including prominent tribal leader and former minister Mahendra Karma, former Union minister Vidya Charan Shukla, state Congress president Nand Kumar Patel among others. A step ahead of security forces The Naxals in the region have repeatedly check-mated the police and paramilitary personnel, sending out a loud message that not only does their war with the Indian State continue, but that they are very serious about it and will do everything to guard their supremacy in the region. Repeated fatal attacks on the country's security forces point to a very disturbing reality the Naxals are a step ahead of the security forces. The blast seemed to be a rejoinder to the poll boycott called by the Maoists after the election was announced. In a blatant violation of the country's constitutional machinery, Maoist posters had come up in the entire region ordering people to stay away from the election process. "We had requested the Election Commission to allow voters of Bastar to use 'magic ink' instead of regular electoral ink, as Maoists have issued a diktat that the hand of a voter would be chopped off, if they found ink on his finger. But, our proposal has not been accepted," a Dantewada district administration officer said. They even asked the local villagers to support their cause of establishing 'Janatana Sarkar' (People's Council) a State within a State where Naxals rule the roost. Given the open call for a boycott by the Maoists, did the Indian State not do its homework right in preparing for polls in this region? This raises a host of questions that beg for an immediate answer, such as: 1. What went wrong and how? 2. Did the security forces not follow the SOP that is required of them especially in this challenging region? 3. Is the latest attack an intelligence failure? 4. Renewed Maoist strategy What went wrong and how? Speaking with various people from police officials to eyewitnesses; from locals to security experts, Firstpost found that besides a security lapse, several factors like a failure to follow SOPs, ground-level Naxal intelligence, sudden changes made in the MLA's route plan, etc contributed in the successful execution of the Naxal plan to eliminate Mandavi. According to the police, locals and the BJP sources, the MLA's convoy left Dantewada town in the morning, visited Kirandul, Bacheli and Nakulnar, and held rallies. Instead of returning home on the pre-decided road, Mandavi took a shortcut and reached Syamgiri village. This wasn't part of the plan. A source told Firstpost that the MLA had received a call requesting him to attend the weekly village market (haat) at Shyamgiri and address people there, which he did. The caller couldn't be identified yet. Mandavi stayed at the haat for 20 minutes and then left for home. This gave ample time to Maoists to plan the IED blast. Was there a security lapse? Dantewada, the volatile district in Bastar has become infamous due to some of the worst attacks recording the highest casualties in Naxal history. The spot where Mandavi was killed on Tuesday, continues to be a favourite route for the Maoists. In the past, local Congress leader Trinath Thakur and, Ramesh Rathod and Surya Prakash Chouhan from the BJP were killed in Naxal attacks, during poll campaigning. In 2014, the Maoists in an ambush had killed a police officer and his constables. If the road taken by Mandavi after attending the haat wasn't sanitised, why was he allowed to proceed and why was no extra protection given to him? Mandavi was given 'Z' category security by the Centre. "No police security was removed. The District Reserve Guards had been providing security to the deceased MLA. In fact, the thana in-charge of Bacheli had cautioned him not to divert from the pre-planned route and take the Bacheli-Kuakonda road. But, it wasnt considered," Inspector-General (Bastar Range), Chhattisgarh Police, Vivekananda told Firstpost from Jagdalpur. Local BJP leaders including former chief minister Raman Singh have raised doubts about the fact that even if Mandavi had changed his route and took his convoy on the Bacheli-Kuakonda road, why wasn't a police team sent? "It's impossible to send a police team, if someone suddenly changes the route plan at the last moment. The police teams are allotted as per the sanctioned plans. There are no policemen in reserve to meet such demands. Moreover, there is already a shortage of policemen, so the department needs to use the force judiciously," a Dantewada police source claimed. The police also justified that sanitisation of roads by road-opening party (ROP) couldn't be done due to poll campaigning, as it leads to fear and chaos among the local public. Why intelligence still a major challenge? Almost all the past incidents of ambush and attacks by the Naxals in this region on the Red Corridor indicate a failure in intelligence or information leaks. It has also been observed that the intelligence network of the Maoists has remained stronger and more efficient than that of the forces. Difficult terrain, use of local dialects, involvement of some local tribal villagers, active Jan Militia cadres, the failure of successive governments in the past to redress grievances of the tribal population etc have given an edge to the Naxals in strengthening their intelligence network. That is why on several occasions, the ultra-Left cadre could breach the strong security cordon and strike when it hurts the most. As a result, security forces and the government have been left helpless. However, over the past few years, the state's intelligence system and policing have improved in Chhattisgarh's Red Corridor. "Unlike in the past, now we're into round-the-clock, real-time intelligence gathering and sharing between the state police and other Central security forces. We've been successful in a large number of encounters due to this and avoided mishaps. However, the intelligence network of the Maoists is effective because one can't identify their 'men'. They are everywhere and mixed among the tribal villagers. They are not outsiders and are part of the community they speak the same language the villagers do. It's almost impossible to identify their 'source of intelligence' it can turn out to be the one who's most unexpected and unassuming. This is the most challenging task before us," a source in the anti-Naxal operations intelligence told Firstpost on condition of anonymity. Aggressive posturing by Maoists The aggressive stance of the Maoists is being attributed to the change in leadership of the insurgents that took place in the region last year. Ever since the military strategist Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju, who was heading the party's Central Military Commission took over as the general secretary of the banned CPI (Maoist) last year, the insurgency assumed a more aggressive attitude towards the State. The result has been obvious in the series of blasts that have greeted the arrival of Indian State or its representatives in the region. The experts working on Left Wing Extremism (LWE) believe that this change in guard is likely to infuse a renewed energy into the Maoist movement, which has relatively been pushed on a back foot due to offensive strategy by security forces and development measures undertaken by the government. Basavaraju is known for his expertise in handling explosives and IEDs. Even ahead of the Assembly election in Chhattisgarh, Maoists had blown up a bus carrying security personnel in Bijapur district in April 2018. This was a few days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi was slated to visit Jangla in Bijapur (13 April). During former Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh's Vikas Yatra, amid tight security, the Maoists had triggered a blast as a mark of protest. The previous month, Maoists had blown up a mine protection vehicle in Sukma, killing nine CRPF soldiers. Expert's take "Given the ground situation and the modus operandi of the Maoists, the BJP MLA was an easy target. It reminds us of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. If utmost security and protection is not taken during a public road show or a procession, a political leader becomes an easy target. There's no doubt that there had been a lapse in police security and SOP. Besides this, prima facie evidence indicates to three factors," counter-terrorism analyst Anil Kamboj told Firstpost. First, whether there had been lapses in following SOPs and by the ROP in sanitising the route. It's less likely that this factor was ignored, but the way the MLA changed his route plan midway and thereafter participated in a village fair made the ambush easy for the Naxals. If the route that the MLA later took wasn't cleared, he shouldn't have been allowed. Second, whether the MLA and his convoy was lured into the trap. Third, leakage of information. Details of the change of route and destination were possibly leaked ahead of time and gave the Maoists ample time to prepare and hit the target successfully. There has to be a mole in the police and/or within the party, who knew about the exact plan and passed it onto the Maoists. It just can't be a random affair. "This also indicates the strong grassroots intelligence network of the Maoists. They are far ahead of the police and security forces. From the Jhirum Ghati incident to this one, all indications point to the successful execution of an ambush plan with surgical precision. Maoists hardly miss their targets," added Kamboj, who in the past had led his forces in Bastar. After Tuesday's horrifying incident, a sense of fear prevails across Bastar, as the voters are anxiously waiting for Thursday's polling. Yasin Malik was shifted to Delhi's Tihar Jail on Tuesday after the NIA secured his production remand in connection with the terror funding case. Malik will be facing questions from the NIA related to funding of his organisation New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday sent Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik to NIA custody till 22 April after the agency sought his custodial interrogation in connection with a case related to funding of separatists and terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir. Malik was produced before special judge Rakesh Syal where the National Investigation Agency arrested him inside the courtroom and sought 15-day custodial interrogation. The proceedings in the case were heard in-camera. He was shifted to Delhi's Tihar Jail on Tuesday after the NIA secured his production remand in connection with the terror funding case. Malik will be facing questions from the NIA related to funding of his organisation. The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has reserved its judgment on a plea of the CBI for reopening three-decade-old cases in which Malik was an accused. The JKLF chief is facing charges of kidnapping and murder for being allegedly involved in abducting Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in 1989, and killing of four Indian Air Force personnel in the early part of 1990. NIA had approached a special court in Jammu, seeking Malik's remand for custodial interrogation in the terror-funding case. The NIA probe seeks to identify the chain of players behind the financing of terrorist activities, pelting of stones on security forces, burning down of schools and damaging of government establishments. The case also names Hafiz Saeed, the Pakistan-based chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawah, the front for the banned Lashker-e-Taiba, as an accused. Besides, it names organisations such as Hurriyat Conference factions led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Dukhtaran-e-Millat. The JKLF was recently banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The Maharashtra Congress said the EC should file cases against the makers and actors of the two serials, as well as the BJP. Mumbai: The Election Commission (EC) has issued show cause notices to producers of two TV serials following allegations that the shows were violating the Model Code of Conduct by promoting various government schemes. Maharashtra's additional chief electoral officer Dilip Shinde on Wednesday said complaints were received of violation of the poll code by two serials being aired on Zee TV and &TV. "Taking cognisance of the complaints, the EC on Tuesday issued notices to producers of the respective serials, asking them to reply within a day," Shinde said. Further action will be taken after receiving their replies, he said. The Congress on Monday approached the EC, demanding a ban on two channels for allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct by airing content that praised the central government schemes and ruling party leaders. The Maharashtra Congress said the EC should file cases against the makers and actors of the two serials, as well as the BJP. State Congress general secretary Sachin Sawant, who led a party delegation to the EC, said it was "shocking" that television serials were being used to "promote" schemes and leaders of the ruling party. The Congress also submitted video clips from the two serials to the EC. In one of the clips, characters of a serial were purportedly seen hailing the Centre's Ujjwala scheme, which provides LPG connections to Below Poverty Line households, and the Swachh Bharat Mission, a cleanliness campaign of the NDA government. In another clip from a serial being aired on another second channel, two characters were seen discussing the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA (Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency) Yojana, that promises affordable credit to micro and small enterprises. Sawant alleged there was a possibility that crores of rupees were transacted in this connection and demanded the EC probe it and register a case of corruption. When asked for a reaction, BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said the party was neither related to the channels nor the serials in any way. "It is absurd to see the Congress making noise when its leaders talk about freedom of speech and expression. When some channel tries to portray something positive happening in society, the Congress starts baying for its blood. This shows the party's double standards," Bhandari said. After the Maoist attack on a BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi's convoy the Election Commission had put Gondia and Gadchiroli districts of Maharashtra on high alert. Not even 24 hours before voting takes place in Gadchiroli-Chimur Lok Sabha constituency as part of the the first phase of 2019 General Election to Lok Sabha, Maoists struck on Wednesday injuring a security personnel of the 191 battalion of CRPF in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district in an IED attack. According to ANI, the incident occurred in Gatta area of Ettapalli. The patrol party is being evacuated by chopper. Gadchiroli: One security personnel injured in an IED attack by Naxals on 191 battalion of CRPF in Gatta area of Ettapalli. More details awaited. #Chhattisgarh ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 This is a developing story, more details are awaited. This is the second Maoist this week. On Tuesday afternoon, BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi and five police personnel were killed when the Maoists ambushed his convoy in Chattisgarh's Gondia district. The incident had taken place in Gondia's Nakulnar area. The Election Commission had put Gondia and Gadchiroli districts of Maharashtra on high alert after the incident, Mumbai Mirror had reported. Mandavi, 40, was the only BJP legislator in the 12 seats of the Maoist-hit Bastar region. The other 11 belong to the Congress. He became a legislator for the first time by defeating rival Manish Kunjam (CPI), and thereby relegating Congress veteran and former leader of Opposition Mahendra Karma to a third position in 2009, reported The Times of India. In making this statement on the BJP, Imran Khan was merely making public what had been privately said for years. There is one thing that has always marked India-Pakistan relations. It never fails to surprise. A recent statement by Prime Minister Imran Khan was one such, calculated to raise eyebrows and send reporters running to file their stories. During a chat with foreign journalists, Imran was reported to have said that there might be a better chance for peace with India if the present government in India won the next elections. He followed this up with a statement calculated to make Mahagathbandan parties cringe. Imran said that the Congress would never be able to resolve Kashmir due to its inability to stand pressure from the Right. All of this against the backdrop of Balakot and all the tensions it engendered. Imran has certainly grown lately, and shed his naivete enough to viably fill the prime ministerial chair. This is a statement that could stir the coals on both sides of the border. For the purposes of analysis of this statement however, it would be wise to consider another characteristic of India-Pakistan ties, which is, that nothing is ever as it seems. So consider the background to this statement. In his campaign speeches, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been anything but kind to Pakistan. But look carefully at his statements. Theyre actually aimed at the Opposition, not Imran or his government. This is even more apparent in his campaign speeches in Jammu and Kashmir, where the narrative is that a Congress-dominated government would please Pakistan the most, because it was weak at the knees. Well, it seems hes wrong. Imrans publicly stated preference for a BJP government could take the wind out of his sails. Mehbooba Mufti is already crowing about the fact that Imrans statement has BJP supporters scratching their heads. More such comments are likely as the Opposition uses this to the maximum. So is this statement a crafty way of pulling the rug out from under the BJP which has used the Pakistan card to the full ? Certainly, Modis speech writers will have to do some quick deletions and fine-tuning. Yet, the motive doesnt seem quite right for several reasons. First, in making this statement on the BJP, Imran was merely making public what had been privately said for years. It is entirely true that if anyone can deliver a peace package, it is the Modi government. Why? Because no one in their right minds can accuse him of being soft on Pakistan, just months after sending in an unprecedented bombing air force contingent that flattened a terrorist camp. Conversely, it is the BJP which reached out to Pakistan even earlier, with then prime minister Vajpayee making his courageous trip to Lahore. It is again Modi, who dropped in to wish Nawaz Sharif on his birthday. The Congress in its various recent manifestations of UPA I and II have no such actions to their credit, or discredit, depending on where one is on the divide. Second, consider that at all times, the official statements on Balakot were firm that this was a pre-emptive non military strike against terrorist camps. The underlying argument was that the strike was not against Pakistan or its army, a message that was further underlined when the Modi sent good wishes on Pakistan Day. A summary of the BJP governments foreign policy style could be the government will hold the door is open for talks/negotiations, even while carrying a big stick. If the Pakistan Foreign Office hasnt got this message then it needs to go back to school. There is a third disquieting possibility however. Imran also mentioned the BJP manifesto and its stated determination to get rid of Kashmirs special status (Article 370) and the limitations on outsiders buying land in the state (Article 35A). Though he flagged this as a major concern, he would be spry enough to know that any such move by the BJP would be like throwing a grenade into a basket of ripe plums. That would be hugely to Pakistans advantage, unsettling not only the Valley but also the Ladakhis. This is not to say that it is impossible that a government in New Delhi could tactfully and patiently persuade the Kashmiris that such changes would ultimately benefit them. Its just the improbability that such a government could ever exist under present conditions. That also Imran would be aware of. During the interaction, the Pakistani prime minister also talked of closing down terrorist camps with the full support of the army. Consider this apparently mollifying statement vis-a-vis the cry from his Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi that India had plans to attack Pakistan again, before elections end in May. Then are the accusations by officials that Pakistans bad run of luck vis-a-vis a possible blacklisting by the Financial Action Task Force are due to Indian insistence. Taking all this into account, Pakistan has no reason at all to want a BJP government back at the Centre. But Islamabad seems to have calculated that this is exactly what could happen. And it is preparing for it, in more ways than one. Apart from cleaning up its act on terrorism to some extent under pressure from different quarters it is also waiting to see whether Kashmir falls into its hands like a ripe plum. The future is likely to be even more surprising. Watch this space. The income tax department has written to the Chief Electoral Officer seeking legal action against Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy Bengaluru: The income tax department has written to the Chief Electoral Officer seeking legal action against Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and a host of his cabinet colleagues for allegedly intimidating tax officers and obstructing them from discharging duties, sources said Tuesday. The chief minister, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, and host of other state ministers along with their supporters had staged a demonstration near the income tax office on 28 March, accusing the Centre of using central agencies, such as income tax department, enforcement directorate and CBI, to intimidate the opposition. The protests took place when tax raids were in progress across the state. In his letter, dated 5 April, Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (Goa-Karnataka region) BR Balakrishnan said, "Reports in electronic media depict that the protest was led by chief minister Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, Ministers DK Shivakumar and SR Mahesh, former home minister Ramalinga Reddy, Dinesh Gundu Rao, MLA and KPCC president. "This was followed by specific statements including personal allegations against the director general of income tax by Ministers H D Revanna and CS Puttaraju." The voluntary and disruptive actions of people holding high offices obstructed public servants from discharging their public functions, wrote Balakrishnan, adding that the protests aimed at derailing the ongoing search proceedings against the contractors and engineers and causing damage to the reputation of the personnel of the department. Balakrishnan, stated in his letter, that when people holding high public offices including constitutional posts, make false statements and instigate and involve in criminal activities with the purpose of adversely affecting the process of the law and preventing government officials form discharging their duties, such activities and statements criminally intimidate and harm the personnel of the department with greater intensity. The income tax official demanded cases should be registered against all those who took part in the protests for unlawful assembly, intentional insult, breach of peace, statements conducing to public mischief, criminal intimidation, obstructing public servant from discharging their duties and threat of injury to public servant under IPC sections 143, 504, 505, 506, 186 and 189. The raids since 28 March fetched unaccounted cash of Rs 8.14 crore and unaccounted jewellery worth Rs 1.69 crore, the department stated in the letter adding that no MLA, MLC or minister was searched in the said proceedings. A day prior to the raids, the chief minister had expressed his apprehensions that income tax raids on Congress and JD(S) leaders and ministers were in the offing, which he called "the politics of vendetta of the Centre". The raids took place at about 15 to 20 locations, triggering widespread condemnation and protests by the leaders of the ruling coalition. Minister Puttaraju had claimed that his house in Mandya and his nephew's house in Mysuru were among those raided by the I-T officials. The BJP accused the chief minister of leaking the information about the raids beforehand, thereby violating the oath of secrecy taken at the time of assuming office. The present situation is the most dangerous and difficult for journalists in decades, according to dozens of journalists in Kashmir Srinagar: Most nights in recent weeks, journalist Asif Qureshis phone vibrates with a message from a known number of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a Pakistan-based militant group that killed 40 Indian paramilitary policemen in a suicide attack in Kashmir in February: Allah always keeps you in safety and security. They want to tell us that we are monitoring you, said Qureshi, the Kashmir bureau chief for Delhi-based TV channel ABP News. He is one of the many journalists caught in the crossfire metaphorically and literally between the Indian government and militant groups fighting for India-controlled Kashmirs independence. Both sides are making increasing attempts to control the flow of information, journalists say, after the conflict in Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region claimed by both India and Pakistan, escalated dramatically over the past few months. India blames Pakistan for harbouring JeM, a claim Islamabad denies, and both nuclear-armed nations said they carried out air strikes and downed enemy jets after the suicide attack, to the alarm of world powers. The present situation is the most dangerous and difficult for journalists in decades, according to dozens of journalists in Kashmir Reuters spoke to in recent weeks. In the past two years, journalists in the scenic Himalayan valley have been threatened by militants, blinded by pellet guns fired by security forces, and murdered by unknown assailants. Many reporters say that self-censorship is often the only option to keep working safely in the region. We have become a punching bag for both sides, Qureshi said. Local Pressure Srinagars Press Enclave, where many newspapers and TV channels have offices, has been under armed guard since Shujaat Bukhari, the editor of several newspapers and a high-profile moderate in Kashmir, was shot dead outside his office by unknown gunmen in June 2018. No one has been charged in connection with the crime. The physical danger they face is a major reason why India is one of the worst places in the world to be a journalist, according to international monitor Reporters Without Borders, that currently ranks it 138th out of 180 countries on its press freedom index. Local newspapers, that rely overwhelmingly on government advertisements for revenue, are also facing increasing financial pressure. Last month, the government stopped advertising in two of the largest newspapers, Greater Kashmir and Kashmir Reader, to protests from the Kashmir Editors Guild. We have written to the government of India for a reason, but so far they have not provided it, said Sajjad Ansari, the vice president of the Guild and editor of the Kashmir Observer, another leading newspaper. Editors assume it is because the papers carried stories on human rights and other material critical of the authorities. On 10 March, 15 newspapers, making up 95 percent of all sales in Kashmir, carried blank front pages in protest at the advertising decision. It has had little effect. On 2 April, the government pulled advertising from a third paper, Kashmir Uzma, according to the Guild. Gulzar Ahmed Shabnam, the director of information for Jammu & Kashmir state, declined to comment on the withdrawal of advertising. I dont think the independent voice can survive here, said Morifat Qadri, the editor of Aafaq, an Urdu-language newspaper, of the situation in Kashmir. An editor either has to surrender or leave this job. National tension Reporters working for national outlets like Qureshi say they are facing renewed hostility from local people, who are often sympathetic to separatist groups and resent the Indian medias increasingly nationalist stance. India goes to the polls on a rolling basis from 11 April to 19 May in a general election that is being dominated by the tensions with Pakistan, to the benefit of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, pollsters say. Everybody knows the (national) media is slanted towards the establishment right now, Qureshi said. Right now you have to watch your back. Qureshi said locals often become aggressive when they saw the ABP News badge on his equipment, recognising it as a national outlet. His cameraman, Arshad Hussein Shah, said he has been injured more times than he can count by security forces, often in scuffles involving batons and rifle butts. But injuries can sometimes be more serious. In 2016, freelance photographer Zohaib Butt was covering a clash between protesters and security forces. A policeman came towards him. Butt showed the man his cameras, but he raised a shotgun loaded with metal pellets, and fired in his direction from less than 20 metres away. The photographer sustained severe eye injuries. For the first five seconds I was shouting like a dog, Butt said. It was like looking at a broken mirror. Butt is one of several journalists injured over the last two years by pellet guns used by the security forces. In January, four were hit in a similar incident. Sometimes the authorities go beyond their powers and I will be investigating these cases, said Shabnam, who became the states director of information in February. A spokesman for Kashmirs police force declined to comment on Butts case, and on injuries to journalists generally. After multiple rounds of surgery, Butt is still partially blind, unable to work as a photojournalist. The man who shot him has never been identified. Hundreds of metal pellets are still lodged under his skin, and he struggles with depression. Every day I relive those five seconds of my life. Sometimes when I am taking a shower I cover my eyes and think why didnt I do it at the time, he said. I trusted the cop that he wouldnt shoot. Narendra Modis BJP-led alliance will win a thin majority, opinion polls show, with its focus on national security trumping concerns over jobs and farm prices. New Delhi: India will hold general elections in seven phases starting from Thursday, with about 900 million voters eligible to participate in the worlds biggest democratic exercise. Prime Minister Narendra Modis ruling alliance will win a thin majority, opinion polls show, with its focus on national security appearing to trump concerns over jobs and farm prices. Here are the main issues in the election, votes in which will be counted on 23 May. Jobs With more than half the population of 1.3 billion younger than 25 and millions joining the workforce every year, the lack of jobs created during Modis term is a major issue. Better job opportunities are voters top priority, a survey of more than 270,000 people by electoral watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms has shown. Unemployment rose to 7.2 percent in February, its highest since September 2016, data from private think tank the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy shows. A government report leaked to the Business Standard newspaper said unemployment in the year ending June 2018 rose to 6.1 percent, its highest in at least 45 years. The election manifesto of the main Opposition Congress party promised a slew of measures to try and halve unemployment. Muscular Nationalism Modis national security record was spotlighted by an aerial clash with arch foe Pakistan, triggered by a February suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama that killed 40 Indian paratroopers and was claimed by a the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militant group based in the neighbouring country. Modis Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) says the decision to send warplanes to Pakistan to bomb a purported JeM training camp, in Indias first such aerial strike since 1971, is proof of Modis muscular stance against what New Delhi calls Islamabads backing for militants. Prime Minister Imran Khan has said no militant group will be allowed to operate from Pakistans soil for attacks abroad. But surveys showed the hostilities, through February and March, appear to have boosted Modis support among voters. In its manifesto, the BJP also vowed to strip decades-old special rights from the people of Jammu and Kashmir, Indias only Muslim-majority state, prompting warnings of a backlash in the Himalayan region. Farm Distress Increasingly tough conditions for millions of poor farmers reeling from rising costs and lower crop prices could influence the election. About half the population works in farming, a vital constituency for any party. More than 80 percent of an estimated 263 million farmers have landholdings smaller than 2 hectares (5 acres). After losing power to Congress in three large farm states in December, the BJP government announced an annual handout of Rs 6,000 to small farmers in its February Budget. This week, its election manifesto vowed to roll that out to all farmers. Congress, too, has promised help, saying it will expand a jobs programme to guarantee rural homes 150 days of work a year. It also pledged annual handouts of Rs 72,000 to Indias poorest families. Religion and Caste Seeking to gain the support of Indias Hindu majority, the BJP, in its manifesto, repeated its commitment to build a Ram Temple in the northern town of Ayodhya at a site disputed by Muslims. A militant Hindu mob tore down the 16th-Century Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992, sparking riots that killed about 2,000 people in some of the worst such violence since Independence from Britain in 1947. Indias rigid Hindu caste system plays a key role in politics, particularly in the north. In Uttar Pradesh, which elects more lawmakers than any other state, for example, two major regional parties have combined their disparate caste-based supporters to forge a formidable Opposition against the BJP. The age-old systems three groups are the upper castes, Other Backward Classes and Scheduled Castes, further divided into sub-groups and communities. The General and Police Observers are expected to assist the Commission in the conduct of free and fair polls. They also oversee the efficient and effective management of the electoral process at the field level. Observers of the Election Commission of India (ECI) are appointed under the powers conferred on it by Section 20B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and the plenary powers available to the Commission under the Constitution of India. They are the appointees of the Commission working under the superintendence, control and discipline of the Commission for the period from their appointment until the process of election is completed. The Representation of the People Act, 1951 was amended in August 1996 to add a new Section 20B. This provides statutory powers to the Observers to watch the conduct of elections and especially in respect of counting of votes. Roles and duties The General and Police Observers are expected to assist the Commission in the conduct of free and fair polls. They also oversee the efficient and effective management of the electoral process at the field level. For all purposes, they act as the eyes and ears of the Commission during the period of the election and provide direct inputs to the Commission from the field as an interface with the election machinery the candidates, political parties, and electors to ensure that the Acts, rules, procedures, instructions and guidelines related to elections are strictly and impartially complied with by all concerned. Appointment and briefing The appointment of an officer as an Observer and the intimation for the briefing meeting shall be communicated by the ECI through the nodal officer of the State and Central Government who shall coordinate with Election Commission for various issues including provision of the list of officers for appointment as observers. No Observer is allowed to go on a foreign trip during the period intervening between the briefing session and the completion of the election process. Moreover, no officer appointed as Observer or kept in Reserve List shall proceed on any kind of leave without prior approval of the Commission till the completion of the election in Constituency (ies) in which officer has been appointed as Observer or for which Observer has been kept in reserve. Observer portal A web portal has been made for observers on the website of the ECI www.eci.gov.in, with all the latest instructions and messages of the Commission available on the portal. Specific roles of observers a) Observing the processes of scrutiny of nominations and withdrawal of candidature by the RO, and Report back to the Commission promptly in case of any irregularity; b) Examination of the video clipping of the nomination process as well as making a proper investigation on the complaints received in connection with the process of nomination. Also to examine the unresolved grievances by the candidate/ political parties about the allotment of symbols; c) Effective monitoring of the implementation of MCC and detecting cases of violation of the model code of conduct by watching the video clippings of various meetings and, if needed, even by visiting important rallies to get first-hand input, enforcement of the defacement of property act, training of Micro-Observers and such other things; d) Though checking the account of the expenditure of the candidates is entrusted to Expenditure Observers, however, General Observer is also required to do so, in case of exigencies, if directed by the Commission. e) Tracking dispatch of postal ballot papers to the service voters, ensuring the setting up of the facilitation counters for polling officials, police and security personnel, etc., in accordance with the recent guidelines of the Commission and sending a specific report in this regard to the Commission. f) Checking randomisation software, reviewing the process of randomisation of the polling personnel, obtaining a report from the DEO regarding first level randomization; and g) Observing and regulating the counting process. The observer has to sign the round wise counting sheets as proof of his/her satisfaction. She/he can direct the Returning Officer to stop the counting of votes or declaration of result, if she/he notices any irregularities and bring the matter to the notice of the Commission for further directions. Some of the important Dos and Donts of election commission observers are as follows: DOs 1. Identification of areas/polling stations which might require closer attention 2. Familiarise yourself with the use of EVMs/VVPATs, and attend some training rehearsals 3. Ensure that sufficient publicity regarding EVM/VVPATs has been given so that media and the general public have no misgivings about EVMs/VVPATs 4. Make an independent assessment of the Law and Order situation in general 5. Make a random check of as many polling stations as possible and verify them 6. Monitor instances of violation of Model Code, ban on transfer, etc. 7. Monitor the deployment of central forces to have maximum impact 8. Bring any development that merits immediate remedial action or attention of the Commission, to Returning Officers / Commissions notice without any loss of time. Such information should not be deferred till the regular reports are submitted 9. Make an independent assessment of the expenditure incurred by a candidate, political party or any other person 10. The Observers must maintain strict confidentiality in the submission of their reports and assessments to the Commission DONTs 1. Do not leave your headquarters once you have been allotted specific constituencies without the prior written permission of the Commission 2. Do not defer submitting reports of any development, which requires immediate remedial action; bring it to the Commissions notice by fastest means 3. The Observers must not make any unauthorised public statements and exercise due caution before taking any definitive position in any election-related matter 4. The observers should not appear to be partial and exhibit political neutrality through their conduct and behavior 5. The observers shall NOT interact with any media persons (except to receive any inputs or information offered by them), or give any form of press briefings or press releases regarding their assessment or actions, without the express authorisation from the Commission. 6. The observers must abstain from expressing any views or opinions which may be directly or indirectly construed as support or preference for, or prejudice against any particular political party, coalition or candidate even in their private discourse with their colleagues or the election officials. This also applies to their interaction through electronic medium like WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook or other social media platforms. 7. Observers must ensure that no part of the report or election-related information is shared with any unauthorised person or agency. 8. The Observers are not deployed on a fault-finding mission, but to objectively assess the poll preparedness, identify the critical gaps and guide the DEO/RO to address them. 9. If any shortcoming or lacunae in the actions or performance of any election official in the state is not being addressed despite reminding the field machinery, it should be communicated to the CEO and the Commission, instead of direct confrontation or over-zealous criticism The Election Commission recently held a meeting of central observers in New Delhi as a part of preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The meeting was held to brief them about their roles and responsibilities during election duty. This was the first such meeting since election dates were declared in March. The observers are drawn from various central services, such as the Indian Revenue Service, the Indian Administrative Service, and the Indian Police Service. They are considered to be on EC duty till the elections process ends. Later in April, in a video conference with Central Observers to review the poll preparedness and other necessary activities the Election Commission sought a presentation from them on the following points: i) Distribution of photo voter slip ii) Arrangements of Polling Stations and management of PWD voters iii) EVM/VVPAT arrangement iv) Grievance monitoring v) SUVIDHA and permissions to Political Parties and Candidates vi) MCC cases and their disposal vii) Any other important qualitative inputs Moreover, the Police Observers were specifically assigned to brief the Commission on the following: i) Preparation of District Security/Force Deployment plan ii) Use of CPF for area domination and confidence building iii) Law and Order situation iv) Any other important issue or concern Whereas, the Expenditure Observers were required to update the EC on issues related to monitoring and deployment such as: i) Deployment of FS, SST & VST ii) Complaint Monitoring Cell iii) Seizures made by FS, SST & Police iv) Maintenance of Shadow Observation Register v) Inspection of Candidates Accounts vi) Any other important point Further, all Central Observers attending the meeting were asked to submit a Status Note on the critical gaps, urgent actionable points, crucial issues or other significant inputs, if any, for the attention of the Commission. The Central Observers thus act as an essential link between the ECI and the booth-level officers (BLO) entrusted with the task of ensuring the conduct of free and fair elections in the area of their deployment. Photo: RCMP David McHale A Peachland man convicted of multiple sexual crimes against children was handed a sentence of eight years, four months, while avoiding one of the harshest punishments in Canada's legal system. In 2012, David McHale, 72, was convicted of molesting children dating back to 1996, but he appealed his sentence. While the appeal was eventually dismissed, it later came to light that he had continued to offend while he had been out on bail during the appeal process, and additional prior sex crimes against children were discovered. McHale was sentenced to 100 months in jail for three counts of sexual interference. He was given 50 months of pre-sentence credit, resulting in just over four years left on his sentence. The Crown had applied to have McHale declared a dangerous offender, a designation reserved for Canada's most dangerous violent offenders and sexual predators. A dangerous offender can be sentenced to an indeterminate jail term, with no chance of parole for seven years. Despite the Crown's application, the judge declined to label McHale a dangerous offender, instead designating him a long-term offender. Following his release, McHale will be under a supervision order for eight years. According to a 2003 Supreme Court of Canada decision, the very purpose of a long-term supervision order ... is to protect society from the threat that the offender currently poses and to do so without resort to the blunt instrument of indeterminate detention. McHale was stabbed in prison in 2017 and he's seeking more than $25,000 in damages from the Okanagan Correctional Centre. Dipak Misra said he believes the idea of marital rape as crime has been borrowed from other nations and hence not necessarily applicable to our country Even as a debate on whether marital rape should be made a crime in India is on, former chief justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra has said that as per his "personal opinion" he doesn't think it should be an offence. I dont think that marital rape should be regarded as an offence in India, because it will create absolute anarchy in families and our country is sustaining itself because of the family platform which upholds family values, he was quoted saying at a conference in Bengaluru's KLE Societys Law College. Misra also said that he believes that the idea of marital rape as crime has been borrowed from other nations and hence not necessarily applicable to our country. The former CJI's comment almost justifies section 375 of the Indian Penal Code which states that forced sexual intercourse by a man with his wife, not above 18 years of age, is not rape. His comment drew strong criticism from the Twitterati, many of whom simply "couldn't believe" Misra's remarks. I can't believe Dipak Misra is the same man who upheld the rights of the queer community, and is now stating that marital rape should never be a crime. People will disappoint. vivek tejuja (@vivekisms) April 10, 2019 Misra's comment comes days after hundreds of women from nearly 20 states had marched in protest against gender-based violence and discrimination in early April. A report by the Deccan Herald states how the National Health and Family Survey had revealed that as much as 5.4% of Indian women, between 2015 to 2016, had reported being physically violated by their husbands. The Centre had in August 2018 argued against criminalising marital rape and held that it would lead to "destabilisation of the institution of marriage". The government had also said that it would become an easy tool to harass husbands while claiming that there was no lasting evidence of violence in sexual acts between a man and his wife. However, in more than 50 countries, including neighbouring Nepal, the United States, Britain and South Africa, it is criminal for a husband to rape his wife. How effective is the AFSPA in its current form? Does it give cover to our soldiers? This question demands an answer beyond the BJP-Congress rhetoric. Prime Minister Narendra Modi evidently scored a point with the support he lent the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) even as the Congress manifesto calls for a review of it in Jammu and Kashmir. Modi told Network18 removing AFSPA is like sending our soldiers to the gallows and the BJP would never do that. This will largely sit well with the Indian Armed Forces. But how effective is the AFSPA in its current form? Does it give cover to our soldiers? This question demands an answer beyond the BJP-Congress rhetoric. In this era of fake news, the brouhaha reached a crescendo with a story going viral about how Indian soldiers were sent to jail at the behest of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti simply for having stopped a civilian vehicle at a barricade. This fake news became the symbol of everything that is wrong with hobbling our men in what is essentially a battle zone. The echo of the lie that masquerades as the truth is something we have learnt to live with. The more important question to ask is this: Does AFSPA actually give the men in the firing line legal cover? Much of the stuffing of this Act, remoulded in September 1990 from the 1942 Act whereby the British wished to choke the Quit India movement, was reduced when in a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court of India ended the immunity of the armed forces from prosecution under AFSPA on 8 July, 2016, stating in an 85-page judgment, "It does not matter whether the victim was a common person or a militant or a terrorist, nor does it matter whether the aggressor was a common person or the state. The law is the same for both and is equally applicable to both... This is the requirement of a democracy and the requirement of preservation of the rule of law and the preservation of individual liberties. Until this judgment, the following parameters of AFSPA were open to interpretation: 1: After giving such due warning, fire upon or use other kinds of force even if it causes death, against the person who is acting against law or order in the disturbed area for the maintenance of public order. 2: Destroy any arms dump, hide-outs, prepared or fortified position or shelter or training camp from which armed attacks are made by the armed volunteers or armed gangs or absconders wanted for any offence. 3: To arrest without a warrant anyone who has committed cognisable offences or is reasonably suspected of having done so and may use force if needed for the arrest. 4: To enter and search any premise in order to make such arrests, or to recover any person wrongfully restrained or any arms, ammunition or explosive substances and seize it. 5: Stop and search any vehicle or vessel reasonably suspected to be carrying such person or weapons. 6: Any person arrested and taken into custody under this Act shall be made present over to the officer in-charge of the nearest police station with least possible delay, together with a report of the circumstances occasioning the arrest. But now, every one of these actions can trigger judicial probes and reports against soldiers that would have them confined to barracks or worse, arrested on charges of violence, torture, assault and molestation. And in every such case, give the local police powers that render null and void the soldiers initiative. Consequently, Modis indignation over the Congress shortsightedness and myopic vision is slightly skewed by the general feeling in the forces that they are collectively and singly vulnerable to legal prosecution while carrying out their duties and that the human factors of fear, self-preservation and search for safety in the face of death by violence has been disregarded. In this context, the Major Gogoi case leaps centre stage. In April 2017, to escape stone-pelters and save his squad, Gogoi tied a local Farooq Ahmad Dar to the bonnet of his official vehicle and used him as a human shield in the Beerwah area of central Kashmirs Budgam district. Dar is seeking legal justice for this act of torture. In a post-op situation or one where you are under threat of life or are confronting elements who have just killed your mates and would happily kill you (that being their singular intent) the one proviso the AFSPA should satisfy is that soldiers expect their nation to have their backs and not have to watch their back from their nation and government. There is no right way to behave when someone is carving your name on a bullet. MJ Akbar, who resigned as Union minister on 17 October 2018, filed a private criminal defamation complaint against Priya Ramani after his name cropped up on social media as the #MeToo campaign raged on in India New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday framed defamation charge against journalist Priya Ramani in a case filed by ex-Union minister M J Akbar after she levelled allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Ramani, who appeared before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal, however, pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. Akbar, who resigned as Union minister on 17 October 2018, filed a private criminal defamation complaint against Ramani after his name cropped up on social media as the #MeToo campaign raged on in India. Ramani accused Akbar of sexual misconduct, a charge denied by him. The court listed the matter for hearing on 4 May and also granted permanent exemption to Ramani from personal appearance. The Centre had submitted that the privilege documents on Rafale were procured by petitioners in an illegal way and used to support their review petitions against the 14 December, 2018 judgment of the apex court In a major setback for the Centre, the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the preliminary objections the government raised to petitions seeking a review of the 14 December judgment in the Rafale case. The bench had given the NDA government a clean chit in the procurement of 36 Rafale jets under an India-France inter-governmental agreement. The court will now examine the three documents whose admissibility was questioned by the Centre, stating that they were stolen from classified government files. These documents can be expected to play an important role in the hearing of the review petitions. This means that classified documents sourced by the media without authorisation can also be treated as admissible evidence henceforth, marking a huge win for investigative journalism. The apex court said it will fix the date for hearing of the review petitions in a separate order. It has said that "as far as the question of hearing of review plea on Rafale judgement is concerned, it will give a detailed hearing later on." The documents published by The Hindu in its report will also be taken in cognizance by the court. The Centre had submitted that the 'privilege documents' were procured by petitioners in an illegal way and were used to support their review petitions against the 14 December, 2018 judgment of the apex court dismissing all pleas challenging procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France. "We dismiss the preliminary objection raised by Union of India questioning the maintainability of the review petition," a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph said. The top court said review petitions against its 14 December verdict will be decided on merits of the arguments and the new evidence that has come to light. Former Union minister and BJP rebel Arun Shourie, one of the review petitioners in the Rafale case, said that he was delighted that the top court unanimously dismissed the Centre's "peculiar argument" on admissibility of privileged documents. "We are delighted it is an unanimous verdict dismissing Central government's peculiar argument on admissibility of documents. Centre's argument meant no wrong can be done in the defence deal," he told PTI. Shourie is one of the review petitioners along with former union minister Yashwant Sinha and advocate Prashant Bhushan. With inputs from PTI Nirmala Sitharaman said that Rahul Gandhi committed contempt of court by passing false statements about the Supreme Court verdict concerning confidential documents in the Rafale case Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday accused Congress president Rahul Gandhi of committing contempt of court by passing false statements about the Supreme Court verdict concerning Centre's objections on confidential documents in the Rafale deal case. The apex court today dismissed the Centres objections claiming "privilege" over confidential documents "illegally published" by The Hindu concerning the Rafale fighter jet deal and agreed to include them while hearing the review petition in the case. Sitharaman hit out at Rahul for saying that the SC accepted that "chowkidar chor hai" through his Twitter account and in his comment on the development in the media. She further said that the Congress leader said at a public rally that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was proven guilty of corruption in the Rafale deal and giving Rs 30,000 crore to Anil Ambani, who is the chairman of the offset partner in the deal Reliance Defence. We all know (the) Congress president probably doesn't even read even half a paragraph. By saying that the court has said 'Chowkidar chor hai,' these (statements) verge on contempt of court, Sitharaman said, adding that Rahul is showing signs of frustration. Soon after the SC verdict, the Congress said that BJPs skeletons in the scam are tumbling out. "The person who itself on bail, violating every norm of political decency alleging things which the court has never said. He has lost all sense of decency by causing contempt of court, Sitharaman reacted, hinting at Rahul Gandhi. Reports were published in the media, including The Hindu, on the disparity in pricing details of the 36 Rafale fighter jets and objections raised by the Indian negotiating team to parallel negotiations conducted by the Prime Minister's Office. The defence minister also said that the first Rafale aircraft, as per agreement, will be delivered to India by September this year. It is sowing season in Bengal when farms turn green with newborn shoots. But not in Singur 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 *** Singur: Rice is being sown in one bigha of land in Singur for the first time in 13 years. The land belongs to Debprasad Das, who had brought in workers from nearby Srirampur in an attempt to farm the barren plot. I do not know if the plants will bring rice or not as there has been no cultivation since 2006, said Debprasad. Before that, I sowed rice in this field for almost 13 years. It is sowing season in Bengal, when farms turn green with newborn shoots. But not in Singur, the chunk of farmland adjacent to the Durgapur Expressway connecting the area to the industrial belt of Shilpanchal. It was land bought by Tata Motors to set up a factory to make the Nano, its Rs 1 lakh car. It was the land that in 2011 enabled Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress to rout the Left Front which ruled the state for more than three decades and to retain power in 2016. In 2006, the Left Front government under Budhhadeb Bhattacharya acquired 997 acres of land from 11,000 farmers of Gopalnagar, Beraberi, Khaserbheri, Bajemelia and Sahanapara for the Nano car factory and the Tatas started construction in 2008. Around 6,000 farmers willingly sold their land at Rs 14,000 per kottah, but many others refused, which led to the acquisition of their land. Mamata, who'd just launched her party and was looking for an issue to galvanise party workers and voters, latched on to the protest. Mamata landed in Singur, vowed to return the land to the farmers if voted to power, and went on a fast unto death to press her demands, which forced the Tatas to move the Nano project to Gujarat (while retaining ownership of the land). Mamatas tactics won her a landslide victory in the 2011 Assembly elections. She passed the Land Rehabilitation and Development Act on 22 June, 2012, which empowered the state government to take possession of the 997 acres of land from the Tatas. The Supreme Court rejected the Tata appeal and ordered the land be returned to farmers within two weeks. Mamata termed the order "a victory" for farmers and started the process of land distribution. For farmers whose lands had been acquired and who hadnt received the compensation amount, the government is giving 16 kilograms of rice at Rs 2 per kilograms and Rs 2,000 per month. According to government officials, 4,000 families are getting foodgrain and cash under this scheme. Now, as voting day for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls nears, Singurs farmers are being wooed once again. Singur falls under Hooghly Lok Sabha seat which Trinamool Congress MP Dr Ratna De has represented since 2009 and has got the party ticket again. During the 2016 Assembly polls, Mamata reminded the farmers that she'd largely kept her promise to give Singur farmers back their land. At that time, sensing the unhappiness among Singurs farmers, CPM state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra said in a public meeting: It is only we who can again set up industry at Singur. The dissatisfaction of Singurs farmers with the Trinamool Congress is evident from the voting pattern in the last two Assembly elections. The dissatisfaction is largely because of the farmers inability to cultivate their fields. A sentiment that former actress and BJP candidate Locket Chatterjee, and CPM candidate Pradip Saha hope to exploit, both parties having increased their vote share in 2016 as compared to 2011. Today, the barren land is strewn with chunks of concrete, stone and bricks, with concrete pillars sticking out of the surface. The farmers who sold their land, and those who had not and whose protests against the acquisition of their land turned into a pivotal movement in the states politics, have got much of their land back. But not in a fully cultivable condition, as Mamata promised. Scientists at the Bidhan Chandra Roy Agricultural University opine that much of the land will not be cultivable as it is filled with cement and sand. In their view, more than seven inches of topsoil would have to be removed to make the land cultivable. But the farmers are in no position to bear that cost. Removing the concrete and other construction debris from their land would cost a few thousand rupees. So some of them earn a living by breaking up the concrete slabs to recover and sell the iron rods embedded in them. About debris removal, government officials said a few hundred acres was cleared under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MNREGA). But chunks of concrete and stones are still strewn all around. There were huge concrete structures, rods and other things, said Debprasad, who gave 2.75 bigha land for the Nano project but got back only two bigha three years ago. I had to spend Rs 20,000 to remove the concrete, but from only one bigha. Rest is lying barren. It is very difficult to run the family on agriculture. That is why I had given the land for the factory. If it had come up our children would get jobs. Debprasad Das is among the very few landowners who managed to remove the debris. Most have left the land barren. Like Bimal Maity, 65, of Gopalnagar gram panchayat. He got back his 22 kottah land, but is not cultivating it. I participated in the movement against land acquisition, said Maity. But what have we got in return? The factory is gone and the land we got back is full of debris. Maiti and other farmers like him have come full circle. If the government starts an industry here, we will give our land, said Maiti. The irony is not lost on them. When we arrived in Singur around 10 am, we saw only a few people out in the fields. All the farmers refused to give their names, though they echoed the sentiments of Debprasad and Maity that the factory would have been better as there is no profit in agriculture and employment opportunities are shrinking because old factories are closing down. Mohsin, 48, a landless labourer is in a field. He is breaking concrete slabs with a hammer to get the iron rods. He cycles in daily at 7 am from Ratanpur around 10 kilometres away. I work seven to eight hours and collect six to seven kilograms of iron rods, said Mohsin. This fetches Rs 200 to 250. Other days I collect plastic items from homes and sell them. It is difficult to run the family on a monthly income of Rs 5,000 to 6,000. If the factory had come up, we would have job opportunities. Hannan Molla, senior CPM leader and chief of the All India Kisan Sabha, recently led a farmers rally in Kolkata in which many cultivators from Singur participated. They came to press their demand that either government give them land in cultivable condition or establish a factory there. In 2006-2007 farmers could not predict the consequences of their protest, said Hannan. We are now reaching out them to tell them that we were on the right track then. Locket is also using the same argument while campaigning in Singur. "TMC used farmers to come to power, but gave nothing to them, she said. Her promise to the farmers: I will raise farmers issue in Parliament and ensure a factory in Singur. Calls to Becharam Manna, TMC MLA and a prominent face of the agrarian movement in Singur, and TMC MP from Hooghly Dr Ratna De went unanswered. But the Singur farmers reticence to answer whom they will vote for is probably not good news for the TMC. The author is a Ranchi-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters The Supreme Court bench rejected Yadav's arguments that he has been in jail for 24 months, saying in comparison to the 14-year sentence awarded to him, 24 months was nothing New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the bail plea of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav in multi-crore fodder scam cases. A bench headed by Chief Justice Rajan Gogoi said it is not inclined to enlarge Yadav on bail in the cases. The bench rejected Yadav's arguments that he has been in jail for 24 months, saying in comparison to the 14-year sentence awarded to him, 24 months was nothing. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Yadav, said there were no recoveries and no demand and the only major offence under which he was convicted for conspiracy. The bench said merits of the case will be decided by the high court. "At present, we are only hearing the bail appeal," it said. The CBI had on Monday vehemently opposed in the apex court the bail plea of Yadav, saying the ailing leader suddenly claimed to be "fully fit" to undertake political activities in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The visuals of thousands of workers and sympathisers waving party flags, walking or standing on either side of the road for a few kilometers will gladden the hearts of Congress supporters across the country. The optics of grand roadshow organised by the Congress in Amethi for party chief Rahul Gandhi filing his nomination papers inadvertently gave credence to BJPs charge that for the principal Opposition party what matters most is the perpetuation of dynastic 'family first concept. Rahul is seeking his fourth term from Amethi parliamentary constituency. On prior occasions of Rahul filing his nomination papers, there was a roadshow, but none of those compared to what occurred on the streets of this rather backward district of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday. Without a doubt, the Congress put on an impressive show. The visuals of thousands of workers and sympathisers waving party flags, walking or standing on either side of the road for a few kilometers will gladden the hearts of its supporters across the country. Besides using their tricoloured party flag, strategists of the Grand Old Party made smart use of some other colours, namely blue, green and red. Blue is associated with Mayawatis BSP, red and green with Samajwadi Party, green with parties such as RLD, RLD and some others which claim to have a greater support base among Muslim community. Though the blue, green, and red flags had nothing to do with BSP, SP, and RLD, it was enough to confuse ordinary voters who associate parties more by the colour of the flag than the content printed on it watching from a distance. A smart move. While the BSP and SP have decided not to field a candidate against Rahul and Sonia Gandhi, they are not allies either. The Congress seemed to put up all its might to make the event noteworthy and leave a lasting impression. Amethi votes on 6 May. This was done to counter the perception created by BJP that Rahul fled from Amethi to the safer confines of a Muslim-Christian dominated Wayanad in Kerala. But what stood out was most was optics: Rahul, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Robert Vadra and their children Raihan and Miraya at the event (their first time at a political event). Raihan was dressed in white kurta-pajama and Nehru jacket and Miraya were dressed in white salwar kurta, like most Indian politician. Robert was also in a white kurta-pajama. The mere presence of the children was enough to give rise to speculation about their political futures, though the presence of politician's children at their rallies is nothing new. Both Rahul and Priyanka in their youth campaigned with their mother Sonia. It should be noted that on that flower-decked truck, which had five members of the Gandhi-Nehru-Vadra family atop it, no Congress leader, either of the Uttar Pradesh unit or AICC office bearers were present. Only a few aides, elite Special Protection Group and other security personnel were on that truck. Even four-time MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, a former Union minister and in-charge of party affairs in Western Uttar Pradesh wasn't there. He was in one of the cars behind the lead vehicles. Of the group, Robert was the most enthusiastic person, constantly cheering, punching the air with his fist, gesturing to the crowd to cheer and shout slogans. His presence there and inside collectors room where Rahul filed his nomination papers clearly indicates that the entire Gandhi-Nehru family and Congress has thrown their weight behind him, no matter that he is under investigation in multiple cases of financial wrongdoing. Sonia, perhaps due to reasons relating to her health, didnt join the family at the roadshow but she was waiting at the Collector's Office. Only the family ventured inside, along with a lawyer who helped them complete the procedure. Last week, Robert said that he would campaign for Congress across the country. He also said that he would be present when Rahul and Sonia Gandhi file nomination papers from Amethi and Raebareli. Interestingly, in February 2012, when Rahul was leading the campaign for Uttar Pradesh Assembly campaign and was pitching Congress as a serious contender, Robert made a surprise entry at Amethi to lead a bike rally. His rally was stopped halfway by an Election Commission observer because Robert did not have permission to hold such a rally. A day later, the officer was transferred, though the record stated that the transfer was routine. Robert had to return to Delhi. It was then rumoured that the Gandhi family didnt like the idea of Robert taking the political plunge and nixed his plans at an early stage. This time around, the script appears to be different. Complaints, criticisms against NaMo TV has been going on for several days now finally prompting the EC to finally direct the Delhi chief electoral officer to get its contents pre-verified by the media certification and monitoring committee The Election Commission (EC) of India has stopped the release of PM Narendra Modi the biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi till the end of the Lok Sabha elections, saying political content in such movies "threaten level playing field". The decision came after the Supreme Court recently dismissed a petition seeking a stay on the movie's release. But right under the election watchdog's nose, a beaming NaMo TV dedicated to covering Modi's speeches and rallies and national television channel Doordarshan showing a 24-hour-long broadcast of the prime minister's 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' event on 31 March, seem to have found their way in reaching out to the public. The NaMo TV has been the focal point of debate over the use or misuse of media by the government at the Centre. Following complaints raised by the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) against the channel, the EC had sought a reply from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on its sudden launch ahead of the elections. In its reply, the information and broadcasting ministry had said that it is not a licensed channel but a direct-to-home (DTH) advertisement platform. Yet, no concrete steps have been taken to stop it. The channel was launched on all DTH platforms on 31 March after the Model Code of Conduct came into effect. It is a televised version of the NaMo app, devoted to covering the prime minister's speeches and rallies. Not surprisingly, both Modi and the BJP's official Twitter account have promoted NaMo TV, even as there is no clarity on who owns it. The channel, which has Modi's photo as its logo, also runs a live stream of compilations of his speeches. The Indian Express has reported how the channel continued to beam inside households in poll-bound constituencies even as election silence kicked in on Tuesday evening for the first phase of voting on 11 April. The report also states that the EC has decided to add expenses incurred on advertising on NaMo TV to the saffron party's expenditure account for the elections. The poll panel had, rather mildly, also chided Doordarshan for not giving a balanced coverage to all political parties after the announcement of elections on 10 March. In a letter to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, the EC on Tuesday asked it to direct DD News from "desisting" any preferential coverage to a particular party. In its reply, DD News reportedly said that the BJP was given maximum time on its news slot, followed by the Congress since the announcement of the polls. Complaints, criticisms against NaMo TV have also been going on for several days now finally prompting the EC to direct the Delhi chief electoral officer to get its contents pre-verified by the media certification and monitoring committee. That there remains concerns about the EC's ability in enforcing the Model Code of Conduct on political parties, more so on the party in power at the Centre, can be gauged from the fact that a group of former bureaucrats had written to President Ram Nath Kovind expressing distress over the ruling party's "blatant" disregard for the Model Code of Conduct. The civil servants, including Najeeb Jung and Shankar Menon, said the EC was suffering from a "crisis of credibility". Perhaps, it's about time the watchdog assure people it ain't a toothless tiger. With inputs from agencies Photo: Darren Handschuh In March, Heron Grove employees held an information picket draw attention to chronic understaffing and the fact they had been without a contract for 11 months. UPDATE 4:56 p.m. Despite a strong strike mandate, Hospital Employee Union members at several extended care facilities have no plans for immediate strike action. That from Patty Gibson, director of communications for the HEU. Gibson said the union is hoping to come to a negotiated agreement with the Good Samaritan Society of Canada. The two sides are expected to return to the bargaining table next week, April 17-18. We have a strike mandate and we think it sends a pretty strong message to the employer, said Gibson, adding the union would prefer to resolve the matter at the bargaining table. We have been bargaining for nine months and people are anxious to get to the issues. Gibson said the main issues are an assurance the employer will not sub-contract care and support services and solutions that will ensure there is enough staff on site everyday to provide the quality of care patients need. This is absolutely essential. You need to have enough hands on deck to respond to patients needs in a safe, timely and comforting manner, said Gibson, adding a reasonable wage increase is also on the table, as is recruitment and retention of employees. According to employees, the Good Samaritan Society of Canada is not so good to work for. Staff at the extended care facilities have voted 94 per cent in favour of strike action. The Hospital Employees Union Facebook page stated, HEU members from across B.C. have been bargaining with the Good Samaritan Society for almost a year and are still far apart on important issues. They took strike votes last week, and have returned a strong strike mandate. These members are now empowered to serve strike notice and begin job action if needed. HEUs bargaining teams will be in contract talks with Good Samaritan this week. Their goal is to negotiate a fair deal. There are almost 700 HEU employees at facilities run by the Good Samaritan Society including Heron Grove in Vernon, Village By The Station in Penticton and two facilities in Salmon arm, Pioneer Lodge and Hillside Village. The society also operates two facilities in the Lower Mainland. Castanet has reached out to HEU and Good Samaritan Canada for comment. In March, Heron Grove and Village by the Station employees held an information picket draw attention to chronic understaffing and the fact they had been without a contract for 11 months. Basically what we're trying to do is send a message to our employer that we have a crisis here for recruitment and retention. It's a crisis in the sense we are having workload problems, we're working short, said Hospital Employees Union spokesperson Julie Heal said at the time. We just want to provide quality care and good working conditions. Voters who haven't received their voter slip can check their name on the electoral roll and download their photo voter slip from the portal nvsp.in. Voting for the seven-phase Lok Sabha Election 2019 in India began on 11 April, with Phase 7 scheduled for Sunday, 19 May. There are nearly 90 crore people registered as voters, of which 1.5 crore are between the ages of 18 and 19. But before exercising their franchise, voters must check if their names have appeared in the voters' list, and download the voter slip, which needs to be presented along with a photo identity card at your polling station to vote in the upcoming election. If your name does not appear in the voters' list, the polling booth officials will not allow you to cast your vote. Usually, voter slips (which serve as proof that your name exists in the electoral roll) are made available to voters' by various political parties. But what if you haven't received yours yet? The Election Commission offers voters the facility to check their name on the electoral roll and download their photo voter slip from the portal nvsp.in. Every voter is required to carry their photo voter slip along with their voter identification card (also known as Electors Photo Identity Card or EPIC or Voter's ID) that is issued by the Election Commission of India (EC) or other approved photo identity proofs. Here are the steps to download your voter slip: Step 1. Visit the official website of the National Voter Services Portal's - nvsp.in Step 2. Click on 'Search Your Name in Electoral Roll' option Step 3. Fill in your credentials Step 4. Press the 'search' button Step 5. Your name will appear at the bottom of the page Step 6. Click on view details and the page will be directed to your voter slip. Step 7. Click on Print Voter Information' at the bottom of your voter slip and take a print out. In case your name does not appear after the first three steps, it is likely that you are not eligible to vote in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The ongoing election is being held for 543 seats at nearly 10 lakh polling booths across the country, while the counting of votes will take place on 23 May. Full details of timing, schedule and list of constituencies is available here. Click here for complete coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2019 Click here for complete coverage of Assembly Elections 2019 The Election Commission has launched a Voter Helpline app, the 1950 voter helpline and nvsp.in to help voters check their polling station and contact details of booth level, electoral registration officers and district officers. Around 90 crore people are eligible to vote in the seven-phase Lok Sabha Election 2019 that begun on 11 April, which is nearly the combined population of the whole of Europe and Brazil. About 432 million of these voters are women. With a view to ensure a smooth Lok Sabha election and Assembly elections (Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh), the Election Commission of India strengthened its toll-free voter helpline 1950 in February 2019 making it easy for voters to get authentic information about their voter registration. Voters enrolled in the electoral roll can check details of their personal information, polling station where they have to go to vote on polling day and contact details of booth-level officers, electoral registration officers and district election officers by using the voter helpline mobile app, or by visiting the nvsp.in portal or by calling 1950 helpline. Electors can also call the helpline to register any election-related complaint between 8 am and 8 pm in Hindi or English on all working days. The callers identity is kept anonymous. Services through SMS can also be availed by citizens by sending SMS without any cost to 1950. Here is the list of services that can be availed on SMS and the format to send SMS to 1950: To check your details in the electoral roll: Send an SMS in the format spacespace<0> (for reply in English) or <1> (for reply in the regional language) To get address of polling station where you are needed to to cast vote: SEND an SMS in the format: space To fetch the contact details of Booth Level Officers, Electoral Registration Officers and District Election Officers: Send an SMS in the format space Earlier, speculation was rife that Alpesh Thakor may quit the Congress as he was unhappy with the local party leadership. Though he was keen to contest from Patan Lok Sabha seat, the Congress chose former MP Jagdish Thakor to contest from there. Ahmedabad: Prominent OBC leader from Gujarat and MLA Alpesh Thakor quit the Congress on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Gujarat Kshatriya Thakor Sena, an outfit floated by him, decided to sever its ties with the Congress. It also asked Thakor to resign from the Congress. Speculation was rife that Thakor may quit the Congress as he was unhappy with the local party leadership. Though he was keen to contest from Patan Lok Sabha seat, the Congress chose former MP Jagdish Thakor to contest from there. After emerging as a prominent OBC leader in Gujarat, he had joined the Congress before the 2017 Assembly polls and won from Radhanpur seat in Patan district. The culture of flag wars at the port isnt more than two decades old. It started after the Surathkal riots of 1998, in which the Sangh played a major role. The violence which put the region under a 12-day curfew left six Muslims and two Hindus dead. The flags on the mast of fishing trawlers docked at Bunder mark out the communal faultlines that today define Coastal Karnataka. Editor's note: This is the ninth reported piece in an 18-part series on the contemporary history of Hindutva in coastal Karnataka. The series features interviews, videos, archival material and oral histories gathered over a period of four months. Read other articles of the series here *** For the record, there has never been a major riot at the old Mangaluru fishing port, known to locals simply as Bunder. This may seem strange given that the world immediately outside the walls of the Port has erupted with communal violence countless times in the last four decades. At first sight, the Port which is estimated to be nearly a thousand years old appears a tinderbox which could go off any time. If you visit Bunder at six in the morning, on your right you will find trawlers neatly docked one after the other. Varieties of fish are unloaded here by men and women workers, by the crates, onto the wharf. Once the trawler is emptied, the trawler doubles up and its place is taken by another, usually waiting right behind. Nobody has time to rest in the morning as there is constant traffic and the wharf can accommodate only up to 35 boats. A good day's turnover at Bunder during the fishing season is close to 150 tonnes of fish, of different varieties. The hustle and tension are a constant, with the heat getting to those involved in the process from time to time, evident from the fights which break out, simmer for a few minutes and die down. Once is fish is offloaded, it goes through three levels of auctioning. The open-air auction halls are in front of the wharf and are manned almost completely by women. There are women waiting along the auction halls, ready to skin and fillet the fish. Many of the workers are migrants from neighbouring Tamil Nadu. The flags on the mast of fishing trawlers docked at Bunder mark out the communal faultlines that today define Coastal Karnataka. The Hindu boats have saffron, pink and yellow flags with OM emblazoned across them and Muslims have green flags. Remarkably, in the middle of this colourful show of identity, there are boats with a saffron flag on top of the mast, Indian flag below and a green flag right under. This culture of flag wars at the port isnt more than two decades old. It started after the Surathkal riots of 1998, in which the Sangh played a major role. The violence which put the region under a 12-day curfew left six Muslims and two Hindus dead. Caution is the omnipresent sentiment at Coastal Karnatakas oldest fishing port of Dakshin Kannada situated in Bunder where the way in which the fishing business operates demands that the communities interact with each other on a daily basis. Muslims and Christians collectively own 52 percent of the boats here and Hindu communities, largely the local fishing community of Moghaveeras, own 48 percent. The Moghaveeras are the local Tulu-speaking fishing community, who live along the coast from Kasargod up until Kundapur. These factors make it an ideal battleground and yet, the port has remained unscathed because of a secular logic that has survived countless political upheavals through the centuries. "When it comes to this Port, business will not be affected no matter what," says Mahendra Bolur, the president of the All Karavalli Fishermans Action Committee. When LK Advani's Ram Rath Yatra was stopped in Bihar by the RJD government led by Lalu Prasad Yadav and he was arrested, Sangh activists in Mangaluru stormed the port demanding a complete lockdown. They were turned away not just by the Muslim cooperatives but the Hindu ones too. "The port is a world in itself and secrets get out only when those who run things inside want them to," says Sulieman, the president of the Raw Fish Traders Cooperative Society. It is a code that cuts through the bitter rivalry. In 1996, a Muslim worker was murdered at the behest of a Hindu strongman at the port. This could've triggered a major riot and engulfed the entire coast but the 'code' came to the rescue. Leaders from all communities came together and banished the alleged killer from the port. The secret is preserved so well that to this day none of the five senior port leaders revealed the identity of the victim or the killer. In 1998, the biggest riot in Coastal Karnataka, since Independence, broke out in Surathkal, 16 kms from Bunder. The violence spread to the entire Malnad region which includes not just the coast but a large part of the Western Ghats too. But the port was once again spared. Suleiman says that when outsiders stormed into the Port demanding a shutdown, they were beaten up and thrown out. This was mostly a result of the efforts of a section of the Muslim, Christian and Hindu traders. Whenever violence broke out in the region, these incidents kept recurring at intervals as there was an unsaid animosity which we had put aside for the sake of the trade. A majority of the Moghaveeras preferred to remain silent. He said that they called out those who remained silent. "We demanded to know from them why it always fell on our shoulders to stop a riot from disrupting business. We refused to work until this issue was resolved." The bench-sitters among the Moghaveeras were forced to take a stand as Bearys, most of who were traders, were the backbone of the fishing industry. Mahendar Bolur is one of those Moghaveera leaders who always played a proactive role in maintaining peace and pushed others from his community to do the same. We declared that no outsider should have an opinion on matters concerning the port. It could only shut if the heads of all the cooperatives agree." That agreement meant that apart from the month-long annual fishing ban, the port would shut only for eight days of the year the festivals of different religious communities. "That doesnt mean people are apolitical here," laughs Abdul Jaleel, an office bearer of the Raw Fish Traders Cooperative Society. "There are BJP, Congress, JD(D), PFI, SDPI, Bajrang Dal, RSS members here but in Dhakke (port in Tulu), you cant flaunt these positions. Those working here know what baggage to leave at the gate, if they want to do business. If not, they will be thrown out, says Jaleel. Rather than let the fish go stale because of a political conflict, it just made more sense to throw out the rotten elements. The only conflicts that break out are of the kind that is common to fish markets across the world the price is never right and the produce never fresh enough, says Mahendra Bolur. This symbiotic relationship that keeps violence at bay at the Bunder isnt a necessity at the Malpe Port, 60 kms up-coast in the neighbouring district of Udupi. The Moghaveeras, who own most of the fish processing factories in the vicinity of the port, also form a crushing majority inside. The situation in Malpe is always tense. Unlike in Bunder, our department finds it very difficult to manoeuvre between the communities in Malpe, says Manjula, assistant director, Department of Fisheries. She says that unlike in Bunder, the police are often called to separate the two fighting sides. Clashes are common in Malpe and lockdowns are often used by the majority Moghaveera community as a method to impose a trade boycott of the Bearys. The Malpe fishing harbour used to have an equal number of Muslim traders. Now 90 percent of buyers and sellers there are Moghaveeras. Everybody at Malpe, from the owners to the dock boys have made it evident that they will not tolerate us at the port, says Jaleel. The fundamental difference between the two ports is that Bunder is located in a Muslim majority area and the Malpe port is in an area where Moghaveeras and Brahmins are in a majority. The local Muslim population has traditionally been involved in professions other than fishing which is a mainstay of the Beary Muslim community of neighbouring Dakshin Kannada district. "A large number of our people used to travel to Malpe to work and trade on the docks. But that number fell drastically in the last two decades, says Jaleel. The Bearys travelling from Dakshin Kannada were branded as outsiders as part of a larger political design. Mohammad Hussain, the President of the Minority Mechanised Fishing Cooperative Society feels this heightened sense of antagonism that the Moghaveera community has against the Bearys is because of the regular brainwashing done by other Hindu trading communities within the port. They would be told that as fishermen, they do the actual work but we reap the benefits just by being traders. He mentions the example of a recent initiative where a group of Sangh activists started a fish vending business in Vittla Taluk. "The pitch that this group made is that trading of fish is dominated by Bearys and as Hindus, they wanted to break it. This is not new. There have been other such attempts before. They ultimately fizzle out." But Suleiman, clearly the diplomat with a tinge of a philosopher in him says categorically that the ocean helped traders like him prosper. How can we have a problem if more are joining the business, even if it is under a communal garb? "Let them do it. Everybody is allowed to choose a trade of their choice. Just because Shets have been doing diamond business, does it mean others cant? he asks. Vasudev Boloor is 82 and has been working for his community since he was a teenager when he took inspiration from a renowned socialist leader of Dakshin Kannada, Ammembala Balappa. He has served as the General Secretary of Moghaveera Mahajan Sabha for 25 years. He agrees that there is a feeling among Moghaveeras that Bearys are trying to take over the fishing business. "Till the beginning of the twentieth century, fishing was exclusively done by us. But when non-fishing communities like Bearys started trading in fish eventually buying boats and entering the business, this was seen as a threat. Others who would finance the Moghaveeras also stoked this fire," says Boloor. These differences that Boloor mentions has been recorded during colonial times. A Department of Fisheries was established in Madras Presidency in 1908. The western coast from Udupi till Calicut in Kerala was under their control. The fishing communities along this coast lived in their traditional clusters, following traditions specific to their communities. The Moghaveeras, who were found mainly along South Canara comprising of 86 fishing villages had their own sabhas to regulate aspects of their life, which would be officiated by village elders. They followed traditional methods of fishing and used their own expertise to make the tools required for fishing. The Moghaveeras were the first to migrate to Bombay Presidency in the 1850s, where they worked in British offices as peons. After these many communities, such as the Billavas and Bunts followed. By the dawn of the twentieth century, the Moghaveeras had set up night schools for themselves and were studying by the night. This led to changes back home in Dakshin Kannada with the community pushing for setting up schools in every fishing village With the coming of an exclusive Department of Fisheries, attempts were made to modernise fishing; Ratnagiri boats were introduced for deep fishing; fish curing, oil extraction and guano factories were started on land granted by the department. This industrialisation attracted newer social groups to the seafood business. As far back as the 14th century, the Gaud Saraswat Brahmins had huge investments in the maritime trade and the community-owned fleets of long-distance ships. But in 1910, they became the early investors when the British started mechanising the fishing industry. This period also marks the entry of the affluent businessmen from the Beary community. Gaud Saraswat Brahmins, however, far outnumbered Bearys in the race for this new business opportunity. The two communities emerged as the principal moneylenders for the Moghaveeras who continued their traditional occupation albeit using modern technology. Indebtedness in the socially and educationally backwards was an inescapable reality for the Moghaveeras. By then, the huge population of working-class Bearys started going for the hawking jobs that were held by Moghaveera women until then. The colonial fisheries department started encouraging the formation of credit cooperative societies to resolve financial problems being faced by the Moghaveeras. The first such cooperative was established in Mangalore in 1910. In spite of this, the department noted in its administrative reports that the cooperatives were failing and the fishing community was still drowning in debt. Modernisation of fishing did not result in the modernisation of the financial sector, the money lender was still at the centre of the fishing economy. Moghaveeras through all this had remained the working class providing the shudra labour as the industry expanded. When in 1936, the colonial government was considering setting up an Advisory Committee to look into problems of the lowered caste fisherfolk of the West Coast, the then Director of Fisheries said in his report, In the present backward state of the community, torn by factions, prejudices and jealousies and with hardly any leaders worth the name, such committees are not needed. The working class consciousness that was growing among the Moghaveera cooperatives as a result of this financial exclusion was carefully shaped into an anti-Beary sentiment by the early leaders of the emerging Hindu right. By the time the Dakshina Kannada Mogaveera Mahajana Sabha (DKMMS) was formed in 1923, Hindu organisations such as the Arya Samaj had grown roots in the community through the efforts of Mohanappa Thingalaya, himself a Moghaveera. Although the Gaud Saraswat Brahmins had entered the fishing business along with the Bearys, much of the Moghaveera rage against the system had turned towards the Bearys. The emergence of militant Hindu nationalism, made it easier for the religious identity of the Bearys to emerge as a factor which marked them out as the enemy. Gaud Saraswat Brahmins, who were already in control of Hindu organisations such as Arya Samaj, benefitted from this polarisation which served to edge Bearys out of the competition. The subsequent emergence of sister entities in Dakshin Kannada like the Hindu Mahasabha in the 1932, RSS in 1941 and Bharatiya Jan Sangh in 1952 added pace to this project to consolidate the Hindus. The Department of Fisheries, too, noted that the cooperative societies were largely formed along religious lines, not just in South Canara but across the coast. Vasudev Boloor feels that the continuing distrust among the Moghaveeras towards all sorts of developmental projects stems from the fact that the community had not really prospered through a series of such initiatives in the past century. "While there are many export business houses owned by us, the major chunk of the fishing community is still backward. Projects such as the New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) and Maangalore Refineries Private Limited (MRPL) were built by us giving away our lands but the promises made to us havent surfaced." Convinced that the Bearys were a cause for their woes, Moghaveeras took to Hindutva in a big way in the decades following independence. Indeed, when the time came, they were ready to assume the mantle of warriors of the faith. When major communal riots broke out in 1968, in 1992 following the demolition of the Babri Masjid and once again in 1998, it was Moghaveera men who were arrested by the dozens. The community called for intervention when an increasing number of Moghaveera youth started languishing in jail due to their participation in these activities. After 1998, we decided to put an end to this trend. All Moghaveera societies instructed youngsters to not participate in such incidents anymore. The only thing which came out of these riots was that at the end of it, our boys would be locked up in jail for months while those who instigated them remained outside. The community is still very backward, both economically and educationally. Whose battles are we fighting? asks Boloor. There was also a growing sense within the community that they had been used as pawns by upper caste architects of the communal polarisation. By the time the Moghaveeras began distancing themselves from the violence, the region was already a Sangh Parivar stronghold. The space vacated by the Moghaveeras scarred by the experiences of 1968, 1992 and 1998 had already been enthusiastically filled by another backward class community with a significant presence in the coast, the Billavas. Jats in western Uttar Pradesh, whose voting preference usually set the trend in the state, and who had voted in favour of Narendra Modi in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, remain undecided a day before phase-I of polling begins for the Lok Sabha Election 2019 The importance of the eight constituencies going to the polls in western Uttar Pradesh on 11 April is not lost on Prime Minister Narendra Modi or on gatbandhan supremos Mayawati, Akhilesh Yadav and Ajit Singh. For each of the gatbandhan leaders, it's a battle to save their political legacy. No leader epitomises this more than Ajit, leader of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), who is waging a rear guard action for his political survival. The constituencies where this battle is being waged are Baghpat, Kairana, Saharanpur, Muzzafarnagar, Meeruit, Bijnore, Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad. Modi knows that the polling here will determine the voting trends for the other crucial 73 seats in Uttar Pradesh. He is hoping his charisma along with his battle cry of national security will help the BJP notch up these seats. Whereas, the gatbandhan is confident that the solid phlanx of Muslim, Yadav and Dalit voters will help them cross the winning line. The Jats, who have played a key role in the politics of western Uttar Pradesh, having seen their farmer leader Chaudhary Charan Singh catapulted to the post of prime minister, should vote in one voice, but they remain a divided lot. In 2014, they admit to having cast their vote in favour of Modi but this time around they continue to hedge their bets on who they will vote for. The village of Malmajra in the heart of Baghpat epitomises the reality of the Jat temperament. Farmer Sanjay Chillar, sitting in front of a large framed photograph of Chaudhary Charan Singh, pointed out, "We used to earlier vote for Ajit Singh but in 2014, there was a Modi wave and we all voted for the kamal (lotus, election symbol of BJP). MP Satyapal Singh has done a lot of work for us including ensuring that the road construction work that had been held up for the last 40 years gets completed in our area." Chillar insists that Jats in his village will continue to vote for the BJP, but Jats in the nearby village of Binoli speak in a contrary voice. The Jat farmers here are upset at what they believe were disparaging references Modi made in a public rally held in Saharanpur last week when he spoke against Ajit and his son Jayant Chaudhary. Modi had described Ajit as being opportunistic and working out of self interest since he had not helped the riot-affected victims in Muzzafarnagar in 2013. "Why should he speak out against our Jat leader in this manner? Jayant is our candidate in Baghpat and our biradiri will support Ajit in Muzzafarnagar also," says a farmer from Binoli. Dalits and Muslims of Binoli also speak in one voice when it comes to supporting Jayant. Brahmanand, a farmer who also owns a sweet shop and is a Jatav, however, is upset for other reasons. "The water of the Krishna and the Hindon rivers are black because of effluents and high sewage levels. Our children are being forced to drink that water. Despite repeated representations to the government, no effort has been made to clean these rivers," said Brahmanand. RLD leader Ajit believes that Modi showed his nervousness when he mentioned both him and Jayant in the election rally. "This is an either or election. There is no room for a third party. The Jat voters are solidly behind me. We will also get the votes of the Dalits. Mayawatis voters work silently. They go from house to house and are telling the voters that this time they must not vote for the elephant but for the RLD chinh (symbol)," said Ajit. Farmers across this sugarcane belt are upset with Modi and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath because despite their assurances that all sugar can dues would be cleared by April, more than Rs 13,000 crore continues to be owed to approximately 35 lakh registered sugarcane families. Farmers also complain about how labour, diesel, fertiliser and pesticide costs have risen sharply in the last five years while a glut in sugarcane production has seen prices come crashing down. But the upper most question in the minds of Jat voters is whether Ajit will be able to defeat sitting MP Sunil Balayan. Manoj Kumar Jain who owns a paint shop in the main market place of Muzzafarnagar expresses confidence that Balyan will cruise to victory. "Balyan has done a lot of work in his constituency. He has help get the road constructed. He has helped kick-start several higher educational institutions. My own son can now do his BTech from Muzzafarnagar, otherwise I would have had to send him to Delhi. Balyan has also helped us get a double track railway line between Muzzafarnagar and Saharanpur for which we had been clamouring for several years," said Jain who was earlier a Congress supporter, but in 2014 switched loyalties and voted in favour of Modi. Muslims who form around 25 percent of the voting share in these constituencies are solidly behind the gatbandhan, though. Speaking to Muslims shop keepers in both Muzzafarnagar, Baghpat and Kairana, they point out they will support the gathbandhan. "In Baghpat and Muzzafarnagar, there is no gatbandhan candidate so obviously we will support Jayant and Ajit," said Ahmed Hasan who runs a scooter repair workshop on the main Bahgpat-Muzzafarnagar Road. In Kairana and Saharanpur constituencies where the Congress have put up candidates, the key question is whose vote bank will they eat into? "Imran Masood, the Congress candidate from Saharanpur, is extremely popular and in the 2014 election, he had managed to get over four lakh votes but was still defeated by the BJP. Masood is expected to eat into the gatbandhan vote in this city and that is why there is a strong possibility that their candidate Fazlur Rahman may have to bite the dust against Raghav Lakhanpat (BJP candidate) who was accused of fanning communal violence during the Saharanpur riots," said Tanvir Ahmed, owner of a restaurant on the Kairana-Saharanpur road. The Kairana contest is equally hotly contested though Tabassum Hasan standing on an Samajwadi Party ticket, and is expected to defeat both her BJP and Congress rivals Pradeep Chaudhary and Harendra Singh Malik, respectively. Dr Jagmohan Singhal, a physician by profession, claims that most of his patients speak highly of Modi and will cast their vote for BJP canidate Pradeep. Young people across all constituencies are also strong votaries for the BJP and they maintain it is Modis personal popularity which is going to help the party and not the work done by the sitting candidates, most of whom they maintain have done little work on the ground. Ram Veer Rathi, a local activist in Kairana, however, believes that Tabassum will manage to win because even if the 1.5 lakh Jat vote in Kairana gets divided, the 5.8 lakh Muslims and the 2.25 lakh Dalits will vote for her. "The Jat community takes offense easily. They are upset with chief minister Adityanath for having said in an election rally that Ajit bheek mang ne ghar ghar ja rahe hain," said Rathi. His words were echoed by Charat Bansal, a local businessman, "Fifteen percent of the Jats will vote for Congress another 20 percent for the BJP but the remaining decisive vote bank will go to Tabassum," maintained Bansal. This election isnt just about saving the countrys democracy but also the glorious legacy given to us by our past Jat leaders. It is also about saving leaders who have represented the farmers' viewpoint in the Parliament and across several other platforms, said Karnal Singh, a farmer on main Baghpat road. Several Jats repeat the magical tale of how Chaudhary Charan Singh will start appearing in their dreams a few days before voting and whisper to them who they should vote for. This time, the Jats claim, he has been coming to them in their sleep and telling them to cast their precious votes in favour of his son and grandson. Ajit is confident that his father will help him tide over this crucial battle. "The night before the election, Chaudhary Charan Singh will come to the Jat voters in their dream and tell them which symbol to caste their vote for," he said. How far this message of a mythical dream will help unite the divided Jat voters will be known once the results are out on 23 May. But sending out this message seems to help create a semblance of unity in what remains a divided legacy. The Christian vote bank in Kerala was considered as a pocket borough of the Congress-led United Democratic Front until recently. The emergence of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the last decade as a force to reckon with has, however, altered the equations. The Christian vote bank in Kerala was considered as a pocket borough of the Congress-led United Democratic Front until recently. The emergence of Bharatiya Janata Party in the last one decade as a force to reckon with has, however, altered the equations. The Christians, who perceived the communist ideology as a threat to their faith, started believing the Hindutva ideology of the Sangh as a greater threat to them. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) that heads the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) cashed in on the fear by playing up the attacks on churches in various parts of the country and posing themselves as the protector of the minorities. LDF earned good dividends in the last Lok Sabha elections, in which it bagged three seats, which were traditionally held by the Congress, and the subsequent Assembly election in 2016. But later developments, including a realignment over the Sabarimala issue, saw the CPM game plan gradually floundering. Initially, it served the cause of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to use the BJP consolidation using Sabarimala as a potential saffron threat to make Kerala a fertile ground for the lotus to bloom. But with the BJP-sponsored Sabarimala protest fizzling out, Pinarayis grand plan of uniting all the liberals, including the minority communities, on the axis of new reformism and renaissance did not yield the desired results. Similarly, the CPM claim regarding Sabarimala that Congress and the BJP were in the league did not seem to cut much ice with the people. And with Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who has been personally spearheading a high-voltage campaign against Narendra Modi deciding to contest from Wayanad constituency, the CPM bid to discredit the Congress terming it as a B team of the BJP has fallen flat. Rahul's entry has reinforced the commitment of minority communities towards the UDF and Congress, which is expected to get reflected in the Lok Sabha elections. Just-released results of a state-wide survey reveal overwhelming support for Rahul among the minorities and women. The results say this will translate into a virtual sweep of the state by the UDF at the expense of LDF. Circumstances have also played truant with the CPM strategy of projecting itself as the new champion of the minorities. Inter-church politics over new developments in the Christian community also put paid to the CPM hopes of ensuring wholesale support from the community. In fact, internecine fights among the church factions have further complicated the issue. Gone are the days when the political masters could influence the Church leadership to ensure en bloc transfer of votes by a particular faction. With church leaders themselves getting involved in questionable financial transactions and caught in embarrassing sexual and other criminal acts, the followers have developed a new-found sense of freedom in exercising their decision on the basis of personal choices rather than instructions from the top. Minority politics, particularly the one involving the Christian community, is expected to play a major role in taking the swing away from the ruling front. Christians constitute nearly 19 percent of the state's 31 million population. The biggest Christian community denomination is the Roman Catholic Church (61 percent), followed by the Jacobite/Orthodox Syrians (21 percent). In Kerala's political dashboard, Church is an influential pressure group, competing with others such as the Muslim League, the Nair Service Society and the Ezhava-based Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam. The four central districts in Kerala Ernakulam, Idukki, Kottayam and Thrissur together account for nearly 60 percent of the Christians in Kerala. And this is the action theatre of the church politics, where the contenting parties can antagonize the community only at the risk of their own peril. The governments decision to bury a bill seeking to take away the powers of bishops on the temporal affairs of the church has embittered a large section of the faithful, especially the Roman Catholics. Some reform groups which supported the LDF have entered the fray to register their protests. The simmering dispute in the Malankara Syrian Church has also proved costly for the CPM with the factions nursing a feeling of betrayal. The dispute relates to the possession of properties and other assets of the Malankara Church between the two factions. In 2017, the Supreme Court awarded the entire property and control of the churches, including churches and parishes that today constitute the Jacobite Church, to the Orthodox faction as the court made the constitution of the Orthodox Church, drafted and adopted in 1934, as binding on both factions. But most of these churches and parishes were in the control of Jacobites, who refused to leave, leading to a series of unruly scenes of protest and violence at many places. In the previous assembly elections as well as the Chengannur by-election, the LDF leadership had secured the support of the Orthodox community in return of the promise of help in resolving the issue in favour of the faction. The understanding helped the LDF upstage UDF in Chengannur, which is considered a Congress bastion. But subsequent twists in the dispute made it impossible for the Pinarayi government to fulfil its promise, in the process alienating the Orthodox community. As the feud intensified, the Orthodox Church demanded the government implement the verdict at the earliest while the Jacobite Church said they were denied justice. And this sets a completely inclemental ground for the government in the Lok Sabha elections. The Jacobite Church members are present in good numbers in Chalakkudy, Thrissur and Ernakulam parliamentary constituencies. They are also a force to reckon with in Kottayam and Idukki constituencies. The Orthodox strongholds are Pathanamthitta, Mavelikkara and Kottayam. They are also present in Kollam, Idukki, Ernakulam, Alappuzha and Wayanad. In the Orthodox stronghold Pathanamthitta, the LDF has fielded Veena George, an Orthodox member, who helped the front to snatch a victory in the Aranmula assembly seat, a traditional UDF stronghold. But with the Orthodox Church smarting under the feeling of hurt over the failure of the government to implement the Supreme Court order, it is now their turn to catch up with government. The results of the survey point exactly to the impact of Orthodox determination. Orthodox Church secretary Biju Oommen was very candid about it when he said it was natural that the elections would reflect denial of justice. He threatened that the church would create awareness among its members about such denial, implying an open call to defeat the LDF candidates. The LDF dilemma is that while the Orthodox faction has turned against it, it is not getting any sympathy from the Jacobites as well. In fact, the Kollam, Niranam, and Thumpamon dioceses of the Jacobite Church have announced that they will be boycotting the elections in protest against what they consider to be denial of justice. This means the ruling front is taking hits from both sides. The survey results are also showing a swing, but not in favour of the LDF. But for the UDF, it is not just a swing, but a tide. Narendra Modi in Goa; Lok Sabha Election 2019 LIVE updates: Addressing a rally in Goa's Panaji, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lashed out at the Congress over scams under the UPA rule. 'The Congress' hand (symbol) knows either to clean the government treasury, or knows to run the government with remote control... Forced government suits them, because they can arbitrate there,' he said. Auto refresh feeds He will begin with a roadshow around 10 am from Amethi's Munshiganj and is expected to reach the Collectorate at noon. His sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi is expected to accompany him, as is his mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, who filed his nomination papers from Wayanad in Kerala amid much fanfare on 4 April, will file his nomination from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address rallies in Junagarh and Songarh in Gujarat, before heading to Panjim in Goa. BJP chief Amit Shah will speak at Kasganj and Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh. The move comes days after Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati described Bhim Army founder Chandrashekhar Azad as a "BJP agent" and accused him of trying to divide Dalit votes. In a move which can upset the BSP-SP-RLD alliance in Uttar Pradesh, Dalit group Bhim Army, which has a considerable following in western Uttar Pradesh, has appealed to members of the community to vote for Congress' Saharanpur Lok Sabha candidate Imran Masood. The move comes days after Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati described Bhim Army founder Chandrashekhar Azad as a "BJP agent" and accused him of trying to divide Dalit votes. In a move which can upset the BSP-SP-RLD alliance in Uttar Pradesh, Dalit group Bhim Army, which has a considerable following in western Uttar Pradesh, has appealed to members of the community to vote for Congress' Saharanpur Lok Sabha candidate Imran Masood. Polling parties have departed with EVM nachines for their respective polling stations in Alipurduar parliamentary constituency. Alipurduar, along with Cooch Behar, will go to polls on Thursday. Bhasker has often been on the receiving end of merciless trolling on social media, where she is often critical of the ruling BJP dispensation. Actor Swara Bhasker, ahead of the first phase of the general elections, flew to Patna on Wednesday to lend support to CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar. Bhasker is expected to campaign for him in Bihars Begusarai district. Khan said that if the next Indian government were led by the opposition Congress party, it might be too scared to seek a settlement with Pakistan over disputed Indian-controlled Kashmir, fearing a backlash from the right. Perhaps if the BJP - a right-wing party - wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached, Khan told a small group of foreign journalists in an interview. Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan said he thinks there may be a better chance of peace talks with India if Prime Minister Narendra Modis Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wins the general election, due to begin on Thursday. "So much for Modi sahib telling the country only Pakistan and its sympathisers want BJP to lose," Abdullah tweeted. Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan's observation that there may be a better chance of peace talks with India if Prime Minister Narendra Modis Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wins the polls has drawn criticism from the likes of National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, who slammed the BJP's insistence that those wishing for the party's loss are sponsored by Pakistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's repeated calling out to voters in the name of the Army and the Armed Forces has drawn criticism from quarters. The latest to join in was actor Siddharth, who often comments on social issues on Twitter. Siddharth asked the Election Commission to take note of Modi's mention of the Pulwama martyrs. Actor Siddharth asks EC to 'take note' of Modi asking audience to vote in the name of Pulwama martyrs Congress leader Sanjay Jha, took the BJP trolling one step further by declaring that there is a "secret love story." A team of Income Tax dept conducted a raid at a private hotel in Karnataka's Ballari late last night, where former MLA and Congress leader Anil Lad is staying. ANI has tweeted visuals from Dibrugarh, from where polling parties have left for their respective polling stations. Five Parliamentary constituencies of Assam will undergo polling tomorrow, in the first phase. The mortal remains of BJP MLA Bheema Mandavi were brought to the party's office in Dantewada. The MLA, his driver and three personal security officers lost their lives in a Maoist attack in Dantewada on Tuesday. Rahul has reached the Munsiganj guesthouse with sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, brother-in-law Robert Vadra and their children. He will lead a roadshow before filing papers at the Collectorate. The Amethi Collectorate has already been decorated, presumably by Congress workers, ahead of Rahul Gandhi filing his papers there later on Wednesday. Chidambaram's jibe at the prime minister came in the wake of Modi's attack on the opposition leader. At a recent rally in Tamil Nadu, Modi had said he was "shocked to read the recounting minister headed their manifesto committee. I was not surprised. After all, getting bail is important for his own existence," apparently referring to cases against Chidambaram and his son Karti. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram Wednesday took a swipe at the Modi government, charging that in this regime conviction comes first and investigation later and a person is guilty until proven innocent. He said the law secretary should "teach" the prime minister some basic lessons in law as the Supreme Court has said that bail is the rule and jail the exception. Last week, the Commission had issued a notice seeking a report from the I&B Ministry on NaMo TV, launched just weeks ahead of general election, after opposition parties, including the Congress, asked the poll body to direct the ministry to suspend the channel in violation of the Model Code of Conduct. Such committees are formed at district and state levels during polls. They clear political campaign and advertisements. The Election Commission is learnt to have directed the Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi on Tuesday to ensure that the contents of NaMo TV are pre-certified by the local media certification and monitoring committee. The Congress has been fielding only its very well-known faces as campaigners this election season. The only new entrants among star campaigners in the state were new joinees Hardik Patel and Shatrughan Sinha. The Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states are also on the list of the party's star campaigners. The Congress party released the list of its star campaigners for the elections in Rajasthan on Tuesday. Apart from Congress president Rahul Gandhi and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will also campaign in Rajasthan for 25 Lok-Sabha seats. Speaking in his home state of Gujarat, at Junagarh, Narendra Modi said he was here to seek guidance for the next five years. "No stain of corruption besmirched my name in the last five years, I am sure you are proud of your son," he said. I have come to seek your guidance for the next five years, says PM Congress has made Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh its own ATMs, the PM insisted. "Maybe the situation will be the same for Rajasthan," he said, referring to the whole thing as the 'Tughlaq Road election scam'. "Congress has stolen from the mouths of hungry children to fill the pockets of their own leaders. The party has stolen money from schemes meant for pregnant women," Modi said. "We have a 'track record', they have a 'trap record'," said Narendra Modi, speaking in Junagarh on Thursday. The prime minister amped up the attack on the Congress 'family', alleging that the party has only looted people and was known for its hatred of Gujaratis. He also said repeatedly that if Sardar Patel was the prime minister instead of Nehru, he would have done a much better job. Alternating between Hindi and Gujarati, Modi said on Wednesday that the Congress's only agenda was to remove him. "The Congress today is hurting the dreams of Sardar Patel as well as every Hindustani," he added. The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief, who was shifted to Tihar jail under police protection, was taken into preventive custody in February by the Jammu and Kashmir police and shifted to Jammu's Kot Balwal jail. Malik was brought to the national capital Tuesday evening after a special NIA court in Jammu gave the go ahead for his custodial interrogation by the probe agency, they said. The National Investigation Agency on Wednesday arrested JKLF chief Yasin Malik in connection with a case related to the funding of terror and separatist groups in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said here. While admitting that he was angry with the leadership, the OBC leader said, I will stay with Congress and will continue to support this party. I want respect and rights for my people." He further indicated that he will not contest the upcoming elections. Thakor, only last month, had rubbished all rumours that he would jump ship to join BJP and said that he would continue to fight for the rights of the Thakor community within the Congress fold. A day ahead of the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections, Gujarats OBC leader Alpesh Thakor quit the Congress on Wednesday morning, News18 reported sources as having said. All eyes are on Amethi as Rahul Gandhi's roadshow looks to begin any time now. Rahul will proceed through three kilometres before arriving at the Collectorate to file his nomination papers. Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla is expected to join the Bharatiya Janata Party today. Bainsla is a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the Indian Army and in 2007 led a caste protest movement in the state of Rajasthan. The Congress is eager to put up a show of strength, seeing that the BJP's candidate Smriti Irani has been scathing in criticism of Rahul's absence from the constituency. Uttar Pradesh's Amethi got into carnival spirit with Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's roadshow proceeding through Munsiganj amidst drumbeats and showers of flower petals. Rahul is accompanied by sister Priyanka, brother-in-law Robert Vadra, and his niece and nephew. The Amethi seat has generationally belonged to the Congress, and the presence of the minor children goes a long way towards propagating that idea. The Congress is eager to put up a show of strength, seeing that the BJP's candidate Smriti Irani has been scathing in criticism of Rahul's absence from the constituency. Uttar Pradesh's Amethi got into carnival spirit with Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's roadshow proceeding through Munsiganj amidst drumbeats and showers of flower petals. Rahul is accompanied by sister Priyanka, brother-in-law Robert Vadra, and his niece and nephew. The Amethi seat has generationally belonged to the Congress, and the presence of the minor children goes a long way towards propagating that idea. Watch as Congress president Rahul Gandhi holds a roadshow in Amethi. Congress general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, along with her husband Robert Vadra, son Raihan and daughter Miraya are also present. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who was not present at the roadshow of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, has arrived at the Amethi Collectorate. We are not opposed to the electoral bonds as such, as it will legalise donations. We want transparency, advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for EC, told SC duringthe hearing of pleas against issuance of electoral bonds. The Election Commission has told the Supreme Court that it is not against the issuance of electoral bonds for funding to political parties but that it is against the anonymity of donors and wants transparency in the bonds scheme, reported ANI. Congress president Rahul Gandhi is filing his nomination from Amethi. Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Robert Vadra are also present at the Collectorate. The chief minister will also participate in a road show before the nomination and later address an election meeting, BJP's Amethi media in-charge Govind Singh said. Irani was to file her nomination on 17 April, but since it is a holiday, she will now file the papers on 11 April. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will be visiting Amethi Thursday where he will accompany Union minister and BJP candidate Smriti Irani, who will be filing her nomination papers, a party spokesperson said. "The SP-BSP had harassed the people. The Yogi government has punished these goons. The BJP government is working to enforce law and order in Uttar Pradesh," Amit Shah said in Kasganj on Wednesday. "Everyone knows that the chowkidar, who by the way refuses to engage in debate with me, is a chor. We have been vindicated now," he said. After filing his nomination papers at the Amethi Collectorate, Rahul Gandhi spoke briefly to reporters, calling the Supreme Court's Rafale order, dismissing the Centre's objections to the admissibility of the "leaked" papers regarding the case, a "victory" for the Congress. "The PM was directly negotiating the price, this was hidded from the Supreme Court. He superceded the written opinion of several ministries with regards to securing a sovereign guarantee from France and Dassault Aviation. This made Dassault richer by several crores, the CAG itself has said," Surjewala added. "The entire structure of lies propagated by PM Modi is in tatters now. Today SC has demolished the lie of the initial clean chit behind which Modi would hide for years. First Modi government said the CAG report had given them a clean chit, the SC followed the report and pronounced its verdict. We then found out that no such report existed. Modi government hid crucial facts regarding the Rafale deal," he said. Shortly after Congress chief Rahul Gandhi pronounced that the SC's Rafale order had proven that the "chowkidar" is a "chor," Congress's communication in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala held a press conference slamming the "lies of the prime minister on Rafale". Following the crackdown on political leaders in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, and the Opposition's repeated insistence that this is political vendetta of the ruling BJP, finance minister Arun Jaitley wrote another Facebook post on Wednesday, saying, "It has become a growing culture of opposition parties to call any action against corruption as political vendetta. Legitimate action against corruption is no vendetta as claim of vendetta has never been a legitimate defence in corruption." "Young India is very sharp. You (the BJP government) have not delivered on anything. Nirvachan Commission is now Nikamma Commission. We had a strong word with the EC today. Enough is enough," O'Brien said. A delegation comprising Trinamool leaders Derek O'Brien, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy and Chandan Mitra held talks with the Chief Election Commissioner in New Delhi on Wednesday. Once the meeting was over, O'Brien said that it was high time the EC took notes of the behaviour of the ruling party. The Election Commission has banned the release of the Narendra Modi biopic, PM Narendra Modi, calling biopics "surrogate publicity." The poll body also held that "such political content ought to be regulated." Two other biopics have also been banned. He said the Narendra Modi government has brought out "133 schemes which are for the poor" and aim for the welfare of Uttar Pradesh. Speaking in his second rally of the day, at Uttar Pradesh's Firozabad, Amit Shah said the SP and BSP governments had "never bought" the wheat produced by farmers and that it was Yogi Adityanath's government which bought farmers' produce at 1.5 times the minimum support price. Joint Resistance Leadership, an alliance of top ranked separatist leaders of Kashmir, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Yasin Malik and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has called for a shutdown across the Valley on Thursday, against the Lok Sabha polls, in reaction to the NIA's arrest of Yasin Malik earlier on Wednesday, reported Greater Kashmir. The Election Commission's order comes a day before the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls is set to begin on Thursday, the same day PM Narendra Modi was scheduled for release. In its order, the poll panel ruled that the biopic should not be shown in cinemas or electronic media till the completion of the polls. Opposition parties, including the Congress, had held that the movie would give undue advantage to the BJP in electioneering, and its release should be deferred till the elections conclude. Key portions of the Election Commission's take on banning the release of PM Narendra Modi are those where it observed that the release of the film goes against the MCC. "If Sardar Patel saw the Congress's dhakoslapatra, do you think he would accept it?" he asked. The Congress has said, 'Modi hatao' but Modi has only said, 'garibi hatao'. PM Narendra Modi, speaking in his second campaign rally of the day, at Gujarat's Songarh, spoke mostly in Gujarati. He, however, repeated bits of his Junagarh rally in the morning, to slam the Congress, saying that it was a proponent of the 'Tughlaq Lane scam' and that it has stolen heavily from schemes meant for pregnant women. "Once elections are announced, it's a level playing field. You have to treat everybody equally. Otherwise, it's unjustified. Modi wants to demolish democracy," he added. Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday asked the Income Tax department "who it was to carry out one-sided raids." This came after a TDP delegation visited the EC over raids on its leaders. "We believe that during the last five years, India has seen a government that has delivered corruption-free good governance and development oriented administration...we need a majboot sarkar and not a mazboor sarkar and hence we need the present government to continue," it read. "We, creative artistes and persons belonging to the field of literature appeal to all our fellow citizens to caste their vote and exercise their right to elect the new government without any pressure and prejudice," the statement, issued by the Nation First Collective said. In a counter to 860 intellectuals and artistes writing a joint word of caution against Narendra Modi and the BJP, 907 others on Wednesday issued a joint statement speaking for the Modi government's re-election. "We believe that during the last five years, India has seen a government that has delivered corruption-free good governance and development oriented administration...we need a majboot sarkar and not a mazboor sarkar and hence we need the present government to continue," it read. "We, creative artistes and persons belonging to the field of literature appeal to all our fellow citizens to caste their vote and exercise their right to elect the new government without any pressure and prejudice," the statement, issued by the Nation First Collective said. In a counter to 860 intellectuals and artistes writing a joint word of caution against Narendra Modi and the BJP, 907 others on Wednesday issued a joint statement speaking for the Modi government's re-election. "Some relationships are from the heart. Today, the whole family was present for my brother's nomination. This was my father's 'karmabhoomi', it is sacred land for us," Priyanka Gandhi tweeted. On a day her brother Congress president Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination for the Lok Sabha elections from Amethi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the constituency was her father's "karmabhoomi" and its land was sacred for her family. Rahul's mother Sonia, sister Priyanka and brother-in-law Robert Vadra accompanied him for his filing of nomination. Student activist Umar Khalid took a dig at the makers of PM Narendra Modi and said, "Let's observe one minute silence for the hard work of 'Chatukar' Vivek Oberoi," he said. Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha targetted actor Vivek Oberoi after the Election Commission stalled the release on PM Narendra Modi. "#VivekOberoi was jobless. Now he is unreleased," he tweeted. Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel arrived at the residence of Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit. The details of the meeting are yet to be known. Bringing back his 'chowkidar chor hai' jibe to target Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said in Bihar's Katihar, " Let both of us, Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi, debate on corruption. Whatever you want to speak on the topic, you speak. And give me 15 minutes to speak on Rafale." In Katihar, Rahul Gandhi said, "This country is not full of chowkidars; there are farmers, labourers, small business owners. You've destroyed the lives of many with demonetisation, and Gabbar Singh Tax. This is why we're bringing in NYAY scheme. And this is still the beginning. I am not Anil Ambani's chowkidar, I work for the people." Oberoi was scheduled to speak to media-persons in Maharashtra's Nagpur in the afternoon, but he cancelled the meet after the EC announced its order. Actor Vivek Oberoi, who is playing Narendra Modi in the biopic on the prime minister, cancelled a scheduled press meet in Nagpur on Wednesday after the Election Commission banned its screening during poll period. The EC's order came a day before the film was to be released. "We all know Congress president probably doesn't even read even half a paragraph, but here, by saying that the court has accepted and by also saying that the court has said 'chowkidaar chor hai,' these (statements) verged on contempt of court," said Union minister and BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman. Earlier on Wednesday, the Supreme Court allowed the "leaked" Rafale documents to be relied upon by petitioners, and dismissed the government's preliminary objections claiming "privilege" over them. Sources in the Election Commission were quoted as saying by NDTV, that the poll panel's order on 'PM Narendra Modi' biopic is also applicable to NaMo TV. The paragraph "10.2" of the EC order categorically clarifies that NaMo TV is violative of the Model Code of Conduct, it reported. He further said, "After the election, when Congress will form the government. Today the Supreme Court has said that there was theft in Rafale. 'Kuch na kuch daal mein kaala hai, investigation to karna padega'. The country will get justice." Addressing a rally in Raiganj, Rahul Gandhi said, "Narendra Modi wants to create two Indias one for people like Anil Ambani and the other for the poor people. But there will be one India (under Congress) which will ensure that the money goes into into education and building better hospitals." AAP welcomed the decision on Twitter and said that the Election Commission move was based on its complaint against the channel. While poll panel officials have confirmed to media outlets that the order on PM Narendra Modi biopic is applicable to NaMo TV, the commission is yet to make an official announcement. NDTV reported that the order on NaMo TV will be available on the EC website soon. In Panaji, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "During Manohar Parrikar's tenure as a defence minister, we carried out surgical strikes. It laid the foundation for a new culture where India can enter the homes of enemies to kill them." In Goa's Panaji, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, "During Congress tenure, every defence deal was shady. They took kickbacks in Bofors and Quattrochi was allowed to flee. For decades, our armed forces didn't get a new weapon because nobody wanted to be involved in scams. The result was the deals were stalled for years." "The Congress' hand (symbol) knows either to clean the government treasury, or knows to run the government with remote control," Narendra Modi claimed at a rally in Panaji on Wednesday. "Forced government suits them, because they can arbitrate there." In this phase, the least number of constituencies are going for polls as compared to other phases. The seven-phase elections begins 11 April and will end on 19 May. The Election Commission on Wednesday issued notification for the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections to be held on 5 May in 51 seats across seven states. Accusing Narendra Modi of violating the Model Code of Conduct by referring to Balakot air strikes, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday moved the Election Commission seeking action against the prime minister. Terming Modi's reported speech in Maharashtra, shockingly disgraceful, the chief minister said it was a clear case of violation of the code of conduct, which constitutes the bedrock of free and fair election. No More NaMo TV Based on the complaint filed by AAP, the ECI has decided that NaMo TV cannot be telecasted as per the Model Code of Conduct. pic.twitter.com/iv6JXqF9q4 AAP welcomed the decision on Twitter and said that the Election Commission move was based on its complaint against the channel. While poll panel officials have confirmed to media outlets that the order on PM Narendra Modi biopic is applicable to NaMo TV, the commission is yet to make an official announcement. NDTV reported that the order on NaMo TV will be available on the EC website soon. He indicated that the Aam Aadmi Party could be onboard among the like-minded parties, while some smaller outfits, who may not put up candidates to fight the Lok Sabha polls, could also be among those to extend support to the JJP. Dushyant Chautala said only one member from his family will be contesting the general election. The Hisar MP said a three-member panel of JJP that includes KC Bangar, SS Kadian and state unit chief Nishan Singh has prepared a report which will be discussed with party patron Ajay Chautala, who will take a final call on the tie-up issue. Jannayak Janata Party leader Dushyant Chautala on Wednesday said his party is in the process of forging an alliance with "like-minded outfits" to contest the Lok Sabha polls and an announcement in this regard will be made within four days. In Panaji, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "During Manohar Parrikar's tenure as a defence minister, we carried out surgical strikes. It laid the foundation for a new culture where India can enter the homes of enemies to kill them." In Goa's Panaji, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, "During Congress tenure, every defence deal was shady. They took kickbacks in Bofors and Quattrochi was allowed to flee. For decades, our armed forces didn't get a new weapon because nobody wanted to be involved in scams. The result was the deals were stalled for years." "The Congress' hand (symbol) knows either to clean the government treasury, or knows to run the government with remote control," Narendra Modi claimed at a rally in Panaji on Wednesday. "Forced government suits them, because they can arbitrate there." In this phase, the least number of constituencies are going for polls as compared to other phases. The seven-phase elections begins 11 April and will end on 19 May. The Election Commission on Wednesday issued notification for the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections to be held on 5 May in 51 seats across seven states. Shocked by disgraceful invocation of Balakot air strikes & Pulwama martyrs by @narendramodi to woo voters. Written to #CEC #ElectionCommission to immediately check this grave code of conduct violation by PM & @BJP4India . Cant let independence of armed forces be undermined. pic.twitter.com/T6GKHqEQT9 Accusing Narendra Modi of violating the Model Code of Conduct by referring to Balakot air strikes, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday moved the Election Commission seeking action against the prime minister. Terming Modi's reported speech in Maharashtra, shockingly disgraceful, the chief minister said it was a clear case of violation of the code of conduct, which constitutes the bedrock of free and fair election. Narendra Modi in Goa; Lok Sabha Election 2019 LATEST updates: Addressing a rally in Goa's Panaji, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lashed out at the Congress over scams under the UPA rule. "The Congress' hand (symbol) knows either to clean the government treasury, or knows to run the government with remote control... Forced government suits them, because they can arbitrate there," he said. The Election Commission's order banning screening of PM Narendra Modi biopic during poll period also applies to NaMo TV, which cannot be aired, a poll panel official told PTI. AAP welcomed the decision on Twitter and said that the move was based on its complaint against the channel. Congress president Rahul Gandhi claimed on Wednesday that the Supreme Court has said 'chowkidar chor hai' by dismissing Centre's preliminary objections to review petitions in the Rafale deal case. BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman hit back, saying, "We all know Congress president probably doesn't even read even half a paragraph, but here, by saying that the court has accepted and by also saying that the court has said 'chowkidaar chor hai,' he verged on contempt of court." Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha targetted actor Vivek Oberoi after the Election Commission stalled the release of biopic PM Narendra Modi. "#VivekOberoi was jobless. Now he is unreleased," he tweeted. The Election Commission has stalled the release of the Narendra Modi biopic, PM Narendra Modi, calling biopics "surrogate publicity." In case of any violation or receipt of complaints in this regard, the EC has formed a committee which will examine the said violation and suggest an appropriate action. Though the display materials claim to be a part of creative content, it is contended that these have propensity and potentiality to affect the level playing field which is not in consonance with the provisions of Model Code of Conduct (MCC), the poll panel said. The poll body also held that "such political content ought to be regulated." The film's main actor, Vivek Oberoi, had campaigned fervently in its favour. Two other biopics have also been stalled. A delegation comprising Trinamool leaders Derek O'Brien, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy and Chandan Mitra held talks with the Chief Election Commissioner in New Delhi on Wednesday. Once the meeting was over, O'Brien said that it was high time the EC took notes of the behaviour of the ruling party. "Young India is very sharp. You (the BJP government) have not delivered on anything. Nirvachan Commission is now Nikamma Commission. We had a strong word with the EC today. Enough is enough," O'Brien said. Following the crackdown on political leaders in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, and the Opposition's repeated insistence that this is political vendetta of the ruling BJP, finance minister Arun Jaitley wrote another Facebook post on Wednesday, saying, "It has become a growing culture of opposition parties to call any action against corruption as political vendetta. Legitimate action against corruption is no vendetta as claim of vendetta has never been a legitimate defence in corruption." After filing his nomination papers at the Amethi Collectorate, Rahul Gandhi spoke briefly to reporters, calling the Supreme Court's Rafale order, dismissing the Centre's objections to the admissibility of the "leaked" papers regarding the case, a "victory" for the Congress. "Everyone knows that the chowkidar, who by the way refuses to engage in debate with me, is a chor. We have been vindicated now," he said. BJP president Amit Shah said in Kasganj on Wednesday that the SP and BSP governments in Uttar Pradesh had harassed the people of the state for years. "The Yogi government has punished these goons by hanging them upside down. The BJP government is working to enforce law and order in Uttar Pradesh," Amit Shah said in Kasganj on Wednesday. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, accompanied by sister Priyanka, brother-in-law Robert Vadra, his niece Miraiya and nephew Raihan, arrived at the Amethi collectorate to file his second set of nomination papers for the Lok Sabha elections. Rahul's mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi arrived earlier at the venue. The Election Commission has told the Supreme Court that it is not against the issuance of electoral bonds for funding to political parties but that it is against the anonymity of donors and wants transparency in the bonds scheme. We are not opposed to the electoral bonds as such, as it will legalise donations. We want transparency, advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for EC, told SC duringthe hearing of pleas against issuance of electoral bonds. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who was not present at the roadshow of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, has arrived at the Amethi Collectorate. Rahul is accompanied by sister Priyanka, brother-in-law Robert Vadra, his niece Miraiya and nephew Raihan. The Amethi seat has generationally belonged to the Congress, and the presence of the minor children goes a long way towards propagating that idea. All eyes are on Amethi as Rahul Gandhi's roadshow at Munsiganj looks to begin any time now. The Congress chief's roadshow will proceed through three kilometres before arriving at the Collectorate to file his nomination papers. He is expected to be accompanied by sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and brother-in-law Robert Vadra. Speaking at Junagarh in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Nehrus and Gandhis have only had contempt for Gujarat and sought to highlight the scams surrounding its leaders. "Congress has stolen from the mouths of hungry children to fill the pockets of their own leaders. The party has stolen money from schemes meant for pregnant women," Modi said. Congress has made Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh its own ATMs, the PM insisted. "Maybe the situation will be the same for Rajasthan," he said, referring to the whole thing as the 'Tughlaq Road election scam'. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address rallies in Junagarh and Songarh in Gujarat, before heading to Panjim in Goa. BJP president Amit Shah will be in Kasganj and Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh. UP will see a day heavy with poll campaigns, thanks to Rahul Gandhi's presence in Amethi as well. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, who filed his nomination papers from Wayanad in Kerala amid much fanfare on 4 April, is scheduled to file his nomination from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday. Rahul has reached the Munsiganj guesthouse with sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and brother-in-law Robert Vadra. He will lead a roadshow before filing papers at the Collectorate, which has already been decked up. Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan said he thinks there may be a better chance of peace talks with India if Prime Minister Narendra Modis Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wins the general election, due to begin on Thursday. This admittedly puts the BJP in an unwieldy position as it has often maintained that those who want it to lose are in favour of Pakistan. PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti has said, "Bhakts (are) scratching their heads wondering if they should praise Imran or not," while NC's Omar Abdullah said, "So much for Modi sahib telling the country only Pakistan and its sympathisers want BJP to lose." The nation is a day away from first phase of the greatest democratic exercise in the world the Lok Sabha election taking off, on Thursday. While campaigning for the first phase ended on Tuesday, leaders of parties big and small will be busy as ever on the campaign trail on Wednesday. Rahul will begin with a roadshow around 10 am from Amethi's Munshiganj and is expected to reach the Collectorate at noon. His sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi is expected to accompany him, as is his mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Rahul is also expected to speak at rallies in Bihar's Katihar and West Bengal's Raiganj later on Wednesday. The Congress has been fielding only its very well-known faces as campaigners this election season. In the Rajasthan star campaigners list released late on Tuesday, for instance, three tell-tale Gandhi family names preceded the names of chief ministers of Congress-ruled states. The only new entrants among star campaigners in the state were new joinees Hardik Patel and Shatrughan Sinha. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has found himself in trouble with the Election Commission once again, for making communal remarks at his Meerut rally. The Meerut District Magistrate will file a report on Adityanath claiming in his speech that the Opposition in Uttar Pradesh believed in "Ali" while the BJP believed in "Bajrangbali". On Tuesday, the last day of campaigning for the first phase of the Lok Sabha election in Chhattisgarh, BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi and four security personnel were killed in an attack on their convoy by Maoists in Dantewada district. Their funerals are expected on Wednesday. The report also revealed that Congress had a larger proportion of candidates with serious criminal cases against BJP (27 percent) as compared to BJP (19 percent). In the Lok Sabha elections held in 2014, out of the 8,163 candidates who contested polls, 1,398 had criminal cases against them, according to an analysis by Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR). The report also stated that in the 2009 general election, 1,158 candidates had declared criminal cases against them out of the 7,810 contesting candidates. Various types of cases have been filed against Lok Sabha candidates such as murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, kidnapping for ransom, kidnapping with intent to murder, crimes against women, hate speeches etc. Fast forward to 2019 Lok Sabha polls, it has been found that out of 1,266 candidates in the first phase, for which voting will take place on 11 April, 213 candidates have admitted to pending criminal cases, with 146 of them with serious criminal cases, as per an ADR report. The report also revealed that Congress had a larger proportion of candidates with serious criminal cases against BJP (27 percent) as compared to BJP (19 percent). Twelve candidates have admitted to convictions, of which 10 said they had murder cases against them. In order to ensure that the electorate knows about criminal history of a candidate before voting, the Election Commission of India has come up with a set of directions in compliance with a Supreme Court order, which includes an improved Form-26 where candidates will have to file an affidavit updating about criminal cases, assets and liabilities and educational qualifications. Publicising information about candidates with criminal cases According to the new EC guidelines, candidates with pending cases or cases in which they have been convicted will have to publish a declaration about such cases in newspapers, which have wide circulation in the constituency area, and on TV channels. The declaration has to be published in the Format C-1 on at least three different dates between the day following the last day of withdrawal of nominations and upto two days before polling. The font size of the matter published should at least be 12. In case of declaration on TV channels, the same should be completed before 48 hours of the hour fixed for conclusion of polls. The font size on TV should be 12 as well, with the duration not less than seven seconds. The Chief Election Officer of the state will receive an indicative list of various newspapers with wide circulation which will be shared with political parties and candidates. Political parties In cases where candidates with criminal cases are fielded by a political parties, the candidates are required to declare before the concerned Returning Officer that they have informed the political party about it while filling Form-26 at the time of filing nomination papers. Such political parties are also required to publish a declaration giving details about it on their website, and TV channels and newspapers with a wide circulation in the respective constituency. All this is part of the election expenditure of respective parties and candidates. Parties will also have to submit a report to the state CEO that they have complied with the directions and enclose paper cuttings of the declaration published within 30 days of completion of election process. If the status of the criminal case changes after filing nomination, it is open to the concerned candidate to approach the Returning Officer and to publish that revised status only. However, it should be noted, the RO is not required to check the accuracy and correctness of the declarations published by candidates or political parties. The EC guidelines on what will happen if candidates dont comply with the aforementioned directions is vague. According to the EC, such failure may be grounds for post-election action such as election petition or contempt of the Supreme Court. VBA is premised on Amebdkarite principles and claims to bring historically deprived communities into mainstream politics. In the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Prakash Ambedkar of the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh and Asaduddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) have joined hands to form a third front in Maharashtra under the banner of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA). Loosely translating to Deprived Bahujan Front, the alliance aims to mobilise a conglomeration of caste groups that have been traditionally kept away from power. While political pundits have expressed concerns about their electoral merit, the VBA is gradually picking up momentum, leaving the other two alliances, namely BJP-Shiv Sena and Congress-NCP, concerned. VBA is premised on Amebdkarite principles and claims to bring historically deprived communities into mainstream politics to fight for their own rights. Historically, state power in Maharashtra has been mainly confined to the Marathas and Brahmins. The rest of the communities have had no option but to align with these groups to secure their rights and privileges. Major parties like Congress, Shiv Sena, NCP, and BJP have always looked at these communities as vote banks but have never managed to induct them into mainstream politics for reasons of not giving them adequate representation in the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha. While the Brahmin-Maratha nexus of power in Maharashtra has been questioned time and again, it is primarily in the form of VBA that it has snowballed into a political movement. I have been following the VBA over social media reportage, and other mainstream news channels, both in English and the vernaculars since its initial meetings. The alliance with AIMIM Advocate Prakash Ambedkar and other spokespersons of VBA routinely get questioned about the nature of their alliance with AIMIM, which a large section of media believes to be sectarian and divisive. If VBA is out to oppose communal politics, they inquire, why align with AIMIM? One cannot help but notice the inherent Islamophobia behind these questions. Islamophobia runs deep in the Maharashtrian psyche, given that popular historical discourses around Shivaji have been normalising Muslim hatred for decades. In the context of growing hatred that is routinely meted out to the Muslim communities in India, one should ideally welcome a party like AIMIM which foregrounds issues and arguments concerning the Muslim communities in India. AIMIMs growing support in states other than Telangana comes from lack of such political leadership within the Muslim communities. In 2012, AIMIM made its entry into Maharashtra by winning the municipal elections in North Maharashtra. In the 2014 state elections, it had two MLAs elected to the Assembly. Maharashtra has a sizeable Muslim population in various pockets and their representation in mainstream society is abysmal. Given that the Dalits, Bahujans and Muslims are historical allies over their shared trauma of oppression from caste Hindus in Maharashtra, it is but natural that a front of deprived masses should include Muslims. It is also imperative that VBA remains alert about the caste hierarchies that exist among the Muslims in India. Muslims in India are not a homogeneous community and are, one could say sharply, divided on the basis of caste, among other factors. Owaisi himself is an upper caste Ashraf and his party has been routinely criticised for sidelining Muslims leaders from the mariginalised castes. Thus, AIMIMs alliance with the VBA has to be scrutinised not because of Owaisis persona of an unapologetic Muslim leader and AIMIM as a political front that is engaged in minority appeasement, but on AIMIMs commitment to the vision of VBA in terms of lower caste Muslim representation. Declaring the castes of the VBA candidates VBA raised eyebrows when it declared the first list of its Lok Sabha candidates wherein, barring the exception of its Muslim candidates, each candidates caste was mentioned in front of their names. This declaration has attracted a lot of criticism as people believe that it is a move to polarise votes on the basis of caste identity. The declaration of caste names is, in fact, a clever political strategy. There are several caste and tribal communities in Maharashtra that have never been given adequate representation in the sharing of power. VBA has given proportionate representation to nomadic groups, peasants, fishing communities, and other such smaller groups that have been deprived of any political representation. By doing so, VBA has hinted at the concentration of power in the hands of Marathas and Brahmins, an undeclared reservation. The democratic project of post-independence Indian state was to bring the most oppressed communities into mainstream politics, thereby flattening the uneven distribution of power and resources enforced by the caste system. But hardly any national party has attempted to realise this constitutional goal. Rather, history is witness to the fact that the caste-based social hierarchies have been reproduced by adapting them to the electoral frameworks. In this context, VBAs declaration of castes of their candidates is in sync with their fidelity towards strengthening the egalitarian vision of Indian democracy and calling out the hidden casteism of the dominant electoral parties. Who is VBA made up of? Prakash Ambedkar himself is an astute politician and a political analyst. He is associated with many peoples movements in various capacities. He also seems quite aware about the responsibility as well as the goodwill that he enjoys as the grandson of Dr BR Ambedkar. Though the VBA has mobilised itself under Prakash Ambedkars leadership, it is made up of several individuals who are associated with the Phule-Ambedkarite movement in Maharashtra. A cursory look at the list of candidates fielded by VBA and their spokespersons reveals that they all come from deprived sections of the Maharashtrian society. Several of them are well-educated and have been part of peoples movement in Maharashtra. Another striking feature of VBAs leaders is that all of them are very good orators, a skill ably demonstrated at their public meeting held at Shivaji Park, for instance. Their meeting at Shivaji Park was historic as we saw VBA leaders asserting themselves and openly challenging the well-established parties like Shiv Sena, RSS, BJP, Congress, NCP from a platform that was once famous for Bal Thackeray's divisive hate speech. VBAs leaders leverage the art of rhetoric to their benefit and bring principles of social justice and equality into mainstream political speeches, a welcome change from the divisive polemic we are otherwise subjected to. It is only through such effective oratory that one can diffuse the threat posed by the polemical and divisive speeches of the Hindu nationalists and retrieve a sense of civility in our public discourse. The litmus test of Indian democracy VBA as a political project resonates with the vision to establish equality through the democratic process in post-independent India for two reasons. Firstly, it aims to shuffle the concentration of power in few castes and redistribute it to ensure a wider representation in states politics. Secondly, it is emerging as a regional force that can strengthen the federal aspect of the Indian political structure. Since India is a country of diverse forms of inequality, concentration of power in the hands of one party does not ensure the eradication of these inequalities. Moreover, such concentration of power creates a fertile ground for fascism to thrive. VBA is indeed a litmus test of the maturity of Indian democracy as it is imagined to empower its most downtrodden people. VBA is pregnant with myriad possibilities that can change the texture of state and national politics and hence needs all the momentum it can gather because if it fails, the onus of that failure is not on VBA alone but also on those of us who otherwise fear the loss of democracy in India. During an interaction with a small group of foreign journalists in Islamabad, Imran Khan had said he believes there may be a better chance of peace talks with India and settling the Kashmir issue if Narendra Modi's party BJP wins the general elections New Delhi: The Congress and other Opposition parties said on Wednesday that a vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a vote for Pakistan as they seized on Imran Khan's remarks that there may be a better chance of Indo-Pak peace talks and settling of the Kashmir issue if the BJP is voted back to power. In a scathing attack, the Congress also said Pakistani premier Khan's remarks reflect that Pakistan has "officially allied" with Modi. During an interaction with a small group of foreign journalists in Islamabad, Khan had said he believes there may be a better chance of peace talks with India and settling the Kashmir issue if Modi's party BJP wins the general elections. Khan said other parties would be afraid of right-wing backlash in case of a settlement on the Kashmir issue. Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala launched a blistering attack on Modi over Khan's comments. "Pak has officially allied with Modi! A vote for Modi is a vote for Pakistan!" Surjewala tweeted. "Modi ji, first there was love for Nawaz Sharif and now Imran Khan is your dear friend," he added in a tweet in Hindi. The truth is out in the open, Surjewala claimed. Prime Minister Modi has been accusing the Congress of being supportive of Pakistan's narrative following the Balakot air strikes. He has also slammed opposition leaders for asking questions on the strike, saying such statements were helping Pakistan. CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury lashed out at Prime Minister Modi over Khan's remarks, saying now it was known who Pakistan wants as PM. "Pakistan has been the only issue of Modi's election campaign, where he has scurrilously tried to link it to opposition. Now we know who Pakistan actually wants as PM, the only Indian PM to have invited ISI to a military base, and the only one who went to Pakistan uninvited," he said. "We have serious concerns about foreign governments influencing our democratic election process. In 2018, it was reported that ISI wants Modi as the prime minister. Now Pakistani prime minister says it," Yechury said. Aam Aadmi Party Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also seized on Khan's remarks, saying if Modi wins in the general election, crackers will be burst in Pakistan. "Why does Pakistan want Modi ji to win. Modi ji should tell the country how deep are his relations with Pakistan. All Indians should know that if Modi wins, crackers will be burst in Pakistan. Photo: Contributed PIB Chief Chad Eneas and Summerland Mayor Toni Boot Plans are in motion to bring the elected councils of the District of Summerland and the Penticton Indian Band together for regular meetings. Summerland mayor Toni Boot says shes already met with PIB staff twice and Chief Chad Eneas once as a part of an effort to improve relations between the two governments. The next time the two sides meet, she says, it will be in a council-to-council setting. Its going to be a casual discussion, a chance to get to know each other, and the things we are most interested in, she said. Council feels that this is something thats really important and it not only, it's passed time, but now is the time to establish this stronger relationship because there are opportunities that we see in our future in working in the Penticton Indian Band. Boot declined to comment specifically on what her discussions were with Chief Eneas and staff, but said there is an interest from both governments in pursuing an inter-community protocol agreement or MOU or some kind of document that we can use to guide our council and their council forward and also future councils. The City of Penticton and PIB have had a protocol agreement in place since 2004 pledging cooperative governance. Those two councils also met face-to-face for the first time in years last month. The Election Commission has stalled the release of PM Narendra Modi till the completion of 2019 Lok Sabha elections The Election Commission's (EC) decision to stall the release of PM Narendra Modi till the end of 2019 Lok Sabha elections has stirred Twitterati. Ever since the news broke, social media has been populated with opinions and reactions (some even gave theories) surrounding the ban. Noted journalist Shiv Aroor said the EC must have reached the decision following unfavourable previews of the film. Have to wonder why decision has been so last minute though. Cynic in me wonders if maybe previews of the film have returned crappy reviews, so holding film back achieves 2 things bad/pointless film stopped + Election Commission gets to score neutral point amidst criticism. Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) April 10, 2019 Indian National Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha hailed EC's decision. Comedian Sahil Shah referred to the EC as the 'real heroes' instead of the Avengers Forget the Avengers....The Election Commission are the real heroes right now. https://t.co/STpewK6rWc Sahil Shah (@SahilBulla) April 10, 2019 TEDx speaker and writer Sanjukta Basu urged Indians to vote wisely in the upcoming elections instead of getting influenced by films. Big news, #Modibiopic is finally banned by EC. In my latest column I appeal to first time voters to do their own research and find Modi's truth. Know the real Modi not movie or TV serial wala. We think it is a harmless movie, but the propaganda and whitewashing is dangerous. Sanjukta Basu (@sanjukta) April 10, 2019 Noted journalist Madhavan Narayanan stated that audiences would have to now make do only with Tashkent Files. Modi biopic cannot be released now. You will have to make do with Tashkent Files, a serious contender for Cannes, Venice and the Oscars put together.#ModiBiopic Madhavan Narayanan (@madversity) April 10, 2019 Election Commission banning the Vivek Oberoi-starrer #Modibiopic is illiberal. I hope the filmmakers go to court and the court strikes it down. Kunal Singh (@d_extrovert) April 10, 2019 Writer-blogger Sandip Ghose termed legal issues as Bharatiya Janta Party's (BJP) Achilles Heel. Not a good day for #Modi sarkar. First #SupremeCourt order on #RafaleDeal and now this. Once again reveals - Legal affairs remains BJP's Achilles Heel. #ModiBiopic https://t.co/RvakRbezuh GhoseSpot (@SandipGhose) April 10, 2019 BBC cartoonist Kirtish Bhatt quipped that in the interim, lead actor Vivek Oberoi might as well ask director Omung Kumar to make a few sequels to PM Narendra Modi. . : 2-3 . #ModiBiopic Kirtish Bhatt (@Kirtishbhat) April 10, 2019 Author and economic commentator Salman Anees Soz called the film ban nothing in comparison to "Modi's brazen use of sacrifices of soldiers for his political gain." In my opinion, Modi's brazen use of sacrifices of soldiers for his political gain (basically asking people to vote for him as a way to honor Pulwama victims) is the most serious offense of this campaign. #ModiBiopic is nothing in comparison. @SpokespersonECI Salman Anees Soz (@SalmanSoz) April 10, 2019 Akash Banerjee, the host of political Satire web series The Desh Bhakt, said that many in India today learnt of the existence of the Election Commission and that it has "some solid powers." A lot of first time voters today discovered that that we have something called the EC - that actually has some solid powers! #ModiBiopic The DeshBhakt (@akashbanerjee) April 10, 2019 Film critic Anna Vetticad said her theory on PM Naredra Modi was that it was a hologram "we are supposed to watch the trailer and imagine the film exists," she added. The TMC Tuesday transferred West Bengal's Coochbehar district Superintendent of Police (SP) Abhishek Gupta, two days ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in the area. New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress has written to the Chief Election Commissioner against the transfer of the Superintendent of Police, Coochbehar, alleging that the move was "arbitrary, motivated and biased" and claiming that the poll body was taking instructions from the leaders of the BJP. The TMC Tuesday transferred West Bengal's Coochbehar district Superintendent of Police (SP) Abhishek Gupta, two days ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in the area. "The decision taken by the EC to transfer Superintendent of Police, Coochbehar, Abhishek Gupta just two days before the date of election is arbitrary, motivated and biased. From the events unfolded in the recent past, it is amply clear that such order of transfer has been passed at the behest of the ruling party at the Centre ie BJP...especially in view of the statements issued by the leaders during the recent election meeting held at Coochbehar in respect of which a complaint has been submitted to you on 7 April," the letter from TMC's leader Derek O Brien has said. He has further alleged that BJP leader and former TMC MP Mukul Roy had threatened the SP during an election meeting earlier. "In the presence of the prime minister he (Roy) will be robbed off his uniform. He obliquely hinted that he (Gupta) will be replaced or removed by the Election Commission. "Your action clearly indicates that such a decision has been taken as per his instructions and compels us to question the bona fide of this decision. From the transfer order issued by the EC, it is amply clear that the EC has been complying with the directions of the BJP leaders communicated through election meeting held on April 7," he alleged. In the transfer order issued by EC, Amit Kumar Singh has been posted as SP Coochbehar. Singh has been deputed by the state government as a police observer to Bihar. "Bringing him to the post of SP just 48 hours before the election shows that the EC does not expect to conduct the election in a proper manner," Brien said. "EC, being a constitutional body, should not bow down to the powers of the central government and should not act as a mouthpiece of the BJP," he said. Brien also alleged that the EC by becoming a party to such a conspiracy has "belittled" its constitutional post. A delegation led by Brien will meet the CEC on Wednesday. The current trend of migration in Mallah community is depriving the next generation of schooling as well. Editor's note: This is part of a multi-article series on the jobs crisis in the three states crucial to Lok Sabha election 2019: Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. *** If you had to choose between your work and your right to vote, what would you do? Meena Mallah, 60, asks a pertinent question. Her voice echoes in her empty home. Her sons three of them and daughters-in-law are away with their kids, toiling as labourers in another district. Meena does not know where. She is living all alone in the village of Ramda in Western Uttar Pradeshs Kairana district. About 6,000 people of over 10,000 living in Ramda belong to the Mallah community that traditionally engaged in riverbed farming of fruits and vegetables along the Yamuna merely 3 kilometres from the village. But over the past half a decade or so, say villagers, the riverbed has been drying up, rendering it useless for farming. It has compelled the farmers of about 20 villages in Kairana along with Ramda to migrate to other parts of the state in search of employment. Mustqeem Mallah, 29, president of the Kevat Mallah Ekta Samiti, says at least 20,000 adults from different villages of Kairana belonging to the Mallah community have migrated. They either work as labourers in other peoples farms in Bihar, Uttarakhand or the ones that are better off and who lease land in the catchment areas of Ganga and cultivate crops they would have otherwise cultivated here, he says, taking this reporter through the Mallah basti of Ramda. The tranquillity of the village is only disturbed by the tyres of the car screeching through the narrow, deserted lanes. The odd breeze on a summer afternoon ruffles the leaves. Otherwise, even a whisper is loud enough to be heard. The most common sight is that of padlocked doors. The grocery store in the basti is open, but the owner is fast asleep on all fours outside the shop. For the people to come for a day to vote would mean they would have to renounce their daily wage and spend on travel on top of that, says Mustqeem. It is sad that 20,000 people would not be able to exercise their right to choose their representative because they have to worry about their livelihood. The Mallahs have been traditionally marginalised. They do not own farmlands, which is why they have been cultivating crops in the riverbed. Education in the community is not great. The current trend of migration is depriving the next generation of schooling as well. Most of the migrants have migrated with their kids, for there is nobody back home to look after them. The school in the village has over 100 kids enrolled. During this period, it cuts a sorry figure with only 3 or 4 remaining in classes. It impacts their education and the community cannot hope to progress like that, says Mustqeem. Kairana had hit headlines in 2016 after BJP alleged of a Hindu exodus triggered due to the law and order situation. The narrative later turned out to be incorrect. What is happening right now is a different kind of an exodus, which not many are talking about. Sitting MP from Kairana, Tabassum Hasan, who is contesting on the Samajwadi Party ticket, told ANI, "Migration is not an issue here. When there are no employment opportunities here people will have to go out to work and also for better education. In the coming time, our focus will be on creating employment opportunities here." The farmers that migrate in search of employment cultivate muskmelon, watermelon and cucumber, among others. The crops are water guzzlers, and can only be cultivated well in the catchment area of the river, which is getting shallower by the day. The Haryana government does not release water from Hathnikund barrage, and the riverbed dries up, says Mustqeem. Both the states have a BJP government. Why cant they sort it out among themselves and arrive at a conclusion? Further, illegal sand mining worsens the problem. The crops are nurtured in the sand and if there is no sand, how would we cultivate anything? The crops in question are winter crops that are sowed in January and harvested around June end. The villages along Yamuna delta are therefore deserted for those 6-7 months. Once the migrants are back, they work as hawkers in Kairana during monsoons. If they make decent money during their time away from home, their priority after coming back is getting their daughters married. But that too is a task. Twenty people from Gaffar Mallahs joint family have leased land in the catchment of Ganga in the district of Bijnor in West Uttar Pradesh. He has stayed back to look after the home. It has become much more difficult to survive, he says. The investment in cultivating the same crops in Ganga is double of what used to be the investment here. We have to pay rent and spend on building makeshift huts in which the families stay for six months. If we made a profit of Rs 40,000 earlier, it is down to Rs 10,000 or Rs 15,000 now. Gaffar, 24, spends his time looking for labour work in Kairana while his family is away. I get work twice a week at Rs 250 per day, he says. My time passes looking for daily wages. Meena is unluckier in that regard. At over 60, she cannot indulge in labour work either. I cook food for myself, fill up water. There are a few old people like me still in the village. I spend time with them, she says with a wry smile deepening the wrinkles on her face. When my family is here, we are 12 of us. I get to spend time with my grandkids as well. My sons call me twice a week when they are away, and I feel alive again. Otherwise, I feel like a ghost in my own home. First person With illegal sand mining and drying up of Yamuna riverbed, very few farmers have space to cultivate watermelon or cucumber along the river. Tanvir Mallah, 50, of Nagalarai village is one of them. Why didnt you go? I did not have enough money to lease land along the Ganga. I thought I would continue to try my luck here. But it looks like I will have to migrate soon. If not around Ganga, I would indulge in labour work. Why? I had sowed peas. Everything has dried up. Even the borewell I have dug could not save the crop. The money I invested in it has gone down the drain. Now my hopes are on cucumber to recover some of the losses. How long have you been farming? As long as I can remember. This is what we have been doing since our forefathers time. The riverbed is deserted today. How was it about 10-15 years back? I am one of the very few still operating here. I remember only 10 years back this place would be full of crops and farmers. You would have had to locate the sand amid the crops. Today, it is desolate. We do not have money, neither do we have any social standing. tech2 News Staff Google hasn't mentioned anything about a Pixel 4 arriving anytime soon, but the phone appears to be in the hands of Android developers for software tests already. The Google Pixel 4 was spotted being mentioned by Google for the first time inside the Android Open Source Project (or AOSP) last week. The phone has now been spotted again, this time, alongside the Pixel 3a we've been rampantly hearing about lately. As per a report by 9To5Google, a new code change was posted on Monday under Android Gerrit source code management, bearing the title Disable Driver Preloading for Pixel 3a and 4. The commit does not reveal anything much in terms of specifications or hardware but does suggest that there are certain changes that need to be made in the Pixel 3a and Pixel 4 to make them adjustable in Google's internal Android code. Long story short, neither of the two devices are quite ready for use yet. What's also disappointing is the fact that we're yet to know of Google's aquatic codename for the Pixel 4. While the codename itself doesn't reveal much about the device, it does help to discover device information directly from Google. The codenames also recently helped diggers find the Pixel 3as specs appearing in the Google Play Developer Console under the Bonito and Sargo codenames. The Pixel 4 is expected launch later in the year, while the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL are rumoured to launch soon. Reuters India's trade ministry says it cannot impose a ban on electronic cigarette imports as there is no legal basis for doing so, an internal government memo viewed by Reuters shows, in a boost for those looking to tap into the country's growing vaping market. This comes amid repeated calls for a ban from the country's health ministry, which urged states and government agencies last year in an "advisory" to step up efforts to halt sales and imports, warning vaping devices pose a "great health risk". The country has 106 million adult smokers, second only to China, making it a lucrative market for firms such US-based Juul Labs and Philip Morris International that plan to launch e-smoking devices in the country. India's Jubilant group, one of whose units has the franchisee for Domino's Pizza and Dunkin' Donuts outlets in the country, is already exploring importing Juul's vaping device, a company letter shows. Halting imports of e-cigarettes into India will be against multilateral commitments with the World Trade Organization, according to the internal government memo dated March 18. The country must first prohibit local sales through federal regulations that "can stand the scrutiny of law", the memo adds. Once that is done, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) can announce an "import ban", the memo said. As of now, the health ministry's "advisory" cannot be a legal basis for a ban, the trade ministry, which has the power to impose import bans, said in the memo that is not yet public. The DGFT did not respond to a request for comment. A health ministry official said the ministry will work with the DGFT to explore how a ban can be imposed. Jubilant & Juul India's $12 billion cigarette market is dominated by companies such as ITC and Godfrey Phillips, both of which also sell e-cigarettes. Its vapour-products market was valued at $15.6 million in 2017 and is seen growing nearly 60% annually in the next few years, Euromonitor International estimates. Keen to tap into this growth, Juul has hired new executives in India and plans to launch its products in the country by late 2019, Reuters has previously reported. But India's health ministry has called to block Juul's entry, saying its product was "harmful" and could undermine India's tobacco-control efforts. A Jubilant unit, however, said in a letter to the health ministry dated 11 January, that it had identified Juul as a "highly safe" product which has "benefited millions of consumers". Jubilant Offshore said in the letter it was in "advanced stages" of importing and selling e-cigarettes in the country. A Jubilant spokesman said "we believe there is demonstrable scientific evidence" that such products are a viable alternative to cigarettes and that the group is "exploring the category". Juul said it was in the process of evaluating India by having conversations with stakeholders. The benefits of e-cigarettes, most of which vaporize a liquid containing nicotine, have been a topic for much debate in the global public health community. Some say it helps shift smokers to less harmful products, but others argue it could create a new generation of addicts. As of 2016, e-cigarettes were banned in 30 of World Health Organization's 195 member states. In India, about a third of its 29 states currently ban e-cigarette sales. The country, home to the world's second-largest population at 1.3 billion, has tough laws to deter tobacco use, which the government says kills more than 900,000 people annually. tech2 News Staff Samsung at an event in Bangkok announced its brand new Galaxy A80 smartphone that packs in a couple of firsts for the brand. The Galaxy A80 will go on sale starting 29 May will be priced at 649 euros. Local pricing and availability of the Galaxy A80 has yet to be announced. While Samsung skipped on the bezel-less trend and went with an Infinity-O display for its premium Galaxy S10 series this year, it seems to have reserved the same for the A series indeed. The A80's party-trick apart from being the first Samsung smartphone to feature a bezel-less display is a motorised pop-up camera with a spring-loaded mechanism to flip the cameras over for selfies. The smartphone is also the first Samsung device to skip on the receiver speaker used for placing calls. It uses a technology that vibrates the display to produce audio when held to the ear. Apart from the bezel-less 6.7-inch New Infinity display, there's a well-equipped triple camera setup with a 48 MP (f/2.0) + 8 MP (123 -degree ultra-wide lens) and 3D ToF sensors that can also flip over to click selfies. There's an octa-core 2.2 GHz SoC paired with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB of internal storage and runs Android 9 Pie with Samsung's One UI skinning. The handset is powered by a 3,700 mAh battery and comes equipped with 25 W fast-charging. The Galaxy A80 like the A50 also features an in-display fingerprint reader for secure authentication. The handset will be available in Angel Gold, Ghost White and Phantom Black colour options. Consumers are at the centre of everything we do and they search for devices personalized to their specific lifestyle. Armed with our expertise, global capabilities and rich consumer insights, Samsung is uniquely positioned to provide innovations for everyone, said DJ Koh, President and CEO of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. The Galaxy A Series provides a range of models so everyone can choose a device that fits their unique needs and enables them to pursue their passions. The Galaxy A80 offers premium features for digital natives who want to fully engage in the Era of Live. tech2 News Staff Samsung is expected to host as many as three separate launch events to unveil the company's latest wave of Galaxy A series of smartphones later today. One of the phones expected to launch is the Galaxy A80. Referred to as the Galaxy A90 over the past few months, the Galaxy A80 has now been spotted on GeekBench, revealing some of the phone's key hardware specifications. As per a report by GizmoChina, the phone stopped by the Geekbench database bearing the 'Galaxy SM-A805F' moniker. Going by Samsung's usual naming order, this is our first confirmation of the fact that the phone will indeed be called Galaxy A80 and not A90. The phone was spotted running on Qualcomm's SM6150 platform which is believed to be a successor to the Snapdragon 675 chipset. This does contradict previous leaks which suggested that the Galaxy A90 will sport an SM7150 chipset. The chipset is coupled with 8 GB of RAM and the smartphone achieved a score of 2,488 and 6,732 points in Geekbench's single and multi-core tests, respectively. From what we know so far, the Samsung Galaxy A90 is expected to feature a 6.7-inch FHD+ OLED display with a resolution of 1,080 x 2,400 pixel, without a notch. The phone is said to arrive with a slider, which houses a set of three cameras (48 MP primary + 8 MP + ToF camera) and can be rotated for selfies and video calls. The battery capacity of the device has been revealed to be 3,700 mAh with 25W fast charging support. We're hopeful that the confusion around the Galaxy A90 and the Galaxy A80 is over once Samsung gets underway with its launch events. Reuters US Senators Mark Warner, a Democrat, and Deb Fischer, a Republican, are introducing a bill on Tuesday to ban big online companies like Facebook and Twitter from using deception to push consumers to do things they otherwise would not do. The bill would also ban online platforms with more than 100 million monthly active users from designing addicting games or other websites for children under age 13. The bill takes aim at "dark patterns" developed using behavioral psychology, which misleads people into giving personal data to companies or otherwise trick them into doing something they would not do. A website aimed at tracking dark patterns identifies behavior such as a website or app showing that a user has new notifications when they do not. "Our goal is simple: to instill a little transparency in what remains a very opaque market and ensure that consumers are able to make more informed choices about how and when to share their personal information," said Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, in a statement. The bill would bar companies from choosing groups of people for behavioral experiments, unless the companies get informed consent. Under the terms of the bill, social media companies would create a professional standards body to create best practices to deal with the issue. The Federal Trade Commission, which investigates deceptive advertising, would work with the group. < 2 /16 A dust-bound supermassive black hole [artist's impression] Image: ESA/Hubble, the AVO project and Paolo Padovani < 3 /16 The fictional Millers planet orbiting the black hole 'Gargantua' in the movie Interstellar. Image: Interstellarfilm.wikia.com/Paramount Pictures < 4 /16 The black hole named Cygnus X-1 in the Milky Way galaxy was formed when a large star collapsed in on itself. This artist's illustration depicts what astronomers think happened within the Cygnus X-1 system. Image: NASA < 5 /16 This image shows visible/near-infrared images taken by NASA's Hubble telescope showing a massive star ~25 times the Sun's mass, that has winked out of existence leaving no supernova or other explanation behind. Image: NASA/ESA/C. Kochanek < 6 /16 These visible/near-infrared images taken by NASA's Hubble telescope show a massive star ~25 times the Sun's mass, that has winked out of existence leaving no supernova or other explanation behind. Image: NASA/ESA/STScI < 7 /16 A supermassive black hole with more than 4.1 million times the mass of the Sun is right in the centre of the Milky Way, just 26,000 light-years away! And as we speak, its in the process of tearing apart entire stars and star systems. Image: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Flickr visualisation of the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. Image: ESA Advanced Concepts Team (Images and code), ESO/S Brunier (Milky Way background)." title="An interactive visualisation of the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. Image: ESA Advanced Concepts Team (Images and code), ESO/S Brunier (Milky Way background)." data-url="https://www.firstpost.com/tech/photos/black-hole-event-horizons-stunning-images-of-black-holes-weve-never-actually-seen-6420191-8.html" data-desc="An interactive visualisation of the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. Image: ESA Advanced Concepts Team (Images and code), ESO/S Brunier (Milky Way background)." data-index="18" data-photo-id="8"> < 8 /16 visualisation of the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. Image: ESA Advanced Concepts Team (Images and code), ESO/S Brunier (Milky Way background)." title="An interactiveof the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. Image: ESA Advanced Concepts Team (Images and code), ESO/S Brunier (Milky Way background)." data-url="https://www.firstpost.com/tech/photos/black-hole-event-horizons-stunning-images-of-black-holes-weve-never-actually-seen-6420191-8.html" data-desc="An interactiveof the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. Image: ESA Advanced Concepts Team (Images and code), ESO/S Brunier (Milky Way background)." data-index="18" data-photo-id="8"> An interactive visualisation of the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. Image: ESA Advanced Concepts Team (Images and code), ESO/S Brunier (Milky Way background). < 9 /16 A supermassive black hole consuming matter from a nearby star [artistic illustration]. Image: NASA/JLP-Caltech < 10 /16 An artist's illustration of a black hole apocalypse. Image credit: NOVA/WGBH < 11 /16 A black holes curves space-time [artist's concept]. Image: NOVA/WGBH < 12 /16 Would you survive if you travel through an enormous black hole like in the movies? Physicists have been studying the notion, and they think there's no chance we'll survive one. Image: Roen Kelly/Discover < 13 /16 Jets of energy and matter being thrown out from the centre of the Hercules A galaxy, at nearly the speed of light. This demonstrates the awesome destructive power of black holes [artistic concept based on Hubble data]. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech < 14 /16 Massive jets propelling away from the black hole at the centre of Centaurus A Galaxy, 13 million light-years away. The jets alone stretch further in space than the Galaxy itself. Image: ESO/WFI/MPIfR/APEX/NASA/CXC < 15 /16 The aftermath of two merging neutron stars observed in 2017 (pictured), suggests that a black hole was created from the merger [artist's illustration] Image: NSA/LIGO/Sonoma State University Partial results with 80 percent of votes counted showed Benjamin Netanyahus Likud with 38 seats, 8 more than in the previous election in 2015, and Benny Gantzs centrist Blue and White Party with 36. Jerusalem: Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main challenger Benny Gantz claimed victory in Israels election but exit polls and early results indicated on Wednesday the veteran right-wing leader was on course for a record fifth term. Partial results with 80 percent of votes counted showed Netanyahus Likud with 38 seats, 8 more than in the previous election in 2015, and Gantzs centrist Blue and White Party with 36, the Knesset website and Israeli TV channels said several hours after polls closed. Exit polls on two of Israels three main TV channels earlier showed Likud several seats ahead while a third survey put Blue and White one seat ahead of Likud. Though neither party captured a ruling majority in the 120-member Knesset, according to the polls, the surveys put Netanyahu in a strong position to form a coalition government with right-wing factions, key to an ultimate victory. It is a night of colossal victory, the 69-year-old Netanyahu told cheering supporters in a late-night speech at Likud headquarters, while cautioning that a long night and possibly day lay ahead awaiting official results. Fireworks flared behind him as his wife Sara applauded and kissed him. Hes a magician, the crowd chanted. If he wins, Netanyahu, 69, will be on track to be the longest-serving prime minister in Israels 71-year history. Netanyahu said he had already begun talks with prospective coalition allies. Netanyahu, in power consecutively since 2009, has been fighting for his political survival. The closely contested race was widely seen in Israel as a referendum on his character and record in the face of corruption allegations. He faces possible indictment in three graft cases, and has denied wrongdoing in all three. Rival Gantz, 59, earlier also claimed victory, citing preliminary exit polls that showed his party had won more seats than Likud. We are the victors, said Gantz, a former military chief fighting his first election. We want to thank Benjamin Netanyahu for his service to the nation. Political analysts cautioned it was too early to be certain of the outcome, with many hours to go before a final tally is in. Ofer Zalzberg, senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said Likud and Blue and White would have to learn the fate of smaller parties to know whether they had garnered enough support for a coalition. Netanyahu is more likely to establish another right-wing government, but we will have to wait and see, he said. Netanyahu highlights Trump ties During the campaign, the rival parties accused each other of corruption, fostering bigotry and being soft on security. Netanyahu highlighted his close relationship with US President Donald Trump, who delighted Israelis and angered Palestinians by recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital in 2017 and moving the American Embassy to the holy city last May. Two weeks before the election, Trump signed a proclamation, with Netanyahu at his side at the White House, recognising Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. In a rare turn during the race towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Netanyahu further alarmed Palestinians by promising to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if re-elected. Palestinians seek a state there and in the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. During the campaign, Gantz said a government under his stewardship would pursue peace, but stopped short of committing to the establishment of a Palestinian state. Commenting on the election, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said: Israelis have voted to preserve the status quo. They have said no to peace and yes to the occupation. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed in 2014. A close result in the election would put smaller parties in a powerful position, turning marginal political figures into kingmakers. Once the votes are tallied, President Reuven Rivlin will ask parties that have won parliamentary seats who they support for prime minister. He will then pick a party leader to try to form a coalition, giving the candidate 28 days to do so, with a two-week extension if needed. One factor may be the turnout of voters from Israels 21 percent Arab minority. Many were angered by Israels nation-state law, passed in 2018, which declared that only Jews have the right of self-determination in the country. Netanyahu supported the legislation. Netanyahus party sent monitors equipped with body cameras to a number of polling stations with Arab constituents on election day. Arab politicians condemned the move as voter intimidation. Photo: The Canadian Press Former cabinet minister Jane Philpott is asking the Speaker of the House of Commons to examine whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau violated the law when he expelled her and Jody Wilson-Raybould from the Liberal caucus. Despite new rules laid out in the Parliament of Canada Act, MPs can't be kicked out of caucus without a vote, and yet Trudeau made a unilateral decision last week to eject her and Wilson-Raybould, Philpott declared Tuesday as she asked Speaker Geoff Regan to declare that their privileges were violated. Read more Testifying before a Senate subcommittee just as Israel wrapped up tight elections, Pompeo declined to respond when Democrats asked him to back a two-state solution Washington: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday refused to reaffirm US support for a Palestinian state after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to annex West Bank settlements. Testifying before a Senate subcommittee just as Israel wrapped up tight elections, Pompeo declined to respond when Democrats asked him to back a two-state solution. "Ultimately the Israelis and Palestinians will decide how to resolve this," Pompeo replied. Pompeo said that President Donald Trump's aides Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt would soon lay out a proposal "to resolve a problem that's been going on for decades and decades that previous administrations couldn't solve." "We're hopeful that we have some ideas that are different, unique, which will allow the Israelis and the Palestinian people to come to a resolution of the conflict," Pompeo said. Kushner, who is also Trump's son-in-law, has close family ties to Netanyahu, who was locked in a tight race to remain prime minister against centrist former military chief Benny Gantz. Days before the election, Netanyahu broke precedent by saying that he would annex at least parts of the occupied West Bank. Unilateral annexation "indicates no agreement with the Palestinians," Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, told Pompeo. "It sounds like you've already abandoned what has been a bipartisan foreign policy of opposing the annexation of any or all of the West Bank by Israel," he said. Trump has strongly supported Netanyahu and taken a series of major actions long sought by Israel, including recognizing Jerusalem as capital of the Jewish state. Gantz criticized Netanyahu's annexation pledge, calling it "irresponsible" and questioning why a prime minister who has served for 13 years was making such a historic decision on the eve of an election. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Angela Merkel says she is determined that Brexit must not poison relations between Britain and the European Union and went out of her way at a crisis summit on Wednesday to show her lighter side to Theresa May. As the British prime minister braced herself to try to persuade the increasingly irritated 27 other EU national leaders to give her yet more time to end deadlock in London over a deal, the German chancellor wandered over, tablet computer in hand. Merkel, 64, showed May, 62, what EU officials said was a photomontage of both women, both addressing their respective parliaments earlier in the day -- and both sporting the similar blue jackets that they were wearing later in Brussels. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Angela Merkel says she is determined that Brexit must not poison relations between Britain and the European Union and went out of her way at a crisis summit on Wednesday to show her lighter side to Theresa May. As the British prime minister braced herself to try to persuade the increasingly irritated 27 other EU national leaders to give her yet more time to end deadlock in London over a deal, the German chancellor wandered over, tablet computer in hand. Merkel, 64, showed May, 62, what EU officials said was a photomontage of both women, both addressing their respective parliaments earlier in the day -- and both sporting the similar blue jackets that they were wearing later in Brussels. Cameras on the other side of the table captured them both burst into laughter. The chancellor also shared the joke with others nearby, including summit chair Donald Tusk, before talks got started in earnest. May spoke for an hour, explaining her request for a delay in Britain's departure from Friday to June 30. She was then shown out while the 27 discussed Britain's fate over dinner. French President Emmanuel Macron has led a push to keep May on a tight schedule for departure but Merkel has taken a softer line, saying a no-deal Brexit would be bad for Europe. (Reporting by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Kevin Liffey) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump phoned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to congratulate him on his re-election, and Netanyahu said he thanked his ally for 'tremendous support for Israel.' Netanyahu tweeted that Trump had called him from Air Force One. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump phoned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to congratulate him on his re-election, and Netanyahu said he thanked his ally for "tremendous support for Israel." Netanyahu tweeted that Trump had called him from Air Force One. The president was on a flight to Texas. Netanyahu secured a clear path to re-election on Wednesday, and a record fifth term in office, with religious-rightist parties set to hand him a parliamentary majority, despite a close contest against his main centrist challenger. "Trump warmly congratulated (me) and the Israeli people," Netanyahu tweeted. "(I) thanked President Trump for his tremendous support for Israel, including recognition of Jerusalem and the Golan," he said. Trump said in a tweet he congratulated Netanyahu on "a great and hard-fought win." "The United States is with him and the People of Israel all the way!" he said. Breaking with decades of U.S. policy and international consensus, Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2017 and Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights last month. Trump moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem last May, further angering Palestinians. Netanyahu said that, in the telephone call, he also thanked Trump for designating Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization on Monday. In remarks to reporters at the White House, Trump said Netanyahu's re-election improved the chances of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. "Everybody says you cant have peace in the Middle East, with Israel and the Palestinians," Trump told reporters at the White House. "I think we have a chance. I think we have now a better chance with Bibi having won," he said, referring to Netanyahu, who leads the conservative Likud party, by his nickname. "Hes been a great ally and hes a friend. Id like to congratulate him on a well-thought-out race," Trump said. During the election campaign, Netanyahu highlighted his close relationship with Trump, erecting billboards showing the two leaders smiling and shaking hands. A team led by Trump's adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner has been working on an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, but has not disclosed details. Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said that "Israelis have voted to preserve the status quo. They have said 'no' to peace and 'yes' to the occupation." The Palestinians demand a full return to the borders that existed before the 1967 war when Israel seized the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu said on Saturday that he would annex Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank if he won another term in office. The last round of U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed in 2014. (Reporting by Steve Holland in Washington and Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem; Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Jonathan Oatis) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, on the phone on Tuesday about Iran and 'the importance of human rights issues,' the White House said. A bipartisan chorus of U.S WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, on the phone on Tuesday about Iran and "the importance of human rights issues," the White House said. A bipartisan chorus of U.S. lawmakers have called on the White House to harden its stance with ally Saudi Arabia after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but Trump has said its partnership with the Gulf country is important for the U.S. economy and maintaining stability in the Middle East. (Reporting by Makini Brice) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. TOKYO/PARIS (Reuters) - The wife of ousted Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn returned to Japan on Wednesday and intends to testify to Tokyo prosecutors, a source close to her entourage said, days after she left the country to seek help from the French government. The source, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said Carole Ghosn would be questioned by authorities as soon as Thursday, confirming a report by the Nikkei newspaper earlier on Wednesday. Prosecutors last week arrested the former Nissan chairman for the fourth time on suspicion he tried to enrich himself at the cost of $5 million to the automaker TOKYO/PARIS (Reuters) - The wife of ousted Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn returned to Japan on Wednesday and intends to testify to Tokyo prosecutors, a source close to her entourage said, days after she left the country to seek help from the French government. The source, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said Carole Ghosn would be questioned by authorities as soon as Thursday, confirming a report by the Nikkei newspaper earlier on Wednesday. Prosecutors last week arrested the former Nissan chairman for the fourth time on suspicion he tried to enrich himself at the cost of $5 million to the automaker. Authorities had also wanted to question his wife on suspicion that Ghosn had siphoned off payments through a company where his wife is an executive to purchase a yacht and a boat, public broadcaster NHK has reported. Ghosn has said he is innocent of all the charges against him and said he is the victim of a boardroom coup. His wife left Japan last week after Ghosn's arrest, telling the Financial Times she was going to seek help for her spouse, a French citizen. Paris has said it was monitoring the situation. Prosecutors had earlier seized her Lebanese passport but overlooked her U.S. one, allowing her to leave Japan, the Financial Times said. The Nikkei reported on Wednesday that she had arrived back in Japan at Tokyo's Haneda airport, with the intention of testifying to prosecutors on Thursday, citing sources. The newspaper quoted her as saying she wanted to tell a court that there was "absolutely nothing illegal". A spokesman for Ghosn did not immediately respond to a request for comment. NHK said last week that prosecutors asked her to meet them for voluntary questioning as an unsworn witness, but the request was turned down, which prompted them to ask judges to question her on their behalf. Such a request gives judges the power to question on a mandatory basis witnesses who refuse to testify, according to NHK. (Reporting by David Dolan in Tokyo; Emmanuel Jarry, Matthias Blamont in Paris; Editing by Keith Weir and Susan Fenton) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Kumpulan Daftar Situs Slot Online Deposit Pulsa Tanpa Potongan Selamat datang di hscbet yang merupakan daftar situs judi slot deposit pulsa tanpa potongan resmi pragmatic play Indonesia terpercaya. Selain itu slot online hscbet juga merupakan agen judi slot deposit pulsa tanpa potongan terbaik serta terlengkap no 1 di Indonesia yang telah menjadi bandar judi slot terbesar di Indonesia. Hscbet juga adalah situs judi slot online terbaik 2021 dengan nama nama situs judi slot online resmi deposit pulsa xl dan telkomsel tanpa potongan. Kami menyediakan banyak permainan judi online seperti taruhan bola online, casino, slot, togel, poker, balak play, idn poker, arcade game, sabung ayam, tembak ikan, dan masih banyak permainan menarik lainnya. Hanya dengan 1 user id anda sudah bisa bermain semua permainan. Kami akan memberikan banyak jackpot progresif dari mesin slot yang kami tawarkan kepada anda. Sebagai salah satu nya game slot ternama dan sangat terkenal di seluruh dunia sebagai tempat perjudian judi casino online yang terpercaya dan terbaik di indonesia saat ini. Seperti yang kita ketahui kalau permainan slot sudah menjadi permainan terpopuler di Indonesia, Dimana para pecinta judi slot online deposit pulsa tanpa potongan mudah sekali mendapatkan kemenangan lewat situs judi slot yang sering memberikan kemenangan untuk mereka. Tetapi anda tidak boleh salah dalam memilih provider slot dan situs slot, Karena tidak semua agen judi slot sering memberi slot gacor pragmatic play dan pg soft. Untuk anda yang ingin sering mendapatkan kemenangan besar dan jackpot besar hanya disini tempatnya yaitu hscbet. Hscbet yakin kalau provider yang kami sediakan mudah menang serta gampang menang dan bahkan akan memberikan jackpot terbesar untuk semua member baru dan member lama yang bermain di hscbet. Kumpulan Daftar Situs Slot Online Deposit Pulsa Tanpa Potongan Cara daftar situs judi slot deposit pulsa tanpa potongan di hscbet sangat mudah sekali anda bisa mendaftarkan pada menu yang tersedia, permainan judi slot online sangat mudah di mainkan dengan hp atau dengan smartphone android atau ios karena semua jenis perangkat dapat bermain di situs judi slot resmi dan terpercaya kami apalagi untuk kalangan orang indonesia yang suka dengan perjudian. Anda akan dapat memilih permainan slot online, casino online, poker dan Agen judi lain yang ada pada hscbet. Cara hoki main game slot bisa anda lihat melalui tutorial yang ada di media sosial judi slot misalnya youtube, facebook dan masih banyak lagi. Hscbet akan membayar berapapun kemenangan anda karena situs casino kami sudah terbukti sebagai situs perjudian online resmi dan terpercaya yang telah hadir di Indonesia untuk menemani anda. Bergabung dengan situs judi slot online online kami merupakan pilihan yang tepat bagi anda. Judi slot 4d kami juga menyediakan slot deposit pulsa tanpa potongan ataupun bisa transaksi melalui Emoney yang tersedia sekarang ini seperti dana, ovo, gopay, linkaja pada website kami. Hscbet akan membayar berapapun kemenangan anda dan selalu siap online 24 jam untuk melayani anda setiap hari, Situs judi slot online pragmatic gacor hari ini, Selain itu proses deposit dan withdraw di hscbet juga sangat cepat hanya butuh 3 menit. Bagi anda yang tidak percaya kalau pelayanan kami yang terbaik, Anda bisa coba untuk daftar dan bermain di hscbet yang merupakan situs judi game slot terbaik dan terpercaya serta terlengkap di Indonesia yang selalu gampang menang dan mudah menang untuk semua member baru serta member lama yang bergabung di hscbet. Kecepatan Server % Keamanan Data Akun % Rating Situs % Layanan Support % 4dslot merupakan salah satu agen judi slot deposit pulsa tanpa potongan yang telah memiliki lisensi sebagai situs judi slot online terbaik dan terpercaya di Indonesia sebab banyak sekali fasilitas yang bisa anda dapatkan di sini. Banyak sekali agen judi 4dslot yang mengaku akan memberikan fasilitas terbaik untuk membernya, Namun buktinya mereka tidak memberikan bonus yang besar untuk member mereka, Bahkan ada situs judi slot 4d yang sama sekali tidak memberikan bonus kepada membernya. Tetapi jika anda bermain di 4dslot anda tidak akan mengalami hal seperti itu karena 4dslot berani memberikan bonus yang besar untuk member yang bermain di 4dslot. Di 4dslot anda bisa memainkan semua permainan yang ingin anda mainkan, Tujuan kami menyediakan banyak permainan agar semua member kami bisa mecoba hoki mereka di permainan yang berbeda. Karena memberikan kepuasan untuk member adalah salah satu pioritas utama kami agar kami bisa terus berkembang menjadi situs judi slot terpercaya no 1 di Indonesia. Untuk anda yang sedang mencari agen judi slot online dan situs judi 4dslot terpercaya disnilah tempatnya, Kami yakin anda akan sangat puas jika bermain dan menang bersama kami agen judi slot terbaik serta situs judi slot 4d terpercaya di Indonesia 4dslot. Untuk anda yang masih ragu melakukan deposit besar, Anda bisa mencoba dengan deposit kecil terlebih dahulu atau sesuai minimal deposit yang di berikan oleh 4dslot. Daftar Situs Agen Judi 4dslot dan Slot4d Deposit Pulsa Tanpa Potongan Selain sebagai situs judi slot deposit pulsa tanpa potongan terbaru dan agen judi online terbesar, kami juga menyediakan banyak sekali jenis provider judi live casino yang bisa anda mainkan kapan pun dan dimanapun dengan minimal bet yang sangat rendah. Seperti yang kita ketahui kalau judi casino merupakan permainan yang paling banyak diminati dan paling di cari oleh masyarakat Indonesia. Karena permainan live casino ini di siarakan live secara langsung dan banyak sekali permainan yang dapat anda mainkan di agen casino online terpercaya slot4d seperti perjudian kasino daring, baccarat, roullete, sicbo, dragon tiger, black jack, dan masih banyak permainan judi casino lainnya. Untuk permainan live casino kami juga memberikan bonus rollingan yang sangat tinggi dan kami menyediakan provider sbobet casino, ion casino, ag gaming, sexy baccarat, allbet, evolution gaming, dream gaming, pretty gaming dan pragmatic play. Semua game judi live casino yang terdapat di slot4d dapat anda mainkan melalui smartphone android dan ios, Jadi anda tidak perlu harus duduk di depan komputer atau laptop anda. Jadi untuk anda yang masih belum daftar di situs judi casino slot4d, Anda bisa langsung klik tombol daftar yang terdapat di atas karena banyak sekali bonus yang sedang menunggu anda. Kami selalu berupaya memberikan keamanan dan kenyamanan untuk member kami, Jadi anda tidak perlu takut karena situs casino slot4d ini sangat aman dan fair. Kami akan bayar berapapun jika member kami menang dan akan kami proses withdraw anda secepat mungkin asal tidak terjadi gangguan pada bank lokal Indonesia yang bersangkutan. Tujuan kami mendirikan situs judi casino dan agen judi casino slot4d hanya untuk memudahkan para member yang ingin bermain judi online. Agen Judi Slot 4d dan 4D Slot Deposit Pulsa Tanpa Potongan 4dslot yang telah menjadi bandar situs judi slot deposit pulsa tanpa potongan dan live casino terbesar di Indonesia selalu memberikan yang terbaik untuk para member yang bermain di slot4d karena tanpa member kami, 4dslot tidak akan berkembang seperti sekarang ini. Berkat kepercayaan member baru dan member setia kami, Kami bisa selalu melakukan update terbaru pada situs kami dan menjadikan situs kami lebih baik dari sebelumnya. Kami juga menerima kritik dan saran dari member untuk situs kami, Jadi untuk anda yang memiliki masalah dengan situs kami, Anda bisa menghubungi kami melalui email yang tertera di situs resmi slot4d. Kami sangat membutuhkan kritik dan saran dari member setia kami agar situs kami bisa mejadi lebih baik dan tetapi menjadi bandar judi slot dan casino terbesar di Indonesia. 4dslot menyediakan transaksi menggunakan bank lokal Indonesia seperti Bank BCA, MANDIRI, BNI dan DANAMON, Selain itu kami juga menerima slot deposit pulsa tanpa potongan melalui serta e-money seperti OVO, DANA, GOPAY, dan LINK AJA. Bagi member yang tempat tinggalnya jauh dari mesin ATM bisa deposit melalui e-money atau pulsa dan jika anda memiliki kendala atau masalah persoalan transfer e-money, anda bisa menghubungi customer service kami melalui livechat yang telah kami sediakan. Customer service kami akan selalu online 24 jam 7 hari untuk anda, Jadi anda tidak perlu ragu untuk bertanya kepada customer service kami. Perlu anda ketahui sekali lagi kalau slot4d akan selalu membayar berapapun kemenangan membernya, Jadi anda tidak perlu khawatir kalau kami tidak memproses deposit atau withdraw anda. Kami agen judi casino dan bandar judi qq slot terpercaya di Indonesia selalu berupaya memberikan yang terbaik untuk semua member yang bermain di situs judi slot resmi slot4d. REKOMENDASI 16 NAMA SITUS JUDI SLOT ONLINE TERPERCAYA Rekomendasi daftar nama situs judi slot online terpercaya sultanplay untuk semua member setia slot4d, Urutan yang kami berikan sesuai dengan persentase winrate terbesar sampai ke yang paling kecil. Berikut ini adalah 14 daftar nama situs judi slot online yang kami rekomendasi untuk di mainkan agar member tidak sering kalah sewaktu main slot. 1. PRAGMATIC PLAY Pragmatic play adalah salah satu provider mesin slot yang sangat di gemari oleh masyarakat Indonesia dan telah menjadi situs mesin jackpot paling unggul no 1 di Asia. Sebagai perusahaan yang terkemuka pragmatic play memiliki banyak sekali permainan yang sangat menghibur dan sangat menarik untuk di mainkan karena terdapat banyak sekali permainan seru yang dapat anda mainkan disini. Kami slot4d sebagai agen resmi pragmatic play selalu memberikan update game terbaru pragmatic play sebab kami adalah salah satu partner resmi provider tersebut. Untuk visi dan misi provider pragmatic adalah dapat menjadi pemimpin no 1 di I-Gaming. Setelah keberhasilannya meraih banyak sekali penghargaan maka kita bisa akui kalau memang provider mesin slot ini adalah yang terbaik di antara provider lainnya. 2. JOKER GAMING Joker gaming yang lebih sering di kenal dengan nama joker123 atau joker388 merupakan provider slot yang paling lama di Indonesia. Bisa di bilang kalau provider ini adalah yang pertama mengembangkan mesin slot ini dapat dimainkan secara online di Indonesia. Meskipun masih kalah dengan pragmatic play yang sedang maju pesat, Joker gaming ini memiliki peminat yang cukup banyak karena slot gacor ini sering memberikan jackpot untuk pemain. Jadi sampai saat ini kami masih sangat mengakui kalau joker slot bisa mendapatkan keuntungan dari jackpot dan free spinnya. 3. PG SOFT Pg soft adalah provider mesin slot yang bersingkatan dari Pocket Game Soft, Dimana perusahaan game online ini sangat terkenal di daratan Eropa dan Asia. Pg soft ini dikenal akan permainan judi slotnya yang sangat berkualitas bahkan provider ini memiliki banyak sekali keunggulan di dalamnya. Dari segi tampilannya pg soft ini mempunyai tampilan yang sangat menarik perhatian dan sangat cocok untuk dimainkan melalui smartphone, laptop dan komputer anda. Selain itu provider slot ini telah memiliki lisensi resmi jadi sangat aman untuk di mainkan dan win rate di mesin slot ini sangat tinggi. 4. HABANERO Habanero adalah salah satu perusahaan yang membuat games casino online berkualitas tinggi dengan bonus yang sangat besar. Provider ini didirikan pada tahun 2010 dan telah mendapatkan banyak sekali popularitas di dunia perjudian online. Selain berkembang di game slot, Habanero pertama kali sudah terkenal dengan game live casinonya yang sudah sangat berkembang. Perusahaan yang beroperasi di Johannesburg, Manilla, Kiev, dan Sofia ini, Memiliki misi untuk memberikan kesempatan kepada para peminatnya untuk mencoba permainan seru yang mereka ciptakan dan bagi pelanggan mereka yang beruntung akan mendapatkan jackpot dari mereka. 5. SPADE GAMING Spade gaming sebagai salah sati game slot terbaik sepanjang masa yang hadir pada platform kami. Judi slot spadegaming sanagat mudah menang karena game ini bisa di katakan sudah berumur didirikan pada tahun 2007 oleh Shen Seow di Malaysia dan spadegaming berkantor pusat di Malta dan Pilipina serta memiliki kantor di kota besar seperti Kamboja, Negara China, Republik Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand dan Vietnam. Saat ini spadegaming terus berkembang terus dan sudah ada 120 game slot judi online didalamnya, ini merupakan sebuah kabar gembira bagi pecinta game slot untuk merasakan kehangatan dari slot ini. 6. MICRO GAMING Situs slot microgaming indonesia yang memberikan big win bagi anda. Para pemain game slot online tentu sudah tidak asing lagi dengan nama judi slot yang satu ini, Mereka berasal dari program perangkat lunak yang berada di Isle Of Man. Rtp microgaming slot ini jangan di ragukan lagi sebab slot ini telah menyebar ke seluruh dia dan mereka selalu ada di setiap gedung kasino dan sudah di temukan pada tahun 1994. 7. RTG SLOTS Slot yang satu ini sangat fokus di negara bagian asia. Slot online rtg777 banyak jackpot dengan freespin dan scatter yang bisa di dapatkan dalam semua jenis permainan. Fitur yang bisa didapat dalam game ini akan memberikan pengalaman yang tidak bisa anda lupakan. Slot yang satu ini sangat berfokus pada semua mesin slot yang telah disediakan dan yang lebih mengesankan telah hadir pada provider kita, sesuai dengan nama judi slot rtgslots adalah real time gaming yang akan memberikan sesuatu yang nyata dengan jackpot dan kemenangan yang diberikan. 8. PLAYTECH Judi slot playtech indonesia adalah satu situs slot yang kami rekomendasikan anda untuk bermain, salah satu game slot terbesar dan sangat populer yang telah mendunia dengan perputaran yang menghasilkan kemenangan tak terduga. Playtech merupakan salah satu perusahaan program gaming yang di temukan pada tahun 1999. Perusahaan ini terus berkembang hingga seluruh casino online bisa ditemukan dan dimainkan kapanpun melalui perangkat online. 9. SLOT88 Slot88 indonesia telah hadir ditanah air kita untuk itu siapkan waktu untuk menikmati permainan game slot88ku yang sudah terbaik dan terpercaya ini. Game online yang meluncurkan banyak permainan menarik serta kemenangan besar juga bisa didapatkan melalui platform yang telah kami sediakan. Untuk memenangkan jackpot slot88 sangatlah mudah cukup bermain di salah satu permainan yang telah kami sediakan dalam situs judi online. 10. YYGDRASIL Menurut cerita yang beredar slot yygdrasil yang berarti suatu pohon raksasa yang bisa menampung seluruh dunia karena saling menghubungkan satu sama lain nya. Dari sejarah dan penulisan dalam beberapa cerita maka terpikirkan ide untuk membuat mesin slot dengan merek tersebut. Yygdrasil sering memberikan pengalaman tak terlupakan dengan jackpot yang sangat besar sekali dan kita akan di hibur dengan animasi pada fitur game ini. Yygdrasil indonesia telah tersedia lebih dari 100 game slot untuk memanjakan anda disaat sedang duduk santai sambil ngopi tentunya. 11. PLAY N GO Selamat datang situs slot playngo. Perusahaan yang berasal dari swedia dan mereka berdiri pada pertengahan tahun 90an ini selalu memberikan pelayanan yang terbaik, game slot ini sangat kreatif dan inovatif dalam menciptakan sebuah permainan yang bisa dimainkan pada situs judi slot online slot4d. Lebih dari 50 permainan yang bisa anda temukan dalam perangkat smartphone anda dan bukan hanya bisa dimainkan dalam casino. Untuk itu berilah kesempatan kepada diri anda merasakan sensational pada permainan yang satu ini. 12. CQ9 Slot Online cq9 merupakan game yang berasal dari daratan cina yaitu Taipei dan meluncurkan produk mereka pada tahun 2017. Perusahaan ini sangat teliti dengan pengerjaan atau setiap game yang mereka luncurkan merupakan hasil dari kerja tim IT terbaik dengan pengalaman yang mendalam pada bidangnya. Mereka memperkenalkan game dragon jackpot mereka pada tahun 2018 dan sekarang telah menjadi salah satu perusahaan gaming terbaik dengan permainan lainnya sebagai bukti dari kualitas perusahaan dan permainan yang mereka sediakan kepada seluruh orang tanpa harus pergi ke gedung kasino. 13. ONE TOUCH Ketika kita berbicara dengan inovasi dan evolusi yang semakin cepat, slot onetouch juga tidak kalah kreatifitas dengan mengeluarkan lebih dari 40 permainan yang bisa dimainkan diperangkat tanpa harus kebingungan. Perusahaan ini berkantor pusat di Tallinn, Estonia dan telah bekerja sama dengan Isle Of Man. Onetouch sangat berkembang dengan permainan mereka di negara eropa, asia, america dan banyak negara lainnya. Jadi jangan pernah ragu untuk slot online yang sudah mendunia karena jackpot yang mereka berikan tidak tanggung tanggung, itu akan membuat anda tidak percaya dengan yang bisa anda dapatkan. Slot Onetouch berdiri sejak tahun 2016 hingga sekarang. 14. FLOW GAMING Perusahaan ini telah banyak menyandang gelar dunia yang telah memberikan permainan slot yang sangat menarik bagi customer. Mereka telah bekerjasama dengan perusahaan besar penyedia layanan perjudian slot online yang terpercaya. Tim pada perusahaan ini memiliki pengalaman bekerja yang sudah lebih dari 50 tahun dalam bidang perjudian dengan membangun semua sistem seperti ini sampai sekarang. Flowgaming sangat mengerti tentang kepuasan pada pelanggan, mereka akan membantu anda menemukan jawaban kekayaan kepada anda dengan jackpot dan kemenangan dari situs judi slot casino flowgaming. Sebagai sedikit tambahan strategi sangat di perlukan untuk bermain permainan slot, maka dari itu siapkan waktu anda untuk menikmati semua permainan yang telah tersedia. Photo: The Canadian Press The Dalai Lama has been hospitalized in the Indian capital with a chest infection and is feeling better, his spokesman said Wednesday. The 83-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader is under medication and likely to spend a day or two in the hospital, spokesman Tenzin Taklha said. The Dalai Lama flew from Dharmsala for consultations with doctors in the capital and was hospitalized on Tuesday. The north Indian hill town has been his headquarters since he fled Tibet in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule. Takhla said the Dalai Lama was feeling much better now but has already cut down on travel in the past year as he has to take care of his health. He usually spends several months a year travelling the world to teach Buddhism and highlight the Tibetans' struggle for greater freedom in China. "Long-distance travelling is tiresome. Generally, he is in very good health. But he is taking precautions," he told The Associated Press. The Dalai Lama addressed a conference of educators and students in New Delhi last week. Answering a question related to Tibet's future with China, he reiterated that he is not seeking independence for Tibet, but would prefer a "reunion" with China under mutually acceptable terms. Photo: Contributed High-flying motorcycles will be back this year at Peach Fest, a much-loved highlight of the festival. The Canadian Tire Mega Motocross will take over the lakeshore with five of the top motocross riders in Canada showing off their skills. "[It] is one of the most exciting shows in Peach Festival history, said Don Kendall, Peach Festival president. Among the riders are Kyle Demelo of Oliver, who has toured with Nitro Circus and competed in the X Games in 2018, finishing in ninth place. Also returning this year is Chris Nolan of Kelowna, who throws down cliffhangers and rock solids that will shock and awe the crowd. Jeff Fehr will also return, who grew up in Osoyoos and holds the world record for the longest natural terrain back flip at 105 feet. The event will be held on Lakeshore Drive adjacent to Okanagan Lake Park, with two daily shows from Aug. 8 to Aug. 10. All shows are free. For more information on Peach Fest, click here. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 10) The government may just take up the cudgels in rehabilitating the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) if talks with seven companies that have come together and proposed to do work on the country's main gateway break down. "MIAA (Manila International Airport Authority) is a revenue-generating agency. So we'll do it, probably," MIAA General Manager Ed Monreal told CNN Philippines when asked about Transporation Secretary Arthur Tugade's ultimatum for the NAIA Consortium. Tugade has given the consortium until April 30 to wrap up talks on the rehabilitation of NAIA, or else negotiations will end. According to the Commission on Audit, the MIAA's net profit in 2017 was at around 3.70 billion, a decrease of approximately 7.5 billion from 2016. The NAIA Consortium is proposing to rehabilitate NAIA for 102 billion in 15 years. Talks between the government and the consortium are ongoing, but these have dragged on months after the consortium was awarded original proponent status by the government. The proposal will undergo a Swiss challenge once approved by the Transportation department and the National Economic and Development Authority Board. A Swiss challenge allows private firms to send proposals to the government, which the original proponent can match. Monreal said the consortium wants "guarantees" from the government, which it does not want to give. The consortium is composed of Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc., Ayala Corporation's AC Infrastructure Holdings Corporation, Alliance Global Group Inc., AEDC, Filinvest Development Corporation, JG Summit Holdings Inc. and Metro Pacific Investments Corporation. It plans to expand the airport's terminals to increase its annual capacity from just 31 million to 65 million, build an additional runway, taxiways, passenger terminals and other support infrastructure. This is being challenged by Megawide Construction Corp. and its partner, Bangalore-based GMR Infrastructure Limited, which has come up with a proposal to rehabilitate the airport for 155.9 billion and an 18-year concession period. Photo: Darren Handschuh Who better to give input on issues facing students than students? High school students from the North and Central Okanagan were in Vernon Wednesday at the Schubert Centre for the BC Student Voice Okanagan Region Forum. The theme of the forum is social awareness/building a healthy society, where students are hearing about physical wellness and health, SOGI (Sexual Orientations and Gender Identities) and vaping from guest speakers. Clarence Fulton Secondary School principal Lynn Seed said the event is a chance for student to receive and provide input. This gives them an opportunity to have a voice, to get some information, have their input and share their ideas, said Seed. Their voice is important, and that's why we do these events. The students will then take what they have learned back to their schools. Some students will also travel to a larger forum in Vancouver that operates under a similar format, only with more students from more parts of the province. The marijuana industry is absolutely growing by leaps and bounds, and Wall Street has had no choice but to take notice. Since 2016, a majority of pot stocks have seen their valuations soar by a triple- or quadruple-digit percentage, with none racking up the gains quite like Canopy Growth (NASDAQ:CGC). Today, Canopy Growth is the largest publicly traded pot stock in the world, with a market cap of just shy of $15 billion. This also makes it the only marijuana stock with a true large-cap valuation, albeit Aurora Cannabis is closing in with a market cap of $9 billion. Canopy Growth keeps a lid on its cultivation potential Though there are a number of factors that have propelled Canopy Growth to its industry-leading valuation, such as its well-known Tweed brand, multiple sales channels, domestic supply deals, and product diversification, it's arguably the company's production potential that has the market most excited. Yet, the interesting thing about this company is that it tends to be pretty tight-lipped about its grow farms and what they're capable of when running at full capacity. In the company's fiscal third-quarter operating results, released in mid-February, we learned that more than 4.3 million square feet of the company's targeted 5.6 million square feet of production space had been licensed by Health Canada, with the expectation that the full complement of growing space will be given the green light for planting before the end of the calendar year. However, this doesn't tell investors a whole lot about what the company's domestic production capacity actually looks like. In order to find out details on its domestic grow farms, we have to dig all the way back to Canopy's fiscal first-quarter management discussion and analysis document, filed with SEDAR in Canada this past August. This document provides the most recent update of what Canopy is working with in terms of growing space. Although the size of the cultivation space has been rounded for simplicity (meaning it won't equal the aforementioned 5.6 million square feet that Canopy continually touts), this provides the clearest picture of how the company can easily surpass 500,000 kilos of peak annual output. An inside look at Canopy's path to more than 500,000 kilos of annual production The following grow farms are wholly owned by Canopy Growth: Delta, British Columbia: This roughly 1.7 million-square-foot facility is a hybrid greenhouse -- i.e., it combines a controlled greenhouse environment with the benefits of full spectrum sunlight and field growing -- with a post-harvesting processing center. This roughly 1.7 million-square-foot facility is a hybrid greenhouse -- i.e., it combines a controlled greenhouse environment with the benefits of full spectrum sunlight and field growing -- with a post-harvesting processing center. Aldergrove, British Columbia: With more than half of its grow space in British Columbia, this 1.3 million-square-foot farm is also a hybrid greenhouse with onsite processing. With more than half of its grow space in British Columbia, this 1.3 million-square-foot farm is also a hybrid greenhouse with onsite processing. Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario: Similar to the grow farms above, this 1 million-square-foot grow farm is a hybrid greenhouse with post-harvest processing done on site. Similar to the grow farms above, this 1 million-square-foot grow farm is a hybrid greenhouse with post-harvest processing done on site. Smiths Falls, Ontario: This is arguably Canopy's most diverse grow farm, with indoor cultivation, post-harvest processing, as well as oil extraction, distribution, and even a visitor center, spanning approximately 730,000 square feet. This is arguably Canopy's most diverse grow farm, with indoor cultivation, post-harvest processing, as well as oil extraction, distribution, and even a visitor center, spanning approximately 730,000 square feet. St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador: As is the case with most of Canopy's smaller facilities, this 150,000-square-foot space is devoted to indoor growing and on-site processing. It also handles retail cannabis sales. As is the case with most of Canopy's smaller facilities, this 150,000-square-foot space is devoted to indoor growing and on-site processing. It also handles retail cannabis sales. Edmonton, Alberta: Similar to St. John's, this 100,000-square-foot facility is an indoor grow space with onsite post-harvest processing. Similar to St. John's, this 100,000-square-foot facility is an indoor grow space with onsite post-harvest processing. Bowmanville, Ontario: Moving down the line, Bowmanville offers 75,000 square feet for indoor growing with (no surprise) post-harvest processing onsite. Moving down the line, Bowmanville offers 75,000 square feet for indoor growing with (no surprise) post-harvest processing onsite. Yorkton, Saskatchewan: Ever smaller, Yorkton is home to 60,000 square feet of cultivation space that comes complete with post-harvest processing. Ever smaller, Yorkton is home to 60,000 square feet of cultivation space that comes complete with post-harvest processing. Fredericton, New Brunswick: This recently licensed indoor grow farm features 50,000 square feet of space and the ability to process onsite. This recently licensed indoor grow farm features 50,000 square feet of space and the ability to process onsite. Scarborough, Ontario: This is yet another 50,000-square-foot indoor grow space with devoted onsite processing. This is yet another 50,000-square-foot indoor grow space with devoted onsite processing. St. Lucien, Quebec: This tiny tot of the bunch spans just 10,000 square feet and will be solely used for indoor breeding. And here are Canopy's controlled or partnered grow farms: Mirabel, Quebec: This is a 700,000-square-foot farm that is controlled by Canopy. As with every site, save for St. Lucien, it has post-harvest processing, and, like the other large cultivation farms above, is of the hybrid variety. This is a 700,000-square-foot farm that is controlled by Canopy. As with every site, save for St. Lucien, it has post-harvest processing, and, like the other large cultivation farms above, is of the hybrid variety. Creemore, Ontario: The Creemore campus is partnered, with a 40% ownership stake belonging to Canopy Growth. In total, this farm spans 15,000 square feet, with a focus on indoor growing, processing, and oil extraction. Again, these facilities may not add up perfectly to the 5.6 million square feet the company mentioned in its third-quarter report, but that's most due to rounding and the company keeping a tight lid on production. Making sense of the data So, how does Canopy Growth get to 500,000-plus kilos of peak production per year with this puzzle of grow farms above? The simple answer is that it five biggest facilities will do most of the work. Throughout the industry, the average yield per square foot is about 100 grams. Given Canopy's listed space, this should yield around 560,000 kilos a year. But it's not that simple. Remember that not every square inch of the space listed above is devoted to growing. At least some square footage is set aside for processing, or perhaps even extraction or alternative products in select farms. This makes the smaller farms icing on the cake for Canopy. Meanwhile, its five largest farms -- Delta, Aldergrove, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Smiths Falls, and Mirabel -- will yield the bulk of its production. Courtesy of economies of scale, all five of these facilities would be expected to produce north of 100 grams per square foot. It's these farms that have yours truly thinking that Canopy Growth will likely produce closer to 525,000 kilos a year, behind only Aurora Cannabis' 700,000 kilos at peak production. Obviously, production isn't everything with pot stocks. But with Canopy already boasting a number of competitive advantages, a high amount of output certainly isn't hurting its valuation. The marijuana industry is budding into a big business model before our eyes. Gone is the notion that this is an industry that simply sells dried cannabis to casual users. Now, the legal weed industry consists of a number of cannabis alternatives, such as oils, vapes, concentrates, topicals, and even beverages, and it's targeted at everyone from medical marijuana patients to upscale recreational consumers. This broad reach and ongoing maturation is a big reason Cowen Group expects the global industry to hit $75 billion in annual sales by 2030. But it's also a highly polarizing industry, with some companies arguably having an almost cult-like following. One such company that's the bee's knees of pot stock investors is Aurora Cannabis ( ACB -2.00% ). Wall Street rallies around Aurora There are quite a few factors about Aurora that have convinced Wall Street that the company will succeed over the long run. First, there's Aurora's leading production. When the company is running on all cylinders, I believe it'll be capable of around 700,000 kilos in peak annual output. With the exception of Canopy Growth at approximately 525,000 kilos in peak yield (also a projection from yours truly), no other grower even comes close to holding a candle to this duo. But it's more than just production that has investors gravitating to Aurora. This is a company that's pushed into 24 total countries, including its domestic Canadian market. These overseas sales channels should come in particularly handy by 2021 or 2022, which is when most of its peers will also be operating at full capacity. It's likely that, given what we've seen in various U.S.-based recreationally legal states, oversupply and commoditization will hit the dried cannabis market in Canada. Therefore, growers with ample overseas sales channels will be in great position to avoid a margin contraction in Canada. We've also seen a willingness for Aurora to diversify its product line away from dried cannabis. By honing in on medical marijuana patients, Aurora has focused on a group of consumers that's far more willing to purchase high-margin cannabis alternatives. Aurora's missing piece However, there's one pretty big piece of the puzzle missing for Aurora that a few of its larger peers, Canopy Growth and Cronos Group, have locked up --namely, securing a brand-name partner. In March, Aurora Cannabis announced the hiring of billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz as a strategic advisor. Peltz, the founder of Trian Fund Management, has had success in unlocking shareholder value in the food and beverage industries. This happens to be the area of the market where Aurora would love to find a partner, especially considering management's desire to enter the nonalcoholic cannabis-infused beverage space. Most alternative pot products, including nonalcoholic cannabis-infused beverages, will be legal by this coming fall. Also, a brand-name partner with deep pockets would bring marketing expertise to the table that Aurora would be able to use as it looks to expand its existing overseas operations and moves into new countries. But herein lies a big problem for Aurora Cannabis, one that I'd go so far as to say is a Catch-22 for the company. Aurora Cannabis' Catch-22 On one hand, Aurora Cannabis is seeking a partner that's willing to invest in the company, much the same way Constellation Brands invested $4 billion in Canopy Growth in November, and Altria invested $1.8 billion in Cronos Group, which closed recently. A cash infusion from a brand-name partner would allow Aurora to really ramp up its inorganic expansion, which has been a major component of its growth strategy since January 2018. On the other hand, brand-name food, beverage, tobacco, and pharmaceutical companies may be less than enthused about the idea of investing into a company that's constantly financing acquisitions and organic expansion by issuing its common stock like it's Monopoly money. Over the past 18 quarters (4.5 years), Aurora's outstanding share count has risen by 1 billion shares, to approximately 1.02 billion. This means that if a brand-name investor were to take a position, and even if this investor were to receive warrants to buy additional shares in the company, they'd potentially see their equity stake reduced due to bought-deal offerings and share-financed acquisitions. In other words, Aurora Cannabis needs capital to satisfy its vision of global expansion, and an equity investment from a brand-name partner would be an easy way to obtain this cash. But brand-name investors are unlikely to take a stake given Aurora's penchant for dilution. This was my take on why Coca-Cola walked away from the bargaining table in September after discussions with Aurora Cannabis. It would be surprising if Aurora hasn't landed a major partner before the end of the year, especially with the addition of Nelson Peltz. But this certainly could explain why finding a partner is tougher than it looks for Canada's top marijuana producer. Photo: Contributed A family of immigrants who made their home in Penticton 48 years ago are now proud to give back to the community with a substantial donation to the Penticton Regional Hospital. Karnail Sidhu moved to Canada in 1969 and Penticton in 1971, and was shortly joined by his wife Bachini and their five children. Karnail worked at the former Northwood sawmill in Okanagan Falls while picking up side jobs in the orchards, while Bachini worked at the former Aylmer Cannery and in orchards while raising their five children. Their daughter, Bira, recalls her parents working constantly, but still finding time for the kids and to welcome other Indian immigrants to the area. "We were one of the first (Indo) families here. The immigrants my father helped come to Canada were welcomed to live with us until they were able to get on their own feet, Bira said. My father accommodated them in every way possible for them to feel as part of the family and to pursue their dreams of one day having their families join them. Karnail served as vice-president of the committee that built the Penticton Sikh Temple in the mid-1980s, a position his own son later held as well. The husband and wife team decided to make a generous donation to the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation's campaign for the PRH expansion, but wanted to keep the amount private, as showing off wasn't the goal. "We decided to give to the hospital, as this is where we built a life, Karnail said. The new tower at PRH opens April 29. Photo: The Canadian Press B.C.'s Crown prosecution service says the former mayor of Burns Lake intends to plead guilty to charges he faces at a court appearance next month. The prosecution service did not specify which charges Luke Strimbold plans to enter guilty pleas on, but it says in an emailed statement that his lawyer told a court earlier this week that Strimbold intended to enter guilty pleas at his next appearance on May 6 in Smithers. Strimbold's lawyer could not be reached for comment. A special prosecutor approved 29 charges against Strimbold, including sexual assault, sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching, allegedly involving six people who were all under the age of 16 at the time of the alleged offences. When he was elected as the mayor of Burns Lake in 2011, Strimbold was the youngest mayor in B.C. history at the age of 21. He was re-elected in 2014, but resigned two years later, saying he wanted to further his education. Strimbold served as membership chair for the B.C. Liberal Party but resigned in March 2018 both from the executive and as a member of the party. He was originally charged in February 2018 and further charges were added in August. Strimbold led the community through a deadly explosion at a sawmill in 2012 that killed two men and injured 19 others. In 2013, he was awarded the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal for community service. A year later, BCBusiness magazine named Strimbold one of the Top 30 leaders under the age of 30, recognizing his efforts to successfully rebuild the local economy. Dan McLaughlin, the communications counsel for the prosecution service, said it would not release any further information about the case. "As the matter remains before the court neither the special prosecutor nor the B.C. prosecution service will be commenting on these developments or releasing any further information regarding a potential resolution at this time," he said in a reply to an email asking which charges Strimbold intends to plead guilty to. Amazing Lash Studio Opening in Highlands Ranch Local couple opening first-to-market eyelash extension studio in Highlands Ranch on April 19 April 10, 2019 // Franchising.com // Highlands Ranch, Colorado - Amazing Lash Studio, the nations largest and fastest growing eyelash extension franchise beauty brand, is opening a new studio in Highlands Ranch, Colorado on Friday, April 19, 2019. The studio is independently owned and operated by husband and wife team, Jennifer and Ryan Collity. Prior to becoming entrepreneurs, Ryan, a firefighter, and Jennifer, an attorney, had worked in their respective careers for many years and were both ready for a new challenge. Ryan was also looking for a way to get his family back to his home state of Colorado where they could enjoy the same active, outdoor lifestyle as he had when he was younger. We first learned about Amazing Lash Studio from a dear friend who knew we were looking for a franchise opportunity to get involved with, said Jennifer. I loved the product and the idea of empowering women with the confidence that comes with feeling beautiful, and after doing some additional research, we saw an amazing opportunity to grow the business in Colorado. It was a perfect fit at the perfect time! According to the Collitys, what makes Amazing Lash Studio so special is the level of quality at an affordable price. We know there are many options out there for lashes, but none that offer the same high-quality product and experience at such an accessible price point. Ultimately, women want lashes that look great and dont break the bank, and they want a spa-like environment where they are treated well and leave feeling beautiful and rejuvenated. Additionally, what the Collitys love most about Amazing Lash Studio from a franchisee perspective is the corporate support. We love that the brand is backed by such an enthusiastic and resourceful team. Amazing Lash Studio really goes above and beyond to do everything in their power to set franchisees up for success and continued growth. The new studio will have a grand opening party and open house to celebrate later this spring. Amazing Lash Studio provides clients semi-permanent eyelash extensions in private lash application suites. Amazing Lash Studio has a patented application process that enables a highly trained staff of licensed estheticians and cosmetologists to complete the service in a fraction of the time required at traditional outlets. Amazing Lash Studio - Highlands Ranch is located at 9579 S. University Blvd., Unit 270, Highlands Ranch, CO 80126. The studio is open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information please call (720) 729-8322 or visit AmazingLashStudio.com. About Amazing Lash Studio Founded in 2010, Amazing Lash Studios apply semi-permanent eyelash extensions with a proprietary, patented process to the clients own lashes, replicating the curve and size of natural lashes. The concept began franchising in 2013 and to date has over 200 open studios in 23 states. In 2018, Amazing Lash Studio earned the rank of #5 on Entrepreneur Magazines Top New Franchises, #327 in the Franchise Times Top Franchisors list and #260 on the Inc. 500 in its inaugural year. The brand landed #4 in the 2019 Franchise Times Fast & Serious, #340 on Entrepreneurs 2019 Franchise 500 list and No. 71 on Entrepreneurs Fastest-Growing Franchises. For additional information, visit AmazingLashStudio.com. Media Contact: Andrea Kalmanovitz Decibel Blue andrea@decibelblue.com 480.894.2583 SOURCE Amazing Lash Studio ### Add to Request List Added Request Information Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Century 21 Asa Cox Homes Named #1 Team In The World In Units Sold April 10, 2019 // Franchising.com // PAINESVILLE, OH - Century 21 Asa Cox Homes announced they have been named the #1 team in the Century 21 System based on units sold in 2018. Under the leadership of broker/owner Asa Cox, the team was honored at the Century 21 One21 Experience held in Las Vegas, NV last month. This is a huge accomplishment for our company, and Id like to thank my team for all of their hard work and dedication, said Cox. This award would not have been possible without our relentless agents and we look forward to continuing this success in 2019. Cox has been in the real estate industry for more than 25 years and was affiliated with Coldwell Banker Real Estate and RE/MAX before she opened her own company, Asa Cox Homes, in 1990. She purchased her Century 21 franchise in 2016, and along with her agent team, they have worked hard to become the number one team in the world for units sold, now for the second year in a row. Through the success of her company, she was able to start Asas Angels, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to helping families in the community that find themselves in need. Her passion for charity work was a driving factor for starting her career in the real estate industry and was a reason why she became involved in USDAs Rural Housing Service, which provides financing to low-income rural residents to ensure they are able to make rent. Century 21 Asa Cox Homes is currently the only company in Northeastern Ohio involved with the program. This is a very exciting moment in time for Century 21 Asa Cox Homes, said Mike Miedler, president and CEO of Century 21 Real Estate LLC. The teams dedication to helping their community and those in need exemplifies what it means to defy mediocrity and deliver extraordinary experiences. About Century 21 Asa Cox Homes Century 21 Asa Cox Homes is a full-service real estate company, serving the buyers and sellers in the community of Lake, Geauga, Ashtabula and Cuyahoga Counties. The Century 21 Asa Cox Homes Primary office is located at 2709 N. Ridge Road, Painesville, OH 44077. Century 21 Asa Cox Homes is an independently owned and operated franchise affiliate of Century 21 Real Estate, franchisor of the iconic Century 21 brand, comprised of approximately 9,400 independently owned and operated franchised broker offices in 80 countries and territories worldwide with more than 127,000 independent sales professionals. Legal Disclaimer 2019 Century 21 Real Estate LLC. All Rights Reserved. CENTURY 21 and the CENTURY 21 Logo are registered service marks owned by Century 21 Real Estate LLC. Century 21 Real Estate LLC fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Each office is independently owned and operated.. SOURCE Century 21 ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus TWO MEN AND A TRUCK Announces First Ever Day of Hiring Event Across State of Illinois on April 17 Leading moving franchise is looking to hire nearly 1,600 movers, drivers and customer service representatives to prepare for its busiest season LANSING, Mich. - April 10, 2019 // PRNewswire // - Leading moving franchise TWO MEN AND A TRUCK is putting its mission to Move People Forward in action with its Day of Hiring Event on Wednesday, April 17 in Illinois. With 51.8 percent of the company's business falling between May and September, the brand is launching a strategic hiring initiative to fill 5,000 jobs nationally. TWO MEN AND A TRUCK has put a focus on key states within the system for frontline positions including movers, drivers and customer service representatives to prepare for the upcoming busy season. TWO MEN AND A TRUCK has grown from one location in 1985 to more than 375 territories in 2019, and has more than 5,800 employees in the system. To support its system-wide growth goal of more than 10,000 employees, the brand is placing emphasis on hiring in Illinois with 19 markets seeking new employees. "To show how serious we are about finding qualified candidates in Illinois, we're giving every applicant a face-to-face interview on April 17," said Chief Talent Officer Sara Bennett. "We are focused on bringing the right people into the system who can provide excellent customer service and grow with an established brand." What sets TWO MEN AND A TRUCK apart from other brands is its focus on career development at all levels of the company. In fact, one-third of the system's franchisees and 75 percent of managers started as frontline employees. In 2017, the brand developed an internal program called XCELERATE that focuses on career development, with specific initiatives for managers and frontline staff, as well as a scholarship program to help standout employees in the system become franchisees. "We know the success of our franchise system is dependent on the team members who are serving our customers day in and day out. Our mission is to provide the tools and courses to help our employees build a career at TWO MEN AND A TRUCK," said Bennett. "I'm proud to say that I started off at TWO MEN AND A TRUCK as an administrative assistant and now serve on the executive team. With the right work ethic, anything is possible at TWO MEN AND A TRUCK." Interested job seekers can visit careers.twomenandatruck.com to submit an application and find more information about the Day of Hiring events, as well as other open positions in the system. Job seekers can also win! All franchise employees who are hired between March 1 and May 15 will be entered into a drawing to win one of five, $500 prizes! About TWO MEN AND A TRUCK Headquartered in Michigan, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK is the largest franchised moving company in North America. Currently, there are more than 375 locations and 2,900 trucks operating in 44 U.S. states in addition to Canada, Ireland, and the UK. TWO MEN AND A TRUCK has performed more than 7 million moves since its inception in 1985 and has seen consistent monthly growth dating back to December 2009. In 2018, Entrepreneur Magazine ranked TWO MEN AND A TRUCK as one of the top 500 franchises in the U.S for the 24th consecutive year and ranked the company No. 1 in the moving/junk removal category for the third year in a row. In 2017, the company also made the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America for the fourth time. Each location is independently owned and operated. Media Contact: Lauren Kaminski No Limit Agency 312.526.3996 lauren@nolimitagency.com SOURCE TWO MEN AND A TRUCK ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Galveston, TX (77553) Today Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 77F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. 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. A factory of electric vehicles to be built in Kutaisi - GeorgianJournal Qualcomm announces Snapdragon 730, 730G and 665 Mobile Platform News oi-Karan Sharma Qualcomm announces new Snapdragon 730, 730G and 665 Mobile Platform with enhanced performance. All you need to know. Qualcomm in its latest announcement has introduced its Snapdragon 730 and 730G 8nm and 665 11nm SoC, which comes with a lot of technologies which are similar to the 8 series. 730 brings 4th generation multi-core Qualcomm AI Engine which will deliver 2X fast AI on smartphones, it will be faster than the Snapdragon 710. The new 730 SoC will also include Qualcomm Spectra 350 with dedicated Computer Vision (CV) ISP which will enhance the overall power consumption of the device. Now you can also record 4K videos in Portrait Mode with this new processor. Moreover, "it arrives Kryo 470 CPU, built on the latest Arm Cortex Technology, provides a 35% performance uplift across its 2 performance and 6 efficiency cores compared to the previous generation," reads the official forum. It also comes with Wi-Fi 6-ready along with a download speed of up to 800 Mbps, even in crowded locations. Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G Mobile Platform comes with Snapdragon Elite Gaming features specially designed for a powerful gaming experience. It also offers AI via the Qualcomm AI Engine for more intuitive image capture and optimized performance. Snapdragon 730G delivers advanced video capture technology which is capable of delivering Cinemagraph and HD slo-mo at 960fps. The latest Snapdragon 730G arrives with 15 per cent faster graphics rendering than the Snapdragon 730 and 25 per cent faster than the Snapdragon 710. It is featured with overclocked Adreno 618 GPU. With this graphics performance, it increases the gaming performance of smartphones. Jank reducer gets rid of game stutter by up to 90 per cent in games running at 30fps. Wi-Fi 6-ready features to support fast and robust connected experiences at the increased range in 2.4 and 5 GHz Wi-Fi bands. Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 Mobile Platform provides highly intelligent experiences for great mobile gaming, brilliant camera capabilities and remarkable, security-rich performance. The Snapdragon 665 supports the 3rd generation Qualcomm AI Engine, featuring the Hexagon 686 DSP, with the addition of HVX, to enable advanced AI mobile experiences. It is engineered to deliver up to 2x faster AI on-device processing compared to the previous generation. The Qualcomm Spectra 165 ISP in the Snapdragon 665 is reinforced with AI, providing intuitive scene recognition and auto adjustments like HDR. For gaming enthusiasts, Snapdragon 665 is designed to allow users to play latest and popular games with fast frame rates, super smooth interactions, surround-sound audio and extremely realistic graphics. Snapdragon 665 features the Adreno 610 GPU, which is designed to deliver improved and long-lasting gameplay, and also supports Vulkan 1.1. Snapdragon 665 also supports aptX Adaptive Audio and Qualcomm Aqstic. Snapdragon 665 features the Snapdragon X12 LTE Modem offers LTE download speeds up to 600 Mbps and integrated 802.11ac Wi-Fi enabling high capacity and broad range connectivity. Best Mobiles in India General Mood of the Public Is That Their Minds Are Already Made Up The U.S. Customs and Border Protection held a town hall on April 2 at the Glasgow Senior Citizens Center to discuss the removal of extended summer hours at the Opheim, Morgan and Scobey ports of entry and the reduction of hours at the Raymond Port... Unforeseen: Slow to Thaw, Deep Frost Causes Flooding It was just March 13 when the headline on the Glasgow Courier's front page read NWS Flood Projections Look Good for Glasgow, the article stating there was a prediction of less than a five percent chance of major flooding. Less than two weeks later... Dear Editor, Two weeks ago, the House voted to spend $191 million dollars on infrastructure needs across the state. These projects included water, sewer, bridges and roads. Last week in Helena, Republicans and Democrats came together to protect M... Russia Demands 14-Year Sentence For Norwegian Accused Of Spying April 09, 2019 Russian prosecutors have demanded a 14-year prison sentence for a Norwegian citizen accused by Moscow of spying on its nuclear submarines. Prosecutor Milana Digayeva on April 9 demanded that Frode Berg serve the sentence in a penal colony, according to Russia's Interfax news agency. Digayeva said the verdict in the espionage case was expected on April 16. The case is being heard behind closed doors at the Moscow City Court for secrecy reasons. Berg, 63, has pleaded not guilty. Russian authorities have said Berg was arrested in December 2017. Digayeva said that the accused was caught red-handed with the documents he had received from an employee of a military facility, Aleksei Zhitnyuk, who was shadowed by Russian intelligence. Zhitnyuk was found guilty of high treason in December and sentenced to 13 years in prison. Norwegian media reports say that Berg is a former border inspector, and that the Norwegian Foreign Ministry was working to provide him with assistance. Berg's lawyers have said that he admitted being a courier for Norway's military intelligence, but that he had little knowledge of the operation he took part in. Based on reporting by AFP and Interfax Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia- demands-14-year-sentence-for-norwegian-a ccused-of-spying/29871027.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Over dozen Saudi mercenaries killed, injured in Yemeni army offensives Iran Press TV Tue Apr 9, 2019 04:53PM Over a dozen Saudi-sponsored militiamen loyal to Yemen's former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi have been killed when Yemeni army soldiers and fighters from allied Popular Committees launched separate offensives against their positions in the kingdom's border region of Asir. An unnamed Yemeni military source told the Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that Yemeni troops and their allies fired a domestically-manufactured Zelzal-1 (Earthquake-1) ballistic missile at a gathering of Saudi mercenaries outside al-Rabu'ah town of the region on Tuesday evening, leaving several of them dead and injured. Earlier in the day, Yemeni forces and their allies had staged an ambush against Saudi-paid militiamen in the al-Alab border crossing of the same Saudi region, killing 15 of them in the process, the media bureau of the Houthi Ansarullah movement reported. Separately, a number of Saudi mercenaries were killed and injured when Yemeni troopers and fighters from Popular Committees carried out an offensive in Yemen's northern province of al-Jawf. The developments came on the same day that Saudi mercenaries lobbed more than ten mortar shells at residential neighborhoods in the al-Hawak district of the western Yemeni coastal province of Hudaydah. There were no immediate reports about possible casualties and the extent of damage caused. Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched the devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of Hadi back to power and crushing the Houthi Ansarullah movement. According to a report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, the Saudi-led war has so far claimed the lives of about 56,000 Yemenis. The war has also taken a heavy toll on the country's infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN has already said that a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in dire need of food, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger. According to the world body, Yemen is suffering from the most severe famine in more than 100 years. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Algeria's parliament appoints interim president, students protest Iran Press TV Tue Apr 9, 2019 12:07PM Algeria's parliament appointed its upper house chairman as interim president following the resignation of ailing Abdelaziz Bouteflika in the face of weeks of mass demonstrations against his rule. Although Abdelkader Bensalah's appointment on Tuesday is in keeping with Algeria's constitution, protesters, who want sweeping reforms, oppose figures like Bensalah, a close associate of Bouteflika who dominated Algeria for almost 60 years. Shortly after the announcement in parliament, hundreds of mostly student protesters gathered in central Algiers, chanting slogans against Bensalah. Police used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators. Algeria's powerful military, long seen as a kingmaker in Algerian politics, is yet to react to Bensalah's appointment, but Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Gaid Salah carefully managed Bouteflika's exit after six weeks of mostly peaceful demonstrations. Salah has also expressed support for protesters. Upon resignation, Bouteflika promised that elections would be held after 90 days as part of a transition he said would usher in a new era. Under the Algerian constitution, Bensalah will remain interim president until new elections are held. "We must work to allow the Algerian people elect their president as soon as possible," the interim president told parliament. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Fuller Version of Mueller Russia Report To Be Released 'Within a Week,' U.S. Attorney General Says By Mike Eckel April 09, 2019 U.S. Attorney General William Barr has said he expects to release a fuller version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russia's interference into the 2016 U.S. presidential election "within a week," but he does not intend to provide a complete, unredacted copy to Congress. Barr made the comments on April 9 in response to questions from lawmakers on a House of Representatives committee. Barr's appearance before the committee is the first since Mueller completed his report, and Barr released a four-page summary to Congress on March 24. "Within a week I will be in position to release that report to the public," Barr told the committee. He added later, "I don't intend at this stage to send the full, unredacted report to the committee." Barr's summary was criticized by Democratic lawmakers as inadequate, particularly after it was revealed Mueller's entire report is about 400 pages. In that summary, Barr said that Mueller's nearly two-year investigation "did not establish that members of the [President Donald] Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities." Barr also wrote that the evidence uncovered in the probe was "not sufficient" to establish that Trump had obstructed justice. Barr's letter did not detail what Mueller learned about a range of Trump associates who had Russia-related contacts during the 2016 campaign and postelection transition period. It also didn't explain why several of those Trump associates lied to federal investigators or Congress during the investigation. Barr has pledged that he would release as much of the report as he can. Sensitive information could include evidence gathered by a grand jury, classified intelligence sources and methods, and ongoing criminal investigations. Barr's appearance before the committee came nearly at the same time that Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared at a business forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he was asked about the Mueller report. Putin asserted that Mueller's report validated Moscow's repeated denials of collusion with Trump's campaign, and he said Democrats' claims to that effect were just their failure to accept Trump's election victory. "We have said from the very beginning that this notorious commission of Mr. Mueller would not find anything, because nobody knows better than us," Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying. "Russia did not meddle in any elections in the United States." Barr's summary of Mueller's report does mention substantial Russian efforts to interfere in 2016 that took at least two forms. The first involved the so-called "Russia troll factory" -- a company formally known as the Internet Research Agency that U.S. officials said sought to spread disinformation and sow confusion and discord during the 2016 election campaign. The company, which is reportedly owned by a Russian businessman close to the Kremlin, was indicted by Mueller's prosecutors, along with the businessman and others. The second involved a hacking campaign that allegedly was overseen by Russian military intelligence and that targeted U.S. political operatives. Mueller prosecutors indicted 12 of those officers in 2018. In a statement released in January 2017, just weeks before Trump took office, the U.S. intelligence community said it had concluded that Russia sought to influence the 2016 election using a coordinated cyber-and-propaganda campaign. Later, U.S. officials said that the effort was specifically aimed at undermining Trump's election rival, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. With reporting by AP and Reuters Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/u-s-attorney-general -to-testify-before-congress-on-mueller-s -russia-report/29869831.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Bosnian Government Bickering Costs It Seat At Council Of Europe Assembly By Gordana Sandic-Hadzihasanovic, Alan Crosby April 09, 2019 Bosnian officials' failure to agree on the setup of certain public institutions since October elections has cost the country its place in the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), highlighting how the lack of a fully functional government is damaging its drive toward the European Union. The Council of Europe said on April 8 that it had suspended Bosnia-Herzegovina from the assembly at least until the end of the year because the country was still unable to appoint new representatives within six months of the voting. The move came three days after the council warned Bosnian officials of the deadline, saying that "the absence of a Bosnian parliamentary delegation to the assembly is a very bad signal on the ability of your country to honor its commitments in the fields of democracy, the rule of law, and human rights." It was the second such failure this month after it couldn't name a point of contact for Europol, the European policing agency, and may hinder Bosnia's deeper integration into European institutions. "This is the second time in the past seven days that the government has failed to reach an agreement on very simple, I would say, technical issues, which...are extremely important for Bosnia and all its citizens," said Predrag Kojovic, head of the pro-EU Our Party and a delegate in the House of Peoples of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. "This is unacceptable and inexplicable," he added. 'We Will All Feel The Consequences' More than two decades after a devastating war pulled the fledgling country apart along ethnic lines, the landlocked country of under 4 million people is still trying to shake off the effects. Bosnia is run by a government that includes a three-member presidency drawn along ethnic lines and two autonomous political entities. Parliamentary elections in October underlined the same divisive rhetoric that sparked fighting almost three decades ago and highlighted Bosnia's crossroads -- either it continues to try to deepen Euro-Atlantic ties or its ethnic rivalries further derail progress toward the EU and NATO and hamper economic and political efforts. Senad Sepic, chairman of the last Bosnian delegation to the PACE, warned that politicians may be saying the right things in Brussels' eyes but their actions are actually geared toward "endless procrastination," given rampant corruption in public institutions. "We may have different opinions on some political issues,... but there is no argument or justification for not being able to call a delegation to the Council of Europe's parliament," Sepic told RFE/RL's Balkan Service. "This is a big slap in the face to Bosnia, and we will all feel the consequences." Bosnia is looking toward the bloc to help pull itself out of an economic malaise that has left it among the poorest countries in Europe, with its per capita economic output at about one-third of the EU average. But it has struggled to meet deadlines and do substantial work on the reforms needed to begin meeting EU regulations. Because of this, says Tonino Picula, head of the Delegation for Relations of the European Parliament with Bosnia and Kosovo, the country is languishing at a time when it can't afford to. "Unlike many countries that are in the process of integration and who have some external problems, the problems in Bosnia are internal -- and some of them, obviously, are not being put aside for the sake of progress," Picula told RFE/RL. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/bosnian-government- bickering-costs-it-seat-at-council-of- europe-assembly/29871195.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Yemen blast kills 14 children, leaves others fighting for their lives in Sana'a 9 April 2019 - Further details have emerged of an attack on a school in the Yemeni capital Sana'a at the weekend which killed 14 youngsters and critically injured 16 others. Echoing condemnation of the attack, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday reiterated its warning that a child dies every 10 minutes from "preventable causes" in the war-shattered country. On Sunday, a blast in Sana'a killed a total of 14 children who were in school - one aged just four - and injured 16, "most under the age of nine," UNICEF spokesperson Christophe Boulierac told journalists in Geneva. "More than 400 children (have been) killed and seriously injured since the beginning of 2019," he added, noting that many of those injured in the latest attack on the Houthi opposition stronghold "are fighting for their lives" in hospital, while one girl died yesterday after succumbing to her injuries. Also on Tuesday, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths, said that he was "deeply saddened to hear of the tragic deaths of civilians, the majority of whom were young female students attending school in Saewan area in Sana'a, on 7 April". Repeating his appeal to the belligerents to "make every possible effort" to end civilian suffering and "allow young Yemenis to grown up in peace and safety" by securing a politically negotiated end to the conflict, the UN negotiator highlighted that it was civilians "across the country who continue to suffer the devastating impacts of the conflict". 'Students were in class' at lunchtime Asked about the deadly incident in Sana'a, the UNICEF spokesperson said that it happened near two schools at "almost lunchtime" and "students were in class". The blast shattered windows, unleashing a burst of shrapnel and broken glass into classrooms, he added. On whether the schools were located close to potentially legitimate military targets, Mr. Boulierac replied that he was "not informed if there is a military or any kind of potential target or potential military or official building near the two schools". Although the UNICEF spokesperson was unable to provide further details about the exact nature of the attack, he said that it came in the context of other strikes on civilians, including one in Hajjah, north of Hudaydah on 9 March, in which 12 children died. Since fighting escalated in Yemen in March 2015 between supporters of Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and Houthi opposition groups, thousands of civilians are believed to have died. 2,642 children killed in just under four years According to UNICEF, from 26 March 2015, to 15 December 2018, 2,672 children have been killed in Yemen and 4,371 youngsters have been injured. Highlighting the ongoing violence in Yemen and the grave violation of children's rights, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Geert Cappelaere, said in a statement that one in five schools can no longer be used as a direct result of the conflict. Some have come "under direct attack while others are being used for military purposes", he said, meaning that for more than two million children in Yemen, "going to school is a faraway dream." Over and above the threat from deadly violence, Yemen is the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The biggest killers are food insecurity and preventable diseases. Nearly 80 per cent of the total population, 24.1 million people, requires some form of humanitarian assistance and protection, according to UN humanitarians. Ten million people are a step away from famine and starvation and 7 million people are malnourished. "Children are also dying from disease, not only from hunger in Yemen," Mr. Boulierac said. "A child dies every 10 minutes of preventable causes", including cholera, he added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Niger population's suffering 'increasing with each passing month': UN Refugee Agency 9 April 2019 - An upsurge of violence in the south-east of Niger means that the population's suffering is increasing "with each passing month," a UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spokesperson warned on Tuesday, at a press briefing in Geneva. In March alone, some 88 civilians were reported to have died during attacks. The spokesperson, Babar Baloch, reported a resurgence of violent attacks by terror group Boko Haram, which has been targeting security and defence forces, as well as the civilian population in the region of Diffa, near the Nigerian border. Recent assaults have displaced more than 18,000 people, many of who are seeking safety in Diffa town. Since 2015, the region has seen almost a quarter of a million people forcibly displaced, almost half of whom are refugees from Nigeria who had fled similar attacks and sought refuge across the border. At the same time, because of the fear of increasing insecurity in the Diffa region, some people are moving in the opposite direction, heading across the border into Nigeria, including the towns of Damasak and Maiduguri, in search of humanitarian assistance. UNHCR, said the spokesperson, is working with the government of Niger and humanitarian partners to immediately relocate some 10,000 refugees from locations close to the border, to the Sayam Forage refugee camp, which is already hosting more than 15,000 refugees. The Refugee Agency has mobilized psychosocial support workers to respond to the immediate needs of the newly displaced who are highly traumatized, in particular women and children. Mr. Baloch said that, despite the tense security situation, UNHCR continues to work with the authorities and partners to provide immediate support to refugees and host communities as well as work on long-term recovery and development initiatives in the Diffa region. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN rights chief Bachelet appeals for dialogue in Sudan amid reports '70 killed' in demonstrations 9 April 2019 - Sudan's authorities have an "over-arching responsibility" to protect protesters, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said on Tuesday, amid reports that 70 people have died in the latest anti-Government clashes. The UN rights chief's comments follow concerns about the reported use of tear gas and live ammunition by security forces against demonstrators in mass-protests that began last December, over rising food and fuel prices and deteriorating living standards. According to news reports, heavy gunfire was heard outside the Sudanese army headquarters on Tuesday, where thousands of protesters have been staging a sit-in over the past three days, calling for an end to President Omar al-Bashir's three-decade rule. Spokesperson for the High Commissioner (OHCHR), Ravina Shamdasani, reiterated Ms. Bachelet's "serious concern at the use of excessive force" by Sudanese security forces, adding that her office had documented "many killings" since the situation deteriorated. "Clearly a lot of people have died," Ms. Shamdasani said, noting how difficult it was to verify numbers, or who was responsible, since various parts of the country's security forces appeared to be "taking different sides". "We have been in touch with the authorities and they have actually invited our office to visit and we are in discussions with them about this," she said. "We are again calling on the Government and security forces to ensure that the right to peaceful assembly is fully respected and the right to freedom of expression is respected, and that a genuine dialogue is undertaken to resolve this very complex situation with very real economic and social grievances of the public." The High Commissioner's appeal follows the announcement by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday, that he was following the demonstrations in Sudan "closely" In a statement, Mr. Guterres appealed to all actors to exercise "utmost restraint and avoid violence", while also calling for the release of detained protesters. While affirming that the United Nations "stands ready to support any efforts agreed by the Sudanese to peacefully resolve the current crisis", the Secretary-General further called on the Government of the Sudan to create a "conducive environment for a solution to the current situation and to promote an inclusive dialogue". NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN rights chief Bachelet appeals for dialogue in Sudan amid reports '70 killed' in demonstrations 9 April 2019 - Nearly one month after Cyclone Idai slammed into the southeast African coast, the streets of Mozambique's busy port city of Beira are "returning to life" as the search for survivors continues throughout neighbouring Zimbabwe, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday. According to IOM, freighters and other heavy vessels are once again plying the shipping lanes along Beira's waterfront, while beachfront bistros attracted enough business last weekend, to cause traffic jams. "The challenge now is shifting to the outlying countryside", IOM said, pointing to Beira's Buzi River district in the southwest, which was only accessible by helicopter until last week. As of Monday, the 14 March disaster has left 602 dead in Mozambique. Stating that it would begin sending damage-assessment teams there this week, IOM painted a picture of searchers driving for hours "on mostly dirt roads", staying "several days at a time in rural villages". Meanwhile, IOM's Displacement Tracking Matrix teams have been working through the forested areas of Manica and Macate provinces, assessing the needs of internally displaced people living in temporary shelters. Back in Beira, schools are beginning to relocate the internally-displaced families who sheltered in classrooms during the first hours of the cyclone. Last weekend, 50 families were relocated from the Matadouro school to the Sao Pedro emergency camp on the outskirts of the city, which IOM recently prepared with the assistance of military firefighters sent by the Brazilian Armed Forces. On Monday, IOM helped set up a much larger settlement closer to the centre of Beira, on the grounds of the Samora Machel secondary school, by assisting in installing a flexible reservoir that holds 30,000 liters of potable water. "My colleagues and I are working early morning until evening, seven days a week to help bring water to affected communities", Antonio, a government installer, told IOM. "I was displaced to Malawi, so I know very well how difficult it is to be displaced," he explained, referring to his forced fleeing home during recent conflict. "While I was in Malawi I volunteered and worked with the Red Cross. It feels really good to be able to help." 'Stop cholera in its tracks' Some 2,772 cases of cholera have been reported, with six people succumbing to the disease. Thousands of people have received oral cholera vaccine during a six-day emergency campaign, which ended on Monday. Run by Mozambique's Ministry of Health, with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other partners, nearly 900,000 cyclone survivors were inoculated. "This campaign would not have been possible without the strong engagement of the local authorities and the communities themselves" said Djamila Cabral, the Head of WHO in Mozambique. "The number of volunteers is impressive and, wherever they go, there has been very strong uptake of the vaccine. Everyone is very keen to make this a success to stop cholera in its tracks." Zimbabwe needs assessed In Zimbabwe, which along with Malawi also suffered damage from the cyclone, IOM teams visited Manicaland to assess the needs of those living in the Chimanimani and Chipinge districts. Around 270,000 people were affected by the flooding, with the agency reporting that an estimated 21,000 were displaced, many from in Kopa and Ngangu, two Chimanimani communities where more than 77 households were reduced to rubble and 305 people remained missing. In response to the crisis, IOM has launched a $7.2 million appeal to the international community to provide multi-sectorial humanitarian assistance to 90,000 people, including for shelter and food items, displacement tracking, psychosocial support and early recovery. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Democrats Grill US Attorney General on Mueller Report By Michael Bowman April 09, 2019 U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday declined to discuss with lawmakers any specifics of special counsel Robert Mueller's report on the Russia investigation but said he expects to issue a redacted version of the document "within a week." Testifying on Capitol Hill for the first time since issuing a summary of the special counsel's findings, Barr faced intense criticism from Democrats, who suggested the attorney general had acted to shield President Donald Trump from the full weight of the probe's conclusions. House Appropriations Committee Chairperson Nita Lowey said Barr's summary appears to "draw the most favorable conclusion possible for the president" and "raises more questions than it answers." The New York Democrat added that the attorney general's letter "is more suspicious than impressive" and urged him to "bring transparency to this process as soon as possible." Late last month, two days after receiving Mueller's report, Barr advised lawmakers that the special counsel had not uncovered collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to sway the 2016 election, but was neutral on whether the president had obstructed American justice. News reports have said that some members of Mueller's team alleged that Barr's summary glossed over information damaging to Trump. The attorney general did not respond to Lowey's allegation that he may have "cherry-picked" material from Mueller's report, nor did he weigh in on Trump's assertion that the document completely exonerates him of wrongdoing. "I'm not going to discuss it any further until after the report is out," Barr said. The attorney general said he gave Mueller a chance to review his four-page summary before it was released, but the special counsel declined the offer. Barr said he expects to release a redacted version of the Mueller report as soon as next week, with portions that deal with grand jury proceedings, U.S. intelligence sources and methods as well as ongoing prosecutions blacked out. "I am relying on my own discretion to make as much public as I can," Barr said. "This process is going along very well." Democrats in both houses of Congress have demanded access to the complete Mueller report, an idea that Barr appeared to dismiss. "I don't intend, at this stage, to send the full, unredacted report to the [Judiciary] committee," the attorney general said. Some Republicans made clear they had drawn their own conclusions about the Russia probe. "No collusion, no obstruction. It's over. It's done," Georgia Rep. Tom Graves said. Barr gave a noncommittal response, saying his summary "speaks for itself." Barr appeared before the panel to discuss the Trump administration's proposed Justice Department budget for the coming fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. In his full, prepared opening statement, Barr highlighted Justice Department efforts to protect future elections from foreign interference, saying securing elections is a key issue for the agency. "I believe that our country must respond to any foreign interference with the strongest measures, and we must work with partners at the state level to ensure that our election infrastructure is completely protected," the statement said. Other national security initiatives in the 2020 budget request include counterterrorism efforts and combating cyberattacks. Barr's statement mentions $16 million for a vetting program for those who wish to enter or remain in the United States, something he says will help the government "identify terrorists, criminals and other nefarious actors." Immigration enforcement is another main portion of the department's proposed budget. "As I've stated before, in order to ensure that our immigration system works properly, we must secure our nation's borders, and we must ensure that our laws allow us to process, hold, and remove those who violate our immigration laws," Barr says. The budget request includes $72 million for added border security and enforcement activities. If Congress agrees, there would be 100 new immigration judges, whom the attorney general says are necessary to help address a backlog of about 820,000 pending cases nationwide. VOA's Chris Hannas contributed to this report. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US, Britain, Norway Demand 'Political Transition' Plan in Sudan By VOA News April 09, 2019 The U.S., Britain and Norway demanded Tuesday that Sudanese authorities deliver a "credible plan for political transition" as deadly demonstrations seeking the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir continued for a fourth day. Activists behind the protests said at least 13 people were killed in the capital of Khartoum, bringing the death toll to 21 since the weekend, including five soldiers. Police used tear gas, rubber bullets and fire to disperse the protesters. The three Western countries said that failing to offer a transition plan "risks causing greater instability. The Sudanese leadership has a grave responsibility to avoid such an outcome." They said the protests "continue to grow and the demand for political change from the courageous and resilient people of Sudan is becoming ever clearer and more powerful. The Sudanese people are demanding a transition to a political system that is inclusive and has greater legitimacy." "This is a pivotal moment for the future of Sudan," their statement said. "The decisions the Sudanese authorities take now, in an inclusive dialogue, will have a dramatic impact on the lives of 40 million Sudanese people and the stability of the region." Large groups of protesters have been gathered outside a military compound since Saturday calling for the end of al-Bashir's 30-year autocratic rule. Interior Minister Bushara Juma said Monday that roughly 10,000 protesters rallied outside the headquarters on Saturday, one of the largest crowds since protests broke out more than three months ago. Sudan police encouraged an agreement for a "peaceful transition of power." The protests began Dec. 19, with demonstrators accusing Bashir's government of economic mismanagement that has sparked skyrocketing food prices, and fuel and foreign currency shortages. Bashir imposed a nationwide state of emergency on Feb. 22 in an attempt to suppress the protests after an initial crackdown failed. The government said weeks ago that 31 people had been killed, but the group Physicians for Human Rights estimates the death toll was at least 60 before the latest unrest. The government continues to enforce tough measures that have resulted in the arrests of protesters, opposition leaders and journalists. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address April 9, 2019 News Transcript Press Operations Remarks by Acting Secretary Shanahan at the 35th Space Symposium, Colorado Springs, Colorado Acting Secretary Of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan ACTING SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PATRICK SHANAHAN: Good morning. I think this is the best job I've ever had. The Department of Defense is the most amazing place I've ever worked. And I've got some good remarks today. I really want to spend some time on the Space Force. So let me -- let me get started. It's great to be here with all of you, the builders of the new economy. Before I begin, I want to express my deepest sympathies to the families of those we lost in Afghanistan yesterday. Their sacrifices are a solemn reminder of the burden our service members bear every day in defense of our freedom. And defending our freedom is why I'm here today. Today, Secretary Ross, Secretary Wilson, Administrator Bridenstine and I will share our thinking and lay out our unified whole-of-government plan to ensure U.S. leadership. For the Department of Defense, this means growing our margin of dominance in space, to protect our $19 trillion economy and ensure access for our warfighters. The leaders in this room know the changes and the threats we're seeing in space, better than anyone. We must confront reality. Weapons are currently deployed by our competitors, that can attack our assets in space. Both China and Russia have weaponized space with the intent to hold American space capabilities at risk. China's communist government has exercised and continues to develop the capability to jam, targeting SATCOM, ISR and GPS. The PLA is also deploying directed-energy weapons. And we expect them to field a ground-based laser system aimed at low-earth orbit space sensors by next year. They're also prepared to use cyber-attacks against our space systems, and have deployed an operational ground-based ASAT missile system. And China has moved rapidly at advanced weapon capabilities, particularly hypersonics, that we are not capable of tracking. Russia is doing many of the exact same things. Meanwhile, in the United Nations, both of them are pushing international agreements that we know they won't abide by. The threat is clear. We're in an era of great power competition. And the next major conflict may be won or lost in space. Because of their actions, space is no longer a sanctuary. It is now a warfighting domain. This is not a future or theoretical threat. This is today's threat. We are not going to sit back and watch. We are going to act. We are going to deter conflict from extending into space, and ensure we can respond decisively if deterrence fails. Because the stakes are so high, we need to move with urgency. Our presence in space underpins the department's ability to defend our nation, deter aggression and project power globally. Space is fundamental to our modern way of war. And our $19 trillion economy increasingly relies on space, from the GPS you use to navigate, to the delivery drones and self-driving cars of the future, to the phone you will tweet quotes from my remarks today, space is fundamental to our modern way of life. Looking forward, space power will not just be as vital to strength -- it will be just as vital to strength and prosperity of our country as sea power was, centuries ago. And just as we developed the U.S. Navy to ensure freedom, free navigation of the seas, we need a military organization to ensure free navigation of the stars. America's future depends on space. We will develop the forces and capabilities to protect and defend our space interests. In addition to the threat, we also see thousands of satellites going into space in the next few years, as the cost of launch continues to come down and space technology rapidly advances. This will unlock new opportunities and increase the importance of space for the American economy. Unfortunately, the department is not moving fast enough to stay ahead. In the language of the private sector, the market has shifted and our old business model won't survive. We have a choice. Change now, or maintain the status quo. Facing this challenge, senior Pentagon leaders asked a fundamental question, what does a plan to win in space require? This led to more questions such as should the department confront the contested space environment in a dozen different organizations, or as one enterprise? Should we continue integrating space capabilities at the level of the Deputy Secretary or should there be a senior leader in the Pentagon who is accountable for space? Should we man, train and equip for space in three separate services or consolidate based on one physical domain? Should protecting and defending space continue to be the third priority of the STRATCOM Commander or should there be a combatant commander focused on space every day? We realized that although we have the talent we need and the technology at our fingertips, the department does not currently have the organizational and leadership structure necessary to move fast, leverage new technology and defend our space interests. Rather than watch the world evolve around us, we are seizing the strategic initiative. We went back to the drawing board and came up with a new plan. This plan will impose costs on our would-be adversaries and deny them any perceived benefits. To paraphrase President Reagan, peace in space requires strength in space. In order to do this, we will consolidate our space efforts into three parts, U.S. Space Force, U.S. Space Command and the Space Development Agency. Part one, and the largest change, is establishing the United States Space Force, the future sixth branch of our Armed Forces. Our military is structured around physical domains, Navy on sea, Army on land, Air Force on air. Given the changes in the environment, we now need a military service dedicated to protecting and defending space, the Space Force. Just like the other military services, the Space Force will be responsible for organizing, training and equipping the military force. Two elements of this organized train and equip mission are worth elaborating on. First, professional development. This is recruiting, educating and promoting space personnel. Today, space experts, go through professional military education system focused on either air, land, or sea power. Space is an add-on, a supporting effort, not the focus. The Space Force will build a professional development system that recruits technical talent, educates them in space from the beginning and provides a clear promotion path, all to produce the quantity and quality of space leaders we need to protect and defend space. Second, organizing and equipping includes force design and force development. This means understanding the domain, the technology and warfare deeply enough to design future capabilities and deliver them, ensuring space power not only today but in the future. The Space Force will develop requirements, work with interagency partners, engage with Congress and drive the organizational focus we need to win in space as the domain evolves. In short, the Space Force will be responsible for developing military units that can protect and defend America's space interests. The initial numbers of the Space Force are small, 15[,000] to 20,000 people drawn from existing forces, and by creating the new service inside the Air Force, the additional cost is less than one-tenth of one percent of the DOD budget, or put another way, the Space Force will cost about $1.50 per American per year. With help from Congress, we will create the Space Force and ensure the focus is on growing warfighter capability, not bureaucracy. The Space Force is a low cost, low bureaucracy proposal that will ensure that America will have the ability to protect and defend our space interests for decades to come. Part two is our new joint combatant command, the United States Space Command. Currently, space operations are under the purview of U.S. Strategic Command. The Commander, a friend to many of you, General John Hyten, is one of our nation's leading thinkers on space, but as General Hyten himself says, space is never better than his third priority, he must focus on strategic deterrence and nuclear command and control. This construct worked well when space was primarily an uncontested supporting mission for others. Today, we need a command and a commander that spends 100 percent of their time focused on space. That is - that is why the President directed the establishment of the new unified U.S. Space Command and recently nominated General Jay Raymond, another friend of this audience, to take the helm. I urge the Senate to take up his nomination. We're ready to establish the new command shortly thereafter. Part three is the Space Development Agency, what I call the pacing element of our plan, which will architect our future space ecosystem. The SDA will focus on developing and delivering the next generation of space-based communications and earth observation, while existing organizations continue their efforts - their current efforts. Let me use satellite communications as an example of the value SDA is going to bring. First, consolidation of activity and integration at scale. Currently, the U.S. military relies on a patchwork of Navy NUOS and Army WGS and Air Force AHF military satellite programs with heavy lifting done by spot market buys and commercial bandwidth from providers. The result is we have deployed over 130 different types of wide band terminals, in addition to narrow band and protected SATCOM terminals. As we look to future architectures, we have a once in a generation opportunity to consolidate and provide the department a unified, multi-domain command and control system for the first time. Second, SDA will lead a true national team systems engineering effort. This is similar to the systems engineering required for the Aegis system, or Navy's strategic support program, which integrates missiles, nuclear weapons, shore infrastructure, communications in a submarine, all to produce a critical leg of our nuclear triad. The space systems engineering challenge is similar. The launch vehicle, the satellite bus, the payload. The standards and protocols, the mesh network, the ground stations, the terminals. All of it. Third, SDA will harness the innovation and investment that's taking place in commercial space. The revenue generated by the global space industry may increase to over $1.1 trillion by 2040. DOD must leverage the private sector investment, chasing this opportunity. Our space R and D needs to include our own research and development as well as other forms of R and D. I refer it to as "rip off and deploy." The rip off and deploy is the commercial market innovations. Finally, SDA will judiciously combine commercial innovation with exquisite capabilities unique to DOD. These will include sensors that can detect and track hypersonic threats, machine learning to make sense of the enormous data we will collect, A.I. to link sensors and shooters, and cyber-security designed in from the beginning. The result will be a space architecture that is resilient, responsive and ahead of the threat. These breakthroughs will empower our forces with multi-domain command and control. We are moving with purpose and speed to get these plans in motion. Dr. Fred Kennedy is already at the helm of the SDA. He will drive the SDA to explore, prototype and demonstrate systems and architectures at a rapid pace that allows them to risk, try, fail, learn and succeed. We don't intend to go at it alone. Our objectives are too far-reaching to be achieved by any one entity, even one as large as the Department of Defense. We need to leverage the asymmetric advantages provided by American industry and our allies that no competitor can match. Together, we're going to maximize and protect space. The end state is a national security space architecture that is proliferated, affordable, persistent and provisioned for A.I. When we're done, it should look something like the cell phone network we have on Earth. Different devices can connect and be upgraded, and subscribe to the network. Allies and partners will work together to make this happen. This will go beyond technology development. As with all warfighting domains, we will not fight alone. We will have allies with us every step of the way, partnering with our Space Force and stationed at Space Command. The new space economy is American-led. Men and women in this room and across the country are coming up with new ideas and putting amazing new things into orbit. We want to be a part of that. Of course, the department is just one piece of the puzzle. Congressmen Rogers and Cooper got us started on this path, and I want to thank them for their leadership. President Trump cast a bold vision. Vice President Pence is driving change to achieve it through the National Space Council. Secretary Ross, our NASA administrator have been pioneers as they drive their organizations to go faster in developing space assets and pursuing exploration. As DOD accelerates our efforts, we will partner closely with the interagency, industry, allies and partners. I look forward to our continued engagement and partnership with Congress, as we work together in crafting the F.Y. '20 NDAA. Today, we need to establish the Space Force to protect our future. As President Trump has stated, our destiny beyond the earth is not only a matter of national identity, but a matter of national security. Our competitors have made their choices. Space is under threat. But we are ready today and we will remain ready as these threats expand. To those who want to partner with us, buckle up. We are seizing on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We are starting now because we refuse to fall behind. We can outpace our competitors and make it impossible for them to contest our dominance in space. I'd like to close by thanking our men and women of the Department of Defense for their remarkable work, for the remarkable work they do on our behalf and on behalf of our country. We are eternally grateful. God bless each of them, and God bless America. With that, I'll turn it over to Secretary Ross. Thank you very much. (APPLAUSE) https://dod.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/1809882/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pentagon Sounds Alarm US Losing Competitive Edge in Space By Carla Babb April 09, 2019 Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan has sounded the alarm that the U.S. military "is not moving fast enough to stay ahead" of rivals China and Russia in space. Speaking at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Shanahan said "China and Russia have weaponized space with the intent to hold American space capabilities at risk." He then warned that the U.S. is "not capable of tracking" some of China's rapid advancements in space weapons, particularly in hypersonic weapons. Threats from competitors in space can target many critical aspects of the United States' $19 trillion economy, from GPS navigation to cellphone usage. "The next major conflict may be won or lost in space," Shanahan said Monday. "We are not going to sit back and watch. We are going to act." The acting defense secretary said that the Trump administration's proposed Space Force will allow the military to more effectively organize, train and equip a military force of about 15,000 to 20,000 for this war fighting domain. The new military branch will cost each American about $1.50 per year, Shanahan said, a key point he will likely repeat Thursday when he appears in front of the Senate to defend the military's plan for creating a Space Command, Space Development Agency and eventually a Space Force. The Pentagon has been defending its budget proposal on Capitol Hill for weeks. Some lawmakers have been skeptical of the Department of Defense's stated need for a separate Space Force amid its record-setting request for increased funding. The U.S. currently spends more on defense than any other country. "We are starting now because we refuse to fall behind. We can outpace our competitors and make it impossible for them to contest our dominance in space," Shanahan said NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Architects of Hong Kong's Umbrella Movement Convicted of Conspiracy, Incitement By Erin Hale April 09, 2019 HONG KONG The original architects of Hong Kong's 2014 democracy protest known as the Umbrella Movement were found guilty on Tuesday of public nuisance charges in a verdict that has already been criticized by political leaders and rights groups. Benny Tai, Chan Kinman and Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, three of Hong Kong's most respected democracy leaders, face up to seven years in prison after they were found guilty of conspiracy to commit public nuisance. The three stood trial on Tuesday alongside six other leaders from the Umbrella Movement. They included sitting legislators Tanya Chan and Shiu Ka-chun. The group has been named the "Umbrella Nine" by local media. The trio, however, was singled out from other leaders on conspiracy charges because they originally conceived of the protest movement in 2013, in what they then called "Occupy Central With Love and Peace." Eight members of the group, with the exception of Chu, were found guilty of incitement to commit public nuisance. Five were also found guilty of incitement to incite public nuisance, a little-used common law charge of convincing others to encourage protest. The original trio, however, were acquitted on this charge. Judge Johnny Chan said in his ruling that the verdict would not have a chilling effect on Hong Kong's protest movement, as had been argued by the defense. He also said, "Whilst the concept of civil disobedience is recognized in Hong Kong, civil disobedience is not a defense to a criminal charge." Sentencing was delayed until Wednesday but court employees said it could extend into Thursday because defendants submitted mitigating evidence to offset a possible lengthy prison term. The defendants were charged under common law, rather than with statutory charges, which means they face a sentence of up to seven years in prison as opposed to several months, according to a report by rights monitoring group Amnesty International. Chan and Tai have chosen not to submit any evidence during sentencing. Their lawyer said his clients only hoped the court would show leniency to 75-year-old Chu, who suffers from a number of medical conditions. Chu, who gave a lengthy speech in Cantonese in his defense, was greeted with enthusiastic applause as he departed the West Kowloon Magistrates' Court accompanied by family members. For much of the day, the courthouse and its grounds were filled with well over 100 family members and supporters of the defendants, many of whom attended the 2014 democracy protests. One supporter, Tsang Kin-shing, said the ruling marked a sad day for democracy in Hong Kong. "Over the past few years, the Hong Kong government has used relentless pressure to try and break up the democratic movement. The ruling is a tragedy for Hong Kong. I hope the people of Hong Kong will rise up to fight for the democratic and human rights we deserve," Tsang said. The courthouse was also flanked by protesters, many of whom were holding the red flag of China, who said they hoped to see the nine democracy leaders convicted. Kenny Po Chun, president of Defend Hong Kong Campaign, said the court's decision defended the rule of law in Hong Kong and the protection of citizens' life and property. "The 79-day riot of Occupy Central kept many businesses from operating. Police officers were injured and bloodied. Citizens were beaten by the rioters. Those things made the people of Hong Kong very angry. The initiator of Occupy Central, Benny Tai, must take responsibility," Po said. Overseas, the verdict mostly attracted negative attention Tuesday. Chris Patten, Hong Kong's last British governor, told the Britain-based non-governmental organization Hong Kong Watch that "it seems appallingly divisive to use anachronistic common law charges in a vengeful pursuit of political events which took place in 2014." Amnesty International also quickly criticized the guilty verdict, calling it a"crushing blow for freedom of expression and peaceful protest" in a press statement. Ahead of the trial, Tai told VOA that he did not regret his role in the protest although it had failed in its aim of securing universal suffrage in the election of Hong Kong's chief executive. The protest, held in 2014 between September and December, is still seen as a watershed moment for Hong Kong. It led to a surge in anti-China feelings in the autonomous Chinese city. "Yes we could not change the system but I think we did awaken a lot of Hong Kong people about the significance of democracy, civil disobedience, as a way to strike for democracy," he said. Tai also said, "Part of civil disobedience is to accept the legal responsibility" of possibly going to prison for political actions. Mandarin Service correspondent Shen Hua from Hong Kong contributed to this report. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address New port opens between China, North Korea Global Times By Li Ruohan and Deng Xiaoci Source:Global Times Published: 2019/4/9 22:28:41 Facilities show China's support for regional peace, stability in Korean Peninsula In the latest move to celebrate the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations with North Korea, China on Monday opened a new road port in Ji'an, Northeast China's Jilin Province. The new border facility is expected to process 500,000 tons of goods and 200,000 entry and exit trips annually. As of Tuesday afternoon, 135 tourists had crossed to North Korea, Zhu Lihua, a Ji'an customs official, told the Global Times. The new port covers an area of 10.28 hectares and is one of the biggest and most up-to-date customs facilities in Northeast China. It sits at the foot of a new cross-border bridge which also opened to traffic on Monday. The bridge spans the Yalu River, which separates Ji'an from Manpo on the North Korean side. Construction of the Ji'an-Manpo road port started in 2015 and finished in 2018, with an investment of 280 million yuan ($41.7 million), according to a statement a Ji'an government media officer sent to the Global Times on Tuesday. In September 2011, North Korea fully funded a road bridge connecting Ji'an and Manpo, said the statement. The opening of the road connection means that Ji'an has four North Korea-bound ports. This includes road, rail and water transportation customs clearance facilities. The new road connection will open up a more convenient road to North Hamyong Province, a major mineral resource hub as well as an industrial powerhouse in North Korea, than the existing Dandong port, Lu Chao, a research fellow at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday. It is estimated that ports in Dandong handle around 60 percent of the total bilateral trade between China and North Korea. The two countries have 15 border ports. However, as Pyongyang is still under international sanctions, trade in mineral resources and products such as coal will be limited, Lu told the Global Times on Tuesday. Most of the trade at the new port will be agricultural products and daily necessities. Ji'an hosts one of the earliest economic development zones in Jilin Province and produces 10 percent of ginseng in China, an industry that North Korea has a tradition of and an ambition to develop. With a borderline of 203 kilometers, Ji'an aims to build a border economic cooperation zone with an estimated investment of 8 billion yuan, the city's government website shows. The international road freight transport facility will be open all year round, with cargo exports and imports from Monday to Friday, while people can cross seven days a week, Jilin government said. Besides the border facility, other projects to boost economic, cultural and people-to-people exchanges are expected in 2019, which marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of China-North Korea diplomatic relations, analysts said. The opening of the facility also comes amid North Korea's high-profile actions to boost its economy and improve people's lives. During the past week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made four inspection visits to economic projects and facilities, a move seen by analysts as a demonstration of Pyongyang's determination to focus on the economy and people's livelihood ahead of its upcoming parliament meeting. North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly is scheduled to have its first meeting this year on Thursday, South Korea's Yonghap News Agency reported Tuesday. According to North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, from Thursday to Monday, Kim inspected a construction site and a potato factory in Samjiyon County, a department store in Pyongyang, a hot-springs tourist area in Yangdok County and the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist area. China's trade with North Korea reached 16.09 billion yuan ($2.38 billion) in 2018, down by 52.4 percent year-on-year, Li Kuiwen, spokesperson for China's General Administration of Customs, disclosed at a press conference in January. China exported 14.67 billion yuan worth of goods to North Korea, down by 33.3 percent year-on-year, while it imported 1.42 billion yuan worth of goods, down by 88 percent. Great expectations Chinese observers hailed these economic advances on border port construction as proof of China's constant and full support for North Korea's economic rebuilding and development. Lu said the new border facility is preparation for all-round economic and trade cooperation between the two countries once the sanctions are relaxed and fully lifted, and it is "a manifestation of China's confidence in a nuclear-free, peaceful and prosperous Korean Peninsula." The construction of the bridge was finished in 2016, but its opening was delayed by UN Security Council sanctions imposed on North Korea, Bloomberg reported Monday. The opening of the bridge and port shows China's efforts to help with peace and stability in North Korea, after it saw Pyongyang's commitment and actions to develop its economy and to advance denuclearization since last year, Cui Zhiying, director of Tongji University's Korean Peninsula Research Center in Shanghai, told the Global Times on Tuesday. International sanctions on North Korea are supposed to limit its nuclear capability while normal trade, economic and people-to-people exchanges should not be affected, especially as North Korea suffered natural disasters and food shortages in 2018, Cui stressed. China strictly abides by international sanctions on North Korea, while insisting that North Korea's economic development is also a significant factor in preserving peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, Cui said. Though the second summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump ended with no significant progress, China continues to expect the involved parties to make joint efforts to maintain the peaceful momentum and promote dialogue, Cui said. Neither Pyongyang nor Washington has completely shut the door on further negotiations, and denuclearizing North Korea is a long process that needs time and patience, he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Moon Travels to Washington to Revitalize N. Korea Talks By Steve Miller April 09, 2019 South Korean President Moon Jae-in heads for Washington Wednesday, where he will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday. Moon said previously he hoped his trip to the United States will revitalize stalled talks with North Korea that collapsed after Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un failed to reach an agreement during their February summit in Hanoi. Harry Kazianis, director of Korean Studies at the Center of the National Interest, told VOA Moon's Washington trip serves two purposes. First, Kazianis said, Moon "wants to make sure that the talks [between Pyongyang and Washington] continue." He said the "bare minimum" Moon needs to accomplish during his trip is "to keep both sides sort of engaged" and "smooth over" any rough patches. "I think what he's really going to try and do is to see if both parties can split the difference," said Kazianis. That's something that may be possible. Speaking last week on the televised news program CBS This Morning, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said diplomatic channels remained open and there had been ongoing "conversations after Hanoi about how to move forward." In addition, Pompeo said he was "confident" there would be a third summit between the two leaders, possibly in the coming months; however, he gave no details. Cheon Seong Whon, a visiting research fellow at The Asan Institute for Policy Studies, was not as optimistic about fruitful discussions with Pyongyang. "[The United States] cannot dampen the mood on talks; therefore the emphasis on [Pompeo's] positive remarks," said Cheon. "I do not think they are seriously considering that North Korea will give up their nukes [because] North Korea has never said that they will stop nuclear and missile development." Sanctions relief South Korean President Moon Jae-in has advocated for inter-Korean projects as a way to further peace on the Korean peninsula. These efforts include reopening the joint industrial complex in Kaesong and resuming tours at Mount Kumgang, but doing so would run afoul of international sanctions. Pompeo said economic sanctions on North Korea would not be lifted until Pyongyang abandoned its nuclear weapons; nevertheless, local South Korean media reports that Moon will propose easing sanctions on North Korea when he meets with President Trump. "Kim is obviously not going to fully denuclearize right away," said Kazianis, noting that the United States would probably not drop its sanctions against North Korea if Kim made a "small move." Therefore, Kazianis envisions a situation where the United States would temporarily drop sanctions if North Korea would completely abandon the Yongbyon nuclear facility. "That allows both sides to continue on in the process, and I think that's something Moon can do," he said. Cheon is unsure an easing of sanctions will bring about the desired results on the peninsula. "From 1991, when the North Korean nuclear issue began, to the current sanction, the [South] Korean and U.S. governments have participated" in a repetitive cycle, he said. Seoul and Washington have attempted to create a "virtuous cycle" where incentives were given to North Korea in exchange for a decrease in threatening behavior, said Cheon, calling the practice a "historically proven failure." Unlike Presidents Trump and Moon, Kim Jong Un can "wait things out" since the United States and South Korea have fixed terms for their leaders, Kazianis asserted. "So if Trump and Moon are serious [about negotiating with Kim about denuclearization], they're going to have to put their best package together pretty soon, then I think we're going to be able to find out if Kim is serious," he said. Kazianis added, "If that's not the case, then we're going to have to move to probably tougher position." That's something that may be necessary said Cheon. "North Korea is proposing a 'nuclear-free zone of the Korean peninsula,'" he said. It's a concept first introduced by Kim Il Sung 30 years ago. Cheon explained that North Korea is seeking to remove South Korea from the United States' nuclear umbrella, prohibit the deployment of nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula, withdraw U.S. forces, and prohibit the deployment of strategic assets. "South Korea and the U.S. should establish their positions and develop a stable alliance to ensure North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons," urged Cheon. South Korean President Moon Jae-in departed Seoul April 10 and meets in Washington with U.S. President Donald Trump, Thursday, April 11. Lee Ju-hyun contributed to this report. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 10) The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) expects that more passengers would flock to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport this weekend leading to Holy Week. MIAA General Manager Ed Monreal told CNN Philippines' The Source on Wednesday that passengers at the country's main gateway will pour in beginning this weekend and would taper out by Maundy Thursday. Monreal added that even more passengers are expected this year compared to last year as runway overlays have been completed. During last year's Holy Week exodus, NAIA served 829,606 domestic flights and 947,610 international flights. As such, travellers are advised to come early to the airport and brace for long lines. However, Monreal assured that they are continuing improvements on the airport, particularly on its air conditioning and the installation of more immigration E-Gates, which aims to cut the processing time of passengers. In Gigantic Indian Election, Modi Hopes for Second Term in Office By Anjana Pasricha April 09, 2019 India's mammoth, multi stage election gets underway Thursday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitching himself as a strong nationalist leader as he seeks a second term in office from the world's biggest electorate while the opposition Congress Party woos poor voters with a new welfare measure. Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party hopes that a wave of nationalist sentiment that swept the country following a recent confrontation with archrival Pakistan will reverse the slide it witnessed just months ago when it lost three strongholds in local polls. It is promising income and pension schemes for farmers as a faltering rural economy and high unemployment disillusion many voters who feel that Modi's 2014 promise to create millions of new jobs and usher in far-reaching change never came to pass. But although the Prime Minister's popularity has receded, it is still higher than that of his main opponent, Rahul Gandhi, according to opinion polls. Focus on national security Analysts say the focus on national security appears to be trumping over bread and butter issues. "There would be a strong segment who would go with the BJP because of belief in the leadership of the party, another which would go with it because of its ideology and a third group which would go with the BJP simply because they believe there is no alternative," says Sandeep Shastri, vice chancellor of Jain University. The opposition Congress Party, headed by Rahul Gandhi, the fifth generation of the famous Nehru-Gandhi family that ruled India for many decades, is hoping to reemerge as a political force after plummeting to its lowest ever tally in parliament in 2014. It is optimistic that an ambitious poll promise to ensure an annual basic income of $ 1010 to India's poorest households will be a "game changer" and win back the millions who deserted the party five years ago. The Congress Party's hopes to unseat Modi have risen after it wrested three states from the BJP but according to analyst Shastri the party's shrinking support base poses a challenge. Strength of India's regional parties An array of powerful regional parties that play a key role when the two mainstream parties fail to win a parliamentary majority could also influence the outcome. These parties, which have strong bases in several of India's 29 states like West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, have said they will put together an alliance to challenge Modi if he does not win enough votes. In the battleground state of Uttar Pradesh for example, where the BJP's swept 71 out of 80 seats in 2014, two regional parties that have strong support among Muslims and low castes, have teamed-up to give him a much tougher contest. Anticipating loss of support in populous, Hindi heartland states that are home to its core supporters, the BJP has stitched alliances with some regional parties to make up the numbers if it falls short of a majority. The BJP's hopes of winning are pinned on the prime minister's image, who on the campaign trail has been calling himself "India's chowkidar" (watchman). "If Modi is there, it is possible," is the party's campaign slogan. A decision on PM Modi On the streets, many want to give him another chance. "He has brought development to my village, toilets, roads and electricity," says Babloo Singh, who works as a construction contractor in New Delhi. "I think the 2019 election is a lot about Narendra Modi himself. He is at the heart of it, those for him and those against him," says New Delhi based political analyst Neerja Chowdhury. "As far as the opposition is concerned, they are targeting him for the erosion in freedoms that have taken place under him but highlighting the burning issue that is joblessness and rural distress." The campaigns of Prime Minister Modi and his main opponent Congress Party head Rahul Gandhi have witnessed some of the sharpest attacks on each other witnessed in Indian elections. The BJP accuses the Congress, which ruled the country for many years since independence, of "playing with national security" and holding back its progress for decades. The Congress party accuses the Prime Minister of posing a threat to the country's secular fabric by pushing a Hindu nationalist agenda. Concerns that polarization has deepened during the rule of the Hindu nationalist BJP are also weighing with many voters including minority communities. The party's agenda of protecting the cow that Hindus consider holy has led to rising incidents of violence involving cow vigilante groups who target Muslims suspected of trading in cows for slaughter. A long complicated process In Uttar Pradesh state, which has a large Muslim population, an employee of a food delivery firm, Mujahid Mansoori says "We need food on our table for our family. We need jobs. We don't want anything to do with a polarized environment that is being created." Opinion polls have forecast that along with its allies, the BJP could win a slim majority though fall short of the numbers they secured in 2014 when for the first time in 30 years they cruised well past the half way mark in parliament. But India's elections are hard to predict and polls have proven wrong in the past. Who will take control of the world's largest democracy will only be known six weeks later on May 23rd when votes are counted after seven rounds of polling for the 543 elected seats of parliament that are up for grabs. The phased polling makes it easier to move security forces around in a gigantic election that involves nearly 900 million voters, about four million polling personnel and over a million polling booths spread from the high Himalayan slopes to deep forests and distant islands in the Bay of Bengal. In one of the world's youngest countries, nearly 85 million of them are first time voters. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Standard Chartered Bank Admits to Illegally Processing Transactions in Violation of Iranian Sanctions and Agrees to Pay More Than $1 Billion FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, April 9, 2019 Iranian National Indicted and Former SCB Employee Pleaded Guilty for Criminal Conspiracy to Violate Iranian Sanctions Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), a global financial institution headquartered in London, England, has agreed to forfeiture of $240 million, a fine of $480 million, and to the amendment and extension of its deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the Justice Department for an additional two years for conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). This criminal conspiracy, lasting from 2007 through 2011, resulted in SCB processing approximately 9,500 financial transactions worth approximately $240 million through U.S. financial institutions for the benefit of Iranian entities. Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu of the District of Columbia, Assistant Director in Charge William F. Sweeney, Jr. of the FBI's New York Field Office, Chief Don Fort of the IRS Criminal Investigation (CI), and District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. of New York County made the announcement. The New York County District Attorney's Office (DANY) is also announcing today that SCB has agreed to amend its DPA with DANY and extend for two additional years, and to pay an additional financial penalty of $292,210,160. Under the amended DPA with DANY, SCB has admitted that it violated New York State law by, among other things, falsifying the records of New York financial institutions. SCB has also entered into separate settlement agreements with the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Federal Reserve), the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS), and the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under which SCB shall pay additional penalties totaling more than $477 million. The Justice Department has agreed to credit a portion of these related payments and, after crediting, will collect $52,210,160 of the fine, in addition to SCB's $240 million forfeiture. In connection with the conspiracy, a former employee of SCB's branch in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), referred to as Person A, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia for conspiring to defraud the United States and to violate IEEPA. A two-count criminal indictment was unsealed today in federal court in the District of Columbia charging Mahmoud Reza Elyassi, an Iranian national, 49, and former customer of SCB Dubai, with participating in the conspiracy. "Today's resolution sends a clear message to financial institutions and their employees: if you circumvent U.S. sanctions against rogue states like Iranor assist those who doyou will pay a steep price," said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski. "When a global bank processes transactions through the U.S. financial system, its compliance program must be up to the task of detecting and preventing sanctions violationsand when it is not, banks have an obligation to identify, report, and remediate any shortcomings. The Justice Department is committed to protecting our U.S. financial system and will continue to hold financial institutions and individuals to account when they violate U.S. sanctions laws." "SCB and the individuals whose charges were unsealed today undermined the integrity of our financial system and harmed our national security by deliberately providing Iranians with coveted access to the U.S. economy," said U.S. Attorney Liu. "The financial penalty announced today leaves no doubt that repeat corporate offenders with deficient compliance programs will pay a steep price. When bank employees and customers conspire to violate U.S. sanctions and subvert our national security, we will bring them to justice no matter where they reside or operate." "U.S. sanctions laws exist to protect our national security and the integrity of our financial systems," said FBI Assistant Director in Charge Sweeney. "Global banks that facilitate transactions through our financial institutions have to play by these rules, plain and simple. Allowing hostile nations access to our economy is dangerous business. The deferred prosecution agreement and charges announced today make it abundantly clear that any alleged violation of IEEPA, whether on behalf of an individual or entity, will not be taken lightly." "The financial penalty announced today should dissuade other financial institutions around the world from thinking they can circumvent U.S. sanctions by moving money around the world through various institutions and in various forms," said IRS-CI Chief Fort. "Following complex money trails is what we doso too is holding those accountable who try to avoid following the law." "Our office's unique jurisdiction and expert personnel have again enabled us to deliver hundreds of millions in ill-gotten gains to the People of New York while contributing to America's longstanding effort to promote democratic values around the world," said Manhattan District Attorney Vance. "We are honored and privileged to collaborate in this shared endeavor with the supremely talented public servants of the U.S. Departments of Justice and Treasury, the New York Department of Financial Services, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York." A two-count felony criminal information was filed today in the District of Columbia charging SCB with illegally conspiring to violate IEEPA. The first count alleges SCB's participation in a criminal conspiracy from 2001 through 2007; the United States first charged SCB with this illegal conduct on Dec. 10, 2012, and under the terms of a DPA entered the same day, the government agreed to defer prosecution and SCB agreed to pay a financial penalty of $227 million. The second count alleges SCB's participation in a criminal conspiracy to violate IEEPA from 2007 through 2011. This latter conspiracy resulted in SCB intentionally processing U.S. dollar transactions through the U.S. financial system for the benefit of Iranian individuals and entities worth approximately $240 million. In the amended DPA, SCB admitted and accepted responsibility for its criminal conduct, agreed to extend the term of the agreement for an additional two years and, among other things, agreed to additional cooperation, compliance and disclosure obligations. As part of the amended DPA announced today, SCB admitted that, from 2007 through 2011, two former employees of its branch in Dubai, willfully conspired to help Iran-connected customers conduct U.S. dollar transactions through the U.S. financial system for the benefit of Iranian individuals and entities. One of these Iran-connected customers was Elyassi, an Iranian national who operated business accounts with SCB's Dubai branch while residing in Iran. SCB's former employees helped Elyassi manage these accounts, concealed their Iranian connections, and facilitated foreign currency transactions in U.S. dollars. SCB's former employees knew that Elyassi's business organizations operated from Iran and conducted U.S. dollar transactions for the benefit of Iranian interests, and helped Elyassi disguise his Iranian connections to avoid suspicion. According to the indictment unsealed today, Elyassi and his co-conspirators registered numerous supposed general trading companies in the UAE, and used those companies as fronts for a money exchange business located in Iran. Between November 2007 and August 2011, Elyassi used a business account at SCB's Dubai branch to cause U.S. dollar transactions to be sent and received through the U.S. financial system for the benefit of individuals and entities ordinarily resident in Iran in violation of U.S. economic sanctions. The charges in the indictment as to Elyassi are merely allegations, and Elyassi is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. SCB admitted to processing approximately 9,500 U.S. dollar transactions through the United States totaling approximately $240 million on behalf of Elyassi's companies between 2007 and 2011. More than half of these U.S. dollar transactions were the result of deficiencies in SCB's compliance program which allowed customers to request U.S. dollar transactions from within sanctioned countries, including Iran. Since mid-2013, SCB has engaged in significant remediation, including the comprehensive enhancement of its U.S. economic sanctions compliance program and significant improvements to its financial crime compliance program. Once presented with evidence of potential post-2007 sanctions violations, SCB provided substantial cooperation in the government's investigation, including by producing significant evidence of criminal wrongdoing perpetrated by its employees and customers. This matter was investigated by the FBI's New York Field Office and the IRS-CI's Washington D.C. Field Division. The cases are being prosecuted by the Criminal Division's Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section's Bank Integrity Unit and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. Trial Attorney Jennifer Wine of the Bank Integrity Unit and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Friedman and Peter Lallas of the District of Columbia are handling the matters. The Bank Integrity Unit investigates and prosecutes complex, multi-district, and international criminal cases involving financial institutions. The Unit's prosecutions focus on banks and other financial institutions, including their officers, managers, and employees, whose actions threaten the integrity of the individual institution or the wider financial system. The New York County District Attorney's Office conducted its own investigation in conjunction with the Justice Department, including Assistant District Attorneys Jose Fanjul and Kevin Wilson serving as Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the District of Columbia. The Justice Department expressed its gratitude to OFAC, the Federal Reserve, DFS, and the FCA. The Justice Department's Office of International Affairs provided assistance. Attachment(s): Download SCB Notice of Amended DPA Download SCB Amended DPA Download SCB Superseding Information Download Elyassi Indictment Topic(s): Asset Forfeiture Financial Fraud Component(s): Criminal Division Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) USAO - District of Columbia Press Release Number: 19-343 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Defense Minister: Iran to reciprocate US decision IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, April 9, IRNA -- Iran's Defense Minister says that if Americans that have placed the Islamic Republic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) as terrorist to execute this foolish measure, Iran based on the pre-planned strategies of system will reciprocate strongly. In a statement, noting that the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, in accordance with Article 150 of the Iranian Constitution, has a duty to 'guard the revolution and its achievements', Brigadier General Amir Hatami declared, 'US' action contrary to the international laws means countering the constitution that was approved by the vote of the great nation of Iran and is in fact a confrontation with the Iranian nation and the sons of the nation in the Revolutionary Guards." 'The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps has been severely attacked by the leaders of the domination system and Zionist regime, in such a way that the criminal and illogical president of the United States considers the Revolution Guards Corps a foreign terrorist organization,' the senior military official said. 'This American action reflects the depth of its failure in the region and hostility to the Islamic revolution and the revolutionary people of Iran, as well as the official support of the takfiri and terrorist currents that have suffered the main losses and the main blow from the IRGC," he added. 'The IRGC, as a ideological institution with a popular base, has been established in order to maintain the principles, values and ideals of the Islamic Revolution, and from the very beginning, with its sacrifice in order to provide security during the holy defense and then with the preservation of unity and integrity along with the champions of the armed forces defended the territorial integrity of the country and defended the achievements of the Islamic Revolution and the Islamic Republic,' the Minister of Defense emphasized. 9455**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 14 IAEA positive reports sign of Tehran's commitment: Iran nuclear chief IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, April 9, IRNA -- The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said that 14 positive reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about Iran's nuclear activities show Tehran's loyalty to its agreements and commitments. He made the remarks in a ceremony on the occasion of the 13th anniversary of Iran's National Nuclear Technology Day that kicked off with the attendance of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and a number of armed forces commanders in Tehran on Tuesday. Salehi said, 'Iran has taken serious steps to improve and renovate its atomic energy structure.' He added that this is despite the fact that the United States, in an unwise move, has violated its commitments and following its fantasies which are rooted in political chaos. The restoration of the unilateral sanctions of the US and America's recent impudence could never sap Iran's will in following its prime nuclear goals but rather exposes the surprising weakness of the White House in correctly analyzing the political situation after the re-imposition of inhumane and illegal sanctions on the AEOI, for example, inclusion of Iran Nuclear Safety Center and also the company that provides radio medicines, he added. The head of the AEOI furter stressed the need for paying full attention to enemies' activities that are after provoking Iran into making it react impulsively. Fortunately, he said, the administration of Iran is headed by a person who is well-aware of the overt and covert dimensions of international policy. Criticizing some untrue remarks made about the nuclear energy progresses in Iran, he said Iran will continue to move forward with projects to make use of the peaceful nuclear energy with power and proper pace. The AEOI head added that the majority of the Iranians are the main supporters of the officials in this regard. Salehi also said that 114 new achievements have been unveiled and six more will be unveiled today, including ones that will be in used in diagnosis and treatment of cancer. He added that simulatenous with indigenization and institutionalization of the achievements, AEOI is after giving the knowledge spillover to the other national institutes and organizations. Collaborations between the AEOI and the Minister of Petroleum and Minister of Science and Technology is an exmple of this policy, he noted. 9417**1424 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US trying to cover up failures by demonizing IRGC: President IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, April 9, IRNA -- The 'global arrogance' is trying to cover up its failures versus Iranian people by labeling the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) as terrorists, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday. The US President Donald Trump on Monday announced that Washington considered IRGC a terrorist organization while the IRGC is a major sector of Iran's official Armed Forces. Explaining the underlying reasons why IRGC was founded soon after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Rouhani said that Iran needed forces to confront the numerous plots by its enemies. 'They (the enemies) created and funded cells and provided them with explosives to kill Iranian officials, people and the revolutionaries to push them again under the US hegemony,' Rouhani said in his speech on Iran's National Nuclear Technology Day (April 9). 'So, do you expect the US and the Zionist regime not to hold grudges on IRGC?' 'All their plots against the Iranian people were foiled through the efforts of the entire nation including the youth, women and men, all ethnic groups, Shias and Sunnis who all stood with each other, with IRGC as their big flag-bearer,' Rouhani said. The latest anti-Iran move of Trump received fierce reactions from Iranian officials. The country's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in a letter to President Hassan Rouhani called for a retaliatory move by labeling the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) as a terrorist organization and the US government as a terrorist sponsor. 9156**1424 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran to reciprocate US forces' acts: SNSC Spox IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, April 9, IRNA -- Spokesman of Iran's Supreme National Security Council said following the recent US decision about the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran now sees American forces and military bases in the region in a different light and is determined to monitor and reciprocate any unusual behavior on their behalf. Keivan Khosravi said that US decision to Blacklist the IRGC is regarded as a fruitless measure by a country which is the biggest sponsor of terrorism against the most successful ant-terrorist force. He added that the US President's choice is more considered as a propaganda campaign. The rift inside the US governing body and particularly the objection and fear expressed by Pentagon and CIA about the consequences of this decision are the serious impediments on its implementation, Khosravi noted. He went on to note that Iran has since long ago made necessary preparations and predictions to cope with the possible consequences in appropriate time. Iran has earlier warned against the consequences of US adventurist act and has made it clear through its media that will reciprocate it, he reiterated. The balance between extremists and moderate officials in the ex-US administration prevented implementation of this decision but now Trump, being a maniac person, disregards its consequences because people are not important for him. Meanwhile earlier, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi described US recent decision as a 'strategic error' and 'a serious development' between Tehran and Washington and said it will face firm and clear-cut response. He added that the Iranian Foreign Ministry has suggested the Supreme National Security Council to blacklist US Central Command called CENTCOM for their support of terrorists and also for war crimes. The United States has been plotting anti-Iran measures for forty years now, but the Iranian nation has stood against these measures and will strongly support the IRGC forces. On Monday, Trump administration designated Iran's IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization. 9376**1424 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US' plots against IRGC to boomerang on them: Imam Khamenei ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency Tue / 9 April 2019 / 15:36 Tehran (ISNA) - A group of IRGC staff and their families met with the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei on the eve of the auspicious birth anniversary of Imam Hussain (a.s), which marks the National Day of Guards on April 9, 2019. During the meeting, Ayatollah Khamenei called the reason behind the U.S.'s animosity against the IRGC their pioneering in defending the country and the Revolution, stressing, "The U.S. and other ignorant enemies have done anything they could against the Islamic Republic of Iran, yet they failed to achieve a single thing. Today, the Revolution and the Islamic Establishment have become powerful in the region and the world". Ayatollah Khamenei regarded the IRGC as an eminent entity at the forefront of encountering enemies on various arenas and said, "The IRGC leads the fight in operational fields, confronting the enemies at our borders; and even thousands of kilometers away from the frontiers, around the shrine of Lady Zainab (s.a.); as well as in political confrontations with enemies". The Leader of the Islamic Revolution described that asset as the main reason behind the U.S.'s animosity against the IRGC, adding, "U.S. officials wishfully plot against the IRGC and actually against the Islamic Revolution and maneuver mischief. Undoubtedly, such ferocities won't get them anywhere. Their vice and deceit will return boomerang on them, leading the enemies of the Islamic Republic such as Trump and those around him at the U.S. ruling apparatus to go down the drain". His eminence mentioned the forty years of animosity against the Islamic Republic and the progress the revolution made in spite of it as a sign of the U.S.'s weakness in hindering the movement of the Iranian nation and stated, "For forty years, the enemies of beloved Iran have imposed great amounts of all types of political, economic and propaganda pressure on the nation; yet they have failed to achieve anything even when the revolution was newly formed". Referring to the leading position of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the region, Ayatollah Khamenei went on to say, "Contrary to the assumptions of the enemies, the dignity and power of the Islamic establishment today do not emerge from atomic bombs, as from the beginning we have emphasized that nuclear weapons violate our religious principles and we do not need nukes. Thus, today's dignity and sovereignty of the Iranian nation in the eyes of the Muslim world derives from the people's resistance, self-sacrifice, and insightful awareness". Finally, the Supreme Leader asserted that this honorable movement will continue via proper understanding as well as acting based on duties, stating, "Undoubtedly, the Revolution will progress, but everyone including people from all walks of life, in particular the young individuals, as well as the IRGC, the Armed Forces and government agencies should appropriately identify their roles and follow the pious role models offered by divine figures, such as the noble Imam Khomeini (r.a.), to act for the cause of God and perform their duties". End Item NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address France, EU partners pressing US to moderate Iran bans, Macron tells Rouhani Iran Press TV Tue Apr 9, 2019 10:10PM French President Emmanuel Macron says Paris and its European partners are pressing the Trump administration to moderate the sanctions it imposed against Tehran after withdrawing the US from the Iran nuclear deal. Macron made the remarks in a phone conversation with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday night. He said France and its allies in Europe are seriously pursuing the implementation of all their commitments under the 2015 deal with Iran, vowing that they will do their utmost to "encourage" the US to ease its bans on the Islamic Republic. "France is closely monitoring the regional developments, and will do its best to secure Iran's interests under the JCPOA," he said. Macron at the same time highlighted the "highly significant" roles Russia and China can play in this regard. Rouhani, for his part, called for accelerated and effective implementation of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) introduced by Europe within the framework of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). He said both sides of the important deal must fully implement their obligations, so that Iran would be able to reap the legitimate economic benefits of JCPOA. "Despite living up to its commitments, Iran has not yet seen any considerable practical move by the other side," Rouhani said, highlighting 14 reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog, confirming Iran's compliance with the nuclear deal. Donald Trump announced in May last year that he was quitting the JCPOA and restoring Washington's anti-Iran sanctions. The first round of the bans was re-imposed in August, and a second round was imposed in November. The bans impact millions of ordinary Iranians whose lives are directly threatened by the US sanctions. During the recent floods across Iran, the sanctions kept Iran from receiving any foreign financial aid to assist flood-hit people in many parts of the country. US blacklisting of IRGC 'very provocative' Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian president also pointed to the recent move by the US to designate the IRGC a "terrorist organization". He slammed the move as a "very provocative, dangerous, and unprecedented" one in the history of international relations, and highlighted the key role played by the IRGC in fight against Daesh in the region. "Without the sacrifices made by the IRGC forces, at least two regional states would have fallen to the ISIS terrorist group by now," Rouhani said. In a Monday statement, Trump blacklisted the IRGC, saying that the Iranian elite forces' designation "makes crystal clear the risks of conducting business with, or providing support to, the IRGC. If you are doing business with the IRGC, you will be bankrolling terrorism." In turn, Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) slammed the US government as "supporter of terrorism," designating American forces in West Asia, known as the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), as a "terrorist organization." Following this "unwise" move by the United States, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic also said it will "be treating all the forces enlisted with CENTCOM as terrorists." the statement read. "The General Staff will spare no effort in supporting the IRGC's counter-terrorism measures in fighting the terrorist CENTCOM," it said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China, EU stress commitment to 'continued, full' implementation of Iran deal Iran Press TV Tue Apr 9, 2019 05:45PM China and the European Union have once again reaffirmed their commitment to the "continued, full and effective" implementation of a 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement as a leading factor in the global non-proliferation architecture. At the end of their 21st leaders' meeting held in Brussels on Tuesday, China and the EU issued a joint statement, praising the nuclear accord as a key element of the global non-proliferation architecture and a significant diplomatic achievement unanimously endorsed by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231. The statement further said the two sides "reaffirm their commitment to its [the deal's] continued, full and effective implementation, as well as their efforts to preserve economic benefits for Iran." The deal officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) -- was initially inked in 2015 between Tehran and six world countries, namely the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany. Last May, however, US President Donald Trump withdrew his country from the JCPOA which had been negotiated under his predecessor and re-imposed the anti-Iran sanctions that had been lifted under the landmark deal. Despite Washington's withdrawal, Iran has not left the deal yet, but has stressed that the remaining signatories to the agreement need to effectively offset the negative impacts of the US pullout on Iran if they want Tehran to remain in it. China and the EU further stressed the importance of modernizing the Arak heavy water reactor in central Iran, and the need to continue their common efforts in this regard, the statement said. In April 2017, Iran and China signed the final version of a contract to redesign and modernize the Arak heavy water reactor. According to the agreement, the Chinese side is to review the new design of the Arak reactor made by the Iranian experts and confirm its compliance with the international safety standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The statement further added that China and the 28-nation bloc welcomed the fact that the IAEA has confirmed in 14 consecutive reports Iran's adherence to its side of the JCPOA. Under the JCPOA, the IAEA is tasked with monitoring the technical aspect of the JCPOA's implementation. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran top military body warns 'terrorist' US forces in West Asia Iran Press TV Tue Apr 9, 2019 02:46PM Iran's most senior military body vows to "spare no effort" in fighting the "terrorist" American forces operating in West Asia, a day after Washington blacklisted the country's elite Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). The General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic made the pledge in a statement issued on Tuesday, after Washington formally designated the IRGC as "a foreign terrorist organization." The statement said it had reciprocally designated the US administration as a "supporter of terrorism" and the US Central Command (CENTCOM) -- including all its affiliated bases, units, and forces -- "a terrorist organization" pursuant to a decision by Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), the country's top security body. Following this "unwise" move by the United States, the General Staff "will be treating all the forces enlisted with CENTCOM as terrorists," the statement read. "The General Staff will spare no effort in supporting the IRGC's counter-terrorism measures in fighting the terrorist CENTCOM," it added. "A review of criminal and bloodthirsty America's adventuristic actions in the region over the past several decades proves the fact that Washington wastes no effort towards destabilizing the West Asia region as a means of creating a comfort zone for the infanticidal Zionist regime [of Israel]." It also slammed the US for its covert and overt "support for terror groups, such as Daesh, al-Qaeda, and al-Nusra [Front], in whose creation and evolution it has, itself, played a central role." This is while, the IRGC has been at the forefront of fighting the global arrogance since the victory of Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979, the statement said, quoting the late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini as stating once that "had it not been for the Corps, the country would have ceased to exist." It also praised the Corps' successful fight against terrorists in Iraq and Syria, where Iran has deployed military advisors at the requests of respective Baghdad and Damascus governments. By defeating those terrorists, the IRGC "imposed another heavy defeat on the terrorist-breeding United States in the region," it asserted. Finally, the General Staff said the designation was a desperate attempt by the US to cover up its defeats in the region and is doomed to failure. IRGC: We will grow in power Also on Tuesday, the IRGC's chief commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said the Corps will grow stronger now that the US has taken such a move. "We announce decisively that the Corps will, by God's grace, grow stronger in its defensive and offensive system over the next year," he asserted. He also called the designation "very ridiculous because the IRGC has a place in the hearts of the [Iranian] people." "The Corps' credibility does not come from Washington, but from the dear and honorable [Iranian] people," he added. The IRGC and the Army would keep working together, serve the oppressed and down-trodden people all over the world, and will have no fear, Jafari said. Iran's Army backs IRGC The Islamic Republic's Army, meanwhile, issued a statement, vehemently condemning the US's "heinous" and "baseless" measure against the IRGC, vowing that it will join hands with the force in defense of the 1979 Islamic Revolution's achievements and ideals. The measure, it said, was rooted in the "weakness, desperation and defeat of America's imperialistic regional policies amid the resistance front's glorious and lasting victories in the face of the terrorist groups backed by the US and the Zionist regime [of Israel]." The Army described Washington as the biggest supporter of terrorist outfits in the world, including the West Asia region, saying the US as a state sponsor of terror has done much damage to the Muslim world by inciting sedition and fueling tensions in the region. This is while the IRGC unlike the US -- has sternly and continuously fought regional terrorism over the past years, playing an efficient role in rooting out terrorist ringleaders in Iraq and Syria, the statement noted. The blacklisting, it added, lacked all legal and rational justification and was meant to favor Netanyahu's election chances. The Army further denounced the move as a contributing factor to insecurity in the sensitive West Asia region, saying it constitutes a violation of the Islamic Republic's sovereignty. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US under pressure to extend Iran waiver as oil surges Iran Press TV Tue Apr 9, 2019 11:10AM The US has left the world guessing on whether it will extend waivers for countries importing oil from Iran, but the recent rally in prices means there is little room for maneuver. "We'll make that decision in due course as we move towards May 2nd," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said of the oil waivers. Eight major clients of Iranian oil received a 180-day waiver in November after the US withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed sanctions on the country. The waiver expires on May 3, with most importers saying they want to continue oil imports from Iran. Pompeo made the remarks at a news conference in which he announced that the US was designating Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization. The top US diplomat threatened the companies that continue to do business with Iran, warning them of risks involved. "If you're the general counsel for a European financial institution today, there's more risk," Pompeo said. "It is absolutely the case that the IRGC amounts to a significant piece of the Iranian economy," he claimed. "It is also the case that it is sometimes difficult to know whether the IRGC is involved. ... This will require more diligence be done by every business that is considering doing things that are even now second and third orders removed from what you might think of as a traditional connection to the Iranian economy." The US move is intended to put pressure on the IRGC, a powerful security organization founded in the aftermath of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the country. The IRGC is also actively cooperating in construction, infrastructure and relief projects. Pompeo and John Bolton, US President Donald Trump's national security adviser, are Iran hawks who prior to joining the president's inner circle long called for regime change in the Islamic Republic. Pompeo has already threatened to "starve" Iranian people in remarks denounced by Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as "a crime against humanity". Bolton has said Washington's ultimate aim "has been from the beginning to get oil exports from Iran down to zero." "It is our intention to squeeze them very hard. As the British say: 'Squeeze them until the pips squeak'," he said last November. South Korea, China, India, Greece, Italy, Taiwan, Japan and Turkey are the eight countries that have been exempted from the US sanctions. Iran's Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh has said the waivers are not enough, warning of "painful months" ahead for consumers because of insufficient supplies. Other Iranian officials have said US boasts of bringing Iran's oil exports down to zero are a bluff. Oil prices scaled to new 2019 highs on Tuesday, hitting a five-month high above $71 a barrel. Fears of fresh supply outages from Libya amid a tightened market which is already squeezed by OPEC cuts and US sanctions on Iran and Venezuela are pushing up the prices. The international benchmark Brent crude rose to $71.34 a barrel, the highest since November. US crude also hit a November 2018 high of $64.77. Libya accounts for just over 1 percent of global oil output with around 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd). A surprise push by forces loyal to strongman Khalif Haftar to unseat a Western-backed government in the capital Tripoli is adding fresh impetus to the market rally. The US is most likely to extend waivers for South Korea, China, Japan, India and Turkey due to the potential impact on global oil supply from political unrest in Libya, the Wall Street Journal has reported. The Trump administration is under pressure after Republican losses in the midterm elections. It is extremely wary of any threats to the economy, including higher gas prices. Iranian officials, meanwhile, say the country will bypass sanctions and sell its oil even without the exemptions because so many countries are on its side. According to data from shipping sources complied by S&P Global Platts, Iran exported about 1.64 million bpd of crude and condensate in March, up from 1 million bpd in November. South Korea relies heavily on Iranian condensate to produce petrochemical products, with the country's media stating that any halt to imports of the key raw material could have a harmful effect on the economy. Reuters claimed that Seoul had begun testing US condensate as a substitute for Iranian crude. West Texas Light (WTL) is seen as a potential substitute for Iranian condensate, it said. The news agency, citing unnamed sources as usual, claimed that South Korea's top refiner SK Energy and the country's smallest refiner, Hyundai Oilbank, were studying the crude's assay and testing samples. It also claimed Indian refiners were holding back from ordering Iranian oil for loading in May pending clarity on whether Washington will extend the waiver. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Rouhani: World's leading terrorist in no position to judge IRGC Iran Press TV Tue Apr 9, 2019 10:09AM Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has condemned US President Donald Trump's move in designating the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terror organization, saying the United States as the "world's leading terrorist" is in no position to make such a decision. "You made another mistake and called the IRGC terrorist; nobody cares what you do," Rouhani said in a speech delivered on the occasion of the National Nuclear Energy Day in Tehran on Tuesday. "You thought you could sow division in Iran or hurt the IRGC's popularity by speaking against it?" Rouhani asked. "Rest assured that today the IRGC is more popular than ever before in the hearts of the Iranian nation as well as in the region." Trump said in a statement on Monday that his move "makes crystal clear the risks of conducting business with, or providing support to, the IRGC. If you are doing business with the IRGC, you will be bankrolling terrorism." Rouhani noted that the US anger was not surprising because the IRGC has been protecting the region from Daesh and other terrorist groups planted by Washington. "The United States keeps using Daesh as an instrument and is at the pinnacle of global terrorism," the president said. Iranian military advisors have played a key role in defeating Takfiri militant groups in Iraq and Syria by leading joint efforts involving government and popular forces. "It was the IRGC that rescued regional nations from terrorist atrocities," the Iranian president said, adding, "America and Zionists hold a grudge against the IRGC because it has always been the flag-bearer of resistance." Downing of Iranian passenger plane Rouhani referred to America's downing of an Iranian passenger jet with 290 people on board back in 1988 and said: "You shot down our passenger plane and now you are speaking of fighting terrorism?" Iran Air Flight 655, an Airbus A300B2, was flying in Iranian airspace over the Strait of Hormuz from the port city of Bandar Abbas to Dubai, carrying 274 passengers and 16 crew members on July 3, 1988, when USS Vincennes fired two SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles and destroyed it midair. US officials have claimed all along that the warship commanders had mistaken the civilian aircraft for a warplane. This is while the warship was equipped with highly sophisticated radar systems and electronic battle gear at the time of the attack. "You claimed after attacking the aircraft and killing its passengers that you mixed it up with an F-14 fighter jet and everybody knows how ridiculous that claim is," Rouhani said. "You conducted this act of terror to make it clear that you don't have any red lines; that you kill women and children your message was support for terrorism in the region." Rouhani said Trump's latest move is part of a failed 40-year US campaign against the Islamic Republic, which is the biggest victim of terrorism. "Today, the global arrogance and the United States are venting their animosity and [making up for their ] defeats by calling terrorist a group whose main motto has been fighting terrorism," Rouhani said. "No country in the world can claim it is a bigger victim of terrorism than the Iranian nation, terrorists that were made by the superpowers, on top of them America, and only listened to them," he continued. The president said America's decades-long economic sanctions against Iran were basically an extension of Washington's terrorist nature. He said that despite Washington's efforts, Iran maintained good relations with all but a couple of countries in the region. The US had already blacklisted dozens of entities and individuals affiliated with the IRGC, but not the entire force. In response to Trump's move on Monday, Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) designated America's West Asia force, known as the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), a "terrorist organization." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Rouhani unveils new achievements as Iran marks National Nuclear Technology Day Iran Press TV Tue Apr 9, 2019 09:55AM President Hassan Rouhani has unveiled six major achievements in the area of nuclear technology during a ceremony marking Iran's National Nuclear Technology Day. The achievements, which were unveiled during the ceremony in Tehran on Tuesday, were designed and manufactured by experts of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Ali Akbar Salehi, who heads the body, said. Among the equipment was a continuous-flow zonal centrifuge as well as Yttrium-90, a medically-significant product that can be used in radiation therapy to treat cancer. The achievements also included a control system for monitoring nuclear processes, a quantum-entangled photon source, oxygen-18 which is a stable isotope used in radiopharmaceuticals industry, and a FTIR (Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy) spectrograph practical in medical and food industries. During the ceremony, which was also attended by a number of ministers, officials and commanders, 114 nuclear achievements that had come to fruition last year were put on display. The achievements cover various fields, including exploration, extraction, fuel cycle, power plants, science and technology as well as laser. Addressing the ceremony, President Rouhani lashed out at the US for re-imposing economic sanctions on the Iranian nation after leaving the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal last May, saying such measures have failed to hinder Iran's progress in the nuclear industry. "What have you achieved with your sanctions," Rouhani told the Americans. "If you are claiming that you can stop Iran's [gains] in advanced technologies by imposing sanctions, you already know that you are lying." The Iranian chief executive said that the US "has failed and will fail to stop the progress of the Iranian nation and scientists." "If you were scared of our IR1 centrifuges yesterday, you should know that today we launched a chain of 20 IR6 centrifuges and if you keep up the oppression, we will unveil a chain of IR8 centrifuges in the near future," Rouhani said. President Rouhani further warned that Tehran was running out of patience over the unfulfillment of the European Union's economic pledges meant to compensate for Washington's absence in the Iran deal, calling on the European signatories to live up to their end of the bargain.Save The AEOI head also addressed the event, saying the organization under his watch has designed and produced advanced centrifuges with the aim of assisting the country's health and medical sector. He said the new achievements were all in accordance with the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA)'s guidelines. Salehi further said that Tehran welcomes the IAEA's impartial stance on its nuclear program, adding the IAEA's 14 reports on the country's nuclear activities prove the Islamic Republic regards itself as duty-bound to cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog under the deal. Iran's nuclear chief further said that "the return of the US unilateral sanctions will fail to dent our firm resolve to advance the main objectives of the [country's] nuclear industry." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address America's move against IRGC rooted in rancor: Leader Iran Press TV Tue Apr 9, 2019 09:28AM Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says the recent decision by the United States to designate Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) a "foreign terrorist organization" is rooted in America's "rancor" against the force, which has been in the forefront of the fight against enemies. In a meeting with IRGC personnel and their family members in the capital Tehran on Monday, the eve of IRGC Commemoration Day, Ayatollah Khamenei said the Revolution Guards were on the front-lines of the fight against enemies both inside and outside of Iran. "The IRGC is the vanguard both on the field confronting the enemy on [Iranian] borders and even several thousand kilometers away [in Syria] as well as on the political battleground against the enemy," the Leader said, adding that Americans hold a grudge against the force for that reason. Trump on Monday released a statement designating the IRGC "a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act." Ayatollah Khamenei said such evil will rebound to the evildoer. "Of course, such malice will lead nowhere; and, with the their deceit rebounding back to themselves, the Islamic Republic's enemies such as Trump and the idiots... in the US government are moving toward rock bottom," the Leader said. Ayatollah Khamenei said 40 years of an all-out pressure campaign against Iran had failed to impede the country's progress, recalling that such pressure failed to break Iran even when the Islamic Republic was young. Iran's power, the Leader said, comes from its people's "perseverance, self-sacrifice, and insight." "The Revolution," Ayatollah Khamenei said, "will undoubtedly go on." In response to the Trump administration's hostile move, Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) has designated America's West Asia force, known as the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), a terrorist organization. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IRGC's 'Terrorist' Designation Raises U.S. Stakes Over Iran By Golnaz Esfandiari April 09, 2019 The U.S. designation of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) marks the first time Washington has officially used that label on a foreign state institution. "It underscores the fact that Iran's actions are fundamentally different from those of other governments," U.S. President Donald Trump said in an April 8 statement. His secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said the move was aimed at increasing pressure on Iran and diverting some of the financial resources it allegedly uses to fund terrorism and militant activities. The designation, effective on April 15, is a significant symbolic departure and will result in economic and travel sanctions for the IRGC -- a branch of the Iranian armed forces -- and for individuals and entities associated with the so-called Guards. Experts say it could also increase the risk of a hostile encounter between Iranian and U.S. military forces. But let's start with the basics. Why The IRGC? The IRGC was created after Iran's 1979 revolution to protect the new Islamic establishment against internal and external threats and to preserve revolutionary ideals. Under the rule of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to whom the IRGC has answered directly since he ascended to Iran's highest post in 1989, its influence has arguably increased. Domestically, the Guards' forces have been involved in enforcing Islamic codes and crushing dissent. Even very recently, its intelligence branch has been reported to be behind the arrests of several Iranian-Americans and environmentalists. By targeting the IRGC, one of Iran's most powerful state institutions, Trump intends to raise the heat on Iran. The move is part of his administration's comparatively hard line on the Islamic republic, beginning with Washington's withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers and the subsequent reimposition of tough economic sanctions that appear to have hurt Iran's currency and its economy. In announcing the designation, Trump said this "action will significantly expand the scope and scale of our maximum pressure on the Iranian regime." U.S. officials have said that their "maximum pressure" approach is aimed at persuading Iran to return to the negotiating table, although some have interpreted it as a campaign for regime change. Analysts, including Rand Corporation's Ariane Tabatabai, predict that the IRGC designation will make it more difficult for Iran to return to the negotiations. "The administration is looking to build a comprehensive pressure campaign, which seems to aim to either force Tehran to fundamentally change its behavior or to pave the way for an internal collapse of the regime," she says. The IRGC plays an important role in Iran's economy. It is also in charge of Iran's controversial missile program, which just last month a U.S. official said threatened to spark a "regional arms race." The IRGC's involvement in Syria in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad through its Quds Force, as well as alleged operations in or involving Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Yemen, have also threatened perceived U.S. interests. The group is estimated to have between 100,000 and 150,000 members, and has reportedly recruited thousands of Afghans and Pakistanis to fight in Syria, where Tehran has been allied with Assad and Russia to oppose antiregime forces that it regards as terrorists. "The IRGC is not a conventional military force; they are a largely asymmetric force created to balance the conventional Iranian military. As a result, the tactics they employ, and their toolkit, make them a different kind of challenge to the United States," Tabatabai says. How Could The Designation Help The U.S.? The IRGC and its parts -- including, the elite Quds Force -- are already facing U.S. sanctions over alleged support for terrorism, human rights abuses, censorship, malign cyberactivities, and Iran's ballistic-missile program. The U.S. Treasury Department labeled the IRGC as a terrorist group in 2017. The FTO designation raises further obstacles to doing business with Iran. But since punitive measures already in place by the United States include sweeping financial sanctions, analysts say its impact could fall short of administration hopes. "The designation is more political and symbolic than it is impactful economically or operationally. The U.S. objective is to make it harder for the IRGC to operate beyond its borders and to delegitimize it internally, and the designation is a tool to achieve these objectives," Tabatabai says. What Are The Risks? Some critics of the designation, including some U.S. military and intelligence officials, have said that the "terrorist" designation could endanger U.S. troops and intelligence officers by putting them at greater risk of attacks. In a tit-for-tat response, Iran's Supreme National Security Council announced that the United States would itself be designated a "state sponsor of terrorism," and Centcom, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, would be designated a "terrorist group." It is unclear how such designations will be enforced in the Persian Gulf and in countries such as Iraq. Analyst Tabatabai says the risk of the new designation is related to uncertainty. "We've never done this before, and there's an inherent risk associated with doing something you've never done before," she says. She adds that Iran's decision to reciprocate "will provide more of a free hand to their own forces and the operatives and terrorist groups they support to target U.S. military personnel, contractors, and others," and could make it "more difficult to deescalate situations in the Persian Gulf." The United States has in the past accused Iranian naval forces of provocations in the Persian Gulf, including failing to observe internationally recognized maritime customs by getting too close to U.S. vessels. The incidents have involved the IRGC, which in 2016 captured and detained 10 U.S. sailors who entered Iran's territorial waters. "The designation could make U.S.-Iranian interactions more dangerous, particularly in Iraq and the Persian Gulf," Afshon Ostovar, an assistant professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California and author of a book on the rise of the IRGC, says. Ostovar adds that the risks will depend on how Iran decides to respond. "If it takes any direct action or action by proxy, then it could more quickly lead to escalation. I don't believe this will happen, but it's a possibility U.S. forces in the Middle East will have to prepare for," he says. Ali Vaez, the Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, says he believes the designation raises the risk of a direct military confrontation between the two countries. "Some in the Trump administration appear determined to provoke the IRGC into committing a mistake that would then justify taking military action against Iran," Vaez says. Are There Domestic Consequences For Iran? The blacklisting of the IRGC has resulted in a show of support and unity inside Iran, where lawmakers attended an April 9 parliament session wearing the uniform of the Guards. Leading reformist lawmaker Mahmud Sadeqi, an outspoken critic of hard-liners, was among those expressing support for the IRGC. "I am also a guard," the reformist daily Etemad said on a front page that features a picture of IRGC members. The designation could make any criticism of the IRGC even more difficult, as critics are likely to be accused of siding with the U.S and supporting Washington's tough line on Iran. It could also complicate purported efforts by Iranian President Hassan Rohani to restrict the group's role in the economy. The impact of the U.S. designation on the many tens of thousands of Iranians who have served their mandatory military service in the IRGC is not immediately clear. They include intellectuals and members of the opposition. Award-winning exiled Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji served in the IRGC during the 1980-88 war with Iraq. Ganji, who was jailed in Iran for six-years, now lives in the United States. "Those who have served in the IRGC could be considered as having been in a terrorist organization, at least by the United States," says analyst and author Ostovar, who adds that the designation will make it difficult for former members of the IRGC to obtain U.S. visas. Iranians are already among the citizens of seven countries who face a U.S. travel ban enacted in 2017. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/irgc-terrorist -designation-raises-us-stakes-over -iran/29871127.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran Condemns IRGC Blacklisting, Accuses U.S. Of 'Global Terrorism' By RFE/RL April 09, 2019 Iranian leaders have condemned the decision by the United States to put Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on its foreign terrorist organization (FTO) list. In a televised speech on April 9, President Hassan Rohani said Washington's move was a "mistake" and asserted that the United States is the real "leader of global terrorism." "Who are you to label revolutionary institutions as terrorists?" Rohani said. He claimed that the United States wants "to use terrorist groups as tools against the nations of the region." His remarks came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the decision to place the IRGC on the State Department list of foreign terrorist organizations, the first time the United States has designated a state entity of another government as a terrorist organization. The designation enters into force next week. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on April 9 that the United States had made "a vicious move," adding that the IRGC was at the "front line of confronting [the] enemies" of the Islamic republic. "In spite of all the pressure in the past 40 years, Americans have failed to do a damn thing and their vicious move will bear no fruit," state-run TT quoted Khamenei as saying. The estimated 100,000-strong IRGC is a branch of the military that also plays a major role in Iran's economy. The IRGC has been involved in enforcing Islamic codes and crushing dissent at home, experts say, while taking part in covert operations, arms smuggling, and other efforts aimed at expanding Iran's influence abroad. It answers directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The United States has already blacklisted dozens of entities and people for affiliations with the IRGC, but not the organization as a whole. In his statement on April 8, Trump said that Washington will continue to increase financial pressure and raise the costs on Iran "for its support of terrorist activity." Tehran responded by announcing hours later that its top security council has designated the United States a "state sponsor of terrorism" and U.S. forces in the region "terrorist groups." Iranian lawmakers chanted "Death to America" as parliament convened an open session on April 9. Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani condemned the U.S. decision as the "climax of stupidity and ignorance." The Supreme National Security Council's spokesman, Keivan Khosravi, said that going forward "any unusual move by American forces in the region will be perceived as the behavior [of] a terrorist group." He did not elaborate. The IRGC-affiliated Javan daily said that Iran will have the right to respond to any attack on the organization's bases. The hard-line Kayhan daily asserted that the U.S. decision means that Iranians now have "permission" to kill American military personnel. With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-s-rohani- condemns-irgc-blacklisting-accuses-u-s-of- world-terrorism-/29870225.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Treasury Department Announces Settlement with Standard Chartered Bank U.S. Department of the Treasury April 9, 2019 Treasury Settlement Part of Combined $1.1 Billion Settlement for Bank's Apparent Violations of Multiple Sanctions Programs WASHINGTON As part of a combined $1.1 billion settlement with federal, state, local, and United Kingdom government partners, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today announced a $639 million agreement with Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) to settle its potential civil liability for apparent violations of U.S. economic sanctions. Today's settlement resolves OFAC's investigation into apparent violations of a number of U.S sanctions programs, including those relating to Burma, Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria. OFAC is also settling a separate case involving apparent violations by SCB of sanctions related to Zimbabwe. From June 2009 until May 2014, SCB processed 9,335 transactions totaling $437,553,380 that were processed to or through the United States. All of these transactions involved persons or countries subject to comprehensive sanctions programs administered by OFAC (including Burma, Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria). The majority of the conduct concerns Iran-related accounts maintained by SCB's Dubai, UAE branches ("SCB Dubai"), including accounts at SCB Dubai, held for a number of general trading companies and a petrochemical company. SCB Dubai processed USD transactions to or through SCB's branch office in New York or other U.S. financial institutions on behalf of customers that sent payment instructions to SCB Dubai while physically located or ordinarily resident in Iran. SCB also processed online banking instructions for residents of comprehensively sanctioned countries. These actions constitute apparent violations of the now-repealed Burmese Sanctions Regulations; the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 515; the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 560; the now-repealed Sudanese Sanctions Regulations; and the Syrian Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 542, or Executive Order 13582 of August 17, 2011, "Blocking Property of the Government of Syria and Prohibiting Certain Transactions With Respect to Syria." Under the settlement agreement, SCB has agreed to sustain its commitment to implementing robust compliance procedures by ensuring that it has a management team in place that: (1) is committed to a culture of compliance; (2) conducts regular risk assessments; (3) ensures that its internal controls appropriately mitigate the entity's sanctions-related risks; (4) conducts regularized audits; and (5) provides ongoing sanctions compliance training throughout SCB. OFAC worked closely and collaboratively with its counterparts at other government agencies in the investigation of this matter. Today's settlement is simultaneous with SCB's settlements with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, the New York County District Attorney's Office, the New York State Department of Financial Services, and the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority. SCB's $639 million settlement with OFAC will be deemed satisfied by the bank's payment of a forfeiture and fine to the Department of Justice and fine to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors for the same pattern of conduct. Separately, between May 2009 and July 2013, SCB Zimbabwe processed transactions to or through the United States involving Zimbabwe-related Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) or entities owned 50 percent or more, individually or in the aggregate, by one or more Zimbabwe-related SDNs. These transactions constituted apparent violations of the Zimbabwe Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 541. SCB will remit $18,016,283 to OFAC to settle civil liability relating to the apparent violations of the ZSR. #### NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran Labels US as Real Leader of World Terrorism By VOA News April 09, 2019 Iranian President Hassan Rouhani denounced the United States Tuesday as the actual "head of global terrorism," one day after the U.S. designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organization. The move was the first time the U.S. designated part of another government as a terrorist organization. "This unprecedented step, led by the Department of State, recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft," President Donald Trump declared in a statement. "The IRGC is the Iranian government's primary means of directing and implementing its global terrorist campaign." The U.S. action, which takes effect next week and includes the IRGC's elite secretive Quds Force, means it will be a federal crime to provide any type of support to the IRGC. Rouhani said the U.S. designation would only bolster the reputation of the Revolutionary Guards and promote harmony among Iranians. "This mistake will unite Iranians and the Guards will grow more popular in Iran and in the region," Rouhani said. "America has used terrorists as a tool in the region while the Guards have fought against them from Iraq to Syria." Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressed a group of guards Tuesday, describing the U.S. action as a "vicious move" that "will bear no fruit." After Iran's legislature convened for an open session in Tehran Tuesday, lawmakers dressed in paramilitary uniforms chanted, "Death to America." Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani criticized the U.S. decision as the "climax of stupidity and ignorance." Supreme National Security Council spokesman Keivan Khosravi warned without elaborating that "any unusual move by American forces in the region will be perceived as the behavior by a terrorist group." China, an economic partner of Iran, urged countries outside the Middle East to promote peace and stability in the region and to avoid any acts of aggression. "We oppose power politics and bullying by any countries," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said. Minutes after the announcement from the White House on the designation Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated the IRGC "organizes and executes terror campaigns around the world." U.S. officials, in comments to reporters, are also referring to the IRGC as a "death cult" that, they say, is the true face of Iranian foreign policy. Pompeo declined to say, when asked by a reporter, whether the terrorist designation means that the U.S. military will target IRGC leaders the same way it does those of the Islamic State group. Iran responded Monday to the U.S. action by putting U.S. military forces on its list of terror groups. Steve Herman contributed to this report from the White House; Carla Babb - from the Pentagon. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraq receives more T-90 battle tanks from Russia to boost ground force Iran Press TV Tue Apr 9, 2019 09:27PM A high-ranking Iraqi military commander says the country's army has received a new batch of advanced T-90 battle tanks from Russia under a major deal struck between Moscow and Baghdad in July 2017. Major General Walid Khalifa, the Commander of the Army's 9th Armored Division, told the Arabic-language National Iraqi News Agency (NINA) on Tuesday that the fourth batch of the armored fighting vehicles had arrived in the country, and were delivered to the Iraqi Defense Ministry. He, however, did not provide any information about the exact number of the battle tanks. Khalifa noted that Iraqi army troops are prepared to operate the tanks after having received training at the hands of Russian experts. The T-90 is a third-generation Russian battle tank built upon the time-proven Soviet T-72 design. It is among the best-selling tanks in the world, and known for its firepower, enhanced protection and mobility. The T-90 features a smoothbore 2A46M 125mm main gun, which can fire both armor-piercing shells and anti-tank missiles. The advanced tank also features sophisticated armor, ensuring all-round protection of the crew and critical systems, including explosive reactive armor and active infrared jammers to defend it from inbound rocket-propelled grenades, anti-tank missiles and other projectiles. Indian, Algerian and Azerbaijani militaries have purchased hundreds of T-90 battle tanks in past years. Kuwait, Vietnam and Egypt have also expressed strong interest in buying the tank. The Iraqi military plans to reinforce its fleet of M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks with T-90s. A large number of American M1A1 Abrams tanks have been damaged in the fight against Daesh Takfiri terrorists. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Japan Standard Missile (SM)-3 Block IB Media/Public Contact: pm-cpa@state.gov Transmittal No: 19-13 WASHINGTON, April 9, 2019 -- The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to Japan of up to fifty-six (56) Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IB missiles for an estimated cost of $1.150 billion. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale today. The Government of Japan has requested to buy up to fifty-six (56) Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IB missiles. Also included are missile canisters, U.S. Government and contractor representatives' technical assistance, engineering and logistical support services, and other related elements of logistics and program support. The estimated cost is $1.150 billion. This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by improving the security of a major ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Asia-Pacific region. It is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Japan in developing and maintaining a strong and effective self-defense capability. The proposed sale will provide Japan with increased ballistic missile defense capability to assist in defending the Japanese homeland and U.S. personnel stationed there. Japan will have no difficulty absorbing these additional missiles into its armed forces. The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region. The prime contractor for the SM-3 Block IB All Up Rounds will be Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona. The prime contractor for the canisters will be BAE Systems, Minneapolis, Minnesota. There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale. Implementation of this proposed sale will require annual trips to Japan involving U.S. Government and contractor representatives for technical reviews, support, and oversight for approximately five years. There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale. This notice of a potential sale is required by law and does not mean the sale has been concluded. All questions regarding this proposed Foreign Military Sale should be directed to the State Department's Bureau of Political Military Affairs, Office of Congressional and Public Affairs, pm-cpa@state.gov. -30- NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Japan's F-35 fighter jet disappears over Pacific, military says Iran Press TV Tue Apr 9, 2019 02:30PM A Japanese stealth fighter jet has disappeared from radar during a training mission over the Pacific Ocean. The Japanese Air Self-Defense Force said an F-35 fighter jet deployed at Misawa Air Base in northeastern Japan disappeared during training on Tuesday. The aircraft was flying with three other planes off the coast of Aomori Prefecture, some 135 kilometers east of the base when radar contact was lost about 7:27 p.m., it added. According to local media reports, the jet took off with several other aircraft from the base about half an hour before the disappearance. The aircraft is believed to have one pilot on board. A search and rescue operation is already underway. The Japanese Coast Guard has deployed two patrol ships to look for the aircraft and the pilot. The jet has been deployed at the base since January 2018. Japan's Ministry of Defense currently has plans to deploy a total of 42 aircraft to the base. In February, a Japanese F-2 fighter jet crashed into the Sea of Japan about 130 kilometers from its air base in Fukuoka, but the two crew members were recovered successfully by rescue teams. Last September, the US military grounded half of its entire fleet of F-35 aircraft following a crash in South Carolina. The previous year, an F-35 deployed in Japan lost part of its fuselage mid-flight during a routine training mission. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Kazakhstan To Hold Snap Presidential Election On June 9 By RFE/RL April 09, 2019 Kazakhstan will hold a snap presidential election on June 9, the interim head of state Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev has announced, moving the vote up by almost a year following Nursultan Nazarbaev's resignation last month after 30 years in power. In a televised address to the nation on April 9, Toqaev said he would "guarantee a free and fair election," though no vote held in the Central Asian country since the Soviet collapse of 1991 has been deemed democratic by international observers. Toqaev said that he made the decision to hold an early election after discussing the issue with Nazarbaev -- referring to the ex-president as Elbasy, or Leader of the Nation, a title bestowed upon him by the loyal parliament in 2010. The early election appears aimed at shortening the political transition period and decreasing the chances of instability following the abrupt resignation of Nazarbaev, 78, who had been president since 1990 and remains chairman of the ruling Nur Otan party and the influential Security Council. No date for the vote had been set but it had been expected to be held in April 2020, five years after the previous presidential election. "In order to secure social and political accord, confidently move forward, and deal with the tasks of socioeconomic development, it is necessary to eliminate any uncertainty," Toqaev said in his address. Toqaev did not say whether he would run in the election, but he would not have been expected to do so in the speech because presidential candidates can only be nominated by nationwide organizations such as political parties. It was not immediately clear whether Nazarbaev's eldest daughter, Darigha Nazarbaeva, who heads the upper parliament house and has been seen as a possible successor, would run in the election. An aide, Saule Mustafaeva, said that she was was not planning to run, but Nazarbaeva herself did not confirm that in a brief comment, saying only that anyone can run and that it is up to political parties to nominate candidates. Both Toqaev and Nazarbaeva are members of Nur Otan. The announcement of a vote in two months leaves potential opponents of a ruling-party candidate with little time to mount campaigns, reducing their chances in a country where opposition has been marginalized and politics is still dominated by Nazarbaev, whose favorite -- whether anointed as such publicly or not -- will be virtually certain to win the presidency. If Toqaev runs, he could benefit from public sector wage increases due in June, as well as other welfare initiatives. The announcement of an early election follows unusually persistent protests in which demonstrators in several cities have accused the government of ignoring the needs and demands of ordinary people. The protests were spurred in part by anger and grief over the deaths of five children from a single family in a house fire in Astana, the capital, on February 4. The predawn fire destroyed a small family home in Astana while both parents were away working overnight shifts, killing five girls aged 3 months to 13 years. Opponents, critics, and rights groups say Nazarbaev, an authoritarian leader who has tolerated little dissent, prolonged his power in the energy-rich country of 18.7 million by manipulating the democratic process. Hugh Williamson, the Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, tweeted on April 9 that a free and fair poll would be "a big step forward." Since independence in 1991, only one presidential election -- in 2005 -- has been held on the first Sunday in December as stipulated in the Kazakh Constitution. The other four were snap polls in which Nazarbaev was declared the winner with a huge majority of the votes -- nearly 98 percent in the most recent ballot, in April 2015. A referendum in 1995 also prolonged Nazarbaev's time in office. Toqaev had been chairman of the upper house, the Senate, and became interim president in accordance with the constitution after Nazarbaev resigned. The 65-year-old is a career diplomat who has served as foreign minister and prime minister in the past and is fluent in Kazakh, Russian, English, and Mandarin Chinese. Hours after Toqaev was sworn in on March 20, the Senate elected Darigha Nazarbaeva as its chairwoman on his recommendation, making her the second powerful person in the country. A day before announcing the snap presidential election, Toqaev met with Nazarbaeva and the cabinet ministers. Nazarbaev was the senior leader in Kazakhstan since June 1989, when he became Communist Party boss in what was then the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. Rights activists and critics say he persistently suppressed dissent, prolonged his time in office through undemocratic votes or referendums, and used the levers of power to neutralize potential opponents. With reporting by RFE/RL's Merhat Sharipzhan, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, Tengrinews, Zakon.kz, and Reuters Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan -president-snap-election-toqaev- nazarbaev/29869956.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN urges immediate halt to fighting in Libya Iran Press TV Tue Apr 9, 2019 05:45AM UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an immediate halt to fighting in Libya, where forces loyal to military strongman General Khalifa Haftar have attempted the takeover of the capital. Guterres "urges the immediate halt of all military operations in order to de-escalate the situation and prevent an all-out conflict," a UN statement said late Monday. Haftar, a self-styled commander, who enjoys the loyalty of certain armed groups and who is associated with a non-internationally-recognized government in eastern Libya, last Thursday announced an offensive against Tripoli, where the country's internationally-recognized government is seated. Forces protecting the Tripoli government have been fighting back. Haftar has previously participated in reconciliation talks. The UN chief "strongly condemns the military escalation and ongoing fighting in and around Tripoli, including the aerial attack today by a Libyan National Army (LNA) aircraft against Mitiga airport," read the statement, referring to forces under Haftar's command. LNA spokesman Ahmad al-Mesmari said the Monday airstrike against Mitiga airport, east of the capital, had targeted a MiG-23 military plane and a helicopter. According to a security source at the airport, the attack hit a runway, but caused no casualties. International reactions The UN's envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, has condemned the air raid as "a serious violation of international humanitarian law, which prohibits attacks against civilian infrastructure." The airstrike reportedly has led to the suspension of aerial traffic until further notice. Other international powers have expressed their opposition to Haftar's offensive, which could thwart diplomatic efforts to find a solution to the country's conflict just days ahead of a national reconciliation conference aimed at uniting rival Libyan forces. On Monday, the European Union's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini made "a very strong appeal to Libyan leaders and in particular to Haftar to stop all military activities... and to return to the negotiation table." French President Emmanuel Macron also expressed his "total opposition to the offensive against the capital and the endangering of civilian lives" during a telephone interview with Fayez al-Sarraj, the leader of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord, according to the GNA. Also on Monday, the Kremlin called on "all sides to reject actions that could provoke bloodshed in battle and the deaths of civilians." At least 35 people have so far been killed in the fighting near Tripoli, the Libyan Health Ministry said on Monday. Haftar's forces also said 14 of their fighters have died so far. The fighting has forced some 3,400 people from their homes. "Clashes with heavy weapons are affecting residential areas, and an unknown number of civilians are unable to flee these locations," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York on Monday. Libya has been the scene of violence since 2011, when former dictator Muammar Gaddafi was toppled from power after an uprising and a NATO military intervention. His ouster created a huge power vacuum, leading to chaos and the emergence of numerous militant outfits, including the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group. The oil-rich country has been divided between two rival governments the House of Representatives, in the eastern city of Tobruk, and the government of Sarraj. Haftar and the LNA have been backed by certain Arab governments, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Libya's neighbor Egypt. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Libyan national conference postponed, nearly 500,000 children at 'direct risk' from fighting around Tripoli 9 April 2019 - An imminent UN-led Libyan conference seeking to set up elections for the war-ravaged, oil-rich country has been postponed because of ongoing clashes near the capital, the top United Nations official in the country said on Tuesday. Ghassan Salame, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), made the announcement after condemning Monday's attack by the self-styled Libyan National Army's (LNA) aircraft against Meitiga airport, Tripoli's only functioning terminal that is available for civilian use. The conference was hoping to reach agreement among the various political factions after months of UN-led discussions at a local level nationwide, towards democratic elections which would unify the country and lead to way to economic recovery. The development follows concerns voiced by the UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, that attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure in recent days, may amount to war crimes, including those by LNA commander Khalifa Haftar. Airport attack may have been indiscriminate "Khalifa Haftar's people are saying that they bombed it because there was a military target," said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the High Commissioner's office, OHCHR. "Now even if this is a military target, all feasible precautions need to be taken to minimize the incidental loss of civilian lives, to refrain from indiscriminate attacks. We have reports that the weapons that were used are notthe latest technology; that they may, in effect, have been indiscriminate." The spiralling violence comes after years of instability that have followed the overthrow of President Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with the internationally-recognized and Tripoli-based Government of National Accord now, in effect, under assault from eastern Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar's forces. More than 3,400 people have fled fighting near Tripoli in recent days, the UN has warned, in addition to "47 dead and 181 wounded" in the last three days, spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO), spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said. "The current clashes are burdening the already overloaded health system with frequent supply chain breaks," Mr. Jasarevic explained, noting that as Libya's year-old conflict "has dragged on, hundreds of primary healthcare centres and more than 20 of its hospitals have been damaged or closed". In addition to overstretched health services, the WHO spokesperson noted that one of two doctors killed at the weekend "was reportedly killed while working as part of a field ambulance service". Detained migrants and refugees 'could be used as human shields' Meanwhile, amid reports of clashes involving heavy artillery in residential areas of Tripoli, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, reiterated its fears for the safety of migrants and refugees held in detention centres. "What we are concerned about is that these vulnerable migrants may be caught in the crossfire, especially when armed groups involved in the conflict, exercise influence or control over the detention facilities, these ad hoc detention facilities for migrants," said Ms. Shamdasani. "Based on previous experience with Libya, we are also concerned that migrants may be used as human shields, or forcefully recruited to fight as well." Those concerns were echoed by the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, whose spokesperson Babar Baloch, said that staff had been in contact with anxious detainees, who number 5,700 in official detention centres. "We have spoken to refugees in detention centres who tell us they can hear the clashes, and many are really scared," he said. "We are asking, advocating for the release of all migrants and refugees from detention and seeking a guarantee for the safety of refugees and migrants as well." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN Calls for Protection of Civilians as Libya Conflict Heats Up By Lisa Schlein April 09, 2019 Aid agencies are urging rival militias in Libya to take all possible measures to protect civilians as fighting for control of the capital city, Tripoli, escalates and casualties mount. In recent days, health facilities near Tripoli have reported 47 people killed and 181 wounded. The World Health Organization says nine civilians, including two doctors, are among the dead. One doctor reportedly was killed while working as part of a field ambulance service. WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic says the agency has documented dozens of attacks against health workers and facilities that killed and injured 32 health workers and patients since 2018. "To respond to this spike in violence, the health sector prepositioned supplies in advance in order to respond quickly and effectively," he said. "Emergency medical supplies and trauma kits were prepositioned in four strategic sites. The supplies are sufficient to treat up to 210,000 individuals for three months and to enable the treatment of up to 900 injuries." WHO fears a prolonged conflict will drain the limited available medical supplies on hand. An added problem, Jasarevic notes, is that the WHO is short of cash. He says the agency may not be able to meet the medical needs of the population if donors do not contribute more generously to its $43.5 million appeal. International law Meanwhile, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet is appealing to all parties to the conflict to abide by their obligations under international law. Her spokeswoman, Ravina Shamdasani, says the warring parties must take all possible measures to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including airports, schools, hospitals and prisons. "The high commissioner stresses that the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution must at all times be fully respected," Shamdasani said. "Intentionally targeting civilians or civilian objects as well as indiscriminate attacks may amount to war crimes." The high commissioner is particularly concerned about the welfare of thousands of vulnerable refugees and migrants in detention centers near the combat zone in Tripoli. Bachelet is urging authorities not to abandon them. The United Nations issued an "urgent appeal" Monday for a two-hour truce in the suburbs of Tripoli to evacuate civilians. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN Postpones Libyan National Conference Due to Fighting By Margaret Besheer April 09, 2019 The United Nations said Tuesday that a national conference for Libya scheduled for Sunday to bring warring parties together is unlikely to go ahead due to the military escalation in Tripoli. In a statement, U.N. Libya envoy Ghassan Salame said that he is determined to hold the national conference as soon as possible, but that the current recurrence of fighting is overshadowing the political process. "I therefore reiterate that I am more determined than ever to hold the national conference at the earliest possible opportunity, as we cannot allow the historic opportunity it presents to be lost," Salame said in the statement. "We also cannot ask Libyans to attend a conference to the backdrop of artillery shelling and air raids as we must ensure that all of those who expressed willingness to respond to this historic and national event from all over the country are able to attend and are able to voice their opinions freely." The envoy said he would "work day and night" to end the current military escalation, which began last week and has left dozens of civilians dead, including two doctors. Forces under the command of General Khalifa Haftar, who holds sway in the country's east, have advanced into the capital, Tripoli, which is controlled by the U.N.-backed Presidential Council and Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj. Air strikes and fighting have ensued. The prime minister called Haftar's offensive an attempted coup. Haftar has received support from Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Russia in the past, but Moscow and Abu Dhabi have joined the current calls for restraint. U.N. Security Council members Britain and Germany have requested that the 15-nation body meet on Wednesday to discuss the escalation. The council last met about the situation on Friday as the current cycle of fighting erupted. Late Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate halt to all military operations and urged the parties to hold talks to reach a political resolution. His comments came after forces loyal to General Haftar acknowledged responsibility for an airstrike that hit the only functioning airport in Tripoli. There were no reported injuries from the strike at Mitiga airport, but the attack did force the airport to close for several hours. The United Nations has appealed for a humanitarian truce in the suburbs of Tripoli to evacuate civilians. Some 4,500 people have been displaced due to the fighting. Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for an immediate halt to Haftar's advance and said all of parties involved "have a responsibility to urgently de-escalate the situation." The United Nations has appealed for $202 million for its humanitarian response in Libya this year, but it is woefully underfunded, with only six percent received. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Putin Sets Out Major Upgrade To Arctic Facilities, Assets As Nations Eye Area Resources By RFE/RL April 09, 2019 President Vladimir Putin says Russia will dramatically increase its presence in the Arctic region by building new ports and other facilities and expanding its fleet of icebreaker vessels, as the competition for the area's natural resources intensifies. Putin told the leaders of Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden at the International Arctic Forum in St. Petersburg on April 9 that Russia's efforts will help quadruple the level of cargo shipments across the Arctic sea route. "This is a realistic, well-calculated, and concrete task. We need to make the Northern sea route safe and commercially feasible," he said. The shrinking polar ice in the Arctic region is expected to offer new opportunities for resource exploration and the development of new shipping lanes, leading Russia, the United States, Canada, Denmark, and Norway into a competition for jurisdiction in the region. Putin set a goal for the amount of cargo carried across the shipping lane to rise to 80 million metric tons by 2025 from the 20 million tons transported in 2018, the majority under Russian-flagged vessels. Russia, the only country with a fleet of nuclear icebreakers, is moving to expand its current inventory of four nuclear-powered vessels to a total of nine by 2035, he said. It also has four nonnuclear icebreakers in its fleet. Putin said he was inviting foreign companies to invest in the plans to expand infrastructure along the Arctic shipping route from Murmansk to the Kamchatka Peninsula. "We contemplate creating...preferential conditions for companies working in the challenging Arctic environment," he said. The forum comes as other countries have expressed concerns about the Russian military's program to upgrade and modernize a series of Soviet-era military bases across the region and to establish a new Arctic command. Norway's prime minister, Erna Solberg, urged countries to respect international law in their endeavors in the region to help maintain peaceful conditions. "Respect for international law and regional cooperation are keys to ensuring peace and stability across borders," she told the forum. In 2017, Jim Mattis, the U.S. defense secretary at the time, noted the Russian buildup and said that "America has got to up its game in the Arctic." "The Arctic is key strategic terrain. Russia is taking aggressive steps to increase its presence there. I will prioritize the development of an integrated strategy for the Arctic," said Mattis, who left his position at the end of 2018. At the Arctic forum, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov defended the military buildup, saying, "We don't threaten anyone." "We ensure sufficient defense capabilities given the political and military situation around our borders," He added. The two-day forum ends on April 10. With reporting by AP, TASS, Foreign Policy, The Hill, and Interfax Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-sets-out-major- upgrade-to-arctic-facilities-assets-as-nations-eye- area-resources/29871273.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address European Court: Russia Violated Navalny's Rights With House Arrest By RFE/RL April 09, 2019 The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Russian authorities violated the rights of opposition politician Aleksei Navalny by holding him under house arrest in 2014. Navalny was placed under house arrest in February 2014 and confined to his home for several months while he was being investigated on suspicion of embezzlement in the so-called Yves Rocher case, which he and supporters say was politically motivated. "The restrictions on him, including tight limits on his communicating, [were] out of proportion to the criminal charges he had faced," the ECHR said in a statement after its ruling on April 9. The ECHR ruled that Russia had violated the European Convention on Human Rights and said it was "apparent that he had been treated in that way in order to curtail his public activities." The Strasbourg-based court ordered Russia to pay Navalny 20,000 euros ($22,480) in damages and 2,665 euros ($3,000) in remuneration for costs and expenses related to the case. Navalny called the ECHR's ruling a "victory," while President Vladimir Putin's spokesman criticized it. "I congratulate our team of lawyers and all the honest people who have supported us," Navalny wrote on Instagram. "I am sure that this ruling will have important consequences for those in Russia who have constantly been facing similar lawlessness." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the ruling was "quite unexpected" and that Putin's administration could "hardly agree" with it. Russia has lost a number of high-profile cases in Strasbourg and been ordered to pay out hefty compensation in scores of politically embarrassing cases. In December 2014, Navalny and his brother Oleg were convicted by a Russian court on charges of embezzling 30 million rubles -- then worth about $442,000 -- from the Russian branch of Yves Rocher and another firm. But the ECHR ruled in October 2017 that the Russian courts violated their right to a fair trial in the case. That ECHR ruling initially held that their convictions in the Yves Rocher case fell outside the definition of fraud. When Russia appealed that decision, the ECHR reconsidered the case and in November 2018 expanded its ruling against Russian authorities. It found that Russia violated Navalny's rights over numerous arrests and detentions from 2012 to 2014, calling them "unlawful and arbitrary" and "politically motivated." Navalny, one of Putin's main political opponents, has led dozens of street protests and published reports alleging corruption among members of the ruling elite. He has spent a total of more than 200 days in jail since 2011, mostly serving short terms for alleged infractions of laws governing public demonstrations. Along with the so-called Kirovles case, the Yves Rocher case is one of two in which Navalny has been convicted of financial crimes following trials that supporters contend were Kremlin-orchestrated efforts to punish and sideline him. His prison sentences in both cases have been suspended, prompting speculation that Putin fears that sending him to prison for years could galvanize Kremlin opponents. Navalny sought to challenge Putin for the presidency in March 2018 but electoral authorities barred him from the ballot, citing the two convictions. With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and Interfax Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-navalny-echr- violated-rights-house-arrest/29870131.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US bars entry to 16 Saudis over role in Khashoggi murder Iran Press TV Tue Apr 9, 2019 05:47AM The US State Department has barred 16 Saudi nationals from entering the United States over their involvement in the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last October. The list includes Saud al-Qahtani, a senior adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Maher Mutreb, a member of the young prince's entourage on foreign trips. "Those individuals and their immediate family members are ineligible for entry into the United States," the State Department said in a statement on Monday. The group had already been sanctioned by Washington in the aftermath of the apparent hit job on the US-based writer, who was also a Washington Post contributor. Khashoggi, once a close friend of bin Salman, had criticized his policies in columns written for The Washington Post prior to his death. Riyadh admitted to killing Khashoggi weeks after he entered the consulate on October 2. Saudi authorities first tried to avert attention from the case by offering contradicting accounts of the journalist's death. But once evidence pointed to a planned murder ordered by the highest royals, they eventually settled on the explanation that he had been killed in an operation masterminded by former advisors to bin Salman. While the CIA has concluded that the crown prince was in on the operation, the kingdom firmly denies he had any involvement. The recent action by Washington was done under the 2019 State Department appropriations bill, which states that the US Secretary of State must deny entry to individuals and immediate family members of foreign nationals who have been "involved in significant corruption or gross violations of human rights." In November last year, the US Treasury Department slapped sanctions on 17 Saudis on the grounds that they had "targeted and brutally killed a journalist who resided and worked in the United States." President Donald Trump's critics say the sanctions are not enough and the administration needs to punish MbS for his deeds. US lawmakers, including some of Trump's closest allies in the Republican Party, have even called for bin Salman's removal. Rights groups urge Pompeo to ensure fair murder trial Meanwhile, in a letter drafted to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, several rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have called on him to monitor the ongoing Saudi trial of the 11 accused in the murder. "The trial sessions held so far have been closed to the media and the identity of those on trial, as well as the charges they face, have not been disclosed," read the letter, which was also sent to French and British foreign secretaries, Jeremy Hunt and Jean-Yves Le Drian. Saudis have invited representatives of France, Britain, the US, Russia and China to attend the trial in Riyadh. In their letter, the rights groups pointed to the Saudi justice system's "severe inadequacies" and the regime's long record of concealing the truth through forced confessions. "This lack of independence, transparency, and fairness has meant that the Saudi criminal justice system falls well below international human rights standards," the wrote. "In addition to reinforcing the fair trial rights of the accused persons and to guard against potential scapegoating of some individuals, transparency around the trial can work to guarantee that the court proceedings do not cover up the alleged involvement of the Saudi leadership," the letter added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Two U.S. military contracts to Taiwan mere follow-ups ROC Central News Agency 2019/04/09 16:39:37 Taipei, April 9 (CNA) Two military contracts released by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) concerning Taiwan are not new arms deals but simply follow-ups, Taiwan's military said Tuesday. The DOD recently announced two military contracts concerning Taiwan; one on April 4, when it announced that U.S. Raytheon was awarded a US$9 million deal for supporting Taiwan's Patriot Air Defense System. On March 26, Raytheon was also awarded a US$50 million-worth contract as part of a Radar Restoration Program for the Taiwan Navy, according to the DOD. Asked to comment on the deals, Taiwan's Air Force said the US$9 million deal was not a new arms sales deal but simply part of a follow-up to the existing Patriot Air Defense System that allows Raytheon to open an office in Taipei to run the project. The US$9 million deal has nothing to do with any new weapons system but is simply a budget allocation for administrative purposes only. Meanwhile, commenting on the US$50 million contract, the Republic of China Navy said it is meant as follow-up maintenance to the radar systems already in place on its naval vessels. According to the DOD announcement, the US$50 million contract is to be used in support of radar antenna system "overhauls, coatings, shipboard installations and removals, and incidental technical support services." (By Matt Yu and Joseph Yeh) Enditem/J NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Taiwan ready to protect its freedom in face of China challenge: Tsai ROC Central News Agency 2019/04/09 23:20:39 Taipei, April 9 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen () on Tuesday said that Taiwan is ready to defend its democratic way of life amid "unprecedented challenges" from China. Speaking to U.S. think tanks in Washington during a video conference, Tsai said the nation's "democratic way of life faces unprecedented challenges" from Beijing, which has used multiple approaches to influence public opinion in Taiwan over the years. "Using economic incentives, control over sources of information and critical subversion; China's objective is to divide our society, erode trust in public institutions, and make people question our traditional alliances," she said. Tsai reaffirmed the resolution of Taiwanese people to defend democracy and freedom. "The people of Taiwan are deeply committed to protect this system against all threats, particularly from across the strait," Tsai noted. The president expressed thanks for the support shown by like-minded countries around the globe, particularly the U.S. and Japan, as they begin to see the true nature of the Chinese government. Like-minded countries around the world are seeing more clearly that China poses a threat not only to one country, "but to our collective security as well as our shared values and interests." She also urged Washington to make it clear that protecting the security of Taiwan is vital to the defense of democracy, and any threat to degrade the nation's freedom, democracy and way of life is of critical concern to the U.S. "This is a message that should not only be conveyed to the people of Taiwan but more importantly to the other side of the Strait, so that they know expansionist actions against Taiwan are also a threat directed to the free world," she added. Citing the example of Beijing's provocative behavior, Tsai said the People's Liberation Army of China sent two fighter jets across the Taiwan Strait median line late last month, a rare move that violated a long-held tacit agreement between the two sides. Tsai said this transgression is not only a challenge to the Democratic Progressive Party administration she leads, but also a challenge to the country's democratic system. To meet rising military threats from China, Tsai said her government has increased the defense budget over the years to build a "nimble, agile, and survivable" armed forces to show it is capable of defending itself and maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. Tsai made the comments during a video conference co-hosted by CSIS, the Brookings Institution, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, during which she spoke and answered questions from scholars. Speaking under the title "The Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) at Forty and U.S.-Taiwan Relations," Tsai said few could have imagined that the Taiwan-U.S. partnership would become stronger than ever 40 years after Washington recognized Beijing in 1979. Looking forward to the future, the president said she sees great potential for bilateral economic and trade relations between Taiwan and the U.S. as the two have a complementary relationship, not a competitive one. She again called on the U.S. to officially engage in talks with Taiwan on a bilateral trade agreement so the country can further contribute to the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. The TRA was signed in April 1979 by then U.S. President Jimmy Carter, a few months after the U.S. switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing. The TRA provides a legal basis for unofficial relations between the U.S. and Taiwan and enshrines in law the U.S.' commitment to help Taiwan maintain its self-defense capability. (By Joseph Yeh) Enditem/AW NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address British PM forced to delay Brexit to avoid no-deal as MPs pass law People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 16:31, April 09, 2019 LONDON, April 8 (Xinhua) -- Proposals to force British Prime Minister Theresa May to delay the date of Brexit -- again -- on Monday were approved by both the House of Lords and House of Commons. With just days to go before the Brexit deadline, April 12, the prime minister will now have to ask the European Union (EU) to extend Article 50 in order to avoid a no-deal Brexit. The cross-party proposal was raced through the House of Commons in a single day last week and completed its journey through the House of Lords on Monday night. The passage of the bill means the authority of May's government was further weakened as it would give MPs a chance to make legally binding changes to her requested departure date during a debate in the parliament on Tuesday. The House of Lords made two changes to it that removed a significant sting for the prime minister, which was signed off by the lower house on Monday. All the parliamentary stages have now been completed and it will be sent to the Queen for "Royal Assent." Under the new terms, British lawmakers will still be able to tell the prime minister how long she should ask the EU to delay Brexit, but they will not be able to dispute whatever new date Brussels sets and send the prime minister back to ask again. Britain is on track to leave the EU on Friday but the prime minister has chosen not to pursue a no-deal divorce. The prime minister wants to move the Brexit date from April 12 to June 30, but EU leaders will give her a longer extension, which she does not prefer. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Monday that May was leaving "no stone unturned" to try to resolve the Brexit problem. Arriving in Luxembourg for a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council, Hunt said: "I can't tell you that I'm very confident or not confident. We are going into these talks sincerely and we have to see what the outcome is." EU leaders are divided about what to do if the British politicians fail to strike a deal among themselves. May has lost three votes on her Brexit deal, with ardent Brexiteers and Eurosceptic Conservatives joining forces to defeat it. The passage of the bill in parliament on Monday came as talks between May and Jeremy Corbyn, the opposition Labour leader, failed to break the current Brexit deadlock. It also came hours before May's trip to Berlin and Paris on Tuesday, when the prime minister will hold talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron for a delay of the Brexit date, which has been pushed back from March 29 to April 12, May's spokesman said Monday. May also spoke by phone to many other European leaders ahead of Wednesday's EU summit, during which she is expected to seek a second extension to Britain's exit date from the EU. Britain's impasse over Brexit casts a cloud of uncertainty over the EU leaders' meeting for emergency talks in Brussels on Wednesday. The leaders from 27 EU member states are frustrated with all the Brexit wrangling. They had agreed that April 12 will be the Brexit date, if by then May still has not got the withdrawal agreement passed by parliament. Michel Barnier, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, was in Dublin on Monday for talks with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. They discussed developments in London as well as preparations for a possible no-deal scenario. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address EU hopes for positive outcome of UK cross-party discussions: Barnier People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 13:51, April 09, 2019 DUBLIN, April 8 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) hopes that the ongoing cross-party discussions in Britain will produce a positive outcome, EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said here on Monday. Barnier made his remark at a press briefing following his meeting with the Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. "As you all know, there are intensive cross-party discussions ongoing in London....We all hope these talks will produce a positive outcome," said Barnier. He said that "the Political Declaration provides for a range of outcomes including a customs union. We are ready to make this clearer if it helps and its work can be done extremely quickly". The Political Declaration is a legally none-binding document on the future relationship between the EU and Britain after Britain exits from the EU. Barnier said that the most important aim of his trip to Ireland, the fifth of its kind for him as a chief Brexit negotiator of the EU, is to take stock of the latest developments in London and to discuss the summit meeting of the European Council convened by its president Donald Tusk in Brussels on Wednesday. The upcoming EU leaders' meeting will decide whether the latest request by the British Prime Minister Theresa May to seek a further extension to the Brexit date to June 30 should be granted or not. Barnier said that during his meetings with the Irish PM and other senior Irish officials they also discussed what would happen in Ireland in a possible no-deal scenario. He said "our goal is to protect the Good Friday Agreement, peace on this island and integrity of the single market". He admitted that to achieve such a goal is not an easy task, but he said that "We are confident that we will find operational solutions." "One thing is certain whatever happens the EU will stand fully behind Ireland. You will have our full support," he said, adding that "the backstop is currently the only solution we've found to maintain the status quo on the island of Ireland." The backstop refers to a temporary arrangement to ensure that no hard border will occur between Ireland and Britain's Northern Ireland after Brexit until and unless a better alterative is found. "If the UK will have to leave the EU without a deal, let me (be) very clear, we will not discuss anything with the UK until there is an agreement for Ireland and Northern Ireland as well as for citizens' rights and the financial settlement," he warned, adding that the EU 27 member states will remain fully united as they have been from the very beginning of the Brexit negotiations. Irish Prime Minister Varadkar, in his speech at the press briefing, expressed his thanks for the solidarity that Barnier and the EU have showed for Ireland over the Brexit issue. He reiterated his government's stand that Ireland is open to extending the Brexit deadline to allow talks in the UK to reach their conclusions so long as Theresa May's government has a clear plan that is focused on a future relationship with the EU rather than trying to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement negotiations. "What we want to avoid is an extension that just allows for more indecision and more uncertainty," he told the local media prior to his Monday's meeting with Barnier. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address EU likely to give Britain long delay to Brexit: Report Iran Press TV Tue Apr 9, 2019 02:48PM Reports from a meeting of European Union foreign ministers show member states are mostly opposed to a demand by Britain for another short delay to a withdrawal deadline imposed by the bloc, as top diplomats insist any extension to UK membership should be a long one accompanying some strict conditions. The Guardian newspaper said in a Tuesday report from the meeting in Luxemburg that EU capitals were in favor of granting the UK a long membership extension until the end of the year rather than accepting Prime Minister Theresa May's request for a delay to Brexit until June 30. Britain had been supposed to leave the EU at the end of last month. It managed to extend the negotiations until April 12 in the hope it could pass a divorce deal in the parliament. May is now seeking a fresh delay as her government and the opposition Labour Party are trying to find a way out of the parliamentary impasse. European Union leaders will begin a summit on Wednesday to discuss London's demand for a two-month extension. May was on a tour of Berlin and Paris on Tuesday to convince German and France leaders about her plans to conclude the Brexit process in the near future. There was no clear mention of a compromise in those meetings although May's office said it was hopeful the EU would accept delaying Brexit until the end of June. However, the Guardian said it had seen a leaked document of the meeting of EU ministers in Luxemburg which showed that there was a growing support for the idea of a lengthy extension rather than a short one. It cited sources as saying that a Brexit delay of around nine months was now looking likely. The report said ministers had also demanded that any extension to Britain's membership in the bloc should come with conditions, including the need for Britain to be engaged in sincere cooperation with the bloc and not try to disrupt key legislation of the bloc which needs unanimity while London should show its commitment to holding European Parliament elections in May. May's desperate attempts to secure a new delay comes as she is trying to avoid a hard Brexit on Friday, a scenario which could have dire economic implications for Britain. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UK Lords approve Brexit law forcing May to consult parliament on delay Iran Press TV Tue Apr 9, 2019 01:24AM Britain's House of Lords approved legislation on Monday that will give parliament the power to scrutinize and even change Prime Minister Theresa May's request that the European Union agree to delay Brexit until June 30. The legislation, which is being passed despite government opposition to it, will now return to the elected House of Commons for further consideration with a view to being finalized and turned into law later on Monday. May has already asked Brussels to extend Britain's EU membership until June 30 to allow talks with the opposition Labour Party in search of different exit plan - a last-ditch attempt to keep control after parliament rejected her own Brexit deal three times. But lawmakers want additional legal guarantees against a "no-deal" exit happening on April 12 - the current exit day - and have crafted a law forcing ministers to consult with parliament on Tuesday (April 9) before she goes to Brussels. That would give lawmakers the chance to make legally binding changes to May's requested departure date during a debate scheduled to last 90 minutes on Tuesday (April 9). NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Orlando, Fla., April 09, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Orange Lake Resorts, home to the Holiday Inn Club Vacations brand, announces the opening of its new corporate headquarters in Orlando, Florida. The company recently relocated 570 corporate team members into a newly built, 125,000-square-foot headquarters in Orlando, and plans to add another 250 high-wage jobs in the future. The space was specifically designed to create a positive and collaborative environment with an abundance of natural lighting, cooperative work spaces and the latest technology. Every aspect of our new headquarters was designed to ensure our team members are set up for success, said Tom Nelson, President and CEO of Orange Lake Resorts. The collaborative and positive environment of the new campus will energize our teams by harnessing their creativity, courage and caring spirit, ensuring we can focus on our goal of being the most loved brand in travel. The new headquarters sits adjacent to the companys corporate contact center, creating the first corporate campus environment in the Orlando timeshare industry. Between the two buildings, the campus includes nearly 240,000 square feet of purpose-built office space and is home to 1,650 team members. Additional features of the three-story building include a fitness center with space for group exercise classes, cook-to-order cafe and training facilities. We are growing at a tremendous pace and our corporate team is very excited about its much-needed new home, added Nelson. The new campus and supportive work environment positions us well for future growth and will help garner the best talent, both within and outside of our industry. The new corporate headquarters is located at 9271 South John Young Parkway in Orlando, Florida. For details on open positions with the company, visit careers.holidayinnclub.com. About Orange Lake Resorts Orange Lake Resorts encompasses 28 resorts and 7,600 villas in the U.S., with more than 350,000 timeshare owners and 5,000+ employees. Orange Lake Resorts, a leader within the vacation ownership industry with more than three decades of proven success, operates the Holiday Inn Club. The Holiday Inn Club Vacations brand was created in 2008 through a strategic alliance with IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), one of the worlds leading hotel companies. The Holiday Inn Club Vacations flagship property in Orlando, Fla., located next to the Walt Disney World Resort, was established in 1982 by Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson. For more information on Holiday Inn Club Vacations or to book reservations, visit hiclubvacations.com. Find us on Facebook at facebook.com/hiclubvacations or Twitter at twitter.com/hiclubvacations. Attachment HOUSTON, April 09, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tokio Marine HCC today announced it is exiting the bail business through the sale of its bail operations to an undisclosed buyer with an A.M. Best financial strength rating of A (Excellent) and a prominent player in the industry. The transaction includes Bail USA, Inc. and all bail bond business written by American Contractors Indemnity Company, U.S. Specialty Insurance Company and United States Surety Company. HCC Surety Group is pleased to have reached an agreement under which we can smoothly transfer our entire bail portfolio to a new owner without disrupting operations, employees or agents. The buyer is an established and meaningful participant in the U.S. bail industry, and we believe our employees and bail bond agents will benefit from this transaction, said Adam S. Pessin, HCC Surety Groups Chief Executive Officer. Tokio Marine HCC is the marketing name used to describe the affiliated companies under the common ownership of HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc., a Delaware-incorporated insurance holding company. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Tokio Marine HCC is a leading specialty insurance group with offices in the United States, the United Kingdom and Continental Europe. Tokio Marine HCCs major domestic insurance companies have financial strength ratings of AA- (Very Strong) from S&P Global Ratings, A++ (Superior) from A.M. Best, and AA- (Very Strong) from Fitch Ratings; its major international insurance companies have financial strength ratings of AA- (Very Strong) from S&P Global Ratings. Tokio Marine HCC is a member of the Tokio Marine Group, a premier global company founded in 1879 with a market capitalization of $34 billion as of December 31, 2018. For more information about Tokio Marine HCC, please visit www.tokiomarinehcc.com. HCC Surety Group is the marketing name used to describe the surety-related insurance operations of Tokio Marine HCC. HCC Surety Group, with offices throughout the United States, is the seventh largest writer of surety business in the United States. Its members, American Contractors Indemnity Company, U.S. Specialty Insurance Company and United States Surety Company, have financial strength ratings of AA- (Very Strong) from S&P Global Ratings, A++ (Superior) from A.M. Best, and AA- (Very Strong) from Fitch Ratings. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 09, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eco Oro Minerals Corp. (CSE:EOM) (the Company or Eco Oro) is pleased to announce that it has completed the initial stage (the Initial Subscription) of the US$28 million first tranche (the First Tranche) of its previously announced private placement (the Private Placement). On completion of the Initial Subscription, the Company issued an aggregate of approximately US$10.5 million of contingent value rights certificates and approximately US$12.1 million of unsecured 0.025% interest-bearing promissory notes due June 30, 2028, for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately US$22.6 million. It is currently anticipated that the balance of the First Tranche will be completed on or about April 30, 2019. The proceeds of the Initial Subscription will be used for working capital needs and to repay outstanding obligations. Company Profile Eco Oro Minerals Corp. is a publicly-traded company and its arbitration against the Republic of Colombia is its core focus. Forward-Looking Statements This news release includes "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, including statements with respect to the completion of the Private Placement. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking statements that involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon the current belief, opinions and expectations of management that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and other contingencies. Many factors could cause the Companys actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. SOURCE Eco Oro Minerals Corp. For further information: Paul Robertson, Chief Executive Officer (Interim) Tel: +1 604 682 8212, TF: +1 855 682 8212. CO: Eco Oro Minerals Corp. Centauri Therapeutics to present at 29th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) UK, 10 April 2019: Centauri Therapeutics (Centauri), an immunotherapy company active in oncology and infectious diseases, today announces that the Company will attend the 29th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) on 13-16 April 2019 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At the congress, Jennifer Schneider, PhD. Vice President, Business Development at Centauri Therapeutics, will be presenting during the Therapeutics pipeline corner session, at 12.15pm CET on 14 April 2019. The Centauri presentation will focus on the Companys antimicrobial asset ABX01, which targets drug-sensitive and Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) Gram-negative bacteria, including clinically-relevant strains of Enterobacteriaceae, P. aeruginosa, and A. baumannii. The novel features of this approach are: broad spectrum efficacy against Gram-negative bacterial infections; a dual mechanism of action (direct and immune-mediated action) to kill bacteria; and an ability to harness and re-direct naturally occurring effector antibodies. ECCMID is the worlds premier Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases event, bringing together experts from many fields to present their latest findings, guidelines and experiences to an audience of over 12,000 colleagues. The congress is in association with the European Society of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ESCMID), Europes leading society in clinical microbiology and infectious diseases with members from all European countries and all continents. If you would like to meet with a representative from Centauri Therapeutics at the congress, please contact Dan.Hamlin@centauritherapeutics.com. - Ends - Notes to editors Centauri Therapeutics Centauri Therapeutics is an immunotherapy company focused on oncology and infectious diseases. Centauris proprietary Alphamer platform is protected by a portfolio of patents and enables the discovery and development of multiple candidate molecules. All projects harness a powerful and clinically validated immune mechanism which redirects naturally existing antibodies to treat life-threatening diseases. For further information, please contact: Centauri Therapeutics Manjit Rahelu Chief Business Officer +44 1304 728610 info@centauritherapeutics.com For media enquiries: Consilium Strategic Communications Matthew Neal, Angela Gray +44 (0) 20 3709 5700 NEW YORK, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to the market research report published by P&S Intelligence, the Saudi Arabia HVAC market is expected to reach $2.4 billion by 2024, registering a CAGR of 4.5%, during the forecast period. The market is buoyed by several factors predominantly, growing investments in the tourism-related projects, commercial infrastructure, and development in the overall hospitality sector. Request to get the sample pages of the report: https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/saudi-arabia-hvac-market/report-sample Based on ventilation type, the market is divided into ventilation fans, humidifiers/dehumidifiers, air handling units & fan coil units, and air cleaners. Of these, ventilation fans category is estimated to hold the largest revenue share in 2018. This is owing to its wide range of applications, varying from general ventilation for circulation of air, to collecting dust particles in manufacturing plants, in order to avoid wear and tear of machineries. In terms of fan coil units (FCU) type, the market is classified into four-pipe FCU and two-pipe FCU. Of these, four-pipe FCU sub-category is estimated to hold a larger revenue share in 2018, owing to increasing number of high-rise commercial offices and buildings, large scale hospital buildings, and airport expansion projects. However, the two pipe FCUs are increasingly being deployed for residential applications. In 2018, Saudi Ministry of Housing, awarded contracts for 19,000 housing units, which are to be built in cities like Jeddah, Al Khobar, and Riyadh. Therefore, construction of residential units is projected to drive the demand for two pipe FCUs during the forecast period. Browse report overview with 81 tables and 48 figures spread through 144 pages and detailed TOC on "Saudi Arabia HVAC Market" at: https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/saudi-arabia-hvac-market Saudi Arabia is registering positive growth in demand for HVAC systems on account of rising hospitality sector. Due to religious significance, Saudi Arabia is one of the largest tourism destinations, globally, which is primarily fueling the hospitality sector in the country. In 2017, the country witnessed nearly 14% annual rise in the number of rooms as compared to 2016. Further, as of 2018, around 40,000 guestrooms in 89 projects are under-construction. Due to increasing demand, many international hotel chains are increasing their presence in the country. For instance, in 2018, Marriott International planned to open around 29 new hotels and nearly 6,000 guestrooms in line with Saudi Vision 2030. Further in 2019, Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., is planning to build around 35 new hotels in the next 3-5 years. Also, Radisson Hospitality AB announced that it would open two new hotels in the country by 2020. HVAC systems offer comfort and has the ability to keep control the temperature in a room as per the requirement of guests. Thus, presently, HVAC systems are an essential part of modern hotels. As a result, growing hospitality sector is fueling the growth of Saudi Arabia HVAC market. Make enquiry before buying the report: https://www.psmarketresearch.com/send-enquiry?enquiry-url=saudi-arabia-hvac-market Saudi Arabia HVAC market is highly fragmented. In the recent past, product launches have been the major activities in the market. Companies like Johnson Controls International plc is focusing on facility expansion to strengthen its position in Saudi Arabia HVAC market. Additionally, the companies are majorly focusing on enhancing their product portfolios and expanding their businesses in the country. Some of the key players operating in the Saudi Arabia HVAC market include Johnson Controls International plc, LG Electronics Inc., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Gree Electric Appliances Inc. of Zhuhai, Ingersoll-Rand plc, Danfoss A/S, United Technologies Corporation, Midea Group Co. Ltd. Daikin Industries Ltd., Zamil Air Conditioners, and S.K.M Air Conditioning LLC. More Related Reports by P&S Intelligence Heating, Ventilation, and Cooling Market Global HVAC market is expected to reach $136.5 billion by 2024, registering a CAGR of 3.9% during forecast period. The market is buoyed by several factors, predominantly increasing government initiative across the globe, coupled with overall growth in the construction sector. Furthermore, rising average global temperature is propelling the year over year (YoY) growth of the market. https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/hvac-market Asia-Pacific HVAC Market Surging infrastructure spend primarily in China and India is driving the growth of Asia-Pacific HVAC market. In India, there are several upcoming infrastructure projects such as airport construction, and metro railway expansion projects. For instance, the Government of India granted around $57 million in the interim budget of 2019 for building Noida and Ghaziabad sections of the metro network. In addition, in 2017, the Government of India announced that it would construct around 100 new airports in the next 15 years. https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/apac-hvac-market About P&S Intelligence P&S Intelligence is a provider of market research and consulting services catering to the market information needs of burgeoning industries across the world. Providing the plinth of market intelligence, P&S as an enterprising research and consulting company, believes in providing thorough landscape analyses on the ever-changing market scenario, to empower companies to make informed decisions and base their business strategies with astuteness. Contact: P&S Intelligence Toll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada) International: +1-347-960-6455 Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.com Web: https://www.psmarketresearch.com English Lithuanian Draft agenda and draft decisions for the Annual General Meeting of Telia Lietuva, AB (hereinafter the Company or Telia Lietuva) shareholders to be held on 26 April 2019 proposed by the Board of the Company: 1. Information of the Companys auditor. Taken for the information. 2. Approval of the annual consolidated and separate financial statements of the Company for the year 2018 and presentation of the consolidated annual report of the Company for the year 2018. Draft decision: 1) To approve the audited annual consolidated and separate financial statements of the Company for the year 2018. 2) The consolidated annual report of the Company for the year 2018, prepared by the Company, assessed by the auditors and approved by the Board, was presented. 3. Allocation of the profit of the Company of 2018. Draft decision: To allocate the Companys profit for the year 2018 in line with the proposal for profit allocation as presented to the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. The Board proposes to allocate from the Companys distributable profit of EUR 131,617 thousand an amount of EUR 46,609 thousand for the payment of dividends for the year 2018, i.e. EUR 0.08 dividend per share, and carry forward to the next financial year an amount of EUR 85,008 thousand as retained earnings (undistributed profit). For two independent members to the Board Tomas Balzekas and Mindaugas Glodas as tantiems (annual payment) for the year 2018 to allocate in total an amount of EUR 31,280, or EUR 15,640 each. 4. Regarding the Companys registered office address. Draft decision: The registered office of the Company shall be Saltoniskiu str. 7A, LT- 03501 Vilnius, Lithuania. 5. Regarding the approval of preparation of reorganisation terms. Draft decision: 1) To approve the preparation of reorganisation terms, under which Telia Customer Service LT, AB (registration number 110401957, office Vytenio str. 18, Vilnius, Lithuania; reorganised company) would be merged into Telia Lietuva, AB (registration number 1212 15434, office at Saltoniskiu str. 7A, Vilnius, Lithuania; a company participating in the reorganisation). 2) To authorise the Board and the CEO of the Company to perform all actions and adopt all decisions necessary for the aforementioned reorganisation. 6. Election of the Companys Board members. Draft decision: Taking into consideration that the current term of the Companys Board expired on 27 April 2019, to elect to the Board of the Company for the two-year term of the Board: 1) ________________ (proposed by [...]). 2) ________________ (proposed by [...]). 3) ________________ (proposed by [...]). 4) ________________ (proposed by [...]). 5) ________________ (proposed by [...]). 6) ________________ (proposed by [...]). Telia Company AB, as a shareholder of Telia Lietuva, AB holding 88.15 per cent of the Companys shares and votes, proposes to the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders to be held on 26 April 2019 in Vilnius, Lithuania, the following nominees to be elected to the Board of Telia Lietuva, AB for the two-year term of the Board: - Mr. (Per) Emil Nilsson - Ms. Agneta (Magdalena) Wallmark - Mr. Claes (Johan Ingemar) Nycander - Mr. Hannu-Matti Makinen - Mr. Tomas Balzekas (as independent member of the Board) - Mr. Mindaugas Glodas (as independent member of the Board) Emil Nilsson (born in 1971) Chairman of the Board, member of the Board of Telia Lietuva since 9 November 2018 (nominated by Telia Company AB), Chairman of the Remuneration Committee. Education University of Stockholm (Sweden), Bachelor of Science in Finance. Employment Telia Company AB (Sweden), Senior Vice President & Head of cluster Lithuania, Estonia and Denmark (LED) and Region Eurasia. Current Board Assignments: Moldcell S.A. (Moldova), Chairman of the Board; Fintur Holdings B.V. (The Netherlands), member of the Board and Svenska Handbollslandslaget AB (Sweden), member of the Board. Emil Nilsson has no direct interest in the share capital of Telia Lietuva. Agneta Wallmark (born in 1960) member of the Board of Telia Lietuva since 25 April 2018 (nominated by Telia Company AB), Chairwoman of the Audit Committee. Education: Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden), B. Sc. Econ with special focus on Accounting and Finance; Stockholm University (Sweden), LL M with special focus on Tax and Economics. Employment: Telia Company AB (Sweden), Vice President, Head of Treasury. Current Board assignments: Telia Insurance AB (Sweden), Chairwoman of the Board; Swedish Pension Fund of Telia (Sweden), Member of the Board and Telia Towers AB (Sweden), Member of the Board. Agneta Wallmark has no direct interest in the share capital of Telia Lietuva. Claes Nycander (born in 1963) member of the Board of Telia Lietuva since 29 April 2014, re-elected for the two-year term on 29 April 2015 and 27 April 2017 (nominated by Telia Company AB), member of the Remuneration Committee. Education: Uppsala University (Sweden), Master of Business and Administration; Stanford University Palo Alto (U.S.A.), Master of Science in Electrical Engineering; Institute of Technology at University of Linkoping (Sweden), Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and University of Linkoping (Sweden), Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. Employment: Telia Company AB (Sweden), Vice President and Head of Chief Operating Officer Office & LED (Lithuania, Estonia, Denmark) Management at Group Service Operations. Current Board Assignments: TT Natverket A/S (Denmark), Chairman of the Board; Telia Towers AB (Sweden), Chairman of the Board; Telia Towers Sweden AB (Sweden), Chairman of the Board; Telia Company Danmark A/S (Denmark), Chairman of the Board; Telia Mobile Holding AB (Sweden), Chairman of the Board; Telia Nattjanster Norden AB (Sweden), Chairman of the Board; Systecon AB (Sweden), member of the Board; Svenska UMTS-Nat AB (Sweden), member of the Board; LMT SIA (Latvia), member of the Supervisory Council andTelia Eesti AS (Estonia), member of the Supervisory Council. Claes Nycander has no direct interest in the share capital of Telia Lietuva. Hannu-Matti Makinen (born in 1970) Member of the Board of Telia Lietuva since 25 April 2018 (nominated by Telia Company AB). Education: University of Arizona (U.S.A), College of Law, LL.M (Masters of Laws) in International Trade Law, and University of Lapland (Finland), School of Law, LL.B (Bachelor of Laws) and LL.M (Masters of Laws) in Finnish and EU-Law. Employment: Telia Company AB (Sweden), Vice President and Head of Legal Practice Group B2B & Carrier. Current Board Assignments: Telia Finland Oyj (Finland), member of the Board; Tilts Communications A/S (Denmark), member of the Board; Turkcell Holding A.S. (Turkey), member of the Board and Lattelecom SIA (Latvia), member of the Supervisory Council. Hannu-Matti Makinen has no direct interest in the share capital of Telia Lietuva. Tomas Balzekas (born in 1977) independent member of the Board of Telia Lietuva since 25 April 2018 (as independent member of the Board nominated by Telia Company AB), member of the Audit Committee. Education: Concordia University Wisconsin (U.S.A.), Master of Business Administration (MBA), Finance, and Bachelor of International Business; Concordia International University Estonia, Bachelor of International Business. Employment: UAB Media Bites (Lithuania), General Manager (CEO). Involvement in activities of other entities: UAB Media Bites (Lithuania), shareholder (51 per cent); UAB Mano Daktaras (Lithuania), a subsidiary of UAB Media Bites, General Manager (CEO); UAB Balzeko Bites (Lithuania), shareholder (100 per cent); UAB InsurTech Solutions (Lithuania), shareholder (18 per cent); VsI Kino Pasaka (Lithuania), founder and owner (50 per cent); VsI Tiriamosios Zurnalistikos Centras (Lithuania), owner (100 per cent) and VsI Lietuvos Nacionalinis Radijas ir Televizija (Lithuanian National Radio and Television), member of the Council. Tomas Balzekas has no direct interest in the share capital of Telia Lietuva. Mindaugas Glodas (born in 1972) independent member of the Board of Telia Lietuva since 25 April 2018 (as independent member of the Board nominated by Telia Company AB), member of the Audit and Remuneration Committees. Education: University of Antwerp, Centre for Business Administration UFSIA (Belgium), Master in Business Administration (MBA), Vilniaus University, Faculty of Economics (Lithuania), Bachelor in Business Administration (BBA). Employment Norway Registers Development AS Lithuanian branch, General Manager. Involvement in activities of other entities: UAB Nextury Ventures (Lithuania), Partner; UAB Energijos Sprendimu Centras (Lithuania), Member of the Board; Council for Research, Development and Innovations at the Government of Lithuania, Member of the Council; Agency for Science, Innovations and Technologies (Lithuania), Member of Coordinating Council; Association Ziniu Ekonomikos Forumas (Lithuania), Chairman of the Council; MB Vox Proxima (Lithuania), Member of partnership (50 per cent) and General Manager of the following Lithuanian start-ups: UAB Baltic Arrow, UAB Airthemes (under liquidation) and Zedge Lithuania, UAB. Mindaugas Glodas has no direct interest in the share capital of Telia Lietuva 7. Regarding the implementation of decisions. Draft decision: To authorise the CEO of the Company to implement all decisions (2-6), sign all the related documents and conclude all the transactions required for the implementation of the aforementioned decisions. The CEO of the Company shall be entitled to authorise any other person to perform the aforementioned actions and to sign the aforementioned documents. The documents possessed by the Company related to the agenda of the Meeting, including draft resolutions, are available at the headquarters of Telia Lietuva, Saltoniskiu str. 7A, Vilnius, Lithuania, or at the Companys internet website www.telia.lt. ENCL.: - Draft of Telia Lietuva, AB Consolidated and Separate Financial Statements, Consolidated Annual Report and Independent Auditors Report for the year ended 31 December 2018. - Draft of profit allocation for the year 2018. - Curriculum Vitae (CV) of nominees to the Board. Darius Dziaugys, Head of Investor Relations, tel. +370 5 236 7878, e-mail: darius.dziaugys@telia.lt Attachments English Lithuanian INVL Technology, a company that invests in IT businesses, for 5.918 million Norwegian kroner (EUR 0.62 million) has acquired the Norwegian company Zissor, which provides media monitoring and digitization software development and services. The transaction was completed on 10 April this year through the company Novian, which is owned by INVL Technology. Following the transaction, Novian holds 100 percent of the shares in Zissor. The deal strengthens the Novian groups position in the Scandinavian markets and also brings synergies with other companies in INVL Technology group, particularly Estonias Andmevara, one of the leading providers of digitization services in Estonia and Moldova, said Kazimieras Tonkunas, INVL Technologys managing partner. INVL Technology has announced that in 2019-2020 Novian will consolidate companies, belonging to the IT services and software group. That will let them unite forces for expansion in the Nordic region and increase the value of their businesses. Zissor is a mature company with a strong portfolio of products and exceptional competencies which will extend the Novian groups ability to implement complex projects in the areas of the media, court and archive information digitization as well as facilitation of access to digital services. In addition, well also collaborate in business register modernization and national digital transformation projects, where Novian group companies are working together with other INVL Technology businesses, said Giedrius Cvilikas, the CEO of Novian. Zissor AS, established in the year 2000, is based in Drammen, nearby Norways capital city Oslo. The company, which operates on an international scale, provides services to clients working in the areas of media monitoring and digitization. Zissor will continue to be led by Ove Dirdal. In joining the companies of INVL Technology, were beginning a new era. We believe that this change will strengthen our company and enable us to focus even more on our goal of offering the market the best functional and technical solutions. For our clients in media monitoring industry, this will mean faster deployment of new technologies and functionalities in our advanced Zissor Media System. Meanwhile, this deal will also open access to new digitization concepts and new markets for our digitisation services, Zissor CEO Ove Dirdal said. The board of Zissor will comprise Kazimieras Tonkunas, Giedrius Cvilikas and Elena Vengriene, CEO of the INVL Technology-owned company Algoritmu Sistemos. In 2018, Zissor had revenue of 6.4 million Norwegian kroner (EUR 0.67 million on the Norwegian, Swedish, UK, German, Greek and other markets. The companys clients include media monitoring companies, national archives and libraries, and also newspaper publishers. Zissor gets 70 percent of its annual revenues from regular clients. INVL Technologys businesses operate in three areas: business climate improvement and e-governance, IT services and software, and cybersecurity. Before the acquisition deal, Novian, which works in the IT services and software area, owned companies BAIP and Acena. Companies Algoritmu Sistemos and Andmevara also work in the same area. Until now, INVL Technology had invested in the Norwegian company Norway Registers Development AS with a subsidiary in Lithuania as well as in NRD Companies AS of Norway with subsidiaries NRD Systems UAB and Etronika UAB in Lithuania, Norway Registers Development East Africa Ltd in Tanzania, Norway Registers Development Rwanda Ltd in Rwanda and NRD Bangladesh Ltd in Bangladesh, and the associate company Infobank Uganda Ltd in Uganda. INVL Technologys portfolio of businesses also includes Novian UAB with subsidiaries BAIP UAB and Acena UAB as well as NRD CS UAB and Algoritmu Sistemos UAB, all in Lithuania, and Estonias Andmevara AS and Andmevara Services OU with subsidiary Andmevara SRL in Moldova. The person authorized to provide additional information: Kazimieras Tonkunas INVL Technology Managing Partner e-mail k.tonkunas@invltechnology.lt Dublin, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Medical Cannabis Market - Analysis By Product Type, By Application, By Consumption Pattern, By Region, By Country (2019 Edition): Opportunities and Forecast (2014-2024)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Global market is projected to display a robust growth represented by a CAGR of 16.82% during 2019 - 2024. Cannabis Indica has been witnessing growth at a noteworthy rate over the past few years as cannabis is being legalized in most of the nations with multi-application in various industries such as Food and Beverage, Paper, Textile, Healthcare, Skin and Beauty Products among others. Amongst the regions, North America accounts for the largest regional share in the global medical cannabis market in 2019. Key factors driving robust growth rate in North America region include escalating production of cannabis, with government legalizing cannabis in most of the states of US clubbed with presence of major global cannabis leaders in Canada, has been anticipated to infuse positive growth in the region during the forecast period. The report intends to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers take sound investment evaluation. Besides, the report also identifies and analyses the emerging trends along with major drivers, challenges and opportunities in the global Medical Cannabis market. Additionally, the report also highlights market entry strategies for various companies across the globe. Report Highlights Market Dynamics - Drivers and Restraints Market Trends SWOT Analysis Competitive Landscape Company Analysis - Scotts Miracle-Gro Co, Canopy Growth Corp(Canada), GW Pharmaceuticals PLC, Aurora Cannabis Inc (Canada), Aphria Inc (Canada), MedReLeaf Corp, Medical Marijuana, INC, Insys Therapeutics Inc, CanniMed Therapeutics Inc, Cara Therapeutics Inc. Key Topics Covered: 1. Research Methodology 2. Executive Summary 3. Strategic Recommendations 4. Medical Cannabis Market: Product Outlook 5. Global Medical Cannabis Market: An Analysis 5.1 By Value (2014-2018) 5.2 By Value (2019-2024) 6. Global Medical Cannabis Market: Segment Analysis 6.1 By Production Type (2018, 2024) 6.1.1 Global Cannabis Indica Market Size, By Value (2014-2018) (2019-2024) 6.1.2 Global Cannabis Sativa Market Size, By Value (2014-2018) (2019-2024) 6.1.3 Global Cannabis Market Size - Others, By Value (2014-2018) (2019-2024) 6.2 By Application (2018, 2024) 6.2.1 Global Medical Cannabis Market Size for Chronic Pain, By Value (2014-2018) (2019-2024) 6.2.2 Global Medical Cannabis Market Size for Mental Disorders, By Value (2014-2018) (2019-2024) 6.2.3 Global Medical Cannabis Market Size for Cancers, By Value (2014-2018) (2019-2024) 6.2.4 Global Medical Cannabis Market Size for Others, By Value (2014-2018) (2019-2024) 6.3 By Consumption Pattern (2018, 2024) 6.3.1 Global Medical Cannabis Market Size for Flowers, By Value (2014-2018) (2019-2024) 6.3.2 Global Medical Cannabis Market Size for Concentrates, By Value (2014-2018) (2019-2024) 6.3.3 Global Medical Cannabis Market Size for Edibles, By Value (2014-2018) (2019-2024) 6.3.4 Global Medical Cannabis Market Size for Others, By Value (2014-2018) (2019-2024) 7. Market Share of Leading Medical Cannabis Companies 8. Global Medical Cannabis Market: Regional Analysis 9. North America Medical Cannabis Market: An Analysis 9.1 By Value (2014-2018) 9.2 By Value (2019-2024) 10. North America Medical Cannabis Market: Segment Analysis 11. North America Medical Cannabis Market: Country Analysis 12. Europe Medical Cannabis Market: An Analysis 13. Europe America Medical Cannabis Market: Segment Analysis 14. Europe Medical Cannabis Market: Country Analysis 15. Asia Pacific Medical Cannabis Market: An Analysis 16. Asia Pacific Medical Cannabis Market: Segment Analysis 17. Asia Pacific Medical Cannabis Market: Country Analysis 18. Rest of the World Medical Cannabis Market: An Analysis 19. Rest of the World Medical Cannabis Market: Segment Analysis 20. Rest of the World Medical Cannabis Market: Country Analysis 21. Global Medical Cannabis Market Drivers 22. Global Medical Cannabis Market Restraints 23. Global Medical Cannabis Market Trends 24. SWOT Analysis 25. Company Profiles Scotts Miracle-Gro Co Canopy Growth Corp(Canada) GW Pharmaceuticals PLC Aurora Cannabis Inc (Canada) Aphria Inc (Canada) MedReLeaf Corp Medical Marijuana Inc Insys Therapeutics Inc CanniMed Therapeutics Inc Cara Therapeutics Inc. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/o28w28 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. TORONTO, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cardinal Resources Limited (ASX/TSX: CDV) is pleased to announce an update to our Feasibility Study (FS) and Project Finance (PF) activities in respect of the Companys Ore Reserve at the Namdini Gold Project in Ghana (ASX/TSX release dated 3 April 2019). The Namdini Gold Project Feasibility Study is progressing rapidly and is now expected to be delivered this quarter, one quarter ahead of schedule Cardinals Project Finance Advisor, Cutfield Freeman (London), is assessing term sheets for project finance which have been received from banks and other project financiers Strong interest shown from a number and variety of different potential project financiers Independent Experts appointed to minimise delays with due diligence Cardinals Chief Executive Officer / Managing Director, Archie Koimtsidis stated: The entire Feasibility Study team has been performing an exceptional job of bringing together the Feasibility Study for Cardinals Namdini Gold Project well ahead of its original planned completion of Q3 CY2019. Finalisation of the Feasibility Study within this quarter will be a significant step forward for the Company as it continues to substantiate the significant value inherent in the Namdini Gold Project for investors. The Pre-Feasibility Study has already demonstrated the robust nature of our Namdini Gold Project, and provides a strong body of work which has been leveraged off for the Feasibility Study. The Feasibility Study will factor an optimisation study that has recently been undertaken on the Namdini Gold Ore Reserve, to ensure the optimal Stage 1 pit design to accelerate capital payback and maximise returns for shareholders. Study Manager Lycopodium, continues to accelerate the full integration of all project disciplines and to coordinate the efforts of our other study partners including Golder Associates and Knight Piesold. Lycopodium are a highly respected mining services company that has over 25 years Global experience in the minerals industry, designing and building large-scale mines, processing plants and associated infrastructure, particularly in Africa and West Africa. Project Finance Update Project Finance Advisers, Cutfield Freeman, have been working closely with Cardinal to ensure that Cardinal is well positioned to execute project finance for the Namdini Gold Project as swiftly as possible following completion of the Feasibility Study. There has been very strong interest received from a range of potential financiers, providing the Company with a strong degree of confidence that it will be capable of securing the required project funding package on favourable terms. Cardinals Project Finance team is continuing to evaluate Indicative Term Sheets from a number of project financiers - traditional senior debt lenders to possible corporate scenarios. Project Development Partners COMPANY ROLE Lycopodium Feasibility Study Managers. Process plant and associated infrastructure. Capital and Operating cost estimation and compilation of the JORC and NI 43-101 Technical reports Golder Associates Mine planning and optimisation, pit design and mine scheduling, Geotechnical, Hydrology and Hydrogeological engineering Orway Minerals Consultants Comminution data analysis, crushing and grinding circuit option study ALS Laboratory (Perth) Metallurgical testwork to support the process design criteria Knight Piesold Consulting Tailings Storage Facility and selected infrastructure design Independent Metallurgical Operations Metallurgical testwork management, analysis and process flowsheet development MPR Geological Consultants Mineral Resource modelling of the Namdini Deposit Orefind Geology and deposit structural genesis Sebbag Group International Mine Design Review NEMAS Consult Environmental Impact Assessment Study Whittle Consulting Enterprise Optimisation of the Namdini Project BDO Advisory Financial Model Integrity & Reviewer (PEA, PFS and FS) ABOUT CARDINAL Cardinal Resources Limited (ASX/TSX: CDV) is a West African goldfocused exploration and development Company that holds interests in tenements within Ghana, West Africa. The Company is focused on the development of the Namdini Project with a gold Ore Reserve of 5.1Moz (0.2 Moz Proved and 4.9 Moz Probable) and a soon to be completed Feasibility Study. Exploration programmes are also underway at the Companys Bolgatanga (Northern Ghana) and Subranum (Southern Ghana) Projects. Cardinal confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in its announcement of the Ore Reserve of 3 April 2019. All material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning this estimate continue to apply and have not materially changed. For further information contact: Archie Koimtsidis Alec Rowlands CEO / MD IR / Corp Dev Cardinal Resources Limited Cardinal Resources Limited P: +61 8 6558 0573 P: +1 647 256 1922 Andrew Rowell Peta Baldwin Cannings Purple Cannings Purple E: arowell@canningspurple.com.au E: pbaldwin@canningspurple.com.au P: +61 400 466 226 P: +61 455 081 008 Competent / Qualified Person Statement All production targets for the Namdini Gold Mine referred to in this report are underpinned by estimated Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves which were prepared by competent persons and qualified persons in accordance with the requirements of the JORC Code and National Instrument 43-101- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI43-101), respectively. The information in this press release that relates to Namdini Ore Reserves and mining studies is based on information compiled and reviewed by Mr Glenn Turnbull, a Competent Person who is a Chartered Engineer and Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a full-time employee of Golder Associates. Mr Turnbull has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he has undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the JORC Code 2012 and is a qualified person for the purposes of NI43-101. Mr Turnbull has no economic, financial or pecuniary interest in the company and consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears. The information in this press release that relates to Namdini Mineral Resources is based on information compiled and reviewed by Mr Nicolas Johnson, a Competent Person who is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and a full-time employee of MPR Geological Consultants Pty Ltd. Mr Johnson has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he has undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the JORC Code 2012 and is a qualified person for the purposes of NI43-101. Mr Johnson has no economic, financial or pecuniary interest in the company and consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears. The scientific and technical information contained in this press release is based on information compiled and reviewed by Mr Richard Bray, a Competent Person who is a Registered Professional Geologist with the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and a full-time employee of Cardinal Resources Ltd. Mr Bray has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he has undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the JORC Code 2012 and is a qualified person for the purposes of NI43-101. Mr. Bray is a full-time employee of Cardinal and holds equity securities in the Company. Mr. Bray has consented to the inclusion of the matters in this report based on the information in the form and context in which it appears. JORC 2012 This report contains information extracted from the following reports which are available for viewing on the Companys website www.cardinalresources.com.au : 3rd Apr 2019 Cardinals Namdini Ore Reserve Now 5.1Moz The Company confirms it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in this report relating to exploration activities and all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the exploration activities in those market announcements continue to apply and have not been changed. The Company confirms that the form and context in which the Competent Persons findings are presented have not been materially modified from the original market announcements. Cardinal confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in its announcement of the Ore Reserve of 3 April 2019. All material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning this estimate continue to apply and have not materially changed. Disclaimer This ASX / TSX press release has been prepared by Cardinal Resources Limited (ABN: 56 147 325 620) (Cardinal or the Company). Neither the ASX or the TSX, nor their regulation service providers accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. This press release contains summary information about Cardinal, its subsidiaries and their activities, which is current as at the date of this press release. The information in this press release is of a general nature and does not purport to be complete nor does it contain all the information, which a prospective investor may require in evaluating a possible investment in Cardinal. By its very nature exploration for minerals is a highrisk business and is not suitable for certain investors. Cardinals securities are speculative. Potential investors should consult their stockbroker or financial advisor. There are a number of risks, both specific to Cardinal and of a general nature which may affect the future operating and financial performance of Cardinal and the value of an investment in Cardinal including but not limited to economic conditions, stock market fluctuations, gold price movements, regional infrastructure constraints, timing of approvals from relevant authorities, regulatory risks, operational risks and reliance on key personnel and foreign currency fluctuations. Except for statutory liability which cannot be excluded and subject to applicable law, each of Cardinals officers, employees and advisors expressly disclaim any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the material contained in this press release and excludes all liability whatsoever (including in negligence) for any loss or damage which may be suffered by any person as a consequence of any information in this Announcement or any error or omission here from. Except as required by applicable law, the Company is under no obligation to update any person regarding any inaccuracy, omission or change in information in this press release or any other information made available to a person nor any obligation to furnish the person with any further information. Recipients of this press release should make their own independent assessment and determination as to the Companys prospects, its business, assets and liabilities as well as the matters covered in this press release. Forwardlooking statements Certain statements contained in this press release, including information as to the future financial or operating performance of Cardinal and its projects may also include statements which are forwardlooking statements that may include, amongst other things, statements regarding targets, anticipated timing of the feasibility study (FS) on the Namdini project, estimates and assumptions in respect of mineral resources and anticipated grades and recovery rates, production and prices, recovery costs and results, capital expenditures and are or may be based on assumptions and estimates related to future technical, economic, market, political, social and other conditions. These forward looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Cardinal, are inherently subject to significant technical, business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results reflected in such forwardlooking statements. Cardinal disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly or release any revisions to any forwardlooking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, circumstances or results or otherwise after todays date or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, other than required by the Corporations Act and ASX and TSX Listing Rules. The words believe, expect, anticipate, indicate, contemplate, target, plan, intends, continue, budget, estimate, may, will, schedule and similar expressions identify forwardlooking statements. All forwardlooking statements made in this press release are qualified by the foregoing cautionary statements. Investors are cautioned that forwardlooking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forwardlooking statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. Acumen Research and Consulting, a global provider of market research studies, in a recently published report titled Haitian Vetiver Oil Market (By Nature: Organic, Conventional; By Grade: Food Grade, Industrial Grade; By End-use Industry: Food & Beverages Processing, Aromatherapy, Perfume Products, Pharmaceutical) - Global Industry Analysis, Market Size, Opportunities and Forecast, 2018 - 2026. LOS ANGELES, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global market size of Haitian vetiver oil was valued at 22.30 billion at 2018. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 2.8% over the forecast period. Free Download Sample Report Pages for Better understanding@ https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/request-sample/1260 Haitian vetiver oil is much beneficial for health and safety, it can have therapeutic and medicinal effects for the skin just as on nervous systems. As Haitian vetiver oil can be useful in treating different skin or nerve issue, it is utilized in different skin medications and beauty products. Getting rid of acne and pimples, diminishing skin flaws, treating dry skin issues, among others, are some of the skin-related issues that can be relieved with the assistance of Haitian vetiver oil. Furthermore, Haitian vetiver oil is a rich wellspring of cancer prevention agents, which is observed to be useful in hostile to maturing of the skin. An expanding number of health-conscious customers over the globe is urging makers to supply items with natural and organic ingredients like Haitian vetiver oil, as customers are favoring natural and organic products rather than chemical items with regards to purchasing beauty and personal care products. Utilization of Haitian vetiver oil in the vast majority of the personal and beauty treatments is one of the most famous patterns pursued by most of the producers in the worldwide Haitian vetiver oil market. Its normal body cooling property makes it the most well-known oil in the tropical nations where humidity is more. It is utilized to treat heat strokes, joint issue, skin issues and furthermore, gives alleviation from anxiety, tension, and nervousness. Ongoing research study on vetiver oils demonstrated that it can improve the mental actions and decrease the indications of Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). View Detail Information with Complete TOC@ https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/haitian-vetiver-oil-market The global Haitian vetiver oil market is divided into nature, grade, end-use industry, and region. On the basis of nature segment, the worldwide Haitian vetiver oil market is divided into organic and conventional. On the basis of grade, the worldwide Haitian vetiver oil market is segmented into food grade and industrial grade. On the basis of end-use industry, the worldwide Haitian vetiver oil market is segmented into food & beverages processing, aromatherapy, perfume products, and pharmaceutical. Based on the region, the worldwide Haitian vetiver oil market is divided into North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and the Asia Pacific. In the worldwide perfume and fragrances market, Haitian vetiver oil is getting to be prevalently attributable to its numerous skin advantages and increasing demand in aromatherapy. In the worldwide Haitian vetiver oil market, it is broadly utilized for mixing of the oriental kind of floral and scents compound, just as it is additionally utilized in different beauty care products. In the worldwide perfumes and aromas market, Haitian vetiver oil utilized as the major ingredient in 20% of all men scents and utilized in 36% of western quality fragrances and perfumes. In the worldwide aroma and perfumes industry, the niche fragrance segment is growing at a high growth rate, attributable to the expanding interest for distinctive scent among the customer. Niche items are made with exotic and natural ingredients and delivered in smaller amounts by little organizations. Browse All official Market Research Reports Press Releases@ https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/press-releases Explore Our Market Blog@ https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/blogs According to a leading player, International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF), of the fragrance market, alongside premium fragrance category and high-quality brands are demonstrating more growth than the center market brands. In the worldwide fragrance and aroma industry, the interest for Haitian vetiver oil market is expanding at great growth rate attributable to its woody and natural scent which is pulling in the purchasers looking for a characteristic scent. Haitian vetiver oil is mixed in various structures with an alternate fundamental oil, for instance, pepper, bergamot, and others to create a solid natural aroma. The Asia Pacific market is required to observe critical growth over the expected time frame attributable to its growing demand in different applications, for instance, pharmaceutical, fragrance, and food sectors. Its utilization as the flavor enhancing agent in the syrups in pharmaceuticals sector and as a flavoring agent in food and beverage industry, for instance, milkshakes, frozen yogurts and so on is required to expand its demand in this region. Major companies contributing the global Haitian vetiver oil market are Albert Vieille SAS, Unicode S.A., Vigon International, Texarome Inc., Ananda, LLC, Berje Inc., Jedwards International, Inc., Haiti Essential Co Ltd., Givaudan SA, Fleurchem, Inc., Floracopeia Inc., Ernesto Ventos, S.A., Robertet Groupe, and Frager S.A. INQUIRY BEFORE BUYING@ https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/inquiry-before-buying/1260 The report is readily available and can be dispatched immediately after payment confirmation. Buy this premium research report https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/buy-now/0/1260 Would like to place an order or any question, please feel free to contact at sales@acumenresearchandconsulting.com | +1 407 915 4157 For Latest Update Follow Us: https://twitter.com/AcumenRC https://www.facebook.com/acumenresearchandconsulting https://www.linkedin.com/company/acumen-research-and-consulting/ CALGARY, Alberta, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NetworkWire The oil and gas capital of Canada is now a hub for the greening of the Caribbean and South Pacific. Two major projects have been awarded to Calgary-based Archer Cleantech Inc. (Archer or the Company), an international project generator in the green energy space with a portfolio of projects at various stages of development. First of many in very lucrative regions, says Archer CEO Paul Blaha. The company is project rich with initiatives not only in Jamaica and American Samoa but in California, Mexico, Guam and Canada as well. Archer has recently landed the project to cut power costs in half for hospitals in Jamaica through a combination of solar power and retrofitting obsolete infrastructure. The Company is also moving forward with a large wind, solar and battery storage project in American Samoa that will significantly impact the overall percentage of clean energy there while cutting the per-kilowatt-hour cost by as much as two-thirds. An early stage company that is moving from three years of development into the execution stage, Archer is being managed on a day-to-day basis by a high-powered team led by Blaha. In an episode of Biz 1 on 1, now available for viewing on the Biz 1 on 1 and BizTV websites ( http://www.biz1on1.tv/interview/season-2-episode-5/ and http://www.biztv.com/ ) and airing in May on Amazon Prime Video Direct in the U.K. and U.S., Archer CEO Blaha and Founder/President Ron Loudoun tell the story of how a leading international wind, solar and battery storage project developer is growing out of a tiny office on the Red Mile in Calgary. A former Bay Street investment banker who went West, young man to seek his fortune in the oil and gas business, Blaha instead was recruited by Atco, founded by iconic Alberta energy entrepreneur Ron Southern, and, in the 2000s, developed energy projects valued at over $3 billion for Atco. We are a smaller company playing in an industry that has big players, explains Blaha. Whats advantageous about that is that we can take our ideas and put them into play much more quickly because we are more nimble and flexible. A lot of the big players dont want to be in the front end of the business. Thats our sweet spot. What we do better than anyone else is de-risk the projects. Archer is also leading the development project to build one of the worlds largest battery storage facilities in California, where the state is committed to closing nuclear plants but is already experiencing brownouts. Its going to be a very significant solution in a very exciting market, says Blaha. The Company has also created its own wholly owned finance subsidiary and is expecting to launch an initial $500 million Green Bond Fund later this year. Renewable energy is an essential part of todays energy mix and is poised to become the major source of new energy supply in this century. It is directly competitive with fossil fuels now. Last year was the eighth in a row that global investment in renewables exceeded US$200 billion. About Archer Cleantech Inc. Archer Cleantech is committed to capturing a significant share of the growth in the renewable market and has set a goal to develop and acquire 500 Megawatts by 2025. The primary method of this growth will be through securing renewable energy projects and advancing these projects through feasibility and then to divestiture or to operations. For more information, visit the companys website at www.ArcherCleantech.com For more information, contact: Dave Ashby, Investor Relations 250-878-7333 dave.ashby@archercleantech.com Or VALLEY COTTAGE, N.Y. , April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The approximately US$ 7.8 billion market for security screening is highly likely to approach the revenues worth US$ 10 billion in the next two years. As indicated by a newly launched research report by Future Market Insights (FMI), more than half of the total demand for security screening is being accounted by the developed regional markets. East Asia however is cited as the most lucrative market for investors in security screening systems and solutions. Rapid growth in the economy, necessitating increasing expenditure on the national and infrastructural security, will continue to push deployment of reliable and advanced technology enabled security screening systems. While FMIs analysis identifies an impressive rate of adoption within emerging economies, China, India, and Russia are more likely to be at the forefront of this growth, in the security screening market . Request a Sample Report with Table of Contents and Figures: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2673 Airports Generate Maximum Demand for Security Screening, Explosive Trace Detectors Bestselling Over 2/5th of the global security screening demand is accounted by airports, which will remain the dominant application area for security screening systems manufacturers and suppliers. As government buildings are highly vulnerable owing to the voluminous sensitive information that they procure, public recreation areas such as malls are also cited as the next sensitive area for implementation of effective security screening. Border check points are also expected to emerge lucrative through coming years, in the security screening market. Explosive trace detectors, currently accounting for nearly 1/4th share of the total sales of security screening systems, will reportedly witness strong growth in demand through the coming years. According to the report, X-Ray screening systems and biometric systems are also highly popular among the end-use application areas in security screening market. The collective market value share of the aforementioned security screening systems is just-under 50% and the report expects attractiveness of the latter to surge - with growing adoption of fingerprint and face recognition technologies. Preview Analysis Global Security Screening Market Segmentation By System (X-Ray Screening Systems, Explosive Trace Detector, Electromagnetic Metal Detector, Liquid Scanner, Biometric Systems); by Application (Airport, Government Buildings, Border Check Points, Educational Institute, Private Office Building, Malls, Others): https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/security-screening-market Smart Security Screening Trending in the Global Market Looking at the loopholes in current security screening models in terms of efficiency and sustainability, airports have been accelerating the industry's shift to smart security screening solutions, over the recent past. A combined initiative of Airports Council International (ACI) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), smart security is emerging as a streamlined solution for airlines, passengers, and their belongings. Recently, Australia's first-ever smart security screening checkpoint was unveiled at the Melbourne Airport. Our advisory services are aimed at helping you with specific, customized insights that are relevant to your specific challenges. Let us know about your challenges and our trusted advisors will connect with you: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-2673 Key Vendor Insights: Global Security Screening Market Westminster Group PLC, one of the key players competing in security screening market, recently completed the acquisition of Keyguard UK Ltd. The latter is a leading company in the security screening space, providing the blend of manned security and the latest technology enabled security screening systems. The former will now offer packages combining technology and guarding particularly to the infrastructure security domain. This deal is expected to benefit both the business bases, in form of multiple cross-selling opportunities. Besides Westminster, FMIs report covers detailed strategic profiles of some of the most prominent companies operating in security screening market landscape, including American Science and Engineering, Inc., Analogic Corporation, Argus TrueID, Aware Incorporation, Digital Barriers, Mangal Security Systems Ltd., OSI Systems, Inc., Smiths Group plc, LAXTON GROUP, NEXT Biometric, Aratek, NEC Corporation, and Cognitec Systems GmbH. Buy Security Screening Market Research Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/checkout/2673 More from FMIs Electronics, Semiconductors, and ICT Market Intelligence: About Us Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights and an aerial view of the competitive framework and future market trends. Browse More Electronics, Semiconductors, and ICT Market Insights Contact Us Highlights: Results received from 273 surface channel samples and one grab surface outcrop, all part of a detailed mapping and sampling program on three high potential areas at the Minerva project. At all three key mineralized areas, strong Ag-Zn-Pb grades of surface anomalies plus the dimensions of the corresponding areas suggest the presence of a robust carbonate replacement system. At Mina Minerva, one of the key areas, the anomalous area has been increased substantially, now at 1.5km long by 300m wide. TORONTO, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Discovery Metals Corp. (TSX-V: DSV) (Discovery or the Company) is pleased to announce the assay results of 273 surface samples from its Minerva project (Minerva or the Project) in Coahuila State, Mexico. Gernot Wober, VP Exploration states, Mapping and sampling of leakage mineralization typical of carbonate replacement deposits (CRD) in surface outcrop continues to demonstrate strong potential for a robust CRD / skarn system at depth on our Minerva project. The high-grade tenor of the sample results in these anomalous areas is very encouraging. The surface results in conjunction with pending underground sampling results and the interpretation of a completed airborne geophysical survey will help finalize our phase 1 drill planning. New results from the Mina Minerva area: At the Mina Minerva area (Mina Minerva), a dominant northeast orientation of mineralization has been mapped and sampled consisting of narrow calcite stringers, oxidized veins and veinlets, narrow mantos and occasionally chimneys. At least four preferably mineralized or altered beds are recognized within the Santa Elena limestone formation. The most dominant mineralized bed trends northeast over 1km, mostly evident in the southern portion of the mapped area. The alteration and mineralization along this bed occurs as early moderate to strong silicification with overprinting hematite +/- goethite veinlets. A parallel trend 150m to the north exhibits early silicification and overprinted hematite +/- goethite veinlets as well and is covered to the southwest by alluvium. A different northeast trend closer to the contact with the quartz diorite intrusive occurs on the east side of the showing where mineralization is interpreted to be related to a shear zone 150-200m long. The fourth favorable zone at the Mina Minerva showing has strong Ag-Pb-Zn mineralization as 10-20m long mantos oriented northeast, parallel to the mineralized beds described above. Surface sample results returned robust values suggesting a high-grade tenor for the distal source of the mineralization encountered. The assumption currently being made for the project is that these small and mostly narrow surface intervals of mineralization represent leakage anomalies to a larger mineralized body at depth. Based on the new results, the anomalous area at Mina Minerva has increased to approximately 1.5km long (from 700m) x 300m wide. Select surface sample results from leakage mineralization at Mina Minerva are presented below in Table 1. Table 1: New surface sample results from the Mina Minerva area Sample Width (m) Ag g/t Zn % Pb % Cu % AgEq1 g/t ZnEq1 % 118609 0.9 62 3.1 0.2 0.00 258 4.3 118614 1.2 66 3.8 0.5 0.01 315 5.2 118616 1.4 32 2.1 0.8 0.00 192 3.2 118617 0.9 15 1.9 0.2 0.00 140 2.3 118618 1.7 24 2.1 0.6 0.01 178 3.0 118622 0.7 38 13.1 1.4 0.02 882 14.6 118624 0.4 49 5.5 1.6 0.01 445 7.4 118627 0.7 95 10.7 2.2 0.03 831 13.8 118628 0.8 88 10.1 1.5 0.03 761 12.6 118629 0.8 54 1.7 0.3 0.00 172 2.8 118630 Grab 84 30.9 1.7 0.03 2,018 33.4 118706 1.0 71 2.1 2.5 0.01 299 5.0 118707 1.0 70 0.2 3.9 0.00 240 4.0 118712 0.7 5 1.8 0.1 0.00 114 1.9 118750 0.7 65 5.3 0.6 0.01 409 6.8 118751 0.9 369 8.3 1.7 0.03 940 15.6 118752 0.8 122 2.4 11.3 0.03 726 12.0 118756 0.2 56 1.3 0.2 0.00 144 2.4 118765 0.4 9 2.5 0.3 0.00 168 2.8 118775 0.7 76 8.6 1.6 0.06 667 11.1 118776 1.0 144 1.4 3.6 0.07 385 6.4 118857 1.0 76 5.6 0.6 0.01 441 7.3 118858 1.0 194 13.3 1.5 0.02 1,060 17.6 118859 1.1 117 25.7 0.5 0.01 1,692 28.0 118860 1.0 99 12.0 0.8 0.02 859 14.2 New results from the Concordia area: Surface sampling and mapping at the Concordia area (Concordia) has identified at least four linear trends of alteration and weak mineralization in narrow veinlets, altered narrow fault zones, breccias, and small mantos. The most prominent Ag-Pb-Zn veinlet and fracture mineralization is interpreted to be within a 300m east-west linear, limestone-hosted structural corridor and a 120m long northeast trending, quartz diorite-hosted tension gash. The total strike length of the tension gash is unknown due to alluvial cover. A 50m parallel tension gash hosted in the limestone exists to the west, and a fourth linear trend sits 75m north of the large east-west trending zone and can be traced for about 100m in a northeast direction. In total the anomalous area at Concordia is currently estimated to be 1km long x 300m wide. Select surface sample results from Concordia are presented below in Table 2. Table 2: New surface sample results from the Concordia area Sample Width (m) Ag g/t Zn % Pb % Cu % AgEq1 g/t ZnEq1 % 118540 1.0 11 3.4 0.4 0.01 233 3.9 118541 0.5 23 2.6 0.4 0.01 197 3.3 118549 0.5 106 4.8 6.3 0.03 651 10.8 118551 0.4 54 1.3 3.2 0.00 258 4.3 118556 0.7 28 12.8 0.3 0.02 816 13.5 118557 1.0 21 3.0 0.8 0.01 237 3.9 118561 0.6 40 4.8 0.8 0.02 366 6.1 118562 0.4 11 1.3 0.3 0.01 102 1.7 118580 0.3 19 8.3 0.4 0.02 538 8.9 118581 0.5 165 12.5 6.2 0.05 1,177 19.5 118585 0.6 23 2.8 1.2 0.01 243 4.0 118586 0.7 25 6.4 1.7 0.02 480 8.0 118590 0.4 3 1.7 0.3 0.00 114 1.9 118592 0.3 5 2.0 0.4 0.00 144 2.4 118594 1.6 6 1.3 0.3 0.00 97 1.6 118631 0.6 42 5.4 1.0 0.02 411 6.8 118632 1.5 8 1.6 0.6 0.01 130 2.2 118639 0.6 997 11.3 8.4 0.05 2,023 33.5 118640 2.0 9 1.3 0.4 0.01 105 1.7 118648 0.6 23 2.0 0.0 0.01 143 2.4 118649 0.6 4 1.2 0.1 0.00 83 1.4 118650 0.5 2 1.0 0.1 0.00 66 1.1 118669 0.6 5 1.2 0.2 0.01 84 1.4 118670 0.6 8 1.6 0.2 0.01 111 1.8 118672 0.8 131 4.5 0.6 0.02 433 7.2 118674 0.8 129 0.7 0.2 0.01 182 3.0 118792 1.5 46 4.5 1.2 0.01 369 6.1 118794 0.8 80 9.8 1.7 0.03 744 12.3 New results from the Tercia area: Continued surface sampling at the Tercia area (Tercia) has encountered more robust mineralization in clay altered quartz diorite on surface. Tercia is currently characterized as a 275m x 150m at-surface altered and mineralized stockwork area with high silver and lead. Select surface sample results from Tercia are presented below in Table 3. Table 3: New surface sample results from the Tercia area Sample Width (m) Ag g/t Zn % Pb % Cu % AgEq1 g/t ZnEq1 % 118522 0.6 21.0 0.1 1.3 0.00 75 1.2 118523 0.6 90 0.1 7.1 0.01 385 6.4 118524 0.6 39 0.2 2.4 0.00 146 2.4 118525 0.6 197 17.7 12.8 0.13 1,794 29.7 118543 0.5 32 0.5 2.1 0.00 144 2.4 118651 0.5 229 0.5 1.5 0.09 331 5.5 118660 0.8 328 0.0 4.6 0.08 524 8.7 For further information contact: Discovery Metals Corp., #701 - 55 University Ave, Toronto, ON Canada M5J 2H7 info@dsvmetals.com On Behalf of the Board of Directors Taj Singh Taj Singh, M.Eng, P.Eng, CPA President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director 416-613-9410 ABOUT DISCOVERY METALS Discovery Metals is focused on discovering and advancing high grade polymetallic deposits in a recently assembled land package of approximately 150,000 hectares over a large and historic mining district in northern Coahuila State, Mexico. The portfolio of three large-scale, drill-ready projects and several earlier-stage prospects, all with shallow high-grade silver-zinc-lead mineralization, is situated in a world-class carbonate replacement deposit belt that stretches from southeast Arizona to central Mexico. The land holdings contain numerous historical direct-ship ore workings with several kilometers of underground development. No modern exploration or exploration drill testing has been ever been carried out on the properties prior to Discoverys time on the projects. About the Minerva project: The Minerva project is located 230km west northwest of the city of Melchor Muzquiz in Coahuila State, Mexico, 30km west of the La Encantada silver mine owned by First Majestic Silver Corp., and within 20-100km of Discoverys other projects. Minerva encompasses Ag-Pb-Zn mineralization hosted in skarns, mantos, chimneys and breccias similar to those found at La Encantada. The Project is located within the Sabinas Basin which serves as depositional site for an approximately 6,000m thick section of Jurassic to Cretaceous siliciclastic, carbonate, and evaporitic rocks. The Sabinas Basin is bound by the regional San Marcos and La Babia faults and contains several important deposits of various styles (e.g. CRD and Mississippi Valley (MVT) Ag-Pb-Zn; evaporite-hosted barite / fluorite / celestine; and paleo-karstic Zn-Pb). The Project is characterized by a sequence of thick-bedded limestones with black chert nodules of the Santa Elena formation, overlying the Washita group consisting of interbedded thin clayey and sandy limestones. Intruding this sedimentary package are numerous Tertiary diorite, quartz diorite, and andesites as stocks, sills and dikes. The regional northwest trending, symmetrical anticlines and synclines that form ranges and valleys were created by the compressive Laramide Orogeny during the Eocene which was followed by a relaxation period resulting in the basin and range morphology evident today. Discovery is carrying out the first significant modern exploration program on three main areas of historical workings, known as Mina Minerva, Concordia and Tercia. All three areas have been subject to artisanal mining, with the most extensive historical workings at Mina Minerva. About the Mina Minerva area: Penoles (Industrias Penoles S.A.B. de C.V.) built a mine and processing plant at Mina Minerva in the 1940s and produced an unknown quantity of ore from shallow underground workings before turning its attention to La Encantada in the 1960s. The area has two abandoned shafts, one of which is 40m deep, several large mine dumps, underground workings, and the foundations of historical surface facilities. Mina Minerva lies south along trend with Concordia and continues under alluvial cover to the south. The prospect has a 1,500m long contact of skarn / skarnoid on its east extent which extends 300m in width before plunging under alluvial cover to the north. Mineralization is mainly replacement-style hosted within recrystallized limestone, dominantly as mantos of iron oxides, siderite associated with goethite and hematite, zinc oxides and silver-rich lead sulphates and calcium carbonates. These thin bedding-parallel mineralized bodies tend to have preferred orientations as northwest and northeast trending lenses and likely represent leakage or fugitive anomalies from a larger mineralized body at depth. About the Concordia area: Concordia lies north of and along trend with Mina Minerva, along the western edge of the Minerva intrusive complex. Mineralized skarn along the intrusive contact strikes under alluvial cover and may be offset by a fault along its east edge. Concordia consists of an argillized diorite dyke intruded along a propylitic altered biotite monzonite contact with extensive marble-garnet skarn developed in the surrounding Santa Elena limestone formation. Mineralization is predominantly manifested within fault and fracture zones as calcite-siderite veinlets, trace galena, and iron oxidation. Entirely within the sandy limestones of the Santa Elena formation, mineralization also occurs as mantos, gossans, and stockwork. Zinc occurs primarily as oxides whereas lead and silver are mainly found in a calcite-galena stockwork. Mineralization is exposed in a zone about 1km long and 300m in width, plunging under alluvial cover to the north. East and northeast trending narrow mineralized mantos, veinlets and stockwork encountered are typical of leakage or fugitive mineralization found above carbonate replacement type deposits. About the Tercia area: Tercia is located at the northeastern extent of an intrusive complex, along a skarn-altered zone at the contact between diorite and biotite monzonite and host Santa Elena Formation limestones over a 2km-long section of exposed contact. Mineralization consists of stockworks of galena, sphalerite, and minor chalcopyrite in association with calcite, quartz, and limonite. Anglesite (Pb sulphate), cerrusite (Pb carbonate) and some iron-rich gossan are also present. Silver minerals include cerargyrite and native silver. The principal target is a galena stockwork zone 275m by 150m in area and hosted primarily in strongly clay altered quartz diorite. Mineralization also exists within narrow low angled brecciated faults present in the quartz diorite that contain abundant iron oxides, sporadic narrow galena veins and strong clay alteration. REFERENCES For a full table of results, maps and graphics related to this news release, please refer to: https://dsvmetals.com/site/assets/files/Minerva-NRappendix-Apr2019.pdf Surface sampling results previously released on May 17, 2018 can be found at the following link: https://www.dsvmetals.com/site/assets/files/5198/2018-05-17-nr-dsv-p2f3dn.pdf 1All numbers in this news release are rounded and assays are uncut and undilute. ZnEq and AgEq calculations are based on USD $17/oz Ag, $1.50/lb Zn, $1.00/lb Pb, $3.00/lb Cu and do not consider metallurgical recovery. TECHNICAL NOTES Sample analysis and QA/QC Program: The rock chip and channel samples were taken perpendicular to mineralization, with variable length (across width of mineralization, typically 0.5m-2.5m) and a minimum channel thickness of 60mm and minimum channel depth of 30mm. The entire volume of each chip or channel sample was transported from site by ALS and prepared at the ALS lab facilities in Zacatecas and Chihuahua facilities, with splits of pulps shipped to the ALS lab in Vancouver for analysis. Samples were analyzed for gold using (1) a standard fire assay with a 30-gram pulp and Atomic Absorption (AA) finish for gold; and (2) Thirty-element inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). Over limit sample values were re-assayed for: (1) values of zinc > 10%; (2) values of lead > 10%; and (3) values of silver > 100 g/t. Samples were re-assayed using the ME-OG62 (high-grade material ICP-AES) analytical package. For values of zinc or lead greater than 30%, a third re-assay using the Zn-VOL50 or Pb-VOL50 (potentiometric titration) analytical method was used while values of silver greater than 1,500 g/t, were re-assayed using the Ag-CON01 analytical method, a standard fire assay with 30g pulp and gravimetric finish. Certified standards and blanks were routinely inserted into all sample shipments to ensure integrity of the assay process. Qualified Person: Gernot Wober, P.Geo, V.P. Exploration, Discovery Metals Corp., is the Company's designated Qualified Person for this news release within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) and has reviewed and validated that the information contained in this news release is accurate. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release may include forward-looking statements that are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. All statements within this news release, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements include fluctuations in market prices, including metal prices, continued availability of capital and financing, delays in receipt of required permits, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable laws. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EnWave Corporation (TSX-V:ENW | FSE:E4U) (EnWave, or the "Company") reported today that it has signed a royalty-bearing commercial license agreement (the Agreement) with Fresh Business Consulting S.L. (Fresh Business). Fresh Business is part of a diversified investment and consulting firm that has business interests in Spain (headquarters), the United Kingdom and Peru. Fresh Business also submitted a purchase order for a small-scale commercial Radiant Energy Vacuum (REV) machine to initiate commercial production in Peru. The Agreement grants Fresh Business the exclusive rights to produce a variety of premium food products in Peru. By processing in Peru, Fresh Business is well positioned to take advantage of the diverse, locally grown agricultural products while utilizing EnWaves proprietary REV technology to create value-added products for export into western markets. REV technology is a proven method to create healthy, premium fruit and vegetable products that can be sold as ingredients or as retail consumer products. This Agreement further validates the value proposition for EnWaves technology to drive innovation in the global fruit and vegetable market vertical. Fresh Business must commit to purchasing a second EnWave machine of 100kW or greater in rated power before July 31, 2019 in order to retain its exclusivity under the Agreement. Fresh Business and EnWave have also agreed to a coordinated joint effort to secure additional commercial licenses for EnWaves technology in Peru. The other terms of the Agreement remain confidential. About Fresh Business Consulting S.L. Fresh Business employs a business model where professionals with an advanced vision in the integration of creativity, marketing and innovation apply their know-how to improve their clients business strategy. Fresh Business is committed to uniquely generating new business ideas that are competitive in todays marketplace. Fresh Business positive and proactive attitude, their desire to excel and the constant search for new challenges, led them to expand their business, developing a new division, Fresh Business Food & Nutrition Innovation, focused on the agri-food industry. Fresh Business Food & Nutrition Innovation, has its own approach to connect creativity, knowledge, technology and marketing to create, incubate and develop innovative food businesses with an international vocation. For more information about Fresh Business Consulting S.L. please visit www.freshgroup.es and www.freshbusiness.es About EnWave EnWave Corporation, a Vancouver-based advanced technology company, has developed Radiant Energy Vacuum (REV) an innovative, proprietary method for the precise dehydration of organic materials. EnWave has further developed patent-pending methods for uniformly drying and decontaminating cannabis through the use of REV technology, shortening the time from harvest to marketable cannabis products. REV technologys commercial viability has been demonstrated and is growing rapidly across several market verticals in the food, and pharmaceutical sectors including legal cannabis. EnWaves strategy is to sign royalty-bearing commercial licenses with industry leaders in multiple verticals for the use of REV technology. The company has signed over twenty royalty-bearing licenses to date, opening up nine distinct market sectors for commercialization of new and innovative products. In addition to these licenses, EnWave has formed a Limited Liability Corporation, NutraDried Food Company, LLC, to develop, manufacture, market and sell all-natural cheese snack products in the United States under the Moon Cheese brand. EnWave has introduced REV as the new dehydration standard in the food and biological material sectors: faster and cheaper than freeze drying, with better end product quality than air drying or spray drying. EnWave currently has three commercial REV platforms: 1. nutraREV which is used in the food industry to dry food products quickly and at low-cost, while maintaining high levels of nutrition, taste, texture and colour; 2. powderREV which is used for the bulk dehydration of food cultures, probiotics and fine biochemicals such as enzymes below the freezing point, and 3. quantaREV which is used for continuous, high-volume low-temperature drying. An additional platform, freezeREV, is being developed as a new method to stabilize and dehydrate biopharmaceuticals such as vaccines and antibodies. More information about EnWave is available at www.enwave.net . EnWave Corporation Mr. Brent Charleton, CFA President and CEO For further information: Brent Charleton, CFA , President and CEO at +1 (778) 378-9616 E-mail: bcharleton@enwave.net John P.A. Budreski, Executive Chairman at +1 (416) 930-0914 E-mail: jbudreski@enwave.net Deborah Honig, Corporate Development at + 1 (647) 203-8793 E-mail: dhonig@enwave.net Safe Harbour for Forward-Looking Information Statements: This press release may contain forward-looking information based on management's expectations, estimates and projections. All statements that address expectations or projections about the future, including statements about the Company's strategy for growth, product development, market position, expected expenditures, and the expected synergies following the closing are forward-looking statements. All third party claims referred to in this release are not guaranteed to be accurate. All third party references to market information in this release are not guaranteed to be accurate as the Company did not conduct the original primary research. These statements are not a guarantee of future performance and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. 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, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nutritional High International Inc. (the Company or Nutritional High) (CSE: EAT, OTCQB: SPLIF, FRANKFURT: 2NU) would like to congratulate Lineage Growth Company Ltd. (Lineage) on the signing of a definitive merger agreement of a reverse takeover transaction (the Transaction) between Lineage and FLRish, Inc., a California corporation d/b/a Harborside (Harborside) (see Lineage and Harborsides press release on Feb 11, 2019). Harborside currently carries Nutritional Highs flagship FLI products and the Companys wholly owned distributor, Calyx Brands, Inc. (Calyx) supplies various other cannabis products to Harborside. Nutritional High also supplies its flagship FLI-branded products to Lineages Terpene Station dispensaries in both Eugene and Portland, Oregon. Nutritional High would also like to report that it has signed a letter agreement with Lineage (the Letter Agreement) amending part of an amended and restated letter agreement (the Lineage Agreement) dated February 1, 2018, in order to facilitate and support the Transaction. Pursuant to the terms of the Lineage Agreement (see the Companys press release on February 7, 2018), in exchange for certain financial covenants and financial support of Nutritional High, Lineage (among other consideration) issued to Nutritional High 1,250,000 common shares of Lineage, and was to reserve at least 20% of the dispensarys shelf space for Nutritional Highs products, subject to availability of supply. Nutritional Highs financial obligations have since been extinguished. Nutritional High strongly supports the Lineage-Harborside Transaction and enjoys commercial relationships with both companies. As such, and conditional on the closing of the Transaction, Nutritional High has agreed to release Lineage of its shelf space obligation. The Company has also agreed to convert a $75,000 debt obligation it had from Lineage, into 454,545 additional common shares of Lineage at a deemed price of $0.165 per common share (the Debt Settlement). Completion of the Debt Settlement is subject to the approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange and the common shares will be subject to a four-month hold period in accordance with applicable securities laws. The Letter Agreement regarding the release of its shelf space obligation was approved by the independent board members of Nutritional High with Adam Szweras and David Posner recusing themselves given their involvement with Lineage. Jim Frazier, CEO of Nutritional High, commented, This Letter Agreement is an important step in the development of a long-term sustainable relationship with Harborside and Lineage, which we have already cemented at the operational level via our FLI products and Calyx distribution. Jim continued, We want to grow our sales to Harborside and Lineage based on the quality and growing consumer demand for our products, as opposed to merely being a beneficiary of a contractual obligation. We look forward to deepening our relationship and working together in the States of California and Oregon. Peter Bilodeau, CEO of Lineage, added, Lineage appreciates Nutritional Highs ongoing support for the Transaction, and we are pleased to announce the definitive merger agreement between Harborside and Lineage is moving towards completion. We look forward to new business opportunities and potential collaborations moving forward. Andrew Berman, CEO of Harborside, commented, Harborside enjoys working with Calyx and is pleased to carry FLI products in Harborside. We have been receiving positive feedback about the FLI-branded product lines from our consumers. Harborside strongly appreciates the support and relationship that we have with Nutritional High and looks forward to the mutually beneficial growth of both businesses. About Nutritional High International Inc. Nutritional High develops, manufactures and distributes cannabis extracts and edible products under recognized brand for medical and adult recreational use. The Company works exclusively with licensed facilities in jurisdictions where such activity is permitted and regulated by state law. Nutritional High has brought its flagship FLI edibles and extracts product line from production to market through its wholly owned subsidiaries in California and Oregon, as well as Colorado where its FLI products are manufactured by a third-party licensed producer. In California, the Company distributes its products and products manufactured by other leading producers through its wholly owned distributor Calyx Brands Inc. and is entering the Nevada, Washington State and Canadian markets in the near future. For updates on the Companys activities and highlights of the Companys press releases and other media coverage, please follow Nutritional High on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram or visit www.nutritionalhigh.com . About Lineage Grow Company Ltd. Lineage is a reporting issuer that is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE"). Lineage is currently focused on operating two retail licensed stores located in two prominent cities in Oregon (Portland and Eugene). Lineage has entered into a purchase agreement with Walnut Oaks LLC d/b/a Agris Farms and a binding letter of intent to acquire Lucrum Enterprises, Inc. d/b/a LUX. In addition, Lineage and FLRish, Inc. have entered into a binding merger agreement pursuant to which Lineage will acquire all the issued and outstanding securities of Harborside in a reverse takeover transaction. For updates on the Company's activities and highlights of the Company's press releases, investor deck and other media coverage, please visit Lineage's web site at www.lineagegrow.com . About FLRish Inc. d/b/a Harborside Harborside currently manages the Harborside Oakland and Harborside San Jose retail cannabis dispensary stores in California, which is projected to be the largest adult-use cannabis market in the United States. The Harborside Oakland dispensary was founded in 2006 by Steve DeAngelo and dress wedding, and the Harborside brand today is well known throughout California and globally. Combined, the two Harborside dispensaries have generated over CAD $400 million in sales since their opening, including over CAD $50 million sales in 2017. In addition, Harborside operates a cultivation campus in Salinas, California that was established in 2016 and produces high-quality, low-cost cannabis at scale for sale through the Harborside dispensaries, third-party dispensaries, distributors, and manufacturing partners. Harborside is currently structured as a private California corporation. For further information, please contact: David Posner Co-Chairman of the Board Nutritional High International Inc. +1 647.985.6727 Email: dposner@nutritionalhigh.com Ethan Karayannopoulos Director, Investor Relations Nutritional High International Inc. +1 416.777.6175 Email: ethan@nutritionalhigh.com Wynn Theriault Thirty Dash Communications +1 416.710.3370 Email: wynn@thirtydash.ca Lauren Frank Allison+Partners +1 623.201.5572 Email: Lauren.Frank@allisonpr.com NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR OTC MARKETS GROUP INC., NOR THEIR REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDERS HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. This news release may contain forward-looking statements and information based on current expectations. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. Risks that may have an impact on the ability for these events to be achieved include completion of the ability to effectively execute on the strategies contemplated in this press release. Although such statements are based on managements reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be correct. We assume no responsibility to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. The Companys securities have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act), or applicable state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold to, or for the account or benefit of, persons in the United States or U.S. Persons, as such term is defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act, absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. 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 the United States or any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause the Companys actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein. All forward-looking information herein is qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement, and the Company disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking information or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except as required by law. Some of the risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking information expressed in this press release include, but are not limited to: obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals including acquiring and renewing U.S. state, local or other licenses, the uncertainty of existing protection from U.S. federal or other prosecution, regulatory or political change such as changes in applicable laws and regulations, including U.S. state-law legalization, market and general economic conditions of the cannabis sector or otherwise. Bangalore, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With its recently published study Global Blockchain in Telecom Market Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, Trends, and Forecast up to 2024, Infoholic Research forecasts that the global market for blockchain in telecom will continue to grow, owing to the increasing need for generating new revenue opportunities, addressing increasing customer demand for enhanced digital experience, and securing subscriber identity from cyber threats. The blockchain is a distributed or decentralized public ledger that contains blocks of transaction or information linked to each other. Blockchain ensures secure, authenticated, and verifiable transactions and allows to make changes only with the consent of each participant involved. The adoption of blockchain has gained momentum in the past few years and has the potential to foster innovations in the telecom sector. There is an increasing demand for blockchain technology within telecom companies for securing IoT connectivity, streamlining 5G implementation process, managing frauds, and enabling secure payments. Get a Sample Copy of the Report @ https://www.infoholicresearch.com/request-a-sample-report/?repid=13177 Rising security concerns among telecom carriers and the need to eliminate intermediaries and optimize costs are the major factors steering the growth of the blockchain in telecom market. This is expected to continue during the forecast period 20182024, growing at a CAGR of 77.9% to touch $1.37 billion by 2024. North America is maintaining the dominant position in the blockchain in telecom market, followed by Europe and APAC. Being the early adopter of blockchain technology, North America is estimated to hold the largest market share during the forecast period. Companies like AT&T and Verizon continue to invest in blockchain technology. For example, Verizon uses blockchain for IoT and in September 2018, AT&T announced the creation of a suite of blockchain solutions by using the IBM and Microsoft blockchain technology. Access Full Report Summary @ https://www.infoholicresearch.com/report/blockchain-in-telecom-market/ In terms of segmentation analysis, application providers contribute to a significant revenue share within the blockchain in telecom market, and secure connectivity application is expected to grow at the highest rate. At present, the large enterprises segment has a high share in the blockchain in telecom market, but SMEs are projected to increase the blockchain adoption over the years, growing at the highest CAGR. Blockchain technology has the potential to reshape the telecom sector by providing smart contracts, streamlining internal processes, enhancing security, and speeding up inter-carrier settlements. Many proof of concepts and pilot projects are being conducted by companies offering blockchain-based solutions for telecom companies, delivering a wide range of applications across this sector. However, blockchain applications in the telecom industry are at a nascent stage, but with growing partnerships and collaborations, the market is expected to increase significantly in the coming years, pointed out Sonam Chawla, Research Analyst, Infoholic Research. Key Insights of the Report Include: Providers Application Providers Middleware Providers Infrastructure Providers Key Applications Smart Contracts Streamlining OSS and BSS Processes Identity and Fraud Management Payments Secure Connectivity Others Organization Size Large Enterprises SMEs Industry outlook : Market trends, drivers, restraints, and opportunities Blockchain in Telecom Market - Table of Content 1 Executive Summary 1.1 Processes, Services and Ecosystems to witness largest impact 1.2 Consortium-led solutions to ensure global reach and faster time-to-market 1.3 Secure Connectivity expected to dominate from growth of IoT, 5G and M2M 2 Industry Outlook 2.1 Industry Overview 2.2 Industry Trends 3 Market Snapshot 3.1 Total Addressable Market 3.2 Segment Addressable Market 3.2.1 PEST Analysis 3.2.2 Porters Five Force Analysis 3.3 Related Markets 4 Market Characteristics 4.1 Ecosystem 4.2 Market Trends and Impact 4.3 Value Chain Analysis 4.4 Market Segmentation 4.5 Market Dynamics 4.5.1 Drivers 4.5.1.1 Increased security as well as transparency 4.5.1.2 New revenue opportunities and optimized costs 4.5.2 Restraints 4.5.2.1 Lack of understanding and skillset for building advanced solutions 4.5.2.2 Scalability may hinder the implementation of blockchain 4.5.3 Opportunities 4.5.3.1 Increasing investment in the blockchain 4.5.3.2 Increasing use of blockchain technology in IOT and 5G implementation 4.5.4 DRO Impact Analysis 5 Blockchain in Telecom Market, By Providers 5.1 Overview 5.2 Application Providers 5.3 Middleware Providers 5.4 Infrastructure Providers 6 Blockchain in Telecom Market, By Applications 6.1 Overview 6.2 Smart Contracts 6.3 Streamlining OSS and BSS Processes 6.4 Identity and Fraud Management 6.5 Payments 6.6 Secure Connectivity 6.7 Others 7 Blockchain in Telecom Market, By Organization Size 7.1 Overview 7.2 Large Enterprises 7.3 SMEs 8 Blockchain in Telecom Market, By Region 8.1 Overview 8.2 North America 8.3 Europe 8.3.1 Market Size and Analysis 8.4 Asia Pacific 8.4.1 Market Size and Analysis 8.5 RoW 8.5.1 Market Size and Analysis 9 Competitive Landscape 9.1 Competitor Analysis 9.2 Product/Offerings Portfolio Analysis 9.3 Market Developments 9.3.1 Partnerships and Collaborations 9.3.2 Product Launches & Exhibitions 10 Vendor Profiles 10.1 IBM Corporation 10.1.1 Overview 10.1.2 Business Units 10.1.3 Geographic Revenue 10.1.4 Recent Developments 10.1.5 SWOT Analysis 10.1.6 Business Focus and Strategies 10.2 SAP 10.2.1 Overview 10.2.2 Business Units 10.2.3 Geographic Revenue 10.2.4 Recent Developments 10.2.5 SWOT Analysis 10.2.6 Business Focus and Strategies 10.3 Microsoft 10.3.1 Overview 10.3.2 Business Units 10.3.3 Geographic Revenue 10.3.4 Recent Developments 10.3.5 SWOT Analysis 10.3.6 Business Focus and Strategies 10.4 Amazon (AWS) 10.4.1 Overview 10.4.2 Business Units 10.4.3 Recent Developments 10.4.4 SWOT Analysis 10.4.5 Business Focus and Strategies 10.5 Huawei 10.5.1 Overview 10.5.2 Business Units 10.5.3 Geographic Revenue 10.5.4 Recent Developments 10.5.5 SWOT Analysis 10.5.6 Business Focus and Strategies 11 Companies to Watch for 11.1 BubbleTone 11.1.1 Overview 11.1.3 Analyst Opinion 11.2 Clear 11.2.1 Overview 11.2.3 Analyst Opinion 11.3 Guardtime 11.3.1 Overview 11.3.3 Analyst Opinion 11.4 TBCASoft 11.4.1 Overview 11.4.3 Analyst Opinion 11.5 Filament 11.5.1 Overview 11.5.3 Analyst Opinion 12 Annexure 12.1 Report Scope 12.2 Market Definition 12.3 Research Methodology 12.3.1 Data Collation & In-house Estimation 12.3.2 Market Triangulation 12.3.3 Forecasting 12.4 Study Declarations 12.5 Report Assumptions 12.6 Abbreviations Schaumburg, IL, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HEIDENHAIN CORPORATION is proud to take part in the upcoming Amerimold 2019 trade show in Rosemont, IL, from June 12-13. Here, HEIDENHAIN will host a booth exhibit as well as participate in a panel of presenters poised to discuss significant mold-making industry topics. As part of those Amerimold presentations on June 12th at 1 p.m. in the Tech Talk Theater, industry veteran Gisbert Ledvon, HEIDENHAINs TNC Business Development Manager, will discuss What You Should Know about the Last 20 Years of Innovation. Ledvon will share his experience and insights in the mold industry, including topics ranging from EDM to five-axis machining and laser texturing technology, including automation of such. Also, at the HEIDENHAIN booth (#611), multiple precision measurement/motion control components of critical use to mold makers all over the world will be on display. Of particular note will be HEIDENHAINs TNC 640 high performance mill-turn control that is popular with mold makers thanks to its workshop-oriented operational design and its functions for mold makers. The TNC 640 is particularly well suited for milling-turning, HSC and 5-axis machining on machines with up to 18 axes. It utilizes a groundbreaking touch screen technology that supplements the TNC 640s field-proven cycles and functions. This control also allows the user to operate the screen with gestures, similar to smartphones or tablets. Features of particular interest to mold makers include the TNC 640s Dynamic Precision options which improve mold surface quality and precision specifically on 3D. Also, of importance is its Dynamic Efficiency features which allow the machining center to automatically optimize speeds, and feeds cutting speeds in variable workpiece thicknesses. An application story regarding HEIDENHAIN TNC at mold maker Krones is available on HEIDENHAINs .us website here. About HEIDENHAIN DR. JOHANNES HEIDENHAIN GmbH, headquartered in Traunreut, Germany, develops and supports motion control feedback solutions for the machine tool, semiconductor, electronics assembly and test, metrology, automation, medical, energy, biotechnology and other global markets. HEIDENHAIN employs approximately 6,000 people worldwide in its core business activities. The North American subsidiary is HEIDENHAIN CORPORATION, headquartered in Schaumburg, IL, and San Jose, CA, and has been serving the U.S. industry for over 50 years. Here nine company brands are represented. More information at: www.heidenhain.us/about-us Downloadable image available at: https://www.heidenhain.us/wp-content/uploads/Anw267_TNC640_Touch_de_office.jpg Attachment OAK RIDGE, Tenn., April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Coqui Radio Pharmaceuticals Corp. is closer to realizing its goal of building a dedicated Medical Isotope Production Facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, after the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) transferred land for the facility and provided research support through the national laboratories. Coquis facility will produce medical isotopes that diagnose and treat diseases, primarily Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), which is used in 18 million medical procedures a year in the U.S. The DOE land transfer to Coqui of 206 acres in the Heritage Center Industrial Park places the company in a strategic location adjacent to federal research assets, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex. Once fully operational, the facility will be the first of its kind in the U.S., which currently relies on imports to meet its Mo-99 needs. The most widely used medical isotope in the world, Mo-99 is relied on to diagnose and treat diseases including brain, heart, lung, liver, renal, oncologic, and muscle skeletal diseases. Coqui is best positioned to meet the demand for lifesaving medical isotopes because our technology is commercially proven and is used in the current supply chain, said Carmen I. Bigles, founder and CEO of Coqui Radio Pharmaceuticals Corp. Design of Coquis facility is being led by INVAP, the worlds leading designer and developer of medical isotope production facilities. Coqui has an exclusive license with INVAP to use its technology in the United States. Global supplies of Mo-99 are becoming increasingly unreliable as facilities capable of producing the isotope age and shut down. Mo-99 shortages, such as the one that occurred in November 2018, deprive patients from receiving lifesaving diagnostics and treatment. The U.S. currently has no domestic production source. The Coqui facility is expected to be fully operational in 2025 and will provide more than 200 high paying, permanent jobs. This land acquisition provides many advantages. Oak Ridge is home to several DOE and TVA nuclear facilities, providing a strong nuclear and engineering workforce. By growing our company in Oak Ridge we can leverage world-class research assets like Oak Ridge National Lab and the Y-12 National Security Complex, added Bigles. DOE has provided further support for the Coqui facility through research funding. These funds support Coquis partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the nearby Y-12 National Security Complex to conduct further research on Mo-99 target plate fabrication and qualification. Coquis decision to locate its production facility in Oak Ridge makes its collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex easier and more efficient. This research partnership is critical and supports our efforts to obtain Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Food and Drug Administration approvals for the facility. The sooner we can begin producing U.S.-made Mo-99, the sooner we can minimize our dependency on foreign imports to meet critical U.S. medical needs, said Bigles. About Coqui Radio Pharmaceuticals Corp. Coqui Pharma was founded in September 2009 with a mission to create a commercially scalable and reliable supply of Molybdenum-99, which is used in more than 18 million medical procedures to treat and diagnose disease each year in the U.S. For more information visit http://coquipharma.com/ Contact: Cortney Piper, 865-789-2669 cortney@piper-communications.com ORLANDO, Fla., April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sunshine Fitness Growth Holdings, LLC (Sunshine Fitness), a leading owner and operator of Planet Fitness clubs in the Southeast United States backed by TSG Consumer Partners (TSG), today announced its acquisition of 13 additional Planet Fitness clubs in South Carolina and Georgia from Anchor Fitness LLC. With this acquisition, Sunshine Fitness now operates 80 clubs across Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia. We are thrilled to welcome these exceptional new club members and employees into the Sunshine Fitness family, said Shane McGuiness, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Sunshine Fitness. As we continue to grow, we are excited to provide an affordable and non-intimidating fitness experience to even more members, and even greater growth opportunities for our employees. The addition of these 13 new clubs represents Sunshine Fitness third acquisition in the last 12 months. During this time, Sunshine Fitness has been one of the fastest growing Planet Fitness franchisees in the U.S. through the development of its strong club base in the Southeast and is well positioned to accelerate future new club growth. For more information, or to join online, please visit www.PlanetFitness.com or follow on Facebook ( www.facebook.com/PlanetFitness ) and Twitter ( www.twitter.com/PlanetFitness ). About Sunshine Fitness Holdings, LLC Opening its first location in 2003 in Altamonte Springs, Florida, Sunshine Fitness Holdings, LLC is the very first franchisee and one of the largest within the Planet Fitness brand. Sunshine Fitness now operates 80 locations and still holds true to the original mission of enhancing peoples lives by providing a high-quality experience in a welcoming, non-intimidating environment known as the Judgement Free Zone. About Planet Fitness Founded in 1992 in Dover, NH, Planet Fitness is one of the largest and fastest-growing franchisors and operators of fitness centers in the United States by number of members and locations. As of December 31, 2018, Planet Fitness had more than 12.5 million members and 1,742 stores in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Panama and Mexico. The Company's mission is to enhance people's lives by providing a high-quality fitness experience in a welcoming, non-intimidating environment, which we call the Judgement Free Zone. More than 95% of Planet Fitness stores are owned and operated by independent business men and women. About TSG Consumer Partners TSG Consumer Partners, LLC is a leading private equity firm focused exclusively on the branded consumer sector. Since its founding in 1987, TSG has been an active investor in the food, beverage, restaurant, beauty, personal care, fitness, health & wellness, household, apparel & accessories, and e-commerce sectors. Representative past and present partner companies include Duckhorn Wine Company, Planet Fitness, IT Cosmetics, REVOLVE, HUDA Beauty, BrewDog, Canyon Bicycles, Pabst, Backcountry, vitaminwater, thinkThin, popchips, Stumptown, Smashbox Cosmetics and e.l.f. Cosmetics. For more information, please visit www.tsgconsumer.com . Media Contact: Valerie Ledford Uproar PR for Planet Fitness vledford@uproarpr.com 321.236.0102 TSG Consumer Partners Sard Verbinnen & Co Dan Goldstein / Julie Rudnick 310-201-2040 / 212-687-8080 WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Comvest Credit Partners (Comvest) has acted as Administrative Agent in providing a $110.0 million senior secured credit facility (the Financing) to Spring Venture Group and affiliates (the Company), an insurance brokerage and consulting services provider primarily in the Medicare supplement market. Comvest has proven to be a great partner and has supported our growth over the past four years. We are excited to extend our relationship with Comvest as we continue to execute on our growth strategy, said Chris Giuliani, Chief Executive Officer. We are very pleased to partner with the team at Spring Venture Group once again as they continue to make strides in the industry as one of the leading insurance brokers in the Medicare space, said Jason Gelberd, Partner and Co-Head of Direct Lending at Comvest Credit Partners. About Spring Venture Group, LLC Spring Venture Group is a leading digital direct-to-consumer sales and marketing company with product offerings focused on the senior market. Founded in 2009, the Company specializes in distributing Medicare Supplement, Medicare Advantage, and related products via its digital presence and dedicated team of insurance advisors. Spring has developed a highly-differentiated technology platform that combines sophisticated marketing, lead generation, comparison shopping, sales execution, and post-enrollment customer engagement to create an invaluable channel for its insurance carrier partners. Springs deep senior market expertise and technology-enriched sales approach are complemented by its data-driven operational and workflow insight. The Company employs over 650 professionals and is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. To Learn more about Spring Venture Group careers visit www.springventuregroup.com About Comvest Credit Partners: Comvest Credit Partners, through affiliated private funds, focuses on providing flexible financing solutions to middle-market companies. We provide senior secured, unitranche, second lien, and mezzanine capital as well as equity co-investments. We lend to sponsored and non-sponsored companies, in support of refinancings, growth capital, acquisitions, buyouts, and recapitalizations. Credit facilities typically range from $20 million to $200 million for companies with revenues greater than $15 million. For more information, please visit our website. About Comvest Partners: Comvest Partners is a private investment firm providing equity and debt to middle-market companies across the U.S. Since its founding in 2000, Comvest has invested over $4.1 billion in over 185 companies. Today, Comvests funds have over $3.3 billion of assets under management. Through our extensive capital resources and broad network of industry relationships, we offer our companies financial sponsorship, critical strategic and operational support, and business development assistance. For more information, please visit our website. For more information: Comvest Jason Gelberd, Comvest 561-727-1860, j.gelberd@comvest.com Tim Kim, Comvest 312-637-8448, t.kim@comvest.com Spring Venture Group Matt Lowe 773-266-8889, matt.lowe@springventuregroup.com San Jose, California, , April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lynx Software Technologies today announced that it is partnering with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory to deliver the "Future of Cybersecurity" Workshop being hosted by IEEE SoutheastCon at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama on Friday, 12 April. The Future of Cybersecurity Workshop will explore recent advances in secure architectures and their potential application in responding to a constantly evolving cybersecurity threat landscape. As part of the workshop, led by Dr. Patrick Jungwirth of the Army Research Lab, Lynx CTO Will Keegan will outline the significant advances in cybersecurity approaches that inspired the company's latest product platform, Lynx MOSA.ic , and demonstrate the modular design approach as applied to a SCADA system. The Lynx MOSA.ic modular development framework gives IT stakeholders the ability to precisely define the expected behavior of a computer system and to enforce information flow control policies. Inspired from holistic composable security research, Lynx MOSA.ic is designed to address the challenges in architecting critical aerospace, defense and industrial systems that are resilient to malicious attempts to ex-filtrate data or subvert the underlying platform in order to bypass information flow policy enforcement. About Lynx Software Technologies Every day, millions of people worldwide benefit from products that rely on Lynx Software Technologiesfrom Internet and phone communications, to airline flight-control systems, office automation, and medical devices. In 1988, Lynx made history with the launch of the LynxOS real-time operating system (RTOS), offering UNIX functionality to developers of embedded systems long before embedded Linux became available. LynxOS was one of the first operating systems to embrace open standards, leveraging state-of-the-art hardware memory protection capabilities and offering the most elegant architecture for hosting reliable real-time systems. Lynx MOSA.ic continues this proud history of innovation by introducing the first software development framework that unlocks the full potential of hardware virtualization. Today Lynx is an innovator in platform software technologies, providing the richest set of options for efficiently realizing robust software systems onto modern CPUs. For more information, visit www.lynx.com . ### Lynx Software Technologies is a trademark and LynxOS is a registered trademark of Lynx Software Technologies, Inc. Other brand or product names are registered trademarks or trademarks of the respective holders. English German Basel, Switzerland, April 10, 2019 Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. (SIX: BSLN) reported that shareholders approved all proposals of the Board of Directors at todays Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the financial year 2018. The shareholders approved the annual report, the financial statements and the consolidated financial statements for the financial year 2018, and approved the discharge of the members of Basileas Board of Directors and Management Committee. They also approved carrying forward the accumulated deficit and re-elected PricewaterhouseCoopers AG, Basel, as auditors. The shareholders re-elected Domenico Scala as Chairman and Dr. Martin Nicklasson, Dr. Nicole Onetto, Ronald Scott, Steven D. Skolsky and Dr. Thomas Werner as members of Basileas Board of Directors. In addition, Dr. Nicklasson, Mr. Skolsky and Dr. Werner were re-elected as members of the Compensation Committee and Dr. Caroline Cron was re-elected as Independent Proxy. The terms of all these individuals last until the end of the AGM 2020. The shareholders approved the renewal of the authorization to increase the share capital by up to CHF 2 million until April 2021. The shareholders also approved the proposed maximum aggregate amount of the compensation for the Board of Directors for the period until the AGM 2020, the maximum aggregate amount of fixed compensation for the Management Committee for the period of July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020, and the maximum aggregate amount of variable compensation for the Management Committee for the period from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019. In a non-binding advisory vote, the shareholders endorsed the aggregate amount of the Management Committees variable compensation for the financial year 2018. Basileas CEO David Veitch in his presentation to the shareholders stated that 2018 was an important and successful year in the implementation of the companys long-term growth strategy. Revenues from the marketed products continued to increase strongly and there was significant progress in the R&D pipeline. In particular with derazantinib, which was in-licensed during the year and reported promising interim data from the ongoing registrational phase 2 study in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) in early 2019. At the AGM, 25.6 percent of the total voting rights were represented. About Basilea Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is a commercial stage biopharmaceutical company, focused on the development of products that address the medical challenges in the therapeutic areas of oncology and anti-infectives. With two commercialized drugs, the company is committed to discovering, developing and commercializing innovative pharmaceutical products to meet the medical needs of patients with serious and life-threatening conditions. Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland and listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX: BSLN). Additional information can be found at Basilea's website www.basilea.com. Disclaimer This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements, such as "believe", "assume", "expect", "forecast", "project", "may", "could", "might", "will" or similar expressions concerning Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. and its business, including with respect to the progress, timing and completion of research, development and clinical studies for product candidates. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. For further information, please contact: Peer Nils Schroder, PhD Head of Corporate Communications & Investor Relations +41 61 606 1102 media_relations@basilea.com investor_relations@basilea.com This press release can be downloaded from www.basilea.com. Attachment ROLLA, Mo., April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Armed with more than $5.1 million in federal funds, researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology and Phelps Health are helping the U.S. Army tackle the persistent problem of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among soldiers and recruits. Funded by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory through the Leonard Wood Institute (LWI), the Armys research arm at the nearby Fort Leonard Wood post, Missouri S&T scientists and engineers will take a variety of approaches to address the issue. They hope their efforts will help the Army detect TBIs sooner and more accurately, prevent TBIs during basic training, and help the military better understand the causes of brain trauma. Their research could lead to new TBI detection tools for use on the battlefield or in training. Missouri S&T research projects include a urine test to quickly determine whether a soldier might have a TBI, a sensor-embedded helmet to transmit brain activity to observers, development of a helmet liner to protect the brain against blast waves, and development of antioxidants that could prevent or treat brain trauma. In all, Missouri S&T has received funding for seven different research projects related to TBI detection and prevention. Thousands of recruits come to Fort Leonard Wood each year for basic training, and hundreds of those recruits experience TBI during their training, says Dr. Costas Tsatsoulis, Missouri S&T vice chancellor for research and dean of graduate studies. Preventing TBI is a priority for the Army, and we have the breadth of research expertise to help. In addition to our proximity to Fort Leonard Wood, we have a long-standing relationship with the fort and great familiarity with the community there, Tsatsoulis says. Were grateful for the Armys support of this truly multidisciplinary approach to help our military address one of its most arduous research challenges. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. soldiers suffer from TBI, according to a 2018 report from the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a Washington, D.C., think tank. Emerging evidence suggests that servicemembers may be exposed to high levels of blast overpressure (the pressure wave that comes from explosions) when firing heavy weapons, write Lauren Fish and Paul Scharre in the CNAS report. Left undiagnosed or untreated, TBI can result in later complications, including dementia, according to a 2018 study published in JAMA Neurology. Moreover, according to the CNAS, U.S. Department of Defense studies show that some soldiers experience cognitive deficits, including delayed verbal memory and visual-spatial memory, after firing heavy weapons. Missouri S&T received the funding through its participation in the Acute Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium (AENC), which S&T joined in 2018. The consortium includes the LWI, Fort Leonard Wood, Phelps Health (a regional health system based in Rolla) and three other Missouri universities: the University of Missouri-Columbia, the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Washington University in St. Louis. The Army trains about 85,000 soldiers each year at Fort Leonard Wood, says Dr. Don James, chair of the AENC board of directors and Phelps Healths senior vice president of research and government affairs. Of those, some 600 to 800 experience TBI, according to the Armys estimates, with significant numbers going unreported. Fully 85 percent of all TBIs experienced by troops occur during basic training, he says. Missouri S&T is taking innovative approaches to addressing TBI, and were very pleased that S&T is part of this consortium, James says. The projects involve researchers from chemistry, computer engineering, electrical engineering, materials science and engineering, mathematics and statistics, mechanical engineering, and nuclear engineering, as well as researchers from Phelps Health. Missouri S&T TBI projects funded through the LWI grants and the principle investigators are: A $2.25 million grant to develop sensor-embedded smart helmets to quickly detect TBI. Dr. Jie Huang, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Missouri S&T, is leading this research project. A $1.24 million grant to develop a method to quickly test urine for the presence of proteins and metabolites that may indicate TBI. Dr. Casey Burton, director of medical research at Phelps Health and an adjunct professor of chemistry at Missouri S&T, is leading this project. A $412,261 grant to Dr. Paul Nam, associate professor of chemistry, to develop antioxidant therapies and identify oxidative biomarkers for effective diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of TBI. A $403,966 grant to Dr. Jie Gao, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, to develop an imaging technique to study TBI or spinal cord injury. The process would involve the use of various spectroscopic techniques to identify damaged brain or spinal tissues. A $329,989 grant to Dr. H.K. Lee, associate professor and interim director of nuclear engineering, to develop a real-time computed tomography scan (CT scan) system that would help other researchers better design and test TBI prevention gear. A $252,426 grant to Dr. Fatih Dogan, professor of materials science and engineering, to develop a composite material to be used as a helmet liner to shield the brain from blast waves and ballistic impact that occur during training or in combat. A $235,194 grant to Dr. Donald Wunsch, the Mary K. Finley Distinguished Professor of Computer Engineering and director of the Applied Computational Intelligence Laboratory, to analyze data from a TBI repository developed by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense. The project involves the use of artificial intelligence (unsupervised learning neural networks) and statistical methods to develop personalized medicine. While the immediate concern of this TBI research is to address the militarys needs to protect soldiers and recruits, Tsatsoulis sees opportunities beyond military applications. The research could one day help medical personnel detect and treat brain trauma sooner. Because TBI is linked to long-term problems like dementia, Alzheimers disease or post-traumatic stress disorder, early treatments of acute brain trauma could prevent future chronic problems, he says. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BOUGAINVILLE VENTURES INC. (CSE: BOG) (8BV-FF:Frankfurt Stock Exchange) (the "Company") would like to announce that further to the letter of intent (LOI) entered into a funding and profit sharing agreement with Worm Castings Farms Inc., (Worm Castings), announced October 29, 2018, the Company is continuing to work with Worm Castings regarding its Hemp assets and is close to finalizing the Definitive Agreement with the principals of Worm Castings. Worm Castings is the sole owner of an Oregon State Hemp production and processing license, issued by the Oregon State Regulatory approval board. Upon finalization of the transaction Worm Castings will be considering a name change from Worm Castings Farms Inc., to a name that better reflects its Hemp production and CBD processing objectives. In addition,Worm Castings is exploring other Hemp and CBD production and processing related opportunities. President & CEO, Andy Jagpal Comments: The Farm Bill, which went into effect on January 1, 2019, is a monumental step for the hemp industry, and is a historic event which will create a tremendous amount of opportunities for Hemp farmers, like Worm Castings, whose goal is to produce a Cannabidiol (CBD) product used to treat various ailments and improve wellbeing. The Company would also like to announce that, in the name of transparency, until the company is profitable management salaries will be capped at $5,000 per month for each of the two operating directors on an accrued basis. In addition, there is a stock option plan for management and administration which will be 1,950,000 shares with a strike price of 25 cents. Bougainvilles issued and outstanding share figure on the CSE profile has been updated to 58,625,424 to reflect the changes announced in the news release disseminated April 8, 2019 in which 18,125,000 shares were cancelled. The company has issued 577,883 common shares and 492,883 common share warrants as securities for debt owed to consultants. About Bougainville Ventures, Inc. Bougainville provides cannabis infrastructure and seed-to-sale services to I-502 tenant-growers leasing greenhouse facilities space and providing fully built-out, turnkey solutions and ancillary services including processing, cannabis expertise and marketing and sales resources. Greenhouse canopies provide a 50% saving in cultivation cost. For more information please visit: http://bougainvilleinc.com/ On behalf of the Board of Directors BOUGAINVILLE VENTURES INC. Andy Jagpal, CEO and Director VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch (CBABC) invites all British Columbians to Law Week activities around BC. Attend a free public law class, take a courthouse tour and enjoy free legal advice from volunteer lawyers. Law Week is an anniversary celebration of Canadas Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Public events provide a chance to discover available legal resources and learn about how the justice system works. Dial-a-Lawyer Day is the highlight event of Law Week. On Saturday, April 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Dial-a-Lawyer Day offers British Columbians free legal advice from a volunteer lawyer for up to 15 minutes by phone. This complimentary service covers various areas of law including family, business, employment and immigration law, plus wills & estates and tort & motor vehicles. Dial-a-Lawyer Day is available to all British Columbians toll-free at 1-800-663-1919 or 604-687-3221 in the lower mainland. Law Week activities extend through April and May in many BC communities. Activities include Harry Potter on trial, K9 demonstrations with local police departments, and First Nations Elder story telling. These fun and interesting learning opportunities will take place on the island, through the Northern and Southern interior and in the Lower Mainland. Full details at BCLawWeek.org . Since 1983, the Canadian Bar Association presents Law Week annually to educate Canadians on the vital role played by lawyers and the courts in guaranteeing an open, independent and unbiased judicial system. Our BC Law Week partners are Continuing Legal Education Society of BC, Law Foundation of BC, Law Society of BC and the Vancouver Bar Association. The Canadian Bar Association is the professional organization representing more than 38,000 lawyers, judges and law students across Canada with over 7,000 members in British Columbia. Visit CBABC.org . TORONTO, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VVC Exploration Corporation (VVC or the Company) (TSX-V:VVC) is pleased to announce that Ms. Emily King has agreed to join the Board of Directors, following the resignation of Mr. Michel Lafrance. VVC would like to thank Mr. Lafrance, who served the Company as Director since July 2006 and as Secretary-Treasurer since December 2002, and who will remain as a part of the Management Team and as Secretary-Treasurer of the Company. Ms. King is a professional geologist specializing in building and leading multi-disciplinary teams to achieve clients' high-priority objectives. She is Founder and CEO of Global Ventures Consulting (GV) a mining and natural resources consulting firm. She is also President of DZG, focused on partnering North American and Afghan capital to develop Afghanistans mining sector, and Senior Geological Advisor for SODEVCO, a chromite toll processing company. Prior to founding GV, Ms. King led the $40M/year mineral exploration, investment and promotional activities for an economic development task force in the US Department of Defense where she oversaw a team of 40+ experts. In that role she explored 15 mineral deposits throughout Afghanistan, promoting and tendering four early-stage copper and gold deposits in partnership with the Afghanistan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, Afghanistan Geological Survey and the U.S. Geological Survey. Ms. King earned a degree in Geology from Bowdoin College, where she recently was a guest lecturer for the Earth and Oceanographic Science Department. She is Founder and active leader in Women in Mining: USA. Terrence Martell, Chairman of the VVC Board of Directors said, We are very pleased to welcome Ms. King to the Board of Directors of VVC. I have known Emily for some time and am struck by her combination of experiences in mining, government affairs and commercial ventures across varied parts of the globe. Her insights and energy will bring value to the Board and the Companys shareholders. About VVC Exploration Corporation VVC is a Canadian exploration and mining company focused on the exploration and development of copper and gold deposits in Northern Mexico, mainly the Samalayuca copper property in northern Chihuahua State. VVC has other projects in Mexico and Canada, including gold and silver prospects, Cumeral and La Tuna, in Sonora and Sinaloa States, Mexico and a grassroots gold/VMS prospect in the Timmins area of northern Ontario. On behalf of the Board of Directors Michel J. Lafrance, Secretary-Treasurer For further information, please contact: Patrick Fernet - (514) 631-2727 or Eugene Braigen - (646) 245-3409 E-mail: pfernet@vvcexploration.com E-mail: eugene@vvcexpl.com Or visit our website at: http://vvcexpl.com . Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. 2369 Kingston Road, PO Box 28059 Terry Town, Scarborough, ON M1N 4E7 Tel: 416-619-5304 Vancouver, BC Canada, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ondine Biomedical Inc. announced today that its antimicrobial Photodisinfection Therapy (aPDT) successfully eradicated in laboratory testing all multidrug-resistant Candida auris strains from clinical isolates supplied by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This finding follows the recent acceptance by the International Photodynamic Association (IPA) 2019 World Congress of an abstract demonstrating eradication of Aspergillus fumigatus infection in vivo. Aspergillus fumigatus, a fungus associated with invasive fungal sinusitis (IFS), is a potentially lethal pathogen to patients with weakened immune systems. Candida auris is an emerging fungus described by the CDC as a serious global health threat because it can cause invasive infections associated with high mortality rates, is often resistant to multiple classes of antifungal drugs, and is difficult to identify with standard laboratory methods. Demonstrating efficacy of this magnitude against extremely resistant fungal species in vitro and in in vivo models is a key step in accelerating our antifungal pipeline, said Carolyn Cross, CEO of Ondine. We are acutely aware of the need to bring new and potent approaches to bear in the fight against drug-resistant organisms. FDA has recognized Ondine's unique drug-device combination as a promising treatment for qualified pathogens under the GAIN program. The purpose of GAIN is to promote the development of new antibacterial and antifungal drugs against pathogens that pose a serious threat to public health. About Candida auris Identified first in 2009 in Japan, C. auris infections have been reported from over 20 countries around the world, including the United States. C. auris infections can be invasive and deadly. Frequently multidrug resistant, C. auris is difficult to identify with standard laboratory methods and has been the cause of major outbreaks in healthcare settings. Unlike other Candida species, C. auris is hardy and can live on skin and surfaces, including bedrails and chairs, for a month or longer, allowing it to spread easily in healthcare settings. According to the CDC, "Most strains detected so far have been resistant to at least one drug, and more than one-third were resistant to two drug classes. Particularly concerning, some strains have been found to be resistant to all three drug classes used to treat fungal infections. This level of resistance has never been seen in other Candida infections. C. auris has high potential to cause outbreaks in healthcare facilities." About Photodisinfection Ondines Photodisinfection is a powerful new alternative in the fight against drug-resistant infections. This patented, light-activated antimicrobial kills drug-resistant bacteria, viruses, and fungi, including those in biofilms, in minutes. Because Photodisinfection is effective against such a broad spectrum of pathogens, expensive and time-consuming pathogen identification is not required. Photodisinfection kills microbes through oxidative disruption of the microbial cell membrane with no known adverse effects to human epithelial tissue or mucosa. Microbes are unable to resist or adapt to this treatment. Ondines Photodisinfection is a powerful new alternative in the fight against drug-resistant infections. This patented, light-activated antimicrobial kills drug-resistant bacteria, viruses, and fungi, including those in biofilms, in minutes. Because Photodisinfection is effective against such a broad spectrum of pathogens, expensive and time-consuming pathogen identification is not required. Photodisinfection kills microbes through oxidative disruption of the microbial cell membrane with no known adverse effects to human epithelial tissue or mucosa. Microbes are unable to resist or adapt to this treatment. Ondines Photodisinfection technology was recently granted Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) designation as well as Fast Track status by the FDA for its nasal MRSA decolonization indication. The technology has been deployed at leading Canadian hospitals for several years, demonstrating significant and sustained reduction of healthcare-associated infections as well as major pharmacoeconomic benefits to the hospital and to the patient. About Ondine Biomedical Inc. Ondine Biomedical Inc. is dedicated to the development of treatment and prevention therapies for a broad-spectrum of multidrug-resistant bacterial, viral and fungal infections. Ondine's antimicrobial program utilizes a platform technology called Photodisinfection, a light-activated approach being developed to provide rapid antimicrobial efficacy without elevating risk of resistance. In addition to Ondines universal nasal Photodisinfection therapy, other applications of the Photodisinfection platform are under development, including treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis, treatment of burns and wounds, and disinfection of endotracheal tubes to reduce the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia. WINNIPEG, Manitoba, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (TSX:NWC): The North West Company Inc. (the Company or North West) today released its Annual Audited Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended January 31, 2019, its Annual Managements Discussion and Analysis, and Annual Information Form for the same period. These documents can be found on the Companys profile on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com and on the Companys website at www.northwest.ca. New Addition to Board of Directors North West announces the appointment of Jennefer J. Nepinak to its Board of Directors effective April 11, 2019. Ms. Nepinak is the Senior Advisor to the President, Indigenous Relations at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and will be joining The University of Winnipeg as Associate Vice-President, Indigenous Engagement on August 1, 2019. H. Sanford Riley, Chairman of the Board, said, We are pleased to welcome Jennefer to our Board. Her experiences at The Canadian Museum for Human Rights and The University of Winnipeg, as well as her legal background and strategic orientation, will provide the Board with a valuable and unique perspective on key issues affecting North West, including our evolving relationships with indigenous communities. Company Profile The North West Company Inc., through its subsidiaries, is a leading retailer of food and everyday products and services to rural communities and urban neighbourhoods in Canada, Alaska, the South Pacific and the Caribbean. North West operates 244 stores under the trading names Northern, NorthMart, Giant Tiger, Alaska Commercial Company, Cost-U-Less and RiteWay Food Markets and has annualized sales of approximately CDN$2.0 billion. The common shares of North West trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol NWC. For more information contact: Edward Kennedy, President and Chief Executive Officer, The North West Company Inc. Phone 204-934-1482; fax 204-934-1317; email ekennedy@northwest.ca John King, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, The North West Company Inc. Phone 204-934-1397; fax 204-934-1317; email jking@northwest.ca Amanda Sutton, Vice President, Legal and Corporate Secretary, The North West Company Inc. Phone 204-934-1756; fax 204-934-1317; email asutton@northwest.ca PARK PLACE ENERGY ANNOUNCES NAME CHANGE Vancouver, British Columbia, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Park Place Energy Inc. (the "Company") is pleased to announce that, effective April 1, 2019 it has changed its name to Trillion Energy International Inc. (the "Name Change") and adopted the corresponding new stock symbol "TCFF" on the OTC Markets as of April 1, 2019. The CUSIP number assigned to the Company's shares under its new name is 89621V103. Arthur Halleran, CEO of the Company, commented: The name change to Trillion Energy International marks the beginning of a new chapter for our company, and reinforces our commitment to building shareholder value through the continued development and expansion of our exciting oil & gas portfolio in Turkey, Bulgaria and abroad. We look forward to what will surely be a very active next few months for our company as we work toward listing our Company on the Canadian Securities Exchange. We invite everyone to visit our new website, www.trillionenergy.com , which features recent video footage of our onshore and offshore oil and gas facilities located in Turkey. About the Company Trillion Energy International has several oil and gas assets in Turkey and Bulgaria. In Turkey, these include an 18% interest in the Cendere oil field, a 49% interest in the SASB offshore gas field, a 100% interest in 42,833 hectares of exploration blocks (Derecik Exploration Licences) covering the northern extension of the prolific Iraq/Kurdistan Zagros Basin, and the Vranino 1-11 block, Bulgaria, a prospective unconventional natural gas property. Contact Trillion Energy International Inc. (formerly Park Place International Inc.) is an energy company engaged in oil and natural gas exploration and production. For further information, please see our website: www.trillionenergy.com or email us: info@trillionenergy.com . Suite 700, 838 West Hastings Street, Vancouver British Columbia, Canada Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This release contains forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations, estimates, and projections about the Companys business and prospects, as well as managements beliefs, and certain assumptions made by management. Words such as anticipates, expects, intends, plans, believes, seeks, estimates, may, should, will and variations of these words are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements speak only as of the date hereof and are subject to change. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise or update any forward-looking statements for any reason. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the Companys prospective listing on the Canadian Securities Exchange, the potential impact on the market for its securities, expansion and business strategies, anticipated growth opportunities, and the amount of fundraising necessary to achieve the foregoing. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Accordingly, actual results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. These factors include unforeseen securities regulatory challenges, operational and geological risks, the ability of the Company to raise necessary funds for exploration; the fact that the Company does not operate all its properties; changes in law or governmental regulations, including tax and environmental requirements; the outcome of commercial negotiations; changes in technical or operating conditions; the cost of extracting gas and oil may be too costly so that it is uneconomic and not profitable to do so and other factors discussed from time to time in the Companys Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to the most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. DKSH Business Unit Technology and Bruker AXS have signed an exclusive distribution agreement in China. DKSH will drive sales for Brukers energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence benchtop spectrometers for elemental analysis. This agreement is an extension of the business partnership between the two companies that started in South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Indonesia in April 2018. DKSH will provide marketing and sales, distribution and logistics as well as after-sales services in China for the Bruker products S2 PUMA and S2 POLAR. Those products are energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence benchtop spectrometers suitable for a wide range of applications in various industries. Timothy Cline, Bruker AXS Vice President Global Sales, commented: DKSH has been a reliable business partner for Bruker AXS, driving our brand and products in many markets in Asia Pacific. With this expanded partnership in China, we can leverage DKSHs core competences, infrastructure and coverage to expand the Chinese market. We look forward to achieving our goal together with DKSH. Oliver Hammel, Managing Director, Business Unit Technology, DKSH China added: We are honored to cooperate with an outstanding company like Bruker AXS in China. The strong brand of Bruker, their leadership in technology and application know-how, combined with our unmatched sales coverage and service expertise to tailor customer solutions, lets us contribute to the growth of Bruker AXS in China. Wipro Will Consider Share Buyback On 16 April Business oi-Olga Robert Wipro Ltd announced post market hours that it will be considering a share buyback on 16 April. In a regulatory filing, the IT giant said, "The board will consider a proposal for buyback of equity shares of the company at its meeting scheduled to be held on April 16, 2019. The outcome of the board meeting will be disseminated to the stock exchanges after conclusion of the board meeting on April 16, 2019." The financial results for the last quarter are also scheduled to be announced on the same day. Shares of Wipro Ltd closed 2.76 percent higher on Wednesday at Rs 281 on BSE. During the day the stock rose to an intraday high of Rs 281.80 on reports that the IT giant is set to announce its biggest buyback ever worth Rs 12,000 crore ($1.7 billion). A Times of India report said that the IT giant is expected to buy back shares at Rs 320 a piece, that is at a 17 percent premium to its previous close of Rs 273.45 on BSE. It also said that SEBI has approved the buyback plan. This would be the third buyback for Wipro, that had bought back Rs 2,500 crore worth of shares in 2016 and shares worth Rs 11,000 crore in November-December 2017. A buyback can be conducted once in 12 months. These are done by cash-rich companies like those in the IT sector that reward investors by returning the surplus cash. The announcement by the company clarified the lack of clarity on whether a buyback would take place considering that an amalgamation scheme is pending with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). The company is looking to merge its four subsidiaries namely, Wipro Technologies Austria, Wipro Information Technology Austria, NewLogic Technologies SARL and Appirio India Cloud Solutions with Wipro Ltd. The backlash comes as Amazon has started to aggressively roll out its futuristic convenience stores, with Chicago an important early market. Four of the companys 10 Amazon Go stores are in Chicago, with the others in Seattle and San Francisco. The Chicago stores are in the Loop, Illinois Center and Ogilvie Transportation Center. Under pressure from the Trump administration, the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock is no longer considering the race and national origin of applicants seeking admission to its School of Medicine.Health Sciences President Tedd Mitchell, who is also chancellor of the Texas Tech University System, signed an agreement in February with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights to resolve a 2004 complaint and the office's subsequent investigation. The agreement, which took effect March 1, does not apply to the medical school at Tech's Health Sciences Center in El Paso.The agreement, first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, marks the first time the Trump administration has asked a school to dial back its use of affirmative action and could presage more such efforts. Under Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the Office for Civil Rights is investigating the use of race in admissions at Harvard and Yale universities, focusing on whether Asian American applicants face discrimination. Conservative activists have long sought to end racial and ethnic considerations in various aspects of public policy.The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2016 in Fisher v. the University of Texas that the Austin flagship's consideration of race passed legal muster because it is narrowly tailored to achieve the educational benefits of diversity. Eric D. Bentley, Texas Tech System vice chancellor and general counsel, told the Education Department in a letter accompanying the resolution agreement that the Health Sciences Center's use of race complies with the Fisher standard. But the center agreed to sign "in an effort to resolve this matter and focus on educating future health care providers," he wrote.Race-neutral alternatives will be explored to enhance diversity, but if that doesn't work the center will provide the required notice to the Office for Civil Rights that it plans to resume racial considerations, Bentley said. The School of Pharmacy discontinued affirmative action in 2008, and Texas Tech University did so in 2013 for undergraduate admissions. Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency for parts of New York City on Tuesday in the midst of an expanding measles outbreak, and doctors and public health officials on Long Island asserted they're on the lookout for signs of the respiratory illness."Everybody has been on heightened alert," said Dr. Bruce Farber, chief of infectious diseases for the Northwell Health system, which has major medical centers in Nassau and Suffolk counties."It's really sad when you see an infection that can be prevented by a vaccine spreading again," Farber said.Measles is one of the most infectious viruses known to medicine -- and it spreads like wildfire, Farber and other infectious disease experts said.His colleague, Dr. Eric Cioe-Pena, director of global health for the health care system, said if one person with measles coughed in a room and someone entered two hours later, there is close to 100 percent certainty the latecomer would get infected.Measles has spread through several Brooklyn-area schools in an outbreak that has affected more than 200 students. No end to the epidemic is yet in sight.Long Island so far has remained measles-free, public health officials said Tuesday, crediting a high vaccination rate in both counties.Data from the State Department of Health show the last confirmed instances of measles in Nassau were in 2013, when two cases were traced to exposures outside the country. A Suffolk County infant, also exposed to measles abroad, was treated in 2017 at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip.As part of his state of emergency, de Blasio is requiring vaccination with the mumps-measles-rubella vaccine -- MMR -- for unvaccinated children. The mayor said the city would issue violations and possibly levy fines of $1,000 for parents who fail to comply.To date, there have been 285 measles cases that have been concentrated largely in Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish community, where infections have been smoldering since late last year. Many of the infected children were students at yeshivas -- Orthodox schools -- in Williamsburg.City health officials had issued a series of warnings for weeks and had asked parents to vaccinate their children or face closure of the schools. Earlier demands by the health department went unheeded as measles transmission continued, city health officials said.The Brooklyn outbreak -- and declaration of a public health emergency -- mirror an ongoing measles epidemic involving 153 residents, predominantly children, in Rockland County. That outbreak also has been concentrated in the Orthodox Jewish community.Although Rockland in late March banned unvaccinated children from public places -- schools, restaurants, parks and airports -- the ban was declared illegal Friday by a state court judge.Dr. Aaron Glatt, chairman of medicine at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, told Newsday two weeks ago there is nothing in Jewish religion that prohibits vaccination. "The religion was in place long before vaccines were developed," said Glatt, who is also a rabbi.He blamed the outbreaks on well-meaning parents who have been duped by rampantly spreading pseudoscience, which links the MMR vaccine to autism. Vaccine hesitancy is also common among a growing number of people who aren't Jewish, Glatt added."Misinformation is very, very dangerous," Glatt said, "and there is no evidence whatsoever that vaccines cause autism."A study published last month in the Annals of Internal Medicine involving more than 600,000 people proved again that MMR vaccine does not cause autism. The study was the largest, but one of dozens that have found no links between vaccines and the neurodevelopmental disorder.Measles is a respiratory illness that produces a rash, Farber said, noting that a vaccination rate of 95 percent is needed to secure "herd immunity," the safety net that blankets a community when a sufficient number of people are vaccinated."As a society, we need to decide if vaccination is truly optional," Cioe-Pena said. He asked whether people who use public spaces are free to spread a highly contagious virus.De Blasio's declaration of an emergency arrived one day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced measles infections had skyrocketed nationwide. The agency confirmed 465 cases in 19 states in 2019. That compares with 63 in 2010. Measles was declared eradicated in the United States by the CDC in 2000. Massachusetts therapists can no longer use a type of therapy that tries to alter a teenager's sexual orientation.Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday signed into law a bill banning licensed health care professionals from providing conversion therapy to anyone under 18.Conversion therapy tries to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. It can be done through talk or through a practice where a therapist causes pain when someone has a sexual reaction to someone of the same sex.Most professional medical organizations have said conversion therapy is not a legitimate form of medical treatment.Supporters of the ban say conversion therapy has the potential to harm vulnerable young people who are gay or are dealing with issues related to their sexual identity, by shaming them and potentially driving them to depression or drug use.The ban does not address conversion therapy performed on adults, nor does it apply to pastoral counseling by a religious leader.Fifteen states and Washington, D.C., have already banned conversion therapy, according to the Human Rights Campaign.Massachusetts House votes to ban conversion therapy for minorsConversion therapy tries to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.Baker, a Republican, signed the bill despite concerns by Republicans in the state Senate over whether the ban infringed on parents' rights to control their children or on therapists' free speech rights.Massachusetts Senate passes conversion therapy ban, over Republicans' constitutional concernsFive of six Senate Republicans voted "present" after a failed vote to ask the SJC for a legal opinion on the bill. At two public charter schools in the Sonoma wine country town of Sebastopol, more than half the kindergartners received medical exemptions from state-required vaccines last school year. The cities of Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Nevada City, Arcata and Sausalito all had schools in which more than 30% of the kindergartners had been granted such medical exemptions.Nearly three years ago, with infectious disease rates ticking up, California enacted a fiercely contested law barring parents from citing personal or religious beliefs to avoid vaccinating their children. Children could be exempted only on medical grounds, if the shots were harmful to health.Yet today, many of the schools that had the highest rates of unvaccinated students before the new measure continue to hold that alarming distinction. Thats because parents have found end runs around the new law requiring vaccinations. And they have done so, often, with the cooperation of doctors some not even pediatricians. One prolific exemption provider is a psychiatrist who runs an anti-aging clinic.Doctors in California have broad authority to grant medical exemptions to vaccination, and to decide the grounds for doing so. Some are wielding that power liberally and sometimes for cash: signing dozens even hundreds of exemptions for children in far-off communities.Its sort of the Hail Mary of the vaccine refusers who are trying to circumvent SB 277, the California Senate bill signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2015, said Dr. Brian Prystowsky, a Santa Rosa pediatrician. Its really scary stuff. We have pockets in our community that are just waiting for measles to rip through their schools.The number of California children granted medical exemptions from vaccinations has tripled in the past two years.Across the nation, 2019 is shaping up to be one of the worst years for U.S. measles cases in a quarter-century, with major outbreaks in New York, Texas and Washington state, and new cases reported in 12 more states, including California. Californias experience underlines how hard it is to get parents to comply with vaccination laws meant to protect public safety when a small but adamant population of families and physicians seems determined to resist.When Senate Bill 277 took effect in 2016, California became the third state, after Mississippi and West Virginia, to ban vaccine exemptions based on personal or religious beliefs for public and private school students. (The ban does not apply to students who are home-schooled.)In the two subsequent years, SB 277 improved overall child vaccination rates: The percentage of fully vaccinated kindergartners rose from 92.9% in the 2015-16 school year to 95.1% in 2017-18.But those gains stalled last year due to the dramatic rise in medical exemptions: More than 4,000 kindergartners received these exemptions in the 2017-18 school year. Though the number is still relatively small, many are concentrated in a handful of schools, leaving those classrooms extremely vulnerable to serious outbreaks.Based on widely accepted federal guidelines, vaccine exemptions for medical reasons should be exceedingly rare. Theyre typically reserved for children who are allergic to vaccine components, who have had a previous reaction to a vaccine, or whose immune systems are compromised, including kids being treated for cancer. Run-of-the-mill allergies and asthma arent reasons to delay or avoid vaccines, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Neither is autism.Before Californias immunization law took effect, just a fraction of 1% of the states schoolchildren had medical exemptions. By last school year, 105 schools, scattered across the state, reported that 10% or more of their kindergartners had been granted medical exemptions. In 31 of those schools, 20% or more of the kindergartners had medical exemptions.The spike in medical exemptions is taking place amid a politically tinged, often rancorous national conversation over vaccines and personal liberty as measles resurges in the U.S. and worldwide. At least 387 cases of measles had been reported nationwide through March 28, according to the CDC. In California, 16 cases had been reported, two of them requiring hospitalization.The problem in California, state officials say, is how the immunization law was structured. It removed the ability of parents to cite personal belief as a reason for exempting their children from vaccine requirements in day care and schools. Exemptions now must be authorized by a licensed physician who provides a written statement citing a medical condition that indicates immunization is not considered safe.But the law does not specify the conditions that qualify a student for a medical exemption, nor does it require physicians to follow federal guidelines.The wording has led to a kind of gray market in which parents share names of vaccine-friendly doctors by word of mouth or in closed Facebook groups. And some of those doctors are granting children blanket exemptions for all time and all vaccines citing a range of conditions not supported by federal guidelines, such as a family history of eczema or arthritis.Amid growing concerns about suspect exemptions, the California Department of Public Health recently launched a review of schools with biologically unlikely numbers of medical exemptions, said the agencys director, Dr. Karen Smith. Doctors who have written questionable exemptions will be referred to the Medical Board of California for possible investigation.The medical board, which licenses doctors, has the authority to levy sanctions if physicians have not followed standard medical practice in examining patients or documenting specific reasons for an exemption.In recent years, however, the board has sanctioned only one doctor for inappropriately writing a medical vaccine exemption in a case that made headlines. Since 2013, the board has received 106 complaints about potentially improper vaccine exemptions, including nine so far this year, said spokesman Carlos Villatoro.One pending case involves Dr. Ron Kennedy, who was trained as a psychiatrist and now runs an anti-aging clinic in Santa Rosa.Medical board investigators took the unusual step of subpoenaing 12 school districts for student medical records after receiving complaints that Kennedy was writing inappropriate exemptions. They found that Kennedy had written at least 50 exemptions, using nearly identical form letters, for students in multiple communities, including Santa Rosa, Fremont and Fort Bragg, saying that immunizations were contraindicated for a catchall list of conditions including lupus, learning disability, food allergies and detoxification impairment.Dr. Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Childrens Hospital and the medical boards expert witness, said that the exemptions issued by Kennedy appear to have been provided without an appropriate evaluation, according to court documents.Kennedy has refused to respond to the boards subpoenas seeking the medical records of three of his patients, according to court documents. The board has yet to file a formal accusation against Kennedy, and he continues to practice.Like Kennedy, many of the doctors granting unorthodox exemptions cite their belief in parental rights or reference concerns not supported by conventional medical science. Kennedy is suing the medical board and its parent agency, the California Department of Consumer Affairs, saying the state did not have the legal right to subpoena school districts for his patients medical records without first informing him so he could challenge the action in court. The case is ongoing.Kennedy declined comment to Kaiser Health News. I dont want to be out in the open, he said in a brief phone exchange. Ive got to go. Ive got a business to run.In Monterey, Dr. Douglas Hulstedt is known as the doctor to see for families seeking medical exemptions. In a brief phone interview, he said he was worried about being targeted by the state medical board. I have stuck my neck way out there just talking with you, he said. Hulstedt does not give exemptions to every child he examines, he said, but does believe vaccines can cause autism a fringe viewpoint that has been debunked by multiple studies.In March, the online publication Voice of San Diego highlighted doctors who write medical exemptions, including one physician who had written more than a third of the 486 student medical exemptions in the San Diego Unified School District. District officials had compiled a list of such exemptions and the doctors who provided them.State Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), a pediatrician who sponsored Californias vaccine law, has been a vocal critic of doctors he says are skirting the intent of the legislation by handing out fake exemptions. Last month, he introduced follow-up legislation that would require the state health department to sign off on medical exemptions. The department also would have the authority to revoke exemptions found to be inconsistent with CDC guidelines.We cannot allow a small number of unethical physicians to put our children back at risk, Pan said. Its time to stop fake medical exemptions and the doctors who are selling them. SPEED READ: M arital rape is still legal in 12 states. A bill to close the loophole in Minnesota passed the House and awaits a final vote by the Senate. Similar legislation faces an uphill climb in Ohio. By day, Minnesota state Rep. Zach Stephenson is a prosecutor. Yet it came as a surprise to him when a constituent said his daughter had been raped by her husband and that a provision in the states law prevented him from being prosecuted."I dont normally handle sex crimes, but I thought no way in 2019 in Minnesota do we have a law on the books that makes that OK," says the Democratic lawmaker. "I went back to my office and read through the law and sure enough there is an exception for drugging or having sex with someone mentally incapacitated if theyre married."Twelve states -- Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Virginia-- have a loophole that legalizes marital rape . In Nevada, being married to the victim is enough to protect someone from prosecution. In Virginia, a husband can avoid criminal charges if he agrees to therapy. In South Carolina, a married victim only has 30 days to report the rape and has to prove threat of physical violence.The most recent stateto close a marital rape loophole wasMaryland, in 2017, where the law had required victims to prove there was use of force.Since then, lawmakers in Ohio have tried and failed to eliminate the state's requirement for proof of threat of force or violence if a couple is married or living together. Ohio state Rep. Kristin Boggs, a Democrat, believed the state had the votes to pass it last year, but the bill didn't make it past committee. Boggs says she intends to refile the bill this year. She'll have to overcome the critics who argue that closing marital rape loopholes would open the door to false allegations during contentious divorce settlements."The problems of proof was one concern. This happens between husband and wife in private -- its one persons word against another," John Murphy of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, which has previously opposed the bill, told the Dayton Daily News in 2017.The same can be said in cases of rape involving uncoupled people."This is really just about saying that nobody should be allowed to rape anyone, and your legal relationship with someone shouldnt impact that," says Boggs.In Minnesota, Stephenson's bill may have a better chance. His proposal would make marital rape prosecutable no matter what state of mind a victim was in when their spouse raped them. It unanimously passed the House in February, passed a Senate committee last month and could win approval in the full Senate any day now. If it does, Stephenson says, "I'm optimistic it would get signed by the governor."This debate is happening at a time when the #MeToo movement has ousted dozens of state lawmakers accused of sexual misconduct and sparked unprecedented interest in tightening sex crime laws. But Boggs doesn't see the movement as an asset in this case."In the Ohio Statehouse, the #MeToo movement has more of a chilling effect," she says. "Attaching this bill to that movement would likely hurt more than it would help." The Alabama House of Representatives approved a General Fund budget today with a $40 million increase for the state's troubled prison system.Gov. Kay Ivey had requested the increase before last week's Department of Justice report alleging unconstitutional conditions in men's prisons in Alabama. But the money will be applied to one of the key causes cited by the DOJ.About $30 million is aimed to hire 500 more correctional officers and increase pay by 20 percent to help keep more officers on the job. The DOJ said a severe staff shortage exacerbated dangerous conditions that led investigators to conclude there is reasonable cause to believe the conditions violate the Eighth Amendment.The 500 new officers would be only a step toward a court order to add 2,000 new officers over the next few years.The budget would increase the General Fund appropriation for the Alabama Department of Corrections to $517 million in 2020, $40 million more than this year and $70 million more than last year.Overall, the budget passed on a 103-0 vote by the House calls for spending $2.1 billion from the General Fund, about 4 percent more than this year.After passing the budget, the House passed a bill to give state employees a 2 percent cost of living raise. That was also part of Ivey's budget request. It would be the second straight year for state employees to receive a COLA after going a decade without one. State employees received a 3 percent cost of living raise this year.The House added an amendment to name the pay raise bill after Rep. Dimitri Polizos, R-Montgomery, who died on March 27 after a heart attack. Polizos had been sponsor of the legislation.The budget bills move to the Senate. They advanced more easily than in many previous years. The Legislature has frequently resorted to borrowing or one-time funding sources to prop up the General Fund. That wasn't necessary for next year's budget.Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, chairman of the General Fund committee, said a strong economy led to increased revenues from insurance premium taxes, taxes on online sales and other sources.Also, the Alabama Medicaid Agency, the biggest spender of General Fund dollars, is expected to carry over money from this year and requested a smaller General Fund appropriation for next year.Clouse said lawmakers had to take a long-range view because Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, ALL Kids, will need hefty increases in 2021.Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, said legislators should be concerned about one potential spending obligation that was not in the budget.Ivey is considering a plan to engage private companies to build three new men's prisons and lease them to the state. A "Request for Expressions of Interest" posted by the Alabama Department of Corrections projects the lease payments at $78 million a year.England said the Ivey plan could bind lawmakers to lease payments every year without seeking approval to fund new prisons."The Legislature needs to take on this responsibility and wrestle it away from the executive branch," England said.A spokesman for the ADOC said in a statement the Request for Expressions of Interest is part of "a collaborative effort with state legislators" to gather information and determine how to proceed on prisons."The Expression of Interest (EOI) is a helpful part of the overall qualifications and proposal process and will allow the corrections industry to provide valuable and transparent input into the facilitation of the Alabama prison plan, which is a collaborative effort with state legislators. This process will enable the state to make an informed and definitive decision on the appropriate path forward," spokesman Bob Horton said in a statement.In 2016 and 2017, the Legislature rejected plans initially proposed by former Gov. Robert Bentley to issue bonds to pay for prison construction.The ADOC has said initial estimates for the cost of the three new prisons would be about $900 million. The ADOC says it can make the lease payments with money saved by consolidating services and closing many of the existing prisons. Late Tuesday, a Cook County Circuit Court judge granted Melrose Park a temporary restraining order, prohibiting the owners of Westlake from cutting services or staffing any further than they had already been cut. The order was granted after the owner, Pipeline Health, announced early Tuesday that it was suspending services at Westlake no longer admitting new patients and transferring or discharging those who were already there. The startup UrbanLeap and the local government network ELGL are joining together to create a one-year program where 25 cities, counties and towns will work together to find common problems, test solutions and then share what theyve learned.But dont expect to see the typical big cities involved in it the Small Places, Big Ideas Innovation Cohort is specifically looking for small and rural governments."UrbanLeap is working today with big municipalities such as Las Vegas, Pittsburgh and the County of San Mateo, said UrbanLeap Founder and CEO Arik Bronshtein in a press release. We want to bring the same tools and best practices to smaller municipal agencies, too."The organizers will favor places with populations lower than 30,000, though it is encouraging those larger to apply as well. The idea is to bring the kind of collaboration opportunities to smaller governments that larger governments with more resources see more regularly. In fact, the project bears some resemblance to the MasterCard City Possible network, which has pulled in larger cities like San Diego and Baltimore.There are, however, far more small cities in the U.S. than medium and large ones. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 47 percent of cities have populations of 1,000 or less.ELGLs network includes more than 3,000 local government employees, exactly the people UrbanLeap designed its platform for. The company offers a kind of project management platform meant to help government try new things whether that means technology or simply a tweak to a process. (TNS) The Warrenton, Ore., Commission plans to develop a new policy to address encroachments on the city's levee system.A recent inspection of Warrenton's nearly 11 miles of levees revealed several issues. There are moles everywhere and, in several cases, there are structures built into levee slopes.One example the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has rated as "unacceptable" is a garage built into the levee right of way off Main Avenue near Fourth Street.If the garage is not addressed, it could jeopardize the levee system's status within the federal Rehabilitation and Inspection Program, which provides rehabilitation assistance.Mark Kujala, a Clatsop County commissioner and former Warrenton mayor who has been acting as a levee consultant for the city, estimates that most of the garage is built into the right of way, property that does not belong to the homeowner.Other encroachments include things like gates, sign posts, boat dock access ramps, water and sewer pipes, utility poles, trees and access roads -- not all of which fall into the "unacceptable" category. But the property, specifically the garage, near Fourth Street has long been an issue."And it's for sale," Kujala said.It is up to the homeowner to prove the garage does not impact the levee's ability to withstand a major flood. Kujala outlined several steps the property owner could take that had been discussed by the inspection team in January.The last resort would be to remove the structure entirely. But, Kujala noted, none of the options were officially sanctioned by Army Corps representatives at the time.There is a question of how much involvement the city wants to assume in enforcing the levee right of way, Kujala said. Will the city work with the property owner to find engineering services, for example?"Half of me wants to help the homeowner, half of me doesn't want to assume the liability," Mayor Henry Balensifer said.The City Commission asked city staff and attorney Spencer Parsons to develop a draft policy for the commission to discuss at a future meeting.With around 80 percent of Warrenton located below high tide, the aging 14-foot levees surrounding the city are critical protections that have been the source of much frustration and anxiety.City leaders have worked for years to prove the levee system can protect the city from a 100-year flood. If the system were to be accredited by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the properties behind the levees would no longer be considered to be in the flood plain and residents would see lower flood insurance rates. Accreditation would also lower some restrictions on development.Kujala hopes to have a final checklist of items that the city needs to address based on the January inspection from the Army Corps later this month. A final inspection report will be issued before September.___(c)2019 The Daily Astorian, Ore.Visit The Daily Astorian, Ore. at www.dailyastorian.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. (TNS) After months of discussion, a smartphone app designed to assist public transit riders in Tupelo still isnt ready for a public rollout.Tupelo Transits pilot period of 13 months is about at the halfway point. City hall leaders have revised routes and devised a number of promotional programs as they have struggled to boost participation numbers.Since at least last December, Mayor Jason Sheltons administration has been in talks with a software developer who is also working with the Mississippi Department of Transportation to develop mobile phone software programs to assist public transportation programs in the state.In that December meeting, a January rollout was discussed as feasible. The app was intended to help Tupelo residents locate the nearest bus stop and possibly track the location of Tupelo Transit buses in real time.Now, in early April, theres still no certainty on the issue.I havent seen that it is operational, said Tupelo Chief Operations Officer Don Lewis.The citys bus system is managed by Northeast Mississippi Community Services with funding from the Mississippi Department of Transportation and the city of Tupelo.Valerie Arnold is transportation coordinator with the Booneville-based Northeast Mississippi Community Services. According to her latest information, the app itself is designed but is not fully functional, because, in part, the tracking capability for each bus is still in development.Theres at least some public interest in an app. During a recent tour of the citys wards by Mayor Jason Shelton, a Ward 1 resident asked the mayor if any such Tupelo Transit app was planned.In that forum, Shelton acknowledged that his administration has faced difficulties in its efforts to solve a longstanding policy debate in the city over public transit.I was shocked how difficult finding a workable solution actually is, Shelton said.Last year, the Tupelo City Council voted to spend $209,000 on a 13-month public transit plan. An additional $220,000 in funding came through MDOT.The city bus system will once again come before the Tupelo City Council later this summer as the clock runs out on the transit pilot program.At least one swing vote is concerned about the viability of a fixed-route bus system.Me, personally, I dont see that its working out very well, said Ward 5 Councilman Buddy Palmer. Ill make up my mind then, but its going to have to improve from what Im seeing now.Palmer was among a narrow four-vote majority that approved short-term public transit last year. None of the three dissenters look likely to change their minds, so transit proponents will need to convince the entire four-person majority from last year to stick with the program. A growing wave of litigation is poised to clarify the ongoing debate over whether elected officials may block the public on social media.Most prominently, U.S. District Court Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald ruled last year that President Trump violated the First Amendment rights of those he blocked on Twitter, a case that heads to the U.S. Second Circuit Appeals Court this spring. In addition, courts in New York, Virginia, Kentucky, Texas, California, Oklahoma and beyond have all taken up cases that relate to social media blocking and government use. Together, these cases stand to shape the future of how government and the public interact online.The social media block function, where available, may provide distance for users who seek to limit potential online abuse, but some public officials have used it to silence those who simply disagree with them. A blocked Twitter user no longer appears in the blockers replies and it limits the blocked users ability to view the blockers tweets. With public officials and agencies, that presents a constitutional concern.That shows a lot of cowardice, and implies they're not at all certain of their own moral standing or ability to make a coherent argument, said Anjela Bugher, a Washington state resident who was blocked by Will Pinkston, who was at the time a Nashville School Board member, after tweeting him a policy question In September 2018, I was blocked by Cranston, R.I., Mayor Allan Fung via his Twitter account after posing a series of policy questions. In response to a public record request for his Twitter block list, Mayor Fungs office replied that his account was personal property and did not provide the information.A key premise in Justice Buchwalds ruling defined social media as a designated public forum, similar to a town meeting. A January 2019 Fourth Circuit Court found similarly that an official who blocked a Facebook commenter violated the users First Amendment rights.When I'm cut off from even seeing their posts, it means I'm denied a fundamental right of residents of this country: the right to protest and criticize the government, said Bugher. Social media isn't an official's invitation-only event. It's a public town hall.That elected officials have begun to use digital conversations to conduct the business itself of government is exactly the issue, explained Minnesota Public Radio Political Reporter Briana Bierschbach. It happened to her in 2016 , when Minnesota Sen. John Hoffman blocked her after she wrote a story for theabout a potential conflict of interest. The Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists issued a joint statement in March calling for elected officials to cease blocking members of the public.If [elected officials] are using this platform more increasingly to do the work of the public it should be open to the public, said Bierschbach.Blockings harm may reach beyond the user, since they may be reporting back to other family members with updates about safety alerts and other neighborhood news the public officials are using social media to disseminate. If users dont see the information, they cant share it.Bierschbach advises members of the public who are blocked to take advantage of their local open record policies in order to determine if the official routinely blocks others. Are they doing this more broadly? Are they blocking entire groups of people or individuals who call them out? Because that can show a bigger pattern in this politicians style in dealing with social media ... the public and journalists questioning them, she said.The San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) describes its mission as defending free speech and digital privacy, and has filed multiple briefs in cases including the one against President Trump contending that government social media blocking violates the First Amendment.David Greene, civil liberties director and senior staff attorney for EFF, echoed Bugher and Bierschbachs views. He said that if courts continue to agree as decisions emerge in the next several months, were about to see a tipping point for consensus. However, he said, were not likely to see a single blanket statement emerge, but determinations tailored to each accounts use case.What I think well get is just a recognition that the common use of these services certainly creates a public forum and that people have the right to participate, he said.According to Greene, blocking creates a social media dynamic that denies the public of beneficial interactions. Ideally, elected officials would see these platforms as an extension of any other government forum, he said aligning with Buchwalds public forum determination.If one-dimensional broadcasting represents an outmoded social media style, how can apprehensive elected officials reimagine their social media use to be more interactive?I would encourage them to actually use these accounts, and to maintain them as public forums, and to be as thick skinned and tolerant of criticism and viewpoints they disagree with as they are required to be in other types of public forums, said Greene.For Bugher, the debate points to a bigger implication: the heart of the democratic process.The more officials are allowed to shut down not just debate but actual access, the more policy can be decided behind closed doors, with no accountability to anyone, she said. (TNS) Maine drivers licenses will be getting a makeover when it comes up for renewal. The secretary of states office unveiled a new design for it on Monday that will also include a marking meant to signal compliance with a controversial federal law regulating state-issued identification.The new design will replace the moose-and-mountain design adopted in 2010 by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, which is overseen by the secretary of states office. That design features an outline of the state of Maine, a white pine cone (state tree), a tassel (state flower) and a black-capped chickadee (state bird), as well as iconic state imagery, including a potato field, lighthouse, sailboat, mountain and sunrise.Our staff has worked diligently to create a design that elegantly incorporates a variety of images that speak to the Maine experience, while also improving the security of these important identity documents, Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said in a statement.The new design also includes features to make it more difficult to produce fraudulent identification or drivers licenses, while making it easier to recognize counterfeit documentation, according to Dunlaps office. It will be issued to all applicants upon their next renewal.Among the new design elements is a golden-colored Maine with a white star within it, in the upper right corner, that signal the identification is compliant with the federal Real ID Act.Maine is among 11 states and two U.S. territories technically not compliant with Real ID but that have been granted additional time to meet its requirements, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The remaining states have been certified as compliant by Homeland Security.The penalties for not complying are potentially high. Travelers who want to board domestic flights must present compliant identification starting Oct. 1, 2020, and those with noncompliant identification will need to use an accepted alternative , such as a U.S. passport or passport card, to fly across the country or to enter certain secure federal facilities, such as military bases, nuclear plants or the U.S. mint. In the coming weeks, the Transportation Security Administration will start posting signs at airports across the country to remind travelers about Real ID compliance.Real ID emerged in 2005 among a slew of legislation to address national security concerns after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and it was one of the key recommendations in the 9/11 Commission Report The Real ID Act set national standards to improve the security of state-issued identification to prevent undocumented immigrants and terrorists from obtaining U.S. drivers licenses. Several of the 9/11 hijackers had obtained state-issued drivers licenses in the months leading up to the attacks.Those requirements include using facial recognition software at Bureau of Motor Vehicles offices, fingerprinting Bureau of Motor Vehicles employees and Homeland Security-approved security markings on ID cards, among other standards.But many states balked at what they saw as federal overreach. And the Maine Legislature in 2007 passed a law prohibiting the state from complying with Real ID amid concerns that it would create a de facto internal passport.The states protest reached a dramatic point in October 2016, when Homeland Security denied Maines request for a renewal of its waiver from Real ID enforcement over its continued noncompliance. That left Maine residents subject to enforcement after Jan. 30, 2017, when the federal government stopped accepting Maine drivers licenses as valid identification for entering military bases.It set off a legislative debate that ended in April 2017 with the passage of a bill, LD 306 , to grant Dunlap the authority to bring the state into compliance. That law gives Dunlaps office until July 1, 2019, to meet the requirements of Real ID. In October 2018, Homeland Security granted Maine a waiver from Real ID compliance as the state took steps to meet the laws requirements.Kristen Muszynski, a spokeswoman for Dunlap, said in an email Monday morning that the state is on track to meet that July deadline, when the Bureau of Motor Vehicles will begin issuing compliant identification. Mainers can choose to opt out of Real ID and receive a non-compliant identification that will resemble the new design without the golden-colored Maine and white star.Anyone whose drivers license or identification expires after Real ID enforcement begins in October 2020 will need to renew their documentation to be in compliance or use an accepted alternative for domestic air travel or other federal purposes, according to Muszynski. (TNS) Chicago police announced new technology Friday aimed to help detectives more quickly pull video from surveillance cameras, analyze cellphone data and read license plates while investigating gun violence and other crimes.The Area Tech Center, housed at Area South detective headquarters on the Far South Side, is part of a broader effort by the Police Department to improve its dismal clearance rate for solving homicides and shootings over the past few years.Since opening in late February, the center has received nearly 200 requests from detectives in need of video and digital evidence processing.One of those requests included video evidence from private and police street surveillance cameras that helped identify a suspect in the March 23 fatal shooting of off-duty Officer John P. Rivera in the River North neighborhood, police said.One of our challenges in solving crime here in Chicago has been the ability to efficiently identify, collect, download and review all the video resources connected to a crime scene, police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told reporters Friday at the center. Unfortunately, this has resulted in lost evidence, lower clearance rates. This has also impacted our relationships with those who have suffered from violent crime.The tech center was bankrolled by billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, who pledged $10 million last year to support the departments use of technology in high-crime areas.The tech center is similar in concept to the departments strategic decision support centers that operate in 20 of the 22 patrol districts across the city. But those centers use police surveillance video footage, gunshot detection technology and real-time crime statistics to help patrol commanders determine where to deploy beat and tactical officers.The tech center places more of an emphasis on video and cellphone evidence collection and is specifically tailored for detectives.As part of a series of articles last year about the departments low clearance rate, the Chicago Tribune spoke with several detectives who said it was often a struggle to find the right computer program to open up surveillance footage or cellphone data.On Friday, officials said the new tech center would help resolve those issues. The advancements would complement the nearly 300 detectives added by the department since 2016 to bring the total to about 1,200.The department has also announced plans to add 50 sergeants to help supervise those detectives, a move that would bring the number of detective sergeants to about 190.Melissa Staples, the departments chief of detectives, said the tech center will be run by 10 patrol officers, four detectives, a sergeant and a crime analyst all with technological training during morning and afternoon shifts.This team will produce timely cellphone and video evidence analysis for detectives assigned to cases involving violent crimes, she said.The tech center is made up of a small room off the detectives floor at Area South with two big-screen TVs and about a dozen computer monitors where detectives can analyze video and other electronic-based evidence.Sgt. Patrick Kinney, who helps run the tech center, said its officers can also assist other detectives at homicide scenes by viewing recovered video on laptops.It saves hours upon hours for the detectives, Kinney said. It frees them up because were the ones doing the processing for them, were the ones recovering the video, analyzing the video, and then providing it to them with the investigative leads.The department said it plans to eventually add tech centers at its two other main detective units, Area Central and Area North. Daniel Ricciardo feels he is getting there with the Renault F1 car ahead of preparations for the Chinese GP and after testing in Bahrain last year. The first two races havent been the best for Ricciardo and his debut season at Renault after two DNFs, having to retire in Australia and Bahrain. But the Australian is positive ahead of the race he dramatically won last year with Red Bull after a successful test, hoping for better results for the team. Ricciardo said: Im certainly getting there in terms of extracting the maximum and getting more comfortable. These things do take time, but its good to iron out these details going forward. Well get there soon and sure enough and Im confident were heading in the right direction. We showed signs of that over the race weekend, going from a struggle on Friday, followed by an improvement on Saturday to being in and amongst it on Sunday. The car clearly has pace, but for me, its about finding all of it. I feel theres a lot more to come. Ricciardo returns to Shanghai this year with a different team after his success last year and praised the track for its opportunities for overtaking and late braking. Up until last year, China was a circuit I always seemed to go really well at but without taking a podium, Ricciardo said. I knew I was due a podium in China and last season that came alive. It was a really good win, coming from sixth on the grid. I probably made one of the overtakes of the year on Valtteri [Bottas] into the tight Turn 6, so that made it even sweeter! In terms of the track layout, its actually quite unique There are long straights, a really tricky Turn 1 and lots of overtaking opportunities. You can pass at Turns 6, 9 and 14 too; there are some decent places to outdo people on the brakes, which is cool. The Colville Tribes have entered into an agreement with the state of Washington to sell marijuana, according to an April 8 press release from the tribes. We are pleased to sign this agreement and look forward to the economic development opportunities it provides, Colville Business Council Chairman Rodney Cawston is quoted as saying in the press release. The [agreement] includes appropriate regulation of tribal businesses which sell marijuana, as well as effective enforcement procedures to assure all applicable laws are followed. A new tribal corporation will be created for the sale of marijuana, the press release states, and the tribes adopted a new section into their Tribal Code. Taxes generated from the retail marijuana sales will support essential Tribal government services, the press release says. Retail marijuana sales across Washington have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the state, Cawston is quoted as saying in the press release. We now have the ability to collect our own revenue from Tribal sales, and anticipate that this new funding source will help us continue to expand important government services for our membership. The compact was negotiated with the state Liquor and Cannabis Control Board (LCB) over several months by CBC members Jack Ferguson and Joel Boyd, the Tribes Office of the Reservation Attorney, and its Administration staff, the press release states. Colvilles compact is the 11th marijuana agreement to be signed by Tribes and Governor Jay Inslee. Other compacts are with the Suquamish, Squaxin Island, Muckleshoot, Jamestown SKlallam, Port Gamble SKlallam, Puyallup, Samish, Stillaguamish, Swinomish, and Tulalip Tribes. Other Tribes are currently in negotiation with the LCB for their own marijuana compacts. PSU study shows green roofs could reduce indoor air pollution Green roofs - roofs that are planted with vegetation -- may improve the indoor air quality of commercial buildings by cutting the amount of ozone coming into the buildings from the outside, according to new research from Portland State University. The findings add to the already known environmental benefits of green roofs, including reducing carbon dioxide, decreasing storm water runoff and cutting down on urban heat, according to PSU researchers. The researchers from PSU's departments of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Biology and the university's Honors College, set up measuring devices on the roof of a big-box retail store in North Portland that was split between a green roof and a more conventional white membrane roof. They measured the air coming into the building from outdoor intake vents, and found that the air coming in from the green roof area had modestly lower ozone levels than the air coming in from the unplanted area. They found that the vegetation trapped and filtered the ozone in the outdoor air. The trapping effect is a process known as dry deposition, in which airborne particles collect or deposit themselves on solid surfaces. It's a natural process that is key to removing pollutants from the atmosphere. The study was conducted over a two-day period. The authors said the findings warrant a longer-term study - one that could include measuring other pollutants as well as ozone. ### The study was published in the March 15 edition of Building and Environment. About Portland State University As Oregon's only urban public research university, Portland State offers tremendous opportunity to over 27,000 students from all backgrounds. Our mission to "let knowledge serve the city" reflects our dedication to finding creative, sustainable solutions to local and global problems. Our location in the heart of Portland, one of America's most dynamic cities, gives our students unmatched access to career connections and an internationally acclaimed culture scene. U.S. News & World Report ranks PSU as Oregon's most innovative university and among the most innovative in the nation. This story has been published on: 2019-04-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 10) Numbers measuring poverty incidence among Filipinos dropped across the board, according to the latest report from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). The Official Poverty Statistics of the Philippines for the first semester of 2018 was released by the PSA on Wednesday. It gives important information on poverty in the country, as well as includes other indicators of poverty. In its report, the PSA said 16.1 percent of Filipino families fell below the monthly poverty threshold - meaning they earned less than the average amount to buy the basic food and non-food requirements needed by a family of five. This is a significant drop from the 2015 PSA report, which recorded it at 22.2 percent. Threshold amounts rose, however. In 2015, the PSA said a family of five needed 9,435 to buy their necessities. The amount has since risen to 10,481 in 2018. From these amounts, the PSA said a family of five needed 7,337 per month to buy their basic food requirements in 2018, compared to 6,600 in 2015. Poverty incidence among Filipino individuals also fell, from 27.6 percent living under the poverty line in the first semester of 2015 to 21 percent in the same period last year. The number of Filipinos whose monthly incomes fell below the amount needed to purchase basic food requirements also dipped from 13 percent in 2015 to 8.5 percent in 2018. There was a similar trend when it came to Filipino families from 9.9 percent in 2015 to 6.2 percent in 2018. The PSA report, however, did not include data on what caused the changes in percentages of thresholds. The PSA also included other poverty measures in the report, which can be used to design poverty intervention programs. The income gap meaning the additional amount of money needed monthly by a family with five members to get out from under the poverty line also decreased. In 2018, the agency said an additional income of 2,819 monthly, this figure is 2.6 percent lower than in 2015. Regions with the least number of poverty incidence among families are the National Capital Region (NCR), CALABARZON, and Central Luzon for both 2015 and 2018. Palace: Figures prove gov't is working In a statement Wednesday, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the report from the PSA prove the administration has made significant strides in addressing poverty. Among the measures the government has taken, Panelo said, are broadening access to free education, free medicine and improved healthcare facilities, and higher pension for seniors and veterans, salary increases for soldiers, policemen, firemen, teachers and government workers. Panelo commended the agencies and department responsible for the gains, Adding, "We will not rest but rather continue to work hard to achieve our target of decreasing poverty incidence to 14 percent, or even better, by the end of PRRD's (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte) term in 2022 and fulfill the President's vision of providing a comfortable life for each and every Filipino." Get the full report here. "This is not going to change the trajectory of Macy's, but it does change how we are perceived," Gennette said. "It's helping us rethink how we can go much faster and more at the speed of the customer." A new study by a team from the University of New Mexico, University of Washington and the University of Minnesota examines the health and economic impacts of PM 2.5 pollution (particulates and precursors) in the United States. Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the study estimates that anthropogenic PM 2.5 was responsible for 107,000 premature deaths in 2011, at a cost to society of $886 billion. Of these deaths, 57% were associated with pollution caused by energy consumption [e.g., transportation (28%) and electricity generation (14%)]; another 15% with pollution caused by agricultural activities. Total damages and attributable premature mortality associated with anthropogenic emissions in 2011 ($ billions) by sector, pollutant, and emission height. Goodkind et al. A small fraction of emissions, concentrated in or near densely populated areas, plays an outsized role in damaging human health with the most damaging 10% of total emissions accounting for 40% of total damages, the researchers found. 33% of damages occur within 8 km of emission sources, but 25% occur more than 256 km away, emphasizing the importance of tracking both local and long-range impacts. PM 2.5 atmospheric particles have a diameter of only 2.5 micrometers or smaller and often carry microscopic solid or liquid drops leftover from when they were formed during complex chemical reactions and can sometimes contain dangerous elements. Their small, light nature allows them to stay in the air longer than heavier particles, increasing the possibility of being inhaled and settling into the lungs or bloodstream. The impact of particulate matter air pollution is enormous even in countries with relatively good air quality like the US. There is still substantial room for improvement to the public health from reducing emissions, even though we have dramatically improved our air quality over the last 40 years. Sources in the same urban area, releasing the same quantity of emissions, can have orders of magnitude difference in their impacts on health. Identifying those sources with the largest impacts can help improve our decision making about how to reduce pollution. University of New Mexico economics professor Andrew Goodkind The team developed a model for calculating location-specific damages due to primary PM 2.5 and PM 2.5 precursor emissions. Based on the extensive modeling efforts, the researchers are able to rapidly identify the impact of releasing emissions from any location in the US. They then applied the tool to the US emissions inventory to understand better the contribution of each economic sector on reduced air quality. Such information will be critical in assisting policymakers who are deciding how and where to prioritize pollution mitigation efforts. Moving forward, the researchers want to focus more directly on certain sectors of the economy where emission reductions have been limited. Resources If a bill has a lot of support and very little opposition, then it is more likely to pass out of committee without much debate, said Kristofer Kasten, association attorney at Michael C. Kim & Associates in Chicago and legislative liaison for the Chicago Bar Association Condominium Law Subcommittee. Alternatively, if a number of people submit witness slips both for and against the bill, the committee may hold the bill instead of voting on it to see whether it can be amended to meet the interested parties concerns. HARTFORD There were still more questions than answers when it comes to what a final electronic tolling bill will look like and also whether the Democrats have enough votes to approve the legislation without any Republican support. Gov. Ned Lamont and the co-chairs of the legislatures Transportation Committee held a press conference Wednesday to explain their thinking with just eight weeks left in the 2019 legislative session. However, they were unable to offer many details since the concept is still under negotiation. Lamont said it will be 50 or fewer gantries on four highways, and a congestion pricing method is all that the federal government will allow. A document distributed by Lamont officials estimated that a commute from Stamford to New Haven would cost $1.80 during peak periods and $1.40 during off peak periods. Thats based on a rate of 4.4 cents per mile during peak hours and 3.5 cents per mile during off-peak hours. New Haven to Hartford would cost $1.72 during peak periods and $1.36 during off-peak periods. The drive from Putnam to Norwich and Torrington to Bridgeport would not cost anything because there are no tolls proposed for Routes 2 or 8. Even though his own Department of Transportation said it will take seven years before the state would be able to collect toll revenue, Lamont said he wants to speed that up by borrowing against the toll revenue the state expects to collect. Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media The time to plan, gain regulatory approvals, design and construct a toll system has been estimated to take 4 years, with partial revenue services in years 5 and 6. Full revenue operations would be achieved in year 7, an internal DOT memo states. Lamont said he spoke with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao and said she would be able to expedite the process for us to get the gantries up in less than half that amount of time. Lamont continued: Once we get approval to get these gantries up, once they know were going to be able to do our electronic tolling, we can borrow against those anticipated tolling revenues. Its unclear whether Lamont will be able to find the legislative support to get an advance on future toll revenue. Its one of several items that will be negotiated. I think youd be crazy not to take some of that money up front and put that toward transportation until we get the tolling done, Lamont said. As far as the toll rates and gantries every six to seven miles, Lamont said hes happy to negotiate. Im all ears. The door is open. Its a big table, but the numbers have to add up, Lamont said. Sen. Carlo Leone, D-Stamford, said they will rely on the experts at DOT to come up with a proposal for rates. He said the feds would have to authorize those rates and at that point they could consider sending it back to the General Assembly for approval. We could still weigh in on it if need be, Leone said. Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media The three tolling bills passed by the Transportation Committee last month will be negotiated down to one. Lamont said the toll revenue will be automatically deposited in the Special Transportation Fund and it will help Connecticut avoid using general obligation bonds for transportation projects. Republicans have said their proposal to prioritize general obligation bonds to pay for transportation projects is a better way to fund improvements without adding electronic tolls as a revenue stream. Lamont panned the Republican proposal because he said it would force the state to delay other projects scheduled to be funded through general obligation bonds, and would not be seen favorably by Wall Street. He said putting more money on the state credit card is the exact same addiction that got us into this problem over the last generation or were shortchanging everything else thats important to economic growth. Republicans lawmakers who were in the room listening said the governor is not taking seriously the proposal they made four years ago when they saw gas revenue dropping and the Special Transportation Fund on the brink of insolvency. Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, said the governor hasnt read their proposal and is using stale talking points. He said the only thing they learned today about the Democratic plan for electronic tolls is that there is no plan. He said the rate sheet Lamonts staff handed out is fictitious because those rates will still have to be negotiated and approved by the federal government. They are going to determine how much they are going to charge without one legislator, Fasano said. He said what Lamont is saying is, Give us the authority and then well tell you how much. That is simply outrageous. He said the plan regarding how much drivers would pay per mile should come back to lawmakers for a vote. Lamont said he needs the legislature to approve an electronic tolling bill before he can ask the federal government for approval. Once the federal government approves the plan there doesnt seem to be any desire to allow the General Assembly to weigh in on the final product. This is a lot of work getting this first vote done to tell you the truth, Lamont said. Police in Arizona say a mother and daughter are accused of first-degree murder in the death of the familys matriarch. They say a body found in a home Tuesday is believed to be that of 77-year-old Sandra Aven, who may have been dead since late 2017. "I've been in law enforcement about 30 years now, never seen anything like this at all," Prescott Police Officer David Fuller told ABC 15. Police say 46-year-old Tara Aven and her 24-year-old daughter Briar Aven also have been booked into the Yavapai County Jail on suspicion of fraud schemes and evidence tampering. They say Tara Aven is additionally accused of facilitation of first-degree murder. Officers received a report Tuesday from someone concerned because they had not seen Sandra Aven in a long time. Police first contacted Briar Aven, who said her grandmother was out of town. Briar and Tara Aven offered inconsistent information, which prompted police to enter Sandra's home to check on her. Inside, they discovered what is suspected to be her body. "Subsequent interviews with Briar Aven and Tara Aven resulted in confessions to the murder of Sandra Aven in late 2017," police said in a statement. Police say the mother and daughter allegedly cashed numerous monthly payment checks sent to Sandra Aven for several years. Neighbor Rebekah Sittman said she used to know the victim. "She was a very nice lady we used to go out to lunch all the time," Sittman said. "She was very nice, she always took care of her daughter and her granddaughter, as far as I know." Several neighbors said they assumed they hadn't seen Sandra for a long time because she was struggling with health issues or had moved away. The A20 got a more petite twin the Samsung galaxy A20e. It moves away from the 6.4 Super AMOLED display and uses a 5.8 LCD instead (the resolution is 720 x 1,560px in both cases). The Infinity V notch is still here along with its 8MP selfie camera. The rear camera has a 13MP main shooter (with a relatively bright f/1.9 aperture) along with a 5MP ultra-wide module, matching the larger model. Also on the back is a fingerprint reader. The Samsung Galaxy A20e is powered by the Exynos 7884 chipset (2x big + 6x small cores) with 3GB of RAM and 32GB storage, expandable with up to 512GB microSD cards. Note that this runs full Android, not Android Go. Samsung Galaxy A20e Due to the smaller size of the phone, the battery capacity drops to 3,000mAh but it fast to fill back up thanks to the 15W fast charge. The Samsung Galaxy A20e will be available in Black and White, but pricing and exact dates are yet to be confirmed. Source (in Polish) Haiti - Politic : Summary of the parliamentary week According to the Citizen Observatory for the Institutionalization of Democracy (OCID), for the week of April 1 to 5, 2019, the Chamber of Deputies held 1 meeting on Tuesday, April 2, while the Senate did not hold for lack of quorum. Chamber of Deputies : Tuesday, April 2, 60 deputies gathered in plenary meeting have : Reason and tabling of the bill of the Deputy Alfredo Junior Antoine, amending the electoral decree of 2015, to make available an electoral law to organize the elections within the time prescribed by the Constitution. Explanatory memorandum and tabling of the bill of the Deputy Joseph Manes Louis, amending the law amending the decision of 16 February 2005 on the general regulation of public accounting proposal called to replace the judgment of 16 February 2005. Presentation, discussions and vote of the report of the Agriculture and Food Security Commission on the bill of the Deputy Samuel D'Haiti, on the Integration regularly constituted the Management of Irrigation Systems Irrigation Associations. After discussions and corrections article by article, the whole text was adopted unanimously. Presentation, discussion and vote of the report of the Interior Commission, Territorial Collectivities on the proposal of law proposed by the Senator Andris Riche, creating the commune of the Cayimite Islands (Dept. of Grand'Anse). After discussions and corrections article by article, the entire text was voted unanimously and this text is returned to the Senate because it was not voted in the same terms. Note that the Senate had already voted it since the 06th of April 2017. Presentation, discussion and vote of the report of the Internal Commission, Territorial Communities on the proposal for a law amending the decree establishing the general framework of decentralization as well as the principles of organization and functioning of the Haitian Territorial Communities. This report of the committee was voted by the assembly of deputies present unanimously. However, at the vote of the Visas and the recitals, the quorum was reversed and the session put in continuation. This bill has already been passed by the Senate on April 11, 2013 and has the objective of better support the Territorial Communities. It contains 24 visas, 4 recitals and 167 articles. Senate : On Tuesday, the Senate tried in vain to hold a meeting for lack of a quorum, only 6 senators were present at the roll call: Sorel Jacinthe (INITE), Pierre Paul Partice Dumont (RPH), Jean Marie Ralph Fethiere (PHTK), Carl Murat Cantave (AAA); Dieupie Cherubin (KID) and Jean Marie Junior Solomon (OPL). HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - NOTICE : Contest Hope for Haiti, call for Project As part of its 30th anniversary celebration, "Hope for Haiti", an international development organization that has been working in Haiti for 30 years, is hosting a competition to win a $30,000 cash prize. This competition invites Haitian companies, entrepreneurs and organizations working on innovative projects, particularly in the south of Haiti, targeting the main impact areas of "Hope for Haiti" : education, clean energy and environment, food security, health and nutrition, ecotourism and technology to submit a relevant project to get a CASH 30,000 support. Applications are officially open until May 5, 2019. To submit your project click here : https://bit.ly/2HWVJvG! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScbGCFmAw4l-dFROimsdeWw3M06n5_9oH2mWMjP7rwjHUz8lA/viewform Deadline to submit your application: May 5, 2019 For additional information write to : 30challenge@hopeforhaiti.com Learn more about "Hope for Haiti" : "Hope for Haiti" is an innovative international development organization that has been working in Haiti for 30 years in partnership with private donors to create community-based sustainable change through a holistic and strategic approach. His vision for the future is based on strategic growth in creating healthy and sustainable communities. "Hope for Haiti" is essentially working to improve the lives of the Haitian people, especially children. HL/ HaitiLibre Our hope was that we could have a great relationship with them (the Darvishes) and everyones needs could be met, and we tried for months to make that happen. We even offered to pay for the difference between a wood and wrought iron fence, and they turned us down, Alexis Eyler said. This was a hard decision for my husband and me to do this (to sue), but obviously our quality of life has been impacted, and our property values have been impacted. Haiti - News : Zapping... NOTICE Consulate of Haiti in French Guiana The Consulate of Haiti in French Guiana informs that the passports of the month of February 2019 are available at the Consulate. Thank you for returning your receipts and old passports for the recoveries during office hours: Monday to Friday from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm and Saturday from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm Moise in Panama shares his vision of a strong economy Tuesday at the end of an address at the 3rd Edition of the "Global Business Forum Latin America - Panama" (GBF2019) President Jovenel Moise said "During this session, I shared, with partners from various horizons my vision of creating a strong and sustainable economy in Haiti" https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27418-haiti-politic-jovenel-moise-in-panama.html In addition, the Head of State met with Ahmed Sultan Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman of Dubai Multi Commodities Center. The objective of this meeting was to present the assets and potentialities of Haiti in terms of investments. He has also exchanged with Luis Alberto Moreno the President of the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) around the problems of management of the Industrial Park of Caracol, road infrastructure and social housing among others... The Lapin designation, unimportant for the opposition "This appointment does not matter to us [...] We are not interested in jobs. The other political parties, who want it, can go," said Michel Andre, leader and spokesman for the radical opposition movement called" democratic and popular", reiterating the will of the opposition he represents, to obtain the departure of President Jovenel Moise, the holding of the PetroCaribe trial and the holding of a sovereign national conference. Unclear balance of the operation against Arnel Following the operation on April 4 at Poste Pierrot (Marchand Dessalines) by the National Police of Haiti (PNH) to try to apprehend the Gang leader Arnel Joseph and his accomplice https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27383-haiti-flash-the-gang-leader-arnel-enters-war-with-the-pnh.html the last balance sheet still remains vague : a 14-year-old student died, two agents of the PNH were wounded by gunfire (Silfrin Makenson and Paul Mario) and several others were also hit by projectiles. For his part, Ronsard St-Cyr, the Secretary of State for Public Security, mentions that one police offcier was killed and another injured, on the side of the Arnel Gang he claims that three members were killed and another injured. https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27400-haiti-news-zapping.html . Despite the failure of this third attempt, Michel-Ange Gedeon, Director General of the PNH, assures that he will continue tracking down Arnel and his accomplices. 500 Gdes a gallon of gasoline to the black market The shortage of fuels continues in the capital despite successive announcements from the Office of Monetization of Official Development Assistance (BMPAD) reporting the arrival of oil tankers... In the meantime, the Galon de gazoline (bad quality) reaches 500 Gdes at the black market on the sidewalks of the Capital. Ignace Saint Fleur, the Director General of BMPAD, says that ga stations will be supplied Tuesday... To be continued... HL/ HaitiLibre Published on 2019/04/10 | Source Robert Holley is taken to a remand prison in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province on Tuesday. /Yonhap The colorful TV personality Robert Holley, also known by his Korean name Ha Il, had been investigated by police on drug abuse charges since 2017 until he was booked on Monday. Advertisement During previous investigations, Holley shaved his head and depilated other parts of his body to avoid having to provide hair samples for drug tests. But this time he confessed to using crystal meth after tests came back positive. Police in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province on Tuesday sought an arrest warrant for the 60-year-old California native, who became a naturalized Korean in 1997. According to police, Holley was investigated for drug abuse in July 2017 and March 2018 following a confession by another suspect who claimed to have taken meth with him at his home. But police had failed to find corroborating evidence because he appeared for questioning with a shaved head and waxed body. But the dragnet closed in when police tracked his drug purchases through social media and ATM money transfers to a dealer captured on a CCTV camera. Police searched Holley's home and found a syringe behind the toilet in his bathroom. Holley told police he saw an ad for the drugs on the Internet and bought them with cash but only used them "once" in his home. On his way to questioning by police he told reporters he is "sorry" and feels "heavy-hearted" for what happened. Havre Police Department Officers investigated an 8:33 a.m. Tuesday report from a Bullhook Boulevard business of stolen supplies, but referred the incident to Hill County Sheriff's Office. -- Tuesday at 12:13 p.m., a caller reported spray paint vandalism to a business at Fourth Avenue and Third Street. -- Tanner Joseph Walker of Havre, 36, was arrested on a state District Court warrant and a charge of failing to produce proof of insurance, during a vehicle stop on Fifth Avenue Tuesday at 6:29 p.m. -- A caller at Havre Middle School reported Tuesday at 7:11 p.m. a juvenile did not come home from school. -- Davis Denny of Box Elder, 18, was issued a summons on charges of minor in possession and open container in the city, after a First Street Northeast caller reported an intoxicated man with an open container Tuesday at 9:36 p.m. -- A 16-year-old was issued a summons after a Second Street West caller reported Tuesday at 11:27 p.m. a boy had urinated on a younger sibling's bed. -- A report of a water break on Sixth Street was referred to a service agency. Hill County Sheriff's Office Deputies investigated a report from a Bullhook Boulevard business of stolen supplies Tuesday at 4:48 p.m. Havre Fire Department Emergency medical personnel responded to three calls Tuesday. Havre Animal Shelter The Havre shelter this morning held three medium-hair cats, one long-hair cat, a medium-hair 13-week-old kitten and a medium-hair 8-month-old kitten all of unknown gender, two medium-hair male cats, one short-hair female cat and one medium-hair female cat. Two other cats were being held at a foster as part of the trap-spay/neuter-release program. -- The Havre shelter also held this morning three female mixed-breed dogs, a female shepherd-Labrador retriever dog, a female mixed-breed 13-week-old puppy, a female husky dog, a female Labrador retriever-border collie dog, a male pit bull terrier dog and a female Australian cattle dog-blue heeler-border collie dog. The Milk River Gobblers, pursuing their goal of sharing the hunt and preserving the habitat of wild turkeys in the area, are holding their monthly meeting Thursday at the Havre Elks Lodge at 321 Second Ave. in Havre at 6:30 p.m. The group meets the second Thursday of every month. For more information, people can call 945-1632. From the Montana Attorney Generals Office HELENA The Montana Attorney Generals Office of Consumer Protection and Montana National Guard want to alert consumers regarding the accessibility of military records free of charge for service members and their families. Over the course of their lives, service members and veterans may need to request records of their military service. Whether its for a job preference, a home loan or to receive certain benefits, military consumers may be asked to produce records detailing their service or discharge status, Attorney General Tim Fox, who has announced his candidacy for Montana governor, said. Military consumers need to know these records are free to request, and cost nothing to acquire from the government. Recently, the Montana Attorney Generals Office of Consumer Protection and the Montana Army National Guard have been made aware of several companies who charge a fee to procure military personnel records, especially the DD214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty. They claim to be expeditors who can speed up the process of acquiring those documents. Their advertisements show up on searches like: How to get discharge papers and How do I get my DD214? As a result, service members have been led to believe these services are the primary, or only way, to get those documents. However, they can be requested quickly and for no cost by submitting the forms by service members and their families, either online or via mail. The Montana National Guard is committed to serving its current members and veterans with the support and respect they deserve, said Maj. Gen. Matthew Quinn, the adjutant general of the Montana National Guard. Service members shouldnt have to pay for something that they earned. While service members and veterans are free to choose how they want to obtain their own records, they should be fully educated about their options. Many military service records are available for free through the milConnect website at https://milconnect.dmdc.osd.mil/milconnect/. The DD214 can also be acquired by mailing or faxing a Standard Form SF 180 to the National Personnel Records Center or the servicing personnel office, such as the Montana Army National Guard G1 Retirement Services Office, which can be reached at 406-324-3084. Detailed instructions on how to request service records are available on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website at https://www.va.gov/records/get-military-service-records/. Both the Montana Attorney Generals Office of Consumer Protection and the Montana National Guard offer educational tips on their websites about the availability of free military records for service members, veterans, and their families. Additionally, these individuals are invited to call the Office of Consumer Protection in Helena at 1-800-481-6896 with any questions about businesses advertising DD214 services or how to access milConnects record request service. Kathleen Williams, center, speaks to, from left, Virginia Wells, Jack Trethewey, Val Murri and Grace Bailey during a visit Tuesday at Triple Dog Brewing Co. in Havre. U.S. House of Representative candidate Kathleen Williams was in Havre Tuesday at Triple Dog Brewing Co. speaking to community members about her campaign for the 2020 election. "I love this state and I enjoy getting out and meeting new people and seeing what they care about," she said. Williams lost a campaign for Montana's U.S. House seat in 2018 against incumbent Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., who was elected to the seat during a special election in 2017. Williams said that she started Friday in Billings, traveling to Miles City, Glendive and Glasgow before coming to Havre. She plans next to travel to Whitefish, Missoula, Great Falls, Helena, Butte and Bozeman, she said. Williams said that in 2020 one of the biggest issues facing the country will be health care and the regulation of prescription drugs. In 2018, health care was a big issue for her, she said, but now elements of health care such as pre-existing conditions and prescription drugs are highly disputed. Prescription drugs are extremely expensive, she said, and pharmaceutical companies are one of the biggest, most powerful lobbyist in Washington, D.C. "We just have to do something," she said. She said she will still be advocating for people 55 and older to be able to buy into Medicare and hopes to use that as a national discussion point. She said people can spend a lifetime talking about health care. "It's still the most broad, most urgent, most deeply held issue," Williams said. Williams said that she has the experience to work on the issue and is not afraid of taking on special interests and working on big issues. Tariffs and agricultural trade are other issues Williams said are major in Montana. She said that when she first heard about President Donald Trump's aluminum tariffs, she wondered how the president has the authority over tariffs. That is a policy that should be handled in Congress. She said that, over many years, Congress has given their responsibility of trade policy to the executive branch. "I keep saying that Congress is broken, that is one area that it is broken," she said. Williams said the country is going through trade policy "with a sledge hammer rather than a scalpel." She added that the U.S. has legitimate issues with China's policies but she doesn't think the issues need to put farmers and ranchers in the cross hairs. "It's insane," she said. "It's hard enough to make a living in agriculture without all of this increased volatility." She said she decided to run again after reflecting on her experiences in the past year. One eye-opening experience after the election, she said, was when she spoke to a high school and asked the students if anyone would consider running for election in the future. None of the students said they would. She said she had been applying for jobs, mainly in working for non-profits or in civic education, due to what she had heard from people while on the campaign trail. She wanted to help with some of the issues she had heard about, Williams said. She said she made her final decision to run again for the House seat after speaking with a friend. She was telling the friend about a job interview she had done where she thought the position would be a good fit for her. "I listened to myself saying that the job was probably the perfect group, culmination of my career," Williams said. "But I still wasn't ready to take it, and what I determined was that meant that I needed to do this again." She said she believes she has a strong responsibility to Montana and has built so much since last time it would be a shame not to continue down the campaign trail. "You worked so hard to build that, so many other people worked so hard," she said. Williams said many people helped her lay down a strong foundation last year. Her campaign came so close to winning the election that she believes if she had more time, she can win in 2020, Williams said. Havre Daily News/Ryan Berry In 2018, Gianforte received 51 percent of the vote, Williams received 46 percent and Libertarian candidate Elinor Swanson received 3 percent. By starting early she will have more time to speak to Montanans, she said. Last year, people were really responding to discussions about representing all of Montana, not just special interests. And after speaking with people and considering her own experience, she is committed to solving the big issues which face the country and the state, she said. "I'll have more time," she said, "more time to talk to Montanans and win them over, but also more time to develop a more strategic and sane approach to a schedule and hopefully raise money early." From Montana State Parks GREAT FALLS Montana State Parks will host a Junior Ranger Challenge in celebration of Earth Day at Giant Springs State Park Saturday, April 20, from 9 a.m. to noon. All children 15 years of age and younger are invited to Giant Springs State Park for a day of environmental education and activity. With the assistance of onsite park rangers, children will learn information about the park, the state and natural resources. Once the Junior Ranger booklet is complete, every child will receive a Junior Ranger badge, patch and certificate. Participants will meet a... and actual testing practices. In particular, the findings show that too few women with ovarian cancer are tested for the presence of mutations that could be used to guide health care decisions. The study looked at about 83,000 women diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer in California and Georgia in 2013 and 2014. We initiated this study the largest population-based study of multigene testing in breast and ovarian cancer patients because we wanted to see what cancer genetic testing and results looked like in the real world, said Allison Kurian, MD, MSc, associate professor of medicine and of health research and policy at Stanford. Now we can see that women with ovarian cancer are dramatically undertested. We also learned that between 8 and 15 percent of women with breast or ovarian cancer carry cancer-associated mutations that could be used to drive care decisions and influence family members health care and screening choices. Kurian shares lead authorship of the study, which was published online April 9 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, with Kevin Ward, PhD, MPH, assistant professor in epidemiology at Emory University. Lynne Penberthy, MD, MPH, associate director for the National Cancer Institutes Surveillance Research Program, and Steven Katz, MD, MPH, professor of medicine and of health management and policy at the University of Michigan, are co-senior authors. Changing guidelines Researchers have known for decades that inherited mutations or variations in certain genes, notably BRCA1 and BRCA2, increase the risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers. Genetic tests for mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 have been available for several years. But since 2013, genetic tests have incorporated many more potential cancer-susceptibility genes, and results have become much more complicated. Integrating genetic counseling and testing into the management of cancer after diagnosis has become much more challenging for patients and their clinicians, Katz said. National guidelines recommend that all women with the most common type of ovarian cancer be tested for the presence of cancer-associated mutations; guidelines for testing breast cancer patients have been less expansive. Although the guidelines for genetic testing have expanded to include more patients diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer and the more extensive multigene panel tests, its not been clear to what degree these guidelines are followed in real-world clinical settings. Furthermore, the prevalence of known cancer-associated mutations in breast and ovarian cancer patients who are racial or ethnic minorities, as well as in the overall population, is unknown. For the study, the researchers tapped the National Cancer Institutes Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program, which tracks cancer diagnoses and outcomes in large populations across the United States. They linked data on cancer cases in California and Georgia with data from four laboratories conducting the majority of cancer genetic testing from 2013 to 2014. They found that only 24.1 percent of 77,085 women diagnosed with breast cancer and 30.9 percent of 6,001 diagnosed with ovarian cancer underwent any genetic testing. Disparities in genetic testing The researchers also observed disparities in testing, particularly among ovarian cancer patients. Although nearly 34 percent of non-Hispanic white women were tested, only about 22 percent of black women and 24 percent of Hispanic women were tested. Income and insurance status played a role in the prevalence of testing among women with ovarian cancer from all racial and ethnic groups, the researchers found. About 20 percent of patients with Medicare were tested compared with about 34 percent of patients with other forms of health insurance. Testing prevalence decreased to about 20 percent in areas where residential poverty equaled or surpassed 20 percent, and it was about 38 percent in regions where the poverty level was less than 10 percent. The researchers found that among women with breast cancer in the study who underwent testing for a panel of guideline-designated genes, the prevalence of mutation variants of unknown significance was much higher in minority patients: 28.5 percent, 26.6 percent and 19.3 percent in African-American, Asian and Hispanic patients, respectively, versus 14.5 percent in non-Hispanic whites. The prevalence of pathogenic variants also varied along racial and ethnic lines. These differences underscore the need to improve the clarity of genetic test results, especially for racial or ethnic minority patients, Kurian said. Kurian is a member of the Stanford Cancer Institute. Researchers from Information Management Services Inc. and the University of Southern California, as well as other researchers from the National Cancer Institute, also contributed to the work. The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants P01CA163233 and R01CA225697), the California Department of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Cancer Registry of Greater California. Stanfords departments of Medicine and of Health Research and Policy also supported the work. 700 to move two radiators MORE renovation work is to be carried out at the ... [more] A CLASSIC car was stolen from outside a mans home in Henley. The 1965 Fiat 500 Cinquecento vanished during Sunday night while owner Christopher Tarling was asleep at his house in Greys Road. The car, which was a gift from his brother, is worth about 6,000. Mr Tarling, 31, a software developer, said he had planned to register the car ready to drive this summer. He said the thieves would have had to manoeuvre the car around his Toyota Aygo, which was parked in front of it, and his housemates Alfa Romeo, which was parked in the street. They cut the ABS sensor cables in the back of his Toyota to prevent the alarm going off when it was moved. Mr Tarling said the Fiat was outside when his housemate arrived home at 9pm but when he went to leave for work at 8.30am on Monday he found it had gone. He said: I stepped out and noticed there was a gap where there should have been a car. My first reaction was maybe my brother has come and moved it in the night but that was wishful thinking. Mr Tarling said neither he nor his housemate had heard anything in the night. He said: Its a noisy road so you zone it all out. Ive talked to my neighbours and nobody saw or heard anything unusual. My housemate was on holiday last week and I was working in London for the weekend so there was nothing to stop somebody coming to have a look around. I imagine they saw it over the weekend and planned to come back. The car is very light two people can lift it. They would have had to push it into the corner and then lift the front and drag it around. Theres just about enough room to make it. His brother has suggested that because the car, which is left-hand drive, is small it could have been put in the back of a van or towed away. Mr Tarling said: It is disappointing. In Henley you dont think this kind of thing happens. It was not a hugely expensive car but it was a nice thing to have. I was hoping to use it to drive my friend to his wedding in Hambleden this year. Police are investigating the theft. Anyone with information should call Thames Valley Polices non-emergency number 101, quoting crime reference number 43190105829. Adding to the distillerys liqueurs, bitters, gin (which took 9 months and 85 batches of experimenting), vodka, rum and an intensely spicy 100 percent rye whiskey, the next round will reveal a line of spirits that has been aging in the barrelhouse, including the 2020 release of 100-proof bourbons in bond and single malt scotches, plus whiskeys made with unique grain experiments like Kernza, a perennial strain of wheat. Most of the grains, fruits botanicals and even the wood for the barrels are sourced (and even foraged) in the Upper Midwest Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. The shows stellar storytelling is one of the main reasons viewers of different persuasions have stuck around and the (surely foolish) hope that all the rape, murder and torture will pay off in the end with a supremely dramatic, satisfying and just finale. Otherwise lefty snowflakes have worshiped the show despite its depiction of the patriarchal abuse of women, senseless violence and a nearly all-white cast while MAGA hatters invested in a narrative where women challenge a corrupt male establishment and actively wrestle power from generations of lecherous, sword-wielding men. The redevelopment of Dalymount Park has been put at risk after objections from Tesco over store deliveries Bohemian FC is calling for the redevelopment of Dalymount Park to go ahead despite one supermarket chain's objection. Developer MM Capital has accused Tesco Ireland of preventing the progress of the 50m plan and has said the redevelopment of the stadium and Phibsboro Shopping Centre was "likely" to be shelved. The plan would see the unattractive 1960s centre overhauled, but Tesco has said it would mean its store would be unable to receive deliveries. Impasse Bohs, who are set to benefit from the redevelopment and join their rivals Shelbourne FC in the use of the new stadium, have called for the "impasse" to end. "We call on the parties involved to work together to resolve their differences to allow for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to deliver integrated design of Phibsborough Village Centre," a statement from its board said. Expand Close Dalymount Park / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dalymount Park "We believe the main fallout from a possible non-integrated development would be the obvious loss to the community." Tesco Ireland told the Herald that it had not made any fresh demands. "We have been consistent across all our dealings with MM Capital over several years and right up to today," a spokesperson for the company said. "Our position throughout the very extended planning process is that we are seeking to maintain deliveries for our store. "Currently the store receives deliveries to the front. This right to deliver to the front is contained in our deed of conveyance and we've been making deliveries in this manner for over 20 years." MM Capital's Derek Poppinga said Tesco did not "have a right to deliver in this fashion". "How they deliver currently is dangerous because it's across Phibsborough, through a public footpath," said Mr Poppinga. "We are trying to rectify this danger that Tesco seems comfortable with. "This scheme doesn't impact their right to deliver. We grant them the right to continue deliveries at the front, if they so wish, even though there are dangers." Dublin City Council said it was aware MM Capital has released a statement which notes that the redevelopment plans for the shopping centre and Dalymount Park may be in jeopardy. "Dublin City Council is fully committed to the Dalymount Park Redevelopment Project and intends to see this historic venue fully developed into a vibrant municipal stadium in the coming years," it said. "If the shopping centre redevelopment does not happen for whatever reason, the council will continue to progress with the Dalymount Redevelopment Project with an alternative design. "Dublin City Council is in the process of procuring an architect-led design team, who should be appointed by mid-summer, and this will be factored into their brief." The man accused of murdering Dubliner John Curran has admitted stabbing the charity worker 26 times, but claims he was acting in self-defence. Congolese national Mitspa Onyoka (25) was not granted bail at the hearing, five months after Mr Curran (60) was found brutally stabbed to death at his flat in South Africa. Cape Town magistrates heard how Mr Curran was stabbed 26 times in the head, neck, chest and back and suffered blunt trauma injuries to his body. He was strangled so violently that the thyroid bones on both sides of his neck were broken and had grazes and bruises "consistent with a struggle". Mr Onyoka, who was a cleaner at popular nightspot the Fantasy Lounge in Cape Town, was arrested several weeks after Mr Curran's body was found on November 7 last year. Drugged Mr Onyoka has since been held in the notorious Pollsmoor Prison and has claimed his life was in danger behind bars. Defence barrister Anthony Berinato said his client was befriended by Mr Curran in the nightspot. He said Mr Curran offered to get him a job as a car dealer, so he called to his Cape Town apartment, where he claims he was drugged and Mr Curran attempted to sexually assault him. His affidavit detailed how he saw a knife on the table and "began stabbing him". "He became very angry and began to choke me. I stabbed him again with the knife and he stopped choking me," the accused said. Mr Onyoka, who is charged with murder and aggravated robbery, told the court he had no idea what he had done to Mr Curran or if he was dead or alive, saying he fled down the lift. The cleaner was arrested later that month at work after CCTV images taken in the lift were released by police. He added in his affidavit: "I was acting in self-defence... I will not flee bail as I want to prove in court I am not guilty". Investigating officer Detective Shaun Bardien opposed the granting of bail, saying Mr Onyoka was a "flight risk" if released. Det Bardien said Mr Onyoka's bloodied fingerprints on a knife and footprints and CCTV footage placed him inside the flat and leaving the apartment and he admitted being there. He told the court that the accused was an illegal immigrant with no family or property ties to South Africa and was facing extremely serious charges. Defending, Mr Berinato said: "I submit my client has put forward a strong defence as there was clearly a struggle and fight and my client feared being a victim of assault. "He fought back in self-defence and that is consistent with the post-mortem report." Prosecutor Johan Swart replied: "Being stabbed 26 times does not suggest self-defence." Magistrate Vusi Mhlanga denied the accused bail and sent him back to prison until the next hearing on May 16. Mr Onyoka told the court he had fled the Democratic Republic of Congo in fear of his life as he had demonstrated against the government and if he returned he could be killed. His lawyer said his client could put up R5,000 bail (347) and had an address to live in provided by his parents in Cape Town. Pleading for bail, Mr Onyoka said his life in prison was a day-to-day battle for survival. Mercy "Drugs are rife and I am at the mercy of the gangs, and if I remain in detention I may lose my life as I am not a violent person and I am not able to defend myself in there," he said. Mr Curran had just finished a two-year contract as director of education for Mellon Educate, an Irish-based charity founded by philanthropist Niall Mellon. Since it was set up in 2002, the charity has helped to build houses for 125,000 people in South Africa's poorest townships. He was taking a two-month break after his contract in Cape Town ended before returning to Ireland when he was stabbed to death. He was a respected former school teacher and principal in Dublin before his retirement. Irish Catholics were much less devout before the famine, according to a new documentary. The RTE programme, Rome v Republic, examines how the church seized such a strong hold over every aspect of the nation's life after the foundation of the State. It reveals that the famine unexpectedly strengthened the influence of the Catholic Church in Ireland. The documentary, presented by former justice minister Michael McDowell, found Irish people in the late 1700s and early 1800s had a much laxer attitude toward mass-going. "We know people wouldn't have gone to mass every Sunday, but this is not to say they weren't religious in their own way," said Dr Sarah Roddy, from the University of Manchester. "But I suppose the church might have seen it as a kind of unorthodox religion, which combined going to mass every now and then but also doing things which had ancient pagan roots as well." Daniel O'Connell's campaign for Catholic emancipation energised the country's Catholics in a mass movement in the early 19th century. However, Professor Mary Daly, from UCD, said the famine had an unexpected effect on the Catholic Church in Ireland. The population went from just under 8.2 million in 1841 to just under 5.8 million in 1861. Prof Daly said the dramatic population decline disaster gave the Catholic Church more control over its flock. "The reality about religion pre-famine, it's not like the place is full of atheists, it's just that in many areas there aren't enough priests," she said. Manpower "Basically the Catholic Church in 1841 did not have the manpower to really look after the six million-odd Catholics in Ireland at the time." She said the deaths of millions of Catholics meant the church had smaller numbers of more God-fearing parishioners. "A lot of the population loss occurred in the poor and very poor people who were not regular Sunday mass-goers, who would have practiced a different form of Catholicism based around a good mixture of superstition and folk belief with Catholicism. They are removed from the scene." Prof Daly said the middle classes left behind were much more devout. Presenter McDowell also reveals how the first Free State constitution was a very secular document but then a raft of "Catholic morally-inspired legislation" was brought in, as the new, cash-strapped Irish Republic was forced to rely on the 13,000 religious personnel across the country. Rome v Republic is on RTE One tomorrow at 10.15pm The Rotunda Hospital has since implemented changes A "vigorous" baby girl born prematurely died the next day from E coli, an inquest has heard. Karly Farrell was born at 31 weeks and was not strong enough to fight the infection. Swab tests revealed E coli present four days before birth but this was not made known to ward staff until she was born. The inquest heard the Rotunda Hospital had implemented changes to the treatment of swab test results following her death. However, Master of the Rotunda Professor Fergal Malone said the baby's treatment would not have changed, despite the delay. Prof Malone said E coli in the vagina during pregnancy was common and not treated to avoid fostering an infection that became resistant to antibiotics. The baby's mother, Louise McGuirk, from Swords, Co Dublin, had a swab test at the Rotunda on July 23. She was discharged and returned on July 26. Karly was born by caesarean at 8.37am on July 27. The infant was described by the midwife as "vigorous" at birth. However her condition deteriorated and a diagnosis of septic shock was made. Terrifying Karly was treated with penicillin and gentamicin, both broad-spectrum antibiotics. "E coli septicaemia is a terrifying entity with a 10 to 30pc mortality rate," said Dr Michael Boyle, a consultant in the neonatal unit. "She was the sickest baby we'd looked after for some time." Karly developed multi-organ failure and died at 11am on July 28, the cause of death being E coli septicaemia. "A premature infant who has E coli would find it very difficult to fight that infection," pathologist Dr Emma Doyle told Dublin Coroner's Court. Prof Malone said prenatal swabs showing E coli were common, adding: "If found, it is not treated as you cannot eradicate it. The downside of treating it is you foster resistance." New electronic systems at the hospital now return laboratory results directly to doctors. "We are confident that error of not following up on a result will not happen again," he said. Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane endorsed the changes and returned a narrative verdict. "It is so sad. Really there's nothing can be said to parents who have lost a baby in this way," she said. CMP and Doc10 came to fruition at a ripe moment for documentaries, amid a renewed interest in, and hunger for, true stories amid a sea change in American political discourse. The Fred Rogers portrait Wont You Be My Neighbor? was funded, in part, by Froehle and Cohens investment fund. That film, which went on to make nearly $23 million in theaters, wouldnt have clicked quite the same way if its audiences werent living in a fact-, truth- and civility-starved period in history. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) -- People garbed in white flocked to the Amoranto Stadium in Quezon City to attend El Shaddai's prayer rally one Thursday in March. A huge tarpaulin with an image of El Shaddai leader Mike Velarde's face welcome them. But if you looked to the right... Screaming red and orange posters of senatorial candidates call attention. Over a thousand faithful who seek spiritual and physical healing were present. But with election materials left and right, and politicians around, the religious activity was almost like a campaign sortie. Bishop Teodoro Bacani, the group's spiritual adviser, celebrated mass on a makeshift stage in the middle of the stadium apparently arranged by the office of Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte. Belmonte, who is running for the city's mayoral post, was also present at the event. "(Brother Mike) did invite me to be here. And we did arrange for this rally to take place here in Quezon City where we are his partners in terms of setting up the stage, the logistics, etcetera," said Belmonte. After the mass, senatorial candidates or their representatives spoke one by one before the crowd and expressed their thanks and support to the charismatic group. Reelectionist Senator Cynthia Villar was the first. "Hindi naman welcome lahat ang politicians sa religious organization [Not all politicians are welcomed by religious organizations]. But I have been friends with them, many of them. And I go to their affairs," Villar told reporters. Even Juan Ponce Enrile, 95, did not miss the chance to attend the event despite difficulty walking. He was assisted by two men, helping him to reach a white van where Velarde lounged before joining his followers. "I just came to pay my respects. I know El Shaddai is wise and intelligent organization. They will select their candidates," the former senator said when asked why he attended the prayer rally. While he allows candidates to speak before his followers, Velarde clarified he has yet to decide who among the aspirants will get his endorsement in the upcoming polls. "Everyone is welcome dito [here]. Walang opposition, walang administration basta [No opposition, no administration as long as] they come, binibigyan ko sila ng [I will give them a] chance. Anyway, the members are free to choose," the El Shaddai leader explained. Velarde, wearing a white polo shirt with "Buhay Party-list" stitched on the left side, chuckled when asked about the characteristics of candidates he plans to endorse. He said their positions on same-sex marriage, divorce and death penalty are vital. "Nagsa-survey lang ako kung ano ang posistion nila.... Meron naman nakakapasa but we will have our grand rally sa Luneta sa May 4. By then, malalaman natin kung sino ang pumasa," said Velarde. [Translation:I'm just surveying what their positions on issues are. Some have passed my standards, but we will have our grand rally in Luneta on May 4. By then, we will know who made the cut.] All eyes were on the charismatic leader, as he ascended through the sea of his followers. People clapped non-stop, while singing and dancing to the campaign jingle of the party-list group. Endorsement power In the 2017 Philippine Trust Index of the EON Group, nine of 10 Filipinos still give their biggest trust to the church among institutions. That's more than their trust in the government, media, business and non-government organizations. Sociologist Jayeel Cornelio said the index shows the strong influence of religious groups among Filipinos in deciding whom to vote for during elections. Though the endorsement power of religious leaders may not be so high, it is still significant, he added. He cited a 2018 survey of Kantar TNS which showed 39 percent or four of 10 Filipinos will likely vote for a candidate endorsed by their church or religious group. "Religious groups have different traditions and different expectations of authority. In my field, sociology of religion, how strict a religion is translated to their own expectations on how people might follow the stipulations or the principles, not just the beliefs, but the political choices of their leaders," Cornelio explained. While Roman Catholics dominate Philippine society, other religious groups such as Iglesia Ni Cristo show their strong political presence through bloc voting. Iglesia ni Cristo is the third biggest religious group in the country next to Roman Catholics and Muslims. In last year's interview with CNN Philippines, Iglesia Ni Cristo Spokesperson Edwil Zabala talked about discipline in their religion and the importance of unity among its members. "The bible teaches, for example, that we should be united with the leadership of the church, the executive minister of the church, if it's a requirement, then we should follow it. So that's where the discipline flows from," Zabala explained. While Iglesia ni Cristo's vote definitely boosts a politician's candidacy, it does not assure a win. For instance, in 2016 elections, Iglesia ni Cristo supported the tandem of President Rodrigo Duterte and former Senator Bongbong Marcos for presidential and vice presidential posts. Duterte won but Marcos lost by a small margin to his closest rival, Vice President Leni Robredo. Cornelio said endorsing a candidate plays a huge part in the politics of recognition among religious groups. "The politics of recognition is not only about the institution being recognized by the public, but is also being recognized by politicians from whom they can exact favors later on. This is very true in any minority religious group in any country." One Catholic vote? As President Duterte attacks the Catholic Church and its leaders, calls for 'one Catholic vote' arise. Cornelio said historically, Catholics never voted as a bloc and he doubts that it may happen this upcoming election even as some in the clergy call for the so-called "Godly votes." "Does the Catholic vote as a bloc exist? Obviously it does not at the national level. But at the local level, there the nuance matters. We might see the influence of the impact of endorsements by local priests or local bishops in relation to certain issues," Cornelio said. He cited the 2016 Team Patay and Team Buhay campaign of some local Catholic Church, pertaining to those pro and anti Reproductive Health Law. Cornelio said the campaign worked in some local parishes but not at the national level where staunch supporters of the law still won. Issue-based religious endorsement Members of faith-based organizations, primarily Catholics and Protestants, launched the People's Choice Movement. So far, the group endorsed 10 senatorial candidates, whom they think should compose an 'independent Senate.' The formal endorsement happened at the Club Filipino in San Juan City on March 27. Its Chairperson Ricky Xavier said belief in God and their stance on federalism are the two main factors why they endorsed nine opposition bets and an independent candidate: -Magdalo Representative Gary Alejano; -Senator Bam Aquino; -Former Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares; -Human rights lawyer Chel Diokno; -Maranao civic leader Samira Gutoc; -Former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay; -Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal; -Senator Grace Poe; -Former Sen. Mar Roxas; and -Former congressman Erin Tanada. While their choices are primarily from the opposition, Xavier clarified they do not consider it as a protest vote against the administration. "It's not a protest vote. Basically it is based on issues, based on principles. It so happened the Otso Diretso is part of it because all of them (are) against Federalism and they have spoken about it quite openly," Xavier said. Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo openly supported the so-called "People's Choice" and urged more members of the clergy to speak up. "Our lay leaders, with the People's Choice Movement, have done their work of discernment. Now is the task for all the lay faithful to campaign (for) the deserving candidates so as to counter the money and the political machineries that the 'trapo' (traditional) politicians are using. There are still two months for all to do this particular exercise of the Christian faith," Pabillo said in a statement. Xavier said they will also talk to El Shaddai's Velarde to support their cause even if the latter has his own set of criteria in choosing candidates to endorse. You would go through times of (thinking), wouldnt it be nice to just share your day with someone else? said Langner, who was ordained in 2008 after graduating from Mundelein Seminary, and started to work in a Kansas City, Mo.-area parish. Soon he was the only priest assigned to his church, living alone in the rectory, which isnt uncommon as the Catholic Church faces a priest shortage that has forced many churches to shut down or merge. Think of it this way: You dont tip the cleaning staff when you first check in, because it hasnt had the joy of cleaning up after you yet, she wrote. You should leave a tip for the cleaning staff after each night of your stay, including your last day before you check out. Tipping each day ensures that the person who actually cleaned your room that day receives your thanks. What are the most heart-warming Christmas songs of all time? Theres an enormous sense of loss touring Pripyat, as if the towns population had been suddenly wiped out rather than resettled. A sense of grief followed us as we traipsed through some of the few villages that hadnt been bulldozed kitchen tables set as if the family were about to sit down and poked around deserted schools and hospitals where firefighters were first treated. The remains of their highly radiated clothing still send Geiger counters bleeping and Globa shouting, Dont touch! I had very limited information because I wasnt part of the investigation. The video I did see was just from bits and pieces walking around in the (Area Central) office, Franko said. I didnt see enough of it to have a strong opinion one way or another, and I relied on the investigators that night to make their determination. In addition to the ruling on the fee request, Stephensons new attorneys asked for the case file to be sealed so that the public could not see it, stating that David Grund had informed them that embarrassing information about Stephenson would come out in the litigation. In response, Grund & Leavitt wrote that Grund never made such a threat. The judge denied the request as moot. During a three-month pilot, the CTA found that buses went up to 65 percent faster than general traffic during rush hour, saving up to 2.3 minutes. Riders, bus operators and cyclists all liked the change, according to surveys conducted by the CTA, Chicago Department of Transportation and the Active Transportation Alliance, an advocacy group for pedestrians, cyclists and transit users. In her statement to investigators for the city inspector generals office, Sebastian reported that McDonald continued to move after he was shot and fell to the street as Officer Jason Van Dyke emptied his gun, shooting the teen 16 times. Viramontes took it a step further, telling investigators he saw McDonald try to rise up with a knife still in his hand. Capital Markets Our access to global capital combined with our financing expertise, renowned property insight and integrated research will give you the confidence to see the opportunities that others overlook. This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services, to personalize ads and to analyze traffic. Information about your use of this site is shared with Google. By using this site, you agree to its use of cookies. Learn more here Grand Prize Winner: Donna Rickey Blog Winners: A Song for her Enemies by Sherri Stewart: Mary Ann Hake Spies & Sweethearts by Linda Shenton Matchett: Connie Ruggles Sword of Trust by DebbieLynn Costello: Brenda Walters Justice for Julia by Donna Schlachter: Natalya Lakhno Party Prize winners: Sherri Stewarts Winners A Song for her Enemies: Angie Pool Bottle of Dutch Syrup: Carol Koch Alscheff Corrie ten Boom book: Deb Gramie Burgess Linda Shenton Matchetts winners: $5.00 gift card to online retailer or choice (Kobo, B&N, AppleBooks, Amazon): Karen Hadley A Bride for Seamus: Carol Osterhouse Wotring DebbieLynn Costellos winners: Sword of the Matchmaker: Melissa Planas Sword of Forgiveness: Paty Hinojosa Gomez Shattered Memories: Charlene Zall Capodice Sword of the Perfect Bride: Licha Haney Donna Schlachters winner: Leather Journal: Lisa Turley GIVEAWAY RULES Winners must leave their email address and will be notified by email and the winners name will be announced in the days comments. No one under 18 can enter our giveaways. No purchase is necessary. All winners have one week to claim their prize. USA shipping only. Offer void where prohibited. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants. More robust science around the impacts that were dealing with is certainly welcome, Wellenkamp said. We are certainly one of the organizations that could use it. There are still lots of things that were trying to get a hold of, in terms of climate risks, because the impacts just keep changing. You get a record-breaking event year after year. We can tell you what the immediate impacts are, but the larger, more cumulative patterns arent well understood. After Indias counter-terrorism air strikes at Balakot in February 2019 and the reactions that these evoked in the National Assembly, Pakistan appears to be headed towards an unpredictable denouement. Accused by India, Iran and Afghanistan of using terrorism as an instrument of State policy,Pakistan has been isolated in the region. With a seemingly uncontrollable insurgency in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK, erstwhile North West Frontier Province), a simmering freedom movement in Balochistan, growing unrest in Gilgit-Baltistan and rampant urban terrorism, the internal security environment is precariously unstable. Pakistans economy is in a shambles: the funds are low, the debts are high, exports have dwindled to a trickle and the Pakistani currency has fallen to an all-time low of 140 rupees to a dollar. Pakistan has for long been dependent on the United States largesse to meet its obligations for the repayment of its burgeoning debt. However, due to its intransigence in extending its cooperation in the war against the Afghan Taliban, that source has dried up and Imran Khan, the beleaguered Prime Minister and chairman of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, has had to run to China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for help. Pakistans deep state the army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has also been facing insurmountable challenges. The armys counter-insurgency operations in KPK and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) have been floundering; its military camps have been repeatedly attacked with some attackers coming from within the rank and file; its relations with the US and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies have plummeted to an all-time low; defence preparedness is sub-optimal; and, the morale of the rank and file is low. The only saving grace is that a pliable prime minister, with whom the armys senior leadership is not at loggerheads, is now holding office. The military jackboot has ridden roughshod over Pakistans polity for most of the countrys history since its independence. While Generals Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, Zia ul Haq and Pervez Musharraf ruled directly as Presidents or Chief Martial Law administrators, the other army chiefs achieved perfection in the fine art of backseat driving. The army repeatedly took over the reins of administration under the guise of the doctrine of necessity and, in complete disregard of international norms of jurisprudence, Pakistans Supreme Court mostly played along. The army has effectively ensured that Pakistans fledgling democracy is not allowed to take deep root. The origins of authoritarianism can be traced back to General Ayub Khan, who promoted the idea of guided or controlled democracy. The concept of the Troika emerged later as a power sharing arrangement between the president, the prime minister and the chief of the army staff (COAS). The political militarism of the Pakistan army imposed severe constraints on the institutionalisation of democratic norms in the civil society. Some key national policies have always been dictated by the army. The army determines Pakistans national security threats and challenges and decides how to deal with them. Pakistans policies on Afghanistan and Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) are guided by the army and the rapprochement process with India cannot proceed without its concurrence. The army controls Pakistans nuclear weapons programme and the related research and development. The civilian government has no role to play in formulating the doctrine for nuclear deterrence, the force structures, the targeting policies and the command and control. The army chief decides the annual defence expenditure and all defence procurements. He also controls all senior-level promotions and appointments; the government merely rubber stamps the decisions. In order to weaken India, as also to further Chinas agenda to reduce Indias influence in Asia, the Pakistan army has adopted a carefully calculated strategy to bleed India through a thousand cuts. This has been given effect overtly through irregular warfare manifested in the Razakar and Mujahid invasion of Kashmir in 1947-48 and Operation Gibraltar in 1965; and, the Kargil intrusions of 1999. A proxy war has been waged through ISI-sponsored militancy and terrorism in J&K since 1989-90 and in other parts of India. In the 1980s, Pakistan had encouraged and supported Sikh terrorist organisations in their misplaced venture to seek the creation of an independent state of Khalistan. The ISI provides operational, intelligence, communication, training, financial and material support to fundamentalist terrorist organisations like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) to wage war against India. Similarly, it provides substantial intelligence and material support to various Taliban factions like the North Waziristan-based Haqqani Network to operate in Afghanistan against the elected regime and against NATO forces. The ISI plays the destabilisation card despite the fact that Pakistan is a major non-NATO ally, as evidenced in the killing of Osama bin Laden in the army cantonment of Abbottabad, where he had been housed by the ISI for almost five years. Some of the powers usurped by the army over the years can be attributed to the political parties self-inflicted injuries. The shenanigans of the two main political parties the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) or PML(N) and widespread corruption led several times to the peoples complete disenchantment with the rule of PPPs Bhuttos (Zulfiqar and Benazir) and Asif Ali Zardari and PML(N)s Nawaz Sharif. In addition to poor political leadership, the failure of democratic institutions can also be ascribed to constitutional and judicial weaknesses and the unsatisfactory levels of socioeconomic development. Realisation must dawn on the army that it has let down the country. Pakistan cannot survive as a coherent nation state unless the army gives up four things: driving the countrys national security and foreign policies from the backseat; seeking strategic depth in Afghanistan; attempting to destabilise India through its proxy war; and meddling in politics. The army must pull itself up by the bootstraps and substantively enhance its capacity to conduct effective counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations. In the national interest, the army must give up being a State within a State and accept civilian control, even if it does so with bad grace. Gurmeet Kanwal is former director, Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi The views expressed are personal Auction house Christies is to sell a tiara by Faberge, jeweller to the Russian Tsars, made of aquamarines and diamonds and with a pre-sale estimate of $230,000-340,000. The tiara was made in 1904 as a wedding gift from Germanys Frederick Francis IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, to his bride, Princess Alexandra of Hanover and Cumberland. The Grand Dukes mother was a Russian duchess and keen collector of Faberge jewels, who encouraged her 22-year-old son to order the gift from Faberges atelier in St Petersburg. It arrived a month later than the wedding after the duke dallied over the choice of gem stones and Faberges sketches went missing, as detailed in letters between Russia and the German court. It is an absolutely beautiful tiara with nine graduated aquamarines, said Max Fawcett, a jewellery specialist at Christies. There are very few Faberge tiaras in the world today and when they do come up for auction they always get a lot of attention, he added. The tiara design features forget-me-nots tied with ribbon bows, to signify true love, and which are pierced by cupids arrows. It will be sold in Geneva on May 15 alongside other gems. Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Fashion stylist Anaita Shroff Adajania hosted actor Janhvi Kapoor on the latest episode of Feet Up with the Stars. The two talked about Janhvis family, her fashion choices, how she deals with trolls online and also her celebrity crush. Anaita asked Janhvi about her connection with actor Rajkummar Rao. She mentioned how Janhvi has been swooning over him a lot and even professed her love for her on Instagram. Youve written I love you on his feed. I am talking about Rajkummar Rao, Anaita tells Janhvi. The actor feels shy at his mention and says that hes so creeped out by me. He doesnt know how to deal with it and so he sends me... Every time I have said something sweet about him and I think he feels like bad for me or awkward for me. Hes like koi toh consolation dena padega bechari ko. So hes like Oh. So sweet Janhvi. Thanks for your encouragement. And I get really happy. But its sad, she said. When asked if he has said these things online, Janhvi said, See I made all those comments when my profile was not verified of public. It was a private account. Anaita told Janhvi that when Rajkummar appeared on the show, he said Titanic was his favourite film and it taught him how to kiss a woman. Janhvi jumped from her seat to say that the film is her favourite as well. Anaita said the two have a strange connection and that his girlfriend Patralekha should be careful. Janhvi said, I dont know. I want only nice messages from Raj ji. Also read: Aishwarya Rais birthday message for mother-in-law Jaya Bachchan features daughter Aaradhya, see pic Janhvi recently shared pictures with Rajkummar from the anniversary celebrations of Filmfare magazine in Dubai. Janhvis rumoured boyfriend Ishaan Khatter was also at the event. He commented on Janhvis pics with Rajkummar and asked her to give him due credit for clicking their pics. So thats how its gonna be huh.. Fine, Ill live without the photo credits, he wrote. Janhvi is currently shooting for the Gunjan Saxena biopic with Pankaj Tripathi. On the same show, Janhvi said that she has great respect for Pankaj but he must think she is a creep. She narrated an incident from a party where she heard Pankaj drawing similarities between acting and cooking mutton. Janhvi joined the conversation and expressed her views. Sir, par aap toh ice cream ho, aap sabko pasand ho (You are like an ice cream. Everyone likes you). Right after I said it, he gave me a look, Janhvi said. He probably thinks I am a creep, but yes I feel he is a legendary actor and there is no one like Pankaj sir. I couldnt hold back and immediately expressed my fondness for him, she added. Follow @htshowbiz for more Actor Kangana Ranaut has wrapped up the shooting of her upcoming film, Mental Hai Kya. The actor will be seen alongside Rajkummar Rao in the film, which raised the interest of the moviegoers with its quirky posters. However, a recent media report stated that there was a rift between Kangana and the films producer Ekta Kapoor, which have now been dismissed by the formers sister, Rangoli Chandel. The report states that Ekta wanted Kangana and Rajkummar to do something more for the film after the wrap-up of the shoot. But since Kangana thought otherwise, this led to a tense situation between her and Ekta. Kuch log jitna waqt Kangana ke bare mein sochte hue bitate hain itna agar khud ke bare mein sochein toh shayad usse behtar insaan and actor ban jayein.... ... no such thing ever happened on Mental sets @dna please dont spread lies pic.twitter.com/4z3DRMXmEp Rangoli Chandel (@Rangoli_A) April 9, 2019 Slamming the report, Rangoli took to Twitter to speak about the same. She tweeted, Kuch log jitna waqt Kangana ke bare mein sochte hue bitate hain itna agar khud ke bare mein sochein toh shayad usse behtar insaan and actor ban jayein... no such thing ever happened on Mental sets @dna please dont spread lies. (Some people spend most of the time thinking about Kangana, if they spend that much time thinking about themselves, they might become better human beings and actors.) Earlier, pictures of the actor performing a dangerous wheelie on a bike on the sets of the film were shared online. The actor can be seen dressed in a police uniform while performing the stunt in a controlled environment. Kangana Ranaut on the sets of Mental Hai Kya. Kangana Ranaut and Rajkummar Rao on Mental Hai Kya posters. Kangana Ranaut and Rajkummar Rao on Mental Hai Kya posters. Also read: Kangana Ranaut announces next film as director, says Manikarnika success helped secure big budget According to a Times of India report, Mental Hai Kya talks about mental health and hallucinations, and revolves around the relationship of a former couple. Talking about her role in the film, Kangana had earlier said in a statement, Youre never sure if this girl is hallucinating or whats happening to her is for real, whether the guy (Rajkummar Rao) is trying to trap her or shes got him wrong. Mental Hai Kya also stars Jimmy Sheirgill and Amyra Dastur and is set to hit theatres on May 24 this year. Follow @htshowbiz for more Actor Sunny Leone and husband Daniel Weber celebrated their wedding anniversary on Wednesday in the company of their kids. The couple had a private celebration at home and their daughte Nisha baked a cake for them. Sunny shared a few pictures from their wedding anniversary celebrations on her Instagram account along with the caption, Happy Anniversary @dirrty99 you are the best part of my life, my best friend and the best father to our children! the greatest part is that our daughter made us our cake. The actor can be seen blowing the candles on the cake with Daniel. The couple also shared a kiss in one of the pictures and held Nishas hands in another. Sunny often shares fun videos with her team on her Instagram account. She recently shared a video featuring her, Daniel and her other team members grooving to Kangana Ranauts hit number Sadi Gali from her 2011 film Tanu Weds Manu. She shared it with the caption, You know!! Just because we wanted to end the night right with a little dance for you! @sunnyrajani @geege_on_video @ricardoferrise1 @dirrty99. Sunny had also shared a picture with Daniel along with the caption, Love at first sight? Maybe.. Maybe not! Find out now #KarenjitKaurSeasonFinale out now on @zee5 app! The actor plays herself in her biopic Karenjit Kaur - The Untold Story of Sunny Leone streaming on Zee5. Sunny and Daniel adopted daughter Nisha in July 2017. They went on to welcome their twin boys in March 2018 via surrogacy and named them Asher and Noah. Also read: Kartik Aaryans publicist shoots down his plan to go bald, says girls are dying over your hair. Watch hilarious prank The actor was last seen in supernatural thriller Tera Intezaar in December 2017. She starred alongside Arbaaz Khan in the film. She is currently working on her Tamil film Veeramadevi and plays the title role of a female warrior. The actor is also said to be gearing up for her debut Malayalam film Rangeela. Follow @htshowbiz for more With all the attention to the never-ending legislative absurdities and self-inflicted wounds of Brexit, its easy to overlook the long-term challenges facing Europe. In recent years, the European Union (EU) has proven resilient enough to muddle its way through a sovereign debt emergency and a migrant crisis without sacrificing core principles, and the humiliation that Brexit has visited on the United Kingdom has discouraged Eurosceptics in other countries from pushing hard for exit plans of their own . The EU has plenty to be proud of. Its status as the worlds largest common market makes the union a regulatory superpower, particularly for digital age information and communications technologies. Few of the worlds tech giants are based in Europe, but many of their consumers are. That leaves highly competent bureaucrats to make rules that American and other tech giants cant ignore. Yet, there are growing divisions among member states over values and priorities. Four EU states Italy, Poland, Hungary, and Austria now have populist governments that in different ways have challenged EU orthodoxy on internal issues like immigration policy. The governments of Poland and Hungary have posed direct challenges to EU definitions of rule of law on free speech and judicial independence, for example. That said, some of Europes greatest challenges come from outside. First, the transatlantic alliance has reached its lowest point since the end of World War II, and theres no guarantee things will markedly improve once Donald Trump leaves the stage. Its easy to forget the depth of divisions between the Lyndon Johnson administration and Charles de Gaulle over NATO, European public hostility toward Ronald Reagan, and the responses of France and Germany to George W Bushs war on Saddam Hussein. But the emergence of two generations of Americans and Europeans who arent old enough to remember the Cold War creates a new degree of difficulty for maintaining the integrity of the alliance. This matters in part because Moscow now poses new kinds of threats. Until recently, Russian influence in Europe was limited mainly to European demand for Russian energy, with governments of the most deeply dependent states friendlier toward Vladimir Putins government and those less dependent more sceptical. But Russian investment in and support for various Eurosceptic movements embeds Moscow more deeply in the internal political lives of European countries. European officials have warned publicly that Russia intends to try to influence May elections for the European Parliament through support for populists ready to challenge European consensus on political values, but there isnt much Brussels can do in response, and the US and Russian withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty will renew an arms race that directly undermines Europes security. Russia is not the only, or even the most complex, challenge Europe faces. In particular, the coming Technology Cold War between the US and China will force many EU countries to side with Washington to protect rule of law and consumer rights against the Chinese States use of data to protect its authoritarian political model. But Chinas trade with, and investment in, many European countries already surpasses Americas, and the gap is widening. EU members that are becoming increasingly reliant on Chinese investment will be reluctant to comply with the broader EU regulatory approach to the tech sector, opening another important divide in EU politics that undermines Europes global influence. Finally, there is the special challenge posed by Africa. Migration has proven to be the most divisive issue of this generation in European politics. The migrant crisis of 2015-2016 created new populist political parties, reinvigorated old ones, and shifted the political balance of power in nearly every EU country. This issue will become even more important as surging populations of young Africans in search of a better life, African governments unable to keep pace, and other sources of instability persuade more migrants to take to the road. More than one million Africans have applied for asylum in Europe since 2010. Recent studies show that many Africans still hoping to leave their countries soon say they intend to move elsewhere within Africa, but more than a quarter say they want to reach Europe. Its easy to imagine that so many would-be asylum-seekers will create new opportunities for anti-immigration populists, especially in southern EU countries where most migrants first arrive, to undermine the authority of European institutions. Thats particularly true when other EU members refuse to help them share the burdens of processing and assimilation. In short, Russia, China, and Africa will sow new divisions among EU states in coming years and at a time when European consensus on important questions is already facing extraordinary stress. Ian Bremmer is the president of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media and author of Us vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism The views expressed are personal At 82, Umed Singh Rana has aced the art of giving interviews to news channels and researchers who have been visiting his farm in north-west Delhis Qutubgarh village since November 2018. Ranas was among 10 families who were given 100 bee rearing boxes by Khadi Village Industries Commission (KVIC) and New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi. One of biggest village in a cluster of 49 and right at the edge of northwest Delhi bordering Haryana, Qutubgarh, according to its residents, has changed for the better since it has witnessed the honey revolution. It was in November last year when we were given these boxes. Initially, all of us thought it was a waste of time. But in the first five months itself, the village has produced 1,100 kg of honey, Rana said. Buoyed by the success of their honey production, residents have written to Lekhi who has adopted the village under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana urging her to change the name of Qutubgarh to Madhugarh. Besides honey, the bees also helped the village produce a bumper mustard crop due to cross pollination. Mustard production has gone up by 20%. We asked for more bee boxes and now the count has increased to 130. Also, more trees are now being planted in the village because bees need a variety of flora and fauna. These include eucalyptus, neem, shisham and jamun, said Dinesh Rana, 40, who after two cycles of honey extraction is now imparting apiculture to other farmers in the village. The success stories have encouraged more Qutubgarh farmers to look for avenues to increase their income. Rajpal Rana, 47, is the first in the village to start organic farming. The first batch of my wheat produce is now being harvested. Villagers who have tried the flour made out of my organic wheat, say it is tastier. For decades, we have degraded the soil by using fertilizers and pesticides. Now, we plan to change this, he said. Ravinder Rana, who owns a 2.5-acre farm, has bigger plans. I have already applied for licenses to set up a packaging unit. The farmers have also written to the National Centre for Organic Farming to include Qutubgarh in a pilot project under the Central governments National Project on Organic Farming, he said. Lekhi said the main demand of the villagers was streetlights. Unfortunately, MPLAD cannot be used for works in areas other than the MPs own parliamentary constituency. I really had to struggle as 25 lakh is the only amount I could use. So, I gave streetlights which may sound like a small thing but was significant as the area had absolutely no lighting which was a big safety hazard, she said. The MP said apart from giving bee-boxes, she is also sending trainers on a regular basis to impart skill training to women and the farmers. The honey turned out to be of the highest quality and it sold for 300 per kg. Now they have learnt to even harness beeswax which is being sold for 600 a kilo, Lekhi said. Satveer Singh, 57, was among the 35 potters in the village who received an electric pottery wheel from Lekhi about three months back. Apart from farmers, this village also has a community of potters. The best thing about the electric wheel is that it has a speed regulator. I can make 50 earthen lamps in 10 minutes. On a manual wheel, it used to take double the time, he said. Villagers, however, said the pock-marked roads in the area have not been improved. Lekhi said the work needs to be done by the area MLA through the Delhi government. They also complained of lack of any hospital or college in the vicinity. The area MLA, Ram Chander of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), said all major works in Qutubgarh are being done by him. The village has four colonies. I am getting roads and drains built in each of these colonies through Delhi governments flood and irrigation department. Some pockets also have got new water pipelines, he said. Qutubgarh, however, was not the first village adopted by Lekhi. The MP had first adopted Pilanji village in her New Delhi parliamentary constituency. A year after I had announced adoption of Pilanji, I got a notice from the rural development department that urbanised villages cannot be adopted under the PMs scheme. My constituency has no rural village. So, later I adopted Qutubgarh, she said. Surrounded by planned government colonies and clean markets, Pilanji village in the upmarket New Delhi area sticks out for its never ending haphazard high-rises and fly breeding garbage strewn across its narrow lanes. But the 11,000-odd residents of this urban village say all is well and that theres little to complain about. When asked about the works done by the area MP, locals said development has taken place, although some of their demands remain unfulfilled. Roads have been made and new water and sewer lines have been laid. More importantly, all electricity lines have been shifted underground. Short circuits and load shedding were so frequent. This has reduced now, said Akash Baisoya, a third generation resident of Pilanji. While Qutubgarh is a Jat dominated village, Pilanji, the only urbanised village in the New Delhi assembly constituency, is dominated by the Gujjars. Residents also complained that they were unable to use the community centre in Pilanji. The building was supposed to be a baraat ghar-cum-recreation centre for the village. It was supposed to have a library too. But, it is currently being rented out to some NGO. Also, there is no public toilet facility in our area. One is there within the community centre premises, but it has been locked down, said Dheer Singh, who is known as the pradhan of Pilanji village. The difference in their cases came down to fingerprints: Arquero realized it was optional to submit fingerprints for his CCL. He didnt and was granted a CCL; Martin opted for the expedited CCL and submitted fingerprints, which is when authorities discovered the felony in his background that legally disqualified him from getting his FOID card in the first place. His CCL application was denied, and he received a letter stating he had to return the FOID card. Customs officials at Delhis Indira Gandhi International Airport have arrested six Kenyan women, including a mother-daughter duo, who were trying to allegedly smuggle into the country gold worth Rs 1.78 crore. Officials said the recovered gold was in the form of dust, jewellery, cut pieces and chains. According to the officers, early Saturday, a team of customs officers received inputs about a gang of smugglers, who were trying to smuggle in a huge consignment of drugs from Ethiopia. In the recent past, there have been no seizures of gold from Ethiopia but we had busted big consignments of narcotics from this route. While keeping an eye on drugs smugglers, we detained a few passengers, including the suspects. They were asked to cooperate for a detailed check of their bags and personal frisking, said an officer who did not wish to be named. Those who were suspected to be carrying drugs turned out to be clean but a group of women, who were made to pass through the metal detectors, came on our radar as the machine started to beep continuously, the officer said. The women were taken to a separate area for frisking. They were found carrying pieces of gold bars, chains and other jewellery items in the clothes they were wearing. They also hid gold dust in a pouch, the officer said. The gold weighed 6.2 kilograms and were worth Rs 1,78,90,998 . All six women are from Kenya, the officer said. Additional commissioner customs, IGI airport, said the women were arrested and the gold was seized. Private publishers are making the most of the confusion prevailing in the education ecosystem of tricity about whether the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks are mandatory in schools or not. While the academic session 2019-20 has already started in schools across the region, there was no clarification issued by the UT education department or the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on the issue. According to a judgment by the Madras high court on May 29, 2018, schools affiliated to the CBSE were directed to use NCERT textbooks. However, the board, in its bylaws released on October 18, 2018, contradicted the order under Section 2.4.7 by saying that the school may prescribe NCERT textbooks in the classes and subjects in which these have been published by the NCERT. Extra care should be taken in the selection of books of private publishers so that there is no objectionable content that hurts the feeling of any class, community, gender or any religious group in the society. The section further reads, The school shall put a list of prescribed books on its website with the written declaration duly signed by the manager and the principal to the effect that they have gone through the contents of the books prescribed by the school, and own the responsibility. Manoj Kumar, a parent who is a Punjab and Haryana high court advocate, said, In the bylaws, the word may makes the entire difference. It makes NCERT syllabus for schools optional. The high court had passed the order on a petition filed by one M Purushothaman for directions to the CBSE for prescribing NCERT books. The courts order had emphasised that it has every reason to believe that there is a hidden agenda between CBSE officials and private book publishers, .... which is why even a directive to use NCERT books alone is being appealed by the CBSE. The court in its order had said, The CBSE is bound to follow the NCERT syllabus, which has been prescribed by experts. Following the order, district education officer (DEO) Anujit Kaur on September 3, 2018, had written to all the principals and heads of all government-aided as well as private recognised schools in Chandigarh for compliance with the order. Later on October 5, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) department of school education and literacy wrote to all the states and UTs asking the directorates to ensure compliance with the order. The MHRDs letter had also given the governments of states and UTs to form special squads to inspect the schools and prevent the use of non-prescribed books. However, the Chandigarh education department had never formed any such squad or inspection team to visit schools, said an education department official requesting anonymity. UT education secretary BL Sharma said that the schools must abide by the instructions issued by the MHRD in letter and spirit, or else become liable for penal action. CBSE regional director S Dharini Arun said, I am not aware of the circular and its contents. We follow the instructions that we receive from CBSE Delhi. The CBSE Delhi and the MHRD did not respond to this correspondents queries. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The board of governors of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, on Tuesday decided not to revoke the PhD degree of an assistant professor who is facing allegations of plagiarism but get his thesis examined by an independent committee of experts. The decision, which goes against the March 14 recommendation of the IIT senate, should come as a huge relief to assistant professor Subrahmanyam Saderla who had last year complained of caste-based harassment by some seniors at the institute. Saderla is a Dalit. The board did not agree with the decision of the senate to revoke Saderlas PhD degree . But at the same time, it was decided that the thesis should be examined by a committee of technical experts from outside IIT Kanpur. The report of the technical experts, which will be put before the board, should be submitted at the earliest, IIT Kanpur director Abhay Karandikar said. The technical committee will evaluate whether the plagiarism was limited to the introductory chapter or extended to the technical contents also, an official said on condition of anonymity. Last October, an anonymous email was sent to IIT Kanpur authorities alleging plagiarism in Saderlas PhD thesis. The matter was then referred to the institutes academic ethics cell (AEC) for investigation. The AEC opined that there was nothing suspect about Saderlas own research work, including his experiments, tables, figures and inferences, and that plagiarism charges could be levelled only at introductory descriptions or equations that are standard and not taken credit for by any author. It suggested that Saderla rewrite in his own words all the sections found to be similar to passages in other works. The IIT senate, however, disagreed with the AEC. Tuesdays meeting was chaired by former Indian Space Research Organisation chief K Radhakrishnan, who is the chairperson of the IIT Kanpur board of governors. When contacted, Saderla said, I am waiting for an official communication and an update in this regard. Saderlas guide and head of aerospace engineering, AK Ghosh, said the decision was very positive. The thesis was evaluated as per UGC (University Grants Commission) norms and was even shown to the board members. Anybody can see the report. But what has happened is unfortunate. His family has been deeply affected. The HRD ministry, too, gave its opinion in the matter. The ministry was of the opinion that it is not correct to accept the senate recommendation for revocation of Saderlas PhD degree, an official said, not wishing to be named. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) on Wednesday issued a notification giving force wise consolidated vacancies for Constable (GD) in CAPFs, NIA, SSF AND Rifleman (GD) in Assam Rifles Examination 2018. It has also released State/ Category Wise Vacancies for the above mentioned posts. You can check it by clicking here. In a notification issued earlier, SSC had informed about the increase in number of vacancies for the above mentioned posts from 54,953 to 58,373. The notifications can be checked on the official website of SSC at ssc.nic.in. SSC held the Computer Based Examination for GD (General Duty) constable recruitment from February 11 to March 11, 2019. A total of 30,41,284 candidates appeared in the exam at 297 venues in 125 cities. SSC will declare the results of Constable (GD) examinations tentatively on May 31. Candidates can download SSC Constable GD result from regional websites of SSC. Candidates who clear the Computer Based Test (CBE) will have to undergo Physical Efficiency Test (PET), Physical Standard Test (PST) and Medical Examination. The number of candidates to be shortlisted for PET/PST on the basis of merit in the Computer Based examination will be around 10 times of the number of vacancies. The exam is being held for recruitment of Constable General duty (GD) in Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Force (ITBP) Sahastra Seema Bal (SSB), National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Secretariat Security Force (SSF) and rifleman (GD) in Assam rifles. At least 10 labourers, all women, were killed on Wednesday after a mound of earth collapsed burying them alive in Telangana. They were employed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP) at Tileru village of Marikal block in Narayanpet district of the state. According to Marikal police, more than a hundred labourers were engaged in digging earth for the construction of an irrigation channel at Edmartippa hillock in Tileru village. Some of the workers took shelter in the shadow of a mound of earth to protect themselves from the scorching sun. The mound suddenly collapsed on them. The local authorities rushed to the site and extricated 10 bodies with the help of villagers. Five other workers managed to escape. Some of them received severe injuries and are being treated at a local hospital. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao expressed shock and anguish over the loss of lives of MNREGA workers. Describing the incident as most unfortunate, KCR said the deceased belonged to poor families working under scorching sun for wages. He expressing deep condolences and instructed local minister Srinivas Goud to visit the spot and oversee the rescue operations. Police in Odishas Maoist-affected Gajapati district recovered 50 kg of landmine under a culvert on Tuesday, just two days before the first phase of polling of the Lok Sabha election 2019 in the state. Gajapatis superintendent of police Sarah Sharma said the landmine was recovered from under a bridge near Paniganda village under Adaba police station area. Security personnel spotted the landmine planted under a bridge. A long wire guided the personnel to the bridge. The explosive has likely been planted by the Maoists to disrupt election process, said Sharma, adding the bomb has been defused. The Maoist-affected districts of Gajapati, Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada and Nabarangpur are going to polls in the first phase of Lok Sabha election on April 11. Odishas director general of police (in-charge) BK Sharma issued an advisory to all the superintendents of police of the Maoist-affected districts to remain on alert. Posters by the Communist Party of India-Maoist terming the candidates as frauds were found in Mathili area of Malkangiri district asking people to desist from voting. The candidates visit the remote areas in the district during election time only to seek votes and disappear after that. Dont believe them and boycott the elections, the poster put up by CPI-Maoists Darbha Division Committee said. Similar posters threatening people to kill were spotted at Boipariguda area of Koraput district on April 2. Officials of the Election Commission said that of the 8,872 polling booths in the first phase of polls, 2,375 have been marked critical. The Border Security Force (BSF) on Wednesday appealed to the voters in the Maoist-affected districts to take part in the first phase of the polls. Regular area domination exercises are being carried out in the affected areas in close coordination with state police and local administration. We have been instrumental in containing the Maoist menace to a large extent, said BSFs inspector general AK Singh. Nine battalions of BSF have been deployed in the affected-districts where polls are being held. Polling in all the 21 constituencies in Odisha will be held in the first four rounds of the seven-phase Lok Sabha election 2019 from April 11 to April 29. Votes will be counted on May 23. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) Tuesday cleared the release of the biopic based on Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a few modifications, said a person aware of the developments. The person said the board had issued the certificate to the film titled PM Narendra Modi, in the evening, after the examining committee viewed it. No undue favour or relaxation of rules was made for the film makers, all due processes were followed, the person quoted above said. They however declined to comment on the modifications that were sought before the film hits the screens on April 11 also the day of the first phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Election Commission on Tuesday wrote to the CBFC to give in writing the status of the film. Earlier in the day the Supreme Court dismissed a petition to prohibit the films screening, saying it was premature because the film has not yet been certified by the Censor Board. A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi said that even if the film is certified, whether it affects the level-playing field in the electoral process should be decided by the EC. The public interest litigation, filed by Congress activist and advocate Aman Panwar, said the film was in violation of the Model Code of Conduct for the upcoming general elections. Since the film is yet to be released, Panwars lawyer, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, based his arguments on a two-minute trailer of the movie. We are very happy to have got the U certificate from the CBFC. Finally, the film is releasing on April 11. We are also very relieved that the Supreme Court rejected the plea [challenging the release]. I hope nobody else has any problems, film producer Sandip S Singh said. The film stars Vivek Oberoi and is based on the life of the prime minister. (With inputs from IANS) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Chhattisgarh Bharatiya Janata Party leaders blackened their social media profile pictures on Wednesday, claiming the deaths of BJP legislator, Bhima Mandavi, and four aides in an improvised explosive device blast on Tuesday was the result of a political conspiracy. They also demanded a CBI inquiry. Mandavi, his driver and three security personnel were killed on Tuesday after an IED, said to have been triggered by Maoists, tore through his SUV in Chhattisgarhs Dantewada district . State BJP chief Vikram Usendi said the CBI should conduct an inquiry to find out whether the MLA was killed because of the negligence and conspiracy of the Congress government. Another BJP leader and former minister, Brijomohan Agarwal, alleged that the state government was working for the Maoists and the conspirators were part of the government. In these conditions, EC should take control of things as we dont trust the Congress government. Our leaders are under serious threat. BJP leader and state spokesperson, Sacchinand Upasane, who said statewide protests had been organised by party workers, added: The Congress government is responsible for the security lapse, which led to Mandavis death. It has been doing vendetta politics since last November and the death is the result of a political conspiracy. Responding to the charges, CM Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday said the BJP MLA had not heeded police advice. Had Bhima Mandavi listened to the police, he would have been alive. But he did not heed their advice and sent the district reserve group force back. He left without informing the local police, Baghel said. Mandavis mortal remains were brought to the BJP office in Dantewada where BJP leaders, including general secretary Anil Jain and ex-CM Raman Singh paid their respects Wednesday. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday hit back at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, saying the latters comments on Rafale review petition amount to contempt of the Supreme Court. Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi thanked the Supreme Court for rejecting the Centres objections over the admissibility of the leaked documents cited by petitions seeking a review of the Rafale verdict of December 2018. Addressing mediapersons in Amethi, he said, The Prime Minister has been claiming that the Supreme Court had given him a clean chit on the Rafale deal. The Supreme Court has clarified and has begun an investigation into the Rafale deal. Mocking the Congress chief, Sitharaman, at a press conference, said the Congress party wants to perpetrate their own lies. She further added that Gandhis comments are not based on the facts. The Defence Minister accused Rahul Gandhi of attributing words to the apex court. She also accused Gandhi of repeating half-truths which are told to him. We all know Congress president probably doesnt even read even half a paragraph, but here, by saying that the court has accepted and by also saying that the court has said Chowkidaar chor hai, these verge on contempt of court,said Sithatraman The person who himself is on bail and violates every norm of political decency, is alleging things which the court has never said, said Sitharaman. A Delhi court Wednesday framed defamation charge against journalist Priya Ramani in a case filed by ex-Union minister M J Akbar after she levelled allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Ramani, who appeared before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal, however, pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. Akbar, who resigned as Union minister on October 17 last year, filed a private criminal defamation complaint against Ramani after his name cropped up on social media as the #MeToo campaign raged on in India. Ramani accused Akbar of sexual misconduct, a charge denied by him. The court listed the matter for hearing on May 4 and also granted permanent exemption to Ramani from personal appearance. Prosecutors alone objected to the release of 21 documents. Gaughan agreed that 18 of those documents should be kept sealed, but he reserved ruling on three others dealing with FBI agents objection to being shown on camera during their trial testimony. The judge said he first wanted to hear from the agents attorneys. Following killings of RSS leader Chandrakant Sharma and his bodyguard Rajinder Kumar on Tuesday, curfew remained imposed in Kishtwar and Bhadarwah towns on Wednesday. Kishtwar deputy commissioner Angrez Singh Rana said, Curfew is on in Kishtwar town. The situation is tense but peaceful. No untoward incident has been reported from anywhere. Army, paramilitary and police forces remain deployed in the town to maintain law and order. He also informed that soon after the attack on RSS leader and his bodyguard, a crackdown was launched to trace the attackers. Another official from Bhaderwah informed that the curfew remained imposed on Wednesday in Bhaderwah town as a precautionary measure. The 50-year-old RSS leader Chandrakant Sharma, who worked as a pharmacist in Kishtwar district hospital, and his bodyguard Rajinder Kumar were shot dead by the suspected militants, who barged into the district hospital at around 12.30 pm on Tuesday and started firing indiscriminately. Before fleeing from the spot, the attacker snatched PSOs weapon. The number of militants involved in the incident has not yet been revealed. Sharmas last rites were performed on Wednesday afternoon at a cremation ground in Kishtwar. The incident sparked protests at various places in the town, including outside the hospital, as the leader was a resident of the town. Sanatan Dharam Sabha Doda has called for a bandh in Kishtwar on Wednesday. RSS youth activists staged protests at Rehari Chowk, Jewel Chowk and Bus Stand in the heart of Jammu city, demanding identification of the culprits and severe punishment to them. Meanwhile, Dogra Swabhimaan Sanghthan leader Choudhary Lal Singh was detained by police in Doda on Wednesday. A spokesman of the Sanghthan said that Lal Singh, who was on his way to attend the last rites of the RSS leader, was arrested by Doda deputy commissioner DS Dattatray at the behest of BJP. He was not allowed to attend the cremation, while other politicians from BJP were allowed. It is blatant misuse of power and government machinery for political gains, said the spokesman. However, a top police officer from Doda district said that the leader was taken into preventive custody because of the volatile situation in Kishtwar. He was on way for campaigning in Budhna area in a motorcade of around 10 vehicles. Probably, he wanted to attend the cremation, which was not allowed by the administration in view of tense situation in Kishtwar, he said. A BJP rebel, Lal Singh is contesting from both the parliamentary seats of Jammu and Udhampur that will go to polls on April 11 and April 18 respectively. For the third time in a week, national oil marketer Indian Oil on Wednesday stopped fuel supply to cash-starved Jet Airways for non- payment of dues. The airline also faced the ignominy of losing one of its planes to a European cargo agent who seized one of its wide-body planes at the Amsterdam airport for payment related issues, a source said. This is the third time that the public sector oil marketing company has cut fuel supply to the airline in the past eight days, which is struggling to keep afloat amid acute liquidity crisis. Indian Oil has stopped fuel supplies to Jet Airways in Mumbai, New Delhi and Hyderabad airports for its failure to clear dues, the source said. Mumbai is the largest base for the airline and it operates maximum flights from the city. On March 4 and 5 also the oil company had cut supplies to Jet and restored only after getting an assurance from the airline management. Also read: Debt-laden Jet Airways lenders plan to sell up to 75% stake Earlier in the day, a European cargo services provider seized one of its Boeing 777-300ER planes at the Amsterdam airport for non-payment of dues. The cargo agent seized Boeing 777-300 ER (VT-JEW) of Jet Airways at the Amsterdam airport as the airline could not clear his dues, the airline source told PTI. The aircraft was to operate a flight (9W 321) to Mumbai from Amsterdam on Wednesday. Jet Airways, however, said the flight was delayed due to operational reasons. In a statement, the airline said flight 9W 231 from Amsterdam to Mumbai scheduled for April 10, has been delayed due to operational reasons. Jet has been operating around 100 flights only with 26 planes as most of the fleet is grounded due to non-payment of lessors rentals. Due to cash crunch, the airline has been paying only part salaries to its over 16,000 employees which forced a section of its pilots on Tuesday sending a legal notice to the management which is currently being headed by the lenders led by State Bank. Continuing its spree of raids on suspected tax violators, the Income Tax Department conducted searches on the residence of a person working with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)s Jayadev Galla, late Tuesday evening, and found 45.4 lakh of unaccounted cash. The I-T raid on the Guntur house of Gurrappa Naidu, the chief accountant of Amara Raja Batteries, owned by Galla, comes close on the heels of raids conducted from Sunday on close aides of Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Congress leader Kamal Nath, where unaccounted money worth 281 crore was reportedly identified. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday spoke of the raids and said this was hard evidence of Congress corruption. At a rally in Junagarh, Gujarat, Modi said, In Congress election scam, a new name has been added and that is Tughlaq Road election scam. Congress has taken food from the mouths of poor children to fill the stomachs of its leaders. It has stolen money meant for pregnant women. .. First it made Karnataka an ATM for itself. Now it has made an ATM in Madhya Pradesh. Congress comes to power only to loot people. Congress spokesperson Pranav Jha said, With ED, CBI and other government agencies at his command the Prime Minister can manufacture any charge against his opponent. And if you look at the selective targeting of opponent one can see patterns that he is going after his political adversaries selectively. In New Delhi, Naths official residence is 1, Tughlaq Road while Congress president Rahul Gandhis official residence is on Tughlak Lane. A press release issued on Monday by the Central Board of Direct Taxes, under which the Department of Revenue falls, stated that the searches in Madhya Pradesh detected a widespread and well-organized racket of collection of unaccounted cash of about 281 crore through various persons in different walks of life including business, politics and public service. A part of the cash was also transferred to the headquarters of a major political party in Delhi, including about 20 crore, which was moved through hawala recently to the headquarter of the political party from the residence of a senior functionary at Tughlak Road, New Delhi, the statement added. Nath termed the raids that targeted his former officer on special duty Praveen Kakkar and close associate RK Miglani as politically motivated actions of the Bharatiya Janata Party. In the past few weeks, raids have also been conducted in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa and Tamil Nadu, and specifically on persons closely associated with politicians including Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) treasurer S Duraimurugan. The total amount of goods and money seized is not available. Several opposition leaders have alleged that the I-T raids are being conducted at the behest of the BJP. Congress leader Ahmed Patel on Tuesday said that the raids showed the desperation in the ruling party. In a blog post on Wednesday, Finance minister Arun Jaitley defended the string of raids. The Revenue Department acts objectively on the basis of material available and takes action when they are satisfied that a case of search operation is made out, Jaitley, who is in the United States at present, wrote. Meanwhile, TDP president and AP chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday staged a sit-in in front of the EC office in the state secretariat complex at Amaravati to protest against the raid, and transfer of government officials based on complaints by its chief opposition in the state, YSR Congress. This is nothing short of fascism and it smacks of an emergency-like situation. Modi is trying to influence the elections by selectively targeting the TDP leaders in Andhra Pradesh, Galla, who will contest the LS elections in AP on April 11, said. Information was received on a toll-free-number that cash was kept at the residence of Shri Gurappa Naidu which was to be used in the general elections. It was only at the time of recording his statement late in the night that he revealed that he was (working for) Shri Galla Jayadaev, MP, TDP in his capacity as a cost accountant, a CBDT official said. No premises of Gallas had been searched, they clarified. In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, Naidu accused ECI of bias towards the BJP and YSR Congress party. There is no change in ECI attitude even after 66 former bureaucrats petitioned the President of India pointing out its biased attitude. If ECI wants to favour the YSRC and BJP, let it campaign for those parties directly, he wrote. However, on Sunday, ECI issued a letter to investigative agencies advising them that all enforcement actions during the election period should be impartial, and the Chief Electoral Officer should be informed while the model code of conduct is in force. In another letter to the revenue department on Wednesday, the EC said, The commission reprimands the department of revenue for making unwarranted remarks and expects that the directions issued by the commission in the said advisory (dated April 7) are followed in letter as well as spirit. We understand the words neutral, impartial, and non-discriminatory mean that we must act as and when information is available against anyone, irrespective of political affiliation, the revenue department had said in reply to the EC letter on April 7. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said he thinks there may be a better chance of peace talks with India if Prime Minister Narendra Modis BJP wins the general elections. Khan said that if the next Indian government were led by the opposition Congress party, it might be too scared to seek a settlement with Pakistan over Kashmir. Perhaps if the BJP wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached, Khan told a small group of foreign journalists in an interview. He said Modi, like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was electioneering based on fear and nationalist feeling. The BJPs pledge this week to propose stripping decades-old special rights from the people of Jammu and Kashmir, which prevent outsiders from buying property in the state, was a major concern, though it could also be electioneering, Khan said. Khan did appear to offer India an olive branch, saying that Islamabad was determined to dismantle all Pakistan-based militias in the country, and that the government had full support from Pakistans powerful army for the programme. Those to be dismantled include groups involved in Kashmir. Khan said Kashmir was a political struggle and there was no military solution. Relations between Pakistan and India reached a crisis point in February after a suicide bombing killed 40 Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir. Islamabad denied responsibility for the February 14 attack, which was claimed by Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed, but the bombing prompted India to carry out a cross border air strikes against a militant training camp in Pakistan. The parliamentary election is being held in phases in India and does not finish until May 19. The results will be declared on May 23. Kamal Nath filed his nomination papers for Chhindwara state assembly seat by-poll while his son Nakul Nath filed his nomination papers for Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat on Tuesday. Polling is scheduled to be held in Chhindwara on April 29, and Tuesday was last day for filing nomination. Kamal Nath has to become a member of the state assembly to within six months of assuming office. He took oath as the chief minister on December 17. In his affidavit, Kamal Nath showed that he and his wife Alka Nath had moveable property of Rs 40.5 crore and immovable property of Rs 84 crore. Kamal Nath had declared moveable property of Rs 17.5 crore and immovable property of Rs 189.36 crore in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Son Nakul Nath, in his affidavit, said he and his wife Priya had moveable property of Rs 618.23 crore and immoveable property of Rs 41.77 crore. Kamal Nath and Nakul Nath had earlier on Tuesday morning gone to the Shikarpur temple to offer prayers and then took out a rally that reached the collectorate to file their nominations at sharp 11 am. Kamal Nath had former Chhindwara MLA Deepak Saxena - who had resigned from the seat to make way for Kamal Nath and four others as his proposers, while Nakul Nath had former MLA Jatan Uike and four others. Kamal Naths wife Alka Nath was also present. Later another rally was taken out from the collectorate which culminated at Dushhera maidan where a public meeting was held. Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday filed his nomination papers for the Lok Sabha elections from his traditional stronghold of Uttar Pradeshs Amethi. The Congress boss was accompanied by his mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Congress general secretary, and brother-in-law Robert Vadra to the local collectorate. Before that, Rahul Gandhi led a 3-km roadshow from Gauriganj. He rode on the rooftop of a truck along with Priyanka and Robert Vadra. Their son Raihan and daughter Miraya were also present. Follow LIVE updates here. A massive crowd of supporters walked on both sides of the road and showered flower petals on the Congress leaders. Many shouted slogans as Congress workers danced to drum beats. Watch - Lok Sabha polls: Rahul Gandhi holds road show in Amethi, files nomination Apart from Amethi, the Congress president will also contest from the second seat in Keralas Wayanad in the Lok Sabha election, which will begin on Thursday, a decision which has invited criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India(Marxist) or CPI(M). The ruling party at the Centre said Gandhi had escaped to Kerala because he is unsure of a win in Amethi and the CPI(M) accused the Congress of trying to weaken Left forces. The grand old party has denied their allegations. Gandhi had filed his papers to run for Parliament from Wayanad in Kerala on April 4. The 48-year-old Congress leader will face Union minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani, who lost to Gandhi in the rural constituency in 2014. Also read: Its loyalty vs emerging ground reality as Smriti Irani again takes on Rahul Gandhi in Amethi The BJP has accused the Congress leader of neglecting Amethi and said that Smriti Irani has visited the constituency more than Rahul Gandhi. The Congress party has always countered the allegations. Congress leader Deepak Singh said Irani has visited Amethi 15 times since 2014 elections, spent 44 hours there and scrapped 15 schemes meant for the constituency. He said, in contrast, Rahul Gandhi has spent 744 hours in his constituency. People should analyse the data independently, he tweeted on March 26. The BJPs Uma Shankar Pandey said Singhs claims were baseless and that Smriti Irani has visited Amethi more than 30 while Gandhi 15 odd times. The then defence minister Manohar Parrikar adopted two villages in Amethi and did more for them than the local MP [member of Parliament Gandhi] who failed to do justice to the villages of his own constituency. If I become an MP, I will use my MP fund for development of villages, Irani said. Congress has countered this saying Gandhi has spent 26.85 crore in Amethi. The Union minister will file her nomination on Thursday. The BJPs leaders have said Smriti Irani will reach Amethi on Wednesday to prepare for the election formalities. While the Congress nine-day Rahul Sandesh Yatra, covering all the five assembly segments under the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency, ended on Monday, the BJP is attempting to woo voters in rural by holding smaller meetings. Both the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have decided against fielding a candidate from Amethi and Rae Bareli in the Lok Sabha election this year, a decision which might benefit the Congress. Polling will be held in Amethi on May 6 during the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha election 2019. The votes will be counted on May 23. Mandya Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 28 Lok Sabha setas in Karnataka and covers the entire Mandya district and part of Mysore district. The seat is currently represented by JD(S) candidate CS Puttaraju. Who defeated Congresss Ramya by a slender margin of 5,518 votes. This time, Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamys son Nikhil Kumar has been fielded from the seat and will be contesting against veteran actor Sumalatha, who is the widow of Congress leader Ambareesh. Karnatakas 28 parliamentary seats will go to polls in two phases on April 18 and 23. Click here for full coverage of Lok Sabha elections Here are some details about Mandya Lok Sabha seat: State: Karnataka Name of the Lok Sabha constituency: Mandya Polling date: April 18 2019 candidates: Nikhil Kumaraswamy (JDS) Sumalatha (Independent) Sitting MP, party: CS Puttaraju, JD(S) Winning margin in 2014: 5,518 Runner up name, party: Ramya, Congress Number of voters in 2014: 1,193,041 Percentage of votes polled in 2014: 71% Number of women voters in 2014: 587,732 Number of polling booths in 2014: 2,019 Vinod Hunga, 55, is said to be the Maoist commander behind Tuesdays attack in Chhattisgarhs Dantewada in which BJP legislator Bhima Mandavi, his driver and three policemen were killed, according to police. According to officers familiar with the matter, Vinod who has a reward of 8 lakh on his head planned the attack with the help of about 60 Maoists from different units in the region. For the last two days, Maoists had been gathering in Shyamgiri from different places under the Malangir area committee, which Vinod has been heading since March 2018. Vinod was assisted by close aide, Deva, a police officer said, requesting anonymity. Deva belongs to the neighbouring Katekalyan area committee, but has been in Malangir for the last two months, he said. Vinod was elevated to secretary of Malangir area committee two years ago. According to police records, Vinod was the mastermind behind the October 2018 attack in Dantewada in which Doordarshan journalist Achyutanand Sahu and two policemen were killed. In 2015, Vinods team blew up an anti-landmine vehicle in Cholnar-Kirandul road in Dantewada, killing five jawans. Police learnt that Vinod is a key planner for Maoist activities in Bastar after grilling Sodhi Pojje, who surrendered in 2018. According to Dantewada police chief Abhishek Pallav, Vinods team has 15 Maoists. We suspect Vinod could have been about a couple of kilometres away from the spot where the attack happened, said a deputy superintendent level police officer. Besides a command wire, which suggests the IED was triggered 40 metres away from the spot, police found a GPS device. It (GPS device) is being examined thoroughly to see if locations of more IEDs planted in the area have been fed into it... This attack shows that a GPS device was used to know the exact location of the IED for maximum impact, said the SP. A case has been registered and investigation is on. The Madhya Pradesh police on Wednesday lodged a case against unnamed politicians and bureaucrats in alleged irregularities in e-tendering of contracts worth Rs 3,000 crore, a day after the Income Tax department concluded its raids against persons considered close to chief minister Kamal Nath. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the state police lodged an FIR against unnamed politicians and bureaucrats, employees of five government departments and directors/owners of eight companies for their involvement in alleged Rs 3000 cr e-tendering scam, a police spokesperson said, more a year after the irregularities were reported. According to EOW officials, the scam relates to how some firms allegedly illegally managed to hack the e-procurement portal hosted by the Madhya Pradesh State Electronic Development Corporation (MPSEDC) to see the e-tenders before the bid was to be opened and then make changes in their bids so that the favoured company illegally becomes the lowest bidder and gets the contract. The EOW investigated as many as nine e-tenders, all of which have been cancelled. It was sometime in March, 2018, that some junior officials of Madhya Pradesh Jal Nigam Limited (MPJNL) red-flagged three tenders as a cross mark was appearing next to Document content is modified. This was allegedly overlooked. But when an established technology and engineering firm complained to MPJNL that they had missed on a few bids by surprisingly narrow margins and that they suspected foul play, a probe was ordered. The MPJNL asked the MPSEDC to look into the allegations and they asked Antares Systems Limited, a Bangalore based IT firm that had developed the e-procurement portal along with Tata Consultation Service (TCS), to conduct a Root Cause Analysis (RCA), which means what went wrong and where). Antares in its report on May 5, 2018 submitted that three tenders of rural water supply schemes in Rajgarh and Satna had been tampered with. On May 10, Antares submitted another report in which they said that tenders of six other contracts of the Public Works Department, Water Resources Development and MP Road Development Corporation had been similarly compromised. Based on these reports and also his own internal inquiry, the then managing director of MPSEDC, Manish Rastogi, submitted a report to the state government and all the nine tenders were cancelled. Superintendent of police (SP) Arun Mishra said, The departments in question are Public Works Department, Project Implementation Unit, Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation, Water Resources Department and Madhya Pradesh Jal Nigam, which had floated tenders worth around Rs 3000 cr, between 2013 and 2014, that had been tampered. The companies which benefited from the scam and whose directors/owners have been made accused belong to eight companies. Mishra said cases were registered under the Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forging documents), 471 (using forged documents), 120 B (conspiracy), section 66 of IT Act and section 7 read with 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. EOW director K N Tiwari said the FIR was based on the report given by Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) in which they had identified the terminal/phone used to make the changes, the time the changes were made and the place where they made it. We now have to identify these persons. The CERT gave us report in December and it took three months to file the FIR because we had to match the data with the departments and companies involved in the scam. The EOW officials, familiar with the case, said that most of the changes in the tender documents were made in Bhopal and were invariably made mainly during night, just hours before the opening of the bids. The changes were made through the Demo department which was created in mid-2016 for training and practice for the department officials and bidders. Some of the changes were made in the department offices and in some cases through private offices. The officials involved shared their log in IDs, passwords, e-digital signatures etc with others involved to carry out the scam, the officials said. Reacting to the FIR, MLA and BJP vice-president Rameshwar Sharma indicated that it was vendetta by Congress government, Why did the Congress remember the e-tendering scam just after the I-T raids that has exposed corruption among those who are close to chief minister Kamal Nath. Congress spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi denied vendetta had anything to do with the I-T raids. In any case BJP should not complain because the FIR is based on report by CERT, a central government organisation. No one has been named. If the BJP is not afraid, why is it shouting itself hoarse? The I-T department had conduced raids for three-day against chief minister Kamal Naths officer on special duty Praveen Kakkar, Nath close associate RK Miglani and others associated with them. The I-T department had claimed that documents hinting at money laundering of Rs 281 crore were seized during the raids. The Union home ministry on Wednesday defended the order restricting the civilian traffic movement along the lifeline highway connecting Kashmir with the outside world even as former chief minister Omar Abdullah led protests against the move in the Valley. It said the step that came into effect on Sunday has been taken to ensure safe movement of forces until May 31. The government last week said civilian traffic on the highway would be banned from 4 am to 5 pm every Sunday and Wednesday exclusively for troop movement until May 31. Abdullah who led a sit-in protest against the restrictions at Nowgam in Srinagar, said: There is no need of the ban. The army has said it does not want this ban. It has said they did not demand this ban. ...former army chief General [Ved Prakash] Malik has said it is a dumb idea. We have protested today to tell the government that it should revoke this order and people should be freely allowed to use the highway. Malik called the idea dumb in a tweet and added it goes against the core objective of winning hearts and minds. He asked authorities to weigh its pros and cons. Instead of strengthening local police, intelligence and improving security, the move shows forces becoming over defensive, he added. The ban is another way to suppress people... it is an attack on its [Kashmir]s economy and fundamental rights. I reiterate that we should defy this ban We will see who takes action,said former CM Mehbooba Mufti at Pantha Chowk. Additional security forces were deployed along the highway to impose the restrictions on Wednesday. Magistrates, too, were deployed at separate places on the highway to issue passes to the civilian vehicles exempted from the ban. The exemption is applicable in cases of medical emergencies and for vehicles carrying government employees, lawyers, and tourists. Officials said the restrictions were strict in south Kashmirwhile there was no restriction in Baramulla in view of preparations for LS polls on Thursday. In New Delhi, the ministry said a deliberate and mischievous disinformation was being spread about the restrictions Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 10) The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday has ordered the government to comment on a petition to declare a China-funded loan agreement unconstitutional. The high court, through the Office of the Solicitor General, urged authorities to comment on the Makabayan bloc's petition to temporarily stop the implementation and void the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project, Supreme Spokesman Brian Hosaka announced in a press briefing. The Supreme Court ordered the respondents to file their comments on the petition within 10 days. Members of the Makabayan bloc on April 4 asked the high court to issue a temporary restraining order on the the multi-billion project, which had been critics have tagged as "onerous." The petitioners, led by senatorial candidate Neri Colmenares, said the loan deal has a confidentiality clause that violates the public's constitutional right to information on foreign loans contracted by the government. Colmenares earlier said the irrigation project could turn out to be a "disaster" for the Philippines. The project broke ground in June 2018, and was among six bilateral agreements signed in April last year. Malacanang vows to respond Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo assured the Palace will respond "properly" to the judiciary's order. "We will always respect whatever the other branches do or perform following the Constitutional directives to each branch. So we will respond to the petition," Panelo told reporters in Malacanang. The spokesman, however, defended the constitutionality of the loan agreement. "The loan agreement has passed through many channels. There had been many reviews and evaluations, we feel that it's not in violation of the Constitution as alleged by the petitioner,"Panelo noted. The petitioners' camp meanwhile welcomed the directive from the high court. "We still hope that the Court issues a temporary restraining order or an injunction to prevent the government and China from enforcing the loan agreement," Colmenares said in a statement later in the day. "We also urge the respondents to immediate comply with the Court's ruling given the far-reaching implications of this and other loan agreements on our people." An open review of China loans On the other hand, the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) urged the government to open the review of contracts with private firms and foreign entities to civil society groups. FDC President Rene Ofreneo said the public should be involved in the review of government contracts for transparency. He said the FDC is particularly interested in reviewing loan agreements with China because of the supposedly onerous provisions they contain. "Although sinasabi nila [they're saying] the debt-to-GDP (gross domestic product) ratio is low, but the way we are accumulating loans is so fast and so big. That's what happened in the 1970s under (former President Ferdinand) Marcos," Ofreneo said. Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio earlier warned China could seize the natural gas deposits in Recto Bank if the Philippines fails to pay its US$62 million loan for the Chico River irrigation project. Ofreneo warned the government's policy of borrowing money from foreign lenders could result in a smaller budget for social services as the administration prioritizes the repayment of loans. President Rodrigo Duterte had ordered the review of existing government deals with other countries, to remove provisions that may prove to be burdensome to the Philippines. CNN Philippines Correspondent Anjo Alimario contributed to this report. Last month, Pritzker unveiled a plan he says would generate $3.4 billion in new annual revenue by raising rates dramatically on the wealthiest 3 percent of taxpayers and giving everyone else a modest tax cut. Most of the new revenue an estimated $2.7 billion would come from taxing those who earn more than $1 million per year at 7.95 percent of their total income. The current rate is 4.95 percent for all taxpayers. This week on Grand Tamasha, Milan Vaishnav (Director of the South Asia programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) chats with Sadanand Dhume (Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute and Wall Street Journal columnist). In a recent column, Sadanand writes that an outcome that appeared uncertain a few months ago looks exceedingly likely: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, is poised to win a second term. Milan speaks with Sadanand about his recent trip to western Uttar Pradesh and the on-the-ground pro-Modi sentiment he found there. The two also discuss a recent column Sadanand penned on the BJPs worrying majoritarian rhetoric and Milans recent Washington Post op-ed on why voters are searching for an excuse to back Modi. Then, Milan speaks with Snigdha Poonam, national affairs reporter for the Hindustan Times, on her series on first-time voters. Each week, Snigdha and her colleagues profile a first-time voter across India and document their perspective on the 2019 race and what influences their vote. Milan and Snigdha talk about how young voters view PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi, and Indias economic travails. They also speak about Snigdhas acclaimed book, Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing Their World, and the aspirations and anxieties that animate Indias youth. Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was avoiding a debate on the Rafale issue though he had been challenging him to engage with him almost every day in view of open corruption in the aircraft deal. I have been challenging Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a debate on the issue almost every day. Narendra Modiji, I am challenging you again directly..... There has been corruption in the Rafale deal Lets debate corruption. People want to know about corruption, demonetisation and the son of BJP president Amit Shah. We will have a debate with love. India wants to know about the Rafale deal. I want to tell countrymen that there is open corruption in the Rafale deal Chowkidar does not want a debate. Chowkidar has indulged in theft, said Gandhi. He was speaking to reporters soon after filing his nomination papers for the Amethi Lok Sabha seat at the district collectorate compound in Gauriganj, the district headquarters of Amethi. If the PM debates the issue with me, he will not be able to see eye-to-eye with the people of the country, he said. Referring to the Supreme Courts decision to reject the Centres objections over admissibility of the leaked documents cited by petitions seeking a review of the Rafale verdict of December 2018, Rahul Gandhi said, Its a day of joy. The Supreme Court has done justice today. Rahul Gandhi also referred to the PMs assertions (in an interview) about the Supreme Court, giving a clean chit on the Rafale issue and said the SC had now accepted that there might be corruption in the deal. The Supreme Court has accepted that there is some or other corruption in the Rafale deal I have been saying this. If there is an investigation into the Rafale deal, two names will come up Narendra Modiji and Anil Ambaniji. I am very happy. I have been saying this for months that the Prime Minister has taken Air Force money and given Rs 30,000 crore to Anil Ambani. The Supreme Court has accepted this. The SC now wants to look into the issue, said the Congress president. The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside the Centres objection that leaked Rafale papers could not be used to seek a review of the top courts December verdict. The top court ruling clears the decks for the judges to hold detailed hearings on merits of the review requested by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, and lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan. In its December verdict, the court had rejected demands for a court-monitored probe into the deal to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets Arun Shourie, who was in the Supreme Court when Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi read out the three-judge benchs unanimous decision, later told reporters he was delighted. The former minister said if the ruling had gone against them, the review petition would have collapsed. Our argument was that because the documents relate to defence and you must examine them. You asked for these evidence and we have provided it. Shourie said. But he wasnt the only one reacting to the top courts order. The opposition moved in swiftly to use the court order to hammer away at the NDA government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Congresss chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala was among the first to take a swipe. Modiji, you can run and lie as much as you want, But sooner or later the truth comes out. The skeletons in #RafaleScam are tumbling out one by one. And now there is no official secrets act to hide behind, Surjewala said in his tweet attack. Congress boss Rahul Gandhi picked up from where his party spokesperson had left. I thank Supreme Court Justice has been done, he said soon after filing his nomination form for the Amethi seat in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress president also dared PM Modi to a debate on corruption. If he does, Rahul Gandhi said, he will not be able to eye to eye with the people of country. During the arguments in court earlier, the Centres top lawyer KK Venugopal had accused the petitioners of jeopardizing Indias national security by using secret papers that at one point, he said, had been stolen from the defence ministry. After the opposition pummeled the government for its failure to secure official documents, the lawyer stressed that the document wasnt missing from its files but had been photocopied from the originals. The Centre had also argued that the three sets of documents presented a selective and incomplete picture of internal secret deliberations on Rafale deal. But the governments top lawyer faced many questions from the court that pointed to a clause in the RTI Act that overrides the colonial-era Official Secrets Act and wondered if the government intended to take shelter under national security when the allegation is of grave crime or corruption. Also Read : Without Rafale, how can we resist F-16s: Centre to Supreme Court At another hearing last month, the Centre had also urged the judges to exercise restraint in observations on the procurement of Rafale fighter jets, underlining that every statement by the Supreme Court will be used to target either the government or the opposition. Venugopals cautionary note to the judges had come at a time the Rafale deal is at the heart of the opposition campaign against government ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress-led opposition alleges malfeasance in the purchase to buy 36 fighter jets in an overpriced deal, a charge that the government denies. The Narendra Modi government signed an agreement with France in 2016 for the purchase of Rafale fighter jets. Under the 59,000-crore deal, French firm, Dassault Aviation will supply 36 Rafale fighter jets to India in flyaway condition. The delivery will begin from September this year. The draconian National Security Act should be scrapped, journalist Kishorchandra Wangkhem said after he walked out of Manipur Central Jail in Sajiwa after spending around four and a half months in detention. The Manipur High Court quashed the NSA detention order on April 8. This kind of law has no place in a democracy. It should be scrapped, Wangkhem told HT on phone. Slapping NSA on me was absolute misuse of power and suppression of my rights to freedom of speech and expression. It was a manifestation of autocratic rule of the present government, he said. Wangkhem (39) who worked with a local news channel in Imphal was detained on November 27 under the NSA. On November 26, a chief judicial magistrate had granted him bail after he was first arrested for sedition on November 20 saying that there was nothing seditious in his posts. They slapped NSA even after the Courts order with the sole motive of suppressing my voice and keeping me behind bars, Wangkhem said. Wangkhem was arrested on November 20 after he uploaded videos criticizing and abusing the BJP-led Manipur government for observing the birth anniversary of Rani of Jhansi. Wanghkem, in the videos said Rani of Jhansi had nothing do with Manipur and called Chief Minister N Biren Singh a puppet of the Centre and Hindutva. He had been arrested once earlier in August for alleged communal posts on social media. In January Congress president Rahul Gandhi had written a letter to Wangkhems family calling his arrest an attempt by the State machinery to silence dissent. Wangkhem says he fears that he could be targeted again. But after the support that I received in the last four months, they would certainly think twice, he said. The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the governments objection over admissibility of the leaked documents cited by petitioners seeking review of Rafale verdict of December 2018. The top court has allowed use of the documents in admitting the review petition filed by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, and lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan. The government had argued that the plea for review of the Rafale verdict was not maintainable as it was based on documents, which were covered under the Official Secrets Act. The Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, in a unanimous decision, has held that it would consider the papers while examining the review petition. CJI Gogoi stated the review petition would be considered on the basis of the three documents whose admissibility was questioned. Watch: HT Poll Conversations: Balakot, Rafale or Jobs what will be 2019 decider? Justice KM Joseph, the other judge on the bench, also concurred with the conclusion but offered different reasons for allowing the leaked documents. Also read: Secret documents in Rafale review plea jeopardize national security: Centre to Supreme Court Petitioner Arun Shourie said he was delighted by the Supreme Courts unanimous verdict dismissing Centres argument on admissibility of documents. The Supreme Court on December 14 had rejected a petition seeking independent probe into the Rafale deal. The petitioners had alleged fiscal malfeasance and commercial favouritism in the Rafale deal. The court had then rejected the plea for a probe and ruled out commercial favouritism in its judgment. Pakistan is prepared to talk to whoever comes to power in Indias general election to work towards the normalisation of bilateral relations and to move things forward from where they had stopped, information minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Tuesday. Diplomatic channels that were used to reduce tensions in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack remain operational, albeit in the backdrop, he said in an interview. However, the Pakistani leadership believes there will be no forward movement until Indias election process is completed, he added. The remarks by Chaudhry, considered to be close to both Prime Minister Imran Khan and Pakistans military leadership, came against the backdrop of foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshis contention over the weekend that India was hatching a new plan for aggression against Pakistan during April 16-20. India had dismissed Qureshis remarks as an attempt at whipping up war hysteria and a call to Pakistan-based terrorists to undertake a terror attack. Asked about Qureshis comments, Chaudhry, who spoke in a mix of Urdu and English, replied: I think the foreign minister referred to the statement of Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, that he has given the entire authority for all actions to the military. From that, he inferred that if this authority has been given, it could be misused at any time. He said Islamabad is looking towards engaging with the new dispensation in New Delhi after the completion of the Indian elections. Pakistan hopes the election process is completed peacefully and whichever government comes to power, we will sit with them and see how things can moved forward. It is obvious that the atmosphere that developed post-Pulwama and the tensions are not in the interests of the people or the region, he said. Its important to bring it down and to start the process and take it forward from where it had stopped, but for that we have to wait for the Indian election. In the aftermath of the Pulwama attack that was claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, India has linked any possible resumption of talks with Pakistan taking immediate, credible and verifiable action against terrorist groups based on its soil Chaudhry said diplomatic channels are being used to address bilateral tensions. Even in the peak of tensions, the channels were being used and the diplomatic channels are in the backdrop...The high commissioners are in their places...But the way in which a war frenzy has been created in India, especially in the media, that leads to fears but things are moving on, he said. However, he contended that the post-Pulwama tensions had not been adequately addressed on the Indian side. From the Pakistani side, there never was any war frenzy. We tried to reduce the retaliation, we have actually behaved very responsibly. So this is not our issue, and we should see whether the war frenzy in India has lessened, he said. Chaudhry described Islamabads plan to release 360 Indian prisoners who had completed their sentences as a reflection of the desire to normalise ties with India. This shows the Pakistani intention of normalisation with India and we will continue this policy, he said. He expressed disappointment at the recent death of Pakistani prisoner Shakirullah during a brawl in Jaipur Central Jail in February. The prisoners body had been handed over to Pakistani authorities on March 2. We have shown magnanimity and the day we released (Wing Commander) Abhinandan (Varthaman), the next day a Pakistani prisoners body was handed over to us. But despite that, the atmosphere in Pakistan has remained calm, has been kept calm, he said, referring to the release of the Indian Air Force pilot whose MiG-21 jet was shot down in an engagement along the Line of Control on February 27. Islamabad, Chaudhry said, will also continue its efforts to operationalise the Kartarpur Corridor connecting Dera Baba Nanak in India with Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan in time for the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak in November. The government in Indias Punjab state, he said, has shown non-seriousness on the Kartarpur Corridor sometimes they say one thing, then they say something else. He added, I think apparently the keenness that we should have seen is not there. Lets see after the elections, what position the next government takes on this issue. I think the Punjabis in India, since they arent relevant in the power paradigm...thats why there is a problem. Otherwise, its a historic occasion and Pakistan will take this forward in every way. The day begins early in Suravaripalli. Shortly after dawn, young men leave for construction sites along the highway connecting Vijayawada and Guntur, where they will work for the next 12 hours building condominiums and office buildings. The women cook for the day before heading to work in the cotton fields that ring the village in Andhra Pradeshs Prakasam district. Last Sunday, the routine was broken as adults and children gathered outside the local school to see a new candidate campaign for election. Dressed in a white shirt and black trousers, he set off from a cluster housing the Dalit Christian population of the village photos of BR Ambedkar jostled for space with Jesus Christ portraits-- as an auto rickshaw covered with blue flexes of Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram, Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule blared out Jai Bhim and other political slogans. Trailing him was a small group of men who distributed pamphlets to each household. Vijaya Kumar Pedapudi, do we know his age, a doctoral student of political science at the University of Hyderabad (UoH), is fighting for election to the Andhra Pradesh assembly constituency from Parchu where he confronts two political heavyweights. Elections to the Lok Sabha the assembly will take place simultaneously in Andhra Pradesh on 11 April. Pedapudi was one of five students expelled from their hostel by the university administration in November 2015 following allegations of violence involving an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) student. The students, all of whom were Dalits, then set up camp in the square outside the university shopping complex, and their protest went unnoticed for months until one of them, Rohith Vemula, committed suicide and left a poignant note, which sparked protests across India and prompted a national debate on caste-based discrimination on Indian campuses. Pedapudi says little changed in the contours of caste bias, forcing him to take the electoral plunge as a candidate of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)- Jana Sena alliance. We have been in student movement for many years but we could not achieve things fully. So I decided that political process is the only way to bring justice for the poor and marginalised, he says. Pedapudis election affidavit says he is unemployed and doesnt hold any cash, or agricultural land. The son of poor farm labourers in Mupalla village of Prakasam district. Pedapudi says the decade he spent at UoH showed him the limitations of student politics. People look for some sensation, but if we are losing sensation, they wont support us. This is what happened to the Rohith movement; when he died, we got massive support but not for long, he says, referring to their demands for the arrest of those responsible for caste-based discrimination against Vemula and the enactment of an umbrella law against caste bias on campuses. His campaign is dependent on crowdfunding, on the lines of the more-publicised campaign of Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Kanhaiya Kumar.He says he often faces bias on the campaign trail. People say, oh he is Dalit, he is son of poor parents, how dare he dream of becoming an MLA?. He comes from a low caste, how can he represent Parchur? They think if someone wants to be a lawmaker, they need to be upper-caste. But he refuses to back down. Us marginalised people remain as voters, our young boys are given R 500 to become political coolies. But we dont realise that the elected government affects us marginalised sections the most. We have to capture political power, which, as Babasaheb said, is the master key, he adds. Tough Fight Among Pedapudis main opponents in Parchur is the sitting MLA from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Y Sambhasiva Rao and the YSR Congress partys Daggubati Venkateswara Rao, the son-in-law of former chief minister NT Rama Rao. Both are waging high-profile campaigns. But his fight is more symbolic than about winning or losing, especially because he is fighting from an unreserved constituency. In India, it is almost a given that unreserved constituencies are reserved for upper castes. I wanted to break that idea, he says. At the heart of Parchur lies the village of Karamchedu, which in 1985 witnessed a brutal massacre of Dalit families by upper-caste Kamma men after a dispute over the local well. It triggered national outrage that culminated in the watershed Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act four years later. For a young Dalit person to fight for electoral power at the site of caste brutality is an important symbol, say experts. His candidature is important because it shows that student movements are not sufficient, especially because social movements have slowly wilted with the onslaught of globalization. The way out for the Dalits is to follow Ambedkars notion of using the state, and to gain political power, said Ramudu Sreepati, a professor at the Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy at UoH. Pedapudi belongs to the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA), a group that was set up in 1993 in the UoH by marginalised caste students to be their voice. Over the next 25 years, ASA became the face of Dalit aspiration and progress in the face of institutional hostility and structural biases. But the death of Vemula, who was also an ASA member, and the stumbling of the movement may have underlined its limits. You cannot wage a war for long. The lessons from the Rohith movement is why Pedapudi joined politics, Sreepati added. Turmoil On Campus Pedapudis electoral plunge comes at a time of churn at the university. After eight years, the ABVP swept the student council elections in 2018, trouncing a rainbow Dalit-Muslim-tribal alliance and Left parties. ASA and other students continue to protest against the vice-chancellor, Appa Rao Podile, amid tensions between left- and right-wing groups. Both the university and the vice-chancellor have denied accusations of caste bias and instituted an inquiry. In January, protests rocked the campus after the administration demolished the velivada, a temporary structure featuring anti-caste icons set up by Vemula. Then, last month the annual festival was marred by allegations, especially by the Students Islamic Organisation of India, that anti-Islam slogans and chants in support of the Ram temple in Ayodhya were shouted. The ABVP dismisses these charges and says that a structure set up by the body to celebrate soldiers in the Kargil war was also similarly razed. The bigger issue is that some faculty is supporting Naxalite ideology. Yes, caste discrimination exists and what happened to Rohith was wrong but some people are using caste politics for their own benefit. Students have understood how phony their protests were, and that we are fighting for real issues such as food and water in hostels, which is why we won, said Abhishek Malhotra, the president of the ABVP campus unit. The ASA is facing challenges of its own. The only big group not attached to a political party, it draws its workers from Dalit and backward class students, who are themselves often struggling to get ahead in the university. And as a pioneering crop of students, including Vemulas batchmates, get ready to graduate, the group is struggling to find new faces. Most of the first-generation learners are under tremendous mental pressure, and then they see third or fourth generation kids enjoying a life they cannot even imagine. Add to that language bias and being able to afford food, or clothes, or of scholarships coming late. It is difficult to sustain but we are building our own support structures, said Iniyavan, an MPhil student. Unlike in JNU or Delhi University where national issues take precedence, student politics in UoH remain rooted in the local dynamics and regional developments. For us, election is often not the main goal, we have to build community. Every day our students face some discrimination or the other, so our priority is to reclaim this space for the marginalised, said Asha Sasidharan, ASA convenor. Road Ahead Back in Suravaripalli, Pedapudi is clicking a few quick selfies by the side of the road to end his campaign for the day. As the mercury soars, they hunt for coconut water and then an affordable place for the group to have lunch without seriously denting their meagre resources. Sitting in the backseat of the car are Pedupudis friends from the ASA, including Seshu Chemudugunta, another of the five students expelled in 2015. Pedapudi knows his prospects are weak after all, the BSP has never found a footing in Andhra Pradesh, and the YSR Congress party is traditionally strong among sections of the scheduled castes. His friend Murali Ramathoti, a doctoral student in political science, explains what his candidacy means: Five years ago, the first-generation students from our community were Telugu-speaking; now we can study in English. But there is no change in discrimination direct bias has become indirect bias. Our progress still makes our oppressors angry. In such a world, getting an opportunity [like this] is an achievement. Filing the nomination itself was a dream for us. Controversial businessman Vijay Mallya believes he will be made a scapegoat if extradited to India, justice William Davis of the high court has noted, while rejecting this and other grounds to appeal against the home secretarys February 4 extradition order, narrowing the legal options before the former liquor baron. The judges five-page order of April 5 refusing Mallya permission to appeal dismisses various arguments advanced against the December 2018 judgement of chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot of the Westminster Magistrates Court, including claims that India will not comply with obligations under the India-UK extradition treaty. Mallya has until Friday to apply for a hearing in an open court. If applied, it will be heard by a high court judge on a date to be decided based on the courts schedule, but experts believe his legal options to resist extradition have now narrowed. The high courts dismissal of his written application to appeal is a real setback It is unusual for leave to be granted when it has already been refused in writing, said Nick Vamos, former head of extradition at the Crown Prosecution Service, which represents India in UK court hearings. If his oral application is also dismissed, the extradition order becomes final if there is no further legal step that can be taken in relation to the appeal. In practice, this means that the extradition order becomes final automatically once leave to appeal is refused at the oral hearing. Mallya would then have to be returned to India within 28 days, although that period can be extended if there is reasonable cause. However, I would be surprised if the Indian authorities did not have the plane on the tarmac, ready to go, Vamos added. Mallya, once known as the king of good times, flew to the UK in March 2016 as a consortium of banks owed 9,000 crore by his defunct Kingfisher Airlines closed in on him to recover the money. In India, he has been declared a fugitive economic offender. In his application, Mallya raised Indias treaty obligations under specialty the rule that the person sought will be tried only for those offences mentioned in the extradition request, and not for others and argued that the home secretary should have made specific inquiries from India about this. Mallya also raised the issue of gangster Abu Salems extradition to India from Portugal and the alleged breach of specialty in his case, besides claiming that the home secretary was wrong in not ordering his discharge after detailed representations were made. Justice Davis said in his order: There was and is no basis for the secretary of state to make enquiries of the kind suggested. The treaty between the UK and India obliges both states to comply with the rule of specialty. The domestic law in India gives full effect to the rule. The reality of this case is that the Applicant believes that he will be scapegoated once he is returned to India, he said, adding that there was no sufficient basis for the secretary of state to conclude that the government of India will not comply with its specialty arrangements. On Mallyas witness, Lawrence Saez, suggesting that he is being unfairly targeted by both main political parties in India, the order said: This evidence did not begin to explain how the political opinions of the Applicant was the underlying reason for the proposed prosecution. The judge also dismissed the claim of risk of an unfair trial in India: India is a democratic country with an independent judiciary. A great deal more than has been provided in this case would be required to raise even an arguable case that someone in the Applicants position would not receive a fair trial in India. Arbuthnots conclusion that there would be no risk to Mallyas human rights in the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai was challenged on the grounds that it was based on Indias sovereign assurances; instead, it was claimed she should have required jail inspection by an independent expert. The order dismissed this claim too: India has had extradition arrangements with this jurisdiction for many years. There is a presumption of good faith inherent in the extradition relationship between the two countries. In this case, there may be good evidence of the general conditions in the prison in which the Applicant will be held but it is not pertinent given the assurances given as to the particular area in which the Applicant will be housed. Those assurances were very detailed, justice Davis said. The order also rejected claims that Arbuthnot made an error of principle in her approach while deciding whether Mallya had a prima facie case to answer in relation to bank loans taken by Mallya and his Kingfisher Airlines, and their alleged default. There was evidence that: the information provided by the company was not accurate; the loans were misapplied very shortly after the funds were received by the company; the Applicant acted dishonestly once the companys true position became apparent, the order said. Besides extradition, Mallya is facing legal action in the UK launched by the consortium of Indian banks that extended loans. Due to changes in law since 2015 that limit the home secretarys discretion in extradition cases, Mallya now has fewer options. Exceptional events can occur after all appeals have been dismissed, which would make extradition incompatible with the requested persons human rights for example, if his health severely deteriorates, said Vamos of law firm Peters and Peters Solicitors. The law is now clear that, in this event, the case will go back to the high court rather than the decision being for the home secretary. Mallya would have to establish that the issue arises as a result of a supervening development or event and provide a reasonable explanation why the issue was not anticipated at the extradition hearing or on any appeal. Both the home secretary and the courts will be vigilant to any attempts to use these provisions as delaying tactics, he added. Three Congress legislators, including prominent backward community leader Aplesh Thakor, on Wednesday resigned from the party in a move that could dent its prospects in the coming Lok Sabha elections in the state. However, denying rumours that they were joining the states ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the three said they would ask the speaker to consider them independent lawmakers. The anti-defection law is not applicable if an MLA becomes an unattached member in the House. In other words, it means they are equivalent to independent legislators. Thakor joined the Congress just before the 2017 assembly elections and had won from Radhanpur assembly constituency. He was also appointed secretary and given the responsibility of handling the Bihar unit of the party . Gujarat Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil is the All India Congress Committee State in-charge of Bihar. Along with Thakor, Bayad legislator Dhavalsinh Zala and Vav legislator Geniben Thakor also resigned from the Congress. Neither we will resign from the assembly nor will we join the BJP. Now onwards, we can be considered as independent MLAS in the state assembly, said Thakor, soon after sending his resignation letter to Gujarat Congress chief Amit Chavda. In his resignation letter, the 43-year-old lblamed the Congress for betraying his community. I cannot be in the party that neglected and betrayed my community, he wrote in his letter to the party. I can fairly claim that of 77 seats the Congress won in the 2017 assembly elections, the Thakor Sena played important role in 33 seats. Despite that, the Sena members have not been included even in taluka and district level Congress bodies. Chavda said, I will give any reaction only after talking to Alpesh. Thakor has been under pressure to quit from the Kshatriya Thakor Sena, the group that he had once founded and which served as the launch pad of his political career. Hours before news of his resignation came, there were reports that the group had given him a 24-hour ultimatum to leave the Congress. Since July 2018, seven Congress MLAs, including these 3 Thakor leaders, have left the Congress. The other four --- Kunwarji Bawaliya, Asha Patel, Purshottam Sabariya and Jawahar Chavda --- have joined the BJP. The Congress now has 69 legislators in the 182-member assembly, compared to the BJPs 101. Thakors exit has been speculated for months. But the Gujarat legislator insisted that he was upset with the party but not on his way out. By sending their resignation letter to the Congress state president and not the assembly speaker, the three have left the door open for their return. The backward community leaders resignation may help the BJP, which has been trying to woo Thakors OBC community which accounts for 12% of Gujarats over 60 million population. The BJP already has Congress turn-coat Kunwarji Bawaliya, who is considered influential leader of Kolis, another prominent OBC community that accounts for 22% of Gujarats population. All 26 Lok sabha seats in Gujarat go to the polls on April 23. Alpesh has been trying to prove that without Thakor Sena, the Congress will break apart. The BJP is likely to take him in the party fold, but only after Lok Sabha elections are over. At the same time, the BJP may offer him a cabinet berth that he is probably eyeing, said political analyst Nayna Doshi. The Election Commission on Wednesday told the producers of PM Narendra Modi, a biopic on the prime minister, not to release the film in view of the Lok Sabha elections. You are directed not to exhibit the film till further orders, the EC said. The biopic on PM Modi was scheduled to release tomorrow. The poll panels order came hours after it banned screening of biopics on political leaders that could alter the level-playing field during elections. The commission also decided to set up a committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to look into complaints on this topic. The EC said any film that subserves purpose of any political entity or individual should not be displayed in the electronic media including movie halls. The first phase of the Lok Sabha elections starts Thursday. The biopic on PM Narendra Modi has been the most-talked about in this election season. But the election commission order made it clear that it had received complaints against others as well, particularly NTR Laxmi and Udyama Simham. Watch: Narendra Modi biopic: Weve made a film with honesty, says Vivek Oberoi The EC order comes just hours after the censor board cleared the biopic on PM Modi and the Supreme Court declined to get involved. The top court had told the petitioners that the Election Commission was the right forum to intervene if the movie was going to influence voters in violation of the model code of conduct. Sandip Singh, the producer of the biopic, promptly thanked the judges for what he described as the much deserved justice and timed its release to coincide with the first phase of voting on Thursday. Also read: Supreme Court dismisses plea against release of biopic on PM Modi The petition in the Supreme Court had sought deferment of the biopics release till the completion of the coming Lok Sabha polls, alleging that it was designed to manipulate, influence and impress viewers and voters. Congress, the main opposition party, said the film was flattering of Modi and had slammed the timing of its release. It had lobbied for the movie - which tells PM Modis story journey from his days selling tea at a train station - be put on hold until voting in the elections ends on May 19. The commission, in its order said it was vital that the power of media is not used in such a manner which affects the general conduct of the elections. This is something many of us have been working on for the better part of a decade, and it is long overdue, said state Sen. Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat whos sponsoring the proposed amendment. It is not a radical departure. It is, in fact, the common tax practice in most every other jurisdiction, and I believe that it will give us some nimbleness in our tax policy to allow us to close our structural deficit and begin to tackle the problems that Illinois faces. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has hit out at the Congress for criticising raids by the Income Tax Department in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh dubbing them as political vendetta by the Narendra Modi government in the wake of the Lok Sabha elections. In his latest blog, Jaitley said public funds were being siphoned off in both Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh inviting searches by the income tax authorities. In the public space evidence has come in relation to Karnataka where allocations made for public welfare to the Public Works Departments were being round-tripped by engineers for a political purpose. In Madhya Pradesh, an institutional mechanism has been created where money that is meant for development and social welfare of the weaker sections are now being channeled into politics, wrote Jaitley in his blog. Jaitley said money meant for the most vulnerable section of the society is siphoned out. They do not even spare those who live in destitution. This is the hypocrisy of Indian politics. After inflicting such injustice they have the audacity to speak of Nyay, said Jaitley taking a swipe at the Congresss poll promise of rolling out a minimum income guarantee scheme if the party is voted to power in the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress has been leading the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections with the promise of providing cash support of 72,000 a year to poorest 5 crore families. The scheme, the Congress has said, will benefit about 25 crore individuals in the poorest families of the country. The Congress is in power in both Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh where the income tax raids have been recently carried out. The tax raids have turned into a huge political row particularly after the Election Commission announced the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls and the Model Code of Conduct came into force on March 10. Several raids on people connected to political leaders including Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath and cabinet ministers of the HD Kumaraswamy government of Karnataka have been conducted by the central agencies during the period of poll code. Opposition parties including the Congress have alleged that the Modi government is targeting the rival parties for political reasons in the election season. The complaints by the Opposition leaders were followed by the poll body directing the finance ministry to ensure that the actions by the tax officials are neutral, impartial and non-discriminatory. Jaitley has countered the Oppositions objections saying, It has become a routine practice to call any action against corruption as political vendetta. Claim of vendetta has never been a legitimate defence in corruption. Those who commit such large acts of corruption have to be judged on the merits of the action itself. The Union finance minister said the state governments of Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh have not replied to the allegations on merits. An argument is being given by them as to why they are being singled out and their political rivals are not being searched. Is there a Right to Equality that no action can be taken till the opponents are charged, he wrote in his blog. Soon after filing his nomination papers for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Congress president Rahul Gandhi thanked the Supreme Court for rejecting the Centres objections over the admissibility of the leaked documents cited by petitions seeking a review of the Rafale verdict of December 2018. Addressing mediapersons in Amethi, he said, The Prime minister has been claiming that the Supreme Court had given him a clean chit on the Rafale deal. The Supreme Court has clarified and has begun an investigation into the Rafale deal. The Supreme Court has accepted that there was corruption in Rafale and that the Prime Minister has given 30,000 crore to Anil Ambani, Rahul Gandhi said. If the PM debates the issue with me, he will not be able to see eye-to-eye with the people of the country, Gandhi said. I thank the Supreme Court. Supreme Court has done justice today, Rahul Gandhi said. Earlier in the day, the government had submitted that the plea for review of the Rafale verdict was not maintainable as it was based on documents that were covered under the Official Secrets Act. The Supreme Court, while dismissing the governments objection, allowed the use of the documents in admitting the review petition filed by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, and lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan. In its hearing on Wednesday, the Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said that it would consider the papers while examining the petition. On December 14, the Supreme Court had rejected a petition seeking an independent probe into the Rafale deal. Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said after coming to power his party would get the Rafale deal investigated and those found guilty would be punished. Speaking at a public rally in Karandighi under Bengals Raiganj Lok Sabha constituency, the Congress chief lashed out at both Prime Minister Modi and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and asked if any of them had created employment opportunities for the youth. He also took a dig at Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee for alleging that the Congress party was not fighting against the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Lok Sabha polls. Today the Supreme Court said that some scam has taken place in the Rafale deal. The chowkidar is a thief. The chowkidars appearance has changed. The chowkidar is scared, Rahul Gandhi said leaving little doubt regarding who he was targeting. The Congress is going to defeat Narendra Modi in the 2019 elections. After that, there will be an inquiry into the theft of air force funds in the Rafale deal. And I guarantee that those who stole funds will face punishment. No one can escape this, the Congress president said. Though the Congress chief devoted most of his 20-minute speech to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he also lashed out at Mamata Banerjee, who, in a rally in Chopra (under Darjeeling constituency) had alleged that two Congress candidates in Bengal, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Abhijit Mukherjee were getting help from the RSS. Emphasising that the Congress was unwavering in its opposition to the BJP, Rahul Gandhi said, She (Mamata Banerjee) is alleging that the Congress is not fighting against the BJP. Let me ask you, did the Congress ever join hands with the BJP, anywhere, at any point of time? Did the Congress ever strike an alliance with BJP? No, never. But Mamata Banerjee did, didnt she? Incidentally, the TMC that was set up on January 1, 1998 was a part of the National Democratic Alliance for most part of its first 10 years. Who first raised the slogan chowkidar chor hai? Who instilled fear in the mind of the chowkidar? Look at him now. He is scared. We have changed the appearance of the chowkidar, Rahul Gandhi said. The Congress president also said that after coming to power they would focus on creating a network of government hospitals and educational institutions. Alleging that the Narendra Modi government had failed to create employment opportunities in the country, Rahul Gandhi slammed the TMC government in the state on the same issue. Incidentally, in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Congress won 9.69% votes and four seats in Bengal. However, it is facing a tough contest from the TMC and BJP to retain its tally in the state. Wednesdays rally in Raiganj was the second public meeting of the Congress president in Bengal, after the election dates were announced on March 10. Addressing a rally in Chanchal in Malda district on March 10, Rahul Gandhi had accused the Bengal chief minister of running the state according to her whims. He alleged that Mamata Banerjee did not consult anybody and only functioned according to her whims and proceeded to accuse her of doing nothing for the youth and farmers. Union home minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday that statements by a few political leaders on a separate prime minister for Kashmir showed their frustration and desperation, adding that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was committed to its stand on Article 370 and Article 35A. Singh was reacting to recent remarks by National Conference leader Omar Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti that warned against the abrogation of Article 370 and annulment of Article 35A. If you are talking about two prime ministers in the country, what options are left before us than taking a call on abrogation of article 370 or repealing 35A? Singh said in an interview to Hindustan Times. Singh said the statements by a section of Kashmir-based parties showed their frustration and desperation. We have a clear view on these matters, and we are committed to implementing it, irrespective of what some political parties have to say, he added, referring to the promises made in the BJPs election manifesto. While Article 370 of the Constitution grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Article 35A provides special rights and privileges to the permanent residents of the state. Jammu and Kashmir Congress president Ghulam Ahmad Mir said: The BJP has nothing to offer to the people and now they are raking these issues. Our party has given the Article 370 and we are going to defend it at all the costs. At an election rally in Maharashtras Vidarbha earlier, Singh said that if former prime minister Indira Gandhi could be praised for the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, PM Narendra Modi too deserved appreciation for avenging the Pulwama terror attack. Launching an attack on the Congress, Singh said: The brave dont count bodies, only vultures do. On February 26, the Indian Air Force launched an attack on a terror camp in Pakistans Balakot, days after a suicide bombing in Kashmirs Pulwama killed 40 troopers of the Central Reserve Police Force. The ruling BJP and the Congress have been engaged in a verbal duel over the air strike, with the opposition party accusing the government of politicising a military action. When Indira Gandhi divided Pakistan and created Bangladesh in 1971, our leader, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, stood and praised her in Parliament. Why cant the Congress show similar gesture towards Modi after the Balakot strike? Rajnath asked at the rally in Chandrapur, where he sought votes for Union minister Hansraj Ahir. [After Balakot] India is no longer treated as a weak nation. At a separate election meeting in Amaravati, Singh said he was surprised at the way some people in India were upset after the Balakot strike. Singh said the action was carried out with utmost care and was targeted at terrorists. We didnt kill innocent people or army men in Pakistan. We targeted terrorists who carried out [the Pulwama terror] attack. India has never been expansionist. He said there is a change in the way in how New Delhi functions, and after the Pulwama incident, PM Modi asked forces to avenge the death of CRPF personnel within 15 days. It was done within 13 days, Singh added. We dont trouble anyone, but if someone troubles us, we dont spare them, he said. Earlier in Chandrapur, Singh hit out at the Congress over its promise to scrap the sedition law. Shouldnt the law take its own course against those who want to divide India? What does the Congress want to achieve? Please save the country from these people, he said. The home minister also said there was a Modi wave across the country and that even rival leaders such as Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party have sensed it and predicted the return of the Modi government. Pawar saheb knows that Congress is not going to win, and has already deserted the battlefield, the home minister said, referring to Pawars announcement last month that he would not contest the Lok Sabha polls. Singh also criticised the Congresss poll promise of providing 72,000 every year to poor families, and called it an eyewash. They [Congress] have put conditions such as you get benefit of this scheme only if your income is less than 12,000. It has promised to only provide for amount that is short of 12,000. If a family has an income of 11,500, then such families will only get 500. This is an eyewash. They can afford to do this because they know they are not going to come to power, Singh said. The home minister also talked about issues raised in the BJPs election manifesto such as universal income support to farmers, pension to the agrarian community and small businessmen. Campaigning for the Shiv Sena candidate, Anandrao Adsul, Singh said in Amaravati that the alliance with the Maharashtra based party was unbreakable. Alliance is not a compulsion for us, it is our commitment, Singh said, referring to the Sena which had a bittersweet relationship with the BJP before announcing a seat sharing plan in February. Of the 48 seats in Maharashtra, the BJP will contest in 25 seats and the Sena in 23. People were predicting that BJP and Sena will part ways, but I used to tell people that god has created these two parties to stay together and they will stay together. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Election Commission has taken cognizance of Prime Minister Narendra Modis remarks asking first-time voters to dedicate their vote to those who carried out the air strike in Balakot, and has sought a report from poll officials in Maharashtra. Sources in the poll panel said Tuesday that the chief electoral officer of Maharashtra has been asked to submit a report at the earliest. Addressing a rally in Ausa in Mahrashtras Latur, Modi said, Can your first vote be dedicated to those who carried out the air strike. I want to tell the first-time voters: can your first vote be dedicated to the veer jawans (valiant soldiers) who carried out the air strike in Pakistan). Can your first vote be dedicated to the veer shaheed (brave martyrs) of Pulwama (terror attack), Modi said. The report has been sought in the context of an EC advisory issued last month asking parties to desist from indulging in political propaganda involving actions of the armed forces. ...parties/candidates are advised that their campaigners/candidates should desist, as part of their election campaigning, from indulging in any political propaganda involving activities of defence forces, the commission had said on March 19. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.) RJD president Lalu Prasad, serving jail term in fodder scam cases of 1990s, on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on the Narendra Modi government saying that it is pursuing a divisive agenda to stay in power. Prasad, who released a letter on Twitter from Ranchi jail, alleged that the Modi government has tried to scrap reservation in jobs. He said the Lok Sabha election is a do or die fight for those working to protect constitution. This is a nautanki (pretentious) government. It wants to enslave you by saying that there is a threat to the nation, threat to Hindus or sometimes, there is threat to economy, he said. Prasads letter has come a day ahead of the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls beginning April 11. A total of 91 Lok Sabha constituencies across 20 states will vote in the first phase of the national election on Thursday. Prasad blamed the rival political forces acting with vested interest for his conviction in the fodder scam case. Prasads Rashtriya Janata Dal is leading the grand-alliance in Bihar against the ruling coalition of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Janata Dal-United and Lok Janshakti Party. The RJD is in alliance with the Congress and the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party of Upendra Kushwaha, who had contested the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 as NDA constituent. The NDA had won 31 seats in 2014 Lok Sabha polls in Bihar when the JD-U of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had snapped ties with the BJP. Later, Prasad and Kumar buried their differences to stitch a grand-alliance against the NDA, which suffered massive defeat in the assembly election in 2015. The victory of the grand-alliance was largely credited to Lalu Prasad, who revived his RJD in Bihar. In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the RJD is being led by Prasads younger son Tejashwi Yadav. Bihar votes in all seven phases of the Lok Sabha elections. In the first phase, four Lok Sabha seats - Aurangabad, Gaya, Nawada and Jamui go to polls in Bihar. Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases between April 11 and May 19. Counting of votes will take place on May 23. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday invoked Gujarati pride at an election rally in states Junagarh to target the Congress saying that the rival party has always harboured hatred towards Gujarat. PM Modi said the Nehru-Gandhi family of the Congress first targeted Sardar Patel and Morarji Desai before using all kinds of abuses at him. The Nehru-Gandhi family is rattled seeing that this chaiwala has completed five years with full strength, said PM Modi charging the Congress of relegating Sardar Patel to oblivion and engineering the downfall of the Morarji Desai government in 1970s. They faced wrath of the Congress because they belonged to Gujarat, PM Modi said. WATCH: Tughlaq Road Election Scam: Modi swipes at Congress over I-T raids in MP Sardar Patel was a freedom fighter and the first deputy prime minister. Along with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel was among the top leaders of the Congress at the time of Independence and in the first government formed under the Congresss leadership. Desai, rose to prominence as a Congress leader but quit the party in 1970s and led the Janata Party government in post-Emergency period. The prime minister said that the Congress is unnerved at the success of the Modi government over the past five years. He said, One needs to see our track record and their (Congress and its allies) tape record. Our track record is of fight against terror, focus on development, and taking up the cause of the poor. But the Congresss tape record plays only one song, Modi Hatao (Remove Modi). They dont have any other agenda except Remove Modi, said the prime minister adding the Congress is supporting those who want to separate Jammu and Kashmir from India and have a separate prime minister there. The prime minister, delivering most of his speech in Gujarati, made a strong pitch for a repeat of 2014 performance of the BJP, which had won all 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Gujarat will go to the polls for all parliamentary seats in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections on April 23. Elections without political diversity lack colour. In short, the maxim of the more, the merrier applies aptly to this festival of democracy. While major political players slug it out to wrest power, smaller ones join the fray to espouse a cause, be it fulfilling personal ambition or even settling scores with a rival. And nothing illustrates this gung-ho approach of a political outfit better than the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSP-L) floated by Samajwadi Party rebel Shivpal Singh Yadav. Undeterred by the fact that the outfit is just three-month old and does not have a strong cadre, the PSP-L has thrown its hat into the ring not only in Uttar Pradesh but also in 11 other states across the country. Shivpal, who heads the PSP-L, is being termed as a vote katua (vote cutter) by the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party which accuse him of helping the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by hurting the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in UP. Shivpal, however, denies the charge. Our party is a grass roots organisation that has its own following. It is the Samajwadi Party that has compromised with its ideology and has become subservient to the BSP. As for giving the BJP an edge, I can tell you that people will vote for the party that gives a tough challenge to the BJP, he said. Once the most powerful leader in the SP after Mulayam Singh Yadav, Shivpal quit the party after differences with his nephew and former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav. After parting ways, Shivpal formed a political front, Samajwadi Secular Morcha, and later on August 29, 2018, he floated the PSP-L. On January 14 this year, the Election Commission allotted key as the party symbol to PSP-L. The fledgling outfit has decided not to field a candidate from Mainpuri where his brother and SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav is in the fray. Earlier, Shivpal had fielded Sunil Rathore in Kannauj against Akhileshs wife Dimple Yadav but withdrawing from the fray, Rathore did not file his nomination papers. PSP-L is planning to contest on all the remaining 78 Lok Sabha seats in UP. This makes it the biggest outfit contesting on the maximum number of parliamentary seats. While the SP-BSP alliance will together fight on 38 and 37 seats respectively, leaving out three for RLD and two for Congress, the BJP has also conceded two seats to Apna Dal (Anupriya Patel faction). So far, the Congress has declared candidates on 50 seats. LEFT HIGH AND DRY After failing to tie up with the Congress for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Shivpal decided to join hands with little-known regional outfits to form his own political front, the Progressive Democratic Alliance. He has roped in the Peace Party and Apna Dal faction led by Krishna Patel. Even Mulayam has distanced himself from Shivpal. Asked if he would campaign for Shivpal in Firozabad, Mulayam said: Why should I worry who goes to his rally and who doesnt? Why should I bother? I am contesting elections myself and there is a lot of work to do for that. Political observers feel that the division of non-BJP votes due to the presence of too many local outfits would only work to the BJPs advantage no matter what these parties may say. It is unfortunate that secular forces seem determined to defeat the BJP but cannot resolve their differences when it comes to seat-sharing, said Prof Ramesh Dixit, a retired political scientist and currently the state chief of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Personal aspirations seem to have taken priority over national and other important interests and challenges before the country, he added. THE AGENDA So what makes the PSP-L, a one-man party, tick? What does it stand for? Shivpal was known as the SPs organisational man under Mulayam. He was in touch with the SPs cadre all over UP. He now seems to be relying on his outreach to this cadre, and of course, the disgruntled elements not only in SP but outcast and leaders denied tickets by other political parties to queer the pitch for arch-rivals. PSP-L spokesman Deepak Mishra said, Our aim is to stop the BJP from coming to power in the upcoming polls because both the central and state governments have sidelined the youth, farmers and minority communities. We are espousing the cause of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia and Jayaprakash Narayan, the two socialist stalwarts, whose followers are spread all over the country, he said, adding that it was also the reason for contesting in other states. Mishra said his party was still receiving applications from aspirants who wanted to contest on its ticket as they were ardent supporters of Lohia and believed in his legacy. Though not a recognised state-level party as yet, PSP-L, according to its supporters, has certainly set its aim high. We hold the key to government formation, you wait and watch, said Farhat, an office-bearer. Experts, however, say that getting the national or state-level tag from the EC did not come easy. There are only seven nationally recognised parties so far, with the TMC being the latest, and 59 state-level recognised parties, said an official at the UP state election commission. A political party becomes eligible to be recognised as a national party if it wins 2 per cent of seats in Lok Sabha from at least three different states in the latest general election; or in a Lok Sabha or Assembly election it has polled 6 per cent of the total valid votes in at least four states, in addition to winning four Lok Sabha seats; or it has been recognised as a state party in at least four states, he added. AIMING HIGH The PSP-L has announced candidates on 95 parliamentary constituencies in 12 states across the country UP 64 Madhya Pradesh - 8 Odisha 6 Karnataka 5 Bihar 3 Delhi 2 Tamil Nadu 2 Haryana 1 Uttarakhand 1 Jammu & Kashmir 1 Maharashtra 1 Chhattisgarh 1 Jayadev Galla, the Telugu Desam Party MP and the richest candidate in the Lok Sabha elections, has accused the Narendra Modi government of targeting him for political reasons after sleuths of the Income Tax Department conducted raids on Tuesday evening on the chief accountant of a company owned by him. This is nothing short of fascism and it smacks of emergency like situation. Modi is trying to influence the elections by selectively targeting the TDP leaders in Andhra Pradesh, Galla alleged. Tax officials carried out searches on the residence of Gurrappa Naidu, chief accountant working with the Amara Raja Batteries, a company owned by Jayadev Galla, the TDP MP from Guntur. He is the richest candidate in the Lok Sabha polls with declared assets of Rs 683 crore. According to a TDP leader familiar with the development, the Income Tax department authorities conducted the raids in Guntur town at around 6 pm. Naidu was questioned and reportedly detained for six hours. He was allegedly taken to an undisclosed location by the tax officials for questioning. Galla tried to contact Naidu but his phone remained switched off. Immediately, the MP rushed to the chief accountants house and found it locked. Agitated over the development, the TDP leader, accompanied by hundreds of party workers and followers, went to the office of district collector to stage protest. Later, he headed to the local police station to lodge a complaint. He staged a dharna at Pattabhiram junction in Guntur to protest the alleged detention of his company official. The TDP workers raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing him of indulging in witch-hunt of the political rivals. Gall shot into limelight when he made a fiery speech against PM Modi during the no-confidence motion against the NDA government in Lok Sabha in July last year. His speech received wide appreciation on the social media. Following protests, the income tax authorities released the chief accountant at around 11.30 pm. Unconfirmed reports said the authorities had confiscated unaccounted cash of Rs 30 lakh from Naidu. Ahead of the first phase of Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday accused the Congress of funding elections by looting money meant for pregnant women and kids and said nothing will be left if they return to rule India again. Addressing a public rally in Gujarats Junagadh, Modi referred to Income Tax raids in various parts of the country over the last few days and said the cash seized from people linked to the Congress showed that the list of corruption by the opposition party has grown longer. A new name has been added to the list of corruption by the Congress. The identity of the Congress is linked to corruption under many names. Now, a new scam backed with evidence has been added to the account of the Congress and its leaders. It is Tughlaq Road poll scam, Modi said. The Congress has snatched away food from the mouths of poor children. The Congress is grabbing the meal of those children to fill the stomach of its own leaders. The Congress is looting the money allocated for pregnant women (under welfare schemes), the PM added. Junagadh in the heart of Saurashtra, has seven out of Gujarats 26 seats. In the 2017 assembly elections, the BJP lost 14 seats in Junagadh and the nearby Amreli district as its tally in the 182-member House fell to 99, the lowest since 1995. While Patidar agitation coupled with agrarian distress were reasons cited for the BJPs debacle, the PM focused his speech in attacking the Congress over nationalism and corruption. The entire trail of the money where it came from and where it was going its all there in the media. It has not been even six months since the formation of a new government in Madhya Pradesh. Earlier, the Congress had made Karnataka its ATM. Now, they have turned Madhya Pradesh into their ATM. It is likely that the fate of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh wont be any different, he said. Now is the time to save India. Nothing will be left if they return to rule India. Pitching for another term at the centre, Modi said that one needs to see our track record and Congress tape record. Our track record is of fight against terror, focus on development, and taking up the cause of the poor. But their tape recorder plays only one song, remove Modi. They dont have any other agenda, he said. The PM invoked Gujarati pride saying that the Nehru-Gandhi family has always harboured hatred towards Gujarat. There is no abuse that has not been hurled by the Congress at your son, this chowkidar. History is witness to what this family did to Sardar (Vallabhbhai) Patel and Morarji Desai and when my turn came, the family was rattled that a chaiwala completed five years (at the Centre) with full strength, Modi said. In this first rally in Gujarat since the Lok Sabha elections were announced, Modi also attacked the Congress over Jammu and Kashmir and the Balakot air strike. Today the Congress is out to hurt Sardar Patels dream and every Indians sentiments of a united India. The Congress is supporting those who wants to separate Jammu and Kashmir from the countrythey want a separate Prime Minister for J&Kyou tell me whether this country should have two Prime Ministers? Do you think anyone from Gujarat, Bihar or Assam will make such a demand? But the Congress is walking shoulder to shoulder with those who are making such a demand, he added. He further said, What is the reason that time and again the demand for separate nation comes from J&K? The country has left no stone unturned for the development of J&Kthe country has sacrificed its brave sons for the security of J&K peoplethere would not be a single state of India whose son has not martyred on J&K soil to ensure peace and security. Modi took a swipe at Indias first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru for the problems in Kashmir. Sardar Patel united several kingdoms into the country including Junagadh and Hyderabad. Just one issue (of J&K) was left to Nehru and even today it is the reason the blood of soldiers is being spilled. He also reiterated the BJPs charge that the Balakot air strike had hurt the Congress. The Congress is scared after the Balakot air strike. While our soldiers bravely conducted air strike on Pakistan, it caused pain to the Congress in India. You tell me, arent you are satisfied with air strike Should India have done it or not? And do you think this son of Gujarat would have sit back and not done this? Modi said. He accused the UPA government of taking no action against terrorism. Now and then, there were bombings reported in India. Akshardham in Gujarat, Ahmedabad and the Mumbai attack. But no steps were taken by the remote control government for 10 years. Did anyone stop you? You lacked will and strengthbut do not try to be obstacle for the one who wants to do it. And, now we have decided to finish its (terrorism) roots), he said. Modi also lashed out at Congress over its manifesto that calls for reviewing the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and scrapping the colonial-era sedition law. The Congress manifesto, which I call Dhakoslapatra, has all the plans to demoralize the armed force. To support the tukde-tukde gang, they want the sedition law to be scrapped. But between 2015 to 2019 I have brought them almost near to bars and in 2019 they all will be put behind bars, he said. What was approved by the City Council was one tranche of the money, Lightfoot said. The entire portion hasnt been allocated to the developers, nor will it be unless they meet the criteria that we have set for them. And I intend to exercise very tight fiscal control, and I believe we can win some savings in this deal as we go down the road, and thats what were going to be looking for. Arjunlal Meena, a low-profile leader, was a surprise pick for the BJPs MP candidate from Udaipur in 2014. The party was facing difficulty in finding a suitable candidate. Meena who was well-educated and also close to then chief minister Vasundhara Raje got the ticket. Meena, 55, has been fielded again by the BJP and he says he is confident of winning a second term on the basis of the work done by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Arjun Meena has been pitted against his cousin, Congresss Raghubir Meena, in a repeat of the 2014 election contest. In 2014 Arjun Meena had defeated his political rival by more than 3 lakh votes. This time around there were other candidates in the fray for the Lok Sabha ticket. However, Arjun Meenas closeness to former chief minister Vasundhara Raje and his image as an accessible and active leader in his constituency swung things his way. Meena who holds MCom and BEd degrees hails from Masaro ki Obri village of Udaipur district. He was a statistical inspector in the directorate of economics and statistics. He joined the BJP in 2003 and was fielded from the Salumber assembly constituency which he won. He lost the assembly election in 2008 but won the MP election in 2014 from Udaipur. The Udaipur parliamentary constituency comprises eight assembly segments from Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand and Banswara-Dungarpur districts. Being tribal-dominated, the Udaipur constituency has long been plagued by underdevelopment. Several remote villages in the hilly areas do not have roads or electricity. Access to schools, colleges and health centres is a problem. Tribal leaders say both the Congress and the BJP have denied development funds to the tribal areas. The 2019 Lok Sabha elections could see an interesting political battle with traditional rivals BJP and Congress being challenged by the newly formed Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP), which says it has raised the voices of tribal people who have been ignored by both the parties. BTP state president Velaram Ghoghra said, Our fight is for the rights of our people and to preserve our culture. Both parties have used tribals as a vote bank, but then ignored us. Meena, however, differs. It was late Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who as chief minister gave reservation to tribals and former chief minister Vasundhara Rajes government implemented this, he said. Today people in tribal areas have pucca houses, gas cylinders, and toilets. Their condition has improved a lot. The BJP has done what it had promised. We are not asking for votes without having done any work. Asked about anti-incumbency, Meena said he is confident of victory. In the assembly elections, the BJP won seven of eight assembly constituencies in Udaipur. People will vote on the basis of works done by prime minister Narendra Modis government. Regarding his performance, he said he has fulfilled a long-pending demand and established a new passport office in Udaipur. Meena said he also pushed for six-laning of the Udaipur-Ahmedabad national highway, which is a 6500-crore project. I raised the issue in parliament. I put up questions in zero hour and also put up the demand to the minister, he said. Among other works, he cites the Rs750-crore Udaipur bypass project sanctioned and on which work is underway, a new Udaipur-Chittorgarh highway and gauge conversion of the Ahmedabad-Udaipur line at a cost of 2500 crore. He also got established an ESI Hospital with 100 beds capacity in Udaipur. Jaiprakash Mali, an analyst from Udaipur, said Meenas tenure has been a mixed bag. The Udaipur-Ahmedabad and Jhadlo-Khedbrahma national highway projects were sanctioned during the UPA government but funds were released under the BJP government. However work is going slow. He said not much progress has been made on the Udaipur Smart City project either and lack of funds is stalling the project. Mali said the MP had not sanctioned or developed any major water scheme. Tribal areas are largely dependent on agriculture but there is no scheme to cater to the water needs of the area. Maroof Ahmed, a restaurant owner, said Udaipur being a tourist city did not have adequate flight services. There has been a long-pending demand of starting international flights from Udaipur as it is a prominent tourist spot. But we have only got empty assurances so far. Meena claims his performance in parliament has been good. His attendance stands at 86% and he has been active in putting up questions. He asked 358 questions and participated in 82 debates. He says he raised important issues of the constituency such as establishing a high court bench in Udaipur and including Udaipur in B2 category city. He has also demanded a scheme for development of the Ayad River and for conservation of lakes in Udaipur. He sought budget for development of a Sport Complex in Udaipur and setting up a Kendrya Vidyalaya in Kherwada district, Meena says. Interview NH 6-laning, gauge conversion my major works In an interview with HT, Arjun Meena talks about the works he has done for his constituency. Excerpts: Q. What were the high points of your five-year term? A. I have worked for the benefit of the people of Udaipur. Some of my major works were gauge conversion from Udaipur to Ahmedabad, construction of 6-lane Udaipur-Ahmedabad highway, and bringing a passport office to Udaipur. Q. One thing you wished to do as MP but could not. Why? A. I wanted to bring a high court bench to Udaipur as it is one of the major demands of the people. I raised the issue several times in parliament but could not get it passed. If I become an MP again, I will try my best to fulfil this demand. Q. Why should people re-elect you? A.I have worked a lot in favour of people. They have given me their love and respect. I am confident I will win the elections again. Q. How was your experience in parliament? A. It was a satisfying experience. I met many other leaders and got to learn a lot. I was able to contribute to the development of my constituency. The city police have registered a first information report (FIR) against a woman and eight of her family members and known persons who allegedly duped a 30-year-old city trader by getting the woman married to him after posting her profile on a matrimonial website. The police said the woman fled his house after the wedding. Her husband and his family later came to know that she had married other persons too and lodged cases against them. According to police, Arvind Mishra, a divorcee, got in touch with one Pooja Thakur, who had uploaded her profile on a matrimonial website. Her profile mentioned that she, too, was divorced. The man also spoke to her relatives before marrying her a couple of months ago at an Arya Samaj temple in Ghaziabad. After the wedding, we went on vacations and I spent nearly 80,000 on buying gifts for her. She also took 1.2 lakh from me and told me a few days after our wedding that she was going to the market. She never returned. When I searched the website, I found that her profile is still active and she is searching for a man for marriage, Mishra said in his police complaint. He stated that once the woman had told him that she is contesting a case at a court in Gurugram. When I enquired about her, I was told that she had performed several weddings in the past and her group had lodged several cases against the grooms. She also got married to a Delhi-based businessman by terming herself a Muslim. When I reached her address in Delhi, the house was found locked. She is now calling me up and threatening to frame me in a bogus case and is demanding 15 lakh to reach a compromise, the complainant said. The man filed a complaint at the Kotwali police station and also gave police officials details of seven cases lodged by the woman in Haryana, New Delhi, Maharashtra and Punjab, besides documents related to the case in which she had converted and married a Delhi Muslim businessman. The police have registered an FIR against nine persons, including the woman, under IPC sections for cheating, criminal intimidation and extortion on April 7. The woman has a local address in Raj Nagar Extension and they got married at an Arya Samaj temple and stayed in Ghaziabad. The woman left him and is now demanding more money, Shlok Kumar, superintendent of police (city), said. We have come to know that there are several instances in which she had lodged cases against different people and the cases have reached the court. We are investigating the case, the SP added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON This general election may go down in history as one that saw extensive use of popular culture, branding and marketing, image management besides huge spending on advertisements by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. The party was a step ahead of the rest in adopting new modes of public outreach and platforms its use of social media in 2014 is an example but it has over-reached this time. It is highly deplorable that the BJP has used all available platforms to not only propagandise itself but serve a perilous mix of high-pitched nationalism and strongman branding of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Defence actions such as surgical strikes against Pakistan, Pulwama terror attack, Balakot air strike, anti-satellite missile launch are all fair game as election propaganda which they should not be. The juggernaut picked up momentum in the last few weeks with the release of the trailer of PM Narendra Modi an eponymous movie made on the PM and stealth introduction of a television channel Namo TV. Theres also the television series Modi: A Common Mans Journey, flash mobs, embedded publicity in television serials, tea cups in railways and bindi packets bearing Modis mugshot, audio cards displaying Indias military action against Pakistan with Modis voice urging people to vote, and so on. The Election Commission of India seemed asleep at the wheel, content to occasionally issue a mild warning. That changed on Wednesday when the ECI stalled the release of Modis biopic starring Vivek Oberoi and made by Omung Kumar, both with close affiliation to the BJP, on the grounds that any material with the potential to disturb the level playing field during the election should not be displayed. The ECIs order apparently applied also to NaMo TV too. It may be a case of too little and too late given the long rope it has given the ruling party so far. The ECIs partisan conduct prompted nearly 65 retired bureaucrats to complain to President Ramnath Kovind earlier this week. They bemoaned its weak-kneed responses to the onslaught of BJP propaganda and urged the ECI to conduct itself in a manner where its independence, fairness, impartiality and efficiency are not questioned. The ECIs decision to stall the biopic has to be taken at face value but its timing on the eve of its release and first day of polling may have turned the film, its maker and star, PM Modi and his party into victims eliciting sympathy from voters. Oberoi, during his promotional interviews, had the audacity to ask why the film could not be released and film stars work during elections when journalists are allowed to do their job. It would be funny if it were not such a dreadfully ill-informed question. But it isnt only Oberoi or Omung. Bollywoods participation in BJPs propaganda has been extensive with actors, film makers, writers and lyricists openly backing Modi, running down his political rivals especially Congress president Rahul Gandhi, trolling anyone with independent opinions, and aligning their creative work with Modis agenda. The movie Uri: The Surgical Strike, a dramatized retelling of the retaliation of terror strike at Uri in 2016, is an example. Its one-liner hows the josh became an anthem used by Modi, his party colleagues, even defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The space between the reel and real had been erased. Well-known Bollywood personalities like Pahlaj Nihalani, Akshay Kumar, Anupam and Kirron Kher, Paresh Rawal, Prasoon Joshi (of the aap main ek fakeeri hain fame) are known Modi-bhakts. But they and Oberoi see red when a range of other artistes, filmmakers, theatre personalities, writers and poets issued statements in recent weeks urging Indians to oust the BJP government. More than 230 writers, 100 artists, 800 film and theatre personalities have signed different statements so far. The pro-Modi lobby in popular culture seems to be saying: demonstrable support to Modi and/or BJP is all kosher, demonstrable opposition is not. The polarisation which the BJP assiduously nurtured in society is reflecting in Bollywood and popular culture too. Its cynical use of the film industry as part of its propaganda machine should call for self-reflection. Kareena Kapoor Khan is all set to make her TV debut with TV dance reality show, Dance India Dance. Confirming the news, TV actor and model Dheeraj Dhoopar said that he was looking forward to hosting the show and collaborating with the Veere Di Wedding actor. Totally excited and yes, one of the most beautiful and stunning ladies we have. Standing in front of her and hosting is a different excitement. I am looking forward to being on that stage, looking at her and saying a few things, he said. A number of leading choreographers such as Geeta Kapoor, Remo DSouza and Terence Lewis among others have been associated with Dance India Dance in the past. Actor Mithun Chakraborty has often featured in it as the Grand Master, something like a super judge. Also read: Shah Rukh Khan at The University of Law says that if he fails he will be knocked out of a commercial next day Kareena, who just finished shooting for her film Good News with Akshay Kumar, Diljit Dosanjh and Kiara Advani, is expected to begin work soon on two of her upcoming films, Angrezi Medium with Irrfan Khan and Radhika Madan and Karan Johars ambitious historical, Takht. The latter will be a multi starrer and will feature stars like Ranveer Singh, Vicky Kaushal, Alia Bhatt, Bhumi Pednekar, Janhvi Kapoor and Anil Kapoor. Kareena delivered a major hit in 2018 with Veere Di Wedding, her first film after giving birth to her son, Taimur Ali Khan. She also hosts a popular radio show where she chats with celebrities. The actor endorses popular brands and routinely appears in advertisements, her most recent one being for the luggage brand, VIP, for which she shot with her husband, actor Saif Ali Khan in South Africa in December last year. Follow @htshowbiz for more Faced with growing demand for an apology, Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday reiterated the UK governments long-standing expression of deep regret over the April 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre, calling it a shameful scar on British Indian history. An apology on behalf of the state is usually made by the prime minister. Mark Field, junior minister in the foreign office, told MPs seeking the apology on Tuesday that it was not for him to tender it, but said the issue is a work in progress. In a brief statement during Prime Ministers Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons, May said: The tragedy of Jallianwala Bagh in 1919 is a shameful scar on British Indian history. As her majesty the Queen said before visiting Jallianwala Bagh in 1997, it is a distressing example of our past history with India. We deeply regret what happened and the suffering caused. I am pleased that today the UK-India relationship is one of collaboration, partnership, prosperity and security. May went on to extol what she called the enormous contribution of the Indian diaspora, but did not dwell on the issue further during the session, when Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for the apology a hundred years after the incident. Corbyn said: I am very pleased that the prime minister mentioned what happened in Jallianwala Bagh and the issues of the massacre at Amritsar a hundred years ago. I think the people in memory of those that lost their lives and the brutality of what happened deserve a full, clear and unequivocal apology for what took place on that occasion. Responding to Mays comments, senior Labour MP Virendra Sharma said: I appreciate the Prime Ministers comments today, and thank her for her earnest words, but they are only the beginning of an apology not the full and frank formal apology that the communities affected need. I would also like to offer my fullest thanks to Jeremy Corbyn for his words of support, and his commitment to a full apology when he becomes Prime Minister. The wounds of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre still haunt millions and should be laid to rest at this the centenary of the horrendous act. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre has been the subject of several debates since 1919 in the UK parliament, most recently on Tuesday in the Westminster Hall and in February in the House of Lords, when the government said it has been reflecting on the apology demand. Field told MPs: It is not appropriate for me to make the apology I know many would wish to come. I can assure the house that this is a work in progress. It is an active debate taking place among ministers and among senior officials and our high commissioner in New Delhi. The British high commission in New Delhi, Field added, had been asked to visit the memorial site on April 13 and lay a wreath. There will also be a public acknowledgement of the centenary and the sense of deep regret in events organised in the UK. Responding during the PMQs to Conservative MP Shailesh Vara, who wanted May to commend the Indian diaspora for contributing nearly 10 per cent of taxes even though constituting only 4 per cent of the UK population, May said the community deserves to be congratulated. The Indian diaspora make an enormous contribution to British society and I am sure the whole House wishes to see the UKs relationship with India continue to flourishI am very happy to welcome the contribution that the Indian diaspora are making to our country, May said. He (Vara) has referenced the economic contribution they are making through their taxes, of course, many of them are running businesses that are employing people up and down the country, many of them are successfully exporting and supporting our economy. But they also play a very important role in our society and I am very happy to welcome that and congratulate them on it, May added. China promoted dialogue and played a constructive role in easing tensions between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the February 14 terror attack in Kashmir, according to Chinese envoy Luo Zhaohui. Beijing also attaches importance to Indias concerns related to the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar at the UNs Islamic State and al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee and will strengthen communication to find a proper solution, Luo has written in the Chinese embassys official magazine. Chinas foreign ministry had acknowledged last month that the country played a constructive role in reducing tensions after India and Pakistan came dangerously close to firing missiles at each other on February 27, as reported by Hindustan Times. At that time, tensions were at a peak after an Indian combat jet was shot down in an engagement along the Line of Control and its pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, was captured and briefly held by Pakistan. In an article titled Script a new chapter in China-India tango, Luo writes about enhanced efforts to manage differences in the region, including the India-Pakistan tensions that attracted the world communitys attention. China has actively promoted peaceful dialogue and played a constructive role in easing the tension, Luo writes. Without naming Masood Azhar, the envoy adds: On the issue of listing in the 1267 Committee of the UN Security Council, China attaches importance to and understands Indias concerns and is willing to strengthen communication with India to find a proper solution. We believe that China-India relations are mature enough to see the differences are properly managed, and maintain sound and stable growth. Privately, Indian and Chinese officials acknowledge that last years informal summit at Wuhan between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping helped put the bilateral relationship on an even keel while creating space to address several irritants, including the border dispute, Indias bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the listing of Azhar. Referring to this aspect, Luo writes that the current momentum in China-India relations has not been achieved easily, and therefore should be cherished more than ever. Pointing to the 2017 military standoff at Doklam or Donglang, he adds: The relationship has gone from a stormy phase with the Donglang incident, plunging the relations to a low point to the current positive situation ushered in by the Wuhan informal summit, which set out the direction for the future development of the relationship. The two countries should continue to implement the strategic consensus reached by Modi and Xi by keeping up the warmth of bilateral relations, raising the speed of cooperation in different fields, increasing people-to-people exchanges and increasing efforts to manage differences, he writes. However, he adds the development of India-China ties is like rowing against the current and the two sides need to maintain the momentum and make preparations for the second informal summit expected to be held this year. In the field of trade, Luo suggests the two sides should sign free trade and investment protection pacts, address trade deficit from an institutional perspective and cooperate on major projects such as the Delhi-Agra high speed railway and regional connectivity under the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar forum. The Australian man charged with the supremacist massacre in New Zealand was accused in 2016 for issuing a death threat on Facebook and the police advised the then victim to block him on the social network, the media reported on Wednesday. The ABC published a screenshot of the conversation from August 2016 between Christchurch gunman Brenton Tarrant and a man from the city of Melbourne in which the alleged perpetrator of the mosque attacks which claimed 50 lives, told him: I hope you one day see the light and if you are a Marxist I hope you one day meet the rope. The phrase referred to a white supremacist novel that inspired hate crimes and terrorist acts and alluded to the public execution of race traitors such as professors, lawyers and journalists, according to the ABC. The threat, in which Tarrant said, choose your words carefully and think of who you insult came after his interlocutor criticized a former leader of the United Patriots Front (UPF) ahead of a protest against refugees organized by this group in the city of Melbourne. When you speak against the UPF you speak against my right to a home for my people and my culture, Tarrant said in that Facebook message, adding This marks you. The man reported the incident in September 2016 to a police station in Melbourne, but, according to his version, he was told to block the 28-year-old former physical trainer on social networks and the police didnt take an official statement from him. The Victoria police told ABC that based on the information provided it was not able to locate the alleged complaint, although it assured that we have strong arrangements in place for monitoring and tracking people who pose a threat to the community. Tarrant, who is awaiting trial on 50 counts of murder and 39 counts of attempted murder, had no police record, but after the attack it became known that he travelled to several countries in Asia and Europe and even donated to an Austrian supremacist group last year. The Australian, who broadcast the attack for 17 minutes live and published his extremist ideas on social networks, identified his targets two days earlier and even released a photograph of the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch, which he attacked along with the Linwood Mosque. A New Zealand Royal Commission has been tasked to investigate the context of the attack, including the attackers background, the role of social networks and the role of its intelligence and security agencies, which have been criticized for failing to prevent the massacre or monitor white supremacists. Saddled with long dark winters at home, Swedes have for decades been frequent flyers seeking out sunnier climes, but a growing number are changing their ways because of air travels impact on the climate. Flygskam, or flight shame, has become a buzz word referring to feeling guilt over the environmental effects of flying, contributing to a trend that has more and more Swedes, mainly young, opting to travel by train to ease their conscience. Spearheading the movement for trains-over-planes is Swedens own Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old climate school striker who refuses to fly, travelling by rail to the World Economic Forum in Davos and the climate summit in Katowice, Poland. Im certainly affected by my surroundings and (flight shame) has affected how I view flying, Viktoria Hellstrom, a 27-year-old political science student in Stockholm, said. Last summer, she took the train to Italy, even though the friends she was meeting there went by plane, as that would have been her second flight within a few weeks. Train bookings up The Scandinavian countrys location far north -- it is 4,000 km from the northernmost town of Kiruna to Frances Cote dAzur -- as well as its robust standard of living, the popularity of charter trips and the rise of low-cost airlines have all contributed to making Swedes big flyers. Emissions from Swedes international air travel have soared 61 percent since 1990, their study said. Is flight shame real? Fausta Gabola, a French-Italian student in Paris, is no longer sure that she should take up an offer to study in Australia on a scholarship. Its my dream to go there, she said. I applied without thinking too much about it and now I have a dilemma. I would feel like a hypocrite if I went. China has put together a new category of criminal behaviour called soft violence that includes stalking, throwing feces, brandishing tattoos and deliberately shutting utilities to threaten and harass citizens as the countrys ongoing campaign against organised crime gathers pace. The government announced the new category after it was found that organised crime groups or gangs were taking to soft violence instead of the well-defined norms of criminal behaviour like physical violence. Revealing personal information, damaging property, home invasions, setting off firecrackers, playing funeral music or placing wreaths to threaten others, are considered soft violence, the government said. Some gangs have been found to be operating in the real estate sector and also running illegal taxi services. Such gangs or triads are also called black societies in China. The new category was announced at a high-level conference attended by officials from Chinas top government bodies -- the Supreme Peoples Court, Supreme Peoples Procuratorate, the top body responsible for prosecution and investigation, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), responsible for internal security, and the Ministry of Justice. The move comes as many mafia-style gangs in China have deliberately turned to soft violence instead of downright violent criminal behaviour amid the nationwide campaign against organised crime, the officials announced. Soft violence has long troubled law enforcement personnel at the basic level as no regulation clarifies what this behaviour is or tells them how to deal with it, Du Hangwei, vice minister of the MPS was quoted as saying by the state-controlled tabloid, Global Times. Du added: Public security bureaus should implement the new regulations carefully. The new category also includes a definition for mafia-style gangs. Groups of people that try to threaten others by organised behaviours, including wearing the same clothing or showing off tattoos or special slogans will be treated as mafia-style gangs, the report said. Chinas campaign against organised crime initiated in January 2018 has seen the removal of 1,082 mafia-style gangs and the seizure of 1,620 guns by law enforcement agencies until the end of the year, the official news agency, Xinhua reported. As part of the campaign, China punished 3,021 people in a crackdown on gang-related crime and the local protective umbrellas that allow it to operate, the news agency reported in February. The strike hard campaign will last for three years and is part of President Xi Jinpings broader anti-corruption campaign. Defining soft violence indicates that the campaign will be specific, Zhi Zhenfeng, a legal expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences told GT. A historian gains a new perspective on Hamburger Hill. In September 2014 I made the first of three trips to Vietnam. I was writing a book to tell the story of Americans who fought in the war. I had interviewed many veterans who served, and now I wanted to walk some of the ground marked by major American combat. Traveling with a small group along the canals and waterways of the Mekong Delta, I began to understand what men meant when they called it a scary place. We also spent several days in what had been called I Corps, the militarys designation for South Vietnams northern region, where we visited battle sites at obscure places like Needlepoint, The Rockpile and Mutters Ridge, as well as the more well-known Khe Sanh and Hue. Then four of us set out from Hue for the A Shau Valley and afterward traveled down to the Central Highlands. With me was Vietnam veteran Bruce Jones, who served in the U.S. Army and was now a guide with Military Historical Tours, which helped organize my trip. We had a Vietnamese guide and interpreter, Tran Thanh, and a driver. Our first stop in the A Shau Valley was Dong Ap Bia, a mountain labeled Hill 937 by the U.S. military and known by the soldiers as Hamburger Hill, where more than 70 Americans died and hundreds were wounded in a brutal battle fought May 10-20, 1969. On our journey to the mountain, we met with three North Vietnamese veterans of the battle in the village of A Luoi. I interviewed them, and two accepted my invitation to join our climb up Dong Ap Bia on a trail maintained by the Vietnamese government. We saw no one else on the hill that day. After a brief rain shower, the path was steep and slippery. Stone steps helped in some of the steepest or most difficult places. Bruce counted 922 of them. As I stumbled and slid and sweated, I wondered how the young men of the 101st Airborne Division had clamored up the hill in 1969. Knowing they were more than 50 years younger was not a sufficient explanationI wasnt carrying 50 or more pounds of equipment and ammunition. It took 10 days for the soldiers who reached the top. We did it in about two hours, but no one was shooting down at us. Some of the American units that arrived on the first day of battle suffered 70 percent casualties. Our trail went up the eastern side of the mountain, while the sustained fighting and the initial landing zone were to the west, nearer Laos. The west side didnt have a road or trail when we were there, and the Vietnamese warned us to avoid that area because of unexploded ordnance. Climbing through the dense jungle, we would sometimes pass old tree trunks with bullet holes and large puddles of water in bomb or artillery craters. Occasionally the two North Vietnamese Army veterans pointed out a small squared hole, what U.S. troops called a spider hole, a camouflaged opening that probably led to an underground network of enemy tunnels and storage areas. At the top, we sat at the monument the Vietnamese built to commemorate their great victory. I decided not to remind the North Vietnamese veterans that there was no great victory for them, certainly not on that hill in May 1969. I asked what they had learned from the 11 days of intense combat. They learned they could stand and fight against American firepower. But they also came to respect our soldiers. All these years later, they still could not believe that these young Americans, despite heavy casualties, climbed the hill day after day to assault the North Vietnamese bunkers. This year, as we mark the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Hamburger Hill, is a good time to reflect on the soldiers who fought with relentless determination until they defeated the enemy force. The battle captured the attention of people back in the States. It became a focus and symbol of much of the controversy about the Vietnam War as the American public debated whether lives had been senselessly lost fighting over a hill that U.S. forces abandoned shortly after their victory. Regardless, the battle reflected the remarkable courage of the generation that fought and sacrificed there. Before our small group at the hilltop monument began the walk down that September day in 2014, I shared a story. After my service with the Marines in 1960, I went home to Galena, Illinois, an old mining town. Among other jobs, I worked in zinc mines, including time as a powderman setting dynamite charges. My boss, Clarence Lyden, was a Purple Heart World War II veteran. His son Michael was a bright, engaging young man. I liked him a lot and was deeply saddened when I learned that he had been killed at Hamburger Hill on May 14, 1969, while serving with the 101st Airbornes 187th Infantry Regiment. He was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and died instantly. I interviewed some of the men who served alongside Mike, a sergeant well-regarded by his platoon and by his platoon leader, who saw him die. They said he was a good soldier and a natural leader. Mikes family shared his correspondence, and theres no indication that he spent a lot of time thinking about the cause. Mike was focused on his men, his own safety and coming home. After I told the North Vietnamese veterans about Mike, I pulled from my pocket a piece of lead sulfide, about 1 inch square. The Latin name for this cubed form of lead is galena. I picked it up while working in Galenas Graham mine 50 years earlier. I had kept it on my desk for many years, and now I had a new home for it. I buried that chunk of lead sulfide on the top of Dong Ap Bia. Mike Lyden never made it to the top of the hill, but now a piece of his hometown is there. I am confident that the galena will outlast the red clay of that desolate mountain in Vietnam. James Wright, author of Enduring Vietnam: An American Generation and its War, provides an overview of the Hamburger Hill battle and its historical significance in The Capture of Hamburger Hill. Do you have reflections on the war that you would like to share? Email your idea or article to Vietnam@HistoryNet.com, subject line: Reflections. What we saw this weekend was completely unacceptable. We saw numerous, hundreds of people being kept, as they called it, stored in outdoor cages. All those individuals that we saw just about 10 days ago that were being kept under the bridge in El Paso have now been moved to tents. These tents are hot, they are dark and theres no air circulation, and its this chorus of cries. You hear babies crying, mothers with desperation in their eyes. Individuals who are dirty, who are desperate, and its soul-crushing. On April 18, 1942, little more than four months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 80 airmen in 16 modified North American B-25B Mitchell bombers lifted off from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet in the northwest Pacific bound for targets in Japan. The operation marked the first Allied retaliatory strike on the Japanese Home Islands. To plan the daring mission U.S. Army Air Forces Lt. Gen. Henry H. Hap Arnold had tapped Lt. Col. James H. Jimmy Doolittle, the famed air racer, test pilot and aeronautical engineer. Doolittle piloted the lead plane from Hornet. His co-pilot was 26-year-old Lieutenant Richard E. Dick Cole. Neither Doolittle nor any of his men had flown a single combat mission. On April 9, 2019, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Cole, 103, the last of the famed Doolittle Raiders, died at home in San Antonio. In 2014 Military History spoke with Cole about the bold raid and its surprising aftermath. We were two days at sea, and the PA system alerted everybody: This force is bound for Tokyo What first intrigued you about flying? I was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. As a young kid I used to ride my bicycle from where we lived three or four miles to McCook Field, the Army Air Corps first test base. I got to watch all the old-timers. They were testing air refueling, dropping a hose out of one airplane that was higher than another. I also remember the first big bomber, the Barling [Wittemann-Lewis NBL-1]. They had an air race there in which a captain lost his life. I remember reading about [John] MacReady, [Carl] Spaatz and [Jimmy] Doolittle. When was the first time you went up in a plane? I went up in a plane at the airport in Vandalia, Ohio, for a dollar. It was a Ford Trimotor. That must have been a kick. [Laughs.] It was to me! What prompted you to join the Army Air Corps? Well, I graduated from high school in the middle of the Depression, and it was a good job. I had made up my mind earlier I was going to be a pilot or a forest ranger. I enlisted in the Army Air Corps in November 1940, went through training and was sent to the 17th Bombardment Group at Pendleton, Ore. Did you and your fellow aviators think there would be another war? It looked like things were going to get a bit tough. But I didnt really think too much about there being a war in the offing. I enjoyed the job I had. Where were you when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor? We were on temporary duty in Augusta, Ga., having a mock war with the Army. Somebody heard it on the radio. We went back to Pendleton, did some modifications and went on sub patrol for a couple of months. We flew a grid system out of Everett, Wash., and Seattle and Portland. Each day we would travel out so far, down so far, then back in. In late December a pilot by the name of Everett Holstrom sank a Japanese submarine off the Strait of Juan de Fuca. In early February 1942 we were transferred to Columbia, S.C. Conditions at Columbia were a bit rough, yes? They werent too good. The airfield was under construction, and that caused a lot of problems. We lived in tents, and we could only use a certain part of the runways and didnt have a good parking area for the airplanes. We lived through it. When did you learn about the Doolittle mission? The squadron had a bulletin board you had to read every day. I saw a notice they wanted volunteers for a mission, so I put my name there. Well, the whole group and the group commander volunteered. Where did you train? We trained at Eglin Field, Fla. It was the biggest Army Air Corps base at that time, with several satellite fields that wouldnt attract attention. We flew out of those fields. We were confined to base, in isolated barracks, and told not to talk about our training. Did you even know any specifics? We knew it would be dangerous, but thats all. Youd already trained on B-25s. How did this training differ? The normal takeoff with the B-25 loaded was somewhere around 3,000 feet. We had to be airborne in 500 feet. Navy Lieutenant (later Admiral) Henry Miller from Pensacola taught us the technique of taking off from a carrier. Did that prompt any guesses? We thought we were going to the South Pacific to land in some predesignated area and start fighting the war. In early March, Doolittle arrived and gathered the crews. What did he tell you guys? He offered anybody that had volunteered the opportunity to change his mind, without any repercussions. There were no takers. Who was Jimmy Doolittle to you at the time? What did you know about him? He was a very well-noted pilotfor his flying skills, number one. He had developed a blind flying technique at Mitchell Field [New York]. He was also the first pilot to perform the outside loop. Doolittle was interested in helping develop the aviation industry and was very education oriented. He was the first man to receive a doctorate of aviation and engineering from MIT. How did you come to be his co-pilot? The individual I trained with became ill and had to drop out. So I went to the operations officer, who said, Well, the old mans coming in this afternoonIll crew you up with him, and if you do OK, youve got yourself a pilot. Doolittle came in, said, Fine, and took the pilots seat. The story goes that Hap Arnold hadnt intended to let Doolittle fly on the mission, that hed just wanted him to plan it. Did Doolittle ever tell you about that? Yes. When he went to report to Arnold, Doolittle told him, I want to lead the mission. Arnold said, I cant spare you. They had a few words. Jimmy badgered. Finally, Arnold said, Well, go see General [Millard Miff] Harmon, who was [chief of staff] of the Army Air Forces. So Doolittle went to his office, stuck his head in the door and said, Hap says I can lead the mission if you say its OK. Harmon said, Well, if its OK with him, its OK with me. At that point Doolittle closed the door and ran down the stairway. He said that on the way down he heard Harmon said, But Hap, I just told him he could go! What was your opinion of the B-25 as a pilot? When I reported to the 17th Bomb Group, it had B-18s and -23s. The B-18 was a slow, lumbering airplane, about like a C-47. The B-23 was a bit faster. I dont know how many of those were built, but there were very few. Then we started to get the B-25, which was really a kick in the air as far as flying. It was like switching from a training plane to a single-engine plane. We all liked the B-25. How were the B-25Bs modified for Doolittles mission? All excess equipment was taken out, like the Norden bombsight, the lower turret. Mechanics installed a bladder tank in the bomb bay. In place of the lower turret they put another fuel tank. We also ended up with 10 five-gallon cans of fuel in the rear of the airplane. It just about doubled the capacity to 1,100-some gallons. What about armament? There were two .50-caliber machine guns in the after turret and a .30-caliber in the nose. The B-25 then didnt have anything but a plastic tail cone. During training [fellow pilot] Ross Greening suggested we put in two broomsticks, painted black, to fool any fighter trying to jump us from the rear. What did you use for a bombsight? Greening came up with a kind of protractor deal with a moveable sightthe 20-cent bombsight. It worked out OK. And the bombload? Four 500-pound bombs. Our airplane had incendiary bombs. Our mission was to light up Tokyo. Where to from Eglin? In late March we went to Sacramento Air Depot. Mechanics there started to mess around with the planestuned the carburetors, changed the propswhich upset Colonel Doolittle. He had a few words with them. From there we flew to Alameda Naval Air Station, Calif. How many of the groups B-25Bs made it aboard Hornet? Sixteen. We backed up alongside the carrier, and a gigantic crane swung around, hooked up to the loading points on the B-25 and hauled it up. Yet all of the volunteer crews went aboard. Why? Mainly for secrecy. [Mission commanders] didnt want to turn those people loose and not know where they were until the mission was over. Doolittle let you have one more night on the town? Yes. An admirals gig came alongside the dock, and we went across to San Francisco to the Top of the Mark [on Nob Hill]. We wondered where the Japanese spies were, because you could look across the bay and see the carrier with all the B-25s on it. You left port on April 2, 1942. Describe the scene. When we began to steam away from Alameda, it was pretty foggy, but by the time we got around to the Golden Gate Bridgewhich most of us had never seenthe sun broke through the clouds. When did you finally receive mission specifics? We were two days at sea, and the PA system alerted everybody: This force is bound for Tokyo. We were pretty excitedabove all happy to know what we were going to do. Things quieted down as people began to realize what they were getting into. Initially, the Navy people werent very happy with us, because we were upsetting their routine, had blocked off some passageways. But when they announced what our mission was, why, they couldnt do enough for us. We joined up with the task force en route, someplace abeam of Hawaii. Cruisers, destroyers and the carrier Enterprise, yes? Yes. The Navy airplanes on Hornet had to be put down on the second deck. There wasnt space for any B-25s. One of the reasons Enterprise went along was that it had fighter airplanes, in case we had a meeting with the Japanese. Who commanded the task force? Halsey. Admiral [William F. Bull] Halsey. How close to Japan was the Navy supposed to get you? Maybe 400 or 500 nautical miles. But you launched early, on April 18. Why? The Navy ran across a Japanese picket ship, Nitto Maru, and Halsey made the decision we would launch. I was on my way to breakfast, when the PA announced, Army pilots, man your planes! Paul Leonard, the crew chief, was already there. We took the engine covers off the plane, pulled the props through and went over the checklist. We were all set when Doolittle came. How far from Japan were you? Around 650 nautical miles. How were conditions? Well, it was pretty rough. Water was coming up over the bow and causing problems, with the airplanes beginning to slip around on deck. Were there any injuries or damage? The only incident I know of came when [Doolittle and I] were already gone. A Navy lad [Robert W. Wall] slipped and went underneath a propeller, which cut off one of his arms. But the wind worked to your advantage, yes? Definitely. The carrier speed was between 20 and 35 knots forward, and the wind was pretty close to about the same amount. So you didnt have to generate a lot of forward movement when taking off. Describe the launch procedure. We placed the B-25 in the middle of the deck, with about seven feet between the right wingtip and the ships island. The Navy had painted a white line down the deck for the left main gear and another for the nose gear. We taxied up and revved the engine. A launcher picked the appropriate time, the peak of an up movement with the water, and the carrier just dropped out from underneath the airplane. We got off a good 20 or 30 feet from the end of the deck. For more on the Doolittle Raid, click here to check out our story Countdown to Doolittle Raid Did the group fly in formation? We couldnt afford to because of the fuel. The only other plane we saw was the second, piloted by Travis Hoover. What was your flight time to Japan? A little over four hours. We tried to maintain 168 mph indicated. Our average altitude was 200 feet. We veered to avoid freighters, and a Japanese four-engine flying boat flew over us, but we werent discovered. We shored in north of Tokyo. It was a bright, sunny day. People were out on the beach. Nobody seemed to care when they saw us. One reason was the Japanese had an airplane called the Nell [Mitsubishi G3M] that looked something like a B-25, with two tails. We think they thought we were one of their airplanes. Turning south toward the city, Colonel Doolittle pulled up to 1,500 feet, Fred Braemer dropped the bombs, and we went back down on the deck. We got jostled around a bit by anti-aircraft, but I dont think we received any hits. Thats some first combat mission. Yeah! [Laughs.] Well, of course, we didnt know any better. The raid was designed to do two things. One was to let the Japanese people know their leaders were not being truthful by saying Japan couldnt be bombed by air. The other was to give the Allies, and particularly the United States, a morale shot in the arm Your destination was China? Yes. We were supposed to land, gas up and go on to western China. The Army Air Corps would end up with a squadron of B-25s and a commander. It didnt turn out that way. All of the airplanes made it to China, except one that had excessive fuel loss and landed in Vladivostok, Russia. What happened to its crew? Well, [Soviet Premier Joseph] Stalin didnt want to get involved in the war with Japan, so he played the political game and put those people under house arrest for 13 months. And your plane? Several hours past Tokyo navigator Hank Potter passed a note up to us that we were going to end up about 180 miles short of China. The weather was very bada lot of lightning, rain. But the warm front had developed a kamikaze wind, from east to west, and that gave us the tailwind to China. We were all supposed to land in Chuchow, but there were complications. The airplane carrying a portable homing station crashed on the way there. And the Chinese, on hearing our engines, thought we were Japanese and turned off electricity [to the lights], which we couldnt use anyway because of the weather. What did you do? The only thing we could do was fly until we ran out of gas and then bail out. It was dark, and we didnt know anything about the terrain except that it was mountainous, but that was the only alternative, unless you wanted to commit suicide. We bailed out at around 9,000 feet. Youre supposed to count, One thousandtwo thousandthree thousand, then pull the rip cord. I think I said, One thousand, and pulled. I pulled it so hard I gave myself a black eye. See also: How the Aftermath of the Doolittle Raid Shook Japan Where did you land? My parachute drifted over a pine tree, and I spent the night in the tree. Dont think I slept. I know I dozed off. How did your crewmates fare? Everybody bailed out successfully. We all had compasses and knew we needed to walk west rather than try to go east. By chance we were all together the next night. What was Doolittles mood? Real worried. He thought the mission had been a failure, because hed lost all the airplanes and some of his people. He was really down in the dumps. Had the mission failed? The raid was designed to do two things. One was to let the Japanese people know their leaders were not being truthful by saying Japan couldnt be bombed by air. The other was to give the Allies, and particularly the United States, a morale shot in the arm. The damage we did wasnt much. But the raid caused the Japanese to bring back forces from down around Australia and India and concentrate their power in the Central Pacific. They also transferred two carriers to Alaska, and that evened the odds with the U.S. Navy at Midway. Japanese naval forces were at a disadvantage from then on. It was a turning point in the war. What happened to the Chinese? We couldnt have done it without their help. They did everything they could to keep the Japanese from capturing our crews. But according to historians, the Japanese killed over 250,000 people. Did you feel like heroes? No, we were just doing our job, part of the big picture, and happy that what we did was helpful. We couldnt have done it without the Navy. They risked two of their carriers and quite an armada. How were you recognized? We received the Distinguished Flying Cross. And Doolittle the Medal of Honor? Yes. He deserved a lot more. What was your opinion of him as your commander? The highest order of respect from one human being to another. Still going strong after 60 years of service, the rock-solid MiG-21 supersonic fighter gained a fearsome reputation despite its lackluster combat record. While the United States was cranking out Century Series fighters, all spectacular but none particularly effective in the role for which they were intended, the Soviet Union quietly came up with a weapon of enormous capability, performance, economy and longevity: the single-engine, Mach 2 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 Fishbed. It was an airplane that hewed to the classic perfect is the enemy of good enough approach. The Americans were trying to create superfighters in small numbers, but the Soviets wanted to fill the sky with thousands of simple, lightweight, reliable jets. After all, that strategy had worked splendidly with the AK-47 rifle. Fishbed was its randomly chosen NATO identifier. The Soviets hated it, just as they hated Fagot, Faithless, Frogfoot and other Western names for their fighters. The MiG-21 had no official Russian identifier, but its popular handle was Balalaika, after the triangular folk instrumentan obvious reference to the MiGs delta wing. The MiG-21 had a long production run1959 to 1985and the airplane was thereafter updated and modified by companies in India, Israel and Romania; copied by the Chinese; and simply rebuilt and kept in service so long that even today there are 14 developing countries operating the ancient jet as their first-line fighter. The Fishbed is the most-produced supersonic fighter of all time, with 11,496 manufactured. Its baby brother, the transonic MiG-15, holds the all-time jet record: some 18,000 units. A Romanian air force Fishbed engages with an F-16 of the 187th Fighter Wing, Alabama Air National Guard, near the 71st Air Base in Romania on October 23, 2015. (U.S. Air Force) A Romanian air force Fishbed engages with an F-16 of the 187th Fighter Wing, Alabama Air National Guard, near the 71st Air Base in Romania on October 23, 2015. (U.S. Air Force) The final Soviet-produced Fishbed was the MiG-21bis, manufactured between 1972 and 1985. This refined model corrected many of the failings of earlier marques. (Bis, Latin for second, more broadly means improved.) The ultimate MiG modification was the Indian Air Forces MiG-21-93, which the Indians called the Bison. It had a MiG-29 bubble canopy and wraparound windscreen; far more capable radar; a helmet-mounted weapons sight; and beyond-visual-range, fire-and-forget missile capability. These and other mods created a four-fold increase in the airplanes capability and brought it up to roughly the level of an early F-16. The MiG-21 has been called the AK-47 of airplanes. Rock-solid airframe, noted a former aviation technician who ground-crewed on one. Really the thing only needs to be topped off with fluids and it just goes and goes. When the U.S. Air Force operated MiG-21s as adversary aircraft combat trainers, they found them to be, in the words of one crew chief, Just like your family car. As long as its full of fuel, you pull it out of the garage and start it up. Maintenance typically consisted of changing the oil, brakes and tires after every 50 sorties. With a set of Home Depot metric socket wrenches and screwdrivers, you could get a lot of maintenance done on the little jet, said another crew chief. Even more important is the fact that a MiG-21bis can be had for $500,000. A secondhand F-16C can cost a small country $15 million. Yet for all its masterful qualities, the MiG-21 wasnt an unmitigated success. The Fishbed has flown in some 30 wars, and its combat record is a negative number: More of them have been shot down than have downed opponents. There have only been four MiG-21 aces everthree North Vietnamese and one Syrian. Much of this has to do with the pilots: Egyptian and Syrian MiG drivers fighting talented Israelis; North Vietnamese against better-trained F-4 crews, if not at first, at least as the Vietnam War progressed; Asian and African air forces out of their depth. Egyptian MiG-21 pilots were so inept during the Six-Day War that one of them shot down another Egyptian MiGand then was himself shot down by Egyptian antiaircraft fire. MiG-21 illustration by Steve Karp; missile illustrations: Osprey Publishing/Adam Tooby; photo: MiG/Russian Aircraft Corporation When pilots argue about combat between disparate typesa MiG-21 and a more modern fourth-generation fighter, saythey sometimes bring up the classic knife fight in a phone booth between a big guy and a little guy. Once the big guy launches his missiles, he just might find himself trying to dogfight in that phone booth if they miss. And air-to-air missiles did usually miss. Over Vietnam, 91 percent of Sparrows and 82 percent of Sidewinders fired by F-4s failed to find their mark. Early in the Vietnam air war, the Phantom-versus-Fishbed battle was a classic case of the phone booth fight. The little MiG was far more nimble and tighter-turning than the big F-4, until American pilots learned to fight in the vertical. Rather than dogfighting in tailchases, F-4 pilots used their superior acceleration and thrust to climb vertically, away from the fight, and then to pull over the top and come back down full of altitude and energy. Second-generation 1950s-60s Fishbeds have for some time faced third- and fourth-generation jets of undeniably superior capability. The MiG-21 was exported in huge numbers to a wide variety of air forces with varying strengths and skills. In some cases, it was the best jet these countries could afford, and too often they found themselves going to the mat with opponents flying F-14s and F-16s. The air force for which the Fishbed had been designed, the Soviet Frontal Aviation Branch, ultimately got little use out of its new fighter. During the Soviet war with Afghanistan, the MiG-21 was used solely for ground attack, and one of the few aerial victories earned by a Fishbed occurred in 1973 when an Iranian aircraft strayed into Soviet airspace. The Soviet pilot missed with two missiles and then found himself too close to the target to allow space for his remaining two missiles to arm, so he rammed the interloper. A rather extreme way of dealing with a simple navigation error, particularly since the Russian pilot was killed and the two Iraniansactually a U.S. instructor and his Iranian studentejected and lived. The MiG-21 is a tiny thing, a fact belied by what looks like an enormous fuselage in proportion to its highly loaded little delta wings. Park a Fishbed next to an F-4, however, and the Soviet fighter looks like a 4/5th-scale toy. It is little more than 40 percent the empty weight of a Phantom II, with a wingspan 15 feet narrower and a length 11 feet shorter. At comparable combat-loaded gross weights, an F-4 was four times as heavy as a MiG-21. The Fishbed is roughly the size of a Northrop F-5, an airplane that was frequently used as a stand-in for the MiG-21 during dissimilar-types air combat maneuvering (ACM) training. In a head-on engagement, the Fishbed was a mere dot in the sky suspended between two tiny wings, while a fat twin-engine F-4, smoking like a locomotive, announced its presence from two counties away. But its possible the MiG pilot didnt see it anyway. Squeezed into a narrow cockpit bracketed by the big Tumansky engines air ducts, he sat between high canopy rails and an inch-thick, triple-layer composite windscreen obscured by a big ballistic gunsight, head-up display and often a clutter of switch panels and electronics. Vision aft from about 4 to 8 oclock was nonexistent, and the view down was minimal. Only the earliest MiG-21s, with bubble canopies and a small dorsal fairing aft of the cockpit, offered adequate vision. The dorsal fairing was soon enlarged and made into a fuel tank, and the canopy was changed to a more vision-restricting design. The initial canopies, hinged to the windscreen at the front, were part of the ejection seat package. They stayed with the seat during punch-out and provided the pilot with a protective shield. The Soviets were longtime ejection seat innovators, but this mechanism proved to be complex and unreliable, so the Fishbed was later provided with a more conventional side-hinged blowoff canopy. North Vietnamese air force pilots confer in front of a MiG-21. (ADN-Bildarchiv/Ullstein Bild via Getty Images) North Vietnamese air force pilots confer in front of a MiG-21. (ADN-Bildarchiv/Ullstein Bild via Getty Images) With the best field of view forward and upward through the canopy, some North Vietnamese MiG units used jungle-camouflaged Fishbeds flying down in the weeds, lost to radar in the ground clutter. Snakes in the grass was the warning call when they were spotted, but sometimes it was too late. They would approach F-105 Thunderchiefs from below and behind, then climb hard in afterburner, strike from 6 oclock low and flee for home. Most MiG-21s were lightly armed: two Atoll heat-seeking missiles and just 30 rounds, a two-second burst, for their single 30mm cannon. Often even this wasnt needed over Vietnam, though. If a MiG threat could make an F-105 or F-4 punch off its stores, the attack was successful. The North Vietnamese could head home knowing they had forced the enemy to waste time, fuel and ordnance. Fighter pilot Robin Olds, a 12-victory World War II ace who added four MiG kills in Vietnam, knew just how good a fighter the MiG-21 nonetheless was. The best flying job in the world was a MiG-21 pilot at Phuc Yen, Olds once said. Hell, the way we fought that fing war, if Id been one of them Id have got 50 of us. Olds did spring a major MiG trap, Operation Bolo, that during a single melee in January 1967 shot down five of those best-job-in-the-world pilotseliminating almost half of North Vietnams operational Fishbed fleet. Olds and his squadron mates imitated the speed, altitude, route, formation and radio calls of a strike package of bomb-heavy F-105s. When 16 eager Phuc Yen Fishbeds burst out of the undercast below, they found not vulnerable fighter-bombers but 28 locked-and-loaded Phantoms. One thing the irascible Olds wouldnt have enjoyed was that Fishbeds were controlled from the ground. Ground-controlled intercept (GCI) meant that MiG-21 pilots not only took up increasingly fine vectors and altitudes provided to them by radar operators on the ground, but even fired the weapons that the GCI guys ordered them to and pickled their drop tanks on command. Mikoyan and Gurevichs design bureau had chosen a single gaping nose air intake for the MiG-21s engine because of its simplicity and efficiency, but this severely limited the airplanes ability to carry its own radar. Only a small dish would fit into the airflow-slowing nose cone, and anything that involved searching more than a few miles ahead became the job of observers on the ground linked to huge radar arrays. (That three-position nose cone slid in and out, depending on airspeed, to generate shockwaves that would slow inlet air to a speed the engine could swallow.) MiG-21 onboard radar was famously near-useless. F-105 fighter-bombers were the Fishbeds favored target over Vietnam. The Thuds were so fastup to 700 knots down lowthat it required a super-interceptor simply to catch them. When MiG-21s did overhaul them, they ended up shooting down 17 F-105s with no MiG losses to the Thuds. The Fishbed had one other serious flaw: Designed to climb extremely rapidly to altitude, shoot down a single non-maneuvering bomber and return to base, it carried just enough fuel to fulfill that missiontypically 45 minutes worth. Nor could a MiG-21 be dead-sticked to a landing if fuel ran out while near its airbase, since a power-on approach was required. Early MiG-21s had a poorly designed fuel system to boot. A full 175 gallons of fuel remained unusable and created an aft center-of-gravity shift during landing approaches, which killed many inexperienced pilots. The Fishbed first went to war in 1965, flown by Indian pilots against Pakistanis, though there was no actual air combat. The first-ever MiG-21 victory came the next year, over Vietnam, when a North Vietnamese pilot shot down an American Ryan Firebee surveillance dronesounds simple, but the Firebee was cruising at 59,000 feet (the MiG-21 actually can intercept at up to 65,000 feet). It was in the Mideast, however, that the Fishbed would first go into all-out war. In 1966 Israel was surrounded by MiG-21s. The Soviets had provided client states Egypt, Syria and Iraq with 194 Fishbeds as part of an overwhelming Arab buildup of troops, tanks and aircraft intended to wipe Israel off the map. The Arabs waited just a little too long, though, and early in the morning of June 5, 1967, Israel began the Six-Day War with a preemptive strike that wiped out most of the MiGs and other Arab jets on the ground. Fishbeds caught in the open by Israels preemptive airstrike against Egyptian air bases on June 5, 1967, lie in ruins. (GPO via Getty Images) Fishbeds caught in the open by Israels preemptive airstrike against Egyptian air bases on June 5, 1967, lie in ruins. (GPO via Getty Images) Israel had already decided it needed a MiG of its own to fly and evaluate, so that it could refine the air-to-air tactics of its fleet of delta-wing Mirage IIICJs, which were equivalent to the MiG-21 in many ways. Israels Mossad intelligence agency recruited a disgruntled Iraqi MiG pilot to defect with his airplane, in exchange for $300,000 and Israeli citizenship for himself and his family. The Israel Air Force flew the Iraqi MiG enough to determine that it was a good high-altitude interceptor, was easy to fly and that, against a Mirage, pilot skill would determine the outcome. In other words, bring it on. The IAF then painted the stolen MiG in a high-visibility color scheme, slapped on Star of David roundels and the appropriately intriguing number 007, and parked it on a ready ramp prepped to scramble and shoot down Arab MiG-21s flying at altitudes unattainable by the Mirages. The call never came, and in 1968 the airplane was lent to the U.S. for its own testing and evaluation. It can still be seen at the IAF Museum in Hatzerim. A decade later, the U.S. Air Force would become far more seriously involved with Fishbeds when it established the 4477th Test and Evaluation Flight, soon to officially become a squadron, as part of the top-secret Operation Constant Peg. At one point, Constant Peg was operating 17 MiG-21s out of a secret airfield near Tonopah, Nev., in the mystery-shrouded Area 51. The airplanes were officially YF-110s, since the Air Force now owned them. They had been acquired from scrapyards and from foreign air forces that needed cash, dug out of swamps where theyd been left to rot, given as gifts by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and even simply bought new from the Chinese, which had manufactured them as Shenyang F-7Bs. Shenyang F-7stoday designated Chengdu J-7sare invariably referred to as license-built MiGs, which is not true. China and the Soviet Union had initially tried to strike a licensing deal, but the arrangement came apart as Sino-Soviet relations soured. The Chinese ended up disassembling a MiG-21 and reverse-engineering it for production. They even tried working with Grumman during the process, but the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre ended that arrangement. The F-7s were the very last production MiG-21s, and about 2,400 were manufactured, some as recently as 2013. The Chinese MiGs corrected the original versions faulty fuel tank design, among other things. Constant Peg pilots griped that the arcane Eastern Bloc instrumentation read out airspeed in kilometers per fortnight. They also had to re-learn how to taxi: The MiGs had brakes powered by a compressed-air tank and applied by differential rudder pedal input plus a bicycle brake handgrip on the joystick. If you used up too much air weaving your way out to takeoff, there wouldnt be enough left for braking on landing, since the MiG carried no compressor. The only recourse was a braking parachute plus a frequently employed catch-net at the end of the Tonopah runway. Constant Pegs mission was to train American pilots to fight against a variety of Soviet aircraft, particularly the MiG-21 and -23. The initial ACM schooling involved simply letting a pilot see a MiG-21 in the air, up close. For many of them, it was like sitting at a stoplight waiting for an informal drag race and watching a Formula 1 car pull up in the next lane. The Fishbed was still that fearsome an opponent. Constant Peg ended in 1989 after generating more than 15,000 MiG-21 and -23 sorties against opposing fighter pilots, though the program wasnt declassified until 2006. At least five formerly Indonesian MiG-21s became gate guardians or went to museums or display areas, including the aggressor-aircraft park at Nellis Air Force Base, in Las Vegas, known as the Petting Zoo. One 4477th technician recalled that a 40-foot-deep hole was dug in the desert near Tonopah and filled with the F-7s bought from China as well as spare wings and engines. The MiG-21 will soon end its operational career, after at least 60, perhaps even 65 years. Even today, Syrias air force is flying them, dropping homemade propane tank bombs on rebels and ISIS. There is no possibility of the Fishbed approaching the Boeing B-52s near-century of service when the Stratofortress stands down in 2050, but those ancient MiGs will likely be flying in the hands of warbird enthusiasts long after the last B-52 shuts down forever. Contributing editor Stephan Wilkinson recommends for further reading: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21, by Alexander Mladenov; MiG 21 Fishbed, by Gerard Paloque; and Americas Secret MiG Squadron, by Col. (Ret.) Gaillard R. Peck Jr. This feature originally appeared in the May 2019 issue of Aviation History. Subscribe here! Half Moon Bay, CA (94019) Today Showers early, then becoming windy with a steady rain for the afternoon. High 53F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 100%.. Tonight Rain and wind early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Low 49F. WSW winds at 20 to 30 mph, decreasing to 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch. O ne priority for new-home buyers is to find an area with good low-cost transport options. But just how close to a Tube or railway station do you want to live? In Chongqing, in southwestern China, a new metro line runs right through the middle of a residential tower but in London there are also opportunities to get cosy with rail connections. Over-rail development can make a huge contribution to solving Londons housing shortage when land is limited within the capital, and construction technologies enable us to improve facilities, says Brandon Buck, director at architects Perkins+Will. How do you solve a problem like Clapham Junction? The fourth busiest railway station in the UK, Clapham Junction is overwhelmed by the burgeoning population of Battersea and Wandsworth and expansion of the commuter belt. This vital transport hub runs workers into London from Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire, and even connects to Milton Keynes. But the swell of new households moving into the area thanks to the regeneration of Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms, and The Ram Quarter development in Wandsworth Town, is set to lead to a 40 per cent rise in the number of journeys through and to the station. The damning results of a recent customer service survey confirmed that Clapham Junction is too congested, with poor shopping and only one step-free entrance. New proposal: Clapham Junction should be overhauled and transformed into a community-based station with shops and 5,000 to 7,000 new homes built above the platforms, track and sidings A new proposal, seen by Homes & Property and put together by architects Hawkins\Brown, engineering firm Mott MacDonald and construction group Laing ORourke, maps out a dramatic overhaul of the station and surrounding Network Rail site. This would involve creating a community-based station, rather like the successful Kings Cross project, that could be enjoyed by local people and not act solely as a transit point for commuters. The team proposes adding more platforms, straightening the tracks to make them more efficient, creating a new space for shops above and below ground, studios for creative businesses and co-working offices. The speculative plan would also include 5,000 to 7,000 new homes to be built above the platforms, track and sidings. While no formal process has been put in place the consortium is in early talks with Wandsworth borough council and Network Rail. Schemes putting homes above train lines are still in their infancy but Hawkins\Brown Architects has designed two blocks to sit above the western ticket hall at Tottenham Court Road Tube station, with 92 homes across both buildings. Hudson Yard, a high rise development over 64 acres of live tracks in Manhattan, has helped inspire plans by the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation which is deciding how to transform Willesden Junction, while talks are also under way regarding an ambitious plan to build above Victoria station. The need to improve rail services, especially with the potential arrival of Crossrail 2, provides an opportunity to create a new town centre with Clapham Junction station at the heart of it, and to build much-needed new homes that would be constructed off-site in a factory, explains Mott MacDonald engineer Ian Watkins. Clapham Junction is a scar on the landscape and it separates different areas around the station, he says. Potential for 300,000 new London homes over railway tracks A recent report from engineers WSP shows that nearly 300,000 homes could be built in London above railway tracks. Mott MacDonalds Watkins says: There are challenges, of course. The building of homes must not interfere with signalling or site lines. Theres the issue of getting natural light into the railway station if you are building on top and around it. "Clever acoustic design must be used to counter noise and vibrations for residents. If there is a fire, homes must be protected. The whole site must feel integrated but operate separately. North London new homes above railway tunnels The Pavilions in Caledonian Road has 96 new rental homes within a nature conservation area encompassing a disused railway embankment on the edge of the Kings Cross masterplan. Just 16ft below the surface, railway tunnels run into St Pancras. From 1,685 a month: private rental flats from L&Q housing association at The Pavilions in Caledonian Road, N1 The seven buildings, clad in brick and glazed ceramic tiles, are landscaped with climbing plants, green walls and green roofs. Built by Telford Homes and designed by architects Jestico+Whiles, the scheme has been bought by L&Q housing association. A one-bedroom flat rents for 1,685 a month. Its 0.07 miles from Caledonian Road & Barnsbury Overground station. In towers above Archway Tube station there are 118 rental homes. Vantage Point by Essential Living has an on-site 24-hour residents team and 7,000sq ft of social space, including a private dining room for rent, a games room and a gym. Twickenhams new station complex One-, two- and three-bedroom apartments are being built over Twickenham station and tracks. Its part of Twickenham Gateway, a new station building in the centre of a public plaza, with shops and a cafe at ground level and the new homes above. The development is due to launch with prices this month. Contact Dexters on 020 8108 3383. New over-building projects tend to lean towards rental homes, as buyers still think of station areas as unattractive. To make them desirable, aspects like impressive architecture, apartments with appealing interiors and facilities for a modern life, such as gyms, should be added, says JLLs Nick Whitten. And as they become more popular, people will become more open to the idea and start to buy. Crossrails my new neighbour at Royal Arsenal Riverside Among the first residential schemes to be built above a Crossrail site, Cannon Square by Berkeley Homes is part of the 1.2 billion Royal Arsenal Riverside scheme that will offer 5,000 homes and stretch over 88 acres. Crossrail benefits: Wahab Ahmed bought in Royal Arsenal Riverside Wahab Ahmed, 28, an actuary, bought a two-bedroom apartment in Naval House, a mid-rise Cannon Square block. Royal Arsenal Riverside will be home to one of the only two Crossrail stations south of the river once the line is open. Sci-fi style The proposed tower was to be clad with specialist concrete made to sparkle, and decorated with yellow porthole-style windows and curving balcony openings. However, objectors described it as resembling a horrific alien phallus, that looked like a Fifties science fiction film where a UFO crashes into a normal street. >Scroll right to see how towers are set to change London's skyline in 2019 It should not be lost on any of us that there were those who stood in the way of some of those gains and who will try now that I depart to roll them back, he said. We cannot go back to days of endless financial and academic crises at Chicago Public Schools, both of which we helped bring to an end. Once the final results come in, attention will turn to President Reuven Rivlin. The president, whose responsibilities are mostly ceremonial, is charged with choosing a prime minister after consulting with party leaders and determining who has the best chance of putting together a majority coalition. That responsibility is usually given to the head of the largest party. When Bentley was in her 50s, she underwent a hysterectomy, and the doctor also wanted to remove the appendix but couldn't find it, Allee said in a phone interview. She said it was removed later. Oregon Health & Science University noted that Bentley had three organs removed during her life, but only the surgeon who removed her appendix recorded its unusual location. "We're not looking to do that," Trump told reporters Tuesday before meeting with Egypt's president at the White House. But he also noted: "Once you don't have it, that's why you see many more people coming. They're coming like it's a picnic, because let's go to Disneyland." The potential reinstatement of one of the most divisive practices of Trump's tenure was just one aspect of the upheaval at the Department of Homeland Security this week that culminated with Nielsen's resignation. Acting Deputy Secretary Claire Grady, a 28-year civil servant, technically next in line for secretary, was forced to resign Tuesday to make room for Trump's pick to replace Nielsen, according to two people familiar with the decision. Pipeline 10 April 2019 Harrisburg University announced plans today to partner with the hotel chain HHM to build an upscale, 197-room boutique hotel in the 19-story tower planned for Third and Chestnut streets in the city. HHM, short for Hersha Hospitality Management, has a regional office on Second Street in Harrisburg. "We couldn't be more excited," University President Eric Darr said in a statement. "Obviously, they're committed to the region and to the city of Harrisburg. They've been long-time supporters of the university." According to the press release, the hotel will front Chestnut Street and be separated from the university campus by an atrium in the first ten stories of the building. Harrisburg University plans to begin building the tower in late July and open it by summer 2021. The university and the hotelier would share space on 10 of the floors. The remaining seven floors would be used entirely by Harrisburg University. Harrisburg University offers more details on new tower New mixed-use tower at 3rd and Chestnut will rise 19 stories. The educational space in the tower is slated to accommodate at least 1,000 new students and a health science education center that will offer programs in nursing, pharmaceutical sciences and other allied health programs. HHM owns about 125 hotels under a variety of brands, including Westin, Hilton and Hyatt. They operate five hotels in the Philadelphia area: The Hampton Inn Philadelphia Center City, The Independent, The Westin Philadelphia, The Rittenhouse Hotel and Homewood Suites University City. Harrisburg University releases renderings on new building Press Release 10 April 2019 BETHESDA, Md. -- Following the highly anticipated announcement of Gather by JW - the brand's immersive epicurean and mindful experience this September - JW Marriott today unveiled 'Gather by JW' Marriott Bonvoy Moments exclusive for members. These bookable packages, available to bid on now through May 1, will allow Marriott Bonvoy members the opportunity to indulge their inner foodie through thoughtfully curated and unforgettable experiences, including Masterclasses, with top names in the culinary world. Advertisements Gather by JW, JW Marriott's second annual festival in Venice, will take place from September 26 - 29, 2019 at the enchanting JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa, located on the private island of Isola delle Rose. The weekend will bring together an incredible roster of culinary, beverage, and mindfulness experts to curate an immersive experience that celebrates gathering, being present, Marriott Bonvoy Moments Masterclasses led by award-winning culinary legends and wine aficionados, and of course, food and wine. Talent includes Fabio Trabocchi, Giada De Laurentiis, Ciccio Sultano, Angela Hartnett, Jonathan Waxman, Ray Isle, Anthony Giglio, and more. Through Marriott Bonvoy, the company's recently unveiled travel program which replaced Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards, members can bid on exclusive 'Gather by JW' Marriott Bonvoy Moments. Starting at 75,000 points, these packages feature luxurious three-night accommodations for two guests in a Junior Suite at JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa. Each Marriott Bonvoy Moment provides festivalgoers with access to Masterclass cooking schools with award-winning chefs and additional Gather by JW experiences including two seats at the coveted IL FINALE dinner, an all-star feast held in the resort's stunning church that will bring together the festival's top chefs and wine experts. Package 1: 'Essentially Giada' with Giada De Laurentiis: Moments members can don an apron as they sharpen their culinary skills through an immersive Masterclass hosted by chef, author, and Emmy Award-winning television personality, Giada De Laurentiis. Participants will cook alongside Giada and learn from her as they prepare classic and flavorful Italian dishes with a contemporary California twist. For more information, or to bid on the 'Essentially Giada' Marriott Bonvoy Moment, visit Marriott Bonvoy Moments. Package 2: 'Decadent Nonna' with Angela Hartnett: Members can enjoy a passionate Masterclass presented by award-winning chef, Angela Hartnett. 'Decadent Nonna' will incorporate the flavors of Hartnett's Michelin-starred Londonrestaurant Murano into classic and nostalgic dishes inspired by her childhood. For more information, or to bid on the 'Decadent Nonna' Marriott Bonvoy Moment, visit Marriott Bonvoy Moments. Package 3: 'The Sicilian Kitchen' with Ciccio Sultano: Chef and owner of the two Michelin-starred Ristorante Duomo in Sicily, Ciccio Sultano will provide participants with a hands-on Masterclass demonstration. Sultano will divulge his secrets on how to create the most mesmerizing dishes inspired by his award-winning Sicilian restaurant, Il Duomo. For more information, or to bid on the 'The Sicilian Kitchen' Marriott Bonvoy Moment, visit Marriott Bonvoy Moments. These exclusive Moments are only available at Marriott Bovoy Moments. Each Moment includes resort activity fee, complimentary Wi-Fi, and daily breakfast at Cucina Restaurant. Airfare is not included. Members must be 18 years or older to bid on 'Gather by JW' Marriot Bonvoy Moments. For additional information on 'Gather by JW', please visit www.gatherbyjw.com. About JW Marriott JW Marriott is part of Marriott International's luxury portfolio of brands and consists of beautiful properties and distinctive resort locations around the world. The impressive array of award-winning hotels cater to sophisticated, mindful travelers seeking The JW Treatment - the brand's philosophy that true luxury is created by people who are passionate about what they do. These experiences help guests to be fully present, foster connections and feed the soul. Inspired by the principles of mindfulness, JW Marriott is a haven designed to allow guests to focus on feeling whole - present in mind, nourished in body, and revitalized in spirit - through programs and offerings that encourage them to come together, act with intention and experience every moment to the fullest. Today there are over 80 JW Marriott hotels in more than 25 countries and territories. Visit JW Marriott online, and on Instagram and Facebook. JW Marriott is proud to participate in Marriott Bonvoy, the new name of Marriott's travel program replacing Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest(SPG). The program offers members an extraordinary portfolio of global brands, experiences on Marriott Bonvoy Moments and unparalleled benefits including earning points toward free hotel stays and nights toward Elite status recognition. To enroll for free or for more information about the program, visit MarriottBonvoy.marriott.com. About JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa Settled on its own private island in Venice, Isola delle Rose, just a quick ride to St. Mark's Square by complimentary shuttle service, JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa is the ultimate luxury experience for the most discerning traveler. The combination of wide and lush green areas, a refined restoration by award-winning architect Matteo Thun, together with an attentive service and the finest wellness and dining experiences makes Isola delle Rose a serene retreat from where you can easily explore the beauties of Venice and at the same time indulge in the luxury of a resort. Opened in 2015, the Resort features 266 rooms and refined suites, 4 restaurants - including the fine dining restaurant Fiola at Dopolavoro Venezia, by Michelin-starred Chef Fabio Trabocchi - and 4 bars offering international and local cuisine, the largest Spa in Venice, a Church, kids club and family activities, water sports, a rooftop lounge area with pool and view over Venice, lush green areas, and Sapori Cooking Academy for gastronomes looking to experience the authentic Venetian lifestyle and atmosphere. Visit JW Marriott Venice online, and on Instagram and Facebook. Press Release 10 April 2019 Dubai, UAE - Earlier today at the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference 2019 (AHIC), currently underway at the AHIC Village at the Al Hamra International Exhibition & Conference Centre in Ras Al Khaimah, winners of the prestigious annual AHIC Creating Impact Awards were celebrated. Advertisements Hosted by Amine Moukarzel President, MENA Region - Louvre Hotels Group, the Outstanding Leadership Award was presented to His Highness Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, UAE Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, in recognition of his formidable achievements in leading the emirate to unprecedented levels of success, particularly with regard to Ras Al Khaimah's burgeoning tourism and hospitality industry. The Outstanding Contribution to the Industry Award 2019 was presented to Ali Hamad Lakhraim Alzaabi, Founder and President of Millennium Hotels & Resorts in the Middle East and Africa. Having launched the brand with a single property in Abu Dhabi 16 years ago, Alzaabi has spearheaded major growth for the company. Millennium Hotels & Resorts MEA now comprises 40 hotels in operation totalling 12,619 keys in the region. Under Alzaabi's leadership, the hotel company has its eyes set on a massive expansion plan with more than 35 hotels in the pipeline. On collecting his award at AHIC 2019, Alzaabi said: "I have envisioned a great potential in the hospitality industry that inspired me to introduce an array of distinct brands to the region, serving different market segments over the last 20 years and I am proud that the Millennium brand has firmly established itself as one of the fastest growing hotel management companies in the Middle East region". Alzaabi added: "Our commitment as a brand is not only to our employees, owners and customers but also to causes and organisations that make a difference in the lives of others and hence we have launched programmes like 'Taddamon', a CSR initiative in collaboration with Al Jalila Foundation, and 'TooMooH' a concerted, consistent programme to accelerate nationalisation by integrating Nationals in the private sector and offer increased opportunities in the hospitality industry, thus allowing us to truly create an impact within the hospitality sector". AHIC also revealed the winner of the first Arabian Young Leader Award, open to GCC Nationals aged 30 years and younger that have been working in the Middle East hospitality sector for at least two years. Sharihan Al Mashary, General Manager of Manzil Downtown in Dubai, was named the winner in recognition of her dedication to the industry and her colleagues, as well as her commitment to supporting other young people in the UAE to develop their hospitality careers. Al Mashary said: "Twelve years ago if I had not chosen to serve with courage and commitment my country and my nation in the hospitality industry, I would've been a Brigadier today. Being recognised as a leader in the hospitality industry for my work, my contribution to education, youth vocational training and to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for the UAE is an honour I wear as a rank on my shoulder. Thank you! Service to country and field comes in all forms when one leads selflessly with courage, commitment and curiosity". Al Mashary received a full three-day access pass to AHIC and enrollment onto the Executive Certificate programme provided by The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management as part of her prize. Jonathan Worsley, Chairman of Bench Events and Founder of AHIC, said: "AHIC has long-championed the human factor in the hospitality industry and encouraged the next generation of hoteliers to develop careers in the Middle East's dynamic hotel sector. We are thrilled to celebrate the achievements of Sharihan Al Mashary, our first Arabian Young Leader Award winner, at this year's forum." For more information about AHIC 2019, visit:www.ahic.com Miller is a consistent immigration restrictionist, opposed to legal and illegal arrivals, and when Miller has his ear, so is the president. But in his last State of the Union address, Trump blurted out off script that he wanted more legal immigrants than ever. Tellingly, when the border crisis first flared up last year, the White House zigzagged on its response. Was separating families at the border an intentional policy meant to deter further immigration or a regrettable result of something Democrats had done? Trump has been all over the map on the question. But Miller said it was intentional, while Nielsen insisted that it was outrageously offensive to suggest the administration would ever use family separation in such a punitive fashion. A global study commissioned by InterContinental Hotels Group finds that a lack of sleep is a primary concern for travelers. According to the research, 80 percent of travelers have trouble sleeping when away from home. Traveling causes an imbalance in the bodys biological clock, disrupting 24-hour cycles known as circadian rhythms. These rhythms are measured by the rise and fall of body temperature, plasma levels of certain hormones, metabolism and other biological functions. All of these functions are influenced by exposure to sunlight. Now a global study commissioned by InterContinental Hotels Group finds that a lack of sleep is a primary concern for travelers. According to the research, 80 percent of travelers have trouble sleeping when away from home. Among the other key findings: The business traveler loses around 58 minutes of sleep each night when staying away from home, averaging just 5 hours and 17 minutes of sleep. According to the new research, the biggest causes of a restless nights sleep for those traveling are different environment, unfamiliar noises, and working late. Light is the major environmental time cue that resets the circadian clock in our brains each day, which is easily thrown off when traveling. Over two thirds (67%) of travelers surveyed stated they feel more tired when they are away from home. To aid sleep, nearly a half either try listening to music (47%) or watching TV (45%) to try and fall asleep. In an effort to help travelers combat a restless night away from home, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has piloted the use of portable and versatile JOURNI Mobile Task Light. Developed by Healthe by Lighting Science, the light is designed to help regulate sleep when traveling. IHG is the first hotel company to pilot the product. According to a company spokesperson, Crowne Plaza Atlanta Airport will be the first IHG property to install the JOURNI Mobile Task Light in guest rooms. Designed using Healthes patented GoodDay and GoodNight spectrum technologies, JOURNI allows access to the alertness and focus-enhancing spectrum during the day, and then easily change to the warm, sleep-enhancing spectrum at night. This dual-spectrum luminaire is aimed to bring energy-efficient, circadian lighting right to the hotel room. Any technology that can help travelers get a good nights sleep is sure to enhance the guest experience. Hotel Technology News, published by Starfleet Media, is the hospitality industrys premier source of information and insights related to technology innovation at the worlds leading hotels and resorts. Click here to read more articles or to subscribe to the Weekly Dispatch newsletter. Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource During the conference, the company also unveiled a concept of the next generation guest room design for the Radisson RED brand in the Americas. Radisson Hotel Group yesterday announced at its Americas Business Conference in Miami, Fla. the all new look and feel of Park Inn by Radisson. As part of the conference, the company revealed its new prototype model room for the brand. The new contemporary design targeted at the upper midscale market provides comfort while maximizing space within a compact footprint. Each room is thoughtfully constructed, while highlighting the core essential brand pillars: Connected, Positive and Contemporary. The dynamic design scheme throughout each hotel also adds an energy aimed to lift the mood of every guest from leisure to business travelers. We are thrilled to unveil the latest room design prototype here in Miami to our owners and franchisees, said John M. Kidd, chief executive officer and chief operating officer, Radisson Hospitality, Inc. Over the past few years we have had strong traction with the brand in Latin America and Europe. Backed by our new design prototype and strong development momentum, we hope to leverage this success and bring renewed energy and growth for Park Inn by Radisson throughout the Americas. We are passionate about discovering ways to provide a unique stay at our hotels in order to cater to the desires of our guests not only in the here and now, but also into the future, said Phil Malcolm, vice president, Technical Services, Radisson Hotel Group. The light use of color within our Park Inn by Radisson prototype model room is used to highlight key moments and enhance the positive and inviting atmosphere. During the conference, the company also unveiled a concept of the next generation guest room design for the Radisson RED brand in the Americas. The room features a contemporary and edgy design for primarily urban markets. Radisson RED offers a relaxed and casual environment featuring its brand passion for music, art and fashion. Since opening our first RED in Minneapolis in late 2016, we have learned a lot, both operationally and from our guests, added Malcolm. Our latest design concept reflects the continued evolution of RED while staying true to its core pillars. Radisson RED currently has three hotels open and four hotels in development throughout the Americas. The brand opened its first Americas hotel in Minneapolis, Minn., followed by openings in Campinas, Brazil and Portland, Ore. Radisson RED has two hotels set to open in Miami, Fla., along with a hotel signing in Plano, Texas. Radisson RED Miraflores is scheduled to open Summer 2019. There are also locations in Brussels, Cape Town and Glasgow. Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) has signed two franchise agreements including Holiday Inn Madinah King Abdulaziz Road with Loulouat Al Madinah Hospitality and Holiday Inn Jeddah Al Hamra with Al Hokair Group. IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) has signed two franchise agreements including Holiday Inn Madinah King Abdulaziz Road with Loulouat Al Madinah Hospitality and Holiday Inn Jeddah Al Hamra with Al Hokair Group. The agreements were signed and announced at Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC) 2019 in Ras Al Khaimah.The signings consolidate IHG's strategy to expand its footprint across the kingdom, with its midscale offerings. Holiday Inn Jeddah Al Hamra will feature 253 rooms and a host of facilities for business and leisure travellers including three food and beverage outlets, six meeting rooms, and a business centre. In addition, guests will be able to take advantage of recreational facilities such as the outdoor pool, a gymnasium and a spa. Due to open in 2020, Holiday Inn Madinah King Abdulaziz Road will be strategically located near Al Haramain Railway Train Station and other major transport hubs. The 180-key hotel will feature 2,000 sqm of banqueting space for events and conventions, a business centre as well as a gym and two dining options. Given its location in the Holy City and close proximity to Knowledge Economic City, it is expected to attract both pilgrims and corporate travelers. Commenting on the agreement, Pascal Gauvin, Managing Director, India, Middle East & Africa, IHG, said: "We are excited to leverage our experience of this market to bring more hospitality options to a broad range of travellers. Saudi Arabia remains a key strategic market for IHG in the Middle East, and we are proud to collaborate once again with our esteemed long-term partner, Al Hokair Group, and also to partner with Loulouat Al Madinah Hospitality for the first time. These signings demonstrate our commitment to Vision 2030 and the development of the rapidly evolving hospitality sector in the Kingdom." Omar Samara, CEO, Al Hokair Group commented: "IHG understands the market and has demonstrated its credentials to us as a strong partner. The tourism landscape in Saudi Arabia is changing, in line with Vision 2030, and offers unprecedented opportunities for the hospitality sector. This partnership will further diversify the type of hospitality offerings in both cities for international and domestic travelers alike." Sami Al Hokair, Managing Director, Loulouat Al Madinah Hospitality commented: "We are pleased to be partnering with an experienced, global hospitality company such as IHG to expand our footprint in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In line with Saudi Vision 2030, there will be an increase in the number of religious tourist arrivals in Madinah and this partnership will give us an opportunity to offer quality branded accommodation to our international and domestic guests. Holiday Inn is a brand known and preferred by travelers across the globe and we are confident the hotel will be a huge success when we open our doors in 2020." Currently, IHG operates 91 hotels across 5 brands in the Middle East, including: InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Staybridge Suites with a further 37 in the development pipeline due to open within the next three to five years.* IHG most recently debuted its upscale brand voco in the Middle East with the opening of voco Dubai. *Figures as at 31 December 2018 Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource In todays climate, a brands reputation can be one of two things - their strongest asset and an integral marketing tool, or their biggest liability. Of course, we live in a digital age which is laden with opportunity for consumers and employees to potentially impact the public perception of a brand. In todays climate, a brands reputation can be one of two things - their strongest asset and an integral marketing tool, or their biggest liability. Of course, we live in a digital age which is laden with opportunity for consumers and employees to potentially impact the public perception of a brand. This is a double-edged sword of sorts, as more online platforms and daily media consumption provides brands with a wealth of opportunity to portray their business to the public a realization which demands a great deal of responsibility. Look no further than the incident in 2017 during which passengers on a United Airlines flight took (and shared) a video of a man being forcibly dragged off a plane by security when he was randomly selected (and declined) to forfeit his seat for airline maintenance workers. This caused a social media uproar, which tarnished the reputation of the brand in a significant way. This power of media proves to be especially true in the case of hospitality, as the industry itself is based almost entirely on public perception(s). If a hotel or travel brands success is decided by the experience it provides, good media and reputation can be the catalyst to growth and new business but bad media? Thats a different story literally. Whether delivered through social media, media coverage, online review sites or word of mouth, media has the power to make or break a hotel. 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business, and 74% of consumers say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more. Still not convinced? Consider the following: - 64% of consumers trust search engine results the most when searching for news or information - 69% of job seekers are likely to reject an employment offer from a company with a bad reputation - Nearly half of U.S. adults said they have Googled someone before doing business with them - Businesses risk losing 22% of business when potential customers find one negative article on the first page of their search results - A bad reputation costs a company at least 10% more per hire Now, if a hotels reputation can make or break its ultimate success, how can hoteliers best manage this? What represents the key differentiator(s) to generating great media, versus bad media? As with most things in hospitality, we find ourselves back at the core principle a great hotel must provide a great experience, each and every stay. However, what creates a great experience? Well, this might garner a different answer depending whom you ask, but ultimately the provision of exceptional guest service is the responsibility of hotel staff. Quite simply, a beautiful property, incredible location, and cutting-edge technology or amenities aside, a hotel cant operate without its people. From the front desk staff to the concierge, housekeepers, chefs and more, its a hotels staff who often play the most integral role in the creation of a memorable guest experience. And while any great hotelier understands the importance of putting together an exceptional team this, in itself, can often be a difficult pursuit in the realm of hospitality. Notorious for rapid employee turn-over, the hotel and motel industry experiences an estimated employee turnover rate of 73.8%. To provide more context, most HR experts agree that a healthy turnover rate should actually be somewhere in the 10-15% range. This brings us to our next question for an industry so focused on the guest experience, why is there not more focus on the employee experience? Safety has become an important discussion topic across our industry, as reports of unsafe working environments for hotel staff have begun to emerge in the media. Surveys of housekeepers around the nation show that housekeepers are sexually assaulted at over twice the rate of workers in other industries. Safety mandates for housekeepers are becoming prevalent, such as in Seattle, New York, Chicago, and Sacramento County. Even without state laws, Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations require that all employers provide a safe workplace. According to OSHA, 2 million workers are victims of workplace violence annually and recommends establishing a workplace-violence protection program and equipping personnel with hand held alarms In fact, hoteliers are repeatedly coming to the same realization: there must be policies and procedures in place to protect and empower hospitality staff. With incidents of injury, assault or harassment against hotel staff being notoriously high across the industry, it is imperative that hotels seek out every opportunity to protect their staff, and their reputation, from unnecessary risk and harm. Fortunately, technology has advanced to the point that apps are keeping workers safe. In particular, next-generation panic buttons are leading the way as the true future of worker safety. With innovative app-based safety platforms designed to keep hotel employees safe, both on and off the property, hotels can have a complete security system in place in case any unusual situation arises. Using Bluetooth technology, Reacts safety platform precisely pinpoints the location of a staff distress call - down to the specific floor and room number. If the employee in danger moves, their location will be tracked and updated in real time, ensuring they can be reached quickly and efficiently. Having the power to locate an employee within seconds of a distress call helps hoteliers to create a safe, confident workplace ensuring the well-being of staff just as they are expected them to care for the welfare of guests. With media being the dominant force of influence that it is, and the on-going demand for strong, stable staffing across the hospitality realm, there is no better time for hotels to invest in the well-being of their employees. With the right technology and policies in place, hoteliers can create an inspiring and safe environment for their employees, one which continuously generates great media from guests and employees alike. About the Author Robb Monkman is the founder and CEO, of React Mobile, Inc. With experience launching multiple products, from idea to exit, Robb previously headed up the sales and marketing of advanced communications solutions to the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Several years ago, Robb was the victim of an armed robbery and hostage situation that left a lasting impression on him. He soon learned that thousands of people every day were in situations where they desperately need help but couldnt make a call. He made it his mission to solve this problem, founding React Mobile to create a simple yet powerful personal safety platform that today is transforming the way people call for help in emergencies. React Mobile is making tomorrow a safer place and already helping people all over the world. About React Mobile Founded in 2013, React Mobile is a global leader in providing panic button solutions for hotels. Their best in class hospitality safety platform helps hotels keep their employees safe. The React Mobile system allows management to deploy response resources to the exact location of an emergency within seconds of an alert, getting help to where they need it fast. In an emergency quick response times are essential. To learn more, visit ReactMobile.com Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource European Chain Hotels Market Review - February 2019 Despite slight upticks in RevPAR and TRevPAR, profit per room at hotels in mainland Europe fell in February, unmasking flow-through challenges, according to the latest data tracking full-service hotels from HotStats. Its an ongoing concern that stretches back to last year. The 4.1-percent YOY drop in GOPPAR is the third consecutive month the KPI has declined and follows a January YOY decrease of 9.7 percent. RevPAR ticked slightly upward 0.9 percent, fuelled by a 2.2-percent increase in achieved average room rate to 143.14. YOY occupancy fell by 0.8 percentage points to 62.2 percent. Falling ancillary revenues in February included declines in food & beverage, which was down 0.8 percent YOY, and was accompanied by a 6.2-percent YOY jump in food cost of sales on a per-available-room basis. TRevPAR increased a faint 0.1 percent to 138.26 and although this was more than 10 above the TRevPAR recorded in January, it remained almost 40 below the 12 months to February 2019 at 175.37. Profit & Loss Key Performance Indicators Mainland Europe (in EUR) February 2019 v. February 2018 RevPAR: +0.9% to 88.98 TRevPAR: +0.1% to 138.26 Payroll % of Total Revenue: +0.5 pts. to 41.8% GOPPAR: -4.1% to 29.45 The meagre growth in total revenue was wiped out by rising costs, which included a 0.5-percentage-point increase in payroll levels as a percentage of total revenue to 41.8 percent, as well as a 0.5-percentage-point increase in overheads as a percentage of total revenue to 28.6 percent. As a result, profit contribution was recorded at just 21.3 percent of total revenue. Furthermore, flow through for the month was recorded at -781 percent, illustrating the challenges of rising costs against static revenues in the region. Since late 2016, RevPAR and TRevPAR have made healthy month-over-month advances, but are now flattening, and even turning negative in some instances. Hoteliers are having issue growing revenues high enough to contain mounting costs, resulting in slight to negative profit, said Michael Grove, Director of Intelligence and Customer Solutions, EMEA, at HotStats. The impact of rising costs outpacing revenue growth were no better illustrated than in Barcelona, where hotels suffered a 14.7-percent YOY decline in GOPPAR to 97.11; this despite a 2.0-percent increase in RevPAR to 167.01. Profit & Loss Key Performance Indicators Barcelona (in EUR) February 2019 v. February 2018 RevPAR: +2.0% to 167.01 TrevPAR: -5.1% to 259.95 Payroll % of Total Revenue: +2.9 pts. to 29.2% GOPPAR: -14.7% to 97.11 As a result of movement in departmental revenues, TRevPAR fell by 5.1 percent to 259.95. In addition, rising costs, which included a 5.6-percent increase in total hotel labour costs on a per-available-room basis, were a further pain point for hoteliers. In contrast, Berlin recorded a 16.6-percent increase in profit per room in February to 62.48, which was 13.5-percent above the GOPPAR recorded in the 12 months to February 2019 at 55.07. Growth was led by an 8.6-percent increase in RevPAR to 125.70 and an even greater 11.3-percent rise in TRevPAR to 199.81. Thanks to a 1.0-percentage-point saving in payroll levels as a percentage of total revenue, hotels in Berlin recorded a profit contribution of 31.3 percent of total revenue in the month. Profit & Loss Key Performance Indicators Berlin (in EUR) February 2019 v. February 2018 RevPAR: +8.6% to 125.70 TrevPAR: +11.3% to 199.81 Payroll % of Total Revenue: -1.0 pts. to 32.0% GOPPAR: +16.6% to 62.48 HotStats provides two reporting tools to hoteliers: Our unique profit and loss benchmarking service which enables monthly comparison of hotels performance against their competitors. It is distinguished by the fact that it provides in excess of 100 performance metric comparisons covering 70 areas of hotel revenue, cost, profit and statistics providing far deeper insight into the hotel operation than any other tool. Our latest innovation in daily revenue intelligence, MORSE. Amongst its reporting are daily and highly granular market segmentation metrics as well as distribution channel and source of booking analysis. It takes daily market intelligence to a whole new level. For more information contact: Enquiries +44 (0) 20 7892 2241 enquiries@hotstats.com Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource For many years, the hospitality and tourism industry has been in need of better cybersecurity services. REBEL Travel Corporation has recently partnered with cybersecurity firm Clarium Managed Services to streamline the cybersecurity assessment, validation, and customized reporting process for this industry. For many years, the hospitality and tourism industry has been in need of better cybersecurity services. REBEL Travel Corporation has recently partnered with cybersecurity firm Clarium Managed Services to streamline the cybersecurity assessment, validation, and customized reporting process for this industry. REBEL CEO Fred Bean said, weve partnered with Clarium because they are the best at what they do. They not only provide a nearly frictionless assessment, they also validate the results for the client and provide summary dashboards of findings for the C Suite. Clarium provides services for some of the worlds largest companies, they are well-placed to offer enterprise level cybersecurity services that the hospitality industry urgently needs. In recent years, it has become clear that the hospitality and tourism space is an attractive target for cyber criminals. Sophisticated cybersecurity technologies and protocols are available and can help to mitigate the risk, but many hospitality businesses do not have the expertise or resources necessary to put them in place. Through REBEL, Clarium can identify, validate, and create reports of your vulnerabilities for you at significantly reduced costs. Clarium created Assessor+, a proprietary tool for use by many of the nations largest law firms and cyber insurance companies to address the problems faced by businesses in the hospitality industry, and the third party data processors that serve them. This validated assessment program can help hotels and their contracted data processors ensure that they meet the standards set by GDPR and PCI. The findings are confidential and in most cases are also exempt from disclosure anywhere. Go to www.assessorplus.com for more information or to enroll in Assessor +. Clariums CEO, Ajay Khanna says We are so excited to partner with REBEL, who is known in the industry for delivering top quality products and services. Our combined program is far more than just a theoretical review of frameworks and processes. It truly helps businesses in the hospitality sector, along with their suppliers, to achieve compliance with cybersecurity regulations. REBEL Travel Corporation is a global technology and marketing company that provides top-class solutions to many hospitality businesses, including hotels, restaurants, and agencies. The partnership with Clarium allows REBEL to make high-quality cybersecurity services available to its clients across the world. The services that Clarium provides include the development of cybersecurity strategies, and managed security services. They can help businesses integrate cybersecurity features into their existing networks, put in place robust incident response protocols, and manage their cyber risks through their Security Operations Center (SOC) located in Miami. In addition, Clarium provides security consulting, support, and training. Based in Miami, FL, the firm has many years of experience of providing end-to-end cybersecurity solutions that can help both small and large businesses protect against expensive cyber breaches by providing a prevention first security platform. With cyber-attacks occurring increasingly often in the hospitality and tourism sector, many businesses are concerned about how they can protect themselves. One option now is to join REBEL Travel Corporation by visiting www.rebel-travel.com or calling 305-900-4926. Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource Over 20,000 people are scheduled to gather together on Thursday for Nipsey Hussle's memorial service, and ahead of the emotional event, the rapper's mother, Angelique Smith, sat down to share a moving message for the masses. The video was created for students, but after being shared throughout social media, everyone was blessed by her words. "Hello students, I'm Ermias' mother," Smith began. "Ermias is Nipsey Hussle. And I want you to know that I am so happy and that Ermias is here with me right now. I feel him. His spirit is right here with me, and I want you to know that death is not to be feared. I want you to know that we are spiritual beings first and we're having a physical experience. It only lasts for a moment in time." "When you die, as they call it, you are just becoming a baby in your spirit," she said. "You are just beginning to live your eternal life that never dies. Ermias will never. You have him in your heart. every time you think of Ermias, he lives. His spirit is everywhere now. You can talk to him and he will talk back to you in your mind," she said. "You will be able to feel his presence." David McNew/Getty Images "I don't want you to be traumatized. I want to tell you, Ermias was more beautiful in death than he was in life. Ermias didn't have any marks on him when I viewed him. His hair was perfect. There was not one strand of hair that was out of place. All of the love, all of the compassion, all of the caring, the truthfulness and the generosity, all of the honesty. All of the compassion...just all of the good things that were inside of Ermias' heart...it's as if they lifted off of his heart and they transferred to his face. His face was beautiful and had complete peacefulness." "When you walk this earth and you do good deeds for people, and you are loving and kind, those are the things that will show on your face. You will look more beautiful," Smith said int he video. "I have perfect peace, and I have strength, and I want to lift you up. Please do not stay down, do not stay stuck, do not mourn. Because Nipsey is great [...] and now he's even greater because he has no bounds and limits. His energy is everywhere. He's there with you now and he's here with me now and please be encouraged." Nipsey Hussle much-anticipated Staples Center vigil will be a tightly-guarded affair, according to a report published by TMZ. The Celebration of Life organizers have informed several levels of law enforcement to be on-guard come Thursday morning when the vigil is set to begin. Measures have been taken to mitigate the kind of chaos that erupted during last week's LA vigil. Cops say at least 2 people were shot during the messy affair. According to sources conferring with TMZ, the security presence at the event will be staffed by a mix of LAPD personnel, Nation of Islam members and some of the employees that regularly work Staples Center events. The LAPD's will only be on hand to help the flow of traffic in the area, and reinforce the "hired muscle" if and only when called into action. https://www.instagram.com/p/BwAqULghckG As for the violence that broke out at last Thursday's LA vigil for Nipsey, cops are still on the hunt for the person suspected of pulling the trigger. Nipsey's family is working hard to ensure that no further violence occurs on their watch, in relation to Nipsey Hussle's memorialization. After being led to believe the opposite was true. would-attendees have since learned that admission is free of charge and absolutely open to the public. The mix-up was cleared up after the individual(s) handling Nipsey's social media posted a link with the requisite information. [Via] A few months back Pete Davidson was posting some troubling messages on social media that left fans and friends very worried. "I really don't want to be on this earth anymore. i'm doing my best to stay here for you but i actually don't know how much longer i can last. All i've ever tried to do was help people. just remember i told you so," he wrote in one post. A few weeks after, Pete removed himself from Instagram completely and now close to five months later the SNL star is back on the 'Gram. His resurgence on the app was made to announce an upcoming comedy tour he's taking part in alongside John Mulaney for just three dates. The video to accompany the announcement looks to be a little throwback to when Pete was a kid. As we know, Pete's latest love interest is Kate Beckinsale who is 20-years his senior. The Set It Up actor previously discussed his relationship since "people have a crazy fascination" with it. It doesnt really bother us, but then again Im new to this, he said. So if you have questions about a relationship with a big age difference, just ask Leonardo DiCaprio, Jason Statham, Michael Douglas, Richard Gere, Jeff Goldblum, Scott Disick, Dane Cook, Derek Jeter, Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee, Alec Baldwin, Sean Penn and whoever the president of France is." Throughout 50 Cent's career, he has feuded with a high number of rappers and entertainers. Most recently, his most frequent targets have been Floyd Mayweather and Ja Rule. In the last few months, Teairra Mari has come out of nowhere to become his primary nemesis, suing him for revenge porn, losing that lawsuit, and then refusing to give up the money she owes him. The Love & Hip Hop star released a diss track against Fiddy this week and she's only continued to attack him online. Could Mari be one of the bravest foes 50 Cent has ever faced? Today, she reposted one of his uploads, commenting on how silly he looks and claiming that she ended his career. The statement that she closes out with is definitely a stretch but in her mind, Teairra Mari ended 50 Cent. She says as much in her repost, telling the rapper that his career started in Detroit with Eminem so it's only right that it comes to a close in the same city because of her. "@50cent Ur goofy ass would spend 22k on some dumb ass shit like this," wrote the reality star on a photo of Curtis' new sunglasses. "U cant buy class Curt ..Ur 43 grow up. I guess u do?? SO GO BUILD A SCHOOL U MORON aiSerious shit is going on I hate 2 go back&forth but some1 shouldve ended this Imposters career a long time ago..Who would have thought it wouldve been me??? I guess Detroit Birthed u so Detroit finishes u too #GETTHESTRAPON YOUR DONE." Who do you think will ultimately walk away with the W here? Or is the battle already done because of Curtis' win in court? Regarding Steve Chapman (Trump's retreat from closing the border, April 7): Thank you for the on-the-spot column that President Donald Trump is not capable of making meaningful deals. It is frustrating to see most of the discussions of his presidency either focused on disagreement with his policies (natural, with any election) or his tweets and idiosyncrasies (mostly irrelevant for the big policy issues). However, the most shocking aspect of Trumps presidency is his remarkable incompetence at what he advertised as his strongest suit: cutting deals. Regardless of political orientation, Barack Obama simply was much better at that! Might this suggest that ivory tower professors are better at becoming can-do presidents than business leaders? Steve Stagner, the veteran leader of Houston-based Mattress Firm, resigned on Tuesday, less than five months after the nations largest mattress retailer emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Mattress Firms board of directors said late Tuesday that it had accepted Stagners resignation, and has begun an search for a new chief executive. Stagner, who also served as Mattress Firms executive chairman and president, had been with the company for 23 years, overseeing its initial public offering, rapid growth into the nations largest specialty mattress retailer, its 2016 sale to Steinhoff International and, most recently, navigating its way through bankruptcy proceedings. Steves leadership has been critical through this period where we needed to return the business to positive momentum, Mattresss Firms board said in a statement. Mattress Firm is in a strong go-forward position as we look to the next chapter. Stagner, who started his career as a Mattress Firm franchisee with one store and $1,300, grew his franchise to become the retailers largest. He joined the company in 2005 and climbed the ranks to become chief executive in Februrary 2010. Under his leadership, Mattress Firm went on an acquisition spree, gobbling up rivals and tripling its store count to more than 3,300 locations. In March 2016, Stagner was replaced as chief executive by Ken Murphy, who led the company through its $3.8 billion acquisition by Steinhoff International, a South African retail conglomerate, later that year. After it was revealed that Steinhoff had financial accounting irregularities affecting some $7 billion in assets, Stagner in January 2018 returned to Mattress Firms helm to guide the company through negotiations with Steinhoffs lenders and ultimately, financial restructuring when the mattress retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October. Mattress Firm which acknowledged in bankruptcy filings that it operated too many stores emerged from bankruptcy in November with about 2,500 stores nationwide, down from more than 3,300. Stagner earlier this year said the company post-bankruptcy had a stronger balance sheet and the right quantity of stores in the right locations. Stagner, who did not respond to a call Tuesday evening for comment, said in the statement issued by the board that it was his honor and privilege to have worked with Mattress Firms team for more than two decades. He said he would continue to root for Mattress Firm as they evolve and grow. I believe now is the right time to leave Mattress Firm and make way for fresh leadership because I am confident in the boards expertise and strong business foundation, he said. Mattress Firm spokeswoman Sunni Goodman said in an email that Stagner knew Mattress Firm was in a good place and felt it was the right time to pursue other interests and spend time with his family. Through his leadership, Mattress Firm successfully emerged from bankruptcy in the fall of 2018, and is now positioned to pursue a disciplined and healthy retail strategy, Goodman said. We are grateful for his guidance and commitment over the years. Jim Mattress Mack McIngvale of Houston-based Gallery Furniture said he was surprised to hear Stagner was stepping down. The prolific mattress salesman and Houston promoter called Mattress Firm his No. 1 competitor because of the retailers aggressive pricing and ubiquitous stores, but said Stagner was a gracious and nice guy during their first and only meeting at the inaugural Sleep Show earlier this year in downtown Houston. I think its going to be a tremendous loss for Mattress Firm, McIngvale said. The institutional knowledge he has, knowing all the players, is invaluable. He did a good job while he was there. paul.takahashi@chron.com twitter.com/paultakahashi Construction has started on the newest luxury high-rise to go up on Post Oak Boulevard, a project that had been embroiled in litigation after its developer sued an adjacent buildings homeowners association that was opposing the size and scale of the project. The Dinerstein Cos. is developing the 39-story building, which will have 383 apartments with rents averaging $3,500 per month. The project called Arise Post Oak is being built at 1650 Post Oak at San Felipe. The building was proposed several years ago, but hit a snag when condo owners in the neighboring Cosmopolitan, a 22-story development at 1600 Post Oak, expressed concern over the height and location of the new tower. They wanted the developer to reduce the size of the building by half and make other changes. Houston-based Dinerstein purchased the site in 2015, and in early 2016 the company filed suit in district court asking a judge to declare its rights to build the tower and prohibit the neighbors from asserting a so-called nuisance claim. The developer claimed that it addressed the neighbors concerns by lowering the height of the parking garage, moving the buildings cooling systems to the roof and designing the structure so views from the Cosmopolitan would be less obstructed. Dinersteins claim harked back to a lawsuit over the so-called Ashby high-rise in which homeowners opposed a developers plans to build a residential tower in their upscale neighborhood near Rice University. In 2013, a Harris County jury found that the proposed tower would constitute a permanent nuisance and awarded the homeowners damages should it be built. An appeals court later reversed the damages claim, but the tower has yet to be built. In the Dinerstein case, an attempt by the defendant the Cosmopolitan Condominium Association to have the suit dismissed was denied. After an appeals court affirmed the districts court denial to dismiss, the association filed a petition for review in the Texas Supreme Court. That petition also was denied, according to court records. The case remains pending. The association's lawyer, J. Cary Gray, managing partner of Gray Reed & McGraw, said the association was not seeking to stop the project. "Before the suit was ever filed, the Associations Board met and affirmatively decided not to try to halt construction of the building the developer claimed it is going to build, he wrote in an email. Nothing has changed about that. The lawsuit, however, seeks a determination that any high-rise building, regardless of what is built, will not be a nuisance. We think that is an overly broad request and it is premature. Again, its not the Associations lawsuit. Its the developers lawsuit." Brian Dinerstein, president of the development firm, declined to comment on the litigation, but said the company is excited about its new development, which is expected to open in summer 2021. The company plans to own the building for the long-term, he said. We wanted to build something permanent and iconic and contribute to the Post Oak skyline, Dinerstein said. Designed by the Gensler architecture firm, the building will have an amenity deck with a swimming pool, a skylounge on the top floor and include some 15,000 square feet of first-floor retail with a best-in-class restaurant, Dinerstein said. He declined to disclose the development cost. The units will include one-, two- and three-bedroom models, averaging around 1,200 square feet. nancy.sarnoff@chron.com twitter.com/nsarnoff Every time I visit the Alamo or see Houstonians don cowboy garb for Go Texan Day, I wonder how much longer the long-tall Texan schtick of blazing guns, big hats, high boots and ethnic warfare will work as a state brand. The adoption of the Western identity, after all, was an intentional rebranding of the state. In my book about my familys five generations in Texas, "Tomlinson Hill," I describe how state leaders wanted to slough off the Southern, white supremacist identity that dominated until the 1940s when state leaders made Big Tex the new icon. As Americans reassess our creation myths and tear down Confederate statues, Texans must also rethink our national brand. On HoustonChronicle.com: The truth about my Confederate ancestors hurt. But the truth matters Should San Antonio spend $450 million to make the Battle of the Alamo its centerpiece? The whites who died were defending slavery as much as fighting for liberty. The Spanish mission has a 300-year history, so why should all the emphasis focus on 13 days that ended with a massacre that wasnt much of a battle? Does anyone still think the Texas Rangers genocide against Native Americans or massacres of Hispanics are things to take pride in? Cowboys are such a small part of Texas history. Dressing up as a slave overseer or a sharecropper would be a more honest statement about our economic history on the Houston Rodeos Go Texan Day. Many Texans dont realize the Alamo and the cowboy are losing their appeal as the proportion of Anglo Texans shrinks from 42 percent last year to a forecast 36 percent in 2030. And a Hispanic majority will undoubtedly demand a revision of our more race-based myths, and for good reason. A communitys brand is vital for economic development. If a city cannot attract growing businesses and young workers because it appears stodgy, backward and bigoted, it will stagnate and die. Many native Texans may want to deny it, but our state already suffers from a bad reputation. Employers and economic development offices continuously complain about how young professionals and innovative companies wont come here because they think it is a hot, regressive, cultural wasteland. Those perceptions, which include only a sliver of truth, hurt local businesses. But think about the number of visitors who say Texas wildly exceeded their expectations for culture and graciousness. Or how surprised they are to find San Antonio is a fundamentally Hispanic city, and Houston is arguably the most diverse in the U.S. with a globalized culture second to none. Here is the opportunity, because most authentic brands are based on truth, not public-relations exercises. They bubble up from residents, entrepreneurs and companies, said Hajj Flemings, founder of Rebrand Cities, a technology firm focused on boosting economic development. We believe a citys brand is best told through its people, and not just the people who can go buy a skyscraper, but the Main Street people who live, work and play in these cities, he told me. Flemings company works across the U.S. helping small businesses establish an online presence that promotes their enterprise and community. The firm currently operates in San Marcos, plans to enter San Antonio and wants to expand in Houston. The biggest challenge, though, exists between residents who want a dynamic community and those who oppose change. There are people who will never let you change something, even if it benefits them, because of nostalgia, Flemings said. You are always going to have that built-in resistance. Flemings answers them with a quote from retired U.S. Army Gen. Eric Shinseki: If you dislike change, youre going to dislike irrelevance even more. Embracing change means accepting that the future will not look like the past, physically or demographically. This is especially true for a fast-changing state like Texas. On HoustonChronicle.com: Bosses need to check their privilege Its important for us to be really introspective and ask, how do we create a place for everybody and not just homogenous communities? Flemings asked. We have to have more people at the table that bring different perspectives. Birthrates and immigration are changing the demographics in every corner of our state. But the political and business leadership looks like Texas from 40 years ago, and they remain infatuated with tall tales invented 100 years ago. I understand; I grew up in Texas, studied the ridiculously inaccurate history books in Dallas schools and listened to my grandfathers one-sided, racist versions of my familys history. I know many people are heavily invested in Texas myths and bristle at anyone challenging them. The future of the state, though, requires honesty. Our growing multicultural, multiethnic society and economy must include other perspectives to thrive. When we do that, the old brands appear stale at best, and offensive at worst. Chris Tomlinson writes commentary about business, economics and policy. State officials gave Houston-based Milestone Environmental Services the green light to build the company's second landfill for oilfield waste the Permian Basin. The Railroad Commission of Texas gave Milestone a permit to build the landfill in Upton County, company officials reported on Tuesday. Located off State Highway 349 about 34 miles south of Midland, the 93-acre facility will be able to accept 7.8 million cubic yards of cuttings, contaminated soils and other oilfield waste. "The Midland Basin continues to have some of the highest density of drilling, completion and production activity in the world, and responsible development of this important play requires a world-class oilfield waste management solution," Milestone President and CEO Gabriel Rio said in a statement. Service Sector: PetroWaste Environmental sold to Waste Management The Railroad Commission's permit decision comes following years of engineering, design and planning efforts by Milestone to expand the company's presence in the prolific Permian Basin. Last month, the company received a permit to open its first Permian Basin landfill near the Reeves County town of Orla one of the region's hotspots for oil and natural gas production. Co-located with Milestone's already existing slurry injection facility, the 80-acre Orla landfill will also accept cuttings, contaminated soils and other oilfield waste. Fuel Fix: Get daily energy news headlines in your inbox Founded in 1993, Milestone owns and operates seven oilfield waste management sites in the Permian Basin, Eagle Ford Shale and Haynesville Shale. MISSION MOON: Nearly 50 years have passed since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon. Our special anniversary coverage explores how the country came together to fulfill President John F. Kennedy's goal of reaching the lunar surface by 1970, NASA's bold missions and crippling tragedies since that historic day, the future of space exploration and fate of Houston as America's "Space City." *** Hollywood loves science fiction, of course, but perhaps less heralded is its appreciation of science fact, hence its constant return to the NASA well. Maybe its because movies like First Man, Apollo 13 and The Right Stuff thrum with teamwork and bravery, where the cold silence of space is punctuated by the whir of machinery and the constant threat of injury or death. In Apollo 13, about the third manned mission intended to land on the moon, the crew members were fortunate to even come home alive. Yet while these movies spotlight individual heroes, they also show that it takes a village to send a person to space, a facet a film such as Hidden Figures about a team of female African-American mathemeticians at NASA in the 60s underscored. More than 400,000 people worked together to land humans on the moon, says William T. Harris, Space Center Houstons president and CEO. The Space Center is in the midst of showing a Space on Screen series, which includes Apollo 13 and First Man. Those people came from a diverse range of backgrounds, but pulled together to achieve something historic. SIGN UP FOR SPACE JUNK: Get Mission Moon updates delivered to your inbox each week Heroes like Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, played by Ryan Gosling and Corey Stoll in First Man, are the ones the general public remembers today. Fewer know about people like Deke Slayton, one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts featured in The Right Stuff, who went on to become NASAs first Chief of the Astronaut Office. Aside from The Right Stuff," in which hes played by Scott Paulin, Slayton also figures in Apollo 13 (played by Chris Ellis), and First Man (played by Kyle Chandler). Universal Pictures Contributed In the latter two films hes calling shots that help determine the fate of the space program and the missions at hand. Theres a reason hes in all three movies: Hes very important, even if not everyone knows his name. Armstrong, though, is the big name in First Man with good reason. He was, after all, the first man on the moon, and the author of the book on which First Man is based. The film is a stoic heros journey, with a protagonist hounded by the death of his young daughter and several friends and colleagues in the program. The moonwalk itself is a triumph, but its also very personal. The scenes depicting Armstrongs moonwalk take on a mythical dimension in the way that they are staged and shot, with a golden glow radiating from his helmet, giving it the quality of a ceremonial mask of sorts, says Rodney F. Hill, a film professor at Hofstra University who is also curating a film series to coincide with the 50th anniversary. LISTEN: Our "Cigarettes & Rocket Fuel" podcast follows NASA's 1969 Apollo missions In that moment of Armstrongs encounter with what we might term the eternal, he resolves his grief for his daughter as he drops her little bracelet, which he had kept since her death, into one of the moons craters. Such scenes and story lines, Hill says, distinguish First Man as less of an ensemble than a heros quest. First Man plays out as Neil Armstrongs personal adventure, in which he uses that journey to come to grips with his own psychological troubles, Hill says. But at the same time Armstrongs journey symbolically becomes a personal adventure for every human being. Or, if you will, one giant leap for mankind. By contrast, The Right Stuff, the 1983 film based on Tom Wolfes book about the original Mercury astronauts, is more of a group portrait. The Right Stuff has a swagger to it, a mythological quality of larger-than-life young men proving themselves against each other and for each other. Its really about the pilots life and credo more than any particular mission. And it has room for fun, especially when Fred Wards gruff Gus Grissom is on screen. Hollywood and Space: Through the years 1968 2001: A Space Odyssey -Stanley Kubrick's ground-breaking epic in which humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its origins with the help of HAL 9000, the world's most advanced super computer. 1983 The Right Stuff -Chronicling the larger-than-life exploits of the original seven Mercury astronauts - Alan Shepherd, Gus Grissom and John Glenn among them - during the formative years of America's burgeoning space program. 1995 Apollo 13 -The riveting account of the technical troubles that scuttle the Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1971, risking the lives of astronaut Jim Lovell and his crew, with the failed journey turning into a thrilling saga of heroism in space and back on earth. 2009 Moon - Duncan Jones, David Bowie's son, crafted a haunting story of a lonely life on the moon starring Sam Rockwell. 2013 Gravity - Alfonso Cuaron's thriller depicts two astronauts who find themselves completely alone in space - tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness of space after their shuttle is destroyed during a seemingly routine spacewalk. 2016 Hidden Figures - The previously unacknowledged story of a team of African-American female mathematicians who worked at NASA showed that getting humanity into space wasn't solely the province of guys. 2018 First Man - Focusing on the years leading up to the historic Apollo 11 mission, Damien Chazelle's biographical drama uses a personal touch to tell the story of Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. ONLINE: Read our special anniversary coverage of the lunar landing at HoustonChronicle.com/MissionMoon and sign up for our Space Junk newsletter for Mission Moon updates. PODCAST: Listen to our Cigarettes and Rocket Fuel podcast wherever you listen. See More Collapse More than being about determination and ingenuity, The Right Stuff celebrates, in an unabashed fashion that might seem incongruous today, the sheer bravado and machismo of the heterosexual male, Hill says. He points outs out a humorous montage early in the film that compares test pilots to surfers, racecar drivers, high wire and trapeze artists, human cannonballs, and high divers. Apollo 13 is a different animal still, a classic heroes-in-danger story depicting a true-life narrow escape. It is romantic, exciting and traditional, a close-up of the collaboration and ingenuity necessary to escape potential disaster. MISSION MOON: Apollo 11 lunar landing leaves lasting legacy 50 years later That film really is more about the space program itself, and especially the teamwork necessary to rescue the Apollo 13 astronauts when their mission is aborted due to equipment malfunction, Hill says. UNIVERSAL PICTURES, STR / ABC In these films the vastness of space makes for a stark contrast to the close confines of the vessels, where the men share the same air space and are close enough to touch each other. Space may be quiet, but the vessels are not, especially when theres an emergency or a crisis. Theres a real intimacy that would seem to belie the loneliness of the great beyond. This also leads to an increased use of close-ups, for we want to see what these men are thinking and feeling under such extraordinary circumstances. The most compelling interior shot in these scenes is generally that of a face. In First Man, as the moonwalk grows nearer, its telling that the film stays close to the astronauts and the moon. Theres no crosscutting between space and the busyness of earth, as we see in many other parts of the movie. Once Armstrong gets to the surface, we get a long, silent pan, an awe-filled absorption into the surroundings. He has landed, along with mankind. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 10) - The Supreme Court on Wednesday stopped the cutting and balling of trees in expansion plans of a popular mall in Baguio City until it complies with environmental requirements. "The Supreme Court in its En Banc Session today made permanent the temporary restraining order issued on 24 March 2015 prohibiting the cutting and balling of the trees on Luneta Hill in Baguio City, where SM is expanding its shopping mall," the Supreme Court said in an order read by its spokesperson Brian Hoska. It added, "This is without prejudice to the filing of another application for an environmental compliance certificate in accordance with existing laws and regulations." SM, in response, said it has not yet received the court resolution. "SM will assure that developments of the SM Pines Resort Project are covered by the appropriate Environmental Compliance Certificate," SM said in a statement. The company's plans to expand the mall sparked protests from Baguio City residents and environmentalists in 2012 because it required the uprooting of trees to give way to the construction. The Cordillera region has among the largest remaining forest covers in the country. In February, the environment department said it was considering the rehabilitation of Baguio, the country's summer capital, similar to what is being done on Boracay Island and Manila Bay. Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said he was also looking into restricting building construction on the city slopes and suspending the release of building permits. In the name of security, the Israeli government has pursued a policy of oppression in the occupied territories and has abetted the unfair encroachment upon Palestinian land by Jewish settlements. And within the borders of the original state, it has passed increasingly discriminatory laws against its Arab citizens. The two-state solution is fraught with difficulties and has suffered depredations from both sides, but it remains the only way forward to a meaningful peace. The current Israeli leadership has not lifted a finger toward its advancement. Benjamin Netanyahus strategy would seem to be to squeeze the status quo toward permanence long enough so that the rest of the world might forget to care. Exactly two years after passenger David Dao was dragged, screaming, from his seat on a United Airlines flight, he has broken his silence, saying he has shed many tears over the incident. Dao's case captured worldwide attention in 2017 when he was forcibly removed from an overbooked flight at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, resulting in a concussion, a broken nose and two missing teeth, according to ABC News. Dao, who has not spoken publicly about the incident since it happened, said Tuesday on ABC's "Good morning America" that when he first saw the video footage, "I just cried." Still, Dao said he has forgiven the airline as well as the security agents who dragged him down the aisle and back into the airport terminal. "I'm not angry with them," he said. "They have a job to do. They had to do it. If they don't do it, they must lose their job. So, I'm not angry with them or anything like this." Dao said he decided to speak out publicly as a way to thank those who stood behind him. The doctor said he boarded the plane April 9, 2017, preparing to head home to Kentucky, where he was planning to open a free clinic for U.S. veterans, according to ABC News. He didn't make it. The flight was overbooked and, when he refused to give up his seat, he was dragged off the plane. Dao told ABC News that he never expected the encounter to get physical but, once it did, everything escalated "fast." Fellow passenger Tyler Bridges told The Washington Post in 2017 that travelers were informed they would be given vouchers to rebook, but when no one agreed, the airline started selecting people and asking them to leave. The Washington Post's Avi Selk reported it this way at the time: A young couple was told to leave first, Bridges recalled. "They begrudgingly got up and left," he said. Then an older man, who refused. "He says, 'Nope. I'm not getting off the flight. I'm a doctor and have to see patients tomorrow morning,'" Bridges said. The man became angry as the manager persisted, Bridges said, eventually yelling. "He said, more or less, 'I'm being selected because I'm Chinese.'" A police officer boarded. Then a second and a third. Bridges then began recording, as did another passenger - as the officers leaned over the man, a lone holdout in his window seat. "Can't they rent a car for the pilots?" another passenger asks in the videos. Then the man, out of frame, screams. One of the officers quickly reaches across two empty seats, snatches the man and pulls him into the aisle. "My God!" someone yells - not for the first time. He goes limp after hitting the floor. "It looked like it knocked him out," Bridges said. "His nose was bloody." His glasses nearly knocked off his face, the man clutches his cellphone as one of the officers pulls him by both arms down the aisle and off the plane. "This is horrible," someone says. "What are you doing? No! This is wrong." And with that, Bridges said, four United employees boarded and took the empty seats. - - - Dao told ABC News on Tuesday that he woke up in a hospital and, for a while, did not know his story had gone viral. Then, amid widespread outcry, slipping stock prices and a settlement with the airline, he said the media attention became too much for him to handle. "Get to the point, I have to hide," he told ABC News, explaining that he had to go underground. "I stay for months - months in house." United Airlines said in a statement Tuesday to The Post that the incident was "a defining moment" for the company. "It is our responsibility to make sure we as a company and all of our 90,000 employees continue to learn from that experience," Megan McCarthy, a spokeswoman for the airline, said in the statement. "The changes we have implemented since that incident better serve our customers and further empower our employees. This year, we are focused more than ever on our commitment to our customers, looking at every aspect of our business to ensure that we keep their best interests at the center of everything that we do. As our CEO Oscar Munoz has said, we at United never want anyone in the United family to forget the experience of Flight 3411. It makes us a better airline, a more caring company and a stronger team." In the interview with ABC News, Dao said he is glad the airline has taken action. "The most important thing is the accident turned out the positive way," he said. My gay black male friends experience a free-for-all with racism on the gay dating apps. They will just straight up see a profile like No blacks, no Asians, no fat, no femme. And then if they are interested in you, they often fetishize you. It's still not a level playing field because they don't even see you as a whole person. We wanted to explore that and humanize these characters. To be able to create characters that are like the real-life versions of the people you're swiping left on and make it clear these people suffer because you have really messed up ideas of who is attractive and who is worthy of love. We try to break that down so that people who hold those identities can see themselves and know they're not alone, but also people who don't hold those identities can do work on themselves and be introspective about how they perpetuate these issues. When Houston ISDs High School Ahead Academy opened in early 2010, district leaders heralded the new campus as an innovative place for middle school students who had been held back multiple grades, fast-tracking them toward graduation. Nearly a decade later, that vision for the northside campus has crumbled. Only one third of students have jumped multiple grades over the past five years, with another third dropping out or leaving the district. Moreover, High School Ahead Academy students averaged 2.7 out-of-school suspensions last year, by far the highest rate among all 8,600-plus Texas schools. And enrollment has plunged for a fifth consecutive year, dipping to 150 students this spring. Now, HISD officials want to end the experiment. District leaders have recommended shuttering High School Ahead Academy before the 2019-2020 school year, with trustees scheduled to vote on it at their board meeting Thursday. In a written statement to HISD trustees, district administrators said they have spent $9 million on the specialized campus over the past five years, producing unimpressive academic results. If trustees vote to close the campus, High School Ahead Academy students would return to their neighborhood middle schools, most of which are located on the citys northeast, north-central and south-central sides. Students presently served by High School Ahead can be better served and better prepared for high school by their home campuses, HISD officials wrote in a statement to trustees. Home campuses are capable of providing additional layers of support for these students pursuant to their needs, and are also able to offer access to resources and support to aid students in credit recovery and course acceleration. The closure, however, would dismay some families and children for whom High School Ahead Academy serves as a last-chance refuge. High School Ahead Academy PTO President Clara Brent said the campus offered an opportunity for her seventh-grade grandson to complete two years worth of coursework in one academic year, allowing him to attend North Forest High School in the fall. There should always be an opportunity for to make up for being behind or not being able to keep up, to have the opportunity to improve, Brent said. Whoever thought of High School Ahead was thinking of children who were being left behind. Its children who are economically deprived, socially deprived and, a lot of times, parent-deprived. Ertha Stacey, a northside resident who volunteers at the campus and serves on its communal decision-making committee, said he often encounters hard-working teachers and dedicated students who glow during graduation ceremonies. I see kids coming in from the rain, the cold, the heat, some of them walking to school, all because they want to be there, said Stacey, who lives about two miles from the campus. If that school is closed, that community would drop to the bottom. I pray that whoever wants to close it, they change their minds. The promise of High School Ahead Academy, however, did not turn into results, according to district and state data. In 2017-18, about 30 out of 100 seventh-graders advanced to high school, the lowest number in the past several years. Sixth- and seventh-grade students showed some of the states lowest math and reading progress scores on Texas primary standardized tests, known as STAAR. Eighth-graders still were held back at rates more than four times the district average. Student discipline also hampered efforts to raise academic achievement. State data shows three-fourths of High School Ahead Academy students received at least one out-of-school suspension last year. On average, those students were suspended 3.7 times, resulting in several missed school days. Despite serving some of HISDs highest-need students, HISD officials have not made major investments in the campus or staffed the school with veteran teachers. During the past five years, per-student spending at High School Ahead Academy ranked ninth out of 37 HISD middle schools, on par with many of HISDs highest-poverty campuses. During that stretch, two-thirds of High School Ahead Academy teachers had five years of experience or less, compared to about 40 percent district-wide. HISD administrators did not grant an interview request or provide answers to written questions for this story. In a written statement to HISD trustees, district leaders said campus staff members were notified in late March about the potential closure of High School Ahead Academy, though the community would not be notified until after the board vote. HISD officials did not specify whether community included students and family members. Several students waiting outside the campus Monday said they had heard about the possible closure of their school. Brent said she only learned about the potential closure last week, when she brought up plans for next school year during a PTO meeting. HISD Trustee Rhonda Skillern-Jones, whose district includes High School Ahead Academy, said she agrees that students will be better supported at their home campuses. Her concern, however, is whether four months notice provides families with enough time to make other academic plans. I think leaving those kids in that environment has not contributed to the best productivity for them, Skillern-Jones said. I think they would be better served somewhere they could get more robust resources, where they get access to their peers of all types of learning abilities. In the end, its about whats best for them and having access to the same things as other kids. jacob.carpenter@chron.com twitter.com/chronjacob A former Conroe priest already charged with molesting two teens is accused in a new lawsuit of exposing himself in a church confessional booth to another teen parishioner who was trying to come out as gay. The man, who lives in Conroe and is identified only by his initials, said he was 15 in 2000 when he entered the confessional to speak to Father Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, who peppered him with vulgar questions about his sexuality, according to the suit. Do you fantasize about men? La Rosa-Lopez asked, according to court documents. The priest then made lewd remarks to the teen in Spanish before he opened the partition window to show his exposed genitals, the suit says. The teen bolted from the booth and stopped attending Mass at the church soon after, his lawyer David Matthews of Houston said this week. The incident caused him to experience anxiety, depression, alcohol dependence and shame about his sexual orientation, according to court documents. On HoustonChronicle.com: Credibly accused: 42 priests named with abuse claims The accuser now an adult studying to be a mental health counselor kept the incident secret until 2017 when he told his therapist what happened, Matthews said. The man has since spoken to the Conroe Police Department about the allegation, Matthews said. He has spent and continues to spend time and money on years of therapy and medication, the lawsuit reads. The lawsuit, filed in Harris County court, names Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe and the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, seeking unspecified damages. The archdiocese referred questions about the lawsuit to La Rosa-Lopezs lawyer, Wendell Odom, who did not return a phone call requesting comment. On HoustonChronicle.com: Third accuser says archdiocese knew about abuse allegations La Rosa-Lopez was charged in September with four counts of indecency with a child stemming from allegations raised by two accusers a man and woman who said he molested them at the Conroe church from 1998 to 2000 when they were teens. La Rosa-Lopez was removed from the ministry pending the outcome of the investigations, archdiocese officials said. He was among two priests facing current investigations for child sex abuse on Jan. 31, when 14 of the Catholic dioceses in Texas released the names of credibly accused clergy members with allegations dating back to the 1940s and 1950s. Matthews said the archdiocese should have removed La Rosa-Lopez from the priesthood decades ago, after the first known complaint was lodged against him in 1992. La Rosa-Lopez, then a seminarian, was accused of having inappropriate contact with an altar boy at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Houston, according to court papers. The child and his family made a complaint to church leaders at the time, prompting La Rosa-Lopez to be removed from the church. He was ordered to undergo spiritual and psychological evaluations before he was allowed to continue his priestly studies, and was ordained in 1996, according to a sworn statement from police. The allegation at St. Thomas More has not resulted in criminal charges or civil litigation against La Rosa-Lopez but details of the complaints were referenced in a search warrant that authorities used in November 2018 to enter the archdiocese chancery to seize records. This priest was a problem, Matthews said. He was a criminal who they have harbored. They had plenty of opportunities to take care of the problem. On HoustonChronicle.com: Im a mad DA: Brett Ligon wont back down from investigating Conroe priest accused of molesting children In 2001 the year after the alleged incident in the Sacred Heart confessional the father of a female teenager accused the priest of having an inappropriate relationship with his daughter while he was assigned to the Montgomery County parish. The allegation prompted the church to send La Rosa-Lopez to the Shalom Center, a rehabilitation facility for wayward clergy in Splendora, according to court papers. He left the facility after eight months and was later reassigned to St. John the Fisher Catholic Church in Richmond. The male accuser later accused La Rosa-Lopez of repeatedly fondling him from 1998 to 2000. His allegations and that of the other teen formed the basis of the criminal charges against the priest. A recent surge in the number of people apprehended along our nations southern border has caused President Donald Trump to completely lose his marbles, it would seem. We're full, our system's full, our country's full can't come in! Our country is full, what can you do?, the president said during a visit to the California border city of Calexico on Friday. Trump has said such things before and is known to feel strongly about the issue of border security. But in the weeks leading up to the visit, according to CNN, the president was expressing himself more vehemently than usual and making unreasonable demands of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who on Sunday announced her resignation. While ranting and raving during a March 21 Oval Office meeting, for example, Trump demanded the closure of the port of El Paso. He also announced that from now on, migrants seeking asylum be denied entry. And although Nielsen explained that our laws preclude him from denying entry to asylum seekers, two sources told CNN that Trump asked the Border Patrol agents he met with in Calexico to do so anyway, and to disregard any objections from judges, because the nation is at capacity. Some news reports said the president was eager to resume separating families, though he denied this Tuesday. The report isnt a particularly flattering one for Trump, who is holding fundraisers in Houston and San Antonio on Wednesday. Its also not particularly flattering for the Republican leaders who continue to insist that theres nothing wrong with the president, or abnormal about his administration. Its true that many of Trumps critics are ideologically motivated. But conservatives would presumably agree that no president should encourage law enforcement agents to flout the laws of this country or disobey the men and women who uphold them as members of the judiciary. And although many Americans welcomed the news of Nielsens departure, the resulting uncertainty is troubling, because the president has always described border security as a top priority. In fact, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican, declared himself to be very, very concerned over reports that Trump is planning a broader purge of Department of Homeland Security officials. Hes pulling the rug out from the very people that are trying to help him accomplish his goal, said Grassley, whos held his seat since 1981. Even worse is that Trump is doing so at the urging of aides such as policy adviser Stephen Miller. Miller is known to have clashed frequently with Nielsen during her time as DHS secretary. Hes also known to have butted heads with her predecessor, Gen. John Kelly, who became White House chief of staff in 2017 and left the administration at the beginning of this year. And Miller clearly desires more influence over Trumps approach to immigration and border security. Stephen Miller should be the next Secretary of Homeland Security, right-wing commentator Erick Erickson tweeted on Monday. The President trusts him on the issues, they see eye to eye, and he already has authority on those issues. Its certainly seemed that way, at times. Miller may not have been the architect of the family separation border policy or the Muslim ban, but hes certainly been an unusually ardent defender of those ideas, which were among the worst this administration came up with during the first half of Trumps first term. And although Miller isnt the only White House aide who harbors hawkish views on border security and immigration, his tenure in the administration already qualifies as a notably long one. The colleagues hes outlasted include his onetime boss, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Millers endurance is all the more impressive given that he isnt related to Trump. And, at this point, Americans should be prepared for him to stick around. It therefore boggles my mind that some Texans are still willing to give Trump money, at this point, given that hes explicitly said that any funds he manages to raise today will support his bid for re-election in 2020. Republicans in Texas are happy with some of Trumps accomplishments as president, of course, but they also have concerns about the aspects of Trumps agenda that would cause this state disproportionate harm. And their concerns related to Trumps approach to immigration and border security, in particular, are more legitimate than Millers claims to authority on those issues. But Republicans who might hope to raise either issue at Wednesdays fundraisers in Texas would be wasting their time, I suspect. The president has made it abundantly clear that hes willing to completely ignore any concerns that Texas leaders might have, in exchange for their unwavering support. Thats not a good deal, per se, for the people of Texas. But its the best we can expect, given Millers outsized influence and Texans who are willing to accept it should simply send the Trump campaign a check. erica.grieder@chron.com CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico Juana Acosta was one of the unlucky ones, caught between whiplash changes to U.S. immigration policies this month. Like tens of thousands of Central Americans, she brought her three young grandchildren from Honduras to the Texas border in March, hoping to be released to her daughter in Houston. Instead, Customs and Border Protection agents took away the children, whom she had raised alone since they were toddlers. They placed the 53-year-old in an overcrowded detention center in El Paso where, she said, she slept sitting up, stacked against other migrants, and wasnt able to bathe for nine days. Federal agents gave Acosta paperwork instructing her to appear at the Paso Del Norte International Bridge for her immigration court date in May, and took her back to Juarez last week. The procedure made no sense to Acosta, who cannot read, but she was too focused on the fate of her grandchildren, whom she feared she would never see again. It was like the sky went dark, she said recently from a migrant shelter on the outskirts of Juarez. If I had known this would happen, I never would have brought them here. Thats the sentiment that Trump Administration officials had hoped to elicit when they rolled out a controversial policy known as the Migrant Protection Protocols earlier this year, forcing some prospective asylum seekers to go back and wait in Mexico as their cases progressed through U.S. immigration courts. More than 103,400 migrants, mostly families from Central America, were encountered at the U.S. border and ports of entry in March, a record number that has overwhelmed all arms of federal border enforcement and those agencies in charge of migrants care. Though overall apprehensions are still relatively low by historical standards, families now make up more than two-thirds of migrants coming to the United States, and they are much more challenging to detain and quickly deport. But late Monday, a California federal judge temporarily halted the policy, also known as Remain in Mexico, arguing in a 27-page ruling that it may violate federal provisions aimed at ensuring migrants are not returned to unduly dangerous circumstances, making it the latest of President Donald Trumps hard-line immigration initiatives to be blocked in court. The program had been slowly implemented largely in secret starting in January at the San Ysidro port of entry in California before being extended to Calexico, California and to El Paso last month. In all, more than 1,000 migrants, mostly from Central America, have been returned to Mexico, including more than 200 to Juarez, according to Mexican government officials. Before Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned unexpectedly on Sunday after traveling to the border with Trump, she had talked of ramping up the program to return hundreds of asylum seekers a day to Mexico. This is a very significant blow to a policy they were counting on to allow them to keep people out of the country, said Judy Rabinovitz, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union who argued the case for halting the program. They were looking at this as an unprecedented policy shift and wanted to apply it at a large scale to the border. In a written statement, White House officials lambasted the injunction for forcing open borders policies onto an unwilling American populace. This action gravely undermines the Presidents ability to address the crisis at the border, the White House said, adding that it planned to appeal the ruling. Rabinovitz said the government would likely seek a stay of the injunction at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in California and also at the Supreme Court. U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco ruled that authorities can no longer return migrants to Mexico after 7 p.m. CST Friday. In a late-night Tweet Monday, Trump also raged against the decision. A 9th Circuit Judge just ruled that Mexico is too dangerous for migrants, he wrote. So unfair to the U.S. OUT OF CONTROL! Meanwhile, hundreds of migrants such as Acosta waited in Juarez, Mexicali, and Tijuana, uncertain of their fate. Rabinovitz said the ACLU was trying to determine how to handle them, but said that such migrants would at a minimum be allowed to remain in the United States after attending their first court hearing given the injunction is not overturned. When they return for their next scheduled court hearing, they cannot be returned to Mexico, she said. In Juarez, overwhelmed state and local authorities breathed a sigh of relief. They had scrambled last week to find room to house all the returned migrants, as the border city in Mexico is already sheltering more than 3,500 migrants from as far away as Brazil. Acosta was sent at the last minute to a Methodist church in a dangerous neighborhood on the outskirts of Juarez where the pastor, Juan Fierro Garcia, hastily made space in the overcrowded church for some 20 Central Americans returned by the U.S. government. A sign outside the shelter proclaimed No Vacancy in bold capital letters. We arent prepared, not for the influx of migrants, but even less so for those returned from the United States, Fierro Garcia said. He said several migrants sent back under Trumps short-lived policy had already left the shelter, some to try their luck again at crossing the nearby Rio Grande River. A few had gone back to their home countries. But most stayed, clustering together in a pall of sadness that separated them from other migrants in the church, who had not yet tried to pass. Many of the returned asylum-seekers said they thought their treatment by U.S. authorities had been unfair, and that officials seemed to pick at random which migrants would wait in Mexico and which would be freed to stay in the United States. The U.S. government has not released more information on how it decided which migrants should be returned. Sailin Murillo, a 23-year-old from Honduras, said U.S. authorities had already contacted her brother in North Carolina and arranged for him to buy her plane ticket when federal agents suddenly reversed course, sending her back to Juarez. She told them she didnt want to sign the paperwork, but they responded that they would return her anyway, with or without her signature. To pass the time in the shelter and attempt to spread some cheer, Murillo braided the hair of other retornados, who sat glum and mostly silent in a small circle in the back of the church. Murillo said she left Honduras to flee gang members who tried to rape her repeatedly; though she filed a formal complaint against them, police had done nothing to protect her. Others in the group were coming here from Guatemala and Honduras to reunite with family or seek work. Many of the packets given to them by U.S. authorities lacked phone numbers for advocacy groups in El Paso, who migrants could ask for legal representation. Others said that when they called those organizations, no one answered. Or when they did, some lawyers said that they didnt know how to represent them if they were already back in Mexico. The general air was chaos. Acosta sat in a darkened corner of the church, shutting her eyes. Tears streamed silently down her cheeks. She said she didnt know what had happened to her grandchildren for more than 10 days. Finally, this past weekend, she was able to reach her daughter in Houston. Her daughter said the U.S. government had called to say the children, ages 15, 12, and 7, were in a federal shelter for unaccompanied migrant children in New York and would likely soon be released to her care in Houston. Its been horrible, horrible, really, said the daughter, Lucy Medina, by phone from Houston. I just dont understand how they can send my mother back to a country thats not even her own. Its very dangerous. Im worried. Shes depressed. She cant sleep. She doesnt have any money. Acosta said her mind was fixated on the last time she saw her grandchildren, before federal agents took them from her and she spent nine days in an overcrowded cell where she said all the migrants began to take on a putrid smell. Like a dead animal, she said. One felt embarrassed, truly. She said federal agents told her that she had committed a crime by bringing her grandchildren here and that she had come to believe them. She said she only sought a safer setting for them after gang members harassed her 15-year-old granddaughter, fearing they would try to force her into a violent relationship or something far worse. But now she saw it differently. I asked God for forgiveness, she said. I should never have brought them here. lomi.kriel@chron.com President Donald Trump's visit to Crosby this afternoon could create a bit of traffic snarl for area commuters. The motorcade is expected to arrive at the Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base in far southeast Houston at 2:50 p.m. TRUMP IN HOUSTON: Trump heads to Houston Wednesday to boost oil and gas sector From there, he'll drive to the 900 block of Foley Avenue in Crosby, where he will speak at the International Union of Operating Engineers International Training and Education Center. He is expected to announce executive orders intended to speed up energy projects and expand oil and natural gas production, according to previous reports in the Houston Chronicle. It's unclear whether the motorcade will drive Beltway 8 or another route that takes the president further into Houston. Houston police declined to release information on Trump's visit for security reasons. Spokespeople from Houston TranStar and the Texas Department of Transportation also said they didn't know the exact route. TxDOT later added that they would be helping with traffic control in Crosby on FM2100. "We are monitoring conditions and we will support as needed," TxDOT spokesman Danny Perez said. "We have asked our crews and contractors to postpone any work including maintenance and mowing in the areas." White House representatives did not immediately respond to a request for more information. FULL SCHEDULE: A look at President Trump's schedule for Wednesday visit to Texas Crosby ISD already postponed STAAR testing scheduled today, according to previous reports in the Chronicle. The district also announced early dismissal for students at 1 p.m. "We feel confident that the early dismissal times will allow students to be transported home without significant delay due to road closures," according to an announcement from the district. Trump is expected to leave Crosby at 4:30 p.m. and travel, in the heat of rush hour, to the Lone Star Flight Museum in the 11500 block of Aerospace Avenue, just down the road from Ellington Field. He is scheduled to return to Ellington Field around 6:45 p.m. and fly black to Washington D.C. Julian Gill is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | julian.gill@chron.com | NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. The Texas Comptrollers office said Tuesday its reviewing the inclusion of Airbnb on a list of companies that boycott Israel and are banned from doing business with the state after the company announced a change to its policy for listings in the West Bank. The home-sharing company said in a statement that its reversing a plan announced this November to remove about 200 rental listings from the territory, whose ownership is disputed by Palestinians. The company said it will donate the profits to humanitarian aid groups. Airbnb has never boycotted Israel, Israeli businesses, or the more than 20,000 Israeli hosts who are active on the Airbnb platform, the company said in the statement. We have always sought to bring people together and will continue to work with our community to achieve this goal. The companys decision to delist the properties had prompted the state last month to blacklist it in keeping with a 2017 law that bans state agencies from contracting with or investing in companies that boycott Israel. The law was touted by Republicans, including Gov. Greg Abbott, as a way to show solidarity with Israel. For subscribers: Texas ban on business with anti-Israel companies largely symbolic Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar praised Airbnbs decision Tuesday in a statement. Hegars office is in contact with Airbnb as it reviews the details of the decision and determines whether to delist the company. I applaud Airbnb for taking the time to carefully consider its decision and impacts it could have on individual Israeli citizens as well as local and regional economies, Hegar said. Airbnb's reversal settles a federal lawsuit by 12 dual U.S.-Israeli citizens who own homes in the settlements, says Tel Aviv-based Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center, an Israeli advocacy group that backed the suit. Texas is one of several states to pass such a law in response to the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement against Israel. Launched in 2005 by Palestinian groups, the initiative aims to use economic pressure to push the country to end settlement in Palestinian territories, among other goals. Texas Take: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox The state has been sued twice over the law. In a federal lawsuit filed this December, a Round Rock-based speech pathologist sued the state and Pflugerville Independent School District, saying the law violates her First Amendment right to free speech. Days later, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas filed a suit in Austin district court arguing the same on behalf of four government contractors who say they were forced to sign a pledge saying they wouldnt boycott Israel. The Associated Press contributed to this report. AUSTIN Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and the leaders of the Texas Legislature are throwing their support behind a plan to raise sales taxes by 1 percentage point in an effort to then reduce property taxes. The plan, however, would ultimately go before Texas voters, who could decide as early as November whether to make the tax trade. The tax swap plan would increase the state portion of sales taxes to 7.25 percent, tying California for the highest rate in the nation, according to the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. With local-option increases of up to two percent, the sales tax would be 9.25 percent in most of Texas. That means residents buying a $1,000 television would pay $92.50 in sales tax, a jump of $10. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, put out a joint statement to the media touting the tax swap. For subscribers: Texas lawmakers call for a swap: Higher sales taxes, lower property taxes If the one-cent increase in the sales tax passes, it will result in billions of dollars in revenue to help drive down property taxes in the short and long term, the statement said. The proposal is the latest attempt by the Republican-led Legislature to address growing property taxes. Lawmakers have also pitched plans to cap yearly property tax increases enacted by cities, counties and school districts. Yet another proposal would increase the homestead exemption for property owners, reducing the taxable value of their homes. In its first year, the sales tax hike would raise an estimated $4.9 billion, according to the state comptrollers office. But its not clear how much that would buy down property taxes. Abbott, Patrick and Bonnen provided no detail about the mechanics of the proposed tax swap, nor did they make themselves available for questions. House Rep. Dan Huberty, a Houston Republican who filed a bill floating a tax swap, estimated the switch could buy down school property tax rates by 20 cents per $100 in value. That could save the owner of a $200,000 home roughly $400 a year. Putting the choice up to voters, he said, is the most democratic way. I don't care what your party affiliation is, he said. Most people are paying property taxes. This helps property tax owners, helps business owners. The bills will come up for their first public hearings next week, Huberty said. Critics, including the House Democratic Caucus, quickly came out Wednesday against the new plan. Its a dangerous idea, one that increases taxes on working families to disproportionately provide tax cuts for corporations and the rich over everyday homeowners, said Rep. Ramon Romero, D-Fort Worth, who advocated an increase in the homestead exemption. An unfair, punishing sales tax hike on poor and working families is not the way to deliver real property tax relief. Republicans seemed to favor the swap. Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress, said families, especially retirees, living on a fixed income can control their sales tax bill more than their property tax levy. "If they have an unanticipated medical expense and need to tighten their belt a little bit, sales tax is modulatable, you can control the amount of sales tax you pay," he said. The state already has sales tax exemptions in place, he said, that are designed to protect families who need to buy the necessities, such as food. "The No. 1 thing that my constituents wanted me to come up here and do was to help lower property taxes, and I think it's really, really important," he said. The Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Austin, also applauded the plan. The good news is you dont have such a huge hit to your income. Businesses dont have such a huge hit so that way they can go out and hire more workers, said Vance Ginn, a senior economist and director of the center for economic prosperity at the foundation. I think at the end of the day, a penny increase in the sales tax, most people arent going to notice that, but they will notice that their property taxes are being cut. There is little question that the swap would hit the poorest Texans hardest. The sales tax takes the most from Texans who have the least, said Ann Beeson, CEO of the left-leaning Center for Public Policy Priorities. Second, sales taxes are volatile, so further linking critical public services to an erratic tax is misguided. With no state income tax, Texas relies heavily on sales and property tax revenue to fund basic government functions, including public education. Already, Texas has one of the highest property tax rates for single-family homes in the country, according to a newly released study. Texas Take: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox Abbott on Wednesday defended the plan on Twitter, pointing out that the platform of the Republican Party of Texas calls for using a consumption tax, such as a sales tax, to reduce property taxes for schools. Other Republicans say they think Texans will agree with the plan. Im going to pay a penny more for everything that I want, but my property taxes will go way down, said Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth. I think thats a decision and a trade that most Texans will make every day. This is a developing story; check back for updates. Staff writers Paul Cobler and Sami Sparber contributed to this report. State lawmakers have proposed a pair of laws that masquerade as supports for freedom of expression. On closer reading, they would do the opposite. Senate Bill 2162, and the House version, 2730, takes an editing pencil to how the state defines aspects of free expression. Senate Bill 18 repeats, with additions, protections for free expression on public university campuses. Both initiatives do more harm than good. When it comes to SB 2162, the changes at first appear to be simple edits to clarify the wording. As the Reporters Committee on Freedom of the Press and other organizations have noticed, the proposed revisions undermine bedrock protections Texans enjoy when they critique public officials. The Supreme Court has established stringent requirements for public officials such as governors, mayors or lawmakers in order to win defamation suits against publishers. The Courts reasoning: a democratic society needs to be free to discuss public officials. When individuals fear lawsuits, they self-censor. Out of fear, they do not participate. The First Amendment requires that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust and wide open, justices reasoned in the landmark New York Times v. Sullivan ruling, and such debate may well include vehement, caustic and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials. These safeguards do not stop officials and prominent individuals from suing. They just make it difficult to win. So, individuals often sue those who criticize them to chill their speech, both through the fear a lawsuit creates and cost to defend against it. Texas passed the Texas Citizen Participation Act (TCPA) in 2011, which allows defendants facing meritless defamation lawsuits to have the cases quickly dismissed. The law has been a model for other states and has made Texas a leader in safeguarding public discourse. SB 2162 seeks to fix what is not broken. It undermines the TCPA and free expression in Texas. The bill tinkers with the existing law, creating extra hurdles for those who seek to have meritless lawsuits dismissed. It makes it possible for a person pursuing a defamation case to drop it just before the trial date forcing defendants to face all of the chilling effects of the expense of a defamation lawsuit only to have the suit dropped. This is the harassment lawmakers sought to limit when they passed TCPA. Our present law has served us well. The House and Senate versions of the new bill are sitting in committee. Lets hope they never make it out. The same cannot be said for SB 18, which was passed and sent to the House late last month. It proposes amending state laws regarding free speech at Texas public universities. The bill has the varnish of championing free expression (much as President Trumps executive order regarding the same topic last month) but it raises serious questions. The law is unnecessary. Yes, certain speakers, particularly white nationalists, have struggled to gain access to university forums in recent years. Yes, public universities could do a better job in this area. First, legal remedies already exist. In most instances, public universities are legally bound to allow such speakers. They can require certain time, place and manner restrictions. If a speaker believes a university has violated their rights, they can sue the institution. Existing law is on their side. Also, SB 18 appears to be modeled directly after an Arizona think tanks template. Not surprisingly, its a bad fit for the unique circumstances of the Texas university systems. Arizona lawmakers passed a similar law last spring. It failed its first test last week when two students were arrested for protesting an ICE officials campus talk. The protestors contend their free speech was halted. University officials argued they have a right to ensure invited speakers are not harassed. The new law appears ineffective in clarifying free expression on state campuses. Second, the Texas bill is inaccurate in its financial evaluation, which indicates the changes would have no significant fiscal implication. The University of Florida spent $302,000 on security for one speaker in 2017. Still, a white nationalist fired a weapon into the crowd. UCLA has capped its security budget for speakers that are not invited by students at $100,000, because the university could not afford to meet the security costs. Much of the resistance universities have to certain types of speakers arose after one person was killed and more than 30 injured in violent protests in and around the University of Virginia in 2017. The university president was forced to cancel all classes and encourage students to leave the area. Lawmakers could help free expression on campus by ditching this unhelpful template. We should shun think-tank cookie-cutter ideas and assemble a panel of university officials and free expression scholars to develop a Texas plan. We should expect our public universities to support free expression. When they do not, existing legal structures are there to support them. Schroeder is an assistant professor of journalism at SMU Dallas, where he specializes in First Amendment law. He is the author of the 2018 book, The Press Clause and Digital Technology's Fourth Wave: Media Law and the Symbiotic Web. Washington has been gridlocked for years over how to deal with a record number of migrants arriving from Central America at the southern border or ports of entry. While the debate on border security rages among politicians, there is a wealth of American know-how available to work on the problem at its source and ready to do it without spending a dime of U.S. taxpayer money. Central America needs to pull itself out of its deep economic abyss to stem the flow of people moving north. As the crisis in neighboring Venezuela has dramatized in recent weeks, a major indicator of the depth of public misery is a collapsing power grid. Rolling blackouts and power cuts, which are a feature of daily life in Central America, take every other element of poverty and societal breakdown and multiply them simultaneously. The urgent need for affordable energy to bolster economic development can be answered immediately by Americans ready to get to work. Over the past decade, crude oil production has doubled and natural gas production continues to grow. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects that America will become a net-energy exporter by next year. Where countries in the region lack the production capabilities or infrastructure to power their grids, the U.S. energy sector has been investing significantly in export facilities to provide products to regions in need, and many of these terminals are just now beginning to come online. Domestic crude oil exports hit a record high last month, and officials predict U.S. liquified natural gas exports to double this year. In Latin America, nearly 5% of households do not have access to electricity. That owes largely to poor grid capacity, but also to shortages of power-generating fuels which is more of an infrastructure than a production problem. Latin America spends the second-smallest fraction of gross domestic product on infrastructure, second only to sub-Saharan Africa. Our neighbors to the south desperately need affordable and immediate energy solutions, and it would be a win-win for us to solve it. Foreign demand will help to buoy prices here at home, thereby providing the incentive for continued production growth. U.S. policymakers have an opportunity to strengthen our partnerships with Central American countries such as Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador by calling on the private sector. American developers have made remarkable progress to deploy pipeline capacity here at home, which has been instrumental in sustaining production. In the process, they have made pipelines safer and more reliable, introducing technologies and protocols that are helping better protect communities. These industry leaders have expressed their interest in connecting Latin American countries, which in turn would foster healthy relations with those countries. To be sure, the time is critical. While trade tensions have escalated with Latin America, China and Russia have eagerly stepped in to prop up the regions oil and gas markets. China has actively invested in Latin America and the Caribbean, as has Russia, which invested $14 billion in Venezuelas oil and natural gas industry. The Chavista regime used subsidized cheap oil as a shameless political tool for more than a decade in the region. The U.S., by contrast, risks alienating these neighbors with a narrow focus on border security while ignoring the opportunity to provide energy relief at the same time. Energy partnerships with Central America arent a silver bullet for the migration crisis. But no solution can work until the lights are on, and stay on. Americas immigration debate is nothing new, nor is it likely to change without bold thinking. For the first time, the U.S. is well positioned to support its Latin American allies with reliable, affordable and clean energy and the pipeline infrastructure to supply it. It could play an important role in getting Central America back on its feet economically while creating jobs at home. Its a win-win Washington cannot afford to ignore. Ivers is a Latin America expert and vice president at DCI Group in Washington, D.C. If youre reading or watching your morning news with a cup of coffee, you hold in your hand one of the main reasons a record number of migrants are risking their lives to get into the United States along our southern border. Plummeting worldwide coffee prices likely are the last straw for thousands of poor coffee farmers in Central America. In Guatemala, for instance, farmers already had lost 60 to 80 percent of their maize and bean crops last year to drought, according to surveys contacted by our organization, Catholic Relief Services. Those are the staple crops families depend on for food. Many poor Guatemala farmers grow coffee as a cash crop to supplement what they cultivate to eat. But when they took their few bags of coffee beans to market over the past few months, they received a price around a dollar a pound or lower far below their costs. The international price of coffee is at a six-year low. This is the result of multiple forces: a large harvest in Brazil, a ruthlessly efficient commodities future market, and other factors. Its important to understand the specific motivation for the recent surge of migration to the U.S. border. Although the threat of gang violence motivated Central American city dwellers to migrate in the past, the current wave is coming largely from impoverished rural areas, especially in Guatemala. After we understand that fact, we see how counterproductive, even cruel, is the U.S. administrations proposal to cut foreign aid to the region. That will only increase hunger, desperation, and northern migration. Many Central American subsistence farmers own small fields in remote hilly areas far from markets. Their crop yields are often low, sometimes from using outdated farming methods. Even in good times they barely earn enough to feed their families. In recent years, their challenges have increased. Climate change stretches the dry season, or makes rainfall erratic. Last year some farms went up to 45 days without rain. The farmers watched their maize and bean plants wilt and die. Then they reaped only more debt from their meager coffee harvest. Conscientious coffee drinkers in the United States try to help, purchasing from roasters and vendors who have direct-market relationships with farmers who are organic, Fair Trade or otherwise certified. But the majority of growers around the world simply dump their beans into the general market. And in the current bad coffee economy, even the specialty growers are hurting. There is hope for some Central American farmers. Foreign aid from the United States has helped many communities become more resilient. Farmers have learned how to conserve water during dry times, to avoid farming that erodes the soil and instead to build up soil health. Theyve learned how to start community savings and loan groups to provide capital, and to work together to get crops to market. Many farmers have actually seen their crop yields and incomes increase. But foreign aid is woefully short of the need in Central America. Most farmers get little or no help. If anything, we should be increasing our assistance. It would serve our own interests as well as poor Latino farmers. Consider a grower we will call Francisco. He had worked as a migrant worker and at a gas station in the city. He was able to save some money. He returned home to rural eastern Guatemala and made a bet on coffee. He learned conservation practices through a CRS program and increased his crop yields. He diversified into honey production. He was a star grower, as we say. Unfortunately, like so many other Central American coffee farmers over the past few years, coffee let Francisco down. The drought, increasing debt, and finally the abysmal price he got for his beans was too much. He left with his eldest son for Texas, where he now lives and works odd jobs. He left his wife and two younger children and his coffee farm behind. These are the real experiences that should inform our immigration policies. Our focus should be the problems at the root of Central American migration, including climate change and the equally dark specter of the international coffee market. Hicks is CRS Water Resources Coordinator for Latin America/Caribbean based in San Salvador. McQuillan is CRS agriculture livelihoods manager based in Guatemala. 521 Roslyn Road, Kenilworth: $5,750,000 | Listed: Nov. 12, 2021 This eight-bedroom home has five full bathrooms, three half-baths, carved marble fireplaces and a three-season porch. The kitchen is equipped with a double oven, hardwood floors and granite counters and is located next to the butlers pantry and breakfast room. The dining and living rooms have coffered ceilings, hardwood floors and leaded windows, and the office offers views of the private yard. The primary bedroom suite has a separate dressing room, a walk-in closet and a bathroom. The remaining bedrooms have custom moldings and millwork. A mudroom and a two-bedroom, two-bathroom coach house with a four-car garage complete this home. Agent: Amy Rowe, Engel & Volkers, 847-372-6389 *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. Join our Chicago Dream Homes Facebook group for more luxury listings and real estate news. As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. The ultimate goal of the developers is to turn the once-dilapidated old Copley Hospital site into a campus that would include medical facilities, housing for functionally challenged adults and senior housing facilities. While the developers are finishing the cleanup of the site right now, when that is finished, they intend to go ahead with a second phase that involves bringing users into the about 300,000 square feet of space in the various historic Copley campus buildings. Page Content During her recent mission in Tokyo, Japan, ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu met with the countrys Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Norikazu Suzuki (left), and with his Vice-Ministerial counterpart for Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Mr. Masashi Adachi (right). In her meeting with Parliamentary Vice-Minister Suzuki, Dr. Liu thanked Japan for its aviation development commitments and for its support of ICAOs programmes and policies most notably the ICAO No Country Left Behind assistance and capacity-building initiative. The Vice-Minister appreciated the budgetary constraints which ICAO is faced with at a time when so many air transport innovations are requiring its assessment and standardization, and noted that Japan may consider supporting a No Country Left Behind campaign aimed at developing countries such as the Pacific Island States. When meeting with the Vice Minister for Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Mr. Masashi Adachi, Dr. Liu applauded the efforts of his Ministry to promote inbound tourists to Japan and drew his attention to the very high percentage of them which arrive in his country by air travel. She appreciated the Ministers highlighting of the synergistic relationship between tourism and air transport, and agreed strongly with him regarding their importance to the national economy. Additional discussions focused on aviation safety hazard mitigation, the priorities and various activities presently being undertaken by the ICAO including in preparation for the upcoming ICAO 40th Assembly, Japanese professionals working in ICAO, and the practical means by which Japan can provide additional support to ICAO and its Member States, including through Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) mechanisms. Dr. Liu also had meetings with the Director General (DG) of Aviation Safety and Security in Japans Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB), Mr. Shigeru Takano, as well as with the JCAB DG for Air Navigation Services, Mr. Yasushira Iijima. Mr. Takano assured ICAOs Secretary General that Japan will continue to support the organizations programmes and activities for the safe, secure, efficient and sustainable air transport system at the global level. Dr. Liu and Mr. Iijima exchanged views on the issues of common interests in the field of air navigation to promote cooperation and safe and efficient operation in the region and the world. Dr. Liu wound up her Tokyo mission with visits to the All Nippon Airways (ANA) Safety Education Centre, where she learned about the mandatory safety training provided to all ANA operational staff, and to the Haneda Airport Air Traffic Service centre and ATC tower, where she was updated on local operations and best practices. During her trip Dr. Liu was accompanied throughout by ICAOs Regional Director for the Asia and Pacific (APAC) Region, Mr. Arun Mishra. Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada inspects the High Arctic April 08,2019 | Source: Hydro International The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Manitoba will use a SEAMOR Marine Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) to inspect the High Arctic area which remains frozen year-round. The Chinook ROV will take part in research and evaluating ways to protect this special ecological region. The vehicle will also be used to conduct ecosystem identification and benthic surveys (underwater mapping of the seafloor) and inspection of first-year ice and multiyear ice. SEAMOR Marine's Chinook ROV will be equipped with a handheld pendant controller, and a fibre optic tether multiplexer upgrade. These will help control a wide array of onboard instrumentation such as USBL underwater positioning system with GPS integration, allowing the ROV to be tracked in real-world coordinates in real time, and an integrated Tritech Micron Echosounder which permits the ROV to measure its height above the sea floor and maintain its height with its auto-altitude system. The vehicle will also come with a dual function gripper, a sensor skid (which provides opportunities to integrate additional sensors to the system), double-dot tilting colour-laser scaling system, and an HD camera with uncompressed digital output (with zoom and manual/auto-focus control, exposure and colour adjustment). The High Arctic is an important area encompassing the northern regions of Canada (Arctic Basin, Baffin Bay and the Pikialasorsuaq, or North Water Polynya) and reaches to western Greenland. This area remains frozen throughout the year, for multiple years, acting as an important refuge for ice-dependent species such as polar bears, beluga and narwhal whales, walrus and seals, as well as the communities in these regions that rely on these species for food, dress and shelter. With estimates for sea ice decreasing at a rate of 11% per decade in the Arctic due to climate change, it is anticipated that the Arctic could lose its summer ice by 2050 and be largely ice-free by 2070. 2019 Geomares Publishing Theme(s): Others. Indonesian NGO calls for regional zoning regulation, fair living space for coastal communities April 06,2019 | Source: KIARA Despite Indonesia being blessed with an abundance of marine and fisheries resources, the arrangement of space in coastal areas and small islands does not provide a fair living space for coastal communities, according to Koalisi Rakyat untuk Keadilan Perikanan (KIARA or the People's Coalition for Fisheries Justice), an NGO based in Jakarta. In contrast, the present-day structuring of coastal spaces and small islands provides free space for investors to privatize and commercialize coastal areas and small islands, says a KIARA press release, dated 6 April 2019. In this context, the politics of spatial planning is not directed to the maximum prosperity of the people at large, especially the poor who depend on marine and coastal resources, but to the maximum prosperity of a few people. The following is the full text of the press release: As a maritime country, Indonesia has an abundance of marine and fisheries resources that can be found in coastal areas, small islands and deep-water regions. Apart from the potential of capture fisheries, Indonesia also has abundant coastal and other marine resources, including the area of 2.6 mn ha of mangrove forest; a tropical forest area on small islands of 4.1 mn ha, an area of 1,110,900 ha of seaweed cultivation, and salt ponds covering more than 25,000 ha. All of these resources should have a positive impact on the lives of coastal communities in Indonesia (traditional fisherfolks, fisherwomen, aquaculture, salt farmers, preservers of coastal ecosystems, and coastal indigenous communities) -- both economically and socially. Besides, with this wealth of marine and fishery resources, coastal communities should be the main actors in development. However, to this day, we find that more than 7.87 mn people, or 25.14 per cent of the total national poor population, are those who depend on the marine sector for their livelihood. In other words, those who have been living in coastal areas and small islands are the poor people. Then, where is the root of the problem? The answer is that the arrangement of space in coastal areas and small islands does not provide a fair space for coastal communities. In contrast, the structuring of coastal spaces and small islands provides free space for investors to privatize and commercialize coastal areas and small islands. In this context, the politics of spatial planning is not directed to the maximum prosperity of the people, but to the maximum prosperity of a few people. Society or peoples are not the subject of development, but only an object of development.The unfair arrangement of coastal and small island spaces is legalized by the Regional Regulation of the Zoning of Coastal Areas and Small Islands (Zoning Regulations). KIARAs Data and Information Center notes that up to April 2019, 18 provinces in Indonesia have ratified their zoning regulations. The rest -- as many as 16 provinces -- are still under discussion. Responding to that, Susan Herawati, Secretary General of KIARA, said that the Zoning Regional Regulation provides facilities for investors to get investment facilities. "The zoning regulations in all provinces in Indonesia legalize the seizure of living space for coastal communities," she said. Susan give an example of deprivation of living space which was ratified by the Zoning Regulations in Lampung. Lampung Zoning Regulation legalizes the reclamation project in South Lampung Regency, where more than 1,400 fisherfolk families are affected. At the same time, the North Kalimantan Zoning Regulation legalized the sea sand mining project in the Bulungan Waters, where more than 2,290 fisherfolk families were affected,"she said. Susan added, the NTB Province Zoning Regulation also legalized the sea sand mine in the waters of the Alas Strait, East Lombok, for the reclamation of Benoa Bay, Bali. Meanwhile, the Zoning Regional Regulation of NTT Province legalized the seizure of space through tourism projects in the waters of Labuan Bajo and Komodo Island National Park. "Thus, the zoning regulations are ratified only to only cover the deprivation of living space projects. In other words, this is the commodification of the living space of coastal communities", she said firmly. KIARA called for the government to stop various discussions on Zoning Regulation that are still being discussed by 16 provinces while evaluating Zoning Regulations that have been ratified in 18 provinces.The State must guarantee the sustainability of the life of coastal communities while protecting their living space, as mandated by the Decision of the Constitutional Court (MK) No. 3 of 2010. As a maritime country, Indonesia has an interest in protecting coastal communities that have managed and preserved fisheries resources so far. "If their living space continues to be seized, then the future of coastal communities is in serious threat," said Susan. Theme(s): Communities and Organisations. The fund was organized through the website GoFundMe, which allowed anyone to enter and donate, and many people have. But the city closed the online donation option at the end of March, and is keeping the fund open through April for donations from companies and organizations that have planned fund-raisers, such as what Hollywood Casino did. The volunteer society of St. Andrew goes in and gleans fields and bags up the potatoes and brings them to food banks, Baum said. The money well be raising is to help defray the cost of transporting the food. People that have called about coming to this are actually kind of surprised we are having something different from a spaghetti dinner or a pancake breakfast. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 10) The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has issued a total ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Libya amid the escalating tensions in the North African country. In a statement, DOLE said the order was released upon the advice of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). The DFA earlier issued Alert Level III in Tripoli, advising Filipinos within the 100-kilometer vicinity of the Libyan capital to be vigilant and exercise "extreme caution" in the wake of "recent escalations and the threat of outbreak of war in the country." It said it is monitoring the security situation amid reports of fresh fighting in Libya as rebel forces from the east of the country try to enter the capital. DOLE assured that it is "still in close coordination with DFA to closely monitor the situation and to assess the possible repatriation of OFWs, as well as to ensure the workers' safety and security." READ: Gov't ready to bring home Filipinos amid fighting in Libya "An augmentation team will be dispatched this week to ensure the welfare of our workers, and assist their possible repatriation. Also, we are prepared for any exigency of forced repatriation if the situation deteriorates," Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III was quoted as saying. The ban will be implemented until the situation normalizes or until further advice by the DFA , DOLE said. There are currently around 2,600 Filipinos in Libya. The Hungarian Embassy in Ljubljana complained to Slovenia's Foreign Ministry after the weekly Mladina published a story it disliked. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) have urged the Hungarian government not to interfere in editorial decisions, whether in Hungary or abroad. In recent years Mladina journalists have regularly reported on the increasing influence of Hungary in Slovenian domestic politics and elections. On March 22, they published a story on the role of Slovenian MEPs in preventing Viktor Orbans political party Fidesz from being expelled from the European Peoples Party group in the European Parliament. The illustration portrayed Viktor Orban performing the Nazi salute. Following the publication, the Hungarian Embassy sent a diplomatic note asking the Slovenian Foreign Ministry for assistance in preventing similar incidents in the future. It denounced the politically irresponsible cover of Mladina and stated that the latter violate[d] freedom of the press and expression. Slovenian Foreign Ministry officials confirmed the existence of the note but replied that they would not assess nor interfere in any of the media's editorial policy. However, the pressure from the Hungarian authorities continued, after government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs attacked Mladina on his blog. IFJ affiliate the Slovenian Journalist Association (DNS) condemned an attempt to "encroach upon the editorial autonomy of a media outlet" and an "unheard-of expression of a conception of complete control and disciplining of the media by the authorities...on the contrary, we act autonomously and freely and in accordance with professional and ethical standards and criteria." The IFJ and the EFJ backed the condemnation and any attempt to interfere with press freedom in Slovenia while welcoming the Slovenian authorities behaviour in refusing to yield to Hungarian pressures. The former leader of Jamaat-e-Islamis (JI), an Islamist political party in Pakistan, issued a fatwa on April 8, promoting the killing of journalists in Pakistan. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) have condemned the fatwa and called on the Pakistan government to take immediate steps to guarantee the safety of the media. Taj Mohammad Wazeer, the former leader of JI and members of Pakistans National Assembly, made the announcement at a political rally attended by hundreds of people in South Warizistan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to reports, Taj announced the fatwa at the protest saying: The media has not come to cover this protest because it is against of the government and the army. Snatch the cameras, mobiles and all other devices from them and declare jihad against them He went on to say that he ordered journalists in Wana to be killed and that he would take responsibility for this action. A fatwa is a ruling on a point of Islamic law, usually given by a recognized authority. PFUJ have shown extreme concern regarding these threats against the journalists of Wana. They have asked the government to take immediate actions against these threats to the journalists and also asked the JIs leadership to take immediate notice and action against these threats given by a senior member of their party. PFUJ leaders said that JI will be held responsible if any journalist is hurt or killed due to this fatwa. JI issued a statement to the media stating that the current JI leader Sirajul Haq is planning to visit the press club in Wana to investigate this issue. The IFJ said: This fatwa is an outrageous attack on the safety of Pakistans media and those working in the increasingly volatile area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. IFJ figures shows that Pakistans media remains under threat with journalists killed, abducted, attacked and threatened all too often. We demand immediate action from the Pakistan government to ensure the safety of the media and the culture of impunity for threats and attacks on the media in Pakistan. IFJ figures show that Pakistan remains one of the deadliest countries in the world, with 17 journalists and media workers killed since 2015. Imperial Valley News Center President Donald J. Trump Is Holding the Iranian Regime Accountable for Its Global Campaign of Terrorism Washington, DC - "The Iranian regime is the leading state sponsor of terror. It exports dangerous missiles, fuels conflicts across the Middle East, and supports terrorist proxies." ~ President Donald J. Trump INCREASING MAXIMUM PRESSURE: President Donald J. Trump is holding the Iranian regime accountable by targeting the primary entity that carries out its global campaign of terror. The Administration is designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) to counter Irans global campaign of terrorism. The Trump Administration is taking this unprecedented step as part of a broader effort to counter Iran-backed terrorism around the world. The Administrations action will increase the financial pressure and isolation of Iran and deprive the regime of resources it uses for its terrorist activities. This action puts other governments and the private sector on notice about the nature of the IRGC, which operates front companies and institutions around the world to fund terror. The profits from what appear to be legitimate business deals can end up supporting the Iranian regimes terrorist agenda. This marks the first time that the United States has designated part of another government as a FTO. The designation underscores that the Iranian regimes use of terrorism makes it fundamentally different from any other government. COUNTERING IRANS GLOBAL CAMPAIGN OF TERRORISM: The Iranian regime continues to engage in a campaign of terrorism around the world. The Iranian regime employs terrorism as a central tool of its statecraft and uses the IRGC to direct and carry out its global terrorist campaign. The IRGC provides funding, equipment, training, and logistical support to terrorist groups. The IRGC has been directly involved in terrorist plots in numerous countries. In 2011, the IRGC Qods Force plotted a brazen attack on the Saudi Ambassador to the United States in Washington, D.C., that was uncovered and thwarted. IRGC Qods Force activity has been uncovered and disrupted in Germany, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Kenya, Bahrain, Turkey, and others. The Iranian regime remains the worlds leading state sponsor of terror, spending nearly a billion dollars every year to support terrorism. The regime provides funding to a number of terrorist groups, including Hizballah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Kataib Hizballah, al-Ashtar Brigades, and others. PROTECTING AMERICAS SECURITY: President Trump has taken action to address the full range of the regimes malign activities and ensure it never obtains a nuclear weapon. Imperial Valley News Center President Donald J. Trump Announces Judicial Nominations Washington, DC - Today, President Donald J. Trump announced his intent to re-nominate: Gary R. Brown of New York, to serve as a District Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Gary Brown serves as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of New York, where he has served since his selection in 2011. Judge Brown also serves as an adjunct professor at St. Johns School of Law. In 2014, Judge Brown was selected by the Board of Judges to serve on the Committee of Magistrate Judges appointed to manage more than 1,400 Hurricane Sandy cases filed in the Eastern District of New York. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Brown served as the Director of Litigation and Chief Compliance Officer of CA Technologies. Before entering private practice, Judge Brown served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York for more than 15 years, concluding his service as the Chief of the Long Island Criminal Division. Judge Brown is also a three-time recipient of the Directors Award from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys and, in 2000, received the Federal Prosecutors Award from the National Law Enforcement Association. Upon graduation from law school, Judge Brown served as a law clerk to Judge Jacob Mishler of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Judge Brown earned his B.A. from Columbia College and his J.D. from Yale Law School. Stephanie A. Gallagher of Maryland, to serve as a District Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Judge Stephanie Gallagher serves as a U.S. Magistrate Judge on the District of Maryland. Prior to her appointment to the bench in 2011, Judge Gallagher was a partner and co-founder of Levin & Gallagher, LLC, where she practiced white-collar defense and civil and employment litigation. Before founding Levin & Gallagher, Judge Gallagher served for six years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, where she prosecuted a wide range of violent and white-collar criminal cases. Before joining the U.S. Attorneys Office, Judge Gallagher practiced for two years as a litigation associate in the Washington office of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP. Upon graduation from law school, Judge Gallagher served as a law clerk to Judge J. Frederick Motz of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Judge Gallagher earned her B.S., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University, where she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and her J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School. Diane Gujarati of New York, to serve as a District Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Diane Gujarati serves as Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division of the United States Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York, where she has served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the past 19 years. Ms. Gujarati also served as an Adjunct Professor of Clinical Law at New York University School of Law until earlier this year. Before joining the U.S. Attorneys Office, Ms. Gujarati practiced for three years as a litigation associate in the New York City office of Davis Polk & Wardwell, LLP. Upon graduation from law school, Ms. Gujarati served as a law clerk to Judge John M. Walker, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Ms. Gujarati earned her B.A., summa cum laude, from Barnard College of Columbia University, where she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she served as an editor of both the Yale Law Journal and the Yale Journal on Regulation. Lewis J. Liman of New York, to serve as a District Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Lewis Liman is a partner in the New York City office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, LLP, where he has handled a wide range of civil, commercial, and white-collar criminal litigation since joining the firm in 2003. Before joining Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Mr. Liman was a partner at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering. Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Liman served for five years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he rose to serve as Deputy Chief of Appeals. Upon graduation from law school, Mr. Liman spent a brief period as an attorney at the N.A.A.C.P. Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., before serving as a law clerk to Judge Pierre N. Leval of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit during his service as a U.S. District Judge on the Southern District of New York. Mr. Liman subsequently clerked for Justice John Paul Stevens of the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Liman earned his B.A., magna cum laude, from Harvard College, his M.Sc., with distinction, from the London School of Economics, and his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he served as an articles editor of the Yale Law Journal and as an editor of the Yale Journal of International Law. Eric R. Komitee of New York, to serve as a District Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Eric Komitee is the General Counsel of Viking Global Investors LP in New York City. He previously served for eight years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, rising to serve as Chief of the Business and Securities Fraud Section. Before entering public service, Mr. Komitee practiced as an associate in the Government Enforcement and White Collar Crime group of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, & Flom, LLP, and as an associate in the corporate practice group of Cravath Swaine & Moore, LLP. Upon graduation from law school, Mr. Komitee served as a law clerk to Judge J.L. Edmondson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Mr. Komitee earned his B.A., with high honors, from Emory University, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and his J.D., cum laude, from the New York University School of Law, where he served as the senior notes and comments editor of the NYU Law Review. Rachel P. Kovner of New York, to serve as a District Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Rachel Kovner serves as an Assistant to the Solicitor General in the Solicitor Generals Office within the Department of Justice, where she has represented the United States in litigation before the Supreme Court since 2013. Before joining the Solicitor Generals Office, Ms. Kovner served for four years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where she served as trial counsel in 10 felony trials and argued seven appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Upon graduation from law school, Ms. Kovner served as a law clerk to Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and then to the late Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States. Ms. Kovner earned her B.A., magna cum laude, from Harvard College, and her J.D. from Stanford Law School, where she graduated first in her class, was inducted into the Order of the Coif, and served as the senior articles editor of the Stanford Law Review. Mary E. McElroy of Rhode Island, to serve as a District Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. Mary McElroy serves as the Public Defender for the State of Rhode Island. Prior to assuming this post in 2012, she served for six years as an Assistant Federal Public Defender for the District of Rhode Island. Before joining the Rhode Island Federal Public Defenders Office, Ms. McElroy served for 12 years as an Assistant Public Defender for the State of Rhode Island. Upon graduation from law school, Ms. McElroy served as a law clerk to Justice Donald F. Shea of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. Ms. McElroy earned her B.A. from Providence College and her J.D., cum laude, from the Suffolk University School of Law. Martha M. Pacold of Illinois, to serve as a District Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Martha Pacold serves as Deputy General Counsel of the Department of the Treasury. Prior to this appointment, she served as Executive Secretary at the agency. Before that, Ms. Pacold was an associate and then a partner in the Chicago office of Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott, LLP. She also was a Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School. Earlier in her career, Ms. Pacold served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and as Counsel to the Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice. Ms. Pacold served as a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States, to Judge Jay S. Bybee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and to Judge A. Raymond Randolph of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Ms. Pacold earned her B.A., with highest distinction, from Indiana University, where she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and her J.D., with honors, from the University of Chicago Law School, where she was inducted into the Order of the Coif and served as Editor-in-Chief of the University of Chicago Law Review. Mary M. Rowland of Illinois, to serve as a District Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Mary Rowland has served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Illinois since 2012. Prior to her selection as a Federal magistrate judge, Judge Rowland spent 12 years as a partner in the Chicago firm of Hughes, Socol, Piers, Resnick & Dym, Ltd. Before entering private practice, Judge Rowland served for 10 years in the Chicago office of the Federal Defender Program; first as a staff attorney and later as the offices chief appellate attorney. Upon graduation from law school, Judge Rowland served as a law clerk to Judge Julian Abele Cook, Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Judge Rowland earned her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. Judge Rowland is a member of the Gay and Lesbian Bar Association. Steven C. Seeger of Illinois, to serve as a District Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Steve Seeger serves as Senior Trial Counsel in the Chicago Regional Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where he has litigated cases to enforce the Federal securities laws on behalf of the public since 2010. Before joining the SEC, Mr. Seeger practiced for 12 years in the Chicago, Illinois, office of Kirkland & Ellis, LLP, where he spent his last seven years as a partner. Before joining Kirkland, Mr. Seeger served as a law clerk to Judge David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Mr. Seeger earned his B.A., summa cum laude, from Wheaton College and his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was inducted into the Order of the Coif and served as both an associate and articles editor of the University of Michigan Law Review. John L. Sinatra, Jr., of New York, to serve as a District Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. John Sinatra is a partner in the Buffalo firm Hodgson Russ, LLP, where his practice has focused on complex civil and commercial litigation in Federal and State courts nationwide since 2008. Before joining the firm, Mr. Sinatra served as Senior Counsel in the Department of Commerce and as an associate in the commercial litigation practice group at Jones Day. Upon graduation from law school, Mr. Sinatra served as a law clerk to the judges of the New York Court of Appeals. Mr. Sinatra earned his B.A., magna cum laude, from the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and his J.D., cum laude, from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law, where he served as the notes and comments editor of the Buffalo Law Review. Mary Kay Vyskocil of New York, to serve as a District Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Mary Kay Vyskocil serves as a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York, where she has served since her selection in 2016. Prior to her appointment to the bench, Judge Vyskocil practiced general commercial litigation for almost 33 years at the New York City-based law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, LLP. During that period, Judge Vyskocil was ranked as one of the Top Ten Women Litigators in the United States by Benchmark Litigation and, in 2016, received a Top Women in Law Award from the New York Law Journal. During her time in practice, she was recognized as a litigation leader by Chambers, Legal 500, Whos Who Legal and Americas Leading Business Lawyers, and Law360. She is also the co-author of Modern Reinsurance Law & Practice, 3d ed. (Thompson Reuters 2015). Judge Vyskocil earned her undergraduate degree from the Dominican College of Blauvelt in Rockland County, New York, where she was the class Valedictorian and Student Government President, and her J.D. from St. Johns University School of Law, where she served on the Moot Court Executive Board. Imperial Valley News Center Vice President Mike Pences Meeting with Vice President Hamilton Mourao of the Federative Republic of Brazil Washington, DC - Vice President Mike Pence met with Vice President Hamilton Mourao of Brazil. Both leaders commended the successful and substantive meeting of President Trump and President Bolsonaro last month, and committed to maintaining the momentum it generated across a wide range of policy interests, including defense, security, space cooperation, and trade. Vice President Pence and Vice President Mourao also discussed at length the man-made disaster in Venezuela, reaffirming their commitment to support the constitutional government of interim President Juan Guaido, and to maintain pressure on the illegitimate Maduro regime. The two leaders discussed a range of concrete actions that can be taken to enhance on-going diplomatic, economic and humanitarian efforts, and to facilitate the return of democracy to Venezuela. Imperial Valley News Center President Donald J. Trump Remains Committed to Egypt and Middle East Stability Washington, DC - "Its a great honor to be with President El-Sisi, a frienda great friendof Egypt. And we have very special things happening. Our relationship has never been stronger. And were working with Egypt on many different fronts, including military and trade" ~ President Donald J. Trump A STRATEGIC AND POWERFUL PARTNERSHIP: The United States and Egypt have a strong relationship with many security and economic implications. Today marks the second visit of President El-Sisi to the White House since 2017. Egypt has long been an important strategic partner in the Middle East. United States assistance to Egypt has played a central role in the countrys economic and military development. Since the 1979 EgyptIsrael Treaty of Peace, the United States has provided Egypt with more than $40 billion in military assistance and $30 billion in economic assistance. Egypt has become an anchor of stability in the Middle East, as exemplified by its enduring forty-year peace with Israel. The United States encourages the Egyptian government to preserve space for civil society and to protect human rights. PROMOTING REGIONAL STABILITY: President Trump is strengthening our partnership with Egypt and promoting regional stability across the Middle East. President Trump is working with Egypt on issues impacting regional stability including conflicts in Libya, Syria, and Yemen and progress on the Middle East Strategic Alliance. The Trump Administration is working with Egypt to combat terrorism and to stop the spread of radical Islamic terrorism. The United States is providing Egypt with military training and equipment to support counterterrorism efforts. We continue to strengthen our strategic relationship through security cooperation and broader security efforts. President Trump applauds Egypts efforts to advance female economic empowerment and promote religious freedom. The Trump Administration supports the Egyptian governments bold program of economic reform, which will set Egypt on the course of long-term economic stability. Egypt hosted the inaugural meeting of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum, which will enhance economic cooperation and shared prosperity among countries across the region. EXPANDING FAIR AND RECIPROCAL TRADE: President Trump is building on the strong and robust trade relationship between the United States and Egypt. Imperial Valley News Center Regarding Migrant Protection Protocols Litigation Washington, DC - The flow of illegal aliens is crashing our immigration system and overwhelming our country. But a district court has issued yet another nationwide injunction forcing open borders policies onto an unwilling American populace. Time and time again, we have seen a single district court unilaterally rewriting, suspending, or terminating immigration law for the whole Nation creating an unprecedented crisis on our southern border. Congress passed a Federal law that allows for the return of illegal and inadmissible aliens to Mexico while they await asylum hearings which ensures that they are not released into the interior of the United States. Stunningly, a district court in California has issued a nationwide injunction halting the use of this Federal law as part of a cooperative program extensively negotiated with the government of Mexico. This action gravely undermines the Presidents ability to address the crisis at the border with the tools Congress has authorized and disrupts the conduct of our foreign affairs. We intend to appeal, and we will take all necessary action to defend the Executive Branchs lawful efforts to resolve the crisis at our southern border. Self-made billionaire Ben Chestnut is the co-founder and CEO of Mailchimp. Mailchimp is the world's leading email marketing platform, with a staggering 60 percent market share -- more than 16 million people use Mailchimp to power their email marketing. Ben and Dan Kurzius founded the company in 2001, and have grown it into a $4.2 billion enterprise without bringing on any outside investors along the way. Ben and Dan each retain 50 percent ownership of the company, which is a unicorn feat in and of itself. Watching Ben's career is inspiring, to say the least. Here, discover 10 fascinating facts about Ben Chestnut! 1. Mailchimp started off as a side hustle Mailchimp originally was an offshoot of Ben and Dan's then-main business: Rocket Science Group, a web design consultation company. Mailchimp (which would have been called Chimpmail had that domain not already been in use) went from a side hustle to the main focus after a few years. 2. For Ben, leadership is all about listening and collaboration As a CEO, Ben believes it's vital to pay close attention to the people around him and really listen to what they have to say. "I'm never a good enough listener, but I try and listen a little harder every day," he says. It's not just about listening -- it's also about involving others in the growth of the company. "I've learned to take a step back and let others lead," he says. "That was a big mindset shift." 3. Ben and Dan turned down a billion in cash in order to retain full ownership of Mailchimp "When we got bigger and we started to pop up on more radars, a lot more investors came knocking on the door," said Ben in a recent interview. Ben and Dan were flattered, but they were unwilling to hand any other company the keys to their business. "I never felt all that scared about the pain and suffering of growing a business -- that's just life," Ben said. 4. Ben is featured on Forbes Ben's is featured on two Forbes lists: Billionaires of 2019 (where he ranks No. 1,116) and the Forbes 400 of 2018 (where he sits at No. 383). He was also recognized as Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year in 2016. 5. Ben is big on giving back and created the Chestnut Family Foundation Ben and his wife, Teresa, started the Chestnut Family Foundation in 2017. The Chestnut Family Foundation seeks out Georgia-based organizations that "have demonstrated compassion and creativity in their efforts to improve the lives of children." Through the Chestnut Family Foundation, Ben has supported art schools, dance companies, and music projects, as well as created scholarships. 6. Ben believes in loving what you do rather than doing what you love "You always hear people saying 'do what you love,' and that's partially true, but if you start a business doing what you love, it will kill you -- it will kill your passion," Ben said in a talk he delivered at CreativeMornings in Atlanta. "I like 'love what you do' better ... embrace it, love it, and eventually success will find you." 7. Ben says chaos is good Ben believes chaos spurs creativity, and that people shouldn't get so wrapped up in creating big ideas that they stop getting lost in the weeds and actually creating. It's from those chaotic weeds that creativity can really grow. "We need chaos. Chaos is good. You have to embrace chaos. I think my job as a manager of a creative company is to find ways to create a [little] chaos," Ben said during the CreativeMornings address. "Creativity and innovation come from assembling pieces from other stuff in weird ways -- [never] delegate the creativity away." 8. Ben thinks outside the box when it comes to hiring Ben says he prefers to staff his team with eccentric people who have a diverse background. He likes to look outside of the usual industry suspects, as well: "People from outside [the] industry approach problems in different ways than you and your normal competitors," he remarked in an interview with Fast Company. 9. Ben's mother was an entrepreneur herself In his childhood, Ben's mom ran a hair salon straight out of their kitchen. In an interview with Lifehacker, Ben said his mother showed him exactly how hard it is to run a small business and how fulfilling it can be. "I remember [my mother] kept a Rolodex with names and notes about all of her clients -- today, I call it customer relationship management," said Ben. Small businesses like his mother's left a lasting imprint on Ben. "[They] still motivate me today," he said. "Mailchimp exists to empower small businesses and help them grow." 10. Ben has strong ties to Georgia Ben was born in Augusta, Georgia, and went to high school in Hephzibah, Georgia (where he met his wife!). Not only that, he attended the University of Georgia and graduated from Georgia Tech. Avila said he didnt know if Maldonado actually wanted to return to lead the Chicago Heights Park District police department, but that he did want to return to law enforcement in some capacity and should be compensated for the time he spent on suspension following his 2016 arrest. Although only three U.S. airlines fly the now-grounded 737 MAX aircraft -- Southwest, American, and United -- other airlines have felt the impact. Yesterday, in a speech to a group gathered in Atlanta for the Aviation Week Network's MRO Americas conference, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian expressed his concerns for the fallout from the two 737 MAX crashes: "I hope it doesn't set us back as an industry." As we know, Lion Air Flight 610 -- a Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft -- crashed on October 29, 2018, shortly after takeoff from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta. All 189 passengers and crew died in the disaster. Then, on March 10, 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 -- another Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft -- crashed soon after takeoff from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in Ethiopia. All 157 passengers and crew died in this latest disaster involving Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. .@Delta CEO Ed Bastian said discussions surrounding probes into crashes of two Boeing 737 Max planes will "open up a lot of questions." https://t.co/yOkYwboOYM -- AJC (@ajc) April 9, 2019 After initially resisting calls to ground the Boeing 737 MAX, on March 13, 2019, the FAA did just that. And, a day later, Boeing suspended deliveries of the aircraft while it focused on determining the cause of the crashes and coming up with a fix. Said Bastian at the conference, "I'm confident that Boeing will solve this issue. I think there will, no question, be lessons learned from this...I think we'll all learn from it." Continued Bastian, We gotta get out of the world of cops and robbers. We're all on the same path here, and the better information and the more transparency we can offer on both sides...the safer our customers are. According to Ed Bastian, the airline industry's relationship with the FAA is a strong one, and it has led to an enviable safety record. Said Bastian to reporters after his speech, You think about what has given rise to our industry being the safest means of transportation to the world, and the U.S. being the leader. One of the ways we do it is we report all data in our operation to our regulator with complete transparency. It's a complete, seamless transfer. While Bastian is confident that Boeing will solve the issue with its 737 MAX aircraft, unfortunately, it may take weeks or even months before the fix is delivered and tested, and 737 MAX aircraft are allowed to fly again. Do not adjust your screen settings. That supernatural hi-viz haze is an overabundance of pollen covering the landscape in North Carolina in America. In news unwelcome to those who suffer the effects of hay fever, a spike in pollen concentration in the city of Durham has led to the regional Division of Air Quality to declare pollen severity as very high. Photographs of the pollen-struck area show trees and houses smothered in a pea soup generated by plants sexual exuberance. The main type of pollen is coming from trees pine, oak, mulberry, birch, and beech and sweet gum, the North Carolina pollen monitoring group said. The phenomenon has been described as a pollenpocalypse, and a vision of hell for hay fever sufferers, by the US press. Environment news in pictures Show all 8 1 /8 Environment news in pictures Environment news in pictures Davos 2019: David Attenborough issues stark warning about future of civilisation as he demands practical solutions to combat climate change Sir David Attenborough has issued a stark warning about climate change to business figures gathered in Davos, telling them that "what we do now...will profoundly affect the next few thousand years". On the eve of this year's World Economic Forum, the renowned naturalist told the audience that the worlds of business and politics should "get on with the practical solutions" needed to prevent environmental damage. "As a species we are expert problem solvers. But we've not yet applied ourselves to this problem with the focus it requires. "We can create a world with clean air and water, unlimited energy, and fish stocks that will sustain us well into the future. But to do that, we need a plan," he said. The broadcaster made his speech after receiving a Crystal Award, which is awarded by the forum to "exceptional cultural leaders". AFP/Getty Environment news in pictures At least 60% of wild coffee species face extinction triggered by climate change and disease Two decades of research have revealed that 60 per cent of the worlds coffee species face extinction due to the combined threats of deforestation, disease and climate change. The wild strain of arabica, the most widely consumed coffee on the planet, is among those now recognised as endangered, raising concerns about its long-term survival. These results are worrying for the millions of farmers around the world who depend on the continued survival of coffee for their livelihoods. As conditions for coffee farming become tougher, scientists predict the industry will need to rely on wild varieties to develop more resilient strains Alan Schaller Environment news in pictures Warming Antarctic waters are speeding the rate at which glaciers are melting The Antarctic ice sheet is losing six times as much ice each year as it was in the 1980s and the pace is accelerating, one of the most comprehensive studies of climate change effects on the continent has shown. More than half an inch has been added to global sea levels since 1979, but if current trends continue it will be responsible for metres more in future, the Nasa-funded study found. The international effort used aerial photos, satellite data and climate models dating back to the 1970s across18 Antarctic regions to get the most complete picture to date on the impacts of the changing climate. It found that between 1979 and 1990 Antarctica lost an average of 40 gigatonnes (40 billion tonnes) of its mass each year. Between 2009 and 2017 it lost an average 252 gigatonnes a year. This has added 3.6mm per decade to sea levels, or around 14mm since 1979, the study shows Nasa/Getty Environment news in pictures Greater Manchester to ban fracking, paving way for confrontation with government over controversial industry Greater Manchester is to effectively ban fracking, raising the prospect of fresh confrontation with the government over the controversial industry. All of the regions 10 councils are to implement planning policies which create a presumption against drilling for shale gas in their areas, Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has announced. Campaigners said the move was the latest sign that the tide was turning against fracking, which has been the subject of multiple legal battles across the country. Critics of fracking say it poses environmental and health risks. Drilling at the UKs only operational fracking site, run by Cuadrilla in Lancashire, has repeatedly been halted due to earth tremors. But ministers support the industry and last year unveiled plans to accelerate the development of new drilling sites Ross Wills Environment news in pictures Japan confirms plan to resume commercial whaling in its waters from next year Japan will resume commercial whaling next year for the first time in more than three decades, in a move that has provoked strong criticism from campaigners and the international community. Chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said his nation would leave the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to resume hunting the marine mammals in Japanese waters. However, he stated the activity would be limited to Japans territory and the 200 mile exclusive economic zone along its coasts. This means controversial scientific trips to Antarctica in which Japanese vessels killed hundreds of whales, as well as activity in the northwest Pacific, will stop in 2019 AP Environment news in pictures COP24: Environmental groups criticise morally unacceptable climate deal reached after major Poland summit Diplomats from around the world have agreed a major climate deal after two weeks of United Nations talks in Poland. But climate campaigners warned the deal effectively a set of rules for how to govern the 2015 Paris climate accord agreed between almost 200 countries lacked ambition or a clear promise of enhanced climate action. Activists cautiously welcomed elements of the plan, saying important progress had been made on ensuring that efforts to tackle climate change by individual nations can be measured and compared. But environmental groups were also highly critical of the agreement, warning it lacked ambition and clarity on key issues, including financing for climate projects for developing countries. The COP24 deal, which is aimed at providing firm guidelines for countries on how to transparently report their greenhouse gas emissions and their efforts to reduce them, was confirmed on 15 December, after talks overran Reuters Environment news in pictures Unprecedented changes needed to stop global warming as UN report reveals islands starting to vanish and coral reefs dying Greenhouse gas emissions must be cut almost in half by 2030 to avert global environmental catastrophe, including the total loss of every coral reef, the disappearance of Arctic ice and the destruction of island communities, a landmark UN report has concluded. Drawing on more than 6,000 scientific studies and compiled over two years, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) findings, released this morning, warn enormous and rapid changes to the way everyone on Earth eats, travels and produces energy need to be brought in immediately. Though the scientists behind the report said there is cause for optimism, they recognised the grim reality that nations are currently nowhere near on track to avert disaster AFP/Getty Environment news in pictures Africas three biggest elephant poaching cartels exposed using DNA from illegal ivory shipments DNA taken from massive shipments of ivory has been used to identify the three largest wildlife trafficking gangs operating at the height of Africas elephant poaching epidemic. Ivory tends to be shipped around the world from African ports in bulk, and scientists have used genetic evidence gleaned from intercepted batches to reveal their origins. Led by Dr Samuel Wasser from the University of Washington, they traced a number of these shipments to three cartels operating out of Kenya, Uganda and Togo. Evidence collected by Dr Wasser has already helped convict ivory kingpin Feisal Mohamed Ali, and as his team joins the dots between shipments they plan to shore up the cases against more of the continents most prolific smugglers Art Wolfe Rising global temperatures due to climate change are thought to be behind longer pollen seasons which have exacerbated allergies over recent years. Increases in the number of days of high levels of pollen have been recorded across the US, with some areas seeing as much as 25 extra days of pollen-related misery since 1995, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The same is true around the world. A study in the journal Lancet Planetary Health found airborne pollen counts have been increasing in the majority of sites studied, as average temperatures climbed. In 2000, there were about 8,000 pollen grains per metre cubed. In 2040, its projected to be around 20,000, Dr Tara Narula told CBS News. About 8 per cent of US adults suffer hay fever. Most people can treat symptoms with antihistamines, which now cost Americans between $3.4bn and $11.2 bn (2.6bn 8.5bn) each year just in direct medical expenses. New pesticides regarded as bee safe could actually be causing harm to these vital pollinators when combined with other chemicals being applied to crops, according to a new study. Since a range of bee-harming substances were banned in the UK and the rest of Europe, there has been growing pressure to find replacements. However, experts have voiced concerns that some of these pesticides may come with dangerous side effects of their own. While flupyradifurone has been marketed as a safer insecticide, it has the same mode of action and properties as neonicotinoids, the chemicals banned due to their link with global bee declines. Sold by Bayer under the brand name Sivanto, the product is already available in the US, Italy, Greece and the Netherlands, but not the UK. Insects at risk of extinction Show all 12 1 /12 Insects at risk of extinction Insects at risk of extinction Wasps Wasps are of the order Hymenoptera, one of the most at risk Getty Insects at risk of extinction Dragonflies Dragonflies are of the order Odonata, one of the most at risk Getty Insects at risk of extinction Bees Bees are of the order Hymenoptera, one of the most at risk Getty Insects at risk of extinction Butterflies Butterflies are of the order Lepidoptera, one of the most at risk Getty Insects at risk of extinction Ants Ants are of the order Hymenoptera, one of the most at risk Getty Insects at risk of extinction Dung Beetles Getty Insects at risk of extinction Caddisflies Caddisflies make up the order Trichoptera, one of the most at risk Getty Insects at risk of extinction Stoneflies Stoneflies are of the order plecoptera, one of the most at risk Getty Insects at risk of extinction Saw-Flies Saw-Flies are of the order Hymenoptera, one of the most at risk Getty Insects at risk of extinction Moths Moths are of the order Lepidoptera, one of the most at risk Getty Insects at risk of extinction Damselfly Damselflies are of the order Odonata, one of the most at risk Getty Insects at risk of extinction Mayflies Mayflies are of the order Ephemeroptera, one of the most at risk Getty But its similarity to neonicotinoids has led some scientists and campaign groups to cast doubt on its bee safe status, especially following the European Unions decision to approve it in 2015. In the new study, scientists at the University of California, San Diego assessed what happened when honeybees were exposed to realistic doses of flupyradifurone in combination with a common fungicide. They found the dual action of these chemicals led to abnormal behaviour and death in many of the bees tested, with the workers that left the nest to forage on crops more likely to feel the effects. Their work, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B was partly funded by the campaign group Avaaz, which played a major role in the effort to ban neonicitinoids. Recommended New chemicals replacing banned pesticides are threat to bees It comes after previous work found another chemical touted as a replacement for bee-harming chemicals, sulfoxaflor, was linked to disruption in bee colonies. After the EU authorised both sulfoxaflor and flupyradifurone in 2015, campaign group the Pesticide Action Network said both chemicals were so similar to neonicitinoids it was wrong to consider them separately. Dr David Spurgeon, an ecotoxicologist at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology who was not involved in the study, noted the difficulty of categorising a pesticide as safe for bees. He said without a full understanding of the genetics of each bee species, it would be difficult to rule out any harmful effects. Without that knowledge it would be difficult to say something is fully bee safe for all species as such, he said. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Dr Spurgeon noted that previous work at the centre had revealed neonicotinoids working together with fungicides to cause harm, and said it would be no surprise if something similar happened with these newer chemicals. The scientists behind the new research said their work revealed a need for more detailed risk assessments that took into account the interactions between different chemicals in the environment. A spokesperson for Bayer told The Independent: "Sivanto is one of the latest innovations that further our commitment to bee health and it has been approved for use by governments around the world because of its effectiveness in protecting crops from damaging pests while not posing risk for honey and bumble bees colonies when used as directed. "The principle behind the observations reported by the new research (i.e synergistic effects of certain fungicides, increasing the toxicity of certain insecticides) are well known to us. We have implemented restrictions for the use of FPF with azole fungicides in order to prevent this type of effect under practical use conditions." Humanity has had its first ever peek at a black hole. The blazing image of a red and yellow circle is the first anyone has seen of the phenomenon. As well as giving an unprecedented view of one of the most powerful and mysterious things in the universe, it also helps develop our understanding of the fundamental forces that shape space. Scientists will be examining what exactly all the findings from this photo mean for years to come. And they expect to go on to discover even more, as they use the same techniques on other sources inside other galaxies. But the image has delighted the world. And it has also left some people more than a little confused about what exactly it shows and how it was taken. Heres everything you need to know about the breakthrough discovery. *** 1. Why has it taken so long to get this picture? 2. What is a black hole? 3. Why does this one look like that? Why is it so grainy? 4. What does this mean for our understanding of space? 5. What do we do now? *** Why has it taken so long to get this picture? The work that allowed this photo to be taken has been going on for decades. It meant overcoming difficulties that have seemed impossible. We have seen what we thought was unseeable, says astrophysicist Sheperd Doeleman, director of the Event Horizon Telescope at the Centre for Astrophysics, Harvard and Smithsonian. We have seen and taken a picture of a black hole. Here it is. The central difficulty with trying to get pictures of black holes is given away in their name: they are black because they have such a strong gravitational pull that light falls into them and cant escape. As such, it cant get to here and we cant take a photograph of it. 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 Whats more, the area between us and the black hole itself is blocked up by all sorts of other objects: everything from stars to the humdrum weather down here on Earth. Taking the picture required scientists to have the perfect weather all across the world and literally all the stars had to align, notes Jessica Dempsey, a co-discoverer and deputy director of the East Asian Observatory in Hawaii. To get through all of that difficulty, astronomers had to work to join eight different dishes up into one huge virtual telescope, allowing them to work together and see further than they would individually. That happened in April 2017 scientists have been working to pick through the results in the years since. Recommended First ever photo of black hole revealed by astronomers They were synchronised together using a technique called very-long-baseline interferometry or VLBI. It allowed the astronomers to achieve a level of angular resolution equivalent to reading a newspaper in New York from a pavement cafe in Paris. Even then, the details were sketchy: they had to look through all the data received to ensure that they were seeing what they thought they were. That required complex analysis of the data using algorithms as well as scientific understanding, to allow them to fill in the gaps in the grainy and unclear images and produce the one that flew around the world on Wednesday. What is a black hole? Black holes are made when massive stars die and then collapse. The matter is crushed down into an infinitely small space, and very odd things start to happen to physics, space and time. Because they are so dense, the gravitational force they exert on the things around them causes physics to work in strange ways. It means, for instance, that they tug light into them. But around their edges is an event horizon, marking the border of where their pull allows light to escape. Thats an important part of the black hole and its what we see in the new picture. People often assume that falling into a black hole would mean youd be torn to bits. But this one is so incredibly huge, say scientists, that the strange forces it exerts mean that you could fall into it and make it through. Youd never hear from that person again, however, and its not entirely clear where theyd end up. Why does this one look like that? Why is it so grainy? We should consider ourselves blessed to be able to see even this quality of picture, but some people noted that it looked a little blurry. That is probably partly because we have so much to compare it to, in the form of illustrations of black holes in the past. Those are often released to accompany stories about black holes, and they are almost always dramatic but the people creating them are not hit by the same limitations outlined above, and dont have to deal with actually taking a picture. The various techniques required to really see the black hole including looking at the black hole using radio waves mean that the detail is relatively limited. It might also look quite small in the picture. But perhaps the radio telescope is slimming or its just because its very far away: the black hole is huge, the size of 6 million of our suns. What does this mean for our understanding of space? It mostly means that we were right. Scientists say they were surprised to be so unsurprised by what they found, and how much it aligned with their expectations of black holes and about Einsteins theory of general relativity. One of the important reasons to spend so much effort taking this photo is that it helps us understand how the event horizon works and so how that lines up with our theoretical work on black holes. We have achieved something presumed to be impossible just a generation ago, says Doeleman. He says the research verifies Einsteins theory of gravity in this most extreme laboratory. What are we going to do now? That doesnt mean all the science is done. In fact, its just beginning: researchers now have plenty of work to do looking at the data from these pictures, as well as hoping to harvest some more. All of the data from the current work will be released in the coming days to allow scientists to look through it. They will be searching for more discoveries, of course, but they will also work to check the current claims: at this level of innovation, nothing is certain and the researchers behind the work admit that other interpretations may be possible. Another potential black hole had been expected to have its photo taken and released, too: the source known as Sagittarius A*. Some had suggested that it could be even more spectacular. But researchers said the early results from M87 were so impressive and exciting that they opted instead to focus on that one. More might come from the other source in the future. Bitcoin has passed a major milestone amid a remarkable price surge, recording its 400 millionth transaction since its 2009 inception. The cryptocurrency's value has risen by more than a third over the last month, with most of the gains coming during a major price spike at the beginning of April. Currently trading at around $5,250 (4,000), bitcoin still remains a long way of its late 2017 peak of $20,000, but the number of transactions on the bitcoin network has been steadily increasing since early 2019. This has coincided with the cryptocurrency's recovery, which appears to have had a knock on effect across the market. Other major cryptocurrencies boosted by bitcoin's recent resurgence include ethereum, ripple and litecoin. 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 The latest milestone comes just over a year after the bitcoin network passed 300 million transactions, showing that it continues to grow in popularity despite the price volatility. Around 350,000 transactions take place every day roughly four every second across its decentralised blockchain. Many of these transactions currently pass through China, where the majority of bitcoin mining operations are located, however this may soon be about to change. The country's economic planning agency announced this week that it is considering a ban on bitcoin mining the process of generating new units of the cryptocurrency by providing the computing power needed to confirm transactions. If implemented, the ban would have a significant impact on the bitcoin network and potentially even the price of bitcoin, with analysts suggesting it could cause further price rises. "It's more likely to push bitcoin prices up than down," market analyst Mati Greenspan told The Independent this week. "The loss of cheap Chinese electricity would raise the mining cost, which is net positive on price." Astronomers are about to reveal a spectacular landmark image that will mark the first time humanity has ever seen a black hole. The picture will be the first time an image has been snapped of the mysterious, swirling phenomenon deep in our galaxy. And it could change our view of the universe, revealing some of its most mysterious and fundamental processes. The "groundbreaking" announcement from the the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) which will be revealed in simultaneous news conferences in Washington, Brussels, Santiago, Shanghai, Taipei and Tokyo comes after the project was started in 2012 to directly observe the immediate environment of a black hole using a global network of telescopes. What is a black hole and why is it so hard to take an image of one? Black holes are phenomenally dense celestial entities with gravitational fields so powerful no matter or light can escape, making them extraordinarily difficult to observe despite their great mass. 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 As the name suggests, the hole is very black: they suck in any light that goes near them, which means there's none left to reach us. As such, it is impossible to see the swirling and roiling middle of a black hole. But around the edge is the event horizon, which marks the border where light can escape the pull of the black hole. That part, we hope we can see and that's what the new image should show us. Recommended Live updates as astronomers reveal first ever photo of black hole A black hole's event horizon is the point of no return beyond which anything - stars, planets, gas, dust and all forms of electromagnetic radiation - gets swallowed into oblivion. The project targeted two supermassive black holes residing at the center of different galaxies. What are we going to learn? The research will test the theory of general relativity put forward in 1915 by Einstein, the famed theoretical physicist, to explain the laws of gravity and their relation to other natural forces. Einstein's theory allows for a prediction of the size and shape of a black hole. If the prediction turns out to be off the mark, the theory may need rethinking. This is separate from another key component of Einstein's broader theory of relativity: his 1905 theory of special relativity, part of the basis of modern physics. The theory of special relativity explaining the relationship between space and time. What are we actually going to see? One of the black holes - Sagittarius A* - is situated at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy, possessing 4 million times the mass of our sun and located 26,000 light years from Earth. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). The second one - M87 - inhabits the center of the neighboring Virgo A galaxy, boasting a mass 3.5 billion times that of the sun and located 54 million light-years away from Earth. Streaming away from M87 at nearly the speed of light is a humongous jet of subatomic particles. Black holes, which come in different sizes, are formed when very massive stars collapse at the end of their life cycle. Supermassive black holes are the largest kind, growing in mass as they devour matter and radiation and perhaps merging with other black holes. The fact that black holes do not allow light to escape makes viewing them difficult. The scientists will be looking for a ring of light - disrupted matter and radiation circling at tremendous speed at the edge of the event horizon - around a region of darkness representing the actual black hole. This is known as the black hole's shadow or silhouette. The scientists said the shape of the shadow would be almost a perfect circle in Einstein's theory of general relativity, and if it turns out that it is not, there is something wrong with the theory. Additional reporting by agencies Methane on Mars seems to have gone missing mystifying the scientists who hoped to study it. Researchers had hoped the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), currently floating above Mars, would be able to sniff out the methane and further study it. The gas could be an indication that there is life on the planet, since on Earth it is produced by living organisms. Methane has been spotted on numerous occasions, both on the surface of the planet and in its atmosphere. Researchers hoped that the TGO would be able to confirm those observations and tell us more, by using the on-board sensors that allow it to find methane at levels up to 100 times lower than previously. It is also able to examine the make-up of that methane, identifying the type of carbon and so giving a clue to whether it is arising out of the geology of Mars or coming from living things beneath the surface. But the TGO did not smell any of that methane. And scientists aren't sure about how it could have disappeared. Beautiful panorama is final photo from Mars opportunity rover Show all 8 1 /8 Beautiful panorama is final photo from Mars opportunity rover Beautiful panorama is final photo from Mars opportunity rover The left section of a panorama photograph taken by NASA's Mars Opportunity Rover, the final picture taken before losing contact with earth NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU Beautiful panorama is final photo from Mars opportunity rover A panorama picture of the surface of Mars, the last photograph taken by Mars' Opportunity Rover NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU Beautiful panorama is final photo from Mars opportunity rover The middle section of a panorama photograph taken by NASA's Mars Opportunity Rover, the final picture taken before losing contact with earth NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU Beautiful panorama is final photo from Mars opportunity rover The right section of a panorama photograph taken by NASA's Mars Opportunity Rover, the final picture taken before losing contact with earth NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU Beautiful panorama is final photo from Mars opportunity rover Annotated panorama explains the various landscape features NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU Beautiful panorama is final photo from Mars opportunity rover Left section of the annotated panorama explains the various landscape features NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU Beautiful panorama is final photo from Mars opportunity rover Middle section of the annotated panorama explains the various landscape features NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU Beautiful panorama is final photo from Mars opportunity rover Right section of the annotated panorama explains the various landscape features NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU Dr Manish Patel, from the Open University, who is in charge of the Nomad chemical analysis instrument on TGO, said: "The measurements we have made are very surprising. The methane previously detected by ground-based telescopes, the ESA (European Space Agency) Mars Express spacecraft and the Nasa Curiosity rover seems to have disappeared. "Mars continues to confound us. The only way these results make sense with previous observations is if there is a new mechanism in the atmosphere, removing the methane at a rate far faster than thought possible. Recommended Nasa to fly helicopter over Martian surface "As always, Mars provides us with another mystery to solve." The new findings were published in the journal Nature and presented at the European Geosciences Union meeting in Vienna. A "spike" of methane detected on the Martian surface by the Curiosity rover on June 16, 2013, was picked up the next day by the Mars Express orbiter. Scientists traced the methane "burp" to a region near Gale Crater, a 96-mile-wide bowl where Curiosity landed in 2012 and which may be the site of an ancient lake. Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience earlier this month, they said it was likely the methane had bubbled up through cracks in surface ice. The discovery left open the question of whether the gas was produced by geological or biological processes. Nasa employees celebrate as Curiosity Rover lands on Mars in 2012 Confirmation that methane is spouting from the Martian surface in at least one location makes it all the more extraordinary that none was found by TGO. ExoMars is a two-part mission. The TGO will be joined in 2021 by the British-built Rosalind Franklin rover, now under construction by Airbus in Stevenage. The rover will be able to probe under the Martian surface for signs of past or present life. Sue Horne, head of space exploration at the UK Space Agency, said: "ExoMars embodies the best of UK and European space science and I'm delighted that Britain is one of the biggest supporters. "This data release is the first of many on our mission to unearth the mysteries of the Red Planet. The results both answer, and raise new questions, paving the way for more exciting discoveries from the Rosalind Franklin rover which is due to launch next year." Other results from TGO, also published in Nature, describe the impact of a massive global dust storm that has enveloped the Red Planet. The spacecraft monitored the storm from the moment it began and studied how the dust affected water vapour in the atmosphere. Britain is a major contributor to ExoMars mission. The UK Space Agency has invested 248 million to the overall ExoMars mission and 12 million to its instruments. Additional reporting by Press Association A social media influencer has filmed a tearful video lamenting the prospect of working a 9-to-5 job after her Instagram account was deleted. Jessy Taylor, 21, uploaded the video, titled Stop reporting my Instagram account to her YouTube channel after seeing that Instagram had removed her account where she had more than 100,000 followers. In the video, Taylor, from Tampa, Florida, cries at the thought of having to work a normal job and says she moved to LA to get away from the prospect. I am in LA because of this. Im in LA because I want to be on Instagram, Taylor says in the video. Im nothing without my following. I am nothing without my following. According to the star, who said she previously worked at McDonalds and as a prostitute, she is not cut out for a 9-to-5 job because she has no job qualifications and brings nothing to the table. 11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed Show all 11 1 /11 11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed 11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed Hide and reorder filters Filters are a core part of Instagram, but there are so many available it can be easy to get lost. You can change the order in which they appear, and even hide the ones you never use, to speed up your photo-sharing process. On the filters page, scroll to the end, tap Manage, then drag and drop the ones you want to reorder, and un-check the ones you want to hide. 11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed Never miss a post Instagram controversially ditched its reverse-chronological order feed for a new order determined by an algorithm, making it easy to completely miss some posts. To make sure you never miss a certain somebodys updates, you can set up notification for them by visiting their profile, tapping the three dots in the top right-hand corner and selecting Turn On Post Notifications. 11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed Eat less data If youre worried about how much of your mobile data Instagram saps, you can limit it by sacrificing the speed at which the photos and videos in your feed load. Go to your profile, tap the three dots in the top right corner, open Cellular Data Use and choose Use Less Data. 11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed See your Likes Its easy to lose track of your friends old posts on Instagram, but if you know you Liked it, youll be able to track it down easily. Just go to your profile, hit the three dots at the top and select Posts Youve Liked. You can also save posts in a folder only you can see by tapping the bookmark icon underneath it. Take a look at everything youve bookmarked by tapping the same icon that sits near the top of your profile. 11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed Find relevant hashtags Everyone knows you can expand the reach of your posts by using a number of relevant hashtags, but what those are arent always glaringly obvious. You can easily find the right ones for you by typing a keyword into Instagrams search bar, selecting a hashtag from the list and swiping along the Related row that appears at the top of the screen. 11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed Clear your search history Whatever your reasons are, you can clear your recent searches by going to your profile, hitting the three dots in the top right and selecting Clear Search History. To go a step further and hide your Suggested searches too, go to the search page, tap and hold the account you want to hide, and choose Hide from the pop-up window. 11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed Hide photos youre tagged in Tagged photos on Instagram arent as prominent as they are on Facebook, but anyone can still browse through other peoples pictures of you by visiting your profile and tapping the photo of you icon. If youre tagged in a picture you dont want other people to see, go to your profile, hit the photos of you icon, tap the three dots at the top of the screen and choose Hide Photos. 11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed Secure your account Make your Instagram account much harder to hack by enabling two-factor authentication, a security feature that protects you even if your login details are stolen. Go to your profile, tap the three dots, open Two-Factor Authentication and toggle it on. 11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed Share lots at once If you want to upload a bunch of related pictures and videos without flooding everyone elses feed, you can shared them all as one post. Hit the + icon, select Gallery, choose Select Multiple, pick out up to 10 of the pictures and clips you want, tap Next and reorder them by dragging and dropping. 11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed Record hands-free Instagram Stories has been a massive hit since it came out last year, but you might not know that you can record Stories clips without having to hold one of your digits on the record key. On the Stores screen, just swipe through the options at the bottom until you get to Hands-Free. 11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed Edit posts after publishing Most people know you can delete any of the images youve already posted, but not everyone is aware that you can also edit them. Instagram unfortunately doesnt let you tinker with filters and effects, but you can change your original caption, tag people and update the location. In the video, which has been viewed more than 193,000 times, Taylor also appeals to those who she believes have reported her Instagram, telling them she has been trying to be a f**king better person. I want to say to everybody thats reporting me - think twice because youre ruining my life, because I make all of my money online, all of it, and I dont want to lose that, the 21-year-old told her more than 4,000 YouTube subscribers. The social media influencer also asked that people imagine what it is like to be in her position, telling her viewers: Try to be in my shoes for once because I guarantee you, none of you would last in my shoes. Taylor has since created a new Instagram account where she has nearly 4,000 followers. But despite rebuilding her following, Taylor has received a mostly critical response to her emotional video. Learn a trade, one person commented. Stop being so damn self-entitled. Another said: If youre nothing without followers, then you were nothing to begin with. Last year, Elle Darby, a UK-based social media influencer also posted a tearful video to YouTube after she was publicly banned from a Dublin hotel for asking for a free stay. At the time, Darby defended her career as an influencer and said she didnt feel she had done anything wrong. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Micro-influencers, which are influencers with followers in the thousands range, can make thousands of dollars per post, while social media stars with followings of more than 1m can make more than $100,000 per post. The Independent has contacted Jessy Taylor for comment. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are unlikely to pose for a post-birth picture with the royal baby, according to a royal photographer. In October, Kensington Palace announced Meghan Markle was expecting her first child in spring 2019. During the duchess' pregnancy, royal fans have speculated as to Ms Markle's due date, the royal baby name and location of the birth. However, Shutterstock royal photographer Tim Rooke warns the public not to get their hopes up to see the royal couple and their newborn soon after the birth. I dont think were going to get the same thing with the Duchess of Sussexs baby, Rooke, who has photographed all three of the Duchess of Cambridges post-birth photographs outside the Lindo Wing of St Marys hospital in Padding, London, told Cosmopolitan. I dont think were going to see it at all. I think its going to be private. Royal couples with their newborns Show all 9 1 /9 Royal couples with their newborns Royal couples with their newborns On 11 July 2013, Prince William and Kate Middleton welcomed their first-born child, Prince George Alexander Louis, weighing 8lbs 6oz. Just like Charles and Diana, the couple introduced the baby to the world outside the Lindo Wing the next day. Prince George was swaddled in a white G.H. Hurt & Son soft wool baby shawl, continuing the royal family's 70-year tradition. For her first photo as a new mother, Katie wore a blue polka dot dress by Jenny Packham with a pair of nude wedges. Getty Images Royal couples with their newborns The world gained a new Princess after the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to her second child, Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, on 2 May 2015 at the Lindo Wing, weighing 8lbs 3oz. The baby royal made her public debut just 10 hours after her birth in the same shawl that was worn by Prince George. The newborn also wore a knitted a cap designed by Spanish brand Irulea. For her second appearance at the Lindo Wing after giving birth, Kate chose a pastel yellow and white floral print dress by British designer Jenny Packham, who also created her first post-pregnancy dress for her appearance following Prince Georges birth two years prior. Getty Images Royal couples with their newborns On 23 April 2018, Prince William and Kate Middleton welcomed royal baby number three, Prince Louis Arthur Charles. The newborn weighed 8lbs oz making him the heaviest Cambridge baby. As the weather in London was cold and windy the next day, the new prince was introduced to the world wearing a knit cap by Spanish brand Irulea like his sister, Charlotte, and the same G.H. Hurt & Son baby shawl. Kate opted for another Jenny Packham dress, this time in red and white - a look many speculated was a tribute to Diana's ensemble in 1984 following the birth of Prince Harry. Earlier that day, Prince George and Princess Charlotte met their new sibling for the first time. George was still wearing his Thomass Battersea school uniform, while Princess Charlotte wore a blue dress, cardigan, and black Mary Janes. Getty Images Royal couples with their newborns On 8 August 1988, Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew welcomed their new baby daughter Princess Beatrice Elizabeth Mary at the Portland Hospital. The Duchess of York, who wore a navy floral print midi dress for the family's first outing, swaddled the baby in a white blanket. Rex Features Royal couples with their newborns Two years later, Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew had another child, Princess Eugenie Victoria Helena. Born on 23 March 1990, Eugenie was introduced to the world covered by a cosy white blanket to shield her from the frosty temperatures. Sarah opted for a baby-pink, black and white pencil skirt suit with oversized buttons. Rex Features Royal couples with their newborns On 21 June 1982, Princess Diana and Prince Charles welcomed their first-born son, William Arthur Philip Louis Windsor. Diana gave birth at the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital, London at 9:03pm. The next day, Diana and Charles introduced William, who was swaddled in a white lace shawl designed by from G. H. Hurt & Son, to the world. Diana wore a polka dot green midi dress that featured a bow neckline detail and sensible red flats. Rex Features Royal couples with their newborns Prince Harry - Henry Charles Albert David - was also born at the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital on 15 September 1984. The newborn was presented to the world in a blanket designed by the same company, G. H. Hurt & Son, the following day. Princess Diana wore a red and white ensemble, including a dress with a long scarlet jacket by Jan van Velden and contrasting collar. The newborn was visited by his older brother, William, who wore red shorts and white embroidered shirt. PA Royal couples with their newborns Princess Anne was the first member of the royal family to give birth at the Lindo Wing of St Mary's hospital, with the birth of her son Peter Phillips in 1977, weighing 7lbs 9oz. The child made his appearance to the world in the arms of a nurse, who emerged from the wing with a group of her colleagues behind the princess before the royals were driven home. Rex Features Royal couples with their newborns In 1982, Princess Anne gave birth to her second child, Zara Phillips, at the Lindo Wing, weighing 8lbs 1oz. This time, the royal carried the newborn baby to the car herself. Rex Features Rooke bases his thinking on the fact he, and several of his photographer contemporaries, have failed to receive much information on the birth from the Palace. At this point with Kates babies, wed been briefed by the Palace, but weve had no briefings whatsoever, he explained. At this time, at St Marys for all the other three births, there was parking restrictions and all sorts of other things, and theres none of those. Theyve already moved into Frogmore Cottage so why would they come up to West London to have the baby? In November, Kensington Palace announced Ms Markle and Prince Harry were moving out of London to Frogmore Cottage, which is located in the grounds of Windsor Castle and was their chosen wedding destination for the nuptials earlier that year. Speculation that Ms Markle wont pose for a photograph on the steps of the Lindo Wing, as several royals have done before her, comes days after the Kensington Palace launched an official Instagram account on behalf of the royal couple. Last week, the Palace announced it had launched a verified Instagram account, under the handle @sussexroyal, which went onto break the record for the fastest time to gain 1 million followers on Instagram. As a result, Rooke believes the first time we may see the couples newborn could be via their new Instagram account. "Obviously they just launched their Instagram. If they want to keep it private... theyll just issue a picture and put it on Instagram," the photographer suggested. Unlike Kate Middleton, who posed with her children Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis following their births in 2013, 2015 and 2018, respectively, Rooke believes Ms Markle and Prince Harry may be able to keep the birth of their child a more private affair given Prince Harry's line of succession to the British throne. "Theres a big difference between the Cambridges and the Sussexes, in that the Duchess of Cambridge will be Queen, whereas Harry is sixth in line to the throne, he added. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge depart the Lindo Wing with their newborn daughter at St Mary's Hospital on May 2, 2015 in London, England (Getty Images) Any child that he has with the Duchess of Sussex is going to be seventh in line to the throne, so I think theres different expectations. "The longer we dont hear anything, the more it looks like it could well be private," added the photographer. Keep up to date with Ms Markle's pregnancy on The Independent here. Job done, said Tesco boss Dave Lewis as he unveiled a bravura set results. Actually he said this: After four years we have met or are about to meet the vast majority of our turnaround goals. I'm very confident that we will complete the journey in 2019/20. You get my drift, though. Hooray, said he City of London, and no wonder. The key numbers are nearly all heading in the right direction. Pre tax profits were up 28 per cent, the dividend almost doubled. Expectations were high in the run up, but Lewis beat them all the same. It is worth noting that UK sales growth slipped in the second half of the year, and the overseas businesses continue to struggle. Quibbles? Yes but important ones. Nonetheless, the state of the business when Lewis took over shouldn't be forgotten. The grocer was reeling from the scandal of a 250m black hole in its accounts and looked clueless, not just in the face of the challenge posed by Aldi and Lidl but even that of Sainsburys for goodness sake. About the only innovation of note under Clarkes regime was the Hudl, a now discontinued Tesco tablet. With Lewis having cut his teeth at Unilever, a supplier rather than a retailer, questions were raised about whether he was the right man to turn the ship around. The doubters have fallen silent. This is a retailer that knows what its about again. So do its customers. Its delivering what they want, mostly, and looks better placed to cope with the Conservative governments attempts to rip the country apart than some of its rivals even if Lewis' cost cutting plans, and the closure of fresh food counters, aren't to everyone's taste. He's even having a go at discounting, moving his tanks on to the lawn of the German pair with the Jacks format. Lewis says the response to it has been good. But I doubt Aldi and Liddl's bosses are overly worried. The nationalistic branding and 1950s chic suggest the format could handle a tweak. Still, no ones going to crucify diamond Dave for playing with ideas now hes got the core business firing on all cylinders. Hes earned that right and hes earned the right to pat himself on the back and to receive one from the City. 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. Tesco has always employed some of Britains best retailers. They just needed pointing in the right direction, which Lewis has done. Nor is he standing still as Tesco moves into its next phase under his stewardship. But the City and the financial media should be wary of lionising their crown prince. That was what happened with another former Tesco boss, Sir Terry Leahy, the man who built the supermarket that ate Britain. The tail end of his tenure doesn't look so good in retrospect. He wasn't responsible from the misrule of Philip Clarke that Lewis has put right. But the seeds of it were sown under him. What you are doing and learning today will help in any of your future ventures. You are learning how to create and be able to express yourself. This is helpful in whatever field you choose, she said. How did you come up with all these wonderful ideas? It is incredible. It was cold and snowing, but John Johnson had an appointment to keep. He wasnt going to let the weather stop him, or the worsening cough hed been ignoring the past week. He put on his black fedora and drove across town to see a friend. John, come on in, she said, and after they settled at her dining room table, she handed him a piece of paper with the names of 12 people, all of them long dead. He squinted at them through his glasses. It had been three weeks since Virginia governor Ralph Northam pledged to embark on a racial reconciliation tour after apologising for a photo that appeared on his personal medical school yearbook page, showing one person in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. A forgiveness tour, is what John called it. He was an 80-year-old African American man, a retired engineer who had calculated that he had six to eight years left on Earth to pursue his own version of racial reconciliation in his corner of southwestern Virginia, which was why he was at the home of a white woman named Beverly Repass Hoch, looking at the names she had written out. One, two, three, four, five, six six of these names Ive heard of, Bev, John said, putting marks next to each one. The rest I havent. For 30 years, he had been collecting every detail he could about the August 1926 lynching of a black man named Raymond Byrd by a white mob in Wytheville, western Virginia. The lynching was one of more than 4,000 documented in southern US states between 1877 and 1950, killings intended to terrorise black populations and reinforce white supremacy, and whose perpetrators while known to locals were almost never convicted or even named, a tradition of secrecy that carried on in Wytheville. What John wanted was to unearth them. He wanted the names of everyone involved all of them and now he had more from Beverly, one of whom she acknowledged had been part of her family. She had some other things to tell John, too. But first she asked for an assurance people were always asking him for, which was to keep the names to himself. He promised. Recommended The hidden history of lynching in the American west Go on, John said. Im listening. * * * It was by most accounts the last documented lynching in Virginia, the first details of which were reported in a three-paragraph story in the Wytheville paper, above the weather and the social column. Raymond Byrd, coloured, who was in Wytheville jail charged with a statutory offence against a white woman, pending a hearing, was killed Saturday night between one and two oclock by a mob of possibly 50 persons, the article began. The negro was shot in his cell and the body taken away by the mob. The body was left hanging to a tree about one mile west of the St Pauls church. Dozens of Virginia reporters who happened to be gathered for an event in Wytheville picked up the story, and soon, editorials around the state and beyond were condemning the crime of collective bestiality and the failure of Wytheville authorities to identify those in the mob. It amounted to an embarrassment to the governor at the time, a staunch segregationist coincidentally named Harry F Byrd Sr, who had been trying to attract business to Virginia. He finally sent investigators to Wytheville, who summoned more than 70 witnesses, yielding mostly silence. Futile Attempt is Made to Discover Guilty Persons in Virginia Outrage, read one headline. Talks With Witnesses Indicate Majority Know Nothing as to Identity of Mobmen, read another. A lone white man who gave a drunken confession was eventually tried and swiftly acquitted by an all-white jury. The state legislature passed an anti-lynching law in 1928, the same year the governor declared: Virginia owes white supremacy to the Democratic Party. And that was the official end of it. In Wytheville, a railroad town of stately homes and white-columned churches, the local newspaper returned to promoting tourism and a new hotel. Many black families fled the area, leaving behind houses and property, and joining the vast exodus of African-Americans escaping violence in the south for northern cities. Wytheville, already roughly 90 percent white, became even whiter. The code of secrecy protecting the lynch mob prevailed. And in 1938, John Johnson was born. Stay in your place, that was the rule, he said, remembering how life was. You get out of your place, youre in trouble. Certain memories stuck with him. He once saw a cross burning on a neighbours lawn. He remembered a mayor who did a summer minstrel show wearing striped pants, a plaid blazer and blackface. He remembered the white men who always sat in front of a certain store downtown, who would rub his head like a dog when he passed, or use rubber bands to shoot at him with fence nails. He remembered the look in their eyes that he took to mean: What are you doing here, n****r? He got called the name by a bunkmate after he joined the Army in 1961, and by a little white girl in a store the day he returned home. He got called it by his white co-workers when he integrated a machine shop in the 1970s, and after he was promoted to management in the 1980s, which was the period in his life when he took up the hobby of metal detecting to relieve stress. Hed go out into fields around Wythe County and find old coins, and one day, he turned up an odd-shaped piece of brass, about eight inches long, tapered with a hole on the end. He showed it to his father, who told him that it was the end of a lash for whipping slaves. And that was when John became curious about the history of African-Americans in Wythe County, including a story he had grown up overhearing his father tell, about a lynching. When he asked him about it as an adult, his father told him that he had been among a group of men guarding the Wythe County jail the night a mob came and killed a man named Raymond Byrd, and John became consumed with finding out the full story. I wanted to know what happened, why it happened, who was involved, the whole detail about it, he said. Im the keeper of the secret. Ive got the names, and I dont really right now know what to do with them before I die. And Ive got to do something with them before I die John Johnson He talked to his father and began trying to find others who had memories of the night. He found other men who guarded the jail. He found a daughter of Raymond Byrd still living in Wytheville. Soon, informal conversations became interviews that he began taping with a small cassette recorder. Cut that thing off, more than one person told him. You dont need to know about that, another African-American man said. Pull those shades down I dont want white people to know you and I are talking, another person said, afraid those people might throw bricks through her window. In the quiet of so many afternoons and evenings over decades, she and others would talk and mention a person, or a detail, or a feeling that had lingered all these years later, unresolved, and soon John had files full of notes, documents, photos and transcripts, and a growing list of names. And now he was 80 years old. Im the keeper of the secret, he said one afternoon. Ive got the names, and I dont really right now know what to do with them before I die. And Ive got to do something with them before I die. * * * He was well known around Wythe County. He had saved from ruin the first local school for African-American children, built in 1882, and turned it into the Wytheville Training School Cultural Centre. He had written a book on records of freed slaves. The Rotary Club named him a fellow. His name was etched on a town monument of Honoured Citizens. If anyone wanted to know about African-American teachers, or businessmen, or soldiers, or genealogy in Wythe County, they called John Johnson. Hi John, you sleeping better? said the president of the local genealogical association when he stopped by one day. John often worked there in the library-like room full of records and lists of prominent Virginians such as the First Families of Wythe County, who were really the first white families of Wythe County, some of whose last names were on his secret list. Trying to, John said, stifling the cough. He stopped by the new Edith Bolling Wilson Museum downtown, a redbrick building with an American flag out front that was the restored childhood home of the first lady, President Woodrow Wilsons second wife. Hi John, howre you doing? said the woman who helped run it. Doing fine, said John, who looked around at the old mantel clocks and family china that tourists came to see when they wanted to see some Virginia history, then walked outside and looked across the street, where the white men who shot him with the fence nails used to loiter. Every time I come down this street, I remember that, he said, reaching around to feel his back. He drove through town, and when people saw his fedora they waved through their windshields. He passed by old neighbourhoods with picket fences, and newer subdivisions of sprawling yards, and everywhere he went he could point out houses where black families lived next to whites. Black people can live anywhere now, he said. Part of the rope that may have bound Raymond Byrds wrists was given to John Johnson at one point during the 30 years he has sought details (Matt McClain for Washington Post) (The Washington Post) He could not say that things had not improved in Wytheville, to a point. There was an earnest politeness that governed conversations, though his experience with certain people had taught him that politeness required silence about the lynching. I know if I start to say something theyll tell me to shut the hell up, he said. Soon, he arrived home, where he had converted his dining room into an office full of files of all the hushed voices and stories of African-Americans in Wytheville. He worked most nights until 2am, not just on the lynching but other projects, such as documenting every single grave in 54 African-American cemeteries in Wythe County, including the one under a trailer park where his great-great-grandfather was buried. But his abiding interest was in resurrecting the story of Raymond Byrd. In one file were military records showing Byrd was a World War I veteran who had served with the 807th Pioneer Infantry in France. In another were the 1926 newspaper accounts describing how Byrd, whose name was sometimes spelled Bird, had worked just outside Wytheville for a white farmer named Grover Grubb, who had a daughter named Minnie, who became pregnant with Raymond Byrds child. He had accounts of how Minnie gave birth to the child, a girl, and how after that, Grubb accused Byrd of rape. He had later accounts stating that Minnie refused to say that Byrd raped her. In another file was the transcript of Johns interview with his 94-year-old uncle, who said that in the days after the baby was born but before Byrd was arrested, Byrd had brought the infant to his house: He couldn find no body to take her [pause] and he was going to take her to the woods. So I guess he was going to kill her [pause] I reckon. And so my wife was so tender hearted, and everything you know, and said she would take it if they couldn find somebody to keep it. There was a statement from the sheriff describing how deputies fired a shot on a ridge to signal when they had arrested Byrd, and how an armed mob was assembling at Grubbs farm. There was a description of the screen door that was all that separated Byrd from the mob when they came for him at the Wythe County jail, and how some in the mob wore disguises. There were descriptions of what was done to Byrd in the jail, how he was shot in the chest and his head was battered with clubs and rifle butts. And how after that, his body was dragged a distance through town behind a Model T Ford, then driven out near Grubbs farm and hung from a tree before a crowd of possibly hundreds. There was Byrds death certificate, listing his date of birth as 2 April, his age as about 31, his fathers name, Steven Byrd, and the cause of death: By being killed by mob in Wytheville Jail. No doctor summoned. There was an unsmiling, black-and-white photo of an African-American man who had witnessed some part of all that, who was in his eighties when John tried to interview him. He looked straight at me, John recalled. He said: Son, Im not going to talk to you about it. He said: You dont need to know nothing about that. I was looking at him. I said: Damn, are you that frightened? Are you that scared? I said: Does it still bother you? There was a photo of Raymond Byrds wife, Tennessee Hawkins, with whom he had three daughters. There was a recording of one of those daughters, who was in her seventies when John sat in her living room and pulled down the blinds. She said: The morning we found out that my father had been hung, we children my mother didnt have anything to feed us for breakfast but cold beans. She said: Them old white people, I hate em all. I just dont want em around me. I dont trust em. The only thing I think about when I see em is bringing blood. Over the years, people had also given him things, always in confidence. A waitress at Shoneys gave him a photo of Minnie Grubb, who lived out most of her life in Ohio, where her daughter eventually joined her. A co-worker once gave him a photo of another lynching in a neighbouring town. One day an elderly white man called John on the phone and asked him to come to his house on the outskirts of Wytheville. The tree the mob used in Raymond Byrds lynching once stood near St Paul Lutheran Church in Wythe County (Matt McClain for Washington Post) (The Washington Post) When John arrived, the man shook his hand, brought him down into the basement and pulled a wardrobe away from a wall, where there was a piece of rope hanging from a nail. He told John that it was from the rope that had tied Raymond Byrds hands, and that he thought John should have it, and John thanked him and drove home with it on his passenger seat, zipped in a plastic bag, wondering whether it really was what the man said it was, or just the mans way of apologising. He kept it inside a safe where he kept his guns, near the file where he kept the names that people had given him when the tape recorder was cut off. All of it was locked up inside his white-sided house on a grassy corner of Wytheville, where the name Raymond Byrd was nowhere to be found, not in any museum, not on any plaque, not in the newly added African American loop in the Wytheville walking tour guide. The killing of Raymond Byrd had been spoken of publicly in Wytheville only once, in 1993. A historian who had written an academic paper on the lynching had presented his research at a local symposium, where he publicly thanked John for his contribution to the work. The Wytheville newspaper published a story on the talk, and not long after that, John remembered, he got a phone call from a woman who said she was a descendant of Grover Grubb, and began saying that there was no good reason to bring up the lynching, and how much pain it caused her family, and John interrupted. He told her that if she wanted to be upset, she should talk to the descendants of Raymond Byrd. And then he hung up. * * * And that was how it had been going in Wytheville, where one evening John got together with eight people for the monthly meeting of a civic group called Concerned Citizens. The group had formed to talk about a range of local issues including hiring practices and problems in the schools, discussions that often wound up being about race, which was the case on this night, as the conversation turned to Ralph Northam. I grew up with blackface, said John, one of three black people sitting at the table. Didnt surprise me. And when nothing surprises you, it doesnt bother you. Im in line with him, said a white woman named Maxine Dellinger, who was one of six whites there. Im 77 years old and I was born in that time period and I wasnt aware of it. Its an educational process for us. I think its interesting there were some people who really didnt know blackface was offensive, said a local pastor named Cindy Privette. So, I think it brings up the issue of white privilege in that we as white people need to listen, so we can know what is offensive. For me, it almost puts a barrier between me and a person of colour because Im afraid I will be offensive, unknowingly. I hear that so often, began Eric Simmons, who was black. The reason we keep revisiting this same topic is because we didnt have the conversation before. As African-American people, I think we shuffled around certain issues because we didnt want to offend white folks. White folks didnt want to offend black folks. But we need to talk about those old issues and get on some solid ground. Right now, were not on any solid ground. John listened. He was a mentor to Eric, but had only told him so much about the lynching, because he was worried about upsetting him. Eric turned to a white woman, who was a psychologist. For people to get over a tragedy, most times you ask questions to take them back to where that tragedy happened, right? he said. So, as far as black people are concerned, when in the world have we ever sought counselling for all the things that happened to us? Eric had been thinking lately about all the things that had happened in his own life, remembering the white kids who stuck him with push pins when he was one of the few black kids on the school bus, and the first time he got called the n-word. He had been trying to understand where all that came from. He had read a book called Christopher Columbus and the Afrikan Holocaust, as well as The Autobiography of Malcolm X and others about all the things he had never learned about American history. People say: Oh, slavery, you werent even present, he said. But when you grow up with generations and generations of stories, or when you see black people who wont even look white people in the face, that affects you. It sure does. After a while, a white woman named Linda DiYorio interjected. A boy had come running inside, screaming that there was a body hanging from a tree in the nearby woods Beverly Repass Hoch recalls a story told to her I get all this about history, she began. I get it. And I know very little about it Im sorry, just what I had in high school and all. And I think Ive said this many times in this room. But we need to figure out today, and the future too. She was involved in Democratic Party politics, and had tried to encourage Eric and other African-Americans to run for office or apply for local boards. She wanted to figure out how to increase black voter turnout, which was often low in Wythe County. What Im saying, Eric continued, is if were not going to have those conversations, this aint ever going to go away. Doesnt matter how many times you vote. Weve been voting all this time... No, interrupted Linda. No, you havent. Look at the statistics. Look at the people who lost their lives to vote, Eric said. Honey, Im not talking about that period, said Linda. Im talking about what can we do today. I hear what youre saying about the history. But Im just saying, I cant do anything about the history. Other than read it, and try to understand it. Then read it, Eric said sharply. And try to understand it. Im not going to say anything else, said Linda, and soon the meeting was over. So, John said later. These are the some of the discussions we have. A few days after that, he drove over to the home of his friend Beverly to have another conversation. They had known each other since the 1980s, when they met at an American Civil War re-enactment that John had organised. They recognised their mutual interest in local history, and as they kept talking, Beverly asked John whether he had ever heard about the lynching. John decided to take a chance and told her he had, and over the years, a friendship had developed in which they met from time to time to talk about some of what they were finding out, she from talking to white people, he from talking to African-Americans. Beverly, who was 77 now, had told John that she had grown up hearing her father tell a story from his childhood about a Sunday morning when he was in St Paul Lutheran Church, and a boy had come running inside, screaming that there was a body hanging from a tree in the nearby woods. She had told John about the man who recalled his father taking his Model T Ford to a creek after the lynching, and washing out what he assumed was blood. She had told him about the man who remembered seeing his father lay a gun on the kitchen table and saying: Its over. Now she was telling John that she had gone through her interviews and compiled a list of the people named as being in the lynch mob, 12 in all, one of whom had been a relative. She slid the paper across the dining room table. John looked at the names, and focused in on one of them. This name rings a bell because its the same as the man who gave me the rope, he said. The headstone of Raymond Byrd, Murphyville cemetery, Wythe County, Virginia (Matt McClain for Washington Post) (The Washington Post) He had told Beverly about the rope, but he had not told her everything. He had not told her about what Byrds daughter had said about her hatred of white people, or about the terror he could feel from others, or the fear he still felt at times himself being a black man in a part of Virginia where white men had gone on a gun-buying spree after the election of Barack Obama, and not far away, white supremacists had rallied after the election of Donald Trump as US president. Until now, he had not told Beverly what had been weighing on his mind lately. Im trying to decide about all my research you know, whats going to happen to it, he began. Ive been thinking about that too, lately. Maybe putting it in something more formal not a publication, John, Beverly said. Ive got relatives all over the county, and I dont want to hurt them. Were not up to making people feel bad about their ancestors. No, said John, who had heard this from Beverly before. I feel very connected to them and wouldnt want them to be negative toward me, she continued, not elaborating, as she would later, that shed resent it if anyone asked her to bear responsibility for what a relative had done because Im not guilty of any of that, and nobody today is guilty of that, and that while she was in favour of museums and Civil War memorials, she did not think the lynching needed a memorial, or a place in a museum, or a public reckoning involving names because people would be very angry about it I can feel it. And that was why, she told John now, she was planning to give her research to the Wytheville genealogical association, where it probably would go in a box, in an archive, for future generations. I dont know, John, from your perspective, if thats how you feel about it, she said. He had been looking at the names while she was talking. I havent decided, he said. He did not elaborate, as he would later, that his own reasons for keeping the names secret all these years had to do with fearing for the actual safety of the African-Americans who had trusted him with their stories, and for that matter, his own. As hed said once: See, Im not a white guy with these names. Im a black guy with these names. He did not elaborate about how he felt Wytheville was erasing an entire family of people by refusing to acknowledge the lynching, and how tired he was hearing people talk about feelings when they really meant the feelings of white families trying to preserve reputations. I want the history out there, he said now. I want people to be prosecuted, but right now its beyond the time. I wish there would be some way that you could get those descendants still living to sit down at the table and say, you know, were sorry for what happened. And be honest about it. And dont go home and say: Well, I didnt have to say that to the n*****s but I did. I just want them to say: Im sorry for what happened, for what my grandfather or great-grandfather did. Dont keep hiding. Tell people you know it. Admit it. I want them to admit it. Beverly was quiet for a moment. Thats not realistic, John, she said. No, its not, he said. Itll never happen. No, said Beverly, and soon John glanced at his watch. Well, its getting to be 3.30, he said, standing up to leave. He looked around, and complimented Beverly on the telescope she had in a front sitting room. Who likes to look at the stars? he asked, and the polite conversation carried on a few minutes more as John put the list of names in his pocket and headed to his car. * * * He went home. He added the new names to his file. And he kept thinking about what he should do in a place where descendants lived all around him, including in a small white house on a hill outside town, where the great-grandson of Grover Grubb sat on his couch one afternoon, remembering a time when he had to decide what he should do. Ed Atwell had a long white beard, family photos on the walls and books about Gandhi on a shelf. Somewhere, he had the 1993 academic article about the lynching, which was how he had learned the full story about the great-grandfather he dimly recalled as a quiet man who gave him old tobacco pouches he used for marbles. He recalled how not long after the article came out, he had gotten an email from a descendant of Raymond Byrd, who wanted to talk. I just told em, not now, he recalled. I just chose not to do it. What could I say? What could I say or do? Say I acknowledge it and Im sorry it happened? I am sorry it happened. I hate that it happened. I was kin to the people. He paused for a moment. All I get out of it mostly is a great sadness. That was the Wytheville that John had come to know, a place of willful avoidance and feelings unresolved, where one day he decided to take a drive. Right here is where the jail sat, he said, pointing to a low stone wall and a grassy field that was now a park. Thats where they shot him and beat him. He was driving along Monroe Street in downtown Wytheville. They put him behind the car and drug him all along here, he said, driving one block, then another, and another. Back then, it might have been dirt. He passed an insurance agency, a parking lot, some old magnolia and oak trees and houses with front porches and wondered who might have been watching. Another block. Hes being dragged, he said, imagining. He turned right on Lee Street, passed a Pizza Hut and Dollar Store and continued several hundred yards more to a curve in the road where there was now a Dodge dealership. He pulled over. Right here is where they stopped and put the body in the back, John said. They put the body in the rumble seat. He stayed there for a moment, then pulled back onto the road and kept going. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events From here, they drove to St Pauls church, he said, driving out of Wytheville, out on a two-lane road through sweeps of green fields and the blue green ridges of the Appalachian Mountains, on past old barns and houses and farms until 10 minutes had passed. He kept coughing. See? he said. They brought that man all the way up here to hang him. Can you believe that? He kept going. A few minutes ahead, he could see the white steeple of St Pauls jutting into the blue sky, and now John turned left onto the narrow road heading toward it. They drove that man up this road, over by this church, he said. He kept going. He drove past the church. He drove past the church cemetery full of headstones including one chiseled with the name Grover Grubb. You see, they point the dead to the east, John said. Thats because Christ is coming the second time to the east. They point to the east to see the coming of Christ. He turned right at the end of the cemetery. He continued up a slight hill. When I drive this road now, I get a certain feeling, John said. He drove a few hundred yards more, higher and a bit higher, and now he stopped. It was in those woods, he said. There was a stand of trees. John squinted into the shaded tangle of limbs and trunks, and now he was pointing. Can you see it? he said. He pointed to all that was left, the stump of a tree that he believed to be the one that had held the body of Raymond Byrd. He imagined the white crowd looking it. He imagined them mutilating it. And now he told the story he told himself about why the tree had been cut down, and why, even 93 years later, there was no reconciliation. They are ashamed, he said. Washington Post Anti-nuclear power campaigner Kitty Tucker was a law student when Karen Silkwood the American labour activist played by Meryl Streep in the film Silkwood died. While juggling her academic responsibilities and caring for her young children, Tucker successfully lobbied an American womens body to push for an investigation into Silkwoods death in a car accident in 1974 a labour union investigator suggested her vehicle may have been forced off the road. Silkwood was a technical worker at a nuclear plant in Oklahoma and became contaminated by plutonium. She was killed while on her way to discuss alleged safety shortfalls in her workplace with a New York Times reporter. Tucker, who has died aged 75, played an instrumental role in bringing the case to national and international attention. In 1979, she cofounded Supporters of Silkwood with Sara Nelson, an official at the National Organisation for Women, of which Tucker was also a member. The women used their own money to send newsletters around the US. Rolling Stone journalist Howard Kohn, author of the book Who Killed Karen Silkwood?, credited Tucker as the lead organiser of the lawsuit that pitted Silkwoods family against Kerr-McGee, the company she had worked for. He credited Tucker with mounting a fundraising campaign in the push to recruit a legal team that came to include the celebrity lawyer Gerry Spence. That turned what had been a quixotic piece of litigation into a serious piece of litigation, Kohn said. In 1979, an Oklahoma jury found that Kerr-McGee had acted negligently in allowing Silkwood to be contaminated and awarded her estate $10.5m, including $10m in punitive damages. In 1981, an appeals court reversed that part of the settlement, contending that a state jury could not lawfully award damages against a federally licensed nuclear facility. The US Supreme Court reversed that decision in 1984, sending the case back to the lower court for further proceedings. Two years later, the parties reached a settlement of $1.38m. The point is that what Kitty started led to this precedent-making litigation and verdict, Kohn said. She didnt take no for an answer. Kathleen Marie Payne was born in Carroll, Iowa, in 1944 and grew up in Clear Lake, Wisconsin. Her father taught business at a local high school, and her mother was a part-time postmaster. She received a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Wisconsin in 1967 and a law degree from the Antioch School of Law, now part of the University of the District of Columbia, in 1978. After her involvement in the Silkwood case, she served as executive director of the Health and Energy Institute, a Washington-based group campaigning against nuclear power, the irradiation of food, and other issues. Tucker's first marriage, to Charles Tucker, ended in divorce. Their son, Shawn Tucker, died in 1994. Survivors include her husband of 44 years, Robert Alvarez; their two daughters, Amber Torgerson and Kerry Rochester; two brothers; a sister; and two grandchildren. In 1999, Tucker and her husband, who was employed at the time as a senior US energy department official, were arrested after their daughter Kerry, then 16, reported them to police for growing marijuana in their home. Tucker, who suffered from conditions including migraines and fibromyalgia, said she used the drug for medical purposes. Alvarez was fired from his government position. He and his wife each pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanour charge and received six months probation, a $150 fine and a suspended 10-day jail sentence. Their records were later expunged, Alvarez said. He attributed the action by his daughter to a fit of teenage pique and said that they bore no animus towards her over the episode. He said that his wife campaigned for the legalisation of medical marijuana in Maryland, which took effect in 2013. At her death, she was a member of the Nuclear-Free Takoma Park Committee. Kitty Tucker, American political activist, born 28 February 1944, died 30 March 2019 The Washington Post Nobel laureate Sydney Brenner escaped poverty in his native South Africa and apartheid, which he resisted by raising funds for black students to become a pivotal figure in molecular biologys golden era. With the help of a translucent soil worm, the scientist, who died aged 92 in Singapore, provided vital clues to understanding diseases such as cancer, Alzheimers and Aids. When James Watson and Francis Cricks clocked the double-helix structure of the DNA molecule in 1953, decades of scientific discovery followed to which Brenners findings were key. Not least among these was the central dogma of biology: the idea that our DNA code instructs the building of proteins that sustain life in our cells. For nearly 40 years, Brenner was based at the MRC (Medical Research Council) laboratory of molecular biology in Cambridge, where he shared an office with Crick. A sign they kept Reading rots the mind belied their dazzling work in pushing the frontiers of their profession. Showing similar irreverence, Brenner submitted a manuscript to the Royal Society in London with a fake reference Leonardo da Vinci (personal communication). When Brenner was awarded his second Lasker Award for medical science, the Nobel prize winner Joseph Goldstein described him as chutzpah personified. Brenners biographer, Errol Friedberg, noted that his disdain towards rules made him the scourge of universities and institution administrators. Any flashpoints, however, tended to be overshadowed by the major advances Brenner made in molecular biology. At the Cambridge lab in the late 1960s, he undertook an ambitious search for a model organism to study complex animal development on a genetic level uncharted territory at the time. He found his match in Caenorhabditis elegans, a millimetre-long, transparent roundworm that would lead him to the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for seminal discoveries concerning the genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death, which have shed new light on the pathogenesis of many diseases. Then affiliated with the Molecular Sciences Institute in Berkeley, California, Brenner shared the honour with John Sulston of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, and H Robert Horvitz of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. With the three men as its champion, C elegans pushed forward a new understanding of how our cells are programmed to proliferate, specialise and die. It became the first animal to have its complete genome sequenced an important precedent for the Human Genome Project. Receiving the 2002 Nobel prize from King Carl Gustaf of Sweden (AP) The humble worms DNA has turned out to be surprisingly similar to humans an aid in understanding how our cells grow uncontrollably to cause cancer, and why they die in excess in neurodegenerative disorders, heart attacks and Aids. Picking the right animal to work on in biology, Brenner saw, was as important as asking the right questions. Without doubt, he remarked in his Nobel lecture, the fourth winner of the Nobel prize this year is Caenorhabditis elegans; it deserves all of the honour but, of course, it will not be able to share the monetary award. Sydney Brenner was born in Germiston, South Africa, in 1927, to Jewish emigre parents from eastern Europe. His father, a cobbler, could neither read nor write, although he could speak English, Yiddish, Russian and, after moving to South Africa in 1910, Afrikaans and Zulu. The young mans first home was in the back of his fathers shoe shop, two rooms he remembered smelling perpetually of leather. The public library became a haven, and it was there he found 1929s The Science of Life, the three-volume tome, co-written by HG Wells, that first turned him on to biology. Brenner entered medical school at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg aged 15. He did not like clinical practice, drawn as he was to the research lab. In 1952, he won a scholarship to study with chemist and future Nobel laureate Cyril Hinshelwood at Oxford. He received a doctorate in 1954. In England, Brenner reunited with May Covitz Balkind, a fellow Witwatersrand student who had travelled to London to study psychology. They were married from 1952 until her death in 2010. Survivors include three children and a stepson. With entrepreneur and speaker Lakshmi Pratury at an Ink Asia talk in Singapore in 2016 (YouTube) Under Hinshelwood, Brenner joined a burgeoning group of thinkers who were forming the new field of molecular biology. On a cold morning in April 1953, he and three colleagues crammed into a car and drove to the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, England, to see Watson and Cricks model of the DNA double helix with their own eyes. The moment was the watershed in my scientific life, Brenner wrote in his biographical notes for the Nobel prize. Brenner joined the Cavendish Lab in 1957 and, in a collaboration with Crick that year, they deduced that DNA was read as a triplet code, with each unit of three bases (named A, T, C, or G) corresponding to one of 20 protein building blocks. The lab formally merged later with biology groups at the university to become the MRC laboratory of molecular biology. With future Nobel laureate Francois Jacob at the Pasteur Institute and Matthew Meselson at Harvard, Brenner proved in 1961 the existence of messenger RNA. The molecule, they found, is a key intermediary between DNA and protein a translated version of the genetic code that is sent out to direct synthesis in the cells protein-making factories. Brenners greatest skills, as he described in his 2001 memoir, My Life in Science, were in getting things started. For him, the fun of science was in the opening game. And so with a basic understanding of DNA worked out by the late 1960s, he turned his sights towards a new project: studying the development, especially the brains, of higher organisms. After abandoning more exotic animal models, Brenner looked to roundworms, recruiting his children and friends to collect soil from their backyards and holidays abroad. He settled upon C elegans: a fast-growing, self-fertilising, transparent creature with a simple nervous system that could be seen under an electron microscope. Colleagues lauded Brenner as the funniest scientist who ever lived (AP) From tip to tail, Brenners team mapped the entire cellular anatomy of the worms brain and spinal cord. Worms with strange morphologies or behaviours, such as abnormal locomotion or feeding, were of special interest. From these specimens, Brenner worked backward to figure out which faulty neurons might cause the behaviour, and then which genes in those neurons had been mutated. In Cambridge Brenner advised John Sulston, who developed techniques to trace all of C elegans cell divisions from the fertilised egg to the 959-cell adult. The feat has yet to be repeated in another organism. Horvitz, also a researcher on Brenners team, went on to identify key C elegans genes involved in controlling cell death. In addition to his work in research, Brenner held leadership positions at the Medical Research Council in Cambridge. In 1996, he founded the Molecular Sciences Institute in Berkeley, California. He remained director there until 2001, when he joined the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. His old friend Crick, who died in 2004, was also working at the Salk Institute. Brenner also helped launch the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Singapore, where he became an honorary citizen. In the 1990s, Brenner wrote a column in the journal Current Biology called Loose Ends (later renamed False Starts). The most popular of his pieces were his Uncle Syd columns, a series of letters to his imaginary advisee, Dear Willie, with practical-joke ideas and career tips for the young scientist as he rose from graduate student to retired professor. To busy scientists seeking a polite way to turn down time-consuming invitations to meetings, he suggested the following reply: Dear X, I regret I am unable accept your invitation as I find I cannot attend your meeting. Yours sincerely. Colleagues lauded him as the funniest scientist who ever lived, a title Brenner much preferred to the father of the worm. Behind the wisecracking exterior was a scientist who believed fervently in solving problems but who knew when to move on from a conundrum and leave it for younger minds to fiddle with. Im a strong believer that ignorance is important in science, he told The New York Times in 2000. If you know too much, you start seeing why things wont work. Thats why its important to change your field to collect more ignorance. Sydney Brenner, biologist, born 13 January 1927, died 5 April 2019 Washington Post Singapore has discovered more than 12 tonnes of pangolin scales in what conservation specialists called the largest such seizure of a single shipment worldwide, highlighting the stubbornness of the illegal trade of the scaly anteater. Roughly 36,000 pangolins were believed to have been killed for the shipment, according to Paul Thomson, an official with the Pangolin Specialist Group, an organisation belonging to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The group called it the biggest seizure of pangolin scales on record. The news of this record-shattering seizure is deeply alarming and underscores the fact that pangolins are facing a crisis, Thomson said of the seizure Wednesday. If we dont stop the illegal wildlife trade, pangolins face the risk of going extinct. Pangolins are believed to be the most frequently illegally trafficked mammal in the world, with an estimated 300 of them poached every day on average. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has declared all eight species as threatened with extinction since 2014, while two species are critically endangered. Specialists say that the pangolins defence against predators, which is to curl itself into a ball, has made it an easy target for hunters. Pangolins: 8 things you didn't know about these 'scaly anteaters' Show all 8 1 /8 Pangolins: 8 things you didn't know about these 'scaly anteaters' Pangolins: 8 things you didn't know about these 'scaly anteaters' A pangolin in Indonesia When they feel threatened, pangolins curl up into a defensive ball. Their scales are made from keratin (the same material as rhino horns and human nails) AFP/Getty Images Pangolins: 8 things you didn't know about these 'scaly anteaters' Rescued baby pangolin When in this position the pangolin is too big for a lion or hyena to get its mouth arnd get a grip - and the scales are too tough to penetrate Pangolins: 8 things you didn't know about these 'scaly anteaters' The ground pangolin The name pangoling comes from the Malayan dialect word for 'pengguling' meaning 'something that rolls up Pangolins: 8 things you didn't know about these 'scaly anteaters' A hand-reared baby pangolin Pangolins are also nocturnal and are only active for between four and eight hours each night, hunting for ant nests and termite mounds REX/Maria Diekmann Pangolins: 8 things you didn't know about these 'scaly anteaters' A baby pangolin clinging to its mother Pangolin have no teeth but their claws are hard enough to dig through concrete. They also have a long, pencil-thin tongue that can probe into a nest for 16 inches REUTERS Pangolins: 8 things you didn't know about these 'scaly anteaters' The Malaysian pangolin Pangolins are either ground-dwelling (and spend most of their time in burrows) or arboreal (and hang out in nests in trees AFP/Getty Images Pangolins: 8 things you didn't know about these 'scaly anteaters' A long-tailed pangolin Unfortunately, the pangolin's defensive curl is no help with human predators, who simply pick up the animal without any fuss REX Pangolins: 8 things you didn't know about these 'scaly anteaters' A rescued pangolin Of the eight pangolin species, three are in danger - the ground, Chinese, and Sunda pangolins REUTERS Singaporean customs officials and the countrys national parks board said in a statement that the scales, which had been shipped from Nigeria, were headed to Vietnam, home to the second-most lucrative black market for pangolin scales, after China. In Vietnam, many see pangolin meat as a luxury that conveys social status and health benefits, according to a survey conducted by WildAid in 2015. In China, about 70 percent of people surveyed by WildAid believed that the pangolin could cure ailments ranging from rheumatism to skin diseases. Consumers often drink it in wine or in powder form as part of traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions. Thai customs officials seize more than 100 live pangolins International laws forbid trafficking of all pangolin species and techniques such as fingerprint forensics seek to deter poachers, but recent seizures have shown that the pangolin is still heavily trafficked around the world. In February, almost 30 tonnes of pangolin meat were seized in two processing facilities in Malaysia, according to Traffic, a wildlife conservation group. Earlier that month, Hong Kong authorities intercepted a 9-ton shipment of pangolin scales and a thousand elephant tusks. When Singaporean officials intercepted the pangolin scale shipment Wednesday, they also found nearly 400 pounds of carved ivory, officials said. The New York Times Those observing the Northern Lights in Norway over the weekend were treated not only to the spectacular aurora, but also reported strange configurations of colourful lights moving through the sky. While those who witnessed it could be forgiven for preparing to pledge allegiance to some new extra-terrestrial conquistadors, Nasa has owned up and explained it was in fact a pair of their rockets which created the unusual phenomenon. The stunning geometric lights, made up of dark blue clouds, turquoise dots and pale orange vapour trails, lit up the sky over the Norwegian Sea on April 5. They were the result of an experiment designed to study the processes inside the Earths polar cusp, where the planets magnetic field lines bend down through the atmosphere. It is here that the charged particles from solar wind cause aurora the colourful natural light displays which appear over the poles during periods of solar activity. NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives Show all 21 1 /21 NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives Robert McCalls mid-1970s prediction of NASAs space shuttle building a modular space station is close to what finally happened, except that the real shuttles only flew one at a time. Courtesy of NASA NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives Ed White photographed by Gemini 4 Commander Jim McDivitt. During the first of 66 orbits, they made an unsuccessful attempt to rendezvous with the spent upper stage of their Titan launch vehicle. On McDivitts advice, White waited one more orbit to recover from the effort of the failed rendezvous, and then exited the Gemini for his historic spacewalk on June 3, 1965. Courtesy of NASA NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives Apollo 9 CM pilot Dave Scott emerges from the hatch, testing some of the spacesuit systems that will be used for lunar operations. The photo was taken from the hatch of the docked LM by Rusty Schweickart in March 1969. Courtesy of NASA NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives Mothership Balls Three overflies an X-15 in 1961. Three operational X-15s were constructed and flown for 199 test flights between them, as they pushed at the envelopes of speed and altitude, and reached the very edges of space. Courtesy of NASA NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives The Mercury Control Center (MCC) at Cape Canaveral supervised seven human spaceflights between May 1961 and March 1965, into the beginning of the Gemini era. Meanwhile the more advanced control complex in Houston was taking shape ahead of Apollo. Courtesy of NASA NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives Technicians working at the base of Alan Shepards Mercury-Redstone 3 launch vehicle are swathed in vapour from vented excess oxidiser gas on May 5, 1961. Subsequent rockets could not be so closely approached when fueling. Courtesy of NASA NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives The Rendezvous Docking Simulator at Langley prepared Gemini astronauts for the strange physics of orbital flight. Courtesy of NASA NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives Ahead of Gemini 10, Commander John Young explains to the media how copilot Michael Collins will inspect the Agena Target Docking Vehicle during his spacewalk, 1966. Courtesy of NASA NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives Navy divers prepare to retrieve the Gemini 6A crew on December 16, 1965. Green dye was released by spacecraft on splashdown, making it easier to spot from the air. Courtesy of NASA NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives The U.S. geological Surveys map of the area around Tycho Crater, famous as the site of a mysterious alien monolith in the 1968 science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey. In real life, this chaotic and rugged terrain would have been too difficult for an Apollo mission to access. Courtesy of NASA NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives Apollo 11 Command Module Pilot Michael Collins inspects NASAs Lunar Receiving Laboratory at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, where rock samples collected by Apollo were analysed. Nitrogen gas protected the rocks from accidental corrosion in Earths oxygen-rich atmosphere. Courtesy of NASA NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives NASA scientists are confident that Buzz Aldrins boot prints from Apollo 11 are still as sharp and distinct today as when they were first stamped down in 1969, because the Moon has no air or rain to erode them. Courtesy of NASA NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives NASAs Anechoic Chambers are among the quietest places anywhere on earth. Walls absorb almost all stray echoes, whether sound or radio. This 1972 model of a shuttle, being tested for radio characteristics, has thruster pods on the wingtips. Courtesy of NASA NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives Lightning strikes the launchpad of Space Shuttle Challenger on August 30, 1983 prior to STS-8, the first pre-dawn launch of the space shuttle program. Launchpads are surrounded by tall lightning towers and other conductive systems.These create a giant Faraday Cage, diverting the electric charge of strike well away from the spacecraft. Courtesy of NASA NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives The ISS has been continuously occupied since November 2000. Its habitable volume is equivalent to a Boeing 747s. An international crew of six people live and work while traveling at five miles (8 km) per second, orbiting Earth once every 90 minutes. This is the single most complex and ambitious engineering effort in history, even when compared to Apollo. Courtesy of NASA NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives The Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) is a hybrid of parachute and balloon technology. A new generation of flexible heat shield materials could enable a huge shield to be deployed from a small storage canister just before a spaceraft hits the atmosphere of its target planet. In July 2012 a HIAD survived a trip through Earths atmosphere at 7,600 mph. Courtesy of NASA NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives In April 2016, ocean scientists at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, analysing data from Landsat 8, found mysterious lines crisscrossing the vegetation in the shallow waters of the North Caspian Sea.The cause turned out to be ice gouging at the seafloor in winter, before melting in the spring, and leaving just these clues. Courtesy of NASA NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives Curiosity made this self-portrait on August 5, 2015, by maneuvering the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on the end of a seven-foot-long robotic arm. Multiple overlapping frames were acquired, then digitally stitched together by image analysts at JPL. The arm moved into a new position for each frame but the camera always pointed toward a specific vanishing point to minimize parallax distortions. Courtesy of NASA NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives Jupiter's moon Io is dwarfed by the planet it orbits, as seen by the Cassini spacecraft en route to Saturn. Cassinis 13-year tour of the ringed planet changed the course of planetary exploration. Courtesy of NASA NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives A technician prepares to unlatch a small door built into the guide vanes of the Transonic Wind Tunnel at Langley Research Center in 2010. The vanes prevent turbulent eddies from interfering with the tests. Courtesy of NASA NASA at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives Courtesy of NASA Scientists want to study exactly what happens during an aurora in the electrically charged and turbulent layer of the outer atmosphere which Nasa describes as a tumultuous particle soup. Their pair of rockets were carrying scientific instruments for studying the energy exchange during the phenomenon, and also deployed what they called visible gas tracers, between 71 and 150 miles altitude. The mixture of substances are similar to those found in fireworks, with chemicals which ionize when exposed to sunlight. The multi-coloured vapours produced allow researchers to track the flow of neutral and charged particles with the auroral wind, Nasa said. The project is called AZURE, which stands for Auroral Zone Upwelling Rocket Experiment, and was carried out by two black Brant I-A sounding rockets, which were launched from the Andya Space Centre in north-west Norway. By tracking the movement of these colourful clouds via ground-based photography and triangulating their moment-by-moment position in three dimensions, AZURE will provide valuable data on the vertical and horizontal flow of particles in two key regions of the ionosphere over a range of different altitudes, Nasa said. Michael Theusner who captured a stunning time lapse of the kaleidoscopic illuminations, said: While we were watching the after-effects of a beautiful northern lights display, the rockets were launched from the Andya Space Centre only about 180 km away to the north. We saw two orange dots rise into the sky and disappear. A short while later strange lights and colourful, expanding clouds appeared I first did not have an explanation for. It looked like an alien attack. Scientists have discovered a new species of tiny, early human which was living on the islands that are now the Philippines as recently as 50,000 years ago. A cache of teeth and bones from the hands, feet and femur of the newly described Homo luzonensis were discovered in Callao Cave on Luzon, the largest island in the country. The small size of the bones suggests this archaic human was less than 4ft tall, the second diminutive species discovered in the region in recent decades. The discovery undermines a long-held theory on how hominins - the group of ancestral humans of which Homo sapiens is the only member still living colonised the globe. Experts said the Luzon discovery makes the picture of early human existence messier and a whole lot more interesting. New species of ancient human discovered - in pictures Show all 7 1 /7 New species of ancient human discovered - in pictures New species of ancient human discovered - in pictures A foot bone of the newly discovered species Homo Luzonensis Reuters New species of ancient human discovered - in pictures The right upper teeth of the newly discovered species Homo Luzonensis AFP/Getty New species of ancient human discovered - in pictures The teeth of newly discovered species Homo Luzonensis (L) are compared with those of the Homo Erectus AFP/Getty New species of ancient human discovered - in pictures The excavation team at work in Callao Cave on Luzon Island AFP/Getty New species of ancient human discovered - in pictures Luzon Island in the Philippines, where the discovery was made AFP/Getty New species of ancient human discovered - in pictures The excavation site in Callao Cave on Luzon Island AFP/Getty New species of ancient human discovered - in pictures The excavation site in Callao Cave on Luzon Island AFP/Getty Hominins alive 50,000 years ago included our own species, Homo sapiens, and Neanderthals, both living in Europe and western Asia, the Denisovans in Siberia, and the diminutive Homo floresiensis - nicknamed hobbits discovered in Indonesia in 2004. The latest discovery includes bones from at least three individuals alive in the late Pleistocene and was published in the journal Nature on Wednesday. While evidence of meat being butchered in the region 700,000 years ago and other fossil discoveries had established the presence of early hominins the latest cache has features which dont match any other species in the area. The teeth are highly unusual. While the molars of H luzonensis were strikingly small similar in size to those of modern humans they shared other characteristics with those of far more primitive hominins, including one known for its massive jaws and teeth. One of the foot bones examined had an anatomy distinct from all other known hominins, including modern humans. In addition, H luzonensis had toes identical to those of Australopithecus, a primitive species that lived in Africa at least two million years earlier. Upper teeth of a member of the new species Homo luzonensis (Callao Cave Archaeology Project) It also had primitive looking fingers, and both the fingers and toes were curved suggesting the creature liked to climb. The discovery of H luzonensis underscores the complexity of the evolution, dispersal and diversity of the genus Homo outside of Africa, and particularly in the islands of south-east Asia, during the Pleistocene, said the authors from the Museum of Natural History in Paris, France and the University of the Philippines. Map showing origins of other travelling human species (Callao Cave Archaeology Project / Rob Rownd) All species of human, both living and extinct, are believed to have originated in Africa. They then moved out in two major waves of migration hundreds of thousands of years apart. Homo erectus, was thought to have been the only hominin to disperse from Africa in this first wave, more than 1.5 million years ago. However, this theory has looked increasingly shaky in recent years with the discoveries in Indonesia and now the Phillippines. H luzonensis provides yet more evidence that hints that Homo erectus might not have been the only globe-trotting early hominin, said Dr Matthew Tocheri, from Lakehead University in Ontario, in an editorial alongside the Nature piece. Because H luzonensis provides the first glimpse of a second hominin species living on a distant island at a time when H sapiens populations from Africa were beginning to spread across the world, one thing can be said for certain our picture of hominin evolution in Asia during the Pleistocene just got even messier, more complicated, and a whole lot more interesting. Jack Shepherd, the British man convicted of killing a woman on a speedboat during their first date, has arrived back in the UK following his extradition from Georgia. The 31-year-old is believed to have been transferred to Metropolitan Police officers at Tbilisi International Airport on Wednesday and put on a plane bound for Gatwick. The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed his arrival on UK soil after his flight landed at 9.20pm. The so-called speedboat killer will appear in front of a judge at the Old Bailey on Thursday morning before he begins his six-year prison sentence over the death of 24-year-old Charlotte Brown. A jury found Shepherd guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence in his absence after he skipped bail last summer and went on the run before finally surrendering to Georgian police officers in January 2019. In pictures: Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd In pictures: Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd Jack Shepherd, who went on the run in March 2018 after killing a woman in a speedboat crash on the River Thames, attends court hearing in Tbilisi, Georgia, 29 January, 2019. Reuters/Irakli Gedenidze In pictures: Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd Charlotte Brown, 24, who died in a speedboat crash on the River Thames in December 2015. PA In pictures: Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd Undated photo issued by the Metropolitan Police of the speedboat owned by Jack Shepherd who was found guilty of killing his date, Charlotte Brown, in an accident on the River Thames in December 2015. Metropolitan Police In pictures: Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd The family of Charlotte Brown - father Graham Brown, sister Katie and mother Roz Wickens - who died following a speedboat crash, pictured on 22 January, 2019. Yui Mok/PA In pictures: Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd Tariel Kakabadze, the lawyer of Jack Shepherd, attends a court session, in Tbilisi, Georgia, 25 January, 2019. Shakh Aivazov/AP In pictures: Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd Jack Shepherd speaks to media on 23 January, 2019, at the police station in Tbilisi, Georgia, where he handed himself in to police. Still taken from video provided by Rustavi 2. Rustavi 2 via AP In pictures: Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd Jack Shepherd is escorted to a court hearing in Tbilisi, Georgia, 25 January 2019 EPA In pictures: Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd Father of Charlotte Brown, Graham, gives a statement to the media outside Portcullis House following a meeting with Home Secretary Sajid Javid on 22 January, 2019. Jack Taylor/Getty Images In pictures: Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd Metropolitan Police image of Jack Shepherd. Metropolitan Police In pictures: Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd File photo of Jack Shepherd dated 18 October, 2017. Steve Parsons/PA Pictures released by the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia on Wednesday showed a handcuffed Shepherd being led by two uniformed officers into a secure cell in the back of a van before he was taken to the airport. Shepherd spoke with several British journalist from his seat on the Georgian Airways flight on Wednesday evening. He told ITV he wanted to face the situation and had come to terms with going to jail in the UK. The 31-year-old also told the BBC: I ran for fear. It wasnt premeditated, it was just a case of being driven by an animalistic fear and jumping on a plane with not much of a plan. The web designers trial heard that he had been drinking champagne on a first date with Ms Brown when they went for a late-night speedboat ride down the Thames in December 2015. Jack Shepherd escorted by Georgian authorities to airport following his extradition to the UK (AFP/Getty Images) His 14ft Fletcher Arrowflyte boat had a series of defects and was speeding when it overturned near Wandsworth Bridge, throwing Ms Brown to her death in the water. Shepherd, originally from Exeter, was plucked from the cold river. He made his last appearance before the Old Bailey in November 2017 to deny manslaughter. It was at the start of his trial last June that it emerged he would not attend court but he remained in regular contact with his defence team who pushed on without him. The jury found him guilty and Judge Richard Marks QC sentenced him in absentia. But Shepherd will be returned before the judge from 9.30am on Thursday for the execution of a bench warrant. Then his prison sentence awaits. He could also face extra jail time for absconding but it is not yet known when a judge may add to his sentence. 'We're very surprised at how smug he look to be honest' Katie Brown reacts to arrest of Jack Shepherd by police in Georgia Shepherd was granted permission to appeal against the conviction in December and surrendered to authorities in Tbilisi the following month. The family of Ms Brown, from Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, had publicly campaigned for Shepherd to hand himself in. Her father Graham Brown told ITV after Shepherd agreed to extradition last month that he had a weak case and no choice but to return. Georgias justice minister formally approved the process on Monday. Shepherd also faces a grievous bodily harm charge over an alleged assault in Devon on 16 March last year. The second Rupert Cornwell Prize for Journalism has been won by Lemma Shehadi, a writer and communications consultant focusing on culture, conflict and development. The annual award is aimed at younger journalists towards the start of their careers and Ms Shehadi, 29, greatly impressed the panel of judges with her proposal for a series of features on the future of the Yazidi people in the Caucasus after expulsion from their heartland in northern Iraq by Isis in 2014. I am delighted to be part of a project honouring the memory and work of a great journalist, Rupert Cornwell. It is a tremendous opportunity and I hope I can live up to his journalistic dedication and reputation, Ms Shehadi said. The 5,000 prize is supported by The Independent and will be awarded by the Rupert Cornwell Trust. On behalf of the judges and the trust, Cornwells widow Susan, US congressional correspondent for Reuters, praised Ms Shehadis original and compelling proposal. We were moved by her pitch offering a deeply-reported look at the future of a persecuted and stateless minority. We were also impressed by her previous articles that blended news with cultural narratives from Lebanon to Sri Lanka and Nepal, and her persistence; Lemma has made strong applications for the award two years in a row. She clearly is a highly-motivated journalist with a bright future. In a competition which attracted a generally very high standard of entries, the judges also highly commended Amanda Coakley, Thomas Graham and Felix Light for their proposals, which showed great potential. The Rupert Cornwell Award was established in memory of the distinguished foreign correspondent and writer who died two years ago. It is designed to fund a suitable journalistic project in one of the broad regions Cornwell covered North America, Europe and the former Soviet Union. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events It also commemorates one of the great foreign correspondents of modern times. He embodied the spirit of the newly launched Independent in 1986, and he remained one of its the wisest and most eloquent voices until his death in 2017, aged 71, still writing for the title. From his earliest reports for the Financial Times from Rome to chronicling the fall of the USSR to his last pieces on the Trump phenomenon, he remained a source of inspiration for all of his colleagues, and now for a new generation of writers as well. Britain should have a say in any future customs union it joined with the European Union after Brexit, Irelands prime minister has said. Leo Varadkars intervention comes amid talks between Labour and the government over whether the UK should have such a trade arrangement after Brexit. Mr Varadkar said the UK would not be a silent partner in a customs union and that it was in the interests of both the EU and UK to sign a deal. I know one thing that I would like to be considered, and I know it is under consideration, is the possibly of a customs union being formed between the UK and the EU, he told reporters on the doorstep of a summit in Brussels. Ultimately ... in a world of big blocs its in the interests of the UK to be part of one of those blocs. Its also in our interest to have the UK in our bloc. I think wed be generous in negotiating that, understanding that the UK couldnt be a silent partner in such an arrangement, it would have to have a say in decisions being made. Labour has said it wants to join a customs union with the EU to soften the impact of Brexit, but that the UK should have a say in any trade deals. Many Tory cabinet ministers are against a customs union, however, and see it as undermining Brexit. International trade secretary Liam Fox said it would be the worst of both worlds. It remains to be seen whether the government will agree to one as part of compromise talks taking place in Westminster. "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Show all 15 1 /15 "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Nigel Farage waves from the top deck of the Brexit Betrayal bus on the march from Sunderland to London Reuters "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Marchers pass a sign to "Cuckoo Land" in Easington Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Marchers plod on near Grangetown, Tyne and Wear Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march A marcher holds up a blue passport as the march passes Grangetown, Tyne and Wear Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Nigel Farage poses for a photo in a pub in Hartlepool Reuters "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Nigel Farage pays his respects to Tommy, the statue of a First World War soldier in Seaham, County Durham Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march An anti-Brexit van has been graffitied in Sunderland on the Brexit Betrayal march Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march A marcher carries a Union flag reading "Storm Brexit" in Sunderland Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march A couple push a Save Our Sovereignty trolley through a tunnel in Easington, County Durham during the Brexit Betrayal march Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Nigel Farage enjoys a pint with fellow marchers in Hartlepool Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march A pro-European counter-marcher lets off a smoke grenade with the colours of the EU flag Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Nigel Farage leads the march in Easington Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Marchers plod on near Easington Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Nigel Farage takes part in the Brexit Betrayal march Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Nigel Farage poses on the top deck of the Brexit Betrayal bus in Seaham Getty A customs union would mean the UK had a common external tariff with the EU and that there would be fewer border checks between the UK and EU for goods. But without alignment on single market rules which Labour also supports there would have to be regulatory checks at the border even with a customs union. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said a customs union would go some way to solving the problem at the Northern Irish border. The backstop negotiated by Theresa May has some of the characteristics of a customs union. Ireland is the first EU country to say the UK should have a say in such trade agreements; others, such as France, are known to be resistant to giving any ground to Britain. Cranstons body crashed through the windshield and landed in the passenger seat. Hampton then drove 12 miles and dumped the body in Alsip, where it was discovered two days later, according to the Tribune article. After dumping the body, Hampton drove the car to a wooded area near Blue Island, where he allegedly set the vehicle on fire, the article said. My prediction is that nothing will come of the Brexit talks between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn. She needs him. The only way she can get her deal through the House of Commons is with Labour votes. But he doesnt need her. He says the result of the referendum should be respected, but it is not in his interest to do anything that helps to take us out of the EU. So the deadlock is likely to continue. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) have branded Theresa May's bid for a Brexit extension as humiliating and embarrassing. Party leader Arlene Foster and Westminster leader Nigel Dodds both accused Ms May of "begging" European leaders for help to break the impasse. The senior figures in the Government's confidence and supply partners did not hold back in their criticism of the prime minister's handling of the process as she spent the day holding talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron. "The talks between the prime minister and the leaders of France and Germany is humiliating and embarrassing for the United Kingdom," Mr Dodds said. "The problems the Prime Minister is attempting to solve were not created by the decision to leave the European Union, rather the ineffective negotiations by the Prime Minister to implement that decision. "A solution was put forward by the House of Commons on 29th January through the Brady amendment which could have charted a course by which Parliament could have supported a deal. Instead of treating this proposal seriously, the prime minister has effectively accepted the backstop and opted not to stand up to Brussels. Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Show all 15 1 /15 Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Nigel Farage has spent his political career campaigning for the UK to leave the EU. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Boris Johnson's support for Brexit took many by surprise before the EU referendum. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises The UK and EU are yet to agree on a withdrawal deal. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises This was taken from a 2012 speech delivered by Mr Davis. He does not currently support a second Brexit referendum. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Boris Johnson now supports a hard Brexit and resigned from the cabinet in 2018 over Theresa May's strategy. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises The US recently issued trade negotiation objectives for future talks with the UK. The country made clear that it expects access to the UK's agriculture industry, reviving the debate about chlorinated chicken. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Nigel Farage does not support the current campaign for a second Brexit referendum. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Despite this quote, in February 2019 Boris Johnson said a no deal Brexit "may yet be the best option for the UK". Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises The UK and EU are yet to begin negotiating a deal regarding their future relationship. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Theresa May announced that the UK would be leaving the Single Market in her Lancaster House speech in January 2017. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Theresa May triggered Article 50 on 29 March 2017. Her withdrawal deal is yet to be passed. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises A classic from the 2015 general election campaign. David Cameron resigned on 24 June 2016, following the EU referendum result. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises David Davis resigned from his post as Brexit secretary in July 2018 after disagreeing with Theresa May's negotiation strategy. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Michael Gove was one of the most influential Leave voices during the EU referendum campaign. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Jacob Rees-Mogg, a prominent backbencher, does not support a second Brexit referendum. He has called the use of this quote "fundamentally dishonest" as it was taken from a 2011 speech discussing the option of referendum before David Cameron entered negotiations with the EU. Such a vote was never held. Twitter/Led By Donkeys "Nearly three years after the referendum the UK is today effectively holding out a begging bowl to European leaders." Earlier, Mrs Foster questioned Mrs May's leadership qualities. "She needed to be strong, she needed to show leadership, and I'm sorry to say that hasn't been evident in these past couple of months," she told the BBC. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Mrs Foster said the prime minister had found herself "pleading" to stay in the EU to resolve issues that should have been already settled. "I find it quite painful to watch what's going on at this present moment in time, it is rather humiliating that we are having to go and beg so that we can leave," she said. Press Association The EU is now "in control" of Brexit because parliament has "refused" to approve the government's exit deal, Stephen Barclay has said. As Theresa May prepares to head to Brussels to try to stop the EU imposing a long delay to Brexit, the Brexit secretary accused parliament of "refusing to honour the referendum result" and said this meant control of the process had been handed Brussels. The prime minister will seek to persuade the EU to extend the Article 50 process until 30 June when she attends the emergency European Council meeting on Wednesday afternoon. European leaders are expected to instead insist on a longer delay with the option of the UK leaving earlier if parliament approves a withdrawal deal. On Tuesday, Ms May's Commons partners in the DUP said her latest talks with EU leaders were "humiliating and embarrassing for the United Kingdom". Mr Barclay admitted the EU was now in charge of negotiations but said MPs were to blame. Asked if the bloc was now "in control" of the Brexit process, he told BBC Radio 4's Today: "They are, because we had a vote in parliament a couple of Fridays ago where we had the right under the previous agreement to leave on 22 May if parliament had passed the withdrawal agreement. "The fact is that once again parliament refused to agree to the withdrawal agreement, even though ironically most of the concerns were with the future arrangement and not with the withdrawal agreement." Asked again about his admission that the EU had taken control of talks, he said: "That's a consequence of parliament, not the government. The government has agreed a deal with the EU. It is parliament that has forced this on the government. He added: "It is parliament that is refusing to actually honour the referendum result...The reason that we have to go back [to Brussels] today is not because of the prime minister, it is because parliament once again refused to vote for the withdrawal agreement." MPs' refusal to back her plan forced Ms May to seek talks with Jeremy Corbyn in a bid to break the deadlock in parliament. Negotiations between the two parties will continue on Thursday as they seek a cross-party solution to the current crisis. The front pages on what would have been Brexit Day Show all 12 1 /12 The front pages on what would have been Brexit Day The front pages on what would have been Brexit Day March 29 2019 - The original date for Britain's departure from the EU, what do the newspapers have to say about it? The front pages on what would have been Brexit Day Daily Express The Daily Express focuses on the fact that today was the original day for Britain's departure from the EU The front pages on what would have been Brexit Day Daily Mail The Daily Mail warns MPs that they have "one last chance" to back the Prime Minister's Brexit deal The front pages on what would have been Brexit Day The Independent The Independent Daily Edition reports that the Prime Minister is gambling as she holds a vote today on the withdrawal agreement The front pages on what would have been Brexit Day The Sun The Sun reports that the Prime Minister last night sought to convince DUP leader Arlene Foster to back her deal The front pages on what would have been Brexit Day The Guardian The Guardian reports that some ministers want the Prime Minister to step down now, while Michael Gove becomes the favourite at the bookies to replace her The front pages on what would have been Brexit Day The i The i reports that Boris Johnson is preparing his leadership bid for when the Prime Minister resigns The front pages on what would have been Brexit Day The Times The Times reports that Brexit may be delayed for a further year The front pages on what would have been Brexit Day The Daily Telegraph The Daily Telegraph reports that the Prime Minister is making a "desperate final plea" to pass her Brexit deal through the house of commons The front pages on what would have been Brexit Day Financial Times The Financial Times reports on the Brexit Betrayal march that will reach London today after setting off from Sunderland with the intention of reaching London on Brexit day The front pages on what would have been Brexit Day Daily Mirror The Daily Mirror reports on the Prime Minister's difficulty passing her deal through the commons The front pages on what would have been Brexit Day Daily Star The Daily Star calls on its readers to shut up about Brexit Mr Barclay admitted the talks were "difficult" and that "both sides of the House need to compromise" but insisted discussions were being conducted "in good faith". However, he appeared to rule out the possibility of the government agreeing to Labour's demand for a permanent customs union with the EU, saying such an outcome would be "illogical". He said: "I don't think a permanent customs union is a good way forward. We have actually negotiated something better in the political declaration. "We can have the benefits of a customs union with a trade policy and that is what we've already agreed. It would be slightly illogical to agree a position different to that." The Brexit secretary refused to rule out resigning if Ms May agrees to a long extension to Article 50, saying: "I don't want to see a delay for up to a year, but the key with any delay is we're able to terminate it once we've ratified [the withdrawal agreement] in order that we can then get on and get a deal through parliament, ratify that agreement and leave the EU. "That's what the EU leaders want, it's what the prime minister wants - the prime minister is clear that the best way forward is to have a short extension to 30 June. If there were to be an extension beyond that then it has to be one that is terminable." MPs vote for Brexit extension until June 30 He hit out at MPs who "stood on manifestos promising to leave, who voted to trigger Article 50, [but] are frustrating that vote because three out of four of them personally voted to remain". Mr Barclay was speaking hours after the DUP criticised Ms May's talks with German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron ahead of the emergency European Council summit. DUP Westminster Nigel Dodds said: "The talks between the prime minister and the leaders of France and Germany is humiliating and embarrassing for the United Kingdom. "The problems the prime minister is attempting to solve were not created by the decision to leave the European Union, rather the ineffective negotiations by the prime minister to implement that decision. He added: "Nearly three years after the referendum the UK is today effectively holding out a begging bowl to European leaders." Close 'The UK should have left the EU by now' Theresa May says the UK needs a Brexit extension in order to get a deal through Parliament European leaders agreed to grant another extension to Britains membership of the EU at an emergency summit on Wednesday night, offering the UK a delay to its departure date until Halloween 31 October. Theresa May travelled to Brussels where she pleaded with EU leaders to delay Brexit until 30 June, rather than see the UK crash out without deal on Friday. Most EU leaders appeared ready to back Donald Tusks proposal of a longer delay, but a decision was held up by French President Emmanuel Macron, who insisted on no long extension. Heres how the day unfolded: Labour has played down the chances of reaching a deal with the government on Brexit, saying substantial differences remain between the two parties. Government ministers and their Labour counterparts held three days of talks last week and had further discussions on Tuesday as they attempted to find a cross-party solution to the deadlock gripping parliament. The negotiating teams will meet again on Thursday after an emergency European Council summit on Wednesday at which EU leaders will decide whether to approve the governments request to delay Brexit until 30 June or instead insist on a longer extension. Ms May is likely to point to the ongoing talks with Labour as part of her efforts to convince European leaders that there is a realistic prospect of parliament approving a withdrawal agreement if the EU agrees to a further delay. On Wednesday, the prime ministers spokesperson insisted that talks with Labour had been constructive and that there was a shared determination to see what can be done. But Jeremy Corbyns spokesperson painted a more negative picture, saying the two sides were still a long way apart. He said discussions were being conducted in a serious, detailed and engaged way but added: Weve yet to see clear evidence of the kind of real change and compromise that would obviously be necessary to reach an agreement. He continued: We have shown were prepared to compromise but there evidently does need to be significant and substantive movement on their part. They are certainly exploring options but I think they find it pretty difficult to move off those red lines. Admitting there were quite clearly substantial differences between the two sides, he added: At the moment we dont see the kind of real change and compromise that clearly will be necessary and that would involve them moving off their red lines. Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit Show all 30 1 /30 Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit Pro-Brexit leave the European Union supporters attend a rally in Parliament Square after the final leg of the "March to Leave" in London AP Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit The protest march which started on March 16 in Sunderland, north east England, finished on what was the original date for Brexit to happen before the recent extension Reuters Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit AP Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit Reuters Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit PA Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit Reuters Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit EPA Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit A Brexit supporter sips a can of Stella in protests outside of the Houses of Parliament AFP/Getty Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit Dedicated anti-Brexit campaigner Steve Bray and likewise pro-Brexit campaigner Joseph Afrane go head to head near the Houses of Parliament AFP/Getty Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit A pro-Brexit marching band in Parliament Square Getty Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit Remain supporters wave EU flags from a bus in Parliament Square PA Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit A Brexit supporter shouts slogans outside parliament EPA Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit A Brexit supporter protests outside parliament Reuters Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit A Brexit supporter protests outside of the Houses of Parliament Getty Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit Brexit supporters protest outside of the Houses of Parliament REUTERS Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit A pro-Brexit flag is waved in Parliament Square AP Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit The March to Leave nears the Houses of Parliament Reuters Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit A Brexit protester holds a sign outside parliament EPA Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit Brexit supporters carry the coffin of democracy AFP/Getty Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit Brexit supporters march outside parliament AFP/Getty Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit Brexit supporters take part in the March to Leave protest in London PA Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit Brexit supporters protest outside parliament AFP/Getty Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit A Brexit supporter holds a sign outside the Houses of Parliament Getty Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit A man holds satirical paintings of politicians Reuters Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit An pro-Brexit float on the March to Leave march in London Reuters Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit Far-right activist Tommy Robinson addresses protesters outside the Houses of Parliament Getty Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit A Brexit supporter outside the Houses of Parliament Reuters Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit A Tommy Robinson supporter arrives at the Houses of Parliament Getty Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit A jogger gestures rudely at a Brexit supporter outside of the Houses of Parliament AFP/Getty Opposing protesters flock to parliament on would be date of Brexit A Brexit supporter outside the Houses of Parliament PA The spokesperson suggested that divisions between cabinet ministers were hindering progress during negotiations, saying: There are some members of the cabinet who are clearly committed to this process and are very seriously trying to explore movement, but in terms of the absolutely basic red lines, there hasnt been a substantive movement. Asked if he was suggesting that other cabinet ministers were not committed to the cross-party talks, he said: Its entirely well known that there are different views on some of these issues in the cabinet. Labour is demanding that the government agree to a permanent customs union with the EU, and there is also disagreement over how closely the UK should stay aligned with the single market. Ms May has said that if no agreement can be reached, she and Mr Corbyn will attempt to draw up a series of options to put to the House of Commons. Her spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday that the prime minister would abide by whatever decision MPs made, but only if Labour agrees to do the same. Theresa May is set to enrage her critics within the Conservative party after setting herself up to stay on as prime minister until the winter while presiding over a long delay to Brexit. She told MPs just weeks ago that she was not prepared to delay Brexit any further than 30 June as prime minister and said she would resign once this stage of talks was complete prompting her rivals to gear up for a summer leadership contest. But as EU leaders met on Wednesday night to decide on another lengthy Article 50 extension, a Conservative source said the prime ministers promised departure was tied to passing the withdrawal agreement rather than a specific date. After six hours of talks late into the night leaders agreed to extend the new Brexit deadline until 31 October, with a potential summit in June to review the situation. Ms May tried to play down the consequences of the expected long extension as she arrived at the meeting on Wednesday evening, telling reporters that what is important is that any extension enables us to leave at the point we ratify the withdrawal agreement rather than the length. Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Show all 9 1 /9 Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Boris Johnson Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson has long been hopeful, he previously stood in the leadership contest that followed the Brexit vote and has at many times since been thought to be maneuvering himself towards the goal. He remains a darling of the party's right wing, particularly those in the ERG, and is the most popular choice among Tory voters but his leadership bid would be fiercely opposed by many MPs PA Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Michael Gove Environment secretary Michael Gove is another member who has long wanted to be leader. He has lately been known for rousing his party in the commons, his recent speeches on the Brexit deal and Labour's no confidence motion have overshadowed the Prime Minister's. He has been loyal to the Prime Minister, partly to shed his reputation as a backstabber who abandoned Boris Johnson to stand against him in the 2016 leadership election Getty Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Dominic Raab Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab has emerged as a favourite to be the Brexiteer candidate in a contest to succeed to Ms May. He displayed a grip on detail in his role as Brexit secretary. When asked recently if he would like to become prime minister he replied "never say never" Getty Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Rory Stewart International development secretary Rory Stewart is pitching himself as the sensible candidate, promising to rule out both a second referendum and a no-deal Brexit. He was only recently promoted to the cabinet, previously serving as prisons minister, where he caught headlines with a pledge to resign if he could not reduce levels of violence within a year PA Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Esther McVey The former work and pensions secretary announced that she will be standing for the leadership when May leaves. McVey is the first to explicitly state that she intends to stand. She resigned from the cabinet in protest over May's Brexit deal AFP/Getty Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Sajid Javid Home secretary Sajid Javid is said to have a plan in place for a leadership race. He made headlines over Christmas when he declared that people smuggling over the English channel was a "major incident" and more recently when he revoked the citizenship of ISIS bride Shamima Begum. Son of a bus driver, he wants the Conservatives to be seen as the party of social mobility PA Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Jeremy Hunt Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt was recently thought to be the favourite in the event of a leadership race as he could sell himself as the man to unite the party. Critics worry that his long stint as health secretary could return to haunt him at a general election. He has reportedly been holding meetings with Tory MPs over breakfast to promote his leadership PA Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Andrea Leadsom Following the Prime Minister's second defeat over her Brexit deal, Leader of the house Andrea Leadsom hosted a dinner party at which "leadership was the only topic of conversation", The Times heard. Leadsom ran against Theresa May in the 2016 leadership election before dropping out, allowing May to become Prime Minister AFP/Getty Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Priti Patel Former international development secretary Priti Patel is thought to be positioning herself as a contender. One MP told The Independent "she knows she's from the right of the party, the part which is going to choose the next leader, so she's reminding everyone she's there." Patel left the government late in 2017 after it emerged that she had held undisclosed meetings with Israeli officials PA Asked whether the 30 June date was still a red line for the prime minister, the Tory source said: She understands that the Conservative Party feels a sense that new leadership is required for the second phase of negotiations. That was the commitment she gave to her parliamentary colleagues and thats one she stands by. Speaking at a 2.30am press conference after talks closed, the PM again blamed her own MPs for the delay, telling reporters: "Over the last three months I have voted three times to leave the European Union. If sufficient members of parliament had voted with me in January we would already be out of the European Union." Back in London Ms Mays detractors were already setting themselves up for a fight, with former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith warning that the PM must be forced out of the job if she returns with a long extension. I hate to say this but the reality is if we end up going and accepting a year-long, or even a nine-month extension, I think were going to have egg all over our face, he told Channel 4 News at the same time as the PM addressed EU leaders over the channel in Brussels. Its time for us to bite the bullet and say, look, we cant do this any longer, we have to make a change. The whole thing is an utter car crash and I think what has to be established now is I think the cabinet has to have a moment with the prime minister and say this cant go on, Im afraid, it really cant go on. But the prime ministers allies simultaneously rallied around her. Justice secretary David Gauke said that there was no rush to change leader, and that it may well be the last thing we need as a country is a leadership election. Mr Gauke told BBC Radio 5Lives Emma Barnett programme: If it helps the country she will walk, if it helps the country for her to stay she will stay. She will do what she thinks is the right thing for the country. Ahead of a late night summit in Brussels EU leaders signalled that they were looking at giving the prime minister an extension of either nine or 12 months. Donald Tusk, the European Council president, has suggested that such an extension could have a flexible end date, and terminate shortly after the withdrawal agreement is approved by the UK parliament. After pressure from France, which argued strongly against a long extension until 2020, the Council agreed to a slightly shorter delay until October with a stock-taking exercise in June. The review at the start of the summer is expected to assess UK co-operation during and after Mays European elections. European Council president Donald Tusk said at a 2am press conference: Let me finish with a message to our British friends: this extension is as flexible as I expected, an a little bit shorter than I expected, but its still enough to find the best possible solution. Please do not waste this time. He added: I think its always best to have a piece of something than all of nothing. 'Please do not waste this time': Donald Tusk issues UK warning as Brexit is extended to October The new 31 October deadline also aligns with the end of the current Commission presidency. Speaking alongside Mr Tusk, Jean-Claude Juncker joked: "I like the decision we have taken tonight because the end date has been fixed on the 31 October. I have to leave my job on 1 November. So my guess will be that we won't have an overnight session because if we have one I'll have to leave the meeting at midnight." Ms May is understood to have given a one-hour presentation to the 27 leaders setting out her case for an extension to June 30, with a break clause allowing the UK to leave as soon as her Brexit deal is ratified by MPs. As Sudans Omar al-Bashir attempts to quell a popular uprising against his rule, armed clashes between different branches of his security forces threaten civil war, demonstrators are warning. Protests, which began in December, have been reignited by the successful 3 April ouster of Algerias Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and new instability could potentially plunge the nation of 41 million deeper into chaos. Sudanese protesters have flooded the capital Khartoum since 6 April, braving the guns and teargas of Mr Bashirs Rapid Support Forces militia, and loyalist security branches, including the National Intelligence and Security Services, or NISS, that serves as the the presidencys secret police. But witnesses to the days of protests also described members of the uniformed regular military providing shelter and protection to the demonstrators, many of whom are camped out in front of the Sudan Armed Forces headquarters. The fiercest clashes erupted on Tuesday morning, with video showing intense gunfire between the rival branches of the armed forces. The security forces and the militias from the government are trying to suppress the protests, Mohamed Al-Amin, a journalist in Khartoum, told The Independent in a phone call. Groups of national army, especially the leadership of the maritime forces, are against them. They fought the militias and security. Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Show all 20 1 /20 Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Protesters rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum to demand that President Omar al-Bashir step down Reuters Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Alaa Salah leads the protest against President Omar al-Bashir Lana Haroun/Twitter Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Protesters run from tear gas deployed by security forces as they take part in a demonstration to demand the departure of the Sudanese government EPA Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on April 8 Sudan Congress Party Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on April 10 Reuters Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Alaa Salah, a Sudanese woman propelled to internet fame earlier this week after clips went viral of her leading powerful protest chants against President Omar al-Bashir, addresses protesters outside of the military headquarters in Khartoum AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters march on the military headquarters in Khartoum on April 8 AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Reuters Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters pray as they rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters chant slogans as they march in protest against President Omar al-Bashir Reuters Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on April 8 AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on April 8 AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters climb onto a military vehicle beside soldiers during protests in Khartoum AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Security forces deploy tear gas to disperse protesters against the Sudanese government Reuters Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on April 8 AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan A wounded protester rests during a demonstration in front of the military headquarters in Khartoum AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan A Sudanese protester shows bullet cartridges as protesters gather in Khartoum AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Protesters march on the military headquarters in Khartoum Sudan Congress Party Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters march on the defence ministry in Khartoum to demand that President Omar al-Bashir step down Reuters Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan A Sudanese protester picks up waste during a demonstration in front of the military headquarters in Khartoum AFP/Getty At least five soldiers of the uniformed military have already been killed in the recent round of clashes, along with at least nine protesters, who have been holding day-and-night demonstrations and sit-ins since Saturday using slogans of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings to demand democratic change. Those protests yielded disastrous results across much of the Arab world, with civil war or reinvigorated dictatorship the result in all but Tunisia. A collapse of order in Sudan, already a transit point for migrants, could prompt fresh refugee flows towards Europe. Protests first broke out in Sudan late last year, but were re-energised following events in Algeria. Mr Bashir appears to be fiercely struggling to cling to power. The countrys security services have also launched a sweeping crackdown on critical media, shutting down several publications and arresting several major journalists. But reports of cracks within the security forces has introduced a whole new dimension of potential instability. One video posted online showed a soldier among the demonstrators, urging fellow military men to join him. Some parts of the military are standing tall beside the protesters, said Hassan Ahmed Berkia, a Sudanese journalist and analyst now in the United Arab Emirates. Its mostly low-ranking people in the army. The high-ranking officers are close to the government and close to Bashirs party. Police also appear to be refusing to open fire on protesters, and often relenting to their demands, even if they havent outright joined them. On 6 April police quit their positions and allowed protesters to reach key sites inside Khartoum including the headquarters of the armed forces, a sprawling compound that includes multiple entrances for various branches. The next day, security forces opened fire with teargas and sound bombs, to scare off demonstrators. But the armed forces opened their gates and gave the protesters shelter, and defended them from Mr Bashirs loyalists. They allowed us to move into the ministry of defence, inside the complex, Ali Awad Ekrem, a 24-year-old Khartoum physician trainee, told The Independent. Then they told us to lay down, and they opened fire against the militias. A Sudanese woman holds a national flag during a demonstration in front of the military headquarters in the capital Khartoum on Tuesday (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images) On Monday and Tuesday, Mr Bashirs forces again attacked the demonstrators, and again the uniformed armed forces, especially the maritime division, opened its gates to give shelter to the civilians as the loyalists opened fire on protesters. Its dangerous what [Bashirs security forces] are doing, said Mr Ekrem, who divides his time between the protest site and a clinic where he treats some of the wounded demonstrators. They are making a war between the Bashirs militias and the military forces. Its the start of a civil war. Mr Al-Amin said more and more Sudanese from Khartoum neighbourhoods and even other cities are joining the protests, along with increasing numbers of junior military officers disheartened by Mr Bashirs security priorities. There was already anger among the national army because Bashir has given more money and salaries to the militias he said. Now five soldiers have been killed from the national army. Everyone considers this a very big incident that they cannot tolerate. Theres a feeling that hes using them and sacrificing them. Shots heard amid fresh anti-gov protests in Sudan The UK, US and Norway on Wednesday issued a statement calling for a political transition away from Mr Bashir, who faces international war crimes and genocide charges for his conduct in the Darfur conflict. His regime is widely seen as rife with corruption and incompetence. The time has come for the Sudanese authorities to respond to these popular demands in a serious and credible way, said the statement. Failing to do so risks creating greater instability. But Mr Bashirs downfall would reverberate throughout the Arab world far more than the ouster of Mr Bouteflika and likely alarm the clique of reactionary oil-rich Arabian Peninsula hereditary monarchies which support him, and their allies including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. They rallied together after the 2011 Arab Spring to maintain autocratic rule throughout the Middle East and North Africa. While Algerias path and alliances differ from much of the Arab world, Mr Bashirs Sudan serves as an investment destination for Arabian Peninsula money as well as a source of recruits for the Saudi-led offensive in Yemen. The Gulf monarchies have already pumped hundreds of millions into Sudans coffers since the unrest began earlier this year. Russia, a backer of Syrias dictatorship, has also reportedly dispatched security advisers to aide Mr Bashir. Sudans state news agency announced the regime would organise a series of pro-Bashir rallies on Thursday. Protesters say they fear Mr Bashir, 75, will use any tool at his disposal to stay in power. Hes even worse than Bashar al-Assad, said Mr Ekrem. A defiant image of a young Sudanese woman standing on the roof of a car fervently leading chants at an anti-government protest has been widely shared on social media. The photo, which was taken in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, has become an emblem of resistance for Sudanese women in a country that has been swept by nationwide protests which have seen women at the forefront. The viral image shows a crowd of Sudanese protesters who are predominantly women surrounding the towering female demonstrator, recording her with their phones. The woman in the photo, who is clad in a white robe and gold circular earrings, cuts a striking figure against the twilight sky. Her white thobe, a cotton robe, is traditionally worn by professional women in the northeast African countrys workforce. The woman, who some news outlets have identified as 22-year-old Alaa Salah, can be seen raising her arm as she leads the crowd in a chant and they repeat her words back to her. Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Show all 20 1 /20 Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Protesters rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum to demand that President Omar al-Bashir step down Reuters Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Alaa Salah leads the protest against President Omar al-Bashir Lana Haroun/Twitter Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Protesters run from tear gas deployed by security forces as they take part in a demonstration to demand the departure of the Sudanese government EPA Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on April 8 Sudan Congress Party Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on April 10 Reuters Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Alaa Salah, a Sudanese woman propelled to internet fame earlier this week after clips went viral of her leading powerful protest chants against President Omar al-Bashir, addresses protesters outside of the military headquarters in Khartoum AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters march on the military headquarters in Khartoum on April 8 AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Reuters Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters pray as they rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters chant slogans as they march in protest against President Omar al-Bashir Reuters Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on April 8 AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on April 8 AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters climb onto a military vehicle beside soldiers during protests in Khartoum AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Security forces deploy tear gas to disperse protesters against the Sudanese government Reuters Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on April 8 AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan A wounded protester rests during a demonstration in front of the military headquarters in Khartoum AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan A Sudanese protester shows bullet cartridges as protesters gather in Khartoum AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Protesters march on the military headquarters in Khartoum Sudan Congress Party Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters march on the defence ministry in Khartoum to demand that President Omar al-Bashir step down Reuters Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan A Sudanese protester picks up waste during a demonstration in front of the military headquarters in Khartoum AFP/Getty The crowd can be heard shouting thawra! which is Arabic for revolution. The image was rapidly widely disseminated on social media with people comparing the young protester to the Statue of Liberty and others saying the image will be in the history books. Lana Haroun, a local photographer who is responsible for the image, told CNN the protester was representing all Sudanese women and girls, and she inspired every woman and girl at the sit-in. She said: She was telling the story of Sudanese women ... She was perfect. Ms Haroun added: We have a voice. We can say what we want. We need a better life and to stay in a better place. Ahmed Kaballo, a Sudanese commentator living in the UK, said the picture gave him hope. When I saw this picture it made me smile and I am sure it would have made my father smile, he said. Although my father is detained for the second time in two years without charge, trial or due process, he always spoke about Sudanese women, who have suffered the most under this brutal dictatorship with the lack of representation and the repressive penal code that disproportionately targets women. Mr Kaballo noted that in some ways Sudan was a pioneer in womens rights in the region adding that it was the first country in Africa to elect a female parliamentarian, Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim. Some of the biggest pyramids within Sudan are dedicated to Sudanese queens, he added. So to see this picture and to see the role Sudanese women have played in the popular uprising gives us hope that our Sudanese sisters may return back to their thrones. Thousands descended on the streets of Khartoum on Monday evening calling for the president Omar al-Bashir who has been in power since 1989 to step down. Women have been centre stage in protests that have hit the nation which has long been known for the states systematic repression of women. Some estimates calculate 70 per cent of individuals who have taken to the streets have been women. Many renowned women activists have been detained since the first wave of protests at the end of last year. A 2015 report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) described how national security services targeted women activists during clampdowns. The public order police arrest women and girls for their choice of dress such as wearing trousers or exposing their hair or for simply riding in a car with members of the opposite sex, HRW said. The organisation said corporal punishments such as flogging and stoning for morality crimes including adultery have been used disproportionately on women and girls. Demonstrations started in Sudan in December over the cost of bread tripling and cashless ATMs, among other things. The International Criminal Court has had a warrant out for Mr Bashirs arrest for years with charges against him including crimes against humanity and genocide. Protesters are calling for the military to stop protecting the president whose career has been largely defined by war. At least eight people have been killed in recent days in violence linked to the protests. Heavy rains have left a trail of destruction in Rio de Janeiro, killing at least 10 and leaving streets soaked with so much water rescue workers are swimming along roads in the Brazilian city. Torrents of water gushed down streets, sweeping up cars and uprooting trees after rains that began on Monday evening. The downpours slowly weakened by Tuesday evening, although mayor Marcelo Crivella said the city was still in crisis mode, the highest of three official emergency levels. Officials said six inches of rain fell in just four hours on Monday night, more than the average for the whole month of April. Local television stations showed firefighters in that neighbourhood wading through knee-deep water pulling a small boatload of children evacuated from a school bus on a flooded street. Rio de Janeiro city guide Show all 9 1 /9 Rio de Janeiro city guide Rio de Janeiro city guide Rio de Janeiro isn't just for carnival Getty Rio de Janeiro city guide Copacabana beach is where to spot Rio's bright young things Getty Images Rio de Janeiro city guide Hop on a cable car to the Sugarloaf mountain Getty Images/iStockphoto Rio de Janeiro city guide The Museum of Tomorrow is worth a visit for the architecture alone Getty Images Rio de Janeiro city guide The Metropolitan Cathedral is a brutalist masterpiece Getty Images Rio de Janeiro city guide The Belmond Copacabana Palace is a Rio icon Belmond Copacabana Palace Rio de Janeiro city guide Havaianas are the quintessential Rio purchase Getty Images Rio de Janeiro city guide Confeitaria Colombo's interiors are as sweet as its baked goods confeitariacolombo Rio de Janeiro city guide When in Rio, drink caipirinhas Getty Images/iStockphoto Photographs showed emergency workers swimming along a highway in order to reach a submerged car. Sirens sounded in 20 flood-prone areas of the city, alerting people to make their way to pre-established safe spaces. However, no alarm was given in the Babilonia slum, which sits on a hill behind the iconic Sugarloaf Mountain. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The fire department said two women there died in a mudslide leading local residents to complain about the lack of warning. Mr Crivella, acknowledging the citys lack of preparedness for the deluge, said sirens did not sound in Babilonia because the water had not reached the minimum threshold to activate the alarms. Additional reporting by AP Donald Trump says he has not seen or read Robert Mueller's report into his campaign's alleged links with Russia, while stating: "I won." Speaking on the White House lawn, the president said: "I have not read the Mueller report. I won. No collusion, no obstruction, I won. Everybody knows I won." "As far as I'm concerned, I don't care about the Mueller report," he continued. "I've been totally exonerated." The president's comments arrived as William Barr, his appointed attorney general, was grilled by lawmakers over his handling of the report after the special counsel concluded its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mr Barr released a nearly four-page letter claiming Mr Trump was effectively cleared of criminal misconduct just days after Mr Mueller announced the conclusion of his probe. But it remains unclear whether the special counsel found evidence for obstruction of justice, or to what extent Mr Mueller may have found the president's campaign to be in coordination with Russian operatives during the election. Democrats have been pressing for a full copy of the report without redactions, in order to fulfil their Congressional oversight duties, with House chairmen threatening to issue subpoenas if the attorney general produces a heavily-redacted version of the special counsel's findings. Mueller investigation: The key figures Show all 12 1 /12 Mueller investigation: The key figures Mueller investigation: The key figures Robert Mueller is the special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election, and potential obstruction of justice by the president. Mr Mueller has a pristine reputation in Washington, where he was previously in charge of the FBI. Throughout his investigation, he and his team have been notoriously tight lipped about what they know and where their investigation has led. REUTERS Mueller investigation: The key figures Former FBI director James Comey was the catalyst that led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. Mr Comey was fired by the president after Mr Trump reportedly asked him to drop his own Russia investigation. Mr Trump has long maintained that the investigation is a "witch hunt". AFP/Getty Images Mueller investigation: The key figures Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein had authority over the special counsel investigation for much of the two years it has been active. Mr Rosenstein found himself with that responsibility after then-attorney general Jeff Sessions recused himself from that oversight. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Attorney general Jeff Sessions's decision to recuse himself from oversight of the special counsel investigation may have cost him his job in the end. Mr Sessions resigned last year, after weathering a contentious relationship with Donald Trump who vocally criticised his attorney general for taking a step back. Mr Sessions recused himself from the oversight citing longstanding Justice Department rules to not be involved in investigations overseeing campaigns that officials were apart of. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Attorney General William Barr is currently responsible for oversight of the special counsel investigation. Mr Barr's office will be the first to receive the Mueller report when it is finished. His office will then determine what portion or version of that report should be delivered to Congress, and also made public. EPA Mueller investigation: The key figures Michal Cohn is the president's former personal lawyer, who has been helping the special counsel investigation as a part of a plea deal over financial crimes, and campaign finance crimes, he has pleaded guilty to. Among those crimes, Cohen admitted to facilitating $130,000 in hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign. Cohen has said he did so at the direction of Mr Trump. Cohen has also admitted that he maintained contacts with Russian officials about a potential Trump real estate project in Moscow for months longer than Mr Trump and others admitted. The talks continued well into 2016 during the campaign, he has said. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Stormy Daniels has alleged that she had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006, soon after Melania Trump gave birth to Baron Trump. The accusation is of particular importance as a result of the $130,000 hush money payment she received to keep quiet about the affair during the 2016 campaign. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Paul Manafort was Donald Trump's former campaign chairman. Manafort was charged alongside Rick Gates for a slew of financial crimes, and was convicted on several counts in a Virginia court. He then pleaded guilty to separate charges filed in a Washington court. Manafort has been sentenced to just 7.5 years in prison for his crimes in spite of recommendations from the special counsel's office for a much harsher sentence. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures George Papadopoulos was one of the first individuals associated with the Trump campaign to be charged by the Mueller probe. He ultimately received a 14 day prison sentence for lying to investigators about contacts he had with Russian officials. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Roger Stone is a well known political fixer and operative, who has made a name for himself for some dirty tactics. He has been charged by the Mueller probe earlier this year, and he has been said to have had prior knowledge that WikiLeaks planned on publishing stolen emails from the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016. Getty Images Mueller investigation: The key figures Rick Gates was charged alongside former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort for a range of crimes. Gates, who worked alongside Manafort for a pro-Russia Ukrainian political party. The two were charged with conspiracy and financial crimes. Gates pleaded guilty. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Former national security adviser Michael Flynn was one of the first casualties of the Russia scandal, and was forced out of his position in the White House weeks after Donald Trump took office. Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to "willfully" making fraudulent statements about contacts he had with Russian officials including former Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Flynn then lied to Vice President Mike Pence about that contact. REUTERS Mr Trump also addressed his tax returns from the White House lawn on Wednesday, repeating a years-long claim that he is under audit and could not release his financial records due to the counsel of attorneys. Frankly, people dont care, he said, adding that he would love to release his returns but that he could not while under audit. The president then claimed to have no obligation to release his returns while under audit. The president has been ramping up his attacks against the Democrats in the wake of Mr Barrs letter, writing in a tweet on Monday, The Democrats will never be satisfied, no matter what they get, how much they get, or how many pages they get. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events He also condemned Bob Muellers team of 13 Trump Haters & Angry Democrats in a tweet two days earlier. Beto ORourke made have got off to a flying start to his campaign for the presidency, but there are signs he is struggling for recognition amid a crowded field of Democrats hoping to take on Donald Trump in 2020. One potential voter a college student who turned up to hear Mr ORourke speak at his university in Iowa revealed how he spoke to the candidate in the bathroom without realising who he was. I was in the bathroom, minding my own business and I was washing my hands, Matthew Rowland, a University of Iowa student told the Iowa City Press-Citizen. And this guy asked me how it was going, and I said good going for some small talk. The student then asked the man: Are you here to see Beto? He said Mr ORourke looked up, smiled and replied: Thats me. 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 Despite the awkward encounter, Mr Rowland said he was pleased to speak to the former congressman from Texas. I was in awe and shook his hand. A super polite guy. Im just glad I got a chance to meet him. Keen to appeal to young voters, the candidate has held more than two dozen town hall events at colleges in different six states since announcing his candidacy last month. He has argued in favour of a free community college program and the refinancing of college debt. Last month Mr ORourke set a new fundraising record for the Democrats, raising $6.1m (4.6m) in just 24 hours. Beto O'Rourke kicks off 2020 campaign with liberal focus Yet the latest Morning Consult survey has Mr ORourke languishing in fourth place in a poll of nationwide Democratic voters, enjoying just 8 per cent support. Former president Joe Biden is out in front on 32 per cent, ahead of Senator Bernie Sanders on 23 per cent and Senator Kamal Harris on 9 per cent. A recent poll of US investors shows a vast majority of them expect Mr Trump to win a second term. More than 70 per cent of Wall Street insiders told RBC Capital Markets that the president would win in 2020. Nikki Haley, the former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor, has a book deal. St Martins Press announced Wednesday that Haleys book, currently untitled, will come out this fall. According to the publisher, the 47-year-old will write about her experiences as ambassador in 2017 and 2018, and her six years before that as governor, sharing the consequential actions, decisions, confrontations, and behind-the-scenes negotiations that shaped national and world events. Ms Haley also will offer deeply personal insights and the challenges she faced as a woman during her time in government. I was blessed to serve during some momentous times as governor of South Carolina and US ambassador to the United Nations, Ms Haley, a Republican who has often been mentioned as a possible future candidate for president, said in a statement. There were tragedies and triumphs, but through it all my love for America has only grown. My hope with this book is to give people a unique window into recent history and inspire us toward a better future, she added. Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Show all 20 1 /20 Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Donald Trump's Cabinet Donald Trump's Cabinet is one the richest in American history, filled with billionaires, conservatives and several career politicians. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Mike Pence US Vice President Mike Pence has defended Donald Trump throughout his presidency while walking a fine line to avoid any public involvement in major scandals. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Mike Pompeo Secretary of State Mike Pompeo replaced Donald Trump's previous appointment to the post, Rex Tillerson, and has led talks with North Korea in establishing high-profile summits between the president and Kim Jong Un. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Wilbur Ross Secretary of Commerce Wibur Ross raised controversy when he was accused of falsely claiming to have sold stock in a bank and violated a government ethics agreement. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Robert Lighthizer US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has been a fixture in Donald Trump's ongoing trade spat with China. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet William Barr Attorney General William Barr replaced Jeff Sessions as the nation's top cop in early 2019 and has refused to commit to recusing himself from the Russia probe despite an unsolicited memo he sent to the Justice Department decrying the investigation. EPA Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Rick Perry Energy Secretary Rick Perry has held his post throughout Donald Trump's presidency despite previously undermining the need for the agency he now leads in past public statements. Ken Shipp / United States Department of Energy Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Betsy DeVos Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has also held her post throughout the presidency, despite major backlash to her apparent undermining of the nationwide public school system and advocacy for charter programmes. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Steven Mnuchin Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has faced numerous controversies throughout his tenure as the head of Treasury, including costing taxpayers at least a million dollars in travel expenses. AP Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Robert Wilkie Veterans Affairs secretary Robert Wilkie was appointed after Donald Trump's White House doctor Ronny Jackson withdrew over allegations he provided prescription drugs to patients without prescriptions. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet David Bernhardt Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt took office in January 2019 after the resignation of Ryan Zinke after previously serving as Zinke's deputy. Before taking office Bernhardt worked for many years as a solicitor for the Department of the Interior. Tami Heilemann / United States Department of the Interior Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Elaine Chao Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has held her post throughout the presidency and has mostly avoided controversy, despite a report claiming her office has been in frequent coordination with her husband's, Mitch McConnell. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Kevin McAleenan Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan took over from Kirstjen Nielsen after she resigned in April 2019. He previously worked as the executive director of the executive director of the Office of Anti Terrorism in the Customs and Border Protection agency United States Customs and Border Protection Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Ben Carson Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson was appointed shortly after Donald Trump took office and raised controversy over an exorbitant furnishing bill for his office. Reuters Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Gina Haspel CIA Director Gina Haspel was appointed in 2018 and faced backlash surrounding her oversight of Guantanamo Bay. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Dan Coats Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats could be the next person to leave Donald Trump's administration over his refuting the president's claims surrounding ISIS. Reuters Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Sonny Perdue Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has been dogged by ethics questions throughout his tenure and faced controversy when emails showed the agency appeared willing to eagerly work with lobbyists under his leadership. Reuters Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Alex Azar Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is a former pharmaceutical lobbyist and former drug company executive. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Mick Mulvaney Acting Chief of Staff and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney has described himself as one of the most conservative officials in the White House. EPA Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Robert Wilkie Secretary of State for Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie has spent his career on Capitol Hill serving in various roles in foreign affairs and defence. He holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force Reserve. Gene Russell / United States Department of Veterans Affairs Financial terms for her book were not disclosed. Ms Haley was represented by Washington attorney Robert Barnett, whose other clients have included Barack Obama and Mitch McConnell. Ms Haley has written a previous book, Cant Is Not An Option, which came out in 2012. Recommended Nikki Haley mocks Trump and Elizabeth Warren in dinner speech Numerous former Trump administration officials, from James Comey to Omarosa Manigault Newman, have written best-sellers. Former National Security Adviser HR McMaster has a book scheduled for 2020. Often seen as an independent force within the Trump administration, Ms Haley was once one of Trumps toughest Republican critics. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events As ambassador, she differed notably at times from the presidents more isolationist views, but she was one of the few top officials to depart amicably, and voluntarily. With Mr Trump beside her in the Oval Office and telling her she had done a fantastic job, she announced last October she was stepping down at the end of 2018 because its good to rotate in other people who can put that same energy and power into it. The Associated Press contributed to this report A senior female official in the Republican Party has delivered a stark message to her colleagues they are too male, and they are too white. Congresswoman Susan Brooks, a white woman who represents Indianas 5th congressional district, said the GOP needed to attract more women, and more people of colour, if it was to compete effectively in elections in the future. Speaking to colleagues this week in Washington DC, she told them: Its important that we, as a conference, do a better job of looking like America, and better representing the very diverse country that we have. The comments of Ms Brooks are especially significant given that she is in charge of seeking new candidates the party believes can run and win, and is the National Republican Congressional Committee recruitment chair. She told Roll Call she said to her colleagues is was important to pick a diverse number of candidates for the 2020 election cycle, following the partys humiliating performance in the 2018 midterms, when the Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives. 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 Right now, of the 197 Republicans in the House, only 13 are women and only 11 are non-white. In the Senate, of its 53 members, there are seven women and one, Tim Scott of South Carolina, is not white. The report said Ms Brooks told her party abut five candidates who recently launched their campaigns Suzette Martinez Valladares in Californas 25th District and restauranteur Irina Vilarino in Floridas 26th District, who are Latina; Peggy Huang in Californias 45th District, who is Taiwanese; Wesley Hunt in Texas 7th District, who is African American; and Chele Farley in New Yorks 18th District, who is a white woman. Larry Sabato, Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia, told The Independent: This is simply a recognition by the GOP that almost their entire House delegation is white and male. Women are 52 per cent of the US population and minorities are 28 per cent headed for a majority before 2050. Even with all the archaic institutions such as the Electoral College and the US Senate, as well as gerrymandering, Republicans will be unable to sustain control of Americas politics as time goes on unless they start to look more like the countrys population. Following Mitt Romneys 2012 defeat to Barack Obama, the Republican Party commissioned a tough-to-read study, the so-called Growth and Opportunity Project report. Nancy Pelosi: Tomorrow will be a new day in America Commissioned by RNC chair Reince Priebus, it said the party was marginalising itself and that without a major shift in thinking, it will be increasingly difficult for Republicans to win a presidential election in the near future. It called for supporting policies such as comprehensive immigration reform, a reversal of its opposition to same-sex marriage and warned that without an overhaul, Republicans would remain out of touch and be seen as party of stuffy old men. Much of this strategy was rejected by Donald Trump, who has sought to double down on a base of white, working class support, while also offering major sops to establishment Republicans in the form of huge tax cuts. New @RNC report calls for embracing comprehensive immigration reform, he wrote in a tweet soon after the RNC autopsy report was published. Does the @RNC have a death wish? Christina Greer, an expert on issues of diversity and associate professor of political science at Fordham University in New York, said it was impossible for Republicans to be more inclusive while Mr Trump, who she said considered himself a white nationalist, was at the helm. She said the bulk of the party had been silent on this topic. So you might have all these well-meaning Republicans telling you they are there for the tax cuts or certain social issues, she said. But at some point youve got to accept you signing off on this white nationalist agenda. Democrats have a more diverse range of elected legislators. The 2018 saw more women and more people of colour, elected to the House than ever before. Cole Leiter, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said: Democrats in 2018 elected the most diverse caucus in American history because we actually focused on the issues the American people care about. The uncle of Stephen Miller the White House official known for spearheading its hardline immigration agenda has claimed Donald Trumps rhetoric demonises asylum seekers and stirs racist hatred. This week the president oversaw a clean out of the department of homeland security, firing Kirstjen Nielsen and appointing a senior Customs and Border agency official, Kevin McAleenan, to oversee an even tougher approach to try and halt the number of Central American migrants arriving at the border. The firing of Ms Nielsen, who apparently sought to push back at Mr Trumps efforts at reducing the USs obligations to asylum seekers under international law, was reportedly orchestrated by Mr Miller, 33. He is said to have leaked unflattering immigration information to conservative news outlets and then placed those reports in front of the president. Not everyone in the Miller clan agrees with the White House approach to immigration. Mr Millers uncle, David Glosser, a retired neuropsychologist who volunteers with refugees in Philadelphia, has spoken out against them. The worse that one group treats another group, the greater their need to demonise that group in order to justify their repression or exploitation of them, he told Democracy Now. Families belong together protests over Trump immigration policy Show all 8 1 /8 Families belong together protests over Trump immigration policy Families belong together protests over Trump immigration policy Mishawaka, Indiana AP Families belong together protests over Trump immigration policy Washington DC AFP/Getty Images Families belong together protests over Trump immigration policy New York Mayor Bill De Blasio speaks in Tornillo, Texas alongside the many other US mayors who have called for detained immigrant children to be reunited with their families AP Families belong together protests over Trump immigration policy Albuquerque Mayor Tim Kelle leaves a teddy bear as a gift for detained immigrant children in Tornillo, Texas AP Families belong together protests over Trump immigration policy Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti leave sandals as gifts for detained immigrant children in Tornillo, Texas AP Families belong together protests over Trump immigration policy San Diego, California EPA Families belong together protests over Trump immigration policy US embassy, Mexico City AFP/Getty Images Families belong together protests over Trump immigration policy San Diego, California EPA So here we see Trump spewing vitriol and lies regarding the asylum seekers and trying to characterise them all as gangsters, criminals or even using the word, having implied that theyre vermin, during his explosive rants before the midterms. It doesnt really represent the reality at all. He added: And its the sameits the same racial and ethnic hatred thats faced other ethnic groups trying to come into the country at other times in our history. Theres really nothing new about it. Amid reports Mr Trump wanted to reintroduce the controversial policy of family separation, a tactic that was last year halted by a federal judge, Mr Mr Glosser said he drew little legal distinction between separating children from their parents and holding them prisoner, with no clear intention of ever reuniting them, with taking hostages taking in time of war. Jake Tapper cuts off Stephen Miller on CNN: 'I've wasted enough of my viewers' time' The fact that theres been a spike in the flood of families fleeing from the failed states in Central America is not a problem for Trump. Thats his opportunity. Thats essentially the only thing he has to offer to his red meat base, said Mr Glosser. He was elected.in large part, because he was willing to stir up and divide, and to stir up ethnic hatreds and fears and anxieties about so-called invaders. This is not the first time Mr Glosser has denounced his nephews policies. Last year, he wrote a piece for Politico headlined Stephen Miller is an immigration hypocrite. I know because Im his uncle. In the article, he said Mr Millers families were refugees from Belarus. He wrote: I have watched with dismay and increasing horror as my nephew, an educated man who is well aware of his heritage, has become the architect of immigration policies that repudiate the very foundation of our familys life in this country. The swamp has risen. Donning green face masks and appearing as monsters that just stepped out of a haunting marsh, a group of environmental advocates delivered a near-170,000-signature petition to senate majority leader Mitch McConnells office on Wednesday to oppose Donald Trumps nominee to lead the Department of Interior, David Bernhardt. The swamp monsters were from Greenpeace, a global environmental justice group that has fought back against the White Houses environmental deregulation and the administrations lack of progress on climate change reform. Irene Kim, a Greenpeace USA activist who helped deliver the petitions to the Senate Majority Leader's offices, said in a statement to The Independent: Is it weird that I put on my best suit and a swamp monster mask to pay a visit to Mitch McConnells office? Sure. But not as weird as putting [oil industry lobbyist and acting US secretary of the interior] David Bernhardt in charge of our countrys public lands and waters. Bernhardt is the ultimate swamp creature a career lobbyist whos spent his two years inside the White House making his former clients dreams come true, she continued. Today, the Senate will be confronted with Bernhardts shady dealings and conflicts of interest. Even if they choose to look the other way, we the people will not. Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Show all 20 1 /20 Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Donald Trump's Cabinet Donald Trump's Cabinet is one the richest in American history, filled with billionaires, conservatives and several career politicians. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Mike Pence US Vice President Mike Pence has defended Donald Trump throughout his presidency while walking a fine line to avoid any public involvement in major scandals. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Mike Pompeo Secretary of State Mike Pompeo replaced Donald Trump's previous appointment to the post, Rex Tillerson, and has led talks with North Korea in establishing high-profile summits between the president and Kim Jong Un. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Wilbur Ross Secretary of Commerce Wibur Ross raised controversy when he was accused of falsely claiming to have sold stock in a bank and violated a government ethics agreement. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Robert Lighthizer US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has been a fixture in Donald Trump's ongoing trade spat with China. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet William Barr Attorney General William Barr replaced Jeff Sessions as the nation's top cop in early 2019 and has refused to commit to recusing himself from the Russia probe despite an unsolicited memo he sent to the Justice Department decrying the investigation. EPA Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Rick Perry Energy Secretary Rick Perry has held his post throughout Donald Trump's presidency despite previously undermining the need for the agency he now leads in past public statements. Ken Shipp / United States Department of Energy Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Betsy DeVos Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has also held her post throughout the presidency, despite major backlash to her apparent undermining of the nationwide public school system and advocacy for charter programmes. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Steven Mnuchin Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has faced numerous controversies throughout his tenure as the head of Treasury, including costing taxpayers at least a million dollars in travel expenses. AP Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Robert Wilkie Veterans Affairs secretary Robert Wilkie was appointed after Donald Trump's White House doctor Ronny Jackson withdrew over allegations he provided prescription drugs to patients without prescriptions. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet David Bernhardt Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt took office in January 2019 after the resignation of Ryan Zinke after previously serving as Zinke's deputy. Before taking office Bernhardt worked for many years as a solicitor for the Department of the Interior. Tami Heilemann / United States Department of the Interior Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Elaine Chao Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has held her post throughout the presidency and has mostly avoided controversy, despite a report claiming her office has been in frequent coordination with her husband's, Mitch McConnell. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Kevin McAleenan Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan took over from Kirstjen Nielsen after she resigned in April 2019. He previously worked as the executive director of the executive director of the Office of Anti Terrorism in the Customs and Border Protection agency United States Customs and Border Protection Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Ben Carson Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson was appointed shortly after Donald Trump took office and raised controversy over an exorbitant furnishing bill for his office. Reuters Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Gina Haspel CIA Director Gina Haspel was appointed in 2018 and faced backlash surrounding her oversight of Guantanamo Bay. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Dan Coats Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats could be the next person to leave Donald Trump's administration over his refuting the president's claims surrounding ISIS. Reuters Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Sonny Perdue Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has been dogged by ethics questions throughout his tenure and faced controversy when emails showed the agency appeared willing to eagerly work with lobbyists under his leadership. Reuters Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Alex Azar Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is a former pharmaceutical lobbyist and former drug company executive. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Mick Mulvaney Acting Chief of Staff and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney has described himself as one of the most conservative officials in the White House. EPA Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Robert Wilkie Secretary of State for Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie has spent his career on Capitol Hill serving in various roles in foreign affairs and defence. He holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force Reserve. Gene Russell / United States Department of Veterans Affairs One of the swamp monster activists drew attention last week when she sat in on Mr Bernhardts confirmation hearings before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for several hours donning a green face mask throughout the event. Greenpeace tweeted a screenshot from C-SPANs livestream of the hearing featuring the swamp monster prominently displayed just behind Mr Bernhardt at the time, writing, One of these swamp creatures is a former oil lobbyist who could be in charge of 'protecting' the countrys public lands and waters guess which one? The environmental group has been joined by other progressive organisations in its petition opposing Mr Bernhardts nomination, including Daily Kos, People Demanding Action, CREDO Action and SierraRise, among others. Their petition describes Mr Bernhardt as a veteran oil and gas lobbyist who has helped push the expansion of drilling at the Interior Department, to serve as its next secretary. As deputy secretary, Bernhardt played an active role in the Trump administration's push to open public lands to fossil fuel and mining interests, it reads. Recently, he led the interior during the historic 35-day government shutdown and irresponsibly instructed parks to remain open while understaffed, putting visitors at risk and resulting in widespread damage. He also authorised the parks use visitor fees to cover maintenance costs and day-to-day operations during the shutdown - a move that some said was illegal. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events A representative for Greenpeace told The Independent the swamp monsters had this to say about Mr Trumps appointee during his confirmation hearings last week: David Bernhardt is one of us. He's down here in the muck every day advocating for the dirty fossil fuels we swamp monsters love. The Trump administration plans to aggressively push for tougher screening of asylum seekers that will make it vastly more difficult for migrants fleeing persecution in their home countries to win protection in the United States, a senior administration official told reporters on Tuesday. The official said that President Trump ordered a shake-up of his top immigration officials in recent days because they were moving too slowly, or even actively obstructing, the presidents desire to confront the surge of migrants at the southwestern border. The asylum changes are among many policies the president wants to put into effect with a new team in place, the official said. Mr Trump denied on Tuesday that one of those changes would be to restart his policy of separating migrant families at the border, though he said that the act of taking children from their parents which drew global condemnation before he abandoned it last summer was effective. Now Ill tell you something, once you dont have it, thats why you see many more people coming, Mr Trump said. They are coming like its a picnic, because, Lets go to Disneyland. The administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity even as Mr Trump was making his remarks, said a modified version of family separation, in which parents are given a choice of whether to be separated or to accept indefinite detention alongside their children, continues to be under consideration. Clubs and churches helping Berlin to become home for migrants Show all 15 1 /15 Clubs and churches helping Berlin to become home for migrants Clubs and churches helping Berlin to become home for migrants Syrian migrant Haidar Darwish tries on a head ornament in his flat in Berlin Reuters Clubs and churches helping Berlin to become home for migrants Haidar working at Brunos shop in Berlin Reuters Clubs and churches helping Berlin to become home for migrants Haidar performing during a show at Silverfuture club Reuters Clubs and churches helping Berlin to become home for migrants Haidar performing during a show at Silverfuture club Reuters Clubs and churches helping Berlin to become home for migrants Visitors at Silverfuture club cheer during the show Reuters Clubs and churches helping Berlin to become home for migrants Haidar performing during a show at Silverfuture club Reuters Clubs and churches helping Berlin to become home for migrants Haidar Darwishs passport lies on a shelf in his flat Reuters Clubs and churches helping Berlin to become home for migrants Afghan migrant Ali Mohammad Rezaie poses on the motorbike of his German friends Chris and Jochen in Berlin Reuters Clubs and churches helping Berlin to become home for migrants Ali attending choir practice organised by the neighbourhood association Kiezspinne in Berlin Reuters Clubs and churches helping Berlin to become home for migrants Ali and his German friends Chris and Jochen eat together at his flat Reuters Clubs and churches helping Berlin to become home for migrants Joseph Saliba, a Syrian migrant of Christian background, walks to the Berlin Cathedral Reuters Clubs and churches helping Berlin to become home for migrants Joseph lacquers a church ambo at the Berlin Cathedral Reuters Clubs and churches helping Berlin to become home for migrants Joseph works in a workshop inside the Berlin Cathedral Reuters Clubs and churches helping Berlin to become home for migrants Joseph sorts his tools Reuters Clubs and churches helping Berlin to become home for migrants Joseph poses with a cross and his name tag Reuters But the so-called binary choice proposal is not ripe for White House consideration right now, he insisted, because the government does not currently have the detention space to hold families if the policy were put in place. The asylum changes being envisioned could drastically alter the role that the United States plays as a refuge for people fleeing poverty, violence and war. American and international laws require it to allow migrants to request asylum once they come to the country. But the official said that an initial assessment of the basis for a request for asylum known as a credible fear screening too often accepts the claim that the migrant was persecuted. The official also said that many more asylum seekers should be rejected during that first step. Out of 97,728 completed interviews with migrants in the fiscal year that ended on 30 September 2018, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services confirmed a credible fear of persecution 74,677 times, according to an agency official. Changes in the screening process could drastically lower those findings by requiring more proof from asylum seekers that they would be persecuted in their home countries. Screeners could also try to verify migrant claims by using State Department assessments of the threats that exist in those countries. Donald Trump says he isn't going to 'shoot undocumented immigrants but shooting immigrants would be very effective' Immigrant rights advocates have feared for months that the administration would try to change the standards by which asylum seekers are judged in an effort to prevent more of them from coming into the United States. The administration official blamed the delay in that effort on deep state bureaucrats at the Department of Homeland Security and even the presidents own political appointees in the department, whom the official described as lacking the management skills to push Mr Trumps agenda. The official declined to name specific administration officials who have failed. But he made thinly veiled references to two top officials at the Department of Homeland Security: John Mitnick, the departments general counsel, and L. Francis Cissna, the head of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. He said there was clearly a track record in which the presidents policies have not been advanced. In his remarks on Tuesday, Mr Trump falsely said that President Barack Obama had embraced the same policy of routinely separating migrant children from their parents at the border. Man goes on rant in Brixton McDonald's about immigrants, claiming 'white men built the world' President Obama had child separation, Mr Trump said during brief remarks in the Oval Office, where he was meeting with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt. Im the one that stopped it. Under Mr Obama and President George W. Bush, immigration officials sometimes separated families when they had reason to question parentage or when there was evidence of child abuse. The Trump administration instituted a policy in which all families who crossed the border illegally were separated in order to allow the parents to be prosecuted under the administrations zero tolerance policy. More than 2,700 children were separated from their parents at the border before Mr Trump ended the policy in June 2018. The presidents comments come after he shook up the senior ranks of the Department of Homeland Security, forcing the resignation of the secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, and top immigration officials in a move that signalled a pending shift in immigration policies. Also on Tuesday, the acting deputy secretary of homeland security, Claire Grady, who was next in line by law to become the acting secretary, submitted her resignation, according to a Twitter post by Ms. Nielsen. Ms. Gradys resignation paves the way for Kevin McAleenan, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, to take the role. Customs and Border Protection officials this week underscored Mr Trumps concern about illegal immigration by announcing that more than 103,000 migrants crossed the southwestern border in March without authorization, an increase from the more than 76,000 migrants who crossed in February. Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border Show all 23 1 /23 Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border A group of migrants climb the US border fence in Tijuana AFP/Getty Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border A group of migrants cross the dried up Tijuana river AFP/Getty Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border Mexico police emerge from a cloud of tear gas Reuters Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border Mexico police work to keep migrants from getting over the border with the US AP Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border US border patrol agents stand guard as migrant seek to cross the border at Tijuana Reuters Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border Adults help a child over the US border fence AFP/Getty Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border Migrants near the US border in Tijuana Reuters Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border Migrants climb the US border fence in Tijuana AFP/Getty Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border Migrants clash with riot police as they near the US border in Tijuana Reuters Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border A migrant is detained by US border patrol officers after illegally crossing the border Reuters Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border A group of migrants cross the dried up Tijuana river Reuters Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border Tear gas is deployed at the border Reuters Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border A group of migrants make their way to the US border fence Reuters Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border A migrant man wears a homemade gas mask Reuters Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border Migrants stand on the banks of the Tijuana river opposite the US border fence Reuters Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border A group of migrants cross the Tijuana river Reuters Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border Migrants gather at the border crossing in Tijuana AP Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border Tear gas is fired by border police to deter migrants EPA Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border A migrant covers his face as tear gas surrounds him Reuters Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border Migrant families seek to cross the US border at Tijuana Reuters Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border Mexico police try to stop migrants from crossing Reuters Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border Migrants force their way through the border fence at Tijuana Reuters Migrants clash with authorities as they seek to cross the US border Reuters Just last month, we saw record numbers of family units and unaccompanied juvenile apprehensions in February, and unfortunately, March apprehension numbers are again record-setting and cause dire concerns for us, said Brian Hastings, the chief of law enforcement operations for the Border Patrol. Most of the migrants 92,000 of the 103,000 were apprehended by Border Patrol agents, meaning they crossed in between the ports of entry. More than 53,000 of those migrants were members of a family, Mr Hastings said, and most of those families were from Honduras, Guatemala or El Salvador. In the first half of fiscal year 2019, Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 385,000 migrants on the border, more than double those apprehended during the same time last year. Mr Hastings said the Border Patrol can generally maintain 4,500 people in its custody. But it recently counted 13,000 migrants in its facilities, and he said the overflow has led to the release of families into cities along the border. Backups have resulted in individuals spending additional time in Border Patrol custody in increasingly crowded conditions, Mr Hastings said. On Tuesday, White House officials announced that the president would appeal a judges ruling that blocked the administrations Migrant Protection Protocols, which require some asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while they wait for their court cases. Mr Trump has recently commended Mexico for doing more to stem migration to the border, but the officials said they have not seen any effect on the number of people crossing it. The numbers arent declining; in fact, were still seeing 3,000 apprehensions per day, Mr Hastings said. Officials also revealed that among the tens of thousands of family members approaching the border each month, just 3,100 people who said they were travelling with relatives were found to have a fraudulent claim. Those people either said they had a child when the individual was over 18 or the groups members were not really related. The New York Times Congress is poised to pass a bill that would hand a major policy victory to the for-profit tax preparation industry, just in time for Tax Day in America. The bill, titled the Taxpayers First Act, is a wide-ranging bill that includes a provision that would ban the US government from developing a free electronic tax filing system, and is supported by companies like Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, and H&R Block. Those companies have lobbied Congress for years now to block the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from developing a free system to help taxpayers file online and would compete with their product, sinking a combined $6.6m into efforts related to the bill just last year. The passage of the provision would safeguard the profits of the private tax preparation corporation, which experts say run a system that makes filing taxes more difficult than it needs to be. This could be a disaster. It could be the final nail in the coffin of the idea of the IRS ever being able to create its own program, Mandi Matlock, a tax lawyer with the National Consumer Law Centre, told ProPublica. 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Show all 10 1 /10 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Luxembourg There are an estimated 2.5 trillion shares of mutual funds registered in the Grand Duchy, 1 trillion of which cannot be traced to an owner 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands contain 6% of the world's total banking assets, but just 0.000008% of its population 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Isle of Man David Cameron has said the Isle of Man, where there is no corporation, capital gains or inheritance tax, should not be considered a tax haven 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Jersey There are over 3.5 billion assets per square mile on the self-governing Channel Island 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Ireland Ireland made headlines last year when it emerged Apple was registered in the country in order to dodge over 40bn in taxes 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Mauritius The Mauritian government notionally charges corporation tax, but companies can easily make this back through generous tax credits for foreign businesses 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Bermuda Google holds more than 30bn in offshore cash reserves, primarily via Bermuda 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Monaco A popular domicile for super-rich private individuals, Monaco has the most expensive property in the world. 1 million will buy just 225 square feet 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Switzerland Switzerland has such secretive banking laws that it took until the 1990s to secure the release of Nazi cash reserves 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Bahamas David Cameron's father ran an offshore fund which hired Bahamas residents to complete paperwork, thus dodging British tax bills The legislation received a major boost last week after the House Ways and Means Committee voted to advance the legislation. It has bipartisan support in that committee, where it is co-sponsored by Democratic Representative John Lewis and Republican Representative Mike Kelly. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Some 70 per cent of Americans qualify to use free tax-preparer programmes run by the companies in question, but just 3 per cent of eligible taxpayers use the service, according to the Free File Alliance, a private industry group. The new bill is expected to preserve those circumstances, which critics say allows the companies to purposefully under market their free services. The US Midwest will be hit with blizzards and gale-force winds this week, forecasters have said, as a powerful storm threatens to trigger more flooding in the region. High spring temperatures are today expected to give way to heavy snow and life-threatening conditions across a swath of the central US. Patrick Burke, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service (NWS), warned that the storm could cause widespread power outages and road closures. This is potentially a life-threatening storm, he told Reuters. Its slow moving. It wont push farther east until Friday. Bomb cyclone brings floods to US midwest Show all 12 1 /12 Bomb cyclone brings floods to US midwest Bomb cyclone brings floods to US midwest Spencer Dam bursts in Bristow, Nebraska on March 16 Reuters Bomb cyclone brings floods to US midwest Snow drifts on a house in Yoder, Colorado on March 15 AP Bomb cyclone brings floods to US midwest Flooded flats on the Elkhorn River in Nebraska on March 16 Reuters Bomb cyclone brings floods to US midwest A road is flooded after the Pecatonica River burst its banks in Freeport, Illinois on March 18 Getty Bomb cyclone brings floods to US midwest Cars sit in floodwater from the Pecatonica River in Freeport, Illinois on March 18 Getty Bomb cyclone brings floods to US midwest A church is surrounded by floodwater from the Pecatonica River in Freeport, Illinois on March 18 Getty Bomb cyclone brings floods to US midwest A church is surrounded by floodwater from the Pecatonica River in Freeport, Illinois on March 18 Getty Bomb cyclone brings floods to US midwest Cars sit in floodwater from the Pecatonica River in Freeport, Illinois on March 18 Getty Bomb cyclone brings floods to US midwest Flooding in Valley, Nebraska on March 16 Reuters Bomb cyclone brings floods to US midwest A damaged highway in Nebraska on March 16 Reuters Bomb cyclone brings floods to US midwest Abandoned cars on the side of Highway 94 in Yoder, Colorado AP Bomb cyclone brings floods to US midwest A handout picture made available by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows winter storm Ulmer becoming a 'bomb cyclone' EPA The storm has already sparked flood evacuations in Oregon and caused flooding in Washington state. Some areas of western Minnesota and southeast South Dakota are likely to experience up to 30 inches snow. The same region is still recovering from last months bomb cyclone which brought deadly flooding and blizzards, causing billions of dollars in damage. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The NWS said that the coming storm is likely to exacerbate flooding along the Missouri River in areas where dozens of levees were breached in March. The storm is expected to weaken and push off into the Great Lakes area and northern Michigan on Friday, bringing more rain and snow, forecasters said. Additional reporting by agencies The Dalai Lama has been admitted to hospital with a chest infection, an aide has said. Tenzin Taklha, the Tibetan spiritual leader's personal secretary, added that the 83-year-old Buddhist monk's condition was stable. "Today morning his holiness felt some discomfort," he said, adding that he had been flown to a hospital in the Indian capital New Dehli from the hill town of Dharamshala where he lives. The Dalai Lama, who fled to the country in early 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule and lives there in exile. India officially calls him its "most esteemed and honoured guest." "Doctors have diagnosed him with chest infection and he is being treated for that," Mr Taklha said. "His condition is stable now. He will be treated for two three days here." Dalai Lama's best words of wisdom Show all 6 1 /6 Dalai Lama's best words of wisdom Dalai Lama's best words of wisdom Dalai Lama "Common sense tells us well be happy even if were poor if were warm-hearted, whereas if were wealthy but self-centred well be miserable." Getty Images Dalai Lama's best words of wisdom Dalai Lama "With the realization of ones own potential and self-confidence in ones ability, one can build a better world." Ashwini Bhatia Dalai Lama's best words of wisdom Dalai Lama "It is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others" EPA Dalai Lama's best words of wisdom Dalai Lama "Love and kindness are the very basis of society. If we lose these feelings, society will face tremendous difficulties; the survival of humanity will be endangered." Dylan Martinez /REUTERS Dalai Lama's best words of wisdom Dalai Lama My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness. This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness." 2004 Getty Images Dalai Lama's best words of wisdom Dalai Lama "No-one can afford to assume that someone else will solve their problems. Every individual has a responsibility to help guide our global family in the right direction." Getty Images Revered as a living god by millions of Tibetan Buddhists, the Dalai Lam has travelled the globe, becoming both a cultural and religious icon. However, he decided to cut his busy schedule last year, citing citing age and exhaustion. Many of the up to 100,000 Tibetans living in India are worried that their fight for a genuinely autonomous homeland would end with the Dalai Lama. Last month he said that it was possible that once he dies his incarnation could be found in India and warned that any other successor named by China would not be respected. China, which took control of Tibet in 1950, brands the Nobel peace laureate a dangerous separatist. It has said its leaders have the right to approve the Dalai Lama's successor, as a legacy inherited from China's emperors. But many Tibetans - whose tradition holds that the soul of a senior Buddhist monk is reincarnated in the body of a child on his death - suspect any Chinese role as a ploy to exert influence on the community. Traditionally, the title is bestowed on the highest-ranking leader in Tibetan Buddhism. It is given to those deemed to be the reincarnation of a line of revered religious teachers. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Asked in a recent interview what might happen after his death, the Dalai Lama anticipated a possible attempt by Beijing to foist a successor on Tibetan Buddhists. He said that if two Dalai Lamas were to appear "nobody will respect" the one chosen by China. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in March the "reincarnation of living Buddhas including the Dalai Lama must comply with Chinese laws and regulations and follow religious rituals and historical conventions." The Police Federation has joined the backlash against anti-gay laws in Brunei by moving its annual bravery awards away from the Dorchester hotel. Chairman of the organisation John Apter said on Twitter that doing nothing was not an option after the tiny but extremely wealthy Asian nation brought in a punishment of stoning to death for gay sex. Actor George Clooney and Sir Elton John were among celebrities who announced they would no longer stay at any of a string of luxury hotels including the Dorchester which are owned by the Sultan of Brunei. Mr Apter said: I can confirm that following recent events we have made the decision to move the PFEW-HQ Bravery Awards away from the Dorchester Hotel. My values, the PFEW and policing as a whole would not allow us to be associated with such a regime. In a second tweet he went on: This decision does not reflect on the staff at the Dorchester Hotel however, doing nothing was not an option. An alternative venue has been identified and I will make sure the Bravery Awards are as special as they have always been. This is the right decision. The Brunei Investment Agency (BIA), through the Dorchester Collection, owns Londons the Dorchester and 45 Park Lane as well as Coworth Park in Berkshire. Crowd breaks down barriers outside London's Dorchester Hotel as protest against Brunei's anti-LGBT laws gets underway Also in its portfolio of hotels, among the worlds most exclusive, are two of Hollywoods best-known establishments, the Bel-Air and the Beverly Hills. The Police Federation represents more than 119,000 officers in England and Wales up to the rank of chief inspector. Its annual bravery awards are held to celebrate extraordinary feats of courage. In a further statement issued through the Police Federation, Mr Apter said hotel management had refunded the deposit for the event and been incredibly understanding. He said: We cannot in all conscience support a regime which is so fundamentally opposed to the values of respect, diversity and equality we hold so highly within our organisation and policing as a whole. The A-list boycotting the Sultan of Brunei's Dorchester Hotel Collection Show all 11 1 /11 The A-list boycotting the Sultan of Brunei's Dorchester Hotel Collection The A-list boycotting the Sultan of Brunei's Dorchester Hotel Collection Stephen Fry Cancelled in nick of time: discovered [Coworth Park] that I was booked into is part of the Dorchester Collection, he tweeted in April, just before controversial laws making homosexuality punishable by stoning to death were passed by the hotel chain's owner, the Sultan of Brunei. Corbis The A-list boycotting the Sultan of Brunei's Dorchester Hotel Collection Anna Wintour "While I am sensitive to the potential impact that this issue may have on the wonderful staff at Le Meurice, I cannot in all good conscience stay there, nor can Vogue's editors," the US Vogue editor said as she declared hers and Conde Nast's boycott on the Dorchester Collection. AP The A-list boycotting the Sultan of Brunei's Dorchester Hotel Collection Richard Branson "No @Virgin employee, nor our family, will stay at Dorchester Hotels until the Sultan abides by basic human rights," Sir Branson tweeted in May. Getty Images The A-list boycotting the Sultan of Brunei's Dorchester Hotel Collection Jay Leno Jay Leno joined protesters in a street march against the Sultan of Brunei and declared his boycott on the leader's international business exploits. Getty The A-list boycotting the Sultan of Brunei's Dorchester Hotel Collection Ellen DeGeneres "I won't be visiting the Hotel Bel-Air or the Beverly Hills Hotel until this is resolved," the chat show host tweeted, posting a link to a story about stoning homosexuals to death. Getty The A-list boycotting the Sultan of Brunei's Dorchester Hotel Collection Sharon Osbourne Boycott fan Sharon Osbourne called the Sultan's anti-gay laws "the actions of a barbarian". She also recently denied ordering take away from the Beverly Hills Hotel. Getty The A-list boycotting the Sultan of Brunei's Dorchester Hotel Collection Francois Henri Pinault The influential French billionaire and chief executive of luxury fashion company Kering joined the campaign in April. Getty The A-list boycotting the Sultan of Brunei's Dorchester Hotel Collection Paul McCartney The Beatles star eschewed staying in any of the Dorchester Collections residences over the Sultan of Brunei's human rights issues. AP The A-list boycotting the Sultan of Brunei's Dorchester Hotel Collection Stella McCartney The fashion designer, along with her father, was one of the first to boycott the Dorchester Collection Hotels. Corbis The A-list boycotting the Sultan of Brunei's Dorchester Hotel Collection Brian Atwood As was shoe designer Brian Atwood, who opposed Brunai's 'stone the gays' laws, passed in April. Getty The A-list boycotting the Sultan of Brunei's Dorchester Hotel Collection Peter Som Another fashion designer, Peter Som, reiterated Atwood's message and boycotted the hotel. Getty And although the decision is no reflection on the staff of the hotel itself who have always done their utmost to ensure that the event is a success, it is the right one. Local management at the hotel has reimbursed us after cancelling the deposit and have been incredibly understanding in these circumstances for which I am grateful. Press Association When we look at each of these events, we see atrocities which should not be here, Melnick said. We need kindness. Never again means this, too, and we have to prevent it from happening ever again. While devoted followers of the Islamic State group, a man and woman bought a 5-year-old Yazidi girl in Iraq to use as a slave, then let her die of thirst in the scorching heat, German authorities contend. The trial of the woman began Tuesday one of the highest-profile cases against a female member of the terrorist group. The prosecution stems largely from the words of the defendant, who was desperate to return last year to Isis, and found someone willing to drive her to the Middle East. Unknown to her, the driver was working with the German security services, and he recorded their conversations as she told him all about her life in the organisation. The 27-year-old German woman, identified only as Jennifer W. in keeping with German privacy law, showed no emotion during the 15 minutes it took a judge in Munich to read out the charges against her, which include murder, war crimes, membership in a foreign terror organisation and weapons violations. No pleas are entered in German courts, and the defendant, wearing a white blouse, black slacks and a black cardigan, declined to make a statement. Her lawyer did not say whether she would say anything during the proceedings, which are scheduled to continue until September. But the Yazidi girls mother, whose identity has not been released, is expected to testify, providing both key evidence and the emotional heart of the case. The mother, who says she was also held as a slave by the German woman and her husband, is serving as a co-plaintiff in the trial but was not in court for the opening proceedings. Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Show all 17 1 /17 Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Nagan, 12, is one of 180,000 Syrian refugee children Unicef has identified as OOSC (Out Of School Children) who have been forced into work in Lebanon Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year The majestic snow capped mountains overlooking al-Wafa refugee camp in Arsal, Lebanon. It is home to 700 refugees who fled their homes at the outbreak of civil war in 2012 Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Fuda al-Bareesh, 92, spends her days in solitude at Alsalam 2 camp in Arsal, Lebanon. She made the journey from Syria across the mountains alone on a donkey Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Kareemah, 21, mother of two from Chebaa, southern Lebanon. She is unsure how her family will be able to afford basics like food and fuel if aid is cut off Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Exercising patience in the cold, men and women wait to collect winter fuel at Alsalam camp, Arsal. Gifted by Muslim Aid UK donors, each family receives 20 litres enough for two days of continuous heat Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year The view to the snow covered mountains through the cracked pane of glass at al-Wafa camp Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year At al-Wafa refugee camp in Arsal, Abdul Al Moamen, 10, sits in tears Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Ahmed, 3, helps his eldest brother to move the empty plastic jerry cans along the line as they get refilled at a fuel distribution centre Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Qaram, 8, was orphaned when her father was killed by Isis. She is in desperate need of an operation to save her sight. Instead of going to school, she works eight-hour shifts each day on a nearby farm Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Ahmed Fawzi, Lebanon country director for Muslim Aid, comforts Abdul al-Moamen Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Bisan, 5, plays with friends in among puddles of rainwater from recent storms Norma and Miriam Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Amina Safadi is a beneficiary of the Primary Healthcare Centre in Chebaa, Lebanon. The ICRC-accredited facility welcomes the most marginalised Lebanese residents as well as Syrian refugees. Safadi says she has no idea what she would do if the service was unavailable Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year The queue for fuel at a fuel distribution centre in Arsal Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Hadi, 6, waits with aid workers whilst his mother collects heating fuel for the familys stove Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Fuel bowser delivers aid to the 700 residents at al-Wafa camp Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year The child workers of Lebanon. Unicef says 180,000 children are working on farms and in factories Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Ahmed Slabi and his five children. What are my choices now for me and my family? It's bad here or worse in Syria. He feels dependent on international aid, a social pariah and beggar in a country that is not his own Paddy Dowling Our client would like to see justice served, as well as the opportunity to finally give a full account of her suffering and that of her daughter, one of the womans lawyers, Natalie von Wistinghausen, said in a statement. The girls mother is also represented by Amal Clooney, an international human rights lawyer. When ISIS overran northern Iraq in 2014, thousands of Yazidi women and girls were abducted and sold to ISIS members as slaves. They also became victims of brutal sexual assault. According to the indictment, Jennifer W. and her husband bought a 5-year-old girl in summer 2015 from a group of prisoners of war and kept her in their home as a slave. After the girl fell ill and wet her mattress, the defendants husband punished the girl by chaining her up outside in the searing heat and leaving her in great agony to die of thirst, prosecutors said. The defendant let her husband do as he liked, and took no action to save the girl. Amal Clooney says Donald Trump has given regimes a 'green light' Officials have not identified the husband, but German news media have reported he is an ISIS member, believed to be living in the region where Iraq borders Turkey. If convicted, Jennifer W. faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. The trial is important for all Yazidi survivors, said Nadia Murad, a Yazidi activist who survived being forced into sexual slavery by ISIS and went on to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Every survivor I have met and spoken to is waiting for the same thing for the perpetrators to be prosecuted for their crimes against Yazidis, including women and children. The mother of the girl was found with the help of Yazda, an organisation that has been documenting crimes committed against the Yazidi minority since 2015. Germany is struggling with how to handle dozens of women who left the country for Syria and Iraq, many of whom married ISIS fighters, and now have children who are German citizens. While they are legally allowed to return home, many Germans do not want to see them allowed back without being tried for their roles in supporting the terror organisation. But German law requires concrete proof of wrongdoing, so without evidence like photos showing them posing with weapons, or social media accounts where they spread propaganda or sought to recruit others, it can be difficult to bring charges against them. In the case of Jennifer W., prosecutors were helped by her own eagerness to tell the man who offered to drive her as far as Turkey about her life in ISIS. U.S. intelligence officials had tipped off their colleagues in Germany about the woman, allowing the Germans to set her up with a driver, whose car was bugged, German news media reported. She told the driver about leaving her home in northwestern Germany in August 2014 and making her way through Turkey and Syria to Iraq. Once she arrived, prosecutors said, she joined the Islamic State group and swiftly rose through the ranks, becoming a member of the Hisbah, the morality police, patrolling the parks of the Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Mosul. Her job was to make sure that women were upholding the terror organisations dress and behaviour codes, they said. To intimidate them, she carried an AK-47 machine gun, a pistol and an explosive vest. In January 2016, she visited the German Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, and Turkish authorities arrested her. They deported her to Germany, where she was allowed to go free. According to prosecutors, she spent the next two years working to return to ISIS-controlled territory and found someone to take her most of the way there. She and the driver set out, and she was arrested last June, after telling her story but before they had left Germany. The New York Times When the Russian prison service decided to offer yoga classes to inmates a year ago in a bid to reduce aggression and illness the scheme was certainly seen as exotic. Few imagined it would have caused such controversy. All that changed when the uber-conservative lawmaker Yelena Mizulina wrote a letter to the prosecutor-general, forwarding "expert analysis" that suggested the yoga practice would lead to an outbreak of homosexuality. Not only did the practice provoke uncontrollable sexual arousal that could lead to homosexuality, it could even lead to hunger strikes and rioting, the conclusions read. The letter, since leaked to the Russian press, was so shocking that the system switched into overdrive. Classes were halted in March, and a full investigation began. Now, the prison service has come to the aid of the yogis, with deputy prisons chief Valery Maximenko vowing on Sunday to reinstate the classes. Yoga with lemurs Show all 13 1 /13 Yoga with lemurs Yoga with lemurs Lemoga Lemoga Owen Humphreys/PA Yoga with lemurs Lemoga Lemoga Owen Humphreys/PA Yoga with lemurs Lemoga Lemoga Owen Humphreys/PA Yoga with lemurs Lemoga Lemoga Owen Humphreys/PA Yoga with lemurs Lemoga Lemoga Owen Humphreys/PA Yoga with lemurs Lemoga Lemoga Owen Humphreys/PA Yoga with lemurs Lemoga Lemoga Owen Humphreys/PA Yoga with lemurs Lemoga Lemoga Owen Humphreys/PA Yoga with lemurs Lemoga Lemoga Owen Humphreys/PA Yoga with lemurs Lemoga Lemoga Owen Humphreys/PA Yoga with lemurs Lemoga Lemoga Owen Humphreys/PA Yoga with lemurs Lemoga Lemoga Owen Humphreys/PA Yoga with lemurs Lemoga Lemoga Owen Humphreys/PA The experiment in yoga had already provided clear results in improving health and reducing doctor visits among inmates, he told local radio. There was no reason to suggest it induced homosexuality, he added. Even if it did, homosexuality was not illegal in Russia: We live in a democracy and everyone has the right to choose his own path, he said. Following public outcry, Ms Mizulina has also distanced herself from reports that she ever wanted to ban the practice. She had only ever intended to forward "expertise" sent to her by the prominent Orthodox theologian Alexander Dvorkin, she told state news agencies. Anything that suggested otherwise was fake news and hysteria. Ms Mizulina now plans to make a test case for Russias recently passed and much-criticised laws on fake news and offending officials. In comments to The Independent, the theologian Mr Dvorkin expressed anger that the contents of a private letter had been leaked illegally. His criticism had been focused on the providers of the yoga classes, he said, which had links to a pseudo-cult. The gay angle was trash and had nothing to do with the story. Broga - the new trend? Why more men are doing yoga Both Ms Mizulina and Mr Dvorkin are prominent members of Russias influential conservative wing. Ms Mizulina, in particular, has become somewhat of a byword for reactionary conservatism in Russia. She is most remembered for her central role in drafting the infamous 2013 anti-gay law banning propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among minors. But she has also played a role in many other controversial bills, from banning free abortion (which ultimately didn't pass) to introducing a ban on US nationals adopting Russian orphans, which did pass. Ms Mizulina also railed against the iPhone, describing it as an instrument for sexual abuse. Isis-inspired attackers are three times more likely to be described as terrorists than white supremacists and far-right killers, research has suggested. Analysis showed that Islamists were called terrorists in 78 per cent of news coverage, but far-right extremists were only identified using the label in 27 per cent of articles. A Muslim can be expected to be immediately labelled a terrorist, whilst the media is hesitant to apply this term to white people, the research from media monitor Signal AI concluded. Reporting on Islamic extremist attacks is quantifiably different to reporting on far-right attacks the gap is vast. Researchers called the overall findings striking but uncomfortably unsurprising. UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Show all 14 1 /14 UK terror plots that were foiled by security services UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Oxford Street terror plot Lewis Ludlow was jailed for life in March 2019 for planning a 'spectacular multi-victim attack' on Oxford Street in London. He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey last year to plotting an attack in the UK and funding Isis abroad EPA UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Rosie Cooper MP plot Jack Renshaw admitted plotting to kill his local Labour MP with a machete in June 2018. Renshaw bought a 19in machete intending to use it to kill Rosie Cooper, MP for West Lancashire. His plan was foiled by whistleblower Robbie Mullen, who heard of the plot in a meeting of alleged and convicted National Action members in the Friar Penketh pub in Warrington Hope Not Hate UK terror plots that were foiled by security services 'Poppy terror plot' Nadir Ali Sayed, his cousin Yousaf Shah Syed, and Haseeb Hamayoon, were charged with terrorism offences over an alleged plot to behead a member of public. The trio were arrested in London and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire on 6 November - three days before Remembrance Sunday in 2014 PA UK terror plots that were foiled by security services National Action arrests Following the arrest of six men in 2018 on suspicion that they were members of the banned far-right terror group National Action, two were jailed. Christopher Lythgoe was found to be leader of the banned group and jailed for eight years, while Matthew Hankinson was jailed for six years. While it was found that Lythgoe did not encourage Jack Renshaw's plot to kill a Labour MP, the judge noted that he "did nothing to stop or discourage" the attack PA UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Shane Fletcher A self-described 'loner', Fletcher planned to kill members of the public at a football match in his home town of Workington. He had been referred to the government's Prevent programme nine moths prior to his arrest after stating that he dreamed about "shooting up a mosque" PA UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Heathrow airport arrests A 19-year-old from Coventry man was arrested at London's Heathrow airport on suspicion of preparing for acts of terrorism in November 2014 UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Extradition of Abu Hamza Radical muslim cleric Abu Hamza was extradited to the US in 2014 after having been jailed in the UK for 7 years for 11 offences under the Terrorism Act Getty UK terror plots that were foiled by security services South East Counter Terrorism Unit arrests Six people were arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences after a series of dawn raids in the south of England in October 2014. Three men and three women were detained separately in two properties in Portsmouth, one in Farnborough and one in Greenwich following an operation by the South East Counter Terrorism Unit. Counter-terror officers said they had disrupted what was believed to be the early stages of what could have turned into a significant plot PA UK terror plots that were foiled by security services October 2014 arrests Three men were arrested in central London on 13 October as part of an investigation into Islamist-related terrorism. The arrests come nearly a week after five men were arrested in dawn raids that Whitehall officials said may have foiled the early stages of a plan to attack the UK Peter Macdiarmid/Getty UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Anjem Choudary arrest Anjem Choudary, the radical activist and co-founder of the banned al-Muhajiroun group, was arrested in September 2014 as efforts intensify to disrupt the ideological backers of young British Muslims travelling to fight in foreign conflicts. Mr Choudary was among nine men held on suspicion of supporting a banned terrorist group and encouraging terrorism. The arrests came shortly after Mr Choudary fired off a series of angry tweets after David Cameron called on MPs to back air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria Oli Scarff/Getty UK terror plots that were foiled by security services North West Counter Terrorism Unit funds seizing Police seize 250,000 of cash intended to fund Isis at Manchester Airport and north-west ports. Using powers under the Terrorism Act, the money was confiscated by officers from the North West Counter Terrorism Unit in Ocotber 2014 Getty UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Tarik Hassane arrest A medical student who was offered a place at a London university has been named among four men who are being questioned by counter-terror police after a series of raids across the capital. Tarik Hassane, 21, is believed to have been Tasered when he was arrested on suspicion of being involved in a "significant" Islamist terror plot on 7 October 2015 UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Abu Qatada removed from UK Radical preacher Abu Qatada will not be returning to the UK after being cleared of terror charges in Jordan in 2013 Reuters UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Haider Ahmed knife plot Teenage Isis supporter Haider Ahmed purchased a 15ins hunting knife and threatened to launch a stabbing attack on the Tube. Prosecutors said he may alternatively have been planning to rob someone with the weapon to fund his travel to fight for Isis in Syria He was jailed for preparing an act of terrorism in June 2019 Counter Terrorism Policing South East However, they found the Christchurch shooting was an exception to the rule, and showed the power politicians wield over public discourse. Analyst Ben Moore told The Independent global news reports were influenced by the New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Arderns swift and public classification of the mosque massacres as a terrorist attack. These trends may well begin outside of the media, who follow the example of leaders in the language they use, he added. I suggest that actually politicians in particular can play a role in shaping the narrative around these events. Mr Moore compared coverage of the Christchurch attack to the shooting that left 11 victims dead at a synagogue in the US city of Pittsburgh in October. He said that although the atrocities shared many similarities, both being carried out by white supremacists at places of worship, the global news coverage has been dramatically different. I think the main difference may be that Donald Trump did not call Pittsburgh an act of terror, he added. Many news outlets rely on the information given by police or the government in the immediate aftermath of attacks, and the classification of terrorism and speed with which it is used varies from country to country. The research found that terrorism is less likely to be used as a label on television and radio, potentially for brevity, than in written articles. The analysis analysed more than 200,000 articles, in 80 different languages and covering 11 different attacks over the past 15 months. They included Isis-inspired atrocities in France, Britain, US and Sweden, and white supremacist attacks in the US and Canada. Only a quarter of articles on the Islamist atrocities made no mention of terrorism, but the average for far-right attacks stood at 76 per cent. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The belief that the media treats terrorism unequally depending on the background of the attacker is grounded in the numbers, the research concluded. It came amid increasing warnings over the global rise of far-right extremism. In Britain, security services are taking an increasing role into investigations, which were previously classified as domestic extremism and left to stretched police. The change came after the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox and Finsbury Park attack, while another man was jailed for planning to bomb a mosque on Wednesday. Security services say Islamist terrorism still presents the biggest danger to Britain, but the far-right threat is rising as both sides feed off each other. At least 14 Islamist and four far-right plots have been foiled since March 2017. Airbnb has reversed its plan to delist homes in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank in a move condemned by human rights organisations as outrageous and frankly insulting. The company announced in November it would remove around 200 listings from the area, which is claimed by Palestinians as territory for a future state. On Tuesday Airbnb said it will now allow properties in Israeli settlements to be listed, but will donate all profits from properties in the West Bank to humanitarian aid organisations. Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal by most world powers. Airbnbs decision to support hosting in illegal West Bank settlements is outrageous, Ryvka Barnard, from the War on Want charity, told The Independent. Dropping a few coins into a charity box does not make up for war crimes. She added: Settlements are illegal under international law. They violate the fourth Geneva convention, amounting to a war crime. Abiding by international law is not optional, and making donations to somehow try to cancel out those violations, as Airbnb intends to do, is insulting to the Palestinians suffering from such violations, and makes a mockery of international law. This is a huge mistake by Airbnb who has now put its reputation on the line, and will rightly be targeted in the same way businesses seeking to profit from apartheid South Africa were. Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said Airbnbs decision was frankly insulting. With this disgraceful decision, Airbnb have utterly failed the Palestinian people. Human Rights Watch said: Donating profits from unlawful settlement listings, as [Airbnb] promised to do, does nothing to remedy the human suffering they have acknowledged that their activities cause. By continuing to do business in settlements, they remain complicit in the abuses settlements trigger. But others celebrated the news, including Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the director of a Tel Aviv-based Israeli advocacy group, who said: The policy Airbnb announced last November was abject discrimination against Jewish users of the website. We commend Airbnb for recognising that it had landed on the wrong side of this issue and changing the policy. Israel demolishes West Bank home of Palestinian attacker Airbnbs decision in November led to it being sued in the US by 12 dual American-Israeli citizens who own homes in the settlements. Under the plan, Airbnb users could still book about 20,000 properties in Israel and there would still have been listings in other disputed areas such as East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Announcing a resolution to the case, the company said it will not move forward with implementing the removal of listings in the West Bank from the platform. But Airbnb will take no profits from this activity in the region, the company said in a statement posted on its website, implying it would not distinguish between Israeli settlement listings and Palestinian listings in the West Bank. Any profits generated for Airbnb ... will be donated to non-profit organisations dedicated to humanitarian aid that serve people in different parts of the world. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Israel captured and annexed the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War. More than 400,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, in addition to about 200,000 Israelis in East Jerusalem. Israels ex-army chief Benny Gantz and his centrist alliance have conceded a defeat in the countrys elections, paving the way for incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu to secure a record fifth term in office. Speaking from his Blue and White party headquarters in Tel Aviv, Lt Gen Gantz and his coalition partner Yair Lapid admitted they had not won in this round, but said they were preparing for elections next year a likely reference to Mr Netanyahus possible indictment. The statements came as votes were still being counted on Wednesday evening in a fraught election that bitterly divided the nation and left Mr Netanyahus right-wing Likud party and the Blue and White party deadlocked with 35 seats each. But the tally clearly showed that a right-wing block led by the prime minister and his religious-ultranationalist allies would be set to secure a 65-55-seat majority in parliament, meaning Mr Netanyahu would be tasked by Israels president with forming the next government. We didnt win in this round, I respect the voters, Mr Lapid said, taking to the podium first. I inform the Likud, Netanyahu and the coalition in advance: we are going to make your life miserable ... We will not let go of Netanyahus indictment. We will turn the Knesset into a battlefield. Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Show all 5 1 /5 Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Rafik Halabi, mayor of Daliyat al-Karmel Bel Trew Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Photos of the Druze mayors of Daliyat al-Karmel in Israel ahead of the elections Bel Trew Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Layla Zahrour, a sweet shop owner in Haifa says the Arab community are disillusioned Bel Trew Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Rooa, a Druze woman, says she will not vote in the upcoming Israeli elections Bel Trew Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Many members of the Druze community in Daliyat al-Kamel say they will boycott the upcoming elections over the Nation State Law Bel Trew Mr Gantz spoke second and defended his partys performance, calling the results for the new and unknown alliance unprecedented. Netanyahu collected all the extremists, he consumed his [political] partners and this is the result that we got, he told supporters. Both sides had claimed victory late on Tuesday, as contradictory exit polls pointed initially to a significant Blue and White edge over the Likud. But as the results trickled in, it showed the Blue and White alliance would not be able to secure enough of a margin to build a majority, and their frantic attempts on Wednesday to rally enough support for a coalition failed. World leaders had already taken to social media to congratulate Mr Netanyahu on his win, despite final results yet to be announced. US president Donald Trump, a staunch ally of the premier, said a Likud win meant a better chance for peace. Id like to congratulate Bibi Netanyahu. It looks like that race has been won by him. It may be a little early but Im hearing hes won it and won it in good fashion, he said earlier from the White House. He added: I think we now have a better chance [for peace] with Bibi having won. It followed congratulations from right-wing European leaders including Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Czech president Milos Zeman and Italian deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, who all said they looked forward to working with a Netanyahu-led government. Mr Zeman said he was happy the Israeli people had agreed to the premiers political agenda and once again vowed to move the Czech embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognising the contested city as Israels capital. Mr Netanyahus re-election has been met with dismay by Palestinians, who fear that Israels next government will be the most right-wing yet. Firstly, Likud is bigger and stronger ... the second victory is that the right-wing bloc again recorded a big victory and an increase on the last time Ofer Kenig, Israel Democracy Institute In the stormy lead-up to the elections, Mr Netanyahu vowed to annex Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move that would destroy remaining hopes for Palestinian statehood and is deemed illegal under international law. He had also promised to demolish Bedouin villages. A senior leader in Hamas, the militant group that runs Gaza, dismissed the win, saying: All parties are faces of one coin, the coin of occupation. Ahmed Majdalani, the aide to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, said the outcome of the election meant a boost for what he called the extreme right-wing camp in Israeli politics and vowed to seek the help of the international community to try to block any annexation plans. Hanan Ashrawi, a leading official in the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, said the elections results showed Israel choosing to entrench the status quo of oppression, occupation, annexation and dispossession. Israeli analysts said the elections results gave Mr Netanyahu the mandate to push forward with an even more right-wing government, despite the neck-to-neck seat numbers showing how divided the country was. Dr Ofer Kenig, a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, said the results marked a triple win for Mr Netanyahu and one of the greatest victories for the Likud party in a decade, giving him greater bargaining power in the next government. Firstly, Likud is bigger and stronger, it secured the highest number of seats it ever has under Netanyahus rule. The second victory is that the right-wing bloc again recorded a big victory and an increase on the last time, he told The Independent. He said a third personal win for Mr Netanyahu was the humiliating defeat of the New Right, the party of his boisterous education minister Naftali Bennett, who had repeatedly demanded to be made defence minister. The New Right so far has failed to reach the 3.25 per cent threshold to secure a seat in the Knesset. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has all but secured a record fifth term in office in this neck-and-neck race, leaving his centrist challenger scrabbling on Wednesday to win over coalition partners to form the next government. With over 97 per cent of the vote now counted, the tally showed Mr Netanyahus Likud party and its main rival, the Blue and White party, deadlocked with 35 seats each of the 120 in the Knesset. Both leaders initially claimed an elections win and, off the back of exit polls, delivered almost simultaneous victory speeches late Tuesday. However as the votes continued to come in, Likud and its ultra nationalist ring-wing partners looked set to forge a 65-55 majority in parliament, meaning Mr Netanyahu was more likely to be tasked with forming the next government. Fearing defeat, ex-army chief Benny Gantz, who leads the centrist Blue and White alliance, pleaded with potential partners Wednesday morning. Reports tell an unfinished story. Yes, odds may not seem in our favour but two things are missing: The first is certainty, as there is still a possibility of electoral shifts that will allow us to engage in various political endeavours, Lt. Gen Gantz said in a statement. Our voters wanted a different path and we carved it out for them. We will not stand down from our civil duty to represent over a million citizens who searched for an alternative, he added. Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Show all 5 1 /5 Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Rafik Halabi, mayor of Daliyat al-Karmel Bel Trew Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Photos of the Druze mayors of Daliyat al-Karmel in Israel ahead of the elections Bel Trew Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Layla Zahrour, a sweet shop owner in Haifa says the Arab community are disillusioned Bel Trew Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Rooa, a Druze woman, says she will not vote in the upcoming Israeli elections Bel Trew Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Many members of the Druze community in Daliyat al-Kamel say they will boycott the upcoming elections over the Nation State Law Bel Trew Likud sounded more confident and defiant. Rachel Broyde, a spokeswoman told The Independent: We are already in contact with our partners in the hopes of building a coalition... the vibes are very positive. We are very confident we can build a right-wing coalition. Smaller parties, including the New Right, one of Mr Netanyahus would-be partners, were still fighting for survival. They have to surge past the 3.25 per cent electoral threshold needed to win a seat in the Knesset. Final results are expected on Thursday when the make-up of the parliament will be revealed. Since no single party won an outright majority, Israels President Reuven Rivlin will consult with the leaders of every party that secured seats in the Knesset about who they would prefer to be prime minister. The president will then choose which leader he believes has the best chance of putting together a fresh government. They have 42 days to do so: if they fail another politician is tasked with trying. As it stands, Mr Netanyahu and his Jewish ultra-Orthodox and nationalist partners together appear to have the largest and only majority in the 120-seat parliament. If the premier does secure a victory, it would be his fourth consecutive term and fifth overall, making him Israels longest serving leader, surpassing founding father David Ben-Gurion. This is despite the fact he has campaigned under the shadow of possible indictment. In February, the countrys attorney-general announced he planned to send Mr Netanyahu to trial in three corruption cases, initially delivering a blow to the leaders popularity. Likud ministers at the party headquarters in Tel Aviv early Wednesday told The Independent the fact the leader had secured even more seats this election than the last polls in 2015 with the legal threat to him, proved he had the nations support. Our strategy proved itself... Netanyahu proved he can run the country even under police investigation, Gilad Erdan, Likud Minister of Strategic Affairs said. At the Blue and White base just a few hundred metres away, parliamentarians said that the fact that an entirely new political alliance led by an elections newcomer succeeded in sweeping so many seats, showed the country wanted change. (AFP (AFP) After two months who would have believed we would be able to succeed in such a clear way, said Yael German, a current Knesset member who is on the alliances list. Hours earlier Lt.Gen Gantz had addressed boisterous crowds saying: We are the winners! To fireworks and glittering confetti a jubilant Mr Netanyahu, meanwhile, declared the elections to be a "tremendous victory for him. Netanyahu's supporters celebrate what he said was a Likud win at their headquarters in Tel Aviv (Bel Trew) "I want to make it clear, it will be a right-wing government, but I intend to be the prime minister of all Israeli citizens, right or left, Jews and non-Jews alike," he said. His words did little to reassure the Palestinian leadership, who have expressed serious concerns about his controversial pre-election promises to annex the occupied West Bank, a key demand of the right but illegal under international law. This and other divisive statements and decisions likely drove a lot of Arab-Israelis, many of whom identify as Palestinian, to boycott the polls. Leading Israeli pollsters said there was a record low turnout of Arab voters. Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official, said the elections results showed Israel chose to entrench "the status quo of oppression, occupation, annexation and dispossession. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Ahmed Majdalani, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the outcome of the elections meant a boost for the extreme right-wing camp" in Israeli politics. He added that Palestinians will seek the help of the international community to try to block any such plans. Ryanair has apologised after wrongly denying boarding to a Palestinian refugee from a flight from Germany to Ireland. Iyed el-Baghdadi was booked on Ryanair flight FR8557 to Dublin, due to leave Berlins Schoenefeld airport at 11am local time. He told The Independent: Im supposed to fly in for a meeting (24 hours in/out). Mr el-Baghdadi said: "I once spent 26 days stranded in an airport after being expelled from my former country, the UAE. Yes, I'm nervous around airports. But if we're anything we're resilient. Dictators didn't break us, an airline certainly won't." He is a resident of Norway, and is holding a Norwegian-issued Convention travel document, which is issued to refugees under the terms of the Geneva Convention. It allows visa-free stays of up to 90 days in Ireland. No specific reason was given for the refusal to allow him to fly, and says that he was told: Our supervisor is busy. The world's 10 worst airlines Show all 10 1 /10 The world's 10 worst airlines The world's 10 worst airlines 10. Jet AirHelp, has assessed more than 30 airlines using scores for quality of service, on-time performance and responses to claims for compensation. Here follows the lowest ranked airlines, starting with Jet Airways, 35% of whose flights were delayed in 2018 Getty The world's 10 worst airlines 9. Aerolineas Argentinas 15% of Aerolineas Argentinas flights were delayed in 2018 Getty The world's 10 worst airlines 8. Iberia 16% of Iberia flights were delayed in 2018 Getty Images The world's 10 worst airlines 7. Korean Air 36% of Korean Air flights were delayed in 2018 Getty The world's 10 worst airlines 6. Ryanair 14% of Ryanair flights were delayed in 2018 EPA The world's 10 worst airlines 5. Air Mauritius 31% of Air Mauritius flights were delayed in 2018 Getty The world's 10 worst airlines 4. easyJet 21% of easyJet flights were delayed in 2018 AFP/Getty Images The world's 10 worst airlines 3. Pakistan International Airlines 39% of Pakistan International Airlines were delayed in 2018 Getty The world's 10 worst airlines 2. Royal Jordanian Airlines 13% of Royal Jordanian Airlines flights were delayed in 2018 Getty The world's 10 worst airlines 1. WOW Air 25% of WOW Air flights were delayed in 2018 Getty Earlier, he tweeted: Im at the airport in Berlin and Im being denied boarding by @Ryanair, claiming it was because Im a refugee. Im heading to Dublin. The Irish government website says I can travel but @Ryanair says I cant. If you love me, make some noise. (Ryanair (Ryanair) He later wrote: Im waiting for a supervisor, whos obviously taking their time hoping Ill just leave or Ill miss the flight. Ryanair later tweeted: Sincere apologies for the inconvenience could you please DM [direct message] us your booking reference and we will investigate this immediately. Mr el-Baghdadi responded: 1. F*** you. 2. Its BZHWWC. 3. F*** you again. Ryanair has now told The Independent: "This customer was denied boarding because of an error made by our handling agent in Berlin. Ryanair has since made contact with the customer directly and he will travel with us later today. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused". Among the many other responses on the incident was James Corbett, who wrote: There is an Aer Lingus flight in 80 minutes. Id be delighted to contribute to the cost of a replacement ticket if you have a Paypal account or some other mechanism I can send some s. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Angelina Newsom tweeted: Please let this man on your raggedy ass flight. Its enough that you rip people off on baggage. Under European passengers' rights rules, Mr el-Bahgdadi is entitled to 250 (215) in compensation, in addition to other expenses. Today is the 21st anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, when politicians from eight different political parties in Northern Ireland, as well as the British and Irish governments, came together to end decades of bloodshed. Upon the signing of those documents, the text of the agreement was sent to every household across the island or Ireland before it was voted on in a referendum in both nations. Every year, early April is a time for reflection in Northern Ireland, and usually a cause for more than a little celebration. Indeed, as the Good Friday Agreement spoof twitter account tweeted this morning: "Best birth certificate ever." I was three years old when the Good Friday Agreement was passed, but I have grown up in the shadows of the Troubles. And though I am privileged to have lived in a time of relative peace, no one should be under any illusions about the challenges of my home nation. Peace is not a destination; it is a journey and a process. The Northern Ireland Peace Process shaped my upbringing, and Ive seen first hand the massive difference it has made. Just over a decade ago, my sister and I were bullied as children, beaten up for wearing the Catholic school uniform in a majority Protestant estate. Now my sisters children have friends across the religious divide. My sisters partner is a Protestant, too the possibility of their relationship a result of this process, and their children the children of peace. If they had been born even 10 short years ago, they would have been called "mules" for being from a "mixed" family. Remembering The Troubles in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Remembering The Troubles in pictures Remembering The Troubles in pictures A British soldier attacks a protester in Derry on Bloody Sunday Getty Remembering The Troubles in pictures The Northern Ireland Civil Rights movement marches in London in 1968 to demand the same voting rights afforded to the rest of Britain Getty Remembering The Troubles in pictures The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association marching on the streets of Derry in 1968 BBC Remembering The Troubles in pictures The Battle of the Bogside in Derry in August 1969 was among the first violent episodes of the Troubles The Battle of the Bogside in Derry in August 1969 was among the first violent episodes of the Troubles Getty Remembering The Troubles in pictures British soldiers take cover behind their armoured cars as they use CS gas to disperse rioters in Derry on Bloody Sunday PA Remembering The Troubles in pictures Hugh Gilmore (third left) clutches his stomach after being shot by a British soldier on Bloody Sunday. Gilmore was one of 14 to be shot dead on 30 January 1972 PA Remembering The Troubles in pictures A man receives attention after being shot on Bloody Sunday in Derry PA Remembering The Troubles in pictures A young man is led away by paramedics after being injured on Bloody Sunday PA Remembering The Troubles in pictures The British Embassy at Merrion Square in Dublin is bombed following a march to protest three days after the Bloody Sunday shootings Getty Remembering The Troubles in pictures Independent MO for Mid-Ulster Bernadette Devlin talks to the press after she hit Home Secretary Reginald Maudling for lying about the Bloody Sunday shootings in his statement to the House of Commons the day after the incident. Devlin had been in Derry at the time of the shootings and was moved to strike the Home Secretary after he claimed that British soldiers had only fired at protesters in defence Getty Remembering The Troubles in pictures Members of a Catholic community in Newry stage a protest against the Bloody Sunday shootings AFP/Getty Remembering The Troubles in pictures Relatives mourn over the coffin of a victim of Bloody Sunday on 1 April 1972 Getty Remembering The Troubles in pictures Thousands attend the annual Bloody Sunday memorial march in Derry on 30 January 1995 PA Remembering The Troubles in pictures UK prime minister Tony Blair and the Irish taoiseach Bertie Ahern sign the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 PA Remembering The Troubles in pictures A view over residential Derry in 2019 shows a mural on Rossville Street, where soldiers opened fire on Bloody Sunday Getty The Good Friday Agreement was the start, not the end, of peace in Northern Ireland. We are still working on it. It is a gift, and one which has to be earned every single day. To watch members of the Brexit elite so blithely throw that gift away unwittingly, and without a care in the world is incredibly frustrating. Im worried. I am worried that we are about to crash out of the EU with no safeguards on peace process funding, or guarantees on our border; I am worried that the sectarianism and violence which is never far from the surface in Northern Ireland is on the cusp of bubbling over once more. We know that any form of Brexit threatens a hard border in Ireland, putting our peace at risk. We also know, unfortunately, that most if not all of the decision makers in Westminster do not appear to understand this. So on this most auspicious of 21st birthdays, I would like to make a wish: give Brexit back to the people of Northern Ireland and let us decide our own future in a Final Say referendum. Rosie McKenna is a support of For our Future's Sake. She lives in Northern Ireland The introduction last week of a new penal code in the Asian state of Brunei has sent shock waves around the world. One of the new penalties under a Sharia legal code is death-by-stoning punishment for those convicted of the crime of committing same-sex sexual acts. Unspeakably cruel and the product of an utterly prejudiced mindset, we can hope, at least, that it will never be enforced. According to our records, Brunei hasnt carried out an execution since 1957 a time when capital punishment was still widely-used around the globe, including of course here in Britain. Bruneis hideous move is frightening and rightly the cause of international revulsion. But the wider picture is thankfully rather better. As our new report on capital punishment around the world shows, though far from extinct the death penalty is in decline. According to our research, which because of secrecy, inaccessibility and under-reporting, is necessarily conservative and incomplete - last year there were at least 690 executions in 20 countries. This is a 31 per cent drop from 2017s total and means 2018 saw the lowest number of executions in more than a decade. These figures purposely omit China, where death penalty data is classified as a state secret. We believe that thousands of executions take place in China each year making China easily the worlds most prolific executioner. Yet even here there have reportedly been moves to tighten capital punishments use (currently available for 46 offences, some non-violent like corruption and drugs offences). For an organisation like Amnesty International, which unreservedly opposes the death penalty as the ultimate human rights violation, one execution is still one too many. Last years drop in execution numbers is hugely welcome. But each and every case has still involved the cruelty of cold-bloodedly condemning a human being to death and many have also seen shoddy, deeply unfair trials. Even worse, in numerous instances individuals have been condemned to death on the strength of confessions extracted through torture one abuse piled on top of another. But our main findings on the death penalty do offer some hope. If 20 countries carried out executions last year, it means the vast majority of the world did not. In fact, 142 countries have now either abolished the death penalty or have effectively discontinued its use. Last year in Iran like China one of the worlds biggest executioners there was a huge (50 per cent) drop in executions following changes to its draconian anti-drugs laws. Iraq, Pakistan and Somalia also saw significant reductions in executions. And Burkina Faso, Gambia and Malaysia all moved to either abolish or permanently halt death penalty use. California governor Gavin Newson orders moratorium on death penalty Grounds for hope then. In the UK its more than half a century since the UK did away with the ghoulish judicial theatre of the judges black cap and the official hangman. In more recent years the UK has made global abolition a foreign policy aim, which is what made Sajid Javids reneging on this position in the case of Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh last year all the more disappointing. If youre promoting abolition of capital punishment around the globe, then there can be no exceptions. Bruneis grotesque new penal code reminds us that there is still much to be done. Last year two women in Iran Zahra Derakhshani and Golestan Jankanlou were sentenced to death by stoning for the offence of adultery. In global terms, the death penalty is being imposed with reduced frequency and carried out more sparingly. But people are still being taken out and hanged, lethally injected, shot or even beheaded. And in some instances they are being sentenced to death by stoning. We all including Javid and the rest of the UK Government need to be speaking out, whether this is happening in China, Iran, the USA or Brunei. Kate Allen is the Director of Amnesty International UK The now unsurprisingly low-profile David Cameron is frequently blamed for Britains Brexit catastrophe. Whatever your views on Britains despairing efforts to leave the European Union, there is no doubt that the former Conservative prime ministers contribution to the debacle was immense. His decision to offer a simple once in a generation referendum on the hugely complicated subject of EU membership has divided the country, paralysed parliament, and threatened economic and social chaos. Horrendous as it all is, however, it was nothing like as bad as the calamitous attack on Libya carried out by Cameron and his equally short-sighted cronies. The frail state of British democracy and the metaphorical civil war between Brexiteers and Remainers pale into insignificance when compared to the bloody disaster that has engulfed a North African country which is now a base for some of the gravest dangers facing the UK. That Isis itself the most high profile terrorist group in the world today is now firmly ensconced in eastern Libya, just across the Mediterranean Sea from mainland Europe, says everything about the Arab nations collapse into lawlessness. Beyond this, warring sides backed by rival foreign powers who are desperate to gain influence in the oil-rich state are in the early stages of a literal full-blown civil war that will be far more devastating than the fighting Cameron intensified. It was in 2011 that RAF and French air force jets led a mass bombing campaign that ended with Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi being hacked to death by a mob. The deceit was that all the barbarism had been pardonable because a humanitarian military intervention had saved lives and toppled a despot. Western-backed rebels were in charge and would lead the country towards peace and democracy. Such thinking was paramount when, in September 2011, Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy, then president of France, paid a hubristic visit to Libya together. They were hailed as liberators and thanked for devoting so much of their countrys firepower to a temporary victory. The pair had certainly been the prime instigators of a hugely costly adventure. In pictures: Isis' Libyan stronghold of Sirte Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Isis' Libyan stronghold of Sirte In pictures: Isis' Libyan stronghold of Sirte Isis in Sirte Isis fighters parade through in Sirte in 2015 In pictures: Isis' Libyan stronghold of Sirte Isis in Sirte Islamic State (IS) group jihadists on the outskirts of Libya's western city of Sirte AFP/Getty In pictures: Isis' Libyan stronghold of Sirte Isis in Sirte A photo of a billboard in Sirte, Libya, listing seven rules for women's clothing, saying they must be loose-fitting and undecorated HRW/social media In pictures: Isis' Libyan stronghold of Sirte Isis in Sirte Isis militants process down a street in the coastal city of Sirte in Libya this week; the group has heralded Libya as its strategic gateway to attack Europe AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Isis' Libyan stronghold of Sirte Isis in Sirte An Isis lecture on Sharia at the Ouagadougou complex in Sirte, Libya, in 2016. HRW/social media In pictures: Isis' Libyan stronghold of Sirte Isis in Sirte A sign reading "The city of Sirte, under the shadow of Sharia" as smoke rises in the background while forces aligned with Libya's new unity government advance on the eastern and southern outskirts of the Islamic State stronghold of Sirte on 9 June. Reuters In pictures: Isis' Libyan stronghold of Sirte Isis in Sirte Fighters loyal to Libya's GNA prepare to launch attacks against Isis as they continue their resistance on the outskirts of the western city of Sirte Getty In pictures: Isis' Libyan stronghold of Sirte Isis in Sirte Forces loyal to Libya's UN-backed unity government are seen during clashes with jihadists of the Islamic State (IS) on the western outskirts of Sirte on June 2, 2016. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Isis' Libyan stronghold of Sirte Isis in Sirte Forces loyal to Libya's UN-backed unity government fire during clashes with Isis around 14 miles west of Sirte on June 2, 2016. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Isis' Libyan stronghold of Sirte Isis in Libya A Tory government imposing a domestic policy of rigorous austerity had started the raids by pouring 750,000-a-strike Tomahawk cruise missiles from a royal navy nuclear submarine into a country that at the time provided no threat to the UK whatsoever. The exact cost has never been calculated, but Britain the largest contributor to the Nato assault fund is estimated to have spent at least 100m. We must presume that Cameron follows every second of the seemingly never-ending Brexit saga, but it is unlikely that he spends too much time on contemporary Libyan affairs. If he did, he would learn that eight years on from his strutting walk through Tripoli, the Libyan capital is now under attack by another strong man who is proving to be every bit as aggressive as Gaddafi once was. As a field marshal, Khalifa Haftar is of higher military rank than Colonel Muammar Gaddafi ever was. Haftar, in fact, supported the 1969 coup that brought Gaddafi to power and spent years learning how to hold down a country with unmitigated force. He gained American citizenship while exiled in Virginia after falling out with his mentor, before returning to Libya to take part in the 2011 revolution. Haftar is now the most powerful warlord in his country of birth. He calls his forces the Libyan National Army and is intent on capturing Tripoli from Fayez al-Sarraj, the United Nations-recognised but woefully weak prime minister of Libyas fledging western-backed government. Haftar advanced his troops on 4 April, when UN secretary general Antonio Guterres was in the country and trying to mediate between the two sides. Such ruthlessness has been followed by lightening offensives on Tripoli airport and at least two oil installations in the south. Libya, remember, has the largest oil reserves in Africa; before 2011 it produced 1.6 billion barrels a day, with the vast majority flowing into EU countries. Companies such as BP and Shell were, with Camerons blessing, keen to exploit Libyas vital energy supplies further after the bombing but this is now impossible. Instead, the few remaining British speculators are among those now fleeing the country en masse. As Al-Sarraj complains of war crimes, a peace conference proposed by Guterres for later this month looks likely to be shelved, along with elections. The basics of democratic governance are a world away from the reality of post-intervention Libya. Numerous official reports, including one by Britains Foreign Affairs Committee, describe nothing less than a failed, crumbling state. Air force and rebel violence led to far more violence and a power vacuum in which all kinds of dangerous radicals circulate freely. One the teenager Salman Abedi was rescued from the country by the royal navy in 2014 and went on to kill 22 people, including seven children, in the Manchester Arena suicide bombing. Many others pay people smugglers to negotiate well-worn but highly dangerous routes through Libya into Europe. Men and women from sub-Saharan Africa, without cash and papers, become human stock in the revived Libyan slave trade. They are sold in markets to customers who will use them for everything from sex to domestic tasks. Many end up tortured and eventually murdered. Thousands die at sea in sinking ships while trying to get to EU countries such as Greece and Italy. Those who do get out of Libya and survive the crossings arrive to an uncertain future in a continent where far-right prejudice is high and rising. Such racist sentiment fuels the Brexit discourse and highlights the ongoing North African crisis caused by David Camerons worst policy decision by far. Channing, also now a K-6 building with 460 students, was built in 1968. Its one of the 25 buildings that will showcased in the Elgins third Open Elgin event, which celebrates the citys architecture and history. The school will be open from 1 to 5 p.m. April 27 for free student-led tours, and there will be a presentation in the multipurpose room and crafts for children. Benjamin Netanyahu is an early version of the nationalist populist leaders that have come to power in country after country in recent decades. He has an acute sense of who holds and does not hold power and how to manipulate it. No wonder he gets on well with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. His political approach has not varied much since he first came to prominence as an Israeli diplomat in Washington during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 when he showed his skills as a propagandist in defending the Israeli war record, particularly during the bombing of Beirut. Speaking good American English, he knew exactly what to say on US television channels and his skills in dealing with American politics and the media have never deserted him. When he eventually is replaced by another prime minister, a big difference will be that his successor may be less inclined and will certainly be less capable of becoming a player in US politics. Netanyahu has always been an astute politician, but his public stance is not always easy to interpret. One point to be made about his belligerent rhetorical style that helps explain his political longevity is that he commonly exaggerates threats from a host of supposed mortal enemies such as Iran or the Palestinians, but he has been very averse to going to war. Possibly his experience during the war in Lebanon in 1982-4 made him particularly careful about this. Military action when it takes place is in the shape of air, rather than ground, attacks. This helps explain why Bibi is now likely to become Israeli prime minister for the fifth time after the election that concluded yesterday. Israeli voters like leaders who talk tough, but not those who get them engaged in long or, as is the more common experience, inconclusive wars. Even during the peak of Netanyahus verbal assaults on Iran as a threat to Israel, there has been a certain caution in Israeli military action in Syria and Lebanon. Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Show all 5 1 /5 Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Rafik Halabi, mayor of Daliyat al-Karmel Bel Trew Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Photos of the Druze mayors of Daliyat al-Karmel in Israel ahead of the elections Bel Trew Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Layla Zahrour, a sweet shop owner in Haifa says the Arab community are disillusioned Bel Trew Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Rooa, a Druze woman, says she will not vote in the upcoming Israeli elections Bel Trew Israeli elections: growing calls for Arab boycott Many members of the Druze community in Daliyat al-Kamel say they will boycott the upcoming elections over the Nation State Law Bel Trew The most important election that Netanyahu won was in 1996 against Shimon Peres, after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin the previous year. He played along with the Oslo Accords, but his electoral victory was a decisive defeat for the Israelis who supported them. He has been accused of shifting the agenda from the two-state solution to promising the annexation of Israeli settlements on the West Bank during the present election campaign. But the so-called two-state solution was always something of a charade enabling foreign diplomats to pretend that there was a peace process that was dead and buried. Likewise, moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and the US recognition of the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights do not really change a balance of power that is wholly in Israels favour. On the other hand, the Palestinians will still be there in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank; Israel never achieves a final victory. Netanyahu has done nothing to change this but then neither did previous Israeli leaders, whatever they claimed they were doing. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Support free-thinking journalism and subscribe to Independent Minds. If Democrats prefer to destroy their own chances of winning back the White House before the 2020 primaries even begin, thats their prerogative. And if they continue attacking candidates based on their identities or apparent lack thereof rather than their policies, Donald Trump could very well secure the Oval Office for a second term with a substantial victory. But hey, thats their choice. If the left enjoys a circular firing squad as much as it seems, they got their wish in recent months. The most diverse pool of presidential candidates in American history are throwing their hats into the ring, seeing the presidents attacks on immigrants, minorities, the working class and traditionally bipartisan ideas (like providing asylum to refugees arriving at the nations borders) as an unprecedented opportunity to upend the status quo and connect with voters who may have outright ignored their platforms in past elections. However, rather than pressing candidates on their records or encouraging them to adopt new stances as some voters admittedly have a faction of the left is hell-bent on massacring anyone they do not view as diverse enough to serve as the next face of the Democratic Party. Take, for example, Pete Buttigieg. The millennial mayor of South Bend, Indiana could become the first openly gay presidential candidate to be featured on a major partys ticket. Hes catapulted into the limelight as one of the top fundraisers to explore a presidential bid this year. His once long-shot campaign is receiving attention and donations from across the country. He captured the hearts of American voters with a message of freedom, bipartisan unity and progress, while denouncing the Mike Pences of the world who attack his sexuality as a sin in a viral speech this week, which will likely serve as a benchmark for when most voters became aware of his candidacy. And yet some have decided, essentially, that Mayor Pete is "not gay enough" to represent the LGBTQ+ community in American politics. Recent weeks have brought a string of bad takes from commentators opining about how minority individuals should present themselves on the public stage, including one extraordinarily awful angle titled Why Pete Buttigieg is bad for gays. That article derides Buttigiegs decision to marry his husband, Chasten, in a traditional setting, mocking the pair for their choice of matching attire during the occasion and suggesting that he is a very circumscribed sort of gay receiving a conditional membership to the club. The astounding level of such blatant hypocrisy here deserves to be noted; by condemning how the mayor expresses his sexuality and celebrates his love, is the author not perpetrating the same injustice our community has fought against for centuries? 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 Another (since-changed) headline read Is Pete Buttigieg just another white male candidate, or does his gayness count as diversity? With momentum comes backlash, currently in the form of frustration that the well-qualified female and black candidates in the race are getting shoved aside for another white guy, that article reads. There is an understandable point these pieces are trying to make: Mayor Petes ability to blend into mainstream society might produce unrealistic expectations for all gay men in America to act or look a certain way. Because the most prominent gay man in American politics possesses a certain straightness in his character, we won't be taken seriously if we're flamboyant. Because he is of strict religious faith, and a veteran, and being that he did not meet his husband on "the app you may have been thinking of", that means most of us will still be constrained by rigid requirements, rather than accepted for who we really are. Such requirements have long existed in society for gay men, calling on us to essentially suppress our queerness in order to conform. Petes candidacy only reinforces those attitudes, according to his newfound critics. But it doesnt have to be this way. Who knows whether Mayor Pete actually has a shot at winning the 2020 elections or even the Democratic nomination? Maybe America isnt ready for a gay president. As he says, theres only one way to find out. But should he not receive the same attention as other diverse candidates because he isnt enough of a minority? If the argument here really is that female candidates are being pushed aside to make way for just another white guy, that theory is disproven by the fact that Kamala Harris out-raised Pete Buttigieg by $5m (3.8m) in their first announced hauls. When identity politics turns on itself, we can end up ignoring a lot of people who have struggled to get where they are today, only to be told that they aren't oppressed enough for their struggles to count. Were at a point where it seems voters may be willing to look past a candidates queerness, or their blackness, or anything that deems them to be other in mainstream society. And it's important to note that Mayor Pete appears to be an ally to intersectional minorities. We've got to end the war on trans Americans and we need a federal Equality Act that would say that you cannot be fired just because of who you are or just because you love, he recently said. Shouldnt we encourage candidates from all walks of life no matter how diverse, or whether they fail to check off every box in the Oppression Olympics checklist to enter the fray, rather than shunning those whose identities arent to our exact liking? We are continuing the same vicious cycle that brought us this current president. If nothing changes, that cycle will only continue. According to research by the ESRI think-tank, personal disposable income could be as much as 4.1pc lower after 10 years if theres a disorderly no-deal Brexit. Stock photo: GETTY The impact of Brexit on Irish households will be "severe", with families' disposable income set to be hit in all scenarios by increased prices. The stark warning is contained in a briefing for TDs set to be delivered by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) today. As Theresa May travels to Brussels for a crucial Brexit summit, research will show personal disposable income could be up to 4.1pc lower after 10 years if there is a disorderly no-deal Brexit. Dr Adele Bergin is expected to warn: "For households, the impact of Brexit will be severe." An analysis suggests people with an average after-tax disposable income could lose around 880 in the worst-case scenario. But even if there is a deal, the same person could lose around 470. Mrs May will be told the EU is ready to grant a Brexit extension but the UK will be kept out of key decisions. The office noted a hard Brexit was set to cut economic growth here by 2.3pc-7pc. Photo: Bloomberg A hard Brexit poses the biggest risk to the economy, closely followed by the Government's budget policies and a shortage of housing, according to the Oireachtas Budget Committee. In a report published yesterday, the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) Quarterly Economic and Fiscal Commentary included for the first time a representation of the risks facing the economy in a highlighted section. The office noted a hard Brexit was set to cut economic growth here by 2.3pc-7pc, according to official and private sector forecasts, compared with a situation in which Britain remained a member of the European Union. "This impact would be propagated via severe trade disruptions and weaker consumer and business sentiment, adversely affecting the current account balance and domestic demand respectively," the report said. The PBO assigned Brexit "high" probability along with the budget risks and housing. On the budget, it highlighted the "pursuit of inappropriate pro-cyclical fiscal policy" which means a situation in which the stance of the budget amplifies the economic cycle which it said "risks contributing to overheating". The budget has repeatedly overshot targets due to overspending, much of it in health, and the expansion in spending has been financed by windfall tax receipts from companies. "Having a tax base that consists of highly volatile revenue sources complicates prudential fiscal planning; more volatile revenues are harder to predict and this can result in substantial forecast errors, making it more difficult to plan future spending," the report said. Housing risks are double edged, according to the budget office, and supply constraints are placing upward pressure on prices and wages, it said. Holding their ground: British Prime Minister Theresa May with French President Emmanuel Macron after Brexit talks at the Elysee Palace in Paris. Photo: PA Britain will be told to stay out of key EU decisions in the year ahead if a Brexit extension is to be granted today. EU leaders are minded to give Prime Minister Theresa May more time to find a consensus in London - but will attach strict conditions. They will require the UK to hold European Parliament elections next month and then to take a back seat when the EU budget is being brokered. The UK's MEPs could also be locked out of discussions on the new Common Agricultural Policy and the election of the next President of the European Commission. Draft conclusions drawn up ahead of the EU meeting in Brussels tonight say the UK should only remain in the union "as long as necessary". The exact exit date has been left blank but the UK will be kicked out on June 1 if elections aren't held. The conclusions add: "The United Kingdom shall facilitate the achievement of the union's tasks and refrain from any measure which could jeopardise the attainment of the union's objectives." In a letter on the eve of the emergency summit, EU Council President Donald Tusk urged EU leaders to resist the urge to humiliate the UK. He noted some countries have "raised concerns" about the continued influence of the UK while they wait to leave the bloc. "To address them, we would need to agree on a number of conditions: no re-opening of the Withdrawal Agreement; no start of the negotiations on the future, except for the Political Declaration; the UK would have to maintain its sincere cooperation also during this crucial period, in a manner that reflects its situation as a departing member state," he said. Expand Expand Previous Next Close EU Council President Donald Tusk called for mutual respect. Photo: REUTERS Points of view: German Chancellor Angela Merkel is believed to differ from Frances Emmanuel Macron on the Brexit delay. Photo: REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp EU Council President Donald Tusk called for mutual respect. Photo: REUTERS A similar message was sent out by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who told the Dail some of his EU colleagues are "frustrated" and "increasingly concerned that Brexit is taking up so much of the EU agenda". However, he expressed confidence that an extension will be granted. The House of Commons approved a government motion on the extension request by 420 votes to 110 yesterday, a majority of 310. Those opposed to the plan included 97 Conservative rebels, with former Brexit secretaries David Davis and Dominic Raab among them. Solicitor General Robert Buckland told MPs they "must find a way to find a plan for the way forward" to leave the EU with a deal and outlined how the UK would be legally required to take part in elections if it remains a member state on May 23. But he suggested British MEPs may not have to take their seats even if they are elected - should Westminster agree a deal in the coming weeks. "The new European Parliament does not meet until early July and therefore it is important for us to distinguish the need to have elections and then the requirement for British MEPs to have to actually sit in the European Parliament if we are indeed to leave the European Union before early July," Mr Buckland said. Mrs May met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday, who are believed to have varying views on the type of Brexit delay that should be offered. In his letter, Mr Tusk said the UK should be allowed time to rethink its Brexit strategy and asked EU leaders not to be influenced by "negative emotions". "We should treat the UK with the highest respect, as we want to remain friends and close partners, and as we will still need to agree on our future relations. Neither side should be allowed to feel humiliated at any stage in this difficult process," he said. Mr Varadkar, who will take a central role at tonight's gathering, said he accepts the UK is leaving. But he added: "Whatever happens, if the United Kingdom does leave the European Union, and I expect that it will, I think we should always leave a light on for them should they ever decide to come back. "Ultimately, the United Kingdom is part of Europe and if it ever wishes to return, even if it is 10, 20 or 30 years' time, I think we should welcome it with open arms." Points of view: German Chancellor Angela Merkel is believed to differ from Frances Emmanuel Macron on the Brexit delay. Photo: REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch European Union leaders were poised to grant British Prime Minister Theresa May a second delay to the UK's fraught exit at an emergency summit on Wednesday, after arguing over how long and on what terms. French President Emmanuel Macron was pushing to withhold any commitment to extend Friday's deadline much beyond elections to the European Parliament on May 23-26 unless May binds herself, and any potentially more anti-EU successor, not to disrupt the workings of Brussels. "Nothing can be taken for granted," Macron warned, voicing frustration with a lack of clarity from London nearly three years after Britons voted to leave the bloc. Three weeks ago, Macron's impatience with France's historic cross-Channel rival dominated the last summit, when Brexit was put back by a fortnight. Diplomats said he was again facing a more cautious line from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said she favoured an extension of "several months". "The question isn't whether there will be an extension but for how long and under what conditions," a senior diplomat said. Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close UK Prime Minister Theresa May. Photo: Jack Taylor/PA Wire The EUs chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier (left) in a meeting with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (right) (Clodagh Kilcoyne/PA) European Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar during discussions on the latest Brexit developments at Government Buildings, Dublin Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins Michel Barnier (left), the EUs chief Brexit negotiator, meets with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (Clodagh Kilcoyne/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp UK Prime Minister Theresa May. Photo: Jack Taylor/PA Wire Read More Keen to ease tension, Merkel broke the ice as talks began by showing an amused May a photomontage on a tablet of both wearing similar jackets when addressing their parliaments earlier in the day. May then briefed the other 27 on her efforts to work with her Labour opponents to find an elusive majority for a deal. After an hour, she was shown out to spend the evening in the British delegation rooms in the Council building, waiting for the others to decide Britain's fate over dinner. MAY WANTS OUT SOON Legally, Britain is due to leave the EU on Friday with no transition to new trading arrangements. But leaders insisted they would not force Britain out in a disorderly departure. Expand Close Larry the cat sits outside Downing Street, as uncertainty over Brexit continues, in London, Britain April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Larry the cat sits outside Downing Street, as uncertainty over Brexit continues, in London, Britain April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls "If they need a little more time, I think it's reasonable to discuss what that would be," Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins said, noting that Britain still faced choices -- to leave without a deal, accept the deal that its parliament has rejected three times, or change its mind and stay in the EU. Read More May has asked the EU to wait until June 30. "I want us to be able to leave the European Union in a smooth and orderly way as soon as possible," she said. "I've asked for an extension to June 30, but what is important is that the extension enables us to leave at the point at which we ratify the Withdrawal Agreement, so we could leave on May 22 and start to build our brighter future." Some leaders, like Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, said Britain should have a year more to sort itself out. Others, like Swedish premier Stefan Lofven, echoed Macron's concerns about the risks of a long extension for the functioning of the EU. "FLEXTENSION" Summit chair Donald Tusk has proposed a "flextension" of nine months to a year. If Britain does not elect EU lawmakers, it must leave, with or without a deal, on June 1, according to a draft summit agreement seen by Reuters. Otherwise, it would leave as soon as it ratifies the deal, or without one when the extension ends. The final end-date was still blank in a new draft circulated during the summit, but it did add lines to acknowledge Macron's call for tight conditions to prevent Britain disrupting the Union from within if it takes longer to reach the exit. Paris also wants a new summit once it is clearer whether or not there will be an early ratification or a British EU vote. Macron fears "blackmail" by pro-Brexit Conservatives seeking to take over from May and is arguing that, to extend its membership beyond June, Britain must formally forswear its right to block key decisions taken by the other 27 member states, notably on the EU budget and key executive appointments. If granted an extension to, say, the end of this year, any British government would be unable to leave earlier, even if it wanted to, unless it signed up to the Withdrawal Agreement. In preparatory meetings, the Dutch, among others, argued that a long extension now would increase pressure on pro-Brexit critics of May's deal to accept it for fear that a long delay would increase the probability of Britain staying in the EU. BLACK HOLE BREXIT? EU leaders are exasperated with May's handling of a tortuous and potentially expensive divorce that many feel is a distraction from ensuring the bloc can hold its own beside the United States and China on trade and other issues. Across from the summit venue, the EU executive celebrated its part in funding a global project that produced the first picture of a black hole -- prompting no shortage of ironic comments on social media about the juxtaposition. Blogger Eliot Higgins tweeted: "We're now more certain about what black holes look like than what Brexit looks like." Read More It's that time of year when all eyes switch to the breeding season. We have our team of bulls ordered, six in total and all of them genomic sires with a bull panel average of 330 EBI. It just goes to show how far genetics has come in a few years. Cows seem to be in great condition and heats seem to be extremely good. We've seen cows bulling 15 days after calving so we should be well set up for a good breeding season. I've read many articles in the last few weeks on sexed semen. Some are saying sales will increase this year, but I've spoken to two people in the industry who say they've seen no increase in sales to date. Currently we use approximately 5,000 doses of sexed semen in Ireland so sales would need to double in order for a sexing machine to be based in Ireland. Now I can assure you I'm a advocate for sexed semen - it works, but in a controlled situation. We've used sexed semen quite successfully in the past and we also use it on all pedigree Jerseys. Straws must be thawed at a precise 37C, straws need to be dealt with individually, cows need to be spot on and timing of insemination needs to be a lot more accurate. Ask yourself does all that happen with conventional semen in a busy breeding season? Then there is the issue of genetics. As I mentioned, our bull panel averages 330 EBI this year, but that would reduce to 280 if I used sexed and I for one won't compromise on genetic gain. The knock on consequence if the dairy industry goes the route of sexed semen plus beef semen is an increase in beef calves born in Ireland at a time when we all know the beef industry is under pressure. Make no mistake - dairy farmers require short gestation and ease of calving. We use beef sires, but while calving ease isn't a big issue we certainly can't get the gestation length we are achieving with Holstein. Ten months from now, Calving 2020 will kick off. Prices for bull calves were poor in 2019 and there was lots of discussion on lairage, poor weather hampering shippers and there is always the question of how many years will live exportation of calves continue. I don't believe the national dairy herd should be compromising on the six-week calving rate. If anything this will tighten further year on year. So what baffles me is why has our industry has not moved towards developing a veal industry. Of course we don't consume much veal, but then neither do the Dutch - yet they have a veal industry worth 2bn and they export product across Europe and as far as China and Japan. This begs the question as to why the Irish meat industry has failed to diversify and tap into new markets. Farmers shouldn't have to develop a veal market - our processors should be chasing down these markets which in turn would solve an issue for the dairy industry and develop new opportunities for our beef farmers. Grass growth Grass growth hasn't reached any highs yet. We grew 46kg/dm/ha in the last week with the cold north-westerly wind holding it back. Our demand is 51kg/ha/day with a platform cover of 1,139kg/dm/ha. Cows are on 2kg of a 14pc dairy nut producing a steady 1.95kg milk solids per cow. We have 80ac of first cut silage closed and we went with protected urea on the silage ground in the form of 23-2-12 +6%S , Sulpher is often the forgotten nutrient on silage ground, but it can greatly increase yields by up to one tonne dm/ha so its certainly worth spreading it. I'll leave you with some thoughts on milk price. I think we were all baffled and disgusted to see the big three co-ops drop milk price for February. The Ornua PPI has been very stable, EU spot prices seemed consistent and the GDT has had eight consecutive rises. No doubt the threat of Brexit is the background excuse, but I don't buy that. Our processor dropped the price 999 days after the Brexit referendum, so I think they've had time to prepare for whatever happens on that front. Since the latest price announcement, we've since seen another GDT increase, futures seem strong in Europe and the US are forecasting a strong 2019 for dairy. The pressure is clearly on Irish dairy processors to deliver a strong March milk price and deliver for Irish dairy farmers in 2019. Anything short of this shouldn't be taken lying down by farmers. Peter Hynes farms with his wife Paula in Aherla, Co Cork A scarcity of land and strong prices have been the two standout trends in the farmland market for the first quarter of 2019. But while the acreage of farmland for sale remains exceedingly low, the holdings being sold are making big prices with 23,000/ac paid last Friday for a 42ac holding in Co Limerick. There is widespread agreement among auctioneers that land is scarce both for letting and sale. Cork auctioneer Dan Fleming says dominance of dairy is creating a serious imbalance in farming. "The tillage, the drystock farmer and the sheep farmer are on their knees. Here in Cork there are about five serious tillage farmers left and they can't get land. Meanwhile, we are multiplying the dairy herd and seriously reducing our local capacity to feed that herd," he said. Kilkenny auctioneer Joseph Coogan says he is inundated with calls from farmers looking to lease or buy land. The new leasing arrangements and the demand from dairy farmers has tied up huge quantities of land, he believes. "Even dairy farmers with 250ac are looking for more land. However, I also think Brexit is holding things up, both prospective vendors and buyers are waiting to see how it will work out before making a move," the Castlecomer-based agent said. In the most recent auction a parcel of 42ac in Adare in Co Limerick sold under the hammer of Tom Crosse of GVM making 23,000/ac. In one of the earlier sales, 18,000/ac was paid for a 47ac holding with a derelict dwelling near Bandon in Co Cork. In March Dungarvan auctioneer Pat Harty sold a 220ac farm near Kilmacthomas in Co Waterford for 2.6m or 11,800/ac, while Limerick auctioneer Tom Crosse saw 10,000/ac paid for a 33ac parcel of land in Galbally, Co Limerick. A local dairy farmer won the day. In Wexford, the sales rooms have also been quiet, but reflecting what is happening nationwide five auctions disposed of 580ac of land for an average of 10,800/ac since the beginning of the year. A three-year-old boy has died in a tragic farmyard accident in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford. Gardai are investigating the incident which occurred at about 4.30pm this afternoon at the yard in Carrigabruise, Carlerys Bridge. The three-year-old boy received serious injuries when he was hit by what is described as a low loader. He was taken to Wexford General Hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later, a garda spokesperson told Independent.ie Local Cllr John ORourke said the Enniscorthy community is currently numb with grief. Enniscorthy has experienced a number of deaths in recent weeks and this latest tragedy has really hit everyone to the core," he told Independent.ie I would like to give my deepest and sincerest sympathies to this young childs family who have suffered this unspeakable loss. Im the chairman of a local organisation called Beneath my Angels Wings, which supports bereaved families. We will of course be supporting the family out in every way we can and Im sure our community will rally together and do the same. Investigations are continuing. THE Central Bank is preparing to appoint a partner to help manage Ireland's deposit guarantee scheme as the UK prepares to leave the EU. Some elements of the scheme have been managed by a UK firm, but all bank data transferred to a service provider in relation to the scheme must remain in the EU. Last year, the Central Bank sounded out potential partners. It has now decided to proceed with a full tender for the administering the service in the event of a bank crash. In the event of a liquidator being appointed to a covered credit institution, the Central Bank is obliged to pay compensation up to 100,000 per person per institution to depositors who are eligible under the rules of the scheme, within specified deadlines. The covered credit institutions include banks such as AIB, Bank of Ireland, KBC Ireland and Permanent TSB, but also less well known entities such as Depfa Bank. The Central Bank has told prospective outsourcers that if a bank fails, the successful tenderer will be notified and "required to immediately increase operational capability in line with the size of the failed institution and its deposit base in order to support the required level of service". "In normal circumstances, it is expected that in the run-up to any liquidation decision, the Central Bank will be able to assess the scale of the compensation event and the quality of the data available," it added. The successful tenderer also has to complete end-to-end stress and simulation tests twice a year. Pre-tax profits at the builder of The Lodge at Trump Doonbeg, L&M Keating, soared 18-fold to 4.84m in 2017. New accounts show that the west Clare-based firm, enjoyed the sharp increase in pre-tax profits after revenues increased by 10pc from 61.42m to 67.6m. Last year, the business - now rebranded to Keating - was purchased by Dublin-based CBD Capital. The founder of the company, Louis Keating, remains a minority shareholder in the business. "The strong financial performance in 2017 was a result of investment, a clear focus on lean processes and quality delivery across all projects," said CEO Gordon O'Regan. "This has led to a concentrated effort to improve overall productivity, which is something that has been embraced across the company," he said. Mr O'Regan said that he is confident for future growth. "We recently opened a Dublin office to support our international expansion and have been attracting more specialist projects. "We are capitalising on our specialist expertise in marine engineering to compete for projects in markets such as the UK and further afield," he said. The directors paid out a dividend of 1.78m in 2017. The firm recorded a post-tax profit of 4.19m in 2017 after paying corporation tax of 650,617. At the end of December 2017, the company had shareholder funds of 7.3m that included accumulated profits of 6.37m. The company's cash pile during the year more than doubled from 6.3m to 12.9m. A breakdown of the company's revenues show that 64.54m was generated in Ireland with 3m generated in UK. Numbers employed by the business increased from 88 to 106 with staff costs increasing from 4.5m to 7.1m. Pay to directors increased from 466,405 to 1.448m. FAMILY grocery stores are facing job losses and will have to push up prices, with others forced to close because of the squeeze on them from the insurance crisis. Community shops have seen premiums rise by an average 73pc in the last five years, a specialist in retail insurance has said. This is pushing many of them to the brink of closure, according to Gerry Monks of brokerage JDM insurance. He said staged accidents in shops are a major problem. Shops are particularly vulnerable because of the throughput of people using them. "The number of claims has increased and there has been a shift from property claims to personal injury claims and a more recent emerging trend of defamation cases." Mr Monks explained that fraudsters contrive a situation where they make retail staff think they have stolen goods from the shop, when confronted they produce a receipt and then claim to have been defamed. He said the insurance and the claims system was broken and needed major reform. Mr Monks looked at the premiums being paid by 29 of his retail clients. He found they have been hit with average rises of 73pc in the past five years. This is despite the fact that 15 of them have been claims-free over that period. Only two UK-based underwriters are prepared to cover retail outlets here, with one having pulled out recently. "They are cherry picking the best risks and if there is a claim then they don't want the business," he said. "If things do not change quickly there will be a loss of jobs, the closure of family business, increased prices for consumers and the loss of choice and convenience for consumers," Mr Monks said. Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association (CSNA) CEO Vincent Jennings said the 1,500 members of the representative body were being hit with huge hikes in premiums and that this was pushing many to the brink of closure. "Retailers can't live with these kinds of increases. And they are unforeseen. You get a few days' notices of a premium increase. You can't plan for it or shop around," said Mr Jennings. He said that if a shop owner is hit with a claim the insurer sets aside a huge reserve on the policy and hikes the premium. But if the case fails there is no return of the higher premium charge over a period that can be up to six years. "The system continues to benefit and it is seriously unfair," he said. CSNA represents family-owned groceries, SuperValu stores, Centras and independent retailers. "We have no problem with genuine claims but so many of them are fraudulent," Mr Jennings said. Head of Insurance Ireland Kevin Thompson said insurers are losing money on public liability cover. He said 1.12 is paid out in claims for every 1 in premium payments for public liability cover. Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy has defended the increasing numbers of homes being bought by so-called 'cuckoo funds' and institutional investors. Mr Murphy said the shifting housing pattern - with major corporations buying vast numbers of homes as rents continue to soar - was good for tenants. He told the Dail tenants are afforded greater security and have their homes managed more professionally by institutional landlords compared to a person letting a one-off property. "It is important to recognise the positive effects that institutional investment can have in terms of supply," he added. "Historically, the private rental sector has been largely made up of small-scale landlords who will continue to provide private rental accommodation. "However, a more diverse sector which includes institutional investors specialised in providing and managing private residential accommodation on a larger scale provides additional stability and less exposure to property market risk and volatility. Institutional investors can also provide a range of tenancy options households need across their life-cycles. "The fact institutional investors are entering the rental market with a clear, long-term focus on their investment provides security for tenants who can be confident their landlord is committed in the long run." Recent research by Savills shows institutional investors spent more than 1.1bn on a record 2,923 Irish homes last year. Meanwhile, rents and the number of people living in rented accommodation continues to rise. Fianna Fail is to demand a review of how 'cuckoo funds' who buy up housing units for rent are taxed. The party believes the Government has been blind to the growing trend of big corporations "distorting the market". Housing spokesman Darragh O'Brien said many companies paid "effectively no tax" while securing homes that should be available for first-time buyers. AIB, headed by CEO Colin Hunt, is under pressure to reduce its bad loans PEOPLE who are paying their mortgages are being negatively impacted by those who are not repaying their home-loans, the head of AIB is set to tell politicians. New AIB chief executive Colin Hunt will also say the large numbers of non-payers is pushing up lending rates for home buyers and businesses. He is to suggest to the Oireachtas Finance Committee, chaired by Fianna Fails John McGuinness, that the bank will sell more non-performing loans to private equity funds. Two weeks ago the State-owned bank announced the 1bn sale of bad loans that controversially includes around 200 family home mortgages as well as thousands of buy-to-lets. The loans were sold to US fund Cerberus. Dr Hunt will tell the TDs and senators this latest sale will reduce its non-performing loans exposure to around 8pc of its loan book. He points out that the European average is around 3.5pc, and the banks aim is to hit around 5pc by year end. But this is a milestone, not a destination. AIB is still carrying a large chunk of deep long-term arrears that simply must be reduced by year end, he says in his opening remarks. The sale of so-called NPLs (non-performing loans) have proved to be hugely controversial, prompting the Dail to back a private members bill proposed by Sinn Fein Pearse Doherty requiring mortgage holders to give their express consent before their loan is sold to a vulture fund. Dr Hunt will tell the politicians: NPLs inhibit banks primary function of lending to the economy and ultimately they increase bank costs, resulting in higher rates for businesses and home-buyers. It is also true to say that those individual customers who do meet their loan repayments are, in effect, negatively impacted by those who dont repay. He says Irish banks must hold more capital than European banks because of our credit-default history. This requirement to hold large and expensive provisions or buffers against the possibility that customer debts will go into default means additional costs for customers, he is to point out. The countrys biggest crowdfunding service says it will no longer allow anti-vaccination campaigns. GoFundMe, which has been used by 500,000 Irish people, says that anti-vaccination information represents a "public health risk". Speaking to Independent.ie, the chief executive of GoFundMe said that the decision has been made to prevent "misinformation". "The anti vaccine movement has been around for a long time," said Rob Solomon. "But there's a lot of misinformation being spread on it and it is a huge public health risk. "It's got to the point now where the [US] Surgeon General and many others are talking about the misinformation that's being spread. So we will evolve our terms of service and change things, based on the realities of what's happening. This is an example of us following what's happening with regulators and legislation." Recent years have seen a number of local campaigns by some parents groups in Ireland on the issue of vaccinating young children against conditions ranging from measles to cervical cancer. Claims by so-called anti-vaxxers that vaccinations can be linked to autism have been repeatedly debunked by doctors and medical professionals, who say that the claims endanger the health of kids. Last weekend, Health Minister Simon Harris said he "instinctively agrees" with proposals to ban unvaccinated children from schools. Mr Harris tweeted that despite his agreement with the suggestion, there may be constitutional issues involve. "Will research further," he tweeted, adding the hashtag #vaccinessavelives. In Ireland, the uptake of the HPV vaccine against cervical cancer has risen to 70pc, up from 50pc in the last two years. "Our philosophy is to not be the arbiter of whether a cause is a good cause or a bad cause," says Solomon. "We want the communities of people to ultimately decide. So you'll see different sides of political issues, raising funds on GoFundMe, and we don't want to take a stance as to whether we're left or right, progressive or conservative. "That said, we do have terms of service. You can't raise funds to purchase weapons, for example." That now also includes "misinformation" such as anti-vaccination campaigns, he said. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 10) Vietnam is 'quietly upgrading' its facilities in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea "apparently without facing the same reaction from China's maritime militia forces as the Philippines recently has," a U.S. think tank reported. The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) in a report released Monday said Vietnam "continues to quietly upgrade" its facilities on occupied features in the contested region. AMTI noted that Vietnam occupies 49 outposts spread across 27 features in the Spratly Islands -- 10 are called islets while the rest are underwater reefs and banks. The think tank reported Hanoi improved facilities on Spratly Island, Pearson Reef, Petley Reef and South Reefs. "In total, Hanoi created about 40 acres of new land at Spratly Island through a process that involved the use of construction equipment to dredge up part of the reef surrounding the island and cover it in sand," he said. AMTI noted this was similar to China's dredging and island-building activities in the Spratlys, although Hanoi's construction is considered "more time-consuming and less environmentally disastrous" but still entailed the destruction of coral reefs. Developments in the Vietnam-occupied features include an extension of runway, four hangars believed to host maritime surveillance aircraft, and intelligence and communication facilities. Vietnam has since built a pair of large signals intelligence or communications facilities and a pair of hangars in Spratly Island. The newly-formed land, AMTI added, will be protected from storm surges through "intricate series of drainage channnels" situated on the island's edge. "It seems that regardless of external factors, whether amid negotiations and relative calm or tensions and threats of violence, Hanoi is committed to a steady but modest expansion of its capabilities in and around the Spratly Islands," the report said. Vietnam also made developments at the small cay it occupies on Pearson Reef. "There is no sign of facilities built to house attack aircraft, for instance. Instead, Hanoi's upgrades seem geared toward expanding its ability to monitor and patrol contested waters and, especially in the case of its pillbox and DK1 platforms, improve living conditions and ensure it can resupply by air if necessary," it added. The think tank earlier said China deployed up to 95 ships in response to the Philippines' repairs of the runway in Pag-asa Island, the seat of the Kalayaan local government in Palawan. READ: Photos show China deployment of 'militia' as PH builds on Pag-asa Island think tank Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on April 4 told China to lay off the island, as the Department of Foreign Affairs said the presence of Beijing's vessels there is illegal. READ: Duterte tells China to lay-off Pag-asa Island, suggests 'compromise' Salcedo had been free after posting bond shortly after his arrest, and after the sentence was handed down, defense attorney Douglas Zeit asked Shanes to allow Salcedo to report for incarceration Wednesday so he could say goodbye to his family and child. Prosecutors objected and asked that his bond be revoked and that Salcedo be taken into immediate custody. Tariff threat: US President Donald Trump has vowed to stop the EU taking advantage The European Union has begun preparations to retaliate over Boeing subsidies, an EU official said yesterday, a day after Washington listed EU products it plans to hit with tariffs in their aircraft dispute. On Monday, the US Trade Representative proposed a range of EU products ranging from large commercial aircraft and parts to dairy products and wine to target as retaliation for Airbus subsidies. A European Commission source said yesterday the level of proposed US countermeasures was "greatly exaggerated", adding the amount of retaliation could only be determined by a WTO arbitrator. "In the parallel Boeing dispute, the determination of EU retaliation rights is also coming closer and the EU will request the WTO-appointed arbitrator to determine the EU's retaliation rights," the commission source said, adding that it was preparing so that it could take action after the arbitrator's decision. Airbus said it saw no legal basis for the US move and warned of deepening transatlantic trade tensions. The EU is already facing US tariffs on its steel and aluminium exports and US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to hit EU cars with punitive duties. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told a conference in Paris the two sides needed to reach a friendly agreement. "When I see the situation global growth is in, I don't think we can afford to have a trade conflict even if only on the specific issues of the aircraft industry in the United States and Europe," he said. The two sides are closing in on the climax of a record subsidy dispute that has been grinding its way through the WTO for almost 15 years. Both sides have won partial victories in claiming Airbus and Boeing received unlawful subsidies but disagree on the amount involved and whether each has complied with earlier WTO rulings. The US tariffs proposal put pressure on shares in European makers of aircraft and aerospace suppliers, wine, cheese and luxury goods. Airbus shares were down 1.6pc early yesterday on the news. Airbus suppliers such as Safran and Leonardo also saw shares fall. "Get ready for more tit-for-tat scrapping to follow," said John Woolfitt of Atlantic Markets. Moody's said US tariffs are a risk to global growth. Reuters The wife of ousted Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn returned to Japan on Wednesday and intends to testify to Tokyo prosecutors, a source close to her entourage said, days after she left the country to seek help from the French government. The source, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said Carole Ghosn would be questioned by authorities as soon as Thursday, confirming a report by the Nikkei newspaper earlier on Wednesday. Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn. Photo: AP Quizzed: Former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn leaves his lawyers office in Tokyo. Photo: AP Carlos Ghosn (Sadayuki Goto/Kyodo News/AP) Carlos Ghosn leaves his lawyers office in Tokyo (Sadayuki Goto/Kyodo News/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn. Photo: AP Prosecutors last week arrested the former Nissan chairman for the fourth time on suspicion he tried to enrich himself at the cost of $5 million to the automaker. Authorities had also wanted to question his wife on suspicion that Ghosn had siphoned off payments through a company where his wife is an executive to purchase a yacht and a boat, public broadcaster NHK has reported. Ghosn has said he is innocent of all the charges against him and said he is the victim of a boardroom coup. His wife left Japan last week after Ghosn's arrest, telling the Financial Times she was going to seek help for her spouse, a French citizen. Paris has said it was monitoring the situation. Prosecutors had earlier seized her Lebanese passport but overlooked her US one, allowing her to leave Japan, the Financial Times said. The Nikkei reported on Wednesday that she had arrived back in Japan at Tokyo's Haneda airport, with the intention of testifying to prosecutors on Thursday, citing sources. The newspaper quoted her as saying she wanted to tell a court that there was "absolutely nothing illegal". A spokesman for Ghosn did not immediately respond to a request for comment. NHK said last week that prosecutors asked her to meet them for voluntary questioning as an unsworn witness, but the request was turned down, which prompted them to ask judges to question her on their behalf. Such a request gives judges the power to question on a mandatory basis witnesses who refuse to testify, according to NHK. Olivia Newton John, left, and John Travolta, right, in Grease in 1978 A prequel to revered musical Grease is reportedly in the works. Paramount Studios is developing a new chapter in the story of Danny and Sandy titled Summer Loving, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Expand Close A prequel to revered musical Grease is reportedly in the works (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A prequel to revered musical Grease is reportedly in the works (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP) Big Fish writer John August will pen the script while no casting decisions have been made, it is reported. Grease, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John as high school sweethearts Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson, was a huge success upon its release in 1978 and remains a cultural touchstone. Its soundtrack, containing hits including Hopelessly Devoted To You, Summer Nights and Youre The One That I Want, is one of the best-selling albums of all-time. It spawned a less well-received sequel, 1982s Grease 2. The prequel is said to flesh out the story of Danny and Sandys first meeting, which was told via the song Summer Nights in the original film. Police are searching for a gunman after two women were shot during a vigil for Nipsey Hussle hours after the rapper was killed, according to court papers seen by the Associated Press. Hundreds of people had gathered to mourn the loss of Hussle at the South Los Angeles shopping centre on March 31, the same day he was shot dead and two others injured as they stood outside Hussles clothing store, The Marathon. The two women injured at the vigil told police at a hospital last week that they had been struck with gunfire as the crowd fled, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on April 2. Investigators are seeking to identify the shooter and the intended victim, the document said. At a news conference earlier on the day the warrant was approved, Police Chief Michel Moore acknowledged that two women had reported they were shot, but said a police commander at the scene did not hear gunfire. Expand Close Nipsey Hussle was shot dead (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Nipsey Hussle was shot dead (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File) One of the women, however, said she heard a quick succession of shots and ran from it along with the rest of the crowd, according to the affidavit. She fell to the ground in the stampede, got up and got to a car, where she discovered she had been shot in the lower back. A friend drove her to the hospital. The other woman, who was with the first victim, told investigators she was knocked down and trampled in the stampede, and when she stood she felt a strange sensation in her elbow. A passerby told her she had been shot, according to the affidavit. She drove herself from the scene, and a friend drove her to the hospital. Nineteen people were injured at the vigil, most of them hurt during the stampede. Businesses at the shopping centre had declined to give police surveillance video on the night of the vigil, but using the warrant, police took video recorders from The Marathon, a mobile phone store and a barbershop. Video of the Day Officer Scott Swanson, who wrote the document, said he is a longtime investigator in the gang unit. He said the shopping centre, including The Marathon store, is a popular gang gathering spot. The stores have often withheld or deleted surveillance video when police asked for it in previous investigations, Mr Swanson wrote. Investigators believe Hussles death involved a personal dispute with the alleged gunman Eric R Holder Jr and not any gang activity or rivalry, Mr Moore has said. Holder and Hussle had several interactions on March 31 before Holder returned with a handgun and shot the 33-year-old rapper and two other men, police said. Holder has pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges. In the corridors of the Vilnius Culture House, an imposing brutalist building in the suburbs of the Lithuanian capital, a props table is piled high with knick-knacks: bottles of vodka, a plastic tub filled with fake cigarettes, a vintage table lamp, and small chocolate bars with faded wrapping in Cyrillic script. And Sellotape. Always Sellotape. They're only part of what's needed to turn the retro foyer into the lobby bar of the Polissya Hotel in Pripyat, Ukraine, where on April 26, 1986, when it was still part of the USSR, a nuclear reactor exploded at the nearby Chernobyl Power Plant, unleashing 300 times the radioactive material of the Hiroshima bomb. Thirty-three years on, the story of what happened afterwards - from the effort to contain the radioactive material to the cover-up that means we'll never truly know the extent of the damage - is the focus of HBO and Sky's first production partnership: a miniseries called Chernobyl. There's not much they need to add in the title to suggest a high-stakes story. Filming today involves Jared Harris, of Mad Men and The Crown fame (and also son of the late, great Richard Harris) nursing his worries at the bar. As leading nuclear physicist Valery Legasov, he's part of the response team and the weight of the disaster hangs heavy on his shoulders. He's joined by Emily Watson (Angela's Ashes, Hilary and Jackie) as Ulana Khomyuk, another nuclear physicist on a mission to find out what really happened. Expand Close Chernobyl also stars Irish actress Jessie Buckley / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Chernobyl also stars Irish actress Jessie Buckley The scene is intimate; as with the two episodes I later preview, director Johan Renck (who's previously directed Breaking Bad and music videos by David Bowie and Robbie Williams) unfurls the story with a restrained pace that only adds to the tension. Another take-away from the previews: it had me falling deep into internet rabbit holes to understand more about what's depicted in the show, from how the accident started, to the gory effects of radiation exposure. "The script is factual in terms of the science and the events, but you have to telescope parts," Jared reflects at the bar, once the scene is wrapped and the crew have dispersed. "Chernobyl is such a huge subject, and Craig [Mazin, writer] did a wonderful job of figuring out the spine of the story and following it through." "It's got a real 360 view," adds Emily. "You attach yourself to different characters throughout the series. At first, you see it through the eyes of the firefighters and families at Pripyat, and then the scientists come in. You see the people who agreed to sacrifice their lives, and the people who were conscripted for the clear-up and didn't know. There were lots of different people who had a view of this event, and he managed to get everybody in there. It's a real page-turner, it's got Hollywood muscle." That said, throughout the five-parter we follow the arc of fast-rising Killarney native Jessie Buckley, who in a bouffant hairdo and yesteryear clothing, is barely recognisable as Lyudmilla Ignatenko, an ordinary citizen whose firefighter husband suffers from acute radiation poisoning; other Irish actors involved in the production include Barry Keoghan and Caoilfhionn Dunne. It turns out Emily was already acquainted with Jessie before filming took place. "Part of the deal for her Bafta Rising Star nomination was that she gets to be mentored by someone, and she asked if she could meet me, so we had a fantastic morning talking about everything," says Emily. Video of the Day "What it is to be in the business, being women in it, the sisterhood that should exist everywhere but doesn't. It was only at the end we found out we were working on Chernobyl together. We only have one scene together but she's amazing. She really is." Lyudmilla, based on a true account documented in a collection of first-hand accounts, Voices from Chernobyl, is key in making the political personal, especially as the Communist government under Gorbachev's rule hid the full impact of the disaster. "The disaster was actually broken by the Swedish scientists, who picked up radioactive isotopes in the air two days later, and they knew there had been an exposed core somewhere," explains Jared. "The Americans put their spy satellite over Chernobyl and saw what was happening, so the news was actually released in the West first." Eventually, the Kremlin admitted the disaster, if only via a brief TV news piece (you'll see original footage in the series). By that point, reports in the west had already spread. "I was at university when it happened," recalls Emily. "I remember there were people who were in Russia for a foreign exchange year, and they all came home pretty quickly. "I was living in London," adds Jared. "There was period of time when we couldn't drink the milk, or eat Welsh lamb because the cloud went over parts of Wales. That's when New Zealand lamb became popular." Today, the official death toll from the disaster remains at 37, though estimates go up to 200,000 according to Greenpeace. In a time when Putin pinky-swears that he didn't interfere with elections, and we only hear whispers of what happens behind closed doors in other governments, there's a resonance to the themes of Chernobyl. "It's really about the state not telling the truth, and when you're in charge of nuclear weapons and facilities, that's a very dangerous situation. And we live in a time where our leaders have a strange relationship with the truth," says Emily. "There's a big lie at the start of the story that's partly responsible for what's happens after," adds Jared. "So the script is about the damage that lies can do. "And the people who have the courage to go against the system," adds Emily, pointedly. It's not lost on me either that 30 miles away from where we speak, only just after the Belarusian border, Russia is building a new nuclear power plant that Lithuania insists falls short of safety standards, bringing up the controversy of nuclear energy again. With real-life events like Chernobyl in our midst that still impact our every day, who needs fiction for a compelling story. 'Chernobyl' begins on Sky Atlantic on May 7 Dame Darcey Bussell has stepped down from 'Strictly Come Dancing'. The 49-year-old retired ballerina has quit the BBC One Latin and ballroom show after seven series, but insisted she isn't departing the programme due to "any upset or disagreement" and simply wants to focus on her "many other commitments in dance". Darcey - who became a full-time judge on the show's 10th series in 2012 - said in a statement: "It has been a complete privilege for me to be part of 'Strictly', working with such a talented team. "I have enjoyed every minute of my time and will miss everyone from my fellow judges, the presenters, the dancers, the musicians, the entire back stage team, and especially the viewers of the show, who have been so supportive. Expand Close Strictly judges Craig Revel Horwood, Darcey Bussell, Shirley Ballas and Bruno Tonioli gave a perfect score to Ashley Roberts (Guy Levy/BBC/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Strictly judges Craig Revel Horwood, Darcey Bussell, Shirley Ballas and Bruno Tonioli gave a perfect score to Ashley Roberts (Guy Levy/BBC/PA) "I am not leaving because of any upset or disagreement at all, I am just stepping away to give more focus to my many other commitments in dance, after seven truly wonderful years that I cant imagine having gone any better." While Darcey will not be a judge for 'Strictly' 2019, she hopes to be asked back on the show at some point. Expand Close Craig Revel Horwood, Dame Darcey Bussell, Shirley Ballas and guest judge Alfonso Ribeiro (BBC/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Craig Revel Horwood, Dame Darcey Bussell, Shirley Ballas and guest judge Alfonso Ribeiro (BBC/PA) She said: "I know I will miss being part of this unique show and the fact that it celebrates dance is something I am so passionate about. I hope that I may be very lucky to be asked back again one day." Charlotte Moore, director of BBC content, said: "It has been an absolute honour to have Darcey, a national treasure and British dance icon, bring her passion for dance and her graceful presence to the 'Strictly Come Dancing' judging panel for seven consecutive years. Expand Close The Royal Ballets principal choreographer, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, directs Darcey Bussell and Jonathan Cope during rehearsals for his work The Prince Of The Pagodas in 1989 (PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Royal Ballets principal choreographer, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, directs Darcey Bussell and Jonathan Cope during rehearsals for his work The Prince Of The Pagodas in 1989 (PA) "She will be thoroughly missed by us all and will of course remain part of the 'Strictly' family in the future." Darcey's news comes after Shirley Ballas took over from former head judge Len Goodman in September 2017. Video of the Day Bruno Tonioli and Craig Revel Horwood, who have been on the show since its first series in 2004, complete the current judging panel. Irish Catholics were much less devout before the famine, according to a new documentary. The RTE documentary, Rome V Republic, examined how the church got such a strong hold over every aspect of the nation's life after the foundation of the state. It reveals that the famine unexpectedly strengthened the influence of the Catholic Church in Ireland. The documentary, presented by former Justice Minister Michael McDowell, found Irish people in the late 1700s and early 1800s had a much laxer attitude towards mass-going. We know people wouldnt have gone to mass every Sunday but this is not to say they werent religious in their own way, said Dr. Sarah Roddy from the University of Manchester. But I suppose the church might have seen as a kind of unorthodox religion which combined going to mass every now and then but also doing things which had ancient pagan roots as well. Daniel OConnells campaign for Catholic emancipation energised the countrys Catholics in a mass movement in the early 19th century. But Professor Mary Daly from UCD said the famine had an unexpected effect on the Catholic church in Ireland. The population went from just under 8.2 million in 1841 to just under 5.8 million in 1861. Professor Mary said the dramatic population decline disaster gave the Catholic church more control over its flock. Video of the Day The reality about religion pre-famine, its not like the place as full of atheists, its just that in many areas there arent enough priests. Basically the Catholic Church in 1841 did not have the manpower to really look the six million-odd Catholics in Ireland at the time. She said the deaths of millions of Catholics meant the church had smaller numbers of more God-fearing parishioners. A lot of the population loss occurred in the poor and very poor people who were not regular Sunday mass goers, who would have practiced a different form of Catholicism based around a good mixture of superstition and folk belief with Catholicism. They are removed from the scene. She said the middle classes left behind were much more devout. The people who really come through are the farmers. They are not the dominant group, publicly, socially, the church is very heavily dependent on a rising middle class. shop keepers, merchants in town. They were the people who would have educated their children, they would be God-fearing, respectable is the word worth using. Many would have aspired in time to send a son into the priesthood, so the Catholic Church is in a stronger position, absolutely. Michael McDowell revealed how the first free State constitution drawn up by a committee which included Michael Collins was a very secular document but then a raft of Catholic morally inspired legislation was brought in. It catalogues how the new cash-strapped Irish Republic was forced to rely on the 13,000 religious personnel across the country. But DCUs Dr. Daithi O Corrain said the churchs huge numbers of vocations fell dramatically as soon as free secondary school education came in 1967. After that vocations literally all off a cliff. Despite two decades of horrific scandals, cover-ups and revelations the documentary concludes that church remains embedded in Irish life. Rome V Republic will be shown on RTE One Thursday 11th April, 10.15pm Almost 40pc of crime scene samples uploaded to the national DNA database last year resulted in a link to a person. Forensic Science Ireland (FSI) said the database assisted in 867 investigations in 2018 alone, and in more than 2,000 investigations since its inception in 2015. It said the database provided a major breakthrough last year in relation to two old cases, a burglary committed in 2014 and a suspicious death or murder case in 2010. It said unknown DNA profiles were generated from these cases and were linked on the database. When a suspected offender's DNA profile was taken from an unrelated incident and uploaded to the database, he was linked to both of the earlier cases. Publishing its 2018 annual report, FSI said 38 out of every 100 samples uploaded to the database resulted in a hit to a person. It cited another case in which stains from a "cluster" of burglary, robbery and assault cases which appeared to be from a serial offender were used to generate DNA profiles. When these were uploaded to the database it was shown they were all linked by one individual. It's hoped he will be identified in the future. "The database is consistently proving to be a very valuable crime intelligence tool," said FSI director Chris Enright. He said 2018 saw a number of new techniques and processes introduced. FSI scientists developed an improved method of recovering DNA from bones, particularly those taken from seas and rivers. This led to the successful identification of skeletal remains, including those of Aengus 'Gussie' Shanahan (20), who disappeared in 2000. FSI scientists were involved in a number of high-profile murder trials last year, including that of John Tighe, who was found guilty of murdering his baby son Joshua, and that of Paul Wells Sr, who was convicted of murdering Kenneth O'Brien by shooting him before dismembering him. They were also important in a number of gangland murder trials. A bank has been ordered to pay 4,000 in compensation to a Syrian refugee after it refused to open a bank account for him on the grounds of his nationality. The adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) came after the man took a case with the support of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC). He came to Ireland under a programme to protect refugees displaced by the conflict in Syria and in 2017 he sought to open a bank account after entering employment. However, according to his complaint, he was refused by a member of the bank's staff on presentation of his refugee travel document. The man claimed he was told: "We don't open bank accounts for Syrians at the moment." He complained to the bank and brought a case to the WRC under the Equal Status Acts. At a hearing, the bank said it had always accepted refugee travel documents as proof of identity and that after becoming aware of the incident, it updated its website to specifically reflect this. But in its adjudication, the WRC found two front-line staff at the bank "appeared to be oblivious to any policy that may have been in place to cover such a situation". The adjudicator said it was difficult to disagree with the man's argument that where a service provider, such as the bank, was to have applied an explicit policy of direct discrimination based on nationality, there had to be an extensive duty on the bank to ensure that such a policy was carefully applied to avoid this kind of situation. The bank was ordered to pay compensation of 4,000 to the man. The decision was welcomed by IHREC, which used its statutory powers to provide the man with legal assistance. It said the case was not an isolated incident and that the bank had also been ordered to engage directly with IHREC to minimise the possibility of any type of re-occurrence. "Financial institutions need to ensure that customers are protected from any form of discrimination by putting in place appropriate training mechanisms and clear guidelines, and ensuring staff are aware of them," said IHREC chief commissioner Emily Logan. Neither the bank nor the complainant were named in the adjudication. A former solicitor for gang boss John Gilligan, who gave a mobile phone to an imprisoned notorious rapist after he threatened to rape her child, has avoided jail. Joanne Kangley (41), formerly of Bailieborough, Co Cavan, appeared at Portlaoise Circuit Court where she pleaded guilty to the offence, committed on November 6, 2014. The offence carries a maximum imprisonment of five years. Judge Keenan Johnson heard that Kangley, a mother of two young children, also provided a SIM card and topped up the phone for the prisoner, her former client. Kangley was a practising solicitor since 2004 and had built up a "fairly high-profile clientele amongst the criminal fraternity", the court was told. In 2013, Kangley issued a letter for her then-client Gilligan on his release from jail, telling news outlets he would not be giving interviews, "not even for a million euro". The prisoner, who is denying receiving the phone and is awaiting a court hearing, was jailed for false imprisonment and raping a woman with implements while her infant child was found wandering in public at the time of the offences. Expand Close Ex-client: Joanne Kangley with gang boss John Gilligan in 2013. Photo: Collins / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ex-client: Joanne Kangley with gang boss John Gilligan in 2013. Photo: Collins The court had previously heard Kangley gave the phone to the inmate at the Midlands Regional Hospital, where he was a patient, after he threatened "I will f***ing fillet you from here to here". He also remarked that she had "a lovely daughter, I know all about her". At her sentencing hearing yesterday, Judge Johnson noted that Kangley had been "extremely frightened and fearful" of the rapist, who said he had seen pictures of Kangley's daughter and was going to rape her if the solicitor did not get him a SIM card. She later bought him a SIM card and topped up the phone, which was used to search for information about her and to intimidate others. Judge Johnson said the aggravating factors were the "serious breach of trust on the part of the accused" and that the phone was used to "intimidate other parties". He sentenced her to 12 months and suspended it for five years. One official who has been following the EtO situation indicated some Lake County officials would like to see the usage of the toxin stopped at the two plants. We just have no legal authority to close either plant, the official told me. At least for now, both are operating within the federal parameters. In other words, legally. A man who sent a 15 year old boy explicit social media messages inviting the child to have sex with him will be sentenced in July. Eddie Smith (45) knew the teenager and met him on a bus a week before the Gay Pride Festival. They had a brief chat before the boy's older sister arrived and the conversation stopped. The following morning the child woke up to find a number of messages from Smith sent to him through Facebook messenger. Garda Paul Dempsey told Maurice Coffey BL, prosecuting, that the messages began by asking the boy by name how he was, before telling him he was hot and asking if he would like to have sex. We could meet up at Gay Pride. Text me, (provided his number). We can have sex in my bed, Smith continued before he asked the child how big his penis is, telling him Your feet are big. Gda Dempsey said Smith asked the boy to meet for oral sex. He confirmed that all the messages had been sent at 3am that morning. A victim impact statement from the now 18-year-old stated that he was scared of Smith because he was older and bigger than him and that he feared for his safety. He now has plans to move away from Ireland for a fresh start. A warrant was issued for Smith's arrest when he failed to turn up at a trial date. Gda Dempsey agreed that he sought Smith out and found that he was in a crisis having finally faced up to the charges. Smith needed medical attention that day and was taken to hospital. He later changed his plea and admitted the offences. Smith of Neilstown Drive, Clondalkin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexual exploitation in that he invited a child to engage in or participate in a sexual act on June 19, 2015. He has no previous convictions. Mr Coffey said that Gda Dempsey should be commended for his trojan efforts in dealing with the case as he had, particularly in assisting Smith when he failed to turn up for his trial. He described the officer as going beyond the call of duty. Judge Sinead Ni Chulachain said that a probation report before the court indicated that Smith was at a medium risk of re-offending unless he deals with his risk factors. She noted that Smith's primary issue was difficulties with his mental health and said he would need some time to deal with that. The judge said she would give Smith a chance to engage with the relevant services and ordered an updated probation report to re-assess his risk of re-offending. I accept that he is now facing up to things. I don't want to leave things hanging around considering the victim is trying to move on, Judge Ni Chulachain said before she remanded Smith on continuing bail to July 1 next. Gda Dempsey said the boy didn't reply to the messages and immediately showed the messages to his older sister who contacted Smith about it. Smith claimed he had sent the messages to the boy by mistake. Gda Dempsey agreed with Mr Coffey that Smith claimed in a subsequent garda interview that he had meant to send the messages to a man of the same name living in Westmeath, while he had told the boy's sister the intended recipient of the messages lived in Galway. Gda Dempsey said gardai didn't accept Smith's explanation as the child had a very specific username which was accompanied with a profile photograph. They also couldn't find a man with the same name in either Galway or Westmeath. Gda Dempsey agreed with Jennifer Jackson BL, defending, that Smith had not come to garda attention since and had had no further contact with the teenager. He accepted that his partner passed away a few years ago and he suffers very badly with both depression and anxiety. Gda Dempsey agreed with Ms Jackson that her client's version of events simply did not add up and was a ridiculous concoction. The Dublin man charged with murdering his wife after she disappeared from a luxury cruise ran a fairytale-themed wedding planning business with her. Daniel Belling's Chinese wife Xing Lei Li started Cinderella's Wedding in 2015 and offered a range of packages, including wedding dress rentals, flamboyant decor and photo album design. The couple also had a range of podcasts on their website, which featured personal commentary on different tourism hotspots and festivals around Ireland, as well as cruises. The two were themselves on an 11-day cruise around the Mediterranean with their two children when Ms Li, who was also known as Angie, disappeared. Neighbours of the family in Clare Village, Malahide Road, told the Irish Independent that they often saw them drive in and out of the apartment complex in their Cinderella-styled car. They were described as "very odd". Neighbour Lubos Pcola said that he once found Daniel (45) sleeping on the stairwell in his apartment complex. He said: "A few months ago, a neighbour told me that there was a homeless man sleeping in the stairwell. "When I went to investigate, I saw Daniel with blankets and everything around him. He told me everything was fine. "I'm very shocked to hear that he got arrested - it's really crazy," he added. Mr Belling, who is a German national, has been living and working in Dublin as an IT consultant. The family's cruise began on February 9 in the port of Civitavecchia and took them to Malta, Greece and Cyprus. When the luxury Magnifica cruise ship docked 10 days later, Mr Belling's wife was reported missing after crew members realised passenger details accounted for one less person. He had allegedly failed to tell the ship's crew that his wife was not on board, a fact which aroused the suspicions of Italian police. Mr Belling's lawyer, Luigi Conti, told the Irish Independent that his client is completely denying he had anything to do with his wife's disappearance and said that there is a "perfectly good explanation" for what happened. Italian judges visited Mr Belling in his cell yesterday, where he was asked to give his version of events. Ms Li previously appeared in court in Dublin, after having her front door broken down by gardai when she refused to leave an apartment. Dublin District Court heard there had been a dispute with the landlord over unpaid rent and because she was keeping pets, which was against the rules. The couple had fallen behind in their rent when they both lost their jobs, the court was told. They had just got married at the time of the case, which dated back to 2010. Ms Li was prosecuted on a charge of burglary with intent to cause criminal damage. But Judge Catherine Murphy dismissed the charge. The man accused of murdering Irishman John Curran in South Africa has admitted stabbing the charity worker 26 times, but claimed he was acting in self-defence. Congolese national Mitspa Onyoka (25) was not granted bail at a court hearing yesterday, five months after Mr Curran (60) was found stabbed to death at his apartment in Cape Town. Cape Town magistrates heard Mr Curran was stabbed 26 times in the head, neck, chest and back, and had suffered blunt trauma injuries to his body. He had also been strangled so violently that the thyroid bones on both sides of his neck had been broken, and he had grazes and contusions "consistent with a struggle". Mr Onyoka, who was a cleaner at nightclub the Fantasy Lounge in Cape Town, was arrested several weeks after Mr Curran's body was found on November 7 last year. He has since been held at the notorious Pollsmoor Prison where he claimed his life was in danger. Defence barrister Anthony Berinato, in applying for bail, gave an account of how Mr Curran and illegal immigrant Mr Onyoka came to know each other. He put before magistrate Vusi Mhlanga a sworn affidavit in which he said his client had been befriended by Mr Curran in the nightclub. Expand Close Murder accused Mitspa Onyoka, who was filmed on CCTV in a lift at Mr Currans apartment building / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Murder accused Mitspa Onyoka, who was filmed on CCTV in a lift at Mr Currans apartment building He claimed Mr Curran offered to get him a job as a car dealer, so he went to his apartment alone, where he claims he was drugged and Mr Curran attempted to rape him. His affidavit detailed how he saw a knife on the table and "began stabbing him". "He became very angry and began to choke me. I stabbed him again with the knife and he stopped choking me," Mr Onyoka said. Mr Onyoka, who is charged with murder, told the court he had no idea what he had done to Mr Curran or if he was dead or alive, saying he fled out the door and down the lift. The cleaner was arrested later that month at work after CCTV images taken in the lift at the apartment block were released by police. He continued in his affidavit: "I was acting in self-defence...I will not flee bail as I want to prove in court I am not guilty." Warrant officer Shaun Bardien, who is attached to Cape Town Central CID, said Mr Onyoka's bloodied fingerprints on a knife, and footprints and CCTV footage placed him inside the flat and leaving the apartment, and he admitted being there. He said the state would contest Mr Onyoka's version of events in "due course" but said the bail hearing was "not the time or place" to do so, but was to ensure bail was refused. "If he fled across the border he would be very difficult, if not impossible, to trace. It is essential for justice to be done that he remains in custody until his trial," Mr Bardien said. He opposed bail and said Mr Onyoka would be a "flight risk" if released. He told the court the accused man was an illegal immigrant with no family or property ties to South Africa and was facing extremely serious charges and must remain in prison. Mr Berinato argued: "I submit my client has put forward a strong defence as there was clearly a struggle and fight and my client feared being a victim of rape. "He fought back in self-defence and that is consistent with the post-mortem report," he said. Prosecutor Johan Swart replied: "Being stabbed 26 times does not suggest self-defence." Mr Mhlanga denied the accused bail and sent him back to Pollsmoor Prison until the next hearing on May 16. He said bail was not being granted to Mr Onyoka "in the interests of justice". Mr Onyoka told the court he had fled the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in fear of his life as he had demonstrated against the government and if he returned he could be killed. His lawyer confirmed Mr Onyoka was an illegal immigrant but checks in the DRC and South Africa showed he had no previous convictions or pending convictions against him. Mr Onyoka said he feared for his life in Pollsmoor Prison. "Drugs are rife and I am at the mercy of the gangs and if I remain in detention I may lose my life as I am not a violent person and I am not able to defend myself in there," he said. A taxi driver who sexually assaulted three young women within two weeks has had his case adjourned to allow for the preparation of a psychological report. Mansoor Uddin (41), a married father of three, sexually assaulted two of the women on the same night after demanding that one of them get out of his taxi when he saw her trying to get a photo of his identification. This 18-year-old victim had also called a friend while in the vehicle and gave her Uddin's name and some of his taxi number. She tried to take a photograph of Uddin but he stopped her. Sergeant Aoife Cronin told Sinead McMullan BL, prosecuting, that gardai used CCTV footage, a database of registered public service vehicles and a computer generated likeness from the first victim to identify Uddin. As part of the garda investigation, officers also used GPS co-ordinates from the HALO app which confirmed that Uddin had travelled the three routes the women had outlined to gardai. Uddin of Castleway, Adamstown, Lucan, Co Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexual assault on January 30, 2016 and two sexual assaults on February 16, 2016. Expand Close 09/04/19 Mansoor Uddin (41), of Castleway, Adamstown, Lucan, leaving court after the case. PIC: Collins Courts / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp 09/04/19 Mansoor Uddin (41), of Castleway, Adamstown, Lucan, leaving court after the case. PIC: Collins Courts Judge Sinead Ni Chulachain adjourned the case to May 8, next, for sentence and remanded Uddin on continuing bail. Sgt Cronin told Ms McMullan that the first woman, a 19-year-old German national, continually pushed Uddin's hand away as he rubbed her knee and leg while driving. He told her she had a beautiful heart. He also touched her chest area and rubbed her cheek, telling her that she was the most beautiful girl of the night. The woman bit Uddin's finger when he touched her cheek and told him she wanted to get out of the car. She threw money at him and managed to get out but he drove alongside her, rolled down his window and told she could keep the money if she would just give him a kiss. He asked her to get back into the car but she refused. She reported Uddin to the gardai the following day. The second victim, a 20-year-old woman, got into Uddin's taxi upset having had an argument with her boyfriend. He asked her why she was crying and told her not to be upset because she was beautiful. He wiped away her tears and rubbed her face and lip before brushing his hand down the right side of her body. When she arrived at her home he asked her if she needed a hug before he leaned in towards her as if to kiss her. The woman got out of the car and Uddin drove off at speed. She was later able to provide gardai with a partial registration number. The third woman, an 18-year-old school girl, got into Uddin's taxi an hour later. He immediately began rubbing her leg telling her how soft her skin was. She pushed him away and he tried to get his hand into her underwear. Uddin asked her what age she was and when she told him he smiled and said she was really young. Sgt Cronin said this girl noticed that Uddin's identification was behind the CD player. She accepted a call from a friend while in the taxi and tried to give her some of the details she could read off his identification. Uddin became very angry, leaned across her, opened her door and told her to get out. She tried to take a photograph of him but he stopped her doing so. Sgt Cronin agreed with Seamus Clarke SC, defending, that as part of his bail conditions a female passenger is not permitted to be a front seat passenger in Uddin's taxi. She accepted that he is a Pakistan national who is married with two teenage daughters and a younger son. Mr Clarke said the three women were young vulnerable people who were relying on him to bring them home safely and he didn't do that. Mr Clarke will address the court with a plea in mitigation on the next date. A TEACHER accused of engaging in a sex act with a teenage boy has been further remanded on bail as the book of evidence is not yet ready. The 24-year-old female teacher told gardai after she was charged that she met the youth at an over 18s nightclub. The woman is also accused of sexually exploiting the boy, who was a student in her school at the time. She has since lost her job. Judge Dermot Dempsey further adjourned the case for four weeks to a date in May for the service of the book of evidence. A State solicitor told Swords District Court that a number of garda and civilian witness statements were still outstanding in the book of evidence, particularly in relation to mobile phone content. Defence solicitor Emer O'Sullivan said there was consent to an adjournment, but asked for it to be marked peremptory. Ms O'Sullivan said the outstanding statements could be added at a later date as additional evidence. Judge Dempsey said he wouldn't mark the case peremptory at this stage. The teacher is charged with engaging in a sex act with a male child under the age of 17 on February 1 and February 13 last year. The offences are contrary to Section 3(1) of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2006. The accused was initially charged last October after she was arrested by investigating gardai at Dublin Airport when she returned to Ireland on a flight. She was further charged in February with four new offences, two further charges of defilement and two of sexually exploiting a child on February 1 and February 13, 2018. Detective Garda Stephen Hughes previously told Swords court the teacher replied "I met him at an over 18s nightclub" when she was charged with those offences. The accused is facing trial by judge and jury in the circuit court on the charges. As part of her bail conditions, the accused has been ordered not to have any contact, either directly or indirectly, with the alleged victim or any witnesses for the duration of the case. The media was again warned that reporting restrictions are in place preventing the identification of the young teacher. The accused, who was wearing a short black jacket and black leggings and accompanied to court by her father and two young females, did not address the court during the short hearing. A MAN who repeatedly rammed a garda patrol car at the conclusion of a high speed chase has been jailed four four years. Keith Duffy (31) with an address at Kempton Green, Navan Road, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to endangerment, dangerous driving and criminal damage at various locations in the Dublin 7 area on March 30, 2018. Garda Sean Kelly told Aideen Collard BL, prosecuting, that on the date in question gardai were on the lookout for a van involved in a robbery the previous day and a patrol car spotted the van being driven by Duffy in the Cabra area. The van took off at speed when gardai approached and a chase ensued which lasted 26 minutes. At one point during the chase the van stopped on one side of a humpback bridge and waited for the patrol car, then attempted to ram the car when it arrived forcing it onto the footpath. Two further patrol cars took up the chase which concluded when the van turned into a cul-de-sac at Newgrange Road. The van reversed, twice rammed into a garda patrol car and attempted to ram the car a third time only to be blocked by another patrol car. Gda Kelly said the window of the van had to be smashed to remove the accused. He said that in his ten years in the district this incident was the worst dangerous driving I have ever dealt with. Duffy has 66 previous convictions. These include convictions for careless driving, drunken driving, driving without a licence and criminal damage. Gda Kelly agreed with Ronan Prendergast BL, defending, that Duffy was sent into a spiral by the death of his grandmother earlier that month and he began abusing illicit substances. Mr Prendergast said his client apologised to all gardai involved with the case. Judge Pauline Codd sentenced Duffy to five and a half years imprisonment, but suspended the final 18 months on condition that he keep the peace and be of good behaviour and follow the directions of the Probation Service for a period of 18 months. She said the offences were aggravated by the fact that they took place in the context of gardai doing their duty. She commended the gardai for their conduct and their courage on the night. A YOUTH is alleged to have raped a 12-year-old girl he met on Facebook, then forced her to perform a sex act on his friend by threatening to post pictures on social media, a court has been told. A YOUTH is alleged to have raped a 12-year-old girl he met on Facebook, then forced her to perform a sex act on his friend by threatening to post pictures on social media, a court has been told. The accused, who was 16 at the time, is accused of raping the "vulnerable" young girl three times during two meetings when he brought her to secluded areas in west Dublin housing estates. A court was told he was arrested after she saw him months later in a public library and told her father, who chased and caught him with the help of an off-duty garda. The accused, who is now aged 20, is facing trial at the Central Criminal Court after he was served with a book of evidence and granted bail. He is charged with sexual exploitation of a child, as well as two counts of orally raping and one of anally raping the girl, at locations in west Dublin on dates in August 2015. His lawyer said he would be "fully contesting" the charges. Objecting to bail, Detective Garda David Jennings told Dublin District Court the girl became friends with the accused on Facebook and went with her friend to meet him outside a supermarket. He took her to a nearby housing estate where he dragged her into a secluded area and began to "touch her up and rub her all over," it was alleged. She told gardai she pushed him away and told him to stop but he pushed her down onto the ground and forced her to perform oral sex on him. A co-accused allegedly took pictures on his mobile phone and these were shown to her before she went home, Gda Jennings continued. Three days later, it was alleged, she met the accused again at another shopping centre, in the afternoon. They were both with friends and he again led her into a housing estate where he pushed her to the ground and forced her to perform oral sex on him, Gda Jennings continued. He said it was alleged the accused then turned her around, pulled down her trousers and anally raped her. He then told her to perform oral sex on his friend and said if she did not, the photos would be posted on social media, the court heard. It was alleged she did so and went home, later telling her mother. In February 2016, she was with her parents in a public library when she saw the accused and pointed him out to her parents. Her father confronted the accused, who ran into a car park and was apprehended by the man and Det Gda Jennings. At that time, he was brought back to a relative's house and it was alleged that within an hour he contacted the girl on Facebook Messenger and spoke about having her father arrested. The court heard the gardai could not locate the accused for 18 months and believed he was living outside the jurisdiction. Applying for bail, defence solicitor Aonghus McCarthy said his client would say that in the library, the girl's father approached him, asked his name and said "you are the guy who assaulted my little girl" before chasing him. Judge Bryan Smyth granted bail subject to strict conditions in the accused's own bond of 500, with an independent surety of 5,000, half in cash. He is to sign on daily at his local garda station and have no contact with the alleged victim or her family. A co-accused is also facing trial. Gardai have issued a warning after Irish banks reported over 1,600 cases of 'money mule' activity in 2018. The "money mules" scam involves criminals recruiting young people to help launder stolen or illegal money using their bank account in exchange for keeping a small profit for themselves. More than two-in-five (43pc) of 18 to 24-year olds are likely or very likely to lodge or transfer money for someone using their own bank account, according to a survey. This makes them the age group most susceptible to becoming money mules compared with an overall average of 29pc of adults across all age groups surveyed. The survey also revealed that 14pc of 18 to 24-year-olds say that they or someone they know have already been approached by someone looking to use their bank details to store money. The new research, initiated by An Garda Siochana and FraudSMART, aims to raise awareness of the latest financial fraud activity and trends, and how consumers and businesses can act to protect themselves. The FraudSMART survey also mirrors new data from banks, including AIB, Bank of Ireland, KBC, PTSB and Ulster Bank, who collectively had more than 1,600 confirmed cases of money mule activity on customer accounts in 2018, a large proportion of which involved young account holders. Niamh Davenport, Head of Fraud Prevention who leads the BPFI FraudSMART programme, said that "money mules" are a growing reality in Ireland today. "We understand that young adults are trying to juggle work and study with an active social life, with all kinds of costs to cover and it can be very tempting when someone offers you the chance to earn extra cash quickly for little effort. "Were urging young people to be smart when it comes to money mule recruitment, whether its someone asking for a favour or promising payment. Know the warning signs, understand the risks and check with someone you really trust if youre unsure. "Equally, for teachers, parents, youth workers and friends to play their part in raising awareness so that more young people are on their guard. We know from experience that most of the recruitment happens online, but its having the conversation offline at home, college or work that could really make a difference to a young person you know." Detective Inspector, Catriona Gunne, also urged young people to understand the consequences of letting another person use their bank account. "If caught, there is the breach of contract with the bank, the prospect of a criminal record as a money mule, and even the possibility of aiding other criminal activities funded by the proceeds of money laundered through your account. Being unaware is not a defence, the bottom line is you are acting illegally." Simon Harris: The Health Minister wants patients to see the benefits. Photo: PA Health Minister Simon Harris said he is to explore plans to ban children who are not vaccinated against measles from creches and schools. He said this is now part of the debate in the EU and he is to consult with European colleagues. Sending a child who is not vaccinated against measles to school is an irresponsible and dangerous thing to do. The take up rate for the MMR vaccine in Ireland is 92pc and the target 95pc. The warning comes in the wake of new figures showing the outbreak of measles in Dublin has worsened with eighteen cases up from ten reported cases last week. There have now been eighteen cases in Dublin since the start of February 2019. Recent cases have involved young adults working in the city centre. Travel to Europe has been identified as a risk with some cases developing measles after trips to France, Poland, the Netherlands and Lithuania. Measles is a serious illness and is highly infectious. The best protection is to be vaccinated with MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccine. People planning to travel abroad should make sure they are protected from measles, said the HSE. Those who have not been vaccinated with MMR vaccine or have not had measles in the past are at risk of measles. If unsure whether they had the vaccine they should speak to their GP about getting the MMR vaccine before travelling. Measles symptoms include fever, red rash, red eyes, cough and runny nose. The rash usually starts a few days after onset of illness. It typically starts on the head and spreads down the body. There is a risk of developing measles for up to 21 days after contact with a case of measles. If you think you may have measles, stay at home and phone your GP for advice. People who are sick should not attend settings such as creche, school, work or religious gatherings until they have recovered from illness. Advance: Orthopaedic surgeon Joseph Butler with the new equipment at the Mater Private Hospital A robot is now helping surgeons to carry out spinal operations, with fewer incisions allowing patients to have a quicker recovery. Joseph Butler, an orthopaedic surgeon in the Mater Private hospital in Dublin, said the robot-assisted surgery was being used in both routine and complex spinal operations. "Robot-assisted surgery is a new emerging area that will become the standard of care in the years ahead," he said. It works by providing 3D visualisation and navigation features which enable surgeons to be precise about the placement of spinal screws. It can reduce the patient's blood loss and muscle damage during surgery. The hospital is the first in Ireland to use robot-assisted spine surgery and is one of four centres in Europe employing the ExcelsiusGPS machine. Mr Butler said the "potential for robotic spine surgery to enhance the lives of patients by delivering more accurate surgery and faster rehabilitation is a key consideration in bringing this technology to the hospital. "The team has been undergoing extensive training in the United States over recent months to prepare for the robot's introduction to the hospital's spinal surgery offering." The aim is to use it in one third of spinal surgeries at the hospital annually. "The technology, much like the GPS devices we use every day, supports surgeons in their work by ensuring greater surgical precision and bringing even greater accuracy to procedures such as spinal surgery," said Mr Butler. "Most patients contemplating surgery, naturally, want to know when they will be able to resume their usual daily activities. "With this robot, we can offer patients requiring both routine and complex spinal fusion surgeries a solution that allows them to recover and get back to their daily life much quicker, with less post-operative pain." A: How much had changed how much the West Loop and South Loop had evolved both physically and demographically was the first thing that struck me. I had never had the opportunity to immerse myself into the political landscape, which is what (the Daniel Burnham Fellowship) really gives you the opportunity to understand. That includes the history of Chicago, what shapes Chicago things you cant learn in history books and things you cant gain the same insight into by reading a newspaper. There is nothing like looking at it through the lens of people who are currently impacting Chicago and who are ultimately leaving a legacy in Chicago. It's hitting the headlines everyday - but we took to the streets of Dublin to see if Irish people think they will actually be affected by Brexit. While many are in agreement that UK's departure from the EU will have little impact on them, Dublin man Ricardo Christy thinks Brexit will bring more jobs to Ireland. "The company I am working for is making preparations. But as an individual, there will be no impact whatsoever. I'm not worried about it. In fact I think there will be more work in Ireland because of it." Ricardo added that he thinks Theresa May has had a "difficult time" with her Brexit deal. Gavin, from Co Galway, who has been living in Germany for the past few years said that he doesn't think Brexit will affect him. "I'm not preparing in any way. I think Britain should leave the EU as soon as possible. People are just tired of it now." Meanwhile, Dympna from Donnybrook, Co Dublin said that Brexit is a "bloody shambles". "What's going on over there I'd rather not think about, because it's a bloody shambles. They're all nuts over there really, they haven't a clue. "Of course it will (affect Ireland). Not only that, but it will affect Europe, but they couldn't give a tinker's curse over there in the UK." William, from Germany, said he believes all of Europe will be affected by Brexit. "I think we will be affected in Germany because the economic ties are strong with the UK. Travelling will get a little bit harder, especially for the Germans living in the UK. Although, we don't really know if it's going to happen. "I'm thinking about getting a British passport so I can move into the UK more freely. "I'd advise Theresa May to go through with Brexit because that's what the people voted for." Concrete blocks stacked beside an ATM machine at a Centra store near Maghera A filling station has resorted to using concrete blocks to protect its ATM machine after a recent spate of cash machine thefts across Northern Ireland. The Centra store on Glenshane Road near Maghera in Derry has stacked the blocks on either side of its hole-in-the-wall machine to prevent it being targeted by thieves. They were put in place on Monday after brazen thieves used a digger to rip a cash machine from the wall of O'Kane's filling station in nearby Dungiven in the early hours of Sunday. CCTV footage of last weekend's robbery shows a gang of masked men approaching the ATM in the digger just after 4am and tearing it from the wall of the filling station, causing significant damage. The cash machine is then placed in a van that had a hole cut in its roof before the thieves make off. The entire incident lasted just over four minutes. Nine ATMs have been stolen in eight separate incidents here this year, with the police stepping up their surveillance of cash machines in a bid to catch those responsible. Areas targeted by the raiders include Ballymena, Moira, Omagh, Dungannon, Newtownabbey and Irvinestown. A spokesman for Centra Glenshane said the steps had been taken for "peace of mind". He added: "The blocks were up years ago when this was happening previously and then taken away when the forecourt was being tarmacked. "Now they're back up again as a deterrent because of the real risk of the ATM being taken." Retail Northern Ireland chief executive Glyn Roberts said the action is symptomatic of the concern among business owners caused by the raids. "This is the most telling image that sums up the extent of fear among retailers that they are going to be targeted next," he added. "It's no position for any small business owner to be in whereby they are piling up blocks to protect their store as if they are somehow under siege. "It's terrible that independent retailers are being awoken in the middle of the night to be told that their shop has been smashed up and their ATM robbed. "That is completely soul-destroying for them." Mr Roberts added: "From speaking to retailers, there is a sense of dread among them that this weekend they could be next and it's not acceptable for any business owner to feel that way." Police have defended their response to the ATM thefts, saying they "can't be everywhere at once". In a post on social media at the weekend, the PSNI in Craigavon said officers simply could not predict which cash machine would be targeted next by the gangs. "I could sit for hours at an ATM but no sooner am I round the corner than a team of crooks arrive," the post said. "The idea that we can watch them 24/7 is pure fiction." Mr Roberts is due to hold a further meeting with the PSNI tomorrow to discuss the ongoing problem of ATM robberies for local retailers. "We have to continue to press the police to catch the criminal gangs behind these robberies," he added. "We need to see greater progress and the PSNI pulling out all the stops to get those behind this in front of a court." FORMER High Court President Nicholas Kearns has expressed frustration at the slow pace of insurance reform, saying the country risks reputational damage if the claims culture is not tackled. He is baffled a dedicated garda unit has not been set up to prosecute fraudsters, and called on insurers to publicly commit to reducing premiums if award levels do come down. Mr Justice Kearns headed up the Personal Injuries Commission which found that awards for minor injuries in this country are almost five times those paid in England. It is staggering, he said of award levels, in a hard-hitting speech which also criticised lawyers. His report has recommended that judges be tasked with recalibrating award levels. Speaking at a conference organised by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB), Mr Justice Kearns said there was no constitutional difficulty to capping awards for minor injuries. The issue of rising insurance costs and high compensation was referred to as a crisis and a market distortion. This crisis has spread across many small businesses, leisure facilities, shops, places of employment and is now causing people to lose their jobs in areas where, but for this market distortion, would be thriving and prosperous, he said. Mr Kearns said of the slow pace of insurance reforms: Those in a position to do something about the current difficulties must finally get up and do something about it. He said only flat earthers would fail to see the urgency for immediate changes. The Personal Injuries Commission report recommended that a once a Judicial Council is legally set up the judges on it provide guidelines on the appropriate levels of damages for personal injuries cases. But the legislation, which was on the way for ever, could be an other two years before it becomes law, he said, referring to recent comments from Junior Minister with responsibility for insurance reform Michael DArcy. As an interim measure, judges could agree on guidelines to recalibrate award levels. These would be advisory, rather than mandatory. But as they would come from the judges themselves the judiciary would likely follow them. This would lead to more consistent award levels, and reduce delays and appeals. He said that if this soft solution fails, then the Government could press on with capping damages. Mr Kearns suggested a bill, aimed at capping award levels, that has passed its second stage in the Seanad, could be amended to deal with soft tissue injuries alone. The Civil Liability (Capping of General Damages) Bill 2019, it is being promoted by Fine Gaels Senator Tony Lawlor. Lawyers have questioned if this is constitutional, with others claiming it would trespass on judicial functions. Compensation has been capped in the past without the heavens falling in, Mr Kearns told the PIAB conference. He referenced a number of court judgements where awards were capped. It was his personal view that a statutory cap on awards for minor injuries could survive constitutional scrutiny. This was because it would be fair, proportionate and in the public interest if it cures our present difficulties. Judges would be still fixing the amounts, up to and including the cap set by legislation. If the alternative is that businesses continue to go under at an ever-increasing rate, throwing people out of work and diminishing Irelands reputation as a place where business can flourish in a post-Brexit world, then those considerations will have to be factored in to any balancing of rights and interests in any constitutional evaluation. Mr Kearns said he was baffled a dedicated unit within the Gardai has yet to be set up to tackle insurance fraud. Fraud is crime, and rampant fraud makes a mockery of our compensation system, and its legal practitioners. It is hardly surprising that such claims abound in a jurisdiction where compensation levels are among the highest in Europe and where the risk of detecting a fraudulent or spurious claim is small and where the risk of prosecution is virtually nil. He referenced remarks by Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan pointing out that insurers are now profitable. A man was rushed to hospital this afternoon after he arrived at a Dublin garda station with stab wounds. The injured male presented himself to Finglas garda station, in the north of the city, bleeding from an alleged knife attack at about 5pm. A garda spokesperson told Independent.ie that emergency services treated the man at the scene and transported him to Connolly Hospital. His injuries are not believed to be life threatening. Investigations are ongoing. WOMEN'S Aid has said it is "an unacceptable situation" that more than half of refuges were full when women and children required safe places. The domestic violence support organisation today released its impact report for 2018, which revealed that 20,722 disclosures of domestic violence against women and children were made to its services last year. Margaret Martin, Director of Womens Aid said: "Women told our confidential services that they had been isolated from family and friends, called derogatory names, had their lives and their safety threatened. "Women disclosed that they were hit, beaten with weapons, stabbed and cut with knifes and strangled. For some women they were beaten and strangled while they were pregnant." Last year, it responded to 15,835 calls - 44 a day - on its 24 hour national freephone helpline. She said the service met with over 1,300 women in its Dublin based one-on-one support services, where women revealed a litany of abuse. "Women were left with broken bones and teeth, bruising, head injuries and internal injuries as a result of rape. Some women experienced miscarriage because of an assault while others were experiencing post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression and anxiety," she said. Ms Martin warned that women and women and their children are often put at risk by the decision by the courts to allow perpetrators of domestic violence to have access to the children in the relationship, and has recommended that there be no contact with abusive fathers until contact is safe. "We heard over 483 disclosures of women being abused during access visits, and 255 disclosures of children being abused during access visits." She said that there is a "scandalous" situation in Ireland where refuge space for women and children is way below European recommendations. Refuge places that do exist are often full to capacity. "When the national helpline staff and volunteers have tried to find a refuge place for women and her children, on 52pc of occasions, the refuge was full. This is an unacceptable situation and leaves our support workers having to tell women and children that there is no safe place to go to on many occasions," she said. Minister for Children Katherine Zappone who launched the report said that she was aware of concerns in relation to the number of emergency refuge spaces. "We do need more. It is true that we need to improve access to safe and secure accommodation for women. We are consulting with service users and stakeholders in conducting a review of domestic violence accommodation both within the Greater Dublin area, as well as moving then through to the rest of the county. "I have requested that that final document is published after its completion this year. We are looking at the need that would be required for additional spaces for refuges as well as the kinds of services." However, she confirmed a new refuge will open in south Dublin in the third quarter of this year, which will have five family units and accommodate up to 15 children. The Rathmines Womens Refuge will also reopen later this year. Continuing Brexit uncertainty will have hit demand for outbound air travel as the summer season gets under way, according to Davy Stockbrokers. Stock Image: PA Ryanair has apologised to a prominent human rights activist after he was refused from boarding a flight to Dublin. Iyad El-Baghdadi (40s), who became well known for his reports during the 2010 Arab Spring, was denied boarding at Berlin airport this morning, despite being in possession of the appropriate travel documents. He claimed he was denied passage because he was a refugee and tweeted an appeal to his 122,000 followers to "make some noise" about the incident. "Im at the airport in Berlin and Im being denied boarding by Ryanair because Im a refugee," he said. "Im heading to Dublin. The Irish government website says I can travel but Ryanair says I cant. If you love me, make some noise." Born in Kuwait and raised in the UAE, Mr El-Baghdadi secured political asylum in Norway in 2015. In a subsequent Tweet, the activist wrote that he didnt blame the Ryanair gate agents or the supervisor for the incident. "Institutional discrimination is structural and not personal. "I dont feel good about them, but I dont hate them or fault them. My insults were directed at Ryanair, not a particular person." In a statement to Independent.ie, Ryanair said that Mr El-Baghdadi was denied boarding because of an "error" made by the airlines handling agent in Berlin. "Ryanair has since made contact with the customer directly and he will travel with us later today. "We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused," a spokesperson said. Mr El-Baghdadi later confirmed that he was scheduled to arrive in Dublin at 7.45pm this evening, more than seven hours after his original flight. "Now Im thinking about all the refugees who do not have 122k followers on Twitter and dont get such call backs," he added. Mr El-Baghdadi had travelled to the capital for a meeting, but as a result of the oversight, he will spend less than 24 hours in the country before returning to Oslo. According to the Department of Justices website, holders of a Convention travel document are permitted for short stays of up to 90 days in Ireland. Holders of such documents are exempt from Irish visa requirements for short stays if they are issued by a European State which is a contracting party to the "European Agreement on the Abolition of Visas for Refugees". Norway is included as one of the countries on this list. The Irish Refugee Council responded to Mr El-Baghdadi on Twitter, saying that it was "not the first time" it has heard of people being refused travel. "Perhaps more training and awareness raising needed for ground staff," a spokesperson wrote. The family of Limerick businessman Roy Collins, a completely innocent victim of the gang dubbed Murder Inc, marked the 10th anniversary of his murder by sharing the news that they are rebuilding their lives in the city that they love. Roy's father Steve won the admiration of the nation when he courageously stood up to the criminals who killed his son. Yesterday, he was typically eloquent when he summed up his family's journey through hell. "We are trying to rebuild our lives. We were comfortable and then we were destroyed and devastated. Now is a time for rebuilding things," he said. "Limerick is a safe place now. It took what we did. It took people to stand up and say 'we're sick of this'. It took all of that. I'm just so happy it did happen. All these laws that have changed, the surveillance law and the non-jury courts, it didn't just help Limerick, it helped the whole country." Even as a close family friend, who also chronicled their journey over the past 15 years, it is impossible to fully appreciate the pain and suffering experienced by Steve, his wife Carmel and their children, Steve Jr, Ryan, Paul and Leanne. The murder of Roy 10 years ago yesterday, Holy Thursday, 2009, was to be the turning point in an unprecedented gang war which lasted for almost 14 years. The young businessman was shot dead when brothers, John and Wayne Dundon, the leaders of Murder Inc, sent a teenage hit man to murder his father. Steve Collins brought the people of Limerick out on to the streets to protest against the violence and he forced the Government to take action by providing Garda resources and anti-gang legislation which has seen Limerick emerge as a peaceful, progressive and hopeful place. Roy's murder marked the nadir in a conflagration which had engulfed the medieval city following the murder of rival gang leader Kieran Keane in 2003. At its height the feud made Limerick Ireland's murder capital with the highest rate of gun crime per capita in western Europe. Between 2000 and 2014, when the last of the Dundons were sentenced to life for Roy's murder, the city had lived through an astonishing crime wave that included drive-by shootings, arson attacks, abductions, stabbings, bombings and executions. The savagery shown by the McCarthy/Dundons was often much worse than what we have witnessed in the Kinahan/Hutch feud. Murder Inc was responsible for the majority of more than 20 recorded killings recorded and the scores of people left wounded and maimed, not to mention the innocent civilians, particularly children, who were left traumatised by what was happening on the streets of the city's working-class enclaves. It is hard to believe now that once the warring factions strutted around the streets wearing bullet-proof vests and driving armour-plated cars. And there was nowhere that could be considered immune from the toxic tribal hatred between the two sides. Even the city's courts became a popular flashpoint with violent clashes taking place in full view of the police and judiciary. The mobs even tried to burn down the courts complex and did succeed in burning the offices of Limerick's chief state solicitor who also had to receive armed police protection. Gardai and prison officers were regularly intimidated and threatened. The Dundons even tried to negotiate from prison the purchase of enough military-grade weapons and explosives to equip a company of army soldiers. So, it is not an exaggeration to say that if it were not for the bravery of Steve Collins and his family the murder and mayhem might have lasted longer and claimed more lives. The Collins family can still pinpoint the actual minute when Wayne Dundon came to turn their lives into a nightmare. The CCTV images recorded at Steve's popular pub, Brannigans, captured the moment - 9.25pm on the night of December 19, 2004 - when Wayne Dundon threatened to kill his son Ryan after he had refused to allow Dundon's 14-year-old sister into the premises. A short time later Dundon came back into the bar and shot the 18-year-old in the legs as he stood behind the counter. Steve and Ryan agreed to testify against Dundon for making threats to kill and for which he was jailed in 2005. For doing their civic duty the Collins family has paid a heavy price. No family is more deserving of a bright and positive future. Car-value expert Gillian Keogh teams up with Motoring Editor Eddie Cunningham to help you make the right choice with your next purchase. Gillian is Editor of a monthly guidebook on the values of used cars produced by the Motor Trade Publishers team. The team supplies a car-valuing service to the motor trade, insurance companies and finance houses. I currently work in sales and drive a company car - a Passat 1.6 diesel. I'll be leaving the company to take over a related business soon so I'll need to buy my own vehicle. The business is around 45 minutes from my home and I estimate annual mileage of 40-45,000km. I have a budget of 12k and don't know where to start. I'm looking for a reliable car/SUV that will provide a comfortable and smooth ride for the 90-minute round-trip. It needs to be economical for the high mileage. 4WD is something I've thought about to ensure I can reach the business in all weather though it's not a deal breaker. I'm not worried about back down in years to get the best car suitable. A two-seater commercial - something like a Hyundai ix35 which comes in 4WD option - might suit as we have a family car. My wife suggested I take her 2011 Insignia 2.0 130bhp diesel and buy a newer family car with low mileage. I could then trade up the Insignia in two years when the business is on a sure footing. What do you think? Gillian and Eddie: The family Insignia 2.0 dsl would be suitable for you. As you know it already, there will be no surprises. Saloon prices have stopped falling; indeed they are selling again because they are such value for money. Yours will only dip in value by roughly 1,000/1,500 a year over the next 24 months - so it might be worth keeping. Then you could get a fresher family car with the 12k. A 141-reg Nissan Qashqai would be a good buy. You'll need to stretch a little to get an SV 1.2 petrol and a little more again to the 1.5 diesel. Another option is the Hyundai ix35 you mentioned or a Kia Sportage. A two-seater ix35 commercial is a good choice. For the 4WD option you will need the 2.0 engine. There isn't really anything else up against it in this segment, but have you thought about a pick-up? You could go Double Cab - the kids would love it - and some options include the VW Amarok, Toyota Hi-Lux and Ford Ranger. Of course, you could just opt for another saloon as mentioned - there is a huge choice out there. Keep it for the early years of your new business venture and then go up-spec to something newer. I drive a 2004 1.4 petrol Ford C-MAX which is on the way out and probably won't pass its NCT. We've been really happy with it; simple, reliable and a large boot. We are looking for a petrol with a really big boot. We have two young kids and my husband goes surfing - hence the need for boot space. We looked at an automatic 1.4 petrol VW Touran, but haven't heard great things about the 7spd (automatic) gearbox. We also looked at the 1.0 petrol C-Max EcoBoost, but again haven't heard great engine reviews. It seems hard to get petrol cars. Should we consider diesel? We have a max budget of 13,000 - big boot and petrol are the priorities. Gillian and Eddie: If you don't cover large mileage and petrol is a priority then stick with the latter but bear in mind the choice, especially of those with large boots, will be limited as we have only recently started buying them as new in any great volume. The need to transport a surf board yells 'estate'. We're thinking of something such as a Volkswagen Passat 1.4 or Skoda Octavia estate. Yes, do consider diesel. It will open up your options a lot more to include the likes of the Kia Cee'd SW and Hyundai i30 estate which usually come well minded and well specced. I have an arthritic condition. I need a car with higher seats so I don't have to lower myself into them. I'm also tall so just raising a seat doesn't work as I'm hitting my head. Can you suggest any vehicle that might better suit my needs? I currently drive a 2010 Toyota Auris with 120,000km on the clock; there are usually only two people in the car. I need a 5dr hatchback. At this point I'm more in need of knowing which vehicles might be best rather than focussing on the budget. Gillian: A hatchback won't offer you the ride height you are looking for. What you need is a crossover or SUV. These are popular because people want higher seating. They are good for averting back pain when putting kids in car seats too - as well as usually having better visibility. The choice is huge and growing apace. Because there are just two of you, I'd recommend you look at compact crossovers for ease of parking but also those with proper roof height for taller drivers. Citroen C3 Aircross, SEAT Arona and Peugeot 2008 are all plenty roomy up front and, while the seating isn't as high as an SUV, they are higher off the ground than a hatchback and should suit your needs. All three come with petrol and diesel engines. They cost from just above 20k - or as a one-year-old from around 18k, depending on model. Eddie: For someone in your position you just have to try cars out on a model by model basis. Gillian's suggestions are great; try them. But I recently drove the new Volkswagen T-Cross small SUV and reckon it is a real option for you. It will cost from 22,495 when it arrives here soon. I was hugely impressed with the head room. I think it could be for you. Budget; 32,000. No trade-in; 16,000km a year. Need a five-seater. Current car is a 1988 diesel Mitsubishi Shogun. I have to have a 4WD for farming and off-road use. I am a blue badge holder and can buy a new vehicle net of VAT and VRT. The Shogun is on its last legs and is not economical to repair. I would like to replace it with a Landcruiser utility. The UK excluding VAT price for a 3dr 5seat Landcruiser is 26,790 (Toyota UK pricelist = 31,151). For some reason, Toyota Ireland has chosen not to make the Landcruiser utility available here. Is my only option to buy in the UK and save myself at least 5,000? Gillian and Eddie: The Landcruiser Business 5seat commercial was popular here and is in demand on the used market. Government tax rate changes made them too expensive new and so they have been discontinued. As you are a blue-badge holder, it would be mad not to make use of the savings in buying new. If you can get your hands on one from the UK and it fits budget, it might be the best option. But there is another option - with a pick-up. If you need five seats, a double cab such as the Nissan Navara, Toyota Hi-Lux, Ford Ranger and VW Amarok are all good options as 4WDs priced around the 40k including VAT and VRT. Ford have the Kuga as a Utility and a 4WD version costs 35,799. It is a four-seat instead of five and might not be what you're after but worth a look if you haven't already. Budget: 14,000 (plus any trade-in value), 30,000km a year. Need four seats for two adults and two children (aged 5 and 2). Current car: 09 Nissan Qashqai Acenta; 240,000km on the clock. Should I wait to change until my car dies or change now? The car is going well and passed the NCT without major difficulty. I am just worried I'm entering the time when things will start to go wrong. I find the boot space a little tight for all of our gear on trips, as we travel to my home place down south regularly. However, I love the drive position of the SUV, but wonder is there better value to be had on the saloon market, or even an estate? I use the car for my daily commute of 150km and so comfort would be high on my agenda. So would an older, higher-end model be worth investing in? Also I presume diesel is still my only option? Gillian: Diesel? Yes. Older but higher-end model? No. Wait until it dies? No. Saloon or estate? Maybe. The car is going well and passed the NCT and is 09 so it doesn't sound like it's close to dying to me. I only sold my 07 Qashqai last year and it was still running perfectly and wasn't costing me anything extra for age. It does have high mileage though, and as it's feeling a bit tight on space, I would suggest a change. I don't suggest going for an older, higher-end model though if you want to avoid additional maintenance costs. As mentioned already, the saloon market is great value at the minute as are estates. They won't offer the higher seating position you like and you can afford an SUV, so why not stick there? The Qashqai was the first real family SUV but was small. The new 2013 model is roomy and I frequently recommend it here. You will certainly find a 2015 1.5 diesel SV model to suit your needs and budget (including trade-in). Kia also have a similar sized vehicle with the Sportage 1.7 diesel, but these usually have a little more spec and so go for more money. Eddie: Your car is, relatively speaking, saleable now. If things begin to go wrong it could cost you not just in repairs but you might have to rush a sale to buy a newer car. Quit while you are ahead. In addition to Gillian's suggestions, take a look at the Peugeot 3008SUV. Help us help you Welove getting your enquiries and try to reply to as many as possible here or via email. The ones dealt with here often represent a cross section of individual questions. You can help us help you with our free, independent, advice by including the following in your queries: * Budget (including trade-in). * Annual mileage (in kms). * Size of car required (number of seats). * Present car (make, model, year and mileage) if relevant. ecunningham@independent.ie Slow-motion destruction: Glaciers in the Alps are disappearing more quickly than thought and will disappear before the next century unless global warming is halted Earth's glaciers are melting much faster than scientists thought. A new study shows they are losing 369 billion tonnes of snow and ice each year, more than half of it in North America. The most comprehensive measurement worldwide found thousands of inland masses of snow compressed into ice are shrinking 18pc faster than an international panel of scientists calculated in 2013. The world's glaciers are shrinking five times faster now than they were in the 1960s. Their melt is accelerating due to global warming, and adding more water to already rising seas, the study found. "Over 30 years, suddenly almost all regions started losing mass at the same time," said lead author Michael Zemp, director of the World Glacier Monitoring Service at the University of Zurich. "That's clearly climate change if you look at the global picture." The glaciers shrinking fastest are in central Europe, the Caucasus region, western Canada, the lower 48 US states, New Zealand and near the tropics. Glaciers in these places on average are losing more than 1pc of their mass each year, according to a study in the journal 'Nature'. "In these regions, at the current glacier loss rate, the glaciers will not survive the century," Mr Zemp said. His team used ground and satellite measurements to look at 19,000 glaciers - far more than previous studies. They determined south-western Asia is the only region of 19 where glaciers are not shrinking, which Mr Zemp said was due to local climate conditions. Since 1961, the world has lost 9.6 trillion tonnes of ice and snow, the study found - enough to cover the lower 48 US states in 1.2 metres of ice. Scientists have known for many years global warming caused by human activities like burning coal, petrol and diesel for electricity and transport is making Earth lose its ice. A number of factors are making sea levels rise. The biggest cause is that oceans are getting warmer, which makes water expand. The new figures showed glacier melt was a bigger contributor than thought, responsible for about 25pc-30pc of the yearly rise in oceans, Mr Zemp said. Rising seas threaten coastal cities around the world and put more people at risk of flooding during storms. For generations of Irish people, education has been highly valued as an enabler of progress in life and as a pathway to prosperity. The greatest testament to this has been the exceptional sacrifices made by parents through the years to ensure their children received an education. I have also witnessed at first hand the determination and commitment of many students to realise their potential through education. Parents and students embrace this opportunity for advancement, to enable talent to develop and flourish, and to facilitate healthy ambition. Of course, the State also plays a pivotal role in the empowerment of young people through each stage of education. Arguably the most enlightened initiative undertaken in the history of our State was the introduction of free secondary education, which was announced by Education Minister Donogh O'Malley in November 1966. He also announced the introduction of means-tested grant assistance for students to avail of a university education. These far-sighted decisions revolutionised the Irish education system and have been major contributory factors in the enormous economic and societal transformations since. The powerful impact of university education in Ireland can be seen in sharp register in the comprehensive report detailing the economic and social impact of the sector published by the Irish Universities Association (IUA) last week. Undertaken by Indecon International Economic Consultants, this independent report is the first study of its kind and provides compelling evidence of the composite contribution of Irish universities to the economy and wider Irish society. Among its key findings, it highlighted the 8.9bn contributed annually to the Irish economy (almost nine times the annual State investment in the sector), the 1.6bn net gain to the exchequer from a single year's cohort of graduates, and the net premiums in earnings achieved by graduates of Irish universities, which exceed those of the esteemed Russell Group of UK universities. It also quantified for the first time the high-value impact of Irish universities on research, innovation, enterprise and knowledge transfer. Moreover, it highlighted the broad range of social and cultural impacts emanating from the sector. All of this evidence, and more, emphasises the central role played by our universities in our economy and society. We develop the talent pipeline for society and the growing knowledge economy. Our campuses are hubs of creativity, knowledge creation and innovation. We support communities as local employers - almost 22,000 jobs - and we nurture culture, heritage and sport in those communities. The report provides a rich texture to understanding the real value and benefit of university education in Ireland. Importantly, it demonstrates what we have for today and what may be at risk for tomorrow. The 50pc increase in student enrolments since 2010, to 120,000, is a precursor to an even greater demographic bubble which will place an intolerable strain in the years ahead on an already under-resourced system. Unless the Government and the broader political community are prepared to deliver a sustainable core-funding solution, the opportunities afforded to today's students may be curtailed for many current and future primary and post-primary students. Both quality and capacity are at risk. If this was allowed to happen, it would betray the legacy of Mr O'Malley and many other education pioneers. Worse still, it would inhibit the potential of our nation to flourish in an increasingly complex world where the greatest national asset is talent. This simply cannot be allowed to happen. There is widespread acceptance of the fact the current levels of investment in our third-level system are grossly inadequate. We have heard recent high-level pronouncements regarding some potential solutions being undesirable. As we have witnessed in other political contexts, stating what one doesn't want is easy. It carries no responsibility. Political leadership demands clarity on where the solution lies and clarity on how and when the solution will be delivered. It is absolutely clear that the State is central to whatever sustainable solution is determined. As he concluded his ground-breaking announcement more than 50 years ago, Mr O'Malley stated: "We will be judged by future generations by what we did for the children of our times." Politicians of every hue should take heed of this compelling truth. Professor Brian MacCraith is president of Dublin City University and chair of the Irish Universities Association Today, the nine members of the Oireachtas Committee on Sport will have an opportunity to do something that few in the media have ever enjoyed - grill John Delaney. They better not blow it. Perhaps the most surprising thing about former FAI CEO and current executive vice-president John Delaney is his longevity. No matter what the crisis or controversy, Mr Delaney not only survives, he thrives. But the highly unorthodox manner in which he lent 100,000 to his employer in 2017 has cast a spotlight not just on his own tenure in office, but on the entire organisation. First of all, there was Mr Delaney's attempt to prevent the 'Sunday Times' from breaking the story - an emergency injunction application in the High Court on Saturday, March 16. This begs an obvious question. Why was he so eager to prevent this information from being made public? Why did he try to gag the media instead of engaging in a transparent explanation of what had gone on? And, why has a comprehensive account of the circumstances surrounding that loan not yet come to light nearly four weeks later? First described in an FAI statement as a "bridging" loan which was "required to aid cash flow", the implication was clear. Nothing to see here. The FAI needed a temporary dig-out, and Mr Delaney was on hand to provide it - and was repaid in full shortly after. Now, after coming under sustained public and political pressure, the tenor of the FAI's commentary on the affair has changed. In a submission prepared by FAI President Donal Conway in advance of today's Oireachtas committee meeting, he refers to the 100,000 bridging loan as a "payment" and "issue". We don't yet know if this is mere semantics, or if this change in description is of deeper significance. Potentially explosively, Mr Conway also states that previous comments by the FAI itself "did not accurately reflect the board's level of awareness of the existence of the 100,000 payment to the association in 2017". Does this mean that the FAI misled the public? Or, even more seriously, misled Sport Ireland, which provides 3m in grant aid to the organisation every year, in its account of what happened? Given the fact that this story has dominated headlines since it was first revealed, one would have thought that the FAI would at least have been able to release a reliable statement on the matter. Evidently not. Which should raise further concern about a culture of secrecy and lack of transparency within the organisation. We have seen this before in other institutions. It appears to be a perennial problem in Irish public life generally. A review of the Department of Justice, published in 2014, found it had a "closed, secretive and silo-driven culture" and a lack of "strong strategic oversight". Similar findings have routinely been made in relation to An Garda Siochana, in numerous reports, with an "insular and defensive" culture being blamed for a lack of reform. Are we now going to have to add the FAI to the list of institutions where the first automatic response, when a controversy erupts, is to circle the wagons and embark on an arse-covering exercise? The only thing we do know, with any degree of certainty, is that nobody is happy with the answers that have been forthcoming from the FAI to date. Last week, when the CEO of Sport Ireland, John Treacy, appeared before the Oireachtas Committee on Sport, he said the circumstances surrounding Mr Delaney's 100,000 loan were "extraordinary" - especially the fact that nobody had ever divulged that it happened. Mr Treacy further declined to express confidence in the board of the FAI primarily because of the reluctance of the FAI to be forthcoming about what had gone on. Sport Ireland, in its efforts to get to the bottom of the matter, sent two separate letters to the FAI. In its first response, the FAI merely acknowledged the letter without providing any answers at all. In its second, which arrived on the morning of the appearance of representatives of Sport Ireland at the Oireachtas, Sport Ireland was again fobbed off. That letter did not "provide any explanation regarding the loan or repayment and there was no legitimate reason given as to why they cannot provide this either," said an obviously irritated Mr Treacy. Mr Conway, in his advance statement to the Oireachtas committee, has admitted there is a problem within the organisation that needs to be addressed. "I know we have much work to do to rebuild trust and confidence in the association and we are committed to achieving this as a board," he wrote, but talk is cheap. The FAI can today choose to be open about what went on, and answer questions comprehensively, or it can instead choose to be bullish and evasive. Comments from Mr Delaney last week, when he insisted stepping down as CEO had nothing to do with the current controversy and related to being overworked by doing "three jobs" at once, suggest that he is likely to be combative in his approach. Meanwhile, whether today's crunch meeting results in more heat than light will also depend on the performance of the Oireachtas members tasked with interrogating FAI officials, particularly in the wake of Sport Ireland's decision yesterday to withhold funding. Oireachtas committees have recently come under sustained criticism, for being more concerned with showboating by TDs and senators than acting in the public interest by asking pertinent questions, and today will be a big test of whether that critique has been taken on board. As one of the most divisive figures in Irish public life, Oireachtas members may be tempted to spend their time attacking Mr Delaney to get an easy headline. They would be doing a huge disservice if they engage in this kind of juvenile behaviour. There is nothing to stop TDs and senators fulfilling their role in a polite and considered manner, while also getting answers to important questions. They don't need to put on a show for the cameras. Asking short, pointed questions, and using follow-up questions to elicit more detailed answers, should be the way in which committee members approach today's meeting. All too often, committees of this nature descend into farce as members use their time to make long-winded statements that don't result in a scrap of useful new information coming to light. Today's committee meeting will tell us a lot about whether the FAI is taking this controversy seriously, but it will also indicate whether Oireachtas members are up to the task of holding those in publicly funded institutions to account. They've called him an 'air head' and routinely seen him as a 'nosy neighbour', but today Leo Varadkar is the UK's best hope of getting a result in Brussels. With European leaders increasingly fed up with the antics of Westminster, there are some who would throw the UK to the market wolves. But Mr Varadkar has taken it upon himself to plead its case with little more than 48 hours until the latest doomsday. Naturally, the Taoiseach's efforts to win an extension for the UK government are born out of self-interest rather than concern for embattled Prime Minister Theresa May. Ireland sees her letter asking for a delay until June 30 as a "positive step". In fact, there is a consensus that the extension should go well beyond that date. The format of today's emergency EU summit will see Mrs May deliver a presentation on her latest plan for salvaging Brexit. She will talk to EU leaders before leaving the room so that they can talk about her. And when Mrs May steps outside, the strongest voice to represent her views left behind will be Mr Varadkar. Even before the meeting starts, the Taoiseach has engaged in heavy lobbying during phone calls with leaders from the Netherlands, Malta and Luxembourg. Before arriving at the council he is scheduled to attend a European People's Party gathering where other invitees include the leaders of Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Austria, Germany and Croatia. Mrs May will have a hard sell because in truth many leaders are fed up of her unfulfilled promises. She is walking a tightrope across the Channel as she tries to halt a complete split in her Conservative Party and convince Europe that more time is justified. During a phone call with Mr Varadkar earlier this week, she was "very firm" in stating that a longer extension must include a get-out clause. Holding European parliament elections in May will be difficult to stomach for all sides of the debate but at this stage it has to happen. Mr Varadkar said her desire to leave as soon as the Withdrawal Agreement, including the Irish backstop, passes through the House of Commons was "reasonable". Ultimately the decision to be made by EU leaders will have to be unanimous so the extension date is likely to fall somewhere between the two months Mrs May is seeking and the one year Donald Tusk has suggested. Whatever conclusions are reached, Mr Varadkar said leaders should remember that the prime minister will have to sell it back in the UK. "We don't want to cause a crash-out on Friday," he said. So for the first time in a long time, Irish and British priorities will align at a European Council meeting - and perhaps good neighbours can become good friends again. The new season of ITV's flashy period drama Victoria has so far seen the queen dealing with Chartists, an arrogant new foreign secretary, and the sudden return of her half-sister, complete with laboured German accent. Audience numbers are dwindling, the reviews are poorer than ever, and it looks as if things will only get worse, thanks to formidable ratings rival Line of Duty. But who needs an ailing TV series about the queen and her court in the 1800s when the real-life royals are offering up all the ingredients for an addictive modern-day melodrama? No matter how many glamorous actors or lavish costumes you can assemble, it's hard to top the outrageous silliness of the actual royal family. Here, we're laying out the key components of this soap opera saga Family feuds There have been breathless reports of catfights between Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle almost since the moment of her engagement to Prince Harry, but the gossip escalated last winter when it was announced that the 'Fab Four' - as the British press has dubbed Prince William, Kate, Harry and Meghan - were to divide their households. No longer would all four bunk together in Kensington Palace: the newlyweds were striking out on their own in Windsor. Was it simply a case of siblings growing up and out of each others' pockets? Or was there more to the story? Recent reports indicate that the feud is really between the boys, with the two reputedly falling out after Harry felt William wasn't making enough of an effort to welcome his new love. Brothers at loggerheads, not to mention one's the future king and the other doesn't want to live in his shadow? The drama writes itself. On/off relationships Sarah Ferguson has denied it, but since their daughter Eugenie's wedding in October, speculation has been rife that she and Prince Andrew are back together. Fergie once described them as "the happiest divorced couple in the world", yet the gossip mill was up and running again after she accompanied her ex-husband on an official visit to Bahrain last week. The two have lived together off and on over the years, and Andrew has reportedly been campaigning to rehab her image in the family, given her allegedly rocky relationship with his father, Prince Philip. The 'will they/won't they?' tension is certain to sustain at least a couple of seasons' worth of storylines - especially if the writers were to indulge the rumour that Andrew "quietly dated" Kylie Minogue for a few months. Talk about a love triangle Sibling rivalry Speaking of Andrew: a new documentary, The Royal Family At War, alleges that the Queen's favouritism for her younger son has caused a rift between the brothers. As heir to the throne, Prince Charles has a very different relationship with their mother, while his bond with his father is said to have been fraught from an early age, as depicted in Netflix's royal drama The Crown. The pressure between the brothers and their parents could surely be mined for some cartoonish conflict, although it's more likely to be communicated in icy glares and witheringly passive-aggressive asides than a riotous EastEnders-style fistfight. Video of the Day Dysfunctional family The story of the Markle family breakdown is a heartbreaking one, yet it's tinged with the camera-ready explosiveness of a Kardashian family showdown. Meghan has refused to play along, but that hasn't stopped her father Thomas and half-sister Samantha from seeking their own 15 minutes of fame, staging paparazzi photoshoots and appearing on talk shows to deliver humiliating assessments of the new Duchess of Sussex. In our fantasy soap, Meghan's estranged family would neatly fill the role of the fame-hungry Americans who are distinctly not, as columnists wryly put it, 'PLU' (People Like Us). We're used to the sitcom trope of the obnoxious in-laws, and the Markles would be guaranteed scene-stealers. Romance plot Now that both princes are married, there may not be much scope for youthful dating escapades, unless the show were to take in the love life of Princess Beatrice and her new boyfriend, multimillionaire property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, also known as Edo. Edo had been living with another woman - his fiancee of three years and the mother of his two-year-old son - before he began dating Beatrice. Palace sources insist he had ended the relationship months before he even met the princess, but with whispers of an impending engagement, the challenges of navigating a blended family could provide plenty of soapy fodder. Diva Duchess With nicknames ranging from 'Hurricane Meghan' to 'Duchess Difficult' to 'Me-Gain', reporters have the knives out for Meghan. The backlash against the newest member of the family has been fierce and often brutal, with courtiers alleging she made Kate Middleton cry at a bridesmaid dress fitting for her daughter Charlotte, engaged in a battle of the bling with the Queen over banned tiaras, and shook up the family with her "opinionated personality" and 5am emails. Stories about her demands for the royal wedding and her flashy New York baby shower paint her as a Hollywood diva - plum material for a high-camp Dynasty-style villainess. In a moving private moment, we'll get to see the other side of the story: a powerful woman who can more than hold her own and refuses to submit to the ridiculous rules of an antiquated institution. Upstairs/downstairs In a Downton Abbey-style twist, the staff quarters would be filled with just as much plotting and peering as upstairs. For starters, the courtiers are quick to run to the press to express their disdain for Meghan's zealous work ethic and Harry's emotional outbursts, such as the time he reportedly yelled at an aide, "What Meghan wants, Meghan gets!" Of course, it is these aides, rather than the royal family itself, who are speaking to the tabloids, so maybe the real intrigue lies in exploring what's going on between the staff and the royals - perhaps a bitter courtier getting their revenge by tampering with the yoni oils? Neighbours at war Could it be that the real drama unfolds not in the palace, but among the Cambridges' social set deep in the English countryside? You couldn't ask for a better cast than the so-called 'turnip toffs', the local aristocracy that Kate and William befriended during their time in Norfolk after George and Charlotte were born. The last couple of weeks have seen swiftly hushed-up stories of a 'rural rift' between the Cambridges and their neighbour, the glamorous Rose Hanbury, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley (you couldn't make it up). The former model was described as "a rival to (Kate's) rural crown", and was, according to reports, swiftly frozen out of the couple's social circle. The reason behind the supposed falling out is unknown, but you can bet a soap writer wouldn't hesitate to take full advantage of such a high-profile falling out. Handbags at the ready.... Casualties in the battle for Tripoli continued to mount after a group loyal to Isil killed three people in Libya's remote central region. The deaths raised fears Islamic militants may exploit the renewed chaos engulfing the country. Forty-seven people had been reported killed and 181 wounded by the UN's health organisation as eastern forces seek to seize the coastal capital from the internationally recognised government. That was a higher toll than numbers given by either side, and appeared to be mainly fighters, although it also included some civilians including two doctors, World Health Organisation spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said in Geneva. The eastern Libyan National Army (LNA) forces of Khalifa Haftar - a former general in ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi's army - seized the largely desert south this year before heading to Tripoli, where they are entrenched on the southern side. The government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj (59) is seeking to block them with the help of armed groups who have rushed from Misrata in pick-up trucks fitted with machine guns. The UN, US, EU and G7 bloc have all appealed for a ceasefire and return to a UN peace plan, but Haftar has so far ignored them. Far south of Tripoli, a group loyal to the jihadist Isil attacked the town of Fuqaha, killing three people and kidnapping another before leaving, residents said. Fuqaha is controlled by fighters loyal to Haftar, who casts himself as a foe of Islamic extremism but is viewed by opponents as a new dictator in Gaddafi's mould. Isil has been active in Libya in the turmoil since the Western-backed overthrow of Gaddafi eight years ago. It took control of the coastal city of Sirte in 2015 but lost it late in 2016 to local forces backed by US air strikes. Libya's potential slide into civil war threatens to disrupt oil supplies, boost migration across the Mediterranean to Europe and scupper UN plans for an election to end rivalries between parallel administrations in east and west. Libya has become the main conduit for African migrants and refugees trying to reach Europe, many of whom suffer torture, rape and extortion. Those who manage to board a boat to Italy risk drowning or being sent back into detention in inhumane conditions. The UN migration agency estimates twice as many die in the Sahara desert as in the Mediterranean. The UN refugee agency said it was extremely concerned about the rapidly deteriorating situation, and thousands of refugees and migrants were trapped in detention centres in the conflict areas. The cat was trapped in a 40-foot shipping container for the duration of the three-week voyage (BC SPCA) A cat who stowed away on a ship from China to Canada survived the three-week trip despite having no access to food or water. The six-year-old moggie was severely emaciated when she reached Vancouver having spent the trip from Shenzhen trapped in 40-foot shipping container, according to the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. I knew right away when I heard that this cat had spent weeks in a container that she not only had an amazing story but also that she would require extensive care and rehabilitation to recover from her ordeal, said Alex Schare, SPCA North Cariboo District animal centre services manager. Trapped at sea from #Shenzhen #China to #Vancouver, this stowaway cat needs your help! Read about this cat's terrifying journey and help her end it in happily ever after: https://t.co/IbtNMnIKNp #BCSPCA pic.twitter.com/QxNCiKo7hk BC SPCA / BCSPCA (@BC_SPCA) April 9, 2019 The cat weighed just 3.3lb (1.5kg) by the time she reached Vancouver, around a third of the weight of an average house cat, and was taken to a vet for immediate medical attention. She is now being fed small portions of food to prevent potentially fatal refeeding syndrome, and is being kept in quarantine until the necessary vaccinations take effect. The BC SPCA is now appealing for help to cover the cost of her medical care, which they estimate to be around 2,760 Canadian dollars (1,580). Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is still relatively new to the job (AP Photos/Rod McGuirk, File) Australias prime minister has called an election on May 18 that will be fought on issues including climate change, asylum seekers and economic management. We live in the best country in the world, Scott Morrison told reporters after advising the governor-general to authorise the election. But to secure your future, the road ahead depends on a strong economy. And thats why there is so much at stake at this election, he added. This morning I visited the Governor-General to advise him to call an election on 18 May. pic.twitter.com/jEunOOBxwR Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) April 10, 2019 Mr Morrisons conservative coalition is seeking a third three-year term. But Mr Morrison is the third prime minister to lead a divided government in that time and only took the helm in late August. Opinion polls suggest his reign will become one of the shortest in the 118-year history of Australian prime ministers on election day. The polls suggest centre-left opposition leader Bill Shorten will become the eighth prime minister since the country plunged into an extraordinary period of political instability in 2007. The election pits Mr Shorten, a former labour union leader who has presented himself as the alternative prime minister for the past six years, against Mr Morrison, a leader who the Australian public is still getting to know. Time to deliver a fair go for Australia. pic.twitter.com/5zVNFEJHko Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) April 10, 2019 Mr Morrison is seen as the architect of Australias tough refugee policy that has all but stopped the people-smuggling traffic of boats from south-east Asian ports since 2014, overseeing the secretive military-run Operation Sovereign Borders during his time as minister for immigration and border protection. The policy has been condemned by human rights groups as an abrogation of Australias responsibilities as a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention. Asylum seekers from the Middle East, Africa and Asia would typically disable or sink their boats when intercepted by patrol ships in waters north of Australia so that the Australian crews would have to rescue them rather than turn the boats away. Under the new regime, the asylum seekers were placed in motorised life boats that were towed back to Indonesia. The Indonesian government complained the policy was an affront to Indonesian sovereignty. Expand Close Australian Labour Party leader Bill Shorten (AP Photo/Rob Griffith, File) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Australian Labour Party leader Bill Shorten (AP Photo/Rob Griffith, File) The government has also maintained a policy adopted in the final months of a Labour government in 2013 of sending boat arrivals to camps on the Pacific island nations of Papua New Guinea and Nauru. Those who attempt to reach Australia by boat are told they will never be allowed to settle there. Mr Morrison remains proud of virtually stopping people-smuggler boat traffic and has a trophy shaped like a people-smugglers boat in his office inscribed with I Stopped These. Labour has promised to maintain the policy of banishing boat arrivals to the islands, but says it would give priority to finding permanent homes for the asylum seekers who have languished in island camps for years. The conservative coalition argues that the boats would start coming again because a Labour government would soften the regime. Climate change policy, meanwhile, is a political battlefield in a country that is the worlds largest exporter of coal and liquefied natural gas and has been one of the worlds worst greenhouse gas emitters on a per capita basis because of its heavy reliance on coal-fired power generation. Disagreement over energy policy has been a factor in the last six changes of prime minister. Its on. Labor is united. Labor has a plan. Labor is ready. Labor will deliver a fair go for all Australians. Are you with us? Find out more about our Fair Go Action Plan at https://t.co/Y5Y2486sKv #auspol pic.twitter.com/Vg1UGFQwQR Australian Labor (@AustralianLabor) April 10, 2019 Labour prime minister Julia Gillard introduced a carbon tax in 2012, but Conservative prime minister Tony Abbott scrapped it two years later. The coalition is torn between politicians who want polluters to pay for their greenhouse gas emissions and those who reject any measures that would increase household power bills. The government aims to reduce Australian greenhouse gas emissions by 26% to 28% below 2005 levels by 2030, while Labour has promised a more ambitious target of a 45% reduction in the same time frame. The government warns that Labours emissions reduction plan would wreck the economy. The coalition also argues that Labour would further damage the economy with its policy of reducing tax breaks for landlords as property prices fall in Australias largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne. Our plan will build our economy, without increasing taxes, securing the future for all Australians. #BuildingOurEconomy pic.twitter.com/Ao8p6WPeDb Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) April 10, 2019 Mr Morrison boasts that the conservative administration John Howard led delivered 10 annual surplus budgets and paid off all federal government debt before the government changed at the 2007 election. The government brought forward its annual budget blueprint by a month to April 2 and revealed a plan to balance Australias books in the next fiscal year for the first time in 12 years. Labour promised to deliver a surplus budget in the year starting July 1, but has yet to detail how it would achieve this goal. Labour has also promised to spend an additional 2.3 billion Australian dollars (1.3 billion) over four years on covering treatment costs of cancer patients. The restaurant chain has more than 700 locations worldwide, according to its website, and plans to open a space in the former Erehwon and Uncle Dans space next to Barnes & Noble on Washington Street, according to a job posting on Craigslist. Grassroots Tory party associations are considering motions calling for the removal of Theresa May as it emerged MPs want a new leader in place by late July. The news came as the party's "phoney leadership campaign" began yesterday with three modernising Tory MPs calling for the party to reach out to younger voters. The associations have no power to remove the prime minister as leader, but any motions passed by associations could force local MPs to push for change. A draft of one motion states: "We have no confidence in Theresa May to lead the Conservative Party and request our MP to take steps to ensure there is an urgent/immediate vote of no confidence in the prime minister in Parliament." One association, Clwyd South, Wales, has already scheduled its vote of no confidence for April 24. John Strafford, who runs the Campaign for Conservative Democracy, said associations could also pressure the party's board under Article 17 of the party's constitution to move against Mrs May. Article 17 says "the Board shall have power to do anything which in its opinion relates to the management and administration of the Party". "If the party board wants to get rid of the leader, it can do so. It can do anything it likes," said Mr Strafford. Mrs May cannot be formally challenged by Conservative MPs in Parliament until December, a year after the date of the last leadership contest, which Mrs May won by 200 votes to 117. However, Conservative MPs including Andrea Jenkyns, Mark Francois and Lee Rowley are understood to have sent fresh letters to Graham Brady, the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, calling for her to go. He has pledged to pass on the concern to No 10. Separately, members of the 1922 Committee are secretly working on a timetable through which Mrs May would resign as leader by May 23, but stay on as prime minister. The party's MPs would then select two candidates from the parliamentary party over the following fortnight, giving the membership four to six weeks to select a leader. The new leader would be in place in the third week of July when MPs are expected to break up for the summer. Mrs May has not yet been told of the 1922 Committee's plan. One 1922 Committee source said that if Brexit was delayed for months and Mrs May tried to stay, "the barricades will open", with MPs demanding she stand down. Penny Mordaunt, a likely challenger, made an appeal to the party's pro-EU supporters, telling an event in Westminster "the greatest act of patriotism was by Remainers three years ago in accepting the result" of the EU referendum. Ms Mordaunt, the International Development Secretary, also called for an end to "hero politicians and a return to servant leadership" from the next party leader. At the same event, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said: "Voting Conservative for the first time used to be when you got your first pay cheque. Now it is when you get your first winter fuel payment." Tom Tugendhat, the chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, added that "the next Tory leader will be someone under 50". Lawyers for Nissans former chairman Carlos Ghosn, who was sent back to detention while out on bail, have filed a protest with the Japanese Supreme Court. Lawyer Junichiro Hironaka told reporters that Ghosns fourth and latest arrest is unfair. Ghosn was arrested in November and released on bail last month but re-arrested last week. Multiple arrests and long detentions are routine in Japan, but arresting a suspect who cleared bail is unusual. Expand Close Lawyer Junichiro Hironaka (Koji Sasahara/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Lawyer Junichiro Hironaka (Koji Sasahara/AP) Ghosns detention has been extended through to Sunday but may be prolonged. He is charged with falsifying financial documents in under-reporting his retirement compensation and breach of trust in what prosecutors call dubious payments. He says he is innocent, noting the compensation was never decided or paid and the payments were for legitimate services. The latest arrest is over suspicion that Nissan money paid to a dealership was diverted to a company effectively controlled by Ghosn. Mr Hironaka was among 1,010 lawyers, academics and other legal professionals who signed a call to eliminate Japans so-called hostage justice. Kaku Imamura, a lawyer who led the initiative, told reporters that Ghosns case has set off international criticism about the longtime detentions without convictions. Detention is used as a form of torture. It becomes difficult for people to get a fair trialKaku Imamura, lawyer He said innocent people who refuse to sign confessions suffer and are kept for months, sometimes years, even for relatively minor charges that will not result in prison time. During detention, prosecutors can grill the suspect for more than eight hours, he said, while the suspects contact with lawyers is limited, and often banned with family and friends. He declined comment on the specifics of Ghosns case. Detention is used as a form of torture, Mr Imamura said at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan. It becomes difficult for people to get a fair trial. Several hundred Honduran migrants, many carrying young children, have set out in a caravan for the countrys border with Guatemala, hoping to reach the United States. Some of those who gathered at the San Pedro Sula bus station said they cannot support their families with what they can earn in Honduras and are seeking better opportunities. Most boarded buses before dawn that would carry them to towns on the Guatemalan border. Expand Close A man carries a child on his shoulders (Delmer Martinez/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A man carries a child on his shoulders (Delmer Martinez/AP) Others walked through the rain, some pushing prams or carrying sleeping children in their arms. Nohemy Reyes, who waited at the bus station with one of her five children sleeping on the floor beside her, said her countrys economic struggles are driving her north. The economic situation is very difficult, she said. But if she finds the US border closed, she said, she will return to Honduras. US President Donald Trump this week threatened to close the US-Mexico border, before changing course and threatening tariffs on vehicles produced in Mexico if the country does not stop the flow of Central American migrants. Expand Close The migrants hope to reach the US (Delmer Martinez/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The migrants hope to reach the US (Delmer Martinez/AP) US border facilities have been overwhelmed by the number of migrant families. US Customs and Border Protection announced this week that 53,000 parents and children were apprehended at the southern border in March. Department of Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned this week and was replaced by US Customs and Border Protection commissioner Kevin McAleenan in an acting capacity. Mr Trump on Tuesday said he is not planning on reinstating his controversial family separation policy. Expand Close Hundreds are joining the migrant caravan (Delmer Martinez/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Hundreds are joining the migrant caravan (Delmer Martinez/AP) Last summer, more than 2,500 children were separated from their families before a judge ordered them reunited. Miguel Angel Reyes, of San Juan Pueblo, Honduras, said his countrys violent crime was one factor in his decision to leave, but mostly he was looking for a way to provide for his wife and four children. Im going because the situation is really hard here in Honduras, said the field worker. We cant take it anymore. Theres a lot of suffering, no work. Joe Biden has established a sizeable lead in polls of Democratic presidential contenders, despite allegations of unwanted physical contact with women. The former US vice president had the support of 32pc of voters, according to a 'Morning Consult' survey. He was nine points ahead of Bernie Sanders, who had 23pc of support. It was the first national poll conducted since several women came forward to accuse the 76-year old Democrat politician of unwanted touching. Mr Biden pledged in a video to be "more mindful" of respecting "personal space". Mr Biden has said he has "95pc" decided to run for the White House for a third time. He is likely to face questions about his age - at 76 he would be the second oldest candidate after Mr Sanders - and his Senate record, which has been criticised for his authorship of the 1994 Crime Act that led to increased incarceration rates. At least four women have come forward to accuse him of uninvited physical contact, including Lucy Flores, a Democrat who served in the Nevada State Assembly, former congressional aide Amy Lappos, Caitlyn Caruso and DJ Hill. The women claimed he touched them or hugged them in a manner which made them feel uncomfortable. Meanwhile, US attorney general William Barr yesterday told politicians they could expect a redacted copy of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report "within a week". Mr Barr was speaking about the report - which looks into possible links between the Russian government and Donald Trump's 2016 campaign - during a tense hearing on Capitol Hill. Mr Barr abruptly declined to answer further questions about the investigation halfway through the hearing, saying: "I've said what I was going to say about the report." He then refused to answer whether the White House had been briefed on any aspect of the special counsel's report. "I'm not going to say anything more about it until the report is out," he added. Another day, another member of the Trump administration leaves. The latest departure is Donald Trump's Homeland Security Secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen. Summoned to the White House, Ms Nielsen reportedly didn't have any intention of quitting - but Mr Trump wanted her out and so she "resigned". In her resignation letter, she says nothing of Mr Trump, writing: "It has been my great honour to lead the men and women of the department as its sixth Secretary." Ms Nielsen became an increasing indirect target of Mr Trump's railing about the chaos at the Mexican border with the president promising to get "tougher". Nielsen's sin, it appeared, was to inform the president federal laws and international protocols limited her ability to do whatever he demanded. Mr Trump's dismissal of Ms Nielsen raises the question of how he expects to do anything "tougher". She has the legacy of enforcing his strict family separation policy. It's difficult to imagine anyone coming in and being more stringent. If anything, it shines a light on just how deluded Mr Trump is in relation to the operation of the federal government. At best, one can say the government moves methodically and can't deal with his impetuous moves that zig, then zag, move forward and back just as quickly. Mr Trump's penchant for acting on impulse is part of the reason his administration is in such tatters a mere two years after he was sworn in. Ms Nielsen's departure marks at least the sixth time - not counting those who moved from one role to another - a cabinet secretary left the administration after being forced out, fired or resigning. If the public has learned anything from Mr Trump's first two years, it is that he doesn't have patience, a necessary requirement when making sweeping changes to policy. He is unlikely to change and that is why he is stuck with so many people holding "interim" and "acting" positions. If the current pace keeps up, Mr Trump will go into an election year with a skeleton crew and people unwilling to take the empty spots - and that's not only bad for the president but for the country as well. ( Independent, London) Reshuffle: Donald Trump speaks near the Mexico-US border last week as Department of Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Acting Department of Homeland Security chief Kevin McAleenan listen. Photo: Reuters The White House has said it will appeal a court ruling made on Monday which halted an administration policy that required some asylum seekers to return to Mexico and wait there for their cases to proceed. U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco said on Monday that the administration's policy of sending some Central American asylum seekers to Mexico while their claims work through a backlogged immigration court system was not authorized by U.S. law and lacked safeguards to protect refugees from threats to their lives or freedom. "This action gravely undermines the president's ability to address the crisis at the border with the tools Congress has authorized and disrupts the conduct of our foreign affairs," the White House said in a statement. "We intend to appeal, and we will take all necessary action to defend the executive branch's lawful efforts to resolve the crisis at our southern border," it added. The judge's ruling is scheduled to take effect on Friday. It was not immediately clear if the government would seek a suspension of the ruling while the appeals process runs its course. A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment. Federal agencies on the U.S.-Mexico border are trying to stem the rising numbers of immigrants, many of them families fleeing violence and poverty in Central America. The Department of Homeland Security said it arrested or denied entry to more than 103,000 people along the border last month, more than double the March 2018 figure. More to follow... Read more here: With backing from one of the first Native women in Congress , tribes are calling for a permanent ban on energy development on their ancestral lands in New Mexico. The Trump administration has twice attempted to authorize oil and gas drilling on public lands around Chaco Culture National Historical Park . A bill introduced int the 116th Congress on Tuesday ensures the area is protected once and for all by imposing a buffer zone where development would be banned. "As a member of Laguna Pueblo , Chaco Canyon is my ancestral homeland and it remains a living landscape, where we must honor the sacrifices of our ancestors," Rep. Deb Haaland (D-New Mexico) said on a conference call with reporters As the first Native person to serve as chair of the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands , Haaland will play a critical role in moving the legislation through her chamber. Pueblo and Navajo leaders from the state are vowing to help her out in order to protect an area where their ancestors built communities, held ceremonies and laid their loved ones to rest. "This landscape is part of our past, our present and our future," said J. Michael Chavarria, the governor of the Pueblo of Santa Clara , one of the tribes with connections to Chaco, located in the northwestern part of New Mexico. "Until the area is permanently protected, we are living in a state of certainty and doubt," added Chavarria, who also serves as chairman of the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council and vice chairman of the All Pueblo Council of Governors . "Our cultural sites and ancestral sites are put in danger every time the Bureau of Land Management engages in these sales because it encourages haphazard development." President Jonathan Nez of the Navajo Nation echoed those concerns. He said the tribe supports the bill, known as the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act , because it's about "protecting our land, protecting our way of life." "This is one way to stand in unity, to say to this administration: enough is enough," Nez said, "that we want our lands not to be exploited from outside interests." Pueblo Bonito at Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico was occupied by ancestors of today's Pueblo tribes. The Navajo Nation also has ties to the site. Photo: Andrew Kearns During the Obama era, the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs started consulting with tribes and the public about a management plan for the Chaco area. But before it was completed, the Trump administration last year announced an an oil and gas lease sale on those lands. Pressure from tribes and New Mexico's Congressional delegation prompted then-Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke to postpone the sale while the BLM and the BIA continue the work. But he's no longer in office, having resigned under what one lawmaker has called a "self-generated ethical hurricane," and yet another lease sale was proposed earlier this year , only for it to be deferred again. "The Trump administration keeps proposing to sell new leases on sacred lands," said Sen. Tom Udall (D-New Mexico), the vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs . "This ongoing threat of development is an affront to the tribes, who have a deep connection to this land.' "'Some spaces," he added, "are just too special to lose," a sentiment that had been embraced by Zinke with respect to sacred tribal areas. Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt promised to visit the Chaco area during his confirmation hearing to serve as Secretary of the Interior March 28, 2019. Photo: U.S. Department of the Interior President Donald Trump has since nominated David Bernhardt , who currently serves as the Deputy Secretary of the Interior , to run the federal agency with the most responsibilities in Indian Country. He vowed to take an open mind toward the issue during his recent confirmation hearing. "I would love to go to New Mexico and visit the site with you," Bernhardt told Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico) at the March 28 hearing But Bernhardt, a longtime lawyer and lobbyist for the energy industry, was otherwise noncommittal about a request to exercise his authority to withdraw the area from development, something the Department of the Interior did during the Obama years. Instead, he said tribes and the public should rely on existing mechanisms to make their voices heard. "I do think that the planning process probably provides an opportunity to provide include some alternatives that would be conservation oriented," said Bernhardt, who is from the neighboring state of Colorado. "But I'd like to get out there and see the site and talk about it." The tribes have been willing participants in the federal process but as Chavarria put it: "It comes back down to meaningful consultation." To them, the repeated lease sales indicate a need for Congress to step in. With the bill, "we send a very strong message to Washington," Chavarria said. "We must be understood that we will do all we can to take the resources that the Creator gifted to us and hand them down to our children and generations to come." The Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act bars development on 316,076 acres of minerals owned by the federal government. It does not affect minerals owned by individual Indians or tribal governments, Udall said. Such provisions were added after "significant tribal consultation" with the Navajo Nation and other stakeholders, he said. Chaco Canyon is sacred land and the ancestral homeland for thousands of New Mexicans Im proud to be introducing legislation alongside my colleagues to protect these beautiful public lands for generations to come. Full statement here https://t.co/MotSw8FH9K pic.twitter.com/ajoOHGoccF Ben Ray Lujan (@repbenraylujan) April 9, 2019 The Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a federal site that consists of nearly 34,000 acres. It is home to thousands of archaeological and cultural sites, including large and complex villages where the ancestors of tribes throughout the Southwest once lived. Another 900,000 acres surrounding the park are considered sensitive but lack permanent protections. These lands are a mix of federal, tribal, state and private holdings. The Senate version of the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act is S.1079. A number for the House version is not yet available. Separate from the legislation, New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia-Richard will be issuing an executive order to bar new development on state-owned lands around Chaco. The document will be signed on April 27 at a meeting with tribes, she said. "This is my commitment to put tribal concerns regarding state trust land before the bottom line of oil and gas companies," said Garcia-Richard, who is the first woman to win election to her post. Great write up by @NNPrezNez & All Pueblo Council of Governors Chair Torres on the significance Chaco holds for our people, but also all of NM. #ProtectChaco https://t.co/QpDRVRAguZ Rep. Deb Haaland (@RepDebHaaland) April 7, 2019 Additionally, the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, which is part of the House Committee on Natural Resources, will hold a field hearing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, next Monday to discuss how oil and gas development affects the environment and sacred sites. Lawmakers will also be visiting Chaco on Sunday. Rep. Haaland serves as vice chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources. She will be participating in the visit to Chaco as well as the field hearing, which takes place at the New Mexico State Capitol at 10am Mountain time on April 15. Join the Conversation Related Stories CBP: Southern border apprehensions topped 360,000 in first half of year Cronkite News WASHINGTON Frontline border officials told a Senate committee Tuesday that the crisis at the southern border is real and that something has to change to combat the growing number of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. The testimony came as Customs and Border Protection released new numbers that showed apprehensions at the southern border through the first half of fiscal 2019 are almost as high as the total for all of 2018, with the number of families rising more than three times. In my 30 years as an agent, I have never witnessed the conditions we are currently facing on the Southwest border, said Rodolfo Karisch, chief patrol agent for the Border Patrols Rio Grande Valley sector. This is not a manufactured crisis created by those of us who live and work in the border area, said Karisch, who previously worked in the Tucson sector. Rodolfo Karisch, chief patrol agent for the Rio Grande Valley sector of the Border Patrol, urged members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee to change the laws that he said incentivize migrants to make the trek to the U.S. Photo by Andrew Howard / Cronkite News Bur critics continued to lay the blame for the ongoing problem at the feet of the Trump administration, saying the White House does not want to address the root of the problem turmoil in the Central American countries from which most of the recent migrants come. Actually addressing the root causes of the problem in Central America and humanely managing applications for asylum from families fleeing violence are far, far down the list of Trump administration priorities, said a statement last week from Pili Tobar , deputy director of the pro-immigration organization Americas Voice. At the Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing where the border officials testified, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Michigan, pointed to his remarks at a hearing last week, when he said securing the border will take cooperation and credibility from this administration and not chaos and confusion. Unfortunately, in the days since, just five days, weve seen nothing but more chaos of the administration, Peters said Tuesday. On Friday, President Donald Trump suddenly announced he was withdrawing the nomination of Ron Vitiello to be head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying only that he wanted to go in a tougher direction. On Sunday, he accepted the resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Those moves followed a week in which the president threatened to shut the border with Mexico, which he has since backed away from, and said he would withhold $450 million in aid to Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, a cut that has yet to happen. Trump complained then that the Central American countries have not done enough to stem the flow of northbound migrants and that Mexico has not done enough to stop them once they cross that border. The CBP numbers released Tuesday showed that 265,949 migrants from the three Northern Triangle countries in Central America were among the 361,087 migrants apprehended at the southern U.S. border in the first six months of fiscal 2019, about the same number as for all of fiscal 2018. In contrast, just 74,464 Mexicans were apprehended in the first half of fiscal 2019. In March alone, Border Patrol apprehended more than 92,000 people trying to cross the southern border, said Brian Hastings, Border Patrol chief of operations, on a conference call Tuesday. That was the most in March since 2007, according to CBP documents. Of last months apprehensions, Hastings said about 30,000 were single adults, 8,900 were unaccompanied minors and 53,000 were people traveling with families a 375% increase in families stopped at the border over the first half of fiscal 2018. The surge has strained the capacity of border agencies which have been forced to release many migrants once they are processed and given court dates. The 2019 numbers are still well below the early years of this century, when apprehensions routinely topped 1 million a year , but they mark a sharp turnaround from years of decline. Karisch and other border officials urged lawmakers to change laws they said incentivize immigrants to make the journey. Make no mistake about it, the word is getting out, Karisch said. If you are part of a family, if you bring a child, you will be released. In response to the surge, CBP has moved 545 officers away from their port of entry posts so they can assist Border Patrol, said CBP Office of Field Operations Executive Director Randy Howe. He said being a CBP officer is an immense task even in the best circumstances and staffing shortages are compounded by the redeployments, leading to long delays in crossing the border at El Paso, Texas, and other ports of entry. I cannot overstate the importance of these operations, Howe said. The border security and humanitarian crisis at the Southwest border has ripple effects that impact the entire nation. Suspending services negatively impacts the trade community and the supply chain. But Tobar said the president continues to fundamentally misunderstand the challenge were facing at the border. Instead of seeking to advance humane and pragmatic policy to de-escalate the situation, they are motivated by what will help Trump build a wall, get applause at his rallies, look tough, and burnish his political brand, she said in her statement. Peters said the problem is, in a word, chaos in the Trump White House. The problems we face at our southern border will not be fixed with high-profile firings or tweets or press conferences, he said. Its going to take leadership. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Notice 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 Join the Conversation 'A positive step for the reservation' Buche Foods is only grocery store in tribal headquarters PINE RIDGE, South Dakota Melissa Zephier took a walk Tuesday with her 5-year-old grandson Moses in Pine Ridge, the seat of the Oglala Lakota people. On the eve of a major winter storm, the Lakota woman decided it would be a good time to grab some groceries. But her trip to her communitys grocery store was anything but typical. The worn-out, painted lettering on the side of the store which had proclaimed the Sioux Nation Shopping Center for almost 50 years had been swapped out. In its place, a metal obelisk with permanent lettering now heralded Buche Foods. Oglala Lakota citizens and others wait to enter the Buche Foods grocery store in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, for the store's grand opening on April 9, 2019. Photo by Kevin Abourezk And a long line of people stood waiting for the doors to open for the first time to customers. Zephier said shes hopeful her communitys new grocer will serve Pine Ridge better than its predecessor. Im hoping that the prices will be a little bit cheaper for everybody, she said, standing outside the store. Some people have to travel a long ways. Some people dont have cars that are reliable. So Im just hoping this will work out for everybody. Her sentiment is one likely felt by many on the impoverished Pine Ridge Indian Reservation , which has few grocery or convenience stores and has long been plagued by a lack of access to fresh produce and reasonably priced foods. "Serving the Lakota Sioux people": Buche Foods employees put the final touches on a mural on the side of the store in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Like many reservation communities, Pine Ridge is a food desert, despite being home to nearly 40,000 Oglala Lakota people. In November, leaders of the Oglala Sioux Tribe voted to replace Hi-Way 20 the owner of Sioux Nation Shopping Center with Buche Foods, which owns three other grocery stores and several convenience stores across South Dakota. Following a contentious reservation-wide debate about the future of Sioux Nation , the tribal council decided to end Hi-Way 20s contract. A particularly powerful argument made to end the companys contract was the tribes decision in 2012 to temporarily close the store after Indian Health Service inspectors found 11 critical violations in the meat department, including employees mixing rotten hamburger with fresh hamburger and repackaging it for sale. As the sound of a Native American drum group reverberated through the store on Tuesday, owner RF Buche said he was elated to see the store reopen following significant renovations and he was hopeful his stores varied selection and reasonable prices would end the debate over who should manage the only grocery store in Pine Ridge. Beneath a sign reading "yatkephica" for "beverages," two women walk inside the newly renovated and opened Buche Foods grocery store in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. The store replaces the former Sioux Nation Shopping Center on the reservation. Photo by Kevin Abourezk I think there was a lot of fear of the unknown, he said. They havent had a grocery store, really, forever in my opinion. But thats all behind us and were moving on to bigger and better. Inside the store, shoppers pushed small carts through brightly lit aisles stocked full of name brand foods alongside generic brands like Best Choice and Always Save. A Lakota drum group performed next to refrigerated coolers and a sign that read: Wakablapi, lunch meat. Other store-section signs offered similar Lakota language interpretations, including woichage loya, or fresh produce, and wakazuzu, or checkout. Underneath a sign that read yatkephica, or beverages, Red Dog a Porcupine man stood before a cart looking at drinks. He said the store was cool and impressive and said he especially enjoyed the smaller-than-normal shopping carts that made it easier for him to navigate the crowded aisles. I like all the fresh fruit that they got, he said, holding a plastic-wrapped half cantaloupe with a strawberry inside it. It dont cost a lot. Im into fresh fruit. "Were moving on to bigger and better": RF Buche, owner of Buche Foods in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, stands near the main entrance during the store's grand opening on April 9, 2019. Photo by Kevin Abourezk Karin Eagle, the tribes media relations specialist, said she appreciates having a place where she can find quality produce and meat, as well as a wide selection of brands that provide customers with varying financial resources with different price options. A lot of people are looking at making better food choices and living healthier but when you have limited options its almost impossible to do, she said. I grew up here and its always been whatevers there, thats what you have to buy and eat it and prepare it the best you can, but now its just a really good thing. Its a positive step for the reservation. A young boy pushes a new bicycle out of the Buche Foods grocery store in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, during the store's grand opening on April 9, 2019. Photo by Kevin Abourezk Join the Conversation This is one of the most anticipated movies of Bollywood. Deepika Padukone has taken a one year break after her marriage to fully get into the skin of acid attack survivor for her upcoming film, Chaapaak. Yes, we won't be seeing any of her releases this year as the actress is preparing for the toughest role of her career. The actress plays the role of Laxmi Agarwal who was attacked in 2005 at age 15 by 2 men whose advances she had rejected. The movie has been helmed by Meghna Gulzar and produced by Deepika Padukone. This marks DP's debut as a producer and this is an important project for her. The actress is currently shooting with Vikrant Massey in Delhi. With the prosthetic make up, no one could recognise the leggy lass. Take a look at the photos that resurfaced. Indiatimes Twitter Indiatimes The paparazzi managed to get their hands on some footage and video as well. The movie is slated to release on 10th January, 2020 and we can't wait to see the response of the audience on such a sensitive topic. More power to Deepika for taking on such brave role. The countdown has already begun. In just four days, Game Of Thrones final season will air and we wont know if we are prepared to watch our favourite show coming to an end. GOT/Screengrab Not only it is an emotional moment for the fans but the cast and the crew are also experiencing nostalgia. Recently, talking about the first day of filming Game Of Thrones, Emilia Clarke recounted how she ended up in tears because it involved horses. GOT/Screengrab Yeah, I remember my first day on set. Oh my God, I fell off a f**king horse, she said. Jesus, this is my first job, this is like the first thing I ever did and they stuck me on a horse. In a bamboo field in Belfast, and it's raining. I was falling off the horse and trying to act still, and I remember just ... hanging on for dear life, and I just remember shouting 'please stop filming!' And I'm like 'OK, everything's going to be fine.' Turn around and Im like, 'oh my God, there's like the whole crew,' and I just cried. That was my first day on Game of Thrones, she added. youtube/screengrab The ending will leave the fans divided, the cast and the crew had said. Spilling more beans on the same, actor Kristofer Hivju who plays the role of Tormund Giantsbane, recently said, some people will cry and some people will destroy their TV sets. I think people will be everything: some people will be sad, some people will be happy because maybe their theory went right. Some people will cry and some people will destroy their TV. I think people will react in many different ways, he added. Game of Throne season 8 will premiere on April 14. We just cant wait. I havent voted since 2003, said Sindhu, aged 39, as she looked up from the plate of vegetables she was chopping. I have tried thrice to get my voter card made, but to no avail. I have all the required documents, and have followed each and every step that was required in order to make the card. I really want to vote this time. Sindhu works as a domestic help in Sarvodaya Enclave in South Delhi. She is one of the many migrants who come to the city in search of work. Having shifted from a village named Kassian near Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh in 2005, she realises the importance of exercising her franchise. But migrants like Sindhu often have a tough time in casting their vote. AFP/Representational Image Migration and Loss of Franchise The 2011 Census reveals that India has around 400 million migrants who work as domestic help. Short term and seasonal migration makes it difficult to determine the precise number of migrants who move for better job opportunities. However, the Economic Survey of 2017 suggests that anywhere between 55-70 million people migrate internally within the country due to economic reasons. A large chunk of these people belong to lower economic classes, and such people often find themselves bereft of social, cultural and political expression in their place of temporary residence. While their contributions to the Indian GDP is significant (a UNESCO report titled Social Inclusion of Internal Migrants in India reveals that internal migrants, working largely in the informal sector, contribute to 10 percent of the national GDP), they also face incredible difficulties in procuring formal residency rights, proper housing, insecurity at work, lack of an identity proof, and lack of political representation. Their high mobility makes them citizens of no particular constituency, and as a result, they miss out on participating in the only institutional mechanism they have for voicing their opinions. A combination of all these is also an important factor behind them facing discrimination on the basis of their ethnicity, religion, gender, and/or class. A study titled, Political Inclusion of Seasonal Migrant Workers in India: Perceptions, Realities and Challenges, conducted by an Udaipur based NGO, Aajeevika Bureau in five Indian states found that nearly 78 per cent of migrants do, in fact, have a voter ID card. But this identification is from their place of origin, and making a voter ID in the place of destination can often take a lot of time due to unavailability of other documents. AFP/Representational Image Of the 22 per cent, who do not have a voter ID, many of them are migrants who left their home when they were below the age of 18. Since a voter ID can only be made once a person reaches this age, many migrants decide to not make it due to the unnecessary time and effort it will take to go back home and make the voter ID. However, migrants are more eager to go and vote when the representative fighting the election is someone who knows them personally. Migrants are also more willing to go and participate in Panchayat elections, since the margin of victory is a lot less in such elections. By participating in Panchayat elections, migrants ensure that their families continue to remain beneficiaries of government schemes and subsidies. We do not vote in the Assembly or General Elections, since those leaders are unapproachable and we do not receive any incentives, said Sami Alam, a fruit seller from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. Bribe business A lot of migrants also claim to receive incentives in the form of alcohol, money, drugs and other freebies from political parties. As per a report in the Business Standard, the Election Commission of India has seized 674 crore rupees (97.2 million USD) worth of cash, drugs, alcohol and gold as of March 29, 2019. In the 2014 General Elections, this figure stood at around 300 crore Rupees (43.2 million USD). By handing out such incentives, political parties try to woo migrant voters back to their homes during elections, since they form a considerable vote bank. Some political parties also provide transportation to migrant voters, so that they can go back to their native places to vote. Rahul, an auto rickshaw driver from Agra, Western Uttar Pradesh plans to go and cast his vote in the 2019 General Elections. The BJP representative from my native place in Agra knows me. If I go and vote for him, he will ensure that my family is taken care of properly while I work in Delhi. He also sends a bus to Delhi and all of us who live in and around Agra go back to our homes and vote for the BJP, Rahul said. Others, however, are not as lucky. Mohammad Sayeem, hailing from Amethi, works as an auto rickshaw driver in Noida. Earning around 500 rupees a day, he only votes when he is at home, and does not go back to his native place just for the sake of voting. I voted in 2014, and might vote in 2019, too. I did not vote in the 2017 Assembly Elections. My home is far away, and going to vote would mean having to lose out on nearly one weeks worth of income, plus the expense incurred on travelling. All this comes out to nearly 5,000 rupees, and since my income is barely 15,000 rupees, spending a third of my income to go and vote does not make sense. Similarly, seasonal migrants also face a certain amount of difficulty in exercising their franchise. Those who find themselves away during elections, say it's not worth worth returning for a couple of days and vote. It would be better if they can vote from wherever they are. The Election Commissions Dilemma There have been demands by civil society groups and NGOs like Aajeevika Bureau and Shramik to ensure that migrants can also exercise their franchise in a way that does not become an economic burden for them. The Election Commission of India (ECI) asked the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai to come up with a report on inclusive elections, with a specific focus on migrants. The report, which came out in 2015 and was titled Inclusive Elections in India: A Study on Domestic Migration and Issues in Electoral Participation, suggested that the first and foremost task of the ECI should be to accurately identify the number of migrants in the country. The report also highlighted the fact that since women migrants are often at risk in their destination place, special care should be taken to extend the voting rights to such sections, too. The Conduct of Election Rules (1961) has provided the facility of Postal Ballots to service personnel, people under preventive detention, Kashmiri Pandits displaced from the Kashmir Valley, and Bru and Reang tribals displaced from Mizoram. People have questioned that if the ECI has successfully extended the facility of postal ballots to displaced communities, why can it not do the same for migrants? Experts, however, try and underline the differences between a displaced community and migrants who move willingly. Since a displaced community tends to find shelter at one particular place, it becomes easier to provide for their rehabilitation. However, with migrants, this is not the case. The Lok Sabha tried to make available the provision of proxy voting for NRIs. The Representation of People (Amendment) Bill 2017, sought to bring relief to nearly one crore Indians living abroad. However, the bill was not passed in the Budget session of the Rajya Sabha, and was consequently scrapped. Ms. Sheyphali Sharan, the official spokesperson of the ECI refused to comment on the issue and instead, directed us to the Election Commissions website. The website, however, does not reveal much about the issue at hand. Solutions and their challenges The solutions also come with their own set of challenges. One of the foremost challenges that the Election Commission faces is conducting a free, fair and violence free election of such gargantuan proportions. Consider this: In 2014, more than 714 million people were enrolled in voter lists across the country. This number is just slightly less than the population of the third, fourth and fifth largest countries of the world (combined). Also, it is extremely difficult to keep a tab on migrants, since they are almost always in a constant state of motion. Another worrying trend that might emerge if voting rights are extended to migrants in their destination places is the emergence of xenophobic tendencies in the natives living in those areas. Take the case of discrimination against people from UP and Bihar in Maharashtra, for instance. There is a strong lobby against their presence in the state. If voting rights are extended to migrants, it could lead to a severe backlash from the conservative Marathi community for fear of altering the social and political fabric of the state, says Professor Ashwani Kumar from TISS, Mumbai. BCCL/Representational Image Doing this might further open up a pandoras box, wherein natives might accuse local politicians of giving crucial jobs and employment opportunities to migrants. This could spell doom for political parties, and no political party seems to be willing to skirt with this issue. Another thing to note is that since Independence, the focus in our country has been on creating strong, local identities in order to strengthen the federal structure of the nation. As a result, the creation of multi-local identities has taken a back seat. If this had been given importance in subsequent years, then as a Bihari working in Maharashtra, Marathi politics would have been immensely important to me, and it would have been easier for me to engage in elections in Maharashtra. However, currently, due to my hyper local identity, Marathi politics is something that I cant really connect with, Ashwani further explains. #ITCounts is an Indiatimes initiative to move beyond the noise and the name-calling and focus on issues that really matter to our generation. We aim to be more about migration, pollution, LGBTQ rights, women's issues and healthcare than about Pakistan, political posturing and trolling. If you have any suggestions/inputs/feedback or advice please hit us up at kabeer.sharma@timesinternet.in/ The author is a new Delhi-based freelance contributor. In a major setback to the government, the Supreme Court has rejected their objections to Rafale documents, saying that three classified documents are admissible in Court. The Supreme Court pronounced its decision on whether or not to admit certain confidential documents as evidence when conducting the review in the Rafale case. Read more Uttarakhand Farmer Commits Suicide, Urges People Not To Vote For BJP Amid political parties making a slew of sugar-coated promises to garner farmer votes, another farmer committed suicide. But in his suicide note, the farmer has urged people not to vote for BJP. Ishwar Chand Sharma, a 65-year-old farmer from Haridwar district in Uttarakhand, committed suicide in the early hours on Monday by consuming poison. Read more PM Narendra Modi Urges First Time Voters To Dedicate Vote To Pulwama Martyrs And Balakot Strikes, EC Takes Note The Election Commission has sought a report from the Maharashtra chief electoral officer after the opposition accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of violating the Model Code of Conduct. PM Modi while addressing a group of first-time voters in Latur, Maharashtra had urged them to dedicate their vote to the Balakot air strike and to the Pulwama martyrs. Read more Bengaluru Has Saved Two Banyan Trees By Building A Park Around Them, Thanks To Public Protests The two trees, aged 80 years and 40 years, were standing on a Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) land but for the past few months, unidentified people have been trying to pull it down, once using a JCB and when that failed, kerosene was poured all over it and it was set on fire. But locals have resisted all such attempts and have fought back to save the two trees. Now they have forced the BDA to take note and made them agree to save the two trees. Read more Pakistan PM Imran Khan Hopes For Better Relations If BJP Wins Polls Hours after Pakistan PM Imran Khan made remarks that he sees a better chance of peace talks with India if BJP wins the upcoming general elections seems to have opened flood gates of comments and reactions on social media. Pakistan PM Imran Khan said and was quoted by Reuters that if Congress comes to power after the general elections in India, it might be too scared to talk and solve the problems between two countries including the Kashmir issue. Read more Ending Fear Of Religious And Sexual Minorities Is Top Priority Of This Cong Politician Although, India has legally embraced the presence of sexual minorities, at social level, there's still a lot to be done. Participating in the electoral process is perhaps one which through which, this can be achieved and LGBT rights activists Harish Iyer also feels the same. Iyer announced that in order to weed out "homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia and the politics of hate," he is joining politics and he chose Congress to start his quest with. Read more I think were in a good place with this for now, said Village Board member Michael Manzo, who has been involved with Taste of Oak Brook planning. We definitely want to get more sponsors and will continue working on that. But I dont think the cuts we made will have any negative effect on the event, and were fortunate to have the hotel/motel tax fund to help with expenses. Dozens of guests showed up for a South Asians For America forum and panel discussion held in New York April 2. The event served as a platform to talk about what community members could do to become more involved. (photo provided) The site where Maoists exploded an improvised explosive device (IED) killing five policemen who were escorting BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi who too was killed, in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district on April 9. (unattributed photo via IANS) Ranveer Singh has been roped in for Yash Raj Filmss next directed by Maneesh Sharma and starring Manushi Chhillar. (IANS photo) Demonstrators Doubt AG Barr's Trustworthiness, Protest in El Cerrito by Text: RR Photos: Mary DeShaw, Pro Bono Photo Tuesday Apr 9th, 2019 7:37 PM On April 4, demonstrators in El Cerrito responded to a call for action to demand Attorney General Barr turn over the Mueller report in its entirety. Photos by Mary DeShaw, Pro Bono Photo. Please credit the photographer. Attorney General William Barr told Congress today he expects to release his redacted version of the special counsels Trump-Russia investigation report within a week. Barr has been criticized about his handling of the Mueller report since last week, with congress members, individuals and demonstrators demanding he turn it over in full. In El Cerrito, California, demonstrators said that Barr is an unreliable source who was appointed by Trump as Attorney General because of his criticisms of the Mueller investigation. They assembled in front of Daiso, a Japanese chain store, with a large outlet in that city. Bird-of-paradise plants contributed to striking photos of the group gathered at the busy intersection. Demonstrators now wait to see if Barr will ever come through with a document they can believe and trust. Insurance fraud seems like it might be an easy thing to do. Insurance companies are often so huge, one wonders how they might not even notic... Earlier this year, Clark said the school had placed him and another staff member on administrative leave, though he could not go into specifics as to why. District officials called the leave an administrative level of absence while an investigation was conducted, but they declined to talk further due to it being a personnel matter. Winners of Infosys Finacle Client Innovation Awards 2019 Announced Infosys Finacle, part of EdgeVerve Systems, a product subsidiary of Infosys (NYSE: INFY), today announced the winners of the Infosys Finacle Client Innovation Awards 2019. In its fifth edition, the awards recognize banks that deliver breakthrough innovations in banking products, customer service, process design and distribution channels capitalizing on Finacle solutions. With over 250 nominations received across eight categories, this year saw the highest number of nominations more than 50% over the last year. The eight award categories include - Product Innovation, Channel Innovation, Customer Service Innovation, Process Innovation, Innovative Custom Components, Accelerated Transformation, APIs led Innovation and Emerging Technologies-led Innovation. The nominations were evaluated by an expert jury on the basis of three criteria Innovation Quotient, Benefits Quotient, and Complexity Quotient. Applauding the innovative initiatives taken by various banks leveraging the Finacle platform, Sanat Rao, Chief Business Officer and Global Head of Infosys Finacle, said, We are living in an era of unprecedented innovation. Ubiquitous digitization is changing the industrys business models and competitors globally. In these times, continuous and value-focused innovations are the key drivers for long term success. The Finacle Client Innovation Awards program recognizes and celebrates such exemplary innovations introduced by Finacle clients globally. The year-on-year increase in the number of nominations, is a testimony to heightened focus on innovation and customer value in our industry. On behalf of Infosys Finacle, I congratulate all the winners and applicants, and wish them continued success. The winners are: Category: Accelerated Transformation Bank Size Winner Initiatives Large Bank Punjab National Bank Agile Core Transformation Bank Of India Reimagining Corporate Payments with Virtual Accounts Mid-Size Bank Kumari Bank Limited Core Banking Modernization Small Bank Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait End-to-end Digital Transformation Australian Military Bank Ltd Digital Transformation on Cloud Bank Size Runner Initiatives Large Bank ICICI Bank Driving Comprehensive Digital Transformation Emirates NBD Core Consolidation program Mid-Size Bank Andhra Bank Comprehensive Digital Transformation Small Bank Paytm Payments Bank Limited Building a Truly Digital Payments Bank Category: API led Innovations Bank Size Winner Initiatives Large Bank Emirates NBD Banking-as-a-Service Initiative Mid-Size Bank Federal Bank API Banking Portal Processing 1/6th of Country's Remittances Small Bank MauBank Ltd Simplifying the Customer on-boarding Journey Bank Size Runners Initiatives Large Bank ICICI Bank Driving Comprehensive Digitization Using APIs Standard Bank Digitizing Channel Banking With Open API's Mid-Size Bank Kotak Mahindra bank Kotak Mahindra API Store With 30 Active Partners Nations Trust Bank PLC Launching Sri Lanka's First Open API Store Small Bank Golomt Bank Reimagining the Branch Experience RBL BANK Nodal Payments API Product Category: Process Innovation Bank Size Winner Initiatives Large Bank ICICI Bank Reimagining Cross Border Payments with Blockchain Mid-Size Bank Andhra Bank Innovating With Crop Insurance Processes Small Bank Paytm Payments Bank Limited Pioneering Success with Latest NACH Offerings Bank Size Runner Initiatives Large Bank Emirates NBD Reimagined VAT Management Mid-Size Bank Kotak Mahindra bank Automating Payments Processes China Banking Corporation (China Bank) Easy Tax Management Small Bank The Ernakulam District Co-Operative Bank Ltd Reimagining the Inward Clearing Services Category: Innovative Custom Components Bank Size Winner Initiatives Large Bank Standard Bank Fully Digitizing the Lending Process Mid-Size Bank Sohar International Reimagining Limits Management Small Bank Paytm Payments Bank Limited Rethinking Debit Cards Bank Size Runner Initiatives Large Bank ICICI Bank Optimizing the Branch Experience Small Bank Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait Cross Border Payments Management Category: Customer Service Innovation Bank Size Winner Initiatives Large Bank Emirates NBD Reimagining the Remittances processes Mid-Size Bank State Bank of Mauritius Automating the Inward Remittance Process Small Bank RBL BANK Reimagining Fixed Deposits Bank Size Runner Initiatives Large Bank Standard Bank Digitizing Branch Banking Experience Mid-Size Bank Sampath Bank Digital Cash Margin Loan Category: Product Innovation Bank Size Winner Initiatives Large Bank ICICI Bank Eazypay Merchants Solution Royal Bank of Scotland Digitizing KYC Process With Blockchain Mid-Size Bank Sampath Bank Sampath Slip-less Banking Small Bank Paytm Payments Bank Limited Wallet Offerings for Corporates Bank Size Runner Initiatives Large Bank Santander UK Digital cash management offerings Bank Muscat Bank Muscat B2B Connect Solution Mid-Size Bank Kotak Mahindra bank Plug-and-Play Solution to Corporates TMB Bank PLC Punboon - Digital Donation Platform Small Bank Golomt Bank Social Pay RBL BANK Virtual Accounts for Payments Processing Category: Emerging Technology led Innovation Bank Size Winner Initiatives Large Bank ICICI Bank Automating Responses to Customer Email Queries Using Bots Mid-Size Bank Sampath Bank Digital Gifting Mobile App Small Bank Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait Real Time Money Transfer Bank Size Runner Initiatives Large Bank ANZ Bank Simplifying Service Virtualization Landscape Mid-Size Bank Andhra Bank IFLIC Propensity Model Small Bank MauBank Ltd MauBank WithMe Category: Channel Innovation Bank Size Winner Initiatives Large Bank Bank Rakyat Indonesia Indonesia's First Digital Lending app Mid-Size Bank RAK Bank RAKMoneyTransfer Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank - Egypt Delivering True Omnichannel Experience Small Bank RBL BANK Reimaging Digital Banking for Retail and Corporate Customers Bank Size Runner Initiatives Large Bank ICICI Bank Automating Transaction Processing Mid-Size Bank Sharjah Islamic Bank Delivering a Frictionless Experience to Customers Across Channels Bank Dhofar Reimagining Customer Journeys Small Bank Paytm Payments Bank Limited Driving Greater Financial Inclusions Through Business Correspondents Quotes: Ajit Kumar Rath, Executive Director, Andhra Bank - We are delighted to know that Andhra Bank is being honoured at the Infosys Finacle Client Innovation Awards 2019 for our new initiatives. At our Bank, we always aim at developing innovative and differentiated products for enhancing customer experience. Our journey with Infosys Finacle for more than a decade has provided us great opportunities to develop various customer centric products and value added services. Our goal is to enable user friendly and simple banking experiences to customers, improving turn-around-time of services and achieving efficient internal operations by leveraging technology platforms. We thank Infosys for recognizing our efforts in Process Innovation, Accelerated Digital Transformation and Emerging Technologies led Innovations. Leigh Gibson, Tech Area Lead, Customer Self Service (CSS) Tribe, ANZ Bank - Infosys Finacle and ANZ Bank have been key strategic partners for over 10 years. We are currently working on a significant upgrade to our internet banking platform and it is exciting to continue collaborating by creating more shared services, leveraging containerization, increasing automation and building out our CI/CD pipeline. The recognition of our work with Mountebank, and co-contribution of code back into the Open Source community by ANZ Bank and Infosys is also a great step forward in energizing our engineering culture. John Ford, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Military Bank - "The Australianised Finacle banking suite, implemented in a fully Software as a Service (SaaS) model has provided Australian Military Bank (AMB) with significant operational benefits and cost efficiencies, along with enhanced security and scalability. Twelve (12) months on from go live, AMB is well positioned to utilize the open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and cloud based infrastructure to provide further efficiencies; which will result in quicker turnaround times for members, automating routine activities to free up staff to take on more challenging work and, having the ability to integrate with open source APIs which will enable our bank to realize its strategy of being a digital first modern banking institution. Abu Baker Karim Bakhsh Dad Karim Al Balushi, Head of Information Technology, Bank Dhofar - At BankDhofar, we place customer experience at the top of our priorities and strive to be the best bank for our customers at all times. We achieve this through continuous innovation and by leveraging technology. Our vision to be the best bank in the Gulf and our transformation journey is centered around the customer. We are proud and happy to receive an Infosys Finacle Client Innovation Award 2019. This means a lot and reaffirms that we are on the right path. Sheoji Ram Meena, General Manager (IT) and Chief Information Officer, Bank of India - It gives us immense pleasure to be a part of the Infosys Finacle Client Innovation Awards 2019. Bank of India takes this opportunity to thank Infosys Finacle for this recognition. It is our endeavor to constantly introduce innovative and customer friendly products thus making banking operations simple and secured. With the flexible architecture of Finacle, we could do numerous customizations around the Core Finacle. We would like to keep on record the entire team of Infosys for their continued and timely support. Kaspar Situmorang, Executive Vice President, Digital Center of Excellence, Bank Rakyat Indonesia - With the presence of Pinang, Bank BRI Group is able to reach more volumes of customers in Indonesia at high speed (from application to disbursement in less than 10 minutes without a face to face meeting). Pinang is BRIs radical innovation catering to ultra-micro customers creating a seamless and economical on-boarding process. The reimagined process provides a faster, cheaper and safer digital lending in Indonesia. With the persistent support of the Infosys management and the robust Infosys Finacle digital banking suite, BRIs vision of accelerating Indonesia financial inclusion is one step closer. Ahmed Al Musalmi, Chief Executive Officer, Sohar International (formerly Bank Sohar) - "With a deep understanding of global dynamics and trends, our bank has embarked on a new journey to transform banking beyond the mere provision of financial services to become a leading Omani service company that helps customers grow and prosper. With many milestones already achieved in a short span of time as part of our new five-year strategy, we are truly delighted to be recognized by Infosys Finacle Client Innovation Awards 2019. This achievement is a reflection of our new brand personality of being Sharp, Human and Unstoppable, and our spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship to bring the best of the world to our customers, offering them more velocity, more value and more vision in an ever-changing world. DOMINGO "Jan" DAYRO JR, Vice President & Head Cash Management Services Division, China Banking Corporation (China Bank) - ChinaBank is honored to have been selected as a finalist at the Infosys Finacle Client Innovation Awards 2019. With Finacle as the core platform, my team is able to create industry-leading and innovative services that are anchored on providing the best services to the customers that we serve. Our Automated Tax Payment Solutions leverages Finacle's interoperability capabilities resulting in streamlined collection tax forms at the Branches and Head Office units of ChinaBank while providing straight-thru processing for our targeted customers. B Omanakuttan, General Manager, The Ernakulam District Co-Operative Bank Ltd - "A dream becomes a reality when action is taken towards its achievement. The Ernakulum District Co-Operative Bank has been revolutionizing the co-operative banking space leveraging technology in association with Infosys Finacle since last 15 years. The bank has become a paradigm in bringing technology-enabled products and services to customers. Definitely, this recognition from Infosys will inspire us to drive more innovations and digital transformations in banking. Shalini Warrier, Chief Operating Officer, Federal Bank - Federal Bank is a pioneer in path-breaking digital innovations and efficiently utilizes technology to meaningfully leverage its operations. Over the years, the Bank has transformed itself into a technologically innovative organization that offers services beyond par. Digital at the Fore, Human at the Core has been one of our guiding mantras in our endeavor to create delightful customer experiences. In partnership with Infosys, the Bank has been able to create several innovative financial products and this award from Infosys recognizes one of such products. We will continue to raise the bar and script new success stories on the wings of technology. Sainbileg Mandakh, Director of Information Technology, Golomt Bank - Golomt Bank is honored and delighted to have been nominated for the Infosys Finacle Client Innovation Awards 2019. This award nomination is a testament of how Golomt Banks thousands of dedicated employees are striving towards improving the lives and help manage the finances of our customers through customer centric digital innovation. Throughout our continuous effort to provide our customers with the best services, Infosys Finacles exceptional architecture has always given us the means to do so. B.Madhivanan, Chief Technology and Digital Officer, ICICI Bank - We have been constantly challenging and re-orientating our processes through innovation, which is one of the core DNAs of ICICI. Our journey with Infosys has been collaborative and are working on many exciting projects including Blockchain. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Executive Vice President, Kotak Mahindra Bank - The Infosys Finacle Client Innovation Awards acknowledge breakthrough technologies and innovations in the banking sector and we are delighted that Kotak Mahindra Bank has once again been recognized for its digital-first initiatives. At Kotak, we are focused on building an innovation-led organization that makes banking simpler, more convenient and secure and offers a seamless banking experience to our customers. Umesh Singh Bhandari, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Kumari Bank - "Innovation has always been integral part of our banking philosophy. We feel proud and honored for being recognized at the Infosys Finacle Client Innovation Awards 2019. Our Bank successfully migrated to the latest version of Finacle in a record time of 4.5 months. We believe this transformation would enable us to provide a world class banking platform for our valued customers to avail more efficient and effective services." Ally Rahemeea, Head of Innovation & Projects, MauBank - We are pleased to be nominated as finalist at the Infosys Finacle Client Innovation Awards 2019 under the category API Led Innovations and Emerging Technologies led Innovation. Innovation and customer centricity comes first in all the solutions and services we provide, our App MauBank WithMe as well as our Online Lending Application has been developed keeping in mind customer experience, simplicity and ease of usage, our online lending application is a first in Mauritius which provides an in-principle approval of less than 10 minutes even though API is not available for credit scoring and credit bureau scores. The solution has integrated multiple technologies such as APIs, RPA, ESB, Cloud services, OTP, work automation, etc. Using Finacle Core Banking as the backbone has allowed us to use the APIs, some of the inbuilt services and also customized APIs effectively for easy and swift of flow of information within the applications. Satish Kumar Gupta, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Paytm Payments Bank - We, at Paytm Payments Bank, provide various facilities to our customers like savings account, current account, automatic fixed deposits through sweep out, digital debit cards etc. We have ensured that these banking services are available to customer at any time, any place, in consumers language and on their mobile phones itself. All our initiatives have been taken to fulfill our vision of financial inclusion. Our core banking system is provided by Infosys Finacle and we are happy that the jury at Client Innovation Awards have selected us as finalists in various award categories. We continue to work towards our endeavor of bringing half a billion Indians to mainstream economy and we are looking forward to the journey ahead to achieve this goal. Sankarson Banerjee, Chief Information Officer, RBL Bank - We are happy to have been recognized at the Infosys Finacle Client Innovation Awards 2019. RBL Bank, has always aimed to offer a seamless experience to its customers on digital platforms. This award strengthens our commitment further and drives us to develop cutting edge solutions. We have been leveraging a comprehensive set of features to address the evolving needs of our diverse customer segments. Digital transformation is changing the banking landscape, we are happy to be in a unique position to understand the customer requirements and deliver effective solutions. Adrian Vermooten, Executive Head Customer Channels, Standard Bank - 2018 has been a year of many firsts for Standard Bank in Africa Regions but these milestones and tremendous accolades we have received cannot be underestimated. They are without a doubt attributable to many years of work, focus and a continuous crafting of our Digital vision into the DNA of our people so that together we can build the Digital Bank that matters to both our staff and customers. About Infosys Finacle Finacle is the industry-leading digital banking solution suite from EdgeVerve Systems, a wholly owned product subsidiary of Infosys. Finacle helps traditional and emerging financial institutions drive truly digital transformation to achieve frictionless customer experiences, larger ecosystem play, insightsdriven interactions and ubiquitous automation. Today, banks in over 100 countries rely on Finacle to service more than a billion consumers and 1.3 billion accounts. Finacle solutions address the core banking, omnichannel banking, payments, treasury, origination, liquidity management, Islamic banking, wealth management, analytics, artificial intelligence, and blockchain requirements of financial institutions to drive business excellence. An assessment of the top 1250 banks in the world reveals that institutions powered by the Finacle Core Banking solution, on average, enjoy 7.2% points lower costs-to-income ratio than others. Safe Harbor Certain statements mentioned in this release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements regarding our future business expectations intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, 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 earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, data privacy breaches or cyber security incidents, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, and unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company unless it is required by law. Switch the Market flag Open the menu and switch the Market flag for targeted data from your country of choice. for targeted data from your country of choice. We understand that the pressures of parenthood can have an impact on how someone is able to engage at work, said IAG executive general manager of people services, Amanda Zammit. We aim to create an environment that supports our people and reduces the barriers to workforce participation, so that our employees can continue to progress their careers but also balance their family commitments. Typically, parents need to plan for as many as 16 weeks of school holidays every year, which can mean unpaid leave and additional childcare costs put unnecessary pressure on staff. However, the [email protected] program offers employees an annual saving of up to $5,000 per child each year and, to date, the insurer has hosted over 1,100 children across six offices. By providing the [email protected] program, were helping our people balance their work and caring responsibilities, Zammit told Insurance Business. Not only does this benefit our people, but it brings numerous benefits to the company including productivity, engagement, loyalty and supports our people bringing their whole selves to work. Designed to appeal to older children between the ages of five and 12, the program includes a mix of activities and excursion destinations such as movies, ten-pin bowling, museums, juggling, face painting, cooking, coding, singing and dancing. The care is provided at no cost to parents, but employees are encouraged to donate $5 per day to one of IAGs Workplace Giving charity partners. Unsurprisingly, the initiative has been well received by employees at the insurance giant. The feedback from our employees has been very positive and it is making a real difference for our people and their families, said Zammit. In fact, in one of the firms recent employee surveys, more than 90% of people who have accessed the [email protected] program said they would advocate for IAG as an employer. A similar percentage also said they intend to stay with IAG for the foreseeable future. We do believe it makes a big difference because it helps take some of the pressure off for parents trying to think of ways to care for their children during the school holidays, said Zammit. We also believe its a strong point of difference for potential new employees that are looking for a workplace that is family friendly. The choice to host the program on IAG sites also means parents are able to have their lunch break with their children. We are continually looking at ways to support our employees and create a workplace that takes life into consideration and where people feel like they genuinely belong, said Zammit. We believe initiatives like this demonstrate how we aim to address some of the pressures our employees face and our focus on creating a family-friendly workplace. On Tuesday night, the plywood statue still stood in the multi-purpose room of the Gary Area Career Center with yellow tape around its base. Terrault said hes also investigating the best way to crate and remove it safely. The floodplain management plan is a noteworthy achievement in Australias most flood-prone state, said Karl Sullivan, ICA general manager of risk and disaster planning. It enables governments to develop flood resilience and mitigation programs and should also inform town planning decisions. It should be used as the national benchmark for cooperation between state and local governments to deliver whole-of-catchment floodplain management. Sullivan said the plan could be used as a template by other flood-prone Queensland communities. The Flood Resilient Building Guidance for Queensland Homes, meanwhile, will empower home and small business owners to make informed decisions regarding their individual flood risk and how to reduce their exposure, Sullivan said. This is a practical resource that will lead to an increase in flood-resilient properties in communities with a known flood risk, Sullivan said. The guide offers many retrofit measures that will strengthen homes against floodwater and make clean-up and recovery post flood faster and easier, assisting communities to rebuild after a flood. It is compelling reading for not just the residents of the Brisbane River floodplain but anyone who lives in flood-prone communities. Read more: Aon reveals damage bill from Queensland floods Sullivan added that the launch is the opportune time for Queenslanders to review their flood risk and insurance policies. Homeowners who implement a range of flood resilience measures may have the opportunity to decrease their insurance premiums, with some insurers already recognising the decreased risk of homes retrofitted with a range of flood impact reduction building option, Sullivan said. Exposure is growing around the world, especially in large urban areas. As wealth increases, the demand upon insurers will grow and the demand for casualty insurance will also grow, Richards noted. Importantly, theres also a very significant retention gap around the world, both in the short-term lines but also in the casualty space, presenting opportunities for growth. The past decade has been a pretty challenging time for the industry, according to Richards. There has been a significant increase in casualty losses coming out of short-term events like wildfires, floods and mudslides all perils exacerbated by climate change and urbanisation. Furthermore, the transportation sector remains challenging, both in personal and commercial auto, with issues like distracted driving, driver shortages, and inflated jury awards for bodily injury and other damages, causing a significant uptick in claim severity. As global casualty markets get to grips with loss management and mitigation in the traditionally challenging lines like transportation and pharmaceuticals, new risks like cyber, technology-related exposures, and active shooter / mass terrorism are asking new questions of the industry. Speaking at Swiss Res 2019 Canadian Insurance Outlook meeting, Richards outlined some of the key risks casualty insurers need to think about for the future. Moving forward, the pharmaceutical and biotech industry will continue to be a challenging topic. The complexity around the pharmaceutical business and the supply chain still represents significant risk, said Richards. There are risks associated with chemicals used in every day products, like cosmetics, that might potentially impact the hormone system or the sub-domain. Thats a topic we need to think about. Another ongoing challenge for insurers to battle against is the opioid crisis, both in the US and in other parts of the world. The issue is affecting pharmaceutical producers, distributors, and physicians and lawsuits are on the rise. In the US, for example, over 2,000 suits have been filed so far by local and state governments naming opioid manufacturers. Infrastructure is a big topic both ageing infrastructure in mature markets, but also the emergence of new infrastructure and new technology, which create both risks and opportunities at this time, Richards added. For example, electrical grids around the world have been undergoing numerous changes and alterations with the aim to increase efficiency, flexibility, and to reduce carbon impact. New technology [like battery energy storage systems] is really exciting, its good for society, and its under fast-development. It creates an opportunity for our industry but theres a lot of things we need to learn. While safety and risk management regimes are generally improving around the world, and loss frequencies are reducing, there remains problematic sub-sections of weak infrastructure management and repair, according to Richards. Examples might include continuing environmental claims in the oil and gas industry, mining and damn losses in the US, and recently with the catastrophic Genoa bridge collapse in Italy. The industry is also seeing increased loss incidents from fires in high-rise buildings, as seen with the Grenfell Tower loss in London, UK. Such fires dont just impact the property lines of business, but they also create a secondary wave of claims into casualty financial lines. The transportation sector is also undergoing a dramatic change, generally in a very positive way, Richards added. Technology and data insights are helping us to reduce the risks associated with us as individuals and with our vehicles. Telematics is growing dramatically around the world, and thats leading, over time, to improved driver behaviour. The car manufacturers are also invested heavily in driver safety features, and that will also, over time, dramatically improve driver safety. It wont happen overnight; it will happen over time. What casualty lines do you find most challenging? Let us know in the comments section below. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has announced has completed its acquisition of UK specialist insurance broker Stackhouse Poland Group. The acquisition was first announced in January. Stackhouse Poland has more than 500 employees in 23 offices across the UK. It specializes in high-net-worth private clients, real estate, commercial, healthcare and a wide range of specialist insurance sectors, Gallagher said. Stackhouse Poland generates more than 55 million (around US$71.8 million) in annualized revenues. The Worlds Most Ethical Companies assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institutes Ethics Quotient (EQ) framework, which assesses a companys performance in five key areas: ethics and compliance program (35%), culture of ethics (20%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (20%), governance (15%), and leadership and reputation (10%). Gallagher was first recognized by the Ethisphere Institute in 2012, after what the CEO described as a herculean effort on the extensive application process. He told Insurance Business he was not surprised the brokerage made the list because a culture of ethics is what weve been about for the past 90 years. Its one of the foundations Arthur J. Gallagher built the company upon in 1927, and it has remained at the companys core ever since. Compliance and ethics are two separate things. Compliance is what you must do thats table stakes. Ethics is all about what you should do, said Gallagher. When I think about what defines an ethical company, to me its all about integrity and trust. As a leader, for example, folks are only going to follow you if they trust you. In order to be trusted, you need to behave with integrity and ethics, you need to tell the truth, and you need to be open with people. Running an insurance company is about more than just making money. Of course, making money is imperative from a business perspective, but the fact is, our job in the insurance industry is to give our clients the confidence to face their futures. With the support of the insurance industry, companies are able to grow their businesses and strive for new goals, while also spending time with their families and Im proud to be a part of that. Getting this award for the eighth year running really certifies that Gallagher is about more than just making money. Maintaining a culture of ethics is key, according to Gallagher. It resonates with prospective and current employees and its extremely important in the brokerages merger and acquisition (M&A) strategy. While Gallagher is open about targeting a revenue and earnings stream, the firm also celebrates buying good brain power and teams of a strong cultural fit. When it comes to the Worlds Most Ethical Companies list boy does that play well with prospective independent agent partners, Gallagher noted. When theyre looking at us and trying to decide whether or not they want to join us, this outside certification that confirms what we say about our culture is true, helps a lot in the M&A process. All companies that take part in the Ethisphere Institute Worlds Most Ethical Companies assessment process receive scores that provide them with valuable insights into how they stack up against leading organizations. Gallagher has an internal project team that analyzes the brokerages scoring and sets targets for improvement. Five-years-ago, we didnt have a global chief compliance officer. We responded to feedback and we hired a fantastic woman for the role, who really understands global insurance best practices, Gallagher commented. Shes travelled all over our North American operations, all over the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and she can attest that shes been in those places and has met with their compliance officers. We believe now that were a top-notch company when it comes to compliance. Having been in this business for 45 years, I can make a really strong case for why compliance and why the compliance culture thats developing around the world is a really good thing. Good behavior really matters, and thats what our people are preaching. I think one of the most important things when it comes to compliance is making sure that in each location, in each geography, were really following the rules. Then we have to question whether the rules are strong enough in each jurisdiction and whether we want to up them to a higher level. Thats why weve introduced a global chief compliance officer, and thats why the Ethisphere Institute has recognized our compliance program. Damage from flooding in March 2019 is estimated at US$8 billion from events across the globe, according to Aons Global Catastrophe Recap March 2019. The major catastrophe events of March highlighted the continued vulnerabilities which exist in both developed and emerging markets, commented Michal Lorinc, senior catastrophe analyst at Aons Impact Forecasting. The multi-billion-dollar impacts from flooding in the United States, Iran, and Cyclone Idai in Southern Africa were each enhanced by infrastructure unable to handle the large scale of water inundation, he said. In an increasingly volatile era for weather events and their impacts on a growing exposure, it will be critical that resilience and risk mitigation planning will become more pronounced in the public and private sectors. The report listed the major flooding events during March, which included: A major spring storm system from March 12-14 in the United States led to heavy snowfall and rain, record temperatures, severe thunderstorms, and hurricane-force synoptic winds. In the aftermath, historic river flooding swept across the Missouri and Mississippi River Basins through March 28. Total economic losses were estimated beyond US$4 billion, with up to US$1 billion in claims. led to heavy snowfall and rain, record temperatures, severe thunderstorms, and hurricane-force synoptic winds. In the aftermath, historic river flooding swept across the Missouri and Mississippi River Basins through March 28. Total economic losses were estimated beyond US$4 billion, with up to US$1 billion in claims. The combination of heavy rainfall, warming temperatures and melting snow led to flooding in Ontario and Quebec in Canada from March 9-11. Economic losses were estimated at up to C$150 million (US$110 million) and insurers paid up to C$60 million (US$45 million). from March 9-11. Economic losses were estimated at up to C$150 million (US$110 million) and insurers paid up to C$60 million (US$45 million). Torrential rainfall led to flooding throughout Sao Paulo in Brazil from March 10-12 , which forced the closing of a prominent auto factory due to water intrusion. From March 15 to April 5, heavy rain also swept across Paraguay, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador . from March 10-12 which forced the closing of a prominent auto factory due to water intrusion. From March 15 to April 5, heavy rain also swept across and . Weeks of torrential rainfall (from March 17 into early April) led to extensive flooding in dozens of Iranian provinces, killing at least 70 people and injuring 600 more. Total economic losses were unofficially estimated by local government officials at up to 150 trillion Iranian rial (US$3.6 billion). provinces, killing at least 70 people and injuring 600 more. Total economic losses were unofficially estimated by local government officials at up to 150 trillion Iranian rial (US$3.6 billion). KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa was hit by strong thunderstorms on March 10-12. The worst flooding was noted in KwaMashu, Inanda, and Verulam where at least 10 people died. Further, at least 27 people were left dead or missing in Angola following torrential rains from March 16-19 was hit by strong thunderstorms on March 10-12. The worst flooding was noted in KwaMashu, Inanda, and Verulam where at least 10 people died. Further, at least 27 people were left dead or missing in following torrential rains from March 16-19 Heavy rains affected six provinces of Afghanistan on March 1-4, damaging 4,000 houses. The same system also brought flooding to Pakistan where at least 25 people died and dozens of houses were damaged. on March 1-4, damaging 4,000 houses. The same system also brought flooding to where at least 25 people died and dozens of houses were damaged. Flooding rains on March 7-10 led to inundation and landslide damage in Indonesia s West Manggarai region. Among the worst damage and human cost was in Jayapura Regency. s West Manggarai region. Among the worst damage and human cost was in Jayapura Regency. Some 45 people were killed across 13 provinces in Afghanistan on March 30, due to flash flooding and landslides. Nearly 13,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, and thousands of acres of farmland were submerged. on March 30, due to flash flooding and landslides. Nearly 13,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, and thousands of acres of farmland were submerged. Severe thunderstorms swept across parts of Nepal and India on March 31 with the Bara district taking the greatest hit due to damaging winds and heavy rain. Nearly 2,400 homes and 5,800 hectares (14,000 acres) of cropland was damaged. on March 31 with the Bara district taking the greatest hit due to damaging winds and heavy rain. Nearly 2,400 homes and 5,800 hectares (14,000 acres) of cropland was damaged. A pre-monsoon thunderstorm struck parts of Bangladesh on March 31, bringing winds, rain and hailstorm to Dhaka. on March 31, bringing winds, rain and hailstorm to Dhaka. Record 48-hour rainfall caused local flooding along New Zealands west coast on March 24-25. Damage to infrastructure and property was expected to reach into the millions (US dollars). The Aon report described other major catastrophe events during the month including: Cyclone Idai made landfall in Mozambique on March 15 with wind speeds reaching 115 mph. The storm caused storm surge, heavy rain and wind damage, while lingering rainfall led to catastrophic flooding and a humanitarian crisis across Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. More than 1,100 people were killed across Southern Africa and hundreds more are missing. More than 3 million people were affected. Total economic damage to infrastructure in Mozambique alone was estimated at US$1 billion. Windstorm Eberhard swept through parts of Western and Central Europe on March 10, bringing widespread damage and disruption. Two people were killed. The storm resulted in nearly one million power outages and tens of thousands of filed property claims. The hardest-hit areas were in Germany. With economic and insured losses minimally expected to reach into the hundreds of millions of euros, Eberhard became the costliest event of the 2018/19 windstorm season in Europe. Source: Aons Impact Forecasting Related: Topics Catastrophe USA Profit Loss Flood Aon A $1 million gift has helped the University of Kansas School of Business to establish a new insurance and risk management certificate program, which will launch in the fall. The gift, from Cheryl Lockton Williams, of Mission Hills, honors her late husband, Jack Lockton, who founded the Kansas City, Missouri-based Lockton Companies. Other industry companies also are contributing to the program. Partners, which will be announced at a later date, are providing $50,000 each over a five-year period to support the program; partner companies will serve on a program advisory committee and participate in career events and speaking engagements at the School of Business. They also will be able to provide opportunities for student experiential activities. The certificate program will prepare students for careers in insurance and risk management. The curriculum comprises two required business courses in risk management and a choice of two elective courses that equip students with skills to manage and protect assets and organizational value. Three experiential activities, such as job shadowing, internships and industry activities, also will be required. Students also will earn the Kansas Insurance Certificate upon completion of the program, and industry partners will benefit from having skilled graduates join the industry. The Locktons were married for 31 years until Jacks death of pancreatic cancer in 2004. Williams said she is happy that the gift will provide students with a quality education and practical skills in risk management. She is a native of Independence, Missouri, and is married to dentist Dr. Bernard Williams. Source: University of Kansas Topics Kansas Risk Management Yahoo has struck a revised $117.5 million settlement with millions of people whose email addresses and other personal information were stolen in the largest data breach in history. The proposed class-action settlement made public on Tuesday was designed to address criticisms of U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California. She rejected an earlier version of the accord on Jan. 28, and her approval is still required. Koh said the original settlement was not fundamentally fair, adequate and reasonable because it had no overall dollar value and did not say how much victims might expect to recover. She also said the legal fees appeared to be too high. Yahoo, now part of New York-based Verizon Communications Inc., had been accused of being slow to disclose three data breaches affecting about 3 billion accounts from 2013 to 2016. The new settlement includes at least $55 million for victims out-of-pocket expenses and other costs, $24 million for two years of credit monitoring, up to $30 million for legal fees, and up to $8.5 million for other expenses. It covers as many as 194 million people in the United States and Israel with roughly 896 million accounts. John Yanchunis, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, in a court filing called the $117.5 million the biggest common fund ever obtained in a data breach case. He did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment. Separately, Verizon agreed to spend $306 million between 2019 and 2022 on information security, five times what Yahoo spent from 2013 to 2016. It also pledged to quadruple Yahoos staffing in that area. The settlement demonstrates our strong commitment to security, Verizon said in a statement. Yahoo agreed in July 2016 to sell its internet business to Verizon for $4.83 billion. Only later did it reveal the scope of the breaches, prompting a price cut to $4.48 billion. Verizon wrote off much of Yahoos value in December. U.S. prosecutors charged two Russian intelligence agents and two hackers in connection with one of the breaches in 2017. One hacker later pleaded guilty. The case is In re: Yahoo Inc Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 16-md-02752. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bernadette Baum and David Gregorio) Topics Cyber USA Tax Disputes image 320 x 215 Tax disputes, audit prevention and information management are no longer an after-thought for companies trying to comply with their tax obligations worldwide. They instead form part of the core tax strategy that helps a business ensure it has a robust tax policy that helps prevent unwanted audits, disputes and reputational damage. In anticipation of ITRs Tax Disputes Summit on April 30, some of the speakers and attendees talk to Anjana Haines about what trends they are witnessing across Europe. What tax dispute trends are you seeing in your jurisdiction(s)? Martin Phelan, head of tax at William Fry in Ireland I am seeing an increased number of aspect queries being raised by Irish Revenue concerning tax refunds across all tax [areas] but VAT in particular together with more timely periodic reviews of tax returns as filed. Irish Revenue is increasingly proactive in this area. Aspect queries are followed up on and escalated to audits in cases where the answers are unsatisfactory or require further review. In the VAT field, I am noticing that Irish Revenue is keeping on top of developments at an EU level and challenging any Irish arrangements that they deem anti-abusive/contrary to EU law. I am also seeing a rise in mutual agreement procedures (MAPs) and competent authority reviews and challenges. Revenue is also being more aggressive in the tax litigation area and is not afraid to issue tax assessments that might garner publicity in the media a case in point being the recent media reporting of the assessment of Perrigo for corporation tax of 1.6 billion ($1.8 billion). Stephanie Li, tax director at Acer EMEA, based in the UK Transfer pricing audits are still the focus by EU tax officers and there is no sign of abating. Damon Lambert, head of tax EMEA at Swiss Re, based in the UK Increasing focus on minor taxes, other than VAT and corporate tax Focus on accuracy of accounting If anything, less focus on transfer pricing as established agreements are left to run Tania Carvalhais Pereira head of tax at CAAD, the Portuguese Centre for Administrative Arbitration In Portugal, tax disputes, particularly stamp duty, corporate tax and VAT disputes, are increasing in both volume and complexity. We are still experiencing the consequences of the tax burden increase from the crisis period. Meanwhile, we are also experiencing new tax challenges such as the implementation of the OECDs base erosion and profit shifting [action plan], or the emergence of cases such as double VAT taxation. Erik Knijnenburg, global head of tax and transfer pricing at H&M, based in Sweden Given the new OECD developments/proposals and the business developments of going into OMNI models [omni-channel concepts], there is an increasing unwillingness for authorities to step into all-inclusive advance pricing agreements (APAs) and/or controversy settlement. Kim Boylan, partner and global head of tax, and Brian Gleicher, partner and head of the transfer pricing practice, White & Case in the US The most significant trend that we are seeing is an increase in audit activity with respect to international and, in particular, transfer pricing matters. This, in turn, is causing taxpayers to become more proactive, including by seeking APAs and appropriately documenting their transactions so that contemporaneous facts are memorialised. We also see continuing vigorous audits of purely domestic activities. Johanna Waal, head of the large taxpayers office, Finnish Tax Administration In the last few years, the biggest trend in the Finnish Tax Administration/Large Taxpayers Office (LTO) has been the strong investment in developing pre-emptive measures. The goal is to resolve tax issues in advance and avoid disputes. The LTO is offering a co-operative compliance programme for our large business customers. The LTO also promotes the possibility for a pre-emptive discussion for the large business customers. In a pre-emptive discussion, a customer discusses their tax issue with the LTO in advance to receive guidance that is binding for the LTO. In 2019, the pre-emptive discussion was extended to SMEs. Moreover, the LTO has introduced a new, international tool for resolving cross-border tax issues in advance the cross-border dialogue (CBD). In the CBD, a cross-border tax issue can be discussed between a large business and two or more tax administrations, in order to resolve the issue in both relevant jurisdictions at the same time. The CBD is a lighter and faster method than e.g. APA and suitable for all cross-border tax issues. Nina Legaard Kristensen, head of unit, Danish Ministry of Taxation In Denmark, we see an increasing number of disputes relating to cross-border transactions, including transfer pricing cases. During later years, the Danish tax authorities have, among a range of other control activities, made a considerable effort to ensure that the largest groups of companies (including MNEs) are correctly paying their taxes in Denmark. In terms of audit prevention and dispute resolution, what is keeping you busy at the moment? Erik Knijnenburg, H&M Not so much on audit prevention, but rather focusing on dispute resolution for the moment. Disputes are settled more and more using a kind of a unilateral safe harbour approach. Less attention for the content and specifics of the case at hand, but an increased negotiation attitude towards settlements. Stephanie Li, Acer EMEA Keeping abreast of new tax requirements, re-assess tax risks and necessary changes in business operations/structure. Damon Lambert, head of tax EMEA at Swiss Re Time delays in internal sign-offs in tax authorities. Also, ensuring clear audit trails simply being neat so tax authorities are presented with accurate and clear information. Kim Boylan and Brian Gleicher, White & Case In the context of international tax disputes, we remain busy in negotiating APAs and resolving issues through the competent authority process set forth in bilateral income tax treaties. On the domestic front, we continue to represent taxpayers at all stages of the dispute resolution process, with an emphasis on obtaining resolution at the IRS Office of Appeals. Martin Phelan, William Fry I am seeing an increasing level of second reviews or health checks being requested by taxpayers. Depending on the circumstances of the case, this could be a review of a tax plan or tax position taken or about to be entered into by a taxpayer. In an era where Irish Revenue is taking a more aggressive approach in tax litigation matters, i.e. the recent media reporting of the assessment of Perrigo for corporation tax, I am seeing boards of directors, CFOs and heads of tax seeking tax reviews of historic filing positions to ensure that they are as robust and defensible as the taxpayer believes them to be. Tania Carvalhais Pereira, CAAD The volume of tax arbitration cases presented before the CAAD keep me busy. The tax arbitration regime is an alternative dispute resolution mechanism available to taxpayers concerning most tax disputes organised under the CAAD. For the last seven years, the majority of cases submitted to tax arbitration are related to stamp duty (28%), corporate income tax (24.3%) and VAT (10.1%). Tax arbitration has become the fastest route to solve tax disputes in Portugal and one of the fastest routes in Europe to obtain a European Court of Justice ruling. Nina Legaard Kristensen, Danish Ministry of Taxation Taxation legislation often entails great complexity and is subject to continual amendments. Effectively ensuring legal certainty and the taxpayers rights are therefore central matters when dealing with dispute resolution in relation to taxation. This is a high priority of the Danish Minister for Taxation, which has resulted in a range of initiatives to underline and support this agenda. Those initiatives include, among others, reintroducing the reimbursement scheme covering the expenditures of companies disputing decisions made by the tax authorities. Under this scheme, individuals and companies are eligible to get a full reimbursement of their costs, should their appeal be found to be well founded by the administrative or ordinary courts. If the appeal is unsuccessful, the taxpayer is still eligible to a reimbursement amounting to 50% of the costs. How do you think tax disputes will evolve over the coming year? Johanna Waal, Finnish large taxpayers office With the heavy focus on pre-emptive measures, there are already fewer disputes in the large business sector of the Finnish Tax Administration than a couple of years before. However, situations can occur where the customer disagrees or does not follow the guidance of the LTO. In this case, tax control is needed, which can lead to tax disputes. Erik Knijnenburg, H&M Given the assumed way forward, whereby we will see a mix of apportioned calculations on top of residual approaches, this will not get easier. Combine this with a unilateral attitude of tax authorities and you a have a mix for increased scrutiny of facts and findings. Kim Boylan and Brian Gleicher, White & Case Transfer pricing is a significant area of the disputes that we handle. We expect that it will remain so for the coming year. We also believe that purely domestic issues will continue to face the same level of scrutiny in the near term. Stephanie Li, Acer EMEA Double taxation [is] on the rise, and means that resolving cross-border disputes [will] remain ineffective in practice. An increase in country-by-country reports-induced tax audits and tax data-driven VAT and TP audits. Compliance and tax disputes costs will spiral. Tax offices that fail to invest in tax technology will feel the pressure from their more advanced peers. Damon Lambert, head of tax EMEA at Swiss Re Tax authorities will grow in aggressiveness given the overall climate and need to raise funds. This may mean time-consuming challenges, not necessarily well-founded in law. Tania Carvalhais Pereira, CAAD In my opinion, tax disputes will become increasingly complex due to the nature of operations international transactions, triangular transactions, etc. and the increasing pressure on tax authorities to demonstrate theyre collecting the right amount of tax. Martin Phelan, William Fry I expect to see more tax litigation over the coming year. Because of a number of well-publicised EU state aid cases and one in particular involving Ireland on which William Fry had an advisory role the Irish Revenue has restricted the circumstances in which it will provide tax rulings. That said one cannot expect the state to provide tax opinions for clients surely that is why clients engage the services of a tax practitioner. Nina Legaard Kristensen, Danish Ministry of Taxation We will hopefully see the effects of an increased focus to limit the number of disputes. For instance, in the area of transfer pricing, the Danish tax authorities have introduced the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) scheme in transfer pricing cases which is inspired by the success achieved in the UK in a similar scheme. The ADR scheme is an alternative measure to handling conflicts between the Danish tax authorities and the taxpayer without resorting to the administrative or ordinary courts. Rather, a third party assists the parties in reaching a solution. In 2017, four cases were successfully solved by use of the ADR scheme. Attention could also be drawn to the tax governance project, which was introduced by the Danish tax authorities in 2013. The objective of this project is to offer a possibility for the larger groups in Denmark to engage in a formalised and extended co-operation with the tax authorities. Participation in this project requires the groups to commit themselves to share relevant information relating to matters of uncertainty with the authorities. In exchange, the authorities commit themselves to respond quickly and give specific guidance to the taxpayer, where relevant. This helps the taxpayer to comply with the applicable rules and minimises the risks of mistakes. What do you think is the toughest challenge in gaining tax certainty, and why? Stephanie Li, Acer EMEA Hasty introduction of new tax laws makes planning difficult and also damaging when these tax measures lead to double taxation or additional financial burden. This problem is likely to stay much longer than one would expect. Persistent tax uncertainty is the only certainty. Erik Knijnenburg, H&M To attract the right attention and understanding for the case at hand with a fair recognition of both elements is present in the debate right now. This being a more global balanced approach of allocating income and taxation towards market countries and at the same time respecting the entrepreneurial functions and their value to the case. Damon Lambert, head of tax EMEA at Swiss Re Avoiding double taxation, in a timely basis, where there are cross-border transactions, both from a direct and indirect tax perspective. Speed of tax dispute resolution remains lengthy. Tania Carvalhais Pereira, CAAD The toughest challenge nowadays is to grant transparency and accountability at an international level. Kim Boylan and Brian Gleicher, White & Case Transfer pricing has continued to be a focus for tax authorities and it presents challenges in obtaining certainty because the rules are complex and the disputes are inherently factual. Moreover, tax authorities may have differing views, and even within a specific tax jurisdiction there may be differences in opinion as to how transfer pricing rules should be applied. For example, while the competent authority within a tax jurisdiction may be focused on how its treaty partner would view a transfer pricing adjustment, the audit team proposing the adjustment may not consider its foreign impact. Martin Phelan, William Fry A constant internal pressure is Ireland's general anti-avoidance legislation, which effectively operates such that there is no statutory time limit for the review of transactions that breach it. The number of tax rulings issued by the Irish Revenue has decreased over the last few years. However, such rulings never provided much certainty anyway as they had no legal effect in Ireland and, in any case, one would not like to be relying solely on a legitimate expectation argument before a court of law. Developments in international tax at OECD (BEPS) and EU (ATAD) levels have caused the implementing domestic legislation to be more "grey" in application, which has lead and will lead to increases in the issues to be considered and resolved. In my capacity as Secretary General of the CFE in Brussels, I see a lot more interaction with policymakers in Europe, but it is important that the policymakers understand that taxpayers require certainty in the field of taxation. A case in point is the recent OECD digital economy consultation. I inputted on Taxands response to the OECD. It is clear that the new OECD proposals concerning the allocation of profit from the digital economy seem conceptually simple but they are legally and technically complex and could lead to more uncertain tax positions and a rise in disputes and double taxation. Johanna Waal, Finnish large taxpayers office International tax legislation environment today is constantly undergoing significant changes. At the same time, digitalisation is affecting the both the businesses and the tax administrations, bringing new demands for data collection, use and analysis. It is a tough challenge for the tax administrations to keep up with these developments, ensuring both adequate tax certainty for the businesses and reliable tax collection for the state. Nina Legaard Kristensen, Danish Ministry of Taxation Based on my personal experience, I would point to combating tax/VAT fraud and evasion as the toughest and most urgent challenges. From individuals to the largest companies, everyone must pay their fair share of taxes contributing to our vital public services. The reason why this continues to be the toughest challenge - even despite an increasing awareness from policymakers and tax authorities across the world - is that organised fraud and evasion occurs not only within a country but also across countries both within the EU and globally. The increased globalisation and digitalisation unfortunately also paves the way for new types of organised fraud. It is therefore vital that the tax authorities in the EU and OECD countries continue to work closely together by, for example, sharing relevant information at the right time and developing practices to tackle tax/VAT fraud, evasion, avoidance and non-compliance. The material on this site is for financial institutions, professional investors and their professional advisers. It is for information only. Please read our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy before using the site. All material subject to strictly enforced copyright laws. 2021 Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC. For help please see our FAQ. Share this article This content is from: United States Media-related businesses are united in their desire to level the playing field on taxing traditional and digital companies, but they do not all agree on the best way forward. April 10, 2019 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Oil prices jumped to five-month highs this week, pushed higher by a bullish cocktail of supply outages, geopolitical unrest and a sputtering shale sector. The most recent factor is the sudden eruption of the long simmering feud in Libya between rival factions. The attack on Tripoli by the Libyan National Army (LNA), a militia led by Khalifa Haftar, led to a spike in oil prices on Monday as the market priced in the possibility of supply outages. One oil export terminal near Tripoli is the most obvious asset at risk. "If this port were to be shut down due to the fighting, this could see a delivery outage of up to 300,000 barrels per day," Commerzbank said in a note on Tuesday. "The oil market is already undersupplied, so if supply from Libya also falls away the supply deficit will become even bigger." Brent jumped to $71 and WTI to $64 on the news, the highest level in five months. Intriguingly, speculators have only recently turned bullish on crude oil in terms of their positions in the futures market. "Indeed, our money-manager positioning index implies that speculative funds only moved from neutral to positive on oil in the latest week," Standard Chartered wrote in a report on April 9. The investment bank argued that major investors only began to properly factor in geopolitical risk in the last few days, having overlooked risk for much of this year. Standard Chartered analysts said that the "supply security" of Libyan oil is "low," and that output could decline in both the short and medium term. Meanwhile, the U.S. shale industry has already begun to slow down. Weekly EIA data put U.S. output at 12.2 million barrels per day (mb/d) last week, a jump of 100,000 bpd from the week before (the EIA rounds off to the nearest 100,000 bpd on these weekly estimates). More accurate retrospective data found that U.S. production actually declined in January by 90,000 bpd, offering solid evidence of a slowdown. Most analysts still see strong U.S. supply growth this year, but the gains have slowed significantly. Standard Chartered looked at three-month periods, which it argues shows a clear deceleration in production growth over the past year. "The 3m/3m change peaked at 861kb/d in August, and has declined since, reaching just 140kb/d in March," the investment bank wrote. Goldman Sachs argues that these bullish factors will continue. "We expect the drivers of this deficit to persist through 2Q19: the shock and awe implementation of the OPEC cuts, global activity sequentially accelerating, further tightening of US oil sanctions and an only moderate increase in shale production for now," Goldman analysts wrote in an April 8 report. However, the investment bank said that prices could begin to decline in the second half of the year as OPEC+ begins to unwind the production cuts and U.S. shale picks back up. On top of that, some "long-cycle" projects could hit the market in 2020, leading Goldman to project a $60 Brent price for next year. In fact, while the oil market is moving very much in an upward direction, not everyone believes that it will last. "The mood is increasingly turning bullish, but several feedback loops are about to start spinning that stand in the way of a prolonged oil rally," Norbert Ruecker of Julius Baer told Reuters. "Russia already signaled its willingness to raise oil output from June. Fuel remains costly in emerging markets, with soft currencies adding to high oil prices." Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a forum in St. Petersburg that he was comfortable with oil prices where they are, and seemed to suggest that his government was not yet sold on the idea that OPEC+ should extend production cuts. The higher prices go, especially over such a short time period, the more that cracks will begin to surface in the OPEC+ group. Saudi Arabia clearly wants to stick with the cuts, still smarting from the downturn last year. Russia is less keen. Meanwhile, some economic concerns still linger. The IMF warned about slowing growth, expecting global GDP to expand by 3.3 percent this year, down from 3.6 percent last year. One glaring weak spot is the fact that emerging market currencies are lagging far behind the rally in commodities and global equities. Higher oil prices and a persistently strong U.S. dollar have put pressure on an array of currencies, and the weakness will make crude oil much pricier in many countries. That, in turn, could dampen demand. Nevertheless, declining output in Iran and Venezuela, and the threat of severe outages in Libya, at a time when U.S. shale growth has slowed is a powerful combination pushing oil prices to new highs. Link to article: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Smart-Money-Is-Piling-Into-Oil.html More Info: This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire - a global digital news source for investors and business leaders Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions. More disclaimer info: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp Learn more about publishing your news release and our other news services on the Investorideas.com newswire https://www.investorideas.com/News-Upload/ and tickertagstocknews.com Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp Fajman said she expected Gary to have the largest number of early voters because of the number of mayoral candidates and was surprised to see East Chicago in the lead. Nevertheless, she doesnt expect the primary to be that big of a barn-burner. April 10, 2019 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Jason Hamlin of Gold Stock Bull explains why he believes lithium and cobalt companies are overlooked and discusses two companies on his list. Lithium and cobalt companies are a hidden gem in the mining sector. Lithium and cobalt, along with nickel, are the primary metals used in most modern batteries. 42% of the world's cobalt production goes toward the creation of lithium-ion cell batteries. According to the Cobalt Institute, lithium-ion batteries have higher energy density than other battery types and are used in laptops, smartphones, medical devices and electric vehicles, in addition to having a number of other industrial applications. Needless to say, the need for lithium and cobalt won't be diminishing anytime soon. While an initial spike in prices led to investor euphoria in 2017, that euphoria quickly faded as prices corrected sharply in 2018 and into 2019. But there is evidence to suggest that a huge boom in the battery metals may still be just around the corner. If so, this could be an excellent opportunity for contrarian investors to start accumulating shares on the cheap. Before getting into two of the best lithium and cobalt stocks in 2019, let's briefly examine the case for an imminent increase in demand for lithium and cobalt. Lithium and Cobalt Demand Set to Surge With the proliferation of smartphones and electric vehicles, demand for lithium and cobalt has become entrenched in the global economy. And over the next five years, it seems almost certain that increasing amounts of lithium and cobalt will be needed for producing batteries. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Managing Director Simon Moores told the U.S. Senate in February 2019 that he sees global cobalt demand rising fourfold by 2023 and higher still by 2028. This estimate factors in the potential decrease in demand resulting from companies like Tesla seeking to reduce reliance on cobalt in their batteries in order to reduce supply-side risks. Moores' report puts into perspective the dramatic increase in production of lithium-ion batteries: "The advent of electric vehicles (EVs) and the emergence of battery energy storage has sparked a wave of lithium ion battery mega factories being built. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence is now tracking 70 lithium ion battery mega factories under construction across four continents in October 2017, the global total was at 17." That one little factoid is all anyone really needs to know in order to get the picture of increasing demand for lithium and cobalt. The question for investors then becomes: what small cap lithium and cobalt companies are in a position to capitalize on and profit from this trend? Two Lithium and Cobalt Companies with Promising Futures Lithium Americas Corp. (LAC:TSX; LAC:NYSE) has a lithium project in Argentina and another in Nevada. It has seen increased investor interest lately and the share price has started to move higher. Someone has been buying shares of LAC as if they know something the rest of the world doesn't. First Cobalt Corp. (FCC:TSX.V; FTSSF:OTCQX; FCC:ASX) is among the few leaders in the cobalt sector seeking to establish a North American cobalt supply chain. The company recently closed a $1.6 million private placement and the share price is showing signs of bottoming. While there are plenty of lithium and cobalt companies to choose from, we believe these two provide excellent chances for profit as the sector expands. Lithium Americas Lithium Americas has two big projects under its belt: the Cauchari-Olaroz project in Argentina and the Thacker Pass project in Nevada. Cauchari-Olaroz Project The Cauchari-Olaroz project is one of the largest known brine lithium resources in the world. The company recently increased the resource by 53% to 17.9m measured and indicated tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE). It is a high-grade resource, with few impurities and low costs. Lithium Americas owns 50% of the project with Gangfeng Lithium owning the other half. Gangfeng recently made a new investment of $160 million into the project to increase its stake to 50%. It is targeting initial production in the back half of 2020, as shown in the timeline below. Some of the key points in Cauchari-Olaroz part of the press release include: Production wells: Currently there are seven wells in production and three more are under construction. By the end of April, the project is scheduled to have seven drilling rigs mobilized at site for drilling of additional production wells. Civil: Work associated with roads and platforms continues as planned. Contracts have been awarded for earthworks (plant and operations camp), concrete supply and other key items. Procurement: Minera Exar is in the process of reviewing proposals for long lead items and expects to finalize such awards in due course. Cauchari-Olaroz will have 40,000 tpa lithium carbonate capacity. I also like the fact that management's interests are highly aligned with shareholders. Management and directors own 12.1% of the company. The Stage 1 Feasibility study returned results that include: 25,000 tpa battery grade lithium, a 40 year project life, operating costs of $2,495/t, an after-tax NPV of $803 million at a 10% discount rate, a 28.4% after-tax IRR and 3.4 year payback. Thacker Pass Project The Thacker Pass project is a Nevada-based lithium mining operation taking place in the largest known lithium deposit in America. The project is 100% owned by Lithium Americas and is not part of any joint venture. This puts LAC in a unique position to profit from the rising demand for lithium. The Thacker Pass project is economic, scalable, and the company intends to use a cutting-edge method of extracting lithium directly from claystone deposits. It is making steady progress with commissioning of the pilot plant well underway. Environmental baseline data has been collected, permit applications are advancing, and a Preliminary Feasibility Study was released back in August of 2018. The PFS called for 60,000 tpa battery-grade lithium, a mine life of 46 years, operating costs of $2,570/t, an after-ax NPV of $2.6 billion and IRR of 29.3%. The technical chart shows that the recent spike took out key resistance at the red downtrend line and did it on exceptionally high volume. This also pushed the price through both the 100-day and 200-day moving averages. Adding to the bullish move, the recent advance pushed the price for LAC above resistance at $4.50, which held twice over the past six months. Lithium Lithium Americas (LAC) Chart Higher highs and higher lows since bottoming late last year is another bullish technical sign for LAC. The relative strength index (RSI) was overbought in early March, dipped to 40 during the pullback and is currently at 60 with room to run higher. There is plenty of upside potential for LAC, as it would need to more than double just to return to 2018 highs. First Cobalt First Cobalt is a Canada-based pure-play cobalt company and owner of the only permitted primary cobalt refinery in North America. The company is exploring a restart of the First Cobalt refinery in Ontario, Canada, which could produce 2,000 tonnes of cobalt sulfate or metallic cobalt per year. First Cobalt's flagship asset is the Iron Creek Cobalt Project in Idaho, U.S., which has Inferred mineral resources of 26.9 million tonnes grading 0.11% cobalt equivalent. The company's other assets include 50 past-producing mines in the Canadian Cobalt Camp and the only permitted cobalt refinery in North America capable of producing battery materials. An updated mineral resource estimate is expected in the near term and the resource contains no arsenic, which means simpler processing & permitting. FCC is among a small handful companies around taking advantage of what's known as the Idaho Cobalt Belt. This area in Lemhi County, Idaho, is thought to be one of the most cobalt-rich regions in America. The Iron Creek Cobalt Project consists of 1,700 acres worth of exploration claims and mining patents in the Idaho Cobalt Belt. The company just announced it has successfully produced a battery grade cobalt sulfate using the First Cobalt refinery flowsheet. This significant milestone brings the company closer to recommissioning the only permitted primary cobalt refinery in North America. It also owns 45% of the cobalt camp surrounding the mine, including 50 past producing mines. On March 29, 2019, FCC announced a non-brokered private placement that raised $1.6 million by issuing 8.9 million shares of the company at $0.18. The proceeds are being used for ongoing work at the First Cobalt refinery and other general purposes. The technical chart shows the price putting in a double bottom this year and breaking out above the long-term downtrend lines. We also see a series of higher highs on the chart, coupled with increasing volume. This all suggests a bottoming in the share price for First Cobalt. First Cobalt (FTSSF) Chart The RSI is at 55, with plenty of room to continue higher without hitting overbought levels. As with Lithium Americas, the upside potential with First Cobalt is massive. The share price would need to go up roughly nine times in order to return to 2018 highs. The first half of 2019 appears to be an excellent time to start edging into a position in First Cobalt Corp. Best Lithium and Cobalt Stocks: Lithium Americas and First Cobalt It's not hard to make the case for Lithium Americas and First Cobalt being two of the top battery metals companies to invest in during 2019. Lithium Americas is preparing to mine the largest deposit of lithium in America and just secured $160 million in funding from their JV partner Gangfeng Lithium. First Cobalt owns the only permitted cobalt refinery on the continent, a highly prospective cobalt project in Idaho and a camp with multiple projects near their refinery in Ontario. Both companies have seen significant insider buying in recent months and both companies are starting to show bottoming patterns in their technical charts. This makes the current entry points attractive for long-term investors wanting to bet on increased prices for battery metals. The absolute bottom may have yet to be hit for either stock, but this could be a good time to start accumulating shares via buying in tranches. Both the fundamentals and technicals suggest that higher prices are in store for the lithium and cobalt sectors. This may not be the most popular time to buy, but contrarian investors know that the precise time to buy is when others are selling and there is blood in the streets. Prices for lithium, cobalt and the companies that mine these metals look very oversold and undervalued in our view. If you are interested in getting free updates with our investment research and trading ideas, click here. Jason Hamlin Founder - Gold Stock Bull Jason Hamlin is the founder of goldstockbull.com and publishes a highly rated investment newsletter focused on precious metals and cryptocurrencies. Hamlin has a background analyzing charts and trends for the world's largest market research company, is versed in fundamental and technical analysis and has consulted to Fortune 500 companies around the globe. Hamlin is a cycles investor, student of Austrian economics and speaks regularly at investment conferences. The Gold Stock Bull newsletter is focused on finding junior mining companies that are undervalued relative to their peers and early-stage cryptocurrencies and ICOs that can provide investors with high levels of returns. Disclosure: 1) Jason Hamlin: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Lithium Americas Corp. 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. Gold Stock Bull 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: None. 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. Graphics provided by the author. goldstockbull.com Gold Stock Bull is not an investment advisory service, nor a registered investment advisor or broker-dealer and does not purport to tell or suggest which securities or currencies customers should buy or sell for themselves. All ideas, opinions, and/or forecasts, expressed or implied herein, are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to invest, trade, and/or speculate in the markets. Any investments, trades, and/or speculations made in light of the ideas, opinions, and/or forecasts, expressed or implied herein, are committed at your own risk, financial or otherwise. The information on this site has been prepared without regard to any particular investor's investment objectives, financial situation, and needs. Accordingly, investors should not act on any information on this site without obtaining specific advice from their financial advisor. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Full disclaimer. Get more mining stock investor ideas - news, articles, podcasts and stock directories More Info: This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire - a global digital news source for investors and business leaders Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions. More disclaimer info: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp Learn more about publishing your news release and our other news services on the Investorideas.com newswire https://www.investorideas.com/News-Upload/ and tickertagstocknews.com Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp April 10, 2019 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Citizens in the EU, the US and China have similar attitudes when it comes to climate action. They agree that they themselves and international organisations should take the lead in combatting climate change. More than a third each of Americans and Europeans back their governments in supporting developing countries' climate initiatives. These are results of the fifth part of the EIB climate survey, published on the margins of the IMF/WB spring meetings #EUatSpringMeetings in Washington D.C.. The survey has been developed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) in partnership with the global public opinion company YouGov. It unveils how 25 000 citizens in the European Union, the United States and China feel towards climate change. Emma Navarro, EIB Vice-President Responsible for Climate and Environment Finance, commented on the EIB Climate Survey findings: "Europe's strategic vision for a prosperous, competitive and climate-neutral economy by 2050 outlines how climate neutrality can be achieved with substantial investment. The EIB climate survey shows that individual citizens welcome the leading role of international institutions to fight climate change. Unlocking engagement of all partners and crowding-in private sector financing are essential to succeed in this fight. As the EU climate bank, the EIB is looking forward to strengthening its support to implement the Paris agreement with global partners." Stavros Lambrinidis, the Ambassador of the European Union to the United States, said: "EU policy recognises that climate change and environmental degradation know no borders. National institutions alone cannot tackle this challenge. That is why climate action must stay firmly on the global radar screen. And it is why the EU and its Bank, alongside their international partners, are committed to lead by providing analysis, finance, and clear ambitious solutions, whether in the field of adaptation or cutting emissions that cause global warming." Here are some of the findings from the EIB climate survey. Comparing the EU with the USA and China When compared to the United States and China, Europeans have a much stronger understanding of the challenges of climate change. 78% of Europeans describe themselves as being concerned or alarmed about climate change, compared to 65% in China and 63% in the USA. Following this pattern, the survey also revealed that there is only a very small proportion of skeptical Europeans (6% are not sure if climate change is happening and 1% deny it). This contrasts with the heterogeneous climate perception in the United States, where one-third of US respondents describe themselves as alarmed, whereas up to 14% expressed their skepticism towards climate change. Accountability for climate action - who should take the lead? The survey results reveal that a majority of EU, US and Chinese respondents alike place citizens and international organisations, such as the United Nations, the World Bank and the European Investment Bank, at the forefront of the fight against climate change. They are putting a smaller focus on the responsibilities of local and national governments as well as on companies and corporations. Climate change is a global challenge - but where should the funds be invested? 35% of EU and US respondents support national spending for climate action in developing countries as well as in their own. While 22% of Chinese respondents agree, 31% of them believe that each country should be responsible for funding its own climate initiatives. Discover the latest release of our EIB climate survey from 10 April 2019 about citizens' opinions on companies' efforts to fight climate change and check our previous releases of the survey results on the EIB website. About the EIB climate survey The European Investment Bank partnered with global public opinion and data company YouGov to conduct a thorough assessment of citizens' sentiments towards climate change. The Survey aims to inform the broader debate on climate change and understand citizens' attitudes and expectations in terms of climate action. There will be six releases of the EIB Climate Survey's data in 2018 and 2019, with each series of data corresponding to a specific theme and area of focus. 25 000 respondents participated in the Survey, with a representative panel for each country. EIB climate survey: http://www.eib.org/surveys/index About the European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union and is owned by the EU Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals both in Europe and beyond. The European Investment Bank is active in around 160 countries. It is the world's largest financier of climate-related investment with USD 100 billion committed for climate action in the five years up to 2020 in support of the Paris Agreement. The EIB at the IMF-WBG Spring Meetings: https://www.eib.org/en/events/eib-at-2019-spring-meetings About YouGov YouGov is an international data and analytics group. Its core offering of opinion data is derived from its highly participative panel of six million people worldwide. YouGov combines this continuous stream of data with its deep research expertise and broad industry experience in a systematic research and marketing platform EIB Contact (Climate survey): Thomas Froimovici: t.froimovici@eib.org, Tel: +352 691 284 262 EIB Press Contact in Washington: Shirin Wheeler s.wheeler@eib.org, Tel : +44 7827 445611 Website: www.eib.org/press - Press Office: +352 4379 21000 - press@eib.org Les informations contenues dans ce message et/ou ses annexes sont reservees a l'attention et a l'utilisation de leur destinataire et peuvent etre confidentielles. Si vous n'etes pas destinataire de ce message, vous etes informes que vous l'avez recu par erreur et que toute utilisation en est interdite. Dans ce cas, vous etes pries de le detruire et d'en informer la Banque Europeenne d'Investissement. The information in this message and/or attachments is intended solely for the attention and use of the named addressee and may be confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you have received this transmittal in error and that any use of it is prohibited. In such a case please delete this message and kindly notify the European Investment Bank accordingly. Get more Renewable Energy Stock Investor Ideas - news, articles, podcasts and stock directories More Info: This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire - a global digital news source for investors and business leaders Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions. More disclaimer info: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp Learn more about publishing your news release and our other news services on the Investorideas.com newswire https://www.investorideas.com/News-Upload/ and tickertagstocknews.com Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp Bank of Ireland has said a "technical error" is to blame for incorrect information about their customers being posted on the Central Credit Register. The register - which documents a person's credit history - is consulted by lenders when considering a loan application. The Central Credit Register (CCR) was established in the past year to replace the Irish Credit Bureau. The register logs all loans exceeding 500 in value and ensures lenders can access customers credit history through a central database while they are deciding whether to grant a loan. Up to 3,000 BOI customers had their information wrongly recorded between November and January and the bank corrected the mistake in early January. It means customers may have been refused a loan because their record held false data about them. Brendan Burgess from Ask About Money has this advice if you're thinking about applying for a loan. Mr Burgess said: "Anybody who is taking out a loan in the future, like a mortgage in six months or a year's time, you should get onto the Central Credit Register. "It doesn't cost anything to look at your record just to see what's on it in case a mistake has been made by Bank of Ireland or by any bank. You can go online and you can register quite easily and you can get a copy of your report." He said there is an easy way to find out if you have been affected by the mistake. If you applied for a loan and you were rejected and you were sort of surprised that you were rejected get on to the Central Credit Register, he said. You check your credit record and if you find something that surprises you, like a loan or something that you dont have or there could be a mention of arrears or something like that, well then now is the time to take action and correct it. He also outlined the impact the error may have had. He said: "1,500 people had a loan and those loans were put down on 1,500 other peoples records. So there are people who might have got loans because the bank didnt realise they had loans elsewhere. Then, of course, there are people who might have been refused loans because they had extra loans on their accounts. Dairygolds capital investments have fuelled its expansion in milk processing to 1.34bn litres in 2018, up 500m litres since 2009, with plans to exceed 1.65bn litres by 2023. While certainly not immune to Brexit and likely challenges in the UK consumer market, the companys revenues are solidly founded upon supplying some of the worlds biggest nutrition companies with high-quality ingredients, notably infant formula ingredients. In terms of future strategy, Dairygold has plans to develop new powder and cheese products to respond to global market trends in life-stage nutrition, thereby increasing the proportion of higher margin ingredients produced by its members milk. In its 2018 accounts, the North Cork-based co-operative reports record revenues of 992.9m, up 27.4m on 2017. Dairygold reported operating profits of 28.9m, down 3.5m on 2017 as the company kept its milk price high to soften the economic impacts of the years extreme weather conditions on its farmer suppliers. The soaring volumes have been made possible by the 188.7m invested over the past five years in the processing plants in Mallow, Mitchelstown and Mogeely, of which 130m was invested in 2018 on phase two of its post-EU dairy quota expansion programme. In all, it will have invested 300m from 2012-20. Jim Woulfe. Jim Woulfe, CEO of Dairygold, said the company expects the milk price to remain relatively stable for the remainder of 2019, with Brexit looking like its main challenge. A hard Brexit with WTO tariffs would add 50m in Dairygolds costs to the 300 million litres of milk used in its cheese sold into the UK market. Brexit is overhanging the market, commented Mr Woulfe. No level of planning could insulate any EU organisation, trading with or through the UK, against the implications and consequences of a hard or no-deal Brexit. That is why it is critical, no matter what the final outcome of the negotiations, that there is a sufficient transition period, to fully prepare for the future trading relationship between the EU and UK. Even then, the dairy Industry will suffer serious consequences in the event significant tariffs applying. Brexit is bringing complexity in a narrow-margin business. "The challenge will be to recover those costs, and we are working on that all along the supply chain. The truth is that there is no good Brexit. Dairygolds 2,850 milk suppliers expanded milk production by 2.7% during 2018. The average farmer has gone from supplying 270,000 litres in 2009 to supplying 470,000 litres today. The companys net asset value is 337.9m for 2018, up 2.4m. Net bank debt stood at 111.4m last year. Ebitda for 2018 was 448.6m, down 4.2m on 2017. In a year of extreme weather challenges, we made the decision to reduce our profits in order to support the milk price paid to our members by 15m above market returns for the year, around 1c to 1.5c per litre, said Michael Harte, Dairygold chief financial officer. Dairygolds milk price was only down around 1.5cpl on average for the year, while the Ornua index for 2018 was down around 3cpl. While maintaining the milk price was partly driven by policy, the high quality of milk delivered by members also played its part. Dairygold paid an average 31.8cpl quoted milk price, and a paid milk price of 36.1cpl with 3.53% protein and 4.17% butterfat, including Vat and bonuses. Dairygold Food Ingredients Irelands turnover for 2018 was 569m. Its B2B cheese businesses in the UK and Germany contributed to the 156m turnover in its overseas food ingredients business. Dairygolds Agri business turnover was 261.6m, up by 40m or 19%, driven by higher feed sales volumes due to unsuitable grazing weather and the consequent shortage of fodder, while retail sales also up. As well as supporting its tillage farmers through last years extreme weather events, Dairygolds grain prices for 2018 harvest cereals were circa 40% higher than 2017, and the highest it has paid since 2012. Dairygold recently launched a new fixed price milk scheme, a voluntary tool to help milk suppliers manage market volatility and running from March 2019 to November 2021. The model follows the models endorsed by members in 2016, 2017 and 2018. All of its milk suppliers are participating in Bord Bias Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme. Farmer buy-in has been key to the companys sustainability drive, including its Leanfarm partnership with Teagasc, its Origin Green commitments, the Dairy Sustainability Framework and the Agricultural Sustainability and Support Advisory Programme. We are working closely with our members, who know the importance of delivering on good practice models, said John OGorman, Dairygold chairman, a dairy farmer based in Clogheen, Co Tipperary. The milk recording and herd health monitoring have been very important from a farmer perspective. Farmers have been quick to adapt to new farm technologies and make the most of the labour-saving benefits. They are very innovative, resilient and respond positively to challenges. John Hearne looks at some of the likely changes awaiting consumers as the EU and the UK edge towards separation AS the UK continues to lurch along uncertainly towards Brexit, the consumer agencies have been increasingly busy posting post information about what may be in store for us in a crash-out scenario. Before we get to that, however, its worth pointing out that amid all the warnings and anxiety over the approaching economic storm, we did have a little nugget of good news this week. Irish mobile phone operators have announced that existing roaming rules will not change if the UK exits the European Union without a deal. For the last two years, the EUs Roam-like-at-home regime has meant that EU consumers travelling within the union could not be charged out of bundle fees for their voice calls, texts and data use. The telcos now say that travelling in the UK will not attract additional roaming charges even after Brexit. Mobile phone roaming charges These announcements all come in the aftermath of British mobile operators saying that they did not intend to re-introduce roaming charges in the event of a crash-out. Watch this space, however. Mobile operators fought tooth and nail against the removal of roaming charges. It would be no great surprise if they re-emerged in some form after the Brexit dust has settled, if it ever does. Meanwhile, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has brought out a new bulletin detailing the impact on your consumer rights of a no-deal Brexit. Shopping online Lets look first of all at your rights if you buy from a UK site like Amazon.co.uk. The CCPC says that under EU law, if you conclude a contract with a trader based in another country and if it can be proved that the trader directs his/her commercial activities in your EU member state of residence, the law of the member state where you live applies. On that basis, courts in Ireland continue to apply EU consumer protection rules even if the trader is based within the UK. This includes, in particular, the rules set out in the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, the Consumer Rights Directive, the Unfair Contract Terms Directive, the Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive, the Price Indication Directive the Package Travel Directive. Because many UK-based sites do market to us, our rights which are substantial in this area are likely to remain unchanged. Costs however will not. Earlier this month, the UK press reported that Amazon wrote to many of the UK businesses who sell on its site, encouraging them to take significant steps in preparation for a no-deal. The letter has warned that following a crash-out Brexit, cross border trade could grind to a halt albeit only temporarily. Sellers have been advised to establish fulfilment centres within the EU warehouses essentially where four weeks of inventory could be stored to overcome any logistical issues which might arise post crash-out. The online giant has also established an English language version of its German site, Amazon.de, again to smooth any possible trading hiccups. Regardless of how traders seek to keep commerce flowing, the fact remains that if the UK leaves the EU without a deal, buying from an online UK retailer puts the trade in the exact same category as a US-Irish transaction. Last summer, the chair of the Revenue Commissioners, Niall Cody told an Oireachtas Committee that the cost profile of these transactions would be so altered that buying online from the UK would no longer make sense. Customs charges Currently, when you buy from a trader based outside the EU, and your goods have a customs value (including cost, transport, insurance and handling charges) of 22 or less, you dont have to pay Customs Duty or VAT. If the intrinsic value (the value of the goods alone excluding transport, insurance and handling charges) is more than 150, then you will have to pay Customs Duty. So before ordering from a UK trader or any other trader based outside the EU check what VAT or import charges you may have to pay on top of the original cost of the goods. Seeking legal redress for a consumer issue in the event of a no-deal Brexit may also be problematic. Marketing jurisdictions The CCPC says that if you decide to take a trader in the UK to court here, the UKs withdrawal has no consequences for you as long as the trader has marketed the goods in Ireland. EU rules continue to apply and allow you to sue the trader here. It makes no difference whether the trader is based in the EU or in the UK. If the UK-based trader has not marketed the goods in Ireland however, your rights as a consumer will depend on UK law. While were on the subject, a judgment from a court in an EU member state can only be enforced in the UK if a UK court decides to recognise that judgment. Whats more, it will be far more difficult to settle a dispute out of court with a trader in the UK. After the withdrawal date, EU law on out-of-court dispute resolution and online dispute resolution will no longer apply to the UK. Youll no longer be able to use the EU online dispute resolution platform to settle disputes with traders across the water. Package holidays Package holidays have long been a source of trouble for consumers. Whether its a question of lost bookings, misleading advertising or car rental, every year, consumer authorities deal with the many things that can go wrong. Similar to other traded goods, if you bought your holiday from a UK-based travel agent, your rights will be protected under EU law only if the agent markets here. If this is the case, the organiser would be obliged to provide insolvency protection for you according to Irish law. If the travel agency in the UK has not marketed the package holiday in your EU member state, your consumer rights will depend solely on UK law. Medical supplies Weve also had a lot of talk about medicines and the potential for supply problems in the event of a disorderly Brexit. The CCPC says that in principle, your access to medicines should remain unchanged. However, even the best preparation cant fully exclude the possibility that there might be a temporary impact on the supply of some medicines. The bulletin says: The European Commission and the European Medicines Agency are carefully monitoring the situation... In any case, shortages of medicines are unfortunately not rare and already happen for different reasons not related to the UKs withdrawal. The European Medicines Agency and national regulators are experienced in dealing with this and take the necessary actions so that patients get the right advice about their treatment. Rest assured however that the UKs withdrawal will have no impact on the quality and safety that patients in the EU expect from the medicines they take. A medicine dispensed by a pharmacy or administered by a doctor in an EU Member State after the withdrawal date will be no different in quality, safety and efficacy from medicines dispensed or administered before the UKs withdrawal. Agriculture Minister Michael Creed has reiterated his commitment to eradication of bovine TB in Ireland by 2030. We have spent 5.5 billion in todays money and the plan is to spend another 1 billion between now and 2030, by which time we hope to have eliminated TB. It is not that there will be no incidence of TB, but we will be below a certain threshold, and thus deemed to be TB-free for the purpose of international trade, which will bring its own benefits, said Minister Creed as he gave details last week of his departments revised expenditure estimates for 2019. Included is additional funding for the Departments ERAD disease eradication section, recognising that there has been a slight rise in herd disease incidence rates. He observed that when a herd contracts tuberculosis now, it is more costly, because herds tend to be bigger. He said, The work of the TB forum will be very instructive as to the ways and means to achieve our ambitious goal of eradication by 2030. It is an ambitious target but it is probably more doable than draining the Shannon. The choice is to continue plodding along at the rate we are going or to do something more radical and try to achieve our ambition by 2030. The expenditure estimates for 2019 include an overall increase of 31 million over last year. They include a substantial increase in pay and non-pay administrative allocations, which reflects additional funding for Brexit preparations for additional checks on eastwest trade. I believe, without a shadow of a doubt, that Ireland is the most Brexit-prepared member state,, said Minister Creed, as he answered questions from the Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine on the estimates. Among the planned expenditure increases are the 20m for farmer payments in the new beef environmental efficiency pilot, BEEP, plus 1m for BEEP cattle weighing equipment. The scheme will provide up to 40 for each of about 450,000 weanlings. The ambition is to pay this scheme in the current calendar year, said the Minister. Additional funding support of 2.75m is confirmed for the meat inspection service, following a new agreement with Veterinary Ireland on engagement of temporary veterinary inspectors. There is a once-off sum of 4m in additional funding to support introduction of sheep electronic identification, EID, with funding both for farmers and to provide EID readers for marts. Included in support to farmers who deliver public goods and environmental benefits is investment in the pearl mussel, hen harrier, and Burren farming schemes, and a number of smaller, more localised schemes. This work is very much in sync with the objectives of the recently published report of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate Action and the whole-of-Governmen approach to ensuring Irelands transition to a low-carbon economy, said Minister Creed. The already announced 23m allocation for areas of natural constraints (the ANC scheme) takes it to 250m, restoring it to pre-downturn levels. The Minister also confirmed increased funding for knowledge transfer, capital investment by food companies, initiatives for artisan producers, and Teagascs prepared consumer foods centre at Ashtown and food innovation hub at Moorepark. The Bord Bia allocation has been increased by almost 5m and now stands at almost 47m, compared with 32m in 2015. Provision for the Departments seafood programme has been increased by 6m. Dairygold's revenues are an all-time high of almost 1 billion. The company's directors talk to Joe Dermody Dairygold's capital investments have fuelled its expansion in milk processing to 1.34bn litres in 2018, up 500 million litres since 2009, with plans to exceed 1.65 billion litres by 2023. While certainly not immune to Brexit and likely challenges in the UK consumer market, the company is solidly founded upon supplying some of the world's biggest nutrition companies with high-quality ingredients, notably infant formula ingredients. In terms of future strategy, Dairygold has plans to develop new powder and cheese products to respond to global market trends in life-stage nutrition, thereby increasing the proportion of higher margin ingredients produced by its members' milk. In its 2018 accounts, the North Cork-based co-operative reports record revenues of 992.9 million, up 27.4m on 2017. Dairygold reported operating profits of 28.9m, down 3.5m on 2017 as the company kept its milk price high to soften the economic impacts of the year's extreme weather conditions on its farmer suppliers. The soaring volumes have been made possible by the 188.7m invested over the past five years in the processing plants in Mallow, Mitchelstown and Mogeely, of which 130m was invested in 2018 on phase two of its post-EU dairy quota expansion programme. In all, it will have invested 300m from 2012-20. Jim Woulfe, CEO of Dairygold, said the company expects the milk price to remain relatively stable for the remainder of 2019, with Brexit looking like its main challenge. A hard Brexit with WTO tariffs would add 50m in Dairygold's costs to the 300 million litres of milk used in its cheese sold into the UK market. Brexit is overhanging the market, said Jim Woulfe. No level of planning could insulate any EU organisation, trading with or through the UK, against the implications and consequences of a hard or no-deal Brexit. That is why it is critical, no matter what the final outcome of the negotiations, that there is a sufficient transition period, to fully prepare for the future trading relationship between the EU and UK. Even then, the dairy Industry will suffer serious consequences in the event significant tariffs applying. Brexit is bringing complexity in a narrow-margin business. The challenge will be to recover those costs, and we are working on that all along the supply chain. The truth is that there is no good Brexit. Dairygolds 2,850 milk suppliers expanded milk production by 2.7% during 2018. The average farmer has gone from supplying 270,000 litres in 2009 to supplying 470,000 litres today. The company's net asset value is 337.9m, up 2.4m. Net bank debt stood at 111.4m last year. EBITDA for 2018 was 448.6m, down 4.2m on 2017. In a year of extreme weather challenges, we made the decision to reduce our profits in order to support the milk price paid to our members by 15m above market returns for the year, around 1c to 1.5c per litre, said Michael Harte, Dairygold chief financial officer. Dairygold's milk price was only down around 1.5cpl on average for the year, while the Ornua index for 2018 was down around 3cpl. While maintaining the milk price was partly driven by policy, the high quality of milk delivered by members also played its part. Dairygold paid an average 31.8cpl quoted milk price, and a paid milk price of 36.1cpl with 3.53% protein and 4.17% butterfat, including VAT and bonuses. Dairygold Food Ingredients Ireland's turnover for 2018 was 569m. Its B2B cheese businesses in the UK and Germany contributed to the 156m turnover in its overseas food ingredients business. Dairygold's Agri business turnover was 261.6m, up by 40m or 19%, driven by higher feed sales volumes resulting from unsuitable grazing weather and the consequent shortage of fodder, while retail sales also up. As well as supporting its tillage farmers through last year's extreme weather events, Dairygolds grain prices for 2018 harvest cereals were circa 40% higher than 2017, and the highest it has paid since 2012. Dairygold recently launched a new fixed price milk scheme, a voluntary tool to help milk suppliers manage market volatility and running from March 2019 through to November 2021. The model follows the previous models endorsed by members in 2016, 2017 and 2018. All of its milk suppliers are participating in and compliant with Bord Bias Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme. Membership buy-in has been key to the company's sustainability drive, including its Leanfarm partnership with Teagasc, its Origin Green commitments, the Dairy Sustainability Framework and the Agricultural Sustainability and Support Advisory Programme. We are working closely with our members, who know the importance of delivering on good practice models, said John O'Gorman, Dairygold chairman, a farmer in Clogheen, Co Tipperary. The milk recording and herd health monitoring have been very important from a farmer perspective. Farmers have been quick to adapt to new farm technologies and make the most of the labour-saving benefits. They are very innovative, resilient and respond positively to challenges. Plans for a 1.2m boardwalk on the outside of an historic bridge over the river Blackwater have been unveiled in a bid to improve traffic flow. Cork County Council announced details last night of the new structure which they propose to build on the western spandrel wall of Mallow Bridge in north Cork. The bridge dates from 1712 and is a recorded protected structure. The council said the proposed boardwalk has been designed to minimise visual impact on the bridge. In a statement, the council said once the boardwalk is installed, it will allow for the existing bridge footpath to be removed for the addition of traffic turning lanes to improve traffic flow across the bridge and reduce journey times for drivers. The scheme will also include the relocation of the Republican War Monument from the bridge parapet to a safer location in a new amenity area on the northern approach to the bridge. A public information evening on the scheme will be held at the Hibernian Hotel in Mallow from 4pm to 9pm next Wednesday, April 17. County Mayor Cllr Gerard Patrick Murphy said traffic studies and research have shown that the boardwalk and the extra traffic lane will reduce journey times for motorists and provide safe and easy access for pedestrians and cyclists to the town. Its a win-win for everybody and will enhance the quality of life for the whole community, he said. Council chief executive Tim Lucey said the boardwalk will facilitate shared space for cyclists and pedestrians and will improve access to the town centre for residents of areas to the south of the town. It will not only greatly improve safety for pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users on the bridge it will also contribute many associated sustainability, environmental and economic benefits to the town, he said. It is hoped that work will start in June and take up to five months to complete. Nighttime works will be carried out to minimise traffic disruption but some of the overnight works will require a full bridge closure. Other day lane or road closures and detours will be confined to the school summer holiday period where possible. The project is being funded by the council and an EU Designated Urban Centres grant worth 1m. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 10) Malacanang on Wednesday urged China to withdraw its vessels from the West Philippine Sea, following reports of more Chinese ships spotted near another Philippine-occupied island. Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the government will again file a diplomatic protest once it has verified that some Chinese vessels are around Kota Island, also known as Loiata Island and nearby Panata Island or Lankiam Cay in the disputed Spratlys. This is on top of over 200 Chinese vessels found swarming around Pag-asa Island, one of the biggest islands in the Spratlys and seat of the Kalayaan municipal government under the province of Palawan. "They should (go away). They have no business being there," Panelo said when asked if the Chinese vessels should leave. He called it an "assault" to the country's sovereignty. "If they continue to be present in our territory then it is an assault to our sovereignty." Duterte on April 4 said he would ask his soldiers to "prepare for suicide mission" if China does not heed his warning to lay off Pag-asa Island where its vessels have been spotted. Duterte, however, stressed he'd rather go into a compromise instead of an all-out war with the East Asian giant. Panelo on Wednesday explained that the President was hoping that the Chinese vessels would leave the contested waters in response. "Perhaps what he's referring to is they leave the place then we maintain our trade relations They cannot be staying there forever," Panelo said. In July 2016 ruling, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague invalidated China's sweeping claims to the South China Sea. It recognized the Philippines' sovereign rights in areas within its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone where China has built artificial islands, prohibited Filipino fishermen from fishing and interfered in petroleum exploration. The Duterte administration has been criticized for pursuing friendlier ties with China despite Beijing's rejection of the arbitral ruling. When asked why the Palace is now giving "stronger" statements on the presence of Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea, Panelo said the government "will always assert sovereignty when it is being impaired or assaulted." He added the government was still validating reports in the past. "It's true pala (after all) so we complain, we protest," he said. Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua said Beijing is verifying reports that its vessels have been surrounding Pag-asa. He said the ships may be manned by "unarmed" Chinese fishermen, but Malacanang said reports from the military suggest militiamen have been deployed there. Foreign Affairs Secretary Tedoro "Teddy Boy" Locsin, Jr., the country's diplomat, said last week that he "fired off (a) salvo of diplomatic notes" against China over the swarming of its vessels in Philippine waters. In a Twitter post responding to a blogger's tweet, Locsin said he sent the diplomatic notes to Beijing before his first official trip there on March 18 to 21. Galloway admitted to his role in the planned robbery that resulted in Ortizs death, Martin said. Galloway said he tried to rob William Mike Hawkins, Ortizs boyfriend and the driver of the vehicle Ortiz was shot in, because he owed Hawkins $1,600 for marijuana, police said. Galloway planned to use the robbery money to repay Hawkins for the debt, Martin said. Brexits impact over the next decade or longer could be as bad as the financial crash on lives and the economy. That was a warning from the Economic and Social Research Institute also predicted that the biggest differences after Brexit may be felt in households and regional areas around the country. The economic think-tank, which advises the Government, was making predictions about the impacts on trade, household budgets and public finances in the event of a Brexit deal or if Britain crashes out of the EU. Quizzed by Sinn Feins Pearse Doherty about how a disorderly Brexit could compare to the financial crash in 2008, ESRI research professor Kieran McQuinn told the Oireachtas budgetary committee: I dont think you are talking about something like that, but the only point I would make is that the credit bubble collapse was over a relatively short sustained period of time, three to four years, whereas Brexit will impact the economy over 10, 15 [years], possibly a lifetime because of the missed opportunities. So if you were to accumulate that up in the long run, it could have the same impact. Certainly, it is a more persistent loss to the economy over a longer period of time than the kind of short and sharp, really bad hit that we took in 2008 and 2009. ERSI predictions centre on outcomes for the economy in the event of a Brexit deal, a no-deal or a disorderly no-deal by looking at changes in trade, new tariffs on goods and any foreign investment. The level of economic output in Ireland with a deal would be 2.6% lower, the ESRI said, while it would be 5% lower with a disorderly British exit from the EU. For trade, the ESRI said: The negative trade shock will reduce the demand for Irish exports and Irish firms will be affected by the depreciation in sterling which will reduce our competitiveness. It said the worst case scenario with a disorderly Brexit could see exports reduced by up to 8.1%. And while labour demand in Ireland would reduce in the same scenario by 3.4%, this could translate into 80,000 fewer jobs created in the long run. One of the most substantial impacts in all Brexit scenarios would be on households. The ESRI said: For households, the impact of Brexit will be severe. Our results indicate that real personal disposable income, in the long-run, would be 2.2% lower in a deal scenario, 3.9% lower in a no-deal scenario and 4.1% lower in a disorderly no-deal scenario, compared to a situation where the UK stays in the EU. Ultimately, this could mean households lose out on almost 900, according to estimates, when faced with a disorderly Brexit. Mr Quinn also admitted that regional and border areas would be worst hit by Brexit, as opposed to Dublin that may benefit from foreign investment. EU leaders will today decide on recommendations to offer Britain a flexible, year-long extension to negotiate its exit from the union ahead of this Fridays Brexit deadline. However, draft conclusions on the offer suggest that Britain will be required to hold European elections or instead face a new crash-out date of June 1. A crunch meeting of EU leaders in Brussels will discuss a recommendation from European Council president Donald Tusk to give Britain another year. The so-called flexible extension would be a rejection of British prime minister Theresa Mays appeal for a short extension until June 30. Mr Tusk wrote in a letter to EU leaders: In reality, granting such an extension [to June 30] would increase the risk of a rolling series of short extensions and emergency summits, creating new cliff-edge dates. This, in turn, would almost certainly overshadow the business of the EU27 in the months ahead. The continued uncertainty would also be bad for our businesses and citizens. Finally, if we failed to agree on any next extension, there would be a risk of an accidental no-deal Brexit. There are times when you need to give time time. My letter to EU leaders ahead of tomorrows #EUCO: https://t.co/bAsz4Qx36s#Brexit Charles Michel (@eucopresident) April 9, 2019 Instead, EU leaders are expected to approve an option to allow Britain leave when it wants during the year, as long as London complies with union rules and takes part in European elections in May. Mr Tusks letter added: One possibility would be a flexible extension, which would last only as long as necessary and no longer than one year, as beyond that date we will need to decide unanimously on some key European projects. The flexibility would allow [both] to terminate the extension automatically, as soon as both sides have ratified the withdrawal agreement. The UK would be free to leave whenever it is ready. And the EU27 would avoid repeated Brexit summits. He also said that Britain should not be humiliated and, during the longer extension, would have to maintain its sincere cooperation. According to a leaked draft of the deal, if Britain is still a member of the EU in late May and if it has not ratified the withdrawal agreement by May 22 this year, it must hold the elections to the European Parliament, in accordance with union law. Asked last night about the expected EU one-year extension offer, a spokesman for Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: The Taoiseach has said on many occasions that hes open to an extension if it has a purpose. Fianna Fail bosses have controversially instructed its Ireland South MEP candidates to divide the constituency up between them in a bid to try and win two seats in May. The Irish Examiner has learned that a major row erupted between Billy Kelleher, the party and Malcolm Byrne over the instructions which will see the candidates limit themselves to some parts of the vast constituency. Following a row, the party is dividing up the Ireland South constituency between Kelleher and Byrne. This has been done as an even divide on the basis of electors and Fianna Fail votes across this vast area, said a source. The decision to split the constituency was signed off by director of elections Barry Cowen following heated discussions between the camps. Mr Byrne, who is a Gorey-based councillor, will have first call on counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow where he will seek number one votes. Mr Kelleher will limit himself to counties Cork, Clare, Kerry and Limerick county where his support is strongest. It is understood that both candidates can campaign in Limerick City. It has been confirmed that Mr Kelleher was less than pleased at the instruction and made his views known that as a national TD, his name would carry well across the constituency. Billy was less than happy to say the least. Clearly, he is the favourite to take a seat as he is well-known and well-liked. But he must obey party instructions, said one party source. But it was argued that Mr Byrne, who defeated Mr Kelleher at convention, must be helped given there is a realistic chance the party could win two of the five seats up for grabs. Mr Kelleher confirmed that party bosses have determined that a vote strategy seeking two seats is being followed. The wisdom of that will be revealed once the results are in. It was a decision of the party and I will work with it, he said. For his part, Mr Byrne said he was happy with the divide that has been agreed upon.It presents us as a party with the opportunity to win two seats and enable us to deliver two centrist Fianna Fail voices, said Mr Byrne. Mr Byrne is less than pleased that the party added Mr Kelleher to the ticket. Meanwhile, Fine Gael is finding it difficult to finalise a vote strategy for its three candidates, current MEPs Sean Kelly, Deirdre Clune and junior agriculture minister Andrew Doyle. According to party sources, Mr Doyle is likely to concentrate on the east coast where he is based for his vote but its unclear how the party intends maximising its vote given Ms Clune and Mr Kelly are both based in the heart of Munster. Having the two MEPs so close together makes it trickier to implement any sort of an effective vote strategy but it is certainly being looked at, one party insider said. Both parties are working on the basis that there are five seats up for grabs as opposed to the four that are there at present. The increase in seat allocation came about by the pending decision of Britain to leave the EU, which saw Irelands seat tally rise from 11 to 13. Irelands health system is well placed to anticipate and respond to medicine supply challenges caused by Brexit, according to a Government statement. Some medicines are transported through Britain to Ireland but the country is unlikely to face supply issues even in a no-deal scenario. Both the pharmaceutical industry and medicines wholesalers, which are working closely with the Government, are confident their medicine stocks will be sufficient to manage any potential supply issues at ports. Significant work has already been undertaken by the Department of Health, the HSE and the Health Products Regulatory Agency, together with the pharma industry minimise and address any risks to continuity of supply. Pharma companies have been engaging in extensive Brexit planning for the last two years, and advanced arrangements are in place to ensure continuity of supply, the statement reads. Both the HPRA and HSE are working closely with companies to highlight any issues regarding the availability of specific products associated with Brexit. The health system is, therefore well placed to anticipate and respond to any additional shortages, should they arise because of Brexit. Irish citizens and British citizens who live in, work in or visit the other state will continue to have the right to access healthcare there post-Brexit. Even in a no-deal scenario, cross-border health services can be expected to continue with both the Irish and British government fully committed to continuing existing arrangements. Anyone with an ongoing need for medicines is urged not to order extra supplies a move that could disrupt existing stock levels and hamper the supply of medicines for other patients. A former homeless man who set fires in wheelie bins to heat his sleeping bag has been sentenced to three years in prison for arson at two Dublin locations. Garda Martin Folan accepted at an earlier sentence hearing in December 2017, that Dwayne Barry (30) had set the bins alight so he could wrap his sleeping bag around them and that he had tried to put out the blazes when they got out of control. Barry, with an address at North Circular Road, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to arson at Ardoyne House, Pembrook Park, Ballsbridge, causing 45,000 damage to two cars on January 25, 2016. He further pleaded guilty to arson at Burlington House, Waterloo Lane, Ballsbridge which caused structural damage of over 18,000 on February 28, 2016. Barry has 86 previous convictions including thefts, robberies and criminal damage. Judge Karen O'Connor had adjourned the case a number of times since hearing the evidence first in December 2017 to give Barry an opportunity to engage with addiction services. He has also been under probation supervision for that period. Today she sentenced Barry to three years in prison but suspended the final 12 months on strict conditions. Judge O'Connor accepted that Barry had been genuinely motivated and the Probation Service had indicated that he was willing to engage with them. She said arson was a serious offence that could potentially cause significant destruction and endanger lives, before she added that fire was also difficult to control. The judge accepted that Barry apologised and had tried to put the fire out after it had taken hold. At the earlier hearing Gda Folan told Fiona Murphy SC, prosecuting, that an Ardoyne House resident had a double garage on the premises in which she let her relative park his Porsche and BMW cars. The court heard that there was a gap between the garage doors and the ground even when locked. The resident was awoken by her daughter about midnight on January 25, 2016 to say that the Dublin Fire Brigade was on site putting out a blaze in the garage. The Station Officer alerted gardai about a large steel wheelie bin that had been on fire in the vicinity. Gda Folan said a total of 45,000 damage was done to the garage and the two cars, which were written off. The garda revealed that he was investigating this incident from CCTV footage of the area, when he was called about a wheelie bin on fire in close proximity to Burlington House. The owner later told gardai that he had to repair air conditioning units, re-plaster the walls, have the gas boiler system serviced, replace glass and repaint the interior as a result of the 18,000 damage. Gda Folan said about a week later he stopped Barry in the Ranelagh area because he was wearing matching clothes and had a bicycle similar to the person in CCTV footage of the arsons. Barry was later arrested and interviewed for the offences and he made full admissions. He said he was living rough, spending his dole money on drink and the only clothes he owned were given to him by charity. He also told gardai he set fires in wheelie bins to dry and warm his sleeping bag before spending the night in Herbert Park. He described how he would wander the streets during the day and link in with charities for food. Gda Folan agreed with Edel Gilligan BL, defending, that her client had made efforts to put out the fires, though these were insufficient. He said he accepted Barry's explanations for setting the wheelie bins alight. The garda agreed that Barry had been co-operative and had since made genuine efforts to better his life. Ms Gilligan submitted to Judge O'Connor that alcohol was the root cause of her client's problems. She said Barry had taken steps to address his alcohol problem and was planning to do his Leaving Cert. Gardai objected to bail being granted yesterday to a young Londoner living in Cork who is accused of stabbing a man multiple times with a scissors near the main bus station in Cork. Garda Brian Barron said the prosecution was concerned that the accused man, Ryan Compton, aged 30, would return to the UK if granted bail and not stay to face the charge against him. The seriousness of the charge, assault causing harm to Nigel Walsh at Parnell Place on March 22, was another of the grounds for objecting to bail. Garda Barron said the assault charge carried a maximum possible sentence of three years on conviction. It is alleged that during a physical altercation he stabbed Nigel Walsh with a scissors multiple times causing life-threatening injuries, Garda Barron said. The officer said a scissors was recovered from a bin at the bus station and later identified as the weapon used. Gardai believe it is an ongoing feud between a group of individuals, Garda Barron said. He is a UK citizen. He has a lot of family there and very few connections here. I believe there is a real flight risk. Defence solicitor Eddie Burke said the defendant had no previous conviction of any kind. He said the young man lives with his grandmother in Mahon and also has an uncle in Cork city. He said the defendant had a good work record in Cork and no addictions. The man testified, It has been three weeks [since the alleged assault]. I could have left any time but I didnt. Judge Olann Kelleher remanded him in custody with consent to bail. The bail conditions required him to reside at 93 Woodvale Road, Beaumont, Cork, sign daily at Anglesea St Garda Station, surrender his passport immediately and not apply for new documents, keep a 10pm to 6am curfew, and have no intoxicants. The case was adjourned for a week for directions to be obtained from the DPP. Culture Minister Josepha Madigan has suggested there could be a national women's museum amid claims institutions in Ireland are male-dominated. Labour's Joan Burton raised the idea during Dail questions, querying why there were no plans for one. The former Tanaiste dismissed suggestions a pop-up museum could work. She also criticised the fact that institutions were male-dominated in Ireland. Planning permission has been granted for a controversial solar farm in West Cork, despite opposition from a local community group. The Finnis-Mishells Solar Free Valley Group is disappointed at the ruling by An Bord Pleanala to sanction the development of a 13.1-megawatt solar farm at a large site 4km north-west of Bandon. It had appealed the decision of Cork County Council to give the green light for a 25-year period to the project, which is on a 40-hectare site in the townlands of Finnis and Mishells. Approval has now been confirmed by the planning appeals authority to allow Dublin-based renewable energy firm BNRG Neoen Holdings to develop the solar farm, which will consist of 40,000 solar panels. The development which will be one of the largest solar farms in Cork will cost 13m and provide energy to power the equivalent of 1,750 homes. Subject to compliance with 10 conditions, An Bord Pleanala said it believes the proposed solar farm will not seriously injure the amenities of the area and would not be prejudicial to public health. The Finnis-Mishells Solar Free Valley Groups chairman, Michael Walsh, said local people were disappointed that their appeal had been rejected: We felt common sense would prevail and that the use of prime land would not be allowed happen, when there is an abundance of poor-quality land for such an enterprise and that time will prove us right. The group claimed the development would turn the picturesque Ballymahane River Valley into a large-scale industrial zone. Mr Walsh expressed hope that BNRG Neoen Holdings would take on board comments of the Minister for Communications, Climate Change and the Environment, Richard Bruton, and his predecessor, Denis Naughten, about the importance of solar-farm developers working with communities and giving something back to them, either through subsidised electricity or by providing solar panels for local public buildings, such as schools. BNRG was founded by David Maguire, a former Environmental Protection Agency official who is also chairman of the Irish Solar Energy Association. It has valued its investment in renewable energy in Ireland at 275m. The company has completed and sold 44 solar farms, worth 230m, in Britain, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria and Greece, while it is also developing new projects in the US and Australia, estimated at 693m. It is attractive to Republicans and Democrats alike because it is protecting an asset that the state takes great pride in, he said. Its the right thing to do, not just for Indiana Dunes National Park, but the states economy. Now that Indiana Dunes is a national park, we all need to be prepared to protect it at a higher level. Something really has to be done now about our compensation culture, a senior judge has urged. Former High Court president, Nicholas Kearns, is chair of the Personal Injuries Commission which has found that personal injury payouts here are 4.4 times higher than in Britain. I have reached a point, not only in my legal life but in my life generally, where I am convinced a moment has come in this country where something really has to be done about our compensation culture, he said. Mr Justice Kearns was speaking at a conference held by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board where research presented showed that over 80% of people believe there is a compensation culture in Ireland. A key recommendation in the commission's report published last September is that a judicial council should be established to compile guidelines for personal injury awards. When the report was published the Government said it was confident that proposed legislation establishing the council would be passed by the end of the year but that did not happen. Mr Justice Kearns said the rate of reform had been too slow. Small businesses are struggling because of the cost of cover. Some have closed down or are at the brink of closure. They are being besieged by personal injury claims and rising premiums. The judge said those in a position to do something about the problem must finally get up and do something about it. Those who deny that there is any significant problem should go and join the flat earth society or a climate change denier programme. He had noticed that in recent days there had been spring-like efforts to progress the Judicial Council Bill. It completed committee stage in the Senate earlier this month and it was intended to bring forward amendments at report stage after Easter. He hoped one amendment would be to write in a specific power of a judicial council to issue guidelines. Let's do this and let's do it now and let's have absolute clarity that this is something the judge can do and which the legislator would like to see them do. Mr Justice Kearns said that in the meantime interim measures should be put in place as quickly as possible. Even a measure limited to the provision of guidelines for soft tissue injuries would represent real progress, he said. The Alliance for Insurance Reform said it echoed Mr Justice Kearne's frustration. The spokesperson for the alliance, Peter Boland, said the Judicial Council Bill had been sitting in the Senate for 681 days. The Personal Injuries Commission was established in 2017 and members included representatives from the Bar Council, the Law Society and Insurance Ireland. Trinity College Dublin is looking for a way to admit, free of any fees, students living in direct provision. College provost Dr Patrick Prendergast said a taskforce would examine ways of getting students, from direct provision, who do well in the Leaving Cert into TCD. He described the asylum seeker accommodation system used in Ireland as a terrible thing, in an interview published in the current issue of Hot Press. Young people in direct provision are classified as non-EU students and that means they are obliged to pay the non-EU college fee upwards of 20,000. They can't afford the EU fee of 3,000, let alone the higher amount, he said. Dr Prendergast said they wanted students from direct provision to come to TCD as they would increase the cultural diversity of the college community. We want them here. They would add to our diversity and bring brains, intelligence, commitment and motivation to the university. He also reflected on whether the Government would be supportive of the college admitting students in direct provision free of fees. I suppose they're worried that we might become known as a country that you could come to as an asylum-seeking student and then get a free education. "But would that be a bad thing?" Dr Prendergast also warned about the negative effect that a no-deal Brexit would have on TCD and other Irish universities. It would be very bad for Trinity and for all Irish third level institutions because student mobility will change, he said. Dr Prendergast said Trinity saw itself as a university for the whole island of Ireland. We've made a big effort to have more students from Northern Ireland come south. The number had been increasing by about 20% every year but, in 2018, it dropped by 20% because of the uncertainty. A student from, say, Derry is going to be a non-EU student and therefore have to pay five times as much in fees. Trinity, meanwhile, has developed a global relations strategy which has doubled international student enrolments. As the stage version of Edna OBriens classic novel tours to Cork and other centres, Marjorie Brennan hears from well-known figures about their experiences of the iconic book. SAM NEILL The Country Girls [film version in 1983] was a curious job for me; it was shot in an Ireland that is hardly recognisable today; the Irish economy was barely alive, the Catholic Church was at its most powerful, and you felt its influence for good or ill everywhere. It was something of a fraught job as far as I was concerned. My son Tim was born nine weeks premature in London during the filming of The Country Girls and it was touch and go as to whether he would survive; so that was something of a major distraction. In addition, the director Desmond Davis, for some reason that is not clear to me to this day, took something of a dislike to me and was barely talking to me almost as soon as we started shooting. That was a very unpleasant experience for me, and hurtful. However, the two girls were a great deal of fun. Sam Neill attends the Photo Call for Ovation at 2019 Winter TCA at The Langham Huntington, Pasadena on February 08, 2019 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images) Maeve (Germaine, who played Baba) was delightful, and I thought really talented for someone her age. Jill (Doyle, who played Kate) was a barrel of laughs, and the rest of the cast included some of the best Irish actors of the day, like Niall Toibin. And I was particularly pleased to work with the great John Kavanagh. Years later, we worked again together on The Tudors. Wicklow was so unspoilt then, and having been born myself in Ireland it felt like coming home in a strange way. I had read the book and I liked it very much; and I suspect the same would be true today. Its very charming and brave. I remember Edna OBrien talking about finding the copy of The Country Girls she had given to her mother on publication. All the naughty bits had been scrupulously excised by her mother. That tells you a lot. Ireland was pretty grim back then, and I can only give thanks that those dark days are long gone. In hindsight, the role of Mr Gentleman is much creepier than I realised at the time. Now that I give it some thought hes actually a deeply repellent and manipulative man, but then again Ive played a lot of dark characters. I met Edna again after filming in London. She was charming. She gave me a silver-plated kind of cup as a memento which I still have. It has only just occurred to me that it is something like a chalice youd drink communion wine from. Perhaps this was some kind of churchy thing unconsciously, I dont know. There were many many undercurrents in the process of making this film, and so many unspoken things in Ireland. I think the film stands up quite okay today, although the music dates it rather. Sam Neill was born in Omagh, Co Tyrone, and moved to New Zealand as a child. He has had a hugely successful career as a screen actor, starring in films including The Piano, Jurassic Park and most recently, the TV series Peaky Blinders. He also owns a farm and vineyard in New Zealand which produces Two Paddocks wine. He played Mr Gentleman in the 1983 screen adaptation of The Country Girls, which was filmed in Wicklow. Sam Neill as Mr Gentleman in the 1983 screen adaptation of The Country Girls DANIELLE McLAUGHLIN I would have been in my 20s when I read The Country Girls but I really got into her short stories. Her Saints and Sinners collection came out around the time that I began developing my own obsession with reading short stories. She is an absolute genius at bringing to the page the social hierarchy of rural Ireland and the small Irish village and town. Within that, she is so good at writing relationships between mothers and daughters, between women and the predicament that women found themselves in in society, where everyone was watched to see who did or didnt step out of their place. She is really good at capturing that sort of frustration, the claustrophobia of it. Danielle McLaughlin OBrien drew those social hierarchies and class structures in rural Ireland with such a light touch and with such beautiful language. She could take an ordinary household thing like a jug or a bowl and she could imbue it with beauty and music. I do have a tiny homage to her in one of my own short stories, where a young woman is moving from the countryside to the city, and I have her coming from Tuamgraney [OBriens childhood home] to Dublin. I admire her so much. Danielle McLaughlin lives in Cork. Her debut collection of short stories, Dinosaurs On Other Planets , was published in 2015. She was recently awarded a Windham-Campbell Prize for fiction and is currently writer-in residence at UCC. COLUM McCANN I first read The Country Girls when the books were re-released in the mid-1980s. The books were 20 years old, but they were still nothing short of a great surprise to me. They sort of took the oxygen from the air. I wasnt aware that Irish writers had been tilting at change all that time. Here were these books and they still felt fresh as bread, not so much from an oven but from the ground itself. I realised quite early on in my writing career that Edna had blazed a path for many of us. She was the advance scout for so much that happened in the Irish imagination. In this sense she sometimes bore the brunt of breaking down frontiers. Colm McCann. Picture: Nick Bradshaw Things were so much easier for younger writers because they had been quite difficult for Edna. But her books didnt have any sense of resentment for the tough times that she had to shoulder. On the contrary, they were celebratory. And they were a call for reconsideration of who we were, nothing less than an incision into the Irish soul with all its wounds and desires and psychoses. In all her work, Edna has helped reinvent the Irish character. She has invited inside those things which others have wanted to leave outside, even that which is uncomfortable. Shes strong. Shes fierce. She opposes ease. And she restores that which is devalued by others. Colum McCann is the author of three short story collections and six novels, including the international bestseller Let the Great World Spin. He lives in New York, where he teaches at the MFA programme in Hunter College. RACHAEL ENGLISH I just started rereading The Country Girls and I had forgotten that it was so overwhelmingly sad. I read it for the first time in the mid-1980s, when I was in school; I got it in the library in Shannon town. I was aware it was supposed to be a big deal. As a teenager, youre reading Jackie Collins and so on, and I couldnt understand why this book had been banned. I can totally see now though why certain people thought the public shouldnt be allowed to read it because it is so honest. It ties in with that whole time when people didnt discuss things girls were sent to mother and baby homes and everyone was told, Shes gone to help her sick aunt, or Shes working in Dublin. People were so scared to be honest even though those were common experiences. Rachael English in the Morning Ireland Studio, RTE. Picture: Nick Bradshaw Edna OBrien was so brave to write in those terms, especially coming from a small rural place. You can just imagine people saying Where did she get those ideas from or searching for themselves in the books. It was incredibly courageous and its only now in hindsight that I can appreciate that in a way I didnt see in the mid-1980s. Also, her writing is so beautiful and doesnt seem dated her descriptions of nature and the local people, the incredibly sad details I hadnt noticed before, like the mothers room with the jewellery put away. It does transport you, even if you didnt live through it, you can experience it. Rachael English presents Morning Ireland on RTE Radio 1 and is the author of several novels, her most recent is The Night of the Party. Like Edna OBrien, she grew up in Co Clare. LOUISE ONEILL The first introduction I had to Edna OBrien was actually with her 14th novel, Down by The River. There was a copy in my grandparents house, and it must have belonged to my aunt, all the raciest books did. I found it harrowing and searingly honest and I went to my local library to see if I could find more books by this Edna OBrien person. That was when I discovered The Country Girls. I loved it immediately. It was my mother who told me that it had been banned and it seemed nonsensical to me. I was probably 16 or 17 and The Country Girls wasnt any more shocking than the Maeve Binchy or Marian Keyes novels Id read. Its only in recent years that Ive begun to understand how subversive a work it was, even more so because it was written by a woman. Louise O'Neill, author. Photograph Moya Nolan. I went to the opening night of the stage adaptation at the Abbey Theatre, and Edna OBrien came out on stage afterwards and the whole audience got to their feet to applaud her. And I thought how strange and wonderful it must have been for someone, at 88 years of age, to see such change in your lifetime that you would go from having your work censored to standing on the national stage in front of a rapturous crowd. In my own writing, Edna OBrien has had a huge influence. Because I write about topics that are deemed controversial rape culture, sexual politics, gender, the female body, etc I have often encountered criticism from people who would rather I stay quiet. Its so much easier for me, in 2019, to keep talking and to keep writing and that is due to Edna OBrien. I will never face the sort of disapprobation that she did when The Country Girls was released and I know thats because she blazed a trail for the rest of us to follow. I feel immensely grateful to her for that. Louise ONeill, from Clonakilty in Co Cork , is a columnist and author of several acclaimed books, including Asking For It, also adapted for stage last year. Her most recent book is The Surface Breaks, a reimagining of The Little Mermaid. GRACE COLLENDER I read the book when I was about 15, I got it in the library in Trim. I remember reading it and thinking, oh my God, she is talking about sex, domestic violence, its like theres no sugar-coating anything, nothing is taboo. I went to my grandparents and asked them why it was banned, and then I realised how brave Edna was to write it. I think that telling the story now, on stage, is still really important, that girls my age and younger see their history, what women went through. I have also seen a huge reaction from people who were around when the book came out. I was speaking to a lady outside the theatre the other day, and she was really emotional. She said she remembered reading the book under the covers, literally, afraid that someone was going to find her. I cant imagine what that shame was like. As a character, Kate has this yearning for truth the whole time, and Edna is like that as a person and a writer. I am really grateful that I read it when I did, it opened up a whole new language for me. Grace Collender plays Kate in the Abbey Theatre production of The Country Girls. She is from Trim, Co Meath and is currently studying a BA in Drama (Performance) at TU Dublin. The Country Girls is at Cork Opera House, Apr 16-20, Town Hall Theatre, Galway, Apri 23-27 and the Lime Tree Theatre, Limerick, Apr 30-May 4; a new version of The Country Girls trilogy has been released by Faber In 1985, statues around the country began moving. The maker of new documentary says the phenomenon was a welcome diversion in tough times, reports Ailin Quinlan Its nearly 35 years since John Millers mother came home from bingo to say everyone was talking about the moving statues. It was late on an August evening in 1985, but intrigued by the gossip, John and his mother Lily decided to drive the short distance from their home in Monasterevin to their local grotto. John was 20 at the time, and, he recalls now, utterly sceptical about the idea. However, when his mother told him that holy statues were reported to be moving in villages around the country his reply was robust: I said to my mother that if it was f**** happening all over the place, it should be happening here. Mammy said wed go up to the grotto and see. We went up in the car and pulled in. We werent there for five minutes when at the same time we both saw the statue turning. It was turning to the right, towards the railway, but it wasnt the statue itself that was moving. It seemed to be a figure that came down and made it appear as if it was moving; it was as if something was superimposed on the statue. It frightened the bejaysus out of me because I didnt believe in this. I said to my mother, dont open your mouth about it. When they returned home, he says, he got into bed and I prayed and prayed; the hair stood up on my head. Inevitably, word got out about the Millers experience: Crowds started to appear. People were seeing different images some reported they were seeing the devil, others were seeing images of Our Lady with tears rolling down. Everyone was getting a different image. John Miller from Monastervin: It seemed to be a figure that came down and made it appear as if it was moving. However, recalls John now, he continued to see exactly what hed seen the first night: I saw the same thing on subsequent occasions a vision coming over the statue and turning to the left and the right. Every evening a nearby street light shone on the grotto, he recalls, and eventually people began to suggest that the shadow cast by this light was the cause of the strange images. But then something unusual happened: Suddenly the light went off for 15 minutes and everyone continued to see what theyd been seeing. The light came back on and everyones doubts were gone. Now 54, he recalls, the sightings around the country that strange summer brought one hell of a lot of prayer back to communities around Ireland. It also kept John close to God, he believes now, although he says, hes not a regular churchgoer: I have my faith. I would be religious and I believe. Youd always look for an answer from God; thered be little things that could be bothering you and youd say your prayers and do good in your community, and you get answers that way. The former soldier hopes, he says, that the forthcoming RTE documentary on Irelands moving statues, Moving Statues The Summer of 1985 in which he and other eye-witnesses from around the country recall their experiences of the phenomenon, will at least make people think: I hope the documentary will bring people back to their faith. The Church was in dire straits then and its heading that way again. Of the phenomenon itself, he says simply: It is what it is, people either run with it or they dont, but it did bring prayer back all over the country and it also brought back the sense that there was a need for prayer. In West Cork, John Daly, aged 64, a businessman who runs a fleet of mobile fast-food outlets, remembers how, instead of serving food at the usual summer run of festivals, he repeatedly found himself in the village of Ballinspittle, following reports that the statue in the local grotto had moved: The experience stuck with me. It was a very unusual time. I was amazed at the crowds, he recalls. There was nobody going to the festivals; they were all going to Ballinspittle to see the moving statue, and its our business to follow the people. It brought the faith back to a lot of people and they went back to Mass, he recalls. John Daly: There was nobody going to the festivals; they were all going to Ballinspittle to see the moving statue. Intrigued by reports of the statue moving, John decided to test it for himself. I took a line off a tall pillar. I could see the statue going back behind the line and then going in front of it it was literally disappearing and coming back into my line of vision. I believe what I saw, he says, adding that at one point it seemed to him that the statue was moving so much it would fall off its rock. I saw the statue move twice, he recalls, adding that he initially thought he was imagining it: But a lot of people were there, thousands, and when I saw it, everyone saw it in that split second. I remember that someone fainted. The phenomenon of the moving statues had begun the previous February in the small village of Asdee in North Kerry. A seven-year-old girl preparing for her First Communion reported that, while praying in the church shed seen statues of the Virgin Mary and the Sacred Heart moving. Within hours, other children were seeing the same things. The following Sunday an estimated 2,000 people descended on the church. Patricia McGuinness, Mary McGuinness and Colleen McGuinness from Sligo feature in the documentary From there the phenomenon moved quickly and similar reports began to come in from around the country from Ballydesmond, near the Cork border, from Ballinspittle, where by late July the crowds numbered 10,000 a night and sometimes more; from Monastervin where crowds of people followed up on the Miller familys sightings, and from Stradbally where Mary Moore called into the church to light candles, and saw a vision of Our Lord morphing into the statue of the Virgin Mary. That September in Sligo, thousands of people gathered in a field after four local schoolgirls saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary. In fact, its believed, statues were seen to move at some 30 locations around the country. The summer of 1985 was an unusually difficult one for Ireland 329 people were killed in the Air India disaster in July when an airplane was blown up by a bomb crashing into the Atlantic Ocean while in Irish airspace. Meanwhile Ireland was in the midst of a crushing economic recession. High unemployment figures and mass emigration left families and communities struggling, while traditional church teachings were being challenged as the divorce and abortion referendums were contested. But above everything that happened that summer when he was a teenager, the producer of the documentary, David Whelan says he always remembered the moving statues. It was a story I remembered; I was always fascinated by it, he recalls. I was about 15 at the time and I didnt believe it, but I was always fascinated as to why people would believe. The idea niggled at him; eventually he came to the conclusion that it would be good to go back and talk to the people who had reported experiencing sightings, while they were still alive. Its a subject that a certain generation remembers, the summer of the moving statues. He tracked eye-witnesses down through the RTE archives; people who had been willing to talk about what they saw that long-ago summer. Dr Jurek Kirakowski from the Department of Psychology, UCC. And yes, he says, to this day, everyone he spoke to firmly believe they saw something that summer, whether it was a holy statue moving or some kind of vision: Patricia Bowen in Ballinspittle claims people still see the statue moving to this day. It was a fascinating phenomenon which took place over what was a turbulent summer, he recalls. It happened all over Ireland; it lasted for a few weeks, he says, adding however that he believes the moving statues became more than a strictly religious issue the phenomenon also became a social outlet for rural communities all over the country. From talking to people in Monasterevin or Stradbally and Ballinspittle, what happened was you had a small town or village and it was in the news. There was nothing else happening, so going to see the moving statue on a summer evening, became a sociable thing to do: I dont think everyone there had a religious purpose; it was also a diversion and something to do on a summers evening it was as much as social occasion as anything else. Its a very interesting story that happened in Ireland which nobody can really explain people flocked to grottos. It was a phenomenon and Im not familiar with any phenomenon like it that has happened in Ireland. It all really started in the little village of Asdee in North Kerry, where a seven-year-old girl preparing for her First Communion saw something. If that little girl hadnt run out of the church saying that she saw a statue move, youd wonder whether it would have happened in the other places at all, and whether 100,000 people (probably more) would have ended up coming to Ballinspittle. In Sligo, for example, where the four girls saw the image of Mary on their way home, within a few days there were 20,000 people looking into the sky to see if they could see the Virgin Mary well never know why it all happened. Thousands gather to witness the moving statue at Ballinspittle in 1985. By late July the crowds numbered 10,000 or more a night. Picture: Irish Examiner Moving Statues The Summer of 1985 will be broadcast on Monday April 15 RTE One at 21:35 Cork City's curvaceous Half Moon Street development, anchored by Boots chemist at its lower level as its main flagship pharmacy in Cork, and occupied overhead by offices for Apple Europe, is for sale as an investment, with a guide price of 34 million. Developed on a painstakingly assembled site in the 2000s, facing the rear of Corks' leading cultural institutions the Opera House and the Crawford Gallery, the Half Moon Street project was completed in 2009, done by the late Owen O'Callaghan, in tandem with his company OCP's Opera Lane retail and apartment development on Academy Street and St Patrick's Street. It earns a current income of 2.6 million, is described as one of the most significant prime investment opportunities to launch to the market in Cork in recent years. Half Moon Street development Cork city, anchored by Apple Europe and Boots Pharmacy. National and overseas investor demand is expected, given the offer of a 7.07% return on the investment based on current rents. The striking building of almost 120,000 sq ft, and designed by Wilson Architects in a glazed curve which reflects and mirrors the bulbous top of the Crawford Gallery red brick extension, stretches from the corner of Paul Street and plaza, along Half Moon Street from Emmet Place, and up and along a portion of Lavitts Quay, close to previous O'Callaghan Properties developments on the quay and at Paul Street. Owen O'Callaghan with the Opera Lane/Academy Street development behind him. Swedish store H&;M opens this morning 1st October 2009. Pic: Larry Cummins. Among the properties previously on the site was Arthurs' electrical services company, and the garage and newsprint store for the Cork Examiner/Evening Echo, the old HQ of Thomas Crosbie Holdings, and the Cork Arts Society, in a building still preserved and now occupied by Half Moon OCP tenants Henry J Lyons Architects. Also relocated during the development was Matthews, the family-owned active outdoors leisure and clothing company, who'd occupied the prime corner slot on Paul Street in the overall redevelopment site. They were first wooed by rival developers, Howard Holdings, who planned a hotel and mixed uses on the quay and along Half Moon Street, but which was eventually acquired by O'Callaghan Properties. Among the tenant mix is a hair salon, Koppers. Jack Doyle in parade through Half Moon Street , on a pony and trap, after his performance outside Cork Opera House on September 9, 1933. Selling agents of the blue-chip tenanted building are CBRE and Savills, and vendor Brian O'Callaghan, now MD of O'Callaghan Properties, said they were bringing the investment to the market as a direct response to the high levels of interest from both Irish and international investors in Cork in recent months." We are currently developing the largest office complex in Cork at Navigation Square and the sale of Half Moon Street will further help to position Cork as a high-quality investment location for institutional investors. There's a weighted average unexpired lease term (WAULT) of 4.12, and a WAULT to the expiry of nine years. Domhnaill OSullivan of Savills, noted "a dearth of assets of this grade on the marketplace. It is surrounded by a myriad of local amenities with a waterfront setting and extensive views of the River Lee. Its close proximity to prime retail on Patrick Street and Opera Lane will also prove attractive to prospective investors. View from the rooftop of Half Moon Street Development, Cork. Pic: Denis Scannell. Joint agent Kyle Rothwell of CBRE added there was scope to boost rents, especially the offices currently rented to Apple Europe at 22 psf, with "significant asset management and reversionary potential". "We believe this will appeal to both domestic and international firms looking for strong value add potential. MSFs field communications manager in Jerusalem Jacob Burns reflects on what it means when a devastating toll of injuries in Gaza comes to be considered a good day The day was well set for drama a storm blowing in off the Mediterranean, the sea white and the air full of dust in defiance of what was supposed to be spring. At al-Aqsa hospital in the middle of Gaza Strip the wind was whipping through a tent set up in the grounds, chilling the nurses and doctors dressed in their scrubs. This tent had been set up as part of a triage system, a way of managing the expected arrival of many wounded from protests at the fence that marks the boundary with Israel. It was March 30 the first anniversary of weekly demonstrations in which more than 190 have been killed and 6,800 shot and injured by Israeli forces. The whole of the Gazan health system was on alert, ready to receive hundreds of injured in a few short hours, just as it had done in the worst days of spring and summer last year. At around half past two the radio crackled and the word came down: 10 cases were on their way. The first siren of the afternoon cut the air and the orange and white ambulance pulled up and discharged its wounded: one young man clutching a bandage to his neck, cut by shrapnel perhaps; a still man on a stretcher, his head hit by a rubber bullet; and another youth with a bullet in his foot hopping into the tent, grimacing. The afternoon continued like that, with patients arriving together in little bursts of pain, MSF doctors and nurses assisting the ministry of health and another NGO with their assessment and treatment. Many had gunshot wounds to the leg, with red blood pooling on white bandages, nurses strapping splints behind the shin to keep broken bones immobilised. Some people were moaning and crying, others were silent, and others affected by tear gas were shaking and vomiting. And yet an air of relief gradually spread amongst the medical teams assembled. This was nowhere near as bad as they had thought it might be after a week marked by Palestinian rocket fire, Israeli bombing and rumours of war. Egyptian efforts to negotiate calm between Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls Gaza, and Israel seemed mostly to have succeeded. It was nowhere near as bad as March 30 last year, or May 14, or other lesser-known dates when the hospitals were overwhelmed. What would be unimaginable elsewhere has become normal here in Gaza. A day on which four people are killed and 64 shot with live ammunition is one on which we feel almost happy because it was not the two or three hundred or even more we had feared it might be. We must fight against this sense of normality. It is not normal to see so many young people arrive at hospital all at once with bullets in their legs. It is not normal for our surgeons to work on a 25-year-old man who needed all his blood replaced because a bullet tore through both the main artery and the main vein in his chest. It is not normal for them to remove the kidney of a boy because to try and save it would mean he bleeds to death. It is not normal for our emergency doctors to listen to the lungs of a patient, hit in the throat with what was apparently a tear gas canister, fill with blood. It is not normal for us to discharge a patient from our clinics, and then to readmit him when he is shot again, only then to have his family tell us that he went back to the fence yet again and was killed. The crossing between Gaza and Israel is now open again for the lucky few that can use it. There is talk of Israel providing more electricity and more space for Gazan fishermen in which to ply their trade. Israel expects calm from the Palestinians in return. The worlds media that came to see what would happen this weekend will mostly go home again, and Gaza will once again drift out of the headlines until violence sparks again. In the meantime, however, Gaza will continue to suffer in circumstances that its inhabitants have become used to: an living reminder of the suffering that Gaza has gone through over the last year. However, as we return to the routine we all have to do our best to remember despite the small hope that an agreement could partially change the situation of the Gazans that this is not over and that this is not how people should live. This is not normal. Uneven economic recovery is combining with deteriorating environmental conditions to threaten humanity itself, write Richard Kozul-Wright and Kevin P Gallagher The Green New Deal (GND) proposed by progressives in the United States cannot be achieved in isolation. To tackle climate change and inequality together, all countries will need to agree to new rules for international cooperation. The start of such a rethinking began in April 2009, when the G20 met in London and promised to deliver a coordinated response to the global financial crisis, followed by a future of more robust growth. Then, that December, world leaders met in Copenhagen under the auspices of the United Nations promised big cuts in carbon dioxide emissions, to limit global warming to 2C above pre-industrial levels. Then British prime minister Gordon Brown announced a new world order founded on a new progressive era of international cooperation; the second ended in disarray. Yet, looking back, the false dawn of that new progressive era has proved to be the bigger obstacle to a secure and stable future. For a decade now, the post-crisis recovery has oscillated between anaemic growth spurts and recurrent bouts of financial instability, owing partly to advanced economies discordant mix of aggressively loose monetary policies and dogged fiscal austerity. And this has all been supported by massive build-up of debt, which has increased by more than $70tn worldwide since the crisis. As economic power has become increasingly concentrated, inequality both within and among countries has reached grotesque heights. With financial speculation now commonplace, so, too, are fraud and instability. Meanwhile, investment in public goods globally and nationally has stagnated, and growth has become dependent on resource extraction and energy consumption, both of which are proceeding at such a pace as to threaten human civilization itself. For all the ambitious talk in London a decade ago, little has changed. Debates about improving global governance still revolve around ideas like corporate social responsibility, public-private partnerships, and free-trade agreements, none of which will bring about a fairer, more stable economic order. Complicating matters further, global environmental conditions have become increasingly fragile since 2009. And even before US President Donald Trumps truculent decision to abandon the 2015 Paris climate agreement, there was no clear path to keeping global temperatures below a level that scientists deem safe. Against this dismal backdrop, bold proposals for a GND have been gaining political traction, notably in the US, where the idea is to transform the economy through a harmonious marriage of economic justice, social solidarity, and environmental rehabilitation. But the marriage Green New Dealers envision cannot be left to the benefaction of a global hegemon. Capital is mobile, and carbon-heavy growth is no longer the preserve of the advanced economies. For the GND to work, it must also be globalised through international cooperation. The problem is multilateral rulemaking in recent decades has been subject to the same political pressures as domestic policymaking. It is not a coincidence the current framework for governing the global economy primarily benefits financial entities and large multinational corporations. The original goal of post-war multilateralism was to protect the weak from the strong so that they could grow. Yet its current version encourages strong countries to impose their preferred development model on the weak, thereby promulgating a world of winner-takes-most outcomes. Under these conditions, fine-tuning existing arrangements simply will not do. To make a global GND work, many of the multilateral programs that have accumulated over decades will have to be culled, and a new generation of smarter institutions will have to be established. What we need, then, is a new set of principles to replace those that have underpinned rulemaking in the age of hyper-globalisation. Looking ahead, global rules must be recalibrated toward the overarching goals of social and economic stability, shared prosperity, and environmental sustainability, and rulemaking bodies must be protected from capture by the most powerful. At the same time, individual countries should still be allowed pursue national development strategies within the framework of global rules and norms. Finally, global public institutions will have to be more accountable to their full membership, and, to achieve that end, should maintain balanced dispute-resolution systems. For a decade, the international community has failed to heed Winston Churchills advice to never let a good crisis go to waste. Unless that changes in the coming decade, those looking back at the current period in 2029 wont get another chance. Richard Kozul-Wright, the director of the division on globalisation and development strategies at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, is the author of Transforming Economies: Making Industrial Policy Work for Growth, Jobs and Development. Kevin P Gallagher is professor of global development policy at Boston Universitys Frederick S Pardee School of Global Studies. As we stand helplessly on the brink of calamity for our nearest neighbour and collateral damage for us, lets face some home truths. We need the EU. We need their support, their protection and their friendship. Countries need allies. Small countries need them even more than big countries. We are a tiny country and the EU is the best ally on offer; better than a third country UK and better than the US. We need a currency with which to trade with the rest of the world. The basic choice comes down to the euro or sterling. Which do you want now? So we have to join some dots here, no matter how painful it is. We needed the bailout. We needed the euro to survive. We needed to stay in it. We needed to stay friends with Europe. We were right to play by the EUs rules at the time of the crash. As a small, open, trading economy, we never had the luxury of making enemies of the EU 27. We are now nearly back to full employment and our population will reach pre-Famine levels within 30 years. In Brexit, we are facing a massive challenge to our economy, and according to the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, also to our sovereignty, but we are doing it with France, Germany and the rest of the EU behind us. It is important to join these dots because misguided, left-wing rhetoric fed Brexit as well as toxic, right-wing rhetoric and we must counter them both. You only have to consider some of Jeremy Corbyns mouthings about the EU to understand this. He told the New Statesman in 2015: Taken slightly historically, the turning point in the EU was actually the Single European Act, the Thatcher-Maastricht era stuff, which was turning the EU into very much a market system. Setting up an independent European Central Bank which then promotes the euro, and I think the sheer brutality of the way theyve treated Greece, makes me question an awful lot. I abstained from voting, for the first and hopefully last time in my life, on the Maastricht Treaty which ushered in the euro, because no-one had explained its implications to us. There is a democratic deficit in Europe. The establishment of the euro was premature and ill-thought-out. Im glad we have it now, however, because it is an international currency with which we can trade with the world. I accept it means EU-wide governance of our banks and our economies and will ultimately require greater harmonisation between our states. I dont accept we need tax harmonisation. We do need strategies to compensate for our peripherality, just as US states set their own domestic taxes. I do accept we need greater political integration and fundamentally, I am a federalist. I dont accept its impossible to believe in EU integration from a left-wing position. It was the European Commission who ordered Apple to repay 13bn in avoided corporation tax. It is because of the best data protection regulations in the world, the EUs GDPR, that our Data Protection Commission has the tools to investigate Facebook, Apple, Twitter and Linkedin for data protection violations. The EU has the best environmental regulation in the world and greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets which are not ambitious enough but still the most ambitious there are. Without EU regulation and the threat of its fines this environmentally delinquent country would have no chance of protecting its rivers, coasts, bogs and woodland or of ever committing seriously to emissions reduction. Combating climate change is enough reason on its own to believe in a more integrated Europe. This planet needs strong, co-ordinated international co-operation or we will not survive on it. Against these facts is pitched a left-wing narrative on the EU which is not grown-up. At the time of the EU/IMF bailout deal for this country, the dominant left-wing narrative was that we were victims of wicked European governing elites. The Irish Times journalist Fintan OToole, who was master of ceremonies at the ICTU march against the bailout in November 2010, wrote that the purpose of the deal was not to help but to shore up the euro and to ensure that the European banks get their money back. He added: The EU which prides itself on spreading democratic values throughout the world will have undermined them in one of its own members. He later made the argument that Ireland was, in fact, a net donor to the EU since it had been forced to save its own banks to spare rich Germans from losses: A transfer from the citizens of an economically hard-pressed Ireland to the relatively wealthy European (in particular, German) taxpayers This is the same Germany which is now standing by Ireland, to our general relief. Theres no denying that euro membership has been incredibly difficult for some of its users, including ourselves, particularly as the measures to test and support euro economies were not in place until after the crash. They are now, to some degree, and the programme countries have learned lessons and made reforms which are ultimately leading to greater EU integration. Politically, governments in programme countries faced the additional problem of the fact that few of us had any understanding of what euro membership meant because it was not spelled out for us before we voted on it or in the 16 years between then and the crash. The UK stayed out of the euro and then watched the crisis from the gallery. They do not understand the currencys regulations or have any reason to understand its benefits. While right-wingers fomented fears of feckless wops, left-wingers saw Germany hammering Little Greece, a country which became the propaganda tool that Little Belgium was at the onset of the first world war. The then finance minister of Greece, Yannis Varoufakis, revved around on his motorbike, the poster-child of an infantile vision of left-wing politics. This was a narrative which wholly ignored the realities of euro membership which means that Greeces problems are our problems; their banks are our banks. Greece was not helped by the fact that its euro membership application contained falsified figures. However, even a Syriza government recognised eventually that the least-worst option was to meet EU conditions. This policy can be said to have fully succeeded when, if ever, Greeces standard of living approximates to the EU norm. Now thats what I call a left-wing agenda. Ireland will never persuade UK right-wingers of anything but by fighting for a socially and environmentally progressive EU from within perhaps we can show its left-wingers what it means to be citizens of Europe. Dr. Oakleys parents are Steve and Georgia Plantinga of Schererville. Her father Steve died five months ago in November at age 76 and Dr. Oakley took time away from the Great North and her television show taping commitment to come home to Schererville to be with her mother for two months. The time together included taking mom and the entire family to a beautiful rented property in La Jolla by the Sea California for the holidays, as a way to escape both grief, and the 45-below degree temps during that time of year in Alaska. Asia India's Modi Rides Nationalist Fervor to Keep Edge in Election that Begins Thursday India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an election campaign rally ahead of the Karnataka State assembly elections in Bengaluru, India. / Reuters NEW DELHIIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is rallying his nationalist base ahead of the worlds biggest election, which starts on Thursday, but has become tighter than anticipated just months ago, because of falling incomes for farmers and a lack of jobs. Polls predict Modis Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance will just about squeeze out the parliamentary majority needed to rule, a sharp drop from his commanding mandate five years ago, when he vowed to turn India into an economic and military power. But his governments inability to create a million jobs every month for new entrants to the workforce, and ease farmers distress over low product prices, has taken the shine off what is still the worlds fastest growing major economy. From sugar farmers in northern Uttar Pradesh going unpaid for their produce to small businesses in the south shuttered because a new, unifying national tax is too challenging to comply with, discontent has brewed for months, pollsters say. In December, alarm bells clanged within Modis Hindu nationalist fold after he lost three big battleground states in a final test of popularity to the main opposition Congress and its allies, led by Rahul Gandhi. But a surge in tension with traditional foe Pakistan in February has pushed Modi ahead, as he plays up his image as a defender of national security and paints his rivals as weak-kneed, even questioning their patriotism at times. People were very unhappy, angry that Modi makes tall promises and doesnt deliver, said Shiv Chandra Rai, an Uber driver in the commercial capital of Mumbai, who said his unemployed brothers faced difficulties making ends meet in their home village in Uttar Pradesh. Everyone said there are no jobs, everywhere farmers are struggling. But on this issue of Pakistan we are confused now. Some people feel we have to vote for Modi on this issue, it is a national problem. Modi ordered air strikes on a suspected camp of militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pakistan after it claimed responsibility for a deadly car bombing in Indian Kashmir, in the first such raid since the neighbors last war in 1971. Pakistan sent warplanes into India the next day and the two engaged in a dogfight. Later, both nuclear-armed foes threatened each other with missile strikes, before Western powers, led by the United States, pulled them back. But Modi claimed victory, vowing more similar action if militant attacks continue in Kashmir. He attacked critics for questioning the efficacy of the strikes and the risks of raising tension with Pakistan. Why do these people get so disturbed when India acts strongly against the forces of terror? he asked at a rally this week in western India, referring to opposition leaders. Is their hatred for Modi so great they cant even unite when it comes to national security? he said to tens of thousands of cheering supporters wearing saffron headbands. The Congress, led by Gandhi, and his charismatic sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who took up a party post in January, is trying to steer the campaign back to Modis broken promises on the economy. Gandhi has pledged a monthly payment of 6,000 rupees (US$87) to Indias poorest families, benefiting 250 million of a population of 1.3 billion, in what he called a final assault on poverty. The BJPs campaign is largely around nationalism, national security and this is echoed in their manifesto, said Sanjay Kumar, director of think tank the Center for the Study of Developing Societies in New Delhi. Congress is trying to pitch in the election with regard to farm distress, rural crisis, unemployment. Nearly 900 million people are eligible to vote in an election spread over seven phases into next month to allow security forces and officials to ensure a free and fair ballot. Voters will travel by buses, trains, boats to about a million polling stations. Votes will be counted on May 23 and results are expected the same day. Gandhi, as Congress leader, had attempted to forge a grand alliance with a clutch of powerful regional parties fighting the elections, so as to avoid the splintering of votes. But the unwillingness of other Congress officials to give in to the demands of the smaller parties and the vaulting ambition of key regional figures frustrated his efforts. Still the Congress said Modi represented a threat to every opposition group by pursuing its vision of a Hindu-first India, stoking fear among its Muslim minority. The BJP denies such bias. Modis tactics were borrowed from the playbook of U.S. President Donald Trump, said Sam Pitroda, an adviser to Gandhi. The strategy was, there is [an] enemy at the border, in that case it was Mexican, and enemy, also, as people in the country, immigrants. Very similar, Modi says there is an enemy at the borderAnything you say, immediately everyone attacks you. Asia Wreckage Confirmed to be From Crashed Japanese F-35 Fighter A real-size mock-up of an F-35 fighter jet is displayed at the Japan International Aerospace Exhibition in Tokyo, Japan, on Nov. 28. / Reuters TOKYO Search and rescue teams found wreckage belonging to a Japanese Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter that disappeared on Tuesday over the Pacific Ocean close to northern Japan, a military spokesman said on Wednesday. We recovered the wreckage and determined it was from the F-35, a spokesman for the Air Self Defense Force (ASDF) said, adding that the pilot of the aircraft was still missing. The advanced, single-seat jet was flying about 135 km (84 miles) east of the Misawa air base in Aomori Prefecture at about 7:27 p.m. on Tuesday, when it disappeared from radar, the ASDF said. The aircraft was less than a year old and was delivered to the ASDF in May last year, the spokesman said. Japans first squadron of F-35s has just become operational at Misawa and the government plans to buy 87 of the stealth fighters to modernize its air defenses as Chinas military power grows. The crash marks only the second time an F-35 has gone down since the plane began flying almost two decades ago. It was also the first crash of an A version of the fifth-generation fighter, which is designed to penetrate enemy defenses by evading radar detection. Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the aircraft, said it was standing by to support the ASDF as needed. The Pentagon said it was monitoring the situation. A U.S. military short take off and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35B crashed near the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina in September, prompting a temporary grounding of the aircraft. Lockheed Martin also makes a C version of the fighter designed to operate off carriers. Japans new F-35s will include 18 STOVL B variants that planners want to deploy on its islands along the edge of the East China Sea. The F-35s are shipped to Japan by Lockheed Martin and assembled by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd at a plant near Nagoya in central Japan. Each costs around $100 million, slightly more than the cost of buying a fully assembled plane. A representative for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said the company had no immediate comment. Burma AA Kills 20 Soldiers in N. Rakhines Ancient Capital Mrauk-U Police and Army personnel jointly patrol along a main road in downtown Mrauk-U in March 2019. / Moe Myint / The Irrawaddy YANGONAbout 20 government soldiers were killed when the Arakan Army staged attacks on two Myanmar Army artillery bases on the outskirts of Mrauk-U in northern Rakhine State on Tuesday night, the armed ethnic groups deputy chief claimed. Brigadier-General Nyo Tun Aung said the AA attacked the No. 31 Police Regiment because troops from Light Infantry Division (LID) No. 22 were firing 105-mm howitzer shells almost daily from the base and another Army base in Lay Hnyin Taung about 8 km from downtown Mrauk-U. Additional Myanmar Army (or Tatmadaw) troops were dispatched from other locations to reinforce the police regiment and Lay Hnyin Taung bases but were ambushed by AA rebels on the way. The AA deputy chief said the group burned seven Army speedboats in the Lay Hnyin Taung clash and confiscated about seven assault rifles and one MG-42 machine gun, according to an initial count. That police regiment is a major source of shelling [into the mountains] in Mrauk-U Township, Brig-Gen. Nyo Tun Aung said. He said the Myanmar military used three fighter jets and two bombers as well as attack helicopters in the battle against the AA from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning. AA spokesman U Khine Thukha told The Irrawaddy the AA captured some prisoners of war from two artillery units but declined to provide details. Sources close to the AA told The Irrawaddy the AA seized all military materiel and forced the vast majority of LID No. 55 troops based at No. 31 Police Regiment to flee. At around dawn, however, all AA troops retreated from the police compound as they came under attack from Tatmadaw fighter jets firing rockets. Some local residents also claimed that Army troops had been disguising themselves as police and firing artillery from the police regiment into the mountains since last month. When this Irrawaddy reporter visited Mrauk-U recently, dozens of troops from LID No. 55 were observed conducting regular patrols near Koe Thaung pagoda, a popular tourist site, and police and Army personnel were seen conducting joint patrols even in downtown Mrauk-U. Myanmar military spokesman Brigadier-General Zaw Min Tun confirmed to The Irrawaddy Burmese edition that the police regiment and temporary base were attacked by the AA and that some Tatmadaw troops had been killed, but he declined to reveal specific casualty figures. Army Captain Htet Thura Soe of Defense Services Academy (DSA) intake 52 was among those killed in Tuesdays attack, according to Facebook posts by his wife and some military supporters. Some military officers from another unit praised Capt. Htet Thura Soe as a hero sacrificed in battle. Last week, a military captain and his entire squadron were killed during a clash with AA rebels in a remote area of northern Rakhines Buthidaung. Mrauk-U residents began posting online updates about the clash starting at about 10 p.m. on Tuesday. They said that at about 5 a.m., Army fighter jets flew over the city and fired into the mountains to the east. A 1-year-old child and her mother from Chaung Thit village a few kilometers from Mrauk-U Police Regiment were transferred from Mrauk-U Hospital to Sittwe General Hospital after sustaining bullet wounds to the chest. Total civilian casualties in the latest clash remained unclear as of Wednesday evening. Security in northern Rakhine was tightened on Tuesday after the AAs deputy chief promised Arakanese living outside the region a surprise gift to commemorate the AAs 1oth anniversary on Wednesday. In a message posted to Facebook on Wednesday morning, AA deputy chief Brig-Gen. Nyo Tun Aung said the group had sabotaged at least three locations where Army artillery units are based in Mrauk-U. He wrote that fighting between the Army and the AA would continue throughout the Water Festival period, a long annual holiday for Buddhists in Myanmar celebrated by splashing water, spraying water on pavilions, visiting pagodas and paying respects to the elderly. Amid the intensifying conflict in northern Rakhine, the AA did not publicly commemorate the 10th anniversary of its founding at its headquarters in Laiza, in the part of Kachin State controlled by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). In his message, the AA deputy chief also said that the group would change its official name from Rakhine Tatmadaw to Rakhine Tataw in Burmese, but the name Arakan Army would continue to be used in English. Starting from today, there will be only simultaneous attacks in Rakhine. We will not recognize any special days when it comes to fighting, he wrote. >>Video footage taken by Chit Tant and posted to Facebook shows a Myanmar Air Force fighter jet firing rockets at a suspected AA position in the mountains east of Mrauk-U in northern Rakhine State. / Chit Tant / Facebook He urged Arakanese living around the world to find their own way to celebrate the 1oth Arakan Army Day and requested that Arakanese express their support on social media by writing the number 10 or wearing clothing bearing the number 10. The months-long armed conflict in northern Rakhine has resulted in more than 26,000 internally displaced persons, most of them coming from five townships. The majority of IDPs are relying on donations from local relief groups and have been sheltering in neighboring villages and monasteries for months. Burma Foreign Diplomats, U.N. Officials to Take in Traditional Thingyan in Mandalay Revelers take part in Thingyan in Mandalay in 2018. / Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy MANDALAY U.N. officials and foreign diplomats posted in Myanmar are for the first time scheduled to enjoy this years traditional water festival over four days in Mandalay, the cultural capital of the country. Their participation will be a first in the citys history because the diplomats usually enjoy the festival in Yangon and in Naypyitaw as an official event, said U Kyaw San Myint, who sits on the festival committee of the Mandalay City Development Committee (MCDC). Whether in Yangon or Naypyitaw, the diplomats would attend the official opening event where Myanmars top government officials cut a ribbon and splash each other with water. Since we are trying to revive the old Thingyan festival in Mandalay with walking paths and traditional ways of throwing water at each other, we heard that the diplomats wanted to experience it. So the government decided to invite them to Mandalay to participate in the official opening ceremony and stay in the city for the festival, U Kyaw San Myint said. He said the diplomats and U.N. officials and their families can experience a traditional Thingyan festival near the old palace, where there will be a country-style Thingyan market offering traditional Burmese snacks and dances. We are very proud and happy that their visit will somehow promote our Mandalay Thingyan, which we want to be a landmark and a major tourist attraction, U Kyaw San Myint said. In recent years, Thingyan in Mandalay has featured pavilions with water cannons and DJs. Though they drew many revelers from across the country, they have also been heavily criticized for breaking with tradition, all the more so for doing so in Myanmars cultural capital. To revive the old ways, the MCDC, under the leadership of a new mayor, in 2017 began a traditional walkway along the southern palace wall. The following year the city added a night walk that also featured outdoor screenings of old films. Burma Party Demands KIA Release 3 Lisu Men Held for a Month Three Lisu men allegedly arrested by the KIA on March 11. / LNDP / Facebook YANGONThe Lisu National Development Party (LNDP) has demanded the release of three Lisu villagers from Kachin States Hpakant Township allegedly arrested by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) a month ago. The three are residents of Bangkok village in the townships Wara Zut village tract. Seven KIA soldiers arrested four Lisu men Phaw Li Hsa, 45; Gwar Tee, 55; Phaw Yaw Si, 22; and Moli Dwet, 17 on March 11 while the men were gathering herbs, tubers and bulbs in the jungle. They were taken to the KIAs Maji Bum camp, but one of them managed to escape and returned to his home on March 30, according to the LNDP. The Lisu are a sub-tribe of the Kachin. The LNDP issued a statement on April 8 demanding the KIA and its political wing the Kachin Independence Organization immediately release the three remaining villagers. The party also requested help from the government, the military and relevant organizations to help secure their release. U Shwe Min, the chairman of the LNDP, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, The KIA soldiers on the ground do whatever they want to. If they want they can kill anyone. We are concerned about the rise of inter-ethnic conflicts. Therefore, we demand the release of the three. The escapee said the four men had been threatened, beaten and tortured for 10 days. They were struck with hard bamboo canes and rifle butts, and had bamboo sticks rolled over their shins, guns fired close to their ears and gun barrels placed in their mouths. Phaw Li Hsa, who managed to escape the rebel camp, survived for eight days in the jungle but arrived home with serious wounds. He is now receiving treatment at the military hospital in Myitkyian, the LNDP said. The Irrawaddy tried to contact KIA spokesman Colonel Naw Bu for comment but was unable to reach him. However, he told Radio Free Asias Burmese service on April 4 that the KIA did not arrest the Lisu villagers. But U Shwe Min insisted that, It is certain that the KIA arrested them. We have one person who escaped from their custody; we also have photo evidence and were able to confirm that it was at their camp in Maji Bum where these people were detained. But as [the three other men] have not been released, we are worried they may have been killed. The party said all four men are civilians. The party sent letters asking for help from the President; State Counselor; Army chief; minister of home affairs; minister of defense; minister of security and border affairs; the Parliament speakers; the militarys No. 1 Bureau of Special Operations Lieutenant-General Tun Tun Naung; Northern Command chief Major General Tayza Kyaw; the Kachin State chief minister and the Kachin state minister of security and border affairs. Moreover, the party sent letters to the KIO chairman and the KIA commander-in-chief, the Kachin Peacetalk Creation Group (PCG), Myanmar National Human Rights Commission and international embassies seeking help with the mens release. Lamai Gum Ja, the PCG spokesman, told The Irrawaddy that, We have raised the issue with the KIO central [committee] and they are investigating what happened at the ground level, but we dont know the details yet. In a statement, the LNDP condemned the KIA/KIO for its actions, which it said included torture, forced recruitment, extorting money, collecting money by threatening, showing hatred toward the Lisu ethnic minority and planting landmines. The amount of money extorted is a lot. They arrest people and release those who can pay. If not, these people are forced to receive training to become soldiers. Ethnic Lisu are always suppressed. This act is surely an attack against us. We want the KIO [senior] leaders to monitor the actions of its people on the ground, it said. In May 2017, more than 2,000 Lisu staged a protest in Myitkyina accusing the KIA of committing human rights violations against them including arrest, killing, extortion and rape. Burma UWSA Expected to Show Off Enhanced Arsenal at 30th Anniversary Parade UWSA troops prepare for a military parade in early March. / Nyi Rang YANGONMembers of Myanmars largest ethnic armed group, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), are busier than ever preparing celebrations for the groups 30th anniversary on April 17. The four-day-long event starting April 14 is scheduled to be held in the Wa capital of Panghsang on the Chinese border in northern Shan State. Senior figures from many of Myanmars other ethnic armed groups are expected to attend, along with Chinas Special Envoy for Asian Affairs Sun Guoxiang and officials from Chinas Yunnan province across the border. It is said that Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing have been invited, along with some retired Army chiefs. The media have been welcomed to witness a large-scale military parade to be presided over by Wa supremo Chairman Bao Youxiang. Founded on April 17, 1989, the UWSA signed a ceasefire with the Myanmar military in May of the same year after splitting from the Communist Party of Burma (CPB). Since then it has quietly grown into the largest, best-equipped ethnic armed group in Myanmar with an estimated 30,000 troops and 10,000 auxiliary members, according to Myanmar Peace Monitor. The UWSA is expected to flex its military muscles during the parade on April 17 by showing off its arsenal. According to Asia Times, the UWSAs arsenal includes new batches of basic infantry systems fielded in the CPB era: light and heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, and recoilless rifles. But there are other entirely new systems, author Anthony Davis noted. These include more modern Chinese infantry weapons such as the QBZ-95 assault rifle only adopted in bulk by the Peoples Liberation Army in the early 2000s. The new QBZ-95 has been acquired to supplement locally produced Wa copies of the Chinese T-81 assault rifle. Modern Chinese CS/LS06 9mm sub-machine guns and M-99 12.7mm anti-materiel rifles also mark new additions to the Wa arsenal. At the same time, heavier and more sophisticated Chinese systems also provided a qualitative boost to UWSA capabilities. The FN-6 man-portable air defense system (MANPADS) went to upgrade first-generation Chinese missiles already in the UWSA inventory. The HJ-8 Red Arrow wire-guided anti-tank missiles also constituted a marked improvement on a Wa anti-armor capability that had earlier relied on rocket-propelled grenades and recoilless rifles, the author writes. On artillery capability, the article says, there are larger jeep-mounted 105mm recoilless guns and additional NORINCO 122mm howitzers and quantities of 107mm surface-to-surface free-flight missiles. The acquisition of new tactical trucks and, more strikingly, Chinas Xinxing (New Star) wheeled armored personnel carriers (APC) have given a new boost to infantry mobility. The UWSA held a large celebration for its 20th anniversary in 2009. For this years celebration, the Wa Army began preparations last year. At its schools and military bases, it has trained local youth to march with various types of weapons including rifles and artillery pieces, according to Nyi Rang, a UWSA spokesperson. He told The Irrawaddy last year that the armed group would use about 500 youths for the military parade and for traditional cultural music and dance performances at the event. The UWSA has not yet signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). It serves as the chair of the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC) alliance, some of whose members are still fighting the Myanmar Army. The Myanmar government has pressured the UWSA to sign the NCA, but it and other members of the FPNCC want the government to amend some parts of the agreement first. Commentary The Cards are in the Wa Armys Hands United Wa State Army (UWSA) soldiers march during a media display in Panghsang, Wa Special Region 2 in northeast Myanmar on October 4, 2016. / Reuters If you were to ask what a fruitful ceasefire agreement in Myanmar could lead to, the government would point to the Wa Special Region 2, a part of northern Shan State which has seen rapid development under the control of the United Wa State Army (UWSA). But though the regions development may make the central government look good, the large arsenal of modern, sophisticated weaponry which the UWSA holds remains an ever-looming threat for Naypyitaw. Next Wednesday, the UWSA will celebrate the success of a 30-year ceasefire at Panghsang, the capital of Wa Special Region, with an event which will be attended by key ethnic armed leaders from across the country and to which top representatives of the Myanmar government and military, or Tatmadaw, have been invited. Its likely the government and military representatives will be squirming in their seats during the UWSAs military parade which will make up an important feature at the event. A pre-event promotional video shared by the UWSA on their official social media page on Saturday, shows a large army with plenty of heavy weaponry, including anti-aircraft weapons. Nyi Rang, the UWSA spokesperson based in Lashio in northern Shan State, told The Irrawaddy that all celebration attendees will be shown a display of the UWSAs different types of weapons during the military parade. The UWSA signed a ceasefire with the central government in 1989 after splitting from the Burma Communist Party. The Wa region is a good example of an area which has developed more than other ethnic areas under ceasefire conditions. Throughout the 30-years of peace, no bouts of conflict have broken out there and this stands out from other areas ruled by ethnic armed groups where ceasefires have failed time and time again, marring development and bringing only poverty and grief to the locals. The governments ceasefire with the powerful Kachin Independence Army (KIA) collapsed after 17 years, leading to fighting which forced 100,000 locals to flee their homes. Why, then, has the military resolutely held fire from the UWSA for 30 years? The UWSA is the largest ethnic armed force in Myanmar, with an estimated headcount of more than 30,000 troops. The UWSA has enough manpower and weapons to shake peace right across northern Shan State if the Myanmar military ever decided to stoke tensions with them. The Myanmar army knows this. The first reason why government troops never attack the UWSA but rather treat them with so much respect is because of their strong army of troops and the large supply of sophisticated weapons at their fingertips. The UWSA is the one of only two ethnic armed groups to produce arms and they sell them to other ethnic rebel groups which are in conflict with the Myanmar military. Importantly, the group has different types of anti-aircraft weapons, including the FN-6 shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missile launcher. Though they have never revealed where they buy the missiles, they likely buy them from China to defend their territory in the case of an attack by the militarys air force. While attacks on rebel groups by Myanmars air force were uncommon prior to the political reforms rolled out since 2010, their strategies have since changed. Ethnic rebels have never been afraid to confront the militarys ground forces, but they have never had a means of defending themselves against attacks from the air. The military usually launches attacks from the air when their ground troops have suffered high causalities. Last year, for example, the KIA lost 15 bases when the military launched a major offensive in their territory in Kachin State. Only after one month of fighting, when they brought in the air force, did it manage to take the key strategic hill post of Gideon. The UWSA doesnt sell anti-aircraft weapons to other ethnic armed groups and this is another key reason why the military steers clear of them. Several sources from different ethnic armed groups said that their rebel groups, including the KIA, have requested to buy anti-aircraft from the UWSA. Those leaders believe that the day they have their anti-aircraft weapons will be the day the Myanmar military loses their power. In a photo posted on his Facebook page last year, Brig-Gen Nyo Tun Aung, who is the Arakan Armys (AAs) deputy chief-of-staff, was seen with an FN-6 shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missile launcher. Since the photo was posted, many are surprised that the AA hasnt used anti-aircraft weapons and probably doesnt own any either. The UWSAs spokesperson Nyi Rang said that it is his groups policy not to sell anti-aircraft weaponry to other ethnic armed groups, although it is not unusual for them to see the weapons. The Wa capital, a model city For almost one year, the UWSA has been carrying out preparations for the 30-year celebration and military parade, including the construction of a high-quality concrete road throughout the region to improve access for event attendees. In 2015 I visited Panghsang near the China-Myanmar border where the UWSA have their headquarters, and saw the ongoing road construction project. The Wa leaders vowed to me that it would be finished in time for the celebration. Now, Panghsang resembles Chinese towns on the other side of the border. So how can the UWSAs region manage to be more advanced in development without the help of the central government? The UWSA give security guarantees to Chinese companies wanting to invest there. And as a peaceful region, investors are more keen to set up their businesses in the area. When fighting escalated in 2017 and 2018 in the KIA-controlled border towns of Laiza and Maijayang, for example, the many Chinese businesses operating there packed up and left. Money and guns used as a buffer to war UWSA leaders have expressed concern over the military attacks on other ethnic regions and rebel-controlled areas. They worry that the military will one day come for them, erasing decades of efforts in development. As much as the military knows a war with the UWSA would require major efforts to counteract their huge numbers and sophisticated weaponry, the rebel group too makes every effort to avoid outbreaks of conflict with government troops. These are major reasons for 30 years of peace found in the Wa region. Though the UWSA has never publicly announced that they provide finance to other ethnic rebel armed groups, the Myanmar government has accused the UWSA of helping Kokang rebels attack Luakai in 2015. Many believe the UWSA also provides finance to the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the AA. When I spoke to TNLA chairperson Tar Aike Phone in 2014, he told me that his organization gets income from six organizations though he refused to reveal who they are. The UWSA has very close relationships with the most recently formed armed groups, the TNLA, the AA, and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) which is an alliance of armed groups. No one knows what was discussed when they held closed-door meetings with the three groups during a 2015 ethnic summit in Panghsang. Bao Youxiang, the UWSA chairperson has described the Myanmar military as a wild tiger which tries to kill others. He said his organization does not accept their actions and said they should end ongoing conflict with the other ethnic armed groups. The UWSA leads the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC), a seven-member alliance of ethnic armed groups which acts as a representative body for political negotiations with the central government. The UWSA must be upset by attacks on the AA which is a member of the FPNCC. Perhaps AA leaders, along with those from other rebel groups, are waiting for the day the UWSA decides to start selling modern anti-aircraft weapons to them with a view to taking down the mighty military. Another thing Nielsen professed not to know: the conclusion by the U.S. intelligence community that Russia interfered in the 2016 elections to boost Trump. "I'm not aware of that," she said. At another point, she said she did not know how many children had been detained at the southern border. Yet another time, she declined to contradict Trump's false claim that there were "never so many apprehensions ever in our history" at the border as there are now. Wednesday, April 10th, 2019 (12:01 am) - Score 5,960 The Governments 1.7bn publicly funded Broadband Delivery UK scheme, which has so far helped to extend superfast broadband (24Mbps+) networks to 5,076,552 extra premises since 2013, has today published its latest take-up data to the end of 2018. The good news is it continues to grow and boost coverage. The figures reflect the percentage of homes and businesses that have chosen to sign-up with a superfast broadband network (delivered via FTTC, FTTP full fibre or Fixed Wireless Access), specifically those which have been delivered via support from the BDUK programme (i.e. % subscribed of premises passed). At present this data is split between the first two phases of the programme and some related phase 2 extension contracts. Phase 1 was broadly dominated by Openreachs (BT) contracts, while the on-going Phase 2 contracts have attracted a mix of extension deals alongside BT and several alternative network providers. BDUK Phases 1 (Finished Spring 2016) Supported by 530m of public money via the Government (mostly extracted from a small slice of the BBC TV Licence fee), as well as significant match funding from local authorities and the EU. The public funding is then roughly matched by BTs private investment. Overall it helped to extend superfast broadband (24Mbps+) services to cover 90% of homes and businesses in the United Kingdom. BDUK Phase 2 (Technically on-going) Supported by 250m of public money via the Government, as well as match funding from local authorities, Local Growth Deals and private investment from suppliers (e.g. BT, Gigaclear, Airband, Call Flow etc.). This phase extended superfast broadband services to 95% of premises in time for the end of 2017, although some contracts are on-going until c.2020 and will reach beyond 95%. Crucially the BDUK contracts include a clawback (gainshare) clause, which requires the suppliers to return part of the public investment as customer adoption of the new service rises. The funding can then be reinvested to further improve network coverage and speeds via future deals. Efficiency savings from earlier contracts can also be reinvested. So far it looks as if a total of around 721m could in theory be returned via clawback from BT and more than 210m (Jan 2018 figure) from efficiency savings, which may rise again in 2019 (details here and here). BDUK has estimated that this reinvestment might be enough to boost the UK coverage of fixed line superfast broadband networks to around 97% by March 2020 (possibly 98%+ after that), but this is not an official target. NOTE: Many of the remaining BDUK linked contracts are now focused on deploying ultrafast full fibre Many of the remaining BDUK linked contracts are now focused on deploying ultrafast full fibre FTTP BDUK Phase 1 Take-up (Average %) The following tables break the take-up data down by each BDUK local authority (project area) and devolved region (Scotland, Wales etc.), although for the proper context these percentages should ideally be considered alongside the most recent premises passed (network coverage) data, which can be seen at the bottom of this article. Overall 55.25% of premises have adopted the new service (up from 52.4% in September 2018). NOTE: Some of the counties have divided their deployments into separate contracts. For example, Phase One in Shropshire doesnt include the Telford and Wrekin area because that is part of a separate Phase Two contract inside the same county. On top of that the contracts were all signed at different times and so are at different stages of development. Project Area (BDUK Phase 1) Uptake % (Jun 2018) Uptake % (Sep 2018) Uptake % (Dec 2018) Berkshire Councils 56.4 58.6 61.2 Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire 58.2 60.8 63.6 Cambridgeshire, Peterborough 53.6 56 58.4 Central Beds, Bedford Borough, Milton Keynes 57.4 60.2 63.2 Cheshire East, Cheshire West & Chester, Warrington, Halton 55 57.9 60.9 Devon & Somerset (including, Plymouth, Torbay, North Somerset, Bath & NE Somerset) 49 51.7 54.7 Coventry, Solihull, Warwickshire 56.4 59.8 63.1 Cumbria 49.7 52.4 55.5 Derbyshire 47.4 50.1 53.3 Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole 49.1 51.8 54.7 Durham, Gateshead, Tees Valley and Sunderland 47.5 50.3 53.4 East Riding of Yorkshire 51.5 54.3 57.6 East Sussex, Brighton and Hove 54.8 57.6 60.5 Essex, Southend-On-Sea, Thurrock 53.9 56.5 59.6 Greater Manchester 41.3 44.9 48.8 Hampshire 51.9 54.5 57.4 Herefordshire and Gloucestershire 49.5 52.2 54.9 Isle of Wight 46.2 49.4 52.6 Kent and Medway 52.7 55.3 58.3 Lancashire, Blackpool, Blackburn with Darwen 45.9 48.5 51.6 Leicestershire 53.2 55.9 58.7 Lincolnshire 52.1 55.1 57.9 Merseyside 41 44 47.3 Newcastle upon Tyne 43.6 46.6 50.1 Norfolk 52 54.9 57.8 North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire 51.1 53.9 56.8 North Yorkshire 53.4 55.7 58.2 Northamptonshire 56.5 59.2 61.9 Northumberland 53.4 56 59.2 Nottinghamshire 52.9 55 57.6 Oxfordshire 56.1 58.6 61.6 Rutland 61.5 63 65.4 Shropshire 49.9 52.7 55.8 Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent 49.3 52 54.9 Suffolk 54.1 56.7 59.6 Surrey 57.5 60 62.6 West Sussex 56.1 58.9 62 West Yorkshire 46.3 49 52.6 Wiltshire 54.8 57.3 60 South Gloucestershire 57.4 59.7 62.4 Worcestershire 53.9 57.4 60.3 Devolved Administrations Highlands and Islands 47.6 50.7 54.4 Northern Ireland 50 50.3 64 Rest of Scotland 42.4 45.8 49.2 Wales 44.9 49.8 51.8 BDUK Phase 2 Take-up (Average %) So far in this phase an overall total of 39.59% (up from 35.7% in September 2018) of premises have adopted the new service and some projects have yet to report. We note that a number of Phase 2 schemes also consist of more than one contract type and so you may see several figures being reported for certain areas in order to reflect each of those deals. Project Area (BDUK Phase 2) Uptake % (Jun 2018) Uptake % (Sep 2018) Uptake % (Dec 2018) Berkshire 22.9, 4, 1.9 23.7, 4.3, 6.4 24.9, 5.6, 15.1 Black Country 28.3 32.3 36.7 Bucks & Herts 31.4 34.4 39.7 Bedfordshire & Milton Keynes 32.6 37.3 40.8 Cambridgeshire no data no data no data Cheshire 39.2 41.7 46.4 Cornwall 34, 3.6 39.1, 16.2 44.1, 19.8 Cumbria 29.3 34.7 38 Derbyshire 30.2 30.7 34.6 Devon & Somerset 9 10.1 10.1, 17.5 Dorset 34.7 40.3 47.2, 3.5 Durham 26.5 31 36.9 East Riding (Yorkshire) 42.9 44.6 49.3 East Sussex 49.1 51.1 52.1 Essex 34.2, 26.4 36.7, 27.7 40.2, 28.7, 9 Greater Manchester no data no data no data Hampshire 30 33.8 38.1 Herefordshire & Gloucestershire 33.3 , 10 35, 10.7, 3.4 11.3, 4.8, 7.6, 0.2 Kent 39.8 43.5 50.1 Lancashire 31 35.6 37.6 Leicestershire 28.3 32.1 36.8 Lincolnshire 31.7 31.5 36.9 Norfolk 39.6 41.9 45.1 North Lincolnshire 29.6 33.7 38.9 North Yorkshire 49.5 52.9 56.4, 0.9 Northamptonshire 38.7 , 4.8 , 11.6 42.5, 8.9, 17.8 46.7, 10, 15.5 Northumberland 38.9 42.4 42.7 Nottinghamshire 37.7 40.8 42.4 Oxfordshire no data no data no data Rutland no data no data no data Shropshire 24.1 32.2 38.9, 2.2 South Gloucestershire 33 , 16.3 38.3, 31.6 44.2, 19.3 South Yorkshire 30.9 35.6 35.6 Staffordshire 35.3 37.8 39.7 Suffolk 38 41.6 45.6 Swindon 5.7 8.2 8.7 Telford & Wrekin 40.2 45.6 50.7 Warwickshire 40.2 40.8 40.7, 1.1 West Oxfordshire no data no data 7 West Sussex 40.1 41.7 47 West Yorkshire 30.4 33.1 37.2 Wiltshire 34.6 38.1 42.6, 0.6 Worcestershire 44.4 44.7 48.3 Devolved Administrations Highlands and Islands no data no data no data Northern Ireland 27.2 32.5 38.4 Rest of Scotland no data no data no data Wales no data no data no data IMPORTANT: Take-up is a dynamically scaled measurement, which means that at certain stages of the scheme it may go up or even down depending upon the pace of deployment (i.e. premises passed in any given time-scale), although over time the take-up should only rise. Explained another way, earlier phases of the roll-out were easier and faster to deploy, so you could expect to see a bit of a yo-yo movement with the take-up % sometimes falling if lots of new areas were suddenly covered. Some contracts are also younger than others and will thus take time to catch-up. On top of that BDUKs roll-out pace has slowed to a crawl as it reaches remote rural areas, which will give take-up a chance to climb. A number of other factors can also impact take-up, such as the higher prices for related fibre services, as well as customers being locked into long contracts with their existing ISP (they cant upgrade immediately) and a lack of general awareness (locals dont always know that the faster service exists) or interest in the new connectivity (if you have a decent ADSL2+ speed and only basic needs then you might feel less inclined to upgrade). The fear of switching to a different ISP may also obstruct some services. In other cases the new service may run out of capacity (i.e. demand is higher than expected), which means that people who want to upgrade are prevented from doing so until Openreach resolves the problem, although the scale of this issue is fairly small. Now, for some context, heres the latest progress report on related contracts for the same period (this excludes related match-funding from private investment). Funding and Premises Passed Progress (BDUK Phase 1 + 2) Total BDUK Contracted Funding Total Local Body Funding (Councils etc.) Total Contracted premises Delivered to Dec 2018 Bedford & Milton Keynes 8,130,000 9,443,694 56,269 48,905 Berkshire 5,153,017 4,603,250 43,723 29,849 Black Country 2,988,349 2,988,349 39,109 37,350 Bucks & Herts 10,837,000 11,415,000 94,428 83,085 Cambridgeshire 8,250,000 17,750,000 105,850 101,998 Cheshire 6,461,000 16,091,055 82,468 80,611 Cornwall 5,960,000 12,529,786 15,288 10,362 Cumbria 19,959,519 18,798,000 120,065 122,910 Derbyshire 9,579,550 9,580,000 103,755 94,404 Devon & Somerset 58,111,798 40,910,985 344,835 289,788 Dorset 13,741,841 12,349,470 80,085 75,995 Durham 12,786,267 11,763,000 112,898 111,534 East Riding (Yorkshire) 10,507,459 5,193,079 49,510 48,719 East Sussex 13,640,000 13,000,000 70,040 62,145 Essex 14,254,755 14,254,755 155,871 121,654 Greater Manchester 3,440,000 5,923,000 41,363 40,062 Hampshire 15,262,307 14,180,000 106,434 91,297 Herefordshire & Gloucestershire 31,090,658 27,246,760 152,367 124,474 Highlands & Islands 50,830,000 75,600,000 149,730 145,416 Isle of Wight 2,490,000 2,490,000 17,617 17,649 Kent 17,063,509 14,998,391 137,881 138,202 Lancashire 14,670,000 22,540,000 147,334 143,698 Leicestershire 7,968,895 10,884,647 73,641 72,760 Lincolnshire 16,110,000 17,910,000 137,949 131,419 Merseyside 5,460,000 4,374,000 43,905 43,966 Newcastle 970,000 945,131 6,760 6,697 Norfolk 24,650,000 24,210,000 203,201 192,394 North Lincolnshire 4,181,242 1,880,963 29,442 29,201 North Yorkshire 28,160,000 14,654,726 175,283 166,163 Northamptonshire 9,856,669 11,009,000 79,349 72,937 Northern Ireland 11,454,000 21,954,000 66,907 67,173 Northumberland 10,687,867 11,986,750 49,620 47,272 Nottinghamshire 7,850,000 9,288,644 69,401 65,804 Oxfordshire 8,184,500 13,924,500 78,007 76,877 Rest of Scotland 50,000,000 107,575,000 572,563 574,204 Rutland 1,000,000 1,670,000 10,004 9,364 Shropshire 19,317,466 12,722,000 69,782 62,889 South Gloucestershire 3,370,000 3,521,123 21,673 18,557 South Yorkshire 10,395,000 13,353,577 105,390 91,201 Staffordshire 9,620,000 7,440,000 82,371 77,216 Suffolk 26,940,000 26,044,703 126,812 118,185 Surrey 1,310,000 19,020,081 78,245 75,039 Swindon 950,000 950,000 20,138 17,010 Telford & Wrekin 2,157,000 1,843,000 8,822 8,698 Wales 69,040,000 176,913,075 754,791 700,364 Warwickshire 14,557,172 14,557,172 74,301 55,675 West Oxfordshire 1,600,000 1,556,675 4,788 968 West Sussex 8,011,243 7,510,000 54,533 52,335 West Yorkshire 11,019,827 11,175,487 103,485 90,040 Wiltshire 9,270,000 16,496,000 83,610 74,383 Worcestershire 8,387,032 11,390,000 66,561 57,654 717,684,942 940,408,828 5,478,254 5,076,552 The above figures only include 24Mbps+ capable premises in BDUK intervention areas. Wednesday, April 10th, 2019 (8:11 am) - Score 5,906 Mobile network operator Three UK has managed to integrate Callsigns enhanced customer protection technology into their service, which is a customer authentication and ID verification system that could improve SIM-swap and call-divert fraud detection for users on their 3G and 4G network. At present theres a growing problem with fraudsters using increasingly crafty methods to intercept messages from your bank. For example, in the case of SIM-swap fraud, corrupted mobile operator employees work to bypass basic ID checks and hand over replacement SIM cards to potential criminals instead of the intended customer. Once they have this its easy to incept bank messages containing security codes. Similarly call-divert fraud also targets interception of security codes from banks, albeit via a different approach. In this method the criminals harvest as much data as they can about an individual by searching social media profiles, intercepting their post (letters etc.), tricking them into installing malware on a computer and or buying leaked personal data from organised criminals. Once the fraudsters have this data they can use it to get past a mobile operators basic security questions (e.g. what they usually ask when you call for support), which enables them to claim that your mobile phone was stolen. As part of this process the old SIM is cancelled and a new one activated, after which the fraudster will often ask for calls/texts to be diverted to a new phone. In order to solve this Callsigns Intelligence Driven Authentication uses multiple data items to recognise users through deep learning insights derived across device, location and behaviour. The result provides additional customer ID verification to banks, based on specific fraud risk triggers notified by Three UK, which can be used to spot fraudsters before any harm is done. Ryan Gosling, Head of Partnerships at Callsign, said: For years now, I have been helping banks fight fraud, especially as they realise the fallibility of the password. As mobile banking has taken over, at Callsign we are increasingly working with the mobile industry to help them protect their customers from banking fraud. By adding Three UKs intelligence with Callsigns intelligence, we can offer the most robust solution on the market. Apparently Callsign worked with CKH Innovations Opportunities Development (CKH IOD), a unit of CK Hutchisons telecom division (Three UKs parent company), to integrate the new system. That would be the Candace Owens whom the alleged perpetrator of the New Zealand atrocity called "the person who has influenced me above all." It's not clear whether he was sincere in saying that, but perfectly clear was Owens' glib dismissal of the notion that her words could have encouraged such evil: "LOL!" and "HAHA." She said the American left tied her to the carnage because it feared her "Blexit" plan to have black people quit the Democratic Party. Retail logistics software platform Shippit has recorded 101% growth in its client base in the Asia Pacific region over the last 16 months. Shippit's growth is due in part to the company's global deal with the Cotton On retail group. Cotton On is one of Australia's largest retailers, with brands including Cotton On, Cotton On Body, Cotton On Kids,Factorie and Supre. Cotton On Group general manager of ecommerce Brendan Sweeney said: "We are proud to back an Australian business as we scale our service globally. Shippit's award-winning technology is exactly what we need to ensure we optimise our delivery operations. We are really excited about what lies ahead in this partnership." Other Shippit clients include Kathmandu, City Beach, The Athlete's Foot, Tony Bianco, Qantas Loyalty and General Pants. Shippit now handles the logistics for approximately 3% of all online transactions in Australia. The company has increased its staff by 78% in the last 12 months, with a new office in Sydney and a satellite office in an unspecified location in South East Asia. A notable recent appointment is that of Dan Cran as chief revenue officer. Cran previously held executive positions at LogMeIn and ResponSight. "We know that shipping is one of the biggest pain-points holding online retailers back, particularly when it comes to providing outstanding customer experiences," said Shippit chief executive and co-founder Rob Hango-Zada. "The reality is that this sore point only worsens and creates greater inefficiencies for retailers as they scale. With the rise of the on-demand economy, while customers expect flexible, convenient and affordable delivery options, the market is still playing catch-up. "Shippit has been able to solve that problem for thousands of retailers, from small 'side hustle' eCommerce stores to some of the world's largest department stores. Comparative data shows the average retailer that uses Shippit grows five times faster than retailers who don't." New Zealand telecommunications company Spark has still not decided whether to submit a revised proposal to the country's spy agency in order to see whether it can use equipment from Chinese vendor Huawei in its 5G network. Spark Corporate Relations lead Andrew Pirie told iTWire in response to a query that the company was still working through what possible mitigations it might be able to provide to address the concerns raised by the General Communications Security Bureau, the country's main spy agency. In November, the GSCB said it had refused Spark permission to use Huawei equipment in its 5G network. This came after the two companies had demonstrated the technical implementation of access and core separation for 5G. But subsequently, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said on two separate occasions that this did not indicate a total ban on Huawei. She initially told a regular weekly news conference in February that Wellington would carry out its own risk-assessment to make a final decision on whether to use Huawei equipment or not. That stance wasby Ardern during a one-day visit to China this month, when she denied that her country had followedin banning Huawei from participating in the 5G rollout. For nearly two years, the US has been pushing countries it considers allies to avoid using equipment from Chinese companies, Huawei foremost, in 5G networks. But Washington has produced no proof to back up its claims that these products could be used to spy for China. On Monday, the technical director of the UK National Cyber Security Centre, Dr Ian Levy, slammed Huawei for its engineering practices, which he characterised as "very, very shoddy". He said this meant Huawei gear could be banned from Westminster and other sensitive parts of the country and kept out of the core of 5G networks in the rest of the UK. Pirie told iTWire that under the relevant New Zealand laws, Spark had the opportunity to submit a revised proposal to the GSCB if it thought it could mitigate the security concerns that had been raised. Those concerns have not been made public, with GCSB director-general Andrew Hampton saying in November last year that Spark's proposal would raise significant national security risks. No details were provided as to the nature of the risk. "Hence it is technically true that the use of Huawei 5G equipment has not been completely ruled out at this point," Pirie said. "But as things stand right now, we cannot use Huawei." He added that Spark was aware of the various reports and comments coming out of the UK, "but we have no comment to make on them". Contacted for comment, a Huawei spokesperson said: "Huawei continues to support Spark as it works through the process with the government." Air New Zealand has successfully ordered and fitted a 3D printed part to one of its Boeing 777-300 airliners. Working with components and systems provider Moog, SIngapore-based engineering group ST Engineering, and Microsoft, Air New Zealand successfully completed a world-first experiment. Air New Zealand ordered a digital aircraft part file from Singapore-based ST Engineering while one of its Boeing 777-300 airliners was en route to Los Angeles. The file was sent to a Moog-operated 3D printer in Los Angeles, and within hours the resulting part a bumper, which prevents a video screen from damaging the seat it is fitted to was installed in time for the return flight. The entire transaction, from purchase to installation, was handled through Moogs VeriPart digital supply chain system, which runs on Microsoft Azure. VeriPart ensures the integrity of the process by using a blockchain. This authenticates the part, and prevents a purchaser from printing more parts than they are entitled to. Being able to 3D print certain components on the go would be transformative and drive significant efficiencies and sustainability benefits," said Air New Zealand chief ground operations officer Carrie Hurihanganui. "Rather than having the cost associated with purchasing, shipping and storing physical parts and potentially having to fly an aircraft with an unavailable seat, this system would allow us to print a part when and where we need it in hours. The proof of concept could usher in a future of distributed networks starting with a digital design file and ending with a physical part, decreasing lead times and result in less down time for airlines something travellers are sure to welcome. Top image: Bill Abbott (CC-BY-SA-2.0) via Wikimedia Commons. Inaki Berroeta says said the government should have considered compensation for telcos affected by the Huawei ban. Vodafone Hutchison Australia chief executive Inaki Berroeta may lack many attributes, but you cannot accuse the man of lacking chutzpah. Nothing else could account for the fact that he is now beginning to float the idea that his company should be paid compensation for the fact that it cannot use Huawei gear in its 5G network rollout. Wrap your head around this, gentle reader. Berroeta thinks that the Australian Government ban on Huawei equipment gives Telstra and Optus a competitive advantage and so he wants money from the public purse to compensate his company for that. Lest there be any doubt, he wants this money, your taxes and mine, to bolster the balance sheet of a publicly-listed company. A commercial firm. Not a charity. Not a non-profit. Let there be no mistake in what he asking for. Berroeta reminds me of the heads of the three American automotive firms who flew to Washington DC soon after the global financial crisis struck each on his own corporate jet, mind you to ask Congress for bailout money. These three worthies had sufficient cash to fly in on their own jets. They did not even give a moment's thought to flying in on a single aircraft, let alone on a commercial flight. And still they had no shame to come to Congress and beg for money. This was the ultimate expression of chutzpah, and perhaps Berroeta still has some way to go before he can match that trio. But he is still asking the public to pay for the company's decision to use Huawei equipment in its 4G LTE network. Has Vodafone ever offered to pay the government extra taxes in years when it had good earnings? What has it done to even contemplate the idea that public money should be donated its way? Did Vodafone take any poll among Australians before it made its technology choices? Are the masses to blame for corporate decisions? Corporates are very good at taking public money under this guise or that. They talk themselves hoarse about the free market when they ruthlessly cut staff, but when it comes to situations like that which Vodafone finds itself in, they have no shame in begging for public aid. If Berroeta cannot manage to run the company without public money, let it fold. Australia already has too many telcos for a small population. Nobody will weep if Vodafone leaves this land. But we will be free of at least one captain of industry who is looking for some excuse to dip into the public purse. IT talent marketplace TechDirect has created a space for tech services so that Australian businesses can connect, pitch to, and negotiate with more than 70 verified and reviewed tech contractors. In a statement, TechDirect said it had launched the serves after its owners, Paula Barry and Sascha Kara, had found it difficult to find suitable tech staff. Recruiters will get 20% of the candidate's first year of wages, along with an upfront fee. Its 2019, and yet theres still so much risk, money and time involved in finding a fantastic tech. TechDirect addresses these concerns, Barry said. As were cutting out the middleman, our service helps saves companies money but also allows the tech to earn more for their work. Theres plenty of marketplaces out there already for once-off jobs or overseas developers. Were targeting the gap in the market for helping companies find longer-term contract IT talent. We want to connect companies with the best tech talent that Australia has to offer, and help mitigate their risk in finding a tech for their needs. The marketplace works as under: Zain Qaiser who was jailed for six years and five months for Windows ransomware attacks. A member of a Russian-speaking organised crime group has been jailed for six years and five months in the UK for targeting millions of PCs with Windows ransomware, according to Britain's National Crime Agency. In a statement, the NCA said Zain Qaiser, 24, of Barking in Essex, had profited a great deal from his activities, getting money from people in more than 20 countries. The NCA claimed its investigators had determined that Qaiser had made more then 700,000 (A$1.28 billion) from his global campaign of infecting Windows PCs with ransomware. It said he spent his earnings on stays in luxury hotels, prostitutes, gambling, drugs and buying luxury items, including a Rolex watch that cost 5000. In one 10-month period, Qaiser was claimed to have spend 68,00 on gambling in a London casino at a time when he was apparently unemployed and living with his parents. The NCA said Qaiser had bought advertising space on pornographic websites using the online name KIING and used the ads to spread ransomware. "When users clicked on the ads they were redirected to another website, hosting highly-sophisticated malware strains including the infamous Angler Exploit Kit believed to have been created, managed and marketed by one of Qaisers Russian-speaking associates," the NCA said. "Users with any vulnerabilities would subsequently be infected with a malicious payload." The ransom demand that appeared on PCs that Zain Qaiser infected with Windows ransomware. It said one malicious payload used was called Reveton. This would lock a user's browser. "Once locked, the infected device would display a message purporting to be from a law enforcement or a government agency, which claimed an offence had been committed and the victim had to pay a fine of anything between $300-$1000 in order to unlock their device." Qaiser's victims were directed to pay the ransom in cryptocurrencies which would then be laundered using his contacts abroad. "For example, one of Qaisers international accomplices in the US transferred ransom payments onto pre-loaded credit cards in fraudulent identities, withdrew that cash at locations throughout the US, converted it into crypto-currency, and transferred it to Qaiser," the NCA pointed out. Qaiser was first arrested in July 2014 and charged in February 2017. After NCA investigators identified a series of accounts linked to him, which had received in excess of 100,000, he was arrested again in December 2018. The NCA said he had admitted to 11 offences, including blackmail, fraud, money laundering and computer misuse, and was jailed at London's Kingston Crown Court on Tuesday. NCA senior investigating officer Nigel Leary said: "This was one of the most sophisticated, serious and organised cyber crime groups the National Crime Agency has ever investigated. The group owned and operated the Angler Exploit Kit one of the most successful and closely guarded pieces of malicious software ever developed by the cyber crime community. Zain Qaiser was an integral part of this organised crime group generating millions of pounds in ransom payments by blackmailing countless victims and threatening them with bogus police investigations. In addition, when Qaisers criminal enterprise was frustrated by diligent members of the online advertising community, he retaliated causing misery and hundreds of thousands of pounds in financial losses. This was an extremely long-running, complex cyber-crime investigation in which we worked with partners in the US, Canada, Europe and the Crown Prosecution Service. The FBI and the US Secret Service have both arrested people in relation to this global malware campaign. The investigation demonstrates that cyber criminals cannot operate from behind a veil of anonymity, and that the NCA has the tenacity and specialist skills to catch them and bring them to justice. The international law enforcement community will continue to work together to counter the threat of borderless cyber crime. Screenshot and photo: courtesy NCA The US-Israel nation-state hacking partnership that created Stuxnet, the malware used to cripple Iran's nuclear program, lasted much longer than was known earlier, researchers from Chronicle Security, a sister company of Google, claim. Juan-Andres Guerrero-Saade and Silas Cutler said in a blog post that they had given a name to this nation-state partnership: GossipGirl. They claimed that malware named Flowershop, which was used in 2002, and malware known as Flame 2.0, found in 2016 were both connected to Stuxnet and Flame, the latter being used to spy on devices in the Middle East until it was outed in 2012 by Kaspersky Lab. Stuxnet is said to have been developed by the NSA and Israel's Unit 8200 while Flame is suspected of having the same parentage. Kaspersky Lab researchers found malware they called Duqu in 2011, with common code from Stuxnet, and which they said was possibly the work of Unit 8200. Another spying tool, Gauss, found in 2012, is also thought to have been created by the NSA. The relationship between the malware created by the US-Israeli partnership. Guerrero-Saade and Cutler used the YARA tool to scan years of code and look for similarities to these four malware samples. They said they had found two new matches that were similar to Stuxnet Flame, Duqu and Gauss. One of these, called Flowershop, discovered by Kaspersky Lab in 2013 but not made public, had four communication modules in common with Stuxnet. The second, which the two Chronicle researchers called Flame 2.0, was created in 2014 and uploaded to Google's VirusTotal database in 2016. But it was heavily encrypted and its functionality has yet to be ascertained. The original Flame malware was thought to have been killed off by its Israeli creators in 2012, soon after its existence was made known. It was notable in that it used a cryptographic attack to impersonate a Windows Update server in a business and spread, as if legitimately signed by Microsoft. "A better understanding of the institutions and incentives involved in cyber espionage further supports the view that threat actors dont go away after exposure; our aggressors never truly vanish," Guerrero-Saade and Cutler wrote. "They have an intelligence remit to fulfill and will go to great lengths in doing so. The defender community must be willing to match these efforts in order to insure the collective safety of users and organisations that lack the resources to defend themselves against the most formidable threat actors." A sophisticated nation-state framework that was discovered by Kaspersky Lab in the western autumn of 2018 has only one known victim to date a diplomatic entity in Central Asia leading to the suspicion that it may be an American-backed threat actor that Kaspersky Lab wants to avoid profiling in detail. Named TajMahal, the spying framework has two packages named Tokyo and Yokohama, Kaspersky Lab said, adding that it included backdoors, loaders, orchestrators, C2 communicators, audio recorders, keyloggers, screen and webcam grabbers, documents and cryptography key stealers, and even its own file indexer for the victims machine. Available details were also presented at the company's Security Analyst Summit which is taking place in Singapore this week. As iTWire pointed out prior to the summit, Kaspersky Lab has a good reason to avoid the provision of details about American APTs. The company said in a short blog post that TajMahal had been developed and used for at least five years. "The first known legit sample timestamp is from August 2013, and the last one is from April 2018. The first confirmed date when TajMahal samples were seen on a victims machine is August 2014," Kaspersky Lab said. Both the packages, Tokyo and Yokohama, shared the same code base, with indications that the first-named was the initial infection vector, while Yokohama, which had more functionality, was deployed and then left on a victim's infrastructure for back-up. TajMahal was said to be capable of: Stealing documents sent to the printer queue. Gathering victim recon data that includes the back-up list for Apple mobile devices. Taking screenshots when recording VoiceIP app audio. Stealing written CD images. Stealing files previously seen on removable drives once they were available again. Stealing Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, FireFox and RealNetworks cookies. If deleted from Frontend file or related registry values, it would reappear after reboot with a new name and start-up type, indicating that it was infecting the boot sector of a system. "The question is, why go to all that trouble for just one victim?" Kaspersky Lab questioned. "A likely hypothesis is that there are other victims we havent found yet. "This theory is reinforced by the fact that we couldnt see how one of the files in the VFS was used by the malware, opening the door to the possibility of additional versions of the malware that have yet to be detected." The brief blog post indicates that Kaspersky Lab wanted to reveal the APT at its summit in order to make a splash. Its other big research meant for the summit, the ShadowHammer nation-state supply chain APT, was leaked to a freelance journalist earlier this month. Dr David Haley, CTO and co-founder of Myriota, Maureen Dougherty, President of Boeing Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific, Anthony Murfet, Deputy Head of the Australian Space Agency Aircraft and aerospace manufacturer Boeing and the Australian Space Agency have signed a Statement of Strategic Intent to help advance the agencys goals to expand Australias domestic space industry. The agreement features Boeing support for investments in R&D, innovation, STEM education and government programs aligned with the Australian Space Agencys priorities. Expanding our relationship with the Australian Space Agency is a significant step for Boeing and a reaffirmation of our longtime teaming with Australia in space, said Jim Chilton, Boeing senior vice-president, Space and Launch. It means a lot that weve signed this agreement during a year when the world celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, when both Boeing and Australia played important roles in that historic achievement. We see great opportunity ahead for all of us as Australia continues to grow its space industry and national capabilities. Myriota, an Adelaide-based Internet of Things start-up which has Boeing HorizonX Ventures investment in the company, says by 2030 Australia would like to grow the space market segment from $3.9 billion to $12 billion and double space industry employment from about 10,000 today to 20,000. Myriota says Boeing HorizonX Ventures investment seeks to revolutionise satellite communications by providing low-cost access to high-value data in remote locations. Boeing also has partnerships with the University of Queensland, DST Group and the US Air Force Research Laboratory on the successful Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation program. Boeing says it has a long history of space-related projects in Australia, including: Launch of four new space R&D projects with Boeings research partner of 30 years, the Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation. Use of Boeing-built Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) and IS-22 satellites by the Australian Defence Force. Boeing Defence Australia is the prime contractor for the Australian Defence Forces Project LAND 2072 Phase 2B Currawong Battlespace Communications System, which will include Australian-developed satellite communications terminals for accessing the WGS satellite network. Boeing Australias development of a virtual reality training system for the CST-100 Starliner, which will take passengers or a mix of crew and cargo on missions to low-Earth orbit. Dr Megan Clark, head of the Australian Space Agency, said the signing of the statement was an example of how collaboration and engagement across countries is an important aspect of the growing space economy, both in Australia and internationally. This Statement of Strategic Intent highlights Boeings existing collaboration with CSIRO, universities and industry in broad areas such as space debris monitoring, advanced manufacturing and fuel production in space, on-orbit imaging, VR and remote space craft operation," she said. This partnership opens the doors for Australian innovators to participate in the global supply chain of the space sector. Myriota says Boeings STEM efforts in Australia span universities and non-profits in order to help develop the future engineers and leaders of Australias space industry. And it says Boeing supports Space Squad, the Australian Youth Aerospace Association, the Australian Space Design Competition, and FIRST (For Inspiration & Recognition of Science and Technology) including its exciting robotics program Mission Moon. WikiLeaks officials claim Ecuador has spied on its publisher Julian Assange who is taking refuge in the country's London embassy and the information it obtained was used by an unspecified group in Spain to try and extort as much as 3 million from the group. The group's editor-in-chief, Kristinn Hrafnsson, told a media conference in London on Wednesday that Assange's meetings with lawyers and a doctor had been secretly filmed by the Ecuadorian authorities. The whistleblower group released letters sent to Assange by embassy officials in which he was asked not to create any interference that would prevent eavesdropping on his meetings - such as playing a radio loudly during meetings or turning a bright light in the direction of surveillance cameras in the room where the meeting was taking place. Hrafnsson said photos, documents and audio recordings about Assange's activities in the embassy had been sent to WikiLeaks by "Spanish individuals". He said WikiLeaks had heard some weeks ago about the material on Assange and had contacted a member of the group that claimed to have a trove of material. Proof was provided, including a snapshot from a video recording of a meeting that Hrafnsson had with Assange. ABC News reported that Ecuador Vice-President Otto Sonnenholzner had said Assange would have to abide by the rules laid down by Quito if he wanted to stay in the embassy. He said that certain rules had been laid down for Assange in order to reduce the costs of providing him asylum. Foreign Minister Jose Valencia has presented a report about Assange to President Lenin Moreno on Wednesday, and would inform congressional leaders about it a day later. Assange has been taking refuge in Ecuador's London embassy since June 2012. He faces arrest by the British police if he leaves the embassy for jumping bail. But WikiLeaks says the thing Assange fears is being extradited to the US to face charges over leaking of classified material, including footage of indiscriminate killing of civilians by US troops who were occupying Iraq. H2 Cable and SubCom have signed a contract for the supply and installation of the H2 submarine cable system that will be the first to connect Australia and Hong Kong, with direct access to China. The basic plan runs between Sydney and Chung Hom Kok. But the design allows for branches that can be deployed to Shanghai, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Guam, Queensland, Hawaii and Los Angeles. Choosing a very direct route means the cable will provide the best latency from Australia across the Pacific Ocean, according to the companies. The Sydney to Hong Kong branch will carry 15Tbps per fibre pair, with more than 12.9Tbps per fibre pair on the Sydney to Los Angeles branch. The Sydney and Los Angeles cable will follow a route that has not been used by any other cable, thus adding to the diversity of connections between Australia and the US. "We are pleased to partner with SubCom and are confident their superior technology and operational excellence will enable a smooth system deployment," said H2 chief executive Georges Krebs. "H2 will bring the necessary boost in connectivity to Australia, which has one of the fastest-growing international traffic stream in the world." H2 chairman Remi Galasso added, "Growing capacity requirements and new traffic patterns emerging within the Asia-Pacific region require the deployment of innovative and versatile submarine infrastructures. "The H2 cable, with its North and East segments, has been designed to deliver direct connectivity through new subsea paths and provide optimal diversity. We are excited to be at the forefront of this development." Complaints by Australian telecommunications users about landline, mobile and Internet services fell in the last six months of 2018 by 27.7% to 60,998 compared to the corresponding six month period in 2017. The latest six-monthly update report published on Thursday (today) by the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman reveals that between July and 31 December 2018, complaints decreased, with both Australian residential consumers and small businesses making just shy of 61,000 complaints for the six months. And the fall in complaints reported was across all states and territories compared to the corresponding period in 2017. The TIO report also reveals that issues with no action or delayed action by the service provider and disputed charges for a service or equipment led the list of the top five complaints for the period raised by consumers and businesses. But, despite saying she was pleased complaints decreased in the period, ombudsman Judi Jones revealed concerns about what she said was an increase in complaints about internet services against the general downward trend. This shows the telecommunications sector must continue to focus on meeting the needs of the residential consumers and small businesses that are increasingly reliant on being connected to phone and Internet services, Jones cautioned. This report notes that the October to December quarter showed a slight increase in Internet service complaints from 9002 in the July to September period to 9648 in the October to December period. But, Jones was cautiously more positive about services over the national broadband network. Complaints about services delivered over the NBN have decreased compared to the same six-month period in 2017," she said. While this decrease is encouraging we continue to work with phone and internet service providers, the telco industry, and regulators to address issues as they arise and to improve the customer experience. As well as the overall 27.7% decrease in complaints, and the slight increase in Internet service complaints for the October to December quarter, the TIO lists other complaint highlights for the period as: Complaints from small businesses decreased 6.4% from 9901 in 2017 to 9270 in 2018. The proportion of complaints from small businesses increased from to 11.7% during July to December 2017 to 15.2%. Complaints from residential consumers decreased 30.5% from 74,238 in 2017 to 51,560 in 2018. A total of 4217 complaints were recorded about connections or changing providers for a service delivered over the NBN. Complaints about connections or changing providers per 1000 premises added to the network decreased from 9.2 to 6.7 compared to the July to December 2017 period. A total of 9666 complaints were recorded between July and December 2018 about service quality on the NBN. Complaints about service quality per 1000 premises on the network decreased from 4.1 to 2.1 July to December 2017 period. Complaints about service types in the six month period fell compared to the high levels of 2017. However, between October and December 2018 the overall decline slowed and internet service complaints and small business complaints about landline services increased. 7709 complaints (12.6%) were recorded about landline phone services, a decrease of 18%. 19,936 complaints (32.7%) were recorded about mobile phone services, a decrease of 19%. 18,650 complaints (30.6%) were recorded about internet services, a decrease of 21%. 14,223 complaints (23.3%) were recorded about multiple services, a decrease of 45%. 480 complaints (0.8%) were recorded about property, a decrease of 24%. What people complained about The top five complaint issues for the period were: 18,845 complaints were about no action or delayed action by the service provider. 18,324 complaints were about disputed charges for a service or equipment. 8025 complaints were about no working phone or Internet service. 7202 complaints were about delays with connections or changing providers. 6387 complaints were about intermittent service or dropouts. Complaints from residential consumers Complaints from residential consumers decreased 30.5% to 51,560 compared to the corresponding period in 2017. The proportion of complaints from residential consumers decreased to 84.5 percent of total complaints, compared to 88 percent during July to December 2017. Complaints about landline, mobile, internet, multiple and property decreased. Residential consumers complained about lack of action by service providers to resolve their complaint, issues with disputed charges for services or equipment, no service delivery, & delay in establishing a service. Complaints from small businesses Overall complaints from small businesses decreased 6.4% from 9901 to 9270. The proportion of complaints from small businesses increased from 11.7% during July to December 2017 to 15.2%. Complaints about landline phone services increased 18.6% to 2562 compared to the corresponding period in 2017. Small businesses complained about no action or delayed action by the service provider to resolve their complaint, disputed charges for services or equipment, no service delivery, and delay in establishing a service. Complaints by state All states and territories in Australia saw an overall decline in complaints in the last six months of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017. Complaints by state (in alphabetical order) are as follows: Google has announced 30 new features or enhancements of its Google Cloud platform that are designed to improve the ability of organizations to manage security not only for the Google platform, but other cloud-based services and applications as well. "The mission here is to build the most trusted cloud," said Michael Aiello, product management director for Google Cloud, at a press conference announcing the new features. For example, Google Cloud will now have context-aware access at no additional charge. In addition, some G Suite customers will have access to a beta version of this feature. The feature was previously only available in beta for the Google Cloud Platform, he said. Google is also working on making its products easier to set up and configure in a secure way. "We agree with analysts that the biggest issues in the future are that it's tough to configure and set this up in a safe way," said Aiello. "Our goal is to make this simpler and simpler and simpler." Google's virtual private cloud security controls, previously in beta, are now generally available. These let Google's cloud customers define security perimeters around specific resources such as cloud storage buckets, BigTable instances and BigQuery datasets. They're part of the Google Cloud Security Command Center, first introduced last year, which now enters general availability. That helps companies defend against attacks that go after cloud infrastructure, said Aiello. For example, just last week a security firm discovered more than half a billion Facebook records were accidentally exposed through AWS. "The Amazon services were configured insecurely and this enabled attackers to steal Facebook data," John Pescatore, director of emerging trends at SANS Institute, tells CSO. The new Google features are a big deal, Pescatore says. "There is a constant stream of these news items about AWS S3 buckets, several breaches a month." Google partners with third parties for container security In addition to more native security features, Google is also partnering with outside vendors for additional capabilities. For example, StackRox offers details insights and security configuration support for Kubenetes containers. Previously, Google Cloud customers who wanted to use StackRox tools would have two separate management panels one for Google's own tools, and one for StackRox. Today, the StackRox data will be available via Google's Cloud Security Command Center. It's not just for containers deployed on Googles own platform, Michelle McLean, vice president of product marketing at StackRox, tells CSO. The security data can come from any private or public cloud service provider offering Kubernetes containers, as well as more limited data from providers offering non-Kubernetes containers. "We can paint a much richer picture if we can talk to Kubernetes," says McLean. According to McLean, there are several areas of potential vulnerability with containers. First is that, by default, Kubernetes allows any asset to talk to any other asset. That makes it easier for developers to build their applications and makes the platform backward-compatible with older systems. The downside is that the potential attack surface is larger than it should be. StackRox can analyze the traffic patterns of an application, identity which communication lines are used and which can be shut down, and can automatically handle the necessary configurations. "We took a super complicated problem and we've made it automated and instant," says McLean. Another potential security issue is access to the Kubernetes native management dashboard. Last year, McLean says, Tesla was hit by an attack where hackers were able to use their Kubernetes platform to generate brand new containers to run cryptomining software. "They didn't steal Tesla data, but Tesla was paying the bill for cryptominers because of these exposed Kubernetes dashboards." New configuration management tools According to Gartner, by 2020, 95% of cloud breaches will be caused by configuration issues. In addition to working with third-party vendors like StackRox, Google is also building out its own configuration management tools, said Jess Leroy, Google's director of product management for cloud security, at the press conference. "The Google security team has gone through all the different types of configurations that typically lead to breaches and created scanners that allow customers to go through and look for things like public buckets that shouldn't be public," he said. Altogether, 32 such detections have already built, as well an intelligent security policy recommendation tool and troubleshooter. "It's common for customers to over-grant privileges," Leroy said. "It means that there's a much broader attack surface." Google's own tools will also ingest data from non-Google platforms, such as private cloud deployments and Amazon Web Services. However, Google isn't out to compete with enterprise SIEM vendors, said Leroy. "We don't consider this to be a SIEM product," he said. "And most of our customers continue to use their own SIEM products." Customers can export data to one of Google's SIEM partners or get custom exports to other platforms. "We did a custom exporter for Splunk because many of our customers really wanted to push data to Splunk," said Leroy. Better authentication and phishing protection The biggest security threat vectors today are compromised credentials and phishing emails. Google has been working to protect its own services and users on both these fronts. For example, Gmail automatically filters or blocks suspected phishing emails, the Chrome browser protects users from visiting suspected phishing websites, and two-factor authentication is available for most of Google's products. Enterprises now have access to these tools in a variety of different ways. For example, it can take weeks, or months, for a company to shut down a malicious website that spoofs their official one to trick visitors into giving up credentials or downloading malware. Google now allows companies to submit spoofed sites to Google so that Google can immediately block them for its billions of users. Google is also expanding its authentication services to companies to use with their own apps. Its Android-based strong authentication, a separate, secure alternative to text messages, is now also available. Key fobs and similar physical security keys can be easily lost or left at home, said Rob Sadowski, trust and security marketing at Google, and SMS-based verifications can be hacked. "Our security keys are actually immune to those attacks," he said at the press event. "And we pretty much always have our phones. That makes it easy to use and always available." This could be a good security feature for data centers to use for their administrators and other privileged users, says SANS Institute's Pescatore. Rolling it out to all enterprise users in general could be more difficult, he added, since not everyone has Android phones. Acclaimed songwriter and recording artist Jared Anderson to release new single, Keep Your Eyes on Jesus, April 26. Keep Your Eyes on Jesus is a family-forward, heartfelt song about letting go just in time for spring and graduation season. Written from him as a father to his kids, this song is meant for walking those you love through growth and transition. This song was born out of the change of seasons and how the art of "letting go" feels impossible and yet so healthy. We dont always communicate how we really feel and its great to have a song that says it straight and helps us put the words in order. This song hasnt let go of me or my family the last three years and we just had to share it in hope that it lands on some real estate in your heart and helps you grow good and strong. - Jared Anderson Jared Anderson is a Christian worship leader from Colorado Springs, Colorado, serving for many years as part of New Life Worship and the Desperation Band. Anderson has released four solo albums with Integrity Music, titled Where to Begin (2006), Where Faith Comes From (2008), LIVE From My Church (2009) and The Narrow Road (2012) which includes Great I Am and I Am Free. (Full bio at www.jaredanderson.com) The song will be available for pre-order, and then available for download on April 26th on all music platforms. ### Construction on the first China branch of the Westminster School, one of Britain's leading public schools, began in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, on Tuesday. The branch is expected to begin its first autumn semester in 2020, offering bilingual education to about 2,000 Chinese and foreign students aged one to 18. According to Rodney Harris, the Chengdu branch's headmaster, 50 percent of the teaching staff will be from the United Kingdom. He said the pupils enrolled will receive both the Chinese national curriculum and an English curriculum to prepare them for the international GCSE examinations as well as English A-levels. He also said 10 percent of the enrollment will be reserved for students from poor families, with scholarships offered to cover the tuition. Westminster School was founded in 1179. Its notable former pupils include many Nobel Prize winners, well-known authors, artists and politicians. The school signed an agreement in 2017 with a Hong Kong education group called HKMETG to create branches in six major Chinese cities by 2028. Register with JOC.com and receive 5 free pieces of content for the first thirty days. After thirty days, you will receive 3 pieces of content and after sixty days you will receive 1 piece of content. To receive full access, Subscribe Today . You can also subscribe to our daily newsletter. Register Fifteen Cambodian ancient artifacts will be on display in Beijing, capital of China, before the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, Kong Vireak, director of the National Museum of Cambodia, said on Tuesday. Held at the National Museum of China in Beijing, the exhibition will bring together ancient objects from various museums in countries that have joined the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), he said. "It is a big event at the National Museum of China in Beijing," he told Xinhua. "We have selected 15 objects to join that exhibition. Now, our staff is there working with Chinese counterparts to put those objects on display." The selected items, according to Vireak, include bronze drums, a stone-made Buddha statue, lintels, bronze statues, and ceramics. "We tried to select objects that reflect the relationship between China and Cambodia through the history," he said. He added that the exhibition is very important to promote cultural exchanges. Cambodia had its ancient objects displayed in China in 2014, according to Vireak. Namibian youths are embracing Chinese to seize opportunities coming with the robust bilateral ties between Namibia and China. Jacobina Aumbandja, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Namibia (UNAM), registered for a Chinese language course at the Confucius Institute in the University in Windhoek in February 2017. "Interest for the Chinese culture, language and customs attracted me to the course," Aumbandja said Tuesday. She said she found the course enthralling. "Chinese grammar at the beginner level is significantly simpler than English. Mandarin characters are the hardest part in the beginning, and characters take more than one practice, a challenge which for a moment looks insurmountable," she said. At first captivated by the culture and language, it is believed learning Chinese would present breakthroughs in careers. Yang Xingang, a Chinese teacher at the Institute, said that Chinese language aids young Namibians to diversify social and economic prospects in light of robust investment between China and Namibia. According to Aumbandja, the course taught her how to compete effectively in the business environment. The language helps me in negotiating for bargains at the industrial China town shops in Windhoek, she said. "You are most likely to get discount if you know how to speak a bit of mandarin," she said. She is not the only one in the learning. Mon Shifotoka enrolled for the course this year. She said that studying Chinese is an extension of the studies in China a year back. For the communications and media graduate, fluency in Mandarin will increase her chances of getting employment in international development agencies. "It enables me to continue nurturing relations with Chinese people, embrace multiculturalism and boost prospects," Shifotoka said. Since its establishment in 2013 with support from the University of Namibia and China University of Geosciences, the Confucius Institute has made great progress, training more than 3000 students so far. Zhang Fan, director of the Confucius Institute, said that more locals have shown interest in the program, with more learners enrolled compared to last year's figure of 1,153 students. "Chinese course is open for UNAM students and all locals. We have daytime and evening course for basic Chinese. We also have Chinese course for bankers and will have a course for tour guides in 2019," he said. The institute has over the years transformed into a platform to learn Chinese. It is also a name card to display Chinese culture and a bridge of China-Namibia cultural exchanges. In addition to language skills acquisition, students like Aumbandja have been exposed to many cultural activities. The institute hosts the Chinese proficiency competitions both in college and secondary school level, with summer camps to China. It provides scholarship programs and has established a radio program to introduce China called "Hello, China!" "I developed an appreciation for Chinese culture and history. I learned how to cook Chinese food and dance. Learning a language is a good skill," said Aumbandja. Meanwhile, plans are underway to expand the teaching of the Chinese language. "We are planning to introduce the Chinese language in schools in the Khomas region. The application to introduce the Chinese language as a foreign language as part of the Namibian curriculum has been submitted to National Institute for Educational Development through the Khomas Directorate of Education under the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture," Zhang said. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) People say, "there's no business like show business." The same could also hold true in Philippine politics. The country's election season won't be complete without the presence of local celebrities endorsing certain candidates or as candidates themselves running for local or national posts. Some say celebrities enjoy undue advantage when they join the political fray. This is because of the high recall and awareness they enjoy prior to their candidacy as a result of being seen regularly in noontime programs, teleseryes, movies, commercials or celebrity events. In the upcoming midterm elections, at least 30 TV personalities are joining the race. They are vying for positions ranging from senator to congressman, mayoral and gubernatorial posts, to party-list representatives. 'Star Power:' Good or bad in PH politics? The mix of showbiz and politics does not guarantee a sure victory for any candidate. Although familiarity and recall are an advantage, UP Political Analyst Jean Franco believes that other factors come into play before celebrities actually get enough votes to elected. "There have been celebrity politicians who lost and there have been celebrity politicians who won elections. The problem is these candidates have to be humble enough that they don't know enough. So these celebrity politicians have to get good people because they have to work harder to prove themselves," Franco explained. Critics doubt celebrities in the political arena bring any significant good to the country. But the political analyst said there have been celebrity politicians instrumental in bringing positive change to their constituents' situations. Franco added one impression is that celebrities are "wallflower candidates" and are unable to contribute much to public discourse. "The disadvantage is the stigma that is attached to celebrity politicians is that they don't know enough and that they are going to be members of committees on silence," he said. Franco also said while celebrities enjoy recall and while public speaking is like second skin to them, there are times when a celebrity candidate's "bloopers" are highlighted, creating a damper to the celebrity's chances of being voted. "It's quite natural for them because essentially when you're in politics you also perform in front of audience not only during the campaign season but also when they're occupying political positions as they take on issues," Franco explained. Celebrities in the political limelight Former Senators Bong Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada are both seeking a Senate comeback after being detained and involved in the multi-billion pork barrel scam. The two actors-turned-lawmakers repeatedly told the public they are innocent and they did not do anything wrong in the multi-billion scandal. Yet, according to the latest Pulse Asia Survey, Revilla and Estrada would make it to the senators' Magic 12 circle if the midterm elections were held today. Survey frontrunner and Ang Probinsyano star Lito Lapid is also seeking a Senate seat. Lapid served as a senator in 2004 and was re-elected in 2010. The action star had filed 239 bills in the 15th Congress. His landmark law, the "Lapid Law" or the Legal Assistance Act of 2008, gives free legal assistance to poor Filipinos. Star for all Seasons Vilma Santos-Recto served as Lipa, Batangas Mayor and later on won as the province's Governor. Yet being the 5th District Representative of Batangas is totally a new role for Ate Vi. Santos-Recto said education remains to be her priority as lawmaker. She is one of the authors of the Anti-Discrimination Bill or SOGIE Equality Bill, the Expanded Maternity Leave bill and the Expanded Senior Citizen Bill. The Star for All Seasons also gained attention when she voted "no" against the reimposition of the Death Penalty in 2017. Santos-Recto lost her committee chairmanships after her controversial vote. "If you believe na talagang ito ang paniniwala mo at sa tingin mo, ito ang dapat mong gawin, paninindigan iyon. But that doesn't mean I'm fighting the government. Hindi ako nandito para kalabanin ang gobyerno," Santos-Recto explained in an interview with CNN Philippines. [Translation: If you believe in this and you think this is what you're supposed to do, that is principle. But that doesn't I'm fighting the government. I'm not here to fight government.] From one of the most sought-after actors and leading men during his time, Alfred Vargas turned his back from show business to run as Quezon City Councilor in 2010. He lost on his first try, but he won in 2013 as Congressman. He was unopposed in the 2016 national elections. Vargas admits that the shift from showbiz to politics was not easy. "Kasi madali naman buhay ng artista eh -- I mean, compared dito, kasi napakadali. Aralin mo lang script mo, mag-workshop ka, mag-perform ka okay ka na. Pero dito everyday talaga kailangan mo tumulong to solve the problems of the people," he said. [Translation: Because the life of an actor is easy, I mean compared to this since it's easier. You study your script, you do a workshop, you perform, and you're good. But here, you have to ensure you help solve the problems of the people every day.] As House Vice Chairman for Appropriations and one of the main authors of landmark laws like the one creating a Cancer Control Program in the country, Vargas says he needs to continually expand his knowledge on important political courses in order to keep up. "Courses like urban governance, urban resilience, disaster risk reduction tapos equality -- dapat alam mo lahat 'yan [You should know all these things.] I also took classes in finance kasi part ako ng [since I am part of] appropriations committee," Vargas added. Stars will not always shine bright for our favorite actors or actresses deciding to enter the challenging world of politics, but their performance as elected officials will be determined not through blockbuster success or awards but how they were able to improve the lives of their constituents and the people they choose to serve. Namibia's meat processing and marketing entity Meatco exported the first consignment of beef to China in March, signaling the commencement of a new channel of trade. The southwestern African country has about 2.4 million heads of cattle, of which 427,017 were marketed at an average producer price of 37.64 Namibia dollars per kg (about US$2.66), according to Meat Board Statistics 2018. The meat processing and marketing entity said that statistics for live export for 2018 was 30,874 heads, while export abattoirs stood at 77,471 heads. Local economist Daniel Kavishe on Friday told Xinhua that ultimately any boost in exports of products that are legally sourced in Namibia is a positive for the country's foreign earnings and ultimately good for the country. The move to export beef to China should be welcomed as it allows our farmers and producers access to new markets that were previously untapped, he added. Kavishe is of the view that exporters of meat have the advantage of setting the price and managing supply. Meatco Board Member, Mushokobandji Mwilima in a statement said the Asian market gives Namibia the choice of another valuable market. "An added bonus for Meatco is the placement of our products in a niche market where we can achieve the best prices possible for Meatco producers and continue to contribute to the economy in a positive manner," he said. Mwilima said the significance of the Chinese market, compared with the EU and others, is that it allows for the exportation of bone-in beef. "The fact that Meatco will be allowed to export bone-in beef will most likely allow the Namibian producers to send bigger volumes of beef into the Chinese market," he added. Namibia's trade and industrialization minister Tjekero Tweya said at the launch ceremony of beef export to China in Windhoek last week that Namibia will focus on value addition to the beef before it is exported. He said value addition will help the beef sector generate more income and create employment. "We will not continue to send unprocessed meat, but we will have value addition," he said, reiterating that producers should take value addition seriously before exporting unprocessed products. The journey to export beef to China began in 2011 when an agreement on animal health and quarantine was signed in Beijing before a Health Certificate was approved in 2015. A final memorandum of understanding was signed on March 29, 2018, while declarations for lumpy skin disease were completed in early 2019. SURREY, British Columbia, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zanzibar Gold Inc. (ZBR CSE; ZNZBF OTC Pinks) reports on its copper gold and vanadium Property on Vancouver Island. During this initial program soil and rock samples were taken in the area and analyzed for ICP 30 elements. Preliminary geological mapping and analysis was also undertaken. One new showing, gossan in a sheared portion of the gabbro was uncovered and sampling (Grab, rock) assayed 0.31% Copper and 1.15 grams gold with high vanadium (84ppm) and another sample from the same zone had copper and gold values and 194 ppm vanadium This new showing in a shear zone within the gabbro unit that crosses the entire property in a NNW direction and is anomalous in its entirety (2-3 km is present on the property) and continues to the north is part of the continuous unit with several gold copper showings. Values of samples in the adjacent properties and showings that are on the property have been reported in the 1-3 ppm range with high grade (adjacent properties) values in the 10+ gram per tonne range. Gold (over 2000 ounces) was recovered from the region, in the mid-20th Century from small operations. The preliminary sampling has indicated that the gabbro is more mineralized than the surrounding volcanics, with higher vanadium values. Anomalous gold values are associated with higher vanadium values and copper values. A review of the available data indicates that the gabbro is anomalous in vanadium and gold. Vanadium, found worldwide has a back ground of 50 ppm and 90% of the soil samples and over 75% of the rock samples taken on the property were above 100 ppm Vanadium. Recent reporting from the BBC outline that the gold price has hit a near-four week high, underlining worries about global growth (Brexit and the Rump EU) and the US Federal Reserve's cautious comments on the USAs economy. " the US dollar is weak and we saw [the] Chinese central bank's acquisition of gold for a fourth month. A combination of all these factors have moved gold into the $1,300s," said Bart Melek, head of commodity strategies at TD Securities in Toronto. President S.A. Farrage stated, The association of gold with a long trend of geology is always a positive and that we have an important new element, Vanadium, associated with it is encouraging. G. Macdonald, the QP for the company has reviewed this news release. On behalf of the Board S.A. Farrage, President 778-891-2701 Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 10, 2019) - AXMIN Inc. (TSXV: AXM) ("AXMIN" or the "Company") notes the following news release. AXMIN is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Lifei Jiang as CEO of Somio Toungou S.A and CEO of Aurafrique SARL in Central African Republic and Mr. Jean Qian as Board Secretary and CEO Assistant of Axmin Inc. Mr. Lifei Jiang benefits form over fifteen years of senior operational experience in Africa in the investment, construction and mining industries. He has served as project manager, vice general manager and general manager for the Chinese states owned enterprises China Geo-Engineering Corporation (CGC) and CGCOC Group Company Limited in several African countries where he was directly responsible for project management, bidding, financial controls, team building, and market development. Mr. Jiang is extremely familiar with local traditions and cultures, different applicable mining laws and effective operational procedures for delivering mining operations in Africa. For AXMIN, Mr. Jiang will be managing the in-country operations of the Company. Mr. Qian benefits from experience in senior administration of Chinese companies working with international counterparties to manage projects within and outside of China. He has been responsible for coordination and international communication in large events, as well as corporate news releases and translations. AXMIN's Chairman and CEO Lucy Yan sated: AXMIN is very pleased to appoint Mr. Jiang and Mr. Qian to assist the company with our in-country operations and international co-ordination. We believe these key staff additions will assist the Company as we fully restart our operations in the Central African Republic in the near future. We are very excited to see the improving security developments in the region around our mining asset and will provide a further update in this regard. About AXMIN AXMIN is a Canadian exploration and development company with a strong focus on the African continent. AXMIN continues to closely monitor the security situation at its Passendro Gold Project in the Central African Republic. For more information regarding AXMIN visit our website at www.axmininc.com. Please follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/axmininc For additional information, please contact AXMIN Inc.: Lucy Yan Chairman and CEO This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. AXMIN Inc. General Enquiries David de Jongh Weill Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. +65 9781 8281 Investor Relations This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. www.axmininc.com This press release includes certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All information, other than statements of historical fact included herein, including without limitation, information regarding the future option grant plans and objectives of AXMIN, are forward-looking information that involves various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from AXMIN's expectations have been disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in AXMIN's documents filed from time-to-time with the TSX Venture Exchange and other regulatory authorities. AXMIN disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether resulting from new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. 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. REITERATES ANNUAL PRODUCTION GUIDANCE Expected to produce between 92,000 and 98,000 ounces of gold at All-In-Sustaining-Costs between CAD$695 - $755 / oz. (US$521-566/oz. @ 0.75 USD/CAD) Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted VANCOUVER, April 10, 2019 /CNW/ - Atlantic Gold Corporation (TSX-V: AGB) ("Atlantic" or the "Company") is pleased to report gold production and sales for the first quarter 2019 at its Moose River Consolidated Gold Mine ("MRC") in Nova Scotia. Operating and production statistics for the full first quarter 2019 can be found in the below table: Production 2019 Tonnes Milled (t) 527,950 Gold Head Grade (g/t) 1.21 Gold Produced (oz) 19,612 Gold Recovery (%) 95.1% Sales statistics for the full first quarter 2019 can be found in the below table: Sales 2019 Gold ounces sold 19,173 As previously guided, production for the first quarter of 2019 was expected to reflect the mining sequence and production schedule which called for lower grade in the first quarter. Scheduled maintenance activities were also completed in Q1 including mill liner change and rebuilds of the mining fleet. In addition, the Company experienced downtime due to grid power outages and unplanned maintenance to the transformer at Touquoy. The company is pleased to reiterate its annual production guidance for 2019 of 92,000 to 98,000 ounces of gold at All-In-Sustaining Costs between CAD$695 - $755 / oz. (US$521-566/oz. @ 0.75 USD/CAD). Maryse Belanger, President and Chief Operating Officer, commented "We are pleased to have another winter almost behind us. The performance this quarter reflects both the challenges encountered and our production planning for operations. Overall production fell within the expected range for the conditions that were experienced. The team anticipates meeting annual guidance based on recent trends and planned activities for the remainder of the year". Furthermore, the Company plans to release its first quarter 2019 financial results on May 14th, 2019 pre-market. Qualified Persons Kodjo Afewu, Ph. D., SME (CP), Plant Manager for the Company and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, has approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release. Conference Call Details Atlantic Gold Corporation is hosting a live Q&A conference call to discuss the first quarter 2019 results on May 14th at 11:00 am Eastern time (8:00 am Pacific time) with the Atlantic executive team. Further updates will be provided in due course. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Steven Dean Chairman and Chief Executive Officer 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. About Atlantic: Atlantic is a well-financed, growth-oriented gold development group with a long-term strategy to build a mid-tier gold production company focused on manageable, executable projects in mining-friendly jurisdictions. Atlantic is focused on growing gold production in Nova Scotia beginning with its MRC phase one open-pit gold mine which declared commercial production in March 2018, and its phase two Life of Mine Expansion at industry lowest decile cash and all-in-sustaining-costs (as stated in the Company's news releases dated January 16, 2019 and January 29, 2018). Atlantic is committed to the highest standards of environmental and social responsibility and continually invests in people and technology to manage risks, maximize outcomes and returns to all stakeholders. Forward-Looking Statements: This release contains certain "forward looking statements" and certain "forward-looking information" as defined under applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "plans" or similar terminology. Forward-looking statements and information are not historical facts, are made as of the date of this press release, and include, but are not limited to, statements and discussion regarding the updated mineral reserve statement, future increases in the mineral reserve estimate, the updated life of mine production schedule, future changes to the life of mine production schedule, future drilling, the Company's priorities for 2019, discussions of future plans, guidance, projections, objectives, estimates and forecasts and statements as to management's expectations with respect to, among other things, the matters and activities contemplated in this news release. These forward-looking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results may vary. Important factors that may cause actual results to vary include, without limitation, the timing and receipt of certain approvals and agreements, changes in commodity and power prices, changes in interest and currency exchange rates, risks inherent in exploration estimates and results, timing and success, inaccurate geological and metallurgical assumptions (including with respect to the size, grade and recoverability of mineral reserves and resources), changes in development or mining plans due to changes in logistical, technical or other factors, unanticipated operational difficulties (including failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate in accordance with specifications, cost escalation, unavailability of materials, equipment and third party contractors, delays in the receipt of government approvals, industrial disturbances or other job action, and unanticipated events related to health, safety and environmental matters), political risk, social unrest, and changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets. In making the forward-looking statements in this press release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation, the assumptions that: (1) market fundamentals will result in sustained gold demand and prices; (2) the receipt of any necessary approvals, agreements and consents in connection with the development of any properties; (3) the availability of financing on suitable terms for the development, construction and continued operation of any mineral properties; and (4) sustained commodity prices such that any properties put into operation remain economically viable. Information concerning mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates also may be considered forward-looking statements, as such information constitutes a prediction of what mineralization might be found to be present. Certain of the risks and assumptions are described in more detail in the Company's audited financial statements and MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2018 on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. The actual results or performance by the Company could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, any forward-looking statements relating to those matters. Accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what impact they will have on the results of operations or financial condition of the Company. Except as required by law, the Company is under no obligation, and expressly disclaim any obligation, to update, alter or otherwise revise any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. Non-IFRS Performance Measures The Company has included certain non-IFRS measures in this news release. The company believes that these measures, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, provide investors with an improved ability to evaluate the underlying performance of the company. The non-IFRS measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. These measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable with other issuers. Readers should refer to the Company's management discussion and analysis, available on the Company's profile on SEDAR and on the Company's website, under the heading "Non-IFRS Performance Measures" for a more detailed discussion of how the Company calculates certain such measures and reconciliation of certain measures to IFRS terms. Cash costs Cash costs are a common financial performance measure in the gold mining industry but with no standard meaning under IFRS. Atlantic reports total cash costs on a sales basis. The Company believes that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, such as sales, certain investors use this information to evaluate the Company's performance and ability to generate operating earnings and cash flow from its mining operations. Management uses this metric as an important tool to monitor operating cost performance. Cash costs include production costs such as mining, processing, refining and site administration, less non-cash share-based compensation divided by gold ounces sold to arrive at total cash costs per gold ounce sold. Costs include royalty payments and permitting costs Production costs are exclusive of depreciation. Other companies may calculate this measure differently. All-in sustaining costs The Company believes that AISC more fully defines the total costs associated with producing gold. The company calculates all-in sustaining costs as the sum of total cash costs (as described above), corporate general and administrative expense (net of stock-based compensation), reclamation cost accretion and amortization and sustaining capital, all divided by the gold ounces sold to arrive at a per ounce figure. Other companies may calculate this measure differently as a result of differences in underlying principles and policies applied. Differences may also arise due to a different definition of sustaining versus growth capital. Graduate student wins regional Three Minute Thesis competition Wednesday, April 10, 2019 Chris Omni, Kansas State University masters student in public health, second from left, is the winner of the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools' Three Minute Thesis competition. | Download this photo. MANHATTAN Chris Omni, Kansas State University masters student in public health, Topeka, is the winner of the 2019 Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools' Three Minute Thesis competition. Omni is the first Kansas State University student to win the regional competition. Omni received a $750 award for her presentation "Black Butterflyz: Making Black Women's Health a Capital Concern." Omnis major professor is Emily Mailey, associate professor of kinesiology. The Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools, or MAGS, began hosting a Three Minute Thesis, or 3MT, competition, in 2016. The 2019 competition was March 22 in St. Louis and included 47 participants representing all 14 member states of the association. Omni said it was an experience of her professional goals becoming a reality. "Speaking intentions serve as an amazingly powerful tool for living," Omni said. "In December 2017, my husband and I traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina, and walked into an Omni hotel. We asked the front desk worker if we could see one of the conference rooms because I was scouting potential spaces to host a motivational speaking event. I stood in front of this vacant room and recorded my intentions about one day commanding a room that size or larger. Because of the MAGS 3MT victory, that intention will become a reality two years later when I stand onstage at the Omni hotel in Nashville, Tennessee, and continue my mission of making black womens health a capital concern." Sunanda Dissanayake, associate dean of the university's Graduate School, attended the MAGS conference and observed Omni's winning presentation. "All participants were excellent," Dissanayake said. "However, when Chris presented, she was really able to capture the audience and pass her research message in an exceptional manner. It was clear who the winner was going to be. It was a proud moment to see how well K-State is represented at the regional level." As winner of the MAGS 3MT, Omni is invited to give her presentation at the national level at the 2019 Council of Graduate Schools' annual meeting, December 4-7 in Nashville, Tennessee. Along with winners of 3MT competitions hosted by other regional affiliates of the Council of Graduate Schools, Omni will compete for a Peoples Choice award. The Three Minute Thesis is an academic competition first developed by the University of Queensland of Australia. Competitions are conducted at more than 600 universities in 66 countries. Learn more about the Three Minute Thesis competition hosted by the Kansas State University Graduate School. Continuous growth in China's foreign exchange reserves points to the country's better economic fundamentals and prospects of more gains in capital inflow, an analyst said Tuesday. China's foreign exchange reserves rose to 3.099 trillion U.S. dollars by the end of March, marking a five-month consecutive increase, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) showed. As China continues to be a key stabilizer of the world economy, its economic fundamentals will be a major influencer of market expectations, said Li Chao, chief analyst of Huatai Securities. Successive rises in the past five months could be the prelude to a burgeoning trend of capital inflow into China, Li said, adding that China's international balance of payments had reached an equilibrium that left more room for the central bank to manoeuver monetary policy for stable growth and employment. "We remain staunchly bullish on yuan-denominated assets," Li said. Commenting on the growth streak, SAFE spokesperson and chief economist Wang Chunying said earlier that China would maintain stable forex reserves with its economy running within a reasonable range despite rising volatility in the global financial market. U.S. fast food chain Burger King on Tuesday apologized after one of its commercials featuring chopsticks drew global backlash. "The ad in question is insensitive and does not reflect our brand values regarding diversity and inclusion. We have asked our franchisee in New Zealand to remove the ad immediately," Burger King said in an emailed statement. The commercial, uploaded to the chain's New Zealand social media page, featured actors struggling to eat burgers with large red chopsticks to promote a Vietnamese-flavored product, but social media users said the ad was culturally insensitive and played to stereotypes. It is unclear if the controversy will deal lasting damage to the brand's image and performance. In a similar episode last year, Italian fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana ran an ad in China depicting a Chinese model unsuccessfully trying to eat large portions of Italian food with a pair of chopsticks. The ad, coupled with a slow apology, sparked outrage among Chinese consumers, and forced the brand to cancel a show in Shanghai. Chinese e-commerce platforms also pulled its products from their websites, crippling its sales. According to media reports, the company still feels the pain months after the firestorm, as a-list celebrities and social media influencers around the world continue to shun the brand. David Malpass on Tuesday took office as the president of the World Bank Group, and said he looks forward to undertaking the task with enthusiasm. Malpass made his debut as the 13th president of the World Bank at its headquarters in Washington D.C. Tuesday morning. "I want to thank the Board of Directors and the Governors for selecting me," he told reporters. Malpass, former undersecretary for international affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department, was chosen by U.S. President Donald Trump in early February as the U.S. candidate for the post, following the abrupt resignation of former World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim. Malpass, 63, has secured approval from the World Bank's board after a campaign without competition. The World Bank Group announced in a statement Friday that he was selected as its president for a five-year term beginning on April 9, 2019. "There is a clear mission for the bank: poverty alleviation and shared prosperity. These goals are urgent, and I think we need a clear focus on achieving outcomes," he said. Malpass also highlighted challenges such as climate change, women's role in economic growth, and the need for stronger growth. "The bank has resources, it has staff, it has the ability to actually have an impact," he said. Candidates picked by the United States, the World Bank's largest shareholder with 16 percent of its voting power, have all ended up assuming the leadership post since the institution's inception in 1944. Malpass, who once criticized the World Bank, has raised concerns within the international development community over his skepticism about the role of the bank and multilateralism. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday revised up the 2019 growth projection for China to 6.3 percent, up 0.1 percentage point from its previous estimation in January, according to the newly released April 2019 World Economic Outlook (WEO). The upward revision reflected the combined impact of recent developments in the China-U.S. trade talks, China's stronger-than-expected expansionary fiscal policy, and a slowing global economy, Changyong Rhee, director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department, told Xinhua. "We have to revise our growth forecast due to more fiscal expansion, at the same time, the global economy has started to slow down, that actually has negative impact on that," Rhee said, adding that the IMF made the latest projection taking into account both positive and negative factors. In its latest annual government work report, China set the 2019 gross domestic product (GDP) growth target at 6-6.5 percent. The world's second-largest economy also pledges to continue pursuing high-quality development. The IMF's medium-term forecast sees a gradual slowdown in China "as internal rebalancing toward a private-consumption and services-based economy continues and regulatory tightening slows the accumulation of debt and associated vulnerabilities." In the latest WEO report, it projected a 6.1 percent growth rate for China in 2020, slightly down from the previous estimation of 6.2 percent. The report highlighted trade tensions as one of the key sources of downside risk to the global outlook, noting that raising tariffs would lead to higher prices for consumers, and trade policy uncertainty would reduce business investment, disrupt supply chains, and dampen productivity growth. You are here: Business China and the European Union (EU) welcomed progress in cooperation on 5G technology between respective business communities, according to a joint statement issued on Tuesday. "China and the EU welcome progress and further exchanges in the China-EU dialogue and working mechanism on 5G based on the 5G Joint Declaration of 2015, including on technological cooperation between respective business communities," the statement said. The statement was issued after the 21st China-EU leaders' meeting co-chaired by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. SALEM, Ore. Governor Kate Brown is throwing her support behind new legislation that would raise taxes on tobacco products, including the creation of taxes for e-cigarettes and other vaping devices. According to Brown's office, money raised by the tax would be funneled toward the Oregon Health Plan (OHP), the state's Medicaid program. .@OregonGovBrown testifying now. Her bill, the tax increase, would generate an estimated $300 million + to help fund health care for low-income Oregonians. Aubrey Wieber (@aubreywieber) April 10, 2019 "House Bill 2270 will improve health and save lives," Governor Brown told the House Revenue Committee. "Tobacco is still the No. 1 preventable cause of disease and death in Oregon. By increasing the cost of tobacco products and e-cigarettes, House Bill 2270 not only provides the funding we need to continue to provide health coverage to Oregonians, it invests in prevention and cessation to improve the health of our communities." Taxes on cigarettes would rise by about $2 per pack under HB 2270. The bill would also, according to Brown's office, tax e-cigarettes apparently through changes in terminology. The bill itself does not refer to e-cigarettes, but frequently mentions "inhalant delivery systems" for tobacco products. "The U.S. Surgeon General reports that 1 in 5 high school students and 1 in 20 middle school students use e-cigarettes," said Brown's office. To date, there has been little in the way of definitive results on the long-term health effects of e-cigarettes, however, in spite of some apparent issues flagged by the FDA. Distributors and retailers of tobacco products could also face new taxes under House Bill 2270. The new legislation is just one part of a multi-pronged approach by Governor Brown to find "long-term sustainable funding" for OHP. Two other funding measures were signed into law last month, and the Employer Health Care Responsibility Act (House Bill 2269) which adds a spending requirement for employers who do not contribute a minimum amount toward their employees' health care is also under consideration by lawmakers. If passed, Brown's office estimates that the bill would raise an additional $346 million per biennium with 90 percent of the funds earmarked for OHP and the remaining 10 percent going toward "investments in tribes, culturally specific organizations, and state and local public health to expand cessation efforts." SALEM, Ore. (AP) Oregon could be the 16th state to join a movement to switch to a popular vote model in presidential elections. The Senate voted 17-12 after a pitched floor debate on Tuesday to join an agreement between states known as the National Vote Interstate Compact. Under the compact, Oregon would pledge to give its 7 electoral votes to whoever candidate wins the national popular vote. Oregon House has passed our bill 5 times in recent years. #1person1vote https://t.co/mV1e5ebGOU NationalPopularVote (@NatlPopularVote) April 9, 2019 It's a way to bypass the Electoral College without changing the U.S. Constitution. The agreement would only take effect when enough states join to reach 270 electoral votes--the threshold needed to win the White House. The compact is currently 81 electoral votes short of its goal. Proponents say the popular model will ensure every person's vote counts. Those against claim it goes against the founding father's intentions. The measure now goes to the House. Democratic lawmakers in the Oregon legislature were quick to laud the bill's passage, pointing out that it passed with some bipartisan support. One of things Im most proud of is how over the history of this country weve expanded the franchise and given voters more of a direct say in the election of our leaders,said Sen. Michael Dembrow (D-Portland). Sen. Dembrow co-carried the bill with Sen. Brian Boquist (R-Dallas) on the Senate floor. Over time weve decided that its really important to have people have a direct say in the outcome of elections. We now have 14 other states and the District of Columbia in the compact, and its being considered in a number of different states. Its way past time for Oregon to join them. MEDFORD, Ore. -- Today state educators will take action to support funding Oregon schools as part of the #RedforEd movement. There will be a group today in Medford on different overpasses. The #RedforEd movement advocates for students across the state. The event today follows a 5,000 person rally in Salem this past February, statewide actions in March, and pressure from the group on lawmakers to invest in students. Events will also be taking place today in Portland and Eugene. Lawmakers recently released a proposal called the Student Success Act, which would invest $2 billion into Oregon schools. NewsWatch12 will be following this story today and will bring you updates as soon as we learn more information. SALEM, Ore. (AP) The Oregon Senate shot down a plan to limit the state's supply of recreational, legal marijuana. The proposal responds to a rampant oversupply of marijuana that's caused prices to plummet. The measure would have allowed the state to limit the number of marijuana production licenses it issues based on supply and demand for the product. Democrat Sen. Michael Dembrow from Portland said oversupply has left the state with enough marijuana to last nearly seven years. He said managing the amount of marijuana produced could prevent the product from slipping into the black market. Senate Minority Leader Herman Baertschiger, Jr., said the state should instead let the free market dictate prices. He said the plan amounted to "socialism" and was "a stab at capitalism in pure form." Lawmakers voted down the proposal 17-13. The measure was moved back to the Rules Committee for further consideration. The Supreme People's Court (SPC) on Wednesday announced sentence on the retried criminal case involving Gu Chujun, former chairman of refrigerator maker Guangdong Kelon Electrical Holdings, in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province. The SPC revoked the original sentence's convictions of Gu for falsely reporting registered capital, falsifying and withholding information, and changed Gu's sentence to five years in prison for embezzlement. Gu was arrested in 2005. In 2009, a final court ruling by Guangdong Higher People's Court sentenced him to 10 years in prison. He was also fined 6.8 million yuan (1.01 million U.S. dollars). The SPC also revoked the original sentence's convictions of Zhang Hong, another defendant of the original case, for falsifying and withholding information, and affirmed the original judgment of two years in prison with a suspension of two years for embezzlement. The other six defendants of the original case were acquitted. They were all sentenced prison terms of below four years in the original case. The SPC said Gu and others falsely reported registered capital, but the act was of relatively small social harm and was not a crime. It also said Kelon made false sales at the end of 2002, 2003 and 2004, leading to false information in their annual reports, but there is no sufficient evidence to show that this has seriously harmed shareholders' interests, hence Gu and others should be acquitted of charges. The original ruling on one count of embezzlement involving 290 million yuan was supported by proper evidence. Another count of embezzlement involving 63 million yuan lacked evidence and the original ruling applied the wrong law. In September 2012, after serving his term in prison, Gu filed a petition to the SPC. The SPC, after a review, announced a decision to retry the case in December 2017 and set up a collegiate bench with Pei Xianding, chief of the SPC first circuit court, as the presiding judge. During the court investigation phase of the retrial, the bench conducted a comprehensive hearing of the facts alleged in the original ruling and organized cross-examinations by the procuratorial and defense sides about the disputed evidence as well as new evidence submitted by the two sides or acquired by the court. The court also asked witnesses and experts to appear in court to give testimony or opinions. In a guideline on the better protection of property rights issued in 2016, China pledged to provide equal, comprehensive and law-based protection to all kinds of property rights and encourage public participation in the process. The Central Political and Legal Work Conference held in Beijing in early 2018 vowed to accelerate the retrials of major property-ownership-related cases to boost business confidence and foster positive market expectations. This July, more than 1,200 government officials, experts, and business representatives from around the world will attend the World New Energy Vehicle Congress (WNEVC) in Hainan, China's southernmost island province, announced Zhang Jinhua, deputy executive director and secretary general of China Society of Automotive Engineers, at a press conference of China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) in Beijing on April 9. CAST and the government of Hainan province will host the WNEVC 2019 from July 1 to 4. The meeting will consist of three segments including panel discussions about upgrading energy technologies, an exhibition of energy efficient designs for vehicles, and an award ceremony for the most recent breakthroughs in the green automotive industry. Under the theme "New Era, New Reform, New Industry," the upcoming congress will highlight the growing trend of electrification, artificial intelligence, and shared mobility in this field, focusing on the integration of New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) in smart city practices and the coordination between automobiles, energy, transportation, information, and communication industry. These trends will transform the automotive industry from fossil fuel-based cars to NEVs both in China and globally. The ecological upgrading of the automotive industry was first introduced in 2016 when Norway imposed a ban on petrol powered cars and aimed to phase out the use of these cars by 2025. Since then, an increasing number of developed countries and multinational enterprises have set agendas to promote vehicle electrification and the application of artificial intelligence in automobiles. Meanwhile, China has also accepted the responsibility in developing its green automotive industry and contributed to improving the global environment and energy issues. According to statistics from China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, last year, more than 1.25 million NEVs was produced and sold in China, and the domestic market share of NEVs increased to 4.4%. On Feb. 1, the Ministry of Information and Technology of China organized the research program for the prospect of NEV industry from 2021 to 2035, expecting to set a specific principle for NEV development in the next 15 years. Still, despite the promising future of NEVs, the entire automotive industry in China has experienced negative growth since 2018 for the first time in 28 years. In response to the sluggish trend, Zhang expressed his concern for the downward pressure on China's economy during the press conference, while also re-emphasized the significance of NEV's contribution to China's automotive industry. "NEV has become a highlight of the growth and innovation of the automotive industry, which is driven by technology and led by market demands. Government, enterprises, and companies are working to accelerate the transformation and upgrading of China's automotive industry," Zhang said. Activists are calling for more supervision over labor exploitation in an online crusade spearheaded by software developers against the so-called 996 work schedule, which is widely practiced in China's tech industry. The rules-which require employees to work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week without overtime pay-came under fire after a programmer created 996.ICU, a page on code-sharing platform GitHub.com. The page garnered immediate attention at home and abroad. The name 996.ICU refers to a saying among Chinese developers that following the 996 schedule puts you at risk of ending up in an intensive care unit. In the weeks that followed the creation of 996.ICU in March, the page has accrued almost 200,000 stars-which indicates popularity among users. Users listed tech companies that use the 996 schedule, and then created a licensing agreement that would ban such companies from using their codes. The 996.ICU page was soon blocked on multiple platforms including the messaging tool WeChat and the UC Browser. The 996 schedule was allegedly first adopted in 2016 by 58.com, a major online classified advertisement site. Jiang Ying, a professor at China University of Labor Relations and a leading expert on China's Labor Law, said the rare protest by sleep-deprived tech firm employees underscored the difficulties facing workers who defend their rights. "When resorting to the legal system for protection, there is a price to pay: time, money and the risk of losing your job. And as a result they took to cyberspace," she said. Employers are obliged to provide overtime pay, bonuses and welfare benefits to employees working overtime. But many tech company employees said it was too much to hope for. A senior developer with the e-commerce giant Alibaba, who asked not to be named to protect his career, said employers seldom say the schedule is compulsory, but failure to follow the rules could lead to low performance scores and layoffs. "Defiant behavior can also lead to losing your annual bonus, which is a lot of money," he said. To better protect workers from harsh treatment, Jiang suggested that oversight should be beefed up, and systems for lodging complaints should be improved. China's Labor Law prescribes that the working hours of an employee should not exceed an average of eight hours daily, or 44 hours a week. Employers may extend working hours after consultation with an employee, but shall not exceed three hours a day or 36 hours a month. The 996 work schedule, however, can easily ratchet up weekly work to 60 hours. Jiang said tech firms represent the country's most advanced productive force and should have the wisdom to adopt a more effective way to improve productivity. Zhao Wei, an industrial sociology professor at Beijing Normal University, said the new industries led by internet companies have revolutionized how workloads are calculated, thus dimming the distinction of working overtime. "Labor laws should be revised with new industries in mind-which in today's case is the information industry," she said. COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. -- Some residents at the Riverstone Mobile Home Park in Cottage Grove returned home Tuesday after having to evacuate due to severe flooding. Some streets in the park were covered in floodwaters with debris, parts of people's yards and even a car floating in it. However, some streets in the park cleared overnight. RELATED: Evacuation notices issued due to flooding in Lane County Residents said the water is coming from a nearby creek and traveling under the freeway. They said the water fills the field behind the park and then pours over into the park's streets. Officials with the Oregon Department of Transportation said this is due to the fact that culverts get blocked when a lot of water is flowing through at high rates. "I'm actually surprised it's gone down as much as it has today. Like I said, this whole area was full of water," said Sylvia Wege, the manager of the Riverstone Mobile Home Park. Although some streets in the park are clear, others are not. Some residents still aren't able to get to their homes. "It's still too deep to get into my carport," resident Sandra Morris said. "Therefore, I can't get into my house. It's scary to see what you're going to find, don't know yet what we'll find. It's just kind of scary. It's nervewracking and a good way to get a headache." Wege said the flooding is adding more financial struggles for the park as they are still paying for this year's historic snowstorm. She said the snowstorm cost them about $40,000 and said this flooding will likely tack on more. Residents are calling on officials to take a close look at the culverts near the park. "I think ODOT needs to come out and clean those culverts out on a regular basis," said resident Lydia Warner. Officials with ODOT said culverts near this park are flowing well now and are not blocked. They said they will be at the park Wednesday to fix what they can. YONCALLA, Ore. -- A stolen U-Haul vehicle was recovered Monday night after a Douglas County deputy stopped the vehicle for speeding, and two people have been arrested. The sheriffs office said Nicholas Slead, 32, of Tacoma, Washington, was driving the 2018 Ford Van when the deputy pulled him over around 5:30 p.m. His passenger, Elisa Gill, 30, of Gresham, had a warrant for her arrest. Deputies said they found methamphetamine and heroin in the vehicle. Slead and Gill face charges of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and unlawful possession of meth and heroin. A Chinese artist provoked mixed reactions online after photographing himself nude alongside the remains of his long-dead father during the Qingming Festival, or the Tomb-Sweeping Day. On this important annual occasion, the Chinese honor their ancestors, typically by cleaning and sprucing up family graves. "On the Qingming Festival, I opened my father's grave," wrote Siyuan Zhuyi, who tagged himself as a photographer, on the social media platform Sina Weibo on April 6. According to Siyuan, his father died 30 years ago, at the age of 28. The grave was weather-beaten, so he decided to move it to another location. "I also had a selfish wish," he said. "I wanted to take a photo with my father's remains." Siyuan Zhuyi was 3 years old when his father died, so he had no memory of him. He cherished two photos, and said, "I resembled him very much." In the long article Siyuan posted online, he wrote that he had "a peculiar feeling" when he lay beside his father's bones. "The contrast between life and death and between father and son was distinctive," he said. "With the sunshine on me and my father, I had a peculiar feeling I'd never had before. I think it was a sense of detachment. The world was tranquil. There was nothing in my mind. Time stood still." "Nudity is the primitive state of human beings. Why should I have clothes on when my father has no skin or flesh?" he said. However, the series of photos, taken by the artist's wife, launched a heated public debate as soon as they were posted online. While some people showed support to the artist, some thought that he acted out of narcissism. Weibo user Youluxuan, who also tags himself as a photographer, wrote, "I'm sorry, but I really don't understand. If I describe it as 'fresh art,' I think I stain the word 'fresh art.' This just makes me suspect you are twisted." Another Weibo user Fulangxi Siji wrote, "Some people call their actions 'art' just to hype themselves up. These works show no skill at all. (We are able to do it, but we dare not and are unwilling to do so)" and questioned, "What's the worth of these works?" But Siyuan also got support online. Weibo user Jianfeng Shijie, who tags himself as a designer, wrote, "It's acceptable for a photographer who lost his father in childhood to lie naked beside his father like a carefree kid. I like the work. I'm deeply touched." Another Weibo user Cuteee wrote, "It will be difficult to understand if you only read the title, but if you watch the full video, you will find it's a special commemoration and a special experience of life and death." In response to different reviews, Siyuan said, "Maybe only those who have really experienced death can understand." One day after he posted the photos online, Siyuan's Weibo account, which had over 12,000 followers, was closed. Many of his previous photographic works also contained nudes and skeletons. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 10) A 42-year-old man was driven by his obsession, leading him to skin and murder Cebuana student Christine Lee Silawan, police said on Wednesday. "He was so obsessed with the girl. He came to know the girl through text and chat messages. He is known for duping teenage girls," Central Visayas Police Director Brig. Gen. Debold Sinas said. He said the suspect was about to leave for Bohol to escape arrest, but he was collared at his home on Tuesday. Sinas added the suspect is involved in illegal drugs. "He is a pusher and a user. He is also in the drug watch list of the city police," he said. The police said they are confident the security camera footage and testimonies will pin down the suspect. They will also file a case for illegal possession of firearms after a .45 caliber pistol was recovered from the suspect during the arrest. The police declined to reveal the identity of the suspect pending the formal filing of charges. Authorities also held a reenactment of the crime based on the accounts of the suspect leading to the death of the victim. The 16-year-old student who was found dead in Barangay Bankal, Lapu-Lapu, City on March 11. "He executed an extra-judicial confession and we have recovered pieces of evidence pinpointing him (as the killer)," Sinas said. He said the police will meet up with the National Bureau of Investigation from Central Visayas, the team who arrested Silawan's ex-boyfriend. They filed a murder complaint against the teenage suspect before the Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor's Office. It remains unclear how the two suspects are related. NBI Central Visayas Regional Director Tomas Enrile said the case that they filed against Silawan's former boyfriend will not be affected with the recent developments. He said that the case will continue. Cebu-based journalist Dale Israel contributed to this report. 2018 will certainly be a year that Glanbia farmers wont forget in a hurry Storm Ophelia, Storm Emma, the Beast from the East, a wet April followed by a dry summer it certainly was a year that presented significant challenges. But I think it was also a year that farmers and the Glanbia organisation responded to those challenges. The organisation rolled out a number of very well received support initiatives for our farmers. It is hard to believe that, after all the extremes that Mother Nature threw at us, milk supply to Glanbia Ireland last year was 5% ahead of the previous year. This milk production came at significantly increased cost for farmers, with record feed sales and Glanbia feed mills flat out 24/7 in mid-summer. Hopefully 2019 will be kinder from a weather perspective. The mild weather in the early months of 2019 has allowed farmers get cows out to grass earlier than expected and has helped preserve fodder stocks. Many farmers have told me that they intend to save extra silage this year if at all possible. A buffer of fodder available in the yard is certainly prudent. Milk supply in the year to date has been very strong, but of course we are comparing it against 2018 when snow and storms hit production. Here in Glanbia Ireland we are forecasting a record peak in milk production this year and we are preparing our plants for that intense period in May and June. In south Kilkenny, a new third drier is currently being commissioned in Belview in order to handle that extra milk. In recent months we also made the very significant announcement of a strategic partnership that proposes to build a new Continental cheese manufacturing facility in Belview. This will be a joint venture with Royal A-ware, a leading global cheese and dairy producer in The Netherlands. It is proposed that a total of 140 million will be invested in this best-in-class facility. The new facility is scheduled for commissioning in 2022 and will produce Continental cheeses in various formats. Subject to planning approval being secured, the new facility will have a production capacity of 450 million litres of milk per annum. It will be a great economic boost to Kilkenny and the surrounding counties, with approximately 80 full time jobs created at the facility. It is expected that a further 100 temporary jobs will be created during the construction phase. We have also been in the news recently with the announcement of our Twenty20 Beef Club which is a strategic alliance with Kepak. The Twenty20 Beef Club affords members a guaranteed market for their heifers and steers with a predictable and transparent pricing formula at time of slaughter; a production blueprint supported by safe and secure high-quality farm inputs and leading-edge technical advice. For Kepak customers and consumers, the Twenty20 Beef Club will provide a secure and predictable supply of high-quality beef with unrivalled traceability and with the attributes of a closed loop supply chain. This year will be a pilot year for the programme, with a target of 6,000 calves from Glanbia Ireland supplier dairy farms in the Republic of Ireland. Over the coming years Glanbia Ireland and Kepak have ambitious plans to rapidly expand numbers in the programme to 50,000 per annum. In a world-first in the beef sector, Glanbia Co-op has provided funding for the pilot phase to allow its Members of the Twenty20 Beef Club to benefit from an advanced payment of up to 770 per animal to provide cashflow during the animals lifetime. This optional programme component, administered by Finance Ireland, will pay a Twenty20 Beef Club Member 35 per animal per month from months 3 to 24. We are delighted to partner with Kepak to establish the Twenty20 Beef Club. This programme provides our combined Club of farmer suppliers the opportunity to collectively produce beef in a model focused on ensuring both economic and environmental sustainability. The need for all of our products to be produced in an environmentally sustainable manner is very high on our agenda. Finally, I would urge all local homes and businesses in County Kilkenny to continue to support their local farmers by buying our high quality dairy products. Glanbia has over 1,000 employees based in Co Kilkenny and 800 dairy farmers in the county. In 2018 we distributed over 170 million to the local farming community. By supporting Glanbia Irelands dairy farmers and choosing our brands like Avonmore for your table, we can keep growing together. Thank you for your support. An Bord Pleanala have announced their decision in relation to the controvertial Barrow Blueway this afternoon. Permission has been refused. An order has been made by An Bord Pleanala today (Wednesday) refusing permission for the 115km 'multi-use shared leisure route.' The proposed development was to be located along the existing navigation tow path, which is a National Waymarked Way. The route traverses parts of counties Kildare and Laois as well as Carlow. Carlow County Council had refused permission for the project in February 2018 but the decision had been appealed to An Bord Pleanala by the Save the Barrow Line group, by Waterways Ireland and by others. In making it's decision An Bord Pleanala took several matters into consideration (summarised below from the report): 1. Article 6(3) of the EU Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC The Board was not satisfied, beyond reasonable scientific doubt, the plan would not adversly affect the integrity of the Rive barrow and River Nore Special Area of Conservation. This is in regard to the otter habitat and the "unbound surface of compacted stone and dust" within a flood zone. 2. Carlow County Development Plan The proposed development would materially contravene Heritage Objective 5 and Heritage Policy 2 of the Carlow County Development Plan 2015-2022 and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area. 3. User numbers and path width The Board considers the level of detail submitted regarding the capacity of the route is not such as to enable an accurate assessment of the extent of restricted widths along the route. The Board also has concerns with regard to the methodology and projection of likely user numbers. On the basis of the information available it is considered that the proposed development would, therefore, endanger public safety by reason of likely user conflicts, would lead to the creation of a potentially hazardous and low quality experience for users. 4. Existing Landscape The proposed development would interfere with the character of the existing landscape, would be contrary to the policies of the Carlow County Development Plan relating to the protection of sensitive landscapes ans scenic assets. Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) concluded their two-day annual meeting in Dinard, western France, on April 6 with a joint communique acknowledging China's capacity to make important contributions to global public goods. This could be an indicator of the split among G7 powers on views towards the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which some developed countries demonize as a sign of China's economic orbit and as an obstacle to their own alliances. Skepticism around the BRI has always existed. In December 2018, U.S. National Security Adviser John R. Bolton claimed in a speech that the ultimate goal of the Belt and Road Initiative is to advance Chinese global dominance. James Holmes of the U.S. Naval War College has similarly expressed the belief that the BRI will enable China to gradually eject the U.S. from Asia over time, while weaning away its allies. Vali Nasr, dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), believes that the Silk Road, which links China-EU trade, will change the concept of "Asia" and the world order. But in fact, the BRI refers to the integration of East and West and reflects the rise of Asia as a whole, not just the Asia-Pacific region. Holdover from the Cold War Taking a historic view, the U.S. system of alliances is a legacy of the Cold War, following which successive U.S. administrations sought to strengthen its global position by adapting to new strategic trends and regional changes. Today, that system remains as the foundation of U.S. diplomatic relations and global security. By establishing a series of permanent military bases, operational bases and cooperative security points in allied countries, the U.S. effectively protects its global interests and can handle regional crises based on those interests. As the famous American scholar Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote, "The supremacy of the United States in the world is supported by a fine system of alliances covering the whole world." However, under Trump's "America First" policy, the U.S. alliance system has encountered unprecedented crisis. On December 4, 2017, Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times wrote in "Farewell Uncle Sam, Hello Uncle Donald" about the status quo and future development of U.S.-ally relations since President Donald Trump took office. Focusing on the three closest American allies the U.K., Australia and Japan Rachman concluded that if these alliance systems were to disintegrate, the global strength of the United States would collapse. At the end of the Cold War, the Americans encountered a crisis of legitimacy in the Asia-Pacific region. With the disappearance of the Soviet threat, U.S. military presence was newly questioned by countries in the region, including allies. In addition, due to the emergence of nationalism in the Philippines, Japan and other countries, the U.S.-Japan alliance stagnated and the U.S. army was swept out of the Philippine military base, leaving the U.S.'s leadership in the region tottering. U.S. loss of power in the 21st century Since the beginning of the 21st century, on one hand, due to emphasis on the "war against terror," the U.S.'s attention to the Asia-Pacific region has faltered. Under the name of joint counter-terrorism, the Bush administration gave the Asia-Pacific allies a new mission. Alliances with Japan, South Korea and Australia have surpassed the security of the Asia-Pacific region and become involved in the Middle East and Central Asia. On the other hand, the United States has gone through two regional wars and one financial crisis, with its strategic resources drastically overdrawn and its power and prestige battered. Therefore, its ability to control the order in the Asia-Pacific region has declined. Meanwhile, the region has experienced a period of rapid development rarely seen in history; with structural changes in power and integration processes, the dominant position of the United States in the region has met with limitations. The rise of emerging countries in the Asia-Pacific region and the voices of dissent from its own allies have made the U.S. anxious about an unprecedented loss of hegemony. Unable to maintain operation of the alliance system, the U.S. therefore casts the BRI as a scapegoat. When the U.S. diplomatic environment is facing new changes, its economy is fluctuating, and it is unable to bear the high cost of maintaining hegemony any more, the gap between its ability to implement foreign policy and its target of maintaining vital national interests is expanding. The U.S. has acutely felt that its status of superpower has been challenged. Moreover, some of its allies are accustomed to enjoying the protection provided by the United States, which also places its authority at stake. Asia on the rise The Asia-Pacific region is one of the most dynamic areas with the greatest growth potential in the world today. In the context of the world economy, the Asia-Pacific economy, despite positive trends, is also facing uncertainty and challenges such as stagnant growth. China's BRI, with interconnectivity as the acting point, promotes the flow of production factors and public goods to further unleash economic growth potential. China has achieved rapid development in its own right while integrating into the international economic system. The BRI shows China's intent to open up through extensive reforms of economic structures, and it promotes further integration of all parties into the global market through interconnectivity. Italy became the first member of the G7 to formally join the initiative, and its decision to join is a positive move that will help boost its economy and cooperation between the two countries. The United States' Asia-Pacific alliances never were a cooperative development system, so no matter where it goes, it cannot place blame on the BRI. Yang Fanxin is an associate research fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China. Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. If you would like to contribute, please contact us at opinion@china.org.cn. WARSAW, April 10 (Reuters) - Poland's KGHM , one of the world's biggest copper and silver producers, has no plan to sell its foreign assets but may freeze some in Canada or the United States if they require big investments, its chief executive said. State-run KGHM, which for many years had focused only on Poland, accessed Chilean, Canadian and U.S. metal deposits through its almost $3 billion purchase of Quadra FNX in 2012, the largest foreign acquisition by any Polish company. Since then, KGHM's foreign assets have struggled with rising costs, falling copper prices, technical problems and higher-than-expected capital spending, which raised questions over KGHM's plans regarding their potential sale. "We are not currently thinking about selling foreign assets. We're considering strategies for the next few years," KGHM Chief Executive Marcin Chludzinski told Reuters. All of KGHM's foreign mining projects except those in Chile have been put under review, he said. "It's not that we want to or have to sell. It's more that we are looking at these assets as a strategic reserve. We're considering actions similar to those we took at the Morrison mine, which is to freeze a project," Chludzinski said. "One of the options is a partnership. It doesn't have to be an international partnership, as there is a lot of capital in Poland too," he added. At its flagship Sierra Gorda mine in Chile, KGHM plans increased copper production but does not rule out reducing capital expenditure there. "We are fighting for Sierra Gorda as this is a big project for us. It looks like we can achieve certain results there even with reduced costs, and some investment may not be necessary. Capex in Sierra Gorda could fall in coming years," he said. It is difficult to estimate when Sierra Gorda will become profitable, he said. In Poland, which accounts for 80 percent of KGHM's production, the company plans to focus on cutting costs and increasing output. "We are fighting to raise production and struggling with costs. But the price is good for us so we should be able to improve our financial results this year," the CEO said. The miner expects its output of electrolytic copper in Poland to rise to 559,000 tonnes in 2019 from 502,000 last year and to remain stable in the coming years, he also said. In 2018, KGHM's net profit rose to 1.66 billion zlotys ($437 million) from 1.57 billion zlotys a year earlier. TURNING GREEN KGHM, the biggest electricity consumer in coal-burning Poland, wants green sources to provide half of the energy it consumes in 10 years. "We go for solar energy, gas and steam turbines and wind, but wind only from existing farms," Chludzinski said. The company pulled out of a project to build Poland's first nuclear power plant, but is looking forward to the expected increase in production of electric vehicles, which would translate into higher demand for copper. Chludzinski also said KGHM was resistant to the jump in power prices seen in the past few months, as it buys most of its energy via long-term contracts, with prices settled as of the first half of 2018. ($1 = 3.7987 zlotys) (Editing by Dale Hudson) BRUSSELS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday he was impatient to hear more from Prime Minister Theresa May on why European Union leaders should grant Britain an extension to the Brexit negotiation period. I am very impatient to listen to Theresa May, but as far as Im concerned, nothing should be taken for granted. Nothing. And especially - I hear the rumors - a long extension, Macron told reporters as he arrived at an EU summit in Brussels. We must understand why this request is being made, what political project justifies it, and what the proposals are, he said. Macron has been one of the most vocal leaders in expressing his irritation with how Brexit negotiations have dragged on, and is pushing for strict conditions to be attached to any delay granted to Britain. French officials have said Britain should pledge not to obstruct EU decision-making and commit to stay out of major decisions - such as deciding the next European Commission president or budget talks - if it is to be granted a delay. Now is the time for decisions, Macron said. (Updates with closing prices) By Peter Hobson LONDON, April 10 (Reuters) - Zinc touched a two-week low on Wednesday on concerns that Chinese smelters will ramp up output, but prices were supported by a shortage of immediately available material on the London Metal Exchange (LME). Benchmark zinc on the LME closed 0.4 percent up at $2,873 a tonne after slipping to $2,842, its lowest since March 26. Deficits have driven LME stocks to record lows and pushed zinc, used to galvanize steel, to a nine-month high of $2,958 on April 1. But the supply situation is expected to change rapidly after Chinese treatment charges soared to $240 a tonne from a low of $12.50 at the start of 2018. Smelters are likely to seize the opportunity to make money by ramping up production in the second quarter, said Deutsche Bank analyst Nick Snowdon. LME STOCKS/SPREAD: Headline stocks in LME-registered warehouses, at 52,550 tonnes, are down from 129,000 tonnes at the start of the year. The premium for cash zinc over the three-month contract has shot to $74.50 from close to zero in early February, suggesting a shortage of nearby material. SHFE STOCKS: However, stockpiles in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE), at 108,772 tonnes, are up from about 20,000 tonnes at the start of the year. MINE SUPPLY: Global mine supply of zinc is expected to rise 6.4 percent this year to 13.87 million tonnes, according to the International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG). REFINED SUPPLY: But higher mine production has been slow to feed through to the refined market, with the ILZSG showing a 384,000 tonne deficit in 2018 and another shortfall in January. GLOBAL GROWTH: The IMF cut its forecast for world economic growth this year to 3.3 percent from 3.5 percent and said the chances of further cuts are high. TRADE WAR: U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on $11 billion worth of European Union products, opening a new front in his trade war. LAS BAMBAS: An indigenous community voted to suspend its two-month road blockade of Las Bambas, a large Peruvian copper mine, for two days until the government visits the region on Thursday. ALUMINA: Emirates Global Aluminium said its Al Taweelah alumina refinery in Abu Dhabi had commenced operation. It is expected to produce 2 million tonnes of alumina a year once fully operational. OTHER METALS: LME copper ended 0.4 percent down at $6,464 a tonne, aluminium fell 0.8 percent to $1,864, lead slipped 1.1 percent to $1,953.50 and tin eased by 0.1 percent to $20,850. Nickel did not trade but was bid 0.1 percent lower at $13,230. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Top Base and Precious Metals Analysis - GFMS TECH/C ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Peter Hobson; additional reporting by Mai Nguyen; editing by David Evans and David Goodman) LME price overview COMEX copper futures Base metals news All metals news All commodities news Metals diary Foreign exchange rates SPEED GUIDES )) Flash Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived in Croatia on Tuesday for an official visit to the country and the eighth leaders' meeting of China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) in the Croatian seaside city Dubrovnik. Upon Li's arrival, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and his wife Ana Plenkovic led a warm welcome ceremony at the Zagreb Airport. Children dressed in national costumes presented flowers to Premier Li and his wife Cheng Hong. Li is the first Chinese premier that pays a visit to Croatia since the two countries established diplomatic ties 27 years ago. The Chinese premier said he is happy to visit the beautiful country, adding that China and Croatia share a profound traditional friendship. Bilateral relations enjoy healthy and stable development on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefits, and cooperation in all areas has continuously achieved significant breakthroughs, which has brought tangible benefits to both sides, Li said. "I expect this visit can consolidate China-Croatia traditional friendship, enhance political mutual trust, strengthen the alignment of the two countries' development strategies and policies, expand and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides, so as to promote China-Croatia comprehensive cooperative partnership to a new higher level," the premier said. Li said that currently, cooperation between China and the 16 CEECs has shown strong vitality with significant outcomes achieved in areas including economy and trade, investment, finance, infrastructure, agriculture, and people-to-people and cultural exchanges. It has become a vigorous inter-regional cooperation mechanism which has provided a new avenue for China's cooperation with Europe, he added. Li said China expects to work with the 16 CEECs, under the principles of equality and consultation, mutual benefits, openness and inclusiveness, and with pragmatic and innovative spirits, to make the cooperation mechanism an important platform for synergizing the Belt and Road Initiative and the EU strategy on Connecting Europe and Asia so as to inject new impetus into the development of the China-CEEC relations and the European integration process. During the visit to Croatia, Li will have a meeting with Plenkovic, with whom he will hold a joint press conference, attend an opening ceremony of the Year of Tourism between China and Croatia, inspect the project of the Peljesac Bridge and witness the signing of cooperation deals in several areas. Li will also meet Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic and Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic. During the China-CEEC leaders' meeting themed "Building New Bridges through Openness, Innovation and Partnership," the Chinese premier and leaders of 16 CEECs will plan practical cooperation in the future, witness the signing of cooperation deals, attend a series of activities including an economic and trade forum. Li will also hold bilateral meetings with CEEC leaders. Before landing in Zagreb, the second stop of the premier's five-day tour to Europe, Li concluded his trip in Brussels with the successful holding of the 21st China-European Union (EU) leaders' meeting. SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country needs to deliver a serious blow to those imposing sanctions through a self-reliant economy, North Korean state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Thursday. KCNA said Kim stated North Koreas position on the second U.S.-North Korea summit that took place recently, saying, We must deal a serious blow to the hostile forces who are mistakenly determined to bring us down with sanctions by advancing the socialist construction to a high level of self-reliance that fits our circumstances and state, based on our own power, technology and resources. North Korea is expected to convene a session of its legislature, the Supreme Peoples Assembly, on Thursday, while U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to hold a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in later on Thursday. Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Leslie Adler April 9 (Reuters) - A political feud over President Donald Trumps picks for the U.S. Federal Reserve Board broke into an open brawl on Tuesday even before the nominations of Herman Cain, a former restaurant chain executive, and Stephen Moore, a conservative economic commentator, have been formally submitted to the Senate. Cain and Moore, both overt loyalists to the president, in recent days have waged unprecedented public campaigns for the Fed jobs, with both eagerly endorsing Trump's economic policies and Moore pledging to "accommodate" those policies once he is at the Fed. The central bank's leadership prides itself on its nonpartisan stewardship over the world's biggest economy, and views political independence as key to its ability to carry out monetary policy effectively. On Tuesday, Democrats including Senator Chuck Schumer and Joint Economic Committee Vice Chair Carolyn Maloney took public aim at the pair's qualifications, with Maloney saying that Moore is "superbly underqualified for the role for which he has been nominated." And at least four Republican Senators indicated they could break ranks on Cain, enough to sink his chances for the required approval in the Senate. The Trump administration is "probably going to hear from a number of our members about concerns that they have" about Cain, John Thune, the Republican whip in the Senate, told Politico. Another Republican senator, John Cornyn, said, "Before the president starts floating names ... we need to have a conversation about who is actually confirmable up here," according to a Twitter post by New York Times reporter Glenn Thrush. Cain and Moore are battling hard for the two vacant seats on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, positions that would give them a say for years on interest-rate policy and bank regulation. In recent days they have taken to social media and the airwaves to promote themselves and lash out at critics and anyone they view as standing in the way of Trumps agenda or his prospects for reelection. In an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, Moore trumpeted his agenda for economic growth and again took aim at critics. There are a lot of people on the left that are afraid of my ideas. They realize that they couldnt defeat me based on my ideas, because theyre popular, and theyre right, so that leads to this kind of smear campaign, which is ugly," Moore said. "I have a pretty populist agenda that Im pursuing, which is more growth, higher wages, more transparency and more sunlight on how the Fed operates," Moore said, calling those priorities "the right things to do" and saying that he wants to talk directly to the American people." "NOT SO FAVORABLY INCLINED" Cain and Moore's open politicking is a departure from past practice, with confirmation of Fed nominees typically a sleepy process of quizzing candidates, mostly economists with doctoral degrees, about their views on monetary policy and banking oversight. Lewis Alexander, chief U.S. economist at Nomura Securities, said it was positive "for people's views to be known," but he added a note of caution. "It is certainly not a part of the Federal Reserve's mandate to promote the chances of reelection of a particular president." Trump has repeatedly criticized the Fed for raising rates, saying that rate hikes are holding back the economy. His pick of Moore and former Republican presidential candidate Cain has been seen by critics as a means to put pressure on the central bank to ease policy and help him politically. Moore and Cain have kept up unusually public profiles. Cain's has included digs against Democrats ("lunatic liberals," he said Monday on Facebook) and gays (a Tuesday tweet linked to a piece on Floyd Brown's Western Journal that portrays gays as unnatural). Cain has said he would not be disappointed if he does not get the Fed job, but has repeatedly brought it up on his daily show. In a video posted Tuesday, Cain said "a lot of people ... do not like the fact" that he is under consideration and are trying to discourage the administration from nominating him because of his conservative political leanings. "The decision's going to be made basically on the facts," he said. Cain remains co-chair of the America Fighting Back PAC, which was co-founded by Brown to promote Trump's reelection. Cain's photo and name were used as recently as last month in a letter raising funds to oppose a group of 12 senators if they ever "cross" Trump. Two of those senators are on the Senate Banking Committee, the first stop in a two-step Senate approval process for any Fed nominee. Brown, who was the founding chairman of Citizens United, said in an interview that Cain has stepped back from day-to-day involvement in the PAC. Cain did not respond to requests from Reuters for comment. Moore in radio and TV interviews has praised Trump's economic record and embraced easing monetary policy, a stance that Trump himself has vigorously promoted. People "are not going to vote against someone who has been this successful on the economy," Moore said on Monday, adding in another interview that day that he is "looking forward to getting over to the Fed." Cain's candidacy appeared by late Tuesday to be drawing the most political fire. Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski told The Hill that she is "not so favorably inclined" on Cain, whose 2012 run for president was derailed by claims of sexual harassment, which he has denied. Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell declined to publicly endorse him, the Washington Post reported. It is not the first time a Fed nominee has faced political opposition. In 2011 Republicans scuttled the nomination by Democratic President Barack Obama of Peter Diamond, a Nobel laureate in economics and MIT professor, for what Republican Senator Richard Shelby then said was a lack of experience and appropriate policy preferences. (Reporting by Ann Saphir and Trevor Hunnicutt Additional reporting by Howard Schneider Editing by Leslie Adler) (Adds investor comment, detail) By Tiisetso Motsoeneng JOHANNESBURG, April 10 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe may withdraw mining rights from companies that take too long to dig for minerals, the deputy mines minister said on Wednesday, part of efforts to lift output in a sector vital to the country's economic revival. Zimbabwe sits on the second-largest known platinum deposits after neighbouring South Africa and President Emmerson Mnangagwa is keen to revive mining after years of reticence by foreign investors during the Robert Mugabe administration. Speaking to investors and executives at a mining conference in Johannesburg, Polite Kambamura said details of the so-called "use it or lose it" approach to mining policy would be made available in due course. "We will be calling owners of such mineral resources to come forward and show cause why they are not mining," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the conference. "If we're not satisfied with their explanation or mining plans, then we will kindly ask them to give that resource back to the government." As part of plans to boost mining export revenues to $12 billion a year as of 2023 from $3 billion now, Kambamura also said the country was putting policies in place to make it easier for mining companies to boost production, while urging investors to restart mines that closed in periods of political upheaval. Last month, Zimbabwe said it would scrap the controversial indigenisation law under which foreign companies are restricted to only 49 percent of their Zimbabwean operations. Zimbabwe, which counts South Africa's Impala Platinum and Anglo American Platinum among its mining investors, is also in talks with an industry body, the Chamber of Mines, about reviewing and streamlining mining taxes. "The ministry is looking at the whole array of taxes like royalties etc to streamline them and establish a more competitive regime," Betirai Manhando, president of the Chamber of Mines, said at the same conference. MIDDLE-INCOME ECONOMY About a year ago, Mnangagwa won the first election since the removal of Mugabe in 2017, and has laid out an economic transformation strategy that his government hopes will turn the country into a middle-income economy by 2030. Though investors at the conference did not dispute the prospect of lucrative returns from the country's underdeveloped mining, tourism and agricultural industries, they were worried about shortages of foreign currency. "Currency convertibility is a big issue for investors," said Richard Tait, a director at Harare-based private equity outfit Mangwana Capital - which is trying to raise $150 million for investments in Zimbabwe. Mangwana's investments that mainly earn foreign currency should deliver returns of more than 20 percent, Tait told Reuters. Zimbabwe ditched a discredited 1:1 dollar peg for its dollar-surrogate bond notes and electronic dollars on Feb. 20, merging them into a transitional currency called the RTGS dollar. (Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Dale Hudson and Kirsten Donovan) Messaging: tiisetso.motsoeneng.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) LONDON, April 10 (Reuters) - Swiss gold refiner Valcambi has lost a contract to refine around 4 million ounces of gold a year from Newmont Mining Corp, one of the world's biggest producers, five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. U.S.-based Newmont put the contract up for tender last year and has split the business between three of Valcambi's rivals - Asahi in the United States and Argor-Heraeus and PAMP in Switzerland, the sources said. "It all went up for tender and different refineries won different pieces (of the contract)," said one source. Valcambi, Argor-Heraeus, PAMP, Asahi and Newmont all declined to comment. Valcambi is the world's largest gold refinery and had processed almost all of Newmont's gold output for around 15 years, the sources said. Newmont owned a majority stake in Valcambi until 2015 when it sold the shares to India's Rajesh Exports. The sources said Newmont would send gold from its mines in the United States to Asahi and material from mines in Peru and Ghana to either PAMP or Argor-Heraeus. Newmont also operates mines in Suriname and Australia, and in total produces around 5 million ounces, or 155 tonnes, of gold a year - more than 4 percent of global mine production and enough on its own to fill the capacity of a medium-sized refinery. Competition has pushed refining charges down sharply in recent years, and sources said rates for the Newmont deal could range from $0.30 an ounce to as little as $0.05 an ounce translating to revenue of between $200,000 and $1.2 million a year for 4 million ounces. To boost revenues, refiners are increasingly making money out of products such as coins and jewellery parts for which they can charge more. Newmont is set to overtake Barrick Gold Corp as the world's largest gold producer this year when it acquires rival Goldcorp Inc. (Reporting by Peter Hobson; Editing by Veronica Brown and Mark Potter) Flash British Prime Minister Theresa May returned to London on Tuesday night at the end of a day of whistle-stop diplomacy in her race to win a delay to the country's departure from the European Union (EU). As May was holding talks in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron, a team of her top ministers were negotiating in London with Labour's Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and leading shadow ministers from the main opposition party. Media in London reported on Tuesday that European Council President Donald Tusk has written to all 27 EU member state leaders urging them to offer Britain a flexible extension to the article 50 process of up to one year. It would allow Britain to leave at any point within that period. May heads to Brussels Wednesday almost certainly feeling comforted that a Friday no-deal departure deadline has been averted. But the EU is likely to insist on a string of conditions to enable Britain to stay as a member of the bloc while it seeks its elusive departure deal. Article 50 is the EU mechanism that sets a timetable for a country wishing to leave the bloc. May's strategy was boosted by a vote in the House of Commons on Tuesday when MPs voted by 420 to 110 to request an extension of article 50 until June 30, a comfortable majority of 310. The cross party talks in Westminster, looking to break the impasse that has so far blocked the House of Commons finding majority support for a Brexit deal, concluded Tuesday night. Although no consensus has yet been reached between the ruling Conservatives and their rivals, the Labour Party, both said later there was hope of progress being made. The Environment Secretary Michael Gove said the talks with Labour had been open and constructive, but the two sides differed on a number of areas. Labour's Rebecca Long Bailey, who took part in the latest round of talks, said they were hopeful progress will be made. Bailey, who is the Shadow Business Secretary, said discussions with the government will continue in the coming days. A Labour Party spokesperson said after the talks: "We had further detailed and wide-ranging talks with cabinet ministers and officials today. We have yet to see the clear shift in the government's position that is needed to secure a compromise agreement." The two sides have agreed to hold further talks on Thursday in an effort to break the Brexit deadlock, and find a compromise that can win support in Parliament and bring the country together, said the spokesperson. Labour is holding out for a consensus Brexit deal that keeps Britain linked in some way to the European Customs Union and the European Single Market. Conservative Brexit-supporting politicians want to ensure Britain is free to strike its own trade deals by leaving the customs union and the single market. Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, sent a letter Tuesday to leading Conservatives that a customs union for Britain would be the "worst of both worlds" and would leave Britain unable to set its own trade policy. In his four-page letter, Fox said: "We would be stuck in the worst of both worlds, not only unable to set our own international trade policy but subject, without representation, to the policy of an entity over which MPs would have no democratic control. This is something that Labour do not presently seem to understand." Fox claimed countries that negotiated new free trade agreements with the EU would have automatic access to the British market with Britain having no reciprocal access. May needs to win backing on Wednesday for a delayed Brexit from an emergency meeting of the EU Council, made up of the leaders of the remaining 27 member states. With both sides faced with the prospect of Britain crashing out of the bloc on Friday with no deal, May now looks almost certain to win the crucial delay she desperately needs to give her more time to convince a squabbling House of Commons to back a Brexit deal. Flash China and the European Union (EU) reached significant consensus on bilateral ties, charted out future cooperation and voiced support for multilateralism as leaders of the two sides held an annual gathering in Brussels on Tuesday. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker co-chaired the 21st China-EU leaders' meeting. Both sides agreed that they have broad common interests in deepening mutual beneficial and win-win practical cooperation, share common ground on upholding multilateralism and an open world economy as well as opposing protectionism and unilateralism, and have common goals in improving global governance and maintaining world peace and stability. They also agreed on the great importance for China and the EU, two stabilizing forces and major economies of the world, to carry out strategic communication and cooperation. The two sides said that they should firmly grasp the mainstream of cooperation and properly handle differences and frictions through dialogue and consultation to promote the long-term, stable and sound development of China-EU relations, which serves the fundamental and long-standing interests of both sides and will have a positive impact on the world. The leaders of both sides reaffirmed their commitment to deepening their partnership for peace, growth, reform and civilisation, and to adopting a new agenda for cooperation beyond 2020. They vowed to uphold multilateralism, respect international law and fundamental norms governing international relations with the United Nations at the core, firmly support the rules-based multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core, and enhance dialogue and collaboration on WTO reform. On trade and investment, they pledged to provide each other with broader and more facilitated, non-discriminatory market access, and to achieve in the course of 2019 the decisive progress required for the conclusion of an ambitious China-EU Comprehensive Investment Agreement in 2020. As for enhancing cooperation in scientific research and innovation, China and the EU confirmed their intention to renew the China-EU Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement. They welcomed the provisional agreement reached on the negotiations of the China-EU Agreement on the Cooperation on, and Protection of, Geographical Indications (GI), and committed to formally conclude the negotiations in 2019. Both parties also agreed to forge synergies between the Belt and Road Initiative and the EU strategy on Connecting Europe and Asia, and enhance cooperation within the framework of the China-EU Connectivity Platform, so as to jointly make Europe-Asia connectivity more sustainable and interoperable. They will support the peaceful settlement of regional disputes and conflicts through dialogue and consultation and will work together for world peace, prosperity and sustainable development, the two sides noted. Important consensus has also been reached on government procurement, the zoning principle of bilateral trade in agri-food products, cooperation in climate change and clean energy, implementation of the Paris Agreement, among others. Li said Chinese President Xi Jinping paid successful visits to Italy, Monaco and France in March, which injected new impetus to the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership. China has always attached great importance to Europe, supported the European integration, firmly committed to deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership featuring mutual benefits and win-win outcomes, Li stressed. China and the EU will create opportunities for each other while pursuing opening up, and will bring prosperity to the whole world while striving for cooperation, Li noted, adding that China is ready to work with the EU to elevate their relations to a higher level. The Chinese premier also briefed Tusk and Juncker on the eighth leaders' meeting of China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs). China-CEEC cooperation is between China and a sub-region of Europe, Li said, adding that it is conducive to reducing the development gap among European countries and facilitating the European integration. Cooperation between China and CEECs, complying with established international rules as well as EU laws and regulations and following the business-led principle and market-based operation, pushes forward joint projects to achieve win-win results and will inject new impetus to cooperation between China and the EU, Li said. During the meeting, Tusk and Juncker said in the complicated and changing international situation, the EU is ready to enhance relations and cooperation with China. The EU highly values the important consensus reached between the two sides during the meeting, they said, adding that the joint statement is an achievement of mutual benefits and win-win outcomes, demonstrating new positive development of China-EU relations. The EU will implement the consensus along with China to push bilateral relations for more results, they added. The two sides also exchanged in-depth views on international and regional issues of common concerns. After the meeting, leaders of the two sides witnessed the signing of several cooperation documents in such areas as energy and competition. Flash Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met on Tuesday with High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini on the sidelines of the China-EU leaders' meeting. Wang said the high-level strategic dialogue held between him and Mogherini not long ago had made necessary preparation for the China-EU leaders' meeting. With concerted efforts, China and the EU have reached agreement on their joint statement issued Tuesday, he added. The statement, wide-ranging and fruitful, represents the high level of the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, the various consensus they have accumulated, the solidarity and cooperation between the two sides as well as the spirit of mutual benefits and win-win, he said. "We have designed the road map for future China-EU relations and clarified the development direction," Wang said. Expecting a successful EU-China leaders' meeting, Mogherini expressed appreciation for the work both teams had done for the joint statement. She said the EU is ready to work with China for further development of their ties. The two sides also had in-depth exchange of views on international and regional issues of common concern including Afghanistan, Venezuela, and the Korean Peninsula. Flash China and the European Union (EU) on Tuesday reaffirmed their commitment to the continued, full and effective implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal. The reaffirmation came as China and the EU issued a joint statement after their 21st leaders' meeting held in Brussels on Tuesday afternoon. The two sides recalled that the JCPOA is a key element of the global non-proliferation architecture and a significant diplomatic achievement endorsed unanimously by the UN Security Council in its Resolution 2231, the statement said. The two sides "reaffirm their commitment to its continued, full and effective implementation, as well as their efforts to preserve economic benefits for Iran," it said. China and the EU recalled the importance of the Arak modernization project, and the need to continue their common efforts in this regard, it said. Both sides welcomed the fact that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed in 14 consecutive reports the continued adherence by Iran to its nuclear-related commitments, it said. On the situation in Venezuela, the statement said China and the EU are following closely the evolving situation in Venezuela and are willing to work with other parties on a political, peaceful and democratic solution decided by the people of Venezuela. The statement also said that China, the EU and its member states are parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and respect the maritime order based on international law and uphold freedom of navigation and overflight enjoyed by all states in accordance with international law. The EU welcomes the ongoing consultations between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) aimed at the conclusion of an effective Code of Conduct (COC) for the South China Sea. China and the EU call upon all relevant parties to engage in dialogue, to settle disputes peacefully, and to refrain from actions likely to increase tensions, the statement said. Kendallville, IN (46755) Today Generally cloudy. High 59F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Cloudy this evening, then windy with periods of showers late. Low 56F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph. Flash The New Zealand parliament passed the Arms Amendment Bill after its third or the final reading Wednesday night, less than a month after the Christchurch mosque attacks which killed 50 people. The proposed new gun bill, namely The Arms (Prohibited Firearms, Magazines and parts) Amendment Bill, won overwhelming support in the parliament, as it was passed by a vote of 119 to 1. The bill is expected to receive its Royal Assent from the governor on Friday before it becomes law, when military-style semi-automatics (MSSAs) and assault rifles and associated parts will be illegal. Possession of prohibited firearms could face a jail term up to five years, according to the bill. It is understood that compensation will be available for firearms and parts based on make, model and condition, but only for items that were lawfully obtained. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was the first to speak during the reading of the bill. She said she was proud of the work that had been done to get the bill passed. The New Zealand government had vowed to ban MSSAs soon after the Christchurch terrorist attacks, which also injured dozens on March 15. (ST. JOSEPH, Mo.) A U.S. Army veteran is making the trek from Keystone Heights, Florida to Couer d'Alene, Idaho to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project. Kenneth Brock and his service dog, Pam, made a stop in Dearborn, Mo. Tuesday night before heading off to St. Joseph Wednesday morning. Brock spoke with students from North Platte before school Wednesday about his mission and why he does it. "It's awesome to educate the soldiers," Brock said. "Their sacrifices and the Wounded Warrior Project and how much of an impact they have on the soldiers. It's amazing to be able to do that." Brock suffers from the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and said he weighed more than 300 pounds when he received Pam, his service dog. He, with Pam, left Florida on Feb. 1 and hope to make it to Idaho to see his two children and six grandchildren by July 3 in order to march in the local Independence Day parade. The complete trip is expected to be about 2,650 miles, but Brock knows he will have to take some detours along the way. For more information on Brock's mission or to help donate to the Wounded Warrior Project, visit https://fundraise.woundedwarriorproject.org/rtt/Fundraising/individual/Walk-from-Keystone-Heights-fl-to-Coeur-dAlene-ID1 By Brad Lendon, CNN (CNN) A Japanese F-35 fighter crashed into the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, raising questions about reliability and security of the most expensive weapons system ever made. The stealth jet disappeared from radar minutes into a training mission from Misawa Air Base in northern Japan. Defense officials said its pilot signaled the need to abort the mission shortly before the plane was lost. Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said debris from the plane, parts of its two tail fins, was found early Wednesday. Japanese and US planes and ships, including a US guided-missile destroyer, were continuing to search for the pilot, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said, adding that the unnamed aviator was a male in his 40s with more than 3,200 hours of flying experience. He was flying what is considered the best stealth jet technology in the skies. With the world's most advanced avionics, engines and weaponry, the Pentagon touts the F-35 as the "the most affordable, lethal, supportable and survivable aircraft ever to be used." As of August 2018, more than 310 F-35s have been delivered to militaries around the world, according to the plane's maker, Lockheed Martin. Japan's first squadron of the $100 million fighter jets went operational just 11 days ago, with 13 of the jets forming the 302nd Squadron at the Misawa base, according to a report from The Diplomat.com. Iwaya said Japan's remaining dozen F-35s would be grounded until the cause of Tuesday's crash is determined. But early reports suggest system failure and that's troubling because it mean something might have been missed in the production process, said Carl Schuster, a former US Navy officer and professor at Hawaii Pacific University. "Certification when it's new is pretty demanding. The checkout is very thorough in early production models," he said. While most F-35s are made in the United States, the one that crashed Tuesday was the first to come off an assembly line in Nagoya, Japan, the Ministry of Defense said. Peter Layton, a former Australian Air Force officer and analyst at the Griffith Asia Institute, said the Japanese assembly line would be one of the first places to look for answers. "There are several hundred F-35s flying (worldwide) suggesting a local not fleet wide problem," he said. The fact that the Japanese pilot called for a mission abort but apparently did not issue a mayday call indicates a possible instrumentation problem, possibly with the plane's wiring, Layton said. "The pilot appears to have thought he was in command and not in imminent danger," Layton said. It's possible as the aviator was trying to troubleshoot he flew straight into the ocean, he said. The Japanese jet, an F-35A model, is the second lost to an accident. A US Marine Corps F-35B crashed in Beaufort, South Carolina, in late September. US defense officials in October said a faulty fuel tube was the likely cause, and all F-35s operated by the United States and its allies were temporarily grounded for inspection. Other incidents that have hit the F-35 program include a runway fire in Florida in 2014 which led to inspections of the plane's engines; and five incidents in 2017 where pilots reported oxygen deprivation problems. The F-35 comes in three versions. The F-35A, like the one Japan lost contact with Tuesday, is the one designed for air forces to use off conventional runways. The F-35B, like the one the US Marine Corps lost, is designed for short takeoff and vertical landings. The F-35C model is the US Navy's version, designed for use off its aircraft carriers. All contain an advanced electronic warfare suite which can allow seamless integration among users within one military or among allies. The jet's sophistication means the US and Japan would likely be acting quickly to recover any wreckage from the bottom of the Pacific before adversaries could get a look at it, Schuster said. Even getting a look at the wreckage via a close up underwater camera could provide China or another adversary like Russia valuable intelligence, Schuster said. "They'll be worried about it," Schuster said of the US and Japanese militaries. "China does have deep-sea recovery submarines." Schuster recalled an incident in the 1980s when the US military rushed to recover the a US F-14 Tomcat -- then one of the world's best fighters -- that had crashed in the Caribbean before any adversaries could get a close look at it. Tuesday's crash is certainly a setback for Japan's ambitious F-35 program. With 147 of the planes in its fleet or on order, Tokyo is Lockheed Martin's second biggest customer for the plane. Japan has announced plans to buy 105 of the F-35A models and 42 F-35Bs, the latter of which it could eventually use to turn its Izumo-class helicopter destroyers into small aircraft carriers, its first since World War II. In the Pacific, South Korea and Australia have joined Japan in acquiring the jets, and Singapore has announced it wants to buy them too. The F-35's are seen as strong counters to China's growing fleet of stealth aircraft, including the J-20 and J-31. The first US combat mission conducted by an F-35 happened in October when a Marine Corps jet launched off the amphibious warship USS Essex struck targets in Afghanistan. In May, Israel announced it had conducted the first combat missions using the F-35 but offered few details. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Japanese F-35 crashes. Now the search is on for wreckage and reasons." The ever-growing problem of disposing one-time plastic may have finally found a solution. While governments around the world are struggling to dispose or recycle plastic, recently, Thailand's Rimping Supermarket started the use of banana leaves to wrap food items. The innovation usage has impressed social media users across the world who are now urging their leaders to encourage the use of organic packagings. According to Forbes, supermarkets in both Thailand and Vietnam have started the use of natural wrappers. Pictures of vegetables and fruits wrapped in banana leaves have gone viral on social media. Wrapped up in banana leaves, the veggies can be seen secured with a fibre thread or a tiny wooden stick. They also provide cloth bags which customers can use to carry the purchased items. The move received widespread positive reactions after a real estate company in Chiang Mai, Perfect Homes, posted photos of the banana leaf packaging to their Facebook page. Eliminate Single-Use Plastics! Boat Made of Plastic Collected From Kenyan Beaches Sets Out on Voyage to Spread Message. Check out the pictures here: Reportedly, customers were delighted to see the supermarket adopting organic methods. One of the comments read, "Love the idea, Bangkok supermarket should adopt this idea too. Talking about the innovative method adopted by Thailand, Global Citizen says banana trees with leaves as big as nine feet are quite common and largely available in Thailand. The use of the organic material is a step towards zero waste movement. Some brands have also started the use of bags made from corn starch, cassava and algae. Meanwhile, this reminds us of how traditionally South India has always been using banana leaves for a long time. From serving food on the leaf to packing things in it, the method is quite popular there. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 10, 2019 12:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). United Nations, April 10: The United Nations has announced that it has started going partially paperless by stopping printing of press releases. "Starting today, the News and Media Division of the Department of Global Communications (DGC) will no longer print hard copies of press releases," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a news briefing on Tuesday. "This is part of our ongoing effort to save paper, to go paperless and to save money," he was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency. The spokesman didn't disclose how much will be saved a year by doing so. On the pigeonholes standing in the second-floor corridor of the UN Secretariat Building, all back issues of the printed press releases had been removed with only two copies of UN "Journal", dated April 9, resting in two of the several hundred slots. Two pieces of notice, in English and French, were put on the wall above the pigeonholes, which read: "Printed press releases are no longer available." The notice encouraged journalists and other people to visit a specific website to download the digital press releases. For decades, hard copies of press releases in Chinese, English, Russian, French, Arabic and Spanish, were occupying the eight sets of pigeonholes with several hundred slantingly vertical slots. A UN staffer said that the latest annual budget for DGC has been reduced to $82 million as against $89 million previously proposed. "It's a big cut," the official told the news agency, adding that there were almost no newly-added jobs for the media and another department this year. "I fully support the decision to stop printing hard copies of press releases, as printing them not only costs a lot of money, the demand for them has dropped dramatically as well," he said. "People nowadays prefer digital versions of press releases rather than hard copies for their easier copy and paste. It's greener and money-saving as well," he added. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 10, 2019 03:51 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). If youre a book lover with a soft spot for visual art, you might want to plan a trip to the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA this weekend, where the 2019 LA Art Book Fair will be taking over the Little Tokyo museum. The annual book fair, first held in Los Angeles in 2013, is a celebration of artists books produced by Printed Matter Inc., a 43-year-old nonprofit group offering resources to artists and helping them publish and distribute books showcasing their art. Printed Matters executive director, Max Schumann, said the organization represents 12,000 titles by more than 6,000 artists worldwide. We have an open submissions program welcoming anyone to send us a sample of their artists book for consideration, and the titles we select are given full bibliographic entries in our web-based catalog, one of the largest artists book public databases in the world, Schumann told The Times. Advertisement L.A. Times Festival of Books is back! Check out the lineup for our massive literary event launching April 13 and 14 at the USC campus. The L.A. fair, directed by Printed Matters Sonel Breslav, is a companion event to the annual NY Art Book Fair, and attendance by almost 400 exhibitors from over 30 countries, including China, the Netherlands, South Korea and Britain, is expected. California exhibitors scheduled to be at the fair include CalArts Graphic Design, Floss Editions, Los Angeles Contemporary Archive, Modern Women Projects, QUEENS LA and Semiotext(e). The fair is also offering programs such as the Contemporary Artists Books Conference, scheduled for Saturday, and Montez Press Radio, billed as an experiment in radio broadcasting which plays in the boundaries of conversation, performance, distribution, and access through the lens of contemporary art. A program called Under the Sun will provide workshops and tours of the fair for children, teenagers and their families. Schumann said Printed Matter appreciates the warm and enthusiastic reception the book fair has received in Los Angeles. While the NY Fair is always a wonderful experience, theres a kind of freshness to the energy at the LA Fair that sets it apart, he said. Theres also a large West Coast representation at the LA Fair which is wonderful. Its obviously easier and more affordable for artists who are L.A. residents to participate when the fair is on their coast, and we love that. The LA Art Book Fair is scheduled to kick off with an opening-night celebration on Thursday at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Tickets to that event, which come with a limited-edition work by Bay Area artist Jeffrey Cheung, are $20; the rest of the fair is free and open to the public. Schumann said the Geffen at MOCA is a wonderful venue for the event. We are so grateful for MOCAs collaboration in our effort, he said. The space is expansive and really allows for the breathing and elbowroom to engage with exhibitors and discover new books. A full list of exhibitors and events at this years fair is available at the LA Art Book Fair website. When it comes to acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardts involvement in plans to loosen environmental restrictions on water flows for Central Valley farmers, a few things are clear and many more are murky. Whats clear is that Bernhardt, who became deputy Interior secretary in 2017, was involved in decisions connected with those efforts. Its also clear that the departments actions would yield major benefits for the giant Westlands Water District, a client of Bernhardts during his years as a lawyer for agricultural interests in California. The murkiness comes from the Interior Departments efforts to defend Bernhardt against accusations that he has violated government ethics rules, lobbying regulations, and his own ethics commitments. Put simply, the departments ethics rulings are transparently bogus. The Senate could be on its way to installing an Interior secretary who could almost immediately face investigation for corruption and lying under oath. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) Advertisement The public now cant be sure if these decisions were made because theyre in the best interest of the public, or because acting Secretary Bernhardt has a former client with a big interest in getting this water and he put his thumb on the scale to make it happen, says Delaney N. Marsco, ethics counsel for the Campaign Legal Center in Washington, which has questioned the ethics rulings. Thats not the only question raised about Bernhardt, who has been accused of coming into office saddled with conflicts of interest on a dizzying scale. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has implied that Bernhardt lied to a congressional committee during his confirmation hearing in late March, when Wyden questioned Bernhardt about evidence that he had personally intervened to block an agency report on the impact of toxic pesticides on endangered species. Bernhardt claimed the report had not undergone a legal review and that Interior Department attorneys agreed with his assessment, but Wyden suspects those claims are untrue. These issues are urgent, because a Senate floor vote to confirm Bernhardt as Interior secretary may be only a day or two away. Its currently scheduled for Thursday. Yet, as Wyden observed from the floor in calling for a delay in the confirmation process on April 3, The Senate could be on its way to installing an Interior secretary who could almost immediately face investigation for corruption and lying under oath, Wyden said. That wouldnt be a good look for the Interior Department, which holds sway over millions of acres of federal lands and the disposition of crucial water supplies through much of the West, especially California. The agencys last secretary, Ryan Zinke, resigned Dec. 15 under a cloud of corruption accusations remarkable even for the ethics-challenged Trump administration. Bernhardts case also underscores the toothlessness of the federal governments ethics enforcement regime. The first line of defense at the Interior Department is its inspector generals office, which says it is reviewing the information provided by the Campaign Legal Center, but hasnt opened an investigation of the nominee. The IG hasnt yet responded to a request from Wyden for an investigation of a raft of allegations of ethics violations by Bernhardt. The system depends heavily on voluntary compliance from the top down if the IG recommends disciplinary action against Bernhardt, the decision would be in the hands of the Trump White House, which hasnt shown much willingness to conform to ethical norms. No one other than Trump could remove Bernhardt, and any decisions he made in office, including those found to have favored his former clients, would remain in place. Bernhardt has done little to hide his antipathy for federal laws and regulations that interfere with the smooth operations of his former clients. He has been the spear carrier for Trump administration efforts to emasculate the Endangered Species Act, which creates roadblocks for the exploitation of natural resources by commercial interests water users such as Westlands, for instance. So lets look at Bernhardts questionable actions, and at how the Interior Department ethics overseers have given him a free pass. The key issues raised by the Campaign Legal Center and by Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut involve Bernhardts participation in actions aimed at increasing water flows to agricultural users in the Central Valley. Those users get their water from the federal Central Valley Project (CVP) and the State Water Project (SWP), but their supplies have been constrained by legal judgments and scientific assessments of how increased water for the farmers will affect fish in the region. Bernhardt joined the Interior Department as deputy secretary in August 2017 from the law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. As my colleague Bettina Boxall has documented, at the law firm he lobbied for Westlands, among other clients with interests before the agency. Nevertheless, after he joined the department, he participated in discussions aimed at reopening the environmental analysis of water flows, with an eye toward increasing them. That would manifestly benefit Westlands. Bernhardts specific actions included launching a new environmental impact statement for the CVP and moving ahead with reconsideration of the biological assessments that underlay the restrictions on agricultural water. Both were plainly aimed at increasing water for growers, and that meant Westlands. Bernhardt, however, had explicitly agreed upon taking office to recuse himself for at least a year from particular matters involving specific parties including Westlands, one of 25 companies or organizations he listed as having represented. How did he get around this? Interiors ethics officials simply categorized the discussions as matters, rather than particular matters. The discussions that involved water flows from the CVP and SWP were general, not specific enough to count as benefiting Westlands. The discussions about the environmental impact statement were focused on the broad policy of restoring water supply, the ethics officers ruled. The biological assessment was to incorporate the impacts of all federal, state, and private actions and other human activities in the affected area, which made it much broader than a document aimed at helping Westlands. Ergo, they werent particular matters warranting recusal. (When I asked Bernhardts spokeswoman if he had any comment, she referred me to the ethics officers memo.) Bernhardts critics consider this argument to be absurd, with good reason. The departments own analysis acknowledged that any action focused on the interests of a discrete and identifiable class was specific enough to warrant recusal. In these cases, the affected parties were roughly 300 water contractors drawing supplies from the CVP and SWP. All are in the Central Valley, all are directly affected by any decision to increase or limit water from the two projects, and all are identified. Westlands is the largest. The goal of the Interior Department decisions was to increase their water by reducing the constraints placed on the projects by the Endangered Species Act, the Campaign Legal Center asserted in a letter to the agencys inspector general: This is the precise subject of his lobbying for one specific water contractor, Westlands Water District, prior to joining government. The Campaign Legal Center maintains that Bernhardts activities violate not only the letter, but the spirit of the ethics rules. The spirit of the whole ethics regime is to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, Marsco says. They exist because people need to have trust that their government officials are acting in the public interest. It boggles the mind that Bernhardt would even go near a CVP issue if hes working in the publics interest. Bernhardts spokeswoman, Faith Vander Voort, has stated in the past that Bernhardt is completely compliant with his ethics agreement and he takes it very seriously. Yet the Interior Departments tortured explanation of why theres no conflict of interest in administrative decisions that will plainly benefit a former client smells like a search for loopholes, not a genuine commitment to avoiding conflicts or the appearance of conflicts. The damage done to the publics trust in its government is massive and lasting, and if the Senate confirms Bernhardt without at least a further inquiry, its complicit in the loss. Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com. Return to Michael Hiltziks blog. The price of gas in Southern California has climbed rapidly over the last few weeks as oil refineries across the state experience maintenance problems. The average pump price for regular gas in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area stood at $3.946 on Wednesday, up about 22 cents from a week ago and 70 cents, or 17%, from a month ago, according to the American Automobile Assn. Prices had been relatively stable the last few months at $3.25 on Jan. 10 and $3.35 on March 19, said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, which tracks fuel prices. Since then, prices have soared, DeHaan said. Advertisement The six sites undergoing both planned and unplanned maintenance supply the bulk of refined gas for the state, DeHaan said. Four of the outages including a fire at one refinery are in Southern California, which is why the L.A. area is seeing a higher average price than San Francisco, he said. The average price for regular gas across the state was $3.874 on Wednesday, up about 10% from $3.526 the same time last year, AAA said. As of last week, operations had not yet recovered from a March 16 fire at a Phillips 66 refinery in Carson, according to AAA. The states 10 major refineries produce at least 75,000 barrels of fuel a day on average. California produces the majority of its own gasoline because it uses special blends to reduce smog that other states dont use, so when refineries have problems, the state has trouble replacing lost production, said Marie Montgomery, a spokeswoman for the Automobile Club of Southern California. Usually, fuel shipped from other countries will bridge that gap, but that costs more. Were bearing the brunt of this rapid increase in gas prices, Montgomery said. Besides significant unplanned refinery maintenance, rising ethanol prices and Californias switch to a more eco-friendly gas blend for the summer months, starting April 1, have contributed to a lower gas supply, DeHaan said. Gas prices in general tend to climb in the spring until early May due to both the switch and higher demand for gas in warmer seasons and then start to taper off, Montgomery said. Global factors have also driven prices. Crude oil prices are feeling the effect of a coordinated effort by OPEC to reduce supply, as Saudi Arabia presses to cut back output. Political unrest in Libya and turmoil in Venezuela resulting in power blackouts at refineries may also be contributing to a shortfall. The price of West Texas intermediate, the benchmark for domestically produced oil, has risen dramatically to about $64 a barrel on Wednesday, from $43 in December. DeHaan predicted that L.A. gas prices will probably rise to $4 sometime this week the highest average price since 2015, when a key refinery experienced an explosion and went offline. He expects prices will continue to increase for one or two weeks until refineries are functioning normally or new shipments arrive. Weve had several years now of relative stability in gas prices, so this is unusual for people who arent remembering to 2015 and before that, Montgomery said. Diesel prices have been more stable in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area, rising to $3.994 on Wednesday, from $3.808 a month ago, according to AAA. U.S. consumer prices rose 0.4% in March, largely because of climbing prices for gasoline, electricity and shelter. The Associated Press and Bloomberg were used in compiling this report. Shalini Swaroop is general counsel for Marin Clean Energy, the first of a new breed of electricity providers in California known as community choice aggregators, or CCAs. When Marin Clean Energy launched in 2010, it gave San Francisco Bay Area residents a government-run alternative to Pacific Gas & Electric, the monopoly utility that recently filed for bankruptcy protection amid huge wildfire liabilities. Swaroop is no typical power company executive. Before getting involved in energy, she volunteered for a humanitarian group in Nepal during the final months of a civil war, clerked for the High Court of American Samoa in the South Pacific, and worked for the international criminal tribunal prosecuting war crimes committed in Yugoslavia. I dont think I could be in the energy industry if I wasnt working for the public. Shalini Swaroop A love for learning Swaroop grew up in the Denver suburbs, a child of Indian immigrants. She worked four part-time jobs while majoring in womens studies and psychology and minoring in peace and conflict studies at University of Colorado Boulder. Advertisement Swaroop was interning for the Human Rights Law Network in Delhi, India, when she learned shed been accepted to study law at UC Berkeley. She says she left her office and ran down the street, dodging street vendors and rickshaws, to reach a long-distance phone to call her dad. Tragedy and empathy Swaroop started on her path toward social justice in 1999, when 12 students and a teacher were killed in a mass shooting at Columbine High School, 20 minutes from where Swaroop lived. Her own high school held a discussion about the pressures that could lead young people to violence. She listened to what her classmates had to say. I realized I had no idea what their lived experiences were, Swaroop says. Through that conversation, my understanding and empathy for them grew. Changing course During her law school internship at the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Swaroop interviewed an investigator who had hunted Nazis in Canada. He told her if she hoped to make a career in international humanitarian law, she would need atrocities to keep happening to sustain her livelihood. She started asking herself: Am I focused on moving society forward, or am I trying to address past wrongs? She decided to look forward. After graduating from Berkeley Law, she interviewed to be a senior staff attorney at the National Asian American Coalition. Her interviewer was Robert Gnaizda, who had co-founded California Rural Legal Assistance and worked alongside Cesar Chavez. To Swaroops surprise, the job wasnt focused on civil rights. Instead, she would be advocating for disadvantaged areas and communities of color in energy rate proceedings before the California Public Utilities Commission. It was the recession. I applied to 85 jobs before I got one, she says. I took the job. PG&Es bankruptcy On a Thursday last month, Swaroop woke up at 2 a.m. because she was worried about all the work she had to do. As general counsel for Marin Clean Energy, she oversees the legal and policy teams for Californias first and most influential CCA, which is reshaping an energy landscape long dominated by Pacific Gas & Electric and other investor-owned utilities. Wildfires that may have been sparked by PG&Es infrastructure have added a complex layer to Swaroops job, forcing her to get up to speed on bankruptcy law. One of Swaroops first priorities after PG&Es bankruptcy filing was to make sure the utility would keep passing along the energy payments it collects from Marin Clean Energys customers on behalf of the CCA. Longer term, Swaroop says the fire threat heightens the urgency of helping customers reduce their energy use and get more of their power from local solar arrays and batteries, which can reduce the need for the massive transmission lines that have ignited some of the states biggest blazes. The fallout from PG&Es bankruptcy is part and parcel of combating the climate crisis, Swaroop says. We cant talk about creating more renewable energy without understanding the impact that our current electrical system is having on California. Working for the public The day she woke up at 2 a.m., Swaroop worked into the evening before attending a Marin Clean Energy board meeting at 7 p.m. A few hours into the meeting, Swaroop says, she was starting to crash. But then the board heard from representatives of three organizations being honored for their work to advance Marin Clean Energys goal of making clean energy available at affordable rates, including to low-income families. I was exhausted. But being able to hear and see those stories, thats whats most uplifting to me, Swaroop says. Im not an energy wonk, Im passionate about people. I dont think I could be in the energy industry if I wasnt working for the public. Energy justice Swaroop keeps busy: Outside her day job, she serves on the boards of nonprofit groups including the ACLU of Northern California, Youth Celebrate Diversity, JustPeace Labs and the Conference of California Public Utility Counsel. I dont procrastinate because Ive lived in too many places where tomorrow is not taken for granted, she says. Swaroops experiences in conflict zones and humanitarian situations inform her work at Marin Clean Energy. She says she sees her life as a consistent struggle for justice, whether its civil rights or human rights or energy rights. Its a unique perspective for a lawyer at the forefront of sweeping changes in Californias energy industry. My work has focused on representing the public in figurative systems of power ensuring justice for victims of war crimes, or highlighting the voices of survivors of sexual assault, Swaroop says. In this case, I am representing the public in the literal power system communities that are taking on the energy future to combat climate change. sammy.roth@latimes.com @Sammy_Roth JetBlue Airways has given up nearly a third of its gate slots at Long Beach Airport only days after being warned that it was in danger of violating new city regulations designed to prevent airlines from sitting on under-used slots to keep competitors out. The gate slots the scheduled times that a plane can land or depart probably will be distributed to competitors that have been on a waiting list to expand service from the airport. At the top of that list are Hawaiian Airlines and Delta Air Lines. JetBlue notified the city on Tuesday that it would give up 10 of its 34 gate slots. The carrier said the reduction in service from Long Beach had long been planned as the airline expands services from other West Coast airports, such as Ontario International Airport and Hollywood Burbank Airport. JetBlue announced even bigger route changes Wednesday, with plans to launch its first transatlantic flights to London by 2021. The airline said it hopes to begin service from New York and Boston to London, but has yet to decide which London airport will be served. Advertisement Long Beach Airport officials warned JetBlue Airways a week ago that the carrier was in danger of violating a regulation, adopted in November, to ensure slots are used to serve as many air travelers as demand allows and are not under-used to keep out competitors. The rules to prevent what is called slot squatting took effect Jan. 1. JetBlue is the dominant carrier at the airport, with 53% of all landings and about 60% of all passengers, according to the most recent airport activity report. But the January report also shows JetBlue has cut back the number of passengers served by 38% compared with the same month in 2018. The second-busiest carrier at the airport, Southwest Airlines, has increased the number of passenger served by 72% in the same period. In a letter sent last week to City Manager Patrick West, interim airport director Claudia Lewis said JetBlue Airways was warned that the airline is on pace to fall short of the minimum requirements imposed by the new rules. The rule sets three minimum requirements: use at least 60% of the slots during any calendar month, and use slots 70% during any quarter and 85% during any calendar year. Airlines are required to meet all three minimum standards. The letter from Lewis said JetBlue was on pace to miss the 70% use requirement during the first three months of the year. JetBlue representatives, in response to Times inquiries, referred to an April 2018 press release in which the airline said it was advancing its West Coast strategy following its successful expansion of its luxury, business-class Mint service to San Diego, Las Vegas and Seattle over the past year. The press release said JetBlue was planning on refining its Long Beach, Calif. schedule to better meet the needs of the market. In addition, the airline planned to add new nonstop flights between Ontario International Airport and New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport. That service began in September 2018. In September, JetBlue added new service to Boston from Hollywood Burbank Airport and expanded seasonal service from Palm Springs International Airport to Kennedy International Airport. When the anti-squatting regulation was adopted last year, then-airport director Jess Romo said in a letter to the Long Beach City Council that he was worried that air carriers have the ability to essentially slot squat on flights without permanently returning the underutilized flight slots. Before the council voted to adopt the rules, JetBlues associate general counsel objected to the new regulations, saying such unjustified and unnecessary changes as the ones yet again proposed appear to be nothing more than punitive and discriminatory to JetBlue. In the past few years, Long Beach Airport has rejected plans to serve international destinations but has added new gate slots which allowed Southwest Airlines to fly out of the airport for the first time. With the new routes to London, JetBlue said the flights will be made by Airbus A321LR single-aisle aircraft with a new version of its high-end business service, which features lie-flat seats, flat-screen TVs, and upgraded food and beverages. The announcement was made before more than 1,300 JetBlue workers in an airline hangar in New York. President Joanna Geraghty said she expects the added competition from her airline will be good news for all travelers flying between New York, Boston and London. Given a chance to compete, JetBlue can have a tremendous effect on lowering fares and stimulating traffic, she said. Details about fares and flight schedules are expected to be announced in the next few months. JetBlue already serves nearly two dozen countries, mostly in the Caribbean and Latin America, with flights reaching as far south as Ecuador and Peru. No company in recent history has come to the public markets under more of a legal shadow than Uber. In the coming weeks, documents will be made public for a stock market listing that could value the ride-hailing app company at more than $100 billion. But those documents will include lengthy disclosures on its pending lawsuits and government investigations, including any lingering issues dating back to its days under hard-charging former CEO Travis Kalanick, said lawyers and corporate governance experts. With Uber, given their previous CEO and history, there are more risk factors than with other companies, said Jay Ritter, an expert in initial public offerings at the University of Florida. Advertisement At the top of that list of risk factors is the very structure of Ubers business, which relies on a workforce of drivers whom the company does not consider employees thereby skirting regulations governing pay and benefits. That has kept labor costs down for Uber and its peers in the gig economy, but it has set off legal claims from workers who want better terms and invited scrutiny from regulators around the world. I cant think of a bigger risk to them than the idea that these people will become employees, said John Coffee, a securities law expert at Columbia University in New York. Uber declined to comment. In March, Uber agreed to pay $20 million to settle a long-running fight with drivers in California and Massachusetts who were pushing to be considered employees. The company will continue to consider them independent contractors but says it will make some changes to how it removes drivers from its platform, and it will allow appeals against removal. But worker classification, among other issues about its business model, is a battle the company is fighting in several states. An April 2018 ruling by the California Supreme Court assumes workers are employees if their jobs are central to a companys business. Are you an employee or a contractor? Carpenters, strippers and dog walkers now face that question Legislation is pending in Sacramento to codify the court ruling, and its author has said it wont exclude Uber or Lyft. The Securities and Exchange Commission may require additional disclosures or warnings, said Coffee. Uber may have to say, What would be the costs to us next year if every one of our drivers is classified as an employee? That figure could be unpleasant. In Europe, the apps low-cost UberPop service, which allowed amateur drivers to pick up riders, has been banned in several countries. Last month, Uber settled an UberPop case, over having offered an unlicensed taxi service, in the Netherlands for $2.6 million. Under its current chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber has taken a more conciliatory approach to countries such as Germany, which it had largely abandoned in 2016 after regulators said it was operating an illegal taxi business. It is now expanding there again by partnering with licensed car services and taxi operators a model it is also pursuing in Japan. As they enter new markets in the U.S. and everywhere else, they are always going to have to contend with regulatory issues of some sort, said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia. The labor relationship wont be settled for a long time. Khosrowshahi, who was appointed in August 2017 with a mandate to take Uber public, has worked hard to resolve several legal and regulatory hurdles. Two years ago, Uber was struggling to deal with accusations of a sexist and toxic work environment, a social media campaign urging people to #deleteUber, an embarrassing video of Kalanick berating a driver, and a flood of executive departures. It was also under mounting legal and regulatory pressure, including a lawsuit from Alphabets Waymo accusing it of stealing trade secrets and multiple federal investigations into issues including foreign bribery and software used to avoid government stings. Before the end of 2017, Uber would also disclose a massive data breach that it had failed to report for more than a year. The cascading scandals generated boardroom drama, leading to Kalanicks resignation in June 2017. Khosrowshahi, a protege of media tycoon Barry Diller, has made it his mission to repair Ubers internal culture, image and relationships with regulators around the world. He overhauled the management team, installing a new chief financial officer, chief operating officer, general counsel and heads of marketing and human resources. The company also named a new independent chairman to its board. Who is Ubers pick for CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi? Much of the legal clean-up has fallen to Tony West, the general counsel Khosrowshahi hired from PepsiCo in late 2017. Wests wife, Maya Harris, advised Hillary Clintons presidential campaign and his sister-in-law Kamala Harris is the California senator running for U.S. president. West was instrumental in resolving two issues that were internally seen as the biggest potential risks from a financial and strategic point of view: the Waymo lawsuit and liability for the 2016 data breach. Uber settled with Waymo in February last year for $245 million in Uber stock, five days into a high-profile trial in which Kalanick took the stand. In the case of the data breach which Uber announced on Wests first day of work in November 2017 the company agreed in September last year to pay a record $148-million penalty to all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Uber has resolved several other lawsuits. It paid $10 million to settle pay-discrimination claims from hundreds of current and former employees, including $1.9 million earmarked for harassment allegations. In December it settled, for an undisclosed sum, a complaint brought by women who said they had been raped or otherwise assaulted by Uber drivers. One area that investors will be looking for details on in Ubers prospectus will be whether it remains the subject of investigations by the U.S. Justice Department or other government agencies. A spokesman said the Justice Department did not comment on or confirm the existence of ongoing investigations, and did not comment on previous investigations where no charges were filed. Not all investigations necessarily need to get disclosed, said Reed Kathrein, an attorney at Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro who has represented shareholders in complaints against Theranos, the scandal-ridden blood-testing group, and Tesla, the electric car company. If it could have a material impact, it should be disclosed. The Dead Dont Die, writer-director Jim Jarmuschs zombie comedy starring Adam Driver, Bill Murray, Chloe Sevigny and Tilda Swinton, has been selected to open the 72nd Festival de Cannes. The film, about a small town plagued by a sudden undead uprising, will kick off the festivities May 14, exactly one month ahead of its June 14 U.S. theatrical release by Focus Features. It will be playing in the festivals competition program. The star-studded ensemble is packed with actors who have previously collaborated with Jarmusch and also includes Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Iggy Pop, RZA, Selena Gomez, Rosie Perez, Sara Driver, Carol Kane and Tom Waits. Advertisement Along with earlier industry reports that Cannes will see the world premieres of Quentin Tarantinos Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, and Dexter Fletchers Rocketman, an Elton John biopic starring Taron Egerton, the Jarmusch news suggests that Hollywood may have an especially strong presence on Cannes storied Boulevard de la Croisette this year. The director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu will serve as president of the competition jury. Recent Cannes openers include Asghar Farhadis Everybody Knows (2018), Arnaud Desplechins Ismaels Ghosts (2017) and Woody Allens Cafe Society (2016). Jarmusch has long been a Cannes regular, having previously landed in competition with Paterson (2016), Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), Broken Flowers (2005), Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai (1999), Dead Man (1995), Mystery Train (1989) and Down by Law (1986). He has won multiple prizes from the festival, including the Grand Prix for Broken Flowers and the Camera dOr for Stranger Than Paradise (1984). The Cannes Film Festival runs May 14-25. justin.chang@latimes.com One of the grisliest scenes in the new Hellboy and it has plenty of competition shows a horrific plague being unleashed upon London. Massive cracks run up and down the streets, opening portals to the fiery depths below. Indescribably grotesque creatures rise up, snatching up poor, unsuspecting Brits and tearing them bloodily asunder; one monster strolls past with human bodies impaled on its leg, like a walking shish kebab. I couldnt help but think: Man, this Brexit documentary is wild. I kid, sort of. A spattery inanity that feels less like a reboot than an aftershock, Hellboy may offer an unwittingly truthful snapshot of a nation devouring itself from within. But its too nastily single-minded to offer much in the way of political allegory, too enamored of its severed heads and dangling eyeballs and other exposed viscera. It was directed by the British horror maven Neil Marshall, whose credits include the supremely effective 2005 chiller The Descent, but who has since veered off into ever more fantastical spectacles of computer-generated carnage (Doomsday, Centurion). His new movie has the misfortune of arriving on a cinematic landscape already crowded with comic book figures and their endless apocalyptic skirmishes, which wasnt the case when Guillermo del Toros Hellboy burst onto the scene 15 years ago. That movie along with its 2008 sequel, Hellboy II: The Golden Army was as poetic and passionate a cinematic treatment of Mike Mignolas comic book creation as could be hoped for. Ron Perlman slipped beautifully into Hellboys hulking red physique, his shaved-off horns and hard-boiled detectives patois, and Del Toro enshrined the character with such love that he effectively made his geek enthusiasms your own. Perhaps the best defense that can be mustered in support of Marshalls Hellboy is that the directors affection for the material is no less real or exuberant than Del Toros; its just a lot more crudely, monotonously expressed. The movie seems to spring from a curious awareness of how unnecessary it is, and it responds in the manner of an uninvited guest, with no interest in behaving or ingratiating itself. We are hurled, with a rude but fitting lack of ceremony, into a smorgasbord of R-rated horror and fantasy conventions, replete with weird detours into Arthurian legend, Mayan mythology and Slavic folklore, and rendered in the directors preferred visual idiom of disemboweled corpses and beautifully art-directed entrails. Advertisement Milla Jovovich in the movie Hellboy. (Mark Rogers) The first decapitation takes place within minutes, during an amped-up Dark Ages prologue that shows King Arthur vanquishing Nimue, a.k.a. the Blood Queen (Milla Jovovich), an evil enchantress who seeks to empower the worlds demons and monsters. Naturally, although Nimues body is hacked into small pieces which are then meticulously strewn all over Britain, her defeat is only temporary. She will cross paths centuries later with Hellboy (David Harbour, of Stranger Things fame), whose World War II birth story how he was brought into the human world by Nazis but promptly rescued by the Allies is handily recapped here. (Keep an eye out for a camera-wielding propagandist identified in the credits as Leni Rafenstahl.) Those dark origins still cast a pall over Hellboy in the present, filling him with doubts about Professor Broom (a welcome Ian McShane), who raised him and brought him into the ranks of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. After stopping by Tijuana to catch a gorier-than-usual lucha libre match, Hellboy finds himself on assignment in the U.K., where an old historical society and a white-eyed psychic (Sophie Okonedo) lead him on what seems at first like a routine giant-hunting mission in the countryside. But several plot twists and vicious impalements later, he finds himself stranded even more deeply in the maze of his own conflicted identity. Hellboy is, of course, a spawn of the devil, as evidenced by the long tail and the sledgehammer-like stone instrument he calls a right arm. Troublingly, he is one of the otherworldly outcasts who stand to benefit from the schemes of the Blood Queen, who has been reconstructed and resurrected by a giant boar (Stephen Graham, doing the grunt work). But there is also no denying Hellboys singular humanity, a quality that the appealing Harbour tries to manifest with much the same world-weary gravitas that Perlman managed, though this movie gives him far less time and room to breathe. Humanity has other faces here, too: Daniel Dae Kim snarls up a storm as Ben Daimio, a fierce BPRD ally who shows his claws early, and Sasha Lane makes a formidable foil as Hellboys old friend Alice Monaghan, whose ability to communicate with the dead involves a particularly inventive form of projectile vomiting. But they too struggle to be seen and heard amid this movies relentless visual-effects onslaught, its gnashings of razor-sharp teeth and dark rivulets of blood. Marshall is both an old-school gorehound and a fastidious builder of worlds. You can see his aesthetic priorities in every frame; its there in the gleeful layering of Lewis Carroll references, the loving attention to decomposed flesh and oozy textures, the creepy-crawly spin he puts on such canonical horror figures as Baba Yaga and her chicken-legged hut. His gusto is easy to admire if not always share, and it gives this movie a yucky, exhausting integrity. This Hellboy can be something to see. It can also be a giant bore. Hellboy is back with David Harbour, Milla Jovovich, Ian McShane, Sasha Lane and Daniel Dae Kim. ------------ Hellboy Rated: R, for strong bloody violence and gore throughout, and language Running time: 2 hours Playing: In general release justin.chang@latimes.com | Twitter: @JustinCChang Turner Classic Movies, the gold standard of curated film channels, will celebrate the quarter-century anniversary of its launch during the 10th edition of its annual film festival in Hollywood this month. The film festival and the network have a lot in common, notes festival director Genevieve McGillicuddy. We havent steered away from our original mission: showing movies uncut, no commercial interruptions, as they were intended to be seen. The film festival is an extension of that a real-world manifestation of the fans, the audience. This years version boasts more than 80 films and more than 100 events and attractions, including a salute to channel founder Ted Turner. The April 11-14 festival is headlined by a relatively recent classic one of the best-known romantic comedies of the last 40 years, Rob Reiners When Harry Met Sally , which originally opened July 21, 1989. Stars Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan will join Reiner for the opening night screening. Crystal will also be featured in a hand-and-footprint ceremony. The films ballyhooed screenwriter, the late Nora Ephron, will get her own tribute and panel discussion. Advertisement Im a big fan of her work, says McGillicuddy, lamenting that comedy gets underrated, so she hopes paying tribute to the writer, whose credits also include Sleepless in Seattle and Youve Got Mail, will help remedy that. TCM host Ben Mankiewicz says, We frequently chart our lives through the movies we love. For people of my generation, the fact that When Harry Met Sally is 30 years old is both thrilling and incredibly uncomfortable. Im a host, Mankiewicz notes about the Crystal tribute. I have a real interest in other people who are great hosts. And for the Oscars its incredibly hard. It may very well be that hes [the best] of my generation. Hes so great at so many things a host has to do; not just stand there and read a monologue. Billy Crystal is literally the Master of Ceremonies. Among the festivals honored guests this year will be two casting directors behind some of Hollywoods most beloved films, one of whom also became an Oscar-winning producer. Casting great Juliet Taylors more-than 100 credits include Taxi Driver, The Birdcage, Schindlers List and more than 40 Woody Allen films, starting with Love and Death. It was Taylor who pushed for John Gielgud as the butler in Arthur in the face of studio intransigence. She told The Times, The studio said, Who is he? Hes nobody. Gielguds Oscar-winning turn became one of the iconic performances of the 80s. She wrestled with legendary director Fred Zinnemann over Vanessa Redgrave in Julia. Zinnemann told her, Ive already got Jane Fonda on my hands Hanoi Jane I cant take Vanessa Redgrave. She wants to run for Parliament; I wont do it. Redgrave and Jason Robards won supporting Oscars for Julia, which also saw Taylor casting Meryl Streep in her first theatrical feature. When finding an actor to play the protagonist in Allens Midnight in Paris a young, New York writer just starting out proved problematic, Taylor suggested Owen Wilson. For Owen Wilson, [Allen] made the character come from L.A., older, looking back on what he would have liked to have done and what he admired as a writer. I think it works better. Allen won an Oscar for that rewritten version. Another of Taylors collaborations with Allen, Broadway Danny Rose, will screen at the festival, as will Mike Nichols Oscar-nominated Working Girl. Fred Roos, meanwhile, established quite a name as a casting director before he was able to become a full-time producer. He helped assemble the actors for Five Easy Pieces, American Graffiti, The Godfather and television shows including I Spy and That Girl. He also provided uncredited help on at least one other popular movie: On Star Wars, I wasnt officially the casting director because he was already a full-time producer, he says. But I was an unofficial adviser to George [Lucas] on it. I very strongly steered him towards Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford and James Earl Jones voice. Id known Carrie since she was 19, socially. I believed in her, believed in her talent. Harrison, Id known from way back, I got him into American Graffiti. He did a lot of carpentry work for me as well. Casting Godfather led to a long association with director Francis Ford Coppola, including producing The Conversation and The Godfather: Part II, both of which were nominated for the best picture Oscar in 1975 (Part II won, and screens at the festival). The festivals arching theme is the rather broad umbrella of different kinds of cinematic love, including Bromance (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), Magnificent Obsession (Wuthering Heights) and Wartime Romance (From Here to Eternity, with Mary Owen, daughter of star Donna Reed, in attendance). Attractions include Hollywood Home Movies: Treasures From the Academy Archive and a panel discussion on The Complicated Legacy of Gone with the Wind. McGillicuddy also expressed excitement over the addition of the New Legion Theater as a festival venue: Its a 90-year-old auditorium inside American Legion Post 43 on Highland Avenue that has undergone a $4-million renovation. Because of the Hollywood location, Post 43 has always had a movie theater in it, she says, noting that most of the posts founders were World War I vets who had worked in the film industry. Mankiewicz says: Were enormously proud of what weve accomplished in 25 years [on television] and 10 years of the festival. The only reason were here is the people who love the channel; theyre the only reason we matter in the marketplace. We take a lot of pride in presenting these works of art and providing context. That little idea of putting somebody incredibly knowledgeable Robert Osborne in front of and behind the movies made them feel more relevant. Its something much more than a nostalgia channel. Its a big deal to us. ------------- The TCM Classic Film Festival When: April 11-14 Where: The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX, TCL Chines 6 Theatres Multiplex, Egyptian Theatre, Legion Theatre at Post 43, and ArcLight Cinemas Cinerama Dome Info: filmfestival.tcm.com/ Oprah Winfrey and Apples media monarchy just nabbed a prince. Winfrey has partnered with Britains Prince Harry to create and executive produce a mental health series launching on Apple in 2020. Winfrey and the Duke of Sussex, who along with other members of the royal family has been working to destigmatize mental health by sharing personal experiences and advocating for those who suffer from mental illness in silence, have been developing the series for several months. It appears to be the project Winfrey first mentioned when Apple trotted her out along with several industry heavyweights at the launch of its new streaming service, Apple TV+ last month. Prince Harry says he has been very close to a complete breakdown Advertisement The multipart documentary series will focus on both mental illness and mental wellness, inspiring viewers to have an honest conversation about the challenges each of us faces, and how to equip ourselves with the tools to not simply survive, but to thrive, said a Wednesday post on Harrys new Instagram account, Sussex Royal. I truly believe that good mental health mental fitness is the key to powerful leadership, productive communities and a purpose-driven self, Harry said in the post. It is a huge responsibility to get this right as we bring you the facts, the science and the awareness of a subject that is so relevant during these times. The 34-year-old prince, who said hes incredibly proud to be working with Winfrey, hopes the series will be positive, enlightening and inclusive sharing global stories of unparalleled human spirit fighting back from the darkest places, and the opportunity for us to understand ourselves and those around us better. Delighted to be partnering with you, Winfrey wrote in the comments section. Hope we shed a lot of Light. And change some lives! Winfrey and Harrys relationship isnt new. Youll recall, the former daytime-TV queen was one of the many celebrity guests at the princes wedding to Suits actress Meghan Markle last year. (The couple is expecting their first child this spring.) In a soaring downtown loft space next to the derelict Cecil Hotel, Ralph Hsiao and Andrew Marco pivot around a small open kitchen behind a highly shellacked handmade bar, encircled by friends and strangers. Everyone has come together for the night at RCTNGL, the name these two self-taught chefs gave to their recurring dinner parties. High on kinetic energy, theyre joking with old UC Irvine schoolmates while plating the first course in a porky omakase theyre preparing in honor of the Year of the Pig. The feast is called Tsino, the Tagalog word for Chinese. The dish: a Popeyes-inspired biscuit served aside a hunk of honeycomb and black-tea-dusted lardo cured with five-spice. Advertisement The two friends, who bonded over hip-hop and skateboarding after meeting in college, first began organizing BYOB group meals two years ago to stay in touch with friends. Today, Marco, raised in a Filipino family in Diamond Bar, and Hsiao, from a Taiwanese family in Torrance, have both left their jobs to explore what they call Asian-inspired, Los Angeles-influenced food in an ongoing series of communal dinners. Sinuglaw with pork jowl, tuna, cucumber, red onion, tangerine and Chinese red pepper on a Forbidden rice tostada (MB Maher) Both of us grew up eating Chinese food, Mexican food, Basque food, Hsiao says, outlining his role as general manager to Marcos executive chef. All of that finds itself in the DNA of RCTNGL, though were more focused on the Filipino aspect. The seven-course menu for the Tsino dinners, held over two weekends in March, illustrated this cross-cultural melding. After the biscuits came a take on the Filipino wonton soup pancit molo made with Szechuan dumplings and chile oil in a broth of chicken binakol consomme. Both of us grew up eating Chinese food, Mexican food, Basque food. Ralph Hsiao, on his RCTNGL partner Andrew Marco Sinuglaw followed, a mix of fermented-apple-marinated and grilled pork jowl and tuna ceviche on a forbidden rice tostada. Then there was a bowl of noodles made of braised pork skin and pickled celtuce topped with amaranth, seared scallop and a ginger, garlic and scallion sauce. After ginataan, a coconut dessert with brown butter-and-black sesame-filled tang yuan rice balls, a surprise round of smashburgers concluded the meal. In the beginning, we hated the term fusion food, Hsiao says. I dont want cheeseburger wantons. But over time, weve come to terms that it is fusion food. We want to reframe that word because we cant avoid it. Ralph Hsiao, left, and Andrew Marco talk with guests during a recent Tsino dinner at RCTNGL. (MB Maher) To us, fusion food is the new American, he continued. Whos to say our American experience is not as authentic as an American persons from the South? Were sharing the culmination of everything weve experienced and that we define as American. RCTNGL follows a sporadic schedule, announcing dinner dates online once concepts are honed. For their next series, theyre staying mostly mum, teasing a culinary narrative that explores memory and growing up. To us, fusion food is the new American. Ralph Hsiao The two chefs also regularly offer kamayans, family-style Filipino feasts eaten with the hands over a banana leaf-lined table that, Marco notes, make it difficult for people to hold their phones. Its this spirit of connecting people over shared experiences that gave RCTNGL its start; the name itself derived from a common table shape. A lot happens over the table, Hsaio explains. To us, the table symbolizes community and bringing people together. rctngl.la The theme song to the Super Mario Bros. was the theme song to my childhood. Id go to school, crush my sister at Super Mario on the beat-up couch in our family room, eat, and repeat. Koji Hiramochi told me he spent most of his childhood playing video games in an underground game center before going on to become a professional video game designer. A little more than a decade ago, he opened Star Club, one of countless pocket-size bars near the Golden Gai area of Shinjuku, where bars and restaurants are stacked like Tetris pieces down the alleyways. At Star Bar, you walk up a flight of stairs into a full on visual assault of Super Mario-ness. Any and all available wall space is lined with Super Mario art, shelves are packed with figurines, plush toys and t-shirts. The bar itself, between the ashtrays and the drinks, is crammed with Mario knick knacks and ephemera; Piranha plant lamps loom above. Advertisement All the drinks on the menu are Mario-themed; there are some ramshackle couches crammed into the space on which you can sit and play Super Mario Bros. like I used to when I was kid and now I will, cocktail in hand, when Im in Tokyo. Japan, 160-0022 Tokyo, Shinjuku City, Shinjuku, 2 Chome11, Chome 305 , https://www.bar-starclub.com/. jenn.harris@latimes.com Instagram: @Jenn_Harris_ I dropped by Homeboy Industries to check in with Father Greg Boyle and to go over the details of our appearance together at the L.A. Times Festival of Books on Saturday. But first things first. Homeboy has a morning ritual. Everyone gathers in the foyer of the big yellow building near the Chinatown Metro Station. Staff, volunteers, visitors, young clients trying to escape gang life. And then come the daily announcements. Coffeecake was the bakery special, chicken pozole the Homegirl Cafe lunch special, the tattoo removal center would be open soon. And a prayer was offered for five female gang members headed to a retreat. Boyle, the L.A. kid-turned-Jesuit priest who has devoted the last 30 years of his life to this work, has hundreds of stories in his quiver. On Monday, he told the daily gathering the one about a dearly deported homie who got out of lockup and was sent to El Salvador, a foreign country in more ways than one, where people spoke a language he barely knew. On his way back north, Boyle said, he was mugged, robbed, stripped naked and taken in by strangers in Mexico. Advertisement Heres some boxers, heres some socks, heres a pair of pants, shirt, shoes. They feed him and hes so stunned that in the middle of nowhere he is clothed by their reverent kindness, Boyle said. Father Greg Boyle meets with Johnny Chavez, who wears a T-shirt with one of Homeboy Industries mottos, in his Los Angeles headquarters. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) What goes around comes around, the padre continued, telling those assembled that the homie took a vow that day to return the kindness, and to get back home on the power of that thought. We want to choose each day and with each other to be reverent because it will soften how we see each other, Boyle said. And that will lead to cherishing, and that will lead to a joy youve never experienced. Amen. As the gathering broke up and the days activities began, two people came up to me. A young man named Alex, who said he walked away from the MS-13 gang not long ago, wanted to comment to my surprise on a column I wrote nearly 13 years ago. It was about my getting a haircut from Arnold Schwarzeneggers barber. That was my favorite, he said, and I had trouble suppressing a smile. I used to read the paper, but Im sorry to say its too expensive now. The other person who said hello was Joani Noneman. She said that she was a retired nurse, and that she had been volunteering in the tattoo removal clinic one day a week for six years. Ill get back to the homie and the nurse in a minute. Father Boyle and I had coffee at Homegirl Cafe and talked about his Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship, the book well be discussing Saturday. In it, Boyle does what he does best: He preaches without preaching, trusting that there is no more powerful form of commentary than the telling of stories that shake our notion of who we are, or who the other guys are. In Boyles heart, humility resides, and with the pen of a poet, he introduces us to the young men and women who stumble into Homeboy like soldiers from the frontlines, damaged by violence, abuse, abandonment, poverty, mental illness and the casualties inflicted by their own rage. Boyle says in the book that hes been accused of coddling criminals, but he thinks of Homeboy as the worlds largest gang intervention, rehab and reentry program, and thousands of men and women have left lives of crime behind and found jobs with help from Homeboy. Boyle stands with them, on the margins, yesterday, today and tomorrow, opening doors instead of slamming them shut. He gives them an ear, he gives them prayer, he gives them a chance to decide theyre done with one thing and ready for another. No hopeful kid has ever joined a gang, Boyle writes. No kid is seeking anything when he joins a gang, hes always fleeing something. Father Greg Boyle hugs Maria Lozoya, 20, after she came to him for advice. We want to choose each day and with each other to be reverent because it will soften how we see each other, Boyle has said. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) Joani Noneman had retired from nursing and wanted to find a cause to volunteer for. Her father, late UCLA researcher and philanthropist James B. Peter, had donated to Homeboy and she wanted to see what the nonprofit did, so she took a tour. When she saw the tattoo removal clinic, run by volunteer doctors and other medical staff, she signed up. Im a 60-year-old white woman and I would go into the morning meetings and sit in my little chair, and what I was most afraid of was that they wouldnt accept me, Noneman said. Slowly but surely I was able to come out of my shell and was totally embraced by the community. Now I feel its my home away from home. Tattoo removal by laser is a painful procedure like constant burns from splattering bacon grease, Noneman said that requires multiple visits. Noneman said this gives her a chance to listen to stories, which can serve as a distraction from the pain. She remembers a woman who said she had been trafficked by a pimp who branded her with a tattoo on her back. The lower back can be a very, very painful area to remove a tattoo and she was crying, Noneman said. I said, Im sorry, you can do this, Im working you through it. She said, No, its not that. Im crying because Im remembering what all this means, and Im so grateful to have it off of me. The day after I met with Boyle, I went back and found Alex working in the Homeboy store, where shirts and hats and other gear are sold to help support the programs. I asked how he came to know Boyle. Alex looked away. He seemed as though he might crack, but he didnt. I was 11, he said. It was in juvenile hall. Alex said he joined a gang when he was 10 because it seemed safer than what he dealt with at home. Boyle told him to stay in touch, but the boy wasnt ready to break free. Alex stuck with the gang into adulthood and that was a gateway to jail and prison. He saw Boyle now and then, and he recalls never feeling judged. Boyle simply connected, always coming in with his How you doin, son greeting. He asked Alex to get in touch when he was ready to give something new a chance. And he always said I love you. Alex said he couldnt get over that level of kindness from a virtual stranger, and when he got out of prison in September, he went to Homeboy to sign on for the 18-month program. Not long ago, he said, a homie from his old gang enrolled but wasnt ready to commit. The old friend couldnt believe Alex had rejected the old ways. No, Alex told him. Im out. Within two months, they had different things to talk about. Now were discussing college and resources and plans, said Alex, who wants to get the college education he never got, and hes already enrolled. What hed really like to do, he said, is get a degree, come back one day and do for others what Homeboy is doing for him. He wants to run the place for Father Greg. Not long ago, Alex said, a former rival entered the program. He shot me, Alex said. Back in 2002. I asked where he was shot. Alex started on his right arm, near the elbow. This is an exit wound here, he said, then he moved to the scars on his left arm. And my hands, too. And my back. I asked if he gets along now with the guy who sprayed him with bullets. I smoked a cigarette one day and he got angry with me, Alex said as a smile creased his face. Now he cares about my health. Steve Lopez will appear with Greg Boyle on the L.A. Times Main Stage at 10:30 a.m. Saturday and with columnists Chris Erskine, Robin Abcarian and Frank Shyong on the L.A. Times Live Stage at 3:40 p.m. Saturday. Get more of Steve Lopezs work and follow him on Twitter @LATstevelopez Prosecutors said Wednesday they will seek the death penalty for the man accused of being the Golden State Killer. Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. is suspected of raping some 50 women and holding entire families hostage during a reign of terror in Sacramento and the Bay Area in the late 1970s, then progressing to murder. For the record: A previous version of this article quoted Jennifer Carole as saying it was unfortunate that D.A.s get involved in policies. Carole said it was unfortunate that D.A.s get involved in politics. The killer was given various names in each region, including the Visalia Ransacker, East Area Rapist, Creek Bed Killer and Original Night Stalker, before becoming known as the Golden State Killer. He was arrested at his home in the Sacramento suburbs on April 24, 2018, just days after DNA samples surreptitiously gathered from him by law enforcement linked him to some of the crimes. Advertisement District attorneys met in a Sacramento office Wednesday to vote on whether to seek the death penalty if DeAngelo is convicted in any of the 13 serial murders he is charged with. The decision in favor was unanimous, said Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer, in whose county DeAngelo is accused of killing four people in the early 1980s. Prosecutors in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Sacramento counties with eight murder cases among them agreed. DeAngelo also is charged with killing a Tulare County journalism professor, but the county has not added special circumstances charges that would allow the death penalty in that case. He also is charged with kidnapping in several Contra Costa County rapes. The capital punishment decision is strategic as much as anything. The letter prosecutors sent Wednesday to DeAngelos public defender notes that they would reconsider a lesser punishment if the defense provides sufficient reason. Spitzer declined to comment on what prosecutors would consider sufficient, but in death-penalty cases that typically includes a confession, especially to crimes not yet charged. Ron Harrington, brother of 1980 murder victim Keith Harrington, said he was pleased to hear prosecutors will seek the death penalty. The Golden State Killer is the worst of the worst of the worst that ever happened, Harrington said outside the Sacramento jail courtroom where DeAngelo appeared for Wednesdays brief hearing. We are thrilled with the decision to seek the death penalty. Harrington followed with a criticism of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has put executions on hold after years of an unofficial freeze. But another murder victims relative at Wednesdays hearing said she does not support the death penalty. I was not expecting the announcement. I dont agree with the death penalty. I understand the reasons we are asking for it, and that it is also political, said Jennifer Carole, whose father, Ventura County lawyer Lyman Smith, and stepmother, Charlene Smith, were killed in March 1980. Which is unfortunate, that D.A.s get involved in politics, but thats how things are set up in California. However, Carole said she sees the pursuit of the death penalty as a strategy by prosecutors to speed up a case that otherwise might not get to trial for years. She hopes DeAngelo who was stoic at Wednesdays brief session takes it to heart. Im glad that he had to listen to all those count against him.... I hope this might get him to cooperate, Carole said. If just for his family. The Los Angeles Police Department pioneered the controversial use of data to pinpoint crime hot spots and track violent offenders. Complex algorithms and vast databases were supposed to revolutionize crime fighting, making policing more efficient as number-crunching computers helped to position scarce resources. But critics long complained about inherent bias in the data gathered by officers that underpinned the tools. They claimed a partial victory when LAPD Chief Michel Moore announced he would end one highly touted program intended to identify and monitor violent criminals. On Tuesday, the departments civilian oversight panel raised questions about whether another program, aimed at reducing property crime, also disproportionately targets black and Latino communities. Advertisement Members of the Police Commission demanded more information about how the agency plans to overhaul a data program that helps predict where and when crimes will likely occur. One questioned why the program couldnt be suspended. There is very limited information on the programs impact, Commissioner Shane Murphy Goldsmith said. The action came as so-called predictive policing using search tools, point scores and other methods is under increasing scrutiny by privacy and civil liberties groups that say the tactics result in heavier policing of black and Latino communities. The argument was underscored at Tuesdays commission meeting when several UCLA academics cast doubt on the research behind crime modeling and predictive policing. Last week, the group of 68 UCLA professors and graduate students signed a letter to commissioners raising concerns about PredPol, the technology company partially developed by UCLA anthropology professor P. Jeffrey Brantingham. There is no universal agreement or acceptance of the empirical merit and the ethics of the research upon which the policing program is based, the letter stated, adding that it reflected some of the most troubling legacies of the discipline of anthropology and of social science more generally. In a statement, Brantingham said: UCLA provides a great environment to conduct research because it represents a diversity of opinion and encourages vigorous debate. Its clear that we share the same passion for finding fair and effective solutions that help keep communities safe. The PredPol software used by the LAPD is designed to predict where and when crimes will likely occur over the next 12 hours. The softwares algorithm examines 10 years of data, including the types of crimes, dates, locations and times. As commissioners debated the data program for three hours, activists repeatedly shouted, Shut it down. Last month, an audit by Inspector General Mark Smith found the data programs lacked oversight and that officers used inconsistent criteria to label people who were likely to commit violent crime. Moore ended that component. Smith also said there was insufficient data to determine if PredPol helped to reduce property crimes. But Goldsmith and fellow Commissioners Dale Bonner and Eileen Decker faulted the audit for not providing more details about the location-based program. They questioned its effectiveness and wanted specifics on how future results would be measured and released to the public. They also asked Moore to provide details on training and how the agency would monitor against possible abuses of targeting black and brown communities Department officials plan to meet with a commission subcommittee to provide more details. Bonner asked Moore why the agency could not suspend the program until it develops a formalized plan and resolves all problems. Moore insisted the program is needed to fight crime. To abort this because of criticism in this room is an overreaction, Moore said, adding the agency is trying to build community trust around the program. Its almost like working on the car as youre driving down the freeway, Bonner replied. Moore disputed the notion. The department is working to develop precision policing manuals tailored to its four geographic commands and will incorporate the inspector generals recommendations into them, Moore said. To improve accountability, Moore tasked Deputy Chief Robert Arcos, who heads the Office of Operations, to oversee the program. Arcos told commissioners that he and other police leaders are committed to making the program successful and transparent. After the audit was released last month, the public had two weeks to offer input. Smith said he received 819 responses. Many used similar language urging that the programs end. Still, activists pointed out that no responses supported keeping the program. The community is completely unified in the opposition, one woman told commissioners. When the commission declined to approve the departments path forward to use predictive policing instead requesting more information on its usefulness in stemming property crimes activists stood and chanted in solidarity. Commission President Steve Soboroff recessed the meeting until calm could be restored. Seven UCLA professors and graduate students spoke, urging commissioners to stop the LAPD from using PredPol because it inflicts harm on the citys poorest residents. Its a predatory policing program that should be dismissed and dismantled, professor Jemima Pierre told commissioners. Another criticized Smith for not disclosing that two academic studies cited in the audit were completed by Brantingham. It shouldnt be evaluated by the person who created it, professor Jessica Cattelino said. Moore said the department is open to more examination of the program and would make changes if irregularities surface. He credited the program for helping lower crime rates in recent years. The agencys primary goal, he said, is to keep the city safe, not apprehend people. He said he understands the concerns about racial biases, but said officers work daily to build community trust. We will continue to work with all our communities, Moore said, adding the department will also seek more research on data policing. Jose Ibarra Bucio, 27, had been detained at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center for about a week when he called his wife in early February, saying he was desperate to get out. Their baby had been born three days earlier and Ibarra was terrified of being deported without knowing him, to Mexico, which he left when he was 4 years old. He was very impatient, very frustrated, very persistent that we needed to get him out, said Melissa Castro, Ibarras wife. The next day Ibarra collapsed and was taken to the hospital. He fell into a coma and died six weeks later. Advertisement Ibarras family says they are now desperate to know exactly what happened to the one-time delivery driver while he was in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. They are asking for an investigation into whether Ibarra received timely medical care, and why ICE officials waited a day to tell them that he was in the hospital. They also want to know why officials had him handcuffed to a bed while in a coma with guards around him at all hours. All I want to know is what happened to him, said Castro, 27. My son will never be able to experience the love and happiness my husband brought to my life as I know he would have brought to his. Castro and Ibarras sister, Lucian Ibarra, 29, spoke to The Times before a news conference Wednesday at the offices of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley said Ibarra was taken into custody after he was released from prison. He was convicted last year of a felony for fleeing a pursuing peace officer while driving recklessly, she said. Prior to the arrest, Ibarra had been given temporary protection from deportation under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, Castro said. A spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department said firefighters and paramedics responded to one 911 call at the detention center on Feb. 7 at 3:03 p.m. reporting that a detainee had fallen. It was unclear if the call was for Ibarra. Doctors at Loma Linda University Medical Center told the family that Ibarra had passed out and suffered a brain hemorrhage, Castro said. On Feb. 22, about two weeks after he was taken to the hospital, Ibarra was released from ICE custody, on an order of recognizance with respect to humanitarian concerns, Haley said. Castro said ICE officials left a form in his room that day, informing them of the decision to release him. While they were grateful that Ibarra would no longer be guarded and shackled, they also realized they would be responsible for his medical bills. Ibarras family decided to take him off life support on March 20 and he died the following day at Loma Linda, the family said. The case comes as the Adelanto facility has been under intense scrutiny for issues related to medical care and treatment of detainees. The center can house nearly 2,000 men and women as they await the outcome of their immigration cases. Last year, the Department of Homeland Security inspector generals office issued a scathing report in which officials said they had found several problems at the facility that posed significant health and safety risks, including detainees who reported waiting weeks and months to see a doctor. In 2017, immigrant advocates raised alarms about conditions at the facility following the deaths of three detainees in three months. In August of that year, The Times reported that there had been at least five attempted suicides at the facility in less than one year. Last month, the city of Adelanto announced it would end its contract related to the ICE Processing Center. The city had acted as a go-between for ICE and the GEO Group, the private prison group that runs the center. ICEs decision to release Ibarra from custody also raises questions about what oversight will be conducted into the death. When a detainee dies, ICE issues a press release within two business days with all relevant details, according to guidelines on its website. But Ibarra was no longer in custody when he died and there is no press release on the agencys site. Instead, the case came to light when the family decided to go public. The San Bernardino County coroners office also often investigates the deaths of inmates and detainees. But Jonathan Kroeker, supervising deputy coroner investigator, said it was not involved in investigating Ibarras death. The circumstances surrounding his death did not require an investigation, Kroeker said. Whether he was in custody or not in custody was one element we would evaluate, but he was not in custody. He added that there are many elements that would have contributed to the decision. Haley did not immediately respond to questions about whether officials would conduct a detainee death review, as they do when detainees die in custody, or any other investigations into the death. Lucian Ibarra, Ibarras sister, said she wants more information in order to understand what happened to her brother. I would like a proper investigation because we as a family were very concerned of the things that led my brother to be hospitalized, she said. My brother was such a healthy man. All this took us by surprise and we still dont have answers to this day. As she spoke, Jose Ibarras 2-month old son, Damian Ibarra, slept in a stroller nearby. A Bakersfield man was sentenced Tuesday to 7 years in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiring with two Bakersfield police officers to distribute methamphetamine and marijuana that the officers had seized while on patrol. Federal prosecutors said in a 2017 indictment that for three years Bakersfield Police Officers Damacio Diaz and Patrick Mara deliberately failed to submit seized drugs into the evidence room and instead provided the stolen narcotics to Noel Carter, 45, so he could sell them for profit. Mara and Diaz are already serving prison sentences for their roles in the drug ring. Two Kern County sheriffs deputies have also been convicted of conspiracy to distribute marijuana after being accused of working with Mara and Diaz. Advertisement Carter would break down the pounds of drugs he got from the officers into retail units of ounces or less and repackage them for sale, federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. Carter also determined the selling price of the drugs, collected the funds and kept a large percentage of the profits for himself, prosecutors wrote. Carter in essence ran his own private drug operation, prosecutors wrote. The officers simply were the suppliers of drugs to Carters drug organization. Carter was in control of all aspects of the sale and distribution of the drugs. Prosecutors also said Carter was the manager of a short-term office rental business and would leave envelopes of methamphetamine inside a locked mailbox there for an unindicted co-conspirator to pick up with a keycard Carter provided. Carter would monitor the persons distribution and sales figures, and the co-conspirator would leave money for Carter in the same mailbox. Carter was ordered to pay $70,513 in restitution to his former employer and to forfeit $286,251 representing proceeds from his drug trafficking activity, according to the U.S. attorneys office. Carter admitted to embezzling money from the company and depositing the money into his personal account. The Bakersfield officers were caught in 2015 after another drug dealer they protected revealed their behavior to federal agents. It was a huge fall from grace for Diaz, who was well known in the Central Valley as being a member of the high school cross-country running team portrayed in the 2015 Disney movie McFarland, USA. In May 2016, Diaz pleaded guilty to possessing with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, as well as receiving bribes and making a false income tax return. In June 2016, Mara pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute and to possessing with the intent to distribute methamphetamine. Former Kern County Sheriffs Deputies Logan August and Derrick Penney were sentenced to three years of probation in a plea bargain with federal prosecutors after they were accused of stealing marijuana from the sheriffs evidence storage unit. The pair confessed to FBI agents that they took marijuana and sold it. Some of the profits from those sales went to Mara, according to federal court records. javier.panzar@latimes.com @jpanzar A Los Angeles County deputy district attorney announced plans Wednesday to challenge Jackie Lacey in the 2020 election, making him the second insurgent candidate promising to bring a more progressive bent to the countys top law enforcement post. Joseph Iniguez, a 33-year-old prosecutor currently trying cases in the Alhambra courthouse, said that although he respects Lacey, he believes she has prevented the district attorneys office from leading the country in the kinds of criminal justice reforms that have sprouted under other progressive prosecutors in Philadelphia and San Francisco. For the record: An earlier version of this story said Jackie Lacey had received endorsements from the entire Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. She has received endorsements from four of the five board members. Its time we ask ourselves some basic questions. Why are people of color arrested, prosecuted and incarcerated more than any other population in L.A. County? he asked in a video released Wednesday morning announcing his candidacy. Why do we continue to treat addiction as a crime, instead of a disease? A Southern California native who previously worked as a defense attorney in Riverside County and as a high school teacher in La Puente, Iniguez was admitted to the California State Bar in 2012 and joined the Los Angeles County district attorneys office in 2015. Advertisement Asked about his relative inexperience, Iniguez said his youth and background will allow him to bring an alternative perspective to the district attorneys office. I understand what its like to be on the other side, he said in a separate interview with The Times, referring to his time as a defense attorney. I know what its like to be with police officers on the street in their patrol car, and I know what its like to be with a prosecutor sitting with your victims. In the year 2047, when Im the age of Jackie Lacey, what do I want the system to look like? What I decided is I cant sit by and wait. Iniguez is the second person to challenge Lacey from inside her own office. Last month, Deputy Dist Atty. Richard Ceballos, a veteran prosecutor currently assigned to the organized crime and hate crimes unit, announced his candidacy. He has scheduled a campaign kickoff event this month downtown. Lacey announced her reelection bid this year and has already garnered a slew of endorsements from political heavyweights, including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, U.S. Reps. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) and Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia and four members of the county Board of Supervisors. Her early campaign, however, has not been without headaches. Last month, a Times investigation found Lacey had received a number of questionable campaign contributions from people accused of serious crimes or relatives and associates of defendants implicated in severe wrongdoing. The donors included the parents of a Sherman Oaks man awaiting trial on murder charges, a chiropractor facing insurance fraud charges in Orange County and a Sun Valley man convicted of trying to smuggle missile parts to Iran. Laceys campaign returned $13,000 in donations after being contacted by The Times. Iniguez criticized Lacey for being too cozy with defense attorneys who had contributed to her campaigns in the past. He said he was working in the same Van Nuys courthouse where an off-duty firefighter was allowed to plead to a misdemeanor after choking someone unconscious during a 2015 Halloween clash. The firefighters attorney, Michael Goldstein, had previously served as Laceys campaign finance director and donated thousands to her political accounts. The firefighter had originally faced up to seven years in prison but was granted probation, over the protests of the veteran Los Angeles police detective who investigated the case. When defense attorneys are donating to the district attorney, and those individuals are getting better outcomes, thats a problem, said Iniguez, who stopped short of promising to decline donations from defense attorneys. At the time of the controversy, the district attorneys office issued a statement to The Times saying Goldsteins relationship with [Lacey] had absolutely nothing to do with the resolution of the case. Iniguez, who is gay, said he hopes to build a coalition of support with younger voters and the LGBTQ community. He also said he wants the district attorneys office to be more transparent about the cases it prosecutes and more sensitive in prosecuting those suffering from mental illness. We have to figure out where these people belong in society, but we know the jail isnt an answer. We have 17,000 people in the county jail a quarter of those people suffer from mental illness, he said. Weve got to do better. james.queally@latimes.com Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California. Police on Wednesday detained nearly two dozen people at a cybercafe in Santa Ana that authorities say was being used as an illegal gambling facility. Twenty-one people were taken into custody at the Lucky 999 Cyber Internet business on Grand Avenue near the 5 Freeway, and some may be arrested, said Cpl. Anthony Bertagna, a spokesman for the Santa Ana Police Department. They had been there all night, he said of the customers. Officers found 19 gambling video games inside the 700-square-foot building, authorities said. Santa Ana code enforcement officials also were called to the scene. Advertisement None of the detainees were armed, Bertagna said. It was unclear what charges, if any, they may face. Santa Ana police work at the scene of an April 10 raid at an internet cafe that had gambling video games inside. (Santa Ana Police Department) An investigation into the business started last year when community members began complaining about a large amount of activity some of it allegedly criminal at all hours of the day, Bertagna said. Police began patrolling the area and made several arrests over the last year, mostly for possession of weapons or illegal drugs, he said. Bertagna said that when investigators accumulated enough proof of criminal activity in the area, they obtained a warrant and searched the business early Wednesday morning. Video taken by officers during the raid showed several people lined up against the buildings walls, their hands fastened behind their backs with zip ties. Inside, lights on several machines were still flashing and the machines were playing music. Bertagna said two of the people detained said they were operating the business, but it was unclear who the owner is. alejandra.reyesvelarde@latimes.com Twitter: @r_valejandra The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday extended rent-control and eviction protections in the unincorporated areas until next year, after a lengthy hearing with dueling input from affordable housing advocates and the real estate industry. By a 4-1 vote, the supervisors continued a temporary cap on rent increases to 3% annually until the end of the year and expanded protections requiring landlords to show just cause before evictions. The extension gives county officials more time to craft a permanent ordinance regulating rents in the areas under the jurisdiction of the county government, a patchwork of neighborhoods home to 1 million residents, including hundreds of thousands of renters who would be affected by the expanded rules. Many people in Los Angeles County are having difficulties just accessing housing, said Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, who backed the creation of the ordinance. One of the reasons has been the rapidly escalating rents, which in many, many of our areas have no stabilization ordinances, no limitations at all. Advertisement Before the vote, a large group of housing advocates held a rally outside the Hall of Administration, and dozens spoke to the board about their experiences as renters and on behalf of the ordinance. Numerous critics representing realtors and property owners spoke against the changes, saying the areas rising housing costs can be explained by scarcity, not predatory landlords or owners. We need to focus on the development of new homes at all income levels and not price-control policies that remove the incentive to build more housing and cause landlords to neglect maintenance and repair, said Armando Flores, legislative affairs director for the Valley Industry & Commerce Assn., which opposes the ordinance. Supervisor Kathryn Barger voted against the measure, as she had when the board first considered it last fall, echoing the concerns of the real estate industry. I really do believe that competition is going to solve the problem. Rent control is exacerbating the situation, she said. The boards vote comes as other area cities, including Glendale, Long Beach and Inglewood, have recently enacted their own renter protection measures. In addition to extending the renter protections, the board also asked county agencies to craft an ordinance that would establish a rent review board designed to oversee current and future measures related to rent stabilization, mobile home regulation and tenant protections. The vote included instructions to county public works and planning officials to assess conditions of the rental stock in the unincorporated areas, focusing on a possible code enforcement program to improve rental housing conditions. In addition, the board expressed a desire to work with community groups and county departments to notify renters and property owners about the policy changes on social media and other methods. Housing advocates applauded the countys decision to build its own regulatory infrastructure before enacting a permanent ordinance, perhaps this fall. The tenants we aim to protect should not suffer because we want a deliberative process as we consider permanent rent protections, said Jessie Kornberg, President & CEO of Bet Tzedek, a public-interest law firm. Kornberg also praised the extension of the eviction protections to most rental units in the county. This just cause clarification is immensely important to the vast majority of tenants that you serve, she said. UTSA tapped by NASA to help build homes on the moon and Mars (San Antonio, Apr. 10, 2019) -- The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) has been tapped by The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to join a team that will build homes for human habitation on the moon and Mars. As exploration missions beyond Earth become more ambitious, NASA must consider new technologies to keep habitats operational when they are not occupied by astronauts. To help achieve this, NASA has selected UTSA to be part of its Space Technology Research Institutes (STRIs) to advance space smart habitat designs, or SmartHab. This research will complement other NASA projects to help mature the mission architecture needed to meet challenging exploration goals. UTSA, led by Arturo Montoya, an associate professor with dual appointments in the Department of Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, will join NASA's Resilient ExtraTerrestrial Habitats institute (RETHi). The RETHi seeks to design and operate resilient deep space habitats that can adapt, absorb and rapidly recover from expected and unexpected disruptions. It plans to leverage expertise in civil infrastructure with advanced technology fields such as modular and autonomous robotics and hybrid simulation. As part of the RETHi program, UTSA will receive financial support to build computational models including the algorithms needed to build resilient moon and Mars future homes. "This grant will allow UTSA, and its students, to play a key role in solving the challenge of deep space habitation, while building partnerships with NASA facilities, universities and industries," said Montoya. Through an integrated effort, RETHi will mature deep space habitats that can operate in both crewed and un-crewed configurations. The institute plans to create a cyber-physical prototype testbed of physical and virtual models to develop, deploy and validate different capabilities. The RETHI team includes Purdue University, the University of Connecticut, and Harvard. "Our participation in efforts to map a reality of extraterrestrial habitation as part of this initiative helps to support President Eighmy's vision for UTSA as a great multicultural discovery enterprise and being world-engaged," said UTSA's JoAnn Browning, Dean of the College of Engineering. "This grant also illustrates our emphasis on multi-disciplinary research, as it brings together the fields of autonomous robotics, advanced computing methods for hybrid simulation, and sustainable civil infrastructure design." In addition to RETHI, NASA will also fund a second institute: Habitats Optimized for Missions of Exploration (HOME). HOME's design approach for deep space habitats relies on proven engineering and risk analysis and on emergent technologies to enable resilient, autonomous and self-maintained habitats for human explorers. UTSA with other collaborators will be funded by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, which is responsible for developing the cross-cutting, pioneering, new technologies and capabilities needed by the agency to achieve its current and future missions. As one of the top research universities in the country, UTSA along with the new institutes could receive as much as $15 million over a five-year period. ### This story has been published on: 2019-04-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. (CNN) UK grocery chain Waitrose has apologized after being accused of racism over the names of three chocolate ducklings. The "Waitrose Trio of Chocolate Easter Ducklings" contains a white, milk and dark chocolate version, which were named "Fluffy," "Crispy" and "Ugly" respectively. A Twitter user questioned why Waitrose had chosen to call the darkest duckling "Ugly." "Overheard women saying 'this is not right,' I agree, doesn't look good at all," wrote Livia A. Aliberti on March 7. Waitrose has since apologized in a short statement seen by CNN. "We are very sorry for any upset caused by the name of this product, it was absolutely not our intention to cause any offence," reads the statement. "We removed the product from sale several weeks ago while we changed the labeling and our ducklings are now back on sale." One possible explanation for the naming is a reference to the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale "The Ugly Duckling." The story features an unfortunate young duckling who is bullied by all of those around him before turning into a swan. Aliberti thanked Waitrose for changing the packaging in another tweet Tuesday. This story was first published on CNN.com "Store withdraws chocolate ducklings over racism complaint" Maggots and mice have fallen onto inmates dining tables at a California state prison where holes in the roof also allow rain and bird droppings to seep through and streak the walls, according to an inmate lawsuit that charges the state isnt moving fast enough to repair deteriorating prisons. California has committed $260 million over four years to repair leaking roofs and clear dangerous mold at more than two dozen deteriorating prisons where the cost of overdue maintenance is pegged at more than $1 billion. The lawsuit calls for swifter action and includes examples of the problems in stomach-churning detail. Mice twice fell onto the dining table and scurried into a dishwashing area in April 2018, testified inmate Marvin Dominguez, who eats twice a day in the dining hall at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran. Then a squirming maggot dropped onto his food tray in October. Advertisement A guard advised him to sit at a different table, he said. The disclosure comes amid increased scrutiny over prison conditions nationally. Other reports include a lack of heat in February in federal detention centers outside Los Angeles and in Brooklyn, N.Y., and poor medical care and dangerous conditions at federal immigration detention facilities. Inmate Robert Escareno, who filed the California lawsuit, described in court how bird feces paint the dining room wall. He claims the mold and other contaminants aggravate his allergies. State officials dont deny the problem but say theyre fixing the roofs as fast as they can. They blame inmates for attracting vermin by tossing food and hiding liquor they make known as pruno in the damaged ceiling. Inmates attorneys say the Corcoran prison targeted in the lawsuit is a symptom of a systemwide problem. Roofs are failing all over the place, said Don Specter, director of the nonprofit Prison Law Office, which is representing Escareno. They acknowledge the need of the roofs, [but] theyre not making arrangements so people dont get hurt in the meantime. Deteriorating roofing materials allow leaks and lead to birds and their droppings getting into the ceiling of a dining hall at Corcoran State Prison. (Prison Law Office) Besides spawning mold, leaking roofs short out electrical systems, including lights, fire alarm control panels and fire suppression systems, corrections officials say. Roofs at eight of Californias 34 prisons have been replaced, but another 20 still need to be done. Gov. Gavin Newsoms budget includes replacing roofs at two prisons, leaving 18 needing roof replacements and repairs. Its taken nearly two years just to design the Corcoran prisons new dining room roof, and prison officials could not say when construction would begin. That led Kings County Superior Court Judge Donna L. Tarter to half-joke during trial that the roof is not getting fixed probably in our lifetime. She expects to decide by May whether to order the prison to close the dining hall and feed about 800 inmates in their dormitories, a stopgap measure that officials said would create difficult logistical problems while interfering with prison programs. The broader problem of leaking roofs could imperil Californias efforts to keep the inmate population below a cap imposed by federal judges to improve prison conditions. Corrections Secretary Ralph Diaz told legislators in March that one leaky roof could create problems if inmates have to be moved from their cellblocks. The state is about 3,300 inmates below the cap but expects that margin to shrink considerably when it takes back 1,400 inmates that had been housed in a private out-of-state prison by June. The cushion isnt as robust as we would like, Diaz said. The problem at Corcoran is that leaking rainwater has destroyed interior ceiling tiles so often that the prison no longer replaces them, prison Lt. Michael Owens testified on behalf of the state. Inmates then toss food onto the ventilation system through the openings in the ceiling, he said, which in turn attracts flies that produce maggots that fall from the ceiling. He also recounted how he ordered inmate workers to regularly scrub the discolored walls with bleach. Associate Warden Jason Collins and prison Lt. Nicholas Tyler blamed pruno an illicit alcoholic beverage fermented from leftover fruit with a little bread to provide the yeast. Inmate workers probably climbed atop kitchen carts to hide 10 to 15 pounds of the sticky stuff atop a ventilation duct in the deteriorating ceiling area in November, Tyler said. Collins said he discovered another batch of hidden hooch in February when it attracted flies. The dining hall roof also attracts pigeons lots of them. There they poop, and some birds die, their waste washing into the building whenever it rains, testified licensed architect, engineer and building contractor Steven Norris. We all know that prison is not supposed to be comfortable, inmate Escareno told the judge, but at the same time its not designed for me to have to go and eat in a place where Im feet away from what I know to be bird feces. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus election victory suggests the government he forms in a record fifth term is likely to espouse more nationalistic views and show little inclination to negotiate peace with Palestinians. Netanyahu finished neck and neck with his main opponent, former army chief of staff commander Benny Gantz, but has a larger number of political parties, many on the far right, willing to align with him to form a coalition and assume leadership of the government. The Blue and White alliance led by Gantz conceded defeat Wednesday, a day after voters went to the polls. The prime ministers right-wing bloc will not be substantially larger than the one he has had up to now, but it is likely to include much more extremist figures after Netanyahu used the campaign to court fringe parties that advocate Jewish supremacy and what some critics consider racist ideas. Advertisement Although Netanyahu, 69, emerged the victor despite possible criminal indictments hanging over him, Gantz managed a formidable challenge, proving that the veteran prime minister is not invincible. Netanyahu should have won this in a cakewalk, Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, said in an interview. The Israeli economy is humming along, security is strong this should have been a landslide for him, Plesner said, but [he] barely made it to the level of a general who no one really thought of a few months ago. President Trump, who figured prominently in the Israeli campaign, swiftly congratulated Netanyahu, using his common nickname, Bibi. The fact that Bibi won, I think well see some pretty good action in terms of peace, Trump said on the White House lawn. Everybody said you cant have peace in the Middle East with Israel and the Palestinians. I think we have a chance. And I think we have, now, a better chance with Bibi having won. But the new, hard-right political constellation in the incoming government appears to make any major diplomatic moves toward Palestinians unlikely. If anything, the new Israeli government seems less likely to entertain a long-awaited peace plan that Trumps son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has been drafting, even though it is thought to give very favorable terms to Israel. The Trump administration has said it would release the plan after the Israeli election. Bezalel Smotrich, whose Right-Wing Union includes Jewish supremacists and was cobbled together for the express purpose of helping Netanyahu, announced Wednesday that he would refuse to sit in any government that discusses the Trump Peace Plan. Trump has been an unwavering champion of Netanyahu ever since taking office, showering him with praise and offering him concessions. Just days before the election, Trump went against the tide of international law to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a fertile plateau that Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War. And when Netanyahu last weekend threatened to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank, the Trump administration refrained from criticizing him. Such an action, in addition to being illegal under international law, would bury any chance for a future Palestinian state, the two-state solution that until now had underpinned U.S. policy toward the Middle East. Netanyahu is also probably hoping the far-right parties will be able to shield him from prosecution on looming corruption charges. To that end, the votes had not yet been fully counted when Environment Minister Zeev Elkin, a Netanyahu ally, announced he plans a bill prohibiting the indictment of a head of government. Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing. Another potential casualty from Israels election may be the already strained relations the Israeli government has with large groups of American Jews. With the increased presence and influence of ultra-Orthodox members and Zionist settlers, American Jews probably will not see a liberalization of religious rules, said Michael Koplow, policy director of the Washington-based Israel Policy Forum, an advocacy group that supports the two-state solution. Koplow called the incoming Knesset a witchs brew of the most extreme voices in a gambit to shield Netanyahu from legal prosecution. Its also going to make things even worse with American Jews, for whom the most controversial issues have been religious pluralism and the Otzma deal, Koplow said on Twitter. He was referring to the inclusion of a party many consider racist in the campaign. Netanyahus opponents vowed to continue fighting him. The incoming Knesset could provide stiff opposition from Gantzs centrist Blue and White bloc. However, the Blue and White coalition, formed on an ad-hoc basis with many egos and little ideological cohesiveness, will struggle to stay unified. And as a neophyte party, how it will legislate is difficult to predict. How hard will they push for peace? How much pushback on legislation? said Yael Patir, the Israeli director of the liberal Jewish advocacy organization J Street. The left fared poorly in the election, as did the Labor Party, once practically synonymous with the state of Israel. It plummeted into single digits in terms of parliamentary seats. Final official results from the voting are expected Friday. Netanyahus Likud and Gantzs Blue and White coalition are in a dead heat, each having been awarded 35 parliamentary seats. To form a government, an Israeli leader requires the support of 61 members of the 120-member Knesset. Neither major party is close to that figure. But for Netanyahu, the shape of the puzzle looks clear. He will be able to inform Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, who must formally appoint the leader who will form the next coalition, he has the support of 65 Knesset members, counting on the right-wing and nationalist parties. Gantz, who has the backing of only 10 members outside his party four from Meretz, a left-wing party, and six from the Labor Party has no easy path to forming a government. While accepting defeat Wednesday, his deputy, former Finance Minister Yair Lapid, vowed at a rally, We will turn the Knesset into a battleground. We did not come here to end the 2019 campaign, he declared, but to open the 2020 campaign. For the taciturn Gantz, 59, a political neophyte who founded his party only two months ago with the sole goal of unseating Netanyahu, the bittersweet results reflected a remarkable if painful triumph, matching the votes gained by the veteran prime minister. Special correspondent Tarnopolsky reported from Jerusalem and Times staff writer Wilkinson from Washington. No topic seemed off-limits, including tales of back alleys and coat hangers, as abortion rights supporters in Ohio fought perhaps the last battle over a twice-vetoed bill to ban abortion at the first sign of a fetal heartbeat. After nearly 10 years of fighting, Democrats let loose during the run-up to final House and Senate approval Wednesday with lessons from slavery, predictions of economic harm, references to the book of Genesis, and testimonials about their own rapes. Faith groups brandished banners and made pleas for religious tolerance. An advocate for reproductive rights threatened Republicans with the loss of young voters support in 2020. Opponents vowed to sue. Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican who took office in January, has said he will sign the bill; former GOP Gov. John Kasich vetoed it twice. Five other states have passed similar bans, two of which have been blocked by courts. Since conservative Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court, Republican-led states have passed abortion restrictions in an effort to have the court overturn Roe vs. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion. Advertisement State Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan, a Democrat from a storied Youngstown political family, shed tears during the debate, exasperated at a bill she said would harm Ohio and its future. Im concerned that we will have companies that will choose not to locate here due to our oppressive laws. Im concerned that doctors will leave the state of Ohio, she said. Im concerned that our kids are going to leave, that were going to lose a large amount of young people who dont want to live in an oppressive atmosphere. Opponents protests did nothing to budge a largely closed-mouthed GOP majority on the House Health Committee. Republicans won an 11-7 party-line vote that sent the bill to the full House, where it passed Wednesday. Republican state Rep. Candice Keller called the legislation the most compassionate bill weve ever passed. She rejected suggestions that everyone knows someone who has had, or will need, an abortion; that women will continue to have abortions, only unsafely; and even that reproductive rights are about women. If a reshaped Supreme Court tosses abortion decisions back to states, several would move fast to outlaw the procedures If we are really about empowering the women of Ohio and empowering the women of this country, we will begin to tell the truth about the abortion industry and the enormous amount of profit that is made on the backs of women, she said. During floor debate Wednesday, two female representatives who said they had been raped criticized the bill for not making exceptions for rape and incest. Another lawmaker said her great-grandmother bled to death in a bathtub trying to self-administer an abortion. Republican Derek Merrin, chairman of the house health panel, said he was following his conscience: My heart, Mr. Speaker, tells me its wrong. Prohibiting abortions at the first detectable heartbeat means prohibiting virtually all abortions, said Dr. Michael Cackovic, a specialist in maternal fetal medicine at Ohio State University Medical Center. He said current standard practice, which involves transvaginal ultrasound, can reliably detect a heartbeat five to six weeks into pregnancy. Essentially, thats three to four weeks after conception, or one to two weeks after a missed period, he said. Cackovic said the heartbeat prohibition would require women who want an abortion to determine theyre pregnant using an over-the-counter pregnancy test and to race to have the procedure between four and five weeks into pregnancy. Youre going to be doing more procedures and subjecting women to more procedures and medications to get abortions, because theyre rushing between that four and five weeks to get it accomplished, he said. 60 hours, 50 abortions: A California doctors monthly commute to a Texas clinic About a third of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, he said, so the law also would force many women who dont want to be pregnant to get abortions needlessly, when they might naturally have miscarried. Democratic state Rep. Beth Liston, who is a pediatrician, said proponents hopes of challenging the viability standard upheld in the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision werent grounded in science. She said she favored the idea from Genesis that breath begins life. Simply put, you need lungs and a brain to live, and theres no technology in the world that will change that, she said. The Houses 56-39 vote sent the bill to the Ohio Senate, which agreed to House changes before sending the bill to DeWine. The earliest bans on heartbeat abortion, in Iowa and North Carolina, have been blocked by the courts. Three more states Mississippi, Kentucky and Georgia have more recently passed bills. The Georgia bill has not yet been signed by the governor. A potentially record-breaking storm is squeezing the warmth from spring as it brings snow and howling winds across the U.S. Great Plains and threatens to flood rivers from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The giant system, set to strengthen Wednesday, has sparked blizzard warnings from Colorado to Minnesota and could drop more than 2 feet of snow in South Dakota and as much as 8 inches in Minneapolis, the National Weather Service said. Severe thunderstorms will hit Texas and the Mississippi Valley. The system threatens to delay wheat and corn planting. It is pretty extensive, David Roth, a senior branch forecaster at the U.S. Weather Prediction Center, said by telephone. The storm, which will pack near-record low pressure, could be on par with the massive system that triggered flooding across Nebraska and Iowa last month. Snow and rain area already falling across the Great Plains and Midwest. The storm will build over Wyoming on Wednesday, cross Nebraska on Thursday and then hit Minneapolis, said Rob Carolan, owner of Hometown Forecast Services. Advertisement Wind knocks out power for thousands of residents in L.A. County Farther south, the storm will push dry winds across Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas raising the risk of wildfires. The Mississippi River is already at moderate-to-major flood stage in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa. The Red River is at major flood stage in Fargo, N.D. Because the Mississippi is flooding none of this is welcome, Roth said. Nonetheless, the Mississippi should be able to handle this weeks storm, because water levels are currently falling, said Matt Roe, spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans. The Corps has begun to close the Bonnet Carre spillway upstream from New Orleans, designed to prevent flooding. High water has restricted Mississippi barge traffic to daylight and has limited the amount of freight that can be hauled, said Austin Golding, president of Golding Barge Line in Vicksburg, Miss. Right now, the river is entirely navigable, but the hardest parts to traverse are the bridges in Vicksburg and Baton Rouge. May will be nasty if it gets hot up north and the snow melt accelerates after this winter system they are encountering now, Golding said. This systems icy reach wont extend to Chicago, which will get rain and have a low of 39 degrees Wednesday before temperatures rebound into the 60s by Thursday. Detroit and Toronto will also be spared, Carolan said. As the storm passes, weather will whiplash between extremes in many places. On Tuesday, Denvers temperature reached 78 degrees. Wednesday, however, the city is under a blizzard warning with readings set to plunge to 21, the weather service said. Cheyenne, Wyo., will go from 71 on Tuesday to 18 degrees late Wednesday. While the storm bulldozes across the central U.S., mild air on the East Coast will keep temperatures in New York in the high 50s and low 60s through the rest of the week, the weather service said. The snow and rain across the northern Midwest will delay corn and wheat planting, said Dan Hicks, a meteorologist with Freese-Notis Weather Services in Des Moines, Iowa. Farther south, from Kansas to Southern Illinois, planting is unlikely to be interrupted. To the editor: Not mentioned in the article about becoming a cashless society is that by doing this, we prevent youth from learning how to handle money. Having it be invisible isnt helpful. Also, the issue of privacy is barely mentioned. Why does a third party have to know every item I purchase? What happens when the power is interrupted or if hackers get into your account? Is it necessary to worry about privacy issues because you want to buy some milk? It seems we have come to a point of finding a solution to a problem that doesnt exist. Slow down, people enjoy interactions with your fellow humans, and dont support the adoption of technology that isnt necessary. Allison Johnson, Ventura Advertisement .. To the editor: While the move toward a cashless economy indeed poses problems for low-income and marginalized people, we all have reason for caution: Do we really want every method of payment to be controlled by private companies? What will happen to the fees that private payment platforms such as Visa and Mastercard charge when they operate in a market with no public option in other words, cash? We should perhaps consider how the lack of a public option has given free rein to private health insurance companies as a cautionary tale. Richard Kraft, West Hollywood Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook To the editor: Responding to the situation with Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva and what to do about it, one letter writer noted that the only requirement to be elected sheriff in any of Californias 58 counties is to have been a peace officer. Since any major change to the system of electing sheriffs in California would require that the state Constitution be amended, and since elections would be very hard to eliminate completely, how about just a small but significant amendment? Wouldnt it make sense if voters required that any candidate for county sheriff in California to at least have been a chief of police somewhere? The L.A. County sheriff before our current one was such a person. Police chiefs have undergone a selection process that included determining his or her qualifications, and candidates for sheriff would probably be expected to demonstrate their competence in such a position. Such a requirement might actually have a chance of passing. Advertisement Joe Bonino, Glendale Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook Democrats have long railed at President Trump for an immigration crackdown they consider cruel and misguided. Now Trump has handed them a new argument: His policies arent merely inhumane, theyre chaotic and counterproductive, too. The president has tried every draconian measure he and his hard-line aides could come up with, but none of it has stopped Central Americans from grabbing their children and fleeing north. Hes detained migrants in freezing cells and makeshift camps, separated toddlers from their parents, forced asylum seekers to remain in Mexico. Still they come, overwhelming an immigration system that wasnt designed to handle a flood of families. Thats where Democrats have an opening to use immigration against Trump. Advertisement The president has tried to blame the border chaos on Congress, on Democrat judges, and even on his own aides for not being tough enough. But hes in charge. After two years in office, if his policies arent working or cant pass legal muster, its on him. Plenty of Democrats already blame Trump, of course, and what Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer called his erratic, nasty style of governing. But to make the argument stick in the 2020 presidential race, one of the 18 declared candidates needs to show what he or she would do to solve the problem. Only one has. When they talk about immigration, most simply list positions that put them safely in the mainstream of their party. They denounce Trumps policies as barbaric and heartbreaking. They oppose family separation and long-term detention of asylum seekers. They want Congress to pass an immigration reform law. They want to give Dreamers, immigrants who entered the country illegally as children, residence permits and a path to citizenship. But how would they end the crisis on the border and how would they enforce immigration laws in the future? Most havent said in part because within their partys progressive base, immigration is a minefield. Two candidates, Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, have endorsed proposals to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a favorite cause of immigration activists. Others have not. In past years, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont was an immigration hawk. He called for stricter enforcement of existing laws, especially against employers he says want open borders to keep workers wages low. Others tiptoe around enforcement, pledging to welcome immigrants and promising vaguely to find more humane ways to police the border. Democratic voters are divided over the issue, too. Only a minority roughly one-quarter of Democrats, according to several polls want to abolish ICE. But that progressive minority is disproportionately active and vocal. Most Democrats are of two minds when it comes to immigration. Large majorities tell pollsters they consider immigrants an asset to the country. They oppose Trumps proposed border wall. They want to give the Dreamers and others who entered the country illegally, for that matter a path to citizenship. But they oppose open borders and want to enforce a limit on who can enter. Heres the problem: Not everyone should be allowed to stay, said Cecilia Munoz, who was a top advisor on immigration to President Obama. The answer to the crisis in Central America cant be everyone coming to the United States. So the big question, the hard question, is who do we think should be removed and what should that process look like, she told me. But were not having that debate. Were only having the easy debate condemning the administration for its policies. It requires some courage for someone to step up with a proposal. Last week, one candidate did just that: Julian Castro, the former mayor of San Antonio. Hes low in the polls and gets little media exposure; he deserves attention and credit for putting forth a serious proposal on a complicated problem. Castros proposal includes the usual Democratic planks on Dreamers, family separation and other issues, but then goes further. He proposes decriminalizing illegal immigration making it a civil offense, the federal equivalent of a traffic ticket or a building violation, instead of a criminal misdemeanor as its been since 1929. As a result, hed get rid of immigration detention except for suspected criminals. Most immigrants without papers would be released, monitored and given a court hearing. If a migrant didnt qualify as a legal entrant, he or she would still face deportation. Castro wouldnt abolish ICE, but hed divide it into several new agencies: one to focus on threats to homeland security, others to deal with routine monitoring and management of immigration cases. In effect, he would maintain limits on immigration, but stop treating most illegal entrants as criminals. One thing Castros proposal doesnt do, at least in much detail, is offer a way out of the current asylum seeker crisis. Doris Meissner and Sarah Pierce of the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute have drafted a plan, however. It includes streamlining the process for judging asylum cases, hiring more asylum officers, and releasing some asylum seekers with ankle bracelets instead of detaining them for months. Not every Democrat will agree with those ideas. But its time to start the debate. The Democrats face a choice: Do they want to play defense on immigration, protesting endlessly that theyre not what Trump calls the party of open borders? Or do they want to play offense, using the issue as a test of Trumps competence? If their choice is offense, theyd better get to work. The secrecy around special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs long investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election has extended to his final report. Despite anonymous grumbling from some members of Muellers team who disliked how U.S. Atty. Gen. William P. Barr characterized their findings in a four-page letter to Congress on March 24, the contents of the nearly 400-page report remain a mystery. The report will speak for itself. Thats why I want to get it out, Barr told a Senate panel on Wednesday. He said he expected to release a redacted version next week. Here are some of the key questions we still have. Advertisement Why didnt Mueller reach a conclusion on whether President Trump obstructed justice? Mueller puzzled Washington by not issuing a determination on whether the president had obstructed justice, a crime. Instead, the special counsel wrote while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him, according to Barrs letter. Did Mueller not think the evidence was strong enough? Were there other legal issues that he took into consideration? Barr said Wednesday there was a fuller explanation for Muellers reasoning in the report. Did Mueller plan to leave the obstruction issue to Barr? Because Mueller did not reach a conclusion on obstruction, Barr stepped in and, together with Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein, decided the presidents actions were not criminal. The Special Counsels decision to describe the facts of his obstruction investigation without reaching any legal conclusions leaves it to the Attorney General to determine whether the conduct described in the report constitutes a crime, he wrote. Was that Muellers intention? Some critics suggested that the special counsel really wanted to leave the decision up to Congress, but Barr testified that Mueller didnt express that. Barr said that automatically left the issue in his hands: Thats generally how the Department of Justice works. What evidence of obstruction did Mueller find? Barr wrote in his letter that Mueller sets out evidence on both sides of the question in his report. What is that evidence? What incidents did Mueller consider suspect? And are there facts that we havent learned yet? When considering the presidents actions, Barr writes that most of [them] have been the subject of public reporting, suggesting some havent been revealed. President Trump talks to reporters outside the White House on March 28. (Michael Reynolds / EPA-EFE / REX) Why did Mueller give up on interviewing Trump? Mueller originally wanted to speak directly with the president for the investigation, and Trump even pledged to do so at one point. But his lawyers dug in their heels and Mueller eventually gave up, settling for sending a limited number of written questions to the president. Why didnt Mueller issue a subpoena for an interview? How did he determine that he didnt need Trumps testimony to complete his investigation? Was the White House briefed on the full report? Trump claimed total exoneration after Barr released his letter and called for making the entire Mueller report public. But hes backed down from that, raising questions about why he changed his tune. Did he realize more damaging information was in the full report? In Barrs testimony to the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, he declined to say whether the Justice Department had briefed the White House on the reports contents. How much is going to be redacted? Barr said he was working with the special counsels office to determine how much to redact from the report before it became public, and he said the White House had not been involved in the process. Expect to see a color-coded system, with separate hues for different categories of redactions grand jury material, classified intelligence, details on ongoing investigations, and information that would unduly infringe on the personal privacy and reputational interests of peripheral third parties. The vague final category could prove controversial, but Barr said he would not redact information to protect Trump. Im talking about people in private life, not public office holders, he said. Barr also said he would be willing to discuss ways to make more details available to Congress once the redacted report was released. Atty. Gen. William Barr testifies before the House Appropriations Committee on April 9. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) What about the Trump Tower meeting? Or Trump Tower Moscow? During the campaign, Trumps son, Donald Jr., accepted a meeting with a Russian lawyer after being told she could provide incriminating information on Hillary Clinton. Trumps campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also attended. Participants have said no such information was provided, and no charges were filed in connection with the meeting at Trump Tower in New York. What did Mueller think of the meeting, and how did it fit into the larger investigation? In addition, there were behind-the-scenes negotiations about building a Trump Tower in Moscow during the campaign. Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the proposal, which ultimately never moved forward, but its unclear whether the negotiations overlapped with Russias meddling in the election. There was no conspiracy with the Russian government. But were there other connections? Barrs letter quoted Muellers report as saying the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities. The statement cleared the president of some of the darkest allegations namely that he was actively working with the Kremlin to win the election. But its also a rather narrow window in the world of potentially troubling connections involving Trumps campaign. Were there other contacts with Russians who werent acting on behalf of the government? What about with WikiLeaks, which released Democratic Party emails that were hacked by Russians? Even though Mueller has not recommended additional indictments, there could be more to learn. What about the counterintelligence probe? The Russia investigation didnt start as a criminal case. It was initially launched in mid-2016 as a counterintelligence probe, which means the FBI was trying to detect and counter a Russian intelligence operation. It eventually expanded to examine whether the president himself was acting as a Russian agent, either wittingly or unwittingly. Barrs letter does not address this aspect of the investigation. What conclusions did Mueller reach? And can they be revealed, or will they be considered classified and redacted? Are there other investigations out there? We know that Muellers work has spawned other cases, most notably in New York, where federal prosecutors are probing hush money payments allegedly directed by Trump. Are there other investigations out there? Barr plans to redact information involving ongoing investigations, but the final report could still provide some clues. Atty. Gen. William Barr has assembled a team to review controversial counterintelligence decisions made by Justice Department and FBI officials, including actions taken during the probe of the Trump campaign in the summer of 2016, according to a person familiar with the matter. This indicates that Barr is looking into allegations that Republican lawmakers have been pursuing for more than a year that the investigation into President Trump and possible collusion with Russia was tainted at the start by anti-Trump bias in the FBI and Justice Department. I am reviewing the conduct of the investigation and trying to get my arms around all the aspects of the counterintelligence investigation that was conducted during the summer of 2016, Barr told a House panel on Tuesday. Barrs inquiry is separate from a long-running investigation by the Justice Departments inspector general, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive matters. The FBI declined to comment. Barr said he expected the inspector generals work to be completed by May or June. Advertisement The issue came up as Barr testified before a Democratic-controlled House Appropriations subcommittee. Most of the questioning concerned demands for Barr to give lawmakers special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs full report and the evidence behind it. But the issue is sure to get more attention when Barr appears Wednesday before the panels GOP-led Senate counterpart. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, whos a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has already pledged to pursue the issue in the Judiciary Committee he leads. Once we put the Mueller report to bed, once Barr comes to the committee and takes questions about his findings and his actions, and we get to see the Mueller report, consistent with law, then we are going to turn to finding out how this got off the rails, he said in a March 28 interview with Fox News. He said Tuesday that he plans to defer his questions about the Russia investigation until Barr appears before his Judiciary panel on May 1. Sessions probed Some Justice Department officials have argued that a review of the FBI is necessary based on a pattern of actions, including a criminal investigation that agents opened into Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions in 2017 for misleading lawmakers about his contacts with Russians when he was a senator advising Trumps campaign. The case against Sessions was eventually closed without charges. Thats great news hes looking into how this whole thing started back in 2016, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said Tuesday of Barrs interest in the issue. Thats something that has been really important to us. Its what weve been calling for. Before they lost control of the House in Novembers election, Jordan and Republican allies including Rep. Devin Nunes of California conducted a two-year campaign to show players in the FBI and Justice Department were out to get Trump. They interviewed more than 40 witnesses, demanded hundreds of thousands of Justice Department and FBI documents, and held a bombastic hearing in attempts to bring attention to their suspicions. Salacious dossier Republican Rep. Robert B. Aderholt of Alabama asked Barr during Tuesdays hearing if the Justice Department is investigating how it came to be that your agency used a salacious and unverified dossier as a predicate for a FISA order on a U.S. citizen? Aderholt was referring to the so-called Steele dossier, which had been put together as opposition research against Trump, including with funding from Democrats. Congressional Republicans and the president have alleged that officials improperly relied on that dossier to obtain a secret warrant to spy on former Trump campaign advisor Carter Page. They say that was the start of the probe that Trump calls a witch hunt and that Mueller took over after Trump fired FBI Director James B. Comey. In congressional testimony last year, though, Comey rejected the underlying thesis that the Russia investigation was prompted by the dossier. It was not, Comey told House lawmakers. Rather, he said, the probe began with information about a conversation that a Trump campaign foreign policy advisor known to be George Papadopoulos had with an individual in London about stolen emails that the Russians had that would be harmful to Hillary Clinton. California lawmakers have shelved a measure to outlaw Big Gulp-style sodas to avoid dragging down the rest of a package of bills that sponsors say is aimed at reducing obesity, including a soda tax and health warning labels on sugary drinks. Among half a dozen measures proposed in February to address health effects from sugary drinks, the large-soda ban drew some of the heaviest opposition from business groups. Hours after it was shelved, the Assembly Health Committee voted 8 to 5 on Tuesday night to approve a soda fee bill and send it on toward the Assembly floor. Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) said he would wait until next year to pursue his measure banning stores and restaurants from selling unsealed sugary drinks in cups larger than 16 ounces. Chius proposal to outlaw the sale of large unsealed sodas had drawn strong opposition from business groups including the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Restaurant Assn. In a statement, Chiu said that he pulled the measure after deciding to make our bill a two-year effort to give us time to engage in constructive dialogue. Advertisement Make no mistake, the disease and suffering created by sugar-sweetened beverages is one of the most pressing public health issues of our time and must be addressed, he added. Truly resolving this issue will be a multi-year conversation, and I look forward to the conversation. The American Beverage Assn., a chief opponent of the bill, welcomed its shelving and said the measure was not supported by Californians. We remain committed to working with the Legislature on effective ways to address its budgetary and public health concerns and to ensure that food and beverages remain affordable for all Californians, said Steven Maviglio, a spokesman for the association. California lawmakers propose soda tax, outlawing super-size sugary drinks The Chamber of Commerce and 7-Eleven Inc. said that educating the public would have a greater impact on consumption than capping drink sizes, while theater owners said larger sizes make economic sense for families going to the movies. The California Retailers Assn. said banning large drinks would not reduce sugar consumption because consumers will simply refill their containers more frequently than what would have been necessary if they had a container larger than 16 ounces, according to an analysis by staff for the Assembly Health Committee. Sacramento wants to tax soda, tires, guns, water, pain pills, lawyers, car batteries... Another bill pulled from committee by its author Tuesday would have prohibited stores from selling sugar-sweetened beverages near checkout stands, where consumers make last-minute purchases. However, the legislative panel supported a proposal by Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) that would add a tax of 2 cents per fluid ounce to raise up to $3 billion annually for public health programs. The fee would add 24 cents to the cost of a 12-ounce can of a sugary drink. The science is overwhelming. California is facing a public health crisis, Bloom told the committee. Sugary drinks are uniquely unhealthy. To block California soda taxes, companies paid for Black Panther tickets, fancy dinners Beverage industry officials told the committee that the consumption of sugary drinks is down as they offer more options that include low-calorie sodas. Republican lawmakers including Assemblyman Heath Flora of Ripon said a higher tax is not warranted, citing lack of exercise as a contributor to health issues. Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) disagreed. These policies work to decrease consumption and make communities healthier, he said. Sign up for our Essential Politics newsletter patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com Twitter: @mcgreevy99 California lawmakers from both major parties pushed Tuesday for a closer look at technology and security mishaps in last years launch of the states new voter registration system at the Department of Motor Vehicles. We have to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible, Assemblyman Vince Fong (R-Bakersfield) said. We cant tolerate mismanagement and poor leadership. The demands for new scrutiny came in response to an investigation by the Los Angeles Times which found a number of problems from computer programming errors to an attempted hacking attempt last year, traced to servers in Croatia. Some who worked on the high-profile motor voter project said they felt pressure to turn on the system in time for the June 2018 statewide primary. The completion date for the effort was moved up by three months, a fateful decision that left less time for testing the equipment and training DMV employees. Advertisement Hackers attacked California DMV voter registration system marred by bugs, glitches Department officials said Tuesday that they continue to work on improving the program to prevent additional errors in creating voter records, similar to the upwards of 100,000 inaccurate documents generated when the system launched last year. At DMV, we take the motor voter program very seriously, Kathleen Webb, the departments acting director, said a legislative oversight hearing in Sacramento. Theres been great progress. Three state organizations DMV, the California Department of Technology and the office of Secretary of State Alex Padilla all participated in the development of the motor voter system prior to its official launch in late April 2018. The exact organization of the team that produced the project, however, wasnt entirely obvious to those involved. Department of Technology officials said during the course of The Times investigation that the Department of Motor Vehicles had the final say, though key programs were built by CDT engineers. There was no clear leadership structure and no clear project management framework, said Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Laguna Beach). Youve got to have a clear project plan going in. Lawmakers have focused much of their attention in recent weeks on other problems with the Department of Motor Vehicles, none more pressing than the long wait times that plagued the agency through last summer and continue to be a frustration to those who visit local DMV offices. Last month, a state audit concluded implementation of Real ID the federal law requiring additional security before issuing driver licenses was a key factor in the delays experienced by DMV customers. The rollout of the voter registration system, in documents reviewed by The Times, may have been impacted by the persistent problems with Real ID. Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), the author of the 2015 law that created the automated voter registration system, said shes looking forward to the results of an audit sanctioned by the administration of Gov. Gavin Newsom. That audit is looking specifically at the new motor voter effort and its final results are expected later this spring. The New Motor Voter program is increasing voter access every day, but clearly it has been and continues to be threatened by administrative mismanagement, technology failures and attempted foreign interference, she said in a written statement. Other lawmakers, though, believe the independent state auditor should investigate reports of major errors and the possibility that hackers in Croatia attacked the system less than two weeks before it was turned live. The system is even more vulnerable than I thought, Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R-Fresno) said after reading the results of the review by The Times. Im hoping that the Legislature will take seriously an independent audit. It takes all the politics out of it. Fong, who has been a persistent critic of the Department of Technology, called for the resignation of Amy Tong, the states chief information officer. He said the voter registration systems problems are not an isolated case across state government. There are clear structural reforms that have to happen, Fong said. Otherwise, I think the questions will mount. john.myers@latimes.com Follow @johnmyers on Twitter and sign up for our daily Essential Politics newsletter Officials at the U.S Embassy in El Salvador set a rule for a meeting with California Gov. Gavin Newsom: no reporters. Hours later during the governors Monday tour of La Chacra, a facility to process deportees returning from the United States or Mexico, U.S. Agency for International Development employees declined to publicly discuss the potential effects of President Trumps call last month to cut financial support to the Central American country, along with neighboring Guatemala and Honduras. Tensions over Trumps foreign policy have been evident on Newsoms trip to El Salvador, where he is seeking to counter the presidents immigration narrative. And while U.S. officials in El Salvador may have been willing to speak candidly with Newsom behind closed doors, in public theyve stayed quiet about Trump, adhering to what the embassy describes as standard protocol for diplomats abroad. I want to be respectful of the confidentiality because there are literally individuals jobs that are at stake, Newsom said when asked about his private meetings at the embassy. Advertisement Newsom said unnamed officials at the embassy were surprised by Trumps announcement that the U.S. would withdraw $500 million in foreign aid to the three countries as a punishment for migration. Days before the presidents decision, some of the officials met with then-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and signed an agreement to fight illegal immigration together, Newsom said. Nielsen resigned Sunday. Without breaking any confidences whatsoever, not one person that Ive talked to has said that [withdrawing aid] will do anything except make the migrant issues worse for the United States, Newsom said. That is pretty universally accepted down here. Its not unusual for appointees or U.S. government workers to refrain from discussing foreign policy. Further details about the presidents decision and how it would be carried out remain unclear. United States Ambassador to El Salvador Jean Manes, a career diplomat, declined to be interviewed by reporters traveling with Newsom and said that as a policy, engagement with the U.S. media requires pre-approval from Washington. Manes, who was appointed to her current role by former President Obama, has been tapped in the past for other posts by both Republicans and Democrats. Earlier in the week Newsom said that political appointees in the Trump White House have to toe the line. They seem to be coming and going every week in this administration, he said. Academics have criticized the presidents approach to the Northern Triangle, a term to describe El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the number of Salvadorans immigrating illegally to the U.S. at the southwest border with Mexico declined in fiscal year 2018 as migration from Honduras and Guatemala soared. Border patrol agents apprehended 4,949 unaccompanied Salvadoran minors, down nearly 56%, and 13,669 family units, a 46% percent drop from one year prior. Instead of trying to understand programs that may work in El Salvador to replicate them in the other two nations, Trump is punishing all three, said Mike Allison, a political science professor at the University of Scranton who is an expert on the region. In the United States, we talk about all three of them as if they are the same thing, Allison said. Newsom has said he believes that pulling foreign aid would make migration to the U.S. worse. El Salvadors outgoing President, Salvador Sanchez Ceren met privately with Newsom Monday. On Tuesday, the governor met for another private conversation with President-elect Nayib Bukele at El Salvadors Museo de Arte. Afterward, Bukele took questions from reporters with Newsom at his side and called the governors trip well-intentioned. Ive followed him since he was mayor of San Francisco, Bukele said. Hes a very smart, cool, interesting person. Bukele said he hopes to work with Newsom to attract American tourists to the countrys surf towns. He offered a diplomatic response when asked about Trump. We have to work with any administration in the United States, Bukele said. We dont want to meddle into U.S. politics. While Newsoms conversations with several dignitaries have been conducted in private, local elected officials in El Salvador have been outspoken about Trumps policies during the visit. Panchimalco, a colonial city about 10 miles outside San Salvador, hosted Newsom for a celebration on Monday at which young boys performed music on pan flutes, and girls wearing colorful head scarves made of traditional textiles danced with partners in straw hats. Sometimes, we get very angry in defending our borders, like what is happening in the U.S., with President Trump, Panchimalco Mayor Mario Melendez said. We are all brothers. We are all brothers, and the world is one. Human civilization is one. San Salvador Mayor Ernesto Muyshondt said Sunday that Trump could spend American money more wisely. It would be a much more profitable investment for the U.S. government to invest in our countries in the region and opportunities for our people instead of investing in a wall, he said. More stories from Taryn Luna taryn.luna@latimes.com Follow @tarynluna on Twitter. A state bill that would have allowed cities to prohibit home deliveries of marijuana has been sidelined for the year amid concerns that doing so would further hamper Californias lagging market for cannabis. The action comes just days after 24 cities including Beverly Hills, Riverside and Covina filed a lawsuit against the state, asking the courts to invalidate a California regulation put in place earlier this year that allows home deliveries statewide, including in cities that bar pot shops. Assemblyman Ken Cooley (D-Rancho Cordova) will decide later whether to revive his proposal next year, he said Wednesday, a day after the Assembly Business and Professions Committee deadlocked on the bill with a 7-7 vote and it failed to pass. I actually think they are wrong on the policy, Cooley said of colleagues who voted against his bill or abstained. Advertisement Industry officials and some legislators said the measure would limit access to marijuana for consumers, including those who have medical marijuana prescriptions for illnesses. Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) was among those who voted against the bill, noting that few cities, including his hometown, allow retail sales. California cities sue state over home deliveries of pot >> But all around us are these deserts of people who cant get access, McCarty said. For people who are driving 50, 60, 100 miles to go from their residence to Sacramento [to buy cannabis], it just doesnt seem fair. Cooley sought to win over skeptics on the bill by including enforcement grants for cities that allow retail stores. He said voters were told local control would be preserved when they approved Proposition 64, the 2016 ballot measure that allowed state licensing of cannabis farms and stores. Proponents said it would protect local authority, Cooley told the committee. Im still a proponent of local control. It reflects an interest in quality of life locally. The bill was also supported by the League of California Cities, said lobbyist Charles Harvey. Police chiefs warn of increased crime if California allows pot deliveries statewide >> Harvey said the decision by the Bureau of Cannabis Control to allow home deliveries in every city will hinder law enforcement and allow the illicit pot market to thrive. The regulation at issue effectively stripped local decision-making away from local jurisdictions and serves as a clear overreach by the BCC, he told the committee. A report by the committee staff cited the cities pending lawsuit as one reason lawmakers should refrain from acting on the legislation, saying it may be premature to approve a bill until a resolution has occurred in that litigation. A hearing date has not yet been set on the lawsuit. Meanwhile, Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) has introduced a bill that would require cities to license pot shops if more than 50% of the citys voters approved Proposition 64. The city would have to issue licenses equal to 25% of the alcohol sales licenses in the city. Cities that object to the minimum number of licenses would have to submit an alternative to the citys voters. The bill, according to Tings office, aims to expand access to cannabis for people in need, increase state/local revenues for public services, and ensure a regulated cannabis market can succeed. Sign up for our Essential Politics newsletter patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com Twitter: @mcgreevy99 Paper license plates on a car led Burbank police to arrest a man for allegedly possessing a stun gun, burglary tools and various drugs, according to authorities. Officers checked on a van in the parking lot of a Jack in the Box along San Fernando Boulevard around 8:10 p.m. on April 2 after noticing it still had paper license plates. A law that went into effect Jan. 1 states newly purchased vehicles are required to display temporary license plates that contain a unique alpha/numeric configuration and are valid for 90 days. While standing next to the vehicle, officers reportedly saw a used meth pipe on the front passenger seat. Sgt. Derek Green, a spokesman for the Burbank Police Department, said the officers located the vans owner in the fast-food restaurant and found him in possession of personal identification and credit cards belonging to someone else. The man was eventually identified as Mario Gamez, a 44-year-old from Los Angeles. Authorities also found out he was on probation for a prior drug-related conviction. During a search of his vehicle, police allegedly found lock picks, prescription drugs in another persons name, methamphetamine and heroin. Green said officers also found a stun gun, which Gamez is not allowed to own because of his prior felony conviction. He has since been charged by the Burbank City Attorneys Office with narcotics possession, possession and theft of access-card information, possession of a prohibited weapon, possession of burglary tools, illegal possession of prescription medication and possession of narcotics paraphernalia. Gamez is currently being held without bail. andy.nguyen@latimes.com Twitter: @Andy_Truc Its one thing to train a dog thats obedient and responds to commands, but training a canine companion to be a persons eyes and ears is a task that takes plenty of time and love. This past Saturday, the nonprofit Guide Dogs of America held a graduation celebration at its campus in Sylmar for a few of the dogs in its program, which included Cassidy, a nearly 2-year-old female black Labrador retriever trained by Burbank residents Alison and Bob Schooley. During that afternoon, the Guide Dogs of America handed Cassidy to her new permanent owner, Toni Carr, a Chicago resident who is blind. Its hard letting go of [Cassidy] after training her, but its not an insurmountable [hardship], Alison Schooley said. Its not like shes dying, and we know where she is if we need to find her if we need to. Plus, you know how much youre changing someones world now that they have her. For the past 14 months, the Schooleys have been preparing the female canine for her job as a guide dog. The couple received Cassidy when she was 8 weeks old and immediately started her training. Alison Schooley, a local teacher, said there are different levels of puppy kindergarten that guide dogs in training need to attend, as well as obedience classes and social interactions with other dogs to get them acclimated to working in the real world. You have to be able to devote time into this program, but [Guide Dogs of America] does a great job at making the program user friendly, she said. It isnt the first time the Schooleys have trained a dog for the nonprofit. They first took part in the program 12 years ago when they were looking for volunteer opportunities. They decided to help the organization again because they enjoyed their first training experience and wanted to do it again. Although Cassidy is off to Chicago with her new owner, the Schooleys are already in the middle of training another dog, whose name also happens to be Toni, like Cassidys new companion. It makes me feel like I have a higher purpose, Alison Schooley said. As much as teaching is fulfilling, teaching a dog to change somebodys life is unbelievable. Its a labor of love. anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com Twitter: @acocarpio Baby, its cold outside. Or at least it is as I write this, on a blustery January evening after driving around Orange County on a hunt for a meal to thaw the chill. Of course, by cold, I mean about 50 degrees, which is as frigid as winter in Southern California gets, but forgive the hyperbole; I havent yet re-lit the pilot light in my apartments wall heater and the arctic frost feels too real. Nights like these call for wool socks and comfort food, dishes that are not necessarily decadent or rich, but that are still hearty enough to warm you from the inside out. Since it opened in September, this has meant going to Yangs Braised Chicken Rice in Tustin, where tonight I melted into yet another steaming clay pot filled with the only thing this wildly successful one-dish Chinese fast food chain serves: the nourishing and addictive huang men ji. Huang men ji is a braised chicken stew, with juicy thigh meat, slippery shiitake mushrooms, slivers of serrano pepper and quarter-sized ginger hunks swimming in a base of fermented bean paste thats been spiced to be less soupy than as thick as a good turkey gravy. The traditional dinner dish comes from the northeastern province of Shandong, more specifically, the capital city of Jinan, where every grandmother has her own way of making the complex, savory braising broth, but not every restaurant serves it. Yangs founder Xiaolu Yang has braised chicken stew in his blood. His family owned several restaurants in Jinan in the 1930s and he learned to make its signature dish from his grandmother, whom he grew up watching prepare it. Xiaolu first tried opening a traditional Shandong-style restaurant in Jinan with a full menu, but soon realized everyone only wanted to order his grandmothers huang men ji. And not only were people ordering the stew, they were getting it with a side of rice that they then mixed in to it, a nontraditional but now-popular way to consume it. The one-dish concept was born. Xiaolu Yang started his one-dish restaurant concept using his grandmothers recipe for huang men ji as the sole offering. (Courtesy of Yangs Braised Chicken Rice ) At Yangs, the namesake item of braised chicken stew with a side of rice isnt just a must-order specialty like youll find at so many regional Chinese restaurants, its literally the only thing you can order. You just have to decide whether or not you want yours regular, authentic or spicy style the only difference is the amount of chile peppers tossed in. Since launching the unconventional brand in 2011, Yangs Braised Chicken Rice has opened more than 6,000 locations across Asia and Australia. In most cities in China, this amounts to about two Yangs per neighborhood a Starbucks-like permeation of quick-service counters all serving just one thing. Its an experiment that embraces efficiency while defying American food trends in customization and personal choice. Tustin is the first Yangs location in the U.S. and it follows the model of minimalism for which this brand is known. Decor amounts to white walls, concrete floors, a counter, some flimsy aluminum chairs at cheap tables and a soda machine. But you dont need anything fancy when the emphasis is on their intoxicating braised chicken stew, which for $9.99 emerges bubbling in a clay pot with a dome of soft white rice in the middle within minutes of being rung up. The first U.S. location of Yangs Braised Chicken Rice opened in Tustin in September 2017. (Photo by Sarah Bennett ) Immediately, as you walk the black plastic tray back to your table, the aroma comforts as it affronts, with pangs of ginger and the tickle of spice all coated like a wet drape in a thick brown sauce. Once you sit, let it simmer a bit until the juice curdles up on the sides, then use the spoon to start folding the rice into the sauce. Theres no real technique to getting all the rice coated in Yangs famous sauce, but its a necessary part of the experience and everyone eventually settles on their own method (I stab the rice then scrape down the sides and fold over like Im mixing brownie batter). If the proportions were properly served, you end up with a thick casserole of bloated rice and vegetables that, either because of or despite its intensity, warms from the inside out. Its the ultimate form of winter sustenance, perfect for those frigid California nights. Yangs Braised Chicken Rice is at 13824 Red Hill Ave., Tustin. For more information, call (714) 731-7777 or visit ymyusa.com. SARAH BENNETT is a freelance journalist covering food, drink, music, culture and more. She is the former food editor at L.A. Weekly and a founding editor of Beer Paper L.A. Follow her on Twitter @thesarahbennett. Rep. Harley Rouda this week is holding his second 48th Congressional District town hall meeting within his first 100 days in office. The meeting is from 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Senior Center in Central Park, 18041 Goldenwest St., Huntington Beach. I ran for Congress to bring common sense and decency to a place that feels like its forgotten what that means, the Laguna Beach Democrat said in a statement. If we are as thoughtful as we are bold and open to new ideas as we are determined to do the right thing, then there is no reason we cant come together to solve problems for our constituents. Orange County has cried out for something new, and Ive spent my first 100 days in an effort to lead by example. Those who cant attend the meeting can follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #CA48TownHall. Womens Democratic Club meeting to address homelessness Tuesdays Newport Beach Womens Democratic Club meeting will cover Orange County homelessness and medical and social services for underserved populations. Speakers will include Dave Kiff, interim chief executive of the Assn. of California Cities-Orange County and former Newport Beach city manager; Susan Parks, CEO of United Way Orange County; Ada Briceno, chairwoman of the Orange County Democratic Party; and Sandra Boodman, director of Radiant Health. The meeting starts at 6 p.m. in Room 1 at the Oasis Senior Center, 801 Narcissus Ave., Corona del Mar. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. for networking and refreshments. RSVPs are required at nbwdc.org. For more information, call (949) 423-6468. Ugandan police have arrested eight people in connection with the kidnapping of Costa Mesa tourist Kimberly Sue Endicott and her Ugandan tour guide, Jean Paul Mirenge. These suspects have strong (links) to kidnapping tourists, Ugandan police spokesman Fred Enanga told CNN of the eight Ugandan suspects. This is something they had been planning on doing to kidnap tourists with (the) intention (of getting a) ransom. It was not clear if the suspected kidnappers were targeting Americans or just foreigners in general. The suspects were arrested in the last 24 hours, Enanga said Tuesday morning, with the help of a joint task force consisting of the Ugandan security services and representatives from the U.S. military. These arrests have given us the identity of the prime suspect we are looking for, Enanga said, while confirming that they are directly related to the kidnap of Endicott and Mirenge. The news comes a day after President Trump tweeted that Uganda should find the kidnappers of Endicott and bring them to justice openly and quickly! Both victims were abducted at gunpoint while on a game drive on April 2 in Queen Elizabeth National Park, in southwest Uganda. Ugandan police said an armed gang had kidnapped Endicott, 56, and her guide, and made frequent demands for a ransom of $500,000 using their victims cell phones. They were freed unharmed on Sunday in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which borders the park. According to a government official, the kidnappers fled the scene when law enforcement officers and soldiers moved in. Wild Frontiers, the tour company Endicott was with when she and Mirenge were kidnapped, said it was extremely relieved to confirm their release, which involved a negotiated handover, conducted between the Ugandan and U.S. authorities. There have, however, been conflicting reports over whether a ransom was paid. Police had said they would not offer the money. But a source with knowledge of the exchange told CNN on Sunday that a ransom was given. The handover was quiet and peaceful, the source said. Endicott arrived in the Ugandan capital of Kampala on Monday. Mike Rourke, the manager of Wild Frontiers Uganda, told CNN that Endicott was in the custody of personnel from the U.S. Embassy. Endicott, who has had an aestheticians license since 1998, runs a skin care business in Costa Mesa. A review from a customer posted on the business website highlighted Endicotts professional talent and described her as a wonderful and caring person. KTLA reporter Chip Yost contributed to this report. Just in case there was any doubt about the sentiments of the Glendale Unified school board regarding the proposed transfer of the Sagebrush territory to the La Canada Unified School District, its five members voted unanimously for a resolution last week opposing the proposal. Both districts are locked in a dispute over the more than 380 acres located in La Canada Flintridge, but the students who live there attend Glendale Unified. Greg Krikorian, Glendale Unifieds school board president, who is set to be replaced by vice president Jennifer Freemon on April 16, read the resolution aloud. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the board of education of the Glendale Unified School District goes on public record as opposing the proposed transfer of territory to the La Canada Unified School District, as having significant negative impacts upon the current and future students of the Glendale Unified schools and the school district, Krikorian said. The statement, which was adopted April 2, contends that 235 students attending Glendale public schools reside in the affected area, with 84 attending Mountain Avenue Elementary, 37 attending Rosemont Middle School, 68 attending Crescenta Valley High School and 46 at other district schools. If the proposal is approved, those students would transfer to La Canada Unifieds Palm Crest Elementary, La Canada High 7/8 and La Canada High School. We continue to say strongly that were doing our part in keeping Glendale whole, said board member Nayiri Nahabedian, whose district represents Mountain Avenue Elementary. Were doing everything we can, and this is one of the many steps were taking. The loss of those students, according to the resolution, would cost Glendale Unified $2.7 million in state funding annually and force other district residents to pay approximately $11.6 million in bond obligations to which Sagebrush residents would no longer contribute. One familiar Glendale Unified claim in the resolution states, There is no educational reason for the territory transfer. The resolution comes weeks before a likely significant May 1 meeting of the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization to be held in the L.A. County Office of Educations board room, located at 9300 Imperial Highway, Downey. At that meeting, the committee may rule on a California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, report initially approved in May 2017, or make a decision about the transfer itself. The committee met last October to discuss the 66-page report that indicated a transfer would have no impact in several areas, including aesthetics, air quality, population and housing. A few issues of concern centered on public services, transportation and traffic. One point of contention was the figure of 356 students who would be affected that the CEQA study used, which was based on a number provided by Glendale Unified. La Canada backers insist its closer to 151 students. Both sides agreed to a ceasefire of sorts during a county committee meeting on March 6, asking the committee to postpone any decision until May 1. Glendales motion is the latest step in a Sagebrush territory dispute which began when La Canada residents first tried to secede the area in 1961. The most recent battle started in November 2015, with Sagebrush residents and chief petitioners Nalini Lasiewicz, Tom Smith and Nick Karapetian filing a transfer request. The resolution also comes after Lasiewicz has spoken during two recent Glendale Unified meetings, imploring the board to stop fighting the transfer. andrew.campa@latimes.com Twitter @campadresports Rocio Gonzalez-Villa dreams of the day she wont be sleeping in her living room. Gonzalez-Villa, 49, and her family live in a one-bedroom apartment on West Windsor Road in Glendale. Her three children sleep in a bedroom with little space to do their homework. Next summer, the Gonzalez-Villa family is expected to move into one of six townhouses being built at 700 E. Lomita Ave. The construction of those homes is part of Habitat for Humanitys sweat-equity program. The rent [for an apartment] is really expensive, and it gets higher every year. Im very glad Im one of the selected families, Gonzalez-Villa said. Were finally going to have a place where we can be comfortable. This is the 23rd year of the affordable-housing partnership between the city of Glendale and Habitat for Humanity. When construction on the Lomita Avenue project is finished in June, the nonprofit will have built 43 homes in the city since 1995. Families must complete a total of 500 hours of sweat equity 335 hours of community service and 165 hours of homebuyers education. As part of the sweat-equity program, a member of the Gonzalez-Villa family traveled to Pasadena once a week to help construct townhouses for a local family there. In exchange, the Pasadena family will help build the six 1,300-square-foot townhouses on Lomita Avenue. The townhouses will each have three bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms and a two-car garage. We call it sweat equity because theyve given their blood and sweat to build these homes, said Lindsey Lottie, marketing coordinator for the nonprofits San Gabriel Valley chapter, which includes Glendale. Lusine Asatryan said her family helped build the Pasadena homes, and it made her value the work done on her future home on Lomita even more. We really appreciate every effort, every volunteer, said Asatryan, 31. We are so thankful to them for coming and helping us. The first thing that comes to mind is we are going to have do something to payback the community. Asatryan said her favorite task was painting. Installing drywall was a challenge because the work was new to her, and the attire left her stumped. We had to wear these really baggy looking, white plastic stuff all over ourselves to do installation, Asatryan said. Rick Spracher of Burbank volunteered for the program because he wanted to do more than usual to help his neighbors. I was looking for something different than a fundraiser. I wanted to get involved, he said. Spracher said it was a great experience to help people get into a home they normally wouldnt be able to afford. Shervin Dana, director of construction for the San Gabriel Valley chapter, is at the worksites every day and said the families really put in the work to learn about construction and home maintenance. Some of them dont know anything but we show them the way. They learn how to maintain their homes so if any issues come up, they can do it on their own, Dana said. Dana has worked for the nonprofit for more than two years and said its a unique and inspiring feeling watching people build their future. Thats what we are here for, Dana said. Were helping people who cant help themselves. michael.livingston@latimes.com @MLivingston06 In a play that examines the absurdity of bureaucracy in a government-run facility, Antaeus Theatre Co. will present Harold Pinters black comedy The Hothouse beginning Jan. 18 through March 11. The play was originally written in 1953 but went unproduced for decades after a string of poorly received plays by Pinter caused the playwright to shelf the project until 1980. The Hothouse is set in a mental institution, where its primary administrator, Root, is faced with a Christmas Day crisis of solving the death of one patient and the impregnation of another. The escapades of the caretakers under the iron fist of Root are used to illustrate the problems with power. It shows what a bad organizational environment can do to people. When theres a bad leader, it infects everybody, said Nike Doukas, the plays director. Root manages to do it in a way thats extremely funny, but it can get very dark and scary at moments. Doukas, who has been with Antaeus Theatre Co. since its second year of being founded in 1991, said she is primarily an actor, but has since moved into directing and was looking for a play that is relevant to current events. The Antaeus Theatre Co., which opened in Glendale early last year, uses a partner-cast system, where each role is cast with two actors, Doukas said. I would recommend that all come and see it twice. The different cast members show how much a cast contributes to each production, she said. Both cast members can agree on every point of their shared role and still make their performance feel very different. The Hothouse is being presented in the theaters Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center, 110 E. Broadway, Glendale. For more information, visit antaeus.org jeff.landa@latimes.com Twitter: @JeffLanda Solicitors peddling goods and services in La Canada Flintridge neighborhoods may soon see their access diminished, after City Council members considered Tuesday ending solicitation hours in residential neighborhoods at 6 p.m. The discussion came as council members considered a recommendation from the citys Public Safety Commission to limit such operations to a time window of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in residential areas and from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. in nonresidential areas. Current solicitation hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and are citywide. Commissioner Wes Seastrom explained the group was looking for a way to balance residents right to peace, privacy and safety with solicitors rights to engage in expressive conduct, protected by the First Amendment. Commissioners considered the safety of solicitors operating in darkness on streets with few lights and sidewalks, as well as resident concerns about criminals who use the guise of solicitation to case homes as potential burglary targets. They previously considered cutting off sales at 4 p.m., but were told by city staff a too-strict ordinance might unfairly throttle the rights of solicitors by limiting them to hours when most people are not at home but at work. Staff recommended the council extend residential solicitation hours to 7 p.m. but Seastrom objected. Theres only an hour difference between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. but we feel for residents its a big deal, he said. Council members largely agreed. Councilman Mike Davitt said he thought 6 p.m. was reasonable, especially if solicitors had access to commercial areas and public events like Music in the Park. Everybody sets hours on things, he said. If [solicitors] are legitimate, theyre going to find out those hours, get a permit and solicit during those hours. Councilman Greg Brown asked whether the city could list solicitors with city permits on the citys website so residents could know on the spot if someone were legitimate or not. City Manager Mark Alexander recommended continuing a decision to the councils Dec. 18 meeting to allow for the inclusion of more robust language regarding the citys rationale for the change. Edison service in LCF gets a checkup Council members also received an update on local utility upgrades made by Southern California Edison since a 2017 report by consulting firm PMCM identified several areas for improvement. The report concluded La Canada experienced 2,371 power outages between 2006 and 2016 a failure rate higher than Southern California Edisons systemwide average. PMCM partner Reggie Wright said his firm recommended Edison establish priorities, such as replacing transformers at the already overburdened La Canada Substation, which serves more than 50% of the city, and underground cable-in-conduit (CIC) cables that often malfunction due to concrete collapse and tree root incursion. Wright acknowledged the utility has made strides upgrading old distribution lines with a 4kV capacity to 16kV. SCE is executing their projects based on what we saw in 2018, Wright told the council. Theres been a lot of collaboration between Edison and the city. But there needs to be a focus on the La Canada Substation. We want to make sure that work is reviewed, approved and executed as quickly as possible. Pole-top substations that offer unreliable 2.7kV power should eventually be eliminated even though they support commercial customers reluctant to stop business to accommodate a changeover. Edison representative Marissa Castro-Salvati said the utility is investing $13 billion in grid modernization throughout Southern California. La Canadas 16kV Haskell circuit, located on the western half of town, recently experienced multiple outages in a two-week period and is a priority. Haskell will have a major infrastructure project scheduled for 2019, Castro-Salvati said, indicating overhead and underground work is planned. The overhead job is one of the longest, 14-plus miles, conductor replacement project that has been identified in our service territory. Wright predicted that in a few years, La Canada would be pleased with SCEs upgrades. There still may be some customers who complain, but in terms of upgrading the La Canada Substation by 2021-22, youre going to be pretty happy with that. Community Development Block Grant Program approved Also Tuesday, council members approved continuing two Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) programs designed to help fund residential rehabilitation projects and sewer connections for low- and moderate-income residents. City staffer Lisa Brancheau said the city will receive $62,710 from the countys Community Development Commission for Fiscal Year 2019-20 and can roll over another $18,900 in unallocated funds from the current year for a total of $81,610. Seventy percent will be used to assist eligible applicants with residential rehabilitation, while 30% will go toward sewer connection assistance. Moderate income for a one-person residence as $54,250, while low-income is $33,950. For two-person homes, those amounts are $62,000 and $38,800, respectively. For information, call (818) 790-8881 or visit www.lcf.ca.gov/permits-and-licenses/community-development-permits. sara.cardine@latimes.com Twitter: @SaraCardine The Jockeys Guild has called off its planned no-whip day on Friday after reaching an agreement with the Thoroughbred Owners of California. It was meant to be an experiment showing what racing would be like if jockeys couldnt use a riding crop to direct or encourage their mounts during a race. The move was initiated after the California Horse Racing Board took the initial steps to outlaw the use of a riding crop, or whip, in California. That rule is currently wending its way through administrative processes including a 45-day public comment period. According to Terry Meyocks, president and chief executive of the Jockeys Guild, the riders had received no support from industry stakeholders until the Thoroughbred Owners of California reached out a couple days ago. I was very disappointed [there was no support], Meyocks said. But when the TOC and horsemen saw the implications of what we planned to do and the impacts to the horsemen, the betting public, even black type [stakes races], it resonated with them. Advertisement Having the TOC on your side is a great start. If Fridays whip boycott had happened, perhaps the greatest impact was to the bettors, many of whom said they would not wager on Fridays card. It would bring a reduction in the mutuel handle, which is where the tracks make their money. Sign up for our horse racing newsletter California already has the toughest rules in the country when it comes to the use of the riding crop, or whip. A jockey may strike a horse three times and then has to give the horse time to respond before using the crop again. Violations of this rule start at $100 for the jockeys and go up with each subsequent violation. In New York, you are allowed five strikes. During the stretch drive of American Pharoahs Kentucky Derby win, jockey Victor Espinoza used the crop more than 30 times. The Kentucky stewards found it acceptable. The Jockeys Guilds agreeing to halting the experiment is not open-ended. We will comply for the time being, Meyocks said. We want to do whats best for the industry and the impact this could have. Weve all got to look in the mirror to see if what we are doing is a positive. Meyocks said the cancellation is not a negotiating tactic or an indication the CHRB is willing to alter its stand. In fact, he sees no indication the CHRB is willing to negotiate. Greg Avioli, president and chief executive of the TOC, did not return a message from The Times. In a news release, Avioli said: Jockeys, who take great personal risk every time they ride, are focused on safety and are vigilant caretakers of their horses. We appreciate the Guilds willingness to continue to work with us on policy options to protect horses and riders while ensuring that races are run fairly for all participants. The jockeys at both Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields will be using a GT360 riding crop, which was tested at Keeneland this past weekend. Designed by jockey Ramon Dominguez, it is supposed to be lighter and better for both the jockeys and horses. Jockeys contend that the crops currently used are mostly just noisemakers and do not hurt the horse. They say it keeps the horse focused or can be used to direct them out of trouble. However, the optics of a jockey hitting a horse are not good. Belinda Stronach, president and chief executive of The Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields, introduced the idea of eliminating use of the whip in order to bolster confidence in the public that the sport was committed to reform. The proposals came after 23 horses have died either in training or racing at Santa Anita since Dec. 26. However, Santa Anita has had one fatality in the last 27 training days and seven racing days, well below industry norms. The latest fatality came on the downhill turf course, which has since been closed for sprint racing. Click here (or type in this url: lat.ms/2wVt90g) to sign up for our free horse racing newsletter. sports@latimes.com Beyond the glitz and glamour of the Strip, vintage Las Vegas will welcome both architecture fans and curiosity seekers later this month. The Nevada Preservation Foundation will lead participants off well-trodden Las Vegas Boulevard and into some historic neighborhoods during its Home + History celebration April 26-28. Vegas has made a party and a spectacle of destroying some of our historic resources, said Michelle Larime, the foundations deputy director. That certainly has happened on the Strip, but it hasnt happened outside of the Strip as much as our consciousness seems to tell us. This ranch house is one of several in the John S. Park Neighborhood to be featured during two walking tours in late April. (Nevada Preservation Foundation) Advertisement Forget the fate of hotel-casinos such as the Dunes, the Aladdin and, more recently, the Riviera. Nearby, tour guides will hold the keys to midcentury treasures, some sandwiched between the Strip and downtown. During two Revivals & Ranches walking tours, guests will visit what is probably the citys best-known historic district: the John S. Park Neighborhood. Houses here were built between the early 1930s and early 1950s using brick, wood, stone and stucco and plenty of colorful paint. People are inspired by the colors of midcentury, Larime said, so a lot of bright greens, pinks and blues are sprinkled throughout the neighborhood. The nearby Beverly Green neighborhood, just east of the Stratosphere, will be the focus of the Tract Development Chic & Fabulous tour. Its a combination of typical tract development, so houses that were built prior to having a buyer [and] also a heavy mix of custom residential, Larime said. You get a nice juxtaposition. With its original black and white linoleum floor and green metal cabinetry, this kitchen appears frozen in time (except maybe for the microwave). The house is on the home tour. (Nevada Preservation Foundation) The streets boast mostly ranch houses. Some have the slanted butterfly rooflines that were trendy in the mid-1900s. Participants will need their own cars for the Vintage Vegas Home Tour. Seven featured homes, spread throughout the Las Vegas Valley, will open their doors to visitors. Larime said some are time capsule homes that appear untouched for the past 70 years. One home this year still has its full metal kitchen intact and all of the original bathroom tiles and fixtures, she said. If you follow midcentury features, metal cabinets are highly coveted. Although historic preservation requires exteriors of houses to remain relatively unchanged, homeowners are free to renovate inside. Therefore, Larime said residents are not necessarily still cooking with their old pink stove. Humorist and author Charles Phoenix, the self-proclaimed Ambassador of Americana, will lead a tour through the Liberace Mansion on April 27. Phoenix will also present a slide show featuring the Strip of the 50s and 60s, when hotels such as the Sands, Silver Slipper and Stardust reigned. Advance registration is required for all events. The Home + History website has the complete schedule plus ticket information. Prices vary by activity. travel@latimes.com Ever since South Koreas criminal laws were written in 1953, abortion has been illegal here punishable by up to a year in prison for the woman, up to two years for the physician. On Thursday, the countrys top court may change that. The constitutional court is expected to rule on a case challenging the constitutionality of the abortion ban. The developments are being closely monitored by womens advocates and evangelical Christians alike. The case has created a political issue out of something that, unlike in the U.S., was for decades a non-issue. The law has seldom been enforced, and abortion is widely available at most clinics. Abortions have dramatically decreased in South Korea, from about 30 women out of 1,000 undergoing the procedure in 2005 down to about 5 in 1,000 in 2017, a result of the increased availability and awareness of birth control. Yet a newly energized feminist movement in the country is pushing for abortion to be decriminalized, saying it has endangered womens health, saddled them with social stigma and exposed providers to criminal liability. Advertisement Its resulted in women seeking abortions having to travel farther at greater expense and time, and endure humiliation to get the procedure, said Yoon Jung-won, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Green Hospital in Seoul and an activist with the Sexual and Reproductive Rights Forum. Its skewed the doctor-patient relationship, perceptions about patient rights and how women themselves feel about terminating their pregnancy. In 2017, more than 235,000 people signed a petition urging South Korean President Moon Jae-in to decriminalize abortion, saying it was unfairly penalizing the actions of the women. A pregnancy doesnt happen with a woman alone, the petition said. Unwanted births are tragic for the mother, child and the nation. International groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have weighed in to urge the country to do away with the ban. Decisions about abortion belong to a pregnant woman, without penalty or interference by the government or anyone else, Liesl Gerntholtz, womens rights director for Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. South Korean women are being denied reproductive choices that should be their right. The court last considered the law in 2012, when it split 4-4 and left the law intact. It took six weeks for Algerian protesters to force Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the countrys 82-year-old ailing president, to end his nearly 20-year rule this month. But the protests, which began in February and drew millions of people students, lawyers, farmers, artists, workers, public employees on successive Fridays, have not stopped. Instead, they spawned daily demonstrations that have coalesced around the slogan Yetnahaw gaa: All must go. On Tuesday, protesters calling for a clean slate of leadership in the North African country made clear that parliaments designation of Bouteflika associate and upper house leader Abdelkader Bensalah as interim president was unacceptable. Advertisement Bouteflika was like a doll, but the whole power behind him is the one that is ruling now, said Reda Reri, a 25-year-old engineering student in Algiers. We want them all to get out. The protesters slogan is a reference to their central message: Their coming out to the streets has not fully been about Bouteflika, who suffered a stroke in 2013 that left him largely incapacitated. Their aim is to change the system, the cabal of political, military and business leaders, many of them veterans of the 1954-62 war of independence against France, that has supported Bouteflikas sclerotic government. Of course the protests have to continue, Reri said in a phone interview. Its time to remove whats eating state funds and the resources of the country. We have a lot of corruption and we have to stop it. The challenges facing protesters include whether they can continue to pressure the government and how the government, especially the military, will react to such pressure. In his resignation statement April 2, Bouteflika said he had taken the appropriate measures, as part of my constitutional prerogatives, to ensure that the state and its institutions will continue to normally function during the transition period, leading to the election of the new president of the republic. Thus far, that has meant the government continuing under the stewardship of what protesters call the 3Bs: Bensalah, 76, who was named interim president for 90 days; Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui, 59; and the head of the Constitutional Council, Tayeb Belaiz, 70. They are viewed as hopelessly tarnished by their long association with Bouteflika. Protesters consider them disconnected from the masses, many of them young people who have seen little of the nations riches, even though it supplies a third of Europes needs in natural gas. The three leaders positions as heads of the transition were a misstep that gave the street the justification for more protests, said Hasni Abidi, director of the Geneva-based Study and Research Center for the Arab and Mediterranean World. People will continue to occupy the public space to demand the departure of all the symbols and the figures of the system, said Abidi in a chat on social media Tuesday. It is unrealistic to entrust the organization of important transitional elections to a government headed by a former minister of interior and head of government designated by Bouteflika. The nations military, which had supported Bouteflika, is expected to continue playing a key role. When the protests began, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Gaid Salah, the 79-year-old army chief and onetime Bouteflika ally, called on people to stay home. As protests continued, Salah declared the army was with the people and called for applying Article 102 of the constitution, which would remove the president for reasons of ill health. Days after Bouteflikas resignation, the army pressured Algerias spy chief, Gen. Athmane Tartag, who was known as Bachir, to leave as well. Though protesters have largely been friendly with soldiers, many point to the Arab Spring experience in Egypt in 2011. The army pushed out President Hosni Mubarak and later seized power through one of its own, Abdel Fattah Sisi. In the 1990s, Algeria experienced the so-called Black Decade, when the army, wary of Islamists who had won the countrys elections, launched a war that killed hundreds of thousands of people. Bouteflika led the country for years on the strength of having navigated the country to peace. Anys Mezzaour, a 22-year-old author and activist in Algiers, said Salah, the army chief, invoked a statement that referred to the people being the source of all authority. It drew support from protesters, Mezzaour said. One solution would be to get rid of the constitutional framework and to elect a constituent assembly, he said. Many voices are asking for this. Salah may have to grant this to the people if he wants to end restlessness. Protests are expected again Friday, and there may be a general strike. Dalia Ghanem Yazbeck, resident scholar at the Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, said the strength and weakness of the protests have been that they have been leaderless. Now there is a need for more organization, she said. Now is the time of civil disobedience, Yazbeck said. If judges, lawyers, civil servants, oil and gas employees, if they all refused to do their job then the government could not continue. In any case, said Mezzaour, any transition organized by those with ties to Bouteflika would be rejected. Many dangers are still on our road towards full democracy, he said. We are all deeply aware that it wont be easy, that the [system] sacrificed Bouteflika just so it can regenerate. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a new mantra: Women first. For our party, mahila shakti womens power is important, he told the womens wing of his Bharatiya Janata Party last month. For us, whether it is in an organization, or in government or in the framing of programs, it is women first. Politics in India where only 25% of women participate in the workforce has historically been a mans game. But with voting set to begin Thursday in a multi-stage election that will determine whether Modi and his party remain in power, analysts say that women could play a decisive role. Political parties are starting to treat women like a vote bank a constituency that is to be wooed, said Milan Vaishnav, senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Advertisement Because many women have not traditionally been active in the political process, they view them as swing voters, he said. If you get them to swing your way, that can be what tilts the scales in an election. The country has already witnessed a recent surge in female electoral participation. In the 2014 elections that brought Modi to power, voter turnout among women reached a historic high of 65%, just shy of the 67% for men. In half of Indias states, women voted at higher rates than men. A decade earlier womens turnout lagged more than 8 percentage points behind men. Despite #MeToo wave in India, women in low-wage jobs still suffer widespread harassment Representation in office is a different story. Women occupy few prominent positions at the national and state levels and make up less than 12% of lawmakers in the lower house of parliament. Though India has had a female prime minister, the long-serving Indira Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1984, she was the daughter of Indias first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and seen as more of a dynast than a feminist. But the potential power of women at the polls became apparent in 2015. At a state election campaign event, Nitish Kumar, then running for chief minister of the impoverished northern state of Bihar, was asked by a female constituent if he would promise to ban alcohol, a longstanding demand of womens collectives there that have seen alcohol abuse harm their families. Kumar agreed, a move that helped bring more women than men to the polls and propel him to victory. He proceeded to keep his promise and institute prohibition in the state. While Modi and his party the BJP ran on a platform of economic development in 2014, this time around they have emphasized their welfare programs, especially for poor women. One program has provided subsidized cooking gas cylinders to millions of poor families to replace smoky, heavily polluting wood fires and was credited with helping the party win state elections in Uttar Pradesh, Indias most populous and politically important state. Another program, which was created by an opposition party and expanded by the ruling party, has furnished 56.3 million rural women with loans worth about $27 billion. The Modi government also won favor with Muslim female voters by criminalizing instant triple talaq, a practice in conservative Muslim communities that allows men to divorce women simply by stating it three times. Indias Supreme Court had already banned it. The party has also touted its efforts to provide financial support to pregnant women, introduce universal healthcare, increase spending on girls education and improve sanitation by improving access to toilets. Some of these efforts have been met with criticism. Independent surveys indicate the sanitation drive has been ineffective, and a United Nations official said the program has exacerbated the problem of manual scavenging in which poor laborers clean sewers by hand because many new toilets arent connected to a continuous water supply. In the last few national elections, the BJP has lost the womens vote to rival parties. A 2017 Pew Research Center survey found that while Modi was generally popular, women were more critical of his leadership because of rising prices, pollution and religious tensions. Previously, the Congress had a very minor edge over the BJP, but now we might see some shift in womens vote in favor of the BJP, said Sanjay Kumar, director of the New Delhi-based Center for the Study of Developing Societies. In 2019 the BJP could have an advantage in women voters mainly because there has been a lot of focus on policies and programs aimed at women. The Congress Party, Modis chief rival, has also attempted to woo female voters. In a manifesto released this month, it promised to reserve one-third of government jobs for women, enforce equal pay laws, build public toilets for women, provide sanitary napkins in public buildings, fight sexual harassment in workplaces and create more rural economic opportunities for women. The party also voiced support for a bill that would guarantee women at least a third of seats in the lower house of parliament and the state legislative assemblies. Both the Congress Party and BJP have been blamed for dragging their feet on enacting the legislation, first introduced in 1996. Im a believer that women should be pushed into places of leadership, said Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi, the grandson of Indira Gandhi. I think generally women are smarter than men. But analysts say Indian women who have historically voted along the lines of caste, class, religion and ideology may not be swayed by such direct appeals. Political parties assume that women want welfare and so they should talk about those things, said Vaishnav, the Carnegie fellow. But this is often based on a very limited understanding of the female voter. According to a 2014 national survey, there were only minor differences between the issues that women and men considered most important. Who constitutes the nation? It is 50% women, said Nikita Sud, an associate professor in the department of international development at the University of Oxford. The interests of the nation include the interests of women. Sud said that instead of focusing narrowly on what they see as womens issues, parties should look at what voters want more broadly. A crisis in Indias farm economy, she said, is not traditionally considered a womens issue but women do 80% of the farm work, according to a study by the nonprofit group Oxfam. Many credit Indias Election Commission with helping to increase female voter turnout. It instituted separate lines for female voters, increased security measures on voting days and made it standard practice to staff some polling booths exclusively with women. Voter turnout among women has improved the most in some of Indias most socioeconomically challenged states, where the sex ratio is skewed toward men because many families choose not to bear female children. Some argue that in places with the greatest inequality, voting is an outlet for women to express their voice. This increase in female voter turnout cannot really be attributed to any specific policy intervention, said Shamika Ravi, director of research at the Brookings India think tank. We call it a silent revolution because it is self-empowerment of women in the Indian democracy. Thirani Bagri is a special correspondent. The Nigerian Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Mohammed Dansanta Rimi, has disclosed that a total of 446 Nigerians are currently languishing in prisons in the Middle East country. Rimi stated this on Tuesday, April 9, during President Muhammadu Buharis town-hall meeting with Nigerians who are based in the UAE, Daily Trust reports. He said the 446 Nigerians are in prisons over drugs and other crimes. READ ALSO: Breaking: Court orders substituted service on Magu Recall that this disclosure is coming weeks after five Nigerians were arrested over armed robbery in Dubai. They reportedly stormed a money exchange centre in Sharjah area of Dubai to steal Dh 2.3 million Dinars. The five suspects who were on visitors visas to Dubai include Chimuanya Ozoh, Benjamin Ajah, Kingsley Ngoka, Tochukwu Alisi and Chile Ndunagu. The federal government has condemned the action of the robbers. The senior special assistant to the president on foreign affairs and diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, made this known in a statement by her media aide Abdur-Rahman Balogun on Tuesday, April 2, in Abuja. PAY ATTENTION: Download our mobile app to enjoy the latest news update Meanwhile, the robbery incident led to speculations that UAE had restricted visa for Nigerians. However, the UAE embassy in Nigeria on Thursday, April 4, denied the speculations. The UAE embassy described the news about denial of visas as inaccurate and advised that people should always source real information about its activities through its official channels only. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) --> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better Offa bank robbery: My husband was killed just a year to his retirement | Legit TV Source: Legit Airlines have a responsibility to take passengers from one airport to another located in passengers' choice of destination. Passengers pay for comfort, timeliness and safety to get from one place to another. Once this agreement is broken passengers loose the comfort, timeliness and safety promised by any airline. A Nigerian airline has been accused of breaking this agreement by flying passengers halfway. A Nigerian man took to social media to alleged that a particular airline had flown passengers to a different location than what was promised to them when they paid. The man, who narrated his experience as a passenger on one of the aircrafts owned by the airline, claimed that instead of flying them all the way to Warri from Abuja, the airline took them to Benin. READ ALSO: Meet 21-year-old Zambia's youngest pilot Kalenga Kamwendo According to the man identified as Victory, the airline took them to a bus that drove them to their destination. He said: "Imagine paying for flight from Abuja to Warri only for Aero Contractors to drop you at Benin airport then put you in a car to Warri Nigeria my country ." PAY ATTENTION: Read best news on Nigeria's #1 news app READ ALSO: 15 True Facts About Meghan Markle Before Meeting Prince Harry However, Victory did not reveal what led the airline to act the way they did, he also did not say if the airline paid for the bus fare. PAY ATTENTION: Get your daily relationship tips and advice on Africa Love Aid group You may like to know that airlines stop halfway when it is discovered that the airplane has developed fault. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda Meanwhile, Legit.ng had earlier shared the story of a Zambian nurse who broke her oath by committing heinous acts while she was working. The former nurse, Elizabeth Mwewa, confessed her sins on her hospital bed, revealing that she exchanged about 5000 babies while working at the hospital for fund. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better Street Gist: Nigerians React as Nigeria Air Berths in London - on Legit TV Source: Legit Nigeria - A Nigerian man, Ogbeni Dipo, has shared his struggles while he was in a Nigerian university - According to Dipo his grades were nothing to write home about till he left the country - Dipo added that the situation in Nigeria influenced his poor grades Nigerians in diaspora have been known to make the country proud in various fields as they break boundaries in the education sector. Interestingly, these same bright minds representing Nigeria well in foreign countries seemed to be average or poor students while in the country. A young Nigerian man identified on Twitter as Dr Dipo (@Ogbenidipo) has shared his struggles while studying in a Nigerian university on the microblogging site. According to Dipo, his grades in Nigeria were almost nothing to write home about till he left the country for the UK where he graduated with a first class. He added that it is not as if his brain was dead but that the condition of things in Nigeria made education hard. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read the best news about Nigeria See his tweet below: The Twitter user added that a student who graduates with a 2:2 or 3rd class from a Nigerian university has the potential of doing better in a foreign school because no lecturer is proud to make students fail over there. See the rest of Ogbeni Dipo's tweets below: READ ALSO: Top 15 Wedding Photographs That Blew Our Minds Away Some Nigerians on social media also agreed with Dipo's tweets as they shared their opinion of Nigerian lecturers compared to foreign ones. See some reactions below: READ ALSO: Personal letter from the Editor-in-Chief of Legit.ng (formerly NAIJ.com) Nawa o. In other news, Legit.ng reported that a Nigerian man took to Twitter to shade Five Star Music boss, E-Money, after the University of Lagos denied issuing a honorary degree. Unilag recently published a list of people who were issued honorary degrees at the school. The list was published on their Facebook page and E-moneys name was missing from the list. HELLO! NAIJ.com (naija.ng) upgrades to Legit.ng We keep evolving to serve our readers better. Adetutu Alabi Story: 'I Gave Up on Education Because I Was Bullied for My Tribal Marks' | Legit TV Source: Legit - Oil prices have risen in response to the unrest in Libya and some other OPEC member nations - Stakeholders are calling on OPEC to intervene as the unrest in Libya has caused slash in oil production - The increase in oil price (if it remains stable) will, however, help Nigeria's economy With the unrest and sanctions going in some OPEC nations, Venezuela, Libya and Iran respectively, the United States oil prices have climbed back above $64 a barrel, CNN reports. The American news media reports that the current turmoil in the OPEC nations have amplified supply constraints which in turn lead to increase in oil price. Legit.ng gathers that Saudi Arabia has also reduced its oil production as well as exports to the US to facilitate higher prices and balance its budget. READ ALSO: Presidency cautions Atiku, says treason will be treated as treason Another report by Deutsche Welle (DW) links the oil spike directly to the unrest in Libya. The German media said oil prices jumped on Tuesday, April 9, in response to the violence in the North African country. "The key oil benchmark prices in Europe and the US jumped to two-and-a-half-year highs on Tuesday, as the markets respond shakily to the escalating violence in Libya," DW stated. The report adds that pressure is mounting on OPEC to free up more supplies. Libya is a major African oil producer and a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), exporting most of its oil to European countries like Italy, Germany, Spain and France. The country produces a sizeable chunk of the world's oil, and is Europe's third largest supplier. Brent Crude from the North Sea briefly hit $108.57 (79.44 euros) in morning trade but dropped later during the course of the day. Meanwhile, prices in the US, particularly West Texas, for future deliveries in April rose by almost seven dollars to $94.49 at one point in Tuesday trading. Most prices for imported oil on the European and US markets are based on these so-called benchmark indicators. "It's like one of those Australian bushfires - once it takes hold, it's very difficult to put out," Michael Hewson, an analyst for CMC Markets said. "Until the situation in the Middle East settles down, you are going to have very wild price swings." Energy stakeholders and analysts are already calling on OPEC to step in. Claudia Kemfert, energy analyst for the German Institute for Economic Research, was quoted to have said: "I think [OPEC] should get involved soon, because we need some signals for the market. Right now, if Libya was to stop oil production, we would lose 2 percent of the global oil supply." Kemfert said OPEC should increase production capacities in other member states, so as to calm the market's concerns over further unrest in the region hitting oil supplies elsewhere. However, OPEC representative and United Arab Emirates energy minister Mohammad bin Dhaen al-Hamli said that the market was reacting to the violence in the Middle East, not to fundamentals, saying there was no need to free up extra oil supplies at present, despite the unrest in Libya. The countries in OPEC "are watching the situation and [are] ready to act when necessary," Hamli said, adding that he was concerned about the Libyan situation in particular "because it is a member of OPEC and a major oil producer." The UAE minister, however, did not specifically mention when OPEC might consider it necessary to intervene. PAY ATTENTION: Download our mobile app to enjoy the latest news update Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday, February 2, in Bauchi state, instructed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to extend oil exploration activities to six basins in the country. The president gave the instruction at the Barambu town in Alkaleri local government area of the state while flagging off the drilling activities. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better Nigeria News 2018: Special Report - How Oil Companies Abandon Victims of Gas Flaring | Legit TV Source: Legit Two men from Maryland accused of being part of a pellet shooting spree in Bethlehem that damaged 26 cars were arraigned Wednesday and sent to prison. Tayquandrey Highsmith-Gillie, of Aberdeen, Maryland, and Isaiah Jerod Turner, of Baltimore, were each arraigned Wednesday morning on charges of propulsion of missiles onto roadways and conspiracy to commit criminal mischief, stemming from the March 24th incidents on the north side of the city. Highsmith-Gillie, 18, and Turner, 20, were each sent to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $100,000 bail. Also charged but not yet arraigned in their cases are Daquan Haskins, 20, of the 700 block of East Fairview Drive in Bethlehem, and Nathaniel Shepard, 26, also of Aberdeen. Police were called the night of March 24 for reports of multiple vehicles damaged by pellet guns on Fritz Drive, Stefko Boulevard and East North Street. The vehicles had broken windows and dented body panels, police said. A total of 26 vehicles were damaged on the three streets, and the repair costs were expected to exceed $5,000, police said. A short time later, officers were called for suspicious people in a vehicle in the 700 block of Goepp Street. The four defendants were in the car, that police said was searched because of a reported strong odor of marijuana inside. One of the men ran; police did not say which one. Inside the car police said they found two pellet guns, multiple empty compressed air canisters and loose metal pellets. Police did not say if they found marijuana in the vehicle. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A suspicious package prompted the evacuation of a Lehigh County warehouse Wednesday morning before it was deemed harmless, according to Pennsylvania State Police. Troopers with state police at Fogelsville responded to the reported suspicious package at 10:47 a.m. at Advance Auto Warehouse, 9755 Commerce Circle off Interstate 78 in Weisenberg Township. All 200 employees had already evacuated the facility when troopers arrived, police said in a news release. There was found to be no threat to the public following an investigation by troopers; state police bomb squad and K-9 specialists; the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Cetronia Ambulance and the Weisenberg Fire Department. No one was injured in the incident, and all employees were allowed to return back inside the building as authorities cleared the scene at 1:27 p.m. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A large section of farms and wooded areas in Warren County may be developed into warehouses and manufacturing plants. David Jaindl, representing Jaindl Land Co., presented informal plans Tuesday for the 585 acres to the White Township Planning Commission. Jaindl said plans are in the conceptual stage and his company is looking for initial feedback from the commission and township residents. Jaindl said he anticipates 75 percent of the development would be for warehouse and distribution and 25 percent would be for manufacturing industries. Jaindl said his family-owned company has built developments in four Pennsylvania counties but the White Township development would be the companys first foray across the Delaware River on the New Jersey side. Jaindl Land Co. has acquired the land from Talen Energy Supply LLC for a total price of $11.2 million, according to deeds filed with Warren County in February. The property borders Route 519 to the east; Foul Rift Road to the north; and the Delaware River along South Foul Rift Road along to the west. About 10 acres of the property extends south into Harmony Township near Roxburg Station Road. Jaindl said the plan would be to develop the land in four phases. The first phase would develop about 500,000 square feet to 1 million square feet of buildings on 50 to 75 acres, he said. The other phases, which could take years or decades to develop, could total about 6 million square feet, he said. About 70 residents attended the commission meeting Tuesday. Many had concerns about how the large development would affect the mostly rural township. One concern is that the two-lane Route 519, which leads north to Route 46 from the Jaindl property and south to Route 22 in Greenwich Township, will not be able to handle the increased traffic that development would bring. Route 519 has always been a local county road, Commissioner Michael Grossmann said. Jaindl said his company would perform whatever traffic studies that township ordinances require. Township engineer Paul Sterbenz said the developer would need to make extensive improvements on Foul Rift and South Foul Rift roads and a traffic light would likely be needed where the development would connect to Route 519. Other concerns centered around environmental impacts of the development, including how runoff would impact the Delaware River and Buckhorn Creek. The creek, which is classified by New Jersey as a Category 1 waterbody, receives special protection. A Jaindl representative said there would be vegetation planted within 300 feet on either side of the creek to control the runoff. Jaindl said the plan is not to construct buildings on the speculation that they will be sold but, rather, to build them custom once a customer is in place. Jaindl said the company plans to contribute some land, possible along the Delaware River, for public park use. We want to be a member of the community, Jaindl said. A good member. Other audience members at the commission meeting had questions about lighting, noise, property setbacks, salaries for potential jobs, topsoil removal and other aspects of development but Jaindl said it is too early in the planning stage to answer specific questions about the project. Before any development, specific plans would need to be submitted to the township for review and approval. John Best is a freelance contributor to lehighvalleylive.com. Easton police are searching for a city man after $8,000 in heroin laced with fentanyl was recovered Tuesday morning at a West Ward apartment, according to a news release. The city Vice and Special Response units had a search warrant and an arrest warrant at 10:14 a.m. as they entered Apartment 10 at 1440 Washington St., Lt. Matthew Gerould said. The arrest warrant charged 35-year-old Ibin Gordon with delivery of heroin in the neighborhood and criminal use of a cellphone, Gerould said. But Gordon was not there. It is believed Gordon has ties to the Phillipsburg area and was using the apartment to stash drugs, Gerould said. Controlled purchases were made connected to the West Ward residence, Gerould said. The focus (on Tuesday) was to get the evidence and still search for him, Gerould said. Police also recovered $2,983 in cash -- including prerecorded money used in the controlled buys -- and paraphernalia consistent with heroin sales, Gerould said. Gordon will face additional drug charges after the raid due to what was found, Gerould said. The heroin/fentanyl was stamped with blue thunder and block stopper" and tested positive for both drugs, Gerould said. Gordon is 6 feet tall, weighs 170 pounds and has a medium build, brown eyes and black hair, Gerould said. If anyone knows where he might be, they can call 610-759-2200 or the departments tip line at 610-250-6635. Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter@TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Laois IFA are holding a crisis beef and livestock meeting in the Killeshin Hotel, Portlaoise on Monday, April 15 at 8.30pm. The focus of the meeting is to highlight the disaster and crisis the beef sector is currently experiencing from very poor cattle factory returns, to a stalemate on Brexit and a proposed reduced CAP budget and currency fluctuation. Laois IFA Livestock Committee Chairman, Declan Hanrahan outlined that beef prices have fallen since the Brixit referendum vote. The beef industry has seen price reduction since then. This spring has been a disaster, particularly for bull finishers who are not getting the price and are unable to get their animals slaughtered.The financial losses farmers are experiencing are hitting home now very much and there is no light at the end of the tunnel. The 5c a kilo drop last week was just the latest.I am now hearing farmers say they are having difficulties with household bills. The suckler sector is also under huge pressure with many suckler farmers now just going into dairy. This will have a long term impact on the quality of cattle. Our local politicians must now put the pressure on the Minister for Agriculture to get his act together on this issue before it is too late. Brexit has landed for farmers, it is happening. These price reductions cannot continue. Speakers on the night will include representatives from Bord Bia, Meat Industry Ireland and the IFA. All local politicians and MEP Candidates have been invited. All farmers are welcome. A Carlow man whose farm was strewn with skeletal remains has lost an appeal against the severity of his three-year prison sentence for shocking levels of animal cruelty. James Kavanagh (48) pleaded guilty to 30 counts of causing or allowing animal cruelty at his property at Raheenleigh, Myshall, Co Carlow in April 2015. Kavanagh was sentenced to three years imprisonment and ordered to pay 35,000 towards the ISPCAs costs, which totalled 59,149, by Judge James McCourt on February 22 last. Judge McCourt also disqualified Kavanagh from having any involvement with dogs or horses for life. The maximum penalty is five years and a fine of up to 250,000. His wife, Jennifer Kavanagh, was given a wholly suspended 12 months sentence on the same occasion after she admitted 30 counts of allowing animal cruelty. Upholding the sentence today, President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham said 340 dogs and 11 horses had to be removed from Kavanaghs premises over 11 days. In addition, 20 dogs and four horses had to be euthanised for humane reasons. The Circuit Court heard from Garda Catriona Denneny and Conor Dowling of the ISPCA. Mr Justice Birmingham said the scene they encountered was truly shocking and involved atrocious levels of animal neglect and cruelty. A number of dead dogs were discovered, some of which had apparently been killed and eaten by other dogs. The premises were strewn with skeletal remains, dead sheep, and rotting horse carcasses. Gardai witnessed dogs eating dog and horse carcasses as it appeared this was their only source of food. A total of four horse carcasses were found in separate dog enclosures. According to the book of evidence, the horses did not show any signs of being shot or given lethal injections (as this would have poisoned the dogs). Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy commented during the hearing that de facto the horses were being fed to dogs. He (Kavanagh) was allowing them to be fed to dogs. Mr Justice Birmingham said all of the animals had health problems. Almost all of the animals were distressed, in pain and discomfort, and suffered from multiple afflictions and diseases, including parasitic infections. Many of the animals were also severely emaciated, starving, dehydrated, soaked in urine, and caked in excrement. Burnt out fires were discovered on the premises revealing the remains of dogs, horses and sheep. Some small breed dogs were discovered crowded together in inadequately sized cages with no freedom to move, no access to food or water and no shade from the sun. Kieran Considine a vet for Carlow County Council stated that the dogs showed signs of contagion, pathological conditions and cannibalistic tendencies. Mr Considine also raised concern about the immediate serious risk to public health due to the feeding of carcasses and the accumulation of waste close to a water treatment plant and the River Burren. Kavanagh claimed his premises had become a dumping ground for dogs after the introduction of Pet Passports in December 2014 which required all dogs and cats to be microchipped. It appears, though, that Kavanagh actively sought out dog breeders and others and offered to take dogs with a view to having them rehomed, Mr Justice Birmingham said. He said Kavanaghs wife, Jenny, was licensed to operate a dog breeding establishment by Carlow County Council. However, Kavanagh discovered it was financially more rewarding to take in dogs and transport dogs, mostly to rescue centres in England. These centres paid between 40 to 50 per dog and also covered the travel expenses. Kavanaghs barrister, Colman Cody SC, acknowledged that what occurred was neglect, perhaps neglect on a grand scale, but was distinct from cruel and intentional infliction of suffering. Mr Cody said that the premises had been inspected by Carlow County Council in October 2014 and that, therefore, the shocking state of affairs in April 2015 must be seen as having been time-limited. Mr Justice Birmingham said it was a case of commercial activity on a very large scale and it is an inescapable conclusion that failing to care for animals formed part of the business model. He said it was a case of exceptional seriousness, measured by the evidence of Conor Dowling, Chief Inspector with the ISPCA, who commented that he had never come across anything like it. Dealing with the situation of one of the horses that had to be euthanised, Mr Dowling said the animal suffered unnecessarily from severe malnutrition and poor husbandry in one of the worst cases of cruelty he had the displeasure of attending over the last 10 years. In terms of dog welfare, Mr Dowling said the scale and severity of what he witnessed was way above anything else he had dealt with. Mr Justice Birmingham, who sat with Mr Justice John Edwards and Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, said the sentence fell well within the range of appropriate sentences for offending of such seriousness and the court accordingly dismissed the appeal. He said the sentencing judges task was not an easy one because thankfully, there have been few, if any, comparable cases. Welcoming the judgment, Mr Dowling, of the ISPCA, said he hoped Kavanaghs sentence sent the message out that such levels of animal cruelty will not be tolerated. Dogs Aid patron and animal rights activist, Linda Martin, said she welcomed the fact the sentence was upheld. This is a precedent now. This is going to make people realise that if you abuse animals, Ireland is not going to tolerate that anymore, and I think that is very, very important. She said Ireland was known as the Puppy Farming Capital of Europe, which was a terrible moniker to have. There are at least 1,000 premises out there like this (Kavanaghs). Trust me, north, south, east and west, all operating with appalling cruelty, for the owners to make vast amounts of money. Im not saying dont breed dogs, because there are very decent breeders out there, and those dogs are very well cared for. Im talking about the people who have hundreds of breeding bitches in the most appalling conditions. And the message has to go to them, were not going to tolerate it any longer. In his judgment, Mr Justice Birmingham said there was one further matter the court wished to comment upon. He said the court had been asked to deal with Kavanaghs case within weeks of the Circuit Court hearing due to the tragic loss of his teenage son in a road traffic accident. The pressure to cope that had been placed on Kavanagh was compounded by the shocking, indeed one can say, disgusting, response there has been on social media to the tragedy that has befallen the Kavanagh family. He said the court did not wish to appear hard-hearted or indifferent but the courts role was confined to reviewing the correctness, or otherwise, of sentences imposed at first instance. The developments post-sentence in this case are very unusual, perhaps even to the point of being unique, and they are of course matters which the Executive is perfectly free to consider. One of Ireland's leading DJ's who has impressed crowds at Electric Picnic is bringing her best beats to a venue in Laois over the Easter weekend. Former RTE 2FM DJ Jenny Greene has performed to huge crowds at events and festivals like Electric Picnic alongside the RTE Concert Orchestra. The award-winning radio DJ will bring her skill set to the upcoming local gig in Durrow. She will be joined by dance guru Al Gibbs who has been a house DJ at FM104 for over a decade and been performing at clubs all over the country. Gibbs is keen to embrace cutting-edge tech when it comes to performing his DJ sets. He has been a regular on the festival scene supporting the likes of Carl Cox, Pete Tong and many more. Catch both acts live at Lennon's Bar and Venue in Durrow on Easter Sunday, April 21. Tickets are available from 10 (early bird) on www.ticketstop.ie. Check out Lennon's Bar and Venue on Facebook for more. The barrister for a 56-year-old Stradbally man who allegedly propositioned a youth for sex, having previously allegedly offered him alcohol and cannabis, has challenged a DPP direction for the matter to be dealt with in the district court and requested that the case instead be treated as in indictable offence in the circuit court. Liam Byrne of 1 Church Avenue, Stradbally, is charged with the sexual exploitation of a child, between June 29, 2017, and July 15, 2017. When the case first came before Portlaoise District Court in March, the State said that the DPP had directed the case be dealt with by summary disposal in the district court. Detective Garda Brian Kennedy gave evidence that it was alleged that the accused had befriended the injured party, who was 17 at the time, and offered him alcohol and cannabis. They exchanged numbers and a number of calls were made, with the accused allegedly propositioning the injured party to meet up for sex. An agreement was allegedly made for them to meet up, but the injured party travelled to the agreed location with a number of his friends and an altercation ensued, which resulted in the accused having to seek medical attention. After hearing the outline of the alleged facts, Judge Catherine Staines accepted jurisdiction in the case. However, when the case returned to court last Thursday, defence barrister for the accused said that in her opinion, this should be an indictable offence dealt with by the circuit court. To this, Sgt Justine Reilly told the court that an amendment to the legislation allowed for the offence to be dealt with by summary disposal in the district court. Sgt Reilly requested an adjournment to seek directions from the DPP. The matter was adjourned to April 16 next, for DPP directions. The accused was granted bail, with conditions that he sign on weekly at the garda station; he reside at his listed address and give the gardai 48 hours notice of any change of address; he provide a telephone number to the gardai; and he not approach three named individuals. A talented Laois pastry chef who knows how to make the best tasty treats is hosting an afternoon tea event in Portlaoise to raise funds for her upcoming trip to Cebu, Philippines with SERVE Ireland. Portlaoise woman, Ciara O'Keefe, is 23 and hopes to help the people in Cebu, Philippines to tackle poverty by volunteering with SERVE. Ciara needs to raise almost 3,000 for her volunteering trip and is calling on the community to get behind her tasty fundraiser in Kavanagh's Pub, Portlaoise on Saturday, April 27. "As a pastry mad person, it seemed fitting to host an afternoon tea event unlike any other with a delicious selection of handmade desserts using the best Irish ingredients, secret recipes from the famous Nana herself. We will also have a savoury buffet on the night with delicious bread which was kindly donated by my favourite bakery in Laois Mueller & O' Connell Bakery," Ciara said. There will be live music with Kevin Quigley and a raffle with great prizes donated by local businesses. Tickets are 15 and will be limited due to the nature of the event. Email ciaraokeeffe1995@gmail.com for tickets. All proceeds go to SERVE Ireland. Go to give.everydayhero.com to help Ciara's online fundraiser which has raised over 800 so far. SERVE is a development and volunteering organisation tackling poverty in the majority world. They strive to do this by working in solidarity, service and partnership with marginalised and oppressed communities, empowering them to tackle the root causes of poverty and injustice. SERVE focuses specifically on programmes and projects that help communities enhance the lives of children and young people and recognises that gender equality is pivotal to achieving justice, equality and sustainable development. Ciara will be doing a variety of different fundraisers over the coming months ahead of her trip to Cebu. MORE: Big Portlaoise development set to be unveiled on former 84.5 million Anglo loan site DannyBoy, a new comedy drama feature film from local producer Richie Kearney premiered to a full house at the Odeon cinema in Naas on Friday, March 29. It was filmed over three weeks in September 2018 between Naas and Sallins and Richie said the community rallied around the production with local people acting as extras, cast and crew. Read also: Addams Family musical for Kildare venue this month Directed by Ferdia Mac Anna, who wrote it with Mary Duffin, it centres around Daniel Buckley, a nervous teenager who needs to grow up quickly and manage his madcap family. Daniel's mother is played by Clelia Murphy, better known as Niamh from the long running RTE series Fair City. Richie said the local area provided canal scenes, houses, bars and scenery. Car enthusiasts in the area helped us with cars and automobiles of the era. The Townhouse hotel was our base for catering, wardrobe, hair and make up, auditions, rehearsals, meetings and it also doubled as a batch of locations too. Director Mac Anna, a well known figure in the arts world, said he had long looked forward to recreating the mad youth scene of Ireland in 1981 in Naas and Sallins and the wonderfully cinematic big sky country of County Kildare. The film will now tour festivals. Colette Hempenstall, Jack Hickey, Lucy Jones Angela Malone, Martina Byrne Aoife Brennan, Celine Garvey, Joanna Pluta, Zuzanna Cisowska Jennifer Kelly, Helena Geoghegan, Jennifer Florence Gonz and Eileen Houlihan, Liam and Noreen Quinlivan, and Martin Connolly Abigail OLeary, Aimee de Courcy, Nicole Delaney, Paige Fitzpatrick, students from Cross & Passion, Kilcullen School should work with the trade industry to identify suitable candidates for apprenticeships, Renua local election candidate, Seamus O Riain, has proposed. Mr O Riain said the ESRI has reported that there is an estimated 90,000 skilled tradesmen and IT specialists needed to keep up with the growing economy. The current narrative by government, media and academics is that Ireland needs more immigration to meet this demand, he said. Adding that Ireland's youth unemployment rate is 13%, one of the highest in Europe he has proposed a scheme whereby schools work with the trade industry to identify suitable candidates for apprenticeships. Approved students could start their apprenticeships during the summer months of 4th-6th year thus allowing them to complete their formal education, he said. SEE ALSO: Civil marriage relatively popular in Kildare say new figures Mr O Riain said a high drop out level and lack of job opportunities after completing certain third level courses means Ireland is not equipping young people with the skills to join the workforce. The German system of earn as you learn should be implemented. The fact that it hasn't shows Fine Gael and this Government, as usual have prioritised economic targets with disregard to the societal impact. The economy should serve the people not the other way around. He also said students that achieve a high level of competence in computer skills should also be considered for summer internships. This could be with local or international companies operating in Ireland. Both schemes could be easily implemented at a local level and would not require the setting up of another useless Government quango. It's time to give our youth the opportunity to work and live in their own country without having to emigrate. Paul Reid who resides at Shannon Lodge, Carrick-on-Shannon has been appointed to the role of Director General of the Health Service Executive. The high profile appointment was announced by the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Health Minister Simon Harris last week. The CEO of Fingal County Council since 2014, he was appointed following an open competition by the Public Appointment Service. An Taoiseach said Paul Reid takes up this post at a critical time of change and reform in our health services. For the first time in a long time, we have the resources, we have the plan and we have the people to move forward. During his time at the helm in Fingal County Council and before that in Eircom and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Paul developed a strong reputation as a dynamic and ambitious leader, who was always up for a challenge, drove restructuring, controlled costs, delivered results and managed industrial relations well, he concluded. Minister Harris said: "The appointment of Paul Reid comes at an exciting time for the health service with a clear policy direction as outlined by Slaintecare, record investment and a major capital programme. We now have the key building blocks for a health service that the public deserve as he brings his extensive skillset to this role. He has proven himself to be a leader in public service and has a track record of reform. Paul Reid will serve a tenure of five years and is expected to begin his position on May 14. Following his appointment, Mr Reid stated: "I am truly honoured and excited to be soon taking up the role as Director General of the Health Service Executive. "There is no doubt this will be a huge challenge as we will have to manage and strengthen the current service delivery mechanisms, whilst at the same time leading the transformation to a new model of integrated care as set out under Slaintecare. The primary focus throughout my term will be the experiences of the patients and all who engage with us." Chairman of the HSE Ciaran Devane added: "Paul was selected from a field of extremely experienced and capable candidates. Paul's experience in both the private and public sector equips him well for taking on one of the most challenging roles in the country. "In previous roles he has demonstrated a passion for achieving high standards and values in delivering public services and for supporting and developing staff in order to achieve this. The incoming Board of the HSE and I look forward to working with Paul and his team to continually improve the health services in Ireland." He previously worked in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, as well as Eircom and Trocaire. In his new job as Director General of the HSE, he will head up an organisation with over 100,000 staff and a six billion euro budget. The post has been vacant since Tony O'Brien left the position last summer. The role as Director General of the HSE is a big responsibility and following much controversy related to the running of the HSE in recent years, Paul Reid is expected to become a household name shortly. Also read: More ambulances needed in North West The Government is considering the inclusion of the town of Carrick-on-Shannon in a new law to ensure there is cooperation between local authorities where a town straddles county boundaries, according to TD Denis Naughten. The objective behind the cooperation across the River Shannon is to ensure the coordinated development of Carrick-on-Shannon as a key economic driver of investment in the region. This will build on the recent law I secured approval for in Government, and which was passed by Dail Eireann, which sets in stone the county boundary of Roscommon ensuring that Cortober remains a part of County Roscommon, stated Denis Naughten. While no-one was seeking to include the Cortober area of the town in County Leitrim there was a draft proposal from the Department of Housing, Planning & Local Government to review the status of Cortober and a number of other areas close to existing towns across Ireland. The new law sets out that the county boundary of Roscommon cannot be changed but it is also important that both Leitrim and Roscommon work closely together to ensure the town of Carrick-on-Shannon is developed in a structured manner not only to benefit the local community but to build up the rural areas also. In the Dail this week the Minister for Local Government, John Paul Phelan TD, confirmed that Government is now bringing forward proposals to make a new law on local authority cross boundary cooperation and is considering including Carrick-on-Shannon in the proposal. In the case of Carrick-on-Shannon, if included in the new law, it would mean that a new Urban Area Committee would be established with membership from the councillors from the Carrick-on-Shannon Municipal District of Leitrim and the Boyle Municipal District of Roscommon as well as the Cathaoirleach of both Roscommon & Leitrim County Councils. A QUARTER of a century of Thursday night dancing in Limerick city will be celebrated by Declan Nerney. Memories will come flooding back when the Londford star appears for a big anniversary event at the Greenhills Hotel on Holy Thursday night April 19. The weekly gig, which first started at the then Glentworth Hotel in the mid 1990s, also featured Declan when hundreds of people came from all over to enjoy that first night. The dance, which later switched to the Greenhills Hotel, became one of the most successful in Ireland, featuring all the top acts including Mike Denver, Michael English, Jimmy Buckley and many more. John Barrett, promoter of Rolling Back the Greenhills Years, knows of several romances that started at the Thursday night dances in the Ennis Road hotel. A number of couples that tied the knot kept coming back to enjoy the jiving, waltzing and quick steps. It was that kind of place, bringing together people from all over the Mid-West and much further away as well, said John, who has been taken aback by the feedback he has received thus far. To be honest, the reaction has come as a surprise. Dancing fans love the Greenhills and they seem to be really looking forward to the anniversary night. Declan Nerney fondly remembers the launch of Thursday night dancing in the city twenty five years ago. I can recall that night very clearly, the place was packed with dancing fans from all over the country, he told the Limerick Leader this week. It was hard to even get through the crowd to make it up on stage. Weve had many great gigs at the Greenhills Hotel over the years and Im very much looking forward to coming back for this anniversary. It should be a mighty night of dancing, said Declan, who will shortly feature on the annual country music special on the Late Late Show. Declan is the uncle of pop icon, Una Healy, now dating former county hurler, David Breen. John is nearly sure that Una did a spot at one of Declans dances at the Greenhills when she was first starting out. One particular night will live in the memory for many - an appearance by the late Big Tom for the launch of one of his hit songs, The Same Way you Came in. We arrived early to get our tickets, only to find, even at that stage, a queue right out the front door into the car park. The atmosphere was absolutely electric in the ballroom as Tom took to the stage, ushered through a packed crowd by his manager, Kevin McCooey, a fan recalled this week. Now, responding to requests from many dancing fans, John is Rolling Back the Greenhills dancing years with the 25th anniversary gig on Thursday, April 18. Those were magical nights back then when regulars came from all over County Limerick, Clare, Tipperary, Cork and, indeed, very much farther afield to enjoy dancing to all the big names. Jimmy Buckley, who comes from just out the road in Doon, was an especially big draw as, indeed, were other top names like, Mike Denver, Michael English and Robert Mizzell. We also had Nathan Carter on stage a few times. The dance attracted huge crowds for a number of years but things began to wane as the recession took hold and the gigs eventually fizzled out altogether. The economy is recovering and there seems to be a demand again to have dancing back in Limerick city. Well see how things go for the anniversary night with Declan and take things from there, said John. Tickets, 15, 061 453033. THE revolutionary spirit of the Limerick Soviet can provide a blueprint for everyday struggles in 2019. That was the feeling at the launch of a new book focusing on murder victim Robert Byrne, and the Limerick Soviet by local Sinn Fein councillor Seighin O Ceallaigh. His party colleague Maurice Quinlivan was on hand to formally launch his 105-page reprisal of the key role Byrne played, which was born out of a project at the University of Limerick. It was the death of the IRA hunger striker which sparked the Limerick Soviet, and Cllr O Ceallaigh has studied this, and other causes in depth, as part of his book. On Sunday last, following a commemoration at Byrne's grave in Mount St Lawrence, the book was launched at the Mechanics Institute. The book has been a labour of love for the City East councillor, although he acknowledged there have been some late nights to get the self-published title out on time. The first time I came across the Soviet was in school, although not in any textbooks. It was actually part of a Leaving Cert project. We had a free choice of what to pick. I looked at the Tan War in Limerick and came across this man. Cllr O Ceallaigh says he regrets the fact the Soviet is not being taught in Limerick secondary schools, given the year that is in it. Dublin TD Eoin O Broin was present, and he said the spirit of the Soviet strikers in 1919 could be applied to workers today. Talk to working people, working long hours for poor wages due to the rising cost of living, not being able to get by at the end of the month. We need to capture some of the Soviet spirit, of that revolutionary generation, modernise it and update it for today. SALES of electric cars have grown by more than 400% so far this year, new figures have revealed. Official statistics released by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) show 40 electric vehicles were registered in Limerick during the first three months of the year compared to 7 during 2018. There were 188 recorded sales of petrol electric cars while 12 hybrid cars were registered. The figures from SIMI show 536 new cars were registered in Limerick during March down from 567during March 2018 and representing a year-on-year decrease of 5.47%. Cars manufactured by Ford (334), Toyota (242), Hyundai (239), Volkswagen (220) and Nissan (200) are the five most popular brand of vehicle sold in Limerick so far in 2019. A total of 2,322 new cars were registered by the end of March compared to 2,642 during the same period last year representing a decline of 12.11%. The five most popular model of new car in the first quarter of 2019 were: Nissan Qashqai (117), Ford Focus (103), Hyundai Tuscon (88), Ford Kuga (86) and Toyota Corolla (70). The latest statistics show sales of electric cars in Limerick have risen by more than 400% so far in 2019. Brian Cooke, director general designate of SIMI says the prospect of Brexit is having a significant impact on the sale of new cars in Limerick and across the country. While current low volumes in the new car market have largely resulted from lower used car values for consumers trade-ins due to the huge volume of used car imports from the UK due to the Brexit-driven Sterling exchange rate, he said. United Airlines has resumed nonstop flights between Shannon and its New York hub, Newark Liberty International Airport, for the summer season. The service will operate daily until October 26, 2019. We are delighted to operate this nonstop service between Shannon and New York/Newark again this summer, said Martina Coogan, Country Sales Manager Ireland. This service not only offers our customers from the West of Ireland direct access to New York City, with over 60 non-stop connections from our New York/Newark hub customers can also conveniently connect to destinations across the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Central America. Shannon Airport managing director Andrew Murphy said, United Airlines Newark service is hugely popular among inbound and outbound passengers at Shannon. Its a service that confirms the strength of our transatlantic market, a market that performs for our airlines and passengers year in year out. The fact that it operates into a hugely important hub not alone ensures we have additional direct connectivity between here and the east coast of the US but also one-stop connectivity to so many other destinations. We are delighted to have United Airlines, a long standing and much appreciated partner at Shannon Airport, back again and look forward to another busy summer and deepening our relationship with them. A MAN who had a significant quantity of drugs at his home on the outskirts of the city will be sentenced in July. When arraigned at Limerick Circuit Court, Dermot Calvert, 48, who has an address at Mossgrove Avenue, Caherdavin, pleaded guilty to having 13.98grams of cocaine for the purpose of sale or supply. The drugs, which had a street value of almost 98,000, were located in a plastic bag in the front room of the defendants home when it was searched by gardai as part of an intelligence-led operation on February 22, 2018. After being informed by John OSullivan BL, prosecuting, that the guilty plea was acceptable to the State, Judge Tom ODonnell agreed to adjourn the matter to July for sentencing. Because of the value of the drugs seized, a mandatory sentence of ten years imprisonment applies unless the sentencing judge rules there are specific and exceptional reasons not to impose such a sentence. Mr Calvert was remanded on continuing bail pending the sentencing hearing. The International Monetary Fund has cautioned Nigeria and other developing countries from taking loans from China due to unfavourable loan conditions. The Financial Counsellor and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department of the IMF, Tobias Adrian, said this on Wednesday during the launch of the Global Financial Stability Report for April 2019 at the IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington D.C. Capital flows, which includes capital flows from China, are, of course, important for development. On the other hand, what is very important in lending arrangements are the terms of the loans and we urge countries to make sure that when they borrow from abroad, the terms are favourable. In particular, we recommend that loans to countries should conform with Paris Club arrangements and that is not always the case of loans from China, Adrian said. On Nigerias rising debt levels, Adrian said that the IMF was not overly concerned, as it would allow the country to invest more in developing critical infrastructure. At the moment, funding conditions in economies such as Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African countries are very favourable but that may change at some point, he said. The April 2019 Global Financial Stability Report finds that in spite of significant variability over the past two quarters, financial conditions remained accommodative. As a result, financial vulnerabilities have continued to build in the sovereign, corporate, and non bank financial sectors in several systemically important countries, leading to elevated medium-term risks. Also, the IMF in the April 2019 Fiscal Monitor Report urged Nigeria to increase Value Added Tax, increase and expand the coverage of excise duties. The IMF commended the countrys latest Strategic Revenue Growth Initiative, which looks at a comprehensive approach to tax reform. The UK government has announced that all 11 countries will be removed f ... Earlier today, the video of a police officer destroying the phone of a Delta State University student which he reportedly bought for N250 ,000, went viral. The officer who was angry that after serving the police force for about 13 years, he is stiil not been able to afford such an expensive phone, smashed the phone to the ground. According to an update by the Nigeria Police Force on Twitter, the officer has been arrested and an orderly trial has commenced. Mummified mice and falcons on display at the newly discovered burial site the Tomb of Tutu in Egypt. A tomb that was recently unearthed in Egypt holds a collection of about 50 mummified animals, including mice, falcons, cats and dogs. Inscriptions in the tomb indicate that it was built for a man named Tutu and his wife, Ta-Shirit-Iziz, about 2,000 years ago, Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities announced on April 5 in a Facebook post. Authorities had located the tomb and its entrance in October 2018, after they apprehended a team of looters who were attempting to tunnel into a nearby dig site, Reuters reported. When archaeologists and ministry officials entered the tomb, they found an exquisitely preserved burial chamber, decorated with brightly colored paintings of Egyptian gods and scenes of funerary rituals, ministry representatives said in the statement. [Photos: Canine Catacomb Was Tribute to Ancient Death God] The tomb is located near the Nile in Akhmim, Egypt about 280 miles (450 kilometers) to the south of Cairo and dates to the early Ptolemaic period (305 B.C. to 30 B.C). A passageway extends from the entrance to a main burial chamber, which holds two stone coffins. Painted scenes of Tutu exchanging gifts with Egyptian gods of the dead, such as Anubis and Osiris, adorn the corridor walls; inscriptions record the names of Tutu's parents and Ta-Shirit-Iziz's parents, according to the ministry. Tutu may have served as a senior government official in the region, Agence France-Presse reported. Two human mummies were recovered from clay jars in the tomb. (Image credit: Ministry of Antiquities) Two clay jars that flank the entryway contained the remains of a woman who died between the ages of 35 and 50 and a boy who was about 12 to 14 years old when he died. Dozens of mummified animals were also preserved in the tomb's chambers, according to Reuters. Egyptian burial sites sometimes contain mummified household pets such as cats. However, the mice, falcons and other animals in the tomb were probably not buried with the occupants as pets, but were more likely votive offerings, Salima Ikram, a professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, told Live Science in an email. "The animals were probably put in much later and did not have anything to do with the humans," said Ikram, who was not involved in the tomb's excavation. Originally published on Live Science. A growing measles outbreak in New York City has led officials to declare a public health emergency in parts of the city. There have been nearly 300 confirmed measles cases in the city since the outbreak began last October, mainly in Orthodox Jewish communities in parts of Brooklyn, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH). What's more, another outbreak is ongoing in the New York county of Rockland, which is north of New York City. But how much worse could the outbreak get, and how far could it spread? Experts told Live Science that the outbreak could keep growing for sometime, although cases would likely be restricted to certain areas. "I would expect that this outbreak is going to get bigger before it comes under control," said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore. [27 Devastating Infectious Diseases] The U.S. as a whole has fairly high vaccination rates against measles, and the vaccine is very effective at preventing the disease. But "there are pockets that have lower than required [vaccination rates] to keep measles at bay," Adalja told Live Science. It's in these areas where there's potential for a lot of measles spread. Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency-medicine physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, agreed that the outbreak "has the potential to escalate" if vaccination coverage isn't adequate in certain areas. Measles is one of the most contagious infectious diseases out there, so if someone is unvaccinated, the "virus is likely to find them," Adalja said. Adalja also noted that there are babies being born all the time, who usually can't be vaccinated until they are about 1 year old. "There's always going to be fresh victims for this virus to find," he said. (Health officials in NYC are recommending that babies as young as 6 months in affected areas get the measles vaccine, Buzzfeed News reported.) And if infected individuals travel to other areas that also have low vaccination rates, they could "seed" outbreaks in those areas, too. Still, high vaccination rates in other areas serve as a kind of "wall" to prevent the virus from spreading to those areas, Adalja said. But since there's always a small percentage of the population that can't be vaccinated (including young infants), "the wall is never going to be complete," he said. The key to preventing measles outbreaks is adequate vaccination rates. "Vaccines are critical because they can reduce the frequency of outbreaks of disease and therefore can save lives," Glatter told Live Science. And "because measles is so transmissible, in order to prevent this kind of spread, you have to have very high levels of vaccine [coverage] well over 90%," said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease and preventive medicine specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Yesterday (April 9), New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that unvaccinated people living in certain ZIP codes in Brooklyn will be required to be vaccinated if they may have been exposed to measles. Under the mandatory vaccination order, officials will check the vaccination records of anyone who may have been in contact with a person infected with measles, according to a statement from the DOHMH. People who haven't received the measles vaccine or don't have evidence of immunity could be fined up to $1,000. This follows an order in Rockland County that barred unvaccinated children from public spaces for 30 days. (However, a New York judge recently ruled against the order.) These efforts not only aim to stop the outbreak, but also to protect unvaccinated kids from getting sick themselves, Schaffner told Live Science. "We need to remember the second [reason] as well as the first," he added. As of Monday (April 8), there have been 285 cases of measles in Brooklyn and Queens since October, DOHMH said. Most of these cases (more than 85%) have been in children under age 18. No deaths have occurred, but 21 people have been hospitalized, including five who required admission to the intensive-care unit. Although measles is sometimes seen as a relatively benign illness, that's not the case, Adalja said. The disease can cause serious complications: About 1 in 4 people who get measles need to be hospitalized, 1 in 20 get pneumonia, 1 in 1,000 develop brain swelling that may lead to brain damage, and about 1 or 2 people out of 1,000 die from the illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Originally published on Live Science. Study researchers Beau Duke Carroll and Julie Reed examine Manitou Cave in Alabama, whose walls bear Cherokee syllabary that's has nearly 200 years old. Nearly 200 years ago, Cherokee gathered inside a cave in Alabama and, using their newly minted alphabet, wrote ceremonial messages onto the walls and ceiling, a new study finds. The writings included accounts of Cherokee ancestors and stickball, the predecessor of lacrosse. Some of the religious messages were written backward, possibly so that spirits in this cave which the Cherokee might have viewed as a portal to the spirit world could read them, the researchers said. Modern researchers have known about these writings since explorers found the markings in Manitou Cave in 2006, but now a group of archaeologists, including those from the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes, have worked together to translate the messages. [10 Things We Learned About the First Americans in 2018] It's rare to discover historical cave writings in a tribe's own alphabet, said the study's lead archaeologist, Jan Simek, distinguished professor of anthropology and president emeritus at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. "Here, we had Native American use of caves and Native American decoration of the walls of caves, but [in writing] that we could read," Simek told Live Science. "We could hear in their own voice what they were doing." The messages are written in Cherokee syllabary, (a syllabary is a set of written characters that represents syllables in a spoken language), a writing system for the Cherokee language that a Cherokee man named Sequoyah invented in the early 1800s. At the time, Sequoyah lived in Willstown (now Fort Payne, Alabama), a large refugee community of Cherokees who had fled their farming and hunting homeland that straddled the Appalachian Mountains in parts of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee after Euro-Americans began taking over that region, Simek said. This handwritten Cherokee syllabary was penned by Sequoyah himself. (Image credit: Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Okla.; reproduced with permission; Antiquity Publications Ltd.) Sequoyah's syllabary was so successful that the Cherokee adopted it as their writing system in 1825, and it became widely used, the researchers said. Even so, it was a surprise to find the writing in Manitou Cave, with some of the markings discovered about 1 mile (1.5 kilometers) from the cave's mouth. Around the time Sequoyah developed this alphabet, the Cherokee were facing untold pressures from the U.S. government, which forcibly relocated them from their native lands in the Southeast during the Trail of Tears in the 1830s, said study lead researcher Beau Carroll, an archaeologist for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians' Tribal Historic Preservation Office. During these tumultuous times, Manitou Cave likely took on a new, spiritual significance. "It was like [the Cherokee] were looking for places to go where they could continue to practice their traditional ways without interference," Carroll told Live Science. Cherokee messages In one inscription, translated by the Cherokee archaeologists with help from others in the tribe, the Cherokee wrote about a ritual stickball event that happened in 1828. A translation reads, "the leaders of the stickball team on the 30th day in their month April 1828," while another nearby message says, "we who are those that have blood come out of their nose and mouth." The "their" in the first sentence likely refers to Euro-Americans, who used month names, the researchers said. The other line refers to injuries sustained during the Cherokee version of lacrosse, a complex and ceremonial game that could last days. Before each game, stickball players would undergo a ritual with sacred water. It appears that the players used the subterranean waters in the cave for this cleansing ritual, the archaeologists said. A section of the Cherokee syllabary, which was found about almost 1 mile (1.5 kilometers) inside Manitou Cave in Alabama. (Image credit: A. Cressler; Antiquity Publications Ltd.) Another series of messages, scrawled onto the ceiling near the cave's entrance, are written backward and are religious in nature. Because the Cherokee still consider these writings to the spiritual world to be sacred, the archaeologists decided not to provide the translations in the study, out of respect for the Cherokee people, Simek said. However, the researchers did say that it's possible these lines were written backward so that they would be legible to supernatural beings and the Cherokees' departed ancestors. The cave also has the signatures of Cherokee ceremonial leaders, including Richard Guess, one of Sequoyah's children, who wrote "I am a respectable man of authority," in one of the messages. The study was published online today (April 10) in the journal Antiquity. Originally published on Live Science. It took eight telescopes and more than 200 astronomers to produce an astonishing, never-before-seen image of a distant black hole. Orange you glad you've just seen the first-ever image of a black hole? Today (April 10), a global collaboration of more than 200 astronomers presented the first image of a directly-observed black hole. The picture of a glowing orange-yellow ring around a dark core, was compiled from observations by eight ground-based radio telescopes known collectively as the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). Researchers' data showed the black hole at the heart of Messier 87 (M87), a galaxy within the Virgo cluster located about 55 million light-years from Earth. But what exactly is the image showing, and why is the irregular ring orange? [IT'S HERE: The First-Ever Close-Up of a Black Hole] Though black holes are compact objects, they are exceptionally massive the mass of M87's black hole is about 6.5 billion times that of our sun, the National Science Foundation (NSF) said in a statement. Because of this enormous mass, black holes warp spacetime, heating the dust and gas around them to extreme temperatures, according to NSF. By definition, black holes are invisible, because no light escapes from them. But a prediction made by Albert Einstein in his theory of general relativity stated that under certain circumstances, an outline of a black hole and its light-swallowing event horizon could be seen, according to representatives of the Haystack Observatory at MIT, which houses one of the EHT telescopes. "If immersed in a bright region, like a disc of glowing gas, we expect a black hole to create a dark region similar to a shadow," EHT Science Council chair Heino Falcke, a professor of radio astronomy and astroparticle physics at Radboud University in the Netherlands, said in the NSF statement. This is the first-ever image of a black hole. (Image credit: NSF) The black hole in M87 isn't the closest to Earth, but it's among the biggest, which made it a very promising target for the EHT, Derek Fox, an associate professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Penn State University, told Live Science (Fox was not affiliated with the EHT discovery). In the image, the dark circle represents the "shadow" of the black hole and its boundary, created by the glowing material that surrounds it. However, the colors of the bright ring in the image aren't the actual hues of the gas; rather, they represent a color map chosen by EHT researchers to depict the brightness of the emissions, Fox explained. "The yellow is the most intense emission, the red is less intense, and then black is little or no emission at all," Fox said. In the optical range, the ring around the black hole would likely appear white, perhaps tinged with blue or red, according to Fox. "I'd expect it to be more of a whitish glow that is brighter along the crescent, dimmer at the other points, and then black where the black hole is casting its shadow," he said. Originally published on Live Science. On the left, an image taken using the CHANDRA X-Ray Telescope at the same time as the Event Horizons Telescope made its picture shows a relatavistic jet crossing the Virga A galaxy. On the right is the image of the black hole shadow from the Event Horizons Telescope. An international network of radio telescopes has produced the first-ever close-up image of a black hole's shadow, which scientists revealed this morning (April 10). The collaboration, called the Event Horizon Telescope, confirmed decades of predictions of how light would behave around these dark objects, and set the stage for a new era of black hole astronomy. "From a scale of zero to amazing, it was amazing," said Erin Bonning, an astrophysicist and black hole researcher at Emory University who was not involved in the imaging effort. "That said, it was what I expected," she told Live Science. The announcement, teased for about a week and a half in advance, managed to be both incredibly exciting and almost completely devoid of surprising details or new physics. Physics didn't break down. No unexpected features of black holes were revealed. The image itself was almost a perfect match for illustrations of black holes we're used to seeing in science and pop culture. The big difference is that it's a whole lot blurrier. [9 Weird Facts About Black Holes] There were several important questions related to black holes that remained unresolved, however, Bonning said. How do black holes produce their enormous jets of hot, fast matter? All supermassive black holes have the ability to chew up nearby matter, absorb most of it past their event horizons, and spit the remainder out into space at near light speed in blazing towers astrophysicists call "relativistic jets." And the black hole at the center of Virgo A (also called Messier 87) is notorious for its impressive jets, spewing matter and radiation all over space. Its relativistic jets are so huge that they can fully escape the surrounding galaxy. A 1998 Hubble image shows the relatavistic jet escaping Virgo A. (Image credit: J. A. Biretta et al., Hubble Heritage Team (STScI /AURA), NASA) And physicists know the broad strokes of how this happens: The material accelerates to extreme speeds as it falls into the black hole's gravity well, then some of it escapes while retaining that inertia. But scientists disagree about the details of how this happens. This image and the associated papers don't yet offer any details. Figuring that out, Bonning said, will be a matter of linking up Event Horizons Telescope observations which cover a fairly small amount of space with the much bigger images of relativistic jets. While physicists don't yet have answers, she said, there's a good chance that they'll come soon especially once the collaboration produces images of its second target: the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* at the center of our own galaxy, which doesn't produce jets like Virgo A's. Comparing the two images, she said, might offer some clarity. How do general relativity and quantum mechanics fit together? Whenever physicists get together to talk about a really exciting new discovery, you can expect to hear someone suggest that it might help explain "quantum gravity." That's because quantum gravity is the great unknown in physics. For about a century, physicists have worked using two different sets of rules: General relativity, which covers very big things like gravity, and quantum mechanics, which covers very small things. The problem is, those two rulebooks directly contradict one another. Quantum mechanics can't explain gravity, and relativity can't explain quantum behavior. Someday, physicists hope to link the two together in a grand unified theory, likely involving some sort of quantum gravity. And before the announcement today, there was speculation that it might include some breakthrough on the subject. (If general relativity's predictions hadn't been borne out in the image, that would have moved the ball forward.) During a news briefing from the National Science Foundation, Avery Broderick, a physicist at the University of Waterloo in Canada, and a collaborator on the project, suggested those sorts of answers might be coming. But Bonning was skeptical of that claim. This image was entirely unsurprising from a general relativity perspective, so it offered no new physics that might close the gap between the two fields, Bonning said. Still, it's not crazy that people hope for answers from this sort of observation, she said, because the edge of a black hole's shadow brings relativistic forces into tiny, quantum-size spaces. "We would expect to see quantum gravity very, very close to the event horizon or very, very early in the early universe [when everything was packed into a tiny space]," she said. But at the still-blurry resolution of Event Horizons Telescope, she said, we aren't likely to find those sorts of effects, even with planned upgrades incoming. Were Stephen Hawking's theories as correct as Einstein's? The physicist Stephen Hawking's greatest early-career contribution to physics was the idea of "Hawking radiation" that black holes aren't actually black, but emit small amounts of radiation over time. The result was hugely important, because it showed that once a black hole stops growing, it will start to very slowly shrink from the energy loss. But the Event Horizons Telescope didn't confirm or deny this theory, Bonning said, not that anyone expected it to. Giant black holes like the one in Virgo A, she said, emit only minimal amounts of Hawking radiation compared to their overall size. While our most advanced instruments can now detect the bright lights of their event horizons, there's little chance that they will ever tease out the ultra-dim glow of a supermassive black hole's surface. Those results, she said, will likely come from the tiniest black holes theoretical, short-lived objects so small that you might enclose their whole event horizon in your hand. With the opportunity for up-close observations, and much more radiation available compared to their overall size, humans might eventually figure out how to produce or find one and detect its radiation. So what did we actually learn from this image? First, physicists learned that Einstein was right, once again. The edge of the shadow, as far as the Event Horizons Telescope can see, is a perfect circle, just as physicists in the 20th century working with Einstein's equations of general relativity predicted. "I don't think anyone should be surprised when yet another test of general relativity passes," Bonning said. "If they had walked on stage and said that general relativity had broken, I would have fallen off my chair." The result with more immediate, practical implications, she said, was that the image enabled scientists to precisely measure the mass of this supermassive black hole, which sits 55 million light-years away at the heart of the Virgo A galaxy. It's 6.5 billion times more massive than our sun. That's a big deal, Bonning said, because it could change the way physicists weigh the supermassive black holes at the hearts of other, more distant or smaller galaxies. Right now, physicists have a pretty precise measurement of the mass of the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way, Bonning said, because they can watch how its gravity moves individual stars in its neighborhood. See more But in other galaxies, our telescopes can't see the movements of individual stars, she said. So physicists are stuck with rougher measurements: How the black hole's mass influences light coming from different layers of stars in the galaxy, or how its mass influences light coming from different layers of free-floating gas in the galaxy. But those calculations are imperfect, she said. "You have to model a very complex system," she said. And the two methods end up producing somewhat different results in every galaxy physicists observe. But at least for the black hole in Virgo A, we now know that one method is correct. "Our determination of 6.5 billion solar masses ends up landing right on top of the heavier mass determination from [the light coming from stars]," Sera Markoff, an astrophysicist from the University of Amsterdam and a collaborator on the project said in the news briefing. That doesn't mean that physicists will just move wholesale to that approach for measuring black hole masses, Bonning said. But it does offer an important data point for refining future calculations. Originally published on Live Science. The ancient bones and teeth of a previously unknown human relative one that was even smaller than the so-called Hobbit have been discovered deep in a cave on an island in the Philippines. The newfound species is named Homo luzonensis in honor of Luzon, the island where the mysterious beings lived during the late Pleistocene epoch, more than 50,000 years ago. At less than 4 feet (1.2 meters) tall, H. luzonensis is the second known dwarf human on record, the first being Homo floresiensis, also known as the Hobbit, whose remains were found on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2004. But though H. luzonensis is short like the hobbit, it shares features with a number of other ancient human relatives; it has curved foot and finger bones like Australopithecus (a genus that includes the famous Lucy); premolars that have characteristics similar to those seen in Australopithecus, Homo habilis and Homo erectus; and small molars that look like those of modern humans, or Homo sapiens. [See Photos of the Newfound Ancient Human Relative Discovered in Philippines] "These fossil elements show a combination of morphological [structural] features which [are] not seen in other species of the genus Homo, thus indicating a new species, which we named Homo luzonensis," study lead researcher Florent Detroit, a paleoanthropologist at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, said in a statement the museum provided to reporters. It took years to find the H. luzonensis remains. After scientists found a 67,000-year-old metatarsal, or toe bone, in Luzon's Callao Cave in 2007, they scheduled follow-up excavations in 2011 and 2015. In total, they uncovered 13 fossil bones and teeth that belonged to at least two adults and one child, including two hand bones, three foot bones, a thigh bone and seven teeth. One of these fossils dated to 50,000 years ago, indicating that H. luzonensis lived at the same time as other human lineages, including H. sapiens, Neanderthals, Denisovans and H. floresiensis, according to the study, which was published online today (April 10) in the journal Nature. Some of the right upper teeth from one Homo luzonensis individual. From left to right: two premolars and three molars. (Image credit: Copyright Callao Cave Archaeology Project) What did it look like? It's difficult to say what H. luzonensis looked like "because it is very difficult to tell from the elements we have," Detroit said. Given that the teeth are very small even smaller than those of H. floresiensis it's likely that the newfound species was small bodied, he said. Moreover, the curved toe and finger bones suggest that H. luzonensis was adept at climbing trees as well as walking upright on the ground. [Image Gallery: A Real-Life Hobbit (Homo Floresiensis)] Granted, the genus Homo became a strict bipedalist (meaning it walked on two feet) about 2 million years ago, so "we are certainly not pretending that H. luzonensis was 'back to the trees,'" Detroit said. Rather, it's possible that this feature arose because H. luzonensis lived on an isolated island, he said. "But it is then a very interesting question to address," Detroit said. "If they were strict bipedal like all members of the genus Homo, did such primitive features influence [or] change their bipedal gait or not? But it is still too early to answer, we need to work on that." The proximal foot phalanx of Homo luzonensis. Notice the longitudinal curvature of the bone, which suggests that this species was adapted to climb trees. (Image credit: Copyright Callao Cave Archaeology Project) Countless other mysteries are left unresolved, including where H. luzonensis fits into the human family tree and how these little human relatives reached Luzon, which has been an island (no land bridge) for at least 2.6 million years. [Image Gallery: A Real-Life Hobbit | Homo Floresiensis] Evidence of ancient animal butchery on Luzon dating to 700,000 years ago suggests that "some sort of Asian Homo erectus (maybe from China) successfully crossed the sea and settled on Luzon Island, where they subsequently underwent the effects of 'insular endemism,' which resulted into H. luzonensis," Detroit said. "But this is very speculative, I might be wrong on one (or several) aspects of this simple scenario. We will work on this in the future." Detroit noted that the scientists were unable to extract any DNA from the bones, in part because the wet and warm climate of the Philippines doesn't help preserve genetic material. However, it's possible that proteins could be extracted from the remains, and those could shed light on the family tree question, the researchers said. If anything, this previously unknown species shows the evolutionary complexity of hominins bipedal primates that have increased brain size, which includes humans, our ancestors and our close evolutionary cousins, Detroit said. Outside thoughts The study reports on a "remarkable discovery" that will "no doubt ignite plenty of scientific debate over the coming weeks, months and years," Matthew Tocheri, Canada Research Chair in Human Origins and an associate professor of anthropology at Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada, who wasn't involved in the study, wrote in an accompanying perspective in the journal Nature. For instance, anthropologists are always skeptical of newly discovered species that are based on just a few fossil specimens. But while the sample of remains of H. luzonensis "is not great," the authors of the new study present a compelling case that the dwarf is a new species, Huw Groucutt, group leader of the extreme events research group at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, told Live Science in an email. These findings show that the "study of human evolution has been based far too much on a few small and unusual areas (like Europe and South Africa)," Groucutt said. "This finding shows how many surprises remain. And how human evolution has led to all of these diverse forms of hominin." Originally published on Live Science. Various freight and logistics organisations have been active in supporting deliver aid supplies to Mozambique and neighbouring countries following the devastating tropical cyclone there last month. Deutsche Post DHL Groups Disaster Response Team (DRT) was among the first to provide humanitarian logistics support after cyclone Idai made landfall in Mozambique and neighbouring countries Zimbabwe and Malawi. A series of storm surges and massive flooding followed, causing further widespread damage and destruction. In Mozambique, hundreds of thousands of people were made homeless, and extensive damage to infrastructure such as communications systems, electricity supply and roads has made it extremely difficult to provide humanitarian help and logistics, the (DRT) said, which has been providing assistance at the local airport in Beira. As many as three million people have been in need of humanitarian assistance This first DRT deployment to Africa has been headed by Chris Weeks, director for humanitarian affairs at Deutsche Post DHL Group, who arrived just days after the disaster struck, accompanied by a team of DHL volunteers from the United Arab Emirates, Mozambique and South Africa. The DRT has been cooperating closely with national and international humanitarian aid organizations, and with the responsible airport personnel to provide logistical support in the form of coordination of relief supplies. He said the airport in Beira was one of the few places in the city that was dry and had functioning infrastructure in the first days after the cyclone, with the airport able to receive most of the incoming aid such as water, food, tents, fuel, medical supplies and technical equipment. These are sorted and distributed in Beira as well as in rural areas and other places affected by the cyclone. Weeks said: As logistics specialists with vast experience in disaster management, our skills and expertise can help save lives. We help airport personnel to process relief supplies quickly so that they reach the victims of the cyclone in the fastest possible time. As typically happens in such a major catastrophe, the initial damage and destruction leads to follow-on effects over the next few days such as outbreaks of diseases that increase the need for medical supplies, Weeks said. In Mozambiques case, among the secondary problems has been cholera, with some warning that hunger could be the third because the floodwaters that made a large part of central Mozambique a vast inland sea are draining, laying bare a severe lack of food for the months ahead. Air Charter Service is among other logistics firms that have been supporting the relief efforts. Over the past couple of weeks, the leading aircraft charter specialist has chartered aircraft to fly a total of almost 500 tonnes of humanitarian aid, as well as almost 100 doctors, into disaster-struck Mozambique so far. With Cyclone Idai leaving at least 700 people dead and three million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, Air Charter Service said it has worked tirelessly since then in conjunction with various aid agencies and governments, flying in a variety of cargo, including cholera vaccines, water treatments, mosquito nets and tarpaulins. Dan Morgan-Evans, group director of cargo at ACS, said: We even had one flight that was transporting an entire field hospital to the region, including X-ray machines and 4x4 vehicles. In total, so far we have chartered aircraft for just over 480 tonnes of equipment, on a variety of aircraft, ranging from Antonov 12s and Ilyushin 76s, to Boeing 747-400s and Boeing 777s, with more to come in the next few days. Our offices in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa have all been involved in the relief effort. As well as the huge amount of cargo, we also had a Boeing 737 transporting 80 doctors to Beira in Mozambique over the weekend. UPS said the UPS Foundation had also been coordinating with United Nations partners to speed food and supplies to impacted communities in Mozambique and Malawi, noting: Collaborations between The UPS Foundation and leading humanitarian relief organisations are bringing urgent relief by land, sea and air. As flood waters slowly recede, UPS and the UPS Foundation continue to engage in close collaborations with the UN Logistics Cluster and relief organisations including The World Food Programme, UNICEF, UNHCR, CARE and MedShare. Eduardo Martinez, president of the UPS Foundation and UPS chief diversity and inclusion officer, commented: The situation is heartwrenching, and the need for help is urgent. The collaboration with our United Nations and disaster relief network partners is allowing us to address immediate needs for food and shelter, and to bring supplies that will be critical during the recovery period. UPS said its multi-modal relief strategy has included: Coordination with United Nations partners on four flights landing on the east coast of Africa to bring food and supplies. Two flight rotations into Beira, Mozambique on behalf of UNICEF to bring ready-to-eat meals that will provide essential nutrition to more than 7,000 people. Collaboration with The World Food Programme on the airlift of two SHERP amphibious transport vehicles from the Ukraine to Beira, Mozambique, to deliver food and supplies to isolated communities where roads are impassable or no longer exist. Coordination with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to transport more than 190,000 lbs. (more than 86,000 kg) of core relief items, including tarps, buckets, solar lamps, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, food preparation equipment and blankets, to Lilongua, Malawi. Transport of 168,000 water purification sachets to Malawi, in addition to the activation of $25,000 of the advanced relief funding provided to CARE by The UPS Foundation. The funds will be used to purchase tarps and blankets which are being transported to Beira via ocean transport. In collaboration with MedShare, UPS is also preparing to transport an ocean container of medical supplies that will help more than 12,000 people in Malawi. In collaboration with the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN), UPS has also transported 15 pallets of cholera and typhoid treatment kits which will help prevent the outbreak of water-borne illnesses in Mozambique, an increasing threat as waters recede. UPS said the relief efforts and collaborations in Africa were just the latest in UPSs history of supporting communities in times of need. In 2018, UPS and The UPS Foundation responded to 29 major world disasters and invested $16 million in funding, in-kind, and technical support for community safety initiatives that included disaster preparedness and urgent response, recovery and public health system strengthening, spanning 71 countries across continents around the globe. Deutsche Post DHL Groups Disaster Response Teams are part of the groups GoHelp disaster management programme, which it has operated in partnership with the United Nations (UN) since 2005. Through this partnership, the group provides the UN and national disaster management agencies with pro bono access to its core logistics expertise, and the logistics skills of more than 500 specially-trained employee volunteers worldwide who can deploy within 72 hours after a natural disaster. Since the partnership was launched, the DRTs have completed more than 40 deployments for different natural disasters in over 20 countries most recently the team helped the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Palu, Indonesia in October 2018. In addition to the DRT deployments, the Group's Get Airports Ready for Disaster (GARD) initiative also part of the GoHelp program trains airport management in high-risk regions to be better prepared should disaster strike. Inland terminal at Vientiane Logistics Park expected to become a major road and rail freight hub along the economic corridor between China and Thailand Kerry Logistics subsidiary KLN (Singapore) and Laoss Sitthi Logistics have agreed to establish a joint venture to develop a dry port in the Vientiane Logistics Park in Laos that is expected to become a major road and rail freight hub along the economic corridor between China and Thailand. The move is part of Kerry Logistics development strategy to seek accelerated growth within the ASEAN region by developing an integrated Greater Mekong Region platform covering Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos. The inland port will be situated in an area of approximately 35 hectares, to be developed in phases for the transfer of cargo at Vientiane, which connects the railway lines between China and Thailand from Kunming to Bangkok. An efficient dry port is not only expected to help attract investment to Vientiane and its surrounding areas, but also turn the city into a major economic hub along the Belt and Road trade routes, the Asian logistics specialist said. George Yeo, chairman of Kerry Logistics, said: We are proud to play a role in the development of Laos and what will become an important economic corridor between China and southeast Asia. We are fortunate to have, in Sitthi Logistics, a strong local partner. Together with Sitthi Logistics, we will work hard to make the dry port project a success and an asset to the Laotian economy. Kerry Logistics will provide management expertise, while Sitthi Logistics will provide local support. The facilities are intended to allow the logistics industry to transport goods by road and rail and create an efficient logistics system to accommodate a range of industries and facilitate distribution along the economic corridor between China and Thailand, Kerry said. To enable the Laotian economy to benefit from the Kunming-Bangkok rail and to fully utilise the plentiful resources and labour in Laos, the Lao government is introducing economic incentives and conducive regulations for the building of an efficient logistics centre in Vientiane, the company highlighted. Kerry Logistics in 2018 completed the first phase of developing the inland port in Mandalay in northern Myanmar and the inland port in Myanmars capital Yangon. With stronger growth anticipated to persist in Asia, particularly in Southeast Asia and India, Kerry Logistics will continue to leverage its established network in Asia to take advantage of the booming intra-Asia trade and maintain its business growth in Asia,the company said. Fiestas two big street parades take center stage for the annual partys second weekend. From the pageantry of princesses in royal gowns to goofy dogs in silly hats, parade-watching opportunities abound. Here is a round-up. While viewers can bring a lawn chair or scope out good standing vantage points for most parades, tickets guarantee a stellar view. In addition to the websites listed below, find parade ticket information at fiestasanantonio.org. Texas Cavaliers River Parade More than 250,000 spectators line the San Antonio River Walk each year for the floating extravaganza that is the Texas Cavaliers River Parade. More than 50 elaborately decorated floats sponsored by local community organizations and military installations will carry bands, dancers and local celebrities down the river from 7 to 9 p.m. April 22. RELATED: You're a Fiesta veteran, but do you know these 14 interesting Fiesta facts? Put on by the Texas Cavaliers, a group of 600 business, civic and community leaders, the parade raises funds for San Antonio childrens charities. Admission costs $14-$45 at texascavaliers.org. Battle of Flowers Parade The second-largest day parade in the nation, Battle of Flowers began in 1891 and is produced by primarily female volunteers, helping nonprofit groups raise money through the sale of more than 45,000 parade seats. The fun starts at 9:30 a.m. and ends at 2:30 p.m April 26. Expect to hear that timeless refrain, Show me your shoes, as royals don floats in elaborate attire and show off their flashy or comfy footwear along the route. Tickets can be purchased at etix.com. King William Parade Funkier and more homespun, the King William Parade, held in the historic King William neighborhood, starts at 9 a.m. April 27 and kicks off the King William Fair, a Fiesta favorite. The parade route, about 1 miles long, starts at the corner of Eagleland and E. Guenther streets. RELATED: New, or relatively new, Fiesta events to try in 2019 More than 30,000 visitors attend the day-long, family-oriented fair, replete with food, music and crafts for sale. Adult admission costs $15; ages 12 and younger, free. Go to kwfair.org. Fiesta Pooch Parade This parade of costumed canines takes place from 7:45 to 11 a.m. April 27, starting at Alamo Heights Swimming Pool, 250 Viesca. The costume contest starts at 8:15 a.m.; dogs and their humans must be registered for the parade to enter the contest. The 2.6-mile walk through the tree-lined neighborhood starts after the costume contest at around 9:15 a.m. The event is a fundraiser for Therapy Animals of San Antonio. Advance registration costs $25 for individuals and $30 for families. For more information, go to therapyanimalssa.org. Fiesta Flambeau Parade Americas largest illuminated night parade and the crowning event of Fiesta takes place from 7 to 10 p.m. April 27. The parade features San Antonio, out-of-town and out-of-state bands, as well as dance groups, marching units, equestrian units and floats. Each year the parade is viewed by some 700,000 people on the streets of downtown and another 1.5 million on TV. For tickets go to fiestaflambeauparade.org. Staff writer Polly Anna Rocha contributed to this report. Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje is a general assignment reporter covering breaking news, cultural trends and interesting people and goings-on around San Antonio and Bexar County, as well as all across South Texas. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | mstoeltje@express-news.net | Twitter: @mstoeltje A tiny Laredoan with a big impact has tragically passed away after a courageous battle with cancer. In December, the Laredo Morning Times wrote a story about Bella Sanchez, a two-year-old patient with leukemia who was the inspiration behind a holiday blood drive. According to the family-ran Facebook account for Bella, she passed away on Tuesday. "The gates of Heaven have been opened and Jesus our Lord and Savior has come for me. He has done His will. It's not a goodbye, but a see you later," a post read. Attached was the hashtag "Bella Strong." READ ALSO: GoFundMe account created for Laredo club bouncer airlifted to San Antonio More than 25,000 people follow the Facebook page that documented Bella's journey through cancer. Bella was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 7 months old. But despite the hardships the toddler faced, Bella continued to wear a smile, her father Ray Sanchez told LMTonline.com in December. "When she got diagnosed, it was a surprise for a little happy girl like her to be fighting for her life," Sanchez said. A GoFundMe account has been created to help with Bella's funeral expenses. In less than one hour, more than 50 percent of the goal had been met, totaling in at over $6,000. JeriLynn Thorpe is a digital reporter for the Laredo Morning Times. Read more of her stories on LMTonline.com | jerilynn.thorpe@lmtonline.com Priscilla "La Gordiloca" Villarreal has filed a lawsuit in a Laredo federal court against several city and county officials, claiming they violated her constitutional rights, retaliated against her and wrongfully arrested her over a year ago. In December 2017, Laredo police charged Villarreal with two counts of misuse of information, a felony, after she published on Facebook the names of victims in a suicide and vehicle crash. Police said in the arrest affidavit that Villarreal benefited by receiving more Facebook followers after she published the names online before they released them publicly. LPD said she received the information she published from one of their officers. READ ALSO: Photos: 'La Gordiloca' celebrates her birthday with locals and cumbia In March 2018, 111th District Court Judge Monica Zapata Notzon ruled that the Texas law that was used to charge Villarreal was vague and unconstitutional since it denied her due process. Defendants named in the lawsuit filed by Villarreal include the City of Laredo, Webb County, Webb County District Attorney Isidro "Chilo" Alaniz, Chief Assistant District Attorney Marisela Jacaman, LPD Chief Claudio Trevino Jr. and LPD officers Juan L. Ruiz, Deyanira Villarreal, Enedina Martinez, Alfredo Guerrero and Laura Montemayor. Spokespeople for the City of Laredo and Webb County said Tuesday that they had not yet been served with the lawsuit. They also said they do not comment on pending litigation. According to her petition, the defendants retaliated against, punished and intimidated Villarreal in response to her citizen journalism. They arrested and detained her without probable cause and under a statute that "no reasonable government official would apply or otherwise rely upon under the circumstances," the lawsuit states. "Villarreal did not receive or solicit information with 'intent to obtain' a benefit. Any reasonable official would have understood there was no economic gain or advantage tied to her gathering and publication of the information in the Targeted Publications on her Facebook page," the petition says. "Any reasonable official would have understood that publishing truthful information for wider distribution is protected First Amendment activity and not subject to criminal penalty." The lawsuit added that LPD, the District Attorney's Office and the Webb County Sheriff's Office had never previously arrested, detained or prosecuted a person for misuse of information. "Yet (they) ... proceeded to manufacture an arrest warrant against Villarreal for a violation of the statute," according to the lawsuit. "Defendant Ruiz, under the supervision and direction of Defendants Trevino, Alaniz, and Jacaman, willingly provided statements in support of two criminal complaints and arrest warrants." Villarreal claims in the lawsuit that after she turned herself into police, she was "surrounded by numerous LPD officers and employees, who were laughing at Villarreal, taking pictures of her in handcuffs with their cellphones, and otherwise showing their animus toward Villarreal with an intent to humiliate and embarrass her." RELATED: 'La Gordiloca' speaks out after charges dismissed According to the lawsuit, the defendant's have caused Villarreal to suffer damages to her reputation, wrongful incarceration, legal and other costs and fear of further retaliation. "Defendants' acts have caused Villarreal to suffer further injuries, including financial hardship, physical and mental anguish, emotional distress, humiliation and public embarrassment," the lawsuit states. Through the lawsuit, Villarreal is seeking an entry of judgment holding the defendants liable to their alleged unlawful conduct; actual, compensatory and punitive damages; injunctive relief; declaratory judgment; and attorney fees. Austin attorney JT Morris and Laredo lawyer Joey Tellez are representing Villarreal in the case. On this date in ... 1919: It was announced that President Woodrow Wilson would soon be able to hold wireless conversations with members of his cabinet in Washington D.C. while sailing back from Brest, France, aboard the ocean liner George Washington. Previously, only one-way communication was available. What was not widely known was that this new capability was possible due to the installation of a transmitter connected to the wireless telephone receiving station on the ship invented by Dr. E.F.W. Alexanderson at the General Electric Company in Schenectady. 1969: As Troy faced growing piles of refuse in the streets, the State Pure Waters Authority appeared unable to solve the solid waste crisis in the city. Disgruntled storeowners piled trash at the curbside advertising their plight and the scene was the same elsewhere in the city. The Waste Management Services of the Authority had given the city "a firm recommendation" but the city council rejected legislation which would have cleared the way toward establishing a landfill. 1994: Faced with a dramatic drop in the number of parish priests, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard initiated a pastoral planning process that called upon all Catholics to share in the ministry of their churches. Hubbard addressed the diocese's 200 parishes in a letter that outlined the two-year plan. The pastoral plan followed recent projections of a steep decline in the number of Capital Region priests, a trend that followed a similar pattern nationwide. In the "Diocesan Data Book," the diocese predicted that only 105 priests would be available for parish work by the year 2007, considerably less than the 204 the diocese had in 1993. Want to read more about the Capital Region's past? Have any memories or thoughts about how our history relates to today's events? See http://blog.timesunion.com/history/. A woman assaulted her common-law husband when he did not respond after she asked him if she was pretty, according Laredo police. Laredo police officers were dispatched to an assault report at about 11:10 p.m. Tuesday in the 6400 block of Casa Del Sol Boulevard. Officers arrived and met with a woman identified as Lizeth Guadalupe Ramirez, 20. A man has been arrested for breaking into a building and threatening the owner, authorities said. Eliud Batres, 20, was arrested Monday and charged with burglary of a building, terroristic threat and possession of marijuana. He was released on bond the next day, custody records show. A man has been arrested in connection with the shooting death of a decorated Texas Army National Guard soldier that took place at a west Laredo apartment complex, authorities said. Laredo police said that Gilberto Guadalupe Villarreal, 23, is accused of fatally shooting John Lydell Tyler, 28. Tyler, of Beaumont, was a member of the Texas Army National Guard. Villarreal was charged with murder after being served with an arrest warrant on Tuesday. He remained behind at the Webb County Jail on a $250,000 bond, Webb County Jail records show. Authorities said the case remains open. READ MORE: Fatal shooting victim at west Laredo apartment was Texas National Guard soldier "LPD Homicide Detectives worked diligently on this investigation. There was sufficient evidentiary findings to meet the requirements for the murder charge for Villarreal," said Investigator Joe E. Baeza, LPD spokesman. Police officers were dispatched to the shooting at about 5:20 a.m. March 31 at an apartment complex in the 4300 block of Santa Maria Avenue. First responders found Tyler with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. He was alert and oriented, according to the Laredo Fire Department. EMS crews administered advanced life support and took to Laredo Medical Center, where he later died, according to police. READ ALSO: Laredo's 'La Gordiloca' announces lawsuit against city, county officials "There was some sort of encounter which led to the deadly shooting ... Detectives continue following up the investigation," Baeza said. Tyler was assigned to Operation Guardian Support in Laredo. He joined the Texas Army National Guard in November 2009, according to military officials. His service record included the following awards: National Defense, Army Service Ribbon, Humanitarian Service Medal, Texas Humanitarian Service Ribbon, Texas Homeland Defense Service Medal and the Adjutant General's Individual Award. Approximately 28 people were arrested in Brazoria County for felony driving while intoxicated charges throughout the month of March, according to records from a public information request filed by the Chronicle. In Texas, a person is charged with DWI if their blood or breath alcohol concentration (BAC) is .08 or higher, according to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT.) 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. Driving while intoxicated in Texas is usually considered a misdemeanor on the first two offenses. A person's third DWI offense results in a felony charge. Drivers charged with a third DWI charge face up to $10,000 in fines, between two to 10 years in prison and can have their license suspended. Drivers can also face an annual fee up to $2,000 for three years to retain their license, according to TxDOT. Of the 28 felony cases in March, two people were charged with DWI with a child passenger under 15 years old. Drivers that are charged with DWI with a child passenger can face fines up to $10,000, up to two years in prison and loss of their drivers license for 180 days, according to TxDOT. According to records provided by the Brazoria County District Attorney, one of the 28 arrested, Kenneth Cameron, was previously convicted of intoxication manslaughter. See mug shots of the accused as well as their charges above... Read more about how Houston is 'ground zero' for drugged and drunken driving at our premium experience available for subscribers at HoustonChronicle.com. A Galveston-based construction firm has been awarded part of a $1 billion contract to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. The U.S. Department of Defense announced Tuesday that SLSCO Ltd., a general contracting firm based in Galveston, was awarded a $789 million firm-fixed-price contract for border replacement wall construction. SLSCO's bid was one of nine solicited for the border wall. Six bids were selected. Work on the wall will be performed in Santa Teresa, N.M., with an estimated completion date of Oct. 1, 2020. ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Trump policy of returning asylum-seekers to Mexico upends lives before judges order SLSCO is owned by Sullivan Interests, a conglomerate of companies started by brothers Todd, John and William Sullivan, who are Galveston natives. SLSCO did not respond to a request for comment. The Department of Defense contract marks the fourth time SLSCO has been contracted to do construction work on the border. In October, the company was awarded $145 million by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct six miles of President Donald Trump's proposed border wall in Hidalgo County near the McAllen-Reynosa border crossing. The October contract includes building 18-feet-tall steel bollards atop the concrete wall and developing an enforcement zone that will include detection technology, lighting, video surveillance and an all-weather patrol road parallel to the wall. The new wall contract drew scrutiny from a group of local members of a Native American tribal nation. The Galveston Daily News reported in December that the group protested outside SLSCO's offices in Galveston, expressing environmental and cultural heritage concerns about the border wall. SLSCO also has two contracts totaling $432 million with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to replace 35 miles of wall this year in Texas and California. The construction firm performs an array of contracting work, including disaster recovery efforts. Forbes reported in January that DRC Emergency Services, SLSCO's disaster recovery business, hauled out 2.8 million cubic yards of debris after Hurricane Harvey in 2017, at a cost of $40 million. Nick Powell covers Galveston County for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter and send him tips at nick.powell@chron.com (CNN) Benjamin Netanyahu was on course to secure a record fifth term as Israeli Prime Minister after his main election rival conceded defeat on Wednesday evening. After a dramatic finish to a tightly-fought race, former army chief Benny Gantz accepted that Netanyahu had won. "We are all democratic, we all accept the decision of the nation," Gantz said. With more than 97% of the vote counted, according to Israeli media, a bloc led by Netanyahu's Likud party would secure 65 seats in the 120-strong Knesset. A center-left bloc led by Gantz's Blue and White party, supported by the Arab parties, would only muster 55 seats. Likud tied with Blue and White, gaining 35 seats each. But Netanyahu's path back to power is clearer, combining seats won by two ultra-orthodox religious parties, which both polled well, with those of smaller right-wing groups. Netanyahu claimed victory Tuesday night. "The right-wing bloc led by the Likud won a clear victory. I thank the citizens of Israel for the trust. I will start forming a right-wing government with our natural partners as soon as tonight," Netanyahu said. Having all but secured his cherished fifth term, Netanyahu will become Israel's longest-serving leader in the summer, overtaking David Ben-Gurion, the country's founder. The votes of diplomats abroad and soldiers are yet to be counted. Israel's President, Reuven Rivlin, will decide who will form the next government after consultations with the heads of the political parties that secured enough seats in the Knesset. The President is likely to announce his decision in about a week. On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump congratulate on Twitter, "Spoke to Bibi @Netanyahu to congratulate him on a great and hard-fought win. The United States is with him and the People of Israel all the way!" In the final days of the campaign, Netanyahu veered sharply to the right, pledging to annex West Bank settlements if re-elected, and warning his voter base that the end of his strong right-wing government would signal the beginning of a weak left-wing government. Netanyahu fought the election in the face of looming indictments for bribery and breach of trust offenses, which he sought to portray as a witch-hunt led by left-wing elites and fed by the media. The date for a final hearing in the case is yet to be set. At first, Netanyahu faced a diverse array of opponents. But then three former army chiefs come together with a TV news anchor-turned-politician to create the Blue and White party, named after the colors of the Israeli flag. Led by Gantz, a former head of the army under Netanyahu, Blue and White's polling numbers surged, and the election quickly became a two-horse race. Netanyahu known to supporters and detractors alike as "Bibi" focused on burnishing his status as a global player with close ties to both the President of the United States and the President of Russia. In a visit to Washington made by Netanyahu during the campaign, Donald Trump signed a proclamation recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, in defiance of the overwhelming international consensus. And in the election's closing days, on a visit to Moscow, Netanyahu was able to personally thank Vladimir Putin for Russia's key role in locating the body of an Israeli soldier who had been missing in Lebanon for nearly 37 years. With his victory all but certain, attention will now turn to the corruption case. The Supreme Court will rule on whether Netanyahu can continue in office if he is charged. For his part, Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing. This story was first published on CNN.com "Netanyahu set for fifth term as Israel's leader as rival concedes defeat" Fairfax County in Virginia is considering creating a taxpayer-funded legal defense fund for immigrants caught in deportation proceedings, part of a growing effort by local governments to counter the Trump administration's crackdown on undocumented immigrants. At a budget hearing Wednesday, the county Board of Supervisors will hear testimony about a proposed $200,000 pilot program aimed at assisting low-income immigrants - both undocumented and those in the country legally - detained by federal agents. The program, which also would educate eligible immigrants in Virginia's most populous jurisdiction about their legal rights, came at the urging of advocacy groups responding to an increase in deportation cases in the county, officials said. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency in charge of removal proceedings, does not keep statistics based on local jurisdictions. But data compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearing House at Syracuse University found that about 12,000 Fairfax County residents were in deportation proceedings late last year. About a third of the county's 1.1 million residents are immigrants. "This will help some," said Supervisor John Foust, a Democrat, who co-sponsored a motion to create the legal defense fund with fellow Democrat, Supervisor Jeffrey McKay. "But, it's not the be-all, end-all, because it's not a lot of money, given the need." As the Trump administration has ramped up deportation efforts, 12 cities and counties - including Chicago and Atlanta - have steered tax money toward legal-aid programs. Under federal law, low-income people are not entitled to a public defender for immigration proceedings, because they are civil rather than criminal. Detainees can hire lawyers on their own. "This kind of work has incredible impact," said Corey Lazar, a senior program associate at the New York-based Vera Institute of Justice, which contributes money to legal defense funds created by local governments and often provides training. The institute says that having a lawyer increases a detained immigrant's chance of avoiding deportation more than tenfold. Said Lazar: "Across the nation, nearly 90 percent of detained individuals are going to court by themselves. And they're winning their cases 3 percent of the time." In the Washington region, Prince George's County in Maryland has allocated about $200,000 a year to helping undocumented immigrants with legal costs related to deportation proceedings, while much smaller Arlington County in Virginia has dedicated $100,000 toward services that include fighting deportation. Washington's budget includes $900,000 for immigrant legal assistance that - to avoid a clash with Congress - is not related to deportation proceedings. The city of Baltimore has a $200,000 legal defense fund for deportation cases. The efforts to use tax money and matching grants have caused some controversy, with some critics saying tax revenue should benefit legal residents and others noting that some of the aid programs can be used to help undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of crimes. Last year, a Montgomery County, Maryland proposal to dedicate $374,000 for legal aid was abandoned after opposition by some residents moved the Democratic county council to add a long list of restrictions on who could benefit. The Washington-based Capital Area Immigrant Rights Coalition (CAIR) - which, along with the CASA immigrant advocacy group, is behind the Fairfax proposal - backed out of the Montgomery County effort after those exclusions were made. The restrictions, "would have made representation almost impractical," said Kelly White, who oversees CAIR's adult detention program and is again trying to negotiate with Montgomery officials to steer money toward helping detained immigrants. In Fairfax, the $200,000 would be a one-time expenditure through July 2020, officials said, used by CAIR and CASA for outreach and legal work. After that, the program would be considered for more funding through the county's $13 million Consolidated Community Funding Pool, which supports a variety of programs targeting the indigent. Most Fairfax supervisors appear willing to adopt the pilot program, although Supervisor Pat Herrity - a Republican and the board's most conservative member - said he is against it. "These services compete with our ability to fund employee and teacher pay raises," Herrity said. "They compete with parks, they compete with libraries, with public safety dollars. To me, that's the real issue." McKay, who is running to replace retiring board chairman Sharon Bulova, a Democrat, in November, called the program "a social-justice issue." But, he said, the $200,000 should not be used to help people who've been convicted of serious crimes before entering a deportation proceeding. "What we're intending it for are people who are going through a deportation proceeding either unrelated to a crime that's been committed in Fairfax County or a very minor infraction," he said. McKay's three opponents in the June Democratic primary said the proposal doesn't go far enough to help undocumented immigrants. Alicia Plerhoples, a law professor at Georgetown University, said there shouldn't be restrictions on who benefits from legal representation. "When one side doesn't have a lawyer and isn't able to properly advocate for themselves, then we aren't upholding the rule of law," she said. Tim Chapman, a developer based in Reston, Virginia, argued that a broader pool of immigrant advocacy groups should be able to use the money. "The universe of people who could help that undocumented person should not be limited," he said. School board member Ryan McElveen, a Democrat, said a legal defense program for undocumented immigrants is a good step, but hardly enough after several years of the county doing little to assist undocumented immigrants. "Whoever is elected this fall is going to need to take that issue on," he said. "Because this is a growing segment of our population, and they're in need of more protection." WASHINGTON - Sen. Kamala Harris of California held a town hall meeting at Canyon Springs High School in Nevada, the site of a fatal shooting last year. Former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke carries a photo in his wallet of a victim of gun violence, and often recounts his 8-year-old's story of hiding in a closet during an active-shooter drill. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has faced questions about gun control at nearly a dozen events. The 2020 Democratic presidential candidates are embracing gun control more enthusiastically than in any other campaign in recent memory, with emotional appeals against firearm violence and pledges to stand up to the National Rifle Association. As with other issues, the change reflects the party's accelerating shift toward voters who live in cities and suburbs and are more highly educated. And it forecasts a general-election battle that could test the party's liberal surge against a deep attachment to gun culture in many parts of the country, including some areas that Democrats hope to wrest from President Donald Trump. Perhaps for that reason, the dynamic falls short of Democrats' endorsement of such broad, novel packages as the Green New Deal and Medicare-for-all. Instead, the candidates are signing onto a patchwork of individual measures such as an assault weapons ban, universal background checks and "red flag" legislation that allows police and family members to petition for the removal of guns from those deemed a threat. "If their strategy involves trying to bring back Trump voters - voters from moderate to conservative areas - you probably don't want the gun issue to get in the way," said Robert J. Spitzer, who has written several books about gun politics. "You want to talk about health care or the economy or, from Democratic perspectives, uniting issues." Still, the tone of this group of Democratic candidates is starkly different from those of years past, driven by a spate of school massacres, the resulting activism and a perceived weakening of the NRA's clout. In prior campaigns, even a candidate such as Bill Clinton, who favored gun restrictions, played up his participation in duck hunts. In 2004, Democratic nominee John F. Kerry dressed in camouflage, lugged a 12-gauge double-barreled shotgun and fired at geese. "The political calculus has changed pretty dramatically," said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control group. "Just look at other presidential campaigns, with John Kerry or Hillary Clinton. Before talking about gun safety, they would talk about their bona fides as hunters and shooters. That's just not the case anymore." In a survey of the 18 Democrats running, six own guns. O'Rourke inherited several from his great-uncle, a former sheriff's deputy and sharpshooter, but he said they're not in operating condition. Pete Buttigieg, a Navy veteran and the mayor of South Bend, Ind., owns two antique guns that he doesn't use, and Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio has a Remington 12-gauge shotgun that he won in a raffle and hasn't used (when he hunts, an aide said, he borrows a gun). Former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper owns a shotgun and a rifle, both used for bird hunting. Former Maryland congressman John Delaney also owns a firearm. Perhaps most notably, so does Harris, a former prosecutor who, unlike the other gun owners in the race, has staked out a liberal identity rather than a centrist one. Four years ago, when Republicans had a sprawling presidential field, The Washington Post found that 15 of the 17 contenders owned at least 40 guns among them. Most of the Democrats have fired a weapon in one way or another - Warren while growing up in Oklahoma; Buttigieg while serving in Afghanistan and hunting with his father-in-law; Julian Castro while visiting police training facilities as San Antonio mayor - but most did not grow up in a gun culture. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont fired a gun once while at a Boy Scout camp as a child, his campaign said, but he has never owned one. But in a significant shift, several candidates made gun control part of their campaign rollouts. Ryan's announcement video featured him wearing a black shirt saying, "We Can End Gun Violence," while Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, who announced his bid Monday, plans to make gun violence a centerpiece of his campaign. One of his first events was holding a "Town Hall to End Gun Violence" on Tuesday night in Sunrise, Florida, with Cameron Kasky, who became a gun control activist after 17 students and staff members were killed at his high school in Parkland, Florida. Gun control still trails other issues in polls of what is important to left-leaning voters, but its profile has risen. The asymmetry is less pronounced than in previous years, when the voting bloc of conservatives deeply focused on gun rights was not matched by a similar intensity on the left. Many Democrats blamed losses in the 1994 midterm election and the 2000 presidential race largely on gun issues, and for years after were wary of supporting even modest gun control measures. That began to change after the 2012 massacre of 20 students and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and shifted even further after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in February 2018, which spawned a wave of gun-control activism by teenagers. Before the 2018 midterm election, 69 percent of registered voters said gun policy was "very important" to them, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center; Democrats recaptured the House in that election. The issue ranked ahead of taxes and immigration, but behind Supreme Court appointments, health care and the economy. In individual races, gun control played a bigger role. A Democrat won the New Mexico governor's mansion in a race in which gun issues were prominent. In Nevada, Democrats won top statewide elections campaigning for universal background checks. In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer won on a platform of universal background checks, banning bump stocks, and prohibiting gun possession for those guilty of violent crimes. Rep. Lucy McBath of Georgia, who ran after her son was fatally shot, made gun control a centerpiece of her campaign, defeating a Republican incumbent in an Atlanta suburban district where Democrats hadn't won since 1979. A significant factor in the changed landscape is a perceived weakening of the NRA, which for years was considered a near-invincible political force. The group has faced accusations that Russia sought to infiltrate it to gain political influence, while figures such as former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg have spent significant sums to back gun-control candidates. A spokeswoman for the NRA did not return messages seeking comment. Other gun rights activists, however, warned that the Democrats may be overestimating the support for firearm curbs, and they say that 2020 - with the presidency at stake - will not be the same as 2018. Michael Hammond, legislative counsel for the Gun Owners of America, said gun-control activists have believed the tide was shifting their way before, only to be disappointed later. "We're in the same situation now as following Newtown, following Columbine - a lot of Sturm und Drang but no shift in the fundamental political dynamics," he said. "Guns are, in many parts of the country, an animating issue that will fundamentally make a difference if they believe - and I don't think they believed in 2018 - that their gun ownership rights are actually in danger." In a focus group of building trade union members, held in Washington on Wednesday, several local leaders said that the Democrats need to assure voters that their hunting and hobbies will be safe. "I want to hear them say, 'I'm not going to take your guns,' " said Patrick Corrigan of the Cleveland-based Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 3. "That's a big issue for my members." Democrats are betting that the atmosphere has in fact changed. When the House passed legislation last month to expand background checks, only two Democrats voted against it. Every senator running for president backs legislation that would enhance background checks. "What's striking on gun violence prevention is how much they're aligned," said Peter Ambler, executive director of Giffords, a group created by former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and her husband, Mark Kelly, after she survived a 2011 assassination attempt. "Even with all these candidates and this fragmented field, not a single candidate is pointed at some kind of libertarian approach on guns. This is not where our politics was even in 2008." More cracks could show as the candidates are pressed for specifics. Everytown for Gun Safety is preparing a candidate questionnaire that will address, for example, a proposed repeal of the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the dissemination of federal information about gun tracing. For now, the candidates are pressing ahead. Warren's campaign asked for a member of a group called Moms Demand Action to introduce her in Nevada. Numerous candidates - including Buttigieg, Harris and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey - have asked for gun control activists to attend events. Other Democrats are repudiating previous positions. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York earned an "A" rating from the NRA when she was a congresswoman representing a rural upstate district. She told Newsday in 2009 that she stored two rifles under her bed. "If I want to protect my family, if I want to have a weapon in the home, that should be my right," she said. After some noted the potential safety hazard of storing guns under the bed - she had an infant and a 5-year-old at the time - she said the ammunition was kept separate from the guns. She also announced that she had started storing the rifles elsewhere. A campaign spokeswoman said that Gillibrand no longer owns firearms, but it is unclear when or how she got rid of them. Gillibrand has also shifted her views on guns, saying she was "embarrassed" by her past positions, which changed when she became a senator. "After I got appointed, I went down to Brooklyn to meet with families who had suffered from gun violence in their communities," she told CBS's "60 Minutes" last year. "And you immediately experience the feeling that 'I couldn't have been more wrong.' You know, I only had the lens of upstate New York." Sanders, who represents a state where hunting is part of the culture, faced scrutiny during his first presidential campaign in 2016 for at times opposing gun restrictions. He has since spoken about the need to pass legislation. For the moment, the Democrats' views have largely converged. Booker has framed the debate - as Democrats depict many issues these days - as a conflict between corporations and people. "I am tired of going to funerals where parents are burying their children," Booker, who lives in downtown Newark, said at a CNN town hall event. "We are going to bring a fight like the NRA has never seen, if they're going to defend corporate gun manufacturers more than the American people." - - - Interactive graphic: Policy stands of candidates. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/policy-2020/priorities-issues/?utm_term=.1539f6c381b2 Kirstjen Nielsen's support for the Trump administration's family separation policy followed her to a Mexican restaurant, where protesters yelled "Shame!" as she finished her meal. It followed her to her home, where activists chanted into bullhorns and held signs proclaiming Nielsen a "child snatcher." Now, as the former homeland security secretary exits the Trump administration, a coalition of liberal groups is seeking to prevent her from going on to the type of lucrative private-sector job or speaking gig that many former Cabinet officials take upon leaving public service. "This is not a normal administration. This was not a normal policy. And the people who participated in that policy do not deserve normal treatment," said Karl Frisch, a spokesman for the advocacy group Restore Public Trust, which has spearheaded efforts to pressure companies not to hire Nielsen. "They have to be held accountable for what they've done. They've left thousands of families traumatized because of their negligence." A DHS spokesman declined to comment on the effort by liberal critics and on Nielsen's future. More than four-dozen top officials have left the Trump administration since the president took office in January 2017 and began a tumultuous tenure that has often colored the reputations of aides and Cabinet members. Some have emphasized their differences with Trump on the way out. Former defense secretary Jim Mattis, for instance, resigned over differences with Trump on Syria and is returning next month to his position at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. But others, such as Nielsen, have tied their fortunes to Trump - making for a sometimes rocky reentry into the private sphere. As homeland security secretary, Nielsen became the public face of Trump's broadly criticized policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. On Monday, she thanked Trump and voiced continued support for his efforts to reduce illegal immigration. "I share the president's goal of securing the border," Nielsen said in an exchange with reporters outside her home in Virginia. "I will continue to support all efforts to address the humanitarian and security crisis on the border." Even before her forced resignation, liberal groups, immigrant rights advocates and others had launched an effort to pressure companies not to hire Nielsen and more than two-dozen other Trump administration officials who were involved in implementing and defending the family separation policy. The campaign, led by Restore Public Trust, included a letter last week to Fortune 500 company CEOs as well as an ad in the New York Times with the message, "Attention corporate America: Don't let hate into your boardroom." The decision over whether to hire a former Trump administration official can create a dilemma for a university or think tank, which can benefit from an official's experiences and inside knowledge but face public backlash. Several former Trump officials have been met with resistance as they have moved from the administration to other roles. Marc Short, Trump's former legislative affairs director, and Sean Spicer, Trump's first White House press secretary, also faced public opposition when they were awarded fellowships by the University of Virginia and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, respectively. In the case of Short, who now serves as Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, two historians resigned from the Virginia center that granted him the fellowship. Mo Elleithee, executive director of the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service, declined to discuss Nielsen's specific case but said in general, universities should expose students to different viewpoints, as uncomfortable as they may be. "Whether that be a speaker or whether that be a student's right to protest a speaker, that is all part of the dialogue that is acceptable," he said. "The role of the university is to keep its students safe from harm but not safe from ideas." Cabinet secretaries typically go on to a range of pursuits after leaving government. Former DHS secretary Janet Napolitano, for instance, is the president of the University of California system. Others sit on corporate boards, open their own consulting businesses, write books or make top dollar on the public speaking circuit. Spicer said in an interview that there's "no question" there will be a market for Nielsen's skills and national security expertise. "For people like Kirstjen, there's always going to be companies that have an interest in hearing from her expertise and her counsel," he said. "This is a huge country and a lot of business gets done in that realm, and she's got a tremendous amount of expertise at a critical time." Before joining the Trump administration, Nielsen was a senior fellow at George Washington University's Center for Cyber and Homeland Security and worked as a private cybersecurity consultant. John Sandweg, a former top aide to Napolitano and acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under President Barack Obama, said the complicated politics of Nielsen's situation combined with a resume that is less extensive relative to some of her predecessors leave her in a "diminished state" compared with some of her predecessors. "She embraced some very controversial, disliked policies," Sandweg said. "I would point to family separation; I think that hurts her legacy and could hurt her in the private sector. . . . At the same time, with the president's base, she isn't necessarily loved there and was dismissed by the president." - - - The Washington Post's David Nakamura contributed to this report. WASHINGTON - In President Donald Trump's latest blowup over immigration, senior adviser Stephen Miller hovered omnipresent in the background - goading him in his threats to close the border, warning him of the dangers of looking weak and encouraging the president's sudden purge of his homeland security team. Another top adviser who has Trump's ear on immigration, son-in-law Jared Kushner, maintained a lower profile during the uproar. Shortly before joining Trump on a trip to the southern border - where the president railed that the "country is full" - Kushner met privately with the Mexican ambassador to discuss a more collaborative approach. The contrast highlights the good cop-bad cop roles on immigration that Kushner, 38, and Miller, 33, now inhabit in Trump's West Wing, with the latter ascendant as he pushes a frustrated president to champion draconian border policies and rhetoric. The two political survivors from Trump's 2016 campaign have emerged as all but untouchable because of their close relationship - and, in Kushner's case, familial ties - with the president. But if Miller represents Trump's id - reaffirming his hard-line immigration impulses - Kushner attempts to channel the president's desire to be seen as a consummate dealmaker. The differences put the two advisers on a potential collision course - adding to the swirl of confusion over how Trump intends to cope with a surge of migrants at the border, according to interviews with 21 White House aides, administration officials, lawmakers, Republican operatives and Trump confidants, many of whom requested anonymity to reveal private discussions. So far, though, White House officials say the two have maintained a friendly working relationship, focused on divergent but complementary imperatives. Following Trump's border trip, for example, both flew back to Washington on Air Force One, landing Saturday shortly after 8 p.m. About an hour later, they were together again at the Kalorama home of Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, for a private dinner with a handful of other West Wing aides and their partners - a previously-planned gathering that one White House official described as illustrating the rapport between the two men. "Any suggestion that Jared Kushner and Stephen Miller have anything but a cordial and professional relationship would be misplaced," said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a strong ally of President Donald Trump. "Over and over, I've seen them work together on policy issues and deep deliberations that have the potential for being contentious, but there is mutual respect." Yet the emerging fault lines between the two are evident as the cracks have widened under Trump's border policies. Kushner - a self-styled pragmatist - has pushed for a broader immigration deal, viewing Congress and a bipartisan agreement as necessary to finding a solution amid divided government. Miller - a fiery ideologue - has repeatedly advocated cutting legal immigration, rethinking the country's asylum policies and implementing harsh measures to the secure the southern border. He views executive power and assertiveness as Trump's best tools, including the moves in recent days to purge Kirstjen Nielsen, head of the Department of Homeland Security, and other top DHS officials. During this year's government shutdown, Trump specifically asked Kushner to take on a portion of the administration's immigration portfolio, in part because of relationships he developed with some Mexican leaders during NAFTA renegotiation talks. More recently, Trump told Miller during an Oval Office meeting that he was in charge of overseeing all immigration and border issues, according to officials familiar with the meeting. It remains unclear whose immigration philosophy will ultimately be embraced by Trump, who faces a looming reelection bid and complaints from his political base and conservative media personalities that his administration is not doing enough to solve the central dilemma of his presidency. One White House official said Kushner understands more than Miller the sort of deal that could pass muster with Congress and public opinion. But, this person added, Kushner may not find much enthusiasm for such a plan from Trump or Miller. Some critics of the administration's immigration policies fault both of the advisers, painting a portrait of a villain (Miller) and a naif (Kushner). "If the White House were a Star Wars set, Miller would play the role of Darth Vader," said Kevin Appleby, a longtime immigrant advocate. "His main goal is to keep Trump on the immigration dark side." But, Appleby added, "for Kushner to think he can come in and negotiate an immigration deal - which Congress has failed to do for 20 years - without Miller's support is politically naive, at best. He would not get out of the starting gate." Miller has told White House aides that many in the government are opposed to Trump's immigration agenda, that few can be trusted and that DHS needed major changes at the top, officials said. He also has begun assessing officials at specific agencies to decide if he thinks they are loyal to the president, these officials added. On a policy level, Miller is pushing for new asylum rules that would give fewer people the chance to come into the country by citing "credible fear;" seeking to cut down the number of countries from which migrants can seek asylum; and pressing for ways to speed up deportations. While Miller's broad purview is as a speechwriter and senior adviser, aides say he focuses almost exclusively on immigration. Miller's relationship with Kushner improved after the departure in 2017 of Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, who clashed with Miller despite their shared hard-line immigration views. Officials said Miller made clear to Kushner that - unlike Bannon - he was not interesting in trying to undermine the president's son-in-law, who is firmly entrenched in the White House. Kushner, for his part, has defended Miller in private conversations, saying he may have strong ideas but is "misunderstood" and unfairly caricatured, several people familiar with Kushner's comments said. Kushner is aiming for a broader immigration deal, and is currently focused on border security and a merit-based legal immigration system, one White House official said. Many who refuse to work with Miller - Mexican officials and congressional Democrats, for instance - view Kushner as a more reasonable conduit to the administration. In recent months, Kushner has been meeting with senators to pitch a possible plan on legal immigration, border security and interior enforcement, a senior White House official said. Kushner has also held roughly 50 listening sessions, largely with conservative groups, to better understand what sort of immigration deal they could support, another White House official said. But Miller has at times been an impediment to Kushner's ambitions. While Kushner has encouraged the president to make bigger deals with Democrats, Miller has worked with conservative House Freedom Caucus members to scuttle such compromises, in part by working around legislative affairs staffers, White House and legislative aides said. Former and current senior Republican aides who interacted with Miller said he would often contradict what they had heard from DHS officials, particularly on visas and asylum rules. The aides said they never hear from Miller on any issue other than immigration, while Kushner has met with them about trade, criminal justice issues and health care. Kushner, who worked with Democrats like Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin on bipartisan criminal justice legislation, believes he can do the same on immigration. Miller, by contrast, has frustrated Democrats with his abrasive positions and rhetoric. Last year, for instance, Miller began chatting with Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., in the West Wing lobby and told the two centrists that if they worked to limit immigrants, the black unemployment rate would go down in their state, according to one person familiar with his comments. Both senators found the comments jarring and off-putting, this person said. During the 35-day government shutdown, Kushner worked to strike a compromise to reopen the government, at one point floating an option that would have included permanent protection for illegal immigrants brought to the country as children - colloquially known as Dreamers - in exchange for $25 billion in border funding. Domingo Garcia, the president of LULAC, a Latino advocacy organization, met with Kushner at the time and said he seemed "sincere." But Kushner's attempts to negotiate an end to the shutdown ended in failure, and some Trump aides said he tends to ignore that experience and talk only about his success on the criminal justice law. Mark Krikorian, an immigration restrictionist and executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, said Kushner "felt he was able to pull off prison reform by bring left and right together. He hoped he could replicate that." For now, Trump has sided firmly with Miller - focused on pursing what he views as a tough immigration approach that will both solve the border crisis and excite the core supporters he needs to carry him to victory in 2020. Trump allies, however, say they believe Kushner has the ability to persuade the president to give real consideration to a bipartisan immigration deal if one emerges, rather than be outmaneuvered by Miller and other hard-liners. "Look, Kushner is the son-in-law," Krikorian said. "If push comes to shove, I'd bet on Jared. But it may never get to that." - - - The Washington Post's Nick Miroff contributed to this report. WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans are pressuring President Donald Trump not to fire any more Homeland Security officials, warning that the department can't function properly if the White House continues to oust key members of its leadership team. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is leaving the agency on Wednesday after submitting her resignation following a private meeting with Trump on Sunday. She is being replaced on an acting basis by Kevin McAleenan, the former the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The White House announced Monday that Randolph "Tex" Alles, the director of the Secret Service, would be leaving his position "shortly." And both U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Lee Francis Cissna and the DHS general counsel, John Mitnick, could be the next to go, according to department officials. The moves at the DHS comes as Trump is furious about the department's inability to reduce illegal immigration to the United States, one of his signature campaign promises. A surge of migrant families from Central America in recent weeks is taxing the government's ability to process asylum seekers. The migrants say they are fleeing violence and poverty in their countries, but Trump described the situation at the border in dark terms during a roundtable Wednesday with supporters in San Antonio. "Dangerous people are coming here and the good people are dying," he said. "This has nothing to do with politics, this has nothing to do with campaigning. . . . Who the hell can live like this?" Republican senators remain concerned that Trump's anger will lead to a continuing purge of DHS officials with no clear replacements. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said he is worried that Mitnick could be dismissed. Johnson is preparing a letter to the administration advising "against even considering getting rid of the counsel." Johnson emphasized that Mitnick was a consensus pick, having been confirmed unanimously to the job. "You need management in the department and particularly a counsel that will shoot straight," Johnson said. "I just think the current counsel is a good person and we want to make sure he stays on the job." He said McAleenan is facing a job that is an "almost impossible task for anybody." "And it's not getting any easier whatsoever," Johnson said. "But right now, I've got a great deal of confidence in the commissioner." Another GOP senator, Sen. Charles Grassley, Iowa, has contacted top administration officials, including senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and McAleenan, to push them to keep Cissna in his job. Grassley worked closely with Cissna when he was detailed from the administration to the Senate Judiciary Committee when the Iowa Republican served as its chairman. Despite his lobbying, Grassley said, he had not yet received direct assurances that Cissna would stay in his post. "I don't know whether I'll be satisfied or not when it's all done," Grassley said. "I'm beyond the point of considering whether or not I'm going to be satisfied." Later Wednesday, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and McAleenan went to Capitol Hill to meet privately with six Senate Democrats in a meeting the administration requested to discuss the migration influx. "The situation at the border is challenging, and we're talking about what can be done," said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. Mulvaney declined to comment as he left the meeting. Also on Wednesday, Nielsen announced that Ronald Vitiello was stepping down as acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director. Last week, the White House pulled his nomination to lead the agency full time - a move that caught senators, including Johnson, by surprise. Trump said he decided he wanted someone who would take a "tougher" approach for the job. KHUDANA, India - The three helicopters appear like a mirage out of the white-hot sky and descend toward a tiny village in northern India. For hours, thousands of people have waited in 95-degree heat for the man they hope to reelect as the country's prime minister. The thrum of the rotors brings them to their feet, and they chant his name in a thunderous roar: Mo-di! Mo-di! Mo-di! When Narendra Modi takes the stage - right on time - he delivers a speech bristling with nationalist fervor. Together, he tells the crowd, they will create a "new India." It is a place where the armed forces are respected, the corrupt are fearful, and terrorists are killed "in their homes." Modi watches over the nation, he says, while his opponents undermine it. Nearly 900 million eligible voters are set to choose the leader of the world's largest democracy in staggered polls starting Thursday. But Modi is framing the election as a referendum on a single man: himself. Much like President Donald Trump, Modi, 68, is both polarizing and charismatic. In 2014, Modi's party - the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP - won a once-in-a-generation landslide. Modi swept to power on a desire for change and the belief that he would transform India, a country of 1.3 billion people, and unshackle its economy. Five years later, those lofty expectations have not been met. The economy is expanding but not creating enough jobs, while farmers are struggling with debt and rising prices. Much depends on whether Modi can persuade Indian voters to focus on nationalist pride rather than bread-and-butter issues in a campaign based less on hope than on fear. At the rally, a local BJP candidate urges the crowd to shout so loudly that it will be heard in Pakistan, India's neighbor and rival. Sumit Kumar, 24, readily obliges. 3 1 of 3 Washington Post photo by Joanna Slate Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Washington Post photo by Joanna Slater Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Modi "has united the country against terrorists," says Kumar, who works on his family's sugar cane farm. "I don't need jobs, or electricity or roads. We only want our country free from fear." Modi's critics say he has an autocratic streak and seeks to turn India - officially a secular republic - into a "Hindu rashtra," or Hindu nation, to the detriment of the country's religious minorities, who include Muslims and Christians. Reports of violence, including lynchings, by Hindu extremist groups have increased under Modi's tenure. Modi has condemned such acts. At stake in this election is not "a question of a small change in economic policies," said Prannoy Roy, an election analyst and pollster who has observed Indian voting for three decades. "It's the whole idea of India that is being determined this time." Modi remains favored to win reelection, albeit with a smaller number of seats in India's Parliament, which would oblige him to lead a coalition. His popularity outstrips that of his main rival, Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition Indian National Congress. Despite rural discontent and rising unemployment, Modi benefits from a reservoir of goodwill among voters. Many credit him for battling corruption and taking a muscular approach to national security (sometimes literally: Modi has boasted of having a 56-inch chest). The massive polls will unfold in seven phases, with results for India's 543 parliamentary constituencies announced on May 23. A hint of the outcome will come four days earlier, however, when voting concludes and exit polls are released. The campaign took an unexpected turn in February when a Pakistan-based terrorist group killed 40 Indian paramilitary officers in the disputed region of Kashmir. India retaliated by launching airstrikes on what it said was a militant training camp inside Pakistan, setting off the most serious confrontation between the two nuclear-armed neighbors in decades. It is not clear whether India hit anything in the airstrikes or if its missiles caused any casualties. But Modi repeatedly refers to the strikes on the campaign trail as evidence of his resolve. Billboards in Saharanpur, a city in Uttar Pradesh, India's largest state, feature his face with the words "Penetrated enemy territory and attacked terrorists." The jingoistic tone of Modi's campaign marks a departure from five years ago, when he won over voters with promises to create millions of jobs and root out corruption. He emphasized his humble roots as the son of a tea seller and his 13-year track record as chief minister of Gujarat, a state in western India, where he oversaw rapid economic growth and the implementation of business-friendly policies. He also presided over the deadliest outbreak of communal violence in recent Indian history, when more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in three days of riots in 2002. A special investigating team cleared Modi of involvement in the riots. The violence remains a blot on his reputation and previously led the United States to deny him a visa. When Modi became prime minister in 2014, India's business community was jubilant. They saw him as a politician who had the will - and the majority in Parliament - to accelerate economic growth by reforming land and labor laws and privatizing state-owned businesses. But Modi did not deliver on that kind of sweeping legislation. "They have tinkered a bit here and a bit there, but they haven't really moved forward strongly on the reforms front," said Yashwant Sinha, a former finance minister who quit Modi's party last year. "He's no economic reformer." Sinha credited the government with introducing a much-needed bankruptcy code. But he slammed its move to invalidate most of India's bank notes in 2016, a radical step known as "demonetization." The policy aimed to curb corruption but depressed economic activity and dented employment. Modi's track record on jobs, meanwhile, is a sore spot. Millions of young people, many of them college graduates, continue to apply for thousands of vacancies in menial government positions, a reflection of the shortage of well-paid, stable jobs. The country's unemployment rate rose to 6.1 percent in 2018 - a 45-year high - according to figures from India's national statistics organization that were leaked to the media after the government sought to squelch them. The Modi government has defended its track record on jobs by referring to alternate measures of employment, which economists say are flawed or incomplete. It also says it has achieved significant reforms, such as the introduction of a national goods-and-services tax, which previous governments tried but failed to accomplish. "The real problem is there are a number of people in this country who only want to perceive and spread gloom," said G.V.L. Narasimha Rao, a BJP spokesman. They aim to "create some kind of negative perception about the government, but the reality on the ground is different." Yet there are signs that voters are unwilling to give Modi another dramatic mandate. After the rally in the village of Khudana in western Uttar Pradesh, Modi departed in a helicopter churning clouds of ocher dust in its wake. At a neighboring roadside food stall, there was little praise for his policies. Bhupendra Singh, 28, who runs the stand, said he voted for Modi's party in 2014 but will not do so again because of the lack of jobs in the area. His father, Mahendra, 65, was sitting on a charpoy, a four-legged cot strung with rope. He grows sugar cane, wheat and mangoes on the land behind the food stall. Like other farmers in the area, he was angry that the payment for his sugar cane crop from local mills was delayed for a year, something Modi had pledged to fix. But Singh still planned to vote for the BJP, citing Modi's integrity. "He hasn't done anything," said Mahendra Singh. "But the man is honest." In nearby Babupura, a village of mostly Muslim farmers, residents said they, too, voted for Modi in 2014. Now his prior pledges - including a vow to double farmer incomes - elicit cynical laughter. Voters in the village said they are disturbed by the divisive rhetoric deployed by Modi and fellow members of the BJP, especially the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath. (Adityanath recently said opposition parties were infected with a "green virus" that should be wiped out. Green is traditionally associated with Islam.) If Modi is reelected, "our situation will sink further," said Mohammad Khalid, 30. "Hindu-Muslim harmony will be finished." Down the road in the city of Saharanpur, about 200 laborers gather each morning at 7 across from the railroad tracks. They wait there for hours for the chance to earn a day's wages, usually in construction, at a rate of 400 rupees ($6). All agree that their livelihoods deteriorated after Modi's radical demonetization move in 2016. "We come here every day, then we go home," said Pramod Kumar Bainwal, 38, with some bitterness. "This government is not for the poor." Yet he planned to vote for Modi anyway. "The most important thing is national security," Bainwal said. "Modi has done the best work." --- Tania Dutta contributed reporting. Washington Facing bipartisan pushback to his immigration shakeup, President Donald Trump said Tuesday he's not looking to revive the much-criticized practice of separating migrant children from their families at the southern border. At the same time, he suggested the policy had worked to deter migrants from coming into the U.S., although he offered no evidence to support his position. Last summer the administration separated more than 2,500 children from their families before international outrage forced Trump to halt the practice and a judge ordered them reunited. "We're not looking to do that," Trump told reporters before meeting with Egypt's president at the White House. But he also noted: "Once you don't have it, that's why you see many more people coming. They're coming like it's a picnic, because, 'Let's go to Disneyland.'" The potential reinstatement of one of the most divisive practices of Trump's tenure was just one aspect of the upheaval at the Department of Homeland Security this week that included the resignation of Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Acting Deputy Secretary Claire Grady, a 28-year civil servant, technically next in line for secretary, was forced to resign Tuesday to make room for Trump's pick to replace Nielsen, according to two people familiar with the decision. With talk that more top officials were likely to be ousted, Republicans expressed public and private concerns about the shakeup orchestrated by the White House and cautioned that leadership changes wouldn't necessarily solve the problem. As for the separation of children, Trump declared that he was "the one that stopped it" and said his predecessor, President Barack Obama, was the one who had divided family members. Administrations are allowed to separate children under certain circumstances, including for the health and welfare of the child and due to a parent's criminal history. This is why children were separated under the Obama administration. People familiar with the immigration discussions within the administration said family separation was one of several ideas Trump had revived in recent weeks as he and his aides try to tackle the problem of an ever-growing number of Central American families crossing into the U.S. The people were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The White House also was weighing a tougher standard to evaluate initial asylum claims, proposing a "binary choice" that would force migrant families to choose between remaining with their children in detention until their immigration cases were decided or sending their children to government shelters while the parents remained in detention. The administration also is considering clamping down on remittance payments that Mexican nationals send to their families, the official said. Two Jacksonville residents were arrested by Illinois State Police investigators on drug charges Wednesday morning. Demetrius W. Woods, 39, of 323 Anna St., and Sydney A. Day, 18, of 1228 Center St., were arrested by the Central Illinois Enforcement Group unit and booked into the Morgan County jail around 7 a.m. Wednesday on charges of possession of 15-100 grams of methamphetamine. Day, of 1228 Center St., was also charged with unlawful use of a weapon and possession of drug paraphernalia. Woods, of 323 Anna St., was also charged with being a convicted felon in possession of a weapon or body armor, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving with a revoked or suspended license, and operating an uninsured motor vehicle. Several suspects are being sought in connection with the deaths of two women, who were gunned down Tuesday afternoon at a South Side apartment complex. San Antonio Police Department Sgt. Roy Miller said the two women were shot at about 7 p.m. in the parking lot of the Rosemont at University Park apartments, 102 Emerald Ash. Police said a juvenile may be among the suspects, who fled the scene after the shooting. One woman was pronounced dead at the scene. The second victim was transported to San Antonio Military Medical Center, where she died, Officer Douglas Greene, an SAPD spokesman said. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox Miller said both women appeared to be in their 30s. It is not clear what motivated the incident, police said. A woman who has lived at the apartments for some time but did not wish to be identified for fear of retaliation, said she and several families were swimming in the pool Tuesday afternoon. The pool had just opened to residents for the season. She and several swimmers heard the initial shots and turned to see the incident unfold in the parking lot. Tenants said they heard around six shots. I just see the guys shooting into a parked vehicle and they ran, she said. RELATED: SAPD: Relative finds woman slain in West Side home, car missing, son arrested The suspects then dispersed in different directions, the woman said. I was like Get out! Theyre shooting! she recalled shouting. The woman and other residents said there is often crime in the area, such as drug deals and other disturbances, but that suspects are often gone by the time police arrive. This time it was in broad daylight, she said. Jacob Beltran is a reporter covering San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | jbeltran@express-news.net | Twitter: @JBfromSA The beginning of the school year when you got to show off your new duds, new cars, new looks! Sports! Playing, cheering, watching high school athletics. The arts: Dramatic arts, musical groups and shows, graphic arts groups, debate, etc. The prom! No dancing the night away or punch bowl antics. The daily interactions. Just being with the group, hanging with friends and classmates. Access to college recruiters and advisors its harder to line up higher education. Walking onstage to get a diploma while all the family is watching with everyone elses family. Vote View Results Nan McGoey is a Killoe resident who has dedicated every Easter to those less fortunate than herself. Wife of the late Sean McGoey, who was a well known lawnmower mechanic and salesman in the area, Nan began her charitable venture in 2013 while a member of Club 89 in St Mels Cathedral. I was part of Club 89 in St Mels in Longford and some of the ladies there were knitting little chickens. They gave them to me and I decided to try and sell them for those less fortunate, Nan told Kevin Forde of the Leader. She filled the chicken designs with chocolate eggs and Nans first year saw her raise in excess of 600 for her chosen charity, Sight Savers, which helps fund life-changing trachoma and cataract eye operations in third-world countries such as Malawi, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Bangladesh. The first year we raised over 600. It was always a charity close to my heart. It would be just devastating to lose your sight, Nan explained. They lose their sight in these countries due to contamination in the water. Roving Leader: Cast away with Cashel Angling Club This marked the start of what is now a six-year campaign by Nan, who took inspiration from the creations made by the Club 89 ladies, adding further designs through the years. She built up a small close knit team over the years and now has Mai Mulligan, Liz McCaffrey and Patricia Murphy helping her create the designs. They now not only make chickens, but also knitted bunnies and framed knitted crosses. Their eggciting designs can be purchased in local shops such as Padraig Wards in Longford. We make them all on our own time. Roy Davis donates the eggs and we sell them at Bingo, Padraig Wards or people come up and buy them directly off us. We make crosses now as well. Fr Casey blesses them for us, We have him haunted asking him, Nan laughed. Each and every year Nan has been sending the fruits of the teams labour to the charity and they have successfully played a part in saving the sight of many children, something Nan is extremely passionate about. Sight Savers keep the team informed of how the money is spent and those who have been cured of blindness. In 2015, they successfully raised a total of 600 which equated to 10 cataract surgeries for children or 36 trachoma operations or medication for 7,500 people to fight river blindness. Nan urged people to show their support in any way possible and called on the youth of today to ditch the computer games and pick up the knitting needles instead. Nan conclude, For the children who are all playing with machines, they should all try to do a little. Something so simple can make a big difference in a persons life. We just want to thank everyone for buying and contributing and we just want to let them know that their money is being well spent. For anyone looking to donate or buy one of Nan's designs you can contact her directly on 043-3346615. Alternatively, you can donate directly to sightsavers at www.sightsavers.org. Roving Leader: Casey's Sculpture, a father and son duo sculpting for almost fifty years Two violent incidents on the streets of Longford within the space of four days of each other and which left two men in hospital has been branded as little more than 'absolute thuggery'. They were the scathing comments made by the chair of Longford's Joint Policing Committee Cllr Gerry Warnock as the fallout from the events of last week stepped up a gear. Cllr Warnock even went as far as to suggest the dilemma facing law enforcement and garda bosses was so grave it could be considered one of 'national emergency' proportions. Read also: Shock at daylight knife attack in Longford town I'm absolutely disgusted with the latest incidents perpetrated by a small handful of thugs. Not for the first time the decent people of Longford, in these instances shoppers, are being caught in the middle of this apparently normalised feuding. Well, to me its not normal, its simple thuggery that should in no way ever be accepted by a decent society. Cllr Warnock said the use of the term feuding and its devastating after effects was happening all too frequently, both in Longford and other counties. It is my opinion that this issue could be considered a national emergency in terms of law enforcement and public order, he said. In a further appeal to government chiefs and legislators, Cllr Warnock said the time had come to put away the PC hat and take a more rigorous approach to these thugs once and for all. Read also: Garda chiefs draft in Armed Support Unit to patrol streets of Longford after man is attacked in broad daylight Those comments follow two separate and violent incidents at busy shopping outlets within a matter of days of each other. The first, which occurred outside discount grocery store Aldi, just off the main Killashee Road last Monday week, resulted in a man in his 20s being airlifted to St James' Hospital in Dublin. He was treated for suspected stab wounds to his head and arm after falling victim to an attack at around 2.30pm. In the wake of that incident and as preliminary inquiries had barely got off the ground, gardai were forced to deal with an unconnected episode at the N4 Axis Centre last Friday afternoon. On this occasion, the victim was allegedly attacked in front of alarmed shoppers by a number of men armed with batons and wearing balaclavas. It was enough to prompt garda bosses to summon the assistance of the force's Armed Support Unit in a bid to demonstrate the seriousness of the situation but also to underpin public confidence and safety. Read also: Gardai at the scene of Longford assault Supt Jim Delaney expressed his concern over both events and urged those involved to take a "step back" and consider the damage such episodes were having on their community. Obviously, we (gardai) are not going to sit on our hands and we are hoping to reassure the public in relation to public safety by taking these steps (bringing in Armed Support Unit), increasing our visibility and putting on as many extra patrols as I can possibly do," he said. All these people are doing is damaging the good name of Longford and they are trying to drag down all the good work that has been done. We (gardai) certainly don't condone this type of behaviour and I am sure that goes for most people and in that respect I would ask them to desist from this type of behaviour immediately." Read more: Moves afoot to extend Longford Crime Prevention Ambassador Programme Touching, funny and sophisticated, with lots of heart: those are the words actor Rory Nolan used to describe Druid Theatre Company's current production, Furniture, which comes to the Backstage Theatre later this month. Written by Sonya Kelly, this lighthearted new play is about perceptions and possessions, told through the lives of six individuals and examining how the things we own shape our worldview and even the view we have of ourselves. The play received a staged reading in 2016 as a Druid Debut and had its world premiere as part of Druid's remarkable season of new Irish writing at Galway International Arts Festival 2018. The production is currently on an eight-week tour, taking in Dublin, Limerick, Kerry, Clare, Galway, Donegal, Sligo, Roscommon, Cavan, Longford, Kilkenny, Wexford and Cork. Longford is one of our stop-off points whenever we're on tour with Druid, Rory Nolan remarked when in conversation with the Leader last week. We always have a great time there and there seems to be a real hunger for the shows every time we come down and the audiences are great fun. And we often meet a lot of people who come to see the shows in Longford; theyre a great crowd and they love their bit of culture and their plays and its an honour to be able to come down and tour in the country and to take in places like Longford. Rory Nolan is well known around the country since he played the role of Ross O'Carroll Kelly in Postcards from the Ledge, but he's portrayed plenty of well-known characters throughout his acting career, including Pozzo in Druid's production of Waiting for Godot, which received excellent feedback from its Longford audience last year. In Furniture, he will play the role of Ed, an artist, who begins to question his relationship with his wife, Alex (Kate Kennedy), following an incident at an art exhibition. Read also: Druid Theatre Company set for Longford's Backstage Furniture is an interesting play because it is actually three plays in one - each one exploring relationships between people through pieces of furniture that connect them. Ed and Alex appear in the first of the three plays when they attend an art exhibition. Basically what happens is their relationship and how they are with each other comes to the fore and we see two people who have been married for a long time begin to question how they see each other in their relationship and then question themselves in their relationship through a piece of furniture which is on exhibition, said Rory. And one of the catalysts for the piece is when Eds wife, Alex, who isnt an artist, moves towards a piece of art, he says no, dont touch it!. And that opens up a can of worms between the two of them. So they have to confront the issues that they have with each other and issues that they have with themselves almost by accident, he added. Its full of heart and it really makes you think and its really very funny as well. The second mini play tells the story of two lovers, Steph and Dee (Ruth McGill and Helen Norton), who have met via an online dating app and entered into a fast-moving relationship which sees them moving in together far too quickly. Steph is big into minimalism, but her new companion is an avid hoarder, so you can imagine what hilarious interactions occur between them during their time on stage. Read also: Celebrating the life and music of famous Longford uillean pipe player Peter Carberry Finally, the third act examines the relationship between a flamboyant, older, gay man George (Nial Buggy) and his nephew Michael (Garrett Lombard), to whom he wants to leave his beloved pink chaise longue, which has any amount of stories attached to it. In some ways, this play does exactly what it says on the tin, Rory mused. Its about furniture, but its actually about human beings attachment to pieces of furniture or items, and the relationships they have with pieces of furniture and the relationships they have with somebody else through that piece of furniture. It sounds very basic, but actually the play has some very complex ideas about human beings and the way we behave with inanimate objects and the people that we love through these inanimate objects, and how we see ourselves through these inanimate objects. And the result is a play that is very touching and very, very smart; very sophisticated but ultimately very funny and great fun, with lots and lots of heart. Furniture comes to the Backstage Theatre on April 23 and 24. Tickets can be purchased via 043 33 47888 or online at www.backstage.ie. Keep up to date with all the happenings in Longford with our What's On section Local News, Crime, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: April 09 2019 Joshua E. Roston of Baldwin, 33, allegedly ran over and killed worker Cemal Dagdeviren of Levittown, 59, after refusing to pay for gas, officials say. Mineola, NY - Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a Baldwin man was arraigned today on a grand jury indictment for allegedly running over and killing a gas station attendant while trying to steal $22 worth of gas. Joshua Roston, 33, was arraigned before Judge Meryl Berkowitz and charged with: Three counts of Murder in the Second Degree (an A-I felony) Two counts of Robbery in the First Degree (a B violent felony) Two counts of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the First degree (a C felony) Robbery in the Third Degree (a D felony) Leaving the Scene of an Incident without Reporting (a D felony) Three counts of Petit Larceny (an A misdemeanor) Bail was set at $500,000 bond or $250,000 cash and the defendant is due back in court on May 9. If convicted of the top count, he faces 25 years to life in prison. An innocent 59-year-old man lost his life because this defendant allegedly chose to run him over rather than pay for $22 worth of gas, DA Singas said. This senseless murder shocks the conscience, and our prosecutors will aggressively seek justice for Mr. Dagdeviren and his family. DA Singas said that on January 14 at approximately 7:24 am, the defendant allegedly pulled up to the middle pump of the Pit Stop gas station located on Grand Avenue in North Baldwin and asked an attendant to fill up his Black GMC Suburban. After Roston allegedly displayed a forged $50 bill, the attendant filled the tank with $22 worth of gas. However, the defendant then allegedly told the attendant that he was going to pay with a credit card inside the store instead of the cash, but then stated he needed to go to an ATM to get cash. During the course of the incident, 59-year-old Cemal Dagdeviren arrived for work and took over for the attendant. Dagdeviren exited the store with Roston, who instead of going to the ATM, allegedly entered his SUV and started to drive away. To stop the defendant from leaving, Dagdeviren walked around the front of the vehicle, knocked on the drivers side window and grabbed the windshield wiper of the car, but the defendant allegedly accelerated the vehicle and ran over Dagdeviren, dragging his body for several feet, killing him. The defendant fled the scene and eventually turned himself in to police in Philadelphia on January 18, 2019. The District Attorney thanked the Nassau County Police Department, the Philadelphia Police, Pennsylvania State Police Department and the Philadelphia District Attorneys Office for their work and extradition assistance. Senior Assistant District Attorney Katie Zizza and Assistant District Attorney Alexander DePalo of DA Singas Vehicular Crimes Bureau are prosecuting this case. Joe LoPiccolo, Esq. represents the defendant. On December 28 1968, at 20:37, three Super Frelon helicopters take off from Ramat David airbase, southeast of Haifa. They head north and do not change course until they reach their target. The three aircraft land at three different points in Beirut International Airport, and each offloads about twenty men. It is around 21:20 when the 19-year-old soldier Benjamin Netanyahu sets foot on Lebanese soil. The majority of his military career remains classified and it is impossible to know if it was the first time he was participating in this kind of operation. The most comprehensive report published by the Israeli army on Operation Tchoura (Gift) focuses on the technical details, and does not mention individuals or their actions, except those of Lieutenant-Colonel Cohen and Brigadier General Raphael Eytan, who were supervising the operation. Benjamin Netanyahu and approximately sixty-one other soldiers selected fourteen airliners, and placed explosives under their landing gear, and at the nose of each aircraft. Less than half-an-hour later, they were aboard the Super Frelons. The detonations went off during their flight back to Israel. The charred husks of the fourteen aircrafts, most of which were owned by Middle East Airlines (MEA), were an act of retaliation for the hijacking of El Al flights by commandos from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in July and December 1968. It was as a soldier that Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu had his first contact with the Arab world. Within the Sayeret Matkal unit, which specialized in cross-border infiltrations for intelligence and reconnaissance purposes, he was operational across the region for four and a half years. In Egypt, in 1969, he came close to death. During a crossing of the Suez Canal, his commando was detected by Egyptian soldiers. Under fire, he jumped overboard. Weighed down by his equipment, he was sucked to the bottom, until four hands pulled him out of the water, saving his life. His brothers, Jonathan and Iddo, also served in the unit. The first died in 1976 at Entebbe, in Uganda, during a raid that sought to free one hundred and six hostages held aboard Airbus A300B4, which had been hijacked by a German-Palestinian commando. The memory of Jonathan Netanyahu is an inexhaustible source of inspiration and legitimacy to his brother. According to the story told by Bibi, the raid on Entebbe changed his life: the wish to honor his brothers sacrifice literally threw Benjamin body and soul in the big political arena. The timeline is questionable though, as Benjamin Netanyahu was noticed a long time before his brothers death, on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he tried to rally local Israeli diplomatic representation to his students campaigns to raise awareness about the Hebrew State and its cause. However, in Benjamin Netanyahus personal story, the creation of the Yonathan Institute for the Study of Terrorism is the cornerstone of his commitment. In July 1979, Jerusalem hosted the first conference by the above mentioned think-tank, starring former CIA Director George H.W. Bush. The conference provided a preview of the main themes that would constitute Netanyahus future approach to the Middle East. The principal idea is that terrorists never act alone, but are always backed by a state. Most of the international terrorism that damaged the world from the end of the 1960s until the mid 1980s were the products of an ad hoc alliance between the Soviet bloc and the Arab dictatorial regimes, writes Netanyahu is his book Fighting Terrorism, published for the first time in 1995, and which represents the sum of his thoughts and reflections on the subject. In Netanyahus writing, the Palestinian Fedayeen are an instrument at the service of the States, first Russian, then Iraq, and finally Iran. The political objective is clear: to delegitimize the Palestinian cause by associating it with the fight against terrorism. After the events of September 11, Netanyahu would not miss out on an occasion to develop his argument with Westerners, seeking to convince them that they are fighting against the same enemy. The Alignment of Planets Over the course of his career, Benjamin Netanyahu has adapted his arguments to the spirit of the times, but the ideological background for his position has been undeniably consistent. He reaped the first fruits in April 15 1986. After an attack at a nightclub in Berlin that killed three people, including two Americans, Ronald Reagan ordered airstrikes on military targets in Libya. The Palestinian man who had carried out the bombing using an explosive belt had been financed and overseen by the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, an accusation confirmed by a Berlin Court in November 2001. For Mr. Netanyahu, then Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, this was a godsend. He took great pleasure in defending the United States as it was largely isolated in the General Assembly, which passed a resolution condemning the strikes. The first Gulf War, however, represents the perfect alignment of the planets. On January 18 1991, the first round of Iraqi Scud missiles fell on the outskirts of Tel-Aviv. Yasser Arafats PLO had tied its fate to that of Saddam Hussein. But the major prize came along with images of Palestinians dancing on the roofs of their houses in the West Bank at the sight of the Scuds falling on Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu would not waste one minute of the war: it became his tool in front of the cameras in foreign TV studios. He insisted on keeping his gas mask on during the interviews, and ordered his interviewers to do the same, despite the technical adjustments needed to ensure their voices were audible. An Arab country (Iraq) invaded another Arab country (Kuwait) while threatening other Arab countries (Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries). But Western diplomats still reiterate that peace in the Middle East is unattainable without the resolution of the Palestinian problem, he said. In April 1993, five months before the handshake between Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin on the White House lawn, he published his views on how to achieve peace in a book entitled A Place Among the Nations. The main idea is that peace with the Palestinians is impossible so long as the entire Middle East is not a bed of peace and democracy, because any attempt at reaching an agreement would be sabotaged by Iraq, Iran, or forces within the Arab world as they, according to Netanyahu, have an almost genocidal hatred towards the Jewish State. The settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will come after the ousting of dictatorial regimes, the destruction of Islamism, of malnutrition, cholera, the triumph of liberalism, and the education of all. In other words, according to Bibi, never. Coherence and Cynicism Benjamin Netanyahus history with the Arabs includes a topic that comes up time and time again, it seems to be an obsession that engulfs the whole narrative: Iran. The Islamic Republic may not be a part of the Arab world, but it is the main axis around which the Israeli Prime Minister builds his vision. Netanyahu has long made his fight against the Iranian threat his main talking point on the international scene, starting in 1996 with his first speech before the US Congress. Netanyahu stands out from his predecessors through raising the profile of the Begin doctrine, named after the former Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who swore that no adversary of the Hebrew State in the Middle East would ever be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. For Ariel Sharon, Iran should become the entire worlds problem, not only Israels, which, according to Sharon, should not be left alone to play the major role in the battle. But Netanyahu is convinced that Israel should sound the alarm about Iran. He has taken the showdown with Iran public, and has accelerated operations designed to stop Teheran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and never misses an opportunity to alert the international community to the Iranian threat. If Iran is the number one enemy of the Jewish State due to its anti-Zionist rhetoric, and its support of many armed groups that carry out operations against Israel the country is also perceived as a threat by part of the Arab world. It is in the name of this common vision that the Israeli Prime Minister will start a historical rapprochement with the Gulf countries whose twin objectives are to stand united against Iran, and to isolate the Palestinians. In the 1960s, Israel forged alliances with Turkey and with the Shah of Iran in order to counterbalance the Arab worlds hostility. From now on, Israel will reach out to the moderate Arab countries in order to counter Irans hostility and to be able to continue to deal with the Palestinian issue as a matter of simple internal security. Benjamin Netanyahus Arab history lacks neither coherence nor cynicism. (This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour on the 9th of April) In the accompanying description, he advised his 313,000 Instagram followers that if they're "living in Sin" they will go to hell unless they repent. He goes on to name more "works of the flesh" that he believes will earn you a one-way ticket to the underworld, including lasciviousness, witchcraft, "variance", hatred and "revelings and such like". "They which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God," he concludes. The post has been met with a mixed response, with some commenters praising Folau for being open about his beliefs while others called him "ignorant". One person pointed out that the Bible forbids tattoos, of which Folau has plenty. Folau's a big fan of memes emblazoned with scripture, and he's not shy about using his considerable Instagram fanbase - 313,000 followers - to communicate his faith. The athlete's Instagram bio confirms that he is "living for Jesus Christ" and is a member of #Team Jesus. His latest post comes almost exactly a year after he said in a comment that gay people are going to hell unless they repent of their sins. That remark caused widespread outrage among fans and media in both Australia and New Zealand. Months before, he revealed he would vote against marriage equality in Australia's postal vote. Credit to Newshub. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a fifth term in office after a tight race against former Gen. Benny Gantz, with support from right-religious parties helping him claim a majority in parliament. A 26-year-old man who prosecutors believe was a lookout during the October killing of a beloved Dorchester gas station clerk was held without bail at his arraignment Wednesday morning, according to the Suffolk County Attorneys office. Prosecutors say Gregory Simmons, of Dorchester, waited for a still unidentified gunman while he robbed the Fabian Market gas station Oct. 6. The man authorities say shot and killed Jose Williams, 63, ran from the Washington Street gas station down Melville Street where Simmons waited, according to District Attorney Rachael Rollinss office. Last week, Rollinss office approved a warrant charging Simmons with murder, attempted robbery while masked and unlawful possession of a firearm. Boston police arrested Simmons Tuesday and he was arraigned in Dorchester Municipal Court on Tuesday, according to Jake Wark, a spokesman for Rollins. This investigation is a priority for me and my administration, Rollins said in a statement. The prosecutors in my Homicide Unit will follow the evidence wherever it leads, with one goal: to find the truth and put it to a Suffolk County jury. Jose Williams, his family, and the community deserve nothing less than our best efforts. Williams was shot and killed during the attempted robbery at the Fabian Market on Washington Street on Oct. 6. After Williams, who was a friendly face for many in the community, died. Family and friends set up balloons outside the gas station where he worked for a birthday celebration. He wouldve turned 64 on Oct. 9 - three days after he was gunned down, family said. The remnants of a birthday cake sat in a tray surrounded by handwritten messages outside gas station in October. They read: "Keep smiling in heaven" and "I love you look after us." After the shooting Kevin Williams, 21, was arrested in connection with the death, but prosecutors later dropped the charges. Prosecutors dropped the charges after reviewing evidence gathered since the Oct. 6 murder. Boston police ask anyone with information about the shooting to contact the homicide unit. Simmons is scheduled to return to court May 9. Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins said she is prepared to battle with the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts over safe injection sites. Rollins spoke about her differences in ideology with U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling, a Trump-appointee, on the podcast Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness which was recorded March 12 and released on Wednesday. Van Ness is one of the stars of Netflixs Queer Eye but also hosts a podcast on social issues. I like to say Andy Lelling was appointed by the president so one person said he was great...but 185,000 people elected me and they want change, Rollins said on the podcast. They look at a criminal justice system and see that if you are poor, or brown or black it doesnt work for you. It just doesnt work the same for you. Rollins said she imagines she go up against Lelling on the issue of safe injection sites - a proposed but controversial idea for the city of Boston that she supports. We have a crisis with opioids and substance use and if we keep doing things the same and dont try different things were going to be stagnant, Rollins said. The data shows up to now - no one has ever died in a safe injection site. She added: We have some area: opioids, marijuana and immigration where me and the U.S. Attorney are going to battle. In July, Lelling made clear that he would not turn a blind eye to safe injection sites, which are federally illegal. "I cannot envision any scenario in which sites that normalize intravenous use of heroin and fentanyl would be off limits to federal law enforcement efforts," Lelling said in a statement. "Employees and users of such a site would be exposed to federal criminal charges regardless of any state law or study." A panel of experts on opioid addiction treatment urged lawmakers in March to push for drug consumption sites in Massachusetts, but Gov. Charlie Baker has said he will not pursue because they are illegal under federal law. "Where's the stuff that shows me something that implies that there's a pathway here to getting out from under the awful and terrible consequences of addiction? Baker on WGBH last month. The answer I got was, there is no data on that because the whole thing is completely anonymous." Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, who long opposed the idea of safe injection sites, has now thrown his support behind the concept after a trip to Canada. Rollins, who became the DA for Boston, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop in January, released a bold policy memo in March detailing her decision to decline to prosecute 15 low-level offenses, a cornerstone of her campaign that she says delivered her to the job. This week shes made headlines as shes publicly clashed with top public safety officials and the Baker administration. On Thursday, Executive Office of Public Safety and Security Secretary Thomas A. Turco warned that Rollinss policy would put at risk the Commonwealths ongoing efforts to combat the ongoing crisis of the opioid epidemic. Rollins, and her supporters, say it is this vision that secured her position as the countys top prosecutor. I didnt get into this job to make friends. I got into this job to make change, she said at a news conference Friday. Rollins is also scheduled to be interviewed on the podcast Pod Save America on Thursday. The B-52s have planned a summer tour that will eventually land in Connecticut. The band is scheduled to play the Grand Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Conn., on Sept. 20 at 8 p.m. Tickets for the show are on sale beginning Friday at 10 a.m. through all Ticketmaster outlets and locations including ticketmaster.com and by phone at (800) 745-3000. The B-52s are celebrating a 40th Anniversary with the tour band will ring along special guests OMD and Berlin. The B-52s have sold over 20 million records worldwide and earned Grammy nominations for the 1989 release Cosmic Thing, which included the hits Roam and Love Shack." For the first time in history astronomers have captured images of a black hole, thanks to an enormous telescope system powerful enough to read a newspaper in New York from a sidewalk cafe in Paris. The National Science Foundation announced that the team of international researchers behind the Event Horizon Telescope successfully unveiled the first direct visual evidence of a supermassive black hole and its shadow. According to the NSF, the image reveals a black hole at the center of a massive galaxy in the Virgo galaxy cluster known as Messier 87. The distance of the black hole is roughly 55 million light-years from Earth, with a mass 6.5-billion times that of the Sun, the NSF reports. This is a huge day in astrophysics, France Cordova, director of the NSF, said in a statement. Were seeing the unseeable. Black holes have sparked imaginations for decades. They have exotic properties and are mysterious to us. Yet with more observations like this one they are yielding their secrets. This is why [the National Science Foundation] exists. We enable scientists and engineers to illuminate the unknown, to reveal the subtle and complex majesty of our universe," Cordova continued. The NSF funded individual researchers and scientific teams to create the telescope, or the EHT. The technology works by linking telescopes around Earth to form a planet-sized virtual telescope that offers unprecedented sensitivity and a resolution of 20 micro-arcseconds -- or enough to read text in New York all the way from Paris, according to the NSF. The difficult task of creating the EHT required experts to upgrade existing telescopes at high altitudes around the world, in places like Hawaii, Mexico, Arizona, the Spanish Sierra Nevada, the Chilean Atacama Desert and Antarctica. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration offered satellites to support the observations and complement insights made by the EHT. In a statement, NASA scientists said the task of coordinating multiple telescopes to look toward the same object in space was a difficult and impressive undertaking. The historic feat occurs almost exactly 100 years after an experiment during a total solar eclipse confirmed Albert Einsteins general theory of relativity. EHT Project Director Sheperd S. Doeleman said the success this week was thought to be impossible just one generation ago. Breakthroughs in technology, connections between the worlds best radio observatories, and innovative algorithms all came together to open an entirely new window on black holes and the event horizon," Doeleman told the NSF. DEERFIELD -- After publishing educational pamphlets, booklets and handbooks on a wide variety of health and school-related subjects for 65 years, the Channing Bete company is closing its doors. In an exclusive interview with the Greenfield Recorder, Company President Michael G. Bete announced the family-owned business would close in June, leaving the 105 employees without a job. Like many publishing companies, Channing Bete has struggled in part because information available on the Internet has decreased the demand for printed publications. The owners told the Greenfield Record they also still facing effects of the recession. The company laid off 13 people in 2014. The company is still able to pay its bills and plans to offer employees a severance package that will range from five weeks for recent hires to five months for long-term employees, which comprises much of the staff. The companys health insurance will end on July 31, the Recorder said. In the article, Bete said the company will help its employees find new jobs and encouraged local businesses to contact the company's human resources department for referrals. The company operated in Greenfield until 1978 when it moved to a new building in Deerfield. A new coalition is taking the first steps toward litigation to force the state to provide more money to public schools. The Council for Fair School Finance includes teachers unions, an association representing school committees, the local chapter of the NAACP and other education advocates. We refuse to let another generation of students enter public schools that are unconstitutionally underfunded and deeply inequitable, said Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director of Lawyers for Civil Rights and a coalition member, in a statement. We expect and demand the resources necessary to give every student the high-quality education they are entitled to under our Constitution. If litigation is needed to achieve that demand, the Council is fully prepared to move forward. The council announced its formation Tuesday with a white paper that lays out its legal argument. The House, Senate and governor have all said they are making revamping the education funding formula a priority this legislative session. Both the House and Senate passed bills to update the formula last session, but failed to reach an agreement on how to do it. This year, legislators and governor have proposed different bills. It will be up to the Legislature whether they can develop a final bill that is able to pass both bodies and be signed into law. The threat of a lawsuit will put additional pressure on lawmakers to reach an agreement quickly. The biggest previous changes to the states education funding law also came in response to lawsuits. In 1993, a Supreme Judicial Court ruling, McDuffy v. Secretary of the Executive Office of Education, laid out the states constitutional duty to educate all children. Around the same time, in anticipation of the court decision, the state enacted the landmark 1993 education reform law, which created the formula the state still uses to fund public K-12 education. In the 2005 Hancock case, the Supreme Judicial Court considered whether the state was living up to its duty. It found that, although deficiencies in public education remain, the state is working to address them. The Council for Fair School Finance, a successor to the group with the same name that brought the McDuffy and Hancock cases, argues that the state is no longer living up to its constitutional obligations to provide every student with an adequate education. A 2015 report by a state commission found that Massachusetts funding formula underfunds the actual cost of education by $1 billion a year. The Council for Fair School Finances white paper notes that the lowest-performing districts spend on average 12% more than the foundation budget, while the highest-performing districts spend on average 64% more than the foundation budget. The funding system remains broken and at this point constitutionally inadequate, the group wrote. It leaves too many districts to struggle with large class sizes and inadequate educational resources. The white paper argues that the state is violating its constitutional duty to provide an education to all children. The state is also violating the constitutions Equal Rights Clause since the lowest-performing districts are predominantly made up of students of color, while the best school districts tend to have mostly white students. This inadequate school funding formula has led to a wrenching reality: segregated schools where access to the educational opportunities is dictated by the color of ones skin, the council wrote. SPRINGFIELD A 65-year-old man pleaded guilty to his role in a large-scale drug dealing ring that trafficked in dozens of kilos of heroin and fentanyl into the city. Francisco Sandoval, of Lawrence, was one of 19 people charged by a federal grand jury in the drug conspiracy in 2016, according to court records. Monday, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl in federal court, court records said. U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled his sentencing for July 9, 201. Sandoval faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million, said Christina DiLorio-Sterling, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling. Sandoval admitted to receiving two kilograms of fentanyl from Alberto Marte, an alleged leader of a Springfield drug trafficking organization. Marte was also indicted in the ring, she said. The ring, with close ties to the Dominican Republic, was broken up by multiple law enforcement agencies working together during an eight-month investigation, officials said at the time of the arrests. The defendants are accused of peddling a lethal batch of heroin that killed at least eight residents who overdosed on it in two months in 2015, law enforcement officials said. Law enforcement officials raided multiple homes and at least one business when they made the arrests. They also seized more than three kilos of heroin. The investigation was conducted with the cooperation of the Hampden County District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Homeland Security, Massachusetts State Police and the Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee and West Springfield police departments. BOSTON - A previously deported Salvadoran national with a prior conviction for indecent assault on a child pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to sneaking back into the county, and for not registering as a sex offender. Oscar Alfaro, 47, admitted to two separate charges -- unlawful reentry of a deported alien, and failure to register as a sex offender -- in U.S. District Court in Boston. He remains in custody and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 1. He is also facing charges in state court for a reported 2016 sexual assault in Newbury. According to the U.S. Attorneys Office, Alfaro, an undocumented alien, was convicted in 2008 in Virginia for taking indecent liberties with a child. As part of the sentence, he was required to register as a sex offender in any jurisdiction where he would live or work. After serving his sentence, he was deported from the United States. Sometime after that, he snuck back into the country and was living in Massachusetts. When he became a suspect in the Newbury assault, Alfaro left Massachusetts and went to Virginia. He was apprehended by U.S. Marshals in November 2017 and brought back to Massachusetts to be charged with the Newbury incident. If convicted, he could be sentenced to between 10 and 20 years in federal prison. City of Springfield officials are defending the citys handling of phone records related to the off-duty beating allegations outside Nathan Bills Bar and Restaurant that have led to indictments against 14 current and former Springfield police officers. On Monday, MassLive reported that in 2016, as the police department conducted an internal investigation into the allegations, a city attorney obtained phone records showing that a dozen officers had texted or called each other at the time of the altercation. But after the citys police union complained that the city had no legal authority to acquire the records, the city destroyed them. City Council President Justin Hurst then accused the city of participating in a cover-up," and questioned why the city had not sought the city councils help issuing subpoenas for the records. That statement earned strong pushback from City Solicitor Eddie Pikula, who said the city had handled the situation appropriately in a press conference with Mayor Domenic Sarno and Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood. In my opinion, the City Council is not the proper agency to summons private cell phone records of any criminal suspect, Pikula wrote in a memo released Wednesday. The proper means would be through the DA, AG, or US Atty. The City has fully cooperated with each of those agencies and my understanding is that those agencies have agreed that the AG take the lead on the case. According to the Atty Generals office they have the phone records in question. Neither the city, the police department nor the office of Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni renewed efforts to independently acquire the records before Gulluni elected not to pursue charges in the case in February of 2017. Prior to that date, in late 2016, the DAs Office referred the case to the FBI and the Massachusetts Attorney Generals Office, a spokesman for the DA said. The records were eventually obtained by the AGs Office, which launched a grand jury in January 2018 that recently brought indictments alleging that officers had participated in the assault and covered it up. Pikula concluded that the city had an ethical and legal responsibility to destroy the records after obtaining them improperly, and that failing to do so could have damaged the ongoing criminal investigation, he said. The actual records were in the possession of the phone company, as such, no evidence was being destroyed; only copies that we had illegally obtained, Pikula said. The case dates back to the early morning hours of April 8, 2015, when a group of off-duty Springfield officers allegedly assaulted four civilians after an argument at Nathan Bills Bar and Restaurant. Both the criminal investigation and the disciplinary process have gone on for over four years. Pikula said the department has been determined to hold disciplinary hearings for all the officers allegedly involved, but has not done so due to the ongoing criminal case. The city was asked to stand down by the AGs Office after that agency took over the investigation, Pikula said. Recently, the city asked the AGs Office if it could obtain records and transcripts collected during its investigation so that it could move forward with disciplinary hearings, but that request was denied, according to Pikula. The officers exercised [their] Constitutional rights to remain silent, as such, we have limited ability to prosecute the misconduct charges without the Grand Jury evidence, Pikula said in the memo. The evidence currently in the citys possession includes an Internal Investigation Unit report featuring interviews with the alleged victims and with uniformed officers who responded to the scene of the fight -- several of whom are now under indictment on allegations of lying to investigators. The off-duty officers accused of participating in the assault all pleaded the Fifth and refused to be interviewed by internal affairs. In the memo, Pikula gave a timeline of the citys custody of the phone records, which include logs of calls and texts between officers but not the content of those messages. Pikula said he never personally saw the records before they were destroyed. In February of 2016, as the internal investigation was ongoing, former city labor relations attorney Rhett Towles contacted Pikula to seek guidance on issuing a subpoena for records related to the case. The city asked for advice from the state Human Resources department, which said that while a judge would need to sign off any subpoena the city could ask the phone company to provide the records voluntarily, Pikula said in the memo. I informed [Towles] that the case was being reviewed by the District Attorney for potential criminal charges, and I did not believe the City had authority to issue a subpoena for the records that were the subject of a criminal investigation considering the potential impact, Pikula said. Pikula learned in May that the labor relations department had gone ahead and subpoenaed the cell phone records, prompting a legal protest from the Springfield police union. Labor Relations Director William Mahoney told Pikula that the subpoena was issued without statutory authority, and Pikula decided that the copies of the records should be destroyed, according to his memo. Under the circumstances, ethically, I could not see how we obtained copies of the phone company records, how we could use them without facing a lawsuit for invasion of privacy from the officers, and potentially, jeopardizing their use in a criminal case and agreed that the Union demand that they be destroyed be met, Pikula said. Both Sarno and Clapprood said that their goal is to resolve disciplinary cases as soon as possible. A recent consultants report on the citys internal investigation process recommended that the department hold hearings in egregious misconduct cases, even when criminal investigations are still ongoing. But according to Pikula that would not have been practical in the Nathan Bills case, saying the lack of testimony from the accused officers would make it difficult to proceed without the evidence obtained by the AGs Office. I dont think that would have helped much in this instance, giving each of the officers taking the fifth," Pikula said. A group of city of Springfield officials are throwing their support behind a proposal that would overhaul civilian oversight of the citys police department and resolve a stalemate over whether the department should be run by a head law enforcement officer or a board of civilians. Mayor Domenic Sarno and Acting Police Chief Cheryl Clapprood unveiled a proposed city council ordinance Wednesday that would both implement recommendations by the Police Executive Research Forum to strengthen the citys civilian police hearing board and guarantee the department would continue to be led by a single Police Commissioner. The move comes amid a years-long dispute between Sarno and the city council, which has repeatedly voted to replace the Commissioner position with a board of civilian commissioners. In Wednesdays announcement, Councilors Michael Fenton and Tim Ryan threw their support behind Sarno and Clapproods plan. Im very appreciative of Acting Commissioner Clapproods continued proactive efforts to move on her initiatives and incorporate PERF recommendations too. Im thankful that we have worked together with our City Council, especially City Councilors Tim Ryan and Mike Fenton to codify these changes into an ordinance," Sarno said in a statement. "This will only continue to build on mutual trust and respect for our residents and our Police Department. MassLive and the Republican are reaching out to City Council President Justin Hurst and other proponents of a civilian commission to ask if they plan to support the new ordinance or if they will continue to fight for civilian control of the department. Beyond maintaining a single commissioner, the ordinance would draw on recommendations from PERFs recent report on the departments internal investigation process to reform how complaints by civilians are reviewed and adjudicated. We have been pushing to expand the Civilian Review Board for some time now and PERFs recommendation to give the Board more oversight just makes sense," Clapprood said in a statement. "I commend Mayor Sarno along with members of the City Council and Law Department who have worked so diligently to get this ordinance prepared and once enacted will allow me to continue moving this department forward. The proposal would replace the citys current seven-member Community Police Hearing Board with a nine-member Civilian Review Board. Like the CPHB, the CRB would have all its members appointed by the mayor and would be responsible for reviewing complaints and internal investigations, holding hearings and recommending discipline if the complaint is sustained. But in other respects, it would be strengthened -- most notably in its new ability to subpoena witnesses and require the production of evidence in its cases. While the 2010 mayoral executive order that created the CPHB gave the board subpoena power, it turned out that clause was legally invalid, City Solicitor Ed Pikula told MassLive last week. While the City Council has the authority to issue summonses, boards created by executive order do not, Pikula said -- a dilemma that became all too apparent in 2016, when the city obtained phone records between officers allegedly involved in the Nathan Bills beating case but destroyed them after a legal objection from the police union. Under the proposed ordinance, the CRB would have legislative authority to subpoena witnesses, compel their attendance, administer oaths, take the testimony of any person under oath and in connection therewith to require the production of any evidence relating to any matter in question before the Board for hearing. The ordinance would also formalize and professionalize board training and procedures, in accordance with PERFs recommendations. The city and the police department would be tasked with developing a training program for all new board members that would include investigative training, reviews of police conduct and use of force policies, confidentiality requirements and obligations under union contracts and civil service law. Panels of at least three board members would be required to do preliminary reviews of cases before deciding whether the cases merit disciplinary charges. Under the current system, preliminary reviews are sometimes conducted by just one or two board members. The ordinance includes procedures to formalize communication with both accused officers and complainants. It would create a penalty matrix to ensure that discipline for similar offenses is handed out consistently. The city would create a Civilian Oversight Coordinator to handle administration for the board and communication between the board and city departments. And the ordinance allows for voluntary mediation in cases where both the complainant and officer agree to participate, in an alternative to an adversarial hearing. The ordinance would also tighten secrecy around pending cases, prohibiting witnesses and accused officers against discussing the investigation with others. While completed police internal investigations are public under Massachusetts law, the hearings themselves and the discipline imposed have long been closed to the public as confidential personnel matters. Three Marines whose regiment was based at Fort Devens were killed in Afghanistan. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the Marines died Monday while conducting combat operations in the Parwan province of Afghanistan. The Marines were identified as: Cpl. Robert A. Hendriks, 25, of Locust Valley, New York; Sgt. Benjamin S. Hines, 31, of York, Pennsylvania; and Staff Sgt. Christopher K.A. Slutman, 43, of Newark, Delaware. They were assigned to 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, which has its headquarters at Fort Devens, a Massachusetts base. The individual Marines were based out of Pennsylvania and New York. According to the Marines, the three were deployed to Afghanistan as part of Georgia Deployment Program-Resolute Support Mission, a mission in which U.S. Marines work with the Georgian Armed Forces, to train Georgian soldiers to serve with NATO forces in Afghanistan. All three men had been serving in Afghanistan since Oct. 2, 2018, after spending several months in Georgia. U.S. Marines spokesman Maj. Roger Hollenbeck said the circumstances surrounding the attack are still under investigation, and no specific details are available. According to NATO, the three were killed in an improvised explosive device attack during a convoy near Bagram Airfield. An Afghan contractor was injured. Our focus in the wake of this attack is to support the family, friends and loved ones of our fallen Marines, Hollenbeck said. These Marines are honored for their extraordinary bravery and for their direct contribution to the defense of this nation. Slutman, an infantry rifleman who was activated as a reservist, entered the military in 2005. He had previously been deployed in Iraq and Mozambique. Hines, also an infantry rifleman who was activated as a reservist, had served in the military since 2006. He had previously deployed to Iraq. Hendriks, a reservist infantry machine gunner, had served in the military since 2012. "We feel and mourn the loss of these Americans with their families and loved ones. They volunteered to protect their country. We will continue our mission, said Gen. Scott Miller, Commanding General of Resolute Support and United States Forces Afghanistan. This is a breaking news story that will be updated. Correction: This story was corrected to note that while the unit has its headquarters at Fort Devens, the Marines were based in Pennsylvania and New York. AMHERST University of Massachusetts officials, including Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy, will attend the formal opening Friday of the 70,000-square-foot Business Innovation Hub addition to the Isenberg School of Management. Although the facility has been in use since January, the university had already planned the April 12 celebration of the $62 million project, which begins at 1 p.m. along 121 Presidents Drive. The new expansion and partial renovation of the Isenberg School of Management nearly doubles the schools current size to address Isenbergs monumental growth in the last decade, while introducing new facilities for faculty, staff and 5,000 students in undergraduate, masters, and PhD programs, UMass said in a prepared statement. Founded in 1947, the Isenberg School of Management on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus, has 42,000 alumni in 86 countries. Nearly 1,300 students are enrolled in the Isenberg MBA and can focus their studies in health care administration, entrepreneurship, finance and marketing. In addition to Subbaswamy, Interim Dean Tom Moliterno, Associate Dean Nefertiti Walker, and the projects Architect Bjarke Ingels will be on hand for the celebration, the school said. Richard Cole was the last of his breed. The World War II veterans death at 103 brought a turning point in U.S. history back into the news and reminded us of a time that is fading into the history books. The story of the Doolittle Raiders deserves far more than the brief, anecdotal attention Coles death provided. The air raid on Tokyo took place on April 18, 1942 and rallied an American nation still reeling from the shock of Pearl Harbor just four months earlier. As importantly, it exposed the falsehood of the Japan leaderships promise to its people that their nation was invulnerable to such an attack. The psychological impact of the raid was more important to each side than the actual damage it caused. Cole was Jimmy Doolittles co-pilot in the lead plane of a mission that sent 80 Doolittle Raiders over the capital of Japan. Cole recalled that the planes flew so close to the ground that Tokyo citizens assumed it was a typical friendly flyover and waved to the aircraft. The raids success provoked Japan to attack the American base at Midway in the mid-Pacific in June of 1942. But prior to that naval conflict, the Americans had broken Japanese codes and knew about it in time to claim a huge victory that began to swing the war in the Allies favor. More than three more years would pass before World War II would be won. The last Raiders reunion came for three surviving members in 2013. Since 2016, Cole had been the only Doolittle Raider left. His passing came nine days before the raids 77th anniversary. The raid gained enduring fame through the 1944 movie, "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo,'' based on a book written by a Doolittle Raid pilot. In 2001, the film Pearl Harbor, reminded Americans of a daring mission that carried an enormous level of risk, even by the standards of such wartime attacks. Because Army bombers were not designed to take off from or land on aircraft carriers, the planes barely made it off the deck of the USS Hornet, where the raid was launched. Not only could they not return to the ship after the attack, they ran low on fuel after the bombing and did not reach air strips readied for their landing in China. Fifteen planes crash-landed in Japanese-occupied territory or off the coast of China. One made it to the Soviet Union. Of the 80 airmen, three were killed by crash landings or while parachuting and eight were captured by the Japanese. Three of those eight were executed, a fourth died as a prisoner and the other four survived more than three years of brutal solitary confinement. Cole was one of the more fortunate heroes. He landed on a mountain pine tree, suffered only a black eye and soon connected with allied Chinese guerrillas. The Doolittle Raid remains a testament to real-life patriotism, risk and sacrifice that dwarfs movie renditions and helps explain how The Greatest Generation of World War II-era Americans got their name. Now, nearly 26 years after Jimmy Doolittles death at age 96 in 1993, all of the Raiders are gone. Military historians and others have stepped up their efforts to keep the knowledge of the World War II heroes alive in our consciousness. Hollywood has helped at times, and the 75th anniversary of D-Day this June will provide another opportunity to recall a generation that saved the world from a totalitarian nightmare. Most Americans today would not have recognized the name of Richard Cole, who was born in Ohio and died in Texas, but they should understand what he and his comrades contributed to our country and to world history. None of the Doolittle Raiders, and a rapidly decreasing number of World War II vets, are around anymore to tell us their story. Thats why its even more important for our current generations to do it for them, and to carry on the message and legacy they left. Sen. Elizabeth Warren released her tax return for 2018 on Wednesday, offering a window into her household income of about $846,000 last year. The Democratic presidential candidates disclosure followed her releasing returns dating back a decade in August. Ive put out 11 years of my tax returns because no one should ever have to guess who their elected officials are working for, Warren said in a statement on Wednesday. Doing this should be law. Warren and her husband, Bruce H. Mann, filed jointly reporting an adjusted gross income of $846,394 for 2018. Warren received $176,280 as a senator representing Massachusetts and reported several hundred thousand dollars in income from book deals. She has written just under one dozen books, including her 2017 book This Fight is Our Fight," for which she received a $300,000 advance. Mann, a professor at Harvard, earned $402,827. The couple paid $230,965 in federal taxes - a tax rate of 27.3 percent - and donated just over $50,000 to charity, according to their returns. She was one of several Democratic contenders to release her returns this week. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, of New York, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, of Minnesota, disclosed their returns publicly. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Tuesday he would share a decade of tax returns on Monday. After being dragged into the days-long spat between Gov. Charlie Baker and Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins, Attorney General Maura Healey said Tuesday that its up to Rollins who to prosecute in her county and she looks forward to talking with her directly. Healey, who endorsed Rollins in her general election last fall, is one of several prominent state officials eagerly awaiting a meeting with Rollins or her team this week to discuss a March 25 policy memo that sparked a bitter exchange over the weekend between the Baker administration and Rollins. The animosity began late last week when Public Safety Secretary Thomas Turco wrote a letter to Rollins raising concerns with a memo she issued last month outlining new criminal justice policies for her office, including a list of crimes that she no longer wanted to prosecute. Rollins responded over the course of several days by blasting Baker's office for releasing the letter to the press without notifying her. The district attorney also suggested the administration was misogynistic and lacking in diversity, and made it personal by bringing up Baker's family and the treatment the governor's youngest son received by law enforcement after he was accused of, but never charged with, groping a woman on a plane. Healey was also not immune from Rollins, who questioned why Healey had not jumped to her defense. "Silence is assent," Rollins said, according to the Boston Globe. "I think District Attorney Rollins, first of all, is doing what she promised to do. I think she's put forth some important policy ideas and considerations," Healey said Tuesday, in her first interview with reporters on the topic. The attorney general said she had not yet read Rollinss policy memo, but looked forward to meeting with her this week to hear it explained directly. Second, its her prerogative. Shes the district attorney and its her prerogative to determine how she wants to exercise her prosecutorial discretion, so well talk more later this week, she said. The attorney general said she didn't know why Rollins chose to criticize her for not commenting earlier. "I'm not sure what that's in reference too," Healey said. "I hadn't had a chance to review the policy memo nor had I discussed it with District Attorney Rollins." Healey isn't the only one expecting to meet with Rollins or her staff this week. Turco and Rollins's teams are also working to schedule a meeting for later this week, but a spokesman for the secretary said Tuesday he had no further details. "I'm looking forward to the meeting that will take place this week between Secretary Turco and his folks and her team to talk about the things we can do together and make sure we keep people safe and provide criminal justice in Suffolk County," Baker said Monday afternoon. Baker called Rollins on Saturday to discuss the situation and try to put it behind them. Rollins offered appreciative words for the phone call, but then turned around on Sunday and went back after the governor. "This is an example of when someone slaps you in the face and thinks youre going to turn away and cry. And you take your earrings off, roundhouse kick them dead in the face, and then punch them to the ground," she was reported saying at a rally Sunday organized by community activists. Asked if he was bothered that Rollins resumed her heated rhetoric after their conversation, Baker said, "I'm not much on personal attacks. I prefer to focus on the issues." Healey knows what it's like to be on the receiving end of a letter from the Baker administration taking issue with a decision she has made. The Democrat faced criticism from the governor during his first term for her stepped up enforcement of the state's ban on assault weapons, including copycat weapons. Though she said she did not remember getting a heads up from the administration in that case that its letter would be released to the press, Healey said it was "ancient history." "I think what's important is that people find ways to communicate, talk to, work with one another. We've tried to do that across a number of fronts and I expect that's what we'll see as we move forward," Healey said. Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan, whose jurisdiction abuts Rollins's territory, said she had nothing to say about the flareup between her counterpart in Suffolk County and Baker. Asked if she had any of her own concerns with Rollins's reforms, Ryan said, "Every district attorney is doing their best to represent their constituents and protect the pubic safety in their county," and declined further comment. Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett was similarly wary of getting dragged into the controversy. "They both say they're going to try to work something out so that's up to them," Blodgett told the News Service after an event at the State House honoring individuals and organizations for their work to support witnesses and victims of crime. But like Baker and Healey, Blodgett said he'd welcome a meeting with the new district attorney. I look forward to DA Rollins talking to her fellow district attorneys, hopefully at some future meeting, Blodgett said. BOSTON -- Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia had trouble sleeping Monday night as he thought about returning to the Red Sox lineup for the first time in nearly 11 months Tuesday. Once he got back on the field, he was overwhelmed by the fan reaction to a milestone in his long comeback attempt. I was trying too hard. I was kind of in a big spot, Pedroia said of his first at-bat. I appreciate it so much. I think everyone knows what Ive been going through and trying to come back from. Pedroia had one slightly scary moment in the seventh inning, when he got tangled up with Jays outfielder Teoscar Hernandez on a stolen base attempt. Hernandezs spike got caught in Pedroias shoelace but didnt cause any pain for the 35-year-old. My knee cant get any worse so its going to be alright, Pedroia joked. Thanks to that knee, Pedroia appeared in only three games last year as he worked his way back from a cartilage restoration procedure in Nov. 2017. He experienced multiple setbacks, spending most of the summer working out at home in Arizona before shutting things down and refocusing his efforts on 2019. Pedroia wasnt himself offensively in his first three at-bats, squandering three chances with men in scoring position by grounding into a double play and flying out twice.. He finally broke through in the ninth, hitting a leadoff single against Toronto closer Ken Giles. After my second at-bat, I kind of calmed down and was able to try to have good at-bats and see the ball," Pedroia said. "I was amped up my first couple and hit a line drive to right. That kind of settled me down a little bit. The ninth inning, youre obviously facing their closer (Ken Giles) so youre trying to get on base. I was fortunate enough to get a ball and find the hole. Pedroias single wasnt enough for the Sox, who fell to 3-9 with a 7-5 loss to Toronto in the home opener. Even though the team lost, the day represented a victory for Pedroia, who admitted he was nervous leading up to first pitch. Ive been working for 16 months just to get ready to do this," Pedroia said. Last year, I played three games. I dont feel like I did last year. Im going to be fine. Pedroia said just getting back on the field doesnt mean hes fully satisfied with his comeback effort, adding that his goal is to play for three full seasons until his contract expires. Though Tuesday was just one step toward reaching those lofty expectations, the significance of the day wasnt lost on Pedroia. To be able to play in the home opener, it meant a lot to me," Pedroia said. I feel like I accomplished something out of this. During the whole thing, I really havent had any good news or anything. Id see a doctor and (hed give me) bad news. At some point you want something good. By September, Worcesters Canal District will have 48 high-end apartments above what will soon be a public market and restaurant. Developer Allen Fletcher said the Kelley Square Lofts, which feature high ceilings and exposed utilities, have already begun renting. They range in price from $1,400 per month for a studio to $2,500 for a two-bedroom with panoramic views of Kelley Square, and include a private courtyard area in the center of the building. This will be, Im not to shy to say, a totally cool place to live, Fletcher said. As we know, its getting more and more exciting around here. Theres going to be a lot of dust in the air, but when it clears, its going to be basically better than ever. The apartments also feature a community room, terrace, fitness center, mail room, key card parking and a bike garage. Fletcher said when designing the development, the goal was to build on whats already happening in the neighborhood. The apartments and public market are adjacent to Crompton Place, which houses the popular BirchTree Bread Co. and Crompton Collective, and is located only a few blocks from the future home of the Worcester Red Sox. You can come home at night and go to the marketplace, you can ride your bike up to Union Station, take the train to Boston or just work in the neighborhood. Its going to be more local than anything, he said. Its just wonderfully exciting to live here because everything is within reach. Fletcher said a super convenience store will be built across the street, giving tenants better access to necessities that arent currently within walking distance. The three floors of housing include 12 studio units, 16 one-bedrooms, 20 two-bedrooms and two upscale units facing Kelley Square. Downstairs, the public market will feature a mix of large and small vendors that will most likely include a deli, beer and wine shop, produce section and food court with skylights. Fletcher said smaller vendors will be diverse and food-oriented. A roll-down door will lead from the marketplace to a restaurant and taproom adjacent to Kelley Square, which includes a plaza for outdoor seating. The buildings first floor will have entrances from Green and Harding streets. Were very proud of the layout and its taking shape, Fletcher said. And as far as the notorious Kelley Square intersection one of the top crash sites in the state Fletcher said hes happy with the status quo but believes the upcoming redesign is necessary. The state Department of Transportation plans to convert the square into a peanut-shaped roundabout, which Fletcher said will improve pedestrian safety. Im very optimistic, he said. A Clark University freshman who says he was falsely accused of removing a condom during sex has filed a federal lawsuit against the university, claiming he was the victim of gender-based discrimination in being found responsible for violating the schools sexual exploitation provision. The lawsuit, filed Friday, claims such discrimination has occurred at the Worcester university before, citing a 2015 case in which another freshman accused of rape was allegedly expelled without investigation. The current lawsuit charges Clark University with gender discrimination, defamation, declaratory judgment and other offenses in connection with a case involving a current freshman, who is referred to in the lawsuit as John Doe. A spokeswoman said Clark University does not comment on pending litigation. John Doe claims the female student falsely accused him in September of removing a condom during intercourse, according to the lawsuit. The female student forced Doe to provide $68 for a morning-after contraceptive. She told Doe by text message, It is not fair that only I am expected to pay for what you did. What you did is not only unforgivable but non-consensual, according to the lawsuit. On Oct. 1, 2018, a week after the sexual encounter, Doe was notified that he was being reviewed for possible sexual exploitation and sexual assault violations. The lawsuit claims that the universitys sexual assault complaint process had changed drastically in preceding years, eliminating the right of the accused to have access to details of a complaint, a complete record of a complaint, the right to question an accuser and the right of representation on the judging panel by peers of the accused. Those rights have been eliminated in cases of alleged sexual misconduct and not in cases of alleged violent offenses, according to the lawsuit. Doe, a Massachusetts resident, says he suffered unjustified disgrace, humiliation, loss of reputation, mental anguish and emotional harm, among other losses, according to the lawsuit. The plaintiff seeks compensatory damages to be determined at trial, attorneys fees, a permanent injunction nullifying finding and sanctions and requiring Clark to purge all records of the accusation and related proceedings, findings and discipline. The procedure by which her claim was adjudicated, the outcome, and the sanctions reflect gender bias of Clark and its agents against the rights of males accused of sexual misconduct, the lawsuit reads. As a result plaintiff has been and continues to be deprived of equal access to educational opportunity at Clark and is facing grievous harm to his reputation and his future education and career prospects. In addition to Clark University, the lawsuit names other employees of Clark, including President David Angel, Nadja Johnson, Lynn Levey, Adam Keyes, Holly Dolan, Evette Walters, Jeffrey McMaster, Cherilyn Bonin and Davis Baird. Also named was a Clark undergraduate student. The lawsuit claims that Clarks treatment of those accused of sexual misconduct fits in with a national trend making it easier for victims of sexual assault to make and prove their claims and for the schools to adopt punitive measures in response. Those measures have been spurred by the Office of Civil Rights and the Department of Education, according to the lawsuit. Doe says he has never been provided a copy of the female students written complaint. In 2013, according to the lawsuit, Clark handled sexual misconduct complaints in the same manner as other complaints, providing the accused student with a written statement of the complaint. Additionally, the board that acted on sexual misconduct and other complaints included student members. However, the following year, Clark changed its policy, effectively taking sexual misconduct complaints out of the universitys regular disciplinary system. Clark started using special sexual misconduct boards that did not include students, according to the lawsuit. Separate procedures for sexual misconduct complaints were established in 2015, allowing for access to review the full case file prior to the hearing, the lawsuit reads. In 2016, the policy was changed again, according to the lawsuit, limiting the right to review to just an investigative report rather than the entire case file in regards to sexual misconduct complaints. Doe and his attorney were allowed to review a report summarizing the investigation on Oct. 23, but were not allowed to have a copy of that report or other materials from the investigation, according to the lawsuit. The report only included a charge of sexual exploitation. The sexual assault accusation was dropped without notice or explanation to Doe, the lawsuit reads. A Sexual Offense Hearing Board was convened on Nov. 16 to decide on the sexual exploitation claim. In line with Clarks policy, Doe was not allowed to confront or cross-examine the accuser. Doe was allowed to bring an attorney to the hearing but the attorney was not allowed to participate, according to the lawsuit. Doe was found responsible of violating the Sexual Exploitation provision of Clarks Sexual Offense policy. The lawsuit claims the decision to find Doe responsible was based not on physical evidence, but rather a credibility determination in favor of the female student because of her gender. The lawsuit cites a 2015 case in which a Clark freshman was expelled after being accused of raping another freshman student. In that case, the accused student also filed a federal lawsuit, claiming Clark gave the accuser preferential treatment because of her gender and treated her accusations as true without investigating him. That lawsuit was settled in November 2016 on undisclosed terms. This lawsuit argues that a letter informing Doe of the decision to find him responsible of sexual exploitation did not include the basis, grounds or reasoning for the decision. Doe filed appeals, which were denied. Doe was ordered to undergo training, including writing a 500- to 600-word essay considering who was hurt by the event. He did not write the essay because he did not believe the encounter harmed of affected anyone and because he considered the assignment to be falsely premised on the validity of the sexual exploitation finding, the lawsuit reads. Doe was then brought before Clarks University Conduct Board, which deals with non-sexual offenses. The board found him guilty of disobeying the order to write the letter. Does student account was then frozen so he could not sign up for fall classes or housing for the semester, according to the lawsuit. If Doe does not write the letter, he was warned that he could face additional sanctions including separation from the university. By Bella Genga, Bloomberg News | Apr. 09, 2019 Kenya Airways Plc. said it will be profitable within four years if the government approves its proposal to replace the airports authority as operator of the East African nation's aviation hub. Sub-Saharan Africa's third-biggest carrier by passenger traffic will see net income as revenue surges to US$2 billion in 2022, according to an emailed statement by the carrier. That compares with revenue of 110.8 billion shillings (US$1.1 billion) and a record loss of 26.2 billion shillings in the 12 months through March 2016. Company officials were in Kenya's parliament Tuesday to discuss their proposal to create a unit to operate Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi under a three-decade concession. Kenya Airports Authority, the current operator, will receive annual fees under the deal. The airports agency will separately appear before lawmakers Wednesday to explain how the proposed joint venture would affect it. "The proposed business model where the national aviation hub is run under the same group structure with the national airline has proven successful in other countries," Kenya Airways said in the statement, citing Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates, whose airlines it has lost market share to. "It is the most efficient way of using national assets to work for the country," it said. The airline said that it's less competitive partly because it pays fees to the airports authority and the government, which its rivals don't at their hubs. It warned that if its performance further deteriorates, it will affect operations of the airports agency that derives most of its revenue from the carrier. The proposed venture is aimed at achieving "profitability, and in the long run, ability to generate profit before tax and dividends for its shareholders," it said in the statement. Kenya Airways is 48.9 percent owned by the Kenyan government. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 Acne refers to a skin condition that occurred due to the clogging of hair follicles with oil or dead skin cells. Although a common skin disorder mostly found in teenagers, Acne can be persistent even after treatments. Many novel medicines & therapies have been developed to treat the symptoms of Acne, which, in turn, are escalating the sales of acne treatment products and its market on the global platform. Considering the exponential traction, the market perceives currently; Market Research Future (MRFR), in its recently published study report asserts that the global Acne Treatment Market will accrue colossally by 2023, posting approximately 5 % CAGR throughout the forecast period (2017 2023). The increasing prevalence of the acne and growing teenage population are two of the key driving forces that are pushing up the growth in the market. Environmental changes such as depletion of ozone layers and pollution foster the market growth, predominantly increasing the occurrences of Acnes. Additionally, factors such as the increasing population and growing urbanization coupled with the spreading awareness towards the availability of treatments contribute to the market. Simultaneously, improving economic conditions are providing impetus to the market growth, enabling access to the quality life and improving the quality of healthcare, worldwide. Moreover, substantial investments put in the R&D activities for the innovation & development of new medical devices, treatments & medicines foster the growth of the market, excellently. On the flip side, factors such as the unmet medical needs, drug resistance, and the high treatment costs are impeding the growth of the market. Nevertheless, factors such as technological advancements are expected to support market growth, presenting more advanced and cost-effective treatments. Download Free Sample @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5675 Acne Treatment Market Segmentations For enhanced understanding, the market has been segmented into five key dynamics: By Type : Cystic Acne, Inflammatory Acne, Post-Surgical or Wound Acne among others. By Treatment : Therapeutic Devices (lasers, micro-dermabrader, dermabraders, others), Medication {Retinoid (adapalene, tretinoin, & others), Antibiotics (erythromycin, clindamycin, others), others}, and others. By Treatment Modalities : Topical, Oral, and others. By End-user : Hospitals and Clinics among others. By Regions : North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Rest-of-the-World. Read Complete Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/acne-treatment-market-5675 Global Acne Treatment Market Regional Analysis The North American region, heading with the huge number of patient population, dominates the global acne treatment market with the largest market share. Factors such as the favorable reimbursement scenario and high per capita healthcare expenditures substantiate the growth of the regional market. Moreover, factors such as the presence of many large players in the market and a well-developed healthcare sector impact the market growth, positively. Furthermore, factors such as the adoption of sedentary lifestyle and increasing expenditures on cosmetics are supporting the market growth in the region. The US, backed by a wide uptake of new technologies accounts for the key contributor to the market growth in the region. The acne treatment market in the European region accounts for the second-largest market, globally. The resurging economy in the region is undoubtedly playing a key role, acting as a headwind that pushes the market up. Besides, the availability of funds for research, a huge patient population, and the increasing teenage population within the region are some of the key driving forces behind the growth of the regional market. The European acne treatment market is expected to grow at a considerable CAGR. The Asia Pacific acne treatment market is rapidly emerging as a profitable market, globally. Factors such as the vast advancements in technology and derma-science especially in rapidly emerging countries such as India and China are leading the acne treatment market in the region. Besides, factors such as the availability of low-cost medications for the treatment, increasing prevalence of acne, and fast-proliferating healthcare sector fosters the growth in the regional market. On the other hand, owing to the presence of poor economies, stringent government policies and lack of health care services especially within the African region, the MEA market for acne treatment is expected to witness a sluggish growth during the forecast period 2017 to 2023. While, the Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Kuwait will provide a boost to the market growth attributing to the well-developed healthcare sector and the huge healthcare expenditure. Global Acne Treatment Market Competitive Analysis Highly competitive, the acne treatment market appears to be widely expanded and fragmented characterized by several small and large-scale players. To gain a competitive edge and to sustain their position in the market, these players incorporate various strategic initiatives such as partnership, acquisition, collaboration, expansion, and product launch. The structure of the market is changing due to the acquisition of local players by multinational companies. Because of the increasing competition in the market, multinational companies are using the strategy of acquisition, which increases the profit of the company while significantly reducing the competition. Major Players: Key players leading the global acne treatment market include Galderma S.A. (Switzerland), Stiefel Laboratories, Inc. (US), ALLERGAN (Republic of Ireland), Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. (US), GlaxoSmithKline Plc. (UK), Valeant (Canada), Bayer AG (Germany), Roche Holding AG (Switzerland), and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Israel) among others. Get Exclusive Discount @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/5675 Industry/Innovation/ Related News: February 14, 2019 Rodan & Fields, LLC (North America), a manufacturer and multi-level marketing company specializing in skincare products launched its new game-changing Acne System, named Spotless. This all-new targeted system can treat two very different kinds of acne. March 07, 2019 Foamix Pharmaceuticals (the US), a leading global Pharmaceutical company announced that the FDA has accepted NDA for its acne treatment FMX101. The FDAs acceptance of its marketing application seeking approval for FMX101, a topical minocyline foam, for the treatment of non-nodular, moderate-to-severe inflammatory lesions of acne vulgaris in patients is due for the action by October 20, 2019. Market Research Future (MRFR)s latest assessment reveals that the global autoimmune disease treatment market is expected to thrive at 11.2% CAGR during the forecast period 2017 to 2023. The market signifies massive unmet needs for diagnosis. It is projected to favor the expansion of the global market by bringing advanced, precise and effective drugs and treatments. Definite causes for the development of autoimmune diseases have not been identified. Thus, the emphasis is on the early diagnosis of the disease. Increasing awareness coupled with large-scale prevalence is likely to aid the proliferation of the autoimmune disease treatment market in the foreseeable future. Get Free Sample Copy @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5586 Expenditures for the treatment of these diseases are on the rise and is poised to exhibit a similar trend in the forthcoming years. As per the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S., the healthcare expenditure for autoimmune diseases has reached half of that of the cancer expenditure. Furthermore, the introduction of favorable policies for insurance reimbursements are anticipated to augment the market over the next couple of years. However, factors such as side effects, counterfeit drugs, and expensiveness of the treatment are forecasted to check the expansion of the autoimmune disease treatment market across the review period. Segmental Analysis: By disease type, the global autoimmune disease treatment market has been segmented into localized, and systemic. The localized segment is further sub-segmented into multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, and other. The systemic segment is sub-segmented into rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, lupus, and others. By diagnosis, the autoimmune disease treatment market has been segmented into ELISA, dot blot, line blot, agglutination, double immune diffusion, western blotting, multiplex immunoassay, and others. By therapeutic products, the global autoimmune disease treatment market has been segmented into drugs and therapeutic and monitoring equipment. The drugs segment is further sub-segmented into biologics, immunosuppressant, anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroids, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. By distribution channel, the autoimmune disease treatment market is segmented into hospitals & clinics, diagnostic centers, drug stores, pharmacies, and others. Regional Outlook: The Americas dominate the autoimmune disease treatment market owing to the rising cases of autoimmune diseases, and high healthcare expenditure. As per the data suggested by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2015, the total healthcare expenditure in the U.S. was reported to be USD 3.2 trillion, whereas, hospital care accounted for a share of 32.3%. Europe holds the second position in the autoimmune disease treatment market. It is expected that the financial support provided by the government bodies for research & development and amendments in reimbursement policies in the healthcare is likely to drive the European market Owing to a huge patient pool and developing healthcare technology, Asia Pacific is the fastest growing autoimmune disease treatment market. Healthcare expenditure is also found to be escalating in various Asia Pacific countries. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare suggested that in the year 2015-2016, the total healthcare expenditure was USD 170.4 billion, which is around 3.6% higher than the expenditure during 2014-2015. The Middle East & Africa holds the lowest market due to poor medical facilities, and lack of technical knowledge. Competitive Dashboard: Some of the prominent players profiled in this MRFR report are Abbott Laboratories, Genentech Inc., Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Amgen Inc., Biogen Idec Inc., Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Danaher, Bio-Rad, Elan Corporation Plc, F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, HYCOR Biomedical, Eli Lilly and Company, Johnson & Johnson Inc., Siemens, Squibb Company, Merck & Co. Inc., and Thermo Fisher Scientific. Industry News: In January 2019, Cabaletta Bio, launched out of the University of Pennsylvania, has raised USD 50 Mn for the treatment of for cell-based autoimmune disease. In January 2019, Banner Life Sciences LLC, a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company, has received tentative approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for BAFIERTAM developed for the treatment of relapsing forms of Multiple Sclerosis. Browse Complete 85 Pages Premium Research Report Enabled with Respective Tables and Figures @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/autoimmune-disease-treatment-market-5586 Detailed Table of Contents: Chapter 1. Report Prologue Chapter 2. Market Introduction 2.1 Definition 2.2 Scope Of The Study 2.2.1 Research Objective 2.2.2 Assumptions 2.2.3 Limitations Chapter 3. Research Methodology 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Primary Research 3.3 Secondary Research 3.4 Market Size Estimation Chapter 4. Market Dynamics 4.1 Drivers 4.2 Restrains 4.3 Opportunities 4.4 Challenges 4.5 Macroeconomic Indicators 4.6 Technology Trends & Assessment Chapter 5. Market Factor Analysis 5.1 Porters Five Forces Analysis 5.1.1 Bargaining Power Of Suppliers 5.1.2 Bargaining Power Of Buyers 5.1.3 Threat Of New Entrants 5.1.4 Threat Of Substitutes 5.1.5 Intensity Of Rivalry TOC Continued! Send an Enquiry @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/5586 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 Future Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India Phone: +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Calcified and tortuous peripheral vasculature can be very difficult to get instruments into, even before therapy can be administered. BIOTRONIK is releasing a new device specifically designed for exchange and support of guidewires within the peripheral vessels, which the company claims will allow physicians to access sites that were otherwise exceedingly challenging. The new Carnelian Support catheter is used to prevent buckling of guidewires, something that can occur inadvertently when the guidewires tip meets a highly calcified area. Being quite tiny (1.6 or 1.8 French at the tip), while having a tungsten braided shaft, allows the device to get into some of the narrowest vasculature safely. Platinum radiopaque markers let clinicians see the location of the catheter on the fluoroscope screen. To help project force from the proximal end to the tip of the catheter, its structure is made to get slightly softer the closer to the tip it is. This lets the physician have more ability to push while reducing the potential of injury near the tip. I was impressed by the Carnelian Support and Japanese crossing technique that enable the treatment of very complex lesions, as I recently had a chance to demonstrate in live cases at CLIC 2019, said Dr. Marco Manzi, Policlinico Abano Terme, Italy, a published statement. The Carnelian Support catheter is the right tool to tackle the most challenging crossings even in below-the-ankle (BTA) arteries. Via: BIOTRONIK Extra: Catheters Market Growth Rate Application Analysis, Regional Outlook, Growth Trends, Top Players, Competitive Strategies With Size, Share, Type, Uses, Revenue To 2019-2023 Also referred to as dermal fillers, Facial Injectable is products which help in facial rejuvenation or bio-engineering. With growing age, human facial skin loses subcutaneous fat naturally and the skin is lured closer to the facial working muscles. Thus, wrinkles and smile lines become visible. Cosmetic treatments, anti-aging, and face rejuvenation have changed the rules of reinvention and engagement. Facial Injectable Market Key Players Some of the key players in this market are: Allergan Galderma Integra Lifesciences Merz Pharma Sanofi SciVision Biotech Inc Sinclair Suneva Medical Valeant Pharmaceutical Get Free Sample @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1527 Facial Injectable Market Segmental Analysis The Global Facial Injectable Market has been segmented on the basis of type, application, and region. By mode of type, the global facial injectable market has been segmented into collagen, botulinum toxin, hyaluronic acid, and polymers & particles. By mode of application, the global facial injectable market has been segmented into face-lift, facial line correction treatment, lip treatments, and others. Facial Injectable Market Regional Insights Geographically, the Facial Injectable Market span across regions namely North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest-of-the-World. Among all the regions, North America is presumed to dominate the global market for facial injectable and is anticipated to reach USD 3.42 billion by the end of the review period. The growth is attributed to the rising approvals of facial injectable products in emerging countries. Asia Pacific is the fastest growing market during the assessment period owing to the presence of major countries such as India and China. The market in this region is majorly influenced by the tourism and fashion industry. One of the hindering factors of this region is the high cost of treatment and poor per capita income. Europe is considered to hold a substantial market share due to the growing consumer disposable income coupled with the presence of advanced healthcare infrastructure. Moreover, the porn industry is also affecting the market to a great extent and it has been noticed that the rise of cosmetic surgery has a linear relationship with bandwidth of the internet. Facial Injectable Market Key Findings The Facial Injectable Global Market and is expected to reach USD9.04 billion by 2021. Botulinum Toxin holds the largest share of the market. North America holds the largest market share of facial injectable market and is anticipated to reach USD 3.42 billion by the end of forecast period. Globally, Asia-Pacific the fastest growing region and expected to grow at the CAGR of 13.6% during the forecast period. Industry News October 3, 2108: Allergan plc has recently announced the launch of a new JUVEDERM advertising campaign which has been created to empower the next generation of consumers to JUVEDERM IT. JUVEDERM IT was designed to further Allergans goal of making the JUVEDERM Collection of Fillers the first choice for consumers. Drivers Impacting the Market The increasing number of older people led by baby boomers generation with high income are the major drivers of the global facial injectable market. According to the World Health Organization, the proportion of worlds population will increase from 12 to 22 percent between 2015 and 2050 which will drive the market. The primal desire to remain young is another major driver of the market. With the rising influence of lifestyle, film and fashion industry have led to the growing demand for medications in order to slow down aging and its signs. Youth wellness and health is becoming a status symbol and youthful appearance is penetrating peoples lives. With the growing media such as lifestyle magazines and televisions and craze for youthful appearance, the market for facial injectable is propelling during the assessment period. Moreover, stem cell technology, gene therapy, and targeted delivery of nutrients using biotechnology are anticipated to open gates for anti-aging drugs. Development of biomarkers for physiochemical modification in the human body provides prospects for the market. Browse Complete 105 Pages Premium Research Report Enabled with Tables and Figures @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/facial-injectable-market-1527 About Market Research Future: At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members. Contact: Market Research Future Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India +1 646 845 9312 Email: salesteam@marketresearchfuture.com Global surgical robots market is valued approximately USD 3.6 billion in 2017 and is anticipated to grow with a healthy growth rate of more than 10.4 % over the forecast period 2018-2025. Technological advancements in surgical robots and increasing need for automation in healthcare industry are some key trends that are responsible for the wide adoption of surgical robots globally. Global surgical robots market is majorly driven by increasing funding for surgical robot researchers. According to the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS) in 2018, the research foundation of the ASCRS has raised funds to support research an educational program related to rectal and colon diseases. Also, the Research Foundation has awarded over 120 grants around $4 million to colorectal researchers to investigate and develop a broad spectrum of colorectal diseases and develop novel robot surgical techniques for colorectal surgery patients. Through this funding, research in Robotic Surgical Technology Grant offers an opportunity to track research interest, specifically in robotic surgical technology in the field of rectal and colon surgery. As a result, the demand & adoption of surgical robots would increase thereby, aiding the growth of the market over the forecast period of 2018-2025. However, high cost associated with surgical robotic procedures and increase in injuries are major factors that impede the growth of the surgical robots market over the forecast period. On the basis of segmentation, the surgical robots market is segmented into component, application and end-user. The component segment of global surgical robots market is classified into instruments & accessories, robotic systems and services of which instruments and accessories is anticipated to grow at the highest rate owing to the increased demand for consumables due to their disposable nature. Based on application segment, the global surgical robots market is classified into general surgery, gynecological surgery, orthopedic surgery urological surgery and neurosurgery of which general surgery is expected to grow with highest CAGR owing to the as surgical robots are widely used in general surgeries. The end-user segment includes hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers of which hospitals accounts for the largest contributing segment as hospitals are using these surgical robots specifically for procedures such as hysterectomy, prostatectomy, hernia repair, colon, cholecystectomy, rectal procedures, sacrocolpopexy, mitral valve repair, nephrectomy, and transoral robotic surgery. The regional analysis of surgical robots market is considered for the key regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and ROW. North America have occupied major share in the global Surgical Robots market. Various significant reasons for the dominance of North America are increasing adoption of surgical robots, development of advanced surgical robot technology and government initiatives promoting surgical robots. Whereas, Asia-Pacific is expected to emerge as the fastest growing region in terms of market share. The growth of Asia-Pacific region is witnessed owing to collaboration of the government with regional universities for research and development purpose along with the improving healthcare infrastructure. Request Free Sample Report at https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3900653-global-surgical-robots-market-size-study-by-component The leading market players mainly include- Intuitive Surgical Stryker Mazor Robotics Smith & Nephew Renishaw Medrobotics Transenterix Think Surgical (Subsidiary of Curexo Technology) MedTech Hansen Medical The objective of the study is to define market sizes of different segments & countries in recent years and to forecast the values to the coming eight years. The report is designed to incorporate both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the industry within each of the regions and countries involved in the study. Furthermore, the report also caters the detailed information about the crucial aspects such as driving factors & challenges which will define the future growth of the market. Additionally, the report shall also incorporate available opportunities in micro markets for stakeholders to invest along with the detailed analysis of competitive landscape and product offerings of key players. The detailed segments and sub-segment of the market are explained below: By Component: Instruments & Accessories Robotic Systems Services By Application: General Surgery Gynecological Surgery Orthopaedic Surgery Urological Surgery Neurosurgery By End-user: Hospitals Ambulatory Surgical Centres By Regions: North America o U.S. o Canada Europe o UK o Germany o ROE Asia Pacific o China o India o Japan o ROAPEC LAMEA o Brazil o Mexico ROW o Middle East & Africa Furthermore, years considered for the study are as follows: Historical year 2015, 2016 Base year 2017 Forecast period 2018 to 2025 Target Audience of the Global Surgical Robots Market in Market Study: Key Consulting Companies & Advisors Large, medium-sized, and small enterprises Venture capitalists Value-Added Resellers (VARs) Third-party knowledge providers Investment bankers Investors Table of Content Chapter 1. Market Definition and Scope Chapter 2. Research Methodology Chapter 3. Executive Summary Chapter 4. Global Surgical Robots market Dynamics Chapter 5. Global Surgical Robots market, By Component Chapter 6. Global Surgical Robots Market, By Application Chapter 7. Global Surgical Robots Market, By End-user Chapter 8.Global Surgical Robots Market, by Regional Analysis Chapter 9. Competitive Intelligence About 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 TRENT sales@wiseguyreports.com Ph: +1-646-845-9349 (US) Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK) The Live Attenuated Vaccines (Lav) Market is growing at a rapid pace; mainly due to the increasing prevalence of bacterial and viral diseases. Moreover, rapidly spreading awareness towards the healthcare and the availability of various effective vaccines are escalating the market on the furthering heights. In 2016 The LAV market had evaluated at USD 34.2 BN. Acknowledging the exponential accruals the market witnesses today, Market Research Future (MRFR) in its recently published study report asserts that the global live attenuated vaccines market will reach USD 45.2 BN by 2023 with a CAGR of approximately 10.7% during the forecast period (2017-2023). Request Free Sample copy at www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1101 Initiatives taken by the governments for vaccination against diseases such as influenza and others, alongside the excellent management of public awareness programs are some of the major driving force behind the accelerating market growth. Furthermore, increasing awareness about vaccination, and growing government funding for vaccination programs along with the increasing prevalence of infectious diseases act as a tailwind propelling the market growth of LAV. The live attenuated vaccines market is one of the fastest growing markets. Huge funding is being transpired in the research & development of LA vaccines. The growth of the market is expected to be driven by rising R&D funding, increasing awareness due to the prevention programs, and the growing number of new entrants in the market. Also, the improving healthcare infrastructure, increasing demand for LAV, and the emphasis on prevention of diseases foster the market growth. Top Players: Fervent players leading the global live attenuated vaccines market include Merck & Co. (U.S.), GlaxoSmithKline, plc. (U.K.), Pfizer, Inc. (U.S.), Johnson & Johnson (U.S.), Astellas Pharma Inc. (Japan), CSL Limited (Australia), MedImmune, LLC (U.S.), Sanofi (France), Emergent BioSolutions, Inc. (U.S.), and Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. (India). Segmentation: MRFR has segmented its analysis into four key dynamics for the convenience of understanding; By Types : Bacterial (BCG vaccine) and Viral Vaccines (oral polio vaccine (OPV), measles, rotavirus, and yellow fewer and others). By Vaccine Developments : Tissue Culture, Embryonated Eggs, and Live Animals among others. By End-Users : Hospitals, Clinics, Diagnostic Centers, and Research Institute among others. By Regions : Europe, North America, APAC and Rest-of-the-World. Regional Analysis: The North American region accounts for the dominating market for live attenuated vaccines. Countries like Canada and the U.S. play important role in the growth of this market. Major factors such as the augmenting demand for effective vaccines to control the growing prevalence of viral infections. High per capita health care expenditures along with the rising funds invested into R&D for the development of new vaccines are supporting the growth of the market in the region. Furthermore, Initiatives taken by the government for vaccination against diseases like influenza, as well as excellent management of public awareness programs are acting as a tailwind propelling the growth of the market for LAV. The European region is the second-largest market for live attenuated vaccines which is estimated to witness extensive growth throughout the forecast period. Growing emphasis and growing emphasis on R&D and the government financial support for research and development activities drive the market growth of LAV in the region. The live attenuated vaccines market in the Asia Pacific region is emerging as one of the lucrative markets, globally. Growing prevalence of bacterial and viral diseases alongside the increase in the prevalence of communicable diseases are few of the key driving forces pushing up the growth of the LAV market in the region. Owing to the large advancements in medical technology, India is emerging as the fastest growing market for LAV. Industry/ Innovation/ Related News: November 18, 2018 InDevR (US), a leading global biotechnology company involved in the development of life science instrumentation along with assays for analysis of viruses and other microorganisms announced its plan to pursue proof of concept development for new VaxArray potency assays for measles (M) and rubella vaccines. The long-term objective is to create in vitro measles and rubella potency assays in order to deliver high-quality MR vaccines to market faster and with lower production costs. A more accurate potency assay for each of these live attenuated virus antigens would minimize risks and reduce expensive lot rejections. Get Full Report at https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/live-attenuated-vaccines-market-1101 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. Contact Market Research Future Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Refsum disease, a genetic disorder is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait. It is caused due to the accumulation of fatty acid (phytanic acid) in blood plasma and tissues occurred due to malfunction of the enzyme producing gene that metabolizes phytanic acid. Refsum is characterized by failure of muscle coordination (ataxia), progressive loss of vision (retinitis pigmentosa), degenerative nerve disease (peripheral neuropathy), and dry, rough, scaly skin (ichthyosis). Get Free Sample Copy @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5176 The global Refsum disease market is growing pervasively over the past few years, mainly due to the spreading awareness towards the condition and the availability of its treatments. Moreover, factors such as the increasing government funding for the R&D activities to discover novel treatment procedures are escalating the market on the global platform. Considering the exponential traction, the market perceives currently; Market Research Future (MRFR), in its recently published study report asserts that the global Refsum disease market will accrue colossally by 2023, posting approximately 5.4 % CAGR throughout the forecast period (2017 2023). Although Refsum is a genetic disorder factors such as the genetic mutations led by the environmental changes increase the probability of its occurrence leading to increasing the demand for treatments of Refsum and the growth of the market. Additional factors such as the ever-increasing population and growing urbanization coupled with the spreading awareness towards the availability of treatments contribute to the growth of the market. Simultaneously, improving economic conditions are providing impetus to the market growth, enabling access to the quality life and improving the quality of healthcare, worldwide. Moreover, substantial investments put in the R&D activities for the innovation & development of new medical devices, treatments & medicines foster the growth of the market, excellently. Conversely, factors such as the unmet medical needs, drug resistance, and the high treatment costs are impeding the growth of the market. Nevertheless, factors such as technological advancements are expected to support market growth, presenting more advanced and cost-effective treatments. Refsum Disease Market Segmentations For ease of understanding, the market is segmented into five key dynamics: By Type : Adult Refsum Disease (ARD) and Infantile Refsum disease (IRD) among others. By Diagnosis : Physical Examination, Molecular Genetic Testing, Prenatal Screening Tests, and Enzyme Analysis among others. By Treatment : Medical care and Surgical Care among others. By End-user : Hospital, Clinics, Diagnostic Centers, and Research & Academic Institutes among others. By Regions : Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, and the Rest-of-the-World. Global Refsum Disease Market Regional Analysis The North American region, heading with the huge number of patient population, dominates the global Refsum disease market with the largest market share. Factors such as the favorable reimbursement scenario and high per capita healthcare expenditures substantiate the growth of the regional market. Moreover, factors such as the presence of many large players in the market and a well-developed healthcare sector impact the market growth, positively. Furthermore, factors such as the adoption of a sedentary lifestyle are supporting market growth in the region. The US, backed by a wide uptake of new technologies accounts for the key contributor to the market growth in the region. The Refsum disease market in the European region accounts for the second-largest market, globally. The resurging economy in Europe is undoubtedly playing a key role, acting as a tailwind that pushes the market up. Besides, the availability of funds for research, a huge patient population, and the increasing teenage population within the region are some of the key driving forces behind the growth of the regional market. The European Refsum Disease market is expected to grow at a considerable CAGR. The Asia Pacific Refsum disease market is rapidly emerging as a profitable market, globally. Factors such as the vast advancements in technology and medical science especially in rapidly emerging economies such as China and India are leading the Refsum disease market in the region. Besides, factors such as the availability of low-cost medications for the treatment, increasing prevalence of Refsum disease, and fast-proliferating healthcare sector fosters the growth in the regional market. On the other hand, owing to the presence of poor economies, stringent government policies and lack of health care services especially within the African region, the MEA market for Refsum Disease is expected to witness a sluggish growth during the forecast period 2017 to 2023. While, the Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Kuwait will provide a boost to the market growth attributing to the well-developed healthcare sector and the huge healthcare expenditure. Global Refsum Disease Market Competitive Analysis Highly competitive, the Refsum Disease market appears to be widely expanded as well as fragmented due to the presence of many large and small players. These players incorporate various strategic initiatives like the partnership, acquisition, collaboration, expansion, and product launch to gain an edge over their competitors. Acquisition of local players by multinational companies is changing the structure of the market. The increasing competition in the market is encouraging multinational companies to acquire small yet promising companies in the emerging regions to increase the profit of the company while significantly reducing the competition. Browse Complete 85 Pages Premium Research Report Enabled with Respective Tables and Figures @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/refsum-disease-market-5176 Major Players: Key players leading the global Refsum disease market include B. Braun Medical Inc., Fresenius Kabi, Medline Industries, Inc., Igenomix, Illumina, Inc., Ceuta Healthcare Limited, Cook, Cochlear Ltd., Sonova, Nurotron Biotechnology Co. Ltd., William Demant Holding A/S, Agilent Technologies, Sequenom, and Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. among others. Industry/Innovation/ Related News: April 02, 2019 - Progenity, Inc. (the US), a privately held biotechnology company, launched the Resura Prenatal Test for Monogenic Disease, the first of its kind, commercially available, customizable, non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) for single-gene disorders. The new test broadens expectant parents prenatal testing options to include a safe, non-invasive test tailored to their familys risk for a specific genetic disease. Additionally, the company also announced improvements to its Innatal Prenatal Screen, a leading NIPT for chromosomal aneuploidies that now provides greater specificity and sensitivity in evaluating aneuploidy across all chromosomes tested in a recent validation study. Both these products have been developed to provide increased confidence in genetic testing results, so informed and individualized care decisions can be made by patients planning for their future families. Send an Enquiry @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/5176 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 Future Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India Phone: +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC) are cancerous cells that break off from the original site of the cancer and spread throughout the body through the vascular system. These cells thus act as the seed for cancer metastases. The highly adverse prognosis for cancer with metastasis has resulted in an increasing interest in circulating tumor cells, as they can act as an early warning system for cancer metastasis. The clinical significance of circulating tumor cells was first recognized in 1869, but serious medical research within the context of the modern structure of the healthcare sector began in the 1990s. These studies were inspired by calculations that showed that even small cancerous growths shedding cells at a small rate of less than 1% per day would produce enough circulating tumor cells in the bloodstream to be detectable. Global Circulating Tumor Cell Market Key Players Some of the eminent leaders of the market include Greiner Bio-One International GmbH, Ikonisys Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific, STEMCELL Technologies, SRI International, Miltenyi Biotec, QIAGEN Hannover (QIAGEN), Menarini Silicon Biosystems, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Fluxion Biosciences, Inc., NanoString Technologies, Inc, GE Healthcare, Advanced Cell Diagnostics, Inc. (Bio-Techne Corporation), ApoCell, Celltraffix Inc., and Epic Lifesciences. Get Free Sample @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1362 Global Circulating Tumor Cell Market Segments The Global Circulating Tumor Cells Market is segmented by technology, application, end use, and region in the report. The global circulating tumor cell market is segmented on the basis of technology into CTC enrichment, CTC detection, and combined enrichment and separation of CTC. On the basis of application, the global circulating tumor cell market is segmented into clinical, research, and drug development. By end use, the CTC market is segmented into hospitals & clinics, research & academic institutes, and diagnostic centers. Global Circulating Tumor Cell Market Geographical Analysis The North American region leads the circulating tumor cell market globally; the growth is largely supported by the U.S. with the increasing prevalence of types of cancer as consequences of the wrong lifestyle. Besides, technological advancements getting transpired in the medical science and biotechnology alongside the substantial healthcare expenditure support the market growth. The European region stands as another lucrative market for the circulating tumor cell. The market is growing owing to the increasing number of cancer patients in the region. Furthermore, the proliferation of advanced treatment facilities alongside the availability of skilled medical professionals, and the government support for research & development drives the market in the region. Moreover, factors such as technological advancement and well-spread awareness among people towards cancer and its consequences drive the growth of the regional market. The CTC market in the Asia Pacific region is emerging as a promising market owing to the increasing number of cancer patients. Factors substantiating market growth include the increasing prevalence of cancer, spreading awareness among people about cancer, and the availability of new treatment methods. Proliferating markets in China and India majorly contribute to the market growth in the region. Industry/ Innovation/Related News: In May 2018, CellMax launched a new clinical trial in an effort to validate its CTC screening test for colorectal cancer in the U.S. September 17, 2018 Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles (US) published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the study of a mechanism for characterizing the function of rare tumor cells which they have developed. These researchers have created a quick and effective mechanism to measure how these cells perform functions that drive the disease, such as producing proteins that degrade tissue. Their findings could lead to more personalized treatments for people with cancer. September 19, 2018 ApoCell, Inc. (US), a leader global in specialty clinical Research Company involved in the capture and analysis of CTC, unveiled the biomarker results from the BEACON Phase 3 clinical trial utilizing Apocells proprietary circulating tumor cell enrichment system, ApoStream. It is one of its own kind of publication that shows changes in a therapeutic target biomarker detected in CTCs that impacts overall survival in an important subset of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients. Browse Complete 110 Pages Premium Research Report Enabled with Tables and Figures @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/circulating-tumor-cell-market-1362 About Market Research Future: At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members. Contact: Market Research Future Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India +1 646 845 9312 Email: salesteam@marketresearchfuture.com by Thom Forbes @tforbes, April 8, 2019 The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Fisher-Price issued a joint warning Friday about the latters Rock n Play Sleeper, reporting that at least 10 infants older than three months have died by rolling over in the product since 2015. They recommend that parents stop using it once their infants reach that age, or sooner if they exhibit rollover capabilities. The latest death was reported last month, said Patty Davis, a spokeswoman with CPSC. Its unclear when the other deaths took place. Davis said the commission is currently investigating the product, writes CNNs Nicole Chavez. advertisement advertisement If it turns out that it needs to be recalled, we will move forward with that, Davis said. CPSC has previously warned consumers to use restraints in infant inclined sleep products, according to its release. Fisher-Price warns consumers to stop using the product when infants can roll over, but the reported deaths show that some consumers are still using the product when infants are capable of rolling and without using the three-point harness restraint. A child fatality is an unimaginable tragedy, a separate statement issued by Fisher-Price parent Mattel reads. In it, Fisher-Price general manager Chuck Scothon reminds parents to always place infants on their backs to sleep, and make sure that no pillows, blankets or extra padding are placed in the Rock n Play Sleeper. He also points out that the product meets all applicable safety standards. Parenting blogs have praised the baby sleeper for years. In a blog post from 2016 on storyoffive.com, a mother called the sleeper the best baby product she had ever bought. In a blog post in February, writers at CynicalParent.com called it magic but suggested that parents see their childs pediatrician before making a purchase, Sandra E. Garcia writes for the New York Times. In a 2013 blog post, Dr. Roy Benaroch, a pediatrician in Atlanta, wrote his first recommendation against using it. He cited sleep guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics as reason enough not to use the Rock n Play, Garcia continues. The guidelines went over several important ways that parents can ensure that their children were sleeping safely, Benaroch tells Garcia. Among them was that babies should be placed to sleep on a firm, flat surface, and on their back. The Rock n Play is neither firm nor flat. In another post in 2016, Benaroch wrote: The Rock-n-Play Sleeper is marketed and sold as a sleeper. You can tell, because the word sleeper is in the name of the product. One might think that its a good, safe place for a baby to sleep. But its not. Its long past time for Fisher-Price to stop selling it, or at least change its name and marketing. Sometimes parents confuse the idea that when their baby starts to develop more stable head control at 3-4 months, they can dismiss or be less vigilant about recommended sleeping positions, but thats not safe for their baby. The fact is, infants shouldnt be put down to sleep in these products that are just meant for play time, Dr. Tricia Jean Gold of Tribeca Pediatrics tells Today.com's Ronnie Koenig. Dr. Gold notes that devices like the Rock n Play can come in handy when you need to put your baby down for a moment but that parents should not get into the habit of allowing a baby to sleep in them. She also cautions that due to variance in infant sizes, parents should not rely on the harness to keep the child from rolling over, as babies can wiggle their way into a variety of positions, Koenig continues. This is the second Fisher-Price product to raise concerns this year. In February, 44,000 Power Wheels Barbie Dream Campers were recalled due to a defect that could allow the cars to keep moving after the pedal is released, Amanda Hoover points out on NJ.com. The news was covered extensively in Australia over the weekend, where the product is one of the the countrys most popular baby sleepers, according toDaily Mail Australia. A spokesperson for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said it was not aware of any injuries or deaths in Australia associated with the product, but it was being investigated as a matter of priority, Carrie Fellner writes for the Sydney Morning Herald. The ACCC urges parents with this product to keep it out of reach of children, the spokesperson tells her. We are always concerned by reports such as those we are seeing from the U.S. by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, April 10, 2019 Google on Wednesday announced a cloud offering for retailers about four months after Thomas Kurian stepped into his role as Google Cloud CEO after a 22-year career at Oracle, known for its focus on retail and enterprise companies. Pravin Pillai, global head of industry solutions, takes the lead on cloud computing for retail at Google. Were building connectors to help retailers integrate their data across the company, he said. Many companies are building solutions on top of Google Cloud to support entire supply chains, from advertising and auto-replenishment to distribution and materials forecasting, he said. Google Cloud for Retail enables retailers to quickly take advantage of cloud capabilities, from store operations to merchandising to keeping life-long customers. The offerings are focused around six core pillars in retail. They aim to help companies adopt and apply cloud technology to each. advertisement advertisement Brands like Bed Bath & Beyond, Ikea, Kohl's, and many other retailers have been working with Google Cloud for years, but the offering for retail focuses on specific challenges they face. The suite includes services for logistics, fulfillment and delivery, store operations; product lifecycle management; customer acquisition and retention, omnichannel commerce; and merchandising and assortment. All of the suites offer options for retailers, but within omnichannel ecommerce, Google offers Ecommerce Hosting, Vision Product Search, Recommendation AI and Digital Shopping Assistant. Google applied artificial intelligence to many of the services offered through Google Cloud for Retail. The company is fine-tuning vision analytics to create algorithms that understand whats in an image, which is translated into services like Vision Product Search. For example, the technology behind Google Lens helped to create Vision Product Search. Susan Standiford, CTO at IKEA Group, notes that the company worked with Google Cloud to create a new mobile experience that enables customers to take photos of home furnishings and household items and quickly find that product or a similar one in the online catalogue. The feature relies on Cloud Vision technology to create mobile experiences. Customers can take photos and screenshots from their phone of products they like. The experience provides real-time results for similar or complementary items from the retailers product catalog. Customers can find what they want as they search and purchase products. The suite also includes Product Recommendations, which serves up personal recommendations. It continually learns and adapts to the person searching and their behavior on the site. Contact Center AI, and AutoML Tables, both in beta, are two other significant products. Content Center AI helps retailers build intuitive customer-care experiences with a variety of options such as virtual assistants. AutoML Tables makes it possible to automatically build and deploy machine learning models on structured data in a few clicks, reducing the total time required from weeks to days. Pitney Bowes used AutoML Tables to identify risky cross-border payments and shipments. Accenture, Bluecore, Capgemini, Deloitte, LumApps, Publicic Sapient, SAP, Sensormatic, Tableau, Trax, and Tulip Retail all support Googles offering. There are other development and migration partners such as Rackspace. U.K.-based Lush, a global cosmetics company, migrated its ecommerce site to the Google Cloud platform in 22 days, according to a case study on Googles site. by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, April 9, 2019 Two Senators are expressing concerns to the Federal Trade Commission about the data practices of Google, Facebook and other tech companies. The intensive collection and monetization of consumers personal data by digital platforms, as well as reported breaches of consumer data held by these companies, has raised significant questions regarding privacy and data security, Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) say in a letter sent to the agency this week. The lawmakers add that the large market share commanded by Google, Facebook and Amazon has amplified concerns about how those companies protect consumers online information and about possible anticompetitive conduct that could harm consumers, innovation, and small business growth. advertisement advertisement As Congress considers legislation to enact stronger safeguards for consumers online privacy, we urge the FTC to use its existing authority to protect the privacy and security of consumers online data, they write. Klobuchar and Blackburn call particular attention to concerns that Facebook may share data between WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger -- three services the company intends to integrate. The lawmakers also want the FTC to reveal whether it is investigating Google or other tech platforms over privacy. We understand that the FTC does not typically comment on nonpublic investigations, but the public discussion surrounding Google and other companies conduct have made this a uniquely important national issue, they write. In recent years, advocacy groups have urged the FTC to probe Facebook and Google over a host of practices. For example, last December, advocacy groups alleged in an FTC complaint that Google dupes parents by offering apps that violate children's privacy in the Play Store's Designed for Family section. And last April, the Electronic Privacy Information Center asked the FTC to investigate Facebook's use of facial recognition technology, which enables the company to identify people based on photos uploaded by their friends. FTC investigations aren't public, but last March the agency took the rare step of confirming that it was probing Facebook's data transfers to political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, which obtained information for up to 87 million users of the social networking service. Klobuchar and Blackburn are now asking the agency to disclose other non-public investigations that may be of significant public interest. by Tanya Gazdik , April 10, 2019 On-demand delivery service Postmates has selected Mother Los Angeles as its creative agency of record. The company is also launching the first wave of a national brand campaign. According to Kantar Media, Postmates spent $1.3 million on measured media in the U.S. in 2017 and $1.5 million in 2018. The company previously worked with 180LA on an out-of-home campaign that rolled out in Los Angeles in January 2018. In creating the new national campaign, Postmates and Mother LA developed an approach that celebrates modern life and the ways Postmates makes life more magical. "We often hear from our customers that the ability to Postmate whatever they want makes them feel like they've acquired a new superpower," states Eric Edge, senior vice president of brand and communications, Postmates. advertisement advertisement The campaign launches with bespoke OOH executions tailored to specific local insights, right down to the street they appear on. Spanning OOH billboards, bus shelters, wild postings, and wall murals, the first phase of the campaign can be seen in key markets including Los Angeles, New York, and Miami. Noble People handles media planning and buying for Postmates. Headlines from the campaign include: "Your sweatpants are calling and they want a burger. Postmate it and "When you need bolognese to pair with a nice red sweatpant. Postmate it and "Because a second dinner is popular enough to make a billboard about it. Postmate it. Launched in 2011, Postmates delivers from more than 500,000 restaurants, grocery/convenience stores and retailers in about 3,000 cities across the U.S. and Mexico City. by Alex Weprin , April 10, 2019 Twitch, the Amazon-owned livestreaming video platform, has named Byron Rex Phillipson executive creative director. In his new role, Phillipson will lead the marketing team responsible for brand, product, digital and experiential marketing at Twitch. He will be based in San Francisco and report to Twitch CMO Kate Jhaveri. He joins Twitch from Hulu, where he was the lead for marketing creative, with oversight of the Hulu brand, culture, live TV and sports. In particular, he helped with the design and creative vision for Hulu with Live TV, the companys live streaming bundle. Before Hulu, Phillipson worked for Huge Inc. in Los Angeles, working on campaigns for companies like Nike, Apple, Amazon, and Google. While Twitch is widely known in video game circles it has become the de facto home for gamers looking to livestream to fans it is also trying to broaden its reach to new consumers and markets. advertisement advertisement In a statement, Phillipson alluded to that trajectory, noting he hoped to reach a broader audience. Its a big and exciting opportunity to build an iconic brand that already has deep connections to a massive, global community, Phillipson says. There is a huge breadth of creativity and spontaneity happening on Twitch every day," he notes, adding he will "continue to elevate those creators and moments to a broader audience. by Melynda Fuller , April 10, 2019 Michael Preysman, founder-CEO, Everlane, announced a new partnership between the clothing company and The New York Times to promote climate journalism. "Climate change is the most urgent issue facing our planet, and we must act now to have a planet for the future. But in order to act we must first educate, he stated. Beginning April 10, Everlane will release its Climate Collection, which includes cotton crew T-shirts and French terry crew sweatshirts that read Truth. It effects us all. on the left breast. The back of the shirts lists the ways in which consumers can stay inform about how their actions impact the environment. That includes What we put on our plates, How we travel and How we understand climate change. advertisement advertisement The brands website, tied to the campaign, also lists Five things to understand about climate change. For each product sold from the line, Everlane will provide access to the NYTimes.com for nine public school students through the publishers Sponsor a Subscription program. Following the launch of the Everlane collection, The Times will air a new installment of its Truth is Worth It brand campaign on Earth Day, April 22. The commercial will focus on reporting by Nicholas Casey and photography by Josh Haner for an interactive story on the impact of warming seas on the Galapagos Islands. The ad will air on linear and streaming television and across social platforms. A print and digital campaign will appear across Times properties, as well. David Rubin, CMO, The New York Times, noted the collection and campaign are intended to get the word out about the critical role independent, original journalism plays in reporting the truth about our changing climate, and that people consider subscribing to The Times to help support our mission. The Times launched its Sponsor a Subscription program in 2017. Earlier this year, it reported it had reached a new milestone delivering free access to more than 3 million U.S. students. The donations come from over 30,000 readers. Subscriptions reach schools in all 50 states at 4,000 schools in large and small districts. The Times hopes to spread the program globally. Rubin stated the subscriptions offered through the Everlane partnership will provide students with necessary tools and information empowering them as they enter adulthood and ultimately become the generation that takes real action to help combat climate change. by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, April 10, 2019 A Florida resident has dropped a privacy lawsuit against photography services company Shutterfly, according to court papers filed this week with U.S. District Court Judge Joan B. Gottschall in Illinois. The move brings an end to a class-action complaint filed against Shutterfly in 2016 by Alejandro Monroy, who alleged the company violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act by using facial recognition technology. That law, passed in 2008, requires companies to obtain written releases from people before collecting certain biometric data, including fingerprints, retinal scans and scans of face geometry. The measure also requires companies that gather biometric data to notify people about the practice, and to publish a schedule for destroying the information. The law also provides for up to $5,000 in damages for intentional violations. advertisement advertisement Monroy, who said he never used Shutterfly's service, alleged in his complaint that he discovered his photo had been uploaded to the service and "tagged" with his name. Monroy said the person who uploaded the photo did so while in Illinois. Shutterfly lost a key battle in the case in 2017, when Gottschall rejected Shutterfly's argument that the Illinois law didn't apply to faceprints derived from photos. Shutterfly isn't the only company accused of unlawfully compiling faceprint databases. Facebook and Google have also been sued over alleged violations of the Illinois law. So far, courts haven't definitively ruled on whether the companies' use of facial recognition technology violates the state law. A federal district court judge in Illinois recently dismissed a lawsuit alleging that Google ran afoul of the law; that case is now being appealed to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. But a district court judge in California ruled that consumers could proceed with similar allegations against Facebook. That company has appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. A Shutterfly spokesperson says the company is pleased that Monroy dismissed his lawsuit. "We wish to make clear that there was no settlement of any kind," the spokesperson said. Shutterfly was previously sued for allegedly violating the Illinois law. The company agreed to settle that matter in March of 2016. by Karlene Lukovitz @KLmarketdaily, April 10, 2019 Social media are, of course, a big part of the marketing frenzy surrounding the upcoming debut of the final season of HBOs Game of Thrones. So who are advertisers targeting with social? Despite data showing 52% of all social media mentions related to GoT during its seventh, penultimate season were generated by women, brands are primarily targeting young males with their final-season ads, according to a report from BrandTotal. Brands may be missing an opportunity as a result, says BrandTotal CEO Alon Leibovich. They should be taking this data point, along with the shows largely female-led story lines and continued fan growth, into account when determining their targeting structure for cobranded campaigns of this size. advertisement advertisement The competitive intelligence platform analyzed all paid U.S. social ads with GoT collaborations from Oreo, Adidas, Urban Decay, Mountain Dew, Johnnie Walker, John Varvatos and AT&T during the last 30 days. It compared them with the existing non-GoT campaigns that are running in parallel. Among the findings: *Oreo which normally splits its ad targeting 69% male/31% female for general awareness campaigns, aiming 27% of its ads at users 25-34 shifted to 79% male, with 37% of ads aimed at that age range. *Adidas traditionally targets ads to 71% male/29% female, aiming 30% of all of its ads to the 25-34 demographic. For its GoT campaign, it went 89% male, with 37% at that age group. *Mountain Dew shifted from its usual gender split of 58% male/42% female within ads aimed at the 25-34 segment (which usually comprises 18% of its total audience), to 71% male and 27% in the 25-34 segment. *AT&T, which has also been running March Madness campaigns, slightly upped its targeting to men for its "GoT" ads from 63% to 70% with just a 2% increase in ads aimed at males 25-34. Looking at platform strategies, BrandTotal data also show most of the brands adding up on Facebook for "GoT," in comparison to their usual platform strategies for paid ads. Adidas usual social-campaign mix is 80% Facebook, 20% Instagram. For "GoT," it moved to 100% Facebook. AT&T, which generally targets 63% of campaign ads to Facebook with 22% on Instagram, 8% on Twitter and 7% on YouTube also went to 100% Facebook for "GoT." Mountain Dew upped its usual 70% Facebook allotment (with 24% YouTube and 6% Twitter) to 97% Facebook. Favoring Facebook so heavily, instead of putting significant emphasis on Instagram whose largest user segment is males 18 to 24 could also result in less-than-optimal results, notes Leibovich. In contrast, Oreo which typically uses a social mix of 39% YouTube, 25% Instagram, 25% Twitter and 11% Facebook increased its Twitter component to 58% for "GoT." And Johnnie Walker, which almost never uses Twitter, according to BrandTotal, has allocated 45% of impressions to Twitter for its campaign promoting a limited edition White Walker bottle (video below and above). Ritalin and Adderall can help treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. Doctors also sometimes prescribe these medications to people with narcolepsy. Ritalin and Adderall are the brand names for two different types of stimulant medication. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) , stimulants work by increasing the chemicals in a persons brain that regulate thinking and paying attention. Research shows that stimulants are generally safe and effective for the treatment of ADHD. In this article, learn about the differences between the two common stimulants Ritalin and Adderall. We also cover the side effects and safety of each drug. Ritalin vs. Adderall Share on Pinterest The long-term side effects of Ritalin and Adderall are unknown. Although Ritalin and Adderall are both stimulants, they contain different active ingredients. The drug in Ritalin is methylphenidate hydrochloride, while Adderall is a combination of amphetamine and dextroamphetamine. Both medications are effective in reducing the symptoms of ADHD. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) , Between 7080 percent of children with ADHD have fewer ADHD symptoms when they take these fast-acting medications. However, Ritalin and Adderall can also have significant side effects, and the long-term effects of taking the drugs remain unknown. According to the authors of a 2018 meta-analysis , methylphenidate the drug in Ritalin is usually best for children or adolescents with ADHD. For adults with ADHD, the researchers concluded that amphetamines, such as Adderall, are generally best. This meta-analysis took into account the effectiveness of each of the drugs for treating a persons ADHD symptoms as well as their safety. However, the authors noted the urgent need for more research to assess the long-term effects of both drugs. Who needs them? A doctor may prescribe Ritalin or Adderall to a person with ADHD as part of a comprehensive treatment plan. According to the charity Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD), a comprehensive treatment plan will include: education about ADHD and its causes education about diagnosis and treatment options behavioral therapy to teach a person how to manage the symptoms of ADHD medication, such as Ritalin or Adderall general mental health counseling for the individual and their family changes to a persons education to account for their ADHD The American Academy of Pediatrics recommend a combination of behavioral therapy and medication for children aged 6 years and older. For children under the age of 6 years, they only recommend behavioral therapy as it is as effective as medication. ADHD medication typically has more side effects in young children. Can people use them together? A doctor would not generally advise a person to take Adderall and Ritalin together. There is little research on how these medications interact with each other. As the drugs work in a similar way, taking them both could increase the chances of a person developing significant side effects or other complications. Side effects Share on Pinterest A side effect of both Ritalin and Adderall may be difficulty sleeping. Although the medical community generally sees Ritalin and Adderall as safe drugs when a person takes them according to a doctors instructions, they can both have some significant side effects. The NIMH note that these side effects include: decreased appetite difficulty sleeping tics, which are sudden, repetitive, involuntary movements or sounds changes in personality, including anxiety and irritability stomachaches headaches If a person experiences any of these side effects, they should speak to their doctor. Dosage The dosage for both Ritalin and Adderall can vary between individuals. According to CHADD, a doctor will often determine the correct dosage for a person through a trial introduction of the medication. The doctor will begin by prescribing a small amount of one of the medications. They can then steadily increase the amount to reach a balance between the effectiveness of the drug and the extent of its side effects. Complications Complications can arise when a person takes either Ritalin or Adderall. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) , Ritalin can cause complications if the person taking it: is very anxious, agitated, or tense has glaucoma has tics, Tourettes syndrome, or a family history of Tourettes syndrome has recently taken an antidepressant called a monoamine oxidase inhibitor is allergic to any of the ingredients in Ritalin has heart problems or high blood pressure has another mental health condition experiences seizures gets circulation problems in their toes or fingers The FDA warn that Adderall can cause complications if the person taking it has: hardening of the arteries or heart disease high blood pressure hyperthyroidism glaucoma a tendency to be very tense, agitated, or anxious a history of drug misuse recently taken a monoamine oxidase inhibitor experienced any issues with other stimulant medications another mental health condition tics or Tourettes syndrome liver or kidney problems thyroid problems seizures If a person is taking another medication, they should ensure that their doctor is aware in case it can have an adverse interaction with either Ritalin or Adderall. AVENTURA, Fla. April 9, 2019 Yitshak Kreiss Williams Island March 27 Israel's South Florida Aventura Enid Weisman Aventura Gladys Mezrahi Aventura Marc Narotsky Israel Florida Alabama Mississippi Williams Island Israel Middle East Tel Aviv Middle East Florida Florida Williams Island Daphna Cramer Lisa Pulver South Florida Mozambique South Florida Israel Middle East Israel Tel-Aviv University /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Sheba's internationally renowned director general Prof.came toonto discuss the trailblazing innovations emanating out ofSheba Medical Center and the hospital's relentless mission to advance healthcare across the globe, including inMayorCommissionerCommissioner, and Deputy Consul-General oftoand Puerto Rico Guy Gilady were among the local dignitaries who welcomed Prof. Kreiss toKreiss' visit took place just days after Newsweek announced Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer the largest and most comprehensive hospital inand the- as one of the 10 best hospitals across the entire globe.According to Newsweek: "Sheba Medical Center-or Tel HaShomer Hospital-inis a leader in medical science and biotechnical innovation, both in theand worldwide. The center's collaborations with international parties have advanced innovative medical practices, hospital systems and biotechnology."Kreiss'visit officially launched the opening of the American Friends of Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer'soffice with an exclusive event to the Island Club on, graciously hosted byand. American Friends of Sheba will help raise awareness inabout Sheba's incredible work around the world.Prof. Kreiss told a standing-room only crowd that the future of healthcare is limitless: "We aspire to have world impact, to heal the world, through humanitarianism and medical innovation. We are eliminating the borders of traditional hospitals through tele-medicine, and we are creating the hospital of the future."Before becoming director general of Sheba, Prof. Kreiss served as Surgeon General of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) from 2011-2014. One of the qualities he's most renowned for is his expertise in crisis leadership.That expertise in crisis leadership has placed Sheba on the frontline of global humanitarian rescue missions. In fact, last week, a team of humanitarian medical experts and doctors from Sheba arrived in Beira,to assess urgent medical and supply needs in the wake of the deadly cyclone. And just a few months ago, Sheba partnered with FAU to lead emergency management training sessions to preparefor worst-case scenarios.About Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomerBorn together within 1948, Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer is the largest and most comprehensive medical center in the. Sheba is the only medical center inthat combines an acute care hospital and a rehabilitation hospital on one campus, and it is at the forefront of medical treatments, patient care, research and education. As a university teaching hospital affiliated with the Sackler School of Medicine at, it welcomes people from all over the world indiscriminately. For more information, visit: eng.sheba.co.ilSOURCE Sheba Medical Center The year 2019 started with a bang for actor Vivek Oberoi, when his first look from his upcoming movie, 'PM Narendra Modi', came out. If there was anyone happier than Vivek or the makers of the movie, it was Vivek's fans who were having a field day discussing the film. Don't ask us this question again - "Vivek Oberoi has fans?" Anyway, from churning out hilarious reactions to putting efforts into making every dialogue trend in the form of memes; the PM Modi biopic became a bigger joke than us on social media. Now, the Election Commission has further rubbed salt on the wounds of the film's cast and crew by putting a ban on its release, just one day before it was about to hit the theatres. Legend Global Studios When the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) gave a green signal to the movie, it raised the hopes of everyone waiting with a bucket of popcorn and cold drinks in their hands. But, now all those hopes are crushed as today, the EC announced a ban on the film's release until the Lok Sabha elections are over. According to the order, "Any Biopic material in nature of biography sub serving the purpose of any political entity or any individual entity connected to it, which has potential to disturb level playing field during the election, should not be displayed in Electronic media including cinematograph during the operation of Model Code of Conduct." Legend Global Studios On Tuesday, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by a Congress activist, who was asking for a stay on the release of the biopic. The court said that it cannot entertain the petition for the stay on the release, as it would be "premature" since the movie wasn't certified by the Censor Board. While CBFC gave a U-certificate, the EC made the makers take a U-turn before the release. Since, people can't watch the movie now, let's watch the trailer again. The film's lead actor aka reel-life PM Modi too wasn't happy with the way everyone was playing with the film's release. He took a dig at Bollywood for clicking selfies with the PM, but not taking a stand for the movie. Well, not just Vivek Oberoi, his fans too are furious with this decision. Booked a large tub of Popcorn and a medium glass of a very sacred drink, in advance. Ab kya hoga? #ModiBiopic #Modibiopicbanned Saswata Mukherjee (@MBobbying) April 10, 2019 #ModiBiopic For those who feel sorry about ban here is something that can cheer you up and was created with same intentionhttps://t.co/0Ki1aijhmr Sandeep Koul (@sandykoul007) April 10, 2019 Now it is 100% sure that EC is in the pockets of BJP..EC made sure that the poor acting of Vivek Oberoi don't ruin their chances #ModiBiopic Chowkidar ki Maa (@shubhambmn14) April 10, 2019 This is a blessing in disguise, considering the reaction to trailer. #ModiBiopic https://t.co/IP3U56QC8f Cinemaausher (@cinemaausher) April 10, 2019 #VivelOberoi made a huge mistake He shouldn't have named #ModiBiopic as #PMNarendraModi If he had named it #JashodabenNarendrabhaiModi Oppositions parties had never opposed it Since they are always worried about her Shweta (@imshwetta) April 10, 2019 Where is the intolerance gang now? They seem to only wake up when the narrative suits them and against @narendramodi Sad that @vivekoberoi not being able to portray his work in this free country. #ModiBiopic Dr Bright Thomas (@drbrightthomas) April 10, 2019 First a slap from Salman and now this, VO's career has nosedived yet again. #ModiBiopic SirCasstic (@SirCasstic) April 10, 2019 Hey @vivekoberoi Why u acted so bad even election commission don't want to release the propaganda flim as it affects one or two votes polling to BJP #ModiBiopic #LoksabhaElections2019 .(@anbu2089) April 10, 2019 #ModiBiopic Greatest flop movie of Indian Cinema if released after election... But we know @vivekoberoi is master of these flop movies Guess what... Election ke baad Muft me bi nai jayega koi dekhne... Farhan khan (@Sarcastic_Khan) April 10, 2019 #ModiBiopic Greatest flop movie of Indian Cinema if released after election... But we know @vivekoberoi is master of these flop movies Guess what... Election ke baad Muft me bi nai jayega koi dekhne... Farhan khan (@Sarcastic_Khan) April 10, 2019 hello @vivekoberoi you are very lucky to ECI saved your one flop film #ModiBiopic (@HRajola) April 10, 2019 Seriously, what can possibly go wrong when you have 'legend' in the name of the production company? Turns out everything, just like what is happening with the biopic on our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Benchmark Rotterdam duty-unpaid premium touches $100 per tonne for first time since June 2018 US Midwest duty-paid premium ticks higher on tight supply and wide LME contangos MJP premium continues to hold firm, Asian premiums broadly stable Premiums in Europe moved up Tuesday April 8, with wide contangos on the London Metal Exchange continuing to drive the uptrend.The benchmark premium for duty-unpaid P1020 aluminium in-warehouse in Rotterdam increased to $90-100 per tonne on April 9 from $87-97 per tonne last Tuesday, with most market participants saying a consistently wide contango on the LME is supporting the premium. Spreads are strong and people are not willing to sell, one trader in Europe said. Contangos help support premiums because an expected increase in LME prices covers the cost of financing and rent, so buyers must raise their bids... The Korean American Christian Scholarship Foundation of Greater Washington has started looking for candidates to receive the 2014 series of scholarship awards. The main targets are second generation Korean Americans who have a passions for studies in theology who are either bound to enroll in divinity schools and even current students of theology. The foundation will be receiving applicants from all over the nation, and there are several requirements the organization will be looking for among the students who will be considered for an award. Applicants should be baptized before registering and must be known to have shown good example in his or her respective ministries and community. They must also be either be enrolled or admitted to a school of theology recognized by their recognized state governments. In addition, they must be actively participating in spiritual education for 2nd generations, and lastly they must have either a green card or U.S. citizenship. Alongside with the registration forms, each applicant must also submit two letters of recommendation (one from his or her head pastor and one other) in either English or Korean. They are also required to turn in their transcripts and a testimony of their faith in English. Also, if applicable they must also submit a W-2 form. The application is available at the website; www.sfwcw.org. The Korean American Christian Scholarship Foundation of Greater Washington was established in 1981 with the goal of looking for the next leaders among the 1.5 and 2nd generation Korean Americans amidst the slowly weakening Christian community. For the past 33 years, the foundation has always provided help for students studying to be leaders of the next Christian generation. Starting from the year 2009, it became evident that the Koran Christian community was greatly lacking in 2nd generation spiritual leaders. The foundation along with immigrant families worked hard to search for and help these new Korean American leaders achieve their goals. Registration for the 2014 scholarships started on April 14th and will continue until May 17th. Applications will be received via email only. The award ceremony is scheduled to take place on June 14th at 5 pm at the Virginia Presbyterian Church. When MacKenzie and Jeff Bezos announced they would be divorcing, no one was quite sure what to expect when the world's richest man, with a net worth of more than $130 billion, divorces in a community property state with no pre-nup, what happens? Today, novelist MacKenzie Bezos released a statement with their answer, regarding the fates of her stake in his business holdings, including Amazon, The Washington Post, and Blue Origin. "Grateful to have finished the process of dissolving my marriage with Jeff with support from each other and everyone who reach out to us in kindness," she wrote on Twitter. "Happy to be giving him all of my interests in the Washington Post and Blue Origin, and 75% of our Amazon stock plus voting control of my shares to support his continued contributions with the teams of these incredible companies." RELATED: Things Jeff Bezos' net worth is more than MacKenzie Bezos will retain 4% of Amazon in total, according to a filing on Thursday. Jeff Bezos will likely retain his status of the world's richest person, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index. The couple announced their divorce in January, after 25 years together; the pair has four children. RELATED: 'Extortion and blackmail': Jeff Bezos goes public with National Enquirer correspondence Shortly after the divorce, Jeff Bezos went public about 'extortion' from the National Enquirer, who had obtained sexts between him and his girlfriend, former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez. A couple from Mount Vernon, New York has been missing for almost two weeks after a vacation in the Dominican Republic. Orlando Moore and Portia Ravenelle of Mount Vernon, Westchester County, traveled to the Caribbean country from Newark Liberty International Airport on March 23. They left their vehicle parked at the airport, according to national media reports. They were supposed to return to the U.S. just four days later, but their families have not heard from them. CNN tracked down a couple who was staying at the same resort, the Grand Bahia Principe Cayacoa. The couple, from Nova Scotia, said they spent a few days touring with Moore and Ravenelle after meeting them at the resort. Cheryl Freeman, one half of the Nova Scotian couple, said Moore and Ravenelle had rented a car to get to the airport on time for their 2 a.m. flight on March 27 out of Santo Domingo, a nearly 100-mile drive from their resort. More News Virgin Atlantic replacing its Boeing 747s with this Ravenelle reportedly told Freeman that the rental car company had warned her not to stop or open the car windows for anyone on the drive. Locals, they said, know which cars are rentals and try to rob tourists. The night before the flight, the couples bid farewell in the lobby, inviting each other to come visit. That was the last time Freeman heard from them. An email her partner sent to Moore that night went unanswered, CNN reports. In a statement to PIX11, the U.S. Embassy of the Dominican Republic said they are "working directly with the Attorney's Office [of the] 'Procuradoria General de la Republica Dominica.'" The office would not comment because the investigation is ongoing. U.S. officials appear to be involved in the investigation, but the extent of their involvement is unclear as the State Department cannot comment on active investigations. MARLETTE -- The staff and volunteers at United Hospice Service of Marlette Regional Hospital invite area families to join them, along with Toys for Tots, for a free Community Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday at Gayle's Trail in Marlette. The hunt begins at 10:30 a.m. and will conclude at 11:30. Hundreds of eggs along with Golden Tickets for large prize Easter baskets will be hidden along Gayle's Trail. Parents should bring a camera to capture photos of their children with the Easter Bunny. Woman sentenced in embezzlement case A Port Austin woman was sentenced to 60 days in jail this week on a single count of embezzlement, trustee, more than $1,000 but less than $20,000. Amy M. Kosinski, 46, was ordered to serve 30 days in jail starting April 12. The remaining balance will be held in abeyance of her 12-month probation period. She was given credit for one day served. Kosinski was ordered to pay $130 to the Crime Victims Rights fund, $68 in State Minimum Costs, $60 toward DNA testing and $5,075 in restitution. She was granted work release and ordered to maintain employment. She cannot have access to others' money and must complete 40 hours of community service. Kosinski was represented by Bad Axe-based attorney Kyle O'Mara. Man jailed for assaulting officer A New Philadelphia, Ohio, man was sentenced to 45 days in jail this week for one count of assaulting a police officer. Darryl Lee Marteny, 34, was given credit for one day served and placed on probation for a period of 18 months. He was ordered to pay $130 to the Crime Victims Rights fund, $68 in State Minimum Costs and $60 toward DNA testing. Marteny was ordered to seek mental health and substance abuse treatments and cannot consume any drugs including medical marijuana. Marteny was represented by Bad Axe-based attorney Michelle Siev. Trial set in bad checks case A Caseville man stood mute to two counts of checks-nonsufficient funds during court hearings this week. Mark Richard Day, 58, is scheduled to appear for a one-day jury trial on July 9. His bond was continued. Day is being represented by Sebewaing-based attorney Jill Schmidt. Woman denies she violated probation A Bad Axe woman pleaded not guilty to allegations of previously violating her probation. Autumn June Peruski, 33, is scheduled to appear for a probation violation hearing on April 22. She is being held without bond. Peruski is being represented by Bad Axe-based attorney Dawn Young. Probation violator nets jail time A Bad Axe woman was sentenced to 120 days in jail this week for violating conditions of her probation. Tiffany Marie Wutzke, 32, was given credit for 28 days served and discharged from probation. She was granted work release. Wutzke was represented by Bad Axe-based attorney Andrew Lockard. Man denies drinking and driving offense A Harbor Beach man pleaded not guilty to a charge of operating while intoxicated-third offense in court this week. Tommy Wayne Stinson, 59, is scheduled to appear in court for a one-day jury trial on May 29. His bond was continued. Stinson is being represented by Bad Axe-based attorney Dallas Rooney. Assaulter nets jail time A Bad Axe man was sentenced to 300 days in jail this week for a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon. Michael John Crawford, 44, was ordered to serve 210 days immediately and the remaining balance will be held in abeyance of his 24-month probation. He was given credit for eight days served. He was ordered to pay $130 to the Crime Victims Rights fund and $68 in State Minimum Costs. Crawford must not consume any alcohol or drugs including recreational marijuana and will be subject to testing. He must attend AA/NA and Families Against Narcotics meetings. Crawford was also ordered to not have any contact with the victim or engage in any assaultive behavior. Crawford was represented by Bad Axe-based attorney Elizabeth Weisenbach. Man sentenced for probation violation A Bad Axe man received a 120-day jail sentence this week for previously violating terms of his probation. Kyle Lee Marks, 29, was given credit for one day served and granted work release. He was ordered to serve 45 days immediately and the remaining time at the end of his probation. He was ordered to not use medical or recreational marijuana. Marks was represented by Bad Axe-based attorney Kyle O'Mara. Man denies embezzlement charge A Kinde man pleaded not guilty to a charge of embezzlement during court proceedings this week. James K. DePatty, 37, is scheduled to appear for a two-day jury trial on June 11. His bond was continued. DePatty is being represented by Bad Axe-based attorney Andrew Lockard. UPPER THUMB Congressman Paul Mitchell will host a military service academy day from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday. This is for students, teachers and administrative staff who would like to learn more about the United States military service academies. It will take place at Romeo Engineering and Technology Center, located at 62300 Jewell Road, Washington, Michigan. Representatives from the United States military service academies will be on hand to speak about each academy, provide informational materials and answer questions. Additionally, Mitchells staff will speak about the military academy application process. This event is free and open to all residents of the 10th Congressional District, which includes Huron, Tuscola and Sanilac counties. BAD AXE Residents and county commissioners would like the Air National Guard to offer live aircraft demonstrations so the public can better understand the militarys proposal to expand its airspace in the Thumb for training purposes. The idea, sparked by Port Austin resident Terry Ross, came up during the public comment portion of Tuesdays Huron County Board of Commissioners meeting. Im proposing that we somehow get the military to give us a demonstration, Ross told commissioners. Maybe for a week of some of these 500-foot flights over our area so people can actually experience it. The Air National Guard wants to modify and create new Military Operating Areas (MOAs) in the Alpena Special Use Airspace Complex. The modifications would allow aircrafts to practice maneuvers as low as 500 feet. A 45-day opportunity for the public to voice any concerns or questions is expected to become available sometime this month. The lowest an aircraft can currently practice maneuvers at is 6,000 feet. Ross suggested the 45-day public comment period be held after the potential demonstrations. Then, people will really know what theyre commenting on, he said, adding Huron County should consider its own public comment opportunity. To fly at 500 feet, Lincoln Township resident Carl Duda added. It would be interesting to see that and what wed be in for. Port Austin resident Mary Brosnan-Peters told commissioners she was concerned with the militarys proposal and the negative impact it could have on communities. Were terrorized at the thought of the amount of flights that are being proposed, she said. These plans are scary. They flew over our house last year and it was just above the tops of the trees. Bad Axe resident Rich Swartzendruber also supported the idea of demonstrations. I would suggest the board possibly consider a resolution suggesting that also would carry a little more weight with the military in their consideration during the process too, Swartzendruber said. I also think its a good idea on the comment portion that we organize our own ability to do that, Commissioner Ron Wruble said, adding it would be good idea to draft a resolution for a potential presentation. After the demonstration, maybe we lay it out to the military what wed like to see happen before a decision is made. I agree, Commissioner Mary Ellen Babcock said. The military is currently operating within legal perimeters with the Federal Aviation Authority. A message left with Air National Guard personnel seeking additional information was not returned on Tuesday. CASS CITY Repairs have been completed for a sanitary discharge release that occurred underground at private land at 4105 N. Division St. in Cass City. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Public Health was notified last week. 3 1 of 3 Michael J. Media / Contributed photo Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Michael J. Media / Contributed photo Show More Show Less 3 of 3 There arent a lot of music venues in Connecticut where you would expect The Quebe Sisters to feel right at home, but The Kate, with its laid-back charm, might be one of them. The north Texas-raised Quebe (pronounced kway-bee) girls Grace, Sophia, and Hulda, all easy on the eyes and ears play a mix of progressive Western swing, jazz-influenced swing, country and western music, with supporting musicians on guitar, upright bass or other instruments. GREENWICH A major collision between two buses sent 10 people to the emergency room with serious injuries Tuesday afternoon. An empty school bus serving Sacred Heart Greenwich slammed into another vehicle operated by Countywide Transportation, which was carrying nine people, Greenwich police said. That bus was carrying seven adults with developmental issues, as well as the driver and a group monitor. All 10 people were transported to Stamford Hospital, some with serious injuries, according to police. King Street was closed in both directions, near Brunswick School, as police investigators went to work to determine the cause of the crash, which occurred shortly after 3 p.m. Everyone has been transported from the scene, and we are continuing to work on the investigation, police Capt. Kraig Gray said late Tuesday afternoon. There were all different types of injuries broken bones, contusions, head strikes. All of the passengers involved in the collision sent to the emergency unit at Stamford Hospital were listed in fair condition, hospital spokeswoman Christina Scott said in a statement late Tuesday afternoon. Stamford Hospital has a special trauma unit for emergency medicine. The adults riding in the Countywide bus had completed day programs in the King Street area and were headed to their homes in Westchester County, N.Y., according to the Yonkers-based bus company. Christine Soifer, of Countywide Transportation, went to the scene after the crash. We just want to make sure everyones OK, Soifer said. We care deeply about the consumers we transport, and well do whatever we can to help. Whatever we can do to assist the investigation, we will. There were some challenges involved in assisting the injured passengers on the bus, Gray said, but the first responders worked through them. The two buses collided, nearly head-on, and the front ends of both vehicles were badly damaged. There was no word from authorities Tuesday on what might have caused the crash. We have a unit on-scene to determine all the mechanics of how it happened, Gray said. The Greenwich Fire Department and the Greenwich Emergency Medical Service sent multiple units to the scene, and the blare of sirens filled the neighborhood all afternoon. Northbound traffic on King Street was redirected at Sherwood Avenue. Motorists were told to avoid the area if possible. Traffic was tied up heavily on King Street throughout the afternoon and into the evening. rmarchant@greenwichtime.com CHESTER Exit 6 on Route 9 North in Chester has been closed for the time being, state police announced Wednesday afternoon. Police announced the closure on Twitter at 1:57 p.m. The exit would remain shuttered for a few hours, police said. GUILFORD The Shoreline Arts Alliance is the recipient of $1.75 million worth of arts scholarships, courtesy of the University of Hartford Hartford Art School. Money was awarded to 21 high school juniors and seniors, including several from Middlesex County, whose work was chosen for Shoreline Arts Alliances Future Choices visual art competition and exhibition, according to a press release. Students from Coginchaug Regional High School in Durham, Daniel Hand High School, East Lyme High School, Haddam-Killingworth High School, Lyme-Old Lyme High School, and Valley Regional High School in Deep River had their artwork recognized by Robert Calafiore, assistant dean and director of admission, the release said. These awards are born of the belief that artists are an essential part of our world. Through creative critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, communication, innovation and an ability to adapt, artists are positioned to influence, direct and shape the future of our world in every industry, Calafiore said in a prepared statement. The impact of artists on political, social and cultural issues drives the change that moves us forward. Artists offer all of us a better understanding of who we are, by looking at where we have been and where we are going. We hope to assist young students to follow their passion to build a life in the creative fields, he added. Shoreline Arts Alliance provides opportunities to artists of all ages. It is the the only arts agency in Connecticut that directly provides students with the opportunities to have their artwork seen and recognized, according to the release. Its mission is Transform Lives through the Arts by engaging, enriching, encouraging and educating the community. For information, visit shorelinearts.org. Nevada set sales records, with tax reveneus to match, when it got off to a running start in the first months of legalized recreational cannabis in just a matter of months. Neighboring California, long noted for red tape, has been much slower rolling out adut use sales but it is still pulling in tens of millions of dollars per month in cannabis tax revenues. And then there is Massachusetts. The glacial pace of regulators charged with approving dispensaries to sell cannabis, as well as scattered locations for those dispensaries, have left the commonwealth receiving a fraction of hoped-for tax revenues -- a really small fraction. State officials had projected $63 million in tax revenue this first year, but as of March 1 they had collected only $5.9 million, according to the Boston Globe. Related: Cannabis Banking Bill Wins Approval in Crucial House Committee What's the problem? Is it possible that fewer people in Massachusetts use cannabis than those in California and Nevada? Maybe. However, experts say the issue in Massachusetts involves a confluence of creaky bureaucracy and odd dispensary locations. The first dispensaries did not open until the end of November, much later than the July opening date first set by officials. The locations have also been outside of major metropolitan areas -- unlike places such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver and Seattle, all of which had dispensaries on or soon after the date marijuana sales became legal in California, Colorado and Washington. In contrast, the first dispensary in the Boston area just opened in March in Brookline. The Boston Globe dug through the statistics to see how much difference there has been in Massachusetts as compared to other states. They found that about $45 million in marijuana was sold in Massachusetts, or about $6.60 per resident. Thats much lower than the per resident numbers in Nevada ($30), Colorado ($8.70) and California ($8.17) Despite the low numbers, the states Administration and Finance Secretary Michael Heffernan told lawmakers he is still not willing to say they will not reach $63 million by June, saying its too early in the birthing of this particular industry to be able to actually calculate if were on or off track for our revenues. Related: New Poll Finds Highest Support Ever for Weed Legalization Competition forming On top of everything else happening in the state, Massachusetts also faces competition. Officials in adjoining states who see the potential financial benefits of legalizing marijuana have started to line up support for legalization efforts of their own. Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York all have started making moves toward legalization. In Rhode Island, Gov. Gina Raimondo has made legalized marijuana part of her proposed state budget and projects $4.9 million in new revenue from weed sales. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has included legalization on the agenda for the first 100 days of his third term. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont made legalization part of his campaign and part of his agenda this year. How this will impact sales in Massachusetts is unknown. However, some experts told the North of Boston Media Group that they expect it to at least impact prices over the course of the next few years. To stay up to date on the latest marijuana-related news make sure to like dispensaries.com on Facebook Related: Sluggish Bureaucracy Is Blamed for Disappointing Marijuana Tax Revenues in Massachusetts Small Businesses Face 6 Challenges in the Weed Market Harnessing Data to Optimize the Cannabis Consumer Experience Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved How to use the mindat.org media viewer Click/touch this help panel to close it. Welcome to the mindat.org media viewer. Here is a quick guide to some of the options available to you. Different controls are available depending on the type of media being shown (photo, video, animation, 3d image) Controls - all media types Zoom in and out of media using your mousewheel or with a two-finger 'resize' action on a touch device. Use the mouse or your finger to drag the image or the view area of the image around the screen. < and > at the left and right hand side of the screen move forwards and backwards for the other images associated with the media you selected. Usually this is used for previous/next photo in a gallery, in an article or in search results. Keyboard shortcuts: use shift + the left and right arrow keys. < and > in the bottom center are used for switching between the photos of the same specimen. Keyboard shortcuts: use the left and right arrow keys. > in the bottom center, raises the information box giving details and further options for the media, < at the top of this box then hides it. Keyboard shortcuts: use the up and down arrow keys. ? opens this help window. Keyboard shortcuts: use the H key or the ? key. Other keyboard shortcuts: 1 Fit image to screen 2 Fill screen with image 5 Display at full resolution < Make background darker > Make background lighter space Hide/dim titles and buttons Scalebar If the field of view (FOV) is specified for the photo, the scalebar appears in the left bottom corner of the viewer. The scalebar is draggable and resizeable. Drag the right edge to resize it. Double click will reset the scalebar to it's default size and position. If the scalebar is in default position, double click will make it circular. Controls - Video Video files have a standard set of video controls: - Reset to start, - Skip back, - Play, - Pause, - Skip forwards. Keyboard shortcuts: You can stop/start video play with the P key. Controls - Animation (Spin Rotation) Animation (usually 360 degree spin rotations) have their own controls: - enable spin mode. Note that while images are loading this option will not be available but will be automatically activated when the animation has loaded. Once active you can spin the image/change the animation by moving your mouse or finger on the image left/right or by pressing the [ or ] keys. The button switches to move mode so that you can use your mouse/fingers to move the image around the screen as with other media types. The button, or the P key will start playing the animation directly, you can interrupt this by using the mouse or finger on the image to regain manual movement control. Controls - 3D Stereoscopic images If a stereoscopic 3D image is opened in the viewer, the 3D button appears in the bottom right corner giving access to "3D settings" menu. The 3D images can be viewed in several ways: - without any special equipment using cross-eyed or parallel-eyed method - with stereoscope - with anaglyph glasses. - on a suitable 3D TV or monitor (passive 3D system) For details about 3D refer to: Mindat manuals: Mindat Media Viewer: 3D To enable/disable 3D stereo display of a compatible stereo pair image press the 3 key. If the left/right images are reversed on your display (this often happens in full-screen mode) press the 4 key to reverse them. Controls - photo comparison mode If a photo with activated comparison mode is opened in the viewer, the button appears in the bottom right corner giving access to "Comparison mode settings" menu. Several layouts are supported: slider and side by-side comparison with up to 6 photos shown synchronously on the screen. On each of the compared photos a view selector is placed, e.g.: Longwave UV . It shows the name of currently selected view and allows to select a view for each placeholder. Summary of all keyboard shortcuts Social Media You can follow us on different types of social media by clicking the links below: IRON COUNTY, MI The body of a Michigan man missing since late 2018 has been found in an Upper Peninsula lake. WLUC-TV6 reports that the body of Jay Dee Luckey, 47, of Iron River, was found in a lake in Iron Countys Bates Township on Monday. He had last been seen in the Iron River area on Oct. 24, 2018. Luckeys body was recovered after the Iron County Sheriffs Office was contacted by the Iron River Police Department regarding a possible body in the water, according to the TV station. Luckeys body was located a short time later. The cause of his death is under investigation, police said.The Michigan State Police assisted officials at the scene. White Boy Rick has spent most of his life in prison. Hes going to stay there a little while longer. According to the Associated Press, a Florida clemency board has denied an early prison release for Richard Wershe Jr., who has been incarcerated for his role in an interstate car theft ring which operated while he was already imprisoned. Wershe Jr., now famous because of a 2018 film based on his life starring Matthew McConaughey, spent 29 years in Michigan prisons on drug charges. He was paroled in Michigan in July 2017. At age 14, Wershe was an FBI informant in Detroit who helped convict a major cocaine trafficking ring but he eventually got caught selling drugs himself. The Executive Clemency Board sent a letter two weeks ago to Richard Wershe Jr.'s attorney, saying it has denied the request for a commuted sentence, according to the Associated Press. The letter didn't state a reason. Wershe's current release date is in October 2020. Richie Merritt portrayed Wershe Jr. in the 2018 film "White Boy Rick." Wershe has called his involvement in the auto theft stupid, but said he was motivated by a need to financially help his sister, who was caring for Wershes daughter at the time. His sister, Dawn, publicly criticized her familys portrayal in the film directed by Yann Demange. Sister of Richard Wershe Jr. angry with familys portrayal in White Boy Rick Ford Motor Co. announced a series of leadership moves and changes on Wednesday, April 10 while touting that these measures will help speed transformation. The moves include key figures at the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker such as Jim Farley, Joe Hinrichs, John Lawler and Marcy Klevorn. Farley will move into role as president of new businesses, technology and strategy, which means he will oversee mobility, autonomous vehicles and research, advanced engineering, corporate partnerships and global data analytics. He had served as the automakers president of global markets before Wednesdays announcement. Hinrichs, who had served as executive vice president and president of global markets, takes the role of president of automotive. Ford reports in the release that he will also oversee its global operations, product development, purchasing, manufacturing, and marketing and sales. Both Farley and Hinrichs will continue to report to Ford president and CEO Jim Hackett. Related: Ford reshuffles investment plan in Michigan to spend $900M, create 900 jobs Joe Hinrichs possesses the knowledge, experience and leadership to now take our Automotive business to world-class levels of product excellence, customer satisfaction, efficiency and financial performance, Hackett said in a statement. Jim Farleys job is to drive us into the future, both strategically and operationally, from AVs to mobility experiences to leveraging AI and big data. Jim combines an innate feel for what customers want and need in vehicles and the ability to translate this into the vehicles and services of the future. As for Lawler and Klevorn, the former will take on an expanded role as vice president reporting to Farley. Lawler will oversee the automakers corporate strategy, business development, and global insights and analytics. He had previously served as vice president of strategy at Ford. Klevorn, the automakers president of mobility, will retire from Ford in October after 36 years. Before she leaves Ford, Klevorn will serve as chief transformation officer working closely with Hackett and the leadership team. Marcys decades of experience working with many of the leading companies in the tech space as well as the work she has done with the transformation of Ford IT and the establishment of Ford Mobility gives her unique knowledge to drive these initiatives, Hackett added in the release. This comes on the heels of Fords recent announcement that it would change its investment in its home state a bit to the tune of $900 million and 900 new jobs. The automaker announced in late March that it would invest $850 million and add a second shift to the Flat Rock plant by 2023. Related: Amtrak service reportedly being explored for Detroits Michigan Central Station At the time of the original announcement in 2017, Ford said it would invest $4.5 billion into new electric vehicles, and $700 million to transform and expand the Flat Rock Assembly Plant. These projected 900 new positions will focus on the making of the automakers first autonomous vehicle by 2021 while Ford also has about $50 million penned to create an autonomous manufacturing center in the region. As we ramp up AV production, this plan allows us to adjust our investment spending to accommodate the pace of growth of this exciting new technology, Hinrichs said at the time of the Michigan announcement. This new plan combines our core strength in mass manufacturing with the agility and leanness weve shown with our modification centers for specialty manufacturing. Related: Ford plans to cut Fusion, Taurus and Fiesta from car lineup As for this autonomous vehicle manufacturing center, the automaker says that this will help create purpose-built, commercial-grade hybrid vehicles with self-driving technology and unique interiors. The Associated Press reports that this site is planned for the Detroit area in Southeast Michigan, but that its location is not yet known. This site will focus on modifying and outfitting existing Ford vehicles with new hardware. A Kentucky bar has admitted to overserving a patron who later killed a Michigan family of five and himself in a wrong-way crash on I-75. Horseshoes Kentucky Grill & Saloon in Lexington will pay a $10,000 fine and is suspended from serving alcohol for 10 days as part of a plea deal with the Lexington Alcoholic Beverage Control Office, Lexington police announced Wednesday. The suspension will run May 17 to May 26. Additionally, all Horseshoes employees must undergo retraining and certification on responsible alcohol service. The deal comes two days after relatives of the Abbas family filed a civil lawsuit against the bar in Fayette County Circuit Court. Relatives suing bars that served drunken driver who killed Michigan family of 5 Issam Abbas, 42 and Rima Abbas, 38 and their three children Ali Abbas, 14, Isabella Abbas, 13, and Giselle Abbas, 7, were killed in the Jan. 6 crash on their way home from a Florida vacation. The drunk driver, Joey Lee Bailey, 41, was also killed in the wrong-way collision which occurred at speeds between 70-80 miles per hour. He had a .306 blood-alcohol-level, nearly four times the legal limit, the Fayette County coroner said. A scheduled change to state teacher and administrator evaluation standards requiring a heavier reliance on student test results would be delayed for another school year under bills passed in the Michigan Senate Wednesday. In 2015, then-Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation enacting a new framework for teacher evaluations that called for 25 percent of the evaluation score to come from student growth and assessment data for three years, then increase that measure to 40 percent beginning in the 2018-2019 school year. Senate Bills 122 and 202, passed unanimously in the Senate Wednesday, would continue the 25 percent assessment threshold through the 2018-19 school year. Sen. Ken Horn of Frankenmuth, the packages main sponsor, has said he hopes lawmakers will ultimately make the change permanent. To change the evaluation system for the current school year, the legislation would have to be signed into law by early May. The bills will now head to the House for further review. During the committee process, supporters of the bills said tying annual performance so closely to student test scores would be unfair, noting factors like traumatic events students face outside of school or outdated test data are outside of a teachers control. But some business groups contend the 40 percent standard should stand on grounds that the evaluation process should be rooted in data. Teacher evaluations gained importance under teacher tenure reform laws adopted in 2011, which implemented annual evaluations to determine whether a teacher was highly effective, effective, minimally effective or ineffective. The law requires those rated ineffective for three years in a row be terminated. Three people from Detroit have been charged after they were found with $27,500 worth of heroin during a traffic stop on U.S. 23 by Ohio State Highway troopers. The department reports in a Tuesday, April 9 news release that Heywood Bell, 44, Divine Gunn, 22, and Anthony Garland, 51, have been charged with possession of heroin and trafficking in drugs, and failure to comply with an order. If the two men and one woman are convicted of the felony charges, they face up to 25 years in prison and $25,000 in fines. The Ohio State Highway Patrol reports that the incident occurred in the evening hours of April 1 on U.S. 23 in Scioto County. Troopers initially stopped the 2018 Nissan Sentra with Connecticut registration for a marked lanes violation. Scioto County is in Southern Ohio, located on the northern border of Kentucky. After making contact with the vehicle, the Sentra fled the scene and a short pursuit ensued. During this time, police observed one of the suspects throw the contraband out of the vehicles window, according to the news release. Bell, Gunn and Garland have been lodged at the Scioto County Jail. ANN ARBOR, MI - University of Michigan alum and former White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett will speak about her experiences as one of President Barack Obamas closest confidants during a talk in Ann Arbor this month. Jarrett, who served as an adviser in the White House from 2009 to 2017, will speak at 7 p.m., April 22 at the Michigan Theater in a conversation co-hosted by Nicolas Books. During her time in Washington, Jarrett oversaw the Offices of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs and chaired the White House Council on Women and Girls. She graduated from UM with a law degree in 1981 and was instrumental in helping bring Obama to Ann Arbor to deliver a Spring Commencement speech in 2010. That same year, Jarrett provided the commencement address for UMs Law School. Jarrett is promoting her memoir, Finding My Voice: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward," which was released earlier this month. Tickets for the event range from $35 to $65, while student tickets are $24.50 each. Each ticket includes a signed copy of Finding My Voice. NOVI, MI -- Chick-fil-A could continue to expand its presence in Michigan if Novi officials approve plans for a new location near Twelve Oaks Mall. Novis planning commission is holding a public meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 17 at the Civic Center, 45175 W. 10 Mile Road, to discuss the possible new Chick-fil-A franchise. The proposed site is on the southeast corner of Novi Road and Twelve Oaks Mall Road, city records show. The developer is proposing to demolish a vacant former Dennys restaurant building at 27750 Novi Road and build a new 4,990-square-foot Chick-fil-A. The restaurant, known for its original chicken sandwich and Chick-fil-A sauce, would include a drive-through, 114 indoor seats and 16 outdoor seats, according to the city. The former Dennys building was last sold in 2011 for $1 million to Novi Real Estate Group, LLC, city records show. The Wednesday meeting is open to the public. Comments can also be submitted in writing to the citys can Community Development Department from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Chick-fil-A announced in 2016 that the company plans to open 20 restaurants in Michigan by 2021. The chain currently has several southeast Michigan locations, including at the Somerset Collection in Troy, the Detroit Medical Center, Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Eastern Michigan University and Oakland University. New Chick-fil-A restaurants are also planned in the Muskegon and Kalamazoo areas. ANN ARBOR, MI Hours after announcing an agreement to buy renewable energy through DTE Energy, University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel was defending the universitys position on carbon neutrality while being peppered with questions from some of his most staunch climate critics. Students and faculty from a number of campus environmental organizations grilled Schlissel on what they believe are the universitys shortcomings in making progress toward carbon neutrality in a responsible way. UMs continued reliance on natural gas, its endowment investments in fossil fuels and how it handled a recent climate action protest that ended with 10 people being arrested were among the concerns expressed on Tuesday, April 9. Throughout the question-and-answer event, scheduled by the university in response to the protests, Schlissel aimed to stay on message that his Presidents Commission on Carbon Neutrality needed the help and input of students and the university community in attacking the issue of climate change. As an organization and as individuals, we have to be committed to taking this problem as seriously as anything that we do, and I think we are," Schlissel said. "We may disagree on that, but were working to head in the direction that we all agree we need to end up as quickly as we can. Student Jonathan Morris advocated for UM moving away from relying on natural gas. He asked Schlissel why the university was committed to operating its Central Power Plant with a new turbine fueled by natural gas, rather than a renewable energy source, pointing to the possibility of methane leaks as a disqualifier for being a legitimate bridge fuel. Schlissel responded that there was a lack of availability of a viable biofuel option at the required scale and technological limitations, while admitting the university will ultimately need to move away from fossil fuels in the long run. "I think ultimately, we have to get away from all fossil fuels, he sad. In the 10-year time horizon, no one has brought forward a way for us to completely get away from fossil fuels. Were also not the only organization that is dependent on the transition period of using gas. Other students pointed to UMs practices of investing in fossil fuels in its endowment as a being contradictory to its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint. Because the endowment plays such a significant role in paying for a number of university functions, Schlissel said the university essentially doesnt divest in any specific social causes. If we begin the process of narrowing what the endowment can invest in based on very valid arguments and concerns from sincere people, the ability to invest shrinks and the value of the endowment goes down and the institution suffers, he said. Myself and the board dont have any intention to divest, not just on this issue, but about a half a dozen other issues where requests have been made. When pressed on why UM hasnt made more aggressive commitments to its timeline for achieving carbon neutrality, such as Stanford and Ohio State have, Schlissel defended the universitys work thus far, while pointing to the inherent challenges of reaching that goal in a state like Michigan. The commission has committed to pursue carbon neutrality as a campus, but has not nailed down a date it hopes to achieve that status. Combined with other emission reduction efforts, the university says the DTE Energy agreement will help achieve its 2025 greenhouse gas reduction goal of reducing GHG emissions 25 percent below 2006 levels. Opportunities for investment in renewable energy are also more prevalent in states like California, Schlissel added, with higher rates of sunshine and more wind. Others looked at OSUs investment in wind energy as a model for collaboration between the institution and the private sector. "An example is brought up pretty often of Ohio State University, just down the road, sort of, who is getting a lot of credibility in this community, a little surprisingly, Schlissel said. I dont think theyre ahead of us in their efforts around carbon neutrality. UMs energy usage per square foot is two-thirds that of Ohio States, Schlissel said, noting that Ohio State had just transitioned away from coal power in the last 15 years, allowing it to make more significant progress based on recent data. Were not anywhere near where we need to be, but I think we have to be really careful expressing inadequacy as we look at others, he said. A number of students asked Schlissel about his responsiveness to their demands to meet with him to give their ideas on climate change. They noted that efforts to sit in his office after the March 15 Climate Strike protests ended with UM police issuing trespass warnings inside the Fleming Administration Building after 8 p.m. None of the people detained in the incident after the climate protests have been charged and their citations sit with the Washtenaw County Prosecutors Office, Schlissel said. The university has to stick to its rules and practices across campus that put boundaries around protests, particularly when buildings have been closed for several hours, he said. I think its unfortunate, but at the end of the day, I cant allow people to camp out in buildings that are closed, Schlissel said. As you can imagine, with 45,000 students on campus and thousands of faculty and many people passionate about many issues, its significantly a practical thing, too. We have to draw a line on building access. ANN ARBOR, MI -- The U.S. Army is giving the University of Michigan $50 million for autonomous vehicle technology research. The contract will shift the focus of the Automotive Research Center (ARC) to autonomous technologies for military ground vehicles through 2024, according to a university news release. The research center has been partnered with the Army for 25 years. Autonomy has the potential to make the most radical impact by significantly reducing the number of soldiers in harms way and changing the military paradigm, said Bogdan Epureanu, director of the center, in the news release. The next generation of autonomous vehicles will give our soldiers a position of advantage and safetymost dramatically in the last tactical mile. The potential benefits of these technologiesthe systems and materials that can improve the Armys mission capabilitiescreates pressure for us to develop them quickly. And we are well-positioned to do that." The research areas will focus on five categories: Vehicle dynamics, control and autonomous behavior: navigation, sensors, controls, hardware and algorithms. Human-centered design and human-autonomy teaming: developing technologies to establish trust between soldiers and autonomous systems and adapt to a humans limits when handling large amounts of information. High-performance structures and materials for adaptability and enhanced mobility: developing systems that operate without constraints of human passengers and adapting new technologies for passenger safety and comfort. Intelligent power systems: developing advanced solutions for vehicles with omnivorous energy systems, as well as for meeting the power demands of new payloads and the high-level sensing and computation that autonomy requires. Fleet operations and vehicle systems integration: modeling and simulating efforts to create a fleet of vehicles that can be optimally controlled and quickly adapted to new missions and terrains. We are excited to continue our long-standing relationship with the University of Michigan and the Automotive Research Center, and we are looking forward to working with ARC to help the Army move forward with its modernization strategy, said David Gorisch, chief scientist for the U.S. Army, in the news release. The center has served as a source of technology, modeling and simulation for the Armys vehicles since 1994, according to the university. Its partners include Clemson University, the University of Iowa, Michigan Tech, Oakland University, Wayne State University and Virginia Tech. FLINT, MI - An attorney for former UAW Vice President Norwood Jewell says the former labor leader has resigned as a Michigan superdelegate to the Democratic National Committee. Jewell pleaded guilty in Detroit federal court this month to a count of conspiracy to violate the Labor Management Relations Act for his role in a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme that occurred between 2009 and 2016. The U.S. Attorneys office charged that Fiat Chrysler executives bought influence with union leaders like Jewell with gifts and bribes disguised as funding for a training center set up to benefit workers. Jewells plea agreement calls for a prison sentence of 12-15 months, and on Tuesday, April 9, he submitted his resignation as a superdelegate, attorney Mike Manley confirmed. He did not want to be a distraction, Manley said of the decision. Superdelegates are elected officials and other dignitaries appointed to a political party convention held to nominate a presidential candidate. MLive-The Flint Journal could not immediately reach a spokesman for the Michigan Democratic Party for comment on the resignation. Genesee County Clerk-Register John Gleason continued his criticism of Jewell, calling again for the removal of his name from Sitdowners Memorial Park in Flint and from the Michigan Democratic Party. WEST OLIVE, MI Ottawa County officials on Tuesday questioned the cost and environmental impact of a project that aims to create a power boat link between Grand Rapids and Lake Michigan by dredging part of a 23-mile stretch of the Grand River. A 2017 state-contracted study conducted by Edgewater Resources, a waterfront plaining and design firm with offices in Michigan and Florida, estimated it would cost $2.1 million to dredge the river and another $165,000 in annual maintenance costs. But the countys sheriff and water resources commissioner challenged that figure. They said the total does not include the cost of buying additional boats and paying part-time sheriffs deputies to patrol the area. Nor, they said, does it include the cost of cleaning up trees and other debris in the river. I will have to put on additional staff, and I will have to stand before you if this project goes forward and ask you to increase the budget of the marine division so we can properly patrol the river, Ottawa County Sheriff Steve Kempker told the countys board of commissioners. Kempker was one of three county employees who spoke during a work session that examined the project, which is being led by Dan Hibma, a West Michigan developer and husband of former Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land. The work session featured a lengthy public comment period, in which at least 20 residents spoke out against the project. They said they were concerned it will hurt fish and wildlife and could potentially stir up hazardous substances buried beneath the soil. They also said that opening the river to power boaters would disturb a peaceful area where people enjoy kayaking, canoeing and fishing. If they do stir something up, how are they ever going to control it and stop it from leaching into Spring Lake or any of the bayous, asked Doug Thorpe, 65, of Grand Haven. Its an accident looking for a place to happen. Greg DeJong, who chairs the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners, said he and his colleagues will evaluate the information and public feedback provided at the meeting. They will then decide whether to stay neutral on the project or issue a symbolic resolution in support or opposition of it. DeJong, following the meeting, said it would be premature to share his stance on the project. But obviously Ive listened very carefully to what the residents of Ottawa County said, he said, noting that the public was overwhelmingly opposed to the project. Kempker said that if the project were to happen, his department would need to purchase a minimum of three boats to patrol the river, a cost he put a $600,000. He would also, on an annual basis, need to pay between six and eight part-time deputies to patrol the area. That would cost $86,112, he said. The 2017 Edgewater Resources study estimated maintenance dredging and buoy maintenance would cost $165,000 annually. But Ottawa County Water Resources Commissioner Joe Bush put the price tag at $798,000 in the projects first year. The biggest chunk of that, $475,000, would be used for tree and debris removal. The Edgewater study did not include any estimates for debris removal. I believe with all the other engineering firms and consultants that I contacted, that number seems to be a realistic number, Bush said of his estimate. He noted that his annual maintenance estimate would drop to about $350,000 annually in the projects second year because the majority of tree and debris removal would occur in the projects first year. Hibma, the owner of Land and Co., a development firm that owns numerous apartment buildings across West Michigan, attended Tuesdays meeting. He stressed that the project is far from complete, and that a permit to dredge the river has not yet been submitted to the state. Were way, way early in this process, said Hibma, whose organization has touted the economic benefits of bringing more boaters and visitors to the river. Were here today to hear things, to understand where the issues are. The project, known as Grand River Waterway, has received $3.35 million in funding from the state of Michigan. The most recent portion, $2 million, was included in a supplemental state budget approved during the waning days of last years lame duck legislative session. Those dollars were provided to the Department of Natural Resources to pay for the dredging work and shall be spent only if sediment tests are satisfactory and necessary permits are issued, the state budget says. Those sediment tests are currently taking place. After the meeting, when asked about the funding issues raised by Kempker and Bush, Hibma said: This is the first time Ive seen that. Well have to look at it. Were not here for controversy. Were just here to try to get something we think is good for everybody. Later, he added: Were in a fact-finding stage. No application has been made. So yeah, these are good questions and they will have to be answered prior to an application is made. But Im asked to answer things that we havent had a study on yet. Hibma has not yet identified how maintenance costs would be paid for. Steve Maas, the mayor of Grandville whos serving as a project advisor, previously suggested that communities along the river may be willing to pick up the tab. DeJong, when asked about the maintenance costs associated with the project, said his board will take a hard look at those figures. Were rich in tradition here about being a conservative board, he said. We probably will not get in a situation where were going to spend taxpayers money foolishly. So its something else we have to take a look at. The meeting also featured a presentation by Daniel OKeefe, a Michigan State University extension worker whose research focuses on fisheries management and lake and stream ecology. He provided the audience with a working paper on the project and said the dredging would likely hurt the rivers water quality, lead to increased erosion and harm fish and wildlife. We cant really say whats going to happen, he said. But you dont have to be Einstein to look around at all the research from around the world and say dredging or channelizing a river is usually a bad thing. The question here is how bad is it really going to be and where are the impacts going to be worst? KENT COUNTY, MI A former Sparta Village councilman who was arrested while trying to meet a 14-year-old girl for sex pleaded guilty Wednesday, April 10, to sexual exploitation of a minor. Ryan James Hayes, 34, was arrested last year at Grand Rapids Huff Park where he thought he would meet a teen for sex. He had been conversing online with an undercover police officer posing as a 14-year-old girl. He pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a minor for taking photographs of a 16-year-old girl performing oral sex on him on April 11, 2018, in Ottawa County. The charge carries a sentence of at least 15 years, and up to 30, in prison. He entered the plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ray Kent in Grand Rapids. A charge of attempted coercion or enticement, carrying a penalty of at least 10 years, and up to life, in prison, will be dismissed at sentencing in a plea agreement. Hayes was appointed to the Village Council about two months before his arrest by Kent County sheriffs deputies who were conducting an online predator sting. Police say he initiated contact with a sheriffs worker who was posing as a 14-year-old girl named Liv. "During the first day of communication, Hayes steered the conversation to sexual topics and discussed meeting 'Liv' for a date that would include sex," a sheriff's deputy said in a probable-cause affidavit. The chats went on for a couple of weeks before he showed up at Huff Park and was arrested, police said. Hayes is free on bond. A sentencing date has not yet been set. The judge may consider the dismissed charge in determining the sentence. SAND LAKE VILLAGE, MI Tracy Quinlan is optimistic as she takes over this small, northern Kent County town. We have a lot of really good things going on in the community, she said, citing partnerships with the Chamber of Commerce and Nelson Township. But, she said, challenges lie ahead. A lot has happened lately, before her recent appointment to village president. The police chief, who was fired after an officer filed multiple complaints, filed a federal lawsuit against the village. The officer, later terminated, filed complaints with the state Department of Civil Rights and U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In late March, the village suspended its police department. Days later, Quinlans predecessor, Danielle Hardenburg, who fired the police chief, James Reamsma, resigned. Hardenburg told colleagues she is going to nursing school. Then, theres the lawsuit. It alleged that Hardenburg had a romantic relationship with the officer who filed the complaints, which Reamsma says were used as a pretext for his firing. The officer denied any relationship with Hardenburg beyond friendship. Is this for real? a resident said, in a Sand Lake Informed Facebook discussion about the controversies. Quinlan, the new president, said the village is just moving forward. She said she could not discuss legal issues but that village officials plan to meet soon with attorneys to respond to Reamsmas lawsuit. Reamsma, 62, who is also a pastor, fell from a ladder on Nov. 23 at a Grand Rapids church, breaking his pelvis and wrist and fracturing vertebrae, the lawsuit said. He was fired while on medical leave. His termination violated the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, or FMLA, his attorney, Bradley Glazier said in the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids. The day after the fall, Reamsma called Hardenburg from the hospital and said he would be off work for 90 days. She told him that he would be suspended while the village looked at the officers complaints. At one point, (Hardenburg) told him that the Village was not willing to wait for him to return from his medical leave, Glazier wrote in the lawsuit. Hardenburg later said she misspoke. Reamsma was not fired for his inability to work but because of a number of complaints against him, she said. Glazier contended that the complaints were simply a pretext for his clients firing. The ex-chief disputed the officers complaints. The Village Council told Reamsma he was fired in a Dec. 6 letter. The reason for termination was Reamsmas inability to perform job functions for extended period of time at which the Village can not hold your position unfilled for that amount of time,'" Glazier said. The letter wrongly said the village had no FMLA obligations to workers, the attorney said. Attorneys for the village did not return messages seeking comment. The village has not yet responded to the lawsuit. Andrew DeLobel, one of five part-time officers, told the village president in November that he had been mistreated by the police chief. He said the village had valid reasons for firing the chief. There were a lot of problems there, he said. He was a very malicious person. DeLobel disputed an allegation in the lawsuit that he and Hardenburg had a romantic relationship. He said they were friends. They worked together at a hospital. She was a firefighter, too, and worked out of a building shared by police. As far as people looking at that, and making assumptions, its unfortunate, he told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. Theyre grabbing at straws. Thats actually false. We were co-workers and friends. The day before the ex-chiefs fall at church, DeLobel wrote to Hardenburg: I am contacting you because of serious concerns I have regarding Sand Lake Police Chief James Reamsma and the police workplace environment. On numerous occasions since becoming a Sand Lake Police Officer, I have been harassed, including being yelled at, and made the subject of demeaning comments while on duty. Offensive and demeaning text messages have also been sent to my personal cell phone, and my constitutional rights to worship God to the dictates of my own conscience have been violated. Many of these problems began during training with Chief Reamsma and have not stopped. He said that Reamsmas treatment of residents was unprofessional, dishonest and rude" and that the workplace environment under his leadership is hostile and volatile. DeLobel said he was fired on Dec. 17 by the acting police chief. He was not given a reason, he said. The former chief said in the lawsuit that DeLobels complaints arose after he counseled the officer on his job performance. Reamsma, with 20 years in law enforcement, began as Sand Lake police chief in 2013. He worked 30 hours a week before his hours were reduced to 27 hours. He often worked longer hours, his attorney said. GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- After a successful 30-month pilot program and a handful of adjustments, Grand Rapids has its bonfire ordinance on the books. On Tuesday, April 9, the city commission adopted a revised recreational fire ordinance that allows for permitted burns and a process for neighbors who have legitimate reasons to object to a nearby burn request. The commission approved the ordinance, 5-2, with commissioners Senita Lenear and Ruth Kelly opposing it as written. Lenear said a resident shouldnt have to disclose their personal physical health or have a doctors note in order to oppose a neighbors request for a permit. She also voiced her concern regarding city liability. Opening it up for city staff to try on their own to make a determination, it brings subjectivity," Lenear said. "If someone is saying no, theyre saying no and thats the end of it. Its going to create liability for city staff if theyre the ones trying to make a determination about whether someone is legitimately expressing a health concern. Kelly said her opposition from the start has been aligned with concerns from the Kent County Health Department, Asthma Network of West Michigan and the American Lung Association regarding quality of life effects from local burns, particularly on children. Under the revised ordinance, Grand Rapids residents can get a permit from the city to burn wood in an in-ground fire pit or portable fire container in the backyard of their property. The fire must be at least 20 feet from any structure, lot line, fence or combustible materials, and cant be in the front yard of a property. Originally, there was also a minimum eligible lot size of 5,000 square feet, but that was thrown out in the final draft. In order to have a legal burn, residents can apply for a backyard fire permit at the Citys Development Center, 1120 Monroe Ave NW. Residents within 120 feet of the requesting property, including across the street, will be notified of the permit application. If there is no opposition, a permit will be granted. If a neighbor opposes the fire, they would have to explain the reason for their objection and city staff would determine whether to issue the permit, considering the merits of the objection in terms of public health, safety, and welfare impacts. The ordinance moves away from the pilots one-citizen veto" system. Under the pilot, an objecting neighbor didnt need to explain why they opposed the local burn. City staff said that caused problems, including a case where racial animus appeared to be the basis for a denial. Based on legal requirements, it would be reviewed by city staff, not just an unqualified I object therefore the city must deny the permit, which is the case today," said Louis Canfield, the citys development center manager. On March 26, the commission heard eight comments during the public hearing on the ordinance. Five residents spoke in favor and three in opposition. Additionally, the city received three letters in support of the ordinance and 11 in opposition. City staff also surveyed residents within 150 feet of an active recreational fire permit and found that 89 percent of respondents supported the city ordinance to allow permitted backyard burns. The response rate was 10 percent. To apply for a recreational fire permit, or for more information, visit the citys website or the Development Center on Monroe Avenue NW. SPRING LAKE, MI -- Lee Painter started a Facebook page earlier this year parodying his hometown of 2,000 people to poke fun at the village and neighboring cities. Two weeks ago, his page, Village of Spring Lake, underwent some changes after village officials raised concerns and police showed up at his door. The changes are designed to eliminate any confusion on any perceived connection between the parody page and Spring Lakes official village government. The parody Facebook page previously featured the governments logo. The pages humorous jabs at the village and other cities include this one: Spring Lake Public Schools are closed today. Just a reminder: the Spring Lake Public Library is not a free daycare for children. Have a nice day. It was just kind of like funny observations and some satire and some lighthearted smack talk about other cities and the area, Painter said. There are other pages that exist, parodies of city governments, state governments, national governments. I was inspired by that. Spring Lake officials were not just unamused; they called the cops on him. On March 29, village officials sent an Ottawa County Sheriffs deputy to Painters home to request he stop using the villages logo and name, that he stop imitating the village, as some people were confusing his page and messages with the governments own, said Spring Lake Village Manager Christine Burns. Painter said the deputy threatened him with arrest and demanded he take his parody page down entirely. A sheriffs official disputes the claim that he was threatened with arrest. He wasnt arrested, and later that day he stopped using the village logo and added satire to the page name. Burns, who categorized some of Painters posts as dark and disturbing, said his imitation was harming the villages economic development and relationships with neighboring cities. Among the posts, she pointed to one she said disparaged the socioeconomic status of Muskegon residents: If youre having a bad day just remember some people have to attend Muskegon Public Schools, the post said. When people assume that this is us, the village commenting, it portrays us in a very poor light, Burns said. It generated a lot of ill will with people and also created a lot of work for my staff. Spring Lake is just one of many municipalities with parody government pages in Michigan. Nearby Muskegon has one, and some others have popped up since the news about Spring Lakes. The move by Painter to add satire to the name and not use the logo satisfied village leaders, according to Burns. He can say and do what he wants from now on, she said. Its a dead issue. Its a non-issue." Although Burns said she assumes what Painter was doing was not allowed by law, she conceded she has no idea, as she is not an attorney. The deputy, she said, was only sent to request Painter comply with their wishes to have him cease and desist on the imitation. Ottawa County Sheriffs Office Capt. Mark Bennett said his office is looking into Painters claims about the deputy threatening arrest, adding that the deputy denies he did. There was not a threat of arrest there, Bennett said. There were some discussed legal consequences, perhaps, but those were more in the civil realm than any type of criminal action. Bennett said it doesnt appear Painter did anything criminal and that the villages complaint is closed at this time. Painter contends his page, before and after the addition of satire, is protected under the First Amendment, and two legal experts contacted by MLive/The Grand Rapids Press agree. This is a very old tradition to do satire around public questions and public officials, and the U.S. Supreme Court has held that it is a core part of First Amendment protections, said Len Niehoff, a professor of First Amendment law at University of Michigan Law School. I think its fair to request that the page be labeled satire, but I dont think its legally necessary. Niehoff criticized the villages decision to have a deputy request Painter comply with its wishes, calling it very heavy handed. It could result in the chilling of free speech rights, he said. Many people were duped by Painters page, according to Burns, who said the number of calls and the number of emails and the number of complaints we received would back that up. She was unable to estimate the number of concerns received but said her staff of six has worked extra to handle them. Some degree of confusion is always possible with parody and satire, Niehoff said, as those forms of comedy only work if they closely imitate the subject of the humor. As an example, he pointed to Alec Baldwins depiction of President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live and the lack of disclaimer saying Baldwin is an actor and not actually Trump. Periodically, people tweet out articles from The Onion as if it was real news, he said. Thats not the fault of the satirist, thats the fault of the person who isnt reading it carefully enough to know fun is being made. Around the time Painter was visited by the deputy, Burns made a thinly veiled reference to him on her Facebook page: If youre a booger-eating 37-year-old (clown emoji) and youre still living in your parents basement, perhaps you shouldnt take on people who are smarter than you." She denied it was about Painter, who is 37, and said it could refer to any number of 37-year-olds if the shoe fits. Almost 1,900 people follow Painters page, and the number continues to grow after the recent media attention. My intention was never malice, he said. Theres been a couple of upset messages, but overwhelmingly people are saying, We absolutely love this.' GRAND RAPIDS, MI Hyung Tai Kim has been selected as the next president of Mercy Health Saint Marys Hospital. Kim, who currently serves as the senior associate dean of clinical affairs at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, will start on May 6. "Dr. Kim is an experienced physician leader who will bring extensive health care and leadership expertise to Saint Marys, Julie Ridenour, chair of the Mercy Health Saint Mary's Board of Trustees, said in a statement. "His proven leadership in building alignment and leading change in complex environments poises him to lead our organization through the intricacies of health care delivery in our community." Kim earned his medical degree at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Mercy Health said in a news release. He completed his internal medicine residency and earned a Master of Business Administration degree at the University of Michigan. Mercy Health Saint Marys, 200 Jefferson Ave. SE, is part of Mercy Health, a regional health care system with 800 beds in West Michigan and the lakeshore. Its deep history, caring people and bright future are just some reasons I am delighted to join Mercy Health, Kim said in a statement. Its also a vital part of West Michigan, which is not only a destination for world-class health care, but also a great place I look forward to calling home. Kim replaces Bill Maans, who is now serving as president of St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor and St. Joseph Mercy Livingston hospitals. David Baumgartner, who was serving as interim president, will return to the role of chief medical officer. JACKSON, MI -- As fundraising for a new facility slows, Jackson YMCA organizers are shifting their focus from money to finding better ways to serve the community, CEO Shawna Tell said. The Jackson YMCA is hosting a forum from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, April 11 to gain a better outlook on community needs. The discussion will take place in the small gym of the Jackson YMCA, 127 W. Wesley Street, and is open to the public. Free child care will be provided. The YMCA is currently running a 25-by-25 fundraising campaign to help fund a new 74,000-square-foot facility downtown. Its currently at $13.4 million of its $25 million goal, which was originally set for Dec. 25, 2017. The YMCA is one the places people can choose to go and have different backgrounds come together to build relationships, Tello said. We see power in that and in the diversity of people we serve, so now we are slowing down to take a more focused look on how to help them best. Organizers have been focusing less on the numbers with fundraising and more on the strategies of the YMCA, Tello said. Built in 1962, the current YMCA at 127 W. Wesley St. is roughly 65,000 square feet, but only 50,000 to 55,000 square feet is usable. The new space would be roughly 75,000 square feet. Tello said the current facility is hard to navigate for those with limited mobility, and some rely on the wellness center and pool for rehabilitation. The elevator is also in the back of the building and doesnt reach every floor, she said. One community need is traditional all-day daycare, which the building isnt set up to accommodate under meet state licensing regulations, Tello said. Its currently only a licensed day camp and can provide babysitting services while a parent is in the facility exercising. The planned new building would allow for all-day childcare while adding a state-of-the-art aquatics center and 24-hour accessibility, while maintaining all the features of the current YMCA, organizers say. The forum is a unique opportunity for people to have input in how the YMCA should look, Jackson YMCA spokesperson Bonnie Gretzner said. The YMCA is an important part of the community, especially with its kid camps and after school programs, and senior programs. JACKSON, MI The newly renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Drive formerly Francis Street is closing for two weeks for railroad crossing reconstruction. MLK Drive closes between Louis Glick Highway and East Pearl Street at 8 a.m. on Monday, April 15, according to a Michigan Department of Transportation press release. It's expected to reopen Friday, April 26. Amtrak is doing the work, with a permit from MDOT. Click here to see the MDOT project map of closures in Jackson and throughout the state. Northbound traffic will be detoured to West Avenue, while southbound traffic shifts to Cooper Street. Labor relations in New York City was one of the first, biggest challenges for newly elected Mayor Bill de Blasio back in 2014. But his administration managed to reach labor contracts with every public sector union in the city after negotiations had halted under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Renee Campion was there for all of it, working for the Bloomberg administration in the Mayors Office of Labor Relations for his entire 12-year tenure, then serving as first deputy commissioner under de Blasio. Earlier this year, she got a promotion, being named commissioner of the office, replacing Bob Linn who announced his retirement in January. She runs an office of 140 people and is the citys chief labor negotiator during an especially busy time. Of the 360,000 unionized city employees, 37 percent dont have settled contracts in the latest round of bargaining including those in the notoriously difficult Police Benevolent Association. Theres a lot of work to do. A tough road ahead with all those contracts, Campion told City & State. But we did it once before, in 2014 and 2015, when all the contracts had expired and we had to negotiate all the agreements. Were sort of in that place now. So your job is about a lot more than contract negotiations. Thats the stuff that makes the papers. But we have the negotiation side, the health administration, employee assistance program and health care cost management. Its all sort of interrelated, in one way or another. Something Im very proud of is the employee assistance program. We have a dozen MSWs (employees who have a masters degree in social work) who handle our calls and in-person meetings with city employees, as well as their dependents and family members when they need someone to talk to from an employee assistance point of view. I thought unions usually handle that kind of stuff. Are you only providing services to nonunionized employees? No, its everybody. The uniformed unions have their own employee assistance programs, but it doesnt prevent anybody from picking up the phone and calling our number and asking for help. The uniformed people tend to stay within their agency, but all 380,000 city employees would be able to pick up the phone and call and ask for help. And we could provide that resource for them. The mayor is asking every single department to cut its budget this year. Is that on your mind as you negotiate labor contracts? Does that add pressure, knowing theres a slight budget crunch? It makes it a challenge. I think theres a reality of fiscal restraints no matter what the economy has out there for us. We budgeted for the labor pattern that exists. Thats already in the budget. So to the extent there are cuts made, or as different agencies are being asked to come up with additional savings, it doesnt directly, necessarily impact the pattern that we have. You mentioned the labor pattern thats using the graduated pay hikes that the city negotiated in 2018 with the United Federation of Teachers and District Council 37? Right, theres a 2 percent (raise), a 2.25 percent, and a 3 percent. Which is a total of 7.25 percent, and then theres also two 0.25 percents that are available throughout the contract term, over the 43 months, so if you add in that half a percent, the total is about 7.95 percent. Well be working with the other groups to come to settlements. For the most part, we come to voluntary settlements. And we expect to do the same thing now. The Police Benevolent Association has been one of the toughest deals to reach, year in and year out. Are you approaching it differently this year? Weve engaged in bargaining for this round since late 2017 or early 2018. They filed for impasse in summer of 2018 and we started that process, where the (state Public Employment Relations Board) arranged for a panel. Our selection was (former labor relations commissioner) Bob Linn, and continues to be. So hes not totally retired! Hes retired, as in he will be getting his pension (laughs). I have retained him as a consultant on a couple of issues, one being to continue in his role as the citys representative on the PBA panel. They filed for impasse, we picked the panel, and then they chose to litigate the citys selection of Bob. This impasse is for the contract that expired July 31, 2017, and theres a maximum of two years (of negotiation) required by law, unless the parties mutually agree to a different term, so that would be until July 31, 2019, so thats a few months away. Our door is always open for the PBA to come back to the table. To the extent that they want to come forward to the table, they know who I am. Im a known entity. Ive worked in the office for 17 years. People know me, they respect me. I think everybody sees me as an honest straight shooter. Youre the first woman in this position. I am the first woman. And its really exciting. In addition to being the first woman, Im the ninth labor commissioner. That really points to the strength of labor relations in New York City for the last 53 years. There are other agencies that have had much more than nine commissioners in their existence. Are you personally represented by a union? I am not, no, no, no. I am purely management. Along with the mayor, Im one of the few positions in New York City these days who are not represented (laughs). We have lots of one-star, two-star chiefs in the police department that are represented by unions. Out of 380,000, we have about 360,000 represented employees, and 20,000 management or supervisory employees, who are people just not represented by a union. Thats why theres 350 groups I have to negotiate with! But as far as the point about being the first woman, I think it was just as important for my own staff to see a woman leading OLR. At the same time, I think its very important and Ive gotten very positive reaction from a lot of the union representatives and union leadership that they see a woman leading the management team. But its nose to the grindstone now. Ive got a lot of work to do. Whats your personal philosophy on labor unions? Should every public and private employee be in one? New York City, were a union town. Were very focused on the unions and what theyve done for New York City. Having done this for 27 years, I know the importance and value of the union. I was never in one myself, but I understand it. When Im sitting across the table from union representatives, I hope to show a respectful dynamic. Theres no reason for anything else. I understand what their role is. They understand what my role is. At the end of the day, we will come to a settlement one way or another, mostly on a voluntary basis. To the extent that those negotiations are successfully concluded, I think people can then deal with other issues that come up in city government. There are so many issues that go beyond the contract. Labor relations in New York is not a one issue experience. Its multifaceted and complicated. Weve seen the PBA protest outside the Prospect Park YMCA and follow the mayor to Iowa. Whats the craziest thing youve seen as part of contract negotiations? I wouldnt categorize it, necessarily, as crazy. It is their right to assemble and free speech and make their voices heard. To an extent, I would prefer, as a labor commissioner, that they had those conversations and were doing those things at the bargaining table. Thats always what were in favor of, all day long. Nobody has ever inflated a giant rat outside your apartment? I live on the Upper East Side. Ive been there 25 years or so. Im not aware that theyve ever put a rat outside my building. I guess my tenure is short so far, so (laughs) but I would hope that I have a good enough relationship with the unions. But I guess its always possible. JACKSON, MI Cuffed and wearing jail house orange, Amber Reeves briefly apologized for killing her boyfriends infant son before shifting blame toward him at her sentencing hearing Wednesday. 16 Amber Lynn Reeves sentenced in death of 14-month-old Her blue eyes were blank and she spoke emotionless before Circuit Judge Susan Jordan, April 10, as she admitted to hurting 14-month old Logan Tracy, but claimed he was also being abused by his father Mac Tracy. There has been no evidence indicating anyone hurt Logan except Reeves, Logans family, police and prosecutors have said. For her to say she takes full responsibility and in the same breath accuses my son of abuse is despicable, Susan Ziegler, Logans grandmother, said. She has shown no remorse. We have been sentenced to a life without Logan. Jordan sentenced Reeves to 10 to 15 years in prison, the maximum allowed, for Logans death. Logans family will live without him forever, Jordan said. You need to be away from society and children. Reeves pleaded guilty as charged, Feb. 19, to one count each of manslaughter and second-degree child abuse for Logans death. Logan died at Henry Ford Allegiance Health, Oct. 11, 2018, of blunt force abdominal trauma and complications, according to the countys vital records office. After her arrest, Reeves was sent to the Michigan Center for Forensic Psychiatry which determined she had mental conditions but was competent to stand trial, her attorney Andrew Kirkpatrick said. Reeves admitted her guilt early in the case and has been sorry for her actions, Kirkpatrick said. Her admission came far too late, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kelsey McKinnie said. She admitted she did this but still, to the day, shows no remorse, McKinnie said. (Logan) spent an entire day in pain because of what she did to him. She was the only person who knew why he was in pain and she did nothing. Her pleading guilty is way too late. Because of her inaction, we are here on manslaughter. Logans mother, Raelynn Russell, wept as she recalled seeing Logan in the hospital, knowing she would never hold him in her arms again. There was nothing I could do to bring my baby back, she said, as she asked Jordan to impose a maximum sentence. He doesnt get to grow up. Reeves smirked as she was escorted out of the courtroom to await transfer to the Michigan Department of Corrections. She was credited for 166 days served. MUSKEGON, MI Road work on Muskegons Lakeshore Drive in the citys Lakeside business district is slated to begin next week. The city plans to reconstruct nearly a mile of Lakeshore Drive, between McCracken Street and Laketon Avenue. Lakeshore is the major corridor between Muskegons urban core and Lake Michigan, providing access to city parks, boat launches and other amenities. Work is expected to begin on Monday, April 15, and be complete in October, said Leo Evans, director of public works for the City of Muskegon. This map shows where the city will reconstruct a portion of Lakeshore Drive between McCracken Street and West Laketon Avenue. The construction zone is marked in red. A detour, marked in orange, will be in place from Lakeshore south to Lincoln Street, the east to West Sherman Boulevard, and north to Barclay Street back onto LakeshoreCourtesy of Google.com The project will rebuild Lakeshore Drive with concrete pavement and includes streetscape improvements in the Lakeside Business District between McCracken and Addison street, and a new water main. From April to July, only one lane of westbound traffic will be open along Lakeshore Drive. Eastbound lanes will be shut with traffic detoured from Lakeshore south at Lincoln Street, then east on West Sherman Boulevard, then north to Barclay Street and on to Laketon Avenue, which turns into Lakeshore. From late July to October, two-way traffic will be open along Lakeshore Drive, Evans said. The project is estimated to cost $6 million, which includes $2 million for water main work, and will be partially funded the Federal Highway Administration in association with the Michigan Department of Transportation. This collage shows "nautical" theme concepts that the city of Muskegon hopes to incorporate into its Lakeshore Drive streetscape project.Courtesy of City of Muskegon The city is looking to enhance the visual appeal of the business district with new street lighting, crosswalks, benches, landscaping and new signage for key businesses, such as the Lake Express Ferry. The improvements will also increase walkability within the district and add more parking. The streetscape is expected to reflect a nautical theme, with streetlights that resemble oil lamps or kettle lanterns and benches with accents meant to look like dune grass, according to designs provided to MLive/Muskegon Chronicle by city officials. SAGINAW, MI Inside a packed Saginaw County courtroom on Wednesday, a litany of loved ones described how their lives are affected by the death of Anthony A. Cannon Jr., who was shot and killed a year ago by his fiancee. As they spoke, delivering emotional recollections one after another, the woman who pleaded no contest in Cannons death - 27-year-old Hazel J. Cooper - hung her head and wiped tears from her eyes. I invited Hazel into my home. I treated her just like she was a child of mine, said Cannons mother, Christine Nelson, wearing a shirt with her sons likeness and the caption, R.I.H. My Son. But for her to assassinate my son - my baby was asleep - and to say that he was a fighter, an abuser. I did not raise my son that way. Right now, me, my entire family, his four children, this is rough, your Honor. I ask, I beg the court to give her everything she can get. I can never see my son. It hurts everyday for me to look at my grandchildren and see the hurt in them. I ask that you lock her up and throw away the key, if its possible. She and Cannons four sons, sister, ex-wife, and a cousin addressed Saginaw County Circuit Judge Andre R. Borrello the afternoon of Wednesday, April 10. Borrello was scheduled to sentence Cooper on a charge of second-degree murder, but adjourned doing so as he had only received sentencing memorandums the day before and didnt want to rush into proceedings. Cannons loved ones traveled from all over the country for the hearing, so Borrello agreed to hear their victim impact statements. Nelson said she spoke with her son multiple times every day. The morning of March 5, 2018, she spoke with him on the phone. He told her he had a headache and that Cooper was in the bathroom, getting ready to go to the store. He said hed call her back later in the day. A few hours later, she received a call from a niece, saying shed heard Cooper had shot Cannon, Nelson said. Nelson called 911 from Pontiac and asked police to visit her sons home at 2840 W. Genesee Ave. in Saginaw. Officers entered the home and found Cannon dead on a bed with Cooper nearby, a gun in her hand, Nelson said. They had to stun Cooper with a Taser to get her to drop the gun, Nelson said. Nelson took offense at Coopers prior assertion that her son had been abusive toward her and that she had killed him in self-defense as he pointed a gun at her. Prosecutors have said Cannon had been shot twice in the head with a .40-caliber pistol owned by Cooper. Evidence indicated Cannon had been lying down when shot, prosecutors alleged. Cannons four sons Juleal, Malique, Jamal, and Keshawn Cannon then addressed the judge, speaking to the void their fathers death has left. My dad was never a fighter, Juleal Cannon said. He always loved women, couldnt get enough of them. Laughter briefly erupted in the gallery at the comment, before Juleal continued by saying his dad had told him hed thought Cooper would be the one. I thought she was going to be a new mom, he said, tearing up as his brothers consoled him by patting his back. When we couldnt talk to our dad, shes who wed go to. He recalled getting the news his dad had died. I cant believe she would do that to him, he said. I dont whether to feel sympathy for her, cause I loved her as a mom. But all that feeling that I had just disappeared. Its gone. As he spoke, Cooper sat in the jury box beside defense attorney Alan A. Crawford. She kept her gaze down, her left hand on her forehead. I cant believe, and I dont like saying this word, I cant believe she lied to me, said Jamal Cannon. She told me she would never hurt my dad, and she did. He then began sobbing and was consoled by his brothers. I have to go to school and some nights I cant sleep thinking about how it happened, he pressed on. I wasnt there, so I dont know, but knowing that she did it is a shock because she was so nice. Now I have nightmares at least once a week about what happened. I hope she gets whatever she has coming to her. Keshawn Cannon, the oldest of the four boys, said he feels betrayed, used, bamboozled. She dont need to be free, he said. She had a choice. My dad was not abusive, point blank, period. I wont forget and Im not forgiving this. Everything is a choice. Everything has a domino effect. When the boys finished speaking, both sobbing and applause sounded in the gallery. Cannons older sister, Anisha Noel, followed her nephews in addressing the judge, describing the process as a therapeutic endeavor. She recalled growing up with Cannon and how he was as a child. My brother did martial arts, Noel said. He boxed. Hed fish. He was always a caring and compassionate person. He was a free spirit. He lived his life his way and he did it unapologetically. He had a personality that resonated. As a boxer, Cannon knew not to use his hands in a violent manner outside the ring, she said. He added he put on anti-bullying programs and was a deeply spiritual person who treasured and celebrated African American women. What hurts most is because of what (Cooper) did, Anthony does not have a voice, Noel said. Anthony does not get to speak his truth because Hazel took that. Hazel took the gift that God gave Anthony. Making the killing worse is that it occurred on her fathers birthday, forever marring the date of March 5, she said. Instead of having a piece of cake, my father will forever mourn my brother, she said. Similar sentiments expressing the hole left by Cannons death and asking the judge to give Cooper the maximum sentence were given by Cannons ex-wife and a cousin, the latter of whom flew in from New York for the hearing. Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Blair Stevenson told the judge more people wanted to give statements, but those would occur on the final sentencing date. Cooper in February pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and felony firearm. In exchange, the prosecution dismissed a charge of open murder, which contains first- and second-degree murder. Judge Borrello adjourned Coopers sentencing until May 22. Airbnb has backtracked its earlier decision to remove listings in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying instead that it would donate profits generated in the entire area to charity. The move is a sharp U-turn from its earlier announcement that it would stop listing the 200 controversial settlement accommodations in November, which was widely commended at the time. Airbnb also faced sharp rebukes from Israeli groups and was hit with Israeli and US lawsuits. Also on rt.com Dueling boycotts? Airbnb pledges to remove occupied West Bank settlement listings, Israel hits back Airbnb said it had settled all lawsuits related to the policy and it would not move forward with implementing the removal of listings in the West Bank from the platform. It added that it would take no profits from this activity in the region. The statement refers to the entire West Bank, meaning Palestinian Airbnb listings are included despite not having anything to do with the controversial settlements. Israeli settlements built within the West Bank are seen as illegal by the international community, as they violate the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibiting an occupying power from transferring its citizens into the territory it occupies and displacing the population. Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 war, and the West Bank and Gaza are considered to be the home of a future Palestinian state, should the two-state solution ever come to fruition. Also on rt.com IDF puts Palestinians on lockdown but settlers can move freely during Israeli election Airbnbs disappointing decision appears to reverse their stance to fully respect rights, Human Rights Watch said in a statement. By continuing to do business in settlements, they remain complicit in the abuses settlements trigger. In January, Amnesty International accused Airbnb, Booking.com and other tourism sites of profiting from war crimes by offering services in illegal Israeli settlements. After its November announcement, the company was sued by the Jerusalem District Court in a class action that accused it of outrageous discrimination and demanded damages. Two US federal courts in Delaware and California also filed suits, both framing the move as one made against Jewish-owned properties but not Muslim or Christian ones, despite the fact that the issue was based around Israeli settlements specifically, which are populated by Jewish settlers. Airbnb has never boycotted Israel, Israeli businesses, or the more than 20,000 Israeli hosts who are active on the Airbnb platform, the company said. Like this story? Share it with a friend! The escalating trans-Atlantic subsidy dispute between European aircraft maker Airbus and US rival Boeing can only benefit Chinese aircraft manufacturing, the French finance minister believes. Washington and Brussels have been involved in a long-running dispute, accusing each other of providing illegal subsidies to their respective flagship plane makers and thus allowing the companies to benefit from state assistance. The latest escalation came on Tuesday. US President Donald Trump threatened to slap $11 billion worth of goods from the EU with import tariffs after the World Trade Organization (WTO) found that EU subsidies to Airbus cause adverse effects to the US. Also on rt.com US proposes $11bn in tariffs on European products over Airbus subsidies Frances finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, called the conflict between the US and European aircraft-making giants absurd, as the two industries are totally intertwined and depend on each other for a number of components. A commercial war between Boeing and Airbus will only play into the hands of COMAC [Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd], Le Maire was quoted as saying by Reuters on Wednesday as he spoke at the French Institute of Foreign Relations. READ MORE: US will put tariffs on $11 billion of EU products Trump COMAC is a Chinese state-owned commercial aircraft manufacturer which was created in 2008 in an apparent bid to reduce the countrys dependency on Boeing and Airbus. The company says it aims to become a world-class aviation enterprise by 2035. The Chinese airplane producer has three jets among its products, but only one, ARJ2, has already started commercial operations. Also on rt.com ZERO new orders for Boeings troubled 737 MAX after global groundings Another aircraft, C919, is currently conducting flight tests, while the third, long-range wide-body airliner CR929 is currently being developed by COMAC in cooperation with Russia. After the US vowed to impose new sanctions on the EU over its subsidies to Airbus, in addition to the already existing Trump tariffs on steel and aluminum, the EU vowed to retaliate. Commenting on the possible European tit-for-tat measures against the US, Le Maire said that Europe has the means to respond to any of Washingtons sanctions on EU goods, but said that finding a compromise would be infinitely preferable. For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section Border patrol helicopter crashes in NW Iran, 1 killed reports Border patrol helicopter crashes in NW Iran, 1 killed reports One person was killed and three injured after a Bell 214 helicopter belonging to Irans Border Guard Command crashed in the West Azerbaijan province, Tasnim reported on Wednesday. Head of the Border Guard Command of the province, Fardin Piri, confirmed the news, saying the crash happened in Dalampar area in Silvaneh, Urmia, near the Iran-Iraq border, according to Mehr news agency. The accident happened at Dalampar mountains to the southwest of Urmia when the helicopter was carrying border guards, media reports said.Source : RT - Daily news Canadas oil and gas industry could shed another 12,500 and more jobs this year, which would bring the total job losses over the past five years to 23 percent of the 2014 total, which stood at 226,500. These are among the findings of a report by PetroLMI, the labor market information service for Canadas oil and gas industry, a division of Energy Safety Canada. The reasons PetroLMI lists for the job losses expected for this year contain few surprises, and include low commodity prices, a decline in capital spending and uncertainty over market access. Also on rt.com Canadas most crucial pipeline comes under fire Many exploration and production and oil sands companies reported only limited capital and production guidance for 2019 because of the uncertain market conditions, said PetroLMIs vice president, Carol Howes, in a comment on the reports findings. This is the latest sign that Canadas oil and gas industry has a long way to go before it recovers despite the efforts of the Alberta government, which last year imposed obligatory production cuts on oil companies operating in the province to arrest the decline in prices. While the move turned out to be successful, it had a boomerang effect, making Canadian crude less appealing to refiners. Chinese companies, which went on a shopping spree when Western Canadian Select was trading at a US$50 discount to WTI per barrel, completely stopped buying it when prices began to rise. US refinersthe largest market for Canadian heavy crudealso became less willing to pay more for the crude. This led to a buildup in crude oil inventories in February, despite the cuts. Also on rt.com Canada is producing more oil than it can handle The natural gas segment is not faring much better, according to the PetroLMI report. Stalled progress on the development of new pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure projects, heightened uncertainty, however, and lowered investor confidence, the reports authors said. This article was originally published on Oilprice.com China says Taiwan fighter jets flight was routine exercise China says Taiwan fighter jets flight was routine exercise China on Wednesday defended a flight by its fighter jets across the traditionally respected maritime line dividing the island from the mainland last month as a routine exercise. The rare incursion of two J-11 fighter jets over the median line separating the self-ruled island from China drew condemnation from Taipei at the end of March. It described the incident as intentional, reckless and provocative. Citing remarks by Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang on Wednesday, state-run China Daily said the fly-by was part of a planned routine exercise by the Peoples Liberation Army. Dismissing a vow by Taiwans president Tsai Ing-wen to forcibly expel Chinese fighter jets if they cross the median line again as wild talk, Ma said the presidents comments showed she was scared, AFP reports.Source : RT - Daily news US President Donald Trumps 2020 re-election campaign has floundered at the first hurdle after a newly-minted hype video was taken down following a copyright strike by Warner Brothers. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they call you racist. Donald J. Trump. Your vote proved them all wrong, read the text of Trumps DOA campaign video which was taken down by Twitter in a matter of hours following a copyright claim by Warner Bros for the use of track Why do we fall? from Christopher Nolans 2012 film, The Dark Knight Rises, which was scored by legendary composer Hans Zimmer. The use of Warner Bros. score from The Dark Knight Rises in the campaign video was unauthorized. We are working through the appropriate legal channels to have it removed, the company said in a statement. The video features clips of political opponents like former President Barack Obama and Trumps erstwhile nemesis Hillary Clinton, as well as his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong-un. Also inexplicably included in the short clip were Rosie ODonnell, Bryan Cranston, and Amy Schumer. It remains unclear whether this was an in-house production or merely a repost of something Trump saw online, which he has been known to do before: In 2018, the Trump administration was warned by HBO to stop using Game of Thrones-themed memes to promote his latest policy moves, such as the border wall or a new raft of sanctions against Iran. Also on rt.com Wall is Coming: Trump raises stakes with another Game of Thrones meme Trump also fell afoul of Twitters copyright infringement rules when he posted a meme video soundtracked by REMs Everybody Hurts. In addition, Prince, Pharrell Williams, and the Rolling Stones have all complained about the use of their music during Trumps campaign rallies in the past. Trumps latest gaffe led to the inevitable consternation and confusion on Twitter. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) is challenging the Tory governments decision to continue granting military export licences for arms sold to Saudi Arabia, claiming its time to stop putting profit before peoples lives. The court case brought by the anti-arms organisation at the Court of Appeal, Tuesday, is focused on the legality of arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Its being backed by other groups, including Human Rights Watch, Oxfam and Amnesty International. CAAT argues that the UK government has refused to halt military equipment sales to the Kingdom, despite overwhelming evidence that British-made jets and bombs are being used, in contravention of international humanitarian law, in the war in Yemen. Also on rt.com UK opposition demands end to support for Saudis after special forces casualties in Yemen More than 10,000 people have been killed since a Saudi-led coalition began its assault against Houthi rebels at the behest of the Yemeni government, according to CAAT. The group claims UK-made weapons have helped create an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe. Lucy Claridge, the groups strategic litigation director, speaking outside the court, urged the government to take the necessary action to stop the devastation. She encouraged UK ministers to follow the lead being set by a number of countries across Europe who have stopped selling arms to Saudi Arabia. Ministers are signing a death warrant for the people of Yemen. The UKs official line on the conflict in Yemen is to seek a sustainable political solution. However, in February, UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt pleaded with his German counterpart to drop Berlins ban on weapons exports to Saudi Arabia, fearing it would damage the bottom line of UK and European arms manufacturers. Despite pressure from London and Paris to reconsider their temporary restriction, Berlin has responded by announcing an extension of its ban until at least October. The embargo was initially supposed to expire on March 9. In December last year, it was reported that the death toll from the Yemen conflict had surpassed 60,000 people. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! to RT newsletter to get stories the mainstream media wont tell you. (CNN) An annual summit between the European Union and China threatens to expose deep cracks in the foundation of one of the world's most important trading relationships. The leaders of Europe's largest countries are increasingly wary of the brand of economic nationalism practiced by China, and are responding with new barriers designed to blunt Beijing's influence. The messages emanating from European capitals have not been subtle. In March, the European Commission said that China can no longer be considered a developing country and labeled it a "systemic rival." French President Emmanuel Macron went further, accusing China late last month of trying to divide the bloc and declaring that "the period of European naivete is over." "I think the Chinese have been surprised by how quickly the mood in Europe has turned," said Erik Brattberg, director of the Europe Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. A key test of the relationship between China and its largest trading partner will come Tuesday, when Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets EU officials in Brussels for an annual summit. Trade in goods between the European Union and China was worth roughly 575 billion ($650 billion) in 2017. Three sticking points loom large: Restrictions on Chinese investment in Europe, rules that shut European companies out of China and concerns over the security of telecoms gear made by China's Huawei. Chinese investment in Europe Chinese foreign direct investment in the European Union dropped for a second consecutive year in 2018 to 17.3 billion ($19.5 billion), according to the Rhodium Group. It peaked at 37.2 billion ($42 billion) in 2016. The slump came as some of the biggest EU economies updated their rules on company takeovers and subjected investment from China to increased scrutiny. At least one deal has been blocked and others have faced delays. The European Union has since launched its own framework to screen state-supported foreign investment, especially in sensitive areas such as technology and critical infrastructure. "There is a growing perception in Europe that investment from Chinese state-owned or state-controlled companies is strategically targeted at certain sectors and not motivated by a compelling business case," said Brattberg. European companies in China China also faces accusations of failing to level the playing field for European companies doing business there. "China has increasingly become a strategic competitor for the EU while failing to reciprocate market access," the European Commission wrote last month in a strategic outlook on China. "China preserves its domestic markets for its champions." EU officials have accused Beijing of shielding its companies from competition through licensing and investment restrictions, subsidizing state-owned companies heavily and selectively enforcing intellectual property protections. The European Commission has used the fintech and online payments industry as an example. Chinese companies in those industries are expanding in Europe, but European competitors are not allowed to do business in China. "Given the magnitude of our trade and investment links, it is important to develop a more balanced and reciprocal economic relationship," the Commission wrote in March. The Huawei problem The European Union has come under intense U.S. pressure to ban Huawei equipment from 5G networks following accusations that products made by the Chinese company pose a security risk. Huawei has repeatedly denied the allegations, and called on the Trump administration to provide evidence to back up its claims. The European Commission has made clear that EU member states are responsible for making their own security decisions, but it has also asked them to complete 5G risk assessments by the end of June. Countries will also complete a security review by the end of 2019 that will include steps to safeguard 5G at the EU level. A blanket ban on Huawei equipment appears unlikely, but targeted actions could also anger Beijing. "This issue has major implications not only for Europe's relationship with China, but also for Europe's relationship with the United States," said Brattberg. This story was first published on CNN.com "Europe is losing patience with China over trade. Here's why" Expanded US-NATO military presence in Poland wont boost EU security Russian envoy Expanded US-NATO military presence in Poland wont boost EU security Russian envoy Increasing the foreign military presence in Poland particularly that of the US and NATO will bolster neither Warsaws security nor that of Europe as a whole, Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergey Andreev has said. Even more so that NATO countries far exceed Russia in both military spending and accumulated military potential, including that of Europe, the ambassador told TASS in an interview published on Wednesday. NATO member states stage military drills on our western borders and the borders of Belarus, our ally, far more often than we hold exercises in the west of our country, he noted. Its not Russia, but NATO that refuses to hold talks involving military specialists on measures to prevent potentially dangerous incidents, the envoy added.Source : RT - Daily news WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson has alleged that an extensive spying operation was conducted against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during his time in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. During an explosive press conference, which is still underway, Hrafnsson alleges that the operation was designed to get Assange extradited. WikiLeaks claims that it was told that Assanges extradition was imminent. Ecuador is not protecting Julian anymore, former Consul of Ecuador to London, Fidel Narvaez said at the news conference, adding that the Ecuadorian government is doing everything possible to end his asylum. Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno has repeatedly accused Assange of breaching the terms of his asylum. Assange sought asylum into the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012 following Wikileaks' publication of sensitive information regarding US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are widespread fears that Assange will be extradited to the US and may face the death penalty. MORE TO FOLLOW The White Houses designation of Tehrans Revolutionary Guard as a terror group is evidence of US support for terrorism, but it doesnt mean Iran will be attacking US troops in the Middle East, a high-ranking MP has said. Washingtons latest decision to include the elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) into the State Departments list of foreign terrorist organizations shows that the Americans are backing terrorism, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, chairman of the parliaments national security committee, told RIA Novosti. But it doesnt mean that we are taking steps towards killing American soldiers Iranian leaders responded angrily to US President Donald Trump's designation, which marks the first time the US has labeled part of a foreign military a terrorist group. President Hassan Rouhani, for instance, said the US was the leader of world terrorism. His government also hit back, naming US Central Command (CENTCOM) as a terrorist organization. Also on rt.com Iranian MPs hold Revolutionary Guard flashmob in parliament, wearing uniforms and denouncing US The move wasnt a declaration of war against America, Falahatpisheh explained. He did not believe the standoff will eventually lead to a confrontation between Washington and Tehran. Meanwhile in Tehran, MPs from various factions came on Tuesday wearing a dark green IRGC uniform in a show of solidarity with the elite force. After chanting anti-American and anti-Israeli slogans, emotive speeches were given denouncing Trumps decision. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! The Russian Foreign Ministry slammed Latvias new legislation banning Soviet Army uniforms from being worn during public events, calling it an insult to the soldiers who liberated Latvia from the Nazis. We are outraged by this offensive legislation which is nothing else but mockery of the memory of the Soviet soldiers who lost their lives while liberating Latvia, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement. Last week, Latvias parliament approved in the second reading amendments to the law on public gatherings, imposing a ban on wearing any military uniform of the USSR and Nazi Germany at public events. Moscow believes the bill actually equates the two. Also on rt.com Dark past: Latvia blocks Nazi Holocaust exhibition in Paris due to image fears The move was particularly cynical as this bill was passed on the eve of the anniversary of the victory over Nazism in Europe, clearly in order to demean veterans of the Great Patriotic War [World War II] and ruin their holiday, Zakharova said. At least 61,500 Soviet soldiers lost their lives while liberating Latvia from the Nazi German forces in the highly successful Riga Offensive which took place in autumn 1944. It was part of the larger Baltic Offensive which resulted in the expulsion of German forces from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. After the Baltic nations declared independence from the Soviet Union in early 1990, nationalist politicians in these countries began referring to the liberation by the Red Army as the Soviet occupation, while praising local Nazi collaborators and pro-Nazi movements for fighting the Soviets. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! A woman in Russias Far East lost her arm and ended up in the emergency ward after she was attacked by a bear she was trying to feed through the bars of the cage. The mauling occurred in a mini-zoo located at a recreation center near the Far East city of Blagoveshchensk, local police said. The woman stretched her arm into a cage with two brown bears to feed them, when one of the animals attacked her. The woman was reportedly intoxicated. She was hospitalized with severe bite wounds on her left arm and shoulder with, reportedly, a scalp laceration. Despite the doctors best efforts, the arm had to be amputated, local health officials confirmed. Police have launched an investigation into the incident, as well as the mini-zoo itself. An animal welfare bill that was recently introduced in Russia bans, among other things, petting zoos and circuses that use wild animals but fail to ensure safety. Also on rt.com Lioness mauls drunken Russian zoo employee who wanted to pet her Last October, the nation was shocked after a horrifying video emerged showing a lioness attacking a four-year-old girl at a traveling circus in Krasnodar Region. The child suffered lacerations to the face and other injuries, but survived. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! N. Korea, China open new border crossing N. Korea, China open new border crossing A Chinese city has opened a new border crossing with North Korea fitted with radiation detectors. The new highway border crossing was opened in the northeastern city of Jian, complementing its three existing ports with the North, the city announced on Tuesday. The China-North Korean Jian-Manpo Highway Port was officially opened, the statement said. The project cost $42 million, and the city estimated 500,000 tons of goods and 200,000 people would cross through the new port each year, AFP reports. China is by far Pyongyangs biggest trading partner, but UN sanctions imposed on the North in 2016 and 2017 have crimped trade between the two Cold War-era allies. Chinese Customs figures show exports to China have plummeted by more than 90 percent since 2016, down to $213 million last year, although some observers question their reliability.Source : RT - Daily news Venezuela suffered another blackout, with Caracas and other areas around the country reporting a loss of power shortly before midnight on Tuesday. The mayor of the Bolivarian Libertador Municipality, Erika Farias Pena, tweeted: at this time a new impact on the electric service is reported, not only in Caracas, but also in various regions of the country. The first call to keep calm, STEEL NERVES. However, within minutes reports came in that the power was starting to gradually return. A member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) said workers in the service areas were working on fixing the issue and that hospitals had alternative systems set up to provide power, Telesur reports. At 1:20am, Farias Pena shared footage of the lights back on Caracas, saying it had returned to 16 parishes. The power outage comes after the country suffered a series of blackouts last month, including a massive blackout on March 7, which lasted for five days and disrupted the country, with internet, phone lines, water, and public transport services affected. Also on rt.com Maduro announces 30-day power rationing as Venezuela is gripped by blackouts President Nicolas Maduro said the blackout was the work of the Venezuela opposition with help from the US in a bid to sabotage the government. The opposition, meanwhile, claimed it was as a result of a lack of maintenance. Maduro implemented an electricity rationing plan to stabilize the electricity system in response to the blackouts. El Mercio reports opposition leader Juan Guaido had called for protests on Wednesday against the collapse of basic services before the blackout struck. Like this story? Share it with a friend! Russian President Vladimir Putin branded his translator a bandit during a conversation with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, after noticing a not very accurate translation of his words. The conversation Tuesday followed the international Arctic forum in St. Petersburg, where Russia is attempting to strengthen ties with other states in the region. Putin highlighted the $5 billion Swedish businessmen invested in Russia, referring to them as druzya (friends), not once, but twice, emphasizing the word. Approximately five billion in investments by our Swedish friends, and that is what they are, our Swedish FRIENDS, have been invested in the Russian economy. When the translator repeated the phrase in Swedish to Lofven, however, he used a more neutral term partners, that sounds more or less the same in English, Russian and Swedish. The wording didnt escape Putins notice, who immediately made his objection clear. I said friends, and he translated it partners, the bandit, Putin joked as the translator hurriedly repeated himself with the Presidents comradely sentiment in-tact. Putin emphasized that the amiable term was important, as Russia sees the over 500 Swedish companies investing in its economy precisely as friends. Also on rt.com Putin talks Mueller probe, US-Russia relations & polar bears at Arctic forum Both presidents talked about the development of good relations despite disagreement and difficulties. Lofven called Russia a very important country in the region, emphasizing large common interest in business. Putin noted a 30 percent increase in trade last year. Nonetheless, not everyone is hopeful about the uptick in Swedish Russian relations. This February, two UK based news sources, The Independent and The Daily Mail, warned of an impending Russian invasion of the small Scandinavian nation a fact that seemed to come as a surprise to both sides. Like this story? Share it with a friend! Moscow seems to be left out of an international project to build a memorial at a Nazi death camp of Sobibor, Poland, where a Red Army officer led one of the few successful revolts by POWs and Jewish inmates in WWII history. In Poland, four countries are building a museum to commemorate victims of the Sobibor extermination camp, known as one of the deadliest in the Third Reich. But Russia is nowhere to be found in the list of major contributors, which includes Slovakia, the Netherlands, Israel and the host nation itself. Moscow believes it was unfairly sidelined from the project as three applications, all filed by non-government entities, were rejected. In 2013, Russia was invited to join the effort, but despite it offering a "significant financial contribution," further discussions on Moscow's participation in the project stalled, the Foreign Ministry stated in 2017. This is a matter for the whole Europe, says Mikhail Myagkov, head of Russia Military Historical Society. After all, in the Sobibor camp there were not only Jews, Poles, Russians, Dutch, French, there were lots of people from other countries, and thats what unites us. In turn, Polish Deputy Minister of Culture Jaroslaw Sellin denied that Moscow was intentionally left behind, claiming Moscow applied too late and that the commission decided that all details were set and there was no sense in inviting one more state. According to Sellin, Russia should feel free to contribute to other memorial projects at Sobibor, including exhibitions. But some observers believe the story may be politically motivated. The Polish-Russian relations are complicated ... so, I think the Poles themselves are taking control of the narrative, theyre afraid of the Russian narrative, Newsweek columnist Marc Shulman told RT. Also, they dont want to give Russia too much credit for liberating Poland, he offered. Nevertheless, the situation is sure to raise a few eyebrows given that Sobibor saw one of the two successful uprisings by people imprisoned by the Nazis. Back in 1943, members of the Sobibor underground cell, led by Soviet-Jewish officer Alexander Pechersky, covertly killed 11 SS officers and overpowered the camp guard before making their way out. Also on rt.com 'Sobibor': Poland's historical blind spot comes under fire at film premiere Some 300 prisoners escaped, although most of them were caught in the manhunt that followed or were slaughtered by Nazi collaborators. In all, there were only 53 known escapees who survived till the end of the war, with Pechersky being one of them. to RT newsletter to get stories the mainstream media wont tell you. Sudanese police say 11 people killed in incidents, including 6 members of state forces Sudanese police say 11 people killed in incidents, including 6 members of state forces Sudans information minister said on Wednesday that eleven people were killed during security incidents in the capital, Khartoum the previous day. They included six members of state forces, the minister, Hassan Ismail, said, citing a report by the Khartoum state police chief. Ismail, who is also the government spokesman, gave no details on how they died. Khartoum saw two attempts by security services personnel to disperse thousands of protesters camping outside the Defense Ministry, prompting army soldiers guarding the compound to intervene to protect them, Reuters reported.Source : RT - Daily news Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 10) The red alert over the Luzon grid was lifted Wednesday afternoon by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), the Department of Energy (DOE) confirmed. The red alert status was earlier enforced after energy reserves in the Luzon grid dipped below minimum levels today. In a press release, the Energy department, however, said the grid will remain under yellow alert from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday. DOE said it will meet with concerned authorities, including officials from Manila Electric Company (Meralco) and NGCP, to coordinate immediate actions on the power lines in the areas. "The energy efficiency campaign will be enhanced and the information education campaign for the RE and ICT components are being pursued with the academe," the department said in its statement. The Luzon grid was also on yellow alert today from 9 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Rotating brownouts were experienced in some barangays in Malabon, Naboras, Valenzuela, Caloocan City and Quezon City. Power also went out in certain municipalities in Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Batangas. This, after the Energy department said that it does not expect any power interruptions as 174.6 megawatts of energy can be tapped from the Interruptible Load Program to aid low energy supplies. It added that it has advised distribution utilities to activate their self-generating facilities, and calling on customers to conserve energy to prevent power interruptions. Meralco has also called on big establishments to switch to their power generators to ease power demand. A red alert status has been hoisted over the grid for the first time this year following consecutive days of being under yellow alert. In a plea to stop young white people from continuing their exodus from the country, South Africas Cyril Ramaphosa posed a rather curious solution on the campaign trail tying them to trees and begging them not to emigrate. Speaking at a meeting of wine farmers in Stellenbosch in the Western Cape on Tuesday, the South African president said he did not want to see young white farmers and the skills they possess leaving the country, jokingly posing his own solution to the ongoing emigration crisis. If I could, Id tie them down to a tree and say dont leave, I want you here in this country, Ramaphosa told the group of mainly white farmers. The leader also moved to assure the wine growers over their fears surrounding land reform in South Africa, promising that if re-elected, it would be done in accordance with the law. Also on rt.com US doesnt understand South Africa land seizures, so what does it seek there? The land reform process is something that we should never fear. It is going to be done in accordance with the rule of law and our Constitution, the president added. The worries he tried to alleviate come from a proposal by the ruling African National Congress (ANC), which was backed by Ramaphosa. South Africas land reform aims to expropriate privately-owned farmland and redistribute it to members of the countrys landless black majority. However, the plan is controversial as it looks to seize land without any compensation for the white farmers and landowners who still form a major part of its agricultural industry. Since the plan was announced, there have been reports in international media of white farmers coming under increased pressure to give up their land, with some even being physically assaulted or even killed. Anxiety over land seizures has compounded an already growing problem of white emigration from South Africa since the end of the Apartheid era. On Tuesday, local media reported that since the ANC came to power in 1994, as many as 400,000 skilled South Africans, both black and white, have left for better prospects abroad. The report found push factors driving white emigration included a fear of change and lack of professional opportunities, citing anecdotal evidence that black economic empowerment (BEE) policies had sent a negative message to white university graduates as well as prospective employers. to RT newsletter to get stories the mainstream media wont tell you. The US designation of Irans Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group and Tehrans tit-for-tat response puts American troops at greater risk, as Iranians may now treat them as terrorists, not combatants, RT has been told. In 2016, 10 US sailors strayed into Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf and were briefly held by Irans elite Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Iran returned the vessels and the sailors, who later said the Iranians treated them with respect and dignity. But what if a similar incident happened today? The approach will be much different... the American soldiers would be treated as terrorists and not as soldiers of a [state-run] army, Ali Rizk, a Middle East-based journalist and writer, said. Terrorism is a criminal offense under Iranian law, and so Iran could have taken the toughest action, including imprisonment and a subsequent trial, Vladimir Sazhin, senior research fellow at Russias Institute for Oriental Studies, stated. As the story developed, some US military and intelligence leaders opposed the White Houses decision to add the IRGC to the list of foreign terrorist organizations. They argued that this would affect troop safety in the Middle East, according to the New York Times. Tehran responded to the designation earlier this week, labeling all members of US Central Command as terrorists. Senior Iranian officials accused Washington of aiding and abetting terrorism in the region. But the heated exchange is only a pretext to boost propaganda campaigns against each other, Sazhin said, calling it the continuation of a 40-year Cold War between Iran and the US. Moreover, neither side wants to cross the line, as the risk of sparking a [military action] would be too high. Rizk, who frequently comments on Middle East affairs, also said it is unlikely that Washington and Iran want to be on a collision course. US President Donald Trump is unwilling to engage in military action against Tehran, but his aides, Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, have an obsession with Iran. Also on rt.com Other things in Iran? Bolton says regime change not US policy, but has more tricks up his sleeve At the same time, according to Rizk, this could lead to some miscalculation and... potentially catastrophic scenario should Trump allow Pompeo and Bolton to drag him in this direction. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! Turkey will not bow to mounting US pressure to drop its planned purchase of Russias S-400, and will even buy more of them if Washington doesnt sell its Patriot systems. Ankara will also look into alternatives for US F-35 jets. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday that if Washington refused to sell Turkey its Raytheon-made Patriot air defense system, or canceled planned orders of Lockheed Martins F-35 stealth fighter, it would look elsewhere for alternatives. He added that a proposition Ankara made to NATO ministers last week over the possible formation of a technical group to address the blocs concerns over the S-400 purchase, did not get a positive response. Also on rt.com Nothing short of total obedience? Pentagon rejects any talks with Turkey in S-400 vs F-35 row Cavusoglus defense of the S-400 deal comes after President Erdogan suggested that the delivery for the systems could be brought forward from their scheduled arrival in July. Speaking to the media on his return from bilateral talks in Moscow, Erdogan noted that the issue of the S-400 sale had gained much international interest and Turkish ministers were constantly being asked about any changes in position Ankara may have over the sale. We answer that this deal is done, everything is settled, Erdogan said. Maybe it can be brought forward. Inked in a $2.5 billion agreement with Moscow since in December 2017, NATO-member Turkey has been under increased pressure from allies in the US to abandon the S-400 purchase. Washington argues that the system is incompatible with existing NATO systems and also fears the deal could compromise the security of its F-35 stealth fighters, of which Turkey is a program partner. Also on rt.com Turkey can buy Su-35s from Moscow if US doesnt ship promised F-35s military analyst Turkey has been unyielding to US concerns, even after F-35 deliveries were suspended by the US State Department at the start of April in an effort to end the deal. On Tuesday, the US Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committee upped the rhetoric against the S-400 sale, warning Turkey that the buy risked the implementation of sanctions. Senators said that by the end of the year, Turkey would have either the S-400 or the F-35. It would not have both. to RT newsletter to get stories the mainstream media wont tell you. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 10) Malacanang stressed on Wednesday that the Philippine government should have final say on the distribution of funds to some 9,000 victims of human rights abuses during martial law under the late President Ferdinand Marcos. In a press briefing on Wednesday, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo insisted that any payout will have to be approved by the Philippine government. Lawyers of the martial law victims announced on Tuesday that the U.S. Federal Court in New York had ordered the distribution of $13.75 million or around 715 million to the victims. In a statement, they said the U.S. Court had directed the transfer of settlements amounting to $1,500 or around 78,000 to each of the victims, collectively known as Claimants 1081, in a class action lawsuit against the Marcos family they filed in Hawaii in 1995. "It's the Philippine government that should decide. Do they (U.S. lawyers) have jurisdiction over us?" Panelo demanded. Judge Katherine Polk Failla signed the order on the release of compensation which was earlier blocked by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG). "The Republic's OSG sought to kill the settlement and prevent a distribution to human rights victims. However, Judge Failla found that the Republic's New York attorney had actual and apparent authority to bind the Republic to the settlement," the victims' counsel said. The OSG earlier denied the distribution of funds, saying the terms of the settlement agreement were "grossly disadvantageous to the government and not in accord with existing Philippine laws and jurisprudence." The agreement with the New York District Court was entered into by the Presidential Commission on Good Governance (PCGG), the agency tasked to recover the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family. But a January 2019 memorandum from the Office of the Executive Secretary required the PCGG to get approval from the OSG and the Department of Justice before agreeing to the terms of any deal. The Claimants 1081 received two previous tranches of reparation payment after winning the case. The jury awarded them $2 billion worth of proceeds from the sale of paintings recovered from the private secretary of former First Lady Imelda Marcos, Vilma Bautista. Withdrawing from the agreement now could block the third tranche. Lead lawyer Robet Swift said the pending distribution is supposed to begin on May 1 in Butuan province and in 15 other cities across the country until July. "I will send eligible Class members letters advising them where and when they may come to receive a check," he said. Filipino lawyer Rod Domingo said the compensation will help the martial law victims who need the money for food and medications. "Many of the victims of the human rights abuses are dead, so the money will provide needed assistance to their families," he added. The U.S. court also said the Philippine government will receive $4 million (P208 million) from the settlement. File image Global eye care major Alcon on April 10 said it considers India as a key growth market for its business. Alcon, which made its debut as an independent publicly listed firm on April 9 after completing separation from global pharma major Novartis, has presence in 74 countries across the world. "We see India as key growth engine for our business, and we will continue to focus on creating a sustainable, nimble and brilliant business through focused and growth-oriented surgical, vision care and dry eye portfolios," Alcon, General Manager India and South East Asia Cluster Sunil Vasanth said in a statement. With completion of the spin-off, Alcon will become the largest eye care devices company in the world, he added. "We stand by our commitment of over two decades in India, to help Indian patients see brilliantly," Vasanth said. As an independent company, Alcon will have more focus and flexibility in pursuing its own growth strategy driven by rapid iterative innovation, Alcon said in the statement. "The company will have a distinct investment identity with a more efficient capital structure that will allow it to expand markets, enter promising adjacencies and introduce new business models," it added. Representative image Employees in the information technology sector in Mumbai expect salary hikes of over 20 percent this appraisal season, according to a survey by job portal Shine.com. However, despite being the country's hub for the IT hardware and software sector, employees in Bengaluru expect only a 0-10 percent increment. As per the survey, professionals working in cities such as Mumbai, Pune and Chennai expect pay hikes of over 20 percent compared to the 0-10 percent raise expectation of their counterparts in other metros like Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru. The survey found that in Mumbai almost 37 percent of people are expecting increment above 20 percent, while in Pune and Chennai, the number is 36 percent and 38 percent, respectively. Bengaluru, which is referred to as the Silicon Valley of India, has 21 percent people expecting a salary raise of up to 10 percent. The Delhi NCR region saw a trend of 20 percent of people expecting increments on the lower side. Zairus Master, CEO, Shine.com said, While employee sentiments are high across most sectors, it is a given that not all organizations will be able to meet these expectations." Appraisal sentiment in Bangalore: High competition; low expectation To get a holistic view of the overall employee sentiment in terms of salary hikes, Shine.com also mapped the lowest expectations across sectors and cities. Bengaluru emerged as one of the least demanding cities in terms of pay hikes, as one-fifth of all respondents in the city mentioned that they would be satisfied with up to 10 percent increment. Sectors including BFSI, IT and BPOs, that already offer high packages to employees are the ones driving these low expectations. As there is an abundance of talent in the city, especially in the IT and e-commerce sectors, it is no surprise that professionals are expecting lower appraisals. Surprisingly, although Bengaluru has been Indias IT hub for years, its e-commerce sector is expecting much lower appraisals as compared to Delhi. While over 46 percent of e-commerce sector employees in Bengaluru are only expecting an average growth of 11-15 percent, Delhi NCR (Gurgaon) has over 1/3rd professionals expecting a bumper hike of over 20 percent. BPO/KPO lead increment expectations A sector-wise analysis of appraisal expectations revealed the highest appraisal sentiment is being carried by professionals the BFSI and BPO/KPO/ITES sectors with over 35 percent of employees in these sectors expecting more than 20 percent increment. With these sectors witnessing robust growth on the back of the tech advancement and integration, the survey said such high expectations come as no surprise. Phones (Representative image) Shipments of mobile phones to China fell 6 percent in March compared with the same year-earlier month, official figures showed on April 10, as slowing economic growth took a toll on the sector. The shipments dropped to 28.4 million units in March from 30.2 million units in March 2018, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) said. March's 6 percent slide follows four consecutive months of double-digit declines. The slowdown points to continued pressure on the likes of Apple Inc, which endured a steep drop in China sales in late 2018, and its domestic smartphone rivals. The number of new devices launched by phone makers also fell, according to CAICT. A total of 52 new handsets hit the market in the month, down 35 percent from a year earlier. Last year was an anaemic one for the world's largest mobile phone market, with total shipments falling 15.5 percent, CAICT data shows. The weakness continued in 2019 - February shipments totalled 14.5 million units, the lowest since February 2013 and a 19.9 percent decrease from a year earlier. Industry analysts generally attribute the weak performance to a slowdown in economic growth, longer upgrade cycles, and a lull in feature innovation as carriers focus on preparations for the launch 5G connectivity on their networks. To cope with the slowdown, Chinese domestic brands have been raising prices and moving upmarket, hoping to boost margins. In 2018, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, Oppo, and Vivo each captured a bigger share of the $500-to-$800 price range of phones, a segment once dominated by Apple. The US brand, which currently generates over 15 percent of its revenue from Greater China, has suffered in particular from the slowdown. Sales from the region during the three-month period to the end of December 2018 fell by roughly a quarter from a year earlier. Several third-party retailers have lowered prices on a range of iPhone devices this year. Apple also lowered the official sticker price of its phones after China cut the rate of value-added tax on luxury goods. Representative Image Siraj Hussain An average voter may not read or be influenced by manifestos of political parties but such documents are carefully examined by investors having a stake in stock markets. Political party leaders themselves may not take their manifestos seriously but their possible impact on the Indian economy is a valid concern. The Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) manifesto for the 2019 parliament elections -- called Sankalp Patra -- was released on April 8, only three days before the first phase of polling. It is not easy for a ruling party to completely break away from its actions so the BJP has to be more circumspect about promises. This dilemma is clearly reflected in the partys manifesto. The best part of the manifesto is the commitment to invest Rs 25 lakh crore to improve productivity in the farm sector. This is more important than loan waivers, direct income support (PM-Kisan) or minimum income guarantee (NYAY). This can change the face of Indian agriculture if infrastructure gaps are identified in each state and region, and resources are invested prudently. Only 6.8 million hectares of land were covered under micro irrigation by March 31, 2018, and most of it was in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra. The manifesto promises to increase this to 10 million hectares. There is an urgent need for farmers in north India to use this technique to save water and increase productivity. Similarly, higher investment in pack houses, reefer vehicles and cold chainswill not only reduce wastages but also deliver better prices to farmers. The Narendra Modi government did spur investment in irrigation under thePradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMFBY), but due to inertia in several states, the progress did not match the intention. Sadly, the manifesto does not promise a specific target to increase irrigation coverage. In 1986, the Centre launched the Technology Mission on Oilseeds but it lost traction over the years and Indias import bill for edible oils continued to balloon. The BJPs promise to re-launch the oilseeds mission is a welcome step as the import bill for edible oils is approximately $11 billion. A diversion of land from wheat and paddy production to edible oil seeds can reduce the burden of procurement and save foreign exchange. Processing and refining can also create rural jobs. The promise to make crop insurance voluntary under the Pradhan PMFBY shows that the government realises that there are challenges in the scheme. PMFBY is enormously better than UPAs crop insurance scheme-(MNAIS), which primarily aimed to keep the premium subsidy of the Centre and states at a low level. The Modi government reduced farmers premium to just 2 percent for Kharif crops and 1.5 percent for Rabi crops and provided insurance for the entire cost of cultivation. If crop insurance becomes optional, only those farmers who are in regions hit by calamities will insure. This will result in adverse selection and actuarial premiums will shoot up across India to unmanageable levels. This may well lead to the end of crop insurance in India. The manifesto promises to expand the reach of PM-Kisaan to all farm households. According to the Agriculture Census, 2015-16, there were 14.6 crore operational holdings out of which 12.6 crore are small and marginal holdings. The promise of Rs 6,000 per year to all 14.6 crore farmers is neither desirable nor logical but it shows that at least for farmers, the idea of universal basic income has been accepted. The average income of farmers (who are not small or medium) was Rs 1,76,400 per year, according to Nabards All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey 2015-16. For them, the assistance of Rs 6,000 per year is just 3.4 percent of their income. It would have been better to increase the assistance for small and marginal farmers from Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,000 per year. The BJPs promise of pension for farmers sounds too good to be true. It will perhaps be a contributory pension scheme but small and marginal farmers have hardly any surplus and they may find even small contributions to be unaffordable. The manifesto promises to bring additional 20 lakh hectares of hilly, tribal and rain-fed areas under organic farming. Linking of goshalas to the promotion of organic farming may improve the viability of both. The real challenge for organic farmers is marketing. Unless they get an additional price for organic produce, they are unlikely to continue as organic farmers. The chapter on agriculture in the manifesto is aptly named as doubling farmers income, which has been the dominant theme since its announcement by the Prime Minister at Bareilly on February 28, 2016. In the first four years, the growth of gross value added (GVA) at basic prices from the agriculture, forestry and fishing was 2.9 percent. If the income of agricultural households has to be doubled by 2022, it will have to grow by 15 percent in the remaining years up to 2022. The manifesto seems to ignore the daunting task ahead in achieving such a high growth rate in the run-up to 2022. If Skymets forecast of deficient monsoon this year comes true, the income of farmers may, in fact, go down. It seems that both the BJP and Congress have accepted that it is not possible to deliver MSP to farmers of all crops. The manifestos, therefore, promises to enable market avenues for the realisation of the MSP. Hit by the downturn in global prices, drought in 2014-15 and 2015-16, deficient rainfall in large parts of India in 2018-19 and lingering effect of demonetisation, farmers incomes have taken a hit in the last three years. If the promise to invest Rs 25 lakh crore is actually kept, Indian agriculture would be less affected by external shocks. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Four major Gujarat-based companies have exposure to IL&FS' stressed bonds, according to an IANS report. The companies have substantial interests in the bonds through their employee provident fund trusts, the report said. IL&FS, a non-banking financial company (NBFC), defaulted on crucial payments in September 2018, triggering fears of a liquidity crisis in the NBFC space. Moneycontrol could not independently verify the news. The Staff Provident Fund Trust of Amul, or Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), has invested in the bonds. The other three companies with exposure to the bonds listed on the BSE are Gujarat State Fertiliser Chemicals (GSFC), Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilisers and Chemicals (GNFC), and Gujarat Industries Power Co. The IANS report did not indicate the deals of the investments made by these companies, or how many employees were impacted. GSFC and GNFC have exposure to the bonds through their EPFs while Gujarat Industries Power has made the investment through its PF, the report said. IL&FS Financial Services, the groups main lending arm, has gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of 90 percent of its total loans. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has said that loans given to IL&FS or its subsidiaries cannot be classified as bad loans without prior approval. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Cash-starved Jet Airways' flew into deeper troubles Wednesday after IndianOil stopped fuel supplies, a cargo agent seized a Boeing plane in Amsterdam and its lenders extended the deadline for stake sale bids by two more days. Meanwhile, the regulator DGCA has de-registered seven of Jet's Boeing 737-800 aircraft and allowed their lessors to take the planes out of the country so that they can be leased to other airlines. Cash-drought has forced the airline to default on several payment obligations such as to the banks, aircraft lessors and other vendors besides non-payment of March salaries to its 16,00 employees. Its pilots, who along with engineers and senior management have not been paid since January had on Tuesday sent a legal notice to the management which is currently being headed by the lenders led by State Bank. "We stopped fuel supplies to Jet Airways across the country from 3 pm Wednesday. The action came following the airline breaching its bank guarantee limits with the company," an Indian Oil Corporation official said. This was the third time since last Thursday that the oil company stopped supplying fuel to the crumbling carrier. But late in the evening IOC confirmed that the supplies were resumed. In another development, SBI Capital Markets, which had issued the expressions of interest (EoI) on April 8, extended the deadline for submission of initial bids to April 12. Potential bidders can send their queries till April 11, it said hours before the Wednesday deadline for the submission of bids was to expire. "The qualified bidders will be expected to submit their respective binding bid(s) latest by April 30, 2019 subject to the terms set out under the bid document," SBI Capital Markets said in a notice posted on its website without attributing any reasons though. Earlier in the day, SBI Caps had also issued a set of clarifications related to the EoI documents, including that bidders in a consortium needed to furnish solvency certificates individually. "Bidders are required to provide the solvency certificate ... on their letterhead and certified by managing director/full time director/CEO of the bidder or a person holding an equivalent position in the bidder," SBI Caps said in a separate notice. In the case of consortium, each member has to submit solvency certificate, which is a proof of an entity's financial stability. As part of the debt resolution plan for the carrier, the lenders are looking to restructure "existing facilities and infusion of funds by way of loans or acquisition/ subscription of up to 75 percent of equity share capital of the company". In another development, the airline was forced to delay its Amsterdam-Mumbai flight (9W231) after a European cargo agent seized one of its B777 for non-payment of the dues to his company. "The cargo agent seized Boeing 777-300 ER (VT-JEW) of Jet Airways at the Amsterdam airport as the airline could not clear his dues," the airline source told PTI. Jet, however, said the flight was delayed due to "operational reasons." In a statement, the airline said flight 9W 231 from Amsterdam to Mumbai scheduled for April 10, has been delayed due to operational reasons. Jet has been operating around 100 flights only with 26 planes as most of the fleet is grounded due to non-payment of lessors' rentals. Shares of Jet Airways declined 1.59 percent to close at Rs 263.40 on the BSE while the benchmark tanked 0.91 percent. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More India's second largest private sector lender HDFC Bank may be active in trade on April 10 as a media report suggests there could be a block deal worth Rs 2,500 crore in the stock. An undisclosed entity is likely to sell 1.1 crore shares (representing 0.42 percent of total paid-up equity) of the bank through a block deal, Bloomberg Quint said quoting bankers involved in the deal. The deal will reportedly be done in the price range of Rs 2,219-2,287 per share, said the report which is available on twitter handle. This translates to a 3 percent discount to April 9 closing price of the bank's share, at the lower end of the price range. Deutsche Bank is said to be the broker to the transaction. HDFC Bank stock closed at Rs 2,290, up 0.05 percent on the BSE on April 9. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More HDFC Securities expects aggregate Q4 revenue of the infra companies it covers to grow 22.1 percent YoY. Further, the brokerage said it expects the EBIDTA and PAT to grow 19 percent and 8 percent YoY, respectively. However, it projects the Q4 EBIDTA margin to decline 43 basis points to 17.1 percent. The brokerage expects NCC, Sadbhav Engineering, Ashoka Buildcon, Ahluwalia Contracts, PSP Projects, HG Infra and Capacite Infra to post strong results This is despite the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has awarded far less than the expected number of contracts. NHAI awarded Rs 45,000 crore worth of new projects with Rs 30,000 crore in EPC segment and Rs 15,000 crore under Hybrid-Annuity Model (HAM). This is a sharp drop from FY19 project award guidance of Rs 1.2 lakh crore. Delays in financial closure of earlier HAMs (financial sector aversion to lending to Infra), challenges in land acquisition, NBFC liquidity tightening, ILFS issue and changes in EPC Model concession agreement impacted awards. However, the NHAI tender pipeline remains healthy at Rs 1 lakh crore with these projects expected to be awarded during July-March 20E period, HDFC Securities. Hence after elections, HDFC Securities expects order visibility to improve. The brokerage said the balance sheets of companies in its coverage universe are strong, net-working capital under control and financial closure (FC) challenges are largely behind. "Our coverage universe has achieved FC for all projects (excluding new HAMs). Appointed date (AD) is awaited, which is expected by June-19E end. Developers/Bankers are insisting on at least 80 percent land before taking AD, this is also impacting projects start. They have maximum 8/12 HAMs pending AD whilst KNR Constructions, HG Infra, PNC Infra, IRB Infra have three projects AD pending. Sadbhav Engineering and Ashoka Buildcon have four ADs pending," the HDFC Securities said. Book to bill comfortable at 3.5x FY19 revenue: Despite weak NHAI ordering, State Highway awards (Purvanchal and Mumbai Nagpur) contributed ~Rs 41,000 crore to EPC projects ordering. This led to new order wins for Sadbhav, PNC, NCC and Dilip Buildcon (got 1 package each in Mumbai Nagpur), HDFC Securities said. PNC got 2 EPC packages in Purvanchal. Top Picks: PNC Infra, KNR Constructions, NCC, Capacite Infra, Ahluwalia Contracts Here are stocks that are in the news today: SBI: Bank cut MCLR across tenors by five basis points. Home loan rates for up to Rs 30 lakh have been cut by 10 bps. Praj Industries signed a construction license agreement with Gevo Inc, USA to commercialize technology for production of lsobutanol using sugary-based feedstock Tata Sponge Iron completed the acquisition of steel business including captive power plants of Usha Martin, pursuant to cash consideration of Rs 4,094 crore to Usha Martin Board meeting on April 18 to cosider and approve the audited financial results and dividend for the financial year ended March 31, 2019 Info Edge: Company has invested through its wholly-owned subsidiary Rs 6 crore in Bizcrum Infotech Private Ltd. Avenue Supermarts: Company raised Rs 50 crore via commercial papers. Ashok Leyland: Promoter pledged 1.33 percent stake in the company. Vodafone Idea: Rs 25,000 crore rights issue to open on April 10 & close on April 24. Panacea Biotec has done one-time settlement with consortium lenders to resolve the current debt position of the company Olectra Greentech board approved the allotment 27 lakh shares at an issue price of Rs. 80.10 to promoter group Goldstone Power, against a conversion of balance 27 lakh warrant out of 54 lakh warrants which were allotted to the promoter group in October 2017 Mindtree to consider to consider the audited financial results and declaration of interim and/or special dividend on April 17 Forbes & Co: CARE revised the company's long term rating to A+ From AA-. Jet Airways: DGCA said company's lessors apply for de-registration of 7 more planes. Karda Constructions: Company has completed RCC work of residential building A of project Hari Nakshatra Phase I amounting to Rs 9 crore against the construction work order of Rs 18.92 crore awarded by Shree Sainath Land & Development (India) Private Limited. Kiri Industries: Singapore Court reserved its judgement in Dystars minority oppression suit Mahindra CIE Automotive completed 100 percent acquisition of Aurangabad Electricals Analyst or Board Meet/Briefings Mahindra Logistics: Company's officials will meet Aegon Life Insurance on April 10 and Quest Investment Advisors on April 16. Lakshmi Vilas Bank: Board to consider raising funds via shares on April 12. Shriram City Union Finance: Company will announce March quarter results and recommend dividend on April 24 Bulk Deals on April 9 (For more bulk deals, Click Here) live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Tata Motors shares rallied more than 5 percent intraday on April 10 after its global wholesales increased sharply by 32 percent in March compared to previous month. The stock crossed its Rs 200 levels and rallied more than 25 percent in last 15 days. It was quoting at Rs 215.55, up Rs 9.55, or 4.64 percent amid high volumes on the BSE, at 15:15 hours IST. Tata Motors Group global wholesales in March 2019, including Jaguar Land Rover, were at 1,45,459 units, which were lower by 5 percent compared to March 2018, but sharply higher by 32 percent compared to previous month (February). Its global wholesales for February 2019 stood at 1,10,262 units. The growth was driven by passenger vehicles and JLR segments. Global wholesales of all commercial vehicles and Tata Daewoo range in March increased by 1 percent year-on-year to 57,163 units, but fell 32 percent compared to February. All passenger vehicles during the month fell 9 percent to 88,314 units compared to March 2018, but jumped 30 percent sequentially. Global wholesales for Jaguar Land Rover, which has major contribution to total Tata Motors revenue, increased sharply by 41 percent to 70,171 vehicles (which included CJLR volumes) in March MoM. CJLR, a joint venture between JLR and Chery Automobiles, reported wholesales at 4,812 units for March, which were quite higher compared to 2,561 units in February. Jaguar wholesales for the month were 20,985 vehicles and Land Rover 49,186 vehicles, increased by 40.6 percent and 41.5 percent MoM, respectively. Meanwhile, Federation of Automobile Dealers Association told CNBC-TV18 that the worst for auto industry is now behind. "We expect plateauing of the declining demand," the association said, adding sales will stabilise in the current normal range for next 4-6 weeks. It said higher retail sales in March have resulted in lower inventory levels and 2-wheeler inventory levels have fallen drastically to 45-50 days. Dipen Sheth of HDFC Securities told CNBC-TV18 that the stock is at around 1/3rd of its peak price. "After meeting with management recently, we are thinking it to bring back under our coverage and lot of positivity is seen in the stock and the current cure should settle down soon. We are constructive on the stock." Archit Gupta As per World Bank Global Findex Report 2017, nearly 80% Indians own a bank account. Yet, India tops the list of countries with high cash in circulation, which is nearly 10% of our GDP. As per reports, cash holdings are back to and have in fact crossed the levels of pre-demonetisation. Whatever be the reason, we love holding cash. Interestingly, many cash transactions are banned by law and several penalties have been put in place to curb cash usage. Lets understand them in more detail. Ban on receiving cash beyond Rs 2.5 lakh The law bars you from receiving cash beyond Rs 2.5 lakh. One cannot receive Rs 2.5 lakh from one person in a single day, or receive Rs 2.5 lakh for a single transaction or for multiple transactions relating to a single event. This was made effective April 1, 2017. The penalty for non-compliance is 100% of the amount so received. Penalty will apply to the person who receives such sums of money. This rule does not apply to banks, government, however, all other types of entities such as individuals, companies, partnership, etc. must comply with it. This limit will not apply to sums which are covered under 269SS, discussed below. One is free to withdraw cash from bank accounts, post offices as per the applicable withdrawal limits of such banks and this rule will not be attracted to such withdrawals. Anand, hired an interior decorator to redo his apartment. Anand made 6 cash payments of around Rs 80,000 each over a period of 2 years to the decorator. Such payments would be covered here, person receiving cash, the decorator, will have to pay a penalty which will be equal to the amount received in cash. [This is as per Section 269ST of the Income Tax Act] The law bars taxpayers from making payment for expenses in excess of Rs 10,000 to a person in a day via cash. Expenses paid in cash in excess of this limit cannot be deducted from the income of a business or a profession. Therefore, businesses have to exercise caution with making petty expenses and purchases, the daily cash limit is capped at Rs 10,000. Aditi, a small business owner, hosts a party at her office for employees and pays Rs 15,000 in cash to the food supplier. Such a payment, made in cash, will not be an eligible business expense and cannot be reduced from her revenue. [This is as per Section 40A(3) of the Income Tax Act] This rule bars persons from accepting any loan or a deposit or money as advance for purchase of a property in excess of Rs 20,000. Therefore, advances made for purchase of property cannot be made in excess of Rs 20,000 except when made via a cheque or made electronically or via a bank transfer. This rule does not apply to any loan or deposit or sum, where the person who gives or accepts it and the person who takes or accepts it, both have agricultural income and both dont have any taxable income. It also does not apply to sums accepted from or accepted by the government or bank. Any other receiver who accepts cash for loans/deposits/property sold may have to pay a penalty of 100% of the money so accepted, imprisonment up to 2 years may also apply. Rahul a software developer, has taken a loan of Rs 10,000 via a cheque from his client. He further takes another loan of Rs 15,000 in cash from the client. Rahul is barred from accepting this loan from his client in this case and a penalty may apply. [This is as per section 269SS of the Income Tax Act] If a business pays in cash in excess of Rs 10,000, as payment or part payment for the purchase of an asset to a person in a day, such payment will not be included in the cost of the asset. Which means the business will not be able to capitalise such payment as cost of the asset and therefore, no depreciation will be allowed to be claimed. As can be seen, businesses cannot make expenses in excess of Rs 10,000 or buy assets in cash or make part payments in excess of Rs 10,000 in a day. Ritwik purchased a printing machinery and paid Rs 15,000 in cash for site installation of the machinery and related equipment, such expenses paid in cash, cannot be capitalised with the cost of the asset and therefore no depreciation can be claimed on this amount. [This is as per section 43 of the Income Tax Act] The income tax act specifically bans payments made as donations to charitable organisations and NGOs in excess of Rs 2,000, such payments are not eligible as a deduction from income. Similarly, donations to political parties cannot be made in cash at all; any cash donations made are not allowed as a deduction from income. [This is as per section 80G and 80GGC of the Income Tax Act] Even though making cash payment for the purchase of a car is not allowed based on the rules listed above, another provision has been built into the income tax act, which says that any person, who is selling a motor vehicle for more than Rs 10 lakh must collect TCS @1% from the buyer and deposit it with the government. The buyer will end up paying an extra 1% over the cost of the car and can claim it at the time of filing a tax return. This is a preventive mechanism that makes sure the government knows PAN and other information related to buyers of cars of value exceeding Rs 10L. [This is as per section 206C(1F) of the Income Tax Act] In spite of these bans and regulations, cash continues to thrive in the economy. As a business or an individual one must be aware of the possible consequences of dealing in cash. (Author is founder & chief executive officer of ClearTax.) The Income Tax (I-T) Department has issued notices to a few mid-sized multinational corporations (MNCs) for escaping tax assessments for over seven years, according to a report by The Economic Times. Most foreign companies do not have a presence in India, and have revenues ranging from Rs 500 crore to Rs 1,500 crore, generated from sale of technology or digital services. The companies clients are required to make tax deductions before making payments, the report said. Wherever notices have been issued to foreign companies under Section 147, tax authorities want to examine whether appropriate taxes have been withheld or whether the foreign entity has treated the income as exempt, a source told the paper. Moneycontrol could not independently verify the story. India, along with other countries, is considering taxing MNCs based on the volume of transactions and number of consumers. Overseas companies are required to pay 10 percent tax on income earned in India if they do not have a permanent establishment here, and 40 percent if they have an official presence. Last year, the government introduced a slew of measures to tax companies with 'significant economic presence' or digital permanent establishments, and could be enforced later this year, sources told the newspaper. Many MNCs do not have official operations in India since they want to avoid paying taxes both in their home country and in India. The notices issued by the I-T Department could lead to litigation and many companies could receive huge tax demands this week, a tax expert told the newspaper. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Shares of Hindalco Industries fell nearly 3 percent intraday Wednesday after company suspended operations at its Jharkhand plant. There was an incident in the red mud (bauxite residue) storage area connected to the alumina plant situated at Muri, Jharkhand, on 9th April 2019. The incident involved a spillage in the red mud cake storage area, company said in its release. As a precautionary measure, operations have been temporarily suspended to assess the situation. Preliminary investigations indicate no material impact on the surrounding environment or to property. Efforts are ongoing to clear the spillage. Four persons with minor injuries have been treated, and one contract workman is missing. This incident is not expected to have any material impact on the company's performance, it added. At 10:36 hrs Hindalco Industries was quoting at Rs 216.30, down Rs 0.45, or 0.21 percent on the BSE. For more market news, click here Shares of Lakshmi Vilas Bank fell 5 percent intraday on April 7 after the Chennai-based bank said it will consider raising funds on April 12. The bank in its BSE release said that it is planning to raise funds by preferential allotment of equity shares and additional tier I bonds. On April 5, the board of the bank approved the merger with Indiabulls Housing Finance. Following the deal, shareholders of the LVB will get Indiabulls Housing's 0.14 share of face value Rs 2 for every one share of Rs 10. This means for every 100 shares held in LVB, shareholders will get 14 shares of Indiabulls Housing. At 1156, Lakshmi Vilas Bank was quoting Rs 87.90, down 4.97 percent on the BSE. Vodafone Idea (Image: Reuters) Shares of Vodafone Idea plummeted more than 2 percent intraday on April 10 after the telecom major announced rights issue worth Rs 25,000 crore. India's largest telecom operator, in its BSE release, said that 20 billion fully paid up equity shares of face value Rs 10 will be available at Rs 12.50 by way of rights issue to eligible equity shareholders as on the record date of April 2, 2019. "The rights entitlement is determined as 87 equity shares for 38 equity shares held by the eligible equity shareholders," the company added. The rights issue which opened on April 10 will close of April 24. At 1404 hrs, Vodafone Idea was quoting Rs 16.55, down 2.07 percent on the BSE. Vodafone Idea (Representative Image) Vodafone Idea expects the sale of its 11.15 per cent stake in Indus Tower to complete in the next three-four months which could yield an estimated Rs 5,500 crore, a senior company official said. Under a contract signed with Bharti Infratel in April 2018, the company has an option to sell the 11.15 per cent stake in Indus Tower for cash ahead of the merger of the country's largest mobile tower firm with the Bharti group firm. "As things stand now, that process is in NCLT and expectation is that it should be completed in the next 3-4 months timeframe. Before the merger is consummated, we have the right to receive that in cash. The value will fluctuate. "The value is dependent on Bharti Infratel (stock) price. At current Bharti Infratel price, the cash value is more than Rs 5,500 crore," Vodafone Idea Chief Financial Officer Akshaya Moondra told PTI. The company expects that the money raised from the stake sale in Indus Tower and the Rs 25,000 crore rights issue, which is opening on Wednesday, will give it long term war chest to compete in the market. "We believe that the proceeds from the rights issue coupled with the monetisation of our stake in Indus Towers Limited will allow us to make the required investments in the business to achieve our strategic goals," Vodafone Idea Chief Executive Officer Balesh Sharma said. The board of directors of Vodafone Idea on March 20 cleared the planned Rs 25,000-crore rights issue at a price of Rs 12.50 per equity share, a steep 61 per cent discount to the prevailing market rate. In a regulatory filing, the company had said the rights entitlement ratio has been fixed at 87 equity shares for every 38 shares held by eligible shareholders of the company on the record date, that is April 2, 2019. "Rights issue gives us good funding along with the two other monetisations that we are looking at - a long term war chest to continue on the stated strategy of ours. Our strategy primarily is to integrate the two network as quickly as we can to achieve much gain in coverage and customer experience on one side and profitability on the other because of synergies coming," Sharma said. Promoter shareholders -- Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group -- have reiterated to the board that they intend to contribute up to Rs 11,000 crore and up to Rs 7,250 crore respectively, amounting to a total of Rs 18,250 crore, as part of the rights issue. While Vodafone Group's entire funding will be considered as a foreign investment in the rights issue, Aditya Birla Group may also route funds from its foreign entities, according to sources. The promoter shareholders have also said that in case the rights issue is under-subscribed, each of the promoter shareholders reserves the right to take up part or whole of the unsubscribed portion, subject to stipulated law. When asked about the plan of action in case promoter shareholding in Vodafone Idea breaches 75 per cent cap, Moondra said there is interest from investors and he does not promoters holding to breach the limit. "We don't expect it to cross 75 per cent mark but because this is rights issue and there was some doubt whether Axiata-- one of our large shareholder will participate or not. The shareholders and promoters as a precautionary measure had taken the SEBI approval if they were to participate beyond their entitlement and in case they exceed 75 per cent. At this point of time, we do not see there will be a need to utilise that approval," Moondra said. According to a JM Financial report, minority shareholders will need to make an investment of at least Rs 5,410 crore in the rights issue to keep promoters holding at 75 per cent. Vodafone Idea is looking to invest proceeds from the rights issue, Indus Tower stake sale and partial sale of the optical fibre in telecom networks to expand 4G coverage from 61 per cent population at present to over 85 per cent population coverage by March 2020. Vodafone Idea is in discussion to sell 1.56 lakh kilometre of optical fibre. According to sources, it has received a combined valuation of Rs 20,000 crore for the mobile tower and optical fibre assets. Creating a saffron surge, BJP president Amit Shah Wednesday held a massive road show on the city outskirts that falls under Chikkaballapura Lok Sabha constituency, campaigning for party candidate B N Bachche Gowda, who is pitted against Congress leader M Veerappa Moily. Hundreds of enthusiastic BJP workers cheered Shah chanting "Modi, Modi" as the "Rath", a modified vehicle, covered little more than one and half kilometre distance with Bachche Gowda, MLA, among others, accompanying him. Thousands of people had gathered all along the route showering flower petals on Shah as the "rath" wound its way in a delirious atmosphere. The road show,that began with party workers greeting Shah with a huge garland of apples, lasted about 40 minutes. Ahead of the "rath", BJP supporters sporting saffron turban and holding cutouts, placards and party flags danced to the drum beats, as slogans of 'Modi Modi' rent the air. Accompanying Shah were Yelahanka MLA S R Vishwanath and BJP national general secretary and Karnataka in charge P Muralidhar Rao. Moily, a former union minister, is the joint candidate of ruling Congress-JDS coalition. Gowda had lost against Moily in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls by a narrow margin of about 9,500 votes. Division of Vokkaliga votes was cited as the reason for Gowda's defeat in 2014, as Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, who also hails from the same community, had contested from Chikkaballapura then and ended up in third place by garnering over three lakh votes. BJP and many of Gowda's supporters believe that they have an advantage this time as Vokkaliga votes will consolidate in their favour. Moily will have to strongly depend on JD(S), that has the strong support of the Vokkaliga community, to retain the seat that has remained a Congress bastion. However, with animosity between workers of both parties in other constituencies of old Mysuru region like Mandya, Mysore and Hassan, it remains to be seen whether JD(S) workers will completely support Congress and BJP wishes to capitalise on this. Along with anti-incumbency, Moily is also facing dissidence within the Congress to his disadvantage, with several local leaders opposed to his candidacy, party sources said. There are 15 candidates in the fray in Chikkaballapura. Chikkaballapura has eight assembly segments, where Congress has its hold on five, JD(S) two and BJP on one. India is set for the crucial Lok Sabha elections, starting April 11. 2019 will witness the absence of many veteran leaders who have opted out of the poll battle. However, they are playing an active role in shaping poll results in favour of their parties. One such leader is BS Yeddyurappa, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader. Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa, or BSY as he is popularly known, had won Shimoga Lok Sabha seat with a huge margin in 2014. However, he is not contesting this time. The BJP chief in Karnataka, BSY is actively campaigning for the party with decades of experience. In his political journey, BSY has covered the distance of having a humdrum existence as a government clerk and a hardware store owner to the Chief Minister of Karnataka. Often called controversy's favourite child, the political route was not easy for BSY. Apparently, despite being appointed the chief minister of the state thrice, he could not finish even one full tenure on the post. Yeddyurappa became the chief minister for the first time in November 2007 but his term in office lasted just eight days as Kumaraswamy reneged on a power-sharing arrangement and walked out of the alliance. He was made the chief minister once again after the BJP came to power in May 2008 but had to step down in July 2011 following his indictment by the then Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde in an illegal mining case. Also Read | BJP will win 22 of Karnataka's 28 seats, Cong-JD(S) govt may fall after results, says BSY The third time, he got the CM post in May 2018 but resigned in just three days before facing a Supreme Court-mandated floor test. Despite all the controversies, he has navigated the choppy waters of politics with the consummate ease of a seasoned oarsman, defying tidal waves of adversity. The Lingayat strongman is transferring this feature to his two sons BY Raghavendra and BY Vijayendra, who have forayed to politics. BY Raghavendra (image: Facebook/@BYRBJP) BS Yeddyurappas son BY Raghavendra is a BJP Lok Sabha member from Shimoga constituency in Karnataka. The political stint of BY Raghavendra was started soon after his graduation. In 2006, he won the local body elections in Shivamogga and just three years later, he was nominated as the candidate to contest in the Lok Sabha Election from Shimoga. Also read | Institutions 'destroyed' under PM Narendra Modi rule: H D Kumaraswamy In 2014, when Yeddyurappa returned to BJP with merger of his party Karnataka Janata Paksh, he resigned as the MLA of Shikaripura to contest the Lok Sabha polls. Raghavendra contested the bye-poll in Shikaripura and won by a large margin. In 2018, when BSY vacated his Shimoga seat to become the CM of Karnataka, Raghavendra contests the by-poll and won. He is again in fray from Shimoga seat to retain the power. BY Vijayendra (Image: Facebook/@BYVijayendra) BSYs other son BY Vijayendra is also foraying into politics. In 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections, Vijayendras name cropped up as a BJP candidate for Varuna constituency against then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's son Yatindra. However, a day before the deadline for filing of nominations, BSY announced that Vijayendra will not be contesting the polls abiding by the partys decision. The saffron party instead announced Vijayendra as the state general secretary of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). The partys decision was said to be taken to rule out allegations of nepotism by political observers. However, he ruled out any such notion, and insisted that the BJPs decision had nothing to do with concerns of dynastic politics or his fathers image. G Babu Jayakumar As the multi-dimensional campaign juggernaut criss-crosses Tamil Nadu, one picture that emerges from the din and dust raised in its trail is of the Congress finishing way ahead of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by not just in winning more Lok Sabha seats in the state but also by gaining popularity with Congress President Rahul Gandhi endearing himself to the people of the state as a potential prime ministerial candidate. The states goes to the polls on April 18. Though the two major national parties are facing the electorate in grand alliances led by the two regional parties the Congress is in an alliance with the Dravida Munetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the BJP is with the All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) the defining issue this election is of national importance. Should Prime Minister Narendra Modi return to power or not is the dominant question this election has raised in the minds of the people. With a slew of anti-Modi tropes, circulated in the form of memes or videos or pamphlets or audios or jokes, driving home certain politically- or socially-significant ideas against the central government, even people in rural areas have gained a national perspective, coloured with regional aspirations. So, it is quite common to hear a comment like Modi is anti-farmer, at a farmland in an obscure village such as Sarathapatti near Theni in southern Tamil Nadu. Such comments are supported by informed allegations like the government has no focus on farm issues and a reminder about how the protesting farmers from Tamil Nadu were treated by the Prime Minister who even refused to give them an audience. It is commonplace to hear people on the street talk about the unsavoury consequences of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the personal sufferings caused by demonetisation or the need for doing away with NEET the all-India medical entrance examination that is a bone of contention uniting Tamil Nadu. Perhaps sensing the mood, the Congress in its manifesto addressed many such locally important issues. However, more than the surge in popularity of the party, what gives the Congress a distinct edge this time is the alliance it has forged with the DMK, the two Communist parties and other regional parties. The DMK is more popular than its rival the AIADMK and the Communist parties have their pockets of influence, mainly through their trade unions. Even the smaller partners have supporters throughout the state, say like the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) among the Dalits, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) among the Muslims and the Kongunadu Munnetra Kazhagam (KMK) among Gounders. The cumulative effect of all these factors could work in favour of the Congress candidates in the 10 constituencies, including in Puducherry. Kanyakumari, the southern-most seat in India, is considered to be a stronghold of both the BJP and the Congress. Pon Radhakrishnan, the sitting MP and Union minister, is facing Congress H Vasanthakumar. With a strong anti-BJP wave sweeping through the constituency, where minorities form more than half the population, Vasanthakumar may breeze through. In Virudhunagar, Congress candidate Manickam Tagore is a former MP and is quite influential in the area. He has come out with an innovative idea to seek voters suggestions through WhatsApp, which had so far received 20,000 responses. His key opponent from the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), Alagarsamy R, is unlikely to put up a tough fight. In Theni, it is a three-cornered contest, where former Congress state chief EVKS Elangovan might scrap through because the other two candidates have an AIADMK background. One of the candidates is P Raveendranath Kumar, the AIADMK candidate is the son of deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam. The other is Thanga Tamilselvan, a close associate of TTV Dhinakaran, the founder of the AIADMK breakaway group Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK). AMMK candidates, who are likely to split the traditional AIADMK votes, are likely to help the cause of Congress candidates MK Vishnu Prasad at Arani, A Chellakumar in Krishnagiri and K Jayakumar in Thiruvallur. Among these three Congress candidates, Jayakumar might not have it easy because he is facing sitting MP P Venugopal, a doctor who is locally popular. In Karur, Jothimani Sennimalai, the only women candidate for the Congress in Tamil Nadu, will be facing sitting MP and Lok Sabha deputy speaker M Thambi Durai. Though Sennimalai lost the assembly elections in 2011 and the general elections in 2014 from Theni, this time she is hopeful because she has the support of local DMK strongman Senthil Balaji. Balaji was earlier with the AIADMK and was instrumental Durais victory. When the AIADMK split, Balaji moved over to the DMK in December 2018. This time he is determined to prove his local influence by ensuring a Congress victory. Su Thirunavukkarasar, who has traversed the entire political spectrum in a career spanning 42 years, is now the Congress candidate in Tiruchirappalli and may make it to the Lok Sabha as his main opponent is AMMKs Sarubala Thondaiman. The NDA candidate is DMDKs Elangovan is an outsider and relatively new to politics. Sivagangai, the second constituency that sees a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress after Kanyakumari, is expected to be a cakewalk for Karti Chidambaram, son of former Union minister P Chidambaram. This is mainly because H Raja, BJPs candidate, is highly unpopular. The BJP is expected to pull out all stops here but it will still be a tough task for Raja. In Puducherry, Congress candidate V Vaithilingam is more popular than his rival from the breakaway faction of the Congress, All India NR Congress, K Narayanasamy mainly in view to the open fight for supremacy between Chief Minister V Narayanasamy and Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi. The popular perception that Bedi is overstepping her brief could work in favour of the Congress. So in the state where opinion polls are giving the DMK-led alliance up to 36 of the 39 seats, the Congress share could be quite high. For now the stakes are tilted in favour of the Congress in at least nine of the 10 seats it is contesting. This is in sharp contrast to the BJP that will find it extremely difficult in four of the five seats it is contesting in Tamil Nadu. G Babu Jayakumar is a senior Chennai-based journalist. Views are personal. For more Opinion pieces, click here In a setback to the Centre, the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed leaked documents to be relied upon by petitioners seeking review of its Rafale judgement and dismissed the government's preliminary objections claiming "privilege" over them. The Centre had submitted that privilege documents were procured by petitioners in an illegal way and used to support their review petitions against the December 14, 2018 judgement of the apex court dismissing all pleas challenging procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France. "We dismiss the preliminary objection raised by Union of India questioning the maintainability of the review petition," a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph said. The apex court said it will go ahead with the hearing on the review petition on the basis of new documents referred by petitioners. The CJI pronounced the verdict on his behalf and for Justice S K Kaul. The second concurrent judgment was pronounced by Justice K M Joseph, who said he agreed with the conclusion of the judgment written by the CJI. The chief justice said Justice Joseph agreed with the judgment delivered by him but gave different reasoning. The judgment makes it clear that during the hearing of the review petition the bench will look into not only the question of pricing of the jet but also selection of Indian offset partner of Dassault which manufactures Rafale. The top court said review petitions against its December 14 verdict dismissing all petitions against procurement of Rafale jets will be decided on merits. The apex court said it will fix a date for hearing review petitions. Former union minister Arun Shourie, who is one of the review petitioners, said he was delighted by the unanimous verdict. "We are delighted it is an unanimous verdict dismissing Central government's peculiar argument on admissibility of documents. Centre's argument meant that no wrong can be done in the defence deal," Shourie said. The other two petitioners are former union minister Yashwant Sinha and activist advocate Prashant Bhushan. On March 14, the apex court had reserved verdict on the preliminary objections raised by the Centre on admissibility of privileged documents annexed by Sinha, Shourie and Bhushan in their review petition. Classified documents were sourced by the media over the Rafale deal. Citing internal reports of the Defence Ministry, the Hindu had reported that the Defence Ministry had objected to parallel negotiations by the government. The Centre had claimed privilege over documents pertaining to the Rafale fighter jet deal with France and said those documents cannot be considered in evidence as per Section 123 of the Indian Evidence Act. The Centre had contended that no one can produce them in the court without the permission of the department concerned as those documents are also protected under the Official Secrets Act and their disclosure is exempted under the Right to Information Act as per Section 8(1)(a). A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had on December 14 dismissed all Public Interest Litigations (PILs) against the deal between India and France for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets, saying there was no occasion to "really doubt the decision making process" warranting setting aside of the contract. The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation. You can wear your party loyalty on your sleeve, on your chest or even drape it around you. As India hurtles towards elections, balloons, buttons, banners and brightly hued saris and T-shirts are the order of campaigning days. Elections 2019 kick off on Thursday and parties across the political board are pulling out all the stops to brand their message on supporters and prospective voters. BJP's 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' T-shirts are flying off the shelves, the Aam Aadmi Party is doffing its hat to voters with customised caps and Narendra Modi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra saris are selling fast too. The great Indian sale of election paraphernalia is taking place outside party offices, on online platforms like Amazon and Snapdeal and, of course, in Delhi's buzzing wholesale market Sadar Bazar. With the varied goodies jostling for space online and on shop shelves the poll marketplace resembles the electoral battle place itself. We are witnessing a lot of enthusiasm from supporters across political parties. From saris to T-shirts, power banks to USB drives, posters to coffee mugs, candidate and party-branded products are being purchased by supporters across India, a Snapdeal spokesperson told PTI. The most popular categories include car and bike stickers, T-shirts, caps, water bottles and key chains, with maximum demand from buyers in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat, he added. Election fervour is peaking in the crowded by-lanes of Sadar Bazar, where small and very small shops, are glutted with T-shirts, hand-held fans, flags, balloons, scarves, bands and other knickknacks with images of party symbols or their top leaders. Flags of all major political parties, including mainstream BJP and Congress as well as regional ones like AAP and Samajwadi Party (SP), flutter in tandem. "'Main bhi chowkidar' ki hawa hai bas aur kuch nahi (The craze is only for 'Main bhi chowkidar' merchandise). T-shirts, caps and badges with this slogan are selling like hot cakes, said Chaman Bhai, owner of Aaroma Enterprises, one of the many shops selling election publicity material in Sadar Bazaar. "And it is not as if party workers or only candidates of BJP are buying it in bulk. Even normal supporters are coming and giving orders," he added, referring to the BJP's 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' slogan to counter Congress' 'Chowkidar Chor Hai' jibe. Party flags cost around Rs 2.50 per piece, but can go up to Rs 55 for a 50 x 60 satin flag. A collared T-shirt with a party slogan sells for Rs 120, said Harpreet Singh from Vikram Enterprises. "I started manufacturing of election merchandise after Diwali. This time, the demand is more for things like mugs and T-shirts and less for flags and other conventional publicity material. "From what we are selling, I can say BJP is way ahead in the race, the Congress is a distant second and there are no takers for the AAP as of now. However, if seen overall, the business this time is way below expectation," said Harpreet.Singh. This is his fourth Lok Sabha election selling poll merchandise. Several miles away, Lokesh Kumar, who sells Congress takeaways outside the party's headquarters in Akbar Road, pushed for a Congress win. His stock of Priyanka Gandhi saris is sold out at the end of each working day, testimony to the fact that people are buying Congress merchandise in large numbers, Kumar argued. The sari, which shows an image of Priyanka Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and the Congress symbol against the backdrop of flowers, is priced at Rs 400. The sari phenomenon is not limited to the Congress alone. Social media was recently flooded with images of Modi saris. Mostly manufactured in his home state Gujarat, these can be bought in Sadar Bazar and on online platforms like Amazon. A quick search on Amazon shows saris ranging from Rs 700 to Rs 3,549, including one having 'How's the Josh' -- famous catchphrase from film "Uri: The Surgical Strike' -- written along Modi's image in army fatigues. Modi hoodies and T-shirts with slogans like 'Chowkidar Chor hai' and 'Namo Again 2019' cost between Rs 600-Rs 900. The BJP launched its range of NaMo (Narendra Modi) merchandise in September 2018. There's a NaMo app, a dedicated forum for sales, selling stationery, watches, coasters, T-shirts and masks. There are also five mini trucks, dubbed NaMo Raths', ready to hit the road. "The response from the public has been very good so far. The proceeds of the sale will go to the Namami Gange project. As of now, the rath stationed at party's headquarter is the only one selling NaMo merchandise. We are in talks with the EC. If we get permission, the other four raths will travel across the country to sell party's merchandise," Manoj Goel, a member of the BJP's National Executive, told PTI. Business is not the greatest this time. Viewing the market from his perch outside the Congress headquarters, Lokesh Kumar said one reason for this is that both the Congress and the BJP are providing materials to their candidates directly after buying from selected suppliers. Sitting amid heaps of poll knickknacks waiting to be sold in his shop in Sadar Bazar, Harpreet Singh is not giving up hope. If business does not pick up, I am definitely banking on the Haryana assembly elections -- to be held in October -- for my stock to be cleared," he said. The 2019 general election is scheduled to be held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19. The counting of votes will be held on May 23. Representative image Moneycontrol Contributors The BJP came to power on the plank of vikas. In 2014, the Indian electorate, in a stunning repudiation of the incumbent Congress party during whose reign the country saw an unprecedented rise in corruption scandals, elected a man whose "Gujarat model" had come to be the gold standard for "good governance" in the eyes of millions of Indians. As writer Milan Vaishnav noted, what was also significant about the 2014 elections was that "one in five newly elected MPs disclosed at least one pending case involving criminal charges - charges that, if a conviction were obtained, would merit real jail time." 2014 also produced a parliament in which a third of its members were facing ongoing criminal prosecution. Research indicates that many voters vote for politicians because, rather than in spite, of criminal reputations. Simply put, a significant number of voters believe that criminal politicians "get things done." How did we get here? How did the term "clean politician" become such an oxymoron in our times? How is that every third member in India's Parliament and state assemblies (1,580 to be specific) has a criminal case pending against them? What fuels the rise and sustained reign of the "criminal politician"? These are among the questions we address on this edition of Decoding 2019, with me Rakesh Sharma, right here on Moneycontrol. Indian citizens who have lived through the Emergency from 1975 to 1977, communal flashpoints in 1984, 1992, 2002 and counting, not to mention numerous instances of mass vandalism of public property during violent bandhs will also speak of political forces under whose watch these events unfolded. The recent instance of a family being attacked within the four walls of their home in Gurugram and the spate of lynchings targeting specific castes and communities undeniably have a political undertone. And as is the case with such crimes in India, it is hard to pin the blame on one individual or to ask for accountability. But the nexus between crime and politics is not just about communal messaging, it has many colours, many layers and contexts. Tainted candidates fighting for political power is nothing new in India and this rot expands across party lines but if we were to just cite one example, a March 29 piece on Firstpost recalled how, to escape a major embarrassment, the Congress decided not to field former Uttar Pradesh minister Amarmani Tripathi's daughter Tanushree in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections after announcing her candidature. We quote, "Amarmani Tripathi is serving a life sentence in a murder case, along with his wife who was a co-accused. On 28 March, Congress released the names of 31 candidates for Lok Sabha elections. Among the six candidates named from Uttar Pradesh, Tanushree's name figured in the list. Congress decided to field her from the Maharajganj Lok Sabha, a seat from where her father earlier contested. However, according to sources, following a protest Tanushree's name was dropped at the direct intervention of Congress president Rahul Gandhi. While the decision to replace her with another candidate saved Congress from some embarrassment, the fact that her candidature was finalised and announced hints at the fact that political parties, most often than not, sidestep and overlook a lot of things to pick a candidate with 'winnability'." A writer's viewpoint Before we explore this so called "winnability" factor, let us also look at another aspect of the symbiotic relationship between crime and politics. How do our political parties impact the way we think and process information? Is there a trace of criminality in the way thought processes and democratic structures are undermined in the quest for political power? Writer Nayantara Sahgal seems to think so. On April 2, 2019, she spoke at the Bhai Vaidya Memorial Lecture and said that we are now living in an India that has no connection with its modern political past. She connected recent crimes against minorities to fragmenting ideas of equal rights and equal citizenship, the divide between 'us' and 'them' and what she calls "a political agenda of vengeance and violence in a secular democracy" in which the state was supposed to have no role in religion. We quote her partly, "The Constituent Assembly chose democracy, starting with universal suffrage at the outset, to ensure equal citizenship with equal rights for all Indians in our plural society. This civilised legacy is now being taken apart." She cited cases of sedition based on invented conspiracy theories, lynchings, and attacks on rationalists, but here is the most important statement she made which we quote again partially, "Above all, in a democracy, criminals are arrested and convicted for their crimes. The reverse is happening here. Criminals roam free, protected, and the message from those in power is clear: either agree with us or suffer the consequences." The lecture in more detail can be read on The Wire but her point has been clearly made that an ideological shift to favour some and undermine others in a democracy usually has a political intent. And criminality can be used as a political tool by parties. The prime accused of the Dadri lynching was for instance seen sitting in the first row of a recent political rally helmed by the Chief Minister of UP, but criminality, unfortunately, isn't a party-specific disease. It is an illness that pervades the entire political system in the country. Widespread malaise Samuel Johnson once said, "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." George Bernard Shaw, altered that to make room politics. But a growing body of journalism seems to indicate that politics may well be the last resort of the criminal. A piece on Firstpost went on to note, "In May 2003, the murder of 24-year-old Madhumita Shukla, a budding poetess from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, caused a political storm. The prime accused in the case was Amarmani Tripathi, who was the then minister in Uttar Pradesh government led by Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party. While BSP defended him, the Samajwadi Party, the main Opposition party in Uttar Pradesh called for his resignation. Several attempts were made to suppress the case initially, however, following a huge media uproar the case was transferred to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) who arrested Tripathi after his DNA sample matched that of the foetus of Madhumita's Shukla unborn child. Shukla was [seven months] pregnant at the time of her murder. As the case progressed, Mayawati resigned after differences with coalition partner Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and in August 2003 Samajwadi Party formed the government with Mulayam Singh Yadav as chief minister. And this is where Tripathi, who joined Samajwadi Party after Mayawatis resignation, played an important role. Mulayam, who was looking for allies to form an alternative government, found Tripathi, who readily helped as he needed political patronage to insulate him from the probable arrest in the murder case." We are told by Firstpost, how in October 2007, when a special court in Dehradun sentenced Tripathi, his wife Madhumani and two others, to life imprisonment in the murder case, it seemed that this was the end of the man who thrived on muscle power and money. SP, however, later fielded Tripathi from the Maharajganj seat in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. His son Aman Mani Tripathi got a Samajwadi Party ticket in 2012 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections but lost. In 2016, before Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, former SP leader Shivpal announced his candidature from Nautanwa seat, a family stronghold. But with CBI charging Aman Mani for allegedly murdering his wife, he could not get the confidence of Akhilesh Yadav, who by then had taken over the reins of SP from his father. However, Aman Mani contested as an Independent and won. Aman Mani also made efforts to join the BJP in April 2017 after sharing the stage with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Congress UP spokesperson Ashok Singh criticised Adityanath for the same. Now, two years later, the Congress decided to field Amarmani's daughter. Earlier, she was offered ticket by Shivpal from his newly-formed party. So, Amarmani, the father, and Aman Mani, the son, have been both accused of two separate murders, in case you could not quite keep track of this allegedly prolific murderous family. We quote, "The political trajectory of Amarmani Tripathi is not an isolated story. It is also not a simple telltale of criminalisation of politics, which is an open secret. Rather, it is a disturbing trend wherein political parties, cutting across ideologies, region, and leadership prize winnability in elections as the most important criteria for selecting candidates. While winnability is an obvious criteria, it becomes problematic for democracy when it overshadows all other criteria. In Amarmani Tripathis case, all major political parties in the state chose to field, shelter, protect and promote a man and then his progeny, in spite of several allegations of crime and corruption. The fact that he was a minister in three different regimes speaks of his importance and the reason for this is simple and straightforward. They might draw a blank on the yardsticks of ethics, but successfully draw huge crowds and voters in elections." Because crime pays Shishir Tripathi, whose incisive post on Firstpost we have quoted, cites acclaimed political analyst Milan Vaishnavs book When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics, and calls it a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon in Indian politics that the likes of Amarmani Tripathi tend to represent. The book breaks down this debate about criminality in politics to three questions. The first question: Why do criminals enter politics? The second question: Why do political parties field such candidates? The third question: Why do people vote for them? I can personally vouch for this book, and all of Milan Vaishnav's work, for being among the most engaging and illuminating work on the political economy I have ever read. Vaishnav's thesis of why people vote for criminals goes well beyond the ignorant lot hypothesis, and as Shishir points out, "sees it as an attempt by the voters to secure an extra-legal avenue to protect their interests in the wake of weakening public institutions." As Vaishnav notes in his book, "What the Indian state has been unable to provide, strongmen have promised to deliver in spades." It is the notion that they get things done. Of course, the reason for criminals wanting to enter politics in the first place is but obvious. The infamy you might have as a career criminal could suddenly be turned into (literally) white collar respectability by entering politics. It is but the next step in the symbiotic relationship between career politicians and career criminals. As if ritual, the criminal is inducted into the politician club, and just like that, an armour to protect himself/herself from the heat of the law. It sounds like the birth of a superhero, except depressing in every single way. The piece cites Vaishnav to explain that across the past three general elections, clean candidates had a win rate of six percent. The win rate for candidates facing a charge of any type, by contrast, was just above 17 percent, and those facing serious charges had an 18 percent chance of winning. While there is some variation in the prevalence of candidates with criminal cases across parties, this is not an issue facing any one political party or type of party: It is clear that criminality in politics is widespread. Given this fact it becomes clear that winnability will always be the first concern of political parties, and they can hardly ignore those who fetch valuable votes. However, least they can do is to shed the pretense of being different." When it comes to winning Indian Criminal Politician's Got Talent, the Tripathis have great competition. In Uttar Pradesh, there is dreaded mafia don-turned politician Mukhtar Ansari - who fancies himself as a bit of a Robin Hood for Muslims in eastern UP - who has several criminal cases registered against him and has been Member of the UP Legislative Assembly five times. He was the prime accused in the murder of another MLA from Uttar Pradesh named Krishnanand Rai. Ansari won his first election on BSP ticket. Atique Ahmed, who was first accused in a murder case at the age of 17, has more than 40 criminal cases registered against him including the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal and he has contested elections from Samajwadi Party (SP) and Apna Dal. Hari Shankar Tiwari, says Shishir, was perhaps the first public figure in Indian political history to be elected to the legislature from prison. He has been a cabinet minister at the state Assembly in several governments, including the Kalyan Singh (Bharatiya Janata Party) government and Mulayam Singh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) government. In Bihar, Pappu Yadav was convicted for the murder of Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA Ajit Sarkar that took place in 1998 by the sessions court and spent over five years in jail as a life term convict before being acquitted by the Patna High court. He won Lok Sabha elections in 1991, 1996, 1999, and in 2004 from several constituencies in Bihar as an Independent, Lok Janata Party and RJD candidate. Mohammad Shahabuddin, informs the piece, was elected four times as a Member of Parliament from Siwan, Bihar, on Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) ticket despite being accused in several serious criminal cases and has been convicted in many. In March 2007, a Siwan court sentenced him to two years' imprisonment in an assault case, informs Shishir. In May 2007, he was convicted in an abduction case. He was also accused in the murder of JNU student union leader Chandrashekar Prasad, which occurred in 1997. The list, shamefully, is far from exhaustive. Same old story The use of political clout to legitimise criminality is not new. During the dark days of the Emergency, unconstitutional decisions were taken by the ruling party and there are many instances in India's political history when leaders accused of serious crimes have gotten away scot-free. According to a report released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a nonprofit that works on electoral and political reform, a total of 1,580 Members of Parliament (MPs) and Member of Legislative Assemblies (MLAs), or approximately 33 percent of the legislators in Indias Parliament and state assemblies, have criminal cases pending against them. In Uttar Pradesh, home to the Tripathis, 248 of the 539 assembly members had a pending criminal case against them - almost 50% of the legislators of the largest state in India have criminal cases against them. I asked this before, and I ask again - just how did we get here?! Tamil Nadu's assembly has a majority - 55%; Bihar - 47%; West Bengal - 46%. Andhra Pradesh - first on the alphabetical list, first also in the criminal politician list. 132 of its 140 members had a pending criminal case against them. 94.2%! Distinction. Depressing. Over 20 percent - that is 1 in 5 - of the new MPs face serious charges such as attempted murder, assaulting public officials, and theft. Almost all parties in India, led by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main opposition Congress, field tainted candidates. This is the party-wise breakdown of our "leaders": Of 282 BJP MPs in 2014, 98 had criminal charges against them. Eight out of total 44 candidates of Congress faced criminal charges while six of 37 AIADMK MPs had criminal cases against them and 15 of 18 Shiv Sena MPs had criminal charges against them. Neetal Lal, writing for The Diplomat, said, "The crime-politician nexus has invited opprobrium from no less than the countrys highest court. In September 2018, the Supreme Court ordered the Parliament to cure the malignancy of criminalization of politics by making a law to ensure that persons facing serious criminal cases do not enter the political arena. It also advised that the polluted stream of politics be cleansed. Holding that the criminalization of politics is an extremely disastrous and lamentable situation, the five-judge constitution bench headed by erstwhile Chief Justice Dipak Misra said this unsettlingly increasing trend has the propensity to send shivers down the spine of a constitutional democracy. The court added that the criminalization of politics was not incurable but the issue was required to be dealt with soon before it becomes fatal to democracy. Our Indian democracy has seen a steady increase in the level of criminalization creeping into Indian polity. This tends to disrupt constitutional ethos, strikes at the root of democratic form of government, and makes citizens suffer, the judges added." She cites High Court lawyer and activist Sapna Narang who opines that a major reason why corruption is so entrenched in the system is because there is no stringent law that requires political parties to revoke the membership of tainted candidates. Says Sapna Narang, "Unless the Parliament amends Article 102 of the Constitution and provisions of the Peoples Act to disqualify unworthy candidates, nothing will change. However, chances of the government doing so are slim because tainted candidates have clout and come with a winnability factor. In fact so relaxed are the rules that currently, even candidates jailed for less than two years can contest elections! Soutik Biswas, writing for the BBC says that criminals get elected not only because many voters are ill-informed, but also for sociopolitical reasons. Biswas thinks voters support criminal candidates in constituencies where social divisions driven by caste and/or religion are sharp and the government is failing to carry out its functions delivering services, dispensing justice, or providing security in an impartial manner. Neeta also mentions how in 2014, ADR , (Association for Democratic Reforms) along with National Election Watch, a campaign comprising 1,200 nongovernmental organizations working on electoral reforms, analyzed the self-sworn affidavits of 542 of 543 winners in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and found that a candidate with a criminal background was almost twice as likely to win than a candidate with no criminal background. The winning chances of a tainted candidate were 13 percent, while those of a clean candidate were 5 percent. A Congress party worker told her and we quote, People feel legislators with criminal backgrounds are powerful, and will therefore get work done from bureaucracy-infested government offices. In rural areas especially, people dont care about criminal cases. If they feel the candidate will make their lives simpler, they just vote for him. She says, "so rampant is corruption among politicians in the hinterland, bedevilled by entrenched social and gender inequities, that sullied candidates often wear their disrepute as a badge of honour. Boastful claims among candidates about who is the biggest criminal are common." Her interaction with analysts has yielded the conclusion that another reason why criminality thrives in the political arena, is because of prolonged trials in court and lower conviction rates. She cites IndiaSpend, a data-driven journalism website, which says that only six percent of criminal cases against Indias MPs and MLAs ended in conviction, according to data submitted by the central government to the Supreme Court. We quote, "Of 3,884 such cases conviction for which results in a six-year ban from contesting elections guilty judgements were pronounced in 38 incidences and 560 were acquitted. In 18 of 29 states and two of seven union territories, there were no convictions for criminal cases against MPs and MLAs; the cases include murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, hate speech, and criminal intimidation." If you remember, in 2017, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh ordered the withdrawal of a 1995 case related to defying prohibitory orders against Yogi Adityanath himself and 14 others, including a Union minister and a BJP MLA. In February 2019, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh recommended withdrawal of 38 cases against more than 100 accused in the deadly riots in Muzaffarnagar district that claimed at least 60 lives and displaced over 50,000 people. According to reports, UP's special secretary of law JJ Singh had directed Muzaffarnagar district magistrate Rajeev Sharma in January to withdraw the cases. It boils down to cold cash As Milan Vaishnav mentions in his book 'When Crime Pays,' a key factor motivating parties to select candidates with serious criminal records comes down to cold, hard cash." Vaishnav explains that the spiraling cost of elections and an opaque election financing system characterized by parties and candidates under-reporting collections and expenses inevitably leads to parties preferring cash-lush candidates who do not represent a drain on the finite party coffers but instead contribute rents to the party. Many of these candidates are on the wrong side of law. Vaishnav says, "The recent Financial Bill now makes it almost impossible to decode the anonymity of the donor and the receiver in case of funds given to a political party. That just tells you where the priorities are of the current government, even though the election rhetoric was significantly different. There clearly has been no serious attempt, or the desire, to cleanse the system as a flawed one suits all. In March 2014, the Delhi High Court indicted the ruling BJP and the Indian National Congress for receiving foreign funds in violation of the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA). It directed the government and the Election Commission to re-examine these violations. We quote from the piece again, "However, the government amended the FCRA with retrospective effect and passed a money bill without any discussion in Parliament. This has set a dangerous precedent. The move has institutionalized unlimited anonymous funding to political parties that cant be questioned or accessed under the Right to Information Act of 2005. As experts point out, to tackle the root of the problem, India needs a cohesive approach to make its election financing system transparent, urge parties to become more democratic, and ensure that people have access to better services and an equitable justice delivery system." Money and muscle Milan Vaishnav, whose work has informed much of what this piece presents, is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In an interview with Seema Sirohi of The Wire, the most startling thing he said in the interview was that tainted politicians are a byproduct of democratic practice. He said, "In many respects, this does not conform to our standard notions of what democracy ought to look like. But we have to acknowledge the reality that there is a demand for politicians with criminal reputations emanating from the electorate. Voters are often voting for such figures because, rather than in spite of, their criminal bona fides. They are not all being duped by savvy politicians; there is a strategic logic behind their actions. India was unique among developing countries coming out of the yolk of colonialism in adopting a democratic system. Institutions were not in place and the compulsions of democracy made shortcuts inevitable. The erosion of institutions was almost simultaneous with their building." Saying that the rise of criminality in India was not unavoidable but understandable, he added that the way in which democratic, economic and social change has outpaced governance has created a vacuum of authority that is being filled in by strongmen who promise to get things done for their constituents. Until this institutional gap shrinks, such strongmen will have some measure of popular appeal. But, the Indian experience should not be thought of in monolithic terms. We quote him, "The two principal ingredients, in my view, that give rise to such criminal politics weak rule of law and charged social divisions are not uniformly distributed across the country. As I write in the book, one should not think of the marketplace for criminal politicians as a wholesale market but as a series of hundreds or thousands of local markets across the country. The functioning of any given market is going to vary according to local contextual factors." And as he points, the taint of criminality is expansive and corrosive across party lines. We quote, "The nexus of crime and politics touches parties of all stripes in virtually all corners of the country. The Left parties have not been immune. Just take one look at the level of political violence in Kerala or in West Bengal. The goondagiri one sees now in West Bengal that many now associate with the Trinamool Congress was before linked to the Left Front. National parties have not distinguished themselves on this front, nor have regional parties. The Aam Aadmi Party began as an experiment created in opposition to this kind of politics, but it too has often made compromises in favour of winnability. Deepening of identity politics, is also a reason he says, behind the merging of the criminal and the politician and he says that in the next elections, he expects the next phase of evolution that will be away from gangsterism as we understand it and toward deeper crony capitalism. He said, "So many goondas in politics who got their start running criminal rackets are becoming businesspeople today. I expect that is the next avatar. As I have jokingly remarked before, we are seeing the transition from Godfather I to Godfather III play out in front of our eyes." So how can a broken system be fixed? Vaishnav says, when it comes to money in politics, he is pessimistic about bringing down the cost of elections in the short-term but he believes that the focus has to be on transparency in political funding. We have to insist on better disclosure, he says, both on the giving and the receiving ends. Let voters decide how to use that information when they enter the polling booth. They may not at first, but that is ok it is out there and someone will eventually pick it up. His second point is and we quote, "Investing in better enforcement. Right now, the Election Commission has difficulty taking action against candidates who provide false or misleading information on their candidate affidavits or election expenditure statements, even when compelling evidence exists. The governments view, and this applies to the current government as well as the previous one, is that the commission should not concern itself with this. It should only take action if there is missing or incomplete information. In his Budget speech, finance minister Arun Jaitley announced that parties would have to comply with income tax (IT) rules when it comes to submitting their accounts. But there has to be someone on the other end carefully scrutinising these submissions. Election watchdogs complain that this is not given a high priority right now. This has to change." His third recommendation is about governance. Red tape has to come down. He explains how excessive proceduralism provides incentives for businesses to seek favours and politicians to hold on to the discretionary powers they have to grant them. We quote, "The end result of this is a system that is rife with corruption. At the same time, he concludes, India requires new investments in the human resources of the state in civil servants, judges, police officers, tax collectors and so on. In many domains, the state is unable to carry out its most basic duties in an effective manner." So a better administered country will be a less corrupt country and will also have less spaces for criminality to thrive. It is a scenario that at the moment seems far-fetched and maybe the real change begins with us. And the votes that we will cast this year for or against the normalisation of criminality in politics. Know who is contesting from your constituency, and check if there is a criminal record against them. The least we can do is make an informed choice. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah are known for meticulous planning and poll-winning strategies. They are known to out-manoeuvre their political opponents and regularly bowl volleys. This Modi-Shah election winning machine, as they are often called by political observers, has demonstrated all of the aforementioned qualities over the last five years by winning election after election. Their success is corroborated by the fact that their main rival the Indian National Congress shrunk from having governments in 13 states (along with its allies) in 2014 to three states and a Union Territory (UT) just ahead of the December 2018 assembly polls in five states. Congress was able to beat the BJP in one-on-one contests in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in December 2018. The BJP, under Modi and Shah, has managed to win elections and expand its footprint. However, analysis of all Assembly election results in the country in the last five years shows that the BJP has performed better while challenging, than while defending. Winning as challengers In the last five years, the BJP has won numerous Assembly elections as a challenger: Andhra Pradesh (in alliance with the Telugu Desam Party), Sikkim (in alliance with Sikkim Democratic Front), Maharashtra (post-poll tie-up with Shiv Sena), Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir (post-poll tie-up with Peoples Democratic Party), Jharkhand, Assam, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura and Meghalaya. However, it did lose some elections as a challenger: Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana and Mizoram. Losing as defenders It was unsuccessful in retaining power in four major states: Punjab (in alliance with Shiromani Akali Dal), Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. BJP lost Punjab in 2016 a state it had governed along with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for two terms. It won lesser number of seats in Goa, and nearly lost it. The saffron party also had a near-miss in PM Modis home state of Gujarat. In Nagaland, BJP was part of the ruling alliance with the Nagaland Peoples Front (NPF). It broke the alliance in the run-up to the polls. It tied up with the second-largest party (Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party) after the polls and retained power. The saffron party failed to retain power in three Hindi heartland states that went to polls in November-December 2018 Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. During this period, however, they retained power in Goa, Gujarat and Nagaland (post-poll alliance with NDPP; was earlier with NPF) Besides the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP managed to win 12 out of the 24 Assembly polls in the last five years as the challengers. While this is mathematically 50:50, many of these states lacked and still lack a robust BJP organisational structure. Some of the states where the BJP failed to win as the challenger are Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. On the other hand, the party won four out of seven states as defenders. All of these states have BJP and its long term allies' robust presence. As the BJP heads into the Lok Sabha polls as defenders, one question remains will they be able to turn around the trend? File image TheBJP is making a determined bid to wrest Maharashtra's Nanded Lok Sabha seat, a citadel of the Congress from where its state president and former chief minister Ashok Chavan is seeking a re-election. Nanded, located in Marathwada region, is one the two seats that the Congress managed to win out of the total 48 constituencies in the state in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, when it faced a drubbing at the hands of the BJP. Chavan, the sitting MP from Nanded, is pitted against BJP's Pratap Chikhalikar, who is his staunch rival and currently an MLA from Loha seat in Latur district. Both of them hail from the Maratha community and are trying their best to woo voters in the constituency. Talking to PTI, Chikhalikar said, "Fortunately or unfortunately, I have been part of all the major parties." He was earlier a Congress MLA from 1995 to 2004. However, in 2004, he left the party over differences with Chavan and contested as an Independent, but supported the Vilasrao Deshmukh-led Congress government in the state. However, in 2009, he was defeated in the state polls by the Congress and joined the NCP. Later, in 2014, he won the Loha Assembly seat on Shiv Sena's ticket, but recently joined the BJP. He said the BJP was making a strong pitch to wrest the Nanded Lok Sabha seat and send across a message that a former chief minister and Congress state head can be defeated. Chikhalikar said the BJP fielded him against Chavan as he is a ground-level worker and "always available for people". He claimed Chavan did not work for the constituency's development. "When Chavan was the chief minister, Nanded did not benefit in anyway. There was no new industry. In the last five years, his performance has been zero," he said. On the contrary, Union minister and senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari started infrastructure works in Nanded and the current state government led by Devendra Fadnavis sanctioned water storage scheme worth Rs 45 crore, he said. He also claimed that the Nanded Municipal Corporation, where the Congress has absolute majority, is the "most undeveloped" civic body. In 2009, Chavan's brother-in-law Bhaskarrao Patil Khatgaonkar was the Congress MP from Nanded. He later switched over to the BJP during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In 2014, during the 'Modi wave', Chavan won the seat against his BJP rival by a margin of over 80,000 votes. Congress MLAD P Sawant, a close aide of Chavan who is handling his poll campaign, downplayed the criticism, saying political rivals are bound to do so. He said the infrastructure inNanded developed immensely since the time Chavan was industries minister in the Vilasrao Deshmukh-led state government. "Latur and Nanded airports were constructed in 2004-05 and today, both have night landingfacility. There are daily flights from here to Mumbai and Hyderabad. Besides, there are direct flights to Delhi, Amritsar and Chandigarh," he said. Sawant also said that there was nothing substantial in Prime Minister Modi's public address in Nanded last week. Chavan made his Lok Sabha debut in 1987 when he won a by-election against Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar in Nanded after his father Shankarrao Chavan, who was then Union finance minister and MP from the seat, was made the state's chief minister. However, in 1989, Ashok Chavan lost the seat to a JanataDal candidate and then became active in state politics and contested Assembly polls from Nanded. Though Nanded has always been a Congress bastion, the party lost the seat in 1989 and later in 2004. The constituency was wrested by the Congress in 2009 and the party managed to retain it in 2014. There are 17,19,247 voters in the constituency, where 14 candidates are in fray for the upcoming Lok Sabha poll. The Samajwadi Party has fielded Abdul Samad Abdul Karim while Yashpal Bhinge, a Dhangar (shepherd) community member, is contesting on Vanchit Aghadi's ticket. The constituency has Marathas, Lingayats, Dalits and also a sizable number of Muslim voters. The Nanded Lok Sabha constituency comprises Bhokar, Nanded-North, Nanded-South, Jalgaon, Deglur and Mukhed Assembly segments. Ashok Chavan's wife is an MLA from Bhokar, while Sawant is a legislator from Nanded-North. Polling in Maharashtra's 48 seats will be held in four phases on April 11, 18, 23 and 29. Nanded will go to polls in the second phase on April 18. The Left parties on April 10 lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over comments made by his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan in support of the BJP and said with this statement the neighbouring country has made it clear who it wants as India's next PM. CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said that Khan's statement raised concerns over foreign governments "influencing" the outcome of the general elections in India. In an interview to foreign journalists, Khan has said he believed there was a better chance of peace talks with India and settling the Kashmir issue if the BJP wins the general elections. "Pakistan has been the only issue of Modi's election campaign, where he has scurrilously tried to link it to opposition. Now, we know who Pakistan actually wants as PM, the only Indian PM to have invited ISI to a military base, and the only one who went to Pakistan uninvited," Yechury tweeted. "We have serious concerns about foreign governments influencing our democratic election process. Last year, it was reported that ISI wants Modi as PM. Now Pakistani PM says it," he said. Khan said other parties would be afraid of right-wing backlash in case of a settlement on the Kashmir issue. "Perhaps if the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)....wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached," Khan told a small group of foreign journalists in the interview. CPI leader D Raja questioned Khan's locus standi on commenting on the government of a neighbouring country. "It is not his business to comment on the government of India. It will be decided by the people of this country. How does Khan know that the other governments will not support the peace process between the two countries? Now, it is for Modi to answer why Imran Khan is batting for him. Has Modi asked him to bat for him and his party?," Raja asked. A case has been lodged at a court here against former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti over their remarks that abrogating Article 370 and 35A, that grant special status to the state, will lead to its freedom from the country. Advocate Rajesh Chandra Sharma filed the complaint on April 9 before the court of Muzaffarpur Chief Judicial Magistrate seeking trial of the chiefs of the National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party under Sections 124A (sedition) and 34 (common intent for a criminal act) of the Indian Penal Code. The petitioner has alleged that he felt "hurt" by the statements of Abdullah and Mufti, that appeared in a Hindi daily on April 9. He alleged their remarks could "fan unrest and mutiny" in the country. Their fierce political rivalry notwithstanding, Abdullah who heads the NC, and Mufti, who leads the PDP, had come out in unison against the BJP's manifesto promise of scrapping Article 370 annul 35A of the Constitution. The two articles grant special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Reacting to the BJP manifesto, Abdullah Monday said abrogating Article 370 will pave way for "freedom" for people of Jammu and Kashmir. Mufti had also said on Monday that abrogating Article 370 would lead to freedom of the state from India. European leaders gathered in Brussels on April 10 to decide how long a Brexit delay to grant British Prime Minister Theresa May -- and under what conditions. Without a postponement, Britain is due to crash out of the European Union at midnight on Friday under a "no-deal" Brexit that could trigger economic chaos. May has embarked on a last-ditch battle to postpone Brexit from April 12 to June 30 to arrange an orderly departure -- but European leaders are expected to offer her a longer delay of up to a year. "There are times when you need to give time," EU Council President Donald Tusk tweeted, as he issued summit invitations. Summit host Tusk said the evidence of recent months gave EU leaders "little reason to believe" that British lawmakers will ratify the Brexit withdrawal treaty before May's preferred June 30 departure. "In reality, granting such an extension would increase the risk of a rolling series of short extensions and emergency summits, creating new cliff-edge dates," he said, reflecting concern in EU capitals. "One possibility would be a flexible extension, which would last only as long as necessary and no longer than one year," he said. According to a draft copy of the summit conclusions that EU leaders were to receive and debate later in the day, they will agree to an extension to allow May time to ratify the withdrawal agreement. "Such an extension should last only as long as necessary and, in any event, no longer than (XX.XX.XXXX)," the draft reads. The other 27 EU leaders will thrash out what date to fill in the blanks on April 10. "If the Withdrawal Agreement is ratified by both parties before this date, the withdrawal will take place on the first day of the following month," the draft, seen by AFP says. If Britain is still in the European Union when EU parliamentary elections begin on May 23, it must take part in the vote. "If the United Kingdom fails to live up to this obligation, the withdrawal will take place on 1 June 2019," the draft warns. If an extension is agreed, Brussels will portray it as a concession to Britain, with some members -- particularly France -- not keen to see the disruptive Brexit drama drag on much longer. But May insists she still wants to quickly ratify the withdrawal she agreed with EU leaders last November, but which has been rejected by British lawmakers, and to leave before the EU polls. On April 9, May flew to Berlin to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel, then on to Paris, where an aide to President Emmanuel Macron said France was open to solutions. "We've never been closed to the idea of finding an alternative solution to 'no deal' within certain limits and not at any price," the Elysee source said. Discussions in Brussels are to focus on the length of the delay -- the French source said a 12-month extension "seems too long" -- and arrangements to limit Britain's influence within the EU. EU members want to ensure that a semi-detached Britain does not seek leverage in Brexit talks by intervening in choosing the next head of the European Commission or the next multi-year EU budget. Britain was originally due to leave the EU on March 29, but Brussels agreed an extension after the British parliament rejected the withdrawal agreement negotiated with May. The British premier is hoping a new period of extra time, if granted, will enable her to finally get a divorce deal through the legislature. British MPs have rejected her deal three times, but May is now in talks with the opposition Labour party to try break the deadlock. These discussions are moving slowly, and EU negotiator Michel Barnier said May must explain what postponement would achieve. "The length of the extension must be linked to the purpose -- what it's for -- and that depends on what Mrs May will say to European leaders tomorrow," he said, after meeting EU ministers in Luxembourg. A "no deal" -- in which Britain crashes out of the EU -- is still a possibility. The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that Britain risks a serious shock if it leaves the EU without an agreement. And US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned American lawmakers: "I think at this point we need to be prepared for a hard Brexit as a very realistic outcome." Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Rafale deal, CPIM general secretary Sitaram Yechury alleged on April 10 that the government has compromised on national security. Continuing his attack on the ruling party over the Rafale fighter jet deal with France, Yechury said the deal "promoted cronyism". "Modi and his govt have compromised national security for corruption & cronyism in an important defence deal. They tried to evade accountability, denied a JPC, hid price from CAG, tried to first mislead, then stall any hearing in Supreme Court. Important that culprits are booked," he tweeted. In a setback to the Modi-led government at the Centre a day ahead of the first phase of the Lok Sabha election, the Supreme Court on April 10 allowed leaked documents to be relied upon by petitioners seeking review of its Rafale judgement and dismissed the government's preliminary objections claiming "privilege" over them. File image: Twitter/@BhimArmyChief For any Indian, the name Chandrashekhar Azad resonates with the 'Master of Disguise' revolutionary who fought for the freedom of the nation in the 1920s. He had shot himself with the last bullet in his gun during an encounter with the British on February 27, 1931, at Alfred Park in Allahabad. Nearly five decades and 900 km away in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, a boy with the same name was born, who grew up to an activist a revolutionary set out to empower Dalits and other backward sections of society. This year, he has decided to lock horns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his turf Varanasi, a move which is certainly bold even if the odds are stacked against him. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan, along with Vinay Ratan Singh, started an organisation called the Bhim Army or the Bhim Army Bharat Ekta Mission. Even though Singh is the national president of the organisation, Azad is its most popular face. The Bhim Army The Bhim Army, based out of Saharanpur, held a meeting for the first time on July 21, 2015, when Azad and Singh decided to start free-of-cost paathshalas (school) for children belonging to marginalised communities. They set up their first paathshala in Fatehpur Bhado village in Saharanpur. As of today, the Bhim Army runs more than 350 such schools across Meerut, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur. Azad was triggered to form the army due to an unisolated incident of a Dalit student being beaten up by upper caste Thakurs in Saharanpurs Chhutmalpur area for drinking water from a well. The administrations apathy in response to such incidents was another factor that led to the formation of the Bhim Army. Also Read | Battle for Benaras: David vs Goliath or just much ado about nothing? In aiming at educating and empowering Dalits, propagating Ambedkarite values, quick redressal of atrocities against Dalits; the organisation considers itself social counter-movement to Brahmanical ideology. Any Dalit between the ages of 18 and 25 can join the outfit. Most of the members belong to the Chamar community or its sub-caste Jatav. It is also open to Muslims. What made Azad an icon amongst Dalits? In 2015, Azad put up a board in his native village extolling his caste identity: The Great Chamar of Dhadkauli Welcome You. Irked by this symbolic assertion, the dominant Thakurs smeared the board with black ink. This led to bouts of caste tension in the area. In May 2017, Dalits had objected over the loud music played by Thakurs during a procession being carried out to honour Rajput ruler Maharana Pratap. This led to protests and riots during which one Thakur lost his life while 45 Dalit homes were set on fire. Accused of fanning the flames during the protest, Azad was named in at least 24 FIRs by the state police. He evaded arrest for more than a month, during which time he gave interviews to the media from various hideouts. In early June 2017, he was arrested by the UP Police from Dalhousie in Himachal Pradesh. He had a bounty of Rs 12,000 on his head. He was booked under the National Security Act (NSA). What is his political relevance? The emergence of Azads Bhim Army has piqued the other significant party which stands for Ambedkarite principles Mayawatis Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Most Dalit thinkers believe that the party appeared because of the BSPs diversion from Dalit-centric issues despite being in political power. This sentiment also keeps the BSP on its toes. For instance, recently Azads supporters thronged a joint rally of the BSP-SP-RLD in Deoband, wearing blue scarves, carrying Azad's posters, perpetuating the message of their leader to join him in his fight against the BJP. So jolted was Mayawati that BSP was asked to introduce her nephew Akash to the crowd to counter the message of the Bhim Army. In addition, the Bhim Army surfaced when the Dalit voter was being pocketed by the BJP on account of BSPs failure in addressing their issues. It came as a resistance from within the Dalit community. However, what remains to be seen is whether the Bhim Army will transform into a larger social movement, a political party, or will remain a symbol of localised Dalit aggression. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hoping to retain power in the Lok Sabha polls. The saffron party is expected to make losses in north India, a region it had virtually swept in 2014. To offset some of these losses, the party is looking to make inroads into various untapped regions of the country. West Bengal is one such state. With the BJP unleashing its tested election machinery in the state, Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has come under increasing pressure. This pressure was palpable when, in February, Banerjee staged a dharna in Kolkata to protest against the raids by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar. She alleged that the raids were politically motivated. So far, the eighth chief minister of West Bengal has not only ruled the state with an iron fist, but also calls shots in the politics of the nation. The Bengal CM isn't afraid of street politics that, in fact, is her home turf. While her biggest political success would be uprooting the Left Front from the state's politics, it could be argued that her biggest achievement was people recognising her as honest and humble. Also read: Opinion | Mamata Banerjees dharna is a high-stakes political game From her early days in student politics, launching the Singur agitation for farmers, running the country's railways to leading the state of West Bengal, here's a look at 'Didi's' political life: The Congress years Born in Kolkata, Banerjee grew up in a Brahmin lower middle class family. She graduated with an honours degree in history and later earned a Master's degree in Islamic History from University of Calcutta. Banerjee went on to pursue a degree in law from the Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College, Kolkata. 'Didi, as she is popularly called, became involved in politics when she was only 15. While still studying in college, Banerjee established the Chhatra Parishad Union, the student's wing of the Indian National Congress Party. Her union defeated the Democratic Students Union of the Socialist Unity Centre of India(SUCI), which was backed by the Left. The self-taught painter and poet later served at various positions of Congress' state unit. Between 1976 and 1980, she served as the General Secretary of All India Mahila Congress, the women's wing of the party. In 1984, Banerjee defeated veteran politician Somnath Chatterjee to win the Jadavpur Lok Sabha seat and, in the process, became one of India's youngest parliamentarians ever. While she lost the seat in 1989, Banerjee was re-elected to the Lower House of Parliament in 1991 from Calcutta South Lok Sabha constituency a seat she held until she left Parliament in 2011. Founding Trinamool Accusing the Congress of acting as a stooge to the Left Front in West Bengal, Banerjee walked out of the party in 1997 and established the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC). The party quickly placed itself as the main opposition in the state. Nandigram and Singur Banerjee caught the nations attention when she protested setting up of Tata Motors' plant that was supposed to manufacture the Nano car. She accused the Communist Party-led state government of providing 997 acres of farmland to have the automobile company build the factory. The state had cited a land acquisition act from 1894 to do so. However, according to the act, farmland could be acquired only for public improvement projects. A year earlier, a massive operation involving 3,000 police personnel was launched on protesters in Bengal's Nandigram village. The protesters were unwilling to hand over their farm land about 10,000 acres in total to the state government for construction of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ). At least 14 people were killed as a result of the police operation. According to political observers, the incident played a key role in dislodging the Left government after 34 years in power. Banerjee also used the incident during her election campaign along with the famous slogan 'Maa Mati Manush'. Stints at the Centre She first became the Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development, Youth Affairs and Sports, and Women and Child Development in 1991, in the PV Narasimha Rao government. In 1999, she took over as Railway Minister, having allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. Later in 2009, she became the Railway Minister again, this time under the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. Banerjee was widely lauded for her work in the sector. Leading 'Paschim Bangla' Mamata Banerjee led the Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance to a resounding victory in the 2011 West Bengal Assembly election. The alliance won 227 of the 294 seats. The Left alliance was reduced to 62 seats from what was 230 in 2006. She was sworn in as the first woman chief minister of West Bengal on May 20, 2011. According to political observers, Banerjee made strides to reform the education and health sectors in a tenure marred by Saradha scam allegations. Banerjee retained power in the 2016 Assembly polls, winning 211 seats. Congress, with whom she did not ally with this time, came second with 44 seats while the Left slipped further to 32 seats. She was listed as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time Magazine in 2012. In an internal poll conducted by India Against Corruption (IAC) one of India's largest anti-corruption coalitions, Didi was voted as India's most honest politician in 2013. Didis battle this time is not only to retain the Lok Sabha seats she won in 2014 and protect the partys structure against reported poaching from the BJP, but also to form the stem of opposition unity. Many see her as having prime ministerial aspirations. But, this is dependent on what happens in Paschim Bangla. Vile Parle Election Result 2019 LIVE: Check Vile Parle Constituency Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) Election Updates, Candidates, Winners, Losers, Voting Percentage As eight constituencies of western UP Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar go to polls in the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls on April 11, stakeholders seem to be nervous. Who are the stakeholders? BJP leaders General VK Singh (Ghaziabad), Mahesh Sharma (Gautam Buddh Nagar) and Sanjeev Balyan (Muzaffarnagar) will be fighting to retain their seats. At the same time, farmer leader Chaudhary Charan Singhs son Ajit Singh and his grandson Jayant Chaudhary are also battling fiercely to carry forward the familys legacy of leadership among the Jats. Besides, this will be the first litmus test for the SP-BSP alliance. Whoever gets the upper hand in the first phase gets a morale boost for the remaining phases, which could impact the polling patterns in rest of Uttar Pradesh. Past polling patterns In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won from Western UP with a huge victory margin, mainly because of sharp polarization of the voterbase in the aftermath of the Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013. Of the eight seats, six are in the sugarcane belt with a high proportion of Jats and Muslims. At that time, Gujjar leader Hukum Singh contested from the Kairana parliamentary constituency and won with a thumping vote margin of over 2,36,000 votes. In 2018, however, a bypoll was necessitated in Kairana after the death of Hukum Singh. While the BJP fielded his daughter Mriganka Singh, a united SP-BSP-RLD fielded RLDs Tabassum Hasan. Even though with a small margin, Tabassum, who polled 51.26 percent of the vote, beat BJPs Mriganka, who polled 46.5 percent of the vote. What also worked Tabassum's favour was the solid backing of three big chunks of voters Dalits, Muslims and Jats. She is contesting on an SP ticket this time. The Kairana Model The bypoll gave rise to a template that the United Opposition gleefully termed as the Kairana Model. In 2014, when the BJP wave was at its peak in the country, the collective vote share of SP (22.3), BSP (19.8) and RLD (8.3) beat that of the BJP (43.7) in Uttar Pradesh. In addition, this model also holds good in four of the eight constituencies going to polls on April 11. Even though the margin of defeat is small, it has made the BJP jittery in the area with the caste arithmetic and the Opposition unity turning the tables around. This time around Realising that it is the Jats that have the key to political fortunes in the sugarcane belt, the BJP has upped their ante with Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing two rallies in Meerut and Saharanpur, and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath holding six rallies. Chaudhary Charan Singhs Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), which didnt win even a single seat in the last Assembly election, is prepped this time with the articulate 40-year-old Jayant contesting in Baghpat and his son Ajit contesting in Muzaffarnagar. The SP and the BSP also held an impressive joint rally in Saharanpur, a first after 25 years. The Congress has been relegated to a third in this belt. However, it is bound to eat into the gathbandhans vote share more than that of the BJP. For instance, in Ghaziabad, Congress loyalists are all for Dolly Sharma with who Priyanka Gandhi did a roadshow. Few had even heard of the gathbandhan candidate, Suresh Bansal, The Indian Express reported. The RLD will clearly benefit from the Muslim-Jatav voters supporting the united SP-BSP-RLD. On the other hand, the upper caste Hindus, a few communities in the OBC category and some Gujjars will favour PM Modi and the saffron party. Hence, itll be the Jats, also the weakest link, who will lead the candidate to the throne. What is the key issue in this belt? The key issue in this belt is neither the Rafale Deal nor the Balakot air strike. The key issue is sugarcane farmers demanding that their arrears be released by sugar mill owners. Modi had promised that all arrears will be cleared by the first week of April. Representative image Arithmetic permutations and combinations are being calculated as India inches closer to the Lok Sabha elections. The country will head for polls in seven phases from April 11 to May 19. The counting of votes will happen on May 23. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hoping to retain power along with its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners. They are being challenged by the Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and other Opposition parties. Multiple opinion surveys have predicted the possibility of a hung Parliament. They also predict that the BJP, which nearly swept northern India in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, will face heavy losses there. Therefore, to offset those losses, the saffron party is trying to make inroads into eastern, northeastern and southern India. Heres a look at how the western states voted in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls: Gujarat The BJP had swept all of the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Modis home state Gujarat. The party secured a vote share of 60.1 percent. The Congress, despite not winning a single seat, managed to win 33.5 percent of the votes. These 26 seats include Vadodara one of the two constituencies Modi successfully contested from. However, he vacated this seat in favour of the Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. Maharashtra Contesting in an alliance with long-time ally Shiv Sena and Raju Shettis Swabhimani Paksha, the BJP clinched 42 out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Out of these, BJP and the Sena won 23 and 18 seats, respectively. Shettis party won one seat. The then ruling alliance of Congress and Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faced a major defeat. Congress and NCP won just two and four seats, respectively. In terms of vote share, Congress and NCP secured 18.3 and 16.1 percent, respectively. The BJP and Sena picked up 27.6 and 20.8 votes, respectively. Rajasthan Besides Gujarat, BJP also swept Rajasthan, winning all of the 25 seats there. In what was a one-on-one battle against the Congress, the saffron party secured 55.6 percent of the votes. Congress won 30.7 percent of the votes. Also read | How the states voted in 2014 Part 1: South India Madhya Pradesh BJP nearly swept Madhya Pradesh, winning 27 out of the 29 Lok Sabha constituencies there. The only two seats it failed to win were Chhindwara and Guna. The seats were won by Congress Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia respectively. In terms of vote share, BJP and Congress secured 54.8 percent and 35.4 percent of the votes. Goa + Union Territories The saffron party had performed well in Goa as well as the Union Territories of western India. BJP won both seats in Goa. It also won the Lok Sabha seats of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Representative image Arithmetic permutations and combinations are being calculated as India inches closer to the Lok Sabha elections. The country will head for polls in seven phases from April 11 to May 19. The counting of votes will happen on May 23. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hoping to retain power along with its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners. They are being challenged by the Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and other Opposition parties. Multiple opinion surveys have predicted the possibility of a hung Parliament. They also predict that the BJP, which nearly swept northern India in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls will face heavy losses there. Therefore, to offset those losses, the saffron party is trying to make inroads into eastern, north-eastern and southern India. Heres a look at how the northern states voted in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls: Punjab NDA parties Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the BJP won six out of the 13 seats in the state. SAD won four of those seats. While the Congress managed to perform better here than many of the other states in north India, it still managed to win only three. This included the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat where Captain Amarinder Singh defeated senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had become popular in Delhi by then, won the remaining four seats in the state. In terms of the vote share, the SAD and BJP picked up 26.4 percent and 8.8 percent votes respectively. Contesting in all 13 seats, Congress and the AAP secured votes shares of 33.2 percent and 24.5 percent, respectively. Haryana Months ahead of the Assembly election in the state, the BJP managed to reverse its fortunes in this state. BJP won seven out of the 10 seats here, up from none in 2009. In 2009 general election, Congress had bagged nine seats here. However, in 2014, its tally fell to just one. The Indian National Lok Dal (NLD) won the remaining two seats. In terms of the vote share too, the Congress was placed behind the INLD. BJP won 34.8 percent of the votes. INLD and Congress secured 24.4 percent and 23 percent votes, respectively. AAP, which was making its debut in the state, failed to win a single seat despite securing 4.3 percent of the votes. Himachal Pradesh This northern state was one of those that were swept by the BJP. The saffron party won all of the four constituencies here. Congress finished second in all four seats. BJPs vote share was 53.9 percent, significantly higher than Congress 41.1 percent. Uttarakhand Similar to its performance in Himachal, the BJP swept all of the five seats in Uttarakhand. Congress was placed second in all of these seats. The vote share of the two parties was 55.9 percent and 34.4 percent. Jammu and Kashmir The northern-most state of India has a total of six Lok Sabha constituencies. The BJP managed to win three seats here Jammu, Ladakh and Udhampur. The Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the remaining three Anantnag, Baramulla and Srinagar. The Congress and Farooq Abdullahs National Conference (NC) faced a rout. BJP and the PDP secured 32.6 percent and 20.7 percent of the votes. Congress and the NC managed to pick up 23.1 percent and 11.2 percent of the votes in the state. Uttar Pradesh The results in Uttar Pradesh surprised many. Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress faced a drubbing at the ballots at the hands of the BJP and its ally Apna Dal. Uttar Pradesh has a total of 80 seats. Akhilesh Yadav-led SPs tally fell to five seats from what was 23 in 2009. Mayawatis BSP failed to win a single seat. BSP had won 20 seats in 2009. The Congress, which had won 21 seats in the previous general election was restricted to the Gandhi family bastions of Amethi and Rae Bareli. All of these losses were direct gains for the NDA. The BJP alone won 71 out of the 80 seats in the state, up from just 10 seats in 2009. Apna Dal won two seats. In terms of the vote share, BJP was first with 42.6 percent. SP, BSP and Congress secured 22.3 percent, 19.8 percent and 7.5 percent votes, respectively. Chandigarh The Union Territory is one of Indias major bellwether seats when it comes to Lok Sabha polls. The constituency has successfully voted for the party which eventually goes on to form the government at the Centre. In 2014, BJP fielded actress-turned-politician Kirron Kher. Kher defeated former union minister and Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal. The lone seat there was won with a margin of around 70,000 votes. The seat also saw actress Gul Panag contest on an AAP ticket. While Panag finished third, she managed to give a tough fight to the incumbent MP. Also read: A look at Indias bellwether seats whoever wins these, wins the election Delhi Delhi has a total of seven Lok Sabha constituencies. This was a complete role reversal for the two major national parties, BJP and Congress. BJP won all of the seven seats there that were held by the Congress. While the AAP did not win a single seat there, its vote share was 33.1 percent, more than double that of the Congress. The BJP secured a vote share of 46.6 percent votes. Arithmetic permutations and combinations are being calculated as India inches closer to the Lok Sabha elections. The country will head for polls in seven phases from April 11 to May 19. The counting of votes will happen on May 23. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hoping to retain power along with its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners. They are being challenged by the Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and other Opposition parties. Multiple opinion surveys have predicted the possibility of a hung Parliament. They also predict that the BJP, which nearly swept northern India in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls will face heavy losses there. Therefore, to offset those losses, the saffron party is trying to make inroads into eastern, north-eastern and southern India. The eastern region, comprising Odisha, West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura, has a total of 88 seats. The BJP had won just 13 of these Lok Sabha seats in 2014. Its allies had won two. In Odisha and West Bengal, BJP won one and two seats respectively, leaving scope for a major expansion. Heres a look at how the eastern states voted in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls: West Bengal Mamata Banerjees All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept the state, winning 34 out of the 42 seats there. TMCs key rival then, the Left front and the Congress, won two seats each. The BJP won two seats, Asansol and Darjeeling, up from one in 2009. The TMCs tally also grew significantly. In 2009, it had won 19 seats. The biggest losers in the state were Left and the Congress, losing 13 and four seats, respectively. Odisha The state, which was also heading for simultaneous Assembly polls, was swept by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD). BJD won 20 out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats. The remaining one was won by the BJP. BJP secured a vote share of 44.8 percent while the BJP secured 21.9 percent. The Northeast Assam: BJP won seven out of Assams 14 seats. Congress and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) won three seats each. One seat was won by an Independent candidate. Arunachal Pradesh: The BJP and Congress won one seat each in the state. Manipur: Congress, which was also governing the state then, won both seats there. Meghalaya: National Peoples Party (NPP) and the Congress won one seat each. Mizoram: Congress won the lone seat. Nagaland: Naga Peoples Front (NFP) won the lone seat. Tripura: Both Lok Sabha seats in the state were won by the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Sikkim: Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamlings Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) won the lone seat there. Theres something unforgiving about the summer sun in Kerala. It's election time and political parties should be in full-swing campaign mode but the scorching sun has literally forced every candidate to suspend election activities between 11 am and 3 pm. The summer rains which bring much-needed respite have given a miss this time. The Kerala government has appealed to the people to be cautious and avoid outdoor activities during this period. For political parties, this curfew means failing to cover that extra mile and losing that edge where an additional door-to-door campaign or road show could make the difference. However, smart politicians adapt to the situation. Tharoors barnstorm Its a hotter-than-usual afternoon and a handful of supporters are waiting for Shashi Tharoor, the sitting MP from Thiruvananthapuram and Congress Lok Sabha candidate, at the Thiruvallam school junction. He was scheduled to reach there at 9:30 am but is running late. I join the group of local leaders who are debating whether or not to burst crackers when Tharoor arrives. The leader in-charge of the crackers is in two minds because, in his words, there is an old-age home nearby with a lot of heart patients and bursting crackers could disturb them. After some deliberation, they decide against it. From crackers, the topic changes to how many votes each leader can canvas from his respective area. A younger leader in the group brazenly says, Its difficult. From our ward, only a few families will stand with us. All the others will choose the lotus (BJPs poll symbol). The other leaders agree with a pensive nod. Just when it seemed that damp crackers and lotus supporters had cast a pall over the workers, a microphone at a distance announced the arrival of Tharoor. Now, campaign announcements should be recognized as an art form if it is not yet done. There are two types of announcements the pre-recorded ones and the live announcements done by anyone who owns a clear voice and a worn-out thesaurus. The pre-recorded ones are predictable and synthetic like fast food, but the live announcements they crystallise the local flavours and pack a punch. The one approaching the school junction is a live announcement. In addition to referring to Tharoor as a two-time MP, former United Nations official, celebrated author, some of the honorifics used for Tharoor are: Lionized foreign policy expert, the prince of knowledge, superior lawmaker, the one who with his arguments made the British bend their knees, the pride of Ananthapuri (Ananthapuri is a literary reference to Thiruvananthapuram), etc. Along with the announcement comes a pack of motorbikes at the head of Tharoors barnstorm. Waving Congress flags and shouting slogans, the bikers announce their arrival. The school junction slowly gets packed and by the time Tharoor arrives, there are hundreds of people waiting in anticipation. Its 11:30 am by then. Tharoor addresses the crowd, reminds them why he is the ideal candidate to represent them in Delhi and requests that they vote for him. In five minutes, his election convoy moves to the next location, the Parasurama Temple, hardly a kilometre away. Kummanams siesta If the jamboree of the hustings is what Tharoor has used to beat the summer sun, his rival and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Kummanam Rajasekharan prefers a quieter route. About 15 kilometres north of Thiruvallam is Attipara. Here at the periphery of an industrial estate and Technopark, a house in a settlement colony awaits Rajasekharan. There isn't the full throttle slogans heard at Thiruvallam nor are there people lining both sides of the road to greet their candidate. Here there is a quiet anticipation, much like they're waiting for a senior member of the family. There are no microphones, no announcements, no speeches nor any other election paraphernalia. Around 1:15 pm, the former Mizoram governor walks on a narrow path towards the house of a local council member lunch is arranged here and after lunch, it's siesta time. Unlike the hundreds that surrounded Tharoor, here there are about 40 people. While Rajasekharan is having lunch inside the house, outside in the portico, local leaders are fine-tuning the evenings programme. At a rally, the BJP candidate will officially launch a CD featuring the campaign songs. A local leader is heard on the phone instructing someone to print a banner for the event in the evening. The flex needs to feature both Modi and Amit Shahoh.okay, if thats not possible, make sure that Modi is there on it. Also ensure that the slogan Once More Modi is prominently printed on the banner. If Tharoors campaign reflects Indian election pageantry in bright colours, Rajasekharans style is more subtle and understated. Both have adopted different styles and approaches, and both are potent in their own ways but only one of them will win the election. The CPIs pale shadow In addition to the BJP and the Congress, the Communist Party of India (CPI) has also fielded a candidate from Thiruvananthapuram. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate is sitting MLA C Divakaran. However, unless there is a tectonic shift in voting patterns in the constituency, the chances of Divakaran upsetting both Tharoor and Rajasekharan are slim. The last time a CPI candidate won the Lok Sabha seat was in 2005. In the two general elections since then, the CPI candidate has not been able to put up a respectable fight in the 2014 election, the CPI candidate had to settle for the third spot, behind the Congress and the BJP. Also, over the years, the CPIs voting percentage has declined. From an all-time high of 51% in 2005 it went down to 28% in 2014. Interestingly, the CPI does not have an MLA from any of the seven assembly constituencies that form the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency. In the 2016 state polls, of the seven seats, the Congress and the CPI(M) won three, while the BJP won its first seat in Kerala from Nemom. Rajagopal effect The BJP is yet to win a Lok Sabha seat from Kerala. Even in 2014, at the height of the Modi wave, the BJP had to console itself that it had increased its voting percentage in the state from 6.31% in 2009 to 10.3%. However, Thiruvananthapuram has for decades been a constituency where the BJP has had a respectable presence. Since the 1991 general elections, BJP candidates have always polled in more than 10% of the total votes except in the 2005 bypoll. If one were to look at the BJPs numbers in the constituency, it is evident that more than the party, it is the profile of the candidate that matters. For almost three decades now O Rajagopal, former Union minister and the sitting MLA from Nemom (which comes under the Thiruvananthapuram LS constituency), has been the BJPs face in the state capital. In 2014, Rajagopal lost the election to Tharoor by a margin of 15,470 votes. He came first in four of the seven assembly constituencies. Given this, theres a lot riding on Rajasekharan however, many agree that he does not have an across-party-lines acceptability that Rajagopal had. So, while it is believed that he will give Tharoor a tough fight, many local BJP leaders are not confident that he could turn the tables. A factor which could tilt the scales in his favour is the sentiments the Sabarimala protests have evoked. Goodwill and persona Tharoor, ever since he first represented the constituency in 2009, has become Keralas voice in Delhi. That he is articulate in English and Hindi is a point his supporters highlight when campaigning for Tharoor. That lack of coordination in the local Congress unit could act as a headwind against him, but some local leaders feel that Tharoors style of functioning could make up for that. Though the party structure here needs fortifying, the policies adopted by both the central and state governments have made the people realise that the Congress is the only party which will protect their rights and freedoms. Both [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi and [Chief Minister Pinarayi] Vijayan have given hollow promises to the people, says Abhilash Nair, general secretary, Thiruvananthapuram District Congress Committee. Also, Tharoor is a leader who is approachable at any time; he has established a direct link with the people. Above all, his stature and clean track record is what attracts both young and old voters towards him. From touring the constituency and speaking to people it is evident that if Rajasekharan or Divakaran were to win the credit should go to the party machinery in the constituency. However, if Tharoor wins a third time, it will be more because of his persona. File image Famous philosopher Karl Marx had said religion is the opium of the masses. I feel its a fruit which is ripe to be plucked in the election season. Talk about pronounced religiosity and politicising a matter of faith, and one immediately thinks of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case. In fact, the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992 was not only a watershed moment in the history of India, but also led to transformation of the political narrative with religion displacing caste as the primary metric. The issue has imminently affected peoples choice of leaders over the years. To understand how, lets take a walk down memory lane. Where did it all start? It was in 1989, when former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi launched his campaign from Faizabad, the district headquarters of Ayodhya. He dug out an issue, which has been a bone of contention for over 150 years, in order to revive his sagging political gains. Promising Ram Rajya, Rajiv Gandhi also allowed the laying of a foundation stone at an uncontested site. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) brought the bricks and the BJP leveraged the situation to further their political agenda. However, the plan backfired. The Congress, which had won a sweeping 83 of the 85 parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh in the 1984 Lok Sabha elections, won a dismal 15 in the 1989 elections, with Rajiv Gandhi losing his seat to a CPI candidate. Read Also: Opinion | Does BJP need the Ram Mandir issue to win Uttar Pradesh in 2019? Meanwhile, the Janata Dal won 54 seats and the BJP won eight seats. The BJP, however, made significant gains in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra to take their national tally up to 85. This result indicated that the Mandal Commission, which had redefined the political discourse in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, beat Mandir and religion as an agenda. In addition, it showed that the Ram Mandir issue had more takers beyond Uttar Pradesh. At that time, Rajiv Gandhis failed bid created a template for other political parties which didnt dare to touch the Ram Mandir issue for political gains. Until the BJP organized a Rath Yatra led by veteran leader LK Advani to consolidate mass support for the Mandir movement. Impact on elections After the collapse of the VP Singh government at the Centre, and the subsequent fall of the Chandrashekhar government, Lok Sabha elections were held in 1991. The BJP won 51 seats in Uttar Pradesh and its national presence grew to 120 from 2 in 1984. This is the time when the Bharatiya Janata Party was established as a national party, getting the second largest number of seats in the general election. The push for a Ram Mandir and laying of the foundation stones in the late 1980s snowballed into the demolition of the 16th century Babri Masjid in 1992. In the 1998 Lok Sabha election, the BJP emerged as the single largest party, bringing a coalition government at the Centre. To increase their social base, the BJP had put hardliner LK Advani on the backburner and propped Atal Bihar Vajpayee as prime minister. Besides, pressure from allies did not let the saffron party actively pursue the three contentious issues in its agenda construction of the Ram temple, abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution and introduction of a universal civil code and instead adhered to the mutually agreed National Agenda of Governance. At the state level, the saffron party had swept 221 seats in the 1991 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls with Kalyan Singh being named as the chief minister. However, his term was cut short in the aftermath of the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. Read Also | BJP using Ram Mandir in manifesto to sharpen communal polarisation: Sitaram Yechury In the 1993 assembly poll, even though the BJP emerged as the single largest party with 177, the BSP-SP formed a coalition government with SP satrap Mulayam Singh Yadav as the chief minister. Relevance of Ram Mandir in present-day politics With the political narrative maturing between 2004 and 2014, the BJP has emerged as a stronger party. In fact, the saffron party has promised construction of the Ram Mandir in its manifesto for all the general elections since 1996. After their landslide victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP is no more bound by its allies to push for the construction of the temple. In the 2017 UP Assembly polls, the party swept 312 on 413 seats, without even naming the chief ministerial candidate. BJP candidate from Ayodhya Ved Prakash Gupta beating SP's incumbent MLA, Tej Narayan Pandey, by a mammoth 50,440 votes is often read by the BJP cadre as a referendum on Babri demolition. The saffron party had resurrected the temple plank and made it into a symbol of Hindutva when it named Yogi Adityanath as chief minister of UP. Adityanath, the politically canny mahant of the Gorakhnath Math had his mentor in the late Mahant Avaidyanath, who headed the Ramjanmbhoomi Nyas or the Trust entrusted with construction of the Ram temple. It was the push for the Ram Mandir that propelled the BJP to national politics, blunting caste politics in the process. By mentioning it in this years manifesto, the BJP has re-affirmed that the party is still not ready to distance itself from the Ram Mandir issue. File image Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis attacked the Congress Lok Sabha poll manifesto for its stand on powers of the armed forces in Jammu and Kashmir and sedition law by asking whether it belonged to the opposition party or terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed. Addressing a rally for the BJP candidate for Pune Lok Sabha seat, Girish Bapat, he hit out at the Congress for stating in its manifesto that deployment of armed forces in Jammu and Kashmir would be reduced if the party came to power. "They are also saying that if they come to power, they will reduce the special powers given to the army in Jammu and Kashmir. What special power does the army have in Jammu and Kashmir? If terrorists are sighted, they have all the powers to eliminate them. They have powers to put stone pelters behind bars," said Fadnavis. He claimed taking away these powers, as the Congress manifesto promises, will embolden terrorists to enter the restive northern state at will. "I am wondering whether this manifesto belongs to the Congress or Jaish-e-Mohammed," he said. He took a swipe at the Congress for claiming in its manifesto that section 124 A of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with sedition, will be scrapped. "Maoists, terrorists, people who wage war against the country are tried under this law. But after some students in JNU shouted anti-national slogans saying 'bharat tere tukde honge' and were arrested for sedition, it seems the Congress got disappointed and so want to withdraw this law," Fadnavis claimed. He said the Congress-led UPA did not have the spine to retaliate against Pakistan after the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai in 2008, adding that a "new India" had emerged with Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking over. "When the Uri attack happened, Modiji gave freedom to the Army to avenge the attack. Our brave soldiers carried out a cross-border surgical strike. After the Pulwama attack, IAF jets destroyed terror camps in Pakistan," he said. Continuing the attack on the opposition party, he said, "When all nations acknowledged the IAF air strike on the terror camp in Balakot, only Pakistan and the Congress were demanding proof." In a sarcastic vein, the Maharashtra CM added, "In case there was an idea that the Congress would demand proof (of the air strike), its leaders could have been tied to a missile." He lauded the schemes of the Central government and lambasted the Congress minimum income scheme Nyay claiming the opposition party had spoken about eradicating poverty among people while going about eliminating poverty of its leaders and sycophants. Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modis skin glows because he "applies wax and make-up". His comments came as an explanation for why the people, the cameras, and the media love him so much. Kumaraswamy, as per a report by NDTV, was speaking at an election campaign rally in Bengaluru, when he said: PM Modi, when he wakes up before coming to people or in front of the camera, he applies wax and make-up and then stands in front of camera. The shine is seen on the face. "Look at our faces, in the morning we shower and leave and it is only the next morning that we shower again. Our faces don't look good on camera. Our media friends also don't like showing our faces, they only say Narendra Modi, Narendra Modi..., Kumaraswamy added. The CM further claimed that candidates of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party appeal to people to look at PM Modi and vote. They aren't saying look at us and vote, they say look at Modi and vote. Kumaraswamy was in Bangalore North to campaign for Congress candidate Krishna Byre Gowda. The constituency in question has a large population of Vokkaligas, a politically dominant caste, and was earlier with the CMs Janata Dal Secular as a part of the seat-sharing deal with Congress. Karnataka goes to vote on April 18 and April 23 in the general elections that start tomorrow. The results of the polls will be declared on May 23. JD(S) and Congress forged an alliance to rule Karnataka together last year after there was a hung verdict in the state assembly polls. Amidst the din of nationalism, air strikes, corruption and dynasty in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election speeches in the first phase, the issue of fugitives is conspicuous by its absence. Apart from talking about bringing "the corrupt" to the "doors of jail", there is hardly any mention of fugitives like Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya and Christian Michel on Modi's part. While Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya are battling court cases in the United Kingdom, Michel, a key accused in the AugustaWestland chopper case, was extradited to India in December last year. Michel's extradition was considered a big boost for the government, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) promptly stated that it was a victory in the government and the party's battle against corruption. This was repeated by Modi during his rally in Dehradun, where he said Michel had named senior Congress leaders in a chargesheet. Congress, on its part, dismissed Modi and his comment as an "election stunt". Also Read | Mamata Banerjee: Bengals street fighter takes on the Modi challenge on home turf However, apart from a couple of mentions here and there, the fugitives are mostly absent from the humdrum of election campaigning. There's a reason for that, say BJP leaders. "One of the reasons why the PM is limiting his mention of fugitives is because we have done a lot of development through a lot of schemes and policies, which need to be highlighted more," Rakesh Tripathi, a BJP leader in Uttar Pradesh, told Moneycontrol. "Plus there are a lot of things which have happened for the first time in the country, and Prime Minister wants to highlight all that first," Tripathi said, adding that the plan is to focus more on policies of the government which have benefited the local population, including Ujjwala and Jan Dhan Yojana. "But the issue of bringing back fugitives will be taken up in future rallies," Tripathi added. Also Read | The political relevance of the Ram Mandir issue Another BJP leader in Madhya Pradesh echoed Tripathi's opinion. "See, it's a matter of narratives and perceptions. There are two things in election rallies: public perception and personal impact. The Prime Minister is focusing more on the latter by talking about policies which have had a direct impact," Anil Saumitra, state spokesperson of the party, said. "Moreover, these are technical things with limited direct impact. Say you talk about satellites being launched in space, which is a good thing, but if you are not getting medical facilities, would you bother about the satellite or the medicine? It's the same with fugitives," Saumitra said. "These things don't bother people directly," the leader added. A BJP leader in Maharashtra agreed, adding that the Prime Minister is already speaking on the Balakot air strikes, which fall in the realm of "action taken" and has a better effect on the narrative than fugitives being brought back. "Apart from the direct connect, it also has an emotional connect with people," the leader said. Also Read | Active and agile at 76, BS Yeddyurappa a driving force for sons Raghavendra and Vijayendra "Also, these things fall in the realm of complicated laws and technicalities, which cannot be explained from the podium," Saumitra explained, adding that a speech or an interview is about management of public opinion. "Now people see Nirav Modi roaming freely in London, what are they going to think? What kind of action has the government taken? They won't verify that action is actually being taken. And that it is being taken cannot be explained in a speech. In any case, we have often repeated that the government's resolve to bring the economic offenders to book is top priority. We are not going to hesitate on that," Tripathi, the leader from UP, said. "Our success will definitely be highlighted in future rallies," the BJP Maharashtra leader said, adding that fugitives are "linked to previous governments, and will be useful to highlight corruption of the UPA regime". Congress leaders, however, have targeted the Modi government, stating that PM Modi is the "chowkidar" of Nirav Modi and Mallya. Congress leaders in Mumbai state that party president Rahul Gandhi will continue to highlight the issue in his future speeches, since "it needs to be highlighted that the current government made their escape possible". "Not just Congress, the entire Opposition is asking the PM questions. How did Nirav Modi escape? How is he roaming freely? This needs to be answered," a Congress leader said. Addressing his last rally before the end of campaigning for the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls, Union minister and BJP candidate from Nagpur Nitin Gadkari said he will work hard to stop farmer suicides and create more jobs for the youth. Polling for the Nagpur seat, along with six other seats in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, will be held on April 11. BJP chief Amit Shah also spoke at the rally. "I want to promise you two things, firstly I will be specially focusing on stopping farmer suicides in Vidarbha. I have made it my mission in life to work so much more in villages that in coming days no farmer commits suicide," Gadkari said. The Union water resources minister said his ministry had given Rs 40,000 crore for two irrigation projects in Maharashtra. "I, along with Chief Minister (Devendra) Fadnavis, will increase the irrigation potential of Maharashtra from 18 to 50 per cent. With water in fields, no farmer will commit suicide and agricultural produce will increase three-fold," he said. Gadkari said his second priority will be creation of more jobs for the youth. "This time I have initiated works worth Rs 17 lakh crore and next time I will try to double this figure. This I want to do not only for the development of the nation, but these works give impetus to job opportunities," he said. "A work of Rs 10,000 crore gives direct and indirect employment to one lakh people. So you can figure out how many youths will get employment with Rs 17 lakh crore-worth projects," he said. Gadakri said he had promised 50,000 jobs to the youth of Nagpur and Vidarbha and succeeded in creating 25,000 jobs. Another 25,000 jobs will be provided within one year, he added. "In the next four years I will work on creating 50,000 more jobs for the youth of Nagpur and Vidarbha," he said. I want to use my "entire strength" to provide jobs to "lakhs of youths", Gadkari said. Stating that there is a lot of "politics of casteism and communalism", he said we have to get rid of untouchability, casteism and communalism, and create a nation based on humanity, which is what the new generation wanted. NCP chief Sharad Pawar has hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he criticises the opposition parties in his every speech, but never informs what his government has done for the country in last five years. Addressing a rally at Ulhasnagar here on Tuesday night to campaign for his party candidate, Babaji Patil, from Kalyan Lok Sabha seat of Maharashtra, he also targeted Modi over the controversial Rafale jet deal. "In every speech, Modi criticises the NCP and Congress, but never tells what the BJP and Shiv Sena have done during the last five years," Pawar said. Lashing out at prime minister's criticism of the NCP, he said, "Everyone knows what Modi has done to his family and now he is poking his nose into our family affairs." He said Modi criticises Jawaharlal Nehru, but it was the former prime minister who brought industries to the country after Independence. Pawar also said that late prime minister Indira Gandhi took Pakistan to task and Rajiv Gandhi brought in the revolution of television, computers and mobile technology into the country. "And Modi brought demonetisation and ruined the country," the NCP leader quipped. He said Modi has never shown preparedness to find out who all benefited out of the Rafale French fighter jets deal. "When our government comes to power, it will go into it and find out the details," he said. While the Congress has been allegation corruption in the Rafale deal, the government has denied any wrongdoing. The Congress claimed that the Rafale deal was the "biggest scam" that the country has ever seen and accused the Narendra Modi government of giving "exemptions" to two French companies in selecting offset partners. Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said the waivers, granted on August 24, 2016, were "exemptions" given to Dassault Aviation and another private French company from having to comply with provisions of the Standard Contract Document of the Defence Procurement Procedure, DPP-2013. He alleged that the waivers concerned two key issues -- the provisions to be made in the offset contracts for arbitration and access to books of accounts of the industrial suppliers, which shows that the deal was a "scam" and certain favourites were "obliged". "Modi who screams and scrams on the issue of corruption must open his mouth on the loot and scoot of 28 economic offenders like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Vijay Mallya, Jatin Mehta, among others, who looted Rs 1 lakh crore from our banks. Modi must tell who in his PMO was managing the money collections during demonetisation as shown in the video sting today," he asked. "In election season, Modi can brazenly use government agencies as political allies to target opponents but cannot run away from his role in the Rafale scam. Brand new evidences of subverting procedures, naked crony capitalism, compromising national interests, gross impropriety and colossal corruption have once again been exposed in the Rafale scam," he alleged. The Congress leader alleged that these companies were no longer required to submit their offset plans, identities of their Indian Offset Partners (IOP) and the details of their work share and specific products, and supporting documents indicating IOP eligibility at the bid stage, as laid down earlier in DPP, 2013. File image The stage is set for polling in all 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in Telangana on April 11 with elaborate arrangements being made to ensure a free and fair poll. Having swept the Assembly polls held in December last, the ruling TRS is hoping for an encore in the company of AIMIM while the opposition Congress and BJP appear to be focussed on winning select number of seats. As many as 443 candidates (418 male and 25 female) candidates are in the fray in the 17 constituencies. Over 2.97 crore voters, including 1504 transgenders, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the state, which has a total of 34,604 polling stations. Polling would be held from 7 AM to 4 PM in 13 Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-effected Assembly segments under five parliamentary constituencies, and from 7 AM to 5 PM in all other Lok Sabha constituencies. Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency is a special case in this parliamentary election as 185 candidates, including more than 170 farmers, are in the fray. The peasants have entered the fray to highlight their demand for remunerative price to turmeric and red jowar. The Election Commission has decided to conduct the poll in Nizamabad with EVMs (12 EVMs in each booth) despite the large number of candidates. Polling in Nizamabad would be begin at 8 AM and end at 6 PM as mock polling is expected to take more time compared to other constituencies in view of the large number of candidates. Congress leader Renuka Chowdary (Khammam), AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi (Hyderabad), state Congress president N Uttam Kumar Reddy (Nalgonda), sitting TRS MP K Kavitha (Nizamabad), daughter of TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao, are among the prominent candidates who are in fray. Addition DG ( Law and order) Jitender said special arrangements have been made for Nizamabad with additional deployment of four companies of central forces in the constituency. As many as 145 companies of central paramilitary forces and 9,000 policemen from other states have been deployed besides over 55,000 state police for security arrangement, the police official said. TRS leaders have repeatedly said their aim was to bag 16 seats for the party, leaving the remaining one for AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi, who is seeking to win for the fourth time from Hyderabad. In the December seven, 2018, Assembly elections, the TRS bagged 88 seats in the 119-member House, while the Congress bagged only 19. The BJP could manage only one seat and the Amit Shah-led party, in fact, forfeited deposits in more than 100 Assembly segments. Compounding problems for the Congress, ten of its MLAs announced their decision to join the TRS during the last month. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the TRS bagged 11 seats, and the Congress two. The BJP, TDP, YSRCP and AIMIM shared one each. The TDP, YSRCP and one Congress Lok Sabha member later joined the TRS. Campaigning for the coming Lok Sabha elections appeared low key compared to the high-pitched one seen during Assembly polls in December. KCR and his son and party working President K T Rama Rao campaigned vigorously, constantly attacking BJP and Congress, saying these two national parties failed to deliver when in power and the time has come for regional parties to take centre stage. KCR said if TRS won 16 seats, it would play a key role in national politics. He claimed that none of the national parties-BJP or Congress would secure a majority on its own to form the government at the Centre. Among national leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and BSP supremo Mayawati canvassed for their respective parties. Highlighting the "family rule" of KCR, Modi warned that TRS' association with Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM party would mean "speed-breaker" for Telangana's development. Owaisi canvassed for TRS candidates at some places. KCR earlier termed AIMIM as TRS' friendly party. Rahul Gandhi alleged during election rallies that both the BJP and TRS have a tacit understanding and hence vote for TRS is like voting for BJP. German automaker BMW has officially revealed its plans to launch the reworked 1 series. The hatchback has got a revival after a short absence from the market and undergone many changes. The pre-launch vehicles of the third generation 1 series are under testing in Southern France. While the car retains its aesthetic essence, it now gets a front-wheel-drive layout. It also gets a significant increase in the cabin space, as well as an improved suspension setup. The head of Driving Dynamics at the BMW Group, Peter Langen states, Our customers will directly feel the fast and precise responsiveness that provides for an optimised driving experience. The BMW 1 Series will be a genuine BMW with an individual character. Though the car is still under wraps, its features highlight a set of 18-inch wheels, bigger callipers, as well as dual exhausts. The car has also shed close to 20 kilograms at the cost of its six-cylinder engine. The 1 series is expected to be powered BMWs 1.5-litre, four-cylinder, turbocharged petrol engine. This engine makes 139PS of maximum power which could be mated to a 7-speed DCT gearbox. It could also get an optional 2-litre diesel engine which makes 192PS of maximum power. The new-generation 1 series is set to debut in the international markets later this year. It is, however, unclear whether India will receive the update or continue with the 1 series, which was first launched in 2004. Image Source Representative Image The converged payments solution company, Razorpay, launched their first edition of The Era of Rising Fintech report in Bangalore today. Razorpay predicts that by 2020, 40 percent of digital payment transactions in the country will be driven by Tier 2 and 3 businesses and consumers, and 50 percent of internet users will be using digital payments. Non-cash transactions are likely to overtake cash transactions in the country by 2023 Since demonetization and the launch of UPI, the merchant demand for digital payments has increased by 70 percent, year on year UPI has also made its way successfully to cities like Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Ranchi Share of wallets (P2M) has dropped sharply to 1.87 percent in FY19 from 6.3 percent in FY18, while UPI payments shot up from 1.6 percent in FY18 to 17 percent in FY19 The UPI Transactions grew by 4000 percent in 2018 Of the top three sectors, Travel, Utilities and E-Commerce, Utilities shot up tremendously to 17 percent in FY19 from 2.4 percent in FY18, indicating how Indians are adopting digital payments in everyday life Pune, Chennai, Bangalore, NCR, Hyderabad and Jaipur are the most active cities transacting digitally The Razorpay report also expects that 15 percent of Indias GDP will be flowing through digital payments by 2020. All findings in this report are based on transactions held on Razorpay platform from FY18 to FY19. Some of the key findings from Razorpays report include: Harshil Mathur, Co-founder & CEO, Razorpay said, The sky-rocketing demand for digital payments signifies a lot more than just business growth. We saw that the SMEs in Tier 1 and 2 cities are driving a solid growth of 75 percent in non-cash transactions. This is a testimony of growing trust, changing mindset of traditional businesses and focused effort of government and public authorities towards developing the FinTech infrastructure. In the coming months, we are looking at more game-changers like eNACH/eMandate, improved mobile-tech, more SME-oriented products and services, and stronger collaboration between FinTech services community and banks. Among the many sectors embracing digital payments, the fact that Utilities shot up tremendously to 17 percent in FY19 indicates how consumers are responding to digital payments. Fintech is transforming the way Indians buy and sell and Razorpay is thrilled to be an invaluable part of this process, he added. Nationally, while the debit and credit cards continue to dominate the P2M segment with a 56.48 percent share, Razorpay finds that SMEs in Tier 1 and 2 cities are driving a high-speed growth of 75 percent in non-cash transactions.the report further observed that the preferred Payment Method in Person-to-Merchant (P2M) will see some drastic changes between FYE2018 and 2019. While the use of plastic money may fall from 69 percent to 57 percent, UPI will explode- from 1.6 percent to 17 percent (approximates). Also, the top sector that contributes to digital payments is continuing to be travel, but the second place has been taken by Utilities, as against eCommerce in 2018. Pharma has fallen back while eCommerce has fallen from 22 percent to 16 percent. If Britain leaves the EU without a deal, the bloc and Britain's smaller trading partners stand to lose big, but Beijing and Washington could reap huge benefits, the UN said. In a fresh report, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) examined what repercussions it would have for Britain's trading partners if the country crashes out of the European Union without a deal. The report, titled "No-deal Brexit: the trade winners and losers", came out as British Prime Minister Theresa May pleaded with EU leaders to provide an extension to the deadline for Brexit to avoid leaving with no deal on April 12. The UNCTAD report warned that if Britain did exit the bloc without a proper divorce deal, it "would significantly alter market access conditions in the United Kingdom both for developing and developed countries." The British market currently accounts for about 3.5 per cent of world trade, and last year the country imported goods worth almost USD 680 billion (604 billion euros) from the rest of the world, UNCTAD said. More than half of that came from EU countries, who stand to lose out on nearly USD 35 billion in exports to Britain in the case of a no-deal Brexit, the report found. But it stressed that Britain is also an important trading partner for many developing countries, whose exports until now have enjoyed very favourable market access conditions, largely thanks to preferential EU schemes. If there is a proper exit deal with a lengthy transition period, trading partners would have time to negotiate new bilateral agreements to replace the EU deals that will no longer apply to trade with the UK, UNCTAD said. But without such a deal, countries that currently benefit from favourable market access will feel the pain, while countries that until now have faced significant tariffs will benefit, it said. "Brexit is not only a regional affair," UNCTAD head of international trade and commodities Pamela Coke-Hamilton said in a statement. "Once the UK has left its 27 European Union partners behind, it will alter the ability of non-EU countries to export to the UK market," she added. In the case of a no-deal Brexit, Turkey would be the second-biggest loser after the EU, taking an estimated USD 2.4-billion hit to its exports to Britain, the report said. South Korea, Norway, Iceland, Cambodia and Switzerland also stand to lose big, it added. At the same time, the report found that China could gain an additional USD 10.2 billion in exports to Britain, while the United States could add USD 5.3 billion in exports to the country. Japan could also expect to see its exports to Britain swell by USD 4.9 billion, while Thailand, South Africa, India, Brazil, Russia, Vietnam and New Zealand would also rake in gains, it said. According to World Trade Organisation rules, a country is not permitted to give preferential treatment to a trading partner, and must apply the same tariffs to all, unless there is an exception set out in a trade agreement. If Britain leaves the EU with no such deals in place to protect its current preferential trading partners, it "would increase relative competitiveness of major exporting countries, such as China or the United States, thereby eroding market-share," Coke-Hamilton said. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Tuesday said it may direct ArcelorMittal, in the next hearing on April 23, to deposit Rs 42,000 crore for acquisition of the insolvent Essar Steel in a separate account. The two-member bench, headed by Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya, also directed ArcelorMittal to file an affidavit detailing the steps to be undertaken in the resolution plan of Essar Steel. Arcelor told the NCLAT that it is ready to bring in money, but can't deposit it without the lenders executing a debt assignment agreement in the favour of the company, adding that there is some reluctance on lenders' part to execute this agreement. The Delhi-based appellate tribunal had approved ArcelorMittal's bid of Rs 42,000 crore on March 18, dismissing the Essar promoters Ruias' plea against the approval of the NCLT's Ahmedabad bench to the bid. ArcelorMittal's resolution proposal for Essar Steel provides financial creditors Rs 41,987 crore out of their total dues of Rs 49,395 crore. Operational creditors, under the plan, would get Rs 214 crore against the outstanding Rs 4,976 crore. They are contesting this before the NCLAT. Essar Steel owns a 10-million-tonne steel mill in Hazira, Gujarat. It was was among the first 12 cases selected by the Reserve Bank of India to be resolved under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. According to reports, the company has recorded its best ever production at 6.8 million tonnes, higher by 10 per cent over the previous year and around 24 per cent in 2016-17. 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. We had mentioned in Tuesdays closing report that Nifty, Sensex were directionless. The major indices of the Indian stock markets suffered a correction on Wednesday and closed with losses over Tuesdays close. On the NSE, there were 757 advances, 974 declines and 356 unchanged. The trends of the major indices in the course of Wednesdays trading are given in the table below: Hindalco Industries temporarily shut the operations of its alumina plant in Jharkhand after a spillage incident injured four people. The incident occurred in the red mud (bauxite residue) storage area connected to the alumina plant in Muri. It involved the spillage in the red mud cake storage area. In a regulatory filing on Wednesday, the company said: "As a precautionary measure, operations have been temporarily suspended to assess the situation." According to the filing, preliminary investigations do not indicate any material impact on the surrounding environment or to property and efforts are ongoing to clear the spillage. Hindalco Industries shares closed at Rs211.60, down 2.56% on the NSE. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may take more time to examine the Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) and India Bulls Housing Finance Ltd (IHFL) merger deal, an official source said on Wednesday. "It (LVB-IHFL merger) may take time for examination," a source said, adding the central bank may seek more information also on the proposed merger after going through the proposals from the entities. An email sent to the RBI on the issue has not elicited any response so far. The All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) had urged RBI Governor Shakthikanta Das not to allow the proposed merger of LVB with IHFL. The central bank should instead merge LVB with one of the public sector banks, AIBEA General Secretary C.H. Venkatachalam had said in a letter to the RBI Governor. RBI earlier said it is yet to approve Lakshmi Vilas Bank-IHFL merger. In a statement the RBI had noted that it would examine the proposal as per extant regulatory guidelines and directions. Last week, the board of Lakshmi Vilas Bank approved a scheme of amalgamation with the IHFL. Lakshmi Vilas Bank shares closed at Rs88.50, down 4.38% on the NSE. Indiabulls Housing Finance shares closed at Rs824.70, down 0.85% on the NSE. Tata Motors said its global wholesales in March 2019, including Jaguar Land Rover declined by 5%, compared to March last year at 1,45,459. The global wholesales of all passenger vehicles in March 2019, were lower by 9% at 88,314, compared to March 2018, the company said in an exchange filing. "Global wholesales of all Tata Motors' commercial vehicles and Tata Daewoo range in March 2019 were at 57,163 higher by 1%, over March 2018." Global wholesales for Jaguar Land Rover were 70,171 vehicles. Jaguar wholesales for the month were 20,985 vehicles, while Land Rover wholesales for the month were 49,186 vehicles. Tata Motors shares closed at Rs215.80, up 4.81% on the NSE. Bharti Airtel on Wednesday announced it has selected Swedish telecommunications manufacturer Ericsson to expand its pan-India voice over LTE (VoLTE) services to offer HD-quality calling over 4G smartphones and smart watches. Airtel will deploy the Ericsson Cloud VoLTE solution to deliver VoLTE services onto a customer data centre. "We remain committed to building a future-ready network as part of our network transformation programme 'Project Leap' and deliver best-in-class digital experience to our smartphone customers," said Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel. As part of "Project Leap", Airtel is offering innovative communication services. The Ericsson Cloud VoLTE solution enables high-definition voice (HD voice) and provides modern communication service experiences across many types of devices, over LTE, Wi-Fi, and future 5G access. According to the latest "Ericsson Mobility Report", India is expected to have more than 780 million VoLTE subscriptions by 2023. VoLTE technology will also be the foundation for enabling 5G voice calls on different types of 5G devices. "We are delighted to support Airtel by delivering our Ericsson Cloud VoLTE solution. We start today with expanding HD voice over LTE services across India, which will establish a platform to easily introduce new innovative services in the future," informed Nunzio Mirtillo, Ericsson's Head of Market Area, South-East Asia, Oceania and India. Ericsson Cloud VoLTE is an industrialised solution to deliver VoLTE services onto a customer data centre Cloud. Bharti Airtel shares closed at Rs338.45, down 3.74% on the NSE. The Central government on Tuesday made key management appointments to several public sector banks (PSBs). According to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the appointments following proposals from the Department of Financial Services, under the Union Ministry of Finance. The ACC approved the proposal for appointment of Karnam Sekar, MD and CEO, Dena Bank, as MD and CEO in Indian Overseas Bank "with effect from July 1, 2019 till his superannuation..." Similarly, Rajesh Kumar Yaduvanshi, Executive Director, Dena Bank, was appointed as Executive Director in Punjab National Bank with effect from April 1, 2019 till October 8, 2020. In a similar move, the ACC appointed R.A. Sankara Narayanan, MD and CEO, Vijaya Bank, as MD and CEO in Canara Bank with effect from "taking over charge of the post on or after April 1, 2019 till his superannuation..." Indian Overseas Bank shares closed at Rs14.85, with no change from previous close. Punjab National Bank shares closed at Rs93.30, down 1.11% on the NSE. Even as debt-ridden Jet Airways was served a legal notice from a section of its pilots, airline's CEO Vinay Dube on Tuesday said the company continues to work with lenders on the balance sheet restructuring plan and will inform the employees about the progress of the process by early next week. According to Dube, the company is trying to secure interim funding to sustain, and eventually increase its current level of operations. "Once we restore the much-needed network stability of the airline, our highest priority is to get more planes flying and to pay your salary arrears," Dube said in a communication to employees. "Support the bank-led balance sheet restructuring efforts to bring in fresh equity into the airline. This process has entered a new phase, with the lenders inviting Expressions of Interest (EOIs) this week. On Monday, lenders of the debt-ridden airline invited EoI for stake sale in the company to recover dues worth Rs8,000 crore. Jet Airways India shares closed at Rs262.25, down 1.93% on the NSE. The top gainers and top losers of the major indices are given in the table below: The closing values of the major Asian indices are given in the table below: Did you catch the federal budget last week? The centrepiece was income tax cuts. And millions of Australians will benefit. Over time, tax relief will total $158 billion dollars, for low- and middle-income earners. And theres immediate tax relief of up to $1080, for middle-income Australia. In the words of the treasurer, theyre the largest income tax cuts since the Howard government. But aside from tax cuts there was also a huge $100 billion spend on infrastructure. More roads and rail to relieve the commuter gridlock. More carparks near railway stations and so on. Labor too has come to the party. Many pundits are predicting they may well form the next government come the next election. Free Guide: How to Invest in the Massive Infrastructure Boom. Download now. So its prudent to hear their plans as well. In his budget reply, Mr Shorten not only matched coalition tax cuts, but promised higher tax relief. Along with more spending on amenities such as schools and hospitals and more. In short, it doesnt matter who wins. Well be getting more tax cuts and infrastructure. Just on those tax cuts, do you think Joe and Jane average will put the money into a savings account? Or, spend it? Heres the stock chart of Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd [ASX:HVN]: Source: Optuma [Click to open new window] And now Myer Holdings Ltd [ASX:MYR]: Source: Optuma [Click to open new window] I think there might be the answer. Both stocks have been on a run in the last couple of months. But see how the market tells you? A potential government splurge is old news to the market. But aside from all that, you have to understand where all the gains of lower taxes and better infrastructure end up. Not sure? Where do the gains of lower taxes end up? Well, let the words from former UK leader, statesman and conservative Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, clue you up. These words might have been uttered over a hundred years ago, but are still relevant today because the economic system hasnt changed Roads are made, streets are made, railway services are improved, electric light turns night into day, electric trams glide swiftly to and fro, water is brought from reservoirs a hundred miles off in the mountains and all the while the landlord sits still. To not one of those improvements does the land monopolist, as a land monopolist, contribute, and yet by every one of them the value of his land is sensibly enhanced. He renders no service to the community, he contributes nothing to the general welfare; he contributes nothing even to the process from which his own enrichment is derived. A portion, in some cases the whole, of every benefit which is laboriously acquired by the community is represented in the land value, and finds its way automatically into the landlords pocket. If there is a rise in wages, rents are able to move forward, because the workers can afford to pay a little more. If the opening of a new railway or a new tramway, or the institution of an improved service of workmens trains, or a lowering of fares, or a new invention, or any other public convenience affords a benefit to the workers in any particular district, it becomes easier for them to live, and therefore the landlord and the ground landlord, one on top of the other, are able to charge them more for the privilege of living there. Its pretty simple really. Tax cuts, more infrastructure, more planned amenities. It all does wonderful things to land price. You must understand this process, because it will make you a better investor. Most economic analysis you read is essentially flawed. Its because they dont understand the land issue. I believe to flourish in this economic system, you must be a rentier, not a renter. You must be on the side of asset owners, in particular land. You will get absolutely slaughtered if you are a simple renting, wage earner. This is because tax cuts or improvements in infrastructure and amenities simply express themselves as increased land values and rents. It is something that the vast majority of economic pundits simply ignore. For example, take the pledge in the budget to build a $2 billion fast rail from Geelong to Melbourne. It will halve travel times between Geelong and Melbourne. Its a huge gain for those who live in the region! But also understand this. It will also do wonderful things for land values and rents in and around the Geelong region. Locations within walking distance to the station or close to a bus stop which takes you to the Geelong station will simply increase in selling price. Or, there will be an increase in weekly rents. Every benefit acquired by society eventually winds up in the land value Its like Sir Winston says, every benefit acquired by society eventually winds up in the land value. But it does show, to get lucky from improvements, you have to own in the first place. If you dont already own, renters will simply have to pay more to live there. Rentier or renter. Choose which side of the fence you want to be on. On one side of the fence, improvements and societys progress make you richer. On the other side of the fence, they make you poorer. And one last thing. The budget delivered last week is just one more reason why I find it hard to go completely bearish on Aussie property. Tax cuts, proposed infrastructure and more amenities will all eventually feed into land price. Its likely to stabilise house prices a bit going forward. And Australia is unlikely to enter a recession whilst all this is going on. Nothing has changed since Winstons day. This is the way of the real estate cycle. And this real estate cycle is on track to be the biggest of all. Regards, Terence Duffy, Chartist, Phil Andersons Time Trader FREE report: Why Nano Metal could soon be Australias most valuable export. Click here to download your free report. Today, Venus Metals Corporation Ltd [ASX:VMC] entered a binding term to assist the settlement of the Youanmi Gold Mine purchase with Rox Resources Ltd [ASX:RXL]. In what is being described as a transformational deal that will unlock potential of the Gold mine. Rox is funding three joint ventures with VMC in forward exploration of the project area. At time of writing, Venus Metals share price is trading 16 cents. Earlier in trading, shares of Venus moved as high as 19 cents, before they quickly settled back down. Related: Three reasons why you should add gold to your portfolio in 2019. Venus Metals joins forces with Rox In order to purchase Youanmi, Venus first had to enter two option agreements. VMC first announced its option-to-purchase transaction for the Youanmi Gold Mine on 28 May 2018, the current option stating that the total consideration payable by Venus is $5.45 million. The Youanmi is located in Western Australia, 480km to the northeast of Perth. Venus Metals is set to issue $3 million of its securities as well as a cash payment of $1,800,000 to the vendor of Oz Youanmi Gold. In the new Youanmi Gold mine Joint Venture (OYG Joint Venture), Rox will earn a 50% interest, by paying $3,000,000 in cash, with a sole fee already paid of $250,000. Rox will exclusively fund $2,000,000 for drilling programmes, as well as other expenses (relevant to on-ground expenditure) within in the OYG joint venture. Rox is able to grow its stake in OYG Joint Venture. From the Tenements of the OYG Joint Venture, Venus will be eligible to a 0.7% Net Smelter Royalty on all gold and other minerals. Managing Director of Venus, Matthew Hogan, commented on the option-to-purchase transaction: [J]oining forces with Rox Resources at Youanmi is a great deal for Venus, in regard to the way in which the company has managed to arrange the settlement of the Youanmi Gold Mine acquisition which is with minimal dilution to VMC shareholders coupled with mitigating risk. [T]he mine site is highly prospective for further additions to the established to the established JORC resource estimates for 1.19 million ounces within the mining leases, and significant drill testing programs will commence as soon as possible on numerous geochemical and EM anomalies identified along strike to the north and south from the recent Penny West discovery site by Spectrum Metals Limited. Venus looks forward to a long and constructive engagement with Rox Resources at Youanmi. Venus Metals share price 2019 outlook The completion date for a transaction is set to as soon as possible, yet the binding term sheet between VMC and Rox is still dependant on conditions. Its normal for a stock to rise or fall after exciting news, such as a transaction-to-purchase settlement which we believe is the main driving force behind Venus Metals varying share price. But investors should wait on further testing as Youanmi mines prioritises targets in order to see sustained increases to Venus Metals share price. More to come. Regards, Ryan Clarkson-Ledward, For Money Morning PS: If youre looking to get into the gold bull happening right now, then check out this free guide: How to invest in gold for 2019. Download now. A Sydney primary school has banned its students from handing out birthday invitations in class. Mosman Public School has asked parents to email invitations, in order to prevent children who are not invited from getting upset. The information was sent to parents via email, along with a suggestion they should discourage their children from discussing planned festivities at school, The Daily Telegraph reports. It's understood the ban was implemented after a pupil became upset they weren't invited to a peer's party. "It's going too far," one angry parent told The Daily Telegraph. "We have to build resilient kids." "You can't give birthday invitations by paper [at school], only by email and you must tell your children not to talk about the party." Other schools in New South Wales have also brought in birthday bans. Candles have been outlawed at Seven Hills West Public School, and only small individual cakes are allowed on the premises. "We welcome small individual cakes or the like if your child wishes to share his/her birthday with the class," a newsletter from the school reads. "Candles ARE NOT permitted and teachers are UNABLE to cut cakes." Birthday cakes have also been banned at Wamberal Public School, and St Thomas More Catholic Primary School, reports the Daily Mail. Newshub. Morningstar.com readers love dividend-paying stocks, if your recent emails in response to my article about the role of dividend payers in a portfolio are any guide. The thrust of that article was about using dividend-paying stocks alongside, rather than in place of, bonds--especially if you're retired or getting close to it--but I'd agree that income-producing stocks have plenty to recommend them. Dividend producers can deliver yields that are on par with or even better than bonds, along with the potential for capital appreciation. The ability to pay a dividend is also an indication of a company's financial strength and quality: Dividend payers have higher financial health grades, per Morningstar, than non-dividend-payers, and they're also more likely to have moats. Finally, dividend-paying stocks are arguably cheaper than the broad equity universe right now. That's because slower-growing companies in old-line industries are more likely to pay sizable dividends than fast-growing ones, and the former have dramatically underperformed the latter over the past five years. People see my passion to help them, and when they look for me they can always find me, and that gives my clients confidence to entrust me with their mortgage. I have a good system set up for my team and theres always someone to attend to clients. My business partner and I have four assistants who spend their time attending to whichever client theyve been assigned to, and they follow up on their files all the way until funding. Hui noted that another facet of Guaranti Mortgages that clients have responded positively to is its educational seminars and blog posts. Not surprisingly, consumers dont grasp the entirety of policy announcements made by the government, but brokers do, and its their job to guide clients through these things, says Hui. If my clients have any questions, Im able to provide them with some information, he said. They often hear things in passing but dont know the finer details. Before launching Guaranti Mortgages last year, Hui worked for Clear Trust, but the only thing clear to him was that he needed to explore his entrepreneurial inclinations. Having just finished a second straight year of funding over $200m in mortgages, it looks like Hui made the right decision. In fact, its during down markets that the best and brightest truly shine, and Hui has a theory as to why: Oil fell by the most in more than two weeks as Russian President Vladimir Putin clouded the outlook for production cuts that have helped power this year's rally. Brent crude futures slipped 0.7 percent on Tuesday, after gaining the previous three days amid rising tension in Libya. Putin, at a St. Petersburg forum, said Russia is comfortable with current prices and not yet ready to say whether it wants to extend output curbs it orchestrated with OPEC. Meanwhile, the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute was said to report U.S. crude stockpiles rose by 4.09 million barrels last week. The International Monetary Fund, meanwhile, cut its forecast for global growth to the lowest since the financial crisis, reviving worries about oil demand. West Texas Intermediate crude also fell, with technical-trading indicators suggesting its 41 percent climb this year has pushed it into overbought territory. EARLIER: Oil hits a five-month high as Libya clashes add to supply concerns Investors have "reasonable excuses" to break their stride and take profits, said Kyle Cooper, a consultant at Ion Energy Group in Houston. "The market's taking a little bit of a pause after what's still been a very, very substantial rally." Brent, the global benchmark, has gained more than 30 percent this year as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries restricted production with Russia and other partners. Tensions in Libya, Iran and Venezuela have added momentum, along with enough optimistic data about the economy to mute fears about a slowdown. Brent for June settlement fell 49 cents to $70.61 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange at the close of trading. The global benchmark crude was at a premium of $6.65 to WTI for the same month. AT THE PUMP: Houston gas prices rising, but not as bad as California WTI for May delivery traded at $64.14 a barrel at 4:40 p.m. after settling at $63.98 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a day after posting its highest close since Oct. 31. The grade's 14-day relative strength index rose as high as 77 on Tuesday, above the 70 level that signals it's overbought. Crude has rallied in recent days on potential disruption in Libya, although the latest fighting has been far from key oil installations. Previous bouts of violence have had a serious impact on the country's ability to ship crude. The API was also said to report U.S. gasoline inventories fell 7.08 million barrels, distillate supplies slipped 2.4 million barrels and Cushing, Oklahoma, stockpiles fell 1.28 million barrels. The gasoline draw would be the largest since September 2017 if Energy Information Administration data confirms it on Wednesday. --With assistance from James Thornhill, Heesu Lee and Grant Smith. 2019 Bloomberg L.P. Experts who oppose the Affordable Care Act spoke at a conference Tuesday to address its future now that a Texas federal judge has ruled that Obamacare is unconstitutional. Robert Henneke, chief counsel for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, argued against Obamacare at a U.S. District Court in Fort Worth last year and won. At a West Texas Association of Health Underwriters Symposium in Midland, Henneke said he expects the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court sometime next year and he expects to win. But first, hell fight an appeal by the federal government in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. We kind of blew up the Death Star in December with the court ruling, he said at the conference, comparing the case to a pinnacle moment in the Star Wars franchise. After Luke Skywalker blew up the Death Star, he still had to deal with the evil Empire the next day. The foundation of Hennekes argument for the unconstitutionality of the ACA centered on a 2012 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. The courts ruling upheld the individual mandate in Obamacare -- which stated that individuals had to participate in a health care plan or face a fine -- on the basis that the mandate could be considered a tax. That fine was zeroed out by Congress in 2017, making the Supreme Courts previous ruling invalid, according to Henneke. You have to separate the law from the policy argument, Henneke said. He said that the precedent set by SCOTUS makes Obamacare unconstitutional without the tax from the individual mandate. Henneke also addressed the ACAs shortcomings. The individual mandate did not function as it was intended. They said, We have to get young healthy people to get coverage as a way to fund the older market, Henneke said. The idea was we have to force people to participate in order to make it economically viable for people with very expensive coverage. Instead, the younger population opted to pay the fee from the mandate, because it was cheaper than a monthly health care premium, he said. Another unpopular aspect of Obamacare was its mandate that states participate or lose Medicaid funding, which infringed on the sovereignty of the states by compelling them to act when they chose not to, Henneke said. The Supreme Court struck down that mandate in 2012. Henneke said in an interview hes confident he will win at the Fifth Circuit and at the U.S. Supreme Court. States should start preparing now for Obamacare to be overturned, he said. And for those individuals afraid they will lose their coverage if that happens, First of all, Id point out that their care has decreased, he said. All of those promises, that you could keep your plan and keep your doctor, all of those have been proven false, Henneke said. Obamacare is broken. He said on an individual level, those who will be affected need to contact their state representatives and demand they get ready for what happens next that they provide a safety net. After he was asked during the symposium about the impact if the ACA is overturned, Henneke said the court likely would provide time for the country to adapt. I would find it unlikely the court would rule like a light switch, he said. What I would hope is that when we get out of the mandates that regulate specific types of coverage when we have more competition that will allow people to acquire coverage without the need for subsidies I believe that issue resolves itself and I want the states to step up now to offer choice and better options for consumers. He added, I hope we can move back into a system that is not controlled by the federal government. Was our system perfect prior to 2009? No. Are we worse off now? I believe that we are. Sally Pipes, president and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute, also spoke at the conference Tuesday. Pipes has written hundreds of op-eds and several books about the Affordable Care Act, her latest being The False Promise of Single-Payer Healthcare. The bill [ACA] turned 9 years old this yearI cant believe Im still up here talking about it and fighting against it, she said at the conference. She also spoke about single-payer health care bills that have been proposed by progressive Democrats. A lot of people dont know what single-payer means. Single-payer means theres a single payer, its the government, Pipes said. People never talk about how much this system is going to cost and whos going to pay for it. She said estimates for the projected cost are upward of $30 trillion. If you think health care is expensive now, just wait until its free, she said, quoting political satirist P.J. ORourke. Pipes moved to the U.S. from Canada and said her move was fueled in part by frustration with Canadas health care system. She mentioned several faults of Canadas system, including the average 19 weeks it takes to see a specialist and a law that patients can only discuss one issue with their doctors per appointment, requiring patients to make multiple appointments for multiple ailments. Pipes also said about 200,000 Canadians who grow tired of waiting for care come to the U.S. every year to receive medical treatment. Canadians have an escape valve for their treatments, she said, referring to Canadians seeking treatment in the U.S. Where will we go if we switch to single-payer? Pipes said in 2005, her mother, who was still in Canada, called her and said she believed she had colon cancer. After seeing her primary care doctor, her mothers doctor told her she couldnt get a colonoscopy because she was a senior and there were too many people waiting on one, Pipes said. Her mother hemorrhaged and died of colon cancer shortly after, she said. In an interview, Pipes offered solutions for the U.S.s health care system. Under Obamacare, there are 10 essential health benefits that add quite a bit of money to the cost of a premium, whether its breastfeeding training or maternity training, all of these things add significantly to the cost, Pipes said. Insurers can offer these plans, but it shouldnt be mandated that insurers have to offer these things. If we got rid of all these mandates, the price would come down. She also mentioned expanding Health Savings Accounts, changing the tax code so that individuals purchasing from the marketplace wont have to pay taxes on their health care and introducing a way to purchase plans across state lines, which she said would create more competition. The future of Obamacare likely will be determined by the end of this year or the beginning of the next, Henneke said. He said hell represent the Texas Public Policy Foundation at the Fifth Circuit this summer and expects the case to move to the U.S. Supreme Court by winter. The Illinois Department of Public Health is working with local healthcare facilities to implement infection control practices after a drug-resistant fungal infection has been reported in Illinois. The fungus, Candida auris, can cause serious illness and often is resistant to standard medications. Patients who get the fungus often are sick from other medical conditions, according to IDPH. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. The Global Aramid Fiber Prepreg Market report is encompassed of unique market dynamics that support the industry growth along with the various market issues such as trends, growth path, revenue, prediction, and market size analysis which directly impact the market dynamic. The information is obtained and analysed from the past and current year to forecast the market covering in the next coming years. The Aramid Fiber Prepreg industry experts were interviewed across the globe to gather the data which is then validated based on the secondary data. In-depth study of market segmentation and active major players involved in the Market has been outlined in the report. The report also discloses the demand consumption along with the current and future market environment. Besides, it also throws light on the various regional market scenario which gives important information to gain a competitive edge. Moreover, the report also throws light on a strategy adopted by the top players followed by the wide range of service with the recent statistical data that help to understand the Market scenario. Also, this report gives an idea about the potential consumer in the market across the various industry which will definitely help to cater the consumer needs and expectations. Download Free Sample Report of Aramid Fiber Prepreg Market Report @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/download-sample-43447 The following manufacturers are covered: Solvay Group (Cytec Industries, Inc.) Hexcel Corporation Royal Tencate N.V. Teijin Limited Toray Industries, Inc. Gurit Holding Ag SGL Group Axiom Materials Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Ltd. Park Electrochemical Corp. Segment by Regions North America Europe China Japan Segment by Type Thermoset Prepreg Thermoplastic Prepreg Segment by Application Aerospace & defense Wind energy Sporting goods Automotive Electronics Others Access Report and Full Table of Contents of Aramid Fiber Prepreg Market @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ip/43447-aramid-fiber-prepreg-industry-market-report Table of Contents-Snapshot - Executive Summary Chapter 1 Industry Overview Chapter 2 Industry Competition by Manufacturers Chapter 3 Industry Production Market Share by Regions Chapter 4 Industry Consumption by Regions Chapter 5 Industry Production, Revenue, Price Trend by Type Chapter 6 Industry Analysis by Applications Chapter 7 Company Profiles and Key Figures in Industry Business Chapter 8 Industry Manufacturing Cost Analysis Chapter 9 Marketing Channel, Distributors and Customers Chapter 10 Market Dynamics Chapter 11 Industry Forecast Chapter 12 Research Findings and Conclusion Chapter 13 Methodology and Data Source About Us: DecisionDatabases.com is a Global business research reports provider, enriching decision makers and strategists with qualitative statistics. DecisionDatabases.com is proficient in providing syndicated research Report, customized research reports, company profiles and industry databases across multiple domains. Our expert research analysts have been trained to map clients research requirements to the correct research resource leading to a distinctive edge over its competitors. We provide intellectual, precise and meaningful data at a lightning speed. For More Details: DecisionDatabases.com E-Mail: sales@decisiondatabases.com Phone: +91-90-28-057900 Web: https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. The Global Pyrithione Zinc Market report is encompassed of unique market dynamics that support the industry growth along with the various market issues such as trends, growth path, revenue, prediction, and market size analysis which directly impact the market dynamic. The information is obtained and analysed from the past and current year to forecast the market covering in the next coming years. The Pyrithione Zinc industry experts were interviewed across the globe to gather the data which is then validated based on the secondary data. In-depth study of market segmentation and active major players involved in the Market has been outlined in the report. The report also discloses the demand consumption along with the current and future market environment. Besides, it also throws light on the various regional market scenario which gives important information to gain a competitive edge. Moreover, the report also throws light on a strategy adopted by the top players followed by the wide range of service with the recent statistical data that help to understand the Market scenario. Also, this report gives an idea about the potential consumer in the market across the various industry which will definitely help to cater the consumer needs and expectations. Download Free Sample Report of Pyrithione Zinc Market Report @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/download-sample-1577 The following manufacturers are covered: Lonza Kumar Organic Products Limited Vivimed(Clariant) Kolon Life Science SANITIZED AG Salicylates and Chemicals Chugoku Kogyo Shivam Industries Zhejiang Regen Chemical Binhai Minghong Fine Chemical Wuxi Zhufeng Fine Chemical Taicang liyuan chemical Guangzhou Tinci Materials Technology Shandong Ailitong New Materials Zhejiang Hongbo Chemical Segment by Regions North America Europe China Japan Segment by Type Industrial Powder Cosmetic Powder Cosmetic Emulsion Segment by Application Shampoo Coating & painting Cosmetic Others Access Report and Full Table of Contents of Pyrithione Zinc Market @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ip/1577-zinc-pyrithione-industry-market-report Table of Contents-Snapshot - Executive Summary Chapter 1 Industry Overview Chapter 2 Industry Competition by Manufacturers Chapter 3 Industry Production Market Share by Regions Chapter 4 Industry Consumption by Regions Chapter 5 Industry Production, Revenue, Price Trend by Type Chapter 6 Industry Analysis by Applications Chapter 7 Company Profiles and Key Figures in Industry Business Chapter 8 Industry Manufacturing Cost Analysis Chapter 9 Marketing Channel, Distributors and Customers Chapter 10 Market Dynamics Chapter 11 Industry Forecast Chapter 12 Research Findings and Conclusion Chapter 13 Methodology and Data Source About Us: DecisionDatabases.com is a Global business research reports provider, enriching decision makers and strategists with qualitative statistics. DecisionDatabases.com is proficient in providing syndicated research Report, customized research reports, company profiles and industry databases across multiple domains. Our expert research analysts have been trained to map clients research requirements to the correct research resource leading to a distinctive edge over its competitors. We provide intellectual, precise and meaningful data at a lightning speed. For More Details: DecisionDatabases.com E-Mail: sales@decisiondatabases.com Phone: +91-90-28-057900 Web: https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ By CNN has a new series called Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and its first episode examines the lifestyles of the impressive centenarians of Okinawa, Japan. Nearly two-thirds of the residents of Okinawa are still functioning independently at age 97. That meant they were in their own homes, cooking their own meals and living their lives fully at nearly 100 years old! Here are three factors noted in the show: Ikigai. This means having a sense of purpose in life. Gupta says that one way to figure this out is to first imagine that you no longer needed to do anything for money. In that case, what would you regret not doing with your life? What do you love, and what does the world need? Here is a previous post on Ikigai Finding Your Reason For Being. I have noticed that many people who seek out financial independence feel something wrong about their current trade-your-life-for-money environment. They are not living a life aligned with their ikigai. Moai. This means having a social group within the community that has common interests and can provide both financial and emotional support. Family is important, but this appears to be an additional support system. This social component of longevity is critical and should not be overlooked. Hara hachi bu. This means that you should stop eating when you are 80% full (and thus still a little bit hungry). People in Okinawa eat fewer calories in general, and the calories that they do eat tend to come from sweet potatoes, soybeans (legumes), a variety of vegetables, and only a little meat. Okinawans centarians have also been examined in the book Blue Zones: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Whove Lived the Longest (which I have not yet read). Here is another Venn diagram from the Wikipedia entry that shows the common characteristics between Okinawa and two other Blue Zones (Loma Linda, USA and Sardinia, Italy). Bottom line. Its not just living for a long time, but its living an active, engaged, happy life for a long time. You wont get this by taking the right pills from orange bottles. You need to spend your time doing something that you feel matters to the world. You need love and support from other humans. You need to eat natural foods, but not too much. St Matthew Lutheran Church of Sonora is one of the many local churches that will be celebrating Easter Sunday on April 21st. Pastor Tom Sharpe of St Matthew Lutheran Church, was Wednesdays KVML Newsmaker of the Day. Sharpe has been the Pastor of the St Matthew Lutheran since July of 2001. Near the beginning of his tenure, the church changed locations from Hope Lane in a residential area near downtown Sonora to Joshua Way, which is located west of Tuolumne Road near the Junction Shopping Center. I still think of it as a brand new building, but I just looked at the paint on my walls this morning and thought that we will need to paint soon. Most of the local Christian Churches throughout the Mother Lode will hold special services and/or events both on and leading up to Easter Sunday, April 21st. Asked if Easter is a special time for the Church, Sharpe responded, Yes, Easter is the center of it all. The bottom line of Christianity is what God has done for us. Easter hits on that key message completed. Jesus didnt come to give us more rules. We already had the rules. But here, it is about what Christ has done for us on Good Friday, with bringing forgiveness on the cross and what Christ has done about rising from the dead, saying that there is hope beyond the life that we see today.. that this life is not the end of it all but we would rise again also as Christ has risen. Sharpe invites the community to come celebrate Easter on April 21st with a traditional service at 8 AM and a more contemporary service at 10:30 AM. In between, there will be an Easter Brunch served from 9:15 to 10:15 AM. This will include a made-to-order omelette bar with scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausage, fruit bowls, coffee, juice and tea. There will also be an Easter Egg hunt for the children. St Matthew Lutheran Church of Sonora sponsors The Lutheran Hour radio program, heard every Sunday morning beginning at 7:30 AM on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML. Additionally, 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. The Plainview Emergency Operation Center will be conducting a test of the Plainview Alert System on Wednesday, April 10th. The purpose of this test is to ensure the system is working before severe weather season begins. The test will reach those who have signed up for the system as well as our 9-1-1 telephone system. **Editor's Note: The Herald generally doesn't report suicides or suicide attempts. The individual in this case was in a public location and the details included in the following report were made public by the school district Wednesday morning, which is why an exception was made. Plainview police were dispatched to Edgemere Elementary Wednesday morning in reference to an attempted suicide. According to a spokesperson for Plainview ISD, a woman was found attempting to hang herself. The attempt was made just as school was starting at the campus, which is located at 2600 W. 20th St. Authorities were called and counselors were made available at the school as a precaution. The individual is not affiliated with the school and no students or staff were ever endangered. Students are STAAR testing this week, the Plainview ISD spokesperson said. During these testing days, some students are transported by bus to different places - like the Plainview ISD Board Room for a movie day - to keep the school quiet so testers can focus. As students were loading on the buses, some headed toward the playground and notified adults, the Plainview ISD spokesperson told the Herald. Teachers and counselors immediately swept in and assisted the victim while also diverting students from the area. Counselors remained on-hand throughout the day to help the students as necessary. So some students did see the individual, though it's unclear how many. The situation was resolved and the school activities and testing proceeded as regularly scheduled. According to the police department, the individual survived the attempt and is expected to make a full recovery. The school district issued another statement via Facebook about three hours after the incident mentioning the addition of a campus police department next year. The addition will help increase the capacity to monitor all of its campuses, according to the statement. "We do monitor our campuses at all times when students are outside of the buildings," the statement reads. "We are a public school district, and none of our campuses are built to restrict access to the public to use school grounds. "This is a very unfortunate and out-of-the-norm situation." Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Market Scenario: The Global Graphene Market is estimated to garner USD 811.40 million during the forecast period (2016-2023). Market Research Future (MRFR) postulates that the global market for Graphene is predicted to demonstrate 43.0 % CAGR owing to the burgeoning demand in several end-user industries. Graphene is referred to as an allotrope of carbon which includes diamond and graphite and forms a large area of study in the fields of high technology and nanomaterial. It is a single layer of carbon atoms possessing two-dimensional hexagonal honeycomb lattice which is bonded together with the help of strong covalent bonds at the atomic level. The incorporation of Graphene into end-user industries empowers new applications and aids in the development of technology. Competitive Dashboard: The prominent players operating the Global Graphene Market are CVD Equipment Corporation (US), Graphenea Inc. (US), Grafoid Inc (North America), BGT Materials Limited Ltd (UK), Graphene Laboratories Inc. (US), XG Sciences Inc. (US), Vorbeck Materials (US), Angstron Materials Inc. (US), Haydale Limited (UK), Graphene NanoChem (UK), and others. Get Free Sample Copy @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2987 Market Potential and Pitfalls: Graphene finds its application in several end-user industries such as aerospace, automotive, energy, pharmaceutical. Electronics, coatings, and others. With augmenting coatings, pharmaceuticals, energy, and electronics on account of the developing commercial market especially in the Asia Pacific and in the North American region, the Global Graphene Market is estimated to flourish throughout the estimated period. Factors such as rising population coupled with the improving economic conditions which have substantiated urbanization and industrialization besides consumer purchasing power are considered to benefit the market across the globe. With remarkable heat resistance and electrical conductivity properties, graphene is extensively used in applications such as composites, RFID, research & development, sensors, functional ink, energy storage, and polymer additives. This is further contributing to the growth of the Graphene Industry during the assessment period. The augmenting capital investment in order to strengthen the R&D activities along with the increasing focus to expand the production capacity is predicted to influence the graphene industry growth to a large extent. Graphene is anticipated to experience increased penetration in the coming years in energy storage, semiconductors, sensors, and generation devices. Also, graphene demand is likely to augment and gain momentum due to the rising need for protective coatings on flexible electronic devices and smartphones. This has further resulted in increased production of graphene-based products across the globe. On the flips side, the high price of the equipment coupled with the technical limitations for commercial production is considered some of the major concerns considered to slow down the market growth in the coming years. Moreover, owing to its high inflammable attributes, the environmental and health risk becomes high during the production of 2D material graphene, which further restricts the growth of the Graphene Industry Worldwide. Global Graphene Market: Segmental Analysis: The Global Graphene Market has been segmented on the basis of Type and End-Users. By Mode of Type, the Global Graphene Market has been segmented into graphene nanoplatelets (GNP), graphene oxide (GO), mono-layer & bi-layer graphene, few-layer graphene (FLG), and others. Among these, the graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) segment accounts for a significant market share during the estimated period. The growth is attributed to its wide application areas and low price. Have Any Query? Ask Our Expert @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/2987 By mode of End-Users, the Global Graphene Market has been segmented into aerospace, automotive, energy, pharmaceutical, electronics, coatings, chemical, and others. Among these, the electronics segment is considered to be the major segment owing to the increased demand from communication, optoelectronics, and defense electronics systems. The segment is likely to propel especially in emerging nations like China, India, Taiwan, and Malaysia due to the increasing manufacturing activities in these economies. Regional Insights: Geographically, the Global Graphene Market has been segmented into Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa. Among all the regions, the North American region is likely to lead the global market for graphene occupying the largest market share. Factors such as rapid industrialization, high demand for graphene from several end-user industries such as aerospace and electronics in economies such as Canada, the U.S., and Mexico, and presence of several producers are some of the major factors fostering the market growth in this region. The Asia Pacific region is predicted to occupy the second-largest market for Graphene due to substantial market share. With growing exports and high availability of cost comprehensive labor force, the market in this region is predicted to experience a push in the coming years. Moreover, the burgeoning demand for graphene backed by improved living standards and increasing investments in the industrial sector especially in economies like Japan, India, and China, the market size for graphene is expected to widen. Chinese graphene producer, Shandong Leadernano Tech was recently awarded the worlds first graphene material product certificate at an event which was held in Germany. The European region is set to emerge as one of the promising markets owing to the increasing applications in end-user industries such as aerospace, automotive, energy, and pharmaceutical. Moreover, economies such as UK, Germany, and Russia are considered major growth contributors propelling the market growth in this region. Industry Updates: GrapheneCA has recently announced its second graphene production line in Brooklyn which is now fully operational. The production line is considered as a major milestone for the company and marks a tenfold leap in the production power. Get Complete Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/graphene-market-2987 About Market Research Future: At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions. Contact: Market Research Future +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Ingram Park Mall is inviting San Antonio shoppers to a 40th birthday celebration. The mall, which opened in 1979, is hosting a Fiesta-themed event on April 13 at 11 a.m. The party will feature a Fiesta fashion show, Selena look-a-like contest and face painting, according to an announcement on the mall's Facebook page. RELATED: Haunted tour reveals what lies beneath Wonderland of the Americas mall Visitors will also witness the unveiling of Ingram Park Mall's first Fiesta medal. The 40-year-old mall off Northwest Loop 410 underwent a renovation estimated to be worth $9 million in 2016, according to a previous San Antonio Express-News report. Shoppers can find the anniversary fiesta in the Dillard's Court on the lower level, according to the post. 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 According to staff, Julians Italian Pizzeria and Kitchen is shooting for a mid-May opening of its third location, inside the newly constructed Bulverde Marketplace shopping center near the intersection of Bulverde Road and Loop 1604. Julians is a popular San Antonio pizzeria and Italian restaurant that first opened in 2006. The Harris County Animal Shelter has released its live release numbers for 2019, and the results for March were a jaw-dropping 95.7 percent. This technically puts the shelter in a "no-kill" status, by shelter standards. A "no-kill" shelter is an animal shelter that does not kill healthy or treatable animals, even when the shelter is full and reserving euthanasia for terminally ill animals, or those deemed aggressive, or a danger to the public. Shelters all across Houston and Harris County use methods to promote shelter animals and actively work to lower the number of homeless animals. San Antonio's mural scene got a royal blessing from the King of Country himself, George Strait. Local artist Matt Tumlinson's contribution to the new San Antonio Street Art Initiative is a huge painting of the Poteet native. In the North St. Mary's Street mural, Strait is draped in full royal regalia, including a crown atop his black cowboy hat and a scepter. The Texas legend gave the mural his approval on Tuesday across his official social media platforms. "Now this is some Texas-sized street art," Strait's caption of the photo on Instagram and Twitter said. RELATED: Late Nipsey Hussle added to lineup of rapper murals outside San Pedro bar He added the location of the mural, credited Tumlinson and asked fans for their thoughts of it. Some Instagram followers asked for the art to be printed on a T-shirt, others are planning their family photos in front of Tumlinson's work. The artist thanked Strait for the shoutout via his Instagram Story Tuesday. "Had an awesome time painting on the home turf," Tumlinson said in his own post of the mural on March 29, shortly after completing it. "I'm so happy to be a part of @sanantoniostreetart!" 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 Laredo citizen journalist Priscilla "La Gordiloca" Villarreal just dropped a bomb to her Facebook followers. On Monday, Villarreal announced that she has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the City of Laredo, Webb County and several Laredo officials. "The lawsuit alleges that the City, County and Laredo officials violated several of my constitutional rights, including my right to record and report on important local matters without being wrongfully arrested and retaliated against by government officials," a statement by Villarreal reads in a screenshot posted on her Facebook page. The suit comes about a year after felony charges against the media personality were dropped. READ ALSO: 'La Gordiloca' receives national attention as the 'swearing muckraker' on the border In December 2017, Villarreal was charged with two counts of misuse of information. Police accused Villarreal of soliciting or receiving information from a Laredo cop in order to obtain a benefit. But in March 2018, the charges against her were dismissed after a judge found she was denied due process because the Texas statute used to charge her with misuse of official information, a felony, is too vague. District Court Judge Monica Zapata Notzon deemed the statute unconstitutional. The lawsuit filed by Villarreal's Austin attorney JT Morris singles out Webb County District Attorney Isidro R. Alaniz, Laredo Police Department Chief Claudio Trevino Jr. and the following others: The City of Laredo Webb County Marisela Jacaman Juan L. Ruiz Deyanira Villarreal Enedina Martinez Alfredo Guerrero Laura Montemayor Villarreal's complaint reads: "Defendants have engaged in numerous acts to harass and intimidate Villarreal and interfere with her citizen journalism efforts." The lawsuit can be found here. RELATED: 'La Gordiloca' responds to 'adult Facebook bullies' following LMT story In her statement posted to Facebook, Villarreal said she is proud of her efforts to provide Laredoans with information and news about important issues. "I am determined to protect my constitutional rights so I may continue those efforts, and protect the rights of all others in and around Laredo who wish to speak and publish freely," she said. Request for comment to Villarreal's lawyer was not immediately returned. The City of Laredo and Webb County declined to comment. JeriLynn Thorpe is a digital reporter for the Laredo Morning Times. Read more of her stories on LMTonline.com | jerilynn.thorpe@lmtonline.com American flags lined the highway as Crosby residents waited Wednesday afternoon to see President Donald Trump's motorcade pull through. Residents lounged in chairs under the sun outside the Newport subdivision. They wore red, white and blue and held signs emblazoned with Trump's name. Deborah Adair, 46, sat in a chair among dozens of others. She had never voted until Trump decided to run, and she believes he's brought back hope to the country. ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Trump signs executive orders to boost energy industry "He's proven himself and taken care of the American people," said Adair. Trump's trip comes just a week after the KMCO plant fire in Crosby. His visit so soon afterward, Adair said, shows that he's paying attention to the city. "It means that he's watching," said Adair. "Even the smallest town like Crosby matters." Kelly Mcmanus said he brought his family to witness the event because it was a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity. A blue Make America Great Again flag attached to his pickup truck flapped in the wind. "He's a president of action, I believe," said Mcmanus. "He does what he said he was gonna do when running for president." SKIPPED THE LEGE: Dan Patrick helps as Trump seeks tougher direction on border security McManus, 44, who said he works in the chemical industy in LaPorte, said he never thought the president would make a trip to the small town. "It's unbelievable," said McManus. "I never thought in a million years he would come to Crosby." Alongside the highway, Jason Lecompte waved a sign supporting Trump as he and his family waited for the president's motorcade to drive past. The 38-year-old Crosby native said he's seen positive changes from the president's administration, including helping the economy turn around. Lecompte, who works in the oil and gas industry, said he used to work 80 hours a week, working a second job waiting tables. "Regardless of the other politics of it, the economy has been so strong in the last couple years," said Lecompte. "I'm able to have 40 extra hours with my family and only have to work one job." He notes that towns like Crosby, where many people work at chemical plants or at oil and gas facilities, have felt positive changes from the administration. "Just having the presence of any president to come through here, it's an honor," said Lecompte. "I think it's something that the kids may never get to experience again." Closer to the venue where Trump was set to speak, a small group of protesters waved signs and chanted, "Trump is never welcome here." David Michael Smith drove from Galveston to protest Trump's visit. A member of the Houston Socialist Movement, the 64-year-old makes it a point to protest any time Trump visits Houston area. "We oppose the racism, anti-immigrant hatred that he spreads, the bias he has towards Muslims," said Smith. "Wherever he goes, folks just like us, we're going to come out and oppose him." A large crowd across the street waved signs and cheered as the president's motorcade turned in front of them. Inside one of the cars, President Trump smiled and waved to the crowd. NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. A Mexican police officer was indicted in a Laredo federal court on Tuesday for allegedly trying to smuggle a load of methamphetamine through a port of entry, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Gabriel Garrido Isaias, a 41-year-old Mexican citizen, was indicted on charges of conspiracy to import methamphetamine and importation of methamphetamine. Alvin ISD's board of trustees have named the district's current associate superintendent of human resources as its lone finalist for the district's top job. Trustees announced Carol Nelson as their top pick for superintendent at a meeting Monday evening. Nelson has worked in the district for 23 years. "I am humbled that the Alvin ISD board of trustees has entrusted me to serve in this capacity," Nelson said. "I look forward to working with our community, our staff, and with the Alvin ISD board of trustees as we look toward the future." Under state law, the board must wait 21 days before it can vote to hire Nelson. That vote is scheduled for April 30. READ ALSO: State conservator orders halt to Houston ISD to superintendent search If officially hired, Nelson will oversee the district during a time of fast-paced growth. Of more than 30 districts in the greater Houston area, Alvin ISD had the fourth largest growth rate between 2016-2017 and 2017-2018. More than 1,260 new students came to the district between those two years alone, causing the district to grow by 5.36 percent. To keep up, district officials are planning to open the district's fourth high school within the next four years. They bought a plot of land for the new campus off Texas State Highway 288 in the Iowa Colony community. Trustees are expected to award a construction management contract for the project in May, with construction likely to begin this summer. Board President Nicole Tonini said Nelson has shown dedication and talent in her two decades with the district, rising up the ranks from teacher to her current role in the central administration office. CHARTER SCHOOLS: Charter school superintendent, IT employee charged with embezzlement "During the interview process, it was obvious that Mrs. Nelson was uniquely qualified to lead this district in to the future," Tonini said. "She truly believes that Alvin ISD is a vision-driven organization that will continue to focus on serving each student as an individual." Nelson holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Houston - Clear Lake. She has experience as a classroom teacher, campus librarian, assistant principal, principal and associate superintendent. She will replace Buck Gilcrease, who announced his retirement last November. Gilcrease has led the district since 2014. shelby.webb@chron.com twitter.com/shelbywebb When the president comes to town and you're up for re-election in 2020, you need to make an impression. Pete Olson certainly did that. At least, in a visual way. Olson, who represents the 22nd District of Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives, was on-hand to greet President Donald Trump when he arrived at Ellington Field on Wednesday. And if you look closely at his jacket you'll see that a pin on Olson's jacket reads ""i love fossil fuels" The pin comes complete with a heart...a black heart. ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Why Donald Trump keeps coming back to visit cities and towns across Texas The show of support does make sense. When president Trump visited International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) International Training Center in Crosby, he gave a speech about the oil and gas industry and signed two executive orders that will cut red tape and boost the oil & gas industry. Olson, meanwhile, has served in his position since Jan. 2009. He also grew up in Seabrook, Texas and graduated from Clear Lake High School in 1981. Olson received a B.A. from Rice University in 1985 and earned his law degree from the University of Texas. The congressman's online congressional biography says that he and his wife, Nancy, live in Sugar Land with their two children. The website also says they are active members of the United Methodist Church. 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. Arson investigators are looking into a massive blaze at a North Side assisted living facility that displaced more than 20 residents. Firefighters responded to the two-alarm blaze at 12:40 a.m. in the 10200 block of Desert Sands Street. One of the women killed in a shooting outside of a South Side apartment complex Tuesday was pregnant and doctors were able to save her child, according to San Antonio police. The child is now in "guarded condition" and is being treated at San Antonio Military Medical Center, police said. READ ALSO: 2nd arrest made in slaying of woman at West Side home According to a preliminary police report, a juvenile shot the soon-to-be mother and another woman at about 6:45 p.m. at an apartment complex in the 100 block of Emerald Ash. He fled on foot and has not been apprehended. Investigators on Tuesday said other suspects may be involved in the shooting. One of the women was pronounced dead at the scene, while the pregnant woman was rushed to San Antonio Military Medical Center. She died at the hospital. Doctors saved her child, police said. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office said the victims were aged 18 and 37, but they have not been identified and it's unclear which victim was pregnant. A witness at the scene who declined to be identified said she saw multiple men shoot at the women, who were in a parked car, and then flee the scene. 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 The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office has identified the teenager who was killed Tuesday after a shootout in an East Side San Antonio neighborhood. Alonzo Cantu Jr., 19, was one of two teens police found with multiple gunshot wounds Tuesday afternoon in the 1100 block of Virginia Boulevard in the Knob Hill Historic District. President Donald Trump arrived in San Antonio on Wednesday where he spoke about border policy and security at a closed-door fundraiser at The Argyle, an exclusive dinner club in Alamo Heights. Organizers expect to bring in about $6 million, said Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel. Re: When a nation looks within, Opinion, Sunday: Succinct, insightful, compassionate and a warning Jeremy Beers dissection of the New Zealand mass murder is a thoughtful, excellently written opinion that artfully explores the culture of New Zealand, the effect of a madmans stupidity on a society, and how a thoughtful president and legislature can come together in an emergency and restore confidence and safety to their population. His ability to point out discrepancies between a culture that has based its focus on the security and welfare of all its citizens and how we, in the so-called greatest nation in the world, address gun legislation, and why we dont, is a condemnation of a government that has lost its way to the influence of big business and pact money. I am sadly ashamed. Ross Smith Medias war of words In 1938, Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater did a radio program called The War of the Worlds from a sci-fi classic. Listeners to CBS Radio were alarmed by continued news flashes with depictions of alien creatures who reportedly had landed in New Jersey. It panicked people into thinking it was a real invasion until it was revealed it was only a play. Welles had tapped into how the power of words could be used to control the public, although he did it by accident, not knowing what the unintended consequences of his programming would do to the populace. The media today know full well the power of words. When the Mueller report was finally released, they needed to immediately find some other avenues to control the people who watch their programming. Words can be used for good, or they can be used for evil. Too bad the media didnt learn a thing from 1938 when words panicked people into thinking our country had been attacked by creatures from outer space. Instead, the attack is now coming from within as the media face no consequences for using fake narratives to create fear among the people. Eleanor Sprowl Its history; move on My God, what do all these Democrats want for free now? My grandfather, his grandfather and his father never owned slaves. More than likely, the people reading this never owned slaves either. Should we go back to the Patriots wanting money from England? Come on, people, move forward. It is history. Michael B. White Open on Sundays As a person who uses the San Antonio airport frequently, the airport needs a restaurant that is open seven days a week. I applaud City Council for not choosing Chick-Fil-A for the airport. I love Chick-Fil-A and appreciate its belief in closing on Sunday. However, since the airport has limited space, it is imperative that the restaurants be open seven days a week. Holly Rice, New Braunfels Ban travelers, too? Re: Tolerance paradox exposes a shallow city, Another View, April 1: Bravo, Christopher Cunningham! Like Chick-fil-A, I also contribute to Salvation Army. As a resident of Bexar County for 25 years and a frequent user of San Antonio International Airport, is it possible that I may not be able to travel into and out of said airport in the future? Also pertinent to the City Councils decision is the probability that Chick-Fil-A will bring in more revenue in six days than the other venues in seven (or eight or nine). Ann Nicholas, Fair Oaks Ranch A VILLAGE love story has caused a stir in Mashonaland Centrals Mupfure Village after a local teacher married a herd boy in the area. The teacher, Kinedah Zhangazha, says finances are a secondary issue in life and all she was after was genuine love. Her marriage to the herder, Percy Manyika, is still the talk of the village years after their union, but both are happy in their union. Yes, it is true, I am a qualified teacher here at Mupfure Primary School who fell in love and got married to this former village herder, said a straight-faced Zhangazha. She said the fact that he had little means to take care of her did not bother her. Money is a secondary issue in life. The first thing that you have to look for is having a natural lover, a decent marriage, a decent family hence a decent life, zvemari izvo zvinotozogona kutozouya patova paye kumashure as a blessing from the creator of that marriage, she said. Her husband, Manyika, who went into the marriage with a child from another partner, is just as proud of their marriage and considers his wife a blessing from God. Proposing love and finally getting Kinedah Zhangazha as my partner was all due to Gods plan, said Manyika who then turned to address his wife. Kinedha Zhangazha, I am satisfied with your God-given love, mostly the love you are giving to my child I brought in to our marriage. I have never come home to hear that she is being abused any day or night. My daughter is happy, so am I. I have planned to thank you with a beast, ndichakupa mombe tsiru yechiredzwa yekurera mwana wangu uyu, said Manyika. Manyikas fortunes changed for the better soon after their marriage and he now earns way more than his wife, thanks to her decision to invest in him. That allegedly non-professional partner might possess a big money making ability that you do not have. Imagine he said he wanted a bicycle and capital for his chicken and road runner project. I financed the project. He uses his bicycle kunosvura rwodzi, deliver his birds, and he is making more cash than me, why, because God blessed our marriage after discovering that we love each other for real, said Zhangazha. The investment has not only made her husband rich but also reduced the burden on her pocket to almost nothing. I now get more cash for our family that I told her that your salary is for your personal spending. I take care of her from hair to nails. I paid all the lobola cattle and Im only left with two beasts for each of her parents, which I can give them both now because I have the money in my pocket right now, said Zhangazhas proud husband. I have properties that I built in Bindura, Mount Darwin and around but I cannot divulge to you before I consult my wife, added Manyika. His hard-worker tendencies have made him look less like a school teacher but he is not bothered. Daily, my wife tries to make me smarter but as a busy thicken farmer, its at times a challenge to maintain my looks. Plus ndinonwa ka My dream is to surprise my wife by stopping smoking and beer drinking. At present I smoke away from her, even at night or early morning, I wake up and go outside to smoke, said Manyika who also rises early to provide warm bathing water for his family every day. Zhangazha said her workmates were very supportive of her marriage and some even admire her union. I do not have any problems with my workmates as some of them appreciate what we do and some wish my marriage was theirs. Those married to professionals often say our marriage is far better than theirs. Almost all of them say we are far much happier than many couples. Imagine my husband gets more than $3000 per month, far much more than my net. He does not cheat on me, he just takes his beer with his village mates. Haasati ambondiudza mashoko anondirwadzisa, or kundirova since we married, she said. Manyika had the same sentiments about the villagers he drinks with. To the village mates, I do not have anything to say to them nekuti vakatoneta nekutaura vakutozvichivawo he said. Zhangazha said she regards her husbands daughter as her own. The couple also has another child together. I am a very busy woman, with two children, a Grade Seven girl and an ECD girl. They are my children. Ndinevana two like I said, ok, with my husband, we have one child, who is in ECD-B, but our first born is in Grade Seven. In fact they are both my biological children because they are both my husbands biological children, my husband and I are one flesh, you see. So we have two children as husband and wife, that is all we feel and know. The couple said they have their fair share of challenges as marriage-mates. Yes challenges can be there but not those serious ones, people from both our families used to pass some (negative) comments but we would become closer after every comment. We just keep quiet and become more focused on our marriage, said Zhangazha. She said the merits far outweigh the disadvantages. The advantages are that I have peace of mind, and as a family, we are ok, patitori pari bhoo as a family. We do not have many problems; we quickly solve our problems alone. Like at times my husband goes out for beer drinking and comes back late and we argue but when I hear him raising his voice as a drunken man, I quickly drop mine and keep quiet and talk about it later when he is sober, said the Mupfure School teacher. She dreams of an elegant announcement of their marriage to the world. We are looking forward to a white wedding and to invite H-Metro, The Herald, Sunday Mail, Star FM, ZBC, and all media houses for a historic white wedding in Mashonaland Central, she concluded. HMetro Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News By Jomo Kwame Sundaram, a former economics professor, was Assistant Director-General for Economic and Social Development, Food and Agriculture Organization, who received the Wassily Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought in 2007. and Anis Chowdhury, Adjunct Professor at Western Sydney University & University of New South Wales (Australia), who held senior United Nations positions in New York and Bangkok. Originally published by Inter Press Service The World Bank has successfully built a coalition to effectively advance its Maximizing Finance for Development (MFD) agenda. The October 2018 G20 Eminent Persons Groups (EPG) report includes proposals to better coordinate various international financial institutions (IFIs) in promoting financialization. MDB Midwives of Financialization The MFD approach wants multilateral development banks (MDBs) to actively re-shape developing countries financial systems to better complement global finance. MDBs have already urged developing countries to encourage local institutional investors by redesigning pension systems along lines inspired by US private pensions. Thus, MDBs have been: determining how developing countries supply securities preferred by transnational banks and institutional investors. persuading developing country governments to finance subsidies and other de-risking measures designed by MDBs to guarantee private financial profits. enabling securitization to transform bankable projects into tradable securities, generating more revenues and strengthening global finance. influencing what projects are deemed bankable, probably prioritizing large infrastructure over smaller projects. G20 Financialization Proposals The main G20 EPG proposals for collaboration to promote financialization include: IFIs working together to increase the supply of bankable projects and to share data and information to support infrastructure data platforms needed to securitize MDB loans. IFIs should provide risk insurance to increase the number of bankable projects stuck due to high political risk. This requires government guarantees against political risks to be more attractive to re-insurers. As securitization of MDB loans involves tradable assets with different credit ratings for investors with diverse risk appetites, MDBs are being urged to securitize both private and sovereign loans, and to retain stakes in junior tranches to induce private investments. MDBs No Longer Development Banks? While MDBs should follow recent advice for issuers to remain stakeholders by retaining shares of securitized tranches on their balance sheets, the implications are quite different when MDBs, and not private banks, securitize loans. As originators, MDBs may politically pressure low- and middle-income country governments to provide de-risking instruments, including guaranteed income from securitized public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects. World Bank Guidance on PPP Contractual Provisions can burden states and citizens more than any trade or investment agreement or international law. States take on inordinate risk while its right to regulate in the public interest is fettered. New Washington Consensus? The Washington-based Center for Global Development (CGD) has similarly discouraged borrowing in its paper for the G20 EPG, More mobilizing, less lending. Instead, it proposes augmenting MDB private sector windows with special purpose vehicles (SPVs). The CDG also calls on MDBs to use sovereign lending to promote reforms to make projects financially viable and to help finance the public share of PPPs. Hence, MDBs are pressuring governments to support the MFD with their own fiscal resources. The recommendations will also make it more difficult to manage systemic vulnerabilities arising from the envisaged securities, repo and derivative markets to be officially promoted. Various options promoted by the CDG thus involve high risk, high leverage, financialized investors as partners in international development, exposing the MDBs themselves to the vulnerabilities of the MFD approach. Checks and Balances? The tendency towards concentration in asset management (with economies of scale and scope) is likely to result in US-based asset managers allocating finance globally using considerable institutional investments from developing countries. The G20 EPG is not unaware that its proposal to transform developing country financial systems to contribute to the global supply of securities involves significant systemic risks. Nevertheless, it claims to be seeking to secure the benefits of open financial markets while mitigating systemic vulnerabilities. Thus, it has called on the IMF to: develop and manage a framework for managing volatile capital flows; create a resilient global safety net that can effectively mobilize resources to address financial fragilities; and integrate financial surveillance with an effective early warning system. However, the EPG paper does not make the shift to securitization conditional on mitigating systemic risks. As its proposed safeguards are largely unrealizable or ineffective, its financial instability concerns do not mean much. Although recognizing the dangers and vulnerabilities involved at both national and international levels, including the loss of effective sovereign control over financing conditions, the IMF supports the EPG proposals. Despite the experience of recent financial crises, the IMF continues to preach that freely floating exchange rates can effectively buffer capital flow volatility, while capital controls should only be used after exhausting all monetary and fiscal policy instruments. Experts from NATO and Ukraine took stock of progress made on several projects and agreed on new areas of cooperation, such as the reintegration of female military personnel into civilian life. This was the subject of discussion at the 16th edition of the NATO-Ukraine Joint Working Group on Scientific and Environmental Cooperation, held at NATO Headquarters on 28 March 2019. The NATO SPS Programme responded to the urgent equipment request to enable Ukrainian demining teams to successfully clear the territory of Balaklia town and nine settlements in the vicinity. Balaklia, Ukraine, March 2017. Since the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 and the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, over 12,000 scientists and academic experts have been displaced from their residence. In the face of these challenges, NATOs Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Programme significantly increased its support to Ukraine by providing equipment and stipends to young scientists. Prof. Maksim Strikha, Ukrainian Deputy Minister for Education and Science explained, by engaging Ukrainian scientists in high-level research and capacity-building activities, the SPS Programme has actively supported research and academic institutions in Ukraine, strengthening the Ukrainian scientific landscape. Addressing current security challenges At present, leading areas of cooperation focus on counter-terrorism, defence against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) agents, the development of advanced technologies, and the detection and clearance of unexploded ordnance and mines. Over 33 activities with Ukraine are ongoing, which makes the country the biggest beneficiary of NATOs SPS Programme. One of the current flagship projects is called Dexter, said Dr Deniz Yuksel-Beten, Senior SPS and Partnerships Cooperation Advisor at NATO. It aims to develop a system to detect explosives and firearms in public spaces, remotely and in real time, without disrupting the flow of passengers, she added. Through another project, Ukrainian and Italian scientists are developing a new type of crystal sensors to detect CBRN agents, which can be used to support counter-terrorism measures. Portable kits such as this allow first responders to receive crucial medical expert advice through telemedicine technology, even in remote areas. Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC), NATO, 2017. Furthermore, in the framework of the NATO-Ukraine Platform on Countering Hybrid Warfare, the SPS Programme assists a joint initiative from Ukraine and Lithuania to develop an early warning system to counter hybrid threats. An event will take place in Vilnius in April 2019 to make recommendations and provide a way ahead. Several projects delivered Under the framework of the Comprehensive Assistance Package (CAP) for Ukraine three key multinational flagship projects have already been delivered to Ukraine, namely a multinational telemedicine system, support to humanitarian demining in Ukraine, and the development of a 3D landmine detection radar. There is currently a 500-kilometre frontline in Ukraine with a high concentration of mines, concluded Prof. Strikha. Civilians are injured or killed on a regular basis by these remnants of war. This project responds to an immediate need to increase the safety of our citizens. (Natural News) Crisis after crisis has hit Facebook in the last few years, and almost all the issues have involved privacy. One of the storms the social media giant had to weather was when it was revealed that a data analytics company was able to collect information on 50 million people during the last election campaign because of Facebooks inadequate privacy protection policies. And Facebook is by no means the only social media platform to be accused of mismanaging private information. Twitter is currently facing a class action lawsuit by plaintiffs who believe that certain company policies are unlawful under the California Invasion of Privacy Act. As reported by the Expert Institute, the lawsuit alleges that Twitter violates its clients right to privacy by tracking links sent through direct messages. With so many recent media reports revealing the porous nature of social media privacy policies, many people have decided to avoid these sites completely or have removed themselves from platforms that they were previously associated with. They believe that doing so is enough to protect their privacy. Unfortunately, as reported by Science Daily, new research by scientists from the Universities of Vermont and Adelaide reveals that their privacy could be at risk even if they have no online accounts because their identity and actions can be predicted from what their friends post online. (Related: Facebook tramples on privacy law by illegally tracking internet users without consent.) Your friends leave digital footprints on your behalf For their study, the researchers gathered information from over 30 million tweets by 13,905 users. Their analysis of these messages revealed that how much of your information is exposed on social media is very much dependent on the people around you. In this way, Science Daily reports, it is very much like secondhand smoke: With this data, they showed that information within the Twitter messages from 8 or 9 of a persons contacts make it possible to predict that persons later tweets as accurately as if they were looking directly at that persons own Twitter feed. The new study also shows that if a person leaves a social media platform or never joined the online posts and words of their friends still provide about 95% of the potential predictive accuracy, the scientists write, of a persons future activities even without any of that persons data. University of Vermont mathematician James Bagrow, the studys lead author, warns that when you join a social media platform you are not only giving up your own information but also that of all your friends. (Related: Trust crisis looms over tech industry as public grows weary of privacy scandals.) Why privacy matters This research raises important questions about how much someones online choices relate to their ability to maintain their own privacy and that of their contacts. As noted by Science Daily, the study means that companies, government agencies and others would be able to profile a person based on the online choices of their friends, even if theyve never been part of any social media platforms or have deleted all their accounts. Lewis Mitchell, the studys co-author and a senior lecturer in applied mathematics at the University of Adelaide, Australia, warns that, Theres no place to hide in a social network. The studys findings confirm that social networking is a goldmine of information, not just on the person being profiled, but also on all of their friends, whether or not they are part of a specific social media network. And the scary thing is that in a world of immense inter-connectivity there is almost nothing any of us can do about it. Learn more at PrivacyWatch.news. Sources for this article include: ScienceDaily.com Techopedia.com NBCNews.com TheExpertInstitute.com (Natural News) A bombshell series of leaked internal memos from Google reveals that the search engine is engaged in a massive criminal enterprise that may be prosecuted for engaging in criminal racketeering. The Daily Caller has acquired these internal memos which describe the manual process whereby Google selectively de-lists news websites that focus on conservative content, natural health and vaccine awareness information, among other topics. Once websites are targeted by Google for being blacklisted, virtually none of their pages appear in any search results whatsoever. (Natural News was almost completely blacklisted beginning in June of 2017.) Google does manipulate its search results manually, contrary to the companys official denials, documents obtained exclusively by The Daily Caller indicate, reports The Daily Caller. The DC describes Googles ultra-secret XPA news blacklist being maintained by Googles Trust & Safety team, which carries out the politically-motivated censorship and blacklisting actions to silence news sites that Google wants to suppress. These memos reveal a shocking criminal enterprise being run inside Google, carrying out felony election meddling crimes and actions that qualify as racketeering under the RICO Act. Named as co-conspirators in this criminal enterprise are some of Googles top engineers, including Paul Haahr (@haahr on Twitter) and Pandu Nayak. Paul Haahr is explicitly responsible for censoring Natural News and other natural health websites, as he heads up the censorship efforts to target so-called science / medical denial and conspiracy theories. Ironically, Paul Haahr it himself carrying out a conspiracy to silence the truth about medicine, vaccines, cancer cures and natural health, yet part of his job is to censor conspiracy theories. Perhaps he tells himself, There are no conspiracies except the ones Im running! You can see his Linkedin page at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulhaahr (in case youve always wondered what the bio of an actual Joseph Goebbels-class criminal-minded propagandist looks like). Heres a photo of Paul Haahr and Matt Cutts, both long-time Google engineers who many have accused of being NSA spooks that turned Google into a surveillance front for the intelligence deep state (NSA). See this article, Google and the NSA: Whos holding the sh#t-bag now? by Julian Assange. These guys sure look happy for being so incredibly evil and deceptive. This is what pure evil looks like: From the comment section of that article: Google has long been closely enmeshed with the US intelligence agencies. Dr. Rick Steinheiser in the Office of Research and Development at the CIA and Matt Cutts of the NSA, to name a few, are employed by Google in high-level positions. Google Earth and Google Maps software came from Keyhole, Inc., which was funded by the CIA via In-Q-Tel. As well, Google has been helping the Chinese government in censoring the internet in that country. Disappearing news websites the spooks at Google dont want you to read The purpose of the blacklist will be to bar the sites from surfacing in any Search feature or news product, says the memo, reported by The Daily Caller. Sites targeted in this way receive virtually no presence on Google and are punitively banned from top news, videos, sidebars and other search elements. Importantly, website are manually added to the XPA news blacklist by people like Paul Haahr, an un-elected techno-fascist who operates with zero accountability, transparency or ethics. This document, which describes the process by which a site can be blacklisted for deceptive news, clearly shows that there is a manual component, reports The Daily Caller. Banned news websites are added to a text file used by the Google search engine to determine which domains get banned. That text file is named: deceptive_news_blacklist_domains.txt Its not difficult to figure out that deceptive news websites, as decided by Google, are news websites which support President Trump, the United States Constitution, natural healing, awareness about vaccine dangers, geoengineering, the dangers of GMOs, opposition to globalism or any other topic that Google decides it opposes. The Daily Callers investigation names several websites which are explicitly banned, and theres little doubt that NaturalNews.com is also found on this list. Other sites on the list include TheGatewayPundit.com, TeaPartyEconomist.com and the Conservative Tribune. Its time to demand a criminal investigation into Google, Twitter, Facebook and all the other tech giants Its time for the United States Dept. of Justice to launch criminal investigations into the tech giants for their ongoing election meddling, racketeering and systemic violation of human rights of the American people. What Google is doing is not merely fraudulent and monopolistic; its also a criminal act to lie to Congress and claim they arent doing these things at all. Also read this article from All News Pipeline: Its Time For The FEDS To Charge Twitter, Facebook, Google And YouTube With Election Meddling And Racketeering As Big Tech Purge Of Conservatives Continues Ahead Of 2020 Election. That article correctly states: [B]ig tech and totalitarian government will continue online censorship until either: a) They regain control of the US in 2020 and then the REAL government BRUTALITY against its citizens begins or b) They are held accountable by POTUS and US Congress for attempting to steal the 2020 elections for the demonrat party. The leaders of all these tech companies need to be criminally indicted and prosecuted. Its time to end the fascism and defeat the tech giants like we defeated the Third Reich. Evil spooks like Paul Haahr and Matt Cutts belong in prison, not in charge of the publics access to human knowledge. The destructive effects of their insidious actions make Adolf Hitlers book burning campaigns look like childs play. You are witnessing real crimes against humanity being carried out daily by Googles engineers. They are enemies of humanity and destroyers of human knowledge. And they are causing more damage and destruction to human civilization than any government, corporation or regime could have ever imagined possible. Listen to my banned podcast for a more detailed explanation, then call your U.S. representatives and demand a criminal investigation into Google, Twitter, and Facebook. The Capitol switchboard number is: 202-224-3121. Call now and ask to be connected with each office for your Senators and House Representative. Its time to end Googles techno-fascism and seek criminal indictments for those who have waged this war on human knowledge, human dignity, liberty and Democracy. Read more at TechGiants.news or EvilGoogle.news. (Natural News) The United States military could very soon be getting a major field upgrade, as military heads are in the process of test-running a new type of nuclear mini-reactor that they say will have the capacity to power troops in otherwise hard-to-reach places of the world, such as hillside camps located in remote areas of Afghanistan. According to reports, these new mini-reactors are slated to be small enough to fit inside the back of a truck. And as long as theyre meltdown proof meaning they can be adequately protected against enemy attacks military leaders say they have the potential to completely revolutionize field warfare capacity. Known officially as Project Dilithium, testing on these mini-reactors has already shown that theyre able to fit not only on trucks, but also inside C-17 aircrafts, according to information obtained by a group known as Defense One. Each reactor is also capable of producing between 1-10 megawatts of electrical power for up to three years, without having to be refueled. It is being reported that the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) has already issued requests for more information about what its dubbed the Small Mobile Nuclear Reactor. The plan is to continue funding prototypes of the system in order to eventually unveil a solid, working model. The modern operational space has amplified the need for alternative energy sources to enable mobility in forward land based and maritime military operations, a SCO document explains. The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, OUSD(R&E), acting through the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO), is requesting information on innovative technologies and approaches to enable a future demonstration of a small mobile nuclear reactor prototype design, it adds further. For more news about nuclear energy technologies, be sure to check out Nuclear.news. Soldiers will have to be able to build these mini-reactors in 72 hours, and take them down within a week In order to be truly useful for what the U.S. military has in mind, these nuclear mini-reactors will have to be simple enough in design that soldiers are able to build them on-site in three days or less. Theyll also have to be able to properly disassemble the reactors in no more than a week. The core design of the reactors will also require the use of high-assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) advance gas reactors (AGR) tristructural isotropic (TRISO) fuel, according to official documents. The SCO is planning to fund three different prototype designs with these specific goals in mind. From these, it will then choose a winner prototype that it foresees as being the most optimally efficient and effective for the militarys anticipated applications. Be sure to read about how renewable energy production is growing by leaps and bounds domestically. The U.S. Army has been trying to incorporate nuclear energy production in field applications for at least 65 years Since as far back as 1954, the Army branch of the U.S. military has been contemplating potential ways to bring this type of nuclear energy production into the battlefield. Having launched the Nuclear Power Program under its Corps of Engineers that same year, the Army has been actively engaged in developing nuclear reactor cores of different sizes, in the hopes of eventually stumbling upon a winner for this specific application. While it has yet to accomplish this, the Army has developed other nuclear models in the process that have been deployed in places like Fort Greely, Alaska; Sundance, Wyoming; Camp Century, Greenland; and even on a barge in Lake Gatun, located in the Panama Canal. Currently, Idaho National Lab and Los Alamos National Lab are working toward new designs for modular nuclear power, reports the U.K.s Daily Mail Online. To keep up with the latest news about U.S. military technologies, be sure to check out NationalDefense.news. Sources for this article include: DailyMail.co.uk NaturalNews.com (Natural News) Many people view their doctors as highly educated, trustworthy individuals with integrity, who always have their patients best interests at heart. While there can be no doubt that there are some truly noble, self-sacrificing members of the medical community, the truth is, for too long we have placed doctors on a pedestal of unshakable trust that many do not deserve. Doctors do not always diagnose their patients correctly; sometimes they do write prescriptions or order tests simply for their own financial gain; and some have turned their patients lives into a living hell, by prescribing dangerous prescription drugs with devastating side effects, and then leaving their helpless patients alone to deal with the fallout. One such victim is Fiona French, a social scientist from Edinburgh who was prescribed benzodiazepine drugs (benzos) for 40 years to treat her epilepsy. Benzos are tranquilizers which are often prescribed for panic attacks, muscle spasms, anxiety, pain, sleeplessness and depression. In the past, they were also prescribed for the treatment of epilepsy, since they have a relaxing effect on the muscles. In recent years, doctors have stopped recommending these drugs for that illness, but still write millions of scripts each year for benzodiazepines like Valium, Xanax, Restoril and Clonazepam for the treatment of other conditions. In 2011, over 49 million prescriptions were filled in the United States just for Xanax! (Related: Treat depression naturally with these nutrient supplements.) Despite the manufacturers warnings not to use these drugs for longer than a month, many people are given repeat prescriptions for years, leaving them addicted and miserable, as they try to cope with frightening side effects. Psychology Today reports that common side effects of benzos include confusion, irregular heartbeat, depression, memory loss, nausea, vertigo and euphoria. Long-term use has been associated with additional issues, including concentration problems, anxiety, drowsiness and unsteadiness. This class of drugs also has an incredibly high potential for addiction, resulting in 6,507 overdose deaths in 2010 alone. The problem is so widespread, that over 20 million Americans over the age of 12 admit to misusing these drugs. Fiona Frenchs nightmare began when she was given her first prescription for a benzo called nitrazepam at the age of 19, after being diagnosed with epilepsy. Within just two months she became suicidal and hardly left her room. Though it was a struggle for her just to make it through each day, whenever she discussed her problems with her doctors, she was told that her issues were depression-related, and that if she kept taking her medication she would eventually feel better. She never did feel any better, and eventually tried to quit, but that made her problems even worse. She immediately became restless, agitated, highly anxious and unable to sleep. At the time she thought her depression was getting worse; now she realizes she was totally addicted to the benzos and was suffering withdrawal symptoms. Unable to cope with her bewildering symptoms Fiona went back on the meds, and lived what she describes as a half-life until 2012, when she was advised to get off the nitrazepam as it was no longer recommended for epilepsy. Fiona was careful to wean herself off the medication slowly, but even so, experienced terrible withdrawal symptoms, including extreme sensitivity to light and noise. She also endured excruciating pain, where even wearing underwear was painful. For three months, Fiona was so ill that she couldnt even make a phone call, leaving her totally isolated and alone. Both her doctor and the psychiatrist he referred her to assured Fiona that it was impossible that coming off her medication was causing her symptoms, and inferred that it was all in her head. In truth, Fionas devastating symptoms were most definitely caused by her withdrawal from the nitrazepam, as explained by Professor Malcolm Lader of the University of London Institute of Psychiatry, who explains that a third of people have great difficulty weaning off such medications. The brain starts to wake up, and it over-wakes, he notes. Sounds appear loud and lights appear brighter. They also have a symptom whereby they feel very unsteady and they will walk round the room holding on to the walls. Fionas blind trust in the medical establishment destroyed her life. Now she hopes her story will help prevent others from following in her footsteps. Sources include: DailyMail.co.uk PsychologyToday.com (Natural News) This is the worst economic disaster for U.S. farmers in modern American history. Our ongoing trade war with China had greatly depressed prices for wheat, corn and soybeans, and so farmers were storing more crops on their farms than ever before in early 2019. And then the floods came. The water moved so fast that the vast majority of the farmers in the affected areas could not have moved what they had stored even if they wanted to, and the scale of the losses that these farmers have suffered is starting to become clearer. According to UPI, hundreds of millions of dollars in crops that were destroyed by the flooding were not covered by insurance (Article by Michael Snyder republished from EndOfTheAmericanDream.com) Hundreds of millions of dollars in crops destroyed in Midwestern floods this month were not insured, farmers say. And the losses could leave many without sufficient income to continue farming. This uninsured grain issue is really starting to affect people, said Jeff Jorgenson, a western Iowa corn and soy grower whose farm flooded when the Missouri River spilled over its banks March 12. Without an extraordinary amount of assistance, there are thousands of farmers that will never be able to come back from this. One fifth-generation farmer that was interviewed by Fox News said that about 7 million dollars worth of grain was destroyed in his county alone Dustin Sheldon, a fifth-generation grain and soybean farmer, watched in horror as the floods that devastated the Midwest began to recede and he could assess the damage to his crops. He said the record-breaking floods caused about $1 million in losses for his family farm. We figured that there is roughly $7 million worth of grain sitting in these grain bins here just in our county alone that is either destroyed or inaccessible right now that we wont even be able to get to or sell,he said. Financially, theres a lot of farmers that cant come back from that and they may be out of business. According to government regulations, when stored crops get flooded they must be destroyed. And unfortunately, the government also doesnt have any sort of a program to cover those losses. In fact, USDA Under Secretary Bill Northey told Reuters that theres nothing the U.S. government can do to help Hundreds of farmers may be out of luck trying to recuperate losses after last months historic floods in the Midwest. Millions of bushels of grains were destroyed in more than 800 on-farm storage bins mostly in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary Bill Northey recently told Reuters that, under current laws and disaster aid programs, theres nothing the U.S. government can do to help. Of course Congress could pass a law to change all that, but right now that is not happening and it does not appear likely to happen. This is yet another example that shows who we send to Congress really matters. If I had won my race for Congress, I would be endlessly causing havoc until our farmers got the emergency assistance that they desperately need. Because as it stands, thousands of farmers that have been financially ruined by this flooding are going to be forced out of the profession forever. For 71-year-old farmer Bruce Biermann, it looks like the end has come after the floodwaters destroyed more than $100,000 worth of his stored crops The two grain bins on Bruce Biermanns farm near Corning, Missouri, could not withstand the strong currents of the Missouri River. With four feet of water pressing from the outside and grain swelling from moisture inside, the bins burst. At 71, Biermann is looking at more than a $100,000 loss. Because of the trade war, he had been storing 12,000 bushels of corn and 8,200 bushels of soybeans until prices went up again. Now all of that hard work has been washed away, and no help is on the horizon. 33-year-old farmer Travis Green has a similar story Travis Green, 33, who operates farms in both Kansas and Nebraska, stored 25,000 bushels of yellow corn in a pair of grain bins in White Cloud, Kansas, near the Missouri River. One of the bins literally just blasted open, after it filled with floodwater and the other was uprooted destroying an estimated $100,000 worth of corn. On top of that, hes unsure whether hell be able to plant anything this year because of the water damage. Even before the floods came, U.S. farm incomes had already sunk to a 12 year low. Americas farmers need our help more than ever, and yet Congress has chosen to abandon them. Overall, AccuWeather is now estimating that the total amount of economic damage from all of this flooding will reach 12.5 billion dollars AccuWeather estimates the total damage and economic loss caused by record-breaking flooding in the Midwestern U.S. this spring will total $12.5 billion, based on an analysis of damages already inflicted and those expected by additional flooding, as well as the lingering health effects resulting from flooding and the disease caused by standing water. Personally, I think that number is too low, but we will see. And remember, a lot more flooding is still on the way. Just check out what one expert is saying Were not done. There is what amounts to a wall of water that will cross the state of Missouri, by way of the Missouri River, and meet a rapidly rising Mississippi River, Dr. Hurburgh says. The snow in Wisconsin and Minnesota is melting this week, and flooding is expected in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. Thats all going to end up in the Mississippi River, at a point, he says. In addition, a lot more rainfall is coming too. In fact, powerful storms are set to dump up to 6 inches of rain across the southern portion of the country through Monday night In addition, the prolonged period of wet, stormy weather will only exacerbate and worsen the ongoing flooding issues on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Through Monday night, the highest rainfall totals of 3 to 6 inches are forecast to extend from eastern Texas and western Louisiana into southeastern Arkansas, northern Mississippi and western parts of the Tennessee Valley. Overall, at least a million acres of U.S. farmland were covered by water by the recent floods. It is a disaster that we will be talking about for a very long time to come. Unfortunately, time is not on the side of the thousands of farmers that have been financially ruined by this great tragedy. Congress needs to act, and they need to do so quickly. Read more at: EndOfTheAmericanDream.com (Natural News) Once upon a time, the Democratic Left used to premise nearly all of their pet issues gun control, smoking, speed limits, environmental regulations, climate change, wind power on the children. We have to do this for the children, they would say. Because even the life of one child is too many to lose. Meanwhile, they have pushed for abortion on demand and these days, even, infanticide. So, with that being said, it shouldnt surprise anyone to find that they really dont care about anyones kids except their own and even then, theyre willing to put them in danger in order to pursue their open borders/sanctuary cities/no immigration enforcement agenda. As reported by Fox News, authorities in Louisiana have arrested an undocumented immigrant who has been accused of committing more than 100 child sex crimes: KLFY reported that Miguel Martinez, 44, was arrested on 100 counts of possession of pornography involving juveniles under the age of 13, one count of production under 13, and one count of sexual battery of a juvenile under 13. Martinez, deported once before, in 2005, is a registered sex offender in California. Illegal immigration has real-life consequences countless numbers of needless crime victims, including too many Louisiana families and children. Its time to join @POTUS in demanding action on our Southern Border. #BuildTheWall tweeted state Attorney General Jeff Landry. Illegal immigration has real-life consequences countless numbers of needless crime victims, including too many Louisiana families and children. It's time to join @POTUS in demanding action on our Southern Border. #BuildTheWall https://t.co/hn5su0JGoG AG Jeff Landry (@AGJeffLandry) April 2, 2019 Granted, everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty, but with 100-plus counts of crimes involving children and sex, we like the AGs odds that Martinez is going to get convicted on a good number of those counts. But Martinezs alleged crimes are just the latest criminal outrages involving persons who have no legal right to be in our country. In recent months, illegal aliens many of them deported multiple times (because we have no real control over our borders, thanks to Democrats and too many RINOs) have committed acts of violence against American citizens, killed police officers, and been involved in innumerable property crimes, each of which are 100 percent preventable. As long as Democrats kids arent harmed, whats the big deal about open borders? It should come as no surprise that criminals dont care about borders. Weve seen them use the security crisis to boost their profits, their violence, their exploitation of vulnerable populations. Business is booming for the bad guys, and I again call on Congress to change the laws that are now outdated and do not address todays crisis, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said last month during a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. This is truly an emergency and our system is at the breaking point. I want to again thank our partner Sheriffs for their service and the hard work they do every day. DHS said in a press release: Recently, in Galveston County, Texas, DHS 287(g) partners encountered an alien convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child, who is a two time reentry non-registered sex offender who served 10 years of deferred probation in 2004, and who had been freely walking around Texas communities. Additionally, in Smith County, Texas in January 2019, 287(g) partners encountered an alien convicted of felony burglary, drug possession, identify fraud, and felony theft. In February, ICEs Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) Violent Criminal Alien Section (VCAS) in Houston arrested an illegal alien from Honduras who was convicted in 2007 of multiple child sex offenses after he was caught having reentered the U.S. illegally, according to an ICE press release. Marvin Yovani Mejia-Ramos aka Martin Jose Romos-Ramirez, aka Ricardo Rodriguez-Morales 50, was convicted in California of continuous sexual abuse and lewd acts upon a child, the press release noted. He was sentenced to six years in prison and remanded to Honduras after his sentence was up in 2013. If our border was as secure as Democrats claim it is, then these repeat illegal alien child sex offenders would not be so easily sneaking back into our country time and time again. The fact is, these are someone elses children not the children of Democratic lawmakers. So their level of concern, shall we say, is far less than it otherwise would be. Read more about Democrats push for open borders and an endless migrant invasion at OpenBorders.news and InvasionUSA.news. Sources include ICE.gov FoxNews.com TheNationalSentinel.com The spotted lanternfly is not a strong or frequent flyer, weaknesses that may hinder its ability to travel long distances by air, according to researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. Those were among the findings of a study on flight behaviors of the invasive planthopper from Asia, first discovered in the United States in Berks County in 2014. Reports of several massive flight dispersals of the insect -- tens of thousands at a time -- in late summer of 2017 prompted a closer look into the pest's flight patterns by scientists in Penn State's Department of Entomology. "Even before these flight episodes, it became apparent to us that we needed to learn the 'how and why' of spotted lanternfly flight," said Thomas Baker, distinguished professor of entomology and chemical ecology, whose research team began the wind-oriented, flight dispersal research in 2017, followed by a second phase in 2018. The findings of the 2017 experiments were published recently in the Journal of Insect Behavior. Since 2014 the pest has caused hardships for southeastern Pennsylvanians by swarming public areas and feasting on the sap of crop plants such as grape vines and fruit trees, where they excrete a sticky "honeydew" that results in a harmful black sooty mold that can impair plant growth. More alarmingly, in 2018 several vineyards reported large amounts of vine mortality and failure to set fruit, apparently due to the sheer amount of feeding and sap loss from dense populations of the pest. Despite a 14-county quarantine imposed by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, populations of the insect have been found in New Jersey, Virginia and Delaware, and individual specimens have turned up in other states, possibly by hitchhiking on vehicles or shipped goods. "We wanted to discover if there was any preferred directionality to these flights related to wind, visual landmarks or anything else," he said. "We believed this information would give state and federal workers insight into where an infestation might be expected to spread in the future." In September and October of 2017 and 2018, Baker's group set up experimental sites at a fruit farm near Oley, Pennsylvania, and at an additional site in 2018 at Dorney Park in Allentown. Researchers knew that both locations had spotted lanternfly infestations. They made recordings of individual lanternflies' flight paths during mass flight dispersals, documenting ground speed and air speed, as well as duration, distance and trajectory of flights, among other factors. The researchers found that adult spotted lanternflies, both male and female, will crawl to the top of the nearest vertical surface and launch themselves into the wind to create level or gradually descending straight-line flight paths, usually 10-30 feet high and averaging 75 feet in length before landing. Baker noted that the average flight lasts only 11.5 seconds because "the lanternflies cannot generate much lift, and on the vast majority of days, they are constrained to fly at or below the altitude they launch themselves from." However, an exception occurs on very hot days when rising, buoyant air increases the insects' amount of lift, carrying them hundreds of feet high at times. On the few days when this occurred during the two-year study, Baker's team followed individual, high-flying adults and observed them being carried downwind in slowly descending flights of between 325 and 650 feet. "These occasional longer-distance flights can result in serious sudden arrivals of lanternflies in orchards and vineyards where feeding and damage can occur," Baker said. He pointed out that the group's experiments at Dorney Park showed that during flight, the lanternflies orient strongly to anything they can see nearby, including light poles, garbage cans and tree trunks, which they gravitate toward. After landing, the pests immediately begin trying to feed, even on nonedible items, which suggests to the researchers that the lanternflies are taking to the skies in search of food. "We believe that these adults had not attained sufficient nutrition from the trees they had been feeding on before embarking on flights," Baker said. "In short, repeated feeding by a population in the same location for long periods seemed to have reduced the food quantity or quality, and they needed to move to find their next meal to complete their reproductive development." Baker believes that the lanternflies' strong visual response to vertical silhouettes, coupled with their tendency to stay visible on these surfaces for a long time -- up to several hours at a time -- may provide an effective way to document spotted lanternfly populations and possibly to predict their next move. "Telephone poles along a roadway, for example, could be used as ready-made monitoring stations for field scouts investigating infestations," he said. "This technique could aid in determining the extent of the spread of spotted lanternfly populations during late summer and fall." Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday issued a proclamation designating April 10 as Dolores Huerta Day. The California governor honored the Mexican-American social activist in a statement, praising her pursuit of justice in the Central Valley and "her passion fighting for the rights of workers and their families." Huerta, who turned 89 on Wednesday, was a labor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded what would become United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez. Last year, Washington lawmakers passed a bill designating March 31 as Cesar Chavez Day. Such days of recognition are not considered legal holidays in the state. In 2012, Obama acknowledged Huerta for her role in the creation of his "Yes, We Can" slogan during his first presidential campaign. Her "Si, Se Puede" rallying cry was part of the farmworkers' movement. "May her rallying cry of 'si se puede' continue to call us to fight for the change our communities need to thrive," Newsom said. The Associate Press contributed to this report. The attorney for a father accused of stabbing another man multiple times in Pittsburg last week says his client's daughter was drugged and held at the location where the homicide occurred. Criminal defense attorney Joseph Tully is representing 48-year-old Jimmy Lee Biles on Wednesday at his arraignment for the alleged murder of 49-year-old Albert Lea Jr. at a residence on Hermosa Avenue in Pittsburg on April 4. Tully says Biles' 12-year-old daughter was lured away from home by a child sex trafficker, prompting him to notify Pittsburg police. The report was "largely ignored" by the police, the attorney says. It wasn't immediately clear how long Biles' daughter was held at the location of the homicide. Police say they found Lea outside with multiple stab wounds to his torso. He was transported to John Muir Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Witnesses told investigators that the suspect had fled in a white sedan, and they were able to track it to Biles' home in Knightsen. Biles was previously convicted of vehicular manslaughter, the Mercury News reported. But Tully says Biles has dedicated his time to being sober and lawful. "At some point later that evening, a 12-year-old girl who had been drugged and repeatedly sexually abused was brought home," Tully said in a statement. He did not state what occurred in the process of bringing the girl home. Lea's family spoke to NBC Bay Area at Biles' arraignment Wednesday, saying that the murder victim was a family man who was religious, and he had nothing to do with what Tully insinuated. Tully says that Pittsburg police who are investigating the homicide "neglected, either negligently or intentionally, clear signs" of abuse, despite having her in their custody. "Had the Pittsburg police conducted a proper investigation, they would have found that the girl was provided drugs, had used condoms [sic] her purse, as well as blood in the crotch area of her pants. This evidence is now most likely destroyed or unusable," Tully said. Pittsburg Police Chief Brian Addington contended that officers "conducted a very thorough and complete investigation." "The comments made by Mr. Biles' attorney are misguided and designed to minimize the brutal and senseless murder Mr. Biles stands charged of," Addington said in a statement Wednesday night. Deputy District Attorney Aron DeFerrari, the prosecutor who filed the case against Biles, said Lea had nothing to do with Biles' daughter, calling Tully's claims "baseless as they are desperate." Biles was charged with murder and use of a deadly weapon. He is being held at the Contra Costa County jail in Martinez on $2,190,000 million bail, according to police. CORRECTION (April 10, 2019, 3:38 p.m. PST): The previous version of this story misstated the amount of bail. It was a state mandate during recent years to cut back on water because of drying reservoirs, now the San Jose Water Company is planning to add a surcharge because it did not collect enough money. "When we sell significantly less water, were not able to cover our costs, and so thats the reason were seeking this surcharge," said Jayme Ackemann from the San Jose Water Company. For a second year in a row, customers are being asked to pay more because of a $9 million shortfall. "I do not like the idea that they're charging us more, because they're not making money," customer Gail Uyehara said. The new fee is expected to makeup for losses in 2018 because the company did not collect enough to cover operations costs. "I've seen my bill go as high as five or six hundred dollars," customer Robin Feinman-Marino said. The water company has until April 18 to a file a complaint with the California Public Utility Commission. The commission could deny the agencys request to add the surcharge fee. Battle lines are being drawn over a proposal about San Francisco's Juvenile Justice Center. More than a hundred demonstrators crowded the steps of City Hall on Tuesday to back a supervisor's plan to close the facility by 2021. But opponents, including Mayor London Breed, are pushing back and saying the devil's in the details. At least six supervisors are now backing the proposal to shut down Juvenile Hall, which is enough to get it passed, but not enough to overcome a national veto. Breed said she is committed to juvenile justice reform, but wants to know more about critical details and where the youth served at the center are going to go. NBC Bay Area's Sam Brock has more in the video report above. NBC Bay Areas investigative unit has learned a grand jury has convened and is seeking PG&Es past risk assessments of the high voltage transmission line tied to the deadly Camp Fire in November. One of the grand jury subpoenas in the case, issued last month by the state Attorney Generals office in Oroville, shows authorities are seeking records about the Caribou-Palermo line. NBC Bay Areas Investigative unit has learned that the panel which meets and takes testimony in secret is demanding risk assessments and other documentation about on the 115,000 volt transmission line that spans remote areas of Butte and Plumas counties. Parts of the circuit are nearly 100 years old, PG&E has said. It was on one of its aging towers where a worn hook snapped and the line failed, apparently sparking the fire that destroyed the town of Paradise and left 86 people dead. However, Cal Fire investigators have not made any official findings as to the cause of the fire. While both PG&E and state prosecutors had no comment on Monday, one lawyer representing wildfire victims welcomed the aggressive effort. I think its great that theres a criminal grand jury investigating PG&E, said Dario de Ghetaldi, following Tuesdays federal bankruptcy court hearing on how to factor safety into the utilitys plan to award up to $350 million in bonuses. One focus of the probe is what PG&E knew and didnt know about the risks that aging towers could fail after five structures toppled en masse back in 2012. NBC Bay Area was first to report that incident, as well as records of internal emails dating to 2014. They show while an assessment found a high risk that structures would fail on the line, PG&E insiders believed any failure would occur in winter so didnt pose a wildfire risk. The grand jury intervention comes after prosecutors in several North Bay counties declined to charge the company in the 2017 Wine Country wildfires. Cal Fire blamed a dozen of those fires on PG&Es failure to trim some trees near power lines. De Ghetaldi says it appears in the case of the Camp Fire, prosecutors are viewing the investigation differently. When a company kills over 120 people over two years, even if its only accidental, its still manslaughter, he said. So Im ecstatic that theres a criminal grand jury that has been convened, to look into whether or not PG&E should be indicted for crimes that possibly include manslaughter. Bankruptcy judge Dennis Montali, meanwhile, ordered a hearing later this month to more fully understand how safety factors into PG&Es plan before making any ruling. Ten people were shot one of them fatally Tuesday in Chicago, marking the fourth consecutive day that the number of shooting victims rose to double digits. One man was killed and another wounded in a drive-by shooting in Roseland on the South Side. The two men were walking about 10:16 p.m. in the first block of East 102nd Place when someone inside of a passing gray Kia SUV fired at them, Chicago police said. One man, 23, was shot in the back and pronounced dead at University of Chicago Medical Center, police said. The other man, 30, was struck in the leg and taken to Stroger Hospital where his condition was stabilized. Area South detectives are investigating. In non-fatal shootings, three men were wounded in a drive-by attack in Englewood on the South Side. They were standing outside a vehicle about 9:35 p.m. in the 5700 block of South Aberdeen when a dark-colored car pulled up and someone inside fired shots, police said. One man, 32, was struck in the head and abdomen and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, police said. Another man, 53, was shot several times in his lower extremities, and a third man, 44, was struck in his thigh. Both were taken to Stroger Hospital. The conditions of all three men have been stabilized, police said. Area South detectives are investigating. Two teenaged boys were also shot in separate incidents. The latest happened in Gresham on the South Side. The 16-year-old was standing about 8:50 p.m. in the 8400 block of South Morgan Street when someone in a car fired shots, police said. The boy was struck in the neck and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in serious condition, police said. Area South detectives are investigating. The first incident, also the first reported shooting of the day, happened just before 1 p.m. in South Chicago. The 16-year-old was standing on a sidewalk in the 8500 block of South Escanaba Avenue when a dark-colored vehicle drove up and someone inside fired shots, police said. The boy was struck in the back about 12:55 p.m. and took himself to Trinity Hospital, police said. His condition was stabilized and he was transferred to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. Area South detectives are investigating. Other non-fatal shootings Tuesday included: A passenger who allegedly shot his driver and a bystander at 7:40 p.m. in the 10200 block of South Perry Avenue in Fernwood on the South Side; and A 33-year-old man found by police with a gunshot wound about 8:28 p.m. in the 7400 block of South Bennett Avenue in South Shore. On Monday, three people were killed and 12 injured in shootings across Chicago. A cross-country flight was diverted to Chicago early Wednesday after a passenger lit a cigarette then became "belligerent" when a flight attendant told him to put it out, officials said. Alaska Airlines flight 1138, headed from San Francisco to Philadelphia, landed at O'Hare International Airport at around 4:22 a.m. CST "due to a disruptive passenger onboard and out of an abundance of caution," a spokeswoman for the airline said in a statement. Chicago police said the passenger lit up a cigarette, but put it out at the request of a flight attendant, and then proceeded to walk up and down the aisle of the plane "getting belligerent." The man was escorted off the plane upon arrival at O'Hare, where he was handed over to law enforcement, according to the airline. He was taken into federal custody and the case was not under Chicago police jurisdiction, CPD said. It was not immediately clear if any charges would be filed. The plane refueled in Chicago and departed roughly an hour later, landing safely in Philadelphia at around 6:50 a.m. CST. A Frankfort police officer says she filed a lawsuit after allegedly being discriminated against by the police department for being pregnant. Jennifer Panattoni expressed how she will never forget the day she found out she was pregnant but the news quickly faded once she says she told her boss the news. "I was told by my chief that they could only treat me like someone that had broken leg and if i couldnt workI had to stay home," Jennifer Panattoni said. Staying home meant reduced pay, something Panattoni tried hard to avoid. She said she was trying to figure out how she would work with a vest that did not fit and a belt and pants that wouldn't exactly close. Ultimately, she was forced to take several months off before the births of both of her children. With the help of the ACLU of Illinois, she was able to file a lawsuit and the village agreed to pay her $190,000 in back pay. Panattoni said this will hopefully bring light to what she considers to be a widespread problem for mothers in law enforcement--a need to put policies in place to accommodate pregnant officers. "I just dont understand how women can be effective in law enforcement if/when time (comes) to have a family, we dont have a career," she expressed. The village released a statement saying it believes its policies and practices, including its treatment of officer Panattoni, fully complied with the law. The village has agreed to settle the matter to avoid a protracted and distracting dispute with a current member of the villages police force. Hopes the settlement will bring attention to what she believes is a widespread problem for moms in law enforcement. Although Panatttoni has yet to go back into the workforce following the birth of her daughter, she says she looks forward to doing so once she gets the OK from her doctor. What to Know A Buttigieg spokesman said Sunday's event is a "special announcement" when asked if the mayor will declare he's running for president Buttigieg's $7 million fundraising haul in the first quarter of the year is more than Sens. Warren, Klobuchar and Booker brought in Pete Buttigieg, the little-known Indiana mayor who has risen to prominence in the early stages of the 2020 Democratic presidential race, made his official campaign entrance Sunday by claiming the mantle of a youthful generation ready to reshape the country. "I recognize the audacity of doing this as a Midwestern millennial mayor," he said to cheers of "Pete, Pete, Pete" from an audience assembled in a former Studebaker auto plant. "More than a little bold, at age 37, to seek the highest office in the land." In the hours after his announcement, more than $1 million in donations poured in, said Lis Smith, speaking for the campaign. The South Bend mayor, a Rhodes scholar and Afghanistan War veteran who has been essentially campaigning since January, has joined a dozen-plus rivals vying to take on President Donald Trump. "The forces of change in our country today are tectonic," he said. "Forces that help to explain what made this current presidency even possible. That's why, this time, it's not just about winning an election it's about winning an era." Financial support from the LGBT community has helped Buttigieg defy expectations by raking in more than $7 million in just over two months. The money has come from grassroots supporters like Burrell and big-dollar Hollywood donors who hope Buttigieg will make history or at least the summer debate stage. Whos Running for President in 2020? The race for the 2020 presidential election is underway, and the field of Democratic candidates is packed. Those who have announced presidential bids include a vice president, senators, House members and three mayors. As for the GOP, a single Republican has announced his bid to challenge President Donald Trump for the party nomination: former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, who ran for vice president (and lost) in 2016 on the Libertarian party ticket. Click the photos to learn more Buttigieg will return this week to Iowa and New Hampshire, which hold the nation's first nominating contests, to campaign as a full-fledged candidate now being taken more seriously. Over the past few months, Buttigieg has appeared frequently on national TV news and talk shows and developed a strong social media following with his message that the country needs "a new generation of leadership." Buttigieg's poll numbers have climbed. Some polls put him behind only Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who sought the party's nomination in 2016, and former Vice President Joe Biden, who has not yet said he's running. Buttigieg's campaign has raised more than $7 million in the first three months of this year, a total eclipsed by Sanders' leading $18 million but more than Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Cory Booker of New Jersey. "Right now, it's pretty fun," Buttigieg told The Associated Press last month while visiting South Carolina , where he was met by larger-than-expected crowds. His challenge is finding a way to sustain the momentum over the long term and avoiding becoming a "flavor-of-the-month" candidate. Scrutiny of his leadership in South Bend has increased, as has his criticism of Vice President Mike Pence , who was Indiana's governor when Buttigieg was in his first term as mayor. Buttigieg would be the first openly gay nominee of a major presidential party; he married his husband, Chasten, last year. He would be the first mayor to go directly to the White House. And he would be the youngest person to become president, turning 39 the day before the next inauguration, on Jan. 20, 2021. Theodore Roosevelt was 42 when he took office, while John F. Kennedy was 43 and Bill Clinton 46. The campaign kickoff speech echoed themes that have resonated with voters during Buttigieg's exploratory phase. He talks often about how political decisions shape people's lives, including his own from serving as a lieutenant in the Navy Reserve in 2014, to being able to marry his husband and to not having to worry about how to pay for his father's hospital bills after his father's death this year. Buttigieg also says the best way for Democrats to defeat Trump may be to nominate a mayor experienced in helping to revive a Midwestern city once described as "dying," rather than a politician who has spent years "marinating" in Washington. He has criticized Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again," saying the way to move the country forward is not to look backward or cling to an old way of life. "There's a myth being sold to industrial and rural communities: the myth that we can stop the clock and turn it back," he said. "It comes from people who think the only way to reach communities like ours is through resentment and nostalgia, selling an impossible promise of returning to a bygone era that was never as great as advertised to begin with." South Bend, which neighbors the University of Notre Dame, was hit hard by the decline of manufacturing, dating to the 1963 closing of the Studebaker auto plant that costs thousands of residents their jobs. The hulking, dilapidated factory loomed over the city for much of the past 60 years as what Buttigieg called a daily reminder of South Bend's city's past. Partially remodeled, it's now a mixed-use technology center outside downtown and the setting for Bettigieg's announcement. The South Bend fire marshal's office said the rally drew over 4,500 inside and 1,500 outside. A steady stream of raindrops fell on speakers on the stage through the leaky roof. "I like that he's young," said Tom Lacy, a 62-year-old retiree who came from Peoria, Illinois, for the event with his wife, Candy, on their 35th wedding anniversary. "He's so relatable. He doesn't seem like a politician to me." Lacy said: "The contrast between him and our current president is unbelievable." Nausher Ahmad Sial, a 68-year-old developer from South Bend, said "we need to try new blood." Sial, who came to the U.S. from Pakistan 35 years ago, said he has worked with Buttigieg on development projects in the city and described the mayor as a "very honest, very fair guy." A rally against violence took place Tuesday evening just three days after children and revelers were shot at baby shower in West Englewood. "Thats not normal and we cannot allow that to become normal for our children," said CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson. Community leaders and its members hoped to send a strong message with 'Operation Wake Up' rally against violence at the 6400 block of South Seeley Ave. "What happened the other day is not who we are as a city, is not what Englewood is about and you need to make sure people know that kids know sound of laughter and not the sound of gunfire," expressed Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Victims loved ones watched from their nearby porch, while a few dozen gathered at their corner for the rally. One woman broke off to speak with the mayor and superintendent but lashed out at press, and those watching. Joseph Coles says he knows pain and suffering because his daughter, a US postal service worker, Kierra Coles, went missing six months ago. "This stuff shouldn't be happening," he said. "Im right down the street with my grand kids...this happened on Saturday when I just left from there bringing them out on their bikes." "The police can't do this alone," Johnson stated. "We need you all...we have to stop this senseless violence." Two people were killed and a third person was wounded in a shooting on Chicago's West Side Wednesday morning, police said. The shooting took place at about 9:53 a.m. in the 3400 block of West Ohio Street in the East Garfield Park neighborhood, Chicago Police Deputy Chief Al Nagode said at a news conference at the scene. Authorities said four people were standing on the northeast corner of North St. Louis Avenue and West Ohio Street when a car pulled up and at least two people got out and opened fire on the group. "Without provocation, no words exchanged that we know of, we have at least two individuals that get out of the vehicle and begin firing their weapons," Nagode said. Three people were shot, officials said, with two pronounced dead at the scene. The two people killed were both believed to be men around 19 years old, according to police. The Cook County medical examiner's office could not immediately confirm the fatalities and further details, including the victims' identities, were not available. The third person struck was a 29-year-old man who was shot in the chest, according to police. Officers pulled over a car that was leaving the scene to find the third gunshot victim inside, Nagode said. He was taken in critical condition to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital, where he was undergoing surgery Wednesday afternoon, authorities said. "This is an area that's known as an open-air drug market with a historic gang conflict in the area," Nagode said, adding that officers assigned to the area heard the shots being fired. "Right now we believe it's related to that but again, if this is personal in nature or if it's strictly related to the drug market, I can't tell you. The investigation will play that out," Nagode added. Police said investigators had video of the incident, but were unsure of the quality of the video. Authorities said they believed the suspects' car was a white or gray four-door vehicle, but were seeking more surveillance footage to corroborate the details. No one was in custody in connection with this shooting, according to police, who continue to investigate. Police said anyone with information about the shooting can contact them anonymously at chicagopolice.org. The daytime shooting comes just hours after community leaders held a rally against violence in the city following a weekend incident that left children and revelers shot at a baby shower in the West Englewood neighborhood. "Thats not normal and we cannot allow that to become normal for our children," said CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson. Ten people were shot, one of them fatally, Tuesday in Chicago, marking the fourth consecutive day that the number of shooting victims rose to double digits. On the cusp of another White House run, Joe Biden faces a daunting challenge that could complicate his path to the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination: money. Those close to the former vice president believe he would start off at a fundraising disadvantage compared to would-be rivals, whose campaigns have benefited from an early flood of small-dollar donations from the most liberal wing of the party. Biden, a 76-year-old lifetime politician with strong connections to the party's establishment, would be forced to rely on an "old-school grind-it-out" plan to generate campaign cash from wealthy individual donors, according to a person with direct knowledge of Biden's thinking. Questions about money are among the nagging issues Biden is still considering as he weighs launching a campaign. He's decamped this week to St. Croix, a favorite Biden family vacation spot in the Caribbean, to discuss the remaining roadblocks with his wife, Jill. Biden has long disliked the time-intensive process of political fundraising. But with virtually no campaign operation in key states, he'd need to generate millions of dollars in a matter of weeks should he enter what is expected to be the most expensive presidential campaign in U.S. history. "He obviously has a lot of friends among the Democratic donor community," said David Axelrod, one of former President Barack Obama's top political advisers. "But fundraising today is turbo-charged by social media. He's not of the social media generation." The fundraising question comes as Biden allies across the country feel an increasing sense of urgency for the Democratic heavyweight to declare his intentions. He has repeatedly hinted that he's close to making a decision, but those close to him now believe that an announcement, which some expected in January, might be delayed until April. Democrats in key primary states are warning that it's becoming more difficult to persuade Biden holdouts to be patient as a crowded field of presidential contenders such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, California Sen. Kamala Harris and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders actively fight for their support. In South Carolina, which holds the first primary contest in the South, Charleston County Democratic Party Chairman Brady Quirk-Garvan said Biden's indecision has created a holding pattern for potential staffers and supporters. As time drags on, he said, he's fielding calls from some who are confused by Biden's indecision. "Several have said it's concerning that he can't seem to make up his mind," Quirk-Garvan said. "If you're going to run for president, most people want someone who's pretty damn sure they want to be president." Biden has made clear to his family, friends and advisers that he wants to run, but he has held off giving his team the final go-ahead to launch a campaign. Among the factors giving him pause is concern about the impact a presidential run would have on his family, particularly given his son Hunter's complicated personal history. Even so, Biden adviser Steve Ricchetti has been signaling to potential Democratic rivals that Biden is expected to run. Other advisers including Greg Schultz and Peter Kavanaugh have been in regular contact with potential staff across the country to ensure Biden could quickly ramp up a national organization. Those close to Biden expect him to signal his decision at least internally in the coming days to be followed by an intense period of hiring ahead of an April announcement should he decide to run. Biden's likely entry into the race was among the factors that led former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to decide this week that he would not launch a campaign. Biden and Bloomberg spoke after the former mayor announced his decision, according to a person with knowledge of the conversation. That person, like others in the story, spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss private conversations. Biden has openly raised questions about the social media and fundraising landscape, which has changed dramatically since he first joined Obama on the Democrats' 2008 presidential ticket. Several 2020 Democratic contenders have condemned super PACs in recent weeks. Warren, who has been struggling to raise money, took it a step further late last month, vowing not to court wealthy donors at all. Biden acknowledged during a recent appearance at the University of Delaware that fundraising is a major consideration. "We also are making a decision on whether or not we can fund this campaign on my conditions because I will not be part of a super PAC and to see whether or not it's realistic," Biden said. "An awful lot of people have offered to help the people, who are usually the biggest donors in the Democratic Party, and, I might add, some major Republican folks." A frequent headliner on the Democratic money circuit, Biden is well-known among donors but does not have a pool of big-dollar fundraisers lined up ready to commit to his campaign. And his fundraising track record is underwhelming at best. He faced little more than token opposition in his long run as a Delaware senator, requiring a relatively light fundraising burden. And in his 2008 presidential run, Biden raised barely half of the $20 million fundraising goal he set before dropping out of the race following a weak finish in the Iowa caucuses. He was outraised by four other Democratic candidates in the final three months of his campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. With no clear front-runner in the crowded 2020 Democratic field, many of Obama's donors are holding off on making commitments to one candidate or plan to give smaller amounts to multiple candidates in the coming months. Biden's entry into the race is unlikely to change that approach, according to a Democrat who has spoken to several Obama donors. But at least one Obama donor, Don Peebles, a two-time member of the former president's national finance team, expressed confidence in Biden's fundraising ability. "I think he'd raise more money than several of the top candidates combined," Peebles said, vowing to support Biden if he runs. "He's the best chance that the Democrats have to win in November." Some Biden loyalists are not as patient. In Iowa, Roxana Moritz, who was part of Biden's Iowa steering committee during his failed 2008 bid, expressed concern that by waiting so long, Biden was allowing other candidates to peel off some of his supporters. "The longer it goes, the harder it gets" for the former vice president to consolidate support, said Mortiz, the Scott County auditor. While she's still certain to support Biden if he runs, Moritz is getting anxious. "I wish that he would be clear on his plans," she said. ___ Pace reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C.; Alexandra Jaffe in Des Moines, Iowa; and Hunter Woodall in Manchester, N.H., contributed to this report. Attorney General William Barr told Congress Tuesday he expects to release his redacted version of the special counsel's Trump-Russia investigation report "within a week," while Democrats criticized his handling of the long-awaited document and demanded he turn it over in full. Barr bluntly defended his dealing with the report and said portions must remain hidden to comply with the law. He said he could be open to eventually releasing some of the redacted material after consulting with congressional leaders, but maintained he had no plans to seek a judge's approval to disclose grand jury material. Democrats, he said, were "free to go to court" on their own to ask for it. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said he could issue subpoenas "very quickly" if Robert Mueller's report is released with redactions after Democrats failed "to reach an accommodation with the attorney general under which we would see the report and the underlying evidence." He said of Barr: "He has been unresponsive to our requests." The attorney general appeared before a House appropriations subcommittee to discuss his department's budget request normally a sleepy affair but Democrats, in particular, were more interested in asking questions about the report. While opening the hearing, subcommittee Chairman Jose Serrano of New York called it "the elephant in the room." Barr wouldn't discuss the substance of the special counsel's investigation into possible connections between Russia and Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, but he did explain some of what to expect when the report is released: He said the redactions will be color-coded and accompanied by notes explaining any decisions to withhold information. "This process is going along very well and my original timetable of being able to release this by mid-April stands," Barr said. Congress, the White House and the American public have been anxiously waiting for Barr to release the report since special counsel Mueller concluded his investigation and sent it to the attorney general more than two weeks ago. Justice Department officials are scouring the nearly 400-page document to remove grand jury information and details relating to pending investigations, among other materials. Democrats say they will not accept any redactions. At Tuesday's hearing, Democrats said they were concerned that a four-page summary letter of the report's main conclusions Barr released last month portrayed the findings in an overly favorable way for President Trump. The letter said that Mueller did not find a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump associates in the 2016 campaign, and that Barr did not believe the evidence in the report was sufficient to prove the president had obstructed justice. Barr said "the letter speaks for itself" and revealed that he gave Mueller an opportunity to review the letter but the special counsel declined. Rep. Nita Lowey, the Democratic chairwoman of the full Appropriations Committee, said she was taken aback that Barr had reduced Mueller's report to a four-page letter in just two days. "Even for someone who has done this job before, I would argue it's more suspicious than impressive," Lowey said. Barr said, "I felt I should state bottom-line conclusions, and I tried to use special counsel Mueller's own language in doing that." Asked about reports that members of Mueller's legal team were unhappy with his handling of the report, Barr said he suspected any discontent may have reflected their desire to put out more information. Republicans defended Barr, with Alabama Rep. Robert Aderholt comparing Democrats' questions to theories surrounding President John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination. "So many of the questions here today have gone toward a grassy knoll conspiracy theory," Aderholt said. Across the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he had no concerns with the handling of the report: "I think it really comes down to a question of whether you trust Bill Barr or not. And I do." Barr said in the summary released last month that Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether the president obstructed justice, instead presenting evidence on both sides of the question. Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein decided that the evidence was insufficient to establish obstruction. Facing the intensifying concerns from Democrats that he may have whitewashed Mueller's findings, Barr has moved to defend, or at least explain, his handling of the process since receiving the special counsel's report. He said in a March 29 letter that he did not intend for his brief summary of Mueller's main conclusions to be an "exhaustive recounting" of his work. He is likely to be asked to further explain himself at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing Wednesday, though it's unclear how much more he will say. At one point in the House hearing, he tried to cut off any more questions on the subject. "I'm not going to discuss it any further until after the report is out," he said. Barr said he would elaborate at hearings scheduled by the House and Senate Judiciary committees at the beginning of next month. Attorney General William Barr declared Wednesday he thinks "spying did occur" against Donald Trump's presidential campaign, suggesting the origins of the Russia investigation may have been mishandled in remarks that aligned him with the president at a time when Barr's independence is under scrutiny. Barr, appearing before a Senate panel, did not say what "spying" may have taken place but seemed to be alluding to a surveillance warrant the FBI obtained on a former Trump associate. He later said he wasn't sure there had been improper surveillance but wanted to make sure proper procedures were followed. Still, his remarks give a boost to Trump and his supporters who insist his 2016 campaign was unfairly targeted by the FBI. Barr was testifying for a second day at congressional budget hearings that were dominated by questions about special counsel Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia investigation. His statements further inflamed Democrats already frustrated by Barr's handling of the Mueller report, including his release of a four-page summary letter last month that they say paints the special counsel's findings in an overly favorable way for the president. The attorney general said he expects to release a redacted version of Mueller's report on Russian interference in the campaign next week. In an interview with The Associated Press , House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she didn't trust Barr and suggested his statements undermined his credibility as America's chief law enforcement officer. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York tweeted that Barr's comments "directly contradict" what the Justice Department previously has said. And intelligence committee Chairman Adam Schiff of California said Barr's comments were sure to please Trump, but strike "another destructive blow to our democratic institutions." Republicans, meanwhile, praised Barr's testimony. North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, a Trump confidant who has raised concerns about Justice Department conduct, tweeted that Barr's willingness to step in is "massive." The attorney general said he would investigate the origins and conduct of the early days of the Russia investigation, a probe separate from an existing inspector general inquiry. At the Capitol hearing, senators appeared taken aback by his use of the word "spying." Asked by Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz if he wanted to rephrase his language, Barr said he simply wanted to make sure there was "no authorized surveillance." "Is that more appropriate in your mind?" he asked the senator. Barr is an experienced public figure who chooses his words carefully, and it's not clear if he realized what a political storm he'd create in using the word "spying." While the word could be used to describe lawful and necessary intelligence collection activities, for Trump and his supporters in this case it has an inherently negative meaning. White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said on Fox Business Network that "People were wiretapped. People were looked into and spied upon. That should be a serious question that the American people should demand answers for and quite frankly so should Congress." Trump has repeatedly said the investigation of his campaign is an illegal "witch hunt." On Wednesday he said, "It was started illegally. Everything about it was crooked. Every single thing about it. There were dirty cops." Though Barr said at his January confirmation hearing that he didn't believe Mueller would be involved in a witch hunt, he struck a different tone Wednesday and said it "depends on where you're sitting." "If you are somebody who's being falsely accused of something, you would tend to view the investigation as a witch hunt," he said. The spying discussion started when Barr was asked by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, about his plans to review his department's actions in investigating Trump. A separate investigation is being conducted by the department's inspector general. Barr explained that he considered spying on a political campaign to be a "big deal," invoking the surveillance of civil rights protesters and then of anti-war protesters during the Vietnam War. Asked by Shaheen if he was suggesting "spying" had occurred, Barr replied "spying did occur. Yes, I think spying did occur. The question is whether it was predicated, adequately predicated," meaning whether it was legally justified. Barr later said that although he did not have specific evidence of wrongdoing, "I do have questions about it." "I feel I have an obligation to make sure that government power was not abused," he said. Asked again about spying at the end of the hearing, Barr tempered his tone. "I am not saying improper surveillance occurred. I am saying I am concerned about it, and I am looking into it," he said. Barr may have been referring to a secret surveillance warrant that the FBI obtained in the fall of 2016 to monitor the communications of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing. That warrant application included a reference to research by an ex-British spy that was funded by Democrats to examine Trump's ties to Russia. Critics of the Russia investigation say the warrant was unjustified and have also seized on anti-Trump text messages sent and received by one of the lead agents involved in investigating whether the Trump campaign was colluding with Russia. Barr's statement Wednesday that he expected to release a redacted version of Mueller's nearly 400-page report next week marked a slight change from the estimate he gave Tuesday, when he said the release would be within a week. Though he said the document will be redacted to withhold negative information about peripheral figures in the investigation, he said that would not apply to Trump, an officeholder and someone central to the probe. Meanwhile, Trump falsely claimed again Wednesday that the Mueller report had found "no obstruction." While Barr's letter said the special counsel did not find a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump associates during the 2016 election, it also said Mueller had presented evidence on both sides of the obstruction question and ultimately did not reach a conclusion on it. Barr said he did not believe Mueller's evidence was sufficient to prove that Trump had obstructed justice. There was a clash of political opinion at the University of Connecticut Tuesday as representatives from conservative organization Turning Point USA came to speak on campus Tuesday. There was a spirited debate between students and the political speakers, as well as some fireworks in the theater and protests outside. It definitely attracts a crowd. There are a lot of haters. But I think the best thing both sides can do is listen, said James Petersen, a UConn freshman. There was a brief, heated moment between protesters and those looking to attend the so-called Campus Clash Tours stop, prompting one group to chant Build the Wall! Stop the deportations. The rest of the event ran smoothly. Fans and opponents lined up to hear speakers including Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative organization Turning Point USA. I just agree with him politically. Were both conservatives, said Eli Majek, a senior. Also on stage were commentators Candace Owens and Dave Rubin. The group engaged the audience in a sometimes feisty back and forth on topics such as culture and big government. Connecticut was once a beautiful state and now its a sinking ship because of Democrat, socialist policies, argued Candace Owens, Turning Point USA communications director. UConn beefed up security for these types of events after two arrests at a talk in 2017. Tuesdays appearance was hosted by the UConn chapter of Turning Point USA, which also sees this as a free speech issue. I believe all students should have the ability to exchange ideas and participate in the marketplace of ideas, said Joseph Gatti, a member of the Turning Point USA UConn chapter. At the same time, a counter-event was taking place nearby. A broad group of student associations coming together to stand up against what they feel is the spread of hateful beliefs. As a Muslim woman I wanted to be sure to be present and showing support for people who are here in solidarity, said Elaf Al-Wohaibi, a UConn Law Student Turning Point USA describes itself as a student movement for free markets and limited government. It has chapters on more than 1,000 high school and college campuses. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and one student at a Connecticut university is putting on a powerful exhibit in an effort to break one of our cultures most pervasive myths about rape. This week, recreations of the outfits rape survivors wore when they say they were assaulted are displayed at the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford - from blue jeans, to a prom dress, and even childrens clothes. Graduate student, Michelle Castro, organized the exhibit. Sexual assault can happen anywhere and to anyone, said Castro. I think a part of the healing process is really disputing those myths that people have with these clothing. If you have seen the exhibit, its pjs or comfortable clothing and sweatpants, and thats nothing revealing. Inspired by a 2013 installation at the University of Arkansas, Castro invited survivors from campus and the greater Hartford community to share their stories through an anonymous survey on Facebook. I had to take a break at first its not something you can just read through in one day, she said. It took me a little over a week to process everything emotionally. The display is an effort to shatter the notion that sexual assault victims are to blame due to what they were wearing. Its a misconception that Lucy Nolan from the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence says, despite advancements in our culture, is still very common. We have this culture, a rape culture that says we want women to look feminine, we want women to look sexy, but once they do and something happens to them, its their fault for looking sexy and feminine, Nolan said. Theres this myth that if somebody is wearing a short skirt or a sexy shirt that theyre asking to get raped. Nobody asks to get raped. Wednesday, the Judiciary Committee voted on a bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations for sexual assault crimes in the state. In Connecticut, we have the shortest statute of limitations of people to report crimes in 5 years, Nolan said. Were the third shortest in the nation. Nolan says its exhibits like Michelles that help shift the greater cultural conversation. This exhibit is really trying to show that its not on the woman. The woman isnt the one whos doing the actual raping or the assaulting its on the person who is more often men and they need to stop and say looking at that as permission to assault somebody, she said. For Castro, its personal. I have seen family members and friends who have experienced sexual assault in many different forms, and I think the problem is people think sexual assault takes place in only one form, and it doesnt, Castro said. The Universitys Director of Diversity & Inclusion says she is proud of Castros work, and that its important to acknowledge the difficult experiences students and faculty face. We know that this happens with our students, with our staff, said Rayna Dyton White, who is also the universitys Title IX coordinator. Its important that we let them know that we see you, we know that this is a common experience, and that we have support here. That its not something that were sticking our heads in the sand about. To deal with a surge of migrating Central American families, the Trump administration has reassigned so many inspectors from U.S.-Mexico border crossings that truckers are waiting in line for hours and sometimes days to get shipments to the United States. Truckers have been sleeping in their vehicles to hold spots in line in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas. The city brought in portable toilets, and an engine oil company hired models in skin-tight clothing to hand out burritos and bottled water to idled drivers. My family doesnt recognize me at home anymore, Jaime Monroy, a trucker who lives in Ciudad Juarez, said after sleeping overnight in his cabin with a truck full of wooden furniture. I leave at 3 in the morning and come back at 10 at night. The waits are a reminder that even though President Donald Trump walked back his threat to close the border, the administration has created significant impediments for truckers, travelers and shoppers with its redeployment of customs agents. Business leaders are starting to lose patience as they struggle to get products to American grocery stores, manufacturers and construction sites. This is a systemwide issue, said Paola Avila, chairwoman of the Border Trade Alliance, a group that advocates for cross-border commerce. All along the 2,000-mile border, wait times have increased. Theres no point in redirecting commerce elsewhere. Theres no solution. Everyones feeling this. The traffic congestion comes as a growing number of families from Central America have been arriving at the border in recent months, overwhelming the federal government. So far, the administration has reassigned 541 border inspectors to other jobs, including processing migrants, providing transportation and performing hospital watch for migrants who require medical attention. It is unknown when they will return to their regular duties. Border inspectors, who are trained to screen people and cargo for smuggling, are now serving as aides to Border Patrol agents, learning data entry for asylum-seeker paperwork and shuttling migrants to hospitals, shelters and transportation hubs. Border Patrol agents, who guard areas between ports, are also doing jobs they were not trained to do, such as medical screenings for children and families in the migrant holding camps. In El Paso, authorities have closed one bridge to truckers, directing them to two other nearby crossings. At San Diegos only truck crossing, two of 10 lanes are closed. In Nogales, Arizona, the government on Sundays is closing a commercial facility that is crucial to cross-border trade. Up to 12,000 commercial trucks cross the border in Nogales every day, often bringing watermelons, eggplants, berries and grapes. Wait times have doubled at the Santa Teresa, New Mexico, port of entry. What were seeing is a lot of companies making their drivers sleep in their trucks to keep their place in line for the next day, said Jerry Pacheco, president of the Border Industrial Association and executive director of the International Business Accelerator. In recent years, the rural outpost has become a boomtown of warehouses and industrial parks that funnel raw materials and products back and forth across the border. Here we are growing companies and growing jobs and everything is great. We added another industrial park with job prospects in tow and then all this happens, Pacheco said of the latest expansion. The agencys commissioner, Kevin McAleenan, who was named acting Homeland Security secretary on Sunday, warned of traffic delays when he announced last month in El Paso that inspectors from across the border would be reassigned. Authorities raised the possibility that as many as 2,000 inspectors could be pulled from ports of entry. A Customs and Border Protection mobile app suggested the bottlenecks may have eased by Tuesday. The wait time for truckers was estimated at three hours in San Diego, 2 hours in El Paso and two hours in Laredo. Still, truckers said wait times have lengthened considerably since authorities announced the reassignments. This all started about two weeks ago with Trump, said driver Arturo Menendez, 44, who first entered the line at 4 a.m. Friday with his tractor-trailer full of cardboard used in boxes for U.S.-made products like Toro lawn mowers. At 6 p.m. he was told to leave ahead of the unprecedented closure of all lanes at the Bridge of the Americas on Saturday. He tried again Monday, waiting in a line behind of hundreds of trucks passing through three security checks back at the Bridge of the Americas. Avila, who is also the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerces vice president for international affairs, said the delays could encourage more companies to move to Asia, hurting both American and Mexican jobs. Now were discouraging overseas production, she said. Were cutting out the American manufacturer or the Mexican manufacturer that employs U.S. workers. Associated Press writers Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Astrid Galvan in Phoenix and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report. The Supreme Court's conservative majority sounded wary Tuesday of allowing federal judges to determine when electoral maps are too partisan, despite strong evidence that the political parties drew districts to guarantee congressional election outcomes. The decisions in two cases the justices heard Tuesday, from Maryland and North Carolina, could help shape the makeup of Congress and state legislatures for the next decade in the new districts that will be created following the 2020 census. In more than two hours of arguments over Republican-drawn congressional districts in North Carolina and a single congressional district drawn to benefit Democrats in Maryland, the justices on the right side of the court asked repeatedly whether unelected judges should police the partisan actions of elected officials. "Why should we wade into this?" Justice Neil Gorusch asked. Gorsuch and Justice Brett Kavanaugh pointed out that voters in some states and state courts in others are imposing limits on how far politicians can go in designing districts that maximize one party's advantage. Gorsuch said the court's 2015 ruling upholding Arizona voters' decision to take redistricting away from the legislature and create an independent commission shows there are other ways to handle the issue. That case was decided by a 5-4 vote before Gorsuch joined the court, with four conservatives in dissent. In light of activity at the state level, Kavanaugh asked, "Have we really reached the moment, even though it would be a big lift for this court to get involved, where the other actors can't do it?" Chief Justice John Roberts, who last year worried about the harm to the court's reputation if it had to pick political winners in endless redistricting disputes, suggested voters have a way of surprising people. "Even...in the more recent cycle, I understand that a lot of things that were never supposed to happen happened," Roberts said. But there was no certainty that the justices would, in the end, shut courthouse doors to claims over excessive partisan gerrymandering, as the practice of designing districts for political gain is known. Kavanaugh, in particular, said he would not dispute that "extreme partisan gerrymandering is a real problem for our democracy." Maryland residents Roberts and Kavanaugh also seemed troubled by majority Democrats' efforts to flip a western Maryland seat that had been held by a Republican for 20 years to Democratic control. "I mean, it does seem that this is a situation where the state is taking retaliatory action against Republicans who were in that district," Roberts said. The cases at the high court mark the second time in consecutive terms the justices are trying to determine if they can set limits on partisan map-making. The court also could rule that federal judges should not oversee disputes over districts designed to benefit one political party. Last year, the court essentially punted on cases from Wisconsin and the same Maryland congressional district that was before the court Tuesday. Partisan gerrymandering is almost as old as the United States. While the court ruled 30 years ago that courts could police overly partisan map-making, the justices have never struck down districts on the ground that they violated the rights of voters from the minority party. Supporters of limits on partisan redistricting say that it's more urgent than ever for the court to intervene because partisan maps deepen stark political division in the United States and sophisticated computer programs allow map-makers to target voters on a house-by-house basis. "The reputational risk of doing something is much, much less than the reputational risk of doing nothing, which will be read as a green light for this kind of discriminatory rhetoric and manipulation in redistricting from here on out," said Allison Riggs, representing the League of Women Voters of North Carolina. They were disappointed last year when Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was open to reining in maps drawn for partisan ends, didn't join the court's four more liberal justices. Defenders of the maps that are being challenged want the court to defer to the other branches of government and bow out of partisan districting cases. Their chances may have been strengthened by Kennedy's retirement. Paul Clement, who represents North Carolina Republicans, asserted that it is perfectly acceptable for lawmakers to proclaim that they are drawing districts for partisan reasons. "I think actually being candid about it probably serves accountability principles in the long run," Clement said. Complaints about partisan gerrymandering almost always arise when one party controls the redistricting process and has the ability to maximize the seats it holds in a state legislature or its state's congressional delegation. That's what happened in North Carolina, where Democrats hold only three of 13 congressional districts in a state that tends to have closely decided statewide elections. Republicans drew congressional districts that packed Democratic voters into the three districts that translated into landslide victories. Meanwhile, the map produced smaller winning margins for Republican candidates, but in more districts. Lower courts in both states struck down the districts as unconstitutionally partisan. Decisions in Rucho v. Common Cause, 18-422, and Lamone v. Benisek, 18-726, are expected by late June. Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said he was surprised and dismayed that the former board president of Dallas County Schools is not going to prison for his role in the DCS criminal conspiracy. "Now I'm not a lawyer and I don't understand this. But so many people question the equity in our criminal justice system. This is Exhibit A," Rawlings said in an exclusive interview with NBC 5's Meredith Land. Rawlings was referencing the differences in the punishment for Larry Duncan, who led the DCS board for over a decade, and former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway. Duncan was placed under house arrest for six months, given three years of probation, and ordered to pay more than $45,000 restitution after pleading guilty to tax evasion in the DCS scandal. As part of the same corruption case, Caraway was sentenced last week to more than four and a half years in federal prison and ordered to pay more than a $500,000 million in restitution after pleading guilty to tax evasion and wire fraud. Both Caraway and Duncan were implicated in a scandal that involved shady business deals between DCS and a surveillance camera company deals worth millions of dollars -- that all failed, costing taxpayers more than $100 million. Caraway has admitted he took an estimated $450,000 in bribes, in exchange for his political influence at City Hall, from the owner of the camera company. Duncan, as DCS board president, received nearly $250,000 in political campaign contributions most of it coming from the same company owner. He has admitted he used some of he money for personal expenses, and did not report the income to the IRS. Several DCS employees have told NBC 5 Investigates they largely blame Duncan for the loss of their jobs, and the demise of the agency. And Mayor Rawlings seemed to agree. "It just blows me away that he stays in house arrest, and he was the chairman of the organization that made all of this happen," he said, adding, "He brings the whole organization down, the taxpayers down." "I mean, Councilman Caraway's issue was bad, but he never was in control of the city council on this. And Duncan was," Rawlings said, repeating: "It just blows me away." Duncan's lawyer could not be reached for comment, while a spokesman for U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn, who sentenced both Caraway and Duncan, said the judge would have no further comment from what she said in court. At that time, Lynn said house arrest was appropriate because Duncan has medical issues that would be difficult to treat in prison. She also said in sentencing Duncan that she could not consider whether he was involved in the wider conspiracy at DCS because the government only charged him with tax evasion, and not bribery-related offenses. Duncan's attorney agreed that his client's case is different, telling the judge, "It's not the best headline. It's not bribery and kickbacks. It's income tax evasion." Federal prosecutor Andrew Wirmani responded that Duncan had committed "an abuse of trust" while serving as head of the DCS board. Lynn said she was also "admittedly suspicious about all of this," given that Ducan received campaign donations from someone involved in bribing other officials. But she added that she could not make decisions based on suspicions. If Duncan had indeed been involved in the conspiracy plot, Lynn told him, "then you were lucky with the result here." The owner of the camera company, Bob Leonard, and the former superintendent of DCS, Rick Sorrells, have also pleaded guilty to their roles in the criminal conspiracy and are scheduled later to go before Lynn for sentencing. While surprised by Duncan's punishment, Rawlings told NBC 5 he had no problem with Caraway's sentence. "Bad decisions on his part. I'm glad he's been sentenced and spending the time," the mayor said, adding: "He needed to pay his dues to the public." Human breast milk is full of complex sugars that help build babies' immune systems. Researchers believe those compounds may help adults with Crohn's disease, arthritis, even autism, and may be the key to prevention someday. When Sharon Young heard scientists were collecting breast milk for health research, she was all in. She was breast-feeding her daughter at the time. "I wanted to learn more first and foremost scientifically, about human oligosaccharides for research in general. But I also wanted to contribute as a mom," Young said. At UC San Diego Health Sciences, researchers are working to isolate small amounts of human milk oligosaccharides or HMOs in donated breast milk. Dr. Sara Moukarzel, a Nutrition and Education Researcher at UC San Diego School of Medicine and professor Lars Bode say the synthesized molecules will then be used to fight immune disorders, viral and bacterial pathogens, and chronic inflammation in animal and cell cultures. "We're making a lot of parallels from infant nutrition up to adulthood and trying to find what ways where we can use the compounds to treat adult disorders," Moukarzel said. She foresees recreating the HMOs in powder form in the lab, making it easy to take as a pill or in a drink. "The scientific challenge is to identify which HMOs or sets of HMOs are appropriate for specific disease conditions," said Moukarzel. Moukarzel says since the HMOs are safe for babies, they should be safe for adults. That should shorten the human testing phase and get to the public sooner. Moukarzel believes the HMOs could be out of trials and available in about five years. Some of the conditions they could treat include obesity, Crohn's disease, cardiovascular disease, even outbreaks of bacterial infections like norovirus. Contributors to this news report include: Wendy Chioji, Field Producer; Rusty Reed, Videographer; Cyndy McGrath, Supervising Producer; Hayley Hudson, Assistant Producer; Roque Correa, Editor. What to Know The city council is looking for a strategy aimed at restricting the sale of the products to youth. The push comes as the federal government also is considering a crackdown on flavored e-cigarettes and menthol cigarettes. An FDA report said more than 2 million high school students were users of e-cigarettes in 2017. The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to investigate ways to curb the sale of flavored tobacco products to youth and young adults and study how other cities are tackling the issue. Councilman Mitch O'Farrell introduced the motion requesting that the City Attorney's Office and the Office of the Chief Legislative Analyst report on a strategy aimed at restricting the sale of the products to youth. The measure was approved on a 12-0 vote. "It's unconscionable that we would stand idly by while this -- you've heard it referred to as an epidemic -- is increasing," O'Farrell said at a recent City Council committee meeting. "It's just an all new way of creating a new avenue for nicotine addiction to an entirely new generation. That's what's unconscionable. And as long as we have the power to do something about that, and dissuade this type of use, especially when youth are targeted for profit at the expense of their health and well-being, that is not acceptable." O'Farrell's motion says "the consumption of flavored tobacco products such as cigars, smokeless tobacco and liquid nicotine solution used for vaping have increased in recent years, while menthol cigarettes continue to corner a large part of the Unites States cigarette market," and it cites an FDA report that more than 2 million high school students were users of e-cigarettes in 2017. O'Farrell's motion comes as the federal government also is considering a crackdown on flavored e-cigarettes and menthol cigarettes, with the Food and Drug Administration recently announcing an effort to focus on the sale of flavored liquids, restrict the sale of flavored cigars and grant the FDA more power to remove other products. Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer last year announced that his office was seeking injunctions against several electronic cigarette companies allegedly engaged in the illegal sale of vaping products and marketing that promotes youth consumption of tobacco. Jay Oku, a representative of Five Pawns, a California company that manufactures liquid nicotine, said the products are about helping people quit smoking tobacco. "The solution is to meet with the specialty vape shops who educate the consumers to break an addiction that they've had for 20, 30, 40 years,'' Oku said at a meeting of the Health, Education, Neighborhoods, Parks, Arts and River Committee last month. "And we do not appeal to children. We do not want children to use this.'' An ex-con who allegedly gunned down the mother of his child during a custody exchange outside the Hawthorne police station was charged Tuesday with capital murder. Jacob Ryan Munn, 30, of Hawthorne was ordered held without bail while awaiting arraignment April 24. The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegation of murder while lying in wait, along with an allegation that he used a shotgun to kill Brenda Renteria, 28, of Simi Valley, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek the death penalty against Munn, who is also charged with one count of possession of a firearm by a felon. He has a 2008 conviction for robbery, according to the criminal complaint. Munn left the child inside the police station for his ex-girlfriend to pick up and then allegedly shot and killed her as she approached the door last Sunday, according to prosecutors. "One of our officers was inside and rushed outside when he heard the gunfire," Lt. Gary Tomatani told City News Service. "Witnesses told the officer that the man who shot the woman was fleeing the scene. That's when an officer-involved shooting took place." The suspect was not hit by the gunfire. Police tracked his car to the area of 133rd Street and Hawthorne Boulevard outside a Denny's restaurant, Tomatani said. Officers -- assisted by SWAT and K-9 teams and colleagues from the Torrance, Manhattan Beach and Santa Monica police departments -- then set up a perimeter and brought in police dogs to look for the suspect, who was arrested nearly three hours later in the 4400 block of 134th Street. The 17-month-old child involved in the custody exchange was safe and in police hands after the shooting. An Anaheim woman was sentenced Tuesday to four and a half years in federal prison for defrauding the state's unemployment insurance program out of more than $500,000 by using stolen identities to submit bogus claims for so-called employees who supposedly worked at sham companies. Rolanda Ashley, 49, pleaded guilty in October in Los Angeles federal court to one felony count of mail fraud. She was also ordered to pay $547,904 in restitution to her victims, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. According to her plea agreement, from October 2010 to November 2013, Ashley participated in a scheme to defraud the Employment Development Department, the state agency that administers the federal unemployment insurance program in California. Ashley and a co-conspirator registered fictitious companies with EDD, submitted false wage information for individuals who purportedly worked for the sham companies then fraudulently applied for and obtained unemployment insurance benefits in these individuals' names, prosecutors said. At least 10 victims had their Social Security numbers and dates of birth used without their permission, authorities said. When registering the business addresses of fake companies with EDD, Ashley listed addresses that she controlled or to which she had access. As a result of Ashley's fraudulent submissions, EDD directed a bank to mail debit cards to addresses that she listed for the fake claimants, according to prosecutors. In total, Ashley submitted about 40 fraudulent claims seeking more than $550,000 in unemployment insurance benefits, officials said. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont unveiled a new version of his "Medicare for All" plan on Wednesday, shaking up the 2020 presidential election by reopening the debate over his call to eliminate private health insurance. "It is not a radical idea to say that in the United States, every American who goes to a doctor should be able to afford the prescription drug he or she needs," Sanders said. "Health care is a human right, not a privilege." Four of Sanders' fellow senators and rivals for the Democratic nomination are set to sign onto the updated single-payer health care proposal. The bill's reintroduction promises to shine a bright light on Democratic presidential candidates' disparate visions for the long term future of American health care. Under fire from President Donald Trump and Republicans for the astronomical price tag of Medicare for All, some candidates who support the plan tout it as one of several ways to achieve more affordable coverage and lower the number of uninsured people. And others who don't back it are instead focusing on safeguarding popular provisions of the Affordable Care Act, such as the one that protects coverage of pre-existing conditions. "Of course, our No. 1 goal should be to make sure we keep in place those protections so people don't get kicked off their insurance," Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat who isn't signed onto Sanders' bill, told reporters on Tuesday. "Then we also have to see the Affordable Care Act as a beginning and not an end." Klobuchar supports a so-called public option, versions of which would allow Americans to buy into Medicare or Medicaid. Four other Democratic senators also running for president Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand back Sanders' single-payer plan, which would replace the current mix of private and government health insurance in the U.S. with a new system run by the government. But they also have signed onto at least one version of a public option. Warren pointed to "a lot of different pathways" to universal coverage during a televised CNN town hall last month: "What we're all looking for is the lowest cost way to make sure that everybody gets covered." The debate is unfolding in the early stages of a Democratic primary in which some candidates have pointed to their support of Medicare for All to prove their progressive bona fides. But other Democratic contenders, including former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, have criticized Sanders' measure as politically infeasible. Under Medicare for All, Americans would no longer pay premiums or face insurance deductibles as the government-run system replaced private health insurance offered through employers, the mainstay of coverage for more than 160 million Americans. Big tax increases would be needed to finance such a system. The transition is likely to be complicated, dismantling the private health insurance industry and making major changes for hospitals, doctors, drug companies and other medical providers. "What our system does is get rid of insurance companies and drug companies making billions of dollars in profit every single year," Sanders told CBS News for an interview set to air Wednesday, adding that private insurance would largely exist solely for elective medical care such as cosmetic surgery. With Sanders' idea returning to the forefront, Republicans have a fresh opportunity to slam his plan as too costly and unworkable. "So-called 'Medicare for All' means private insurance for none, kicking 180 million Americans off of their current plans," said Kayleigh McEnany, spokeswoman for Trump's re-election campaign. "'Medicare for all' is a euphemism for government takeover of healthcare, and it would increase wait times, eliminate choice, and raise taxes." She touted Trump's "free market policies" as a better alternative. Trump has said he will take up health care after next year's election , essentially making it a central campaign issue. And his administration is arguing in court for the full eradication of the Affordable Cart Act, former President Barack Obama's signature health care law, often called "Obamacare." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., warned in a Tuesday floor speech that the cost of Sanders' proposal "is so steep that even left-leaning analysts are quietly admitting that the tax burden is virtually certain to land on the shoulders of the middle class." Sanders' office released a paper outlining options to pay for his last version of Medicare for All, estimated to cost upward of $1 trillion per year, although none of those options was included in the legislation itself. He and other supporters of Medicare for All have generally sidestepped the question of how they would pay for their plan. Instead, they say it offers the best chance for the nation to get control over health care costs by eliminating profiteering. His newest edition of the bill also would cover long term care, an unmet need for most middle class families. Several independent studies of Medicare for All have estimated that it would dramatically increase government spending on health care, in the range of about $25 trillion to $35 trillion or more over a 10-year period. But a recent estimate from the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst suggests that the cost could be much lower. Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, noted the emphasis by most Medicare for All supporters on "multiple pathways" to universal coverage as a potential point of contrast and "fodder for debate" with Sanders, who is leading the Democratic field in early fundraising and is campaigning as a front-runner. "I think it really matters what you say to voters," Tanden said. "That's the most important thing." Her group has proposed a Medicare opt-out plan known as "Medicare for America," supported by former Texas congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, that would allow people to choose to keep employer-sponsored insurance. Earlier this year, a poll from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation found that Americans like the idea of Medicare for All but that support flips to disapproval if it would result in higher taxes or longer waits for care. Emboldened by the new conservative majority on the Supreme Court, anti-abortion lawmakers and activists in numerous states are pushing near-total bans on the procedure in a deliberate frontal attack on Roe v. Wade. Mississippi and Kentucky have passed laws that would ban most abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected which means as early as six weeks, when many women don't even know they're pregnant. Georgia could join them if Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signs a measure that has been sent to him, and similar bills are pending in at least eight other states with anti-abortion GOP majorities in their legislatures. Alabama may go further, with legislation introduced last week to criminalize abortion at any stage unless the mother's health is in jeopardy. The chief sponsor of the Alabama bill, Rep. Terri Collins, acknowledged that the measure like the heartbeat bills is intended as a direct challenge to Roe, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. "To me this is an issue the court simply got wrong years ago," said Collins, who hopes President Donald Trump's appointments of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court lead to reconsideration of Roe. Staci Fox, Atlanta-based CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast, said these bans are "blatantly unconstitutional and lawmakers know it they just don't care." The goal, she said, is to "challenge access to safe, legal abortion nationally." Activists and legal experts on both sides of the debate agree that getting a Supreme Court decision on such a defining case is unlikely any time soon. The bans may face difficulties just reaching the high court, given that Roe established a clear right to an abortion during the first three months of pregnancy. Kentucky's heartbeat law has been blocked for now by a federal judge; abortion-rights lawyers are seeking a similar injunction in Mississippi before the law there takes effect July 1. "The lower courts are going to find these laws unconstitutional, because the Supreme Court requires that outcome," said Hillary Schneller, an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights. However, some federal appeals courts around the country, such as the 5th Circuit, which covers Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, are viewed as having grown more conservative with the addition of Trump appointees. If even one circuit breaks with Roe v. Wade and upholds a heartbeat ban, that could be enough for the Supreme Court to take up the issue, said Justin Dyer, a political science professor at the University of Missouri. Alternatively, the high court could agree to hear any of several less sweeping anti-abortion measures. Some would tighten restrictions on clinics; others seek to ban certain categories of abortions. What might happen at the Supreme Court is far from clear. Legal experts are unsure what effect the Trump appointees might have, or where Chief Justice John Roberts stands in regard to Roe. Schneller said she is skeptical the reconfigured court will overturn or weaken Roe, as abortion foes are hoping: "Over 45 years, the court has had different compositions, and we've always gotten the same answer." Michael New, an abortion opponent who teaches social research at Catholic University of America, warned that it is impossible to predict what the court will do but said Kavanaugh's appointment "gives pro-lifers hope that legislation which offers more comprehensive protection to the unborn will receive a sympathetic hearing." Some anti-abortion groups have declined to endorse the heartbeat bills, signaling doubts about their prospects. Texas Right to Life has instead endorsed bills that would curtail late-term abortions and ban abortions based on a fetus' race, gender or disability. If the Supreme Court ever did overturn Roe v. Wade, states would presumably be left to decide for themselves whether abortion would be legal. The renewed challenges come as the number of abortions performed in the U.S. has steadily declined since reaching a peak of 1.6 million in 1990. The latest 50-state tally was 926,000 in 2014, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. The heartbeat bills in particular have alarmed many women. After Kentucky's governor signed the heartbeat bill, and before it was blocked, "we could feel the fear," said Marcie Crim of the Kentucky Health Justice Network, which runs a fund supporting women who opt to get abortions. "We had so many phone calls from people trying to save up the money for their procedure," Crim said. "They were thinking they were safe and could go get this done, and all of a sudden it was snatched away from them." For the moment, the spotlight is on Georgia, where Kemp is expected to sign the heartbeat bill soon despite high-profile protests. More than 50 actors, including Alyssa Milano, Alec Baldwin and Amy Schumer, threatened a campaign to pull Hollywood productions out of Georgia a hub for TV and movie projects if the ban is enacted. Other states where heartbeat bills have been filed and in some cases advanced include Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Louisiana and West Virginia. Associated Press writer Kim Chandler contributed to this report. A Florida man who went to a junior high school with a loaded gun after his son contacted him to say a teacher pushed him has been sentenced to nearly a year of house arrest. The Palm Beach Post reports 27-year-old Christopher Freeman pleaded guilty last month as part of a deal with prosecutors to possessing a weapon on school property. Palm Beach County School District police say Freeman's son video-called him in tears earlier last month, saying a teacher at Bear Lakes Middle School "slammed him." Freeman told police he then saw an adult grab the boy before the call ended. A police officer met with Freeman, who uses a wheelchair, when he arrived at the school. The officer reported seeing what appeared to be a gun sticking out of Freeman's pants. Police found a loaded AK-47 pistol during a search. What to Know Cpl. Robert Hendriks, 25, of Locust Valley, was one of three Americans killed in Monday's bombing near the main American base north of Kabul Christopher Slutman, 43, a 15-year FDNY vet and married father of 3 and Sgt. Benjamin S. Hines, 31, of York, Pennsylvania, were also killed The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack A U.S. Marine from Long Island has been identified as one of the three victims who was killed in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan, the same attack that claimed the life of a veteran New York City firefighter, The Department of Defense announced late Tuesday. Cpl. Robert Hendriks, 25, of Locust Valley, was one of the three Americans killed in Monday's bombing near the main American base north of Kabul, an attack for which the Taliban has claimed responsibility. Christopher Slutman, 43, a 15-year FDNY veteran and married father of three, was also killed in the attack. The third victim was identified as Sgt. Benjamin S. Hines, 31, of York, Pennsylvania. Slutman, who worked with Ladders 27 and 17 in the Bronx, is survived by his wife and three young daughters. Hendriks immediately went into the Marines after graduating from Locust Valley High School in 2012. His mother, Felicia, said she is proud of her son and that he was set to return home in a month. "He loved what he did and he always was willing to die for his country," she said in a statement. "He loved the service, he loved his country, and he was loved by everyone who knew him. Hendriks has a brother who is also in the Marines. Funeral arrangements are pending for the soldiers. They were assigned to 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve. In their claim of responsibility, the Taliban said they launched the attack and that one of their suicide bombers detonated his explosives-laden vehicle near the NATO base. The conflicting accounts could not be immediately reconciled. Monday's U.S. fatalities bring to seven the number of U.S. soldiers killed so far this year in Afghanistan, underscoring the difficulties in bringing peace to the war-wrecked country even as Washington has stepped up efforts to find a way to end the 17-year war, America's longest. There are about 14,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan, supporting embattled Afghan forces as they struggle on two fronts facing a resurgent Taliban who now hold sway over almost half the country and also the Islamic State affiliate, which has sought to expand its footprint in Afghanistan even as its self-proclaimed "caliphate" has crumbled in Syria and Iraq. Last year, 13 U.S. service members were killed in Afghanistan. We feel and mourn the loss of these Americans with their families and loved ones. They volunteered to protect their country. We will continue our mission, said Gen. Scott Miller, Commanding General of Resolute Support and United States Forces Afghanistan. What to Know A body found in the Caribbean is that of missing New York tourist Portia Ravenelle, Dominican Republic National Police confirmed Wednesday. Two bodies found after a car crash may be those of the missing NY couple who vanished on vacation in the Caribbean, police previously said Orlando Moore and his girlfriend, Portia Ravenelle, were supposed to return home March 27, but officials said they never made their flight UPDATE: Police Hope Brother Can Help Identify Body of 2nd Missing NY Tourist A body found in the Caribbean is that of missing New York tourist Portia Ravenelle, Dominican Republic National Police confirmed Wednesday. Police in the Dominican Republic said Tuesday the missing couple from New York who mysteriously vanished while vacationing in the Caribbean country were believed to be dead. Orlando Moore, 41, and his 52-year-old girlfriend Ravenelle, left Newark Liberty International Airport for a romantic getaway on March 23. They were supposed to fly back four days later. They never came home to Mount Vernon. Ravenelle was identified via fingerprints with the help of officials in the U.S. Embassy, according to the Dominican Republic National Police. At a news briefing late Tuesday, police in the Dominican Republic said a woman thought to be Ravenelle was found unconscious, with traumatic injuries to her body, on the side of a highway March 27, the day the couple had been expected to fly home. She died several days later from her injuries. Four days after the woman was found, a body resembling the characteristics of Moore was discovered in a car in the the Caribbean Sea, about 12 to 18 miles where authorities believe the couple got into a car accident on their way to the airport. They had rented a vehicle to make their way home; authorities haven't been able to recover the car from the water because of current conditions, but they expect it is the same vehicle the couple rented to drive to the airport. Authorities are awaiting the identity of the second body found. At a press conference Wednesday, Col. Frank Felix Duran Mejia, spokesman for the Dominican Republic National Police, said the state of decomposition of the second body has delayed its identification because its fingerprints could not be used. Authorities have since taken photographs of the tattoos on the body in hopes it will lead to a positive identification. What to Know An 80-year-old New York man has been arrested on charges that he killed two young women in a beach cottage nearly half a century ago Ernest Broadnax was arrested in New York City on Monday and faces two counts of second-degree murder and one count of rape in Virginia Friends Janice Pietropola and Lynn Seethaler were from the Pittsburgh area and had rented a cottage about a block from the Atlantic Ocean An 80-year-old New York man has been arrested on charges that he killed two young women in a beach cottage nearly half a century ago in Virginia, police said Tuesday. Ernest Broadnax was arrested in New York City on Monday and faces two counts of second-degree murder and one count of rape in Virginia Beach. The slayings occurred in the summer of 1973. Virginia Beach police did not say how they linked Broadnax to the killings. They said their cold-case unit began to pursue a "strong lead" last year and sought out "advanced forensic technology." Broadnax, who lives in New York City's Queens borough, is waiting to go through extradition in New York, police said. It's unclear if he has an attorney. For decades, the case haunted the coastal city in Virginia and the officers who launched the investigation. Friends Janice Pietropola and Lynn Seethaler were from the Pittsburgh area and had rented a cottage about a block from the Atlantic Ocean. Concerned when the two 19-year-olds missed their checkout time, an employee opened the door of their rented cottage, peered inside and discovered their bodies. Pietropola was shot three times in the right side of the head with a .22-caliber gun. She also was raped and strangled. Seethaler was shot twice in the right side of the head and face. Her neck was slashed with a wine bottle, and she also was strangled. Every available detective was put on the case. There were hundreds of interviews and thousands of communiques with police elsewhere. "We did everything we could," then-police Capt. William Haden told The Associated Press in 1998. "We flew in the helicopter, we searched rooftops, we climbed into manholes." During their week in Virginia, Seethaler and Pietropola met several men on the beach and had gone on dates. On two occasions, they invited some of their new acquaintances back to the cottage for beers. The contents of the women's purses had been dumped on the cottage floor, but robbery never was considered a motive. Police didn't know if the killer knew the women, or if the victims were picked at random. For Haden, the case became personal. The crime happened on his 31st birthday, and he said he felt as if the young women's parents had entrusted their daughters to his care. More than a decade after the killings, Haden flew to Los Angeles to investigate two suspects arrested on an unrelated crime whose names had surfaced in the Virginia Beach investigation. But he couldn't connect them to the slayings. "I have always referred to them as 'my girls,'" he said in 1998. "I still don't know why this case was so personal. There is no way I can describe that to you." Virginia Beach police said in their statement Tuesday that they never gave up. The cold case unit began "aggressively researching" a strong lead that came in last fall. They enlisted help from various law enforcement agencies, ranging from the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to units within the New York Police Department. "Their dedication and tenacity paid off," Virginia Beach police said. 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 House Judiciary Committee will prepare subpoenas this week seeking special counsel Robert Mueller's full Russia report as the Justice Department appears likely to miss an April 2 deadline set by Democrats for the report's release. The Judiciary panel plans to vote on subpoenas Wednesday, a day after the deadline. The chairmen of several House committees asked for the full, unredacted report last week after Attorney General William Barr released a four-page summary laying out the report's "principal conclusions." Barr said in a letter to the House and Senate Judiciary committees on Friday that a redacted version of the full 300 page report would be released by mid-April, "if not sooner." The planned committee vote, announced Monday morning, would not automatically issue subpoenas but authorize House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., to send them if he decides to do so. "As I have made clear, Congress requires the full and complete special counsel report, without redactions, as well as access to the underlying evidence," Nadler said in a statement. "Attorney General Barr has thus far indicated he will not meet the April 2 deadline set by myself and five other committee chairs, and refused to work with us to provide the full report, without redactions, to Congress." The vote comes as Democrats are escalating their battle with the Justice Department over how much of the report they will be able to see a fight that could eventually end up in court. Democrats have said they will not accept redactions and will almost certainly be unhappy with the amount of information provided by Barr when the department releases the report in the coming weeks. The panel will also vote Wednesday to authorize subpoenas related to a number of President Donald Trump's former top advisers, including strategist Steve Bannon, Communications Director Hope Hicks, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, White House Counsel Donald McGahn and counsel Ann Donaldson. Donaldson served as McGahn's chief of staff before both left the administration. The five were key witnesses in Mueller's probe of possible obstruction of justice and were sent document requests by the Judiciary panel last month. Nadler said he is concerned about reports that documents relevant to Mueller's investigation "were sent outside the White House," waiving executive privilege rights that would block document production. "To this end, I have asked the committee to authorize me to issue subpoenas, if necessary, to compel the production of documents and testimony," Nadler said. Nadler sent requests to 81 people connected to Trump's political and personal dealings as he launched a wide-ranging investigation into possible obstruction of justice, public corruption and abuses of power. Barr said in the letter Friday that he is scrubbing the report to avoid disclosing any grand jury information or classified material, in addition to portions of the report that pertain to ongoing investigations or that "would unduly infringe on the personal privacy and reputational interests of peripheral third parties." Democrats say they want all of that information, even if some of it can't be disclosed to the public. They are citing precedents from previous investigations involving presidents and also information disclosed about the Russia investigation to Republicans last year when they held the House majority. If the committee does issue subpoenas, the path forward is uncertain. If the administration decides to fight, lawmakers could ask federal courts to step in and enforce a subpoena a fight that could, in theory, reach the Supreme Court. Generally such disputes are instead resolved through negotiations. The Democrats could also formally ask Mueller to send the Judiciary committee evidence that could be used in possible impeachment proceedings against Trump. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, backed by the majority of her caucus, has said she's not currently supportive of impeachment. Barr wrote in his summary that the special counsel did not find that Trump's campaign "conspired or coordinated" with the Russian government to influence the 2016 presidential election. He said Mueller reached no conclusion on whether Trump obstructed the federal investigation, instead setting out "evidence on both sides" of the question. Barr himself went further than Mueller in his summary letter, declaring that Mueller's evidence was insufficient to prove in court that Trump had committed obstruction of justice to hamper the probe. Democrats say they want to know much more about both conclusions and they want to see the evidence unfiltered by Barr. Republicans have said the Democratic demands are overreach. "Judiciary Democrats have escalated from setting arbitrary deadlines to demanding unredacted material that Congress does not, in truth, require and that the law does not allow to be shared outside the Justice Department," said Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the Judiciary committee. What to Know A flag escort will accompany the body of Army Spc. Nicholas Peter DiMona III from Philadelphia International Airport to Marlton, New Jersey. DiMona, 20, died during a training exercise in Alaska. His father, also a soldier, himself died during a training accident in 2004. The procession will run along I-295. People will be able to pay their respects at various highway overpasses along the route. A 20-year-old New Jersey paratrooper killed during a training accident was honored with a flag escort as his body makes the 20-mile journey from Philadelphia to South Jersey on Wednesday. Army Spc. Nicholas Peter DiMona III was fatally shot during a drill at the Donnelly Training area near Fort Greely in Alaska on March 30. As his body arrived at Philadelphia International Airport and made the journey along Interstate 295 to a funeral home in Marlton, New Jersey, fire departments draped large American flags over freeway overpasses to honor the fallen soldier. The procession pssed through I-295 overpasses between exits 28 and 36. People wanting to pay their respects were able to gather along the Bell Road, Route 168, Warwick Road, Haddonfield Berlin Road, Kresson Road and Chapel Avenue overpasses. The procession ended at the Bradley Funeral Home. DiMona graduated from Shawnee High School in Medford Lakes and joined the Army in 2017, becoming a specialist and paratrooper. He was based at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. DiMona's own father, also a soldier, himself died during a training accident in 2004. At the time, DiMona was only 5 years old. Melissa DiMona remembers the last thing she said to her son before he took part in the live-fire training exercise in Alaska's interior. "I just said, 'Please Nick. Just be careful. Just be careful. I love you Nick. I love you,'" the heartbroken mother told NBC10. "And he's like, 'Mom, I love you, too. I'm always careful.'" Two hours after that phone call with her son, two men in uniform arrived at Melissa DiMona's home and delivered the devastating news. U.S. Army Alaska spokesman John Pennell said the investigation will look at anyone responsible for firing the fatal round. Editor's Note (April 13, 2019 3:30 p.m.): This story has been updated to reflect that a second son, Jeremiah, died after the fire. Days after a father and his 8-year-old son died in a Delaware County fire, family members were shocked and saddened to find that someone had vandalized their memorial. Ralph Freeman and his son, James, died when a fire broke out inside their Chester home in the predawn hours of Sunday morning. Freeman's 4-year-old son, Jeremiah, was rescued but later died from smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning. In the hours following the fatal fire, family, friends and neighbors began building a memorial for the father and son outside their home. Mourners placed candles, stuffed animals, balloons, posters of Spiderman and framed photos to remember the father and son. But days later, family found the memorial ransacked. "They broke the picture that was in the frame. They took teddy bears. They took the other pictures," said Piseitta Arrington, Freeman's sister and aunt to the boys. "I just don't understand people that don't have a heart. Just being cowards. This is just wrong." Freeman was a loving father who even made a makeshift backyard so his sons would have somewhere to play, said Khalif Ahissamaden, who told NBC10 he lived on the other side of the building for a period of time. "My brother was the glue for his children," Arrington said. Freeman had been living with his sons on the second floor of the building. The first floor was vacant commercial space. When firefighters arrived, they saw smoke coming out of the second floor and tried to rush in, but had a tough time entering because there was a lot of debris on the first floor blocking their path, Chester Fire Department Commissioner William Rigby said. Officials are still investigating what sparked the blaze. Family members remain hopeful that the youngest of the trio will make a full recovery. What to Know New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez announced the Fentanyl Sanctions Act, which would hold China accountable for their role in the opioid epidemic. The legislation would impose sanctions on China and Chinese entities who supply and support the trafficking of fentanyl. The Act would also allow new funding to law enforcement and intelligence agencies to fight foreign opioid trafficking. A local lawmaker is demanding accountability from China and their role in Americas opioid epidemic. On Monday, New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez announced the Fentanyl Sanctions Act. The federal legislation would impose sanctions on China and Chinese entities who supply and support the trafficking of fentanyl, a synthetic opiate 50 times more potent than heroin, in the United States. "Over the past five years, fentanyl poured into our country from China and saturated our communities with deadly consequences," Sen. Menendez, a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said during a press conference in Camden, New Jersey. Last summer, DEA agents raided a Chinese cargo ship at the Port of Philadelphia, discovering 110 pounds of fentanyl worth about $1.7 million. "If it had gotten in the street it would have killed an enormous amount of people," Menendez said. Under the legislation, companies producing fentanyl would be blacklisted from U.S. markets. The Act would also invest in port security and expand access to life-saving treatment while holding the Chinese government accountable for enforcing their recently announced ban on all fentanyl. "The bottom line is that we cannot simply take Chinas word for it when they say theyll crack down on fentanyl manufacturersespecially when American lives are at stake," Sen. Menendez said. "With the Fentanyl Sanctions Act, we can send a clear message to the Chinese government that says your actions will have consequences." The Act would also allow new funding to law enforcement and intelligence agencies to fight foreign opioid trafficking and establish a commission that would monitor U.S. efforts and report on more effective ways to fight the flow of synthetic opioids from China, Mexico and other countries. In 2018, 3,163 New Jersey residents died from an opioid overdose with 312 in Camden County. In 60% of those cases, fentanyl was to blame. The epidemic hit Camden city especially hard. "So far this year weve lost 63 Camden residents to an overdose," Camden County Freeholder Lou Capelli said. "Weve had 147 Narcan deployments." Camden also had 90 fatal overdoses in 2017, more than 2016 and 2015 combined, with fentanyl being the primary culprit, according to Camden County Metro Police Chief Scott Thomson. "We will continue our collaboration with state and federal law enforcement partners in the relentless pursuit of those trafficking this extremely lethal product to get this poison off our streets," Chief Thomson said. "And I want to thank our representatives for putting more resources into the effort." What to Know Police have arrested two suspects in a shooting at a middle school student's home in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Makael Bevins, 19, of Pottstown, and Ahnile Fountain, 19, also of Pottstown, were both taken into custody. Both teens are charged with attempted murder, firearms and related offenses. Bevins is also charged with gun violations. Police arrested two suspects in a shooting at a middle school student's home in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Makael Bevins, 19, of Pottstown, and Ahnile Fountain, 19, also of Pottstown, were both arrested Tuesday after warrants were issued for them last Thursday. Both teens are charged with attempted murder, firearms and related offenses. Bevins is also charged with gun violations. The arrests are in connection to a shooting at a house on the 500 block of West Street in Pottstown back on March 24. A 13-year-old girl had just finished dinner with her family when up to 15 bullets peppered their home. Bullets careened through windows and walls sending the family running for cover. Luckily, no one was hit. "As soon as my niece and kids came in here, bullets started flying," Marie Samba, the girl's mother, said. Samba believes her daughter was targeted and that she had been bullied by a group of girls at school since the family moved to the Montgomery County town from Philadelphia. After the arrests Tuesday, Samba told NBC10 one of the suspects was related to one of her daughter's bullies, though investigators have not confirmed this. "You think you were defending family members or whatever you were doing," Samba said. "Was it really worth your life?" Samba said she and her family have lived in fear since the shooting and had moved out of their home after it occurred. She also removed her children from Pottstown schools as a precaution. "Her 13 years of her life will always be remembered as this," Samba said. "That's the most heartbreaking part for me. This burden is on a 13-year-old heart." A spokesman for the school district confirmed with NBC10 that Samba's daughter and the girls had been fighting for several months prior to the shooting. He also said there was reason to believe the shooting was related to bullying accusations from the girl. Police have not revealed a motive for the shooting. Samba's daughter will receive a national anti-bullying medal at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Saturday morning. Samba also told NBC10 she and her family are finally moving back into their home. A $250,000 lottery prize is providing a ray of light for a North Carolina man battling stage 4 cancer. Richard Beare, of Charlotte, told the North Carolina Education Lottery that he rarely plays the lottery. But when Beare's wife asked him to buy a Powerball ticket two weeks ago when the jackpot "was so high," the retired mechanic decided to get some scratch-off tickets as well. He asked the clerk for four Carolina Black tickets. "The fourth one was the winner," Beare said in a news release from the states lottery. "When I saw that I had matching numbers, I asked her, 'What does it mean if I match the numbers?' She said it meant I won a prize. I told her, 'Well, I guess we just won $250,000 then.' She was in shock and just kept looking back and forth to me and the ticket." For Beare, who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer, the cash prize is "such a relief." He told the N.C. lottery he is planning to travel the world. "I want to travel while I can still enjoy myself," Beare said. "My wife has always wanted to go to Italy, since thats where her descendants are from. Now I can take her." According to the N.C. lottery, Beare took home $176,876 after state and federal tax withholdings. The $5 Carolina Black tickets launched in March with four top prizes of $250,000. The N.C. lottery said two prizes remain. What to Know NBC10 and Telemundo62 are hosting the first and only televised debate featuring the three Democrats running for Philadelphia mayor. Incumbent Mayor Jim Kenney and challengers former City Controller Alan Butkovitz and state Sen. Anthony H. Williams will face off. The debate will be moderated by NBC10 News anchor Jim Rosenfield. NBC10 and Telemundo62 are giving you an opportunity to hear from the Democrats running to be mayor of Philadelphia in the first and only televised mayoral debate featuring all the Democratic candidates. "The 2019 Philadelphia Debate for Philadelphia Mayor" will feature incumbent Mayor Jim Kenney and his challengers: former City Controller Alan Butkovitz and state Sen. Anthony H. Williams. It will be broadcast on May 13 at 7 p.m. from the Comcast Technology Center in Center City Philadelphia in front of a live audience of invited guests. The debate will be broadcast in English on NBC10 and in Spanish on TeleXitos, and livestreamed on all NBC10 and Telemundo62 digital platforms. After the debate has concluded, it will be available to watch on demand on NBC10.com and Telemundo62.com. It is hosted by NBC10, Telemundo62, The Philadelphia Inquirer and AARP Pennsylvania. NBC10 News anchor Jim Rosenfield will moderate the hour debate. Panelists include the Inquirers Sandra Shea and Telemundo62 anchor Iris Delgado. "NBC10 and Telemundo62 is proud to bring viewers the first and only televised debate featuring Philadelphia's Democratic mayoral candidates in partnership with The Philadelphia Inquirer and AARP," said Ric Harris, president and general manager of NBC10 and Telemundo62. "We are committed to serving the community by providing a forum in which the candidates will discuss the issues most important to citizens residing in Philadelphia." The winner of the May 21 Democratic primary is set to face defense attorney Billy Ciancaglini, who is running unopposed on the Republican ticket, in the November general election. 50+ Americans are the nations most powerful voting bloc and AARP members across the city of Philadelphia will be making their voices heard during this election season," said Bill Johnston-Walsh, AARP Pennsylvania State Director. "We encourage Philadelphians to learn where the candidates stand on issues that matter most to them." After losing in Congress, President Donald Trump is counting on the courts to kill off "Obamacare." But some cases are going against him, and time is not on his side as he tries to score a big win for his re-election campaign. Two federal judges in Washington, D.C., this past week blocked parts of Trump's health care agenda: work requirements for some low-income people on Medicaid, and new small business health plans that don't have to provide full benefits required by the Affordable Care Act. But in the biggest case, a federal judge in Texas ruled last December that the ACA is unconstitutional and should be struck down in its entirety. That ruling is now on appeal. At the urging of the White House, the Justice Department said this past week it will support the Texas judge's position and argue that all of "Obamacare" must go. A problem for Trump is that the litigation could take months to resolve or longer and there's no guarantee he'll get the outcomes he wants before the 2020 election. "Was this a good week for the Trump administration? No," said economist Gail Wilensky, who headed up Medicare under former Republican President George H.W. Bush. "But this is the beginning of a series of judicial challenges." It's early innings in the court cases, and "the clock is going to run out," said Timothy Jost, a retired law professor who has followed the Obama health law since its inception. "By the time these cases get through the courts there simply isn't going to be time for the administration to straighten out any messes that get created, much less get a comprehensive plan through Congress," added Jost, who supports the ACA. In the Texas case, Trump could lose by winning. If former President Barack Obama's health law is struck down entirely, Congress would face an impossible task: pass a comprehensive health overhaul to replace it that both Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Trump can agree to. The failed attempt to repeal "Obamacare" in 2017 proved to be toxic for congressional Republicans in last year's midterm elections and they are in no mood to repeat it. "The ACA now is nine years old and it would be incredibly disruptive to uproot the whole thing," said Thomas Barker, an attorney with the law firm Foley Hoag, who served as a top lawyer at the federal Health and Human Services department under former Republican President George W. Bush. "It seems to me that you can resolve this issue more narrowly than by striking down the ACA." Trump seems unfazed by the potential risks. "Right now, it's losing in court," he asserted Friday, referring to the Texas case against "Obamacare." The case "probably ends up in the Supreme Court," Trump continued. "But we're doing something that is going to be much less expensive than Obamacare for the people ... and we're going to have (protections for) pre-existing conditions and will have a much lower deductible. So, and I've been saying that, the Republicans are going to end up being the party of health care." There's no sign that his administration has a comprehensive health care plan, and there doesn't seem to be a consensus among Republicans in Congress. A common thread in the various health care cases is that they involve lower-court rulings for now, and there's no telling how they may ultimately be decided. Here's a status check on major lawsuits: "Obamacare" Repeal U.S. District Court Judge Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, ruled that when Congress repealed the ACA's fines for being uninsured, it knocked the constitutional foundation out from under the entire law. His ruling is being appealed by attorneys general from Democratic-led states to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. The challenge to the ACA was filed by officials from Texas and other GOP-led states. It's now fully supported by the Trump administration, which earlier had argued that only the law's protections for people with pre-existing conditions and its limits on how much insurers could charge older, sicker customers were constitutionally tainted. All sides expect the case to go to the Supreme Court, which has twice before upheld the ACA. Medicaid Work Requirements U.S. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington, D.C., last week blocked Medicaid work requirements in Kentucky and Arkansas approved by the Trump administration. The judge questioned whether the requirements were compatible with Medicaid's central purpose of providing "medical assistance" to low-income people. He found that administration officials failed to account for coverage losses and other potential harm, and sent the Health and Human Services Department back to the drawing board. The Trump administration says it will continue to approve state requests for work requirements, but has not indicated if it will appeal. Small Business Health Plans U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates last week struck down the administration's health plans for small business and sole proprietors, which allowed less generous benefits than required by the ACA. Bates found that administration regulations creating the plans were "clearly an end-run" around the Obama health law and also ran afoul of other federal laws governing employee benefits. The administration said it disagrees but hasn't formally announced an appeal. Also facing challenges in courts around the country are an administration regulation that bars federally funded family planning clinics from referring women for abortions and a rule that allows employers with religious and moral objections to opt out of offering free birth control to women workers as a preventive care service. What to Know San Diego researchers were the first to participate in the new model of conservation. The giant pandas born at the San Diego Zoo have helped to produce 22 additional giant pandas in China. The giant panda is still on the endangered species list but is less threatened than when the program began. Their fuzzy faces are endearing. Watching them chomp on bamboo or bask in the sunshine is downright captivating. For many locals and out-of-towners alike a visit to the San Diego Zoo is not complete without seeing the giant pandas. The San Diego Zoos successful 23-year giant panda conservation program is coming to an end and the beloved bears are being repatriated to China. The two giant pandas that live at the San Diego Zoo 27-year-old Bai Yun and her son, 6-year-old Xiao Liwu, will leave the facility on April 29. So, before then, panda enthusiasts may find that a visit to the San Diego Zoo is worth the trip. Panda Portraits: A Look Back at San Diego's Beloved Bears The San Diego Zoo announced that its last two remaining giant pandas will head to China. NBC 7's Melissa Adan has more on why they have to go. From the zoos entrance, there are several ways to get to Panda Canyon and Panda Trek, where the bears live. Grab a zoo map at a kiosk located just past the entrance and pick your path. Like birds? The Aviary Trail, if you follow the signs, will get you there. The Monkey Trail will get you there, too, with views of monkeys, hippos, and gorillas along the way. You could also ride the Alaska Airlines Skyfari East across the park, exit at the Skyfari West station and follow Park Way to get to the pandas. Whichever way you choose, wear comfortable shoes, as the zoo terrain, at times, can be a bit steep. You do have to trek to get to Panda Trek, but if a glimpse of the pandas is your mission, youll find its worth it. Once you get to the panda zone, make a beeline for the viewing line. This past Sunday, the wait to see Bai Yun and Xiao Liwu was about an hour long, but the path is shaded, with pretty landscaping, informative plaques, and plenty of photo opportunities. Once you get through a bit of the line, zoo staffers will take several photos of you against a green screen. On that green screen, your wildest panda dreams will come true: the zoos computers will superimpose the adorable bears onto the backdrop of your photos. Cup your hands in front of you and, like magic, a tiny panda will appear in your hands in your photograph. EFE Once you make it to the habitat, youll have a chance to gaze at a panda and snap a few photos. A zoo staffer will share fun facts about the bears. If youre lucky, youll lock eyes with one of the pandas probably while theyre in mid-chew, since snacking on bamboo is their highest priority and you will understand why people love the species and why they mean so much to San Diego. This past weekend, the San Diego Zoo launched the farewell tour for the pandas, a three-week celebration of the animals before they depart. Outside their enclosure, throughout Panda Canyon, youll spot signs of the imminent goodbye. Bob Hansen In the panda-themed gift shops just outside the Panda Trek, there are signs that read Giant Panda Celebration Sale, offering 10 percent off any giant panda merchandise purchase. Your support has helped make a difference for this much-loved species, some of the signs read. The San Diego Zoo is encouraging patrons to share their memories and hopes for the giant pandas on social media, too, using the hashtag, #pandas4ever. Monica Garske Over by the elevators off Park Way, theres an installation called the Giant Panda Friendship Wall. Patrons can buy a little bell at the gift shop to hang on that wall, with proceeds going toward panda conservation efforts. Rendering: Redundant Pixel Visitors are also invited to pick up a free tag to hang on the wall; you can write a message to the pandas on it if you wish. The tag features a drawing of two pandas on one side. On the other side, it reads: I love pandas. Together, we made a difference in saving pandas from extinction. San Diego Zoo Global and China have been collaborating on panda research and conservation of the species since 1996. The departure of the giant pandas marks the end of that program but, as the zoo said earlier this month, "the beginning of a new era of panda conservation at the San Diego Zoo." The facility is working with their colleagues in China to determine what those future plans may entail and if, someday, the pandas might return. Rendering: Redundant Pixel This past weekend, Chinese Ambassador Zhang Ping of the Peoples Republic of China Los Angeles Consulate toured the panda habitat alongside zoo leaders. He told NBC 7 that, on every level, the agreement between China and the San Diego Zoo has been a model of success. "They've done a very good job in panda research and conservation, so I think this is a very good thing for continuation of the program in the future," Zhang told NBC 7. Bai Yun and her son are the last two giant pandas to live at the San Diego Zoo, one of only a few zoos where giant pandas can be found in the United States. The zoos giant panda conservation program began more than two decades ago when the species was threatened with extinction. The San Diego Zoo's work with Bai Yun and her cubs has helped to boost the wild population of pandas in China to more than 2,000, according to the zoo. In 2016, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species changed pandas from endangered to vulnerable. In October 2018, Bai Yun's longtime mate, Gao Gao, was returned to the Chinese Center for Research and Conservation for the Giant Panda. The father of five cubs born at the San Diego Zoo, Gao Gao had been living at the zoo for 15 years as part of the long-term loan agreement with the Peoples Republic of China. That signaled the beginning of major moves for San Diego's panda family. The zoo said the departure of Bai Yun and Xiao Liwu was not unexpected, as the zoo's long-term conservation agreement with China was due to end. "Although we are sad to see these pandas go, we have great hopes for the future," Shawn Dixon, chief operating officer for San Diego Zoo Global said last month in a statement released to the media. The zoo plans to keep the panda enclosures intact, ready for a possible return someday because, in San Diego, if you're a panda, the door is always open. With the remaining giant pandas to leave the San Diego Zoo for China, many are wondering how it will impact business. NBC 7's Danny Freeman has more. For now, it's goodbye. And, as you leave the zoo's panda enclosure for the final time, you may feel a tiny lump in your throat. As a San Diegan, I know I did. For the past few years, as a mother of two little girls, our family has spent countless days at the zoo. Often times, those trips begin with a first-thing-in-the-morning visit to see the pandas. There, my 4-year-old likes to imagine how the pandas may have slept overnight, what they ate for breakfast, how they'll spend the rest of their day. She eagerly asks her baby sister for her opinion on the topics; baby sister smiles in return. And those memories, for me sweet panda faces and the delight theyve brought to my own curious cubs are conserved in my mind forever. U.S. Border Patrol agents found a man dead inside a Calexico canal, just hundreds of feet away from the U.S.-Mexico border. A man waving his arms next to the New Brair Canal was spotted by El Centro Sector agents using the departments Remote Video Surveillance System. Border Patrol responded to the scene near Barbara Worth Road where agents found a man pointing into the canal at another man who appeared to be unresponsive, Border Patrol said. Officials determined the two men were brothers attempting to illegally cross into the U.S. from Mexico, according to Border Patrol. The Border Search Trauma and Rescue Team removed the man from the New Brair Canal and attempted life-saving measures but were unsuccessful. Authorities pronounced him dead at the scene. The case was turned over to the Imperial County Sheriffs Coroners Office. The New Brair Canal is roughly 400 feet away from the U.S.-Mexico border. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the incident occurred at 9:18 p.m., though didnt specify the date. NBC 7 has reached out to CBP for clarification but has not received a response at this time. The San Diego Unified School District School Board unanimously voted to call for the resignation of trustee Kevin Beiser who is accused of sexual harassment and sexual assault. In a 4-0 vote, the board passed a resolution during Tuesdays meeting, calling on Beiser to resign. Though, it does not mean his resignation is mandatory. Moving forward, Beiser can decide to stay in office or step down -- or voters can force him out. We don't trust him. And as a trustee, when you lose the public's trust, it's time to go, said a member of the community, rallying outside the board meeting. Passes 4-0 SDUSD board votes to call Kevin Beiser to resign @nbcsandiego Danica McAdam (@DanicaTVNews) April 10, 2019 Beiser, who teaches for one local school district and serves as a school board member for another, was accused of sexual assault and sexual harassment by several men including one who filed a lawsuit on March 18. The lawsuit was filed by a former employee who accuses Beiser of sexual harassment, hostile work environment, gender violence, sexual battery, sexual assault and emotional distress. Mr. Beisers resignation is the only reasonable course of action, said SDUSD Board Vice President John Lee Evans in Tuesdays meeting. Nearly a dozen members of the community also voiced their concerns during the meeting. I am mad I am sad. And I am disappointed, said Ilka Weston, a concerned parent in the community. The San Diego Unified School District School Board is meeting for the first time since trustee Kevin Beiser was sued for sexual harassment. NBC 7s Rory Devine has more on a vote that could call for, but not force, Beisers resignation. The plaintiff who is identified as "John Doe" in the lawsuit spoke with NBC 7 and described being alone with Beiser in a bar in Washington, D.C. in June 2013. The next day, the plaintiff said he awakened in a hotel room and became aware he had been date-raped, according to the lawsuit. Doe would later work for Beiser on his school board campaigns and ask for his endorsement in his own political career. He told NBC 7 he had hoped Beiser would help him with his own political aspirations, but said Beiser "turned out to be a predator." SDUSD Board Vice President John Lee Evans says calling Beisers resignation is necessary. @nbcsandiego pic.twitter.com/1paBRBeHZI Danica McAdam (@DanicaTVNews) April 10, 2019 I cannot stand silent and see further abuse of young men that are trying to make a way in politics, Doe said. Another accuser told NBC 7 about a separate incident in Sacramento where Beiser allegedly touched the accuser's privates while the men rode in a cab. The contact was unwelcome and the accuser told Beiser to stop. It was abuse at a level that Im still trying to grabble with, the accuser said. Voice of San Diego reported on March 19 that several men had approached the news website with allegations of sexual misconduct involving Beiser. As sexual assault allegations came out against San Diego Unified School Board trustee Kevin Beiser, pressure mounted for his resignation. NBC 7's Rory Devine has more. In a statement released the day after the lawsuit was filed, Beiser told NBC 7, We were first made aware of these allegations less than 24 hours ago. There is no truth to these allegations. We believe they are politically motivated and we intend to vigorously defend ourselves. However, a report in the VOSD stated a former chair of the local Democratic Party and a member of the Democratic National Committee met with Beiser in January regarding rumors of sexual misconduct involving the school board trustee. [[508354551,C]] [[508354551,C]] Beiser, a Democrat, has represented District B on the school board since 2010. His current term expires in December 2022. NBC 7 has attempted to contact Beiser since the allegations were made public and local officials demanded his resignation. Beiser issued one written statement but has not responded to our requests for an interview. NBC 7's Rory Devine heard from Kevin Beiser's accuser. Beiser was on leave from his job as a math teacher at Castle Park Middle School, the spokesperson for the Sweetwater Union High School District said. The San Diego Unified School District told NBC 7, "As this matter will be handled by the courts, the district has no comment on the pending litigation." Maryland state health officials are implementing new ways of tracking the remains of body donors after a News4 I-Team investigation revealed what one administrator called a serious inventory control problem inside the state-run program. The changes are outlined in an internal assessment of the State Anatomy Board, which was initiated last October after revelations that at least one Maryland family was knowingly given the wrong ashes and another donors remains were mistakenly buried in a state cemetery. The program oversees thousands of bodies given to science each year. The assessment, obtained through an open records request, said the board is now exploring the use of electronic tracking methods of remains, among other improvements. A spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Health, which oversees the states body donation program, also said the Anatomy Board is moving to an automated material management system that will impose tighter controls on cremation authorizations. The changes come after the News4 obtained records indicating a former program director alerted state officials in late July 2018 about what he described as a "serious inventory control problem." Robert Wilk, who briefly served as head of the anatomy board last year, wrote that he learned of a case in which a former employee "used anatomical material from the lab to produce a body for cremation" and "wrongfully" obtained cremation approval before giving those ashes to a different donor's family. He also described discrepancies between the state boards records and those kept by a donor institution, leading to confusion over which bodies had already been cremated. The problems were so bad, Wilk continued, he had considered suspending the anatomy board after taking the helm. Wilk has since left the position. Maryland Department of Health officials immediately launched an investigation of the program, which manages the donated remains for scientific and medical research at both in and out-of-state institutions. The anatomy board reports to the Department of Health but is jointly run by the University of Maryland School of Medicine. A spokeswoman for the board told News4 the work group reviewed approximately 1,200 case files and found no other cases of mishandling donated remains. Maryland Sen. Paul Pinsky, a Democrat from Prince Georges County who chairs a committee that oversees the health department, called for a meeting with Anatomy Board officials earlier this year. He described the boards record-keeping system as very 19th century but said the agency has assured him that its systems are being fixed and future mix-ups will be avoided. "All the people around the table said it shouldn't have happened, [but] it did and we own it. These are the steps we're taking, Pinsky said. I feel they are pretty principled about it." But Carmen Keggins, the Ellicott City woman who learned she was given the wrong remains for her late husband, said shes still reeling from the news. Brian Keggins, a former engineer, died in 2015 from ALS and donated his body to science to help find a cure for his disease. Keggins initially was told that her husband was cremated in Maryland in November 2016, and she buried his remains the following summer in a family plot. But last August, Wilk the former board director provided her with a second box of ashes and records indicating her husband was cremated in North Carolina in July 2017. State officials have been unable to tell her, however, the identity of the person whose ashes she buried. She said she doesnt know whether to believe that the second set of ashes are really her husbands and hasnt been told by the Anatomy Board exactly what led to the confusion. I have to live with that, not ever knowing what really happened, Keggins said. And that kills me inside. Reported by Scott MacFarlane and Katie Leslie, produced by Katie Leslie, and shot and edited by Steve Jones. A local police chief misrepresented facts when dealing with state and city officials, according to a Maryland State Police investigative report obtained by the News4 I-Team. The mayor of District Heights, Maryland, asked investigators to conduct an independent review of how Police Chief Elliott Gibson Sr. handled hiring of the city's officers after a state audit noted problems including incomplete background checks, poor record keeping and officers hired against a psychologist's recommendation. "My concern is the safety of the citizens," Mayor Eddie Martin told the I-Team. Martin said city leaders will hold a public town hall meeting in a few weeks to discuss Gibson's future with the department and take a vote on whether to bring him back from suspension. City commissioners voted to place him on administrative leave with pay in December following the audit by the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commissions (MPCTC). The audit flagged two officers who failed a psychological exam and another whose polygraph raised questions about marijuana use. Gibson recommended all three for employment. He declined to go on camera but told the I-Team he does not think he misrepresented anything. The report recommended a finding of "sustained" for misrepresentation of fact, which is defined as "the submission or giving of a report or statement containing improper or inaccurate information." The investigation found Gibson "failed to ensure accurate information was provided to the MPCTC and the City of District Heights Council" and "further neglected to ensure all the MPCTC requirements were followed." "He just ignored the rules," Martin said. "You just can't do that as a chief of police and just say, 'Well, I'm going to do things my way.'" By phone, Gibson told the I-Team he later submitted documentation to correct the deficiencies in training records noted in the audit and improved the city's hiring and record keeping policies for the future. He said the officers were able to take additional psychological exams, which they passed. Concerns About 3 District Heights Officers Resolved In a meeting Wednesday, the MPCTC, which oversees police certifications for all officers in Maryland, said the city of District Heights has resolved its concerns about the records and the three officers and is now in compliance. All three officers are allowed to continue working. The MPCTC did not address any issues regarding the police chief or the Maryland State Police investigation. The mayor said all of the city commissioners have read the MSP investigative report and he will likely schedule the town hall meeting to discuss it at the end of the month. Gibson told the I-Team he considers the whole matter to be a personal attack from the mayor and hopes he will be reinstated now that issues regarding the records and the officers have been resolved. For the second time in less than a month, a student has been caught with a gun at La Plata High School, according to the Charles County Sheriffs Office. About 10:40 a.m. Wednesday, a student told a school administrator a 14-year-old boy showed her a bullet, according to a letter from the principal to parents. The boy was found to be in possession of a handgun and bullets, and a school resource officer removed him from the school. He faces school punishment that could include expulsion. Why the student had the gun and ammunition is under investigation. The student was charged as a juvenile with several charges, including possession of a weapon on school property, possession of a loaded handgun and carrying a concealed dangerous weapon, the sheriffs office said. Due to his age and other circumstances, he cant be charged as an adult, but in an incident last month, 16-year-old Kristopher Alexander Raul McDonald was charged as an adult with several charges, including possession of a weapon on school property, possession of drugs with intent to distribute while armed, loaded handgun on person and carrying a concealed dangerous weapon. A teacher called a school administrator March 19 with suspicions McDonald was on drugs, according to the sheriffs office. He was carrying a loaded gun and a container of pot brownies. There was no evidence he intended to use the gun. La Platas principal said their director of school safety and security will meet with students to discuss school safety. Parents and guardians are invited to a meeting in the La Plata auditorium at 7 p.m. April 16 to discuss these gun incidents and offer feedback about possible solutions. About 100 firefighters knocked out a blaze at a Honda dealership in Montgomery County, Maryland, that caused upwards of $1.6 million in damage. Montgomery County Fire and Rescue said the fire broke out about 10 p.m. inside the maintenance area of the dealership on Automobile Boulevard in Silver Spring. Firefighters evacuated the building. One firefighter suffered a minor injury, Montgomery County fire says. Video from Chopper4 shows dozens of firefighters working in the service area of the building. Flames started to come through the walls and roof and smoke billowed out of the windows. Firefighters were expected to be at the scene "for quite a period of time," fire officials said on Twitter. Electric work was ongoing in the building, but the specific cause is still under investigation, firefighters say. Stay with News4 and NBCWashington.com for updates to this developing story. A high school theater instructor in Fairfax County, Virginia, was arrested on charges that he filmed a woman with a hidden camera, police say. Raphael Schklowsky, 36, is the theater director at Herndon High School. Police say he was charged with four misdemeanor counts of unlawful filming after a woman reported she found a hidden camera in an air conditioning vent at a home where she was working on Cranberry Lane in Reston. Schklowsky was held on a $5,000 bond. President Donald Trump and White House allies pressing for a harder line on immigration sped up their campaign Monday to clean house at the Department of Homeland Security with a mission far wider than just the departure of Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. The dismantling of the government's immigration leadership is being orchestrated by Trump adviser Stephen Miller, the impetus behind some of the administration's most controversial policies, according to three people familiar with the matter. Beyond changing names and faces, Trump is considering separating migrant families at the border again, resuming the practice that drew so much outrage last year, the same people said. The shake-up is a result of Trump's frustration with the increasing number of migrants at the border and his diminishing options for action. Court challenges, immigration laws and his own advisers have blocked several of his proposals as his re-election campaign looms. The White House has lashed out by demanding new leadership, although a new team is likely to face the same obstacles. The head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, L. Francis Cissna, and Homeland Security General Counsel John M. Mitnick are expected to be pushed out of their positions, the officials said. Nielsen submitted her resignation Sunday after meeting with Trump at the White House, and three days earlier, the administration withdrew the nomination of Ron Vitiello to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Other longtime civil servants in agency posts are also on the chopping block, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Adding to the turmoil, the director of the Secret Service is being forced out of his job, but that departure is said to be unrelated to the immigration upheaval. Leading senators from both parties were displeased. "The purge of senior leadership at the Department of Homeland Security is unprecedented and a threat to our national security," declared Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California. "President Trump is trying to remake DHS into his own personal anti-immigration agency." Republican Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, criticized Congress for a crisis at the border but also said, "I am concerned with a growing leadership void within the department tasked with addressing some of the most significant problems facing the nation." Nielsen has dutifully carried out the administration's orders but often had to explain to Trump the legal limits of what he wanted to do. And he didn't like it. She did months of diplomatic work with Central America and Mexico and brokered an arrangement in which asylum seekers were to wait in Mexico for their asylum cases to play out, an effort meant in part to discourage false claims. She moved to abandon long-standing regulations that dictate how long children are allowed to be held in immigration detention and was working to find space to detain all families who cross the border . She limited what public benefits migrants can receive and put regulations in place to circumvent immigration law and deny asylum to anyone caught crossing the border illegally. And she took ownership over the most divisive of all the decisions, the separation of families at the border. Nearly everything has been challenged or watered down by the courts. Just Monday, a judge blocked the administration from forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico, giving lawyers a few days before putting the block into effect. "DHS is really between a rock and hard place," said Doris Meissner, the former commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and fellow at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. There are some options not yet exhausted by Trump, including giving judges more deference in asylum cases and allocating more resources to diminish backlogs, she said. But the White House has shown little interest in those ideas because they conflict with its assessment that those seeking refuge are trying to cheat the system. Nielsen finally had enough and resigned Sunday, in part because she hadn't been informed about the sudden decision to withdraw Vitiello's nomination, according to people familiar with her decision. She was also pushing back at an effort to house an "immigration" or "border czar" within Homeland Security, they said. She wanted the person to be based at the White House and help coordinate immigration policy between the Justice Department, Health and Human Services and DHS, all of which have a piece of the complex puzzle. But the people said Miller was pushing to house the czar at DHS, in part over frustration with the rising number of migrants. There were more than 100,000 expected in March, border officials said, the highest tally in 12 years. Trump announced Sunday that Kevin McAleenan, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, would take over for Nielsen at Homeland Security on an acting basis. McAleenan had impressed Trump's inner circle, specifically son-in-law Jared Kushner, with his extensive border knowledge. Trump spokesman Hogan Gidley expressed hope that McAleenan's experience would lead to "massive changes" at the border. But McAleenan is not an ideologue or politician. He refers to migrants as "vulnerable families" who need more humanitarian treatment, not as beefy dudes with tattoos trying to game the system, as Trump suggests. He's pushed for asylum changes to make screenings faster and cases decided more rapidly. Democrats said McAleenan should have told them about the death of a child in U.S. custody in December, but he largely has escaped the ire over family separations even though it was his agency that separated the children. Gil Kerlikowske, who led Customs and Border Protection from 2014 to 2017, said illegal crossings can go up and down on a number of factors that are difficult to predict. He noted that stepped-up Mexican enforcement helped end a surge of Central American families coming to the U.S. in 2014. "I don't envy anybody in that position because these are policies that are White House policies, not DHS," said Kerlikowske, who promoted McAleenan to be his top deputy. "I couldn't have been more disappointed" to see Vitiello's nomination pulled, he said, describing Vitiello as "a 30-year Border Patrol, deputy chief and you're saying, 'Well, you're not really tough enough?' I find that kind of amazing." Trump has seemed to be grasping at anything to stem the tide of migrants. That includes reinstating family separations, a policy that previously prompted international outrage and could mean he would have to violate his own executive order and possibly run afoul of a federal judge overseeing reunifications. The government just said in court filings it would take up to two years to reunify all the children already separated from their families. "The administration has been well beyond the bounds of the law for some time with respect to asylum and family separation. There's no place for them to go that won't continue to break the law," said Lee Gelernt, the American Civil Liberties Union official whose lawsuit on behalf of a separated mother led to the reunifications. Nielsen's departure threw into sharp focus just how few full-time leaders are at the sprawling department of more than 240,000 people. There's no confirmed secretary, no deputy secretary, no head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, no formal head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, no head of Customs and Border Protection once McAleenan moves over, and no head of the science and technology branch. In addition, the deputy undersecretary for management at the agency, Claire Grady, will have to be moved aside for Trump to install McAleenan as acting secretary. Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Zeke Miller, Catherine Lucey and Elliot Spagat contributed to this report. Looks like Kim Kardashian may be following in her fathers footsteps. According to a profile in Vogue, the "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star is studying to become a lawyer. And she started a four-year apprenticeship at a San Francisco-based law firm last summer. The name of the firm was not divulged in the article. Kardashian West played a role in the release of 63-year-old Alice Marie Johnson, who had been jailed in an Alabama prison on non-violent drug charges, even meeting with President Donald Trump, who eventually granted Johnson clemency. Trump even invited Kardashian West to the State of the Union address. "The White House called me to advise to help change the system of clemency, she told Vogue, "and Im sitting in the Roosevelt Room with, like, a judge who had sentenced criminals and a lot of really powerful people and I just sat there, like, Oh, s__. I need to know more." Kardashian West spoke to Vogue about the impact Alice Marie Johnson had on her life. Heres a grandmother who took part in her first-time nonviolent offense and received the same sentence as Charles Manson. I just thought, This is so wrong and so bizarre, and how could that be? I sent it to my attorney and said, What can we do? Does she need better lawyers? Johnsons release and the passage of a bipartisan criminal justice-reform legislation was a turning point for Kardashian West: I never in a million years thought we would get to the point of getting laws passed. That was really a turning point for me. She added: "I would say what I had to say, about the human side and why this is so unfair. But I had attorneys with me who could back that up with all the facts of the case. Its never one person who gets things done; its always a collective of people, and Ive always known my role, but I just felt like I wanted to be able to fight for people who have paid their dues to society." The Vogue article also talks about how Kardashian West was close to her father, the late Robert Kardashian, who was a member of O.J. Simpsons legal defense team. Kardashian West plans to take the bar in 2022. Turns out that in four U.S. states, California included, one doesnt need to attend law school to take the bar exam. Shes working with CNN commentator, activist and attorney Van Jones and attorney Jessica Jackson, co-founders of a criminal justice reform group called #cut50, to complete her studies, with the goal of taking the bar in 2022. Whats the hardest part? Torts. Kardashian West said torts is the most confusing, contract law the most boring and criminal law, "I can do in my sleep." Information from the Associated Press was included in this report. A federal magistrate has ordered a 23-year-old man charged with lying to federal agents about being a missing child from Illinois continue to be held without bond. U.S. Magistrate Karen Litkovitz said Tuesday she considers Brian Michael Rini, of Medina, Ohio, a flight risk because of a long criminal history, mental health issues and lack of a permanent address. She scheduled a preliminary hearing for April 19. Rini was charged last week after DNA tests ruled him out from being Timmothy Pitzen. The Aurora, Illinois, child disappeared in 2011 at age 6. Police picked up Rini on Wednesday morning after a report of someone wandering the streets of Newport, Kentucky. They said he told them that he was Timmothy and that he had escaped two kidnappers after years of sexual abuse. Police took him to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for treatment and testing. Federal authorities have said they were skeptical, especially after he refused to be fingerprinted, but didn't want to miss a chance to possibly solve the Pitzen disappearance. The FBI said DNA testing ruled him out as Timmothy and established his identity as a convicted felon who twice before claimed to be a juvenile sex trafficking victim. Timmothy vanished around the time of his mother's suicide. She left a note saying that her son was safe with people who would love and care for him, and added: "You will never find him." Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has released her tax return for 2018, reporting that she and her husband paid more than $200,000 in taxes on a joint income of about $900,000 last year. The move by the senator from Massachusetts on Wednesday follows similar tax return disclosures from fellow presidential candidates Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. Their front-running rival for the party's 2020 nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, has vowed to release his tax returns by Monday amid political pressure. Warren, who previously posted a decade's worth of tax returns online, has proposed legislation that mandates the public disclosure of tax returns for presidential and vice presidential candidates and for sitting White House occupants. "I've put out eleven years of my tax returns because no one should ever have to guess who their elected officials are working for," Warren said in a statement. "Doing this should be law." Warren and her husband, Bruce Mann, jointly reported a gross income of about $900,000 on their return, with Warren reporting income of $176,280 for her job as senator and about $325,000 from her writing career. Warren has penned 11 books, including several as a law professor before entering politics. Mann, a professor at Harvard Law School, earned more than $400,000. The couple also claimed a small tax credit for the installation of residential solar electricity equipment. Among the other Democratic presidential candidates who have released past tax returns as they seek the party's nomination to take on President Donald Trump is Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. Trump broke with tradition in 2016 by not voluntarily releasing his tax returns. He routinely says he's under audit, but there is no rule prohibiting taxpayers under audit from releasing their tax returns. House Democrats are seeking Trump's tax returns as part of investigations into his business dealings and his Republican presidential campaign. One of Trump's lawyers claims the Internal Revenue Service can't legally release the information. Maine's state legislature could be taking up another proposal for "death with dignity," or physician-assisted suicide. On Wednesday, the legislature's joint committee for Health and Human Services held a hearing on the bill known as L.D. 1313. Committees have sent similar bills to the full house and senate that have been rejected. Im here to talk a little bit about death and how personal that is for people, began Maine State Rep. Anne Carney of Cape Elizabeth in her testimony. Carney shared a personal story about relatives who she thinks would have suffered less in their final days if they had assisted suicide. Other representatives and members of the public shared similar stories about relatives who they say died painfully of diseases like cancer as their organs failed. The worst part for her wouldve been the loss of dignity, said Kayla Miller, whose mother lost a battle with cancer after advocating for one of the original death with dignity plans. The latest iteration of an assisted suicide proposal would allow someone 18 years old or older suffering from a terminal disease to request life-ending medication from a doctor. The patient must make one written and two oral requests for death with dignity. They must also get a second opinion from a physician and fulfill other requirements. Those extra steps are reassuring for Rep. Deane Rykerson, a Democrat from Kittery who watched his 91-year-old mother starve herself to death and says no one should go through a similar experience. I think its a caring bill, he said. But other lawmakers and religious activists who see suicide as violating a right to life disagree with L.D. 1313s supporters. Representative Jeff Hanley, a Republican from Pittston, says assisted suicide is a slippery slope and could lead to an increase in overall suicides and prompt family members to gently conspire to move someone along for financial gain. A key player in the assisted suicide debate, Gov. Janet Mills, has not taken a stance on the issue yet, according to staff reached by email Wednesday. Spokeswoman Lindsay Crete did say the governors office was monitoring the proposal. If the legislature and governor were to approve the death with dignity plan, Maine would become the second New England state to allow physician assisted suicide. Vermont approved a similar law to that proposal in 2013. The three U.S. Marines who were killed in a roadside bombing of an American convoy in Afghanistan on Monday were based at Fort Devens. Staff Sgt. Christopher Slutman, 43, of Newark, Delaware; Sgt. Benjamin Hines, 31, of York, Pennsylvania; and Cpl. Robert Hendriks, 25, of Locust Valley, New York were killed after their convoy hit a roadside bomb near the main U.S. base just north of Kabul. They were assigned to the 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division of the Marine Corps Reserve, based at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. Slutman was a 15-year veteran of the New York City Fire Department. He is survived by his wife and three daughters. The U.S. and NATO Resolute Support mission said the bomb hit the convoy near Bagram Airfield, the main U.S. base in Afghanistan. The Taliban said they launched the attack and that one of their suicide bombers detonated his explosives-laden vehicle near the NATO base. The conflicting accounts could not be immediately reconciled. Monday's attack brings the number of U.S. soldier fatalities in Afghanistan so far this year to seven. Thirteen U.S. service members were killed last year in the country. The city of Framingham has cleared the way for a marijuana-infused ice cream maker, among other cannabis businesses. MetroWest Daily News reports that Cloud Creamery, an ice cream producer run by Boston chef David Yusefzadeh, passed the city's screening process. Yusefzadeh reportedly plans to make cannabis-infused ice cream for hospitals, other medical facilities and dispensaries. The city also green-lit Cultivate Holdings, LLC and Innovative Flower, LLC, both dispensaries, and Caregiver-Patient Connection, a marijuana grower and product manufacturer, according to MetroWest Daily News. All four businesses will now negotiate host community agreements with the city. The city instated a cap of six on the number of dispensaries that can open in the city last year. Now, only two more dispensaries can be approved. This law does not apply for other marijuana-related businesses. The two Massachusetts women caught on video fighting in the middle of three lanes of traffic on Route 128 in Danvers last month will now both be facing a judge. Susan Lavoie, 64, of Beverly had nothing to say as she left Salem District Court on Wednesday following a magistrate hearing. The court found probable cause to go forward with both the assault and battery and disorderly conduct charges against her. But court records show witnesses told police Lavoie was not the instigator, and she immediately came forward to police after seeing the video of herself on the news. Catherine Bergen, 33, of Gloucester seen in the video pulling on Lavoies car door faces a handful of charges, including assault and battery on a person over 60 causing injury, stopping on a state highway and reckless driving. Bergen did not answer the door at her house on Wednesday, and police say she did not come forward after the incident - they had to track her down. Police reports indicate both women eventually admitted their involvement in the road rage incident and admitted shoving and slapping each other, with both saying they suffered minor scrapes and bruises. State police filed an "immediate threat" notice with the RMV against both Bergen and Lavoie. Both women are scheduled to be arraigned in Salem District Court on April 24. A severely emaciated pit bull has a long recovery ahead of her after she was found stumbling around a Manchester, New Hampshire park, according to animal shelter officials. The Granite State Dog Recovery picked up a dog they named "Daisy" from Livingston Park on Monday, according to a Facebook post from the Manchester Animal Shelter. The dog was reportedly found with urine burns on her skin and she smelled strongly of urine at the time of her discovery. Due to Daisys condition upon finding her, officials believe she may have been kept in confinement in a crate or kennel before she was rescued. The dog, who weighs only a third of what her weight should be, was rushed to the Veterinary Emergency Center of Manchester for treatment. She was found with a faint blood pressure due to her malnutrition and dehydration, authorities said. Daisy has since been receiving IV fluids while she recovers and has been wrapped in warming blankets in an effort to regulate her temperature. She has so far made small victories in her recovery, such as being able to eat a few small meals and being able to walk a bit on her own. The pooch is currently in stable condition, according to the Manchester Animal Shelter. The Manchester Animal Control is investigating the animal abuse case. Officials are unsure who she belonged to or where she came from. Anyone who recognizes the dog or who has information on her mistreatment is encouraged to contact Manchester Animal Control at 603-668-8711 or the Granite State Dog Recovery at 1-855-639-5678. A new study has found some small cities in New England to be some of the least diverse in the country. According to a study by WalletHub - which ranked 501 cities in the U.S. based on socioeconomic, cultural, household and religious diversity - Bangor, Maine is the second least diverse city in the country, with only Provo, Utah ranking below. Rochester and Keene, New Hampshire also made it into the bottom 10 list at ranks fourth and fifth, respectively, followed by Barre, Vermont at number six and Westbrook, Maine at number nine. Of the bottom 50 cities, 42% were cities in New England, the majority of which were in Maine, with a few others in Vermont and New Hampshire. In the five least racially and ethinically diverse cities, Laconia, New Hampshire, and Bennington and Barre, Vermont claimed ranks third, fourth, and fifth. In contrast, Boston, Massachusetts was ranked the 20th most diverse large city, with Stamford and Bridgeport, Connecticut making the top 10 most diverse mid-sized cities and Danbury and Norwalk, Connecticut ranking fourth and fifth for the most diverse small cities. A former Vermont lawmaker is going on trial for the third time on a sex crimes charge. Former state Sen. Norm McAllister is set to go on trial Thursday on a misdemeanor count of prohibited acts for allegedly setting up his tenant to have sex with an acquaintance to pay her electric bill. He was initially convicted of the charge, but he appealed and in November the state Supreme Court granted him a new trial. The jury was chosen on Tuesday. He continues to maintain his innocence. McAllister was arrested in 2015, but other charges against him were dismissed. He was suspended from the state Senate and later lost a re-election bid in the 2016 primary. An agreement announced Wednesday between the state of Vermont and the owner of a closed industrial site blamed for contaminating drinking water supplies should bring relief to a few hundred homeowners in the Bennington area. Weve reached a result we can all be proud of, said Peter Walke, the deputy secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources. Walke and other state leaders announced a final agreement with the company Saint-Gobain to bring clean water to contaminated properties on the east side of Bennington. Clean drinking water is a basic human right, and the people of Bennington County deserved it, said Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan. For three years, many in the area have been drinking bottled water and cooking with filtered water, because a manmade chemical known as PFOA was found to have crept into private water wells. The old factory blamed for the contamination used that chemical to produce non-stick fabrics. Depending on the amount of exposure, the substance has been linked to health problems like low birth weights and certain types of cancer. I always took it for granted that I had clean drinking water, remarked Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington County. And when I see people just down the street from me without clean drinking water, its pretty scary. A previous deal saw Saint-Gobain paying roughly $20 million to extend safe municipal water lines to more than 200 Bennington properties whose wells were affected, like Ellen LaPlantes place. Im really proud to be a Vermonter, and having such high standards for our water, LaPlante told necn in December of 2017 when a new water line started piping safe drinking water to her home. Under the agreement announced Wednesday, theres going to be another $20-25 million of construction this year and next. Saint-Gobain will cover most of it, state officials said, but the state will chip in about a fifth of the price of laying new water pipes to 200-plus homes and businesses. That safe municipal supply cant reach everyone, though, so some people will have fresh wells dug. They will be dug deeper, to where the groundwater is uncontaminated, Walke explained. Walke read a written statement provided to him from Saint-Gobain, which said it is pleased to have reached the agreement with the state. In the statement, the company pledged to continue to work collaboratively with state and local officials as the construction work gets underway. Gov. Phil Scott, R-Vermont, thanked residents of Bennington and North Bennington for their patience. I dont want to discount the amount of turmoil this has cost Bennington and those community members, because theyve suffered through this, the governor told reporters. Theyre suffering through this today. Itll be a couple years for some of them to get the water lines they deserve. Gov. Scott also thanked the administration of his predecessor, Gov. Peter Shumlin, D-Vermont, and the states previous attorney general, Bill Sorrell, for their work in the early days of the contamination emergency. Sen. Sears noted that the agreement announced at the Vermont State House Wednesday does not affect a separate class-action lawsuit, where homeowners are seeking money for changes in their property values, medical expenses, and other costs. The man who was indicted for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 23-year-old woman in January was back in court Wednesday for a detention hearing. Victor Pena, 38, of Charlestown, Massachusetts was indicted by a grand jury on one count of kidnapping and 10 counts of aggravated rape. Attorneys completed producing evidence on Wednesday and will be back in court for further arguments on Thursday. Pena's first encountered the woman as she left a Boston bar, according to officials. Pena then took her to his apartment, where he held her captive for three days before authorities found her. Prosecutors revealed disturbing details on the woman's abduction at Pena's latest court appearance. They said he told the victim the two were going to start a family together and that he "rescued" her. Prosecutors said the woman was sexually assaulted multiple times during her capture. Pena's attorney, William Barabino, said his client has mental health issues and denies the claims. The suspect's brother defended Pena and said he has the mental capacity of a teenager. Barabino said Pena has the mental capacity of a 12-year-old and he is working on getting him evaluated. The suspect pleaded not guilty to the charges. Pena has been held without bail since his Jan. 22 arrest. What to Know A wrongful death lawsuit against Michelle Carter that was filed by Conrad Roy III's family has been resolved. In 2017, Carter, now 22, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Roy's 2014 death. She's currently serving her 15-month sentence. The case shined a spotlight on teenage depression and suicide, and prosecutors revealed disturbing texts between the couple. The wrongful death lawsuit brought against the Massachusetts woman convicted of sending her suicidal boyfriend a series of text messages urging him to kill himself has been resolved. Michelle Carter was convicted in 2017 of involuntary manslaughter in the 2014 death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III. The 22-year-old Plainville woman, 17 at the time of Roy's death, began serving a 15-month sentence in February after the state's highest court upheld her conviction, saying her actions caused Roy's death. Eric Goldman, an attorney for Roy's mother, Lynn Roy, told NBC10 Boston the case has been "resolved" but declined to provide details. "I can confirm that the case has been resolved and a stipulation of dismissal was filed with the court. I am unable to provide additional information," he said in an email. Carter's attorneys, who have said they plan to take their client's conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court, also refused comment. Roy, of Mattapoisett, killed himself by filling his pickup truck with carbon monoxide in a Fairhaven parking lot. When he had second thoughts about killing himself, Carter texted him to "get back in" the truck. The case gained international attention as it shined a spotlight on teenage depression and suicide, as both Carter and Roy struggled with depression. Prosecutors revealed disturbing text messages during Carter's trial that showed her pushing Roy to end his life and rebuking him when he was reluctant. "You keep pushing it off and say you'll do it but u never do. It's always gonna be that way if u don't take action," Carter texted Roy on the day he died. While issuing a guilty verdict in her bench trial, the juvenile court judge emphasized that Carter should have called police or Roy's family instead of telling her boyfriend to get back inside the truck as it was filling with carbon monoxide and listening on the phone as he died. If you are in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or reach out to the Crisis Text Line by texting 'Home' to 741741. The Animal Welfare Society, Inc. in New Milford has broken ground for its much-needed expansion. Work will soon begin on a 1,300-square-foot expansion and renovation project at the 8 Dodd Road facility, where a groundbreaking ceremony was held April 2. Its beautiful.amazing, said 11-year volunteer Carla Kazanjian of Woodbury when she and other guests saw the plans designed by Architecture Design Alliance in New Milford. An addition will be constructed in front of the existing building that was built in 1991. It will connect to the current building which will be completely renovated. The project will allow for a larger reception area, a conference room, healthy hold and cat maternity areas, a new grooming space and an exam room that will eventually have a surgical space. The existing kitchen and kennels will be renovated. Janet Bloch, AWS president, said plans for a renovation began in 2008 but were shelved temporarily until a grant three years ago afforded the shelter the opportunity to begin architectural plans. The shelter learned in the fall that funds from the Cheryl Kupper Trust would provide the organization the necessary means to move forward with the long-awaited project. This is a very exciting time for us, Bloch said to a crowd of shelter volunteers, supporters, town officials and guests at the ceremony. The expansion will help our cats and dogs maintain and excel in excellent health and care, she said. Bloch acknowledged patience will be needed during the construction process, which is expected to take about seven months. Gratitude to major donor - and all others who have donated. If youre driving by in July and August, stop by and buy the staff ice cream, she quipped. The shelter will remain open during construction. The Prevention Council of Bridgewater, Roxbury and Washington will distribute free copies of the New York Times best-selling book Beautiful Boy to residents who wish to read it. In addition, a screening of Beautiful Boy will be shown May 5 at 4 p.m. at Shepaug Valley School in Washington Steep Rock Association in Washington is seeking volunteers to help monitor its preserves boundaries April 20 from 8:30 a.m. to noon. The land trust has more than 30 preserves scattered throughout town. They range from wetlands to mixed hardwood forest; some are old apple orchards while old growth forests and glacial boulder fields dominate others. The one thing they all have in common is that SRA must walk their boundaries annually, monitoring the preserves for ecosystem health, signs of trespass, and presence of wildlife. Volunteers will participate in indoor training at 8:30 a.m. at 116 Christian St. in New Preston, where they will learn how to use a smartphone as a GPS, what to look for at the preserves and how to mark and record findings. Volunteers will then be sent out to the preserves and return later to discuss their findings and have lunch. Terrain and hiking difficulty vary widely. Participants will have the option to register for easy, intermediate or difficult routes. Easier routes consist of hikes totaling approximately 45 minutes or less through flatter terrain while more difficult routes demand hiking over two hours through steeper areas. Some degree of bushwhacking is necessary in most all of the preserves, so participants should wear/bring sturdy waterproof boots, thick pants, long-sleeved shirts, sunscreen, bug spray, a water bottle and cell phone. An adult must accompany children under 18. Registration is required by visiting https://steeprockassoc.org/events-programs/. The MDI Biological Laboratory and the University of New England (UNE) are bringing Maine researchers together to discuss how they can collaborate to identify solutions to the opioid epidemic in Maine. In a first step toward this goal, the institution will hold a panel discussion on the opioid crisis at the upcoming 46th Maine Biological and Medical Sciences Symposium (MBMSS), an annual statewide gathering at which students and scientists have the opportunity to network, collaborate, exchange ideas and share research results. The panel discussion, entitled "The Science Behind the Opioid Crisis," will be led by Karen L. Houseknecht, Ph.D., associate provost for research and scholarship at UNE. As a professor of pharmacology, Houseknecht leads a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded research program that studies the pharmacology of psychiatric medications and emerging drugs of abuse. She is part of a multi-investigator, NIH-funded project to develop safer medications for the treatment of chronic pain. An audience discussion on the scientific resources that are being devoted to the opioid crisis will follow the panel discussion. The rate of opioid-related overdose deaths in Maine is nearly double the national rate and the state ranks among the top 10 in the rate of opioid-related overdose deaths, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The panelists will be Ian D. Meng, Ph.D., and Leslie Ochs, Pharm.D., Ph.D., M.S.P.H., of UNE, and Elissa J. Chesler, Ph.D., and Vivek Kumar, Ph.D., of The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor. The topics will include the roles played by genetics, pain and prescribing practices in the development of substance abuse, and the use of the mouse as a platform for addiction studies. Maine is one of many states with federal IDeA (Institutional Development Award) funding that are prioritizing research focused on reducing the burden of opioid addiction, according to the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, which administers the IDeA program. The program was established to enhance biomedical research in the 23 states and Puerto Rico that have historically had low success rates for grant funding. Many of the IDeA states include rural regions that have been hard hit by the opioid crisis. "The National Institutes of Health encourages those who receive IDeA funding to share research results widely across institutions and states," said Jane E. Disney, Ph.D., director of education at the MDI Biological Laboratory. "Including this session on opioid research in our annual symposium is an example of our commitment to increasing knowledge about this important topic in Maine." The panel discussion is expected to serve as a platform for a future symposium on the science behind the opioid crisis, she added. "We know we have the scientific resources here in Maine to make real progress in addressing the opioid crisis," Houseknecht said. "Our goal is to bring researchers and health care professionals from across the state together to build collaborative partnerships to address the multi-faceted problem of substance abuse in an inter-disciplinary, intra-professional way." Approximately 200 people are registered for the April 26-27 symposium, which was established in 1975 as a forum for scientists from a range of biological and biomedical sciences disciplines. Traditionally, it has also focused on supporting student research at the undergraduate and graduate levels and growing Maine's research capacity. Young children living near to a major roadway may be at an increased risk for developmental delays, compared with children who live further away from such roads, report researchers. Newman Studio | Shutterstock Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the University of California, Merced, has found that young children living closer to heavily used roads were twice as likely to score lower on a screening test for communication skills. Furthermore, prenatal exposure to above-average levels of two traffic-related air pollutants was associated with an increased risk for developmental delays during infancy and early childhood. Our results suggest that it may be prudent to minimize exposure to air pollution during pregnancy, infancy, and early childhoodall key periods for brain development. Pauline Mendola, Senior Author Previous research has linked prenatal exposure to air pollutants with low birthweight, premature birth and stillbirth. Some studies have even shown a link between increased risk for autism and decreased cognitive function among children who live close to freeways. However, findings from studies aiming to find a link between exposure to air pollution in early childhood and developmental delays have been inconsistent. Since many individuals in the U.S. live close to major roads, Mendola and colleagues sought to find out whether children living near to roads with a high traffic volume was associated with lower scores on a test called the Ages and Stages Questionnaire. This validated screening test measures five domains of child development including communication, fine motor skills, large motor skills, problem-solving and personal social functioning. Using data available for 5,825 individuals in the Upstate KIDS Study, the team matched the participants home address, mothers work address during pregnancy and day care location, to a roadway data set. They calculated how close each address was to the nearest major road and a data set from the Environmental Protection Agency was used to estimate air pollution levels at each location. As reported in the journal Environmental Research, children who lived just 0.3 miles from a major roadway were twice as likely to fail at least one screen of the questionnaires communications domain, compared with those living more than half-a-mile from such a road. The team also assessed prenatal and postnatal exposure to two air pollutants produced by cars, namely ultra-fine inhalable particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone. The analysis showed that prenatal exposure to elevated levels of PM2.5 was associated with a 1.6 to 2.7% increased risk for failing any domain of the childhood development screen, while exposure to elevated ozone levels increased the risk of failure by between 0.7 and 1.7%. For postnatal exposure to elevated ozone levels, there was a 3.3% increased risk for failing most domains at 8 months, a 17.7% increased risk for overall failure at 24 months and a 7.6% increased risk for overall failure at 30 months. Mendola and team conclude that exposure to air pollutants during infancy and early childhood is associated with a greater risk for developmental delays than prenatal exposure. However, the authors note that given the associative nature of the study, cause and effect cannot be proved and that larger-scale studies are needed if the associations are to be confirmed. Scientists involved in a field campaign are away from their normal routines, offices and universities, including the support mechanisms available if sexual harassment or other inappropriate behaviors occur. Three Colorado State University researchers are examining the prevalence of sexual harassment in field-based research as part of a National Science Foundation-supported study. The CSU team, which includes Emily Fischer, Kristen Rasmussen and Brittany Bloodhart, are also studying what psychological indicators might lead people to engage in - or intervene in - a harassment situation. Part of their work is documenting how people respond when the issue of sexual harassment is openly discussed, and expectations for professional behavior are clearly set by team leadership. The goal: creating a policy and culture of collegiality and respect across field teams. Their efforts are supported by nearly $300,000 from the National Science Foundation, awarded last year. The group used two recent CSU-led field campaigns as test cases and proving grounds for their project. With field-based research an integral part of earth science scholarship, the researchers believe field teams can be powerful agents of change. Earth and atmospheric scientists frequently build collaborative, multi-institutional teams, and these networks can take years to establish. With already shared common goals, the researchers want to promote effective, fact-based practices for improving workplace climate and safety within these networks. While sexual harassment has been studied extensively in workplaces and academia, very little research has focused on the problem in field settings. Those in "low-power" positions, the researchers say, such as graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, may be particularly vulnerable to those in positions of leadership. "As scientific principal investigators, we are responsible for the safety of a lot of people," said Fischer, assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science who led a large field experiment on wildfire smoke last summer. "I know from personal experience that sexual harassment can be an issue in these settings. I haven't experienced it since I've become a professor, but I doubt that our community culture has changed that dramatically in six years. Sexual harassment is about power. I'm in a different position now, and so I am working to create the best culture possible." The researchers also pointed to a recent National Science Foundation policy change, addressing harassment, as further motivation for diving into the project. Fischer's field campaign, called WE-CAN, brought together multiple universities and agencies for six weeks in Idaho last summer. Another field campaign that Assistant Professor Rasmussen co-led in November, called RELAMPAGO, was the largest land-based atmospheric science field campaign ever conducted outside the U.S. and was aimed at studying Argentina's thunderstorms. Since her field campaign, RELAMPAGO, was led by early- to mid-career scientists like herself, Rasmussen saw an opportunity to establish a clear code of conduct for the campaign. And as the leader of a concurrent NSF-funded Advanced Study Institute that involved students from several universities, Ramusssen said she felt a particular need to "ensure that the underrepresented students I was bringing to an international setting to participate in field research were safe and protected." The researchers sought to use the WE-CAN and RELAMPAGO campaigns as springboards for two new, multi-institutional, international networks of proactive scientists, including men, all invested in combating gender inequality. Now, the researchers are developing written materials for future field campaign managers to facilitate culture change around sexual harassment in the field. "Sexual harassment is a culture issue," Fischer said. "We need practical guides that everyone can use to set a professional tone in their workplaces." Another of the researchers' major objectives was to train participants in the two CSU field campaigns on how to recognize, report and confront sexual harassment. To do this, they relied on existing training materials developed by a separate group of researchers looking to improve work climates in geosciences. That related work is called "ADVANCEGeo" and is an NSF-funded partnership among the Earth Science Women's Network, the Association for Women Geoscientists and the American Geophysical Union. ADVANCEGeo had previously developed workshops and materials for department heads, chairs, faculty and graduate students to respond to sexual harassment in their workplaces. The CSU team adapted these materials for their field campaigns, with an added emphasis on building effective teams. Another key aspect of the CSU project was led by Bloodhart, a social psychologist previously with the Department of Psychology who has expertise in beliefs, attitudes and discriminatory behavior around gender equity. Bloodhart designed and administered surveys to field campaign participants before and after, asking about past harassment experiences, as well as observed climate and behaviors during the campaigns. Bloodhart presented survey results at the American Meteorological Society meeting in January. The researchers issued a "call to action" after their session, and several attendees, many of them men, indicated a willingness to push for conversations and action around the topic. Bloodhart reported that about half the surveyed women had experienced sexual harassment at some point in their careers. She found that a "hostile work environment" was the largest source of sexual harassment, and that men and women typically reported different forms of harassment. The trainings during the two field campaigns were well received, Bloodhart said, but women were more likely than men to report that they had a "positive experience" during the trainings. She also found that men were more likely to intervene in harassment situations following the trainings. "Overall I have been impressed with the department leadership and especially the male faculty who have been on board," Bloodhart said. "The fact that they are willing to put time and effort into this reflects the excellent leadership of this department." Text messaging, mobile apps, and other digital technologies are being used in innovative ways to support nonspecialist health workers in increasing access to mental health care in low- and middle-income countries (LIMCs), according to a narrative review in the March/April issue of Harvard Review of Psychiatry. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer. "There is immense potential to leverage the increasing availability and reach of digital technologies to enhance the capacity, skills, and support for nonspecialist health workers in low-resource settings, all in an effort to alleviate the global burden of mental disorders," write John A. Naslund, PhD, of Harvard Medical School and coauthors. They summarize promising programs that use digital platforms to support delivery of mental health care in resource-poor areas around the world. Digital Tech Supports Efforts to 'Extend the Reach of the Mental Health Workforce' A shortage of trained professionals poses major obstacles to delivering adequate mental health care worldwide, and especially in low- and middle-income countries. "Task sharing" - involving community health workers and other nonspecialists in delivering evidence-based psychosocial treatments - has emerged as a promising approach for addressing the global treatment gap. Access to digital technology is expanding rapidly in most countries, opening new avenues to building the capacity of the mental health workforce through task sharing. Dr. Naslund and colleagues identify seven examples of programs using digital platforms to support nonspecialists in delivering mental health interventions: In rural India, community volunteers are using smartphones and mobile apps to access training and information to identify and improve care for individuals with mental health disorders. Nonspecialist health workers (all women) in Pakistan are using a tablet-based program to deliver a proven-effective, culturally appropriate psychosocial treatment for postnatal depression. In Zimbabwe, nonspecialist health workers are delivering a program targeting depression and other common disorders, reinforcing program content with text messages and cell phone calls. A mobile decision-support system is helping community and primary care health workers in rural India to provide screening, diagnosis, and management of mental disorders. In low-income areas of Lima, Peru, primary care providers are using a digital platform and mobile app to improve detection and referral for mental disorders, including depression, anxiety, and problematic alcohol use. A community-based program in rural China is using a digital platform to increase prescribed medication use and prevent relapse among people with schizophrenia. In Nigeria, mobile technology is supporting a stepped-care intervention for postnatal depression, delivered by community midwives. Representing a wide range of settings, targeted disorders, and research designs, the projects illustrate some of the possibilities of using digital platforms to support task-sharing interventions in LIMCs. While some programs use more-sophisticated digital platforms, others use readily available technologies such as text messages, voice calls, and smartphones. "Importantly, digital technology was largely used to support or strengthen the delivery of existing evidence-based programs for mental health care," Dr. Naslund and colleagues write. While the seven projects provide highly promising examples, the researchers note that many challenges remain in exploring opportunities for digital technology to drive innovative models of mental health care delivery in lower-resource settings. The researchers add, "We observed that technology did not act as a replacement for human capacity but rather served as an important tool for supporting nonspecialist health workers in their roles." When a rural community loses its hospital, health care becomes harder to come by in an instant. But a hospital closure also shocks a small towns economy. It shuts down one of its largest employers. It scares off heavy industry that needs an emergency room nearby. And in one Tennessee town, a lost hospital means lost hope of attracting more retirees. Seniors, and their retirement accounts, have been viewed as potential saviors for many rural economies trying to make up for lost jobs. But the epidemic of rural hospital closures is threatening those dreams in places like Celina, Tenn. The town of 1,500, whose 25-bed hospital closed March 1, has been trying to position itself as a retiree destination. Id say, look elsewhere, said Susan Scovel, a Seattle transplant who arrived with her husband in 2015. Scovels despondence is especially noteworthy given she leads the local chamber of commerce effort to attract retirees like herself. She considers the wooded hills and secluded lake to hold scenic beauty comparable to the Washington coast with dramatically lower costs of living; she and a small committee plan getaway weekends for prospects to visit. When she first toured the region before moving in 2015, Scovel and her husband, who had Parkinsons, made sure to scope out the hospital, on a hill overlooking the sleepy town square. And she has rushed to the hospital four times since he died in 2017. I have very high blood pressure, and theyre able to do the IVs to get it down, Scovel said. This is an anxiety thing since my husband died. So now I dont know. She cant in good conscience advise a senior with health problems to come join her in Celina, she said. When Seconds Count, Delays In Care Celinas Cumberland River Hospital had been on life support for years, operated by the city-owned medical center an hour away in Cookeville, which decided in late January to cut its losses after trying to find a buyer. Cookeville Regional Medical Center executives explain that the facility faced the grim reality for many rural providers. Unfortunately, many rural hospitals across the country are having a difficult time and facing the same challenges, like declining reimbursements and lower patient volumes, that Cumberland River Hospital has experienced, CEO Paul Korth said in a written statement. Celina became the 11th rural hospital in Tennessee to close in recent years more than in any state but Texas. Both states have refused to expand Medicaid in a way that covers more of the working poor. Even some Republicans now say the decision to not expand Medicaid has added to the struggles of rural health care providers. The closest hospital is now 18 miles away. That adds another 30 minutes through mountain roads for those who need an X-ray or bloodwork. For those in the back of an ambulance, that bit of time could mean the difference between life or death. We have the capability of doing a lot of advanced life support, but were not a hospital, said Natalie Boone, Clay Countys emergency management director. The area is already limited in its ambulance service, with two of its four trucks out of service. Once a crew is dispatched, Boone said, its committed to that call. Adding an hour to the turnaround time means someone else could likely call with an emergency and be told essentially to wait in line. What happens when you have that patient that doesnt have that extra time? Boone asked. I can think of at least a minimum of two patients [in the last month] that did not have that time. Residents are bracing for cascading effects. Susan Bailey hasnt retired yet, but shes close. She has spent nearly 40 years as a registered nurse, including her early career at Cumberland River. People say, You probably just need to move or find another place to go,' she said. Bailey and others are concerned that losing the hospital will soon mean losing the only three physicians in town. The doctors say they plan to keep their practices going, but for how long? And what about when they retire? Thats a big problem, Bailey said. The doctors arent going to want to come in and open an office and have to drive 20 or 30 minutes to see their patients every single day. Closure of the hospital means 147 nurses, aides and clerical staff have to find new jobs. Some employees come to tears at the prospect of having to find work outside the county and are deeply sad that their hometown is losing one of its largest employers second only to the local school system. Dr. John McMichen is an emergency physician who would travel to Celina to work weekends at the ER and give the local doctors a break. I thought of Celina as maybe the Andy Griffith Show of health care, he said. McMichen, who also worked at the now-shuttered Copper Basin Medical Center, on the other side of the state, said people at Cumberland River knew just about anyone who would walk through the door. Thats why it was attractive to retirees. It reminded me of a time long ago that has seemingly passed. I cant say that it will ever come back, he said. I have hopes that theres still some hope for small hospitals in that type of community. But I think the chances are becoming less of those community hospitals surviving. This story is part of a partnership that includes Nashville Public Radio, NPR and Kaiser Health News. The link between diabetes and an increased risk for cardiovascular disease has long been established, but a new study has now shown that the age at which a person is diagnosed with diabetes could significantly affect the risk of heart attack or stroke. Andrei Dubadzel | Shutterstock The study, which was recently published in the American Heart Associations journal Circulation, revealed that people who are diagnosed with diabetes when they are under the age of 40 are significantly more likely to develop or die from cardiovascular disease, when compared with people of a similar age who do not have diabetes. The increased age-related risk is particularly pronounced among women, report the authors. Furthermore, the risk of death among people diagnosed with diabetes at age 80 or older is much the same as for those of a similar age without diabetes. Our study shows the differences in excess diabetes risk are tied to how old the person is when they are diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Naveed Sattar, Lead Author (University of Glasgow, UK) Obesity and type 2 diabetes cases are rising Over the last four decades, obesity rates have steadily increased in high-income countries, with more adolescents and young people being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes than ever before. The WHO estimates that most of the 422 million people living with diabetes worldwide have type 2 diabetes. For the study, Sattar and colleagues used data from the Swedish National Diabetes Registry to follow 318,083 individuals with type 2 diabetes and 1,575,108 age-, gender- and county-matched controls between 1998 and 2013. All participants were assessed for their risk of developing heart disease, stroke, heart attack, atrial fibrillation and being hospitalized due to heart failure. Death as a result of heart disease or any other condition was also evaluated. Patient's younger than 40 are most at risk The team reports that participants diagnosed with diabetes before they reached the age of 40 were at the greatest increased risk for one of the five outcomes and were also more likely to have died from cardiovascular disease compared with those of a similar age who did not have diabetes. Women tended to be more affected by the increased risk than men were, across most categories. The study also revealed that the excess risk for cardiovascular disease or mortality steadily declined with increasing age at diabetes diagnosis. Furthermore, cardiovascular-related death was greatly reduced among people diagnosed with diabetes at age 80 years or older, with their risk being much the same as for individuals of a similar age who did not have diabetes. Lifestyle changes could delay the onset of diabetes by 'several years' Sattar says the findings suggest more aggressive control of risk factors is needed among younger people with type 2 diabetes, particularly women. He adds: Our work could also be used to encourage middle-aged people at elevated diabetes risk to adopt lifestyle changes to delay their diabetes by several years." The authors note that the study followed a mainly white European population and that further studies examining these associations in non-white populations with type 2 diabetes are required. The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has reportedly led to a reduction in cancer-causing HPV prevalence, but uptake of the vaccination has been slow, despite the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC has been recommending that boys and girls up to the age of 15 receive the vaccine since 2006. However, it has now been shown that vaccination rates in populations at high-risk of contracting HIV are particularly low, increasing the risk of HPV and HIV co-infection. Yabusaka | Shutterstock Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the name for over 100 different types of common viruses. In most people, HPV does not cause any problems and are cleared by the body within two years, but some strains of the virus can cause genital warts or cancer. Any skin-to-skin contact in the genital area, vaginal, anal, or oral sex, or sharing sex toys, can lead to the spread of HPV. As HPV does not present any symptoms, it is hard to know when it has been spread to another person. The cancers associated with high-risk HPV are cervical cancer, anal cancer, cancer of the penis, vulval cancer, vaginal cancer, and some types of head and neck cancer. In the UK, women are offered cervical screenings from ages 25 to 64 to test cervical cells for the presence of HPV to protect them against cervical cancer. Men who are at a higher risk of anal cancer through anal intercourse can also be offered anal screenings in certain sexual health clinics. But, according to results from a study presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2019, adults who have a high risk of contracting HIV were less likely to have received the human papillomavirus vaccine when compared to the general population, which may increase their risk of an HPV-HIV co-infection. Lisa T. Wigfall, PhD, MCHES, from Texas A&M University in College Station, led the study and said that increasing the rates of vaccination in high-risk populations would include the wide adoption of routine HIV testing for all adolescents and adults, regardless of perceived risk. Researchers presenting these results at the AACR Annual Meeting 2019 used data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey (BRFSS) of 2016, which documented vaccination rates in individuals who had engaged in high-risk activities in the year before the survey. The results were alarming Out of 486,303 adults who participated in the survey, 16,507 (3.4%) had engaged in high-risk sexual activities or intravenous drug use. The rates of vaccination were very low in the group of 416 people who had complete data, and vaccination rates were extremely low in non-Hispanic black survey respondents. Considering the disproportionate burden of HIV/AIDs among this minority group, Wigfall said, it was alarming that almost all non-Hispanic blacks in the study were unvaccinated. Other statistics showed that 26% of gay/bisexual men between 18-33 years did start the three-dose course of the HPV vaccine, but only 6.2% completed the course. In women, one quarter of high-risk heterosexuals aged between 18-36 finished the three-dose course of the HPV series, but no transgender men, women, or gender-nonconforming individuals had started the HPV vaccination series at all. A lack of information may be to blame There are concerns that these low vaccination rates leave HIV-positive people more vulnerable to anal and cervical cancer, as HIV significantly compromises the immune system, impairing its ability to fight off HPV infection. Previous research published in the AACR journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention suggested that patient uptake of the HPV vaccine can be influenced by how physicians talk about the vaccine, especially to parents of adolescents. Lack of information, a belief that the vaccination is unnecessary or unsafe, or not receiving strong recommendations from their doctor all held parents back from vaccinating their children against HPV. Each of these concerns can be addressed by talking with a provider. [] This finding really highlights the important role that parent-provider communication can play in increasing HPV vaccination. Teri L. Malo, PhD, MPH Wigfall believes that communication between doctors and patients about the HPV vaccine should be reinforced in high-risk populations, from HIV-positive men and women, to HIV-negative gay/bisexual men and transgender men and women. She believes that physicians may not have considered the connections between high-risk sexual behaviors in these groups with HIV and HPV co-infection. Gender and sexual orientation are important topics that should preclude us from identifying and targeting HPV vaccination efforts among high-risk populations, Wigfall said. The future looks bright In Northern Ireland, boys aged 12 to 13 years old will be offered the HPV vaccine to protect them against the cancers associated with HPV, which will bring it in line with the rest of the UK. The researchers conclude: Parkinson's disease affects between 7 and 10 million people worldwide and the number of people diagnosed is soaring due to the ageing population. It affects dopamine-producing nerve cells in the brain, causing them to gradually deteriorate and die. As a result, people with Parkinson's often experience tremors, rigidity of muscles and problems with speech. In the later stages of the disease, anxiety, depression and dementia are common. Treatments focus on increasing dopamine levels or controlling the symptoms, but currently nothing can slow its progression and, as yet, no cure exists. However, laboratory studies have found that a protein called cerebral dopamine neurotrophic factor (CDNF) a type of growth-inducing protein, present in human blood and cerebrospinal fluid may be able to alleviate Parkinson's symptoms and even stop its progression. The discovery of CDNF was announced in 2007 by a team that included the coordinator of the EU-funded TREATER project, Mart Saarma of the University of Helsinki in Finland. 'Usually, other neurotrophic factors are not expressed in dopamine neurons. But CDNF was, which made it particularly exciting,' says Saarma. 'CDNF can protect dopamine neurons, but it can also restore some of the degenerated neurons. In later experiments, we noticed that CDNF not only improves motor functions and protects neurons from degeneration, but we also found that it affects some of the non-motor symptoms, such as depression and motivation.' Now, Saarma's team, under the TREATER project, is carrying out the world's first clinical study in humans. Clinical trial under way After regulatory and ethical approvals were met, a primary study was initiated to monitor two patients with Parkinson's disease as they received the first CDNF infusions. This was completed in June 2018, in the absence of any safety concerns being raised. The proof-of-concept phase 1-2 clinical study currently under way is building on the extensive preclinical research into CDNF, including toxicology studies that show the drug is likely to be safe for patients. The TREATER team is looking at whether the drug is safe and effective at treating the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Treatment is being carried out at three European university hospitals: Karolinska University Hospital and Skane University Hospital in Sweden, and Helsinki University Hospital in Finland. One-third of the patients are receiving monthly infusions of placebo and two-thirds are subjected to monthly infusions of either medium or high doses of CDNF for six months. At the time of writing, most of the 18 patients have been treated at least once either with the drug or with the placebo, and the study's independent safety monitoring committee has approved proceeding to the highest planned CDNF dose. 'So far, we've accumulated data on the clinical safety of CDNF in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease and we're very happy with our progress,' says Pekka Simula, CEO of project partner Herantis Pharma in Finland. 'Later in the project, the clinical study will be "unblinded", which means we will see which of the patients received CDNF and who received the placebo, enabling us to compare the results. Then we hope to also see the first signals of efficacy with CDNF in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.' 'Patients will then be followed by doctors using advanced PET imaging, actigraphy devices to assess their motor symptoms, the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale and several other means to gather information about how dopamine neurons are doing in the living brains of the patients,' adds Saarma. Innovative drug delivery As well as testing the safety of CDNF and its ability to prevent dopamine neuron degeneration and to stimulate neuron regeneration, the TREATER project is exploring the use of a patented drug-delivery system. 'Because the blood-brain barrier keeps unwanted particles and medications separate from the brain, one of the challenges in the treatment of any brain disease is to ensure the drug substance actually reaches the brain,' explains Simula. 'In the primary study, we used the drug-delivery device to administer CDNF directly into the brain and have shown that the device works.' The device is implanted into the brain by a neurosurgeon. Catheters for delivering the drug are connected to a port fixed to the head, just behind the ear. Filters prevent bacteria and air from entering the brain. Both elements of the current trial the drug candidate and the drug-delivery device have far-reaching potential. CDNF may prove useful in the fight against Parkinson's, while the drug-delivery device could be used for treating other diseases and administering a variety of other drugs directly into the brain. 'If the results of the TREATER clinical study are as good as expected, then both the drug-delivery device and CDNF would be commercialised independently,' says Simula. 'This is great for a project like this: even if CDNF failed in clinical development, the drug-delivery device could still provide a great commercial opportunity for a European company.' Significant milestone As the clinical study runs, Saarma and his colleagues are trying to identify easier and cheaper ways to get CDNF to the places in the body where it can best fight the symptoms of Parkinson's. 'Surgery to the brain is always a very demanding procedure, so we're already researching other ways to get CDNF past the blood-brain barrier, delivering it instead under the skin or into the bloodstream,' he says. 'Delivering to the bloodstream would also allow the protein to reach other types of neurons that are damaged in Parkinson's, such as olfactory neurons which affect patients' sense of smell, degenerating enteric dopamine neurons that cause constipation, and neurons which affect motivation and trigger depression.' Although the TREATER team is awaiting the full results of the study, the project has already reached a milestone by delivering the drug candidate CDNF to patients for the first time. And, as the project continues, the scope for further significant outcomes looks promising. According to a new study self-harm is becoming a major health issue among the elderly. This is bringing into focus the issue of mental health among the elderly. The results of the study titled, Self-harm in older adults: systematic review, were published in the latest issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry. The researchers have found that from 40 different studies (including a total of 62,755 older adults), that the self harm rates were around 65 per 100,000 people. The risk of repeat harm, attempts to suicide and successful suicide are also greater among the elderly, the study finds. Up until now the focus of mental health research has primarily been on adolescents and youth self harm and suicide. This meta analysis shows that the problem is not confined to younger age groups. The researchers explain that in 2014 the World Health Organization (WHO) had found that suicide rates were highest among people over the age of 70 across the world. The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP) had also found that around 40 percent of the elderly attending GP clinics suffered from some form of mental ailment. In care homes this number was around 60 percent and in hospitals around 50 percent says the RCP. As the aging population increases in proportion, there is also a rise in mental health problems says the Mental Health Foundation. Around 11.5m was allotted to these organizations to combat mental health problems among elderly. Some of the key factors in self harm among elderly include age, previous history of self harm, other physical ailments, other psychiatric ailments and isolation. There is inadequate access to help says the RCP with 85 percent of the elderly with depression receiving no help from the NHS. Symptoms of depression in the elderly are often attributed to old age rather than a clinical problem. Medication prescription rates are also higher among the elderly. This means that they are also at risk of overdosing and poisoning. Authors Isabela Troya and colleagues conclude in their study, Self-harm in older adults has distinct characteristics that should be explored to improve management and care... Given the frequent contact with health services, an opportunity exists for detection and prevention of self-harm and suicide in this population. Mental health services broken and heading for crisis Mental health care staff are quitting the NHS for better paid and less stressful jobs says a report from UNISON. The general perception among these workers is their inability to deliver quality medical help to their patients which is affecting their own mental health. The survey called Mental Health Matters looked at over 600 employees across the UK working with the NHS. The results show that tightening of the budget and rising stress are driving these workers away from the NHS. Sara Gorton, UNISONs Head of Health, said, Staff in mental health services are facing burnout as a result of years of underfunding. Its no wonder so many are thinking of finding better-paid and less-stressful jobs elsewhere. If this situation continues, the NHS risks losing staff who are passionate about making a difference. Whats needed is proper investment so staff can deliver the quality of care to those in need. Quitting smoking could help people with severe mental illness finds study A new study showed the effects of quitting smoking on severe mental illness. The study titled, Smoking cessation for people with severe mental illness (SCIMITAR+): a pragmatic randomized control was published in the Lancet Psychiatry. Authors Professor Simon Gilbody and colleagues found that smoking was thrice as common among people with schizophrenia and severe mental illness. In this trial they included heavy smokers with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. The adult patients were from 16 primary care and 21 community-based mental health sites in the United Kingdom and smoked at least five cigarettes per day. They included a total of 526 participants between October 2015 to December 2016. They were divided randomly into two groups - smoking cessation intervention using medication and counselling (265 participants) and usual care (261 participants). Results showed that those on the intervention quit more than those on usual care. The effects were most pronounced at 6 months of the intervention but the effects seemed to wane off at the end of a year. The authors conclude that more sustained efforts are needed for smoking cessation among the mental ill. The study was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment Programme. A strain in ICU capacity has been linked to adverse patient outcomes. New research to be presented at CHEST Congress 2019 Thailand suggests that near-simultaneous ICU admissions are frequent and may also have an adverse effect on patient outcomes. Researchers conducted an observational study of patients admitted to an academic adult ICU of a tertiary medical center. Over the five-year period of the study, they found a correlation between the elapsed time between two consecutive admissions and mortality. Researchers examined 13,234 consecutive ICU admissions. A quarter of these admissions had an elapsed time between two consecutive admissions of less than 55 minutes. They found a "dose-dependent" and inverse relationship between the elapsed time between admissions and mortality. In summary, the shorter the interval between admissions, the higher the odds of death. Specifically, the adjusted odds ratio (OR) of death gradually decreased by an additional average of 0.93 (95% CI 0.9?0.97, P=.001) for each log(unit) of time separating admissions. "This study shows that providing the same level of care during multiple admissions is difficult when patients of equal severity arrive at the same time. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings and work towards ways to improve mechanisms, structures and processes to improve patient outcomes regardless of admission rates," says Dr. Markos Kashiouris, lead researcher. Further results from this study will be shared at CHEST Congress 2019 in Bangkok on Friday, April 12, at 3:00 p.m., in the Exhibition Hall. The study abstract can be viewed on the journal CHEST website. Three new studies have shown that hydrogen peroxide, which is commonly found in teeth whitening products, can damage dentin within tooth enamel. Shockingly, many over-the-counter whitening strips contain 330x the recommended amount of hydrogen peroxide. The study results were presented at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology annual meeting during the 2019 Experimental Biology meeting that was held between April 6th and 9th in Orlando. Africa Studio | Shutterstock Kelly Keenan, associate professor of chemistry at Stockton University in New Jersey, was one of the researchers. Her lab was used by undergraduates who conducted the three studies: Keenan and team explain that there are three layers of the tooth. The outer layer is the enamel beneath which is the protein rich layer of the dentin. Underneath the dentin lies the connective tissue that binds the tooth with the gum. Till date, studies have only looked at the effect of these whitening products on enamel. Keenans studies examine their effects on dentin rather than the enamel. Damage to the dentin can lead to teeth sensitivity and pain on eating hot or cold foods. The studies reveal that the hydrogen peroxide present in these products can penetrate enamel and dentin. They found that the collagen in the dentin decreased with repeated use of these whitening products. Keenan said in a statement, We used entire teeth for the studies and focused on the impact hydrogen peroxide has on the proteins. The team found that the major proteins present in dentin was broken down into smaller bits when they were treated with hydrogen peroxide. The collagen of the teeth also responded adversely to the hydrogen peroxide. The team then used gel electrophoresis to analyse the protein in detail: Our results showed that treatment with hydrogen peroxide concentrations similar to those found in whitening strips is enough to make the original collagen protein disappear, which is presumably due to the formation of many smaller fragments. The first study concludes that the active ingredient in whitening treatments can penetrate the enamel, it can damage the non-collagen proteins in the teeth. The second and third studies also concluded that despite the small amounts of hydrogen peroxide used in whitening strips can damage the proteins found within teeth by hydrolysis. The third study shows that hydrogen peroxide is capable of penetrating dentin. According to regulations, the whitening products should contain 0.1 percent or less amount of hydrogen peroxide. However, some products can comprise up to 33 percent hydrogen peroxide, warns the British Dental Association. The researchers further warn that this loss of the protein did not appear to be reversible. This could mean that the damage could be permanent. The authors acknowledged that the study was funded by Research and Professional Development Grant from Stockton University. Editorial Where we stand The working class and the trade union movement in Australia are facing the most serious attack this century. Together with other policies being implemented by the Morrison government, the budget will fundamentally change for the worse the social, economic and political lives of the working people of Australia. These policies can and must be defeated. The deregulation of the economy and the adoption of economic rationalist policies have substantially assisted the transnational corporations plunder the wealth of Australia. Workers living and working conditions have been attacked. The real value of wages has been reduced. Twelve-hour shifts and workplace stress are rife. Casualisation and contracting out along with a constant attack on wages, including the cuts in penalty rates, undermine job security and family life. Big companies have benefited enormously with increased profits, but capital is never satisfied. The ultimate aim of the corporations, with the aid of government, is a nation without unions, without regulations or any other impediments to the profit-making processes of the big corporations: For Australia to become a country where employers hire and fire workers at will, obliging them to work all hours under any conditions. What can be done The CPA supports and urges maximum participation in all ACTU co-ordinated rallies and marches being organised by the Trades and Labor Councils. These must be seen as the beginning of a massive campaign in which all progressive and democratic forces become mobilised, not simply the means to have an ALP government elected. Every possible opportunity must be taken to inform workers and to discuss the campaigns, not just at trade union and political meetings, but in every student, pensioner and other community organisation. Innovative forms of protest should be developed and the word strike must be put back into the vocabulary. Planning should begin now to make implacable opposition to anti-union legislation and the entire reactionary social and economic agenda of the Liberal-National Coalition. The Morrison governments agenda is rotten through and through and must be defeated. Looking ahead, it will be necessary and possible to build an all-embracing coalition of forces to oppose the pro-business agenda. This should include the whole of the trade union movement, the whole of the labour movement, community organisations, political parties, social and welfare groups, progressive church bodies and organisations concerned with democratic rights. Previous anti-union legislation was busted by mass trade union action. The 1968 trade union action following the jailing of Clarrie OShea shows how such legislation can be made inoperable. This is how the current anti-worker legislation can also be defeated. Never forget the history of politics and the ceaseless attacks on workers rights and conditions and on trade unions. We are on the side of the workers. We are for job security, jobs for the unemployed, a living wage for all workers and the maintenance of traditional democratic rights that have been fought for and won in the past. This means that we have to oppose the big corporations Rio Tinto, BHP, the big banks and others. We have to oppose the policies of the federal government which is implementing the policies and directives of the big corporations. Thats where we stand! Do you have difficulties remembering to do important things? A sense of everything moving too fast around you? Problems getting through the day because you just do not have the energy? The various illnesses that can have an impact on the brain may not have a lot in common, but patients may well struggle with similar problems in daily life, to varying degrees. The EU-funded PARADISE project explored such commonalities in difficulties of this nature i.e. psychosocial problems reported by people with brain disorders. Using a protocol developed by the consortium, research revealed that there are, indeed, similarities, says Alarcos Cieza, who led the project on behalf of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munich, Germany. Generally speaking, psychosocial difficulties associated with brain disorders tend to be much more similar than expected, although the underlying diseases can be very different. Improved understanding of these similarities across different disorders can now help to direct interventions with proven effectiveness at a much wider range of patients, Cieza adds. By way of example, the nature and impact of the psychosocial difficulties like loneliness and helplessness, faced by someone going through severe depression, for instance, may well overlap with those of a person living with multiple sclerosis (MS). Interventions designed to support individuals affected by one particular brain disorder, such as boosting their ability to carry out daily activities despite a diagnosed MS, might also benefit patients suffering from, for example, severe depression which also often leads to neglect of daily life requirements. Cataloguing commonalities 'We know that there is a specific burden associated with neurological conditions and psychiatric conditions, in terms of their impact on people's lives,' says Cieza. 'But currently, research still tends to look at each of these conditions in separation to assess this burden. The commonalities are rarely considered. We have come to realise that this is not an efficient way to approach the major public health disease burden in our populations.' The project, which ended in June 2013, conducted a comprehensive literature review to take stock of the various psychosocial problems reported individually for dementia, depression, epilepsy, migraine, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, stroke, and substance-use disorders. Then, 24 core questions were selected from a wider protocol underpinning a new study that involved 800 participants. Each of the questions targeted a specific aspect related to the perceived disease burden, inviting respondents to rate the extent of any problems they might have encountered. Topics included psychosocially relevant difficulties as varied as impaired memory function, reduced coping or decision-making abilities, and difficulties engaging with others. PARADISE in practice The PARADISE project enabled the researchers to confirm very substantial commonalities of disease burden induced by the different psychiatric and neurological disorders, as Cieza notes. The resulting PARADISE-24 protocol is now widely available to clinicians and researchers to measure psychosocial difficulties independently of the underlying illness. 'Before, there was no instrument that looked at the burden of neuropsychiatric conditions in general,' she says, adding that it can also be used to assess the public health impact of interventions targeting psychosocial difficulties. Growing awareness of these similarities is helping to change the way researchers, and hopefully also physicians, think about the psychosocial challenges associated with brain disorders. The PARADISE-24 protocol is already used in regular clinical practice by a number of partners who were involved in the project, Cieza adds. The underlying concept which she refers to as 'horizontal epidemiology' in fact also inspired a new wave of research. By way of example, it was further explored in the EU-funded MARATONE project, a training network for early-stage researchers that was backed by the EU's Marie Skodowska-Curie actions programme. This project has been coordinated by the Scientific Communication Unit of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) and the Catalan Chemical Research Institute (ICIQ). It is published jointly by Publicacions URV and the Piscina, un petit ocea publishing house, with illustrations by Armand. The story was presented at the Public Library of Tarragona in an event attended by the nine URV and ICIQ researchers who feature in the story, the authors and the two institutions that have coordinated the project. Archaeology, entrepreneurship, DNA, health, chemistry, agri-food engineering, crystallography, publicity and 3D printing are among the different research themes dealt with in the book, with chocolate forming the common denominator to each story. The stories are written in a language that is specially adapted for an infant audience. The story's content is based on the Science of Chocolate workshops which have been organized for the last two years by the URV and the ICIQ at different libraries in the local area, the next due to be held in Torredembarra. The aim of the project is to promote interest in scientific careers, particularly among girls, and to do so by helping to normalize the presence of women in science. All of the women leading the workshops are researchers at the URV and the ICIQ, and the book's protagonist is a girl who has fun learning about science through the medium of chocolate. The book has been published in Catalan and Spanish and can be bought from bookshops. There is also an English version that can be downloaded free from the Publicacions URV website: http://www. publicacions. urv. cat Promoting interest in science among girls The Science of Chocolate series of workshops aims to highlight the research and knowledge hidden behind a day-to-day product such as cocoa. The sessions emphasize the importance of the work conducted by researchers working in different disciplines to increase our understanding of the world around us and, therefore, contribute to the progress of society in terms of health, sustainability, entrepreneurship and the environment. The aim of the Science of Chocolate project is to share scientific knowledge with the young people attending the workshops and with those who read the story and, in this way, promote an interest in science and research as a profession. Special emphasis is placed on raising the profile of women researchers. The research that they conduct and their life experiences mean that they are role-models for the girls and boys who participate in the project. The recent emergence of immunotherapy has marked a sea change in research and care for many forms of cancer, bringing new hope to patients and families around the world. For those who respond to treatment, the results can be dramatic. Activation of a patient's immune system against cancer can kill or shrink tumors and, in some cases, lead to complete remission. Despite significant advances, only a minority of individuals benefit from immunotherapy, and the reasons why remain unclear. Immunotherapy research has largely centered on T-cells, a type of immune cell that learns to recognize specific proteins and launch an attack. Tumors, however, are a complex mixture of many different cell types, including other immune cells known collectively as tumor-infiltrating myeloid cells. These cells represent alternative targets for immunotherapy, but their role in tumors is still poorly understood. To shed light on this under-examined family of immune cells, Harvard Medical School researchers based at the Blavatnik Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Brigham and Women's Hospital used single-cell sequencing to map the landscape of myeloid cells in tumors from patients with lung cancer. Their study, published online in Immunity on April 9, reveals 25 myeloid cell subpopulations, many previously undescribed, with distinct gene expression signatures that are consistent across patients. Most of these subpopulations were also identified in a mouse model of lung cancer, indicating a high degree of similarity in myeloid cells across species. The findings serve as a foundation for future research to explain the precise roles of myeloid cells in cancer and to assess their potential as targets for new or improved immunotherapies, the authors said. "Immunotherapy is clearly a transformational approach to cancer treatment, but there are many patients who don't respond, and the question is why," said co-corresponding author Allon Klein, assistant professor of systems biology at HMS. "Part of the answer could certainly lie at the level of myeloid cells, which interact heavily with both tumor cells and T-cells," Klein continued. "By identifying the rich complexity of myeloid cell states in tumors, we now have a powerful starting point to better understand their functions and clinical applications." Of particular importance, the authors said, was the finding that myeloid subpopulations can be reliably identified in different human patients and in mice--an observation that underscores the fundamental use of mouse models in immunotherapy research. "Tumor cells were different in each patient analyzed, but the identity of tumor-infiltrating myeloid cells greatly overlapped between the same patients. Also, many myeloid populations were incredibly well conserved across patients and mice," said co-corresponding author Mikael Pittet, HMS associate professor of radiology at Mass General. "This is exciting because a growing body of evidence based on mouse studies suggests that myeloid cells can control cancer progression and affect virtually all types of cancer therapy, including immunotherapy" Pittet added. Consistent complexity Myeloid cells--comprised of immune cells including monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells and granulocytes--are part of the innate immune system, the body's first and broad line of defense against foreign pathogens. They play an important role in activating the adaptive immune system, including T-cells, which can precisely target and destroy pathogens. To better understand the diversity of myeloid cells in tumors, Pittet teamed with Klein, who led the development of InDrops, a key technique for single-cell gene expression analysis. In the current study, Pittet, Klein and colleagues applied this technique to tumors from a small group of patients and mice with non-small cell lung cancer. In total, they collected gene expression data from more than 56,000 individual cells, one cell at a time. Their analyses revealed myeloid cell gene expression signatures that fell into 25 distinct clusters, greatly expanding the number of known myeloid cell states. They found that dendritic cells, for example--which Pittet and colleagues previously found are critical to successful anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in mice--contained four different subtypes that are largely mirrored between humans and mice. Monocyte subtypes also matched well between humans and mice, while macrophages were both conserved and varied by species. Neutrophils, which are the most abundant white blood cells in mammals, formed a spectrum of five similar subtypes in humans and mice, with one subset unique to mice. Pittet, in a previous collaboration with Klein, found that neutrophils expressing high levels of the gene Siglecf have tumor-promoting properties. The new analyses corroborated this finding, showing that these neutrophils are highly enriched in tumors. "Myeloid cell populations are complex, but we see the same complexity across patients and species, which gives us confidence that insights in mouse models can be translated to humans," said Pittet, who is director of the Cancer Immunology Program in the Mass General Center for Systems Biology. "Now that we have this granular landscape, we can better design studies to assess the role of unique subpopulations in tumor progression and look for ways to manipulate specific cells in the hopes of making immunotherapies more effective," Pittet added. For example, with the landscape of myeloid cell gene-expression patterns mapped, scientists can mine existing datasets of patients with known clinical outcomes to look for the presence of a given population of myeloid cells and assess their relationship with patient survival. Klein, Pittet and colleagues examined the feasibility of this approach in their study and found promising candidates but will need larger patient sample sizes to draw conclusive results. For this effort they teamed with Raphael Bueno, HMS professor of surgery at Brigham and Women's, and Elena Levantini, HMS instructor in medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess, who were studying patient survival-associated factors in lung cancer specimens. "Lung cancer remains a common lethal malignancy in the U.S., and this important collaborative effort provides new clues and directions in the development of personalized therapies for patients with lung cancer and no other good therapeutic options," said Bueno, who is chief of the Division of Thoracic Surgery and the Fredric G. Levin Distinguished Chair in Thoracic Surgery and Lung Cancer Research at Brigham and Women's. The team also looked at whether the behavior of myeloid cells in tumors could be gleaned by sampling myeloid cells circulating in blood and found a poor relationship between the two. In addition to immediate basic and translational research opportunities, the study findings inform the work of initiatives such as the Human Tumor Atlas, an effort to map the landscape of all cell types in the human body, and the Human Tumor Atlas Network, an effort to create atlases of a wide variety of cancer types in cellular and molecular detail. "This work fits into a single-cell revolution that's happening in many areas of biomedicine, particularly in immunology," Klein said. "To improve immunotherapies, we need to know as much as we can about the cells and processes involved. This requires a true team effort, and our study couldn't have been possible without fantastic collaborations across the medical school." Source: https://hms.harvard.edu/news/alternative-landscape Transitioning from high school to college can be stressful. Trying to fit in, making new friends, missing old ones and home, meeting professors' and one's own expectations--can all be daunting. The way that first-year students manage (or not) to navigate this change has long-term implications for their academic performance and ability to stick with their studies. Research has shown that one frequent pitfall during this transition period from high school to college is social isolation. Loneliness, of course, can have a serious detrimental effect on a student's mental health, potentially leading to depression. But being alone isn't necessarily bad, argues a team of researchers from the University of Rochester, Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and Ghent University in Belgium. They published their findings about the importance of me-time in the journal Motivation and Emotion. "Approaching solitude for its enjoyment and intrinsic values is linked to psychological health, especially for those who don't feel as if they belong to their social groups," says the study's lead author, Thuy-vy Nguyen, who received her doctorate in psychology from the University of Rochester in 2018 and who undertook large part of the research for this study in Rochester. "These findings highlight the importance of cultivating the ability to enjoy and value solitary time as a meaningful experience, rather than trying to disregard it, or escape from it," says Nguyen, who'll be joining the psychology department at Durham University, England, this fall as an assistant professor. Loneliness versus alone time What then marks the difference between useful and potentially detrimental solitude? The key is positive motivation, according to the researchers. A healthy, autonomous seeking of alone time is associated with greater self-esteem, a greater sense of feeling related to others, and feeling less lonely. Conversely, someone who wants to be alone because of negative social experiences will more likely experience the negative effects of solitude, such as isolation or social withdrawal. The reasons matter as they determine how we experience solitude and the benefits we can get from it, the study concludes. Nguyen is building on decades of research by her veteran Rochester mentors, Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, co-founders of self-determination theory (SDT). The theoretical framework of SDT fits nicely into the investigation of how individuals' motivations for spending time alone contribute to well-being, the researchers note. Per definition, autonomous motivation for being alone refers to a person's decision to spend time in solitude in a manner that is valuable and enjoyable for the person. Previous research had shown that spending too much time socializing during the first year of college--and as a result having little time for oneself--may be associated with poor adjustment. But over the course of two studies, conducted with 147 first-year college students in the US (testing for self-esteem) and 223 in Canada (testing for loneliness and relatedness), the team was able to untangle the interaction between new students' social life and their motivation for spending time alone as a predictor of their successful adjustment to college life. Nguyen says the interplay between solitary time and our social experiences has not been empirically studied before, at least not in this way. "In previous research, it has been framed in ways that those with more access to social connections tend to have a better time in solitude. But in our study, having a healthy motivation for solitude actually is associated with wellness for those who have less access to social connections," says Nguyen. The findings in a nutshell: First-year students who valued and enjoyed their alone time seemed to display greater psychological health Solitary time can be useful for detaching oneself from societal pressures and getting back to one's own values and interests, which in turn allows for better behavior regulation (with a greater sense of autonomy, choice, and self-concordance) The association between freely chosen motivation for solitude and psychological health is stronger for those who don't feel they belong in college The findings held across two independent samples of first-year students--one at a private university in the US and one at a public university in Canada Parents play a role in shaping their children's capacity to be alone by allowing children time for independent play. The study provides empirical evidence for the theory formulated by English pediatrician and psychoanalyst Donald Woods Winnicott in the 1950s. What do the researchers wish they had known as a green, first-year student? "I wish I had known to worry less," says Nguyen. The transition to college can be difficult with the pressure to socialize and make new friends, she notes. However, it's important to consider that alone time is also valuable. "At times we do want time to ourselves, to relax, so it is OK to take time for that as well," says Nguyen. "Being alone does not make you a loner, which is a very easy stereotype to internalize when you first enter college--especially when you think that everyone around you is socializing when you are not. Solitude is a personal experience for everyone, so it is a time for you to take if you want, and just explore different ways to make it a meaningful and enjoyable experience for you." The global burden of COPD is high, and prevalence of nonsmokers with COPD has been increasing. In a study to be presented at CHEST Congress Thailand 2019, researchers in Nagpur, India, sought to describe the characteristics of nonsmoking patients with COPD and to determine associated comorbidities and exposures. Researchers examined 180 nonsmoking patients with COPD between the years of 2016 and 2018. Each patient was categorized into either mild, moderate, severe and very severe COPD, based on their responses to Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) guideline questionnaires. In this cohort, the percentage of mild, moderate, severe and very severe patients were 26%, 53%, 58% and 43%, respectively. The most common comorbidity among nonsmoker COPD was hypertension (34.4%) followed by diabetes mellitus (17.8%). Most of the patients (61%) lived in rural areas, while 38% belonged to urban areas. Forty six percent of patients had exposure to biomass gas, while 26% had exposure to toxic gases. These results support that exposure to biomass fuel is a major contributing factor to COPD and a higher risk among the rural population. "Exposure to industrial smoke, environmental pollution and household smoke are major contributors for COPD in nonsmokers," says Dr. Sameer Arbat, lead researcher. "There is a need to study this subset of nonsmokers having COPD further to determine the true cause of this increase." Further results from this study will be shared at CHEST Congress 2019 in Bangkok on Friday, April 12, at 3:00 p.m., in the Exhibition Hall. The Rafale case dominated the discourse after the Supreme Court said it would examine the secret documents that were leaked from the defence ministry and rejected the Modi governments objections. Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday accused Congress chief Rahul Gandhi of gross contempt of court, saying he had attributed to the Supreme Court what it never said in its order on Rafale deal. Buoyed by the Supreme Court order allowing petitioners seeking a review of the Rafale judgment to rely on leaked documents, Gandhi has claimed the SC has made it clear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi committed a theft. Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday slammed the Congress over its manifesto promise to repeal sedition law and reduce forces from Kashmir. The opposition party is trying to fulfil the demands of Pakistan, Modi said, adding the only business of Pakistan is to export terror. Are people who want to break the country into tukde-tukde (pieces) not anti-nationals? Congress is now saying that they will repeal the sedition law. Can we expect this from a 125 year-old party? Modi said at a rally in Gujarat. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has vowed that her TMC will drive out the BJP from the country and help form the next government at the Centre. Speaking at a rally in North Dinajpur, Banerjee said this election is to ensure that Narendra Modi never becomes the PM of the country again. The Election Commission has banned the release of all biopics during election season, stalling the film on Prime Minister Narendra Modis life. The Opposition had complained to the poll body against the release of the Vivek Oberoi starrer, saying it was an attempt to influence voters ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, who has been battling jibes from the Bharatiya Janata Party over his decision to also contest from Keralas Wayanad for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, filed his nomination from his pocket borough Amethi today. Gandhi, who held a mega road show, was flanked by his sister and partys eastern UP incharge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, brother-in-law Robert Vadra and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. He will head to Katihar in Bihar and Raiganj in West Bengal to carry forward the Congresss campaign blitzkrieg. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address poll rallies in Gujarats Anand district as well as Junagarh and Songarh. He will also campaign in Goa where elections to two Lok Sabha seats and bypolls to three assembly seats will be held. Modi, in an exclusive interview with News18, set the agenda for the 2019 elections, discussing a host of issues from Jammu and Kashmir, opposition alliance to China. In a crucial judgment ahead of Lok Sabha polls, the Supreme Court will give its order today on objections raised by the Centre on the use of government documents accessed without authorization to re-examine the Rafale deal. The Opposition has been attacking the Centre over the deal, accusing it of corruption. The court will also hear the bail plea of RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad. The CBI has opposed bail to the leader on the grounds that he is conducting political activities from a Ranchi hospital where he is undergoing treatment and is trying to mislead the court about his health condition in view of the upcoming elections. Further, the apex court will hear petitions challenging the electoral bond scheme. Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here Budgets miserable climate change failure Climate change scored less than two minutes in the federal Treasurers 40-minute budget speech, which provided no worthwhile new ideas to deal with climate change, the planets number one threat to human life. Australias emissions of carbon, the driver of climate change, come mainly from energy generation (about 34 percent), industry (30 percent), transport (19 percent) and agriculture (15 percent). Under the budget proposals, the government would pay $1.38 billion to the government-owned Snowy Hydro, to fund construction of the $4 billion Snowy 2.0 project. That scheme involves river water being pumped up to high reservoirs and released later to provide extra hydro power and iron out irregularities in daily energy demand, particularly due to variations in wind and solar energy generation. However, it appears the water would be pumped up using energy from the existing power network, most of which comes from heavily-polluting coal-fired power stations. As journalist Giles Parkinson commented: The companys own modelling showed that after an initial fall when [Snowy 2.0] comes on line it will likely cause prices to rise higher than where they would be otherwise and lift emissions unless there is a big shift to wind and solar. The climate change threat demands urgent action but Snowy 2.0 would take at least six years to complete, whereas South Australias highly successful energy storage complex was constructed in less than twelve months. The governments proposed $56 million Marinus energy connector would provide the mainland with an extra 3,000 megawatts from the Tasmanian hydro system. This would probably involve construction of new dams, resulting in another bitter struggle like the battle over the damming of the Franklin River. And construction would probably take ten years. Too little, too slowly The government has previously given tentative approval for ten energy projects under its Underwriting New Generation Investments program. However, these havent progressed to commitment and werent mentioned in the budget speech, and $10 million of the programs budget would go towards a feasibility study into constructing another new heavily-polluting coal-fired power station in Queensland. The government has allocated $79 million over seven years to support investment in reliable energy generation and supply, but that almost certainly rules out renewable energy generation in the governments eyes. The budget makes no reference to phasing out the mining and use of coal, a crucial measure in dealing with the climate change menace. It allocates an extra $1.8 billion per annum for fossil fuel subsidies to benefit mining companies, a total of $9 billion every year. The government wont release a policy on electric vehicles until next year. All of Australias cars are now imported, and overseas auto firms are rapidly converting to production of fully electric vehicles. Under Coalition government policies, within 20 years Australias petrol and diesel automotive infrastructure may still be largely unchanged, but there may be no internal combustion engine vehicles for sale. The government proposes to spend $189 million over four years propping up the Abbott regimes totally discredited and almost totally ineffective Emissions Reduction Fund, now renamed the Climate Solutions Fund. The scheme would pay companies to stop pumping out carbon emissions, rather than penalising them for doing so. The government claims it will reach Australias Paris carbon emission targets in a canter, but when calculating emission reductions it ignores emissions from agriculture, transport and heavy industry. It continues the fraudulent double-dipping practice of adding excess Kyoto program emission reduction carry over credits to any reductions it manages to make under the Paris Agreement. Without that fraud it would fail miserably to reach Australias emission reduction targets. And if other countries decide to follow Australias lead on carry-over credits, the feeble Paris agreement will be wrecked. Labor still inadequate The Coalitions fraudulent emission credit double-dipping practice would be banned by Labor, which has set itself a 2030 target of 45 percent emissions reduction compared with 2005 figures, and a 2050 target for zero emissions. The Climate Council says the 2030 target should be at least 65 percent. Labor wants electric vehicles to comprise 50 percent of all vehicles sales by 2030. The conservative National Roads and Motorists Association recommends reaching that target five years earlier, in 2025. Labor proposes to establish a $200 million national electric vehicle charging network, and to introduce limits for light vehicle emissions. It also wants to impose a cap and credit emissions trading scheme on polluters. However, that would enable corporations to buy credits from low-polluting firms in developing countries, allowing the Australian firms to buy their way out of their environmental responsibility very cheaply. Overseas emissions trading is also highly vulnerable to fraud. Labor would impose a 45 percent emissions reduction target and an emissions threshold of 25,000 tonnes per annum on industries. But Labor has already indicated it would make full or partial exemptions for many high intensity trade-exposed heavy industries. Regarding companies seriously impacted by the policy after exemptions are made, a Macquarie Industries representative claimed with satisfaction the actual list will have very few names on it. Labor wants to strengthen the Climate Change Authority, which was established to provide advice on climate change policies, but was ruthlessly deprived of funds and expertise by the coalition. However, like the Coalition, Labor fails to address the major issue of reducing the production of fossil fuels. Its policy statement doesnt mention the infamous Adani coal mine proposal in Queensland. Labor exempts agriculture from firm carbon reduction targets and allocates $30 million to pay farmers not to clear the land, rather than requiring them to refrain from doing so under the law and in the national interest. Labors climate change policies are inadequate but nevertheless mostly welcome. In glaring contrast, the Coalition has deliberately done as little as possible in order to retard the transition to clean energy sources and preserve the dominance of the fossil fuel industries, whereas the situation demands radical action as fast as possible. The Morrison governments policies constitute a major threat to future generations of Australians, and it must be dumped at the coming federal election. Politics in the Pub Perth Australia needs a Pay Rise On Thursday April 5, Politics in the Pub in Perth held its second evening on the topic of wage stagnation in Australia. The event was chaired by Dr Christopher Crouch from the CPA (WA Branch) who introduced the topic by defining what a living wage meant to the working class. We need economic security and a living wage that incorporates social relationships. This was not occurring in todays workplace landscape as too many workers do not have sufficient income to buy more than the essentials of life and have access to resources of the state such as health, education and quality affordable housing. The first speaker, Meredith Hammat, secretary of Unions WA opened by observing that Australia was currently experiencing record low wage growth which last year had shrunk to an annual average increase of just two percent. Some employees have had no increase in the last two or three years. Meanwhile the top end of town is not doing it tough with high levels of productivity and profit growth. It has become so obvious said Hammat, that the Business Council of Australia CEO, Jennifer Westacott, recently remarked that she wants workers to have more money through wage rises. However, like the Morrison government, she would prefer to see this done through small cuts in taxes rather than the bosses sharing more of their wealth with the workers. For their part, Hammat noted, the federal Liberal government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison has not done anything to help workers in fact the opposite has occurred as they have tried to justify cutting penalty rates. Most Australian workers are now on insecure work contracts and cannot imagine what permanent full-time employment feels like even many people in their 30s and 40s who are on casual and fixed term contracts. Labour hire is also used by the bosses to deny workers better pay and conditions and keep workers fearful and submissive hoping for ongoing work. Employers also cancel or threaten to cancel Enterprise Bargaining Agreements and moving workers backwards onto inferior award wages and conditions as they tried on at Griffin Coal, Carlton United Brewery, Murdoch University and Alcoa in Western Australia but in each of those cases it was the unity and solidarity of the trade union movement which pushed them back. Hammat also called for multi-employer bargaining with unions which is available in other countries and the bosses shouldnt be allowed to, lawyer up to screw the workers out of their wages and entitlements. There is a lot at stake in this election as it was a rare opportunity to change the laws in this country and change the rules which had swung too far towards the bosses. However, in recognition of when the union movement took their foot off the pedal in the Your rights at Work campaign, this time Hammat stated that After the election, we need to continue the unions campaign to change the rules, grow the union movement and stay relevant. The next speaker was Angela Briant, WA state secretary of the Independent Education Union. Briant said the bosses prefer the use of casual and fixed term contracts as a Temporary Workforce Management strategy. However, this has a negative impact on both the employee and the organisation as the more workers rights are undermined, the more they are disempowered, the more they often retreat from the union and working class activism. Briant said that as workers became discouraged they often sought meaning in life in other ways in non-material ways such as social media and internet gaming where rewards could often be immediate and tangible. It was therefore important that members were encouraged to seek solidarity and strength in their material conditions as this would ultimately be the only way that a more empowered, meaningful and rewarding existence could be achieved. Briant said that it was necessary to rescue the social contract which the individual has with society, as currently we give away too much and get too little back from the state or sovereign. Briant said that ultimately this is what in many ways the ACTUs Change the Rules Campaign is all about taking back the power in the class struggle that in recent years has through successive Liberal and Labor governments gone too much to the benefit of the bosses. The Communist Party of Australia calls on all workers to support the ACTUs Change the Rules campaign and attend the rallies around the nation on April 10. Next month make May Day the biggest. Vote the Liberal government out and then if Labor win to keep the pressure on the new government to lift real wages and repeal anti-union legislation. However, when that doesnt work, remember the words of, The Internationale, the hymn of the working class, change will not come from above. Batman Beyond get a new twist in the next chapter of Sean Murphy's White Knight saga Batman: The White Knight creator Sean Murphy returns - and brings Batman Beyond with him In Solidarity US refuses entry to Canadian journalist His overt support for Venezuela appears to be the reason why Canadian journalist, author and social media activist Arnold August was denied entry to the United States on March 16. August told Prensa Latina that he was on his way to participate in the #HandsOffVenezuela march, held by ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) on March 16 in Washington, DC. I was planning to bring a message from Canada, citing thousands of social activists in my country, and its more than five million trade unionists, who have positioned themselves against the policies of Donald Trump and the Lima Group, in which the Canadian government is playing a lead role, he said. But at the airport in Montreal, I was taken aside and sent to the Homeland Security Office and its Customs and Border Protection Department. After a long wait, I was interviewed by an official. He was told that, according to FBI data in the possession of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), he had been convicted three times in Canada, between 1972 and 1974. (These were for activities related to political protests, he told Prensa Latina.) This criminal record, said the official, prevents him from being admitted to the United States. I objected, arguing that this was not the first time I had been taken aside by Homeland Security and even questioned about the same charges. Yet, they had never denied me entry to the United States. I wanted to know what had changed, I asked Why Now? And when there was no response, I challenged again: Why Now? but I got no answer. I persisted and she then repeated that today they are enforcing a regulation that prevents anyone with a criminal record from entering the United States. August could not hide his amazement, since everything he was told by Homeland had been known to the authorities for over four decades. He asked again for an explanation and was handed a form known as the Homeland Security Waiver Application, should he wish to challenge the decision. After that, they escorted me out of the boarding area to the main entrance of the airport. August is the author of three books, as well as a series of articles on Venezuela that he has published since his visit to Caracas on February 4, directed in particular at a US audience. He commented that the March 16, 2019, border incident brought to mind previous occurrences that have now taken on greater significance in todays context of increasing hostility in Washington towards Venezuela and Cuba. He recalled from his old notes that on May 29, 2014, a Homeland Security official at the Montreal airport had questioned him about articles, apparently found by Googling on the Internet, that he had written about the coup against President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras. The official also wanted to know if he had ever attended meetings with senior officials of the Cuban government, to which he replied that he had met Fidel Castro twice. On another occasion, several months in the 2010s, he was asked his opinion about the Caribbean island and replied: I support the Cuban Revolution. In yet another incident at the airport the following year, challenging yet another incident of harassment, August asked whether it had to do with his political opinions and was told that the only problem was his criminal record. The 1972-74 date, the official said, was a date of reference if at any time Homeland determines that you are a danger to the US. So, on March 16, 2019, theyre using those old incidents as a pretext to regard me as an alleged threat to the security of the United States, he said. Its perfectly clear that what really matters to them is not some archived file from the early 1970s but my political opinions today. That is why I was barred from the United States on March 16, he concluded. Apparently, the date of reference (1972-74) arrived on that Saturday morning in March after more than four decades of those events filed by the FBI. Here Arnolds speech: Dear friends, Millions of workers across the country have taken a very strong stand, alongside the thousands of people within social and political movements who have been demonstrating in cities across Canada over the last few months, in support of elected President Nicolas Maduro and Venezuelas right to self-determination and against the Trump/Lima Group/Trudeau government alliance seeking regime change. This is the Canada that I know! I share here a cross-section of quotes from supporters. Quote from the Canadian Labour Congress and its 3 million workers: The CLC vehemently rejects a militarised solution to this crisis; the people of Latin America have not forgotten the brutal history of military rule in the region. Venezuelans need to resolve their differences through constructive dialogue and democratic processes. The CLC calls on the Government of Canada to abstain from seeking regime change and intervening in the sovereign affairs of Venezuela. Canadas role on the world stage is better suited to promote stability through constructive dialogue with the international community. (Canadian Labour Congress, Canadas unions urge federal government to help restore peace in Venezuela, January 30, 2019. http://canadianlabour.ca/news/news-archive/canadas-unions-urge-federal-government-help-restore-peace-venezuela) Quote from the Canadian Union of Public Employees and its 650,000 workers: The Canadian government was one of the first governments in the world to declare support for Juan Guaido. In doing so, they have chosen to side with a self-declared leader over President Nicolas Maduro, who was duly elected by the people of Venezuela. They have also chosen to side with Donald Trump and US foreign policy. (Canadian Union of Public Employees, CUPE Statement on the situation in Venezuela, January 25, 2019. https://cupe.ca/cupe-statement-situation-venezuela) Quote from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and its 50,000 members: CUPW Condemns Canada for Supporting US-Backed Coup in Venezuela. It is deeply disturbing that the Canadian government has chosen to support this US-backed coup, which is in direct violation of international law. By following the US agenda in Venezuela, Canada has aligned itself with the right-wing regimes of the Lima Group and Donald Trump, who resemble past US governments who intervened and disrupted democratically elected governments in the Americas and elsewhere in the world. This is unacceptable. Venezuelans created their Bolivarian Constitution from the ground up and have held several democratic elections. Venezuelans are capable of running their country without interference and harassment from the United States and its allies, including Canada. The presidential elections of May 20, 2018 were free, transparent, reliable, secure and in accordance with the law, according to observers from around the world, including a CUPW delegate, who travelled to Venezuela to observe the elections. President Maduro won with 67.84% of the vote. (Canadian Union of Postal Workers, CUPW Condemns Canada for Supporting US-Backed Coup in Venezuela, February 7, 2019. https://www.servicepostalpublic.ca/en/cupw-condemns-canada-supporting-us-backed-coup-venezuela) Issuing similar statements, the Vancouver and District Labour Council (VDLC) titled its view with Hands Off Venezuela: The VDLC condemns the attempted coup taking place in Venezuela, which aims to install an unelected figure, the acts of terrorism against government officials and public facilities. We call upon the Canadian government to end its sanctions against Venezuela, and promote dialogue and diplomacy instead of economic interference and threats. Vancouver and District Labour Council, Hands Off Venezuela, January 26, 2019. http://www.vdlc.ca/hands_off_venezuela) Toronto and York Regional Council: Latin America has not forgotten the horrific history of military rule in the region. The Government of Canada must refrain from seeking regime change. Thank you. Hands off Venezuela! Arnold August Washington, D.C March 16, 2019 GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more (Newser) Dr. David Dao, who was dragged from a United Airlines flight in a video that went viral, is speaking publicly for the first time since the April 2017 incident. He tells ABC News he doesn't fully remember being forcibly removedafter an airline employee told him the flight was overbooked and he would need to leave his seat, in which he was already sitting with his seatbelt fastened, he refused to get up and was on the phone with a friend asking for advice when he was grabbed and dragged. When he hit his head on the low ceiling, he says, he was knocked unconscious and doesn't remember anything else until he came to at the hospital. What followed were a "horrible" few months in which he had to learn to walk again and was even put on suicide watch. story continues below To this day, he struggles with balance and concentration, has sleep issues, and can only run a fraction of the miles he used to log, but he says he views his experience overall as a "positive" one because it led to policy changes at United. "Everything happens with a reason," he said, adding that he holds no ill will toward the people who actually dragged him: "They have a job to do. They had to do it." He has also kept a vow he made to God: that if he recovered, he would devote himself to charity work. Since the incident, Daowho was trying to return to Kentucky for the opening of a clinic he founded for US veterans at the time of the United incidenthas installed solar power in villages with no electricity in Cambodia and his native Vietnam, and helped Hurricane Harvey victims in Texas. (The officer who dragged Dao from the plane sued last year.) (Newser) Ottawa's city treasurer was taken in by a phishing scam, and ended up sending almost $98,000 to an email fraudster, the city auditor general's office has revealed. Last July, Marian Simulik received an email that appeared to come from city manager Steve Kanellakos, asking for the sumabout $130,000 in Canadian dollarsto be wire transferred to a US bank account to pay a city supplier. She did so, and five days later, got an email from the same address asking for another $150,000 ($200,000 Canadian) to be sent to pay off the bill in full, CTV reports. One problem: When the second email came in, Simulik and Kanellakos were sitting in the same meeting. The treasurer asked the manager about the issue in person, and he had no idea what she was talking about. Turns out the fraudsters had used a spoof email, the Ottawa Citizen reports. story continues below The incident was immediately reported to city officials and police (though they reportedly said there was nothing they could do, since the money had already been wired). The auditor general launched an internal probe and found that Simulik had fallen victim to what's known as a "fake CEO scam," in which fraudsters aim for bigger targets, like executives, the CBC reports. Kanellakos said Monday that Simulik "was a victim in this" and didn't breach any rules, but she said in her own statement that it's been a struggle: "I have prided myself for professional stewardship of taxpayer money for the last 28 years. That I should be the target and the victim of this sophisticated attack has affected me deeply both professionally and personally." The US Secret Service arrested a man in Florida suspected of being connected to the scam, and says some of the city's funds may be recovered. (More on this type of scam here and here.) (Newser) A suspect is in custody almost 46 years after a double murder that horrified Virginia Beach. Lynn Seethaler and Janice Pietropola, two 19-year-old women from Pittsburgh, were found murdered in their room at a seaside motel in June 1973. Pietropola had been raped, strangled, and shot in the head three times. Seethaler had been strangled and shot twice in the head. The killer, who had climbed into the room after removing a window screen, also slashed Seethaler's throat with a broken bottle. Police say 80-year-old Ernest Jean Broadnax was arrested at his home in Queens, New York, on Monday and charged with one count of rape and two counts of second-degree murder, the Virginian-Pilot reports. He would have been 33 at the time of the murders. story continues below The Virginia Beach Police Department says cold case investigators "began aggressively researching a strong lead they had received in the case" last fall. Law enforcement sources say DNA evidence was involved. Broadnax is now being held in a New York City jail awaiting extradition to Virginia. The New York Daily News reports that Broadnax was arrested at an affordable housing facility for military veterans, where neighbors say he was a "very quiet" man who kept to himself. This isn't his first time behind bars: Police say Broadnax has at least 10 arrests on his record and has been convicted of crimes including burglary and assault. He was released from prison in 2013 after serving seven years for beating a man with a metal pipe. (Read more cold cases stories.) (Newser) Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu looks headed for victory after Israel's election Tuesday night, in a tight race that initially pointed to a dead heat. Both Netanyahu and Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz declared victory, but Netanyahu is seen as the leader more likely to succeed: the support of right-wing and religious parties is expected to give him a coalition of around 65 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, with center, left-wing, and Arab parties giving Gantz around 55, the Guardian reports. If Netanyahu forms a coalition, he will serve a fifth term as prime minister, making him the longest-serving PM in Israel's history, the BBC reports. story continues below "It is a night of colossal victory," he said Tuesday night. "I'm very touched that, for the fifth time, the people of Israel have believed in me." The 69-year-old, who is facing corruption allegations, campaigned on a security message, suggesting in the final days of his campaign that Israel might annex West Bank settlements. The Times of Israel reports that 3% of votesthose of soldiers and diplomatsremain to be counted and results will probably not be finalized until Wednesday afternoon. Talks to form a new government could last for weeks after that, depending on which smaller parties pass the 3.25% threshold to win seats in the Knesset. (Read more Israel stories.) (Newser) Retired Lt. Col. Richard "Dick" Cole, the last of the 80 Doolittle Tokyo Raiders who carried out the daring US attack on Japan during World War II, died Tuesday at a military hospital in Texas. He was 103. Cole's daughter, Cindy Chal, said he was having some heart issues but had walked into the emergency room at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, the AP reports. Cole, who lived in Comfort, Texas, had stayed active even in recent years, attending air shows and participating in commemorative events including April 18, 2017, ceremonies for the raid's 75th anniversary at the National Museum of the US Air Force near Dayton, Ohio. Chal said her father "enjoyed every minute" of his long, distinguished life. Cole was mission commander Jimmy Doolittle's co-pilot in the attack less than five months after the Dec. 1941 Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. story continues below The Raiders launched their surprise assault April 18, 1942, in 16 B-25 bombers launched from the USS Hornet. After the attackthe first US air raid on Japan's home islandsthey then headed to China, running out of fuel. Cole said it was scary to parachute into a dark "unknown" in rough weather. His parachute caught in a tree, leaving him dangling but safe. Chinese partisans helped lead him and other Raiders to safety. He continued to fly missions in the China-Burma-India theater until 1944. Cole said in April 2017 he hadn't expected to be the last survivor, since he was older than most on the mission. He attributed his longevity to being an optimist and living a life of "moderation." He said he believed he spoke for all Raiders when he said they didn't want any more recognition than all the others who put their lives on the line in the war effort. (Read more World War II stories.) Chronicle of a coup foretold The attempted coup detat of January 23 in Venezuela is unique in one respect: it was promoted and organised openly and publicly by the government of the United States, supported by its allies and client states in Europe and Latin America. One hundred years ago the United States declared its right to intervene wherever and whenever it liked in Latin America; but in modern times it never acknowledged its crimes, though they were well known. The Venezuelan coup, however, was openly called for and organised by the US government, which meanwhile enforced crippling economic sanctions. An insignificant young man, Juan Guaido, chairperson of the National Assembly (which is itself in contempt of the Supreme Court), was encouraged to declare himself president of Venezuela. He was tutored by vice-president Pence of the United States, who phoned him on January 22, and he obediently declared himself president the following day, claiming that the election of Nicolas Maduro last May was invalid, and therefore the presidency was vacant. There followed a campaign of anti-Chavista marches, some of them quite large, accompanied by a few violent incidents in an attempt to create a breakdown of public order, which might be used to justify foreign intervention. The Chavista marches in support of the government were, of course, many times larger, though this was not reported in the corporate media. The coup attempt did not get much traction among Venezuelans, even among opposition supporters, only the extreme right. The governor of the state of Tachira, Laidy Gomez, for example, was strongly opposed, as was Henrique Capriles, a former presidential candidate. Left to itself, the effort at regime change would have fizzled out, and Juan Guaido would have returned to his former obscurity (81 percent of Venezuelans had never heard of him before). But the United States and its allies recognised Guaido as president of Venezuela and organised shipments of humanitarian aid, which it threatened to forcibly bring in to Venezuela, without the governments agreement. According to them there exists a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. (For the true story see Abby Martins interview with Alfred de Zayas, the UN rapporteur on human rights in Venezuela, at tinyurl.com/y3mjn92j.) The date set for the intrusion and the contrived excuse for intervention was February 23. Trucks containing supplies, along with Colombian police and military, as well as followers of Guaido, gathered on the Colombian side of the bridge connecting the two countries, with Venezuelan police and military on the other side. Two trucks were set on fire as a provocation, so that the Venezuelan authorities could be blamed; but the intended armed conflict between the two states did not materialise. Yet the threat remains. As Trump and Pence keep saying, all options are on the table, including military force. However, even Americas closest allies could not bring themselves to endorse military force. The Group of Lima, the carefully assembled group of client states, meeting in Bogota on February 25, repudiated the use of force. The European Union, not normally averse to militarism, expressed the same view: The cat would eat fish, but would not wet her feet. The United States, perhaps a little chastened, has not carried out its threat of invasion; but Pence is talking as belligerently as ever, and new sanctions have been announced. The coup has failed completely. But the Latin American oligarchies and their imperialist backers in North America and Europe are desperate to restore their hegemony over the continent, and to suppress the Bolivarian Chavista process and eliminate the threat of socialism. In 2004, when the coup detat against President Aristide in Haiti had collapsed, the United States, France and Canada intervened directly, kidnapped the president, and brought him to the Central African Republic, a French client state. A direct intervention is still a possibility, and the illegal economic sanctions and the theft of Venezuelan state property by the United States and Britain continue to cripple the economy and cause great hardship for the people. Yet the Venezuelan people are not conceding: they are heroically resisting, they are resolved to continue the program of Hugo Chavez for independence and social progress. Socialist Voice (Newser) Bernie Sanders has joined the ranks of America's millionaires. The White House hopeful promised Tuesday that he would release 10 years of tax returns by Monday, and admitted that his income has soared since the "very boring" tax return he released during his 2016 campaign, reports the New York Times. "I wrote a best-selling book," he said. "If you write a best-selling book, you can be a millionaire, too." Sanders, who has been under pressure to release his full tax returns, rejected comparisons to President Trump. "On the day in the very immediate future, certainly before April 15, we release ours, I hope that Donald Trump will do exactly the same," he said. "We are going to release 10 years of our tax returns, and we hope that on that day Donald Trump will do the same." story continues below The financial disclosures Sanders is required to file as a member of Congress show that he received more than $880,000 in book royalties in 2017 and a similar amount the year before, the Washington Post reports. His books include "Where We Go From Here," which was published last year. In 2016, the Post ranked Sanders as the 19th poorest senator. Sanders often speaks out against millionaires and billionaires on the campaign trail, and the pro-Trump PAC America Rising mocked him after his comment on writing a best-selling book. The group sent out an email titled "One Percenter Bernie Makes The Case For Capitalism." Campaign manager Faiz Shakir tells CNN that Sanders "believes in opportunity for all," and he is very concerned that "the opportunity that he has had is evaporating for so many others." (Read more Bernie Sanders stories.) (Newser) A Washington state man allegedly hired two teenagers to kill his ex-wife after his assault of her landed him in prison. The teens instead killed the woman's 24-year-old newlywed sister, who was babysitting, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office. Charges were laid Monday against 31-year-old Kevin Lewis; his cousin Jerradon Phelps, aged 19 or 20; and a 17-year-old Spokane girl, per ABC News and Fox News. Police say Lewis paid $2,400 to the younger suspects, who were 18 and 16 when they drove to the Everett home of Amanda Canales. As she was out of town, it was Alisha Canales-McGuire who answered the door at 1:55am on September 20, 2017, per the Everett Herald. Shots were fired and Canales-McGuirewho'd been watching her sister and brother-in-law's three children along with a nanny, per KOMO Newsfell where she stood. story continues below "Cell phone records put the phones of both suspects at locations consistent with traveling together and with the timing of the murder," reads a police statement. Investigators also say a social media post by the male showed off "several hundred dollar bills just a few hours after the murder." The caption read in part, "Never guess what I did 4 this check," per the Herald. But the big break came last summer when a tipster described the female suspect boasting of being a hired killer at a social gathering, reports Fox. All three suspects face charges of first-degree aggravated murder and first-degree conspiracy to commit murder. Lewis is also charged with solicitation to commit murder. Canales, who describes a "horrible" marriage, finds solace in the world getting to know "the real Kevin," she says. "Even I didn't know how far he'd go until it happened." (Read more murder stories.) (Newser) A would-be student never applied to Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, but filed a complaint in 2004 over its use of affirmative action, alleging it violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, reports CNN. Fifteen years later, a Department of Education investigation that began in 2005 has concluded with an agreement signed with the school in February. It states that "as part of the holistic admissions process," Texas Tech will not factor in race or national origin. The Wall Street Journal reports that the DOE in the agreement proposed other methods of increasing diversity, such as concentrating recruitment efforts on low-income areas or giving preference to first-generation college students. story continues below Several Supreme Court rulings have upheld schools' rights to use affirmative action but those rulings allow for legal challenges, as in a 2016 decision that stipulated schools using affirmative action regularly assess the positive and negative impact of their policy. The Journal's take: The agreement "signals the administrations desire to limit the extent to which universities can factor race into admissions" and puts "other institutions of higher education on notice that their continued use of affirmative action policies will draw federal scrutiny." The AP reports the complaint was filed by Center for Equal Opportunity President Roger Clegg. The conservative think tank opposes affirmative action. (Read more affirmative action stories.) (Newser) Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Financial Services Chair Maxine Waters probably won't be exchanging holiday cards this year after things got a little tense during the Treasury secretary's testimony on Tuesday. Mnuchin had testified about his plans to respond to requests for President Trump's tax returns for roughly three hours by 5pm when he reminded committee members that he had a meeting with "a foreign leader," meaning Bahrain's interior minister. "It will be embarrassing if I keep this person waiting," he said, per CNN. "It's a new day and it's a new chair," said Waters. Mnuchin went on to claim a person in his position never testified so long or was treated in such a way by Republicans, as Waters tried to arrange testimony at a later date. "If you wish to leave, you may, she said with a stern look, refusing to dismiss the hearing. story continues below "If you'd wish to keep me here so that I don't have my important meeting and continue to grill me, then we can do that," but "I will not be back here," Mnuchin said, growing heated. "The secretary has agreed to stay to hear all of the rest of the members," Waters responded, per the Hill. "Please cancel your meeting and respect our time." Mnuchin then said she was "instructing" him to stay, while Waters said she was accepting his offer. Mnuchin denied any offer and told Waters to "take the (gavel) and bang it" for a proper dismissal. He left soon after she advised him "not [to] instruct me as to how I am to conduct this committee." Waters later told CNN that nothing is more important than Congress "trying to find out what exactly this secretary is doing." Mnuchin only said he would "comply with the law" in regard to Trump's tax returns, per Time. (Read more Steven Mnuchin stories.) (Newser) A German court on Tuesday saw the start of a major case: what is being called one of the most prominent ones against a female ISIS member, and what the AFP reports may be the first ever in which an ISIS member is accused of war crimes against the Yazidi minority. The German woman, which per the country's privacy laws is identified as Jennifer W., is charged with murder, war crimes, membership in a foreign terror group, and weapons violations. Prosecutors allege the 27-year-old and her husband in 2015 bought a 5-year-old Yazidi girl to keep as a slave when they lived in Mosul, Iraq, and that the girl ultimately suffered a brutal death. Per prosecutors, "after the girl fell ill and wet her mattress, the defendant's husband punished the girl by chaining her up outside in the searing heat and leaving her in great agony to die of thirst." Jennifer W. did not intervene. story continues below His whereabouts are unknown, though he's thought to be in the Iraq-Turkey border area. As for how Jennifer W. came to stand trial, desperation and loose lips, per the New York Times. She was extradited to Germany in 2016 after seeking new identity papers from the German embassy in Turkey. Determined to get back to ISIS, she subsequently hired a driver to take her to the Middle East. Unbeknownst to her, the driver was working with authorities and the car was bugged; their discussions were recorded. The charges carry a maximum sentence of life. The Yazidi girl's mother, who counts Amal Clooney among her lawyers, is expected to testify; she was allegedly also kept as a slave by the pair. CNN reports the trial will pick up again on April 29. (Read more ISIS stories.) (Newser) Theresa May is busy worrying about an April 12 deadline; President Trump doesn't sound bothered by an April 10 one the IRS is facing. Rep. Richard Neal, who heads the House Ways and Means Committee, last week asked the IRS to pony up six years of Trump's personal and business tax returns and gave them 7 days to do so. In comments to reporters as Trump departed the White House for Texas on Wednesday, he reiterated that he wouldn't voluntarily produce his returns and again cited an audit as his reasoning. story continues below "There is no law. As you know, I got elected last time with the same issue, and while I'm under audit, I won't do it. If I'm not under audit I would do it, I have no problem with it. Under audit I wouldn't give my taxes." Politico reports he added that "frankly the people dont care." ABC News reports IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig has not yet indicated how he will respond to Neal's request, saying, "We received the letter, were working on the letter with counsel, and we anticipate responding." (Read more President Trump stories.) (Newser) Kim Kardashian West still makes headlines for things like posing in a skimpy leotard, but she's also been making headlines for her work as an advocate for criminal justice reform: She was a big part of the push that got Cyntoia Brown granted clemency, helped convince President Trump to grant clemency to Alice Marie Johnson, and paid years of rent for another nonviolent offender who was recently released after federal sentencing reforms took effect. So perhaps it should come as no surprise that the reality star reveals to Vogue, in a new cover story, that she plans to take California's bar exam in 2022. The state, as it turns out, is one of just four to offer a path to passing the bar that doesn't require a college degree: You can apprentice for four years with a practicing lawyer or judge, which Kardashian West is currently doing. story continues below This summer, after her first year ends, she'll take the state's so-called "baby bar." If she passes that, she'll be approved to continue her studies for three more years before taking the bar. She's been working with the co-founders of #cut50, a national bipartisan advocacy group for criminal justice reform, attending White House meetings with them, visiting prisons, petitioning governors, and the like. Can't picture Kardashian West as a lawyer? The Vogue piece includes CNN commentator and activist Van Jones explaining, among other things, how "I watched Kim Kardashian unleash the most effective, emotionally intelligent intervention that I've ever seen in American politics" during her meeting with Trump about Johnson. It also includes Kris Jenner's reaction to her daughter's decision, why Khloe and Kourtney think she'll make a great lawyer, and husband Kanye's six-word reaction to the whole thing. It's definitely worth a read. (Read more Kim Kardashian stories.) Sorry! This content is not available in your region Braving Israels bullets one year on Atia Younis has been a regular participant in Gazas Great March of Return since it began on 30 March last year. He has attended all but one of the protests held each Friday. The sole time Younis missed a demonstration was in July after he inhaled tear gas sprayed by Israeli forces. Being exposed to this chemical weapon left the 67-year-old unwell for a week, during which time he endured muscle spasms. The incident was frightening. Younis had brought 14 of his grandsons with him to a tent erected about 500 metres from the fence separating Gaza and Israel. They were singing patriotic songs and playing a game to see who knew the most Palestinian place-names, when the Israeli military began firing in their direction. My grandsons started to scream and run, said Younis, who lives in Rafah, Gazas southernmost city. Amid the panic, Younis left the tent and tried to locate his grandsons. Initially, he was only able to find four of them. I felt helpless, everyone was running from the smoke and it was a big mess, Younis said. I kept calling the names of my grandsons. I was praying to God not to lose any of them. It took approximately 30 minutes before it was possible to see through the thick white fog of tear gas. Luckily, all of Younis grandsons were safe. For a moment, I felt it was wrong to take the children [to the protests], Younis said. On further reflection, Younis came to the conclusion that he had not sought to put them in harms way. Like most people in Gaza, Younis is a refugee. His family hails from Barbara, a village in historic Palestine that was ethnically cleansed by the Israeli military in the last few months of 1948. The weekly protests assert that Palestinian refugees have a right return to towns and villages from which they and their relatives were expelled. The right has been recognised by the United Nations. Younis points to how the march has continued despite Israels extreme violence as evidence of its effectiveness. But Gaza still needs the support of the West Bank and Arab countries, he said. Reading for rights Mustafa al-Zatma, 28, another Rafah resident, is an engineer in the private sector. I have a good job here and have ambitions to work in an international engineering company, he said. I love my life but this doesnt prevent me from participating in the march like all my people to demand the right of return. His family is originally from al-Majdal, a village which was captured by Israeli troops in November 1948. Ashkelon a city in Israel has been built on the villages remains. During one of the weekly protests al-Zatma joined a number of his friends to organise a reading chain. It involved sitting in circles and opening books around 700 meters from the boundary fence. This event was a message to the world that the people participating in the Great March of Return are educated people, who are aware of the Palestinians rights, he said. The distance from the fence and the fact that the activity was clearly peaceful did not stop Israel from firing tear gas towards the readers. Insisting that he is totally with the march, al-Zatma nonetheless thinks that the protests organisers should prevent children from taking part. Children are widely targeted by Israeli snipers, he said. Almost 200 Palestinians have been killed during the weekly protests since their launch at the end of March 2018. More than 40 of them were children. I saw Azzam fall Twelve-year-old Iyad Barbakh disagrees with suggestions that children should not be allowed to take part. If I was prevented from participating in the march, I would find a way to do so, he said. I go to the march to demand the same rights as any other child in the world. By far the worst thing that happened to Iyad in the past year was that his friend Azzam Oweida was shot by an Israeli sniper. He died shortly thereafter. I saw Azzam fall to the ground with blood on his face, said Iyad. I will never forget him. Iyad himself has been injured twice during the protests. On the first occasion, he was hit by a tear gas projectile. He required treatment for burns as a result. On the second occasion, Iyad was shot in the arm and leg during February this year. He has kept joining the protests despite these additional injuries. Bearing witness Two women and one girl have been killed in the weekly protests. Malina al-Hindy participates in the demonstrations, along with her husband and children. Women have always been side by side with men in all areas of Palestinian resistance, she said. Its our duty to participate in the march. Al-Hindy has paid a price for her defiance. She has been injured three times with tear gas projectiles and twice with live bullets while protesting over the past year. One killing to have gained international attention was that of Razan al-Najjar. A volunteer medic, she was shot dead by an Israeli sniper in June as she was treating wounded protesters. The killing proved that health workers operate at extreme risk. Alaa al-Ajramy is among those medics who has been busy during each of the weekly protests. The 34-year-old admitted that he feels a sense of great tension during the eight-hour shifts he works on Fridays. Im not afraid of death or of not seeing my four children again, he said. But I cant imagine being in the place of one of those young people, who lost their ability to use an arm or a leg again. More than 100 amputations have been carried out because of injuries to protesters, Gazas health ministry has stated. Around 25 of those requiring amputations were children. The most harrowing experience which al-Ajramy went through was to witness the killing of his colleague Mousa Jaber Abu Hassanein in May. My friend bled for 15 minutes, said al-Ajramy. And during that time we were not able to reach him because of the heavy fire around him. We couldnt intervene to save his life. Journalists are also in danger at the demonstrations. Two have been killed while covering the protests. Their deaths have not deterred colleagues from chronicling the full extent of Israels cruelty. The only protection which one particular journalist has been given is that the news agency for which he works publishes his video reports without naming him. The journalist explained that his worst day was when Israel massacred about 60 protesters last year on May 14. The journalist was working in eastern Gaza when Israeli troops opened fire. Suddenly, everyone around me started falling to the ground, he said. Some were shot in the head, others in the arm or leg. It was very difficult. I turned on my camera and crawled among the crowd. Admired among colleagues for his bravery, the journalist has kept on venturing to within 100 meters of the boundary fence. I get close to the fence, so that I can be close to the demonstrators, he said. I try to document Israels crimes against these people. The Electronic Intifada Time to call time on NATO The nuclear-armed military alliance founded to ensure Western military superiority, has its 70th birthday this week it should be its last, writes Kate Hudson.* From its origins ostensibly as a defensive alliance facing off the Soviet Union in 1949, NATO has seamlessly morphed into an aggressive, globe-straddling operation, whipping recalcitrant states into line in its self-appointed capacity as righter of international wrongs. When the cold war ended 30 years ago, many thought that NATO would be wound up when its raison detre had disappeared and the Warsaw Pact had been dissolved. But that was to misunderstand the core function of NATO: the advance of US interests, irrespective of who its chief enemy is at any given time. Rather than scaling back its military presence, the US moved to fill the positions vacated by its previous rival. This expansion has been rapid and continuous and has contributed to escalating international tension as Russia sees itself increasingly surrounded by US and NATO bases, including new bases in eastern Europe. The US has pursued this process since the end of the cold war: as the countries of eastern Europe embraced free market economics and multi-party democracy, the US moved rapidly to integrate them into its sphere of influence via NATO. This proved to be an effective strategy, as witnessed by the support of the new member states for the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The 1990s saw NATO developing its regional co-operation forums and inviting new members to join the alliance. In March 1999, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic were all admitted as full members. Ten days later they found themselves at war with their neighbour Yugoslavia, as part of NATOs illegal bombing campaign. That cynical and baseless war brought devastating human consequences to what remained of Yugoslavia including the legacy of toxic depleted uranium. It was also the first use of Tony Blairs so-called humanitarian war theory the justification for wars of intervention that were illegal under international law. Developments at that time went in wider directions too. At NATOs 50th anniversary conference in Washington in April 1999, a new Strategic Concept was adopted. This moved beyond NATOs previous defensive role to include out of area in other words offensive operations, anywhere on the Eurasian landmass. This fits neatly with Donald Trumps current orientation to dominate that massive expanse. Subsequently, NATO has pursued a global role now Colombia is linked to NATO, with Trump mentioning Brazil in this same context. Bizarrely, NATO often falsely postures as a force for humanitarian relief. In March 2004, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania were admitted to NATO not only former Warsaw Pact members, but also former Soviet republics in the case of the Baltic states. In 2009, Albania and Croatia also became members. Montenegro was confirmed as the 29th member in June 2017. Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are also in negotiations to join the alliance. This scale of expansion has contributed to international tension as Russia sees itself increasingly surrounded by US and NATO bases. NATOs actions and inflammatory rhetoric continue to escalate tension with Russia: the increasing NATO presence in the region was a major contributory factor to the conflict between Russia and Georgia in 2008 and in the continuing crisis in Ukraine. In addition to opening new bases in eastern Europe, NATO has also opened a training centre in Georgia and will support the reform of Ukraines military. NATO exercises are also destabilising. Deployments of troops, including British forces, arrived in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland during 2017. Britain has major involvement in NATO exercises which take place on an enormous scale around 100 in 2017 alone; major exercises have taken place in Scotland and recent B52 exercises over the North Sea were run from British bases. NATOs war continues in Afghanistan: begun by George W Bush in 2001 the first step in his war on terror it continues today, the longest war in US history, involving all NATO countries. Despite NATO officially ending its mission in 2014, it has since launched a new non-combat resolute support operation, meaning thousands of troops remain in the country. Ostensibly intended to drive out the Taliban and destroy Al-Qaida, the war helped to create and strengthen the conditions for a surge in terrorist organisations and associated fighting forces that continues today. NATOs war on terror has now reached Africa, where Libya has been destroyed; the consequences have been terrible, as thousands have been forced to flee while refugees face ongoing military brutality in the Mediterranean. The international community urgently needs to bring an end to the militarisation of the Mediterranean Sea and to all military action against refugees. NATOs role as a nuclear-armed alliance continues, with B61 nuclear bombs, currently being upgraded to the B61-12, also to make them more usable. These are stationed in five countries across Europe Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Turkey. There is strong opposition to the siting of these weapons in Europe, including from the governments of some of the host nations. Britains own nuclear weapons system, Trident, is assigned to NATO. The US continues to press other states to pay for its expansionary policies and wars. At recent NATO summits Trump has insisted that members pay 2 percent of their GDP on military spending, and has even recently raised the spectre of 3 percent. Worldwide, people are in need of real peace, which means social justice, environmental security, equal access to resources, a warm welcome for refugees fleeing wars and oppression and more. The last thing they need is even more military spending. NATO, its expansion, its policies, and its increasing militarisation of societies cannot go unchallenged. They breed war, global injustice and inequality and these are what the peace movement campaigns against. We have marched at NATO summits, with the movements from Europe, the US and beyond, against the nuclear doctrine of NATO, and against its destabilising global power grabs. And we will continue to do so, and to argue for an alternative, whoever is in government, because to condone and embrace NATO is to abandon the cause of peace, the pursuit of justice, and any vision of a world that exists for the people. * Kate Hudson is general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Morning Star Geneva: If Britain leaves the EU without a deal, the bloc and Britains smaller trading partners stand to lose big, but Beijing and Washington could reap huge benefits, the UN said on Tuesday. In a fresh report, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) examined what repercussions it would have for Britains trading partners if the country crashes out of the European Union without a deal. The report, titled No-deal Brexit: the trade winners and losers, came out as British Prime Minister Theresa May pleaded with EU leaders to provide an extension to the deadline for Brexit to avoid leaving with no deal on April 12. The UNCTAD report warned that if Britain did exit the bloc without a proper divorce deal, it would significantly alter market access conditions in the United Kingdom both for developing and developed countries. The British market currently accounts for about 3.5 per cent of world trade, and last year the country imported goods worth almost $680 billion (604 billion euros) from the rest of the world, UNCTAD said. More than half of that came from EU countries, who stand to lose out on nearly $35 billion in exports to Britain in the case of a no-deal Brexit, the report found. But it stressed that Britain is also an important trading partner for many developing countries, whose exports until now have enjoyed very favourable market access conditions, largely thanks to preferential EU schemes. If there is a proper exit deal with a lengthy transition period, trading partners would have time to negotiate new bilateral agreements to replace the EU deals that will no longer apply to trade with the UK, UNCTAD said. But without such a deal, countries that currently benefit from favourable market access will feel the pain, while countries that until now have faced significant tariffs will benefit, it said. Brexit is not only a regional affair, UNCTAD head of international trade and commodities Pamela Coke-Hamilton said in a statement. Once the UK has left its 27 European Union partners behind, it will alter the ability of non-EU countries to export to the UK market, she added. In the case of a no-deal Brexit, Turkey would be the second-biggest loser after the EU, taking an estimated $2.4-billion hit to its exports to Britain, the report said. South Korea, Norway, Iceland, Cambodia and Switzerland also stand to lose big, it added. At the same time, the report found that China could gain an additional $10.2 billion in exports to Britain, while the United States could add $5.3 billion in exports to the country. Japan could also expect to see its exports to Britain swell by $4.9 billion, while Thailand, South Africa, India, Brazil, Russia, Vietnam and New Zealand would also rake in gains, it said. According to World Trade Organisation rules, a country is not permitted to give preferential treatment to a trading partner, and must apply the same tariffs to all, unless there is an exception set out in a trade agreement. If Britain leaves the EU with no such deals in place to protect its current preferential trading partners, it would increase relative competitiveness of major exporting countries, such as China or the United States, thereby eroding market-share, Coke-Hamilton said. For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The BSE Sensex was trading 11.68 points or 0.03 per cent lower at 38,927.54 in the early session and settled at 38.585.35 after dropping 354 points. The gauge had settled 238.69 points, or 0.62 per cent, higher at 38,939.22 in its previous session. The NSE Nifty was trading flat at 11,671.70 in early session and also plunged 88 points to end at 11,584. HDFC Bank lost 2.07 per cent, while HDFC slumped 1.96 per cent. The HDFC duo collectively accounted for almost half of the Sensexs 354-point loss. Other top losers in the Sensex pack included Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, TCS, HCL Tech, Tata Steel, SBI, IndusInd Bank and Hero MotoCorp, declining up to 3.28 per cent. While, Tata Motors, HUL, Kotak Bank, Coal India, Sun Pharma, M&M, Bajaj Auto and ONGC were the gainers, rising up to 4.68 per cent. According to traders, market sentiment turned weak after the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its World Economic Outlook (WEO), once again downgraded global growth forecast to 3.3 per cent for 2019. The quarterly report projects a slowdown in growth in 2019 for 70 per cent of the world economy, IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath said in a statement. As per IMF, while world growth is expected to pick up in the second half of this year and hit 3.6 per cent in 2020, many things will have to go right for that to happen, including a resolution of President Donald Trumps trade battle with China. Elsewhere in Asia, benchmark equity indices in Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul were trading in the negative terrain in early trade. Indices on Wall Street too ended in the red on Tuesday. Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased equity worth Rs 1,212.35 crore on Tuesday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares to the tune of Rs 688.65 crore, provisional data available with stock exchanges showed. Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Japan, China and Korea ended on a mixed note. In Europe, bourses in Germany, France and UK were trading in the positive terrain in early deals. The benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.67 per cent to USD 71.08 per barrel. Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated 12 paise to 69.18 against the US dollar intra-day. (With inputs from PTI) For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Tamil Nadu government has recently announced that the results for the SSLC or Class 10 and HSC or Class 12 exams will be declared by the end of April. The results for Class 12 will be declared on April 19 and that of Class 10 will be declared after 10 days on 29 reported Time of India. The Board has also announced that the annual exam results of Classes VI, VII,VIII and IX will be released on May 2. The Tamil Nadu School Education Department has also announced that an instant exam will be conducted for those students who couldn't obtain minimum pass marks. This exam will be conducted between June 3 and 10. Tamil Nadu SSLC Board Examination was held from March 14th to March 29th while Tamil Nadu HSC Board Examination took place from March 1 to March 19th. The Tamil Nadu government in February has announced changes in the examination pattern for the upcoming class XII state board exam. According to the new question paper pattern, all the Multiple-choice questions (MCQs) this year in Part -A (one-mark questions) was replaced by fill in the blanks, assertion-reason, match the following and similar questions. About Tamil Nadu Education Department The Tamil Nadu Education Department was established about 100 years ago to conduct examination for the HSC and the SSC during the British era. Later, after Independence, it was formed in 1978 as a separate department to monitor and regulate secondary school education in the state and to conduct yearly examinations to evaluate the academic performance of students through Tamil Nadu 12th Board Examination and Tamil Nadu 10th Board Examination. New Delhi: Telangana Model School has released the admit cards for entrance exams to be conducted for admission to Class 6 to Class 10. The candidates can visit the official website of the Telangana State Model School i.e. telanganams.cgg.gov.in to download their admit card. The hall tickets can be downloaded from April 9 to April 12, 2019. The exam will be conducted on April 18, 2019. The exam duration is of two hours. For class 6, the exam will be conducted from 10 am to 12 noon and for classes 7 to 10, the examination will be conducted from 2 pm to 4 pm. Telangana Model School Admit Card 2019 Steps to download For the convenience of the students, we have mentioned the steps to download the admit cards: Step 1: Visit the official site of Telangana Model School at telanganams.cgg.gov.in. Step 2: Click on online hall ticket link available on the page. Step 3: A new page will be redirected where candidates will have to enter their details like reference ID and date of birth or candidate name and date of birth or mobile number and date of birth. Step 4: Your admit card will be displayed on the screen. Step 5: Download the admit card and take a print out of the same for further need. The question paper of class 6 students will comprose of four subjects - English, Mathematics, General Science and Social Studies. For classes 7 to 10, the question paper will comprise of English, Mathematics, General Science and Social Studies. The question paper will be of 200 marks. New Delhi: Hailing the Supreme Court's decision allowing leaked documents to be used by petitioners seeking review of the Rafale judgment, The Congress said that the skeletons in the "scam" are tumbling out and now there is "no official Secrets Act" to hide behind for the Modi government. The Congress said that the Supreme Court'sA judgment to review the Rafale petition "is a victory for India!".A "Modiji, you can run and lie as much as you want but sooner or later the truth comes out. The skeletons in Rafale scam are tumbling out one by one. And now there is 'no official secrets act' to hide behind (sic)," Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said. This is a victory for India! We welcome the Supreme Courtas judgement to review the Rafale petition. Satyamev Jayate! YY#RafaleDeal #ChowkidarChorHai https://t.co/DQMLcdYrr5 a Congress (@INCIndia) April 10, 2019 "SC has upheld a time honoured legal principle; A rattled Modiji had threatened to invoke Official Secrets Act against independent journalists for exposing his corruption on Rafale.Don't worry Modiji, an investigation is going to take place now, whether you like it or not (sic)," he said in a series of tweets. Modiji, you can run and lie as much as you want, But sooner or later the truth comes out. The skeletons in #RafaleScam are tumbling out one by one. And now there is ano official secrets acta to hide behind. 1/2 a Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) April 10, 2019 The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected Centre's objection claiming privilege over documents used by petitioners to seek review of Rafale judgment. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi also agreed to hear the review petitions on the controversial deal. The top court said that all the review petitions against its December 14 verdict dismissing all petitions against procurement of Rafale jets will be decided on merits.A "We dismiss the preliminary objection raised by Union of India questioning the maintainability of the review petition," a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph said. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modias pitch where he accused the Opposition Congress of being a sympathiser of Pakistan, portraying the country as Indiaas enemy, has backfired on Wednesday after his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan said that he wanted the BJP to win the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as there would be more chances to resolve the Kashmir issue under the right-wing party's government. The statementA of the Pakistani prime minister in favour of the BJP has given enough ammo to the Opposition parties led by the Congress. Reacting to the Pakistani premieras remarks, Randeep Singh Surjewala, chief spokesperson of the Congress, said that the statement of Khan had exposed Pakistanas love for Prime Minister Modi. aPak has officially allied with Modi! aA vote for Modi is a vote for Pakistana, says Pak PM Imran Khan. Modiji, first affection with Nawaz Sharif and now Imran Khan has become your loving friend. He has called your bluff,a Surjewala tweeted. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, who was attacked by Modi for his separate PM for Kashmir remarks, also took a dig at the prime minister and said, "So much for Modi Sahib telling the country only Pakistan and its sympathisers want BJP to lose. Imran Khan has just endorsed him for a 2nd term." BJPas former ally and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti went a step ahead and trolled the party over Imran Khanas remarks. She said, "Bhakts scratching their heads & at wit ends wondering if they should praise Imran Khan or not." Bhakts scratching their heads & at wit ends wondering if they should praise Imran Khan or not. Y https://t.co/V4pv4u4vgn a Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) April 10, 2019 If there is one thing Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been slamming the Congress during his election rallies for 2019 Lok Sabha polls, it is the alleged support the Grand Old Party gets in Pakistan. The prime minister even said that the manifesto of the Congress party stands more for Pakistan than for India. However, Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan thinks the other way and actually wanted Modi-led saffron party to return to power. In an interview with a group of foreign journalists, the Pakistani prime minister said, aPerhaps if the BJP - a right-wing party - wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached.a New Delhi: Kirori Singh Bainsla, the face of Gujjar agitation in Rajasthan, joined the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections on Wednesday. His son Vijay Bainsla also joined the party in presence of Union Minister Prakash Javadekar. A 1962 War veteran, Bainsla was taken as a prisoner of war during the 1965 war. Bainslaas father served in the British Indian Army, and two of his three sons are presently serving in the Indian Army.A The retired Lt Colonel is known to be an advocate of "social emergency". The concept means that for 15 years, society should focus on good health and education. A Delhi: Gurjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla and his son Vijay Bainsla join Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of Union Minister Prakash Javadekar. pic.twitter.com/Hs2Qpuz28v a ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 Bainsla had spearheaded the Gujjar agitation that had brought Rajasthan to a grinding halt in February earlier this year. The community leaders had blocked Delhi-Mumbai railway tracks and several highways and roads in Rajasthan to press for their demand. The Gujjar stir had crippled the rail network in Rajasthan as agitators blocked roads and railway tracks. Every day for two weeks, several trains were cancelled or diverted in the Sawai Madhopur district of the state. The district collector had also issued a notice to Bainsla asking him to vacate railway tracks. The sit-in had affected the movement of over 300 trains through the region. A Gurjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla and his son Vijay Bainsla who joined BJP today, meet party president @AmitShah Shah Y: ANI#ElectionsWithNewsNation Follow LIVE updates:https://t.co/SfxMOrYQfY pic.twitter.com/qm88fGicUs a News Nation (@NewsNationTV) April 10, 2019 The members of Gujjar community called off their agitation on Saturday after getting a written assurance from the Rajasthan government that it will stand by them if the bill giving five per cent reservation to the community faces legal hurdles. The demand for separate five per cent reservation for the Gujjars was struck down by the Rajasthan High Court in 2017. The state government has moved the Supreme Court against the Rajasthan HC order. Currently, reserved category has 49 per cent in Rajasthan including 21 per cent OBC, 16 per cent SC and 12 per cent ST. Interestingly, Bainsla had joined BJP in 2009 also. He lost from Tonk-Sawai Madhopur seat to Congress' Namo Narain Meena. The Congress candidate had won by a margin of 0.04 per cent or just 317 votes. While Meena bagged 46.82 per cent of the votes polled, Bainsla got 46.78 per cent. After the defeat, Bainsla had filed a petition in the Rajasthan High Court challenging the election verdict alleging the victor had indulged in malpractices. The final result of the election was kept pending due to some problem in EVM of one booth and the official announcement of Meenaas victory was announced a day after schedule. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address four public rallies in his home state Gujarat. Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be filling his nomination from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat today. Sonia, Rahul, Priyanka Gandhi will hold a roadshow in Amethi today. The Congress president will then address election rallies in Bihar and west Bengal.BJP chief Amit Shah will hold a roadshow in Bengaluru. BSP chief Mayawati will launch election rallies in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. 23:49 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Nomination of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party's Rajiv Mishra cancelled. He had filed from nomination from Kanpur. 23:40 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Bhim Army Chief Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan has announced his party's support to Congress, NCP, RPI (K), Swabhimani Shetkari Sangathan & People's Republican party, in Maharashtra. 22:21 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In I-T raids underway at the residence of YSRCP MP candidate from Guntur parliamentary constituency, Modugula Venugopala Reddy. Andhra Pradesh: I-T raids underway at the residence of YSRCP MP candidate from Guntur parliamentary constituency, Modugula Venugopala Reddy. Also, Income Tax officers raided his office and the residence of his Chief Election Agent Sudhakar Reddy. pic.twitter.com/4yDeCEQFa5 ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 21:34 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) writes to Election Commission over 'misuse of armed forces attack on Pakistan during election campaign. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) writes to Election Commission over 'misuse of armed forces attack on Pakistan during election campaign by PM Narendra Modi y'day in a political rally in Ausa near Lathur (Maharashtra),' requesting EC to take stringent action against PM. ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 21:33 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In AAP rejected Congress offer to form alliance in any state: Sanjay Singh AAP MP Sanjay Singh on alliance with Congress in Delhi: Congress is not in favour of alliance and it seems they want to benefit BJP. AAP will contest & win all seven seats in Delhi. #LokSabhaElections2019 https://t.co/l64nXg5p28 ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 21:07 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Ramtahal Chaudhary, Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Ranchi Lok Sabha seat, resigns from the party; says he will contest independently. Jharkhand: Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Ranchi Lok Sabha seat, Ramtahal Chaudhary, resigns from the party; says he will contest independently. BJP had announced Jharkhand Khadi Gramodyog Board Chairman Sanjay Seth as its candidate from Ranchi ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 20:01 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Modi will never be prime minister again, says Mamata Banerjee 19:48 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In EC team seizes Rs 2 lakh cash from BJD candidate's vehicle. 19:45 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Polling teams trekked 5 km long route to reach the polling stations situated 3000 ft above ground level in Buxa Fort. West Bengal: Polling teams,including presiding officers,polling staff&security personnel, trekked 5 km long route to reach the polling stations situated 3000 ft above ground level in Buxa Fort. Nearly 22 porters carrying election-kit helped polling teams to reach polling stations pic.twitter.com/CJgPBwKqiB ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 19:35 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Sunil Arora, Chief Election Commissioner, appeals people to cast their votes in large number. Chief Election Commissioner, Sunil Arora: It's a humble appeal that more & more people should come & cast their votes so that the bedrock of democracy strengthens. Our efforts will be fructified if each one of us who is an elector shows adequate zeal & faith in democratic system pic.twitter.com/7bKv9xx9ON ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 19:10 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Rahul lied after meeting Parrikar, who was battling for life: PM Modi in Panaji 19:09 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress wants to burden middle class, which it sees as selfish: PM Modi 18:51 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Now Congress openly claims that the middle class of the country is selfish and therefore, they are planning to hike taxes on them: PM Modi 18:38 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath pays last respects to Jagan Prasad Garg, BJP MLA from Agra, who passed away earlier today. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath pays last respects to Jagan Prasad Garg, BJP MLA from Agra, who passed away earlier today. pic.twitter.com/hSziWBhto9 ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 10, 2019 18:27 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The modus operandi of Congress was the same in helicopter scam as in the Bofors case. They let Michel flee to another country to escape investigation: PM Modi 18:27 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In During Congress tenure, every defence deal was shady. They took kickbacks in Bofors and Quattrochi was allowed to flee. For decades, our armed forces didn't get a new weapon: PM Modi 18:26 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In During Manohar Parrikar ji's tenure as a Defence Minister, we carried out surgical strikes. It laid the foundation for a new culture where India can enter the homes of enemies to kill them: PM Modi 18:25 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Manohar Parrikar showed us how person can work for people's welfare with honesty: PM Modi in Panaji 18:00 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In PM Narendra Modi wants to create two Indias - one of for his friends like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and another for the poor: Rahul Gandhi in Raiganj. 17:09 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Jagan Prasad Garg, BJP MLA from Agra, dies Jagan Prasad Garg, BJP MLA from Agra, has passed away. He was admitted to hospital earlier today. More details awaited. pic.twitter.com/zNCQ5m6AsY ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 10, 2019 16:49 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Shocked by disgraceful invocation of Balakot air strikes and Pulwama martyrs by PM Modi to woo voters, says CM Amarinder Singh Shocked by disgraceful invocation of Balakot air strikes & Pulwama martyrs by @narendramodi to woo voters. Written to #CEC #ElectionCommission to immediately check this grave code of conduct violation by PM & @BJP4India. Cant let independence of armed forces be undermined. pic.twitter.com/T6GKHqEQT9 Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) April 10, 2019 16:34 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In By saying that the court has accepted and by also saying that the court has said 'Chowkidaar chor hai,' Congress is on verge of contempt of court: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman: We all know Congress president probably doesn't even read even half a paragraph, but here, by saying that the court has accepted and by also saying that the court has said 'Chowkidaar chor hai,' these verge on contempt of court. #Rafale pic.twitter.com/2aO7oU5Gpx ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 16:31 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Case registered against DMK Vellore candidate Kathir Anand by Katpadi police. Tamil Nadu: Case registered against DMK Vellore candidate Kathir Anand by Katpadi police after Election Commission report, on charges of attempting to bribe voters & filing false affidavit. ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 16:29 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel arrives at the residence of Delhi Congress Chief Sheila Dikshit. Delhi: Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel arrives at the residence of Delhi Congress Chief Sheila Dikshit. pic.twitter.com/WYwUJA7oOZ ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 16:08 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In BJP fields Jaskaur Meena from Dausa Lok Sabha seat in Rajasthan. 15:42 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress raises objection on candidature of BJP's Diya Kumari from Rajsamund. 15:34 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Separatists have called for a strike on Thursday to protest against the polling for first phase of Lok Sabha elections in Kashmir and the "NIA aggression" against Hurriyat Conference leaders and their kin. 14:59 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In If Sardar Patel would have been here, he would never accept Congress' 'dhakosla patra': PM Modi. 14:38 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Smriti Irani says Rahul Gandhi did nothing for Amethi. 14:37 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Punjab CM writes to Election Commission seeking action against PM for his remark "I want to ask 1st-time voters:can your 1st vote be dedicated to brave soldiers who carried out air strike in Pakistan Can your 1st vote be dedicated to martyrs of Pulwama?" in a rally in Maharastra. Punjab CM writes to Election Commission seeking action against PM for his remark "I want to ask 1st-time voters:can your 1st vote be dedicated to brave soldiers who carried out air strike in Pakistan Can your 1st vote be dedicated to martyrs of Pulwama?" in a rally in Maharastra pic.twitter.com/T2MWyGVgQy ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 14:36 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The Election Commission bans PM Modi biopic during election period. 14:35 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress President Rahul Gandhi on SC dismisses Centre's preliminary objections seeking review of earlier judgment giving clean chit to Centre in Rafale case: Supreme Court has accepted that there is some form of corruption in Rafale deal & that "chowkidaar ne chori karwayi hai". 13:40 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Election Commission of India sends notice to Telangana CM KC Rao for violation of Model Code of Conduct over his derogatory remark against Hindus at a public rally in Karimnagar on March 17. 13:26 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In BJP President Amit Shah in Kasganj: We will not talk to any terrorist groups, that is for sure. Narendra Modi is going to be the PM once again, if terrorists dare to do something, we will enter their house again and shred them. 13:26 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In BJP President Amit Shah in Kasganj: We will not talk to any terrorist groups, that is for sure. Narendra Modi is going to be the PM once again, if terrorists dare to something, we will enter their house again and shred them. 13:24 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Dhavalsinh Zala, Congress: Thakor Sena core committee have held a meeting. In that meeting they gave an ultimatum to leave Congress. Right now, Alpesh Thakor is out of Gujarat, when he comes back we will take further decision. Dhavalsinh Zala, Congress: Thakor Sena core committee have held a meeting. In that meeting they gave an ultimatum to leave Congress. Right now, Alpesh Thakor is out of Gujarat, when he comes back we will take further decision. #Gujarat pic.twitter.com/nPRzvpsuR4 ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 12:46 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Delhi: Gurjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla and his son Vijay Bainsla who joined BJP today, meet party president Amit Shah. 12:40 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The Shiv Sena on Wednesday hailed the BJPs manifesto and gave it "200 out of 100" marks for promising to scrap Article 370 of the Constitution, providing special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. The Sena, an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra, said the countrys integrity cannot be compromised and that 2019 is the last chance to construct the Ram temple. 12:38 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In "We are not opposed to the Electoral Bonds as such, as it will legalise donations. But we are opposed to the anonymity. We are against anonymity and we want transparency," advocate Rakesh Dwivedi appearing for EC tells SC during hearing of pleas against issuance of Electoral Bonds. 12:38 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Election Commission tells Supreme Court that it was not against the issuance of Electoral Bonds for funding to political parties but it was against the anonymity of donors and wants transparency in the Electoral Bonds scheme. 12:38 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Karnataka CM and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy campaigns for his son and party's candidate for Mandya Lok Sabha constituency - Nikhil. Karnataka CM and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy campaigns for his son and party's candidate for Mandya Lok Sabha constituency - Nikhil. #LokSabhaElections2019 pic.twitter.com/D4icqj49LX ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 12:25 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Visuals from Shamli as polling parties leave for their respective polling stations. As many as eight parliamentary constituencies of the state will undergo polling tomorrow. Visuals from Shamli as polling parties leave for their respective polling stations. 8 parliamentary constituencies of the state will undergo polling tomorrow, in the first phase of #LokSabhaElections2019 pic.twitter.com/QVidH7HfQq ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 10, 2019 12:20 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Kirori Singh Bainsla, the face of Gujjar agitation in Rajasthan, joined the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections on Wednesday. Gurjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla and his son Vijay Bainsla join Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of Union Minister @PrakashJavdekar Y: ANI@BJP4India#ElectionsWithNewsNation Follow LIVE updates:https://t.co/V4L6uW8GTQ pic.twitter.com/ZKoFCcXE0a News Nation (@NewsNationTV) April 10, 2019 11:59 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Gurjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla to join Bharatiya Janata Party today. 11:38 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In It was imperative to have an air strike and it is in our duty as a Gujarati to take revenge of every attack on the country , says PM Modi. 11:40 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Uttarakhand: Visuals from Nainital as polling parties leave for their respective polling stations. All 5 parliamentary constituencies of the state will undergo polling tomorrow, in the first phase. Visuals from Nainital as polling parties leave for their respective polling stations. All 5 parliamentary constituencies of the state will undergo polling tomorrow, in the first phase of #LokSabhaElections2019, reports ANI. Y: ANI Follow LIVE updates:https://t.co/SfxMOrYQfY pic.twitter.com/QEXT9X0KVj News Nation (@NewsNationTV) April 10, 2019 11:36 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress' tape-recorder is stuck on one note "Modi Hatao, Modi Hatao". This is the same Congress that Sardar Patel nurtured, says PM Modi in Gujarat's Junagarh. In last 3-4 days you would've seen sacks full of cash of Congress leaders being found. It has not been even 6 months of govt in MP. Congress had turned Karnataka into their ATM now they've turned MP into ATM, says PM @narendramodi Follow LIVE updates:https://t.co/SfxMOrYQfY pic.twitter.com/ilTPmEKAlh News Nation (@NewsNationTV) April 10, 2019 11:31 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In PM in Junagarh: In last 3-4 days you would've seen sacks full of cash of Congress leaders being found. It has not been even 6 months of govt in MP. Congress had turned Karnataka into their ATM now they've turned MP into ATM. Fate of Rajasthan & Chhattisgarh won't be any different. 11:30 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Firs they (Congress) had a probelm with Morarji Desai, now they are wondering how a Chaiwala can run the administration with such aplomb for 5 years?: PM Modi 11:27 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Can the people of Junagarh and Somnath forget Sardar Saheb? Imagine if Sardar Saheb wouldn't be there, where would Junagarh be?: PM Modi in Junagarh rally. 11:26 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In PM Modi in Junagarh, Gujarat: Congress has snatched away food from poor children, snatched away their meal & is filling the stomach of its own leaders. Congress is looting the money designated for pregnant women. 11:23 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In PM Modi in Junagarh, Gujarat: A new name has been added to the list of corruption by Congress. Congress' identity is linked to corruption under many names. But now a new scam, along with evidence, has been added to the account of Congress leaders - Tughlaq Road Chunavi Ghotala. 11:19 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In PM Modi in Junagarh, Gujarat: I have come here to give you an account of the work done in 5 years. I have come here to take your order for the next 5 years. Are you proud of the work done by your son, this chowkidaar? Are you proud that there is not a single blot of corruption? 11:00 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress President Rahul Gandhi arrives in Amethi for filing of nomination. 10:36 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Visuals from outside District Collector office in Amethi where Congress President Rahul Gandhi will file his nomination today. 10:32 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Assam: Visuals from Dibrugarh as polling parties leave for their respective polling stations. Five Parliamentary constituencies of the state will undergo polling tomorrow, in the first phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2019. 09:33 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In West Bengal: Polling parties depart with EVMs for their respective polling stations in Alipurduar parliamentary constituency. Visuals from Alipurduar DCRC College: West Bengal: Polling parties depart with EVMs for their respective polling stations in Alipurduar parliamentary constituency; Visuals from Alipurduar DCRC College pic.twitter.com/SETZ7oF19H ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019 09:31 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Jammu & Kashmir: Visuals from Rajouri as polling parties leave for their respective polling stations. Two Parliamentary constituencies of the state will undergo polling tomorrow, in the first phase of Lok Sabha Polls. Visuals from Rajouri, J&K as polling parties leave for their respective polling stations. Two Parliamentary constituencies of the state will undergo polling tomorrow, in the first phase of #LokSabhaElections2019 Y: ANI LIVE: https://t.co/SfxMOrYQfY#ElectionsWithNewsNation pic.twitter.com/cTqcVapv39 News Nation (@NewsNationTV) April 10, 2019 07:47 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Gujarat: Former Congress MLA Jodhaji Thakor joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in presence of Union MoS Parshottam Rupala in Ahmedabad on Monday. Gujarat: Former Congress MLA Jodhaji Thakor joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in presence of Union MoS Parshottam Rupala in Ahmedabad yesterday. pic.twitter.com/O14QJ91EA4 ANI (@ANI) April 9, 2019 07:45 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Chief Naveen Patnaik releases party's manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections. Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Chief Naveen Patnaik releases party's manifesto for the #LokSabhaElections2019 (9/4/19) pic.twitter.com/iZGkyOhyYL ANI (@ANI) April 9, 2019 07:32 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The Election Commission warned DD from extending preferential treatment to one party. 07:31 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Tehri district has highest number of remote polling booths in Uttarakhand. 07:30 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In A total of 452 candidates have filed nomination papers for 17 constituencies in Maharashtrawhich will go to the polls in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 29. 07:30 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Slamming Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his poll promises,Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday claimed only the Gandhi familys poverty had been eradicated since the slogan garibi hatao was first coined. 07:29 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The Karnataka government Tuesday transferred the deputy commissioner of Mandya, from where Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil is contesting the Lok Sabha election as JD(S) candidate, following direction from the Election Commission. PC Jaffer, IAS commissioner for public instruction, Bengaluru, is transferred with immediate effect and posted until further order as deputy commissioner, Mandya district, from where Deputy Commissioner N Manjushree is transferred, the official notification said. 07:28 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The Election Commission on Tuesday wrote to the CBFC to inform it about the status of certification of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's biopic. Sources said the Election Commission decided to write to the Central Board of Film Certification after the Supreme Court refused to stop the release of the film. 07:27 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Ahead of polling on Thursday, authorities have deployed 18,000 security personnel in Ghaziabad district for the peaceful conduct of the election process. The security personnel include police officials and para military forces. 07:24 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In BJP chief Amit Shah will hold a roadshow in Bengaluru. BSP chief Mayawati will launch election rallies in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. 07:24 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address four public rallies in his home state Gujarat. 07:24 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The Congress president will then address election rallies in Bihar and west Bengal. New Delhi: In a major set back to jailed RJD leader Lalu Prasad, the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed his bail plea in three cases of multi-crore fodder scam. The top court order came after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) opposed his bail plea, alleging the RJD leader of conducting political activities from the hospital. Lalu Prasad had sought bail on medical grounds, to which the court said, "you are in no danger except you are convicted." "You have served 24 months against 25 years of conviction," the court said, refusing the bail to RJD leader. Earlier on Tuesday, The CBI had filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court. In the affidavit, the central probe agency said that the RJD leader, convicted in fodder scam cases, was seeking the bail to indulge in political activities ahead of Lok Sabha elections. The agency claimed that Lalu was not sentenced to 3.5 years but 27.5 years in jail and the leader was not serving his jail term, instead was staying in a special ward of a hospital and conducting political activities from there. The RJD leader, the CBI said, was misleading the Supreme Court by seeking the bail on medical ground, while his sole purpose was the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Earlier, on Friday, the Supreme Court had said that it will hear the RJD leader's bail plea on April 10 and asked the CBI to file its response by April 9. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the RJD chief, sought urgent listing of the bail plea saying notice has been issued in the matter. "You (CBI) file the reply by April 9. We will take up the matter (Yadavs bail plea) on April 10," the bench had said. Prasad is currently lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail in the Jharkhand capital of Ranchi. He has challenged the January 10 verdict of the Jharkhand High Court dismissing his bail plea. The three cases in which Prasad has been convicted are related to the over-Rs 900-crore fodder scam, which pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of money from the treasuries in the Animal Husbandry department in the early 1990s, when Jharkhand was part of Bihar. This is a breaking news story. More details will be added soon. Please refresh the page for the updated version. New Delhi: Sixty-six former bureaucrats have written to President Ram Nath Kovind, expressing concern over the credibility and functioning of the Election Commission for failing to deal with alleged cases of poll violations, particularly those involving the ruling party. A senior functionary of the EC said the poll panel will respond to the letter most likely on April 12 to put forth it's views on the issue. "At the moment, the commission is caught up with the first phase of polling on April 11. Moreover, it is also dealing with the aftermath of the Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh," the functionary said. The instances cited by the former bureaucrats include Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the nation about the successful launch of India's first anti-satellite weapon (A-SAT), release of web-series "Modi: A Common Man's Journey" and the "lethargy" in respect of the poll commission's action on the launch of NaMo TV channel. Referring to the instance of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath dubbing the Indian Army "Modi's Army", the bureaucrats said strongest action was required from the EC to "nip such cavalier statements in the bud", but it "contented itself in the present case with a mild reprimand to the UP CM". "We write to express our deep anguish that the Election Commission of India, which has had a long and honourable record of holding free and fair elections despite the enormous challenges of scale and complexity, is suffering from a crisis of credibility today," the letter said. The EC's independence, fairness, impartiality and efficiency are perceived to be compromised today, thereby endangering the integrity of the electoral process which is the very foundation of the Indian democracy, the letter added. "Hon'ble Rashtrapatiji, we are deeply concerned about the weak-kneed conduct of the ECI, which has reduced the credibility of this constitutional body to an all-time low. Any erosion in the people's confidence in the fairness of the ECI has very grave consequences for the future of our democracy and we hope that the gravity of the situation will be appreciated by the ECI," the letter said. The signatories include Salahuddin Ahmad, former chief secretary of Rajasthan, former Director General of Punjab Julio Riberio, Jawhar Sircar, former CEO of Prasar Bharati, Najeeb Jung, former Lt Governor of Delhi, Meeran Borwankar, former Pune Police Commissioner. With respect to Modi making public announcement of the success of the A-SAT test, the letter said the country was facing no immediate security threat that required the prime minister, who is an election candidate himself, to make a public announcement. "On purely technical ground that the announcement was not made on the public broadcasting service, the ECI held that there had been no violation of the MCC. We feel, however, that parading the achievements of a government in this manner after the announcement of elections is tantamount to a serious breach of propriety and amounts to giving unfair publicity to the party presently in government and that the ECI's decision does not stand up to the standards of impartiality expected of it," the letter said. They also cited the EC's order of transferring three top police officers and the chief secretary in Andhra Pradesh and four top police officers in West Bengal. "We find it curious that no such steps have been taken in Tamil Nadu, where the present Director General of Police is reportedly under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Gutkha scam case and there have been repeated appeals by the opposition parties in Tamil Nadu seeking his removal from that post," the letter said. New Delhi: Varun Dhawan recently appeared on Arbaaz Khanas online chat show Pinch and didnat mind making fun of his friend Katrina Kaif. On being asked to name a celebrity who is more interesting on social media than their real life, Varun named Katrina and said, ''She is new on social media and appears to be very fun, having a great time with great pictures, sense of humour. Katrina in real life is all about work. She is a horse with blinkers except when she is hungry and wants to eat something. Then also she eats like a horse.'' Recently, Arjun Kapoor had shared a picture with Varun and Katrina with a caption that read, ''So @varundvn & I are starting a new fan club #WeLoveKK aka @katrinakaif !!! Here we are seen awarding her, for absolutely no reason whatsoever... PS - the Dalmatian trophy Katrinaas holding represents our faithful friendship kyunki yeh dosti #firstclass hai !!!aA In the picture, Varun and Arjun can be seen handing over a Dalmatian trophy to Katrina as a token of their friendship. Varun Dhawan debuted withA The Student of the YearA in 2012 and has established himself as a versatile talent with back-to-back hits in both commercial and middle-of-the-road projects.A The actor is currently busy promoting his next film, Kalank. It is the first major multi-starrer film of Varun's career and features A-listers such as Madhuri Dixit, Alia Bhatt, Sanjay Dutt, Sonakshi Sinha and Aditya Roy Kapur. "It is more interesting to do multi-starrers. I believe actors should be cast for their acting capabilities and not for their stardom. All actors in the film suit the characters they are playing," he said in an interview with PTI. Katrina Kaif, on the other hand, will be next seen in Bharat opposite Salman Khan. A For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: One of the most active celebrities on social media, Jacqueline Fernandez has showcased an incredible growth on the social media turning into an influencer. A front-runner in the highest followed celebrities, Jacqueline Fernandez is amongst the top social media handles on Instagram. With over 27 Million followers, Jacqueline uses the platform to not just share insights into her life but also to shape the opinions for social welfare. A recent study traces the social media graph of the actress which puts forth the analysis of her followers. According to the same, Jacqueline has a huge fan following all over the country with Mumbai and Pune leading the polls, followed closely by Pune, Banglore and Kolkata. The actress is not only a sensational phenomenon in India but also marks her global imprints, amassing a huge fanbase across the world. The cheerful and bubbly actress finds appreciation and love in not just the young but the old as well as her demographics are not restricted to any age group. Jacqueline Fernandez offers a varied exhibition of content as the actress shares her fitness regime as well as shows off her adorable cats. With several brand endorsement to her credit, Jacqueline Fernandez has emerged as one of the most bankable actresses in addition to being the commerical front runner. Banking upon her social media fandom, brands are constantly attempting to make her the face of their endorsements. The actress has been currently creating a buzz as she would return to Salman Khan and Sajid Nadiadwalas franchise with Kick 2. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Remember Nawazuddin Siddiquias narrow escape from a crazed fan who pulled the Gangs of Wasseypur actor for a selfie while in Kanpur? The actor, who chose to remain silent about the fan-craze day has finally opened up to the injuries he suffered thereafter the fan dragged the actor by the neck for a selfie. True to fansa calling him their beloved actor, Siddiqui went on to say that the encounter was a way of showing their love. aI got injured, got a hand fracture and a muscle pull. But theek hai, kya karein, uska apna tareeka tha (itas ok, what do we do, itas their way). Unka pyaar hai. (Itas their love)aa Siddiqui said according to HT. The actor talking about his stardom had previously told HT,A aI wear similar clothes to those I wore as a junior artist, but today people think my clothes must be fashionable since I am wearing them!a He had added, aStardom doesnat suit me. I can play the character of a star very well, though, and you would be convinced that I live that life. I am good with characters.a Siddiqui, who was last seen in Photograph will be seen next in three upcoming movies,A Bole ChudiyanA oppositeA Mouni Roy, No Landas Man, andA DustyA To Meet Rusty. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Salman Khan has been actively sharing every update of the shoot of his upcoming film Dabangg 3 on the social media forums, and now fresh reports have surfaced that the shoot of the action drama has landed with legal trouble. According to a report in DNA The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has served notice to the production team of Salman Khan's Dabangg 3, asking them to remove two film's set pieces constructed inside Jal Mahal in Mandu, Madhya Pradesh. The notice states that the sets constructed by the makers of the film were in violation of the Ancient Monument and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act 1958 as well as other rules.A In addition to this, a stone figurine at the fort located on the banks of the Narmada river in Maheshwar town too is reported to have gotten damaged on Sunday while removing the set. Turns out some heavy objects apparently hit the statue and a part of it broke.A Mandu Sub Circle, ASI Junior Conservation Assistant Prashant Patankar too confirmed that the copies of notice have been forwarded to Dhar collector and other officials. The ASI official further warned the filmmakers that the permission to shoot would be terminated if the directives are not followed at the earliest. A "I have taken cognisance of the matter and issued directives to Khargone district collector, superintendent of police and sub-divisional magistrate ( SDM). We had given permission to the shooting of 'Dabangg-3' in Maheshwar to highlight the tourism potential of this historic town. If something went wrong during the shooting of the film, then the steps against the people concerned will be taken", said Madhya Pradesh Culture minister, MP Culture Minister Vijaylaxmi Sadho as quoted by DNA. Ironically, Maheshwar marksA Salman's birthplace who plays a cop in the film and shot a song from Dabangg 3 in the city on the Narmada ghats. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Manipur journalist Kishorechandra Wangkhem has been released from jail on Wednesday after the High Court in Imphal revoked charges against him under the National Security Act (NSA). He was imprisoned in November 2018 for allegedly criticising the state government in a social media post. The Manipur High Court on Monday revoked the detention of Wangkhem and ordered his immediate release. A division bench of Justice Lanusungkum Jamir and Justice K H Nobin Singh quashed the order of the district magistrate of Imphal West for detaining Wangkhem under the NSA. The bench said the television journalist be freed forthwith unless he is not wanted in other cases, Wangkhem's counsel, Soraisam Chittaranjan, said. Wangkhem, 39, was detained under the NSA at the orders of the Imphal West district magistrate last November for allegedly criticising the BJP, RSS, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh. He was arrested on sedition charges on November 21 and was sent to jail for 12 months. Wangkhem, who was housed in the central jail here, had moved court against his detention on December 20. His family members had lodged a complaint with the high court that his health had been deteriorating in the prison. (With PTI inputs) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: In the view of the ongoing tensions with Pakistan, the top army commanders have decided that the armed forces cannot lower their guard, and troop readiness levels will remain as they are at the moment along the border, news agency ANI quoted sources as saying. The decision was taken in Army commanders conference in New Delhi on Wednesday where army discussed the ongoing operations along the Pakistan border, the news agency added. Tensions between India and Pakistan flared up after the Pulwama attack. The Pakistan Army has violated the ceasefire for more than 70 times in the last one month along the LoC in Poonch, Rajouri and Baramulla districts of Jammu and Kashmir. 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. The Pakistan Army has violated the ceasefire for more than 70 times in the last one month along the LoC in Poonch, Rajouri and Baramulla districts of Jammu and Kashmir. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama Tuesday underwent a check-up at a hospital in Delhi after some health complications, hospital sources said. The 83-year-old leader came down from Dharamshala for the check-up at the Max hospital in Delhis Saket, they said. "Yes, he underwent a check-up at the hospital. He generally visits Max facility for his check-ups," a source said. However, it could not be immediately confirmed if he was admitted to the hospital. The Dalai Lama was in the national Capital for the past few days for attending a global learning conference that ended on April 6. He returned to Dharamshala from New Delhi Monday. The 14th Dalai Lama had fled to India in early 1959 to escape from the Chinese occupation and lives in exile in the hill town of Dharamshala. At the event, he had also spoken about his ageing body and reincarnation. To a question on China's stand on the next Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader had said, "If I live for another 10-15 years, political situation in China will change. But if I die in the next few years, the Chinese government will show the reincarnation must happen in China." Earlier, Beijing had rejected the Dalai Lama's assertions that his successor could be from India and a nominee by China would not be respected, saying the next spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism has to be approved by the Communist government. China's response came after the 83-year-old Nobel peace laureate told a news agency that it was possible that once he dies his incarnation could be found in India and warned that any other successor named by China would not be respected. "Reincarnation is the unique way of Tibetan Buddhism. It has fixed rituals and systems," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters when asked about remarks by the Dalai Lama, who fled to India from Tibet in 1959. "The Chinese government has policy of freedom of religious belief. We have regulation on religious affairs and regulation on the reincarnation system in Tibetan Buddhism. We respect and protect such ways of Tibetan Buddhism," Geng said. Dalai Lama is a title given to spiritual leaders of Tibetan people. This title is given to those who are considered among the most important monks of the Gelug school, the newest school of Tibetan Buddhism. Born in 1935, the current Dalai Lama was identified as the reincarnation of his predecessor when he was just two years old. "The reincarnation system has been there for hundreds of years. The 14th Dalai has also been recognised in the religious rituals and was approved by the central government. So the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama should follow the national rules and regulations and the religious rituals," Geng said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday expressed "deep regret" over the massacre by English troops at Jallianwala Bagh in 1919, but stopped stopped short of tendering an apology. "We deeply regret what happened and the suffering caused," May said in the British Parliament and termed the tragedy as a "shameful scar on British Indian history". At the start of May's weekly Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons she fell short of a formal apology sought by a cross-section of Parliament in previous debates and reiterated the "regret" already expressed by the British Government. "The tragedy of Jallianwala Bagh of 1919 is a shameful scar on British Indian history. As Her Majesty the Queen (Elizabeth II) said before visiting Jallianwala Bagh in 1997, it is a distressing example of our past history with India," she said in her statement. Ahead of the 100th aniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre on April 13, the UK parliament held a debate on the topic in the British House of Commons, called by Conservative MP Bob Blackman. Troops of the British Indian Army, under the command of Colonel Reginald Dyer, had fired on civilians who had gathered at Jallianwala Bagh for a peaceful protest on April 13, 1919 killing scores of people. As per Colonial-era records, around 400 people died in Amritsar when British troops opened men, women and children in an enclosed era, but Indian figures put the toll at closer to 1,000. Earlier, former British PM David Cameron had described the massacre as "deeply shameful" during a visit in 2013 but also stopped short of an apology. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: A massive fire broke out at an oil plant in Gujaratas Banaskantha on Wednesday morning. News Nation has learnt that initial estimate suggests that property worth Rs 25 crore was gutted in the blaze. The Chandisar oil plant belongs the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation. Firefighters from neighbouring Disa and Palanpur have reached the spot and battling to douse the fire. Local administration has also reached the plant to oversee the situation. No casualties have been reported so far.A #Video | Gujarat: Fire breaks out an oil mill in Chandisar, in Banaskantha district; Fire tenders present at the spot Full story: https://t.co/khChq35lcM pic.twitter.com/lyuaJ7rJWf a News Nation (@NewsNationTV) April 10, 2019 An India.com report said that short-circuit is believed to be the reason behind the blaze. However, no official statement ahs been released so far. The blaze brings back the memories of the 2018 incident in Mumbai where over 40 people were injured at Bharat Petroleumas refinery. The incident took place at the public sector oil firm's plant on the Mahul Road in Chembur area of East Mumbai around August 9 last year. After preliminary treatment at the BPCL's first aid centre, 22 of them were allowed to go home, while others were shifted to a nearby hospital in Chembur. Nine fire tenders, two foam tenders and two jumbo tankers were pressed into service to douse the blaze. Along with the Fire Brigade, the refinery's own fire-fighting team, HPCL, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, RCF and Mazgaon Dock fire brigades were also engaged, an official of the Disaster Control Room of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said. The blaze also sparked protests by the locals living in the vicinity, shouting slogans and demanding that they be relocated from the area. Hundreds of families displaced for various government projects or due to slum demolitions have been resettled in Mahul village. "Had the boiler exploded near our building, we would have been reduced to ashes," Puja Waghmare, a local resident had said after the blaze.A In April 2018, one person was killed after minor leakage in the motor spirit plant led to an explosion in the Numaligarh Refinery. In October last year, a lightning strike had caused a major fire in an oil storage tank on Butcher Island, off Mumbai shore. It took four days to extinguish the fire. The Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) has also witnessed a string of fire incidents in its refineries, especially those located in Odisha and Haryana, A Down To Earth report said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Yasin Malik on Wednesday was arrested by the National Investigative Agency (NIA). Yasin Malik who was until last night under lodged in the Kot Bhalwal Jail in Jammu was shifted to the Tihar Jail in Delhi ahead of his hearing in a special court of the NIA on Wednesday. The NIA secured his production remand in connection with a 'case related to funding of separatists and militant groups in Jammu and Kashmir', officials said. The JKLF chairman will be facing questions related to funding of his organisation from the National Investigation Agency. Malik is the prime accused in the killing of five Indian Air Force personnel in Srinagar on January 25, 1990 and the kidnapping of the daughter of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Dr Rubiya Sayeed on December 8, 1989. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Separatist and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Yasin Malik, who was until last night under lodged in the Kot Bhalwal Jail in Jammu was shifted to the Tihar Jail in Delhi ahead of his hearing in a special court of the National Investigative Agency (NIA) on Wednesday. The NIA secured his production remand in connection with a 'case related to funding of separatists and militant groups in Jammu and Kashmir', officials said. The JKLF chairman will be facing questions related to funding of his organisation from the National Investigation Agency. Malik is the prime accused in the killing of five Indian Air Force personnel in Srinagar on January 25, 1990 and the kidnapping of the daughter of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Dr Rubiya Sayeed on December 8, 1989. Malik was detained by the Jammu and Kashmir police from his residence in Srinagar on February 22 and was shifted to the Kothibagh police station. The detention came two days after the state administration said the security of 18 separatist, including Malik, would be withdrawn. The JKLF leader on Thursday termed the announcement a "lie". While Malik said he had never received any protection from the state, hardline Hurriyat Conference termed the reports about the withdrawal of security of its chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani "ridiculous". "I have had no security with me for the last 30 years. So, when there was no security, what withdrawal are they talking about? This is utter dishonesty on part of the government" Malik told reporters. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Get your resume ready because this job might literally be the job of your dreams or even better, a vacay with pay? Matthew Lepre, a 26-year-old e-commerce millionaire from Sydney is inviting applications for the World coolest job ever. According to video which Mathew posted, he says that he needs someone to assist him and travel the world with him and that too for free plus an additional salary of A$52,000 which is around Rs.25.75 lakh a year. Lepre explained, "Salary will be based on the person's experience but the base rate is in addition to travel and accommodation expenses. Health insurance benefits are paid for by me separately. "Travelling while I work has allowed me to live my ideal life, and I want to give someone the opportunity to do the same alongside me," he added. Ever since he advertised for the dream job, he is said to have received over 40,000 applications. Lepre told the Daily Mail, "I have received over 40,000 applications from people all around the world. I have definitely received far more applications from women (75 per cent) than men (25 per cent) and even a few marriage proposals too." Matt however adds that he wants his assistant to be "someone who works hard but is also fun and spontaneous." Do you fit the bill for this dream job? For all the Latest Offbeat News News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Taking a selfie at Phukets Mai Khao beach in Thailand can now land you in jail with a heavy fine or may even get you a death penalty. Phuket International Airport is next to Mai Khao beach and planes fly low over the sand as they come into land. The spot has become popular with those looking for a adrenaline rush, trying to snap the perfect shot and posing with the aircraft as they approach. However, authorities have now claimed the constant photo-taking is distracting pilots. and visitors have been banned from the area. In fact, locals and tourists have also been instructed to avoid flying drones and shining flashlights at planes at the beach, as a lot of drone sightings have led to cancellations of planes. A 9 km-long exclusion zone on Mai Khao beach has been introduced to clamp down on selfie-snapping. The punishment for trespassing could be jail time - but the maximum penalty is death. Vijit Kaewsaiteam, vice president of Phuket International Airport, has said that the ban is to prevent pilots getting distracted. As reported by Express.co.uk, Kaewsaiteam said that bright lights had dazzled pilots at nights and drone photography was also a risk. In Thailand, if youre found to be endangering an aircraft, you risk a prison sentence between five years and life imprisonment. The very worst offenders could face capital punishment and be executed. However, locals are not too pleased with the ban as they feel this will affect their business and livelihoods. The decision to shut off the section of beach will affect the tourism badly. According to a report by the local media, a source said that If the beach is closed, we will have serious problems because many tourists simply will not come. I want (Airports of Thailand, which operates Phuket International Airport) to look at us and support locals in making (a) living here, too, they added. Tharika Nokkaew, from Sirinat National Park which oversees the beachs management, added that no restrictions had been put in place yet and there are always a lot of tourists there all the time. However, the airport authorities are adamant to impose the ban. For all the Latest Offbeat News News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Sydney: The worlds southernmost coral reef has been hit by bleaching this summer, Australian scientists said Wednesday, as they warned rising sea temperatures from climate change were affecting even the most isolated ecosystems. The corals off Lord Howe Islandsome 600 kilometres (370 miles) offshore from Sydneywere affected by elevated temperatures this summer, despite escaping severe bleaching that damaged the Great Barrier Reef in 2016 and 2017. Its a canary in the coal mine that we are seeing bleaching at this very isolated southernmost reef, which is worrying, Associate Professor Bill Leggat of the University of Newcastle told AFP. Its just another indicator that climate change is affecting everywhere around the world. Here is a reef that is 600 kilometres from the mainland and we are seeing bleaching there in a lovely, beautiful ecosystem. Leggat and other scientists from several Australian universities and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found severe bleaching of up to 90 percent at Lord Howes inshore, shallow lagoon reefs. Deeper-water corals in the marine park, which contains species not found anywhere else and like the Barrier Reef is a World Heritage site, were still looking quite healthy having mostly escaped the bleaching, Leggat said. Leggat said increasing baseline temperatures caused by climate change, and local factors such as elevated temperatures in the area this summer, caused the bleaching to occur. The scientists are set to return to Lord Howe in the next few months to find out if some corals have been so severely bleached they cant recover. Bleaching occurs when abnormal environmental conditions, such as warmer sea temperatures, cause corals to expel tiny photosynthetic algae, draining them of their colour. Corals can recover if the water temperature drops and the algae are able to recolonise them. However, swathes of coral at the Barrier Reefthe worlds largest living structuredied or were damaged in the unprecedented successive events in 2016 and 2017. Coral reefs make up less than one percent of Earths marine environment, but are home to an estimated 25 percent of ocean life, acting as nurseries for many species of fish. For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Islamabad : Pakistan military on Wednesday took a group of international media personnel and foreign diplomats on a tour of the seminary and its surrounding areas in Balakot, where India carried out a counter-terror operation on JeM's biggest training camp 43 days ago. Tensions flared up between India and Pakistan after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) killed 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14. Amid mounting outrage, the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot , deep inside Pakistan on February 26. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured an IAF pilot, who was handed over to India on March 1.According to BBC Urdu, the group was flown from Islamabad in a helicopter to Jabba in Balakot. The visitors trekked for about one-and-a-half hour to reach the madrassa on the top of a mountain surrounded by lush green trees. The group, while going up, also saw a ditch on a hillside where India jets dropped its payload, according to Pakistan military.About 150 students, aged 12-13, were present inside the seminary building and were being taught Quran when the group reached inside the madrassa, they said. The visit by the group lasted for about 20 minutes and the participants were allowed to take pictures and even some of them spoke to the teachers present there. Army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor held formal and informal chat with the reporters. "This is an old madrassa and has always been like this," he said, indicating that Indian claim of hitting it was not true. This was the first formal visit of foreign media and diplomats to the place about which India claimed that its strike killed scores of terrorists. The purpose of organising the trip was apparently to fortify Pakistan's claim that Indian failed to destroy any structure or kill anyone during the ariel attack of February 26 which brought the two nations to the verge of a war, he said. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: A Japanese F-35A stealth fighter jet with one pilot on board crashed into the Pacific shortly after it disappeared off the radar while on a training mission, the defence ministry said. Multiple international media reports including Reuters and CNN have confirmed the crash. We recovered the wreckage and determined it was from the F-35, a spokesman for the Air Self Defense Force (ASDF) was quoted as saying by the Reuters. The report also said that the pilot of the stealth fighter is still missing. This is the second time in the history of the F-35s that the jet has crashed. Earlier, an F-35B crashed near the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina in September last year. The fighter jet went missing around 7:30 pm (1030 GMT) as it was flying some 135 kilometres (84 miles) east of Misawa, northeastern Japan, a ministry spokeswoman said. The plane lost contact about 30 minutes after taking off from Misawa Air Base with three other aircraft. Earlier reports suggest that Japan has grounded 12 remaining F-35A fighters for the time being. A total of eight airplanes were sent to the area. The Self-Defence Forces and coastguard have separately dispatched vessels to carry out rescue operations. Japan is deploying F-35As, each of which costs more than 10 billion yen (USD 90 million), to replace the ageing F-4 fighter jet. An 80-member squadron of the stealth fighters was just formed last month at the base, according to Kyodo News. The F-35s are shipped to Japan by Lockheed Martin and assembled by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd at a plant near Nagoya in central Japan. Each costs around $100 million, slightly more than the cost of buying a fully assembled plane, the Reuters said. A representative for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said the company had no immediate comment. Japan is one of 14 countries in the F-35 program, according to the plane's maker, Lockheed Martin Corp. Tokyo announced in December it would be buying 147 of the planes, making it the biggest customer for the aircraft besides the United States. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Nacogdoches, TX (75965) Today Mostly cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 77F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Overcast. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. New Delhi: The UN Security Council is all set to meet on Wednesday on the crisis in Libya, where fighting has derailed UN-led efforts to prepare for elections. However, the UN will be holding urgent closed-door consultations only. UN envoy Ghassan Salame will brief the council on his decision to postpone a national conference aimed at drawing up an election roadmap, diplomats said. Thousands of people have fled Tripoli after forces under the command of Khalifa Haftar, who controls part of eastern Libya, launched an offensive last week to take the capital. We cannot ask people to take part in the conference during gunfire and air strikes, Salame said Tuesday in announcing the postponement of the conference that was due to open on Sunday. Tripoli is controlled by a UN-backed unity government, but its authority is not recognised by a rival administration in the east, allied with Haftar. Earlier, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the military escalation near Tripoli and called for an immediate halt to the fighting in Libya. The appeal followed an air attack by the forces of commander Khalifa Haftar on the Mitiga airport east of the capital. Guterres urges the immediate halt of all military operations in order to de-escalate the situation and prevent an all-out conflict, said a UN statement. He strongly condemns the military escalation and ongoing fighting in and around Tripoli, including the aerial attack today by a Libyan National Army (LNA) aircraft against Mitiga airport. The air strike shut down Tripolis only functioning airport as fighting raged around the capital and thousands fled. Haftars self-styled LNA claimed Mondays air strike against the airport, with a spokesman saying the attack targeted a MiG-23 military plane and a helicopter. Haftar launched the offensive on Tripoli last week just as Guterres was in Libya to push for a political deal on holding elections. A UN-backed unity government controls the capital, but its authority is not recognised by a parallel administration in the east of the country. As fighting escalated over the weekend, the United Nations called for a humanitarian pause to allow civilians trapped in the violence to escape, but the appeal fell on deaf ears. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Prime Minister Theresa May battled on Tuesday to stop Britain crashing out of the EU this week. Theresa was pleading with France and Germany for a second and more lengthy delay to Brexit. May met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin and was due later to meet in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron, who so far has taken a harder line on the issue. In Germany, a source in Merkels party said she could consider a delay until the start of 2020. British MPs have rejected the text, and Mays government is now in talks with the opposition Labour party to try to find a way through the deadlock. Speaking ahead of Mays talks in Paris with Macron, the aide to the French president said France had never been closed to the idea of finding an alternative solution to no deal within certain limits and not at any price. Earlier, the words European Union were removed from the front cover of the passports being issued by Britain. The longstanding decision to start introducing passports without reference to the EU had gone ahead from March 30, the day after the original date for Brexit, the interior ministry said on Saturday. The British government and the main opposition were to hold further crisis talks on earlier on Thursday after MPs voted in favour of a Brexit delay that would avoid Britain crashing out of the EU on April 12. In anticipation of this, Mays government on Monday reluctantly laid the legal order needed to hold European Parliament elections on May 23. But she is hoping that EU leaders might agree to a flexible delay proposed by Tusk, whereby Britain could leave earlier if it agrees on a divorce deal, and never hold the elections. It does not make these elections inevitable as leaving the EU before the date of election automatically removes our obligation to take part, a spokeswoman said. European leaders have also asked May to come up with a reason for a delay, with France in particular warning that it does not want simply to prolong the uncertainty. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters at a G7 meeting in France on Saturday that it was time for the Brexit crisis to end. The British authorities and the British parliament need to understand that (the EU) is not going to be able to constantly exhaust itself with the ups and downs of domestic British politics, he said. However Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar cautioned it was extremely unlikely a member would veto another extension while revealing he now favoured a lengthy delay. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Five turtles belonging to an endangered species were returned to sea by the authorities. Sources said the turtles were found in poor health by some residents in the area and were taken to the authorities. The turtles regained their health after being cared for a period of three months by a group of experts belonging to the Supreme Council for Environment and Bahrain Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the sources added. Mahmoud Faraj, Chairman of the Bahrain Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said that the turtles were returned to the sea on Sunday near Hawar Islands in co-operation with Supreme Council for Environment. BSPCA representatives and officials from the Supreme Council for Environment including its chief executive officer Mohammed Mubarak bin Dainah were present. The Ministry of Education has successfully concluded a two-week reading campaign titled READ that aimed at improving the reading skills of children. It also marked the 100 years of the establishment of formal education in the Kingdom. Speaking to Tribune, Ministry of Education Project Manager Shaikha Hala Al Khalifa, said: Reading lays the foundation for future learning. Reading inspires us and triggers our imagination. The campaign aimed to increase literacy awareness amongst children, families and the wider community through the innovate library bus we have developed along with various events, workshops and training programmes for teachers. The Ministry of Education is celebrating 100 years of transformative teaching, learning, and schooling. Bahrain has the oldest education system in the Arabian Peninsula with the establishment of Al Hidaya Al Khalifia School in 1919. Now, 100 years later we are focusing on 21st-century education and innovative learning. As such we have launched the Read Programme once again this year, with the aim of digitizing the bus with e-readers as well, to ensure that it is accessible to children of all levels and ages. The Read Campaign has already gained such positive reviews from students and the wider community. Students are captivated by the library bus and the assortment of books in both Arabic and English that it contains whereas parents loved all the various literacy activities the campaign promoted from reading with their children to cooking meals from classic childrens books. A video of a Saudi national attempting to commit suicide by jumping from flyover in the Capital of Saudi Arabia has been circulating on social media platforms. The footage recorded by an eye witness from a building adjacent to the location of the incident shows authorities and the general public persuading the 22 year old man to reconsider his decision. Unfortunately the young man jumped from the overpass and landed on a passing car which coincidently resulted in saving the mans life by breaking his potentially fatal fall. The man was rushed to the nearest hospital where doctors revealed that his condition is stable and the incident left him with a broken leg and minor injuries. Get a briefing of all the latest stories from The News Record, delivered right to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. DANBURY A millionaire racetrack owner who was convicted Wednesday for helping to run a sex trafficking ring that preyed on vulnerable men showed little emotion as he was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs. But the victims of 65-year-old Bruce Bemer, who were cross-examined during the trial and subjected to coarse insinuations by the defense attorney about their motives for testifying, were elated with the jury verdict. The victims are very thankful to the jury for taking their time with the case and carefully considering the charges, prosecutor Sharmese Hodge said. The jury really listened to their stories. In an unusual case because it dealt with trafficked men, the jury of five men and one woman found Bemer guilty on all four counts of patronizing a trafficked person, and guilty on one count of criminal liability for trafficking a person. Bemer, who turned down a plea deal in January that would have spared him jail time, faces 60 years if the judge throws the book at him during sentencing June 6. Bemer stood stoically in a blue suit and wearing an electronic ankle bracelet as the jury convicted him on all counts, after three days of deliberation in Danbury Superior Court. His lead attorney, Anthony Spinella, said he had no comment moments after the jury was dismissed and the courtroom was cleared. Bemer, the owner of the New London-Waterford Speedbowl and other businesses including a motorcycle dealership in Hartford, was considered by investigators as the most important of three suspects arrested in March 2017 and accused of trapping vulnerable young men in a predatory cycle of cocaine addiction, prostitution and threats of death. At least two of the 15 victims had developmental disabilities, prosecutors said. Hodge told the jury that one of the other men in the sex ring, Robert King of Danbury, found the victims at drug rehabilitation centers and group homes and brought them to Bemer for sex acts. King pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit human trafficking in 2018. He currently awaits sentencing. Kings plea calls for four years in prison and 35 years of probation. On Thursday, Judge Robin Pavia added $750,000 to Bemers $500,000 bail and put him on curfew from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. The curfew, which will be enforced electronically, allows Bemer to continue to attend to his businesses but prevents him from being out of house after dark. Bemer is being sued by some of the victims of the decades -long trafficking ring, who claim he had sex with them while he was infected with HIV. Bemer has agreed to set aside $25 million to satisfy any potential judgment in the case. Bemer initially said he was not guilty. He later admitted to patronizing prostitutes, but his attorney denied there was any human trafficking. During the trial, the defense attacked witness credibility and motioned for dismissal of the case. rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342 BETHEL Residents will vote Thursday on the proposed $78.4 million operating and $1 million capital budgets. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Berry Elementary School, the municipal center and Stony Hill Fire House. Under the proposal, the tax rate would rise 2.24 percent, with the average homeowner seeing a $159 increase in taxes. Overall town and school spending would increase by just under 5 percent, the largest spending hike in years. This is thanks in part to increased demands on the schools and debt from the police station and elementary schools projects. The recommended operating budget includes $46.4 million for education, $26.3 million for town operations, $5.2 million for debt service and $480,000 for school maintenance. The capital proposal covers the cost to replace the boilers at the high school. DANBURY Plans to use an old passenger rail line by the Danbury Fair mall to connect Danbury to the Southeast, N.Y., station have been discussed for decades. Now, it could happen. Mayor Mark Boughton wants to use the Maybrook line behind the mall to connect Danbury Metro-North riders to the Harlem line and directly into New York City. This could shave an hour off the commute that forces passengers to transfer to the New Haven Line in South Norwalk, and then heads to Grand Central. This will turn our downtown into a regional transportation hub, Boughton said. The Maybrook line is about 12 miles long. Passenger service was discontinued decades ago, but it is still used as a freight line. New railcars and upgrades will be needed before passenger service can return, but the specific improvements need to be determined. At this point, its just a concept, Boughton said. He doesnt see this replacing the existing Danbury line because it has is a built-in ridership between Stamford or South Norwalk to Danbury. But he sees the proposal as a faster option for those heading into Grand Central from Danbury. It takes about 85 to 94 minutes to get to Grand Central from Southeast and about 120 to 176 minutes to get from Danbury to Grand Central. He said a consultant walked the entire line last year to assess it, but a feasibility study is needed to determine the ridership numbers of those shuttling or driving from Danbury to the Southeast station to take the train. The study will examine the existing infrastructure to determine what upgrades are needed. Boughton is trying to get funding from the regional councils of governments in New York and Connecticut so this study can be done. The study will take eight to nine months to complete. Last years consultant estimated the total cost will be between $50 million and $70 million. Boughton said the hardest, and often very expensive pieces of developing these lines, is getting the easements along the route. Housatonic Railroad already has about 90 percent of them because its a working line. Connecticuts Department of Transportation estimates a project like this could cost $100 million. This proposal needs further review to determine its feasibility and potential use, DOT spokesman Judd Everhart said in a statement. The Maybrook line is completely overgrown in some areas. The Connecticut DOT owns the Metro-North lines in Connecticut and Housatonic Railroad owns the Maybrook line. The MTA owns the Metro-North lines in New York. Putnam County and Danbury might be involved. Were all going to have to work together, Boughton said. Even though about half of the Maybrook line falls in New York, the MTA declined to comment on the proposal and directed questions to the Connecticut DOT. Housatonic Railroad officials could not be reached for comment, but expanding passenger service on this line has been included in its passenger rail plan for a few years now. The proposed route map shows a stop at Mill Plain between Danbuy and Southeast. It has come up especially as Housatonic Railroad looks to bring passenger rail service to New Milford and up to Pittsfield, Mass. While the idea has been discussed before, Boughton said this seems to be the first time where discussions are happening across state lines with Putnam County and MTA. I dont think anyone has taken it this far, he said. Boughton said he has received positive feedback from the Metropolitan Transit Authority, Putnam County and Housatonic Railroad. He is scheduling a meeting to discuss it with the Connecticut Department of Transportation. He said now is the time because the Harlem Line is growing and Putnam County is looking to expand its parking because of the increase in ridership. The Harlem line had about 2.2 million riders so far this year, according to an MTA monthly report. Gov. Ned Lamont is looking at faster train service. As Gov. Lamont reviews transportation projects in a more holistic manner with the potential of toll revenue coming online, we will determine potential next steps, Everhart said in the statement. kkoerting@newstimes.com; 203-731-3345 HARTFORD The Judiciary Committee approved a bill Tuesday designed to keep inmates and their families connected through free phone service instead of the high cost of calls they are paying now. But it would come at an $8 million loss in revenue for other criminal justice programs, state officials said. HB 6714, sponsored by Rep. Josh Elliott, D-Hamden, would end the states practice of charging inmates and their families to call home. The bill would also allow inmates to have access to free Internet and video Internet service when appropriate. By state law, the state Department of Correction is allowed to contract with a telecommunications vendor which can charge inmates amounts above standard phone rates for making calls. Some legislators expressed surprise that the state was profiting from inmates and their families. I think it was fairly shocking and disturbing to many members of this committee that the state is at or near the top in what it charges inmates for telecommunications, said Rep. Steven Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport, who spoke in favor of the bill. The state uses Securus Technologies, a firm that proponents of the bill say often charges excessive rates that are thinly veiled kickbacks, preying on families who have no other choice if they want to stay in touch with incarcerated loved ones. This is a regressive tax on some of the most economically fragile members of our community, Brian Highsmith, of the National Consumer Law Center, said in his testimony in favor of the bill. The system harms all Connecticut residents, and harms these vulnerable communities the most. Highsmith called the companys practices in Bristol County, Massachusetts, an illegal kickback scheme that is nearly doubling the cost of calls made by prisoners. In Bristol County, as in Connecticut, prisoners who want to communicate by phone with family, friends and legal representatives have only one option available: they must use the privatized calling system operated by phone vendor Securus, Highsmith said. The state recently extended its contract with the company for two more years until 2021, Stafstrom said. There could be implications if the state tried to pull out of the contract, he said. But Stafstrom said the state Department of Correction was going to try to work with the company to come to a resolution. Representatives of Texas-based Securus said Tuesday afternoon they had no way of contacting company officials for comment. A call to the Securus Foundation, which is listed on the companys website as an organization that helps recently released inmates and their families, was not returned. The calls cost more than $4 per 15 minutes. A woman who testified in favor of the bill during a March 25 public hearing said that the cost leaves little time or money for her grandson to talk to his mother, who is incarcerated at York Correctional Institution. The woman, whose name was changed to protect her identity, tries to put $40 a month in her daughters prison phone account so she can call her 14-year-old son on a regular basis, she said. There are months I have to put lesser amounts on the phone because I find myself choosing between adding the usual amount and giving up something else, said the woman, who is raising her 14-year-old grandson while her daughter is incarcerated. The calls generate about $8 million a year in state revenue. The Judicial Branch receives $5.5 million to fund probation officer positions. The Criminal Justice Information System, which allows law enforcement agencies to access information on criminal histories, receives about $3 million, and the Correction Department receives about $350,000, state officials said. The Judicial Branch noted in their testimony that the agency was taking no position on the bill. But the testimony submitted by the External Affairs Division indicated that the Branch received $5.5 million in 2018 from the revenue generated by prison telecommunications, which is used for adult probation staff and programs. That $5.5 million funds staffing and other expenses related to the Probation Transition Program, the testimony submitted by External Affairs said. The program supervises those recently released from prison who were also sentenced to probation. The money also funds the Judicial Branchs Technical Violations Unit, which provides enhanced supervision for certain people in violation of probation. We do not have the necessary funding in our budget to make up for this loss of revenue, External Affairs said. The Judicial Branch was already facing a two-year, $58 million cut by Gov. Ned Lamont. Lamonts administration has not officially taken a position on the bill, said Marc Pelka, the undersecretary for criminal justice in the Office of Policy and Management. The impact would need to be offset, which would likely mean cuts to those Judicial Branch programs, Pelka said. One woman who testified with a group from the Children with Incarcerated Parents Initiative, a program within the Central Connecticut State University Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy, said shes spending $40 a week on prison calls so that her ex-boyfriend, who is incarcerated, and his son, who she is raising, can remain connected. I have trouble getting by because I have to think about saving money just to spend it on the calls and am now also caring for his young child, the woman said. You dont realize how quickly the minutes pass and just how much it adds up each day, week, month. The high cost of the phone calls is an example of the types of criminal justice fees that are imposed on incarcerated individuals and their families, said Joanna Weiss, the co-director of the Fines and Fees Justice Center, a national organization that seeks to eliminate fees associated with the criminal justice system. Some state and local governments have gone beyond simply trying to recoup costs through justice system fees and are trying to generate profits by imposing fees on people who are incarcerated, regardless of whether they have been convicted of any crime, Weiss said. A Stamford attorney and a Seymour attorney have resigned and a Greenwich attorney disbarred just three of several Connecticut-based lawyers to face disciplinary action in March, according to the Connecticut Law Tribune. Connecticuts Statewide Grievance Committee announced that 10 state attorneys faced discipline, including disbarment, suspension and more. The committee terminated an interim suspension of Paul Vallillo, of Prospect, effective March 11. Vallillo had an overdraft on his Interest on Lawyers Trust Account, and didnt adequately respond to the statewide bar counsel. Stamford attorney William McCulloughs resignation was accepted on March 6 after it was found that he committed professional misconduct. McCulloughs resignation stemmed from the committees attempt to audit his records. He was unable to comply. Following in the footsteps of New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., Connecticut disbarred Greenwich attorney William Scher from practicing law in Connecticut for seven years, effective March 26. The case against him stems from a New York bar discipline over misappropriation of client funds. The committee accepted the resignation of Seymour attorney Prescott May on March 21. He was found to have committed misconduct, including failing to communicate the basis or rate of fees and expenses to a client in writing. He said he had a form of dementia and said he was resigning for personal and health reasons. The committee made two presentments in separate cases against Stephanie Czap, an attorney based in Enfield. In the first, Czap is accused of taking money from a clients account without informing him where the money was going. The committee ruled that Czaps actions were unethical. In the second, which is pending a final decision from the committee, Czap violated several rules of conduct after failing to handle things as the conservator of a clients estate. Kevin Lynch was ordered to pay $200 after a compliant filed about a pay dispute. Benjamin Hume was ordered to pay a client $1,000 every money for 15 months stemming from a complaint. Corey Heiks was reprimanded in a case that stemmed from a lawsuit filed on behalf of a client in a criminal matter. Local grievance panels found Heiks violated rules of conduct. The committee set conditions for Elizabeth Kopec, connected to a grievance filed by a client in a real estate matter. Kopec was ordered to take continuing legal education courses in legal ethics and real estate law. Thomas Rome will be on probation through the court for one year after an ethics case against the Hartford attorney from a divorce case that led to a one-year suspension. His probation bars him from accepting new clients in Connecticut, or filing new appearances in any exists cases in the state. Robert Wynne, a Glastonbury attorney who was also disciplined in January, was handed down an interim suspension. Wynnes case stemmed from an overdraft in his trust account. The committee asked for an explanation that never came. He was suspended for 60 days in January for failing on several occasions to communicate with a former client and her new lawyer about a medical lien settlement. WASHINGTON - Democratic lawmakers filed legislation Wednesday to end President Donald Trump's travel ban, asylum ban and "extreme vetting" for refugees, a measure that is unlikely to pass the Senate or gain White House approval but attempts to prevent family separations and rally support for immigration leading up to the 2020 elections. Sen. Christopher Coons, D-Del., and Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., announced the bill with support from freshman lawmakers Rep. Ilhan Omar,D-Minn., and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., among others. Supporters also include Khizr Khan, the "Gold Star" father of Humayun Khan, a U.S. Army captain who was killed in Iraq in 2004; leaders of Muslim and Jewish organizations; and the head of an Iranian group whose family has been affected by the ban. Khan criticized then-candidate Trump at the 2016 Democratic convention. Coons said in an interview that every Democratic senator running for president in 2020 has endorsed the legislation. He said thousands of U.S. citizens have been "forced to live apart" from relatives, missing weddings, funerals, or the births of grandchildren for policies he said do not enhance national security. "The fact that we still have this so-called Muslim travel ban on the books and being enforced is a stain on our reputation around the world," he said. "And it's hurting real people." Though the bill's chances of passing the GOP-controlled Senate are slim, the measure offers another Democrats another route into the national conversation on immigration. Presidential candidate Julian Castro issued his own proposals earlier this month, the first detailed immigration policy blueprint from any of the Democratic candidates for president. Democrats are also working on immigration-related measures on the border and health care for immigrants in detention, according to The Associated Press. Since Trump took office and imposed a travel ban against mainly Muslim-majority nations in 2017, immigration from those countries has slowed, particularly from Iran, one of the hardest hit, according to Reuters. The United States is also on pace to accept one of the lowest numbers of refugees on record and is mulling tougher restrictions, including a new version of family separation, to block rising numbers of migrants crossing the southern border. Coons said it doesn't matter that the Senate and White House are unlikely to support the bill. "I recognize with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in place and President Trump in the White House, the odds this bill will get a floor vote in the Senate and signed into law excuse me by the president are very slim," he said. "It is still worth articulating that there is a legal path towards keeping our country safe and narrowing the power of the executive so that a future president does not do this again." Chu, the House sponsor of the bill, called the "No Ban Act," said in a statement that Trump's immigration policy "endangers the lives of refugees who seek safety here" from around the world. The Supreme Court narrowly upheld Trump's travel ban last year, saying the president has the authority to bar travelers to protect national security, a decision Trump viewed as a major vindication of his efforts. The president had issued three versions of the ban, starting in January 2017, but lower courts had struck them down. The current ban bars certain travelers from Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen. Foreigners can apply for waivers, and thousands have been granted, but Coons said thousands have also been kept out. Trump also issued orders that severely restrict refugee admissions and has lowered the cap on refugee admissions from 110,000 in the last year of the Obama administration to 30,000 this year, the lowest since the Refugee Act was enacted in 1980. The bill would repeal Trump's travel bans, a 2018 asylum ban that sought to bar access to protection in the United States for immigrants, mainly Central Americans, who crossed the border illegally, and his declaration that required extreme vetting for refugees. The bill would also add religion to Section 202(a), the nondiscrimination clause of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The measure would also impose new restrictions on the president's broad authority to limit immigration to the United States under Section 212 (f) of the INA, the legal foundation for many of his actions, by requiring the executive branch to brief Congress on the issues within 48 hours of the emergency, and every 30 days after that, or the order would expire. The bill would preserve the president's ability to use his authority when the administration believes "based on credible facts," that it is sensible to suspend access to certain individuals. Can we have some outrage, please, that last week we reached the point in the year when a woman earns as much as a man for the same job? A century after women finally received the right to vote, they still lack equality when it comes to pay. This insidious system is unfair and affects society as a whole. April 2 was Equal Pay Day this year, meaning women have to work 92 days into the year to earn on average as much as men did the previous year. The wage gap persists across many occupations, despite comparable skills, experience and education. Disturbingly, the gap is even greater for women of color. White women earned, on average, 77 percent of what men earned in 2017; for black women it was 61 percent, and only 53 percent for Hispanic or Latina women, according to a study by the American Association of University Women. In 2016, on average, women were paid 22 percent less than men, after controlling for race and ethnicity, education, experience, and location, the Economic Policy Institute noted. That holds true in female-dominated fields, such as nurse practitioners, and male-dominated fields, such as software development. The gap cannot be explained or dismissed by saying women choose lower-paying jobs. Women with advanced degrees earn less than men with four-year degrees $34.95 vs $37.13 an hour. The wage disparity is evident in the first professional jobs out of college. It cannot be explained away by women leaving the workforce for a while to have children. The disparity accumulates across the work life and influences the level of Social Security payments a woman will receive, based on earnings, after retiring. This should have been remedied when the Equal Pay Act of 1963 made it illegal for businesses to pay women less than men for the same job with comparable skills. But four big loopholes in the act let the wage discrimination persist 56 years later. The National Committee on Pay Equity started Equal Pay Day 23 years ago to raise public awareness about the wage gap. The indefatigable U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro introduced a bill the next year to close those loopholes, and the Democrat from the 3rd District is still fighting. Eleven more times she came back with a bill; last week brought a victory with the House passing it in a 242-187 vote that included eight Republicans. But its fate is anything but certain in the GOP-controlled Senate where Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, introduced a version last week. The Paycheck Fairness Act would, among things, allow workers to compare notes on salaries without retaliation, and would prohibit employers from requiring salary histories before hiring. Although Connecticut enacted legislation last year to prohibit the question of salary history, federal protection is also needed. Pay should be parallel. Given the same education and opportunities, daughters are every bit as capable as sons. So Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., made more than 1 million dollars, much thanks to his best-selling book. Rarely is turning such a profit in an industry as dicey as publishing better news for your enemies than you, but so it goes: Sanders's critics are thrilled. It makes sense that they would be. After so much complaining about Sanders's ritzy winter coat and his lake house in Vermont, the opportunity to utter the phrase "made a million dollars" must arrive as a great victory. There is no socialist in America who will ever escape charges of hypocrisy, of course; even Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who was a bartender before her election, has been accused of being secretly rich. The reason this line of attack persists is because the politics of Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are unabashedly moral in language and sound pretty good; the only way to undermine them is, therefore, to say they don't really mean it. But back to Bernie: Is there anything to say in defense of a guy who made more than 1 million dollars in a particular calendar year? In my view - not really; million-makers can defend themselves, at least qua makers of millions. But there is something to say in defense of Sanders as a consistent politician and an honest broker, which is really what his detractors are out to dispute. First, Sanders's complaint isn't that millionaires exist per se - there are millionaires in democratic socialist countries such as Sweden, Finland and Norway - but that the United States' super-rich are symptomatic of a system that churns out a small class of extremely wealthy people who rule over the vast remainder. Key to Sanders's argument against the accumulation of wealth in the hands of a small elite is that their largesse allows them to wield disproportionate, anti-democratic political power by funding campaigns and lobbying politicians; seeing as Sanders's campaign is funded strictly by small donors and he is not a lobbyist himself, it would seem that his having made more than 1 million dollars in a year doesn't exactly run afoul of that critique. One might argue that Sanders should've donated whatever money he made nearing the million-dollar mark to charity - and one might also ask why he ought not have donated every single dollar he made over his family's immediate subsistence needs, regardless of the final tally. Sanders does do some charitable giving, but it's worth noting that charity and socialism are nowhere near synonymous; this is why the right-wing proposal to let free markets reign and rely on individual giving to meet the needs of the poor is something like the political opposite of Sanders's program. So while charitable giving is certainly a good thing to do, and I wholly endorse doing it, Sanders neglecting to de-millionize himself through alms isn't a failure to adequately commit to socialism. It may instead be a failure of another kind: Call it cupidity, or - worse for political types - an insensitivity to optics. Neither misstep compromises the final integrity of Sanders's politics nor implies he's insufficiently serious about them, especially after so many decades pushing the same policies with no best-selling books or millions to show for it. But whatever the critique, honest or dishonest, I agree with the general sentiment: A few people owning stockpiles of wealth while many more go without is unjust. So if you're bothered by Bernie's big payday, take action now: Vote for him. You can raise not only his taxes but also the taxes of millionaires across the country, and reap the benefits in the form of universal programs such as Medicare-for-all. Have so many birds ever been felled by a single stone? by Cait Bladt Sen. Elizabeth Warren is running for president and her platform includes a comprehensive plan to diminish the overwhelming power tech companies currently wield. Warren, who has released a truly impressive number of policies, proposes breaking up tech companies using anti-trust laws and updating regulatory rules. Tech companies claim this type of oversight will increase consumer costs and diminish service. What do you think? Warren delineated her proposal in a Medium post in early March. Warren claims tech companies have created monopolies which never would have been allowed in other industries, using their total control to cull massive amounts of information from unwitting users and put competitors out of business. Todays big tech companies have too much power too much power over our economy, our society, and our democracy. Theyve bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field against everyone else. And in the process, they have hurt small businesses and stifled innovation. I want a government that makes sure everybody even the biggest and most powerful companies in America plays by the rules. And I want to make sure that the next generation of great American tech companies can flourish. To do that, we need to stop this generation of big tech companies from throwing around their political power to shape the rules in their favor and throwing around their economic power to snuff out or buy up every potential competitor. Her proposal includes two stepsbreaking tech companies apart so they can no longer own both the platform utilities and programs using that platform. Per the Verge: Warrens proposal includes a plan to pass legislation designating platforms with more than $25 billion in revenue as platform utilities, which would be barred from owning both the platform and participants on the platform at the same time. Smaller companies would not face the same requirements. A law like that would have immediate effects on the digital economy, the proposal continues, as Google is forced to spin off Search and Amazon spins off Marketplace. Warren isnt alone in looking for ways to reign in tech companies. Politico reports numerous other Democratic presidential candidates, including Amy Klobuchar, Cory Booker and Bernie Sanders have voiced support for reforming the tech industry. Klobuchar sounded the theme at the very start of her campaign, during the announcement speech in February where she stood in blowing snow in Minneapolis. For too long the big tech companies have been telling you Dont worry! Weve got your back! while your identities are being stolen and your data is mined, the Minnesota senator said. ...Sanders, who declared his White House bid in mid-February, has railed against Amazon and CEO Jeff Bezos over everything from the wages the company pays its workers to its low aggregate tax. While Trump has raised the latter issue in the context of veiled threats against Bezos' Washington Post, Sanders has inveighed directly against Amazon's tax minimization efforts. "I think most Americans would agree that it is a bit absurd in that you have in the case of Amazon a company owned by the wealthiest person in the world that made, I believe, 11 billion in profits last year and didn't pay a nickel in federal taxes," Sanders told POLITICO. "I don't think too many Americans think that makes sense." Tech companies, however, claim the new regulations would dramatically increase operating costs for consumers. According to the Washington Post: Carl Szabo, vice president of the free-market tech trade group NetChoice, said in a statement that the proposal would increase prices for consumers, make search and maps less useful, and raise costs to small businesses that advertise online. Szabo, whose group counts Google and Facebook as members, said that consumers have never had more access to goods, services, and opportunities online. Slate reports there are concerns about whether this type of legislation could garner enough public support to succeed. Despite numerous scandals regarding fake news, security breaches and data mining in the last year, many sites have not seen a dramatic decrease in daily active users as there are no alternatives available to consumers. If Amazon, Google, and Facebook become political punching bags for Democratic candidates this election cycle, it wouldnt be beneath those companies to mount ad campaigns in their own self-defense, like how Facebook ran a full-page ad in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal as the Cambridge Analytica scandal reached a boil. Even last year, though, usership didnt appear to drop overall and the company remained profitable despite the scandal (and a huge hit to its stock), probably because Facebook is so dominant that users had nowhere else to go. Not to mention the fact that antitrust, while an important issue for anyone concerned with structural inequities in the economy, isnt likely to be the thing that voters hang their hat on. TIME reports some anti-trust experts do not believe existing laws can be used in the ways Warren is proposing. As the laws and regulations were written long before tech companies were created, they cover what is now a relatively narrow set of circumstances. Part of the issue is that the some of the concerns Warren seeks to address, particularly around data use and privacy violations, do not fall under traditional antitrust law, according to experts. Undoubtedly we should have serious concerns about privacy. How are we going to think about privacy now and in the future? But this is not an antitrust issue, says antitrust expert and University of Arizona law professor Barak Orbach. The main law that applies to antitrust cases is the Sherman Antitrust Act. Over the past several decades, the courts have interpreted antitrust law conservatively, Fox says, so finding violations typically requires a situation where a companys actions are lowering output or raising prices. These two concerns dont necessarily cover the issues raised by big tech companies operating on the internet in 2019. Antitrust or competition policy has to catch up with the fact that we have these forms of restraint that are not about lowering output and raising price, but they are about amassing huge amounts of data and using it very profitably and amassing it often deceptively, Fox said. The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, wed love to hear what you have to say. ExxonMobil revised its Permian Basin (Texas and New Mexico) growth plans to produce more than 1 million oil-equivalent barrels per day by as early as 2024 an increase of nearly 80 percent and a significant acceleration of value. Exxons resource base in the Permian is approximately 10 billion oil-equivalent barrels and is likely to grow further as analysis and development activities continue. Exxons current Permian reserves would last about 30 years at the 1 million barrel per day rate. ExxonMobil is actively building infrastructure to support volume growth. Plans include construction at 30 sites to enhance oil and gas processing, water handling and ensure takeaway capacity from the basin. Construction activities include central delivery facilities designed to handle up to 600,000 barrels of oil and 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day and enhanced water-handling capacity through 350 miles of already-constructed pipeline. Exxon Mobil plans to reduce the cost of pumping oil in the Permian to about $15 a barrel which is a level only seen in the giant oil fields of Saudi Arabia. The shale revolution has made the Permian into the worlds largest shale field. it is producing over 4 million barrels a day, which is more than the Saudi Arabia Ghawar oil field. Chevron announced plans last week for 900,000 barrels a day by 2023. Royal Dutch Shell Pis looking for deals to bulk up its Permian operations. If all of these plans come to fruition then Texas-New Mexico oil production from the Permian could surpass Saudi Arabia oil production by 2025. Saudi Arabia is currently producing at 9.8 million barrels per day. SOURCES- Exxon, Rigzone Written By Brian Wang WASHINGTON Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy split on Wednesday over Sen. Bernie Sanderss long-awaited Medicare for All bill. Blumenthal was one of 14 co-sponsors of Sanderss bill, all Democrats, while Murphy supports other proposals that would overhaul the nations health care system - all plans that do not eliminate the role of health insurers. Sanders, who is running for the White House, blasted the nations health insurers when he rolled out his plan Wednesday In my view, the current debate over Medicare for All really has nothing to do with health care, Sanders said. Its all about greed and profiteering. It is about whether we maintain a dysfunctional system which allows the top five health insurance companies to make over $20 billion in profits last year. The Sanders bill would create a single, government-run health plan to provide coverage to all Americans, much like traditional Medicare provides coverage to those 65 and older. But the Sanders plan would be more generous than traditional Medicare, with patients paying nothing out of pocket when they visit a doctor. The plan would also cover hospital visits, primary care, medical devices, lab services, maternity care, and prescription drugs as well as vision and dental benefits. Americans would have four years to transition from their current health plans, be they private plans or Medicare or Medicaid. The only alternatives to Medicare for All would be the veterans health care system and the Indian Health system. Sanders ambitious bill has been criticized as being vague on how Medicare for All might be paid for. Sanders released a list of financing options, such as a new tax on extreme wealth. But the taxes on nearly all Americans would likely increase to pay for the plan. While Blumenthal and some of Sanderss Democratic rivals - Sens. Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren - are co-sponsors of the Sanders plan, Murphy and other Democrats support more conservative options to expand health care coverage. Murphy has sponsored a Medicare buy-in plan that gives people who qualify for Affordable Care Act subsidies the option to purchase a new Medicare Part E plan. That Medicare component would use the same network of doctors and hospitals who now serve Medicare patients, but would include other non-elderly medical services, including pediatrics and maternity. NEW HAVEN Justin Elicker raised more than four times the money collected by incumbent Mayor Toni Harp, as reflected in the first-quarter filings for the Democratic mayoral primary race. Elicker took in $117,692 in individual contributions, but when the Democracy Fund payments he estimates he has earned are added, the challenger has some $165,000, a larger number than Harp by a factor of six. Harp, who is seeking a fourth term in office, reported raising $26,392 from January through March. Elicker has 727 unique contributors, but a total of 848 donations, according to his campaigns analysis. Elicker said most people know an incumbent usually can raise a lot of money by virtue of their office. The fact that we raised $90,000 more while participating in the Democracy Fund indicates people are interested in change, he said. Elicker ran against Harp in a three-way primary in 2013 and then as an independent in the general election six years ago. He raised twice as much in the first quarter in this campaign than he did in 2013. Jason Bartlett, Harps campaign chairman, said Elicker announced earlier than the mayor and therefore had more time to raise funds. Bartlett said they also were held up raising money until Harps 2017 campaign was closed out. Elicker announced his candidacy on Jan. 16; Harp sent out her announcement a month later on Feb. 14. Harps 2017 campaign continues to have missing donor names for tens of thousands of contributions collected in that race. The campaign also did not file when required and J. Peter Wilson was appointed treasurer in the 2019 race before the 2017 race was closed out. The original deficit also appears to be inaccurate. Elicker sent complaints to the State Elections Enforcement Commission, which is investigating. Harps first-quarter report had about 135 donors, many of them city employees who contributed more than once. The top donors, giving $1,000 each, were : Kadir Catalbasoglu, Barbara Hennessy, Riga Bruno, James Comer; Doug Hausladen, the city director of Transportation, Traffic and Parking, and Andrew Crumbie. Elicker had more than 100 contributors with ties to Yale University out of 727. His filing, at the City Clerks office wasmore than 300 pages and it contained the list of contributors plus what they donated. He also issued a separate list with all the names of his contributors in a 13-page document to be transparent. The expenses were mainly staff and consultants. The main consultant for the campaign is Blue Edge Strategies which has been paid $9,148 through the end of March. Kyle Buda, who was Elickers campaign manager in 2013, worked for the campaign early on and has been paid $4,375. The campaign manager, Gage Frank, has been paid $5,874. The Democracy Fund is the public financing option that limits the top donation to $370 and requires that at least 200 New Haven residents give between $10 and $370. Elicker reported earlier that 70 percent of the 727 unique contributors are from New Haven. Outside publicly financed campaigns, the top donation is $1,000. Bartlett blamed the reporting errors in the 2017 fillings on the firm it had hired to keep track of them. Wilson Wednesday had no comment when asked when the paperwork for 2017 would be corrected. Bartlett said he expects both campaigns will be able to raise the money they need. He said in Harps first run for the office in 2013, they raised around $600,000 in what was a three-way primary and then another battle with Elicker in the general election. In 2017, she raised more than $300,000. Bartlett, who is also the director of Youth Services for the city, said the election will be about the mayors record and the transformational policies she has put in place. He mentioned the dropping crime rate, the increasing graduation rates and the growing number of companies who want to locate here. Bartlett said it will be a competitive race. Q1Donors20190409-8716201365 by Helen Bennett on Scribd mary.oleary@hearstmediact.com: 203-641-2577 A Hamden man has been arrested on federal firearm and narcotics charges, authorities said. Clemente Holmes, also known as Cavali and Vali, 29, is charged on a four-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Hartford, according to a release from the office of Connecticut U.S. Attorney John H. Durham. Holmes appeared Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge William I. Garfinkel in Bridgeport and pleaded not guilty to the charges. The case unfolded, according to the release, as alleged in court documents and statements made in court, in January 2019 as law enforcement made two controlled purchases of narcotics from Holmes at his Goodrich Street residence. On Jan. 22, 2019, investigators conducted a court-authorized search of Holmes residence and seized distribution quantities of fentanyl, heroin and crack cocaine, as well as a loaded 9mm handgun, the release said. Holmes was arrested on state charges on that date. Hamden police said at the time of the January arrest that they found 374 wax folds of heroin, 56 bags of crack cocaine and a firearm. Then, in February, investigators made a controlled purchase of crack cocaine from Holmes, who had posted bond after his state arrest, the release said. Holmes was arrested on a federal criminal complaint on Feb. 26 and a search of his residence revealed more heroin packaged for distribution, authorities said. State online judicial records show Holmes was convicted in 2012 in state court of sale of narcotics and carrying a pistol without a permit. The federal indictment charges Holmes with one count of possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon, one count of possession of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine base (crack) with intent to distribute, one count of possession of heroin with intent to distribute, and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, the release said. Holmes has been detained since his federal arrest. The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations New Haven Safe Streets Gang Task Force and the East Haven, Hamden and New Haven Police Departments. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathaniel J. Gentile. A high school principal in New Jersey has been changing the culture for the better at his school by providing practical programs and services that students can use. Principal Akbar Cook, who works at West Side High School in Newark, New Jersey, has opened the doors at the school from 6 to 11 p.m. Friday nights in a program called Lights On as a safe place for students to hang out, Yahoo reported. While it might not sound like much -- providing a space for students gym access, a place to dance and be fed warm meals -- its made a huge difference in what kids could be doing otherwise. "I haven't lost any more kids to gun violence since the start of the school year," Cook told WABC-TV. The school will be also be open three nights a week during the summer. Last year, Cook facilitated the installation of a laundry room at the school that students can use for free, since students said they sometimes skipped school because they were scared of being teased for wearing dirty clothes. He said the school had a 10 percent increase in daily attendance after the washers and dryers were installed. "I think we really put the microscope on basic needs of kids, Cook told CBS News. Everyone wants the high test scores, everyone wants them to perform well. But if the kid doesn't feel confidence in just coming to school, being that person we know they can be, then what are we doing. Dear Gov. Lamont: I am a Bridgeport resident and I am African American. Normally, I do not introduce myself with a statement of my race, but in this particular letter, I think it is relevant. I also think it is important for you to know I did not cast a vote for you to sit in the mansion and I want to tell you why. It had nothing to do with your platform. I am an old-seasoned dog when it comes to politicians on the campaign trail and even hound dogs have long given up finding delivered promises made beyond the campaign speech. But it had everything to do with blacks once again being used as a propaganda tool for a candidate to get elected. I was here when you appeared out of nowhere during your run against former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. During that time, you visited low-income areas and saw the problems firsthand. There were speeches, photos that showed you smiling and others that showed your concern. And lets not forget the headlines. Then you lost and disappeared for nearly eight years. Then you came back and so did the photos that smiled and showed concern, and the headlines. There you were again, hobnobbing with blacks and others in low-income areas as if their problems and issues had been a concern of yours all along. My problem was I couldnt find media of you doing the same thing during your absence. Maybe you did it quietly, like many of our selfless volunteers who give their time simply for the greater good. I dont know nor do I care: Politicians will take the path that gets them elected and will align themselves with the different issues that affect voters and every voter wants what it is going to take to make their communities better. But since you drove down that route to get the victory you wanted, there is an issue at the state Capitol that is very important to the black community. The General Assemblys Judiciary Committee on Monday approved a version of marijuana legalization that would wipe out arrest records of people charged with possession of less than 1.5 ounces. I am tough on crime. I really dont have much tolerance for it. I believe that prisons should be expanded, not closed. I also believe that our laws should be enforced without the myriad excuses for leniency often seen at the sentencing of repeat offenders charged with assault or possession of a weapon. I cant speak for the young white or Hispanic guys behind bars, but I can tell you what happened in black neighborhoods because I was there. I was there when young guys in my neighborhood selling nickel and dime bags to friends were arrested and thrown into a prison pipeline already corroded with corruption, ambition and greed that weighted the scales against them. I was there as they were painted as villains. I was there as many found the judicial system made it impossible for them to overcome that initial mistake. It was during the 1960s and 70s and suburban, white kids flocked to black neighborhoods to buy their pot and heroin much as their parents did before them when they, too, wanted something illegal. And now those same kids from the 1960s and 70s are parents or grandparents who want to pretend that somehow their kids or grandkids cant find the illegal stuff just like they did or if they can, that they wont turn out to be good citizens even as they did. We seem to forget the desperation that most young black men faced during that period or how different things were back then. I was there when some parents turned their backs on the moral decay of their kids drug dealing while the system picked them off due to ignorance and an undeniable lack of opportunities. I have said many times in many columns that blacks had nothing to do with the drugs that were dumped into their neighborhoods during a time when the average poor black man couldnt find a job that didnt come with a stiff uniform and very low pay. We now we know how long that pipeline stretches and the truth lies in the damage. And I know, Gov. Lamont, that you know that. I cant imagine you have been as successful as you are because your eyes dont see and your ears dont hear. But I can believe that your mouth could be zipped shut, your hand stilled, by political pressure. There is and there should be a great debate about legalizing marijuana, but we know legalization is absolutely on the way and it is just a matter of how to implement the new law. Parents, clergy, politicians and other opponents should be concerned, but expunging the records of those who were caught with or had in their possession at the time of their arrest less than 1.5 ounces should not be a debate. That is one ounce less than what medical marijuana patients are allowed on a monthly basis. It is a tough decision because it means erasing criminal records, but marijuana has been socially acceptable for decades and we are long past the time when low-level dealers should be locked up. Like Richard Pryor said during one of his comedy shows during the 1960s: You go down to the courthouse looking for justice and thats what you find: Just us. That holds true today and it doesnt have to be that way. Once the legitimacy of marijuana has been established, the men and women behind bars that fall under the parameters put forth by lawmakers should be set free. As I wrote in 2014 as lawmakers wrestled with medical marijuana: Because as she creeps toward legalization and the politicians on both sides take the time to beat their breasts for their constituents in the halls of state and national capitals, it should be remembered that tens of thousands of black men will either still be in prison, in the process of being released or back on the streets, uneducated and stigmatized and probably a little angry that other men are now able to reap billions because America rests easier with marijuana under the guise of medicine. I am not fooled and, governor, you should not be, either. Some of these men and women will return to prison because that is who they are and nothing will change that. But I have to believe the vast majority understand the pot of gold only lies where they are free to walk and pick it up. I dare say the men and women who you shake hands with in the corporate world are just as dangerous to society. But they walk free because they have the money to control the PR. The campaign is over. You can give men and women a chance to get back to life and move forward or you can keep them in cuffs and pretend the fault lies only with them. Either way, I, for one, have grown weary of politicians born in my era that know and understand the problem of racial injustice but lack the guts to do the right thing. So tell me, Gov. Lamont which one are you? The governor who will make the tough decision? Or the one on the campaign trail still sprouting plain old-fashioned bull? We are about to find out. Marijuana? Dear Gov. Lamont: What say you? James Walker is the New Haven Registers senior editor and a statewide columnist for Hearst Connecticut newspapers. He can be reached at 203-680-9389 or james.walker@hearstmediact.com. @thelieonroars on Twitter James Durbin / James Durbin A Wallingford trampoline park is one of several similar state attractions sued over injuries, according to a WFSB TV report. There have been at least nine lawsuits filed against Connecticut trampoline parks, including The Sky Zone in Wallingford, since 2015, according to WFSB which began investigating after CBS This Morning reported similar findings nationwide. The measles outbreak among ultra-Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn, N.Y., is not likely to occur among Connecticuts Jews or among anyone else, said Jewish leaders and state officials. The reason Jews in Brooklyns Williamsburg section are not having their children vaccinated is not based in religion, said members of the Orthodox Chabad sect in Connecticut. Rather, it is because the insular Williamsburg community relies more on rumor and is less trustful and knowledgeable about scientific information, said Jewish educators in Connecticut. Its actually not something thats a religious exemption steeped in Judaism, Leah Shentov, director of the Gan Yeladim Early Childhood Center in Stamford, said Wednesday. She said people have a hard time accepting new facts once theyve heard rumors that vaccines are dangerous and that false information spreads easily in a community where there is a lot of close living, there is a lot of close, large families. Shentov said her children, ages 8 to 20, all have been immunized, as have the children of her nine siblings. Many people assume that my children are not immunized, but its just an assumption based on stereotype. While the Hasidic sects are a small part of Judaism, I sometimes feel like its a vocal or impactful community, Shentov said. According to New York Mayor Bill DiBlasios emergency order, issued Tuesday, more than 250 cases of the highly contagious disease have broken out in Willliamsburg since September. He ordered anyone in the area who has not been vaccinated to be immunized against measles within two days unless they can show they are immune having had the disease or can prove a medical exemption. In Connecticut, there have been two confirmed cases of measles this year, both in late January; there were three in 2018. According to the state Department of Public Health, 96.5 percent of children entering kindergarten have received two doses of the vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella. In the 2017-18 school year, 764 people received religious exemptions and 126 got medical exemptions, according to health department statistics. We are monitoring the situation very closely, and working in close consultation with local health officials, our frontline partners, department spokesman Av Harris said in a statement. House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, has said he wants the legislature to eliminate the religious exemption, a stance that brought dozens of protesters to the state Capitol on March 13 to say that their religious rights would be violated if they were required by state law to have their children immunized. Rabbi Shlame Landa, spiritual leader of Chabad of Fairfield, said everyone in the weekly Chabad Hebrew School of Fairfield, led by his wife, Miriam Landa, is immunized. As Jews, we believe that you have to. [Its] unequivocally not a religious issue, he said. Ive never heard of vaccinations being a religious issue, said Naftuli Moster, executive director of Young Advocates for Fair Education, who grew up in an ultra-Orthodox family in Brooklyn. In fact, most rabbis seem to be very clear that theres no problems with the vaccine from a religious perspective. Mosters organization is fighting to have Brooklyns rabbinic schools, known as yeshivas, comply with New York state law in offering a secular curriculum and said the city has been lax about both issues. After saying it would inspect the yeshivas in 2015, city officials took three years and a month to come out with their first update, which showed that the city is not even aware where some yeshivas are located. When it comes to the measles outbreak, Moster said the lack of oversight of these schools I think stunted the citys ability to stop it from spreading. He said DiBlasio is strongly supported by the ultra-Orthodox leadership and shields the Hasidic community from any public criticism. Obviously with measles, the mayor had no choice but to do it sooner, but it still took six months and 250 cases before the city took action, Moster said. He said misinformation about vaccines causing autism or other problems is easily spread among the community. It starts from the insularity that allows the sentiment to spread without discussion and without really having anyone really present the counterpoint, he said. In most of these communities, science is not really taught, especially for the boys, Moster said. I think its easy to take hold in a community where science is not very accessible. This story has been edited to reflect that Naftuli Moster intended to say that New York City took six months before it acted on the measles outbreak in Brooklyn. edward.stannard@hearstmediact.com; 203-680-9382 NEW HAVEN The new owners would create some 50 jobs to start, they will cap a contaminated site and reuse buildings that were part of the citys industrial past by bringing in a clean manufacturer. Attorney Ben Trachten, former chairman of the Board of Zoning Appeals, appeared before the board Tuesday and pitched converting the Von Roll plant in Fair Haven, where electrical tape once was made, to one where picture frames will be assembled by Art to Frames LLC. The project was referred to the City Plan Commission and will come back for a BZA vote May 14. Trachten said the company expects eventually to hire 150 people. The attorney was busy Tuesday as he successfully represented a homeowner seeking approval of a dormer at his home at 365 Winthrop Ave., a project that previously had been rejected. Trachten also spoke in favor of a local cafe at 1503 State St. to allow it to operate Sunday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. The owner said he needed the longer hours to be able to compete. That also was approved. For the former Von Roll plant, Trachten is seeking a special exception for the new use for the closed factory at the 1.53-acre property between Chapel and River streets with Blatchley Avenue abutting to the west. There are two one-story buildings on the site; the largest is 41,908 square feet and was built in 1929, while the second is 7,063 square feet and was built in 1900. Both predate zoning, which was adopted in 1963. To make the insulated tape at Von Roll, workers used a high-heat process with large ovens and cooling towers. Art to Frames is an internet-based site where customers choose pictures for custom framing. Deliveries will be made by UPS and FedEx with a minimal impact on traffic compared to the previous business, Trachten said. The attorney said the new use, which is assembly and light fabrication, is less intensive, less toxic, less disruptive to the neighborhood. He said it will never be a residential site because of the contamination. The surrounding parcels are industrial and commercial with multi-family properties nearby. The plan is to use the existing drainage system that flows to Blatchley Avenue and River Street. They also would use silt sacs inserted into the one-yard drain along with hay bales along a portion of the river. The citys report says more stormwater runoff will be captured on the site with less going into the citys stormwater system and rivers. Trachten told the board that the conversion of the property at 166 Chapel St. fits into the Comprehensive Plan of Development. Trachten said the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has recommended the contaminated parcel be totally covered. The plan is to maintain it continuously to block human exposure to the soil underneath. He asked the BZA, when the project comes back for a vote, to remember that there is nothing that can happen on this site because of the cap on the soil. So, if you get a recommendation (from City Plan) with crazy conditions, dont approve them. He said the site is under the strict control of the state DEEP and it has been a Transfer Act site since 1992. The Greater New Haven Water Pollution and Control Authority has concurrent jurisdiction over stormwater on the site, he said. The state kind of takes precedence here and they required that the site be paved over, Trachten said. He said he hoped the BZA does not come back with conditions that prevent the company from opening next month. If you do consider conditions, give us a long time frame to comply, he asked. mary.oleary@hearstmediact.com; 203-641-2577 On his ninth birthday, Thomas Daniel missed the school bus and started to cry, according to M Live. Thomas had been thinking about his birthday party and the friends he'd invited that he hoped would join him to celebrate. "I was sad I missed the bus, I just wanted to go to school," the young boy told the outlet. Officer Austin Lynema, who Thomas now refers to as "a hero," offered to help him. "He informed me he never missed a day of school," Lynema said. "I wanted to make sure I could help him as much as I could." Lynema was walking Thomas home when the young boy brought up that it was his birthday. Thomas proceeded to invite all of the Grand Rapids Police Department officers to his birthday party, afraid that no one from school would show up, and revealed that he was bullied at school. The officer was given permission to drop Thomas off at school, and he made sure to make a grand entrance for the birthday boy lights, sirens and all. Unfortunately, Thomas' fears were confirmed. Just his family and GRPD officers attended his birthday party that evening. Thomas told M Live, "When Austin came over, no one was at my birthday party because everybody had to go somewhere ... to their friends' houses to play. I just love Austin because he's the coolest guy I've ever met in my life." As it turned out, Lynema really is a cool guy. The next day, he and his team surprised Thomas when he got off the bus with another party. It included all the makings of a memorable 9-year-old's birthday party: a Krispy Kreme doughnut cake, gifts and a singing quartet. Thomas called it "the best birthday ever!" Grand Rapids Police Departments posted on its Facebook to share the heartwarming story. "No kid should get bullied, and no kid should worry if anyone will come to the party. Next year Thomas Daniel, make sure you drop us that invite a little sooner. We wouldn't want to miss it!" Thomas told M Live, "People at school are happy for me because Austin... he never lets kids down, he's a hero. I'll never forget this until the day I die." NEW HAVEN Yale University will put new emphasis on its efforts to prevent and respond to racial discrimination, President Peter Salovey announced Tuesday. Salovey announced that a new position, deputy secretary, will be created to report to Kimberly Goff-Crews, university secretary and vice president for student life. The deputy secretary will supervise specialists who will provide ongoing, targeted training for Deans Designees, student leaders, and other university members on responding to discrimination and harassment and on creating a culture of belonging to prevent such behaviors, Salovey said. Deans designees are those officials, often the college or schools Title IX coordinator, who students can turn to for advice or to bring concerns about diversity, inclusion, discrimination and harassment. Saloveys announcement accompanied the release of a report by Benjamin D. Reese Jr., vice president of the Office for Institutional Equity at Duke University, who was brought on in 2018 to review how well Yale responds to issues of discrimination. The investigation followed an incident on May 8, 2018, when a white graduate student called Yale police to complain about a black graduate student sleeping in a common room in the Hall of Graduate Studies. Reese reviewed how the Office for Equal Opportunity Programs operates and spoke with administrators, faculty, staff and students, as well as members of the board of trustees. He wrote he found that Yale focused considerable resources and strategic attention to diversity, equity and inclusion on campus. These efforts have addressed the needs of a wide range of communities and groups, including legally protected classes (under Title VI, for example) and those covered by state law and/or university policy (such as transgender individuals), but also those often not emphasized in DEI efforts (such as students in the Reserve Officer Training Corps). The efforts are intended to address the needs of specific groups, create a welcoming climate, and strengthen the institution. Salovey said he accepted Reeses recommendation that the Office for Equal Opportunity Programs be renamed and expanded. I agree with Dr. Reeses assessment that the Office for Equal Opportunity Programs (OEOP) and its predecessors have done an exemplary job over the last forty years in addressing concerns about discrimination, Salovey wrote. I note his conclusion that adding capacity to the OEOP, and further training staff who work with students, will be more effective than creating a new mechanism specific to racial discrimination covered under Title VI. We will add staff and rename the OEOP, so that it can handle better Title VI and other discrimination reports and complaints. Salovey said the university also will clarify the structure and purpose of Belonging at Yale, which was created in fall 2018 to encompass the universitys diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The second Tuesday of every April is National Library Workers Day. Our union is a voice for library professionals. Nationwide, AFSCME represents more than 25,000 library workers at the state and local levels. Council 4 proudly represents more than 500 library professionals in cities and towns across Connecticut. To mark National Library Week and (April 9), we spoke with two of our union activists who work at the New Haven Free Public Library system: Lore Lichtenberg (AFSCME Local 884), Library Technical Assistant, and Maria Tonelli (AFSCME Local 3144), Manager of Collection Management and Circulation Services. Lore, whos got 13 years on the job, and Maria, who has nearly 30, reflected on the civic and community importance of public libraries, and the role unions can play as advocates for library workers and public resources. Please describe the range of services that NHFPL system provides to the community. MT: We are no longer just a library. Along with many institutions across the country our services go beyond books these days. In addition to providing internet access to hundreds of individuals each day, we partner with local agencies to address problems of homelessness and mental illness. We are currently a finalist for the National Medal for Museum and Library Service. This honor is awarded to libraries which demonstrate extraordinary and innovative approaches to public service and are making a difference for individuals, families, and communities. We are thrilled to be among the 15 libraries recognized. LL: We provide service in both English and Spanish. Bridging the technical divide and instructing patrons in 21st century technology consumes major portion of our public work. Our members provide free public training and assistance in the use of the 3D printer, vinyl cutter, Adobe Photoshop and similar tools and technology. Our members also provide services long associated with libraries: books, films and musical selections are available in a physical as well as electronic format. Community interest programs abound for children, teens and adults. Libraries are places of lifelong learning where all are welcome and all have an opportunity to share and partake: young/old, rich/poor, abled/disabled. Why do you love your library and how does it positively impact New Haven? MT: For me, the library has been a labor of love since I was a child both as a patron and an employee. Making a difference on a daily basis is a powerful and rewarding experience. LL: The library is a place where people learn and share. It is a community space with few boundaries and many possibilities. The diversity of people is more real and the interaction genuine. Questions are asked because the answer is necessary. The library is also a sanctuary from the elements; some come because this is the only place they are not required to spend money, will find a person interact with you (know your name and say hello), and have the ability to catch up on local events. This service is needed not only by the destitute, but the isolated as well as those who need a space to slow down and reconnect. AFSCME has strong representation within library systems across America. How does union membership help you personally and as a library professional? MT: AFSCME has been a good friend to me for over 26 years. When Ive encountered a problem or concern my union has always been there for me. I have had the privilege of interacting with some of the best in my Local 3144. Together we have tackled many challenges over the years. As a union steward I am busy giving back by keeping the membership here at the library informed and educated. LL: Union membership provides a brother/sisterhood of support, those who have my back. Working with the public is challenging and exhausting; my colleagues provide me with backup and encouragement. We have many voices speaking for safety and security, and generally improving work conditions. Larry Dorman is public affairs coordinator for AFSCME Council 4. You knew it as the Revel first, and then TEN. But now, youll have to learn a new name for the towering casino at the north end of Atlantic Citys Boardwalk. The latest name change, however, is less dramatic - more of just a reordering. The sleek glass building known as Ocean Resort Casino for the past year will now go by Ocean Casino Resort and has a new logo. The syntax swap comes as the massive and perpetually-struggling resort wants customers to know its doubling down on its gambling focus. Time to roll out a tide of changes, the casino said on Twitter Wednesday morning. After rolling out a new marketing campaign, Ocean is making several improvements beginning with a shift in focus. We are a casino first. Time to unveil a tide of changes! After rolling out a new marketing campaign, Ocean is making several improvements beginning with a shift in focus. We are a casino first. To reflect this, we are kicking it off with a new nameOcean Resort Casino is now Ocean Casino Resort! pic.twitter.com/awPB6uM6tM Ocean Casino Resort (@TheOceanAC) April 10, 2019 The casinos new logo also reflects its approachability, elegance and constant movement to the future, another tweet said. So Ocean Casino Resort will put the emphasis on affordability, backpedaling on the initial Revel model of catering to high rollers the kind who didnt flock to Atlantic City in large enough numbers to keep it alive. The prior two owners advertised this property as a resort, Eric Matejevich, the newly named divestiture trustee of the property, said in February. We view ourselves as a great casino property with beautiful resort amenities. After opening last June alongside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, the Ocean had already started hemorrhaging cash by September, falling below minimum liquidity levels established by the state. But the casino has already begun to turnaround by late February, following New York hedge fund Luxor Capitol taking over ownership of the casino from Bruce Deifik just a month prior. Deifik died in a car crash Sunday in Denver. The $2.4 billion casino opened in 2012, but never turned a profit during its first two years of operation, when it claimed bankruptcy twice. A Florida developer bought the property, but let it languish, unopened, until he sold it for $200 million to Deifik in 2018. Amanda Hoover can be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. An Essex County woman was charged with reckless driving Wednesday after her car veered off a highway and struck two utility poles leaving hundreds without power, authorities said. The crash, which occurred about 12:20 a.m., started a fire that burned the front of a local salon and destroyed the womans car, police said. The driver was identified only as a 23-year-old woman from Belleville. Police said she was traveling east on Belleville Turnpike on the border of Kearny and North Arlington when she veered off the road near Argyle Place, hit a street sign and two utility poles before overturning, police said. A car that struck a telephone pole on the Belleville Turnpike early Wednesday is removed from the scene. The driver was pulled out of the car and taken to a local hospital. (Anthony G. Attrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) The crash brought down electrical wires and sparked a blaze that burned the front of iBrows Beauty Studio, video from the scene shows. A preliminary report indicates that passersby and a police officer pulled the woman from the wreckage. She was taken to a local hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening, Lt. John Taylor of the Kearny Police Department. Hundreds in the area were left without power. Taylor said when the car hit the second utility pole a water main ruptured. Workers from PSE&G and Suez Water were on the scene throughout the day to repair the damage, Taylor said. A 23-year-old woman was charged with reckless driving after her car struck a street sign and two utility poles early Wednesday. The crash left a neighborhood without power for hours. (Anthony G. Attrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) The Belleville Turnpike is part of Route 7 and connects drivers with Jersey City along with two major highways, including the New Jersey Turnpike. Police were not able to say when the road would be open. In addition to reckless driving, the woman may face other charges as the investigation proceeds, Taylor said. Passersby and police pulled a woman from a burning car after she crashed Wednesday on the Belleville Turnpike on the border of Kearny and North Arlington, police said. (Anthony G. Attrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. A 1-mile stretch of the Belleville Turnpike on Route 7 in Hudson and Bergen counties was closed early Wednesday after a crash knocked down a utility pole, authorities said. One woman was hurt in the accident and taken to a local hospital, according to workers at the scene. The womans name and condition were not known. A badly charred vehicle was towed from the scene about 6:15 a.m. The damage from the crash is seen on Route 7 at Argyle Place. (Anthony G. Attrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) The crash occurred about 12:30 a.m., knocking over a pole on the Belleville Turnpike and pulling down wires along the highway, which straddles North Arlington and Kearny. Workers said a water main beneath the utility pole also erupted. The Belleville Turnpike provides drivers with access to the New Jersey Turnpike and Route 280. Traffic was detoured as all lanes on Route 7 were closed between Schuyler Avenue and Ridge Road. A car that struck a telephone pole on the Belleville Turnpike early Wednesday is removed from the scene. The driver was pulled out of the car and taken to a local hospital. (Anthony G. Attrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) All lanes were closed early Wednesday along a 1-mile stretch of the Belleville Turnpike. (Google Maps) A car is towed early Wednesday from the scene of a crash on the Belleville Turnpike on the border of Bergen and Hudson counties. (Anthony G. Attrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. A Cumberland County man who had a handgun tucked in his waistband when he entered a school and allegedly threatened a family member was sentenced to five years in prison on a gun charge. Richard A. Shevchenko, 69, of Upper Deerfield Township, walked into Woodland Country Day School in Stow Creek Township shortly before 8 a.m. on Jan. 17, 2018, and entered a classroom where the family member was working, according to the New Jersey State Police. Im going to blow your head off and shoot your mothers knees out. I know where you live, Shevchenko allegedly told her, according to his criminal complaint. During the confrontation, he displayed what appeared to be a black semi-automatic handgun in his waistband. Police stopped Shevchenkos vehicle a short time later and he immediately cooperated, telling them he had a handgun in the backseat. Police recovered a .22 caliber Ruger pistol. He admitted to police that he entered the school and argued with the victim, and said he regularly drove with the loaded gun in his possession. Following a trial, Shevchenko was convicted by a jury of unlawful possession of a handgun, but was acquitted of charges including terroristic threats and possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose. Under the sentence handed down this week, he must serve three-and-a-half years before hes eligible for parole. Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us: nj.com/tips. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Former Eagles kicker Caleb Sturgis could replace Cody Parkey for the second time in his career. The veteran kicker is set to work out for the Chicago Bears, according to the Chicago Tribunes Brad Briggs. Sturgis will try out for the Bears alongside fellow kickers Nick Rose and Younghoe Koo, per Briggs. #Bears kicker tryout today includes 2 AAF players - Nick Rose and Younghoe Koo - and NFL veteran Caleb Sturgis. Sturgis kicked in 6 games for #Chargers last season. He's 80 percent on FG in career (68 games) and was 35-41 for #Eagles in 2016. Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) April 10, 2019 Sturgis spent last season with the Los Angeles Chargers. He was cut after just six games, as he connected on just 9-of-13 field goals during his time with the Chargers. Prior to landing with Los Angeles last offseason, Sturgis spent three seasons with the Eagles. He missed most of the teams Super Bowl season after suffering a quad strain in Week 1. After being placed on injured reserve, Sturgis was replaced by then-rookie Jake Elliott, who remains on the roster. Sturgis joined the Eagles in 2015 after Parkey suffered a season-ending groin injury. Sturgis played well enough in his second preseason in Philadelphia to beat out Parkey for the kicker job in 2016. Sturgis had a career season in 2016, connecting on 35-of-41 field goals (85.4%) during the campaign. Sturgis started his career with the Miami Dolphins. The University Florida alum was a fifth-round pick in 2013. He lasted two seasons in Miami before being cut. Sturgis has made 120-of-150 field goal attempts (80%) during his career. He connected on 149-of-159 extra point attempts (93.7%) during his six seasons in the league. The Bears are looking for a replacement for Parkey, who had a disastrous season in Chicago last year. His biggest blunder came in the wild-card round loss to the Eagles, his potential game-winning field goal kick bounced off two posts and failed to go in. Prior to the ball hitting the uprights, Eagles defensive tackle Treyvon Hester was able to tip it with his hand. Parkey was released in March. He has yet to sign elsewhere. Mike Kaye may be reached at mkaye@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@Mike_E_Kaye. Find NJ.com on Facebook. After a tumultuous few years for Atlantic Citys Miss America pageant, its entirely possible that the event will leave New Jersey once again. But first, officials in the resort town have confirmed one major departure: The pageant will no longer call Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall home, the Press of Atlantic City reports. Its not going to be in Boardwalk Hall going forward, Matt Doherty, executive director of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, said on Wednesday. It doesnt make sense for it to be there. Its far too expensive to produce there." For the majority of its nearly 100-year history, Miss America has been a Boardwalk Hall event. The pageant left Atlantic City for Las Vegas in 2006 and returned to its home venue on the boardwalk in 2013. The Atlantic City-based Miss America Organization said in a statement that the CRDA is committed to keeping the pageant in Atlantic City. But the pageant organization is still exploring options for a host city for the upcoming 2020 pageant. "When the MAO Board of Directors has reviewed all of the proposals, MAO will make a public announcement, organizers said in the statement. A state audit of the CRDA released in September, just after the 2019 pageant, said the authority failed to monitor costs and contracts relating to the event and did not commission an economic impact study before giving the pageant more money. In 2018, the state authority committed to giving Miss America $4.3 million. The 2019 pageant, where Nia Franklin, the former Miss New York, was crowned at Boardwalk Hall in September, was beset by internal strife within the Miss America Organization and among pageant volunteers and former Miss Americas. Miss Americas unrest started after the pageant installed new leadership in the wake of an email scandal involving the former CEO and other pageant leaders. Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson, Miss America 1989, who became the new chairwoman of the pageant board of directors, and Regina Hopper, who became Miss America CEO, were accused of misleading board members and volunteers when they did away with the pageants swimsuit competition. Carlson said that pageant contestants who she called candidates would no longer be judged on their physical appearance. Carlson and Hopper denied claims that they caused board members to believe that ABC would drop the show unless the swimsuit competition was eliminated. State pageant directors in New Jersey and other states signed a letter calling for the removal of Carlson and Hopper and the board over what they claimed was a lack of transparency. Many former Miss Americas joined in the call. After the pageant, a number of state directors were summarily replaced. The pageant leadership controversy was further complicated when Miss America 2018, Cara Mund, shared a scathing letter that accused Carlson and other Miss America staff of bullying her during her reign. An investigation of Munds claims conducted on behalf of the Miss America Organization found the claims to be without merit, but Mund disagreed with how the investigation was conducted, saying it was rushed and that she did not get to share her own experiences. Miss America began at the boardwalk in Atlantic City in 1921 as a way for local businessmen to extend the summer tourist season past Labor Day. Have a tip? Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. If you are known to appreciate Wawa coffee, you might want to cash in on a freebie this week. Every Wawa location will be giving away cups of coffee to celebrate the convenience chains anniversary. Even though it may seem like Wawa has always been a part of New Jersey life South Jersey life, that is it has only been 55 years since the first such convenience store opened in Pennsylvania. Grahame Wood opened the first Wawa Wawa Food Market as part of the convenience and chain store boom on April 16, 1964, in Folsom, Pennsylvania. To mark the anniversary, Wawa invites customers to pick up a free cup of coffee of any size on Thursday, April 11. The giveaway will be in effect at all Wawa locations. The chain expects to give away more than 2 million cups of coffee on April 11 across all stores in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia and Florida. In addition to the free coffee, Wawa is hosting an in-store celebration at one store per state. New Jerseys event, which starts at 9 a.m. April 11, is at Wawa Store No. 8357 in Hamilton Township (1200 Route 33). The party promises a first look at planned Wawa growth and a sneak peek at new catering menus that will debut in May. The first Wawa store opened in Folsom, Pennsylvania, in 1964. Wawa stores take their name from the Wood familys original dairy farm business, which was located in Wawa, Pennsylvania (and was itself named for a Lenni-Lenape word for Canada goose or goose in flight, depending upon who you ask ... hence the store logo). Before the dairy business, starting in 1803, the family, which had roots in Cumberland County, owned a New Jersey iron foundry. The first Wawa in the state opened in 1968, and the chain started brewing coffee in 1975. Wawas first major foray into northern New Jersey wouldnt arrive for decades, after a Madison location that was open in the 1980s didnt last long. A Parsippany store opened in 2010, followed by others in Kearny and Lodi in 2013. Have a tip? Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. On a recent spring night, the Woodbury Police Department received word of a suicidal male roaming around the city. Six months ago, its immediate response would have been to send several patrol cars through the streets in hopes of finding the man before he harmed himself or fled the area. But thanks to the Watch Over Woodbury project initiated late last year, there was an easier solution available. One officer simply went to an otherwise normal conference room on the second floor of the Woodbury PD, monitored four big-screen TVs with live video feeds throughout the town, and helped his fellow officers on the street discover the mans whereabouts. We have a lot of lakes and creeks in town and we were terrified that he was going to end up in one of them, Sergeant Brian Boucher said. But we were able to determine through the cameras that he wasnt. Instead of just driving all over town looking for him, we were able to narrow it down and locate him. Technology has had a huge impact on law enforcement in recent years, and Woodbury is following in the footsteps of New Orleans by taking things to the next level with its wide-ranging camera system. Officials are optimistic it will not only aid in situations like this one, but also act as a deterrent for crimes both minor and major, spark a resurgence in the downtown shopping district and serve as an example for other towns and police departments in South Jersey. I think this is a game-changer, Woodbury Mayor Jessica Floyd said. Theres been this perception which I think is unfair that our downtown is not safe. This will assure our residents and visitors that were doing everything we can to make it safe. If someone is coming here to do something bad, theyre either going to get caught or realize they have to do it someplace else. Woodbury has been considering a camera system for some time, and about a year ago Police Chief Tom Ryan and Boucher started diving into the research. Rowan University recently had a high-quality system of its own installed, but using the same company was ruled out because of the price, reportedly over $1 million. I dont know if any municipality could afford something like that, without some kind of residential buy-in, Floyd said. There was no way for us to do that. But when (Ryan and Boucher) came back with Project NOLA, everything changed. Project NOLA is a nonprofit organization based in New Orleans that has had great success in reducing crime there since its inception in 2009, including a 47-year-low in the murder rate in 2018. It has spread to other cities, such as Natchez, Mississippi, and Fairfield, Alabama, and Woodbury is the first city in the Northeast to adopt it. The organization provides advanced pan-tilt-zoom cameras for as low as $375 apiece, with 24/7 cloud recording at its headquarters in New Orleans for a small monthly fee. The price was astronomically more affordable for us than the alternatives, Ryan said. They built their own cloud so we dont have to pay for the server, we dont have to worry about all of those things. It just streams to our crime center here at our police department. With the affordability and proven track record of Project NOLA, along with the full support of the mayor and city council, Woodbury moved forward by testing the system with cameras at the police department, fire hall and library. The first phase was then to establish a video presence in the Broadway corridor, from Colonial Diner all the way to Acme. Businesses along Broad Street were approached about having cameras mounted on their property, with the city paying for the camera itself, the installation and the monthly service fee. Its basically free except for the WiFi and the cost to power the camera, which is very, very minimal, Boucher said. About 32 cameras were installed during the initial phase, and the project has since expanded to over 50, including some on Delaware Street, Cooper Street and Evergreen Avenue. We have cameras on a lot of businesses and some residences, schools and churches as well, Ryan said. Its been less than a year the first cameras went up in December and its already been a huge benefit. Whether its hit and runs, shoplifting, robberies for pretty much any type of crime, theres an eye in the sky. We hope that its a game-changer, because perception is reality. Ive been here 17 years and Woodbury is a safe town, but people sometimes say otherwise on social media. So we want people to know if youre in Woodbury, theres someone watching over you. Ryan noted that after a recent hit and run, the system provided patrol officers with an image of the suspect within minutes, leading to an arrest. Boucher added that several arrests have been made for drinking alcohol and using drugs on city streets. Municipal nuisances are also affected, with people receiving summons in the mail for such offenses as urinating in public. Theres also a preventative aspect, said Councilman Bill Fleming, co-chair of the citys safety & finance committee. If people know this exists in Woodbury and that they can be seen, theyll be way less likely to come here for criminal purposes. We hope it will encourage people to feel safer in our downtown. Woodbury can also aid neighboring police departments if a suspect flees their town in a car and passes through the city. Were in every area, from one end of the city to the other, Boucher said. Theres not really a major roadway you can come into town that youre not going to get caught on camera at this point. The cameras have a 45-day retention capability, and video evidence can be downloaded and saved on disc. While the system is mostly a reactionary tool at this time the feed is not constantly monitored by an officer there is talk about having someone in the control room on weekend nights and during busy times of the year such as the Fourth of July. Thats probably something that will happen in the near future, Ryan said. The next phase of camera installation is expected to branch into Woodburys neighborhoods. Homeowners and business owners who agree to have the cameras mounted will still get the installation paid for by the city, but unlike the initial members of the project, they will be responsible for the monthly fee. I have people calling me every week for a camera, almost daily, Boucher said. Unfortunately we dont have the resources yet to get to every single house, but I would love that. Eventually, my goal is to at least be on every street. Floyd said she would be replacing the doorbell camera she currently has at her home, since the quality of these cameras is significantly better and the monthly price is not much higher. Overall, she has received nothing but positive feedback on the system from residents. Live views of various cameras appear on a screen in the Watch Over Woodbury project control room, Wednesday, April 3, 2019. (Al Amrhein | For NJ Advance Media) Al Amrhein | For NJ Advance MediAl Amrhein | For NJ Advance Medi I havent heard any negative reactions, from merchants or residents, she said. Ive gone to various organizations like the Kiwanis and its starting to roll out. People are starting to understand that its only going to benefit everybody. The only people who are going to lose are the people you want to lose the criminals. Jeff Morris, the owner of Morris Graphics on North Broad Street, was one of the first business owners in town to have a camera installed. He is also president of the Greater Woodbury Chamber of Commerce, which recently donated $5,000 to the city in support of the project. As a business organization, we thought it would be very important for the business owners and the residents to feel safer in Woodbury, he said. By having surveillance throughout town, we think it will help reduce crime. People will know theyre being watched in Woodbury, so therefore we think it will not only foster success for existing businesses but lead businesses to come into Woodbury. As word continues to spread about Watch Over Woodbury, Ryan believes other areas in the county and across South Jersey will follow their lead. All of our residents and businesses are buying into it, and Im glad the city and council are moving forward and making a safer environment with this system, he said. Ill be presenting this to the rest of the Gloucester County chiefs soon. I know Paulsboro has already reached out and expressed interest just because of the quality and the affordability. Anyone interested in obtaining a Watch Over Woodbury camera should contact Boucher at the Woodbury Police Department at (856) 845-0065, extension 136 or bboucher@woodburypd.com. When Johnson & Johnsons iconic baby powder came under scrutiny years ago as a possible carcinogen to humans, it started rethinking how to offset declining sales. The companys answer? Go after black and overweight women, according to a report by Reuters. In 2006, the International Agency for Research on Cancer a part of the World Health Organization began classifying talc powder as possibly carcinogenic when women would use it as a deodorant for feminine hygiene, the report said. This led the companys talc supplier to include this information in its future shipments. At the same time, the New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson sought to target underdeveloped regions with hot weather and higher black populations, according to the report, citing a 2006 internal presentation by the company. The company told Reuters that its Baby Powder was safe and asbestos-fee, and that its marketing has been directed at many demographics and groups over the years. However, according to Reuters, Johnson & Johnson believed baby powder was still very much a relevant product among black consumers and thought there could be an opportunity. The company began an extensive marketing campaign, distributing baby powder samples at churches and beauty salons in black and Hispanic neighborhoods, running advertising campaigns as well as promoting the product with the weight-loss company Weight Watchers. Baby powder sales had been in decline since the 1980s and continued to drop for years to come. That is, until 2006 when the company believed minority and overweight women could get sales back on track, the report said. In the years after that, Johnson & Johnson, according to the report, continued to invest in its marketing campaign, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars promoting the product. In December, Reuters published an investigation that revealed the company knew since the 1970s that its talc and baby powder sometimes contained carcinogenic asbestos. However, the company has contended that the product is safe and asbestos-free. In 2013, a jury found Johnson & Johnson negligent in a first suit alleging that baby powder for feminine hygiene had caused ovarian cancer. The lawsuits from there would continue to mount with suits resulting in the company being ordered to pay billions of dollars to plaintiffs. In April 2013, a New Jersey jury ordered Johnson & Johnson and its talc supplier to pay millions in punitive damages to a New Jersey man who sued the companies, claiming he developed cancer from asbestos in talc-based baby powder, a previous report said. Johnson & Johnson is appealing all of the verdicts. However, the report noted that the company has pulled back solely marketing to minorities and overweight women. Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips The outbreak affecting ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn has gotten so bad that New York City officials on Tuesday declared it a public health emergency and ordered mandatory vaccinations. At the same time, New Jersey has been contending with its own measles outbreak in recent weeks which has also largely been concentrated in ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in parts of the state. Though New Jersey hasnt been hit nearly as hard as New York City, cases have continued to crop up, which is concerning considering its a disease that was considered eliminated years ago. Experts agree that the biggest issue is parents not vaccinating their kids, whether for religious reasons or otherwise. New York City said enough is enough, telling residents living in certain neighborhoods that they now must get vaccinated. New York City is the latest example of how officials are becoming more hard-line with vaccinations in response to measles outbreaks. Last month, in Rockland County, New York, a measles outbreak that also largely impacted an Orthodox Jewish community prompted officials to ban unvaccinated children from public places. But that decision was ultimately overturned by a judge. While its unclear if New Jersey would consider issuing a mandatory vaccination order like in New York City, it does have the power to do so during a serious public health threat, among other things like quarantine. They can also exclude children with religious or medical exemptions from going to school, preschool or a child care center during "a vaccine-preventable disease outbreak or threatened outbreak. It is my understanding that there are emergency powers available to the government and the health department to respond to significant health threats including quarantine and mandatory vaccinations, said Assemblyman Herb Conaway, D-Burlington, who chairs the health committee. State health officials, however, said the outbreak in New Jersey isnt nearly as severe as in New York City. The situation in NYC is, unfortunately, a lot worse with 285 cases, New Jersey Health Commissioner Dr. Shereef Elnahal said in a statement. Theyve had an ongoing outbreak for months. It reached a point public health officials have gone to extra steps to try to contain the outbreak. Dr. David Cennimo, an infectious disease expert at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, told NJ Advance Media in an email that while he could certainly see a widespread infection rising to the level in New York City, "we are not at an emergency. At least 13 measles cases have been confirmed in New Jersey, a relatively low number compared to New York City, which has seen at least 285 cases since September, mostly in Brooklyns Williamsburg neighborhood, where there is a large Orthodox Jewish community, according to a report by The Washington Post. The report said that the outbreak in New York City has been linked to a child who was not vaccinated for measles and contracted it during a trip to Israel. In Ocean County, New Jersey, many of the measles cases in recent weeks have also been concentrated in ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities, specifically in Lakewood, where anti-vaccination sentiments and propaganda are known to circulate. (A small number of measles cases were also previously reported in Bergen, Essex and Monmouth counties.) On Tuesday, New Jersey health officials said an elementary school student in Ocean County was being treated for a suspected case of the measles. The most recent outbreak in Ocean County is the second in the state over the past six months. The first outbreak sickened 33 people in Ocean and Passaic counties starting in October, before it was declared over in January. Brian Lippai, spokesman for the Ocean County Health Department, said the county has a fairly high vaccination rate (more than 90%), which he believes is the reason case numbers are lower than in areas like Rockland County and New York City. But why are we even seeing measles at all? If youve been vaccinated, then you are protected, experts say. The issue comes back to parents not getting their kids vaccinated. This has prompted some cities and states to take a stricter stance. New Jerseys Assembly Health Committee last year advanced a bill that would make it harder for families to use a religious exemption to avoid vaccination. That measure prompted outrage from parents who felt the government should not force them to vaccinate their children. In February, the state Assembly Health Committee passed an amended bill removing the religious exemption altogether as a reason parents can opt out of vaccinating their kids. That measure, which still has to pass the state Assembly and Senate, would only allow exemptions for medical reasons. Conaway attributed the problem of outbreaks largely to parents refusing to get their child vaccinated. He puts a lot of blame on the anti-vaccination movement. Anywhere where there are people refusing to vaccinate, there is the possibility (for outbreaks), he said, later adding, If it happened in New York, then it is something that can certainly happen here. Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Gov. Phil Murphy has signed the Aid in Dying law, making New Jersey the eighth state to permit people with a terminal diagnosis to end their own lives using a prescription from a doctor. Dozens of people living with incurable diseases or relatives of people who have died testified multiple times over the past six years to persuade state lawmakers to pass the bill sponsored by state Assemblyman John Burzichelli, D-Burlington and state Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Union. Many said that although they knew their death was inevitable, but letting them choose how they would spend their last days would give them peace. The legislation has been met with fierce opposition from medical professionals and religious leaders and disability advocates. They warned that people facing the last months or weeks of their lives may be steered toward suicide by subtle family pressure, guilt over being a burden, and insurance companies refusal to pay for complex and expensive care. Former two-term Republican Gov. Chris Christie signaled he would never sign the bill into law. But Murphy, a Democrat who succeeded Christie, did not criticize the bill as it made its way through both houses of the Democratic-controlled state Legislature last year. On March 25, when the bill won final passage, Murphy said, Allowing terminally ill and dying residents the dignity to make end-of-life decisions according to their own consciences is the right thing to do." Heres what you should know about the legislation (A1504): Q: Who is allowed to use the law? A: Adult New Jersey residents who have received a terminal diagnosis, defined as an incurable, irreversible and medically confirmed disease that will end the persons life within six months. The legislation specifically states disabilities are not considered terminal illnesses, addressing a worry that physically or mentally challenged people would be vulnerable to coercion. Q: When does the law take effect? A: August 1. Q: How do patients go about getting the prescription? A: Patients will have to verbally ask their doctor twice over the span of 15 days, during which time patients would also need to submit a request in writing, stating they had been fully informed of palliative care, pain control and other alternatives. A second physician would need to verify the diagnosis. The written declaration would need to be witnessed by two people who attest the person is acting voluntarily. One of the two must not be a relative or entitled to any portion of the patients estate, or be the persons doctor or nursing home employee. The law contains recommended language for the written declaration. I understand the full import of this request, and I expect to die if and when I take the medication to be prescribed, according to an excerpt. I further understand that, although most deaths occur within three hours, my death may take longer and my physician has counseled me about this possibility. I make this request voluntarily and without reservation, and I accept full responsibility for my decision. Q: Which medication is prescribed for people using the Aid in Dying" law? A: Its not spelled out in the law. But in other states, physicians most often prescribe a barbiturate, either pentobarbital or secobarbital, according to deathwithdignity.org, an Oregon-based national nonprofit which promotes the passage of aid in dying laws. The dose is typically 9 grams of secobarbital in capsule form, or 10 grams of pentobarbital liquid, according to an article in the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy. Q: What is the difference between the terms physician-assisted suicide and aid in dying? A: Right-to-die proponents say the term physician-assisted suicide is an inaccurate because patients administer the drug themselves. Jack Kevorkian, the notorious advocate of physician-assisted suicide, administered the fatal dose of drugs and remained with the patient until death was confirmed. Q: What if patients want someone with them while taking the life-ending medication? Is that person guilty of a crime? A: The law makes a distinction between the criminal act of helping someone commit suicide, and any action taken in accordance with the Aid in Dying Law, which "shall not constitute suicide or assisted suicide. People who are with a terminally ill patient in his or her final moments will not face criminal charges. Q: Not every patient who receives the prescription takes the medication. What happens to it? A: The patient shall designate a person who shall be responsible for the lawful disposal of the medication. Q: Are there consequences for people who force patients to apply for and take the lethal medication? A: Anyone who coerces a patient into requesting or taking the medication would face up to three to five years in prison, a $15,000 or both. Q: Would survivors lose out on benefits from a life insurance policy if a patient used the law? A: No. Procurement or issuance of a life, health, or accident insurance policy or annuity, or the premium or rate charged for the policy or annuity, shall not be conditioned upon or otherwise take into account the making or rescinding of a request for medication pursuant to the law. Q: Which states have similar "aid in dying laws? A: California, Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Hawaii and New Jersey, according to Compassion and Choices, an advocacy organization. It is also legal in Washington D.C. Q: What do we know about how the law has worked in other states? A: Oregon, which enacted its law 22 years ago, provides the most information. Since the law was passed in 1997, prescriptions have been written for a total of 2,217 people under the Death With Dignity Act; 1,459 people (or 66 percent) have died from ingesting the medications, according to the states 2018 annual report. Most patients, 62.5 percent, had cancer; 15 percent had a neurological disease; and 9.5 percent had heart or a circulatory illness, according to the report. Nearly everyone (99 percent) was covered by private or government-sponsored insurance. The three most frequently reported end-of-life concerns were loss of autonomy (92 percent), decreasing ability to participate in activities that made life enjoyable (90.5 percent), and loss of dignity (67 percent), the report said. Q: Is the public entitled to information about the impact of the law? A: Yes. The Health Department must compile an annual report and post it on its website. It must contain data on how many patients received the medication and how many took the drug and died. Prescribing physicians must report this information to the health department. Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. Jersey City and its police unions may soon reach a deal that would allow for the return of off-duty jobs for cops. The two sides have been negotiating for months, ever since the two unions filed a lawsuit in Hudson County Superior Court in January seeking a return of off-duty gigs. Mayor Steve Fulop slashed all those jobs that month, citing a string of now ex-cops who admitted in federal court that the program was at the center of a no-show jobs and bribery conspiracy. Its not clear what shape a deal would take, but sources told The Jersey Journal that its possible an outside company would be hired to administer the off-duty jobs program. Before Fulop killed the program, cops divvied up the off-duty assignments. A lawyer for the police unions appears hopeful about a deal. In a March 29 letter to the judge overseeing their lawsuit against the city, attorney James M. Mets asked for a delay in court proceedings in that case, saying the two sides are in talks to produce a new ordinance that would govern off-duty jobs and we are optimistic that this will occur. The unions argue in their lawsuit that Fulops decision to halt all of the cops side gigs was illegal because the council never repealed the existing ordinance regarding off-duty jobs. During a February court hearing, an administration lawyer said that the off-duty jobs program had been paused, not ended entirely, which contradicted Fulops previous public statements on his action. Since then, the administrations official line has been that the program is on hold, not over. City spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione declined to comment on the unions letter. There is no change to the citys position, she said. Off-duty jobs are generally security gigs or managing traffic at construction sites. The cops who admitted their guilt in the federal probe of the program said they took money for jobs they didnt perform, approved fake pay vouchers for other cops to do the same and bribed officers for their silence. A total of 10 cops were charged in that probe. The jobs can be lucrative for officers. In 2017, roughly 600 cops made a total of $22 million working off-duty gigs, city payroll records show. One officer made $125,000 from off-duty work that year, in addition to his $61,000 salary. Absent off-duty police officers, construction sites have used flagmen, security guards or state troopers, a system that has been lambasted by local cops and questioned by members of the City Council. Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. Jersey Citys two-year reign as the most diverse city in the United States has come to an end, according to an annual study. The champion has been dethroned by the city of Houston, which was No. 2 last year in the annual WalletHub.com rankings. Whether were No. 1 this year or 2, well continue the many initiatives weve implemented over the past few years to support and empower our diverse population, Jersey City spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione said. The city can celebrate that it is the most diverse mid-sized city in the nation, beating Sandy Springs, Georgia, and Stamford, Connecticut for that honor. Cities with more than 300,000 residents fall into the large category, while cities with 100,000-300,000 are considered mid-sized in the rankings. Jersey City represents a melting pot of nations, cultural traditions and ethnicities," Scalcione said. "We will continue to celebrate the many people that make up this great city which is proudly home to Ellis Island, where so many diverse people entered this nation from all over the world." WalletHub, a personal-finance website, compared 501 of the most populated cities across five key categories socioeconomic diversity, cultural diversity, economic diversity, household diversity and religious diversity. Three other New Jersey municipalities cracked the top 100, with Clifton at No. 18, Newark No. 47 and Trenton No. 87. The only other Hudson County municipality appearing in the rankings, Union City, was 250th. Jersey City was No. 1 in the country in linguistic diversity, and second-ranked in the racial and ethnic diversity category. We are a unique city, and were happy to share the title with Houston, another great city that celebrates a diverse population, Wallace-Scalcione said. Nearly one year after the remains of a 23-month-old girl were found in a suitcase along a set of train tracks in Jersey City, the toddlers father has been convicted of a grisly crime that could land him in prison for up to two decades. Travis Plummer, 38, was found guilty Tuesday of the unlawful concealment of human remains following a week-long trial in Hudson County Superior Court. It took a jury less than a day to convict Plummer, who will face between 10 to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced next month, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said. The guilty verdict is the latest development in an investigation that began April 11, 2018 when the remains of Plummers daughter, TeMyah Layauna Plummer, were found in a pink suitcase that was left along PATH tracks near Journal Square. Authorities soon learned that the girl and her father were reported missing from Richmond, Virginia and were last seen in summer 2017. Eight days after TeMyahs remains were discovered in Jersey City, federal authorities tracked Plummer to Puerto Rico, where they arrested him and eventually extradited him to Hudson County. Once Plummer returned to New Jersey, the case turn several stunning turns. First it was reported that Plummer pleaded guilty to misdemeanor child abuse and served one year in jail after his 8-month-old son drowned in the bathtub in Virginia in 2004. Then during a court hearing in July, Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Lynne Seborowski said investigators believe Plummer traveled to New Jersey with the decomposing body of TeMyah wrapped in multiple bags in a suitcase and left the suitcase in his friends garage in Jersey City. The results of TeMyahs autopsy brought perhaps the most shocking development of the case when the medical examiner determined that cocaine intoxication was among the causes of her death, as well as violence. But some questions regarding TeMyahs death like where it took place and who is responsible may never be answered. A source with knowledge of the investigation previously told The Jersey Journal that the autopsy did not determine the time of her death or the location, making it impossible for prosecutors to claim they have jurisdiction and file homicide charges. However, authorities said Tuesday that TeMyah died at some point late in summer 2017 and that Plummer later concealed her body in a suitcase which he brought to Jersey City on November 1, 2017, and then hid in a garage for four months. In March 2018, Plummer dumped the suitcase off the Tonnelle Avenue Bridge, just off Broadway in Jersey City, onto the side of the PATH train tracks below before fleeing to Miami and then Puerto Rico. TeMyahs body was discovered by Port Authority employees the following month, Suarez said. Unlawful concealment of human remains typically carries a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison, but Plummers criminal record makes him eligible for an extended prison term. Editors note: This story has been updated to reflect the new time doors open Wednesday for the "You Are Us'' event at White Eagle Hall in Jersey City. Two upcoming area benefits demonstrate yet again how music can bring people together, whether its to help those around the world or right next door. On Wednesday, April 17, Jersey Citys White Eagle Hall will be one of four venues participating in a worldwide event called You Are Us (or Aroha Nui in Maori), which will benefit the survivors and families of victims of the shooting attack at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand last month. A few days later, on Saturday, April 20, students from Stevens Institute of Technology will stage the Neon Peach Festival at Paul Vincent Studios in Hoboken to aid a member of the Kappa Delta chapter of Alpha Phi sorority who was recently diagnosed with cancer. Angus Vail, a New Zealand native and producer of the White Eagle Hall benefit, explained that You Are Us will encompass four concerts: The White Eagle Hall event on April 17, a show at Los Angeles Wilshire Ebell Theater on April 18, and two stadium concerts in Aukland and Christchurch, New Zealand. Its a mini Kiwi bootstrapped Live Aid of sorts, Vail said. Aukland will be on the 13th, then Christchurch, which is the anchor obviously, will be on the 16th, and then we segue from theirs to ours on the 17th and then L.A. on the 18th. So it will almost be like its spreading around the world. Kiwis or New Zealanders will play a large role in the White Eagle Hall benefit, which Vail (who works for the band KISS business office) promised will be a real Kiwi-style rock n roll variety show with loud bands, a principal dancer from American Ballet Theater, a traditional New Zealand Maori group, more rock n roll -- and opera. Ed Sullivan would be proud. The principal ballet dancer will be Sarah Lane, who danced as the stand-in for Natalie Portman in the movie Black Swan. Other New Zealand entertainers announced so far include Dave Gibson (Elemeno P), Miriam Clancy, Metropolitan Opera soprano Marie Te Hapuku, the traditional Nga Anahera Maori performance group, Stanley John Mitchell of The Drongos, The Crevulators, and MCs Raj Varma and Arthur Meek. Two members of NYCs A Place to Bury Strangers will add their unique brand of post-industrial noise-rock to the mix. Like people around the world, Vail was appalled by the senseless violence of the Christchurch shootings when they occurred. Ive been in the music business for a long time, and Im a Kiwi, Vail said. I can remember sitting up all night in New Zealand watching Live Aid and just being blown away. So I thought, how about doing a show over here, sort of a Kiwi Live Aid, to help? There are lots of Kiwis living in New York and a lot in L.A. Well, a lot for us. So I just thought, this was something we could do. People came out and raised two million dollars fairly quickly and that seems like a lot of money, but when you think about all the lives that were lost and all the families affected, and the loss of income, all the surgeries, and the expenses and what this will cost over two and five and ten years time, its going to cost a gobsmacking amount of money for those people to survive, Vail continued. In New Zealand, people have really come out to show their support for the immigrant and Muslim communities, and its really brought people together. The music business is a small place, so I talked to a friend of mine in L.A. and then we reached out to New Zealand, and we found out that they were already planning two stadium shows there, Vail said. The two promoters who are doing the shows in New Zealand are actually competitors; most of the time theyre at each others throats. But theyre putting that aside to do this under the banner of You Are Us. So they already had this in the works and we asked if we could cobble together two shows over here, and they were like, Good idea, bloody brilliant, heres the artwork, its all approved by the prime minister and the Muslim community, well help you as much as we can. And we were off. PhoneBoy will be among the performers in the Neon Peach Festival at the Paul Vincent Studios in Hoboken on Saturday, April 20, 2019. The event will benefit a Stevens Institute of Technology student who is battling cancer. The Neon Peach Festival in Hoboken came together quite differently. Jack Kostelnik, one of the organizers, attends Stevens Tech and wanted to create an all-age event for younger bands both at Stevens and in the surrounding community. We were finding that Hobokens music scene was very bar-oriented and dad-rock oriented so were trying to create a space thats more inclusive for younger bands, especially emo and indie and math-rock, Kostelnik said. I started this collective with a friend of mine at Stevens and this will be the first show that weve booked, but were hoping to make this a regular thing. The Neon Peach lineup includes includes Hobokens PhoneBoy, Montclairs The Planet You, and Toms Rivers Rose Tint. Were also doing an exhibit at the show with art from Stevens students, with projections and prints, Kostelnik said. When the collective became aware that a member of Stevens Alpa Phi sorority on campus had been diagnosed with cancer and would need help with treatments, the festival became a fundraiser. A GoFundMe has also been established to help at www.gofundme.com/f/help-kristi-garino-beat-cancer. If you go ... You Are Us, benefiting victims of the Christchurch, New Zealand, shootings, will take place at White Eagle Hall, 337 Newark Ave., Jersey City, on Wednesday, April 17. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and $25 tickets are available from www.whiteeaglehalljc.com/event/1847230-you-are-us-aroha-nui-jersey-city, or at the door. The Neon Peach festival will be held on Saturday, April 20 at Paul Vincent Studios, 49 Harrison St., Hoboken. Doors open at 7:30 pm and all-ages admission is $10. (BYOB is encouraged for audience members 21+.) A 62-year-old farmer from Tewksbury Township was arrested and charged with multiple counts of animal cruelty after he allegedly would not improve living conditions for the cattle on his property, the Hunterdon County Prosecutors Office said Tuesday. Roger Kolbe was charged March 26 with causing the death of an animal, causing serious bodily injury to an animal, and animal cruelty, a disorderly person offense. Prosecutors allege that for at least three years the Department of Agriculture made multiple recommendations to Kolbe to improve the living conditions and treatment of cattle on his property. On March 26, detectives used a search warrant on Kolbes property and removed 24 cattle. They were put up for auction. Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns, III said more charges may be forthcoming, as the investigation is ongoing. Paige Gross may be reached at pgross@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter@By_paigegross. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. For the third time since the end of February, former Trenton Police Officer Anthony Villanueva has been sued by a man he is accused of assaulting. The plaintiffs were injured in three separate incidents in 2017 that cumulatively sparked questions about Villanuevas use of force. He was suspended after the third incident, investigated by the FBI and ultimately fired in 2018, though he is fighting to get his job back. No charges have ever been filed against Villanueva. The latest lawsuit was filed March 29 by Quaree Singletary, 27, of Ewing, who claims Villanueva provoked a struggle in the holding call area of the Trenton Police Department Nov. 28, 2017 and used excessive force, injuring Singletarys head, face and body and spraying him with Mace. Trenton police security cameras captured the incident, showing Singletary, who was a prisoner, pushing Villanuevas hand away as the officer tries to end his phone call. They started struggling there, another unnamed officer got involved, and the skirmish picked up again back in the cell blocks, according to the video. The lawsuit also names as defendants the City of Trenton, former Police Director Ernest Parrey and the other unnamed officers who participated in the altercation. The other two lawsuits against Villanueva, filed Feb. 28 and March 15, also claim he used excessive force and injured the plaintiffs in the course of arresting them. Salaam Felton, 30, claims in his suit that he was beaten so badly during his arrest in March of 2017 that he suffered bleeding on the brain and other injuries, the lawsuit said. Police at the time said officers were responding to a call about shots fired when they saw a man throw away a handgun and run away, leading them on a chase through backyards. According to Villanuevas body camera video, the officer then came upon Felton walking on a street and ran up behind him, punching him several times in the head and taking him to the ground. All the charges against Felton were later dropped. The video also captured Villanueva bragging about the arrest later on the phone. "I snuck up from behind him and just punched him, he just fell," Villanueva says, mocking Felton by quoting him, "You didn't got to punch me man." Chanzie Washington, 38, filed suit last month accusing Villanueva, Drew Inman, Mark Kieffer III and other unnamed officers of using excessive force in his arrest April 9, 2017. Washington was pulled over after running a red light and fled, swimming across the D&R Canal, but was eventually caught behind a fence. Body camera footage shows Washington held at gunpoint, with his hands up, on the other side of a fence. Villanueva, who got on Washingtons side of the fence, then launches toward him and delivered a roundhouse punch to the head, leading to a scuffle that involved several officers, the video shows. Charges against Washington were dismissed too. The lawsuit said he also suffered brain bleeding and injuries to his head and body. The plaintiffs in all three lawsuits are represented by Robin Kay Lord and Clifford D. Bidlingmaier III, who both practice in Trenton. Lord said in February that Trenton police sweep allegations of excessive force under the rug. They need to start holding more officers accountable, she said. And not just when they get caught on tape. A call seeking comment from the Trenton police public information officer was not immediately returned Tuesday afternoon. George Dougherty, who represents Villanueva in his fight to get his job back, said the states Office of Administrative Law has upheld his firing, but the Civil Service Commission has yet to decide if it will accept or reject that decision. He declined to comment on the civil suits. No lawyer is listed for Villanueva in the civil dockets. In The Force Report, an award-winning, 16-month NJ Advance Media investigation encompassing use of force by every police department in the state, Villanueva appears six times. The project includes use of force reports from 2012 through 2016, and Villanueva was hired in 2015. Trenton police officers who used force, the Force Report found, used force an average of 5.6 times per officer over five years. The state average was 4.1 over five years. Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. A veteran Trenton police officer accused of stealing property from the police departments evidence room forfeited his job last month as part of his entry into the pre-trial intervention (PTI) program, police sources and officials say. Hector Gonzalez, who joined the Trenton Police Department in 2001, was accepted into PTI on March 19 after pleading not guilty to an accusation of theft by unlawful taking, the Mercer County Prosecutors Office confirmed. Conditions of his PTI program include three years of probation, forfeiting his job and all future employment in law enforcement, 40 hours of community service and complying with alcohol treatment recommendations. If he successfully completes PTI, hell have no criminal conviction. His attorney, Christopher Gray, on Tuesday thanked the prosecutors office and police department for their professionalism in handling the matter. Gonzalez did not admit to any wrongdoing in court, and the Trenton Police Department and prosecutors office have never publicly discussed the accusations that led to him appearing in Superior Court last month. A Trenton police spokesman declined comment on Tuesday, only to confirm Gonzalez was no longer on the job. Two law enforcement sources say Gonzalez was accused last year in a police internal investigation of unlawfully taking items from the departments evidence room, where he worked. He was suspended and the investigation turned over to the prosecutors office. Gonzalez was making about $105,000 last year, records show. Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Samantha Josephson was weeks away from graduating from the University of South Carolina last month with a full ride to attend law school at Drexel University when she was stabbed to death after getting into a car she mistook for her Uber ride near the campus. The university announced it will be awarding her a posthumous degree at graduation in May, according to The Aiken Standard. Her parents contacted me on Sunday to tell me theyre coming down for what would have been her graduation, and I said, Well be there waiting for you.', USC President Harris Pastides told the South Carolina newspaper Monday. Josephson, of Robbinsville in Mercer County, was killed on March 29 after getting into Nathaniel David Rowlands car, thinking it was the Uber she called to pick her up after a night out in Columbia, South Carolina, police have said. Rowland, 24, was arrested the next day and charged with murder and kidnapping in Josephsons death. Officials believe Rowland activated the car doors child-safety locks, preventing her from escaping. At Josephsons vigil, her boyfriend and friends took the opportunity to tell people that changes need to be made to ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft to ensure riders are getting in the correct vehicle. A Change.org petition for Uber and Lyft to add QR codes has more than 202,000 signatures, and the #WhatsMyName campaign encourages riders to ask their driver for their name before getting in the car. 12 Candlelight vigil for Samantha Lee Josephson Sophie Nieto-Munoz may be reached at snietomunoz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her at @snietomunoz. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. A California truck driver was arrested Wednesday in Middlesex County after authorities found him hauling about 116 pounds of fentanyl and cocaine as part of a coast-to-coast drug trafficking network, officials said. Jose Santos Garcia Guzman is charged with one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl and cocaine, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office in Newark. The 43-year-olds arrest came as part of a probe into drugs being shipped by truck from California. Investigators surveilled the tractor trailer Guzman was driving and pulled him over in the Keasbey section of Woodbridge, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent said in a criminal complaint. Guzman gave agents permission to search the truck, which revealed the illicit cargo, according to the court document. During his interview with law enforcement, Guzman admitted that he knew that he was transporting narcotics, the DEA agent said in the complaint. Guzman also admitted that he had planned to provide the narcotics to conspirators in or around the New Jersey area. About 46 kilograms tested positive for cocaine while another seven kilograms were positive for fentanyl, according to the complaint. The charge carries a possible mandatory minimum 10 year prison term, a possible maximum of life behind bars and a $10 million fine. Officials did not disclose more details about the drug trafficking investigation, which involved the DEA and New York Strike Force, a unit comprised of state, local and federal law enforcement agents. Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters A 26-year-old New Jersey man was killed when he rear-ended a tractor-trailer while driving on Route 33 Business in Freehold Township on Wednesday morning, authorities said. The man, a Barnegat resident, was traveling west in an SUV around 5:32 a.m. when he struck the truck, which had just pulled out of Freehold Cartage, a garbage collection service, Sgt. Russell Gelber said. He was brought to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, where he was pronounced dead. His identity was withheld pending notification of his family. The truck driver, a 26-year-old from Plainfield, was not hurt. There were no passengers in either vehicle. Gelber said the cause of the crash remains under investigation. The crash closed Route 33 Business until about 8:20 a.m. as police detoured traffic while they investigated. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. The 18-year-old accused of killing her newborn son moments after giving birth in her Monmouth County home appeared in court Wednesday by video conference along with her boyfriend, who is charged with helping to dispose of the infants body in a dumpster. Jada M. McClain, 18, of Neptune, and Quaimere Mohammed, 19, of Asbury Park, were read the charges before Judge Superior Court Judge James McGann Wednesday morning. McClain is charged with first-degree murder and second-degree disturbing or desecrating the remains of her son. Mohammed is charged with disturbing remains, but was not implicated in the killing of the newborn. Jada M. McClain and Quaimere Mohammed apeared via video to their initail appearance in Judge James McGanns courtroom in State Superior Court in Freehold Wednesday, April 10, 2019. (Pool photo via Thomas P. Costello | Asbury Park Press)Thomas P. Costello McClain is accused of suffocating her newborn son moments after giving birth in a plot to hide the fact that she was pregnant from friends and family, authorities said. McClain, a student at Neptune High School, told detectives she had been dating Mohammed when she discovered she was pregnant sometime in July, authorities said. At that time, she decided to hide her pregnancy, authorities said. McClain told police that she and Mohammed talked about what they would do after the child was born and they decided that she would kill the baby after giving birth, according to affidavit of probably cause filed by authorities. Mohammed said they have to do whats best for them, McClain allegedly told authorities. After the child was born at McClains home in late March, McClain allegedly suffocated the baby, authorities said. Prosecutors allege Mohammed disposed of his body in a dumpster of an Asbury Park apartment complex. They were charged Friday, about a week and a half after they allegedly disposed of the infants body. After the preliminary hearing, Superior Court Judge David F. Bauman discussed the case with McClain and Mohammed, the Asbury Park Press reported. Bauman learned that McClain is the stepdaughter of a first cousin of a court employee, but ultimately decided there was enough separation between McClain and the court employee that the cause could remain in Monmouth County Superior Court. McClain will appear in court next week for a judge to determine if she should remain detained pending trials. Mohammed will likely have his detention hearing later this week. They are both currently being held in Monmouth County Jail. Calls to McClains and Mohammeds attorneys were not immediately returned Wednesday. Paige Gross may be reached at pgross@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter@By_paigegross. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Bank of America said Tuesday that it would raise its minimum wage to $20 an hour by 2021, a move that comes a day before banking industry leaders are scheduled to be grilled on Capitol Hill in Washington on their record profits a decade after the financial crisis. The pay increase will affect all of the Charlotte-based bank's more than 200,000 employees, the bank said. Bank of America's announcement comes as Democratic lawmakers push legislation to raise the federal minimum wage from the current $7.25 to $15 per hour by 2024 amid a tight labor market. Workers are receiving the largest wage increases since the Great Recession as employers struggle to find enough people to fill their ranks. "The job market is very healthy, and this is one way to help employee retention," said Ken Leon, director of equity research at CFRA Research, said of Bank of America's announcement. The bank said it began raising its minimum wage two years ago, first to $15 an hour. It is scheduled to reach $17 an hour in May and then increase incrementally until it hits $20 an hour. "We are raising our minimum wage because we believe that to best serve our customers and clients, we need the best teams," Sheri Bronstein, the bank's chief human resources officer, said in a statement. Wages at big banks began nudging up a few years ago as industry profits reached their highest levels since the financial crisis. Earlier this year, JPMorgan Chase announced that it would be raising its minimum wage to between $15 and $18 an hour for 22,000 employees. Wells Fargo raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour. Bank of America's announcement also comes a day before its chief executive, Brian Moynihan, is scheduled to appear before the House Financial Services Committee along with the leaders of six other big financial institutions - JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, State Street, and Bank of New York Mellon. The executives are expected to be questioned by House Democrats about the safety of the financial system, whether big banks should be broken up and their financing of private prisons and gun manufacturers. The CEOs are also expected to face tough questions about the Trump administration's efforts to roll back financial regulations despite record industry profits. Bank of America, for example, reported a profit of $28 billion last year and increased the dividends it paid to shareholders. Moynihan made $26.5 million in 2018, a 15 percent increase from the previous year, and a record for the company. The industry has defended its track record, saying banks are financially healthier and better run than before the financial crisis. The financial crisis was an incredibly difficult period for our country and our firm, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon is scheduled to tell the committee, according to his prepared testimony. Because of financial reform, today the U.S. financial system is substantially safer and more resilient against failure or disruptions. The fingerprints did him in. Pal Singh, an immigrant from India, entered the U.S. with a fake visa in 1992 and spent years applying for asylum and naturalization using a series of false names, law enforcement officials said. Last year, after the Woodbridge resident showed up for an interview to become a U.S. citizen using the name Surinder Singh, immigration officials said they figured out the Indian immigrant had been lying for decades. His fingerprints matched those of the Indian immigrant who tried to illegally enter the U.S. and apply for asylum more than 25 years earlier, a fingerprint expert said. Singh, 67, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Newark to attempted naturalization fraud, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. He faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced in August. Singhs case comes as the Trump administration has been trying to narrow the circumstances where immigrants can enter the U.S. and apply for asylum. Immigration officials said Singh first entered the U.S. in 1992 as a tourist at Los Angeles International Airport. He was refused admission and detained after immigration officials determined the entry visa on his Indian passport was fake. However, Singh applied for asylum in the U.S. using his true name, Pal Singh, and was released on bond, prosecutors said. The following year, an immigration judge in New York rejected Singhs asylum case and he was ordered deported back to India. But Singh did not show up for his deportation. Singh again applied for asylum in 1995 using the name Harpal Singh," claiming he had illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, federal officials said. But, he was again denied asylum and ordered deported. Again, he did not show up for his deportation. The following year, he applied for asylum a third time under the name Surinder Singh, again claiming he crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, prosecutors said. He said he had been beaten and tortured in India in 1994, not telling immigration authorities he had actually been in the U.S. since 1992. This time his application was successful and a judge granted him asylum in 1996 under the name Surinder Singh, immigration officials said. After he was granted asylum, Singh applied for naturalization to become a U.S. Citizen using the same false name, prosecutors said. Last year, he showed up for an interview with a Department of Homeland Security officer in Newark where he answered questions with the help of a Punjabi interpreter. A fingerprint expert from the U.S. Department of Homeland Securitys Biometric Support Center later examined Singhs fingerprints and discovered Surinder Singh, Harpal Singh and Pal Singh had all given the same fingerprints in immigration proceedings over the last 25 years, prosecutors said. Singh was arrested in August, a few months after his naturalization interview, in Woodbridge and later agreed to plead guilty, prosecutors said. He will be sentenced Aug. 5. Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find her at KellyHeyboerReporter on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. THE LATEST: NJ Transit debacle over WrestleMania 35 should get Super Bowl-style investigation, ranking senator says Perhaps the next WrestleMania should feature a steel cage match between New Jerseys former and current governor. Both former Gov. Chris Christie and current Gov. Phil Murphy battled verbally Wednesday over who deserves the blame for NJ Transits underlying problems that helped lead to the woeful performance getting wrestling fans home after the end of WrestleMania 35 Monday morning. A Murphy spokesman said the WrestleMania train trouble that left thousands of fans standing in the rain has to be looked at in the larger context of under-investment in NJ Transit by the Christie administration over eight years. After eight years of underfunding and neglect in the previous administration, NJ Transit is continuing the long, hard work of rebuilding and strengthening its core operations, spokesman Dan Bryan said. Governor Murphy believes that commuters deserve reliable, safe, and on-time mass transit service, and he wont stop until NJ Transit is once again a world-class transportation agency. Christie fired back through spokeswoman Megan Fielder, suggesting Murphy is the one who owes riders an apology. The abject failure of Governor Murphys hand-picked leader of NJ Transit on Wrestlemania mass transit was out in the open for all to see. He should publicly apologize, Fielder said. Christie also defended his level of spending on NJ Transit. Total state spending increased on NJ Transit in the last administration and the Governor knows it, Christies spokeswoman said in the statement. Governor Murphy himself has been in office now for 15 months. NJ Transit has been worse under his stewardship than ever beforethat is obvious to every NJ Transit rider. Stop the blame game and start leading. Transit experts criticized budgeting practices under Christie because the agency was forced to cover operating expenses by transferring hundreds of millions of dollars from the capital budget, which is supposed to be used for major projects and pricey purchases, such as new buses and trains. The Tri-State Transportation Campaign said NJ Transits capital budget has been reduced by an average of $416 million between 2012 and 2016 to cover the operating budget shortfall. Commuters also endured two fare increases, the last was a 9 percent hike in October 2015 in 2009. Murphy included funding to keep fares stable in the fiscal year 2019 budget, which ends on June 30 and pledged not to hike fares in his fiscal year 2020 budget. Christie found an unlikely ally in state Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, who agreed that it is time to stop blaming Christie for all of NJ Transits problems, except for one category. Can we blame them for understaffing? Yes. But we are 13 months into a new administration at NJ Transit and theyre getting some of the resources they need, Weinberg said. Murphy blamed years of where few training classes where held to keep up with engineers who retired or left NJ Transit. That lack of people to cover absences was a factor blamed for canceled trains last year. Last month, Weinberg publicly questioned if NJ Transit is getting enough operating funds under Murphys proposed fiscal year 2020 budget. Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters The Westfield High School principal who lost his life while making a selfless donation to a teenager he never met was remembered fondly Tuesday on social media by school officials, friends and state politicians. Derrick Nelson was a gift to Westfield High School, to the Westfield public schools and to our entire Westfield community," Westfield Superintendent Margaret Dolan said to reporters at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. He had a strong moral compass. Perhaps the strongest moral compass I have ever experienced." Dolan was addressing the sudden death of Nelson, 44, who died Monday from complications of a bone marrow donation procedure for a 14-year-old French boy back in February. Westfield High Principal Dr. Derrick Nelson an educator and 20-year Army reservist embodied all that makes New Jersey great. His final act was one of selflessness. Our deepest condolences to his family. We mourn with the entire Westfield community. https://t.co/rlHnZ9uklI Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) April 9, 2019 Gov. Phil Murphy praised Nelson on social media by calling final act one of selflessness" and said he embodied all that makes New Jersey great. Senator Tom Kean, R-21, said on Twitter that Westfield has lost a truly selfless leader. The community of Westfield has lost a truly selfless leader. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Westfield HS Principal Dr. Derrick Nelson. An Army Reserve veteran, Dr. Nelson passed away donating bone marrow to help save a 14-year-old boy. https://t.co/VU376p7g1t Senator Tom Kean (@tomkean) April 9, 2019 In addition to his own family, Nelson had multiple families including his brothers from his fraternity, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated, Dolan said. He would come into a meeting and tell us about the latest barbecue or latest birthday celebration and he had a smile that only came out when he was talking about his loved ones, Dolan said. One of those fraternity brothers, Dr. RaShawn M. Adams said on Twitter that his selfless act will only acutely define the measure of you." My Frat brother, great friend and fellow educator has transitioned from labor to reward! Bro. Dr. Derrick Nelson, no words will articulate your impact on others! The selfless act will only acutely define the measure of you Man! @JerseyCityQues @OfficialOPPF @NewJerseyDOE pic.twitter.com/jDKpVXXthW Dr. RaShawn M. Adams (@DrRaShawnAdams) April 9, 2019 Another friend, Arwa Lokhandwala, said on Twitter that he embodied kindness, respect, humor, leadership and service. Stars and Stripes, a news organization that covers the U.S. military, also took some time to spread the news of Nelsons tragic death. A NJ high school principal who went into a coma after he donated bone marrow to a 14-year-old boy in France has died. Derrick Nelson had served as an officer in the Army Reserve for more than 20 years and had recently re-enlisted. https://t.co/p18pFGeloB Stars and Stripes (@starsandstripes) April 9, 2019 An online petition was also created Tuesday to change the name of the school to Derrick Nelson High School and had garnered 839 signatures as of 9 p.m. It was being shared across social media as well. James Desarno: Change the name of Westfield high school to Derrick Nelson high school - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/xi1OIWdkH1 via @Change Dr. Freeman (@Miniluv1991) April 9, 2019 During Tuesdays press conference, Dolan announced that the schools student body was planning a vigil. Nelsons parents told NJ Advance Media they plan to have a funeral later this week at St. Johns Baptist Church in Scotch Plains but no definitive plans were announced Tuesday night. Reporter Taylor Tiamoyo Harris contributed to this report. Editors note: This story was corrected to reflect the correct date of Dr. Nelsons death. Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. A 58-year-old New Jersey man attempted to eat a box of the pain-killer hydrocodone as he ran from a New York State Police trooper after being pulled over by police Sunday, authorities said. Theodore J. Harris, 58, of Burlington, was pulled over for speeding on Interstate 87 in Halfmoon around 7 p.m., New York State Police said in a statement. The trooper smelled marijuana and asked Harris to step out of his car, officials said. Instead, Harris tried and failed to slip a U.S. Postal Service box up his shirt. He then attempted to toss and kick the box, according to New York State Police. When the trooper told Harris he was being arrested, he snatched the box, jumped the guard rail and ran into the woods, authorities said. As Harris dashed away, he opened the box and started to eat the hydrocodone, police said. When the trooper tracked Harris down, he tried to physically resist arrest and tossed marijuana before being taken into custody, authorities said. New York State Police charged Harris with assault, tampering with physical evidence, obstruction, resisting arrest and possession of marijuana. Harris, who was being held on $5,000 cash or $10,000 bond is due in court in Saratoga County on Wednesday afternoon. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. South Africa: SA sends relief donations to Malawi The South African Government continues to help and respond to the urgent needs of its neighbouring countries following the humanitarian disaster left by Cyclone Idai. On Tuesday, members of the South African National Defence Force departed from the Waterkloof Air Force Base to Malawi with various relief items donated by companies, religious organisations and ordinary South Africans. The items included clothes, blankets, water purifiers and dry food. Also included in the consignment was medical supplies donated by the Department of Health. We remain indebted to all South Africans who have heeded the call for urgent relief donations. You have demonstrated the true spirit of Ubuntu. A large number of communities have been affected by this and continued assistance will be required for a while, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said. Receiving the donations, the Malawis Minister of Homeland Security and Disaster Management Affairs Nicholas Dausi said: We thank the people and government of South Africa for coming to assist in our time of need. These supplies came at the right time and will go a long way in assisting our people. Sisulu appealed to South Africans to continue donating towards this just cause. The devastating tropical Cyclone Idai has affected an estimated 3 million people in three of the Member States of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region; Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The three states have declared national disasters and requested immediate international support. In light of this situation, the SADC Chairperson President Geingob of Namibia will launch a regional appeal for humanitarian assistance. The regional appeal, will be a formal regional request to the international community to provide assistance to affected member states who require immediate humanitarian assistance, including food, shelter, clothing, potable water, sanitation and medical support, considering the occurrence for cholera and other diarrhoea infections, malaria and water borne and water related diseases. The support, SADC said - will also aid in early recovery actions in the affected districts, thereby helping them to rebuild their lives, livelihoods and economies. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2019-04-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. The Long Beach Township police sergeant arrested last week on charges hed used police information for personal reasons has been in the process of suing the township, the police chief and the mayor for the past year, court documents show The suit alleges the town leaders mistreated Sgt. Gerard Traynor, 52, after he made a comment to the media about the towns preparedness for Superstorm Sandy in 2013, court documents show. The suit alleges that in November 2013, when Traynor spoke about Sandys impact on the Shore, he was doing so as president of the polices labor union, Lodge No. 5 Fraternal Order of Police. The next week, The Asbury Park Press published a story stating that Southern Ocean County was under prepared for the storm, the suit said. After the article appeared, Traynor was called into then-police Capt. Anthony Deelys office and questioned about his statements. The next day, Traynor met with Mayor Joseph Mancini, who allegedly told Traynor hed thrown him Under the f---ing bus, the suit charges. Youre done. Your careers over, the suit alleged Mancini said. ""Dont ask for another f---king thing. Youre f---king done." Since 2013, the suit alleges Traynor has been passed over for a promotion, denied training and reprimanded for tasks he claims he was not properly trained to do. The suit also states Traynor was charged with multiple violations for taking a call on his private cell phone while on duty. These charges are meritless, singles Sergeant Traynor out for behavior that is otherwise tolerated by (Long Beach police), the suit says. Traynor alleges in the suit that hes been retaliated against for exercising his free speech to make comments about Sandy, and has since been discriminated against on the job. The suit, which was filed in April 2018, says Traynor is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as attorney fees. Armando Riccio, the towns attorney, said Wednesday he didnt wish to comment on the suit. Last week, Traynor, whos been on the force for 24 years, was charged with two counts of illegal computer criminal activity, prosecutors said. He was suspended from the department by Deely, who is now the police chief. Traynor, who makes about $139,000 a year, records show, is also practicing attorney with addresses in Beach Haven and Galloway Township. He was released on a summons, pending further court hearings in that case. Paige Gross may be reached at pgross@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter@By_paigegross. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us.nj.com/tips. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Two former Lacey Township High School students who were suspended last year after posting photos on Snapchat of guns lying on a table while the teens were visiting a private shooting range have sued the district, alleging their First Amendment rights were violated. The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey helped file the federal lawsuit on behalf of Cody Conroy, and another student who is not named because he was a minor when he was suspended. "The technology for communicating ideas may change, but the fundamental principle remains the same: young people have the right to express themselves, and, with rare exceptions, they shouldnt face punishment by school administrators for it, said C.J. Griffin, a partner at the law firm Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, who, represents the students with the ACLU-NJ. The teens, then-seniors, said they served a three-day in-school suspension following a March 10, 2018 visit to the range, which is on property in Galloway owned by Conroys brother. The photos taken by the teens were posted on Snapchat and automatically deleted after 24 hours, the suit says. The images showed guns resting on a table - one was captioned hot stuff and If theres ever a zombie apocalypse, you know where to go, the suit said. The other had no caption. School officials learned of the posts after being tipped off by another students mother who said the photos made her child nervous about attending school, according to the lawsuit. By the time school started Monday morning the posts were no longer visible on the site. Administrators later rescinded a Saturday detention issued to the students before they serve it. Conroy and his friend are seeking a statement in their records clarifying that their rights were violated by their unconstitutional punishment. The suit also asks for an order stating the district will not discipline students for constitutionally protected speech outside of school settings. The lawsuit was filed even though the district later changed a policy that prohibited students from legally handling a gun off campus after being threatened with a lawsuit by a gun advocacy organization. At the time, then-superintendent Craig Wigley denied the students were disciplined. The photographed guns were legally purchased and properly permitted, the lawsuit notes. Named in the suit are Wigley, principal Gregory Brandis, assistant principal Mark Angelo and Craig Cicardo, the districts anti-bullying specialist. Laceys current superintendent Vanessa Clark didnt immediately return a phone call and email from NJ Advance Media seeking comment. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. By Troy Singleton Last April, I was proud to be part of a bipartisan coalition of state legislators who started New Jersey on the path toward a clean, climate-friendly electric grid. By wide margins, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle approved a package of clean energy bills that were drafted to ensure our state will benefit from a carbon-free energy supply by 2050. An important part of this groundbreaking legislation was an economic safety net for New Jerseys nuclear power plants. It is easy to take New Jerseys nuclear plants for granted and underestimate the huge positive impact they have. Considering that roughly 40 percent of New Jerseys energy is produced by nuclear power, we cannot ignore the future of this industry. As nuclear plants close across the nation, New Jersey must take a closer look at just how important an economic engine and environmental asset these nuclear plants are for our region and understand the reasons these plants are worth preserving. Here in New Jersey, our three nuclear plants employ 1,600 full-time workers employees with good salaries and benefits. The majority of these workers live and spend their salaries a payroll totaling more than $175 million a year in New Jersey. A recent study estimated that if these nuclear plants were to close, there would be a loss of 5,800 direct and indirect jobs. The report also showed that the nuclear plants contribute more than $800 million annually to New Jerseys GDP and are responsible for more than $37 million in state and local tax revenues each year. This is not just an issue for the thousands of people who will lose their jobs if the plants close. Workers families are affected as they are forced to leave the region to find employment; neighborhoods are impacted as property values and school enrollments drop; and all residents are impacted by decreased services or higher tax rates as revenues for local and state coffers decline. It is a story that has been repeated everywhere that nuclear plants have closed. In addition to their clear economic value, these nuclear plants are vital to the health of our citizens, our environment, and in our fight against man-made climate change. In New Jersey, nuclear plants provide more than 90 percent of our carbon-free energy that keeps our air clean of greenhouse gases and our carbon footprint small. If New Jerseys nuclear plants are forced to shut down, our states energy needs still remain the same. That means a new source of electricity, or augmenting an existing one, will have to replace the nuclear energy no longer available. In the short-term, that will lead to an increase in the use of natural gas and the ongoing debate surrounding the construction of more pipelines throughout our state. This increased demand for natural gas could increase energy bills by $400 million per year. But thats only the beginning. The loss of carbon-free energy and its inevitable replacement with carbon dioxide emitting fossil fuels - would lead to higher public health and environmental costs totaling $585 million per year due to increased air pollution. The growing challenge of balancing the publics demand for energy with the proper stewardship of our environment requires innovative thinking and bold investment. While I support a clean energy future with a portfolio of solar and wind sources, safe nuclear energy also has a place in that structure. Thats why the New Jersey Legislature last year enacted that safety net a Zero Emissions Credit (ZEC) program in order to invest in the clean energy that nuclear plants provide and ensure they are able to do so for many more years. The ZEC program that the Legislature approved, and that the governor signed into law, provides for a maximum of $300 million per year in economic support for our states nuclear fleet. Its my belief, and one that was shared by my colleagues who voted in favor of the program, as well, that nuclear power along with its clean, pollution-free energy, thousands of jobs and its economic benefits was worth the expense. The preservation of New Jerseys nuclear energy comes at a price, but it is a reasonable one, once you consider the alternative. Senator Troy Singleton represents the 7th Legislative District. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow us on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and on Facebook at NJ.com Opinion. Get the latest news updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Former state senator and Port Authority executive Bill Baroni reported on Tuesday to the Loretto Federal Correctional Institution to begin serving an 18-month prison sentence for his role in the Bridgegate scandal. Meanwhile, a letter signed by a friend and Trenton lobbyist sought help to help pay for Baronis commissary fund while he is in prison, soliciting donations through a website for clothes, stamps and food. Convicted in November 2016, Baroni, 47, was found guilty of plotting the shutdown of several local access lanes to the toll plaza of the George Washington Bridge in September 2013 in a political payback scheme what went terribly wrong. His co-defendant in the case, Bridget Anne Kelly, is scheduled to be re-sentenced in the case later this month. She is also continuing to appeal her conviction before the U.S. Supreme Court. The two were found guilty in November 2016, after being charged by U.S. Attorneys office in what was called a purely personal vendetta tied to Gov. Chris Christies 2013 re-election campaign for governor. At the time, Baroni was serving as deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Kelly was the governors deputy chief of staff. Prosecutors said the two conspired with David Wildstein, a former political operative and patronage appointee to the Port Authority, to cause massive traffic jams in Fort Lee as payback against Mayor Mark Sokolich, after the Democratic mayor walked away from an expected endorsement of Christie, a Republican, during the governors 2013 re-election campaign. Wildstein, who admitted to masterminding the lane closure plan for political purposes, pleaded guilty and testified against Baroni and Kelly. He was sentenced to three years probation and 500 hours of community service Christie was never accused of any wrongdoing and denied any knowledge of the scheme. Originally sentenced to 24 months by U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton, Baroni was given a reduced sentence of 18 months in prison after some of the charges were thrown out on appeal. Kelly, who was initially sentenced to 18 months, is likely to also see a lesser term for the same reason when she returns in two weeks to face Wigenton. Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, who are continue their appeals in the Bridgegate scandal before the U.S. Supreme Court. (Aristide Economopoulos and Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) At his sentencing, Baroni expressed sorrow for his role in the scheme, but also said his desire to "promote the interests of Christie in his re-election campaign and the governors campaign for president played a role. The former Republican state senator called himself broken. I wanted to be on the team, I wanted to please him, but I chose to get sucked into his cult and culture, he said. Loretto, just west of Altoona, Pa., and a four-hour drive from Trenton, is a low security federal correctional institution with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp. The two facilities house a total of 1,010 male inmates. Among those who have served time there included former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, who was sent there after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit tax fraud and deprive taxpayers of his honest services. In a letter that went out Wednesday signed by John Holub, a Trenton lobbyist who identified himself in the letter as chairman of his legal defense expense fund, friends and supporters were asked to help with contributions to Baronis prison commissary fund. This fund allows Bill to have access to phone calls, emails and the commissary shop, said the letter, which included links to a web page for contributions, as well as Baronis address as an inmate in Loretto. This is a tough time for Bill and his family. Anything you can do: contribute, write letters, keep him in your thoughts and prayers: all help, said the letter. Holub did not return calls or emails to his office. An attorney for Baroni said his office did not know anything about a defense fund and have no involvement in it. Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Gov. Phil Murphy says New Jersey has never been a low-cost state, but he wants it to be a good value for your money. A new poll suggests hes got a long way to go to please New Jersey residents. More than 80 percent of people polled said they pay too much in state and local taxes for the services and benefits they receive. That leaves just 18 percent who said they feel like they get their moneys worth, according to the joint poll by Rutgers Eagleton Institute for Politics and the New Jersey Business and Industry Association. Ninety-one percent of Republicans said they paid too much, compared with 72 percent of Democrats. About 79 percent of people with income between $50,000 and $100,000 or more than $150,000 in income felt that way, while 90 percent of residents with income $100,000 and $150,000 said they were paying too much. The poll found that the taxes that really grinds their gears are property taxes and the gas tax. New Jersey notoriously has the highest property taxes in the country, and its once-low gas tax was raised by 23 cents a gallon in 2016 to pay for transportation projects and then again by 4.3 cents last year to make up for falling consumption. More than three-quarters of New Jerseyans polled 77 percent said their property tax burden was very or somewhat unfair. The average real estate tax bill hit $8,767 last year. Four percent said their property taxes were very fair, and 16 percent consider them somewhat fair. On the gas tax, 77 percent also said they feel the tax is somewhat or very unfair, while 23 percent said it was somewhat or very fair. They werent thrilled with how much they pay in income taxes, either. Sixty-two percent of people polled called the income tax unfair. The state has a highly progressive income tax, where the tax rate is higher on higher income. The marginal tax rates range from 1.4 percent on income below $20,000 and 10.75 percent on income over $5 million. The 6.625 percent sales tax, however, had much more support, with 58 percent of those polled considering it very or somewhat fair. That tax was reduced from 7 percent to 6.625 percent over two years as a tradeoff for the higher gas tax. Murphy, a Democrat, proposed restoring it to 7 percent last year but ran into strong opposition from lawmakers who had voted to cut it just two years prior. The poll also asked respondents to weigh in on how leaders of state government are managing the cost of living (81 percent dissatisfied), taxes (78 percent dissatisfied), state government spending and the budget (57 percent dissatisfied), and business and employment opportunities (52 percent dissatisfied). Despite the those sour results, the majority were at least somewhat satisfied with how state leaders were handling education. The poll showed on K-12 education, 59 percent were very or somewhat satisfied, and on higher education, 56 percent were satisfied. Respondents were also asked if they would favor increasing taxes to help fund the government worker pension system, which is woefully underfunded. Eighty-nine percent said no, and 11 percent said yes. Nearly two-thirds thought public workers should either contribute more to their own pension and health benefits or that their health care plans should be brought in line with the private sector. Previous polls have found that when asked specifically about a millionaires tax a 10.75 percent tax rate on income over $1 million, the majority of residents support raising taxes on the wealthy to help pay for public pensions. An Eagleton and Fairleigh Dickinson University poll released Thursday found that seven-in-10 residents back Murphys call to instate a millionaires tax. The joint poll surveyed 1,203 people March 7- 22, with 621 contacted by live callers on both landlines and cell phones and 582 through an online probability-based panel. It has a combined margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points. A spokesman for Murphy declined to comment on the poll. Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. In legal filings, audits, legislative hearings and now an investigation by a special governors task force the state Economic Development Authority is under a growing cloud. The agency has been accused of handing out tax credits like free candy to keep companies in New Jersey that never had any real intention of leaving the state. Others have charged that it awarded incentives for jobs that were never created, or pushed to process applications for companies without verifying how the state would benefit. On Tuesday, dozens of progressive advocacy groups called for the resignation of the EDAs board. Given growing allegations that the NJ Economic Development Authority rushed through billions in corporate subsidies to profitable and politically connected corporations without adequate oversight or accountability, and may even have turned a blind eye to fraudulent tax incentive applications, we the undersigned demand your resignation, the groups said in a letter delivered at the boards monthly meeting in Trenton. Among them included New Jersey Policy Perspective, the New Jersey Education Association, New Jersey Working Families, the Latino Action Network and many union organizations. In their letter, the groups said there was a role for reasonable, targeted, and fiscally responsible tax incentive programs in New Jerseys economic development strategy, but said taxpayers must have faith that companies are holding up their end of the bargain and delivering the jobs they promised. The EDA has broken that faith repeatedly under your watch, they wrote. EDA officials did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the governors office, however, said the recent report from the state comptroller identified weaknesses in the states current system for awarding tax incentives. Whistleblower suits have shed light on further issues related to our past incentive programs. As a state it is imperative that we ensure our economic development programs and specifically tax incentive awards are targeted, transparent, and monitored to guarantee taxpayer money is being well-spent and that these programs are accomplishing their intended goal, said Darryl Isherwood. The task force appointed by the governor to look into our past incentive programs is continuing its work and we look forward to their final recommendations. That task force formed by Gov. Phil Murphy earlier this year came after a scathing audit by the comptroller in January, which criticized the EDAs management of a program that has given out tax credit incentives worth $11 billion since its inception. The comptroller concluded that the state agency, which is responsible for spearheading New Jerseys economic development efforts, may have improperly awarded, miscalculated, overstate and overpaid tax credits to a number of companies that it could not verify had created the jobs that were promised. It also said the EDA could not evaluate whether its inventive programs generated any economic benefits to the state, and had certified projects and released tax credits even when projects did not meet the requirements, in violation of the law. The task force last month began a series of public hearings into the EDA grants, with the testimony of a whistleblower who claimed that the company she had worked forlater revealed to be Jackson Hewitt Tax Serviceshad been awarded a $2.67 million state grant after falsely claiming it was considering a move out of the state and planning to take those jobs to New York and Florida. The decision to relocate to Jersey City was already a done deal, said Gulsen Kama, a former top executive of the firm who settled a complaint against the company in 2017. The company, in a statement, responded that Jackson Hewitt believes it provided an accurate and comprehensive application to the EDA and is in compliance with all applicable provisions of the Grow NJ and Economic Redevelopment and Growth programs. A 2015 lawsuit that recently surfaced revealed that political pressure was also put on the EDA by the Christie administration to approve hundreds of millions in subsidies. In that lawsuit, a whistleblower claimed that he was ordered to change data to help companies obtain state tax breaks. The major incentive programs the Grow New Jersey Assistance Program and the Economic Redevelopment and Growth Grant Program are set to expire in July unless renewed by the Legislature. Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook. A Delaware police officer suffered serious head injuries when a college student from New Jersey tripped him at the police station after being arrested, authorities said. The Newark, Delaware, officer responded to a report of a roadway disturbance around 1:45 a.m. on March 23 and found an intoxicated man, later identified as Alexander Mastronardi, 19, of Bernardsville, holding the door handle of a vehicle and the woman behind the wheel yelling at him to let go, police said. The motorist was driving for a ride share service and did not know Mastronardi, police said, adding that he was not her customer. Mastronardi, a sophomore at the University of Delaware, tried to punch the officer, police said. He was arrested and taken to police headquarters. At the station, Mastronardi resisted efforts to remove him from the police car, then struggled with cops in the processing area, where he allegedly threatened officers, police said. Mastronardi then used his legs to trip one of the officers, who struck his head on a metal counter before hitting the concrete floor, police said. The extent of the officers injuries werent known at the time and Mastronardi was charged with misdemeanor offenses and released. The officer was later diagnosed with a serious head injury from the incident and was hospitalized in a critical care unit, where he remained for a week, according to police. He has since been transferred to a rehabilitation center for further treatment. The officer was not named. Based on the severity of the injuries, Mastronardi was arrested again this week on charges including assault in the first degree on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest with force or violence, disorderly conduct and underage consumption of alcohol. His initial charges were dismissed and replaced by these charges, police said. He was ordered held on $32,400 bail and transferred to the Howard R. Young Correctional Facility in Wilmington, Delaware. Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us: nj.com/tips. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. A former Montgomery Township teacher could serve up to a year in Somerset County jail after pleading guilty to third-degree endangering the welfare of a child for sending nude photos to students. Michelina Aichele, 30, of Hillsdale, a former English teacher, was arrested and charged in October after police and high school administration discovered sexual photos and conversations over text, email and social media between February and April 2018. Aichele, whod faced up to five years in jail, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Superior Court of Somerset County in Somerville. In addition to jail time, she was ordered to give up her teaching certificate, will be on parole for life and has to register as a sex offender. If she violates the terms, she could serve up to 364 days in jail according to the plea agreement. Her official sentencing is scheduled for early July. Authorities launched an investigation after a fellow student reported to school officials Aicheles alleged relationship with a male student, who Aichele admitted in court was a 16-year-old junior at the high school at the time. When the high school administration initially questioned Aichele and the student, they both denied a relationship, officials have said. When police arrived though, the male student started talking to the officers about the relationship, according to the criminal complaint. In a taped statement, the male student told investigators Aichele sent him four photos of her exposed bare breasts and buttocks between February and April via Snapchat. He further stated that she sent him text messages through Snapchat, stating that she thought about him while masturbating, the complaint states. After being charged, Aichele tried to blame students for the pictures, accusing students of going into her phone and sending nude photos to themselves that shed previously saved on her phone. Upon further investigation, authorities discovered Aichele used her school email address to send sexually explicit messages and asked him to take the "Rice Purity Test," which is designed to measure a person's sexual promiscuity, the complaint states. At the time of her arrest, Aichele was making $72,500 as a teacher at the high school, according to state records. Taylor Tiamoyo Harris may be reached at tharris@njadvancemedia.com. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. A vigil will be held Wednesday night at Westfield High School and funeral services have been scheduled for next week for Principal Derrick Nelson, 44, who lapsed into a coma and later died after surgery to donate bone marrow to a 14-year-old boy in France. Westfield High Schools student government and parent-teacher organization have organized a vigil at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday in front of Westfield High School at 550 Dorian Road. A viewing will be from 5 to 9 p.m. on Monday at St. John Baptist Church, 2387 Morse Ave. in Scotch Plains. A second viewing will be at the church at 10 a.m. Tuesday followed by a funeral service from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., according to the Plinton Curry Funeral Home, which is handling the services. Nelson underwent the donation procedure at a Bergen County hospital in February, his 81-year-old father Willie Nelson said Tuesday in an interview with NJ Advance Media. After the procedure he did, he couldnt speak and was lying in the bed, Nelson said. His eyes were open and he realized who we were. But he couldnt move. He never spoke again. Nelsons mother, Juanita, said Wednesday her son went into cardiac arrest during the donation process and remained in a coma until he died. She said doctors have not said what might have caused the fatal reaction. Willie Nelson said he and his wife, his sons fiance, Sheronda, and the couples young daughter kept vigil at his room at Hackensack University Hospital for weeks, hoping he would recover. Nelson died Sunday. We really dont know the full story of what happened, Willie Nelson said. We were expecting him to come out of the coma he was in. But he didnt make it. Nelson served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve for more than 20 years and had recently re-enlisted, his father said. His military service included an assignment in the Middle East, school officials have said. Before coming to Westfield, Nelson served as assistant principal in two public schools in Orange and he began his career in education in 2002 as a teacher in the Plainfield School District. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. An online petition to rename Westfield High School in the memory of beloved Principal Derrick Nelson, who died Monday after donating bone marrow to help a sick teenager whom he did not know, has quickly gain thousands of signatures as the community prepares to honor him at a vigil on Wednesday night and during funeral services next week. More than 7,000 people had signed the Change the name of Westfield High School to Derrick Nelson High School petition as of Wednesday morning on change.org. The petition was started Tuesday evening. Nelson, 44, went into cardiac arrest while undergoing a bone marrow donation procedure at Hackensack University Medical Center in February, his family said. He lapsed into a monthlong coma and died on Sunday surrounded by family. Derrick Nelson, the principal of Westfield high school, lost his life donating marrow to a 14-year-old boy in France, wrote Jason Starkman, who created the petition. This level of generosity cant go unnoticed and this would be a fantastic way to honor his memory. School administrators on Wednesday morning said they were just learning of the petition and had no immediate comment but planned to release a statement later in the day. A vigil for Nelson is planned for Wednesday night outside the high school. Funeral services are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in at a Scotch Plains church. Thank you for bringing a smile to our faces everyday, making school fun, serving our country and being an incredible person! Rest easy Dr. Nelson, we love you and will always remember you pic.twitter.com/r22yqhBB8r Dubfield Athletics (@dubfieldsports) April 8, 2019 Nelson, who has a 5-year-old daughter and was engaged to be married, was named principal at Westfield High School in February 2017 after serving as the acting principal since August 2016. He started at the school as an assistant principal in 2012. Nelson joined the Westfield School District in 2010 as assistant principal of Roosevelt Intermediate School. Nelson talked about his desire to help the French 14-year-old, who he had not met, with a donation of stem cells, according to an interview with the Westfield High School student newspaper hiseye.org just before the surgery. If its just a little bit of pain for a little bit of time that can give someone years of joy, its all worth it, Nelson told the student newspaper. The bone marrow would provide stem cells that could help the teen, he said, though the boys ailment was not disclosed. Nelson told hiseye.org that he suffered from sleep apnea and that doctors were concerned about using anesthesia. They decided to do the bone marrow surgery under a local anesthetic, Nelson told the student newspaper. His family said Wednesday he went into cardiac arrest during the surgery, and he never spoke again. Nelson was also an officer in the Army Reserves for more than 20 years. Editors note: This post has been updated to reflect the correct date of Dr. Nelsons death and the correct age of his daughter. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Caleb McGillvary, better known as Kai the Hatchet-wielding Hitchhiker," is expected to testify at his murder trial, which started Tuesday with opening statements and testimony surrounding the fatal, 2013 beating of a 73-year-old man in Clark. The trial will focus on whether the death of victim Joseph Galfy, of Clark, was intentional or self defense. Authorities say McGillvary and Galfy met in May 2013 by chance in Times Square in New York City while McGillvary was hitchhiking around the country. An alleged sexual encounter between the two turned violent, and on May 13, police found Galfy facedown in his home, beaten to death and clad only his underwear and socks, authorities have said. McGillvary maintains that he acted in self defense after being sexually assaulted by Galfy twice. In a recording obtained by NJ Advance Media in 2016, McGillivary claimed he was drugged at Galfys home and passed out, only to wake up with Galfy on top of him and pulling down his pants. He said he hit the lawyer and ran away. McGillvary earned his Kai the Hatchet-wielding Hitchhiker nickname for saving two women from an attacker by hitting a man with a hatchet, an act he described in a TV interview that went viral. The prosecution and defense agreed on many of the facts in the case but focused on what McGillvarys intentions were during opening statements. The state, represented by Union County assistant prosecutors Scott Peterson and Jillian Reyes, noted during opening statements that McGillvary had admitted his involvements in the case and attempted to flee the state. John Cito, McGillvarys defense attorney, pointed to the mishandling of evidence in the case, which the accused murder has repeatedly claimed will hurt his case because authorities focused on the murder, not the sexual assault. He emphasized to the jury of 10 women and six men that while there are a lot of agreements between the parties ... its pretty complicated with the nuances. You have to decide if it was murder in the first degree, or self defense, he told jurors. McGillvary remained silent during the trial, but his eccentric facial expressions and constant eyebrow raising were reminiscent of the YouTube video that made him internet famous. The Canada native became an internet sensation in February 2013 after an interview with a local TV station about saving two people while hitchhiking in Fresno, California went viral. The video has been viewed more than 7 million times. Caleb 'Kai' McGillvary, pictured here in the 2013 local TV interview that made him an internet celebrity. Months later, he made headlines again as a murder suspect. (AP) The state called on four witnesses, law enforcement officers, during the first seven hours of the trial. They detailed how they secured the scene, collected evidence and stored it. The defense focused on the evidence that wasnt collected, including some pills found in the fridge, carpet with blood stains and a glass in the dishwasher. Sgt. John Ho, a member of the Union County Prosecutors Homicide Task Force and key witness for the prosecution, began his testimony Tuesday afternoon. He testified about communication between Galfy and McGillvary, showing phone records and surveillance video of the two men at the Rahway train station on May 12, 2013, the day after they met in New York City. The trial, which is expected to last a few weeks, will resume Wednesday morning in Union County Superior Court in Elizabeth. Ho and a medical examiner are expected to testify. Sophie Nieto-Munoz may be reached at snietomunoz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her at @snietomunoz. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. The leaders of Phillipsburg can agree on at least one thing: Keep kids out of the towns nasty politics. The towns mayor, Stephen Ellis, a Democrat running for re-election in the June primary, this week sent out an eight-paragraph news release publicly calling on local authorities to investigate what he called a cyber-bullying campaign targeting his 11-year-old son. A screenshot of the Facebook post in question was provided to lehighvalleylive.com by Parano & Associates, a public relations firm retained by the mayor. It appears to be part of a longer thread, though its not clear where and when it was posted. The post reads: Ellis does suck though and his kid is an asshole too. Walks around going my dads the mayor I can do whatever I want and hes a jerk to other kids. A subsequent reply says: ... dont need to worry about the kid being bullied when hes nothing but a loser bully to begin with. The Facebook users page is private and he did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. The user is an adult and a second cousin to Council President Bobby Fulper, a Republican opponent of the mayor. Ellis -- who is currently facing a municipal court trial for allegedly harassing and threatening a resident -- said he did not know if the council president was involved in the post. He said that as mayor he is fair game for public criticism, but his children are not. These despicable attacks against my children are intended to intimidate me and my family and discourage me from seeking re-election, but my family and I are united in believing we must stand up to bullies, Ellis said in his statement Monday. "Phillipsburg does not want to be governed by bullies who target children, he continued. If they will do this to us, they will do this to the children and families of anyone they decide they dont like. My wife and I will always protect our children, but we feel we have to stand up to this on behalf of others who might become targets. In emailed responses Tuesday copied to both the police chief and local media, Fulper and Council Vice President Frank McVey, a fellow Republican, said they would support an investigation, if authorities find the situation warrants one. I absolutely agree with the mayor: Children should be off limits, Fulper told lehighvalleylive.com. But he questioned how the mayor was handling this situation. Both Fulper and McVey said the mayor is guilty himself of making threatening statements about opponents families. "The mayor didn't have to send out a ... paranoid statement suggesting I was behind it," Fulper said. "He could have called me, he chose not to do that. For someone who's tired of being in the media all the time, he's doing this to himself." Phillipsburg Mayor Stephen Ellis confronts resident Blaine Fehley over a Facebook post ahead of an April 4, 2017, town council meeting. (YouTube screenshot) This is not the first time Ellis has warned critics to stay away from his family. In April 2017, the mayor publicly confronted a local gadfly for posting an altered photo of the mayor and his son on Facebook -- the boy had been removed and replaced with a pregnant womans body and the face of the council president at the time. The resident, Blaine Fehley, claimed Ellis poked him in the chest during the confrontation and pursued charges of threats, assault and harassment. The charges were ultimately dismissed. In another instance of social media trouble last fall, Phillipsburg police launched an internal investigation after an officer posted what sounded like a threat on his private Facebook page: Town council member sleep tight tonight..... might be your last, the officer wrote. The post was deleted, the officer apologized and within a few weeks, the matter was closed. Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter@SteveNovakLVL and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. HOUSTON Before the Yankees terrible 6-3 loss to the Astros at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday night, manager Aaron Boone gave fans reason to hope that brighter days might not be too far in the future. Boone provided injury updates on two key players: third baseman Miguel Andujar and designated hitter/left fielder Giancarlo Stanton. Latest on Andujar Andujar will play catch for the first time since going on the injured list with a partial tear in his right shoulder labrum April 1. The 24-year-old hurt himself diving back to third base. Hopefully it's a big step for him, Boone said. I think that potentially tells us a lot in how he's able to respond to that. I don't think they're going to stress him out too much tomorrow but hopefully we get some encouraging news when he does go through that initial stretch of playing catch. Said Andujar, Much better since the day I got injured, Andujar said, referring to his shoulder, via the teams Spanish translator Marlon Abreu. I am working hard and doing all the rehab work to make sure the shoulder is strong. I am following all the protocol and following every single step, but we have to wait to see how it feels going through the whole process. Latest on Stanton Stanton might hit off a tee either Wednesday or Friday, Boone said. The Yankees are off Thursday. He played catch Tuesday and has been on the IL since April 1 with a left biceps strain. Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook. When you get down to it, Little isnt just a genre film. Its a full-on genre ripoff, a modern-day version of Big but in reverse. That being the case, you dont have to do much more than watch the trailer to know theres a definite ceiling as to how good it can be. You know it's going to be derivative. Given the multitude of body-swap comedies we've gotten over the years, there's no way for it to be anything but. It's a pretty safe bet it's also going to be predictable and contrived, too, right down to its inevitable, cornball "be yourself" message. Indeed, "Little" is all of those things. This is cinematic filler, no question about it -- pure big-screen fluff. Here's the thing, though: As an unapologetic genre exercise, it's also fairly harmless, painless stuff. Thanks largely to the work of its cast, which does more with Tracy Oliver and director Tina Gordon's decidedly uneven, underdeveloped script than anybody has a right to hope for, "Little" ends up being mostly enjoyable in its own lightweight, empty-calorie and entirely unexpected way. 'Girls Trip' producer coming back to New Orleans for 'The Photograph' Regina Hall plays the grown-up version of the main character, a tough-as-nails, cartoonishly rude tech mogul who, through a bit of timely magic, wakes up one morning in the body of her 13-year-old self. She then has to spend the rest of the movie figuring out how to reverse the curse, but not before learning a valuable life lesson or two. That Hall embraces the role with comic relish shouldnt come as much of a surprise. That's what she does, particularly when she's teaming up with producer Will Packer, with whom she has previously worked on such films as "Girls Trip," "Think Like a Man" and "About Last Night." Similarly, Issa Rae, playing Hall's long-suffering personal assistant, is every bit as charmingly self-effacing as viewers of her Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated HBO series "Insecure" would expect her to be. The real surprise of "Little," though, is how well the movie works when Hall hands the reins over to her 14-year-old co-star, Marsai Martin. Audiences might recognize Martin from the ABC sitcom "Black-ish," but she's a pint-sized revelation in "Little." Behind those dimples, as it turns out, is a performer with superb comic timing and, as evidenced by her spot-on channeling of Hall, genuine acting chops. She's the secret weapon of "Little," and she's loaded for bear. In fact, while "Little" is an undeniably pale imitation of 1988's "Big," it works to the extent it does for the very reason that earlier film does: because of an outstanding, easy-to-embrace lead performance. In the case of "Big," that performance was delivered by Tom Hanks. This time, it's Martin who steals the show. When she's on-screen, and particularly when she's on-screen with Rae (who, although a supporting player, gets more screen-time than anyone else in the film), it becomes easy to overlook the genre trappings of "Little" and Gordon's by-the-numbers direction. Martin and Rae don't quite erase all the film's missteps, mind you, but it is a pleasure to watch them work together. It's interesting to note that the whole idea behind the film was Martin's, who, after seeing "Big" as a 10-year-old, pitched "Black-ish" creator and "Little" co-producer Kenya Barris on the concept. Four years later, Martin has reportedly become the youngest person ever to earn an executive-producing credit on a major Hollywood production. Now, as a general rule, it's not a good idea to make movies based on the suggestions of 10-year-olds. But Martin's clearly not your average kid. She proves that in "Little." It's not going to make anyone forget "Big." In fact, it might make many moviegoers go back and rewatch that earlier film, just for the sheer joy of seeing Hanks' work in it. But "Little" does what it sets out to do, which counts for something. And it just might have given us a budding new star in the process. ______ LITTLE 3 stars, out of 5 Snapshot: In a mirror-image riff on the 1988 film "Big," a rude, overbearing tech mogul wakes up one morning to find herself in the body of her 13-year-old self. What works: The performances, particularly from 14-year-old Marsai Martin -- but also from Regina Hall and Issa Rae -- are easily what keeps this otherwise derivative exercise afloat. What doesn't: The script is underdeveloped and the direction is strictly by the numbers. Cast: Hall, Martin, Rae. Director: Tina Gordon. MPAA rating: PG-13, for some suggestive content. Running time: 1 hour 49 minutes. When and where: Opens Friday (April 12) at the Chalmette Movies, Elmwood Palace, Clearview Palace, Westbank Palace, Hammond Palace, Covington Movie Tavern, Covington Stadium 14, Slidell Grand, Kenner Grand. Phil Colgan has childhood memories of practicing dance steps in the basement of his home. Even as a young child he knew he wanted to dance. I always had a natural desire (to dance), Colgan told the eager young students in his master dance class. The 10- to 15-year-old dance students, all 45 of them, listened attentively to Colgans story, followed his directives and imitated his moves. This was their chance to learn from a professional and they were taking it all in. It was a rare opportunity to take a class from the swing and dance captain of the Broadway Across America national tour of Hamilton: An American Musical. Colgan was in town as a member of the company performing the popular, award winning musical at the Saenger Theater in New Orleans. Despite his busy schedule during the musicals 18-day run, Colgan found time to share his talents with local students at Encore Studio of Dance, Tumbling, Music and Theater in Harahan during a two-hour class on a recent Sunday morning. Dance with intention, Colgan told the students as he taught Broadway-style dance steps. He encouraged them to dance with a purpose. I look at it (dance) from the story or the intention. Find something to hold onto, to sing or dance about, he said. The dancer must first believe in his or her character before the audience will. These are rules that New York native Colgan has lived by since his first musical performance at the age of six. A graduate of New York University, Colgan dancer, choreographer, director and instructor has performed at regional theaters across the country and on television and has choreographed and directed numerous productions. His career successes have allowed him the opportunity to share his talents with others through teaching. As the dance captain of Hamilton, Colgan is responsible for maintaining the creative integrity and performance level of the choreography of the show. There are daily rehearsals, which can include training additions to the cast. Colgan can perform up to eight shows a week as a swing dancer, filling in for any dancer in the performance. Colgan teaches classes to students of all ages in New York City and while on tour in many of the cities where he is performing. Encore Artistic Director Kelly Fouchi took advantage of the opportunity to offer master classes with Colgan while he was in town. It is great to bring fresh energy into the class. They (students) have to pick up the choreography so quickly. It gives them an opportunity to learn that skill, Fouchi said. In the past, Encore has offered other master classes from touring production dancers such as Wicked, Cinderella, Shrek the Musical and others. The Colgan offering was so popular that Encore held a second master class with the dancer for students 16 and older. It is also important for the students to learn from someone who has achieved success in dance, but that can also be intimidating. Fouchi liked Colgan because she felt he could relate to the younger students. Approachable is important, so the kids arent star struck, said Fouchi. The two-hour class included choreography instruction, small group practice and a question and answer session. Colgan shared his experiences with the touring company and encouraged the students to take care of their bodies. I am my best when I can warm up, Colgan said about the need to prepare to dance. Colgans enthusiastic nature and approachable personality resonated well with his young students. Dylan Rhoton, 12, understood the message Colgan was teaching, Sometimes it isnt just about the choreography, there is a purpose for every move, Rhoton said about the contemporary, hip hop and modern dance he learned. Kelly Laines, 12, agreed with Rhoton. There is a lot of meaning behind Hamilton. Everything has a purpose, even a head nod, she said with an affirmative gesture. That was not the only take away from the class for Laines. He was encouraging. Have fun. Thats all you need to do. Encore offers year round classes in dance, acting, music and tumbling. Visit dancetumblemusic.com for information about classes. Visit philcolgan.com for information about Colgan. Rosalyn Eason writes about people and events in the East Jefferson community. To reach her, email northkennertp@cox.net. Patients need for accessible, convenient and affordable medical care is fueling the growth of the urgent care industry, according to a recent report by the Urgent Care Association of America. Last year the number of clinics across the U.S. reached 8,774, up 8 percent from the year before, according to the report. The industry has grown each year across the U.S. since 2013, a trend that experts attribute to growing demand for health care alternatives to the emergency room. The report doesnt provide a breakdown of clinics at the local level, but the trend is visible in the New Orleans metro area. The citys largest healthcare organizations in have increased their presence in recent years by acquiring and opening new urgent care clinics. The urgent care is a front door and provides more points of access to the population, said Gregory Moore, system assistant vice president for Ochsner Urgent Care. They connect patients who might not have a primary care provider or cant be seen immediately. I think thats part of the reason why it has become more and more prevalent. The UCA report estimates that about 35 percent of patients who walk into urgent care clinics nationwide do not have a primary care provider. Many clinics have started offering specialized services for patients who may not know where else to go for medical help. Ochsner Health System recently opened a combination occupational health and urgent care clinic in the Central Business District. Its one of 15 walk-in clinics in the groups network. Ochsner expanded its network of clinics after it acquired Millennium Health Management Inc. in 2017. Millennium was among the first urgent clinic networks established in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Moore said the health care industry has been trying to push the idea of the right care for the right time among patients. That includes teaching patients to rely less on emergency room care for non-life threatening issues like fever, allergic reactions and minor cuts, he said. The rise of urgent care could mean significant savings for patients and insurers, especially for those who currently rely on ER visits for care. An ER visit costs $2,259 on average, while the average urgent care visit runs about $176, depending on the type of visit, according to an analysis by Insurance provider Cigna. The UCA report found only 2 percent of patients seeking treatment at urgent care clinics had to be diverted to an emergency room for more specialized care. The majority were cases that involved serious life-threatening conditions such as chest pain and uncontrolled bleeding. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The number of Medicare and Medicaid patients seeking services at urgent care centers also grew accounting for nearly 27 percent of all visits in 2018. Laurel Stoimenoff, CEO of the Urgent Care Association of America, noted the patient populations utilizing urgent care centers are evolving." Millennials are now major drivers in overall demand for urgent care, she said. LCMC Health System which operates five hospitals in the New Orleans area, including University Medical Center, has partnered with Premier Urgent Care to expand into urgent care. The partners operate six urgent care locations in the greater New Orleans area. We view them as an accommodation for a younger demographic who want care when they want it, said John Heaton, the president of clinical and system operation at LCMC Health. The urgent care setting has also proven to be a good testing ground as health care systems explore how to use specialized services like telemedicine to alleviate crowded emergency rooms. Last summer, Childrens Hospital, another LCMC hospital, started offering after-hours video consultations with pediatricians at their urgent care clinic in River Ridge. Parents can call in to speak to a nurse who will be able to determine if their childs medical situation requires an in-person visit or whether the visit could be coordinated through the video conferencing system. Ochsners newest urgent care clinic offers occupational health services, including pre-employment physicals and drug and alcohol screenings. Moore noted occupational health is one of the fastest growing specialty services in the urgent care setting. The others? Pediatrics, telemedicine and orthopedics, he said. The walk-in convenience of urgent care combined with demand for quick, fast occupational health services work well together, Moore said. Their downtown New Orleans location is a perfect fit, he added. Patients want to get in and be seen when available," Moore said. "Employers want the same thing. After getting dropped by its first consultant, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board has settled on someone new to redraw the boundaries of its election districts but not before a rancorous vote and mudslinging by the two consultants still in The Oppo Reno has already been spotted online on several websites, but it looks like a high-end version is also in the cards. The Oppo Reno 10X Zoom features a 10x optical zoom sensor, which is clearly visible in a square camera assembly similar to what Oppo has revealed at MWC 2019. 4 Reviews , News , CPU , GPU , Articles , Columns , Other "or" search relation. 3D Printing , 5G , Accessory , AI , Alder Lake , AMD , Android , Apple , ARM , Audio , Biotech , Business , Camera , Cannon Lake , Cezanne (Zen 3) , Charts , Chinese Tech , Chromebook , Coffee Lake , Comet Lake , Console , Convertible / 2-in-1 , Cryptocurrency , Cyberlaw , Deal , Desktop , E-Mobility , Education , Exclusive , Fail , Foldable , Gadget , Galaxy Note , Galaxy S , Gamecheck , Gaming , Geforce , Google Pixel , GPU , How To , Ice Lake , Intel Evo / Project Athena , Internet of Things (IoT) , iOS , iPad Pro , iPhone , Jasper Lake , Lakefield , Laptop , Launch , Linux / Unix , Lucienne (Zen 2) , MacBook , Mini PC , Monitor , MSI , OnePlus , Opinion , Phablet , Radeon , Renoir , Review Snippet , Rocket Lake , Rumor , Ryzen (Zen) , Science , Security , Single-Board Computer (SBC) , Smart Home , Smartphone , Smartwatch , Software , Storage , Tablet , ThinkPad , Thunderbolt , Tiger Lake , Touchscreen , Ultrabook , Virtual Reality (VR) / Augmented Reality (AR) , Wearable , Windows , Workstation , XPS , Zen 3 (Vermeer) Ticker Moving up to a 10x optical zoom factor in a smartphone is definitely one of the most radical changes in mobile camera technology of the last decade. Surprisingly enough, this comes from Chinese brand Oppo and it looks like the first handset with such a camera will be the Oppo Reno 10X Zoom. While this handset has not been confirmed officially yet and might even launch under a different name for example, Premium Edition sounds better than 10X Zoom, but if you think otherwise, feel free to share your thoughts in a comment an exclusive article by Indiashopps reveals a set of renders that shows all there is to know: a third square camera on the back that is similar to what Oppo has shown at MWC 2019. This premium edition of the Oppo Reno is expected to come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, at least 6 GB of memory and 128 GB of internal storage, a 6.6-inch AMOLED display, and a 48 MP main camera setup that can go all the way up to a 10X optical zoom factor. It is official: Samsung Display has begun to mass produce the foldable OLED panels for the high-end Galaxy Fold device. Samsung's Galaxy Fold is set to hit the market globally on April 26, but the 5G version is expected to hit South Korea in May and the rest of the world at a later time, of course. 4 Reviews , News , CPU , GPU , Articles , Columns , Other "or" search relation. 3D Printing , 5G , Accessory , AI , Alder Lake , AMD , Android , Apple , ARM , Audio , Biotech , Business , Camera , Cannon Lake , Cezanne (Zen 3) , Charts , Chinese Tech , Chromebook , Coffee Lake , Comet Lake , Console , Convertible / 2-in-1 , Cryptocurrency , Cyberlaw , Deal , Desktop , E-Mobility , Education , Exclusive , Fail , Foldable , Gadget , Galaxy Note , Galaxy S , Gamecheck , Gaming , Geforce , Google Pixel , GPU , How To , Ice Lake , Intel Evo / Project Athena , Internet of Things (IoT) , iOS , iPad Pro , iPhone , Jasper Lake , Lakefield , Laptop , Launch , Linux / Unix , Lucienne (Zen 2) , MacBook , Mini PC , Monitor , MSI , OnePlus , Opinion , Phablet , Radeon , Renoir , Review Snippet , Rocket Lake , Rumor , Ryzen (Zen) , Science , Security , Single-Board Computer (SBC) , Smart Home , Smartphone , Smartwatch , Software , Storage , Tablet , ThinkPad , Thunderbolt , Tiger Lake , Touchscreen , Ultrabook , Virtual Reality (VR) / Augmented Reality (AR) , Wearable , Windows , Workstation , XPS , Zen 3 (Vermeer) Ticker Scheduled to hit the market before the end of the month, it looks like the Samsung Galaxy Fold will be on time at least if we take into account the availability of enough foldable OLED panels. Samsung Display has just announced that the mass production of this essential component has begun and given the high price of the upcoming foldable device they will not need to make millions in the coming two weeks. Back in February, Samsung Mobile's boss said that global sales of its foldable flagship are scheduled to kick off on April 26. However, this date will not see the launch of the 5G version as well. Sadly for the US customers who live in an area with 5G wireless coverage and would like to buy the Galaxy Fold 5G as soon as possible, this model is expected to hit South Korea in May and there is no official information about its international launch. Obviously, it should hit the global market this summer or at least the key markets, since many countries still lack 5G wireless coverage and will not get it for at least another year or more. You are clearly a super-user of NUVO.net. Thats a good thing. It means you depend on independent and local news sources to keep you informed. You are a smart person. Coincidentally, independent and local news sources depend on you too. Youve read 25 articles this month and now, wed like you to be join our mission and become a NUVO Supporter. For as little as $4 a month, you can keep us alive and fighting -- and can have unlimited access to the independent news that cant be found anywhere else. nwmissourinews.com expired on 12/13/2014 and is pending renewal or deletion. Backorder Domain Renew Now nwmissourinews.com expired on 12/13/2014 and is pending renewal or deletion. LOS ANGELES The ever-evolving Los Angeles County Museum of Art has cleared its biggest hurdle to erecting a radical new building by the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor that represents one of the countrys most ambitious museum transformations. The county board of supervisors voted Tuesday to approve the current plan and release $117.5 million in taxpayer funding for it, despite last-minute entreaties from some art and architecture critics who urged the board to vote against the project. Michael Govan, the museums director, in turn, took to the Opinion page of The Los Angeles Times to present his case. This is the big green light everybody has been waiting for, Mr. Govan said after the meeting, where leaders of neighboring museums and celebrities like Brad Pitt and Diane Keaton made short public comments of support. Now we can go ahead with construction drawings and go raise the rest of the funds with the assurance this is going forward. The defining case in the field, according to Daniel A. Salmon, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, is the 1905 Supreme Court ruling in Jacobson v. Massachusetts. The court upheld the authority of states to enforce compulsory vaccination on the grounds that, when danger loomed, an individuals freedom could be subordinated to the common good. The plaintiff, Henning Jacobson, was a Cambridge, Mass., pastor who had been vaccinated against smallpox as a child in Sweden and claimed it had caused him lifelong suffering. He also argued that vaccination was an invasion of his liberty under the 14th Amendment. During a smallpox outbreak, he refused to let himself or his son be vaccinated and was fined $5. Massachusetts was then one of 11 states with compulsory vaccination laws, but it did not allow vaccination by force. By a 7-to-2 vote, the court let the fine stand and said imprisonment could also have been imposed. But Justice John Harlan wrote for the majority that individuals could not be forcibly vaccinated. Yet vaccination by force was used in 1991 in Philadelphia, said Dr. Paul A. Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. A measles outbreak that year infected over 1,400 people and killed several children. It had begun in two fundamentalist churches that rejected modern medicine and practiced faith healing. In the nearly 30 years that Ernest J. Broadnax has lived in New York City, he has always been known for getting into trouble, with 14 arrests on charges like assault and burglary. He served three stints in state prison. But now, in an advanced age, hes become known to neighbors as a cordial but distant man, who has struggled with alcohol and drug addiction. But none of the crimes in New York that he was charged with were as severe as the gruesome killings he is now accused of having committed. This week, the police in Queens arrested Mr. Broadnax for the 1973 murders of two women who had been vacationing in Virginia, the police there said. A cold-case squad in Virginia Beach identified Mr. Broadnax, who is in his 80s, as a suspect by using technology that did not even exist when the women, Lynn Seethaler and Janice Pietropola, both 19, were killed inside a motel cottage near the oceanfront. DNA evidence found at the crime scene was used last fall to match Mr. Broadnaxs profile in a national database, a Virginia Beach law enforcement official said. The official did not say what type of DNA was collected from the scene, and requested anonymity to discuss the pending case because doing so is illegal under Virginia law. An intriguing aspect of Bruneis barbarous Shariah laws is that if they were to be really enforced, a few of the sultans ridiculously wealthy, jet-setting kin would be leading candidates for death by stoning. Adultery is one of the crimes for which the archaic penalty is prescribed under the stern laws that went into effect on April 3 along with sex between men, abortion and rape and tabloids around the world have accumulated plenty of evidence against some Bruneian royals. Such royal hypocrisy may seem to be the norm among autocratic rulers sitting atop oceans of oil who place no limits on their own dissolute lifestyles and yet impose cruel Islamic law on their subjects. And tiny Brunei, a country roughly the size of Delaware that shares the island of Borneo with Malaysia and Indonesia, might not seem worth getting worked up about. Yet it is, for several reasons. First is that this is the way we do it is no longer a viable excuse for cruelty and barbarism anywhere. The world has gone way past times when witches were burned, homosexuals castrated or adulterers branded, and Brunei has signed (but not yet ratified) the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Bruneis cruel, inhuman and degrading penalties are not a relic of history, like the sodomy laws that stayed on the books of American states well into the 20th century, but the whim of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, 72, who has ruled the Lilliputian nation since 1967 and ranks among the most ludicrously wealthy people on earth. He has long pushed his predominantly Muslim nation toward a conservative and restrictive form of Islam, and he first announced the new penalties which, in addition to death by stoning for gay male sex, include amputation for theft and 40 lashes for lesbian sex six years ago . INTERNATIONAL An article on Tuesday about a bomb blast near the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, citing an official report from the Defense Department, misstated the number of casualties in the attack. Three American service members were killed in the attack, and a contractor was wounded; the contractor was not killed in the attack. NATIONAL An article on Saturday about three church fires in a Louisiana parish referred incorrectly to the congregation of a church in Caddo Parish that suffered a fire. It is a predominantly white church, not a predominantly black one. SPORTS Because of an editing error, an article on April 2 about horse fatalities at Santa Anita Rocks misstated the date of this years Kentucky Derby. It is May 4, not May 2. ARTS A theater review on Tuesday about Marjana and the Forty Thieves misstated Eamon Goodmans position in the production. He is the sound operator, not the sound designer. WASHINGTON Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refused to tell Congress on Tuesday what the United States would do if the Israeli government tried to annex the West Bank, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently promised to do if re-elected. Mr. Pompeos silence on the issue is a break from the actions of previous administrations. Senior American officials have long and explicitly discouraged any formal attempt by Israel to extend sovereignty over some or all of the disputed territory of the West Bank and its population of 2.6 million Palestinians. In a last-minute bid to win votes in Tuesdays neck-and-neck Israeli elections, the conservative Mr. Netanyahu said in a weekend interview that he would apply sovereignty to some or all of the West Bank. Mr. Netanyahu has hinted that he would get a nod for any such action from President Trump, who last month recognized Israeli sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights and earlier moved the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a contested city. Mr. Pompeo appeared Tuesday afternoon at a hearing of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee to discuss the Trump administrations 2020 budget request for the State Department and the primary United States aid agency. Last month, Republican and Democratic members of the House criticized the budget that proposed cutting State Department funding by more than 23 percent. It also came as Mr. Trump called a third ally, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, who has been under a cloud since reports that he ordered the killing in October of a Saudi dissident journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. Mr. Trump and Prince Mohammed discussed Saudi Arabias critical role in stabilizing the region, the campaign to isolate Iran and the importance of human rights issues, according to a White House statement. For Egypts leader, Mr. Trump offered only the trappings of an Oval Office welcome, though one with flashing cameras and looming boom mics. Back home, where Mr. el-Sisi has methodically stifled dissent and tightened his grip on power, that could prove more than enough validation. The single and only reason for President Sisi to visit the White House right now is to obtain a strong endorsement from President Trump to stay in power, said Amy Hawthorne, the deputy director of research at the Project on Middle East Democracy. He has calculated that he can intimidate his opponents and potential opponents with a show of support from Trump. Before their session, Mr. Trump said the two men would discuss trade and counterterrorism. He said nothing publicly about Egypts human rights record, which was always checkered but has deteriorated under Mr. el-Sisi, who has brutally suppressed the Muslim Brotherhood and turned Egypt into a society in which a person can be arrested over an objectionable Facebook post. Mr. Trumps daughter Ivanka also met with Mr. el-Sisi to discuss the empowerment of women. In one of the lawsuits that Airbnb settled, 12 American Jewish families, who are prospective Airbnb hosts or guests in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, claimed that the policy discriminated against them on the basis of their religion. Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, a lawyer for the plaintiffs and president of the pro-Israel Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center, which organized the lawsuit, said in a statement on Tuesday that other international companies should take note that boycotting Israel and discriminating against Jews are unlawful acts which will ultimately result in dire legal consequences, public condemnations and embarrassment. That lawsuit was filed in federal court in Delaware, where Airbnb is incorporated. The other three Airbnb legal settlements were related to litigation based in New York, California and Israel. At the crux of the lawsuit in Delaware was the plaintiffs objection to Airbnbs singling out the West Bank in putting the policy in place despite the existence of other disputed territories around the world, said Robert Tolchin, a New York-based lawyer for the plaintiffs. In January, Airbnb expanded that policy to other regions with an announcement that it would also remove listings in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, disputed territories in the Caucasus. Airbnb said Tuesday that its West Bank policy would also be applied to that region, as well as other places where the company determined housing was central to ongoing tensions. In its statement on Tuesday, Airbnb disavowed the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, known as B.D.S., which Israeli politicians accused it of supporting after the announcement of the policy last year. Human Rights Watch, the advocacy organization, had urged Airbnb to remove listings of properties in Israeli settlements. Shortly after the November announcement, the organization released a report analyzing the status of the land on which 139 Airbnb properties in the Israeli settlements were located. The report said that rental companies like Airbnb allowed the settlements to be more profitable and sustainable, which facilitates Israels unlawful transfer of its citizens to the settlements. As Mr. Netanyahu has drifted steadily to the right, the left has migrated to the center, after years of violence in the second Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s and the absence of a viable peace process since. Mr. Netanyahu has benefited from strong support from President Trump, who in the past two years has withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal, recognized Jerusalem as Israels capital and just two weeks ago recognized Israels sovereignty over the Golan Heights. The Trump administration weighed in again on Monday, declaring the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization. By Monday night in Israel, Mr. Netanyahu was boasting on Twitter in Hebrew but not in English that this was in fulfillment of another important request of mine. But Mr. Netanyahus pursuit of a fourth consecutive term came as he faces indictment for bribery and other corruption charges. The evidence in those cases, which was kept under wraps until after the election to avoid leaks that could tilt the contest against Mr. Netanyahu, are now to be turned over to lawyers in the case, meaning Mr. Netanyahu could be plagued by damaging reports while he tries to assemble a coalition. And it could be difficult for him to remain in office once formal criminal charges are lodged against him, possibly as soon as late summer. Mr. Netanyahu spent much of the past year undermining law enforcement officials and the gatekeepers of Israels liberal democracy, railing against the police, the attorney general and what he called the leftist mainstream media, trying to delegitimize his critics and organizations working for Palestinian rights. His government has also worked to curb the powers of the Supreme Court. Summoned last week by community groups, the Brooklyn Heights Association and A Better Way, the crowd in Brooklyn Heights assembled for a town hall at lovely old Plymouth Church to help quash two nasty plans one painful, the other even more so that the citys Department of Transportation had put forth a few months back. The plans offered alternatives for repairing the despised roadway, a crucial mile-and-a-half of which morphs into a six-lane triple-cantilever affair, clinging to the hillside beneath the Heights a kind of bunk-bed arrangement conceived during the 1940s by the prolific landscape architects Michael Rapuano and Gilmore Clarke. The cantilever system was a victory for People Power over the Establishment. It diverted the highway from running straight through the middle of Brooklyn Heights, as Robert Moses, the citys all-powerful planning czar back then, had wanted but community groups protested. The top bunk became the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, one of the loveliest spots in the whole city. Saving it is now inextricably linked to the destiny of the B.Q.E. Ideally, New York should leave the Promenade alone and probably just give up on this stretch of the expressway, the way other cities have torn down highways to create parks and flourishing neighborhoods the way the Bloomberg administration removed traffic from Broadway where it passes through Times Square. The main exhibition at the Venice Biennale is arguably the most coveted gig in curating. Its the centerpiece of the international art worlds highest-profile event, and gives the chosen curator instant prestige. But its a tricky one to get right. The show, held every two years, sprawls across two sites one a columned pavilion in a public park, the Giardini, the other a set of former shipbuilding workshops in the Arsenale and pulls together work by a huge number of artists. In 2017, there were 120 of them; in 2015, there were 136. This year, the number will be down: There will be just 79 artists or artist partnerships, but each will show at both venues, offering radically different works at the two sites. These are some of the changes introduced by the curator Ralph Rugoff in an exhibition titled May You Live in Interesting Times, opening May 11 and running through Nov. 24. For the past 13 years, Mr. Rugoff, a 62-year-old New Yorker, has steered the Hayward Gallery, a public institution not far from Tate Modern in London. With a series of thoughtful, but also playful, shows, he has put the Hayward on Londons contemporary-art map. Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous nights highlights that lets you sleep and lets us get paid to watch comedy. If youre interested in hearing from The Times regularly about great TV, sign up for our Watching newsletter and get recommendations straight to your inbox. Not Inappropriate Enough? As former Vice President Joseph Biden contemplates entering the presidential race, the late-night hosts have been working their way through the complex dynamics. On Tuesday, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers both raised their eyebrows at Bidens continued advantage in early polls despite the women who have said he made unwanted physical contact with them. [ How does a writer put a drug trip into words? ] Most of the novel resides in the perspective of Fitzhugh Loney, one of Learys graduate students. (The middle third, roughly, shifts to the perspective of Fitzs wife, Joanie.) After mild initial reluctance, Fitz and Joanie, young parents to a teenage son named Corey, eagerly cast off the burdens of conventional life to join Learys coterie. (Boyle is our great dramatist of the inner circle.) Fitz is ostensibly a researcher, but in a neat turn Boyle positions him as a subject of Learys grand experiment. Though there are troubles and omens, Fitz and Joanie remain committed and enthusiastic trippers throughout the move to idyllic Mexico and then to rural Millbrook. Gradually, however, the experimental life becomes a slog. This novel is not, it must be said, full of surprises. As it turns out, constant drug use and free love may not be good for your marriage, family or academic career. If youve studied history or if youve read other Boyle novels you know well the arc of utopia. The mansion in Millbrook, regarded by its inhabitants as a spaceship or planet, is a setting perfectly suited for Boyles methods. Its the kind of microcosmic, nested world dome, estate, island, sanitarium, commune that he has utilized in previous novels. And in Outside Looking In there is yet another crucible inside the crucible the human mind, rearranged by LSD. During one of Fitzs trips, worlds collided, glaciers calved, civilizations marched across the landscape erecting temples and tearing them down and starting all over again. Meanwhile, Joanie on LSD feels the texture of the carpet beneath her as if it were the portal to the center of the earth and she was dropping down the molten sides of it over and over again. This kind of travel writing is a challenge. Its not easy to evoke the spiritual or therapeutic dimensions of a psychedelic drug, and ultimately the novel is not quite persuasive about the allure or potential of LSD as transformative ego suppressant. Michael Pollans recent book testifies to the salubrious power of LSD, and I was prepared to have my mind expanded by a fictional account of Leary and crew. But the drug use of Boyles psychonauts seems, almost immediately, decadent and dull. The trips are amazing, but they dont lead anywhere. Fitz and Joanie begin in the spirit of exploration, but that gives way quickly to the spirit of escape, an endless and thoughtless party. They seem as doomed by counterculture as by culture. This is probably the point more and more, they seemed to be going outward rather than inward, Fitz realizes late in the novel but the inward journey never seems that vital or convincing. LSD does not radically alter Fitzs sober perspective, at least not in an appealing way. Consequently, the novels trajectory is not pronounced, and the inevitable dissolution of the community is less compelling. Stylistically, Boyle has always moved down the page in a skiers crouch. He is a spirited downhill writer, capable of creating energy by virtue of his own pace and verve, and that is certainly the case here. This is not the best T. C. Boyle novel, but its without question a T. C. Boyle novel kinetic, conceptual and keen. Moreover, when you take a step back from the book you can begin to appreciate that Boyle much in the spirit of his quixotic and ambitious subjects has now completed his own impressive public art project: a Mount Rushmore of American Fanatics. Its Benjamin Netanyahus Israel now The election results in Israel prove, once again, that Israelis cannot imagine life without Benjamin Netanyahu at the head of government even if he could be toppled in the months ahead on corruption charges. Mr. Netanyahu is widely credited with having built a strong economy and keeping Israel secure. He has also delivered long-sought diplomatic victories, several of them with the help of President Trump. Whats next: President Reuven Rivlin is expected to choose, within days, the party leader he believes has the best chance of assembling a parliamentary majority. Preliminary results suggest that would be Mr. Netanyahu, whose Likud party has stronger potential partners than the Blue and White alliance of his chief rival, Benny Gantz. Here are the latest updates. Mr. Netanyahu is almost certain to try to persuade his coalition partners to pass a law granting him immunity from prosecution. TIANJIN, China At a port in Germany, 150 Steinway pianos are waiting to be shipped to this gateway city for the grand opening of the Juilliard Schools second campus. The air in Tianjin is so dry that the pianos will require climate-controlled rooms, helping to nearly double the cost of the state-of-the-art campus to $225 million. The extra money is not coming from Juilliard. The local government is footing the bill. And that could become a problem for officials struggling with debt after an epic spending spree to develop a new commercial center from scratch. Welcome to Yujiapu Financial District, which promotes itself as Chinas Manhattan, but may better be seen as a monument to the breakdown of the Chinese growth model. Four-fifths of the office space stands empty. Construction on other buildings has stopped, leaving skeletons in the sky. A sprawling mall has few shoppers. Inside, a pet store has no animals. When I broached the idea of applying a know your customer principle to their business, several senior executives at social media companies recoiled at the prospect, questioning how they would pull off such a huge feat, especially in emerging markets where many people lack credit cards, and even fixed street addresses can be hard to come by. Then there are the legitimate complaints about Facebook and its ilk already knowing too much about users. Who would want them to know even more? And what would the companies do to protect personal information better than they have in the past? After all, not long ago, Facebook disclosed that tens of millions of user passwords had not been stored securely. But the stakes may be too high not to consider some kind of heightened verification process. Facebook and Twitter, at least, clearly appreciate the importance of verification as a concept: Both offer blue-check-mark programs to confirm the authenticity of a small percentage of users, like celebrities. If the vetting of legitimate users were expanded, and the number of phony ones were reduced, the amount of hate speech and fake news polluting the social media platforms would almost certainly dwindle. And it would be hard for the companies to willfully ignore what remained. How would it work? A modified version of what goes on in the financial services industry is one possibility. When you open a bank account, you typically have to provide your name, address, Social Security number and date of birth. That information is crosschecked against databases to ensure that youre a real person, that your credit score is solid and that your name doesnt appear on a list of politically exposed persons that could put you at risk for bribery or corruption. The verification is also used to determine whether you have a criminal record that suggests possible money laundering or identity theft. HOUSTON President Trump signed two executive orders on Wednesday that he says will speed up construction of pipelines and other projects to enhance the production and transport of oil and natural gas between states and across international borders. The actions are unlikely to have much of an immediate impact, and they will probably attract legal challenges by state governments seeking to preserve control over such projects. But the orders are symbolically important for a president who likes to take credit for a boom in energy production and exports. And he delivered the message in Texas, an oil-rich Republican state where Democrats recently made electoral gains. One order directs the Environmental Protection Agency to review and tighten rules to make it more difficult for states to scuttle pipelines by invoking provisions of the Clean Water Act. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, an opponent of hydraulic fracturing, has blocked natural gas pipelines that would connect several Northeastern states to Pennsylvanias Marcellus shale gas field. A shortage of natural-gas pipeline capacity prompted Consolidated Edison to impose a moratorium on new gas connections last month in parts of Westchester County. After Fisher-Prices Rock n Play sleeper was linked to multiple infant deaths, the company and a government regulator issued a joint warning to consumers about the product on Friday, stopping short of a recall. But on Tuesday, the American Academy of Pediatrics called on Fisher-Price to withdraw the Rock n Play immediately. The groups president, Dr. Kyle Yasuda, said in a statement that the sleeper, which rocks babies to sleep in a cloth-covered cradle, was deadly because it could cause asphyxiation. Fisher-Price, which stood by the safety of the Rock n Play and said a recall was not necessary, can keep selling the product. Heres why. The potential danger In issuing the safety alert, the consumer commission said it was aware of 10 deaths since 2015 of children 3 months or older linked to the Rock n Play. Each of the children had rolled from their backs to their stomachs or sides while in the sleeper without being secured in the products harness restraint. The Global Witness report alleges that a Cyprus company belonging to the presidents daughter, Claudia Sassou-Nguesso, bankrolled the purchase of the Trump apartment in July 2014. (The Portuguese newspaper Expresso has previously reported on aspects of the purchase and its connection to the daughter of the president of the Republic of Congo.) A spokesman for President Sassou-Nguesso and a representative at the Republic of Congos embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment. Global Witness which is funded in part by the billionaire George Soross foundation followed a money trail that began with a Brazilian company receiving a series of lucrative public contracts from the Republic of Congos government. Money from one of those contracts wound up in the bank account of a company in Cyprus, according to the report. Ownership of the company was transferred to Ms. Sassou-Nguesso in July 2013. In January 2014, the Cyprus company received nearly $20 million, apparently in Republic of Congo taxpayer funds, through a contract with the countrys government, according to a Portuguese police report reviewed by Global Witness. Six months later, the Cyprus company paid for Unit 32G in the Trump building on Columbus Circle. A 2006 real estate listing for the corner apartment shows floor-to-ceiling windows with northern and western views, a bathroom with pink marble walls and golden fixtures and capacious closets. The building is outfitted with a spa, swimming pool and 24-hour food service. Image Claudia Sassou-Nguesso, the daughter of the president of the Republic of Congo, in 2012. Credit... Guy Gervais Kitina/Agence France-Presse Getty Images Letters cited by Global Witness and reviewed by The New York Times show that a Portuguese businessman, Jose Veiga, wrote reference letters on behalf of the presidents granddaughter to the condo association ahead of the sale. He called her one of my best friends and said she would be a valued addition to the Trump property. Every once in a while an image appears that so viscerally frames the human story in a time of social or political paroxysm that it becomes a symbol. Such was the case this week with a smartphone photo taken during a demonstration in Sudan against the repressive regime of President Omar al-Bashir, as the protests that have been going on intermittently since December reached a new intensity. In the picture, a woman in a white thoub and gold disc earrings stands on the roof of a car. She is caught in profile, mid-speech, one arm raised to the heavens, finger pointing upward, the other clutching her waist, amid a sea of heads and arms waving phones to record the moment. Posted on Twitter Tuesday by Lana H. Haroun, it had 50,000 likes by Wednesday morning and had taken on a life of its own. Though the speaker has since been identified as Alaa Salah, a 22-year-old student, some people have dubbed her the Sudanese Statue of Liberty, others simply the woman in a white thoub. Either way, her picture has had resonance far beyond its place of origin. Im pretty sure its going to be the image of the revolution, said Hind Makki, a Sudanese-American anti-racism educator in Chicago who reposted the photo on all of her platforms. When Im craving a lunch thats special but not fancy, or when lunchtime catches me by surprise, I head to the tiny restaurant Standard Fare in Berkeley. Run by Kelsie Kerr, one of the chefs at Chez Panisse who taught me to cook, Standard Fare is mostly kitchen; at lunchtime, customers turn the wide sidewalk into an ad hoc dining room, perching atop a row of metal stools with bowls of soup and focaccia sandwiches on their laps. My lunch mantra is as many vegetables as possible, so I usually order the vegetarian sandwich, which is always piled high with whatever greens and vegetables catch Kerrs eye at the farmers market, all enriched and brightened by generous doses of sauces and vinaigrettes. But when I stopped in a month or so ago, the daily special of cauliflower steaks with turmeric-spiced chickpeas sounded equally virtuous but more satisfying. Besides, I love caramel-sweet roasted cauliflower and will take any opportunity to eat it. I was typically harried, hungry and running late, so I felt lucky when I snagged one of the few inside seats. As I turned to scan the kitchen and gauge how long it might take the cooks to prepare my lunch, Kerr brought over a plate of fried cauliflower on a bed of fragrant spiced chickpeas, all showered with herbs and sizzled cumin seeds. The second week after I arrived at Fort Drum, N.Y. my first and only duty station with the Army I found death threats slipped under the door of my barracks room. I noticed the colors first. Pink, blue and yellow; strangely happy colors at odds with the words written on them. Some were simple: slurs and epithets written in thick black Sharpie, pressed so hard into the paper that it bled through. Faggot and queer fag, the notes read. A couple were more elaborate: detailed descriptions of what might happen to me if I was caught alone, and proclamations about the wrongness of gays in the military. I read the most detailed descriptions over again, trying to explain them away as something other than what they were. Maybe they were a joke, or meant for someone else. I reached for my phone and then stopped. If I reported these and they were only a joke, then I would become that guy. Taking ridicule smiling at the most vile and offensive slights with the understanding that they were nothing more than jokes is the most important social capital in the military. Was I willing to risk losing that capital before I had the chance to earn it? I tore the bright sticky notes into confetti and tossed them into the trash. The military is built on a foundation of earning trust and proving yourself to your peers and superiors as capable. Being new to a unit isnt unlike being a new employee at any other job. People are cautious, even wary, until youve shown you can handle the work. Perhaps it didnt help that I was an intelligence analyst in an infantrymans world a support soldier in a combat soldiers unit. But none of that had been mentioned in the notes. My capability wasnt in question, nor was my duty position. It wasnt my effectiveness or value to the unit that elicited these noxious notes but something far removed from my control. Something that after September 2011 was supposed to be meaningless. After a few months at Fort Drum, I discovered a group that convened for secret support meetings. No two people were similar a woman who had been in the service nearly as long as I had been alive, a married father, an infantry soldier a rank below me. Each person identified as something other than heterosexual, but only privately. In their everyday lives, they pretended to be straight. We met in different places in barracks rooms and offices after hours but always in secret. Sometimes it was to console or commiserate. Other times I think it was to simply know that we werent alone. During these meetings I always talked about my anxiety over not knowing who had written those sticky notes and if they were standing next to me in formation or would be the person I sat beside, alone, on my next 24-hour shift. The others revealed truths I considered much darker than my own: The woman spoke about the sexual assault she never reported during the time of dont ask, dont tell for fear that an investigation would unveil that she was a lesbian; the husband spoke about feeling trapped but fearing that revealing himself would cost him everything; and the infantryman confessed that he drank himself to sleep because he could never claim what he was aloud. At least I hadnt had to endure any of their horrors, I would think. Remembering this was sometimes helpful as if I were seeing things with greater perspective, finding the silver lining. Other times it made me nearly sick with shame to compare my fears with theirs. But I never stopped going. I left the Army in December 2014, but I still feel as if I am coming to terms with my identity. There are moments when it feels wrong to claim my status as a veteran; as if being gay made me less of a soldier and somehow invalidated my service. These moments of vulnerability bring me back to when one of my superiors told me not to bring a date to the military ball; to when I found Fag spelled out in the snow on my windshield with urine; to all the times I avoided those who showed me compassion, for fear that it was a trick and that they had been the one to slip the notes beneath my door. Every memory evokes an emotion: rage that I had to serve with a constant sense of fear of my fellow soldiers; paralyzing sadness for those who endured abuses worse than I can know; and, the worst, guilt over the service members gay or straight or transgender who died while serving in the military while my body is still whole. I dont know if these feelings will ever go away. But it is when the guilt is most crippling that I remember my support group. That chance to share an unseen pain and know there were others like me struggling each day still helps me wake up each morning, pull on my boots and go about my day. A Very Curious Girl is a very farcical account of sexual revenge. A one-time staple of womens film festivals that never quite became a classic, this first feature by the Argentine-French director Nelly Kaplan, originally released in the United States in 1970, is back in an excellent 2K digital restoration at the Quad Cinema. The movie, released in France as La Fiancee du Pirate (The Pirates Fiancee) is set in the fictional village of Tellier (an allusion to the Guy de Maupassant tale of prostitutes on holiday, adapted in Max Ophuls Le Plaisir). Marie (Bernadette Lafont) is a grim-looking servant who, among other indignities, is sexual prey for the men in the village as well as for her female boss (Claire Maurier). After her mother reviled as a Gypsy is killed by a hit-and-run driver, Marie decides to charge the Tellier locals for the sexual favors hitherto taken from her. Self-liberated, her look changes. Having applied a cosmetic made from crushed berries and staged a pagan wake for her mother, Marie becomes magically irresistible. In a recent interview with the film journalist Joan Dupont, Kaplan described her protagonist as a witch who doesnt let herself be burned. Indeed, Marie is a Circe who neednt change her admirers into pigs: They already are. Marie confidently baffles and humiliates the townspeople at every turn, fleecing some, rejecting others and blackmailing them all. Her seductions and transactions are accompanied by a jaunty song Moi, je me balance (Me, Im Swinging) written and sung by the celebrated cabaret performer Barbara (Monique Serf). The bitch has cast a spell on them, one clod complains of the smitten townsfolk. Its a line that Kaplan might have heard in life. Born in Buenos Aires in 1931, she moved to Paris at age 22 where she was welcomed into Andre Bretons circle of aging surrealists, took up with the venerable filmmaker Abel Gance, and directed a well-received documentary portrait of Pablo Picasso. A Very Curious Girl was her declaration of independence. Grips build platforms, set up rigging and the equipment that shapes and diffuses lighting, mount cameras onto cars and cranes onto buildings, and schlep 35-pound sandbags known as ballbusters. Twelve-hour days are considered short, and injuries are inevitable. The women I interviewed have cracked their kneecaps, fractured their feet, torn their rotator cuffs, developed early arthritis and wrenched their backs. But gripping also offers a solid, middle-class life. Depending on the city and the frequency of work, grips can earn salaries in the low six figures, with key grips potentially earning more than double that, especially if they have their own gear and trucks to rent out. Besides being overwhelmingly male, the profession is often handed down through families, and there are third- and fourth-generation grips, or hammers, as they are known in the business. The women I spoke with said many of their male colleagues were supportive, while others heckled them or worse. Its not for the faint of heart, said Melanie A. Ragone, whose credits include The Walking Dead and Love, Simon. But, she added, the job was also deeply rewarding, because it involves behind-the-scenes problem solving. It sounds kind of corny, she said, but grips are the unsung heroes on set. Here they explain more about the job and what its like to be one of the few women doing it: Tana Dubbe Dubbe knows exactly one female key grip in Hollywood: herself. She is sure others are out there, she just hasnt met them yet. Dubbe grew up building forts and later found herself drawn to jobs not traditionally occupied by women: logging, construction. She majored in printmaking and painting at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, and got her start in gripping after assisting the photographer Eddie Adams. Hi, Im Tina Gordon. And Im the co-writer and director of Little. What? Child Protective Services. This scene is Agent Bea arrives to Big Jordans apartment because a suspicious child has been seen and reported by Big Jordans neighbor. She has called Child Protective Services, played by Rachel Dratch. Whos in charge? Me. I have that a Jordan Sanders is listed as the owner of this apartment. Correct. Paid in full. Okurr! And this is the first time little Jordan, played by Marsai Martin, and her assistant, April, played by Issa Rae, have to work together and sort of co-conspire to cover up that Jordan Sanders has turned into a child. The geography of this is Agent Bea perusing through the house in a power position now that little Jordan would not be used to. And I used those rotating chairs to have them inch into this, two position, looking over at Agent Bea, who is in this big, like, starship-type chair, compared to the tiny chairs that theyre in. Got it. And your mother is where? Shes a crack head. Yeah, Jordan is a crack baby. Its so sad. Thats why shes so hyper all the time. I use a lot of overs and two-shots in this scene just to warm up the idea that these two are in this comedic situation together. The space between the seats is on purpose because this is new for them, and I wanted it to feel like these two people are thrust into this lie together. But theyre both on the hot seat in front of Agent Bea. Thats President Barack Obama. Hmm, no, thats my brother. I looked everywhere for this picture of Barack Obama. Theres only certain pictures you can use of the president. And he just looked perfect with Bo the dog there. School? Girl, bye. I havent been to school in, like, years. No, thats not what she meant. Thats not what you meant, right? Oh, yeah, thats not what I meant. Joking. O.K. Rachel Dratch moving in to make it clear, which I needed her to come across as intimidating because big Jordan is such a force that I needed Agent Bea to come over and issue a real threat to both of them. Say what now? Say what now is enroll this child in school or somebody is going to jail. Thats what now, say what. By somebody, do you mean You. That would be you. Now, the school district which Jordan would be assigned to would be, ah, Windsor Middle School. Windsor? Mm-hmm. Oh, hell, no. Yes. Hell, yes. And the final threat between the two of them. Today and I will Little Jordan stands out of the chair that was on purpose to look eye to eye with Rachel to try her last little attempt at having the authority and power she does as an adult. But shes checked. O.K.? Let me be clear. I will have you in foster care and your goofy aunt over here in jail if you dont. Okurr? Ethan Hawke is the best thing about Stockholm, but the moment he strides into a bank things begin going haywire. With strained comedy, unearned sobriety and Bob Dylan on the soundtrack, the movie revisits the 1973 Swedish robbery that inspired the coinage Stockholm syndrome. That term is often used when hostages or victims of any kind, including of relationships and of long novels develop an identification with their captors. Hawke plays Lars, the robberys would-be mastermind, who appears too ridiculous to be persuasively dangerous but who is also meant to be somehow irresistible. That Lars may not be up to the convoluted operation that he has set for himself is evident from his get-up, which looks straight out of Easy Rider (1969). Im the outlaw, Lars announces to himself, making the movies audience his mirror. His black motorcycle jacket and pants evoke Peter Fondas cool cat from Easy Rider, but his cowboy hat and comical Little Lord Fauntleroy wig suggest that he is also tapping into his inner Dennis Hopper, Fondas more demonstrably zonked-out co-star. Larss enthusiasm for the Steve McQueen action classic Bullitt (1968) further suggests that hes playing a role (or aspiring to one), but, for the viewer, also perilously evokes other, livelier movies. [What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.] The scene could have been straight out of one of the Night at the Museum movies: The public filtered out of the American Museum of Natural History at closing time, while Rob DeSalle headed deep into the museums anthropology wing. Down a long hallway lined with specimen cabinets, he hung a left at a hanging skeleton and entered the office of a fellow researcher, Ian Tattersall, for their regular Friday night anthropological happy hour. The two men respected research scientists who work on museum collections and exhibitions began sipping beer and talking shop, which in this case involved evolutionary theory. Over the past dozen years, they have jointly written 10 books and scores of scientific articles and papers on human biology and language with their latest book, The Accidental Homo Sapiens, coming out this month. Thats what makes this agreement historic, said Anthony Ciampa, first vice president of the New York State Nurses Association. We now have a voice in the process and a real say and a real mechanism in which to challenge patterns of staffing shortages and to get those rectified. Mr. Ciampa said the contract would provide what the union has failed to achieve through legislation in Albany. California is the only state that requires minimum ratios of nurses to patients in hospitals. Massachusetts voters rejected the idea in a statewide referendum last fall. The four-year contract with the Mount Sinai, NewYork-Presbyterian and Montefiore hospital systems calls for awarding annual pay raises of 3 percent, filling about 800 vacant nursing jobs, and spending $25 million a year to hire additional nurses. It still must be ratified by the unions members. More important to the nurses and what took them to the brink of striking was getting the hospitals to concede to the setting of minimum ratios of nurses to patients in each of their treatment units. Nurses in New York have pressed for ratios for years, but they said it took the imminent threat of a strike to extract a compromise from the hospitals. The ratios that the three hospitals will adopt have not yet been decided. In California, they range from one nurse per patient in operating rooms and trauma units to one nurse for every eight healthy babies in a nursery ward. In New York, as an example, a nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit at NewYork-Presbyterian said the acceptable ratio was at least one nurse for every two babies, but the workload there was often double that. The bureaucrats who run these school districts have swallowed hook, line and sinker the idea of racial diversity as an essential part of education in America, added Mr. Yoo, who is best known as the legal architect of Mr. Bushs so-called torture memos. Mr. de Blasios administration and critics of the admissions process have pointed out how minimally the program changes demographics at schools, even though the city expanded Discovery this year as part of a broader plan to diversify them. Under Discovery, students from low-income families who barely miss the cutoff score for admission take summer classes to prepare for the schools. Were using every tool at our disposal to increase diversity at the specialized high schools, but despite the incremental progress were making through the Discovery program, the status quo remains the same, schools chancellor Richard A. Carranza said. Now that opponents of affirmative action have set their sights on Discovery, civil rights groups, including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union, have joined the citys legal fight to defend the program on behalf of black and Hispanic students. The citys new policies are not nearly enough to dismantle the unacceptably stark racial disparities in these schools, said Rachel Kleinman, a senior counsel at the Legal Defense Fund. But its a first step that must be first fiercely defended and then further expanded upon. New data released Wednesday laid bare how little an expanded Discovery program will diversify the specialized schools. The number of seats reserved for students who gain entry through Discovery doubled to 500 this year, from about 250 seats last year, across the eight specialized schools. Black and Hispanic students received about 100 more Discovery offers compared to last year. He didnt like a haircut that looked like a haircut, Didier Malige, a hairstylist and friend who worked with Mr. David on and off for several decades, said in a phone interview. His philosophy was that you should be able to put your hands or your boyfriend should be able to put his hands in your hair and it would be the same. The salons were a hit, the stylists there often seeing 30 clients a day. He wanted us to be able to work fast, clean, no mistakes, Jean-Christophe David, who worked in his fathers salons in various capacities and later on the business side, said in an interview. In a free-spirited era of sex, drugs and rock n roll, said Tony Kent, a fashion photographer who worked with Mr. David on photo shoots, he was conservative and ambitious, which contributed to his success. That level of professionalism, Mr. Kent said, made Mr. David an asset at a time when not everyone was so focused. It was pretty volatile, what was going on, and he was one of the stable ones, Mr. Kent said by phone. He was the opposite of that. He was somebody you could totally count on. By now the federal task force has searched the residences of a former state representative, a former civil policeman, a former federal agent and an active-duty federal police official. Even the current president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has come under public scrutiny for his ties to both of the suspects in the killing. He and Mr. Lessa were neighbors in a luxury seaside condominium in Rio de Janeiro, and his youngest son once dated Mr. Lessas daughter. There is also a picture of Mr. Bolsonaro posing alongside Mr. Queiroz. (The president has denied knowing the men.) But these could be just coincidences. More troubling is the outspoken sympathy of the president and his family for the paramilitaries. The infamous milicias, in their current form, were established in Rio de Janeiros favelas in the late 1990s and early 2000s, under the pretext of protecting residents from drug traffickers. They are mainly formed of active-duty and retired police officers who assume control of the communities and extort money from ordinary citizens and shopkeepers. A 2013 academic report concluded that of the roughly 1,000 favelas in the city, 45 percent are controlled by militia organizations and 37 percent by drug gangs. During his 27 years as a congressman, Jair Bolsonaro repeatedly supported death squads and militias. In 2003, he said, As long as the state does not have the courage to adopt the death penalty, those death squads, in my opinion, are very welcome. In a 2008 interview, the future president of Brazil declared that the government should support militias and potentially legalize them, since they offer security and in this way they can maintain order and discipline in their communities. It runs in the family, apparently. Mr. Bolsonaros eldest son, the senator Flavio Bolsonaro, was recently revealed to have connections to a former military police captain, Adriano Magalhaes da Nobrega, the purported head of the Crime Bureau. (The ex-police officer is now a fugitive from justice.) Both Mr. Nobregas mother and wife were employed for years in Flavio Bolsonaros office when he was a Rio de Janeiro State lawmaker. In a news release, Senator Bolsonaro claimed that the women were hired by someone else and that he was the victim of a smear campaign. But he also praised Mr. Nobrega twice in Rios Legislative Assembly for his work as a police officer, awarding him the highest honor granted by the assembly the Tiradentes Medal while he was still in jail on a homicide conviction. (The murder victim was a favela resident who had just denounced crimes of torture and extortion allegedly committed by his police squad.) Incidentally, when Mr. Nobrega was found guilty and sentenced to 19 years in prison, Jair Bolsonaro, too, came to his defense in the Congress, saying he was a brilliant officer and demanding a review of the conviction. (Mr. Nobrega was eventually acquitted on appeal.) This article is part of David Leonhardts newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it each weekday. The politics of climate change can sometimes feel unwinnable. The oil and coal industries spend large sums of money to spread falsehoods. The leadership of the Republican Party echoes those falsehoods. Many voters, struggling with slow-growing living standards, are hostile to policies that would address climate change namely, increases in energy prices. And so far the top-tier Democratic presidential candidates havent put the issue at the center of their campaigns. But for all of these challenges, I think there is a more promising political approach than many people realize. In the upcoming issue of The Times Magazine, Ive written an essay about it, and it is online now. The brief version: Americans are skeptical of policies that directly raise the cost of energy, such as a carbon tax or cap-and-trade program. But polls show that most Americans are in favor of policies that promote clean energy even if those policies indirectly raise the cost of energy. One example is a mandate requiring utility companies to use more clean energy; most states already have such a mandate, and Michigan and Nevada have recently made theirs tougher. Another example is federal spending to subsidize clean energy a program, in other words, that looks like a Green New Deal. In a forthcoming paper, Policy Over Party: Comparing the effects of candidate ideology and party on affective polarization, Yphtach Lelkes, a political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, reports that voters in primary elections prefer candidates who are willing to take more extreme positions. Partisans are reacting most favorably toward ideological extremists, Lelkes wrote in an email: In fact, moderates are punished for the policies. Extreme politicians in the vein of Mike Lee and Elizabeth Warren, are rated roughly 20-25 points higher (on a 0 to 100 scale) by party identifiers than ideologically moderate politicians in the vein of Susan Collins and Joe Manchin. These effects are even larger among ideologically extreme respondents the kind that vote in primary elections. Lelkes conducted experiments that asked participants to rate a number of hypothetical candidates, including a moderate Democrat, an ideologically extreme liberal Democrat, a moderate Republican and an ideologically extreme conservative Republican. He found that the most ideologically committed voters who are disproportionately represented in primaries and caucuses strongly preferred more extreme candidates: The impact of policy cues was particularly strong among respondents who themselves held strong policy positions. If a respondent was told that candidate held extreme in-party views, ideologically extreme respondents registered feeling thermometer ratings 35.89 points warmer than ideologically neutral respondents. Lelkess conclusion? If we are to decrease affective polarization in the United States, we need politicians that are politically moderate. Unfortunately, voters prefer politicians of their own party that are politically extreme. This incentivizes extreme political candidates, which will only exacerbate current tensions. There are dangers for both parties is these trends, Lelkes argues, citing a 2015 study of House elections, What Happens When Extremists Win Primaries? by Andrew Hall, a political scientist at Stanford. Hall found that when a more extreme candidate beats a moderate in the primary the partys general-election vote share decreases on average by approximately 913 percentage points, and the probability that the party wins the seat decreases by 3554 percentage points. Gallup data shows the steady ascendance within Democratic ranks of self-identified ideological liberals and a parallel decline in the share of Democrats who say they are moderate or conservative. From 1973 to 2018, as I have noted before, the percentage of Democrats who say they are liberal has grown from 25 to 51 percent, while the share of moderates has fallen from 48 to 31 percent, and the share of conservatives has dropped from 25 to 13 percent. A 2014 Pew study showed a steady process of ideological consolidation among both Republicans and Democrats since 1994, although consolidation accelerated most rapidly on the left: The share of Democrats who are liberal on all or most value dimensions has nearly doubled from just 30 percent in 1994 to 56 percent today. The share who are consistently liberal has quadrupled from just 5 percent to 23 percent over the past 20 years. In a reflection of their importance in primaries, consistently liberal Democrats turned out in elections at a 70 percent rate, compared with 47 percent for mostly liberal Democrats and 41 percent for Democrats with mixed views, according to Pew data. These and other trends, according to Lee Drutman, a senior fellow at the liberal New America think tank, represent the changing the mind-set of the Democratic electorate. In an email, Drutman wrote: Two related dynamics are operative. One, Democratic voters have moved to the left in response to Trump, and are eager for policies that signal transformative change, not just incrementalism. There is no return to normalcy, because the past is now seen as more flawed. This dynamic has intensified because the most engaged Democrats, Drutman writes, have bought into an argument that Hillary Clinton lost in 2016 because she was too incrementalist, and had she gone a little bolder and promised something more exciting than her competence and experience, she might have won. The second dynamic, Drutman continued, is that in a crowded field, candidates are seeking to distinguish themselves with grass-roots energy. A very effective way of generating grass-roots energy is attaching to transformative changes these policies signal. Incrementalism and moderation doesnt generate much excitement among the activists or in coverage from journalists who are responsible for driving candidate buzz in these early stages. In a similar analysis, John Sides, a political scientist at George Washington University, argues that On race and immigration in particular, I think Trump is pushing Democrats to the left. To be clear, Hillary Clinton was already to Obamas left even in 2016. But I think Trumps rhetoric and agenda has made conservative positions on race and immigration even more anathema to Democrats. Sides also pointed out that the incentives for Democratic candidates have shifted: It used to be the case that Democratic candidates had to moderate on racial issues to maintain a Democratic coalition that included both blacks and some racially conservative whites. But the Democratic coalition has changed: it is increasingly made up of not only nonwhites but whites who espouse racially liberal attitudes. In an argument elaborating on a point made by Drutman, Edward Carmines, a political scientist at Indiana University, made the case that the 2016 defeat of Hillary Clinton fostered the shift to the left: If a moderate policy agenda cannot guarantee electoral victory why downplay your leftward policy orientations in the unlikely event that it will jeopardize your electoral success? Carmines added: Trumps success has reinforced this perspective. He won with a very right-wing policy agenda. Perhaps a left-wing set of proposals can lead Democrats to similar success. Carmines believes that both of these premises are mistaken and could very well lead Democrats to electoral defeat when victory is within sight. Leonie Huddy, a political scientist at Stony Brook University, argues that the liberal tilt of the Democratic candidates is, in fact, a rational political strategy. There is real change afoot with the most recent generations, she wrote, citing a Pew study released in January: Young Republicans are especially different from older Republicans and the Democratic Party is likely to regard such findings as an invitation to poach more liberal young Republicans. Strong partisans, however, Huddy writes, are unlikely to defect from the party in 2020 regardless of its issue agenda, and political independents TEL AVIV It was a referendum on him and he nailed it. Nobody can take that away from Benjamin Netanyahu. This summer, in his fifth term, he will surpass David Ben-Gurion as the longest-serving Israeli prime minister. Enough said. His victory contains a warning for any Democrat still imagining that the 2020 election will bring an easy victory over Donald Trump. The Netanyahu playbook will be President Trumps next year. Gather nationalist and religious voters in your camp, add in a strong economy, dose with fear, sprinkle with strongman appeal, inject a dash of racism and victory is yours whatever indictments are looming. Its not that this could happen. It will happen, absent some decisive factor to upend the logic of it. Netanyahu is savvier than Trump, but they share a shrewd assessment of how to control and manipulate the politics of spectacle, as well as a fierce determination to stay out of jail. They campaign ugly. Exactly a century ago, Ben-Gurion said, Everyone sees the difficulty of relations between Jews and Arabs, but not everyone sees there is no solution to that question. Netanyahus solution is by now clear. He is a true believer in Greater Israel and will not give up one inch of the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River. There will be no Palestinian state on his watch. Period. JERUSALEM There are more than a few reasons to dislike Benjamin Netanyahu. He can be smug and vindictive. He can be ruthless when going up against political enemies. He is likely to be indicted on corruption charges related to three separate cases, which, if they are accurate, indicate that he is greedy, vain and manipulative. And yet last night, this dislikable prime minister appears to have won his fifth yes, fifth! term in office. If he forms a government in the coming weeks, as he is expected to, Mr. Netanyahu will surpass Israels founder David Ben Gurion as the countrys longest serving prime minister. How is this possible? To be fair, this was a close race. The main opposition party, Blue and White, is expected to get as many seats in the Knesset as Mr. Netanyahus Likud party. The coalition that he forms will probably have little more than the minimum 61 seats behind it. Given Mr. Netanyahus unsavory qualities, many people were intent on defeating him. Just a few months ahead of the election, Blue and White, a new centrist alliance led by three decorated generals and a former security minister, came together with little purpose other than to present an alternative to Mr. Netanyahu, who has been in power since 2009. They campaigned fiercely but civilly. At rallies, General Benny Gantz, the head of Blue and White, made it a habit to thank the prime minister for his service to the nation; this was a mirror image of Mr. Netanyahus and Likuds name-calling and personal attacks. But civility and centrism werent enough to carry the day. Netanyahus first order of business will be to strike an agreement with his potential coalition partners, most of them far-right, pro-settler parties, in which, as Haaretz reported, those parties will agree to create legislation that gets rid of the multiple indictments for corruption looming in Bibis future and in return he will agree to annex West Bank settlements to Israel. And Trump will somehow go along, maybe as part of his own peace plan. It is going to be a dirty business, for sure. But what else could we expect? The parallels between Trump and Netanyahu are now deep and broad. Bibi has openly embraced a racist, anti-Arab Israeli party and racist, anti-Arab rhetoric, unlike any previous Israeli prime minister. At the same time, he has steadily been erasing the Green Line that separated Israel from the West Bank and its 2.5 million Palestinians with the help of Trumps ambassador to Israel making it increasingly unlikely that Israel will ever separate itself from that area and increasingly likely that it will become a binational state in which Jews will enjoy rights that Palestinians will be denied. Meanwhile, Trump is increasingly turning America into a banana republic, firing cabinet officials and senior bureaucrats who refuse to carry out his impulsive orders, which are often illegal and mostly related to preventing legal and illegal immigration or asylum requests along the Mexico-United States border. Trump prefers to govern through acting cabinet secretaries he has fired their bosses and not replaced them who are much more vulnerable to his whims and more accepting of his more than 10,000 lies and falsehoods since taking office. Bibi, for his part, prefers to simply hold multiple portfolios: For a good chunk of his last term he was prime minister, defense minister, foreign minister and health minister. Both men have no close friends. The one major difference between them is that Bibi is very smart, an avid reader and a deft tactician in managing relations with Israels neighbors and big powers, such as America, Russia, India and China. Trump is clever but probably has not read a book in years. He gets his information from Fox News and other right-wing media, and rather than playing Vladimir Putin, has been played by him. Even well-meaning efforts at transparency dont always work that way for women. Lyfts car pool service shares the registered names of passengers with everyone else in the car. The first name of an incoming passenger flashes in lights across the dashboard, a feature intended to let riders know they are in the right car. A privacy researcher told me that she once jumped into a Lyft shared ride wearing a sweatshirt with her companys logo. The next day, she received an email from a male passenger saying, I found you! Clearly, he had been able to use her first name and the name of her company to track her down online. What he may have thought was cute, she thought was creepy. Do I have any control over this interaction? the researcher asked. You want control over the self youre putting online, just like you want control over your body. Note to Lyft: Some passengers would be safer if they were anonymous. With Congress considering whether to draft new privacy regulations, it is important that the specific concerns of women be taken into account now, while the rules are being debated. [As technology advances, will it continue to blur the lines between public and private? Sign up for Charlie Warzels limited-run newsletter to explore whats at stake and what you can do about it.] Californias new privacy law is a case in point: It is a bold piece of legislation, but it falls short for women. In the event of a data breach, for example, consumers in California will have the right to sue if certain kinds of personally identifying information, like Social Security numbers or drivers license numbers, are compromised. But that may not include material like intimate emails or explicit photos. The current iteration of the law is so murky that its not clear whether Jennifer Lawrence, the actress whose nude photos were stolen from her iCloud account in 2014 and made public, would have a case against Apple if a similar incident occurred after the law goes into effect next year. Californias right to be forgotten also doesnt go as far as Europes new privacy legislation, the most sweeping data reform in history. Under the California law, consumers have the right to delete information they personally provide to companies. But if someone else say, an unhappy ex posted something about me online, I would not be able to get that taken down. Under Europes new law, though, I would at least be able to request such a post be removed. Although womens groups have defended privacy as it pertains to abortion, they havent yet broadly taken up the issue of digital privacy. Among the few to do so publicly is a grass-roots effort called Catalinas List, a backer of the California law. Anything that gives big business an upper hand on individual choices is corrupting the idea of personal choice, freedom and privacy, a co-founder of Catalinas List, Bobbi Jo Chavarria, told me. More time online, and more time checking your phone for text messages, means not only less time for private prayer, but also a diminished sense of the importance of solitude. If you feel guilty for not being reachable, you may feel guilty about privacy itself. These days, even when people spend time at retreat houses for the explicit purpose of prayer, not checking texts and emails seems almost anathema to them. Indeed, beyond the spiritual considerations, for any sort of moral formation, some privacy is necessary. To develop human relationships and a sense of the social self, we need privacy. Imagine not being able to keep things confidential within a family or between friends. Imagine a parent not being able to counsel a child in private. The very notion of family and friendship would break down without some degree of secrecy. Intimacy is essential for human beings to flourish. In the spiritual life as well, some degree of privacy is essential. In my work as a spiritual director someone who helps people with their prayer and finding God in their daily life Ive found that my appreciation for privacy has only increased over the years. What is discussed within the context of spiritual direction (as well as during retreats and in other pastoral counseling settings) is almost always confidential. Why? To grow in the spiritual life, people need to be able to try, to fail and then to learn from these failings and sins. This is one of many reasons for the seal of the confessional, a practice with which even non-Catholics are familiar (usually from cheesy movies): the absolute prohibition on a priest revealing anything shared in the confessional. In Catholic theology, the person confessing is revealing his or her sins not simply to the priest, but to God, and so this sacred trust cannot be, in Catholic belief, compromised. On a more practical level, if penitents (as they are called) even remotely suspected that their sins would be revealed, that would prevent them from being open about their worst sins and they would thus close themselves off from the longed-for word of forgiveness where they need to hear it most. [As technology advances, will it continue to blur the lines between public and private? Sign up for Charlie Warzels limited-run newsletter to explore whats at stake and what you can do about it.] But in religious spheres, the need for privacy cannot be absolute. As we have seen during the sex abuse crisis, some of the worst offenses occurred when bishops, priests and others in power tried to keep the abuse secret. Today, transparency, in many ways the opposite of privacy, is the byword as it should be. Ive lost track of the number of times that Jesus words Nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed have come into my mind during the abuse crisis. Those words are usually interpreted as Jesus injunction that his teachings are not meant to be esoteric or confined to an elite group. But I heard them as a reminder that the truth will eventually be revealed. So what is the ultimate place of privacy in the spiritual life? Is it, to borrow the words of Deuteronomy, a blessing or a curse? A helpful tool in coming to an answer rests on discernment, a concept beloved by Jesuits, and, more recently, Pope Francis (himself a Jesuit). Discernment means that we not only try to follow the promptings of God in our daily lives, but that we consider each situation separately. So while privacy may be called for in one case, in another transparency may be required. The relationship has proved lucrative for the Cuban government. Between 40,000 and 50,000 barrels of Venezuelan oil are sent to Cuba daily, despite the fact that Venezuelan oil production has declined more than 60 percent in recent years. Venezuelas economic subsidy reached its peak at about 12 percent of Cubas gross domestic product. During the boom years, around 90,000 barrels of crude oil daily, representing $9 billion annually, were sent to Cuba. Some estimate that over approximately 15 years, Venezuela has subsidized $35 billion in oil to Cuba. The country was brought further into debt when Mr. Maduro bought $440 million in foreign crude and sent it to Cuba between 2017 and 2018. The problem, therefore, is not a potential invasion of Venezuela by a foreign power; for over a decade, Cuba has been a parasite, stripping us of our resources. But unlike Cuba, we are not an island. We have land borders, and our tragedy has spread throughout the region, adding pressure to neighboring countries. To stabilize the region and restore democracy, we must cut off the authoritarian germ rooted in Cuba and Venezuela. Democracy cannot be restored until the two regimes are decoupled. Mr. Maduro has shown that he will not leave power of his own volition. Those of us who oppose his rule are not armed, nor do we seek to oust his regime violently. We have offered amnesty but it has been rejected. However, we will never accept the normalization of this de facto dictatorship. As long as Mr. Maduro remains in power there will be more deaths, prisoners, persecution and compatriots forced to migrate. The international community has exhausted its diplomatic arsenal because there is no precedent in Latin America for a situation similar to that of Venezuelas. When it comes, Mr. Maduros exit will be equivalent to the fall of the Berlin Wall for the region. It is a mistake to ask those seeking democracy in Venezuela to distance themselves from their United States and Latin American allies at this juncture. They represent the only opportunity to counterbalance a regime with unlimited power and no institutional oversight, that is armed and willing to exercise violence. Democratic countries must direct pressure toward Havana as well to bring about change in Venezuela. The call of the National Assembly and the countrys acting president, Juan Guaido, for Venezuela to stop sending oil to Cuba is a first step. Companies trading with Venezuelan oil must comply if they want to avoid secondary sanctions derived from those already imposed against our state-owned oil and gas company, P.D.V.S.A., by the United States. For its part, the Lima Group must ensure that previously agreed-upon investigations into corruption and human rights violations are carried out, which could involve citizens of its countries, as well as Venezuelans and Cubans. Finally, the international left wing must understand that Venezuelans are not victims of a single dictatorship, but of two: Mr. Maduros and Cubas. They must withdraw their solidarity and support for Nicolas Maduro. Julio Borges was president of the National Assembly of Venezuela and is Juan Guaidos ambassador to the Lima Group. This article was translated from the Spanish by Erin Goodman. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram. Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together. Talk about your plenty and talk about your ills, One man gathers what another man spills St. Stephen, The Grateful Dead Around two years ago, a reporter who had just joined The Times, Sheera Frenkel, told me she had heard that trash pickers in San Francisco were congregating at the dumpsters of tech companies because the food they threw away was high quality. I was intrigued by this and over the next year, whenever I had a free evening, I hung out near the dumpsters of Twitter and smaller tech companies, talking to trash pickers and the homeless. Recyclers came for the plentiful cardboard and cans, but I never found evidence that tech companies were throwing out particularly good food on a mass scale. In fact it was the contrary: I discovered nonprofit organizations like Replate, founded by a Syrian migrant who had studied at the University of California, Berkeley that collect uneaten food from tech companies and deliver it to homeless shelters and soup kitchens across the San Francisco Bay Area. Five Bedrooms in the Innere Stadt $6.6 MILLION (5.9 MILLION EUROS) This five-bedroom duplex apartment is on the top two floors of the five-story Palais Corbelli-Schoeller, a 17th-century palace in the historic Innere Stadt district of Vienna, Austrias capital and largest city. It is one of two penthouse apartments in the building, the rest of which is occupied by IES Abroad, a college-level study-abroad program, said the listing agent, Elisabeth Wiederkehr, of Engel & Volkers. Constructed in the buildings attic in 2008, the 5,200-square-foot unit has a private, 540-square-foot rooftop terrace with views of the Vienna skyline, which is dominated by the Gothic towers of St. Stephens Cathedral, the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna and one of the citys most prominent landmarks. The apartment is reached by elevator. The living areas, bedrooms and four bathrooms are all on the first level, which measures about 4,100 square feet. The modern, loft-style space has an open floor plan, with vaulted ceilings and heated oak floors that can be controlled using the apartments smart-home system. (The smart-home features also allow sound, light and an alarm system to be controlled using a mobile device.) The slanted wall running the length of the apartment is formed by the buildings roof and lined with large windows that open electronically. The spacecrafts payload this time is mundane and useful: Arabsat-6A, a Saudi Arabian communications satellite which will relay television, internet and mobile phone signals to the Middle East, Africa and Europe. [Sign up to get reminders for space and astronomy events on your calendar.] Why is Falcon Heavy different from other SpaceX rockets? The companys workhorse is the Falcon 9 rocket, which first launched in 2010. The first stage of the Heavy essentially consists of three Falcon 9 first stages bound together. The second stages of the two rockets are identical. The additional thrust allows the Heavy to propel 140,000 pounds to low-Earth orbit, nearly three times what the Falcon 9 can lift. How does this Falcon Heavy differ from the first one? On the test flight, the two side boosters were older versions reused from earlier flights. (SpaceXs best innovation to date is landing the booster stage of its rockets and launching it again; traditionally, rockets have been one-use throwaways, with the booster stages dropped into the ocean.) Homo sapiens is a pretty impressive species. We built the pyramids, landed on the moon and connected the internet. All of our successes are the fortunate result of a tremendous evolutionary journey from ape to the hominins who would become modern humans. Along the way, other human relatives emerged and disappeared. Most lived before we did; some of the more recent ones met up with our species before going extinct, for reasons that are still mysterious to scientists. On Wednesday, researchers welcomed the newest long-gone relative: Homo luzonensis. Heres a quick guide to some of the other archaic humans that filled out the branches on our evolutionary tree, and what we have learned from them. In a cave in the Philippines, scientists have discovered a new branch of the human family tree. At least 50,000 years ago, an extinct human species lived on what is now the island of Luzon, researchers reported on Wednesday. Its possible that Homo luzonensis, as theyre calling the species, stood less than three feet tall. The discovery adds growing complexity to the story of human evolution. It was not a simple march forward, as it once seemed. Instead, our lineage assumed an exuberant burst of strange forms along the way. Our species, Homo sapiens, now inhabits a comparatively lonely world. The more fossils that people pull out of the ground, the more we realize that the variation that was present in the past far exceeds what we see in us today, said Matthew Tocheri, a paleoanthropologist at Lakehead University in Canada, who was not involved in the new discovery. The 2013 plume observed by Curiosity and Mars Express was even more striking, about 100 times as much methane as what the Trace Gas Orbiter data says is not there. So whats going on? said Dorothy Z. Oehler, a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute, based in Tucson. Nobody really knows. Dr. Oehler was involved with the Mars Express research but not the Trace Gas Orbiter findings. Researchers first reported the detection of methane in the Martian atmosphere a decade and a half ago based on measurements by Mars Express and telescopes on Earth. But because those claims were at the edge of what the instruments were capable of measuring, many scientists remained skeptical. The Trace Gas Orbiter uses a different technique. From behind Mars, it looks at sunlight passing through the planets atmosphere. Specific colors of light absorbed by the air provide fingerprints that identify specific molecules. So far, the fingerprint for methane is missing. However, the orbiter and Curiosity are looking at different places. The orbiter has yet to make a measurement directly over Gale Crater. Because clouds and dust block sunlight, the Trace Gas Orbiter is peering at least several miles above the surface, while Curiosity is measuring what is at the surface. In addition, Mars was enveloped by a giant dust storm much of last year the same one that ended the mission of NASAs Opportunity rover. In 2018, the Curiosity rover only made a single methane measurement, in June. Some scientists think that the methane in the atmosphere at that time could have stuck to the storms dust particles, speeding up its cleansing from the air. Still, scientists had expected that any releases of methane would mix throughout the Martian atmosphere, much as a drop of food coloring diffuses in a glass of water. On a towering volcano in Mexico, a crew of astronomers are using the Large Millimeter Telescope to try to take the first picture of a black hole. This telescope is the nerve center of a synchronized network of radio antennas as large as the Earth the Event Horizon Telescope. If it works, the network will see details 2,000 times finer than the Hubble Space Telescope, and good enough to peer through the dust and haze that obscures the heart of our Milky Way galaxy. There, in the thick clouds of Sagittarius, astronomers have been tracking dozens of stars circling a faint radio source known as Sagittarius A*. From analyzing the orbits of these stars, they know that the mysterious source weighs as much as four million suns. And yet, it emits no visible light. If this is not a black hole, scientists dont know what it could be. We know what a black hole should look like from Einsteins calculations and from detailed computer simulations, like the one produced for the movie Interstellar. If Einsteins predictions are right, the Event Horizon Telescope should see a tiny, circular shadow in the ring of radio emissions at the center of the galaxy. A black hole lurking like a hungry shark. In the galaxy M87, another black hole, six billion times more massive than the sun, is in a feeding frenzy. Its shooting jets of X-rays and radio energy hundreds of thousands of light-years across intergalactic space. Astronomers think that this dragons breath of black holes could control the growth of the galaxies around them, shutting off the flow of gas that would otherwise be available to bake new stars. If they are right, it means the entire visible cosmos is pulsing to the invisible heartbeat of the dark side, a beat we are just beginning to see. K-Beauty got us hooked on Korean BB Creams and jelly cleansers. J-Beauty convinced us of the benefits of Japanese essences and sake ingredients. Probably we were bound to grab our beauty passports and move on to another country. And so we did: Now theres G-Beauty. In the last few years, German beauty brands have begun to inhabit nearly every beauty aisle, including Whole Foods and high-end beauty retailers like Bluemercury. But unlike, say, K-Beauty, which started as a concerted effort by the Korean government to market Korean brands abroad, G-Beauty is less about pushing novel routines than it is about making clean beauty a confusing space with many conflicting definitions more approachable. Our customers like that Germany beauty follows the European standards for clean, which automatically means they dont include many toxins, said Jessica Richards, the founder of the influential Brooklyn boutique Shen Beauty. German brands also tend to have fairly minimalist, straightforward packaging, which is a good thing in todays noisy beauty aisles. Listen and subscribe to our podcast from your mobile device: Via Apple Podcasts | Via RadioPublic | Via Stitcher Within a period of 90 days, Brooke Rinehart lost her husband, her home and her sense of security. Facing criminal charges after her husband embezzled tens of thousands of dollars in her name, Ms. Rinehart returned to her parents home. Unable to sleep in her childhood room, Ms. Rinehart slept on the family couch. Her mother joined her, offering her love and empathy while curled up in an armchair. This week, the Modern Love podcast revisits Anna Chlumskys reading of Ms. Rineharts essay, Sharing the Shame After My Arrest. Ms. Chlumsky plays Amy Brookheimer in the T.V. show, Veep, now in its seventh and final season. Ms. Rinehart works in public relations in New York. Stay tuned after the reading to hear more from her, Ms. Chlumsky and the Modern Love editor Daniel Jones. To read past Modern Love columns, click here. Continue following our fashion and lifestyle coverage on Facebook (Styles and Modern Love), Twitter (Styles, Fashion and Weddings) and Instagram. There is a lot of money to be made in beauty, and right now a lot of it is being made by m ale executives. Moj Mahdara wants to change that. The C.E.O. of Beautycon, which holds semiannual festival-like trade shows, recently raised $20 million in funding and has begun to open pop-up retail spaces in Los Angeles. She wants to see women achieve Warren Buffett-, Bill Gates- and Jeff Bezos-level wealth on their own terms. So she brought in a case study: Cardi B, the queen of money moves. Cardi talks about money without condescension. Everything shes telling you about spending, saving, taxes is transparent and through her lived experience, said Ms. Mahdara. At Beautycon NYC, Cardi and Ms. Mahdara spoke about how the basics of financial literacy ignore some personal-finance realities. You can save money when you can afford to save money, Cardi said. How you gonna save money and you have bills to pay? Ms. Mahdara shared a common statistic on pay parity: A woman makes around 80 cents on a mans dollar ( a recent study found the gap is worse than that, 49 cents to every dollar). She asked Cardi for her insight on the matter. The rapper insisted she gets paid equally now, at least. Back when Cardi was Insta-famous, but not yet Bodak Yellow famous, she hosted parties at clubs for a fee. It became clear that the rappers and other guys she co-hosted with were making more money than she was for the same job. I said, Im going to stop taking bookings until yall pay me more, she said. And that bag doubled. The corner of Prince Street and Broadway, in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, is one of the busiest pedestrian walkways in New York City. Dean & DeLuca, the upscale grocer, is on the southeast corner, while the Prada flagship anchors the northwest, and the two shopping meccas, along with the Apple store farther west on Prince, keep the foot traffic high. Roaming there for the past six years, stalwart through the relentless rise of iPhones and Instagram, has been a street photographer named Jean Andre Antoine. Like a fisherman working a tributary to a great river, Mr. Antoine sets up shop just outside the bustle, halfway down the block on Prince. On all but the days of harshest weather, he is out there leaning against the pinkish brick wall of the Dean & DeLuca building, which he uses as a backdrop in many of his photos. He sets his cameras and film on the fifth window ledge in. He calls the spot the office. Mr. Antoine was mentored by another New York street photographer, Louis Mendes, and he similarly uses an old-fashioned Crown Graphic press camera and takes portraits with peel-apart instant film, for which he charges anyone interested $20 per shot. If there were a Tony Award for making Broadway even more gay friendly, the winner would be Ryan Murphy, the creator of such television hits as Glee and American Horror Story. On Tuesday night, he hosted a special performance of The Prom at the Longacre Theater, so that L.G.B.T. teenagers could experience the musical, which is about a lesbian in high school taking her girlfriend to the big dance. The occasion benefited three L.G.B.T. charities Glaad, the Trevor Project and the Hetrick-Martin Institute and Mr. Murphy also used it to announce he was turning the show into a movie event for Netflix. I relate to the show so much because Im from Indiana where the story is set and I was not allowed to take my boyfriend to my senior prom, he said. I cried at the end from pure joy, which has not happened since Patti LuPone was a flower girl at my wedding. Erika Nakamura, 38, butcher Describe your America. Im half Japanese and half white, and in Japan, I struggled with being different. Moving to New York made it O.K. for me to be different out of the gate. I came out within a month of moving here. Since then, it floats in and out. Sometimes America feels inclusive, and sometimes especially in the last two years I feel like an outsider. Young Gun Lee, 28, artist Describe your America. I think a lot about how Im stuck here and my parents and grandparents are in Korea we cant really hold hands, smell each other, share recipes. In Korea, on the eve of the anniversary of whoever has died in your family, theres a little ceremony. I went back for my great-grandmothers last year and learned to make a couple of dishes from my mother. It was fig season, so we harvested a ton of figs in my aunts backyard and made jam. Preeti Mistry, 42, chef What will America be like 2024? A.O.C. will be old enough to be president then, right? As someone at the tail end of Gen X, I feel inspired by the millennial generation. There are things that frustrate me about them as an employer, but Im so impressed with their were not going to take it attitude. Anita Lo, 53, chef What will America look like in 2024? I think in part because of the Food Network, theres a bit more awareness of different cultures throughout America. Weve seen a bunch of immigrants come out with cookbooks. The grocery stores have changed, too now you can buy kimchi, Vietnamese chili paste, different grades of tofu. Hopefully that will stick. Jeremiah Stone, 34, chef and co-owner of Contra, Wildair and Una Pizza Napoletana What will America be like in 2024? In five or 10 years, people are going to be a mix of so many different cultures. The more you realize you have a different experience from the person next to you who looks like you, the more youre forced to have a conversation. Alan Yang, 37, producer, actor, screenwriter and director of Tigertail What will America look like in 2024? I would love to see anywhere from three to nine Asian-American movie stars as opposed to the very limited number we have now. Im going to try to make some myself, and Id like to see some more be made. SEATTLE Employees at big tech companies have pushed back against their employers for working with the military and law enforcement offices, and demanded better treatment of women and minorities. Now, thousands of them are also taking on climate change. This week, more than 4,200 Amazon employees called on the company to rethink how it addresses and contributes to a warming planet. The action is the largest employee-driven movement on climate change to take place in the influential tech industry. The workers say the company needs to make firm commitments to reduce its carbon footprint across its vast operations, not make piecemeal or vague announcements. And they say that Amazon should stop offering custom cloud-computing services that help the oil and gas industry find and extract more fossil fuels. The goal for Amazons leaders and employees is that climate change is something they think about whenever a business decision is being made, said Rajit Iftikhar, a software engineer in Amazons retail business. We want to make Amazon a better company. It is a natural extension of that. WASHINGTON The House passed legislation on Wednesday that would guarantee broadband internet users equal access to online content, in a crucial step toward bringing back so-called net neutrality regulations overturned at the start of the Trump administration. In a 232-to-190 vote, divided along party lines, the Democratic majority made good on a promise that became a rallying cry in many progressive circles during the 2018 election. It is also expected to be held up as an issue by Democrats in 2020. But the legislation, the Save the Internet Act, faces long odds in the Republican-led Senate. The Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, said this week that the legislation would be dead on arrival. Earlier this week, the Office of Management and Budget advised the White House to veto the law if it reached the presidents desk. The office said in a letter that since the law had been overturned, the broadband industry had thrived, a good sign of how deregulation helped the economy. The legislation would prohibit blocking and throttling web traffic and would categorize broadband as a service open to heavy regulation. Supporters say the regulation would prevent companies from blocking or slowing the delivery of content like videos. Opponents say it would strap broadband providers like Verizon and Comcast with heavy-handed restrictions, and could lead to price controls. On a drizzly night in Paris, a crowd spilled out the door of Bouillon Julien and onto the slick sidewalk lining the rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis. The lure was a bargain-priced meal that promised to be surprising for both its quality and reasonable price: less than 20 euros, or about $23, for a three-course dinner with a glass of wine. Even before the gilets jaunes, or yellow-vested demonstrators, first took to the streets of the French capital last November to protest higher fuel taxes against a backdrop of declining middle-class buying power, Paris was in the midst of a revival of its budget-priced dining scene. The surprise is the difference between the new places and those rock-of-ages cheap addresses in guidebooks for budget travelers, restaurants with menus so immutable that three generations of the same family might have had the same shoe-leather-tough boeuf bourguignon during their penny-wise visits to Paris. The food at many of these recently opened restaurants is often so good youd want to go even if their prices werent so low. The new affordable dining trend is no more evident than in the comeback of the citys bouillons those working-class restaurants that thrived in Paris during the 19th century. In an age of globalization, eating a meal at a bouillon is an affirmation of Gallic identity, since the comfort food we serve is so traditionally French, said Christophe Joulie, director of the Groupe Joulie, which owns and runs a number of brasseries in Paris, along with Bouillon Chartier, the 1896 vintage bouillon the company acquired in 2006. By traditionally French, Mr. Joulie was referring to dishes like marinated leeks, canard confit (duck preserved in its own fat) and choucroute Alsacienne (sauerkraut garnished with pork and sausage). Everyone loves a bargain, especially at a time of economic uncertainty. he said. A three-course meal of freshly cooked, on-the-premises food for 20 euros served in 30 minutes has never been more popular. (So popular, that Mr. Joulie revived the original second address of Chartier near the Gare Montparnasse on the Left Bank in February.) JetBlue Airways, the New York-based low cost carrier, announced on Wednesday that it would begin flying across the Atlantic Ocean, from London to Kennedy International Airport and Boston Logan International, in 2021. The companys chief executive Robin Hayes said the new routes are a response to passenger demand. JetBlue is known for having a loyal customer base, but entering the hypercompetitive trans-Atlantic market is still likely to be a challenge. The three major airlines in the United States American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have multiple flights each day between the East Coast and Britain. The market is further crowded by two British carriers and low-cost Norwegian Air. This is not going to be an easy win for JetBlue, said Henry Harteveldt, the founder of Atomosphere Research Group, an industry analysis firm. The big airlines especially are going to bring flamethrowers to a game of rock-paper-scissors. Mr. Harteveldt expects these airlines already flying between the East Coast and London will strongly compete with JetBlue on price. Many of the more established carriers will be at an advantage, he said, as they have more daily flights and more capacity than JetBlue will, which ultimately means more flexibility for their passengers. But increased competition is still a boon to fliers. KANSAS CITY, Mo. Pack away the sidewalk tables and flip-flops; break out the boots and shovels. Nature was showing its fickle side on Wednesday, with blizzard conditions, heavy snow and frigid air pounding parts of the Rockies and the Plains, just a day after the weather was sunny and idyllic. Schools and highways were shut down, hundreds of flights were canceled, and some communities braced for floods. The storm, caused by a low-pressure system moving east from the Pacific Ocean, dropped temperatures by up to 50 degrees in places like Denver, where it was sunny and in the mid-70s on Tuesday but reached the mid-20s by Wednesday night. The low-pressure system was affecting areas from Colorado to Michigan, with heavy snow and thunderstorms, and even down into Texas, where dry conditions and high winds led to wildfire warnings. While the whipsawing forecasts drew groans, they did not come as much of a surprise to those familiar with springtime in the Plains and the Rockies. [Read the latest edition of Crossing the Border, a limited-run newsletter about life where the United States and Mexico meet. Sign up here to receive the next issue in your inbox.] SAN YSIDRO, Calif. It was never like this before. The migrants come now in the middle of the night or in the bright light of day. Men and women arrive by the hundreds, caked with dirt, with teens and toddlers in tow. They jump the small fences in remote parts of Texas, and they gather on the hot pavement at the main border crossing in California. Tired and fearful, they look for the one thing that they pray will allow them to stay in the United States, at least for a while: a Border Patrol agent. Gone are the days when young, strong men waited on the Tijuana River levees for their chance to wade across the water, evade capture and find work for the summer. These days, thousands of people a day simply walk up to the border and surrender. Most of them are from Central America, seeking to escape from gang violence, sexual abuse, death threats and persistent poverty. The smugglers have told them they will be quickly released, as long as they bring a child, and that they will be allowed to remain in the United States for years while they pursue their asylum cases. The very nature of immigration to America changed after 2014, when families first began showing up in large numbers. The resulting crisis has overwhelmed a system unable to detain, care for and quickly decide the fate of tens of thousands of people who claim to be fleeing for their lives. For years, both political parties have tried and failed to overhaul the nations immigration laws, mindful that someday the government would reach a breaking point. President Trumps older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, has retired as a federal appellate judge, ending an investigation into whether she violated judicial conduct rules by participating in fraudulent tax schemes with her siblings. The court inquiry stemmed from complaints filed last October, after an investigation by The New York Times found that the Trumps had engaged in dubious tax schemes during the 1990s, including instances of outright fraud, that greatly increased the inherited wealth of Mr. Trump and his siblings. Judge Barry not only benefited financially from most of those tax schemes, The Times found; she was also in a position to influence the actions taken by her family. Judge Barry, now 82, has not heard cases in more than two years but was still listed as an inactive senior judge, one step short of full retirement. In a letter dated Feb. 1, a court official notified the four individuals who had filed the complaints that the investigation was receiving the full attention of a judicial conduct council. Ten days later, Judge Barry filed her retirement papers. The status change rendered the investigation moot, since retired judges are not subject to the conduct rules. The people who filed the complaints were notified last week that the matter had been dropped without a finding on the merits of the allegations. The decision has not yet been made public, but copies were provided to The Times by two of the complainants. Both are involved in the legal profession. Mr. Barrs pledge, made as he prepares to make public in coming days a redacted version of the special counsels report on the Russia inquiry, was a sign that after nearly three years of investigating the presidents campaign and Russia, the Justice Departments focus may begin to shift in a direction that Mr. Trump has demanded. In addition to Mr. Barrs review of the F.B.I. investigation, the Justice Departments inspector general, a specially tasked United States attorney and Republicans in Congress are all studying key actions taken during the course of the inquiry. Those actions include how officials opened the Trump-Russia investigation, called Crossfire Hurricane, and obtained a secret warrant to wiretap a former Trump campaign adviser. Mr. Trumps thirst for a reckoning among his inquisitors appears to have only grown in recent weeks. Minutes before Mr. Barr took the witness stand on Wednesday, the president called the investigation an attempted coup and claimed, again, that he had been totally exonerated by the report, despite the fact that Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel who took over the F.B.I.s Russia investigation in 2017, explicitly said he could not clear the president of trying to obstruct justice. It was an illegal investigation, Mr. Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a trip to Texas. In some of his harshest criticism of the investigation to date, Mr. Trump said: Everything about it was crooked every single thing about it. There were dirty cops. These were bad people. This was an attempted takedown of a president, he added. And we beat them. We beat them. Mr. Mueller delivered his nearly 400 pages of findings to Mr. Barr late last month. Much of Wednesdays hearing, and an earlier session with House lawmakers on Tuesday, was focused on that report, on continuing redactions of delicate information before it becomes public, and on Mr. Barrs characterization of what Mr. Mueller found. Ms. Chao, reading from prepared answers at times, defended the F.A.A.s decision not to follow the lead of 40 other countries by immediately grounding the fleet, despite the possibility that the Ethiopia crash might have resulted from a flaw in a plane whose basic design dates to the 1960s. [Read more about how two high profile crashes led to a corporate crisis at Boeing.] The F.A.A., which Ms. Chao oversees, waited three days to ground the fleet and was one of the last major regulators worldwide to do so. She flew back to Washington from a festival in Texas on March 12 on a 737 Max, in what seemed to be an endorsement of the planes safety. Less than a day later the F.A.A. uncovered evidence that suggested the planes were not fit to fly. The F.A.A. saw no basis upon which to ground these planes, she said. It is a very technical organization. It is very data-driven. They saw no data until the morning of Wednesday the 13th. It was at that time, she added, that F.A.A. investigators discovered new information on the first three minutes of the Ethiopian flight that revealed parallel conditions involving the two accidents. But in an interview after the hearing, Ms. Chao made it clear that the decision to ground the jets was the F.A.A.s not her own and said that she had no legal say, then or now, in deciding when the planes fly. At the same time, she is spending money quickly to build up a large campaign operation. Her campaign said it spent $5.2 million in the first quarter, leaving it with $11.2 million in cash on hand. [Check out our tracker of the 2020 Democratic candidate field.] Ms. Warrens fund-raising at the beginning of her campaign did not impress. On Dec. 31, the day she announced her exploratory committee for president, she raised about $300,000 through the online donation-processing platform ActBlue, according to Federal Election Commission records. By contrast, Mr. ORourke raised $6.1 million in his first 24 hours in the race, and Mr. Sanders raised $5.9 million in his first day, according to their campaigns. A New York Times article detailing Ms. Warrens early fund-raising struggles, which was published online on the last day of the first quarter, helped create an outpouring for Ms. Warren, handing her one of her best fund-raising days of the quarter, according to a Democrat familiar with her fund-raising. Supporters of Ms. Warren feared that she was being crowded out by Mr. Sanders on the partys left flank, but the campaigns surge in the final week has at least temporarily allayed some of the concern. During that time, Ms. Warrens campaign team made several dramatic pitches to its donor base, sending emails that addressed the harshest criticisms of the campaign, such as one titled Can she really win? in which they laid out the campaigns overarching strategy. The emails, which track with private conversations among Ms. Warrens senior advisers, suggest that the senator believes several things will help her break out of the Democratic pack, including an ability to do more political events because she is not devoting time to private fund-raisers, her well-praised policy rollouts and her campaign teams focus on digital organizing. The relative numbers dont matter to me, said John Walsh, a former chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party. Who has the most money? No, that doesnt matter. Its, Do you have enough money to run the campaign you said youre going to run? Candidates must report their fund-raising for the first quarter to the Federal Election Commission by April 15, but campaigns can announce numbers before that deadline. WASHINGTON As a religious gay man who believes his party has ceded discussion of religion and spirituality to Republicans, Pete Buttigieg, a Democratic candidate for president, is talking about God and sexuality in an unconventional way: He is using the language of faith to confront the Christian right on territory they have long claimed as their own. Mr. Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., has provoked a backlash from conservatives in the last few days after questioning the moral authority of evangelicals like Vice President Mike Pence who remain silent about President Trumps personal conduct yet disapprove of same-sex marriages and oppose gay rights. [Make sense of the people, issues and ideas shaping American politics with our newsletter.] Though many conservatives were initially reluctant to engage Mr. Buttigieg because they feared it would only add to his growing stature as a 2020 contender, they jumped on his latest comments. Some suggested he was attacking the vice president to further raise his profile. Others challenged Mr. Buttigiegs understanding of Christianity and accused him of smearing the religious convictions of the very people he wants to win over. A devoted Episcopalian who fluidly quotes Scripture and married his husband, Chasten, in a church service last year, Mr. Buttigieg is making the argument that marriage is a moral issue. In a speech on Sunday to the Victory Fund, a group that supports gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender politicians, he said his relationship had made him more compassionate, more understanding, more self-aware and more decent. Good Wednesday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today. _____________________ President Trump has adopted a blunt new message in recent days for migrants seeking refuge in the United States: Our country is full. But an aging population and declining birthrate among the native-born population as well as underpopulated cities and towns signal the complete opposite. At Mr. Trumps luxurious resorts in Florida, young foreigners on temporary visas work poolside, in bars and in spas. Workers without papers have maintained the golf course, hired through staffing agencies that protect the Trump Organization from liability. The Trump administration denied that it would bring back the presidents policy of separating migrant families. It instead plans to push for tougher screening of asylum seekers, making it vastly more difficult for migrants to win protection in the United States. Mr. Trumps Treasury Department was facing a midnight deadline to respond to a letter sent last week by Mr. Neal, who issued a formal request for six years of Mr. Trumps personal and business tax records. White House officials have called the request a political fishing expedition, and Mr. Mnuchin has said that furnishing the returns could open the floodgates to weaponizing the Internal Revenue Service. Mr. Mnuchin signaled his intention on Tuesday, when he told members of Congress that the president had no legal obligation to make his tax returns public. While Mr. Mnuchin insisted that he would follow the law, he also defended Mr. Trumps right to keep his tax returns private. Mr. Mnuchin reiterated his position that the privacy of taxpayers, including that of the president, was paramount during a moderated discussion on Wednesday at the International Monetary Fund. We are going to respond carefully. We need to make sure that the I.R.S. and individual taxpayer information does not just become subject to political winds, Mr. Mnuchin said, adding that he had been consulting with the Justice Department on the matter. Whether it is this party or a different party over time, I take the obligation very seriously to make sure that we follow the law correctly. But the provision in tax law that Democrats are using appears to give the Trump administration little leeway to resist their request; it says merely that the Treasury secretary shall furnish the requested information. It was used several times by House Republicans when they were investigating whether the I.R.S. had improperly delayed applications by conservative groups for nonprofit status. Some Democrats quickly denounced the Treasury Departments decision on Wednesday. How many lawyers and how much time does it take for Secretary Mnuchin to understand that shall means shall? said Representative Lloyd Doggett of Texas, a member of the Ways and Means Committee. Again, believing that he is above the law, Trump is engaged in obstruction. SAN ANTONIO President Trump used the backdrop of a Texas fund-raiser on Wednesday to warn of the dangers and tragedy of migrants flowing across the Mexican border an issue he predicted would play well for him in his 2020 re-election campaign. With high-dollar donors standing behind him, Mr. Trump said migrants pouring across the southwestern border were dying in great numbers while gang members arriving from Central America were marauding and threatening American ranchers. And he made clear that he was going to try to put the blame on Democrats. I think theyre going to pay a very big price in 2020, Mr. Trump said here, before heading to Houston for another fund-raiser. I think the border is going to be an incredible issue. And theyre on the wrong side. They want to have open borders. But Julian Castro, the former mayor of San Antonio and a Democratic candidate for president, fired back at Mr. Trump, accusing him of using such talk as a political tool to energize his voters with dark threats about immigrants. The storm that swept through Rio de Janeiro this week left a wreck in its wake: A landslide swallowed homes, floodwaters rose up in hospitals and power lines collapsed as streets turned into roaring rivers. Then came the alligators or, more precisely, their South American cousins, the caimans. The storm knocked down the walls of a caiman farm in a neighborhood, or favela, that is controlled, like others in Rio de Janeiro, by a heavily armed criminal paramilitary group. This made the local authorities reluctant to enter and left the creatures, which can grow to be 11 feet long, to swim through the flooded streets, terrifying residents. The caiman farm stood in the Favela do Rola, in western Rio de Janeiro, one of several sections of the city to be flooded this week. It was unclear how many caimans were bred there, but photographs and videos of the creatures coursing through the floodwaters were shared by several people on social media. Rejane Guimaraes, 38, who has lived in the Favela do Rola for 25 years, said she had spotted two caimans swimming in the murky waters around 10 a.m. Tuesday. She and her neighbors called local officials repeatedly, she said, asking them to remove the creatures. HONG KONG First came their fuzzy feet. From the left eye of his patient, a doctor would eventually remove four tiny bees. Under the microscope, I slowly pulled them out, one after another, Dr. Hung Chi-ting, an ophthalmologist at Fooyin University Hospital in Taiwan, said at a news conference broadcast by local media last week. The patient, identified by her last name, He, said that her ordeal began when she felt a sharp pain in her left eye while taking part in an annual tradition of tomb-sweeping. Plucking weeds from a gravestone, she rinsed what she thought was sand from her eyes with some clean water. By the time she returned home hours later, her eye was heavily swollen. Tears and other secretions streamed out. She sought medical help. And under her left eyelid, Dr. Hung found what are colloquially known as sweat bees. Four aircraft had been conducting a drill on Tuesday when communications with the F-35 were cut off and the plane disappeared from radar, Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters on Wednesday morning. The missing pilot was the planes sole crew member, he said. Image Search and rescue operations on Wednesday at the site where a Japanese-operated F-35A fighter jet crashed the day before. Credit... Kyodo, via Reuters The Japanese military and coast guard and a United States Navy P-8A maritime patrol aircraft searched overnight for the missing jet and its pilot, officials said. We will do our utmost to save his life, Mr. Iwaya said. Japans 12 remaining F-35A jet fighters based at Misawa Air Base in Aomori were grounded and a panel was set up to determine the cause of the crash, Mr. Iwaya added. The plane took off from Misawa at 6:59 p.m. on Tuesday and contact was lost at 7:27 p.m., the Ministry of Defense said in a statement. Some debris from the plane was found at 9:45 p.m., it said. Last year, the United States temporarily grounded its fleet of about 220 F-35s made by the defense contractor Lockheed Martin after a crash in September. Initial data indicated problems with a fuel tube that may have contributed to that accident. The pilot ejected safely and survived. TAIPEI, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan welcomed American dignitaries on Wednesday in the face of rising tensions with China, saying the self-ruled island needed to protect itself from new, sophisticated threats coming from across the strait. Ms. Tsai made the remarks at a dinner at the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act, the law that has guided the United States unofficial relationship with the islands government. The dinner was but the latest round of signaling of Washingtons resolve to stand by Taiwan as tensions mount with Beijing. In the past two weeks, Washington, Taipei and Beijing have traded words over Chinese jet incursions, Taiwans requests for American-made fighter jets, the American military presence in its unofficial embassy in Taipei, and Ms. Tsais recent stop in Hawaii. We must make sure Taiwans economic and security position remains on the right track, Ms. Tsai told a group largely comprising American businesspeople, emphasizing the need to continue diversifying Taiwans economy from reliance on mainland China. The number of executions around the world fell by about a third in 2018, reaching the lowest level in at least a decade as several countries scaled back or abolished the death penalty, Amnesty International said in a report released on Wednesday. The global decline was driven largely by Iran, where executions were halved because of legal reforms that included eliminating the death penalty for a number of drug-related crimes. The trend points toward a world ridding itself of the death penalty, said Oluwatosin Popoola, Amnesty Internationals adviser on the death penalty. BRUSSELS With less than 48 hours before Britains scheduled departure, the European Union extended the exit deadline early Thursday until the end of October, avoiding a devastating cliff-edge divorce but settling none of the issues that have plunged British politics into chaos, dysfunction and recrimination. On another difficult night for Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain, European leaders scrapped her proposal for a postponement until June 30, concluding that such a short deadline was unrealistic for the departure known as Brexit. They agreed, however, to review the arrangement at the end of June to prevent British disruption to the bloc while the nation remains in Europes departure lounge. Although the intense pressure of recent weeks may abate for now, the path ahead still resembles a minefield, dotted with explosive issues like a possible attempt to topple Mrs. May, a general election or a second Brexit referendum or some combination of the three. Most immediately, Mrs. May is likely to face calls to step down, and potential successors are already trying to raise money and advertise their credentials. At a news conference, Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, said that the two sides had agreed to what he called a flexible extension until Oct. 31, adding that this provided an additional six months for the U.K. to find the best possible solution. In essence, the bloc agreed to kick the Brexit can down the road for another six months. [singing] In the days before the election, supporters of Benjamin Netanyahu roll up to a strip mall in the south of Israel. Miri Regev is a right-wing, Likud politician. Shes Netanyahus minister of culture. And tonight, shes campaigning for his re-election. Reporter: How is this election different from the past election? The comments start to upset someone in the crowd. His name is Murad, and he identifies as a Palestinian citizen of Israel. The past decade has been defined by the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu. In a country facing constant threats, many credit him for keeping Israel safe and strong. We will do what is necessary to defend our people and to defend our state. But now, hes caught up in a corruption scandal and will almost certainly be indicted on charges of bribery and fraud. The polls are close, so we came here to listen to his supporters and understand why people are sticking with him. Were on the Israel-Gaza border. Palestinians continue to protest against an Israeli blockade that has suffocated them, and the Israel Defense Forces are on high alert for violence and Hamas rockets. We visit nearby border communities in the south, where Netanyahus hardline stance makes him popular. Though his supporters are very diverse, this working-class area is a rock solid base for Likud. Did you play? I played. Alon Dividi is the mayor of Sderot, a city less than a mile from the Gaza border. I believe that our prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, hes the best man that we can get in this time. Because we see what hes done with Iran. Weve seen what hes done with the economy of Israel. And weve seen the security in this area. Imagine down in Manhattan, every week, someone would send a rocket. What do you ask from Trump? What do you ask from your president? You will say, destroy them. [cheering] Even children here know an alarm means they have 15 seconds to get to safety. You can see we have a shelter, a lot of shelter. So, thats a shelter. This is a shelter, and this is a shelter, and this is a shelter, and there we have a shelter. Four years ago, on Saturday evening, me and my family, we all live very close to here. And we start to hear the alarm system Red Color. The rocket landed you see the car? The car at the check right there? Yes, yes, yes. The rocket landed there. Theres a saying here: rak Bibi, which means only Bibi. For many, it means only Netanyahu can keep them safe. From the community of Netiv Haasara, you can see the fence separating Israel from Gaza. We visit the Tasa family. Like everyone here, they had to build something called a safe room in their home. So, you see? Reporter: Oh, this is And as you see, its very small. Every time I have a bomb or an alarm, I need to run here. But its not safe because we dont have enough time. We have 15 seconds. And if I dont Its not a real life, you know? And this is our life. Some of us want peace, and a little bit of us, like me, dont believe in peace. They want to kill us. They want to destroy us. They want they want to kill Israel. Reporter: You dont think peace is possible? No. Possible? Not for me. Not now. Its possible, but not now. Now the Hamas is in Gaza, and you cant go and do them peace. Hamas is Hezbollah, Hezbollah is Iran. Iran is my enemy. Thats it. For me, I dont see a partner to have now peace. And Netanyahu is the only one for me that sees the same thing about them. Netanyahu thats it. For me, no one can replace him. What are some of the other issues for this election that are on your mind? I dont have. Reporter: This is the most important? Of course. Every Israeli election has been about security, and many Israelis have trusted Netanyahu to keep them safe, which is why his main rival now wants to emphasize that he can be just as tough. Benny Gantz is a three-star general, who rose to the highest ranks of the Israeli military. [applause] And his campaign has highlighted the need for unity within the country. But to win a parliamentary majority and become prime minister of Israel, Gantzs party is expected to form a coalition with parties well to his left. So, its not clear to some people here what his leadership would bring. Shiri Sapir cares about security. He leans left and believes in a peace process with a two-state solution. But in Netanyahus Israel, some consider him a traitor. Im going to give my life in the next three years to the army. Im going to be maybe Im going to get in Gaza. Am I a traitor? How can you say that? In many ways, this election is really a referendum on Netanyahu and the direction hes taken the country. In this political campaign ad, Israels minister of justice mocked rising concerns about the erosion of democracy. Fascism. It went viral. Minister Ayelet Shakeds New Right Party is more right than Netanyahus, but he will need her party to form a governing coalition. We came to her private campaign event to see how conservative voters were feeling about Netanyahu. And it quickly became clear: Theyre worried. Divisions are forming among his traditional political allies. So. many Israelis who supported Netanyahu in the past must decide if they should continue to support him now. Israeli society is incredibly diverse, and Netanyahus leadership has deepened divisions and pushed the country to the right. After 10 years of leadership, the question is: Can Israelis imagine a future without him? JERUSALEM His army nickname was Benny Huta, a Hebrew pun that translates as Benny Chill. And in his first-ever run for office, Benny Gantz never let anyone see him sweat, no matter the live-television gaffes, embarrassing leaks or rumors about personal improprieties that occasionally tripped up his candidacy for prime minister. His centrist, flag-hued Blue and White party did better than any new Israeli faction ever had before, earning more than a million votes and around 35 seats in Parliament on Tuesday. That was the same as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus Likud party did, though smaller right-wing factions tilted the election sharply to the incumbent. It was quite a showing after just a few months in politics. Now, Mr. Gantz, a three-star general and former Israeli military chief, is laying in for a siege against Mr. Netanyahu that his allies expect could last into 2020. Nothing will drive us from our goal, Mr. Gantz said Wednesday night. With Mr. Netanyahu expected to form the most right-wing and ultra-Orthodox government Israel has ever seen, it will probably be a bumpy road even before a coalition is formed. Blue and White alliance concedes the race The Blue and White alliance, the political centrists that had posed the greatest threat to Mr. Netanyahus Likud party, conceded the election on Wednesday evening, acknowledging that it did not have the votes to take control of the government. We didnt win on this round, Yair Lapid, one of the alliance leaders, said. Mr. Gantz, who had once been seen as a viable contender for prime minister, speaking to a crowd in Tel Aviv a short time earlier, said he would respect the decision of the president to choose the party leader he saw fit but vowed to fight on in any way I can. At the moment, with the blocs, this is the reality, he said. The war is not over. He said he and his Blue and White party remained committed to serve the people of Israel. Were all democrats, he said. We respect the decision of the people, of the president. We will serve them from any position that we will be in the future. Mr. Gantz, a retired lieutenant general and former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, had reached out for allies across the political spectrum and sought to make Mr. Netanyahus expected indictment on corruption charges the main issue in the race. BEIRUT, Lebanon Benjamin Netanyahu appeared on Wednesday to be on his way to a fifth term as prime minister of Israel, solidifying the sense across the Arab world that the dream of a Palestinian state is more remote than ever as is the chance that the United States will help create it. Throughout his campaign, Mr. Netanyahu appealed to right-wing voters by making promises to them about issues long expected to be negotiated with Israels Arab neighbors. And through his close relationship with the Trump administration, he pushed for the United States to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Days before the election, he suggested he would annex at least some of the West Bank if he won. The strategy helped ensure his grip on power. It closes all doors for any possible peace settlement and any chance for the Palestinians to have a state of their own, said Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a political scientist from the United Arab Emirates. While that would cause frustration among the Arabs, there was little they could do about it, he said. JERUSALEM Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, who emerged from this weeks election poised to win a fourth consecutive term, may benefit from an effort by his right-wing coalition to protect him from prosecution on possible corruption charges. At least one right-wing party expected to join his new governing coalition has been open about its goal of passing a law granting immunity to Israeli Parliament members, including prime ministers. Mr. Netanyahu, who worked on Wednesday to consolidate support for a new coalition, is on track to become Israels longest-serving prime minister, but also the first to be charged with a crime while in office. If Netanyahu gains the publics trust in the coming elections, Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Union of Right Wing Parties, wrote on Twitter last month, it will be imperative to enact a law that will prevent him standing trial. Bibi, King of Israel! That is a shout from his fervent supporters that might have given pause to King David, let alone King Solomon. But Benjamin Netanyahu, despite all his faults and all the allegations of corruption and cynicism that surround him, is on his way to becoming Israels longest-serving prime minister. It is an extraordinary accomplishment for a man who grew up in the shadow of a difficult and demanding father and a hero brother, killed at the age of 30 in command of one of Israels most storied military ventures, Operation Entebbe. The 1976 operation rescued hostages held at Entebbe Airport in Uganda. Both brothers served in the militarys elite commando unit, Sayeret Matkal. But Bibi survived to put a more lasting stamp on the young state through his political and economic policies, his toughness toward rivals. He has an instinctive sense of what drives Israelis the search for security in one of the most unstable regions of the world, a Jewish state built on the remnants the Nazis left behind, in the midst of an Arab and Iranian sea. By local standards, Alaska has been sweltering this spring. Temperature records have been set across the state, including in Kotzebue, where the thermometer reached 42 degrees Fahrenheit on the last day of March 30 degrees above normal. On Tuesday the unusual statewide warmth was confirmed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which released data showing that, overall, March temperatures were as much as 20 degrees above historical averages. The heat is an extreme example of the general climate-change trend in the state, which shows that the Arctic is warming roughly twice as fast as other parts of the world. Northern Alaska is no stranger to temperature anomalies: In November 2017, readings in Utqiagvik, on the North Slope, were so high that NOAAs computers rejected them as faulty. Two factors led to the March extremes, said Rick Thoman, a climate specialist with the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy in Fairbanks. One is the almost complete absence of ice in the Bering Sea, between Alaska and Russia. Open ocean is warmer than ice-covered ocean, and that helps heat the air over neighboring land. As in the rest of the Arctic, sea ice in the Bering has been declining. But this year, a string of storms beginning in late January helped eliminate what little ice there was. The worlds most difficult problem has a solution so simple that it can be expressed in four words: Stop burning greenhouse gases. How exactly to pull this off is somewhat more complicated just not as complicated as most Americans have been led to believe. As James Hansen, the don of modern climate science, told me last year, From a technology and economics standpoint, it is still readily possible to stay under two degrees Celsius. Readily possible. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes report from last October, which provoked widespread terror, echoed this conclusion. Keeping warming to 1.5 degrees above historical averages was possible, it found, provided we immediately began to eliminate carbon-dioxide emissions. This was terrifying only because we have not begun to do any such thing. Most zero-emissions plans road maps, in bureaucratese, or pathways, per the I.P.C.C. propose some combination of the following elements: carbon taxes, effectual international treaties, increased subsidization of renewable energy, decreased subsidization of fossil fuels, nuclear energy, reforestation, land-use reform and investments in energy efficiency, energy storage and carbon-capture technology. But when it comes to drafting actual laws to achieve these policies, to quote the Heritage Foundation fellow Nick Loris, the devils in the details. [See what survival looks like in Bangladesh after the oceans rise.] The Heritage Foundation ought to know; for decades, it has demonstrated mastery of the dark arts of climate-change denialism. This strain of influence peddling would be harmful enough had it managed merely to deepen the public ignorance about global warming. But denialism has had devastating downstream effects (to borrow an industry term). It has managed to defer meaningful consideration of nearly every urgent policy question that now awaits us, if we are serious about trying to stop this. The most fundamental question is whether a capitalistic society is capable of sharply reducing carbon emissions. Will a radical realignment of our economy require a radical realignment of our political system within the next few years? Even if the answer is no, we have some decisions to make. How, for instance, should the proceeds of a carbon tax be directed? Should they be used to finance clean-energy projects, be paid out directly to taxpayers or accrue to the national budget? In a healthy democracy, you could expect a rigorous public debate on this question. But such a debate has rarely surfaced in the United States because, as of this writing, only a handful of Republican members of the House of Representatives, out of a caucus of 197, have endorsed the basic concept of a carbon tax an idea that has its roots in conservative economic thought. [Read about how Wall Street is hedging against the apocalypse.] And what should be done, if anything, about the people who lose their jobs once coal plants, whether because of market pressures or federal mandate, are forced to close? Should unemployed coal miners be retrained as wind farmers, receive unemployment checks or be abandoned to their plight? You could imagine a robust political debate about this issue as well perhaps with the right in favor of letting miners fend for themselves and the left supporting a federal welfare program were such questions allowed to be debated. What should be done for the far greater number of people in poor and neglected communities, both in the United States and abroad, that stand to suffer most grievously from a hotter climate in the years ahead? What penalties should Exxon and the other major oil and gas companies suffer for their sins? What branch of government should impose those penalties, and should criminal liability be extended to individual lobbyists and chief executives? Should old, declining nuclear plants be preserved, and should new, smaller plants be commissioned, and who ought to make such decisions? How much federal funding should be invested in researching speculative geoengineering or carbon-capture technologies? Should insurance rates in coastal regions be increased abruptly to reflect the actual threat of sea-level rise, or phased in gradually? What sanctions should be imposed on foreign nations that fail to comply with the terms of global climate treaties? On these and many other such questions, reasonable minds might disagree. But beyond the reaches of the scholarly and activist literature, reasonable minds have not been given the opportunity. [Read David Leonhardt on the economics of climate change.] It has become commonplace to observe that corporations behave like psychopaths. They are self-interested to the point of violence, possess a vibrant disregard for laws and social mores, have an indifference to the rights of others and fail to feel remorse. A psychopath gains a persons trust, mimics emotions but feels nothing and passes in public for human (with a charming Twitter feed, say). The psychopath is calm, calculated, scrupulous never more so than while plotting murder. There can be no reasoning with a psychopath; neither rational argument nor blandishment has a remote chance of success. If this indeed is the pathology that we are dealing with when it comes to the climate impasse, then we should be honest about the appropriate course of treatment. Coercion must be the remedy exerted economically, politically and morally, preferably all at once. The psychopath respects only force. In the mountains far above the red-brick city, behind a locked gate, there is a great, green valley. Its high stone walls are streaked by waterfalls; its floor dotted with flowers and grazed by horses and cows. Six boulder-strewn miles beyond the gate, the valley ends abruptly at an enormous wall of rock and ice. Beneath it lies a stretch of calm, bright water in milky turquoise Lake Palcacocha. Though few of its residents have ever seen this lake, the city below lives in fear of it. On Dec. 13, 1941, a piece broke off a hanging glacier and fell into Palcacocha, creating a great wave that overwhelmed a natural dam and sent a flood surging toward Huaraz, a provincial capital in the Peruvian Andes, about 14 miles below. A third of the city was destroyed and at least 1,800 people were killed. In response, the government reinforced the natural dam and installed drainage tubes to lower the level of the lake. Huaraz boomed to 130,000 inhabitants from 20,000. Occasionally there was a scare a rock slide into the lake in 2003 sloshed a smaller amount of water over the edge, causing panic but to many people in Huaraz the danger began to seem remote. Until it became clear that the lake was getting bigger. In 2009, glaciologists found that amid the widespread melting of Andean ice, the amount of water held in Palcacocha had increased by 3,400 percent over just a couple of decades. Even more worrying, this melt associated with climate change was destabilizing the glaciers hanging above it, making major avalanches more likely. The regional government declared a state of emergency and began posting guardians to watch the lake around the clock. The guardians of the lake live above Palcacocha, in a little stone house with a tin roof. It was built by hand from nearby rocks and has no insulation, though at 15,000 feet the air is thin and the cold brutal, even in summer. There is no heat apart from a cook fire, and few supplies: raincoats, warm blankets, flashlights for working at night, snowshoes for working in winter. On a cold summer day in February, I looked up from the lake to see a man descending a zigzagging trail. He walked lightly across loose boulders to the waters edge, where a large ruler pierced the surface. He read it, and then turned to climb the switchbacks back to the hut, where a radio was wired to what looked like a car battery. It was his job, shared with two other men, to report on the status of the water levels every two hours, day and night. Lake Palcacocha in the Peruvian Andes. Felipe Fittipaldi for The New York Times The man introduced himself as Victor Morales, one of the guardians. I followed him up to the hut, where we listened to the rumble of falling ice echoing repeatedly off the high walls around the lake. Seeing me jump as yet another distant waterfall of white tumbled down, Morales laughed and said in Spanish: Little! Just a little avalanche. He would mark the activity on his next report, he said, as minimal, far less than the fall two weeks before, which raised 12-foot waves in the placid lake. That one he described, with a shrug, as regularcito. Should a more substantial avalanche happen, something that researchers consider a significant risk, the resulting flood would careen down the valley, overwhelming houses and farms until it arrived in Huaraz. According to the best available estimates, even without a collapse of the glacial moraine, a wall of rock that serves as the lakes natural dam, which is considered unlikely, a large avalanche could lead to the inundation of 154 city blocks and more than 6,000 deaths. The regional government has considered various solutions: lowering the lake level by another 60 to 100 feet; creating a more technologically advanced early-warning system with sensors and sirens; plastering the city with evacuation maps. We want a map in every schoolchilds notebook, Cesar Portocarrero Rodriguez, an engineer and glaciologist in Huaraz, says. One of the first neighborhoods to be flooded would be Nueva Florida, blocks of brick-and-adobe homes that edge the stream from the canyon. Saul Luciano Lliuya, a soft-spoken, 39-year-old farmer and father of two who also works as a mountain guide during the tourist season, lives there in a bright yellow house, across the street from Moraless parents; the families have known each other for decades. Many people in Huaraz, Luciano Lliuya told me, dont fully appreciate the sacrifices that the guardians make to do their jobs in part because they dont fully realize the dangers of deglaciation. Over the years, Luciano Lliuya has seen lakes expanding and avalanches increasing and ice retreating with every climb; he has seen farmers begin to argue over diminishing clean water. The loss of ice, it is clear to him, means a future thats more uncertain in all kinds of ways. I depend, in every sense, on the mountain, he told me. It is everything. One day, five years ago, Luciano Lliuya sat talking with a friend about the many changes and costs that climate change is bringing to the Andes, whose residents have, by global standards, done very little to contribute to the problem. We wondered, he said, whether we could find los responsables the responsible ones and somehow persuade them to change their behavior. He wanted, fervently, to find a way to stop the ice from melting even more. Luciano Lliuyas friend introduced him to a contact at a nongovernment organization called Germanwatch, based in Bonn, that works to promote equity between developed and less-developed countries. In 2015, with the groups support, Luciano Lliuya, who had never left his country, traveled 6,500 miles to file a lawsuit against RWE, Germanys largest energy utility. The lawsuit claimed that the company, though it does not operate in Peru, had contributed about half of 1 percent of the emissions that are causing the global climate to change and that it should therefore be responsible for half of 1 percent of the cost of containing the lake that might destroy Luciano Lliuyas house. His claim entered the courts in the form of a demand for $19,000. There werent high hopes, Luciano Lliuya said either that a lawsuit would have any real effect on how quickly the glaciers were melting or that he would actually be able to make the case, in court, that Huarazs woes were the fault of a company an ocean away. But he didnt know what else to do, and he felt he had to do something: It was like ... a shout. Luciano Lliuya at home with his daughter Gleysi. Felipe Fittipaldi for The New York Times Legal systems have long struggled with the best way to respond when individuals have been harmed by others. Who qualifies as a victim, and what counts as a misdeed? How can harm be traced and measured? If it cant be undone, what might make things right? Nearly 4,000 years ago, the Code of Hammurabi decreed harsh restitution for dozens of situations. If, for example, someone failed to maintain his dam and it failed, flooding a neighbors fields, the negligent dam owner should be sold for money, and the money shall replace the corn which he has caused to be ruined. Anglo-Saxon law offered wergild, set amounts to be paid by offenders to the families of their victims, in atonement for murder or adultery. In seventh-century Kent, the lives of freemen were valued at 100 shillings, noblemen at 300. In the modern era, common-law countries such as the United States have turned to the courts to sift through the complexities of injury, causation and remedy. Common law, as distinct from statutory law, applies in situations where no legislative guidelines have been set and courts instead respond to cases as they happen leaning on, and adding to, centuries of accumulated decisions interpreting the basic legal idea that individuals have uninfringible rights. Modern cases that take on environmental damage rest on a heritage that includes, for example, William Aldreds complaint, in the early 1600s, that the stench from a pigsty built by his neighbor Thomas Benton made his home unbearable. [Read David Leonhardt on the economics of climate change.] Today, Bentons action would be considered a tort, a harm or an infringement of a legal right that requires redress. To sue, plaintiffs in tort cases must show they have sufficient connection to a specific harm (whats called standing); that the defendant owed them some duty of care and breached it; that the harm was particular to the plaintiff and that the defendants action was a direct cause of that harm; and that they, the plaintiff, suffered an actual injury or damage including, perhaps, a future one. First-year law students are initiated into how fraught these seemingly simple questions can become when they study an infamous 1928 lawsuit involving a package that exploded on a train platform in Brooklyn and a woman, Helen Palsgraf, who was injured in the ensuing confusion. Thats the short version; the single injury claim involves, as the Wake Forest law professor Jonathan Cardi has noted, a series of bizarre twists so curious and mesmerizing that one has trouble averting ones gaze. The case, whose details and lessons are still being argued, was repeatedly appealed. Some of the great jurists of the day weighed in, eloquently debating the responsibilities that humans have toward one another, especially when they harm one another indirectly, in ways that are difficult to foresee. If an act has a tendency to harm someone, it harms him a mile away as surely as it does those on the scene, wrote one of the judges. We draw an uncertain and wavering line, but draw it we must as best we can. Tort law has, of course, weighed injuries far trickier than Helen Palsgrafs. State courts in particular have a history of offering remedies to complex and evolving claims. Mesothelioma patients and their families routinely win monetary relief despite not being able to trace precisely which product was the source of decades-old asbestos exposure (and despite the fact that more than 100 companies tied to the asbestos industry have declared bankruptcy, leaving trusts behind to deal with the continuing suits). Oil companies have paid hundreds of millions of dollars since the mid-2000s in recompense to states and local governments for using a gasoline additive that, while employed to help meet clean-air standards, turned out to pollute groundwater (a fact the companies kept to themselves). Beginning in the 1990s, courts began to find tobacco companies liable for the health effects of cigarette smoking, even though smokers used their products willingly and even though the first 800 or so lawsuits against the companies failed. In recent years, more than a thousand lawsuits have sought to make pharmaceutical companies pay for the sprawling costs of the opioid-addiction crisis, including the costs of hospital visits, overwhelmed foster-care systems and overburdened coroners offices. (In March, Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, agreed to a $270 million settlement in just one of those cases, avoiding going to trial in state court in Oklahoma.) Now a new wave of lawsuits is testing whether fossil-fuel companies can be made to pay for the costs of climate change. Since 2017, eight United States cities, including New York and San Francisco, six counties, one state and the West Coasts largest association of fishermen have brought suit against a host of corporations Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Chevron, Peabody Energy, among others for selling products that caused the world to warm while misleading the public about the damage they knew would result. The suits demand compensation for a variety of expenses: in California, sea walls and infrastructure to cope with rising waters; in Colorado, the costs of combating wildfires, floods, pine beetle infestations, agricultural losses and heat waves. In the event of a flood from Lake Palcacocha above Huaraz, Peru, the waters would inundate the Nueva Florida neighborhood (center). Felipe Fittipaldi for The New York Times A separate legal argument underpins a parallel set of new cases, the most famous of which was brought in 2015 by a group of American children, which target governments for failing to adequately tackle climate change and uphold what one judge called the right to a climate system capable of sustaining human life. Another track is to sue companies for misleading their shareholders, in violation of securities law. In November, Ralph Regenvanu, the foreign minister of the Pacific nation of Vanuatu, offered a glimpse of what may become a new reality: My government is now exploring all avenues to utilize the judicial system in various jurisdictions, including under international law, to shift the costs of climate protection back onto the fossil-fuel companies, the financial institutions and the governments that actively and knowingly created this existential threat to my country. Ann Carlson, faculty co-director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at U.C.L.A. School of Law, says that lawsuits linking fossil-fuel companies to the climate impacts of their products could set significant legal precedents. If one of these cases succeeds, she says, even if all the others are dismissed, thats a really big deal. Thats why companies will fight tooth and nail. But while Luciano Lliuyas suit was accepted by a regional appeals court in Germany in late 2017 and is now moving into the evidentiary phase, none of the recent United States lawsuits has moved beyond preliminary consideration and into discovery, never mind an actual trial. The question remains whether the American tort system is prepared to litigate a problem of the enormous scale and complexity of global climate change. Diffuse and disparate in origin, lagged and latticed in effect, anthropogenic greenhouse-gas emissions represent the paradigmatic anti-tort, Douglas A. Kysar, a professor at Yale Law School, wrote in a 2011 paper, a collective-action problem so pervasive and so complicated as to render at once both all of us and none of us responsible. We are still learning what dangers will arise from our altered atmosphere. Some changes, such as warmer ocean water taking up more space and pushing into cities, have a direct, calculable cause. Others, like powerful tropical cyclones or abnormally heavy flood-producing rains, are more indirect products of the ways in which humans are affecting the climate. The largest challenge to adjudicating responsibility for these damages is proving attribution: of specific damages or disasters to climate change; of climate change to specific emissions; of emissions to those responsible for them. In an early test case filed in 2008, an Alaska Native village sought to make energy companies pay for its relocation, which the disappearance of its protective barrier of sea ice necessitated. A United States District Court judge, dismissing the case, wrote, There is no realistic possibility of tracing any particular alleged effect of global warming to any particular emissions by any specific person, entity, group at any particular point in time. But eight years after calling climate change the paradigmatic anti-tort, Kysar recently told me that a fair number of things have changed. Scientists have gotten better at quantifying the links between emissions and impacts. When the links are indirect, they calculate whats known in epidemiology as fraction of attributable risk: how much more likely it was that an extreme event would occur because of an altered climate. Plaintiffs also argue that they dont need to prove that specific disasters were directly caused by climate change, because climate change makes future disasters more likely and governments must take expensive steps to adapt now. We also know more about the ways fossil-fuel companies misdirected the public about the risks associated with their products and about how much companies actually emitted. What I see right now are well-pled complaints that should get beyond a dismissal motion and proceed to discovery, Kysar says. For better or for worse, thats been our process in determining wrongdoing. [One storied American institution is ready for the coming climate chaos: the Pinkertons.] To implicate specific companies, the new lawsuits have turned to data collected by Richard Heede, director of the Climate Accountability Institute in Snowmass, Colo., who has spent much of the past 16 years searching through archives to find reports about how much fossil-fuel companies extracted during their sometimes long histories. He then estimates how much fossil fuel was used for a companys own operations, how much diverted for things like asphalt or petrochemical production, how much volatilized into the atmosphere. The work is tedious, involving hundreds of thousands of data points and a basement full of dusty reports. Still, Heede told me, we needed that kind of leverage in order to talk turkey with oil and gas companies. Glacial Lake Palcacocha poses significant flood hazard downstream to communities in Huaraz. Siphons installed in 2011 lowered the level of the lake by 7 to 16 feet in an attempt to reduce the flood hazard. Felipe Fittipaldi for The New York Times Heedes work reveals that, if you include all the carbon extracted and supplied, just 90 companies are responsible for two-thirds of all the greenhouse gases emitted between 1751 and 2016. Even more startling, more than half those emissions have occurred since 1988, the year that the climate scientist James Hansen, then at NASA, appeared before Congress to urge that it is time to stop waffling and recognize the clear link between the emission of greenhouse gases and the warming of the planet. Heedes data underpins many of the new United States lawsuits, as well as Luciano Lliuyas claim about RWEs share of climate emissions. Plaintiffs believe that they can establish fault that meets the required standard of substantially contributing to a harm by combining these estimates with recent revelations that oil companies had knowledge of the climate dangers of fossil fuels as early as the 1960s but actively worked to undermine the publics trust in climate science. (Even as they privately prepared for climate impacts on their operations, companies followed a public strategy of emphasizing doubts about the growing scientific consensus that their products would lead to climate change.) According to Carlson, in the first test cases of climate liability (the Alaska village lawsuit and a case brought by eight states, New York City and three environmental groups in 2005 against five power companies, including the Tennessee Valley Authority), the courts seemed to be worried, like: Oh, did these people really cause the problem? Some power plants, maybe 2 percent? Now, she says, it feels like you have the big contributors right in front of you. Roda Verheyen, the lawyer representing Luciano Lliuya, concurs. I long to present Heede in court, she said. Just because its a complex issue doesnt mean that you cant prove liability. The year before Luciano Lliuya was born, his father decided to move his six children Saul was the seventh and last from the countryside above Huaraz to the Nueva Florida house, where they could be close to school and he to his job as a watchman. (The family also kept a house and land in the hills for raising crops and animals, which Luciano Lliuya and his wife, Lidia, still maintain. They have seven cows and raise corn, potatoes, quinoa and mint.) Land in Nueva Florida was relatively cheap; when people dig into the soil, Luciano Lliuya told me when I visited, they regularly find huge boulders, reminders of the 1941 flood. It wasnt guiding season, but Luciano Lliuya was dressed in hiking gear; Lidia wore the tall bowler hat and wide woolen skirt that is common to the mountains. She spoke mostly in Quechua, which is also Luciano Lliuyas first language, while he translated to Spanish. Luciano Lliuya is currently renovating the house, replacing adobe walls with concrete, so everyone sat on the floor or on overturned buckets. If I said, Its a flood zone, I wont fix the house, that would look crazy, Luciano Lliuya mused. But its also crazy to do it knowing the danger, no? From both sides, its crazy. [Read about how Wall Street is hedging against the apocalypse.] The technical term for the disaster that threatens Huaraz is glacial lake outburst flood, or GLOF, a fairly obscure offender in a lineup of climate impacts that includes famine-inducing droughts, the acidification and deoxygenation of the oceans and the inundation of cities like New York and Jakarta. But GLOFs are a growing concern not just in Perus Cordillera Blanca, the mountain region where Huaraz is hundreds of square kilometers of ice have melted in recent decades, creating at least 100 new lakes and more risk of flooding from existing ones but also in the Himalayas and the Alps. Victor Morales, guard at Lake Palcachoca Glacier, Cordillera Blanca. He and other guards report on the status of the water levels every two hours, day and night. Felipe Fittipaldi for The New York Times As Luciano Lliuyas case makes its way through the German court system, court-appointed experts have been assigned to investigate his claims against RWE. First, hydrologists and other scientists will study how much danger the house in Nueva Florida faces. If they confirm the danger exists, the court will consider how much, if any, of the responsibility lies with RWE. The company, for its part, has objected to the entire premise of the case. It is simply not allowed to pick one out of a million and say, You are guilty, I put the blame on you, Guido Steffen, a spokesman for RWE, told me. Should such lawsuits be allowed, he continued, a person might be sued for flying in planes or driving a car. It would mean the war of everybody against everybody, he said. German courts do not use common law, but the statute under which Luciano Lliuya sued is similar to the nuisance principle invoked in many of the United States lawsuits: the legal category of nuisance, one of the oldest torts. It has played a role in innumerable public health, pollution and injury cases since the dispute over Thomas Bentons stinky pigsty. Companies targeted by lawsuits in the United States also put forward arguments similar to the one made by RWE: Climate change is simply too vast an issue for courts to be able to respond adequately to the injuries it causes. There are too many contributors, too many tangled chains linking emitters to harms, too many benefits to be weighed against costs and too many consequences for national and international policy if demands for redress are actually met. They argue that responding to greenhouse-gas emissions should fall to the legislative and executive branches (though those branches have in fact failed to regulate emissions) and that cases should be moved to federal court, where judges, including the justices of the Supreme Court, have found that common-law climate claims are superseded by federal law (including the Clean Air Act, under which a 2007 Supreme Court decision determined that the E.P.A. must treat greenhouse gases as a pollutant). These arguments have helped persuade judges to dismiss climate lawsuits before they can move on to document discovery or the testimony of experts. The dangers raised in the complaints are very real, wrote Judge William Alsup, when dismissing suits brought against five oil companies by Oakland, Calif., and San Francisco last year. But those dangers are worldwide. Their causes are worldwide. The benefits of fossil fuels are worldwide. The problem deserves a solution on a more vast scale than can be supplied by a district judge or jury in a public-nuisance case. Indeed, the sheer vastness of the climate problem has been a boon to defendants. If I were the fossil-fuel company, says William Ruskin, who has spent his career defending large companies in environmental litigation, Id open this up as broadly as possible. Id talk about the industrial revolution. I would basically create a historical tableau and put civilization on trial. For plaintiffs in the new wave of cases, however, such defenses represent a fundamental misunderstanding not only of what the lawsuits are claiming but also of what the law is capable of handling. Kate Sears is a supervisor of Marin County, which is suing to recoup the costs of combating more extreme and more persistent flooding; she is also a lawyer and was part of Californias suit against banks for deceptive mortgage practice that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis, which resulted in the states receiving a multibillion-dollar settlement in 2012. These are accepted and established and sort of tried-and-true claims in state courts, Sears says. Were not trying to create new law here, adding, Were just trying to get damages for injuries caused. Last year a federal judge agreed, sending the case, now joined with others filed by California cities and counties, back to the court. Vic Sher, whose firm is handling that case as well as suits brought by Baltimore and Rhode Island, says that the lawsuits pose a simple question: Should those costs be paid for by the taxpayers or by the companies who knew what they were doing and caused the impacts? San Francisco, New York and Oakland are all appealing the federal dismissals of their cases, and the two sides continue to wrangle over where the suits belong. In an amicus brief in the New York case, eight states and the District of Columbia argued that the refusal to hear the lawsuit in state court would lead to the extraordinary conclusion that no law at all applies to the environmental harms caused by defendants allegedly tortious activities. In another brief in the San Francisco and Oakland case, a group of Democratic United States senators noted that fossil-fuel companies insistence that curbing climate change is the responsibility of the legislative and executive branches seemed to be in conflict with the same companies past efforts to prevent those branches from actually curbing emissions. It becomes apparent, the senators wrote, that Defendants real position is that no one should address climate change, the cataclysmic effects it is already having and particularly the real injuries that Defendants have proximately caused. The city of Huaraz in the Peruvian Andes. Felipe Fittipaldi for The New York Times If courts are persuaded to allow any of the United States cases to follow Luciano Lliuyas to the evidentiary phase and onward to a full hearing, they will still have to find satisfactory answers to a long list of difficult questions. Where on the chain of causality from coal extraction to power generation, for example does responsibility lie? How do we put a dollar amount on the degree of liability? How do we account for nonclimate variables, such as whether a city magnified its exposure to damages from wildfire or rising seas by permitting development in risky places? How should other contributors to climate change, from deforestation to population growth, be considered? Defendants know they benefit from complicating the question of fault. They could theoretically seek to name co-defendants the auto industry, perhaps, or chemical refineries or cement manufacturers that they argue should shoulder or share in the blame. Chevron filed a third-party complaint to include Equinor, the Norwegian state oil company, as a fellow defendant in the cases brought by California cities and counties. And when New York City filed suit against BP and others, the companies responded that the city, because of its use of the oil industrys products in its own police cars and garbage trucks and so on, shouldnt be able to sue because it had whats known as unclean hands. If everyone is at fault, the argument goes, no one can be held responsible or, if courts decide they can be, it will create a legal free-for-all, the war of everybody against everybody that RWEs spokesman described. It might be good political theater to name John and Jane Does One through Eight Billion, says Michael Burger, the executive director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School, who has written amicus briefs in support of the new suits. But if companies are arguing that they, individually, are too small to be held legally responsible, it would be absurd to think that an individual human being would be responsible enough to haul into court. Complicity is not the same as liability. Proponents of lawsuits against fossil-fuel companies have studied the cases against tobacco companies carefully. For decades, the suits failed by the hundreds as tobacco companies argued that ultimate responsibility fell not on them but on the people who chose to use their products an argument akin to oil companies contending that they cant be held responsible for what comes out of consumers tail pipes. The tide began to turn against the tobacco industry once subpoenaed documents showed a longstanding conspiracy to cover up the harms of smoking. But the parallels arent perfect. Unlike tobacco, energy companies have argued, the existence of the fossil-fuel economy has provided considerable advantages to society. If we had understood the perils of climate change sooner, would we have stopped driving cars or using electricity from polluting sources? Most likely not, at least not on an individual level. So plaintiffs offer a different narrative: That companies actively prevented the development of alternative energy sources and the regulation of carbon-intensive ones, thus politically and economically propping up a polluting system. Its incorrect to say that theres a strong public demand for fossil fuels, Sher, the plaintiffs lawyer, told me. What we have is a desire for energy. In February, at a hearing in Rhode Islands lawsuit against 21 oil and gas companies, Sher argued that emissions magnify the harm, but the tort is the deception. Lawsuits themselves have sometimes led to novel attempts at untangling the Gordian knot of responsibility. Settling the tobacco lawsuits eventually involved attorneys general from 46 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories, more than $125 billion and dozens of companies all but four of which asked to sign on after a settlement was reached. The Superfund law of 1980 imposes strict, retroactive liability on companies that create hazardous pollution and holds that any companies with even potential responsibility may be held liable for the entire cleanup of a site. Some observers imagine a future in which fossil-fuel companies support carbon regulation because it includes a provision shielding them from a morass of liability. Others point to disgorgement, a legal remedy most associated with securities fraud that compels surrendering profits gained through wrongful acts. Still other scenarios include companies offloading liability onto shell corporations or lawsuits continuing to lead nowhere, with climate change remaining a problem that is too large to litigate. Or the law may one day come to see things as straightforwardly as Luciano Lliuya does. They have polluted, he said, and now there are consequences. They have to be responsible. One morning in Huaraz I woke up to the sound of tubas, part of an early celebration of carnival. People from the countryside streamed into the city, carrying enormous crosses decorated with leaves and flowers, and the streets filled with people dancing, food stalls selling fried guinea pigs and the cacophony of more brass bands than might reasonably be expected from the regions population. As people swayed to the music, passing bottles of beer, the guardians of Lake Palcacocha were by the radio up at their cold hut, filing their latest report about the safety of the dancers below. [How is climate change affecting your area? We want to hear from you.] Luciano Lliuya also missed the days festivities. He was at a meeting in Llupa, the small village above Huaraz where he and Lidia raise their crops. The community was debating whether to share its water source with a neighboring village, whose drinking water, Luciano Lliuya explained, came from a stream that was becoming polluted. The children have been getting sick, he said. The water had become contaminated by another of climate changes lesser-known impacts: whats called acid rock drainage, which occurs when melting glaciers expose sulfur-bearing minerals to air and water, creating sulfuric acid. Like GLOFs, its only the beginning of the problems that the people of Peru will face as glaciers melt. The country has depended on consistent runoff from its rapidly disappearing ice to irrigate its fields, to run its power plants and to support the growth of Lima, a city of almost 10 million, in a desert. After a long debate, the people of Llupa agreed to share their water. It was impossible to say no to their neighbors, though they knew it would make the coming dry season even harder. In Huaraz, above the street party, the sky darkened. Lightning flashed, but the thunder was inaudible over the noise of the crowd. The brass bands kept playing as the rain began to fall. On a Saturday afternoon in early December, inside a soaring auditorium on the campus of Stockholm University, William Nordhaus gave the crowning lecture of his half-century career as an economist. The occasion was his acceptance of the Nobel Prize in economics, which Nordhaus, a trim, soft-spoken Yale professor, had been jointly awarded. The title of the lecture was Climate Change: The Ultimate Challenge for Economics. As a young professor on a sabbatical in Vienna in the mid-1970s, Nordhaus happened to share an office with an environmental researcher, who helped spark his interest in the emerging issue. While there, Nordhaus came up with the target, now famous, of holding global warming to two degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. He chose the target, as he recently explained to me, because he believed that the earth has experienced similar fluctuations before and that humans had tolerated them. The Nobel was a tribute to the originality and influence of his work developing economic models that help people think about how to slow climate change. It also seemed to be a cri de coeur from the Swedish academics who choose the economics laureates: Climate change is a threat like no other. Fatal heat waves, droughts, wildfires and severe hurricanes are all becoming more common, and they are almost certain to accelerate. Avoiding horrific damage, as a United Nations panel of scientists recently concluded, will require changes in human behavior that have no documented historic precedent. In his speech, Nordhaus explained that people use too much dirty energy because they dont have to pay the true costs it imposes on the world: pollution-related health problems in the short term and climate change in the long term. Economists refer to these costs as externalities, because they are not naturally part of the market system. We have a climate problem, Nordhaus said, because markets fail, and fail badly, in the energy sector. The only solution, he argued, was for governments to raise the price of emissions. Economists and other policy experts have long focused on this idea of carbon pricing. It can take the form of a carbon tax, as Nordhaus prefers. Or the pricing can be embedded in a system of permits known as cap-and-trade, as President Barack Obama and other Democrats proposed in their 2009 bill to address climate change. Either way, the underlying concept is simple. When a product becomes more expensive, people use less of it. Carbon pricing is an elegant mechanism by which market economics can work on behalf of the climate rather than against it. Photo illustration by Lizzie Gill But if the ideas straightforwardness is its great economic advantage, it has also proved to be its political flaw. Energy, for utilities and transportation, is a major cost of living. And across the industrialized world, the middle class and the poor have been struggling with slow income growth. As Nordhaus acknowledged in his speech, curbing dirty energy by raising its price may be good for nature, but its not actually all that attractive to voters to reduce their income. The timing of Nordhauss Nobel Prize highlighted this political problem. While he was onstage, demonstrators in France were marching against gas-tax increases in raucous protests the so-called yellow-vest movement that shut down the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. This is the ultimate challenge that Nordhaus was describing. Climate change may be an existential crisis, but in their day-to-day lives, many people are more worried about the problems created by the most obvious solution than by climate change itself. Which helps explain why climate activists have recently begun to change their political strategy. The cherished idea of economists, carbon pricing, is losing favor and being supplanted by ideas that seek to invert the political logic. Rather than broadcast the necessary sacrifices, as taxes and cap-and-trade schemes do, the alternatives try to play them down and instead emphasize the benefits of less pollution. These alternatives like clean-energy mandates and subsidies are less efficient than carbon pricing, as skeptics like Nordhaus point out. They dont harness market forces to the same degree, and they dont necessarily affect the entire economy. But they still have the potential to make a real difference, and in some places, like California, they already have. The question is whether any policy is both big enough to matter and popular enough to happen. Carbon pricings recent losing streak arguably began in the United States during the first two years of Obamas presidency, in 2009 and 2010. Those years were the most successful period for progressive legislation since Lyndon B. Johnsons Great Society. Obama signed a huge federal stimulus bill, toughened Wall Street regulation and extended health insurance to some 20 million people. The one major piece of Democratic legislation that failed was the climate bill, which was sponsored in the House of Representatives by Henry Waxman of California and Ed Markey of Massachusetts. Since that failure, some progressives have wondered if Obama and other party leaders could have passed the bill if only they had tried harder. The answer is unknowable, but I think the evidence suggests that the bill died for more fundamental reasons. Spending federal money to prevent a depression is popular. So are cracking down on Wall Street and expanding health insurance. Raising the price of energy is not. [Read about new legal strategies to make the worlds biggest polluters pay for climate change.] In the years since the bills failure, the story has repeated itself elsewhere. In Australia, a Labor Party-led government put in place a carbon tax in 2012, only to be swept from office the next year by conservatives who ran on an ax the tax platform. In France, to quell the yellow-vest protests, President Emmanuel Macrons government withdrew its gas-tax increase late last year. In the United States, voters in Washington a blue state rejected a ballot initiative last year that would have created a carbon tax, by a vote of 57 percent to 43 percent. And in places that have imposed a price on carbon, like the European Union, California and some other states, it tends to be too low to be effective. Perhaps the most encouraging example for carbon-tax advocates has been Canada. The province of British Columbia enacted a carbon tax in 2008, and it has worked well. It includes a clever provision to reduce political opposition: Every dollar that is raised is returned to families and businesses through tax credits. An all-star roster of Nobel laureates and former Republican and Democratic presidential appointees including Treasury Secretaries George Shultz and Lawrence Summers and the Federal Reserve chiefs Janet Yellen, Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan recently signed a joint statement in favor of a similar carbon tax for the United States. But it remains a long shot in this era of government distrust. Even in Canada, the politics have become trickier. A nationwide carbon-pricing plan went into effect this year, and conservative leaders are fighting it intensely. All these struggles have led activists to have second thoughts about carbon pricing. John Podesta, who helped direct climate policy in the Obama administration, told me that a new political strategy was necessary. The Green New Deal a progressive wish list on the issue includes neither a carbon tax nor a cap-and-trade system. Foreign Affairs recently ran an article with the headline Why Carbon Pricing Isnt Working, by Jeffrey Ball, a former energy reporter at The Wall Street Journal. Christiana Figueres, a Costa Rican who spent six years as the top United Nations climate official, told me: An economist would probably argue that the most efficient way to reduce greenhouse gases is to put a price on carbon. But efficient is not always what can be attained from a political perspective. I would rather move now on what we can do than wait for economists perfection. When I began writing columns in The Times about climate policy more than a decade ago, I, too, was strongly in favor of carbon pricing as the best strategy for attacking climate change. But two big things have changed since then. The financial crisis and its aftermath intensified many families economic problems. Income growth has since been sluggish. Amazingly, the wealth of the median American household has fallen 30 percent since 2007, according to the most recent Federal Reserve data, making higher energy costs an even harder sell. The second change is political. A decade ago, there was reason to think that carbon pricing could be bipartisan. It borrows from the best traditions of liberalism and conservatism by using the government to address a failure of the private market while still relying on that market. President George H.W. Bushs administration used a pricing scheme to solve the problem of acid rain. John McCain favored such a carbon scheme. Today, however, the Republican Party has become radicalized. It opposes once-bipartisan ideas as a matter of course: an assault-weapons ban, Obamacare (which was shaped by ideas from the Heritage Foundation and Mitt Romney) and virtually any effort to slow climate change. The G.O.P.s radical turn means that climate activists can no longer search for a compromise between the two parties, in the hope that their leaders will try to sell it to skeptical voters. Republicans have made clear that they will instead stoke the skepticism for their own ends. Doing so pleases the oil and coal industries, which are generous campaign donors. It also helps win elections. To a lesser degree, the conservative parties in Australia and Canada are mimicking this strategy. In response, climate activists are realizing that they instead need to find policies that are popular enough to survive the inevitable attacks on them. The whole question with climate is, Whats your theory of political change? Tom Steyer, the billionaire hedge-fund manager and Democratic political donor, told me recently. We met for lunch at a cafe on Capitol Hill, ostensibly to talk about the issue for which he has become famous advocating President Trumps impeachment. But the environment was Steyers first political focus, and we spent most of the lunch discussing it. In 2017, not long after Trumps victory, NextGen America, Steyers climate-advocacy group, went looking for ways to make progress at the state level. With Trump in the White House, it was clear that the federal government would be moving in the wrong direction on environmental policy. NextGen officials decided to choose a few states where success might make a difference and send a political signal. We wanted to try to get some wins that werent in very liberal, very Democratic places, said Jamison Foser, a senior adviser at NextGen. They ultimately settled on three states, none reliably blue: Arizona, Michigan and Nevada. In all three, NextGen and its allies worked to put an initiative on the ballot that would require local utilities to use much more renewable energy, like solar and wind. The proposed increases were big: Every state would need to more than double the share of its renewable energy by 2030. This kind of requirement is known as a performance standard, and it has a long history of success in many fields, reducing house fires, medical errors, deaths in car accidents and the use of lead paint and asbestos. On energy, California is a good case study. Its cap-and-trade program has been disappointing. Its performance standards have worked better. In 2005, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a moderate Republican, committed the state to reducing its carbon emissions to their 1990 level by 2020. He and state legislators later gave regulators the authority to require more clean-energy use by local utilities. This sort of mandate is not the most efficient way to reduce carbon emissions, as economists like to point out. It requires regulators to choose reasonable benchmarks for different companies or to set a uniform one that all must meet. Carbon pricing, if aggressive enough, encourages bigger reductions from companies that can cut their emissions more cheaply. But the downsides of performance standards are often exaggerated. Most Americans are surely happy to pay a small amount more for their homes, for instance, if their children no longer have to ingest lead paint. And the initial skepticism about Californias plan appears to have been misplaced. Critics predicted that the state wouldnt be able to meet its goal without hurting its economy. They were wrong: The state met its goal four years early, by 2016. The costs to consumers were modest and hard to notice. John Podesta told me he considered Californias approach a model for future federal action. The key political advantage is that performance standards focus voters on the end goal, rather than on the technocratic mechanism for achieving it. Carbon pricing puts attention on the mechanism, be it a dreaded tax or a byzantine cap-and-trade system. Mechanisms dont inspire people. Mechanisms are easy to caricature as big-government bureaucracy. Think about the debate over Obamacare: When the focus was on mechanisms insurance mandates, insurance exchanges and the like the law was not popular. When the focus shifted to basic principles Do sick people deserve health insurance? the law became much more so. Even some strong advocates of carbon pricing have come to see this point. Nathaniel Keohane, the head of the climate program at the Environmental Defense Fund, which helped design the original cap-and-trade program for acid rain, puts it this way: If were going to succeed on climate policy, it will be by giving people a vision of whats in it for them, a positive vision of how it matters for their life and their kids. Too often in the past, he said, climate activists failed to do that. We really led with, and let us ourselves be defined by, the policy mechanism rather than the outcome we were striving for. You need to be able to inspire people. In Arizona, Michigan and Nevada, Steyers group was trying to put a simple question in front of voters: Should their state use more clean energy? According to the polls that Foser and his NextGen colleagues studied, as many as 80 percent of Americans say yes to that question. This framing is crucial. When voters think about clean energy rather than climate change, some of the usual partisan patterns break down. Even many Republican voters support clean energy. In Michigan, the recently departed Republican governor, Rick Snyder, helped negotiate a 2016 deal that created performance standards for utilities. After signing the bill, he claimed it would reduce energy costs. The Michigan ballot initiatives goal was to make the 2016 law more ambitious. And the politics looked so favorable that the two largest utilities basically dropped their opposition. Months before Election Day, they pre-emptively agreed to increase their renewables share to 25 percent by 2030. It wasnt quite the 30 percent level in the initiative, but it avoided the risk of defeat and let activists focus elsewhere. The activists took the deal and canceled the initiative. In Nevada, the measure did get on the ballot, and the campaign in favor of it has some lessons for winning future fights. The messages were simple and powerful. They focused on the immediate benefits from clean-energy use, like fewer health problems, lower medical costs and more jobs that pay well. As Steyer said to me, If you dont talk about health issues and jobs, then youve got nothing to talk about. In one ad, a white-coat-clad doctor in Carson City describes the damage air pollution does to the lungs and brains of her patients in northern Nevada. Its just a disaster, health-wise, she says. In another ad, a woman named Jennifer Cantley becomes teary-eyed when talking about having to check the air quality each day before letting her son, who has asthma, go outside to play with his friends. This approach does not eliminate opposition. A conservative coalition ran a campaign against the measure, claiming that it would increase energy costs. But the states largest utility, NV Energy, mostly stayed out of the fight. It will still be able to earn big profits from renewable energy, albeit probably not quite as big. In the end, the initiative passed, 59 percent to 41 percent. The story in Arizona was very different. The utility there, Arizona Public Service, is powerful and aggressive, and it fought hard against the initiative. Crucially, the office of the states attorney general, who has received campaign donations from the utility, added five words to the ballot question: irrespective of cost to consumers. They basically placed an ad against the measure in the measure, Steyer said. It failed to pass, 69 percent to 31 percent. That loss shows that there are no guaranteed formulas for success in climate politics. If the oil and coal industries decide to fight, they can expend a lot of money and power. But the experiences in Arizona, Michigan and Nevada not to mention California at least clarify the political dynamics. When the debate is about the cost of living, climate activists are in trouble. When its about clean energy or peoples health, they have a much better chance. The highest-profile current attempt to redefine climate policy is the Green New Deal. In February, two Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the House and Ed Markey in the Senate released a 14-page resolution calling for a huge federal effort to fight climate change. The Green New Deal, as the name suggests, is essentially a program to create good jobs and simultaneously expand the use of clean energy, mostly through federal spending and performance standards. The resolution quickly became a symbol of the Democratic Partys insurgent progressives, attracting criticism from the right and the center. Some of the criticism was fair. The resolution is too vague to be rigorously analyzed; its a statement of principles, not a detailed policy. In places, the Green New Deal puts more emphasis on left-wing priorities than on fighting climate change. It mentions repairing historic oppression yet omits nuclear power. Still, the core idea in the Green New Deal is one shared by the left and the establishment center-left. (Remember that Markey, who is hardly a socialist, also had his name on the Obama-era cap-and-trade bill.) Even Nordhaus says, I laud the spirit of the Green New Deal. The idea also happens to be popular with the public, polls show. Most voters support clean energy and, after four decades of slow-growing living standards, also support federal action to create good jobs. Rhiana Gunn-Wright, a 29-year-old Rhodes scholar, works for the think tank New Consensus and helped design the Green New Deal. When I spoke with her, I was struck by her sense of political realism and how different it was from the old definition. For a long time, environmental activists have shown an almost compulsive and in many ways admirable honesty. They have chosen policies, like carbon taxes, that emphasize the downsides: Energy prices will rise. The Green New Deal and the recent clean-energy ballot initiatives do the reverse. They emphasize the benefits of clean energy and minimize the downsides. There is a lot of anxiety and uncertainty in America today, Gunn-Wright said. Any solution that is tied to tangible economic benefits is going to have a better chance of passing. The Green New Deal obviously cannot wish away the costs of replacing dirty energy. Government subsidies for clean energy require tax dollars, and performance standards for utilities will almost certainly cause prices to rise. But as the experience in California, among other places, has shown, a switch to cleaner energy is not as expensive as many people fear. The price of solar and wind power has fallen sharply in recent years and will most likely fall further. The problem with the failed carbon-pricing schemes of recent years has not been the actual price increases they would inflict on families but the perceived price increases. Either a carbon tax or a Green New Deal would impose manageable costs, but those incurred by the Green New Deal are likely to be less visible. And the potential benefits are large, as real-world examples attest. Other countries, especially Germany and China, have rapidly expanded their clean-energy production through public subsidies. The United States could do the same. When Washington has invested in nascent industries in the past, the return has been fantastic. The successes have easily paid for the failures. The internet, the pharmaceutical industry and fracking (its environmental impacts aside) are among many examples. In addition to research funding, a Green New Deal could also expand performance standards to sectors beyond utilities, like transportation. If the next president were able to sign an ambitious version of the Green New Deal, it would not be nearly enough to solve the climate crisis. The problem is enormous and global. But most scientists believe that a large reduction in carbon emissions over the next few decades could greatly reduce the destruction and a large reduction in emissions remains possible. And what about putting a price on carbon? To Nordhaus and some other economists, it remains the only policy powerful enough to be worth the effort. I understand where theyre coming from. Carbon pricing would affect every industry and every household. It would have cascading benefits, giving the private sector an incentive to invest more in clean energy. But recent history offers reason to be skeptical that focusing entirely on pricing would make its achievement any more likely. The better bet seems to be an all of the above approach: Organize a climate movement around meaningful policies with a reasonable chance of near-term success, but dont abandon the hope of carbon pricing. Most climate activists, including those skeptical of a carbon tax, agree about this. Gunn-Wright says she is open to a price on carbon. NextGens Foser says he thinks the next federal climate bill should err on the side of ambition. Podesta, who has spent as much time as anyone thinking about how to pass federal legislation on climate change, says he thinks a carbon price needs to be in a bill, so long as it isnt the focus. One option, he suggested, would be a carbon price that was both delayed until future years and initially low, increasing later. Such a price could still have a major effect on investments in clean energy, because those investments tend to be long-term. The sad truth is that climate politics are probably not going remain as they are today. The future will almost certainly bring increasing harm, through more extreme weather. Eventually, some Republican politicians, especially in coastal states, may be willing to break with party leaders on the issue. Eventually, Americans may decide to punish politicians who deny or play down climate change. By the time a price on carbon took effect, it might not be so unpopular anymore. But we cant wait for the politics to change to begin taking action. Ad Exchange. An ad trafficking system through which advertisers, publishers and networks meet and do business via a unified platform. An ad exchange allows advertisers and publishers to use the same technological platform, services and methods, and "speak the same language" in order to exchange data, set prices and ultimately serve an ad. More Ad Network. A company that serves as a broker between a group of publishers and a group of advertisers. Networks traditionally aggregate unsold inventory from publishers in order to offer advertisers a consolidated and generally less expensive pool of impressions, but they can have a wide variety of business models and clients. More Anonymization. The process by which data is altered so that it can no longer be traced back to an individual. Data is anonymized through three primary ways. Suppression removes some identifying values to reduce the data's identifiability. Generalization takes specific identifying values and makes them broader, such as changing a specific age like 18 to a range like 18 to 24. Noise addition switches identifying values of one individual with those from another individual. More Artificial Intelligence. A broad term used to describe a process in which machines learn from experience and potentially perform tasks previously done by humans. It is also a field of computer science dedicated to simulating intelligent behavior in computers. More Authentication. The process by which an entity (such as a person or computer system) determines whether another entity is who it claims to be. More Automated Processing. A processing operation performed without any human intervention. More Behavioral Advertising. Advertising targeted at individuals based on the observation of their behavior over time. Most often done via automated processing of personal data or profiling. More Big Data. Large data sets that have become feasible to create because of an exponential growth in the amount and availability of data. Big data is defined by the three Vs": volume (the amount of data), velocity (the speed at which data may now be collected and analyzed), and variety (the format and type of data -- for example, transactional or behavioral). More Biometrics. Data concerning the intrinsic physical or behavioral characteristics of an individual. Examples include DNA, fingerprints, retina and iris patterns, voice, face, handwriting, keystroke technique and gait. More Breach Notification. The requirement that an organization notify regulators and/or victims when the confidentiality and security of personal data has been compromised. This transparency mechanism helps mitigate damage and aids in determining the cause of the breach. More Bring Your Own Device. Use of employees own personal computing devices for work purposes. More California Consumer Privacy Act. The first state-level online privacy law in the United States.The law will give consumers more control and insight into the ways their personal data is used by companies. Consumers will have the right to see their personal data, request its deletion, opt out of its sale, and the right to equal services regardless of whether they exercise their rights under the law. More Chief Privacy Officer. A position within an organization responsible for managing risks of privacy laws and policies. More Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. A federal law that requires companies to obtain explicit, verifiable permission from parents before collecting, using or disclosing personal information from children under 13 or targeting them with behavioral ads. More Cloud Computing. Computing power provided over the Internet. Cloud computing has numerous service models and applications, from personal webmail to corporate data storage. More Consent. An individual's way of giving permission for the use or disclosure of information. Affirmative consent means the individual actively opted in. Implied consent means the individual did not opt out. More Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A government agency created to consolidate oversight of the financial industry. It has the authority to take action against abusive acts and practices as specified by the Dodd-Frank Act. More Cookie. A small file stored by a website on computers that allows companies to track browser activity, remember user preferences and keep users logged in for subsequent sessions. First-party cookies are placed by the website that is visited, while third-party cookies are placed by a party other than the visited website. More Court of Justice of the European Union. The judicial body of the European Union that decides issues of E.U. law and enforces decisions. More Cross-Border Data Transfers. The transmission of personal information from one jurisdiction to another. Many jurisdictions, notably the E.U., place significant restrictions on these transfers. More Data Breach. The unauthorized acquisition of data that compromises the security, confidentiality or integrity of personal information maintained by a data collector. More Data Broker. Entities that collect, aggregate and sell individuals personal data, derivatives and inferences from disparate public and private sources. More Data Controller. The people, authorities, agencies or other bodies that determine how and why personal data is permitted. More Data Minimization Principle. The idea that one should only collect and retain personal data that is necessary. More Data Portability. The idea that in certain circumstances, people have the right to receive a copy of their personal data from one entity and transfer that data to another entity. More Data Processing. Any operation performed on personal data, including collection, recording, organization, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, erasure and destruction. More Data Protection. The rules applying under various laws and regulations to personal data that organizations collect, store, use and disclose. Data protection is the professional term used in the European Union, whereas in the United States, the concept is generally referred to as information privacy. This is different from data security, since it extends beyond securing information to devising and instituting policies for its fair use. More Data Protection Authority. Independent public authorities that supervise the application of data protection laws in the European Union. They provide advice on data protection issues and field complaints from individuals alleging violations of the General Data Protection Regulation. Each E.U. member state has its own data protection authority. Under the General Data Protection Regulation, the authorities have extensive enforcement powers, including the ability to impose fines that total 4 percent of a companys global annual revenue. More Data Protection by Design. An approach to designing any application, service or product that considers the right to data protection. More Data Protection Officer. Under the General Data Protection Regulation, certain organizations are obligated to designate an officer who is responsible for ensuring compliance with data protection laws. More Data Subject. An identified or identifiable natural person. More De-identification. An action taken to remove identifying characteristics from data. More Digital Fingerprinting. The use of log files to identify a website visitor. It is often used for security and system maintenance purposes. Log files generally include the IP address of the visitor; a time stamp; the URL of the requested page or file; a referrer URL; and the visitors web browser, operating system and font preferences. In some cases, combining this information can be used to fingerprint a device. More E.U.-U.S. Privacy Shield. Created in 2016 to replace the invalidated Safe Harbor agreement, the Privacy Shield is an adequacy agreement that allows for the transfer of personal data from the E.U. to the United States for companies participating in the program. Only those companies that fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission may certify to the Shield principles and participate, which notably excludes health care, financial services and nonprofit institutions. More Encryption. The process of obscuring information, often through the use of a cryptographic scheme, in order to make the information unreadable without special knowledge. More ePrivacy Directive. A privacy directive for European Union Member States, which applies to the digital industry. Among other provisions, the ePrivacy Directive requires websites to obtain consent before placing cookies for marketing purposes. The E.U. is considering changing the directive. More European Data Protection Board. An independent public authority responsible for monitoring the application of the General Data Protection Regulation in order to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons in relation to processing and to facilitate the free flow of personal data within the E.U. More Fair Credit Reporting Act. One of the oldest federal privacy laws still in force today. It was enacted in 1970 to mandate accurate and relevant data collection, give consumers the ability to see and correct their information, and limit the use of consumer reports to purposes like employment and extension of credit or insurance. More Fair Information Practice Principles. A set of unenforced principles set forth by the Federal Trade Commission for collecting data in a consumer-privacy-friendly manner. The principles recommend that personal data collection be limited, relevant, specified and reasonably secured. The principles also advocate an individual's right to see personal data and the right to have data deleted or amended. More Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. A law that establishes requirements regarding the privacy protection of student educational records. It applies to all academic institutions that receive funds under applicable . Department of Education programs. The law gives parents and eligible students certain rights with respect to the student's education records. More Federal Trade Commission. The United States' primary consumer protection agency, the F.T.C. collects complaints about companies, business practices and identity theft under the F.T.C. Act and other laws. The agency brings actions under Section 5 of the F.T.C. Act, which prohibits unfair and deceptive trade practices. More First-Party Data. Data collected directly from individuals. More General Data Protection Regulation. The General Data Protection Regulation replaced the Data Protection Directive in 2018. Its aim is to provide one set of data protection rules for all E.U. member states and the European Economic Area. More Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. The commonly used name for the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999. It requires financial institutions to securely store personal financial information, give notice of their policies regarding the sharing of personal financial information, and give consumers the ability to opt out of some sharing of personal financial information. More Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act. Enacted in 2009, the act introduced monetary penalties for failing to protect the privacy and security of personal health information as defined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. More Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. A federal law to create national standards for electronic healthcare transactions. The basic rule is that patients have to opt in before their information can be shared with other organizations, although there are exceptions such for treatment, payment and health care operations. More Information Privacy. The claim of individuals, groups or institutions to determine for themselves when, how and to what extent information about them is communicated to others. More Information Security. The protection of information for the purposes of preventing loss, unauthorized access and misuse. It is also the process of assessing threats and risks to information and the procedures and controls to preserve confidentiality, integrity and availability of information. More Location Data. Data indicating the geographical position of a device, including data relating to its latitude, longitude and altitude, the direction of travel of the use and the time the location information was recorded. More Machine Learning. A subfield of artificial intelligence, machine learning is a problem-solving technique that trains a computer to identify new patterns. It uses various algorithms in a problem-solving process that includes data cleansing, feature selection, training, testing, and validation. Companies and government agencies increasingly deploy machine learning algorithms for tasks such as fraud detection, speech recognition and image classification. More One-Stop Shop. A colloquial description of the E.U.s General Data Protection Regulations consistency mechanism that allows a specific data protection authority to function as a businesss single point of contact or lead supervisory authority for a complaint or investigation.This saves businesses from the need to potentially engage with the various authorities from the 28 E.U. member states. More Opt In. One of two central concepts of choice (the other is opt out). It means an individual makes an active affirmative indication of choice by, for example, checking a box signaling a desire to share his or her information with third parties. More Opt Out. One of two central concepts of choice (the other, opt in). It means an individuals lack of action implies that a choice has been made; unless, say, an individual checks or unchecks a box, his or her information will be shared with third parties. More Passive Data Collection. Data collection in which information is gathered automatically, often without the end users knowledge, as the user navigates from page to page on a website. This is typically accomplished through the use of cookies, web beacons or other types of identification mechanisms. More Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. A self-regulatory system that provides an enforceable security standard for payment card data. The rules were drafted by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council, which built on previous rules written by the various credit card companies. More Personal Data. The common term for personal information in the European Union, defined broadly in the General Data Protection Regulation as any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. More Personal Information. A synonym for "personal data." It is a term with particular meaning under the California Consumer Privacy Act, which defines it as information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer. More Personally Identifiable Information. Any information about an individual, including any information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individuals identity, such as name, Social Security number, date and place of birth, mothers maiden name or biometric records; and any other information that is linkable to an individual, such as medical, educational, financial and employment information. More Pre-emption. A superior governments ability to have its laws supersede those of an inferior government. For example, the federal government has mandated that no state government can regulate consumer credit reporting. More Privacy by Design. Generally regarded as a synonym for data protection by design. However, privacy by design as a specific term was first outlined in a framework in the mid-1990s by the information and privacy commissioner of Ontario, Canada, Ann Cavoukian, with seven foundational principles. More Privacy Policy. A statement that governs an organization or entitys handling of personal information. It is directed at those members of the organization who might handle or make decisions regarding the personal information, instructing them on the collection, use, storage and destruction of the data, as well as any specific rights the data subjects may have. May also be referred to as a data protection policy. More Private Right of Action. Unless otherwise restricted by law, any individual who is harmed by a violation of the law can file a lawsuit against the violator. More Profiling. Any form of automated processing of personal data consisting of the use of personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects, in particular to analyze or predict aspects concerning that person's performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behavior, location or movements. More Protected Health Information. Any individually identifiable health information transmitted or maintained by an entity covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. More Pseudonymization. The processing of personal data in such a manner that the personal data can no longer be attributed to an individual without the use of additional information. More Re-identification. The action of reattaching identifying characteristics to pseudonymized or de-identified data. Often invoked as a risk of re-identification or re-identification risk, which refers to nullifying the de-identification actions previously applied to data. More Red Flags Rule. A regulation created by the Federal Trade Commission under the authority of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003. This regulation requires financial institutions and creditors to institute measures to detect and prevent identity theft. More Retargeting. A type of online advertising where visitors to a website are targeted with ads related to that website as they browse elsewhere. The most common form of retargeting is a digital advertising network, which displays advertisements to a user related to a website previously visited by the user across all third-party websites in a network. More Right of Access. An individuals right to request and receive personal data from a business or other organization. More Right to Be Forgotten. An individuals right to have personal data deleted by a business or other organization possessing or controlling that data. More Right to Deletion. An individuals right to have personal data deleted by a business or other organization possessing or controlling that data. More Right to No Sale. An individuals right to prohibit or restrict the transfer of information for value from a business to a third party. More Right to Object. An individuals right to object to the processing of personal data by a business or other organization. An entity is obligated to review an individuals objection and respond to it. More Right to Rectification. An individuals right to have personal data corrected or amended by a business or other organization if it is inaccurate. More Right to Restriction of Processing. An individuals right to limit or prohibit a business or other organization from processing personal data. More Secret Key Encryption. A type of encryption requiring the key to remain protected and undisclosed. More Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Section 5(a) of the F.T.C. Act empowers the agency to enforce against unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce. Over the past two decades, the F.T.C. has used this authority extensively to hold businesses to fair and transparent privacy and security standards. More Supervisory Authority. An independent public authority established by an E.U. member state responsible for monitoring the application of the General Data Protection Regulation. More Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The first laws limiting unsolicited and automated telemarketing for both telephone and fax communications. Most notably the act creates a private right of action for those receiving unsolicited faxes, carrying a $500 fine per violation and any damages sustained because of the fax. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act also allows the Federal Communications Commission to make further regulations in this area. More Third-Party Data. Data acquired from a source, instead of directly from the subject of the data. More Tracking Pixel. Also known as clear GIFs or pixel tags, a tracking pixel is typically a one-pixel, transparent image that records when a user has visited a web page or opened an email. It is often used in conjunction with a web cookie. Some sort of notice of use is important because the clear pixel of a web beacon is quite literally invisible to the end user. More Transparency. Taking appropriate measures to provide any information relating to processing to the data subject in a concise, intelligible and easily accessible form, using clear and plain language. More Vendor Management. Assessment of a third-party vendor for the vendors privacy and information security policies, access controls, where the personal information will be held and who has access to it. Security questionnaires, privacy impact assessments and other checklists can be used to assess this risk. More America Great art has always emerged from tumultuous times. This isnt to say that peaceful eras (if there really are such things) inspire lesser or tepid art, but what is undeniable is that art thrives on unrest. T's Culture issue, on newsstands April 14, pays tribute to the artists inability to unquestioningly accept the society in which she lives. For it, we asked 15 playwrights to imagine America five years into the future in 2024. Below, read original works, arranged in four thematic chapters, by the playwrights Jocelyn Bioh, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Jeremy O. Harris, Naomi Iizuka, Michael R. Jackson, Patricia Ione Lloyd, Ted Malawer, Mona Mansour, Terrence McNally, Lynn Nottage, Adam Rapp, Paul Rudnick, Nassim Soleimanpour, Celine Song and Sharr White. Its not a coincidence that we chose theater as the form of literature that best expressed the anxieties and hopes of the moment. As McNally, to whom this issue also pays tribute, tells Philip Galanes in their conversation, If you want to change minds, write a great editorial for the Op-Ed page. But if you want to get people to feel differently, reach them through the theater. Alongside six of the plays youll find videos in which actors including Nathan Lane, Kerry Washington and John Lithgow perform the works, as well as a short film adaptation of South Platte by Sharr White. Finally, to accompany Galaness interview with McNally, the filmmaker Cheryl Dunn shot a short documentary about the great American writer. Read more about the making of the issue. Down by the Creek A shack in the middle of rural Arkansas. An evening in the summer of 2024. BILLY, a chubby white boy in his 20s, is sitting on a chair, wearing a blue smock and holding an old mirror to his face. DARCY, a freckled red-haired white woman in her 40s, is cutting his hair. Two men, DON and YEMENI, are speaking outside. A skinny beige dog is with them in the yard. BILLY Wheres Don? DARCY Dang it, Billy! Dont move! BILLY Don! Don! Why aint he lookin at me? DARCY Because hes busy. Now can you put your head down for me? Ah, Billy! Cant do this if you keep moving. BILLY Dons talking to Yemeni! Yo! Yemeni! Yemeni! Look, Darcy! Theyre waving at us! DARCY Yeah. Now put your head down, Billy! Please! BILLY He lives in Lawrence. DARCY I thought hes from Yemen! BILLY No, Khaleesi! No! Hes peein on my tire. DARCY Hes a dog, Billy! Dogs pee everywhere! BILLY Yeah! But thats my tire. DARCY You know Khaleesi was a woman, right? Who picked that name? You or Don? BILLY Dont pee on the lamps, Khaleesi! Youll get electrocuted! DARCY Have you ever watched Game of Thrones? BILLY Whats that? DARCY Its on HBO. BILLY Yeah? Don promised me to let me be on his podcast tomorrow! An Empty House Remnants of an abandoned community in the Arkansas Delta captured by the photographer Eugene Richards. Eugene Richards Same evening. BILLY is outside with Khaleesi. DARCY and DON, a white male in his early 40s, are chatting inside. DARCY Then what? DON I cant afford to take care of him anymore! Yemeni set it all up. DARCY Right! The Craigslist guys! DON This guy is legit. Its a legit hospital. Theyll pay for everything! DARCY The kid is slow, Don! You know that! DON Billys no kid. Hes 24. DARCY You cant do this! What kind of brother would you be? DON I want to keep helping him but I cant. DARCY Cause youre using again! DON Im not! DARCY Youre gonna get him killed! DON The kids dumb but hes strong. Hell pull through. DARCY You should go. DON Yeah? DARCY You still owe me 50 bucks! DON Next week! Need it for the studio tomorrow! DARCY You call that dump a studio? DON Well it gets the job done. DARCY Youre hopped up! I cant do this again! DON Im not! Im trying to make money to get us out of this hole! DARCY Grow up, Don! Youre 41! DON Seventy-eight subscriptions in a month, Darcy! People pay to hear about this S-town! Eugene Richards Next morning. DON and BILLY are in JOHNs studio, an abandoned cotton gin with an old computer, a fan and a microphone. JOHN is a 50-year-old white man whos wearing Coke-bottle glasses and an old red ball cap. JOHN O.K.! Recording! Ready? Three, two, one! Go! DON Yo! This is Don Henderson from Ogden, Arkansas, and youre listening to Down by the Creek, my podcast about the S-life in the United S-States of America! Thank you all for tunin in. Its been a wild month in foreign policy. As always, weve got my pal John Dominican on the recordin. And my special guest of the day is Billy William, one of the loca BILLY Billy Henderson! My names Billy Henderson! DON Ah! John, can you cut it for a second? Appreciate that! Billy! We talked about this. You cant be a Henderson today because people would know youre my brother, right? BILLY But I am your brother! Besides, I dont like to be called William. Thats why everyone called me Billy in the first place, remember? JOHN You can leave it, Don. I can edit it out. Eugene Richards DON Youre a savior, man! Appreciate that! JOHN O.K.! Ready? Three, two, one. DON The Secretary of State visited Iran last week! Voila! The axis of evil, as George W. said. The king or mullahs, theres no difference. The problem is youre using our money to help these people! Why are we funding this, huh? Why would Yemeni, a Muslim, come to the U.S. of A. and study to be a doctor with the taxes Ive been payin? And guess what? He aint never finished! Yeah! Because he ran out of money or whatever! So, now why would the government let him stay here if hes not going to school anymore? Why should he get to live on my parents land? Why should he get to eat my bread? Why should he get to steal my job? BILLY (Cheers excitedly.) Yeah! DON (Gives Billy a side-eye glare for a few seconds and then whispers into the microphone.) Why would I let you take my guns and kill my son? Why would I let you come and take over my S-town? JOHN Awesome! I say we cut to some Toby Keith here and then cut back to your talk. Eugene Richards Later the same day. DON and BILLY are meeting with YEMENI in his auto shop. YEMENI is a skinny Middle Eastern man in his 60s. YEMENI Travel bans! We all need this money. Im telling you! I should take my family out of Yemen! DON Billy here is my family. A deal is a deal, man. Otherwise, Billy wont let you do that. Am I right, Billy? Can he do that? BILLY (Looks at a water tower outside of the window.) You think I could climb that? YEMENI Theyre dropping bombs all over Yemen! DON DemocRATS! YEMENI Democrats or Republicans, theyre all the same for Yemen. DON You bet they are! YEMENI Look, Don! The guy whos hooking us up, I know him from the university. This family is happy to pay us in cash. DON Thirty grand. No discount! Otherwise, Billy and I walk out. YEMENI Ill see what I can do. My cut is still 25 percent. You O.K. with that? DON Seven grand! YEMENI Seventy-five hundred! And he cant say nonsense like that! DON When are we gonna do this? YEMENI Let me call them. The whole thing might take a few days. DON Lets do it! Me and Billy have big plans for the podcast, right? Eugene Richards Night. BILLY and DON in the shack. DON is putting meth in his pipe. BILLY Darcys gonna be pissed when she finds out. DON Darcy is always pissed. Never let a woman fall in love with you, you hear that? BILLY What happens when you love someone? DON (Taps the pipe gently.) Nothin. BILLY Do you love Darcy? DON No! BILLY What about Shannon? Did you love her? DON What about Shannon, Billy? How many times have I told you not to ask me about that? Hand me that lighter. BILLY I liked Shannon! DON Shh (Inhales slowly.) Shh (Exhales and closes his eyes.) BILLY How long is it going to take? DON What? BILLY To take out my kidney. DON I dont know, man. BILLY (Stares at the heart he drew on the wall a few years back.) Will it hurt? Silence. DON I dont know, man. Probably not. Theyll give you drugs. You wont feel nothin. BILLY How can you feel nothing? DON Trust me. I cant feel nothing now. Just trust me, man! Nothin! Eugene Richards Morning. The day after. YEMENI and DON are meeting in a shanty. YEMENI Did they take him in? DON Yeah! YEMENI And he didnt talk. DON Nope. Signed all the papers. Hes fine. Hes in surgery now. YEMENI (Hands Don a packet.) Heres your cut. DON How much is it? YEMENI Fifteen grand. DON What? YEMENI Told you, man! They gave me only 20. Take it! Its still a lot. DON (Takes the packet.) I guess we cant get his kidney back. YEMENI You bet we cant. DON What are you gonna do now? YEMENI Going to Hooters. DON I guess Im going with you then. YEMENI Yeah? I thought youre heading back to the hospital. DON Nah, man! I cant. Darcys there. Shell take care of it. Eugene Richards The day after. Sun is rising in the scrap yard. BILLY is asleep. Khaleesi is sitting by his bed. DARCY checks on him and then comes out and sits next to DON, whos sitting on the stairs. DON Hows he doing? DARCY Burning up. I cant believe you did that to him. DON (Looks at the scraps in the yard.) Its crazy how everything can be stripped down. Parts just taken out. Sold to the highest bidder. DARCY Hes hallucinating. He said something strange: My kidney is my bread! Why would someone come and take it from me? DON Heres your 50 bucks. DARCY Thanks. Silence. DARCY I guess Im leavin you. DON Yeah? Silence. DON What is it with yall women in the South? Money comes in and yall walk right out. DARCY Moneys always a problem in the South. END OF PLAY A play created exclusively for T Magazine, read by McKenzie Frye, Michael Oloyede, Angelina Impellizzeri and Juan Castano. By Jordan Fuller Characters MARY: 30s, female, black, a doctor. SIMON: 30s, male, black, a lawyer. DANIEL: 30s, male, Latinx, a schoolteacher. DARK-SUITED WOMAN: Any age, any race. Setting A waiting room in America, 2024. A note from the playwright Both of my parents are from Ghana. I was born and raised in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. Im the youngest of three. One of my siblings is a doctor. One of my siblings works in administrative social work. I am an actor and a writer. Both of my siblings and I have masters degrees or higher from Ivy League and/or extremely competitive universities. We are Africans. We are Americans. We are not descendants of shithole countries. A doctor, MARY, dressed in her white coat, SIMON, a lawyer, dressed in a nice suit, and DANIEL, a schoolteacher and dressed as such, all sit in a waiting room. It could be a doctors office or the D.M.V. suffice to say its a boring office where some version of important work is getting done. MARY and SIMON are in the middle of catching up like old friends. MARY (Laughing.) Oh my God, she didnt!! SIMON She did! She marched right back in there and told that maitre d, Listen, and you can tell that piece of crap you call a chef that I have been to the Caspian Sea and know what good caviar tastes like! Whatever that trash was that you just served us is not even good enough for my dogs! And then she stomped out in the way that only Lexi can. MARY Wow. You see, this is why I miss working with her. She was never afraid to tell it like it is. SIMON Never. Thats why I married her. MARY Smart man. SIMON Oh, dont I know it. They laugh some more and settle. DANIEL, who is sitting quietly and going through a large stack of papers, most likely grading them, continues to work, annoyed at MARY and SIMON, though they are oblivious. MARY Well, please tell her I said hello. Actually, let me put in my reminders to call her. We are long overdue for a lunch. SIMON Yeah, I bet. How are things going with the new hospital? Its a womens center right? MARY Yes, right downtown, and its going great, thank you. We just hired a great team, an amazing group of doctors, and its a public center, which has been great for the community. SIMON O.K., New Amsterdam. MARY Ha! Not quite, but were trying. That first day we opened, we had so many people flooding in. SIMON Well, when you offer free services, Im not surprised. MARY Ugh, so sad that it is so scarce these days. SIMON Please, dont get me started. MARY Yeah so its going well. Im exhausted, but Im happy. SIMON You got a vacation coming up? MARY Well, I was going to go take the month off and head to Nigeria. SIMON Oh, thatll be nice. MARY I was thinking of splitting my time at this beach resort I love SIMON Nice MARY Yeah, for like two weeks and then going to see my mom since she retired and moved back. SIMON Oh, right. Shed love that. MARY But well see. Now that I have to deal with all of this nonsense, who knows. (Looks at watch.) And they are taking forever, too. SIMON Ugh, I know. But Lexi has a friend who had her meeting last week and she told me the wait was long but the meeting itself took only a few minutes and she was done she was back at work by the end of the day. MARY Thats good to hear. Though my only pressing engagement today is my 6 p.m. mani-pedi. One of the four covers of Ts April 14 Culture issue. From left: McKenzie Frye, Juan Castano, Michael Oloyede and Angelina Impellizzeri. Todd Hido They laugh again and settle. Beat. DANIEL rolls his eyes and clears his throat in a do you mind?! kind of way. MARY notices and lowers her voice a bit. MARY Ugh, can you believe we have to even do this? SIMON So stupid MARY Soooo stupid. But what should we expect? This place has been upside down for so long, I dont even remember what it was like on the other side. SIMON The good ol days. MARY Exactly. Well, hopefully this will be quick. Ive heard its hard to tell who they are targeting. SIMON Same. MARY Lexis friend. Where's her family from? SIMON Croatia. MARY Ugh, beautiful country. SIMON Ive heard! Never been. MARY Oh, Si, you have to go. Its incredible. Carl and I took the kids on a yacht through there last year, it was amazing. And so cheap! Only 25 for two weeks. SIMON What?! Thats insane. MARY I know! We couldnt believe it. DANIEL scoffs. This time both MARY and SIMON notice as DANIEL makes a big show of taking out his headphones, turning them on, searching for something to listen to and then settling back into his hard work of grading papers as he turns his body he doesnt even want the sight of MARY and SIMON in his periphery. It is pretty dramatic. Beat. MARY and SIMON look at each other like, What the hell? and then quietly snicker. SIMON Oooohhhhh-kay. MARY Right. Like we werent even that loud. SIMON (Eye roll.) Whatever. As we were saying Just then, a WOMAN IN A DARK SUIT with an official-looking government badge on her lapel opens the door, holding a clipboard. She crosses a name off her list and then moves on to the next one. DARK-SUITED WOMAN (Reading name off her clipboard.) Uh Simon Saint-Germain? SIMON Yes? DARK-SUITED WOMAN Is that you, sir? SIMON Yes it is. DARK-SUITED WOMAN Do you have all of your paperwork filled out and appropriate IDs as requested? SIMON Yes. I have it all here. DARK-SUITED WOMAN May I have it, please? SIMON hands her the paperwork. She quickly thumbs through it and seems satisfied with everything. DARK-SUITED WOMAN Thank you. Follow me, sir. SIMON Sure. (Turns to wave to Mary.) Ill talk to you later. MARY Yeah, Ill see you in a few minutes, or if not, then when Carl and I come over for dinner or something. SIMON Yes, of course. Wed love that. Text me or Lexi DARK-SUITED WOMAN Mr. Saint-Germain. Please. SIMON (To Mary, rushed.) O.K. Ill talk to you later MARY Go. Go. Go. Ill text you! Castano (recently in Transfers) reads through the Waiting Room script. Nina Westervelt The DARK-SUITED WOMAN slams the door shut before SIMON and MARY have made their proper goodbye. Rude. Beat. MARY takes out her phone and goes through her email, trying to kill time, but shes up-to-date on everything. She looks around the office, but theres nothing to see. Except for DANIEL, who has returned to his paper grading. MARY observes him finishing his edits on a paper and adding it to a pile. MARY So, what subject do you teach? DANIEL doesnt respond. She then waves to get his attention. DANIEL, annoyed, removes his headphones. DANIEL Yes? MARY Oh, I was just asking what subject you teach? DANIEL English. MARY Oh, thats awesome. I loved English. DANIEL (Feigned niceness.) Great. DANIEL is about to put his headphones back on but is interrupted. MARY What grade? DANIEL Huh? MARY What, uh, grade, you know, do you teach? DANIEL Eleventh and 12th. MARY Oh, teenagers. Brave man. MARY chuckles at her little joke. DANIEL does not. DANIEL Theyre actually pretty great kids. MARY Ah, prep school? DANIEL (Stifles the urge to check her.) No. Public. MARY (Surprised.) Oh! Well, thats really great then. DANIEL Yeah. Small beat. DANIEL holds off on putting his headphones back on in case MARY still has more to say. She does. MARY I used to love English class. All the short stories and novels we got to read. All the essays we had to write. I was pretty good at writing, actually if I do say so myself. DANIEL Cool. MARY Is uh, that what youre grading now? DANIEL Uh, yeah. Some personal essays. Responding to something or someone thats weighing on their hearts and minds. MARY That sounds amazing. Therapeutic for a lot of them, Im sure. DANIEL Yeah. I mean, I hope so. MARY (Laughs.) Are they all about their boyfriends and girlfriends? How their little hearts are broken from unrequited love? DANIEL (Not amused.) No, actually. They are personal narratives about what it has been like seeing their families and communities torn apart by the BCR Act. MARY feels stupid. MARY Oh. DANIEL Yeah. Small beat. MARY Well, Im sure it must be hard for a lot of these kids. Coming from (Searching for the right words.) Their socioeconomic background and you know. DANIEL (Is she serious?) Ummm I dont know what that has to do with it. Im a teacher. Youre a doctor. And I dont know what your little richie-rich friend who just went in there does, but none of that matters. Were all still sitting here waiting to see if weve contributed enough to this country to keep our constitutional right to our citizenship. So I dont know what my students social status matters. MARY Whoa O.K. I wasnt trying to start anything. Im just saying, there have been tons of articles written that show that the Birthright Citizenship Reform has mainly affected people who come from lower income households. You know, people who, they you know, deem as not the biggest contributors to the country. You and I and my dear friend Simon in there who is a lawyer, by the way we clearly are not in that category. But we have to go through the motions. It cant look that rigged. It would just be unfair. DANIEL Oh, thats what you think? You think these people are not worried about the four million children born to black and brown immigrant parents every year? You think these people want me to be their kids teacher? Or you their doctor? Or Simon defending them in court? Wake up, sis. Its real out here. And your little womens hospital and your $20,000 yachts aint saving you from a damn thing! This is the America we were born into. Whether youre just discovering its ugly side or not. Small beat. MARY is extremely offended. MARY Wow. You know what? Clearly, Ive made you upset and Im sorry. Forgive me for trying to hold a decent conversation. (To herself.) My goodness. DANIEL rolls his eyes and tries to return to grading his papers, but hes clearly very annoyed at everything especially MARY. They both sit in silence for an uncomfortable beat. MARY And for the record this is not the America I was born into. I was raised to see this as a land of opportunity and that if you work and study hard, you can be anything you want to be. That there are endless possibilities out there for you Im sorry you dont see things that way. DANIEL Well, let me borrow your rose-colored glasses and I might. Oloyede (recently in Eco Village) and Frye (recently in Syncing Ink) take a brief break from running lines. Nina Westervelt The DARK-SUITED WOMAN opens the door with her clipboard, with the same menacing yet bored attitude she had moments ago. DARK-SUITED WOMAN (Reading and butchering the name.) Add Add Ebola? Whatisthis? Ugh, whatever, something Mary something Johnson? MARY Adeola Mary Shebu-Johnson. DARK-SUITED WOMAN Right. Is that you? MARY Thats me. You can call me Mary, if you like its easier. DARK-SUITED WOMAN Sure. Do you have all of your paperwork filled out and appropriate IDs as requested? MARY Yup. Here you go. DARK-SUITED WOMAN Thanks. MARY hands her the paperwork. She quickly thumbs through it as before and seems satisfied with everything. DARK-SUITED WOMAN Thank you. Follow me, maam. MARY Oh, just one second. Is my friend Simon still in there? DARK-SUITED WOMAN Uh, no, maam. MARY Ah, so he got cleared. Good then. DARK-SUITED WOMAN Uh, actually Hes been detained. MARY Im sorry, what? DARK-SUITED WOMAN Hes been taken in. MARY On what grounds? DARK-SUITED WOMAN Listen, I cant give you any more information unless you are related to him. Now, step inside, maam. MARY I want to know why hes been detained. I need to call his wife and let her know. The DARK-SUITED WOMAN snatches the phone from MARYs hand. DARK-SUITED WOMAN Maam. Inside. Now. MARY Excuse me! DARK-SUITED WOMAN Now. MARY is shocked but for the first time looks scared. She looks back to DANIEL, who also looks terrified, then turns back to the DARK-SUITED WOMAN and nods as she slowly walks into the room. The DARK-SUITED WOMAN slams the door again, startling DANIEL a bit. He sits there alone in the silence. He looks around, unsure of what to do. After a moment, he wipes a tear that has escaped from his eye as he picks up the next paper in his stack. DANIEL (Reading.) Its 2024 Is This Really America? by Jose De La Cruz. DANIEL sighs deeply and starts to read the paper. END OF PLAY McKENZIE FRYE wears a Boss coat, $695, and top, $895, hugoboss.com, and Alice & Olivia pants, $245, saks.com. JUAN CASTANO wears an Ermenegildo Zegna cardigan, $1,995, and pants, price on request, (212) 421-4488, Vince shirt, $195, vince.com, and stylists own belt. MICHAEL OLOYEDE wears a Z Zegna suit, $1,545, Ermenegildo Zegna shirt, $495, and Brunello Cucinelli tie, $225, brunellocucinelli.com. ANGELINA IMPELLIZZERI wears a Paul Smith jacket, $750, and pants, $395, paulsmith.com, and Boglioli polo, $400, (646) 870-8250. Cover photograph by Todd Hido. Styled by Tracey Nicholson. Hair by Marki Shkreli using Marki. Grooming by Yui Ishibashi using MAC Cosmetics. Set design by Colin King. Photographed at United Palace Theater. Digital tech: Michael OShea. Photo assistants: Jonathan Bumble and Paul Storey. Hair assistants: Yasu Nakamura, Natasha Taylor and Jenny Wimmerstedt. Makeup assistant: Evyta Soendoro. Stylists assistants: Sergio Mejia, Gabe Gutierrez and Susan Walsh. Tailoring: Martin Keen and Angie Bilotti. Andres Serranos Rat Poison Suicide (1992), from the series The Morgue. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York Characters BRIANNA: American, black, 22, with long dreadlocks. She is very pretty. She is barefoot and wearing a hospital gown. GRACE: American, Chinese, 55, gorgeous long black hair streaked with white. She is barefoot and wearing a hospital gown. SADIE: American, white, 35, seven months pregnant. Her skin has a beautiful glow from pregnancy. She is barefoot and wearing a hospital gown. TYLER: American, black, 28, a doctor, speaks with a Southern accent, in her first year of residency at the hospital. She is cute in a quirky way. WENDY: American, white, 30, a doctor in her last year of residency at the hospital. She looks like the girl next door type. Setting The year 2024 in Anytown, U.S.A. A sterile white room in a hospital. BRIANNA, GRACE and SADIE sit on the edge of exam tables. There is a large round clock on the wall that makes a ticking noise ticktock, ticktock. BRIANNA I hate it, I hate waiting. There must be something wrong with that clock, time is passing so slowly. GRACE Youre both probably too young to remember when hospitals had magazines you could look at while you were waiting. BRIANNA Magazines, like for real in print and not online? GRACE and SADIE smile at each other. SADIE Yeah, for real in print. BRIANNA (To Sadie and Grace.) Thats what happened to all the trees. Thanks a lot. The other women ignore her comment as they remember the good old days. GRACE plays with a strand of her dark hair streaked with white. SADIE rubs her pregnant belly. SADIE I remember, and the magazines were in waiting rooms. BRIANNA Waiting rooms? SADIE Rooms where everyone waited to see the doctor. GRACE Yes, that was nice, and when it was time to see the doctor youd be alone in the room, not with strangers. SADIE begins to cry. BRIANNA Hey dont cry, please dont cry. GRACE O.K., O.K., look, my name is Grace and this is BRIANNA My name is Brianna. GRACE Im here because I, well, I felt something in my breast a lump, I guess. BRIANNA Oh my God, are you O.K.? SADIE cries harder. BRIANNA (To distract Sadie.) And Im here because I have really painful periods, like really painful. Like some old people are doing a Civil War re-enactment in my uterus and they want the South to win and black people to still be slaves. (Pause.) So now we all know each other and were not strangers anymore. SADIE stops crying and looks incredulously at BRIANNA. She starts laughing. The other two women also laugh. SADIE My name is Sadie and Im here because, you could guess, the baby. Im sorry I was crying. Its silly, but I really miss magazines. BRIANNA Thats why you were crying? Over magazines? SADIE Yes. Its the hormones. GRACE (To Sadie.) You remind me of my partner you have the same smile. There was a mouse in our house and my partner wanted me to catch it before she gave birth to our baby. If we didnt catch that mouse she said we would have to move, and she was serious. I laid out a trap and caught the mouse. My partner found it first and burst into tears. I have to admit, it was a cute little thing, furry with big eyes. She was so worried about its little mouse family and what if something like that happened to our little family? BRIANNA Something like what? GRACE My partner was worried someone would lay a trap for us, too. SADIE Your partner? GRACE Yes. SADIE Like your business partner? GRACE No. BRIANNA Like youre queer, like your wifey partner? GRACE Yes. We waited too long to get married, and then gay marriage was made illegal. SADIE I wouldnt have thought you were gay. You dont look gay. Not that people have to look gay to be gay, whatever looking gay looks like anyway. BRIANNA Does the hospital know? SADIE I would never tell. BRIANNA Me neither, I would never tell. GRACE Its in my file. When they made us all register our sexual identities at the D.M.V. I didnt lie. Art by Sarah Crowner, photo by Weichia Huang An awkward silence. SADIE rubs her pregnant belly. BRIANNA studies her nails and stares at the clock. GRACE tells us her thoughts. The other women do not hear her. The ticktock, ticktock of the clock gets a little louder. GRACE One of the good things about being gay is that someone is always rubbing on your breasts. Lesbians love tits. She found it first a small, hard little bump. I told her it was nothing. She wanted to believe me but made me promise to go to a doctor. We always keep our promises to each other. Our sons kindergarten teacher called us in for a meeting. They said some of the parents didnt want their kids to play with him because were gay. We put Peter in a private school. Fifty-thousand dollars a year to eat snacks and nap. Money is tight. Most doctors dont take insurance anymore, not that anyone has it. The government shut down all of the Planned Parenthoods, so I couldnt get a breast examination there or a referral for a mammogram. Now there are these state womens health clinics. The night before my appointment at the state clinic, my partner and I made love, desperately drinking each other in. She still held onto me in her sleep. I hardly slept that night. I wanted to remember her before anything changed. I memorized the small of her back. The curve of her neck. In the morning, she woke me with soft kisses. With each kiss she said, A promise is a promise is a promise. At the state clinic, I filled out the form and gave them my drivers license. I was told they couldnt see me based on a moral objection to homosexuality. Thats how I ended up here. Theyll take anybody. This place is the worst. I was going to leave, but then I saw Sadie all alone and I stayed. GRACE glances at SADIE, SADIE sees her, GRACE looks away. We hear SADIEs thoughts, no one else does. The ticktock, ticktock of the clock gets a little louder. SADIE My baby knows my heartbeat and I know hers in a way that no one else ever will. I love being pregnant. I have been dreaming a lot more. I guess that makes sense because Ive been sleeping a lot more. I dreamt I was in a bathtub of mashed potatoes and the bar of soap was butter that was amazing. I dreamt I was having sex with my college boyfriend also amazing, but not bathtub-of-mashed-potatoes amazing. I dreamt that my husband was having an affair and I woke up pissed off and cussed him out. He told me he wasnt cheating on me which was true and how beautiful I am. He is a good man. The thing about these dreams is that Id move my arm in my dream and Id feel my baby move her arm, or Id walk in my dream and Id feel my baby kick. Like she was dreaming my dream with me. People said it was my imagination, but I knew they were wrong. My baby and I, we dream together and in color. One night I was dreaming with my baby, but it was her dream not mine. I was swimming. The waters werent blue, they were pink and silver and so warm. Maybe I wasnt swimming, maybe I was flying, flying and swimming. I was inside my own womb with my baby, dreaming. I have never felt so safe and loved in my entire life. It was a place youd never want to leave. It felt so real. Then the waters turned cold and rough and shook us back and forth. It became harder and harder to breathe. I heard this little voice say, Mommy, Mommy, help me. Oh God, it was my baby. I woke up gasping for breath. I didnt tell anyone. I knew no one would believe me. I called the state clinic as soon as they opened to get an appointment. I wasnt spotting so they wouldnt see me. They told me I was overreacting. I pleaded, I spoke softly, I yelled and cried. They finally said I could come in the next day if I still wasnt feeling well. A couple hours later I, I She starts screaming in agony. The other women hear her and rush to her side. She gets off the exam table and squats, holding her pregnant belly. SADIE MY BABY, MY BABY. GRACE Sadie its O.K. Just breathe, its O.K. BRIANNA Oh my God, whats wrong with her? Wheres the doctor cant they hear her? SADIE MY BABY, MY BABY. GRACE Sadie, Sadie, look at me. Look at me. SADIE looks at GRACE. GRACE You dont have to push. Youre tired, its O.K. BRIANNA What is wrong with you? That is not what you are supposed to say to pregnant ladies. Push, Sadie. Push. GRACE Brianna, you dont know what youre talking about. (Turns to Sadie.) You dont have to punish yourself like this, it wasnt your fault. SADIE I wish to God this were a dream, but it isnt. GRACE No its not. SADIE My baby is gone. GRACE Yes. SADIE Thats good. I dont want her in a place like this. How come you stayed? GRACE You remind me of my partner, and she wouldnt have wanted me to leave a woman in your condition alone. Im a gentlelady. SADIE (Calm, in a sad way now, drying her tears.) A gentlelady? GRACE Like a gentleman, except a gentleLADY. SADIE shakes her head and laughs a sad little laugh. BRIANNA You two have lost your minds. Im going to get a doctor. BRIANNA gets up and goes to the door. She tries to open the door but cant. She bangs on the door over and over again. She shouts for help. GRACE Poor thing, she doesnt know. SADIE How are we going to tell her? GRACE I was hoping shed figure it out. I have to leave soon. Are you going to leave, too? SADIE I dont know. I want to, Im just so tired. Art by Sarah Crowner, photo by Weichia Huang BRIANNA goes back over to the other women. BRIANNA The doors, theyre locked. We cant get out. I dont even know what time it is. The clock, I think its fast and slow. I dont know. Wheres my phone? Does anyone have a phone? Wheres my stuff? Whats going on? SADIE Honey, tell us why you are here. BRIANNA I told you, I have really bad periods. GRACE What is the last thing you remember? The ticktock, ticktock of the clock gets a little louder. BRIANNA (Brianna slowly remembers.) I hadnt been to a doctor in years. With the new state clinics, every woman gets one visit a year, but the lines are so long and there are waiting lists for the good places. The nearest clinic to me is three hours away. I mean, Im fine except I have really bad periods. Nothing some aspirin, tequila and weed wont help. I wasnt really trying to have some doctor look at my vagina in an assembly line of vaginas anyway. One day, my cramps were so bad I couldnt walk. My brother carried me in his arms to his car and my mom took me to the emergency room even though it would be thousands of dollars. I kept on saying I was O.K. and it was so much money, too much money, and I was O.K. I told them to stop the car, that I was going to get out and walk home. But they didnt stop the car and I couldnt walk. The windows of the car were open and the breeze felt so good. The doctor said he wished I wouldve come in sooner. Footsteps are heard approaching the door. The doorknob turns. The women look at each other. SADIE puts her finger to her lips as a sign to tell them they should be quiet. The women quickly get onto their individual exam tables and lie down. Enter the doctors TYLER and WENDY. WENDY So did you get into the program before they ended affirmative action? TYLER No. I got in here just like you. WENDY Oh, wow. Thats great. You must be really smart. I dont think we get a lot of people that are from down south in this program. Well, here they are, the ladies. WENDY motions to the women on the tables. TYLER crosses herself. She looks around the room, finds a folding chair and stands on it. She takes the clock off the wall. It is still ticking. Ticktock, ticktock. She removes the batteries from the clock and puts it on the floor face down. WENDY What did you do that for? TYLER There shouldnt be a clock in the morgue. My grandma taught me that. A clock will just make the dead linger when they should be on their way. WENDY Good to know. O.K., let me turn on the rest of the lights so you can have your pick. WENDY flips on another light switch and the room is revealed to be much larger than it appeared before. There are rows and rows of bodies of dead women on tables. TYLER Oh my God, there are so many. WENDY Yeah, and you better choose the right one. Shell be with you for the whole semester, or as long as she lasts. TYLER Theyre all women. WENDY Yes. The chart on the side of the table tells you what they died from. TYLER goes to GRACEs chart and reads it. TYLER Breast cancer, it was never treated. TYLER goes to SADIEs chart and reads it. TYLER Placental abruption, the placenta separated from the wall of the uterus too early. The baby didnt get enough oxygen, the mother bled out. TYLER goes to BRIANNAs chart and reads it. TYLER Vaginal cancer, treatment was started well after the disease had progressed. TYLER looks at all three women on the tables in front of her. TYLER They were all treatable illnesses, preventable. WENDY Yes. O.K., whos it going to be? TYLER looks at BRIANNA. TYLER I think her. TYLER blows on her hands and rubs them together to warm them. WENDY It doesnt matter if your hands are cold. TYLER Yeah, right, O.K., of course. TYLER opens a drawer and takes out a white sheet. She drapes it over BRIANNA as if she is tucking in a child at bedtime. She wheels BRIANNA out of the room. WENDY follows, shutting the door behind them. Pause. The rows and rows of dead women sit up on their tables. End of play A play created exclusively for T Magazine, performed by Michael Arden and Gideon Glick. By Jordan Fuller Setting JEREMY stands in a pool of light, speaking directly to us. He is neurotic and hungry in other words: Jewish. JEREMY First they came for the Dreamers, and I did not speak out because Ive been told Im more of a nightmare. Then they came for the Caravan, and I did not speak out because I think minivans are tacky. Then they came for the Jews. I didnt speak out that time either because I got a nose job several years back. A good one, so I could pass. Then they came for the Gays and there was no one left to speak for me except everyone who wasnt gay, which technically is most people in America. But they said nothing at all. (Beat.) Cowards. Lights shift to reveal a small, dirty room. Twin beds, a metal pot in the corner, a rusted sink. JEREMY sits on the edge of his bed, writing a letter. To Whom It May Concern: If you are reading this, then Im dead. Or I have escaped the detention center and fled to Canada, where health care is free and the queers are, too. I am writing this letter so my story will be told and perhaps one day adapted into a major motion picture starring Eddie Redmayne. Or someone who looks like Eddie Redmayne. Or anyone with a pulse. Six months ago, I was living my most fabulous life: drinking cosmos and making fun of straight people who love their children. Good times. But then homosexuality was declared illegal. We were rounded up and sent to camps they told us wed be glamping, but Id seen both Fyre Festival documentaries so I knew how that would end. Instead, I hid in the attic of my next-door neighbors house, like Anne Frank if Anne Frank was on PrEP and obsessed with Diptyque candles. I would have gone unnoticed if I hadnt told my undercover lover, a former gavel-wielding politician who Ill refer to as Little Cheesehead in fear of a libel lawsuit, my whereabouts. I hoped hed visit for a little hanky-panky that would turn spanky spanky, only he sold me out, denouncing his own sexual predilections so he wouldnt be sent to die here in Guantanamo Gay. Damn you, Little Cheesehead, damn your muscles and your mayhem! When I first got here I was all, Let me out! And the guards were all, No! Then I settled into a routine. Cold shower in the morning. Colder one at night. In the middle, Id think about how the world has changed so fast. Eight years ago, homos were getting married and being employed by Ryan Murphy in limited-event television series. Now were outlawed. Silenced. A lotta people throw blame outward, but I think its like when Icarus ignored his fathers warnings and flew too close to the sun: His wings melted and he plummeted into the sea and drowned. Gays are like Icarus. We had it real good. All we had to do was get Her elected. But even with our Im With Her muscle tees and our memes of Her returning emails on a military jet wearing the fiercest sunglasses ever, we failed. If that wasnt bad enough, we allowed Lady Gaga to transition from pop star to actress nay, encouraged it, like mindless idiots. I mean, what were we thinking! Stay in your lane, Stefani! It was all downhill from there. The Supreme Court flips, and now were in cells because the country has revealed itself to be full of self-serving, terror-stricken fools. Prison isnt all fun and games like you see on TV. Its actually quite lonely. I was finally asked to join a gang last week because I know all the lyrics to Company, but they dropped me when I wouldnt get tattooed. If its a choice between new friends and the family plot in Beth Shalom, I will always choose the cemetery. Sometimes I think of all the things Ill never do. Walk along a beach. Watch a sunset. Meet Troye Sivan. Oh, and fall in love again. Or maybe for the first time? Looking back, Im not sure Little Cheesehead and I were ever in love. I mean, besides the whole him turning-me-in thing and that one time he left me at a gas station in Salado and I had to hitchhike back to the city, only I didnt have any money so I paid the trucker with an a cappella version of Ray Stevenss 1987 hit, Would Jesus Wear a Rolex well, that and a blowie I should have never gotten involved with a guy living a double life. If I know one truth, its that secrets rot your soul. I wish I listened to my mother. All she wanted was for me to be a doctor and live in the basement. Now look at me! When I first told her about Little Cheesehead, Mom took me to temple so we could pray. Only, membership was expensive so we stood in the parking lot and looked at the temple, and Mom said, God! Whyd you allow my sons low self-esteem and delicate stomach to blind him into dating such a degenerate? We waited for an answer, but God never replied. I told her, Maybe no answer is Gods way of giving us an answer. She thought for a minute, and then said, Jeremy. You are truly dumb. I miss her. Four months ago, I tried to escape and save myself like a male Anastasia. I know it was four because I used to make tally marks in my cell with lipstick to track the days. Were not allowed anything from outside, but I swallowed a half-dozen tubes of Chanel Rouge Coco before the Feds snagged me and that was really the gift that kept on giving I traded one with Neil Patrick Harris for some Top Ramen but held onto the rest. One day, during conversion therapy when were forced to fix old trucks and give each other haircuts with a Flowbee I slipped out of my chair and ran as fast as my twig legs could carry me, a few more steps and Id be out the door and en route to Canada, where Justin Trudeau would feed me Cadbury mini eggs, even if it wasnt Easter! Only I got caught. Turns out N.P.H. was upset that I wouldnt trade him any more Chanel and ratted me out. He got a cell with heated floors, and I was forced to shave my eyebrows and have my pinkie toes sawed off with an electric carving knife. Dems the breaks. They made me promise not to make another attempt, but the conditions here are too awful. They dont even have Bravo! I need to let the entire world know whats really going on so that some other country preferably not Russia or North Korea or China or Mexico or anywhere else weve pissed off will swoop in and free us! Hence Ive been biding my time, waiting for another chance. Then it happened. Three nights ago, my cellmate, Rick, died of an accident of being murdered by one of his rivals, a Hasidic drag queen named Torah Portion. Rick wasnt very smart, but he did teach me things, like, Dont eat all the bread at once in case you want a midnight snack and Sex doesnt have to be fun for everyone. Rick was a mustache queen and a real mystery; he was impossible to pin down. Believe me, I tried. He left me his shirt, which still has buttons on it, so thats a win. First, I thought Id rip it into strips and make something essential like a cape theres nothing that a cape cant say, but sometimes it says too much. Then I thought a fan! What I wouldnt do for a Chinese folding fan steeped in peppermint oil. But then I had an even better idea: Before the guards come for Ricks body, I should remove one of his bones and whittle it into a shank. Which wasnt easy, but Im nothing if not thrifty: I was a Boy Scout. And I can still pitch a tent. Every evening, Fat Guard brings me my dinner. Sometimes hell enter my cell and beat me with his fist or a dead bird. Then hell laugh and laugh and pee and laugh. But now, I have Ricks bone shank. Ill cut Fat Guard up like a trout, steal his keys and run. I may never know love again or the touch of another man, but Ill have my freedom. And if I fail and you find this letter you must finish what I couldnt and liberate us. Were counting on you, whoever you are. I cant wait to see the sky again. I miss it. Bubi Canals Gloaming (2019). Bubi Canals New Eyes (2013). JEREMY puts the letter into an envelope. Seals it. Tucks it beneath his mattress. He then removes the shank from his pocket. Kisses it OFFSTAGE VOICE Dinner, queers! JEREMY hides the shank in his fist just as a GUARD approaches the cell with dinner. Tall, muscular, stoic. Not who JEREMY was expecting. JEREMY Who are you? What happened to Fat Guard? GUARD He was promoted to watch the Detention Center for People Who Went to College. (Recognizes Jeremy.) Youre the one who tried to escape. Hope youre not planning any funny business. Cause if you were, Id have to tell my superiors. Wed punish you by taking you into the showers and ripping off your clothes, then wed make the shower real hot and steamy, and then wed take off our clothes and stand together, naked, as the water cascaded down our rippled flesh and you were forced to kneel and clean us off with nothing but your tongue. JEREMY (Turned on.) That sounds horrible They stare at each other, then GUARD slips JEREMYS food through a slot in the bars. JEREMY Stay with me while I eat? I could use the company. GUARD is weirded out but doesnt leave. JEREMY My birthdays next week. How old do I look? Thirty? Twenty? Ten GUARD Eighty-five? JEREMY shrieks. JEREMY Gay Detention Center has aged me! My pores are clogged from the stale air and repression. (A tactic.) If only I could go outside GUARD You cant. JEREMY Take a jog. Even just a breath of fresh GUARD You know the rules. JEREMY I dont deserve to be locked up Ive done a lot of mitzvahs! Once I took a blind girl to the circus. Well, once I sold a blind girl to the circus but she effing loved it! (Beat.) Maybe you could describe the landscape to me so I can picture it? GUARD Well, uh the grass is dry. Trees are bare. And today, the clouds are soupy. JEREMY What vivid descriptions tell me more! GUARD When I leave here at night, the sky is black and full of stars, not like where I grew up. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I miss my exit and keep going, past my house, past everything I know till I just disappear. GUARD has said too much. He turns to leave, JEREMY realizes this is his moment. Starts to choke. JEREMY Help please help me GUARD doesnt know what to do. Run for help? Abandon JEREMY entirely? Instinct takes over. GUARD unlocks the cell, rushes to JEREMY and gives him the Heimlich. JEREMY whos been faking enjoys this, then jumps to his feet and holds out the shank. JEREMY (Singing.) I dont really know you But I think youre hot Which sucks because you sadly have to die The other guard was fat and rude You seem like youre not But now youre blocking me from my goodbye Im sure youre nice Im sure you call your grandma every Sunday But Ive been fooled By men like you who promise me a fun day Then sell me out and leave me on my knees So turn around and close your eyes and count down from 100 Before you get to 90 youll be dead Im as gentle as a lamb But I cant change who I am So Ive gotta leave you bleeding out instead JEREMY Why are you looking at me like that? I dont have another choice. GUARD You always have a choice. Bubi Canals Rainbow Children (2013). GUARD kisses JEREMY. It takes them both by surprise. GUARD (Singing.) I dont really know you But I think youre hot And you do not belong here in this pen I just had to kiss you And heres a thought I would love to French your mouth again I saw you and You made me feel like something gay could happen No one knows About me but together we could tap in To the men that were supposed to be So turn around and close your eyes and count down from 100 Before you get to 90 Ill be yours Im as gentle as a lamb I just told you who I am Please dont leave me bleeding In here Id take good care of you Id kiss you till your lips were blue Id treat you like a queen Youd be my gasoline Hot showers and a seat at the buffet Just dont tell a single soul Im gay! JEREMY Im Jeremy. Thanks. (Singing.) And I liked it a lot Go on, go on (To himself.) Can I believe a single word? His eyes are kind Theres a buffet?! JEREMY Hold on, this is starting to sound familiar. I could stay here and youd take care of me just like my ex-lover before he kicked me to the curb. GUARD Id never kick you. Unless you wanted me to, and then I could kick you very hard. JEREMY But if I dont escape, I cant expose how awful these centers are. What about the others? Neil Patrick Harris, Rachel Maddow the cast of Dear Evan Hansen whatll happen to them? GUARD I dont know. (Beat.) If you wanna go I wont stop you. GUARD hands JEREMY his keys. JEREMY takes them reluctantly. BOTH (Singing.) Turn around and close your eyes and count down from 100 Before you (I) get to 90 Ill (youll) be gone With you I feel awake But theres just too much at stake JEREMY (Singing.) Or we could go To a place thats truly free GUARD (Singing.) I just cant see Leave behind this prison bed BOTH In a different world Id be with you instead GUARD pulls back from JEREMY. GUARD (Sad and scared.) Im sorry, I cant. Now go before I change my mind! JEREMY kisses GUARD again, then places the shank in his palm. JEREMY At least tell me your name? GUARD Its Beverly. JEREMY And people dont know youre gay?! (Beat.) Goodbye, Beverly. JEREMY exits. BEVERLY watches him go, holding back tears. Sirens roar in the background. BEVERLY contemplates whats next, then lifts the shank into the air END OF PLAY At top, Michael Arden (currently in King Lear) and Gideon Glick (currently in To Kill a Mockingbird) perform Ted Malawers The Escape. The Childrens ActFashion for a new generation, shot at multiple locations in Chicago, including the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture and Anthony Overton Elementary School, both of which the designer Virgil Abloh attended. From left: Celine by Hedi Slimane dress, $6,200, Jil Sander shoes, $616, Louis Vuitton vest, dress and shoes, price on request, Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh coat, $3,075, Em Pty Gallery, (646) 478-7598, Comme des Garcons Junya Watanabe dress, $2,655, Louis Vuitton shoes, price on request. From left:dress, $6,200, celine.com shoes, $616, jilsander.com , and photographers own hat.vest, dress and shoes, price on request, louisvuitton.com coat, $3,075, Em Pty Gallery, (646) 478-7598,dress, $2,655, shop.doverstreetmarket.com/us , andshoes, price on request. Photo by Virgil Abloh. Styled by Christine Centenera MANIC-DEPRESSIVE MONDAY In which one national nightmare ends and another begins in the wake of a new presidential election. Three postmillennials assemble during their break from their work making crap that nobody wants or needs, singing sometimes in unison, sometimes in harmony. THREE POSTMILLENNIALS Were still just as broke Were still just as miserable Were still just a huddled mass The only difference now is the music on the runway Its just another manic- Depressive Monday For the hungry, hungry poor and middle class Were still just as lost And even more invisible And even more out on a limb The only difference now is weve pawned all our illusions Weve muted all our mentions And drawn our conclusions Tomorrows tea leaves look pretty grim The marches, the tweets, the online petitions The hard-won cancellations by multiracial coalitions Weve squelched a so-called fascist reascent With dragging and wokeness and weaponized walling Weve helped elect a new president But were still just as broke Were still just as miserable Were still just a huddled mass The only difference now is the music on the runway Its just another manic- Depressive Monday For the hungry, hungry poor and middle class Jil Sander shirt, $280, Carhartt Work in Progress hoodie, $125, 2 Moncler 1952 pants, $640, Louis Vuitton sneakers, price on request, and Polar Skate Co. beanie, $35, Haider Ackermann coat, $1,641, and pants, $924, Polo Ralph Lauren T-shirt, $40, Louis Vuitton sneakers. Left:shirt, $280,hoodie, $125, us.carhartt-wip.com pants, $640, moncler.com sneakers, price on request, andbeanie, $35, usa.polarskateco.com . Right:coat, $1,641, and pants, $924, haiderackermann.com T-shirt, $40, ralphlauren.com , and photographers ownsneakers. Photo by Virgil Abloh. Styled by Christine Centenera CLIMATE CHANGE In which the descendants of non-natives begin to get restless. Two skateboarders pass the time indoors, singing. BLACK-PRESENTING SKATEBOARDER Theres nothing to do And nothing to see Its just me and you Its just you and me And climate change WHITE-PRESENTING SKATEBOARDER The trees are all bare Too hot to go out Breathe cold A.C. air And wonder about Our climate change BOTH SKATEBOARDERS The wheels on our skateboards squeak And you and I dont even need to speak We just read each others minds We just read each others minds The news sells us age-old lies And centrism is killing us what a surprise! And moneys the tie that binds And moneys the tie that binds BLACK-PRESENTING SKATEBOARDER Sometimes we drink oil They drill from the ground The water we boil As toxins abound Its climate change WHITE-PRESENTING SKATEBOARDER The wheels on our skateboards squeak BLACK-PRESENTING SKATEBOARDER And Washingtons vampires dont even need to speak BOTH SKATEBOARDERS They just read each others minds They just read each others minds WHITE-PRESENTING SKATEBOARDER And dead birds crunch underfoot BLACK-PRESENTING SKATEBOARDER And people are sick from breathing in soot BOTH SKATEBOARDERS And moneys the tie that binds And moneys the tie that binds WHITE-PRESENTING SKATEBOARDER So we stay inside BLACK-PRESENTING SKATEBOARDER And skate through our days WHITE-PRESENTING SKATEBOARDER Defiantly ride BLACK-PRESENTING SKATEBOARDER To fight the malaise BOTH SKATEBOARDERS Of climate change Photo by Virgil Abloh. Styled by Christine Centenera From left: Fendi jacket, $2,590, fendi.com, Proenza Schouler shirt, $950, proenzaschouler.com, Pop Trading Company jeans, $150, poptradingcompany.com, and Balenciaga shoes, $1,990, (310) 854-0557. Louis Vuitton hoodie, pants and sneakers, price on request. Moncler jacket, $1,715, moncler.com, Craig Green shirt, price on request, craig-green.com, Levis Made & Crafted jeans, $228, levi.com, and Fendi sandals, $1,190. Marni sweater, $850, marni.com, Polar Skate Co. shirt, $32, Heron Preston pants, $740, barneys.com, 4 Moncler Simone Rocha skirt, $1,780, moncler.com, and Louis Vuitton sneakers, price on request. Martine Rose hoodie, $780, and pants, $1,080, martine-rose.com, and Balenciaga boots, $1,490, and earrings, $395. Bottega Veneta coat, price on request, (800) 845-6790, Louis Vuitton shirt, price on request, vintage T-shirt, archive only, saintluis.com, Acne Studios pants, $340, acnestudios.com, and Wardrobe.NYC for Adidas sneakers, $500, wardrobe.nyc. Berluti jacket and pants, price on request, berluti.com, 2 Moncler 1952 jacket (worn underneath), $2,775, Polo Ralph Lauren T-shirt, and Nike sneakers, $170, nike.com. Heron Preston jacket, $570, heronpreston.com, Levis pants, $98, Nike sneakers, $160, and Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh bag, $2,166, neimanmarcus.com. UNITED, OR THE GREAT ANTI-DEPRESSION In which the postmillennial kids truly see whose lawn theyre on for the first time. They gather together after working their jobs where they make crap nobody wants or needs, singing in unison, somehow both under their breath and passionately from their diaphragms. POSTMILLENNIAL KIDS We are the postmillennial Pepsi ad The new public-private partnership Between the corporations and Democrats Were selling a brand United we stand We are the post-racial ad campaign The new inclusion optical illusion Designed by corporations and Democrats Were selling a brand United we stand United we Insta United we post United we get so little while doing the most Its the Great Anti-Depression With no end in sight United we selfie United we smoke United, surviving with key bumps of coke As the Great Anti-Depression Falls upon us every night We are the post-united demographic now The new free-to-be-you-and-me Controlled by corporations and Democrats Theyre selling our brand United they stand United they gaslit While drone wars persisted United they fund-raised and hashtag resisted While the Great Anti-Depression Raged on and on United they giggle Like Rachel Maddow does United in how good it is now and how bad it was Though the Great Anti-Depression Rages from dusk till dawn While we pose In our clothes Were just kids on their lawn Louis Vuitton sweater, skirt and sneakers, price on request. Right: Isabel Marant dress, $3,920, Givenchy pants, $1,150, (212) 650-0180, and Wardrobe.NYC for Adidas sneakers. Left:sweater, skirt and sneakers, price on request. Right:dress, $3,920, isabelmarant.com pants, $1,150, (212) 650-0180, andsneakers. Photo by Virgil Abloh. Styled by Christine Centenera CAUSE THEY WERE REPUBLICAN In which two black voters consider all sides. The one with the Afro steps forward, followed by the one draped in the American flag, singing. THE ONE WITH THE AFRO What did we have to lose voting for him? An outsider showman and kingpin THE ONE DRAPED IN AMERICA We voted for him the last time But only cause he wasnt really a Republican BOTH He was business He was jobs He was money, money, money He was swagger He was tough He was funny, funny, funny THE ONE WITH THE AFRO What did we have to lose? It turns out a lot We knew to not make that mistake again We voted for Dems the next time But only cause they werent Republican BOTH They were health care They were weed They were black lives matter, matter, matter They were trans rights They were gay They were glass ceilings shatter, shatter, shatter THE ONE DRAPED IN AMERICA But swinging back to Dems this time Brings back an old cynicism We grow discontent and we grow to resent The neo/negroliberalism BOTH What do we have to lose? It turns out not much else Weve tried everything from Democrat to kingpin But our votes are chessboard pieces Our bodies are just pawns And theyre all just robber barons Whether kingpin or Democrat or Republican Whether kingpin or Democrat or Republican Whether kingpin or Democrat or Republican Yohji Yamamoto dress, $940, AG T-shirt, $158, Bottega Veneta pants, price on request, and Dior Men sneakers, $1,900, Hermes coat, $23,100, Carhartt Work in Progress T-shirt, $58, Dickies pants, $23, Louis Vuitton loafers, price on request. Isabel Marant jumpsuit, $710, Martine Rose T-shirt, $180, Michael Kors hat, $395, and bag, $498, Yeezy shoes. Balenciaga coat, $2,990, top, $950, skirt, $1,990, and shoes, $1,990. Jil Sander jacket, $431, shirt, $280, and shorts, $257, Hermes turtleneck, $430, and boots, $1,750, and Simone Rocha hat, price on request, (646) 810-4785. A.P.C. jacket, $400, Burberry T-shirt, $450, Polar Skate Co. jeans, $100, Nike sneakers and Alain Mikli glasses, $455, The Row dress, $3,320, and skirt, $2,120, (212) 755-2017, and Bottega Veneta boots, price on request. Wardrobe.NYC jacket, shirt and pants, $2,400 (part of set), Nike sneakers. From left:dress, $940, yohjiyamamoto.co.jp T-shirt, $158, agjeans.com pants, price on request, andsneakers, $1,900, dior.com coat, $23,100, hermes.com T-shirt, $58,pants, $23, dickies.com , andloafers, price on request.jumpsuit, $710,T-shirt, $180,hat, $395, and bag, $498, michaelkors.com , and stylists ownshoes.coat, $2,990, top, $950, skirt, $1,990, and shoes, $1,990.jacket, $431, shirt, $280, and shorts, $257,turtleneck, $430, and boots, $1,750, andhat, price on request, (646) 810-4785.jacket, $400, apc-us.com T-shirt, $450, us.burberry.com jeans, $100,sneakers andglasses, $455, bergdorfgoodman.com dress, $3,320, and skirt, $2,120, (212) 755-2017, andboots, price on request.jacket, shirt and pants, $2,400 (part of set), wardrobe.nyc , andsneakers. Photo by Virgil Abloh. Styled by Christine Centenera BLOW IT UP In which a multiracial and multiclass coalition decides to take its country by force. The kids on the lawn plant bombs across the nation themselves. They sing, in full-throated four-part harmony, an opera of postmillennial rage. THE KIDS ON THE LAWN A midterm militia Thats what we need A primary challenge to the ruling class And their poisonous greed Well take no prisoners Weve got bellies to feed Were busting through windows And crashing through walls Until they concede Blow it up! Burn it down! Smash it to smithereens! Drag out the villains Whove been hiding behind the scenes Blow it up! Burn it down! This is our final stand! So lets bear our arms From the bodegas to the farms Across this stolen land A bloody insurrection Thats what we demand A deadly revolution Its the only solution The time is at hand Were taking whats ours Thats what weve planned In power while theres time Which wont be for long Cause were on sinking sand Blow it up! Burn it down! Smash it to smithereens! Drag out the villains Whove been hiding behind the scenes Blow it up! Burn it down! This is our final stand! So lets bear our arms From the bodegas to the farms Across this stolen land End of song cycle Behind the scenes at a photo shoot by the fashion designer Virgil Abloh for T Magazine. Courtesy of Virgil Abloh Model: Adut Akech Bior at The Society Management. Street-cast models: Nina Clevinger, Riley Vaughn, Desmond Gree, Famous Smith, Tariyawn Knighten, Wisdom Chimezie and Rio Thake. Hair by Christiaan. Hair color by Daniel Moon at Hair Los Angeles. Makeup by Romy Soleimani at The Wall Group. Casting by Alexis Gross. Production: Be Good Studios. Photo assistants: Adam Jason Cohen and Alissa Desiree Godina. Makeup assistant: Marco Campos. Stylists assistants: Olivia Kozlowski and Hanna Ashbrook U.S. Health Care Expenditures in 2019 Under current law, the government estimates that the U.S. will spend about one-sixth of G.D.P. on health care this year, with those costs divided between the federal government, individuals, employers and state governments. This estimate, from an economist close to the Bernie Sanders 2016 campaign, estimates the largest savings from converting to Medicare for all. This estimate assumes that Medicare for all will pay all medical providers the same amounts Medicare pays now. That decision means it would lower total health spending, but its author thinks the real system would have to pay higher prices. This estimate assumes that Medicare for all would need to pay all medical providers higher rates than Medicare pays them now. The Urban Institute estimate includes a limit on how many more doctors visits people will be able to make. Even so, it projects a substantial increase in spending under Medicare for all. Even without including all the costs for long-term care, which some Medicare for all proposals include, this estimate still finds that Medicare for all would cost substantially more than the current system. How much would a Medicare for all plan, like the kind endorsed by the Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, change health spending in the United States? Some advocates have said costs would actually be lower because of gains in efficiency and scale, while critics have predicted huge increases. We asked a handful of economists and think tanks with a range of perspectives to estimate total American health care expenditures in 2019 under such a plan. The chart at the top of this page shows the estimates, both in composition and in total cost. In all of these estimates, patients and private insurers would spend far less, and the federal government would pay far more. But the overall changes are also important, and theyre larger than they may look. Even the difference between the most expensive estimate and the second-most expensive estimate was larger than the budget of most federal agencies. Estimates of U.S. health care expenditures under Medicare for all in 2019, as a share of G.D.P. The big differences in the estimates of experts reflect the challenge of forecasting a change of this magnitude; it would be the largest domestic policy change in a generation. The proposals themselves are vague on crucial points. More broadly, any Medicare for all system would be influenced by the decisions and actions of parties concerned patients, health care providers and political actors in complex, hard-to-predict ways. But seeing the range of responses, and the things that all the experts agree on, can give us some ideas about what Medicare for all could mean for the countrys budget and economy. These estimates come from: Gerald Friedman, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, whose estimates were frequently cited by the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign in 2016. Charles Blahous, a senior research strategist at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and a former trustee of Medicare and Social Security. Analysts at the RAND Corporation, a global policy research group that has estimated the effects of several single-payer health care proposals. Kenneth E. Thorpe, the chairman of the health policy department at Emory University, who helped Vermont estimate the costs of a single-payer proposal there in 2006. Analysts at the Urban Institute, a Washington policy research group that frequently estimates the effects of health policy changes. Right now, individuals and employers pay insurance premiums; people pay cash co-payments for drugs; and state governments pay a share of Medicaid costs. In a system like one introduced as a bill by Mr. Sanders or another from Representative Pramila Jayapal and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, nearly all of that would be replaced by federal spending. Thats why some experts describe such a system as single-payer. (Other Democrats who are supporting coverage expansion through Medicare have offered more modest proposals that would preserve some out-of-pocket spending and a role for private insurance.) The economists made their calculations using different assumptions and methods, and you can read more about those methods at the bottom of this article. These two estimates, for example, from the Mercatus Center and the Urban Institute, differ by about $730 billion per year, roughly 3 percent of G.D.P. The two groups dont often agree on public policy Mercatus tends to be more right-leaning and Urban more left-leaning. Estimates of U.S. health care expenditures in 2019 under a Medicare for all system The biggest difference between the Mercatus estimate and the Urban one is related to how much the new system would pay doctors, hospitals and other medical providers for health services. Mr. Friedmans estimate, the least expensive of the group, assumed that the government could achieve the largest cost savings on both prescription drugs and administrative spending. How much would doctors and hospitals and other providers be paid? Pay too little, and you risk hospital closings and unhappy health care providers. Pay too much, and the system will become far more expensive. Small differences add up. Estimated increase in Medicare payment rates paid to medical providers friedman blahous thorpe urban rand 6% 0% 5% 7% 9% In our current system, doctors, hospitals and other health care providers are paid by a number of insurers, and those insurers all pay them slightly different prices. In general, private insurance pays medical providers more than Medicare does. Under a Medicare for all system, Medicare would pick up all the bills. Paying the same prices that Medicare pays now would mean an effective pay cut for medical providers who currently see a lot of patients with private insurance. For a Medicare for all system to save money, it needs to reduce the health care industrys income somewhat. But if rates are too low, hospitals already facing financial difficulties could be put out of business. Neither Mr. Sanderss legislation nor the Jayapal House bill specify what the Medicare for all system would pay, but they say that Medicare would establish budgets and payment rates. So our estimators offered their best guess of what they thought such a plan might do. Mr. Thorpe said he picked a number higher than current Medicare prices for hospitals, because he thought anything lower would be unsustainable. Mr. Blahous said he constructed his starting estimate at precisely Medicare rates, though he thought the real number would most likely be higher. He also reran his calculations with a more generous assumption: At 111 percent of Medicare, around the average amount all health insurers pay medical providers now, the total shot up by hundreds of billions of dollars, about an additional 1.5 percent of G.D.P. How much lower would prescription costs be? By negotiating directly on behalf of all Americans, instead of having individual insurance companies and plans bargain separately, the government should be able to pay lower drug prices. Estimated reduction in drug spending friedman blahous thorpe urban rand 31% 12% 4% 20% 11% Patients in the United States pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Thats partly a result of a fractured system in which different payers negotiate separately for drug benefits. But it also reflects national preferences: An effective negotiator needs to be able to say no, and American patients tend to want access to the widest array of cutting-edge drugs, even if it means paying more. A Medicare for all system would have more leverage with the drug industry because it could bargain for the whole countrys drug supply at once. But politics would still be a constraint. A system willing to pay for fewer drugs could probably get bigger discounts than one that wanted to preserve the current set of choices. That would mean, though, that some patients would be denied the medications they want. All of our economists thought a Medicare for all system could negotiate lower prices than the current ones. But they differed in their assessments of how cutthroat a negotiator Medicare would be. Mr. Friedman thought Medicare for all could reduce drug spending by nearly a third. The Urban team said the savings would be at least 20 percent. The other researchers imagined more modest reductions. How much more would people use the health care system? By expanding coverage to the uninsured, adding new benefits and wiping out cost sharing, Medicare for all would encourage more Americans to seek health care services. Estimated increase in use of health care friedman blahous thorpe urban rand 7% 11% 15% 8% Medicare for all would give insurance to around 28 million Americans who dont have it now. And evidence shows that people use more health services when theyre insured. That change alone would increase the bill for the program. Other changes to Medicare for all would also tend to increase health care spending. Some proposals would eliminate nearly all co-payments and deductibles. Evidence shows that people tend to go to the doctor more when theres no such cost sharing. The proposed plans would also add medical benefits not typically covered by health insurance, such as dental care, hearing aids and optometry services, which would increase their use. The economists differ somewhat in how much they think people would increase their use of medical services. (Because of the way the Urban Institute teams estimate was calculated, it couldnt easily provide a number for this question.) What would Medicare for all cost to run? Right now, the health care system is complicated, with lots of different payers and ways to negotiate prices and bill for services. A single payment system could save some money by simplifying all that. Estimated administrative costs as a share of all spending friedman blahous thorpe urban rand 2% 6% 6% 5% The complexity of the American system means that administrative costs can often be high. Insurance companies spend on negotiations, claims review, marketing and sometimes shareholder returns. One key possible advantage of a Medicare for all system would be to strip away some of those overhead costs. But estimating possible savings in management and administration is not easy. Medicare currently has a much lower administrative cost share than other forms of insurance, but it also covers sicker people, distorting such comparisons. Certain administrative functions, like fraud detection, can have a substantial return on investment. The economists all said administrative costs would be lower under Medicare for all, but they differed on how much. Those differences amount to percentage points on top of the differing estimates of medical spending. On this question, there was rough agreement among our estimators that administrative costs would be no higher than 6 percent of medical costs, a number similar to the administrative costs that large employers spend on their health plans. Mr. Blahous said a 6 percent estimate would probably apply to populations currently covered under private insurance, but did not calculate an overall rate. But what will it cost me? All of these estimates looked at the potential health care bill under a Sanders-style Medicare for all plan. In some estimates, the country would not pay more for health care, but there would still be a drastic shift in who is doing the paying. Individuals and their employers now pay nearly half of the total cost of medical care, but that percentage would fall close to zero, and the percentage paid by the federal government would rise to compensate. Even under Mr. Blahouss lower estimate, which assumes a reduction in overall health care spending, federal spending on health care would still increase by 10 percent of G.D.P., or more than triple what the government spends on the military. How that transfer takes place is one of the least well explained parts of the reform proposals. Taxation is the most obvious way to collect that extra revenue, but so far none of the current Medicare for all proposals have included a detailed tax plan. Even if total medical spending stayed flat over all, some taxpayers could come out ahead and pay less; others could find themselves paying more. Raising revenue would require broad tax increases that are likely to be partly borne by the middle class, potentially impeding passage. Advocates, including Mr. Sanders, tend to favor funding the program with payroll taxes. For some people, any increase in federal taxes might be more than offset by reductions in their spending on premiums, co-payments, deductibles and state taxes. There is evidence to suggest that premium savings by employers would also be returned to workers in the form of higher salaries. But, depending on the details, other groups could end up paying more in tax increases than they save in those reductions. After Mr. Sanderss presidential campaign released a tax proposal in 2016, the Urban Institute tried to calculate the effects on different groups. But it found that the proposed taxes would pay for only about half of the increased federal bill. That means that a real financing proposal would probably need to raise a lot more in taxes. How those are spread across the population would change who would be better or worse off under Medicare for all. Executions fell worldwide by nearly a third last year to their lowest levels in at least a decade, but several countries recorded a rise, Amnesty International said Wednesday. Use of the death penalty dropped in Iran by an eye-popping 50 per cent, following a change to its anti-narcotics laws, followed by Iraq, Pakistan and Somalia, the rights group found in its annual review. But it rose in Belarus, Japan, Singapore, South Sudan and the United States, while Thailand resumed executions for the first time in a decade and Sri Lanka threatened to follow suit. "Despite regressive steps from some, the number of executions carried out by several of the worst perpetrators has fallen significantly," said Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty International's Secretary General. He added the "dramatic" drop globally proved that "even the most unlikely countries are starting to change their ways and realise the death penalty is not the answer. This is a hopeful indication that it's only a matter of time before this cruel punishment is consigned to history, where it belongs," Naidoo said. In total, death penalty figures fell around the world from at least 993 in 2017, to at least 690 last year. Amnesty's count excludes China, the world's top executioner, where the numbers are classified as a state secret. The organisation estimates thousands of people are sentenced to death and executed there every year. Iran (253), Saudi Arabia (149), Vietnam (at least 85) and Iraq (at least 52) were the other countries that resorted to the death penalty most in 2018. Vietnamese authorities' decision to release figures for last year was "unprecedented" for the southeast Asian nation, Amnesty noted. Elsewhere Japan, Singapore and South Sudan reported their highest levels of executions in years. Naidoo said these three countries "now form a dwindling minority" and challenged them "to act boldly and put a stop to this abhorrent punishment". Amnesty also noted concern over a sharp spike in the number of death sentences imposed in some countries, particularly Iraq and Egypt, over the course of 2018. But its annual review found the global trend towards abolition of the death penalty had gathered steam. Burkina Faso adopted a new penal code effectively banning executions, while Gambia and Malaysia both declared an official moratorium. Meanwhile, courts in the US state of Washington declared the death penalty unconstitutional there. Amnesty highlighted a December vote by the United Nations General Assembly that saw 121 countries support a global moratorium on the death penalty, with only 35 states opposed. "Slowly but steadily, global consensus is building towards ending the use of the death penalty," Naidoo said. Pentagon Again Sounds Alarm: US Losing Competitive Edge in Space The page you requested is only available to subscribers. 1. If you are a Premium Service subscriber, please log in here to access this story: Log-in : Password : 2. If you are not a subcriber, you can: -- buy access to this page: unlimited access for seven days costs 3.00 EUR + VAT (at 20%) if applicable. Clicking on the "Ok" button below will place the item in your shopping cart and return you to our home page, where you will be able to select additional stories. -- select additional stories and services from our home page and pay for them at the same time. -- see your shopping cart. You can also see the contents of your shopping cart at any time by clicking on the "Order" tab on the navigation bar at the top of any page, or by clicking on the "Your order" light blue link in the top right-hand corner of our home page, immediately under the log-on box. Carmel Valley resident Danielle Depratt Koelbl and her 5-year-old daughter Taylor have turned their bedtime storytelling routine into a sweet series of little books with big lessons. The mother-daughter team has published The Girl Who Loves Unicorns and The Girl Who Asked for Presents, available for purchase on Amazon and recently donated into the collections at the Del Mar and Carmel Valley Libraries. I love being a childrens book author, said Depratt Koelbl, who hopes that their little books spark creativity, determination and time well spent with a friend or loved one. Taylor, a preschool student at Horizon Prep who will be in kindergarten at Sage Canyon Elementary School this fall, said spending time with mommy was her favorite part of the creative book-writing experience. She also had an ulterior motive: I wanted to write books to help kids stay up later, the tot author said with a giggle. Depratt Koelbl and her husband are Wisconsin natives who came to California to attend college. They have lived in the Solana Beach, Del Mar and Carmel Valley area for the last 10 years, parents to Danielle and her 3-year-old sister Alex. What started it all was when Taylor was 4-and-a-half, we were going through common parent-child disconnects, like her always asking for treats and presents, Depratt Koelbl said. I dont do it anymore, Taylor clarified for the record. Depratt Koelbl figured out that bedtime was the one time Taylor really wanted to listenas she is a strong advocate of kids staying up later. At bedtime, I started creating stories that were half about her. Very quickly she identified that they were half about her so she started contributing to the stories, Depratt Koelbl said. She found that the stories helped facilitate discussions between mom and daughter about different topics, their storytelling often winding their way toward a useful lesson, valuable moral and a happy lights out. Depratt Koelbl got the idea to turn their stories into childrens books and together they wrote six books in four weeks. It can be hard to communicate with kids sometimes, she said, and working on the books together created some special bonding moments. A friend and graphic designer in Chicago, Erin Bonham, offered to illustrate two of the books and the first book, The Girl Who Asked for Presents, was accepted into the Kindle Direct Publishing/Amazon on-demand print at no charge. The book was ranked the #1 new release in Early Children's Education and held a Top 100 Children's spot for its first two months on Amazon. It teaches you that you should be thankful for your toys and that theres something special even in empty boxes because you can make a castle or doghouses or whatever, Taylor said. Taylor came up with the story for their second published book, The Girl Who Loves Unicorns, while on her way to a unicorn birthday party. In the story, a little girl is determined to find a unicorn, working with her mom to try and entice a unicorn to come by setting out treats like lollipops and marshmallows, stickers and a sparkly headband. Taylor came up with the ending that the little girl knew it was unlikely that a unicorn would visit because they live at the top of rainbows she says, I really just wanted to imagine I could find one just so I could spend time with you. My heart melted, Depratt Koelbl said of the sweet ending. Taylor is my snuggle bug, she wants to snuggle and play with me all the time. In the end, a unicorn is peeking through the window as the mom and daughter devise a plan for how they can find a mermaid.Unicorns was released on Amazon a few weeks ago and has ranked #9 new release in Children's Values Books and #3 in Early Children's Education. Depratt Koebl loves the message of that book, reminding parents and families about the importance of spending time together. She admits that she can get caught up in work sometimes as the president and CEO of a healthcare software company but she has realized that, The only project that really matters is making sure that I raise good and empathetic humans, being a mommy and showing my girls that they can do anything. Time spent together is the best time spent, she adds, noting that her girls never let her forget a family day. The Koelbls submitted several manuscripts to publishers in February including The Girl Who Says That's Mine and The Girl Who Wants to Choose Her Outfits and The Girl Who Asks For Treatssimilar to the book about asking for presents, an adult finds a sneaky way to get children to appreciate a healthy snack. Depratt Koelbl said being artistic does not come natural to her as it does to her daughter. Taylor has a big imagination and she loves to sing and write songs, draw and send handwritten letters to her family members in Wisconsin. Taylor is also an avid reader and the family is always swapping books with friends. Taylor said her favorite books are Danny Dog, a book about a rescue dog written by another local author Sid Shapira, and Clean Water for Elirose by Ariah Fine about a group of children that realizes they can make a difference in the world by saving up money to build a well for those who dont have water. After reading that book, Taylor said she wanted to help others too. Depratt Koelbl has also been inspired to make a differenceshe is hoping to donate The Girl Who and The Boy Who books to Rady Childrens Hospital, books with blank pages so every kid can write their own stories. DUBLIN, Ohio, 10 April 2019Gwinnett County Public Library in Lawrenceville, Georgia, has signed on to implement OCLC Wise, the first community engagement system for U.S. public libraries. Gwinnett County Public Library (GCPL) joins Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Anythink, in Adams County, Colorado, as an early adopter for Wise. This robust system seamlessly integrates the power of customer relationship management, marketing, and analytics with typical integrated library system (ILS) functionality, such as circulation and acquisitions. Wise transforms traditional library management with a holistic, people-centered approachempowering library staff to better understand and meet community needs. GCPL is consistently pushing the boundaries of library servicefrom being the first library in the U.S. to provide customer self-service access outside of regular operating hours, to committing to active and inventive community engagement. Were delighted that GCPL is joining us as a Wise early adopter, said Skip Prichard, OCLC President and CEO. The GCPL team has been transitioning many aspects of the organization over the past several years to transform into a true community-oriented library. Adding Wise is another significant step in that transformation. GCPL is excited to play a part in the ongoing development of what promises to be a revolutionary new approach to library automation and engagement, one that focuses on the customer, not the collection, said Charles Pace, Executive Director at GCPL. We look forward to partnering with OCLC to enhance this robust, secure system that will serve not only our needs, but the needs of the library industry more generally. Were impressed with GCPLs dedicated efforts to innovate outreach and community partnerships, and their determination to embrace technology advancements for the benefit of their community. GCPLs leadership and staff understand where were headed with Wise, and their partnership will help us get there, said Mary Sauer-Games, OCLC Vice President, Global Product Management. Wise is the first community engagement system for U.S. public libraries. The system is currently used by more than 75 percent of public libraries in the Netherlands and has been tailored to address the specific needs of U.S. public libraries. OCLC will work with early adopters, other public libraries, and the library community at large to help inform Wise development efforts. OCLC is actively recruiting early adopter partnerships for Wise. This special group of libraries will work closely and collaborate with OCLC's product team to evaluate ongoing development opportunities and to shape future library innovation. Learn more about Wise at oc.lc/wise. Laleh Mohmedi is an acclaimed food artist with hundreds of thousands of fans on social media, but few people know her career began as a way to make food more appealing for her son. While most parents discourage their children from playing with their food, Australian blogger and food artist Laleh Mohmedi has literally made a career out of making edible toys for her son. It all started one day when she decided to mold her three-year-old sons spelt pancake in the shape of a lion, to make it more appealing. He loved it, and, inspired by his reaction, Mohmedi continued experimenting with food art. After posting some of her best works on social media, she learned that her son wasnt the only one who loved food sculptures shaped as popular cartoon characters and various celebrities. She now has over 150,000 followers on Instagram alone and works with some of the worlds biggest brands. Photo: Jacobs Food Diary/Instagram I dont know how this thing I started doing in the kitchen with my son has turned into this. It blows my mind to this day, Laleh Mohmedi told the Sydney Morning Herald. I always loved art in high school, but never did anything since. View this post on Instagram A post shared by LALEH MOHMEDI (@jacobs_food_diaries) on Mar 11, 2019 at 4:22am PDT Mohmedis company, Jacobs Food Diaries has worked with companies like Disney, Nickelodeon, Kellogg or FC Barcelona on promotional project, and her amazing creations have caught the attention of numerous media organizations and personalities like Ellen DeGeneres Show or Martha Stewart. And looking what she can create exclusively out of food, its not hard to see why. View this post on Instagram A post shared by LALEH MOHMEDI (@jacobs_food_diaries) on Feb 11, 2019 at 3:30am PST While the 35-year-old Australian is now a well-established food artist, she still uses her talent to bond with her son and convince him to eat healthy. View this post on Instagram A post shared by LALEH MOHMEDI (@jacobs_food_diaries) on Nov 8, 2018 at 3:30am PST Jacob decides who he wants to eat. He has lots of Disney books and picks characters from TV, she said. We bond over making food sculptures. Jacob is getting into it and he makes some crazy characters. Its a chance to talk about ingredients and healthy eating. View this post on Instagram A post shared by LALEH MOHMEDI (@jacobs_food_diaries) on Sep 29, 2018 at 8:13am PDT When selecting the ingredients for her edible artworks, Mohmedi usually prioritizes unprocessed and nutritious foods like kale, chia seeds, spelt or salmon. She is also the the ambassador of the #ChooseMyWellness campaign, which encourages Australians to eat healthy. Ma Sanxiao, a 70-year-old double amputee and army veteran from Jingxing, North Chinas Hebei province, has pent the last 19 years of his life planting thousands of trees and turning the once barren hills surrounding his village into a small forest. Ma was diagnosed with blood poisoning in 1974, while serving in the Chinese Army. His condition got worse after he retired, and eventually had both legs amputated because of it his right leg in 1985, and the left one in 2005. After seven major operations and constant medical treatments, he could barely afford to take care of his family, and ,because of his disability, finding a job proved very difficult. His veteran subsidy was enough to cover his medicine, but he couldnt remain idle, so in 2000, after getting inspired by another tree-planting story on TV, the double-amputee started planting parasol trees in the barren hills around his remote village, with the intention of selling them for profit. Photo: video screengrab Honestly speaking, making a living out of planting trees was also part of my idea at first. You know, I can sell them to make money and stand on my own feet financially, Ma said in a 2011 interview with China Daily. But as the trees grew bigger and started to wrap the hills in a beautiful green, I became hesitant. They are not only beautiful, but also important to those hills because they can hold the soil. After seeing the trees growing under his eyes every day and dealing with the sorrow of having some of them die due to the harsh conditions in the area, Ma Sanxiao got so attached to his small forest that decided he couldnt sell them, choosing instead to plant them for the benefit of others. Ill never sell these trees, the veteran said. Its a great sense of fulfillment. I will continue planting trees until my last breadth and leave this green wealth to the country and future generations. Photo: video screengrab Ma gets up at 5am every morning, puts on some clothes, grabs his rudimentary tools and tree saplings and uses his crutches to reach the hills. He doesnt even eat breakfast in order to save time, choosing instead to pack his meal and eat it during one of his short breaks. He uses work gloves and a shovel to dig small holes in the ground, then plants tree saplings and crawls to an inlet nearby to water them. Its not the easiest work for a double amputee, and the 70-year-old admits that he has suffered more falls and injuries than he can remember. These difficulties didnt deter me, because I was a soldier, Ma Sanxiao said. But I had to borrow money to buy saplings and all the tools. I cant count the broken shovels I used in those years. The double-amputees life changed in 2008 when Chinese media covered his story and volunteers started showing up to help him. The Chinese government also acknowledged his contribution to society and started offering him financial assistance. He could have just stopped them, as there were other able-bodied people more than willing to continue his work, but planting trees was what made him happy, so he kept doing it every day. For the last 19 years, Ma Sanxiao has spent almost every day in the wilderness of the Taihang Mountain Range planting trees, and he now has a roughly 17,000-tree forest to show for it. Despite pleas from his family to take it easy and spend more time at home, he continues to expand his forest every day. To me, they are not trees. I consider them as the soldiers I have commanded. They make me feel very fulfilled, Ma said. As long as I live, I shall keep planting trees for future generations. Ma Sanxiaos inspiring story is reminiscent of other incredible tales of people who have dedicated their lives to nature. The achievements of Forest Man Jadav Payeng, who single-handedly planted a 550-hectare forest, have inspired a documentary, and the story of Anil and Pamela Malhotra, a couple who turned 55 acres of unused farmland into a sanctuary that consists of hundreds of endangered plants, animals and birds, has inspired environmentalists around the world. And who could forget Abdul Samad Sheikh, the Forest Man of Bangladesh who planted at least one tree a day, for most of his life, or Antonio Vicente, the Brazilian who spent the last four decades of his life restoring a forest that had been razed for cattle grazing. A newly-married woman from the UAE recently filed for divorce from her husband, who she accused of being too cheap and making her pay for everything. Arabic newspaper Al Baiyan reports that the unnamed woman filed a case in the Personal Status Chamber at Abu Dhabi court, asking for a divorce from her Iranian husband, even though they were technically still in their honeymoon. She claims that the man, who is 13 years her junior, asked her to pay for everything, including groceries and bills for electricity and water. The scorned woman is apparently so determined to be rid of her husband that she agreed to waive all of her rights just to get the divorce. The woman complained that her cheap husband specifically asked her to register all utility bills under her name, claiming that he had lost all of his personal documents. Her attorney told the court that the man even asked her to handle all the registration for services, while he had his personal documents processed. Photo: stevepb/Pixabay He didnt spend a penny on this marriage, the woman said, adding that even though she bought all the furniture in their house, instead of showing his appreciation, her husband started neglecting her. She couldnt stand it anymore and filed for divorce before their honeymoon was over. Compared to other blitz divorces weve featured in the past, this one actually came pretty late in the marriage. Earlier this year we wrote about a couple who divorced 3 minutes after getting married, after the husband insulted his wife by calling her stupid. There was also the case of a husband who divorced his bride 15 minutes after marrying her, because he couldnt reach a dowry agreement with his father-in-law. via Khaleej Times Tulchan Communications represents British pharmaceuticals company Indivior, which was indicted by a Virginia grand jury April 9 on 28 counts of healthcare, mail and wire fraud connected to its marketing of Soboxone Film, an opioid-based drug, as a treatment for opioid and heroin addiction. "Indivior obtained billions of dollars in revenue from Suboxone Film prescriptions by deceiving health care providers and health care benefit programs into believing that Suboxone Film was safer, less divertible, and less abusable than other opioid-addiction treatment drugs, according to the indictment. Indivior also is alleged to have sought to boost profits by using a 'Here to Help' program to connect opioid-addicted patients to doctors the company knew were prescribing opioids at high rates and in a clinically unwarranted manner. Virginias attorney general Mark Herring said: Our indictment alleges a wide-ranging and truly shameful scheme to put profits over the health and well-being of patients trying to manage substance use disorder and opioid dependence. Its incredibly frustrating that while we have been working to remove the stigma around medication-assisted treatment and make it more widely available, Indivior was allegedly conspiring to exploit patients, taxpayers, and the expansion of medication-assisted treatment." Indivior released a three-page response to the grand jury indictment, saying it believes the Justice Dept. is fundamentally wrong and that it will contest the charges vigorously. We are extremely disappointed in this action by the Justice Department, which is wholly unsupported by either the facts or the law," the company said. "Key allegations made by the Justice Department are contradicted by the governments own scientific agencies, they are almost exclusively based on years-old events from before Indivior became an independent company in 2014, and they are wrong. "The department has apparently decided it would rather pursue self-serving headlines on a matter of national significance than achieve an appropriate resolution, but we will contest this case vigorously and we look forward to the full facts coming out in court." Indivior shares plunged 74 percent today on the grand jury news. Johnson Publishing Company, which was long one of Americas most prominent black-owned businesses, creating both Ebony and Jet magazines, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, effectively liquidating the company. The company sold the titles to private equity firm Clear View Group in 2016, according to the Wall Street Journal. Both are now run by Ebony Media Operations, which says that its operations are not affected by the bankruptcy filing. After the sale of Ebony and Jet, Johnson consisted of Fashion Fair Cosmetics, a line targeted at women of color, and the Ebony Archive. The company cites increasing competition from e-commerce in the cosmetic business as one of the factors behind its financial problems. It also says that the purchaser of the companys media properties failed to make required payments. In a statement, Johnson refers to a potential buyer for certain assets of the companya group with a proven track record of advancing cultural preservation, supporting community-based businesses and building and operating legacy brands. Ebony was launched in 1945, with the goal of both spotlighting the achievements of black Americans and addressing addressing racial injustice. Jet followed in 1951, making a huge impact on the civil rights movement when it published an open-casket photograph of 14-year-old Emmett Till, who was killed for allegedly offending a white woman. Jet ceased print publication in 2014, but still exists as a Los Angeles-based online entity. Following the Clear View Group acquisition, Ebony moved most of its Chicago editorial operations to Jets L.A. offices. Fast food chain Burger King has been forced to remove an advert in New Zealand after it was branded 'racist'. The advert is for a new Vietnamese burger depicted a westerner struggling to eat a burger with chopsticks, the latest western brand to be accused of mocking Asian food customs. The fast food chain faced a huge online backlash after an advert was posted to Burger King New Zealands Instagram depicting westerners attempting to eat the new Vietnamese Sweet Chilli Tendercrisp Burger with comically giant red chopsticks. The advert, which appeared to feature no one Vietnamese, was captioned: Take your taste buds all the way to Ho Chi Minh City. In response, a version posted to Twitter by Maria Mo, a Korean woman living in New Zealand, has been viewed more than 2.9M times. Mo attacked the ad, describing it as racist. In her post, Mo wrote: Im so sick of racism of any kind. Of the kind that makes fun of different cultures. Say no to every single manifestation of it. LOL chopsticks amirite?????? Who the hell came up with this? There are a lot of Asian people in NZ, though they probably arent getting their Vietnamese food from Burger King https://t.co/XSGYX7IVBR Catherine Shu (@CatherineShu) April 5, 2019 The fast food chain has since apologised for the ad and removed it. Burger King stated it the ad was insensitive and does not reflect our brand values regarding diversity and inclusion. We have asked our franchisee in New Zealand to remove the ad immediately. Tom Qualtere Tom Qualtere, former communications director for Congressman Mike Kelly, has joined Nahigian Strategies, a top Republican communications/PR shop in DC. He helped the Pennsylvania Congressman, who sits on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, fend off the Democratic wave during the 2018 midterm election. Prior to joining Kelly, Qualtere was speechwriter and communications advisor for former Texas Congressman Jeb Hensarling during his stint as chairman of the House Republican Conference, and an aide to Heritage Foundation founder/former president Ed Feulner. Keith Nahigian, who served in the Bush I White House, founded the firm in 2000. An Garda Siochana is supporting the FraudSMART initiative of the Banking & Payments Federation of Ireland (BPFI) in advising consumers, particularly young adults, to be alert to the risks and consequences of recruitment as "money mules. A new survey commissioned by BPFI as part of its FraudSMART campaign for 2019 shows strong evidence of "money mule activity among young people in Ireland. The practice involves criminals recruiting young people to help launder stolen or illegal money using their bank account often unwittingly. Gardai are currently investigating a 2 million scheme of this nature. Throughout the campaign, Campus Watch Liaisons (CWLs) and Crime Prevention Officers (CPOs), will engage with members of the student body and staff or visitors to the campus in matters relating to Fraud crimes, with a particular warning for young adults; "Never allow your bank account to be used by someone else. FraudSMART aims to raise awareness of the latest financial fraud activity and trends, and how consumers and businesses can act to protect themselves. The survey found more than two in five (43%) of 18-24-year olds are likely or very likely to lodge or transfer money for someone using their own bank account in exchange for keeping some of the money for themselves. This makes them the age group most susceptible to becoming money mules compared with an overall average of 29% of adults across all age cohorts surveyed. Gardai stated: "The chance to earn a "quick buck is a tactic used by fraudsters to recruit money mules, who are promised a share of the proceeds in exchange for their bank account details. The survey also revealed that 14% of 18-24-year olds say that they or someone they know have already been approached by another person looking to use their bank details to store money for someone else." "When asked about transferring money, the figure jumps to one in five (19%) of young adults aged 18-24 who reported that they or someone they know have been asked by a third party for their bank details to carry out a transaction. This compares to just 12% of adults aged 25+, with older age cohorts overall less likely to be approached." Detective Inspector Catharina Gunne from the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau said: "A Money Mule is a person who transfers money illegally on behalf of other people. They allow their account to be used for the transfer of ill-gotten gains. They may or may not be aware of the crime. However, they are complicit if they recklessly allow their account to be used to launder the proceeds of these crimes. Students are often targeted by Organised Crime Gangs to act as money mules, laundering thousands of euro through their accounts in exchange for a few hundred euro. Anti-money laundering legislation is designed to prevent Organised Crime Gang members from opening up accounts so they need money mules to launder their money. Students are an easy target for these "money herders. They are often approached online, on campus, or while out socialising. Crime Prevention advice from gardai: 1. Do not allow anyone to use your bank account. 2. Do not share personal bank account data. 3. Do not send or receive money. 4. Trust your instincts. If it sounds too good to be true it most likely is. "If you are approached to facilitate this crime. Say no and report the Matter to AGS." D/I Gunne advised: "If you agree to allow your account be used in this way you are committing the offence of Money laundering. Money laundering is a serious offence which on convictions carries a penalty of up to 14 years imprisonment. This will have a serious impact on your future travel plans, career opportunities, vetting and credit ratings. Niamh Davenport, Head of Fraud Prevention who leads the BPFI FraudSMART programme, said: "We understand that young adults are trying to juggle work and study with an active social life, with all kinds of costs to cover and it can be very tempting when someone offers you the chance to earn extra cash quickly for little effort. Our research shows that two in five 18-24-year olds are likely to do just that in exchange for their bank details, backed up by data from our member banks which shows that money mules are a growing reality in Ireland today." "Were urging young people to be smart when it comes to money mule recruitment, whether its someone asking for a favour or promising payment. Know the warning signs, understand the risks and check with someone you really trust if youre unsure. Equally, for teachers, parents, youth workers and friends to play their part in raising awareness so that more young people are on their guard. We know from experience that most of the recruitment happens online, but its having the conversation offline at home, college or work that could really make a difference to a young person you know. The Garda National Economic Crime Bureau are currently investigating a 2 Million Euro Money Laundering fraud involving approximately 200 "Money Mule accounts. "The funds are the proceeds of a multi-million Euro fraud. These monies were sourced from a series of account takeovers involving a financial institution outside the jurisdiction. The Money Mules accounts under investigation are dispersed across the country and consist of single transactions ranging from 5,000 to 35,000. The Garda National Economic Crime Bureau are liaising with Europol, Banking & Payments Federation of Ireland (BPFI) and the relevant financial institutions where the "money Mule accounts are held. This is an ongoing complex investigation." Are you a current print subscriber? You qualify for online access to the Omak Chronicle. To receive your access, create a website account and then verify your print subscription or e-edition subscription with your subscriber number, which may be found on your bill or mailing label. Curfew in Ahmedabad extended till 6am on May 21; Night curfew to continue in 36 cities for another 3 days Into the deep: Ahmedabads Science City gets a boost! Nature Park, Aquatic, Robotic Galleries and more! Gujarat: Massive fire breaks out in an oil mill Banaskantha Ahmedabad oi-Vikas SV Ahmedabad, Apr 10: A massive fire is said to have broken out at an oil mill in Gujarat's Banaskantha district. The fire broke out this morning at the oil mill in Chandisar area, said reports. Several fire tenders have been rushed to the spot to douse the flames. There are no reports of any causalities or injuries as yet. The fire fighting operations are underway. Uttar Pradesh: Boiler blast at a Kanpur factory leaves one dead, 4 injured Reports suggest that a short-circuit may have triggered the fire. The exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. The main focus for now is the douse the flames at the earliest. On Monday (April 8), over 100 persons were rescued after a fire broke out on the ninth and tenth floor of a multi-storey commercial complex in Ahmedabad's Prahladnagar area. 12 fire-tenders along with scores of personnel had to be deployed to put out the fire. Delhi: Fire in plastic godown in Burari, no casualty reported On April 2, two people suffered burn injuries after five cylinders exploded in Dholka district, Gujarat. In March, two contractual workers died after a major fire broke out in an oil well of ONGC at Nandej in Gujarat, 20 km from Ahmedabad. Curfew in Ahmedabad extended till 6am on May 21; Night curfew to continue in 36 cities for another 3 days Gujarat: Thakor Sena passes resolution to severe ties with Congress Ahmedabad oi-PTI Ahmedabad, Apr 10: The Gujarat Kshatriya Thakor Sena, an outfit floated by Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor, has decided to severe its ties with the grand old party and asked the legislator to resign from it and clear his stand within 24 hours. Speculations were rife that Thakor may quit the Congress as he was unhappy with the local party leadership. Though he was keen to contest from Patan Lok Sabha seat, the Congress chose former MP Jagdish Thakor over him. The party also ignored Thakor Sena's demand for ticket to a member of the outfit from Sabarkantha Lok Sabha seat. "The Thakor Sena, during the core committee meeting here late Tuesday night, passed a resolution to severe ties with the Congress. We have not consulted Alpesh Thakor before taking this decision," Jagat Thakor, a member of the outfit, told reporters here. "Entire Kashmir is ours", says Amit Shah during roadshow in Ahmedabad "After the meet, we told him to make his stand clear within 24 hours. If he wants to remain with the Congress, then he has to leave the Thakor Sena. And if he wants to be with us, then he has to resign from the party and as an MLA," he said. The Congress was "ignoring" the Thakor Sena while taking important decisions, including selection of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, he said. Though Alpesh Thakor heads the outfit, he was not present in the meeting. After emerging as a prominent OBC leader in Gujarat, he joined the Congress before the 2017 Assembly polls and won from Radhanpur seat in Patan district. He recently met Congress president Rahul Gandhi and conveyed his displeasure against the functioning of the party's state leadership. The OBC leader claimed his community and supporters were feeling "cheated" and "ignored". He also said that some "weak leaders" were at the helm of party affairs in Gujarat, an apparent reference to state party president Amit Chavda. The MLA could not be contacted for his comments in the matter. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 10, 2019, 13:13 [IST] A day before killing BJP MLA, naxals extended support to Pakistan backed group India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Apr 10: A day before the ghastly attack that killed a BJP MLA in Chhattisgarh and four others, the naxalites had extended support to the Pakistan backed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front. Posters extending support to the JKLF had been put up by the Odisha Balangir Committee of the banned Communist Part of India (Maoist). Further it also called for a boycott of the elections both in Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh as well, police sources tell OneIndia. On Tuesday, the naxalites triggered an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in which BJP MLA, Bhima Mandavi's convoy was targeted. The MLA and four others were killed in the incident. Naxalites attack BJP convoy: An intelligence alert warned of similar attacks in March The police say that the posters had been circulated in the Bastar region. Further it may be recalled that in March, the Intelligence Bureau had warned about a big naxal attack ahead of the elections. It may be recalled that similar alerts had been issued prior to the elections in the five states that were held last year. The security forces managed to thwart all attempts that were made during the assembly elections. The naxalites had even prepared a hit-list of politicians to target during the elections. Following this a similar alert was issued ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. It was stated that under their new commander Basavaraj, they would look to get more aggressive during the elections. The alert further read that the naxalites would use IED and even attempt to kidnap of kill political leaders. The report also said that the naxalites were moving more of their cadres into Chhattisgarh ahead of the elections. Attack on BJP convoy bears signature of new naxal chief Nambala Keshav Rao Further, it was stated that the naxalites had been trying to re-group and had even called in their cadres from Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. An Intelligence Bureau (IB) official informed that the alerts were specific and security forces had been told to be on very high alert. The officer also noted that there would be more such attempts during the elections. Security forces are over worked during an election season and naxalites take advantage of the same, the officer also said. Google Doodle celebrates New Years eve with twinkling lights and confetti poppers Mothers Day 2021: Google Doodle wishes mothers all around the world with adorable pop-up card Happy Independence Day, India!: Google captures spectrum of diversity, its dance forms with unique doodle Ahead of Lok Sabha Elections 2019, Google tells people How to Vote with informative Doodle Feature oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, April 11: Today, April 11, marks the date of first phase of voting for the Indian General Elections 2019, also known as Lok Sabha Elections 2019. The 2019 Indian general election, is scheduled to be held in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to constitute the 17th Lok Sabha. The internet search giant Google has put up a doodle with an inked finger and contains description of "how to vote." Phase 1 voting is on April 11 and it comprises of 91 seats. On this day, twenty states and union territories will vote in the first phase. The states that are going to vote for Lok Sabha Elections 2019 on Phase 1 are Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep. [Hours before first phase voting, CEC reaches out to voters, appeals to come in huge numbers] When you click on the doodle, Google gives a piece of information on 'how to vote' Here are the pointers: First polling official will check your name on the voter list and check your ID proof Second polling official will ink your finger, give you a slip and take your signature on a register (Form 17A) You will have to deposit the slip at the third polling official and show your inked finger and then proceed to the polling booth Record your vote by pressing the ballot button opposite the symbol of the candidate of your choice on the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM); You will hear a beep sound Check the slip that appears in the transparent window of the VVPAT machine. The slip with the Candidate serial No., Name and Symbol shall be visible for 7 seconds before it drops in the sealed VVPAT box You can press NOTA, None of the Above, if you don't like any candidate; it's the last button on the EVM For more information, please see the Voter Guide on http://ecisveep.nic.in/ Mobile phones, cameras or any other gadget is not allowed inside a polling booth. The counting of votes will be conducted on 23 May, and on the same day, the results will be declared. Before agreeing to a review, here is what SC had said on Rafale deal India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Apr 10: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to review its verdict in the Rafale Deal, while rejecting a preliminary objection raised by the Centre for the same. The petitioners in the case had moved the Supreme Court seeking a review of its original verdict dated December 14, 2018 in which it had given the deal a clean chit. In the original verdict, the SC had said that it found no irregularities in the government's decision making process to procure the 36 Rafale jets from Dassault under the Indo-French intergovernmental agreement. Rafale: Setback for Centre as SC says will hear review, examine new documents The original verdict: The court had observed that it is not its job to go into pricing when the need and quality of aircraft is not in doubt. Further the court also said it did not find anything wrong in the selection of the Indian offset partners by Dassault. All the pleas have been dismissed, it had said. The court also said that no further review is required, while also adding that no probe is required into the pricing aspect or decision making process for the purchase of the aircraft. Rafale review: SC will look into appointment of Anil Ambani owned company as offset partner The court added that it did not find any instances of commercial favouritism. There is no occasion to doubt the decision making process in procurement of the aircraft. Minor variations in clauses should not amount to the setting aside of the contract, the Bench also said. The Bench also observed that a country cannot be underprepared. It is not right for a court to sit as an appellant authority and scrutinise all aspects. The perception of individuals cannot be the basis of roving inquiry in sensitive issues such as defence procurements. Rafale deal: A timeline of events The Bench also said that it cannot compel a government to purchase 126 aircraft and it is not proper for the court to examine each aspect of this case. It is not the job of the court to compare pricing details, the Bench also said. The court said that the personal perception of the people on the deal matters little. However the judiciary has constrained jurisdiction in examining defence deals of this nature especially when adversaries have inducted 4th and 5th generation fighters compared to none by India. On the offset partner the Bench said that it is up to the vendor and not the central government to decide on the same. It is not for the court to step into what is appropriate. Mere press interviews cannot be the basis of the same. There is no commercial favouritism and hence there is no need to intervene. Stolen, classified or photocopied: SC to go into new documents in Rafale case It is our considered view that in matters of contract there cannot be any uniform view of judicial review. Scrutiny will have to be made keeping national security in mind. Our country cannot be allowed to be underprepared. It will not be correct for this court to sit and decide on the correctness. It was only after the statement made by former president of France, Fancois Hollande that the petitions were filed, the Bench also said. Till when does a father have to take responsibility of his child: SC clarifies Rafale: Setback for Centre as SC says will hear review, examine new documents India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Apr 10: The Supreme Court has rejected the preliminary objection raised by the Centre against the review pleas in the Rafale case. Rafale deal: A timeline of events The court said that it would now go ahead with the hearing of the review petitions in the light of the new documents cited by the petitioners, who alleged wrong doing in the Rafale deal. In December 2018, the Supreme Court had given the deal a clean chit and said that it found no irregularities in the government's decision making process. The court also observed that it is not its job to go into pricing when the need and quality of aircraft is not in doubt. Further the court also said it did not find anything wrong in the selection of the Indian offset partners by Dassault. All the pleas have been dismissed. The court also said that no further review is required, while also adding that no probe is required into the pricing aspect or decision making process for the purchase of the aircraft. BSP chief Mayawati says Cong had Bofors and now BJP has Rafale The petitioners then sought a review of the verdict. The matter was heard at length in open court, following which the order was reserved. AAP to contest all seats in UP assembly polls, not in talks for any alliance: Sanjay Singh Congress not in favour of alliance; AAP will contest, win all 7 seats in Delhi: Sanjay Singh India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, Apr 10: Despite weeks of speculation about a possible alliance of AAP and Congress alliance in Delhi for Lok Sabha election 2019, AAP MP Sanjay Singh on Thursday said that all the routes of an alliance with the Congress have been closed and the move will benefit the BJP. On the eve of first phase of voting in the crucial election, Singh while speaking to media said,"In Punjab, we have 4 MPs and 20 MLAs, and the Congress doesn't want to share seats there. The same situation is in Haryana, Goa and Chandigarh. In Delhi, where they don't have any MLA or MP, they are demanding 3 seats. So, this alliance is not possible." [ Lok Sabha elections 2019: How BJP plans to take on AAP-Congress in Delhi] ''Congress is not in favour of alliance and it seems they want to benefit BJP. AAP will contest & win all seven seats in Delhi,'' he said. While AAP has accused Congress of being too demanding in Delhi but unwilling to reciprocate elsewhere, the party had also lost out on alliance partners in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. Singh statement came even as senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel met the party's Delhi unit president Sheila Dikshit at her residence on Wednesday, sources said. Dikshit refused to comment on the meeting, saying the issue of alliance was dragging for long and it would be good if the prevailing uncertainty is over. All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Delhi Congress PC Chacko, meanwhile, welcomed Sanjay Singh's statement. "No problem, we welcome his statement," Chacko told PTI. Chacko added that as in-charge of Delhi Congress, he had begun talks with AAP because both the parties had agreed that the BJP cannot be defeated if AAP and Congress contest separately in the upcoming elections. Earlier today, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel had reportedly held talks with the party's Delhi unit president Sheila Dikshit in this regard at her residence. "Let us hope so," Dikshit had told news agency PTI when asked if the chances of an alliance with the AAP was over. Is China the reason why Pakistan opted to skip Summit for Democracy hosted by Biden? Pakistan: Cops find woman in deep sleep next to body parts of 70 year old man Dalai Lama admitted to Delhi hospital, condition stable India oi-PTI New Delhi, Apr 10: Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has been admitted to a private hospital in Delhi with a chest infection and his condition is stable now, hospital sources said on Wednesday. The 83-year-old, a globally revered figure and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, had come down here from Dharamshala for a check-up at the Max Hospital in Saket on Tuesday. "He was brought to Max Hospital yesterday with a case of chest infection. The Dalai Lama was later admitted and will be under treatment for a couple of days. He is in a stable condition," a source said. Yechury blasts Modi govt for claiming 'clean chit' in Rafale case after SC order The 14th Dalai Lama was here for the past few days for attending a global learning conference that ended on April 6. He returned to Dharamshala from New Delhi on Monday. The Dalai Lama had fled to India in early 1959 to escape from Chinese occupation, and lives in exile in the hill town of Dharamshala. At the event, he had also spoken about ageing and reincarnation, and reiterated that he was the "son of the Nalanda tradition" referring to the rich Buddhist heritage of the Nalanda University in Bihar. China has said the successor to the Dalai Lama must be chosen according to religious rituals and historical conventions as well as the backing from the ruling Communist Party. PTI Till when does a father have to take responsibility of his child: SC clarifies Documents being used to present 'selective, incomplete' picture: Govt on Rafale India oi-Vikas SV New Delhi, Apr 10: The Union Government on Wednesday expressed concern over the use of documents with classified information by the petitioners in the Rafale deal case to present a selective and incomplete picture before the Supreme Court. The Defence Minister statement said that the main concern of the Government is that classified information concerning National Security would come out in the public domain. The Centre's response came after the Supreme Court rejected the preliminary objection raised by the Centre against the review pleas in the Rafale case. The court said that it would now go ahead with the hearing of the review petitions in the light of the new documents cited by the petitioners, who alleged wrong doing in the Rafale deal. Stolen, classified or photocopied: SC to go into new documents in Rafale case "Government had provided requisite information as desired by the Supreme Court and also provided all records and files as required by CAG. The main concern of the Government is relating to availability of sensitive and classified information concerning National Security in the public domain," the statement reportedly said. It may be recalled that when the review was filed the petitioners, Arun Shourie, Yashwant Sinha and Prashant Bhushan had submitted fresh documents before the court. The Centre had then pleaded that these documents were unauthorisedly photo-copied from defence files and that these would have an inimical impact on national security and also friendly relations with France. Rafale: Setback for Centre as SC says will hear review, examine new documents "It is reiterated that petitioners are using documents with intention to present a selective and incomplete picture of internal secret deliberations on a matter relating to National Security and Defence," the Defence Ministry statement said. "The documents presented by the petitioners are failing to bring out how the issues were addressed and resolved and necessary approvals of the competent authorities taken. These are selective and incomplete presentation of the facts and records by the petitioners," it added. The petitioners in the case had moved the Supreme Court seeking a review of its original verdict dated December 14 2018 in which it had given the deal a clean chit. The court would now hear the review plea questioning the pricing of the Rafale jets. Before agreeing to a review, here is what SC had said on Rafale deal In the original verdict, the SC had said that it found no irregularities in the government's decision making process to procure the 36 Rafale jets from Dassault under the Indo-French intergovernmental agreement. The petitioners then sought a review of the verdict. The matter was heard at length in open court, following which the order was reserved. PM said he wants remove 'dil ki doori and Dilli ki doori': Omar Abdullah after meet on J&K Restore statehood first, if you want elections in J&K: Omar Abdullah to Centre Govt needs to give sense of security to people cutting across religions in J&K: Omar Even an ex-Army officer called it foolish: Omar on civilian vehicles' ban on NH India oi-Vikas SV Srinagar, Apr 10: Ban on movement of civilian traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway on Sundays and Wednesdays is 'unnecessary', even a former Army officer has called it "foolish move", said National Conference (NC) president Omar Abdullah on Wednesday. The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Monday issued a notice to the state government on a plea seeking striking down of the ban on movement of civilian vehicles on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway on Sundays and Wednesdays. Congress had demanded immediate revocation of a ban on movement of civilian traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, describing the order as "undemocratic and anti-people". "We have been requesting govt to rethink the move. Ban is unnecessary. Army itself said they do not want it and never asked for it. Ex-Army Chief General Malik said it is a foolish move," Omar Abdullah told media today. Civilian traffic ban on J&K highway begins: Hundreds stranded, traders say huge loss for business Congress had alleged that the prohibition order is not in the interest of people, besides it will badly affect the business community both in J&K regions. Omar Abdullah had earlier questioned the rationale behind closing the Jammu-Srinagar-Baramulla National Highway for civilian traffic on Sundays and Wednesday. The government last week banned all civilian vehicles from plying on the national highway from Udhampur to Baramulla via Srinagar on Sundays and Wednesdays in order to facilitate safe movement of security force convoys which are being moved around for election duty in the state. The ban, which came into force on April 7, has drew widespread criticism from mainstream political parties in Kashmir. Give us full report on raids, EC tells central agencies India oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa New Delhi, Apr 10: The Election Commission (EC) has directed the probe agencies under the central department of revenue to "come down heavily" on those who indulge in using black money and illegal inducements to vitiate the ongoing poll process. The EC also asked the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to furnish to it a full report by Wednesday on the raids conducted by Income Tax Department on close aides of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath and others in four states on Sunday. Union revenue secretary A B Pandey and CBDT chairman P C Mody on Tuesday morning met Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and Election Commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra, after the poll panel sought a meeting on a recent directive to the revenue department for a fair and impartial conduct of operations by agencies under its command, such as the I-T department, ED and Customs and DRI. Official sources said the two officials briefed the EC on the intelligence inputs it is receiving during the election season and the mechanism to execute surprise checks and raids in case the inputs are "credible". Congress factionalism behind raids against Kamal Nath aides? A similar input was received by the Delhi investigation wing about "large-scale collection, possession and movement of unaccounted assets" from Madhya Pradesh to Delhi and hence the raids happened, the officials told the EC according to the sources. It is likely that the tax department will in the coming days slap criminal charges for possessing illegal foreign assets and benami properties against the accused based on the document found during the raids. As voluminous data, in the form of papers, diaries and hard drives, have been seized and are being processed, the CBDT was taking time to present a full report of the operation, they said. They added that the I-T department has also grilled a few people and is sending summons to a number of them to depose so that the probe in the case can be taken forward. It is understood that that the department wants to also grill S M Moin, an employee of senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, after they searched his premises in Delhi's Geeta Colony over the past a few days. Patel had visited Moin's house when I-T sleuths were present. Sources in the tax department said they have seized hand-written and printed "records of funds collection and distribution" which they suspect were allegedly sourced illegally from government funds. However, these are only preliminary inputs gathered after the seizures were made at 52 premises in four states, including Madhya Pradesh, since Sunday, they said. The EC, the sources said, asked the Revenue Department and the CBDT to ensure that when they carry out such operations during election time, it should be based on "solid" inputs and "very credible" information as such action invites immediate concerns among political parties. But the poll panel made it clear to the agencies that they should "come down heavily" on anyone indulging in using black money and illegal inducements to vitiate the election process. It was underlined that the state chief electoral officer (CEO) should also be informed about the action in the "best possible time", they said. The EC on Sunday "strongly advised" the finance ministry that any action by its enforcement agencies during election time should be "neutral" and "non-discriminatory" and officials of the poll panel should be kept in loop about such actions. The poll panel's advice had come against the backdrop of Income Tax Department's raids in Madhya Pradesh on Sunday and in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in the recent past on politicians and people connected to them. Since the Model Code of Conduct came into force on March 10, the I-T department has carried out raids on the properties linked to political leaders and their associates which the opposition parties have dubbed a misuse of central agencies during the poll season. The revenue department, in its reply to EC, had said its action has always been "neutral", "impartial" and "non-discriminatory" and the work of the agencies under it was undertaken irrespective of political affiliation. The tax department on Monday said it has detected a "widespread and well-organised" racket of collection of unaccounted cash of about Rs 281 crore during raids against close aides of CM Nath and others. It said sleuths have recovered Rs 14.6 crore of "unaccounted" cash and seized diaries and computer files of suspect payments made between the central Indian state and Delhi. The CBDT, that frames policy for the I-T department, had said the department has also detected a trail of Rs 20 crore suspect cash allegedly being moved to the "headquarters of a major political party in Delhi" from the house of an important person who lives on Tughlaq Road, home to many VIPs. 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? Gujjar quota agitation leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, son join BJP India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, Apr 10: Kirori Singh Bainsla, prominent Gurjar quota agitation leader joined the BJP at the party's headquarters on Wednesday. Bainsla is known for leading a state-wide protest for reservation for the Gurjar community which saw rail and road traffic disruption in Rajasthan. Bainsla's son Vijay Bainsla also joined the party in the presence of BJP's Rajasthan-in-charge Prakash Javadekar. "I have seen rarest of rare qualities in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that's why I am joining the BJP," Kirori Singh Bainsla said, adding the PM interacts with common people and he is inspired by Modi's working style. Maharashtra: BJP going all out to make dent in Congress fortress Nanded Bainsla said that he has been close to chief ministers of both parties -- the BJP and the Congress -- and had seen their ideologies. "After seeing two parties closely, I am joining the BJP," he said. Javadekar said Bainsla had also met party president Amit Shah in the morning.He said that with each passing day, the BJP is emerging stronger in Rajasthan and win all 25 Lok Sabha seats. The Gurjar community agitation demanded five per cent quota in jobs and education. The protest even turned violent on February 10, 2019 with shots being fired and police vehicles torched in Dholpur district and protestors blocking road and rail traffic in many areas. Chhattisgarh's horrific accident: Nobody will be spared, justice will be done: CM Baghel 'Har goli ka jawab unhi ki bhasha mein diya jaaye': Chhattisgarh CM after Dantewada naxal attack India oi-Madhuri Adnal Bilaspur, Apr 10: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel strongly condemned Tuesday's Naxal attack in Dantewada which killed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Bhima Mandavi and four others. He said that Naxals would have to pay a high price for carrying out the dastardly act. On the BJP MLA being killed in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said that his government was trying to gain the trust of the tribals and that's why the Naxals committed this crime. "Naxalo ki har goli ka jawab unhi ki bhasha mein diya jaaye. (Every Naxal bullet will be answered in the same language)," he added. [ PM Modi condemns Dantewada attack, says 'Sacrifices won't go in vain'] "I will be participating in the funeral tomorrow. Tribute will be payed to the jawans at Police ground. Home Minister, I and DG will be present there," Baghel announced. Tuesday's attack took place between Kuakonta and Syamgiri in Dantewada when Naxals triggered an improvised electronic device (IED) in a road on which Mandavi's convoy was passing. When informed of the attack, Baghel cancelled his work-related programs for the day and returned to his residence for a high-level security meeting. With less than 36 hours to go for the first phase of voting in Lok Sabha election, the Election Commission has said that polling would take place as per schedule. While Dantewada votes in the second phase - on April 18, Bastar - another Naxal-affected area - will vote this Thursday. HC judge recuses self from hearing plea to bar Farooq, Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba from LS polls India pti-PTI New Delhi, Apr 10: A Delhi High Court judge on Wednesday recused himself from hearing a plea seeking a direction to the Election Commission to bar Jammu and Kashmir politicians Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti from participating in the Lok Sabha election as they have allegedly made "seditious" statements. Justice A J Bhambhani, who was part of the division bench headed by Chief Justice Rajendra Menon, recused himself from hearing the matter. "List it before a bench in which one of us, that is, Justice Bhambhani, is not a member," the Chief Justice said. The matter would come up for hearing before another bench on April 12. The petition filed by a lawyer alleged that the "seditious and communal statements" given by the three leaders were against the Constitution, adding that the court or the EC should bar or impose conditions on their entry into the Lok Sabha. All the three leaders are former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir. The petition has arrayed the EC, the Union of India, the Delhi Police, National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti as parties to the petition. The plea moved by advocate Sanjjiiv Kkumaar has also sought a direction to book them under various charges, including sedition and inciting hatred, of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act. "Issue directions to the respondent number 1 (EC) to ban the NC and the PDP from Lok Sabha election 2019 as respondent number 4 and 6 (the three leaders) are presidents of their respective parties and represent their parties and their ideologies," it alleged. "Will it not be a mockery of democracy to allow those people and parties to participate in the Lok Sabha election when people/parties openly call for sedition to divide Mother India on the basis of religion (Muslim majority) and two prime ministers (for Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of India)," it said. PTI State vs national issues: Key lessons for the BJP to learn in Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Haryana Hours before first phase voting, CEC reaches out to voters, appeals to come in huge numbers India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, Apr 10: Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Wednesday reached out to voters before the first phase of voting begins for the Lok Sabha elections tomorrow. ''It's a humble appeal that more & more people should come & cast their votes so that the bedrock of democracy strengthens. Our efforts will be fructified if each one of us who is an elector shows adequate zeal & faith in democratic system,'' Arora said. [Several political parties yet to publish criminal antecedents of its candidates] Meanwhile, the stage is set for polling in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections tomorrow. 91 Parliamentary constituencies spread over 18 states and two union territories will go to polls in this phase. The voting time in most of the Parliamentary Constituencies going to polls in the first phase is from 7 AM to 6 PM. However, in Left-Wing extremism-affected areas and the North Eastern States, the timings vary. All parliamentary constituencies of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep, Telangana and Uttarakhand will go to polls in this phase. Besides, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal will also vote in this phase. Simultaneous voting will also take place for single phase Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and for 28 of 147 seats in Odisha. Imran Khan highlights need for improving Pak-India ties; takes a dig at India over T20 cricket victory Imran Khan speaks of better ties with India and rubs T-20 World Cup victory Imran Khan's Modi 'endorsement' leaves Kashmir leaders fuming India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, Apr 10: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said he thinks there may be a better chance of peace talks with India if Prime Minister Narendra Modi wins the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. "Perhaps if the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)....wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached," Khan told a small group of foreign journalists in an interview. "If the next Indian government were led by the opposition Congress party, it might be too scared to seek a settlement with Pakistan over Kashmir, fearing a backlash from the right," Imran Khan was quoted saying by Reuters. EC seeks report over PM Modi raking up Balakot strikes in a rally "Perhaps if the BJP - a right-wing party - wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached," Imran Khan said in an interview. Khan said Kashmir was the central issue between the two countries. Imran Khan's statement has drawn criticism from the likes of National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, who slammed the BJP's insistence that those wishing for the party's loss are sponsored by Pakistan. "So much for Modi sahib telling the country only Pakistan and its sympathisers want BJP to lose," Abdullah tweeted. So much for Modi Sahib telling the country only Pakistan & its sympathisers want BJP to lose. Imran Khan has just endorsed him for a 2nd term - BJP election win will boost chances of Pak-India talks: Imran | The Express Tribune https://t.co/tagBzQr5kY Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) April 10, 2019 PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti also joined the voices who poked fun at support coming for the BJP from Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan. Bhakts scratching their heads & at wit ends wondering if they should praise Imran Khan or not. https://t.co/V4pv4u4vgn Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) April 10, 2019 Congress leader Sanjay Jha, took the BJP trolling one step further by declaring that there is a "secret love story." Imran Khan exposes the secret love story: #BJPPakistanBhaiBhai! Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) April 10, 2019 Tensions flared up between India and Pakistan after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) killed 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14. Amid mounting outrage, the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured an IAF pilot, who was handed over to India on March 1. Khan has said that Pakistan was taking action against all militants groups including the JeM. India will go to elections in seven phases beginning from Thursday. Fuel price hike: Petrol continues to remain costlier than diesel in Delhi and Mumbai Indian Oil stops fuel supply to Jet Airways over non payment of dues India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, Apr 10: National oil marketer Indian Oil on Thursday stopped fuel Supply to cash-starved Jet Airways for non-payment of dues. This is the third time that the public sector oil marketing company has cut fuel supply to the airline in the past eight days, which is struggling to keep afloat amid acute liquidity crisis. DGCA requests airlines to augment number of flights On March 4 and 5 also the oil company had cut supplies to Jet and restored only after getting an assurance from the airline management. IOC's move builds pressure on Jet, which has been teetering for weeks, as the debt-laden airline has yet to receive a $218 million loan from its lenders, as part of a rescue deal agreed in late March. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 10, 2019, 17:56 [IST] Krishnanagar seat in Bengal: Trinamool looks to make a hat-trick but without Tapas Paul India oi-Shubham Ghosh Kolkata, April 9: The schedule for the 17th Lok Sabha election was announced by the Election Commission on Sunday, March 10. The election will be held in seven phases between April 11 and May 19 with the results to be declared on May 23. Of all the states in the country, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh will witness elections in seven phases. Here we take a look at all the Lok Sabha constituencies (42) of Bengal and how parties have fared there over the years. LS poll 2019: Maldaha Dakshin remains one of Cong's last bastions; can opponents win it? Constituency: KRISHNANAGAR (formerly KRISHNAGAR) Date of election: April 29 (Phase 4) The Krishnanagar Lok Sabha constituency in Nadia district of Bengal comprises the following seven segments: Palashipara, Nakashipara, Kaliganj, Chapra, Krishnaganj, Krishnanagar East, Krishnanagar West. What happened in 2014: The Trinamool Congress retained the seat in 2014 as its celebrity candidate Tapas Paul won by 71,255 votes against his nearest rival, CPI(M)'s Shantanu Jha (4,38,789 votes as against 3,67,534 votes). In 2009, Paul defeated the sitting MP - Left's Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, a former athlete, by over 77k votes. Former Union minister and an MP from the seat Satyabrata Mookherjee from the BJP finished third both in 2009 and 2014 although his votes had increased to 3.29 lakh in 2014 compared to 1.75 lakh in 2009. The Congress's Ahmed Razia received 74,789 votes in 2014. Total electors in Krishnanagar constituency in 2014 were 14,67,178. Vote share: The TMC's vote-share in 2014 was 35.16 per cent (it was 42.43 per cent in 2009) while the Left got 29.45 per cent (35.03 per cent in 2009). The BJP's vote-share increased to 26.39 per cent from 16.76 per cent. The Congress's vote-share in 2014 was 5.99 per cent. History of Krishnanagar constituency results: TMC dominates now what was once the Left's bastion The CPI(M) has won the Krishnanagar seat nine times since 1957 with eight consecutive wins between 1971 and 1999. The BJP won this seat in 1999 in what constitutes one of its rare wins in Bengal. The TMC, however, has been winning this seat since 2009 with its actor-politician Tapas Paul claiming it two consecutive terms. This time, Paul has not been given the tickets to contest from Krishnanagar this time after he landed in legal soup in relation to Rose Valley chit fund scam and sitting MLA from Karimpur, Mahua Moitra, is contesting from this seat. Lok Sabha poll 2019: TMC eyes Maldaha Uttar, a Congress stronghold, after sitting MP shifts base Candidates contesting from Krishnanagar in 2019: TMC: Mohua Moitra; Left: Shantanu Jha; BJP: Kalyan Chowbey; Congress: Intaj Ali Shah For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 10, 2019, 14:29 [IST] Lok Sabha elections 2019: How BJP plans to take on AAP-Congress in Delhi India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, Apr 10: With just a day to go for the world's largest democratic exercise when India votes its next government, political parties in India are going out of the way in a bid to ensure polling in their favour and win Lok Sabha Elections 2019. With the BJP banking on the success of Balakot air strikes to garner votes, the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are weighing their options in Delhi and are yet to come clean on the alliance. In Delhi, the Congress party has unanimously supported Sheila Dikhshit's decision to reject an alliance with the AAP in Delhi. Amethi was my father's 'karmabhoomi', it is sacred land for us: Priyanka Gandhi With the Congress shutting the prospect of alliance, the national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has slammed the party saying that when the whole nation is fighting against the Modi-Amit Shah duo, the grand old party is helping the BJP by splitting anti-BJP vote. The AAP's push for an alliance is driven from the desire to be part of national politics after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. During the Delhi assembly elections, AAP won a staggering majority but it is still waiting for an alliance with the Congress. While the BJP has become cautious about the possible coalition and is preparing an electoral strategy to tackle this. The Delhi BJP is yet to announce its candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. It is believed that the party is waiting for AAP and Congress to finalise their alliance. If in case, in 2014, the Congress and AAP had fought the elections together they could have easily won all the seats except west Delhi. The vote share of BJP in 2014 was 46 percent. The cumulative vote share of AAP and Congress stands 48 percent. But with a triangular contest in the upcmong Lok Sabha elections 2019, the BJP's path can be easy. Keeping this electoral math in mind, Delhi BJP wants to win 51 per cent votes with Mission 51. Delhi BJP has already started working with this mission in mind, according to the report. Even if there is a coalition, it will not make any difference if they secure 51 per cent votes. It is learnt that the Delhi BJP has created a team of close to 2,80,000 people who have been given different responsibilities, who can reach slum dwellers, saloon operators and people living in unauthorized colonies. At the booth level also, teams of 25 workers each have been formed at every booth where one worker has been appointed for every 10 houses. PM Modi accuses Congress of election scam, looting money of poor Meanwhile, AAP sources said that there is no possibility of any alliance with the Congress in Punjab and senior party leaders have convinced Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal not to form a coalition with the grand old party in Delhi and other states. The party has till now declared the names of candidates for 10 of the 13 seats. that the Lok Sabha elections 2019 will be held in seven phases between April 11 and May 19. Results will be declared on May 23. The national capital has seven Lok Sabha seats and will all vote in a single phase on May 12. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 10, 2019, 18:25 [IST] Top Khalistan terrorist charged by NIA for trying to incite Sikhs against India NIA arrests Kerala based Islamic State operative on arrival from Qatar India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Apr 10: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a resident of Kerala in connection with an Islamic State related case. The accused person, Shaibu Nihar a resident of Kozhikode was arrested upon his arrival at the Calicut International Airport from Doha, Qatar. Nihar was arrested on the basis of the disclosures made by another accused in the case, Hamsa U K. Islamist recruitment in West rising, warns Dutch counter-terrorism agency He had told the NIA that Nihar along with other accused persons were working in Bahrain and attending classes at Al Ansar Salafi Centre. There they had shared jihadi ideology and decided to join ISIS in Syria. Most of his associates had left Bahrain and joined ISIS in Syria, Hamsa also said. Nihar had planned to travel to Syria to join the proscribed terrorist organization ISIS/Daish in December, 2016 from Bahrain while running an advertising company there. During 2016-2017, he had facilitated travel of some of his associates to Syria with the intention of joining ISIS/Daish and waging war on its behalf against Syrian Government. Following the arrest of some of his associates in October, 2017, Shaibu Nihar had shifted from Bahrain and taken shelter in Qatar and continued his advertising company there also. NIA grills Mirwaiz in terror funding case again India oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa New Delhi, Apr 10: Separatist leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq on Tuesday appeared before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for the second consecutive day for questioning in connection with a case related to funding of terror groups and separatist organisations in Jammu and Kashmir, said officials. The Mirwaiz came to the NIA headquarters under police protection and will be questioned on the matter of funding of his own party - Awami Action Committee - and Hurriyat Conference, a conglomerate of several separatist organisations, the officials said. The Mirwaiz is the chairman of the Hurriyat Conference which has in the past engaged with the NDA and UPA-led governments for talks to find a lasting solution to the Kashmir issue. The NIA has also summoned Naseem Geelani, son of pro-Pakistan separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani, on Tuesday but it was not immediately clear whether he was appearing before the agency or not. Willing to be questioned, but in Srinagar says Mirwaiz accused in terror funding case The NIA probe seeks to identify the chain of players behind the financing of terrorist activities, pelting of stones on security forces, burning down of schools and damaging of government establishments. The case names Hafiz Saeed, the Pakistan-based chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), the front for the banned Lashker-e-Taiba, as an accused. It also names organisations such as Hurriyat Conference factions led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and the Mirwaiz, the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Dukhtaran-e-Millat. Ahead of his appearance before the NIA, the Hurriyat Conference chairman tweeted, "In Delhi today with my colleagues for the NIA summon, efforts to malign leadership for its political stand won't work. Inspite of harassment Hurriyat will continue to seek peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue. Urge people back home to stay calm and peaceful." The NIA had on February 26 carried out searches at premises of several leaders, including the Mirwaiz. The probe agency questioned two maternal uncles of the Mirwaiz, Maulvi Manzoor and Maulvi Shafat, and his close aides last year. Both Manzoor and Shafat are retired senior government officers. The Mirwaiz had informed the NIA that he was not acquainted with the subject matter of the FIR referred to in its notice and also added that the notice appears to have been issued on the basis of "fallacious assumptions and misinformation solely aimed at maligning" him. PM Modi accuses Congress of election scam, looting money of poor India oi-PTI Gandhinagar, Apr 10: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday accused the Congress of a "Tughlaq road election scam" where money meant for poor, pregnant women was looted from people. Notably, Congress president Rahul Gandhi's official residence is on the Tughlaq Road in New Delhi. The Income Tax Department recently conducted raids on close aides of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress leader Kamal Nath and others in four states on Sunday. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), that frames policy for the I-T department, had said the department has also detected a trail of Rs 20 crore suspect cash allegedly being moved to the "headquarters of a major political party in Delhi" from the house of an important person who lives on Tughlaq Road, home to many VIPs. 'Justice done today': Rahul Gandhi on Rafale verdict Addressing a poll rally at Junagadh in Gujarat, PM Modi took a swipe at the Congress, saying it is known by many names as far as scams are concerned."Now it has got a new name, but with proofs. The Congress is indulging in a 'Tughlaq Road Chunavi ghotala', where money meant for the poor is being usurped for their own leaders. Money meant for pregnant women is looted," Modi said. He said the Congress in its manifesto says everybody should get bail even if they commit serious crime. "For whom is this provision, is it for your leaders? In the last five years, I have brought them to the doors of jail and if you give me next five years, they will be inside," Modi said. Taking a dig at the Income Tax raids on Chief Minister Kamal Nath's aides, he said after Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh has become the new ATM for the Congress. "The situation in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh is no different. Congress is only interested to come to power to loot people," he said. Taking a jibe at the Congress, Modi said while the air strikes were conducted against Pakistan, it affected the opposition party in India. He said the country can only prosper when it is secure. "Modi wants to remove terrorism and they want to remove Modi. There is no abuse left which the Congress has not used against your son, your chowkidar," he added. Slamming the Congress further, Modi said the party supports those who want to separate Jammu and Kashmir from India and want a separate prime minister for the region. "Our jawans have lost their lives there only for the security of common man. There is no state in the country from which jawans haven't lost their lives," he said. Recalling Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's contribution during the freedom struggle, Modi said Patel asked the Army to take the situation under control amidst mayhem then while (former prime minister Jawaharlal) Nehru kept on looking. "Had he (Sardar Patel) not been there, India would not have even got the Kashmir which it has now," he said. PTI Political allegiances have eroded journalistic responsibility: SC in Rafale case India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Apr 10: The Supreme Court which agreed to hear a review plea in the Rafale case had some words of wisdom on freedom of press. While dealing with the publication of documents relating to the deal in The Hindu, the court said, 'no question has been raised and in our considered opinion, very rightly. The right of such publication would seem to be in consonance with the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech.' In so far as the claim of privilege is concerned, on the very face of it, Section 123 of the Evidence Act relates to unpublished records. As already noticed, the three documents have been published in different editions of the newspaper, the court said. [Before agreeing to a review, here is what SC had said on Rafale deal] Further the court said that the a free person must be fearless. Fear can be of losing all or any of the things that is held dear by the journalist. A free man cannot be biased, the SC observed. The rule against bias is an important axiom to be observed by judges. Equally the press including the visual media cannot be biased and yet be free. Bias ordinarily implies a pre-disposition towards ideas of persons. It may stem from personal, political or financial considerations. Transmitting biased information betrays absence of true freedom, the court also said. The Bench further said that controlling business interests and political allegiances have eroded journalistic responsibility. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 10, 2019, 18:41 [IST] Till when does a father have to take responsibility of his child: SC clarifies Air Pollution: You want to ban industries in Pakistan? Court asks UP govt Rafale deal: A timeline of events India oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa New Delhi, Apr 10: The Supreme Court while dealing a major setback to the Centre said that it would review its verdict in the Rafale case. The court would now fix a date to hear the review pleas in detail in which it would decide on various aspects including the objections raised regarding the pricing factor in the deal. Stolen, classified or photocopied: SC to go into new documents in Rafale case Following is the chronology of events in the Rafale deal: Dec 30, 2002: Defence Procurement Procedures (DPP) adopted to streamline procurement procedures. Defence Procurement Procedures (DPP) adopted to streamline procurement procedures. Aug 28, 2007: Ministry of Defence issues Request for Proposal for procurement of 126 MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) fighters. Ministry of Defence issues Request for Proposal for procurement of 126 MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) fighters. Sep 4, 2008: Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance group incorporates Reliance Aerospace Technologies Ltd (RATL). May 2011: Air Force shortlists Rafale and Eurofighter jets. Air Force shortlists Rafale and Eurofighter jets. Jan 30, 2012: Dassault Aviation's Rafale aircraft comes up with the lowest bid. Dassault Aviation's Rafale aircraft comes up with the lowest bid. Mar 13, 2014: Work Share agreement signed between HAL and Dassault Aviation under which they were responsible for 70 per cent and 30 per cent of the work, respectively, for 108 aircraft. Work Share agreement signed between HAL and Dassault Aviation under which they were responsible for 70 per cent and 30 per cent of the work, respectively, for 108 aircraft. Aug 8, 2014: Then defence minister Arun Jaitley tells Parliament that 18 direct 'fly-away' aircraft expected to be delivered in 3-4 years from signing of the contract. Remaining 108 aircraft to be delivered in the next seven years. Then defence minister Arun Jaitley tells Parliament that 18 direct 'fly-away' aircraft expected to be delivered in 3-4 years from signing of the contract. Remaining 108 aircraft to be delivered in the next seven years. Apr 8, 2015: The then foreign secretary says detailed discussions underway between Dassault, MoD and HAL. The then foreign secretary says detailed discussions underway between Dassault, MoD and HAL. Apr 10: New deal for acquisition of 36 direct 'fly-away' aircraft from France announced. New deal for acquisition of 36 direct 'fly-away' aircraft from France announced. Jan 26, 2016: India and France sign MoU for 36 Rafale aircraft. India and France sign MoU for 36 Rafale aircraft. Sep 23: Inter-governmental agreement signed. Inter-governmental agreement signed. Nov 18: Government states in Parliament that the cost of each Rafale aircraft to be approximately Rs 670 crore and that all aircraft will be delivered by April 2022. Government states in Parliament that the cost of each Rafale aircraft to be approximately Rs 670 crore and that all aircraft will be delivered by April 2022. Dec 31, 2016: Dassault Aviation's Annual Report reveals the actual price paid for the 36 aircrafts at about Rs 60,000 crore, more than double the government's stated price in Parliament. Dassault Aviation's Annual Report reveals the actual price paid for the 36 aircrafts at about Rs 60,000 crore, more than double the government's stated price in Parliament. Mar 13, 2018: PIL in SC seeks independent probe into Centre's decision to procure 36 Rafale fighter jets from France and disclosure of the cost involved in the deal before Parliament. PIL in SC seeks independent probe into Centre's decision to procure 36 Rafale fighter jets from France and disclosure of the cost involved in the deal before Parliament. Sep 5: SC agrees to hear PIL seeking stay on Rafale fighter jet deal. SC agrees to hear PIL seeking stay on Rafale fighter jet deal. Sep 18: SC adjourns hearing on PIL seeking stay on Rafale fighter jet deal to October 10. SC adjourns hearing on PIL seeking stay on Rafale fighter jet deal to October 10. Oct 8: SC agrees to hear on October 10 fresh PIL seeking direction to Centre to file in "sealed cover" the details of the agreement for buying 36 Rafale fighter Jets. SC agrees to hear on October 10 fresh PIL seeking direction to Centre to file in "sealed cover" the details of the agreement for buying 36 Rafale fighter Jets. Oct 10: SC asks Centre to provide details of decision making process in the Rafale fighter jet deal in a sealed cover. SC asks Centre to provide details of decision making process in the Rafale fighter jet deal in a sealed cover. Oct 24: Former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan moves SC, seeking registration of FIR into Rafale fighter jet deal. Former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan moves SC, seeking registration of FIR into Rafale fighter jet deal. Oct 31: SC asks Centre to place before it in a sealed cover within 10 days the pricing details of 36 Rafale fighter jets. SC asks Centre to place before it in a sealed cover within 10 days the pricing details of 36 Rafale fighter jets. Nov 12: Centre places price details of 36 Rafale fighter jets in a sealed cover before SC. It also gives details of steps that led to finalisation of the Rafale deal. Centre places price details of 36 Rafale fighter jets in a sealed cover before SC. It also gives details of steps that led to finalisation of the Rafale deal. Nov 14: SC reserves order on pleas seeking court-monitored probe in Rafale deal. SC reserves order on pleas seeking court-monitored probe in Rafale deal. Dec 14: SC says there is no occasion to doubt the decision-making process of the Modi government and dismisses all the petitions seeking direction to the CBI to register an FIR for alleged irregularities in the jet deal. SC says there is no occasion to doubt the decision-making process of the Modi government and dismisses all the petitions seeking direction to the CBI to register an FIR for alleged irregularities in the jet deal. Apr 10 2019: Supreme Court rejects Centre's objection and decides to hear review pleas. Three more Rafale jets to land in India from France in non-stop flight Rafale review: SC will look into appointment of Anil Ambani owned company as offset partner India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Apr 10: The Supreme Court has rejected a preliminary objection raised by the Centre against the review petitions on the Rafale Deal. The Centre had raised objections to the court hearing the review of its verdict in the light of the petitioners submitting fresh documents. During the course of the arguments, the petitioners had also questioned the appointment of the Anil Ambani owned company as the offset partner of Dassault, the French manufacturer of Dassault. The court said that it would fix a date to hear the review pleas in detail. As a result of this the court would go into various aspects including the point raised by the petitioner with regard to the appointment of the Anil Ambani owned company. Rafale: Setback for Centre as SC says will hear review, examine new documents In its ruling on a batch of petitions seeking a probe into the deal, the court had earlier said there was no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the procurement of the 36 Rafale fighter aircraft from France. Dassault Aviation, the makers of Rafale, had entered into an agreement with Ambani's Reliance Defence Ltd (RDL) for fulfilling offset obligations. "I welcome the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court today summarily dismissing all PILs filed on the Rafale contracts, and conclusively establishing the complete falsity of the wild, baseless and politically motivated allegations levelled against Reliance Group and me personally," Ambani had said in a statement. Rafale deal: A timeline of events The Congress has been alleging that the government had put pressure on Dassault Aviation to select RDL as its offset partner. The government, RDL and Dassault Aviation rejected the charges. Rahul 'misinterpreting' SC order amounts to 'contempt of court', says Sitharaman India oi-Vikas SV New Delhi, Apr 10: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman came down heavily on the Congress for saying that the Supreme Court accepted there was corruption in Rafale deal and dubbed Rahul Gandhi 'misinterpreting' the apex court order to mislead the public as 'contempt of court'. She said the Congress president was saying things that were not said by the top court. "Who has given Rahul Gandhi the right to misinterpret the court verdict?" the Defence Minister asked. Sitharaman said that the Congress was wrongly accusing the government of misleading the public, and claimed that it was in fact the grand old party which has done that. Rafale: Setback for Centre as SC says will hear review, examine new documents "The Congress party's press conference today, drawing on the Hindu report, said the government did not give information to the CAG and the Supreme Court and asked for a correction. The CAG report was under preparation at that time. We approached the SC by ourself for correction," she said in a media briefing. The Supreme Court earlier today rejected the preliminary objection raised by the Centre against the review pleas in the Rafale case. The court said that it would now go ahead with the hearing of the review petitions in the light of the new documents cited by the petitioners, who alleged wrong doing in the Rafale deal. Stolen, classified or photocopied: SC to go into new documents in Rafale case When the review was earlier filed by the petitioners, Arun Shourie, Yashwant Sinha and Prashant Bhushan had submitted fresh documents before the court. The Centre had then pleaded that these documents were unauthorisedly photo-copied from defence files and that these would have an inimical impact on national security and also friendly relations with France. "The SC has not produced a verdict on whether the documents are not stolen. The SC said we dismiss the objection but present the papers to us," Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today. Sitharaman then lashed out at Rahul Gandhi for making allegedly misleading statements. "We all know Congress president probably does not even read even half a paragraph, but here, by saying that the court has accepted and by also saying that the court has said 'Chowkidaar chor hai,' these verge on contempt of court," she added. Before agreeing to a review, here is what SC had said on Rafale deal Further taking a jibe at the Congress president, Sitharaman said, "The person who is himself on bail, who has given him the right to misinterpret the court's verdict?" "Where did the court say what Rahul Gandhi claimed. But today what he has done is gross contempt of court. has today the court said anything to this effect? Is baat ko Court ne maan liya. Where did the court say this? Who has given Rahul Gandhi the right to misinterpret the court verdict?" she added. Rahul Gandhi today termed the Supreme Court's Rafale order as a "victory" for the Congress. The Supreme Court has accepted that there was corruption in Rafale and that the Prime Minister has given Rs 30,000 crore to Anil Ambani, Rahul Gandhi had said. The Union Government on Wednesday expressed concern over the use of documents with classified information by the petitioners in the Rafale deal case to present a selective and incomplete picture before the Supreme Court. The Defence Minister statement said that the main concern of the Government is that classified information concerning National Security would come out in the public domain. "Government had provided requisite information as desired by the Supreme Court and also provided all records and files as required by CAG. The main concern of the Government is relating to availability of sensitive and classified information concerning National Security in the public domain," the statement reportedly said. The petitioners in the case had moved the Supreme Court seeking a review of its original verdict dated December 14 2018 in which it had given the deal a clean chit. 'Justice done today': Rahul Gandhi on Rafale verdict The court would now hear the review plea questioning the pricing of the Rafale jets. In the original verdict, the SC had said that it found no irregularities in the government's decision making process to procure the 36 Rafale jets from Dassault under the Indo-French intergovernmental agreement. The petitioners then sought a review of the verdict. The matter was heard at length in open court, following which the order was reserved. Lalu returns to Patna and minutes later son storms out of mothers home Bihar By-polls: Lalu Yadav to campaign for RJD candidates on Wednesday to ensure 'visarjan' of Nitish Kumar He can get me shot, cant do anything else: Nitish on Lalus visarjan claim Lalu Prasad Yadav appears before CBI court in Patna in fodder scam case, to attend RJD event on Wednesday SC rejects bail plea by Lalu Prasad Yadav in fodder scam India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, Apr 10: Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected bail plea filed by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in connection with three fodder scam cases. "We don't think we will release you on bail, SLP stands dismissed", Supreme Court said while rejecting bail plea by Lalu in fodder scam. The RJD chief, lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi, has challenged the January 10 verdict of the Jharkhand high court dismissing his bail plea. CBI opposes Lalu Yadav's bail plea, says he is indulging in political activities The three cases in which Prasad has been convicted are related to the Rs 900 crore fodder scam, which pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of money from the treasuries of the animal husbandry department in the early 1990s, when Jharkhand was part of Bihar. The RJD was in power in Bihar with Prasad as the chief minister when the scam had allegedly taken place. In the high court, the RJD supremo cited old age and poor health for grant of bail. Prasad (71) said he was suffering from diabetes, blood pressure and other ailments and that he had already obtained bail in one of the fodder scam cases. He has been convicted for fraudulent withdrawal of money from the Deoghar, Dumka and two Chaibasa treasuries situated in Jharkhand. He is currently facing trial in another fodder scam case pertaining to the Doranda treasury and has been undergoing treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) at Ranchi for the last few months. Iran now third biggest importer of India's oilmeals A sharp jump in demand from Iran's feed industry - after the country was hit by US sanctions - has brightened the prospects for India's soymeal exports. According to the latest data released by the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA), soymeal exports to Iran for the year 2018-19 stood at 508,050 tonnes, far higher than 22,910 tonnes reported in the previous year. With this, Iran emerges as the third largest importer of Indian oilmeals after South Korea (738,795 tonnes) and Vietnam (615,403 tonnes). "The Iranian market has once again opened up for Indian soybean meal. It seems again Iranian feed industries are looking at India for their requirement of soybean meal, supporting export of oilmeals from India," SEA said in its note. The trade with Iran got a further boost after it revised its payment mechanism for India and started accepting payments from India in rupee and used that fund to pay for its imports from India. Opening up of an export market has lifted India's overall soymeal exports from 11.87 lakh tonnes in 2017-18 worth INR2,909 crore to 13.37 lakh tonnes valuing INR3,831 crore in 2018-19. According to the SEA data, rapeseed meal exports jumped by about 58% to 10.51 lakh tonnes worth INR1,654 crore for the year under review from 6.64 lakh tonnes worth INR992 crore in the previous year. "The export of rapeseed meal is sharply increased and was mainly exported to South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand," said SEA. The overall oilmeal exports during April 2018 to March 2019 is provisionally reported at 3,205,768 tonnes against 3,026,628 tonnes in the year-ago period - up by 6%. - The Hindu Business Line Several political parties yet to publish criminal antecedents of its candidates India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Apr 10: There are 35 candidates from the Congress who have declared pending criminal cases against them. Out of the 83 candidates analysed, 35 with pending criminal cases are fighting in the first phase of the polls. The BJP on the other hand 30 candidates in the first phase who have pending criminal cases against them. The BSP and CPI have fielded 8 and 2 such candidates respectively. The CPI (M) has 8 and the NCP 2 such candidates. Among the Congress candidates, 22 have declared serious pending charges against them. The BJP on the other hand has 16, while the BSP and CPO have 4 and 1 respectively. The CPI (M) has three such candidates on its list, while the NCP has two. [OBC leader Alpesh Thakor quits Congress ahead of Lok Sabha polls] The Association for Democratic Reforms which has analysed the candidates points out towards an order of the Supreme Court dated September 25 2018 in which directions regarding the publication of criminal antecedents of contesting candidates. Additionally, the Election Commission of India (ECI) in a letter dated 10 October 2018 to all Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs), laid down instructions for the fulfilment of the above directions. It stated that such declaration is to be published in the prescribed format at least on three different dates from the day following the last date for withdrawal of candidatures and upto two days before the date of poll. Accordingly, for Phase I of Lok Sabha Elections 2019, such period was 29th March to 9th April, 2019. Although all parties are required to publish the criminal antecedents of candidates fielded by them as per the aforementioned directions, the following observation is made after checking the official and state websites of only the 7 National Political Parties. As of 9 April evening, only the Telangana state website of BJP had listed the criminal antecedents of 8 candidates out of a total of 30 with criminal cases fielded by BJP for Phase I. For other National Parties including INC, BSP, CPI, CPI(M) & NCP that have set up candidates with self-declared criminal cases for Phase I, no such information was available on their official websites till that time, ADR said. This suggests outright non-compliance with the SC order and the ECI directions by candidates as well as the political parties in the first phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2019. In view of this, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has written a letter to the Election Commission of India, requesting them to take necessary action and to pursue this matter actively in the subsequent phases of General Elections 2019, the note by ADR also said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 10, 2019, 19:01 [IST] EC seeks report over PM Modi raking up Balakot strikes in a rally India oi-Vikas SV New Delhi, Apr 10: Prime Minister Narendra Modi had yesterday asked first-time voters to dedicate their votes to the soldiers who carried out the air strike in Pakistan's Balakot. This had left the opposition parties fuming who have been criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Centre of polticising the military issues. The CPI(M) wrote to the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday alleging violation of the poll panel's directive. The EC has reportedly taken cognizance of Prime Minister Modi's remarks. According to reports, the chief electoral officer of Maharashtra has been asked to submit a report at the earliest. 'Modi ji ki Sena' row: Now, minister Naqvi uses the controversial phrase This remark by the PM comes at time when the opposition is up in arms over the politicisation of military matters. The EC had last month asked all political parties to desist from using photographs of defence personnel as part of their election propaganda or campaigning. "I want to tell the first-time voters: can your first vote be dedicated to the veer jawans (valiant soldiers) who carried out the air strike in Pakistan. Can your first vote be dedicated to the veer shaheed (brave martyrs) of Pulwama (terror attack)," Modi had said in Latur, Maharashtra. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had stirred a hornet's nest referring to the Indian Army as 'Modi ji ki sena' at an election rally in Ghaziabad earlier this month. The EC was miffed over the matter and said that a senior leader like him should refrain from making such statements. EC raises concern on 'lackadaisical approach' towards enforcing MCC The EC had on March 19 asked political parties to "desist" from indulging in any propaganda involving actions taken by defence forces during their Lok Sabha poll campaigns. The fresh advisory came days after the poll panel asked parties and their candidates against using pictures of defence force personnel in their campaign material. 30 years on, martyred IAF officials to get justice as trial against Yasin Malik is set to begin From videos to mails, how NIA built a water tight case against Yasin Malik Name of IAF officer who was killed by Yasin Malik to be added to War Memorial IAF hero gets justice: Why it is time up for Yasin Malik First Yasin Malik, now Javed Mir: Our martyred IAF heroes are getting justice at last Enough grounds to proceed: The crimes of Kashmir separatist Yasin Malik Yasin Malik arrest: Separatists call for strike against first phase of polling India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, Apr 10: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested JKLF chief Yasin Malik in connection with a case related to the terror funding case. Malik was brought to the national capital on Tuesday evening after a special NIA court in Jammu gave the go ahead for his custodial interrogation by the probe agency, they said. The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief, who was shifted to Tihar jail under police protection, was taken into preventive custody in February by the J&K police and shifted to Jammu's Kot Balwal jail. JKLF was instrumental in killing of Kashmiri Pandits, Govt says while imposing ban Malik, whose organisation JKLF was banned last month by the Centre, is also facing two CBI cases. Following the development, separatists have called for a strike on Thursday to protest against the polling for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections in Kashmir and the "NIA aggression" against Hurriyat Conference leaders and their kin. "The complete shutdown (Hartal) is against the so-called Indian parliamentary elections that are going to start from tomorrow from Baramulla parliamentary constituency, against NIA aggression including shifting of JKLF chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik, rigourous questioning of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and repeated summoning of sons of Syed Ali Shah Geelani to Delhi," the separatists said in a statement on Wednesday. Jammu and Baramulla Lok Sabha constituencies are going to polls in the first phase on Thursday. Name of IAF officer who was killed by Yasin Malik to be added to War Memorial Yasin Maliks crimes since 1995 set to be probed by NIA India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Apr 10: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested JKLF chief, Yasin Malik in connection with a terror funding case. Malik has been investigated several times in the past for his role in channelising funds to create unrest and aid terror related activities in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. NIA sources say that the funding has gone both to terrorist groups and separatists as well. Money has been pumped into the Hurriyat Conference, Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front, Islamic Students Front, Hizbul Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Jamiat ul-Mujahideen. In the case of Syed Ali Shah Geelani an FIR had been registered in the year 1997 in which it was alleged that he had got funding to the tune of Rs 190 million from Saudi Arabia and also another donation of Rs 100 million from the Kashmir American Council. Investigations had revealed that all these funds were routed through a Delhi based Hawala operative. It was also found that Yasin Malik had received funding of 1 lakh US dollars and the money was being carried by a lady called Shazia. The NIA says that it is probing into all these angles. We are looking at each case since the 1995 onwards and this will help us get a better picture of the entire racket, the officer further added. Following his arrest, Malik was brought to the national capital after a special NIA court in Jammu gave the go ahead for his custodial interrogation by the probe agency, they said. The J&K Liberation Front chief, who was shifted to Tihar jail under police protection, was taken into preventive custody in February by the J&K police and shifted to Jammu's Kot Balwal jail. Yasin Malik arrest: Separatists call for strike against first phase of polling Malik, whose organisation JKLF was banned last month by the Centre, is also facing two CBI cases. These relate to the kidnapping of Rubaiya Saeed, daughter of then Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, in 1989, and the killing of four IAF personnel in 1990. The NIA registered a case on May 30, 2017 against separatist and secessionist leaders, including unknown members of the Hurriyat Conference, who have been acting in connivance with active militants of proscribed terrorist organisations Hizbul Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and other outfits and gangs. The case was registered for raising, receiving and collecting funds through various illegal means, including hawala transactions, for funding separatist and terrorist activities in J&K and for causing disruption in the Valley by way of pelting stones on the security forces, burning schools, damaging public property and waging war against India, the probe agency said in the FIR. Hafiz Saeed, the Pakistan-based chief of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the front for the banned LeT, has also been named as an accused in the FIR. Mamata to join hands with BJP again in case of hung assembly in Bengal: Sitaram Yechury Yechury raises suspicion over EC decision to put on hold poll to RS seats in Kerala Decision to bring in new faces in LDF cabinet taken in CPI(M)'s long term interest: Sitaram Yechury This is daylight highway robbery of national assets, Sitaram Yechury on Air India returning to Tatas Yechury blasts Modi govt for claiming 'clean chit' in Rafale case after SC order India oi-Vikas SV New Delhi, Apr 10: Communist Party of India- Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime is "the most corrupt" government and launched a scathing attack for claiming "clean chit" in Rafale case. His reaction came after the Supreme Court rejected the preliminary objection raised by the Centre against the review pleas in the Rafale case. The court said that it would now go ahead with the hearing of the review petitions in the light of the new documents cited by the petitioners, who alleged wrong doing in the Rafale deal. Stolen, classified or photocopied: SC to go into new documents in Rafale case "Modi and his minions have falsely claimed that they have a "clean chit" in the Rafale scam. But the proofs have come tumbling out one after another. It has been the most corrupt and most compromised govt in India's history. Now is the time to throw it out," Yechury tweeted. "Modi and his govt have compromised national security for corruption and cronyism in an important defence deal. They tried to evade accountability, denied a JPC, hid price from CAG, tried to first mislead, then stall any hearing in Supreme Court. Important that culprits are booked," he said in another tweet. The petitioners in the case had moved the Supreme Court seeking a review of its original verdict dated December 14 2018 in which it had given the deal a clean chit. Meanwhile, BJP leader Ram Madhav said the Supreme Court's order should not be seen as a setback. "It is not a setback, the government will be transparent and will come out clean," he reportedly said. Before agreeing to a review, here is what SC had said on Rafale deal The court would now hear the review plea questioning the pricing of the Rafale jets. In the original verdict, the SC had said that it found no irregularities in the government's decision making process to procure the 36 Rafale jets from Dassault under the Indo-French intergovernmental agreement. The petitioners then sought a review of the verdict. The matter was heard at length in open court, following which the order was reserved. Rajasthan: 616.5 kg silver seized, 6 detained Jaipur oi-PTI Jaipur, Apr 10: Six people were detained Wednesday after 616.5 kg silver was found in their possession during inspection at check posts in Rajasthan's Rajasamand and Sirohi district, police said. Five people travelling in a car on Nathdwara-Jaipur state highway were intercepted at a check post with 600 kg silver ornaments on a tip-off of anti-terrorist squad of the police, Nathdwara police station in-charge Jitendra Kumar Aanchalia said. Democracy, Constitution under threat in BJP rule, says Rajasthan CM In Sirohi, a man was detained with 16.5 kg silver during an inspection of a private bus at a check post, police said. Accused Prakash Soni (32) was travelling in the bus from Beawar with the unaccounted silver, Abu Road RICO police station SHO Champa Ram said. Police said the silver was seized and the matter informed to the Income Tax Department for further investigation. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 10, 2019, 17:22 [IST] Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to reach Lucknow on July 16; Key meetings scheduled in Delhi before visit Members of farmers' body detained in Lucknow for trying to burn effigies of PM Modi, Shah Section 144 CrPC invoked in Lucknow in view of Christmas, New Year UP: Five get three years in jail for animal cruelty Lucknow pti-PTI Muzaffarnagar (UP), Apr 10: A fast-track court in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat district has convicted five people of animal cruelty and sentenced them to three years of imprisonment. Fast-track court judge Abid Shamim on Tuesday also slapped a fine of Rs 10,500 on each of the accused -- Kapil, Alijan, Ashraf, Yusuf and Tehseen -- after holding them guilty under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. [Kolkata shame: 16 puppies killed ruthlessly and wrapped in plastic bags] According to prosecutor Anuj Dhaka, on July 13, 2016, police intercepted a truck during checking and recovered 16 live animals and a dead buffalo at Bhadal in Baghpat, following which a case was registered. PTI CTET December 2021 admit cards to be out shortly: How to download Delhi police seizes Rs one crore in cash from a BMW car New Delhi oi-PTI New Delhi, Apr 10: The Delhi police have seized Rs one crore in cash from a BMW car in southwest Delhi's Vasant Vihar, officials said on Wednesday. Police said in view of the Lok Sabha elections, they have intensified patrolling in several intersections across the national capital. "On Tuesday, a police team was deputed at picket near a church on Poorvi Marg in Vasant Nagar area to check vehicles carrying cash and other prohibited articles in view of the forthcoming elections. "During checking, they randomly stopped a BMW car and found cash amounting Rs one crore in it," Devender Arya, Deputy Commissioner of Police (southwest) said. Man killed after quarrel over pet dog in Delhi Other agencies including the income tax department have been informed about the seizure, he added. The Lok Sabha polls, conducted in seven phases, will begin on April 11 and continue till May 19. Delhi will vote on May 12 and the overall results will be declared on May 23. PTI Hundreds of New Zealand, Australian cows reportedly dead after delivery to Sri Lanka Hundreds of Australian and New Zealand dairy cows, which were exported to Sri Lanka as part of an Australia-backed deal, have apparently died. ABC reports the deal has left farmers in Sri Lanka broke and in some cases, suicidal after the cows they paid for turned out to be overpriced, unhealthy and infertile. A total of 5,000 cattle were sent to Sri Lanka by West Australian export company Wellard to help establish dairy farms there to reduce the country's dependence on imported milk powder. The company has said the total number of cows which have died is around 9% - or 400 - and that those deaths were due to a "handful" of farmers which had ignored herd management advice. The ABC reported that Sri Lankan farmer Amal Suriyege bought 200 cows last year, but the animals were in poor condition when they arrived. He said he lost about 160 cows on his farm, Lammermoor Estate, followed by the death of another 180 calves, while the remaining 40 cows would have to culled as some were infected with mycoplasma bovis. The milk produced from the cows was also selling for less than promised. Furthermore, the special imported feed recommended for the cows had ended up costing more than double the original, stated price. Wellard maintains that all of the animals were inspected by vets and were pregnant when they left for Sri Lanka. Its executive Chairman, John Klepec, said similar programmes had been successfully implemented in a number of similar locations in the past. Klepec added that Sri Lankan vets had certified the cows as disease-free when they arrived in the country. "What happens post delivery of the cattle is subject to the farm management," he said. "Poor farm management practices will produce poor outcomes". Under the programme, Wellard was contracted to export 20,000 cows into Sri Lanka, and has already exported 5,000, with the remaining 15,000 to be shipped within the next year. However, the auditor-general of Sri Lanka has called for an immediate halt to the programme. Gamini Wijesinghe said in a May 2018 report that farmers had suffered "financial difficulty and mental distress" and described the programme as an "unbearable burned to the Government". The imported cows were not suitable to a Sri Lankan climate, Wijesinghe said, as their fertility rate was low and they were highly vulnerable to disease. New Zealand animal welfare organisation SAFE's spokesperson Hans Kriek said the deal, "sanctioned by the New Zealand government", has "turned in a human and animal welfare disaster". "The cruelty of live animal exports is well documented, and New Zealand's apparent lack of concern for the fate of animals once they leave our shores is deplorable," a release from SAFE stated. "Live export corporations are sending animals to far-flung countries where untold horrors could await them." Kriek said he had written to New Zealand Minister of Agriculture Damien O'Connor, who had confirmed there are no plans to stop the export of breeding animals from New Zealand. "The Government needs to urgently ban live exports, starting with an immediate halt on dairy cow export," Kriek said. - 1 NEWS Aviagen establishes joint venture with Peruvian poultry business Aviagen Group and Rocio Group, a Peruvian family poultry business, have signed a strategic agreement for a joint venture, Aviagen announced. Under the agreement, Avicola del Norte (Avinor), a Rocio Group company, becomes a subsidiary of Aviagen under the name Aviagen Peru. The new business will help Aviagen realise its vision to further expand its reach in Latin America and maximise value in the Peruvian market. Aviagen Brazil was established in 2007, and Aviagen Peru will mark Aviagen's first direct presence in Latin America since the establishment of the Brazilian company. With a current and new sales, service and support team, as well as farms, hatcheries and other operations, Aviagen will be able to improve its parent stock (PS) production for the Peruvian market and better serve customers in the country. Aviagen Peru will be based in Lima, the capital city of Peru, and poultry facilities are located in the city of Trujillo, La Libertad. Cesar Muro will remain as general manager for Aviagen Peru, reporting directly to Ivan Lauandos, president of Aviagen Latin America. Avinor has been a distributor of Aviagen's Ross products in Peru since 1998. "Because Latin America is a key region for Aviagen and highly strategic for the entire poultry industry, the joint venture is an important step for us. The new company will share our vision of providing the region with high-quality broiler breeding stock to produce a healthy and sustainable source of protein as well as value-added service to help customers get the best performance and profitability," explained Aviagen CEO Jan Henriksen. "Aviagen has always had a strategic vision of expansion in Latin America, believing the region will continue to increase its chicken production to meet consumption and export needs from the region. Peru has a strong history in poultry production, with excellent environmental conditions, thus making it a logical/strategic location," Lauandos said. Ulises Quevedo, CEO of Rocio Group, added: "We were pioneers in supplying the Peruvian market, and today we further expanded our relationship with Aviagen and Avinor through the new company Aviagen Peru. Ours is a relationship based on mutual trust and sharing similar values." - Aviagen Superlatives Flow After An Inspiring ASEAN Gaming Summit 2019 Published April 10, 2019 by Lee R This year's record-breaking ASEAN Gaming Summit clearly shows that all of Asia can and will benefit from gaming. Recently concluded ASEAN Gaming Summit won a great victory with its success in Manila. New High The third edition of ASEAN Gaming Summit from March 19-21 at Conrad Manila was the most successful edition to date, hosting a record turnout of over 420 delegates. Director Praises Format Conference Director Felix Ng said his group was humbled by the amount of industry support and positive feedback from this years conference, and expressed his further happiness at seeing how well attendees embraced the new conference format. Heavyweights in Attendance Industry heavyweights headlining the event included Walker Digital Chairman Jay Walker; AXES Network CEO Earle Hall; Paranaque City 2nd District Representative Hon. Gus Tambunting; CEZA Secretary Raul Lambino; and PAGCOR President Atty. Alfredo Lim. Positive Feedback EuroPacificAsia Consulting managing partner Shaun McCamley assured that the feedback I received was really positive across all fronts, great speakers, well organized with really good networking opportunities through the after day functions. Quality Per Capita Erwin Dickman of sponsor Asia Live Tech said he loves this show because the quality of people coming to visit us at the stand is so high. We might get only 20 leads instead of 100 at bigger shows, but they are all high quality and the return on investment is so much better! Networking Sponsor Asia Gaming Brief's Co-founder and Managing Director Rosalind Wade lauded her teams hard work, dedication and attention to detail was evident in the feedback we received for the show on the number and quality of attendees, the conference sessions, and the superlative networking. Hats off, AGB team! Incoming Events The event certainly served as the ideal launching pad to set the table for the next key Asia Gaming Brief event as well, the Asia Gaming Tree Reunion Dinner set for G2E Asia week May 22, 2019. Preparing Asia Asia Gaming promises more updates on further events, including a full post event report for this year's ASEAN Gaming Summit, to indicate how the Asian region is emerging. And with ASEAN leading the way, next year's event back in Manila for 2020 promises to be even better. Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: The private debt fund activity in France in 2018 recorded sharp increase confirming the growing importance of private debt in financing methods, offering companies and equity investors an alternative and complementary financing solution to bank debt. According to a new report by France Invest (Association of Investors for Growth) and Deloitte based on a survey of members of the France Invest Private Debt Commission and international firms which have a team specialising in private debt or a representative office in France, EUR3.5bn raised in 2018 by six French funds - i.e. a 48% increase compared with 2017 - which will finance companies with private debt. An aggregate of EUR7bn in private debt financed 147 transactions carried out by French and foreign funds active in France. This represents an increase of 16% in amounts invested and 20% in transactions compared with 2017. Guillaume Leredde, Assistant Director of Deloitte Debt Advisory said: "Private debt funds continued to grow strongly in 2018 and we also saw the arrival of new foreign inflows, confirming France's attractiveness in this market. The transaction data show that the French market is still concentrated over the 2017-18 period, with 45% of the amounts invested provided by five funds, including two UK-based funds. The arrival of new entrants will lead to a greater diversity of financing offers for companies, as we have seen in the UK in recent years." As la...................... To view our full article Click here XRF Analysers Market to Witness Robust Expansion by 2024 Top Key players like AMETEK,Thermo Fisher,Shimadzu,Inc. https://www.marketresearchreportstore.com/reports/352345/global-xrf-analysers-market https://www.marketresearchreportstore.com/reports/352345/global-xrf-analysers-market https://www.marketresearchreportstore.com Market Research Report Store offers a latest published report on XRF Analysers Market Analysis and Forecast 2019-2025 delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. The report contains 91 pages which highly exhibit on current market analysis scenario, upcoming as well as future opportunities, revenue growth, pricing and profitability.Click to view the full report TOC, figure and tables:XRF (X-ray fluorescence) is a non-destructive analytical technique used to determine the elemental composition of materials. XRF analyzers determine the chemistry of a sample by measuring the fluorescent (or secondary) X-ray emitted from a sample when it is excited by a primary X-ray source. Each of the elements present in a sample produces a set of characteristic fluorescent X-rays ("a fingerprint") that is unique for that specific element, which is why XRF spectroscopy is an excellent technology for qualitative and quantitative analysis of material composition.The XRF Analyzers market has been increased in accordance with the development of whole economy, industry and consumer awareness. However, with the macroeconomic is slowing down, the increase rate of XRF Analyzers is also slowing. But the emerging market is still the potential market of the industry, so some of the companies are laying-out their business in the emerging market. What more, there are some problem to be solved ahead, such as the homogenization of the fierce competition, the low price competition, the talents shortage in the process of the company expansion, the channel building through the internet and so on.According to this study, over the next five years the XRF Analysers market will register a 4.1% CAGR in terms of revenue, the global market size will reach US$ 800 million by 2024, from US$ 650 million in 2019. In particular, this report presents the global market share (sales and revenue) of key companies in XRF Analysers business, shared in Chapter 3.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversAMETEKThermo FisherShimadzuRigakuOxford-InstrumentsHORIBAHitachi High-techOlympus Innov-XBrukerBSIMalvern PanalyticalSkyrayFocused PhotonicsMarket Segment by Type, coversWavelength Dispersive (WDXRF)Energy Dispersive (EDXRF)Market Segment by Applications, can be divided intoMining IndustryCementFood & PharmaceuticalEnvironmentalPetroleum & ChemicalsOthersFor More Information On This Report, Please Visit @Related Information:North America XRF Analysers Market Growth 2019-2024United States XRF Analysers Market Growth 2019-2024Asia-Pacific XRF Analysers Market Growth 2019-2024Europe XRF Analysers Market Growth 2019-2024EMEA XRF Analysers Market Growth 2019-2024Global XRF Analysers Market Growth 2019-2024China XRF Analysers Market Growth 2019-2024Customization Service of the Report :Market Research Report Store provides customization of reports as per your need. This report can be personalized to meet your requirements. Get in touch with our sales team, who will guarantee you to get a report that suits your necessities.About Us:Market Research Report Store (MRRS) is a professional organization related to market research reports in all directions .To provide customers with a variety of market research reports, MRRS cooperates with a large of famous market report publishers all over the world. Owing to our good service and the professional market reports in the wide range, MRRS enjoys a good reputation in the market. In pace with the development of MRRS, more and more customers and market report publishers choose to cooperate with us. As a specialized platform, MRRS upholds the supremacy of customers and aims to provide customers with better service and richer select.Contact USMarket Research Report StoreE-mail: info@marketresearchreportstore.comTel: +86-15521064060 00852-58197708(HK)Add: 17890 Castleton Street Suite 218 City of Industry CA 91748 United StatesWebsite: Oilfield Auxiliary Rental Equipment Market 2018-2025 | Industry Analysis By Key Manufacturers Superior Energy Services Inc., Schlumberger Limited, Oil States International Inc Oilfield Auxiliary Rental Equipment https://www.bigmarketresearch.com/request-sample/176964/?utm_source=SBL https://www.bigmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/176964/?utm_source=SBL https://www.bigmarketresearch.com/auxiliary-rental-equipment-market/?utm_source=SBL https://www.bigmarketresearch.com/fault-current-limiter-mnm-market/?utm_source=RR&utm_medium=SBL Oilfield auxiliary equipment are machines and instruments that are used to supplement the drilling process at oilfields. The equipment used less frequently on the oilfield are availed on rent by various oil extraction companies. The auxiliary equipment consist of sewage systems, mud labs, lighting system, distribution panels, storage tanks, debris junk catchers, transportation system, heat exchangers, flaring systems, drilling instruments and others. The major factors driving the oilfield auxiliary rental equipment market include the rising demand for energy sources, impending need for cost optimization and increasing deep offshore oil production activities. However, some of the restraints associated with the market are the advent of automated systems and lack of skilled workforce. The impact of automated systems is expected to affect the auxiliary rental equipment market in near future.Request for a sample copy of this report @The report analyzes the market in the GCC region. In order to study the regional imperatives, the research is focused on countries such as Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, etc. Weatherford, Schlumberger, The Olayan Group, Key Energy Services and others are some of the key players in the GCC region. Merger/acquisition and expansions are the prime strategies followed by numerous companies to gain a competitive edge in the market.The major players profiled in this study include: Superior Energy Services Inc., Schlumberger Limited, Oil States International Inc., Weatherford, The Olayan Group and Key Energy Services Inc.Enquiry Before Buying @KEY BENEFITS FOR STAKEHOLDERSThe study provides an in-depth analysis of the oilfield auxiliary rental equipment market with current and future trends to elucidate the imminent investment pockets in the marketCurrent and future trends are outlined to determine the overall attractiveness and to single out profitable trends in order to gain a stronger foothold in the marketThe report provides information regarding key drivers and challenges with their impact on the marketQuantitative analysis of the current market and estimations through 2013-2020 are provided to highlight the ongoing and future trendsPorters Five Forces model and SWOT analysis of the industry illustrate the potency of the buyers & suppliers participating in the marketOilfield Auxiliary Rental Equipment Market Key Segments:By Country:MARKET BY GEOGRAPHY: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, BahrainKEY PLAYERS: Superior Energy Services Inc., Schlumberger Limited, Oil States International Inc., Weatherford, The Olayan Group and Key Energy Services Inc.Access Full Summery @Similar Publisher Related report:World Fault Current Limiter Market - Opportunities and Forecasts, 2014 - 2020More summary:About Us:Big Market Research has a range of research reports from various publishers across the world. Our database of reports of various market categories and sub-categories would help to find the exact report you may be looking for.We are instrumental in providing quantitative and qualitative insights on your area of interest by bringing reports from various publishers at one place to save your time and money. A lot of organizations across the world are gaining profits and great benefits from information gained through reports sourced by us.Contact Us:Mr. Abhishek Paliwal5933 NE Win Sivers Drive, #205, Portland,OR 97220 United Statescall answer Direct:+1-971-202-1575call answer Toll Free:+1-800-910-6452email help@bigmarketresearch.com Laser Mirrors Market Trend to 2024 Shincron Co Ltd, Qioptiq, Thorlabs, Showa Optronics, Tokai Optical Co, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd, Knight Optical Ltd Laser Mirrors https://www.bigmarketresearch.com/request-sample/2956879/?utm_source=SBL https://www.bigmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/2956879/?utm_source=SBL https://www.bigmarketresearch.com/global-laser-mirrors-report-2019-by-manufacturers-regions-type-and-application-forecast-to-2024-market/?utm_source=SBL https://www.bigmarketresearch.com/nanophotonics-global-scenario-size-outlook-trend-and-forecast-2015-2024-market/?utm_source=RR&utm_medium=SBL Big Market Research recently added a report, titled, Semiconductor and Electronics Market. The report provides in-depth knowledge of current market trends and future market potential. Additionally, it offers the scope of the market, market overview, and outlook from the point of view of major market players, end industries, regions, and product types. According to the report, the global Semiconductor and Electronics market is expected to manifest steadfast growth during the forecast period.Request for a sample copy of this report @The report provides a detailed analysis of various market companies, their businesses, and products. Moreover, it helps to understand the market strategies such as partnerships, collaborations, mergers & acquisitions, and new product launch adopted by key market players. The report is a vital source of information for investors, market analysts, entry-level organizations, and business experts to understand the factors contributing to market fluctuations.The report provides a thorough study of various dynamic factors such as drivers, opportunities, and restraints that are responsible for the market ups and downs. Moreover, the report offers an in-depth analysis of the market on the basis of types, applications, and regions. The global SEMICONDUCTOR AND ELECTRONICS market report offers an analysis of market sales, growth rate, and revenue generation during the historic period and forecast period. The report includes an analysis of revenue generation portrayed by every segment and sub-segment. The revenue generated by each segment is analyzed with the help of charts and tables.Enquiry Before Buying @Global SEMICONDUCTOR AND ELECTRONICS market is segmented on the basis of type into Copper Type, Silicon Type, Molybdenum Type and Others. The report includes a study of the fastest growing segment and the largest revenue generated segment. Based on application, the market is divided into Infrared Laser, CO2 Laser and Others. The report highlights the prominent growing trends. Moreover, the global SEMICONDUCTOR AND ELECTRONICS market report includes a study of the market according to geography. The major regions analyzed in the report are North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and South America, Middle East and Africa.The major market players that are currently active in the market are analyzed in the report. The report provides the profile and sales data of every market player to understand the competitive scenario in the market. The key market players included in the report are Shincron Co Ltd, Qioptiq, Thorlabs, Showa Optronics, Tokai Optical Co, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd, Knight Optical Ltd, Perkins Precision Developments (PPD), A.B.Esse, Altechna, Edmund Optics, Ophir Optronics (MKS), Optosigma Corporation (Sigma Koki. The market revenue generated by every player and its market position is included in the report.Access Full Summery @The content of the study subjects, includes a total of 15 chapters:Chapter 1, to describe Laser Mirrors product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market driving force and market risks.Chapter 2, to profile the top manufacturers of Laser Mirrors, with price, sales, revenue and global market share of Laser Mirrors in 2017 and 2019.Chapter 3, the Laser Mirrors competitive situation, sales, revenue and global market share of top manufacturers are analyzed emphatically by landscape contrast.Chapter 4, the Laser Mirrors 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, Laser Mirrors market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2019 to 2024.Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Laser Mirrors sales channel, distributors, customers, research findings and conclusion, appendix and data source.Table of Contents1 Market Overview2 Manufacturers Profiles3 Global Laser Mirrors Sales, Revenue, Market Share and Competition by Manufacturer (2017-2019)4 Global Laser Mirrors Market Analysis by Regions5 North America Laser Mirrors by Country6 Europe Laser Mirrors by Country7 Asia-Pacific Laser Mirrors by Country8 South America Laser Mirrors by Country9 Middle East and Africa Laser Mirrors by Countries10 Global Laser Mirrors Market Segment by Type11 Global Laser Mirrors Market Segment by Application12 Laser Mirrors Market Forecast (2019-2024)13 Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and Dealers14 Research Findings and Conclusion15 AppendixSimilar Publisher Related report:Nanophotonics Market Global Scenario, Market Size, Outlook, Trend and Forecast, 2015-2024More summary:About Us:Big Market Research has a range of research reports from various publishers across the world. Our database of reports of various market categories and sub-categories would help to find the exact report you may be looking for.We are instrumental in providing quantitative and qualitative insights on your area of interest by bringing reports from various publishers at one place to save your time and money. A lot of organizations across the world are gaining profits and great benefits from information gained through reports sourced by us.Contact us:Mr. Abhishek Paliwal5933 NE Win Sivers Drive, #205, Portland,OR 97220 United StatesDirect: +1-971-202-1575Toll Free: +1-800-910-6452E-mail help@bigmarketresearch.com Cell Line Development Serum Market Detailed Global Analysis Report by Key Players - Lonza Group AG (Switzerland), Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (U.S.), GE Healthcare (U.K.) Cell Line Development Serum Market https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/requested_sample/95732 https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/enquiry_before_buying/95732 https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/requested_sample/95732 https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/request_for_discount/95732 www.upmarketresearch.com Up Market Research published a new business report on Cell Line Development Serum Market. Report provides a comprehensive analysis by key players and regions. This report also displays the forecast till 2026 production, consumption, revenue, gross margin, cost, market share, types, applications, and market influencing factors.Get Sample Copy Of This Report @The report contains 90 pages which highly exhibit on current market analysis scenario, upcoming as well as future opportunities, revenue growth, pricing and profitability.Cell Line Development Serum 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 Cell Line Development Serum Market global status and trend, market size, share, growth, trends analysis, segment and forecasts from 20192026.The scope of the report extends from market scenarios to comparative pricing between major players, cost and profit of the specified market regions. The statistics are represented in graphical format for a clear understanding on facts and figures.For More Information On This Report, Please VisitThe generated report is firmly based on primary research, interviews with top executives, news sources and information insiders. Secondary research techniques are implemented for better understanding and clarity for data analysis.The report for Cell Line Development Serum Market analysis & forecast 2019-2026 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.Global Cell Line Development Serum Market Segmentation Includes:Region-wise Analysis covers:North AmericaEuropeChinaJapanIndiaSoutheast AsiaOther regions (Central & South America, Middle East & Africa)The Major players include:American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) (U.S.)Lonza Group AG (Switzerland)Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (U.S.)GE Healthcare (U.K.)Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (U.S.)Selexis SA (Switzerland)European Collection of Cell Cultures (ECACC) (U.K.)Corning, Inc. (U.S.)WuXi AppTec, Inc. (China)Sartorious AG (Germany)Product Type Analysis:Fetal Bovine SerumAdult Bovine SerumOthersApplication Analysis:Tissue Engineering and Regenerative MedicinesToxicity TestingResearchDrug DiscoveryBioproductionGet Sample Copy Of This Report @Cell Line Development Serum Market Analysis and Forecast 2019-2026 report helps the clients to take business decisions and to understand strategies of major players in the industry. The report also calls for market- driven results deriving feasibility studies for client needs. UpMarketResearch ensures qualified and verifiable aspects of market data operating in the real- time scenario. The analytical studies are conducted ensuring client needs with a thorough understanding of market capacities in the real- time scenario.Key Reasons to Purchase:- To gain insightful analysis of the market and have a comprehensive understanding of the Global Cell Line Development Serum 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 Cell Line Development Serum Market analysis and forecast 2019-2026.Avail Discount On This Report @Customization of the Report:UpMarketResearch provides free customization of reports as per your need. This report can be personalized to meet your requirements. Get in touch with our sales team, who will guarantee you to get a report that suits your necessities.About UpMarketResearch:The UpMarketResearch () is a leading distributor of market research report with more than 800+ global clients. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well- defined we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Contact Info:Name: Alex MathewsEmail: Alex@upmarketresearch.comOrganization: UpMarketResearchAddress: 500 East E Street, Ontario, CA 91764, United States. Vietnam Mobile Payment Market Expected to Reach $70,937 Million | By Top Leading Companies Mobivi, NganLuong, OnePay, Smartlink, Orange S.A., PayPal Holdings, Inc., Payoo, MOMO, 123Pay, and SohaPay. Vietnam Mobile Payments Market https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/4780?utm_source=OPR https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/4780?utm_source=OPR https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/vietnam-mobile-payment-market?utm_source=OPR https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com Vietnam mobile payment market was valued at $16,054 million in 2016, and is projected to reach at $70,937 million by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 18.2% from 2018 to 2025. Near-Field Communication (NFC) mode of transaction is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period, as the country has been investing into digital infrastructure and e-payment services, which includes NFC payment.Changes in customer preference from cash to digital payments, surge in need for immediate transactions in Vietnam, increased penetration of internet and smartphones, and growth of the e-commerce industry majorly contribute towards the growth of the market. However, data breaches & security concerns are expected to hamper the Vietnam mobile payment market growth.Download PDF Report Sample @Based on type, the remote payment segment dominated the Vietnam mobile payment market in 2016, and is expected to continue this trend during the forecast period, owing to extensive use of this payment method across various sectors such as IT, retail, telecommunications, hospitality, healthcare, and others. Furthermore, the proximity payment segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period, owing to rising adoption of mobile point of sale (mPOS) solutions among small- and medium-sized businesses in Vietnam.The Vietnam mobile payment market was led by the retail segment in 2016, and is projected to maintain its dominance during the forecast period. However, the hospitality & tourism segment is expected to witness the highest growth, as large number of consumers in Vietnam have been doing transportation reservations such as hotels, flights, and railway tickets through apps, mobiles, or websites.Increase in penetration of smartphones, growth of the m-commerce industry, and the development of the FinTech & payment industry act as major drivers of the market. However, data breach & security concerns are expected to hamper the Vietnam mobile payment market growth during the forecast period. Furthermore, increase in demand for fast & hassle-free transaction services and initiatives to drive cashless payments in Vietnam are expected to provide lucrative opportunities for the market.Enhanced usage of smartphones in Vietnam significantly boosts the growth of the mobile payment market; for instance, around 84% of the people were using smartphones in 2016 as compared to 78% in 2016. In addition, in rural areas, almost 89% of the population owns a mobile phone, out of which 68% of them possess a smartphone. Adoption of connected devices, especially tablets and smartphones, has considerably grown in Vietnam, owing to the fact that smartphone brands have been offering consumers with abundant choices at affordable prices.The mobile commerce industry has been witnessing significant growth over the past few years, owing to upsurge in penetration of smartphones coupled with fast connectivity. Owing to the increasing popularity of m-commerce in Vietnam, several companies in the country have been investing in business operations and upgrading their websites to be compatible with mobile devices to develop their own applications; for instance, in 2016, around 15% of enterprises owned a mobile app for sales in Vietnam.Make a Purchase Enquiry @The government and local commercial banks of Vietnam have taken various initiatives to deploy cashless payments in Vietnam, which are expected to create lucrative opportunities for the market. Local commercial banks and their partners have been launching numerous promotional programs for card and mobile payment; for instance, Vietnam Payment Solutions JSC (VNPAY) took the initiative by launching the VNPAY QR code payment tool on its own mobile banking application. Moreover, VNPAY collaborated with large commercial banks in Vietnam to expand its network. Moreover, the Government of Vietnam recently introduced an ambitious policy, which is predicted to encourage the population to drop cash payments, and is expected to increase the penetration of e-payment methods.Some of the key players profiled in the report include Mobivi, NganLuong, OnePay, Smartlink, Orange S.A., PayPal Holdings, Inc., Payoo, MOMO, 123Pay, and SohaPay. These players have adopted various strategies to enhance their service offerings and increase their market penetration; for instance, in May 2017, NganLuong.vn launched Alepay Tokenization, an automatic payment service. This service allows buyers to link their bank accounts to the seller's websites for automatic payments for their transactions.LIST OF FIGURESFIGURE 01. VIETNAM MOBILE PAYMENT MARKET, 2016-2025FIGURE 02. VIETNAM MOBILE PAYMENT MARKET, 2016-2025FIGURE 03. VIETNAM MOBILE PAYMENT MARKET: KEY PLAYERSFIGURE 04. VIETNAM MOBILE PAYMENT MARKET SEGMENTATIONFIGURE 05. VIETNAM MOBILE PAYMENT MARKET: TOP IMPACTING FACTORFIGURE 06. VIETNAM MOBILE PAYMENT MARKET: TOP INVESTMENT POCKETSFIGURE 07. TOP WINNING STRATEGIES, BY YEAR, 2015-2018*FIGURE 08. TOP WINNING STRATEGIES, BY DEVELOPMENT, 2015-2018* (%)FIGURE 09. TOP WINNING STRATEGIES, BY COMPANY, 2015-2018*FIGURE 10. LOW BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERFIGURE 11. MODERATE-TO-HIGH BARGAINING POWER OF BUYERFIGURE 12. HIGH THREAT OF SUBSTITUTESFIGURE 13. MODERATE-TO-HIGH THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTSFIGURE 14. HIGH COMPETITIVE RIVALRYFIGURE 15. VIETNAM MOBILE PAYMENT MARKET: KEY PLAYER POSITIONING, 2016FIGURE 16. DRIVERS, RESTRAINTS, AND OPPORTUNITIESFIGURE 17. ORANGE S.A.: REVENUE, 2015-2017 ($MILLION)FIGURE 18. ORANGE S.A.: REVENUE SHARE BY SEGMENT, 2017 (%)FIGURE 19. PAYPAL HOLDINGS, INC.: REVENUE, 2015-2017 ($MILLION)FIGURE 20. PAYPAL HOLDINGS, INC.: REVENUE SHARE BY GEOGRAPHY, 2017 (%)Access Full Summery @About UsAllied 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 Correa5933 NE Win Sivers Drive#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesToll Free (USA/Canada):+1-800-792-5285, +1-503-894-6022, +1-503-446-1141UK: +44-845-528-1300Hong Kong: +852-301-84916India (Pune): +91-20-66346060Fax: +1?855?550-5975help@alliedmarketresearch.comWeb: Peyronies Disease Treatment Market Increasing demand with Industry Professionals Endo International plc Peyronies Disease Treatment https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-pdf/61 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/talk-to-analyst/61 Peyronie's disease (PD) is condition wherein the penis is curved or bent due to development of plaque or a fibrous scar tissue inside the penis. This condition can cause painful erections and the penis gets bent while it is erected. The bent is towards the side where plaque is being formed i.e. either downwards or upwards. The condition is identified by a major bend or pain. In a few people Peyronie's disease may go away on its own. However, in most cases it may remain stable or worsen. Hence, it is advisable to visit an urologist to avoid consequences in future. Treatment may be needed if the curvature prevents successful sexual intercourse.Peyronies disease is a rare condition observed in about 6 out of 100 men in the age group of 40 to 70 years. Moreover, the Urology Care Foundation also estimates that the number of people affected by this condition can be higher than this as many men are embarrassed and do not see their healthcare provider. It is mostly at times when the men visit the healthcare practitioner for erectile dysfunction treatment and the healthcare practitioner may notice Peyronies disease. Lack of awareness among patients has resulted in under reporting of this condition.Peyronie's Disease Treatment OptionsThe exact cause of plaque formation is not known. Hence, treatment is done with the available research and knowledge of plaque formation. There are various treatment options followed for Peyronie disease basis on which the market is analyzed. These include drugs, surgery and devices. The drugs market can be analyzed based on the administration route i.e. oral and injectable. Drugs prescribe through oral route include Vitamin E, Potassium amino-benzoate ("Potaba"), Tamoxifen, Colchicine, and Carnitine. Similarly, the injectable drugs include Verapamil, Interferon, and Collagenase. Use of oral drugs is limited as none of the studies conducted so far for Peyroniees disease have shown positive results of these drugs over the placebo.Download the PDF brochure:On the other hand injectables show some positive outcomes over placebo. However, more studies are required to establish the efficacy. Studies with collagenase have shown positive outcomes for its use in Peyronie's disease. Therefore, Xiaflex (Collagenase clostridium histolyticum) from BioSpecifics Technologies Corporation is the only FDA approved product indicated for Peyronie's disease in adult men. Approved in 2013, Xiaflex is marketed in the U.S. by Endo International plc. In Europe, Collagenase clostridium histolyticum is available by the brand name Xiapex.A penile prosthetic device is another good treatment option for Peyronie's disease and moderate-to-severe ED. This device helps straighten the penis. Surgical procedure on the other hand involves grafting the space being emptied on removal of the plaque.With Xiaflex the only FDA approved product for this disease, Endo dominates the marketThe market is dominated by a single player, Endo International plc who sells the only FDA approved Peyronies disease product. In May 2015, the American Urological Association presented the first ever treatment guidelines for Peyronies disease recommending the use of Xiaflex. Furthermore, the company is creating awareness through its Ask About the Curve campaign. Also, reimbursement from the U.S. insurance providers will boost the demand for this product. The product is estimated to generate USD 100 million in revenue for Peyronies disease by 2018. In Japan, BioSpecifics Technologies Corp. has granted Asahi Kasei Pharma the rights to develop and market XIAFLEX in Japan for Peyronie's disease. Further, the company is also partnering with global companies in Canada, Europe, Mexico, and Brazil for commercializing XIAFLEX for PD.With increasing awareness and research on this disease, new drug molecules could be made available in the market.Have Any Query?? Ask Our Industry ExpertAbout 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 Practice Management System Market Increasing demand with Industry Professionals Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Henry Schein MicroMD, Athenahealth, GE Healthcare, NextGen Healthcare Information Practice Management System https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-pdf/68 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/talk-to-analyst/68 Practice management system (PMS) helps manage the daily operations of an organization. These systems find wide application across various verticals in an industry. Increasing investments to upgrade healthcare facilities, especially in developed regions and growth of the healthcare IT industry in developing regions, is creating a highly conducive environment for growth of the practice management systems market. Increasing adoption of PMS has been witnessed in emerging nations such as Indian, China, South Africa, and Brazil, in order to streamline operations and in turn provide better healthcare facilities in these countries. PMS allows for efficient management of health data, patient scheduling, billing process, and referral policies.Physicians and group organizations need to maintain large amounts of data of day-to-day activities. Practice management system addresses these needs, maintaining critical patient information such as patient demographics, appointment schedule, insurance payer data, billing, and diagnostic and treatment history. Practice management system software are often synchronized with electronic medical record (EMR) or electronic health records (EMR) software for better hospital management.Download the PDF brochure:World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there would be around 24 million cancer cases globally by 2035. In the U.S., over one-third of the adult population is obese, as revealed by statistics released by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2016). As obesity is a major predisposing factor to various diseases such as diabetes and other cardiovascular diseases, steep rise in patient population is expected in the near future.Prevalence of infectious diseases is also on the rise. Moreover, increasing instanced of drug-resistance has mandated physicians to maintain medication history of patient.Rapid rise in geriatric population: According to WHO, over 2 billion individuals worldwide will be aged 60 years and above by 2050. A detailed report published by CDC projects that by 2030, 20% of the U.S. population would comprise of geriatric people. The report also details that cardiovascular diseases is the leading cause of deaths in adults aged 65 and above in the U.S.Rapid rise in patients visiting hospitals mandates efficient keeping of patient history and record maintenance, in turn fueling growth of the practice management systems market.High Installation Cost Hindering Growth in Emerging EconomiesThe practice management systems market share is mainly concentrated in the U.S. mainly due to presence of dense network of hospitals and existing complex healthcare service management and insurance systems. The healthcare system in the U.S., is very unlike that in other countries. Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs) have been set up, and thus patients tend to visit multiple physicians. Hence, maintenance of consistence treatment history becomes difficult. The market is also growing in major European countries such as the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The PMS market is yet in its introductory phase in Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa, and Middle East regions, owing to low diagnosis and treatment rate combined with financial challenges linked with deployment of expensive software systems.Key Suppliers in the global practice management systems market: Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc. Henry Schein MicroMD, Athenahealth, Inc., GE Healthcare, NextGen Healthcare Information System LLC, Practice Fusion, McKesson Corporation, Greenway Medical AdvantEgde Healthcare Solutions, MediTouch, and Accumedic Computer Systems.Have Any Query?? Ask Our Industry ExpertAbout 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 Dermal Regeneration Template Market Increasing demand with Industry Professionals Integra LifeScience Dermal Regeneration Template https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-pdf/118 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/talk-to-analyst/118 Dermal regeneration template is a two-layered skin regeneration system. The outer layer of dermal regeneration template is made of thin silicone film act as the epidermis of skin. The outer layer of dermal regeneration template helps in protecting wound from infection and controls in loss of both heat and moisture. The outer collagen Glycosaminoglycan (GAG) thermal layer functions as a biodegradable template that helps in regeneration of dermal tissue neodermis by the body. The inner layer of dermal regeneration template is made of complex matrix of cross-linked fibers. The porous material of the template helps in regeneration of skin. The cross-linked fiber material of dermal regeneration template acts a scaffold for the re-growth of skin layer. Once the dermal skin layer is regenerated the outer layer of template is removed and is replaced with a thin epidermal skin graft. This procedure leaves the wound to a flexible, growing and allows permanent regeneration of skin. It allows faster healing of wound with minimum scarring.Using dermal regeneration template allows immediate wound closure without risking any loss of donor material. In 2005, Integra LifeSciences received FDA approval for its INTEGRA Dermal Regeneration Template as a treatment for life-threatening burn injuries and reconstructive surgery for the repair of scars when other therapies fail. Recently, In January 2016, Integra LifeSciences received FDA approval for treatment of Chronic Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFU) with dermal regeneration template. The application of this template is typically completed in two operative sessions involving the product applied to the excision sites and the second procedure performed 3 to 6 weeks after the placement of product to remove silicone layer and for an epidermal autograft applied to the neodermis.Download the PDF brochure:The global dermal regeneration template market is expected to witness significant growth due to increase in incidence of burn injuries and prevalence of diabetes globally. As per the report of WHO in 2016, burns result in around 265,000 deaths every year. Low income and middle income countries contribute majority to the total number of burns every year. In India alone, over 1,000,000 people suffer from moderate to severe burns each year. In Bangladesh, Egypt, Columbia and Pakistan, around 17% of children with burn have temporary disability where as 18% have permanent disability. The increasing cases of burns and awareness among the population of low and middle income countries provides opportunity for dermal regeneration template industry. The growing concern with burning cases and governments initiatives to grow awareness among patients related to burn treatment through campaigns and national burn Awareness week to act as a fuel to the growth of dermal regeneration template market. In 2010, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services initiated medical countermeasures (MCMs) program, aimed to improve burn treatment for mass causality. The increasing research fund and grants associated for burn research is creating opportunity for dermal regeneration template manufacturers to come up with products with more innovations.American burn association (ABA) is one of such organization of the U.S. that offers awards, grants and fellowship opportunities to practitioners for education, prevention and rehabilitation of burn. The growing usage of skin grafts and skin replacement substitutes are expected to act as a restrain to the global dermal regeneration market. Dermal regeneration template usage in chemical, radiation or electrical burns are limited and can only be used after thorough evaluation by surgeon. The product can be only used in excision therapy and are contraindicated for infectional wounds. Their limitation for incision use and usage in chemical and radiation is expected to hamper the overall growth. North America, Europe and Asia Pacific contribute major revenue to the overall market. Asia Pacific is expected to grow with high CAGR as compared to other region.Market PlayerThe global dermal regeneration template market has only one FDA approved product from Integra LifeScience. The growing research related to innovation in material and design is expected to penetrate many companies in the market. In 2016, a research funded by Welcome Trust described a novel approach to increase the thickness of elastic- layered fiber for geriatric patients and created a hybrid of Integra dermal regeneration template.Have Any Query?? Ask Our Industry ExpertAbout 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 Cough and Cold Medicine Market Study Report 2019| Pfizer, Atley Pharmaceuticals, Vertical Pharmaceuticals, Novartis global cough and cold medicine market https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/982162/global-cough-and-cold-medicine-competition-situation-research-report https://www.qyresearch.com/settlement/pre/4f7415301a0b66de96e466d9bbbbf85a,0,1,Global%20Cough%20and%20Cold%20Medicine%20Competition%20Situation%20Research%20Report%202019 www.qyresearch.com The research study presented in this report offers a complete and intelligent analysis of the competition, segmentation, dynamics, and geographical advancement of the global Cough and Cold Medicine market. It takes into account the CAGR, value, volume, revenue, production, consumption, sales, manufacturing cost, prices, and other key factors related to the global Cough and Cold Medicine market. The authors of the report have segmented the global Cough and Cold Medicine Market as per product, application, and region. Segments of the global Cough and Cold Medicine market are analyzed on the basis of market share, production, consumption, revenue, CAGR, market size, and more factors. The analysts have profiled leading players of the global Cough and Cold Medicine market, keeping in view their recent developments, market share, sales, revenue, areas covered, product portfolios, and other aspects.Our PESTLE, Porters Five Forces, and SWOT analyses give a thorough presentation of the global Cough and Cold Medicine market from different perspectives and angles. The research study has been prepared with the use of in-depth qualitative and quantitative analyses of the global Cough and Cold Medicine market. We have also provided absolute dollar opportunity and other types of market analysis on the global Cough and Cold Medicine market. All findings and data on the global Cough and Cold Medicine market provided in the report are calculated, gathered, and verified using advanced and reliable primary and secondary research sources. The regional analysis offered in the report will help you to identify key opportunities of the global Cough and Cold Medicine market available in different regions and countries.Get PDF template of this report:Key Players of the Global Cough and Cold Medicine MarketPfizerAtley PharmaceuticalsVertical PharmaceuticalsNovartisMerckJohnson & JohnsonToray IndustriesGlobal Cough and Cold Medicine Market: Segmentation by ProductLiquid SyrupCapsulePill FormGlobal Cough and Cold Medicine Market: Segmentation by ApplicationAdultChildrenGlobal Cough and Cold Medicine Market: Segmentation by Region The Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries and Egypt) North America (the United States, Mexico, and Canada) South America (Brazil etc.) Europe (Turkey, Germany, Russia UK, Italy, France, etc.) Asia-Pacific (Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Australia)Get Full Report Now at USD 2,900 @Table of ContentsMarket Overview: The report begins with this section where product overview and highlights of product and application segments of the global Cough and Cold Medicine market are provided. Highlights of the segmentation study include price, revenue, sales, sales growth rate, and market share by product.Competition by Company: Here, the competition in the global Cough and Cold Medicine market is analyzed, taking into consideration price, revenue, sales, and market share by company, market concentration rate, competitive situations and trends, expansion, merger and acquisition, and market shares of top 5 and 10 companies.Company Profiles and Sales Data: As the name suggests, this section gives the sales data of key players of the global Cough and Cold Medicine market as well as some useful information on their business. It talks about the gross margin, price, revenue, products and their specifications, applications, competitors, manufacturing base, and the main business of players operating in the global Cough and Cold Medicine market.Market Status and Outlook by Region: In this section, the report discusses gross margin, sales, revenue, production, market share, CAGR, and market size by region. Here, the global Cough and Cold Medicine market is deeply analyzed on the basis of regions and countries such as North America, Europe, China, India, Japan, and the MEA.Application or End User: This part of the research study shows how different application segments contribute to the global Cough and Cold Medicine market.Market Forecast: Here, the report offers a complete forecast of the global Cough and Cold Medicine market by product, application, and region. It also offers global sales and revenue forecast for all years of the forecast period.Upstream Raw Materials: The report provides analysis of key raw materials used in the global Cough and Cold Medicine market, manufacturing cost structure, and the industrial chain.Marketing Strategy Analysis and Distributors: This section offers analysis of marketing channel development trends, indirect marketing, and direct marketing followed by a broad discussion on distributors and downstream customers in the global Cough and Cold Medicine market.Research Findings and Conclusion: This is one of the last sections of the report where the findings of the analysts and the conclusion of the research study are provided.Appendix: Here, we have provided a disclaimer, our data sources, data triangulation, market breakdown, research programs and design, and our research approach.About Us:QYResearch always pursuits high product quality with the belief that quality is the soul of business. Through years of effort and supports from the huge number of customer supports, QYResearch consulting group has accumulated creative design methods on many high-quality markets investigation and research team with rich experience. Today, QYResearch has become the brand of quality assurance in the consulting industry.ContactQY Research, INC.USA: +1 626 428 8800China: +86 1082 945 717Japan: +81 9038 009 273India: +91 9766 478 224Emails enquiry@qyresearch.comWeb PCB Aluminum Plate Global Market Research Report 2025 PCB Aluminum Plate Global Market 2025 https://www.research2reports.com/report-electronics-goods/pcb-aluminum-plate-market/81442 https://www.research2reports.com/sample-report-electronics-goods/pcb-aluminum-plate-market/81442 https://www.research2reports.com/enquiry-before-buy-electronics-goods/pcb-aluminum-plate-market/81442 https://www.research2reports.com/category-electronics-goods PCB Aluminum Plate Report by Material, Application, and Geography Global Forecast to 2022 is a professional and in-depth research report on the world's major regional market conditions, focusing on the main regions (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific) and the main countries (United States, Germany, united Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and China).Access more details about this report at:The report firstly introduced the PCB Aluminum Plate basics: definitions, classifications, applications and market overview; product specifications; manufacturing processes; cost structures, raw materials and so on. Then it analyzed the world's main region market conditions, including the product price, profit, capacity, production, supply, demand and market growth rate and forecast etc. In the end, the report introduced new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis.Purchase a copy of this premium research report at:The report includes six parts, dealing with:1.) Basic Information;2.) Asia PCB Aluminum Plate Market;3.) North American PCB Aluminum Plate Market;4.) European PCB Aluminum Plate Market;5.) Market Entry and Investment Feasibility;6.) Report Conclusion.Inquire further details about this report at:About Research 2 Reports:Research2Reports Market Research Company offers custom syndicated market research reports with market analysis, consulting services Market research reports by Research2Reports depends on survey analysis covers a magnitude of factors, industry research, market size, forecasts, financial growth, pricing trends, competitive insights of market segmentsContact Us:Organization: Research2reportsOffice No. 212/213, B Block 2nd Floor,Parmar Chambers,Sadhu Vaswani Road, Pune 411001Phone Number: 020 - 2612 6969Email: info@research2reports.comRead More Industry News:Research 2 Reports offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.Office No. 212/213, B Block 2nd Floor,Parmar Chambers,Sadhu Vaswani Road, Pune 411001 Military Jammer Market Size, Segments, Future Insights, Market Revenue and Threat by Product, Analysis and Outlook 2019-2023 Military Jammer Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5972 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/military-jammer-market-5972 Global Military Jammer Market by Jamming Type (Radar, Communication), Deployment Type (Ground-based, Naval, Airborne), Technology (GaN, GaAs), Application (Counter-IED, Bomb Disposal, Military Convoy Protection, Anti-Riot & Law Enforcement)-Forecast to 2023Market Scenario:Military jammers play a vital role in battlefields by informing and protecting soldiers from incoming enemy threats. However, jammers can also be used by citizens; the major difference between the jammers used by citizens and military jammers is that the military jammers are very powerful and are able to jam different frequency wavelengths at the same time.The military jammer market has advanced in radio technology from analog to digital, and nowadays, it is involved in the development of wideband radios, which is a new generation of jammer.Continuous investment in jamming technologies is looking forward to meet the next generation requirements in terms of innovation, is also anticipated to increase the demand for military jammers in the coming years, thus, boosting the military jammer market growth during the forecast period. Increasing usage of unmanned aerial vehicles in restricted areas, rise in usage of radar jamming decoys, rising terrorist activities, and high expenses in electronic countermeasure systems, predominantly from governments of different nations, are the key growth drivers for the military jammer market. Consequently, the continuously increasing dependency of the military sector on GPS based application is also one of the main factors predicted to boost the growing demand for different types of military jammers during the forecast period.Military jammer market is estimated to witness a CAGR of more than 8% during the forecast period.Get Free Sample @For radar applications, amplifiers are extremely effective in military application, as well as the in the open construction of RF modules, which is a distinct design that can be customized specifically for radar application. Radar jamming is crucial in electronic warfare capability sought by military agencies. The military application held the largest market share because of the testing and development of very long range discrimination radar systems.The driving force behind the global military Jammer market is the need for superior intelligence and precision attack. The advantage of present electronic jammer systems is that they combine support, protection, and attack functions in a single unit. They offer a variety of countermeasures (which can be automatically started) and enable real-time impact recording for military purposes. This helps the military to assess the operational efficiency of a tactic and consequently update their tactics in future in line with the evolving threats.Electronic warfare equipment is progressing in its functionality due to the progression in algorithms and underlying software that impart operational capabilities to the electronic warfare systems. Researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) have developed an improved RF jamming technology, where the jammer uses Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) and has an open and simple construction. The project is termed as Angry Kitten, and it aims to develop an improved adaptability jammer.Most digital communications systems need a synchronization military to be transmitted between the communicating devices. Jamming can be concentrated on the synchronization military, which will nullify the effectiveness of the entire transmission system. Synchronized systems are very susceptible to jamming. Once the synchronization is lost, the jammer stops its transmission and jammer can only be restarted after resynchronization is achieved. It is usually very difficult for the jamming system to know when the synchronization is lost and hence, difficult to restart the jammer. The objective is to incorporating military interference into the communications frequency so that the military devices are completely submerged by the interference. Waveforms useful for jamming include noise-modulated FM, noise bursts, CW tones (spot jamming), and swept military (swept-spot jamming).Military jammer has progressed since it was first invented and has established itself as an essential fleet asset, which is combined into all air wing combat missions. Firms, such as Raytheon and BAE Systems, are further improving the military jammers technology, which will impact market penetration in the next few years.The use of man-portable jamming devices is gaining popularity in electronic warfare. As the use of Improvised Explosive Device (IEDs) has increased in recent times, improved countermeasures, such as man-portable jamming devices are being used by ground troops.Key Players:The key players in military jammer market are BAE Systems (U.K), Lockheed Martin Corporation (U.S.), Northrop Grumman (U.S.), Raytheon Company (U.S), Thales Group (France), Saab AB (Sweden), Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd.(Israel), L-3 Technologies Inc. (U.S.), Ultra Electronics Inc. (U.K), and Mercury Systems, Inc. (U.S.).The report for Global Military Jammer Market of Market Research Future comprises extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance.The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.Read More info @Table Of Contents:1 Executive Summary2 Scope Of The Report2.1 Market Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Definition2.2.2 Research Objective2.2.3 Assumptions2.2.4 Limitations2.3 Research Process2.3.1 Primary Research2.3.2 Secondary Research2.4 Market Size Estimation2.5 Forecast Model3 Market LandscapeContinue....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.Contact:Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Acne Medication Market 2018 New Business Opportunities For Manufacturers: Allergan, Nestle S.A. , Johnson & Johnson, Mayne Pharma Group Limited and More Acne Medication Market https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/4356 https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/4356 https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, Acne Medication Market, by Therapeutic Class, Formulation, Type, Acne Type, and Distribution Channel: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2018-2025," the global acne medication market was valued at $8,017 million in 2017, and is projected to reach $10,929 million by 2025, registering a CAGR of 3.9% from 2018 to 2025.Acne medications have gained a substantial market share in the recent years, due to high prevalence of acne vulgaris and high preferences for skin care products. Improved features of acne drugs and development of safer acne therapeutics have led to widening of applications of these medications for the treatment of acne, which have further supplemented the market growth. Furthermore, increase in strategic developments by key players is anticipated to fuel the market growth in the near future.Download Sample PDF Brochure at:North America was the leading revenue contributor to the global acne medication market in 2017, and is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period. This is attributed to the early approval of acne medication products and high adoption of prescription medicines in this region. However, Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 5.6% during the study period, due to increase in affordability, surge in healthcare expenditure, and rise in awareness toward safe acne medications products.Acne is a long-term skin disease that appears because of clogged hair follicles, dead skin cells, and oil excreted from skin. It is characterized by the presence of considerable number of pimples, whiteheads, blackheads, oily skin, and probable scarring. It generally affects the skin with comparatively high number of sweat glands at upper part of chest, back, and face. Acne medications are drugs that are indicated for the treatment of acne. These include several prescription and over-the-counter medicines such as retinoids, isotretinoin, antibiotics, salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide, oral contraceptives, and others.The factors that drive the growth of the acne medication market include increase in prevalence of acne vulgaris across the world, unhealthy urban lifestyle, surge in pollution, and rise in focus on skin care products. However, side effects associated with acne medications and reforms, and presence of alternative treatment options such as laser therapies, impede the market growth. Conversely, the development of newer products with lesser side effects and presence of untapped market in the emerging economies are expected to provide lucrative growth opportunities for the market.The retinoids segment accounted for the largest share in 2017, owing to high usage in treatment of acne and lesser side effects as compared to other therapeutics. However, the salicylic acid segment is expected to grow at the high CAGR from 2018 to 2025.The inflammatory acne segment is the largest acne type segment in the global acne medication market in 2017 and is expected to maintain its lead in the forecast period. On the other hand, non-inflammatory acne segment is anticipated to record the highest CAGR from 2018-2025.By type, the prescription medicine segment dominated the global acne treatment market in terms of revenue in 2017 and the trend is projected to continue throughout the forecast period.The utilization rate of topical medications for acne treatment is high owing to high availability of these products with high success rate and lesser side effects. However, the oral medication segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.6% during the forecast period.Do Purchase Enquiry at:About usAllied 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 C5933 NE Win Sivers Drive#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesToll Free: +1-800-792-5285UK: +44-845-528-1300Hong Kong: +852-301-84916India (Pune): +91-20-66346060Fax: +1855550-5975help@alliedmarketresearch.comWeb: Track Geometry Measurement System Market key players 2028 : MER MEC S.p.A., EGIS, Fugro, Balfour Beatty, Goldschmidt Thermit Group, Bentley Systems Inc. https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1118 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=1118 Track Geometry Measurement System Market IntroductionPenetration of technology into the railway industry has unlocked novel avenues for the advancements of the railway network. Track geometry measurement system is one such technology that associates the track geometry systems with rail profiles to obtain the measurements of both using just one instrument. Witnessing the high adoption rate, manufacturers of TGMS have been enhancing the accuracy and longevity of these systems in addition to reducing their size to offer the ease of installation, which is estimated to further boost the sales of these systems.With the rising concerns apropos of the rail hazards, there has been a notable demand for efficient systems that can ensure the maintenance of railway tracks, which has been fulfilled by TGMS. However, lack of proper infrastructure for the installation of track geometry measurement system market could act as a deterrent. Analyzing the drivers, challenges, opportunities, and threats, the track geometry measurement system market is estimated to be valued at over USD 3 Bn in 2019.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Track Geometry Measurement System Market Novel DevelopmentsSome of the significant partakers operating in the track geometry measurement system market include MER MEC S.p.A., EGIS, Fugro, Balfour Beatty, Goldschmidt Thermit Group, Bentley Systems Inc., Plasser & Theurer, MRX Technologies, R. Bance & Co. Ltd., Ensco Inc., Siemens, Rail Vision Europe, Amberg Technologies, ZG Optique, Vista Instrumentation LLC, Kzv, Spol. Sro, Trimble, Harsco Corporation, Deutzer Technische Kohle, DMA, and Holland LP. These competitors have been making hefty investments in innovating the products, research and development activities, brand building, customer retention.In February 2019, Balfour Beatty announced that Transport of London has appointed it to develop and deliver 1,047 kilometer London Underground network. The authority will invest critical assets to achieve the completion of a robust underground transportation network. Alongside, Balfour Beatty will introduce new standards and technologies to ensure the safe delivery of the network that is devoid of any disruption to the travelling public.In May 2018, Network Rail awarded Balfour Beatty a 5-year - Reactive Building and Civil Contract. According to the contract, the company will be in charge of executing rail infrastructure repairs from London-Penzance, along with the Great Western route. The contract will help the company offer better and reliable journeys to travelers with the utmost safety.In November 2017, ENSCO Rail was awarded a Canadian Pacific contract, as per which the company will offer robust inspection systems for the evaluation car. Such cars will be the newest addition to the CP fleet and it will be well-armed with nascent track geometry measurement and imaging system technology.Track Geometry Measurement System Market DynamicsCompliance to Numerous Standards Set by Government to Reflect on the Market SizeRising concerns pertaining to the security of railways and technological advancements in the very arena of the railway industry, government of numerous countries have enforced laws and regulations that indicate the need to comply with the standards set by the government. As a result, the players operating in the market have been devising innovation to meet the requirement of the end-use industry as well as comply with the standard guidelines, thereby enhancing the desirability of these systems, which is anticipated to bode well for the growth of the track geometry measurement system market in the upcoming years.Undergoing Metro Projects in Developing Countries to Keep the Demand for TGMS ConsistentOne of the significant reasons fueling the growth of the track geometry measurement systems market is the rising demand for metro networks in developing countries. With multiple undergoing metro projects, there has been a significant surge in the demand for track geometry measurement systems for the development of strong railway network, which is expected to fuel the growth of the track geometry measurement systems market.Request TOC of the Report @Asia Pacific to Remain a Leading Track Geometry Measurement System MarketAsia Pacific holds promising growth prospects for the track geometry measurement system market, on account of the advancements in the mass transit systems and high-speed rails in countries such as India and China. Among the other countries located in APAC, China is expected to account for a significant share of track geometry measurement system market, which is attributed to the development of a streamlined transportation network.Japan as well contributes to the incessantly growing Asia Pacific track geometry measurement market with the constant development of high-speed railway network. Demand for track geometry measurement system is expected to witness an uptick in India, owing to a number of metro rail projects happening in this region. As a result of the massive contribution of regional markets, Asia Pacific is anticipated to remain a leading track geometry measurement system market in the forthcoming years.Track Geometry Measurement Systems Market - SegmentationThe track geometry measurement systems market can be fragmented on the basis of:Measurement TypeOperation TypeRailway TypeComponentAbout 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: +1-415-520-1050 US$ 2,000 Mn Opportunity Emerging in Automotive Exhaust Sensor Market till 2026 | Key Players are SANGO Co. Ltd., Yutaka Giken Co. Ltd., Futaba Industrial Co. Ltd., etc. https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=474 https://www.factmr.com/report/474/automotive-exhaust-sensor-market https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=AE&rep_id=474 https://www.factmr.com/ In order to dissert the market scenario prevailing across the automotive exhaust sensor market sector, FactMR has evenly presented a new examination titled US$ 2,000 Mn Opportunity Emerging in Automotive Exhaust Sensor Market till 2026 | Key Players are SANGO Co. Ltd., Yutaka Giken Co. Ltd., Futaba Industrial Co. Ltd., etc., to its extensive online repository. With all vital market facets enclosed into this single assessment, readers can learn about different market drivers, opportunities and trends which are likely to influence the overall market space for the automotive exhaust sensor market in the coming years. In addition, factors such as market size, Y-o-Y growth and revenue share are investigated so as to make this research highly authentic and reliable.Get 100 Page Sample Report here Miniaturization of integrated circuits is likely to provide an impetus to the development of automotive exhaust sensors in the near future. Adoption of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) sensors, a miniaturized form of conventional ICs manufactured by using microfabrication technology, is witnessing a tremendous surge. Use of microfabrication technology enables automotive exhaust sensors in being more accurate and reliable, meanwhile enhancing their response time, efficiency, communication capabilities, and robustness. In addition, a large number of automotive exhaust sensor manufacturers are making enormous investments in research & development activities for coming up with better microfabrication technologies, which in turn will help them in boosting their revenue generation.The market for automotive exhaust sensor in Europe and North America has reached a maturity stage, and is currently stable on the back of a slack in production and rising competition from developing economies in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) and Latin America. However, with implementation of the Euro VI norms in 2017, demand for exhaust sensors is expected to witness a gradual rise in Europe in the near future. Europe will remain the largest market for automotive exhaust sensor, in terms of value.In terms of value, passenger cars among vehicles type segments will account for the lions share of the global automotive exhaust sensor market. Dominance of passenger cars in the market can be primarily attributed to the advent of stringent emission norms, which demand installation of automotive exhaust sensors in passenger cars for controlling air pollutants, thereby boosting sales of the emission-efficient passenger cars significantly. In addition, sales of automotive exhaust sensors in passenger cars and heavy commercial vehicles are projected to register an equal and the highest CAGR, in terms of value, through 2026, closely trailed by light commercial vehicles.Request Automotive Exhaust Sensor Market Report with TOC Here -Automotive exhaust sensors will witness the highest demand for use in gasoline engines. However, growing penetration of diesel engines in developed nations has resulted into rapid adoption of automotive exhaust sensors for use in these engines recently. Automotive exhaust sensors are projected to register the fastest expansion for use in diesel engines through 2026, in terms of value. Although OEM remains the dominant sales channel for automotive exhaust sensors in terms of revenues, sales in aftermarket are poised to exhibit a relatively faster expansion through 2026.Competition TrackingNature of the global automotive exhaust sensor market is highly competitive and fragmented on the back of the occupancy of numerous international and regional players worldwide. As international players are concentrating on the expansion of their geographical reach, regional vendors are finding it difficult in competing against them based on product cost, safety, and quality. Key players actively contributing to the market expansion include Sejong Industrial Co., Ltd., Harbin Airui Automotive Exhaust Systems Co. Ltd., Bosal International N.V., SANGO Co., Ltd., Yutaka Giken Co., Ltd., Futaba Industrial Co., Ltd., Benteler International AG, Friedrich Boysen GmbH & Co. KG, Eberspacher Group, Tenneco Inc., and Faurecia S.A.Table of Content:Global Economic OutlookGlobal Automotive Exhaust Sensor Market - Executive Summary2.1. Opportunity Assessment2.2. Mega TrendsGlobal Automotive Exhaust Sensor Market Overview3.1. Introduction3.1.1. Global Automotive Exhaust Sensor Market Taxonomy3.1.2. Global Automotive Exhaust Sensor Market Definition3.2. Global Automotive Exhaust Sensor Market Size (US$ Mn), Volume (Units) and Forecast, 2012-20263.2.1. Global Automotive Exhaust Sensor Market Y-o-Y Growth3.3. Parent Market OverviewContinued..You can Ask Any Questions to Our Experts -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 400, Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb: Why Compact Construction Equipment sector is expected to fetch demand in market by 2023? Compact Construction Equipment Market https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/checkout/137086?utm_source=OPEN&utm_medium=neesha https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/4024?utm_source=OPEN&utm_medium=neesha https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/4024?utm_source=OPEN&utm_medium=neesha https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com High demand for efficient, robust, portable, easy to use, and light-weight equipment for loading, material handling, and excavations in North America and Europe offers significant growth potential for the market.. says report.The Compact Construction Equipment report on Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2017-2023 published by Industry experts and Analysts says, that the compact construction equipment market was valued at $6,250 million in 2016, and is expected to reach at $9,438 million by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 6.2% during the forecast period.Flat 20% Discount on All License Type .. Buy Now:* Offer Valid Till 20th April 2019Asia-Pacific accounted for approximately 32.0% of the market share in 2016, and is expected to witness significant growth during the forecast period. These construction equipment prove to be small in size, highly efficient and easily usable. Owing to increase in construction activities as well as growth in application areas in the mining and agriculture industry, there is no doubt these equipment will be instrumental and have significant demand.Rise in population and rapid urbanization further contribute to the developing construction industry. This in turn boosts the demand for compact construction equipment. Adoption of technology in construction has also been a parameter to propel the construction equipment market growth.Download Sample Report:Considering the backhoe loader in the compact construction equipment dominated the equipment segment of in 2016, with around 27.0% share, and is expected to grow at the CAGR of 5.2% during the forecast period. High demand from construction, agriculture, and mining industries drive the backhoe loader market.Key notes for stakeholders:The study provides an in-depth analysis along with current & future trends to elucidate the imminent investment pockets.Information about key drivers, restrains, and opportunities and their impact analysis on the market is provided.Porters Five Forces analysis illustrates the potency of buyers and suppliers operating in the industry.The quantitative analysis of the global market from 2016 to 2023 is provided to determine the market potential.Download Purchase Enquiry:The key players profiled in this study constitute,Caterpillar, Inc.Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd.JCB, Inc.John DeereKing MachineryKomatsuMustangSanyVolvoXCMGAllied 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.David Correa5933 NE Win Sivers Drive#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesToll Free (USA/Canada):+1-800-792-5285, +1-503-894-6022, +1-503-446-1141UK: +44-845-528-1300Hong Kong: +852-301-84916India (Pune): +91-20-66346060Fax: +1-855-550-5975help@alliedmarketresearch.comWeb: Medical Aesthetics Market is Likely to witness profitable growth Over the Next Five Years Stratview Research https://www.stratviewresearch.com/426/medical-aesthetics-market.html https://www.stratviewresearch.com/Request-Sample/426/medical-aesthetics-market.html https://www.stratviewresearch.com/market-reports/Healthcare-and-Life-Sciences.html Launching announcement of a new research report on Medical Aesthetics Market by Procedures (Botox, Dermal Filler, Laser Hair Removal, Liposuction, Cellulite Reduction, Liposuction, Rhinoplasty, Skin Tightening, Breast Implant, Others), End-User (Advanced Aesthetic and Skin Clinics, Hospitals and Private Clinics, Others) and by Region (North America, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific, Rest of the World).This report, from Stratview Research, studies The Global Medical Aesthetics Market over the trend period of 2014 to 2017 and forecast period of 2018 to 2025. The report provides detailed insights into the market dynamics to enable informed business decision making and growth strategy formulation based on the opportunities present in the market.Click here to read the detailed description and TOC:The Global Medical Aesthetics Market: HighlightsThe power of technology and the need for beauty enhancement procedures has given a tremendous push to the global aesthetics market. Although this segment is showing significant growth, it is also promoting an influx of competition, business, and investment, which will directly impact the overall growth of the industry.Trends in the market, hint that the male to female ratio interested in aesthetic procedures is 1:1 in 2018. Earlier perceived to only driven by the female, the industry is finding a good proportion of men keeping themselves updated and educated about treatment options, costs and the outcomes involved. The market is also capitalizing on growing their male clientele by appealing to their increased image-consciousness, through minimally invasive cosmetic procedures. Statistics gathered by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) note that non-surgical aesthetic procedures performed in the U.S. in 2017 rose by 186% since 2000. Thereby reaching 15.7 million procedures last year in the US market alone. Cellulite is one of the consumers top concerns, with the number of cellulite reduction treatments performed jumping 19% in 2017-2018.Get your copy of free sample pages-click here:While subdermal laser treatments were the first to receive FDA approval, these treatments remain very expensive and time-consuming, making them a much harder sell to prospective patients looking for a quicker fix. The report gives a comparative analysis of the most sought after medical aesthetics procedures in different regions.The report also looks at the opportunity geography wise hence giving a 360 degree view of the market, its opportunities and gaps for the reader.Report FeaturesThis report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights into the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report: Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porters five forces analysis, SWOT analysis Market trend and forecast analysis Market segment trend and forecast Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, Product portfolio, New product launches, etc. Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities Emerging trends Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players Key success factors Future outlookTo browse through our range of reports in the Healthcare and Life Science industry, refer to the following link:Stratview Research is a global market intelligence firm offering a wide range of services including syndicated market reports, consulting, sourcing intelligence, and customer research. We are a trusted brand in the research industry with capability of commissioning complex projects within a short span of time with high level of accuracy.Stratview Research400 Renaissance Center,Suite 2600,Detroit, Michigan, MI 48243United States of AmericaPhone No. +1-313-307-4176sales@stratviewresearch.com North America Medical Tourism Market is looking to raise up to 14.4% CAGR by 2023 End: Renowned Leaders - Angeles en Lnea, Mdica Sur, Star Mdica North America Medical Tourism Market https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/5050?utm_source=openpr_ss https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/checkout/432730?utm_source=openpr_ss https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/north-america-medical-tourism-market?utm_source=openpr_ss https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com According to Allied Market Research, North America Medical Tourism Market accounted $20,279 million in 2016, and is estimated to reach $52,786 million by 2023, registering a CAGR of 14.4% from 2017 to 2023.The process of traveling outside the country of residence for the purpose of receiving medical treatment and care is known as medical tourism. Medical tourists avail different treatments such as cancer treatment, cardiovascular treatment, neurological treatment, fertility treatment, and others. The escalation in healthcare costs associated in developed countries, has forced individuals to look for affordable alternatives, and has therefore imperatively contributed to supplement the medical tourism market.Download Sample @Geographical convenience of Mexico for Mexico-bound health travelers who reside in South, North & Central America, and the Caribbean drive the market. In addition, recent Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditations in Mexico, government involvement for the growth of medical tourism in Mexico, lower costs in Mexico, and technological advancements in healthcare facilities in North America further augment market growth.However, difficulties associated with travel, language barriers, documentation, and VISA approval issues, and lack of medical training and non-acceptance of healthcare insurances in Mexico restrict the market growth. Furthermore, rise in geriatric population due to baby boomers in North America, and increase in R&D activities in the field of healthcare provide lucrative opportunities to the market players.Cancer treatment type segment is anticipated to continue to lead the market throughout the analysis period owing to increase with the number of cross-border travelers seeking high quality cancer treatment. In addition, cancer treatments are expensive and prolonged procedures; hence, good quality treatment available at affordable prices motivates several patients to choose medical tourism.Furthermore, the neurological disorders treatment segment is anticipated to be the fastest growing treatment type segment with a CAGR of 14.9% from 2017 to 2023, owing to factors such as growth in prevalence of neurological diseases and surge in geriatric population.Based on country, the market was dominated by Mexico which accounted for more than half of the overall North America medical tourism market in 2016. This growth is attributed to the availability of affordable medical treatments for several disease conditions and geographical proximity to U.S.Flat 20% Discount on All License Type...Offer Valid Till 20th April 2019Key Market Players: Angeles en Lnea Centro Mdico ABC Galenia Hospital Hospital San Jos Mdica Sur SA de CV Star Mdica.Key Findings of the North America Medical Tourism Market Study: In 2016, cancer treatment generated the highest revenue, accounting about one-third of the overall market revenue and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 14.7% during the forecast period. Neurological treatment is expected to grow with the highest CAGR of 14.9% Mexico accounted for more than half of the North America medical tourism market in 2016. Canada is anticipated to be the fastest growing medical tourism market during the analysis period, followed by Mexico.Browse More Details @About Us:Allied Market Research, a market research and advisory company of Allied Analytics LLP, provides business insights and market research reports to large as well as small & medium enterprises. The company assists its clients to strategize business policies and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.Allied Market Research provides one stop solution from the beginning of data collection to investment advice. The analysts at Allied Market Research dig out factors that help clients to understand the significance and impact of market dynamics. The company amplies clients insight on the factors, such as strategies, future estimations, growth or fall forecasting, opportunity analysis, and consumer surveys among others. As follows, the company offers consistent business intelligent support to aid the clients to turn into prominent business firm.Contact:David Correa5933 NE Win Sivers Drive#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesToll Free (USA/Canada):+1-800-792-5285, +1-503-894-6022, +1-503-446-1141UK: +44-845-528-1300Hong Kong: +852-301-84916India (Pune): +91-20-66346060Fax: +1855550-5975help@alliedmarketresearch.comWeb: Standard Milk Formula Market: Prominent Manufacturers Steering Growth during 2018-2027|| Groupe Danone, the Kraft Heinz Company, Abbott Nutrition Manufacturing Inc., Mead Johnson Nutrition https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=1708 https://www.factmr.com/report/1708/standard-milk-formula-market https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=AE&rep_id=1708 https://www.factmr.com/ Probiotics have been gaining significant traction in the wellness and nutrition sector across the globe. Probiotics, essentially live healthy bacteria, are being introduced in the infant formula space, on the back of their potential health benefits. Inclusion of probiotics in standard milk formula can promote the bacteria balance in the infants intestines in turn offsetting development of unhealthy organisms, particularly in babies in the age group of 0-6 months. Probiotics addition is likely to enhance the demand for standard milk formula, particularly among working women, in turn complementing the growth of the standard milk formula market.Request 100 Page Free Sample Report Now @Sales through Online Platforms Offsetting Sluggishness Induced by Rising Milk Prices in Emerging EconomiesOnline platforms are transforming the retail sector, consequently providing potential avenues for producers of Standard Milk Formula Market their products across tier II areas. With e-commerce on the rise, online platforms have facilitated a significant growth in sales of standard milk formula, consequently influencing the growth of the standard milk formula market in emerging economies. For instance, standard milk formula producers in China are adopting e-commerce platforms to enhance product sales. Moreover, with the introduction of two-child policy in China coupled with rising milk rates, dairy producers faced a shrinking market share. However, e-commerce boom resulted in a collaboration of domestic and foreign standard milk formula producers with online platforms leading to an extended product selling, from logistics to brand promotions which has translated in increasing standard milk formula sales by mitigating the impact of increasing milk prices.New Standard for Chloride Content in Standard Milk Formula Ensures SafetyBeing a highly regulated food product, examination of standard milk formula composition has become imperative for regulatory bodies. Along with nutritional labeling on standard milk formula packaging, stringent regulations have been laid by World Health Organization (WHO) and FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States). Largely focusing on the chloride content in standard milk formula, these regulatory bodies along with ISO (International Organization for Standardization) have developed the ISO 21422 | IDF 242 for chloride content determination, in a bid to ensure product safety.Unethical Standard Milk Formula Marketing Practices Continue to Dent Consumer ConfidenceThe IBFAN (International Baby Food Action Network) has revealed several cases regarding unethical marketing of infant nutritional food products. Unethical practices adopted by medium and small scale standard milk formula players to market their products is likely to undermine the confidence among women that can breastfeed infants. Manufacturers of standard milk formula have been inducing a sense of uncertainty apropos to insufficient nutrient supply causing fussiness, perceived hunger and infant crying, and emphasizing on the point that standard milk formula can bridge the gap between needed and available nutrition, says IBFAN.Access full Report with TOC Covering 200+ Topics @Standard Milk Formula Demand Undermined by Ambiguities Over Nutritional Value of Infant Food ProductsManufacturers of standard milk formula are involved in marketing an increasing product range for various age groups, including products that feature additional nutrients in a bid to close on the effectiveness of breast milk along with products that claim to solve a broad spectrum of problems such as allergies. Yet, standard milk formula manufacturers are positioning their products in terms of new formulations in different markets that reveals the possibility of insufficient health considerations and less nutritional science being the product range. These ambiguities are likely to question the quality and efficiency of nutrition provided by standard milk formula, in turn challenging its markets growth.Competitive LandscapeThe standard milk formula market report includes detailed analysis on various key players operating in the market. Several facets of major players including Nestle S.A., Groupe Danone, the Kraft Heinz Company, Abbott Nutrition Manufacturing Inc., and Mead Johnson Nutrition, to name a few have been covered in this section of the report.Major players in the standard milk formula market have been focusing on increasing their customer base by tapping new regions. For instance, Nestle S.A., has invested around CHF 30 million in developing its first infant formula plant in Russia in a bid to offer superior standard milk formula products to Russian consumers. In addition, the company has launched a global initiative to facilitate healthier lives for infants. It has aimed to support around 50 million infants by end of 2030 by providing right and adequate nutrition to children. On the other hand, giants such as Groupe Danone are relying on baby food sales to drive growth. Groupe Danone revealed a 3.3 percent rise in 2018 second quarter sales, underpinned with an immense demand from China. Likewise, players are collaborating with e-commerce platforms to push their sales turnovers, particularly in the emerging economies. For instance, Mead Johnson has partnered with JD.com to introduce a wide range of infant formula products, including standard milk formula, to consumers in China.Grow Your Business from our Expert Tips @About Fact.MRFact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market insights reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFact.MR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb: Denim Jeans Rising Demand, Growing Popularity and Emerging Trends in the World Market Denim Jeans Market https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/1452080-global-denim-jeans-market-size-study-by-type https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/1452080-global-denim-jeans-market-size-study-by-type https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=1452080 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/1452080-global-denim-jeans-market-size-study-by-type A new research document is added in HTF MI database of 200 pages, titled as 'Global Denim Jeans Market Size study, by Type (Mass Market, Standard, Premium), by Consumer Type (Men, Women, Children), by Distribution Channel (Specialty Stores, Supermarkets & Hypermarkets, Department Stores, Exclusive Stores, Online) and Regional Forecasts 2018-2025' with detailed analysis, Competitive landscape, forecast and strategies. The study covers geographic analysis that includes regions like Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America and Rest of the World and important players/vendors such as Levi Strauss & Co., The Gap Inc., VF Corporation, H&M Hennes & Mauritz etc. The report will help you gain market insights, future trends and growth prospects for forecast period of 2018-2025Request a sample report @SummaryGlobal Denim Jeans Market to reach USD 9.32 billion by 2025.Global Denim Jeans Market valued approximately USD 4.47 billion in 2017 is anticipated to grow with a healthy growth rate of more than 8.5% over the forecast period 2018-2025. The major driving factor of global denim jeans market are rising disposable income of the individuals, surging e-commerce industry and increasing preference for wearing denim jeans. Growth of the global denim jeans market is mainly bound to various macro-economic and micro-economic factors. Manufacturers are adopting the leading fiber technology that has enabled them to offer denim jeans products for the athleisure and active wear besides the workwear and casualwear. The major restraining factor of global denim jeans market are changes in consumer lifestyle & preference and the introduction of yoga pants and other active wear. The Denim Jeans market is developing and expanding at a significant pace. The Denim Jeans are a specific type of trousers which are made of denim or dungaree cloth. The Denim Jeans are one of the most significant part of the clothing & apparel industry. The Denim jeans are mostly popular among the youths. Increasing demand for denim jeans products is further expected to impact the global market growth of denim jeans positively. There are many benefits of denim such as denim jeans provides you a street style fashion to your lifestyle and adding leather boots make you junky and give you a rough look, denims jeans are indeed very tough and durable material and it is cost effective clothing to wear and stylish at the same time.Get Customization in the Report, Enquire Now @The regional analysis of Global Denim Jeans Market is considered for the key regions such as Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America and Rest of the World. North America has accounted leading 30% share of total generating revenue in 2016 across the globe. Asia-Pacific region region is also anticipated to exhibit higher growth rate / CAGR over the forecast period 2018-2025, due to the factors such as surge in digitization within the apparel industry and advancement in new denim knitting technologiesThe major market player included in this report are:Levi Strauss & Co., The Gap Inc., VF Corporation, H&M Hennes & Mauritz, PVH Corp, Kering, Pepe Jeans S.L. , Besteller A/S, U.S. Polo Assn.The detailed segments and sub-segment of the market are explained below:By Type: Mass Market Standard PremiumBy Consumer Type: Men Women ChildrenBy Distribution Channel: Specialty Stores Supermarkets & Hypermarkets Department Stores Exclusive Stores OnlineBy Regions:North America (U.S., Canada)Europe (UK, Germany)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan)Latin America (Brazil, Mexico)Rest of the WorldFurthermore, years considered for the study are as follows:Historical year 2015, 2016Base year 2017Forecast period 2018 to 2025Buy this report @Target Audience of the Global Denim Jeans Market in Market Study: Key Consulting Companies & Advisors Large, medium-sized, and small enterprises Venture capitalists Value-Added Resellers (VARs) Third-party knowledge providers Investment bankers InvestorsCompanies Mentioned in the ReportLevi Strauss & Co., The Gap Inc., VF Corporation, H&M Hennes & Mauritz, PVH Corp, Kering, Pepe Jeans S.L. , Besteller A/S, U.S. Polo Assn.TABLE OF CONTENTSChapter 1. Executive Summary1.1. Market Snapshot1.2. Key Trends1.3. Global & Segmental Market Estimates & Forecasts, 2015-2025 (USD Billion)1.4. Estimation Methodology1.5. Research AssumptionChapter 2. Denim Jeans Definition and Scope2.1. Objective of the Study2.2. Market Definition & Scope2.3. Years Considered for the Study2.4. Currency Conversion RatesChapter 3. Denim Jeans DynamicsChapter 4. Denim Jeans Industry AnalysisChapter 5. Denim Jeans, by TypeChapter 6. Denim Jeans, by Consumer TypeChapter 7. Denim Jeans, by Distribution ChannelChapter 8. Denim Jeans, by Regional Analysis....ContinuedView Detailed Table of Content @It's vital you keep your market knowledge up to date. If you have a different set of players/manufacturers according to geography or needs regional or country segmented reports we can provide customization accordingly.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager)HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA 08837Phone: +1 (206) 317 1218sales@htfmarketreport.com Saudi Arabia LED Lights Market Is Excepted To Growth With A CAGR Of 10% In The Period 2019-2024 Saudi Arabia LED Lights Market Is Excepted To Growth With A CAGR Of 10% In The Period 2019-2024 https://www.expertmarketresearch.com/request?type=report&id=107&flag=B https://www.expertmarketresearch.com/reports/saudi-arabia-led-light-market https://www.expertmarketresearch.com/reports/led-market https://www.expertmarketresearch.com/reports/vietnam-led-market www.expertmarketresearch.com According to a new report by Expert Market Research titled, 'Saudi Arabia LED Lights Market Size, Share, Price Trends, Report & Forecast 2019-2024', the Saudi Arabian LED lights market attained USD 505 million in 2017 and is further projected to see significant growth with a CAGR of 10% in the period 2019-2024.Get a free sample for this market study here:LED lights had a penetration rate of 38% in Saudi Arabia's lighting market. Saudi Arabia's import of LED lighting products increased by 40% in 2015 as compared to 2014 with the country importing USD 87.37 million worth of LED lighting products from China in 2015. The demand for LED lights in the KSA has been driven by the efforts of the Saudi Arabian government to combat energy waste. Globally, governments are encouraging the use of energy efficient lighting by reducing the consumption of inefficient lighting and slowly phasing out incandescent lighting. Saudi Arabia is also following suit by increasing tariffs on the imports of incandescent and compact fluorescent lights. The region has also adopted the global energy efficiency standards.With residential electricity usage accounting for 80% of Saudi Arabia's electricity usage, the government has been promoting various energy saving initiatives driven by the installation of energy efficient LED lighting systems in both public and private buildings. The growing infrastructure industry in the region will add further impetus to the LED lights market in the region. The Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud's Kingdom's Vision 2030 is the major driving force behind the growth of the infrastructure industry as it seeks to modernize the infrastructure of 285 municipalities by 2030. Vision 2030 will involve building mega-cities or smart cities from the ground up. Thus, it is expected to open more opportunities for the LED lighting market in the region as the new industrial, commercial and infrastructure constructions can be fitted with energy efficient lighting systems, instead of retrofitting pre-existing systems with LED lights. The retrofitting of Dubai's public lighting systems with LED lighting has also encouraged the market growth.To view the report summary and Table of Contents, click on:Market Breakup By Types: Panel lights Downlights Floodlights Streetlights Tubelights BulbsPanel lights, downlights, floodlights, streetlights, tube lights and bulbs are the types of LED lights.Saudi Arabia LED Light Breakup by Sector: Private PublicLED lights find their application in the public as well as private sectors in Saudi Arabia.Market Breakup By Applications: Residential Commercial Industrial Sectors OthersLED lights to find its major application in the residential, commercial and industrial sectors, among others.Key Findings of the Report: The changing attitude of the people towards lighting energy conservation and the cost-effectiveness of LED lights has aided the growth of Saudi Arabia's LED lights market. Panel LED lights to hold the largest market share in Saudi Arabia over other LED light types. Construction activities worth USD 852.3 billion covering nearly 4,700 construction projects are providing further impetus to the Saudi Arabian market. Rising population and growing urbanization are further aiding the market growth with nearly 70% of the new construction projects occurring in the urban construction sector. The growing use of intelligent street lighting systems, Internet of Things, automation of indoor lighting systems, 'Li-fi', and Lighting-as-a-Service might aid the Saudi Arabian LED lights market in the coming years.Key Offerings of the Report: The report by EMR provides the historical (2014-2018) and forecasted (2019-2024) supply and demand of the different types of LED lights in Saudi Arabia. The report analyses the trade data by the value and volume of exports and imports in 2018. It gives a detailed historical (2014-2018) and future (2019-2024) price analysis of various types of LED lights in Saudi Arabia.Competitive Landscape & Supplier Analysis: Al Nasser Group Saudi LED Light National Lighting Company Technolight Inara Company Limited Noortek Nardeen Lighting Company LLC Huda Lighting Philips Saudi Lighting CompanyAl Nasser Group, Saudi LED Light, National Lighting Company, Technolight, Inara Company Limited, Noortek, Nardeen Lighting Company LLC, Huda Lighting and Philips Saudi Lighting Company are the major player in the Saudi Arabian LED lights market analysed by EMR. The report by EMR gives an in-depth insight into the latest developments amongst these key players, specifically looking into the plant turnarounds, expansions of capacity, and mergers and expansions.Browse Related Reports:About Us:EMR is a leading business intelligence firm, providing custom and syndicated market reports along with consultancy services for our clients. We serve a wide client base ranging from Fortune 1000 companies to small and medium enterprises. Our reports cover over 100 industries across established and emerging markets researched by our skilled analysts who track the latest economic, demographic, trade and market data globally.At EMR, we tailor our approach according to our clients' needs and preferences, providing them with valuable, actionable and up-to-date insights into the market, thus, helping them realize their optimum growth potential. We offer market intelligence across a range of industry verticals which include Pharmaceuticals, Food and Beverage, Technology, Retail, Chemical and Materials, Energy and Mining, Packaging and Agriculture.Contact Us:EMR Business Solutions LLPMatt Johnson138 Duane Street, New York, NY 10013, USAWebsite:Email: sales@expertmarketresearch.comUS & Canada Phone no: +1-415-325-5166UK Phone no: +44-702-402-5790 North America Microgrid Market in Canada Continues to Grow | By Top Players: Schneider Electric, Toshiba Corporation, Honeywell, Tesla, Caterpillar, Hitachi, EnSync, Lockheed Martin Corporation, ABB, Eaton, Siemens https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2833 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/2833 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/north-america-microgrid-market https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/dynamic-application-security-testing-dast-market https://www.gminsights.com http://solutionrocket.com Canada microgrid market is set to exceed installation of 400 MW by 2024. Increasing investments toward sustainable energy sources along with accelerating power demand from off-grid and remote areas will encourage the technology adoption. In addition, the growing development of renewable energy sources to reduce the dependence on conventional grid network will positively impact the business growth. For instance, in 2016, the Government of Canada invested around USD 2.4 billion toward the development of numerous energy sources including wind and solar.Request for a sample of this research report @Increasing penetration of captive power plants to provide regulated power supply across the industrial and manufacturing sector will expand the North America microgrid market size. In addition, the upsurge in investments toward the development of decentralized grid along with growing investment opportunities toward infrastructure and energy sector will further propel the industry growth. According to the Government of Canada, in 2016, around USD 900 million were invested toward research, development and deployment of various energy sources across the nation.Flow battery in 2017, accounted for over 5% of the North America microgrid market share. Rapid technological advancement toward the development of efficient and cost-effective storage systems coupled with growing investments toward the integration of renewable grid infrastructure will positively influence the product demand. High efficiency and longer life cycles are some of the key features which will make its adoption preferable over other alternatives.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Increasing spending toward the exploration of unconventional reserves on account of growing gas demand across the region will propel the natural gas microgrid market. Favorable government initiatives and policies toward the development of low emission fuel as a substitute to conventional fuel sources will stimulate the industry growth. For instance, in 2017, Amren Corporation announced the completion of technologically advanced microgrid network which uses wind, solar and natural gas as a power source with advanced automation and battery storage system.Extensive electricity requirement for manufacturing operations, industries, offices, retail outlets, automotive and hospitals will complement the microgrid market across industries/commercial applications. In addition, escalating high end power consumption on account of the presence of new heavy load machinery and HVAC systems will complement the business outlook. According to EIA in 2017, the industrial and commercial sector consumed 22.4% and 4.5% of the primary energy respectively.Company profiled in this report based on Business overview, Financial data, Product landscape, Strategic outlook & SWOT analysis: ABB Ltd Eaton Corporation Siemens Schneider Electric Caterpillar Inc. Honeywell International Homer Energy LLC Tesla EnSync Inc Advanced Microgrid Solutions Viridity Energy Solutions, Inc Toshiba Corporation Exelon Corporation Power Analytics Corporation Hitachi Lockheed Martin CorporationNorth America Microgrid Market size will exceed USD 7 billion by 2024, as reported in the latest study by Global Market Insights, Inc. Favorable government policies pertaining to integration of sustainable energy technology along with aging grid infrastructure will foster the North America microgrid market. Relatively low power cost, reliability, economic competitiveness and reduced transmission losses are some of the underlined parameters which will encourage the product adoption. In addition, increasing investments toward the expansion of distributed generation technologies will further complement the industry growth.Browse Full Report:Notable industry players across the North America microgrid market includes Schneider Electric, GE Alstom, ABB, Siemens, Caterpillar Inc, Honeywell, Tesla, EnSync Inc, Virdity Energy Solutions, Toshiba, Exelon, Advanced Microgrid Solutions, Power Analytics Corporation, Hitachi, and Lockheed Martin.Browse Related Report:Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Market Size, Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, China, India, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, GCC, South Africa), Growth Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2018 2024About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog: Medical/Hospital Bed Market: International & Regional Players focusing on Extension of their Products & Services || Key Players: LINET spol. s r.o., Stiegelmeyer GmbH & Co. KG, Span-America Medical Systems, Inc., and Merivaara Corp. https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=310 https://www.factmr.com/report/310/medical-bed-market https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=AE&rep_id=310 www.factmr.com https://www.factmr.com/media-release/299/medical-bed-market Increasing incidences of medical emergencies and surgeries, owing to rising geriatric population and increased prevalence of accidents, have resulted into soaring number of hospitalization. Medical furniture such as medical beds are therefore witnessing a significant demand across the globe. This Fact.MR report analyzes the expansion of global medical bed market till date, and provides key insights on the growth of the market during the forecast period, 2017-2022.According to a latest research analysis by Fact.MR, the global market for medical beds will expand at a moderate CAGR during 2017 to 2022. Sales of medical beds across the globe are estimated to exceed US$ 3,000 Mn in revenues by 2022-end.Get Free Sample Report Here:Distinguished by the presence of numerous vendors, the Hospital Bed market is highly competitive in nature. The international as well as regional market players, with their strong market penetration and wide geographic reach, are now focusing on extending their products & services for gaining a competitive edge. However, regional vendors are finding it challenging to keep up with international players in terms of market reach, pricing, quality, and financial resources.The Fact.MR report provides a segment-wise analysis & forecast for covering wide scope of the global medical bed market. The global market for medical beds has been segmented on the basis of product type, usage, application, end-user, and region. A detailed country-wise forecast has been included in the segmentation analysis across all key market parameters.Browse Full Report with ToC Here:Europe will Dominate Global Medical Bed MarketThe global medical bed market will continue to be dominated by Europe, in terms of revenues. The medical bed markets in Europe and Middle East & Africa (MEA) are poised to register similar CAGRs through 2022. North America will also remain lucrative in the global medical bed market, and is projected to register a relatively faster expansion through 2022.Although electric beds will continue to be sought-after among products in the market, sales of semi-electric beds will exhibit the highest CAGR through 2022. Manual beds are anticipated to be comparatively less lucrative than electric beds and semi-electric beds over the forecast period.North America will expand at the highest CAGR in the global medical beds market during 2017 to 2022, followed by Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ). This growth of medical bed market in North America is attributed to availability of highly advanced healthcare facilities, along with increased healthcare expenditure in the region. In addition, higher availability of sophisticated hospitals such as super specialty and multi-specialty hospitals in North America will further influence demand for medical beds.Leading players in the global medical bed market are focusing on offering innovative products and extensive services, with an aim of increasing and retaining trust of the end-users. With international players continuously concentrating on extension of their market footprint, regional vendors are finding it difficult to cope up with them in terms of financial resources, market reach, pricing, and quality. Fact.MRs report has provided a list of companies contributing to growth of the medical bed market worldwide, which include Stryker Corporation, Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc., Getinge AB, Invacare Corporation, Amico Corporation, Medline Industries, Inc., LINET spol. s r.o., Stiegelmeyer GmbH & Co. KG, Span-America Medical Systems, Inc., and Merivaara Corp.Have Any Query?? Ask Our Industry ExpertAbout Fact.MRFact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFact.MR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United Statessales@factmr.comRead Full PR: Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair Devices Market is increasing at $2,614 Million value by 2022 : AMR Research Report Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair Devices Market https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/1950?utm_source=opr_sank https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/checkout/272376 www.alliedmarketresearch.com According to the Allied Market Research, the Global abdominal aortic aneurysm repair devices market was valued at $1,844 million in 2015, and is predicted to reach $2,614 million by 2022, registering a CAGR of 5.1% during forecast period 2016 - 2022.The endovascular stent graft system segment is expected to generate the highest revenue, and is projected to dominate the market during the study period.Download Sample Report @Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a condition that affects majorly the geriatric population (above 65 years of age). The abdominal aortic aneurysm repair devices market is growing at a steady pace owing to technological advancements in the aneurysm repair procedures. The market growth is driven by increase in geriatric population, rise in tobacco consumption, and technological advancements in repair devices & procedures. In addition, increase in adoption of EVAR procedures, rise in demand for minimally invasive treatment, and availability of favorable reimbursements are anticipated to fuel the market growth. However, high cost of the procedures, low availability of products to treat complex anatomy, that is, aneurysm with neck size less than 10 mm, and lack of awareness in developing regions are the factors that restrain the market growth.The endovascular stent graft system segment accounted for the more than two-thirds share of the overall market in 2015. This is attributed to the wide adoption of endovascular stent graft system owing to its various advantages such as short hospital stay, less operative time, and minimally invasive nature.The traditional anatomy segment accounted for highest share in 2015, as the EVAR products currently available are suitable for the treatment of aneurysms with neck length more than 10mm. However, complex anatomy segment is expected to witness a high CAGR during the analysis period. On the basis of site of abdominal aortic aneurysm, the infrarenal AAA repair devices segment accounted for the highest share in 2015, owing to high prevalence of infrarenal AAA.According to Sriram Radhakrishnan, Team Lead, Healthcare at Allied Market Research, .North America lead the global market, owing to increase in prevalence of AAA. North America and Europe together accounted for around four-fifths share in 2015. This is attributed to increased incidences of AAA and higher government expenditure on healthcare. Asia-Pacific is expected to witness the highest growth, due to increase in geriatric population, affordability, and improvement in healthcare facilities.Key Findings of the Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair Devices Market Based on product type, in 2015, endovascular stent graft system segment accounted for the highest revenue in the market. Traditional anatomy segment is expected to grow at a significant CAGR of 6.3% in Asia-Pacific, due to growth in geriatric population. LAMEA is projected to be the one of the fastest growing region, owing to the presence of ample growth opportunities in terms of unmet medical needs for the treatment of AAA, and increased disposable income of the population. In 2015, Japan and China jointly accounted for about two-thirds share of the Asia-Pacific abdominal aortic aneurysm repair devices market.Key players in the global abdominal aortic aneurysm repair devices market include Cook Medical Inc., Endologix, Inc., W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc., AbbVie Inc., Medtronic Plc., Cardinal Health Inc., Merck & Co., Inc., C. R. Bard, Inc., Lombard Medical, Inc., and Terumo Corporation.Flat 20% Discount on All License Type..*Offer Valid Till 20th April 2019About usAllied Market Research, a market research and advisory company of Allied Analytics LLP, provides business insights and market research reports to large as well as small & medium enterprises. The company assists its clients to strategize business policies and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.Allied Market Research provides one stop solution from the beginning of data collection to investment advice. The analysts at Allied Market Research dig out factors that help clients to understand the significance and impact of market dynamics. The company amplies client's insight on the factors, such as strategies, future estimations, growth or fall forecasting, opportunity analysis, and consumer surveys among others. As follows, the company offers consistent business intelligent support to aid the clients to turn into prominent business firm.Contact:David Correa5933 NE Win Sivers Drive#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesToll Free: +1-800-792-5285UK: +44-845-528-1300Hong Kong: +852-301-84916India (Pune): +91-20-66346060Fax: +1(855)550-5975help@alliedmarketresearch.comWeb: By 2024, POS Terminals Market in Europe Region is Excepted to Grow at a High Rate | Key participants are VeriFone Systems Inc., Panasonic Corporation, Ingenico Group, PAX Technology Inc., and Toshiba Corporation. POS Terminals Market https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/390 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/390 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/point-of-sale-pos-terminals-market https://www.gminsights.com https://www.gminsights.com Europe is likely to emerge as one of the most popular regional markets for the POS terminals market, owing to the massive adoption of government regulations mandated to support advanced technologies that serve to improve transaction and customer security. Say for example, lately, security guidelines have been developed to encourage the adoption of EMV-enabled transaction processing across industries.Request for Sample Copy of this Report @The birth of e-commerce has brought about a dynamic change in payment modes over time. POS terminals market, influenced by this very revolution, has been gaining mass popularity since the last few years, given the widespread adoption of cashless facilities. The growing popularity of NFC and card payments among the consumers will also serve to enhance (point-of-sale) POS terminals industry share. Nowadays, to reduce the hassle of carrying cash, people have been shifting their focus toward the adoption of POS terminals, which has led to the massive expansion of (point of sale) POS terminals market.For increasing the adoption rate of POS terminals market, the governments of various countries as well as the key players in POS terminals are arranging awareness programs that focus on explaining the benefits and usage of POS terminals. Financial service companies have also been deploying different types of platforms to attract merchants as well as consumers. Recently, Mastercard revealed details about their trial project in Poland, in which smartphones are deployed to carry out contactless payments.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Some of the giants are involved in the deployment of modern technology with ample support from the regional governments. For instance, Mastercard has collaborated with the Poland government to create digital payment gateways using mobile devices. Speaking of which, some of the notable companies in (point of sale) POS terminals market include VeriFone Holdings, Inc., Panasonic Corporation, Zebra Technologies, NEC Corporation, PAX Technology Limited, Ingenico, Posiflex Technology Incorporation, First Data Corporation, QVS Software Incorporation, and HP Company.Keeping eye on the exponentially growing retail market, HFC bank has partnered with Mastercard to strengthen its retail offerings. This partnership is a part of HFCs strategy to expand its services to banking institutions by providing debit cards to the clients, augmenting the POS terminals market. Retail point of sale (POS) terminals market will also grow lucratively over the coming seven years, taking into account, the surging penetration of e-commerce sectors across various regions of the globe.Browse Complete Report @It is more likely that rapid expansion of POS terminals market will encourage new service providers and manufacturers to enter the business further encouraging the existence of fierce competition in the industry. VeriFone Systems Inc., Panasonic Corporation, Ingenico Group, PAX Technology Inc., and Toshiba Corporation are some of the major brands of POS terminals 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.Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone:1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone:1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb: 3D Printing Medical Devices Market : Global Market Estimation, Dynamics, Regional Share, Trends, Competitor Analysis 2013 to 2017 and Forecast 2018 to 2024 3D Printing Medical Devices Market https://decisionmarketreports.com/request-sample?productID=915920 https://decisionmarketreports.com/market-reports/915920/3d-printing-medical-devices-market http://decisionmarketreports.com/ 3D Printing Medical Devices Market: 3D printing is otherwise called as additive manufacturing that utilises layer-by-layer addition technique for producing the physical objects from 3D digital file. 3D printing technology is rising due to the increase in demands of the personalised medical care by providing customised medical devices based on the needs of the individuals. 3D printing technology is flourishing in many application areas in healthcare like medical, implants, drug manufacturing dental and others. Materials used for this process will vary according to the need. For instance, metals and ceramics are mostly used in dental implants to print dental crowns, own array of bio-materials are used by the medical industry. 3D printing is used to make 3D printed models of organs plan and practice of complex surgeriesGet PDF Sample Brochure @A number of factors such as continuous technological advancements in 3D printing, increase in public and private investments to develop new 3D printing technologies, rise in acceptance of 3D-printed implants and organs are propelling the demand of 3D printing medical devices market. In addition, growing demand of organ transplantation, consolidation of industry by mergers and acquisitions to enhance market share in the global 3D printing medical devices market. However, high cost associated with advanced 3D printers, lack of both structured regulatory frameworks and reimbursement policies, copyright and patent issues associated with the 3D printing of patented products is expected to hamper the market growth.3D Printing Medical Devices Market 2018-2024Global 3D printing devices are segmented based on raw materials, technology, application, end-user, and geographyOn the basis of application, 3D printing medical devices market is segmented as: Surgical Guides Implantso Orthopaedico Dentalo Crani-maxillofacial Surgical Instruments Bioengineering OthersKnow More @On the basis of technology, 3D printing medical devices market is segmented as: Droplet Deposition (DD)o Fused deposition modeling (FDM) technologyo Low-temperature Deposition Manufacturing (LDM)o Multiphase Jet Solidification (MJS) Photopolymerizationo Stereo lithography (SLA)o Continuous Liquid Interface Production (CLIP)o Two-Photon Polymerization (2PP) Laser Beam Meltingo Selective Laser melting (SLM)o Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)o Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) Electronic Beam Melting (EBM) Laminated Object Manufacturing OthersOn the basis of raw materials, 3D printing medical devices market is segmented as: Metals Polymers Ceramics Biological Cells OthersOn the basis of the end-user, 3D printing medical devices market is segmented as: Hospitals Specialty Clinics Ambulatory Surgical Centres3D printing technology revolutionized manufacturing process around industry perpendicularly. In medical field 3D printing has led to development of innovative and efficient products. Ever increase in cost pressures on medical device manufacturers and their intense need to introduce innovative products has forced them to adopt 3D printing to reduce the manufacturing life cycle and to eliminate the traditional prototyping process. Increasing medical & pharma business, mainly because of increase in awareness regarding consumer health along with the increase in health issues are boosting the 3D printing equipment market.On the basis of geographical regions 3D printing medical devices market is segmented as Latin America, Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific, The Middle East and Africa. North America is the leading consumer of 3D printing in the healthcare industry, followed by Europe. The 3D printing systems market would expect to exhibit significant growth in the Asia-Pacific and LAMEA regions, owing to the increase in number of start-up companies and its rising awareness. Factors such as increased government funding to enhance 3D printing applications in the healthcare industry, establishment of research and training centers, and raising awareness of 3D printing through conferences and events are propelling the growth of the 3D printing medical devices market in the Asia-Pacific region. However, the dearth of skilled professionals and the high cost of 3D printing systems restricts its demand in the developing Asian countries. For instance, in April 2014, the Japanese government donated $36.5 million for Japanese companies for the development of next gen 3D printers for the healthcare and the aerospace applications.Some of the players in the global 3D printing medical devices market are FabRx Ltd. (UK), Organovo Holdings (U.S.), EOS GmbH Electro Optical Systems (Germany), EnvisionTEC, 3D Systems Inc. (Germany),, Cyfuse Biomedical K.K. (Japan), Bio3D Technologies (Singapore), Arcam AB (Sweden), and Stratasys Ltd. (U.S.) In March 2017, 3D systems launched a next-generation dental manufacturing platform based on their Figure 4 technology In February 2015, 3D Systems Corporation has launched an all-in-one medical 3D printer, ProJet 3510 DPPro In September 2015, Stratasys, Ltd. launched Objet30 Dental Prime, which is a low-cost, high-quality 3D printerReport Outline: The report provides granular level information about the market size, regional market share and forecast from 2017-2023 The report covers in-detail insights about the competitors overview, key findings and their key strategies The report outlines drivers, restraints, challenges, and trends that are currently faced by the industry The report tracks recent innovations, key developments and startups details that are working in the industry The report provides plethora of information about market entry strategies, regulatory framework and reimbursement scenarioAbout UsDecision Market Reports is a one-stop solution, covers market research studies of all the industries, companies and regions. DMR aims at providing quality research, and insights about every market to helps our clients in taking right decisions. Our repository consists of most trending industry reports, niche areas, and leading company profiles. A comprehensive collection of reports is updated daily to offer hassle-free access to our latest updated report databases.Contact UsGasper James304, S Jones Blvd,Las Vegas,NV 89107, USAUS Toll Free +18666051052Email: sales@decisionmarketreports.comWeb: Exclusive Research on Plywood Market 2018-2028 || Key Player - Weyerhaeuser Company, Boise Cascade Company, Century Ply boards (India) Ltd, Green ply Industries Limited, Georgia-Pacific LLC, Uni ply industries Ltd. Plywood Market https://www.mrrse.com/sample/18558 https://www.mrrse.com/plywood-market https://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/18558 https://www.mrrse.com/ Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has recently updated its massive report catalogue by adding a fresh study titled Plywood Market Focusing on Trends & Innovations during the Period Until 2028. This business intelligence study encapsulates vital details about the market current as well as future status during the mentioned forecast period of 2028.The report also targets important facets such as market drivers, challenges, latest trends, and opportunities associated to growth of manufacturers in global market for Plywood Market. Along with these insights, the report provides the readers crucial insights on the strategies implemented by leading companies to remain in the lead of this competitive market.Request Free Sample Report @This MRRSE study offers a ten-year analysis and forecast for the global plywood market for the period between 2018 and 2028. The study considers 2017 as the base year with market values estimated for the year 2017 and forecast developed for the duration between 2019 and 2028. The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) has been calculated from 2018 to 2028. The study covers various perspectives of the market, including market dynamics, value chain, pricing analysis, competition analysis, regional and segmental growth comparison and macro-economic and industry growth analysis, along with segment level projections in a comprehensive manner. As per the findings of the study and perspectives of industry participants, the global plywood market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.0% between 2018 and 2028, in terms of value. Growing construction activity, rising demand for readymade and easy-to-assemble furniture and growing demand for plywood from the packaging sector are some of the factors positively impacting the consumption of plywood in the global market.The MRRSE report on plywood market carefully analyses the market at a global and regional level through market segmentation on the basis of key parameters, such as size, thickness, grade, wood type, number of ply, sales channel and application. The primary objective of the report is to offer key insights on market updates, competition positioning, current trends, market potential, growth rates and other relevant information and statistics in a suitable manner to the readers or various stakeholders of the market.Plywood is a wood panel made of thin veneer sheets called plies which are pasted together using a glue or adhesive to create a panel that is equally strong or stronger than wood. A plywood panel generally consists of odd number of plies, which helps in keeping the grains of the adjacent layers perpendicular. The veneer layers or plies on the outside are called front and back face while the plies in between make up the core.The report is structured in such a way that it will allow the reader to develop a thorough understanding of the market. It begins with market definitions, followed by the market background, market dynamics and market analysis by key segments, regional analysis and competition landscape. Each section covers a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the market on the basis of facts, historical developments and key opinions collected from industry participants through dedicated interviews and trends in the market.The report begins with market introduction, which covers the market taxonomy and product definitions for the global plywood market assessment. In the next section, the report describes the market development background and covers macro-economic factors, industry factors, forecast factors, regional weighted average pricing analysis, value chain overview covering approximate margins, an indicative list of stakeholders involved in each stage and an assessment of the plywood market for the base year considered for the study.The next section of the report discusses market dynamics, such as drivers, restraints and trends, impacting the market growth at a global level. Market opportunities for manufacturers have been presented in the subsequent section of the same chapter. This section also includes the impact assessment of market dynamics on the global plywood market at a qualitative level, based on analysis facts and insights.Subsequent sections of the report provide value (US$ Mn) and volume (000 cubic meters) projections for the plywood market on the basis of the aforementioned segments at a global level. The global market values represented in these sections have been agglomerated by collecting data and information at a regional level. The market information, along with key facts and insights, covers unique analysis frameworks, such as absolute $ opportunity analysis, year-on-year growth trend comparison, market share and attractiveness analysis, for each of the sub-types covered in each segment.Browse Complete Report with TOC @The next section of the report presents a summarised view of the global plywood market, based on nine prominent regions considered in the study. The section includes the regional market position, growth potential, trends and market attractiveness analysis for each of these regions.The market analysis sections cover Y-o-Y growth trends, market share analysis, market attractiveness and incremental $ opportunity assessment for each of the aforementioned segment. These sections analyse the degree to which the global drivers are influencing this market in each region.All the above sections evaluate the present market scenario and growth prospects in the global plywood market, while the forecast presented in the sections assess the market size in terms of volume and value.In order to offer an accurate forecast, we started by sizing the current market, which forms the basis of how the global plywood market is expected to develop in the future. Given the characteristics of the market, we triangulated the outcome of three different types of analysis, based on primary research, secondary research and our own analysis. However, forecasting the market in terms of various plywood segments and regions is more a matter of quantifying expectations and identifying opportunities rather than rationalising them after the completion of the forecast exercise.In addition, it is imperative to note that in an ever-fluctuating global economy, we not only conduct forecasts in terms of CAGR, but also analyse the market on the basis of key parameters, such as Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) growth, to understand the predictability of the plywood market and identify the right opportunities available.As previously highlighted, the plywood market is split into a number of sub-segments. All the plywood sub-segments, in terms of type, grade, application and region, have been analysed on the basis of Basis Point Share (BPS) to understand each individual segments relative contribution to the market growth. This detailed level of information is important for the identification of various key trends being witnessed in the plywood market.Another key feature of this report is the analysis of all the key segments in the plywood market, sub-segments and the regional adoption and revenue forecast in terms of absolute dollar opportunity. This is traditionally overlooked while forecasting the market; however, the absolute dollar opportunity is critical in assessing the level of opportunity that a provider can look to achieve as well as to identify potential resources from a sales and delivery perspective in the plywood market.In order to understand the key market segments in terms of the growth and consumption of plywood across concerned regions, FMI has developed the attractiveness index, which will help providers to identify real market opportunities.In the final section of the report, a competitive landscape of the plywood market has been included to provide report audiences with a dashboard view, categorised on the basis of providers present in the value chain, their presence in the plywood market and key differentiating factors and strategies. The primary category of providers covered in the report is plywood manufacturers. This section is primarily designed to provide clients with an objective and detailed comparative assessment of the key providers specific to a market segment in the value chain of the plywood market. Report audiences can gain segment-specific vendor insights to identify and evaluate key competitors on the basis of in-depth assessment of their capabilities and success in the plywood marketplace. Detailed profiles of providers have also been included under the scope of the report to evaluate their long- and short-term strategies, key offerings and recent developments pertaining to the plywood market. Examples of some of the key competitors covered in this report include Weyerhaeuser Company, Boise Cascade Company, Century Plyboards (India) Ltd, Greenply Industries Limited, Georgia-Pacific, LLC, Uniply industries Ltd, JAYA TIASA HOLDINGS BERHAD, UPM-Kymmene Oyj, SUBUR TIASA HOLDINGS BERHAD and Sveza-Les LLC, among others.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.comWebsite: Aerospace Composites Market in North America Region is Projected to Showcase lucrative growth by 2024 | Key Players Are ACT Aerospace, Gurit Holding AG, Hexcel, Cytec Industries, Teijin Ltd, and Axioms Materials. Aerospace Composites Market https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/1358 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/1358 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/aerospace-composites-market North America has been touted to emerge as one of the most lucrative growth grounds for aerospace composites market, perhaps on the grounds of the ever-expanding commercial and military airline sectors. The region in fact, accounted for the manufacture of close to 9,300 aircraft in 2016 alone. The extensive product penetration in the continent can be credited to the massive requirement of commercial aircraft and the marginally high consumer spending of late. Pertaining to the high demand for fuel efficiency and lightweight aircraft, North America aerospace composites market was worth more than USD 1.17 billion in 2016.Request for sample Report of this ReportPowered by the improving economic stability and heavy government investments in improving the aircraft infrastructure, global aerospace composites market has witnessed a rather commendable growth over the recent years. The perpetually rising demand for commercial & military aircrafts has massively propelled the use of composites in the aircrafts, both in the interior as well as the exterior applications. Moreover, the growing preferences toward cost effective, lightweight, and sturdy components with exceptional processing efficiency have further enhanced the scalability of composites in aerospace applications a trend that is phenomenally driving the commercialization matrix of aerospace composites industry.Aerospace composites market share is slated to extensively proliferate in the commercial sector, given the extensive use of carbon fibers in these aircrafts. As per estimates, aerospace composites market share from commercial aircrafts generated revenue over USD 1.4 billion in 2016, and is further projected to dominate the industry landscape, holding 52% of the overall share in the coming seven years. The increasing demand for commercial aircrafts due to rise in passenger traffic travelling by air, especially across the Asia Pacific belt have carved a lucrative roadmap for the regional aerospace composite industry. In addition, the robust urbanization & industrialization trends across the continent, along with increase in income levels of mass population have further led to considerable upsurge in the APAC aerospace composites market demand.Make an Inquiry for purchasing this Report @Besides commercial projects, the regional government & private entities are also witnessed making huge investments in the defense and civil aerospace sector for upgradation. Backing with an instance, the military aviation sector of India is likely to capitalize USD 35 billion in the timespan of next twenty years, to refurbish the aircrafts with technical requirements, quality control, and safety features. This is set to generate huge demand for aerospace composites for renovating or manufacturing interior & exteriors of aircrafts. With India, China, and Japan at the forefront, Asia Pacific aerospace composites market is expected to register an annual growth rate of 8.5% over 2017-2024.Airbus, Boeing, BASF, E. I. du Pont de Nemours, Huntsman International, Lee Aerospace, and Hindustan Aeronautics are among the prominent players in the aerospace composites market. Other notable players include ACT Aerospace, Gurit Holding AG, Hexcel, Cytec Industries, Teijin Ltd, and Axioms Materials.Browse Complete Report @Speaking along similar lines, such innovations and advancements in aerospace materials are anticipated to be the chief parameters underlining the strategic landscape of aerospace composites market in the coming years. In terms of volume, industry experts claim global aerospace composites industry to exceed 70.5 kilo tons by 2024.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.Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone:1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.com Global Forchlorfenuron Market Insights, Industry Player (AlzChem, Anyang Quanfeng Biological, Zhengzhou Zhuoyue), Key County Analysis (North America, United States, Europe, Japan, India) and Forecast 2019-2025 Market Research Hub https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=2235681 https://www.marketresearchhub.com/report/global-forchlorfenuron-market-insights-forecast-to-2025-report.html Market Research Hub (MRH) has carefully analyzed this research study titled Global Forchlorfenuron Market Insights, Forecast to 2025, which is available on its online portal. The aim of this assessment is to highlight the various projections expected to occur in the global market for Forchlorfenuron. Readers can gain knowledge related to prime market facets such as market size, Y-o-Y growth and market dynamics, which are projected to change during the stated forecast period. According to research findings, the global Forchlorfenuron is likely to advance at a steady CAGR of during the period 2025.Get Sample Copy of This Report @Forchlorfenuron is a new plant growth regulator registered for use on grapes raisins, and kiwifruit. Forchlorfenuron is a phenyl urea compound. Forchloefenuron is a cytokinin, which improves fruit size, fruit set, cluster weight and cold storage in grapes and kiwifruits.Currently, there are some companies in the world can produce Forchlorfenuron product, mainly concentrate in China. The main market players are AlzChem, Anyang Quanfeng Biological, Zhengzhou Zhuoyue, Yinhai Chemical, Zhongke Chemical etc. The production of Forchlorfenuron increased from 7776 Kg in 2012 to 9742 Kg in 2016, at a CAGR of more than 5.8%. Global Forchlorfenuron capacity utilization rate remained at around 51.86% in 2016.In consumption market, the growth rate of global consumption is smooth relatively. China and Europe are still the mainly consumption regions due to the advanced production technology and rapid development of economy.According to Forchlorfenuron contain, it can be mainly classified into three types: 99% 98% and others. It can be widely used in many industries. Survey results showed that 76.70% of the Forchlorfenuron market is Kiwi, 12.18% % is Grapes, 5.94% is c Watermelon uses industry. With the development of economy, these industries will need more Forchlorfenuron. So, Forchlorfenuron has a huge market potential in the future.The major raw material for Forchlorfenuron is Phenyl isocyanate, 4-Amino-2-chloropyridine, etc. On the global market, supply of raw materials is full. Fluctuations in the price of the upstream product will impact on the production cost of Forchlorfenuron industry.Global Forchlorfenuron market size will increase to 4 Million US$ by 2025, from 3 Million US$ in 2018, at a CAGR of 3.3% 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 Forchlorfenuron.This report researches the worldwide Forchlorfenuron 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 Forchlorfenuron breakdown data by manufacturers, region, type and application, also analyzes the market status, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, risks and entry barriers, sales channels, distributors and Porter's Five Forces Analysis.The following manufacturers are covered in this report:AlzChemAnyang Quanfeng BiologicalZhengzhou ZhuoyueYinhai ChemicalZhongke ChemicalCheng MingYinhe ChemicalXinglianHenan Door ChemicalRuntongForchlorfenuron Breakdown Data by TypeKT-30 99%KT-30 98%OthersForchlorfenuron Breakdown Data by ApplicationKiwiGrapesWatermelonOthersForchlorfenuron Production Breakdown Data by RegionUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanOther RegionsForchlorfenuron Consumption Breakdown Data by RegionNorth AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaMalaysiaPhilippinesThailandVietnamEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalyRussiaRest of EuropeCentral & South AmericaBrazilRest of South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaGCC CountriesTurkeyEgyptSouth AfricaRest of Middle East & AfricaBROWSE Full Report NOW @Table of ContentsGlobal Forchlorfenuron Market Research Report 2019-2025, by Manufacturers, Regions, Types and Applications1 Study Coverage1.1 Forchlorfenuron Product1.2 Key Market Segments in This Study1.3 Key Manufacturers Covered1.4 Market by Type1.4.1 Global Forchlorfenuron Market Size Growth Rate by Type1.4.2 KT-30 99%1.4.3 KT-30 98%1.4.4 Others1.5 Market by Application1.5.1 Global Forchlorfenuron Market Size Growth Rate by Application1.5.2 Kiwi1.5.3 Grapes1.5.4 Watermelon1.5.5 Others1.6 Study Objectives1.7 Years Considered2 Executive Summary2.1 Global Forchlorfenuron Production2.1.1 Global Forchlorfenuron Revenue 2014-20252.1.2 Global Forchlorfenuron Production 2014-20252.1.3 Global Forchlorfenuron Capacity 2014-20252.1.4 Global Forchlorfenuron Marketing Pricing and Trends2.2 Forchlorfenuron Growth Rate (CAGR) 2019-20252.3 Analysis of Competitive Landscape2.3.1 Manufacturers Market Concentration Ratio (CR5 and HHI)2.3.2 Key Forchlorfenuron Manufacturers2.4 Market Drivers, Trends and Issues2.5 Macroscopic Indicator2.5.1 GDP for Major Regions2.5.2 Price of Raw Materials in Dollars: Evolution3 Market Size by Manufacturers3.1 Forchlorfenuron Production by Manufacturers3.1.1 Forchlorfenuron Production by Manufacturers3.1.2 Forchlorfenuron Production Market Share by Manufacturers3.2 Forchlorfenuron Revenue by Manufacturers3.2.1 Forchlorfenuron Revenue by Manufacturers (2014-2019)3.2.2 Forchlorfenuron Revenue Share by Manufacturers (2014-2019)3.3 Forchlorfenuron Price by Manufacturers3.4 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion PlansMore Information@@@About Market Research HubMarket Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports of different sector like chemicals market research and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of industry reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email: press@marketresearchhub.com RAISING AWARENESS FOR HEALTH AND EDUCATION ISSUES IMPACTING GIRLS AND WOMEN: ALPHA KAPPA ALPHA SORORITY TO HOST NATIONAL GLOBAL IMPACT DAY FORUM National Global Impact Day will raise awareness of education and heath challenges faced by women and girls in West Africa and DC Washington, DC On April 12, 2019, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority will engage chapters worldwide in global service activities to commemorate National Global Impact Day. Xi Omega Chapter of Washington, DC will host Pathways to Empowerment, a free and open to the public forum designed to raise awareness of education and heath challenges faced by women and girls in West Africa and homeless women in Washington, DC.Access to feminine care products is both a local and international issue. According to UNESCO, an estimated one in ten girls in Sub-Saharan Africa miss a week per month of school because they lack access to sanitary products and facilities. Homeless women and girls in the District of Columbia face similar challenges.This forum is an educational opportunity for the community to learn about challenges women face around the world. Its also an opportunity for participants to empower women in need by donating school supplies and feminine hygiene products that will be delivered to rural school districts in Ghana, to women in Liberia, and to homeless shelters in the District of Columbia, said April Gaines-Jernigan, Xi Omega President.Pathways to Empowerment will take place on Friday, April 12 from 10:00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. at Xi Omega Center. Among the speakers are Coretta Johnson, Head Facilitator of #HappyPeriodDC; Sue Marshall, Executive Director of the Community Partnership for Prevention of Homelessness and Dr. Kelly Taylor, senior research scientist for the Ghana portfolio at Institute for Global Health Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco.This event is free, open to the public, and lunch will be provided. Individuals and groups interested in attending or donating feminine hygiene products or school supplies should visit akaxo.org/global-impact-day.Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated (AKA) is an international service organization that was founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1908. It is the oldest Greek letter organization established by African-American college-educated women. Alpha Kappa Alpha is comprised of more than 300,000 members in 1,024 graduate and undergraduate chapters in the United States, Liberia, the Bahamas, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Germany, South Korea, Bermuda, Japan, Canada, South Africa and Dubai. Led by International President Dr. Glenda Baskin Glover, Ph.D, JD, CPA, Alpha Kappa Alpha is often hailed as Americas premier Greek-letter organization for African-American women. For more information on Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and its programs, visit aka1908.com.Xi Omega Chapter is the oldest and largest graduate chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. in Washington, DC. Established in 1923, the chapter has a membership of more than 500 professional women, who serve the District and surrounding communities. Xi Omegas signature service programs focus on HBCU 4 Life: A Call to Action, Women's Healthcare and Wellness, Building Your Economic Legacy, The Arts, and Global Impact. These programs are the cornerstone of the AKA international theme, Exemplifying Excellence Through Sustainable Service. For more information, visit akaxo.org.Xi Omega Chapter is the oldest and largest graduate chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. in Washington, DC. Established in 1923, the chapter has a membership of more than 500 professional women, who serve the District and surrounding communities4411 14th ST NWWashington, DC 20011 Oncology Drug Pipeline Analysis Market Trends Estimates High Demand By 2026 With Top Competitors F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Johnson and Johnson Services Inc., AstraZeneca, Pfizer Inc Oncology Drug Pipeline Analysis https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-pdf/2184 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/2184 The oncology field is witnessing rapid growth, owing to emergence of novel therapies with high efficacy, which in turn is boosting growth of the oncology drug pipeline market. For instance, in 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (U.S FDA) approved 45 New Molecular Entity (NME) and new Biologic License Applications (BLA), of which 16 were novel cancer therapies. Therefore, developments of novel drugs is a major factor propelling growth of the global oncology drug pipeline analysis market.Furthermore, increasing initiatives for reducing cancer-related deaths is expected to boost growth of the market. For instance, in 2017, the World Health Assembly passed a resolution 'Cancer Prevention and Control through an Integrated Approach', which urges governments and World Health Organization (WHO) to accelerate action for minimizing premature mortality in cancer. Such initiatives are expected to propel growth of the oncology drug pipeline market in the forecast period.Download PDF Brochure of This Business Research Report :Oncology Drug Pipeline Analysis DriversInnovative approaches in the cancer treatment is a major factor boosting growth of the oncology pipeline drugs market. For instance, the novel basket study includes patients with a certain genetic mutation in common, regardless of the site or origin of cancer in the body. Basket studies can be useful when a drug targets certain genetic mutation at a particular site and using that drug to treat same genetic mutation in cancer at another site. For instance, Larotrectinib, a drug of Loxo Oncology, Inc., is currently under review by the U.S. FDA for the treatment of tyrosine kinase mutation by using basket studies. This drug has been approved as Investigational New Drug in May 2018.Combinational therapies are the latest development driving the growth of oncology pipeline drugs market. For instance, Pfizer Inc. is undergoing efficacy and safety study for Avelumab in combination with chemotherapy, followed by maintenance therapy of Avelumab with PARP inhibitor talazoparib in patients with history of untreated advanced ovarian cancer. This study is under clinical phase III trials and is expected to complete in May 2026.Key PlayersKey players operating in the global oncology pipeline drugs market include, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc., AstraZeneca, Pfizer Inc., AbbVie Inc., Celgene Corporation, Novartis AG, Merck & Co., Inc., Sanofi, Eli Lilly & Co., GlaxoSmithKline, and Amgen Inc.Request For Customization Of This Business Research Report :Oncology Drug Pipeline Analysis TaxonomyBy Drug ClassImmunotherapyMonoclonal AntibodyAntibody-Drug Conjugate (ADC)OthersBy Cancer TypeBreast CancerOvarian CancerProstate CancerLung CancerColorectal CancerPancreatic CancerOthersBy Route of AdministrationOralParenteralOncology Drug Pipeline Analysis Regional AnalysisOn the basis of region, the global oncology drug pipeline analysis market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. North America is expected to dominate in terms of growth in oncology drug pipeline market. According to the 2015 annual report of the American Cancer Society, although cancer-related death rate in the U.S. have reduced, cancer still remains the second most common cause of death in the country. Therefore, such high prevalence of cancer is expected to drive growth of the oncology drug pipeline market in North America.Asia Pacific is expected to witness significant growth in the global oncology drug pipeline analysis market. This is owing to increasing prevalence of various kind of cancers in the region, especially in emerging economies such as China and India.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: +12067016702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Machine-To-Machine (M2m) Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2018-2025 https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-toc-and-sample/279 https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/279 https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/machine-to-machine-M2M-market https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com Machine-to-Machine technology is a very broad term which specifies that, the devices which can communicate through a type of technology and can perform actions without any manual assistance. This technology allows communication between both the wired and wireless systems.They major driving factors of the technology are rising adoption rate of the M2M applications and penetration of various technologies such as 2G and 3G in the global market. The high cost of installation of this technology and its maintenance are some of the challenges faced by the market. With the increase in innovative solutions by several organizations, the market is expected to grow briskly. The various upcoming applications and the continuous up-gradation of technologies make this market lucrative and essential to study.Download Sample PDF Brochure@Machine-to-Machine market analysis by TechnologyThe technologies used for M2M communications are 2G, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Zigbee, Power-Line, etc. As the 2G technology is most commonly used, it has highest market share. Zigbee technology is expected to grow at increasing CAGR due to its benefits such as low cost, low power consumption, scalability & security of networks, and network resilience & ease of commissioning.Machine-to-Machine market analysis by ComponentsThe various components used in this technology are actuators, sensors, memory, RFID, Power and Communication modules. The most widely used component in the applications is sensors. Sensors in M2M communication gathers the data and sends it to network wirelessly where it is next routedMachine-to-Machine market analysis by ApplicationsThe distinct sectors wherein this communication technology is used are Consumer electronics, Information Technology (IT), retail, transportations & automotives, healthcare, security and surveillance.Machine-to-Machine market analysis by GeographyThe research is carried out in different regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and RoW. The North America, due to its technological advancements, currently it is the most advanced region and it has highest number of smart homes solutions with 3.5 million systems installed till 2013. Hence this region is expected to grow faster than other regions.Inquire more about this report@Competitive LandscapeThe top competitors in the market are adopting partnership strategies with various other organizations. For example, one of the major market players, AT&T extends its M2M services with Axeda Corporation to reduce their M2M applications time to market and will help in designing innovative applications.Some other major players in this market are Verizon Communications, Inc., AT&T, Inc., Vodaphone Grp., Rogers Communication, Axeda Corp., Atmel Corp, Cisco Systems, Imetrik Machine to Machine solutions, Inc., Cypress Semiconductor Corp, Infineon Technologies, Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., NEC Corp. NTT Docomo, Inc., and Novatel Wireless, Inc.High Level AnalysisThe research provides widespread view of the global market. Porters five force model helps in identifying stakeholders and their strategic moves. The bargaining power of buyer is relatively high as various companies extending their services to the customers. Since there is no one key player dominating the market, the bargaining power of suppliers is low. The threat of substitutes is low and inter-firm rivalry is high. The threat of new entrants is high. The value chain analysis includes mapping of operational activities and assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of those operations to reduce costs and improve quality. This would benefit the new entrants in knowing the value chain of the existing market.KEY BENEFITS Porters five forces model helps in analyzing the potential of buyers & suppliers, and the competitive sketch of the market which would guide the market players to develop strategies accordingly Assessments are made according to the current business scenario and the future market structure & trends are forecast for the period 2014-2020 with the base figures of the year 2013 The analysis gives a wider view of the global market including its market trends, market structure, limiting factors and opportunities.Access Full Summary@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 Correa5933 NE Win Sivers Drive#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesUSA/Canada (Toll Free):+1-800-792-5285, +1-503-894-6022, +1-503-446-1141UK: +44-845-528-1300Hong Kong: +852-301-84916India (Pune): +91-20-66346060Fax: +1(855)550-5975help@alliedmarketresearch.comWeb: What are the steps of the selling process? Below are the general steps your Sunbelt intermediary will guide you through when selling your business: Help you identify the goals you expect to meet with the sale of your business. Prepare a business analysis and Most Probable Selling Price report. Help prepare your business for sale. Develop a marketing strategy and marketing materials. Market your business confidentially. Your employees, customers and competitors will be unaware that your WASHINGTON - House lawmakers on Wednesday approved a Democrat-backed bill that would restore rules requiring AT&T, Verizon and other Internet providers to treat all Web traffic equally, marking an early step toward reversing one of the most significant deregulatory moves of the Trump era. The net neutrality measure is likely to stall from here, though, given strong Republican opposition in the GOP-controlled Senate and the White House, where aides to President Donald Trump this week recommended that he veto the legislation if it ever reaches his desk. Republican Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon, the top GOP lawmaker on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees the FCC, blasted the bill as another plank in [Democrats'] socialist agenda. But Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, among the biggest advocates of net neutrality in Congress, said he still sees an opening for change. I think the president, as he heads into 2020, when he sees a groundswell, a juggernaut coming at him, I think hes going to change, Wyden said ahead of the House vote. The Houses proposal, which passed by a vote of 232-190, would reinstate federal regulations that had banned AT&T, Verizon and other broadband providers from blocking or slowing down customers access to websites. Adopted in 2015 during the Obama administration, these net neutrality protections had the backing of tech giants and startups as well as consumer advocacy groups, which together argued that strong federal open internet protections were necessary to preserve competition and allow consumers unfettered access to movies, music and other content of their choice. Months after Trump took office, though, the Federal Communications Commission repealed the Obama-era net neutrality rules. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, with the support of the telecom industry, argued it had inhibited private-sector investment and exceeded the agency's own authorities. In its place, Pai and the GOP-led FCC only required Internet providers to be transparent about the ways they manage their networks, while shifting oversight to another federal agency. The parties' competing visions - and seemingly widening political divide - played out as debate began on the House floor. Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., said the bill would give the "FCC the authority to protect consumers now and in the future." Wednesdays vote marked the latest swing of the pendulum in a lengthy battle in Washington over what sites and services consumers can access when they go online, and which startups and industries might flourish as a result. The debate has shifted every time control of Congress and the FCC has changed parties, resulting in years of competing Democratic and Republican proposals and a flurry of lawsuits - yet little progress in crafting a lasting federal solution. It also reflected the continued efforts by Trump's top Democratic critics in Congress to battle his administration's deregulatory agenda, a political crusade that's touched on issues including environmental protection and transportation. With net neutrality, some Democrats sounded an optimistic note that the House's vote - coupled with sustained public pressure from net neutrality supporters - could shift their fortunes. During the FCC's repeal effort, millions of Americans wrote the agency in staunch support of the government's rules, spurred on by Web activists and the likes of HBO's John Oliver. But the bill faces long odds in the GOP-controlled Senate, after Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky told reporters Tuesday that the measure is dead on arrival. Aides to the president also issued an official notice Monday that they would recommend a veto of the bill, arguing it would return to the heavy-handed regulatory approach of the previous administration. To that end, opponents of the House bill have slammed it as a political stunt aimed at rallying Democratic voters ahead of the 2020 presidential elections. Even some Democrats acknowledged that the prospects of restoring net neutrality rules in the current political climate remains unlikely. "I do not get the sense the fundamental dynamics have changed," Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, a top Democrat on the tech-focused Senate Commerce Committee, said in an interview last week. "We're still on the side of net neutrality, they're still not, and they believe they won at the FCC. So they're not interested in establishing a statute. And the only way this is going to change is if we get a new FCC." Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, argued the Democratic-backed bill could lead to a bipartisan dialogue. "I don't know if they'll pass this bill," he said in an interview. "[But] it may very well be a traditional thing where the Senate passes its bill and we go to conference to come up with a consensus . . . They may differ on how and what it should cover, but they still think we should do it." Net neutrality advocates embarked on their campaign to restore the government's rules almost as soon as Pai finished his repeal. Dozens of state attorneys general, tech companies including Mozilla and a host of consumer advocates sued the FCC last year, arguing the agency had acted improperly in rolling back the Obama-era rules. A federal court heard oral arguments in the case in February. A decision is expected this summer. In the meantime, a slew of state governments began writing and implementing net neutrality protections of their own. A law adopted in California - seen by some advocates as tougher than even the rules implemented federally in 2015 - quickly drew a legal challenge from the Justice Department in a case thats still pending. TriMets plan to overhaul and expand bus service between Portland and Gresham along a 15-mile stretch of Division Street is one step closer to reality Tuesday after the agency was recommended to receive a $87.4 million federal grant. The Federal Transit Administration announced its expected Capital Investment Grant recipients in a news release on Tuesday. The Division project is one of five new projects recommended to receive federal money. Another 11 existing developments also were recommended to receive government support. All told, the FTA is expected to distribute $1.36 billion in federal funds this year. These significant investments will strengthen our countrys transit infrastructure and improve mobility for those who depend upon public transit every day, U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao said in a statement. TriMet must still submit a formal application, but the recommendations are a key blessing from federal officials. Roberta Altstadt, TriMets spokeswoman, said the agency was thrilled by the announcement. The estimated $175 million Division project was contingent on the $87.4 million in federal grants as it represented the biggest slice of the funding pie. TriMet will contribute $40.5 million, and another $26.5 million in federal dollars directed to the region will go award the project. Portland in 2018 committed to spending $17.7 million on the route. Gresham, Metro, Multnomah County and the state also contributed. The funding provides a tremendous step in the regional efforts to bring faster and more reliable transit service to the east Portland/Gresham area, Altstadt said in a statement. We thank the Federal Transit Administration and our congressional delegates for their continued support of transit as we work to connect people to opportunities the region. TriMet plans to break ground on its Division Transit Project late this year and open the line by 2022. The bus route will include expanded bus stations and covered areas to accommodate the longer buses and additional riders, and signal priority for buses to speed up routes and ideally get passenger where they want to go more quickly. Planners expect the route may slash travel times by as much as 20 percent, but the buses wont operate in bus only lanes. The bus will run along the transit mall downtown, over the Tilikum Crossing and through southeast neighborhoods in Portland and Gresham until terminating at the Cleveland Park and Ride facility. The project has changed considerably through the planning years. It doesnt include service along Powell Boulevard, where it was originally discussed and would have served a poorer and more diverse community. TriMet said that route would actually slow travel times for many riders compared with existing bus service. And it does not extend to Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham due to the extra project cost, which planners said in 2016 might have made the project less competitive for federal funding. The 60-foot-long articulated buses are common in the Seattle area and in Vancouver, where C-Tran has one rapid bus line and a second set for completion by 2023. The buses are expected to run every 15 minutes, or more frequently during rush hours. The bulk of project costs come from the new buses and specially designed passenger platforms along the 15-mile-route. The transit changes will occur as Portland also works on its own safety projects on Division Street, such as 13 new signalized pedestrian crossings, nearly five miles of protected bike lanes and 57 new street lights. On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer and Oregons two Democratic U.S. Senators chimed in praising the federal funding. This important project improves mobility for the region while making critical safety and multimodal investments along Division Street Blumenauer said. I am especially pleased that provides improved transit service to a part of our community that has been traditionally underserved. For too long, residents have faced unreliable, unsafe and unaffordable transportation options east of 82nd Ave. Im proud of the work we did to secure this funding and I look forward to seeing the impact it will have on our community. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden called the funding recommendation "great news for people living and working in east Portland and Gresham puts them in the fast lane to improved quality of life through better transit. Senator Wyden said. He also touted the creation of construction jobs and long-term employment prospects as key to the region. U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, who grew up in east Portland, said hes seen firsthand the need for sidewalks, bike lanes, and more reliable bus routes" in that area. This is good for the community, and also exactly the type of infrastructure our nation should be investing in to create jobs and improve access for underserved neighborhoods, he said in a statement. -- Andrew Theen atheen@oregonian.com 503-294-4026 @andrewtheen Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. The Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld the states unusual nonunanimous jury law when it declined to reverse a Portland judges decision not to grant a new trial to an African American man convicted in a split jury verdict. While the Appeals Court said Olan Jermaine Williams raised serious concerns about his 10-2 conviction in 2016, it ruled that it couldnt review the case. Williams was found guilty in Multnomah County Circuit Court of sodomizing an unconscious man whom he had met at a summer barbecue and was sentenced to 8 1/3 years in prison. Afterward, the lone black juror assigned to Williams' trial spoke out publicly, claiming she had voted not guilty and felt that the majority of the jury disregarded her view. An attorney for Williams filed for a new trial based on the argument that all people have implicit biases, especially against people of a different race. Judge Bronson James didn't grant Williams a new trial, writing that his defense hadn't presented any evidence that implicit racial bias motivated this particular jury. But James in his ruling all but said that an effort to squelch nonwhite voices was part of the motivation for creating Oregon's nonunanimous jury system, which voters added to the states constitution in 1934. In his appeal, Williams said Oregons jury law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitutions 14th Amendment. The Court of Appeals found that this argument didnt fit within the parameters of the case before them. Defendant has raised serious concerns about the nonunanimous verdict, Judge Darleen Ortega wrote in the courts five-page opinion. However, we may only review the denial of a motion for a new trial if the motion is based upon juror misconduct or newly discovered evidence. Therefore, defendants constitutional challenge to the non-unanimous jury provision as applied to his criminal case is not reviewable on appeal. Critics have claimed that non-unanimous juries are deeply flawed and punitive toward nonwhite defendants. Oregon is now the only state in the country that allows juries in most felony cases aside from murder to convict defendants with a 10-2 vote. Last fall, voters in Louisiana rejected their system of split-verdict convictions. Federal courts and all other states require a 12-0 verdict for crimes such as manslaughter, rape and arson. Oregon lawmakers this session are working on a bill that would refer the issue of nonunanimous juries to voters. -- Shane Dixon Kavanauagh; 503-294-7632 Email at skavanaugh@oregonian.com Follow on Twitter @shanedkavanaugh Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. I believe Erica Naito-Campbell. And because I do, I continue to ponder why a conscientious judge, David Rees, did not. Two weeks ago, the Multnomah Circuit judge said he could not conclude to a moral certainty that Charles McGee and Aubre Dickson sexually assaulted Naito-Campbell after a night of drinking and partying together in May 2012. While she immediately confided in friends about the alleged assault, Naito-Campbell waited almost six years before going public with her charges, in a February 2018 story by Nigel Jaquiss of Willamette Week. Because she waited so long, the statute of limitations probably precluded a civil trial in which (a) the burden of proof is substantially lower; (b) McGee and Dickson could not waive a jury trial; and (c) the defendants could not duck the witness stand. As Naito-Campbell said on Twitter last weekend: This was not, "She said, he said." This was, "She said, they hid." I had to defend the most minor changes in language, but CM never had to explain his three different accounts. This includes his outrageous version that the grand jury rejected emphatically with an indictment. erica goode (@ScousePower8) April 5, 2019 Thats not all Naito-Campbell had to defend. After covering the trial, Jaquiss said this about the tactics of defense attorneys Steve Houze and Christine Mascal: Houze and Mascal did little to dent the consistent accounts of the alleged assault Naito-Campbell had provided to her therapist, family and friends since right after the incident, and they did not dispute most of the events she first recounted publicly one year ago to WW. Instead, Mascal and Houze attacked Naito-Campbell's character and her credibility. Skirting facts that were incriminating to their clients, such as phone records, an email apology from Dickson, and McGee's pre-trial statement to police, they painted her as a mentally unbalanced, fame-seeking failure who seduced the defendants and concocted a fantastic story in a fit of morning-after regret. And they even conjured Portland's history of prejudice against its black citizens, suggesting Naito-Campbell's charges were racially motivated. (Dickson and McGee are black, Naito-Campbell is Japanese-American.) You can sympathize with defense counsel, I suppose. When a woman is willing to submit to this level of interrogation and humiliation in a courtroom, alternate theories about her motives invariably sound contrived and ridiculous. I want to believe Rees disregarded much of the hubris offered in zealous defense of McGee and Dickson. I would understand if he were made uncomfortable that Naito-Campbell tried to use the threat of going public to prevent either man from entering politics. She made herself a promise, prosecutor Amity Girt said on the opening day of the trial: She would report them if one of them ran for public office. She couldnt stand them being in a position of public trust or authority. Years later, that may have felt more like retribution than healing. In any event, Rees use of the phrase moral certainty was a reminder that, with eight-year prison terms in the mix, a guilty verdict requires a formidable struggle with doubt. Would a female judge have reasoned differently? Thats an especially daunting question for the Oregon bench when issues of race, gender and class are so divisive. At the verdict, someone in the courtroom screamed, Justice! Ive pondered that, too, and the curious ways that justice often unfolds. McGee and Dickson are still escorted by the presumption of innocence, but they didnt leave the courtroom with much else. Naito-Campbell was fiercely disappointed, but there was, as they say, moral certainty in the statement she released several hours after fleeing the courtroom: "I told the truth, and that truth exists outside the bounds of a courtroom. It exists for those other women who could not come forward publicly. And it exists in the hearts of all survivors who suffer a system that is designed to deny their humanity and their truth. And when Naito-Campbell told her story, it was believed, by prosecutors, reporters, and many women who will someday have need of her fortitude. -- Steve Duin stephen.b.duin@gmail.com A federal judge Wednesday sentenced a 50-year-old Tigard man to 15 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for contacting, grooming and sexually exploiting seven girls via social media. The investigation began after the mother of one of David Earnest Ottos victims reported to Sonora Police Department in California on Nov. 20, 2016, that her 15-year-old daughter had been having inappropriate communications with an unknown man on Instagram. An analysis of the girls chat log revealed she had engaged in highly sexual conversations with Otto and, when prompted, sent him nude photos of herself, according to prosecutors. Investigators linked the Instagram account to Otto using the IP address and raided his Tigard home with a search warrant. The FBI took over the case after discovering Otto had engaged in similar conversations online with six other girls, between the ages of 13 and 17, who lived around the country. The victims told FBI agents that Otto contacted them on social media, built a rapport with them and then directed them to produce and send him images and videos of themselves nude. Otto pleaded guilty in February 2018 to one count of producing child pornography. "I didnt realize I was causing that much damage,'' Otto told the judge at his sentencing . "If the girls were here, Id apologize to them.'' The judge recommended Otto be housed at a federal prison in Colorado so he can be closer to family. Hell also have to register as a sex offender. -- Maxine Bernstein Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. According to a KGW-TV, the Portland NBC affiliate, longtime news director Rick Jacobs is leaving his position later this month. In an announcement today, Jacobs is quoted as saying its been a tremendous honor to help lead the KGW news team for 20 years. KGW has one of the best reputations in the business because of our people who care deeply about the quality journalism that we do every day," Jacobs says in the release. "I feel really lucky to have been part of KGW for so long and I truly believe Im leaving one of the best teams of journalists in the country. Jacobs, the release says, "plans to travel with his wife, spend more time with his children and grandchildren and volunteer. He will also serve as an appointed member of The University of Oregons Journalism Advisory Board." The release says that Jacobs, who graduated from San Francisco State University, joined KGW as assistant news director more than 20 years ago, and was named news director in 2011. Before coming to KGW, Jacobs worked as a reporter and anchor in Medford, and also worked in Portland and Eugene before joining KGW. Jacobs departure is the latest in a series of changes at KGW. Following the late December retirement of then-president and general manager DJ Wilson, KGWs parent company, Tegna Inc., announced that Steve Carter would replace Wilson. Carter came from another NBC affiliate, KUSA in Denver, Colorado, where he had served as president and general manager. In the announcement that Jacobs is leaving, Carter cites his contributions to the success of KGW as endless. Viewers will have seen other new faces and shifted duties on KGW in recent months. Nina Mehlhaf has joined the weekday morning KGW News at Sunrise team. Maggie Vespa took over Mehlhafs former role as weekend evening news anchor. Newer hire Brittany Falkers is now anchoring weekend morning news. And meteorologist Joe Raineri joined KGW at the start of the year as weekday reporter and weekend evening news meteorologist. Raineri replaced Brian Brennan, who moved to KGUN 9 in Tucson, Arizona. Other newer hires include Morgan Romero, a reporter who joined KGW in late February, coming from Boises KTVB-TV. Dan Haggerty now co-anchors the weeknight news, replacing Joe Donlon, who left to work for WGN-TV in Chicago. Haggertys wife, investigative reporter Cristin Severance, also joined KGW. -- Kristi Turnquist kturnquist@oregonian.com 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. Tucked away in an alley in downtown Portland, the beer bar The Upper Lip doesnt seem like the best place for a comedy show. Comedian Seth Johnston, who hosts Over It every Saturday night at The Upper Lip, begs to differ. In fact, he thinks the bar being kind of hard to find is actually a selling point. The door is easy to miss, Johnston said. You open the door and all you see is a staircase you can't even see the bar from the bottom of the stairs. Usually people are like, Oh, this place is really cool and nice and they're surprised it's even there. Starting with a basically hidden venue that caters almost exclusively to beer drinkers, Johnston has endeavored to create a weekly showcase thats different from whats on offer all over town. When you're doing a show in town you're doing, like, eight-minute sets. I thought theres room for a show that had the format of fewer comedians, longer sets, Johnston said. If you think about the Comedy Store (in Los Angeles), the Comedy Cellar (in New York), those big famous comedy clubs, a lot of times comics are doing 15-minute sets. Comedians have more time to stretch out, try different stuff. The audience also gets to know the comedian more. Longer sets not only make Over It unique but also give Johnston an opportunity to work with some of the more seasoned local comics. Booking veteran comedians comes in handy since the location of his show makes for a sometimes-random audience. The crowd at a show reflects the type of people who are out in that neighborhood, Johnston said. Well get a handful of tourists. We get a handful of comedy fans. A handful of beer nerds who didn't know there was a show. It's been a kind of unpredictable vibe. Every show feels a lot different because of who is the audience that night. Even though comedy continues to gain popularity in Portland, with new shows starting all the time, downtown tends to be a dead zone for locally produced shows. Its a bit tragic considering that the closures of the Brody Theater and the Boiler Room erased some of the roots of the citys comedy boom. Currently, Over It and Brandon Lyons Comedy Night at Als Den at the Crystal Hotel are the only two weekly comedy showcases downtown. But just as he views the Upper Lips location as a positive, Johnston thinks having fewer shows means more potential. There's definitely an appetite for comedy on the west side. If you go to Al's Den, its packed every show it's so packed you can't find a seat, Johnston said. Comedy has mostly been an eastside thing, but that just means there's opportunity on the west side. Would you rather start a show in a neighborhood where there's already five shows? Or would you rather go to an area where there's no other comedy? Over It comedy showcase When: 9 p.m. every Saturday. The April 13 lineup: Jason Van Glass, Anya Volz, Chris Johnson. Where: The Upper Lip, 720 S.W. Ankeny St., Portland. Tickets: This is a 21-and-older show. Free. Did you know libraries have mascots? Puppet mascots for libraries are apparently a thing, and to celebrate National Library Week, seven libraries across Oregon are participating in a friendly little contest theyre calling OREGON LIBRARY PUPPET WARS 2019: BEYOND PUPPERDOME. You can place your vote for Most Valuable Puppet through Sunday using this web form. The libraries put together stump speech videos for their candidates, with the winner taking home the grand prize of ... congratulatory videos from the other competitors. So the stakes are low -- but the drama in some of these videos is high. Meet your contestants: Alfonso the Alpaca Hailing from the Crook County Library in Prinville, Alfonso promises to represent Oregon library values straight from Oregons heartland," as the video shows the puppet looking wistfully out a car window while he rolls past farms and fields. Today marks the first day of #OregonPuppetWars ! Click the hashtag to see other important announcements from Oregons library puppets. Then, go to https://forms.gle/o6VmkW1yS5CTxSyd8 and vote on your favorite! Who will win the coveted title of MVP (Most Valuable Puppet)? Only you can decide. Dont wait voting ends at 11:59:59 on Sunday, 4/14. Posted by Crook County Library (Oregon) on Sunday, April 7, 2019 Dog St. Helens Public Library has a campaign video for Dog (thats it, just Dog) that answers the question: "Whos a good boy? You want a puppet mascot whos trustworthy, loyal and enthusiastic," the narrator says. "You want a puppet whos a very good boy. Vote for Dog at St. Helens Public Library We need your votes!! Our beloved St. Helens storytime puppet Dog is in the final running to be Oregon's Most Valuable Puppet (MVP) in the 2019 Oregon Library Puppet Wars! Show off your St. Helens Public Library pride and vote for Dog to win TOP dog in the #OregonPuppetWars VOTE: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfsRJcKVAWFGx2bYVeGQszNdUqhLx3fQHVuV8ZNspIvo7CRLw/viewform This friendly competition between Oregon libraries is in honor of National Library Week, happening April 7-13. Posted by St. Helens Public Library on Friday, April 5, 2019 Maya the Mexican River Bird Maya, from Oregon Trail Library District in Boardman, is a bilingual puppet who loves reading and singing songs with los ninos on Wednesday afternoons. Say hello to Maya, Oregon Trail Library Districts puppet mascot. Today marks the first day of #OregonPuppetWars ! Vote for Maya! Posted by Oregon Trail Library District, Boardman, Heppner, & Irrigon on Monday, April 8, 2019 Octavian the Octopus Octavian, from the Oregon City Library, gives book recommendations and octopus facts in its campaign video. Libraries are great places for octopuses, the video says, because they are curious creatures. Yes, its octopuses, Octavian points out. Octopi would be the plural for a Latin root word, but Octopus comes from the Greek for eight-footed. Clearly, Octavian is the policy wonk in this race. Hector the Sloth Hector, from the Coquille Public Library, has a real Grover-vibe about him. Hes a puppet with shaggy hair whos ready to have fun. We think he might be the Beto of puppet candidates. Hector for MVP 2019!! For #NationalLibraryWeek, we are participating in elections for statewide library puppet MVP (most valueable puppet)! Show your support for Hector by going here and casting your vote https://forms.gle/o6VmkW1yS5CTxSyd8 Voting goes through the end of the week so make sure to share and get everyone in on the fun! #OregonPuppetWars Posted by Coquille Public Library on Monday, April 8, 2019 Errol the Lopsided Bunny Errol, from the Baker County Library District, seems to be relying purely on his looks to get elected. The Bunny doesnt have a campaign video, but he is pretty darn cute. Errol the Lopsided Baker County Public Library Bunny eagerly awaits your vote in the 2019 Oregon Library Puppet Wars!... Posted by Baker County Library District on Monday, April 8, 2019 Winston the Sheepdog The adorable Winston, from Deschutes Public Library, sings a song inspired by the 12 Days of Christmas about the seven days in National Library Week. Oregon Library Puppet Wars: Vote for Winston! Oh it's ON. People across Oregon are voting for their favorite library puppet. We think Deschutes Public Library's WINSTON should get your vote (and so does Winston). Check out his video below and VOTE online here: https://bit.ly/2YZDOcX. Please vote and share! #OregonPuppetWars Posted by Deschutes Public Library on Monday, April 8, 2019 Even if puppets arent your thing, libraries are amazing. Theyve got free books and movies! You can check out e-books remotely from your phone! A librarian with Multnomah County once helped me reunite a couple with a wedding ring lost 46 years ago. As we celebrate National Library Week, thank you, librarians: purveyors of knowledge and puppets. -- Samantha Swindler @editorswindler / sswindler@oregonian.com Subscribe to get the Morning Briefing newsletter delivered to your email inbox weekdays at 7 a.m. A 38-year-old homeless man who investigators say inexplicably climbed into the passenger seat of an ambulance -- then reportedly waved around a knife and choked and bit one of the paramedics inside -- was sentenced Tuesday to 14 days in jail and possible mental health treatment. Jeremiah James Ray told authorities that he has manic depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety. Ray also was sentenced to three years of probation. Members of the paramedics profession attended the hearing and told Multnomah County Circuit Judge Kathleen Dailey that theyre increasingly concerned about encounters first responders are having with people struggling with mental illness. They asked for tougher sentences for people such as Ray, but Rays sentence follows state sentencing guidelines, according to the Multnomah County District Attorneys Office. A tougher sentence would call for changes to state law, according to the office. Ray pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a weapon and third-degree assault for the Feb. 25 random attack on paramedic Pavel Aubuchon-Mendoza near Southwest Fifth Avenue and Sheridan Street. Portland police released this photo of the knife they say Jeremiah Ray used in the attack. (PPB) The ambulance had stopped at a red light when Ray hopped in through the passenger door and moved to the back of the ambulance, according to a probable cause affidavit. Aubuchon-Mendoza followed him to the back and Ray turned on him. Aubuchon-Mendoza suffered a cut finger, although it was not clear if it was from the knife or glass that was broken during the struggle. The affidavit described a bloody scene. Aubuchon-Mendoza also told investigators that Ray choked him, although Ray wasnt charged with strangulation for impeding breathing. The attack stopped after the ambulances driver got out, ran to the back, opened the back doors and helped her partner fight off Ray, investigators say. Ray then ran into the Duniway Deli & Grocery, told the owner to lock the doors and when she refused, chased her, the affidavit says. Ray was arrested a short while later outside the store. Ray told jailers that he had been homeless since he moved to Portland four months earlier, he was unemployed and had been living off food stamps. He had previously been convicted of drug possession and providing false information in Texas. Nothing will undo the trauma that the victims in this case experienced, Deputy District Attorney BJ Park said in a news release. No one should ever be attacked. The fact that this happened to a first responder is shocking. Our paramedics help heal our community each day. Jeremiah Ray must be held accountable for his actions, but we also recognize there can be alternative approaches that ensure he receives treatment while simultaneously promoting public safety. Rays sentence calls for a mental health evaluation and treatment if determined necessary. If he violates the terms of his probation, he could be sentenced to more jail time. -- Aimee Green agreen@oregonian.com o_aimee Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. Oregonians are moving closer to avoiding the annual spring forward and fall back. Last week, the Senate passed Senate Bill 320, which would establish year-round daylight saving time. The proposal, which has broad support from both Republicans and Democrats, now heads to the Oregon House. Across the country, standard time is recognized from early November through mid-March, when the switch to daylight saving time provides eight months of later sunrises and sunsets. Sticking with daylight saving would give Oregonians an extra hour of light in their winter evenings. But, as critics point out, ignoring the move back to standard time means therell be some pretty dark mornings through the winter. Sunrise on Dec. 21, for instance, would be at 8:48 a.m. What will permanent daylight savings look like? The yellow area shows times the sun would be up under permanent daylight saving. Weve based the times on data for Portland in 2018 from the U.S. Naval Observatory. Tap your screen or roll your mouse left to right to change the date. Will standard time go away immediately? No. Even if lawmakers in the Oregon House agree to the plan and Gov. Kate Brown signs off, the bill only takes effect if both California and Washington make the same decision. And our neighboring states are well on their way. California voters approved a daylight saving measure last November and Washington lawmakers already passed a bill that will put the issue to a vote in November 2020. If all three states agree to permanent daylight saving time, the region would still need to secure approval from Congress. Fog over Happy Valley at sunrise, Jan. 2, 2014.Thomas Boyd Would all of Oregon switch over? No. All of the state is in the Pacific time zone except for Malheur County, which is on Mountain time. If the bill takes effect, Malheur County would stay on the same clock as nearby Boise, continuing the annual switches between daylight and standard time. The cabbage harvest on Sauvie Island at sunrise, September 18, 2012. Benjamin Brink/The OregonianBenjamin Brink Have other states made the change? Yes. Florida became the first state to approve permanent daylight saving time and is awaiting congressional approval. Hawaii, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Arizona -- except the Navajo Nation stay on standard time year-round. An August 2018 sunset at Sunset Bay State Park on the southern Oregon coast. Jamie Hale Who supports the move? President Donald Trump and several key members of Congress, including Sen. Ron Wyden favor year-round daylight time. In Oregon, Gov. Kate Brown loves the idea. When asked if she supported the move to ditch the yearly time shift, the Democrat told reporters, Hell yes! House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, has said that she like the idea, but that shed rather remain on standard time year-round. Sunrise near The Dalles dam on the Columbia River, June 8, 2012.Jamie Francis What do critics say? Opponents cite several issues. Some worry about safety risks for children who might have to walk to school in the dark. Others downplay arguments the change is a necessary move to tackle climate change. They point to a U.S. Department of Energy study from 2008 that reported the country uses 0.5 percent less energy for every additional day of daylight saving time. However, the report also showed southern states didnt recoup as much energy savings, perhaps because they needed more air conditioning. Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, D-Beaverton, and others worry about unintended consequences. Steiner Hayward, who is Jewish, said daylight savings 9 a.m. winter sunrises would significantly impede the ability of people to participate in group prayer and make it to work on time. Shed prefer to stay on standard time year-round. Sunrise from the bluffs at Cottonwood Canyon State Park, August 8, 2013.Jamie Francis When did all this spring forward and fall back business start anyway? Daylight saving time was introduced in 1918. Some states opted in over the next 50 years, while others stuck with standard. In 1966, Congress established daylight time nationwide for about six months out of the year. The daylight saving period grew over the years and in 2007, was set from mid-March to early November. The Associated Press contributed to this report A 62-year-old man was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison for driving a woman to the Columbia River Gorge and attacking her in his car before she summoned help by kicking the horn when she saw the red and blue lights of a Multnomah County sheriffs cruiser nearby. Douglas Lawrence Braaten had offered a ride to a woman at a 7-Eleven near Northeast 82nd Avenue and Sandy Boulevard about 7:30 p.m. on March 6, 2018. Its unclear why the woman would have accepted a ride from Braaten. Investigators say the two were strangers. When the woman realized Braaten was no longer driving her to where shed asked to go, she texted 911 that she was being kidnapped and was headed east on Interstate 84, the affidavit states. She also called 911 -- and though she didnt speak to dispatchers, a sheriffs deputy used the signal on her cellphone to locate her in Braatens Dodge Durango SUV in the parking lot of the Bridal Veil Post Office, investigators say. When the woman saw the emergency lights of the deputys car, she kicked the cars horn, according to the affidavit. Braaten was in the process of sexually assaulting the victim, the affidavit states. The deputy noted that the womans pants and underpants had been pulled down. In March, Braaten pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual abuse and attempted first-degree kidnapping. On Wednesday, he declined to make a statement when Multnomah County Circuit Judge Leslie Bottomly gave him the opportunity. Braatens defense attorney, Lynne Dickison, said her client has been amenable to working this case out since criminal charges were filed against him. He feels very badly about what occurred, Dickison said. Braaten, who has been jailed since his March 2018 arrest, was escorted by a deputy in and out of the courtroom in a wheelchair. Dickison said hes suffered a stroke and has been in physical therapy and rehabilitation. Hed previously been convicted of first-degree sexual abuse in Alaska in 1983. Deputy District Attorney Mike Botthof said although Braaten wasnt prosecuted on a report of a 1994 rape, the alleged victim in that case was prepared to testify if Braatens 2018 case had gone to trial. He had worked as a truck driver but was forced to retire because of health problems, according to court papers. At the time of his arrest, he was collecting Social Security disability payments and had been living in an RV on some property in La Center. -- Aimee Green agreen@oregonian.com o_aimee Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. I was only 8 years old when I found out I was in kidney failure. Luckily, I was able to get on the transplant waiting list and received a deceased donor transplant by age 10. That luck ran out when I turned 28 my body started rejecting my transplanted kidney. I spent two years searching for a living donor, while back on the transplant waiting list. I even started my own blog to find a living donor. I knew a living donor would increase my odds of living healthier for longer. On average, a kidney from a living donor lasts 15 to 20 years, while a kidney from a deceased donor lasts 10 to 15. I never found a living donor, but I did get off the transplant list through another deceased-donor kidney. Many others dont have the luck of getting off the list at all, let alone twice, like I did. Today, about 97,000 people are on the kidney waiting list. Last year, only 21,000 kidney transplants were performed with about 6,400 from living donors. For National Donate Life Month I traveled to Washington, D.C., to advocate with the American Kidney Fund for legislation that can encourage living organ donation. Enacting the Living Donor Protection Act (HR 1224 and S 511), would guarantee job-protected leave to living organ donors and prevent life, disability and long-term care insurers from discriminating against living donors. I urge you to ask your members of Congress to pass the act and to ask your state representatives to vote for SB 796, the Oregon version of the bill. Alysia Yamasaki, Portland Jessica Vega Pederson, a first-term Multnomah County commissioner, is strongly considering a run for Portland mayor, said a person close to Vega Pederson with knowledge of her thinking. Vega Pederson had been thinking of running for secretary of state in 2020, the person said, but was approached by the leaders of Portland-based racial equity and labor union groups, who convinced her to turn her eye toward City Hall. The person asked not to be named because their conversations with Vega Pederson were private. On Wednesday, Vega Pederson declined to directly address questions about whether she is mulling a race for city office. She said her caginess stemmed from caution to avoid invoking a provision of the county charter that she said could require her to resign if she were to declare her candidacy for another office. Still, Vega Pederson, 44, said that she had not made up her mind about what elected office to seek in 2020, when her term on the county board of commissioners ends. Im trying to figure out the best way I can continue to serve the community, she told The Oregonian/OregonLive. Nothings off the table. Vega Pederson said she has enjoyed local politics, where she has worked on a range of issues from the needs of children to transportation and climate change. Born to a Mexican-American family in Crow Point, Indiana and raised in Chicago, Vega Pederson worked at technology companies, eventually rising to become a manager at Microsoft, before being elected to represent most of East Portland in the Oregon House of Representatives in 2012. She served two terms there and was elected county commissioner in 2017. Portlands incumbent mayor, Ted Wheeler, has said he is undecided about seeking re-election. If Wheeler declines to run, it would make him Portlands fourth consecutive one-term mayor. Police reform advocate Teressa Raiford is the only declared candidate for the 2020 race. But Diego Hernandez, a state representative who represents the same district Vega Pederson did, has said he has not ruled out a run. At least one City Council seat will be open in 2020, when Commissioner Amanda Fritz retires after three terms. Possible candidates include Hernandez; Carmen Rubio, a former City Hall aide who now directs a Latino-focused nonprofit; consultant and former mayoral candidate Sarah Iannarone; and deaf activist Philip Wolfe. -- Gordon R. Friedman GFriedman@Oregonian.com Oregon lawmakers this week settled on a compromise response to a proposal by child welfare leaders and Gov. Kate Brown to drop the requirement that caseworkers have a college degree. State law requires workers who investigate reports of child abuse and make decisions about whether to remove children from their families to have earned at least a bachelors degree. But the states child welfare program has struggled to hire and retain enough caseworkers, and director Marilyn Jones said that eliminating the degree requirement could encourage a more diverse pool of job candidates. Starting caseworkers are paid about $47,000, while those with more experience can earn $69,000, according to the state. Some lawmakers expressed skepticism and pointed out that other states are moving in the opposite direction, requiring degrees in fields related to child welfare. On Monday afternoon, House lawmakers split the difference, amending House Bill 2033 to allow the state to hire as caseworkers people who hold associates degrees and have completed additional training or additional certification in human services or a field related to human services. The amended bill would also add a preference into state law for caseworkers who hold bachelors degrees in human services or a related field, although it would allow the Department of Human Services some flexibility if it adopts rules on what constitutes a comparable course of study. Rep. Tawna Sanchez, D-Portland, has helped raise foster children and said her experience as an adjunct professor has reinforced the importance of a college education. There are a lot of issues, in particular around issues of implicit bias, racism and oppression and in particular for this field, trauma, that people dont know about until they go to college, Sanchez said. My hope is that with these minimum allowances well at least get people in the door and actually move them towards further education. Rep. Ron Noble, R-McMinnville, is a retired police chief. Noble said he hopes to encourage the Department of Human Services to improve its internal training for caseworkers, and he agreed with Sanchez that higher education is important. Its not the only thing thats important, Noble said. We need to look at what types of real-life experience, combined with higher education, gives us the best return and then preparing people for the job that were asking them to do. The bill will next move to the House floor for a vote. It is unclear how quickly that will happen. Hillary Borrud | hborrud@oregonian.com | 503-294-4034 | @hborrud Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. An apparent argument between two men in downtown Portland led to one fatally stabbing the other early Monday, court records show. A witness later informed staff at a hotel near Southwest Broadway and Alder Street, and the description provided of the shorts-attired assailant led Portland police to finding 38-year-old Daniel P. Conner in the area, according to a probable cause affidavit. Officers noted Conner wasnt hurt but had blood on his face, hands, jacket, gloves and on a large knife he had. The man who was stabbed, identified in court documents as 49-year-old Paul S. Mears, was pronounced dead by paramedics before officers arrived, the affidavit said. Court documents do not say what the two men were arguing about or what caused the stabbing. Paul S. Mears, 49, is pictured in an undated handout photo. (Handout photo/Portland Police Bureau) The witness told police that the two men were arguing near Dossier Hotel, then Conner left as Mears began bleeding, the affidavit said. The witness told the injured man to sit down, then went to the hotel and asked workers to call 911. Mears had an injury on his shoulder near his neck, the affidavit said. Paramedics found him lying on the sidewalk around 12:30 a.m. He later died. Conner remained held in the Multnomah County Detention Center on Tuesday on suspicion of murder and unlawful use of a weapon. Oregon court records show he has prior convictions that include attempted first-degree assault, second-degree assault in 2014 and first-degree theft in 2018. Conner reported to court staff at the jail that he and Mears were strangers, court records show. -- Everton Bailey Jr. ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 |@EvertonBailey Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. A Portland State University professor recognized last year as one of Oregons top scientists is on paid administrative leave amid child pornography charges. Niles E. Lehman, a chemistry professor who has been employed by the college since 2001, was arrested in February after he was indicted on charges of first- and second-degree encouraging child sexual abuse. He is accused of viewing and disseminating child porn images between October 2017 and September 2018. Lehman, 56, of Portland, posted bail in March, Oregon court records show. A judge ordered him to be placed on GPS monitoring, surrender his passport, stay off the Internet, and avoid children and places where theyre likely to gather, the documents said. When court staff interviewed Lehman in February to help determine whether he should be released, he didnt mention working for Portland State University, court records show. He said he has a Ph.D. and sometimes drove for Lyft, DoorDash and Postmates. In a statement Tuesday, Portland State University confirmed Lehman is on paid administrative leave and that the school is cooperating with the police investigation and is very concerned about the charges. Its certainly upsetting that there are accusations that a PSU employee engaged in illegal and improper conduct, which is reflected in the charges against Professor Lehman, the statement said. Kenny Ma, a university spokesman, declined to comment further on the case, including when Lehman was placed on leave. Michael Romano, Lehmans attorney, declined to comment on his behalf of his client. Portland State University tweeted in January 2018 that Lehman was named the states scientist of the year by the Oregon Academy of Science. The academy recognized Lehman with the 2018 Outstanding Scientist Award for his work in molecular evolution and the possible origins of life. According to a cached version of Lehmans PSU staff profile that has since been removed from the schools website, Lehman received a Ph.D. from UCLA in 1990 and did postdoctoral fellowships in the early and mid 90s at the Scripps Research Institute and University of Oregon. He described himself as an evolutionary biochemist focused on topics such as the genetic origins of life on Earth. Eder Campuzano of The Oregonian/OregonLive staff contributed to this report. -- Everton Bailey Jr. ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 |@EvertonBailey Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. The Conscious Capitalism Great Lakes Bay Region Chapter will hold its first mini conference, "Conscious Capitalism: A Paradigm Shift. Moving Concepts into Practice" at 7:30 a.m. May 7 at Saginaw Valley State University. Keynote Speaker Alexander McCobin, CEO of Conscious Capitalism, will share his thoughts on "Changing the Paradigm for Business and Economics." Conscious Capitalism, as an organization and a philosophy, is based on the simple idea that when capitalism is practiced consciously, business innately elevates humanity. As Conscious Capitalism grows in the United States and around the globe (there are Conscious Capitalist communities in over 30 countries), the movement is changing the way people think about, describe, and engage with capitalism. A 54-year-old Saginaw man allegedly transferred his great-aunt's Gladwin house and vintage Mustang to himself along with reportedly embezzling more than $200,000 from the 90-year-old woman. Ricky Bradford Willson, who was his great-aunt's durable power of attorney for 18 months, remains out of jail on a $40,000 personal recognizance bond pending an upcoming hearing in Genesee County 7th Circuit Court. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is prosecuting the case, said instead of Willson looking out for his aunt, he transferred $120,000 in cash from his aunt's bank account into his, signed a quit claim deed transferring her house in Gladwin to himself, and transferred the title of her classic 1967 Ford Mustang convertible to himself. This earned Willson four felony charges. Willson is charged with embezzlement of $100,000 or more (for the $120,000 cash transfer), if found guilty he faces 20 years and/or a fine up to $50,000 or three times the amount embezzled (whichever is greater); embezzlement of $100,000 or more (for the property transfer), if found guilty he faces; 20 years and/or a fine up to $50,000 or three times the amount embezzled (whichever is greater); intent to pass false title (vehicle transfer) if found guilty he faces 10 years and/or $5,000 fine; embezzlement by an agent or trustee of $1,000 or more and less than $20,000 (vehicle transfer) if found guilty he faces five years and/or $10,000 or three times the amount embezzled (whichever is greater). The alleged incidents occurred in November 2015. Judge Christopher Odette of the 67th District Court, bound Willson over to the court for trial. This came one day after Nessel joined forces with the Michigan Supreme Court, members of the legislative and executive branches of government and advocacy groups to announce Michigan's Elder Abuse Task Force. "This is a classic example of financial elder abuse: a trusted relative who took advantage of his aunt," Nessel said via a press release. "He literally took everything from her: her car, her house and her savings account. However, his actions were discovered because she knew things were amiss. The locks had been changed on her house in Gladwin, her classic Mustang convertible was missing, and her savings account was gone. "She spoke up," Nessel said. However, Nessel said that not every elderly person has the capacity to speak up when things go awry. Which is why the Elder Abuse Task Force was established -- to increase awareness of elder abuse and to find and implement the best practices across the state so that the elderly are protected. Willson's case is expected to be heard by 7th Circuit Court Judge Richard B. Yuille, although no court date has been set. Michigan residents can anonymously report any signs or concerns about elder abuse to the Michigan Department of Attorney General by calling 800-24-ABUSE 800-242-2873 or online at mi.gov/elderabuse. The Midland City Council has unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance amendment that once approved, will limit the number of days in a year that residents can use consumer fireworks in the city. This ordinance change reflects state regulations, which were modified last year in Michigan. In December, the State of Michigan changed the Public Act of 2011, known as the Michigan Firework Safety Act, modifying the time and days consumer fireworks would be allowed, as well as the penalty for violating the law. This change is only regarding consumer fireworks -- formerly known as Class C fireworks -- which are generally weaker in explosive power compared to commercial and display fireworks. Consumer fireworks include bottle rockets, Roman candles, single-tube fireworks, reloadable shell devices and firecrackers. This does not include display fireworks or low-impact fireworks, which are ground and handheld sparkling devices such as sparklers, cones, smoke candles and snakes. Midland City Attorney James Branson explained the changes that were made on Monday night. Previously, the use of consumer fireworks was allowed on the day before, the day of and the day after 10 different national holidays, for a total of 30 days per year. However, firework use was prohibited between the hours of 1 a.m. and 8 a.m. on those days. The holidays included New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Washington's birthday, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Independence Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Violation of these regulations was punishable of a fine of up to $500 and/or 90 days in jail. Now, changes to the Fireworks Safety Act have reduced the amount of days people can use fireworks from 30 days to 12, as well as shortened the hours of use. Consumers will still be allowed to use fireworks on the following days: New Year's Eve from 11 a.m. until 1 a.m. on New Year's Day From 11 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. on the Saturday and Sunday before Memorial Day 11 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. June 29 through July 4 From 11 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. on July 5 If that day is a Friday or Saturday 11 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. on the Saturday and Sunday before Labor Day In addition, the state doubled the fine to $1,000 for violating the law. So, Midland is also working to amend its ordinance regarding municipal civil infractions to reflect this. One Midland resident, Gloria Richardson, spoke at the meeting, expressing her concerns about late-night fireworks, multiple days in a row. She said she would feel more comfortable with the cut-off time being 10 p.m. Branson said that concern has come up several times. "We hear that often -- we are simply just mirroring state law that allows us to go to that 11:45 p.m.," he said. In addition, Councilman Pam Hall of Ward 1 wondered aloud why people would use fireworks so early in the morning. "It's difficult to answer why people do the things the way they do with fireworks," Branson replied, inciting some chuckles from the people in the room. The second reading of these ordinance amendments is scheduled to take place at city council's next meeting, on April 22, at which time the council will vote whether to adopt the ordinance changes. The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriff's Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Mitchell Kukulka. Sunday, April 7 11:57 p.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to a Warren Township residence for a report of a 12-year-old girl who left her home without permission with a 17-year-old Clare boy. The girl was located in the City of Midland and it was found that she lied to the boy about her age. She was picked up and brought back home to her parent's house by her grandmother. The deputy spoke to the girl about the dangers of the world and not leaving her home without permission. The boy's 56-year-old father was notified of the situation. The boy is not suspected of any criminal actions. 7:51 p.m. -- Officers responded to a noise ordinance violation in the 800 block of Eastman Avenue. 4:31 p.m. -- Officers responded to an animal complaint in the 4500 block of Castle Drive. 3:50 p.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to a Lee Township residence in reference to a verbal argument between a 17-year-old girl and a 22-year-old woman. The 17-year-old said that the 22-year-old's fiancee, a 25-year-old man, is sexually assaulting her. 1:59 p.m. -- A 36-year-old Sanford man was arrested on a Gladwin County warrant after he called 9-1-1 to report a loud music disturbance. When the deputies arrived, there was no loud music. The man said he lied to get the Sheriff's Office out there so he could turn himself in on the warrant. He was arrested and transported to Gladwin County where he was turned over to a Gladwin County Sheriff's deputy. 1:55 p.m. -- Officers responded to a retail fraud in the 900 block of Joe Mann Boulevard. 12:18 p.m. -- Officers responded to a vehicle theft in the 4200 block of James Savage Road. 11:30 a.m. -- Officers responded to a case of domestic violence in the 1900 block of Eastlawn Drive. 10 a.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to a Jerome Township residence to complete a report for a car-deer crash that had occurred in Lincoln Township. 9:11 a.m. -- Officers responded to a crash resulting in an injury in the area of East Lyon Road and Jefferson Avenue. 8:45 a.m. -- Officers responded to a vehicle crash on private property in the 7300 block of Eastman Avenue. 1:23 a.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to the area of North Waldo Road near East Monroe Road in Larkin Township in reference to a single-vehicle crash. The driver said he had fallen asleep at the wheel. The driver sustained no obvious injury but complained of arm pain and refused medical treatment. 12:07 a.m. -- Deputies responded to an assault that occurred in Lee Township. Deputies made contact with a 32-year-old Geneva Township man who had apparent injuries from being assaulted by his brother-in-law earlier in the day. The 32-year-old confirmed that he did want to press charges. Deputies made contact with the brother-in-law, a 28-year-old Lee Township man, who was arrested and transported to the Midland County Jail. A report has been forwarded to the Prosecuting Attorney's Office. LAUREL BLACK | The Sun Mayor Brandi Harless (right) enjoys a piece of cake during the celebration the city held Tuesday in honor of passing an ordinance establishing a tax increment finance district, or TIF. The district includes about 315 acres of the downtown riverfront and business corridor, and is meant to spur private and public investment in the area. Paducah, KY (42003) Today Cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 66F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low around 60F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) Cameroonian soldiers, gendarmes, and members of the Rapid Intervention Brigade (BIR) carried out a deadly attack on the North-West region village of Meluf on 4 April 2019, killed five civilian men, including one with a mental disability, and wounded one woman, Human Rights Watch (HRW) revealed on Wednesday Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - In a statement released on Wednesday, some 15 humanitarian NGOs in Burkina Faso have expressed extreme concerned about the escalation of inter-communal violence fuelled by the stigmatisation of certain communities, with disastrous consequences for the already difficult humanitarian situation Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA) Mauritius and Kenya have on Wednesday signed six agreements that are the outcome of deliberations of the first Joint Commission for Cooperation between the two countries, PANA reported from the Mauritian capital Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - Authorities on Wednesday used teargas to disperse groups of students demonstrating outside the headquarters of the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research Swedish home delivery operator Budbee has announced it will be launching its service in the Netherlands following successful market expansions in Finland and Denmark in 2018. ') } // --> ') } else { console.log ('nompuad'); document.write('') } // --> To accelerate the expansion, the existing partners Kinnevik and the H&M Group have invested a total of Skr50m (US$5.4m), increasing Budbees valuation to close to Skr1bn (US$108m). ') } else { console.log ('nompuad'); document.write(' ') } // --> ') } else if (width >= 425) { console.log ('largescreen'); document.write('') } else { console.log ('nompuad'); document.write('') } // --> We are very happy for the collaboration with Budbee that enables our customers to get their goods delivered to their home in a more convenient way. With our further investment in the company, we look forward to developing new services together that enable a better customer experience, both online and in store, said Erik Karlsson, investment manager on CO:LAB, the H&M Group. Budbee is an ambitious company with an exciting expansion ahead, both in and outside the Nordics. The company has, since our investment last year in April, more than tripled its deliveries and developed its already strong customer base. We look forward to keep supporting the Budbee team in their journey, commented Andreas Bernstrom, investment director, Kinnevik. Fredrik Hamilton, CEO and founder of Budbee, added, We are very happy that our existing owners keep believing in the companys future and we look forward to our European expansion. So, here we are. Welcome to the U.S. in 2019, where putting women to death for exercising reproductive control over their bodies is actually being discussed by our lawmakers. The bill in question, concocted by Rep. Tony Tinderholt, a Republican from Arlington, Texas, would criminalize abortion without exception (victims of rape and incest do not matter to Tinderholt), meaning that they would face charges of homicide. In Texas, those convicted of homicide can face the death penalty. This isnt the first time Tinderholt has attempted to bring this legislation to the House floor. He first introduced the bill in 2017, claiming, per the Texas Observer, that it would make women be more personally responsible in their sex lives. And thats coming from a guy whos been married five times. The fact that Tinderholts legislation was discussed in a hearing before the Texas Houses Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence on Monday and Tuesday shows our alarming shift towards far-right politics as of late, considering it didnt get this far two years ago. Sonya Gonnella, one of those who testified in support of Tinderholts bill, quoted Genesis, stating (per The Washington Post), Gods word says, He who sheds mans blood, by manthe civil governmenthis blood will be shed. Gonnella is a self-proclaimed follower of the lord Jesus Christ, a pretty well-known dude who preached on forgiveness and turning the other cheek. Jim Baxa, president of West Texans for Life, declared, A woman who has committed murder should be charged with murder. One supporter gave an even stranger reasoning for the bill, citing economic losses from aborted fetuses: We are literally missing billions of dollars in taxpayer money. Thankfully, this bill faces enough obstacles that it is not likely to see the light of day, and it was still pending as of Tuesday. Its not even necessarily that popular with all anti-choicers, as some of them are women who regret their decision to have an abortion. Democrats on the committee noted that those supporters calling themselves pro-life were reaching a new level of hypocrisy. Im trying to reconcile in my head the arguments that I heard tonight about how essentially one is okay with subjecting a woman to the death penalty for the exactto do to her the exact same thing that one is alleging she is doing to a child, reflected Rep. Victoria Neave, a Democrat, per WaPo. Isaac Stanley-Becker of WaPo explains that Texas is just one of many states promoting a far-right, anti-choice agenda. Beyond heartbeat bills, Alabama lawmakers are assessing recently introduced legislation that would criminalize abortion, except when womens lives are in danger. The Lone Star state is going one step further, clearly trying to bring Roe v. Wade back before the courts, as Stanley-Becker notes: That the Texas bill, which goes even further, is a clear violation of the 1973 landmark decision appears to be precisely the point for those who asked lawmakers to advance it out of committee. The measure directs authorities to enforce its requirements regardless of any contrary federal law, executive order, or court decision. In testimony, proponents hailed President Trump as a champion of the unborn and beseeched state lawmakers to do their part in giving him a chance to help advance their agenda before a Supreme Court whose makeup he has shifted to the right. With Hollywoods grand history of legendary comedians and works of groundbreaking comedy, one would think that US cinema would be the one to import their classics to France for remakes. The opposite is actually true: Hollywood has a long tradition of adapting French comedies Stateside. Which isnt all that surprising; plenty of French comedies with farcical premises, full of ample opportunities for shenanigans, perfectly apply to Hollywoods funny superstars, fodder for American romps. The Upside , a remake of the 2011 French megahit The Intouchables, hit theaters this past January, and was also a hit (though much humbler) for a relatively small studio. So theres no better time to take a dive into some of the best and worst that this special relationship between the two countries has to offer. Grab your baguettes and whatever cliches come to the mind of a willfully ignorant American whos never been to France, because here are the five worst and five best American remakes of French comedies. Remake of: The Dinner Game (1998) Writer/director Francis Veber is a staple of French comedies remade in Hollywood. He adapted La Cage aux Folles to the screen, and also directed the original versions of The Toy, Fathers Day and Three Fugitives (he directed that remake as well). The Dinner Game, his 1998 satire about a snooty publisher (Thierry Lhermitte) participating in the cruel workplace tradition of inviting an idiot (Jacques Villeret) to dinner solely to make fun of them, is no masterpiece. The narrative is unfocused at times, and Veber certainly takes advantage of the idiot characters likable buffoonery to extract some chuckles. Yet, the scorn of the piece is reserved for the cruel publisher, whose arc in eventually relating more to the idiot than to his co-workers is the thematic point of the piece. The 2010 remake by Jay Roach completely shits the bed in that sense by making two disastrous casting choices. First, the cruel straight man is played by the immediately huggable Paul Rudd, whose ambitious executive is conflicted about the decision to make fun of his idiot (Steve Carell) from the start, sucking out all tension from the story. More egregiously, Carells character, along with other idiots played by otherwise talented comedians like Zach Galifianakis and Jemaine Clement, comes across as a cloying caricature from the reject pile of the worst SNL seasons. Since its impossible to relate to the idiots in the remake, we take the side of the evil businessmen. Remake of: The ComDads (1983) Francis Veber is back, writing and directing the forgettably cute dramedy The ComDads, about two men (Pierre Richard and Gerard Depardieu) who find out that one of them is the father of a son they didnt know they might have, and try to get to the bottom of that understandably confusing situation. The film works thanks to the clear dynamic between Francois (Richard), the eccentric goofball, and Jean (Depardieu), the uptight businessman. In the 1997 remake Fathers Day, director Ivan Reitman decides to give both parts to two of the most energetic improvisational comedians of their time, Billy Crystal and Robin Williams. Now both characters represent the comic relief, trying to one-up each other in every episodic, skit-like sequence, erasing the central dynamic of the original in the process. Reitman, too, over-relies on simply turning on the camera and letting Williams do an endless series of cartoonish voices. Already tired in 1997, Fathers Day is excruciating now (look only to Williams hip hop voice). Remake of: Oscar (1967) The nightmare of the early 90s comedian phase for Sylvester Stallone, in which the action star with a limited number of expressions in his arsenal suddenly got it in his head that hes a funnyman, is what happens when you surround yourself with nothing but yes men and gave us the charisma void of Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot the next year. Based on the 1967 comedy of errors of the same name, itself based on a play by Claude Magnier, Oscar saw Stallone as a mob boss trying desperately to find a man for his pregnant daughter (Marisa Tomei) while also attempting to go straight. The main character in the original was a businessman played by Frances comedy genius, Louis de Funes. De Funes is a master at mugging for the camera, and the films unapologetically farcical tone fits his sensibilities. In director John Landiss version, the setting is moved to 1930s Chicago, where the dazzling cinematography pays appropriate nostalgic homage to old gangster films, and most of the cast, especially Tomei, are game. But the buck stops at Stallone, who only has a single gear as he imitates a log screaming at nothing while shitting gravel. Remake of: Mon pere, ce heros. (1991) Right down to its star, Mon pere, ce heros. and My Father the Hero are almost pointlessly similar. The story of an uptight father (Gerard Depardieu) trying to come to grips with his teenage daughters (Marie Gillain) burgeoning sexuality during summer vacation doesnt lend itself to a particularly successful comedy, but at least it stays afloat thanks to some clever set-pieces and fine chemistry between Depardieu and Gillain. The first mistake director Steve Miner makes with the remake is to cast Depardieu again. As versatile an actor as they come, Depardieu still struggles with landing the English dialogue that came so natural to him in French. Some awful pedophile jokes related to Depardieus character being French, and Katherine Heigl foreshadowing her future career as the expressionless, mannequin-like daughter, dont help much in selling this god awful retread. Remake of: Taxi (1998) The point of Taxi, Luc Bessons first go at eventually defining a certain kind of Euro-action, was the unbelievably fast and reckless car chases accomplished using practical stunts. So when it came to producing the inevitable American version, of course the only sensible choice was to dial down the action, turning whatever chase sequences remained into a CGI-laden shitfest, and putting all the narrative chips into the non-existing chemistry between stars Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon. It gets worse: Director Tim Story somehow used his clout from helming this bomb into ruining Fantastic Four. Meanwhile, the original Taxi thrived into an ongoing series of increasingly over the top car chase blockbusters. The fifth installment was released in 2018. Remake of: Three Men and a Cradle (1985) The 80s had its share of flicks about how loony it would be for men to take over homemaking duties with more and more women joining the workforce. A man struggling to work the dishwasher!? Oh, the hilarity, Mr. Mom! And so, Three Men and a Baby, a considerable box-office hit and proof that director Leonard Nimoy isnt attached to the hip to everything Star Trek, provides a fun and harmless bit of feature-length sitcom. The premise is exactly the same as the original: Three bachelors (Ted Danson, Steve Guttenberg and Tom Selleck) are saddled with a baby that appears out of nowhere and have to take care of her until they figure out whats going on. The two films are fairly similar in narrative structure and gags, but the remake has a slight edge thanks to the writing and casting giving these characters more distinct personalities. (The men in the original are a bit interchangeable.) The remake also adds an ill-advised crime sub-plot to inject some artificial tension to the third act, but its a tiny fault overall. Remake of: Pardon Mon Affaire (1976) Gene Wilders goofy remake of Pardon Mon Affaire, the story of an otherwise loyal family man trying to get a salacious affair off the ground and failing miserably, is almost a shot-by-shot recreation, down to the iconic image of Kelly LeBrocks spontaneous dance as her red dress is lifted in the airitself an homage to Marilyn Monroes legendary pose in The Seven Year Itch. More than a shot-by-shot experiment like Gus Van Sants Psycho, The Lady in Red unequivocally demonstrates that the right casting and right tone are everything when it comes to copy-pasting. As the thirsty protagonist, Jean Rochefort delivers his usual stiff-upper-lip energy to the original, which makes it hard for the audience to relate to his pathetic desperation. Wilder, on the other hand, goes full Leo Bloom once again, the characters anxiety and cluelessness pouring out of every pore. As director, screenwriter and star, Wilder infuses his film with a more relatable, tragic quality for his main man, even if we dont agree with his goals. The addition of the great Gilda Radner as a frumpy but devious co-worker whos increasingly pissed off because she thinks Wilders character keeps hitting on her, is also a big plus. Remake of: Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932) Anyone whos seen a handful of Jean Renoir films will attest to the famous auteurs fascination with examining unfair class structures, mocking the bourgeoisie all the while. And Boudu Saved from Drowning is an underseen work from Renoir that covers his favorite themes with a slightly lighter tone from, say, The Rules of the Game, about a well-to-do family rescuing a drowning vagrant (Michel Simon) and growing fond of him, enough to civilize him into becoming part of the bourgeoisie. Co-writer/director Paul Mazursky takes Renoirs biting but levelheaded comedy and turns it into a bug-eyed, mocking satire about the vast class and income inequality in Los Angeles, a city thats become even more ravaged by the gap between the rich and poor since the remakes release in 1986. The well-meaning but clueless rich family in the original turn into raging narcissists played spectacularly by Bette Midler and Richard Dreyfuss. Simons lovable Chaplin-like tramp in the French version is turned into Nick Noltes raving, drunken, sometimes incomprehensible bum. Down and Out in Beverly Hills isnt necessarily a better film than Boudu, but the stark difference in tonal and satirical approach make them different enough experiences to warrant such a solid remake. Remake of: La Cage aux Folles (1978) The 1978 film that gave birth to the 1996 Mike Nichols hitknown for its uproarious performance by Nathan Laneitself was adapted from a popular play, a zany comedy of errors about a gay couple acting straight for their conservative soon-to-be in-laws. As much as the stereotypical depictions of the gay characters in both films are dated, they make the wise decision of having the audience relate primarily to the gay couple (Robin Williams joins Lane in The Birdcage) with the joke on the other couple (Gene Hackman and Diane Wiest), whose self-absorbed cluelessness keeps them from seeing whats clearly in front of them. Nichols is a master at cinematic adaptations of plays, so he sticks to the characters and the performances despite the big budget pedigree of the production. Williams graciously dials down his usual manic energy in order to let Lane shine, and Hackman and Wiest are hilariously deadpan. Remake of: Fanfare of Love (1935) This cross-dressing farce, perhaps the best-known title in Billy Wilders formidable filmography, is the madcap story of two desperate musicians (Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis) trying to pass as women to get away from a mob hit. Its also slightly based on 1935s Fanfare of Love: Wilder pretty much only applied that films central premise to his, even adding a mob plot that wasnt in the original. Fanfare of Love was remade before Some Like It Hot, as a 1951 German production, which actually provided the bigger chunk of inspiration for Wilders classic. But it all started with the French flick. Samsung rushed their Galaxy S10 5G smartphone to market last Friday to gain bragging rights for having the first pure 5G smartphone on the market. So they equally deserve the bad press they're now getting in South Korea for their 5G phones failing to switch from 5G to LTE in areas yet not covered by 5G service. The phones are simply disconnecting. When customers pay a premium for 5G service, the anger is swift when they run into connectivity problems right out of the gate. It's being reported by Business Korea today that "users of the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G have complained that their smartphones did not switch from 5G to LTE. The Galaxy S10 5G, which was launched on April 5th as the worlds first 5G smartphone, also had other problems such as limited 5G service coverage and a slow speed. These users complained that when the Galaxy S10 5G switched from 5G signals to LTE signals, data service was disconnected. This happened to subscribers of all of the three mobile carriers in Korea from April 5 to 8, according to users posts on Internet communities on Apr. 9. In areas where 5G signals are not detected, the Galaxy S10 5G is expected to be automatically switched to an LTE signal, connecting to the internet, but it was continuously disconnected, they said. They complain that that they have to reboot several times to connect to the network again. It is normal that smartphones switch between 5G and 4G naturally so that users can not notice it, just as they do not feel any delay and buffering phenomena when switching between 3G and 4G. The Galaxy S10 5G is loaded with one 4G antenna and one 5G antenna for the simultaneous reception of 4G signals where 5G telecommunication was not available. This is a separate issue from the fact that a 5G signal is not caught in the first place or 5G speeds are slow for a smartphone due to the limitations of 5G coverage. Consumer complaints are mounting but the three mobile carriers and the manufacturer are shirking their responsibilities and failing to offer proper countermeasures for consumers. Samsung Electronics updated the smartphones software to receive base station signals more quickly on April 6, but consumers said that LTE internet connection were still not smooth on updated handsets. SK Telecom and LG U+ said that they had finished updating their base station software as the problem occurred on their 5G service launch days. Samsung Electronics continues to state that it has already provided all software updates that it could do. However an industry expert said that the problem is not that the number of 5G base stations are still small but communication network optimization work has not been completed so signal relays between base stations are not smooth. 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. Patna: Like most large cities in the country, Patna's Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) ran out of cash in what is being dubbed as the most severe shortage of cash in the nation's history leaving financial experts scratching their heads trying to figure out what led to this situation. ATM after ATM, nearly all cash kiosks across the state capital displayed signs announcing 'Out of Cash' or 'Out of Service' as people in need of cash wandered from one bank to another in the hope of getting lucky only to be disappointed by either long lines or machines running out of cash in a matter of minutes. While large business transactions were not affected by the sudden cash crunch nationwide since most businesses are done online these days, it were the ordinary people and small businesses in need of small cash for daily needs that were caught in the line of fire of this monetary fiasco. "I have been to more than two dozen ATM kiosks in Patna but have not been able to withdraw cash from any one of them. At some places, people were standing in long lines but many, including myself, had to return empty handed as the machine ran out of cash in a matter of less than half an hour," said Abhay Singh, a small vendor on Jagdeo Path. Meanwhile, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tried to allay fear of a long-term cash shortage in the nation saying the problem was temporary and the government was working round-the-clock to come up with a resolution quickly. "Have reviewed the currency situation in the country. Over all there is more than adequate currency in circulation and also available with the banks. The temporary shortage caused by sudden and unusual increase in some areas is being tackled quickly," Jaitley tweeted. Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla, while admitting there was a shortage of cash in ATMs in some parts of the country, said that the problem will be resolved within 2-3 days as the government had over Rs. 1,25,000 crores in cash to deal with any situation. "There is nothing to worry about and our economy is both safe and strong," he said. Top bank officials have maintained that the cash crunch was the result of a sudden and dramatic surge in cash withdrawal in the past three months coupled by an anemic rate of deposit in many states including Bihar. Patna: Three shops in Patna were completely gutted when a fire broke out in the busy Churi Market in Dariapur area under Kadam Kuan police station on Wednesday afternoon causing damage to the tune of several lakh rupees. As reported, some electricians were doing some work on an electric transformer located very close to a clothing shop owned by one Umesh Kumar. There was a big spark from the transformer but no one paid any attention to it until someone saw smoke coming out of the second floor of the shop where bundles of cotton were stored. Within minutes, the fire spread in two adjacent shops as dark smoke bellowed from all three shops forcing people to run for their safety. It was not until almost 30 minutes when fire trucks arrived at the scene but by then damage was done as all three shops were completely burnt down destroying everything inside them. It took nearly three hours to control the fire. No one was said to be hurt in the incident. Patna: Amidst much media hype, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders and former Chief Ministers of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, on Wednesday, got engaged to Aishwarya Rai, the grand daughter of yet another former CM of Bihar late Daroga Rai, in the presence of close friends and family members at Hotel Maurya in Patna. {gallery}newsimages2018/apr/041818{/gallery}Tej Pratap Yadav, whose Wikipedia page lists his birth year as 1989, strangely the same year as his younger brother Tejaswi Yadav, exchanged rings with the Aishwarya Rai, 25, daughter of Chandrika Rai, the son of late Daroga Rai and a former minister in the RJD government. While nearly the entire family of Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi was present at the engagement ceremony, family members and friends sorely missed the party chief himself who remains at a prison-provided room at a Delhi hospital on health ground after his conviction in the multi-crore rupees fodder scam. With father in jail, it was up to the mother of the would-be groom to take charge of the event and ensure everything went as planned and without a glitch. Members of both families were seen congratulating each other and sharing sweets among themselves. Tej Pratap, who was the Health Minister in the Nitish-led Grand Alliance in Bihar until the coalition collapsed after multiple charges of corruption and financial irregularities surfaced against several members of the Yadav clan, expressed his disappointment with his father's appearance in a tweet that just said 'Miss you papa'. His younger brother and former Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav also tweeted stating he was confident his father will be granted parole to attend his brother's wedding to be held later next month. The alleged sex abuse of a 15-year-old boy at a Pa. juvenile detention facility surfaced after the boy began trading nude photos of the female staffer for snacks from other kids. But it is the 25-year-old female detention staffer who is in big legal trouble, as the Times Leader newspaper reports. The suspect is identified as Shila Lee McRoy, of Sweet Valley, Pa., who has since been fired from the PA Child Care facility in wake of the incident. She is accused of fondling the 15-year-old boy who was in custody at the facility in Luzerne County, as well as sending him love letters and nude images of herself. It was those nude photos that eventually helped bolster the case, as the boy traded some to other juveniles at the center in return for snacks. But the boy also turned over at least two of the photos to another staffer at the facility, the newspaper reports. Pittston police say a PA Child Care supervisor then turned two of the nude photographs over to them. But it was a sharp-eyed and observant nurse at the facility who helped initiate the investigation. Details from the Times Leader, which reports from the affidavit in the case: On Feb. 10, McRoy was escorting the youth to the nurses office for a leg injury when a nurse saw the pair walking with their arms around each other. The nurse saw the boy lean over and give McRoy a kiss on the cheek before they entered the nurses station, which the nurse reported to management afterwards. The following day, officials told police, the youth disclosed information about his relationship with McRoy over the previous two or three months. During that time, the boy said McRoy would allow him to grab her breasts while she would touch his genitals. This took place over their clothing, while standing in the dorm room doorway, the boy said. The youth also said that McRoy would bring him love letters in English and Spanish. He also told investigators that McRoy would bring him nude photographs of herself, which she hid underneath her shirt in an envelope, and that he had given some to a staff member and traded the rest to other youths in exchange for snacks. (Story continues below) The youth told police he surrendered some of the nude photographs to staff, court documents state, and traded others to fellow juveniles in the facility in exchange for snacks, @ByDanStokes reports: https://t.co/GOMf9JHTRD Times Leader (@TLnews) April 8, 2019 McRoy was arraigned on institutional sexual assault of a minor and corruption of minors charges. At last report, she was lodged in Luzerne County Correctional Facility, unable to post $50,000. Who knows what he couldve done if he had gotten one of those two girls in the car: a 12-year-old little girl coming home from school and a 16-year-old girl coming home from school. Those are the words of Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood, as reported by CBSPhilly.com, after his department arrested a 25-year-old undocumented immigrant for allegedly attempting to lure the girls as well as exposing his genitals to them. The suspect is identified as Rudy Najera-Arita of Upper Darby. (Story continues below) An undocumented immigrant is in custody after trying to lure two teen girls, exposing himself, Upper Darby police say https://t.co/urwNIZJZQP CBS Philly (@CBSPhilly) April 9, 2019 Police tell CBSPhilly Najera-Arita has been in the country illegally for seven years. On Friday, two girls reported that a Hispanic male attempted to lure them into his vehicle as he drove on Long Lane in the Chester County community. Police say the man also exposed himself to the girls. After putting out images of the suspects car, police on Tuesday announced the arrest of Najera-Arita in the case. (Story continues below) PLEASE READ- Upper Darby PD looking for a subject who attempted to lure 2 teenage girls into the below pictured car. He had also exposed himself. Incidents happened on Long Lane 20 minutes apart in the 3 oclock hour. Described as Hispanic male driving 2016 Toy. Corolla pic.twitter.com/Ao24RkOf6v Upper Darby Police (@UDPolice) April 7, 2019 At last report, Najera-Arita was being held in county jail on charges stemming from the luring attempts. Bail was set at $300,000. But the police superintendent is still incredulous over what occurred in his community, telling CBSPhilly.com of the suspect: Exposes himself, playing with his genitals. Thats ridiculous, its stupid, Chitwood fumed. Starting Friday, and in very limited quantities, Arbys wants to sell you a $6 trip to Hawaii. But theres a catch. Theres always a catch. You will be in Hawaii for less than 24 hours. On April 27, you and the nine fellow trip attendees who also managed to snag a ticket will gather in Los Angeles, fly to Hawaii, board a bus filled with Arbys new line of Hawaiian-themed sandwiches, then left on a beach to eat and relax. Or sleep, as youll most likely be suffering a mighty case of jet lag. Before you even begin to shake said jet lag, youll have to get back on the bus, then back on the plane and then the mainland. We couldnt debut Arbys new lineup of Kings Hawaiian Sandwiches without involving [the fans] in the experience, Jim Taylor, Arbys CMO, told the Today Show. "Taking the expected Hawaii getaway and turning it into an action-packed and sandwich-filled day trip felt both unique to Arbys but also the signature brand of fun our fans around the country enjoy. Eligibility is only open to legal residents of the United States who are aged 18 or older. Arbys will pay for your trip to Los Angeles, a nights stay at a Los Angeles-area hotel, the roundtrip flight between Los Angeles and Hawaii, a $150 gift card to cover per diem expenses, and $500 to help offset any tax liability you get for winning this trip. Archers and turkey hunters will no longer be required to wear fluorescent orange while hunting. The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners on Tuesday approved a measure that simplifies requirements to wear fluorescent orange material while hunting. There are no changes to the requirements for many seasons. And the use of orange continues to be highly recommended for all seasons, whether required or not. But the new regulations eliminate the requirement to wear fluorescent orange at any time while archery hunting for deer, bear or elk. That eliminates all overlap periods when archery hunters were required to wear varying amounts of fluorescent orange while moving or post orange material while in a fixed position. The regulations also eliminate the requirement for fall turkey hunters to wear fluorescent orange material. All other seasons would continue with their existing fluorescent orange requirements. Hunters in deer, bear and elk firearms seasons, small game season, and hunting coyotes during daylight hours within deer, bear or elk firearms seasons, must continue to wear, at all times, 250 square inches of daylight fluorescent orange material on the head, chest and back combined, visible 360 degrees. Woodchuck hunters must continue to wear a solid fluorescent orange hat at all times. And hunters in seasons for crows, doves, waterfowl, post-Christmas flintlock deer, spring turkeys and furbearers continue without fluorescent orange requirements. The requirement to post orange while deer, bear or elk hunting from an enclosed blind also remains. Commissioners said the changes are intended to clear up the complexity of existing fluorescent orange requirements, which each year result in a significant number of violations detected by state game wardens. While changing the first day of the firearms hunting season for deer to a Saturday was the earth-shattering change at Tuesdays meeting of the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners, the board also expanded many other hunting seasons. For the 2019-20 hunting license year, the mid-October muzzleloader and special firearms seasons for deer will also be open for bear statewide. The archery season for bear will increase to 2 weeks and shift to the period after the muzzleloader and special firearms seasons. The extended bear season will expand from 4 days to 7 in most wildlife management units where its held. Commissioners also expanded the late archery and flintlock deer seasons by more than a week to end on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. They created a September archery season and a January antlerless season on elk. And, they expanded bobcat hunting and trapping to Wildlife Management Unit 4B, which includes parts of Cumberland, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, Mifflin, Perry and Snyder counties; and fisher trapping to WMU 4A, which includes parts of Bedford, Blair, Franklin, Fulton and Huntingdon counties. On the other side of the ledger, the board voted to reduce the late November turkey hunting season by 2 days to make way for the new Saturday opener of the firearms season for deer, and cut the porcupine season by about 10 weeks. The board also voted to issue 142 elk licenses (32 antlered and 110 antlerless) for 2019-20, but 2 additional elk seasons and lottery drawings for licenses have been added. For the one-week general season to run November 4-9, 27 antlered and 71 antlerless tags have been allocated. An early archery season open only in select Elk Hunt Zones will run from September 14-28, with 5 antlered and 10 antlerless licenses available. And there are 29 licenses available for a late antlerless-only elk season to run from January 4-11. All elk licenses will be awarded by lottery, and hunters must apply separately for each season they wish to be eligible to hunt. Each application costs $11.90, meaning a hunter can enter all three drawings for $35.70. But an individual can be drawn for only 1 elk license per license year. The board adopted a slate of deer seasons that includes a split, six-day antlered deer season (November 30-December 6) and seven-day concurrent season (December 7-14) in 20 Wildlife Management Units. The list includes WMUs 1A, 1B, 2A, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, 2H, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E, 5A and 5B. The package also retains the full-season (November 30-December 14) concurrent, antlered and antlerless deer season in WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D. Here are the hunting and trapping seasons and bag limits for 2019-20: Squirrel - Special season for eligible junior hunters, with or without required license, and mentored youth October 5-19 (6 daily, 18 in possession limit after first day). October 19-November 29; December 16-24 and December 26-February 29 (6 daily, 18 possession). Ruffed grouse October 19November 29 and December 16-24 (2 daily, 6 possession). Rabbit - Special season for eligible junior hunters, with or without required license October 5-October19 (4 daily, 12 possession). October 19-November 29, December 16-24 and December 26-February 29 (4 daily, 12 possession). Pheasant - Special season for eligible junior hunters, with or without required license October 12-19 (2 daily, 6 in possession). Male pheasants only in WMUs 4E and 5A. Male and female pheasants may be taken in all other WMUs. There is no open season for taking pheasants in Wild Pheasant Recovery Areas. October 26-November 29, December 16-24 and December 26-February 29 (2 daily, 6 in possession). Male pheasants only in WMUs 4E and 5A. Male and female pheasants may be taken in all other WMUs. There is no open season for taking pheasants in Wild Pheasant Recovery Areas. Bobwhite quail October 19-November 29, December 16-24 and December 26-February 29 (8 daily, 24 possession). Hare (snowshoe rabbit) - December 26-January 1 (1 daily, 3 possession). Woodchuck (groundhog) - No closed season, except on Sundays and during the regular firearms deer seasons. No limit. Crow - July 5-April 12, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday only. No limit. Starling - No closed season, except during the antlered and antlerless deer season. No limit. English sparrow - No closed season, except during the antlered and antlerless deer season. No limit. Wild turkey (male or female) - WMU 1B November 2-November 9; WMU 2B (shotgun and bow and arrow) November 2-22 and November 28-29; WMUs 1A, 2A, 4A and 4B, November 2-November 9 and November 28 and 29; WMUs 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, 2H, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 4C, 4D and 4E November 2-16 and November 28 and 29; WMU 2C November 2-November 22 and November 28 and 29; WMU 5A November 7-9; WMU 5B November 5-7; WMUs 5C and 5D closed. Spring turkey (bearded birds only) - Special season for eligible junior hunters, with required license, and mentored youth April 25, 2020. Only 1 spring gobbler may be taken during this hunt. Spring turkey (bearded birds only) - May 2-30, 2020. Daily limit 1, season limit 2. (Second spring gobbler may be only taken by someone with a valid special wild turkey license.) From May 2-16, legal hunting hours are one-half hour before sunrise until noon; from May 18-30, legal hunting hours are one-half hour before sunrise until one-half hour after sunset. Black Bear archery (WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D) - September 21-November 29. Archery (WMU 5B) October 5-November 16. Archery (statewide) October 28-November 9. Muzzleloader (statewide) October 19-26. Special firearms (statewide) October 24-26. November 23-27. In WMUs 1B, 2C, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E and 5A - November 30-December 7. In WMUs 2B, 5B, 5C and 5D - November 30-December 14. Only 1 bear may be taken during the license year. Elk archery - September 14-28. November 4-9. November 11-16. Antlerless only - January 4-11, 2020 Deer archery (WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D) - September 21- November 29 and December 26-January 25, 2020. Archery (statewide) October 5-November 16 and December 26-January 20. In WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D - November 30-December 14. Antlered only in WMUs 1A, 1B, 2A, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, 2H, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E, 5A and 5B - November 30-December 6. In WMUs 1A, 1B, 2A, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, 2H, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E, 5A and 5B - December 7-14. Antlerless special firearms (statewide) - October24-26. Antlerless muzzleloader (statewide) - October19-26. Flintlock (statewide) - December 26-January 20. Flintlock (WMUs 2B, 5C, 5D) - December 26-January 25. Antlerless extended regular firearms Allegheny, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties) - December 26-January 25. Coyote Hunting - No closed season. Trapping October 27-February 23. Cable Restraint December 26-February 23. Unlimited. Fox October 27-February 23. Cable Restraint December 26-February 23. Unlimited. Raccoon Hunting - October26-February 22. Trapping October 27-February 23. Unlimited. Opossum Hunting No closed season, except Sundays. Trapping October 27-February 23, Unlimited. Striped skunk Hunting No closed season, except Sundays. Trapping October 27-February 23. Unlimited. Weasel Hunting No closed season, except Sundays. Trapping October 27-February 23. Unlimited. Bobcat In WMUs 2A, 2C, 2E, 2F, 2G, 2H, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D and 4E. Hunting - January 11-February 5. Trapping December 21- January 12. One per license year. Porcupine Hunting - October12-February 1, 2020. (3 daily, season limit of 10). Mink Trapping - November 23-January 12. Unlimited. Muskrat Trapping November 23-January 12. Unlimited. Beaver Trapping December 26-March 31. Limits vary by WMU. Fisher Trapping - In WMUs 1B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, 2H, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D and 4E, December 21-January 5. One fisher per license year. River otter Trapping In WMUs 3C and 3D, February 15-22, 2020. One river otter per license year. Waterfowl and migratory gamebird seasons will be set in accordance with federal regulations at a later date. No open season on other wild birds or mammals. Good Friday is a Christian holiday held in honor and remembrance of Jesuss death on the cross. This year Good Friday is April 19. Easter is Sunday, April 21. Since Easter is on a Sunday, government offices are closed as are banks, schools and the post office. Here is a rundown of what is open and what is closed on Good Friday and Easter. Banks: Open Good Friday, closed on Easter. Capital Area Transit: Buses will run on a normal schedule on Good Friday. County government: Dauphin and Perry county courts and offices are open Good Friday while Adams, Cumberland, Lancaster, Lebanon and York county courts and offices are closed. Federal government: open Libraries: All local libraries are closed on Easter Sunday. In the Cumberland County Library System, the John Graham Library is closed on Good Friday. Middletown Public Library is closed Good Friday. Dauphin County Library System and Hershey Public Library are open on Good Friday, closed on Easter. Liquor stores: Open Good Friday, closed on Easter. Municipal government offices: If you have municipal business to attend to on Good Friday, call first. Closed Camp Hill, Derry Twp., East Pennsboro Twp., Hampden Twp., Hummelstown, Lower Paxton Twp., Middletown and Susquehanna Twp. Open Carlisle, Palmyra and Silver Spring Twp. Pa Media Group business office: Open Good Friday, closed Easter. Parking in Harrisburg: Free on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. PennDOT: Open Good Friday. Post office: Open Good Friday. Public schools: Most public schools are closed Good Friday including Annville-Cleona, Camp Hill, Carlisle, Central Dauphin, Cumberland Valley, Dauphin County Technical School, Derry Township, Donegal, East Pennsboro, Elizabethtown, Greenwood, Halifax, Harrisburg, Hempfield, Lower Dauphin, Mechanicsburg, Middletown, Millersburg, Newport, Northern York, Palmyra, Penn Manor, Shippensburg, Solanco, Susquehanna Township, Susquenita, West Perry and West Shore. Private schools closed include Bishop McDevitt, Harrisburg Academy and Trinity. Rabbittransit: Will run on a normal schedule on Good Friday. No service Easter Sunday. Retail stores: Open Good Friday. Supermarkets: Aldi: Open Good Friday, closed Easter Sunday. Giant: Open Good Friday, closes at 3 p.m. on Easter Sunday. Weis: Open Good Friday and Easter. Karns: Open Good Friday, closed on Easter. Wegmans: Open regular hours on Good Friday and Easter. (The pharmacy is open 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on Easter) Sharp Shopper: Open Good Friday, closed on Easter. Costco: Open Good Friday, closed on Easter. BJs: Open Good Friday, open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Easter. Sams club: Open Good Friday, closed on Easter. State government: Open Good Friday. Trash collection: Penn Waste, Waste Management and Republic Services collections will all run on a normal schedule. Municipal waste collection may be affected. Pennsylvanias largest community college has announced they have received a new financial gift -- the largest in the institutions history. At a press conference this morning, HACC president John J. Sygielski and vice president of college advancement Linnie S. Carter announced that HACC had received a contribution from the estate of John E. Paxton and Gloria W. Paxton. The amount for the gift totaled a whopping $1,295,305.30. This is huge for HACC, Carter said. Never in our history have we received this type of gift. It is the largest in our history and that is cause for celebration. The college has announced that the money will be going toward support of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics programs at HACC, through the establishment of the John E. Paxton and Gloria W. Paxton Fund for Excellence in STEAM. HACC has already committed in significant ways to the STEAM programs, said Stephen Ampersand, vice president of student affairs. The point being that this historic gift that weve received now puts us in a position, as an institution, to take it to a whole other level. Were going to be able to introduce new programs in STEAM related fields, and to help students foray into new areas. And we couldnt have done it without this gift. The Paxtons did have some HACC connections, said attorney Mark A. Mateya, who handled the Paxton estate. Mateya noted that John Paxton likely helped the planning of the colleges early buildings during his career as a surveyor, and that Gloria was frequently on campus for events. While they didnt have any children of their own, they are going to have a chance to influence many, many children in the future, he said. We dont take this generosity for granted, Carter said. The Paxtons did not have to do this. Every donation we receive, we appreciate it. More information on the John E. Paxton and Gloria W. Paxton Fund for Excellence in STEAM can be found on the HACC website. Editors note: The story was updated at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday to denote that the money from the estate of John E. Paxton and Gloria W. Paxton was a gift. DURHAM, N.C. (AP) A gas explosion that partially collapsed a North Carolina building and set it ablaze Wednesday morning killed one person and injured more than a dozen others, police said. Police cars blocked the streets near the explosion near downtown Durham. A thick, acrid smoke hung over the shopping district and helicopters circled overhead. Television station video of the scene showed flames jumping from windows and piles of rubble. Breaking News: 1 dead, firefighter injured, 15 taken to hospitals after Durham explosion #wral https://t.co/ax08tCTN4t WRAL NEWS in NC (@WRAL) April 10, 2019 Durham Police Department public affairs manager Wil Glenn said a contractor boring under a sidewalk hit a 2-inch gas line, triggering the explosion. One person was killed and 15 people were taken to hospitals, Glenn said at a news conference. One firefighter was seriously injured, he said. Students from a nearby school, the Durham School of the Arts, were evacuated and classes dismissed for the day. Smoke billows from the scene of an explosion and fire in downtown Durham, N.C. Wednesday, April 10, 2019. (Hanna Davison/The News & Observer via AP)AP Duke University employee Mary Williams said she heard the explosion and felt shaking at her building a third of a mile away. "I was in the kitchen. I heard this loud boom and the building shook. When I looked out, I saw the smoke billowing up. I was scared for whoever was in the vicinity because it did not look very good." Another Duke employee in the same building, Sharon Caple, said the sky darkened in the minutes afterward. "All you saw was this black smoke," she said. Latest update from @DurhamPoliceNC & @durhamcityfire regarding todays explosion & fire near @BrightleafSq. Please continue to avoid this area while our first responders work this scene. pic.twitter.com/xZARkQ0fUO CityofDurhamNC (@CityofDurhamNC) April 10, 2019 The explosion happened in a shopping district created from remodeled tobacco warehouses and industrial buildings near downtown Durham. In this image made from video and provided by WTVD-TV Durham, firefighters spray water on a building Wednesday, April 10, 2019, in downtown Durham, N.C. Authorities say emergency officials are responding to an explosion and fire possibly caused by a gas leak in downtown Durham, North Carolina. (WTVD-TV Durham via AP)AP The building is occupied by Prescient Co., which said in July 2017 that it was moving its headquarters from Arvada, Colorado, and expected to employ about 60 executives, engineering and sales workers in Durham. The company uses specialized software to design and build precise materials that allow builders to assemble multi-story apartments, hotels and other commercial buildings faster and cheaper. By JONATHAN DREW, The Associated Press The fastest way to end an armed robbery spree that has hit several areas of Harrisburg is to work with police, councilwoman Ausha Green said at a council meeting Tuesday night. Six businesses have been robbed at gunpoint between Saturday evening and Monday afternoon. Capt. Gabe Olivera, who met with city council in an executive session before the legislative part of the meeting began, said the department does not have any new information to give the public. Five businesses were robbed Saturday night, and Rite Aid on Derry Street was robbed Monday afternoon. Police said the five businesses two in Midtown and three in Uptown were hit by the same group of armed robbers, but have yet to confirm whether that same group was involved in Mondays robbery. Following a robbery at Rite Aid on Derry Street, police confirmed they detained several people on Sixth Street in Uptown. Police did not identify the people or confirm any charges have been filed. Green, who sits on the citys public safety committee, said that if you see something, say something. If you have any information, please work with the police department, Green said. "Provide it to them. The more information we can get, the faster we can get dangerous people with weapons off the streets. As for communicating to the public directly, she explained that the city is "not at that stage right now. "The investigation is ongoing and we cant give all the information we have out right now, Green said. Were trying to figure out whos good and whos bad. She said she could relate to the impatience of residents and business owners, saying she understands its not always easy to trust the process. I know it can be hard, especially when youre talking about something that happened so close to home, so close to your businesses, she said. You want to hear answers right now, you want to hear that these people are off the streets, but unfortunately, life doesnt work that fast. We dont want to falsely accuse anyone or let people get away with crimes. No one was injured during any of the armed robberies. Police ask that anyone with information regarding the robberies contact Harrisburg Bureau of Police at 717-255-3162 or submit a tip through their CrimeWatch website. One of the servicemen killed in Afghanistan on Monday was a York County Marine, according to reports. Benjamin Hines, 31, was a 2006 graduate of Dallastown High School, whose death was confirmed to the York Daily Record by his father. Hines died in a Taliban attack when a roadside bomb hit a convoy near the Bagram Airfield, according to reporting from the AP. Three servicemen, including Hines and Christopher Slutman from New York, were killed, and one contractor survived. YDR reports that Slutman also has Pennsylvania ties, as his parents live in Lower Windsor Township. The third service member had not been identified by military officials as of Tuesday night. Previously reported by the AP: In their claim of responsibility, the Taliban said they launched the attack and that one of their suicide bombers detonated his explosives-laden vehicle near the NATO base. The conflicting accounts could not be immediately reconciled. On Tuesday, local Afghan officials said at least five Afghan civilians were wounded in the commotion after the attack on the American convoy. Four were passers-by and the fifth was a driver of a car going down the road, said Abdul Raqib Kohistani, the Bagram district police chief. Abdul Shakor Qudosi, the district administrative chief in Bagram, said American soldiers opened fire immediately after their convoy was bombed. Mondays U.S. fatalities bring to seven the number of U.S. soldiers killed so far this year in Afghanistan, underscoring the difficulties in bringing peace to the war-wrecked country even as Washington has stepped up efforts to find a way to end the 17-year war, Americas longest. Pennsylvania on Wednesday further advanced the debate over the reform of child sex crime laws as House lawmakers approved two key reform measures even as counterparts in the Senate introduced a third counter bill aimed at similar purposes. The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved two companion bills that respectively call for the elimination of criminal statute of limitations involving child sex crimes; and call for a constitutional amendment that would lead to a revival of expired statute of limitations. House Bill 962, sponsored by Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, would also remove sovereign immunity in civil claims, meaning that if an institution has known about child sex crimes, it would be held responsible. Meanwhile, a cadre of freshmen Democratic Senators on Wednesday introduced a bill that seemed to compete with the House bills. Senate Bill 540 would lift the statute of limitations for adults who were sexually abused at any age. Earlier in the morning, ahead of introducing the bill in his chamber, Sen. Tim Kearney, D-Chester, laid out the key points of the Senate bill at a press conference in the Capitol Rotunda attended by state officials and survivors of child sexual abuse. The Senate bill, which is being co-sponsored by the five freshmen Democratic senators, including Kearney, follows the recommended guidelines outlined in the findings of the 2018 grand jury investigation into clergy sex abuse across the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania. The Senate bill calls for the abolishment of criminal statute of limitations and a two-year revival window of expired statute of limitations. The proposal also calls for a six-month delay to allow for the completion of compensation funds already being processed. We are doing what we think is right," Kearney said. "The bill right now has all the elements we think are important and the fastest and best way forward to getting victims the help and support they need. The House bills, which are linked by an amendment - now advance to the Senate for consideration. Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, center, said he would reserve judgment on companion SOL reform House bills until they arrived in his chamber. Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.comPENNLIVE.COM Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, signaled willingness on the part of Senate leadership to consider the bills. I welcome something coming over. I have been saying that since last October, he said. Ive been waiting for something. I applaud it and as soon as we get the bills over and assigned to committee, we can start talking about how we can get something done. In September, just weeks after Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the findings of the most recent grand jury investigation, the House overwhelmingly approved a measure that would give victims of child sex abuse a retroactive two-year window in which to sue. Senate Republicans blocked that measure. Scarnati at the time argued that the retroactivity component of the measure was unconstitutional. The grand jury investigation documented the systemic sexual abuse of thousands of minors at the hands of some 300 Catholic priests. Investigators recommended abolishment of criminal statutes in cases of child sex crimes and the establishment of a retroactive two-year window. On Wednesday, ahead of his chambers session, Scarnati seemed to suggest leadership would consider all proposals, including the one calling for a constitutional amendment to establish a two-year retroactive window. Its something new, he said. I do not know what to make of that but we will take a look at it. While similar in intent, the main difference between the Senate bill and the two companion bills out of the House is that the former keeps the two main issues in the reform effort joined. The House bills splits them between two bills. Rozzis bill would eliminate the criminal statute of limitations for child sexual abuse crimes going forward. Under its provisions, future victims of abuse would have until age 55 to file lawsuits. Currently, victims have until age 30 to pursue civil lawsuits and until age 50 file criminal suits. If approved by the Senate, House bill 963, sponsored by Rep. Jim Gregory, R-Blair, would launch a referendum seeking to amend the Pennsylvania Constitution to revive expired statute of limitations. Such an amendment would pave the way for a two-year retroactive window for victims who have timed out of the legal system because of expired statutes. That proposition has been one of the main obstacles in previous efforts to reform the statute of limitations. Kearney said a constitutional amendment to establish a retroactive window was no longer necessary. He also said that there was room for compromise between the Senate bill and the House bills, although he said he would vote against the constitutional amendment bill. Kearney said he didnt necessarily oppose the House bill calling for the prospective elimination of criminal statute of limitations. We are trying to do our best to not put a delay on this, Kearney said. Having to go through a constitutional amendment process means its two to three years before we get real change. We don't have time to wait. Kearney said he and fellow Democratic freshmen senators had no assurances from the Senate Republican leadership that they would support their bill. We are grabbing the bully pulpit because we can and we are trying to push this forward in a way we think makes sense, Kearney said. He added that Sen. Katie Muth, D-Montgomery, has had many discussions about the bill with Scarnati, but that he had no insights as to how the Senates top-ranking member felt about the new proposal. It is difficult to tell, Kearney said. Pennsylvania Victims Advocate Jennifer Storm said the Senate bill reinvigorated the effort to reform the statute of limitations. Storm, who has voiced opposition to the idea of splitting the issues in the pair of House bills, said that over the years, the efforts to reform the laws had left out adult survivors. This bill is for all survivors of sex abuse and trauma, she said. Storm noted the importance of the issues revolving around reform remain in one bill. To split them would amount to "denying people justice and well be allowing predators to continue to walk among us free. The Senate bill is roughly modeled after legislative measures recently enacted in New York and New Jersey. Storm stressed the importance of not splitting the issues among two bills. She reiterated that the process of a constitutional amendment takes time, and there currently is no commitment from Senate leadership that such a proposal has its backing. Without a window for justice we are just prospectively moving forward and not doing anything to account for all grand juries we had and all grand jurors that have continuously made this recommendation time and time again, Storm said. We would be dishonoring them, if we remove that portion from the bill or changed it in some way. She said she hoped that the Senate would give the three bills "meaningful consideration." Kearney was joined at the press conference by other Democratic lawmakers, as well as Shapiro and University of Pennsylvania law professor Marci Hamilton, a national advocate for the reform of child sex crime laws. Hamilton excoriated the Pennsylvania Legislature for its failure to over the years to reform its child sex crime laws. A man was taken away from an East Pennsboro High School wrestling event after police said he became unruly, including assaulting a school resource officer. Lamont Maddox, 40, of Harrisburg, was asked to leave the school on March 10 after someone reported smelling like marijuana, East Pennsboro Township police said. Maddox refused to leave and school police officers tried to stop him from going into the gym where a wrestling event was going on, police said. When police arrived shortly after 2p.m., a large crowd was in front of the gymnasium, with uniformed school police pointing out Maddox as the unruly visitor. Police describe two assaults to officers during the course of their efforts to detain Maddox: At one point, Maddox attempted to punch an officer that was trying to keep him from the gym, hitting the officer in the chest, police said. After being detained, police said Maddox lunged at a school police officer in an aggressive manner, and ended up head-butting the officer in the nose, police said. Maddox was escorted to the back of a police car, but required several officers to control him and get him into the vehicle, police said. Court dockets show Maddox was charged with aggravated assault, criminal trespass, defiant trespass, simple assault, resisting arrest and two summary offenses. Maddox was arraigned on March 10, and released after posting a bond for his $20,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 24. Members of the House of Representatives and Senate gathered on Wednesday for a solemn ceremony in the House chambers to honor the victims of last Octobers Tree of Life synagogue mass shooting. Having both chambers gather for a joint session outside of a governors budget message is rare. In fact, House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny County, noted the last time it happened was on Sept. 25, 2001, to remember those whose lives were lost in the 9/11 terroristic attacks. That is the gravity with which we are treating what happened in Pittsburgh, Pa., on October 27, 2018, he said to a chamber packed full with members of three Tree of Life congregations, victims family members, first responders who answered the call that day, and state dignitaries including Gov. Tom Wolf. That day brought what has been described as the deadliest rampage against a Jewish community in the United States. A gunman stormed into the Tree of Life where worshippers had gathered on that Saturday morning in separate rooms of the synagogue and opened fire with his AR-15-style assault rifle and Glock .357 handguns. Shouting anti-Semitic slurs, the alleged shooter Robert Bowers, 46, fired shots indiscriminately, killing 11 people and wounding six others, including four police officers shot during a gun battle with Bowers. Bowers faces 63 federal charges, including 22 that are punishable by death. Eleven of them relate to hate crimes resulting in death. The House and Senate both voted on Wednesday on identical resolutions that remembered the victims and established the day as Stronger than Hate Day in honor of the individuals impacted by the mass shooting. May this day bring you a measure of comfort as we remember your loved ones and consider their legacies. The strength you have shown as you walked through this painful time in the public eye has been a lesson to the world. Hatred caused this group of people immeasurable pain but what we have seen from you is grace, said Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny County, who grew up and lives in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh where the synagogue is located. Along with other legislative leaders who spoke, Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, commented on the how the world came together to condemn the horrific shooting and stand in solidarity with the victims. What grew out of this tragedy is something far greater than hate," he said. The outpouring of love and support for the victims and their families was nothing short of remarkable. Gov. Tom Wolf issued a statement calling people to continue to combat hatred and bigotry. We must continue to reject antisemitism, white nationalism and any kind of bigotry, he said in the statement. "We must continue to be a Commonwealth that welcomes people, no matter where they come from. " Here is the full text of the governors statement: For Frances and I, the profound tragedy of the Tree of Life shooting continues to weigh heavily on our minds and souls, even these months later. But we continue to be inspired by the ways in which the people of Pittsburgh came and stood together in the face of hatred and violence. We owe a debt of gratitude to all those who chose love over hate. A dark and despicable act inspired thousands to reach out and find ways to lift up their grieving and terrified neighbors. There were too many inspiring moments and acts of kindness to count. We must continue to work together to combat hatred and promote kindness. We must continue to put politics aside and work together to make sure we protect the people of Pennsylvania. I thank the House and the Senate for coming together today to honor these victims. While solving these challenges will not be easy, the work is essential for our Commonwealth to truly reflect our values. Discover Lancaster has canceled its annual meeting that was to be held Thursday at the Star Barn venue in Elizabethtown, according to media reports. The Star Barn has a policy against same-sex and non-Christian couples from holding weddings at the venue, prompting backlash from the community. A rally scheduled by Lancaster Stands Up will still take place at 11 a.m. Thursday on the square in Elizabethtown; it would have coincided with the meeting. WPMT reported that the board of directors for Discover Lancaster issued a statement that the meeting was canceled, citing the recent dialogue surrounding the event. The statement says it is unlikely that this years Annual Meeting will be able to fulfill its purpose of celebrating our tourism community and our award winners, because of the escalating media and online discussion regarding the event. In canceling the event, we hope to create some time and space for future opportunities where the industry can discuss its differing perspectives on this matter in a respectful and productive manner, the statement ends. Lancaster Stands Up spokesman J. Eric Fisher released a statement the group was thrilled by the victory but that the rally would go on as planned. This was never simply about Discover Lancaster or The Star Barn, Fisher said. The rally will be held to raise awareness for statewide and federal protections for the LGBTQ+ community. This post has been corrected to fix the name of Lancaster Stands Up. A protest is to be held in Elizabethtown on Thursday over the Star Barn venues policy against hosting same-sex weddings and a business organizations decision to have its meeting there anyway. Stone Gables Estate, which runs both the Star Barn and Ironstone Ranch in Elizabethtown, Lancaster County, has a policy barring reservations for same-gender weddings. Owner David Abel says they go against his religious convictions, which hold that marriage is between a man and a woman. A retired Lancaster educator who has attended functions at the Star Barn learned of the policy and took Stone Gables to task on Facebook. Never again will I step on (their) grounds, wrote Steven Dinnocenti, who is gay and married. What one does not know is the blatant discrimination they have towards the LGBTQ community. Discover Lancaster, the countys main tourism organization, is holding its annual meeting at lunchtime Thursday at the Star Barn. It sent an email to members saying it chose Star Barn for the meeting long before the controversy, and officials understand if some members dont want to attend, LNP reported. "We regret if our choice of the Star Barn for this event has inadvertently caused pain or misunderstanding within any element of our tourism community or beyond," Discover Lancaster's communications director, Joel Cliff, said in a statement to LNP. "As an industry, our aim is to welcome all and promote all. The same is true for this event." An anti-discrimination group, Lancaster Stands Up, is holding a public protest to coincide with the meeting. The protest will be held from 11 a.m. to noon Thursday at the Elizabethtown square, 1 North Market Street. Last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, finding the states civil rights commission showed anti-religious bias when it ruled against the baker for refusing to make the cake. The Supreme Court decision, however, didn't address the larger issue of whether a business can invoke religious objections to refuse service to gay and lesbian people. The historic 1877 Star Barn and its ancillary structures were moved in 2016 from their former home in Lower Swatara Township to the 275-acre Stone Gables Estate and opened for business in July 2018. The site includes several event venues. A 17-year-old from North Carolina has admitted to participating in five of six recent armed robberies of city businesses, according to court documents. Kyzaih McHenry, of Conover, N.C., told police he was involved in a string of five robberies on Saturday night that happened within a two-hour span, according to a criminal complaint. Police continue to look for three other unnamed individuals in the Saturday robberies, the complaint states. McHenry is also one of three suspects charged in a separate armed robbery of a Rite Aid around 2:45 p.m. Monday. A criminal complaint for the Rite Aid robbery does not indicate McHenry admitted any involvement in that crime to police. Police have also charged David Rinehardt, 19, of Statesville, N.C., and Childes Neely, 27, of Harrisburg, in the Rite Aid robbery. Police are also looking for two other unnamed individuals in connection with the Rite Aid robbery, according to court documents. The robberies shook city residents, with some saying it changed their perception of city streets. Surveillance footage from the Saturday robbery of the Sayford supermarket shows three individuals entering the store with firearms and pointing them at customers and employees. They are also seen leaving with money and other items from the store. Harrisburg police declined comment Wednesday, citing the ongoing investigation. McHenry, of Conover, N.C., faces five counts of robbery, one count of conspiracy, five counts of recklessly endangering another person, and five counts of possession of a firearm by a minor in the string of Saturday robberies. Police said in a criminal complaint that McHenry admitted that he was involved in the robberies of the following locations: Beer King on Division Street Als Cafe on Verbeke Street Sayford Market on North 3rd Street Los Brothers Market on Moore Street V&E Market on North 6th Street McHenry and three other unknown individuals robbed the five establishments between 7:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Saturday, according to the criminal complaint. McHenry and the other individuals were carrying firearms, one of which was an AR-15-style rifle that was put against someones head during one of the robberies, according to the complaint. The suspects took money and personal items from several people during the robberies, the complaint states. Court records state McHenry was arraigned on his charges Tuesday and was remanded to Dauphin County Prison. In the Rite Aid robbery, the suspects entered the drugstore with firearms and demanded prescription drugs and money from the cash register, police said. McHenry, Rinehardt and Neely are each charged with two counts of robbery in the Rite Aid incident, according to a criminal complaint. Bail was denied for Rinehardt and McHenry, due to the threat of public safety and since they each live in North Carolina, according to court dockets. Bail was also denied for Neely as he previously violated the terms of two prior bails, court documents state. All three have been remanded to Dauphin County Prison. Anyone with information can contact the Harrisburg Bureau of Police at 717-558-6900. At Tuesdays city council meeting, Councilwoman Ausha Green urged residents to contact police if they have information that can help their investigation. If you have any information, please work with the police department, Green said. "Provide it to them. The more information we can get, the faster we can get dangerous people with weapons off the streets. Two Marines with ties to central Pennsylvania were killed in Afghanistan this week, and Pennsylvania lawmakers honored their service and sacrifice Wednesday. The state House of Representatives offered a moment of silence for Sgt. Ben Hines and Staff Sgt. Christopher K.A. Slutman. They were members of the Second Battalion, 25th Marines of Harrisburg. Hines, 31, was a York County resident and Dallastown High School graduate. Slutman, 43, was a Delaware resident whose parents live in York County. Another Marine, Cpl. Robert A. Hendriks, 25, of New York, was also killed in the attack. State Rep. Frank Ryan, a Lebanon County Republican and retired Marine Reserve colonel, paid tribute to the Marines from a Harrisburg-based unit killed in Afghanistan. Sgt. Ben Hines and Staff Sgt. Christopher K.A. Slutman were killed in a bomb blast Monday. State Rep. Frank Ryan, a Lebanon County Republican and a retired Marine Reserve colonel, called the deaths of the Marines a tremendous misfortune. Ryan said the roadside bombing that killed the Marines took place along a road he helped to open when he served in Afghanistan in 2002. Ryan asked House members to remember the Marines families and keep them in their prayers. Every single service member in the Marines in front of me served with recognition that we may give our lives and were honored to do it, Ryan said. But for these three Marines and for their families, may we forever hold them in ... our hearts because we as Marines firmly believe that they are Marines forever. We will take care of them forever. State Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill, R-York, posted a tribute to the Marines on Facebook. 2006 Dallastown grad & U.S. Marine Benjamin Hines and U.S. Marine Christopher Slutman, whose parents live in the 28th District, tragically lost their lives due to a roadside bomb near their military base in Afghanistan," she wrote. "This is a somber and horrible reminder that our freedoms that many of us take for granted are not free. We lift up the families, especially the children, spouses, and parents of these brave Americans, in our prayers tonight and in the trying days, weeks, and months ahead, she added. We are eternally grateful for Benjamin and Christopher for answering our nations call. U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, a York County Republican who earned the rank of Brigadier General in the Army National Guard, wrote on Twitter the three Marines gave the last full measure in the name of our freedom. We grieve with their families, loved ones & communities. Rest easy, Marines, said Perry. Thank you & may God Bless You. By RAHIM FAIEZ Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) U.S. forces in Afghanistan revised on Tuesday the death toll from a Taliban attack the previous day near the main American base in the country, saying three service members were killed but not a contractor who was initially reported among the fatalities. The U.S. and NATO Resolute Support mission issued a statement "to clarify initial reporting" about Monday's roadside bombing of an American convoy near the main U.S. base. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. According to a U.S. official, all three service members killed were Marines. The mission said a roadside bomb hit the convoy near the Bagram Airfield, killing three American service members, and that "the contractor who was reported as killed, is alive." The statement said "the contractor, an Afghan citizen, was initially treated along with other injured civilians, later identified as a contractor and treated at Bagram Airfield." Three other U.S. service members were also wounded in the attack. The base in Bagram district is located in northern Parwan province and serves as the main U.S. air facility in the country. The wounded were evacuated and are receiving medical care, the statement said. It added that in accordance with U.S. Department of Defense policy, the names of service members killed in action were being withheld until after the notification of next of kin. Christopher Slutman, a 15-year New York City fire department member, was among the three Marines killed. He leaves behind his wife, Shannon, and three daughters. "Firefighter Slutman bravely wore two uniforms and committed his life to public service both as a New York City firefighter and as a member of the United States Marine Corps," Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said in a written statement. In their claim of responsibility, the Taliban said they launched the attack and that one of their suicide bombers detonated his explosives-laden vehicle near the NATO base. The conflicting accounts could not be immediately reconciled. On Tuesday, local Afghan officials said at least five Afghan civilians were wounded in the commotion after the attack on the American convoy. Four were passers-by and the fifth was a driver of a car going down the road, said Abdul Raqib Kohistani, the Bagram district police chief. Abdul Shakor Qudosi, the district administrative chief in Bagram, said American soldiers opened fire immediately after their convoy was bombed. Monday's U.S. fatalities bring to seven the number of U.S. soldiers killed so far this year in Afghanistan, underscoring the difficulties in bringing peace to the war-wrecked country even as Washington has stepped up efforts to find a way to end the 17-year war, America's longest. There are about 14,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan, supporting embattled Afghan forces as they struggle on two fronts facing a resurgent Taliban who now hold sway over almost half the country and also the Islamic State affiliate, which has sought to expand its footprint in Afghanistan even as its self-proclaimed "caliphate" has crumbled in Syria and Iraq. Last year, 13 U.S. service members were killed in Afghanistan. The Taliban have continued to carry out daily attacks on Afghan security forces despite holding several rounds of peace talks with the United States in recent months. The Taliban have refused to meet with the Afghan government, which they view as a U.S. puppet. Meanwhile, the Taliban have agreed to take part in an all-Afghan gathering later this month in Qatar, where the insurgents maintain a political office. But the Taliban say they will not recognize any government official attending the gathering as a representative of the Kabul government, only as an individual Afghan participant. Police in Lower Allen Township have released more details on two women they believe took nearly 2000 pairs of panties from the Victorias Secret lingerie store in the Capital City Mall. Two women pulled off the theft in a two-minute span around 3 p.m. Sunday, according to police. The suspects took all the panties on the front display and all the ones in the drawers below the display while the employees were busy with other customers, police said in a CrimeWatch post. The total estimated value of the stolen panties is $21,000. Police said one thief is described as a black woman wearing a black T-shirt, black pants and white sneakers. The second is described as a Hispanic woman with blonde hair in a bun. She was last seen wearing a black T-shirt with an emblem on the front, black pants and sneakers. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Lower Allen Township Police Department at 717-975-7575. The Republican Party took control because President Trump was duly elected president-elect of the United States on Nov. 5, 2018. No matter what were his stated goals, he was elected by the people of this great nation. Interesting to note that the writer of the above letter would state No individual anywhere should be allowed to dictate or influence the life choice or decisions made by anyone or penalize them for those decisions. Of course the above quote doesnt apply to the leftist socialist agenda, (e.g. The New Green Deal & open borders), but only to Right Wing Conservative values. Just like free speech only seems to apply if it is against Constitutional Values. Remember the rioting in Berkeley when Conservative Milo Yaiannopoulos tried to speak on Feb. 01, 2017? Oh yes, OK to destroy campus property and private property . . . that doesnt count, as long as it makes a statement for the left. After all, free speech only applies to the left. I dont understand leftist values! I dont attempt to understand them. Its worrisome that people would want to tear down the constitution of this country: the document that defines our national identity. Mike Ouchis, Lower Paxton Township You may read about them in the newspaper or see them along local roads, plowing snow in the winter or patching potholes in the spring. Theyre your township supervisors and staff, and while you may not know them personally, these public servants show up each and every day with one goal in mind: to build a better community for you, your family, and your neighbors. As Pennsylvania celebrates Local Government Week, April 8-12, this is the perfect opportunity for you to better understand the critical role your township and its officials play in the commonwealths governing system. Established to be a direct reflection and representation of the people who live there, townships are places where residents when they choose to have a voice in what happens, where every expenditure is scrutinized, and where services provided dont exceed what the community needs or can afford. In other words, townships are full-service, grassroots-driven communities overseen by your neighbors, who are dedicated to meeting your needs. A system that makes sense Since its inception, Pennsylvania has had three levels of government: state, county, and local. This structure, which the Founding Fathers based on a division of labor, made sense then and makes even more sense now. In fact, the commonwealths governing system is a lot like a telescope. Open it wide and youll see the states big-picture view. Narrow the focus a bit and youve got the countys regional perspective. Narrow the focus even more and youll see what townships see: the local side of things. And each of these levels of government has distinct duties and priorities. In the early days, for instance, township supervisors primarily oversaw the maintenance of local roads. And while this continues to be one of their top priorities, township supervisors today have many more responsibilities. Jacks of all trades, township supervisors in the 21st century are hands-on local leaders who must be well-schooled in a wide range of complex issues, such as land use management, budgeting, transportation planning, and public safety concerns. And because they live and may even work in the communities they represent, township supervisors are on call around the clock. In fact, its not unusual for supervisors to field phone calls from residents during dinner and to plow roads at night and into the early hours of the morning. Just imagine, though, what it would be like if your township didnt exist and your community was managed by a larger, centralized government. Under this scenario, which has been proposed in the past, you would not be able to turn to a neighbor for help. Instead, you would have to approach a more distant group of elected leaders some of whom may be familiar with your community; most of whom may not and compete against a much larger pool of individuals to get your voice heard and needs met. Local democracy, as you know it, would be lost and replaced with a bigger and more sluggish way of governing. So as we celebrate Local Government Week, heres something to keep in mind: Township government isnt just another layer of government; its the critical layer, the foundation. Its the one that represents you and your family, lives within its budget, and provides the services youve asked for nothing more and nothing less. And the next time youre out and about, take a good look around your township and realize that all the good things you see the parks, the well-maintained roads, and the safe environment to raise a family are possible because your local leaders, your neighbors, had a vision and turned it into a reality for you. David M. Sanko is executive director of the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors. Health department urges residents 16-older to receive Pfizer booster Following CDC approval, the Health Department of Northwest Michigan is urging anyone age 16 and older to now get their Pfizer booster vaccine. The Philadelphia Theatre Company presented its 2018-19 season this year after a yearlong hiatus to regroup under new leadership. Its 2019-20 season is being criticized for insufficient diversity. MICHAEL BRYANT / Staff Photographer Read more Nineteen members of the local theater community posted an open letter on Facebook on Tuesday taking aim at the Philadelphia Theatre Company. Titled No More All-White Seasons, the letter praises the current 2018-19 season for its diversity then condemns a lack of it in the theaters upcoming 2019-20 season. In the process, it points to the sometimes acrimonious diversity debate underway at local and national theaters. Written by writer-producers Elaina Di Monaco and Haygen-Brice Walker, cofounders of the On the Rocks theater company, the letter laments that all three plays for PTCs next season are by white playwrights, although the theater touts its selections as representing change and diversity. The signers, including Philly standouts such as actor-playwright James Ijames, identified themselves as being from a range of racial, ethnic, and gender identities. The letter said that as one of the biggest theaters in the city, PTC has a commitment to highlight stories that speak to the racial diversity of the Philadelphia community at large. And selecting three plays by white writers is not honoring this commitment. Paige Price, producing artistic director at PTC, said her company was blindsided by the letter. It was sent to every staff member at PTC on Tuesday morning, then posted on Facebook two hours later. Price said, I had not heard from anyone prior to that. Price was hired in 2017, with the theater reportedly $1 million in debt. She immediately decided to take it semi-dark, not mounting any full-blown productions for the 2017-18 season, and she cleared the debt. In the current comeback season, Price made a promise of diversity and kept it, with plays such as Sweat by Lynn Nottage and How to Catch Creation by Christina Anderson. Both are by African American women, and both productions were notably diverse. The three plays for next season are A Small Fire by Adam Bock (Oct. 18 to Nov. 10), Everything Is Wonderful by Chelsea Marcantel (Feb. 14 to March 8, 2020), and Wolves by Sarah DeLappe (March 27 to April 19, 2020). All three writers are white. Di Monaco identifies as a white queer cisgender woman. She praised Prices past work. I know PTC is going through a period of change, and she has made some impressive decisions, she said. But when I saw the new season, I said, This is not inclusion or diversity. Its like theyre saying, Were going to do the bare minimum. Were not going to produce a single person of color. But well put a badge of honor on ourselves and skip into the night. Walker, her co-writer, who identifies as a Latino cisgender queer man, said, Its not enough to have diverse casts on stage. Its about whos in your building every day as a full-time staff member. Do you have any people of color, any trans or gender-nonconforming people, in a power position? The letter asks eight pointed questions about the PTC selection process, including How many artists of color, [gender-nonconforming], or trans people currently sit on your season selection committee? and How many full-time staff members do you have who are POC and or LGBTQ? That message resonated with the signees. One of them is Jarrett McCreary, who told The Inquirer, As a black gay man, a writer and educator, I always ask not just, Do you hire diversity? but also, Where? Are they in the front office? Do they have executive status? Why are actors not enough? Because you run the risk, if theyre only on stage, of tokenizing these marginalized voices, McCreary said. True diversity has to be organization-wide. Price said that message resonates with her, too. These conversations are a large part of what our industry, here and nationally, is talking about, she said. Its a systemic issue. She granted that her staff is not as representative as one would hope and that, while the board did add a person of color recently, she has not been able to fill two recent full-time slots. All three plays for next season are about women and their stories," she said, "something that is very important to us. In the end, were not going to do all the things in all the shows that we want to do. But we can hold those goals really high. She offered to meet with the writers and signers of the letter. Price also stressed that PTC is an example of a problem theaters nationally are facing: How to diversify both the plays you show and the audience for them and still make money? Walker said he sympathizes but stands firm. Just because youre dealing with a company in financial turmoil, he said, you dont get off the hook. Emily Walden, who lost her son, TJ, to an opioid overdose in 2012, is photographed in her home in Louisville, Ky. TJs portrait hangs above the mantel. Read more As Emily Walden watched her son struggling with addiction to the opioid Opana, one place she turned to for help was the company that made it: Endo Pharmaceuticals. She wrote to Endo in 2011. She heard back a year later. The corporate email arrived one month after I buried my son, Walden said. His name was TJ, hed served in the Kentucky National Guard, and he was first prescribed painkillers at age 11, after a surgery. He became addicted at 17. Endo, which now has U.S. headquarters in Malvern, thanked Walden for contacting the company the previous year to discuss or report an adverse event(s) from taking Opana. Endo wanted more details on what shed observed, so it could report the information to the Food and Drug Administration. Five years later and engulfed in nationwide lawsuits and investigations about the marketing of opioids Endo suddenly began to tell the FDA about a tidal wave of fatalities associated with Opana, and painkillers made by other companies. From November 2017 through August 2018, Endo reported 20,115 deaths to the FDA, a review of the agencys public database of adverse events shows. Before 2017, the company reported approximately 250 deaths, over a 10-year stretch, in which Opana was a suspect drug. The thousands of deaths span roughly two decades, and entries for individual fatalities, in some cases, list more than a dozen different opioids. Endo began submitting the reports two months after it voluntarily pulled Opana ER, a top-selling painkiller, from the market following a 2017 request by the FDA to do so, because of abuse. Together, Opana and Opana ER, first launched in 2006, generated more than $2 billion in sales. The batches of reports represent some of the information being pried loose amid roughly 2,000 lawsuits against opioid makers and distributors. Counties in Pennsylvania and across the U.S. along with Native American tribes, labor unions, individuals, and state attorneys general have all filed suit. Both Endo and the FDA acknowledged the increase in reports, and attributed the spike to the litigation. Reports dont necessarily mean theres a causal link between the product and the outcome. Endo said it submitted the reports out of an abundance of caution, even though in most events reported, it wasnt clear whether its own products allegedly caused harm, the company said. The influx of reports also highlights shortcomings of how the U.S. tracks safety risks and outcomes for FDA-approved drugs. The FDA itself cautions that the database, known as FAERS, can reflect underreporting and overreporting of events, as well as duplicates, and incomplete information about what happened. In 2017, the agency put an interactive version of the data online, in hopes of attracting more detailed reports from consumers and doctors. Drug manufacturers have to tell the FDA about adverse events if they learn of those outcomes. But they dont have to actively look for them, said Thomas Moore, a senior scientist at the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) in Horsham. When it comes to therapeutic drugs, including opioids, we do an abysmal job of monitoring deaths related to drugs in the country, Moore said. As municipalities have filed lawsuits, some have included allegations about the number of people who died in connection with opioids. Endo said more suits started coming in 2017, and the company reviewed them for potential adverse-event reporting to the FDA. For a period of time, in an abundance of caution, Endos pharmacovigilance department reported each complaint to the FDA, even though most of the complaints did not identify or distinguish between harm allegedly caused by Endo products and harm allegedly caused by other manufacturers products," company spokesperson Heather Zoumas Lubeski said in an emailed statement. "It is this practice which accounts for the observed spike in adverse event reporting. The company, Zoumas Lubeski added, is vigorously defending these lawsuits, denies that it has any liability to the plaintiffs, and continues to work with the FDA to submit appropriate reports. Waldens correspondence from the company in 2012 is referenced in a Kentucky attorney general suit against Endo. What bothered me so much about this email is why werent they reporting these issues to the FDA? she said. It shouldnt take over a year for that to happen. The company declined to comment on the litigation. Endo which also makes the opioid Percocet has publicized other changes in light of the opioid crisis: It got rid of its U.S. sales force for pain products, and says on its website that it discontinued the research and development of new opioid products. The opioid litigation is but one of the challenges Endo is facing, amid what CEO Paul Campanelli has deemed a multiyear turnaround plan. Its annual revenue fell 15 percent last year, to just under $3 billion, and the company has forecast that 2019 revenue will stay about the same. Meanwhile, it is carrying substantial debt, north of $8 billion, after a string of acquisitions one of which, American Medical Systems, later saddled the company with costly product liability claims over implanted vaginal mesh. A Morningstar analyst note last month said the combination of the companys high debt, settlement payments for the mesh cases, and potential liability from opioid suits made bankruptcy a plausible scenario. The FDA said drug companies are required to report adverse events for their products if they become aware of them through lawsuits, and if the reports meet the bar for a minimum amount of data. The majority of the recent reports submitted by Endo Pharmaceuticals with a fatal outcome are from lawsuits, including multiple class action lawsuits from across the U.S., said FDA spokesperson Amanda Turney. The reports, she said, describe the deaths as a result of both prescribed and nonmedical opioid use. Asked if the volume of reports raised any concerns at the agency, Turney said: FDA does not solely focus on the volume of adverse event reports received for a particular drug as a measure of risk; we also rely on the quality of information. The reports contain few details, observed Moore, whose group analyzes adverse-event data submitted to the FDA. Using ISMPs own database, he looked at a collection of 15,475 reports for oxymorphone, the opioid in Opana ER, for the 12 months ended in the third quarter of 2018. Ninety-one percent of them are vague, meaning it lacks age or gender, Moore said. Such reports wouldnt meet ISMPs quality standards for a minimally complete report. Its indicative of poor-quality industry reporting, of which there are many examples," he said. ISMP has previously raised concerns to the FDA about how deaths are reported, and, in a 2015 analysis, critiqued FAERS for suffering from a flood of low quality reports from drug manufacturers." Companies might also be afraid of getting caught in a regulatory violation if they dont report. The way regulations work now, were getting the worst of both possible worlds: A burden on manufacturers to report patient deaths where the drug may not have contributed, and on the other hand, a lack of adequate information on deaths we should really be concerned about," Moore said. Opioids are their own special case. With opioids," he said, we pretty much know from all our other sources that this is a very serious problem, but sometimes we dont. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that, between 1999 and 2017, nearly 218,000 overdose deaths were related to prescription opioids. Drugmakers do have to create written procedures for monitoring adverse experiences, the FDA said. But the agency also said that its revising post-marketing safety reporting requirements, for drugs in general, and that it is very interested in improving the quality of information reported to FAERS. In 2014, the City of Chicago became one of the first local governments to sue opioid makers. The suit accused Endo and others of downplaying the risk of addiction, even as they had access to data including adverse-event reports that demonstrated the widening epidemic of opioid abuse and addiction. The Chicago suit has since been consolidated with about 1,600 opioid cases in federal court in Cleveland, where the first trial is scheduled to start in October. Endo allegedly gave millions of dollars in grants, and used speaker programs and front groups to spread the message that Opana had a low risk of addiction. In 2016, the company reached a $200,000 settlement with the New York Attorney Generals Office, which found that Endo trained its sales reps to distinguish addiction from pseudoaddiction a concept that has never been empirically validated. Endos history with oxymorphone dates back to 1959, when it launched the painkiller as Numorphan. Problems with abuse surfaced the following decade. The company stopped marketing a tablet version in 1971, and officially withdrew it from the market in 1982, citing commercial reasons, according to the FDA. Of note, there were anecdotal reports of abuse by injection of Numorphan tablets in the 1960s and early 70s, an FDA official testified at a March 2017 advisory committee meeting, where members were weighing the abuse risk of Opana. By that time, intravenous abuse of Opana ER had been linked to cases of a blood disorder, and to what another FDA official described as an unprecedented HIV outbreak in rural Indiana. The committee voted that the benefits of the drug no longer outweighed the risks, and the FDA later requested its removal from the market. Walden provided testimony at the 2017 advisory meeting as well, and she asked Kentuckys now-attorney general while he was running for the office to investigate the company. Shes on a mission, she said. Endo is the only company that had this drug on the market previously, and knew what was going to happen, she said, referencing Numorphans history. Profits came before human life. Her sons birthday was on Tuesday. Drexel design and merchandising professor Alphonso McClendon walked through the small, colorful space at the Center City Macys on Wednesday, taking it all in. There was a 500-piece puzzle of a succulent garden for $15.99 and an $18 basil growing kit. There was also a $17 Bad Ideas journal and $18.50 Stay Woke mug along with $2 bracelets and $100 headphones. McClendon has been researching how retailers are responding to the changing shopping landscape to provide customers more of an experience. In the past, he said, stores could just display products. Now, they need to entertain and educate customers at the same time. The section he was walking through was Story at Macys, a narrative approach to retailing, as the name suggests, which launched Wednesday in 36 stores across 15 states. The offerings at the Macys in Center City included more than 400 products from small businesses and major companies, such as MAC Cosmetics, Crayola, and Levis Kids. In a brazen bid for foot traffic, Story at Macys also presented socks in a beer can, bath bombs, a silk pillowcase, a paint chip poetry card game, a collapsible cup, a luggage tag that doubles as a charger, a Unicorn Snot glitter gel, and a book on nutrition. The store-in-store concept comes as Macys and other retailers are facing stagnant or falling sales in their brick-and-mortar stores as consumers increasingly migrate to online shopping. "I dont think physical stores are dead, but as more routinized purchases are made online, people are going to seek more reasons to go into the store, said Barbara Kahn, a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School. Last year, Macys Inc. acquired Story, the New York City-based concept store that changed its design and products every few weeks so customers were continuously discovering new items. The first theme at Story at Macys is color, bringing customers a rainbow assortment of products and events. Crayola will be hosting workshops, including creating custom patches with fabric markers for Levis Kids denim jackets and Ts, the company said in a news release. Macys plans on doing five to six theme changes a year, and Story at Macys does not have an online shopping option at this time. This first theme is scheduled to last through June 26. The Story at Macys experience feels a lot like a real-life version of scrolling through Instagram," Rachel Shechtman, founder of Story and now Macys brand experience officer, said in the news release. In Philadelphia, McClendon said more young professionals are moving in, and the city is responding with commercial and residential development. Philadelphia-based PREIT and Macerich of Santa Monica, Calif., have teamed up to redevelop the former Gallery into the Fashion District, spanning three city blocks and comprising 838,000 square feet of retail, all scheduled to launch in September. Theres also the Collins project at 11th and Chestnut Streets, with rental units and retail space, among other development. >>READ MORE: Retailers are looking beyond Rittenhouse Square, expanding Center Citys shopping district east The new generation wants small, unique experiences that are curated, McClendon said. This space at Macys will contribute to what he called a more hip, edgy East Market. For Macys Inc., a Cincinnati-based department store company, Story is more of a way for the department store to change its image, said David Swartz, an equity analyst at Morningstar Research Services LLC., who visited the space at Macys State Street in Chicago, where his firm is based. Story at Macys, Swartz said, seems like a way to generate interest in the department store and increase foot traffic. Even if customers dont buy products at Story, they may continue throughout the store and find something else. Its a little, tiny part of a department store, Swartz said, describing the 1,400-square-foot Story. The sales that they get from Story will be immaterial. The benefit to them is that it could attract people to go in more often. The problem is people dont go to department stores as often as they used to." Macys Inc. operates Macys, Bloomingdales, Bloomingdales the Outlet, Macys Backstage, and Bluemercury. There were 649 Macys stores at the end of 2018, compared with 673 in 2016, according to the companys latest annual report. In comparison, there were 55 Bloomingdales and 163 Bluemercury stores in 2018, the report states, totaling 867 stores for the company. Macys has launched initiatives to improve its stores, such as a virtual reality roll-out and a Growth 50 strategy, investing in 50 stores across the country with infrastructure improvements and customer-service enhancements. >>READ MORE: Two Philly-area Macys get personal shopping service, virtual reality added elsewhere However, there are many other things Macys needs to get shoppers back to its stores, said Neil Saunders, managing director of retail at research firm GlobalData. The companys stock hit a high in August of $40.54 a share but has since dropped; the share price closed Wednesday at $24.76 a share. Total net sales growth for Macys year over year were negative 2.5 percent; comparable sales growth year over year, for owned stores only, eked out a 0.4 percent increase, Saunders outlined in a February note, calling the companys pace of advancing glacial." During the holiday season, for example, Saunders wrote that the stores had virtually no holiday cheer and were crammed full of boring merchandise. This unpleasant and uninspiring shopping environment meant Macys lost out on footfall and sales." As far as Story at Macys, Saunders said, Its a step in the right direction, but it doesnt win them the race. These Macys stores are getting Story: When young Black-ish star Marsai Martin saw the movie Big, she fell in love with it, and mentioned to her producer that shed like to star in a remake, with a few modifications. That pitch is now a movie, Little one that shows Martin to be not only a crafty actress, but a young woman with shrewd career instincts that point to a long and fruitful run in Hollywood. In her version of Big, for instance, the premise of a teen in a grown-ups body is reversed, giving Martin a chance to occupy the centerpiece role in the case a mercilessly competitive businesswoman hit with a magic spell that has her in the body of a middle school girl. When we first meet Jordan Sanders (Regina Hall), shes the tyrannical owner of a software business. A frequent target is her assistant April (Issa Rae). One of Aprils transgressions: violating Jordans no-carbs policy. When Jordan sees a little girl selling doughnuts in the parking lot, she treats her rudely, and the girl, an amateur magician, waves her magic wand in anger. The next day, Jordan wakes up back in adolescence. While Big carried a sometimes wistful tone, Little plays this body-switch as broad comedy and benefits from the timing and chemistry of Hall and Rae in these early scenes Hall as the status-obsessed temperamental corporate diva, Rae doing some deft, under-her-breath counterpunching as the put-upon April. Rachel Dratch has a funny scene as the child protective services worker who wants to know why little Jordan is living alone in a penthouse apartment, and why she is not enrolled anywhere as a student. Soon Jordan is back in her old middle school, where humiliating events more than two decades ago left a mean-girls mark and transformed her into the sometimes ruthless woman she would become. In school, Jordan finds that things have not improved and interactions with the dominant tween bee leave her right back where she started. April, meanwhile, is running the business, which may go bankrupt unless she can retain a big client. Director Tina Gordon Chism keeps these plates spinning, and characterizations (Hall and Martin match up nicely) are more precisely aligned than the recent body-switcher Shazam! It all makes for an efficient and effective first half, but Little bogs down when Jordan reaches middle school. A subplot that has her bonding with a group of nerds slows things considerably (theres a shopping spree scene that doesnt seem to belong), and concludes with a sequence that indicates that in addition to Big, someone was also a fan of Napoleon Dynamite. Also, the idea that little Jordans response to attractive older men is guided by her inner adult yields some creepy-funny laughs that many will find mostly creepy. Little. Directed by Tina Gordon Chism. With Regina Hall, Issa Rae, Marsai Martin, Rachel Dratch, and Tone Bell. Distributed by Universal Pictures. Running time: 1 hour, 19 mins. Parents guide: PG-13 (suggestive content) Playing at: Area theaters Photos of three of Cosmo DiNardo's victims (from left) Jimi Tar Patrick, Dean A. Finocchiaro, and Thomas C. Meo, rest behind their families and lawyers at a March 5, 2018, press conference in Philadelphia. The cable network Investigation Discovery is planning a two-part special on the case, called "The Lost Boys of Bucks County." Read more Investigation Discovery cant seem to get enough of the Philadelphia area. The true-crime network, which on Wednesday will premiere the second season of its Philly-focused series Homicide City, is planning a two-hour special for next year on the July 2017 murders of four young men in Bucks County: Jimi Patrick, 19, of Newtown Township; Dean Finocchiaro, 19, of Middletown Township; Thomas Meo, 21, of Plumstead Township; and Mark Sturgis, 22, of Pennsburg. Cosmo DiNardo last year pleaded guilty to the killings and was sentenced to four consecutive life terms. His cousin Sean Kratz still faces trial on charges of helping DiNardo kill and bury three of the four victims, whose bodies were discovered on the DiNardo family farm in Solebury Township. Called The Lost Boys of Bucks County, the special appears to be focusing on Megan Freer, a Middletown police officer who last year was presented with the Attorney Generals Award for Distinguished Policing by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions for her work on the case. Heres how the cable network is describing the project, which is being produced by Story House Productions and which is scheduled for the first quarter of 2020: In a gripping limited true-crime special, The Lost Boys of Bucks County unravels the shocking serial murders that set ablaze a small community and rocked it to its core. Over the course of two days in July 2017, four young men go missing in an idyllic, sleepy suburb of Philadelphia. Blue blood born-and-bred Megan Freer is new to the force, but what she lacks in experience she makes up for in instinct and ambition. With not only a connection to the area, Freer is also familiar with the families of some of the lost boys, further fueling her passion for to solve the mystery. In the face of great evil, Freer is thrust into a dark and twisted path, forced to follow her intuition to put together the pieces hiding in plain sight that bring a brutal serial killer to justice. Investigation Discovery describes itself as the No. 1 network for women 25-54 across the total day. Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier will moderate a town hall with Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in Bethlehem, Pa., on April 15 at 6:30 p.m. Read more Though running for president as a Democrat, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is again showing his independent streak, bucking the Democratic National Committee by appearing on Fox News. Sanders, who also will hold a rally in Pittsburgh on Sunday, has called most of Fox News right-wing propaganda that supports President Donald Trump. But hell appear on the network to face questions from anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum in a town hall meeting Monday at 6:30 p.m. in the shadow of an abandoned steel mill in Bethlehem, Pa. DNC chair Tom Perez stands by his decision to not allow Fox News to host a Democratic primary debate, citing a New Yorker article that outlined the networks promotion of Trump and his agenda. I have respect for [Fox News anchors] Chris Wallace and Bret Baier, but people above their pay grade are doing a disservice to our democracy and a disservice to objective journalism by putting their thumb on the scale," Perez said this week on the San Francisco Chronicles Its All Political podcast. But Baier contended that the news and opinion sides remain separate, and that outspoken Trump cheerleaders such as Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro dont impact on the networks news division. Our opinion folks, yes, they have defended the president, and yes, they have opinions that line up with the administration. But its the easiest thing to paint with a broad brush, said Baier, the anchor of Special Report. Baier and MacCallum spoke to The Inquirer about the town hall with Sanders, criticism of Fox News, and what they think about Trumps obsession with their network. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Why is it so important to Fox News to host debates and town halls featuring Democrats? Baier: We have a lot of viewers the most in cable news who have a broad swath of ideologies. Itd be a shame to not have arguments and questions about the substance of the big issues that were facing. So were trying our hardest to get as many Democrats in this format, but obviously we also hope that the DNC still opens the door to debates down the road. MacCallum: I think Bernie Sanders said it best, that he knows that theres a lot of viewers who watch Fox News who are reachable and probably persuadable. So I think any candidate whos serious about running, this is going to be a stop that theyre going to want to make. Why do you think other journalists and news networks havent stood up to defend the news side of Fox News this time around, the way they did when the Obama administration singled you out in 2009? MacCallum: I think its a reflection on what you see across the country theres such a divide. I think it does a disservice to everyone. I think that camaraderie among journalists, especially when the president has come after the media in a big way, is something that would really benefit everyone. Baier: We stood up for them. [CNNs] Kaitlan Collins out at the White House, [CNNs] Jim Acosta about the press pass. ... It hasnt been that vocal coming the other way. But I think it is part of the time. Fox has been No. 1 for a long time. And weve been under the spotlight and under attack for a long time. ... I think that journalists who cover media are a little skittish in the current environment to speak up. What do you mean when you say skittish? Baier: In this current environment, its just so heated, that the top priority for folks is not to stand up and defend us. We dont need it, were fine. We all have personal relationships in the business who say to us all the time, You guys are very fair. Democrats on the Hill say it to us all the time. Thats why they come on. Trump certainly watches a lot of Fox News. Sometimes he even appears to take his cues from your colleagues. That seems like it could create a delicate situation in terms of how to cover him and his administration. Baier: Well, unique, and a challenge at times, because you have to cover it all the good, the bad and the ugly, no matter where it falls. And thats what we do. You can see that in our day-to-day coverage of the administration. It took me 600 days to get a sitdown with President Trump. Were trying for another, but well see. Next weeks town hall will take place here in Pennsylvania. What types of questions are you looking to ask Sanders? MacCallum: Bernie Sanders is a democratic socialist candidate, which is a very new phenomenon in America at this level of politics. So in my mind, one of the most significant questions to talk about is capitalism and socialism and what is working in in America today, and how that might look in a place like Pennsylvania. Baier: Its largely driven by audience questions, and well follow up and redirect. Were kind of the moderators within the moderator the real questioners will be citizens who want to find out more about Bernie Sanders. Bret, you teased there may be other town halls in the works with other Democratic candidates. Care to break any news on that front? Baier: (Laughing) I cant break the news, but we have a lot of interest, and were working on a lot of different things, but cant confirm anything today. How to watch the Bernie Sanders town hall When: Monday, April 15 Where: Bethlehem, Pa. Time: 6:30 p.m. TV: Fox News Moderators: Bret Baier, Martha MacCallum Reader: I split time between Philadelphia and Miami and noticed a note in a recent review that the Miami Herald no longer gives stars to restaurants. Whats your take? Craig: The Herald isnt the only newspaper that recently dropped ratings from its restaurant reviews. The San Francisco Chronicles fantastic new critic, Soleil Ho, announced this year that she would not be giving stars to restaurants, either. And the core arguments are consistent: that restaurants offer subjective and nuanced experiences that cannot be boiled down to a simple grade, and that there is too much diversity in restaurants today both in the style of the places themselves and how diverse audiences perceive them for fine-dining palaces, humble mom-and-pop spots, and quick-serve street-food concepts with divergent goals to be ranked along the same objective spectrum. Also journalists want you to read their reviews! Im tired of restaurants and readers obsessing over stars, Herald food editor Carlos Frias tweeted. I get it. Those are legitimate points, and Ive argued both sides over the years. This discussion isnt new. The Inquirer, in fact, was one of the last holdouts in the newspaper industry that didnt rate restaurants when I arrived 21 years ago. We joined the prevailing wave of practice when I created the Liberty Bell system with an acknowledgment that readers like ratings because they can help give broader context and offer an easy point of entry into a review with a bottom-line judgment that many find useful in the face of so many choices. That service journalism approach might not always appeal to some writers more artistic and intellectual impulses. I want you to read my full reviews, too! I work hard on every one of those 1,500 words. But in an industry that has continuously struggled to remain relevant, Ive always viewed usefulness as one of the local newspapers highest callings. Im here to help you spend your Philadelphia dining dollars wisely, as well as to provide a window into many facets of life in our ever-changing, dynamic city. So, if a rating sparks your interest to go deeper, read the details, and maybe make a reservation at a favorite new place, Im all for it. Theres no such thing as a perfect rating system. But I had the luxury of creating a system from scratch, and I deliberately avoided stars. I chose an icon that would grow its own Philly meaning over time as local restaurants populated its ranks, from the handful of top-rated four-bell trendsetters at its pinnacle down to the poor No Bells basement. It has remained deliberately uninflated, so a rating of two bells (very good) and above remains a genuine green-light recommendation. Ive also done my best to instill values in my rating system that reflect my own a hunger to embrace the citys diverse riches and a determination to measure restaurants against their own ambitions as much as they are framed by the context of a wider scene. This means a casual taqueria making one extraordinary traditional dish can rise as high as the trendiest upscale Center City kitchen. As a result, the bell ratings reflect more the impact of a restaurants individual experience on me rather than a ranking against the competition. Its a subjective art, and definitely not a science. There are no formulas or algorithms. Theres nothing stopping a critic from also writing that thoughtful, nuanced review. And I still see ratings as a complement to those full texts, not a replacement even if some people wont see past the bells. But at some point, a critic should come to respect readers enough to know many are fully willing and able to discern the apples from oranges differences that define restaurants as unique from week to week. Its the journalists job to help them get to that point clearly through effective and nuanced writing, whether there is a rating or not. A Thai restaurant without pad Thai on the menu? That would be Kalaya, opening this week in Bella Vista. I'll explain why. Also up this week are looks at the happy hour at a beer bar in KoP and a new Korean tabletop-grilling experience on the Main Line. I also revisit an old favorite BYOB on South Street West (or Southwest Center City or Graduate Hospital or whatever the heck Realtors are calling the area nowadays). Craig LaBan is also here to discuss a controversy among food critics. If you need food news, click here and follow me on Twitter and Instagram. Email tips, suggestions, and questions here. If someone forwarded you this newsletter and you like what youre reading, sign up here to get it free every week. Michael Klein Kalaya: Going for Thai authenticity Thai-born former restaurateur Chutatip Suntaranon ("just call me 'Nok'"), armed with a degree from the French Culinary Institute in New York, has been cooking for her Queen Village neighbors for years. My-Le Vuong, a Vietnamese-born veteran restaurant manager with some of the big names in Manhattan, moved in across the street five years ago. Friendship blossomed, they led cooking classes and started a catering business, and now they've just opened Kalaya, a homey, 30-seat BYOB at 764 S. Ninth St. (215-385-3777), two doors from Ralph's Italian restaurant in Bella Vista. The space was last a short-lived Ralph's to-go shop. Say it "ka-la-YA." "It's the same cooking that you will eat in a Thai restaurant in Thailand," says Suntaranon, who is influenced by the cooking of her Chinese-born mother, Kalaya (whose style is the Malay-Chinese hybrid Peranakan), her grandmother ("more adventurous"), and her great-grandmother ("upscale"). Everything in the kitchen comes from scratch, down to the chili pastes (plural). Pad Thai? Not at dinner. Its lunch food, a quick meal, Suntaranon says. But you will find shareable orders of toon tong (a golden pouch filled with potato, curry powder and sweet chili sauce), kua kling (a fiery-spicy Southern Thai toasted beef curry whose lemongrass and kaffir leaf competes with long hots and peppercorns), and moo pad kapi (a stir-fried pork in shrimp paste). There are vegan/vegetarian/gluten-free options on the menu, which helpfully denotes spiciness. (Im a particular fan of the kang gai khao mun, a rich chicken curry with cilantro, pandan, and coconut rice. Hows this for home cooking? When I interviewed Suntaranon and Vuong back in January, they insisted upon serving me lunch in Suntaranons kitchen.) This week, Kalaya is open 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday. Sunday dinner will be added on April 25, and lunch (and yes, with pad Thai) is on the way. This Weeks Openings Ambrosia | Center City Cozy Italian BYOB replacing the neighborhood fixture Sandys at 24th and Locust Streets. Opens April 11. Charlie's Hamburgers | Folsom The landmark Delco burger shop will shut down after business April 15 and reopen April 18 in new digs at 237 E. MacDade Blvd. Details are here. Hops Brewerytown | Brewerytown The former Flying Fish Crafthouse at 31st and Master Streets reimagined by the crew behind Bernie's and the newly reopened U.S. Hotel Bar & Grill (see below). Sixteen beers and three wines on tap, plus cocktails, six TVs, a projection screen, two pool tables, foosball, and shuffleboard. Kalaya | Bella Vista See above. Olly | Queen Village American bistro at Fifth and Bainbridge Streets from the owners of Southwark and Ambra a block away; a pizzeria next door called Gigi is in the works. Separatist South Philly | East Passyunk Upstate Pennsylvania brewery has set an April 11 opening date at 12th and Morris Streets, just steps from East Passyunk Avenue. Songsan | Ardmore See below. U.S. Hotel Bar & Grill | Manayunk Long-running Manayunk destination at 4439 Main St. reopened last week after a top-to-bottom redo under new ownership (Bernie's and Hops Brewerytown). American classics on the menu, Prohibition-era cocktails, wine list of primarily Americans, 9 beers, 4 TVs. No closings to report this week. Where were enjoying happy hour City Works, 220 Main St., King of Prussia Town Center; 3:30-6 p.m. dailyDid someone say 90 beers on tap, a quarter of which are locals? That seems to be the big draw at this Chicago-based pourhouse, whose wide-open, high-ceilinged atmospherics, wall of TVs, and roll-up doors give it an air of constant busy-ness. Happy hour deals are a good bet, especially when the big doors are up. The price of four appetizers (pretzel bites, firecracker rolls, Nashville hot and Southern fried popcorn chicken, and perfectly greasy cheese curds served with a smoky tomato couli) gets cut in half to $4. Certain wines are half-price and a few beers are discounted to $4, which is in itself not a big deal because City Works regular price for many 6-ounce sample pours is $3. At a place like this, youd likely want to try at least a couple. Where were eating Songsan, 66 Rittenhouse Place, Ardmore Ardmore got itself a rock-solid Korean BYOB last year with the opening of Bam Bam Kitchen (31 E. Lancaster Ave.), a bright and buzzy spot known for its bibimbap, japchae, and Korean fried chicken. (By buzzy: How many other restaurants have actual buzzers on the tables to summon staff?) Now the Main Line Korean scene is really cooking with the recent opening of Songsan, a wood-clad charmer on Rittenhouse Place smack between Rittenhouse Deli and Ardmore BBQ. Songsan, an offshoot of a similar-named restaurant in Paris, offers barbecue grills on its 12 tables. Though the grills are electric (rather than charcoal- or gas-fired), the experience makes for good, tasty theater. Buy in for about $60 a couple, and the beef, chicken, and pork cuts and an assortment of side dishes (banchan) start coming. Your server, wielding tongs and scissors, handles the stirring and cutting of meat. Those who skip the tabletop experience can order from a small menu of Korean staples, including decent Korean fried chicken (offered in only spicy and mild). In another surprise for a 48-seat restaurant in Lower Merion, there are bottles of soju and four beers on tap. Hours: 4-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, noon-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, noon-8 p.m. Sunday. Pumpkin, 1713 South St. Fifteen years ago, chef Ian Maroney and girlfriend Hillary Bor sank everything into a 26-seat restaurant on an emerging block of South Street. (Maroney knew from tiny. He came from Little Fish, all of 22 seats, across town.) Pumpkin was and is now still one of the go-to neighborhood BYOBs an intimate experience just fancy enough for date night and perfect for small groups of out-of-town relatives, with charming service. (It made critic Craig LaBan's list of favorites, too.) Now comes change. After doing the usual appetizer/entree/dessert thing, Maroney has joined the movement to eliminate courses. "This is how we eat," he told me last week. You want to make a meal of, say, an order of great white oysters, striped bass crudo, carrot soup, and charred broccoli with stracciatella and bagna cauda? Go for it. By the same token, you can also just put together your own four-dish tasting menu for $65, or visit on Sunday and get the $45 prix-fixe. Whatever you do, get the salt potatoes. A staple of Maroney's Syracuse roots, they are small, tender, white potatoes typically served at seafood bakes. Maroney serves them simply with Maryland lump crab and butter infused with just enough Old Bay seasoning to cut the richness. While the dining room has been spruced up over the years, Pumpkin is still cash-only. Hours: 5:3010 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 5-10 p.m. Sunday. (Unlike most BYOBs that button up at 9 p.m. or so, you can actually sit down at 10 p.m.) Dining Notes The first bar for babies? Craft Hall, Avram Hornik's expansive, 35,000-square-foot, parent-approved brewery, bakery, restaurant and playground at the edge of Northern Liberties, might best be summarized as alt-Chuck E. Cheese. The Harrowgate neighborhood in North Philadelphia is becoming a home for small food businesses. Developers, who have invested in some of these businesses, hope they will revitalize a long-struggling neighborhood. Soft-shell crab season came early this year. Heres where to get them. Read Craig LaBans answer to your dining questions here. Separatist Beer Project, the Easton-based brewery that started as a gypsy wholesaler and canner using other companys equipment, has come to Philadelphia to open its second tasting room. Its on the ground floor of a new building at 1646 S. 12th St., at the corner of 12th and Morris Streets, just steps off East Passyunk Avenue. In a previous life before its move, Artisan Boulanger had the location. Separatist South Phillys opening will be 4 p.m. April 11. Theres a certain logic to the location, explains owner Joe Fay, 28. From the get-go, Philly took 95 percent of my beer," he said. Without the bars and restaurants in Philly, we wouldnt have a business. Fay and his wife, Laura, have set up a wide-open room with a 15-seat bar and mod-meets-retro seating for 70 people, inside and out; high windows open up to Morris Street. Separatist offers 16 taps 12 of its own, plus 2 draft cocktails and 2 draft wines. There also is an extensive bottle selection of beers coming from Separatists blendery space in Easton that are refermented and conditioned in champagne bottles; they are available to be uncorked and poured right at the bar. The other two brewers and I just really love to explore everything beer has to offer and then offer that snapshot here," Fay said. Everything from the $4 frosted mug of American cream ale all the way to the three-year, barrel-fermented, cab sauv, musked, French oak, champagne bottle beer, which we have, too." The only food offered is savory pies from Stargazy, the British pie shop around the corner. Separatist doesnt even have a kitchen. Were not in the business of opening restaurants, he said. Besides, this neighborhood is one of the hot spots for food in the city. Separatist was known as Sole Artisan Ales before rebranding last year. But ale, of course, was not what Separatist was about. A separatist, Fay explained, is anybody that does not follow the status quo, and the status quo is something that is evolving rapidly in beer. When I got into beer almost 11 years ago [he was brewing as a teen], we were rallying against big beer and macro lagers and cheap ingredients, and really not having a wide variety of offerings." "Fast forward to today, you see some of those same things replicated. The style of IPA, which was once a beer style that very few brewers made, it was very esoteric, is now the majority of what people are putting on their tap list. We always want to be offering what people want and then exploring and pushing those boundaries as well, and separating ourselves from the others. Creating our own path. Hours: 4 to 11 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 4 p.m. to midnight Friday, noon to midnight Saturday, and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday. Teacher Sherry Eichert (left) and students Tulany Chinar (middle) and Nina Schelchkova play a card-matching game during a class sponsored by Welcoming the Stranger. Read more The lesson this morning, for a dozen adults gathered in a meeting room at a Hatboro church, centers on words to know when visiting the doctor important for immigrants still learning to speak English. What does it mean, teacher Sherry Eichert asks, to be a patient"? How about the word surgery? Has anyone ever broken a bone? Igor Lebedyev nods. Now 80, originally from Ukraine, he broke his leg five years ago. Doctor says, You are old man, and the bone grows.' A metal screw, he explains. Ella, teacher Eichert addresses Lebedyevs wife, did you take care of him? Yes, answers Ella, 81. He talk talk talk talk. The diction and vocabulary may not be perfect, but everyone understands the gist. And by the end of the class, everyones English has moved a step forward. On this frozen winter day, theres warmth around the table inside the Church of the Advent, where students engage with volunteer teachers from Welcoming the Stranger, a Bucks County nonprofit that offers free classes in English, computer skills, and citizenship to adult migrants and refugees. I want to learn English because I want to help with homework, and I want to work, said Tulay Chinar, who came from Turkey in 2017 and now lives in Hatboro. I want to talk to other people, be able to converse. Welcoming the Stranger takes its name from a Bible verse, one that in the last couple years has surged in usage and familiarity as the nation has convulsed in debate over immigration Matthew 25:35, where Jesus tells his disciples to treat strangers the same way they would treat Him. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, the verse states, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in. Welcoming the Stranger does helpful work locally. Now, as it celebrates its 20th anniversary, its getting national recognition for it. The little nonprofit has just been named one of five winners in the National Renewal Awards, a celebration of social innovation organized by The Atlantic magazine and Allstate insurance. The recipients were chosen from a gargantuan 9,300 entries, based on their success, creativity in solving problems, and potential future impact. Welcoming The Stranger received a $20,000 prize on April 3 - which was unexpectedly sweetened with a surprise, additional $20,000 award. We know good ideas start at the local level, said Stacy Sharpe, Allstate senior vice president for corporate relations. We also know from the vast number of applicants that the need is great but so too is the creativity and diversity among change-makers across the country. For Welcoming the Stranger, which relies on donations and grants, $40,000 is big money, about 30 percent of its annual budget. It would allow a growing agency to do even more. Welcoming the Stranger teaches students from 104 different countries, people as young as 18 and as old as 92. Some have been in the United States a short while, others for decades. The largest home languages are Russian and Spanish, but its not unusual to have a class where 15 people are speaking 15 different tongues. Using a few paid staffers and about 100 volunteers, the organization offers 15 to 20 classes each trimester. The classes run 12 weeks, held in churches and community centers around the region, including Bensalem, Northeast Philadelphia, Newtown, Lambertville, Doylestown, and Warminster. English classes cover all skill levels and include instruction on reading and writing, as well as on American cultural traditions and etiquette. The citizenship classes help students study for the naturalization test to become U.S. citizens. More than 90 percent of students pass the test on their first attempt. The computer classes serve mostly older people who are learning basic skills, such as how to access the internet and manage email. Eventually, students move on to programs like Word and Excel. Workshops held during class help people who are new to the United States learn about nutrition, finance, voter registration, and the law. Partner organizations try to provide connections to jobs, child care, health-care, and housing. On their own, students have formed mothers groups and book clubs. Welcoming the Stranger depends on more than a hundred volunteers and a few paid teachers. Some, like Eichert, 69, are experts she previously ran the English as a Second Language program at Bucks County Community College. Others are native English speakers who simply want to help. All see the importance of knowing the language in a largely English-speaking country. Thats the key to navigating the rest of society, said Meg Eubank, Welcoming the Strangers executive director. Teachers help students outside the classroom, too, serving as advocates and supporters at meetings as routine as parent-teacher conferences and as serious as Immigration Court. Welcoming the Stranger does not ask students about their immigration status. Its open to anyone who wants to learn. But the agency does feel the weight of the moment, when immigrants can be viewed with suspicion and welcoming the stranger is hardly everyones credo. Why do the students undertake the struggle of learning? I want to know English, understand, and speak English, said Lebedyev. Some students want to be better able to help their children with school assignments. Others have finished raising their children, often having spoken two languages at home but now their grandchildren speak only English, and the grandparents want to communicate. Others simply want to become more integrated into mainstream society, to be able to casually converse with others, to chat about the weather or the news of the day. We are all, said teacher Nancy Miller, 65, a retired optometrist who lives in Huntingdon Valley, just wanting to get along and be understood. Margaret Downey, founder and president of the Freethought Society (a nontheist group), shown here at Haverford College, where she volunteered to inform students on how to register to vote. Read more Meet Margaret Downey, founder of the Freethought Society, a group for nontheists headquartered in West Chester. Good grief: Atheism is the last taboo in our society; to say youre an atheist still has a negative connotation," Downey said. Were not God people. Were good people. Potential energy: Downey said theists find it very disturbing that she doesnt believe in an afterlife. But I have no fear of death," she said. "I have a fear that Im not going to live to my potential. Margaret Downey was dressed all in white as suffragist Alice Paul, registering students at Haverford College to vote last month, when a young man asked about the stack of bulletins on her table that read: Freethought Society News. Downey explained that the Freethought Society, which she founded in 1993, is a group for free thinkers, atheists, agnostics, and other nontheists, a term for those who deny or question the existence of a God. The student grabbed a newsletter and signed up for the societys email list. Have a blessed day!" he said as he walked away. The irony was not lost on Downey. Downey, 68, of West Chester, founded the Freethought Society after waging a court battle in the 1990s against the Boy Scouts of America, which had rejected her sons application because their family is nontheist. Her public fight for inclusion led other nontheists to ask her to start a freethinkers group. Ultimately, Downey didnt win the battle against the Boy Scouts, or another she later waged against Chester County for a plaque of the Ten Commandments on its courthouse. But she created a national network of nontheists that, for 26 years, has promoted and protected their rights. It hasnt always been easy. In a storage unit, Downeys got a thick folder of death threats shes received from people who claimed to be doing Gods work by threatening her life. Those letters remind her of the religious people who harassed her mother, who was Puerto Rican, and her half-sister, whose skin was much darker than her own, over their ethnicity and language while she was growing up in Baton Rouge, La., in the 1950s. My mother was terrorized by all these people who claimed to be Christian one day and were hateful the next and Id ask so many times Why? Why? she said. I began to think about What is morality? What is good treatment of people? " MORE WE THE PEOPLE: Refugee went from janitor to vendor at Reading Terminal Market in a year Downey said her mother believed in God, but her religion would change depending on what church was handing out food or clothing in any given week. But Downey didnt know what she believed or more precisely, didnt believe until a family friend helped her define it when she was 11. One day we were in the car and I said: I looked up everything I could and I read those things in the Bible my mom said I should and I dont believe any of it. Its such nonsense, " she recalled. He said, Oh, Margaret, thats because youre an atheist. " For the first time, she had a name for what she felt and she knew she was not alone. According to the Pew Research Center, those in the United States who identify as atheist or agnostic rose to 7 percent from 4 percent between 2007 and 2014. The number of Americans who said they had no religion rose to 21 percent from 8 percent between 1990 and 2014, according to the National Opinion Research Center. Downey a mother of two and grandmother of three moved to West Chester in 1990, when her husbands insurance job brought their family to the area from California. Downey has represented nontheists at U.N. conferences and she said she was the first secular humanist celebrant in Pennsylvania, allowing her to officiate weddings and funerals. MORE WE THE PEOPLE: After decades as a cop, he became a yoga teacher She also founded the Friggatriskaidekaphobia Treatment Center, a farcical mobile clinic typically held on Friday the 13th that aims to cure peoples superstitions by having them walk under ladders, dance inside with open umbrellas, and break mirrors. We have to dispel charlatans and tarot card readers and counter their woo-woo, Downey said. Despite differences shes had with religious people over the years, Downey thinks nontheists and believers have more in common than not. If we look at the things we all appreciate about life, like the love and friendship of family and friends, we can find common ground, she said. Those are the things that pull us together." Want more We the People? It's often middle-class parents who look for ways to avoid vaccinating their children. Read more If youre against vaccinating your child, theres a good chance youre a college-educated white woman making decent money. The rebel forces in Americas latest culture war the so-called anti-vaxxers are often described as middle- and upper-class women who breast-feed their children, shop at Whole Foods, endlessly scour the web for vaccine-related conversation, and believe that their thinking supersedes that of doctors. Typically their families earn more than $75,000 a year. Thats based on findings from various studies, including the National Immunization Surveys conducted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Preventions National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Its also echoed by doctors, sociologists, and anthropologists who follow the vaccination debate raging around the country at a time when measles outbreaks have hit several states, including New Jersey, New York, California, and Michigan. As of last week, 465 measles cases had been reported this year, the most since 667 cases in 2014, according to the Associated Press. And 140 cases of mumps have been recorded at Temple University this year as well. Reports indicate many of the infected werent vaccinated. The CDC says that the percentage of children who are unvaccinated has quadrupled since 2001. About 25 percent of parents are delaying vaccinations or allowing only certain vaccines to be used cafeteria style, said Jennifer Reich, sociologist at the University of Colorado and author of the book Calling the Shots: Why Parents Reject Vaccines. The World Health Organization calls reluctance or refusal to have children vaccinated one of the top 10 global health threats of 2019. Terrible decisions Medical experts insist theres no scientific debate on the efficacy of vaccines: The CDC and the National Institutes of Health stipulate that childhood vaccinations save lives. Doctors dont mince words about anti-vaxxers. Frankly, these Caucasian, suburban, educated parents believe they can Google the word vaccine and get as much information as anybody, said Paul Offit, a professor of pediatrics and director of the Vaccine Education Center at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. These people are educated just well enough to make terrible decisions for their children. Epidemiologist Neal Goldstein at Drexel Universitys Dornsife School of Public Health agreed. The affluent classes tend to be more hesitant about vaccinating, he said. But thats based "on wrong information that leads them down a rabbit hole of falsehoods. I can spot credible data online, but the general public doesnt have my training. Vaccine resistance has become a form of privilege, Reich said. Educated mothers develop a sense of entitlement that helps them decide which vaccines are unnecessary, Reich said, adding, They focus on organic foods, health-promoting practices at home ways they see of mitigating disease risk. Moms see their efforts as superior to those of doctors who dont know their children. But, Reich said, maternal vigilance cannot control infectious disease. More vaccinations among the working class Working-class and low-income parents view vaccines differently. Many of them are minority mothers who never hesitate to get shots for their kids, said Alison Buttenheim, a nursing professor at the University of Pennsylvania. They say, A good mom does what the doctor tells me to do.' Working-class people are less entitled than those who are educated, said Temple University sociologist Judith Levine. They dont feel they have the power to demand not to have their children vaccinated." Many working-class minority mothers in fact fear the government might take their kids by judging them as bad parents for refusing to vaccinate, said Lindsay Glassman, a Penn doctoral candidate in sociology whose dissertation includes discussions of vaccination and class. Most parents arent necessarily reading medical journals online to formulate their ideas, said Glassman, who surveyed and interviewed mothers who wont vaccinate. What they think is what they see posted by like-minded people on their social networks, she said, adding, Its like politics that way. You join Facebook groups about this, and it becomes an echo chamber. Such people begin to believe they possess inside information that even doctors lack, said Janet Chrzan, a nutritional anthropologist at Penn. They validate each other, and make their belief systems seem rational. Autism fears Offit, of CHOP, said current preoccupation with not vaccinating may have begun in 1998, when a British medical paper linked vaccines with autism. But 18 subsequent studies debunked the papers findings, Offit said. Then people began complaining about chemicals in vaccines, or the notion that too many vaccinations hurt a childs immune system, or that the government and pharmaceutical companies are conspiring to sell medicine without caring for patients. Many cite religious reasons for not vaccinating, like Illinois All Natural Mom blogger Sheri Davis, who writes, Our familys religious beliefs prohibit the injection of foreign substances into our bodies. On Tuesday, New York City declared a measles public health emergency in different sections of Brooklyn to contain the spread in ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, where many people object to vaccination on religious grounds, the New York Times reported. Also, vaccines work so well, doctors say, many people have never seen the diseases they control, making inoculation seem unnecessary. To counter some of this, the CDC stresses the importance of vaccines and reports there is not a plausible biologic reason to believe vaccines would cause any serious long-term effects. Anti-vaccination parents acknowledge its not politically correct in a world of vaccine zealots to mention that anything else but vaccines could have contributed to saving lives from preventable diseases, writes a woman who describes herself as a college-educated toxicologist in her ThinkLoveHealthy blog. Its historically inaccurate to say vaccines save lives, the anonymous blogger says. Its better to concentrate on better nutrition ..., hand-washing, food safety prep .... Its too easy to call such anti-vaxxers selfish or ignorant, Reich said. Im not unsympathetic for how hard making decisions for children is. And attacking the mothers is fruitless, she added, explaining, I dont know of anyone changing their mind when theyre called stupid. In this March 17, 2019, file photo, a girl carries flowers to a memorial wall following the mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand. New Zealand's parliament on Wednesday passed sweeping gun laws which outlaw military-style weapons, less than a month after the nation's worst mass shooting left 50 dead and 39 wounded in two mosques in the South Island city of Christchurch. Read more New Zealand's parliament voted almost unanimously for a law that bans most semiautomatic weapons on Wednesday evening, less than a month after 50 people were killed a by a white nationalist-inspired gunman who opened fire on two mosques in Christchurch. All of parliament's 120 lawmakers barring one voted in favor of the gun reforms, which make the temporary restrictions on military-style semiautomatic weapons, assault rifles and accompanying parts like magazines and ammunition for these weapons, permanent. Gun owners will have till the end of September to hand them in through a buyback program, after which point amnesty will end. The swift action - first taken just days after the worst attacks in New Zealand's modern history and made official law just weeks after - now makes the United States even more of an outlier with regard to large-capacity semiautomatic weapons. The U.S. has not taken such action even in the string of deadly attacks by firearm, including in Las Vegas, and Parkland, Florida. "I can recall very vividly the moment I knew that we would need to be here, doing what we are doing right now," said New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. She described how the police commissioner had described to her, in the wake of the Christchurch attacks, that the weapons used were bought legally and modified. "I could not fathom how weapons that could cause such destruction and large scale death could have been obtained legally in this country." "We are ultimately here because 50 people died and they do not have a voice," she added. Firearms like the AR-15 used by the gunman in the attacks will now be banned. Ardern said she took into account concerns from New Zealand's farmers and large rural community, who live among rolling hills and farmland across the country's two islands. Some semiautomatic guns with magazines holding less than 10 rounds and shotguns that can hold up to five rounds will be allowed so those who legitimately use weapons for hunting purposes can continue to do so. The New Zealand government consulted with the country's hunting and rural community, and they overwhelmingly said that military-style weapons were not necessary. "They have told us that they by and large, Mr. Speaker, with very few exceptions, support what we are doing here today," Ardern said in her speech to parliament on the gun reforms. "This is not a house here that is demonizing legitimate use of firearms in New Zealand, quite to the contrary." In the wake of the attacks and in anticipation of the changes, some gun owners had already started handing their weapons in to police. Many said they were doing so in solidarity with the victims, including the 50 additional worshipers who had been injured in the mosque attacks. Others, according to gun store owners, had started stockpiling these firearms before the ban went into effect. Experts studying New Zealand gun laws say such changes had been recommended to parliament several times, but always met with opposition. Four inquiries on gun laws have been undertaken by the New Zealand government in recent years, including one after a 1990 mass shooting that killed 13. This time, parliament passed the measures in almost record time, similar to action taken in Australia after a 1996 massacre in Port Arthur, Tasmania, in which 35 people were fatally shot. Ardern noted that among the more than who 13,000 submitted their comments to the government on this bill, some believed that parliament were rushing through the changes. She disagreed with their comments, and referenced former Australian prime minister John Howard's decision after the Port Arthur attack. "My view is that an argument about process is an argument to do nothing," she said. The gunman, who has been identified as 28-year old Brenton Tarrant, faces 50 counts of murder and 39 counts of attempted murder. Officials say more charges are likely. WASHINGTON (AP) The Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to confirm a retired four-star general, John Abizaid, as the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, filling an important diplomatic post that has been vacant for more than two years. U.S.-Saudi relations are in turmoil after the murder of U.S.-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor killed by kingdom agents in October while he was in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. That killing has added impetus to a push by Congress to withdraw U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen. U.S. intelligence agencies believe that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of Khashoggi, who had written critically of the royal. The Trump administration has struggled to fill many of the State Departments high-ranking positions. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has blamed Senate Democrats for stalling the process. Democrats in Congress blame the administration for putting forward unqualified or poorly screened nominees. Moving swiftly and efficiently on nominations like this, of which there are many others, is of great importance to our diplomatic stature across the globe, said Sen. Jim Risch (R., Idaho), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a statement after the 92-7 vote. We should continue in this way with all State Department nominees moving forward, said Risch. Abizaid received strong support from lawmakers in both parties, including critics of the administration's Saudi policy. Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) said Abizaid was a solid choice. Murphy said that while I strongly disagree with this administrations weak, backwards policy toward Saudi Arabia, Im glad that we finally have an ambassador on the ground there. Abizaid was the longest-serving commander of U.S. Central Command, holding that post from 2003 until he retired in 2007. He served in Grenada, the Persian Gulf, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The U.S. has been without an ambassador in Saudi Arabia since Joseph Westphal, who was picked for the job by President Barack Obama, left in January 2017. Afghan security forces gather at the site of Monday's suicide attack near the Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, April 9, 2019. Read more KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) U.S. forces in Afghanistan revised on Tuesday the death toll from a Taliban attack the previous day near the main American base in the country, saying three service members including two from this region were killed but not a contractor who was initially reported among the fatalities. The U.S. and NATO Resolute Support mission issued a statement "to clarify initial reporting" about Monday's roadside bombing of an American convoy near the main U.S. base. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. The Pentagon said later that all three service members killed were Marines. The mission said a roadside bomb hit the convoy near the Bagram Airfield, killing three American service members, and said "the contractor who was reported as killed, is alive." The statement said "the contractor, an Afghan citizen, was initially treated along with other injured civilians, later identified as a contractor and treated at Bagram Airfield." Three other U.S. service members were also wounded in the attack. The base in Bagram district is located in northern Parwan province and serves as the main U.S. air facility in the country. The wounded were evacuated and are receiving medical care, the statement said. Christopher Slutman, a 15-year New York City fire department member from Newark, Del., was among the three Marines killed. He leaves behind his wife, Shannon, and three daughters. "Firefighter Slutman bravely wore two uniforms and committed his life to public service both as a New York City firefighter and as a member of the United States Marine Corps," Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said in a written statement. The Pentagon identified the two other Marines killed as Cpl. Robert A. Hendriks, 25, of Locust Valley, N.Y., and Sgt. Benjamin S. Hines, 31, of York, Pa. In their claim of responsibility, the Taliban said they launched the attack and that one of their suicide bombers detonated his explosives-laden vehicle near the NATO base. The conflicting accounts could not be immediately reconciled. On Tuesday, local Afghan officials said at least five Afghan civilians were wounded in the commotion after the attack on the American convoy. Four were passersby and the fifth was a driver of a car going down the road, said Abdul Raqib Kohistani, the Bagram district police chief. Abdul Shakor Qudosi, the district administrative chief in Bagram, said American soldiers opened fire immediately after their convoy was bombed. Monday's U.S. fatalities bring to seven the number of U.S. soldiers killed so far this year in Afghanistan, underscoring the difficulties in bringing peace to the war-wrecked country even as Washington has stepped up efforts to find a way to end the 17-year war, America's longest. There are about 14,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan, supporting embattled Afghan forces as they struggle on two fronts facing a resurgent Taliban who now hold sway over almost half the country and also the Islamic State affiliate, which has sought to expand its footprint in Afghanistan even as its self-proclaimed "caliphate" has crumbled in Syria and Iraq. Last year, 13 U.S. service members were killed in Afghanistan. The Taliban have continued to carry out daily attacks on Afghan security forces despite holding several rounds of peace talks with the United States in recent months. The Taliban have refused to meet with the Afghan government, which they view as a U.S. puppet. Meanwhile, the Taliban have agreed to take part in an all-Afghan gathering later this month in Qatar, where the insurgents maintain a political office. But the Taliban say they will not recognize any government official attending the gathering as a representative of the Kabul government, only as an individual Afghan participant. Associated Press writer Lolita Baldor contributed to this article. Pastor and former mayoral candidate Rev. Amir Khan (right), community activist and blogger Vida Neil (center) and Camden County NAACP president Kevin Barfield (left) hold a news conference outside the Camden Board of Education after meeting with acting superintendent Katrina McCombs. They reacted to the possibility of the school district closing two schools and an annex, cutting 300 jobs and relocating about 900 students to help close a $27 million budget deficit. Read more Facing a $27 million budget deficit, the Camden City School District may close two schools and an annex, relocate about 900 students, and cut several hundred jobs, acting superintendent Katrina McCombs said Wednesday. McCombs released details of a sweeping reconfiguration plan after a union leader sounded an alarm on possible closings and cuts. She cited a budget gap for the next school year and said, "The district continues to make hard fiscal choices. " Camden Education Association president Keith Benson said union leaders were briefed on the possible closings and cuts at a meeting Monday with McCombs. As many as 300 teachers, administrators, support staff, and custodians could be laid off, he said. Its such a terrible plan, Benson said. Its not fair. Its wrong. District spokesperson Onome Pela-Emore, however, said from 50 to 200 positions could be cut. We are trying to save as many positions as possible, Pela-Emore said. McCombs said the districts plan calls for moving students from Veterans Memorial Family School, which needs $14 million in repairs, Riletta T. Cream Elementary, and the Bonsall Annex to better-performing schools in the city. Veterans, which has about 500 students in K-8, would be closed, Cream, with about 300 students in K-8, would be reassigned as an early childhood center. Bonsall, which enrolls about 75 preschoolers, would be closed. McCombs said in an internal memo that other options include increasing class sizes, eliminating summer school, and making cuts in after-school, athletic, and extracurricular programs. Even if we close our budget gap for next year, it wouldnt be enough to solve the long-term enrollment and facilities issues our schools face, McCombs said in the statement. In order to keep resources n the hands of teachers and students we must make changes for next year. A spokesman for Mayor Francisco Moran said a statement would be issued this week. More than a half-dozen community leaders met with McCombs for about an hour Wednesday and presented her with a list including a freeze on school closures and staff cuts. Critics say the district has focused too much on Renaissance and charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately operated, and has ignored its traditional public schools. We are making a demand that this has to stop now, activist Amir Khan said at a news conference outside district headquarters. The group, which included civil rights leaders, called for a federal review of the districts spending and the previous sale of the citys public schools to Renaissance and charter operators. Khan said the schools chief told the group that some reductions are likely even if the district receives additional funding because of declining enrollment. Michael Yaple, a state Department of Education spokesperson, said Camdens budget has not been finalized and any decisions on cuts are pending. The district is slated to receive $284.3 million in state aid for the 2019-20 school year, a $2.3 million increase from the previous year, he said. Camden has been operating under state control since 2013. The state took over after years of poor test scores and a graduation rate that was among the lowest in New Jersey. At the time, 10 of the citys schools were rated among the worst public schools in the state. Shortly after the state takeover, Gov. Chris Christie tapped Paymon Rouhanifard to head the district. Under his tenure, five of the citys most struggling schools were turned into Renaissance schools, which are former district schools turned over to private operators. Today, more Camden public school students are enrolled in charter and Renaissance schools than traditional public schools. Rouhanifard stepped down last June and threw his support behind McCombs to get the job permanently. We need to keep our public schools open, activist Vidal Neil said at the news conference. We dont believe in charter schools. Benson, the union president, believes the latest proposed changes are an effort to move more students from the traditional public schools because they will have few options to enroll in their neighborhoods. Were feeding these schools. Its so blatantly wrong, Benson said. For the 2018-19 school year, the district said it expected to enroll 6,800 students in the citys 18 traditional public schools; 4,350 in 11 charter schools, and 3,850 in 11 Renaissance schools. In her memo, McCombs said the district plans to relocate as many employees as possible to other schools in the event of closings. Notices will be sent May 15, she said. While our goal is to retain as many staff as possible, we anticipate making the hard choice of reducing positions to meet budgetary constraints, McCombs wrote. It is possible that your position will be eliminated not because your school is closing but as a result of a larger reduction in force across the district. Benson said union officials are planning a three-day march for equity to Trenton next week beginning on Monday to appeal to lawmakers for additional funding for Camden. We have to fight the best way we can. Chester County has sued Sunoco over its controversial Mariner East pipelines, asking the court to prohibit the company from starting construction on two county-owned properties, the county commissioners said Wednesday. This marks the first time county officials have initiated a civil suit over the project, although in February they intervened in an existing legal challenge brought by several residents from Delaware and Chester Counties against Sunoco and its parent company, Energy Transfer Partners, involving safety risks. On Friday, Sunoco representatives told county employees that they intended to begin open trench construction of Mariner 2 on Chester County Library property in West Whiteland Township, the commissioners said. That excavation method, however, is not permitted on county land without special permission. Sunoco must understand that the county owns this property, Michelle Kichline, chair of the Chester County Board of Commissioners, said in a statement, and we have the right to ensure as they cross county land that adjacent neighbors and our citizens are not adversely affected in any way. The commissioners are asking Chester County Court to restrict Sunoco from constructing pipelines on the library land in Exton, as well as on nearby Chester Valley Trail property. Sunocos $5.1 billion plan is to build three adjacent pipelines, which would transport natural gas liquids such as propane from western Pennsylvania to the Sunoco refinery in Marcus Hook. Over the last several months, Chester County District Attorney Thomas P. Hogan, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, and Delaware County District Attorney Katayoun M. Copeland have launched criminal investigations into the projects construction, citing environmental risks and safety concerns. A spokesperson for Energy Transfer Partners could not immediately be reached Wednesday. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney has a big lead in the race for campaign cash in the Democratic primary. Read more Candidates for city offices had to file their latest campaign finance reports Tuesday, and the records offered few surprises. For one thing, Mayor Jim Kenney has more than 10 times the amount of cash on hand as each of his challengers six weeks before the May 21 primary. Local 98, the Electricians union whose leaders are under federal indictment, continues to make its political power felt with donations to candidates for City Council and a building trades political action committee. And embattled Sheriff Jewell Williams may not have won the endorsement of his party, but hes trouncing his opponents in the race for money. The race for mayor Kenney held a robust lead in fundraising over two Democrats seeking to deny his bid for a second term. Kenney, who started 2019 with $501,459 in the bank, raised $651,722 from January to March and had $655,692 as of April 1. Fifteen political action committees, including those of several local unions and Gov. Tom Wolfs PAC, gave Kenney the maximum annual donation of $11,900 this year. One primary challenger, State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, raised $58,500 so far this year and had $49,078 in the bank. Williams received $11,900 from Make A Difference PAC, which has collected money from opponents of Kenneys sweetened beverage tax. The other, former City Controller Alan Butkovitz, said hes raised $62,075 so far this year and had $50,972 in the bank. Candidates had until midnight to file their reports.The next filing deadline is May 10, for activity up to May 6. The independent PACs Independent expenditure PACs, which dont have to follow the citys campaign finance limits as long as they dont coordinate with candidates, are again ramping up. Four years ago they outspent the seven Democratic candidates for mayor. Local 98 gave $200,000 in January, three weeks before the indictments, to Building a Better Pennsylvania Fund, a PAC that helped Kenney win in 2015. It had $53,003 in the bank on April 1. Local 98 leader John J. Johnny Doc Dougherty, City Councilman Bobby Henon, and six other union officials were indicted on Jan. 30, accused of embezzling more than $600,000. They have denied wrongdoing and vowed to fight the charges in federal court. A new PAC funded by the building trades unions, Philly 2019, raised $245,000 this year and started airing television commercials in support of Kenney last week. Steamfitters Local 420 made the biggest contribution, $100,000. Philadelphia 3.0, which has focused on City Council races, started the year with $108,346 and added an additional $50,000 in January from Richard Vague, a local tech venture capitalist who has been mulling a run for president. It had $155,788 in the bank. Sheriff Williams, under fire for several accusations of sexual harassment, received support from more than two dozen individuals and a few political action committees, including the Fraternal Order of Police, the Laborers District Council, and Plumbers Union Local 690. He has $36,385 on hand, about 10 times more than each of two of his Democratic primary opponents. Rochelle Bilal has $4,563 after raising $25,000 during the first cycle. Larry King has $3,062. A report for a third challenger, Malika Rahman, was not available. Williams, Democratic leader of the 16th Ward in North Philadelphia, did not get the Democratic City Committee endorsement . The city in February agreed to pay $127,000 to a former Sheriffs Office employee who had sued Williams for harassment. Statehouse Democrats settled a sexual harassment case against Williams, a former representative, for $30,000 in 2011. A third complaint, filed by an administrative assistant in the Sheriffs Office, is pending in federal court. Williams reported that his campaign paid him to circulate petitions, file them, and distribute posters and fliers. He got $2,181. District Council races Jamie Gauthier, former head of the Fairmount Park Conservancy, running to unseat longtime Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell in West Philadelphia, raised twice as much money as her opponent. Gauthier reported having $118,523 to Blackwells $52,611. She received $10,000 from Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania and $2,500 from Second Generation, which backs first- and second-generation immigrants. Blackwell got the maximum $11,900 from both Local 98 and the Laborers District Council. Sheet Metal Workers Local 19 contributed $10,000. In the 2nd District race, Councilman Kenyatta Johnson had more than $500,000 on hand, according to an unofficial tally, to challenger Lauren Vidas $62,548. In the 7th District, covering North Philadelphia and Kensington, Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez reported $160,263 on hand, compared with $7,448 for Angel Cruz, who has the party endorsement. Councilwoman Cherelle L. Parker doesnt have any challengers in the primary or the general election for her seat representing Northwest Philadelphia, but she has $122,696 in the bank. Most of her contributions come from five city unions, including Local 98; each gave the maximum $11,900. Staff writer Andrew Seidman contributed to this article. First-grader K'or Goodman, 6, works on a drawing of King Tut's mask during art class at Global Leadership Academy Charter School in West Philadelphia last week. The school emphasizes exposure to international cultures and experiences. Read more As seventh graders at the Global Leadership Academy Charter School translated code used by slaves traveling the Underground Railroad midnight meant Detroit, and the River Jordan the Ohio teacher Gregory Wright steered last weeks lesson beyond the classroom. In a few weeks, "you'll be standing on top of the John Roebling Bridge" spanning that river, Wright told students. He added, "Our ancestors didn't have no bridge. They had to risk their lives." In a city where some schools struggle to send students on in-town field trips, the West Philadelphia K-8 charter school has taken students as far as Kenya and China. Starting next month, students at the school and a second Global Leadership charter in Southwest Philadelphia will embark on a series of trips. Fifth graders will spend a night in Washington, while sixth graders will tour Atlanta, Memphis, and Birmingham. In seventh grade, students get passports and head to Canada. Past eighth graders have visited Haiti and the Bahamas; this year, its Jamaica. The schools charter is up for renewal this year, and though it has lagged in academic performance, with an average math proficiency rate of 9 percent in 2017, CEO Naomi Johnson-Booker says she is confident that the School District will decide in its favor. She attributed the low scores to a variety of circumstances, and pointed to the schools popularity. The school, which enrolls 700, participated in a new online application system this year and received 3,500 applications, Johnson-Booker said. Global Leadership also is looking to add a 700-student high school. Children learn in lots of ways its not just reading, writing, and math, she said. The trips are all tied to curriculum: Studying civil rights, students visit Memphiss Lorraine Motel, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The Canada trip is linked to the Underground Railroad, and the Caribbean trip to the slave trade. In past years, selected groups of students have traveled to China and Kenya. Beyond coursework, school leaders say, the travel is meant to build confidence in students 58 percent of whom live in poverty, according to the School District, in which 74 percent of the students fall into that category. Nearly all of the charters students are black. I never wanted to travel, I was scared. Being a black Muslim girl, I had fear in me, said Hanifa Savage, 14, in eighth grade at the school. Now, I want to explore different cultures. ... I just want to meet more people. Johnson-Booker said the travel has impacted students in different ways. Some have felt more empowered to go away to college; others have been motivated to start community service initiatives. Johnson-Booker, who spent several decades in the School District as a teacher and administrator, took over what is now Global Leadership from another charter operator in 2006. She reshaped the schools mission based on her experience. The former School Reform Commission gave her a second school to manage, in Southwest Philadelphia, in 2016. As a teacher in the district, Johnson-Booker recalled being told to teach students about Philadelphia using a black and white primer no pictures. She took them to the Liberty Bell, so they could see something else other than the 10-block radius they live in. Johnson-Booker has focused on reducing an exposure gap between her students and more advantaged peers a strategy she says is key to improving achievement. Her school has struggled in recent years on academic proficiency measures. A 2017 evaluation by the School Districts charter office which is responsible for overseeing the citys 87 publicly funded but privately run charters said the school did not meet standards. Johnson-Booker said the charters student body had changed after a 2011 fire led to a relocation, and the addition of 200 students from failing Philadelphia schools. She also said that state assessments changed in 2014, and teachers had to be retrained. A test does not totally define you. There are other things that make a person, Johnson-Booker said. Inside the school, students are repeatedly exposed to its global theme: from clocks above the front desk displaying times in Denver, Johannesburg, Sydney, to flags hanging from the gym ceiling and photos from past student trips in the hallways. On average, the trips cost $1,000 per student less for Atlanta, more for Jamaica, Johnson-Booker said. The school subsidizes some of the cost through fundraisers, though families pay the bulk. Johnson-Booker hopes to build on an endowment that will shift that balance, though I think you need to pay something," she said. While she doesnt want cost to prohibit any student from traveling, she said, she doesnt want to create a mindset for students that the trips are free. Several students said they were grateful for the experiences, which they said offered not just education but the chance to bond with classmates. Savage, the eighth grader, was looking forward to traveling to Jamaica soon. To think that people I know went to even farther-away destinations is crazy, she said. I just feel blessed," she said. "Like I have some kind of privilege. Thor, who is now retired from the Philadelphia Police Department, and his owner, Sgt. Alvin Outlaw, pictured at work in 2014. Read more Hairy, handsome, and brave, Philadelphia Police Department K-9 Thor served the department for five years alongside his partner, Officer Alvin Outlaw, sniffing out drugs and sending out ruminations on Twitter, where at one time he was the second-most-followed officer in the department. But while time has been good to Outlaw, who was promoted to sergeant in West Phillys 19th District in November, it has not been as good to Thor, who is quickly losing the use of his hind legs. Soon, though, Thor will be getting a new leash on life thanks to a wheely great donation by actor Trevor Donovan, who, after hearing the German shepherds tale, offered to donate a doggie wheelchair to the now-retired K-9 officer. News of the donation was first reported by the celebrity website TMZ. Thor doesnt know how to stay out of the limelight, Outlaw said. His stardom follows him everywhere, even in retirement. In 2013, after 960 hours of training, Outlaw and Thor officially became partners in the K-9 Unit. Thor also quickly became a part of Outlaws family, joining his wife, Shirena; their two kids; and their Shih Tzu, Bandit, in the familys home. About a year and a half later, Outlaw took on a second K-9 partner, Storm, a German shepherd cadaver dog who, in 2017, helped uncover the buried bodies of three of the four young men killed in Bucks County by Cosmo DiNardo. Storm also quickly became a member of the Outlaw family. When Outlaw passed his promotion test and was being transferred into the 19th District, he asked to adopt both of his fuzzy partners and was given the departments blessing. The dogs were officially retired from the force on Dec. 1. Around that time, Outlaw and his wife began to notice that Thor, now 7, was losing the use of his hind legs. He was diagnosed with intervertebral disc disease, which caused a ruptured disc and a nerve pinch that made his legs go numb. Its been progressing and progressing, Outlaw said. He can still walk, but he stumbles, and the thing were dealing with now is that he drags his back legs when he does walk, so he gets sores and scratches on his feet. Thor went to therapy and surgery was suggested, but success isnt guaranteed and Thor lost his health insurance with the department when he retired. Its been heartbreaking for the Outlaws to watch their family members body degenerate while his spirit is still fully intact. Mentally, hes still the same, Outlaw said. Thats part of the problem, because one of the things he loved was playing with our other dogs. Now we let him out and he goes to run and hes just dragging his feet behind him. One day, Shirena Outlaw saw Donovan who starred in the reboot of 90210 and several TV holiday movies like Snow Globe Christmas on TMZ Live talking about the loss of his own German shepherd, Dogbert. Donovan said his dog, which also had a degenerative disease, used a wheelchair and hed like to find another good dog to benefit from it. Shirena wrote an email to Donovan about Thor and among the throng of requests he received, Donovan chose the retired four-legged cop, noting that Shirenas letter had won over my heart. Outlaw said Donovan has decided to buy Thor a brand-new wheelchair instead of donating the used one. While it hasnt arrived yet, Outlaw said he was moved that someone from the 90210 wanted to help someone who responded to calls from 911. I was very happy to see that somebody was willing to make that kind of purchase for us just by hearing the story, he said. Common Pleas Judge Scott DiClaudio leaves the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's Philadelphia courtroom in 2018 after being publicly censured for misrepresenting a client before his election to judgeship. Read more Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Scott DiClaudio took an unexpected day off Tuesday after the District Attorneys Office filed a motion arguing he should be disqualified from hearing cases from the District Attorneys Office because his domestic partner, former Assistant District Attorney Catherine Smith, has filed a discrimination complaint against the office. On Wednesday, with court back in session, DiClaudio denied the motion to recuse and then some. I am here today and every day as I have been for four years to administer justice. ... I intend to fulfill my oath, he said. Paul George, assistant supervisor of the offices law division, said he would appeal DiClaudios decision to Superior Court. There is now active litigation by this person against this office. ... It creates an appearance of impropriety. Meanwhile, defense lawyers stopped by to register their concern including the ongoing potential impact of that appeal on any cases that may be resolved in DiClaudios courtroom while the dispute is ongoing. Theres collateral damage here, said Keir Bradford-Grey, chief of the Defender Association, adding that her clients are in an uncertain position. We dont know what the intended or unintended consequences may be. We just want to make sure our clients arent harmed in the process. Defense attorneys Peter Bowers and Nino Tinari, who both had cases in the courtroom, said they were exploring filing motions opposing DiClaudios disqualification. I think the defense bar is in unison that Your Honor is fair-minded, Tinari said. He called the district attorneys petition an act of emotionality rather than rationality. Speaking from the bench, DiClaudio appeared confident he would not ultimately be disqualified. In fact, he appeared to argue that if anyone is compromised, it is Krasner. Then, before taking up his regular docket, he confronted George with a list of cases in which the work of the district attorney intersected with cases and key players from Krasners long career as a civil rights and criminal defense attorney. After each, DiClaudio asked: Do you think that would be an appearance of impropriety? He brought up potential issues arising from any number of cases that hinge on the testimony of police officers whom Krasner once sued. He also questioned the offices handling of specific cases defended by Krasners former associates, including transition team member Michael Coard and Krasner campaign lawyer Marni Jo Snyder. I was floored," DiClaudio said, that the prosecutor on one case, also a former Krasner colleague, allowed the defense lawyers to accept service for their clients who were charged in an assault and were not at court that day. (Snyder said she had negotiated with the district attorney in advance to allow the clients not to appear for the pretrial court date, because on a previous status hearing the clients had been harassed by members of the right-wing press on their way into the building. Ive never been harassed before, I didnt like it, and I dont want my clients to keep going through it.) And DiClaudio mentioned the case of Jamal Wright, whom George himself had defended in a first-degree murder case; the District Attorneys Office filed motions supporting vacating that sentence and replacing it with a third-degree murder sentence that would make Wright eligible for immediate parole. George said he was screened from any knowledge of the Wright case. George responded that those cases were poor analogies for DiClaudios current situation. He likened it, instead, to the case of Terrance Williams, an inmate whose previously overturned death sentence was reinstated in 2014 by a Pennsylvania Supreme Court that included Justice Ronald D. Castille who, as Philadelphia district attorney in 1986, had approved seeking the death penalty against him in the first place. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the ruling, calling it a conflict. My girlfriend is suing the DAs Office for alleged discrimination," DiClaudio told those in the courtroom, referring to her firing in February. That will in no way affect my ability to be fair. But, he added, any victims, witnesses, defendants, or other parties may raise the issue on a case-by-case basis. If anyone thinks I cannot be fair, he said, "I will automatically recuse upon request. District Attorney Larry Krasner and Assistant District Attorney Dawn Holtz, right, supervisor of the Economic Crimes Unit, announced charges against Hooked Inc. and its two owners for illegal towing practices and fraudulent business practices on April 10, 2019. Read more After an 18-month grand-jury investigation into price-gouging and insurance fraud involving car towing and wreck-chasing, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner on Wednesday unveiled charges against a North Philadelphia tow-truck operation and its two owners. Krasner, at a news conference, said the case against Hooked Inc., 2210 W. Westmoreland St. in Tioga, and its owners, Joseph Moreno and Dwight Williams, "goes after illegal towing charges imposed upon vulnerable victims and also upon insurance companies on what was very possibly one of the lowest days of these peoples lives. He said the industry standard for towing charges is from $200 to $400, but that his office logged calls from insurance companies that did business with Hooked and said they were being billed from $1,000 to $2,500. Ultimately, this is a story about greed," Krasner said. Assistant District Attorney Dawn Holtz, supervisor of the Economic Crimes Unit, said the charges involved four victims whose insurance companies were overcharged by Hooked. While the grand jury in this case has concluded, she said, there is an ongoing investigation into other tow-truck companies, and she hinted that future charges may be lodged. The charges against the defendants stemmed from incidents from 2016 to 2018, she said. In one, Krasner said, a woman who was in an ambulance after getting into an accident in Roxborough was approached by a tow operator, who told her she had to sign a tow slip to have the car removed from the road. Her husband signed the form. Hooked billed Allstate Insurance $1,221 for one day, which included a tow charge, labor and storage costs, and other fees, Krasner said. He said investigators further discovered that the tow violated the citys rotational towing system. This was one example of what Krasner called the pervasive problem that we have with rogue towing companies. Moreno, Williams, and the company were charged last month with felony counts of conspiracy to run a corrupt organization, theft by deception, deceptive business practices, and insurance fraud. The grand-jury presentment remained sealed until a judge ordered it made public on Wednesday. Defense attorney William J. Brennan, who represents Williams, signaled the defendants would fight each and every allegation. We believe Hooked Inc. has provided service, often in emergency-type situations, at a fair and reasonable cost, Brennan said before the news conference. The governments wide-ranging charges here, when taken individually customer by customer, we believe will show it did not involve any criminality. Defense attorney Amato Sanita, who represents Hooked, said the towing by the company was always with the consent of the individuals who are having the towing done. He added that the company is operating and its license remains active. Morenos attorney, Richard J. Fuschino Jr., said his client denies the accusations. Nobody was taken advantage of, Fuschino said, contending that the investigation was driven by insurance companies in an effort to increase their profit. Holtz, when asked about Fuschinos comment, said that wasnt the case and maintained that consumers were being defrauded. Moreno, 47, whose home address is the same as the companys, according to public records, and Williams, who turns 30 on Thursday, of Northeast Philadelphia, surrendered to authorities March 19 and were released on recognizance. A call to the companys number Wednesday went unanswered. Williams has four open theft charges from an unrelated January incident, court records show. Brennan said he plans to fight these charges, too. He said Williams had gotten approval to tow four cars, but a competitor made a complaint. Moreno pleaded guilty in 1991 to burglary, theft, and related offenses, and was sentenced to six to 23 months in jail. He pleaded guilty in 1995 in an attempted-theft case and was sentenced to probation, court records show. Tow-truck services in the city have stirred controversy before. The city instituted a rotational-towing system in 2011 after violent encounters among tow-truck operators competing for business. Last year, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced that the George Smith towing company in Philadelphia had agreed to repay 28 people whose cars it illegally towed. He said an investigation by the Bureau of Consumer Protection found that the cars were illegally towed from various locations and drivers had to pay $205 each to get their cars back. Emily Walden, who lost her son to an opioid overdose in 2012, is photographed in her home in Louisville, Kentucky, Tuesday, April 9, 2019 Read more As the opioid crisis continues, lawsuits are being filed across the country against opioid makers and distributors. Recent suits has revealed important information about a Philly-area pharmaceutical company and how the industry reports adverse effects. Weve got the details for you this morning. In a very different drug story, weve taken a dive into New Jerseys plan to legalize marijuana and why it sets itself apart from the plans of other states that have led the way, in ways advocates are and are not happy about. Reading this online? Sign up here to get this newsletter delivered to your inbox every morning. Aubrey Nagle (@aubsn, morningnewsletter@philly.com) Roughly 2,000 lawsuits against opioid makers and distributors are prying information loose about their role in the opioid epidemic. That includes the revelation that Endo Pharmaceuticals, which has its U.S. headquarters in Malvern, reported more than 20,000 deaths associated with an opioid, Opana, to the FDA last year. The deaths span roughly two decades and reports dont necessarily causally link the product and the outcome. But they do highlight shortcomings of how the U.S. tracks safety risks for FDA-approved drugs. New Jerseys plan to legalize marijuana is looking quite different than those of the 10 states that have led the way. For one thing, it aims to correct racial and social injustices of the War on Drugs. But in another deviation from most of the other legal weed states, the plan wont allow for home cultivation. And the omission has infuriated cannabis activists. Meanwhile, the dominant medical marijuana chain in Pennsylvania could soon be one of the largest industry retailers in the U.S. It plans to acquire grow operations in Reading and New Jersey. In Phillys upcoming primary election (mark your calendars: its May 21) more candidates are running for City Council than in any year since 1979. And about one third of them are younger than 40, notable because Council currently has no member younger than 45. If elected, theyd bring a younger voice bring to city government. A new study paints a more precarious picture for the citys number of millennial residents. If job growth doesnt keep up, it says, theyll go elsewhere. What you need to know today Through Your Eyes | #OurPhilly Never enough cherry blossom photos. Thanks for this one, @shaynemalcolm. Tag your Instagram posts or tweets with #OurPhilly and well pick our favorite each day to feature in this newsletter and give you a shout out! Thats Interesting Opinions But its clear, if numbingly unsurprising, that those who will profit from Mariner East ... had direct access to Pennsylvania government while the everyday citizens of Chester and Delaware counties getting a pipeline plopped down in their backyards did not. Columnist Will Bunch on why Pennsylvania needs to pull the plug on the Mariner East pipeline. Good teachers are needed now more than ever as Pennsylvania has an educator shortage, and low pay is contributing to the problem, writes Reading School District teacher Luis Vanderhorst. Many Americans envied New Zealands quick action on gun control following the mosque massacres last month, but New Zealand could learn one thing from America, too: how to discuss race, writes University of Pennsylvania student and Inquirer intern Lucy Hu. What were reading A Daily Dose of | The UpSide A Bucks County non-profit is helping adult immigrants and refugees learn English, computer skills, and citizenship. And they do it all for free. Archbishop designated by Pope Francis to the Archdiocese of Washington, Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, speaks during a news conference at Washington Archdiocesan Pastoral Center in Hyattsville, Md., on April 4, 2019. Archbishop-designate Gregory will succeed Cardinal Donald Wuerl. Read more You dont have to be Catholic to take an interest in the announcement this week that Pope Francis has chosen the Most Rev. Wilton D. Gregory, the longtime archbishop of Atlanta, as the new head of the Archdiocese of Washington. Gregorys appointment is interesting from several vantage points: He will be the first African American archbishop of the nations capital, and he also was a leader in the American churchs early response to sexual abuse by clergy an issue that tripped up his immediate predecessor, Cardinal Donald Wuerl. (Wuerl was preceded as archbishop by Theodore McCarrick, the former cardinal who was defrocked this year after being found guilty by a church tribunal of sexual misconduct with children and adults.) Gregorys appointment is notable for another reason: He was born on Dec. 7, 1947, meaning that he is 71. It might seem odd that the pope would appoint a septuagenarian to this important post in the American church, especially in light of the fact that bishops must submit their resignations at age 75. But at least one commentator thinks that the choice of an older archbishop is part of a pattern. Writing in the Catholic publication La Croix International, Robert Mickens notes that Francis has often tapped older prelates for important assignments because of their wealth of experience and because they share his vision for church reform and his interpretation of the Second Vatican Council. Its also true that, in the church as in politics, leaders are living longer. If Joe Biden (76) and Bernie Sanders (77) can contemplate being president, why cant a 71-year-old cleric assume spiritual authority in Washington? That said, the Roman Catholic Church isnt entirely consistent about when bishops and cardinals are considered too old to serve. Members of the College of Cardinals who turn 80 before a vacancy occurs in the papacy may not participate in the conclave to elect the next pope. But 80 is not too old to actually be pope. Francis is 82, and is unlikely to retire while his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, is still alive. (Benedict will turn 92 on April 16.) Rome may be big enough for two popes, but three would be pushing it. Another oddity: Although bishops obviously not including the bishop of Rome must submit their resignations to the pope when they turn 75, the pope is free to reject a resignation if he wants a bishop to stay on. For a secular analogy, imagine if Supreme Court justices had to submit their resignations at 75 but the president could keep justices he agreed with on the bench. That is what Francis has done, to the consternation of church conservatives. Wuerl, considered an ally of the pope, remained in office almost three years past his 75th birthday in 2015. He pressed the pope to accept his resignation last year because he said he wanted the archdiocese to be led by someone without the baggage of controversy. By contrast, the now disgraced McCarrick stepped down as archbishop of Washington shortly before his 76th birthday. So how long will Gregory last in Washington? Mickens suggests that if Francis is still pope when Gregory turns 75, Gregory will probably stay on past retirement age. If its another pope, he adds, all bets are off. Michael McGough is the Los Angeles Times senior editorial writer, based in Washington. A version of this piece originally appeared in the Times. Tofazzal Alam, a survivor of the Linwood Mosque shootings, speaks to the media outside the High Court in Christchurch, New Zealand, Friday, April 5, 2019. Read more They are us. Taken from Prime Minister Jacinda Arderns address immediately following the Christchurch attacks last month, the phrase was quickly plastered onto front pages of New Zealands major newspapers. The simple slogan, ostensibly radiating inclusivity and a pushback against Islamophobia, accidentally revealed an uncomfortable, ironic truth. The medias need to quickly declare that the victims many of whom were New Zealand citizens were legitimate Kiwis reflects the pervasiveness of the alternative viewpoint: that they were outsiders. If the victims were white Protestant churchgoers, the phrase they are us becomes ludicrous. Of course, they are. I am from New Zealand. Over the last few weeks, media frenzy surrounding my home countrys response to bigotry has breathed hope for an inclusive future into liberals around the world. Now a junior at the University of Pennsylvania, I started my life in Philadelphia almost three years ago. During this time, the United States has taught me that my home can be a cozy bastion of progressivism. But it has also taught me that sometimes, New Zealand is outright pretending. Many Americans envied New Zealands swift turnaround on gun-control reform just days following the massacre. But as a nonwhite Kiwi living in the States, Ive discovered that theres one thing New Zealand can learn from America a willingness to discuss race and confront the messy struggles for inclusion. Of course, Arderns response has been graceful. Many Kiwi women chose to mirror Arderns choice of donning a hijab at a vigil service to show support. But the countrys response in quickly declaring ourselves as tolerant and inclusive has unfortunately pushed real incidents of everyday discrimination further under the rug. What happens on the streets of Christchurch when the country is not bleeding from a mass shooting? Muslims are called terrorists and harassed, as explained by the Muslim friend of a Green Party member of Parliament. The deputy prime minister said last week that he would not apologize for linking Muslim immigration and terrorism in a previous speech. Taika Waititi, the New Zealander director of Thor: Ragnarok, recently called his home country racist as f. He made headlines and received harsh criticism: Hes gone too far, a media personality retorted. Even Ardern responded: I think probably youd be hard-pressed to find a country that didnt have racism in it. Although she acknowledged that we can "do better, her response minimized the multiracial directors concerns by generalizing them as global. This is the reality for immigrants on the ground when the country is not overcompensating with tolerance rhetoric. Many New Zealanders do not realize that we arent as religiously and racially inclusive as we claim to be until we leave the country. For me, living in the U.S. became an eye-opener. The fundamental difference is not that people are less racist in the U.S. the countries contexts are not comparable. The key is that most Americans, and the mainstream media, admit their own race-relations problems. Discourse persists. Sixty-four percent of Americans say racism remains a major problem in society. My discussions on campus about racism in America slot into the ongoing national political conversation about race in dominant media. Back home, as an Asian New Zealander, I never heard about race-relations issues on the news or talked about race at school, despite struggling with my racial identity throughout my teenage years. Our lack of appetite for exploring identity politics left me to struggle alone with my self-rejection. Because there was never discussion of minority empowerment, I desperately wanted to be white in order to conform to the unquestioned identity of a New Zealander. The American conversations Ive had in the last three years dramatically transformed my self-perception. I saw Asian Americans being proud of their heritage. I saw Asian Americans fighting for media representation. Back home, in 2017, perhaps at some point we will no longer be asked to justify our presence or prove our worth, pondered author Emma Ng, who hopes to stir up discussion on the issue. I am proud of the outpouring of support shown to New Zealands Muslim community in the last month. Our leader has exemplified the best ideals of our country. But American conversations have reminded me of the strides we must take to make the ideal an everyday reality. I want my country to live up to its international reputation. To get there, we need to start talking about minority empowerment every day. In New Zealand, I suppress my ancestral identity in anticipation of white elected representatives knighting me with those golden words of validation that I shouldnt need to hear: You are us. Lucy Hu is a junior at the University of Pennsylvania and an intern with The Inquirers audience team. Tuesdays election of Benjamin Netanyahu to a fifth term as Israeli prime minister will have a dramatic impact on Israels future that many Americans are unaware of. Before the vote, Netanyahu vowed to start extending Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, home to 2.8 million Palestinians, if he won reelection. With his victory, Israel now appears headed toward the effective creation of one state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean a state in which Palestinian Arabs will outnumber the Jewish population. Either Israel then grants Palestinians the vote, creating a binational state, or it rules over a majority of mostly disenfranchised Arabs. Even Israeli leaders have referred to this prospect as a form of apartheid. This is the road down which Netanyahu appears to be heading, confident of the support of President Trump, For the past three decades, Israel hewed in principle to the idea of a peace process that would ultimately result in two states, one Palestinian, one Israeli, living side by side. The peace process has been frozen for years and the Israeli public soured on it after Palestinian terrorist attacks in the 2000s and the Hamas takeover of Gaza. Over the past several years, however, Israel under Netanyahu had practiced a kind of creeping annexation, legalizing one-time illegal settlements on private Palestinian land. and extending Israeli sovereignty over aspects of settlers education and economy on the West Bank. Moreover, Netanyahu never made a secret of his disdain for the two-state idea, endorsing only the idea of a state minus that would permit few sovereign rights and only apply to patches of the West Bank. Yet, there were key reasons many top Israeli generals and security experts wanted to keep the possibility of two states alive for the future for a time when the Mideast region might become more stable and new Palestinian leadership could emerge. There is a big difference between de facto and de jure annexation, which would mean a huge change in the way Israel would be treated in the international community, says Gilead Sher, chief of staff to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Most nations adhere to U.N. resolutions that consider the West Bank and Gaza to be occupied territory. Even Arab nations that now recognize or do business with Israel would reject annexation. Moreover, annexation would likely bring an end to essential cooperation between Palestinian security forces and Israel, already under strain due to the frozen peace process. Once security coordination ends, you would have a vacuum on the West Bank that would attract terrorists and spike an advance by Hamas, says Nimrod Novik, a member of the Executive Committee of Commanders for Israels Security, a network of 280 retired Israeli generals. The Israeli Defense Forces would have to move [back] in, says Novik, and the donor community [which underwrites the Palestinian economy] would move out. This would essentially require a formal Israeli reoccupation of the West Bank. The disbanding of Palestinian security forces could trigger an armed uprising. Yet, for several reasons, Israeli analysts believe Netanyahu is likely to move down the annexationist road. First, he will be under heavy pressure from small right-wing parties in any governing coalition and from annexationists within his own Likud party. Second, Netanyahu is facing legal indictments for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust that he would like to head off. Israeli analysts believe he may try to swap a promise to begin annexation of settlements in return for legislative immunity until he steps down from office. And third, annexationists have been buoyed by President Trumps recognition of Israels annexation of the once-Syrian Golan Heights, leading them to believe they have a green light to do the same in the West Bank. Annexationists consider Trump a historic opportunity, says Sher. Netanyahu will have to give them something. Of course, this raises the question of whether and when Trump will put forward his long-awaited peace plan, crafted by First Son-In-Law Jared Kushner, and how this would square with annexation. So far, speculation is that the plan will focus on economic aid to Palestinians, which is fine with the Israeli far right. Annexationists believe you can buy the Palestinians off with economic improvements, says Novik. But there is no precedent in history where people gave up sovereign aspirations for money. Bottom line: the reelection of Netanyahu, if he keeps his pledge, is propelling Israel toward a one-state solution in which it will have to decide whether to accept a binational state or some form of apartheid. No matter who is to blame, no matter criticism of Palestinian failures, the population figures tell the tale. In truth, neither Israeli Jews nor Palestinians believe a one-man, one-vote binational state could work. But the alternative is also disastrous. Sher says annexation would mark the end of the Zionist dream of a democratic state for the Jewish people in Israel and the end of any possibility for a viable demilitarized state in most of the West Bank and the entirety of Gaza. Israel probably started down that road this week. Linda Lash-Smith says her 11-year-old grandson, Phillip Spruill, died by suicide after being bullied. Read more Phillip Spruill Jr. was only 11 years old. He was still in elementary school. A baby, really. On Friday, the fifth grader ended his life before it had even begun. One of his younger brothers made the grim discovery Friday evening. There were signs he was struggling. We knew there were problems and we tried to keep encouraging him, said Linda Lash-Smith, 56, Phillips grandmother. We just did not realize how deep he was hurting." According to his grandmother, Phillip had been suspended multiple times for fighting since transferring to Benjamin B. Comegys Elementary in September. His family says the boy, who struggled with anxiety, depression, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, had to defend himself against bullies who targeted him because of his larger-than-average size. He also protected his 7-year-old brother, who was often tormented as well. School District spokesperson Lee Whack on Wednesday said the district and the Comegys school are deeply saddened by this tragedy. We always take reports of bullying seriously," he wrote in an email. There were no founded instances of this child being bullied. Whack said grief counselors had been dispatched to the school to provide support for students. Ive been upset about this since I got the news Sunday. Theres something uniquely sad about a child who takes his own life. That little boy should still be alive, grumbling about schoolwork and twirling his lacrosse stick as he loved to do. Normally, we dont write about suicides for fear of spurring copycats. I am making an exception in Phillips case, though. Parents need to be aware that preteens even younger than Phillip can be at risk for this kind of thing. Traditionally, more whites die from suicide than African Americans. However, when it comes to children ages 12 and under, black children reportedly die by suicide at twice the rate of their white peers, according to a 2018 study by the Nationwide Childrens Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Comparing Suicide Rates Between Black and White Youth A study on the disparity in race among youth suicides from 2001 through 2015 shows that the rate among black children ages 5 through 12 was almost twice as high as for white children. From ages 13 to 17, the suicide rate was 50 percent lower for black children. Rates shown are per 1 million people. SOURCE: JAMA Pediatrics JOHN DUCHNESKIE / Staff Artist Phillips parents reportedly did the best they could, raising their close-knit family. Phillip Spruill Sr. works in a supermarket deli department; Linda Reese Spruill is a home health aide whos also studying for her high school diploma. They have three other children, ages 7, 3, and 2, and live in Bartram Village in Southwest Philly. Born during a difficult delivery on Jan. 5, 2008, Phillip wanted desperately to fit in. The best way to describe Phil was as a small, sensitive little boy in a heavy boys body, Lash-Smith told me when I met with her Tuesday afternoon at the office of State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D., Phila.) in North Philadelphias Progress Plaza. He was very sensitive," she recalled sadly. "Even though he would try to act like nothing anyone said bothered him, it would hurt him to his core. But he didnt show it. He didnt want to show it outwardly and he didnt want to worry mom and dad mostly with a lot of his pain, mostly because he knows mom and dad [were] fiercely protective of him and he didnt want them being burdened. Then, on Friday, the unthinkable happened. Suicide-prevention experts suggested I not reveal details about Phillips death, so I wont. You never know what a vulnerable persons triggers might be. A viewing will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday at Ford Memorial Temple, 4031 Germantown Ave., followed by a funeral at 6. Interment will be private. The family will dress in blue, Phillips favorite color. Kenyatta worked with three donors - Helen E. Waite Funeral Services, Woodys bar, and Voyeur Nightclub - to offset funeral expenses. His relatives hope that by sharing Phillips story, others will be spared the profound grief they are experiencing. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. You can also text 741 741 to begin a conversation about getting help. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in her office at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, April 10, 2019. Read more WASHINGTON (AP) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday she doesn't trust Attorney General William Barr and suggested his statement that he believes President Donald Trump's campaign was spied on undermines Barr's independence as the nation's top law enforcement officer. The California Democrat said in an interview with the Associated Press she was very concerned about Barrs handling of special counsel Robert Muellers Trump-Russia investigation report and accused Barr of doing Trumps political bidding. He is not the attorney general of Donald Trump. He is the attorney general of the United States, Pelosi told AP. I dont trust Barr; I trust Mueller. Barr testified Wednesday before a Senate panel that he believes "spying did occur" on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, aligning himself more closely with the president's views on the origins of the Russia investigation. Critics of the Russia probe note that it was launched during the Obama administration, though Mueller was appointed special counsel by Trump's Justice Department. Pelosi said Barr's comments undermine the Constitution and his role in the Justice Department. Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec declined to comment. Barr said Wednesday he expects to release a redacted version of the Mueller report next week, but Pelosi said it's only a "matter of time" before the full report is made public. "We will see it," she said. As House Democrats pursue oversight of the Trump administration beyond the Mueller probe, Trump has complained that Democrats will never be satisfied. He and his allies call it presidential harassment. Asked what would satisfy Democrats, Pelosi said: "I'll be satisfied when we have a new president of the United States who is a Democrat." While some Democrats support pursuing impeachment proceedings against the president, however, Pelosi has kept them at a distance. She recently brushed off impeachment calls, saying Trump's just not "worth it." But that was before Barr released his four-page analysis of Mueller's report, which said the president was not exonerated by the special counsel. Mueller left open the question of whether Trump obstructed justice during the two-year probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Barr and his team at the Justice Department made their own decision to clear the president of criminal wrongdoing. Asked if she still thought Trump was not worth impeachment, Pelosi said to wait and see the full report. My view is that impeachment is very divisive in the country, and when we see what we need to see it may be imperative that he be impeached. But up until then, hes not worth it, Pelosi said. Let us see the report. Looking to 2020, Pelosi said it shouldnt be surprising that a few men have risen to the top of the sprawling Democratic field, which includes four women who are major candidates. She said shes very proud of the women in the contest and she believes any Democrat running would be better than Trump. She included in that category former Vice President Joe Biden. Americans, she said, should judge Biden on "what he's done in his career," rather than recent accusations of inappropriate touching. But in a year in which women are ascendant in American politics, Pelosi urged Democrats to consider the presidential candidates on merits and to keep the long game in mind. Putting a Democrat in the White House, she suggested, is the point. Asked if she'd see a problem if Democrats nominate only men for the ticket, she replied, "No." Would I love to see two women [nominated]? Yes. Would I like to see one? Yes, she said during the 30-minute conversation in her Capitol office. But it doesnt mean that if there isnt one that its not a ticket that we should all get behind. As the new Congress rounds out its first 100 days, the speaker said Democrats are doing far more than conducting oversight of the White House, even though she said that's their constitutional responsibility as an equal branch of government. She said she prefers to keep the House focused on pocketbook issues for everyday Americans lowering health care costs and investing in infrastructure and new ethics rules. We are not just focusing on him, she said. Were focused on what we said we would do. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., joined by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., left, during the announcement of the "Save The Internet Act," on Wednesday, March 6, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Read more WASHINGTON - House lawmakers on Wednesday approved a Democrat-backed bill that would restore rules requiring AT&T, Verizon and other Internet providers to treat all Web traffic equally, marking an early step toward reversing one of the most significant deregulatory moves of the Trump era. But the net neutrality measure is likely to stall from here, given strong Republican opposition in the GOP-controlled Senate and the White House, where aides to President Donald Trump this week recommended that he veto the legislation if it ever reaches his desk. The House's proposal, which passed by a vote of 232-190, would reinstate federal regulations that had banned AT&T, Verizon and other broadband providers from blocking or slowing down customers' access to websites. Adopted in 2015 during the Obama administration, these net neutrality protections had the backing of tech giants and startups as well as consumer advocacy groups, which together argued that strong federal open internet protections were necessary to preserve competition and allow consumers unfettered access to movies, music and other content of their choice. Months after Trump took office, though, the Federal Communications Commission repealed the Obama-era net neutrality rules. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, with the support of the telecom industry, argued it had inhibited private-sector investment and exceeded the agency's own authorities. In its place, Pai and the GOP-led FCC only required Internet providers to be transparent about the ways they manage their networks, while shifting oversight to another federal agency. The parties' competing visions - and seemingly widening political divide - played out as debate began on the House floor. Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., said the bill would give the "FCC the authority to protect consumers now and in the future." Republican Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon, the top GOP lawmaker on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees the FCC, blasted the bill as "another plank in [Democrats'] socialist agenda." Wednesday's vote marked the latest swing of the pendulum in a lengthy battle in Washington over what sites and services consumers can access when they go online, and which startups and industries might flourish as a result. The debate has shifted every time control of Congress and the FCC has changed parties, resulting in years of competing Democratic and Republican proposals and a flurry of lawsuits - yet little progress in crafting a lasting federal solution. It also reflected the continued efforts by Trump's top Democratic critics in Congress to battle his administration's deregulatory agenda, a political crusade that's touched on issues including environmental protection and transportation. With net neutrality, some Democrats sounded an optimistic note that the House's vote - coupled with sustained public pressure from net neutrality supporters - could shift their fortunes. During the FCC's repeal effort, millions of Americans wrote the agency in staunch support of the government's rules, spurred on by Web activists and the likes of HBO's John Oliver. "I think the president, as he heads into 2020, when he sees a groundswell, a juggernaut coming at him, I think he's going to change," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., ahead of the House vote. But the bill faces long odds in the GOP-controlled Senate, after Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky told reporters Tuesday that the measure is "dead on arrival." Aides to the president also issued an official notice Monday that they would recommend a veto of the bill, arguing it would "return to the heavy-handed regulatory approach of the previous administration." To that end, opponents of the House bill have slammed it as a political stunt aimed at rallying Democratic voters ahead of the 2020 presidential elections. Even some Democrats acknowledged that the prospects of restoring net neutrality rules in the current political climate remains unlikely. "I do not get the sense the fundamental dynamics have changed," Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, a top Democrat on the tech-focused Senate Commerce Committee, said in an interview last week. "We're still on the side of net neutrality, they're still not, and they believe they won at the FCC. So they're not interested in establishing a statute. And the only way this is going to change is if we get a new FCC." Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, argued the Democratic-backed bill could lead to a bipartisan dialogue. "I don't know if they'll pass this bill," he said in an interview. "[But] it may very well be a traditional thing where the Senate passes its bill and we go to conference to come up with a consensus . . . They may differ on how and what it should cover, but they still think we should do it." Net neutrality advocates embarked on their campaign to restore the government's rules almost as soon as Pai finished his repeal. Dozens of state attorneys general, tech companies including Mozilla and a host of consumer advocates sued the FCC last year, arguing the agency had acted improperly in rolling back the Obama-era rules. A federal court heard oral arguments in the case in February. A decision is expected this summer. In the meantime, a slew of state governments began writing and implementing net neutrality protections of their own. A law adopted in California - seen by some advocates as tougher than even the rules implemented federally in 2015 - quickly drew a legal challenge from the Justice Department in a case thats still pending. Philadelphia City Commissioner Anthony Clark, who rarely says anything at board meetings and has a reputation for not showing up to work, suddenly spoke up Wednesday to say he favors invalidating the citys choice of voting machines and restarting the selection process. His comments, which caught nearly everyone by surprise, were delivered almost casually during the commissioners weekly meeting, after City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart urged the elections officials to nullify the controversial selection of new systems. Today I request that this body vacate the commissioners earlier decision and draft and reissue a new, fair" request for proposals, Rhynhart said after calling the selection process opaque and biased. Please dont deny Philadelphias voters a true voice in the selection of these machines. Clark, who had not spoken publicly about the decision and did not cast a vote when the commissioners chose the system, responded: Well, Id just like to say that I do support your recommendation. Thats all I have to say at this time. Advocates have for months implored Philadelphia election officials to select a hand-marked paper ballot system rather than the ES&S ExpressVoteXL system that was chosen Feb. 20. They have accused the commissioners of illegally selecting that machine and called for that vote to be nullfied. After the meeting, Clark said he shares Rhynharts concerns about the cost to taxpayers. He wants to restart the voting machine selection process. I just want to give the people a fair chance with other options being available, Clark said. We still have a lot to think over. He said he didnt vote for the new machines in February because it was too early for me. Later, he called The Inquirer to reiterate his position. He said that since he had not signed a confidentiality form that would have allowed him to receive information on the selection as it was occurring, he was essentially left out of the process. He added that he learned about the machines only at the public meetings and as advocates criticized the system. I didnt have enough information, Clark said. I didnt even know what options were available, because I didnt sign the confidentiality [form] and no information was coming to me. Nick Custodio, deputy commissioner under Commissioner Lisa Deeley, said the confidentiality and conflict of interest form was standard city practice and that Clark had refused to sign it against the advice of counsel and the Office of the Chief Integrity Officer. Prior to the Feb. 20 meeting, he never expressed any concerns about the process or his ability to vote, Custodio said in a statement. I cannot speak to Commissioner Clarks motivations for suddenly saying what he said today. Clark credited Rhynhart for changing his mind with a letter she sent the commissioners last week. Rhynhart said she was pleasantly surprised and very happy to hear his words today. She described Clarks support as a step toward fixing a problematic decision. Clarks criticism was a victory for the advocates who each week have been showing up to commissioners meetings. They now will have to persuade one of the other two acting commissioners. Its not clear where they stand. In the days after the voting machine decision, Commissioners Deeley and Al Schmidt recused themselves from taking further actions because they are running for re-election. (Clark is not.) The two judges replacing them for the next few months, Giovanni Campbell and Vincent Furlong, have been hearing the advocates comments for weeks but have not taken any action. Clark said he wanted the judges to know where I stand just in case anyone else feels the same way but would not make a motion to invalidate the earlier decision unless he knew it would pass. At Wednesdays meeting, Furlong said he wasnt prepared to act yet. At least for myself, sitting as a city commissioner, Im not ready to make a decision today, he said. Doesnt mean its not coming soon. The 700 block of Sansom Street is known as Jewelers Row, the oldest diamond district in America. Five buildings between 702 and 710 Sansom St., plus one building on South Seventh Street, are in the path of a proposed Toll Brothers condo development. Read more Several tenants along Jewelers Row that sit in the path of a proposed Toll Brothers development have received eviction notices, requiring them to vacate their businesses and apartments in the coming weeks. The tenants, who occupy office, studio and apartment space on the 700 block of Sansom Street, were sent letters, emails, and notices within recent days, notifying them that their days on the row considered the oldest diamond district in America are limited for now. Many of the notices made no specific mention of Toll Brothers City Living, the developer that has proposed a high-rise condo tower, but at least one cited plans to settle the sale with the buyers of the building. Some tenants were told they must vacate by May 31. The 700 block of Sansom Street is composed of mostly three- and four-story buildings, many of which have narrow jewelry shops on the ground and are topped by apartments and small work spaces upstairs. At least four tenants between 702 and 714 Sansom St. told The Inquirer that they had been ordered to leave. For three years, Toll has attempted to piece together approvals to build its first high-rise in Philadelphia in place of five Sansom Street addresses, as well as 128 S. Seventh St. and has faced resistance at nearly every turn. After Tolls plans for a residential tower were disclosed in August 2016, the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, in partnership with other preservationists, swiftly moved to nominate some of the targeted properties for Philadelphias historic register. The Philadelphia Historical Commission in 2017 postponed a decision on whether to designate the properties amid legal challenges surrounding the development. And when Toll obtained demolition approval from the city in 2016, the Preservation Alliance again pushed back with appeals on the approved permits. Mayor Jim Kenney also weighed in that year, calling Tolls plans deeply disturbing" and implored the developer to consider preserving the facades of the buildings at the development site. Toll moved forward with different variations of its high-rise, with the support of some property owners and jewelers on the row. While some were opposed signs such as The Jewelers Do Not Support Toll Brothers still hang on some doors and windows many others expressed hope that the tower could breathe new life into a block that some shop owners say has seen a dwindling number of stores and customers. Now, however, it appears that many of the obstacles blocking Tolls development are gone. In April 2018, Toll completed its final required review by the citys design review board, and both of the Preservation Alliances court challenges in the Court of Common Pleas and the Commonwealth Court failed last year. Toll still holds active demolition permits, and in June and August 2018 it received new zoning and use permits. In June, the builder obtained a zoning permit to demolish the buildings and build a high-rise tower with 85 units, bedecked with rooftops and balconies. The August 2018 plans show 24 floors of residential units, plus two additional floors to serve as space for machinery. The permit that Toll secured in August also grants zoning approval for an underground parking garage. Tolls previous permits also consolidated 702-714 Sansom St., plus 128 S. Seventh St., into one lot. The 712-714 Sansom St. properties, however, would not be razed. Reached by email, Michael Duff, a Toll spokesperson, said the company has no comment to provide" about its plans. Before the developer could proceed with construction, however, Toll would need a new construction building permit, according to an L&I spokesperson. The circulation of eviction notices comes just days after Kenney and Councilman Mark Squilla announced the rollout of new administrative initiatives and legislation to better protect Philadelphias historic properties. The announcement, attended by some of the citys top planning leaders, came after nearly two years of research by the citys historic preservation task force, which Kenney formed in 2017. In announcing the initiatives which include a citywide survey to document historic properties and a zoning bonus for developers who contribute to a new Historic Preservation Fund Kenney spoke about the citys rich history. These actions will help preserve what makes Philadelphia unique our historic assets, he said at the news conference. On Wednesday mayoral spokesperson Kelly Cofrancisco said that developments like this are the reason why our administration formed the historic preservation task force and that we ... continue to take steps to strengthen historic preservation across Philadelphia. Paul Steinke, executive director of the Preservation Alliance, said Wednesday that it was unfortunate that it appears that Toll Bros. is moving ahead with its plans, adding that the project will represent a real loss to a city that points to its historic character as one of its main sources of appeal and selling points. The 700 block of Sansom Street was not always the site of the citys diamond district. Developed in the early 1800s as Carstairs Row, a block of nearly identical rowhouses, it became more commercially focused decades later, with many of the original buildings having been demolished. After the Civil War, the block was known as Publishers Row," before giving way to jewelers in the early 1900s. Today, the block is home to a diverse mix of jewelry owners and tenants, some of whom worked their way up from being extra hands in jewelry stores while in high school to running their own shops. Maryanne Ritter, who runs her namesake jewelry company at 704 Sansom St. one of the properties that would be demolished said she has been in the area for 47 years, including 19 running her own store. She currently rents and received an eviction notice last week. She said she has not been able to find a new space. This is why people come to Philly, to see the history, and now its getting whittled away a little at a time, Ritter said. I love this. I love my job, she continued. While she knew an eviction notice would likely come, she said she was still in shock. Other shop owners and tenants in the path of Tolls development declined to comment. For now, a nomination for Jewelers Row to become a historic district submitted by the Preservation Alliance in March 2017 is still pending, though Paul Chrystie, a spokesperson for the Historical Commission, said it would not be heard by the panel until August. Toll can proceed with the demolitions," Chrystie said, as the demolition permits were not subject to Historical Commission review. Chrystie added that the historic district nomination does, however, mean that the Toll development requires commission approval for any new construction. In 2017, PRDC Properties, secured a zoning permit allowing for a six-story addition to be built at 740 Sansom St. on Jewelers Row to house 54 residential units. The permit leaves the current property intact, and the company said in 2017 that there were no immediate plans for any construction. It's hard to resist the holiday messaging to buy gifts - and lots of them - to make the season brighter and more fulfilling. However, supply chain disruptions may make this year's shopping stressful. Six Burns Students win Congressional Awards Six Burns students and one Pine Bluffs alumni were awarded Congressional Awards in a ceremony held at the Cheyenne Civic Center on Sunday, April 7th. Grace Steenbergen, Mercedes Bertels, Colby Stockton, Nicole Talkington, Cassidy Weibel, and Alyssa Miller were all celebrated for their outstanding achievements. Also in attendance were Senator Mike Enzi, Senator John Barasso, and Representative Liz Cheney. The Congressional Awards is a long standing service program offered to young people aged 13 and a half to twenty-three that celebrates the grit, determination, and leadership skills that will define our future leaders. Championed by Wyoming's late Senator Malcolm Wallop, and signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, Sunday saw the 36th year of the awards. This award has been backed by legislation signed by Presidents Regan, Bush Sr, Clinton, Bush Jr, and Obama and continues to be the first and only award specifically designated for America's young people. The ceremony was hosted by Pat Thomas, the son of the late Wyoming Senator Craig Thomas, who encouraged the winners to continue to pass the leadership torch to those students who will follow. "As an alumni each of you hold a key to guide Wyoming's youth and promote the ideals of the program. The spirit of service and willingness to accept the challenge of improving oneself and one's community. I urge you to accept that challenge." Thomas stated. And what a challenge it is. There are four parts to each bronze, silver, and gold medal that encompass values of personal development, physical fitness, volunteerism, and an exploration or expedition. The bronze medal winners completed a minimum of 100 volunteer hours, fifty personal development hours, fifty physical fitness hours, and a one night two day expedition of at least six to eight hours per day. Double that for the silver medal winners, and then double it again for the gold. Each of these young people took seven months to two years to complete their respective tasks to earn their awards. Grace Steenbergen brought home both a bronze and a silver medal. The child of Dale and Sharon Steenbergen, Grace earned her medals with participation in Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, FBLA, cattle, and sports. Gold medal winners were Mercedes Bertels, daughter of Jeffery and Lisa Bertels, who volunteered as a Boy Scout leader, and is a member of the International Baccalaureate Program, Colby Stockton, son of Ty and Amy Stockton, who volunteered at the Cheyenne Animal Shelter, Nicole Talkington, daughter of April and Justin Talkington, who has served as student body president and vice president, and volunteered as the chairman of the planning committee for the Congressional awards, and Cassidy Weibel, daughter of Clay and Cindy Weibel, who also volunteered through the Wyoming Congressional Awards to plan and execute the annual service retreat. Alyssa Miller, graduate of Pine Bluffs High School and daughter of Angi and Curtis Lund, was also awarded a gold medal for service including volunteering for the high school as the track manager. Senator Barasso spoke to the recipients about determination and the desire to work hard. He praised the winners and encouraged them to continue to work towards a better tomorrow. "We are all here today because we believe in you. We believe in your future, we believe that you will seize it, and we believe that you will shape it for Wyoming's best future." Said Barasso. Representative Liz Cheney reminded the audience that Wyoming always puts its best foot forward when representing the state at the national ceremony in Washington DC. "No state has more medal recipients, with the exception of maybe one, California, and it's just such a proud moment for all of us to be able to see the hope for the future that all of you who are young people that participated in this program represent." Cheney went on to point out that while the nation is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment next year, the amendment allowing women the right to vote, Wyoming will be celebrating 150 years of equality this year. The ceremony ended with the introduction of Burns High School student Cody Stockton, gold medal recipient. Stockton thanked all those who had helped the students to earn these awards and then read his original poem. 310 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard By Jan Wolfe WASHINGTON (Reuters) Democrats in the House of Representatives are gearing up to issue subpoenas to try to obtain Special Counsel Robert Muellers full report on Russias role in the 2016 U.S. election and President Donald Trumps actions related to the inquiry. The question is: how successful will they be? Attorney General William Barr, who has broad authority under Justice Department regulations to decide how much of Muellers report to release, sent lawmakers a four-page letter on March 24 explaining Muellers principal conclusions and has promised to release the nearly 400-page report by the middle of this month, with some parts blacked out, or redacted. That has not satisfied Democrats, who control the House. The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Wednesday to authorize a subpoena to compel the Justice Department to hand over the complete report, without redactions, as well as underlying evidence. Here is an explanation of the legal hurdles Democrats must clear in their subpoena effort, important judicial precedents and Barrs rationale for keeping parts of the report confidential. CAN CONGRESS SUBPOENA DOCUMENTS FROM THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH? Yes. Committees of the House and Senate possess the power to issues subpoenas for documents held by the executive branch or other subjects in investigations. Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress is a co-equal branch of the federal government alongside the executive branch and judiciary. If Barr refuses to comply with a Judiciary Committee subpoena to obtain the full report and underlying investigative material, the House could vote to hold him in contempt and turn to the courts to enforce the subpoena. Legal experts said that process could take years. Barrs principal conclusions letter said Muellers inquiry did not establish that Trumps campaign team conspired with Russia. Barr also said Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether the Republican president committed obstruction of justice but also did not exonerate him. Barr subsequently concluded that Trump had not engaged in criminal obstruction. The letter provided scant details of the findings, though Trump immediately claimed complete and total exoneration. The Mueller investigation has cast a cloud over Trumps presidency. House Democrats have launched a series of investigations into Trump, who is seeking re-election in 2020. A situation analogous to the current subpoena fight unfolded during the presidency of Trumps Democratic predecessor Barack Obama. In 2012, the House, then controlled by Republicans, subpoenaed internal Justice Department documents related to a failed federal law enforcement operation to track illegal gun sales, dubbed Fast and Furious. Obamas attorney general, Eric Holder, refused to comply. The House voted to hold him in contempt, marking the first time in U.S. history that Congress took such action against a sitting member of a presidents Cabinet. The Justice Department later turned over thousands of pages of documents but the matter was not resolved until after Obama left office, with a settlement reached in 2018. WHY DID BARR NOT SIMPLY RELEASE THE WHOLE REPORT? Barr told lawmakers in a March 29 letter that he was making redactions that are required before releasing the Mueller report. He cited four reasons for redactions: protecting secret grand jury proceedings; safeguarding intelligence-gathering sources and methods; shielding material that could affect ongoing investigations; and protecting information that would unduly infringe on personal privacy and reputations. Grand juries are groups of citizens who meet in secret and decide whether to authorize criminal indictments or demands for evidence sought by prosecutors. U.S. law generally requires that information obtained from grand jury proceedings be kept secret, though there are exceptions that let Congress, and even the general public, see it. Barr also could redact information by citing a legal doctrine called executive privilege, which allows the president to withhold information about internal executive branch deliberations from other branches of government. WHAT LAWS AND HISTORICAL PRECEDENTS APPLY? Federal law and judicial precedent could play a role in the subpoena fight. Under U.S. law, grand jury testimony generally must be kept secret. But if a grand jury matter involves grave hostile acts of a foreign power or other intelligence information, the information can be shared with appropriate government officials. The law also lets a judge release grand jury information when strong public interest is at stake. A 1974 court decision involving Republican President Richard Nixon gives Democrats strong ammunition to argue that they are entitled to any grand jury information redacted by Barr. Leon Jaworski, a special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal, produced a report that relied on evidence from grand jury proceedings. H.R. Haldeman, who had served Nixon as White House chief of staff, sought to block that information from Congress, citing the same grand jury secrecy provision mentioned by Barr. The dispute ended up before a panel of federal appeals court judges in Washington, which ruled 5-1 against Haldeman. The court said Congress clearly needed the material to conduct an effective impeachment investigation, and noted that the Democratic-led House Judiciary committee had taken elaborate precautions to insure against unnecessary and inappropriate disclosure of these materials. The committee approved articles of impeachment against Nixon as Congress began the process of trying to remove him from office. Nixon resigned before the full House could vote on impeachment. If Barr were to cite executive privilege in redacting material, a 1974 Supreme Court ruling could come into play. Nixon withheld tape recordings and other material subpoenaed by Jaworski, citing executive privilege. The high court then ordered him to give the material to a federal district court, saying the presidents interest in keeping his communications secret was outweighed by the judiciarys need for evidence. (Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Will Dunham and Noeleen Walder) 829 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard House Democrats are preparing a swift response and will quickly to get the full Mueller report after Attorney General Barr issues a redacted version. CNN reported: House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler is preparing to very quickly subpoena the Justice Department and go to court seeking to obtain grand jury information, while House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff says hes made a formal request to obtain the counterintelligence information from Muellers investigation to learn whether the President is compromised in any way. . The multi-pronged approach is the clearest sign yet that Barrs release of a redacted report will not stop the brewing showdown between House Democrats and the Trump administration over the 22-month special counsel investigation. The fight is almost assuredly going to wind up in court as Democrats seek to pry material from the Mueller investigation out of the Justice Department beyond what Barr says he will provide. Democrats wont let Trump bury the Mueller report House Democrats are very confident that they will win in court and force Barr to turn over the full Mueller report. Democrats are going to come at Trump and Barr from all sides and they wont waste time getting the courts to force the release of the full report to Congress. Democrats are ready. Trump has been telegraphing for months that he was going to stall the report for as long as he could. William Barrs redacted report is not going to cut it. The White House is trying to provide as little information as possible to Congress and the American people, but Democrats are digging in and ready for this fight. Trump is trying to stall the release of the report until after the 2020, but Democrats are going to make sure that the American people get the full Mueller report long before they pick the next president. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook 6.3k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Rising Democratic star Pete Buttigiegs comments about Mike Pences religious hypocrisy have clearly struck a nerve within the vice presidents family. In new remarks to Fox News hack Brian Kilmeade, Karen Pence wife of the VP responded to the South Bend mayor, saying she feels as though she is being attacked for her religious beliefs. I think in our country we need to understand you shouldnt be attacked for what your religious beliefs are and I think kids need to learn that at a young age that this is OK, what faith people have; we dont attack them for their faith, Mrs. Pence said. She added that Buttigieg is only making the remarks to get some notoriety. Karen Pences comments come after Buttigieg went straight after the vice presidents religious hypocrisy, saying, Speaking only for myself, I can tell you that if me being gay was a choice, it was a choice that was made far, far above my pay grade. The mayor added, [T]hats the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand. If youve got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator. Buttigieg also recently took issue with Christian evangelicals who continue to support Trump, a man who thumps his chest, puts down others and pays off adult film actresses. WATCH: How does Mayor Pete Buttigieg explain President Trumps support from the evangelical community? #MTP #IfItsSunday@PeteButtigieg: Scripture talks about lifting up the least among us, and taking care of strangers, which is another word for immigrants. pic.twitter.com/sVzOxAJHWz Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) April 7, 2019 Cry us a river, Karen Pence Its quite rich to hear somebody like Karen Pence whine about being attacked for her religious beliefs. First, Pete Buttigieg wasnt attacking Mike Pences religion. He was exposing the vice president for using religion to look down upon and discriminate against the LGBTQ community. In other words, if she wants to lecture somebody for attacking peoples beliefs, she should start with her husband (and her husbands boss). Second, it is absurd to watch somebody who signed up to work for Donald Trump a thrice-married sexual predator who does nothing but attack others, particularly religious minorities whine about being attacked for her beliefs. Ultimately, the faux outrage coming from the Pences isnt because Pete Buttigieg is unfairly attacking them. Its because hes telling the cold, hard truth. Follow Sean Colarossi on Facebook and Twitter 247 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard CNNs New Day this morning took some well-deserved shots at President Donald Trumps documented friendship with Fox News host Sean Hannity. POLITICO writers Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer were on the show discussing their new book, Hill to Die On, with co-anchors Alisyn Camerota and Jake Berman. The book describes the pitched battle that has taken place on Capitol Hill in Washington during the first two years of Trumps presidency. Authors of a new book on Trumps relationship with Congress detail the extent of Sean Hannitys involvement in policy. During the shutdown Jim Jordan was in almost constant contact with Sean Hannity It shows Sean Hannitys hold on members of Congress and on the President. Video: Authors of a new book on Trump's relationship with Congress detail the extent of Sean Hannity's involvement in policy. "During the shutdown Jim Jordan was in almost constant contact with Sean Hannity It shows Sean Hannity's hold on members of Congress and on the President." pic.twitter.com/DO7GPuvyXv New Day (@NewDay) April 10, 2019 The book also makes clear that there is no love lost between the two parties, and there are some massive differences in how they operate. Vice President Sean Hannity Lets first talk about the vice president, Sean Hannity, Camerota said with tongue in cheek, to start off the discussion. It is fascinating, in your book, how often hes involved in policy conference calls. Palmer agreed that this was true, and somewhat shocking, saying: Yeah, that was one of the stunning things throughout the book that we detailed is him being on conference calls with Republicans, with the president around health care. We still have members of Congress leaving private meetings where they are deciding what they are going to do on major issues and the first call is Sean Hannity. That they make or he calls them? Camerota asked. And Sherman replied: Both ways. During the shutdown, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio was in almost constant contact with Hannity. This isnt a criticism of them. It shows Sean Hannitys hold on members of Congress and on the president. Sean Hannitys Influence in Washington Is Not a Joke New Day co-anchor Berman then jokingly asked if the Senate had confirmed Sean Hannity, since he apparently is one of the Trump administrations most senior officials. Everyone laughed, but it is really no joke. For an extreme right-wing TV host to be the main policy adviser for Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress is a scary thought. The American people must be informed so next year they can make their preferences known through the ballot box. When they do that, Trump and the GOP will learn that Sean Hannitys views are far outside the mainstream. His views are not popular, except among the right-wing fringe voters who comprise much of Trumps political base. By Nathan Layne (Reuters) Attorney General William Barr has provided only a glimpse of Special Counsel Robert Muellers report on the inquiry into Russias role in the 2016 U.S. election, with many details expected to emerge when the document is finally released. Barr on March 24 sent a four-page letter to lawmakers detailing Muellers principal conclusions including that the 22-month probe did not establish that President Donald Trumps 2016 campaign team conspired with Russia. Barr said he found insufficient evidence in Muellers report to conclude that Trump committed obstruction of justice, though the special counsel did not make a formal finding one way or the other on that. The attorney general has pledged to release the nearly 400-page report by mid-April, but has said portions will be blacked out to protect certain types of sensitive information. Here are five things to look for when the report is issued. OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE: WHY NO EXONERATION? Perhaps the biggest political risk for Trump is the special counsels supporting evidence behind Muellers assertion that while the report does not conclude the Republican president committed the crime of obstruction of justice it also does not exonerate him on that point. According to Barrs March 24 letter, Mueller has presented evidence on both sides of the question without concluding whether to prosecute. Barr filled that void by asserting there was no prosecutable case. But Barrs statement in the letter that most of Trumps actions that had raised questions about obstruction were the subject of public reporting suggested that some actions were not publicly known. Democrats in Congress do not believe Barr, a Trump appointee, should have the final say on the matter. While the prospect that the Democratic-led House of Representatives would begin the impeachment process to try to remove Trump from office appears to have receded, the House Judiciary Committee will be looking for any evidence relevant to ongoing probes into obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power by the president or others in the administration. Barrs comment that most of what Mueller probed on obstruction has been publicly reported indicates that events like Trumps firing of James Comey as FBI director in May 2017 when the agency was heading the Russia inquiry are likely to be the focus of this section of the report. RUSSIAN INFORMATION WARFARE AND CAMPAIGN CONTACTS The report will detail indictments by Mueller of two Kremlin-backed operations to influence the 2016 election: one against a St. Petersburg-based troll farm called the Internet Research Agency accused of waging information warfare over social media; and the other charging Russian intelligence officers with hacking into Democratic Party servers and pilfering emails leaked to hurt Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. With those two indictments already public and bearing no apparent link to the president, the focus may be on what Mueller concluded, if anything, about other incidents that involved contacts between Russians and people in Trumps orbit. That could include the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York in which a Russian lawyer promised dirt on Clinton to senior campaign officials, as well as a secret January 2017 meeting in the Seychelles investigated as a possible attempt to set up a back channel between the incoming Trump administration and the Kremlin while Democrat Barack Obama was still president. Any analysis of such contacts could shed light on why Mueller, according to Barrs summary, did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities. MANAFORT, UKRAINE POLICY AND POLLING DATA In the weeks before Trumps former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced in March to 7-1/2 years in prison mostly for financial crimes related to millions of dollars he was paid by pro-Russia Ukrainian politicians, Muellers team provided hints about what their pursuit of him was really about. Prosecutor Andrew Weissmann told a judge in February that an Aug. 2, 2016 meeting between Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik, a consultant Mueller has said has ties to Russian intelligence, went to the heart of the special counsels investigation. The meeting included a discussion about a proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine in terms favorable to the Kremlin, an issue that has damaged Russias relations with the West. Prosecutors also said Manafort shared Trump campaign polling data with Kilimnik, although the significance of that act remains unclear. One focus will be on what Mueller ultimately concluded about Manaforts interactions with Kilimnik and whether a failed attempt to secure cooperation from Manafort, who was found by a judge to have lied to prosecutors in breach of a plea agreement, significantly impeded the special counsels work. NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS While Mueller did not find a criminal conspiracy with Russia, according to Barr, there is a chance the report will detail behavior and financial entanglements that give fodder to critics who have said Trump has shown a pattern of deference to the Kremlin. One example of such an entanglement was the proposal to build a Trump tower in Moscow, a deal potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars that never materialized. Michael Cohen, Trumps former personal lawyer, admitted to lying to Congress about the project to provide cover because Trump on the campaign trail had denied any dealings with Russia. In the absence of criminal charges arising from Muellers inquiry, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff has shifted his focus to whether Trump is compromised by such entanglements, influencing his policy decisions and posing a risk to national security. Some legal experts have said the counterintelligence probe Mueller inherited from Comey may prove more significant than his criminal inquiry, though it is not clear to what degree counterintelligence findings will be included in the report. Barr also has said he planned to redact material related to intelligence-gathering sources and methods. MIDDLE EAST INFLUENCE AND OTHER PROBES Another focus is whether Mueller will disclose anything from his inquiries into Middle Eastern efforts to influence Trump. One mystery is what, if anything, came of the special counsels questioning of George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman and consultant to the crown princes of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia who started cooperating with Mueller last year. Nader attended the Seychelles meeting. He also was present at a Trump Tower meeting in August 2016, three months before the election, at which an Israeli social media specialist spoke with the presidents son, Donald Trump Jr., about how his firm Psy-Group, which employed several former Israeli intelligence officers, could help the Trump campaign, according to the New York Times. Muellers interest in Nader suggested the special counsel looked into whether additional countries sought to influence the election and whether they did so in concert with Russia. A lawyer for Nader did not respond to a request for comment. Barr has said he will redact from the Mueller report information on other ongoing matters, including inquiries referred to other offices in the Justice Department. That makes it unclear if any findings related to the Middle East will appear in the report. (Compiled by Nathan Layne in New York; Editing by Will Dunham) 315 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is giving a new push to his 2020 campaign today by announcing a new version of his Medicare for All plan. What our system does is get rid of insurance companies and drug companies making billions of dollars in profit every single year, Sanders told CBS News in an interview Wednesday. Video: .@edokeefe: What happens to insurance companies after your plan is implemented?" Sen. Bernie Sanders: If you want cosmetic surgeries. Under Medicare For All, we cover all basic healthcare needs. O'Keefe: So basically Blue Cross Blue Shield would be reduced to nose jobs? pic.twitter.com/ZPNSbgpT0g CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) April 9, 2019 Sanders believes that renewing the debate over his call to eliminate private health insurance and provide government health insurance for all Americans will shake up the 2020 race and give him an advantage. Four other senators running for the Democratic nomination, however, have said they also will support Bernies updated single-payer health care proposal. By reintroducing his bill, with major enhancements, Sanders will put a renewed focus on the Democratic debate over the future of healthcare in America. Sanders and other Democrats have been attacked by Donald Trump and other Republicans for what they say is the excessive cost of Medicare for All. But there are several different Democrat proposals, and they all have different price tags. Whats important for Democrats, however, is that public opinion is with them. Most voters want changes to be made in Americas healthcare system. And they trust Democrats more than Republicans to make the changes they want. The goal is to make healthcare more affordable while also reducing the number of uninsured. More conservative Democrats want the partys 2020 focus to be on safeguarding popular provisions of the Affordable Care Act, such as the one that protects coverage of pre-existing conditions. Our #1 goal should be to make sure we keep in place those protections so people dont get kicked off their insurance, Sen. Amy Klobuchar , a Minnesota Democrat who isnt signed onto Sanders bill, told reporters yesterday. Then we also have to see the Affordable Care Act as a beginning and not an end. Four other Democratic senators also running for president Elizabeth Warren , Cory Booker , Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand have come out in favor of Sanders single-payer plan. These candidates have pointed to their support of Medicare for All as proof of their progressive credentials. Warren has said there are a lot of different pathways to universal coverage. What were all looking for is the lowest cost way to make sure that everybody gets covered, she said. Donald Trump and other Republicans, of course, have already begun to attack Sanders plan as too expensive. They also say that healthcare should not be provided by the government, but by private corporations. American Voters Support Sanders Plan for Medicare for All A recent poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that Americans support the idea of Medicare for All unless it would result in higher taxes or longer waits for care. The poll found 56% of voters like the idea of a single payer plan, but that support falls to 26% when people were told Medicare for All could lead to delays in getting care and to 37% when they were told it could mean higher taxes. The existing for-profit corporations that are making billions of dollars from our current system have joined together to lobby against Medicare for All. They (along with the Republican politicians they have bought) will do everything they can to spread propaganda about the horrors of government-run healthcare. As the 2020 presidential debate unfolds, healthcare will be one of the most important topics discussed. And Bernie Sanders will be at the forefront of that debate as he continues to fight to provide affordable healthcare to all Americans. 448 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard History will show that when it comes to the political battle over security at the U.S. border, Donald Trump is a loser. Nothing he does no matter how horrible has worked to achieve his stated goals. In fact, he has made the situation worse, as border crossings have increased during his presidency. And now Democrats are going on the attack. They know that they have a political winner. A large majority of American voters trust Democrats more than Republicans to come up with real solutions to the countrys immigration problems. Most voters also are not happy that their government has been putting children in cages who have been forcibly removed from their parents. According to a new report from the AP, House Democrats will soon introduce legislation to deal with the recent waves of Central American migrants reaching the border. According to the APs Alex Sanz: The U.S. House measure would stand virtually no chance of winning approval by the Republican-led U.S. Senate, but it would let Democrats show voters theyre responsive to the rush of migrants that has overwhelmed federal officials. The U.S. House measure would stand virtually no chance of winning approval by the Republican-led U.S. Senate, but it would let Democrats show voters theyre responsive to the rush of migrants that has overwhelmed federal officials. https://t.co/F4PqB8fLxO Alex Sanz (@AlexSanz) April 10, 2019 In the Senate, Democrats are pursuing their own tracks, which include exploring whether it would be possible to hold talks with the White House. Even though the House proposal wont be passed in the Senate let alone be signed by Trump, it would let Democrats show 2020 voters that they have a plan to deal with the new migrants who have overwhelmed federal officials and left border communities struggling to cope with the influx. Democrats Are Proposing Realistic Solutions In short, rather than just complaining about Trumps moves, Democrats plan to propose their own solutions. The House bill is expected to do the following: Increase federal resources at border entry points for processing refugees, counseling children and treating people needing medical care. Create centers in Central America where asylum applications could be processed, and Provide aid to reduce poverty and violence in the region so fewer people would flee. You dont just wait for people to show up at the border. Its the worst way to deal with it, said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., whos working on the legislation with party leaders. The proposal shows that Democrats are trying to find a middle ground between addressing the humanitarian crisis and not giving credence to Trumps claims that hordes of immigrants are invading the country. Trump has made the situation much worse by arresting migrants caught entering the U.S. illegally and slowing the processing of asylum seekers, which can take months or longer. This is a manufactured crisis, said Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz. In the Senate, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a senior member of the Judiciary committee, said she plans to introduce a bill that would beef up immigration courts to reduce a huge backlog of cases and prohibit separations of migrant families. The measure would face an uphill climb. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Democrats were discussing what legislation to propose and were trying to schedule meetings with the White House on the issue. This president is not an easy person to work with on this subject, said Durbin. Trumps 2020 Strategy Will Backfire Democrats contend that Trumps goal is to rile up his conservative voters as his 2020 re-election campaign gets underway. Hes shown that over and over, hes just anti-immigrant. And this is a campaign talking point for him, said Rep. Nanette Barragan, D-Calif. It appears that through his extreme actions and words, Donald Trump has created a political opening for Democrats in the 2020 elections. The vast majority of American voters are not as extreme as Trump and his advisers such as Stephen Miller. And the vast majority of Americans want their government to actually solve the real problems that exist. If Americans want real solutions to problems, they will need to make sure that after 2020 the Democrats take control of the U.S. government. 11.5k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Trump claimed that there is only one person running the Department of Homeland Security and that is him. Trump told reporters who asked him about making Stephen Miller DHS Secretary, Stephen is an excellent guy. Hes a wonderful person. People dont know him . . . Hes been with me from the beginning. Hes a brilliant man. And frankly, theres only one person thats running it. You know who that is? Its me. Video: Trump claims that he is the only person running the Department of Homeland Security, "Frankly there's only one person that's running it. know who that is? It's me." https://t.co/FhfLIoN3Xl pic.twitter.com/CSubbWVRf1 PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) April 10, 2019 If Trump is running Homeland Security, the US is in big trouble The recent purge at DHS indicates that Trump wants people there who will follow his orders, no matter how illegal, do what they are told. Trump has turned the Department of Homeland Security into a tool for his border obsession. No one can remember the last time the president spoke about the important intelligence and anti-terrorism work that is happening at DHS. Trump is only interested in using DHS to close the border, and while border security is an important part piece of what DHS does, it is not their only mission. Homeland Security is the third largest department in the entire federal government behind only the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs. It a massive department, and one that Donald Trump has absolutely no ability to run. The president was likely just empty bragging again. A man who has probably never read a full book in his life isnt running Homeland Security, but after Trumps purge, DHS is understaffed in key roles, and this can only hurt the nations national security. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook Get the SC business stories that matter. Our newsletter catches you up with all the business stories that are shaping Charleston and South Carolina every Monday and Thursday at noon. Get ahead with us - it's free. Mary Katherine, who also goes by MK, covers health care for The Post and Courier. She is also pursuing a master's degree in data science. She grew up in upstate New York and enjoys playing cards, kayaking and the Blue Ridge Mountains. Books for Cooks: Former Gourmet editor Ruth Reichl recalls time at magazine in new memoir Food editor and chief critic Eating all of the chicken livers just as fast as I can. Robert Behre works as an editorial writer with a focus on local government, transportation and the built environment. Thomas Novelly is a political reporter based in Charleston. He also covers the military community and veterans throughout South Carolina. Previously, he wrote for the Courier Journal in Kentucky. He is a fan of Southern rock, bourbon and horse racing. The husband of a New York woman killed last summer after an alligator dragged her into a lagoon at a Hilton Head Island resort is suing the community's owners, alleging they failed to take action that would've prevented the attack. The suit contends Sea Pines Plantation officials "were aware of problems with alligators," though it does not reference any specific incidents. Before 45-year-old Casandra Cline's death, Sea Pines Plantation had an obligation to remove gators it perceived as "aggressive," court documents contend. A Sea Pines Plantation representative could not immediately be reached for comment. Cline and her husband James owned property at the 5,000-acre residential resort community, which is also a known habitat for many birds, mammals and reptiles. On the morning of Aug. 20, Cline, who worked as a teacher in New York, was walking her dog near a lagoon. As she neared the lagoon, an alligator emerged from the water and lunged at Cline's dog, authorities said at the time. Instead of seizing the dog, the gator latched onto the leash and pulled the woman into the water. "Ms. Cline struggled with the alligator and was eventually dragged into the lagoon where the alligator held her underwater," according to the complaint. The civil suit, filed April 9 in Beaufort Court of Common Pleas, said the alligator measured just over 9 feet long. The alligator was killed after Cline's death, authorities said. The suit seeks actual and punitive damages. In South Carolina, only one other person is known to have died in an alligator attack in recent times: a 90-year-old woman with dementia who wandered away from her West Ashley assisted-living facility in July 2016. Investigators said Bonnie Walker likely fell into a nearby pond and attracted the attention of a gator. She died of wounds inflicted by the alligator, according to the Charleston County coroner at the time. Paul Bowers is an education reporter and father of three living in North Charleston. He previously worked at the Charleston City Paper, where he was twice named South Carolina Journalist of the Year in the weekly category. Angie Jackson covers crime and breaking news for The Post and Courier. She previously covered the same beat for the Grand Rapids Press and MLive.com in Michigan. When shes not reporting, Angie enjoys teaching yoga and exploring the outdoors. With Brexit, Britain's loss could be SC's gain at least as Ireland sees it 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. Editorials represent the institutional view of the newspaper. They are written and edited by the editorial staff, which operates separately from the news department. Editorial writers are not involved in newsroom operations. The Post and Courier provides a forum for our readers to share their opinions, and to hold up a mirror to our community. Publication does not imply endorsement by the newspaper; the editorial staff attempts to select a representative sample of letters because we believe its important to let our readers see the range of opinions their neighbors submit for publication. 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. POTTSTOWN Police on Tuesday chased down and captured the two men suspected of shooting up a West Street house in connection with an ongoing bullying conflict at Pottstown Middle School. Makael Bevins, 19, and Ahnile Fountain, 19 were located in the west end of the borough at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to Pottstown Police Capt. Robert Thomas. They were taken into custody near Quinter and Glasgow streets after a short foot chase. Thomas said K-9 officers were not involved in the capture and that tips from the public were not a factor in locating Bevins and Fountain. They are currently awaiting preliminary arraignment, according to Thomas. Warrants were issued April 4 and both individuals are being charged with attempted murder, firearms and related offenses. Police say Bevins has a second warrant for gun violations. On the morning of April 5, the Montgomery SWAT-West team assisted in serving what police called a high risk search warrant at 70 N. Adams St. in Pottstown. The warrant was served in relation to the case involving Fountain. It was served without incident but Fountain was not located at the time of the search, police said. Charges stem from a March 24 shooting incident in which it was reported that a home was shot multiple times on the 500 block of West Street in Pottstown. Police were called to the home at around 8:30 p.m. for the report of shots fired. When police arrived, they found ballistic evidence at the scene indicating multiple shots were fired at the home. No one was injured, but the mother of the child said to be the target of the bullying complained on Facebook about the ongoing issue and the response by authorities. The shooting is believed to be related to recent bullying incidents at Pottstown Middle School. On March 3, The Mercury reported on the ongoing measures being taken at the middle school to combat bullying there. Anti-bullying rallies are planned for April 25 and April 28. NORRISTOWN A Worcester man showed no emotion as a judge sent him to prison for at least a decade for sexually assaulting an underage girl on multiple occasions while she was in his company. Abram Cornell Johnson, 35, of the 1400 block of North Wales Road, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court on Tuesday to 10-to-20-years in a state correctional facility in connection with multiple sexual assaults that occurred while the girl was in his company at various locations in Philadelphia and Montgomery County, including Plymouth, Elkins Park, and Whitemarsh. The sentence was imposed by Judge Leonard N. Zito, a senior judge from Northampton County. An out-of-county judge was assigned to preside over the case because Johnson is known by a member of the Montgomery County bench. In August 2018, Johnson pleaded guilty to charges of rape of a child, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse of a child and sexual assault in connection with incidents that occurred between 1998 and 2016 when the victim was between the ages of 4 and 22. Johnson knew the girls family, according to testimony. Beginning at a shockingly young age, shockingly, the defendant sexually assaulted a young childIts unimaginable. Its unfathomable. This was not an isolated occurrence, county Assistant District Attorney Brianna Ringwood said as she argued for a lengthy prison term for Johnson. There is not a part of her body that this man has not touched. Defense lawyer Thomas C. Egan III, who represented Johnson at the sentencing hearing, asked the judge not to impose more than the 10-year mandatory term allowed under state law for the charge of rape of a child. Egan argued Johnson accepted culpability and is a loving father to his children. Johnson, who previously lost a bid to withdraw his guilty plea, testified he is the married father of two young children and he told the judge a lengthy prison term would negatively affect his family. Im an everyday father. Im in their life every day, Johnson told the judge. Johnsons wife was not in the courtroom on Tuesday but he was supported in court by his father and a sister who described him as a caring and upstanding individual. The victim, now 24, confronted Johnson in court and explained to the judge that the sexual assaults led her to be suicidal at a young age and to not trust adults. I felt that was the only way of escaping the abuse, the victim testified as she described her suicide attempt. I was always scared. I truly believed everyone I encountered had negative intentions toward me. During a powerful speech, the victims mother testified she felt sickened and repulsed by Johnsons conduct and said he slowly killed the spirit of my child. You deserve no mitigation, none, zero, the victims mother dramatically addressed Johnson in court. An investigation began in December 2016, when a woman reported to the Plymouth Township Police Department that she had been sexually assaulted by Johnson over the course of several years at various times while she was in his company. The woman told detectives that at the age of 4 she resided in Philadelphia and that Johnson, who knew her family, sexually assaulted her and raped her on at least one occasion while he was at her home, according to the criminal complaint filed by Plymouth Detective Joseph LaPenta III. The victim reported that between the ages of 6 and 14 she resided at another Philadelphia residence and that Johnson sexually assaulted her over a hundred times when he visited that residence during those years, court papers indicate. The victim told detectives that when she was between the ages of 14 and 16 her family lived in Elkins Park and she said Johnson would figure out when no one would be home and visit her. The victim claimed Johnson also occasionally took her to his Blue Bell residence at that time and sexually assaulted her there, according to the arrest affidavit. Other sexual assaults occurred while the victim was living at a Plymouth residence when she was between 16- and 18-years of age and later at her Whitemarsh residence, detectives alleged. During the December 2016 investigation, the victim consented to an intercepted phone call with Johnson and prosecutors approved the wiretap after determining the victims consent was given freely and voluntarily, according to court documents. That recorded call between the victim and Johnson occurred on Dec. 15, 2016, court documents indicate. During the conversation, Johnson admits to having sexual relations with (the victim) while she was a teenager, but later said the sexual assaults began when she was seven years of age, LaPenta alleged. Johnson repeatedly apologizes for his actions during the entire conversation. Johnson goes on to state his past actions have done damage and admits to starting something and not stopping it, LaPenta alleged in the arrest affidavit. James Baker is the former general counsel of the FBI. Last October, he was interviewed by members of the House about the FBIs investigation into Russian interference in the election and related matters. Rep. Doug Collins has just released a transcript of the interview. Baker testified about the idea of Rod Rosenstein possibly wearing a wire to record President Trump, a matter that has received much attention. In addition, he testified that he heard there were two members of the Cabinet who were willing to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from office. I dont recall hearing this before. Here is the portion of the transcript that relates to this shocking allegation: Mr. Jordan: So, Mr. Baker, you said your understanding was based on what Mr. McCabe and Ms. Page told you that Mr. Rosenstein was contemplating recording the President because of the obstruction of justice issue? Mr. Baker: That is what my understanding was. I may be surmising that. Mr. Jordan: Was there anything talked about the 25th Amendment issue? Mr. Baker: Yes. Mr. Jordan: So both. Mr. Baker: Yes. Mr. Jordan: So both. And you took their conversation as completely serious that Mr. Rosenstein was serious about wearing a wire and recording the President for both of those reasons? Mr. Baker: No, no. I didnt connect the 25th Amendment thing to the wire. Maybe it was my mistake mentally. I connected that more to the obstruction matter. The 25th Amendment conversation, my understanding was that there was a conversation in which it was said I believe by the DAG [Rod Rosenstein] that there were that there were two members of the cabinet who were willing to go down this road already. (Emphasis added) It was Andrew McCabe who told Baker about the 25th Amendment conversation: Ms. Suzanne Grooms (Democratic committee staffer): Somebody told you that the DAG had spoken about the 25th Amendment. Is that accurate? A: Andy McCabe told me that the DAG had talked about the 25th Amendment. Q: And what did Mr. McCabe tell you? A: To the best of my recollection he told me that the DAG said that he had at least two members of the cabinet who were ready to invoke the 25th Amendment. . . . Q: And did they did Mr. McCabe explain to you in what context the 25th Amendment came up? A Again, I think the DAG was struggling with figuring out what to do in the aftermath of the firing of Director Comey, and he was talking about and saying lots of different things. And my understanding these were long meetings that they had over at the department with the deputy, the deputy attorney general and that they were talking about lots of things, and these were two pieces of information among others that I heard about. Its important to note that Baker didnt hear Rosenstein say that two Cabinet members wanted to invoke the 25th Amendment. Baker is reporting what he heard McCabe say Rosenstein said. Baker might have misreported what McCabe said. McCabe might have misreported what Rosenstein said. Rosenstein might have misreported what the two Cabinet members said. On the other hand, its quite possible that two members of the Trump Cabinet really did support invoking the 25th Amendment to push the president out of office. Which two? Baker didnt say. Maybe he doesnt know. Its scandalous if any member of the Trump Cabinet, or indeed any government official, considered using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump in response to the firing of James Comey. Were no longer a democracy when a president risks removal via the 25th Amendment for exercising his decisionmaking authority in ways that displease unelected officials. Theres a good chance that any Cabinet member who entertained this option is now an ex-Cabinet member. Even so, I hope that one day we will find out whether there really were such Cabinet members and, if so, which ones they were. I attended the trial of Mohamed Noor yesterday. The parties made their opening statements and the prosecutors called their first witness Don Damond, the fiancee of Justine Rusczyk (who called herself Damond in anticipation of her marriage to Don). Following up on my report from the lunch break in part 5 of this series, I want to note a few highlights and observations. For a coherent narrative account, plase see this MPR account by Jon Collins and Riham Feshir or this KARE 11 account by Lou Raguse or this Star Tribune account by Chao Xiong and Libor Jany. I also recommend the Twitter thread under Latest at #Noortrial. This case is a nightmare wrapped inside a tragedy. It resonates with us because it stands at the intersection of the issues that roil us. The Minneapolis kakistocracy visible under the surface of the case represents the wave of the future. This is a decidedly Minneapolis jury that will decide the case. Notes on opening statement: Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Patrick Lofton: Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Patrick Lofton gave the opening statement for the prosecution. His account of the events leading to Justines shooting by Noor disputed that Justine thumped the officers squad car in the alley behind her house. He characterized the thump essentially as an invention of the investigation itself. Even if Justine thumped the squad car, however, did that create a reasonable fear of death or bodily harm on the part of the officers? Noors partner, Matthew Harrity, was driving the squad car. He will be a crucial witness at trial. According to Lofton, he saw a silhouette to his left. He couldnt tell what it was. He then heard a pop and saw a woman in her pajamas with hands cradling her abdomen. It turned out to be Justine. Harrity turned on his bodycam and tried to help Justine. Her last words were, Im dying. Minneapolis police sergeant Jan Barnette turned up and took charge of the scene. Burnette asked Harrity what happened. She came up out of nowhere, Harrity said. Noor pulled his gun out and fired. Per protocol after a shooting, Noor sat in another squad car that arrived at the scene. The officer in that squad car turned off his bodycam to speak to Noor. He turned it back on after their conversation. Noor can be been on bodycam video showing the officer how he fired at Justine. It took them all a while to deduce that the woman lying dead in the alley was the woman who had called 911. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension took over the investigation and searched the Damonds house. We have long known this. I have yet to understand it. Lofton disparaged the BCAs initial handling of the investigation, though he credited the agency with getting its act together. He emphasized that it is an investigative agency; it does not determine the proper use of force. The prosecutors have retained two experts with long service in police leadership to testify on the issue of reasonable use of force. They will testify that the shooting was unreasonable. The prosecutors have incurred an expense of $47,000 for the experts (I assume that is $47,000 so far). Notes on opening statement: Defense counsel Peter Wold: Wold played up Noors journey from Somalia to Minnesota. He portrayed it as a great success story. Despite the defense talk of implicit bias during voir dire, the defense advertises and emphasizes Noors Somali background. Noor has been heartbroken for Justine since he realized she wasnt the threat he thought she was. Much of the opening statement implied to me that Noor would be testifying in his own defense, though it is clear that Harrity is the crucial witness to Noor (Im sure the prosecutors will call him and the defense will cross-examine him). Noor had a background in hotel management before applying to join the Minneapolis police force. Noors training at the Minneapolis police academy included ambush training. Noors defense rests on the proposition that he and his partner thought they were in an imminent ambush in the alley. The lovely lady in the alley who was barefoot in her pajamas clutching her cell phone was perceived as a deadly threat. Wolds opening statement drew several objections as it crossed the line to argument (rather than summary of evidence). All were sustained. The last time around the judge admonished him in front of the jury to stick to the evidence. A few split seconds are what the case is all about. Just before Noor shot Justine, Harrity exclaimed Oh, Jesus! and fumbled for his gun. Harrity appeared in terror. Noor had his weapon drawn and shot the silhouette to protect his partner and himself. This was a perfect storm with tragic consequences. It represented a classic ambush scenario. That is what crossed Harritys mind. What happened was in no way a crime. Notes on testimony of Don Damond: Don Damond was the first witness called by the prosecution. He was in Las Vegas on business for the weekend when Justine was killed. His testimony was the most emotional I can recall ever seeing in court Don was a riveting witness with no credibility issue. He fell in love with Justine at first sight at a conference they both attended. Justine lived in Sydney and Don in Minneapolis. They communicated at long distance over the next eight months. Don told Justine how he felt about her in December 2012. He didnt hear from her over the next 14 months. When Justine came around on the romance, she laid down three conditions. Don had to move to Sydney, they had to be married, and they had to have a child. Don already had an adult son (Zach) who lived with him in Minneapolis, but Don was on board with Justines conditions. They were engaged to be married in August 2017, the month following Justines killing. Zach had a hard time with his fathers plan to move to Sydney. After Justine met Zach, she felt compassion for his difficulties with his fathers plans. She moved to Minneapolis to live with Don. Justine was a veterinarian who had moved on to personal healing and spiritual growth. Listening to Don talk about her, I wished she were around for me to sign up for one of the classes she taught in Minneapolis. Don held it together until the end of direct examination. He broke down as he recalled the events of the evening of July 15, 2017 and the early morning of the following day. He recalled each of the phone calls he and Justine exchanged that evening and read the follow-up text messages as well. Don urged Justine to call the police. When she told him the police had arrived on the scene, he was confident all would be well. In his cross-examination Peter Wold asked about the physical training that Don and Justine had undertaken before their marriage. Justine worked out four or five times a week. She was in top physical shape. One component of her exercise involved kickbox training. Don stated that this was an exercise regimen, not martial arts training. I thought this line of questions reeked of desperation. Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is in many ways the most impressive member of the Democratic presidential field a low bar, to be sure. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserve, and took an unpaid seven months leave from his job as mayor to serve in Afghanistan. He was awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal for his counterterrorism work there. Buttigieg is also very smart. Hes a Harvard grad and a Rhodes Scholar who reportedly speaks or is proficient in seven languages. On policy, Buttigieg is quite liberal, but seems more thoughtful and less wacky than his rivals. Again, thats a low bar. But Buttigiegs claim to (very modest, so far) fame in this campaign is not his military service, academic accomplishments, or policy views. Rather, its the fact that he is gay. In my view, this fact counts neither for nor against him. But then, Im not a left-liberal. For the identity politics crowd, Buttigiegs sexual preference is a big deal. What they cant decide, though, is how big of a deal it should be. Their struggle to work this out makes for hilarious reading in this piece by Celine Ryan in the Daily Caller. The title Is Butigieg gay enough to make up for his white male privilege? The left cant decide provides a nice preview of the insanity that follows. Some excerpts: The left cant agree on whether rising Democratic star Pete Buttigieg has enough intersectionality points to be a viable presidential candidate. After all, he is a 37-year-old white male. But then again, he is gay. . . . A recent Atlantic op-ed frames Buttigiegs sexuality as equally as important as Cory Bookers blackness and Kamala Harris Indian and Jamaican heritage in that all of these traits reflect the respective candidates ability to understand the powerless, as victims of power and to understand the alienated, because they themselves have been marginalized. But this view is too simplistic if you truly understand identity politics. The hierarchy of powerlessness and marginalization must be considered: Some maintain that while the mayor does gain victim points for his homosexuality, his white male privilege must not be ignored. Buttigeig himself conceded that he benefits from such a privilege during a discussion at this years South by Southwest, in which he recalled an incident in college where he was not arrested after being caught with marijuana. . . . As evidence of his so-called privilege, critics have slammed Buttigieg for a tweet in which he agreed to engage in debate with Ben Shapiro. Such a debate never took place, after supporters begged the candidate to reconsider engaging with the bad man. Im not sure where the white privilege is in debating Ben Shapiro, but then Im not a left liberal. Theres also a hierarchy of victimization among gays, apparently. Buttigieg, by being a palatable gay, falls on the low end of that hierarchy: Where [Buttigieg and his husband] met online is of particular relevance to some who claim that the candidate is just not the right type of gay for the job. One viral op-ed titled Why Pete Buttigieg is Bad for Gays laments that Pete and [his husband] say they met on Hinge, a relationship-focused dating app for all sexualities, rather than Grindr, an app specifically for gay men notorious for being hookup-oriented. Supposedly, Buttigiegs habit of jokingly pointing out this fact makes the couple, well, not quite gay enough for his nomination to count as a progressive milestone. The joke is a good one for a largely gay crowd. It says that Mayor Pete knows about Grindr, just like you. Hes no prude! the piece explains. But it also lets him implicitly disapprove of the more explicitly sexual nature of Grindr. And theres a constituency there. Among that certain kind of gay, saying Im not on Grindr is the cultural equivalent of the equally snooty, I dont watch TV, the piece continues, referring to Buttigieg as a palatable gay, which is apparently a bad thing. Virtue signaling can be a tricky proposition these days. Fortunately for Buttigieg, I dont think hes competing for the vote of the kind of idiot who worries about which gay dating service he used or, for that matter, where he ranks on the identity politics chain of being. I believe hes competing for the votes of those in the less radical half of his party. For example, he presents himself as a devout Episcopalian who is working to bridge what he sees as a growing gap between religious Americans and the Democratic Party. Hes also supportive of Israel. Just because a goodly portion of Buttigiegs party is crazy doesnt mean he has to be. PR-Inside.com: 2019-04-10 23:08:00 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 1038 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 10, 2019 / AZARGA METALS CORP. ("Azarga Metals" or the "Company") (TSX-V:AZR) is pleased to announce that Baker Steel Resources Trust Ltd.("BSRT") and the Company have executed a Secured Convertible Loan Facility Agreement ("Investment Transaction"), to consummate the terms of the binding terms sheet announced on 14 February 2019 and 29 March 2019.The final investment size was agreed as US$3 million ("Loan"), with the first US$1 million expected to be drawn down within the next few days and the second advance of US$2 million drawable in four to six months time, provided however that the second advance is subject to earlier drawdown in certain circumstances set out in the definitive documentation.Chairman, Alex Molyneux commented, "I'm very pleased to welcome Baker Steel as our partner for continued development of the Unkur Copper-Silver Project.We were very successful with our first round of exploration leading to a sizable maiden resource and we firmly believe we can transformationally grow the mineralized envelope from here in the now fully funded next phase." Mr Trevor Steel, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Baker Steel Capital Managers LLP ("BSCM") will, in connection with closing, be appointed to the Company's Board of Directors, subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange.Mr Steel co-founded BSCM in 2001 and prior to that he was a senior portfolio manager at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers where he specialised in the natural resources sector.Following the funding made available from the Investment Transaction, Azarga Metals has commenced plans to start the second major physical exploration phase at Unkur which will commence during the 2019 field season and will include a diamond drilling program which will have the potential of discovering additional copper and silver mineralization from at least three target concepts: (i) along strike or down dip from currently defined mineralization; (ii) confirming the presence of at least one additional mineralized zone postulated to occur stratigraphically below the currently defined Zone 1 and Zone 2; and (iii) drilling new targets expected to be generated by planned geophysical surveys.A more detailed announcement regarding the second phase of exploration at Unkur will be made in the near future.As previously announced, the Loan will bear interest at an annual rate of 8%, payable semi-annually, and will mature on December 31, 2022.BSRT will be permitted to convert some or all of the principal amount of the Loan at any time, at a conversion price of C$0.14 per common share, into common shares of the Company.Azarga Metals will be permitted at any time to convert the interest owing under the Loan into common shares of the Company at a conversion price equal to the Market Price (as defined in the Corporate Finance Manual of the TSX Venture Exchange) on the day of the interest election notice.On completion of the Investment Transaction, the Company has agreed to issue such number of warrants (the "Warrants") to BSRT as is equivalent to to US$1,714,285 converted into Canadian dollars using the Bank of Canada closing rate on the date prior to the issuance.Each Warrant will exercisable for a period of two years for one common share of the Company at a price per common share of C$0.17.Provided that the Investment Transaction completes, the full amount is drawn (i.e., both tranches) and the Warrants are issued, assuming conversion of the full Loan and all interest at maturity, as well as exercise of the Warrants, an exchange rate of US$1 = C$1.3316 and using a conversion price for the interest of C$0.12, which was the last closing price of the common shares of the Company on April 9, 2019, BSRT would beneficially own and control an aggregate of 51,878,038 common shares of the Company, representing a beneficial ownership interest of approximately 36.46% of the issued and outstanding shares of the Company (post-issuance of the shares).On April 2, 2019, the majority of the disinterested shareholders of Azarga Metals approved, by way of a consent resolution, BSRT becoming a control person of the Company.Prior to completion of the Investment Transaction, BSRT currently owns no common shares of the Company.In connection with the Investment Transaction, the Company will grant BSRT the right to be nominate one director to the board of the Company, for so long as any principal amount of the Loan is outstanding.In addition, if at any time, BSRT directly or indirectly owns 20% or more of the common shares of the Company, it will be entitled to nominate two persons to the board of the Company.Also in connection with the Investment Transaction, the Company agreed to grant BSRT an option to acquire a portion of the Unkur net smelter royalty for US$5.0 million.BSRT, Arnold House, St Julians Avenue, Guernsey, GY1 1WA, entered into the Investment Transaction for investment purposes.Depending on market conditions and other factors, BSRT may from time to time acquire and/or dispose of securities of the Company or continue to hold its current position.A copy of the early warning report required to be filed with the applicable securities commissions in connection with the execution of the Investment Transaction will be available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and can by obtained by contacting Tino Isnardi at +44 (0) 20 7389 0009.***Qualified PersonAzarga Metals' Director, Michael Hopley, a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the exploration information disclosure contained in this Press Release.About Azarga Metals Corp.Azarga Metals is a mineral exploration and development company that owns 100% of the Unkur Copper-Silver Project in the Zabaikalsky administrative region in eastern Russia.AZARGA METALS CORP."Alex Molyneux"Alexander Molyneux, ChairmanFor further information please contact: Doris Meyer, at +1 604 536-2711 ext 6, visit www.azargametals.com , or follow us on Twitter @ AzargaMetals.The address of the head office of Azarga Metals is Unit 1 - 15782 Marine Drive, White Rock, BC V4B 1E6, British Columbia, Canada.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.Cautionary Statement:This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the Corporation's current expectations and estimates.Forward-looking statemen PR-Inside.com: 2019-04-10 10:00:09 Jose Hofer joins Benchmark Mineral Intelligence as Senior Analyst in Benchmark Minerals' Forecast & Consultancy Division London, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (Benchmark Minerals) is delighted to announce that Jose Hofer has joined from SQM, one of the worlds foremost lithium producers, and has been appointed Senior Analyst Forecasting. Jose was previously Business Intelligence Manager for SQM, based in Santiago, Chile. At Benchmark Minerals, Jose will be responsible for our growing portfolio of quarterly forecasting subscriptions that presently include lithium, cobalt and graphite and will soon include a wider spread of critical electric vehicle (EV) and battery raw materials including nickel, copper, and manganese. Jose Hofer said: Benchmark has taken the lead in bringing people with industry experience to their team and I look forward to being a part of this. I have spent years working on lithium ion battery research and market intelligence at SQM and the Critical Materials Institute in Chile. I feel very passionate about it and I am up to the challenge. It was clear from working within the industry that Benchmark Minerals is a special company in this space with outstanding people and I am truly positive about its eminent role along the entire electric vehicle supply chain in the coming years. Andy Leyland, Head of Benchmark Minerals Forecast & Consultancy Division, said: Jose brings leading industry experience to Benchmark Minerals at a time when the lithium sector is about to face its biggest challenge yet: financing and bringing online over 1.2m tonnes LCE of consistent battery-grade material over the coming decade. This is another step in the growth of our Forecast & Consultancy Division as the team continue to deliver a range of lenders market reports, strategic workshops and input to feasibility studies, not just in raw materials, but along the entire lithium ion to electric vehicle supply chain. Simon Moores, Managing Director, commented: Having someone of the calibre of Jose eager to join the Benchmark Team is a sign of how far we have come in four years." Our world-class, specialist focus on the lithium ion to EV supply chain back in 2014 was deemed too niche for the major publishers. Now, the entire commodity price data and research industry is heading down the path that has been cut by our special team they are all reading from the Benchmark Playbook. Jose adds true industry-expertise which allows us to double down on our number one position in the lithium, battery and EV sectors. While he will focus on forecasting, his specialist knowledge across the supply chain and involvement with the entire Benchmark team will add to our lithium price assessments as they evolve from a reference to a benchmark price in industry contracts. Our special team has just got that little bit more special today and I am delighted to have Jose with us. ABOUT BENCHMARK MINERAL INTELLIGENCE Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (Benchmark Minerals) is the worlds leading voice and most trusted provider of data and advisory services in the lithium ion battery and electric vehicle (EV) supply chain. Benchmark Minerals is globally known for setting the lithium industrys reference price which is relied upon to negotiate contracts between actors in the industry, including lithium extraction operators, cathode manufacturers, battery cell producers and automotive OEMs. The Company also produces regular price assessments on cobalt chemicals and graphite anode and also tracks lithium ion megafactory capacity build out. Benchmark Minerals also provides Forecasting & Consultancy services that are relied upon by a wide range of customers, from governments, electronics manufacturers, EV makers, battery cell producers, and mining companies. Premium Quarterly Forecast reports are provided for the lithium, cobalt and graphite industries, including cost curves and a fully linked supply and demand model allowing easy scenario analysis. Our single-client advisory services provide actionable and implementable recommendations in the form of supply chain workshops, lenders market reports and input to feasibility studies. To complement its publishing activities, Benchmark Minerals has created the industrys leading platform to discuss the subject The Benchmark World Tour. Starting in 2015, the annual series offers free investment and industry seminars, and has grown to 17 cities in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. Benchmark Minerals also hosts an industry gathering for the lithium ion supply chain in Q4 of each year. Benchmark Minerals Week consists of two main conferences, Graphite & Anodes and Cathodes, and is the worlds meeting place to negotiate deals and network. Benchmark Minerals data, insight, and understanding of the subject is unrivalled, as witnessed by repeat testimony to the US Senate in 2017 and 2019. In addition, Benchmark Minerals has been invited to give guest lectures at the University of Oxford, Stanford University, the Royal Institution, and advised the UK Government. The EV and battery cell supply chain is Benchmark Minerals sole focus and speciality. PR-Inside.com: 2019-04-10 18:37:06 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 775 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 MESQUITE, NV / ACCESSWIRE / April 10, 2019 / Cannabis Sativa, Inc. (OTCQB: CBDS) reports that the Company has been busy in 2018 laying the groundwork for future growth in the cannabis arena. Numerous investment opportunities are being screened and detailed discussions held where warranted; significant, ongoing expense reductions have been achieved, and the Company's board of directors gave the green light to potential investments into plant-touching businesses.RevenueWhile the Company revenue and margins grew 58% and 80%, respectively, during 2018, the $506k revenue number was far short of management's goal. CBDS' growth initiatives are focused on investments in, and partnerships with, revenue-generating, cannabis-related businesses that have management in place and are expected to be accretive within one year.Management has reviewed 20 investment opportunities and done deep dives on several. Our rigorous screening process has eliminated numerous companies; however, we continue discussions of various levels with several prospects in the cannabis and CBD markets. During the year the Company joined Arcview, a group of high net worth cannabis investors that is a significant source of deal flow.Presto Doctor was the primary revenue driver for CBDS in 2018. Despite this, an impairment charge of $1.1 million was recorded during the year as a result of the lower-than-expected financial performance. The company is now growing revenue rapidly in the large New York market and expects to open in Oklahoma in Q2 of 2019. The California market is expected to see slow growth, despite recreational legalization, while the Nevada market has slowed. Presto has added additional telemedicine revenue from former competitors that recently exited the medical cannabis recommendation arena.The iBudtender software development continues and is expected to be a revenue generator in 2019 while becoming a leading source of testing information for cannabis products in CA and other states.Development of the Company's patented Ecuadorian strain continues with clones in the ground at Kush, Inc., an affiliate of CBDS. Initial discussions are being held with firms interested in pharmaceutical testing of the strain for medical uses.ExpenseThe Company's operating expenses declined by $2.8 million compared to 2017. The compensation plans for its officers, consultants, and board members were restructured and utilization of consultants reduced. The lower level of spending at the G&A level is expected to continue through 2019.FinancingThe Company received $362k cash during the year from the exercise of common stock warrants and $303k cash from borrowings. Management is evaluating the market in planning for a common stock offering during the year.About Cannabis Sativa, Inc.:Cannabis Sativa, Inc. ("CBDS") is engaged in the licensing of cannabis related intellectual property, marketing and branding for cannabis based products and services, operation of cannabis related technology services, and ancillary business activities. CBDS licenses the "hi" and "White Rabbit" brands, holds a U.S. patent on the Ecuadorian Sativa strain of Cannabis, a U.S. Patent for a marijuana lozenge; a Cannabis-based pharmaceutical composition for the treatment of hypertensive disorders by submucosal delivery and trade secret formulas and processes, offers the hi benefits discount pharmacy card, and operates subsidiaries including: PrestoDoctor(R) ( https://prestodoctor.com),Wild Earth Naturals(R) , ( https://wildearthnaturals.com),and iBudtender (https//: ibudtender.com) . The Company is the official licensee for Virgin Mary Jane Brand( https://virginmaryjanebrand.com) In addition, CBDS seeks strategic partners for acquisition of operating companies, intellectual property and other assets which fit within the CBDS corporate vision.Forward-Looking Statements:This press release contains "forward-looking statements." Although the forward-looking statements in this release reflect the good faith judgment of management, forward-looking statements are inherently subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to be materially different from those discussed in these forward-looking statements. Readers are urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by us in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risk factors that attempt to advise interested parties of the risks that may affect our business, financial condition, results of operation and cash flows. If one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if the underlying assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results may vary materially from those expected or projected. Underlying assumptions include without limitation, the ongoing enactment of legislation favorable to the production of and the commercialization of cannabis products and the Company's success in capitalizing on that legislation. Readers are urged not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect any event or circumstance that may arise after the date of this release.Contact:702-346-3906SOURCE: Cannabis Sativa, Inc. FACTMR PR-Inside.com: 2019-04-10 14:16:51 Press Information Fact.MR 11140 Rockville Pike,Suite 400 Rockville, MD 20852 United States Abhishek Budholiya Marketing Manager 353-1-4434-232 email http://www.factmr.com # 782 Words 11140 Rockville Pike,Suite 400 Rockville, MD 20852 United StatesMarketing Manager353-1-4434-232 The CHPTAC market is anticipated to witness sluggish growth, with global demand likely to surpass 117 kilo tons in 2018, according to a latest report by Fact.MR . Wide application of 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyltrimethyl ammonium chloride (CHPTAC) in paper and textile industry continues to offset some of the sluggishness, however, regulations and availability of less potent alternatives is impeding demand.Get Free PDF For More Technical Insights @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2444 The demand for CHPTAC from end-use industries such as paper and textile continues to be steady. The use of paper in the packaging industry is increasing consistently in recent years, especially in North America and Europe. However, as the paper industry in North America is moving towards eco-friendly paper production CHPTAC is losing favor among end-users.High toxicity in inorganic compounds and chemicals used in paper industry is leading to the legal restrictions on consumption. Moreover, the introduction of stringent greenhouse gas emission regulation and rise in environmental awareness is creating impediments to demand. However, increasing crude oil prices and rise in oil & gas exploring activities in the US can create few opportunities for stakeholders.In addition to the US, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ) is another lucrative region in the CHPTAC market. The demand for CHPTAC is also growing in textile and water-treatment industries in APEJ.In the oil & gas industry, CHPTAC is widely used in cationisation of guar gum, which is used as a key raw material in fracking sands. Moreover, rise in gaur cultivation in India has resulted in increasing exports of gaur from India to the United States.Complete Report is Available @ https://www.factmr.com/report/2444/chptac-market Paper Industry to Account for Largest Share in CHPTAC Market Fact.MR expects the paper industry to emerge as one of the largest users of CHPTAC in papermaking process. The demand is expected to surpass 70 kilo tons by 2018 end. Paper-based packaging is gaining popularity owing to its versatility and cost-efficiency. The packaging industry is using paper on a large scale to develop various types of packaging such as paperboard, containerboard, shipping sacks, and paper bags.Traditionally, paper manufacturers worldwide used high quantity of retention agents, especially cationic substances. In recent years, the addition of these substances in paper manufacturing has triggered economic and environmental issues with the rise in contamination of effluents. In the last few years, semisynthetic compounds produced from natural polymers have found large application in paper industry.Modification of natural polymers to develop new materials with specific properties have been the key focus area of manufacturers. This is driving the demand for 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyltrimethyl ammonium chloride for cationic modification of cellulose.Modified natural polysaccharides made using CHPTAC are emerging as a sustainable alternative to non-biodegradable and synthetic polysaccharides, thus supporting the development of new processes and products in paper industry.Cationic Starch to Witness Huge Demand in Paper and Textile Industry Fact.MR study estimates that CHPTAC is likely to find wide application in cationisation of starch, with demand expected to reach nearly 100 kilo tons in 2018. Cationic starch is witnessing growing demand as the wet-end additives in the paper industry as it helps in improving mechanical strength, reduces wastewater pollution, and enables faster drainage.Cationic starch is also witnessing increasing demand in salt-free dying of cotton fiber. Chemical cationization is allowing cotton fibers to be dyed without using salt. Moreover, cotton fabric cationized using CHPTAC has resulted in significantly higher color strength. It also enhanced dye uptake properties, resulting in better dyeing without using or adding salt.The demand for CHPTAC is also likely to increase in the oil & gas industry owing to the improving market condition for crude oil and rise in exploring activities. Moreover, the US is likely to witness an increase in rig count, resulting in the US emerging as one of the largest oil producer behind Saudi Arabia and Russia.The Fact.MR report tracks the CHPTAC market for the period 2018-2027. According to the report, the CHPTAC market is expected to reach CAGR of 2.4% in terms of volume during the forecast period.Place an Enquiry to Our Industry Expert @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=AE&rep_id=2444 About Fact.MR Fact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact Us11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@ factmr.com Web: https://www.factmr.com/ Blog: https://factmrblog.com/ Read Industry News at - https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ FMI finds that the global diketene derivatives market value registered in 2017 was approximately US$ 325 Mn. The market for diketene derivatives has been poised for a robust over-8% CAGR in terms of revenue, during 20182028. Significant contribution is expected from the pharma industry, in terms of consumption of diketene derivatives. Diketene Derivatives Market PR-Inside.com: 2019-04-10 13:29:48 Press Information Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 644 Words Abhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 Future Market Insights new market research report titled 'Diketene Derivatives Market: Global Industry Analysis 20132017 and Opportunity Assessment 20182028', investigates the diketene derivatives market, and provides critical insights for the forecast period 2018 and 2028.As per the findings of the report, the global diketene derivatives market is expected to witness significant growth between 2018 to 2028, because of reasons such as increasing demand from pharmaceutical and nutraceutical, agrochemical, and pigment and dye industries. The global diketene derivatives market was valued at US$ 324.9 Mn in the year 2017, and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 8.2% over the forecast period of 2018 to 2028.Increasing production of medicines, vitamins, pesticides, and paints and coatings, among others, has resulted in a drastic increase in the demand for diketene derivatives, which are used as intermediates in their production. This explains the projected high growth of the diketene derivatives market during the forecast period.Request to Sample of Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-9274 South Asia Expected to Project Significant Growth Opportunities for Global Diketene Derivative Market PlayersThe global diketene derivatives market is fairly large and consolidated. There are a few players that have established themselves at international as well as domestic levels. These players are trying to grow further by expanding into high-growth regions, and also by expanding their manufacturing capacities to cater to the increasing demand.East Asia is expected to be a prominent region in the global diketene derivatives market throughout the forecast period, because of the increasing production and consumption in China. Besides East Asia, South Asia, which includes countries such as India, Malaysia, and Thailand, is also projected to be a lucrative region for the global diketene derivatives market.Developing economies, industrialization, and increasing annual income of the population in this region are some of the reasons that are majorly driving the opportunities of growth in South Asia.Browse Full Report Now @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/diketene-derivatives-market Alkylamides - by Derivative, and Pharmaceuticals & Nutraceuticals - by Application, to Remain Prominent over the Forecast PeriodThe market has been segmented on the basis of derivative and application, besides the seven regions.On a global level, the alkylamides in the global diketene derivatives market are expected to be the top selling derivative throughout the forecast period. The growth of the sales of this segment over the forecast period is projected to be significantly high when compared to other derivatives such as arylamides, alkylamides, and dihydroacetic acid (DHS) and salt, among others.Diketene derivatives are consumed for many applications such as pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals, agrochemicals, and pigments and dyes, among others. The pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals segment is estimated to be one of the prominent applications of diketene derivatives, and is expected to consume a considerable volume of diketene derivatives throughout the forecast period.Besides pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals, the application of diketene derivatives in the agrochemical industry is also expected to create significant revenue for the global diketene derivatives market. This is driven by the increasing amount of cultivation across geographies, which has resulted as a consequence of the global hike in demand for food. Utilization has become a necessity for farmers in order to increase their farming yield and prevent crop destruction. This directly creates demand for diketene derivative, and hence drives the growth of the market.Need more information about Report Methodology @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-9274 Diketene Derivatives Market: Vendor InsightsThe report highlights some of the market players that are prominent and have established themselves as the leaders in the global diketene derivatives market. Most of these players offer diverse portfolios of diketene derivatives for various end-use industries. Other key strengths that are important and common among these global diketene derivative players are their global presence and active participation in research and development (R&D), which helps them compete, expand their diketene derivatives product portfolio, and grow further in the global diketene derivatives market. PR-Inside.com: 2019-04-10 14:33:33 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 520 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 10, 2019 / Gainey Capital Corp. (TSXV: GNC) (OTC: GNYPF) ("Gainey" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has received approval from the Mexican Environmental Agency ("SEMARNAT") to drill up to 32 holes at it's newly optioned Las Margaritas mineral concessions in Durango, Mexico.David Coburn, President and CEO commented "the approval by SEMARNAT is a significant step in advancing the exploration at the El Colomo Project and proving out the continuity of the gold mineralization from the Golden Zone in Nayarit to Las Margaritas in Durango, a distance of approximately 8 kilometres. The vein system at Las Margaritas has never been drill-tested and Gainey will be outlining a more detailed exploration/drilling strategy in the very near future." The upcoming drill program at Las Margaritas will focus on the best mineralization exposed on surface, where assays have returned up to 73.7 g/t gold (see Gainey news release dated 2019). Gold mineralization is typical of a low sulphidation epithermal system, as is common throughout this prolific geologic belt known as the Sierra Madre Occidental.David Dupre, P.Geo. is the designated Qualified Person for the El Colomo Project, as defined by National Instrument 43-101, and has approved this news release.About Gainey Capital Corp.Gainey is a gold and silver exploration, development and ore processing company exploring an aggregate of 14,000+ hectares strategically located in the gold/silver-rich Sierra Madre Occidental Trend in western Mexico. The Company's mill, located on its El Colomo property, is capable of processing up to 300 tons of ore per day. Additional information on Gainey, its current operations and its vision, is available on the Company's website at www.gaineycapital.com or from info@ gaineycapital.com ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS"David Coburn"David Coburn, Chief Executive OfficerFor information, please contact the Company:Phone: 480-347-8904E-mail: info@ gaineycapital.com Website: www.gaineycapital.com FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This press release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", 'would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date such statements were made. The Company 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.Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) has reviewed or accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this Release.SOURCE: Gainey Capital Corp. PR-Inside.com: 2019-04-10 15:31:39 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 646 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 INCLINE VILLAGE, NV / ACCESSWIRE / April 10, 2019 / LithiumOre ( http://lithiumore.net) (the "Company"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oroplata Resources, Inc. (OTCQB: ORRP), a lithium resource exploration and development company, today announced that Lead Chemist Dr. Krishna Sharma was recently interviewed by Proactive Investors, a UK-based online investor services company that provides analytics, market reports, and company and industry profiles.Dr. Krishna Sharma has been working with LithiumOre since October 2018 and is the Lead Chemist on its lithium project in Railroad Valley, Nevada. During the interview, Dr. Sharma, the chemistry and metal extraction expert, discusses LithiumOre's extraction plan for its project in Railroad Valley, Nevada.To see the video interview in its entirety, please visit:Made in America, LithiumOre holds 1,300 lithium mineral claims, totaling 26,000 acres, located in Railroad Valley of Nye County, Nevada. Railroad Valley is approximately 112 miles northeast of Clayton Valley and can be accessed by paved highway directly from U.S. Route 6. Railroad Valley is one of Nevada's largest trapped basins and is noted to hold all the necessary commercial and engineering prerequisites for a massive lithium brine deposit. The Company's claims have been evaluated by experts and the BLM and are in planned on-site exploration.LithiumOre, Corp.LithiumOre ( http://lithiumore.net) , a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oroplata Resources, Inc. (OTCQB: ORRP), is a lithium resource exploration and development company, whose primary focus is the establishment of a low cost production base to supply the rapidly growing lithium-ion battery industry for both mobile devises and laptops, as well as the burgeoning EV (electronic vehicle) industry. LithiumOre is focused on becoming a substantial, profitable lithium producer via the timely development of valuable production-grade lithium brine deposits in Nevada.For more information, please visit: http://lithiumore.net Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, including those with respect to the expected project economics for Western Nevada Basin (Railroad Valley), including estimates of life of mine, average production, cash costs, AISC, initial CAPEX, sustaining CAPEX, pre-tax IRR, pre-tax NPV, net cash flows and recovery rates, the impact of self-mining versus contract mining, the timing to obtain necessary permits, the submission of the project for final investment approval and the timing of initial gold production after investment approval and full financing, metallurgy and processing expectations, the mineral resource estimate, expectations regarding the ability to expand the mineral resource through future drilling, ongoing work to be conducted at the Western Nevada Basin (Railroad Valley), and the potential results of such efforts, the potential commissioning of a Pre-Feasibility study and the effects on timing of the project, are "forward-looking statements." Although the Company's management believes that such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee that such expectations are, or will be, correct. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, which could cause the Company's future results to differ materially from those anticipated. Potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, interpretations or reinterpretations of geologic information, unfavorable exploration results, inability to obtain permits required for future exploration, development or production, general economic conditions and conditions affecting the industries in which the Company operates; the uncertainty of regulatory requirements and approvals; fluctuating mineral and commodity prices, final investment approval and the ability to obtain necessary financing on acceptable terms or at all. Additional information regarding the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements is available in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2018. The Company assumes no obligation to update any of the information contained or referenced in this press release.Contact Informationinfo@ lithiumore.net SOURCE: Oroplata Resources, Inc. The global macroalgae market was valued at around US$ 7,882.6 Mn in 2017, and is projected to grow at an 8% CAGR over 20182028. Escalating production of macroalgae is observed in China, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, Japan, and other Asian countries. Maximum macroalgae consumption expected within food industry. Macroalgae Market PR-Inside.com: 2019-04-10 13:46:20 Press Information Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 695 Words Abhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 As per the findings of a new report of Future Market Insights (FMI), the global macroalgae market is expected to witness significant growth during 2018 to 2028, with increasing demand from end uses, including food, animal feed, cosmetics, and fertilizers.The global macroalgae market was valued at US$ 7,882.6 Mn in the year 2017, and is projected to expand at a CAGR of 8% over the forecast period of 2018 to 2028. The increasing production of food, cosmetics, fertilizers, and pharmaceuticals, among others, has resulted in a drastic increase in the demand for macroalgae. The growing consumption of macroalgae in food applications is expected to boost the growth of the global macroalgae market in the coming years.Request to Sample of Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-9276 South East Asia & Asia Pacific Expected to Create Significant Growth Opportunities for Global Macroalgae Market PlayersThe global macroalgae market is equally large and fragmented. There are a few players that have established themselves at international as well as domestic levels. These players are taking initiatives to grow even more by expanding into high-growth regions, and also by expanding their manufacturing capacities to cater to the increasing demand.East and South East Asia are expected to be prominent regions in the global macroalgae market throughout the forecast period, because of the increasing production and consumption in countries such as China, Indonesia, and Japan. Other coastal regions are also developing taste for macroalgae products, which will be a positive factor for the growth of the global macroalgae market.Rising economies, industrialization, and increasing annual income of the population in these regions are some of the reasons that are majorly leading to the increasing demand for of macroalgae in South East Asia and other parts of Asia Pacific.Browse Full Report Now @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/macroalgae-market End Use of Macroalgae in Food Industry Projected to Remain Dominant Throughout the Forecast PeriodThe market has been segmented as source, type, end use, application, and region.On a global level, food, in the global macroalgae market, is expected to be the top selling end user throughout the forecast period. The growth of the sales of this segment during the forecast period is projected to be significantly high when compared to other end uses such as fertilizers, cosmetics, and animal feed, among others.Macroalgae are consumed for many end uses such as food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, fertilizers, animal feed, and others. The food segment is estimated to be of prominent end use for macroalgae, and is expected to consume a considerable volume of macroalgae throughout the forecast period.Besides food, the use of macroalgae in animal feed, fertilizers, and the personal care industry is also expected to create significant revenue for the global macroalgae market. This is driven by the increasing amount of cultivation and harvesting of seaweed across geographies, which has resulted with the global hike in demand for food, animal feed and other applications.Increasing their earnings and enhancing their livelihood have become necessary for farmers in order to increase their farming yield. They have started cultivating seaweed, which drives the growth of macroalgae in the market, bolstered by the increasing demand projection for macroalgae during the forecast period.Macroalgae Market: Vendor InsightsThe report highlights some of the market players that are prominent and have established themselves as leaders in the global macroalgae market. Some of the examples of the key players in this value chain of macroalgae are Dow Dupoint Inc., Cargill Inc., Biostadt India Limited, CP Kelco, Acadian Seaplants Limited, Nantong Tianfu Seaweeds & Aquatics Co., Ltd., Qingdao Rongde Seaweed Co., Ltd, Haian Qingxin Food Co., Ltd., Extractos Naturales Gelymar S.A., Seasol International Pty Ltd, Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group Co., Ltd., Compania Espanola de Algas Marinas S.A., and Indigrow Ltd., among others.Need more information about Report Methodology @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-9276 Most of these players offer diverse portfolios of macroalgae for various end-use industries. Other key strengths that are important and common among these global macroalgae players are their global presence and active participation in research and development (R&D), which helps them compete, expand their macroalgae product portfolio, and grow further in the macroalgae market. The National Pension Commission (PenCom), says it is targeting no fewer than 30 million Nigerians in its Micro Pension Plan (MPP) within the next five years. The Head of Corporate Communications Department of the commission, Peter Aghahowa disclosed this while briefing journalists on Wednesday at the ongoing Enugu International Trade Fair. Mr Aghahowa was represented by the Assistant General Manager, Corporate Communications Department, Carol Alex-Uzomah. The News agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that President Muhammadu Buhari had on March 28 launched the MPP for self-employed persons in the informal sector. Mr Aghahowa said the move was to assuage the yearnings of the categories of workers by ensuring financial inclusion in the sector. According to him, the scheme would cover all manner of self-employed people including artisans, petty traders, water sellers and many more. The plan which is an initiative of the PenCom is aimed at the provision of pension services to self-employed persons in the informal sector and employees of organisations with less than three staff. The informal sector constitutes an estimated 69 million work force in the country and represents an estimated 88 per cent of Nigerian workers that lack pensions and safety nets for their old age. The goal of the commission is to achieve coverage of 30 million people in the informal sector by 2024, he said. Mr Aghahowa said they were at the trade fair to sensitise members of the informal sector including artisans on the new initiative. He appealed to prospective beneficiaries to take advantage of the MPP to safeguard their future, adding that there would always be life after active service years. He said they were rolling out the necessary information across all platforms to ensure that the message of financial inclusion in the informal sector got to the intended audience. Our plan is to take the message to all the remote areas in the next couple of months. Those working in the informal sector need to enroll in order to enjoy the benefits of the Contributory Pension Scheme, he said. Mr Aghahowa said enrollees would have the liberty to access up to 40 per cent of their contributions any time they wished provided that they had contributed for at least three months. Part of the documentation would require enrollees to provide information on their next-of-kin in case of any eventuality, he said. Mr Aghahowa assured that there would be no form of scandal in the scheme as adequate safeguard had been put in place to protect contributions made by enrollees. There are adequate safeguards in the scheme starting from the regulators, custodians and pension funds administrators and we all have our different roles to play. So there are no challenges of safeguarding funds, Mr Aghahowa said. (NAN) The editors of the proposed poetry anthology Wreaths for a Wayfarer: A Poetry Anthology in honour of Pius Adesanmi have announced that Daraja Press (Canada) will publish the North American edition while Narrative Landscape Press (Nigeria) will publish the African edition. The anthology is expected to be published later this year. They appreciated those who had submitted their poems for the anthology. The editors also extended the deadline from today to April 22, 2019, to allow for more submissions. A release sent to PREMIUM TIMES, on Wednesday said: The poems must be original. They should either celebrate Pius Adesanmi and his work or philosophically reflect on existence, mortality, immortality and/or offer hope for the living. Poets who know (or did not know) the poet should exorcise the pains of loss through provocative poems that pour out their beating hearts with all-consuming passion. Poems will be assessed by their poetic quality, thematic relevance, technical competence, and emotive force. Submission Guidelines Submissions must be original, previously unpublished poems Submissions attached to emails may consist of ONE to THREE poems of no more than FIVE pages maximum) Submissions must be single-spaced and page-numbered. Contact information, (name, mailing address, and email address) must appear on the first page of the submission. A short, third-person biography of no more than 100 words should be included. Preferred file formats: Word doc, docx (please no PDFs) Submission Deadline: April 21, 2019. Please note: Any poems received after the deadline will not be considered. All submissions to be sent to The Editors via wreathsforawayfarer@gmail.com The Editors: Nduka Otiono Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. Uchechukwu Umezurike Department of English & Film Studies University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. The Australian government will spend 49.8 million U.S. dollars to prevent further mass fish deaths in the nations biggest river system. The minister for Water Resources and Agriculture, David Littleproud, on Wednesday said the government was committed to taking action against the phenomenon. The issue had resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of fish in the Murray and Darling rivers during summer. The funding included 17.8 million U.S. dollars for water meters, in the Murray-Darling basin, which is Australias most significant agricultural area. The other is a 3.5 million U.S. dollars for cameras to live stream water flow and 14.2 million U.S. dollars for water and environment research. It was an extreme event and obviously a tragic event. Its not the first one and it wont be the last, Littleproud told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Wednesday. A government-commissioned investigation into the deaths by climate and water management expert Rob Vertessy, which was released in February, found that low water flows, poor water quality and sudden temperature changes were responsible for the deaths. Mr Vertessy made 27 recommendations for the future management of the basin, including greater transparency and improved monitoring of the system. Mr Littleproud said he had accepted 10 of the recommendations and was working with state governments on the remaining 17. He said the best way to prevent future fish deaths was the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, the governments national plan to manage the basin as a connected system rather than on a state-by-state basis. Improving our water management between the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and the states is paramount, and understanding that these extreme weather events will happen again and we need to be better equipped to handle that and be prepared for that, Mr Littleproud said. (Xinhua/NAN) U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday called on the UN to revoke the UN credentials of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduros government and recognise opposition leader, Juan Guaido, as the countrys legitimate leader. He said the U.S.had drafted a UN resolution and called on all states to support it. It was not immediately clear if Mr Pence was proposing a resolution in the 15-member Security Council or the 193-member General Assembly. The time has come for the UN to recognise interim president Juan Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela and seat his representative in this body, Mr Pence told the UN Security Council. Diplomats said it was unlikely Washington will get the support needed to adopt such a measure in either the Security Council or the General Assembly. The U.S. and Russia both failed in rival bids to get the Security Council to adopt resolutions on Venezuela in February. More than 50 countries have recognised Guaido as Venezuelas leader. When asked if the U.S. thought it had enough backing to oust Maduros government at the UN, Mr Pence said: I think the momentum is on the side of freedom. Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the U.S. of provoking an artificial crisis to oust Mr Maduro and replace him with their own pawn, actions he described as a lawless, thuggish violation of international law. We call on the U.S. to once again recognise that the Venezuelan people and other peoples have the right to determine their own future, Nebenzia said. If you want to make America great again, and we are all sincerely interested in seeing that, stop interfering in the affairs of other states. The UN has previously had to address competing claims for representation at the world body. In September 2011, the General Assembly approved a Libyan request to accredit envoys of the countrys interim government as Tripolis sole representatives at the world body, effectively recognising the National Transitional Council. The move came after the U.S., Russia, China and European nations had all recognised that council. The U.S. called Wednesdays meeting of the Security Council to discuss the humanitarian situation in Venezuela. UN Aid Chief, Mark Lowcock, told the council that there is a very real humanitarian problem in the country. The scale of need is significant and growing. The UN is working in Venezuela to expand the provision of humanitarian assistance, Lowcock said. We can do more to relieve the suffering of the people of Venezuela, if we get more help and support from all stakeholders. He briefed the council on a recent UN report on the situation that estimates about a quarter of Venezuelans are in need of humanitarian assistance and painted a dire picture of millions of people lacking food and basic services. Some 3.4 million Venezuelans have left the country and the UN predicts that will rise to some five million by the end of the year. In February, Venezuelan troops blocked U.S.-backed aid convoys entering from Colombia and Brazil. Mr Maduro has said there is no crisis and blames U.S. sanction for the countrys economic problems. Mr Maduro has accepted aid from ally Russia. In Venezuela, there is a need to separate political and humanitarian objectives. Humanitarian assistance must be delivered on the basis of need alone, Mr Lowcock said. We seek the councils support to safeguard the neutral and impartial nature of humanitarian action. (Reuters/NAN) It will be almost impossible for Nigeria to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030 if the Primary Health Care (PHC) system is not improved and if health insurance remains voluntary. This was the main talking point Tuesday when the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS) met with experts, partners and stakeholders to proffer solutions to challenges hindering Nigerias progress towards achieving UHC. Tagged NIPPS study tour visit to DRPC-PAS, the event which held in Abuja was organised by NIPPS and the Development Research and Project Centre (DRPC). To achieve UHC, Paul Basinga, Country Director, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, suggested that Nigeria needs to build a strong PHC system. It has to be a top priority for the federal and state governments, Mr Basinga told journalists during tea break at the study tour. There is need for a reform so as to have a viable PHC system with enough finance flowing down to the facilities that will be located in the right places with adequate human resources, equipment and drugs. Unsettling challenge A viable and people (grassroot) oriented PHC system is key in achieving UHC, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). In Nigeria, there have been concerted efforts but the PHC system is dogged by multiple challenges. This is largely because billions of naira reportedly spent over the decades on health facilities by government at different levels were mismanaged. Again, there is an element of misplaced priority. While thousands of PHCs lie waste, government has continued to build more across the country without any plan for sustaining and equipping them. Only about 20 per cent of the 30,000 public PHCs in the country is fully functional, a recent survey by a nongovernmental body, CISLAC, said. President Muhammadu Buhari, in January 2017, flagged-off a scheme to revitalise about 10,000 PHCs across Nigeria. But more than a year later, PREMIUM TIMES investigation found that very little work had been done. Last year, American businessman and co-founder of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates during a visit to the country, described as broken, Nigerias primary healthcare system. The Gates foundation is working with the government to implement the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) to boost service delivery in PHCs. As a matter of fact, we have provided money for it, Mr Basinga said on Tuesday. We are the first donor to put money in BHCPF. We put two million dollars on the table to really allow government to speed up implementation and then we think that its a long term strategy which will allow money to flow from the CBN account down to the facilities. We have signed an MOU with the government for them to really meet their commitments to buy vaccines and we have committed for the next five years, 75 million dollars to put into the BHCPF if the government is to achieve their commitment on funding their vaccines. Health Financing Nigeria must make health insurance compulsory to achieve UHC, says health expert, Obioma Obikezie. Currently, only civil servants are covered in the NHIS and their contribution is too lean to give us UHC. Enyantu Ifenne, the chairperson of Nigerias Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), during her presentation at the event described the current structure of the scheme as the critical part of the problem which hinders progress in the health sector. This is 14 years after the scheme was set up and have only five per cent coverage. At that rate, it will take up to 280 years to achieve universal coverage. Its cynical! She further cited Rwanda as an example of countries that achieved maximum coverage by making health insurance compulsory. About 70 per cent of the Nigerian population are in the informal sector so that is the more reason health insurance should be made compulsory. Despite the fact that Nigeria has a teeming population of vulnerable groups including women and children, there is no provision in the current NHIS act and guideline that covers them. Mrs Ifenne urged the NIPPS delegation to adopt relevant models which ensure maximum and compulsory coverage of the Nigerian population and present same to the president. UHC by 2030 the part NIPPS will play NIPPS is Nigerias policy formation center for bureaucrats, private sector leaders, army officers, medium-rank and senior civil servants. It was founded in 1979. Many policymakers in Nigeria have attended the NIPSS. Notable among them include ex-military dictator, Ibrahim Babangida, and Nuhu Ribadu, a former anti-corruption chief. Each year, the institute develops a policy plan for the country. It reports directly to the office of the president and is supervised by the vice president. This year, NIPPS has a mandate of charting a roadmap that will help the country achieve UHC through better funding mechanism. At the end of this study tour, we will come up with recommendations and strategies that will be conveyed to the president as a pathway to achieving UHC, D. L Sanda, Leader of the NIPPS delegation said. The event is coming barely a month after PREMIUM TIMES reported that NIPPS and DRPC led the Nigerian delegation for the Africa Health Agenda International Conference 2019 (AHAIC) which held in Rwanda. The conference was centred on how African countries can achieve UHC by 2030. Nigerians do not seek early medical attention because of the high poverty rate in the country and lack of adequate health information, some experts have said. The President, Association of Nigerian Physicians in America (ANPA), Charmain Emelife, said this while speaking with PREMIUM TIMES in Abuja on Monday during a medical outreach organised by the association. The medical outreach was organised in collaboration with the Nigerian Association of Pharmacist and Pharmaceutical Scientist in America, (NAOPPSA), Business and Professional Women Nigeria (BPW), Junior Chambers International (JCI), Dagomo Foundation and others. The medical outreach, a six-day mission, holds April 5 to 10. It will provide free ophthalmological, dental, and surgical services to less privileged Nigerians. The medical outreach will hold in two locations in the Nigerian capital, Abuja: Juwa and Tugan Kwasou. All the surgeries are being done at the Kubwa General hospital. Ms Emelife said there is a need for the government to embark on proper grassroots education to encourage people to make informed and timely decisions about their health. She said healthcare delivery is also affected by high poverty in the country. Ms Emelife, a nephrologist, said most Nigerians present their health issues late because they do not have adequate knowledge on how diseases transform. This, she said, affects their health decision-making process. Ms Emelife said people need primary healthcare providers and also need the right education so that they can abandon their beliefs that are wrong. There are lots of people peddling instruction and information that is not correct. A patient doesnt understand that hypertension is lifetime and needs to be treated daily. They think they have been given drugs, treated and its done. We dont have that culture of yearly medical checkups. As such follow up care for grassroots education is necessary for them to understand that if you are diagnosed with hypertension, it means that you are hypertensive for life, she said. Ms Emelife said there is a need for a channel in which the right people are the ones providing information. There is a lot of misinformation out there. A diabetic patient that I saw this morning said he has not eaten and has not taken his medicine. I cant even treat you effectively if you have not even taken what you have been given so we need to start proper grassroots education. Training the right people to give the right information is very important, she said. Leo Egbeijobi, a doctor practising in America, said a lot has gone wrong with healthcare at the rural level and there is a need to revive it. Mr Egbeijobi, also a pharmacist, is the president, Nigerian Association of Pharmacist and Pharmaceutical Scientist in America (NAOPPSA). According to him, simple things we do within public health education will reduce the disease consequences and go a long way on preventive measures. Back then, there were good things in the rural areas that are not there anymore. The local area is no longer protected. There is pollution, there are people coming out from outside to inside with saturation of the urban life. And there is a lack of education and information on how to take care of simple things like vaccination. If there is anything we need to improve, we need to go back to the old system of having community health clinics, to be managed by healthcare workers, coordinated by healthcare nurses, supported by healthcare pharmacist and supervised by healthcare doctors. Another visiting doctor, Uche Aguwa, said judging by the people she has attending to so far, knowledge of their health is very poor. She said: A lot of people come in saying they have typhoid or malaria, or (high) blood pressure and most of the time they do not have any of the ailments. She said the notion that they (patients) know what they are suffering from makes treatment difficult because the physician needs to take time to start explaining to them. The federal government has said it will establish a National Emergency Maternal and Child Health Intervention Centre (NEMCHIC) to address public health concern on maternal, newborn and child deaths across Nigeria. The Executive Director of National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, disclosed this while presenting the agencys strategic plan for the rapid reduction of maternal, newborn and infant motility in Abuja on Monday. He said the strategic approach was in line with the national strategic and health plan 2018-2022. Mr Shuaibu said the centre would work with the National Polio Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) and transit polio resources towards Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn Child, Adolescent Health and Nutrition (RMNCAH+N) interventions. He said the centre would improve awareness and promote community involvement in interventions to reduce maternal and child mortality. Mr Shuaib lamented the appalling health statistics in the country, especially in maternal and child mortality rate. He said Nigeria has one of the worst records in maternal and child mortality in the world. It is recorded that in Nigeria, approximately 145 women in the 15-45 age bracket die every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth while 2,300 children under five years die mainly from preventable causes He said there is the need to break the culture of silence over preventable deaths in the country. He said the centre would also increase data visibility and quality aside improving detection and responsiveness in the resolution of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn Child, Adolescent Health and Nutrition (RMNCAH+N) service gap. Mr Shuaib said the agency would collaborate with traditional and religious leaders as well as development partners to energise efforts to reverse the negative indices on maternal, newborn and child mortality in Nigeria. In his remark, the Emir of Argungu and Deputy Chairman, Northern Traditional Leaders Committee on Polio and Primary Health Care, Samaila Mera, said the statistics were alarming and heartbreaking. He said the northern traditional leaders would sensitise the people to patronise facilities provided by the government and convince husbands to allow their wives to go for antenatal services and deliver at the hospitals. We are involved in the surveillance of maternal and neonatal deaths; in this regard, we are working closely with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and other partners. We are working with traditional birth attendants on the strategy to stop bleeding after birth which is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality, he said. The Nigerian Army has explained what transpired during the attack on Damaturu, the capital of Yobe State, by suspected Boko Haram terrorists on Tuesday evening. PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday reported how the attackers invaded Maisandari, a suburb of the town on the eastern flank of Damaturu along the Kano-Maiduguri highway. In a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday by the Acting Assistant Director Army Public Relations, Sector 2, Operation Lafiya Dole, Njoka Irabo, he said troops stormed Maisandari, after receiving information on the planned attack. The spokesperson said the ambush by the troops led to the extermination of many Boko Haram terrorists. Following credible information of planned efforts by Boko Haram terrorists to attack Damaturu, troops of Sector 2, Operation LAFIYA DOLE, successfully laid an ambush which led to the extermination of many Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs), that attempted to attack Damaturu, Yobe State at about 5:15 pm, today Tuesday the 9th of April 2019. The vigilant troops effectively ambushed the criminals few metres ahead of Maisandari community at the outskirts of the city of Damaturu. Damaturu attack: items recovered from terrorists by the Nigerian Army [PHOTO CREDIT: Nigerian Army] Damaturu attack: items recovered from terrorists by the Nigerian Army [PHOTO CREDIT: Nigerian Army] The terrorists were overwhelmed by the superior firepower of the gallant troops and the well-coordinated air support, from the Air Component of Operation LAFIYA DOLE, the statement said. According to Mr Irabor, many terrorists were wounded while guns and other war equipment were recovered. After the ambush, many terrorists met their Waterloo, some were also wounded and the following items/equipment were recovered: a. 2 x Gun Trucks b. 2x Anti Aircraft Guns c. 1 x 60 Millimetre Mortar d. 4 x AK 47 Rifles e. 1x General Purpose Machine Gun f. 1,245 Rounds of 7.62 mm (NATO). Damaturu attack: items recovered from terrorists by the Nigerian Army [PHOTO CREDIT: Nigerian Army] Damaturu attack: items recovered from terrorists by the Nigerian Army [PHOTO CREDIT: Nigerian Army] Troops have embarked on the hot pursuit of the fleeing terrorists, mop up/combing of the general area is ongoing. Further details and possible recoveries would be provided on completion of the mop-up operations, Mr Irabor added. The Director of Lagos State Fire Service, Rasaki Musibau, and six others who were abducted on April 6 have been released, the police have said. Bala Elkana, the Lagos State police spokesperson, said in a statement Wednesday that the kidnap victims were released unhurt. They were abducted at Iwoye Bridge, Itoikin-Epe road, in Ikorodu. The police said a Toyota Sienna jeep, a Toyota Corolla, and an Opel Jeep were recovered from the kidnap scene on April 7. On April 9, at about 11.45 p.m. the Director of Lagos State Fire Service, Rasaki Musibau, and six others kidnapped on April 6 at about 8.00 p.m., at Ketu-Ereyun, Ikorodu, were released unhurt by their abductors. Upon their release, victims have been reunited with their families. The statement said the polices tactical teams are still in the creeks and forests searching for the hoodlums. The Senate on Wednesday resolved to make N10 billion available in the 2019 budget to cater for the internally displaced and other persons affected by the activities of bandits in Zamfara State. This decision was taken after the Senate deliberated on a motion sponsored by Kabiru Marafa (APC, Zamfara Central). Mr Marafa, at the start of plenary, raised a point of order urging his colleagues to let him present a motion on the need to create an intervention fund to cater for Internally Displaced Persons and other persons affected by the activities of armed bandits in Zamfara State. He began the deliberation by commending the Nigerians who held protests in the Federal Capital Territory and other states as well as outside the country. He applauded the protesters for ignoring religious and tribal differences to show solidarity and oneness over banditry in the North-west state. The lawmaker, however, lamented that despite efforts made to curb the menace, the activities of the bandits remain unabated. He said over 11,000 male adults have been killed since 2011 in the state and the casualty ratio shows that the state remains far ahead of other states in the North-east and North-west affected by violent attacks. While stating that insecurity has nothing to do with politics, the lawmaker noted that killings and kidnappings are now a daily affair in the state. In his contribution, the deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, described the issues as worrisome. He lamented the absence of media personnel in the state to report the killings and called for the creation of state police. This is sad because media houses do not have correspondents in Zamfara. So, most of these killings are not in the open. I remember a part of the report from the delegation we sent to the state, said the whole of Zamfara engulfed, except one local government area. We dont even know the state of that one local government area. Nigeria is the only country doing the kind of policing we are doing which is the centralised policing. We need to consider decentralising the system. I also think the time is right in Zamfara to consider a state of emergency, he said. The Senate leader, Ahmed Lawan, urged his colleagues as well as the federal government to be practical in their approach. He stressed the need to look for immediate and long-term solutions. He, therefore, prayed that the security-related committees engage security agencies to figure out a better mode of operation to be applied. Shehu Sani (PRP, Kaduna Central), also regretted that despite several operations carried out by the security agencies, none has solved the problem. The army has carried out several operations. Python, tiger, scorpion, lion and all sorts of sloganeering operations. That has still not solved the problem. Recently the state government engaged hunters and bullet charmers. That has still not solved the problem. Two and half years ago, President Muhammadu Buhari visited the state. That has still not solved the problem. The country is at war. People killed in Zanfara State are more than the reports we get of people being killed in Somalia, Afghanistan, he said. He said the killings and kidnappings have gone beyond Zamfara State. According to him, it is now in Kaduna State. He lamented the failure of the federal and state governments in handling the issue. Happenings in Kaduna is a fallout of what is happening in Zamfara. We are failing as a nation. These are symptoms of a failed state where the government has failed to tackle banditry. And governors should remain in their states, he said. In his remark, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, said the chamber needs to look at the cause of the problem and proffer long-term solutions. I think we did that yesterday trying to strengthen the police and what we have before us, the Police Reform Bill which will be laid today. The sooner we pass that, it would help us in addressing this issue. And more importantly, is that we must still go back to what a lot of us have been advocating here. There is a need for us to have state or community police because it is a way forward. Otherwise, we will continue to run into these problems. On the area of oversight, there is a lot also that we need to do to ensure that we hold the security agents accountable and we need to move very fast this year. The Senate also urged the federal government to set up an ad hoc committee to be known as the Presidential Initiative of Zamfara with a 10-year life span to manage the said funds and subsequent allocations and donations. The Senate has resolved to override the veto of President Muhammadu Buhari on the constitution amendment (Fourth Alteration No. 28) Bill 1999, and the Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) amendment Bill. The two bills were part of the 17 bills that the president declined to assent. Mr Buhari also forwarded his reasons for rejecting the bill to the National Assembly. The constitution amendment bill seeks to stipulate the time within which the president or governor shall lay the Appropriation Bill before the National or State Assembly. It also seeks to ensure early presentation and passage of appropriation bills. Mr Buharis reason for declining assent to the bill was that it did not take cognizance of the provisions of Section 58(4) of the Nigerian Constitution. The section states that where a bill is presented to the President for assent, he shall within thirty days thereof signify that he assents or that he withholds assent. While the Industrial Development Amendment Bill 2018 seeks to enable companies that expand their operations in a pioneer industry or product to apply for new pioneer status. The president rejected the bill because the ongoing inter-ministerial consultations would be affected if the bill is signed into law. The Senate also agreed to rework and pass 15 other bills rejected by Mr Buhari. The bills are National Research and Innovation Council (Establishment) Bill, 2017; National Institute of Hospitality and Tourism (Establishment) Bill, 2018; National Agricultural Seeds Council, 2018 and Subsidiary Legislation (Legislative Scrutiny) Bill, 2018. Others are: Stamp Duties (Amendment) Bill, 2018; Chattered Institute of Entrepreneurship (Establishment) Bill, 2018; Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) (Amendment) Bill, 2018; Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and Electoral (Amendment) Bill, 2018. The president also rejected five constitutional amendment bills, namely, bills No. 8, 15, 22, 24, and 28. The decision to override the presidents decision followed the presentation of the report of the technical committee that reviewed Mr Buharis decision to decline assent to some bills. The Senate had in October 2018 set up the committee following the mass rejection of bills by Mr Buhari. The committee was mandated to study the rejected bills as well as look at the concerns raised by the president. Presenting the report, Mr Umaru said the 1999 Constitution gives the Senate the right to override the president in the event that a bill is vetoed. Therefore, the bills having been rejected by Mr President, the National Assembly even if it considers Mr Presidents observations or not, must pass the bills again and be assented to by Mr President or override the veto, in which case, Mr Presidents assent would not be required, he said. The resolution to override the presidents veto on the bills and reconsider 15 others was unanimously adopted. To override the president, the Senate needs at least two-thirds majority, which is at least 73 senators, to endorse the action. The bills are expected to be represented on the floor of the upper chamber for the normal legislative process, before passage into law. Senate President Bukola Saraki expressed optimism that the bills, when passed into law, will benefit the entire country. Nigerias vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, on Tuesday asked the management of the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) to come up with a sustainable framework to empower millions of poor Nigerians through the extension of credit to them. Mr Osinbajo made this call when members of the new Board of Directors and Management of the NDIC, led by its chairman, Ronke Sokefun, visited him in his office in Abuja. According to Mr Osinbajo, the present administration was keen on the issue of financial inclusion and was desirous to see millions of poor Nigerians empowered through the extension of credit to them. Lamenting the failure of the current structure for the operation of Micro-Finance Banks (MFBs) to achieve the desired goals of financial inclusion, Mr Osinbajo urged the NDIC to adopt a sustainable framework to achieve the objectives set by the regulators. He called for concerted efforts by the relevant institutions, including the Central Bank of Nigeria and NDIC, to come up with a framework to facilitate the funding of federal governments social intervention programmes such as the N-Power, Trader-Money, and Market-Money to alleviate the suffering of millions of Nigerians. Earlier, the chairman of the board of the NDIC had thanked the vice president for receiving them. As a critical player in the Nigerian financial safety-net, she said the NDIC had achieved remarkable success in the execution of its primary mandates of effective supervision of the insured banks, timely payment of insured deposits and the implementation of a robust and efficient failure resolution regime. Mrs Sokefun drew the vice-presidents attention to the NDIC Amendment Bill currently pending before the Senate and solicited his assistance to ensure its quick passage before the expiry of the present legislative session. In his remarks, the Managing Director/CEO of the Corporation, Umaru Ibrahim, also sought the assistance of the vice president towards the speedy passage the bill to amend the NDIC Act pending at the Senate. Mr Ibrahim said the new law will strengthen the capacity of the corporation to effectively supervise insured financial institutions for a safe and sound banking system in the country. On the activities of the corporation, the NDIC boss informed the vice president that it has undertaken periodic examination of banks in collaboration with the CBN. He said the NDIC also issues reports and makes recommendations to the boards of banks for compliance to ensure the safety, soundness and stability of the Nigerian banking system. He said regulatory authorities were committed to sanitise and strengthen the micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs), through enhanced capital requirements of MFBs and the establishment of a National Microfinance Bank to enable the subsector play its role of providing credit. In his response, Mr Osinbajo expressed confidence in the ability of the new board and management of the NDIC, describing them as experienced technocrats capable of steering the corporation in the right direction. While congratulating the chairman and other members of the board for their appointment, Mr Osinbajo also commended the management of the corporation for prioritising the interests of Nigerian depositors in its choice of the bridge bank option for the resolution of many banks in liquidation. The vice president said a lot still needed to be done in the area of sanitising the banking system. He also stressed the need for fresh ideas to produce a more resilient structure involving the NDIC and other relevant stakeholders to address the issue of non-performing loans in the industry and warned that the federal government was not prepared to repeat the mistakes of the past. The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has asked the Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA), Mohammed Sani-Omolori, to make details of the National Assembly 2019 budget available for passage into law. The demand is contained in a letter addressed to the CNA dated March 26, 2019 and signed by the Chief of Staff to the Senate President, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed. In the letter, which was made available to PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Saraki said full details of the National Assembly budget with necessary line items should be made ready for passage as part of the national budget. Part of the letter reads, The President of the Senate has asked me to request you to please ensure that the NASS Budget Details with all the line items are ready for passage along with the National Budget when Senate resumes next week. Thank you. The Senate president had on Tuesday queried the Senate committee on appropriations for failing to present its report despite making the lawmakers adjourn plenary on several occasions to attend to the budget matters. He mandated the committee to ensure its report is presented and laid before the Senate by Thursday. Last week, Mr Saraki expressed disappointment at the delay in budget passage as he said he wants the 2019 budget passed latest April 16. Nigerias 2019 budget was passed for second reading at the Senate on March 19. After the passage, the Senate mandated its committee on appropriation to work on the N8.8 trillion budget. The Federal High Court, Abuja on Wednesday, adjourned the ongoing trial of a former governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako until May 13 for the defence to cross-examine the 20th prosecution witness, Chris Odofin. When the matter was called, the EFCC, Oluwaleke Atolagbe, told the court that Mr Nyakos counsel, Kanu Agabi, (SAN) wrote a letter to the prosecution saying that he would be absent in court. Mr Atolagbe, however, told the court that the prosecution was ready to go on with the matter as they had their witness in court. A counsel from the defence team, Bart Ogah said they also needed more time to get records of proceedings of the court to enable them prepare to cross examine the witness. He said that the witness had testified over a long period of time and it was only right for the defence to properly prepare to cross examine him. The trial judge, Justice Okon Abang adjourned the matter until May 13, May 14 and May 15. Mr Nyako is being prosecuted alongside his son, Sen. Abdulaziz Nyako, Abubakar Aliyu and Zulkifik Abba on a 37-count charge of criminal conspiracy, stealing, abuse of office and money laundering. (NAN) The Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Hadiza Bala Usman, has lamented that women are most disadvantaged in the world and that the world must constantly remind itself that women matters when it comes to nation building. She therefore advocated the establishment of a network or association in every industry which should provide a platform for women to share experiences, encourage each other and battle their challenges with one voice. Ms Bala Usman was speaking while presenting a paper entitled Improving the Participation of Women in the Ports at the just concluded 3rd World Maritime University Conference, with the theme Empowering Women in the Maritime Community. Excerpts of the presentation were sent to PREMIUM TIMES via a press statement by Jatto Adams, NPAs general manager (corporate & strategic communications). The NPA managing director, whose paper dwelled extensively on women position and gender diversity in work places globally, stressed the need for gender equality as a critical tool in nations building, so as to check the problem of gender imbalance which cuts across almost all professional spheres. On the theme of her paper, she emphasized the need to encourage young girls to take interest in Science and Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) so they can pursue careers in shipping, marine, operations and engineering sub-sector and advised that nations with maritime endowments should fund specialised institutions and provide incentives for girls to take courses in these areas. Women who have broken through the barriers in this sector must institute a mentoring system that encourages young ladies to take careers and create a pipeline for succession in the maritime sector, she said. The NPA boss also advocated that government agencies and private sectors investors must also be deliberate about increasing the tally of women in the sector, explaining that last year for instance, TCIT, one of our Terminal Operators recruited the first set of female crane operators in Nigeria. We have assured all stakeholders of our readiness to partner with them on this front. The Managing Director enumerated several initiatives put in place by the NPA Management to encourage and motivate women in the course of their career in the Authority. These initiatives she said, include the areas of maternity leave and entitlements, as well as the establishments of a creche facility at the Lagos Ports Complex (LPC). There must be a network or association in every industry which should provide a platform for women to share experiences, encourage each other and battle their challenges with one voice, she said. The federal government has approved the sum of N1.3 billion to pay death benefits of 497 deceased workers in the federal civil service. Didi Walson-Jack, the Permanent Secretary, Service Welfare Office (SWO), Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) disclosed this in Abuja on Wednesday at the 2nd Edition of the Permanent Secretarys Quarterly Forum with Labour Leaders in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). She said the figure was part of the 563 next-of-kin of the beneficiaries screened for payment across 116 MDAs in January. In order to make payments to deceased next-of-kin, a service-wide verification exercise of backlog of death benefits claims of 563 deceased officers cutting across 116 MDAs was conducted in January 2019. To confirm the veracity of the claim requests submitted by the MDAs, after the verification exercise, a total of 497 next-of -kins of deceased officers were cleared for payment of N1.3bn, she said. She assured that payment to beneficiaries would commence before the end of April. She said the Pension Reform Act, 2014, provided that every employer of labour with not less than five employees must insure them to a minimum of three times of their annual total emoluments. She noted that the Act had marked the beginning of the Group Life Assurance (GLA) scheme under the OHCSF for federal public servants. According to her, GLA scheme is the scheme whereby the federal government has insured the life of every serving officer and this has been done in line with the Pension Reform Act. Mr Walson-jack explained that every serving officer who dies has benefits which his or her next of kin could claim. She said the aim of the quarterly forum with joint leaders in MDAs was to foster industrial peace and harmony in the public service. She said the forum also exchanged ideas on how to strategise, initiate and address issues bordering on the welfare and conditions of service of public servants. She said for improved productivity, attention should be placed on the welfare of civil servants. Highlight of the forum was the launch of the Service Welfare Newsletter Website and the service Welfare Office Digital Help Desk. She said the newsletter would be used as a medium to inform, educate and motivate federal public servants across the MDAs by keeping them abreast of various initiatives of government targeted at improving their welfare and wellbeing. It will also provide them opportunity to showcase awardees of the reward and recognition system across the MDAs. The newsletter is also expected to provide employees with up to date information of their rights and benefits as well as provide opportunity to celebrate outstanding employees across the MDAs, she said. Alfred Abba, the Director, Employee Relations and Welfare, Service Welfare Office, OHCS, said regular and periodic government-union interaction was a platform for sharing ideas, receiving updates on developments on labour-related matters affecting the MDAs. He said the forum was also an avenue to intimate the representatives of public servants on the policies, projects and programmes of the federal government especially as it pertains to labour and industrial relations management in the public service. Mr Abah said the interaction created the opportunity for appraising and managing industrial relations practices and ensures the need to constantly align the demands and requests of the Public Service Trade Unions. This collective responsibility needs continuous consultations among stakeholders to resolve issues and sustain a conducive and convivial industrial relations climate in the Service. It is therefore, the strong belief of the OHCSF that union officials in the MDAs have the task of cordially relating with their respective management to negotiate demands on workers behalf. They should do this with hindsight of the principle of collective bargaining for a peaceful resolution, he said. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme for the forum was Managing the challenges of emerging realities in labour negotiations in the Federal Civil Service. (NAN) President Muhammadu Buhari returned to Abuja on Tuesday night, a day ahead of schedule. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the president was initially scheduled to return to Abuja from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday at about 1.30 a.m. However, the presidential aircraft carrying the president, his aides and some members of his entourage landed at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja at about 10.45 p.m. NAN gathered that the presidents decision to cut short his official engagements in Dubai might not be unconnected with security developments in Zamfara, Kaduna and some other parts of the country. President Buhari had on April 4 departed Abuja for Amman to honour an invitation by King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan to participate in the World Economic Forum (WEF). He delivered an address at the opening of the plenary alongside King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein and United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres. The president, who on Sunday moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), participated in the ninth edition of the Annual Investment Meeting. While in Dubai, President Buhari also held bilateral talks and met with different groups of investors at the sidelines of the Annual Investment Meeting. (NAN) An Ikeja Special Offences Court on Wednesday dismissed a N254 million bribery suit filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against Albert Bassey, the senator representing Akwa-Ibom North-East. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo in a ruling, dismissed the suit due to lack of jurisdiction and advised the anti-graft commission to file the suit in Akwa-Ibom State where the alleged bribe took place. The issue of jurisdiction is a fundamental one. In the instant case, the prosecution had failed to give reasons why the suit should be heard within this jurisdiction. This court lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate on this matter. I hereby strike out this suit for lack of jurisdiction. The prosecution should file the charges in Akwa-Ibom where the alleged fraud took place, Justice Taiwo said. Mr Bassey, 46, is faced with corruption charges proffered against him by the EFCC for receiving alleged bribes of 12 cars worth N254m from an oil marketer, Olajide Omokore, during his tenure (2010-2014) as the Akwa-Ibom Commissioner for Finance. The anti-graft commission claimed that the car gifts were given to Mr Bassey by Mr Omokore in exchange for contracts from the Akwa-Ibom State Government. The senator was to face a 14-count corruption charge alongside Mr Omokore at an Ikeja Special Offences Court. Mr Bassey was to specifically face seven-counts of corruption by a public officer and a public officer inviting bribes as a result of his own action. Mr Omokore was to face a seven-count charge of offering gratification to a public officer and giving bribe on account of the action of a public officer. Counsels to the defendant, Solomon Umoh (SAN) and Olatunde Adejuyigbe (SAN), had respectively filed applications contending that the court had no power to hear the substantive case. Mr Basseys counsel, Umoh, had argued that there was nothing before the court to prove that the alleged crime against Bassey was committed outside Akwa-Ibom or in Lagos State. There is nothing in the proof of evidence that suggested that any aspect of the alleged crime against the first defendant was committed outside Akwa-Ibom State and in Lagos State. Happily, the prosecution has narrowed everything down that it was cars that was delivered to the first defendant by the second defendant. So we want to ask where the cars were delivered to so we can know what Lagos has to do with Akwa-Ibom State but we have provided the answers in our argument, the cars were delivered in Akwa-Ibom State. If he (Bassey) received in Akwa-Ibom State, how come they are coming to try him in Lagos State. The prosecution have not shown how the first defendant came to Lagos to receive vehicles. They have not shown it anywhere in the proof of evidence. Mr Umoh, who further argued that Basseys name was not mentioned in the petition written to the EFCC, urged the court to grant his application. Similarly, Omokores counsel, Mr Adejuyigbe, SAN had argued that the contending issue was not insufficiency of evidence but whether they were in the right court. He further argued that in determining the issue of jurisdiction, the court was not bound by the place stated in the charge. He said, The count against the second defendant relates to receiving gratification or giving bribe. The section under which those counts were charged did not state time of purchase, place of purchase, mode of payment so we cannot be asking the court to rewrite the law, he said. However, the prosecution counsel, Sadisu Abubakar, had argued that the EFCC has the right to try the case before the court. He said the applicants tied the issue of jurisdiction to the issue of insufficiency of evidence which he noted was an abuse of court processes. The offences, according to the EFCC, contravene sections 63 (1) (a), 64 (1) (a) and 98(1), (a), (i) of the Criminal Law of Lagos 2011. (NAN) The trial of a former governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako, was on Wednesday stalled at an Abuja division of the Federal High Court due to the absence of his lead counsel, Kanu Agabi. Mr Agabi, through Pat Ogah, a counsel in his defence team, wrote a letter to the court for an adjournment. He said he would not be present for the days proceeding due to an engagement at the University of Calabar, Cross River State. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commissions (EFCC) counsel, Oluwaleke Otalagbe, after announcing appearance, had told the court that the matter was for cross-examination of the 20th prosecution witness. But Mr Ogah drew the attention of the court to the letter by Mr Agabi. We are not prepared to go on I am unable to cross-examine the witness because we have a letter on behalf of the senior counsel to the first, second, sixth and seventh defendant, who is unavoidably absent due to an engagement at the University of Calabar, Cross River State. In the letter, he indicated that he wants to cross-examine the witness personally. I beg the court to grant him the opportunity to do so. Attached to the letter is an invitation letter from the University of Calabar. Counsel to other defendants did not object to the application for adjournment. Prior to this, the judge, Okon Abang, in a short ruling said he would not grant Mr Ogah leave to submit the letter because it ought to have been brought through a litigation clerk, not a counsel who is robbed in court. However, Mr Abang granted the request for an adjournment on grounds that the prosecution did not raise an objection. He also said that Mr Agabi, has been regular in the proceedings and has never delayed the progress of the trial. Following this, Mr Abang adjourned to May 13,14 and 15 for cross-examination. Mr Nyako is being prosecuted by the EFCC, alongside his son, Abdul-Aziz, Abubakar Aliyu, and Zulkifikk Abba, on a 37-count charge of criminal conspiracy, stealing, abuse of office and money laundering to the tune of N29billion. Five companies that allegedly served as conduit pipes for the illegal diversion of the funds Blue Opal Limited, Sebore Farms & Extension Limited, Pagoda Fortunes Limited, Tower Assets Management Limited and Crust Energy Limited, were equally charged before the court as the 5th to 9th defendants. The German government has advised its Nigerian counterpart to restructure the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in the countrys education system in order to produce suitable graduates for the labour market. This was made known during a skills development workshop that took place in Abuja on Wednesday. The Skills Development For Youth Employment (SKYE) programme which started last year is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and is being implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft for Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Speaking at the SKYE workshop in Abuja on Wednesday, the head of SKYE programme, Hans-Ludwig Bruns, said the aim is to support the promotion of need-based technical, vocational education and training, and youth employment in Nigeria. SKYE aims at improving income-generating employment opportunities for Nigerian youth and young adults. It aims to improve the employability of the Nigerian youth in the construction and agriculture sectors. SKYE seeks to increase the provision of information and advice on opportunities to enter the job market. The activities are closely linked with those of the Sustainable Economic Development programmes within GIZ. The focus on agriculture is set in the field of food production, food processing and mechanization. That of construction provides in-company training as well as supports formal training institutions in implementing labour market-related training. Mr Bruns said the programme started in July 2018 and will end in April 2022. He called on the public and private sector to take ownership of the programme so as to sustain it. We want to make TVET demanding that is why we want to involve the Public and Private sectors. Without them this will not be successful, Mr Bruns said. SKYE just concluded research in six states in Nigeria. The research is on the TVET institutions in Nigeria. The states are Enugu, Plateau, Lagos, Kano, Ogun and Edo. We have a target of about 25,000 in the selected states because of the limited resources. We cannot run the 36 states, he said. We will like a public-private dialogue with the government to support TVET. We hope to establish working groups in the established states, he said. As a public enterprise, we are looking at gender equality. At least, 30 per cent of the beneficiaries of the project will be women. That is the minimum we would like to achieve, he said. RESEARCH RESULTS After a field survey in various TVET institutions in the selected states, the programme consultants said they identified various challenges in the institutions. Ogun State A research consultant at SKYE, Michael Bayode, said there are about nine technical and vocational institutions in the state but they lack the facilities for practicals in training students. He said that the situation has created a major problem for the graduates of the institutions in the labour market. Mr Bayode said some of the institutions do not carry out construction and agriculture but mainly entrepreneurship studies. This is because instructors for these courses are in limited number. In a class, you have one instructor to 500 students, which is not a conducive learning environment, he said. He lamented the lack of collaboration between the government and the institutions. He said the curriculum is reviewed without the knowledge of the instructors to give them the needs of the Industry. The instructors do not make an input in the curriculum even when reviewed. When they are involved, the graduates produced will fit into the labour market, he said. He said the instructors are qualified to train the students but lack the facilities to do so. Plateau State The researcher for Plateau State, Byenya Chirtau, said women were rarely involved in construction and agricultural training but are found more in entrepreneurial training. She visited two technical schools in the state which had a population of 600 students with 15 females. She said the schools are state funded. Ms Chirtau said another basic challenge is funding in the technical institutions and mobilising trainees. The nature of training is theory and practical (sic), but getting the forms for the training is usually difficult for people, she said. Enugu Adaobi Ezenwa, the researcher for Enugu, said there are eight technical institutions in the state, four of which are public-owned. She said the researchers discovered that the institutions lack facilities that will aid their learning. Through questioners and interviews, we noticed they lack automated machines and funds, Ms Ezenwa said. We discovered that the vocational institutions feed the construction and agricultural value-chain, she said. An Abuja Division of the Federal High Court on Wednesday struck a suit by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last senatorial election, Garba Dahiru. Mr Dahiru asked the court to declare him the winner of the election in Bauchi South Senatorial District and issue him the certificate of return because the All Progressives Congress (APC) which polled the most votes in the election did not have a candidate. The APC in the February 23 election garnered 250,725 votes, while Mr Dahiru scored 175,527 votes. But the Returning Officer, Ahmed Sarkin-Fagam, said he could not declare a winner for the election. He said the APC had no candidate recognised by the law as it had failed to substitute its candidate, Lawal Gumau, as directed earlier by a federal high court. According to a report by PUNCH newspaper, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Ibrahim Abdullahi, said the APC had failed to substitute its candidate for the poll as ordered by the court. According to the report, Mr Abdullahi said the candidature of Mr Gumau was nullified by a court prior to the election, with an order that the party should substitute him. He said that up till the time of the election, the party had failed to obey the court order. As such, Mr Abdullahi said Mr Gumau could not be returned as winner of the election. It will be recalled that a Federal High Court in Abuja had earlier ordered Mr Gumau substituted with Ibrahim Zailani, who had challenged the outcome of the APC primaries in the state. But on Wednesday, the judge at the federal high court in Abuja, Taiwo Taiwo, in his judgement held that it is a post-election matter and that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain it. Mr Taiwo added that the appropriate court for the matter is the election petition tribunal. Mr Taiwo said the court could not decide on the candidacy of the APC since it is already a subject before the appellate court. He added that doing so would merely amount to an academic exercise. Addressing journalists shortly after the judgment, the INEC lawyer, Alhassan Umar, thanked the court for a well-considered judgement, while Prisca Elesike, who is counsel to Mr Dahiru, said: an appeal is a better option. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has disowned campaign posters titled The Pukka on some of the major streets of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Mr Abubakar disowned the posters in a statement issued by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, on Wednesday. Pukka, an Hindi word, means authentic, genuine, sure, solid and excellent. The posters boldly carry Mr Abubakars portrait and the message, HE Atiku Abubakar GCON, The Real and The Right, with a web address www.deservation.org, which the News Agency of Nigeria found belongs to a group of the same name based in Magaji/Sanda ward in Yola. NAN correspondent in Yola also confirmed that the posters have also appeared on some streets in the capital of Adamawa, Mr Abubakars home state. A Bill board bearing Atiku Pukka campaign Sani Adamu, the director-general of the Atiku Deservation Group, an Atiku Abubakar campaign group, claimed the group was not waging a political campaign or breaching the campaign rules of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Our attention has been drawn to posters of Abubakar, Presidential candidate of PDP in the 2019 election being circulated in Abuja, said Mr Ibe in a statement. We disassociate the former Vice President of Nigeria from the said posters in circulation. The campaign season is over. The tainted electoral victory by the incumbent is being challenged in court. We refuse to be distracted, which is exactly the objective of our opponents, but to remain focused on diligently pursuing our election petition with a view to retrieving the stolen mandate. Mr Ibe earlier in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said that the posters had nothing to do with the just-concluded elections and the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation had no connection with it. I have not seen the posters. I am just hearing it from you. We are not aware of it. Whatever it is it not connected to the PDP campaign organisation. The campaign season has long been over but following the electoral hype by the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abubakar, as a democrat has submitted himself to the electoral tribunal to decide on matters arising from the concluded election. A search on the web address (www.deservation.org) shows Atiku Deservation Movement (Project 774 for Atiku 2019) with RC 1167591 with the contact Magaji/Sanda Ward Yola South Adamawa State as well as phone number and a mail address. The boldness of the campaign and the meaning it connotes have triggered questions whether the group behind it has not breached the electoral law. The campaign for presidential election began on 19 November 2018 and officially ended 48 hours to the election initially scheduled for 16 February 2019. Section 99(1) of the Electoral Act, 1999 as amended states that every political party shall commence campaigns 90 days before polling day and end 24 hours prior to that day. Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of INEC, in an interview with NAN, said that the posters could not be considered as campaign materials. Mr Oyekanmi, who said he had not seen any of the posters, said if a poster has no party logo or name, the commission does not consider it to be campaign materials. Is there anything like party name or logo on it? If a poster does not contain any of these or vote for a person the commission does not see it as campaign. The election is over and I wonder if anybody will be campaigning for an election that had been concluded, Mr Oyekanmi said. Mr Adamu, the Executive Director of the Deservation group, in a telephone interview with NAN, justified the posters PUKKA theme. He claimed that Mr Abubakar is Nigerias authentic president. Reminded that Mr Abubakar already has a case before the presidential election petition tribunal, Mr Adamu expressed confidence that he would get justice at the tribunal. He insisted that the posters in circulation were not for campaign, adding that they did not carry the logo of any political party. He also explained that the posters did not carry vote Abubakar, insisting that it was not for campaign. He said that the group was established to galvanise support for credible candidates that can make Nigeria great. We support only candidates and not political parties, he said. Mr Abubakar was also recently reported to have hired two American lawyers, close to President Donald Trump, to lobby Mr Trumps inner circle and the Congress, so that the United States can delay recognising President Muhammadu Buhari as the elected President of Nigeria. He also wanted to be recognised as the authentic President of Nigeria, going by the claims he has made at the tribunal. But his media organisation on Wednesday denied the report. EdiGENE, a Tokyo, Japan based biotechnology company developing new CRISPR based therapies for treatment of genetic disorders, raised 1.6 Billion-yen (approx. $15M) as the first tranche of Series B round. Participants included new investors UTokyo Innovation Platform along with continued support of existing investors including SBI Investment, Fast Track Initiative, SMBC Venture Capital, Mizuho Capital, CareNet Group. The company intends to use the funds to extend its leadership position in gene modulation technology, and progress pipeline programs towards the clinic. Led by Haru Morita, Chief Executive Officer, EdiGENE is a biotech company that develops therapeutics using its proprietary technology CRISPR-GNDM (Guide Nucleotide Directed Modulation). The companys technology platform is capable of normalizing levels of gene expression without cutting the DNA or RNA. FinSMEs 10/04/2019 The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved a contract of N2.8 billion for the installation of a digital web-based integrated system to aid prisons decongestion in Nigeria. This was announced Wednesday by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General the Federation, Abubakar Malami, while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the meeting of the council. The meeting was chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Mr Malami said the contract is to improve the countrys justice system and decongest its prisons. He said it will also assist stakeholders in the office of the Attorney-General, Nigeria Prisons Service, Nigeria Police as well as selected courts, to monitor in real-time, the progress of pending cases and movement of suspects between the courts and prisons. It will also allow the monitoring of those who have overstayed their prison terms as well as those wrongly imprisoned Mr Malami said it would allow the AGFs office to daily monitor prison inmates that should be taken to court and when; identify those that have stayed for the long awaiting trial; those whose cases have peculiar twists or other interventions that may be required; among other factors. According to him, the new system will replace the practice of setting up government committees that usually embark on a tour of prisons to hear individual cases and identify inmates who deserve pardon or prerogative of mercy as part of efforts to decongest the prisons. The system would be operated by retrained staff of the Nigeria Prisons Service, while there would be systemic checks to substantiate the input or data of suspects put into the system to avoid compromise and other forms of corruption, Mr Malami said. The council also approved the contract of N291.73 million for the procurement of Memory Access Retrieval System to enhance aviation safety in the country. The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, said: safety and security is the main thrust of President Muhammadu Buhari government in aviation. He said the new system will enhance the laboratory in accident investigation, it is a requirement of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in the standard practices and applicable by local laws. He said investigations are ongoing as regards the fire incident at Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri, and that the report would be made public afterwards. PREMIUM TIMES reported how fire gutted a part of the Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport, Owerri, Imo State, on Monday. It was gathered that the fire incident occurred around 2 p.m. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained as at press time Monday evening. N-Power Also, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udoma, said FEC approved two contracts for the N-Power Build programme of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), to impart skills on young non-graduates. He said the N-Power Build programme is a non-graduate programme that seeks to deliver accelerated training and certificated skills to 75,000 Nigerians between the ages of 18-35 years old. The focus has so far been zone by zone. Today, the contract for the Southeast zone of Nigeria was awarded to Hitech Investment Ltd at the sum of N122.8 million. It covers all the states in the Southeast. He said the one for the North-west zone was awarded to Noble Ventures Limited and the amount is N145.1 million. He said the N145.1 million covers all the states in the Northwest region of the country. The goal of NPower programmes includes; to reduce the rate of unemployment in the country, bring about a system that would facilitate transferability of employability, entrepreneurial and technical skills, and bring solutions to ailing public service and Government diversification policy. The minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mohammed Bello, on his part said the council approved N360 million for the procurement of water treatment and field materials for FCT Water Board. He said the council also approved N286 million for the purchase of 500 units of firemen suits for FCT Fire Service for emergency management. The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, on Wednesday urged all communities in the state to reject an eye for an eye stance in resolving differences. Speaking at an IDP camp in Maraban Kajuru, the governor said that an attitude of attacks and reprisals only produces pain and suffering. He said that he has directed relevant agencies to reassess the condition of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who are from different communities and enable them to return to their communities soon. Speaking in Maraban Kajuru, Kajuru local government after meeting the IDPs, Mr El-Rufai said that he was saddened by the situation. What we saw is unfortunate, but we must speak out and tell our people the right thing to be done. An eye for (an) eye is not a solution to the vicious cycles of killings and will complicate and undermine collective efforts. Our admonition is simple. If Fulani or Adara communities have complaints of killings or attacks, they should report and allow security agencies and government to take up the administration of justice. If these communities resort to taking the laws into their own hands, it will not work. That is not the solution. The governor said that all communities must resist the temptation to take the law into their own hands. Security personnel and assets cannot be in every inch of our state. Communities must stop this abnormality of taking the laws into their own hands. It has never worked and will never work. Mr El-Rufai said that it is not helpful to create false narratives and politicize security challenges that can be solved with goodwill and law-abiding conduct by all parties. As a government, we will continue to collaborate with security agencies, traditional and religious institutions in peacebuilding, but we will be frank to our communities. They have lived peacefully before this mistrust and they can rekindle the glorious past by simply not taking the laws into their own hands and doing away with jungle justice. On our own part, we will do our very best in protecting lives and property. We will also not shy away from applying the law to anyone found complicit in the violent communal conflicts, irrespective of their status, religion, ethnicity or political persuasions. Let us cherish all lives. No life is more precious than another life. After receiving briefings from officials of Kajuru local government council and the volunteers managing the IDPs, the governor directed that urgent reassessment of the condition of the displaced citizens be undertaken so that their return to normalcy can be fast-tracked. A tribunal set up by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) has convicted a Kebbi based medical doctor, Jamilu Muhammad for gross negligence and incompetence. Mr Muhammad, who works with the Martha Bamaiyi General Hospital, Zuru, Kebbi State, stood trial at the Medical and Dental Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal ongoing in Abuja for mismanaging the case of a pregnant woman, Fatima Danjuma. The defendant pleaded guilty to the one count charge when it was read to him on Monday. The medical and dental professions in Nigeria are regulated by the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act Cap 221 (now Cap M8) Laws of Federation of Nigeria 1990 which sets up the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria with mandates which include disciplining of errant professional. The council by provision of the law is empowered to make rules for professional conduct and is also empowered to establish the Medical and Dental Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal and Medical Practitioners Investigating Panel for the enforcement of these rules. Charges According to the charge sheet, No MDODT/4/2018, Mr Muhammad erroneously diagnosed that the baby in the womb of the victim was dead and said there was a need to carry out a surgery to evacuate the dead baby only to realize that the baby was alive after amputating the babys upper limb. The count reads: That you Dr. Jamilu Muhammad, registered medical practitioner, practicing as such on 19th April, 2017 at the Martha Bamaiyi General Hospital, Zuru, Kebbi state, while managing one Malama Fatima Danjuma (F) as a pregnant woman under your care, were grossly negligent In her management when you assessed her in a manifestly incompetent manner, erroneously diagnosed her to have intrauterine foetal death, and proceeded to carry out a destructive surgery, only to realize that the baby was alive after amputating the prolapsed upper limb, thereby conducted yourself infamously in a professional respect contrary to Rules 29.4b, 29.4c, 29.4t, 29.4h and 31 of the Code of Medical Ethics In Nigeria,2008 Edition, and punishable under Section 16 (T) (o) and (2) of the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act, CAP M8 LFN, 2004 (as amended). The charge was based on the affidavit issued by Elisha Nona Ajoyi dated and filed on May 8, 2017, alleging unethical behaviour against the respondent. Delivering ruling, the chairman of the tribunal, Abba Hassan ordered the suspension of Mr Muhammad for six months. He said the panel reached the conclusion that a prima focie case had been established against the respondent. After due consideration of the facts .the maximum punishment prescribed by the Act, this Honourable Tribunal hereby makes the following order: An order suspending Dr. Jamilu Muhammad from practice. Accordingly, Dr. Jamilu Muhammad is ordered not to engage in practice as medical practitioner for a period of six months. However, having been on suspension for a period longer than this sentence, he is hereby accordingly deemed to have served and exhausted the prescribed term of suspension herein imposed. Mr Muhammad is one of the 14 doctors arraigned on Monday for trial by the MDCN for various offences. The Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, said the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) had deployed special forces in the North-west to combat kidnappers and bandits. Mr Adamu made the disclosure while addressing members of the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) on Wednesday in Katsina. He said the forces would attack the bandits in their camps, destroy the camps, arrest them and occupy the camps so that they would not return. Mr Adamu solicited vital information about the activities of criminals and bandits in their domains to enable the police to continue to secure lives and property. The police are ready to meet the bandits and kidnappers in their hideouts in the forests and fight them. You should assist police with vital information about criminal activities in the society, he said. The police boss said that the force had been able to arrest those who kidnapped Governor Aminu Masaris mother-in-law who was kidnapped about a month ago. Nobody will commit a crime and go free, he said. He also urged religious leaders and the public to intensify prayers to enable the police to succeed in the fight against criminal acts in the country. He said that such would assist the police in continuing to secure lives and property across in the country. (NAN) A former governor of Delta State, Emmanuel Uduaghan, has weighed in on the issue of vote-buying in Nigerias political process, saying the people tend to lose when they sell their votes to politicians during elections. Mr Uduaghan acknowledged that the just concluded general election in Nigeria was characterised by vote buying. When a people are bought with money, then they lose the right to complain, Mr Uduaghan said on Tuesday in a lecture he presented at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State. The people must bear considerable responsibility as far as vote-buying is concerned, Mr Uduaghan said. Mr Uduaghan said the Nigerian government must invest heavily in political education, especially at the grassroots. The awareness of the people may have improved but awareness without commensurate political education can only go so far. The greatest empowerment the people need today is political education, the former governor said. Overall it does appear that the voters may not always understand what their best interests are and how to ensure that their best interests reflect in the election. With a more informed electorate, the rising culture of solicitation and vote buying would not have been so prevalent as we find today during elections. The argument that voters sell their votes because of hunger does not hold water. Eventually how much does each get? Pittance. An enlightened electorate will not readily sell their votes; because to do so means you are forgoing your right to demand prudent and accountable government. The real democracy dividend. And when a politician is buying votes, he has calculated that in entering this bargain, he is going to devote considering amount of his time in office recouping what he has spent. And be prepared for the next election and repeat the same thing. Continuing, the former governor said, It is a vicious game, with no end in sight. INEC, the election regulator, had introduced several measures to contain this problem in conjunction with the security agencies but it is unclear how much effect this had in the election. If we go by the news in the media and various other reports, it appears very little was achieved to curb this creeping menace of vote buying. And so I am calling for an intensification of voter education. Unless there is voter education that makes people aware of the self-harm in bargaining and selling their votes, we wont be making as much progress as I think and believe we should. I should also say that when votes are sold and bought, the people are outrightly forgoing opportunities for jobs to be created, for infrastructure to be built and for a solid economy to be developed. Vote buying corrupts and distorts the most elementary part of electoral politics. Questionable quality of politicians Mr Uduaghan questioned the quality of politicians vying for elections in Nigeria. I am questioning the content of our democracy. I am questioning the quality of people who offer to serve and who are not sufficiently scrutinized and accepted into the leadership, people whose values are suspect. Some of these people, because of access to moneysometimes questionable sourcesbuy their way into power and with the power of money compromise everything, including state institutions. I am saying there should be rigorous oversight by all. The intrusion and damaging effect of money politics is the root of what is harming the growth of our electoral politics. And it starts by the sort of people elected into offices, what are their values? The former governor also questioned the performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the conduct of elections in the country, even though he somehow gave some kudos to the commission. Is INEC truly independent and capable, not just in Abuja but across the various states, local government, and wards? If I am being fair, I have to state that INEC standard has not always been kept across the states, local governments, and wards. In those places that came short, I call on INEC to closely reset its team on the ground. In INEC, one can also retrospectively recall the significant improvement in INEC over the years. There was a time elections in this country were such that the voters didnt vote, yet results were declared. Winners emerged. Then INEC introduced technology, which was aimed at determining that we move to a cleaner and credible election. The card reader technology was a revolution. In 2015 despite glitches, it worked. For example, election results where the process is not interfered with, you find the margins are tighter. In 2019 some desperate politicians appear to have found a way to undermine this technology. Reports abound where card reader was bypassed in the conduct of elections. Over-voting occurred. Under-counting also occurred. Fake polling units, thuggery, fake results were announced. Collusion between INEC staffers and political agents and operatives were rife. In short, all sorts of malfeasance happened in 2019 to discredit the election. Security agencies are accused of being used to suppress and intimidate voters; some of these were captured on camera. In spite of all this, the 2019 elections are still acceptable. Our elections are still work in progress, he said. Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday withdrew from the suit filed by Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo in respect to his certificate of return. Mr Okorocha had gone to court seeking for order compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue him with a Certificate of Return as the Senator-elect for Imo West Senatorial District. When the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday, Justice Taiwo announced his decision to recuse himself from adjudicating on the matter based on allegations of bias against him. He further announced that the case file would be returned to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Adamu Abdu- Kafarati, for reassignment to another judge. The judge said that decision was a sequel to allegations of bias made against him by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the February 23 National Assembly elections, Jones Onyeriri, and that of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Osita Izunaso. Mr Onyeriri, in his petition, asked the judge to disqualify himself from the suit because of utterances he made in court. According to him, the utterances clearly prejudged the substantive issues that will be resolved in this matter and clearly shows he has taken sides with Mr Okorocha. An affidavit deposed to on his behalf by a lawyer, Chijioke Nzekwe, stated that Justice Taiwo had on Friday told counsel to INEC, Wendy Kuku, that the commission was responsible for the problems in the election. Mr Nzekwe averred that the judge went further to say that he had read through the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) and found nothing therein that robs him of the jurisdiction to hear the suit. This pronouncement shocked all the counsel who were present in court and even members of the public and pressmen who were in the gallery. This is because the 2nd and 3rd defendants (INEC and Onyeriri) have Notices of Preliminary Objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear this matter, he averred. On his part, Mr Izunaso asked for an order transferring the suit to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for reassignment to any other judge of the court. The motion, which was filed by his counsel, Orji Nwafor-Orizu, also sought for an order of the court, disqualifying itself from further hearing the suit. He based his motion on the grounds that there was a likelihood of bias on the part of the court to continue to hear the suit as the presiding judge had expressed an opinion favourable to Okorocha even without hearing the substantive suit. The said utterances were made on April 5 and they clearly pre-judged the substantive issues that will be resolved in this matter. It clearly shows that the presiding judge has taken sides with the plaintiff, he said. (NAN) The police in Enugu say they shot dead a wanted armed robbery kingpin, known as KC, during a gun duel between the police and his gang members in the state. The Enugu police spokesperson, Ebere Amaraizu, made the disclosure in a statement in Enugu on Wednesday. He said police operatives recovered one locally-made pistol and three live cartridges from the deceased. Mr Amaraizu remarked that the confrontation that lasted over 30 minutes took place at the hideout of the armed robbery kingpin and his gang in Obolloafor area of Udenu Local Government Area on April 7 at about 7 p.m. Police operatives confronted the armed robbers and kidnappers in their hide-out following a coordinated operation, he said. Mr Amaraizu said that the armed robbers engaged security operatives before they were overpowered just as the deceased hoodlum got injured. He was rushed by police operatives to a nearby hospital for medical attention and was later confirmed dead by a doctor on duty. Others believed to have escaped with bullet injuries are being searched for, with an intensified manhunt on them, Mr Amaraizu added. The police spokesman, however, said that a full-scale investigation had commenced into the incident. (NAN) The police in Lagos have arrested two suspects in connection with the kidnap of the Director of Lagos State Fire Service and six others. Rasaki Musibau and six others were kidnapped by unknown gunmen on Saturday night on Iwoye Bridge, along the Itoikin-Epe Road, Ikorodu. The arrested suspects are Blessing Bayo, 29, and Smart Alfred, 32. The arrest came a few hours after the police announced Wednesday that the victims had regained freedom. Bala Elkana, the Lagos State police spokesperson, said in a statement that the suspects were arrested on Wednesday by the commands tactical teams led by the Officer in Charge of Anti-Kidnapping Unit, Bulus Musa. The suspects were arrested in the early hours of April 10 at Ibafun along Ikorodu-Ijebu Ode Express Way, a boundary community with Ogun State, the statement said. Both suspects are indigenes of Arogbo, Ondo State and they were said to have confessed to the crime. The items recovered from them are two single barrel guns. Mr Elkana said an investigation is ongoing and efforts are being made to arrest other fleeing members of the gang. Labelbox, a San Francisco, CA-based collaborative training data platform for machine learning applications, raised $10m in Series A funding. The round was led by Gradient Ventures, Googles AI-focused venture fund, with participation from previous investors Kleiner Perkins, First Round Capital, and angel investor, Sumon Sadhu. In conjunction with the funding, Anna Patterson, founder and Managing Partner at Gradient Ventures, VP of Engineering at Google, and Square board member, will join Labelboxs board. The company intends to use the funds to continue building the solution, to double its headcount in 2019 by hiring additional talent to fill engineering, sales, marketing, and customer success roles. Founded in 2018 by Manu Sharma, CEO, Labelbox is a collaborative platform for machine learning teams to create and manage labeled training data for computer vision applications. The platform, which acts as a central hub for humans to interface with AI, is used by such customers as FLIR Systems, Lytx, Airbus, Genius Sports, KeepTruckin and thousands of users worldwide. FinSMEs 10/04/2019 LSI, Inc., a global business development firm serving government, commercial and nonprofit clients, signed a partnership with Evergood Impact, a B Corporation that provides social impact capital solutions to impact makers and impact investors, to raise more than $250m in social impact funds. THE PRESS RELEASE LSI and Evergood to Raise $250M in Social Impact Funding Strategic partnership aims to revolutionize social impact financing in the United States and internationally April 09, 2019 12:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time LAYTON, Utah(BUSINESS WIRE)LSI, Inc., a global business development firm serving government, commercial and nonprofit clients, announced a partnership with Evergood Impact to raise more than $250 million in social impact funds. The partnership will help revolutionize social impact financing in the United States and internationally, making it easier for entities to fund and lead social change projects with predicted savings and investment returns. LSI supported one of the first social impact bonds in the United States through a partnership with Goldman Sachs. The company has since established a successful practice area to address social and economic challenges through strategic partnerships. Evergood seeks to open up capital markets to impact makers and government programs nationwide to maximize social returns. Social impact bonds or SIBs are contracts with the public sector in which a private investment results in cost savings, increased tax revenue or other social benefits, or all three. These bonds are similar to other government bonds in which the time period and rate of return are fixed. The governments repayment to third-party investors, however, is contingent on specified outcomes achieved. New sources of capital investment will enable social impact enterprises to scale their solutions, resulting in significant positive outcomes for their communities, said Chaitali Patel, Evergood CEO. These impacts can tangibly deliver cost savings or revenue increases for local, state and federal governmentsits a win-win-win solution across all stakeholders to produce social good across communities. The LSI team is uniquely qualified to ensure that social impact funding will reduce many of the risks and social challenges facing communities throughout the world, said Sean Slatter, LSI CEO. LSIs Washington, D.C. social impact team, led by VP of Public Policy, Joshua Johnson, will work directly with Evergood to raise funds and identify social impact projects. About LSI LSIs mission encompasses business development solutions that build and sustain industries, strengthen economies and create lasting social impact. The company operates with integrity, ingenuity and leadership to deliver solutions that make the difference. Learn more at www.lsiwins.com. About Evergood Evergood Impact is a B Corporation that provides social impact capital solutions to impact makers and impact investors. The Evergood team works with businesses, nonprofits, foundations, family offices and CSR venues nationwide. In addition to SIB intermediary services, Evergood also specializes in due diligence, development strategy, portfolio management and impact measurement solutions. For more information, visit www.evergoodimpact.com. 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. From Online Sales of Young Womans Wardrobe to the Leading Second-Hand Clothing Marketplace in Europe Micolet was born, almost by chance, in 2015 in Spain. The founders partner had clothes she no longer wore but were still in great condition and could have a new life in another girls wardrobe. At that time, there were no other companies offering services that would manage the whole process, and so Micolet was born. This started as a small business but, by 2018, Micolet had expanded to the United Kingdom, Portugal, France, Italy, and Germany, thus becoming a large online buying and selling business for second-hand womens clothing which is present in a total of six European markets. The service provides is unique as they manage everything for the customer. Every day Micolet receives thousands of garments from many popular European brands in the new headquarters in Basauri (Bizkaia). These are then put on sale immediately after ironing, photographing, and sharing on the website. The ultimate goal is to sell clothing and accessories in the shortest time possible and at the most competitive prices. With this system, they have managed to attract more than 800,000 users in Spain who rely on Micolet every day. In the other countries, there are 200,000 users, which have a growth rate of 50,000 new monthly users, thus reaching more than one million users globally. Due to the rapid growth of users, Micolet has recently opened a new warehouse of more than 10,000m to expand and improve the service. The future is bright for Micolet. It started with only 3000 but now generates millions, hires nearly 50 people, and will grow 150% in the coming year. Also, Micolet has plans to open two new markets in 2019, Holland and Poland, which means they will have a total reach of eight European countries. Not only does Micolet sell nearly new and brand new clothes for very low prices, but it is also environmentally friendly. Every customer who shops on Micolet is helping to be environmentally responsible as they are reusing clothes that have been bought once before which reduces the production of fast fashion, an industry that is very harmful to the environment. As well as that, any clothes that are not sold are donated to NGOs which is another way that Micolet is giving back to the community. The success of this company can be seen clearly through its popularity amongst famous influencers and celebrities. There is a great list of these influencers from each country that use and love Micolets service which is a great testament to just how easy it is to buy and sell on Micolet! In the United Kingdom, many social media influencers have had great success in the sale of their clothes whilst in Spain, there is a mix of influencers, models, and actresses who rely on Micolet. Added to this list in Portugal are a number of famous presenters who trust Micolet to manage each part of the process for them so their clothes can be given a new home and they can earn some extra money! Finally, this means that customers have the opportunity to buy clothes from six different European countries which is a huge attraction for many customers as it opens up new fashion possibilities in just one click. Feeling shame can impact negatively on women's wellbeing, confidence and mental health. A new survey conducted by St.Tropez, the UK's number one and most trusted self tanning brand**, has found that shaming can be a very real part of some women's day-to-day life. So why the shaming? Who is doing it and why? 44% of women admit to judging their fellow females for wearing a sunless tan and over half a million women in the UK have experienced negative comments online, specifically for wearing fake tan. 60% of women who have experienced judging looks and insults say that their confidence was seriously knocked, they went straight home, and they did not wish to leave the house. Whilst 70% of the women surveyed admit a badly applied tan is the number 1 reason they judge another's appearance. Shocking. In an age where positive body confidence messages are high on the agenda in schools, the workplace and from consumer brands - it appears that it's women who need to start supporting the cause. But, in-spite-of the stigmas, the survey revealed that 42% of UK women who proudly wear fake tan cite their two main reasons for doing so as looking well and feeling confident. In addition, having a post-holiday tan also features in the top 3 confidence boosters, which also suggests that golden glowing skin inspires us to feel our best and on top of our game. These insights have led St.Tropez to boldly address the stigmas surrounding self tanning head-on, with a motivational campaign entitled You Set the Tone which aims to highlight that tanning is more about how you feel than how you look and a goal of empowering women to feel more confident, every day. Launching on the 10th April, the campaign aims to put the Self back in self tan and has the support of Philanthropist and Charity Founder, Katie Piper, as well as an army of brand fans. Katie said, "I'm backing St.Tropez's You Set the Tone campaign as it's vitally important for women to feel confident in their own skin and with their own bodies, and if a beauty product or regime can help them achieve this, it can only be positive. Every woman has an individual reason for how they wear their make-up or hair and it's no different with self tan. Tanning doesn't just add colour, it can also help to even out skin tone, cover up pigmentation or redness, allow you to wear less make up or go without heavy foundations. The survey findings show that us women need to be supporting and celebrating each other and finding ways to improve our self-esteem and ultimately, our mental wellbeing." St.Tropez is pledging to give women across the UK the tools to feel confident, look glowing and make tan-shaming for bad application a thing of the past with game-changing developments. New St.Tropez Purity Bronzing Water Gel, which sold out within hours of its official launch in February, is a one of a kind innovation that means no-streaks, no-transfer, no-stickiness and no-fake tan smell, and 88% of users** agree. Dr. Paul Evans, St.Tropez Innovation & Technology Director, says, "In developing our St.Tropez Purity Bronzing Water Gel, we knew that poor application and obvious streak marks were non-desirable effects. The gel technology breaks on contact with the skin to release an easily spreadable water texture that results in an even, flawless tan and in our user trials, 85% said they felt more confident with the Gel. It's easy to use and can be applied at any time of day or night, which we know is ideal for our discerning yet busy consumers." Michaella Bolder, St.Tropez Tanning Expert, says. "Self tanning in itself can be a bit intimidating and if the main reason women are being judged on their tan is poor application then St.Tropez are doing everything they can to provide products which are mistake-proof after all, it's the safest way to tan. Self tanning technology has come a long way from the orange tones, patchy legs, stained hands perception of the past and whether you're a novice or regular tanner, there is a product for everyone. Tanning isn't a one look fits all, for some it's a deep dark bronze but for the majority, it's a natural, healthy post-holiday glow but most importantly, it's one that suits them. It's empowering to be able to offer women that feeling of confidence and positivity all year round. The Purity Bronzing Water range is so easy to use, it's virtually impossible to apply it badly. I am proud to be working with a brand that champions women and You Set The Tone is the first step to ending the stigmas associated with tanning for good." Enough of the judgement. St.Tropez boldly empowers women to set their own tone. See the campaign video here: https://youtu.be/e7fDwlSXZCU * Survey conducted by Censuswide in March 2019 across the UK with a sample of 1,512 women aged 16-55 ** IRI MAT 52 Sept 2018 & Kantar Awareness Survey 2018, sample size of 521 women aged 16-64. *** Independent User Trial with 100 consumers August 2018 (Video: https://youtu.be/e7fDwlSXZCU) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/847120/Self_Tan_Purity_Gel.jpg) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/847121/St_Tropez_You_Set_The_Tone.jpg) SOURCE St.Tropez LONDON, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Chubb today announced the appointment of Sara Mitchell as Division President for the United Kingdom and Ireland retail business. Subject to regulatory approval, the appointment is effective 30 April. Currently head of the company's middle market division for the UK and Ireland, Sara succeeds David Robinson, who is taking a sabbatical starting at the end of April. In her new role, Sara will be responsible for Chubb's property and casualty, accident and health, and consumer lines operations across the UK and Ireland. This encompasses four regions: London, Midlands & South, Scotland & North, and Ireland. She will continue to be based in London and will report directly to David Furby, Regional President, Europe. Sara joined Chubb in 2011 and has served in a number of senior management roles in both consumer and commercial P&C businesses in the UK and Europe. Her most recent role was head of the corporate division for the UK and Ireland, leading Chubb's middle market segment. Prior to this she held a variety of commercial market roles at RSA and Allianz. Sara has a degree in Chemistry from the University of Manchester and is an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute. Sara will continue with her current responsibilities until her successor is announced. David Furby commented: "I am delighted to welcome Sara to this important role. Sara brings with her a wealth of experience and depth of knowledge of the UK and Ireland market, alongside her experience in commercial roles and underwriting. I am very much looking forward to working with her as we continue to drive growth in revenue and earnings in this crucial market. I would also like to thank David for his dedication in leading Chubb's UK and Ireland business so successfully since 2012 and for all his work over the past 25 years in roles across both Chubb and ACE." Juan C. Andrade, Executive Vice President, Chubb Group and President, Chubb Overseas General, commented: "Sara is an excellent leader with an established track record. I have every confidence in her ability to successfully lead one of our largest businesses. I also would like to express my sincere gratitude to David for a job well done and I look forward to his return." 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: chubb.com/uk Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/324916/Chubb_Logo.jpg SOURCE Chubb Organized by Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry in partnership with Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), GBF Latin America Panama 2019 was attended by H.E. Juan Carlos Varela, President of the Republic of Panama; H.E. Jovenel Moise, President of Haiti; policymakers, ministers, top government officials and business leaders from the LAC and GCC regions. Speaking at the forum, H.E. Varela revealed that Panama and Dubai would plan to establish special working groups to foster cooperation in key sectors of mutual interest, including tourism, real state, free zones, among others, to achieve short term results and boost bilateral relations. H.E. Mohammed Ahmed Bin Abdulaziz Al-Shehhi, Undersecretary of Economic Affairs for the UAE Ministry of Economy noted that the UAE's policy of openness and strong commitment to economic diversification has enabled the country to look outward and build partnerships in different parts of the world. He noted that GBF Latin America is a continuation of that strategy as the event is key to increasing trade and business exchange. H.E. Majid Saif Al Ghurair, Chairman of Dubai Chamber, revealed Dubai Chamber's plans to open a fourth Latin American representative office in Mexico City later this year which he described as a strategic move that will enhance its efforts to expand trade between Dubai and Latin America. He noted that GBF Latin America Panama 2019 comes at a time when bilateral economic ties are expanding rapidly as reflected in Dubai's non-oil trade with Latin America which has surged 46 percent from $4.6 billion in 2011 to $6.7 billion in 2018, while the emirate continues to boost its exports to the region. Editor's note Established in 1965, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry is a non-profit public entity, whose mission is to represent, support and protect the interests of the business community in Dubai by creating a favourable business environment, supporting the development of business, and by promoting Dubai as an international business hub. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/869769/Dubai_Chamber.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/811023/Global_Business_Forum_Latin_America_Logo.jpg SOURCE Dubai Chamber LOS ANGELES, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- USA News Group It seems that the move toward legalizing marijuana for medical use in new jurisdictions is creating a shortfall of supply in some states: a case in point is Rhode Island, which is falling behind in its ability to supply the stuff. Rhode Island offers a clear example of why the cannabis industry, which is already seeing major demand, is experiencing huge growth and the addition of a whole new infrastructure sprouting up to service the new markets. Legal cannabis companies impacted in the grower and producer category with a view to supplying medical marijuana include Aphria (NYSE: APHA) (TSX: APHA), AmeriCann, Inc. (OTC: ACAN), and Aurora Cannabis (TSX: ACB) (NYSE: ACB). And while state lawmakers in Rhode Island consider legalizing recreational weed, sales of medical marijuana have gone through the ceiling surpassing all expectations. Based on the shifting attitudes towards legalization and growth in medical demand, marijuana focused companies have been realizing a significant lift. Over the last year, and particularly since Canada's wholesale legalization of pot, the demand has translated into a number of areas. Medical marijuana accounts for a significant portion of that growth. Several of the cannabis Licensed Producers (or LPs) are in the grower end of the business and combining their efforts with product development, sales and distribution. MYM Nutraceuticals Inc. is a developer of three sizeable growing operations that is broadly diversified into multi-brand development and product distribution. MYM Nutraceuticals Inc. (CSE: MYM) (OTC: MYMMF), is also an example of an early mover now shifting its focus toward the medical end of the business. Rhode Island's Medical Use Example According to published figures, RI's three medical marijuana dispensaries are on pace to sell about $56 million worth of medicinal pot in fiscal 2019. That comes directly from the state's top marijuana regulator. In actual sales, that represents $17.8 million, or roughly 46.6 percent more medical marijuana sales in 2019 than in fiscal year of 2018 a significant increase. This new figure follows what was a record-breaking year in 2018 that amounted to about $38.2 million worth of marijuana sold. That was another significant increase over the previous year, accounting for one third more than was sold in in fiscal 2017. It's a clear trend that is picking up steam in Rhode Island, similar to other states where the legalization has become reality. It's also been a tax wind fall for the state; they collected about $2.75 million in various taxes during fiscal 2018 and are predicted to collect nearly twice that in fiscal 2019 or about $5.4 million. Although recreational cannabis has been legalized in just 10 states and Washington, DC, patients can use marijuana medicinally in 33 states and Washington, DC. And that number is only expected to rise in 2019 as many states look to adopt new legislation. Many states have existing bills in their legislatures and are going through the process. Producers and Distributors Moving into Medical The gap created by the demand for medical cannabis is seeing a rise in new companies, many from Canada where medical pot has been legal for 11 years. Canadian based MYM Nutraceuticals is an example of the efforts to move towards the medical market; MYM is making waves as a junior company moving up the ranks of the legal producers in Canada and expanding to the US along with other regions. MYM through its various joint ventures is currently building three large-scale production facilities in both Canada and Australia. Upon completion of these three projects, the total amount of greenhouse growing space is expected to exceed 2.7 million square feet. MYM Nutraceuticals is also diversifying; it has large grows in Canada and abroad, which they produce flower for and have the capability of doing extraction down to oil for an additional revenue stream. They also have a manufacturing facility in its final stages of completion that will allow the company to produce final consumables in the forms of transdermal patches, pills, tinctures and products of that nature for humans. Through subsidiaries develop and sell a variety of cannabis based natural products including custom-made cannabis products. MYM is focusing their business model to be in the medical segment, which they feel is a longer-term play, as opposed to a recreational pot. Why the Big Increases? Regulators explain that the list of qualifying conditions to enter the medical marijuana program in RI is pretty short but, but it covers a wide range of ailments such as severe pain, muscle spasms, nausea and other maladies. They also claim that some doctors over the border in nearby areas have been willing to write medicinal marijuana scripts for a large segment of Rhode Island's 18,200 registered patients with as they put it "few questions asked." The Governor tried and failed on an attempt to restrict certain doctors from participating in the medical pot program last year. Business is apparently brisk at a dispensary in Providence, where on some days patients can wait up to 25 minutes to make a transaction at one of 17 check-out stations. And the situation is similar at other centers around the state. According to a lead regulator, "People do not live close enough to these three centers," "and there's not enough competition in terms of pricing and offerings. So, when you look at the state's need, it's just not being met by the three existing compassion centers." "We do not have enough distribution or patient access right now," he said, explaining that the state's current three dispensaries were created in 2009. Back then, Rhode Island had fewer than 2,000 patients seeking medical pot. It Just Keeps Getting Bigger Nationwide, cannabis sales are expected to reach $3.8 billion in 2018, and up to $6.6 billion by 2025, according to projections from New Frontier Data. Using that benchmark, sales of the plant could reach up to $24.1 billion by 2025. Rhode Island's legalization proposal includes plans to triple the number of medical marijuana dispensaries to nine in order to meet the growing demand in that state. According to published data, Rhode Island is a good model since it leads the nation in per-capita marijuana consumption. Their new proposal would create six additional retail-only stores, but none of them would grow pot or manufacture any marijuana products. They are leaving that to the existing suppliers and manufacturers like MYM Nutraceuticals. Legislators have indicated that the nine dispensaries in the state could apply for licenses to sell recreational marijuana at a later date if the General Assembly approves recreational use. That could well happen during this session. For now, it appears that the nation's medical marijuana supplies, like Rhode Island's, will lag behind the demand, which is expected to ultimately plateau and gain a balance. But that may be for some years to come. Companies benefiting from the move towards legalization of medical marijuana and increased use of hemp products include: Aphria (NYSE: APHA) (TSX: APHA) bills itself as one of Canada's lowest cost producers, that produces, supplies and sells medical cannabis. Located in the greenhouse capital of Canada, Leamington, Ontario, Aphria provides pharma-grade medical cannabis, and quality patient care. AmeriCann, Inc. (OTC: ACAN) develops, owns and supports advanced medical cannabis cultivation and processing facilities nationwide. The Company has a multi-market portfolio of over 1,000,000 square feet of sustainable cannabis production infrastructure in various stages of development. Aurora Cannabis (TSX: ACB) (NYSE: ACB) has funded capacity in excess of 430,000 kg per year and operations across Canada and in Europe, making it is one of the world's largest cannabis companies. The Company is vertically integrated and horizontally diversified across every key segment of the value chain. For a more in-depth look into MYM you can view the in-depth report at USA News Group: http://usanewsgroup.com/2018/04/12/sector-diversification-is-the-key-to-a-happy-trading-portfolio/ Article Source: USA News Group http://usanewsgroup.com info@usanewsgroup.com Legal Disclaimer/Disclosure: This piece is an advertorial and has been paid for. This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment. No information in this Report should be construed as individualized investment advice. A licensed financial advisor should be consulted prior to making any investment decision. We make no guarantee, representation or warranty and accept no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion are those of USA News Group only and are subject to change without notice. USA News Group assumes no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission. Furthermore, we assume no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information, provided within this Report. DISCLAIMER: USA News Group is Source of all content listed above. FN Media Group, LLC (FNM), is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with USA News Group or any company mentioned herein. The commentary, views and opinions expressed in this release by USA News Group are solely those of USA News Group and are not shared by and do not reflect in any manner the views or opinions of FNM. FNM is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. FNM and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination and financial marketing solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. FNM was not compensated by any public company mentioned herein to disseminate this press release. FNM HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE. This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements. Media Contact Information: FN Media Group, LLC Media Contact e-mail: editor@financialnewsmedia.com U.S. Phone: +1(954)345-0611 SOURCE USA News Group WASHINGTON, April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Charity Navigator has awarded Air Force Aid Society (AFAS) our fourth consecutive 4-star rating as a result of our strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency. Charity Navigator is America's largest independent charity evaluator. "Our 4-star rating demonstrates to our supporters our good governance and financial accountability," said retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. John D. Hopper, AFAS CEO. "The recognition we receive each year from Charity Navigator shows that we are excellent stewards of the money generous donors give to us to support our mission of helping airmen." Since 2002, using an objective analysis, Charity Navigator has awarded only the most fiscally responsible organizations a 4-star rating. In 2011, Charity Navigator added 17 metrics focused on governance and ethical practices, as well as measures of openness, to its ratings methodology. These Accountability and Transparency metrics, which account for 50 percent of a charity's overall rating, reveal which charities operate in accordance with industry best practices and whether they are open with their donors and stakeholders. On June 1, 2016, Charity Navigator upgraded its methodology for rating each charity's financial health with CN 2.1. These enhancements further substantiate the financial health of 4-star charities. "Air Force Aid Society's exceptional 4-star rating sets it apart from its peers and demonstrates its trustworthiness to the public," according to Michael Thatcher, President and CEO of Charity Navigator. "Only a quarter of charities rated by Charity Navigator receive the distinction of our 4-star rating." Thatcher further emphasizes that achieving this type of distinction demonstrates that donors can feel confident knowing that their donations are going to be used by financially responsible and ethical charities. About Air Force Aid Society Air Force Aid Society is a 4-star Charity Navigator-rated, nonprofit organization. Founded in 1942, the Air Force Aid Society's mission is to help relieve the financial distress of Air Force members and their families and assist them in achieving their educational goals and in improving their quality of life by providing proactive programs. In 2018 alone, the Air Force Aid Society provided over $21.4 million to airmen and their families through emergency assistance and educational and community programs. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, the Air Force Aid Society administers assistance through Airman and Family Readiness Centers around the world and maintains cross-servicing agreements with the Army Emergency Relief, the Navy-Marine Corps Relief, the Coast Guard Mutual Assistance and the American Red Cross to offer emergency assistance 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. To learn more about the Air Force Aid Society, please visit www.afas.org or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Air Force Aid Society can be reached by telephone 703-972-2650 or by mail 1550 Crystal Drive Suite 809, Arlington, VA 22202. About Charity Navigator Charity Navigator, www.charitynavigator.org, is the largest charity evaluator in America and its website attracts more visitors than all other charity rating groups combined. The organization helps guide intelligent giving by evaluating the financial health and accountability and transparency of more than 8,000 charities. Charity Navigator accepts no advertising or donations from the organizations it evaluates, ensuring unbiased evaluations, nor does it charge the public for this trusted data. As a result, Charity Navigator, a 501(c)(3) public charity itself, depends on support from individuals, corporations and foundations that believe it provides a much-needed service to America's charitable givers. Charity Navigator can be reached directly by telephone at 201-818-1288, or by mail at 139 Harristown Road, Suite 101, Glen Rock, N.J., 07452. Media Contact: Latoya Crowe, [email protected] Related Images air-force-aid-society-logo.jpg Air Force Aid Society Logo charity-navigator-logo.jpg Charity Navigator Logo Related Links http://www.afas.org http://www.charitynavigator.org SOURCE Air Force Aid Society Related Links http://www.afas.org WASHINGTON, April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Yesterday, Alice Lin appeared on Washington Watch with Tony Perkins, a national radio show which airs on more than 240 stations across the country. On the show, Lin spoke out publicly for the first time about her father, Pastor David Lin, who was imprisoned in China for his faith more than a decade ago. FRC is asking believers to sign a prayer pledge in support of Pastor Lin. Lin explained, "My father, Pastor David Lin, is a U.S. citizen. He's been imprisoned for his faith." She continued, "He was in China because he had a huge burden for the unchurched in China. He had a vision to build a church and a Christian training center. In 2006, he applied for a license for his ministry with the Chinese government, and it was a few months after that he was placed under house arrest and eventually falsely charged and convicted. "While my father has seen the prison as his mission field these last ten years, something has changed." Lin added, "In the last few months, he has been reaching out to us with increasing frequency, which is very unusual, and he's had this anxiousness, this urgency in his voice. It's the first time he's ever asked us to reach out for help. "Things are changing now; it's time to bring him back home," concluded Lin. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, and host of Washington Watch, remarked, "Pastor Lin actually was embracing this call to prison, to ministry. He had the ability to minister to people from over thirty nations within the prisons. But something changed." "Things have really gotten bad. We're seeing it outside the prison; I can only imagine what's going on inside the prison system in China," Perkins added. To listen to the full interview, click this link: https://soundcloud.com/family-research-council/alice-lin To commit to pray for Pastor Lin, visit: https://frc.quorum.us/campaign/19546/ SOURCE Family Research Council During a meeting with the Vietnamese Party and State leader in Hanoi on April 9th in the framework of his official visit to Vietnam, the Dutch PM said that he is impressed by Vietnams current development. He expressed his joy at the fruitful development of bilateral relations between the Netherlands and Vietnam in recent times, especially in trade-investment and strategic cooperation fields, such as climate change adaptation, water management, sustainable agriculture, and food security. Vietnamese Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong (R) and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (Source: VNA) The guest affirmed the attraction of the Vietnamese market in particular and ASEAN market in general for Dutch businesses and partners, adding that he believes the two nations will cooperate with greater strength in the future. For his part, Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong applauded the second visit of PM Rutte to Vietnam in the context of effective and dynamic cooperation between the two countries. He appreciated the Netherlands continued role as the biggest European investor in Vietnam, the second largest European trading partner, as well as being one of the major export markets of the southeast Asian country. He applauded the building of a comprehensive partnership between the two sides to increase cooperation and meet the development requirements of the two countries, especially in areas with great potential, such as renewable energy, high-quality agriculture, the food industry, seaport and logistics services, and smart urban development. He highly valued the close coordination between the two countries at multilateral forums, including the United Nations, ASEAN, and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), suggesting the Dutch side actively encourage the European Union (EU) to complete the legal review and procedures towards signing the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement and the Investment Protection Agreement between Vietnam and EU./. RedSeal, a San Jose, CA-based provider of a cyber risk modeling platform for hybrid environments, received a growth equity investment from Symphony Technology Group (STG). The amount of the deal was not disclosed. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate its growth. Led by Ray Rothrock, chairman and CEO, RedSeal provides a cyber risk modeling platform for hybrid environments that helps validate an organizations security posture, accelerate investigation and improve productivity of network and security teams, via actionable intelligence, situational awareness and a Digital Resilience Score. RedSeal models the entire hybrid data center including public cloud, private cloud, and physical networks with its analytics that help security teams better prepare for and contain cyber risks within minutes, not days. More than 220 Global 2000 corporations and mission-critical government agencies, including all branches of the U.S. military, as well as power grid companies and the worlds most trusted financial institutions, use the companys solutions. FinSMEs 10/04/2019 CAIRO, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- It has been announced that Alpha Publishing (UK) group has signed a protocol with the Egypt for Education Management Organisation, who have their GCC headquarters in Dubai, to train teachers with the Nile Egyptian Schools in accordance with international standards. L to R - Mr. Eyad Darawsheh (Managing Director, Alpha Publishing), Dr. Hassan Ismail Fares (Chairman of the Board of Directors, Egypt for Education Management Organisation), Dr. Amani Al-Far (Executive Manager, Egypt for Education Management Organisation) As the official body responsible for the management and operation of the Nile Egyptian Schools project, which is 100 percent funded by the Government to the value of 2 billion Egyptian pounds, the Egypt for Education Management Organisation is charged with the task of ensuring the project's teachers achieve the highest levels of professional performance. The Organisation's vision is that, when fully trained, the Nile Egyptian Schools' teachers will serve as role models at local and regional level. Now, in a significant move towards achieving that goal, the Management Organisation has signed a protocol with the UK educational group, Alpha Publishing. The protocol, signed on Thursday, April 4 in Cairo, by Dr. Hassan Ismail Fares, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Egypt for Education Management Organisation and Mr. Eyad Darawsheh, Managing Director of Alpha Publishing, engages Alpha Publishing with the ambitious tasks of providing face-to-face teacher training, e-learning expertise as well as developing and providing educational curricula in a number of subject areas including English, Mathematics and Science. The training drive comes as part of the Egyptian State's 2030 vision and requires Alpha Publishing, in partnership with the Egypt for Education Management Organisation, to develop and implement a face-to-face teacher training program along with the provision of high-quality curriculum packages for English Language, Mathematics, Science, French Language, Arabic Language and Computer Sciences. The signing of the protocol by Dr. Fares and Mr. Darawsheh is part of the President's plan to expand the Nile Egyptian Schools model whose centers are located in Sadat City, New Aswan City, New Luxor, New Damietta City, Shorouq City, Sheikh Zayed City, and New Cairo (Al-Andalus and Jasmine). The Nile Egyptian Schools offer a breakthrough educational curriculum designed to ensure Egyptian students and teachers meet the latest local and international accreditation requirements. "We are anticipating educational institutions which provide a new, distinguished and high-quality educational model at the national and regional level," explained Dr. Hassan Fares to an audience at the Ministry of Education in Cairo. "We want a model which, at its core, is based on participation by and engagement with, parents and the community. This is the best way to manage and achieve our objectives of giving every student a globally recognized certificate equivalent to the international certificate. "Our aim is to develop students who are knowledgeable, skilled and professionally qualified, ready to engage directly with the labor market or academic environment either locally or internationally. "We want them to be developed in an education system distinguished by its high international standards and Egyptian identity. We want to develop our educational and administrative environment so that they keep abreast of scientific and technological developments, and so that our curricula continually develop in accordance with the latest global trends in teaching and learning as well as community and environmental services. It is our intention that these developments will support our schools' competitive position and achieve a high level of satisfaction throughout society," he concluded. Sherine Hamdy, Head of Sector of the Office of the Minister of Education, confirmed that the Nile Egyptian Schools' curriculum is based on the implementation of this new educational model. She emphasized the need for experienced and highly-trained teaching staff, supported by a society, which is equally aware of the challenges of the labor market. There was also a desire and need to develop responsible and effective citizens and deepen our students' sense of Egyptian identity and loyalty to the country, she said. Dr Amani Al-Far, Executive Manager of the Organisation, said the Nile Egyptian Schools aim to serve those middle-class parents who cannot enroll their children in schools with high annual expenses. She underlined the fact that these schools also qualify students for admission to top-ranking international universities. According to Eyad Darawsheh, Managing Director of Alpha Publishing, today's signing of the protocol is confirmation of his company's commitment to supporting and training teachers in Egypt. "We are very grateful to the Ministry of Education & Technical Education, Egypt and to the Egypt for Education Management Organisation for the opportunity to be here," said Mr. Darawsheh. "Our company's strategy is rooted in providing educational resources which will best help teachers to reach international standards. We believe today's partnering with the Egypt for Education Management Organisation falls within the Ministry of Education's 2030 vision and plan to empower teachers to keep pace with the digital transformation in education." "The forward-looking training program to be established will deliver advanced teacher training techniques. In turn, we hope that the results of this training program will contribute to the development and education of our future generations and communities by providing the labor market with a generation of knowledgeable, skilled and innovative students and leaders who can create new industries and jobs in Egypt and the region," said Mr. Darawsheh. His words were echoed by Kevin MacDermot, head of ELT (English Language Teaching) with Alpha. "Technology is evolving and education, in terms of both students and teachers, must evolve with it. What we want to do is assist teachers to enable their students in this regard," said Mr. MacDermot. "Today's students need to learn how to relate to the fast-shifting digital world around them, both educationally and socially. At the same, the role of the teacher must change from the traditional one to one where the teacher must also be a mentor and a guide, helping their students assess and interpret the information now available to them via the digital world. "Modern technology is presenting our students and our children with both opportunities and challenges. What Alpha wants to do in this project is assist teachers in preparing to help their students meet those challenges and seize those opportunities," said Mr. MacDermot. Alpha's head of US Schools content, Aaron Ashworth, said it was crucially important to equip teachers so they could prepare students for new realities. "The walls of the traditional classroom disappear when we integrate technology into education," said Mr. Ashworth. "Students have different learning styles and language proficiency we will train educators to reach students at their level through differentiated instruction and teaching 21st Century Skills so they can achieve international standards in Math, Science and English Language Arts. "It's important to teach our students to safely navigate the Internet but also to recognize and analyze the information they find so that, crucially, they can differentiate between the relevant and irrelevant. In this way, we're confident they can properly interpret the world around them and become effective, global, Egyptian citizens," said Mr. Ashworth. ENDS About Alpha Publishing Alpha Publishing is a publishing and curriculum development company operating across English Learning Arts, English Language Teaching, Mathematics and Science. It offers workshops and specialized training courses for teachers based on a variety of international and national curricula including American, British and International Baccalaureate, with the aim of empowering teachers and raising their professional competence. Alpha Publishing has its own sales and distribution network represented by Smart Education (www.smarteducation.ae). For further information, please contact -[email protected], [email protected] , [email protected] or call +971 4 391 8658 Website www.alphapublishing.com Facebook www.facebook.com/alphapublishinguae LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/alpha-publishing Related Images mr-eyad-darawsheh-managing.jpg Mr. Eyad Darawsheh (Managing Director, Alpha Publishing), Dr. Hassan Ismail Fares (Chairman of the Board of Directors, Egypt for Education Management Organisation), Dr. Amani Al-Far (Executive Manager, Egypt for Education Management Organisation) L to R - Mr. Eyad Darawsheh (Managing Director, Alpha Publishing), Dr. Hassan Ismail Fares (Chairman of the Board of Directors, Egypt for Education Management Organisation), Dr. Amani Al-Far (Executive Manager, Egypt for Education Management Organisation) egypt-for-education-management.jpg Egypt for Education Management Organisation signs protocol with Alpha Publishing (UK) SOURCE Alpha Publishing NEW YORK, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Bernstein Liebhard LLP announced today that a class action has been filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on behalf of all persons or entities (the "Class") who purchased the securities of Boeing, Inc. ("Boeing" or the "Company") (NYSE: BA) during the period of January 8, 2019 through March 21, 2019 (the "Class Period"). The complaint alleges that Defendants violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Boeing designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. On October 29, 2018, a Boeing 737 Max 8 jet operated by the Indonesian airline Lion Air crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all passengers and crew. On November 12, 2018, the Wall Street Journal published an article reporting that Boeing "withheld information about potential hazards associated with a new flight-control feature suspected of playing a role in last month's fatal Lion Air jet crash[.]" Plaintiffs allege that Defendants made misrepresentations about the safety of the Company's 737 Max airplanes during the Class Period. Specifically, Defendants allegedly concealed that (1) the 737 Max airplanes lacked safety features which Boeing sold as "optional" add-ons; (2) most airlines did not purchase these safety "options"; and (3) the Federal Aviation Administration handed oversight and certification of one of Boeing's safety systems to Boeing, which had a clear conflict of interest as it was rushing the 737 Max to market. On March 10, 2019, 157 people perished after an Ethiopian Airlines-operated Boeing 737 Max 8 jet crashed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia shortly after takeoff. In the wake of the crash, regulators in China and several other countries grounded all Boeing 737 Max 8 jets. On March 11, 2019, Boeing's stock price fell $22.53, or over 5%, to close at $400.01 per share. On March 21, 2019, The New York Times reported that Boeing had concealed from pilots and passengers that Boeing created two new safety features that it sold as "extras" or "optional features" to keep cost down. This news drove the price of Boeing shares down $10.53, or about 3%, on March 22, 2019. Plaintiffs seek to recover damages on behalf of all Class members who invested in Boeing securities during the Class Period. If you invested in Boeing securities as described above, and lost money on the transactions, you may wish to join in this action to serve as lead plaintiff. In order to do so, you must meet certain requirements set forth in the applicable law and file appropriate papers no later than June 10, 2019. A "lead plaintiff" is a representative party that acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed lead plaintiff, the court must determine that the class member's claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class. Under certain circumstances, one or more class members may together serve as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff. You may retain Bernstein Liebhard LLP, or other counsel of your choice, to serve as your counsel in this action. If you are interested in discussing your rights as a Boeing investor or have information relating to the matter, please contact Joseph R. Seidman, Jr. at (877) 779-1414 or [email protected]. Bernstein Liebhard LLP has pursued hundreds of securities, consumer and shareholder rights cases and recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. The Firm has been named to The National Law Journal's "Plaintiffs' Hot List" thirteen times and been listed in The Legal 500 for ten consecutive years. You can obtain a copy of the complaint from the clerk of the court for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. 2019 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. The lawyer responsible for this advertisement in the State of Connecticut is Michael S. Bigin. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. Contact Information Joseph R. Seidman, Jr. Bernstein Liebhard LLP http://www.bernlieb.com (877) 779-1414 [email protected] SOURCE Bernstein Liebhard LLP Related Links http://www.bernlieb.com MIAMI, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- eMerge Americas, the premier technology event connecting the Americas, unveiled this week new partnerships and programming highlights in advance of the annual conference that will occur on April 29-30, 2019 in Miami Beach, FL. "eMerge Americas is a platform dedicated to building out South Florida's entrepreneurial ecosystem and transforming Miami into the tech hub of the Americas," said Felice Gorordo, CEO of eMerge Americas. "We're convening world-class innovators and value-creators and inviting them to invest their time, talent and treasure into making the Miami tech ecosystem their own." Over the course of the past year, eMerge Americas has actively sought strategic partnerships to reinforce the tech ecosystem with programs that both fill an identified gap and further incentivizes entrepreneurs to consider Miami as a city to successfully launch and scale their businesses. "We're proud to unveil our robust content for this year's eMerge Americas event that will showcase our partners both local and international," said Melissa Medina, President of eMerge Americas. "Over 200 companies will be featured on our dynamic expo floor to highlight innovative solutions for startups, business enterprises, government officials, and investors." Notable program highlights announced for the upcoming event on April 29th-30th include: eMerge Americas Government (eGOV) Summit presented by SAP The eMerge Americas Government (eGOV) Summit convenes high-level government and business leaders from across the globe that are leveraging disruptive technologies to transform their communities. The Association of Entrepreneurs of Latin America (ASELA), a professional network of over 90,000 entrepreneurs in Latin America, will convene at eMerge Americas to formally sign a memorandum of understanding that will induct Miami Dade County into the ASELA network. The signing of this historical agreement will be marked by a special address via video from the President of Chile Sebastian Pinera, marking the first time a sitting head of state will deliver remarks at an eMerge Americas conference. The Minister of Economy, Development and Tourism of Chile Jose Ramon Valente will be present at the signing ceremony and provide keynote remarks at the eGOV Summit Luncheon on Monday, April 29th. The ASELA network, comprised of entrepreneurs from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and Paraguay, will now expand to include Miami Dade County and spurs an exchange of dedicated resources throughout the Americas. Women, Innovation, Technology (WIT) Summit powered by Babson's Center for Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership The Women, Innovation, Technology (WIT) Summit has formally partnered with the Babson Center for Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership to develop a one-day summit on April 30th , within the eMerge Americas conference, that convenes influencers, innovators, and consumers to bridge the gender gap for women in tech. Babson College, located in Wellesley, Massachusetts, is centrally focused on entrepreneurship education, and often ranked the most prestigious entrepreneurship college in the United States. Through both research and action-driven workshops, the WIT Summit will address two key issues facing women in tech: a lack of growth funding and the need for stronger social networks. Jean Case, Chairwoman of the National Geographic Society and CEO of the Case Foundation, will be delivering the featured keynote address. The outcome of this dynamic summit will include an event report that discusses the state of gender in technology and solutions to strengthen funding and networking opportunities for women. eMerge Americas Hackathon powered by Wyncode Academy, Ford, GE Digital and Ultimate Software For the third year in a row, the eMerge Americas Hackathon will be held in partnership with Wyncode Academy, the premier accelerated learning destination in South Florida. The contest theme, #ConnectingMiami to the World, will focus on building technology that connects and transcends borders. Teams will have 12 hours to build their project and present their demos to a panel of judges to compete for thousands in prizes. This year's hackathon is sponsored by Ford, GE Digital and Ultimate Software, a cloud-based human resources applications developer recently bought by an investor group led by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman for approximately $11 billion. Participation in the Hackathon is free, but you must apply before April 18th. See all details here: http://bit.ly/emerge2019hack To register to attend eMerge Americas conference visit: www.emergeamericas.com/register About eMerge Americas eMerge Americas is the premier technology event connecting the Americas held annually at the Miami Beach Convention Center. By connecting global industry leaders and investors with America's top business executives, technology decision-makers, and entrepreneurs, eMerge Americas is transforming Miami into the tech hub of the Americas. In 2018, eMerge Americas attracted more than 15,000 attendees and 400 participating companies from over 40 countries. eMerge Americas serves as a catalyst in order to foster innovation and investment in South Florida and Latin America. The eMerge Americas founding partners include: Medina Capital, A Rod Corporation, Greenberg Traurig, Knight Foundation, Miami-Dade County, and the Miami Herald. For more information about eMerge Americas, please visit: emergeamericas.com. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/357556/eMERGE_2016_Logo.jpg SOURCE eMerge Americas Related Links http://emergeamericas.com NEW YORK, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Fareportal, the travel technology company powering CheapOair.com and OneTravel.com, is now the first online travel agency (OTA) to sell Air New Zealand's Economy Skycouch product. The Economy Skycouch, available on Air New Zealand's Boeing 777 and 787-9 aircrafts, transforms a row of three Economy Class seats into one flat space to maximize comfort. Adjustable footrests and armrests allow each passenger to personalize their Skycouch and is a great option for families, couples, or solo travelers just wanting extra personal space. "Our supplier relations team is constantly working with our airline partners to find new ways we can improve our product offerings, and our ancillary attachment team continues to lead the industry in integrating these complex, added-value products on our sites," said Sam S. Jain, CEO of Fareportal. "Air New Zealand is changing the way passengers fly in Economy Class and we are excited to be a part of their growth and innovation." Air New Zealand is the flag carrier of New Zealand and operates non-stop flights to Auckland from seven North American gateways including San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Honolulu, Houston, Chicago, and Vancouver. "Air New Zealand's Economy Skycouch has revolutionized the Economy Class travel experience by providing an extra level of comfort," said Sean Lutkenhouse, Director of Sales USA. "We're thrilled to have Fareportal, a leading travel company, bring the Economy Skycouch to the North American consumer." About Fareportal Fareportal is a travel technology company powering a next generation travel concierge service. Utilizing its innovative technology and company owned and operated global contact centers, Fareportal has built strong industry partnerships providing customers access to over 600 airlines, 1 million hotels, and hundreds of car rental companies around the globe. With a portfolio of consumer travel brands including CheapOair and OneTravel , Fareportal enables consumers to book online, on mobile apps for iOS and Android , by phone, or live chat. About Air New Zealand Air New Zealand is proud to be New Zealand's national carrier delivering more than 16 million customer journeys to, from and all-around New Zealand every year and was named AirlineRatings.com Airline of the Year for the fifth consecutive year for 2018. The airline continues to operate one of the world's youngest fleets, connecting New Zealanders to 20 domestic and more than 30 international destinations including Asia, Europe, Australia, North and South America, and the Pacific Islands. As a member of the Star Alliance network, Air New Zealand is able to provide access to almost any destination in the world. For more information, visit www.airnewzealand.co.nz SOURCE Fareportal Related Links http://www.fareportal.com ZWIJNDRECHT, Netherlands, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2018 result of the Van Leeuwen Pipe and Tube Group further improved as compared to previous years. Market circumstances and economic activity were favorable in most business segments. The network was expanded with an acquisition in Germany. Van Leeuwen made further investments in distribution and service facilities as well as in innovative solutions for the customer. Turnover of the international trading company specializing in steel pipes, and pipe and tube applications amounted to 630 million, an increase of 3% compared to 2017 ( 613 million). Operating result and net profit increased and amounted to 13.5 million (2017: 12.4 million) and 9.7 million (2017: 6.3 million), respectively. Solvency remains strong at 44%. In 2018, demand in both the European industry market and the worldwide energy market developed favorably. Van Leeuwen achieved better results in all industry market segments than in 2017. Developments in the energy market were also positive. There was significant recovery in key markets, such as Asia and North America, where Van Leeuwen achieved good results. Particularly in the pipeline segment, Van Leeuwen's sales is growing. On May 1, 2018, Van Leeuwen acquired the operations of Ferrostaal Piping Supply, a German-Dutch pipe and tube trading company. This provides Van Leeuwen with better access to the German and Central European market, in particular the chemical, petrochemical and machine building segments. Under the global contract with ExxonMobil, Van Leeuwen supplied materials for MRO and projects in Europe, North America and Asia. Van Leeuwen is currently investing in the expansion of its international network of stock locations, modernization of its machine park and in digitization. The construction of an additional 2,000 m2 warehouse in Sydney, Australia, has been started. In Vyskov, Czech Republic an extra 4,000 m2 hall will accommodate a state of the art storage system. To meet the growing demand for data exchange with customers and suppliers, the further implementation of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) will be accelerated in 2019. Peter Rietberg, Chairman of the Management Board: "Van Leeuwen achieved a solid result in 2018. As a leading specialist, we continue to invest in innovation and in strengthening the connection with our customers. Our Van Leeuwen brand, which for 95 years represents a reliable and professional distribution partner, is of inestimable value in this regard." Additional information about the 2018 results on: www.vanleeuwen-report.com Van Leeuwen Pipe and Tube Group The Van Leeuwen Pipe and Tube Group is an international trading company specializing in steel pipes, and pipe and tube applications. The company is active in virtually all industrial sectors. The company was founded in 1924. The Group has more than forty branches spread throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and North America. www.vanleeuwen.com Photos are available via this link . SOURCE Van Leeuwen Pipe and Tube Group Related Links https://www.vanleeuwen.com/en/ SAN FRANCISCO, April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- itopia today announced that it has won the 2018 Google Cloud Global Technology Partner of the Year Award for Cloud Commerce. The award was presented to itopia at Google Cloud Next '19, held at Moscone Center in San Francisco. itopia was recognized for the company's achievements in the Google Cloud ecosystem, helping joint customers rapidly onboard and manage desktops and applications on GCP. itopia Cloud Automation Stack (CAS) combined with Google Compute Engine, offers a powerful, intuitive platform for enterprise workloads. With itopia, sysadmins can onramp desktops and proprietary apps to GCP in a fraction of the time and cost of legacy Citrix/VMWare systems and DaaS competitors, including AWS Workspaces. "itopia's integration with the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Marketplace in 2018 completely transformed our go-to-market strategy with Google Cloud," said itopia Co-Founder and CEO Jonathan Lieberman. "It greatly simplified how customers consume our solution by automating the migration of desktops and IT workloads to GCP through single-click deployments. It also reduced sales cycles and unified the billing for both GCP consumption and our solution. Together, we unlocked new enterprise opportunities and revenue streams and established the foundation for even more success and growth in 2019." "We're delighted to recognize itopia as the 2018 Technology Partner of the Year for Cloud Commerce, for their innovative work on behalf of Google Cloud customers over the past year," said Kevin Ichhpurani, Corporate Vice President, Global Partner Ecosystem at Google Cloud. "Our ecosystem of partners is driving tremendous innovation, and itopia's solutions in cloud desktop and application migration and management are a great example. We're proud to provide this award to itopia and look forward to continue building together." About itopia itopia's Cloud Automation Stack (CAS) software allows enterprises to migrate and orchestrate legacy VDI on GCP, modernizing their IT. This includes: virtual desktops and applications, VFX workstations, hybrid Active Directory (AD) environments, AD-based disaster recovery and Windows and Linux virtual machinesfrom Sandbox to Production. For more information on itopia's solutions please visit: www.itopia.com SOURCE itopia Related Links http://www.itopia.com According to a new online survey 1 , commissioned by McCormick, nearly 61 percent of Americans plan to make and/or eat deviled eggs this Easter. While 45 percent of consumers will enjoy the classic recipe, with mustard and paprika as go-to flavors, many are "eggs-perimenting" with different ingredients. The survey uncovered an affinity for bacon (46 percent), as well as a preference for avocado and crab meat (each 28 percent). "We know that deviled eggs are an Easter favorite, and wanted to inspire everyone to try something new. They had flavors in mind, so we challenged regional chefs to develop recipes that would help Americans get their ideas to the table," said Kevan Vetter, McCormick Executive Chef. The percentages reflect consumers' interest in trying these flavors, along with the new deviled egg recipes and the chefs who created them: Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs , is a southern-inspired recipe (36 percent) from chef Hugh Acheson , Atlanta . , is a southern-inspired recipe (36 percent) from chef , . Midwestern Smoked Trout Deviled Eggs , is a seafood-inspired recipe (30 percent) from chef Gavin Kaysen , Minneapolis . , is a seafood-inspired recipe (30 percent) from chef , . Fiery Bacon Deviled Eggs , is a spicy-inspired recipe (29 percent) from chef Alex Guarnaschelli , New York City . , is a spicy-inspired recipe (29 percent) from chef , . Creamy Jalapeno Deviled Eggs , is a Mexican/Latin-inspired recipe (26 percent) from chef Rick Bayless , Chicago . , is a Mexican/Latin-inspired recipe (26 percent) from chef , . Pickled Onion Deviled Eggs, is a pickled-inspired recipe (21 percent) from chef Timothy Hollingsworth , Los Angeles . For more Easter ideas, from deviled eggs, to a wow-worthy Spring dessert, and an egg dyeing color guide, visit McCormick.com/Easter and Frenchs.com. Also, check us out on Pinterest , Facebook and Instagram . 1The survey was fielded online through Survata on behalf of McCormick. The research consisted of an online quantitative survey of 600 respondents. The overall sample reflects national representation on key demographic measures according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Note to media: To download survey infographic, high-resolution images, recipes and materials, visit: https://mccormick.new-media-release.com/2019_easter/index.html or visit our digital press room at: www.mccormick.com/press-room. About McCormick McCormick & Company, Incorporated is a global leader in flavor. With $5.3 billion in annual sales, the company manufactures, markets and distributes spices, seasoning mixes, condiments and other flavorful products to the entire food industry retail outlets, food manufacturers and foodservice businesses. Every day, no matter where or what you eat, you can enjoy food flavored by McCormick. McCormick Brings the Joy of Flavor to Life. SOURCE McCormick & Company Related Links http://www.mccormick.com UBiqube, a Dublin, Ireland-based infrastructure Automation and Orchestration vendor, received an investment from NTT Comware as the lead in a newly launched $20M Series B funding round. NTT Comware is the system integrator arm of the NTT group. The company will use the funds to further accelerate its global expansion. Led by Nabil Souli, CEO, UBiqube is a global orchestration solution vendor for integrated automation applied to networking, Cloud and security technologies. Its orchestration software, the MSActivator, is a domain-neutral DevOps platform for the design of Integrated Automation processes, spanning the entire infrastructure continuum, from cloud to core, to edge. Automation workflows have already been designed and deployed using the MSActivator in a wide variety of domains and use cases, from managed security services, security automation (auto-remediation), cloud orchestration, SDWAN, Smart City applications, network orchestration, and many more. Headquartered in Dublinm the company has global sales and engineering presence. FinSMEs 10/04/2019 NEW YORK, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The New York City Commissioner of Health declared a public health emergency yesterday, ordering all people who live, work or reside in four Brooklyn zip codes to be vaccinated with the Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccine declared to be "effective and safe." Non-compliance with the order is a misdemeanor subject to criminal and civil fines, including imprisonment. Mayor Bill de Blasio warned that residents have 48 hours to get the vaccine or face a $1,000 fine. Only those with documented immunity, medical contraindications or infants under six months are exempt from the vaccine mandate. This order primarily affects Orthodox and Hasidic Jews living in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn who do not vaccinate because it violates their core religious beliefs. The MMR vaccine is manufactured using WI-38 human diploid lung fibroblasts obtained from aborted fetal tissue. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in response that is was "legally questionable" whether people can be forced to get vaccinated if it violates their religious beliefs. Children's Health Defense (CHD) is supporting a legal challenge to this dangerous, unprecedented overreach. While the City has unquestionable authority to control disease outbreaks, it may not violate the bedrock principle of prior, free and informed consent to all medical interventions, including vaccines. This is a fundamental human right. The City may quarantine, isolate, trace contacts and strongly urge vaccination, but it may not impose such a draconian mandate without demonstrating necessity, reasonableness, proportionality, harm avoidance, non-discrimination, due process and equal protection. The Commissioner has failed to do this; the City's actions violate New York State law. "I am shocked that Mayor De Blasio would resort to such police state techniques to control an outbreak of measles. I don't believe the City's actions will withstand legal scrutiny," said CHD Board Member Mary Holland, JD. The City is requiring that people receive Merck's MMR vaccine, even though the outbreak is only for measles. The MMR II product insert acknowledges that death is a potential side effect from the vaccine, along with a long raft of other potential permanent injuries. A review of claims submitted to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program of identified 48 cases of encephalopathy following MMR vaccine. Of those, eight children died, and the remainder had mental regression and retardation, chronic seizures, motor and sensory deficits, and movement disorders. The authors, all associated with the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program concluded that a causal relationship between measles vaccine and encephalopathy may exist as a rare complication of measles immunization. Robin Stavola, a member of CHD, commented on the order saying "I regret every day of my life that I was not given full informed consent about the MMR vaccination as my healthy and beautiful daughter, Holly, suffered for days before dying at 5 years old from encephalopathy as a result of her MMR vaccine required before entering school." Her family cautions that the order has the potential to create long-term adverse health consequences that may be worse than what it purportedly prevents. "This case goes beyond a dispute over religious freedom" said CHD Chairman Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "Thanks to the Merck federal whistleblower litigation, we now know that Merck's MMR should have never been approved, much less mandated. To get its license Merck allegedly ordered its scientists to falsify efficacy data to fraudulently conceal the fact that the mumps component quickly wanes, triggering dangerous outbreaks in older populations where it can cause sterility in men and women. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 150 outbreaks resulting in 9,200 cases of mumps in fully vaccinated adults, dwarfing the recent measles outbreaks. We are confident that no American court will allow government bureaucrats to force American citizens to take risky pharmaceutical products against their will." Children's Health Defense looks forward to the opportunity to have a neutral arbitrator scrutinize the legitimacy of the City's order. CONTACT: Lyn Redwood 202-810-1826 SOURCE Children's Health Defense Related Links http://www.childrenshealthdefense.org CALGARY, April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Pembina Pipeline Corporation ("Pembina" or the "Company") (TSX: PPL;NYSE: PBA) announced today that its Board of Directors declared a common share cash dividend for April 2019 of $0.19 per share to be paid, subject to applicable law, on May 15, 2019 to shareholders of record on April 25, 2019. These dividends are designated "eligible dividends" for Canadian income tax purposes. For non-resident shareholders, Pembina's common share dividends should be considered "qualified dividends" and may be subject to Canadian withholding tax. For shareholders receiving their common share dividends in U.S. funds, the April 2019 cash dividend is expected to be approximately U.S. $0.1426 per share (before deduction of any applicable Canadian withholding tax) based on a currency exchange rate of 0.7505. The actual U.S. dollar dividend will depend on the Canadian/U.S. dollar exchange rate on the payment date and will be subject to applicable withholding taxes. Confirmation of Record and Payment Date Policy Pembina pays cash dividends on its common shares in Canadian dollars on a monthly basis to shareholders of record on the 25th calendar day of each month (except for the December record date, which is December 31st), if, as and when determined by the Board of Directors. Should the record date fall on a weekend or a statutory holiday, the effective record date will be the previous business day. The dividend payment date is the 15th of the month following the record date. Should the payment date fall on a weekend or on a holiday the business day prior to the weekend or holiday becomes the payment date. Pembina's Board of Directors also declared quarterly dividends for the Company's preferred shares, Series 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19 and 21. Series 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 21 preferred share dividends are payable on June 3, 2019 to shareholders of record on May 1, 2019. Series 15, 17 and 19 preferred share dividends are payable on July 2, 2019 to shareholders of record on June 17, 2019. Series Dividend Amount Preferred Shares, Series 1 (PPL.PR.A) $0.306625 Preferred Shares, Series 3 (PPL.PR.C) $0.279875 Preferred Shares, Series 5 (PPL.PR.E) $0.312500 Preferred Shares, Series 7 (PPL.PR.G) $0.281250 Preferred Shares, Series 9 (PPL.PR.I) $0.296875 Preferred Shares, Series 11 (PPL.PR.K) $0.359375 Preferred Shares, Series 13 (PPL.PR.M) $0.359375 Preferred Shares, Series 15 (PPL.PR.O) $0.279000 Preferred Shares, Series 17 (PPL.PR.Q) $0.301313 Preferred Shares, Series 19 (PPL.PR.S) $0.312500 Preferred Shares, Series 21 (PPL.PF.A) $0.306250 Dividends on the preferred shares Series 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 21 are payable on the first day of March, June, September and December in each year, if, as and when declared by the Board of Directors to shareholders of record on the first day of the preceding month, or, if such payment or record date is not a business day, the next succeeding business day after the weekend or holiday. Dividends on the preferred shares Series 15, 17 and 19 are payable on the last day of March, June, September and December in each year, if, as and when declared by the Board of Directors to shareholders of record on the fifteenth day of the same month, or, if such payment or record date is not a business day, the next succeeding business day after the weekend or holiday. Conference Call and Webcast Details for First Quarter 2019 Results Pembina will release its first quarter 2019 results on Thursday, May 2, 2019 after markets close. A conference call and webcast have been scheduled for Friday, May 3, 2019, at 8:00 a.m. MT (10:00 a.m. ET) for interested investors, analysts, brokers and media representatives. The conference call dial-in numbers for Canada and the U.S. are 647-427-7450 or 888-231-8191. A recording of the conference call will be available for replay until May 10, 2019 at 11:59 p.m. ET. To access the replay, please dial either 416-849-0833 or 855-859-2056 and enter the password 4976398. A live webcast of the conference call can be accessed on Pembina's website at www.pembina.com under Investor Centre, Presentation & Events, or by entering: https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/1880618/81FD9B5DBEEB0D2BF7D38CA19EDC43B7 in your web browser. Shortly after the call, an audio archive will be posted on the website for a minimum of 90 days. Annual and Special Meeting of Common Shareholders and Special Meeting of Preferred Shareholders The Company will hold its Annual and Special Meeting of common shareholders ("AGM") on Friday, May 3, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. MT (4:00 p.m. ET) in the Ballroom at the Metropolitan Conference Centre, 333 4th Avenue S.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Company will hold its Special Meeting of Class A preferred shareholders on Friday, May 3, 2019 at 1:00 p.m. MT (3:00 p.m. ET) in the Grand Lecture Theatre at the Metropolitan Conference Centre, 333 4th Avenue S.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada. A live webcast of Pembina's AGM presentation can be accessed on Pembina's website at www.pembina.com under Investor Centre, Presentation & Events, or by entering: https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/1937359/0069DA07C36B92C7D7AC740E7FE09605 in your web browser. Participants are recommended to register for the webcast at least 10 minutes before the presentation start time. About Pembina Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corporation is a leading transportation and midstream service provider that has been serving North America's energy industry for over 60 years. Pembina owns an integrated system of pipelines that transport various hydrocarbon liquids and natural gas products produced primarily in western Canada. The Company also owns gas gathering and processing facilities and an oil and natural gas liquids infrastructure and logistics business. Pembina's integrated assets and commercial operations along the majority of the hydrocarbon value chain allow it to offer a full spectrum of midstream and marketing services to the energy sector. Pembina is committed to identifying additional opportunities to connect hydrocarbon production to new demand locations through the development of infrastructure that would extend Pembina's service offering even further along the hydrocarbon value chain. These new developments will contribute to ensuring that hydrocarbons produced in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and the other basins where Pembina operates can reach the highest value markets throughout the world. Purpose of Pembina: To be the leader in delivering integrated infrastructure solutions connecting global markets; Customers choose us first for reliable and value-added services; choose us first for reliable and value-added services; Investors receive sustainable industry-leading total returns; receive sustainable industry-leading total returns; Employees say we are the 'employer of choice' and value our safe, respectful, collaborative and fair work culture; and say we are the 'employer of choice' and value our safe, respectful, collaborative and fair work culture; and Communities welcome us and recognize the net positive impact of our social and environmental commitment. Pembina's strategy is to: Preserve Value by providing safe, environmentally conscious, cost-effective and reliable services; by providing safe, environmentally conscious, cost-effective and reliable services; Diversify by providing integrated solutions which enhance profitability and customer service; by providing integrated solutions which enhance profitability and customer service; Implement Growth by pursuing projects or assets that are expected to generate cash flow per share accretion and capture long-life, economic hydrocarbon reserves; and by pursuing projects or assets that are expected to generate cash flow per share accretion and capture long-life, economic hydrocarbon reserves; and Secure Global Markets by understanding what the world needs, where they need it, and delivering it. Pembina is structured into three Divisions: Pipelines Division, Facilities Division and Marketing & New Ventures Division. Pembina's common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under PPL and PBA, respectively. For more information, visit www.pembina.com. Forward-Looking Information and Statements This news release contains certain forward-looking information and statements (collectively, "forward-looking statements") that are based on Pembina's current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends. In this news release, such forward-looking information and statements can be identified by terminology such as "should", "may", "will", "continue", "if", "to be", "expects", and similar expressions. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements, relating to future dividends which may be declared on Pembina's common shares and preferred shares; the dividend payments and the tax treatment thereof; the timing for release of the first quarter 2019 results; and the timing of Pembina's annual and special meeting of common shareholders and special meeting of preferred shareholders. These forward-looking statements are being made by Pembina based on certain assumptions that Pembina has made in respect thereof as at the date of this news release, regarding, among other things: the ability of Pembina and any required third parties to effectively engage with stakeholders; oil and gas industry exploration and development activity levels; the success of Pembina's operations and growth projects; prevailing commodity prices, margins, volumes and exchange rates; that Pembina's future results of operations will be consistent with past performance and management expectations in relation thereto; the continued availability of capital at attractive prices to fund future capital requirements relating to existing assets and projects, including but not limited to future capital expenditures relating to expansion, upgrades and maintenance shutdowns; that any third party projects relating to Pembina's growth projects will be sanctioned and completed as expected; that any required commercial agreements can be reached; that all required regulatory and environmental approvals can be obtained on the necessary terms in a timely manner; that counterparties to material agreements will continue to perform in a timely manner; that there are no unforeseen events preventing the performance of contracts; that there are no unforeseen material construction, integrity or other costs related to current growth projects or current operations; and prevailing interest and tax rates. Although Pembina believes the expectations and material factors and assumptions reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date hereof, there can be no assurance that these expectations, factors and assumptions will prove to be correct. Readers are cautioned that events or circumstances could cause results to differ materially from those predicted, forecasted or projected. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not occur, which may cause actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and information. These known and unknown risks and uncertainties, include, but are not limited to: the regulatory environment and decisions; the ability of Pembina to raise sufficient capital (or to raise sufficient capital on favourable terms) to fund future expansions and growth projects and satisfy future commitments; failure to negotiate and conclude any required commercial agreements or failure to obtain project sanctioning; increased construction costs, or construction delays, on Pembina's expansion and growth projects; labour and material shortages; non-performance of agreements in accordance with their terms; the impact of competitive entities and pricing; reliance on key industry partners, alliances and agreements; the strength and operations of the oil and natural gas production industry and related commodity prices; the continuation or completion of third-party projects; actions by governmental or regulatory authorities including changes in tax laws and treatment, changes in royalty rates or increased environmental regulation; adverse general economic and market conditions in Canada, North America and elsewhere; construction delays; labour and material shortages; and certain other risks detailed from time to time in Pembina's public disclosure documents including, among other things, those detailed under the heading "Risk Factors" in Pembina's management's discussion and analysis and annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2018, which can be found at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements are expressly qualified by the above statements and speak only as of the date of this document. Pembina does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or information contained herein, except as required by applicable laws. SOURCE Pembina Pipeline Corporation Related Links http://www.pembina.com ST. PAUL, Minn., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Point of Care Decision Support (PCDS), developer of an integrated electronic clinical decision support software for comprehensive individual patient care management and complex medication paradigms for patients with severe, chronic conditions; and CoaguSense, Inc., manufacturer of the world's most precise portable PT/INR monitoring system using direct mechanical clot detection for patients on an anticoagulant therapy announce their strategic partnership. Developer of the Point of Care Anticoagulation (AC) Software. Developer of Coag-Sense PT2 PT/INR Monitoring System This agreement brings together the leading evidence-based anticoagulation software that improves clinical outcomes and optimizes patient care and the recently FDA cleared Coag-Sense PT2 PT/INR Monitoring System - a new compact PT/INR meter that allows clinicians and patients to connect to the PCDS patient management solution. Together they help streamline the care workflow while allowing the clinician and patient to make informed decisions together about their anticoagulant therapy. PCDS President and CEO, Jaime Ojeda says, "CoaguSense is a great partner for PCDS because its Coag-Sense meter is simple to use and offers a wide variety of connectivity solutions including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Our clients continue to strive for more comprehensive home monitoring solutions to better care for their patients; the PCDS and CoaguSense partnership enables patients and their care providers to drive better outcomes in the new era of digital health." CoaguSense CEO, Doug Patterson contributes, "PCDS fills a significant unmet need by offering a comprehensive patient anticoagulation management solution that can easily and affordably be implemented by all care providers, even smaller physician practices." Point of Care Decision Support and CoaguSense will be demonstrating their products at the upcoming AC Forum Conference for physicians, nurses and pharmacists that work with patients on oral anticoagulant therapies in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, April 11-13. Point of Care will hold a Symposium titled, "How Evidence-Derived Clinical Decision Support within Electronic Health Records Can Improve Delivery of Optimized Anticoagulant Therapy: The Point of Care AC Decision Support Experience" and welcome any conference attendees to register. About Point of Care Decision Support Point of Care Decision Support, LLC (PCDS) is a healthcare software company driving healthcare quality across the continuum of care. With its Dynamic Decision Support Platform as a core anchor, PCDS builds intuitive healthcare tools that measure and improve the quality of patient care, provide real-time data and analysis, and have a meaningful and measurable return on investment. Interoperable with all major EMR systems, the applications easily integrate new technology with existing investments, reducing implementation and operating costs. PCDS believes that the complexity of patient care can be captured in a clear and meaningful way, enabling informed decision-making throughout the coordination and management of care. Visit www.ptofcare.com to learn more about their anticoagulation (AC), asthma and other chronic disease applications in their solutions portfolio. About CoaguSense, Inc. Based in Fremont, California, CoaguSense was founded in 2008 to bring more accurate and robust anticoagulation monitoring technology to both clinicians and patients. The company's lead product is the Coag-Sense PT/INR Monitoring System, which incorporates a novel direct micromechanical clot-detection technology. This proprietary technology emulates the World Health Organization (WHO) gold standard tilt-tube method while requiring only a very small blood sample. Direct clot-detection technology provides clinicians with the system reliability they demand and patients with the comfort of knowing that proper home testing can provide dependable results like a laboratory. In 2016, CoaguSense was acquired by i-SENS, Inc.a leader in point-of-care diagnostic technology and manufacturing. Further information about CoaguSense can be found at www.coag-sense.com. Coag-Sense is a registered trademark of CoaguSense. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Media Contact: Karen Beran Point of Care Decision Support, LLC [email protected] 952-446-7724 Melissa Gonzalez CoaguSense, Inc [email protected] 201-589-0291 SOURCE Point of Care Decision Support & CoaguSense, Inc. Related Links http://www.coag-sense.com NEW YORK, April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ROI Training today announced that it has received the 2018 Google Cloud Global Training Partner of the Year award. This award was presented at Google Cloud Next '19 in San Francisco. ROI Training was recognized for the company's achievements in the Google Cloud ecosystem, helping joint customers successfully accelerate their journey to the cloud through training. This is the second consecutive year ROI Training has received this recognition from Google Cloud. Having trained over 40,000 people on Google Cloud Platform across 6 continents and over 25 countries, ROI Training's team of subject-matter-expert trainers have been instrumental in enabling some of the world's leading businesses and agencies. "Our partnership with Google Cloud continues to scale at an exciting rate. We are honored to receive the Google Cloud Global Training Partner of the Year Award and look forward to delivering thousands of highly skilled and certified cloud engineers to the marketplace," said David Carey, CEO & Co-Founder of ROI Training. "We're thrilled to recognize ROI Training as Google Cloud Training Partner of the Year," said Carolee Gearhart, Vice President, Worldwide Channel Sales at Google Cloud. "ROI Training has proven their expertise in Google Cloud and has demonstrated their commitment to customer success over the past year. We're excited to keep building on our partnership with ROI Training as more and more customers look to our ecosystem to help them succeed in the cloud." About ROI Training Established in 2002, ROI Training, Inc. is an industry recognized leader in designing, developing, and delivering customized Technology & Management training programs. ROI has trained over 50,000 people globally in Cloud and Data Engineering technologies. ROI's world-class Instructors and Mentors work closely with clients to deliver the skills and best practices required in a fast-paced, global enterprise. ROI supports customers in the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Asia, India, and Australia. Our comprehensive curriculum includes Cloud, Big Data, Web and Mobile Application Development, Agile Development, Security, Java, Python, and Technology Project Management. Information about ROI Training can be found at https://www.roitraining.com Media Contact: Rachel Strong, [email protected] SOURCE ROI Training, Inc. Related Links http://www.roitraining.com NEW YORK, April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Conagra Brands, Inc. ("Conagra" or the "Company") (NYSE: CAG) and certain of its officers and directors. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, and indexed under 19-cv-01805, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities, other than Defendants and their affiliates, who purchased, or otherwise acquired, Conagra common stock from June 27, 2018 through December 19, 2018, inclusive (the "Class Period"), seeking to pursue remedies under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act"). The Exchange Act claims allege that certain defendants engaged in a fraudulent scheme to artificially inflate the Company's stock price. The action is also brought on behalf of all persons or entities who purchased shares of Conagra's common stock pursuant and/or traceable to the Company's false and/or misleading registration statement, prospectus and prospectus supplement (the "Offering Documents") issued in connection with the Company's secondary public offering commenced on or about October 9, 2018, for the sale of approximately 16.3 million shares of Conagra common stock (the "SPO"), at $35.25 per share, seeking to pursue remedies under the Securities Act of 1933 (the "Securities Act"). If you are a shareholder who purchased Conagra securities between June 27, 2018, and December 19, 2018, you have until April 23, 2019, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased. [Click here to join this class action] Conagra manufactures and markets packaged foods for retail consumers, restaurants and institutions. The Company has a portfolio of well-known food brands including Reddi-wip, Hunt's, Healthy Choice, Slim Jim and Orville Redenbacher's. Conagra is based in Chicago, Illinois. In January 2013, Conagra acquired Ralcorp Holdings, Inc., a manufacturer of private branded food, for $6.8 billion including debt. After trying and failing to address executional shortfalls and customer service issues, Conagra divested its Private Brands business in February 2016 to TreeHouse Foods for $2.7 billion, recognizing a substantial loss. Less than two years later, Conagra was again acquiring another large publicly traded food service company. On June 27, 2018, Conagra announced the acquisition of Pinnacle in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $10.9 billion (the "Transaction"). At the time of the Transaction and throughout the Class Period, Conagra represented the merger as a combination of two "growing portfolios" and "a no brainer of a deal" that would enhance Conagra's multi-year transformation plan and expand its presence and capabilities in its most strategic categories, including frozen foods and snacks. Conagra highlighted their due diligence of the deal, the similar cultures and work ethics of the two companies, and the tremendous synergies of the deal. Specifically, Defendants represented that the Company was acquiring "a portfolio of complementary, leading brands" as "the Pinnacle team has done an absolutely phenomenal job driving innovation and growth here, and that meant a lot to us." In addition, Defendants represented that the Company had a "proven track record of executing strategic transactions" and "will be able to implement a smooth integration process," as "we've been very clear-eyed from the beginning" of the Transaction. The Complaint alleges that in Conagra's Offering Documents and throughout the Class Period, Defendants failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company's financial well-being, including the troubled acquisition of Pinnacle Foods, Inc. ("Pinnacle"). As a result of Defendants' wrongful acts, false and misleading statements and omissions, and the precipitous decline in the market value of the Company's common stock, Plaintiff and other Class members have suffered significant losses and damages. On or about October 9, 2018, in order to partially finance the pending acquisition of Pinnacle, Defendants effectuated a secondary public offering of 16,312,057 shares of common stock, priced at $35.25 per share. In connection with the SPO, Defendants issued the materially false and/or misleading Offering Documents. The Company received net proceeds of approximately $612 million after underwriters exercised their option of an additional 1,631,206 shares of Conagra common stock. Unbeknownst to shareholders, however, Conagra and its management were aware or recklessly disregarded that the Transaction would not result in the sort of benefits that Defendants had publicly represented. Just a few weeks after the closing of the merger, on December 20, 2018, Conagra stunned the market by releasing its third quarter 2018 results, as well as an update on the performance of the newly merged company, which revealed that Pinnacle's performance had been much worse than Defendants had previously represented. In addition, Defendants revealed that Pinnacle's three leading brands had "suffered sales and distribution losses" in 2018 and accounted "for the vast majority of Pinnacle's current challenges" due to self-inflicted subpar innovation and executional missteps. As a result of the disclosure, on December 20, 2018, Conagra's stock price fell $4.81 per share to $24.28, or nearly 17%, wiping out over $2.3 billion in Conagra's market capitalization. On the next trading day, Conagra's stock declined an additional $2.13 per share, or approximately 8.8%. In fact, in three trading sessions, Conagra stock declined $8.13, or nearly 28%, to close at $20.96 on December 24, 2018. The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com CONTACT: Robert S. Willoughby Pomerantz LLP [email protected] 888-476-6529 ext. 9980 SOURCE Pomerantz LLP Related Links http://www.pomerantzlaw.com SEATTLE, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Tax season has historically been prime time for phone scammers as they look to take advantage of consumers who are afraid of the IRS, of being audited or the government's focus on them in general. With April 15th right around the corner, one would expect consumers to be inundated with IRS phone scams as in years past. In a surprising turn of events, Hiya has discovered that the IRS scam has actually declined in recent months, with the Social Security scam taking its place as the most prevalent during this year's tax season, surging more than 880% since last year. The Social Security Scam targets unsuspecting citizens across the U.S., sometimes spoofing numbers to look like the Social Security Administration. These calls claim that due to fraudulent activity, a victim's social security number will be suspended until the call is returned to verify the account. Scammers will make multiple attempts to catch a victim's attention, using scare tactics as a final attempt. If victims do not call back, they threaten that a federal agent will be contacting them immediately. Based on Hiya's analysis of more than 13 billion calls globally each month, Hiya's data shows that the IRS scam peaked in August of 2018, but has since decreased by 60%. However, just as the IRS scam started to decrease, the Social Security scam started to pick up steam. In fact, since just the beginning of the year, it has grown 40%, with a whopping 880% growth since this time last year. "Scammers are constantly evolving their tactics and looking for new ways to target unsuspecting consumers. The rise of the Social Security scam is a perfect example of this, as many Americans have become aware of the IRS scam and are less likely to fall victim to it," said Alex Algard, Hiya Founder and CEO. "Hiya leverages real-time signals to identify new spam campaigns in minutes to ensure consumers are protected and informed about emerging scams." According to the FTC, the scammers behind the Social Security Scam say they want you to confirm your SSN to reactivate it. Sometimes, they'll say your bank account is about to be seized, and tell you to put money on gift cards and give them the code to keep it safe which means that the money is gone. Top Areas Affected by the Social Security Scam: (301) Maryland (218) Minnesota (619) San Diego, CA (312) Chicago. IL (714) Anaheim, CA (240) Maryland (480) Phoenix, AZ (303) Denver, CO (806) Amarillo, TX (702) Las Vegas, NV How to Protect Yourself from the Social Security Scam The Social Security Administration will never request that you verify your social security number over the phone, without giving you advance notice about the call. If you receive a call about your Social Security being suspended and bank account being seized, it's a hoax. The SSA will never call threatening that your benefits are in jeopardy. They will never request you wire money, send cash, or put money on gift cards. Despite your caller ID identifying a call to be the SSA, be aware that the official SSA number is 1-800-772-1213. If you receive a call from this number or someone claiming to be with Social Security but are unsure if you are speaking with an official SSA agent, hang-up immediately and call SSA directly at 1-800-772-1213 to confirm you are speaking with an official SSA agent. Never give out your Social Security number, bank account information, or personal identification to unexpected callers. If you have been a victim or have received a call similar to the SSA scam, report it to the FTC and FCC to help raise awareness. About Hiya Hiya is revolutionizing the way people make and receive phone calls. With a mission to provide a better phone experience, Hiya Caller and Business Profiles provide users with important context, giving them the right information at the right time. Through analysis of more than 13 billion calls per month, Hiya protects nearly 70 million users from unwanted robo and spam calls globally. Hiya is available as a consumer app on Google Android and iPhone and is integrated into the phone experience for AT&T Call Protect, T-Mobile Name ID, ZTE Axon 7 and Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S8, Galaxy S9, the forthcoming Galaxy S10 and all A-Series and J-Series users worldwide. For more information, please visit www.hiya.com . SOURCE Hiya Related Links https://hiya.com OAK PARK, Ill., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Effective immediately, Steeltooth Combs will be donating 10 percent of all sales to the charity Children with Hair Loss, A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Nick Baker (left) and Regina Villemure (right) meeting in person at the American Beauty Show in Chicago, IL. Steeltooth specializes in creating combs that are ergonomic, environmentally sustainable, durable, and anti-static. Instead of plastic, the combs are made of stainless steel, which leads to better scalp health and less breakage due to the anti-static properties of stainless steel. As a comb company, founder Nick Baker feels there is a responsibility to those that have lost their hair to assist them in hair replacement options. Regarding the initiative, Nick Baker states, "The hair on our heads is central to our identities as human beings. We walk around with it all day, style it one way, cut it another, and use it to make us look and feel like our best selves. Losing your hair in a sudden fashion due to cancer takes that element of our identity away which is detrimental to our psyche's and self identities, but this is even more profound in children. We will do all we can to repair that." Steeltooth recently finished up its campaign towards California Wildlife Relief and will continue to shift to organizations that are in immediate need of help when a national disaster occurs that is brought to the forefront of the Nation. The company hopes the sales of its combs not only help causes but also over time reduce the number of plastic combs that exist and are thrown away, which contributes to the environmental crisis. The stainless steel combs last for life and are recyclable. In regard to the current climate crisis, Nick Baker states, "We are at a critical point in the direction the environment is heading on this planet. It's not the Earth that will die, but the environment required for life to thrive will not be sustainable if we keep going down this path. As the dominant species, each and every one of us has to pull together and contribute to the reversal of what is going on any way we can." Media Contact: Nick Baker Phone: 8478633862 Email: [email protected] 1311 N Harlem Avenue Suite 1C, Oak Park, IL, 60302 Related Images founders-of-steeltooth-llc-and.jpg Founders of Steeltooth, LLC and Children With Hair Loss, 501(c)(3) Nick Baker (left) and Regina Villemure (right) meeting in person at the American Beauty Show in Chicago, IL. steeltooth-comb-with-a-cordage.jpg Steeltooth Comb with a cordage handle The comb features a handle that allows for improved ergonomics and efficiency when styling hair. The base of the hand will not interfere with the crown or back of the head when combing due to the handle, like that of a brush. The wrapping is made of sustainable and durable hemp plant. steeltooth-new-standard-comb.jpg Steeltooth New Standard Comb This is the wide tooth dresser comb that mimics the shape of the typical comb most people are used to. steeltooth-comb-in-a-denim-jacket.jpg Steeltooth comb in a denim jacket The comb is portable and can double as an accessory piece to the person that is really into their hair. Related Links Website Instagram SOURCE Steeltooth Combs SOUTH BEND, Ind., April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Army Contracting Command has placed an order from global vehicle solutions provider, AM General, for 648 M997A3 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) Ambulances, valued at $185 million. "Our commitment to the warfighter's safety and success in the battlefield drives the continuous improvement in our vehicle systems," said Chris Vanslager, AM General Executive Vice President, US Defense. "We are excited to field additional orders and build upon our already strong partnership with the Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center at Rock Island Arsenal to provide modernized, rugged and capable HMMWV ambulances." As part of its Public-Private Partnership with the Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center (JMTC) at Rock Island Arsenal (RIA), AM General will begin providing the first chassis systems to JMTC this spring, where the ambulance shelter fabrication and final assembly will take place. The first M997A3 ambulance deliveries are scheduled for Q2 2019. As a leader in automotive military systems, AM General will apply the same quality control processes throughout the entire program build to achieve the high standards it has been known to produce for over 100 years. About AM General AM General designs, engineers, manufactures, supplies and supports specialized vehicles for military and commercial customers worldwide. Through its military business, the company is widely recognized as the world leader in design, engineering, manufacturing and logistics support of Tactical Vehicles, having produced and sustained over 300,000 vehicles in over 70 countries. Through its heritage companies, AM General has over 100 years of experience meeting the changing needs of the defense and automotive industries, supported by its employees at major facilities in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, and a strong supplier base that stretches across 43 states. Please see more information about AM General at www.amgeneral.com. Media Contact: Deborah Reyes Global Marketing and Communications Director / AM General Phone: 248-309-5897 E-mail: [email protected] SOURCE AM General Related Links http://www.amgeneral.com TORONTO, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- BICSI, the association advancing the information and communications technology (ICT) community, brought its ICT CanadaPresented by BICSI conference to a close Wednesday evening. The two-day conference attracted nearly 750 attendees whose purpose was to gain industry and technical knowledge, take in the latest ICT technologies, products and services, and network with colleagues. Attendees spanned the globe, including professionals from Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, France, Japan, Netherlands, Qatar, Taiwan, Turkey and Bermuda. A total of 20 peer-reviewed technical sessions took place covering Internet of Things (IoT), intelligent buildings, smart cities, 5G wireless, data centers, advanced AV systems, distributed antennae systems, building information modeling, power over ethernet (PoE), and much more. The Exhibit Hall was bustling with 43 exhibiting companies that were present to showcase their products and services and network with attendees. The Closing Keynote address was delivered by Phill Nosworthy, founder of Switch L+D. In his keynote address, Nosworthy shared techniques technical leaders can use to unlock dormant potential in themselves and others while creating impactful experiences to transform team performance and achieve outstanding results. Nosworthy works with well-known companies including Microsoft, Universal Music and Hermes and is known for taking already high performing teams to higher levels of growth, performance and fulfillment. On Wednesday evening Fernando Neto, RCDD, BICSI Canadian Region Director, presented the Ross G.H. Cotton Canadian Award to Shari English, RCDD. The award recognizes an individual in the BICSI Canadian Region who has made significant contributions to the advancement of BICSI, its goals and objectives. Following the award presentation, BICSI Cares, the charitable arm of BICSI that supports children's charities, donated to Camp Jumoke, whose mission is to enrich the lives of children living with sickle cell disease. BICSI Cares collected donations from attendees throughout the conference, and 100 percent of the funds were given to the charity. BICSI President Jeff Beavers, RCDD, OSP, CFHP, adjourned the conference Wednesday evening, thanking everyone for attending and encouraging them to attend the BICSI Middle East and Africa conference next week in Dubai, UAE and the upcoming 2019 BICSI Fall Conference & Exhibition in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 29 September-3 October. About BICSI BICSI is a professional association supporting advancing the information and communications technology (ICT) community. ICT covers the spectrum of voice, data, electronic safety & security, project management and audio & video technologies. Headquartered in Tampa, Florida, USA, BICSI membership spans nearly 100 countries. SOURCE BICSI Related Links http://www.bicsi.org WOOD DALE, Ill., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- AAR (NYSE: AIR) just announced that it will be extending its PW2000 engine support contract with MTU Maintenance for another five years. AAR will be supplying PW2000 parts to support MTU, which is one of the largest engine overhaul providers in the world. MTU has recently said they have won contracts valued at more than $700 million and remains committed to its PW2000 engine MRO program for at least another 10 years. AAR is an important source of used serviceable materials (USM) in support of these engine overhauls. AAR and MTU Maintenance have worked together since the mid-1990's, collaborating on various engine platforms such as the CF6. Under the PW2000 agreement originally signed in 2009, AAR will continue to supply PW2000 parts via AAR's facility in Hannover, Germany, which significantly streamlines the logistical processes and supports turnaround time. Partnering with AAR ensures that MTU Maintenance will have a reliable supply of USM for PW2000 shop visits. "We are excited to extend our PW2000 agreement with one of the world's top commercial aircraft engine maintenance providers," said Sal Marino, AAR SVP of Parts Supply. "AAR greatly values this multi-decade relationship and is proud to continue offering MTU solutions using the industry's largest supply of USM quality parts." For more information on AAR's global parts supply services, click here. About AAR AAR is a global aerospace and defense aftermarket solutions company that employs more than 6,000 people in over 20 countries. Headquartered in the Chicago area, AAR supports commercial and government customers through two operating segments: Aviation Services and Expeditionary Services. AAR's Aviation Services include parts supply; OEM solutions; integrated solutions; maintenance, repair, overhaul; and engineering. AAR's Expeditionary Services include mobility systems and composite manufacturing operations. Additional information can be found at www.aarcorp.com. About MTU Maintenance MTU Maintenance specializes in creating customized solutions for aero engines. The company operates a global network with facilities in the Americas, Asia and Europe. Around 5,000 employees from over 60 nationalities provide customers with a wide range of service solutions encompasses all aspects of engine MRO, asset management and leasing. With close to 30 engines in its portfolio, MTU Maintenance has performed more than 18,000 shop visits in nearly 40 years. Additional information can be found www.mtu.de. This press release contains certain statements relating to future results, which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on beliefs of Company management, as well as assumptions and estimates based on information currently available to the Company, and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results or those anticipated, including those factors discussed under Item 1A, entitled "Risk Factors", included in the Company's Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2018. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize adversely, or should underlying assumptions or estimates prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described. These events and uncertainties are difficult or impossible to predict accurately and many are beyond the Company's control. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events. For additional information, see the comments included in AAR's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. SOURCE AAR Related Links https://www.aarcorp.com NEW YORK, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group ("AZ"), the industry's preeminent boutique commercial real estate capital advisory firm, announced the addition of industry veteran Jeff Granowitz as a Managing Director in the equity practice. Jeff has a long and distinguished career in the equity space with positions at Credit Suisse and The Praedium Group and was most recently with Mission Capital. "I am excited to add Jeff to Ackman-Ziff's expanding team of equity professionals. Jeff is well known in the industry and has the ability to analyze and structure complicated commercial real estate transactions and has built significant long-term relationships with investors," said Adam Steinberg, Co-head of the equity practice. "I have known Simon, Adam and their partners for 15 plus years and always admired the firm, the people and culture," said Jeff Granowitz. "I could not pass on the opportunity to be part of a best in class organization with such an impeccable reputation." Ackman-Ziff has brought back to the firm Olivia Feldman Prikazsky as a Director. Olivia spent five years at Ackman-Ziff prior to a stint at Industrious. Olivia will be working with the equity team as well as on large, complicated debt transactions. Also coming on board in this latest round of hires is Travis Coutts who recently joined the firm's equity practice as an Associate in Boston. Travis joins Ackman-Ziff from Kimco Realty. "These hires are part of our strategic initiative to add talent that allows us to continue to provide superior real estate capital markets products and solutions to our clients," said Simon Ziff, president of Ackman-Ziff. "We have known Jeff for many years and having the opportunity to work with him is very exciting to us. Having Olivia rejoin the firm is a testament to what we have created in terms of being surrounded by high intellect, ethics and the desire to provide the highest level of capital markets advisory to our clients." About Ackman-Ziff Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group ("AZ") is the industry's preeminent boutique real estate capital advisory firm. AZ offers a wide variety of cutting-edge commercial real estate capital markets financing solutions, including debt and mezzanine financing, preferred and joint venture equity, sponsor equity, and investment sales. In business for over 90 years, the privately held company is headquartered in New York City with offices in Miami, Los Angeles, and Boston. SOURCE Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group Related Links http://www.ackmanziff.com "SLIPS Foul Protect N1x represents over two years of product development and global testing to create a superior product that lasts multiple seasons, improves fuel efficiency, and isn't harmful to the environment like so many of the existing copper-based solutions today," said David Ward, CEO of Adaptive Surface Technologies, Inc. "We want boat owners to spend more time on the water and less time hindered by downtime incurred by cleaning, maintenance and general upkeep, and we are incredibly excited to launch this product and get N1x onto the hulls of recreational and commercial boats around the globe." SLIPS Foul Protect N1x provides marine vessel owners and operators a number of benefits above existing solutions on the market today, including: Fuel Savings : SLIPS Foul Protect N1x's superior performance and smooth surface helps boaters go faster and save up to 8% of fuel use. : SLIPS Foul Protect N1x's superior performance and smooth surface helps boaters go faster and save up to 8% of fuel use. Multi-Season Performance : N1x does not have any copper or other ablative biocides that deplete over time, so it is able to maintain peak performance for much longer than traditional anti-fouling paints. : N1x does not have any copper or other ablative biocides that deplete over time, so it is able to maintain peak performance for much longer than traditional anti-fouling paints. An Environmentally Friendly Solution to Biofouling: Since it is non-toxic and does not contain any biocides, N1x does not kill organisms. It simply presents a surface wildlife cannot stick to. Plus, lower fuel consumption means less CO 2 being emitted into the atmosphere. SLIPS Foul Protect N1x is available today for order at http://adaptivesurface.tech . The product will begin shipping to customers on April 15. AST has been supported by the US Department of Energy's ARPA-E program, which assisted in developing AST's 2017 first generation SLIPS Foul Protect N1 paint which had successful field trials in 2018. You can see a demo of AST's first-generation SLIPS Foul Protect N1 product on Vimeo here: https://vimeo.com/301295526 . The new SLIPS Foul Protect N1x is one of the second-generation marine products based around the SLIPS technology, coming from Adaptive Surface Technologies, Inc. For more information Adaptive Surface Technologies in general, including its market-available SLIPS Repel industrial manufacturing tank coating product, please visit http://adaptivesurface.tech . About Adaptive Surface Technologies A world leader in repellent surfaces, Adaptive Surface Technologies, Inc. is a Cambridge, MA-based industrial technology company that produces the SLIPS line of materials and coatings used for a wide range of industrial, marine, and medical applications. Our innovative coatings and cleaning maintenance systems create a slippery, fully liquid layer on surfaces that repel fluids, contaminants, and biological fouling agents. For more information, visit http://adaptivesurface.tech . CONTACT Rob Haralson, [email protected] (202) 674-6679 SOURCE Adaptive Surface Technologies, Inc. Related Links http://adaptivesurface.tech The existing Aeroterm FedEx facility at MIA was completed in 2004 with a 25-year lease with the county on 23.4 acres. Through this agreement, Aeroterm will extend the ground lease to 2050 and expand its leased premises by approximately 6 acres of additional land on which it will construct the building expansion. "As a world leader in air cargo, FedEx is a key customer in our portfolio expansion," said Alexi Lachambre, Vice President of Development for Aeroterm. "We look forward to delivering this facility in record time to accommodate the growing business needs of FedEx." MIA was the fourth busiest U.S. airport for total cargo freight in 2017, and the busiest for international freight, according to research by the Miami-Dade Aviation Department. In 2018, the weight of cargo shipped from MIA increased by 2.8 percent. FedEx is one of the largest cargo carriers at MIA, and the world's largest express transportation company. "Miami is a top gateway airport and key entry point for perishables and other high-value goods from South America," said Lachambre. "We look forward to continuing our long-standing relationship with FedEx and the Airport to support local job growth and improve airport operations." In addition to its endeavors at Miami International Airport, Aeroterm is currently working on air cargo developments at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, and the latest phase of an air cargo development at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. About Aeroterm Aeroterm is one the three main divisions of real estate operator Realterm, a company that capitalizes on durable insights into the supply and demand of real assets through the global supply chain. Its Aeroterm arm manages the largest high flow-through on-airport logistics real estate portfolio in North America. Aeroterm has built a reputation for understanding the dynamics of the air cargo business coupled with long experience in complex airport transactions. Its market presence gives Aeroterm the financial capacity to undertake large, long-term projects, while its flexibility allows it to customize those projects to suit individual client requirements for efficient utilization. Contact Sophia Stuart, Director of Marketing [email protected] (410) 216-6134 SOURCE Aeroterm ARLINGTON, Va., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Air Force Association (AFA) is pleased to announce Maj Gen Doug Raaberg, USAF (Ret.) will serve as AFA's new Executive Vice President. Raaberg will serve as the AFA President's direct deputy with all necessary authorities to speak and operate on the president's behalf in our commitment to support Airmen and families around the world. He will also be the association's senior staff liaison with the Air Force for budgets, programs, systems, operations, and legal issues. Additionally, he is responsible for outreach with stakeholders across the Air Force, Field organizations, and the aerospace industry. "General Raaberg's proven and positive leadership credentials in both the Air Force and with industry will be of great value to AFA," said AFA's President, Lt Gen Bruce "Orville" Wright, USAF (Ret.). "The strategic insights that Doug brings from his decades of selfless service to our Air Force will energize, sustain and grow AFA's many programs and initiatives." Raaberg is a command pilot with more than 4,700 flying hours, primarily in the FB-111, B-1 and B-2. He commanded the nation's only B-2 stealth-bomber wing that spearheaded the air campaign for Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. He flew 35 combat missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and International Security Assistance Force. He also holds the world's record for the fastest non-stop flight around the globe. After retiring from the Air Force, he worked for Northrop Grumman most recently serving as their Chief Executive in the United Arab Emirates. Following his time at Northrop Grumman Raaberg served as the CEO of DLR Solutions, LLC. "I am excited to join the Air Force Association, our mission of supporting our Airmen and their families is very important to me," said Maj Gen Doug Raaberg. "I look forward to working with General Wright to expand and empower association membership so we can better support all Airmen for life around the globe." The Air Force Association is a non-profit, independent, professional military and aerospace education association. Our mission is to promote a dominant United States Air Force and a strong national defense, and to honor Airmen and our Air Force Heritage. SOURCE Air Force Association Related Links http://www.afa.org PHOENIX, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Answer 1, a leading provider of 24/7 virtual receptionist services, today announced it will operate under the new brand name Nexa, with a focus on innovative tech solutions, revenue enhancing services, and high-quality customer experiences. "A lot has changed in the last 30 years since Answer 1 began talking calls. Technology has changed the way our clients do business. It's changed the way we do business," says Parker Davis, CEO. "Nexa is a name that represents our ever-evolving, technology-enabled service offering. We can and do so much more for our clients than answer the phone, and we want to reflect that to the marketplace." With these exciting changes comes a brand-new website, new logo, and expanded service offerings. What hasn't changed? The company's focus on industry leading customer experiences. "Nexa is tech focused, yes, but our priority is and will always be excellent customer experiences," says Walt Conrad, Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "Our teams remain as focused as ever on making sure every call is polished, genuine, and effective." For the last 30 years, the company now known as Nexa has been providing businesses across the country with 24/7 call answering and virtual receptionist services, including lead qualification and scheduling services. Nexa serves approximately 2,500 clients across the United States. The company is headquartered in Phoenix, AZ, with additional facilities in Richmond, VA and Lake Havasu City, AZ. Please visit www.nexa.com to explore the new website and learn more about how Nexa's service offering can enhance your business' success. Contact: Walt Conrad, (602) 234-0111 SOURCE Nexa Related Links http://www.nexa.com HOUSTON, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Global energy and commodity price reporting agency Argus today launches a new light crude price assessment to reflect growing light oil production in the Permian basin of west Texas and New Mexico. The new West Texas Light (WTL) price, published daily in the Argus Crude report, is for Permian basin crude with a gravity of 44.1-49.9API traded at terminals in Midland, Texas. Midland is the chief gathering hub for Permian basin crude, the fastest growing source of oil in the world. An increasing share of Permian crude is lighter than 44API, and midstream companies have created the WTL stream to separate lighter crude from the denser main Permian WTI grade, which is typically at 40-44API. Much WTL trade is taking place at differentials to Argus' benchmark WTI Midland price, which is assessed at terminals in Midland, Texas. Argus will publish its new WTL price assessment as a differential to WTI Cushing as well as an outright number. WTL has also begun to trade at Houston at a differential to the benchmark Argus WTI Houston price, which is widely used to price US exports. Argus WTI Houston, which is assessed at Magellan's MEH terminal, is also the settlement price for derivatives contracts on the Ice and CME exchanges, where open interest currently stands at 200mn bl with daily trading volumes topping 10mn bl. Argus intends to publish a separate WTL Houston index as volumes grow. "Argus welcomes the opportunity to provide greater transparency to the market for Permian crude as production continues to grow and as more of the output is lighter than traditional WTI," Argus Media chairman and chief executive Adrian Binks said. "Argus WTI Houston and Argus WTI Midland are two of the most liquid and transparent physical spot crude price indexes in the world. We expect to see the liquidity of the WTL market at Midland and later at Houston grow rapidly as well." Contact Information London Seana Lanigan +44 20 7780 4272 [email protected] Houston Melanie Cruthirds +1 713 968 0000 [email protected] Singapore Pierre Lever +65 6496 9960 [email protected] About Argus Media Argus is an independent media organisation with almost 1,000 staff. It is headquartered in London and has 22 offices in the world's principal commodity trading and production centres. Argus produces price assessments and analysis of international energy and other commodity markets, and offers bespoke consulting services and industry-leading conferences. Companies in 140 countries around the world use Argus data to index physical trade and as benchmarks in financial derivative markets as well as for analysis and planning purposes. Argus was founded in 1970 and is a privately held UK-registered company. It is owned by employee shareholders and global growth equity firm General Atlantic. ARGUS, the ARGUS logo, ARGUS MEDIA, ARGUS DIRECT, ARGUS OPEN MARKETS, AOM, FMB, DEWITT, JIM JORDAN & ASSOCIATES, JJ&A, FUNDALYTICS, METAL-PAGES, METALPRICES.COM, Argus publication titles and Argus index names are trademarks of Argus Media Limited. SOURCE Argus Media Related Links http://www.argusmedia.com AALBORG, Denmark, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Asetek A/S (OSE: ASETEK) today held the annual general meeting at its offices in Aalborg, Denmark. The general meeting took note of the report by the Board of Directors and Management, and the audited annual report for 2018 was approved. The Nomination Committee reported on its activities during last year. The committee noted that Jim McDonnell was not available for re-election. The proposed candidates were all elected, and the Board of Directors is hereinafter composed of the following: - Chris J. Christopher - Jrgen Smidt - Maria Hjorth - Erik Damsgaard - Jukka Pertola The following were elected to the Nomination Committee and the Committee is hereinafter composed of the following: - Ib Snderby - Claus Berner Mller - Jrgen Smidt Following the general meeting, the Board of Directors constituted itself with Mr. Jukka Pertola as chairman and Mr. Chris Christopher as vice chairman. Mr. Ib Snderby is chairman of the Nomination Committee. Mr. Chris Christopher is chairman of the Audit Committee, and Mr. Jrgen Smidt is chairman of the Compensation Committee. All proposals were adopted. The general meeting authorized the Board of Directors to, until the next annual general meeting, to acquire the Company's own shares. PricewaterhouseCoopers, State Authorized Public Accountants were re-elected as auditors. For further information, please contact: Andre S. Eriksen Chief Executive Officer Mobile: +45-2125-7076 e-mail: [email protected] Peter Dam Madsen Chief Financial Officer Mobile: +45-2080-7200 e-mail: [email protected] This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/asetek/r/asetek---outcome-of-annual-general-meeting,c2785726 The following files are available for download: SOURCE Asetek With a shared vision to further transform medical education, expand patient-centered research and innovation currently in place in Winston-Salem, and empower the next generation of clinical excellence, the three organizations are embracing the opportunity to revolutionize how people become and stay healthy, ultimately enriching countless lives and communities throughout North Carolina, the Southeast region and the nation. Best Care for All Today, Atrium Health is known as one of the most highly integrated not-for-profit healthcare systems in the nation with nearly 14 million patient interactions each year across 42 hospitals and more than 900 care locations. Wake Forest Baptist Health is a nationally-ranked academic medical center and regional healthcare system with 2.2 million patient interactions each year across seven hospitals and more than 400 care locations. "Phenomenal things can happen when like-minded partners, committed to the same transformative vision, come together in new ways to better serve our patients and communities," said Eugene A. Woods, president and CEO of Atrium Health. "For example, Wake Forest School of Medicine and Wake Forest Baptist Health are national leaders in studying how to help people age better, and with a much higher quality of life. Last year at Atrium Health, we cared for more than 350,000 patients over the age of 65, and by 2035, one in five U.S. residents will be over that age. Just imagine the powerful possibilities to advance modern medicine by linking breakthrough science directly with our patients in a way that significantly enhances their cognitive and physical functioning and allows them to live independently for longer. This is just one of the unlimited opportunities we see ahead. We can truly transform healthcare throughout North Carolina and far beyond one patient at a time and one community at a time." Together, these innovative organizations have an unprecedented opportunity to create a world-class healthcare system around a single mission, strategy and set of goals designed for one purpose to continuously improve health for all communities they serve, from large cities to small rural communities, making care more accessible and affordable for the nearly 6.8 million residents near the systems' respective service areas. A combined organization would: Bring together Atrium Health's destination clinical programs such as Cancer, Children's, Heart and Musculoskeletal, along with Wake Forest Baptist Health's clinical leadership and differentiating research in Aging and Alzheimer's disease, Cancer, Cardiovascular disease, Diabetes and Obesity, Neurosciences and Regenerative Medicine; Transform health for communities served through innovative data and evidence-driven public health programs, value-based care models that improve social determinants of health, and next generation primary care experiences that seek to dramatically improve and maintain health and well-being; and Invest in a proposed Translational Research and Population Health Center in Winston-Salem , to accelerate the best possible practices for patients, while improving quality and making care more affordable for all, including drawing from the experience and track record of CHESS, the organizations' population health services company. A Next-Generation Medical School Today, Wake Forest Baptist Health is a nationally-ranked academic medical center, which works as one with the School of Medicine. As one of the nation's most selective medical training programs, Wake Forest School of Medicine receives more than 10,700 applications for 145 Doctor of Medicine positions each year, in addition to having top programs for Physician Assistants, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists and Doctor of Nursing Practice. Atrium Health's medical education programs are centered on continuity of relationships with patients, faculty, peers and the community. With a unique integration of educational programs with Atrium Health's medical group, learners have the rare opportunity to hone in on evidence-based care, affordability initiatives, as well as leading quality and patient safety best practices, as they partner with their patients across the care continuum. "This is an exciting prospect that will have positive state and national impacts in addition to benefitting the Charlotte and Winston-Salem communities," said Nathan O. Hatch, Ph.D., president of Wake Forest University. "By strengthening medical education in Winston-Salem and bringing a medical school to Charlotte, we will open many doors for future health care leaders and also play a nationally leading role in research." Together, these three learning organizations would create a distinguished environment to redefine physician training with a cutting-edge curriculum that develops focused skillsets to best support the future of medical care. This unique approach would connect patients, caregivers, clinicians, academics, students, entrepreneurs and future leaders, encouraging them to work in concert to expand modern and affordable treatment options, to alleviate barriers to care and to solve many of the most pressing healthcare issues of our time. Building on the momentum of the recently opened Wake Forest Bowman Gray Center for Medical Education in Winston-Salem's Innovation Quarter, the organization would begin to envision a second innovative campus in Charlotte over the next few years. A combined organization would: Educate nearly 3,200 total healthcare learners including students, residents and fellows across more than 100 specialized training programs each year; Attract top medical education faculty to enhance innovative teaching methods and create new models of care, adding to the already 1,650 full-time and part-time faculty positions at Wake Forest School of Medicine and Atrium Health; and Offer the largest post-graduate fellowship program for Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants in the nation, as well as critical experience for medical student education throughout an integrated academic healthcare system. Patient-Centered Research and Innovation Today, Wake Forest School of Medicine is among the top U.S. academic medical centers, with more than $210 million in annual research funding from the National Institutes of Health and other external sources. Committed to addressing our nation's most challenging healthcare needs, the school focuses its research portfolio on six areas: Aging and Alzheimer's disease, Cancer, Cardiovascular disease, Diabetes and Obesity, Neurosciences and Regenerative Medicine. Atrium Health currently has more than 1,000 active studies underway across more than 50 sites of care, and an active research portfolio that has grown nearly 40 percent over the previous two years. "We are eager to bring this shared vision for our future to life with Atrium Health," said Julie Ann Freischlag, M.D., CEO of Wake Forest Baptist Health and dean of Wake Forest School of Medicine. "It's incredible to think about the impact we can make, together, advancing patient-centered research, a next-generation curriculum and active population health analytics across our combined footprint. We can create amazing outcomes that embrace true change most importantly enhancing, extending and saving the lives of countless people." Together, these innovative organizations would have the remarkable ability to fuel new scientific discoveries through the advancement of large-scale research within the settings where patients are already receiving care. A combined organization would: Coordinate many large and ground-breaking multi-site clinical research collaborations around the U.S. that are affecting millions of lives today, such as the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT), the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), the Search for Diabetes in Youth (SEARCH) and POINTER, a U.S. study to protect brain health through lifestyle intervention; Care for over 340,000 patients struggling with cardiovascular disease, and nearly 1.4 million North Carolinians in rural areas of our state. By uniting each organization's research and clinical strengths, the new organization would have national rankings by U.S. News & World Report in seven Adult specialties and six Pediatric specialties; and in seven Adult specialties and six Pediatric specialties; and Work toward growing scientific and analytics jobs in the Winston-Salem area. Over the next several months, Atrium Health, Wake Forest Baptist Health and Wake Forest University will diligently work together and explore the opportunities to enhance services, capabilities and drive greater efficiencies. More information about the proposed next-generation academic health system can be found at www.BestCareforAll.org. SOURCE Atrium Health; Wake Forest Baptist Health; Wake Forest University Related Links http://www.bestcareforall.org BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Banco Hipotecario S.A. (BYMA: BHIP), a sociedad anonima incorporated under the laws of the Republic of Argentina ("Banco Hipotecario" or the "Company"), today announced the final results of its previously announced offer to purchase (the "Tender Offer") for cash up to U.S.$75,000,000 aggregate principal amount (the "Maximum Tender Amount") of its outstanding 9.750% Notes due 2020, Series No. 29 (the "Notes"), upon the terms and subject to the conditions described in the Offer to Purchase dated March 13, 2019 (as it may be amended or supplemented from time to time, the "Offer to Purchase") and the accompanying Letter of Transmittal dated March 13, 2019 (the "Letter of Transmittal" and, together with the Offer to Purchase, the "Offer Documents"). As of 11:59 p.m. (New York City time) on April 9, 2019 (the "Expiration Date"), U.S.$915,000, or approximately 1.22% of the Maximum Tender Amount of Notes were validly tendered after the Early Tender Date, but at or prior to the Expiration Date. The table below identifies the principal amount of Notes validly tendered and the principal amount the Company has accepted for purchase for settlement on the Final Settlement Date. Title of Notes CUSIP Numbers and ISINs Aggregate Principal Amount Outstanding Prior to Tender Offer Maximum Tender Amount Aggregate Principal Amount Outstanding After Early Settlement Aggregate Principal Amount Tendered Between the Early Tender Date and the Expiration Date(1) Aggregate Principal Amount Accepted for Purchase U.S.$350,000,000 9.750% Notes due 2020, Series No. 29 CUSIP: Rule 144A: 05961A AD5 Regulation S: P1330H BF0 ISIN: Rule 144A: US05961AAD54 Regulation S: USP1330HBF03 U.S.$334,054,000 (*) U.S.$75,000,000 U.S.$281,616,000 U.S.$915,000 U.S.$915,000 (*) On November 30, 2015, we issued U.S.$200,000,000 aggregate principal amount of the Notes. On May 23, 2016, we issued an additional U.S.$150,000,000 aggregate principal amount of the Notes. Following repurchases of Notes by us on September 10, 2018, December 21, 2018 and December 27, 2018, as of the date of the Offer to Purchase, U.S.$334,054,000 aggregate principal amount of the Notes was issued and outstanding. Upon settlement of the bonds tendered on the Final Settlement Date, U.S.$ 280,701,000 aggregate principal amount of the Notes will remain outstanding. (1) As of the Expiration Date, as reported by D.F. King & Co., Inc., the Tender and Information Agent for the Tender Offer. The amount of the Notes accepted for purchase was determined pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Tender Offer as set forth in the Offer Documents. This press release is qualified in its entirety by the Offer Documents. Holders of Notes validly tendered after the Early Tender Date but on or before the Expiration Date and accepted for purchase will be eligible to receive the Tender Offer Consideration (as defined in the Offer to Purchase). All payments for Notes purchased in connection with the Expiration Date will include accrued and unpaid interest from the last interest payment date for the Notes up to, but excluding, the Final Settlement Date, which is currently anticipated to be April 11, 2019. In accordance with the terms of the Tender Offer, the withdrawal deadline was 5:00 p.m. (New York City time) on March 26, 2019. As a result, tendered Notes may no longer be withdrawn, except in certain limited circumstances where additional withdrawal rights are required by law (as determined by the Company). The Company's obligation to accept for purchase, and to pay for, Notes that are validly tendered is subject to, and conditioned upon, the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions described in the Offer Documents. The Company may amend, extend or, subject to certain conditions and applicable law, terminate the Tender Offer at any time in its sole discretion. Neither the issuance of this press release, the delivery of the Offer to Purchase nor any purchase pursuant to the Tender Offer shall under any circumstances create any implication that the information contained in this press release or the Offer to Purchase is correct as of any time subsequent to the date hereof or thereof or that there has been no change in the information set forth herein or therein or in Banco Hipotecario's affairs since the date hereof or thereof. This press release does not constitute an offer or an invitation to participate in the Tender Offer. The Tender Offer is being made solely pursuant to the Offer Documents, copies of which have been delivered to registered holders of the Notes, and which set forth the complete terms and conditions of the Tender Offer. Holders are urged to read the Offer Documents carefully before making any decision with respect to their Notes. The Tender Offer is not being made to, nor will Banco Hipotecario accept tenders of Notes or delivery of consents from, holders in any jurisdiction in which it is unlawful to make such an offer or solicitation. D.F. King & Co., Inc. is acting as the tender and information agent (the "Tender and Information Agent") for the Tender Offer. Itau BBA USA Securities, Inc. and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC are acting as dealer managers for the Tender Offer. For further information about the Tender Offer, please log in to the website www.dfking.com/bhip. Alternatively, please contact the Tender and Information Agent D.F. King & Co., Inc. at 48 Wall Street, 22nd Floor, New York, New York 10005, telephone number: +1 (800) 967-4607 (toll-free), +1 (212) 269-5550 (collect) or email [email protected]. Requests for documentation should be directed to the Tender and Information Agent. About Banco Hipotecario S.A. Banco Hipotecario S.A. is a full-service commercial bank with operations throughout Argentina. Its shares are listed on Bolsas y Mercados Argentinos S.A. (BYMA) under the ticker symbol "BHIP." Established in 1886 by the Argentine Government and privatized in 1999, Banco Hipotecario offers a wide range of banking products and services including consumer and corporate loans, savings accounts, credit and debit cards, insurance, brokerage, asset management and related financial services to individuals, small- and medium-sized companies and large corporations. All of its operations are located in Argentina through a nationwide network in all 23 provinces and the City of Buenos Aires, serving approximately 1.2 million clients. Banco Hipotecario seeks to distinguish itself from other Argentine banks through its focus on housing and consumer loans, which it believes offers attractive opportunities for growth. Forward Looking Statements This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements related to Banco Hipotecario's expectations regarding the performance of its business, financial results, liquidity and capital resources, contingencies and other non-historical statements. You can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "believes," "expects," "potential," "continues," "may," "will," "should," "seeks," "approximately," "predicts," "intends," "plans," "estimates," "anticipates" or the negative version of these words or other comparable words. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks, uncertainties and assumptions. These statements should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this press release and in Banco Hipotecario's other periodic filings. Banco Hipotecario undertakes no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Media Contact: Banco Hipotecario S.A. Reconquista 151, 4th floor City of Buenos Aires Argentina Corporate Communications and Investor Relations Martin Diez Reconquista 151, 5th floor City of Buenos Aires Argentina T: +(54) 11 4347 5856 F: +(54) 11 4347 5874 SOURCE Banco Hipotecario S.A. Related Links http://www.hipotecario.com.ar DALLAS, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- BBG, a leading commercial real estate valuation, advisory and assessment firm, today announced it has appointed two appraisal professionals to its New York office. BBG named Roman Rubinchik, MAI, AI-GRS, as Director of Review and Compliance, and Thomas DeMartin, MAI, CTA, as Director. Their appointments broaden the expertise of the New York office, which also recently acquired Jerome Haims Realty, one of the city's top appraisal and litigation support firms. Both Mr. Rubinchik and Mr. DeMartin have led lengthy and impressive careers in the commercial real estate appraisal business. With more than 15 years of appraisal experience, Mr. Rubinchik has specialized in complex valuations, market studies and feasibility analysis, portfolio analysis and assessment, and risk management. Before joining BBG, Mr. Rubinchik served as a Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Risk at Bank United, N.A.and a review appraiser at Santander Bank USA. Mr. Rubinchik is a faculty member at Fordham University and New York University. He holds two Appraisal Institute designations and is an Appraisal Institute instructor. Mr. Rubinchik is a certified general appraiser in multiple states and a New York State Appraisal Instructor. Mr. DeMartin's career, spanning 25-years, encompasses many areas of expertise in real estate including valuation and management, expert testimony, litigation support, tax consultation, asset and property management, and commercial real estate brokerage services. He has been admitted as a real estate valuation expert by various courts in New Jersey, including the New Jersey Superior Court and Tax Court of New Jersey. Prior to his BBG appointment, Mr. DeMartin served as Senior Director of Appraisal Services at TIAA-CREF/Nuveen Asset Management. He was also the former President and Chief Appraiser at DeMartin Schwartz, Inc., an appraisal and consulting firm specializing in property tax and eminent domain litigation matters. In addition, he is a Certified Tax Assessor in New Jersey, and held former appraisal management positions with the Township of South Brunswick and New Jersey Department of Transportation. Mr. DeMartin is the former President of the Central New Jersey Chapter of the Appraisal Institute, and a former member of a regional bank advisory board. He is a frequent lecturer for various appraisal and law organizations. He also holds various professional certifications and licenses. Jon DiPietra, MAI, Managing Director of BBG's New York office, commented on the appointments: "As we continue to expand our presence in this dynamic region, it's absolutely imperative that we continue to hire the best talent in order to provide the highest level of service to our clients. With Roman and Thomas joining our team of accomplished professionals, we are better positioned to deliver for our clients while driving further growth for this office and the company overall." Mr. Rubinchik commented: "I am looking forward to being part of the BBG team, a highly recognized and well-respected leader in commercial real estate valuations. My new role will allow me to work with some of the most talented professionals in the industry and make a significant contribution to the firm's strategic goals." Mr. DeMartin added: "I am honored to be given this great opportunity to join a first-class organization that is deeply committed to delivering the most effective and efficient solutions to the complex challenges facing our clients." About BBG BBG is a leading independent national commercial real estate valuation, advisory and assessment firm headquartered in Dallas with 34 offices in key US markets. BBG has achieved a reputation for personal attention, on-time delivery and deep expertise in multi-family, office, retail and industrial sectors. For more information about BBG, please visit www.bbgres.com. Media Contact Marc Weinstein Ascent Communications (908) 967-9958 [email protected] SOURCE BBG Related Links https://bbgres.com NEW YORK, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Behrman Capital ("Behrman"), a private equity investment firm based in New York and San Francisco, today announced that it has acquired Waterline Renewal Technologies, Inc. ("Waterline" or "the Company"), a division of Triwater Holdings. Members of Waterline's senior management team invested in the transaction alongside Behrman. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Waterline is a leading provider of engineered products used in the trenchless rehabilitation of wastewater infrastructure for municipal, commercial, industrial, and residential applications. The Company's patented line of products and technologies allows its customers to deliver long-lasting solutions that repair sewer systems and wastewater lines without the need for excavation or property damage, and prevent overflow created by excess inflow and infiltration of ground water into the wastewater system. The Company is organized and markets itself principally across three industry-leading brands: LMK, a provider of trenchless cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) products and technologies for municipal contractors, Perma-Liner, a provider of trenchless, CIPP products and technologies for plumbers and drain cleaners, and AP/M Permaform, a provider of spray-on coatings for manholes, large diameter pipe rehabilitation solutions and anti-bacterial agents for corrosion prevention. Grant G. Behrman, Managing Partner of Behrman Capital, said, "Waterline is a leader in the growing wastewater solutions market with innovative pipe rehabilitation solutions. Through Waterline's best-in-class brands, multiple channels to market, and industry and technology know-how, the Company has consistently provided effective wastewater infrastructure solutions for its installer partners while delivering strong financial performance. We look forward to collaborating with the management team to capitalize on a range of attractive growth initiatives, including select acquisitions and the expansion of Waterline's technology offerings." Waterline's management team, headed by Matt Fishbune, President, will continue to lead the Company under Behrman's ownership. Mr. Fishbune added: "We are excited to begin this new chapter for Waterline by joining forces with Behrman Capital. This new partnership will enable our company to draw on Behrman's deep experience in specialty manufacturing and distribution, as well as with government customers. We look forward to further expansion of our core technologies, enhancing our product offering, and scaling our business and geographical reach, which will create exciting new opportunities for our valued customers, suppliers, and our talented employees." About Behrman Capital Based in New York City and San Francisco, Behrman Capital was founded in 1991 by Grant G. and Darryl G. Behrman. The firm invests in management buyouts, leveraged buildups and recapitalizations of established growth businesses. The company's investments are focused in three industries: defense and aerospace, healthcare services, and specialty manufacturing and distribution. The firm has raised in excess of $3.0 billion since inception and is currently investing out of its sixth fund. For more information, please visit www.behrmancap.com. About Waterline Renewal Technologies, Inc. Headquartered in Rosemont, IL, Waterline Renewal Technologies, Inc. provides trenchless rehabilitation of degraded infrastructure through differentiated products, technologies and services to prevent inflow and infiltration of sewer systems and potable water pipelines. Contact Mark Semer or Daniel Hoadley Kekst CNC (212) 521-4800 [email protected] / [email protected] SOURCE Behrman Capital Related Links http://www.behrmancap.com UPPSALA, Sweden, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Biovica has agreed on a collaboration with IBL-America for sales of DiviTum for the research market in the US. The partnership will further increase the commercial activities for this customer segment on the single largest market for Biovica. The agreement gives IBL-America non-exclusive rights to sell DiviTum to pharmaceutical companies, Contract Research Organizations and research institutes in the US. The collaboration will further increase the commercial activities for this customer segment in the US, which is the single largest market for Biovica. DiviTum has great potential within many commercial areas. For the research market, it is useful tool for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry for evaluating cell-cycle regulating compounds, CDK inhibitors and endocrine drugs and can be used all the way from cell culture studies to clinical trials for drug approval. "DiviTum will give us an excellent opportunity to generate value for our customers. We look forward to working with Biovica and to expand our product portfolio within the oncology research product line", says Mark Kowal, President/CEO, IBL-America. "Besides Biovica's on-going commercialization initiative for the clinical breast cancer market, we also wish to contribute to the development of new improved oncology drugs. Biovica already have customers in the US research market and on-going collaborations with prominent research institutes. The partnership with IBL-America will create excellent opportunities to grow the customer base for the research market in the US", says Anders Rylander, CEO Biovica. "We are excited to work with IBL-America, a company with long experience of distributing high quality laboratory research products in the US. IBL-America will become an important partner to increase our presence for the important US research market", says Pontus Nobreus, Business Development Director Biovica. About IBL-America For over 20 years, IBL-America has provided high-quality laboratory reagent assays, antibodies and proteins for research and clinical testing in various areas including, but not limited to, autoimmunity, endocrinology, infectious disease, oncology and neuroscience. IBL-America also has the capability to provide technical support with our experienced technical team and their modern, fully-equipped internal laboratory. More information: Anders Rylander, CEO Biovica. Phone: +46 (0)18 444 48 35, E-mail: [email protected] This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/biovica-international-ab/r/biovica-and-ibl-america-has-agreed-on-a-sales-collaboration-for-the-us-market,c2785998 The following files are available for download: SOURCE Biovica International AB TORONTO, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Bloomberg and MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MSCI), a leading provider of critical investment decision support tools worldwide, today announced the availability of a series of global environmental, social and governance (ESG) fixed income indices for the Canadian market. The indices are co-branded as the Bloomberg Barclays MSCI Canada ESG Indices and are currently available on the Bloomberg Terminal. A 2018 Greenwich Associates research report featuring insights from more than 300 decision makers at large firms found that the majority of North American participants are incorporating ESG into their investment strategy and are making significant progress in the space. Globally, 73 percent of respondents are considering incorporating ESG strategies into their portfolios. "As the inclusion of ESG principles in North American investment strategies continues to grow, we are delighted to expand our ESG index suite with new indices specifically designed to support Canadian investors," said Chris Hackel, Index Product Manager, Bloomberg. "MSCI has been a great partner as Bloomberg evolves our index solutions to meet the needs of institutional investors around the world." "In recent years, we have seen increased interest from the Canadian institutional market in incorporating ESG principles into their investment processes," said Eric Moen, Head of ESG Products for MSCI ESG Research. "We are pleased to be partnering with Bloomberg to launch these new indices and provide fixed income investors with the tools and transparency they need to effectively benchmark to ESG investment performance." BlackRock is among the first clients to license the index for a suite of Canadian ESG ETFs available starting March 21, 2019. The indices include the Bloomberg Barclays MSCI Canadian Aggregate ESG Focus Index and the Bloomberg Barclays MSCI 1-5 year Canadian Aggregate ESG Focus Index. "Clients are increasingly looking to pursue a more sustainable approach to achieving their investment goals," said Pat Chiefalo, Managing Director, Head of iShares, BlackRock Canada. "We are thrilled to work with Bloomberg and MSCI to grow the ESG fixed income category and further enhance the offering for Canadian investors." This announcement is an expansion of the Bloomberg Barclays MSCI ESG Fixed Income Index suite, which includes a range of investment grade aggregate and corporate index benchmarks for investors who are aiming to incorporate ESG considerations into their strategic asset allocation. Bloomberg also offers the Bloomberg Barclays Canada Aggregate Index for the Canadian market. Bloomberg provides an independent, transparent approach to indexing for customers across the globe. For more information, please visit this link. About Bloomberg Bloomberg, the global business and financial information and news leader, gives influential decision makers a critical edge by connecting them to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas. The company's strength delivering data, news and analytics through innovative technology, quickly and accurately is at the core of the Bloomberg Terminal. Bloomberg's enterprise solutions build on the company's core strength: leveraging technology to allow customers to access, integrate, distribute and manage data and information across organizations more efficiently and effectively. For more information, visit Bloomberg.com/company or request a demo. About MSCI MSCI is a leading provider of critical decision support tools and services for the global investment community. With over 45 years of expertise in research, data and technology, we power better investment decisions by enabling clients to understand and analyze key drivers of risk and return and confidently build more effective portfolios. We create industry-leading research-enhanced solutions that clients use to gain insight into and improve transparency across the investment process. To learn more, please visit www.msci.com. SOURCE Bloomberg Related Links https://www.bloomberg.com SAN DIEGO, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Sky Equity Partners today announced that it has added to its hotel portfolio by acquiring the Red Lion Inn & Suites Tucson North Foothills and has announced plans to rename and reposition the hotel as a boutique hotel called 3 Palms Tucson North Foothills. Located near the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains in North Tucson, the 156-room hotel is the Tucson North hotel of choice for both business and leisure travelers, outdoor adventurers, family vacationers, and visitors to the University of Arizona. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. "We are excited to acquire this one-of-a-kind hotel in Tucson, and we're looking forward to continuing to be the North Tucson hotel destination of choice under the 3 Palms brand," said Logan Abbott, President of Blue Sky Equity Partners. "Our hotel division is focused on continued growth in the Pacific Southwest and this exciting acquisition allows us to expand our flagship 3 Palms brand to another great desert destination in the Tucson North Foothills," added Ariel Abbott, the company's Director of Revenue and Growth. While this acquisition represents Blue Sky Equity's first Tucson-based hotel, the company and the 3 Palms brand has long enjoyed a presence in the Arizona market with the 3 Palms Hotel Scottsdale. About Blue Sky Equity Partners Blue Sky Equity Partners is a family owned private equity investment firm with investments in real-estate, media and technology. The firm's hotel division owns and operates multiple hotels in California and Arizona under various brands including the 3 Palms. The company manages every facet of redeveloping, remodeling, and repositioning portfolio hotels as well as building a world class team to operate them. Contact Logan Abbott Blue Sky Equity Partners 858-454-5900 SOURCE Blue Sky Equity Partners Related Links www.blueskyequitypartners.com WALTHAM, Mass., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Dragonfly Therapeutics, Inc. ("Dragonfly"), today announced the addition of two internationally-recognized researchers to its scientific leadership team. Nobel Prize winner Dr. James ("Jim") Allison, Ph.D., joins Dragonfly's Scientific Advisory Board. Leading clinician and immuno-oncology expert Dr. Padmanee ("Pam") Sharma, M.D., Ph.D., joins Dragonfly as founding Chair of its Clinical Advisory Board. Dr. Allison joins Nobel Prize winner Harold Varmus, M.D., and an outstanding group of clinicians and scientists on Dragonfly's Scientific Advisory Board. Allison is professor and chair of the Department of Immunology and Executive Director of the Immunotherapy Platform at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Sharma joins Dragonfly as the founding Chair of its Clinical Advisory Board to build the clinical team in advance of Dragonfly's first patient trials, later this year. Sharma is Professor in the Departments of Genitourinary Medical Oncology and Immunology, Scientific Director of the Immunotherapy Platform and holds the T.C. and Jeanette D. Hsu Endowed Chair in Cell Biology at MD Anderson. Dr. Allison, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2018 for his groundbreaking work in cancer immunotherapy. Allison's research focuses on the mechanisms that govern T cell responses and applying that basic understanding to overcome cancer's evasion of attack by the immune system. His fundamental discoveries led him to pioneer immune checkpoint blockade as a cancer treatment, working with pharmaceutical companies to develop Yervoy. Dr. Allison's work has led to new treatments that have revolutionized cancer care for hundreds of thousands of patients, worldwide. He currently explores combinations of immunological therapies and targeted drugs to more effectively treat a variety of cancers, and continues basic research on immune stimulatory and inhibiting molecules. "As we seek to use natural killer cells and other cells of the immune system to generate the next phase of immune-oncology drugs to eliminate cancer, Jim Allison's expertise in immunotherapy will be an invaluable guide," stated Dragonfly's co-founder and head of MIT's Koch Institute, Dr. Tyler Jacks. "Jim's foundational work in I/O and depth of understanding as a Nobel Prize-winning immunologist brings to Dragonfly's Scientific Advisory Board a track record of innovation and discovery that is inspiring and motivating for all." Dr. Sharma is an internationally renowned physician-scientist, with expertise in both medical oncology and immunology. She designed and conducted the first pre-surgical trial, also known as a window-of-opportunity trial, with immune checkpoint therapy (anti-CTLA-4) in 2004, which allowed her to study the impact of immune checkpoint therapy on human tumors, with subsequent identification of the ICOS/ICOSL pathway as a novel target for cancer immunotherapy strategies. Her translational research work laid the foundation for the Immunotherapy Platform to be established at MD Anderson. Dr. Sharma is also the Co-Director of Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at MD Anderson. Recent awards include the 2016 Emil Frei III Award for Excellence in Translational Research and the 2018 Coley Award for Distinguished Research for Tumor Immunology. "We are delighted to welcome leading clinician Dr. Pam Sharma to chair our Clinical Advisory Board as Dragonfly brings our first novel immuno-therapies to patients," said Dragonfly's co-founder and CEO Bill Haney. "Dr. Sharma's unique depth of scientific and clinical expertise in immuno-oncology as Scientific Director of the Immunotherapy Platform at MD Anderson will be critical as we chart the path for bringing our first drugs into clinical trials, this year." For more information on Dragonfly, email [email protected]. Or, visit www.dragonflytx.com, follow Dragonfly on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/dragonflytherapeutics/ and Twitter @dragonflytx . About Dragonfly Therapeutics Dragonfly Therapeutics develops drugs to stimulate immune responses against cancer. We are developing novel first-in-class therapeutics targeted at natural killer cells and other cells of the innate immune system. Our scientific founders are major figures in cancer biology and immunology and launched Dragonfly to harness the power of the immune system to provide breakthrough cancer treatments for patients. Media Contact: Maura McCarthy, [email protected] SOURCE Dragonfly Therapeutics, Inc. Related Links http://www.dragonflytx.com Bridgestone has partnered with both organizations to research this next phase of human exploration, building on a joint research partnership with JAXA in the 2000s to examine the contact patch between rovers and the lunar surface, and serve as a technical partner for the Toyota rover project. The company's expertise and knowledge of tire contact patch will help explore the mobility challenges faced on the lunar surface. The development of an Elastic Wheel to support the rover's weight, acceleration and braking, minimize shock absorbance and improve maneuverability enables the rover to cruise more than 10,000 km on the lunar surface. Bridgestone is proud of its legacy of developing solutions to meet unique mobility challenges and is committed to actively contributing to this international space exploration mission. Through the development of a contact patch, capable of functioning even in the challenging mobility conditions experienced on the lunar surface of the moon, Bridgestone is determined to find solutions that allow the rover to accomplish its mission. "We are honored to partner with JAXA and Toyota in the challenge of space exploration," said Nizar Trigui, chief technology officer, Bridgestone Americas, during a JAXA session at the 35th Space Symposium held today. "We believe that our technical capabilities allow us to explore the possibilities of tire development capable of functioning even in the harshest of conditions found on the surface of the moon, and creates a higher level of mobility for mankind. Our founder, Shojiro Ishibashi, believed in contributing to the advancement and development of society, and Bridgestone fulfills that belief through Creative Pioneering (Shinshu-Dokuso), an integral part of our corporate philosophy that allows the company to develop innovative solutions with an eye towards the future. This mission represents that commitment and is a testament of Bridgestone's dedication to improving the way people move, live, work and play." *1 JAXA and Toyota Reach Agreement on Consideration toward International Space Exploration (news release issued by Toyota Motor Corporation) https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/corporate/27059582.html About Bridgestone Corporation: Bridgestone Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo, is the world's largest tire and rubber company. In addition to tires for use in a wide variety of applications, it also manufactures a broad range of diversified products, which include industrial rubber and chemical products and sporting goods. Its products are sold in over 150 nations and territories around the world. About Bridgestone Americas, Inc.: Nashville, Tenn.-based Bridgestone Americas, Inc. (BSAM) is the U.S. subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation, the world's largest tire and rubber company. BSAM and its subsidiaries develop, manufacture and market a wide range of Bridgestone, Firestone and associate brand tires to address the needs of a broad range of customers, including consumers, automotive and commercial vehicle original equipment manufacturers, and those in the agricultural, forestry and mining industries. The companies are engaged in retreading operations throughout the Western Hemisphere and produce air springs, roofing materials, and industrial fibers and textiles. The BSAM family of companies also operates the world's largest chain of automotive tire and service centers. Guided by its global corporate social responsibility commitment, Our Way to Serve, the company is dedicated to improving the way people live, work, move and play in all of the communities it calls home. SOURCE Bridgestone Americas, Inc. Related Links http://www.bridgestoneamericas.com WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Bunge Limited (NYSE: BG) will announce its results for the quarter ended March 31, 2019, on Wednesday, May 8, 2019, prior to the market opening. The company's management will also host a conference call at 8:00 a.m. Eastern to discuss the results. A slide presentation to accompany the discussion will be posted on www.bunge.com . To listen to the call, please dial (877) 883-0383. If you are located outside the United States or Canada, dial (412) 902-6506. Please dial in five to 10 minutes before the scheduled start time and enter confirmation code 6317202. The call will also be webcast live at www.bunge.com . To access the webcast, go to "Webcasts and presentations" in the "Investors" section of the company's website. Select "Q1 2019 Bunge Limited Conference Call" and follow the prompts. Please go to the website at least 15 minutes prior to the call to register and download any necessary audio software. A replay of the call will be available later in the day on May 8, 2019, continuing through June 8, 2019. To listen to it, please dial (877) 344-7529 in the United States, (855) 669-9658 in Canada, or (412) 317-0088 in other locations. When prompted, enter confirmation code 10130216. A replay will also be available in "Past events" at "Webcasts and presentations" in the "Investors" section of the company's website. About Bunge Limited Bunge (www.bunge.com,NYSE: BG) is a world leader in sourcing, processing and supplying oilseed and grain products and ingredients. Founded in 1818, Bunge's expansive network feeds and fuels a growing world, creating sustainable products and opportunities for more than 70,000 farmers and the consumers they serve in over 60 countries. The company is headquartered in New York and has 31,000 employees worldwide who stand behind more than 360 port terminals, oilseed processing plants, grain silos, and food and ingredient production and packaging facilities around the world. Website Information We routinely post important information for investors on our website, www.bunge.com , in the "Investors" section. We may use this website as a means of disclosing material, non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Accordingly, investors should monitor the Investors section of our website, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings, public conference calls, presentations and webcasts. The information contained on, or that may be accessed through, our website is not incorporated by reference into, and is not a part of, this document. Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains both historical and forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, 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, including, without limitation, statements about our expected 2018 financial results, outlook for 2019, expected executive management changes and the Board's strategic review of our business operations. These forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts, but rather reflect our current expectations and projections about our future results, performance, prospects and opportunities. We have tried to identify these forward-looking statements by using words including "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "intend," "estimate," "continue" and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause our actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. The following important factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements: the outcome and effects of the Board's strategic review; our ability to attract and retain executive management and key personnel; industry conditions, including fluctuations in supply, demand and prices for agricultural commodities and other raw materials and products used in our business; fluctuations in energy and freight costs and competitive developments in our industries; the effects of weather conditions and the outbreak of crop and animal disease on our business; global and regional agricultural, economic, financial and commodities market, political, social and health conditions; the outcome of pending regulatory and legal proceedings; our ability to complete, integrate and benefit from acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures and strategic alliances; our ability to achieve the efficiencies, savings and other benefits anticipated from our cost reduction, margin improvement and other business optimization initiatives; changes in government policies, laws and regulations affecting our business, including agricultural and trade policies, tax regulations and biofuels legislation; and other factors affecting our business generally. The forward-looking statements included in this release are made only as of the date of this release, and except as otherwise required by federal securities law, we do not have any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. SOURCE Bunge Limited Related Links http://www.bunge.com SAN RAMON, Calif., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CMG Financial commends Paul Akinmade, Chief Marketing Officer, for earning the 2019 MBA Insights Tech All-Star Award presented by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The MBA Insights Tech All-Star Award honors mortgage professionals who have made significant contributions to the industry in the form of new products, methods, designs, standards or other achievements. Nominees are reviewed based on metrics and numbers supporting their contributions and other factual information that proves their contribution was first or unique. Paul was recognized for his contributions to the company, specifically his involvement with the development and implementation of many technological solutions that improve the ways CMG loan officers serve clients and referral partners. Paul Akinmade, Chief Marketing Officer, CMG Financial Paul worked as an originator, branch manager, area manager and ran his own companies before moving into mortgage marketing. Prior to joining CMG Financial, he worked his way up at New Penn Financial, LLC from Sales Training and Business Development Manager to Vice President of Marketing, supporting joint ventures and distributive retail. In 2016, Paul moved to CMG Financial as Vice President, Marketing with the objective to scale up the internal marketing department ahead of a major staffing initiative. In a few short months, Paul applied his hands-on experience to selecting choice employees with the variety of core competencies needed to create an environment where sales, marketing and technology could operate in synchronization, quickly being promoted to Chief Marketing Officer. For the past two and a half years, Paul has worked on the digital down payment platform HomeFundIt and its iterations. He helped launch HomeFundIt's pilot program in late 2017. At that time, the program was exclusively a down-payment crowdfunding platform. In mid-2018, he managed the development and launch of the HomeFundIt Affinity and Realtor Portals. The Affinity Portal allows organizations and employers to support their employees and members by matching raised contributions to enhance organization benefits packages. The Realtor Portal allows realtors to support their customers and leverage their community to help them raise a larger than needed down payment, making the buyer a stronger candidate. Later in 2018, Paul led the launch of UpItTM, the cash-back affiliate shopping program. To date, over 500 families have raised over $1.7 million through the platform. UpIt has partnered with over 220 national retailers since launching at the end of 2018, with 1,000 expected by the end of 2019. Using the suite of HomeFundIt products, on average, home buyers are able to put down twice the needed down payment. "Like all of us in the mortgage industry, Paul understands that homeownership is the foundation of the American dream. It's the largest investment most families make in their lifetime, and it's the first appreciating asset they will own. Buying a home is the first step toward building wealth and financial stability," CMG Financial Founder, President and CEO Christopher M. George said in a statement. "HomeFundIt is such an important technology because it makes homeownership more accessible. In addition to his contributions to the development of HomeFundIt, Paul has gone out of his way to meet with housing counseling agencies, nonprofit organizations and even churches to spread awareness about HomeFundIt and find new opportunities to help renters become homeowners and achieve that dream." About CMG Financial CMG Financial is a well-capitalized, privately held mortgage-banking firm founded in 1993. The company makes its products and services available to the market through three distinct origination channels, including Retail Lending, Wholesale Lending, and Correspondent Lending. CMG Financial currently operates in all states, including the District of Columbia, and holds federal agency lending approvals with HUD, VA, RHS, GNMA, FNMA and FHLMC. Throughout the mortgage banking and housing markets, CMG Financial is widely known for responsible lending practices, industry and consumer advocacy, product innovation and operational efficiency. Media Contact: Madelynn Graham Phone: 443.455.1137 Email: [email protected] Related Images paul-akinmade.jpg Paul Akinmade Paul Akinmade, Chief Marketing Officer, CMG Financial Related Links Mortgage Bankers Association SOURCE CMG Financial SAN FRANCISCO, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), which sustains and integrates open source technologies like Kubernetes and Prometheus, announced today speakers for KubeCon + CloudNativeCon + Open Source Summit China 2019 on June 24-26, 2019, in Shanghai. KubeCon + CloudNativeCon will feature content spanning networking, AI/ML/DL, blockchain, edge computing, and open source best practices with the addition of Open Source Summit, formerly known as the LinuxCon + ContainerCon + CloudOpen China (LC3). See " KubeCon + CloudNativeCon + Open Source Summit China 2019 Program Announced " for more information on speakers, tracks and sessions covering these topics. KubeCon + CloudNativeCon + Open Source Summit features speakers from Ant Financial, East China Normal University, eBay, GO-JEK and JD.com, who will discuss cloud native implementations with Kubernetes, Prometheus, and more. "Since our inaugural KubeCon + CloudNativeCon event in China last year, we have seen significant interest and momentum from organizations in the region that are developing and using cloud native and open source technologies," said Dan Kohn, Executive Director of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. "We are expanding the event and are proud to host the largest open source conference in China to continue driving collaboration across the global open source community." A program committee of 75 experts led by conference co-chairs VMware's Bryan Liles and Lyft's Vicki Cheung reviewed 618 submissions for the KubeCon + CloudNativeCon tracks to create the show's diverse content lineup. The agenda features a full slate of technical sessions, deep-dives and case studies touching on all CNCF projects and topics including application + development, CI/CD, open source community, customizing + extending Kubernetes, machine learning + data, networking, observability, operations, performance, runtimes, security + identity + policy, serverless, service mesh, storage and more! "Having the opportunity to review submissions for KubeCon + CloudNativeCon + Open Source Summit China has been a very eye-opening experience seeing first-hand the adoption and interest in open source and cloud native technology in China," said Liles. "We are seeing massive growth, which has increased from last year's event. Attendees can look forward to a very diverse and inspiring line-up of maintainers, technology experts and end users who are experiencing first hand the benefits of these technologies." Thousands of technologists will gather for three days to hear from the maintainers and end users of CNCF's hosted projects - including Kubernetes, Prometheus, Envoy, CoreDNS, containerd, OpenTracing, Fluentd, gRPC, rkt, CNI, Jaeger, Notary, TUF, Vitess, Linkerd, NATS, Helm, Rook, Harbor, etcd, Open Policy Agent, and CRI-O - as well as other open source and cloud native technologies. The community-curated KubeCon + CloudNativeCon + Open Source Summit schedule will feature sessions from the following cloud native open source technologists: "Cloud Native at Alibaba Scale," from Xiang Li of Alibaba Group and Technical Oversight Committee member of CNCF of Alibaba Group and Technical Oversight Committee member of CNCF "Evolving Deep Learning Platform with Knative," from Ti Zhou of Baidu "Building and Managing Kubernetes with Kubernetes," from Xin Ma of eBay of eBay "Open Source Education in High School: Take CNCF Projects as an Example," from Wei Wang of East China Normal University of East China Normal University "Benchmarking Cloud Native Databases on Kubernetes," from Iqbal Farabi & Himani Agrawal of GO-JEK & of GO-JEK "CRDs, No Longer 2nd Class Thing!" from Jing Xu of Google & Xing Yang of Huawei of Google & of Huawei "Kubernetes: The Video Game," from Grant Shipley of Red Hat of Red Hat "Kubernetes Housekeeping," from Damini Satya Kammakomati & Mitesh Jain of Salesforce of Salesforce "HDFS CSI Plugin: Speed Up Kubernetes in On-Premises Big Data Cluster," from Yi Chen & Junping Du of Tencent & of "Auto Operation of Hundreds of Kubernetes Clusters in Yahoo! Japan ," from Cheng Chen of Yahoo! Japan View the full conference schedule in Mandarin View the full conference schedule in English CNCF is also hosting the following co-located events as part of KubeCon + CloudNativeCon + Open Source Summit, on Monday, June 24 from 8:00 - 16:00. CNCF End User Partner Summit Continuous Delivery Summit hosted by CNCF DPDK China 2019 Kubernetes Contributor Summit Open Data Autonomy Mini Summit Open Heterogeneous Computing Framework Introduction hosted by Huawei/ Service Mesh hosted by CNCF Thank You Sponsors KubeCon + CloudNativeCon + Open Source Summit China is made possible with support from Strategic Sponsor: Huawei Cloud; Double Diamond Sponsor: Tencent Cloud, Diamond Sponsor: Intel; Platinum Sponsor: Rancher; and many more Gold, Silver, Start-Up, and Media Sponsors. More information on sponsorships is available. Registration, Accommodations and Visas Register by Thursday, May 2 to save on conference passes. Additionally, hotel and flight discounts are available on the Venue/Travel section of the conference website. Please book early, as the discounted rate is based upon availability. For instructions on obtaining a visa to travel to China, please check out the visa request letter section of the conference website. CNCF Diversity Scholarship CNCF offering scholarships to members of traditionally underrepresented groups in the technology and/or open source communities. Learn more about the scholarship and eligibility requirements. All applications are due by Monday, April 15, 2019. Additional Resources About Cloud Native Computing Foundation Cloud native computing uses an open source software stack to deploy applications as microservices, packaging each part into its own container, and dynamically orchestrating those containers to optimize resource utilization. The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) hosts critical components of cloud native software stacks, including Kubernetes and Prometheus. CNCF serves as the neutral home for collaboration and brings together the industry's top developers, end users and vendors including the world's largest public cloud and enterprise software companies as well as dozens of innovative startups. CNCF is part of The Linux Foundation, a nonprofit organization. For more information about CNCF, please visit www.cncf.io . The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage . Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds Media Contact Natasha Woods The Linux Foundation [email protected] SOURCE Cloud Native Computing Foundation Related Links http://www.cncf.io STAMFORD, Conn., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In recognition of Month of the Military Child this April, The Cohen Veterans Network (CVN), a national not-for-profit philanthropic organization that provides mental health care to post-9/11 veterans and family members, will recognize the resiliency of military children while also providing support and resources to help them deal with the challenges of transition, frequent moves, and parental deployments. Since its inception in April 2016, CVN has provided high-quality, military and veteran-focused mental health care services for more than 10,000 individuals, including children. Through its Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinics across the country, CVN is keeping its promise to save lives, save families, and save futures by providing therapy and much-needed resources to children nationwide. CVN currently has 11 clinics located in San Antonio, Dallas, El Paso and Killeen in Texas; Philadelphia, New York, Washington D.C., Fayetteville NC, Clarksville TN, Denver and Tacoma, WA. Nearly half of the clients at the Cohen Clinics are family members. In fact, 14 percent of clients are children. "Military life can be a challenge for the entire family. Anxiety, depression, adjustment challenges and other behavioral issues that come with separations and frequent moves are just some of the struggles children face," said Dr. Anthony Hassan, President & CEO of CVN. "Our Cohen Clinics are designed with children in mind, as seen with our interactive play rooms and comfortable waiting areas for the entire family. We provide mental health care to children of veterans and active-duty parents." Today, CVN officially launched its campaign for Month of the Military Child with a "Purple Up!" day where all staff members both at its central offices and at its individual Cohen Clinics wore purple as a visible way of support and honor military youth for their strength and sacrifices. Throughout the month, CVN will share helpful resources and facts that include insight on how the network cares for military children. A blog post, titled Month of the Military Child: Third Culture Children, gives an inside look into the life of a daughter with an active-duty father, written by a Cohen Clinic clinician in Killeen, Texas who has dedicated her career to helping military children and families. CVN and its Cohen Clinics, will also participate in a series of activities focused on the military child, including community egg hunts, coloring activities, educational book and game drives, and even a special movie night inside one of its clinics' community rooms. Special purple stickers with the CVN seal will also be given to children who receive therapy at the Cohen Clinics. However, the awareness isn't just focused on the month of April. CVN and Cohen Clinic staff members will also share pledges on social media describing how they will support military children throughout 2019 and beyond. These pledges will include such things as dedicating a 5K run to military children, volunteering time to serve them at a community event, or even taking a pledge to mentor a military child. "Month of the Military Child is a time to applaud military families and their children for the sacrifices they make and the challenges they overcome each day," Dr. Hassan added. "At CVN, we strive to make this is a daily effort that extends beyond the month of April, but throughout the year. We thank our military for their service as we remember kids serve, too." Follow CVN's Month of the Military Child campaign on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. ABOUT THE COHEN VETERANS NETWORK The Cohen Veterans Network (CVN) is a 501 (c)(3) national not for profit philanthropic organization for post-9/11 veterans and their families. CVN focuses on improving mental health outcomes, with a goal to build a network of outpatient mental health clinics for veterans and their families in high-need communities, in which trained clinicians deliver holistic evidence-based care to treat mental health conditions. Learn more about the Cohen Veterans Network. SOURCE Cohen Veterans Network Related Links http://www.cohenveteransnetwork.org PHOENIX, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Task Force Barrier, in partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, awarded two contracts totaling nearly $1 billion April 9 for the removal and replacement of vehicle fencing with pedestrian fencing along the southwest border. A $789 million contract was awarded to SLS Company, Ltd., of Galveston, Texas, for approximately 46 miles of 30-foot bollard-style barrier near the Columbus, New Mexico, Port of Entry in the El Paso, Texas, U.S. Border Patrol sector. A $187 million contract was awarded to Barnard Construction Company, Inc., of Bozeman, Montana, for approximately 11 miles of bollard-style barrier, at varying heights of 18- and 30-feet, in the Yuma, Arizona, USBP sector. These locations represent top operational priorities for replacement and will improve each sector's ability to impede and deny illegal border crossings and the drug- and human-smuggling activities of transnational criminal organizations. The Department of Defense has the authority under Section 284 of Title 10, U.S. Code, to construct roads and fences and to install lighting to block drug-smuggling corridors across international boundaries of the United States in support of counter-narcotic activities of federal law enforcement agencies. For additional information about Corps projects, visit https://www.usace.army.mil. For information on U.S. Customs and Border Protection, visit https://www.cbp.gov. For more information on federal government contracts, visit the Federal Business Opportunities website at https://www.fbo.gov. SOURCE U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Related Links https://www.usace.army.mil Metadata recently became a hot topic when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg laid out a Facebook "privacy-first vision for social networking," focused on readily available end-to-end encryption with no attention to protecting metadata. In an open letter to Zuckerberg covered by Forbes, Chaum described the Zuckerberg approach to privacy as "fooling those mostly young people [Zuckerberg] says are moving off newsfeed to messaging into believing that end-to-end encryption means privacy." Though end-to-end encryption obscures message contents, it does not protect the behavioral details of people's activities. Elixxir nodes, which operate a highly efficient decentralized mix network, provide full metadata protection for users as well as end-to-end encryption. The Elixxir mix network technology, invented by CEO David Chaum, delivers unprecedented speed by using precomputation to create a mix network framework in advance. After precomputation is complete, each team of nodes stands ready to rapidly process a batch of messages, quickly breaking the links between message sender and recipient, as well as links between users and their blockchain message history. Elixxir BetaNet Nodes In January, Elixxir initiated its BetaNet node selection process with a community survey addressing preferences for platform governance, incentives, and community structure. Based on survey results, a node application was designed to determine which nodes would operate the Elixxir BetaNet. Since the release of the application, Elixxir has received hundreds of applications from around the world. Elixxir plans to launch a privacy-protecting, decentralized BetaNet supported by node operators on six continents. Members of the public interested in furthering Elixxir's mission of protecting the privacy and security of users are encouraged to apply to run a BetaNet node before Friday, April 19th on the Elixxir website. Bounty Program As part of its efforts to rally the privacy community, Elixxir has launched a bounty program to raise the profile of the BetaNet node selection process. Participants who refer applicants who successfully run a BetaNet node will be eligible for up to two extra nodes in Elixxir's MainNet. About Elixxir: Led by world-famous cryptographer David Chaum , inventor of digital cash and father of online anonymity, Elixxir is a transaction platform running on a full-stack blockchain. Elixxir nodes protect privacy by combining end-to-end encryption with a mixed network that obscures user metadata. The platform's breakthrough consensus mechanism enables quantum-resistant security capable of supporting secure messaging, payments, and decentralized application (dApp) data transfer. Elixxir is capable of supporting high transaction volumes, with extremely fast processing to support global consumer adoption of the decentralized blockchain. The first dApp is currently being built in-house and supports smartphone-based messaging and payments. It will serve as the first easy-to-use interface to the Elixxir platform. The Elixxir Corp. and WBM offices are located in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. About David Chaum: Founder and CEO David Chaum is the inventor of DigiCash, the first cryptocurrency, and is also known for innovations in cryptography, privacy, and voting. With a PhD in Computer Science from UC Berkeley, his thesis has many elements of what decades later became Bitcoin. David is accompanied by an experienced technical and academic team with backgrounds in cryptography, information technology, economics, and finance. Contact: Margaux Avedisian Acting-CMO [email protected] SOURCE Elixxir Related Links https://www.elixxir.io NEW YORK, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Dropp is proud to announce that it has hired Jose Rodriguez and Willie Escobar Montanez of Escobar and Sons to manage Brand Partnership strategy for Dropp. Montanez and Rodriguez have nearly 50 years combined of experience creating, developing and marketing brands, especially in youth and pop culture oriented markets. Willie Escobar Montanez is well known for his own brand "Willie Esco," a highly successful urban street wear brand and has worked with globally known brands, including Samsung, Barneys, COOGI, Daymond John, FUBU, KITH, Etonic, Tupac Shakur, Rag & Bone, 424, and Patta. Mr. Montanez has secured licenses for brand development ranging from Tupac Shakur to MGM film/movie licenses that have been instrumental in generating more than $400 million in worldwide sales to date. Jose Rodriguez has more than 15 years experience developing brands such as Platinum FUBU, Rocawear, Sean John and others. Mr. Rodriguez's design portfolio has generated more than $200 million in sales. Focusing especially on brand image, Mr. Rodriguez maintains personal and professional relationships with high profile luminaries and organizations, such as 50 Cent and G-Unit Records, Shady Records, StarPower Global (Fabolous), Roc Nation, Def Jam, the Country of Bermuda and many others. Willie Escobar stated that "The opportunity to be involved with a company that is redefining the way Brands and Creators interact with consumers allows us to be at the cutting edge of innovation in the music and fashion industry." Montanez will focus on taking over as "Head Of Brand Partnerships" and utilize the current roster of brands within their portfolio Coogi / Jaclar / Lotto Sport Global / Fubu / Lo Life Brand / Patrick Kelly / Puma / Twinzz and many more. Rodriguez is appointed to help creator's who are part of the Dropp Creator Network (DCN) with designing merch and clothing lines to help monetize their brands. Dropp CIO Gurps Rai had this to say about the appointment "We are delighted to appoint such high calibre industry veterans who will advance Dropp's Brand Partnerships Strategy allowing the company to collaborate with some of the world's most influential brands and demonstrating that Dropp represents the next generation of creator centric technology." About Dropp Dropp unleashes the power of the creator through an innovative blend of art and e-commerce creating a new mode of digital interaction, which allows creators to monetize their videos through the patented See it. Want it. Get it. Advanced A.I. video technology. Dropp's creator first empowering model disrupts retail and video paradigms, inspires multifaceted community-based revenue, and invigorates the cultural energy behind all commerce. SOURCE DroppTV WEST MONROE, La., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Duck Commander The Tour has announced its partnership with Taylor's & Company to showcase a collection of lifestyle-branded firearms. The partnership will give Taylor's & Company a chance to design a lineup of firearms specifically for Duck Commander fans and outdoor enthusiasts. Both brands share core values of family and the great outdoors. This is one of several new partnerships for Duck Commander The Tour. Duck Commander The Tour Taylor's & Company is known for its collection of firearms made with precision machinery and high-quality materials. All of the firearms are faithful reproductions of Civil War, Old West, hunting, and tactical guns from the 19th century. The company sells everything from handguns and long guns, to a tactical line that includes pistols, rifles and shotguns. "We hope to learn from the Duck Commander brand about the needs of the modern outdoorsman, and we are prepared to improve our classic designs to meet those needs," says Tammy Loy, CEO of Taylor's & Company. "We appreciate the family bonds of the Duck Commander brand, and appreciate how they have embraced an outdoor lifestyle in their everyday scenarios. The quality products that Duck Commander promotes makes us feel honored to be a part of the line-up with our lifestyle branded firearms." Duck Commander The Tour is also looking forward to the partnership with Taylor's & Company. "We're excited to have them on board and look forward to working with them to showcase firearms we know our fans and fellow outdoor enthusiasts will enjoy," says Justin Martin of Duck Commander. Duck Commander The Tour takes place inside the famous Duck Commander Warehouse where visitors can learn more about the Robertsons, Duck Dynasty, and other projects the family is involved with. Visitors can purchase hunting gear, apparel, hats, books, and the famous handmade duck calls from the Duck Commander Store. The new partnership with Taylor's & Company will give Duck Commander enthusiasts and those who live an outdoor lifestyle a chance to see the firearms on the Duck Commander Tour. For more information about Taylor's & Company, visit www.taylorsfirearms.com. More details about Duck Commander The Tour can be found at www.duckcommander.tours. About Duck Commander Duck Commander is a family-owned and operated business that was established in 1972 by Phil Robertson and is based in West Monroe, Louisiana. What began as a duck call-centered company has grown into a multi-million dollar empire under the guidance of current CEO, Willie Robertson. Duck Commander The Tour takes visitors on a journey through the family's history, the Duck Dynasty show, and events that have made Duck Commander what it is today. Media Contact: Caz Potts In-Stand Media 214-774-4366 Related Images taylors-company-logo.jpg Taylor's & Company Logo duck-commander-the-tour-logo.jpg Duck Commander The Tour Logo Related Links Taylor's & Company Website Duck Commander The Tour Website SOURCE Duck Commander The Tour Related Links http://www.duckcommander.tours DENVER, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- EcoGen Labs has proudly announced that it has secured the largest genetics deal in the history of the CBD industry. The US based company is one of the world's largest manufacturers of CBD genetics, raw materials, and processing machinery and it has closed its month of March 2019 with this amazing news. The company recently attended the 6th Annual NOCO Hemp Expo, selling more than 20 million feminized CBD seeds, an achievement that has never been done before in the CBD industry. "When we first started our hemp genetics program 4 years ago, we were on a mission to create exceptionally stable feminized CBD seeds for our own farms," said Joseph Nunez, the Co-Founder of EcoGen Labs, while talking about the company's history. "Year after year our genetics research and development got stronger, and flash forward to now, we're honored to be supplying farmers all over the world with our high CBD genetics," he added. "It's truly remarkable to watch how this industry has exploded; 4 months ago CBD was technically illegal in the U.S., now everyone from CVS to Sephora is carrying EcoGen Labs CBD," said Alexis Korybut, Co-Founder of EcoGen Labs. Formerly known as Eco-X, LLC., the company is one of America's most trusted CBD suppliers in a market with ever growing demands for CBD isolate wholesale, THC-free CBD distillate wholesale and CBD seeds wholesale. By selling over 20 million feminized seeds at the expo, the company has not only created one of the largest deals in the hemp industry but has also earned this reputation as an undisputed leader in hemp genetics. The company emerged as the first true seed-to-sale CBD manufacturer and top-rated largest vertically integrated breeder, cultivator, processor, and distributor of hemp-derived phytocannabinoids and natural terpenes in the United States. In addition, EcoGen Labs is known for its pharmaceutical grade CBD isolate, while the company also leads international distribution with a THC-free CBD distillate. EcoGen Labs expanded their product offering with Nano Water-Soluble CBD powder, and White-Label CBD finished products. Founded in 2016, the company has simply reshaped and revolutionized the entire landscape of the booming CBD industry in a very short span of time and according to its leaders, it's aiming higher for the years to come. For more information, please visit the website at: www.EcoGenLabs.com. Media Contact EcoGen Labs Austin Piatt - Public Relations www.EcoGenLabs.com [email protected] www.facebook.com/EcoGenLabs +1 (970) 773-7979 SOURCE EcoGen Laboratories Related Links https://ecogenlabs.com/ ROME, Ga., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwest Georgia's favorite fall family event shifts dates for the 2019 Wings Over North Georgia Air Show to Labor Day weekend, Aug. 31-Sept. 1. The eighth-annual event will take place at Russell Regional Airport in Rome, GA and is presented by JLC AirShow Management. The U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team has performed at more than 16,000 air shows over the past 50 years. The twin Vans RV-8 aircraft fly in a tight-formation during an air show demonstration. "We're excited about the momentum built from the 2017 and 2018 air shows. In 2017, we hosted the largest crowds to date with near record-breaking attendance during our most recent event," said JLC AirShow Management President John Cowman. "Each year, we carefully select and invite a few new performers while hosting many favorite acts from previous years. We also add some new elements to enhance activities on the ground. Plans for the 2019 show are well underway with a few surprises in mind." There are a number of first-time appearances scheduled. The U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team will "Jump In" for their inaugural visit to the show. Members of this elite group of skydivers have performed and competed for more than 50 years at more than 16,000 shows. Greg Colyer will join the lineup in the T-33 Shooting Star he calls "Ace Maker". The T-33 was first introduced as a training aircraft in the late 1940's and was a variant of the P-80, both designed and manufactured by Lockheed. The aircraft was used as the primary advanced trainer for all Air Force pilots for nearly 20 years. Greg has thrilled audiences with his performances at air shows in Ace Maker since 2008. Redline Airshows is a dynamic two-ship formation aerobatic performance team. The Redline Team flies the Vans RV-8 homebuilt aircraft. These two-seat, tandem aircraft are extremely versatile and capable of speeds up to 230 miles per hour. The two aircraft interact with each other in a variety of formations including opposing and inverted maneuvers. On the ground, air show attendees will have the chance to witness the fierce triple-jet power of Jerry McCart and the "Homewrecker" Jet Truck. Three afterburners light up the runway as McCart races past the crowd. More than 36,000 horsepower is produced from the 18,000 pounds of thrust in the afterburners. Take advantage of early discounts for advance purchase tickets for the Wings Over North Georgia Air Show at www.WingsOverNorthGeorgia.com. Premium seating and family ticket packages are available with on-site reserved gold airport parking options. Guests interested in on-site camping options for the show can choose between premium infield and standard dry camping options. Airport parking lots will open at 8:00 a.m. with the gates opening to guests at 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The opening ceremonies will kick-off each day at 12:30 p.m. followed by the first flying performances at 1 pm. The public can follow the Wings Over North Georgia Air Show across social media through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. For the most-up-to-date air show news, parking tips, and other event information, please visit the show's social media sites. -Link to photos from the 2018 Wings Over North Georgia Air Show - https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/xb1dVnfggi AIR SHOW MEDIA CONTACT Brenda Little [email protected], (813) 391-4542 SOURCE Wings Over North Georgia Air Show Related Links http://www.WingsOverNorthGeorgia.com ARLINGTON, Va., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- While the Trump Administration's FY2020 budget request to Congress proposes many positive measures for Americans, it also includes a proposal that could hurt the affordability and reliability of electricity. The Trump Administration's proposal calls for selling the transmission line assets of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and three of the four federally-owned power marketing administrations (PMAs). Those PMAs are the Bonneville Power Administration, the Western Area Power Administration, and the Southwestern Power Administration. The Administration's budget also calls for all four PMAs (Southeastern Power Administration and those previously mentioned) to charge market-based electricity rates instead of the cost-based electricity rates that they currently charge. "With respect to electric cooperatives and public power, the President's Budget misses the mark," states Energy Fairness Executive Director Paul Griffin. "Just like similar proposals put forward in 1995 and 2005, this budget request puts the affordability and reliability of electricity at risk for millions of customers." "The Trump Administration's proposal to target assets owned by TVA and the PMAs is a bad idea for many reasons," adds Griffin. "It not only threatens the affordability and reliability of electricity for millions of power customers, but it ignores decades of highly-efficient performance by public power providers that we should appreciate and leave alone." "There is a misperception that taxpayers still subsidize the operation and maintenance of dams and other electrical infrastructure needed to bring federal hydropower to the electric cooperative and municipal consumer," explains Clines Jones, Board Chairman of Energy Fairness and Director of the Tennessee River Valley Association. "However, the opposite is true." Background Electric cooperative and municipal utility consumers nationwide use power generated by hydroelectric dams operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation. Unfortunately, every ten to fifteen years, presidential administrations of both parties, or even the U.S. Congress, fail to acknowledge the history and facts behind the creation of the Federal Power Program by proposing to sell the assets of the program or charge market rates for the power they produce. In 1995 the Clinton Administration tried to sell the dams and lakes producing power for PMAs. Through opposition from a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House, the opposition failed. In 2005, bipartisan opposition also sunk the Bush Administration's proposal for all PMAs to charge market-based rates. Energy Fairness is a national organization that advocates for fair and sensible energy policy. Learn more at www.energyfairness.org. SOURCE Energy Fairness Related Links http://www.energyfairness.org SHANGHAI, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Please join SMIC's earnings conference call, with: Dr. Zhao Haijun , Co-Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director , Co-Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director Dr. Liang Mong Song , Co-Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director , Co-Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director Dr. Gao Yonggang , Chief Financial Officer, Strategic Planning Executive Vice President, and Executive Director , Chief Financial Officer, Strategic Planning Executive Vice President, and Executive Director Tim Kuo , Director, Investor Relations as they announce the company's first quarter 2019 results and take questions from investors on Thursday, May 9, 2019. The first quarter 2019 results will also be released and available at http://www.smics.com/en/ before the start of trading on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong on Thursday, May 9, 2019. CONFERENCE CALL / WEBCAST ANNOUNCEMENT DETAILS DATE: Thursday, May 9, 2019 TIME: 8:30 A.M. (Shanghai and Hong Kong) 8:30 P.M. (New York *please note that as this call is live, it will take place on Wednesday, May 8th, 2019 EDT ) WEBCAST: The call will be webcast live with audio at: http://www.smics.com/site/company_financialSummary or https://edge.media-server.com/m6/p/mawu377c. DIAL-IN: For those without internet access, you may participate by dialing the following numbers: (Passcode: SMIC) US +1 845-675-0437 HK +852 3018-6771 CHINA +86 400-620-8038 TW +886 2-5572-3895 REPLAY: Recording will be available approximately 1 hour after the event and it will be archived for replay at http://www.smics.com/site/company_financialSummary, along with a soft copy of our news release, for a period of 12 months following the webcast. CONTACT: Investor Relations +86 21-2081-2804 [email protected] 18 Zhangjiang Road Pudong New Area Shanghai, 201203 People's Republic of China SOURCE Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation Related Links http://www.smics.com JERSEY CITY, N.J., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Leaders of some of the nation's largest advisory firms acknowledge that hiring and developing talent will be the biggest driver of growth for their business in the next few years, but they face mounting challenges in identifying the right talent, expanding their talent pools and implementing initiatives that help drive diversity, according to a poll conducted at the 2019 Elite Advisor Summit held by BNY Mellon's Pershing last month in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. "Talent shortage is by far one of the biggest threats to growth among advisory firms," said Gabriel Garcia, managing director, Advisor Solutions at BNY Mellon's Pershing. "It is critical that advisory firms start putting in place measures that will increase their appeal as a 'best place to work,' build their reputation in the marketplace and, perhaps most importantly, help them tap into new and diverse talent pools." The 2019 Elite Advisor Poll, which was conducted among the executives attending the two-day, invitation-only event, reveals that the majority (59 percent) of the leaders at the country's most preeminent registered investment advisors (RIAs) and institutional firms are finding it challenging to find the right fit for their firms and 41 percent are not entirely satisfied with their firms' efforts to hire women or ethnic minorities. For the majority (59 percent) of executives responding to the poll, the main challenge in hiring women and ethnic minorities is the lack of enough qualified talent from these pools. Yet, when asked what their firms are doing to reach a more diverse talent pool, almost half (47 percent) of the executives responding to the poll indicate that they have not implemented some of the best practice initiatives and programs, such as recruiting at schools with a diverse student base, removing subconscious biases from job descriptions, diversity training, etc. Additional highlights from the 2019 Elite Advisor Poll include: Recruiting: Only five percent of advisory firm executives say they have no challenges with recruiting. Aside from the challenges in finding the right fit, executives (20 percent) say there is a lack of talent in the marketplace and that attracting talent to their firm is a challenge (17 percent). Only five percent of advisory firm executives say they have no challenges with recruiting. Aside from the challenges in finding the right fit, executives (20 percent) say there is a lack of talent in the marketplace and that attracting talent to their firm is a challenge (17 percent). Retention: Providing opportunities for career growth is deemed to be the most effective way to retain employees, according to 55 percent of respondents. Only 16 percent say competitive salary is an effective tool for retaining employees. Providing opportunities for career growth is deemed to be the most effective way to retain employees, according to 55 percent of respondents. Only 16 percent say competitive salary is an effective tool for retaining employees. Diversity: Slightly over a quarter (28 percent) of respondents say their firms are expanding recruiting efforts to include schools with a diverse student base. Meanwhile, only nine percent say they offer diversity training and only 14 percent say they are reviewing job descriptions to remove any subconscious biases from the hiring process. Further, a mere two percent of executives say their firms are measuring progress on diversity. About the Elite Advisor Poll The Elite Advisor Poll was conducted live via mobile phones during the 2019 Elite Advisor Summit, which took place March 11-13 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The poll gauged attendees'which comprised the executives of some of the nation's largest advisory firmsviews and concerns around talent and technology. An average of 42 executives responded to the talent-related questions. About the Elite Advisor Summit The Elite Advisor Summit, hosted by BNY Mellon's Pershing, is a two-day, invitation-only event with some of the country's most preeminent executives of RIAs and institutional firms. The event is designed to help advisory firms compete in today's fast-changing environment and facilitate meaningful conversations, ideation and networking. The inaugural Elite Advisor Summit was held Feb. 28March 2, 2017, in Aventura, Florida. This year's Summit, which took place March 11-13 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, hosted 86 executives from the nation's largest RIA firms, representing an average AUM of $9 billion and a median AUM of $1.8 billion. About BNY Mellon's Pershing BNY Mellon's Pershing and its affiliates provide a comprehensive network of global financial business solutions to advisors, broker-dealers, family offices, hedge fund and '40 Act fund managers, registered investment advisor firms and wealth managers. Many of the world's most sophisticated and successful financial services firms rely on Pershing for clearing and custody; investment, wealth and retirement solutions; technology and enterprise data management; trading services; prime brokerage and business consulting. Pershing helps clients improve profitability and drive growth, create capacity and efficiency, attract and retain talent, and manage risk and regulation. With a network of offices worldwide, Pershing provides business-to-business solutions to clients representing approximately 7 million investor accounts globally. Pershing LLC (member FINRA, NYSE, SIPC) is a BNY Mellon company. Additional information is available on pershing.com, or follow us on Twitter @Pershing. About BNY Mellon BNY Mellon is a global investments company dedicated to helping its clients manage and service their financial assets throughout the investment lifecycle. Whether providing financial services for institutions, corporations or individual investors, BNY Mellon delivers informed investment management and investment services in 35 countries. As of December 31, 2018, BNY Mellon had $33.1 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, and $1.7 trillion in assets under management. BNY Mellon can act as a single point of contact for clients looking to create, trade, hold, manage, service, distribute or restructure investments. BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK). Additional information is available on www.bnymellon.com. Follow us on Twitter @BNYMellon or visit our newsroom at www.bnymellon.com/newsroom for the latest company news. Sanuber Grohe +1 201 413 2247 [email protected] SOURCE BNY Mellon Related Links http://www.bnymellon.com WHAT: News media representatives are invited to attend a day-long technology summit in Birmingham, Alabama next week hosted by C Spire Business for business executives and information technology professionals where experts will share the latest technology, cybersecurity, cloud and collaboration solutions. The C Spire Business 2019 Bytes & Bites Technology Solution Summit on Thursday, April 18 will feature Theresa Payton, the first female to serve as White House CIO under former President George W. Bush, as the event's main speaker. C Spire Business is a unit of C Spire, a diversified telecommunications and technology services company. A national cybersecurity expert, Payton will cover a variety of topics in her "Hype or Reality? Your Workplace and Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, AI, Machine Learning and the IoT" remarks set for 11:30 a.m. in the Electra Room of the Vulcan Park and Museum, 1701 Valley View Drive in Birmingham. Named by Security Magazine as one of the top 25 most influential people in security, Payton is one of America's leading authorities on security and intelligence operations. As White CIO, she oversaw IT operations for Bush and his staff from 2006 to 2008 during a period of fast-paced technological change and escalating cyber threats. Cybersecurity is a growing concern with experts predicting that various forms of cybercrime, including damage and destruction of data, stolen money, lost productivity, theft of intellectual property, theft of personal and financial data, embezzlement and fraud, will cost businesses worldwide $6 trillion annually by 2021, up from $3 trillion in 2015. Payton, who has also held executive roles in banking technology at Bank of America and Wells Fargo, is expected to share insights on how businesses can harness technology to achieve goals while incorporating safeguards to protect enterprises from cyber criminals. Over 1,000 business and IT professionals are expected to attend the summit. The event also will host panel discussions on security and collaboration featuring industry experts from Cisco, DellEMC, C Spire Business, Microsoft and Polycom. Admission is free and the public is invited to learn about the latest trends in technology, attend panel discussions, view technology demonstrations and enjoy food, refreshments and live music. "As evidenced by the recent cyberattacks on political parties, major businesses and social media companies, executives need to be vigilant by developing and implementing, if necessary, a comprehensive plan to protect their company's valuable data and software programs," said Don Monistere, general manager of C Spire Business. Monistere said C Spire Business offers advanced connectivity, cloud, software, hardware, communications, professional services, cybersecurity, business continuity and technology support in a single, seamless, managed IT solution portfolio. "From desktop to data center, we help customers work smarter, faster and more secure." To learn more about the summit or to register to attend, go to https://events.cspire.com/bytesandbites2019. SAN MATEO, Calif., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumers who have successfully completed the Freedom Debt Relief program report that they are significantly more financially capable, have significantly less stress about their finances, and feel significantly better about their personal lives than consumers in similar debt hardship who did not enroll in the program. In a study conducted for Freedom Debt Relief (FDR) by the L. William Seidman Research Institute, the consultancy arm of the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, graduates of the FDR debt settlement program scored 24 percent higher than their counterparts on the Financial Capability Scale (FCS). The survey tool, developed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Financial Security, measures financial capability of individuals. Higher scores indicate more financial capability. Consumers who completed the FDR program also scored 21 percent lower on the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Developed by Sheldon Cohen, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, the PSS is the most widely used psychological instrument for measuring the perception of stress. Lower scores indicate less stress. "The study provides comprehensive data on the financial and emotional health of individuals who use our debt settlement program, and the findings establish quantitatively what we've observed and understood for quite some time," says Andrew Housser, co-CEO and co-founder of FDR. "The benefits of getting out of debt go well beyond the financial impact to our clients' lives. Feeling less stressed about finances, and more in control of one's financial future, contributes to healthier individuals, families and communities." The Seidman Institute surveyed 3,452 people struggling with debt in October 2018. Additional findings include: 87% of FDR graduates are confident they could handle an unexpected emergency expense significantly higher than those who never enrolled. 20% of FDR graduates say they have incurred a late fee in the last two months significantly lower than those who never enrolled. 71% of FDR graduates say they have a personal budget or financial plan significantly higher than those who never enrolled. 79% of FDR graduates are confident in being able to make financial decisions significantly higher than those who never enrolled. Graduates of the FDR program also reported that they feel less upset by unexpected events, less nervous or stressed, and less unable to control the important things in their lives. The study found that they feel more empowered to make changes to their lives and are actively pursuing their goals. Finally, significantly more program graduates say their personal relationships are strong and healthy, and that they sleep well at night. "Consumers who successfully complete the debt settlement program offered by Freedom Debt Relief are significantly more financially capable, and have significantly less stress about their finances," says Timothy James, Ph.D., director of research and consulting at the Seidman Institute. "With the economic difficulties many families in the United States are currently facing, it is important to give consumers a variety of financial tools to improve their financial and emotional well-being." To read the executive summary or to download a copy of the full study, click here. Freedom Debt Relief (www.freedomdebtrelief.com/faq) Co-founded by Andrew Housser and Brad Stroh, Freedom Debt Relief part of Freedom Financial Network, LLC (FFN), a family of companies providing innovative solutions that empower people to live healthier financial lives. For people struggling with debt, the custom Freedom Debt Relief program offers the chance to significantly reduce and resolve what they owe more quickly than they could on their own. Other companies in the FFN family include: FreedomPlus, which tailors personal loans to each borrower with a level of customer service unmatched in the industry; ConsolidationPlus, which offers loans that accelerate debt settlements for consumers enrolled in qualifying debt relief programs; and Bills.com, which offers a resource site with simple tips, advice and tools to help consumers make smart financial decisions. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Freedom Debt Relief also operates an office in Tempe, Arizona, and employs more than 2,300. The company was voted the best place to work in the Phoenix area for two consecutive years. SOURCE Freedom Financial Network Related Links https://www.freedomdebtrelief.com/ SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. (FCPA), the leader in Document Imaging, announced today that its new Easy NX Connect V1.10 Software has added more scanning destinations for your documents. Easy NX Connect works in conjunction with NX Manager to send scanned documents to folders, email, secure locations, popular cloud destinations and more, all with easy to program job buttons and user authentication options. NX Manager alone provides image processing with advanced image cleanup as its primary function. Easy NX Connect offers a PC-Less solution that reduces IT footprint and cost while it authenticates individual user access. It automates scanning workflows by assigning users to specific destinations and uses NFC authentication or username and password for secure login. "The expansion of our Easy NX Connect software will support customers with an even wider array of document management needs," says Yasunari Shimizu, President and CEO, Fujitsu Computer Products of America. "The new destinations provide businesses with increased accessibility to a variety of platforms, making digital transformation simple and intuitive." Easy NX Connect V1.10 Features and Support Easy NX Connect Destinations SharePoint OnlineNEW! Amazon S3NEW! FTP, FTPS, and SFTPNEW! Scan to PrintNEW! Box.com OneDrive for Business Active Directory to email or folder Local Database to email or folder Webmail (Yahoo, Gmail, etc.) User Authentication Methods NFC to Active Directory NFC to Local Database PIN / Password to Active Directory PIN / Password to Local Database Customer Support Featuring FCPA's industry leading U.S. based customer support Each license includes a 1-year maintenance contract and free software updates with access to new connectors as they are added. The scan count automatically resets on the license anniversary date, removing any need for customers to contact FCPA. As an organization's scanning projects grow, there's an easy way to upgrade to unlimited scans if needed. FUJITSU fi-7300NX Document Scanner with NX Manager Features The fi-7300NX is created with the industry's most popular and reliable scanning engine, providing a premium scanning experience for any business including SMB up to enterprise organizations. The fi-7300NX provides high-speed scanning at 60 ppm / 120 ipm with flawless performance through technologies such as paper feed detection, intelligent multi-feed, sound detection and lag detection to prevent paper jams and slow-downs 4.3-inch touch screen Flexible connectivity to allow organizations to place the scanner, untethered, in the most accessible location using Wi-Fi or wired LAN The ADF holds 80 sheets at a time reducing the amount of paper preparation for users Various types of user authentication including NFC card, Active Directory, and Alpha-Numeric Codes Easy NX Connect Pricing and Availability Easy NX Connect is available via two licenses at different price points depending on the needs of an organization. The $599 license allows organizations to scan up to one million pages per year and includes a 1-year maintenance contract. The $959 license provides unlimited pages scanned per year, also including a 1-year maintenance contract. To learn more about the fi-7300NX with NX Manager and Easy NX Connect, visit us at https://bit.ly/easynxconnect. About Fujitsu Largest IT services provider in Japan and 7th in the world* Fujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company, offering a full range of technology products, solutions and services. Approximately 140,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. For more information, visit http://www.fujitsu.com and on social at @Fujitsu_Global . *Source: Gartner IT service vendor revenue base, "Market Share: IT Services, 2017," published 11 June 2018 About Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. is an established leader in the computer hardware industry, delivering innovative solutions and services that enable users to solve critical business productivity issues and streamline operations. Fujitsu provides cutting-edge solutions for business and personal environments, backed by a comprehensive portfolio of service and support programs. For more information about Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. solutions and services, visit http://us.fujitsu.com/fcpa or call 800-626-4686. Media Contact: BAM Communications for Fujitsu Computer Products of America [email protected] C: 516.567.3036 SOURCE Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. Related Links http://www.fujitsu.com NEW YORK, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global FinFET Technology Market Projected to Grow Over $42.00 Billion by 2023 Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05764026/?utm_source=PRN The report presents a detailed market analysis including an in-depth study of the market drivers, opportunities, challenges, and growth trends mapped across segments.The market is segmented based on technology node, product, end user, and regional presence. The high wafer and gate cost of FinFET in comparison to FD-SOI is one of the crucial issues to be looked upon in the current scenario. The effort to deliver such solutions, along with the growing demand of handheld devices, is acting as one of the major drivers for the global FinFET technology market at present. The surging demand from integrated circuit (IC) industry demanding enhanced processors, has been identified as the key opportunity that could escalate the market growth in the coming years. However, design optimization along with self-heating issues and higher wafer and gate cost of FinFET in comparison to FD-SOI continues to remain the pain points of the market. The technology node chapter is the result of a comprehensive and rigorous research.The chapter is divided into five broader categories including 7nm, 10nm, 14nm, 16nm, and 22nm. The information supplied in the report includes key market players, market size, key restraints, and growth opportunities. The use of technology nodes in products such as central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU), network processors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), system-on-chip (SoC), and microcontroller unit (MCU), provides an in-depth analysis of the market statistics, key trends, and opportunities across regions. The extensive research in technology nodes by major foundry players such as Intel Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd., among others, has provided a plethora of end users including smartphones, computers and tablets, wearables, automotive, and high end networks. The report provides an exhaustive end-user analysis including the market statistics for different verticals and enumerates various use cases with a futuristic roadmap for each industry vertical. Being an extensive research study on the leading as well as developing regions in the FinFET technology market, such as Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe, and Rest-of-the-World, the report provides the market statistics, drivers, challenges, and opportunities across these regions. The report also formulates the entire supply chain of the market, along with industry trends of FinFET technology, patent analysis, and heat map with emphasis on market timelines and technology roadmaps, and market dynamics. Some of the key players identified in the report are Intel Corporation (U.S.), Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (South Korea), and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (Taiwan), GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc. (U.S.), Qualcomm Incorporated (U.S.), and Nvidia Corporation (U.S.), among others. Key questions answered in the report: What is the projected value of global FinFET technology market by 2023 along with the estimated CAGR? What are the major driving and restraining factors of the global FinFET technology market? Who are the key foundry and fabless players operating in the global FinFET technology market? Which are the foundry companies supplying chips to fabless companies? What is the competitive strength of the key leading players in the global FinFET technology market? What is the relationship between products, applications, and client considering foundry and fabless players? Which technology node (7nm, 10nm, 14nm, 16nm, and 20/22nm) of the global FinFET technology market is expected to dominate in the coming years? Why 14nm technology node is widely adopted, and which technology node is expected to grow at the fastest rate in the forecast period? Which end user is expected to dominate the global FinFET technology market by 2023? Which region is expected to lead the global FinFET technology market by 2023? Executive Summary The evolution of semiconductor industry in the past decade has led to various technological advancements in applications such as automotive, manufacturing, and consumer electronics, among others.The growth in these application sectors can be attributed to the impending use of integrated circuit (IC) or chip consisting of transistors, sensors, and actuators, among others. Since a chip consists of a number of transistors, the use of transistors in a particular application area is essential.The advent of metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) led to the production of many compact and efficient devices. However, the reduced channel length between the source and drain led to higher current leakage and gave rise to short channel effects such as surface scattering, velocity saturation, and hot electron effect, among others.This gave rise to the evolution of FinFET technology capable of overcoming the abovementioned barriers. The FinFET technology witnessed a major increase in adoption rate for the usage in integrated circuits (ICs) due to several advancements in the technology such as superior levels of scalability, and advantages in terms of IC processing. The principle on which FinFET technology works is similar to that of conventional MOSFET. A major characteristic of FinFET is that the conducting channel is wrapped by a fin, which forms the main body of the device. The global FinFET market is expected to witness a significant growth during the forecast period (2018-2023) registering a CAGR of 16.10%. This growth in the FinFET technology market is due to the increasing IC industry which is providing ample growth opportunities to the FinFET technology market. Additionally, this high growth is also supported by the growing demand of smartphones from consumers, requiring enhanced processors which improves day-to-day functioning. However, designing challenges for the designers and higher wafer cost and gate cost of FinFET in comparison to FD-SOI are restraining the overall growth of the global FinFET technology market. The FinFET technology market has been tracked along the lines of technology node (7nm, 10nm, 14nm, 16nm, 22nm), product, end user, and regions.Revenue generated from various end-user segments, namely, smartphones, computer and tablets, wearables, automotive, and high end networks, have been analyzed. The report also covers the FinFET technology market on a global scale and consequently provides revenue data of the key regions. A separate segment specifically has been dedicated to the key global regions: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), and Rest-of-the-World (RoW). The use of advanced technology nodes for producing compact and efficient devices has changed the market paradigm by providing consumers with fast and efficient processors.The different technology nodes such as 7nm, 10nm, 14nm, 16nm, and 22nm are manufactured with FinFET technology. In terms of adoption, the 14nm technology node is widely used owing to its adaptability in low power and high performance application areas. As a result of continuous technological advancements, 7nm technology node is expected to grow at a robust rate owing to high demand from consumer electronics and automotive segment. On the basis of end user, the global FinFET technology market is segmented into central processing unit (CPU), micro control unit (MCU), system on chip (SoC), field-programmable gate array (FPGA), network processors, and graphics processing unit (GPU). SoC segment is the highest revenue generating segment among all the applications of FinFET technology; whereas FPGA is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period. FinFET technology market is used by various end users such as automotive, smart phones, wearables, computers and tablets, high-end networks, and others.Smart phones segment is the highest revenue generating segment among all the end users of FinFET technology owing to a high demand of smartphones from consumers for enhanced processors which improves day-to-day functioning. The wearables segment is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period because of changing needs of the consumers for smart watches which can assist in tracking and monitoring human body for day to day functioning. The market study has identified North America as the leading region in the global FinFET technology market accounting for almost 39.01% of the net revenue generated by the FinFET technology, and has estimated that the region will continue its dominance during the forecast period as well. APAC is also anticipated to be a promising market with a multi-fold rise in demand expected from China, South Korea, Japan, and other Asian nations in the coming future. Countries Covered North America The U.S. Canada Mexico Asia Pacific China Japan South Korea India Taiwan Rest of Asia-Pacific Europe Germany The U.K. France Spain Rest-of-Europe Rest-of-the-World South America Middle East and Africa Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05764026/?utm_source=PRN 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 ROCKVILLE, Md., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Goodwill Industries International and Google.org, Google's philanthropic arm, are expanding a successful program that provides digital skills training to U.S. workers. The Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator, is designed to meet a range of needs from basic keyboarding to advanced computer programming to sharpen the digital skills of today's workers and provide the necessary training that are specific to entry- and mid-level occupations. First announced in October 2017, the program is part of the Grow with Google initiative to create economic opportunities for all Americans. In the next year, the joint program will grow from 93 locations in 34 states to 126 locations nationwide. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, there are more than seven million job openings in the United States, and advanced skills such as computer support or programming are increasingly essential for well-paying, in-demand careers for diverse populations across the country. One year into a three-year, 10 million-dollar commitment from Google.org, the Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator has already helped more than a quarter million job seekers improve their digital skills awareness and connected nearly 30,000 job seekers and career advancers with employment. The program trains workers in a variety of skills relevant in today's digital workplace, from social media to programming and network support, so that workers can keep their skills current in today's rapidly shifting labor market. "The Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator helps job seekers and mid-career professionals attain the skills they need to find work and enhance their earnings potential," said Steven C. Preston, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International. "Thanks to the early success of this program, Goodwill and Google.org are extending its reach to workers across the country as we aim to train more than 1.25 million workers with the digital skills needed to succeed in today's job market and prepare for the changing workforce." The Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator trains workers in five digital skill levels: Digital Skills Awareness Introduction to computers and information about digital skills Basic Digital Skills Training Computer skills such as keyboarding, email and social media Productivity Software Skills Productivity tools such as word processors and spreadsheets Entry-Level Digital Skills Training includes computer and network support and basic programming. Mid-level and Occupation-Specific Digital Skills Includes using Customer Relationship Management System (CRMs), or technology needed for health care jobs, as an example "This effort was made possible by the strong collaboration we've formed with Goodwill Industries International, building on the good work they do every day to help extend opportunity," said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google. "We are proud of the work we've done together through the Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator, and look forward to continuing our work with them to equip more Americans with the digital skills they need to succeed." Part of the success of the Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator is fueled by Google.org's commitment to provide 1,000 Google volunteers as trainers and mentors. To date, 200 volunteers have already helped to build workers' digital skills. Additionally, seven Google.org Fellows are embedded full-time at Goodwill locations across the country. ABOUT GOODWILL Goodwill Industries International (GII) is a network of 160 community-based, autonomous organizations in the United States and Canada with a presence in 13 other countries. GII is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is recognized by GuideStar with its Platinum Seal of Approval, the organization's highest rating for charities. For the past three years, Goodwill was ranked in the top five brands that inspired consumers the most with its mission in the World Value Index, commissioned by the creative agency, enso. Goodwill has been on Forbes' list of top 20 most inspiring companies for three consecutive years, the only nonprofit featured on that list. Local Goodwill organizations are innovative and sustainable social enterprises that offer job placement and training services, and other community-based programs by selling donated clothing and household items in more than 3,300 stores collectively and online at shopgoodwill.com. Goodwill helps people facing challenges to finding employment, including people with disabilities, veterans and military families, youth and young adults, older workers, people reintegrating into society, and others working to advance their careers. Local Goodwill organizations build revenues and expand employment opportunities by contracting with commercial, state, government and non-government organizations to provide a wide range of business services, including janitorial and grounds maintenance, flexible staffing, food service, manufacturing and contracts packaging, reverse logistics, document imaging and shredding, and laundry services. Last year, local Goodwill organizations collectively placed more than 288,000 people in employment in the United States and Canada. In addition, more than 36 million people used computers and mobile devices to access Goodwill education, training, mentoring and online learning services to strengthen their skills, and more than two million people received in-person services. Goodwill is both an icon and accessible neighbor: more than 82 percent of the U.S. population resides within 10 miles of a Goodwill location. For more information or to find a Goodwill location near you, visit goodwill.org, or call (800) GOODWILL. Follow us on Twitter: @GoodwillIntl and @GoodwillCapHill, and find us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube: GoodwillIntl. ABOUT GOOGLE Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Through products and platforms like Search, Maps, Gmail, Android, Google Play, Chrome and YouTube, Google plays a meaningful role in the daily lives of billions of people and has become one of the most widely-known companies in the world. Google is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. SOURCE Goodwill Industries International Related Links http://www.goodwill.org Dr. Melanie Altizer asked a co-worker how she was feeling one day and never imagined such a simple question might save a life. But the resulting conversation led Altizer to offer a kidney to Marianne McGiffin, her office manager and friend. Both women came in February to Tampa General Hospital, one of the nation's busiest and most advanced organ transplant centers, for a successful kidney transplant operation. "I feel like I have been rejuvenated, I have so much hope," McGiffin said. Altizer went into medicine to be a healer, and she says donating her kidney comes from the same impulse inside her. "I've had a lot of great feelings in my life but I can't compare this to anything else." Seeing her friend Marianne recover after the life-saving surgery was simply "the best feeling." Altizer, McGiffin and TGH physicians discussed the need for living organ donors at a news conference Wednesday, April 10 at Tampa General Hospital, which has performed more than 10,000 transplant operations. "There's a huge need for donors," said Dr. Victor Bowers, executive director of the Tampa General Hospital Advanced Organ Disease & Transplantation Institute. "We're still fortunate, our waiting lists here are two, three, and four years, but in some parts of the country they are years longer." April is National Donate Life Month, which shines a spotlight on living and deceased donors of organs and tissue. In this case, the donor and the recipient came together through a connection at work. Altizer is an OB-GYN who practices in Fort Myers. McGiffin, trained as a nurse, has been an office manager in the same practice. On a day when McGiffin didn't seem to be feeling well, Altizer asked what was wrong. McGiffin explained that she had kidney disease and needed a transplant. The two quickly discovered they both have O+ blood. Altizer had already signed up to be an organ donor. But that meant donating her organs if she died. She had never really considered donating an organ while she was still alive. "When I started doing some research about living donation I was shocked at how safe it really is," Altizer said. "You know, I don't really look at it in terms of a sacrifice. I think in a different way, it benefits me just as much, because I can't think of anything more powerful or meaningful than to be able to help give someone the gift of life." McGiffin says she is amazed at Altizer's generosity and says Altizer "is so giving of herself." Now, both women say they want to share the message that living organ donations can save the lives of others. Because most people are born with two kidneys, they remain in good health after donating one of them. Other people may donate a portion of their liver, because it can be transplanted and save the life of someone with liver disease. Dr. James Huang, who performed this kidney transplant operation at TGH along with Dr. Heidi Pearson, said donations like these are vitally important because, "a healthy kidney from a healthy person works better, it works faster and it works longer." "Success stories like these are inspiring, but many people are still awaiting donations so they too can receive successful transplants," said Betsy Edwards, public affairs project manager for LifeLink of Florida. "We've got more than 5,000 Floridians on the national organ transplant waiting list." For more information on organ and tissue donation, she urged people to visit www.LifeLinkFoundation.org For more information on kidney transplants and other organ transplant options at Tampa General Hospital, please visit www.tgh.org/services/transplant Tampa General Hospital last year announced a partnership with Lee Health, which offers pre- and post-transplant care from TGH physicians in the Fort Myers area. McGiffin is a patient of Dr. Gautham Mogilishetty at Lee Health. Tampa General Hospital, a 1007-bed non-profit academic medical center, delivers world-class care as the region's only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. It is one of the nation's busiest adult solid organ transplant centers and is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. Advancing medicine through innovation, Tampa General houses a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center, an 82-bed Level IV neonatal intensive care unit, and a state-certified spinal cord and brain injury rehabilitation center. For more information, go to www.tgh.org. SOURCE Tampa General Hospital Related Links http://www.tgh.org Transatlantic airline Icelandair has launched its new Buddy Hotline service to connect passengers with Icelandair Buddies for personalized travel recommendations. The service aims to support travelers during or in the planning of their trip by providing trusted advice from locals. Travelers can directly connect with a Buddy by phone or via an online messenger, to receive the ultimate 'insider' advice to make the most of their time away. From where to find the best fish restaurant in town, to where to discover a beautiful hidden spot for a picnic or enjoy a secluded geothermal hot pool, Icelandair's Buddies will have the answer. All Buddies are members of the Icelandair team who are knowledgable and passionate about promoting responsible tourism in the country. A new global study conducted by Icelandair revealed that over one quarter of Americans (27%) feel overwhelmed by the travel planning process, and 52% feel 'anxious,' 'stressed,' or 'confused' about what they should see or do during their trip. These feelings are further exacerbated with trust in reviews and recommendations at a new low. Research reveals that 71% of Americans are more aware of the existence of fake reviews than five years ago, which has resulted in 82% trusting reviews considerably less. From discovering hidden gems to experiencing authentic local culture, there is a growing appetite among travelers to explore the 'real' location they're visiting, and 68% of Americans expressed interest in having direct access to local knowledge for a more authentic experience. In addition to seeking advice from locals, many like to feel like a native while in another country, with over one third (36%) eating like a local and 43% shopping locally in an attempt to travel more sustainably. Bogi Nils Bogason, President & CEO Icelandair Group, comments, "We know travelers are seeking more unique experiences guided by advice from trusted local sources. "Our new Buddy Hotline service feeds this consumer appetite for 'insider' knowledge and is a great fit with our staff who, as Icelanders, have such a passion for warmly welcoming and hosting travelers from across the world." The Icelandair Buddies have a diverse range of personal passions and hobbies which will shine through with their advice for passengers. Have an appetite for adventure? Gulaug, a project manager, loves to get outdoors for a morning hike and can tell you where to enjoy some of Iceland's breathtaking landscapes breathtaking landscapes In search of authentic Icelandic cuisine? Auur, a travel consultant, has his finger on the pulse of the hottest new spots to eat in town In need of some peace and tranquillity? Sigriur, a flight attendant, is excited to share some of her favorite geothermal pools for passengers to relax and reenergize the Icelandic way Want to immerse yourself in Icelandic culture? Edda, a customer service supervisor, loves to pass on her passion for traditional Icelandic culture, partaking in knitting lopapeysa (a traditional Icelandic sweater) in her spare time The Buddy Hotline launches today and is available to all Icelandair passengers to enjoy from April 10 May 8, 2019. To find out more about Icelandair's Buddy Hotline and to take advantage by booking now visit icelandair.com/BuddyHotline. www.icelandair.com https://twitter.com/Icelandair https://www.facebook.com/Icelandair http://instagram.com/icelandair/ Notes to Editors *The global report included a survey of 16,000 of holidaymakers across North America, Europe and Scandinavia, including a survey of 2,000 respondents from the US. It was commissioned in March 2019 by Icelandair. Icelandair Buddy Hotline The Buddy Hotline is a new service from Icelandair, which connects passengers of the airline directly by phone or via an online messenger with a 'Buddy' for trusted personalised 'insider' advice and recommendations to help them make the most out of their time away. The service will be available from 10th April to 8th May, and will be accessible before and during their holiday, for travelers who want tips and advice on the go or for those planning in advance. Icelandair Icelandair is a transatlantic airline and offers an opportunity for passengers to take a stopover in Iceland at no additional airfare. Since the 1960s, Icelandair has encouraged passengers to enjoy an Icelandair Stopover and now there's more choice and variety on offer than ever before, with the service available on all transatlantic routes from 24 European destinations to 18 North American gateways (including latest additions San Francisco, Kansas City and Dallas). Icelandair also offers flights between Iceland and the following destinations: Canada: Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver Europe: Reykjavik, Akureyri, Amsterdam, Bergen, Berlin, Billund, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dublin, Frankfurt, Geneva, Gothenburg, Glasgow, Hamburg, Helsinki, London, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Oslo, Paris, Stockholm and Zurich USA: Anchorage, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, Minneapolis, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa and Washington D.C. SOURCE Icelandair Related Links http://www.icelandair.com SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Inspirit IoT Inc. an embedded intelligence company, has been selected from among more than 800 startups to participate in Plug and Play's Internet of Things Accelerator Program this summer. Plug and Play (PnP) is the world's largest technology accelerator and venture fund. Plug and Play's IoT Accelerator sponsors include Takenaka, Panasonic, ADT, Rockwell Automation and Fujitsu. "Inspirit IoT is a leader in high-performance edge intelligence for real-time, life- and mission-critical applications," said Dr. Kyle Rupnow, co-founder and CTO of Inspirit IoT. "Plug and Play's accelerator will allow us to open innovate with global industry leaders to embed their domain-specific machine learning at the edge. In-market proof-of-concept collaborations with corporate partners will ensure we deliver product market fit against their desired customer experiences." In 2018, Zion Research valued the global embedded intelligence industry at around USD 30.5 billion. Inspirit IoT's IPs are designed for high-performance, chip-agnostic embedded-intelligence deployments, all based on state-of-the-art industry-specific machine learning applications. Embedded Intelligence is expected to reach approximately USD 77.3 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 14.2 percent between 2019 and 2025. Recent examples of Inspirit IoT's open innovation efforts include projects with Asia's leading system integrator NCS, where the addition of Inspirit's audio event detection (audio machine learning) was designed as a hardware component to control their pan-tilt-zoom security camera. Audio event detection monitors for suspicious events (e.g., glass breaking, gunshots, screaming), guides the camera to the location of the event and appropriately responds (e.g., begin recording, notify authorities). The Inspirit audio intelligence provides low-latency analysis, response and control for more intelligent safety, security and surveillance applications. Inspirit IoT also worked with an embedded surveillance client to optimize their machine learning for a computer vision deployment. Their embedded platform optimizations reduced the latency of the machine learning inference by 10x, followed by additional network compression of 34.5x to further reduce computation, storage and bandwidth requirements. "Inspirit IoT is helping to change the way that companies deliver embedded intelligence," said Sobhan Khani, VP of Plug and Play's IoT and Mobility platforms. "The company has an extremely talented team and compelling proposition. We are excited to have them in this next batch." Inspirit IoT will participate in Plug and Play's three-month business development program and have the chance to meet with their network of over 280 corporate partners. This program will give the company the opportunity to collaborate one-on-one with corporations, VCs and other startups in exclusive networking events, private deal-flow sessions and more. Inspirit IoT was incubated in 2011 at the Advanced Digital Sciences Center of Singapore an affiliate of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, founded in 2009 under support from Singapore's Agency for Science Technology and Research. The research aimed to address the needs of creating energy-efficient hardware accelerators of computation-intensive algorithms in an automated way as well as higher hardware design productivity and quality. Inspirit IoT's award-winning technology was commercialized in June 2016 at EnterpriseWorks at the Research Park of UIUC. Inspirit IoT was awarded two National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants and the UIUC I-Start Accelerator grant to conduct research and development (R&D) on automating design and deployment of hardware for accelerated machine learning. Series A company Inspirit IoT is also funded by a leading developer of embedded AI sensing platforms, Senscape Technologies. Inspirit IoT is a registered Intel IoT Solutions Partner, IBM Business Partner and Siemens Frontier Program Partner. The company currently employs 15 employees and has operations in the United States, Singapore and India. It was recently ranked a top 10 Industrial IoT startup by CDN Magazine. About Inspirit IoT Inc. Inspirit IoT's vision is to be the global leader in delivering embedded intelligence at the edge. Inspirit IoT delivers a compelling channel and customer experience in markets where performance, power and time-to-market are a mission or regulatory imperative. For more information, please visit http://www.inspirit-iot.com. About Plug and Play Tech Center Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we have built accelerator programs, corporate innovation services and an in-house VC to make technological advancement progress faster than ever before. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in over 20 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 10,000 startups and 280 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries. We provide active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs and host more than 700 networking events per year. Companies in our community have raised over $7 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, Lending Club and PayPal. For more information, visit http://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com. Media Contacts: Leesa Soulodre [email protected] (312) 741-1554 Allison Romero [email protected] (408) 524-1457 Related Images dr-kyle-rupnow-co-founder-and-cto.jpg Dr. Kyle Rupnow, Co-Founder and CTO, Inspirit IoT Inc. SOURCE Inspirit IoT Inc. AUSTIN, Texas, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at Zoholics Austin, the largest annual gathering of Zoho users, iovox, a global call tracking provider, unveiled its new mobile-first call tracking integration for Zoho CRM. The integration provides users with a two-way sync of calls, notes and tags between iovox and Zoho CRM. The service and related app from iovox enables Zoho CRM users to effortlessly share details of any inbound or outbound mobile call, including call duration, call notes, any tags that were affixed to the call, tasks, and for Android users, even a searchable transcription of their side of a voice call, directly into their Zoho CRM account. The iovox app provides major time savings to Zoho CRM users while ensuring all interactions, even those from mobile phones, are accurately captured. "Business owners and sales teams want to focus on growing their business, not on time-consuming administrative tasks, particularly when manual CRM data entry means that they are trying to recall their busy day by scrolling through an unlabeled call history," said Thibaut Behaghel, Director of Business Development at iovox. "With the iovox app, call details can be shared the moment a call ends, allowing Zoho CRM users to focus less on reporting and more on closing deals." Loaded with Time Saving Features Some of the features of the iovox/Zoho integration: Choose which calls get shared Add call notes Add call tags Option to share calls Set reminders and assign tasks to a call Record and/or transcribe your side of a call (Android only) Works with existing phone dialer Add call details to existing leads or contacts in Zoho CRM Auto create new leads in Zoho CRM Track date, time, duration of calls In addition to eliminating time consuming manual data entry, the iovox app requires no technical set up and is easy to connect with Zoho CRM credentials. All that is needed is a smartphone and an internet connection to get started. The iovox app facilitates call tracking in the palm of your hand for everyone, regardless of whether or not they are using the Zoho CRM integration, with the same tagging, flagging, note taking, sharing, recording and transcription features available with the Zoho CRM enabled solution. "We're thrilled to have iovox as Gold Sponsors at Zoholics, and we're grateful for their commitment to investing in expanding the choices Zoho users have," said Raju Vegesna, Chief Evangelist, Zoho Corp. "We realize that not every call needs to be logged into CRM, but nearly every business call may require an action, a reminder, or notes associated with it. With the iovox app, our users have the choice of which of their calls they share with Zoho CRM and we think that is a fantastic feature, among many others." Historically, call tracking has primarily been used by marketing departments looking to do attribution on inbound calls. The iovox integration with Zoho is part of a strategic initiative to make call tracking available to anyone that uses a mobile phone. "We are excited to bring the power of iovox call tracking to countless Zoho users worldwide to help them make better use of their time on and off the phone," said Ashley Nader, Product Manager at iovox. "Zoho has been a great partner to work with and we're looking forward to continuing to innovate our offerings for their rapidly growing customer base." Pricing and Availability The iovox app is now available in the Zoho Marketplace, with a 14-day risk free trial. No credit card required. After the 14-day trial, the Zoho CRM integration costs $5.00 per user per month. The iovox app works on iOS, Android and web, from anywhere in the world. Email [email protected] for enterprise pricing or to learn more. About iovox We help companies and individuals increase their revenue and improve their productivity with unique call tracking solutions. We are unique to the industry for our ability to track inbound and outbound calls, particularly from mobile phones. We are global, with customers in more than 30 countries and offices in London, Paris, San Francisco, and Sydney. Download our free app for Android or iOS , and learn more about our other services at www.iovox.com . Follow us on LinkedIn , Twitter , Instagram , and Facebook . About Zoho Zoho is the operating system for business a single online platform capable of running an entire business. With 40+ apps in nearly every major business category, including sales, marketing, customer support, accounting and back office operations, and an array of productivity and collaboration tools, Zoho is one of the world's most prolific software companies. Zoho respects user privacy and does not have an ad-revenue model in any part of its business, including its free products. More than 45 million users around the world, across hundreds of thousands of companies, rely on Zoho every day to run their businesses, including Zoho itself. Zoho Corporation is privately held and profitable with more than 7,000 employees. Zoho is headquartered in Pleasanton, California, with international headquarters in Chennai, India. Additional offices are in Austin, Texas (U.S.); Renigunta, India; Tenkasi, India; Yokohama, Japan; Beijing, China; Singapore; Queretaro, Mexico; Byron Bay, Australia; Utrecht, The Netherlands; and Dubai, UAE. For more information, please visit www.zoho.com . CONTACT: For iovox: Dan Luis COO US: +1 (415) 213 2348 UK: +44 (0) 20 3318 7000 AUS: +61 2 8311 1151 [email protected] www.iovox.com For Zoho Sandra Lo Corporate PR 1-925-924-9500 [email protected] SOURCE iovox Related Links http://www.iovox.com Anticipated to materially advance efforts to meet consumer needs in the global $131 Billion USD skincare market (Source: Euromonitor International) skincare market (Source: Euromonitor International) First-ever cannabis clinical research study initiated in Latin America key to developing new dermo cosmetic and dermatological product lines for Khiron Skin Unit and strengthen Kuida portfolio key to developing new dermo cosmetic and dermatological product lines for Khiron Skin Unit and strengthen Kuida portfolio First mover advantage in development of dermo cosmetic products with cannabis worldwide Entered into multi-year agreement with Centro Dermatologico Federico Lleras Acosta (CDFLLA), leading Latin American institution, to jointly conduct medical cannabis research and host educational activities addressing skin conditions and symptoms TORONTO, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Khiron Life Sciences Corp. ("Khiron" or the "Company") (TSXV: KHRN), (OTCQB: KHRNF), (Frankfurt: A2JMZC), a vertically integrated cannabis leader with core operations in Latin America, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with the prominent Colombian research hospital, Centro Dermatologico Federico Lleras Acosta ("CDFLLA"). Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, Khiron and CDFLLA will establish a clinical research partnership focused on the effectiveness of medical cannabis for dermatological conditions. Cannabis clinical trials performed by Khiron and CDFLLA will be the first such studies conducted in Latin America. Khiron and CDFLLA will focus their efforts on studying and improving the methods of administering and prescribing cannabis as a potential supportive therapy for various skin conditions and symptoms. As part of the program, Khiron and CDFLLA will conduct training sessions, educational events and seminars focused on educating the medical community and patients on the safety and efficacy of medical cannabis. In addition, CDFLLA will also support Khiron in performing studies on cosmetic and cosmeceutical products manufactured and marketed by Khiron, through its subsidiary Kuida, the first CBD consumer brand of skin and body care products launched in Latin America. Dr. Claudia Rojas, Director of CDFLLA, comments: "A growing number of healthcare professionals believe that medical cannabis provides significant benefits for patients suffering from a range of dermatological conditions. Khiron and CDFLLA are committed to developing a body of scientific research that supports these findings in order to help patients manage their skin conditions and aid doctors in making informed healthcare decisions." Dr. Edwin Bendek, Khiron Medical Director, Skincare, comments: "Khiron is proud to work closely with the Centro Dermatologico Federico Lleras Acosta ("CDFLLA") to pioneer cannabis research in Latin America. With the launch of our Kuida brand, the first CBD-based cosmeceutical brand in Latin America, combined with our partnership with CDFLLA, we are closer to achieving our mission of bringing safe and medically-validated medical cannabis products to market." The partnership with CDFLLA reinforces Khiron's commitment to a patient-oriented operational model, which aims to engage and educate healthcare professionals and patients on the benefits of medical cannabis. It also expands Khiron's efforts in the skincare sector, where the Company has focused on innovating and introducing CBD-based cosmeceutical products to the global market through a rigorous and research-based product development strategy. The agreement establishes a three-year partnership between Khiron and CDFLLA, with the option to extend at the conclusion of the original period. About Centro Dermatologico Federico Lleras Acosta (CDFLLA) Centro Dermatologico Federico Lleras Acosta (CDFLLA) is a University Hospital of the National Order which provides specialized dermatology outpatient services that focus on health promotion, disease prevention, humanization, patient safety and sustainability, within the Integrated System Management. Since its inception in 1934, CDFLLA has worked to promote education, research and comprehensive training specialists, and has become a widely respected place of training recognized at both the national and international levels. CDFLLA has also served to advise the national government on public policy in dermatology, for the purpose of improving the health of Colombians. About Khiron Khiron Life Sciences Corp. is positioned to be the dominant integrated cannabis company in Latin America. Khiron has core operations in Latin America and is fully licensed in the country for the cultivation, production, domestic distribution, and international export of both THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol) medical cannabis. In May 2018, Khiron listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, becoming the first Colombian based medical cannabis company to trade on any exchange globally. With a focused regional strategy and patient oriented approach, the Company combines global scientific expertise, agricultural advantages, branded product market entrance experience and education to drive prescription and brand loyalty to address priority medical conditions such as chronic pain, epilepsy, depression and anxiety in the Latin American market of over 620 million people. Khiron is led by Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Alvaro Torres, together with an experienced executive team, and a knowledgeable Board of Directors that includes former President of Mexico, Vicente Fox. Further information on Khiron Life Sciences can be found at https://investors.khiron.ca/ To be added to the distribution list, please email [email protected] with "Khiron" in the subject line. CAUTIONARY NOTES Market and Industry Data This press release contains market and industry data and forecasts that were obtained from third-party sources, industry publications and publicly available information. Third-party sources generally state that the information contained therein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but there can be no assurance as to the accuracy or completeness of included information. Although management believes it to be reliable, the Company has not independently verified any of the data from third-party sources referred to in this press release, or analyzed or verified the underlying studies or surveys relied upon or referred to by such sources, or ascertained the underlying economic assumptions relied upon by such sources. Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All information contained herein that is not historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements may be identified by statements containing the words "believes", "anticipates", "plans", "intends", "will", "should", "expects", "continue", "estimate", "forecasts" and other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements herein include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the anticipated benefits of the distribution agreements, including online and physical retail consumer exposure, and potential expansion into other jurisdictions, among others. Readers are cautioned to not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. Khiron undertakes no obligation to comment analyses, expectations or statements made by third-parties in respect of Khiron, its securities, or financial or operating results (as applicable). Although Khiron believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements in this press release are reasonable, such forward-looking statement has been based on expectations, factors and assumptions concerning future events which may prove to be inaccurate and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond Khiron's control, including the risk factors discussed in Khiron's Annual Information Form which is available on Khiron's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and are made as of the date hereof. Khiron disclaims any intention and has no obligation or responsibility, except as required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. United States Disclaimer 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 (as such term is defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available. Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. SOURCE Khiron Life Sciences Corp. TORONTO, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ITC Holdings Corp. ("ITC"), a Fortis company, today issued its support of the Independent Electricity System Operator's ("IESO") recently announced planned changes to the structure of its electricity auctions. ITC's proposed Lake Erie Connector ("LEC") project will complement the IESO's efforts to save Ontarians billions of dollars in energy costs by creating a new corridor between Ontario and the U.S. for exporting and importing electricity. ITC's proposed LEC transmission project is a 1,000 MW, bi-directional, underwater transmission line utilizing state-of-the-art high-voltage direct current ("HVDC") technology. The line will provide the first direct electrical link between Ontario and PJM Interconnection, the world's largest electricity market comprising 13 U.S. Midwestern and Mid-Atlantic states. In 2017 the National Energy Board concluded that the project "would provide benefits to Indigenous, local, regional, and provincial economies, allow greater flexibility for two large energy markets to meet changing energy needs, and increase market efficiency for Ontario and its rate payers." The planned and fully permitted project will run from Nanticoke, Haldimand County, Ontario, to Erie County, Pennsylvania and is scheduled to be in service by 2023 if commercial agreements can be secured. "The LEC is unique among any other long-term transmission or generation project planned for Ontario," said Terry Harvill, President, ITC Grid Development. "The project brings tremendous financial and environmental benefits to the province while reducing costs and increasing system resilience and flexibility. The LEC is the most dynamic energy option for Ontario in terms of providing value to customers." Currently, when Ontario has excess power supply, the province does not have the infrastructure in place to export it at a competitive rate, so energy is often wasted (through curtailing wind generators or spilling water instead of generating power) or sold at a significant discount to competitive jurisdictions costing Ontario jobs and much-needed investment. By connecting to existing on-shore transmission lines, the LEC would enable Ontario to export electricity to new customers and import it when the province needs more energy at a fair rate. It would also help to assure a clean energy mix by reducing GHG emissions in the sector by up to 2-3 million tons per year1. "The Lake Erie interconnector will prove to be an invaluable strategic asset for Ontario to benefit from enhanced electricity trade," said Dr. Jatin Nathwani, Professor, Ontario Research Chair and Executive Director at the University of Waterloo's Institute for Sustainable Energy. "The investment in the interconnector introduces flexibility, provides a solid basis for creation of new economic value and must also be viewed as a positive Ontario contribution to advancing de-carbonization of the electricity mix of our neighbouring states to the south." The LEC supports the government's "Open for Business" mandate by connecting Ontario with the robust PJM market. Along with continued investment in strategic infrastructure and transmission, this transmission line can play a meaningful and impactful role in helping Ontarians save money on electricity by helping to reduce rising costs, generate new trading revenue, and resolve current challenges experienced by the province's power system. "Reforming the Ontario electricity system presents a great opportunity for the LEC to become a defined component of Ontario's economic strategy as the government looks to lower bills, increase trading revenues and economic growth, and reduce its emissions profile," said Harvill. "The project will maximize efficiency, increase competition, and optimize the ability of the IESO to maximize and build on its intended auction environment as part of market renewal in the province. These benefits will translate into over $100 million per year for decades into the future2." About ITC Holdings Corp. ITC is the largest independent electricity transmission company in the United States. Based in Novi, Michigan, ITC invests in the electric transmission grid to improve reliability, expand access to markets, allow new generating resources to interconnect to its systems and lower the overall cost of delivered energy. Through its regulated operating subsidiaries ITCTransmission, Michigan Electric Transmission Company, ITC Midwest and ITC Great Plains, ITC owns and operates high-voltage transmission infrastructure in Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, and in development in Wisconsin. These systems serve a combined peak load exceeding 26,000 megawatts along approximately 15,800 circuit miles of transmission line, supported by 700 employees and 1,000 contractors across our expanding footprint. ITC Grid Development focuses on growth through regulated infrastructure investment as well as domestic and international expansion through merchant and other commercial development opportunities. For further information visit www.itc-holdings.com. ITC is a subsidiary of Fortis Inc., a leader in the North American regulated electric and gas utility industry. For further information visit www.fortisinc.com. Source: ITC Holdings Corp. 1 Lake Erie Connector: Benefits to Ontario, The Brattle Group, May 2018 2 ibid SOURCE ITC Holdings Corp. Related Links http://www.itc-holdings.com "All of our branches are special, but this one is particularly meaningful to Lakeside and to me, personally," said Phil Cacciatore, Lakeside's Chairman and CEO. "First of all, it's April 8 and this is our eighth branch. Plus, we're in the top 8% of all banks in the country. The symmetry is perfect." Cacciatore went on to note, "We're also returning to our roots. Lakeside started on the south side 53 years ago. And my dad was born in Bridgeport. He'd be very proud of us today." Architectural firm Pappageorge Haymes designed the bank. International Contractors, ICI, will build it. Construction will begin immediately; Lakeside plans to hold a Grand Opening Party for its new Bridgeport branch in early December. The new bank will serve the growing Bridgeport and Canaryville neighborhoods. Lakeside Bank is a privately-owned bank with over $1.7 billion dollars in assets. To see the Lakeside website, please click here. SOURCE Lakeside Bank Related Links http://www.lakesidebank.com LAWRENCE, Mass., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- When: Thursday, April 11, 2019 from 2 4 p.m. Where: Outside Main Entrance to Lawrence General Hospital, 1 General St., Lawrence MA The nurses of Lawrence General Hospital (LGH) will conduct an informational picket outside the hospital tomorrow, in an effort to negotiate a fair contract that will allow the hospital to recruit and retain the staff needed to provide quality patient care. The nurses and management have been negotiating a new union contract for more than eight months, with the last six sessions held with a federal mediator. Talks on Tuesday failed to yield a settlement that would provide nurses with the protections they are seeking. The nurses are attempting to reach an agreement that includes much needed staffing improvements to ensure optimum patient care. Other items include: improved time off, increased retirement benefits, and a fair wage increase. On March 27, a delegation of more than 70 nurses marched to the offices of the hospital president and chief nursing officer to deliver petitions calling for these improvements signed by more than 80 percent of the nearly 500 nurses at the hospital. "I'm proud to work in this hospital and in this community, but there's room for improvement," said Travis Libman, RN, an emergency room nurse at the hospital and chair of the nurses' local bargaining unit with the Massachusetts Nurses Association. "Too many patients are left boarding for an extended amount of time in the emergency room while waiting for a bed in the hospital. With the proper amount of staff, we could help alleviate this congestion and get patients where they need to go much quicker. Delivery of quality care is our top priority throughout these contract negotiations and beyond." Last week, the nurses were joined in their call for safer patient care conditions, when Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera sent a letter to LGH CEO Diane Anderson, calling upon management to reach a fair settlement that meets their demands. "I have met with registered nurses who have informed me of the serious issues they have raised during more than eight months of contract negotiations. I find the proposal they have made to be reasonable Lawrence deserves first class healthcare and that includes emergency services that treat patients in a timely manner. It has also come to my attention that Lawrence General Hospital ranks last in the state for emergency department wait times and routinely has patients "boarding" in hallways waiting for beds. This is a direct result of a gap in nurse staffing across many departments in the hospitals," the Mayor wrote. According to ProPublica, a service that tracks emergency department (ED) wait times for hospitals across the nation, Lawrence General Hospital patients experience the longest ED wait times in the state (an average of 81 minutes). LGH patients also experience some of the longest wait times in the state to receive needed medication for serious injuries. LGH also ranks near bottom statewide for the time it takes for patients to be admitted to the hospital from the ED (7 hours and 42 minutes). Between January of 2018, through March of this year, LGH nurses have submitted to management more than 140 official reports detailing instances where nurses were forced to take excessive patient assignments that, "poses a serious threat to the safety and well-being of my patients." As an alternative to having patient care units fully staffed with nurses experienced to care for patients in those areas, LGH has also engaged in the mandatory "floating" of nurses. This is when nurses from one area of the medical center are transferred to another where there is a staffing need. The nurse may be unfamiliar with the specific patient conditions, the equipment or procedures on that unit. Patients, as a result, may not be able to receive appropriate care. To improve patient care, the nurses are seeking to increase RN staffing in key areas of the hospital to ensure patients receive the care they need when they need it. This will allow for an efficient flow of patients out of the emergency center and onto the inpatient units. The nurses have proposed to ban mandatory floating of nurses, and to prevent the hospital from making any future cuts to nurse staffing levels. To compensate for the lack of appropriate staff at the facility, the hospital has limited nurses' access to previously agreed upon time off benefits, which is eroding staff morale and preventing nurses from having needed time with their own families. "Nurses are seeking a competitive salary and benefits, including improved retirement and time off benefits that support the retention of staff and fosters a positive work life balance," said Laurie Spheekas, RN, a nurse on the hospital's telemetry unit and vice chair of the nurses' local bargaining unit. The nurses believe Lawrence General is well positioned to make a greater investment in nurses and the quality of patient care, given that Lawrence General has been included in the merger of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lahey Health, which will be the second-largest hospital system in the state, and one of the most profitable. As part of that agreement, BI/Lahey has committed to invest several million dollars in LGH as a safety net provider, and more favorable reimbursement rates. "The nurses of Lawrence General Hospital, many of whom have worked here for several years, are committed to ensure that this hospital is a first-class provider of quality patient care for the residents of Greater Lawrence," Spheekas concluded. "We provide 90 percent of the clinical care delivered by this hospital. This is not only our place of work, but for most of us, this is our community hospital and we have a professional and personal interest in its continued success." MassNurses.org Facebook.com/MassNurses Twitter.com/MassNurses Instagram.com/MassNurses MassNurses.org Facebook.com/MassNurses Twitter.com/MassNurses Instagram.com/MassNurses Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public. SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association Related Links https://www.massnurses.org BEIJING, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Leju Holdings Limited ("Leju" or the "Company") (NYSE: LEJU), a leading online-to-offline, or O2O, real estate services provider in China, today announced that it filed its annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 10, 2019. The Annual Report on Form 20-F can be accessed on the Company's investor relations website at http://ir.leju.com. Leju will provide a hard copy of the annual report containing its audited consolidated financial statements, free of charge, to its shareholders and ADS holders upon request. Requests should be directed to Investor Relations department, Leju Holdings Limited, 15/F Floor, Shoudong International Plaza, No. 5 Building, Guangqu Home, Dongcheng District, Beijing, People's Republic of China, 100022. About Leju Leju Holdings Limited ("Leju") (NYSE: LEJU) is a leading online-to-offline, or O2O, real estate services provider in China, offering real estate e-commerce, online advertising and online listing services. Leju's integrated online platform comprises various mobile applications along with local websites covering more than 370 cities, enhanced by complementary offline services to facilitate residential property transactions. In addition to the Company's own websites, Leju operates the real estate and home furnishing websites of SINA Corporation, and maintains a strategic partnership with Tencent Holdings Limited. For more information about Leju, please visit http://ir.leju.com. For investor and media inquiries please contact: Ms. Christina Wu Leju Holdings Limited Phone: +86 (10) 5895-1062 E-mail: [email protected] Philip Lisio Foote Group Phone: +86 135-0116-6560 E-mail: [email protected] SOURCE Leju Holdings Limited Related Links http://ir.leju.com SYDNEY, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Mallinckrodt plc (NYSE: MNK), a leading global specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced that INOmax (nitric oxide) gas, for inhalation has received regulatory approval in Australia by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for perioperative pulmonary hypertension in adults in conjunction with cardiovascular surgery. INOmax was previously approved for this same indication in neonates through adolescents up to age 17, and is also approved in Australia for the treatment of hypoxic respiratory failure (HRF) associated with pulmonary hypertension, a potentially life-threatening condition, in term and near-term newborns (>34 weeks). INOmax nitric oxide is a vasodilator that opens (dilates) blood vessels, improving oxygen uptake and blood flow. It is used in conjunction with ventilator support and other appropriate agents. INOmax decreases pulmonary arterial pressure. "This expanded approval of INOmax in Australia for cardiovascular surgery in adults is an important milestone for Mallinckrodt, confirming the benefit this therapeutic option can bring to perioperative pulmonary hypertension patients," said Steven Romano, M.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, Mallinckrodt. "We continue to focus on improving outcomes for underserved patients with severe and critical conditions, and this is an example of those efforts making a difference. There is a tremendous global need for therapies for patients undergoing cardiac surgery. We look forward to helping meet these needs." ABOUT INOMAX INOmax (nitric oxide) gas, for inhalation, is approved by the TGA in Australia for perioperative pulmonary hypertension in conjunction with cardiovascular surgery in neonates through adults, and for the treatment of HRF associated with pulmonary hypertension, a potentially life-threatening condition in newborns. It is approved in certain other countries for specified indications as well. Before prescribing please refer to the full Product Information which is available from Mallinckrodt's Australian subsidiary by phone at 1300 198 565 or from this link. Australia Minimum Product Information: INOmax (nitric oxide) gas, for inhalation Indications: INOmax, in conjunction with ventilatory support and other appropriate agents, is indicated: For the treatment of term and near-term (>34 weeks) neonates with hypoxic respiratory failure associated with clinical or echocardiographic evidence of pulmonary hypertension, in order to improve oxygenation and to reduce the need for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. To selectively decrease pulmonary arterial pressure in patients with perioperative pulmonary hypertension in conjunction with heart surgery. Contraindications: Neonates known to be dependent on right-to-left or significant left-to-right shunting of blood; hypersensitivity to the active substance or any of the excipients. Special Warnings and Precautions: Do not use INOmax undiluted; INOmax must be diluted by the ventilator gas flow to a concentration not greater than 20ppm; use an approved nitric oxide gas delivery system provided by the sponsor that meets the criteria specified in the Dosage and Administration Section. INOmax should not be discontinued abruptly, as it may result in rebound pulmonary hypertension syndrome; weaning should be performed with caution. Concentrations of methaemoglobin in the blood should be measured within one hour after initiation of INOmax therapy, using an analyser which can reliably distinguish between foetal haemoglobin and methaemoglobin; if methaemoglobin is >2.5%, the INOmax dose should be decreased and the administration of reducing agents may be considered. The dose of nitric oxide should be reduced if the concentration of nitrogen dioxide exceeds 0.5 ppm. The benefit/risk of using inhaled nitric oxide in patients with clinically significant left ventricular dysfunction should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis due to possible increased rate of serious adverse events. Treatment with inhaled nitric oxide might aggravate cardiac insufficiency in a situation with left-to-right shunting; prior to the administration of nitric oxide, pulmonary artery catheterisation or echocardiographic examination of central haemodynamics is recommended. Animal models have shown that nitric oxide may interact with haemostasis, resulting in an increased bleeding time. Long-term monitoring of babies post-treatment is recommended. Use in pregnancy: Category B2. Interactions with other medicines: Increased risk of methaemoglobinaemia with co-administration of nitric oxide donor compounds (e.g., sodium nitroprusside, nitroglycerine) or drugs that increase methaemoglobinaemia (e.g., prilocaine). Adverse effects: Formation of methaemoglobin >5% has been observed. Rapid rebound reactions such as intensified pulmonary vasoconstriction and hypoxaemia after sudden withdrawal have been described, precipitating cardiopulmonary collapse. A clinical study in neonates reported the following adverse effects with incidence of at least 5%: thrombocytopenia, hypotension, bacteraemia and/or local infection, rebound hypoxaemia as very common (> 10% incidence) and atelectasis, haematuria, hyperglycaemia, hypokalaemia, hyperbilirubinaemia, stridor and cellulitis as common (1-10% incidence). No additional adverse events were identified in the paediatric cardiac surgery indication trials. Dosage and Administration: INOmax should only be used after respiratory support is optimised including the use of surfactant in the neonatal intensive care unit setting, or only after conservative support has been optimised in the cardiac surgery setting. The maximum recommended dose of INOmax is 20 ppm. The delivery system must provide a constant inhaled INOmax concentration irrespective of the ventilator. As dosing is complex, refer to the full prescribing information for dosage, weaning, administration, and monitoring recommendations and methods. Prescribing information last amended 29 March 2019. ABOUT MALLINCKRODT Mallinckrodt is a global business consisting of multiple wholly owned subsidiaries that develop, manufacture, market and distribute specialty pharmaceutical products and therapies. The company's Specialty Brands reportable segment's areas of focus include autoimmune and rare diseases in specialty areas like neurology, rheumatology, nephrology, pulmonology and ophthalmology; immunotherapy and neonatal respiratory critical care therapies; and analgesics. Its Specialty Generics and Amitiza reportable segment includes specialty generic drugs, active pharmaceutical ingredients and AMITIZA (lubiprostone). To learn more about Mallinckrodt, visit www.mallinckrodt.com. Mallinckrodt uses its website as a channel of distribution of important company information, such as press releases, investor presentations and other financial information. It also uses its website to expedite public access to time-critical information regarding the company in advance of or in lieu of distributing a press release or a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosing the same information. Therefore, investors should look to the Investor Relations page of the website for important and time-critical information. Visitors to the website can also register to receive automatic e-mail and other notifications alerting them when new information is made available on the Investor Relations page of the website. Cautionary Statements Related to Forward-Looking Statements This release includes forward-looking statements concerning INOmax. The statements are based on assumptions about many important factors, including the following, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements: satisfaction of regulatory and other requirements; actions of regulatory bodies and other governmental authorities; changes in laws and regulations; issues with product quality, manufacturing or supply, or patient safety issues; and other risks identified and described in more detail in the "Risk Factors" section of Mallinckrodt's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings with the SEC, all of which are available on its website. The forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date hereof and Mallinckrodt does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events and developments or otherwise, except as required by law. CONTACTS Media Daniel Yunger Kekst CNC 212-521-4879 [email protected] Investor Relations Daniel J. Speciale, CPA Vice President, Investor Relations and IRO 314-654-3638 [email protected] Mallinckrodt, the "M" brand mark and the Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals logo are trademarks of a Mallinckrodt company. 2019 Mallinckrodt. 4/19 SOURCE Mallinckrodt plc Related Links http://www.mallinckrodt.com - : 50 , - "" - , . : - , ? ? : . , . , , . . - , , . , . , , - , . ? , , . 50 3 4 . , - . - . : , ? : - . , . . , , , - . : , ? : , . . 15 . 2002 , . , -, . , , , . , , . : , ? ? : . . . , , . . 9 - , . . , - , . , . : , ? ? : , , . , , . , - , . : , ? : . . , , . , . , , . , , , , . - 19, 20 . , , -. : ? : , , , . CHICAGO, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Heart Association announced today that Mary Lou Mastro, CEO of Edward-Elmhurst Health and Gina Sharp, President and CEO of Linden Oaks Behavioral Health, headquartered in Naperville, Ill., will serve as chair and vice chair of the Association's 2019-20 Chicago Go Red for Women campaign. Mastro and Sharp take on the role with a personal goal to not only raise more awareness of heart disease risk among women, but to encourage all women to stand together with Go Red and take charge of their own heart health, mental health and well-being. Go Red for Women is the American Heart Association's national movement to end heart disease and stroke in women. Cardiovascular diseases are the number one killer of women in the U.S., claiming the life of one woman every 80 seconds. "I feel so strongly that women should feel empowered to take control of their own health, both physically and mentally," notes Mastro. "With all of the demands of family and work, many women do not make their own health a priority. And yet, we make our kids' doctor appointments a year in advance! "There are so many things we can do to manage our risk for heart disease. Given the alarming statistics, we owe it to ourselves and to the people we love to put our own health at the top of our to-do lists." Mastro's many years of healthcare experience from nursing to administration have given her unique insights into the connection between physical and mental health. A nurse by background, she began her career at Edward Hospital in 1988 as director of cardiovascular services, and served as president of Linden Oaks at Edward, now Linden Oaks Behavioral Health, from 2002 to 2013. Sharp agrees, "At Edward-Elmhurst Health, our mantra is 'Healthy Driven.' For us, that means doing everything we can to help people move their health forward, no matter where they are in their journey. This partnership with the American Heart Association is a great example of that commitment." Chicago's Go Red for Women campaign is a year-round movement that includes the annual Go Red for Women Executive Luncheon and the Go Red Goes STEM event, a daylong event that aims to inspire and empower high school girls to improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans by considering careers in science, technology, engineering and math. About Go Red for Women The American Heart Association's Go Red for Women movement is the trusted, passionate, relevant force for change to end heart disease and stroke in women all over the world. While nearly 80 percent of cardiac events can be prevented, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in women, claiming the lives of 1 in 3 women. For 15 years, Go Red for Women has provided a platform for women to come together, raise awareness, fund lifesaving research, advocate for change and improve the lives of all women everywhere. The American Heart Association's Go Red for Women movement is nationally sponsored by CVS Health, with additional support from national cause supporters. Connect with us on GoRedforWomen.org, Facebook, Twitter or by calling 1-888-MY-HEART (1- 888-694-3278). About Edward-Elmhurst Health Edward-Elmhurst Health includes three hospitals Edward Hospital, Elmhurst Hospital and Linden Oaks Behavioral Health and an extensive ambulatory care network with more than 60 locations that provides comprehensive healthcare to 1.7 million residents of the west and southwest suburbs of Chicago. The system has nearly 8,500 employees, including 1,900 nurses, with 2,000 physicians on its medical staff, plus 1,300 volunteers. For more information, visit www.EEHealth.org. SOURCE American Heart Association Related Links http://www.GoRedforWomen.org ROCKVILLE, Md., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Mayorga Organics operates the only facility in North America that directly imports, sterilizes, and packages organic chia in direct-to-consumer packaging. All of the product that goes through this closed system is fully traceable to small farmers that work directly with Mayorga staff in Nicaragua and Mexico in a highly efficient supply chain that benefits consumers and farmers beyond traditional supply chains. This supply chain disruption is what has grown Mayorga into a national powerhouse that works with local, regional, and international grocers and retailers. Eduardo Choza from Mayorga at the Mayorga chia fields Juan Cruz from Mayorga and some of Mayorga's Nicaraguan chia producers "Farmers are our first customer," states Martin Mayorga, founder of Mayorga Organics. "By being at the origin countries working hand-in-hand with producers, we can understand and address their true needs as well as the needs of the community. We can also express the consumers' needs in regard to quality, value, and food safety. We've even opened our own export companies in multiple countries to be more efficient. This direct supply chain just makes so much sense, but most companies won't do it because it requires a lot of extra human capital." Mayorga continues to explain that they work with about 330 farmers in northern Nicaragua and about 20 in Mexico. "Our organic chia program has grown from 12 farmers and about 40,000lbs to about 350 farmers and over 4,000,000 pounds. Our farmers are happy and empowered so they grow better product and we know how to go to market more efficiently than our competitors. Our chia also happens to be sterilized using the only organic approved system that can achieve a 5-log kill step. That's nerd-talk for really, really, really, safe to eat," says Mayorga. Mayorga Organics was founded by Guatemalan-born Martin Mayorga and operates with the purpose of alleviating systemic poverty through the direct trade or artisanal organic foods. They operate a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Rockville, MD primarily focused on importing, roasting, and packaging coffee. They are currently building a facility in Miami, Florida to expand their manufacturing and distribution capacities. For more information visit www.mayorgaorganics.com Contact: Martin Mayorga Mayorga Organics, LLC 305-542-1333 [email protected] SOURCE Mayorga Organics Related Links http://www.mayorgaorganics.com HUNTSVILLE, Ala., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In the final level of competition for NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, three teams will combine creativity and cutting-edge technology to manufacture sustainable shelters for deep-space habitation, including the Moon and Mars. The teams competing in Phase 3, Level 5 of the challenge are: AI. SpaceFactory of New York Colorado School of Mines / ICON of Golden / ICON of Golden Pennsylvania State University of College Park The challenge, which began in 2015, is structured in phases, each with multiple levels. It has a total prize purse of $3.15 million, with $800,000 to be awarded at this final stage. Teams will use several facets of 3D printing including modeling software and material development to construct large-scale structures using recyclables and/or materials found on the Moon, Mars or other destinations. Technologies developed for use on the Moon could help with future robotic and human missions to Mars, as well as offer benefits on Earth, like lower-cost housing solutions. Media are invited to watch as the participating teams 3D-print subscale habitats May 1-4 at Caterpillar Edwards Demonstration and Learning Center in Edwards, Illinois. Habitat testing and the awards ceremony will take place May 4. NASA subject matter experts will be available for interviews. Portions of the competition will also be livestreamed May 3-4 at nasa.gov/live. Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, is partnering with NASA on the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. Caterpillar Inc. is a sponsor and site host. Bradley and Caterpillar with NASA support will host a three-day event alongside the competition at the same facility. Educators, middle- and high-school students are invited May 2-3 to hear presentations by astronauts, tour exhibits and watch the competition in the arena. A Community Day with the same activities will be open to the public May 4. Schedule of events (all times are CDT): Wednesday, May 1 First day of competition from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. : Teams will begin printing their habitat structures in the arena : Teams will begin printing their habitat structures in the arena Thursday, May 2 Second day of competition from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. : Teams will continue printing their structures : Teams will continue printing their structures Bradley University and Caterpillar will host an Education Day for middle-school students and Caterpillar will host an Education Day for middle-school students NASA astronaut Don Thomas will speak and be available for interviews will speak and be available for interviews Friday, May 3 Third day of competition from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. : Teams will finish printing their structures : Teams will finish printing their structures Bradley University and Caterpillar will host an Education Day for high school students and Caterpillar will host an Education Day for high school students NASA astronauts Don Thomas and Scott Altman will speak and be available for interviews and will speak and be available for interviews NASA subject matter experts will be available for interviews Saturday, May 4 Testing on the structures will be held from approximately 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Bradley University and Caterpillar will host a Community Day, with more than 600 visitors expected to attend and Caterpillar will host a Community Day, with more than 600 visitors expected to attend NASA astronaut Scott Altman will speak and be available for interviews from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. will speak and be available for interviews from NASA subject matter experts will be available for interviews The awards ceremony will be at 3:30 p.m. Teams and other challenge personnel will be available for interviews after the ceremony News media interested in attending the events should contact Jena Rowe at 256-544-3400 or [email protected] by Friday, April 19. The 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge is managed through a partnership with NASA's Centennial Challenges program and Bradley University. Bradley has partnered with sponsors Caterpillar, Bechtel, Brick & Mortar Ventures and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to administer the competition. NASA's Centennial Challenges program is part of the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate, and is managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. For more information about the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/3DPHab SOURCE NASA Related Links http://www.nasa.gov NEW YORK, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The gender gap in physician compensation grew this past year, with male physicians earning 25% more than women (up from 18% in 2018), according to the results of the 2019 Medscape Physician Compensation Report. While the report found that women see patients an average of four hours less per week, and gravitate towards the lower paid specialties, those factors do not fully explain the pay differences. Meanwhile, hours spent on bureaucratic tasks, which are often cited as one of the key factors in physician burnout, tripled from 2012, with nearly 75% of physicians spending 10 hours or more on paperwork and one-third spending more than 20 hours. The Report is the most comprehensive and widely used physician salary survey in the U.S., assessing compensation, hours worked, time spent with patients, and what they find most rewarding -- and challenging -- about their jobs. More than 20,000 U.S. physicians across 30 specialties responded to the survey. Physician salaries increased overall to an average of $313,000 (up from $299,999 in 2018), marking a more than 20% increase since 2015. The highest-paid physicians were orthopedists, plastic surgeons, and otolaryngologists (ranging from $482,000 to $461,000, respectively), while public health and preventive medicine specialists and pediatricians reported the lowest compensation, at $209,000 and $225,000 respectively. For women, salaries averaged $51,000 less per year in primary care and $92,000 less per year in specialties. Although women often choose lower-paying specialties, i.e. pediatrics and primary care, this does not explain the pay gaps within specialties. To view the full Medscape 2019 Physician Compensation Report, visit: https://www.medscape.com/slideshow/2019-compensation-overview-6011286?faf=1 "The challenges that doctors are experiencing in their professional lives are persistent and concerning," said Leslie Kane, MA, Senior Director, Medscape Business of Medicine. "Gender disparities remain an issue, and there have been startling increases in administrative tasks. That said, the report also found that nearly all physicians are satisfied or very satisfied with their job performance, and would choose to be a physician if they did it all over again. Despite frustration and burnout, physicians work hard to do a good job, and find patient care to be the best reward." Additional Report Highlights Patients Are Likely to See a Non-Physician Clinician Half of all physicians reported employing nurse practitioners (NPs), and more than one-third (36%) have physician assistants (PAs) in their practice. Outpatient clinics most often employ NPs (66%), followed by academic (non-hospital) settings (61%) and healthcare organizations (60%). Healthcare organizations most often employ PAs (43%), followed by office-based multispecialty groups (42%) and hospitals (41%). Physicians reported that NPs and PAs make their practice more profitable. More Physicians Plan to Stop Taking or Stop Seeing Medicare and Medicaid Patients Although a minority, the number of physicians reporting that they plan to stop accepting new Medicare and Medicaid patients, or discontinue seeing some of their existing patients, more than doubled to 18% (from only 8% in 2018). In many cases, physicians have decided that the cost of providing care and the time spent complying with the program regulations are not worth the program reimbursement, which is typically lower than that of commercial insurance. Physicians Earn More in Southern States Tennessee and Georgia entered the list of the top 10 states for physician compensation this year, with six of the top 10 located in the South. Salaries in these states ranged from $337,000 to $322,000, with the highest in Oklahoma, Alabama and Nevada and lowest in Connecticut, Georgia and Indiana. The number of physicians in a region, percent of insured patients and the overall concentration of specialists play a role in regional compensation differences. To view the full Medscape 2019 Physician Compensation Report, visit: https://www.medscape.com/slideshow/2019-compensation-overview-6011286?faf=1 Medscape Survey Methods : The 2019 Medscape Physician Compensation Survey was completed by about 20,000 physicians representing 30 specialty areas, including Medscape members and nonmembers. Respondents were invited to respond to the online survey. The margin of error for the survey was +/- 0.69% at a 95% confidence level. About Medscape Medscape is the leading source of clinical news, health information, and point-of-care tools for health care professionals. Medscape offers specialists, primary care physicians, and other health professionals the most robust and integrated medical information and educational tools. Medscape Education (medscape.org) is the leading destination for continuous professional development, consisting of more than 30 specialty-focused destinations offering thousands of free C.M.E. and C.E. courses and other educational programs for physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals. Medscape is a subsidiary of WebMD Health Corp. About WebMD Health Corp. WebMD Health Corp., an Internet Brands company, is the leading provider of health information services, serving consumers, physicians, healthcare professionals, employers, and health plans through our public and private online portals, mobile platforms and health-focused publications. The WebMD Health Network includes WebMD Health, Medscape, MedicineNet, eMedicineHealth, RxList, Medscape Education, OnHealth and other owned WebMD sites. About Internet Brands Headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., Internet Brands is a fully integrated online media and software services organization focused on four high-value vertical categories: Health, Automotive, Legal and Home/Travel. The company's award-winning consumer websites lead their categories and serve more than 250 million monthly visitors, while a full range of web presence offerings has established deep, long-term relationships with SMB and enterprise clients. Internet Brands' powerful, proprietary operating platform provides the flexibility and scalability to fuel the company's continued growth. Internet Brands is a portfolio company of KKR and Temasek. For more information, please visit www.internetbrands.com . SOURCE Medscape Berman is responsible for managing the operations of M&T Realty Capital Corporation (M&T RCC), which is a direct multifamily and seniors housing lender for Fannie Mae DUS, Freddie Mac and FHA/HUD MAP and LEAN programs, and provides life insurance company and CMBS loans for other commercial real estate property types through correspondent relationships. M&T RCC also offers a nationwide bridge lending program for multifamily, seniors housing, and healthcare facilities. Headquartered in Baltimore, M&T RCC originated $4.88 billion of multifamily and commercial loans in 2018, which represents the subsidiary's highest loan volume to date, and currently manages a servicing portfolio of $18 billion. M&T is one of six banks nationwide to offer all three agency lending programs, and has expanded its life insurance company correspondent platform over the past two years. "Michael brings extensive experience in managing commercial banking originations and knowledge of public policy issues related to real estate finance which will enable him to be an effective leader for this growing line of business," said Gino Martocci, Executive Vice President, M&T Bank Corporation and M&T Bank. Tari Flannery, current President and CEO of M&T RCC, is retiring after 28 years with the bank and serving almost two decades in her current role. During her tenure with M&T, Flannery served as a member of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Advisory Committees. She was an active member of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), and most recently served on the MBA Board and the MBA Investment Committee. Flannery is a former recipient of MBA's Distinguished Service Award, and was named one of Real Estate Forum's 2017 Women of Influence. "I am committed to carrying forward what Tari Flannery has created, a very strong business focused on superior customer service, consistent investor returns and credit profiles, and a caring employee team culture," said Berman. "I look forward to leading the M&T Realty Capital team, and continuing to build on its record of success and smart growth. The strength of our parent company M&T Bank and its multidimensional services provide significant differentiation in the market." Berman was the co-founder, president and CEO of CW Capital, a national multifamily and commercial real estate lender. From 1991 to 2012, CW grew its annual loan production from $40 million to $4 billion. In 2011, CW Capital was the third largest multi family lender in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA programs. From 2012 to early 2014, he served as Senior Advisor to HUD Cabinet Secretary Shaun Donovan, serving as his liaison to the White House and Congress on GSE reform and other housing issues. For the past five years, Berman has been a consultant to several multifamily and commercial lenders working on corporate growth as well as digital strategies. He has also continued his policy work as a Fellow at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies and the Wharton-Penn Institute for Urban Research, focusing on affordable rental housing and flood risk/resiliency. He was the Chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association in 2010-11, and led their GSE reform efforts in 2008-11. Berman holds a B.A. in Government from Harvard University, and a J.D. from University of Pennsylvania's Law School. About M&T Bank M&T Bank Corporation is a financial holding company headquartered in Buffalo, New York. M&T's principal banking subsidiary, M&T Bank, operates banking offices in New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. Trust-related services are provided by M&T's Wilmington Trust-affiliated companies and by M&T Bank. 2019 M&T Bank. Member FDIC. Media Contact: Phil Hosmer 410-949-3042 [email protected] SOURCE M&T Bank Related Links http://www.mtb.com BROOKLYN, N.Y., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The NYU Tandon School of Engineering is partnering with the learning platform edX to launch a four-course MicroMasters program in Integrated Digital Media (IDM). Upon completing the coursework, which includes a capstone project, students are awarded a MicroMasters program certificate, which showcases deep learning and in-demand skills to employers. MicroMasters programs are recognized by employers for their real-world relevance and utility in the field. They also serve as a pathway to further advanced study, and students who successfully finish Tandon's MicroMasters program are eligible to apply to the School's full IDM master's program, with no Graduate Record Examination (GRE) required and academic credit awarded for the completed courses. "Our partnership with edX allows us to offer yet another pathway to becoming a lifelong learner," said NYU Tandon Dean Jelena Kovacevic. "The road to an advanced degree is not always conventional or linear, and we are proud to offer a new entry point for motivated students, from mortarboard to beyond. We know that science, technology, and engineering are vital and enriching subjects, whether you are a K-12 student or a mid-career professional, and we are committed to offering learning opportunities to those at every stage. At NYU Tandon, we are finding novel ways to engage nontraditional students, such as our online Bridge Program, which we created to provide individuals with non-engineering backgrounds with the tools needed to embark on graduate-level studies here, and our MicroMasters program on edX is a welcome addition in our efforts to bridge the gap between aspiration and attainment." Students signing up for the rigorous, academically challenging IDM MicroMasters program, which will be available at the affordable tuition of $250 a course (for a total of $1,000), will study: Creative Coding, which will introduce them to the fundamentals of object-oriented programming and allow them to use code as a method of self-expression in a variety of media, including 2D graphics, animation, and video processing. This course starts on September 2, 2019 . . Theories of Media and Technology, a course that will give them exposure to a range of historical and contemporary trends in the theoretical analysis of media, enable them to critically describe and discuss media concepts and projects, and help them gain an understanding of how people create and consume media. This course starts on December 9, 2019 . . Media Law, an advanced seminar that explores media and communications principles and regulations and fosters an understanding of the legal and ethical framework surrounding issues in digital media. This course starts on March 16, 2020 . Students will also complete an independent capstone project of their choosing, constituting the fourth requirement of the program, which will be taught by professors in NYU Tandon's Department of Technology, Culture, and Society. "NYU Tandon's Integrated Digital Media program provides a wholly unique combination of theory and practice that sets it apart from other digital media offerings," said R. Luke DuBois and Scott Fitzgerald, co-directors of the school's IDM program. "Our goals are to foster creative practice, design research, and multidisciplinary experimentation with emerging media technologies, and our graduates embody the innovation and creativity that occur when you combine art and technology." Nasir Memon, NYU Tandon's associate dean for online learning, said, "We are happy to be one of the cutting-edge institutions recognizing the value of MicroMasters programs and online learning opportunities to today's professionals. Tandon's IDM offering is the first such program at NYU; we consider it to be only the beginning, and look forward to partnering with edX in the future." "NYU's commitment to open education and providing bridges to higher degrees aligns perfectly with the edX mission to increase access to high-quality education by offering innovative programs, like the MicroMasters programs, that bridge the gap between academia and corporations," said Anant Agarwal, edX CEO and MIT professor. "We are honored to welcome the Tandon School of Engineering to the edX global learning community of over 140 institutions and 20 million learners. Any learner, anywhere in the world wishing to enhance their career or explore the possibilities that integrated digital media presents, will be well served by the school's MicroMasters program on edX." For more information or to register, visit https://www.edx.org/school/nyux. For more information on all of NYU Tandon's online graduate programs, visit https://engineering.nyu.edu/academics/departments/nyu-tandon-online. About the New York University Tandon School of Engineering The NYU Tandon School of Engineering dates to 1854, the founding date for both the New York University School of Civil Engineering and Architecture and the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (widely known as Brooklyn Poly). A January 2014 merger created a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences, rooted in a tradition of invention and entrepreneurship and dedicated to furthering technology in service to society. In addition to its main location in Brooklyn, NYU Tandon collaborates with other schools within NYU, one of the country's foremost private research universities, and is closely connected to engineering programs at NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai. It operates Future Labs focused on start-up businesses in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn and an award-winning online graduate program. For more information, visit http://engineering.nyu.edu. About edX edX is the trusted platform for education and learning. Founded by Harvard and MIT, edX is home to more than 20 million learners, the majority of top-ranked universities in the world and industry-leading companies. As a global nonprofit, edX is transforming traditional education, removing the barriers of cost, location and access. Fulfilling the demand for people to learn on their own terms, edX is reimagining the possibilities of education, providing the highest-quality, stackable learning experiences including the groundbreaking MicroMasters programs. Supporting learners at every stage, whether entering the job market, changing fields, seeking a promotion or exploring new interests, edX delivers courses for curious minds on topics ranging from data and computer science to leadership and communications. edX is where you go to learn. Facebook: www.facebook.com/nyutandon Twitter: @NYUTandon SOURCE NYU Tandon School of Engineering Related Links http://www.engineering.nyu.edu Onix was recognized for the company's achievements in the Google Cloud ecosystem, helping joint customers like the City of Montreal move to the cloud from dated legacy systems by developing custom infrastructure and workplace cloud solutions. The city wanted to modernize its email to a high-performing, cost-effective, cloud-based solution with collaboration and productivity tools for 25,000+ employees. City officials wanted to give employees an efficient, secure platform that also promoted mobility and information sharing. Onix and Google worked side by side to deliver creative insights about how G Suite was the City's best solution. To deploy it for numerous user types, Onix worked with the City of Montreal to create a compelling proposal with multiple stock keeping units, including custom ones created just for the City. By taking this step, the City of Montreal has equipped its workforce with better, more innovative, agile productivity tools that allow it to save money, boost worker collaboration and efficiency, and improve the experience residents will have when interacting with the city and seeking information. "The cloud is all about changing the way organizations of any size, from any sector, work in today's competitive marketplace," says Onix President and CEO Tim Needles. "Google Cloud's solutions and the longstanding partnership we share allow us to help our clients work better, faster and smarter in a secure environment." "We're thrilled to recognize Onix as Google Cloud North American Reseller Partner of the Year," said Carolee Gearhart, Vice President, Worldwide Channel Sales at Google Cloud. "Onix has proven their expertise in Google Cloud and has demonstrated their commitment to customer success over the past year. We're excited to keep building on our partnership with Onix as more and more customers look to our ecosystem to help them succeed in the cloud." About Onix As a leading cloud solutions provider, Onix has elevated businesses to the next level with infrastructure, collaboration, devices, enterprise search and geospatial technology. The company achieves this with solutions from such industry leaders as Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services (AWS), among others. Onix uses its ever-evolving expertise to solve clients' technology pain points across numerous business sectors. Onix backs its strategic planning and deployment with incomparable ongoing service, training and support. It also offers its own suite of standalone products to solve specific business challenges, including digital accessibility of websites and online documents through its Equidox brand and cloud billing and budget management through OnSpend. Based in Lakewood, Ohio, near Cleveland, Onix also has Canadian offices in Toronto and Ottawa. The company also maintains a strong presence across major cities, including Atlanta, Austin, Texas, the San Francisco Bay area, Boston, Chicago and New York. Learn more at www.onixnet.com . Contact Robin Suttell, Onix 216-801-4984 [email protected] SOURCE Onix Related Links www.onixnet.com CHICAGO, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Optical Film Market by Film Type (Polarizing Film, Backlight Unit Film, ITO Film), Application (Television, Desktop Monitors & Laptops, Smartphones & Tablets, Signage/Large Format display, Automotive Display), Region-Global Forecast to 2024", published by MarketsandMarkets, the Optical Film Market is expected to grow from USD 21.5 billion in 2019 to USD 30.2 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 7.0% during the forecast period. The major factor driving the optical film market include increasing penetration in smartphones, television, and other display devices, globally. Optical film is suitable in LCD and LED owing to its properties such as high transparency, increased brightness, energy efficiency, and improved contrast. Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=69547381 Browse in-depth TOC on "Optical Film Market" 62 Tables 44 Figures 113 Pages View detailed Table of Content here: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/optical-film-market-69547381.html Television is the largest application segment of the optical film market, in terms of value and volume. The major applications in the optical film market include television, smartphones & tablets, desktop monitors & laptops, signage/large format display, and automotive display. The television application segment accounted for a major share of the market, in terms of value and volume, in 2018. High acceptance of optical film in the LED and LCD is the key reason for the high consumption of optical film in the television application. This growth is driven by the increase in the screen size of LCD and OLED displays of televisions. A number of consumer electronics industry leaders produce LCD television in varying sizes and configurations due to the increase in demand for larger television units among end users, which, in turn, support the growth of the optical film market. Request Sample Pages: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=69547381 The polarizing film segment holds a major share, in terms of value, in the optical film market. The polarizing film segment dominates the overall optical film market, in terms of value, as it is widely applicable in both LCD and OLED displays for various applications. Polarizing film converts non-polarized light into linearly polarized light by transmitting only the incident beam that propagates in one direction and absorbing all other beams. Recognizing letters and graphics without the polarizers would be impossible. A polarizing film is one of the core elements of the LCD and OLED technologies that enables display of images on LCD and OLED screen. APAC accounts for a major share of the optical film market. APAC accounts for the largest market share of optical film, globally. The large market share of the region can be attributed to the rapid growth of end-use industries, such as consumer electronics, automotive, industrial, optical equipment, and lighting, resulting in the constant demand for optical film in various applications. Countries in APAC such as South Korea, China, and Japan have the largest optical film manufacturers, globally, such as LG Chem, Ltd. (South Korea), Hyosung Chemical (South Korea), Toray Industries Inc. (Japan), Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. (Japan), Zeon Corporation (Japan), and Kolon Industries Inc. (South Korea). All these factors are driving the demand for optical film in the televisions and smartphones application in this region. Some of the key global players prevailing in the Optical Film Market are LG Chem, Ltd. (South Korea), Hyosung Chemical (South Korea), Toray Industries Inc. (Japan), Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. (Japan), 3M (US), Zeon Corporation (Japan), Kolon Industries Inc. (South Korea), Sanritz Co., Ltd. (Japan), Nitto Denko Corporation (Japan), and Samsung SDI (Japan). These players have adopted various organic and inorganic growth strategies between 2014 and 2019. Request for Customization: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestCustomizationNew.asp?id=69547381 Browse Adjacent Markets: Specialty Chemicals Market Research Reports & Consulting Related Report: Electronic Films Market by Film Type (Non-Conductive and Conductive), Material Type (Polymer, ITO on Glass, ITO on Pet, and Metal Mesh), Application (Electronic Display, PCB, and Semiconductors), and Region - Global Forecast to 2023. About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Shelly Singh MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: [email protected] Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/optical-film-market.asp Visit Our Website: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com SOURCE MarketsandMarkets Located in Dallas County, the 2.8 million-square-foot Parkland campus is nearly twice the size of the old hospital, meeting the needs of the area's growing population. As part of its commissioning services, Burns & McDonnell will conduct design reviews, observe construction performance, participate in equipment startups and test all systems to verify systems can operate efficiently and be maintained properly once construction is complete. "We're excited to help Parkland implement a commissioning program that will be an integral part of Parkland's mission to provide medical aid and hospital care to area patients," says Kyle Lambert, commissioning manager for Burns & McDonnell. "At Parkland, the goal is to provide high-quality, safe care for their patients through compassion, skill and teamwork. We support Parkland's vision and are committed to delivering a comprehensive commissioning approach focused on collaboration, accountability and attention to detail." Taking an integrated team approach working on the project from the planning phase through construction Burns & McDonnell is supporting sustainability efforts to meet LEED v4 certification requirements. The services include indoor air quality planning and testing as well as building envelope services and monitoring-based commissioning for the following systems: HVAC Building Automated Controls (BAS) Building enclosure Emergency power Room pressurization Isolation room exhaust Humidity control Plumbing Medical gases, medical vacuum and medical air Normal, essential and emergency power distribution Lighting and lighting control Nurse call Security One of the first projects will include the design, construction, equipment and training review for a 525,000-square-foot, six-floor new outpatient clinic, which includes innovative treatment spaces, examination rooms, laboratories, imaging, medical offices and collaboration areas. Burns & McDonnell ranked the No. 1 commissioning firm in the U.S. by Consulting-Specifying Engineer has provided commissioning services for more than $11 billion of new construction within the past four years. For photos and support materials, please visit our MEDIA KIT. About Burns & McDonnell Burns & McDonnell is a family of companies made up of 7,000 engineers, architects, construction professionals, scientists, consultants and entrepreneurs with offices across the country and throughout the world. We strive to create amazing success for our clients and amazing careers for our employee-owners. Burns & McDonnell is 100 percent employee-owned and is proud to be on Fortune's 2019 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. For more information, visit burnsmcd.com . Contact: Lydia Schroeder, Burns & McDonnell 812-630-0796 [email protected] SOURCE Burns & McDonnell Related Links http://burnsmcd.com CINCINNATI, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- PatientPoint, the trusted leader in patient engagement solutions committed to making every doctor-patient engagement better, has named Bill Jennings as Chief Digital Officer. Jennings brings more than 20 years of digital media and video experience to PatientPoint and this new role. PatientPoint Chief Digital Officer Bill Jennings As Chief Digital Officer, Jennings will oversee all PatientPoint proximity marketing and programmatic video solutions. Jennings will also serve as a critical advisor with regard to PatientPoint Digital Solutions for physician offices, hospitals and local healthcare brands including search-engine marketing, online listing management and website optimization. Jennings will be based out of the company's New York office. Jennings is well-known in the digital media industry for founding programmatic health platform PageScience, which pioneered a new way for pharmaceutical brands to leverage contextual targeting for programmatic media buying. Jennings led PageScience to become the leading source for programmatic health media contextual targeting data, scoring 120 million pages of content per week. After Accent Health acquired PageScience in 2016, Jennings served as Accent Health president of digital and programmatic to hone the company's programmatic and geotargeted waiting room network offerings for both pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical brands. Prior to his time as Founder and CEO of PageScience, Jennings served in executive leadership positions at social media platform Vitrue (now part of Oracle), video ad network Lightningcast and A&E TV Networks. "The digital out-of-home programmatic and proximity marketing markets are booming right now," said PatientPoint Founder and CEO Mike Collete. "With Bill on our team, we are in a stronger position to fully capitalize on the substantial addressable market opportunity." About PatientPoint PatientPoint is a patient engagement solutions company passionately committed to making every doctor-patient engagement better. By harnessing the power of technology, our omnichannel platform more effectively educates and empowers patients, caregivers and staff to deliver improved health outcomes and an enhanced patient experience. For 30 years, hospitals, health systems, physician offices and sponsoring brands have trusted PatientPoint and its more than 450 team members to provide a uniquely integrated experience across care settings. Learn more at patientpoint.com. SOURCE PatientPoint Related Links http://www.patientpoint.com DUBLIN, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Antenna for 5G and 5G-Related Applications Patent Landscape" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. 5G is a broad market, and its deployment requires the development of many technology blocks. Indeed, 5G will affect global telecommunication services such as mobile phones, IoT, vehicles, and more. Along with mobile devices, 5G and 5G-related networks require the deployment of new infrastructures supporting specific protocols and operation modes, such as multi-input multi-output (MIMO), massive MIMO, beamforming, beam steering, carrier aggregation, and others. In addition, to increase the data rate and bandwidth, 5G devices must be compatible with many data types. 5G players must explore new frequency spectrums and more - especially the millimeter wave frequencies (from 20 GHz - 300 GHz). Among all RF components now in development for 5G applications (filters, power amplifiers, RF front-end modules, etc.), the antenna has become a very complex, invaluable segment of the 5G network. It was only in 2014 that the term 5G began appearing in patents. Since then, the number of 5G-related patent publications has seen a huge increase, with a growth rate of 113% from 2014 - 2018. This strong acceleration is pushed mostly by Chinese IP players, which account for more than 56% of IP activity. In particular, we have noticed a large number of Chinese academic players, which is quite unusual in the telecom domain. Today, the IP landscape related to the antenna for 5G is still unsettled. With more than 75% of patent applications still pending, much will change in the coming years. Indeed, after an initial period of domestic patent applications, the main IP and market players - i.e. Samsung, Intel, Ericsson, and Huawei - have begun extending their portfolios worldwide. Samsung and Intel appear to be the two leaders currently best-positioned to limit their main competitors' patenting activity and freedom-to-operate. This report provides a detailed comparison of the four main IP players: Samsung, Intel, Huawei, and Oppo Mobile. Each one's strength and weaknesses are highlighted, and information is provided about their recent and future technology developments. Also included is a detailed description and analysis of their key patents. Key report highlights: Understanding the key players' patented technologies and current IP strategies More than 620 patent applicants are involved in the antenna for 5G patent landscape. This report reveals the key players' IP position through a detailed analysis of their patent portfolios. The report also provides an understanding of these players' patented technologies and their IP strategy, and explores their capability to limit other firms' patenting activity and freedom-to-operate. Analyzing IP players' position on promising applications and developed technologies This report also supplies an understanding of IP players' positions on promising applications. The main IP players and key patents are presented for each segment, in concert with an understanding of the current technical challenges addressed in these patents. Identifying and understanding key patents related to the antenna for 5G A thorough analysis of key patents (seminal, blocking) related to the antenna for 5G is included in this report. Furthermore, for each segment a selection of seminal, blocking, and most-promising patents are furnished. The report integrates an Excel database containing the >3,600 patents analyzed in this study. This pivotal patent database allows for multi-criteria searches and includes patent publication numbers, hyperlinks to the original documents, priority date, title, abstract, patent assignees, patent's current legal status, and technological/application segments. Key Topics Covered: Introduction Methodology Report's scope Report's key features Report's objectives Main assignees cited in this report Patent search methodology Terminologies for patent analysis Executive Summary IP Landscape Overview Time-evolution of patent publications World mapping of patent applications Main patent assignees Legal status of main IP players' patents Publication countries of main patent assignees Time-evolution of patent assignees IP position of main patent applicants Key Patents Key patents - definition Seminal patents Blocking patents Corpus Segmentation Applications Antenna architectures and frequency bands Antenna technologies Cross-analysis Key Players - IP Profile Samsung Intel Oppo Mobile Huawei Technologies Conclusion Companies Mentioned AAC Technologies Amsung Electronics AT&T China Jiliang University Chiun Mai Communication Systems Comba Telecom Systems Electronics & Telecommunications Research Institute Ericsson Guangdong Tongyu Communication Huawei Technologies Huizhou Speed Wireless Technology Intel Kuang Chi Institute Of Advanced Technology Kunshan Ruixiang Xuntong Communication Technology Co LG Murata Manufacturing Nokia Oppo Mobile Qualcomm Shanghai Amphenol Airwave Communication Electronics Shenzhen Sunway Communication Sony South China University Of Technology Southeast University Nanjing Tan Kah Kee College University Of Electronic Science & Technology Of China Vivo Mobile Communication Xiamen University University Xidian University ZTE For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/rpx75v About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. 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] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com WASHINGTON, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Children's National today announced a $30 million gift from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), marking a major milestone in the creation of its new Research & Innovation Campus. The gift will help drive pediatric discoveries that save and improve the lives of children in the Washington, D.C. region and around the world. In 2009, the UAE made its first gift to Children's National to fund the creation of the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation. The institute has established Children's National as a leader in innovation and helped make surgery for children more precise, less invasive and pain-free. This gift is the latest chapter in a 10-year partnership between the D.C.-based hospital and the UAE, yielding $180 million for health advances that have benefitted thousands of children and families. Children's National is redeveloping nearly 12 acres on the site of the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center for the one-of-a kind campus, scheduled to open next year. The UAE gift will support development of the new complex. It will host researchers, universities, companies and a rare disease institute, all working collaboratively to find solutions for some of childhood's most challenging diseases and conditions. The campus also will include a conference theater to foster global collaboration and an outpatient care center. The care center will offer primary care services, genetic counseling and coordinated care services for children with genetic and metabolic diseases. "We are deeply grateful for the United Arab Emirates' longstanding friendship and our shared belief that healthy children are the future of our societies," said Dr. Kurt Newman, president and CEO of Children's National. "Our great hope is that this new Research & Innovation Campus will lead to improved care for children everywhere." Children's National will recognize the UAE's generosity by naming the main atrium of the research and innovation building for the nation's late founder, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. "The UAE is proud to partner with CNMC, a leader in pediatric care," said Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba, UAE Ambassador in Washington, D.C. "The real power of this partnership is the opportunity it creates to find better treatments for children, not just in the U.S. or the UAE, but everywhere." In 2009, Children's National named its main hospital campus in recognition of the UAE's philanthropic support of the hospital's mission. The partnership between Children's National and the UAE has included the development of international training and telemedicine programs, collaborative research and improvements in patient care in the U.S. and abroad. In 2018, the two formalized a collaboration to upgrade services at UAE hospitals, supporting continued development of innovative healthcare technologies and research that address children's health. Children's National has provided lifesaving and complex pediatric care services that currently are unavailable in the UAE to approximately 600 Emirati children. About Children's National Research & Innovation Campus The Children's National Research & Innovation Campus is an ecosystem of facilities and programs designed to more quickly translate discoveries into new treatments and technologies. The nearly 12-acre campus, located in Washington, D.C., combines the strengths of Children's National with those of public and private partners. It will open in 2020 with 160,000 sq. ft. of research and innovation space, with room to expand. Children's National's research at this location will focus on pediatric genomic and precision medicine to target an individual's disease and treatment more precisely for better outcomes, with fewer side effects. The new campus will improve patient access at the main hospital by freeing up space for high-demand critical care services. About Children's National Children's National, based in Washington, D.C., has served the nation's children since 1870. It is one of the nation's top-5 pediatric hospitals, and, for a second straight year, ranked No. 1 in newborn care, and is ranked in all specialties, by U.S. News & World Report. Children's National has been designated two times as a Magnet hospital, a designation given to hospitals that demonstrate the highest standards of nursing and patient care delivery. This pediatric academic health system offers expert care through a convenient, community-based primary care network and specialty outpatient centers in the D.C. metropolitan area, including the Maryland suburbs and Northern Virginia. Home to the Children's Research Institute and the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation, Children's National is the seventh-highest NIH-funded pediatric institution in the nation. Children's National is recognized for its expertise and innovation in pediatric care and as a strong voice for children through advocacy at the local, regional and national levels. For more information, follow us on Facebook and Twitter. SOURCE Children's National Health System Related Links http://www.childrensnational.org Kesten has more than 20 years of experience helping high net worth individuals preserve their wealth and financial security by mitigating income, estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes. A particular focus of his practice is advising hedge fund principals. He provides strategic counseling on estate plans, wills and trusts, and the structuring and implementation of lifetime wealth transfers and "estate freeze" transactions, among other complex estate issues. Janian represents high net worth individuals from the finance, alternative investment and art sectors, among others, on lifetime estate planning, including wills and revocable and irrevocable trusts, and post-death estate planning and estate administration. She brings extensive experience advising on estate taxes, gift taxes and generation-skipping transfer taxes. Ronald Shechtman, Pryor Cashman's Managing Partner, said of the new partners, "We've seen increased demand from clients seeking specialized counsel on multifaceted trusts and estates issues. Dan and Lauren are two of New York's preeminent attorneys in this area, with expertise and experience that will enhance our firm's existing T+E capabilities and complement many of our other practices, particularly in the investment management sector." "We are thrilled to be joining such an esteemed group of attorneys, whose collective expertise will serve our clients enormously," said Kesten. "I look forward to co-leading the trusts and estates practice and introducing my clients to everything Pryor Cashman has to offer." "Our clients require sophisticated legal advice, and we immediately recognized that our new partners at Pryor Cashman provide that every day. The firm's full-service platform, including investment management, matrimonial, art and real estate expertise, will benefit our clients tremendously," Janian said. Kesten received his L.L.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law and his J.D. from University of Kentucky College of Law. He earned his B.A. from the University of Virginia. Janian graduated with honors from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law and received her B.A., with distinction, from Washington University. She holds an Advanced Professional Certificate in Estate Planning from New York University School of Law. About Pryor Cashman Pryor Cashman is a premier, midsized law firm with headquarters at 7 Times Square in New York and a West Coast office in Los Angeles. With broad and sophisticated transactional and litigation practices, Pryor Cashman provides a full range of services to meet the complex legal needs of institutions, mid-market businesses, bold emerging entities, entrepreneurs and individuals. SOURCE Pryor Cashman Related Links https://www.pryorcashman.com PITTSBURGH, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- RDX, one of the largest independent providers of managed database and cloud services, today announced that clckwrk Ltd., an RDX company, has expanded the largest online marketplace for Oracle database to AWS Cloud migration tools. With a wide range of pre-configured images optimized to run on AWS and proven in deployments across hundreds of customers, organizations can save time and money when moving their on-premise Oracle environments to the AWS cloud. With these images, which can be purchased on the AWS marketplace, companies of all sizes can quickly launch new database workloads or migrate from on-premise to the cloud using existing licenses. clckwrk recently expanded the marketplace to offer more than 100 images, which can be used to easily provision virtual servers, or instances, running databases on AWS, allowing busy IT staffs to accelerate their cloud migration projects. The images come pre-installed with documentation, and require no changes to a company's existing support process. These tools empower the IT team to confidently take charge of their Oracle migration. "Many IT staffs are stretched thin, so going through the painstaking process of migrating Oracle to the cloud, even as a pilot project, is just not feasible. A helping hand is just what is needed," said Peter Castello, clckwrk GM. "The clckwrk marketplace gives these organizations a way to leverage the knowledge of their internal team and the best practice from a partner to dramatically accelerate Oracle cloud migrations in a truly cost-effective way, from test straight through to production. And, clckwrk can also provide assistance for those who would like the help of a partner for their Oracle migration." Cloud migration projects continue to be a high priority for many companies. According to a recent cloud usage survey conducted by data virtualizations company Denodo, 36 percent of organizations are currently in the process of migrating their data infrastructure to the cloud, while nearly 20 percent are in advanced stages of implementation. Recently, RDX announced the acquisitions of Clckwrk Limited, a London-based provider of Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud migration, implementation and management services; and ClearDB, a cloud Database-as-a-Service provider. With these acquisitions, the company has expanded its portfolio of services to accommodate a wide range of IT modernization initiatives, focused on helping organizations become more agile and resilient through the adoption of cloud environments for their enterprise databases and applications. About RDX Founded in 1994, RDX is one of the largest independent providers of database infrastructure, data management and cloud management services in North America. The Company provides 24x7 managed services to hundreds of clients, both on premise and in the public cloud. RDX supports a wide range of cloud environments including Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS, and Oracle DB Cloud; database environments including Oracle, SQL Server, MYSQL, PostgreSQL, DB2 and MongoDB; and operating systems including Windows and all major UNIX/Linux offerings. For over two decades, RDX has helped hundreds of organizations lower support costs while increasing data infrastructure performance and availability. RDX's expert staff of highly-trained professionals is backed by a delivery organization that has continuously improved and enhanced its operations throughout its history. More information is available at https://www.rdx.com. SOURCE RDX Related Links https://www.rdx.com CHICAGO, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicago-based R.J. O'Brien & Associates (RJO), the oldest and largest independent futures brokerage and clearing firm in the United States, today announced the promotion of Kathleen E. Clapper to Senior Director and Chief Compliance Officer (CCO). Clapper assumes the role following the retirement of CCO Nancy Westwick. Clapper joined RJO in February 2018 as Director of Compliance. Previously, she spent more than 12 years at CME Group in roles supporting the exchange's self-regulatory organization (SRO) functions, including performing financial and compliance examinations of futures commission merchants (FCMs). RJO Chairman and CEO Gerald Corcoran said: "Katie will not miss a beat as she assumes this critical role for RJO. She's done a great job over the past year and is ready to take the helm. At the same time, we'll truly miss Nancy, who was an outstanding Chief Compliance Officer. We're grateful for her contributions and wish her all the best." Clapper said: "I'm excited to lead our talented team. I've been heavily focused over the past year on exploring ways to improve efficiencies as Compliance has evolved from being principally an advisory role to now include a material oversight function. We're committed to ensuring that our procedures help us stay ahead of issues and providing a best-in-class monitoring and surveillance operation." Clapper joined CME Group in 2005 as a Staff Auditor, becoming Experienced Auditor in 2007 and Advanced Auditor in 2008. In 2010, she became Senior Examiner, Financial & Regulatory Surveillance, and was promoted in 2013 to Supervisor and in 2016 to Manager in that department. Clapper grew up in the Champaign-Urbana, Illinois area. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree, with honors, in Accountancy, from the University of Illinois in Champaign, and an MBA from DePaul University. She received a CPA in 2013. About R.J. O'Brien & Associates Founded in 1914, R.J. O'Brien & Associates is the largest independent futures brokerage and clearing firm in the United States, serving more than 80,000 institutional, commercial and individual clients globally, in addition to a network of approximately 400 introducing brokers (IBs). RJO services the industry's most expansive global network of IBs, a vast array of middle market firms and many of the world's largest financial, industrial and agricultural institutions. The firm offers state-of-the-art electronic trading and 24-hour trade execution on every major futures exchange worldwide. RJO has received the FOW International Award for "Non-Bank FCM of the Year" for the past three years. Wealth and Finance International Magazine named the company's private client division, RJO Futures, "2018's Most Trusted Financial Brokerage Firm." At its 2019 U.S. Services Awards, CTA Intelligence named RJO the "Best Independent FCM" the seventh honor bestowed by the magazine on RJO and its UK affiliate. R.J. O'Brien was also the top-ranked broker in Oil Options and Structured Products in Europe in the 2019 Energy Risk Commodities Rankings. SOURCE R.J. OBrien & Associates Related Links http://www.rjobrien.com LINCOLN, Neb., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Sandhills Publishing announced this week that it will change its name to Sandhills Global. The Nebraska-based tech company attributes the evolution to exponential growth over the last four decades, including the advancement of its product portfolio and global market share. Founded in 1978 under the name Peed Corp., the company quickly established itself with the launch of Machinery Trader, a trade publication connecting buyers and sellers of heavy machinery and construction equipment. Following its early growth and a relocation to Lincoln, Nebraskawhere it is today headquarteredPeed Corp. became Sandhills Publishing. The name pulled inspiration from the sandhill crane, a species native to North America that makes a ceremonious annual migration through Nebraska's Platte River valley. The name paid homage to the company's home state, while also honoring the birds' persevering efforts to work together in service to their mission. Over its first several decades in business Sandhills Publishing expanded its national and global presence, moving into the agriculture, transportation, and aviation industries and scaling its print and online brands with growing demand. Investments in operational technologies led to evolutions in product offerings and expansions into retail, wholesale, and auction markets. As Sandhills leveraged online and cloud technology to build its brands, it simultaneously expanded product offerings to provide hosted tech solutions to brokers, auctioneers, dealerships, service providers, and manufacturers in these industries worldwide. A period of substantial international growth followed, including a number of noteworthy overseas acquisitions and the formation of four international subsidiaries. With an established global presence, the company turned focus to data collection, management, and output, scaling its tech infrastructure and data processing personnel to offer powerful, real-time solutions that have fundamentally evolved the way buyers and sellers in these industries do business. The new name speaks as much to the company's roots as it does to its evolution and future. "Since the beginning, we've remained focused on gathering, processing, and distributing information in our core industries," said Sandhills Global's Chief Operations Officer Shawn Peed. "While print publishing remains a key component of our business, intentional and disciplined investments in technology have evolved our methodologies and offerings. The new name honors our roots and emphasizes the value we place on both the contributions and potential of every individual within the organization as we continue to build solutions that evolve the industries we serve on a global scale." About Sandhills Global Sandhills Global is an information processing company headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. Our products and services gather, process, and distribute data, connecting buyers and sellers in the construction, agriculture, aviation, and transportation industries worldwide. Our integrated, industry-specific approach to hosted technologies and services offers solutions that help businesses large and small operate efficiently and grow securely, cost-effectively, and successfully. Sandhills Globalwe are the cloud. Contact Us: 120 West Harvest Drive Lincoln, NE 68521 www.Sandhills.com [email protected] (402) 479-2181 SOURCE Sandhills Publishing Company NEW YORK, April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Bridgepoint Education, Inc. ("Bridgepoint" or the "Company") (NYSE: BPI) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of California, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons other than Defendants who purchased or otherwise acquired Bridgepoint securities between March 8, 2016 and March 7, 2019, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants' violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials. If you are a shareholder who purchased Bridgepoint securities between March 8, 2016, and March 7, 2019, both dates inclusive, you have until May 10, 2019, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased. [Click here to join this class action] Bridgepoint, together with its subsidiaries, provides postsecondary education services in the United States. The Company was formerly known as TeleUniversity, Inc. and changed its name to Bridgepoint Education, Inc. in February 2004. Bridgepoint's academic institutions, Ashford University and University of the Rockies, offer associate's, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs in the disciplines of business, education, psychology, social sciences, and health sciences. Bridgepoint offers its programs primarily through online, and also at its campuses. As of December 31, 2017, its institutions offered approximately 1,200 courses and 80-degree programs, with 45,730 students enrolled. As a means of increasing enrollment, the Company formed various corporate partnerships with employers to offer their employees a way to pursue and complete a college degree without incurring any student debt, referred to as the Corporate Full Tuition Grant ("FTG") program. In 2017, enrollments in the Company's FTG program accounted for approximately 10% of its total enrollment. The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Bridgepoint's processes for recording revenue for its FTG program were inaccurate; (ii) Bridgepoint maintained deficient internal controls; (iii) due to the foregoing deficiencies, Bridgepoint was prone to and did commit material accounting errors related to revenue, provision for bad debts, accounts receivable and deferred revenue, which resulted in the overstatement of revenue and expenses; and (iv) as a result, Bridgepoint's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On March 7, 2019, Bridgepoint announced that it had "determined to restate the Company's previously issued unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements, and advised that those financial statements should not be relied upon, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018." Bridgepoint stated that the processes used for recording revenue for the FTG program portion of its student contracts "were not designed with sufficient precision," leading to "material" accounting errors related to revenue, provision for bad debts, accounts receivable and deferred revenue, which resulted in the overstatement of revenue and expenses. Bridgepoint also identified weaknesses in internal controls. On this news, Bridgepoint's stock price plummeted by $3.21 per share, or over 34%, to close at $6.22 per share on March 7, 2019, on unusually heavy trading volume. The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Florida, and Los Angeles, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com CONTACT: Robert S. Willoughby Pomerantz LLP [email protected] SOURCE Pomerantz LLP Related Links http://www.pomerantzlaw.com NEW YORK, April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Diplomat Pharmacy, Inc. ("Diplomat" or the "Company") (NYSE: DPLO) and certain of its officers and directors. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Central District of California, and indexed under 19-cv-01642, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities, other than Defendants and their affiliates, who acquired Diplomat securities between February 26, 2018 through February 21, 2019, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants' violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials. If you are a shareholder who purchased Diplomat securities between February 26, 2018, and February 21, 2019, you have until April 25, 2019, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased. [Click here to join this class action] Diplomat operates as an independent specialty pharmacy in the United States. Diplomat stocks, dispenses, and distributes prescriptions for various biotechnology and specialty pharmaceutical manufacturers. It also provides specialty infusion pharmacy, patient care coordination, clinical, compliance and persistency program, patient financial assistance, specialty pharmacy training/consulting, benefits investigation, prior authorization, risk evaluation and medication strategy, retail specialty, and hub services, as well as clinical and administrative support services to hospitals and health systems. In late 2017, the Company entered the pharmacy benefit management ("PBM") business through its December 2017 acquisition of LDI Holding Company, LLC, doing business as LDI Integrated Pharmacy Services ("LDI Integrated"), and its November 2017 acquisition of Pharmaceutical Technologies, Inc., doing business as National Pharmaceutical Services ("National Pharmaceutical"). Diplomat's PBM segment purports to "provide[] services designed to help [its] customers reduce the cost and manage the complexity of their prescription drug programs." On April 30, 2018, Diplomat launched a new brand, CastiaRx, which united its specialty pharmacy capabilities with its PBM capabilities of LDI Integrated and National Pharmaceutical to serve as a specialty benefit manager. The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company's business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Diplomat had downplayed its success in integrating and growing its PBM business, which included LDI Integrated and National Pharmaceutical, two companies Diplomat had acquired in late 2017; (2) consequently, Diplomat would need to record a non-cash impairment charge upwards of approximately $630 million relating to its PBM business and these 2017 acquisitions; (3) due to the foregoing, Diplomat would withdraw its preliminary 2019 full-year outlook issued less than seven weeks prior; and (4) as a result, defendants statements about Diplomats business, operations and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. On February 22, 2019, Diplomat filed a Form 8-K with the SEC, announcing it was postponing the release of its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018, due to a "recent determination" that it would need to record a non-cash impairment charge upwards of approximately $630 million relating to 2017 acquisitions for its PBM business. Diplomat also disclosed that it was withdrawing its preliminary 2019 full-year outlook provided in January. On this news, shares of Diplomat fell $7.59, or over 56%, to close at $5.87 per share on February 22, 2019. The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com CONTACT: Robert S. Willoughby Pomerantz LLP [email protected] 888-476-6529 ext. 9980 SOURCE Pomerantz LLP Related Links http://www.pomerantzlaw.com NEW YORK, April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of investors in United Microelectronics Corporation ("UMC" or the "Company") (NYSE: UMC) against certain of the Company's current and former officers and directors. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, and indexed under 19-cv-02304, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities, other than Defendants and their affiliates, who purchased or otherwise acquired publicly traded securities of UMC between October 28, 2015 and November 1, 2018, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants' violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its senior officials. If you are a shareholder who purchased UMC securities during the class period, you have until May 13, 2019, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased. [Click here to join this class action] UMC purports to engage in the research, development, and manufacture of products in the solar energy and light-emitting diode industries. On May 13, 2016, the Company announced that it had entered into a Dynamic Random-Access Memory ("DRAM") Technology Cooperation Agreement with Fujian Jianhua Integrated Circuit Co. Ltd. ("Fujian"). Under the agreement, Fujian was to provide UMC with related equipment for its research and development, as well as service fees subject to the progress of the technology development. UMC was to develop DRAM related technologies for Fujian and deliver such development results to Fujian before May 12, 2021. The developed technologies were to be jointly owned by both parties. DRAM is a memory device product used in electronics to store information. DRAM is a technologically advanced commodity that is widely used in digital electronics, as well as leading-edge computing, consumer, networking, automotive, industrial, embedded, and mobile productions. At all relevant times, one of UMC's primary competitors has been Micron Technology, Inc. ("Micron"), a leading U.S. semiconductor company known for its development and production of DRAM products. Throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding UMC's business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) UMC conspired with Fujian to steal trade secrets from Micron relating to its research and development of DRAM; (ii) UMC hired former Micron employees for the purpose of stealing such information from Micron; (iii) the foregoing conduct placed UMC and certain of its employees at an increased risk of criminal and regulatory investigation by the U.S. government; and (iv) as a result, UMC's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On November 1, 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") indicted UMC, Fujian, and Chen Zhengkun a.k.a. Stephen Chen ("Chen"), a former Micron employee hired by UMC, for conspiracy to commit economic espionage, conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets, and economic espionage (receiving and possessing stolen trade secrets). The indictment stated that the companies conspired to steal trade secrets from Micron relating to its research and development of memory storage devices. According to the indictment, the conspiracy to commit economic espionage began in or around January 2016, the conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets began in or about October 2015, and the economic espionage (receiving and possessing stolen trade secrets) began in or about February 2016. According to the DOJ's indictment, Chen, a Taiwanese national, resigned as the President of Micron's subsidiary, Micron Memory Taiwan Co., Ltd. ("MMT"), in July 2015. Thereafter, Chen began working for UMC as its Senior Vice President and Fabrication Director in Taiwan in September 2015. According to the indictment, Chen, as well as agents of UMC, later hired additional former employees of Micron who stole Micron trade secrets and, at the direction of UMC employees, used such trade secrets to enhance UMC's DRAM technologies. As news of UMC's indictment reached the market, UMC's ADS price fell by $0.19 per share, or nearly 10%, over the following two trading sessions to close at $1.71 per share on November 5, 2018. The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com CONTACT: Robert S. Willoughby Pomerantz LLP [email protected] 888-476-6529 ext. 9980 SOURCE Pomerantz LLP Related Links http://www.pomerantzlaw.com GREAT NECK, N.Y., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Sharestates, a marketplace lending platform that connects real estate developers with investors, was crowned Top Real Estate Platform at LendIt Fintech USA 2019 in San Francisco, California on April 9, 2019. The Top Real Estate Platform award is based on performance, volume, growth, product diversity, and responsiveness to stakeholders. Over the past five years, Sharestates has become a leading real estate platform by focusing on clients and investing heavily in the platform and its employees to streamline the borrowing and investing experience. "Sharestates has shown impressive growth over the past year while also providing great returns for investors. They deserve the LendIt Fintech Real Estate Platform of the Year for 2019," said Peter Renton, Co-Founder & Co-Chairman, LendIt Fintech. "To think only five years ago we walked into LendIt not knowing what to expect as part of an industry that was beginning to find its way into the financial marketplace as Private Lenders, and today we are acknowledged by our peers as a leader in the space," explains Co-Founder and CEO, Allen Shayanfekr. "It's humbling, and we look forward to continued success through strategic partnerships as well as being part of a monumental financial movement. On behalf of our organization, I'd like to thank LendIt Fintech for such an honorable award. We are very excited about the coming year, and our product rollouts. The community spoke, we listened, and we're ready to execute!" As Sharestates continues to grow they've expanded their offerings to meet the needs of the evolving practices of their professional community. Now operating in 46 states, Sharestates offers diversified asset classes including residential, multi-family, mixed-use, commercial properties, and land acquisitions. Loan types include short-term, long-term, and non-performing loans across different stages of development from ground-up construction to stabilized properties. Sharestates focuses on debt offerings, but also offers equity investments through the Syndicate Profile platform, and every project is carefully underwritten with a proprietary 34-point risk assessment scoring matrix. Since launching in 2015, Sharestates has closed on over $1.7 billion in total loan volume and returned over $675 million in principal to investors. Average annualized returns have exceeded 10% every year. As a result of its strong performance and valued relationships, 82% of Sharestates loan volume has come from repeat borrowers and 81% of its investors are repeat investors. About LendIt LendIt Fintech is the world's largest event series dedicated to connecting the entire fintech community, including the lending, digital banking, and blockchain segments. The conferences bring together leading financial innovators, banks, investors, enterprise technology platforms, and service providers to share the latest trends and facilitate networking. LendIt Fintech hosts three conferences annually: LendIt Fintech USA, LendIt Fintech Europe, and LendIt Fintech China, and dozens of complementary online and in-person events. LendIt also owns and operates one of the world's leading industry educational channels, Lend Academy. About Sharestates Sharestates is a real estate investment marketplace that allows individual and institutional investors to participate in rigorously vetted debt offerings. All of the offerings on Sharestates' platform have passed through a 34-point underwriting process. Founded by Allen Shayanfekr and real estate veterans, Radni Davoodi and Raymond Y. Davoodi of the Atlantis Organization, Sharestates has combined proprietary technology with a proven track record of business development expertise to become the fastest growing real estate crowdfunding marketplace. Its growth can be attributed to a strong leadership team, strict loan acquisition and underwriting practices, its ability to cut the cost of capital for borrowers, and the platform's ease of use for borrowers and investors. Media Contact: Justin Peterson SVP of Marketing 212-201-0750 [email protected] SOURCE Sharestates Related Links www.sharestates.com NEW YORK, and LOS ANGELES, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft is now investigating claims of widespread sexual harassment and discrimination after an email thread detailing such instances was noticed by senior leadership at the company. The chain began when one female employee asked others for advice on how to move up in the company, after having been in the same position for over six years without seeing the possibility of advancement. The question sparked dozens of women to share stories of sexual discrimination and harassment. One female employee claimed that during a work trip, an employee of a partner company threatened to kill her if she did not perform implied sexual acts. After raising awareness of the issue to HR and management, she was told by her manager that "it sounded like he was just flirting" and that she should "get over it." HR said that since there was no evidence and the man worked for Microsoft's partner company, there was nothing Microsoft could do. Another female employee shared that she was frequently called a "bitch" at work, and that it was pervasive to the company. During a roundtable with the women on the Xbox core team, every woman but one had been called a "bitch" at work. One employee, who was working as a "Microsoft Partner," a senior level person in the organization, was asked to sit on someone's lap twice during one meeting, which occurred in front of HR and other executives. Following the attention that the chain has drawn, Microsoft's head of human resources, Kathleen Hogan, said that she raised the issues with the company's senior leadership team and that she would personally look into the claims that HR originally passed over. Carney Shegerian, the founder of employee rights law firm Shegerian & Associates, has weighed in on the issue. "The widespread allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination at Microsoft indicate a hostile workplace environment to its women employees," Shegerian says. About Shegerian & Associates: Shegerian & Associates has won clients over $300 million in employment-based disputes and maintains a 98% success rate. We have offices in Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside and New York. Media Contact: Pace Public Relations Kara Ryan [email protected] SOURCE Shegerian & Associates Related Links www.shegerianlaw.com WASHINGTON, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- William "Beau" Wrigley, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Surterra Wellness (Surterra), one of the fastest growing health and wellness companies in the United States (U.S.), today highlighted the need for a change in the policy paradigm related to cannabis, saying that "Americans are ready for the full spectrum of medical and wellness benefits of cannabis." Wrigley's remarks came during a national thought leader event hosted by news publisher Axios on "Shifting the Wellness Paradigm," a conversation on medical cannabis as a health and wellness alternative. At the event, Wrigley discussed how decades of global brand building and a lifelong passion for wellness spurred his interest in the burgeoning cannabis wellness industry and in building a company that he sees as an industry model for the long run. He also offered insights on Surterra's rapid growth and expansion into new markets, the science helping doctors and individuals look beyond outdated falsehoods about cannabis, and the need for policymakers to establish a workable regulatory and business framework for a dynamic cannabis industry. "We're entering a new paradigm related to cannabis. Across the United States, public perception and support of legal cannabis are shifting rapidly, as facts replace outdated myths," Wrigley said. "Americans are ready for the full spectrum of medical and wellness benefits of cannabis and at Surterra, we're building a company that can be a role model and gold standard for the long run. Now policymakers must modernize federal laws to align with the reality that cannabis is, and should be, part of America's future." Wrigley called on the federal government to reform outdated policies and restrictions that impede patient access, stifle critical clinical research, block legitimate companies from the protections afforded to other businesses and prevent America from realizing cannabis's full economic and health benefits. He noted that two pieces of legislation currently pending in Congress, the STATES Act and SAFE Banking Act, are key to that reform, in that they would allow states to set their own policies regarding cannabis without federal interference. "As industry leaders and policymakers, we have the privilege and the responsibility to create a framework for this new reality and to demystify outdated notions regarding cannabis. Modernization of our nation's cannabis policies would be a critical step forward in increasing Americans' access to safer, natural, cannabis-based options that improve their health and wellness," Wrigley said. Surterra is one of the largest U.S. providers of medical, wellness and lifestyle cannabis products, with vertical operations in Florida, Texas and Nevada, and a pending acquisition in Massachusetts. The company operates 23 Surterra Wellness Centers and over 300,000 square feet of canopy throughout Florida with contracts to expand to over 500,000 square feet of cultivation by mid-2019. The event was moderated by Axios Co-founder and Executive Editor Mike Allen and also featured insights from members of Congress and other industry leaders on the innovation and policy landscape for cannabis. About Surterra Wellness Surterra Wellness (Surterra) is one of the nation's fastest growing health and wellness companies. With vertical operations in Florida, Texas and Nevada, and a pending acquisition in Massachusetts, Surterra brings a broad portfolio of high-quality brands to meet the needs of individuals who choose the natural medical relief and wellness enhancing benefits of cannabis products. Surterra offers a wide variety of medical, health and wellness products in multiple delivery options, including vaporizer pens, tinctures, oral sprays, topical creams, time released transdermal patches, and softgels. The company's brand portfolio includes: Surterra Wellness, Florida's Finest, The Apothecary Shoppe, and now Coral Reefer brands. Founded in 2014, Surterra serves thousands of consumers each year. For more information, please visit www.surterra.com. About Axios Co-founded in 2016 by Mike Allen, Jim VandeHei and Roy Schwartz, Axios is one of the fastest growing news organizations in the United States. Known for its mix of exclusive news, illuminating coverage and trustworthy insight delivered with "Smart Brevity" and a distinctly shareable format, Axios' mission is to make readers "smarter, faster with news and information that matters." For more information, please visit www.axios.com. Contact: [email protected] 415.518.8652 SOURCE Surterra Wellness Related Links http://www.surterra.com SAN FRANCISCO, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The FruitGuys , the nation's leader in providing farm-fresh fruit and thoughtful snacks to the American workplace, announced today that it has acquired FruitRevival, a Denver based company that delivers fresh fruit and healthy snacks to Colorado businesses. The FruitGuys and FruitRevival have a long-standing partnership built on shared values and a shared mission to help make workplaces healthier and more productive, and to support local farms. Today's announcement is the natural evolution of this years' long partnership. As a pioneer in the wellness in the workplace movement, The FruitGuys created the category of fresh fruit and healthy snacks at work. The acquisition marks yet another strong growth milestone for The FruitGuys, the nation's leader of the farm fresh fruit-to-office market, with tens of thousands of customers nationwide. "For the last five years we have been honored to work with the FruitRevival team as a partner and mentor, committed to supporting their growth," said Chris Mittelstaedt, founder and chief executive officer, The FruitGuys. "The decision for FruitRevival to become part of The FruitGuys family was a deepening of this partnership and a way for us to celebrate their hard work and local roots." Colorado boasts a thriving food to table culture, deep ties to the small family run farm community and an entrepreneurial food recovery movement. FruitRevival has been delivering local farm-fresh fruit to offices since 2009 and has donated thousands of pounds of fruit each year to community food recovery programs. Both FruitRevival and The FruitGuys help businesses keep employees happy and healthy and hold firm the social good philosophy of giving back to the community and supporting small local farms. "Over the years of our partnership, The FruitGuys have been tremendous mentors, helping us improve our operations so we could better serve our customers," said Melissa Edison Barnes, co-owner, FruitRevival. "The acquisition will allow us to expand our distribution of fresh fruit and nutritious snacks to companies outside the Denver metro area looking for healthier solutions across the state of Colorado. Our local team stays intact, we now have a broader platform from which to provide service." The FruitGuys mission is to bring farm fresh produce and thoughtful snacks to the American workplace in order to promote healthy work environments, while advocating for small farms and supporting hunger abatement. The FruitGuys is also committed to philanthropic causes and have developed several cause-related initiatives designed to support local family-run farms. In 2012, the company launched The FruitGuys Community Fund , a non-profit organization designed to help small independent farms. For more information, please visit www.fruitguys.com . For more information on FruitRevival powered by The FruitGuys, please visit www.fruitrevival.com or contact the company at (303) 399-3039. About The FruitGuys The FruitGuys delivers wellness to workplaces across America through boxes of farm-fresh fruit and thoughtful snacks in an effort to replace breakroom junk food and promote healthy snacking. The majority of the fruit is sourced from small, independent, and family-run farms across the country, which supports American farmers and also serves communities in need through weekly donations to homeless shelters, food banks, and other nonprofits. Founded in a one-bedroom San Francisco apartment in 1998 by CEO and founder Chris Mittelstaedt, The FruitGuys is still family owned and operated and maintains its commitment to giving back as well as expanding its network of family farms in each of its regional hubs across the U.S. Today, The FruitGuys is the nation's No. 1 provider or farm-fresh fruit to business. For more information, visit fruitguys.com . Follow The FruitGuys on Twitter @fruitguys. Media Contact: Tracy Rubin JCUTLER media group 323.969.9904 [email protected] SOURCE The FruitGuys Related Links http://www.fruitguys.com Through this new initiative, the Innovation Labs' VitaNavis analytics and learning platform ( get.vitanavis.com ) enables more students than ever to find potential education and career pathways, starting by providing them with a lifelong framework for understanding how their interests align with future occupations and opportunities. Generally, most students are exposed to a very limited view of the world's possibilities, a circumstance which the World of Work Network intends to change. Through the VitaNavis platform, students realize their own path in the world, allowing them to begin building future-ready skills and competencies from an early age. The student and parent experience on VitaNavis begins with the SuperStrong assessment, the latest, rapid and mobile version of the Strong Interest Inventory assessment. Data derived from the SuperStrong assessment is scientifically validated and reliable, allowing students to confidently explore careers, salaries, job outlooks, skills, and education requirements. Educators can also use classroom-level data to take the first step in differentiated learning or use district-level data to make strategic decisions around most effectively spending limited student support resources. In Cajon Valley USD schools, where the K12 World of Work launched, students begin in kindergarten to explore different interests and apply them in "real world" scenarios, showing how their interests relate to their "future possible selves." By envisioning themselves in the future world of work, students engage with today's work in the classroom and orient themselves towards a future they believe they can achieve. In a recent classroom setting with first-grade students, groups explored the different Holland RIASEC theme codes by taking on various roles in a flower shop simulation during which students learn about the Enterprising theme code and its relationship to Entrepreneurship. They also learned about other interest theme codes by building robots, designing websites and collaborating with other students on a variety of creative projects. What does every parent want? Happy kids, with healthy relationships, on a path to gainful employment. A parent's active involvement in their child's education and career planning often makes the difference in that child's long term success. Providing parents and students a platform where they can gain insights into these aspects of themselves clears the way for informed decision making. "Happy Kids, Living in Healthy Relationships, on a Path to Gainful Employment" is Cajon Valley USD's mission, achieved by providing opportunities for schools and families to build meaningful and productive partnerships committed to student learning. "Parents are critical to students achieving their aspirations. Sometimes a parent's best intentions or unconscious preconceived notions can cause their children to foreclose early on opportunities that might be right for their kids. If parents and their children know one another's strengths and interests, they can support each other in discovering careers that allow them to become the best version of themselves," explains Mike Serban, Director of Family and Community Engagement at Cajon Valley USD. The Myers-Briggs Company and Cajon Valley USD are developing a Career Development Playbook and accompanying online interactive experience on the VitaNavis platform to allow parents and students to gain a deeper understanding of themselves, each other, and their vocational interests with the goal of charting a course for lifelong development. These new tools will build upon psychometrically valid data and insights from The Myers-Briggs Company and will help facilitate more insightful conversations and mutual understanding between parents and their children, the students that will become the workforce of tomorrow. The goal is to provide students and parents tools to facilitate an open, productive, and relationship-building conversation that increases self-awareness for both parent and child, reducing the instances of children pushed into future careers that don't align with their interests. The benefits of interest alignment with their studies and work include: significantly higher academic persistence rates higher post-secondary completion rates occupational prestige income achievement "From first concept, the VitaNavis system was built to support this very need," says Darrell Mockus, CTO of The Myers-Briggs Company Innovation Labs. "By enabling parents to share and compare their own interests and personality to their children in the career context, it opens up conversations that are critical to a child's development." About Myers-Briggs Innovation Labs The Myers-Briggs Company, Innovation Labs provides personal and organizational improvement solutions through the integration of rigorous data analytics with research-tested personality measures. As a division of The Myers-Briggs Company (themyersbriggs.com), Innovation Labs combines expertise in data science and cutting-edge technologies with decades worth of peer-reviewed and scientifically validated assessment data to conduct personality and behavioral research in the areas of education and people analytics. Continuing The Myers-Briggs Company's 60-year commitment to improving people's lives through a better understanding of themselves and others, Innovation Labs is dedicated to making our proven insights accessible to all people as they make decisions at critical points in their lives. 800-624-1765 : themyersbriggs.com : The Myers-Briggs Company About Cajon Valley Union School District With roots dating back to 1870, Cajon Valley Union School District (www.cajonvalley.net) focuses on the positivity of each student's unique strengths, interests, and values. Serving over 60 square miles of San Diego's East County, Cajon Valley Union School District offers personalized education with programs that develop students' interests into goals for a career-minded approach. Cajon Valley Union School District has been partnering with the World of Work initiative for the past three school years, giving CVUSD students purpose in their everyday classroom instruction, connecting what they are learning to their futures. Together, World of Work and CVUSD want each student to understand that their unique strengths, interests, and values are needed in the world of work, fulfilling CVUSD's vision of happy kids, in healthy relationships, on a path to gainful employment. https://www.cajonvalley.net/ Media Contacts: Michael Burke MSR Communications [email protected] 415-989-9000 Melissa Summer The Myers-Briggs Company [email protected] 650-691-9105 Howard Shen Cajon Valley Union School District [email protected] 619-588-3000 SOURCE The Myers-Briggs Company Related Links http://www.themyersbriggs.com LONDON, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The US plant-based meat market size is expected to reach values of around $3 billion by 2024, growing at an impressive CAGR of over 24% during 20182024. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5758042/?utm_source=PRN The exponential growth of food trucks, delivery, and takeaway and the increasing number of consumers experimenting with new kinds of foods is driving the growth of the US market. Educational institutes have a lot of potentials as parents increasingly go vegetarian or vegan and so do their kids, thereby creating a demand in the market. The US plant-based meat market is driven by plant-based food manufacturers creating foods with profiles that match consumer context of a specific dish to facilitate trial. The introduction of products that are built similar to meat via price and the possibilities of offering a bigger repertoire of flavor profiles will help vendors attract a broader audience in the US market. The market research report provides in-depth market analysis and segmental analysis of the US plant-based meat market by products, storage, and channel. The report considers the present scenario of the US plant-based meat market and its market dynamics for the period 2019?2024. It covers a detailed overview of several market growth enablers, restraints, and trends. The study includes both the demand and supply side of the market. It also profiles and analyzes leading companies and several other prominent companies operating in the market. US Plant-based Meat Market Dynamics The growing traction towards the wellness trend is fueling the demand for all things plant, thereby creating lucrative investment opportunities in the US plant-based meat market. Green beauty is going from a niche to a majority; brands are becoming more health-focused, consumers are developing a likeness for intermittent fasting, they are taking more time out to meditate, get some sun, and focus on happiness in the US market. The consumers are beginning to realize that they have to start with their plate to make a long-term change and live a fuller, healthy life from both a physical and a mental perspective. The increasing focus in health and wellness will boost the demand for vegetarian meat and vegan meat in the US market. The holistic approach to food and widespread education about nutrient quality and dejunking will positively impact the growth of the market over the next few years. The rise in allergies and food intolerances is leading to an inherent belief that eliminating toxins that come in the form of chemicals from meat processes such as chlorine baths and consuming natural foods such as whole grains in the market. Various organizations that are working towards building healthier, stronger and more sustainable communities will fuel the growth of the US plant-based meat market. US Plant-based Meat Market Segmentation This market research report includes a detailed segmentation of the market by products, storage, and channel. The US plant-based meat market by product is classified into beef, chicken, pork, seafood, and others. The beef segment dominated approximately half of the total market share in 2018, growing at a CAGR of around 25% during the forecast period. The growing use of vegan meatballs in sauces served as a snack on a toothpick, or is being sliced to sandwich in between bread to bring a variety of option for the non-meat-eating population is fueling the growth of this segment in the US market. The growing demand for all-natural, organic, and vegetarian meats is fueling the growth of the US plant-based meat market. The storage segment in the US plant-based meat market is divided into frozen, refrigerated, and shelf-stable. Refrigerated storage is the fastest growing segment in the US market, at a CAGR of over 39% during the forecast period. The changing perception of younger consumers that chilled foods are more premium and fresher than frozen food is fueling the growth of this segment in the global market. The growing demand for flavorsome heat-and-eat products is encouraging the vendors to launch refrigerated meat substitutes in the US market. Companies such as Beyond Meat have witnessed massive success in staging their products in the refrigerated meat department or next to conventional meat. The US plant-based meat market by the channel is segmented into conventional, natural, and specialty gourmet. Conventional channel occupied the majority of the market share in 2018, growing at a CAGR of more than 22% during the forecast period. The increasing number of convenience stores selling new organic or natural products that are plant-based is gaining immense popularity and boosting sales in this segment in the US market. The rapidly escalating demand for better-for-you products is encouraging retailers to stock these products in the US plant-based meat market. Food, drug and mass merchandisers, including Walmart, are the largest distributors in the US plant-based meat market. Market Segmentation by Product Beef Chicken Pork Seafood Other Market Segmentation by Storage Frozen Refrigerated Shelf-stable Market Segmentation by Channel Conventional Natural Specialty Gourmet US Plant-Based Meat Market Vendor Analysis In the US plant-based meat market, leading vendors are drawing the attention of consumers and creating appeal for plant-based meats. Many players are leveraging various possibilities and definitions of meat substitutes and are expected to gravitate towards creating a pull in the US market. The top manufacturers are trying to layer flavor over flavor, color over color, texture over texture to attract the maximum number of consumers in the US market. Strategic partnerships are vital for expansions in the US plant-based meat market. The major vendors in the US plant-based meat market are: Beyond Meat Impossible Foods Greenleaf Foods Hungry Planet Next Level Other prominent vendors in the US plant-based meat market include Abbots Butcher, Atlantic Natural Foods, Don Lee Farms, Dr. Praeger's, Gardein, Good Catch Fish, Kraft Heinz Foodservice, Monks Meats, MorningStar Farms, No Evil Foods, Ocean Hugger Foods, Quorn Foods, Sophie's Kitchen, Sweet Earth, Tofurky, VBites, and Yves Veggie Cuisine. Key market insights include 1. The analysis of US plant-based meat market provides market size and growth rate for the forecast period 2019-2024. 2. It offers comprehensive insights on current industry trends, trend forecast, and growth drivers about theUS plant-based meat market. 3. The report provides the latest analysis of market share, growth drivers, challenges, and investment opportunities. 4. It offers a complete overview of market segments and the regional outlook of US plant-based meat market. 5. The report offers a detailed overview of the vendor landscape, competitive analysis, and key market strategies to gain competitive advantage. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5758042/?utm_source=PRN About Reportbuyer Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers For more information: Sarah Smith Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com Email: [email protected] Tel: +1 (718) 213 4904 Website: www.reportbuyer.com SOURCE ReportBuyer Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com WOODMERE, Ohio, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MarshBerry announced today at its annual Spring Connect Summit in Atlanta, GA, that it has officially launched the MarshBerry Connect Platform. Exclusively offered to firms participating in MarshBerry's Connect Peer Exchange Network, organizations can plug into the MarshBerry Connect Platform ("Platform") to amplify and access resources and capabilities designed to differentiate their value proposition to clients and carrier partners. "We have intentionally created a new category of business relationship amongst our members and trading partners, believing in the emerging new ecosystem of insurance distribution. It is highly unlikely any one firm or carrier can transform it alone," said David Soforenko, Executive Vice President at MarshBerry. "If agencies or brokerages truly want to drive change locally, regionally, even globally, a Broker Transformation Platform like ours offers the means and thought leadership to effectuate this objective," he continued. A key component to the Platform is its high-quality, real time business intelligence for purposeful empowerment. Here, Platform members access an ecosystem where mutually sustainable value is built (alongside partners) and compelling, shared outcomes are distributed to a member's end-client, so all participants in the value chain benefit. In tandem with MarshBerry's proprietary database, Perspectives for High Performance, all Platform members gain direct, independent access to Vertafore/RiskMatch's performance dashboard. This enables Platform members to not just visualize but drive: Growth, benchmarking, upselling, cross-selling and output Deeper, stronger carrier partnerships within the insurance marketplace Equally important, a key focal point of the Platform is to optimize and share finite resources possessed (or desired) by members in a format and forum consumable by the members. This desire and willingness to work together, to optimize resources ultimately benefits all parties in the sales paradigm: insured, insurer and broker. Work groups within the Platform will primarily focus on: Engaging leaders in practice groups and programming to drive best-in-class deliverables and services Aligning vetted Strategic Partners with our membership to provide unique access, special support, and exclusive offerings to Connect Peer Exchange Network and Platform members "The launch of MarshBerry's Connect Platform has been over a year in the making. Thanks to the leadership of David, we've created an opportunity for our membership to take action on growth, partner with like-minded firms and seize market opportunities now not tomorrow," said John Wepler, Chairman and CEO of MarshBerry. Because Connect Members are primarily firms focused on organic growth, another differentiator of the Platform surrounds its efforts to create a broader, actionable value proposition capable of impacting the customer experience. "Collaborating with thought leaders throughout the industry in an effort to transform the customer experience is both exciting and attainable," said Soforenko. He continued, "As an industry, we need to stop building fences and start building more bridges if we truly want to meet our end-customers' requirements and needs." Connect Platform Members Vital to launching the Platform was the investment from our Platform Members. "Firms in at the ground floor have helped build an infrastructure and toolbox of offerings including data intelligence, work groups, and access to MarshBerry products and services," said Soforenko. "They're not just thinking differently, they are thinking boldly as well." As of April 1, 2019, Platform members include (listed by geographic regions) Eastern: Baldwin Risk Partners Tampa, FL Deeley Insurance Group Willard, MD Gannon Associates Towanda, PA Huntington Bank Columbus, OH Knight Insurance Group Toledo, OH Lighthouse Group Grand Rapids, MI One Group NY, Inc. Syracuse, NY PSA Financial Services, Inc. Hunt Valley, MD Rogers & Gray Insurance Kingston, MA Simkiss & Block Paoli, PA Sterling Insurance Group Sterling Heights, MI Telamon Insurance & Financial Westwood, MA Central: Hausmann-Johnson Insurance Madison, WI Highpoint Insurance Group Friendswood, TX Hotchkiss Insurance Houston, TX Insgroup Houston, TX Johnson Financial Group Racine, WI Louisiana Companies Baton Rouge, LA Querbes & Nelson Shreveport, LA The Harry A. Koch Co. Omaha, NE The Plexus Groupe, LLC - Deer Park, IL TrueNorth Companies, LLC Cedar Rapids, IA Mountain & Pacific CCIG Insurance Greenwood, CO Morris & Garritano Insurance San Luis Obispo, CA SullivanCurtisMonroe Pasadena, CA Strategic Partners Also key to launching the Platform was the investment by our Strategic Partners. These firms are not only investing in the Platform but they're investing in the success of our membership. As of April 1, 2019, our Strategic Partners include: Vertafore, Inc. & RiskMatch FIRST Insurance Funding Indio Technologies, Inc. Patra Corp ThinkHR Calsurance Associates Think Differently With more than 30 years' experience working with the insurance distribution channel, MarshBerry's expertise shows in the numbers. Connect Executive Peer Exchange Network: Member Profile 135+ Member Firms with $2.3 Billion+ in Combined Revenue Connect Platform: Member Profile 25 Connect Member Firms with $3.6 Billion+ in Combined Commercial and Personal Lines Premium $650 Million+ in Net Revenue Collective Organic Growth Rate of 8.57% (vs. national average of 6.4%)1 Think Boldly in 2019 Want to find out how your firm can be a part of our Connect Peer Exchange Network or a member of our Connect Platform? Contact us today at www.MarshBerry.com/Connect. About MarshBerry Founded in 1981, MarshBerry's primary objective is to help insurance agents, national brokers, specialty distributors, private equity firms, banks & credit unions and insurance carries as they work to maximize their value through our industry-specific services that include: Merger & Acquisition Advisory*, Financial Consulting, Talent Acquisition, Sales Performance, Intellectual Capital and Connect our Peer Exchange Network. Learn more www.MarshBerry.com About Vertafore, Inc. & RiskMatch Vertafore's comprehensive insurance management software solutions allow participants in the insurance distribution channel to adapt to an evolving insurance industry by efficiently scaling their businesses through deeper access to information and insights. A leader in the industry, Vertafore connects all parties within the channel, from agencies and carriers to MGAs, MGUs, and state governments. To learn more, www.Vertafore.com About Indio Technologies, Inc. Set out to modernize and digitize the insurance application and renewal process, Indio provides a workflow management platform that delivers a suite of web-based solutions for insurance agencies, helping to improve their client experience and become more efficient. Learn more at www.UseIndio.com About FIRST Insurance Funding For over 17 years, FIRST Insurance Funding, a WinTrust Company has partnered with MarshBerry and its Membership for customized options including full premium finance services and financial services designed specifically for your agency's growth. This array includes program business billing solutions, website payment options, agency lending, lines of credit, ESOP financing, retirement plan services, treasury management, deposit solutions and more. Learn more at www.firstinsurancefunding.com About Patra Corp Patra powers insurance processing by leveraging people and technology, supporting insurance organizations as they sell, deliver and manage policies and customers. Patra's team of global experts allow brokers, MGAs, wholesalers and carriers to capture the Patra Advantage profitable growth and organizational value via Patra's proprietary Insurance Process Delivery System an integrated portfolio of outsourced services, insurance specific workflows and technology. Learn more at www.patracorp.com About Calsurance Associates A specialty insurance broker focused E&O insurance for Financial Institutions and Services Industry for nearly 60 years. Calsurance, along with its sister company CITA Insurance Services offers exclusive E&O coverage to both MarshBerry Connect Network and Platform members. www.Calsurance.com About ThinkHR Gain a competitive advantage with ThinkHR, the most-trusted HR knowledge solutions platform for P&C and Benefits brokers. ThinkHR combines the best in human consulting expertise with innovative online technology to help our broker partners strengthen their client relationships, win more business and reduce risks in the workplace. www.ThinkHR.com Vertafore, Inc., RiskMatch, Indio Technologies, Inc., FIRST Insurance Funding, Patra Corp, Calsurance Associates, and ThinkHR are involved with the Connect Platform but are not affiliates of Marsh, Berry & Company. Inc. 1MarshBerry proprietary financial management system Perspectives for High Performance ("PHP"). "Average" is the average of all agencies in the database, while "Best 25%" is the best 25% of the average performance. Only includes agencies from U.S. and Canada. *Securities offered though MarshBerry Capital, Inc., Member FINRA and SIPC, and an affiliate of Marsh, Berry & Co., Inc. 28601 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 400, Woodmere OH 44122, 440-354-3230. Contact: Lauren Byers, Vice President Marketing Phone: 440.392.6546 Email: [email protected] SOURCE MarshBerry Related Links http://www.marshberry.com Congratulating Qatar on hosting the Assembly, Ngan expressed her belief that the Qatari Council will successfully organize the event, contributing to improving the countrys role at the worlds largest multi-lateral parliamentary organisation. She stressed that the relationship between Vietnam and Qatar is developing well in all fields, pointing out to direct air routes connecting Doha with Hanoi, Da Nang city and Ho Chi Minh City the three largest cities in the three regions of Vietnam. National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan meets with Speaker of the Advisory (Shura) Council of the State of Qatar Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid al-Mahmoud (Source: VNA) Vietnam treasures its ties with Qatar, Ngan affirmed, suggesting both sides maintain cooperation in various fields and intensify trade in the fields they have strength. The host congratulated Vietnam on its socio-economic development and international integration achievements. He affirmed Qatars willingness to support Vietnam if the latter has demand. At the meeting, the two leaders shared experience in parliamentary activities and law making. The Vietnamese NA Chairwoman took the occasion to invite the host to pay an official visit to Vietnam./. P.F. Chang's new dim sum lineup includes twists on classic favorites. "Our new Crispy Avocado Rolls are everything you love about traditional spring rolls but in a new, unexpected way, and our Mongolian Potstickers are sure to be a favorite of those who love our Mongolian Beef wok entree," said Davila. P.F. Chang's full line up of non-alcoholic Refreshers now includes: Pomegranate Lemonade Lemonade mixed with pomegranate juice and a spoonful of pomegranate seeds. Spike it with Absolut Vodka. Lemonade mixed with pomegranate juice and a spoonful of pomegranate seeds. Spike it with Absolut Vodka. Peach Boba Breeze Black tea and popping Boba pearls sweetened with peach and fresh-squeezed lemon. Spike it with Knob Creek Bourbon. Black tea and popping Boba pearls sweetened with peach and fresh-squeezed lemon. Spike it with Knob Creek Bourbon. House-Made Ginger Beer Freshly juiced ginger root, lemon juice mixed with pure cane sugar. Spike it with Hendricks Gin . Freshly juiced ginger root, lemon juice mixed with pure cane sugar. Spike it with . Strawberry Cucumber Limeade Muddled strawberries and cucumbers with fresh lime juice and pure cane sugar. Spike it with Hendricks Gin . Muddled strawberries and cucumbers with fresh lime juice and pure cane sugar. Spike it with . Chang's Coconut Cooler Coconut milk, coconut water and pure can sugar topped with a dash of nutmeg. Spike it with Pyrat Rum. P.F. Chang's new hand-rolled, hand-made dim sum offerings: Crispy Avocado Rolls Hand-rolled spring rolls with creamy avocado, edamame and water chestnuts, served with a sweet orange honey dipping sauce. Hand-rolled spring rolls with creamy avocado, edamame and water chestnuts, served with a sweet orange honey dipping sauce. Mongolian Potstickers A new twist on a classic. Hand-folded dumplings with a savory Mongolian beef filling, sweet and savory dipping sauce. Learn more at pfchangs.com or click here to find your local P.F. Chang's. About P.F. Chang's Founded in 1993 by Philip Chiang and Paul Fleming, P.F. Chang's is the first multi-unit restaurant concept in the U.S. to honor and celebrate the 2,000-year-old tradition of wok cooking as the center of the guest experience. Since inception, P.F. Chang's chefs have been hand-rolling dim sum, hand chopping and slicing all vegetables and meats, scratch cooking every sauce and wok-cooking each dish, every day in every restaurant. P.F. Chang's Farm to Wok menu highlights its wholesome, scratch-cooking approach and introduces new dishes and drinks for lunch, happy hour and dinner. Today, P.F. Chang's has more than 18,000 employees and 300 restaurants, including three airport locations, in 25 countries and territories. For more P.F. Chang's news, promotions and store openings, or to make reservations, visit pfchangs.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter @PFChangs and Instagram. SOURCE P.F. Chang's Related Links https://www.pfchangs.com DUBLIN, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Turkey Animation, VFX & Games Industry: Strategies, Trends & Opportunities" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Turkish film industry's current growth phase started in the mid-1990s and the industry has grown at a fast phase since then. The years 2015 was the most successful for the Turkish film industry in terms of the number of locally produced releases and audience admissions. There has been an increase in the number of Turkish and foreign movie releases as well as the admissions for the films. The average cost of producing a movie in Turkey varies between $800,000 and $1.5 million. Between 2005 and 2015, over 50,000 hours of Turkish TV programs were sold to broadcasters in over 80 countries around the world. Programs were broadcast in the Middle East, as well as Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, New Caledonia, Niger, Senegal, Singapore, Somalia, Vietnam, Israel and Greece. This demonstrates the widespread popularity of Turkish productions across the world. The total value of Turkish games industry was US$ 886 million in 2018 and is projected to reach US$ 1 billion by 2020. Mobile & hand held games are the fastest growing segment, followed by Console and PC games. Key Topics Covered: European Animation Industry DEMAND FOR TV CONTENT Feature Film Industry in Europe MARKETING AND MERCHANDISING Trends in Europe COLLABORATION AMONG EUROPEAN STUDIOS DRIVERS FOR SUCCESS ANIMATION COST STRUCTURES IN EUROPE Animation Movie Budgets in Europe Strategies and Models for Animation financing in Europe ANIMATION FUNDING AGENCIES CENTRALISED ANIMATION FUNDING AGENCIES IN EUROPE Television Series Development in Europe PITCHING TELEVISION SERIES TO BROADCASTERS Copyright Chain in Europe Co-Production Strategies in Europe CONTRACTUAL ISSUES KEY RIGHTS IN CO-PRODUCTION AGREEMENTS CO-PRODUCTIONS AND OUTSOURCING Distribution Strategies in Europe PRODUCER-DISTRIBUTOR CO-FINANCING PATTERNS 3D Market in Europe ADVANTAGES OF 3D DISADVANTAGES OF 3D Industry Constraints and Challenges Market size of European Animation, VFX & Games industry Animation Content demand by TV Channels in Europe European Animation & VFX industry Market Size European Games industry Market Size Animation, VFX & Games industry in Turkey Recent Movie Trends in Turkey Animation Studios in Turkey Animation Schools in Turkey Government Support Industry Challenges, Opportunities & Drivers Strategies for Animation Studios in Turkey Key Statistics about Animation Industry in Turkey Games Industry in Turkey KEY TRENDS IN THE TURKISH VIDEO GAMES INDUSTRY VIDEO GAME BUSINESS MODELS IN TURKEY ONLINE VIDEO GAMING BUSINESS MODELS IN TURKEY Key Opportunities & Strategies for Turkish Video Games Industry Video Games Market Segments MOBILE VIDEO GAMES SEGMENTS & GENRES Turkish Video Games Market Size & Opportunity For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/qf6kmh 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] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com AUCKLAND, New Zealand, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Infotools , a global leader in market research analysis solutions, today announced that UNICEF's Private Sector Fundraising and Partnerships division (United Nations Children's Fund) is using Infotools to address its data processing and visualization needs. The organization, which gathers a large amount of data through annual quantitative multi-country surveys and other sources, was seeking a solution to help them gain a deeper understanding of the stories within their data. Infotools' unique combination of advanced technology solutions and expert custom services will enable them to reach their insights goals. The platform will be used by the market research team for UNICEF's private sector fundraising and partnerships division. Infotools Harmoni will handle data input from multiple sources, database creation and analysis functions all the way to data visualization. The market knowledge team needed to dive deeper into the data they were collecting, run ad hoc analysis and find a tool that could help them be more flexible and autonomous. Infotools Harmoni stood out to them due to its powerful data management system combined with a user-friendly analysis tool that allows them the opportunity to create online dashboards for sharing information. In this implementation of Infotools Harmoni, UNICEF will be working alongside Infotools' experienced services team to build custom dashboards that will allow easy access to insights. Infotools Harmoni is a cloud-based software platform purpose-built for market research data from data processing through to analysis, reporting, visualization, dashboarding, distribution, and data alerts. It is data agnostic and supports a wide range of other data sources such as SQL, SPSS, Excel, CSV, tab delimited files as well as live API connections to leading data collection platforms. The platform harmonizes data from multiple sources into one usable data set, using the power of automation and machine learning, along with extensive domain expertise. The result is real-time insights based on the very latest available data, presented and shared through advanced reporting, dashboards and storytelling capabilities. About Infotools Infotools is an award-winning software and services provider, with particular expertise in processing, analyzing, visualizing and sharing market research data. The company offers a powerful cloud-based software platform, Infotools Harmoni, which is purpose-built for market research data, together with the services of data experts who can drive research design and management, data design and organization, and insights discovery, analysis, visualization and reporting. Established in 1990, and with a presence in the US, Europe, South Africa and New Zealand, Infotools works with some of the world's best-known brands, including Coca-Cola, Orange, Samsung and Mondelez, as well as boutique and large research agencies such as MDI, Nielsen and Ipsos. For more information, visit www.infotools.com or follow on Twitter @infotools. Media Contact: Marie Melsheimer, [email protected] +15418153951 SOURCE Infotools Related Links https://www.infotools.com OMAHA, Neb., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Union Pacific will host a celebration marking the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad's completion Thursday, May 9, at 10:30 a.m. MT. The ceremony will be held at Ogden Union Station a day ahead of Utah's celebration at Promontory Summit where the Golden Spike was originally tapped into place. Union Pacific no longer has tracks near Promontory Summit. They were removed to support the scrap metal projects during World War II. "This celebration is Union Pacific's way of reflecting on our ancestors' remarkable achievements that connected the nation while reminding us of the enormous responsibility we have for our nation's future," said Scott Moore, senior vice president Corporate Relations and chief administrative officer. "We are proud our employees live and work in thousands of the communities we serve, delivering steel to construct schools and stores, lumber to build homes, the food we eat, clothes we wear and electronics we rely on." The May 9 ceremony will feature Union Pacific's iconic steam locomotives, Living Legend No. 844 and Big Boy No. 4014. The two will meet, recreating the historic image taken at Promontory Summit on May 10, 1869. The Big Boy is one of eight left in the world. It's newly refurbished and the only one in operation. Following the steam meet, Union Pacific Chairman, President and CEO Lance Fritz and Utah Gov. Gary Herbert will be joined by Margaret Yee and Sandy Dodge to tap a ceremonial spike. Yee's ancestors were among thousands of Chinese immigrants who forged the transcontinental railroad for Central Pacific. Dodge is a descendent of Gen. Grenville Dodge, Civil War veteran and Union Pacific's chief engineer during construction. The steam locomotives will remain on display at Ogden Union Station until May 12, when they return home to the Steam Shop in Cheyenne, Wyoming. A limited number of tickets will be sold for a ride onboard Union Pacific's Heritage Fleet cars, pulled by Nos. 4014 and 844, between Ogden and Evanston, Wyoming. Guests will return to Ogden via a chartered bus. The trip, which includes a two-hour behind-the-scenes tour at Ogden Union Station, is a fundraiser for Spike 150, a Utah initiative to commemorate the 150th anniversary, and the Union Pacific Museum. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. MT Monday, April 15, at www.spike150.org. The 150th anniversary celebration will continue throughout the year, with No. 4014 visiting many states across the Union Pacific system. A tentative schedule with tour locations and dates will be published in the near future at www.upsteam.com. Want to be the first to know about all things steam? Become an insider by joining the Union Pacific Steam Club. Steam Club members get the latest news and scheduling information about Union Pacific's legendary steam train program. Sign up with your email address: www.up.com/SteamClub ABOUT UNION PACIFIC Union Pacific Railroad is the principal operating company of Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE: UNP). One of America's most recognized companies, Union Pacific Railroad connects 23 states in the western two-thirds of the country by rail, providing a critical link in the global supply chain. The railroad's diversified business mix is classified into its Agricultural Products, Energy, Industrial and Premium business groups. Union Pacific serves many of the fastest-growing U.S. population centers, operates from all major West Coast and Gulf Coast ports to eastern gateways, connects with Canada's rail systems and is the only railroad serving all six major Mexico gateways. Union Pacific provides value to its roughly 10,000 customers by delivering products in a safe, reliable, fuel-efficient and environmentally responsible manner. www.up.com www.facebook.com/unionpacific www.twitter.com/unionpacific SOURCE Union Pacific Related Links http://www.up.com SAN JOSE, Calif., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Versa Networks, innovator of the Secure Cloud IP platform, today announced the availability of Versa Titan, a cloud-managed SD-WAN branch and security solution that simplifies the complexity associated with wide-area network transformation. Versa Titan makes it easier for managed service providers (MSPs) to deliver secure SD-WAN and for enterprises to buy, design, deploy and operate WAN infrastructure, accelerating their digital transformation strategies and improving business performance. Versa Titan delivers easy-to-use SD-WAN and software-defined security management tools that enhance visibility into security vulnerabilities, application behavior, network performance and bandwidth utilization. Versa Titan is available through certified Versa Titan partners as a cloud-managed service, incorporating all core functionality of Versa Secure Cloud IP, Versa's fully integrated, cloud native, contextually-aware software stack. Enterprise IT and managed services are simplified with cloud-based SD-WAN and security services managed and activated with a web browser and mobile-app. These services incorporate advanced IT service automation for the enterprise WAN-edge infrastructure with integrated in-depth customer support. Versa Titan also brings to market the Versa Cloud Services Gateway (CSG), a Versa-branded appliance series that combines innovative hardware for high-performing advanced SD-WAN and security capabilities. Versa CSG runs Versa's FlexVNF software stack as a branch office endpoint appliance with integrated enterprise-class LTE, Wi-Fi and PoE to further simplify and improve the customer experience as organizations transition to multi-cloud and hybrid-WAN infrastructures. Enterprises have a myriad of options for buying and deploying solutions for their next generation WAN, such as those that large internal IT teams are opting to pursue as an on-premise DIY (do-it-yourself) model that often relies on integrating best-of-breed solutions into a custom design. Other organizations that have a large national or global footprint, are opting for a managed service from their telecom circuits provider. However, for a large number of mid-market enterprises that do not have sufficient internal IT resources with the requisite expertise, they are looking for a cloud-managed service like Versa Titan that they prefer to procure from a cloud provider, master sales agent or sub-agent, or a local VAR or systems integrator. Features and Functionality Versa Titan streamlines branch and WAN networking and security management via a web browser or mobile app, for a truly simplified, end-to-end, secure SD-WAN business experience. Versa Titan transforms how SD-WAN is bought, sold and operated, removing the barriers of integration and making it fast and simple for partners to offer new high-margin services with minimal time to revenue, and for businesses to realize the benefits of software-based networking and security as they move to the cloud or embark on digital transformation initiatives. Versa Titan delivers high performance advanced SD-WAN and next-generation security in an easy to buy, deploy, manage and sell package that delivers: Improved bandwidth utilization, reliability and efficacy via automated multi-link WAN load balancing Enhanced business productivity and services continuity though dynamic application prioritization Enhanced business-edge protection using advanced security and malware protection Improved flexibility and wireless access reliability leveraging dual LTE and Wi-Fi Robust network threat and vulnerability detection and exploit prevention via next generation intrusion prevention As SD-WAN deployments scale from early adopters to mainstream enterprise deployments, many organizations are exploring ways that management of remote and branch offices can be further simplified. Instead of just looking for an SD-WAN point product, enterprises are opting for solutions that offer integration of multiple services into a unified platform that can be managed with a cloud interface. The buying criteria include: Foundational/"table-stakes" SD-WAN capabilities: Multi-link connectivity (transport independent); centralized user and policy-based controller; role-based access controls (RBACs); per-segment and per-tenant routing; dynamic path selection, secure access, SaaS optimization; and deep real-time and historical visibility analytics Integration of multiple functions including routing, SD-WAN, security, Wi-Fi and LTE all in a fully automated and programmable fashion A centralized management platform for configuration with Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP) Simplified management and support: Cloud management, single pane of glass for the network, branch devices and services with a simplified user experience to rapidly deploy new sites or services from a web portal or other means; built-in tools for help and community support as well as opening/tracking trouble tickets. Executive Quotes: "We are thrilled to be the 1st master agent working directly with Versa to bring their secure SD-WAN solution and Versa Titan direct to the Trusted Advisor channel community. SD-WAN is the most disruptive technology to hit the WAN world in decades, and the pace of adoption is accelerating," said Drew Lydecker, President and Co-Founder of AVANT. "For years, AVANT has been a leader in offering SD-WAN solutions to the agent channel. We are excited to add Versa to our platform for IT decision making and channel sales enablement methodology." "The complexity of traditional WAN infrastructure is cumbersome, performance inhibiting and counterproductive to fueling digital transformation. With limited ability to secure multi-device, mobile and IoT-centric networks, legacy WAN infrastructure restricts the ability to harness the advantages of cloud," said Rob Mustarde, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales, Versa Networks. "Versa Titan enables businesses to unleash the power and performance of a secure SD-WAN infrastructure without the added costs, complexity and footprint of legacy networking solutions." Versa Titan Availability Versa Titan is a new cloud-managed Secure SD-WAN platform that empowers MSPs, VARs and SIs to centrally manage mass-market enterprise wide-area networks and branch offices. The platform allows mid-market enterprises to access the full functionality of Versa's Secure Cloud IP suite of services such as routing, SD-WAN, security, monitoring and analytics, through a single intuitive user portal with integrated support and a mobile application for activation and management. Versa Titan eases the deployment of sites and WAN-edge services and simplifies operations while uniquely providing contextual visibility of application reliability, network performance and security optimization, thus making it easier and faster for MSPs to achieve service-level objectives. Versa Titan is available for U.S. channel partners via web portal registration at versa-networks.com. For more information on Versa Titan and to sign up, please visit: https://www.versa-networks.com/partners/titan. About Versa Networks Versa Networks is the innovator of Secure Cloud IP architecture, a next-generation software platform that delivers integrated cloud, networking and security services. Versa's visionary solution, with an unrivalled depth of features and capabilities, enables enterprises to transition off legacy WANs to achieve business agility, branch modernization, and TCO advantages toward their digital transformation journeys. The company has transacted over 150,000 software licenses through service providers, partners and enterprises globally. Versa Networks is privately held and funded by Sequoia Capital, Mayfield, Artis Ventures, Verizon Ventures, Comcast Ventures, and Liberty Global Ventures. For more information, visit https://www.versa-networks.com or follow Versa Networks on Twitter @versanetworks. Media Contact for Versa Networks Dex Polizzi 646-741-8358 [email protected] SOURCE Versa Networks Related Links https://www.versa-networks.com MINNEAPOLIS, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Vireo Health International, Inc. ("Vireo" or the "Company") (CSE: VREO), a leading science-focused, multi-state cannabis company, today announced that Founder & CEO, Kyle Kingsley, M.D., will host a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) Session on Friday, April 12, 2019 at 8:00 a.m. EDT. The Reddit AMA with Dr. Kingsley comes on the heels of several recent Company milestones: listing on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the ticker symbol, VREO; expansion into the Arizona medical cannabis market with the acquisition of four entities which together manage the vertically-integrated medical cannabis business of license-holder Arizona Natural Remedies; medical cannabis market with the acquisition of four entities which together manage the vertically-integrated medical cannabis business of license-holder Arizona Natural Remedies; acquisition of the management of Red Barn Growers, a holder of one New Mexico's medical cannabis licenses, which is a vertically-integrated medical cannabis company, operating two medical cannabis dispensaries, located in Santa Fe, NM and Gallup, NM ; and medical cannabis licenses, which is a vertically-integrated medical cannabis company, operating two medical cannabis dispensaries, located in and ; and entry into Vireo's first adult-use cannabis market, through the acquisition of Mayflower Botanicals Inc., a Registered Marijuana Dispensary certificate holder in Massachusetts . The Reddit AMA session will provide participants with an opportunity to ask Dr. Kingsley questions about Vireo Health and discuss his vision for replacing alcohol, tobacco and opioids with cannabis. In order to ask questions, participants must have a Reddit account and visit the forum at http://bit.ly/KingsleyAMA. About Vireo Health International, Inc. Vireo Health International, Inc.'s mission is to build the cannabis company of the future by bringing the best of medicine, engineering and science to the cannabis industry. Vireo's physician-led team of more than 300 employees provides best-in-class cannabis products and customer experience. Vireo cultivates cannabis in environmentally-friendly greenhouses, manufactures pharmaceutical-grade cannabis extracts, and sells its products at both company-owned and third-party dispensaries. The Company is currently licensed in nine states including Arizona, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. For more information about the company, please visit www.vireohealth.com. Contact Information Investor Inquiries Sam Gibbons Vice President, Investor Relations [email protected] (612) 314-8995 Media Inquiries Albe Zakes Vice President, Corporate Communications [email protected] (267) 221-4800 SOURCE Vireo Health International, Inc. Related Links http://www.vireohealth.com SEATTLE, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- College Success Foundation and Treehouse, in partnership with the Washington Passport Network, are excited to announce major changes and expansion for the college prep program Make It Happen!, which is now Way To Go and will be held in three regions. The updates are due to the recent expansion of the Passport to Careers program and the need to serve more students beyond youth who have experienced state foster care. "While the old model was beloved, it's critical that we reimagine and expand the program as demand grows," said Fred Kingston of College Success Foundation. "We're also pleased to announce our partnership with Treehouse, which has dramatically increased high school graduation rates for youth in foster care and continues to support youth into adulthood. They're a perfect partner as we evolve and serve more youth." The changes include: Three regions : Rather than a single three-day event, Way To Go will be three regional one-day events: June 18 at Eastern Washington University ( Cheney ), June 25 at Saint Martin's University ( Lacey ) and June 27 at Everett Community College ( Everett ). Transportation will be provided to all locations. The event is free to attend for eligible students. : Rather than a single three-day event, Way To Go will be three regional one-day events: at ( ), at Saint Martin's University ( ) and at ( ). Transportation will be provided to all locations. The event is free to attend for eligible students. Tribal foster youth, unaccompanied refugee minors and unaccompanied homeless youth : Way To Go joins Passport to Careers as they expand to include the above youth. In order to attend, students must have experienced an out of home placement after age 13 or experienced unaccompanied homelessness in the past year. : Way To Go joins Passport to Careers as they expand to include the above youth. In order to attend, students must have experienced an out of home placement after age 13 or experienced unaccompanied homelessness in the past year. Focus on high school juniors and seniors: Curriculum and overall event design will be tailored to the needs of these students. The goal of Way To Go is for students to tackle their education plans as they attend college readiness workshops, make connections and strengthen their networks. "We're honored to partner with College Success Foundation on such a strong program with a great history," said Janis Avery, CEO of Treehouse. Additional information: See the Washington Passport Network website (www.washingtonpassportnetwork.org) or reach out to event lead Donna Quach at [email protected] About College Success Foundation College Success Foundation provides a unique integrated system of supports and scholarships to inspire underserved, low-income students to finish high school, graduate from college and succeed in life. Learn more at www.collegesuccessfoundation.org. About Treehouse Founded in 1988 by social workers, Treehouse is Washington's leading nonprofit organization addressing the academic and other essential support needs of more than 7,000 youth in foster care. We're committed to youth in care statewide achieving a degree or other career credential, living wage job and stable housing at the same rate as their peers. With fierce optimism, we fight the structural inequities that impact all of us. Learn more at www.treehouseforkids.org. Media Contact: Trent Freeman Director, Marketing & Communications 206.267.5128 [email protected] SOURCE Treehouse Related Links http://www.treehouseforkids.org LONDON, April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- WebCEO has relaunched its white-label SEO platform with powerful agency-level features, now allowing digital agencies and software resellers to run their own fully customized SEO platforms on their own domains with their own branding. They can resell their own SEO tools and reports with their own pricing and high margins while leveraging the value-added digital marketing services they offer. This is a great value to small digital agencies and teams who do not have a ready-to-go software solution and in-house programming engineers. WebCEO's white-label SEO tools Back in March 2013, WebCEO introduced a basic white-label domain feature which allowed in-house SEO teams to run the WebCEO platform on their own domain, remove any mentions of WebCEO and brand the platform with their company logo and style. It offered a minimal set of features for in-house SEO team collaboration including a simple User Manager, a Report Generator and FAQ guide sections. That was enough for small SEO teams. Within the last few years, WebCEO gathered valuable feedback and suggestions from digital agencies to help them solve their daily challenges: missed deadlines, poorly assigned tasks, inefficiency, lost lead generating opportunities, etc. As of April 2019, WebCEO offers state of the art features now actively used by agencies: Task Manager with diverse functionality: assigns tasks + creates auto-tasks for specific issues found while scanning a website, and sets deadlines for various types of work to be done. Advanced User Manager: this allows an agency's customers to do their own SEO work on their own projects with set limitations on how often they can rank scan, etc. Agencies can now offer a free trial of their SEO platform by adding time-limited users who can see customization features. Fully customizable consolidated reports: these reports show an agency's clients how much SEO work has been done and what achievements were made. For each individual client, you can create a unique all-in-one report featuring data from different SEO tools and reports powered by WebCEO. Once configured, you will never go back to manually sending reports. Bulk actions feature (a must-have for any Agency that manages hundreds of clients' sites): modifies settings for many projects in a batch, such as setting scan limits and automated scanning or report mailing for several projects. Lead generation button: Now famous, this feature is loved by growing digital agencies. A button placed on an agency website will offer SEO audits to their site visitors, which are generated and emailed automatically through the agency's mail server. This is a great way to attract new clients and earn high margins. Other advanced features of WebCEO's renovated platform for SEO Agencies and SEO teams include: A crowd interface and report translation wiki, a documented SEO API and Email Alerts. Like before, setting up WebCEO on your own domain doesn't require any coding skills: it remains a fully customizable white-label SEO platform which can be used as a turnkey SEO business, allowing high margins to entrepreneurs who offer SEO services or want to resell SEO tools under your brand at their own pricing. Mike Tortorice from Infront Webworks, a US-based digital agency, has noted: "Many similar white-label SEO tools miss the mark when it comes to management overview. In fact, you would be hard-pressed to find a tool other than WebCEO that offers a specialist breakdown of proper website metrics and KPI's at a glance. For more information, please visit https://www.webceo.com MEDIA CONTACT DETAILS Allen MacCannell, WebCEO London, UK +0-800-404-8180 [email protected] Skype: WebCEOOnline Twitter: www.twitter.com/WebCEO Facebook: www.facebook.com/WebCEO.SEO.Software LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/allenmaccannell Related Images a-turnkey-white-label-marketing.png A turnkey white-label marketing platform WebCEO's white-label SEO tools white-label-marketing-platform.png White-label marketing platform White-label SEO tools by WebCEO Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om7DoYvxbq0 SOURCE WebCEO Related Links https://www.webceo.com PLAINVIEW, N.Y., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Wire seals manufacturer, American Casting & Manufacturing, discusses tamper evident wire seals and their various uses. When it comes to security seals, different types and models perform best for different types of applications. Understanding the different types of seals is the first step to obtaining the highest level of security for your goods. Here is some helpful guidance for understanding wire seals, including their characteristics, benefits, and common uses. Wire seals are available in either plastic or metal in a variety of sizes and shapes. The wires are made of small diameter, flexible wire. To seal a wire seal, insert the wire into the seal body. In some cases, a seal press is needed to ensure that the seal is completely secure. The seal press can also emboss the seal with lettering or numbering, which provides an additional layer of security. Other wire seals, however, can be sealed without tools; you would simply pass the wire through the holes in the body and press the seal closed with your hands. Removing the seal requires tools in most cases. That characteristic makes them a more secure option than other sealing options that do not require cutting tools. There is no way for the seal to be reattached once the wire is cut, which deters tampering. Wire seals are ideal for applications where seals need to fit through small closures. This makes them a good choice when sealing items like utility meters, chemical drums, valves, and airline carts. If the presence of the seal is not enough to deter tampering, their single-use nature makes any wrongdoing attempts clearly visible. Having seals that are tamper evident is extremely important for keeping consumers, passengers, and other people affected by security breaches safe. American Casting & Manufacturing manufactures a diverse line of tamper evident wire seals with customization options to meet the needs of any organization. About American Casting and Manufacturing: American Casting and Manufacturing is a New York based, family-owned manufacturing company, that produces high-quality customizable security seals, including bolt seals, container seals, and trailer seals, across a wide range of industries. Through innovative production, customer service, and both employee loyalty and respect, the tamper evident seals manufacturer has been producing high-quality seals for over 100 years. The company conforms to the highest standards, meeting the requirements of ISO-9001:2008 quality management systems. SOURCE American Casting and Manufacturing Related Links https://seals.com/index.php/all-products/wire-seals-and-wires ASCHHEIM, Germany, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Wirecard, the global innovation leader for digital financial technology, and Al Ansari Exchange, the leading UAE-based foreign exchange and worldwide money transfer company with over 185 branches and serving more than 2.5 million customers per month, are today announcing their collaboration. The companies have launched a newly upgraded multi-currency Visa Platinum card solution and accompanying mobile app. The Al Ansari Exchange multi-currency Visa travel card is designed as the perfect companion for travelers as well as online shoppers. Payments can be made in 16 different currencies and exchange rates can be locked in before any trip, thus enabling consumers to enjoy traveling without worrying about carrying cash or fluctuating exchange rates. "At Al Ansari Exchange, it is our desire to provide world-class products and services to our customers with maximum comfort and convenience, using the latest technology," said Rashed Ali Al Ansari, General Manager, Al Ansari Exchange. "Wirecard shares this goal and this is why they are the ideal partner for us, helping us to deliver an innovative and enhanced multi-currency solution that meets the needs of our customers." "Just like Wirecard, Al Ansari Exchange uses innovation to redefine the customer experience. We are proud to work with Al Ansari Exchange to introduce the new multi-currency Visa Platinum travel card to the market," said Nabila Nouinou, Regional Managing Director at Wirecard. "Travel cards are an excellent value-added service to help travel and tourism companies as well as financial institutions increase customer loyalty and distinguish themselves from the competition." The Al Ansari Exchange travel card allows its customers to withdraw local currency at over two million Visa ATMs worldwide, to make online purchases and to exchange foreign currencies within the currency card wallets. Customers can fully manage the card wallets via the mobile app, which includes security features allowing its customers to instantly lock the card if it is lost, stolen or simply unused, in addition to the convenience of checking the card balance and transaction history. The prepaid card can also be reloaded at any of Al Ansari Exchange's extensive branch network across the UAE. Wirecard's unique advanced authorization algorithm allows customers to hold multiple wallets at any time, checking available funds against the requested currency, then automatically sweeping across all other card wallets to avoid unnecessary declines and double conversion to enhance its customer experience even further. Cardholders also benefit from multiple Visa Platinum features including a wide range of travel discounts and upgrades both locally and worldwide. The mobile app is available for download on Android and iOS. Wirecard is exhibiting at Seamless Middle East on April 10-11. Come and meet us at stand G40 to find out more about our innovative financial commerce platform and the latest multi-currency card solution. For more information about multi-currency travel cards, please read our blog post. About Wirecard: Wirecard (GER: WDI) is one of the world's fastest growing digital platforms in the area of financial commerce. We provide both business customers and consumers with a constantly expanding ecosystem of real-time value-added services built around innovative digital payments by using an integrated B2B2C approach. This ecosystem concentrates on the areas payment & risk, retail & transaction banking, loyalty & couponing, data analytics & conversion rate enhancement in all sales channels (online, mobile, ePOS). Wirecard operates regulated financial institutions in several key markets, and holds issuing and acquiring licenses from all major payment and card networks. Wirecard AG is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (DAX and TecDAX, ISIN DE0007472060). Visit us on www.wirecard.com, follow us on Twitter @wirecard and on Facebook @wirecardgroup. About Al Ansari Exchange: Al Ansari Exchange L.L.C, a leading exchange company in the UAE with the largest branch network started as an offshoot of a flourishing general trading business of the Al Ansari family almost 60 years ago, primarily to meet the foreign exchange and remittance needs of their trading partners and customers, at a time when formal banking was yet to be established in the country. With the gradual evolution and semblance of banking in the mid-1960s, the first branch was opened in Abu Dhabi in 1966. The Company has made quick strides thereon and progressed to emerge as one of the largest and most popular exchange companies in the UAE. Today Al Ansari Exchange L.L.C boasts of a network of over 185 branches, employing over 2500 multilingual staff who cater to millions of customers with fast, reliable and efficient service at very competitive charges. Wirecard media contact: Wirecard AG Jana Tilz Tel.: +49(0)89-4424-1363 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Wirecard AG Washington, April 10 : US President Donald Trump has lashed out at a judge for blocking his policy of sending asylum seekers to Mexico to await court hearings in their cases. "A 9th Circuit judge just ruled that Mexico is too dangerous for migrants," he tweeted. "So unfair to the US." His policy would have returned migrants back over the border while they sought a legal right to stay in the US, the BBC reported. The legal defeat comes as migrant numbers at the US-Mexico border surged to their highest since 2008. Trump was said to be livid after US immigration officials estimated border apprehensions in March had topped 100,000. The San Francisco ninth district judge's order on Monday against the migrant policy is not due to go into effect until this Friday, giving US officials a chance to appeal. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which implements Trump's immigration directives, is in turmoil following a major shake-up. DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen quit on Sunday after being summoned to the White House by the president. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley called on Trump on Monday to halt the leadership purge at the agency. The senior senator told the Washington Post he was "very, very concerned" about reports of possible further DHS dismissals. "The president has to have some stability and particularly with the number one issue that he's made for his campaign," Mr Grassley said. "He's pulling the rug out from the very people that are trying to help him accomplish his goal." Last week Mr Trump rescinded his own nomination of Ronald Vitiello as director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Speaking to Fox News on Monday, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said: "It's time to do things a little differently. "The president's looking around to reshape his team so he can have the people in place to carry out his agenda." There are also reports that the president is preparing to toughen his stance on immigration. According to the New York Times, Trump is considering implementing further limits on asylum seekers, ending birthright citizenship, and closing ports of entry at the Mexican border. But Trump denied on Tuesday reports that his administration was planning once again to separate families caught crossing the border. Ranchi, April 10 : One dead body was recovered on Wednesday by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team from the debris of the caustic pond of aluminium major Hindalco, which had collapsed the previous day near here. "One body has been recovered. The NDRF team has started rescue work" Ranchi Deputy Commissioner (DC) Rai Mahipat Ray told IANS. The NDRF team launched the rescue operation on Wednesday amidst heavy security arrangements. The debris has spread over the area causing a threat to the environment. Hindalco, however, has said that only four people were inured, and no damage has been done to the environment. Many people were trapped and swept away in the debris as the caustic pond suddenly broke up following a land cave-in at Muri, situated around 25 km from Ranchi. According to local residents, the incident has taken place at the red mud store point which is left after manufacturing aluminium from bauxite. According to an eyewitness, the heap of mud caved in, causing the debris to spread rapidly, following which many workers were trapped. Hindalco was sealed in 2017 on order of the pollution control board for not following the environment and safety rules. The company was restarted last year. Opposition parties have alleged that the relief work started late. Lucknow, April 10 : After campaigning for the first phase of polling ended on Tuesday evening, the BJP is gearing up to show its strength in campaigning for the second and third phase of Lok Sabha elections, which are scheduled for April 18 and April 23. Several party leaders, including party President Amit Shah, will be holding public rallies on Wednesday in Uttar Pradesh. "Amit Shah will address gatherings on Wednesday first at Bhagwat Inter College in Kasganj, Etah and then at P.D. Jain Inter College in Firozabad to pitch for BJP candidates," state media in-charge Manish Dixit said. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will also address several gatherings in the state. Narayanpet: A body of a labour found, who was killed along with 9 other labourers after a mound of clay fell on them during digging works in Telangana's Narayanpet district, on April 10, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News Narayanpet: Bereaved family members of those labourers, who was killed after a mound of clay fell on them during digging works in Telangana's Narayanpet district, on April 10, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News Narayanpet: A body of a labour found, who was killed along with 9 other labourers after a mound of clay fell on them during digging works in Telangana's Narayanpet district, on April 10, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News Hyderabad, April 10 : At least 10 labourers were killed when a mound of clay fell on them during digging works in Telangana's Narayanpet district on Wednesday, police said. Five others, employed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), were injured in the incident that occurred when the labourers were digging a channel in Tileru village, about 180 km from here. Officials launched rescue and relief works. The injured were shifted to a hospital. Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao has expressed shock over the incident. He directed the officials to immediately extend all possible help to the families of those killed and ensure best treatment of the injured. Patna, April 10 : A day before the Lok Sabha elections are set to begin, two senior RJD leaders in Bihar quit the party on Wednesday after they were denied tickets. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders Mangni Lal Mandal and Ram Badan Rai resigned from the party alleging that the party has neglected senior leaders in ticket distribution. Mandal, a former MP, was keen to contest the polls from Jhanjharpur seat. Similarly, Rai was also keen to contest the polls this time. The RJD will contest 19 of the 40 seats in the state. Bihar will see seven phased polling, scheduled from April 11 to May 19. New Delhi, April 10 : India's no. 1 off-road racer, CS Santosh was on Wednesday announced the brand ambassador of a luxury Swiss brand. Favre-Leuba is the second oldest luxury Swiss watch brand. Santosh was named the brand ambassador for Favre-Leuba's Raider Sea Sky timepieces. "I consider this to be a very exciting collaboration and their belief of breaking new barriers aligns very well with my personal mantra in life," Santosh said in a statement. Beijing, April 10 : China on Wednesday said it was not aware of the ill health of the Dalai Lama and that Beijing has the right to choose his successor, not the Tibetan spiritual leader. The Dalai Lama, 83, has been admitted to a hospital in Delhi with a chest infection but is reported to be in a stable condition. Beijing calls the Dalai Lama a secessionist, a charge denied by the spiritual leader who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising and has been living in India since then. Last month, the Tibetan monk said that his successor might come from India. Beijing had reacted angrily, saying it was the Chinese government which had the say on the issue. The Chinese Foreign Ministry reiterated it on Wednesday. "I am not aware of the physical condition of the 14th Dalai Lama. As for the reincarnation, this is clear that particular inheritance of the system of Tibetan Buddhism has fixed rituals and we have relevant regulations to respect this heritage (system)," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said here. Lu was answering a question about the Dalai Lama taking ill and his successor. "The 14th Dalai Lama was himself recognized according to the fixed religious rituals and was approved by the then central government. So reincarnation of the Dalai Lama should be following national laws and regulations and the religious rituals," Lu added. Beijing says it reserved the right to appoint the Dalai Lama's successor in line with the conventions set by Chinese emperors. However, many Tibetans believe that the soul of a venerated Buddhist monk will reincarnate in the body of a child after his death. The current Dalai Lama was born in 1935 and identified as the reincarnation of his predecessor when he was two years old. India is home to some 100,000 Tibetans, many of whom fled Tibet along with the Dalai Lama. New Delhi, April 10 : Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who was diagnosed with a chest infection and admitted to the Max Hospital here on Tuesday, could be discharged in the next two days and plans to spend some more time in the national Capital, his aide said. The 83-year-old Buddhist monk flew down from Dharamsala after "he experienced some discomfort yesterday morning", Tenzin Taklha, his private secretary, told IANS on the phone. "The doctors checked on His Holiness and he was diagnosed with a chest infection. He is undergoing treatment and doing much better. He might be discharged in two days," Taklha added. A Max Hospital spokesperson refused to comment on the Dalai Lama's health. The 14th Tibetan spiritual leader has lived in India for 60 years since fleeing his homeland in 1959 after a Chinese Army crackdown. The Tibetan government-in-exile, based here, is not recognised by any country. New Delhi, April 10 : Over 900 artistes and people from the field of literature on Wednesday came out openly in support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying the country needs a "Majboot Sarkar" and not a "Mazboor Sarkar". The statement issued under the banner of "Nation First Collective", has been signed by Pandit Jasraj, Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Shankar Mahadevan, Malini Awasthi, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt among others. "We, creative artistes and persons belonging to the field of literature appeal to all our fellow citizens to cast their vote and exercise their right to elect the new government without any pressure and prejudice," they said. They said that during the last five years, India has seen a government that has delivered corruption-free good governance and development oriented administration. "During this period, India has acquired greater respect globally. It is our firm conviction that the continuance of the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the need of the hour," they said. The group said when challenges like terrorism are before all of us, we need a "Majboot Sarkar" and not a "Mazboor Sarkar". "Hence, we need the present government to continue," the artists said. Lucknow, April 10 : In an unexpected move, the Bhim Army has announced its support to the Congress that is bound to upset the Bahujan Samaj Party's apple cart in western Uttar Pradesh where eight constituencies go to polls on Thursday in the first phase. "We are going to support the Congress candidate in Saharanpur," said Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar 'Azad' late on Tuesday. He refused to comment on other seats. Besides Saharanpur, there is also Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar that will vote on April 11. It was in Saharanpur on Sunday that the BSP president had appealed to Muslims to vote en masse for the alliance and not to split their votes by opting for Congress. Interestingly, in her rally, a large participation of the Bhim Army volunteers who carried placards with photographs of Chandra Shekhar, was seen and this is said to have upset the BSP president who later blasted her party workers. This development is particularly disturbing for Mayawati since the Bhim Army chief also belongs to the Jatav sub caste among Dalits. Mayawati, till now, has enjoyed complete supremacy over this caste to which she belongs. Chandra Shekhar has proudly put up a board saying "The Great Chamar" outside his village Dhadkauli in Saharanpur. "The Bhim Army has played a very clever game. Chandra Shekhar kept praising the BSP but Mayawati kept snubbing him and dubbing him a BJP agent. "He has now played the masterstroke by announcing support to the Congress at a time when there is no time left for any damage control. The BSP will now realise the strength of the Bhim Army," said Kumar Gautam, a Bhim Army supporter. The Congress had sensed the growing popularity of the Bhim Army and had been quietly cultivating Chandra Shekhar. Imran Masood, the Congress candidate in Saharanpur, had been regularly visiting Chandra Shekhar while he was in jail for over 15 months. More recently, when Chandra Shekhar was hospitalised, Congress General Secretary for eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar had visited him in hospital. That the BSP's vote base has been steadily eroding after 2007 is evident from the fact that they have been steadily losing on reserved seats. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BSP failed to win even a single seat. In the 2017 Assembly polls, it was the BJP that won on 76 out of 86 Reserved Assembly seats. The BSP's vote share has also gone down from 30.43 per cent in 2007. In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the BSP vote share came down to 27.4 per cent. In 2012 Assembly polls, the party's vote percentage was 25.9 which came down to 20 per cent in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The party vote share marginally improved in the 2017 assembly elections with 22.3 per cent. Mumbai, April 10 : Having started his career in 2010 as an assistant director with the film "My Name Is Khan", Varun Dhawan has come a long way with his popularity. With films such as "Badrinath Ki Dulhania", "Badlapur", "Judwaa 2", "October" and "Sui Dhaaga", he has also proven his versatility. Now he is ready for a multi-starrer like "Kalank", produced by Karan Johar and directed by Abhishek Verman. Has experience made him a better judge of a script? "There is a huge change that has happened in the last 10 years of my career in terms of roles that I am offered. When I debuted in 'Student Of the Year', I do not think that anybody would have imagined that I am capable of playing a character like Zafar of 'Kalank'. It took me 12 films to prove my worth and to gain the confidence of producers to budget a film like 'Kalank'," Varun told IANS in an interview here. "But I do not blame anyone also because I was too young. People didn't think that I have emotional depth as an actor. That's when I believe that with success, we not only earn fans but the confidence to experiment. "When on one side I was doing 'Badrinath Ki Dulhania', I also did a 'Badlapur' and 'October'. So people understood that if I am working with the right director, with different material, I can perform something that requires emotional depth," he added. His performance in the film "October" was highly appreciated by critics. Varun said he wants to get more such opportunities to learn some important lessons in life. "That film was a big lesson of honesty... Meeting my calmer side through it... I want to utilise that honesty in my characters and in my commercial work. Perhaps that is how I will find the balance," he said. "Kalank" releases on April 17, and Varun says that more than the cast, Karan is feeling the pressure since the movie was the brainchild of his late father Yash Johar. "I think more than all of us, Karan is feeling the pressure. It is a very special film for him because it was the dream of Yash uncle to make the film. So, on one hand, it is his father's vision that is coming true, and on another, after 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...', he is coming up with such a huge multi-starrer. Of course, we are on the poster of the film so people are thinking we are feeling the pressure, but I think its Karan," Varun said. "Kalank" also features Alia Bhatt, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditya Roy Kapur, Sanjay Dutt and Kunal Kemmu. When the film was earlier supposed to be produced by Karan's father Yash Johar, the cast was different. The character of Zafar, played by Varun, was earlier offered to Shah Rukh Khan. Asked if that makes him a little extra careful as an actor, Varun said: "I do not think Shah Rukh sir has any emotional attachment with the part that I play in 'Kalank' because he was just approached along with other actors when the makers had initially decided to make the film. "In fact, Kajol and Ajay Devgn were supposed to play the parts that now Alia and Aditya are playing. But things were not materialised then." Sharing a little insight into his character, Varun said: "Though playing an arrogant individual wasn't something emotionally taxing because I think there is an arrogance that we all have, but understanding the reason behind his arrogance was interesting... That why a young guy is always talking down to people around him. Also, it was physically exhausting." (Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in) Gandhinagar, April 10 : Launching a blistering attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday charged it with looting the country, saying in five years of his government, he has brought the Congress to the doorstep of jail. "Give me another five years, and I will ensure they (Congress leaders) are in jail," Modi said while addressing a rally in Junagadh in his home state Gujarat which has 26 Lok Sabha seats, and where polling is due on April 23. Dubbing the Congress manifesto as 'Dhakosla Patra' (a 'document of hypocrisy'), the Prime Minister criticised the Congress for promising removal of sedition laws. "They want our army to be defenceless. They want to protect the 'tukde-tukde gang' -- no matter how big their crime is, they have the right to get bail. Why are they (Congress) doing it? Are they preparing for jail? I have brought them to the doorstep of jail in five years. Give me another five years, and I will ensure they are in jail," Modi said. "Congress wants power to loot money, and there is only one family in the Congress. The party has held out only false promises in the name of poverty removal. The country can only prosper if it is safe and secure," Modi said. "There is not a single slur left with the Congress which its leaders have not used for your son, Modi. They have always had problems with Gujarat. First it was Sardar Patel, then Morarji Desai and now it's me. They wonder how this Gujarati 'chaiwala' has become the PM," Modi said. "If you want to compare BJP and Congress, it's simple: Look at the track records of both parties. While Congress's is a tape record, the BJP's record shows determination for the country's security and a fight against terrorists," Modi said. "The Congress tape record has only one song in it: 'Modi hatao'. Is this the same Congress which was nurtured by Sardar Patel? " he asked. On Kashmir, Prime Minister said the Congress wanted a different prime minister for J&K. "Is it possible for a country to have two prime ministers?" he asked. "I want you to vote BJP to ensure its victory in all 26 seats so that we could continue development of the country. And I want even more: We should ensure that all these anti-Gujaratis should lose their deposits, " Modi said. The Prime Minister requested the first-time voters of the state to dedicate their vote to a party committed to the security of the country. "When you are going to cast your first vote, I urge you to dedicate that vote to the country, only to country's interest and for the government committed to the security of the country," he said. New Delhi, April 10 : The Election Commission (EC) has stopped Bollywood biopic "PM Narendra Modi" from releasing on April 11, when the Lok Sabha election begins, but a web series on the Prime Minister -- released just over a week ahead of the polls -- has been playing on. The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea seeking a stay on the film's release over concerns it may tilt the balance during the elections, and put the ball in the EC's court. And the poll panel on Wednesday ruled that any material which disturbs a level playing field should not be displayed, stalling the film's release until the elections end. "PM Narendra Modi", directed by Omung Kumar B, stars Vivek Anand Oberoi as Modi. The film, granted a 'U' certificate for unrestricted exhibition by the Censor Board, narrates the story of Modi from his humble beginnings to becoming the Prime Minister. The trajectory of Eros Now's Original Series "Modi: Journey Of A Common Man", helmed by "OMG - Oh My God!" famed director Umesh Shukla, is also similar. It quietly made its way to the OTT space, but there has hardly been any brouhaha over its content or timing, save its mention in a letter penned by 66 ex-bureaucrats to President Ram Nath Kovind raising questions on how the EC did nothing besides seeking more details on the series. But Shukla made light of it. "The content of my series is not such that there will be complaints to the EC unnecessarily. It's a normal human's story. Maybe it has to do with the medium of Internet. Maybe the code of conduct is different... I don't know the rules, but if there was something (a complaint), we would have heard about it," Shukla told IANS. Five episodes out of 10 went live on April 3, just over a week before the first phase of polling begins. It tells the story of Modi's life from when he was all of 12, and traverses through his youth to becoming the Prime Minister. Defending the timing of the show's release, Shukla said: "It was not planned this way. It is a coincidence. I was working on it since 11 to 12 months. It could have come out one month earlier as well, but it got delayed owing to some technical glitches. "And it doesn't make a difference to me if people say it is coming at this time, because even when I came up with 'Oh My God!', people said it was too controversial (as it was a film about a case against God and it was releasing around the Ganpati festival). But I don't give too much attention to all this. "All I am saying that it's a back story of the PM. I have to say that I changed as a person when I read about him, and I always feel he is a combination between Swami Vivekananda and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The web series is my tribute to him. "My web series is not about politics. It is more about a character and his journey." The response to the show so far, according to Shukla, is best described in one word. "Brilliant". "It is more than I expected. People are really liking it because it is very detailed and realistic. It is relatable. It includes few stories people never knew about Modi, so the untold stories are leaving the audience surprised," Shukla said. He said there is no "fiction or fabrication" in the show, and the remaining five episodes of which may go live later this week. Written by Mihir Bhuta and Radhika Anand and based on Kishor Makwana's "Modi: Common Man's PM", the show stars Faisal Khan, Ashish Sharma and Mahesh Thakur depicting different phases of Modi's life. "It took us 11-12 months to bring this show to life. The project was shot extensively in Gujarat... In his village Vadangar, in his school, in Palanpur, Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad. We shot in Uttarakhand, Kolkata and Mumbai too," he said of the 45-day shooting schedule. As for the casting, Shukla said he never wanted to rope in actors caught in an image trap. "I always wanted someone with good acting skills and limited exposure. I found that in Ashish, Faisal and Mahesh... I had told them we didn't want any mimicry. We wanted them to observe and adapt mannerisms as we didn't want a caricaturish portrayal." (Radhika Bhirani can be contacted at radhika.b@ians.in) Latest updates on Howdy Modi Houston Agartala, April 10 : The northeastern states are likely to see a tripartite battle in these elections, with the local parties gaining strength in the erstwhile Congress bastion on local issues and sentiments, even as the BJP makes inroads there, say political experts. Though the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have a substantial base in the northeast, as many as 67 parties, categorised by the Election Commission as state parties and registered unrecognised parties, are strengthening their base in the eight NE states. Of the eight states, Sikkim, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram are currently governed by local parties. In Assam, Tripura, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh too the state parties have significant role in governance. According to an Election Commission notification last month, there are 18 state parties in different northeastern states. Only one of these, the National People's Party (NPP) has a pan-regional presence in Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Assam and leads the government in Meghalaya. Meghalaya has their highest number of state parties (four), followed by three each in Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland, two in Sikkim and one each in Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh. Besides the state parties, the EC notification said there are 49 registered unrecognised parties in the seven of the eight states, excluding Arunachal Pradesh. Assam has the highest number of 18 registered unrecognised parties, followed by nine in Manipur, eight in Sikkim, five in Meghalaya and three each in Tripura, Nagaland and Mizoram. According to experts, the local parties have struck a chord because they operate at the grassroots level. Haobijam Gitajen Meitei, General Secretary of the Manipur People's Party (MPP), one of the oldest parties (set up in 1968) in the region, told IANS regional or local parties know the issues of the region and the sentiments of the people. The MPP, now an ally of the ruling BJP in Tripura, has headed governments in Mizoram in 1972, 1974 and 1990. According to Meitei, the regional parties also understand the diversity of the region better than national parties. The Mizo National Front (MNF) is another old regional party, which fought the November 2018 Assembly polls as a constituent of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) and secured 26 seats in the 40-member Assembly, ousting the Congress from power in its last northeast bastion. Political analyst and academician R.L. Sailo said the MNF, which emerged from Laldenga's Mizo National Famine Front (MNFF), set up to protest the government's "apathetic attitude towards the famine situation in the Mizo areas" of Assam in 1959, has over the years won over the local population. Before becoming a political party, the MNF had signed the historic Mizo peace accord with the central government in 1986 and then formed the government in Mizoram twice, first under Laldenga (1986-88) and then under Zoramthanga (1998-2008). While Mizoram has an MNF government, regional parties lead the coalition governments in Meghalaya (NPP) and Nagaland (Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party) with the BJP playing minor allies in both states, said political analyst and writer Samudra Gupta Kashyap. In Assam and Manipur, the regional parties are part of the BJP-led coalitions. While the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bodoland Peoples Front (BPF) are the BJP's allies in Assam, the NPF (Naga People's Front) and the NPP are allies in Manipur. The BJP, with an absolute majority, is leading governments in Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura. "Understanding the importance of regional parties, the BJP not only forged a strategic alliance and an umbrella body called the Northeast Democratic Alliance (NEDA) with regional parties in 2016, but also played up local sentiments in almost every election," Kashyap said. In Assam, the BJP joined hands with the AGP and the BPF, picked up the Bangladeshi influx issue and rode the wave created by the jati-mati-bheti (identity-land-homestead) slogan to oust the Congress in 2016. "Similarly, it picked up the tribal identity protection issue in Tripura and partnered with the IPFT (Indigenous People's Front of Tripura)," Kashyap told IANS. Following the BJP strategy, the Congress had also adopted a plan of playing up regional or local sentiments, he added. Though the Congress has no ally in Assam, it is trying to whip up sentiments on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which has been opposed by all regional parties. Of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the northeast, home to 45.58 million people as per the 2011 census, seven seats are reserved for tribals who constitute 27-28 per cent of the population. Veteran political commentator Sanjib Deb said the current political situation in the northeast could not allow national parties to govern them without the regional parties' support. "National parties have their own pan-India political strategies and policies. Similarly, the regional parties have their own agenda and demands that cannot be endorsed by national parties," Deb told IANS, adding the IPFT's demand for statehood in Tripura was not supported by its dominant partner, the BJP. Conrad K. Sangma-led National People's Party (NPP), which aims to be the alternative to the Congress and the BJP in the Northeast, has set up base in six of the eight northeastern states, excluding Tripura and Sikkim. Sangma, the Chief Minister of Meghalaya, earlier this month launched an arm of NPP in Assam with a plan to contest 14 Lok Sabha seats. The NPP, set up in 2013 by former Union Minister and Lok Sabha Speaker P.A. Sangma after his expulsion from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in July 2012, is the dominant ruling party in Meghalaya with 20 legislators. Besides, it has five MLAs in Arunachal Pradesh, four in Manipur, and two in Nagaland. The NPP is also a junior partner of the ruling BJP in Manipur and Nagaland. (Sujit Chakraborty can be reached at sujit.C@ians.in)) Kolkata, April 10 : As many as 83 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) along with adequate number of state police personnel, mobile patrolling units and Quick Response Teams are being deployed in West Bengal's two Lok Sabha seats, which will vote in the first phase of 2019 polls on Thursday, a top police official said. The Cooch Behar Lok Sabha seat with roughly 1.8 crore voters, has 2,010 polling stations while Alipurduar, in the foothills of north Bengal, has a 1.64 crore strong electorate and 1,834 polling stations. Both the districts have got a thick security cover, with both national and international borders sealed, in tune with the Election Commission's promise to take adequate "measures" to conduct free and fair polls. However, the long-standing demand of the state's opposition parties to deploy central force troopers in all polling stations might not get addressed in the first phase of polling, as according to senior officers, paramilitary personnel will be deployed only in the booths identified as "critical". "A total of 83 companies of CAPF will be deployed in the two seats for the first phase of polling. State police force will also be deployed in adequate numbers. Both the police forces will help each other in guarding the booths and the polling premises. The state police also have a role to play," Central police observer for West Bengal Vivek Dubey told IANS. "The state police force will also do a good job. CAPF personnel will be deployed in all the critical booths. The areas will be covered by mobile patrolling teams and Quick Response Teams. They will be frequently monitoring the areas," he said. Cooch Behar's new Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar Singh, who took charge on Tuesday after the EC shunted out Abhishek Gupta just two days before the polls, said 47 companies of central forces will be deployed in the district for Thursday's election. He said out of 2,010 polling stations in the constituency, close to 700 have been identified as critical where CAPF personnel will take charge of security. "We are trying to accommodate the central forces in as many booths as possible. Out of 2,010 booths, close to 700 booths have been identified as critical. 45 companies of CAPF personnel will be deployed in those booths. One company will be in the district strong room and another will be with the Quick Response Team. "I have been posted here before. So at least I am familiar with the topography. Let's see what I can do. I will try my level best. The most important thing now is the deployment of central force and state police force in all polling stations. Our aim is to hold tomorrow's (Thursday's) election in a free and fair manner," he added. Dubey said 36 companies would be deployed in Alipurduar, of which 22 have been already pressed into service. The Cooch Behar district, that is set to witness a four pronged battle between state's ruling Trinamool Congress, the BJP, the Left and the Congress, saw large-scale demonstrations by poll officials demanding deployment of central forces at every polling booths a few days back. State government employees and teachers engaged for Lok Sabha election duties said that are apprehensive about their security ever since poll official Rajkumar Ray's body was found on train track near north Bengal's Raiganj station during last year's Panchayat election. Similar protests sprung up in Alipurduar but the district administration issued a press note directing all the assigned personnel to take part in poll duty and warned stern action against those unwilling. Ahmedabad, April 10 : Congress's maverick Gujarat legislator Alpesh Thakore, who had been keeping the party on tenterhooks for some time, resigned on Wednesday, over his "side-lining" by state leaders in several key issues. Thakore was due to address a press meet soon to formally announce his decision. The development came hours after the core committee of the Gujarat Kshatriya Thakore Sena, which he had himself floated several years ago, late on Thursday night, decided to sever all ties with the Congress and exhorted Thakore to resign from the party. "During our meeting we decided that the Thakore Sena would have no ties with the Congress. We did not consult Alpesh Thakore but we have conveyed him to make up his mind within 24 hours," Jagat Thakore, member of the Thakore Sena, told reporters. "We have made it clear that if he wishes to be with the Congress, he must leave the Thakore Sena and if he remains with the Thakore Sena, he should sever ties with the Congress and resign as an MLA," he added. According to Jagat Thakore, the Congress has been side-lining the Thakore Sena in selection of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections as well as in taking important decisions. Congress sources said Alpesh Thakore had been smarting after the party denied him a ticket to contest the Patan Lok Sabha seat, which he claimed he could easily win, and chose veteran party hand and former MP Jagdish Thakore. The party also ignored the Thakore Sena's demand for ticket to contest the Sabarkantha and Banaskantha seats. Thakore Sena's Swarupji Thakore has already filed his nominations in Banaskantha, while another member Natwarji Thakore is contesting the by-election to Unjha assembly constituency, as Independent candidates. A prominent OBC leader, Alpesh Thakore had joined the Congress ahead of the 2017 assembly elections and won from the Radhanpur seat on a party ticket. He recently met Congress President Rahul Gandhi and conveyed his displeasure against the functioning of the party's state leadership. The OBC leader had claimed his community and supporters were feeling "cheated" and "ignored" but later claimed his issues were sorted out. New Delhi, April 10 : The Election Commission, which opposed the anonymous electoral bonds in an affidavit in 2017, on Wednesday, told the Supreme Court that it is not against the bonds themselves, and, instead, opposes the principle of anonymity of the bond donor and redeemer. The Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi cited many sections in the Election Commission (EC) affidavit and asked the EC's counsel to double-check on what he was saying. In his reply, the EC counsel insisted that he is absolutely sure that the Commission is not against electoral bonds, but is opposed to the veil of anonymity associated with such bonds. During a recent hearing on the electoral bonds issue in the Supreme Court, the EC informed the court regarding its opposition to the anonymous electoral bonds and cited it's affidavit filed with the Law Ministry in 2017. In the affidavit, the EC termed introduction of electoral bonds a retrogade step. The poll panel expressed concern over the non-disclosure of donor identity and clauses that may allow for shell companies and foreign entities to fund and influence Indian political parties and elections. The government, however, contended before the apex court on Wednesday that the anonymity of the donor in case of electoral bonds is to prevent political victimisation of the donor. Attorney General (AG) K.K. Venugopal in his submission said: "Electoral bonds are meant to eradicate black money in political funding...as we have no State funding of elections. Political parties get funds from supporters, affluent persons, etc. The funders all want their political party to come to power. But if their party does not, then there could be repurcurssions....so secrecy is required." The government informed the Supreme Court that many companies prefer anonymity for various reasons. For example, if a particular company funds a political party and it does not come power, the company could be punished by their own shareholders. The donations made through electoral bonds are actually from white money, the AG said, adding that if agencies are willing to ascertain the source of money, they can scrutinize it through banking channels. Though the government is in favour of anonymity in electoral bonds, the EC has an opposite view, the EC's counsel said. "We are not against electoral bonds. We are only opposed to the anonymity associated with it", he said. The EC emphasized that it wants transparency in political funding, while the disclosure of the identity of the funders as well as the recipients of funding is essential for democracy. "People have the right to know about the antecedents of their representatives and the political party that candidate represents", the EC counsel said. Gadchiroli : , April 10 (IANS) A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Sub-Inspector was injured on Wednesday in an IED blast triggered by the Maoists in Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra, where a team of the paramilitary force was sent for deployment in election related duties, an official said. The Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast occurred at around 4 p.m. in Gatta in Etapalli tehsil through which a team of CRPF's 191 Battalion was passing. "The Sub-Inspector sustained injuries in his lower limbs and is stated to be critical. He has been evacuated to a nearby hospital," the CRPF official said. The attack came a day after a BJP MLA and four policemen were killed by the Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region. This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices. Beijing, April 10 : A woman in southwest China has been detained by the police after she posted a video online showing her catching fish while wearing a red scarf associated with the Young Pioneers of China, a Communist Party organization. According to the state-run Global Times, the woman, with the surname Tang, had more than 3 million views on videos she posted to her profile on the TikTok-style short video streaming app Kuaishou. In a statement earlier this week, the police said "doing so was disrespectful because the scarf represents a corner of the red flag and symbolizes the revolutionary tradition". In many of her videos posted since 2018, Tang wore a red scarf. She was arrested on March 28 for 12 days and was also ordered to pay a fine of $150 and to delete the offending videos from her account. "Tang's behaviour has seriously defiled patriotic heroes and martyrs, the glory of the Young Pioneers, and people's love for the country symbolized by the red scarf, causing a bad influence on society," the police said. Police officials said that Tang filmed herself in farmlands and catching fish while wearing the red scarf on her neck in several videos since 2018 to attract more followers. Tang fell afoul of the Law on Heroes and Martyrs Protection, enacted last year, which "bans activities that defame heroes and martyrs or distort and diminish their deeds", according to the report. Kolkata, April 10 : Yesteryears' actress and Trinamool Congress MP from Bankura, Moon Moon Sen, who is now contesting the Lok Sabha polls from West Bengal's Asansol seat, has declared that her movable assets have soared over four times to Rs 4.68 crore during the last five years. She had declared movable assets of about Rs 1.03 crore before fighting her maiden election in 2014, where she scored a major upset by defeating Communist Party of India-Marxist heavyweight Basudeb Acharia. According to Sen's latest affidavit, her movable assets include Rs 3.15 lakh cash in hand, bank deposits worth Rs 2.16 crore, investments worth about Rs 2 crore in mutual funds and life insurance with current fund value of Rs 5 lakh. She possesses 1,352 grams of gold worth Rs 42 lakh and 70 cents diamond valued at Rs 4.6 lakh. Sen, daughter of legendary Bengali film actress Suchitra Sen, has shown Rs 5.01 crore of immovable properties including three inherited flats, with a built up area of 2,050 square feet each, in south Kolkata. Sen and her husband Bharat Kishore Dev are joint owners having 50 per cent each of a flat at Juhu in Mumbai, which was bought in 1992. Her husband possesses Rs 37.59 lakh in movable assets as compared to Rs 38.71 lakh declared in 2014. Sen, who holds a post graduate degree in comparative literature from Jadavpur University, has not been accused of any offence. Panaji, April 10 : Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi without naming him, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that the Congress President lied a lot perhaps because he was burdened by the sins of his father who was allegedly involved in the Bofors artillery deal. "Sometimes I think, why is he lying so much? I suspect that perhaps the sins of his father from the Bofors deal are weighing on his mind. In order to wash them, he is smearing the same sins on the rest of the world," Modi said while addressing a rally here on Wednesday. "But he does not know that birth and inheritance can fetch you the reins of a party, but how will he earn credibility from 125 crore people," Modi asked. Latest updates on Gandhi Jayanti 2019 New Delhi, April 10 : Professionals working in Mumbai, Pune and Chennai are looking for higher pay hikes in the bracket of 20 per cent and above, compared to Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru where employees expect hikes between 0-10 per cent, a survey by leading job portal Shine.com said on Wednesday. In Mumbai, almost 37 per cent people are expecting increments above 20 per cent while in Pune and Chennai, the number is 36 per cent and 38 per cent, respectively. Bengaluru observed that 21 per cent people expect appraisals in the range of up to 10 per cent hike while Delhi-NCR saw the trend of 20 per cent people expecting increments even on the lower side. "It is interesting to note the variance in employee expectations across different metro cities and across sectors. While employee sentiments are high across most sectors, it is a given that not all organisations will be able to meet these expectations," said Zairus Master, CEO, Shine.com. A sector-wise analysis of appraisal expectations revealed that the highest appraisal sentiment is being carried by professionals in the BFSI and BPO/KPO/ITES sectors, with over 35 per cent of employees expecting more than 20 per cent increment. Surprisingly, in Bengaluru which is India's IT hub, its e-commerce sector is expecting much lower appraisals as compared to Delhi. "While over 46 per cent of e-commerce sector employees in Bengaluru are only expecting an average growth of 11-15 per cent, Delhi NCR (Gurugram) seems to be emerging as a new hub for e-commerce as appraisal sentiment is high with over one-third professionals expecting a hike of over 20 per cent,' the survey noted. In Mumbai and Pune, employees in the education/training and the automobile sector are expecting hikes on the higher side. Thiruvananthapuram, April 10 : With the last word on the Kerala Congress (Mani) -K.M. Mani - bowing out after being at the helm of all the political upheavals he and his party faced in more than half a century, the question on everyone's lips is: What's next for his party. Eighty-six-year-old Mani, passed away on Tuesday at a private hospital in Kochi, after battling a lung ailment since early this year. The funeral would be held at his home town Pala, about 25 kms from Kottayam. Mani has never ever lost an Assembly election since, his first outing in 1967 and holds the unique distinction of being a legislator for 52 years. He served as a State Minister, in both the Left and the Congress-led governments and presented 13 state budgets. Mani joined the undivided Kerala Congress in 1965 and went on to become its undisputed leader. Over the years, his party underwent several splits and there are as many as seven different parties with the name Kerala Congress who all were at one point or the other part of the undivided Kerala Congress. The most spoken sentence that's attributed to the Kerala Congress coined by Mani himself is: "We are a party that splits as we grow and grow as we split." The immediate task for Mani's party is to find his successor and that's going to be a tough task. For one, there's his son Jose K. Mani, a two-time Lok Sabha member and presently a member of the Upper House. Then, there is the party's working chairman - P.J. Joseph who merged his Kerala Congress (Joseph) with Mani's in 2010. Ahead of the Lok Sabha election, there was sudden friction between Joseph and Mani's son after the father-son duo put their foot down when it came to selecting the candidate for the one seat that Mani's party gets. When Joseph demanded the seat be given to his faction, the faters-n dueo shot it down This irked Joseph who announced that if need be, he will contest as a rebel. To that extent, he started meeting the Church leadership and senior Congress leaders and said that he and his aides have been given a rough deal and sought their intervention. But the soft spoken Joseph, after threatening to rock the boat, made a quick turnaround and announced that he will do nothing that will bring a bad name to his party and also to the United Democratic Front. Later it became clear the sudden turn was because Joseph realised that Mani's health was fast deteriorating fast and beat a hasty retreat from his adamant stand. Earlier, there was speculation that Jose K. Mani's wife would be drafted into full- time politics but sensing this could backfire, she herself announced that she is not going to enter politics. Then, there is Mani's son-in law, an IAS officer who recently took voluntary retirement and had expressed his desire to enter politics. That did not evince much enthusiasm among the large pool of full-time politician's in Mani's party and his attempts to get a Lok Sabha seat failed to materialise. Now, as things remain in a fluid state, the first signs if there is going to be a smooth transition will be known when the party decides to find a candidate for the Pala assembly constituency when the by-election is announced. And if it goes smoothly, then it would be good for Mani's party. If not, his stock statement "We are a party that splits as we grow and grow as we split", might come into play. (Sanu Goerge can be contacted at sanu.g@ians.in) San Francisco, April 10 : Aiming to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create accurate maps, Facebook said its maps now cover "majority" of Africa and that its project would eventually map nearly the whole world's population. In 2016, Facebook had created population maps for 22 nations. "When it is completed, humanitarian agencies will be able to determine how populations are distributed even in remote areas so that healthcare workers can better reach the households and relief workers can better distribute aid. "Offering open data for free in a responsible way also enables Facebook researchers to better understand the many applications of their work and to guide their research in the right directions," Facebook said in a blog post late on Tuesday. The census and satellite data used contain no personally identifiable information, Facebook said. Since Facebook released the first set of maps two years ago, they have improved how nonprofits do their work, how researchers learn and how policies are developed. "For example, in Malawi, the Red Cross and the Missing Maps programme, in partnership with the Malawi Ministry of Health, used Facebook maps to inform a measles and rubella campaign. By showing that 97 per cent of the land space was uninhabited, the Red Cross was able to deploy 3,000 trained local volunteers to specific areas in need," Facebook said. London, April 10 : Ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, UK Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday expressed regret over the worst bloodbath committed by the British Army during the colonial period, terming it as a "shameful scar" on British Indian history. "The tragedy of Jallianwala Bagh of 1919 is a shameful scar on British Indian history. As Her Majesty the Queen (Elizabeth II) said before visiting Jallianwala Bagh in 1997, it is a distressing example of our past history with India," said the British leader while replying to questions in the House of Commons. "The United Kingdom deeply regrets what happened and the suffering caused in Jallianwala Bagh tragedy." Former British Prime Minister David Cameron had described the tragedy as "a deeply shameful event in British history" during a visit to India in 2013. On April 13, 1919, British forces led by Brigadier General Reginald Dyer opened fire in Jallianwala Bagh on thousands of unarmed and peaceful protesters, including women and children, killing hundreds of them. The Jallianwala Bagh houses the martyrs' memorial which was established in 1951 to commemorate the massacre. It is managed by the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Trust. In February this year, the Punjab Assembly unanimously passed a resolution to mount pressure on the Centre to seek a formal apology from the British government "for one of the worst ever bloodbaths in the world". The Assembly resolution stated that "an apology for the massacre would be a befitting tribute to the martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh during its centenary year". "It was a dastardly act perpetrated upon the innocent people who had converged at the Jallianwala Bagh on the fateful day of Baisakhi on April 13, 1919, to protest against Rowlatt Act of the Imperial rulers," the resolution said. A recently released researched book "Jallianwala Bagh, 1919 - The Real Story" by author and columnist Kishwar Desai indicated that the British rulers of that time were unnerved by the unrest in Punjab in general, and Amritsar in particular, which led them to do something which could "teach a lesson" to the citizens. New Delhi, April 10 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the petition of former IL&FS Financial Services (IFIN) CEO Ramesh Bawa, who moved the apex court to stop SFIO's criminal proceedings against him. The Serious Fraud Investigation Office, which is probing the IL&FS matter, has issued summons to several fomer senior executives of IL&FS, including Bawa. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi told Bawa's lawyer Mukul Rohtagi: "We are sorry to deny you any relief in the matter. Petition to be dismissed." Rohtagi said that Bawa fears of his arrest in the case, as "SFIO proceedings under Companies Act is completely illegal". On April 1, the SFIO arrested Hari Sankaran, former Chairman IL&FS, following which Bawa became concerned about his legal prospects. The agency accused Sankaran of granting loans to entities that were not creditworthy or had declared Non-Performing Assets (NPAs), which caused huge losses to the company and its creditors. Last week, the IL&FS board appointed Chandra Shekhar Rajan as the company's Managing Director. He was the Non-Executive Director of IL&FS for the past six months. Last year, the Central government superseded the management of the beleaguered company, which has around Rs 91,000 crore in long-term debt, through a National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) order and appointed a six-member board led by Uday Kotak, MD and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank, to restore its financial solvency. IL&FS group's total outstanding debt currently stands at Rs 99,354 crore, said N. Sivaraman, the Chief Operating Officer. The IL&FS Financial Services Ltd had notched borrowings of over Rs 17,000 crore from debt instruments and bank loans. New Delhi, April 10 : Government sources have indicated to IANS that they are pursuing four quarries - Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Jatin Mehta - all economic offenders and fugitives from the law relentlessly. In each case, a carefully calibrated strategy is in place to bring the culprits to book, and more importantly, home. A major breakthrough is expected shortly, in the middle of the elections. While Neerav Modi and Mallya are ensconced in Britain and the local criminal justice system is in their pursuit, the Indian government is trying all the necessary tactics to bring both diamantaires Choksi and Mehta back from the Caribbean islands. Government-to government negotiations are on with Antigua and Barbuda for Choksi and St Kitts and Nevis for Winsome Diamonds' Mehta. Availing of the controversial paid citizenship programme provided by many of the islands in the Caribbean, diamantaire Mehul Choksi and Winsome Diamonds' promoter Jatin Mehta have taken citizenship in these parts. Mehta became a citizen of St Kitts and Nevis some years ago while Choksi took Antigua and Barbuda citizenship recently. These islands provide visa-free travel to 132 countries. Citizenship through investment has become popular among Indian economic offenders. Investigating agency sources also revealed that Choksi and Mehta are the principal targets of this exercise. The government-to-government communication revolves around securing both targets through extradition, which is difficult because there are no extradition treaties with these countries. Mehul Choksi may be picked up in the Caribbean, while Nirav Modi who remains under arrest in London are most wanted. The lack of extradition treaties has made these islands a safe haven for India's uber rich. Other countries like Grenada, St Lucia, Dominica also have similar citizenship by investment programmes. India has appealed to these small islands with a pitch that they are economic offenders and fugitives for committing financial crimes. Dominica and St Lucia give citizenship and a valid passport for just $100,000 which is chump change for ultra rich Indians on the run. If your spouse needs a similar passport then it is $165,000 in St Lucia and $175,000 in Dominica. Meanwhile, Grenada gives a similar passport for $200,000. Predicated on its nine-point agenda presented in the G-20 Leaders' Summit held on November 30, 2018 and December 1, 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for action against fugitive economic offenders, Indian diplomats in conjunction with Interpol and domestic probe agencies are determined to bring all four back. India has pursued the agenda against fugitive economic offenders in various forums of the G20, like, Finance and Sherpa Tracks, Anti-Corruption Working Group and the Denial of Entry Experts Network. Consequently, Leaders' Declaration, adopted at the G20 Buenos Aires Summit, inter alia, says: "We will further explore the links between corruption and other economic crimes and ways to tackle them, including through cooperation on the return of persons sought for such offences and stolen assets, consistent with international obligations and domestic legal systems. We ask relevant international organizations to report back to us on those issues during the next presidency." This reflects the will exhibited by the G20 members to tackle the issue of return of persons sought for economic offences and stolen assets through international cooperation. This came after the government got the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill in July 2018 by both Houses of Parliament. The Bill allows for a person to be declared as a fugitive economic offender (FEO) if: (i) an arrest warrant has been issued against him for any specified offences where the value involved is over Rs 100 crore, and (ii) he has left the country and refuses to return to face prosecution. To declare a person an FEO, an application will be filed in a Special Court (designated under the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002) containing details of the properties to be confiscated, and any information about the person's whereabouts. The Special Court will require the person to appear at a specified place at least six weeks from issue of notice. Proceedings will be terminated if the person appears. The Bill allows authorities to provisionally attach properties of an accused, while the application is pending before the Special Court. Upon declaration as an FEO, properties of a person may be confiscated and vested in the Central government, free of encumbrances (rights and claims in the property). Further, the FEO or any company associated with him may be barred from filing or defending civil claims. The nine-point Agenda for Economic Offenders presented in Buenos Aires: Strong and active cooperation across G-20 countries to deal comprehensively and efficiently with the menace fugitive economicoffenders. Cooperation in the legal processes such as effective freezing of the proceeds of crime; early return of the offenders and efficientrepatriation of the proceeds of crime should be enhanced and streamlined. Joint effort by G-20 countries to form a mechanism that denies entry and safe havens to all fugitive economic offenders. Principles of United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime(UNOTC), especially related to "International Cooperation" should be fully and effectively implemented. FATF should be called upon to assign priority and focus to establishing international co-operation that leads to timely andcomprehensive exchange of information between the competent authorities and FIUs. FATF should be tasked to formulate a standard definition of fugitive economic offenders. * FATF should also develop a set of commonly agreed and standardized procedures related to identification, extradition and judicialproceedings for dealing with fugitive economic offenders to provide guidance and assistance to G-20 countries, subject to their domestic law. Panaji, April 10 : Accusing the Congress-led governments of promoting middlemen in defence deals and allowing them to get away, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday it was becoming clear how much wealth AP (Ahmed Patel) and the family made in defence deals. Calling Congress members past masters at 'haath ki safai', Modi said accused the party of allowing tainted defence middlemen, like Ottavio Quattrocchi and Christen Michel, to escape India. He was speaking at a poll campaign rally at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee stadium near here. "Dalals like Michel were allowed to run to Dubai. They thought, like Quattrocchi was allowed to escape, this matter too would also be closed. They did not know that a chowkidar will come and would bring back all middlemen, from the depths of hell. Now the truth is coming forward. The web of 'dalali' is falling in place," Modi said. Hyderabad, April 10 : A TRS leader has approached the Telangana High Court seeking action against BJP President Amit Shah and other party leaders in connection with the seizure of Rs. 8 crore cash of the party here. Pawan Kumar, in his petition, also sought action against state BJP President K. Laxman and BJP candidate from Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency, G. Kishan Reddy. The petitioner is the polling agent of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) candidate T. Sai Kiran Yadav in the same constituency. The huge cash in the denominations of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 notes, was seized by police in Narayanguda in the heart of the city on Monday. A police team recovered Rs 2 crore cash from a car and arrested two persons. On their information, police recovered another Rs 6 crore cash from another location in the same area and arrested five more persons. The cash was withdrawn from the BJP's account in Narayanguda branch of the Indian Bank through a self cheque of party's state chief Laxman. Police handed over the cash, arrested persons and the seized vehicle to the Income Tax department for further investigations. BJP leaders, however, claimed that the cash was accounted for and that it was withdrawn to clear dues. Since the model code of conduct came into force, Telangana Police have seized over Rs 35 crore unaccounted cash. More than Rs 20 crore of this was seized in Hyderabad. New Delhi, April 10 : A press meet in Nagpur and media screenings of the movie "PM Narendra Modi" in Delhi and Mumbai were cancelled on Wednesday as the Election Commission stopped the biopic's release, till the conclusion of 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The film was scheduled to hit the screens on Thursday. The poll panel ruled any material that disturbs a level-playing field should not be displayed. The EC said any poster or publicity material concerning any such certified content, which either depicts a candidate for furtherance of electoral prospect directly or indirectly, shall not be put to display in the electronic media in the areas where model code of conduct is in force. Vivek Anand Oberoi was in Nagpur to hold a media meet at the press club on the film, which traces Modi's life from his humble beginnings to the post of the Prime Minister. The film's publicity team also informed the media of cancellation of press shows. Makers of "PM Narendra Modi" are yet to make a statement on the EC decision. The EC decision has come just a day after the Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking a stay on the release of the Vivek Anand Oberoi-starrer and put the ball in the EC's court. Jerusalem, April 10 : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to secure a record fifth term in office on Wednesday after more than 95 per cent of the votes gave the right-wing bloc a lead over the left in the general election, the media reported. Palestinian officials in Ramallah said they were not surprised by the results of the general election in Israel and expressed concern over the rise of Netanyahu's right-wing bloc. US President Donald Trump said Netanyahu's re-election was a "good sign for peace". With 97 per cent of the votes in Tuesday's contest counted, Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party was tied with ex-military chief Benny Gantz's centrist Blue and White alliance with 35 seats each. But the Prime Minister's right-wing/ultra-Orthodox bloc held a decisive lead and he was thus en route to forming a majority governing coalition. Likud and its right-wing allies were set to be the largest bloc with 65 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, the Times of Israel reported. The daily said that Gantz's party had insufficient support from other parties to prevent Netanyahu staying in power for what will be a fifth term. The figures come as the 69-year-old Prime Minister faces corruption allegations. The hearing is expected to take place in July and the decision on the final indictment will come some six months later. However, the election result means Netanyahu could become Israel's longest-serving Premier, overtaking Israel's founding father David Ben-Gurion. The final results were expected by Friday. "Israelis have voted to maintain the status quo, as far as the occupation of Palestine," said Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary-General Saeb Erekat. "They voted for apartheid and to an endless occupation." Calling Netanyahu a "great friend", Trump said: "I'd like to congratulate Bibi Netanyahu. It looks like that race has been won by him. It may be a little early but I'm hearing he's won it and won it in good fashion." "He's been a great ally and he's a friend... that was a well fought out race I can tell you." The Arab parties lost three seats in the Knesset because of their differences and failure to run in a joint list, political analysts and activists in the Arab sector were cited as saying by the Jerusalem Post. Only half of the Arab voters cast their ballots in the election despite appeals by the leaders of the Arab parties. Exit polls had predicted a closely-contested race with no clear winner, prompting both Netanyahu and Gantz to claim victory on Tuesday night. "It is a night of colossal victory," Netanyahu said, thanking his supporters, the members of his party and his wife, Sarah, who he kissed before and after the speech and who never left his side. "It will be a right-wing government, but I will be Prime Minister for all. I'm very touched that the people of Israel gave me their vote of confidence for the fifth time and an even bigger vote of confidence than previous elections. Gantz, 59, had also claimed victory, citing preliminary exit polls which showed his party had won more seats than Likud. "We won! The Israeli public has had their say! Thank you to the thousands of activists and over a million voters. These elections have a clear winner and a clear loser. Netanyahu promised 40 seats and lost. The President can see the picture and should call on the winner to form the next government. There is no other option!" he said. But Wednesday morning results showed that Netanyahu was likely to form a governing coalition with the backing of other right-wing factions. New Delhi/Mumbai, April 10 : The country's largest oil marketing company, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on Wednesday once again stopped fuel supply to Jet Airways. However, the airline said that other fuel retailers continue to supply its aircraft. According to a senior IOC official, the company had stopped fuel supply to Jet Airways from 3 p.m on Wednesday over non-payment of dues by the airline. Last week, the IOC had stopped fuel supply to Jet Airways for some time before restarting the same after receiving assurances over payment of dues. As per industry insiders, some payments were made to the fuel retailer after lenders gave an emergency funding relief of Rs 33 crore on last Friday. Jet Airways is already in the midst of a severe liquidity crisis that has affected its operations and resulted in the grounding of several of its aircraft. The development comes on the day, when lenders of the debt-ridden airline extended the submission deadline of "expression of interest" for stake sale in the airline to recover their dues. At present, the airline owes over Rs 8,000 crore to a consortium of lenders, led by the State Bank of India. On Tuesday, the airline was served a legal notice from a section of its pilots demanding payment of salaries, due from January 1, by April 14. Subsequently, the airline's CEO Vinay Dube said the company continues to work with lenders on the balance sheet restructuring plan and will inform the employees about the progress of the process by early next week. Apart from employees, aircraft lessors are also upset with the current financial situation with some of them requesting the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to de-register their aircraft leased to the company. Currently, the airline operates 26 aircraft which includes Airbus A330s, Boeing 777s, 737-800 and ATRs to various destinations like London, Toronto, Singapore, Amsterdam, Paris, Bangkok and domestic sectors like Mumbai-Delhi among others. The airline apparently owns 16 aircraft out of these 26. Panaji, April 10 : Taking a potshot at Rahul Gandhi without taking his name, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that the Congress president lied incessantly perhaps because he was burdened by the sins of his father (Rajiv Gandhi) who was allegedly involved in the Bofors artillery deal. Addressing an election rally here, Modi also compared Gandhi to an "expert pickpocket." The Prime Minister accused Gandhi of taking unfair advantage of late Manohar Parrikar's ill-health by using a courtesy call made in January this year to spew more untruths about the Rafale deal. "Sometimes I think why is he lying so much? I suspect that perhaps the sins of his father from the Bofors deal are weighing on his mind. In order to wash them, he is smearing the same sins on the rest of the world," Modi said. "But he does not know that birth and inheritance can fetch you the reins of a party, but how will he earn credibility from 125 crore people," Modi asked. Inked in 1986, the Bofors deal is considered to be one of the main reasons for the defeat of the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections. Comparing Gandhi to an "expert pickpocket", Modi said that just like a pickpocket runs along with the mob crying "thief, thief" after picking his victim's pocket, the "naamdaar" Congress President tried a similar strategy when he met the ailing Parrikar on a courtesy visit, but used it to spin another lie subsequently. "He tried to do the same thing with Manohar Parrikar. 'Naamdar' went to enquire about Parrikar's health, but he uttered such white lies after stepping out that one cannot even imagine," Modi said, calling Gandhi's tactics unfair, especially because Parrikar was fighting for his life at the time. Former Goa Chief Minister Parrikar died on March 17 following a prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer. "In such a situation, he had to come out to clarify the canards spread by the liars. Such a huge lie was caught, but there was innocence on the face. There was not even a frown on his brow. This shows his insensitivity," Modi added. The Prime Minister also accused the Congress of creating political instability at a time when Parrikar's health was sinking. "They (Congress) should be ashamed of themselves. They do not even have the wisdom to acknowledge and respect such a (health) crisis. The manner in which the Congress leaders made statements at the time is against the culture of Goa and India," Modi said. New Delhi, April 10 : Forty-three days after the Indian Air Force struck Jaish-e-Mohammed terror training camps in Pakistan's Balakot, the Pakistani government on Wednesday organized a visit for some Islamabad-based international media houses and foreign diplomats to the area bombed by the IAF in retaliation to the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which at least 40 CRPF troopers were killed. The Hindi website of BBC reported that one of its correspondents was also among the team that visited the "air strike site". India claimed to have destroyed a camp belonging to terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed in the air strike in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, inflicting "a large number of casualties", a claim that was refuted by Pakistan that said besides some trees which were felled, and a person who sustained injuries, no one was killed. The Pakistani government had then assured the media that they would be taken to the place where India claimed to have conducted 'surgical strikes'. However, the government later backed off from its promise. The BBC Hindi correspondent who was part of the team mentioned after boarding a helicopter at Islamabad, said they landed at a place near Mansera. Following that, they passed through some difficult, mountainous terrain for the next one-and-a-half hours. On their way to the madrassa, which was claimed to have been destroyed by India, the media team was shown three different places. They were told that IAF dropped the payload there, and the correspondent says only a few craters and uprooted trees could be noticed. The BBC reporter said the place was isolated and away from human habitation. The team was then taken to the hill top where the madrassa is located. The BBC scribe said that "looking at the structure, it did not look like newly-built, or they suffered any damage in the attack". The entire building was still intact, and some of its parts looked quite old, and in the adjacent mosque hall, 150-200 children were studying. However, when the authorities were asked about the delay in arranging the tour, they cited "the unstable situation made it difficult to take people there". The officials said they believed "the time to provide a tour to the media was appropriate now". Also, they denied that a team of a news agency and local journalists were stopped from entering the premises. When Major General Asif Ghafoor, the Director General of the Army's media wing of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), was asked about journalists spotting Maulana Yusuf Azhar's name on the madrassa board, the official did not provide any straight answer. He said they were looking into the funding of the madrassa, and focusing on the courses provided there. A board in the madrassa read it was closed from February 27- March 14. According to a teacher, the step was taken as an "emergency measure". When the media team tried to speak to the local residents, they were told: "Be quick... don't talk for too long." New Delhi, April 10 : The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday rejected the Congress' proposal for an alliance in Delhi. With this all hopes for a tie-up between the two parties have come to naught. The Congress had demanded three seats in Delhi, where the AAP is in power. It had also rejected the offer for alliances in Haryana and Punjab. Speaking to IANS, AAP MP Sanjay Singh, who was mediating the alliance talks here, said, "The AAP rejected the Congress' proposal as it was impractical and wrong. The Congress is trying to give benefits to the BJP and help it in states including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Kerala." "It is doing the same in Delhi," Singh added. He said that the Congress was not ready for an alliance with the AAP in Punjab, where the latter has four MPs and 20 MLAs. "They were neither ready for an alliance in Chandigarh where we got 1.5 lakh votes, nor in Goa where we have six per cent of the total vote share," Singh added. He also attacked the Congress for not being ready for an alliance in Haryana where they only have one MP. "After rejecting all our offers, they expected us to give them three seats (in Delhi) where they have zero MP and MLA," he added. The AAP MP said the Congress' proposal is intended to help the BJP. "So we rejected it," he added. New Delhi, April 10 : After Election Commission pulled up Doordarshan for not giving balanced poll coverage, Information and Broadcasting ministry secretary Amit Khare has written to Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vampati to ensure full compliance of Model Code of Conduct guidelines. In his letter, Khare also asked Prasar Bharati to develop robust internal system to address concerns expressed by EC and suggested creation of a monitoring mechanism to check any oversight. He also wrote that all the divisions of the national broadcaster should follow the instructions. Sources said the national broadcaster already has a set of guidelines which were formed in consultation with the EC and which were being followed for several year. But on this occasion, the guidelines, which were being adhered to as "golden principles" for fair representation, were violated, as observed by the EC. Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) keep the EC informed about the time allotted to different political parties. Several parties have made representations to the EC on violation of Model Code of Conduct. One of the objections has been on one of the events of Prime Minister that was aired for an hour on Doordarshan. The CPI(M) had earlier complained about Prime Minister's announcement on India's successful anti-satellite launch Mission Shakti, but EC had given clean chit and found no violation of the election code. Gadchiroli : , April 10 (IANS) Just a day ahead of polling here, Maoists on Wednesday carried out an attack on a CRPF contingent being deployed for election duty, injuring two Sub-inspectors, official sources said. The Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast triggered by the Maoists occurred at around 4 p.m. in Gatta village in Etapalli tehsil through which a team of CRPF's 191 Battalion was passing. Sub-inspectors Sunilkumar Patel and Rajukumar Ranjan were injured in the blast. Both were rushed to a hospital in Nagpur, an officer of Gadchiroli Police said. While Patel badly injured his lower limbs, their conditions were reported to be stable. The attack came a day after a BJP MLA and four policemen were killed by the Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region. Gadchiroli-Chimur, along with six other Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra, go to the polls in the first phase on Thursday. Kathmandu, April 10 : An expedition team, assigned to remeasure the height of the world's tallest mountain peak, left for Mount Everest on Wednesday. Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli called upon the government-nominated climbers to derive the true height of the peak. "It will be the authentic data regarding the height of the tallest peak once you come up with the report," Oli told the team members at the Prime Minister's Office here. Nepal accepts the altitude of the mountain peak at 8,848 metres, measured by the Survey of India in 1954, according to officials of the Department of Survey of Nepal. According to the department, four government officials -- Khimlal Gautam, Rabin Karki, Suraj Singh Bhandari and Yuvaraj Dhital -- are among members of the expedition team, Xinhua news agency reported. The Nepali government's efforts to remeasure the height of Mount Everest comes amid speculations that it shrunk after the 2015 earthquake. Although expedition teams from various countries measured the altitude and produced diverse results, Nepal never became part of those expedition teams. China, which first measured the height of the mountain in 1975 and reassessed it in 2005, reported the rock base of the peak at 8,844.43 metres with 3.5 meters of snow. Mount Everest is known in Nepali as Sagarmatha and in Tibetan as Chomolungma. It was given its official English name, Everest, by the Royal Geographical Society in 1865, upon a recommendation by Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India. Waugh named the mountain after his predecessor in the post, Sir George Everest, despite Everest's objections. New Delhi, April 10 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that the media was well within its rights to publish Rafale-related documents, thereby rejecting a government claim that it cannot and would face action for doing so. "There is no provision in the Official Secrets Act and no such provision in any other statute... by which Parliament has vested any power in the executive arm of the government, either to restrain publication of documents marked as secret or...," said Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, also speaking for Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul. The CJI also said that there was also no bar from "placing such documents before a Court of Law which may have been called upon to adjudicate a legal issue concerning the parties". The top court said this in its unanimous judgment rejecting the preliminary objections raised by the Central government on the maintainability of the plea seeking review of its December 14, 2018 judgment and claiming privilege on three Rafale-related document and seeking their removal from the case record. The publication of Rafale documents, CJI Gogoi, said would "seem to be in consonance with the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech" and noted that the government had not brought to its notice any law enacted by the Parliament specifically barring or prohibiting the publication of such documents "on any of the grounds mentioned in Article 19(2) of the Constitution ..." The publication of the Rafale-related documents in the "The Hindu" newspaper, he said, reminds the court of its consistent views upholding the freedom of the press in a long line of decisions starting with the case of Romesh Thapar vs. State of Madras and Brij Bhushan vs. The State of Delhi. Agreeing with CJI Gogoi, Justice K.M. Joseph, in his separate but concurring judgment, said that the press in India has "greatly contributed to the strengthening of democracy" and it will have" a pivotal role to play for the continued existence of a vibrant democracy in the country". He said that it is "indisputable" that the press out of which the visual media, in particular, wields power, the reach of which appears to be limitless and "no segment of the population is impervious to its influence". Both the print and visual media, Justice Joseph said, "must realise that its consumers are entitled to demand that the stream of information that flows from it, must remain unpolluted by considerations other than the truth". Elaborating on the elements of free press, he said: "A free person must be fearless. Fear can be of losing all or any of the things that is held dear by the journalist. A free man cannot be biased. Bias comes in many forms. Bias if it is established as per the principles which are applicable is sufficient to vitiate the decisions of public authorities." The press, including the visual media, "cannot be biased and yet be free" and transmitting biased information "betrays the absence of true freedom", he added. It is, Justice Joseph said, "a wholly unjustifiable onslaught on the vital right of the people to truthful information under Article 19(1)(a) which, in turn, is the bedrock of many other rights of the citizens also." The right of the press in India is no higher than the right of the citizens under Article 19(1)(a) and both rights can be traced to the same provision of the Constitution. Justice Joseph also cautioned that the free press without a "deep sense of responsibility" could weaken democracy. "Controlling business interests and political allegiances appear to erode the duty of dispassionate and impartial purveying of information," he said, citing the "disturbing trend of bias in some section of media". New Delhi, April 10 : Amid a major controversy, the Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday ordered stoppage of release of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's biopic even as it was considering a complaint against the telecast of NaMo TV. Earlier, the EC spokesperson had indicated that NaMo TV had also been banned till the end of elections. However, later in the day, she clarified that she had said so because she "misinterpreted" the poll panel's order on Modi biopic, believing it applied to the TV channel as well. Regarding the NaMo TV, the spokesperson said some clarifications were sought from the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer on Tuesday regarding pre-certification of political advertisements on the channel by the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee. "These clarifications have now been received and are being processed in the Commission," the official said. Earlier in the day, the Election Commission stopped the release of Modi's biopic till the Lok Sabha elections conclude, saying that any material which disturbs a level playing field should not be displayed. "Any biopic in the nature of biography or hagiography sub-serving the purposes of any political entity or any individual entity connected to it or which has the potential to disturb the level playing field during the elections should not be displayed in electronic media, including cinematograph during the operation of MCC (model code of conduct)," the EC said in its order. It also said that any poster or publicity material concerning any such certified content which either depicts a candidate for furtherance of electoral prospect directly or indirectly shall not be put to display in the electronic media in the area where MCC is in force. The order issued by the poll panel added that in case of a violation, a committee constituted by the Commission would examine the same and suggest appropriate action. The committee would be headed by a retired Supreme Court judge or a retired Chief Justice of any high court. The EC said it had received complaints about certain films, namely "NTR Laxmi", "PM Narendra Modi" and "Udyama Simham", which "claimed to either diminish or advance the electoral prospect of a candidate or a political party in the garb of creative freedom". Though the display materials claimed "to be part of creative content, it has been contended that these have propensity and potentiality to affect the level playing field" which is "not in consonance with the provisions of model code of conduct", it said. The Commission added there is an emergent need for intervention in such political content "intended (or purported to be) for benefiting or discrediting the electoral prospects" of any candidate or political party, for ensuring a level playing field. New Delhi/Mumbai, April 10 : The country's largest oil marketing company Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has resumed fuel supply to Jet Airways. After stopping fuel supply to Jet Airways from 3 p.m. on Wednesday over non-payment of dues by the airline, the company resumed the service in the evening, a senior IOC official said. However, the fuel retailer did not divulge details about any payment or assurance made by the cash-strapped airline over due payments. Nonetheless, industry insiders said that the lenders of the airline might have made a part-payment towards the dues. The airline's operations were not effected during the day, as other retailers continued to supply fuel to its aircraft. Last week, the IOC had stopped fuel supply to Jet Airways for some time before restarting the same after receiving assurances over payment of dues. As per industry insiders, some payments were made to the fuel retailer after the lenders provided an emergency funding relief of Rs 33 crore last Friday. Jet Airways is already in the midst of a severe liquidity crisis that has affected its operations and resulted in the grounding of several of its aircraft. The latest development came on a day when lenders of the debt-ridden airline extended the submission deadline of "expression of interest" for stake sale in the airline to recover their dues. At present, the airline owes over Rs 8,000 crore to a consortium of lenders led by the State Bank of India. On Tuesday, the airline was served a legal notice by a section of its pilots demanding payment of salaries -- which is due from January 1, 2019 -- by April 14. Subsequently, the airline's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Vinay Dube said that the company was working with the lenders on the balance sheet restructuring plan and will inform the employees about the progress of the process by early next week. Apart from the employees, the aircraft lessors too are upset with the current financial situation with some of them requesting the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to de-register their aircraft leased to the company. The airline currently operates 26 aircraft, including Airbus A330s, Boeing 777s, 737-800 and ATRs, to various destinations like London, Toronto, Singapore, Amsterdam, Paris, Bangkok and domestic sectors like Mumbai-Delhi, among others. The airline apparently owns 16 out of these 26 aircraft. Bengaluru, April 10 : Four youngsters, including a woman were arrested for allegedly kidnapping and assaulting their employer oven severance payment for terminating their service, police said on Wednesday. "We have arrested the accused on a complaint by their employer S.K. Sujay that he was abducted and assaulted by them for not giving severance pay after they were terminated from his start-up, which was shut down due to huge financial loss," Halasuru police inspector M. Diwakar told IANS. Sujay, 23, is the co-founder of SGL Software Ltd at Whitefield in the city south-east suburb. Police booked the accused - Likith, Sanjay, Vishwa and Rashmi under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for abduction, wrongful confinement, assault and criminal intimidation. The incident occurred on March 21 but came to light on March 31 when the victim (Sujay) filed a complaint against the accused with the Halasuru police station in the city's eastern suburb. "Though Sujay named seven employees in the complaint, we arrested 4 on April 4 and sent them to 14-day judicial custody, we are on the hunt to nab the other three - Darhsan, Rakesh and Tanzeem," recalled Diwakar. On asked about the 10-day delay in filing the complaint, Sujay told police he was in the hospital for treatment and rushed to Chennai to get funds after the accused had let him-off, warning him that they would not spare him if he didn't pay up or complained to the police," said Diwakar. Sujay also told the police that he took about 30 sleeping pills to end life, as he was unbale to bear the physical and mental torture from the accused. "Although Sujay paid salary to the accused till they were terminated from service, he could not pay them the severance package as his company was in loss due to business disruption," New Delhi, April 10 : The Congress on Thursday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over remarks of his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan that peace talks prospects with India were better if Modi won the polls, saying Islamabad seemed to have officially allied with Modi. Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said the Pakistan Prime Minister and ISI want that such a Prime Minister should continue in India under whom "internal strife continues to blow, where the atmosphere of hatred and division gets perpetuated by the actions of the powers that be, where peace is a casualty in the country and where directly or indirectly forces inimical to India continue to get space". "It seems that Pakistan has now officially allied with Modi ji. Imran Khan seems to wish for Modiji's success," Surjewala said. He said the entire country saw Modiji's love for then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the ISI "when he went uninvited to Pakistan and then invited ISI to India". "It seems that the love affair with Imran Khan now continues. We want to say Imran Khan and Pakistan will never succeed nor will the firecrackers, in Modiji's language, burst in Pakistan, for Modiji is going to lose the 2019 election," he said. Surjewala said Pakistan wants that while its relationship with China should be strengthened, it wants to isolate India. "Let me say today as a citizen of India, that Pakistan Prime Minister's diabolical design and wish will never come true. We will defeat every force that perpetuates and propagates hatred, division in this country and Imran Khan's friend Modiji and his party will be decimated by the people of India," Surjewala said. Modi had on Wednesday accused Congress of speaking the language of Pakistan. BJP leaders have also said that remarks of Congress and other opposition leaders were being quoted in the neighbouring country. Imran Khan had expressed the hope during an interview that India-Pakistan peace had a "better chance under Modi". He also said that if the next Indian government were led by the opposition Congress party, it might be too scared to seek a settlement with Pakistan over the Kashmir issue. "Perhaps if the BJP - a right-wing party - wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached," he said, adding he believed Modi too would be interested to restart the dialogue despite the current impasse. Ahmedabad, April 10 : After days of pulls and pressures and flip-flops, maverick Gujarat legislator Alpesh Thakore finally resigned from the Congress on Wednesday, along with another MLA owing allegiance to his Gujarat Kshatriya Thakore Sena, claiming that the party's state leadership had "sidelined" him and not given him respect. Alpesh Thakore, who is an MLA from Radhanpur, however, said that he and his associate Dhavalsinh Jhala, the legislator from Bayad, would continue as MLAs and would "never join the BJP". They would, however, campaign for Swarupji Thakore who is contesting the Banaskantha Lok Sabha seat as an Independent and Natwarji Thakore fighting the Unjha Assembly by-election, both in north Gujarat. In his resignation letter to state Congress President Amit Chavda, the OBC leader claimed he, his community and supporters were feeling "cheated" and "ignored" within the party set-up and were suffocated. "The youth of my organization are angry over insults and being ignored by Congress. To me, my organization is supreme... It is my organisation's order that I should not be at the place where I am ignored, insulted and betrayed." Speaking to reporters later at his office in Ahmedabad, he said while he had resigned from all posts of Congress, he would continue to remain a legislator. Hinting at his future, he said: "We will show the strength of our organization and it is we who will make the king of the state in 2022." Congress sources said Alpesh Thakore had been smarting after the party denied him a ticket to contest the Patan Lok Sabha seat, which he claimed he could easily win, and chose veteran party hand and former MP Jagdish Thakore. The party also ignored the Thakore Sena's demand for ticket to contest the Sabarkantha and Banaskantha seats. The development came hours after the core committee of the Gujarat Kshatriya Thakore Sena, which he had himself floated several years ago, late on Tuesday night, decided to sever all ties with the Congress and exhorted Thakore to resign from the party. "During our meeting we decided that the Thakore Sena would have no ties with the Congress. We did not consult Alpesh Thakore but we have conveyed him to make up his mind within 24 hours," Jagat Thakore, member of the Thakore Sena, told reporters. Alpesh Thakore had joined the Congress ahead of the 2017 assembly elections and was elected from Radhanpur seat on a party ticket. He recently met Congress President Rahul Gandhi and conveyed his displeasure against the functioning of the party's state leadership. However, days after this, he claimed his issues were sorted out. He was learnt to be miffed with the party leadership that they selected senior Congress leader Jagdish Thakore for the Patan seat. Asked about this, he said: "We have no issues. You may give tickets to whoever you want but at least consult and take the youth in confidence." Junagadh/Songadh : April 10 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi while in his public address in Gujarat's Junagadh on Wednesday accused the Congress of looting the money meant "for the poor and pregnant women" in the country, terming it as a new scam by the Congress, which he named "Tughlaq Road election scam". "Now, the Congress scam has got a new name, but with proof," Modi said at a rally in Gujarat's Junagadh. "The Congress is indulging in a 'Tughlaq Road election scam', in which money meant for the poor pregnant women is being usurped to fill their own leaders' bellies." Congress President Rahul Gandhi's official residence as a lawmaker, is on Tughlaq Lane in New Delhi. Similarly, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath's residence as an MP is also on road called Tughlaq Road. Modi said Madhya Pradesh had become the "new ATM" of the Congress, while referring to the searches conducted by the Income Tax department in MP. "You must have seen in the media in the last few days how cash filled sacks were found from Congress leaders. It has not even been six months of forming the government in that state," said Modi. He claimed that the Congress was interested in coming to power for looting. "The entire story of Congress is a story of a single family," Modi said. Addressing another rally in Songadh in Tapi district of Gujarat, Modi alleged that the Congress party was trying to "fulfil the demands of Pakistan". Launching a blistering attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday charged it with looting the country, saying in five years of his government, he has brought the Congress to the doorstep of jail. "Give me another five years, and I will ensure they (Congress leaders) are in jail," Modi said while addressing a rally in Junagadh in his home state Gujarat which has 26 Lok Sabha seats, and where polling is due on April 23. Dubbing the Congress manifesto as 'Dhakosla Patra' (a 'document of hypocrisy'), the Prime Minister criticised the Congress for promising removal of sedition laws.A "They want our army to be defenceless. They want to protect the 'tukde-tukde gang' -- no matter how big their crime is, they have the right to get bail. Why are they (Congress) doing it? Are they preparing for jail? I have brought them to the doorstep of jail in five years. Give me another five years, and I will ensure they are in jail," Modi said.A "Congress wants power to loot money, and there is only one family in the Congress. The party has held out only false promises in the name of poverty removal. The country can only prosper if it is safe and secure," Modi said.A "There is not a single slur left with the Congress which its leaders have not used for your son, Modi. They have always had problems with Gujarat. First it was Sardar Patel, then Morarji Desai and now it's me. They wonder how this Gujarati 'chaiwala' has become the PM," Modi said. "If you want to compare BJP and Congress, it's simple: Look at the track records of both parties. While Congress's is a tape record, the BJP's record shows determination for the country's security and a fight against terrorists," Modi said. "The Congress tape record has only one song in it: 'Modi hatao'. Is this the same Congress which was nurtured by Sardar Patel? " he asked. On Kashmir, Prime Minister said the Congress wanted a different prime minister for J&K. "Is it possible for a country to have two prime ministers?" he asked. The Prime Minister requested the first-time voters of the state to dedicate their vote to a party committed to the security of the country. "When you are going to cast your first vote, I urge you to dedicate that vote to the country, only to country's interest and for the government committed to the security of the country," he said. GUEST OBSERVATION The federal government has just promised to increase spending on public hospitals from A$21.7 billion in 2018 to A$26.2 billion by 2023. Expect more hospital promises in coming weeks. There is a long history of parties at both state and federal level pledging new hospitals during election campaigns. Building new hospitals may at first seem sensible, especially as the population grows. But it will not cure the health systems most pressing ailment. Instead, our research shows its more effective to focus health policy on people and prevention. A problem of demand It is true that hospitals in Australia arent keeping up with demand. Though supply of beds has increased, the population is growing while also ageing. This is increasing demand for all health-care services, including hospital beds. The following graph shows the change in the number of beds per 1,000 people in all states and territories since 2006. Only in the Australian Capital Territory has the ratio improved. Bankwest Curtin Economic Centre | AIHA (various years), Australian hospital statistics, Health Services Series; AIHW (various years), hospital resources' Australian hospital statistics, Health services series. State and federal governments thus feel a lot of pressure to spend more on hospitals. In 2016-2017 it was $69 billion Australia-wide $2 billion more than the previous year. The following graph shows expenditure on public hospitals by state over the past two decades. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, CC BY Queensland shows the greatest growth over the past two decades. In Western Australia, where we did our research, the proportion of government health budgets spent on public hospitals rose from 26% to 31%. Preventive measures We looked at why the hospital care is growing faster than the overall health sector, and what can be done about this. Our conclusion: there needs to be more focus on the unsexy parts of the health-care system that treat people before they get sick enough to need a hospital. Prevention is cheaper and more effective than cure. For example, it is estimated that A$9 million invested in anti-smoking campaigns between 1997 and 2007 saved A$740 million on smoking-related illnesses like lung cancer. Yet our breakdown of health spending in Western Australia shows just 1.7% is spent on preventive measures called public health spending. Australia-wide the average percentage is even less, according to research from La Trobe University and the Australian Preventative Partnership Centre. Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre | Authors calculations from AIHW health expenditure database. Early medical attention is another way to reduce the need for hospitals. In analysing data from around Western Australia between 2009 and 2016, we generally found that increasing visits to general practitioners reduced the incidence of avoidable deaths (deaths that could have been avoided with better treatment or prevention). People-centred approach Limited prevention and early detection comes back to the way we fund health care. Australias health system is funded using a hospital-centred rather than people-centred approach. This means hospitals are funded by the number of patients cared for and the type of procedures done. Hospital and GPs are funded separately. There is no incentive to cooperate and keep people out of hospitals. A people-centred approach, on the other hand, would give funds based on patients health outcomes, rather than their particular treatments. GPs would be paid to manage patients, with the goal of keeping them out of hospital. This system would particularly help people living in remote and rural regions, including Indigenous Australians, who are disadvantaged by the relative lack of resources being spent on local and preventive health. The Canterbury model English Wiki The best example of such a people-centred system is New Zealands Canterbury model named after the Canterbury region on New Zealands South Island (which includes Christchurch). Instead of separate budgets for GPs and hospitals, Canterbury created a one system, one budget approach. This led to new programs that werent possible under the old system. An example is Healthpathways, which brought together GPs and specialists to decide on treatement programs for individual patients. In working to make hospitals the last resort, more time and resources have gone to GPs. There are now more 24-hour clinics, for example, making it easier to get treated by a local doctor when needed. A study of the Canterbury system showed that between 2007 and 2014 the number of people being hospitalised declined from 6.59 to 5.83 per 1,000. While an 11% decline may not seem huge, it represents a significant financial saving, given the high cost of hospitalisation. Canterbury shows what can be achieved by rethinking how health care funding works. Australia has the opportunity to reimagine its health care system in a similar way. New hospitals get a lot of attention. Politicians can point to them as concrete evidence theyre doing something to help. But emphasising hospitals as the most important part of the health system comes at a cost, and will only get more so as the population ages. Its time to discuss alternatives. Putting more resources into prevention and people is the right medicine for our future health needs. Steven Bond-Smith, Research Fellow, Bankwest-Curtin Economics Centre, Curtin University Alan Duncan, Director, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre and Bankwest Research Chair in Economic Policy, Curtin University Astghik Mavisakalyan, Associate professor, Curtin University Yashar Tarverdi, Research fellow, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, Curtin University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Josh Frydenberg has accused Labor of lying about figures behind their negative gearing reforms. It comes as the Australian Bureau of Statistics has denied claims it had produced data showing that only 7 per cent of property investors bought new homes, a figure opposition treasury spokesman Chris Bowen has been using repeatedly to back his housing policy. Mr Bowens use of ABS data has been challenged by the Grattan Institute, a public policy think tank, which has argued that 14 per cent of investors buy new properties rather than existing ones. Mr Bowen has repeatedly referred to ABS figures purportedly showing that negative gearing has failed to promote construction in new housing and create jobs. But ABS financial statistics analyst Tony Mitchell told The Australian newspaper the ABS did not collate the figures Mr Bowen had been referring to since 2016. If you wanted to have those numbers you wouldnt be able to get them from our statistics because we dont collect them, Mr Mitchell told The Australian. Weve got a little bit about construction, but it is to do with lending to businesses for construction of investment dwellings. It is not to do with lending to households for construction of investment dwellings. There is nothing about lending for newly constructed dwellings. That is included in other statistics, but you cant break it out. The Treasurer said Bowen had been caught out and had to come clean about Labors sums in his budget reply speech later today. Bill Shorten and Chris Bowen have been tripping over their shoe laces and the election hasnt even begun, the Treasurer told Sydneys Alan Jones on 2GB radio this morning. The Labor Party in reality may see a big black hole in them because they have underestimated the number of negative gearers who use new homes. Chris Bowen needs to come clean about the data. The most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that 93 per cent of new investment loans go to people purchasing existing housing stock, Mr Bowen said in January. This means that the vast bulk of investment does not increase supply or boost jobs. All it does is increase demand and the price of the existing homes, allowing investors to use tax subsidies to outbid owner-occupiers and first-home buyers. Grattan Institute director Danielle Wood said the independent think tank had estimated that more investors bought new properties than Labor was claiming. It is right that you cant directly calculate it from the ABS data because some of the finance is going into homes that are newly constructed and you cant see the split between investors and owner-occupiers for that category, Ms Wood said. Wynn Resorts says it has scrapped preliminary talks to acquire the James Packer-controlled Crown Resorts for $10 billion ($US7 billion) after the Australian Financial Review broke news of the negotiations. Crown shares jumped as much as 22 per cent on the news yesterday to $14.37, close to the $14.75 per share level that Crown said Wynns latest cash-and-stock offer valued the company. When the markets opened they shot down 10.6% to $12.55. After the AFR revealed Wynns takeover approach, Crown not only confirmed the confidential talks on Tuesday, but also disclosed the price that Wynn was offering. It added that Crowns board had not yet considered Wynns latest offer. Wynn, the worlds No.2 casino operator, then issued two statements, first confirming the talks, and, a few hours later, stating that they had ended. Following the premature disclosure of preliminary discussions, Wynn Resorts has terminated all discussions with Crown Resorts concerning any transaction, the company said in its second statement. Wynn was founded in 2002 by Steve Wynn, who started his casino business in Las Vegas in the 1960s. Beset by sexual misconduct allegations, Wynn left the company and sold his entire 11.8 per cent stake in Wynn Resorts for $US2.1 billion last month. Wynn operates large resort-and-casino complexes in Las Vegas and Chinese gambling hub Macau, with another under construction in Massachusetts. The Australian reported the departure of Wynn Resorts billionaire founder Steve Wynn last year enabled the US-based casino operator to come forward with its $10 billion takeover approach for Crown Resorts. It wrote the offer landed with the company about one month ago, after which Crown called in Goldman Sachs and UBS as its defence advisers. Ashurst is working as a legal adviser to Crown, which counts James Packer as a 47 per cent shareholder. Then there was the period when both tycoons were competing for the casino licence in Sydney decades ago, and even Donald Trump. Wynn was unsuccessful in securing the Sydney casino, which was won by Harrah. Moelis is understood to be working on the transaction with Wynn because of the connections of founder Ken Moelis with casino operators in the US. Deutsche Bank is also involved. COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD THIS & THAT Free Adult Education Classes No high school diploma? Need to brush up in math or reading? Check out Employment & Training Inc., 122 West Market Street, McConnellsburg.... COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD THIS & THAT Shoe Drive The shoe drive for new playground equipment at McConnellsburg Lions Club Park is ending Sunday, December 5. Gently used or new shoes can be dropped... A renowned name in the jewellery fashion industry, 925Silverjaipur, that primarily sells silver jewellery online in India recently updated its collection to meet the latest fashion demands and trends. The online store has always been known for showcasing the designs and patterns that are second to none and coming up with the new and stylish ornaments every time. Well, keeping true to its image, the company recently updated its collection that promises to spruce up your look for the coming event. The brand follows a stringent quality assurance process to ensure that they offer only flawless and beautiful pieces to their clients. For further assurance, you can have a look at their collection of silver necklaces that are quite popular amongst women and girls. In an official statement, released by the companys spokesperson, the primary motive is to convert potential clients into paying buyers which is possible only with the pieces that meet the highest standards of craftsmanship, finesse, and quality. Only after reviewing the current demand and fashion trends, designs are finalized to be displayed in the collection. 925Silverjaipur believes in offering top-notch products to retain a long-term professional relationship with its customers. After the company was established in 2011, they have dedicated themselves to cater the love and fondness for jewellery by creating ornaments that you cannot avoid getting your hands on. Their principles are based on three pillars, quality, creativity, and commitment. They particularly deal in 925 silver jewellery that is affordable and all-time favourite. Considering the unique requirements of each woman, they have employed a tailor-made manufacturing process where every piece is designed and created to meet the exclusive demand of different clients. With the most experienced and proficient artisans, craftsmen, and designers on board, rest assured that you will not get any mediocre product. Not even a tiniest manufacturing defect can escape from their expert eyes. From the first step of reviewing and evaluating the current demand and trends in the market to developing data and statistics to designing the jewellery to finalizing the patterns, and more, everything is done under the supervision of jewellery aficionados. With such meticulously designed manufacturing process, you will surely add the best pieces to your cart. Moreover, the prices that the company offer is also a primary factor for their popularity and growth. You will surely witness these features in the latest collection of silver earrings and necklaces announced by the company on their official website. Each jewellery piece that you will discover on the page reflects their professionalism and dedication to serve their clients with nothing but the best. If you want to own the exquisite collection of silver jewellery, then simply visit their website and explore the latest designs. Altman Vilandrie & Company has hired as director Daniel Torras, an expert in telecom and media in Latin America and Europe. Altman Vilandrie & Company, a leading strategy consulting firm focused on the communications, media, and related technology sectors, has hired Daniel Torras as Director. Torras, who is based in Miami, advises the firms Telecommunications, Media, and Technology (TMT) sector and private equity clients on a range of global business strategy issues. Torras client work will focus on product and go-to-market strategy, customer insight, mergers & acquisition strategy, and business transformation programs for US and international telecom and media firms, particularly in Latin America and Europe. Some recent work includes leading the due diligence and post-merger integration efforts on several multi-billion-dollar telecom M&A transactions in Central and South America, formulating strategic and long-range plans, and designing and implementing large-scale operational and commercial efficiency initiatives. Daniels career has spanned both the globe and the breadth of critical issues facing telecom and media companies, said Altman Vilandrie & Company COO Steve Conway. We have seen significant growth in Latin America and Europe in recent years and Daniel will be integral in boosting our international expertise and reach. Prior to joining Altman Vilandrie & Company, Torras served as Director of Corporate Strategy at Millicom/Tigo, a global communications provider in Latin America and Africa. He also spent five years as an Associate Partner with Delta Partners, a telecom management consulting firm, advising clients in Africa, Europe, and Latin America. In addition, Torras worked as the Senior Director of Research and Market Development for ESPN in New York City, focusing on the organizations wireless businesses. Earlier in his career, Torras was a consultant at Cluster Consulting (now Oliver Wyman) in Spain. Torras earned an M.B.A. from the Rotterdam School of Management in the Netherlands and an M.S. in Telecommunications from the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. About Altman Vilandrie & Company Altman Vilandrie & Company is a strategy consulting group that focuses on the telecom, media, technology and investor sectors. The companys consultants are experienced in strategy, marketing, finance, M&A, technology, regulatory and operations disciplines. Based in Boston, with offices in New York City and San Francisco, Altman Vilandrie & Company enables clients to seize new opportunities, navigate mounting challenges, improve business performance and increase investor value within complex and converging industries. Ninety percent of the boutique firms operator clients are large- to mid-cap companies including service providers, technology and software developers and media companies. Altman Vilandrie & Companys financial clients include many of the largest and most prominent investors in the telecom, media and technology markets. # # # ...all will benefit from her passion in the care and protection of their fine art and cultural assets. ARCIS Art Storage is pleased to announce the appointment of Roxanna Zarnegar as Director of Operations, Training and Development. Roxanna will be responsible for the leadership of the ARCIS operations team, including training and development. Additionally, Roxanna will be the designated administrator for the Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) at ARCIS, interfacing with the Department of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to ensure all regulatory requirements are met. Roxanna brings deep art world experience to her role at ARCIS having served as Senior Vice President of artnet.com where she directed a strategic redesign of its auction and private sales platform, garnering industry accolades as a Webby Award Honoree. Previously Ms. Zarnegar was Chief Operating Officer of Christies Americas, where she was responsible for client services, auction and gallery operations, logistics and production. Most recently, Roxanna has provided strategic management consulting for the global art business and luxury markets, advising private equity firms on auction marketplaces and art market startups and taught at Parsons, The New School MS of Strategic Design + Management. Roxanna is an adjunct faculty member of Sothebys Institute of Art Masters in Art Business. Roxanna brings an expansive body of knowledge to ARCIS and is a welcome addition to our team., said Tom Sapienza, executive director of ARCIS Art Storage. She will be a key driver in our future growth delivering innovative art storage solutions for ARCIS private collectors, dealers and galleries, advisors, foundations and museums. All will benefit from her passion in the care and protection of their fine art and cultural assets. Zarnegar graduated from Long Island University with a BS in Business, then went on to receive an MBA in International Business from Franklin University Switzerland and CW Post University. During her term at Christies, Roxanna attended the INSEAD Executive Leadership in Art Program, becoming one of the leaders of Christies global strategy. ARCIS is Manhattans premiere 110,00 square foot art storage facility and the first and only Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) designated for fine art and cultural property in the United States. For more information, visit arcisartstorage.com BlueCloud by HealthCarePoint (HCP), a Texas-based healthcare and clinical research networking-technology company founded by patient-survivors, and the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP) today announced their efforts which will benefit all industry stakeholders. The benefits to stakeholders being able to post their digital badges in their BlueCloud account include, but not limited to: HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS: Business and compliance records normally located from dispersed sources including but not limited to professional, experience, training (PET) records and HR documentation will now include centralized access to ACRP badges and other education specific activities. All BlueCloud members including physicians, nurses, first responders, PIs, Sub-PIs, study coordinators and CRAs among other healthcare professionals, will be able to access these from their own personal BlueCloud account. INVESTIGATOR SITES: Individual compliance and centralization of all personal records will help sites improve regulatory accountability of competencies for employees while increasing trial opportunities with Sponsors/CROs by electronically organizing research sites HR credentials in a centralized compliance system for real-time pre-screening by CROs, Sponsors, Universities thus eliminating redundancies for sites. BIOTECH-DEVICE-PHARMA: Increase efficiencies in pre-screening and compliance of healthcare professionals credentials by dynamically connecting to sites for an accelerated study start up and significant cost savings. Furthermore, eliminating redundancies at the Sponsor level. CROs: Provide sponsor clients with global access to site employees information by real-time pre-screening site qualifications and offering Sponsors research ready sites to expedite study start up. UNIVERSITIES: Increase visibility and real-time access of HR credentials and competency documents for internal departments, minimizing duplicate internal efforts, while connecting to Sponsors for clinical research purposes. About the ACRP Badge(s) - The ACRP digital badge features data that verifies certification in real-time, authenticates the certification is in good standing and provides detailed information about the credential and its sponsor. ACRPs digital badge allows professionals to provide employers with easy, valid verification of credentials, while positioning the professional at the forefront of this new technology for communicating required skills. Healthcare professionals that are certified with ACRP will now be able to share their Badge on their BlueCloud account, which allows other industry stakeholders to recognize healthcare and clinical research education competency. We are pleased to work with Blue Cloud to make it easy for our members and certificants to display their badge(s) as part of their profile in this common global directory, says Jim Kremidas, Executive Director of ACRP. Both ACRP and BlueCloud share the view that through standardized competencies, healthcare professionals can become more aware of the clinical research eco-system by proactively inviting clinical research naive healthcare professionals to participate in clinical research by becoming involved with ACRP. This mutually beneficial effort will help ACRP expand its global coverage by offering current research naive healthcare professionals research accreditation programs while empowering healthcare professionals with ownership of their own credentials. We are letting our members know that by taking ownership of their information, BlueCloud is a place that makes it easy to dynamically connect their credentials along with their ACRP badge with sponsors, CROs, universities and other relevant industry stakeholders for business and compliance purposes. ACRP members can also become more familiar with BlueCloud Networking technologies while utilizing this new and helpful ACRP feature. As a result, opportunity is increased for sites to participate in clinical trials by empowering sponsors to choose the most competent sites around the world.- stated Al O. Pacino, President and CEO of the BlueCloud Network. We will all be patients someday so why not be proactive in the modernization of healthcare and clinical research. About BlueCloud by HealthCarePoint BlueCloud is a global networking system innovation providing delivery, distribution, implementation and tracking (DDIT) tools for healthcare and clinical industry stakeholders. A Connector Service Provider, BlueCloud was nominated as one of the top innovations and it has evolved into a leading UBER-LIKE model in the industry. This global collaborative network has also become an essential catalyst for dozens of member innovators, connecting stakeholders in a secure, regulated, private system available in more than 167 countries. It is used by more than 1.5 million healthcare professionals, pharma, device, and biotech sponsors, CROs, research sites, hospitals, universities, and thousands of other healthcare and clinical research stakeholders who use its modern technologies to organize, centralize, connect, share and manage information and processes in real-time for managerial and compliance activities. BlueCloud is saving the industry millions of dollars by eliminating redundancies; expediting study start up; and ensuring quality, transparency and compliance. By modernizing the industry using connectivity, BlueCloud is working toward the goal of leaving no patient behind, regardless of race, religion, geographical location or socio-economic status. About ACRP In clinical research, people are everything. ACRP raises clinical research standards and accelerates careers. Better people. Better results. https://acrpnet.org/ BOMA International now has received a total of 12 ENERGY STAR awards, making it the most decorated commercial real estate association. The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) has been recognized with the 2019 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Sustained Excellence Award for continued leadership and superior contributions to energy efficiency. BOMA International now has received a total of 12 ENERGY STAR awards, making it the most decorated commercial real estate association. The highest honor among ENERGY STAR Awards is the ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Sustained Excellence Award. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) presents the Sustained Excellence Award to partners that have already received ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year recognition for a minimum of two consecutive years and have gone above and beyond the criteria needed to qualify for recognition. Winners hail from small, family-owned businesses to Fortune 500 organizations representing energy-efficient products, services, new homes and buildings in the commercial, industrial and public sectors. The accomplishments of BOMA International and its fellow winners will be recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on April 11, 2019. BOMA International received its first ENERGY STAR award in 2007 and will be honored for its long-term commitment to energy efficiency, which is integrated into a number of its programs and initiatives, including: The Water and Waste Challenge (W2 Challenge), an initiative to promote market transformation by encouraging the widespread use of waste and water benchmarking. The two-year program incentivizes property professionals to benchmark waste and water using ENERGY STARs Portfolio Management tool and improve performance. The W2 Challenge is currently in its second year, and nearly 2,000 buildings in the U.S. are participating with more than 409 million square feet of space shared with the challenge in Portfolio Manager. Water and waste benchmarking are also being incorporated into other BOMA programs, such as the BOMA 360 Performance Program. The development of the Green Lease Guide: A Guide for Landlords and Tenants to Collaborate on Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Practices, the third update to the commercial real estate industrys best practice guide to greening a commercial lease. BOMA International also hosts the Green Lease Leaders awards at the BOMA International Conference & Expo. These awards recognize companies and real estate practitioners who are actively and effectively using green leases to create high-performance buildings. Annual conference offerings, including the High Performance Buildings education track and the Green Pavilion, which highlights solutions and products to support energy-efficient, sustainable properties. A variety of energy management trainings and resources, including BOMAs Energy Efficiency Program (BEEP) v2.0, BEEP for Industrial and BEEP Plus; the BOMA Energy Performance Contracting (BEPC) model; and Building Re-Tuning Training. The BOMA 360 Performance Program and The Outstanding Building of the Year (TOBY) competition, both of which require applicants to complete benchmarking through the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. BOMA 360 evaluates buildings across several areas of operations and management, including categories covering energy management and sustainability. The TOBY Awards are the commercial real estate industrys highest honor recognizing quality in buildings and excellence in all facets of building management, including energy management and green policies and procedures. Ongoing cumulative accomplishments in the areas of advocacy, education, research and other industry initiatives, many of which have been supported by grant funding for energy efficiency initiatives from BOMA International Cornerstone Partner Yardi. BOMA International is honored to receive its twelfth ENERGY STAR award, said BOMA International Chair Brian D. Cappelli, BOMA Fellow, RPA, vice president of Asset Management for GBX Group LLC. As our long track record attests, we are deeply committed to providing building owners and managers with the tools, education and resources they need to operate high-performing buildings. We also would like to extend our congratulations to our many member companies who have been honored with 2019 ENERGY STAR awards for their sustainability efforts. I applaud the 2019 ENERGY STAR Award Winners, said EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation Bill Wehrum. Their innovation and leadership enhance Americas economic competitiveness. Reducing costly energy waste improves air quality and public health while protecting the environment. For a complete list of 2019 winners and more information about ENERGY STARs awards program, visit energystar.gov/awardwinners. *** About BOMA International The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International is a federation of 88 BOMA U.S. associations and 18 international affiliates. Founded in 1907, BOMA represents the owners and managers of all commercial property types including 10.5 billion square feet of U.S. office space that supports 1.7 million jobs and contributes $234.9 billion to the U.S. GDP. Its mission is to advance a vibrant commercial real estate industry through advocacy, influence and knowledge. Learn more at http://www.boma.org. Contact Jessica Bates Director of Communications & Marketing BOMA International (202) 326-6348 jbates@boma.org About ENERGY STAR ENERGY STAR is the government-backed symbol for energy efficiency, providing simple, credible and unbiased information that consumers and businesses rely on to make well-informed decisions. Thousands of industrial, commercial, utility, state and local organizationsincluding more than 40 percent of the Fortune 500rely on their partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deliver cost-saving energy efficiency solutions. Since 1992, ENERGY STAR and its partners helped save American families and businesses nearly 4 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity and achieve over 3 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas reductions. In 2017 alone, ENERGY STAR and its partners helped Americans avoid $30 billion in energy costs. More background information about ENERGY STAR can be found at: energystar.gov/about and energystar.gov/numbers. Caliber-The Wealth Development Company There is a finite time limit for reinvesting capital into a qualified opportunity zone fund and our capital commitment pipeline is filling quickly, said Caliber co-founder and CEO Chris Loeffler. Caliber-The Wealth Development Company has released a Q1 update focused on its growing Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund (QOF). During the past year, Caliber has emerged as an early adopter and industry-leading expert in opportunity zones and is one of the only funds currently taking in capital. The Caliber Tax Advantaged Opportunity Zone Fund, LP. has raised more than $30 million since its launch in Q4 2018 and it is expected to reach the $500 million goal within two years. There is a finite time limit for reinvesting capital into a qualified opportunity zone fund and our capital commitment pipeline is filling quickly, said Caliber co-founder and CEO Chris Loeffler. By launching our fund early, weve been able to offer more investors the chance to take advantage of the incredible tax incentives associated with this program before their window closes. The fund invests directly into a diversified portfolio of assets located in qualified opportunity zones across the southwest. There are currently three projects being developed as part of the fund, with a combined worth of more than $65 million. Caliber has an additional $250 million in projects under LOI/PSA and an additional $4 billion of projects in its growing diligence pipeline. Some examples of owned or contracted projects include: - Tucson Convention Center Hotel: a 170 room Doubletree by Hilton property with 4,000 square feet of meeting space and multiple bar/dining options - Roosevelt Townhome Community: 42 units in downtown Tempe, Arizona - within walking distance to Arizona State University - complete with integrated smart home technology and sustainable features - Pre-Leased Medical Office: offers 10% cap rate on investment basis and 20-year, guaranteed lease term - the property is located within 10 miles of 25+ other medical facilities Caliber provides individual accredited investors and registered investment advisors with well-structured alternatives to traditional investments. In addition to Opportunity Zones, the company builds wealth by forming and managing real estate private equity investments, either through individual assets or multi-asset funds. Caliber will be hosting its annual summit focused on access to alternative investments in Phoenix, May 2-4. The company is also a sponsor of the upcoming SALT conference in Las Vegas May 7-10, and Loeffler will host a keynote and fireside chat focused on opportunity zones. For more details on investment options or to learn more about Caliber, visit CaliberCo.com. About Caliber Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona with an investment focus in the Greater Southwest growth markets, Caliber leads the market in providing individual accredited investors and registered investment advisors with well-structured alternatives to traditional investments. The Company offers an approachable, full-service investment experience with more than 1,500 team members working to care for over $750 million (assets under management & development) in commercial, residential, and hospitality real estate in AZ, CO, TX, NV, UT and AK. Caliber offers both asset management and real estate services to create a vertically integrated investment platform focused on middle-market investment transactions. The Company is currently offering four distinct private real estate funds, two focused on income and two focused on growth, with the most notable being a $500m equity offering in the Southwest as a qualified opportunity zone investment fund. Learn more at Caliberco.com or follow Caliber on social @CaliberCo. Note To Investors This Press Release Is Provided Solely For Information Purposes And Does Not Constitute Legal Or Investment Advice. This Is Neither An Offer To Sell Nor A Solicitation Of An Offer To Buy Securities. While We Endeavor To Keep The Information Up To Date And Correct, We Make No Representations Or Warranties Of Any Kind, Express Or Implied, About The Completeness, Accuracy Or Reliability Of The Data And Summaries Contained In This Press Release Or The Suitability Of Any Separate Offering For Investors. There Are Risks Associated With Any Investment. In Making An Investment Decision, Investors Must Rely On Their Own Examination Of The Company They Wish To Invest In Including The Merits And Risk Involved. Any Forward Looking Statement Speaks Only As Of The Date On Which Such Statement Is Made, And We Undertake No Obligation To Update Any Forward Looking Statement To Reflect Events Or Circumstances After The Date On Which Such Statement Is Made. Please Contact Caliber Directly At 480-295-7600 For Further Information. # # # Media Contact: Amber Liptai | 480-410-6076 | aliptai@bigyam.com Rodman & Associates logo This year more than ever, nonprofits can note the direct feedback from companies regarding how they choose their causes to support and how they determine whether their philanthropy is making the kind of impact they envision. An annual survey of Central Texas companies found most have charitable giving budgets, and a large percentage increased their donations of funds and employee volunteer hours last year. The 2019 Rodman Report details those and other results from the Survey of Corporate Giving, compiling anonymous responses from local businesses of all sizes and industries. Conducted by Austin-based philanthropic advisors Rodman & Associates, the study marked its fifth year with several new questions to provide more metrics on how Central Texas companies give to nonprofits. A few highlights of the 2019 Rodman Report include: How companies give: Most companies cited monetary donations (86 percent) and volunteer hours (79 percent) as methods of giving. Group volunteering is encouraged/organized at 60 percent of companies. Why they give: Respondents included support for the community/altruism (79 percent), public goodwill (66 percent), and reinforcing workplace culture (52 percent) as the most important reasons for engaging in philanthropy. Criteria for support: Companies said their most important criteria for selecting nonprofits to support is the population served (62 percent), followed by employee involvement (44 percent) and the relevance of the mission to customers and clients (43 percent). Local impact: Nearly three-quarters of companies support local nonprofits. Also, 45 percent of respondents said their company provided assistance in 2018 to communities or individuals affected by damaging Central Texas flooding. The study was endorsed by Austin Mayor Steve Adler, who provided an invitation message to business owners encouraging them to participate in the survey. Austin has a thriving business community. That in itself is a great thing, but its even better knowing that our local businesses are forces for good in our community, Adler wrote in the email invitation. In addition to the services, products and employment they offer, they also provide nonprofits with donations and employee volunteer hours that help fulfill a variety of missions, from education and human services to environmental and animal welfare causes. Lisa Rodman, Founder and Principal of Rodman & Associates, said that the information gleaned from the survey is invaluable for business leaders and nonprofits alike. Every year, the Rodman Report provides new metrics that help companies understand how their giving compares to others in the community, Rodman said. The insights are also critical; however, for nonprofits to see how their needs align with the giving priorities of Central Texas businesses. This year more than ever, nonprofits can note the direct feedback from companies regarding how they choose their causes to support and how they determine whether their philanthropy is making the kind of impact they envision. The study examines philanthropy issues that are hot topics at many Central Texas organizations. Eric H. Jones, Vice President of Global Communications for Austin-based WP Engine, said his company believes participating in community philanthropy allows our employees to lead by positive example and make a valuable impact to those around us. WP Engine has an employee-led committee called Give Back, Jones said. In every office, the Give Back committee brings opportunities for employees to directly impact the communities in which they live, ultimately helping them grow as good citizens and local leaders. The results in the Rodman Report are drawn from the responses of 152 Central Texas companies that participated in an online survey between January 28 and February 28, 2019. The Rodman Report is available at RodmanReport.com, along with an infographic, Central Texas: Corporate Giving by the Numbers. Rodman & Associates encourages the public to freely share and distribute the report and its data, especially among business leaders, employees, and nonprofit board members and professionals. About Rodman & Associates Rodman & Associates is Austins leading philanthropic advisory firm, dedicated to helping organizations, large and small, make their philanthropic mark. Rodman & Associates assists philanthropic businesses by connecting them with vetted nonprofit programs, building partnerships that align with a companys culture and goals. To learn more, visit RodmanAssociates.com. Mindmatrix has a lot coming up in terms of product and also as a company. In April, Mindmatrix is co-hosting a webinar with Peter Ostrow of SiriusDecisions. The webinar, Four Must-Haves for Winning in Sales Enablement, is scheduled for Tuesday, April 16, 2019, 01:00 PM ET / 10:00 AM PT. Leading channel and sales enablement software provider, Mindmatrix, announced that it has planned significant enhancements and new feature additions to its sales and channel enablement platform, that will go live in the second quarter of 2019, starting this month. Some of the enhancements planned include A more customized navigation by allowing for rearrangement of menu items Making the playbook more user friendly by adding a contact-wise view to it Major upgrades to the opportunity module including opportunity recommendation and supporting multiple currencies in opportunity amount calculations Addition of chat feature enabling users to chat with managers and peers from within the platform A more powerful, faster mobile app version of the software Asset scoring feature aimed at making it easy to quantify asset performance and popularity The second quarter of 2019 will be pretty interesting for Mindmatrix and its customers. The sales enablement software provider has a lot coming up in terms of product and also as a company. In April, Mindmatrix is co-hosting a webinar with Peter Ostrow of SiriusDecisions. The webinar, Four Must-Haves for Winning in Sales Enablement, is scheduled for Tuesday, April 16, 2019, 01:00 PM ET / 10:00 AM PT. (Click here to learn more about the webinar or to register) Mindmatrix is also an exhibitor at the Channel Partners Conference and Expo to be held on April 9-12, at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. and will be present at Booth#353. You can stop by at the booth anytime during the show, or reach out to sales@mindmatrix.net for an appointment. About Mindmatrix Mindmatrix offers Channel & Sales Enablement software for direct and indirect sales channels. Mindmatrix is the only provider of a Single Unified Platform that combines PRM software, Direct Sales and Channel Enablement, Channel Marketing Software, Marketing Automation software, and Marketing Asset Management. Mindmatrix takes you through every step in the sales process from lead to revenue, enabling your salespeople and channel partners to sell more, faster. The 2019 ESM-EVBO (European Society for Microcirculation European Vascular Biology Organization) Conference will be held on April 15-18 and hosted at the MECC in Maastricht, The Netherlands. The conference focuses on advancing scientific research and medicine in all areas of vascular biology/medicine. Biennially, the ESM-EVBO hosts a four-day conference, where vascular enthusiasts from biology, preclinical and clinical research groups, and opinion leaders gather to share new fundamental scientific insights and current pre-clinical advances. Its network now has over 500 members worldwide, including representation in over 30 countries. Besides being accepted into the poster sessions, Circularity is sponsoring the international symposium on Microcirculation. Prof. Ito Puruhito, a distinguished thoracic vascular surgeon at Airlangga University, in Surabaya, Indonesia has been conducting several successful human clinical studies with DOXYVA at the university over the past few years, and he is presenting some of his latest clinical evidence on diabetic foot ulcer treatment with D'OXYVA on April 17, 2019: http://esm-evbo2019.org/program/lunch-symposium/ Want to stay updated on this event and what will happen next? Register your email for free now and follow the news about groundbreaking health discoveries! Click here to register now >> About ESM (European Society for Microcirculation) The European Society for Microcirculation was founded in Hamburg in 1960 following a first meeting of interested scientists in Lund, Sweden in 1959, and now has 500-600 regular members. The aims of the Society are to advance understanding of the microcirculation by bringing together clinicians and scientists from a wide range of specialists, but including physiology, vascular biology, genetics and biophysics. Since 1980, the Society has its own journal, the Journal of Vascular Research, an international publication of growing impact, through which the world wide scientific community is informed of the Society's endeavors. About EVBO (European Vascular Biology Organization) EVBO was launched in 2006, after discussion between European vascular biologists who recognized that there is a need for a democratic society to provide a united focus and forum for vascular biologists in Europe, primarily by organizing conferences but also by maintaining and enhancing an interactive network of researchers; evolving from the experience of the previous European Vascular Biology Association and building on the achievements of the FP6 European Vascular Genomics Network (EVGN). About Circularity Healthcare Circularity Healthcare, LLC, headquartered in Los Angeles, California in the U.S., is an emerging world leader in proprietary circulatory health and noninvasive delivery technologies, committed to helping significantly improve lives by developing, manufacturing, and marketing medical, pharmaceutical, and consumer health products. Circularity specializes in groundbreaking noninvasive technologies for affordable and portable transdermal delivery systems, and is pursuing regulatory approvals worldwide for device usage as a treatment of disease states related to cardiovascular and microcirculatory blood flow, immunological and autonomic nervous system disorders. Bridging farms and countries: The Gouda-Klein-Bergrivier Bridge is on a well-traveled route that links the agricultural towns of Western Cape with Northern Cape and the neighboring country of Namibia. Because the crystalline network unleashed by PENETRON ADMIX is now an integral part of the concrete, it is permanently protected against concrete deterioration caused by chemical attack, freeze-thaw cycles and corrosion. Renovation of the Gouda-Klein-Bergrivier Bridge in South Africa was completed in April 2019, just before the onset of winter weather in the Western Cape province. PENETRON ADMIX ensured permanent protection for the bridge against concrete deterioration. The Western Cape Government Department of Transport and Public Works commissioned the repair and renovation of the Gouda-Klein-Bergrivier Bridge on Route 44, just north of the town of Gouda in the Western Cape. The R 180 million (US$ 15 million) project is part of a bigger public works program to upgrade and widen the existing road, a well-traveled route that links the agricultural towns of Gouda, Saron, and Porterville. It also links a great part of the Western Cape province with the Northern Cape province and right up to the neighboring country of Namibia. Unlike a lot of other structures that our team is involved with, bridges demand special know-how and attention to detail, explains Mark Courtney, Managing Director of Penetron South Africa. "The specifications for this bridge did not expressly specify waterproofing. Rather, because the bridges concrete structures are constantly exposed to weathering, the issue of enhanced durability was of great importance to the project engineers at AECOM. Due to this constant exposure, the reduction of concrete permeability to prevent moisture and waterborne chemicals from penetrating into the matrix is the primary goal of treating concrete. Any moisture penetration and the resulting corrosion of the underlying reinforcement steel can quickly compromise the structural integrity of a bridge lacking effective protection. The crystalline technology contained in PENETRON ADMIX has been successfully implemented in the construction and renovation of countless bridges around the world, and many of them are located in much more severe climates than what the farmers in Western Cape are used to, adds Mark Courtney. The renewed Gouda-Klein-Bergrivier Bridge is 66 m long x 12 m wide (218 x 40 feet), large enough to accommodate traffic in both directions. Afrimat Ready-Mix added PENETRON ADMIX to the concrete mix during batching. The treated concrete was used for all concrete elements of the bridge exposed to the weather and any moisture from the Klein-Bergrivier that passes underneath. Because the crystalline network unleashed by PENETRON ADMIX is now an integral part of the concrete, it is permanently protected against concrete deterioration caused by chemical attack, freeze-thaw cycles and corrosion, concludes Mark Courtney. Baseline Civil Contractors were looking for a solution that provided total concrete protection against the constant exposure endured by Gouda Klein-Bergrivier Bridge. Penetron was chosen as the ideal solution and can add up to 60 years to the lifespan of the bridge. The Penetron Group is a leading manufacturer of specialty construction products for concrete waterproofing, concrete repairs and floor preparation systems. The Group operates through a global network, offering support to the design and construction community through its regional offices, representatives and distribution channels. For more information on Penetron waterproofing solutions, please visit penetron(dot)com or Facebook(dot)com/ThePenetronGroup, email CRDept(at)penetron(dot)com or contact the Corporate Relations Department at 631-941-9700. Jump, skip, hop and leap! Go as far as your little wheel can take you! ...share video interviews with board-certified doctors, showcase the multiple methods for altering or enhancing the look and shape of the breasts and inform patients about the top board-certified doctors for cosmetic breast surgery in cities all over the United States. - Cosmetic Town Senior Editor Cosmetic Town, a Los Angeles based online plastic surgery and information community, is turning its April spotlight on cosmetic breast surgery. The Cosmetic Town website will explore the world of cosmetic breast surgery with news articles, videos that show various methods used by doctors to perform cosmetic breast surgery and exclusive interviews with board-certified doctors. In addition, Cosmetic Town will take a look at the many celebrities in Hollywood that have admitted to undergoing cosmetic breast surgery or have been suspected of altering or enhancing the appearance of their breasts. According to the senior editor of Cosmetic Town, The breasts are one of the most prominent features on the body so much attention is paid to their appearance. There are some patients who feel their breasts are too small so they request a breast augmentation. Other patients dont like the attention brought to them by the size or look of the breasts, or they have back pain related to the size of their breasts, so they request a breast reduction procedure. The senior editor noted that spotlighting cosmetic breast surgery is the latest way Cosmetic Town has been showcasing this popular cosmetic surgery choice. Over the past year, we have published lists of the best breast surgery doctors in cities all across the country such as the list of the Best Breast Surgery Doctors in San Francisco. These lists show the best doctors for procedures as varied as breast augmentation and reduction, breast lift and breast reconstruction. Our research team used an intelligent algorithm that is focused on cosmetic surgery along with the overall level of patient satisfaction with the doctors and the amount of patient education these doctors conduct on an ongoing basis about the life-changing results achieved by plastic surgery. When asked for more information about the special content planned for April, the senior editor said Cosmetic Town is creating a variety of content related to the topic of cosmetic breast surgery. Our first article takes an in-depth look at the steps and information related to breast augmentation procedures. The coming weeks will see us share video interviews with board-certified doctors, showcase the multiple methods for altering or enhancing the look and shape of the breasts and inform patients about the top board-certified doctors for cosmetic breast surgery in cities all over the United States. About Cosmetic Town Cosmetic Town is an online cosmetic medicine publication whose mission is to share knowledge, inspire people and improve lives though cosmetic medicine. The website features doctors who were endorsed and highly recommended by their peers. Its reliable and streamlined database allows users to easily access the cosmetic surgery information they need with just a click of a button. Key of Life App I recommend @KeyofLifeApp1 to keep your medical records organized. Renowned physician and WeTVs Marriage Bootcamp host, Dr. Ish Major endorsed medical and health app, Key of Life on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook this week. The relationship doctor boosted about the apps capability of improving relations between loved ones by taking care of health issues first. Taking care of yourself and your health is important, tweeted Major. I recommend @KeyofLifeApp1 to keep your medical records organized. Key of Life functions as database for an individuals medical records. The easy-to-use app allows medical record access to loved ones, caretakers, first responders, or anyone the user chooses. It can be utilized as an organizational tool for parents to store, update and share their childrens medical history. Were very grateful for Dr. Ish Majors kind words about our app, said Chad Anfinson, Key of Life founder. And we look forward to Key of Life making medical records organization much easier for people across the country. Key of Life founder, Chad Anfinson realized the need for Key of Life app when he became the primary caretaker for his aging father. He struggled to keep his fathers medical records conveniently accessible and organized. The innovation behind this app is a merging of technology and a need to provide attentive care for loved ones. The app is currently available in the iTunes and Google Play stores for free download. About Key of Life: Founded by Chad Anfinson, a healthcare executive in Fleming Island, Florida, Key of Life app is the newest global leader in medical mobile applications. Key of Life is a mobile app for Apple iOS and Google Play that specializes in providing users with a medical records storage option that can be shared with anyone. Users can maintain, record, track, and update their medical information, and share their records with family, loved ones, physicians, specialists, first responders, or anyone else of their choosing. For more information, visit Key of Life App at the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. About Dr. Ish Major: Dr. Ish Major has spent over 15 years demystifying the male psyche and helping men and women navigate their way through the dating jungle. Educated at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Dr. Ish is a board-certified psychiatrist who specializes in women, children and families and all things dating, mating and relating. Dr. Ish was named to the prestigious list of Americas Top Psychiatrists for the last 3 years and is recognized by the International Association of Healthcare Professionals as one of Leading Physicians of the World. Richard Schwartz, Ph.D. I am honored to become a Senior Fellow with this organization. Sean Walsh, President and Chief Operating Officer of Meadows Behavioral Healthcare, has announced that Richard Schwartz, Ph.D., has joined the organization as a Senior Fellow for its continuum of inpatient treatment programs and outpatient services. In this role, Schwartz will be instrumental in supporting the programs leading-edge approach to neurobehavioral health treatment, which is integrated with trauma services. He will also share his knowledge, experience, and expertise with patients and staff. Schwartz began his career as a family therapist and academic at the University of Illinois at Chicago. There, he discovered that family therapy alone did not achieve full symptom relief, and in asking patients why, he learned that they were plagued by what they called, parts. He also found that as they focused on, and thereby separated from, their parts, they would shift into a state characterized by qualities like curiosity, calm, confidence, and compassion. He called that inner essence the Self, and was amazed to find it even in severely diagnosed and traumatized patients. From these explorations, the IFS model was born in the early 1980s. IFS is now evidence-based, and has become a widely used form of psychotherapy, particularly with trauma. It provides a non-pathologizing, optimistic, and empowering perspective, and a practical and effective set of techniques for working with individuals, couples, families, and, more recently, corporations and classrooms. In 2013, Dr. Schwartz left the Chicago area and is now on the faculty of the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. We are honored and thrilled to have Dr. Schwartz join our team and are confident his expertise will continue to keep Meadows Behavioral Healthcare on the cutting edge of best practice interventions and techniques to ensure we are providing world class care to the patients we are entrusted to care for, said Sean Walsh. I am honored to become a Senior Fellow with this organization, Schwartz said. I have had great respect for their trauma-based approach to treating a wide range of patients using IFS-compatible treatments, such as neurofeedback, EMDR, and SE, as well as the groundbreaking work of other Senior Fellows like Pia Mellody, Dr. Patrick Carnes, and Dr. Claudia Black. I am also thrilled that we will be training staff so that IFS can be added to the treatment approach. About Meadows Behavioral Healthcare The Meadows Behavioral Healthcare system is a network of specialized behavioral healthcare programs, individualized addiction recovery centers, and acute psychiatric care centers located throughout the United States. Meadows Behavioral Healthcare is the industry leader in providing evidence-based healthcare treatment for people struggling with emotional trauma, drug and alcohol addiction, sex addiction, eating disorders, psychiatric disorders, and co-occurring conditions. The full continuum of programs and services deliver personalized treatment plans to people of all walks of life, meeting them at their point of need to help achieve long-term recovery. This treatment approach, which is rooted in decades of clinical experience treating childhood and relational trauma, addiction, eating disorders and mental illness, has established a strong foundation of trust among its patients, referring healthcare partners, and the local communities served. For more information on the Meadows Behavioral Healthcare continuum of treatment services, please visit http://www.meadowsbh.com or call 800-244-4949. Salt Lake City is an especially exciting expansion for us, coming on the heels of our Arizona opening, says Anthony P. Solazzo, CEO of e-TeleQuote. e-TeleQuote Insurance, Inc. (http://www.e-TeleQuote.com), a market-leading digital health insurance agency focusing on the Medicare and over 65 markets, is excited to announce the opening of a new location in Salt Lake City, Utah. This announcement is the latest in a series of expansions for the fast-growing company, which has been hiring new executives and announced a new location in Arizona just weeks ago. The two new western offices join four existing e-TeleQuote offices located in Florida and Texas. e-TeleQuote is hiring up to 100 positions in Salt Lake City, including experienced Licensed Insurance Agents, a Call Center Director, Supervisors, a Sales Manager, a Human Resources Director and Technology and Administrative Support personnel. Salt Lake City is an especially exciting expansion for us, coming on the heels of our Arizona opening, says Anthony P. Solazzo, CEO of e-TeleQuote. With such a substantial increase in our team, we look forward to helping many people who might benefit from Medicare Advantage plans. The companys offices maintain a relaxed professional environment that includes casual dress, games in the break rooms, and a full calendar of activities. The fun environment builds on more serious tenets of e-TeleQuote culture, including a focus on ethical business practices and community involvement. Through local donation drives and paid Community Service days, the company has supported organizations that serve students, veterans, homeless individuals, survivors of domestic violence, rescued animals, and families with sick children. To learn more about the openings for which e-TeleQuote will be hiring in Salt Lake City, go to: https://www.etelequote.com/careers/ About e-TeleQuote and easyMedicare.com e-TeleQuote Insurance, Inc. the owner and operator of easyMedicare.com, is an independent digital insurance marketplace providing consumers the ability to purchase Medicare insurance from the comfort of their homes. The company diligently researches available plan options from multiple insurance carriers, helping consumers choose a plan that best suits their needs. e-TeleQuote provides consumers personal consultation through experienced licensed insurance agents who suggest plan coverage options based on a customers particular needs. The company has proudly served tens of thousands of consumers across the United States. Curating a panel of diverse female entrepreneurs who are willing to share the secrets to their success while also creating paths to access capital for other women is a wonderful honor. F-Nation Foundation is pleased to announce Fashionably Faithful, a networking event and cocktail reception of fashion, beauty, media, and technology entrepreneurs, powered by J. Renee Group. The event will take place on May 9, 2019, from 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM in Dallas, TX. J. Renee Group is proud to partner with F-Nation Foundation in support of Fashionably Faithful., said Eric Harrison, CEO of J. Renee Group. J. Renee was started by a trailblazing female entrepreneur 41 years ago, it is a part of our DNA to support female entrepreneurship and faith-based causes. Fashionably Faithful panelist include Channing Beumer of CNK Daily, Courtney Caldwell of ShearShare, Jessica Chinyelu of Women of Purpose Network, and GiGi McDowell of Fetefully. The event will focus on each panelists path to success in business that is rooted in faith. The panel moderator is Serwaa Adjei-Pelle of Shes Off Script. "I am excited to participate in the Fashionably Faithful speaker's panel alongside some pretty remarkable ladies and am hopeful that my personal story will help to encourage other like-minded women to unlock their purpose and passion in life, said Courtney Caldwell. By drawing on the experiences of theses business women, Fashionably Faithful will develop ongoing initiatives that invest in the success of female entrepreneurs by providing networking opportunities, entrepreneurial education, and access to capital. My faith walk has always put me in position to encourage women to pursue their dreams. Curating a panel of diverse female entrepreneurs who are willing to share the secrets to their success while also creating paths to access capital for other women is a wonderful honor, says F-Nation Foundation Founder, Gabrielle Rosemond. Many female entrepreneurs lack the confidence, training, and business networks needed to see their ideas through to launch. It is from this insight that Fashionably Faithful was born. The event will cover the basics of becoming successful in a way that honors the faith walk of our attendees. Attendees will learn about the challenges and triumphs of women who have achieved great success within their respective industries. Event Highlights Purchase tickets to attend Fashionably Faithful on Eventbrite, https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fashionably-faithful-tickets-55457765670. For more information visit http://www.f-nation.com. Fashionably Faithful Fashionably Faithful empowers women to step boldly into their passion and purpose through the connection between faith and fashion. F-Nation Foundation organizes the event. For more information visit http://www.f-nation.com. F-Nation Foundation F-Nation Foundation was founded in 2019 by Gabrielle Rosemond. The organization aims to provide networking opportunities, entrepreneur education, and access to capital for female professionals seeking to advance their careers as entrepreneurs. For press and sponsorship inquiries, please contact Gabrielle Rosemond, +1214-494-0054 or info(at)f-nation(dot)com. Monarch has elevated our sales strategy, positioning our sales teams for greater success, by providing us a more systematic and strategic way to manage new account acquisition," shared James Derby, Chief Strategy Officer/Dir. of Programming, Federated Media. Matrix Solutions, the only global ad sales platform built for media, today announced Federated Media has implemented their Monarch media ad sales platform. The platform, operating as a single hub, will bridge the gap for all Federated Media users to access and view enterprise data holistically in one view while simultaneously providing them the ability to automate processes throughout their workflow saving time and money. Federated Media was in search of a solution that would enable them to track, measure, and forecast their sales activities, as well as provide them a more efficient way to manage accounts. This included adopting a solution that empowered them to more methodically prospect and win new business as well as identify and capitalize on up-sell and cross-sell opportunities. Monarch not only met the criteria that Federated Media sought, but it also provided inherent benefits as a result of being media-specific. For example, Federated Medias AEs will be able to stay current with tasks by getting relevant, real-time information delivered to them from other systems in the workflow. All the information aggregated and accessible through Monarch, provides users one single pane of glass to view their data. Monarch has elevated our sales strategy, positioning our sales teams for greater success, by providing us a more systematic and strategic way to manage new account acquisition, shared James Derby, Chief Strategy Officer/Dir. of Programming, Federated Media. Additionally, the key business intelligence afforded to us as a result of having real-time forecasting and pending data, coupled with rolled-up reporting available at our fingertips will help streamline our operational workflow moving forward. The Monarch media ad sales platform serves as integral hub to media companies who are looking to streamline the aggregation, automation, and integration of their data. Utilizing multiple integration points beyond connecting and normalizing data provides users with full visibility into their business and enables them to make smarter and faster business decisions. Federated Media is a great example of a customer who gets it, commented Mark Gorman, CEO, Matrix Solutions. Making the decision to implement a new technology is only the first step, the real value comes from those whom properly adopt it and use it to their advantage and we are pleased to be working with Federated Media to make the most of their technology investment. For more information, visit Matrix Solutions. About Matrix Solutions Matrix Solutions makes media happen by helping media companies to better monetize their content. Its flagship product, Monarch, is the only global ad sales platform built for media transforming chaotic data into actionable sales information that delivers the insights necessary for prospecting, managing, evaluating and closing business. The company manages more than $13 billion in media ad revenue, offering its best-in-class analytics, sales intelligence, media-specific CRM and sales tools to more than 10,000 media sellers to more efficiently manage their workflow. For more information, please visit http://www.matrixformedia.com. About Federated Media Federated Media is a privately held American company that owns and operates 15 radio stations based in northern Indiana and southern Michigan. The company is headquartered in Mishawaka, Indiana. Touching the lives of millions of people through Radio, Events and Digital offerings, Federated Medias mission is to discover and satisfy the needs of their three primary customer groups: listeners, advertisers, and employees in a way that is profitable for all. High school students are often afraid of asserting their rights, or are unsure of what rights they have. Too often, students rights suffer at the hands of administrators seeking to put a positive spin on all school related matters. A federal civil rights lawsuit (Case Number 1:19-cv-00116) was filed today by Dakota King Hutton and Emily Thayer, two former students of Wood River High School (WRHS) in Idaho District Court in Hailey, Idaho. The lawsuit alleges violations of the students constitutionally protected rights to free speech by the Blaine County School District (BCSD) and several named administrators including BCSD Superintendent, GwenCarol Holmes. The lawsuit alleges that in 2017, during Ms. Dakota King Hutton's senior year at Wood River High School (WRHS), she submitted an opinion poll to thirty random students and staff as part of an AP Government homework assignment. Among other things, the court documents explain that the opinion poll asked questions about Superintendent GwenCarol Holmes influence on the school district. It then alleges that at the direction of Superintendent Holmes, administrators deleted the poll because they alleged it was a professional evaluation of Superintendent Holmes and that it violated unnamed Idaho law. For me, this lawsuit is an attempt to hold school administrators accountable for what I believe to be unconstitutional actions," said Hutton. Asking about how well a leader is doing is the kind of question you see in polls all the time and it seemed like a very appropriate subject for a class on government. Unfortunately, I do not think the school district wanted anyone asking questions about their leadership," said Hutton. The second allegation in the lawsuit involves Ms. Emily Thayer, who was also a senior at WRHS in the fall of 2017. According to court documents, the plaintiff's allegations explain that in her capacity as the appointed Student Board Representative to the BCSD Board of Trustees she, in accordance with district policy, submitted monthly reports reflecting the student bodys point of view on various issues. The court documents goes on to explain that when the BCSD made a change to the 2018 graduation date, the plaintiff included a section in her monthly report that said the change was unpopular with students and that the students would like the board to reconsider their decision because it was made without adequate input from the affected students and families. The lawsuit alleges that at the direction of Superintendent Holmes, administrators redacted the portion of the plaintiff's report covering the changed graduation date. My job was to give the board and the administration student feedback on activities, achievements, and concerns, said Thayer. "I do not believe the school district had any interest in listening to or receiving criticisms from students when I was the Student Board Representative. I hope that this action will help other students understand how strong their First Amendment rights really are, concluded Thayer. While there has been heightened awareness about free speech rights on college campuses, the issue has received far less attention in high schools, said Sam Linnet, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs. High school students are often afraid of asserting their rights, or are unsure of what rights they have. Too often, students rights suffer at the hands of administrators seeking to put a positive spin on all school related matters. But, administrative public relations goals are never superior to students civil rights. Bureaucratic gagging of students opinions has the undesirable effect of rendering the high schools primary stakeholders the students voiceless. This lawsuit is about establishing a culture where students can respectfully and in accordance with reasonable school policies feel safe questioning and criticizing the very institutions that aim to produce citizens of a vibrant democracy, asserted Linnet. For a full copy of the plaintiffs complaint click here. About Sam Linnet Sam Linnet practices law in Hailey, Idaho near the world-renowned Sun Valley resort. Mr. Linnet has a J.D. and M.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Idaho and is a member of the Idaho State Bar. Sams practice focuses on building and strengthening local communities by providing individuals and businesses with comprehensive legal services. Harris Teeter is proud to welcome shoppers to its Fuquay Crossing location on Wednesday, April 24, 2019 at 8 a.m. as the company celebrates its grand opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony. The store, which will replace the Sexton Commons location, will feature many unique amenities including: store made pizza, burgers, sausage and kabobs; Asian hot foods bar; wing bar; trail mix bar; ExpressLane Online Shopping; and a drive-thru Pharmacy. We are so excited to introduce the Fuquay community to their brand new Harris Teeter and Fuel Center, said Danna Robinson, communication manager for Harris Teeter. This location will also feature a Harris Teeter Fuel Center, which will offer customers $0.03 off per gallon every day with the use of a VIC card. The fuel center will open at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, April 24 following the ribbon cutting. During grand opening weekend, shoppers can take advantage of a special $0.20 off per gallon discount April 26-28, 2019. Normal fuel center operating hours will be 6 a.m. midnight and 24 hours at the pump. Shoppers can redeem Harris Teeter fuel points for cents off the gallon at the fuel pump of any Harris Teeter Fuel Center or BP station. For details on earning and redeeming Fuel Points, please visit harristeeter.com/fuelpoints. Fast Facts: Store Address: Fuquay Crossing 1371 E. Broad Street Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526 Square Footage: 53,000 Grand Opening Date: Wednesday, April 24, 2019 Grand Opening Time: 8 a.m., ribbon cutting, store open immediately following Store Hours: 6 a.m. to midnight Pharmacy Hours: Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sat. 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sun. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Fuel Center Hours: 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.; 24 hours pay at the pump Check-Out Lanes: 6 checkouts and 9 express checkouts Store Features and Departments: Fresh Store Made Sausage, Burgers, and Beef & Chicken Kabobs Lobster Tanks Fishermans Market Full-service Floral Department Salad Bar Trail Mix Bar Full-Service Fresh Foods Market Deli/Bakery Sushi Asian Hot Foods Bar Wing Bar Store Made Pizza International Cheeses Bulk Nuts & Snacks Build Your Own 6-Pack Drive-thru Pharmacy Private, Professional Pharmacist Consultations Drug Interaction/ Allergy Screening Double Coupons Club 60 Discount ExpressLane Online Shopping Red Box DVD Rental Kiosk ATM Fuel Center http://www.harristeeter.com Harris Teeter, with headquarters in Matthews, N.C., is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR). The regional grocery chain employs approximately 30,000 associates and operates stores in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, Delaware, Florida and the District of Columbia. HardwareCon and the AlphaLab Gear Hardware Cup today announced they are joining forces to merge the hardware industrys very best content and speakers with the worlds hottest hardware pitch competition. The 2019 HardwareCon lineup includes a wide range of investors, innovators, thought leaders, strategists and successful startup founders. This year, it will also include the preliminary and final rounds of the West Coast Regional Hardware Cup pitch competition. Some of the hottest attractions at this years show include: The panel How AI is Making Hardware Sexy Again featuring Comet Labs, Samsung Catalyst Fund, and Zymergen, Inc A Keynote talk by Dr. Ashwin Ram, the Technical Director of AI at Google on Hardware as the Interface between AI, ML, and Data The Hardware Cup preliminary rounds - featuring judges from Event Horizon Ventures, and Simmons Goodspeed Ventures The Hardware Cup final round - featuring judges from Toyota AI Ventures, Anzu Partners, Honda Innovations, and Make In LA Greg Fisher, Founder & CEO of Hardware Massive explains that "hardware is at a pivotal moment as the transformative smart technologies of our time. AI, Machine Learning, and the data behind them will increasingly leverage physical products as the inputs, and the interfaces that change our world as the outputs. At HardwareCon 2019, were bringing together the hardware innovation ecosystem to explore these game-changing technologies and get deals done. Ilana Diamond, managing director of the AlphaLab Gear hardware accelerator in Pittsburgh (which produces the International Hardware Cup), added: Hardware can be a capital intensive business, and we have seen many early stage companies that need a little extra jump to get to the next level. This is why AlphaLab Gear started the International Hardware Cup in 2015. It is now in 7 US cities and 4 other countries around the globe. We are growing each year, as more and more investors have seen the huge opportunities in hardware and the barriers to entry come down to starting a hardware company. About HardwareCon HardwareCon, the premier conference for hardware innovation, provides attendees with an opportunity to learn about the latest technology and business trends in AI, Machine Learning, Robotics, IoT, Blockchain, and Product Design. Attendees will hear from leading Fortune 500 hardware brands such as Google, Dragon Innovation, Autodesk, and Xilinx/Avnet, and will have the opportunity to connect & collaborate with top investors while interacting with the most promising startup companies from across the global hardware ecosystem. About the AlphaLab Gear Hardware Cup The AlphaLab Gear Hardware Cup is a pitch competition for early-stage hardware startups. The Hardware Cup tours 7 US regions, with events in: Pittsburgh, San Jose, Boston, Washington DC, Chicago, Boulder, and Atlanta. Other countries around the globe also participate, including Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and India. To be eligible, companies must be an early-stage hardware startup with at least one physical product component. Each team gives a short pitch followed by about 4 minutes of Q&A with the panel of judges made up of local VCs and investors. Winning teams from each US region will get $3,000 in cash and other prizes. The winner of the International finals will receive a $50,000 convertible-debt investment from Startbot VC. Hippo Insurance Hippo is a breath of fresh air in the home insurance industry. They push for proactive, consistent communication with customers and our products help enable a much more modern and effective underwriting approach, said David Jowell, CEO at GIA Map. Hippo, the California-based insurtech company that is transforming home insurance, today announced a partnership with GIA Map, the leading provider of geospatial underwriting solutions for admitted and surplus lines insurance companies. The partnership uniquely enables Hippo to integrate its efficient and comprehensive policy management system, application process, and annual reassessment with GIA Maps live and historical geospatial data. The result paints a true picture of near real-time catastrophic risk exposure by location, which typically goes unchecked for years at a time. Analysis by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association comprised of combined data from government agencies like FEMA, the USDA and private insurance claims, shows that the number of billion-dollar disasters is soaring. In 2018 there were 14 billion-dollar climate disaster events across the United States, with a total cost of $91 billion. The total cost over the last five years (2014-2018) is approximately $500 billion. Increased billion-dollar disasters and catastrophic losses means a lack of certainty for homeowners today, who struggle to find the appropriate level of coverage for their needs. Hippos partnership with GIA Map will bring more accurate coverage options, which is evaluated at the property-level for all homeowners. The partnership ensure more customer capacity therefore providing homeowners certainty and a highly customized and painless underwriting experience. This refined underwriting process leads to better risk management for the insurer and more tailored insurance for homeowners. In California alone the 2018 Mendocino Complex, Carr, Woolsey, and Camp fires caused $11.4 billion in damage, destroyed more than 13,000 homes and businesses and led to 46,000 claims. Yet homeowners across the country today face significant challenges obtaining transparent and accurate insight into how insurance companies view their risk, including limited options and one-size-fits-all policies. Hippo has re-imagined the entire process of how home insurance works, with modern policies. Today more than 60% of U.S. homes are underinsured and that leaves consumers at risk. Hippo partners with companies like GIA Map to evaluate each home as accurately and individually as possible. With real-time hazard and individual policy level data integration Hippo and GIA Map developed an unparalleled level of response time if, or even before disaster strikes. This partnership benefits all aspects of the insurance cycle, from the customer buying experience, to servicing and claims processing. Hippo is a breath of fresh air in the home insurance industry. They push for proactive, consistent communication with customers and our products help enable a much more modern and effective underwriting approach, said David Jowell, CEO at GIA Map. The insurance industry typically employs an antiquated approach to underwriting by using a virtual chainsaw to determine which homes or consumers are eligible for their products; however they should be using a scalpel for a more detailed and accurate analysis. Hippo analyzes very large data sets in order to underwrite each customers home as if it were a new policy every single year, and so is uniquely qualified to leverage GIA Map data. The Hippo system does most of the underwriting, as it aggregates data from multiple trusted sources such as Zillow, municipal building records, aerial imagery, smart home and IoT devices, and more. The result is a fast and accurate evaluation of a homeowners entire property including recent remodels, brush containment, a swimming pool and more, while also taking into account unique considerations such as local market labor and materials costs. Traditional insurance companies have coasted on these details for decades, as they layer a basic percentage increase on top of regions that do not take into account how an area or property has changed. This is a leading cause for under-insured homeowners. At Hippo we are doing everything possible to proactively monitor and support our customers who might be affected by wildfires in California, and other natural disasters around the country, said Mike Gulla, Senior Director of Underwriting, Hippo. We put our customers first by seeking out partners on the cutting edge of underwriting, like GIA Maps. This partnership enables us to accurately underwrite risk and price better while also allowing us to proactively monitor and support our customers. This is what the future of home insurance looks like. About Hippo Hippo is on a mission to transform home insurance for the modern household. Among its many innovations, Hippo allows homeowners to get a quote and purchase home insurance online in 60 seconds or less, save up to 25 percent compared with traditional insurers, and obtain smarter coverage for modern households. This includes protection for possessions like appliances, consumer electronics, and home offices. Founded in 2015 by Assaf Wand and Eyal Navon, Hippo made its debut in the insurance marketplace in April 2017 and has raised $109 million to reinvent home insurance through its initial funding rounds. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California. For more information, visit http://www.myhippo.com. About GIA Map Founded in 2017, GIA Map delivers custom geospatial underwriting solutions for non-admitted as well as traditional insurance companies. Their focus is on the uniqueness of each individual client, which allows more accurate insights for underwriting, claims, product and marketing. The company is headquartered in Folsom, California and was founded by David Jowell and Alicia Naiman, whose underwriting expertise spans 30+ years and billions of dollars in risk exposure. Although GIA Map specializes in wildfire hazard data/scoring, they also provide impactful book management for saturation, live CAT events, EQ, flood, coastal, and weather warnings. To learn more, please visit https://GIAMap.com. These services also enable existing telehealth programs to expand and grow, without experiencing the burden of hiring and training additional clinical staff. Health Recovery Solutions (HRS), a leading nationwide remote monitoring company, has partnered with Lacuna Health, a leading nationwide registered nurse-led clinical engagement company, in its re-launch of HRS CareConnect, a service offering continuous monitoring and extended coverage to care providers. HRS selected Lacuna Health for its ability to offer telehealth and Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) via its 24/7 RN-led remote clinical support and patient engagement model. The Lacuna-powered clinical monitoring service will augment HRSs existing capabilities and accelerate telehealth program growth of the legacy HRS CareConnect program. For Lacuna Health, this partnership further solidifies efforts to become a leading national provider of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services compliant chronic care management (CCM) and RPM programs. HRS CareConnect offers a range of care management services to support the HRS telehealth platform. Clients who use HRS CareConnect will have access to Lacuna Healths RN-led contact center team, who provide care coordination, health assessments, and remote monitoring to give patients the tools and support they need to remain healthy at home. Rohan Udeshi, COO of HRS, commented, Lacuna Health allows us to offer our clients the highest standard of care wherever and whenever they need it. These services also enable existing telehealth programs to expand and grow, without experiencing the burden of hiring and training additional clinical staff. We are very excited that Lacuna Health will be powering HRS CareConnect and we look forward to developing this partnership. By enabling hospitals, post-acute providers, ACOs, and physician practices to provide more coordinated care to the populations they serve, Lacuna Health contributes to HRS mission to provide patient-centered care, while reducing hospital readmissions and improving patient outcomes. "We are excited to power the HRS CareConnect platform that provides a turn-key telehealth and clinical monitoring solution," said John Apholt, COO of Lacuna Health. "Together we can redefine telehealth models and drive enormous value for patients, their caregivers and the customers we serve. About Health Recovery Solutions Health Recovery Solutions (HRS) supplies leading home care agencies with the most advanced remote monitoring platform focused on changing patient behavior to reduce readmissions and improve clinical outcomes. HRS' disease-specific engagement kits are customized with educational video, care plans, medication reminders while integrated with Bluetooth peripherals to engage patients. For clinicians, HRS' software allows for the management of high-risk patients and provides seamless communication with them through video chat, wound imaging and text messaging. For family members and caregivers, HRS' software gives them the ability to be fully involved in their family member's care and well-being. To learn more about Health Recovery Solutions, visit http://www.healthrecoverysolutions.com or call (347) 699 6477. About Lacuna Health Founded in January of 2018, Lacuna Health is a registered nurse-led clinical engagement company that addresses gaps patients and their caregivers' experience across the care continuum. Lacuna Healths proven solutions enable hospitals, post-acute providers, ACOs, and physician practices to provide more coordinated care for the populations they serve. Lacuna Healths registered nurse-led engagement creates positive and personal experiences for patients and caregivers and enables more coordinated care across the continuum. Lacuna Health powers clients to fulfill their promise of patient-centered healthcare through improved patient engagement, better outcomes, and lower costs. For more information, visit http://www.lacunahealth.com or contact Susan E. Moss at (502) 596-7296. "[MacKeen's] vast clinical and research experience including innovation, training and close work with key opinion leaders will greatly benefit Phoenix customers and the product team Today, Phoenix Technology Group (Phoenix), a leading provider of advanced ophthalmic imaging solutions for researchers and clinicians, announces Leslie MacKeen has joined the Company as product manager. MacKeen, who for the past five years served as Medical Imaging Specialist for The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, rejoins Phoenix where she served as application specialist from 2012 2013. In all, MacKeen has 28 years of ophthalmic imaging experience, 10 years of it with Clarity (now Natus) where she served as Ophthalmic Imaging Specialist / Clinical Services Manager. During her time at Clarity, MacKeen designed the MacKeen Pediatric Lid Speculum as well as an imaging training manikin; she also conducted extensive training procedures and practices for the company. MacKeen will work with the Phoenix product team, guiding new releases and development of the Phoenix ICON retinal imaging system, the Phoenix CONNECT telemedicine platform for clinicians, and the Phoenix MICRON retinal imaging system for researchers. We are thrilled to have Leslie back on board at Phoenix to help us deliver on an ambitious solutions road map, said Scott Carr, Chairman and CEO of Phoenix Technology Group. Not only is she an accomplished ophthalmic imager, but she was one of the first users of the RetCam, which was also developed by our founder Bert Massie. Through her creativity and curiosity, she devised innovative and relevant imaging techniques with the system. Her vast clinical and research experience including innovation, training and close work with key opinion leaders will greatly benefit Phoenix customers and the product team. MacKeen brings to Phoenix deep, long-standing relationships with ophthalmology clinicians and researchers around the world in both professional and outreach capacities. She has been a volunteer faculty member several times for Orbis International and participated in programs with the Armenian Eyecare Project; The Ventura Foundation, Brazil; and Helen Keller International, Nepal. Her relationships, and her direct experience working with patients of all ages, from neonates to adults, across a wide range of pathologies including retinopathy of prematurity, retinoblastoma, ocular melanoma, diabetic retinopathy, and more, perfectly positions her to set product strategy for our three product lines. Dr. Michael Trese, MD, Clinical Advisory Board member for Phoenix Technology Group agrees, Leslie MacKeen is a wonderful addition to the Phoenix team. I have worked with Leslie before and there is no one more skilled at infant retinal imaging. She provides a very important resource for the company and its customers. I'm very happy to be back with Phoenix Technology Group, says MacKeen. So many great things have happened on both the research and clinical sides of the business since I was first with the company. I'm excited to have the chance to work with this dedicated and passionate group of people who build eye imaging solutions that have such a powerful impact on people's lives. It is particularly energizing to be a bridge between the voice of the customer and the innovation plans of the company. Im thrilled to spread my wings and help generate meaningful collaborations for Phoenix Technology Group with key opinion leaders and global industry professionals." About Phoenix Technology Group: Phoenix Technology Group empowers people to see: we empower researchers to see more in their fight to prevent blindness; we empower clinicians to see more in their fight to save sight (and lives). We do that by providing clinicians and researchers around the world with stunning retinal images, coupled with timely and accurate data about the retina and the eye. Founded by Bert Massie, Ph.D., inventor of the first digital camera for pediatric retinal imaging, our company created the Phoenix MICRON platform for in-vivo imaging of animals in eye research. Phoenix MICRON is the standard of excellence for researchers worldwide: ten of the top twelve research institutions employ a Phoenix MICRON solution. In 2017, the company launched to great acclaim the Phoenix ICON platform which reinvented wide-field retinal imaging for human clinical applications. Phoenix ICON delivers stunning high-contrast, high-resolution images, with quality you can see and data you can trust. The ICON platform also boasts a number of features including a lighter weight cart and a six-hour battery life. Recognizing that telemedicine is the future of ROP screening, in 2018, Phoenix acquired FocusROP, the most widely adopted telemedicine platform for ROP screening. With this acquisition, retinal images from any wide-field retinal imaging camera can, in seconds, be delivered to physicians when and where they are needed, saving them time while providing better documentation. Business customers need more logistics support and flexibility from an online platform than B2C customers do. Zippy Freight is the newest element of a powerful set of capabilities we call industrial or I-commerce, explains Mark Moore, COO and co-founder of Inxeption. Inxeption Corporation, the pioneer of blockchain-for-business, announced today the immediate availability of Zippy Freight, a powerful new service to help B2B merchants get shipping costs and complexity under control and obtain flexible logistics options. Now bundled into the price of the Inxeption platform, Zippy Freight is designed for businesses of every sizewhether companies who normally ship simple parcel orders or those that regularly ship large quantities at a time, odd-shaped packages, or containers of more than 100 pounds. With Zippy Freight, business customers can control all aspects of selling as well as freight shipping and tracking from one secure dashboard. They also can compute their total cost up front, eliminating after-the-fact shipping exception charges. Many companies have already signed up to use Zippy Freight to tailor their shipping options to their business at a price that works. This removes a huge hurdle for us in expanding our e-commerce presence, says Todd McAllister, Founder and CEO of McAllister Retail, a Direct Supplier of electric boilers and industrial steam irons, presses, vacuum tables for the garment, retail, dry cleaners, and hospitality industry. "Not only is freight now easier, but when I can include free shipping, buying with McAllister becomes a no-brainer for the customer." Inxeptions industrial-strength commerce platform and online product catalog gives manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers a simple, fast way to set up a company-branded online site to conduct e-commerce transactions. Inxeption then helps them first list and market, and then sell their products to their business customers. Its blockchain-secured technology helps ensure that sensitive information such as contract-specific pricing and negotiated rates are only shared between the buyer and seller. Business customers need more logistics support and flexibility from an online platform than B2C customers do. Zippy Freight is the newest element of a powerful set of capabilities we call industrial or I-commerce, explains Mark Moore, COO and co-founder of Inxeption. I-commerce offers the ease of use consumers expect, and the flexibility and security businesses demand. Zippy Freight in Action Atul Agarwal, the founder and CEO of Bela Drink, a beverage company inspired by Ayurveda, the 5000-year old traditional Indian holistic medicinal system and sister-science of Yoga, explains the benefits of Zippy Freight: Our goal is to bring Bela drinks to the 3,000+ independent exercise, health and yoga businesses across the country. Traditional retail distribution networks are not geared to serve this fragmented segment. If we used typical eCommerce platforms like Amazon or Shopify the freight costs for shipping large orders was a giant hurdle -- nearly 50 percent of the sale price. That simply had to be overcome in order for us to make this work. Inxeptions all-in-one pricing model not only allows us to target these independent customers, but also helps us manage multiple channels on one platform. Plus, we can easily arrange drop-shipments outside the standard 9-6 business hours. Agarwal adds, Inxeptions storefront also gives us great marketing flexibility, from managing SEO/SEM all the way to custom promotional codes for influencers and wholesalers. The blockchain product record means that as we introduce new blends, flavors and packaging options, it will be easy to track product down to the very specific level from ingredients to shipments rather than relying on distributors to know exactly what product each customer has. Zippy Freight is Inxeptions latest I-commerce enhancement B2B companies in markets as diverse as spa supplies, computer cables, and boilers, are feeling pressure go online. But other B2B e-commerce solutions may require costly customization. Instead, Inxeption I-commerce fuses a storefront with easy-to-use logistics, financing, and marketing capabilities, giving small and mid-sized commercial product and service businesses a single platform for showcasing products, taking custom orders, arranging financing, and managing shipping and returns. With todays news, Zippy Freight provides the following benefits for merchants: Reduces the cost of freight shipping due to simplified pricing with no freight surcharges for distance Eliminates surprise freight charges at month end Streamlines shipping and gives businesses the option of parcel or freight shipping Simplifies order fulfillment by providing shipping and tracking integrated with the Inxeption product and order details. Order fulfillment is now as easy as a single click. About Inxeption Inxeption is the first industrial commerce (I-commerce) platform that connects industrial buyers and sellers online. Inxeption uses blockchain technology to ensure trusted, secure and reliable transactions. Founder Farzad Dibachi has been recognized by Supply & Demand Chain Executive magazine as one of the visionary Pros to Know. The Inxeption industrial store can be found on the web at https://www.inxeption.com/. Johnson Family Dental Dr. Steven Johnson is out to change lives by offering free smiles to anyone who needs dental work, as he hosts the 16th free Dental Day at their Santa Barbara office on Saturday, May 4th from 8am-1pm. Over 200 members of the community are expected to turn out for the event that is held at the Johnson Family Dental office at 3906 State Street in Santa Barbara. Over the past 15 years, Dr. Steven Johnson and his staff, sponsors, and volunteers have helped hundreds of people in urgent need of dental work; treating patients for fillings, extractions or cleanings. Doors will open from 8:00am-1pm and patients will be treated on a first-come, first served basis. Members who cant be seen at the free dental day event on May 4th have the opportunity to attend Johnson Family Dentals alternate free dental day at our office located at 678 Alamo Pintado Rd in Solvang. The Solvang office will be having their free Dental Day in conjunction with their Grand Re-Opening, Saturday May 11th from 8am-1pm. About Johnson Family Dental Johnson Family Dental is a rapidly growing group dental practice based in Santa Barbara, California. Since 1963, Johnson Family Dental has been delivering quality care to Central California residents. With five convenient locations, Johnson Family Dental provides comprehensive general, specialty and orthodontic care in Santa Barbara, Ventura, Solvang, Camarillo and Port Hueneme. Driven by their belief that a smile can change your life, the Johnson Family Dental team is committed to delivering gentle and compassionate care at an excellent value. Johnson Family Dental relies on Smile Brands to provide world-class business support services so they can focus on delivering highly personalized patient care. Learn more at johnsonfamilydental.com Contact: Johnson Family Dental Alex McBride 805-705-1449 alex(at)johnsondmc.com After more than three months of renovation, Lajollacooks4u is set to reveal its new, state-of-the-art kitchen upgrade. The new kitchen is equipped with updated appliances and modern lighting and fixtures, and will provide additional workspace for the many guests who visit the companys La Jolla-based venue. Weve seen tremendous growth in the demand for our team-building events and cooking classes over the last eleven years, said Founder and Chef Jodi Abel. It is our goal to continue to offer a superior experience, and were excited to reveal a more modern and efficient kitchen to meet the rapidly growing culinary needs of our valued guests in 2019. With the kitchen now open for business, Lajollacooks4u will resume offering its popular cooking parties and team building cooking packages at its venue, which include Iron Chef-style competitions, pizza-making challenges, tapas cook-offs and more. Each package offers team members an opportunity to collaborate and compete; all while preparing nutritious and delicious farm-to-table recipes. For teams of 30 people or more, Lajollacooks4u has been hosting its events at off-site venues. Selected venues have included hotels and conference centers, and most recently, the team-building company has hosted its cooking events at the Grand Colonial Hotel, Estancia Hotel and the Hilton Torrey Pines in La Jolla. As part of its grand re-opening, Lajollacooks4u will offer a 10 percent discount to all groups of 10 or more for the month of April! To book an event, visit http://www.lajollacooks4u.com. About Lajollacooks4u: Lajollacooks4u is San Diegos premiere team-building and cooking events company. Since 2008, it has hosted companies from all over the globe, providing guests with a collaborative and one-of-a-kind culinary experience. With skilled facilitators, farm-to-table cuisine and a stunning view overlooking La Jolla, Lajollacooks4u has consistently been ranked one of the areas top attractions by Trip Advisor, having been awarded its Certificate of Excellence four years in a row. For more information about the companys hands-on team building events and gourmet cooking classes, visit http://www.lajollacooks4u.com or contact jodi(at)lajollacooks4u.com. We know that we can accommodate senior adults with specific needs with high-quality respite care.," Landon Ridge Alamo Ranch Senior Living Executive Director Michael Dorazio. Following an early morning two-alarm fire Wednesday at an assisted living apartment community in northern San Antonio, Landon Ridge Alamo Ranch Senior Living will offer reduced apartment rates for respite care to displaced senior adults. We are saddened to know that so many senior adults were displaced from their apartments and we are glad that no injuries resulted from the fire, said Landon Ridge Alamo Ranch Senior Living Executive Director Michael Dorazio. We know that we can accommodate senior adults with specific needs with high-quality respite care. Today, I and my community extend a helping hand to those displaced by this tragedy by offering reduced rates at our community. Respite care accommodates varying needs of individuals on many levels, making it more than temporary relief. It offers a comfortable, compassionate and quality care experience with furnished apartments, chef-prepared meals, housekeeping and laundry, medication assistance and transportation services. Ranked best-of for several consecutive years, Landon Ridge Alamo Ranch Senior Living offers Independent Living, Assisted Living and Memory Care. The community is located at 11349 Alamo Ranch Parkway, San Antonio, TX 78253. To learn more, please call 210-688-9966. About Sagora Senior Living Sagora Senior Living, based in Fort Worth, Texas, currently operates 39 retirement communities in five states, each with a unique focus on retirement lifestyle choices including independent living, assisted living, respite and memory care. The companys mission is to serve and celebrate the wisdom of their residents and family members by enriching their lives with a Resident First philosophy developed locally within each community. For more information about Sagora Senior Living, visit http://www.Sagora.com. US Business Check Writer Also Accommodates Canada and Puerto Rico ezCheckPrinting has been updated to accommodate customers in Canada and Puerto Rico that need to print checks using the software. Customers in Canada and Puerto Rico have requested features to accommodate check writing with ezCheckprinting business software. Because of this, Halfpricesoft.com has created a flexible features for both. The latest ezCheckPrinting check writer allows business owners to customize any field on the check when utilizing ezCheckPrinting software. ezCheckPrinting has been updated to accommodate customers in Canada and Puerto Rico that need to print checks using the software. said Halfpricesoft.com Founder, Dr. Ge. This new ezCheckprinting software is compatible with Windows 10, 8.1, 8, and 7. (Mac version also available) Potential customers can download the trial version at https://www.halfpricesoft.com/product_ezCheck.asp and test it with no obligation before purchase. The main features include: -Foreign currency feature for printing checks in Euros Use blank check stock or pre-printed checks in check-on-top, check-in-middle, or check-on-bottom formats Add a company logo and other customizable design features for a professional, corporate look to company checks No limit to the number of accounts that can be used Write an unlimited number of checks New customizable features Save time by printing multiple checks with one click ezCheckprinting is only $39.00 for a single user version with no hidden or recurring fees. Download and test the application for compatibility purposes with no cost or application at https://www.halfpricesoft.com/product_ezCheck.asp About halfpricesoft.com Founded in 2003, Halfpricesoft.com has established itself as a leader in meeting and exceeding the software requirements of small businesses around the US. Halfpricesoft.com is a developer of small business software, including online and desktop payroll software, online employee attendance tracking software, accounting software, in-house business and personal check printing software, W2, software, 1099 software, Accounting software, 1095 ACA form software and ezACH direct deposit software. Software from halfpricesoft.com is trusted by thousands of customers and will help small business owners simplify payroll processing and streamline business management. From left to right: Paul White, President/CEO & Thomas A. Moorehead, Owner/Chairman "I welcome handing over the Sterling Motorcars keys to Paul who possesses my drive and passion for the community as well as the business." Thomas A. Moorehead Owner and CEO Sterling Motorcars Thomas A. Moorehead, the first Black Dealer in the country of Rolls Royce, Lamborghini and McLaren, has transitioned from President and CEO to Owner and Chairman of Sterling Motorcars. As an African American business owner, he has been contributing to the economy of the Washington DC Metropolitan Area since March of 2001. Of note, Moorehead was also the former chairman of NAMAD, The National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers. Former President of AutoNation Dallas Fort Worth Market, Paul White, is the now the new President and CEO of Sterling Motorcars appointed directly by Moorehead. White leads by Rosalynn Carters quote: A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be. White is enriching and advancing Mooreheads vision of community service while spearheading the expansion and growth of Sterling Motorcars. Much like what White has done in the past, he is thrilled to be implementing the Sterling Community C.A.R.E. Program (Community, Assurance, Reliability and Excellence) making a difference by giving to non-profits, local organizations, and schools. This program will begin with the faith-based community identifying single parents in need of transportation. White attributes most of his success to his mentor, the late automotive giant and successful businessman, Cecil Van Tuyl. Under Van Tuyls tutelage, White became one of his youngest partners at the age of Thirty-two. White rose quickly in the ranks and generated record-breaking profits and numerous national and local awards. From there, he worked around the country increasing sales, expanding stores and aiding those less fortunate. Said Moorehead, I welcome handing over the Sterling Motorcars keys to Paul. He possesses my drive and passion for the community as well as the business. I look forward to semi-retirement and focusing more time on Moorehead Properties. LiveCoupon reduces operational complexity for such campaigns by automating the messaging of the promotions based on consumers previous engagement (with the same promotion). This further helps us with customer segmentation, making our program more relevant and effective. Liveclicker, a global provider of real-time email personalization solutions for B2C marketers, today announces the release of LiveCoupon, allowing marketers to increase email conversion by serving and testing personalized offers in multiple text, barcode, and QR code formats. With LiveCoupon, a component of Liveclickers RealTime Email suite, marketers save time through automating coupon code distribution, and improve results from incentives by serving the right incentive form and value to the right customers. LiveCoupon enhances our ability to continue delivering personalized messages and incentives to consumers. said Jennifer Chiang, Sr. Analyst, Email Marketing, BCBG. LiveCoupon reduces operational complexity for such campaigns by automating the messaging of the promotions based on consumers previous engagement (with the same promotion). This further helps us with customer segmentation, making our program more relevant and effective. Marketers are accustomed to cumbersome workflows for coupon code distribution. LiveCoupon replaces the need to create multiple customer segments requiring multiple campaign deployments, which adds to the complexity of A/B testing non-unique codes. LiveCoupon offers further value by giving marketers the ability to respond to individual customer behavioral data specific to coupon engagement or lack thereof, so that personalized follow up can further incentivize non-buyers or hold back from incentivizing individual customers who convert. "Email marketers already have enough on their plates without having to manually segment and create several different deployment sends in order to serve certain coupon codes to certain individuals and find out what works, commented Kenna Hilburn, VP Account Development, Liveclicker. Yet for the majority of brands, coupon code emails are more likely to be opened, clicked on, and end in conversions, so its critical that their offers are correctly optimized to appeal to customers. LiveCoupon will help them achieve this level of optimization without significantly adding to their workload. Its a win-win. LiveCoupon is available immediately within Liveclickers RealTime Email platform as a self-service offering, requiring no additional implementation or internal technology resources to activate. Future planned development for LiveCoupon includes the ability to combine LiveCoupon with LiveReveal to create scratch-off interactive experiences. Liveclicker will also add Add-to-Wallet capabilities to the LiveCoupon experience. Click here to read more about the value of coupons in email and our LiveCoupon capabilities. About Liveclicker Founded in 2008, Liveclicker, a CM Group brand, is a global provider of real-time email personalization solutions for B2C marketers. Since the release of its VideoEmail platform in 2009, marketers have used Liveclicker to captivate consumers and drive program performance. Today, top brands such as Bloomberg, AT&T, MasterCard, Lowe's, Hertz and Samsung rely on the companys market-leading RealTime Email solution to deliver engaging, personalized messages simply and at scale. For more information, visit http://www.liveclicker.com or email sales(at)iveclicker(dot)com. The IRF is thrilled to reach record sponsorship and attendance for the 2019 Education Invitational. We are excited that our education, networking and activities are designed to enable our attendees to participate in the Art of the Experience. The Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) is pleased to announce the 26th Annual Education Invitational has sold out. All registration slots and sponsorship opportunities have reached capacity for this leading industry event. Participants will convene at Loews Miami Beach Hotel, June 19 23, 2019. With education and activities centered around the theme The Art of the Experience, this exclusive event provides over 500 invited attendees with direct exposure to the industrys preeminent voices and applicable analysis of the IRFs research. This years event will feature over eight hours of education that will highlight trends and insights from many of the IRFs twelve research projects scheduled for 2019 release. Attendees will have the opportunity experience Miami with a selection of destination activities, including the IRFs first ever culinary tour. Throughout the event, there will be networking opportunities for all attendees, the vast majority in vice president level positions or above. The IRF is thrilled to reach record sponsorship and attendance for the 2019 Education Invitational. We are excited that our education, networking and activities are designed to enable our attendees to participate in the Art of the Experience, said Melissa Van Dyke, President, Incentive Research Foundation. Attendees of the 2019 IRF Education Invitational can also look forward to experiencing vibrant Miami and all the luxury offered by Loews Miami Beach Hotel. Loews Miami Beach Hotel invites attendees to experience a reimagined, luxury escape like no other in the heart of South Beachs vibrant Art Deco District. The recently redesigned resort offers guests an oceanfront haven where sophisticated style meets beachfront chic. Attendees can enjoy the hotels iconic pool deck with direct beach access, or bask in the luxury of 790 beautifully designed guestrooms. When it comes time for food and drink, four restaurants and lounges including Prestons Market, Miami Joe Coffee Co., Bar Collins and Nautilus, in addition to the award-winning Lure Fishbar, allow attendees to savor the true flavors of Miami. Additional amenities include the hotels private SOAK Cabana Deck, exhale South Beach Spa, premium shopping at Splash boutique and other indulgences. For information on the 2019 IRF Education Invitational, please visit invitational.theirf.org. For information on the 2019 IRF Leadership Insights Forum on September 23 24, visit http://theirf.org/events/leadership-insights-forum/. -------------------------------------- About the IRF: The Incentive Research Foundation (http://www.TheIRF.org) funds and promotes research to advance the science and enhance the awareness and appropriate application of motivation and incentives in business and industry globally. The goal is to increase the understanding, effective use, and resultant benefits of incentives to businesses that currently use incentives and others interested in improved performance. We are proud to deliver a fully customizable, scalable solution that allows our customers to achieve the often-competing goals of mitigating losses, settling claims quickly and fairly, and delivering a positive customer experience. Lowers Forensics International, a global financial forensics firm headquartered in Northern Virginia, announces today, the launch of its small claims accounting service. The service promises to make small work of small claims with the help of the companys proprietary AI-driven modeling software, Stratis(TM). Insurance companies today are met with a large number of small business interruption claims that can quickly produce a bottleneck, slowing down the claims resolution process and creating frustration for customers -- not to mention the costs and staffing requirements it takes to meet such demands, explains Joe Scarlato, CFE, President of Lowers Forensics International. Stratis uses artificial intelligence and built-in algorithms to catch red flags and generate accurate calculations that are verified by Lowers Forensics Internationals financial forensics experts. The service allows insurance companies to resolve small claims quickly and accurately while controlling and cutting the costs associated with small claims accounting. We are proud to deliver a fully customizable, scalable solution that allows our customers to achieve the often-competing goals of mitigating losses, settling claims quickly and fairly, and delivering a positive customer experience, Scarlato remarks. Adaptable to any product line and any portfolio, Lowers Forensics says Stratis is the most advanced claims accounting tool available in the market. The service has a starting price of $849. Insurance companies are encouraged to visit lowersforensics.com to learn more and get started. About Lowers Forensics International, LLC Lowers Forensics International offers expertise in insurance claims accounting, litigation support, investigative services, and expert testimony to support organizations worldwide. The company maintains offices across the globe to serve the needs of insurance companies, attorneys, and private and public entities when it comes to transforming complex financial information into clear evidence. For more information about Lowers Forensics International, visit lowersforensics.com. The WA67s solid wood interior is available in Pine, Spruce, Meranti and Sapeli Mahogany. Custom color matching and other wood species are also available. The WA67s space between the two materials creates an evaporation chamber for the excess moister to escape and allows the wood to regain equilibrium naturally, so the product lasts much longer than any other wood/clad glass wall. This is the only product in the industry that has this feature. NanaWall Systems, the pioneer of the opening glass wall category, introduces the WA67the industrys only folding glass wall system to mount extruded aluminum cladding to a solid wood core with a spacer bar to secure the materials together. This innovative feature allows for different expansion rates between materials to avoid cracking for durability in any climate. With the heat and humidity we get in the South, clad systems where the aluminum and wood touch or are glued together can cause warping since wood and aluminum expand and contract at different rates, said Kenny Cobb, owner of Architectural Openings. The WA67s space between the two materials creates an evaporation chamber for the excess moister to escape and allows the wood to regain equilibrium naturally, so the product lasts much longer than any other wood/clad glass wall. This is the only product in the industry that has this feature. Every detail of it is well thought out and engineered. TWEET THIS: Introducing @NanaWalls WA67, the industrys only folding glass wall system that mounts extruded aluminum cladding and wood without direct contact, ensuring longevity in all climates. http://bit.ly/WA67NanaWall #nanawall The WA67 is built to withstand any changes in weather due to NanaWalls proprietary evaporation chamber engineered to allow the wood and aluminum to expand and contract. The extruded aluminum is attached to the wood using the back ventilated, rain screen principle to protect and isolate the cross-grained solid, triple laminated wood on the inside. An enhanced option is available featuring triple-seals, triple-paned glass and deeper door panels for even higher weather performance that reaches U-value of .18 and a Solar Heat Gain Coefficient of .20 for optimum energy efficiency. Inward or outward opening door panels are also available for more design flexibility. The system can be top hung or floor supported and is life-cycle tested to open and close more than 20,000 times without failure, opening smoothly even in extreme temperatures. For more information about the new NanaWall WA67, please visit the blog post A Different Kind of Clad. About NanaWall Systems For over 30 years, NanaWall Systems has pioneered the category of opening glass wall systems. The company has earned the trust of architects, builders, design professionals and homeowners as a custom solution for re-imagining how buildings, people and the elements interact. By combining precision engineering and outstanding design options throughout more than 25 unique award-winning systems, NanaWall Systems advances design possibilities beyond the conventional for almost any space. NanaWall Systems is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area with 25 showroom and design studio locations across North America. Chiefs, sheriffs, and prosecutors all over the country agree that there is more communities can do to produce better outcomes for more people. Arrest and incarceration should not be the nations primary tools for managing mental health." The way we currently address mental health amounts to a public health crisis, say law enforcement department and policy leaders. The lack of access to mental health care for many communities places an overwhelming burden of mental health crisis management on public safety agencies. Law enforcement experts have just released a priority list for community-based reforms, produced in collaboration with The Equitas Project, a non-profit organization working nationally at the intersection of mental health and criminal justice. Chiefs, sheriffs, and prosecutors all over the country agree that there is more communities can do to produce better outcomes for more people. Arrest and incarceration should not be the nations primary tools for managing mental health. Health care, housing, and education all have bigger roles to play, explained Vincent Atchity, The Equitas Projects Executive Director. The document, which lists over 50 areas for improvement, emphasizes the urgency of these issues and identifies ways of addressing them. Authors of the document include national experts and top-ranking officials representing agencies from major cities and counties in every region of the country. Urgent recommendations for smarter and more cost-effective approaches to supporting the health and wellbeing of the population include specific strategies for: Enhancing access to affordable, high quality mental and physical health services Reducing homelessness Mobilizing local leadership Adopting crisis response policies that emphasize de-escalation, violence prevention, and co-response models which deploy both law enforcement and clinician responders together Promoting wellness within each public safety agency Promoting health-based alternatives to arrest, incarceration, and criminal charges for individuals in need of mental health support and care. Please visit The Equitas Projects website for more information on the Course Corrections: National Law Enforcement Summit and document (including all signatories), plus tools for sharing this list with leaders and constituents in your community. The Equitas Project is joined by the following groups in releasing this announcement: American Conservative Union Foundation Broomfield Police Department (CO) Center for Court Innovation CIT International Cook County Sheriff's Office Denver District Attorneys Office Fair and Just Prosecution Harris County Sheriff's Office (Houston, TX) Houston Police Department Law Enforcement Action Partnership LEAD National Support Bureau Lima Police Department (OH) The Longmont Department of Public Safety, Colorado Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office Long Beach City Prosecutor's Office Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department National Association of Counties New York City Police Department For more information, or to arrange an interview with The Equitas Project or the above-named organizations regarding this update, please contact Gwendolyn West at either 303-789-2664 x210 or gwest@equitasproject.org. About The Equitas Project The Equitas Project, an initiative of the David and Laura Merage Foundation, envisions an America rededicated to liberty and justice for all, where there is a commonly held expectation that jails and prisons should not continue to serve as the nations warehouses for people with unmet mental health needs. Equitas is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which promotes mental health awareness, and which champions laws, policies, and practices that prioritize improved population health outcomes, sensible use of resources, and the decriminalization of mental illness. We are committed to disentangling mental health and criminal justice. To learn more about our work and mission, please visit http://www.equitasproject.org, and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @EquitasProject. Email us at info@equitasproject.org. The Arkansas Department of Education has made a significant investment in the future of all Arkansas students, said Monica Morrell, General Manager of Naviance. Were pleased to support Student Success Plans that help all students connect learning to life and reach their full potential. Hobsons, the education technology leader and company behind Naviance, announced today that the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) selected Naviance as one of the preferred providers to support students in planning for college and careers. Act 930 requires all Arkansas students to have a Student Success Plan by the end of 8th grade beginning in the 2018-19 school year. Naviance is an excellent tool to support the student success planning process. The ADE will fund the purchase of Naviance on behalf of districts beginning in the 2019-20 school year. Naviance equips students with the skill sets, tool sets, and mindsets for success. Naviance has helped more than 13 million middle and high school students discover their strengths, identify college and career pathways, and create actionable plans to reach their goals after high school. Hobsons, the creator of the College, Career and Life Readiness Framework, continues to expand equity and access of critical preparation tools for students across the U.S. Today, 36% of high school students in Arkansas already have access to Naviance. Nationwide, 13,000 middle and high schools rely on Naviance, including more than 400,000 high school counselors and teachers. Naviance has been a great way for us to provide students with comprehensive college and career information, all in a centralized location. It makes my job as a post-secondary advisor easier and makes the research process much easier for our students and their families, said Rebecca Camarigg, Post-Secondary Advisor at Bentonville West High School. Arkansas districts often choose Naviance for its proven track record in the state, expert implementation team, and research-backed CCLR Framework. The Arkansas Department of Education has made a significant investment in the future of all Arkansas students, said Monica Morrell, General Manager of Naviance. Were pleased to support Student Success Plans that help all students connect learning to life and reach their full potential. Naviance includes tools such as Naviance eDocs to streamline the college application process, RepVisits for scheduling college visits, Naviance Course Planner to build individualized academic plans, assessments such as Gallup StrengthsExplorer, and Naviance Insights for postsecondary outcome analysis. Contact us about how Naviance can support Arkansas Student Success Plans. About Hobsons A leader in education technology, Hobsons helps more than 15 million students to identify their strengths, explore careers, match to best-fit educational opportunities, create academic plans, and reach their education and life goals. More than 13,000 K-12 and higher education institutions partner with Hobsons and leverage our expertise and our solutions -- Naviance, Intersect, and Starfish -- to improve college and career readiness, college recruiting and admissions, and higher education student success to support millions of students. Our leading college and career readiness platform Naviance was named the 2017 and 2018 SIIA CODiE Award winner in the Best College and Career Readiness Solution category. The fastest way to ruin a bottle of wine is to store it at the wrong temperature. While this is common sense for all serious wine collectors, figuring out the best system to maintain your desired constant temperatures in your wine rooms, even in the brutal Texas summer months, has been a challenge. That is until Jost Lunstroth, of NCV Custom Wine Rooms in Houston, discovered The CUBE. The CUBE shifts the paradigm on cooling wine rooms and provides an enhanced level of comfort for serious wine collectors. It uses constantly circulating water to manage the climate in the wine room instead of the stop & start compressors used in traditional refrigeration systems. This circulating system has a serious advantage over the coprocessors, as it allows users to maintain a more consistent, stable temperatures. The team behind the development of the CUBE are engineers from the medical devices industry in Montreal. They started developing the CUBE in 2015 and have installations throughout Canada and recently started marketing in the US. The CUBE intrigued me as soon as I saw the details. Its technology and design are a game changer for serious wine collectors. I am fortunate to be able to offer it to my clients, says Lunstroth. NCV Custom Wine Rooms was the first company in Texas to offer the CUBE technology to clients. He continued: Stability of the climate around the wine bottles is one of the most important components of aging wines properly. The CUBE dramatically lowers the variations in temperature to as low as 0.01 degree versus the variations of 1 to 4 degrees seen in traditional, compressor-based systems. This small difference is very significant to serious collectors who are laying their valuable wines down for decades. Jonathan Vadeboncoeur, President of The Wine Square, said We have always believed that our growth in Texas can only happen through trusted local distributors. We knew that we have a unique world class product offering in our hands but eventually, the complete customer experience is dependent on what we do locally. After careful selection process, we are very excited to join forces with NCV to expand in the Texas market. We have had already several great wins under such a short time demonstrating the uniqueness of our products, and the local expertise of NCV team. Lunstroth is excited explore all that The CUBE can offer Texas residents. There is another benefit to my clients here in Texas. The technology of the CUBE makes it ideal to use in high-rise apartments or when turning a room in an existing home into a climate-controlled wine feature, said Lunstroth. The requirements of a traditional system can make it expensive and frequently impossible to install in high-rise apartments and remodels. The CUBE does not have the same limitations which means it can be installed in situations where it is not feasible to use a traditional refrigeration system. The Wine Square and NCV are not the only people singing The CUBEs praises. The Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers (CAPS),a pan-Canadian association, which brings together individuals within the sommelier profession, restaurant services, and other sectors of the wine industry said this about the CUBE in 2017 CAPS would also like to announce its support for the CUBE system: the first cooling technology to meet all the parameters necessary for wine aging. This Quebec technology inspired by medical engineering, works without any noise or compressor, and achieves the highest temperature stability performance in the world. In addition to its superior cooling features, The CUBE has a number of other appealing advantages over its competitors. It is very quiet; it is easy to repair on-site so less potential down-time; the control unit can be accessed remotely for diagnostics, and the standard five-year warranty can be upgraded to ten years. It is also compact and stylish. Lunstroth has been building custom wine features throughout Texas since 2005 and won the Sub Zero / Wolf Kitchen Design Award for Wine Storage in 2006 / 2007. He also created the unique wine storage concept, Nos Caves Vin, which has two locations in Houston. (http://www.noscavesvin.com) NCV Custom Wine Rooms LLC is a division of Nos Caves Inc. the owner and operator of Nos Caves Vin. Ncvwine.com Established in 2015, The Wine Square is a Canada-based company that develops and manufactures technological solutions for wine maturing. Frustrated of being unable to find a custom wine room that could ensure appropriate wine aging conditions within a glass cellar, one that could be sustainable, reliable and efficient, we decided to invent it. For more information on Nos Caves Vin or NCV Custom Wine Rooms and how they can meet your wine collection needs, contact Jost Lunstroth, Nos Caves Vin, (713) 524-2554, jost@ncvwine.com OCTaVIA app is available for iPhone and iPads. There is an urgent need in education and clinical practice for a dedicated smartphone/tablet app that can present a well-annotated OCT images for multiple diseases in a fast, clear and easy manner. OCTaVIA is this app! OCTaVIA, a visual reference OCT app, is now available free to eye care professionals and optometry/ophthalmology students of all levels on the Apple App Store. The iOS Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) app was developed by Dr. Elena Z Biffi, Assistant Professor, New England College of Optometry (NECO) and attending optometrist at South Boston Community Health Center to assist in the diagnosis and management of retinal disorders in their daily practice. Dr. Biffi notes, There is an urgent need in education and clinical practice for a dedicated smartphone/tablet app that can present a well-annotated OCT images for multiple diseases in a fast, clear and easy manner. OCTaVIA is this app! OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) is a non-invasive image test that allows eye care professionals to take cross-section pictures of the retina using light waves. Optometrists and ophthalmologists use these images to measure the thickness of the retina and diagnose conditions such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic eye disease, and glaucoma. While often extremely valuable in clinical practice, OCT imaging requires training and expertise in order to benefit its diagnostic effectiveness and efficiency. Pathognomonic imaging patterns and findings must be recognized and placed in the correct clinical context in order to arrive at a diagnostic conclusion. The OCTaVIA app provides eye care professionals withnormal OCT reference material and corresponding OCT with Fundus Photography images for multiple retinal disease conditions, as well as abrief disease-specific description of OCT images, high-yield key considerations and useful links to aid in the differential diagnosis.The intuitive search function provides access to dozens of retinal disease, allowing for easy and rapid access for students and doctors in busy clinical and teaching settings. Cases are presented in alphabetical order for easy offline access. Within the app, users can find detailed normal images with reference to normal OCT layer-by-layer descriptions and nomenclature for retinal location and retinal OCT layer abnormalities. The information is right at our finger tips with the reliable OCTaVIA app! notes Amy Moy, OD, FAAO, Director of Optometry, Boston Childrens Hospital at Martha Eliot. Heta Patel, NECO Class of 2019, began using the app during her studies. She says, OCTaVIA is a great resource to help narrow down your differential diagnoses. All scans are clearly labeled which really helps when comparing to your own patients scans. Assistant Professor, NECO, Jennifer Reilly, OD, MS, FAAO, agrees, The OCTaVIA app is not just a great teaching tool for optometrists who work with students, but also an excellent image atlas for any eye care provider who works with an OCT. I used to spend time searching for OCT images on the internet to show students the structural changes I would expect to see with certain ocular conditions; now it is much faster to pull out my phone and show them using the app. Or better yet, have the students download and reference the app themselves! OCTaVIA is my go to resource for OCT interpretation, notes Adam Grimm, OD, E-Vision Eye Care. It has an excellent library of diseases and great images. Not only does it provide high quality OCT images, but it also has fundus photographs of the same patients. This is extremely helpful in seeing the correlation between funduscopic appearance and the OCT scan. I highly recommend this app as another valuable clinical resource at our disposal. The app was developed with financial support from the American Optometric Foundation and Johnson & Johnson Innovation in Education Grant. OCTaVIA is currently available for free on the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad users. ABOUT NEW ENGLAND COLLEGE OF OPTOMETRY New England College of Optometry, NECO, is an independent graduate college of optometry that educates students for careers in eye care delivery, research, and education. NECO currently enrolls over 500 students in its four-year Doctor of Optometry, Accelerated Optometric Degree Program, international, and graduate programs. The College was founded in 1894 by August Klein as the Klein School of Optics. Over the past 125 years, more than 7,000 dedicated students, innovators, and thinkers have attended what is now called New England College of Optometry. Collectively, they have provided excellent patient care to tens of thousands of individuals in New England, across the country, and throughout the world. Our graduates have become leaders, innovators, investigators, educators, practitioners, and advocates for the profession. In the wake of frequent data breaches, one-time password (OTP) verification has rapidly replaced knowledge-based questions as the stepped-up authentication standard for the card industry. However, fraudsters are increasingly exploiting susceptibilities of OTP technology either by hijacking one of the delivery channels to intercept the OTP message or leveraging social engineering tactics to trick customers into revealing passcodes. OTP is a critical component of multi-factor authentication (MFA), providing an additional security layer on top of the conventional username and password combo. It typically involves a dynamic password sent to the customers registered mobile number or email address to verify identity. The industry widely relies on OTP authentication, which has been effective according to data from Auriemmas Card Fraud Control Roundtable when an OTP is triggered, on average 8 out of 10 customers are able to authenticate successfully. Moreover, 77% of card issuers indicated that OTP technology was being utilized for enhanced authentication of risky monetary transactions (primarily high-dollar purchases), and 70% utilize OTP as an added verification step for questionable non-monetary transactions, such as adding a supplementary cardholder. Card issuers operate under the baseline assumption that usernames and passwords have been compromised in recent data breaches, making MFA a critical component of the customers authentication journey, said Ira Goldman, Senior Director of Auriemmas Fraud Control Roundtables. Because of its widespread usage, fraudsters are looking for any perceived vulnerability to exploit within OTP verification. Indeed, OTP verification has some vulnerabilities. SMS and email are the predominant OTP delivery channels. With billions of email addresses compromised across several large-scale breaches, email is considered the riskier channel and its popularity has dropped, with only approximately 50% of issuers verifying OTP via email. And while SMS is being leveraged by all issuers, sophisticated fraudsters can still gain illegitimate access to SMS-based OTP via number porting and SIM swap tactics. Consequently, it is crucial to use sufficiently tenured mobile numbers along with third-party vetting to establish credibility prior to OTP delivery. The latest challenge has been the uptick in fraudsters directly targeting customers to obtain the OTP. To achieve this, criminals impersonate a customers bank, issuer, or even law enforcement to trick them into disclosing the OTP. As a countermeasure, issuers are beefing up awareness campaigns warning customers about fraudsters tactics and steps to evade them. In response to fraudsters increasing sophistication, lenders are currently exploring new verification tools that involve greater utilization of biometrics e.g., voice and facial recognition, and passive authentication elements e.g., keystroke patterns and browsing speed. In addition to enhanced security, biometric authentication also alleviates the customer friction challenges that accompany OTP verification. Fraudsters continue to demonstrate sophistication and flexibility to overcome authentication hurdles, emphasizing the need for the industry to develop better mousetraps, Goldman said. About Auriemma Roundtables Auriemmas Card Fraud Control and Bank Fraud Control Roundtables provide members with access to industry expertise and best practices to stay ahead of fraud trends and improve fraud mitigation via actionable insights. About Auriemma Group Auriemma Groups mission is to give clients access to data and intelligence that drive decision-making. We provide information and advisory services in four areas: co-brand partnerships, consumer research, corporate finance, and operational intelligence. Founded in 1984, Auriemma serves the consumer finance industry from our offices in New York City and London. For more information, visit us at http://www.auriemma.group or call Ira Goldman at (212) 323-7000. OCS Pocket Guide to the US Constitution Our hope is that new service members will carry this pocket guide with them to learn about the document that embodies the noble ideals and principles that safeguard our liberties. Our Community Salutes (OCS) announced today it will honor more than 3,000 military-bound high school seniors across the US with a gift of The United States Constitution and Fascinating Facts About It, a new OCS pocket guide to the US Constitution. The pocket guides will be presented to enlistees at their 2019 OCS High School Senior Enlistee Recognition Ceremonies being conducted throughout the country this spring. OCS is the only national non-profit organization to recognize and honor high school seniors (and their parents) who plan to enlist in the military immediately after high school graduation. Since 2009, OCS has honor more than 30,000 high school seniors, at more than 300 ceremonies, in 25-plus States. The 96-page pocket guide contains the entire text of the Constitution, Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence, along with interesting insights into the men who wrote the Constitution. In many ways, the documents contained in the OCS pocket guide are the blueprints for the freedoms we enjoy in the United States freedoms that would not be possible without the commitment of young enlistees to serve our nation, said Dr. Kenneth Hartman, former US Army officer and founder and president of Our Community Salutes. Our hope is that new service members will carry this pocket guide with them to learn about the document that embodies the noble ideals and principles that safeguard our liberties. We cannot expect these young patriots to uphold the solemn oath they have taken to support and defend the US Constitution if they know little about it, said Hershel Woody Williams, World War II Medal of Honor Recipient. The OCS US Constitution pocket guide puts the document right in their hands, creating a meaningful connection to it and an understanding of why its worth defending. Fellow Medal of Honor Recipient and Navy SEAL Edward Byers Jr., who himself enlisted in the Navy after high school, added, I cant think of a better gift to give a new service member. I plan to carry my copy with me at all times. More information about the OCS US Constitution Pocket Guide initiative, visit: http://www.ourcommunitysalutes.org/get-involved/constitution/. About Our Community Salutes Founded in 2009, Our Community Salutes is a non-profit organization that recognizes and honors high school seniors (and their parents/guardians) who plan to enlist into the military immediately after high school graduation. Learn more about Our Community Salutes at OurCommunitySalutes.org. Surveys also show that almost 50% of customers are increasingly using digital channels and expect consistent and real-time responses. Nashua, NH, April 10, 2019 Its no secret that customer experience is todays competitive edge. In fact, almost 90 percent of companies expect to compete on the basis of customer experience (CX) in the next two years, according to analyst firm Gartner. Surveys also show that almost 50 percent of customers are increasingly using digital channels and expect consistent and real-time responses. Therefore, its imperative for every company to provide a seamless experience across the various channels whether a customer is using a phone, website or a voice activated device to communicate with a brand. Unfortunately, not all companies can walk the walk of delivering positive and on-demand customer experience. But Panviva with its customer experience platform is changing the CX landscape. It will be demonstrating its technology for the first time in Canada at the Customer Experience Strategies Summit. So, please stop by our booth to learn how Panvivas technology drives the omnichannel experience in todays digital era. See how the software can revitalize your customer engagement strategy and boost business growth. WHAT: Meet the team. Discover Panviva. Learn about its innovative CX offerings. WHERE: Customer Experience Strategies Summit, Hyatt Regency, Toronto, ON. Panviva Booth: #6 WHEN: April 16 and 17, 2019 CONTACT: To schedule a one-on-one meeting at the conference, please contact: Steve Pappas at spappas@panviva.com or Parna Sarkar-Basu at parna@brandandbuzzmarketing.com. About Panviva: Panviva is a content and knowledge-management (KM) system providing on-demand, real-time answers that solve customers most immediate problems. Panviva organizes and manages contentpolicies, procedures, technical documentation, FAQsinto simple bites of information that customers can easily understand and customer service reps can easily explain. Panviva provides a better experience for customers because they receive the help they need from customer service reps faster. It provides a better experience for employees because they have confidence that the information they are providing is current, accurate and timelyallowing for more time spent caring for the customer rather than hunting for information. Learn more at http://www.panviva.com. As a local firm here in Miami/Dade we plan to release hundreds of valuable rare coins into circulation locally and hope collectors and future collectors will check their change for valuable coins, said Bob Green, President and CEO of Park Avenue Numismatics. The Great American Coin Hunt (http://www.GreatAmericanCoinHunt.com) began as an idea between a few coin dealers and within just a few days has become a viral, grassroots campaign that tens of thousands of numismatic enthusiasts are planning to participate in. Planned for National Coin Week in late April 2019, the Great American Coin Hunt is a plan for hundreds of coin dealers and collectors to drop over one million vintage and collectible coins back into circulation. The idea is to spark interest in numismatics to a brand new demographic. From old buffalo nickels, silver mercury dimes to Ike dollars, silver certificates, five and ten dollar blue and red seals will be spent at restaurants, gas stations and grocery stores from April 21-27, 2019. Many coins from the 1800s will also be spent as regular money. Goals: Inspire a new generation of coin collectors and dealers. From kids to adults, we will make searching your coins fun again. Increase traffic to local Mom and Pop coin shops. To gain national media attention to our hobby and profession. This is the first time that there has been a concerted effort on a national level to organize such an event. It is being called the biggest coin drop in American history. In many cases, this is going to be the first time in over one hundred years that some of these coins will be brought back to their glory and used for their originally intended purposes. I hope that we can inspire children into studying the art, science, history, and economics that make coin collecting so much fun, says Rob Oberth, organizer of the Great American Coin Hunt. As a local firm here in Miami/Dade we plan to release hundreds of valuable rare coins into circulation locally and hope collectors and future collectors will check their change for valuable coins, said Bob Green, President and CEO of Park Avenue Numismatics. The organizers will also be releasing 250 specially marked holographic medallions. If these medallions are found, treasure hunters will be able to redeem them for actual numismatic rarities at participating coin shops across the US. Additionally, five Golden Tickets will be distributed. When these specially marked medallions are found, the lucky treasure hunters can redeem them for truly rare coins valued up to $1000 each by contacting http://www.GreatAmericanCoinHunt.com!! The United States Mint is running a similar program to release a low mintage of only 2 million of each of the 2019 W America The Beautiful quarters into circulation. A first in the Mints 227 year history. We want to encourage Americans to consider coin collecting by making the W mint mark quarters only available in general circulation, said U.S. Mint Director David Ryder. Were fortunate to be able to feature the W mint mark quarters at the same time dealers around the nation are mounting a similar effort to celebrate and promote the hobby of numismatics. https://www.usmint.gov/news/inside-the-mint/mint-releases-first-ever-w-quarters-into-circulation How will we distribute coins? Grocery store, bank, restaurant and gas station managers will be key to help distribute large numbers. Everyday spending and scattering will be a great way to get coins out. We have heard some participants will not be using their credit cards or modern cash all week. Dropping coins in high traffic areas like airports, train stations, malls and town squares. The map. Many participants have already begun to post grocery stores, gas stations and restaurants where they intend on spending their coins on our ZeeMap. Not all stores will be posted. There will be a lot of people participating in this and we feel that only a small percentage will actually post on the map. Map is below. https://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=3295239 For more information, please visit http://www.GreatAmericanCoinHunt.com The History of National Coin Week The history of National Coin Week began in 1923, when American Numismatic Association Governor Julius Guttag suggested to the association's President, Moritz Wormser, that a week-long event should be established to attract the general public to our hobby and consequently increase our membership, and aid in our science. That December, the first announcement of a Coin Week was made in The Numismatist and scheduled for the week of February 9-16, 1924. About Park Avenue: Established in 1988, Park Avenue Numismatics has bought, sold and handled over One Billion in PCGS and NGC certified rare coins and precious metals and currently offers more than a $20 million inventory via internet website http://www.parkavenumis.com. The firm specializes in PCGS and NGC certified rare coins and precious metals working directly with collectors and investors worldwide. Park Avenue has handled some of the finest known examples in all areas of Numismatics, now with offices in Miami, FL, Office hours are 9am-5pm Monday-Friday Contact-Toll Free 800-992-9881. The talks took place right after the welcome ceremony in the afternoon. The Vietnamese PM assured Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte that Vietnam always values the strengthening of ties with the Netherlands, one of the European Union (EU) partners of top importance to Vietnam. Rutte, for his part, said he is impressed by Vietnams socio-economic achievements over the past five years. He spoke highly of Vietnams improving stature on regional and global scenes with the successful hosting of major international events, including the second DPRK-US summit. He affirmed that the Dutch government and business community want to continue bolstering all-round ties with Vietnam, evidenced by the presence of over 70 leading Dutch firms during the visit. Commenting on the active, effective, and dynamic development of Vietnam-Netherlands friendship and cooperation, both sides said there is still room to develop bilateral ties. The Netherlands is currently Vietnams second largest European trade partner, with two-way trade at 7.8 billion USD in 2018; and its largest European investor, with the total registered capital of USD9.55 billion. Both leaders pledged to create favourable conditions for the two nations enterprises to enhance joint work in the priority fields of agriculture, marine-based and circular economy, and smart city development. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) and Dutch PM Mark Rutte at the talks (Source: VNA) They agreed on the importance of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), meeting the interests of all parties concerned. Rutte expressed his support for the early signing and ratification of the above deals, contributing to promoting trade in each market and global trade liberalisation between Vietnam and the EU member states, including Dutch companies. Host and guest expressed satisfaction with the bilateral strategic partnership in climate change adaptation and water management, as well as partnership in sustainable agriculture and food security with the launch of specific projects, considering them a focus of bilateral collaboration in the near future. On regional and global issues of shared concern, they vowed to offer close and mutual support at multilateral forums, such as the United Nations, and the ASEAN EU cooperation. The two PMs discussed the importance of the maintenance of peace, stability, security, navigation and aviation safety and freedom in the East Sea; asserted the principle of law abidance and their stance on supporting the settlement of disputes by peaceful means in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Following the talks, the leaders signed a memorandum of understanding on agriculture cooperation in the Mekong Delta between the two governments, witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement on mutual administrative support in customs and other bilateral deals. On the occasion, both sides issued a joint statement on the outcomes of the official visit by the Dutch PM. During his stay in Vietnam, the guest met Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong and National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan. In the evening the same day, the Dutch PM attended a sustainable fashion show co-organised by the Hanoi municipal Peoples Committee and the Dutch Embassy at Ly Thai To Park before flying home, concluding his visit to Vietnam./. The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi The generosity of our donors makes Phi Kappa Phis growing awards programs possible. We are enormously grateful for their commitment to the mission of the Society and for sharing their love of learning through their gifts to the Foundation, Society Executive Director Dr. Mary Todd said. The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nations oldest and most selective all-discipline collegiate honor society, today announced the publication of its 2018 Annual Report. The report, themed The Power of One, showcases a number of achievements of the past year made possible through the generosity of donors to the Phi Kappa Phi Foundation. Because of this generous support, the Society continues to refine the role we play in recognizing and promoting academic excellence. The generosity of our donors makes Phi Kappa Phis growing awards programs possible. We are enormously grateful for their commitment to the mission of the Society and for sharing their love of learning through their gifts to the Foundation, Society Executive Director Dr. Mary Todd said. This years report features a stunning design with photos and infographics, stories of Phi Kappa Phi award winners and members, chapter happenings and much more. Highlights of the 2018 Annual Report include: Stories and testimonials from winners of Phi Kappa Phi awards, including some awards given for the first time. The story of two generations of Phi Kappa Phi initiates at three universities. Highlights from the 2018 convention. Details about the winner of the $100,000 Excellence in Innovation Award. Listing of donors to the Phi Kappa Phi Foundation. To read the 2018 Annual Report, visit http://www.phikappaphi.org/annualreport. Phi Kappa Phi was founded in 1897 when Marcus L. Urann, a student, brought to his professor the idea of creating a different kind of honor societyone that recognized excellence in all academic disciplines. Today, the Society has chapters on more than 300 select campuses in the United States and the Philippines and inducts approximately 30,000 new members each year. Membership is by invitation only to the top 7.5 percent of juniors and the top 10 percent of seniors and graduate students, along with faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction. About Phi Kappa Phi Founded in 1897 at the University of Maine, Phi Kappa Phi is the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. The Societys mission is "To recognize and promote academic excellence in all fields of higher education and to engage the community of scholars in service to others." Since its founding, more than 1.5 million members have been initiated. Some of the organization's more notable members include former President Jimmy Carter, NASA astronaut Wendy Lawrence, novelist John Grisham and YouTube cofounder Chad Hurley. Each year, Phi Kappa Phi awards nearly $1 million to qualifying students and members through graduate fellowships, undergraduate study abroad grants, member and chapter awards, and grants for local and national literacy initiatives. For more information about Phi Kappa Phi, visit http://www.PhiKappaPhi.org. Pivotree The track I will chair on Omni- and Operation Excellence is going to showcase several of the best B2B digital transformation stories in the industry, from their executives strategies to their internal cultural shifts and tangible outcomes. Pivotree, provider of end-to-end commerce and MDM services, is proud to announce its sponsorship of the 2019 B2B Online Conference in Chicago, April 29th-May 1st. Pivotree CEO and ecommerce pioneer Bill Di Nardo will chair the afternoon track on day 1: Omni- and Operational Excellence. Visit Pivotree at Booth #502 to discuss B2B digital transformation needs. The annual conference brings together industry-leading software and services companies, B2B digital commerce industry experts, and forward-thinking manufacturing and wholesale brands for a 3-day event. Topics center around digital transformation of B2B companies, and in addition to educational presentations, panels, and case studies, B2B Online offers chances to network and discover new opportunities to engage customers in innovative and modern ways. We are proud to sponsor B2B Online for our second year in a row. It is a place weve seen an exceptional amount of thought leadership, innovative ideas, and companies who are willing to make strategic moves in their digital transformations in order to stay relevant and ahead of their competition, said Bill Di Nardo, CEO of Pivotree. The track I will chair on Omni- and Operation Excellence is going to showcase several of the best B2B digital transformation stories in the industry, from their executives strategies to their internal cultural shifts and tangible outcomes. It should be of interest to any leaders managing the challenges of digital transformation in an omnichannel world. With the current rate and magnitude of technological change facing B2B companies due to competition from behemoths such as Amazon, leaders in this space are making disruptive choices in order to stay relevant and in some cases, reach new heights and grow. Challenges testing this group are a tendency to be tied to legacy technology, a need for change management for both salespeople and customers, difficulty implementing high-quality PIM systems to handle their vast numbers of SKUs, and other issues unique to the relationship-based B2B ecosystem. Pivotree is helping clients mitigate these risks with their robust strategic planning processes - they capture business objectives, align them with astute technological choices, and offer enterprise-grade Commerce and MDM platform implementations and continuous improvement that ensure those objectives are met. Di Nardo will share his organizations deep industry and technology knowledge as part of his chairperson role, but he also invites B2B organizations to visit the Pivotree team at Booth #502. We see the changing landscape of commerce and what it takes to shift and adapt ahead of competitors. This changing landscape places companies at a crossroads: keep up, or get left behind. We want to talk to organizations facing this challenge and understand what their objectives are so we can help guide them along the right path, finished Di Nardo. Visit https://b2bmarketing.wbresearch.com/ to learn more about B2B Online. About Pivotree Pivotree is a leading Global Commerce Services Provider. It is the only end-to-end vendor supporting clients from strategy, platform selection, deployment, and hosting through to ongoing support: a single expert resource to help companies succeed in an ever-changing digital commerce landscape. Pivotree solutions start with reliable, world-class Commerce and MDM platforms fitting a variety of client needs, situations, and budgets. Pivotree is a trusted partner to over 200 market-leading brands and forward-thinking B2C and B2B companies, including many Fortune 1000. With offices and customers in the Americas, EMEA, and APAC, Pivotree is widely recognized as a high-growth company and industry leader around the globe. For more information, visit http://www.pivotree.com. Having a sense of whats working and whats not helps companies decide where to focus their efforts in implementing the appropriate benefit solutions. A long-time presenter at the annual LBG Advisors Benefits Symposium, Tom Doney of Cypress Benefit Administrators has been invited to share one of four Super Sessions at the 2019 event in April. Doney, the president and CEO of Cypress, a Lucent Health company, will present Lessons Learned: What We Know About the Effort to Control Health Costs, the Opportunities that Work and How the Government is Involved on April 24 in Las Vegas. In this timely, information-filled session, hell cover the wave of cost containment programs from reference-based pricing (RBP) to cancer management and patient decision support that have entered the market over the last several years with the aim to help health plans save money. Doney will explain which solutions his clients are having success with and the kind of results theyve had in reducing plan costs. Hell also touch on the current health care debates occurring across the country and discuss the challenges that lie ahead for employers as the costs of care keep going up. As health plans must continue to adapt to rising care costs, its extremely helpful for employers to hear about the real-world results being achieved with cost containment programs, Doney said. Having a sense of whats working and whats not helps companies decide where to focus their efforts in implementing the appropriate benefit solutions. Doney brings a unique perspective to the topic of cost containment as Cypress has been able to limit annual health plan cost increases for its clients to an average of just 1.44% in the last six years as compared to 6.2% nationally. In 2017, Cypresss average plan increase was only .69%. The LBG Advisors Benefits Symposium will run from April 24-26 at the Bellagio. Opening with a keynote session on the impact of innovation and technology in benefits and four Super Sessions to follow, the Symposium will cover a wide range of topics over three days, including: Specialty drugs and copay assistance Establishing a healthcare trust Going back to the basics of healthcare The evolution of RBP Personalized medicine for employees Online enrollment HSAs and retirement Transparency and outpatient medical tourism Member engagement Risk management with self-funding This conference has really evolved into one that shares the pulse of whats happening in the world of employee benefits, said Jason Jakobsen, senior benefits consultant with LBG Advisors. With such a strong line-up of presenters and sessions this year, were excited to introduce attendees to the latest benefits innovations, tools and strategies. About Cypress Benefit Administrators Cypress Benefit Administrators, a Lucent Health company, has been pioneering the way toward cost containment in self-funded health benefits since 2000. Privately held and headquartered in Appleton, Wis., the third party administrator (TPA) is the countrys first to bring claims administration, consumer driven health plans and proven cost control measures together into one package for companies ranging from 50 employees to thousands of employees. It serves employer-clients across the U.S. with additional locations in Portland and Salem, OR, Omaha, NE and Denver, CO. For more information on Cypress and its customized employee benefits, visit http://www.cypressbenefit.com. About LBG Advisors LBG Advisors, LLC is a boutique financial services and employee benefits firm whose professionals provide sophisticated solutions and superior service to corporate and private clients. As a member firm of Benefits Partners, LBG Advisors draws upon the strength of a national back office while remaining an independent, locally owned firm. Its team of professionals specialize in creative strategies and providing the appropriate products and services to clients without bias. "In a relative short period of time, Prorize has made a big difference to our bottom line" Rune Petersen, CCO, Pelican Self Storage Prorize, a global leader in dynamic pricing solutions, today announced that it has successfully deployed its Pricing AI Platform for the self-storage industry in Europe, partnering with Pelican Self Storage, the leading owner and operator of self storage facilities in Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Pelican first considered a more science-driven approach to their pricing strategy in 2017. At the time, hiring a US based firm didnt seem an obvious choice, explained Rune Petersen, Chief Commercial Officer: The territory where we operate is very different from the US. Not only that, there are also many differences between our three countries in terms of demographics, competitive factors and economic conditions. At the end, we decided to partner with Prorize because of their capabilities in demand forecasting, their knowledge in pricing science, and their specialization in self-storage; and in retrospect, were so glad we did. In a relatively short period of time, Prorize has made a big difference to our bottom line, added Rune Petersen at Pelican. Their pricing software and consultants helped us increase occupancy significantly and revenue to levels weve never experienced across our three countries. Furthermore, the Prorize software solution and their consultants have made it possible for us to free up important pricing resources internally. I would definitely recommend Prorize to any European operator looking to create efficiency in their pricing decisions and maximize revenue. Were excited to expand our operations internationally, said Ahmet Kuyumcu, Founder and CEO of Prorize. Pelican has been a great partner, and in many ways our team has become an extension of their pricing team, making joint decisions about best pricing and promotion strategies. We look forward to further expanding our footprint to other markets across the world in 2019. Prorizes award-winning solution for the self-storage industry consists of three interrelated modules for mature or stable stores, lease up stores, and rent increases for existing customers. Taken together, they look at current inventory, seasonality, transactional data, market trends as input for advanced forecasting models, which tell clients the optimum price for each unit. About Prorize Prorize is a global leader in revenue management solutions. Winner of the worlds top prize for advanced analytics, the Franz Edelman Award, Prorizes proprietary software and pricing consultants help clients capture maximum revenue from their assets. Prorizes data driven approach focuses on providing value through mutually beneficial transactions and optimum price points allowing for sustainable and profitable growth of the enterprise. About Pelican Self Storage Pelican Self Storage is a leading Nordic brand with 30 locations throughout Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Pelican Self Storage was founded in Denmark in 2009 by Nordic Real Estate Partners (NREP) with funding from M3 Capital Partners in London. Pelicans goal is to create a chain of high quality, high service storage locations in the Nordic countries situated around the capital areas. The groundbreaking work weve done with Google Cloud and our clients this year is pushing the capabilities of machine learning further with each application. We take pride in being a trusted partner in these incredible, business-impacting transformations. - Asif Hasan, co-founder of Quantiphi Quantiphi today announced that it has received the 2018 Google Cloud Global Machine Learning Partner of the Year award. This award was presented at the Google Cloud Next 19 Partner Summit in San Francisco. It is the second consecutive year that Quantiphi has won this award. Quantiphi, a Google Cloud Premier Partner, was recognized for the companys achievements in the Google Cloud ecosystem. The Quantiphi teams work helps joint customers leverage machine learning to make their products smarter, create unified customer experiences and automate key processes. At the same time, Quantiphi helps customers to uncover and address anomalies, threats and risks that will help make their businesses safer. For one healthcare provider, Quantiphi machine learning models enabled better region-of-interest identification in CT scans, reducing critical decision-making time from days to seconds. In addition, Quantiphi is helping marketers drive significant new customer acquisition and retention, manufacturers optimize operating efficiencies, and technology providers add new capabilities to their platforms to streamline user experiences and response times. It is an incredible honor for Quantiphi to be named the Google Cloud Global Machine Learning Partner of the Year, for the second year in a row, said Asif Hasan, co-founder of Quantiphi. The groundbreaking work weve done with Google Cloud and our clients this year is pushing the capabilities of machine learning further with each application. We take pride in being a trusted partner in these incredible, business-impacting transformations. Were thrilled to recognize Quantiphi as Machine Learning Partner of the Year, said Carolee Gearhart, Vice President, Worldwide Channel Sales at Google Cloud. Quantiphi has proven their expertise in Google Cloud and has demonstrated their commitment to customer success over the past year. Were excited to keep building on our partnership with Quantiphi as more and more customers look to our ecosystem to help them succeed in the cloud. About Quantiphi Quantiphi is an award-winning applied AI and big data software and services company driven by the desire to solve transformational problems at the heart of business. Its unique approach combines deep industry experience, disciplined cloud and data-engineering practices, and cutting-edge machine-learning research to achieve quantifiable business impact. Quantiphis applications are used to create smarter products, frictionless customer experiences, autonomous processes and safer business environments in the healthcare, finance, media, insurance, retail, oil and gas, and manufacturing industries. For more on Quantiphis capabilities, visit http://www.quantiphi.com. Our solution gives them the platform upgrade they need, so they can compete with the RingCentrals and 8x8s of the world without having to change their carrier relationships. Reinvent Telecom, a provider of private-labeled unified communications and contact center as a service solutions, has launched a Bring Your Own Carrier (BYOC) program that enables its wholesale partners to use third-party origination and termination carriers with Reinvents UCaaS and CCaaS platform. BYOC, also known as BYOT, or Bring Your Own Telecom, essentially unbundles the telephony platform from the connectivity services. Reinvents BYOC Program is ideal for wholesale partners that have existing carrier relationships but have outgrown their proprietary or open-source hosted communications platforms. BYOC allows wholesale partners to upgrade their hosted UC platforms without changing carriers and having to migrate thousands of retail customer DIDs. At the same time, Reinvents BYOC Program allows partners to eliminate the expense of maintaining their UCaaS platforms and having to iterate new features to stay current in a fiercely competitive market. A lot of hosted providers have long-held relationships with bandwidth providers like Bandwidth.com, Inteliquent or Peerless to deliver VoIP services from their own softswitches, but they need a more advanced platform to deliver UC services, said David Ansehl, Director of Wholesale Channel for Reinvent. Our solution gives them the platform upgrade they need, so they can compete with the RingCentrals and 8x8s of the world without having to change their carrier relationships. Before discovering Reinvent, Shalom Moskowitz, CEO of Expectel, said his communications company was outgrowing its hosted PBX platform. Expectels platform needed to handle a greater volume of customers. And, it needed to be easier to support, rather than bogging down the companys techs with upgrades and maintenance. Its hard to grow a company under those conditions, so I was shopping for systems, but they would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, Moskowitz said. Additionally, after asking the vendors some tough questions, I learned that their systems werent redundant and robust enough for our needs. Moskowitz then explored a few wholesale service options, which turned out to be very expensive and didnt allow Expectel to bring its own carriers. That was a deal breaker because we maintain our own softswitches, and we have carrier relationships and loyalties that I dont want to disrupt, he said. After searching for a solution for 18 months and considering many different companies and platforms, Moskowitz concluded that Reinvent had the right solution at the right price. After signing up, the Expectel team visited Reinvents headquarters to train and collaborate on setting up and fine-tuning order processing for BYOC customers. Following testing and turn-up, Expectel began migrating its customers to Reinvents platform. Ive worked with a lot of companies over the years and the way Reinvent and its people operate is unique, added Moskowitz. Theyre nice people, knowledgeable and really accommodating of our needs and challenges, and that really appealed to me. Its been a refreshing experience and a true partnership. To learn more about Reinvents Wholesale Partner Program and BYOC option, visit booth #1674 at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo, April 9-12, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. About Reinvent Telecom Reinvent Telecom, a division of Saddleback Communications, operates a private-label communications platform that empowers its wholesale partners to transform their businesses into next-generation cloud-based communications service providers. Reinvent enables its wholesale partners to deliver reliable, high-quality Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), Conferencing & Collaboration, Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) and SIP trunking services. Reinvents solutions are all built on the proven platform from Metaswitch, a global leader in communications network software technology, and backed by Saddleback Communications, a stable, profitable Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier and a wholly owned enterprise of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC). Reinvents powerful turnkey solution is managed from quote to compensation through its proprietary Reinvent Partner Portal (RPP), enabling its wholesale partners to generate revenue quickly and build a successful cloud voice business while keeping full ownership and control of their customers. For more information, visit us http://www.reinventtelecom.com or call 855.455.7346. RGD Consulting Engineers (RGD) is pleased to announce the addition of Michael Tripp, PE, LEED AP to RGDs Leadership Team in Orlando, FL. As the Senior Electrical Engineer for the Orlando office, Michael is responsible for project management and the oversite of the electrical engineering department for the Orlando Office. This hire is a critical part of RGDs comprehensive plan to expand its Orlando office operations. Michael grew up on a construction site starting with his fathers general contracting company, transitioning into consulting engineering immediately after graduating from the University of Central Florida in 1986. Most recently, and prior to joining RGD Consulting Engineers, Michael managed the Central Florida electrical engineering department for a large international consulting engineering firm for over 20 years. During that period, he has provided electrical and low voltage engineering services for some of the largest and most complex projects in the region. Michael Tripp will be the projects electrical engineer of record. We are extremely excited to have Michael join our RGD family. His experience on large scale projects coupled with his leadership skills will allow us to service our large-scale projects in the Central Florida region says Robert Davenport PE, LEED AP, Principal Engineer and Founder. About RGD Consulting Engineers (RGD): Established in 1988 by Robert Davenport, P.E., RGD has rapidly expanded over the years by delivering exceptional service; earning it a reputation as a highly dependable engineering firm. RGD provides a complete range of Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Fire Protection and Structural Engineering Services through a highly experienced Engineering & Project Management team fully complying to time, cost and quality requirements of projects. RGD has locations in Jupiter, Orlando and Naples, Florida. Learn more about RGD at http://www.rgdengineers.com. RGD Consulting Engineers office locations are as follows: Orlando: 4901 Vineland Road, Suite 335 Orlando, Florida 32811 Phone (407) 845-6630 Headquarters: 2151 S. Alt. A1A, Suite 2000 Jupiter, Florida 33477 Phone (561) 743-0165 RGD Consulting Engineers (RGD) is pleased to announce the addition of Michael Thompson to RGDs Leadership Team in Orlando, FL. As the Vice President of Operations, Michael is responsible for project management, business development, client relations and overall day to day operations of our Central Florida region. The hire is a critical part of RGDs comprehensive plan to expand its Orlando office operations. Michael started his career in 1983 working for design -build /turnkey mechanical contractors on large industrial and commercial projects located across the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast United States. Most recently, and prior to joining RGD Consulting Engineers, Michael opened the Central Florida MEP engineering business unit for a large international consulting engineering firm and managed it for 25 years. During that period, he led the MEP engineering efforts for some of the largest and most complex projects in the region. Mr. Thompson prides himself as a client-focused, hands on manager that consistently delivers creative engineering solutions to projects, while maintaining continuous project engagement starting with project inception, throughout design and construction, and into the post occupancy period. We are extremely excited to have Michael join our RGD family. His depth of knowledge and leadership skills coupled with his ability to develop and foster relationships will allow us to service our growing client base in Central Florida, says Robert Davenport PE, LEED AP, Principal Engineer and Founder. About RGD Consulting Engineers (RGD): Established in 1988 by Robert Davenport, P.E., RGD has rapidly expanded over the years by delivering exceptional service; earning it a reputation as a highly dependable engineering firm. RGD provides a complete range of Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Fire Protection and Structural Engineering Services through a highly experienced Engineering & Project Management team fully complying to time, cost and quality requirements of projects. RGD has locations in Jupiter, Orlando and Naples, Florida. Learn more about RGD at http://www.rgdengineers.com. RGD Consulting Engineers office locations are as follows: Orlando: 4901 Vineland Road, Suite 335 Orlando, Florida 32811 Phone (407) 845-6630 Headquarters: 2151 S. Alt. A1A, Suite 2000 Jupiter, Florida 33477 Phone (561) 743-0165 SCRI Logo AOCs favorability is a plus 19 in a district where two-thirds of votes are Democrats, said Siena College Research Institute Director Don Levy. Among Democrats her favorability soars to 65 percent and moves even higher to 79 percent among self-described liberals. Although it is very early, with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a positive 52-33 percent favorability rating among voters of her district nearly three months into her first term in Congress, and 48 percent of all voters and 61 percent of Democrats would vote to re-elect Ocasio-Cortez in 2020 while 39 percent would prefer someone else, according to a new Siena College poll of New York CD 14 registered voters released today. Fifty-seven percent of CD 14 voters think it was bad for New York that Amazon cancelled its plans to build a new headquarters in Queens while 32 percent say it was good for New York, and by 58-35 percent, voters in CD 14, which includes sections of both Queens and the Bronx, support Governor Cuomos efforts to woo Amazon to reconsider its decision. When it comes to politics, only 25 percent of voters in Ocasio-Cortezs district would describe themselves as a Democratic Socialist while 70 percent prefer describing themselves in some other way. Still, overwhelming majorities are in favor of Medicare for all, free tuition at public universities across the country, a federal guarantee of a job that pays a living wage, banning assault weapons and taxing incomes above $10 million at rates of 60 percent or more. The Green New Deal garners the support of 41 percent of Ocasio-Cortezs constituents with 20 opposed and 38 percent indicating that they dont know enough about it. AOCs favorability is a plus 19 in a district where two-thirds of votes are Democrats, said Siena College Research Institute Director Don Levy. Among Democrats her favorability soars to 65 percent and moves even higher to 79 percent among self-described liberals. Although it is very early, with nearly half of all voters and 61 percent of Democrats saying that they would vote to re-elect Ocasio-Cortez in 2020, she may be in position to represent this district for at least another term. Led by the Democratic majority in the district, voters strongly support much of the legislation that Ocasio-Cortez is advocating, Levy said. About three-quarters of all voters and over 80 percent of Democrats are in favor of free tuition at public colleges across the country, banning assault weapons, a federal guarantee of a job that pays a living wage and Medicare for all. By two-to-one they support The Green New Deal with Democrats at five-to-one although almost 40 percent do not have enough information about it in order to say. A majority oppose repealing and replacing Obamacare and a small majority would support impeaching the President. Attitudes towards Representative Ocasio-Cortez in CD 14 A majority of her constituents, 52 percent have a favorable opinion of Representative Ocasio-Cortez while 33 percent view her unfavorably. Two-thirds of Democrats view her favorably while nearly three-quarters of Republicans have an unfavorable view of Ocasio-Cortez. Overall, Ocasio-Cortez has a positive 47-42 percent job approval rating with Democrats grading her at 59-32 percent and Republicans at 17-74 percent. Nearly half of all voters, 48 percent, and 61 percent of Democrats are prepared at this point to re-elect Ocasio-Cortez, while 39 percent of all voters, 78 percent of Republicans, but only 27 percent of Democrats prefer someone else. AOC has jumped onto the front pages and certainly has attained household name status in her district, Levy said. Nearly two-thirds say that they are following the coverage of their freshman representative closely and while only one in seven have no opinion about her, favorable or unfavorable, Joe Crowley after 10 terms remains unknown to nearly 40 percent of voters. Fifty-nine percent of voters say that they are proud to have Ocasio-Cortez representing the district and 61 percent agree that while many of her ideas on the economy, climate or healthcare may not become law soon, they think she is moving us towards a more fair and just society, Levy said. But some have their doubts. Forty percent agree while 51 percent disagree that Ocasio-Cortez is simply too inexperienced to be their representative, and voters are nearly evenly divided as to whether her ideas are too radical, too far to the left with 43 percent saying that she is too radical and 47 percent saying that she is not, Levy said. And while Ocasio-Cortez has described herself as a Democratic Socialist, only a quarter of her district, a third of Democrats and 44 percent of liberals are willing to do the same. The district breaks with Ocasio-Cortez on the Amazon deal. Fifty-seven percent say that Amazon canceling was bad for New York and 58 percent would like the deal revived. Even in the Queens area of the district, over half say losing the deal was bad and 54 percent would like it revived, Levy said. This Siena College Poll of NY 14 was conducted March 31- April 4, 2019 by telephone calls conducted in English and Spanish to 607 New York CD 14 registered voters. Respondent sampling was initiated by asking for the youngest male in the household. It has an overall margin of error of +/- 4.3 percentage points including the design effects resulting from weighting. Sampling was conducted via a stratified dual frame probability sample of landline and cell phone telephone numbers (both L-2 Voter file) from within New York CD 14. Data was statistically adjusted by age, party by county, race/ethnicity by county, and gender to ensure representativeness. The Siena College Research Institute, directed by Donald Levy, Ph.D., conducts political, economic, social and cultural research primarily in NYS. SCRI, an independent, non-partisan research institute, subscribes to the American Association of Public Opinion Research Code of Professional Ethics and Practices. For more information, call Don Levy at (518) 783-2901 or (518) 944-0482. For survey cross-tabs: http://www.Siena.edu/SCRI/SNY. Social Media 23 reduces the hiring risk associated with embarrassing or problematic social media behavior. -Alan Medders, Social Media 23 Social Media 23 has launched their permission-based, software-driven social media screening service designed to reduce the risk of hiring managers and HR professionals making a bad hire. By mitigating social media risk organizations can reduce cost, protect their reputation, and prevent brand damage. In the past, background screening ignored social media. While candidates were vetted in many areas, social media was not one, reports Alan Medders, one of the founders of Social Media 23 (SM23) and Higher Education Leadership Search (HELS). We became aware of the screening gap at HELS and resorted to manual screening that was cumbersome and required a lot of time and effort. We needed a better solution for social media screening, so we developed an intelligent, software-based solution. Social Media 23 partnered with the College of Computer Science and College of Business at the University of Alabama Huntsville to develop this patent-pending software that allows for an in-depth screening of candidates social media platforms. This solution now available through SM23 uses a permission-based approach to go beyond publicly available social media activity. The persons social media history is categorized and scored. The software groups material into five categories: Guns and Violence, Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, Drugs and Alcohol, and Obscenity. The hiring organization is shielded from the actual social media posts, and potential claims of bias, because the SM23 solution returns a report scoring the social media activity based on sentiment, not the actual content (unless otherwise requested). The score indicates the risk associated with the candidate in the categories of social media activity and can be compared against others in the same organization or externally against similar positions or general populations. Medders states, The score and comparison provide a measure of risk, which may be an element of the hiring decision. If two equal candidates are available, but one has much higher social media risk scores, the hiring manager may decide the less risky candidate is preferred. All candidate scores reviewed by the software are aggregated to develop a national average as well as one for the organization for internal and external comparison, added Medders. Besides individual candidate social media screening, the company is also piloting social media monitoring, a solution for the on-going screening of an organizations employees or college/university student-athlete social media behavior. About Social Media 23 Social Media 23 is the only permission-based social media evaluation service that allows hiring decision-makers to move forward with candidates secure in the knowledge that social media risk has been measured and evaluated. With the candidate's permission, the software systematically reviews the content throughout the multiple categories against a customizable dictionary of potentially offensive language and behavior, develops a comprehensive score and weighs the social media history of a candidate. An analyst then evaluates the report for accuracy and context. Social Media 23 offers social media screening, continuous monitoring, and social media policy consulting. Her first book, A Kindness I Will Never Forget, is a memoir chronicling her journey from when she became a widow at 33 years old. Chat by Stream I believe the future of cloud computing is serverless combined with APIs to power various components of apps., said Thierry Schellenbach, CEO and Co-Founder of Stream. Stream, the leading provider of activity and news feed technology, today announces the release of its second product, Chat by Stream, an API for adding messaging to your application. https://getstream.io/chat/ Streams activity feed technology powers the feeds for over 500 million end users. Brands such as NBC Sports, Product Hunt, Dubsmash, Powerschool and Bandsintown rely on Streams products. Built upon the same foundational structure as Streams feed technology, Stream Chat leverages Go, RocksDB and Raft to provide an enterprise grade chat and messaging solution. Chat by Stream provides front end development components, greatly reducing the time to market to add messaging to an application. Stream chat also features a beautiful UI kit for 5 out of the box use case configurations: Social Messenger Team Commerce Livestream Gaming Chat by Stream also comes out of the box with advanced features like muting/banning users, slash commands, rich URL preview and embedded videos/images, threaded conversations, built in customizable reactions, advanced AI moderation, search and many more. I believe the future of cloud computing is serverless combined with APIs to power various components of apps," said Thierry Schellenbach, CEO and Co-Founder of Stream. One of our customers leveraged serverless plus Streams APIs to build a Facebook competitor in days; its incredible to see how fast teams can move with this technology. Originally founded in Amsterdam, Stream participated in the Techstars accelerator 4 years ago and is now headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. The company discussed the benefits of their dual country setup. Having a presence in both Amsterdam and Boulder allows us to offer round the clock support to our customers. The ability to attract top quality engineering talent in Amsterdam is also amazing, making this a perfect arrangement for a cloud computing startup like Stream, said Tommaso Barbugli, CTO and Co-Founder of Stream. Chat by Stream is positioned to have explosive growth in applications around the world. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, said in a post on his Facebook profile that within a few years direct messaging would dwarf discussion on the traditional, open platform of Facebooks news feed, where public posts can go viral across the world. Chat by Stream is currently in beta. The product is still in its early days, though many customers are choosing Stream over older providers in the market. The ability to have a single provider of both feed and chat technology, which shares user profiles and provides consistent, easy to use APIs has been a huge advantage. The dozen plus companies that participated in the closed beta all appreciated the pricing transparency and real time support they received directly from the Stream development team during testing. Rendering of the expanded Tabby's Place, including Quinn's Corner Quinns Corner will be a one-of-a-kind haven for cats with nowhere to turn: those afflicted with feline leukemia virus, or FeLV. Fifteen years ago, Tabbys Place changed the world for cats, welcoming felines from the most hopeless situations. Theyre about to do it again, kicking off their first Capital Campaign. The Capital Campaign will support Tabbys Places first expansion since opening in 2003. This long-awaited dream is possible thanks to a generous donor working with the Community Foundation of New Jersey and inspired by an extraordinary cat, Quinn. This Capital Campaign is a unique opportunity for cat lovers to invest in changing the world for cats. Expanding Tabbys Place from 7,100 to 12,000 square feet, Quinns Corner will be a one-of-a-kind haven for cats with nowhere to turn: those afflicted with feline leukemia virus, or FeLV. A poorly understood disease, FeLV has long been considered a death sentence for cats. (FeLV is contagious among cats, but not to humans or other animals.) FeLV+ cats are typically euthanized at animal shelters and even at veterinary offices. Quinns Corner at Tabbys Place will be a true haven of hope. In addition to providing sanctuary for up to 50 additional cats, the expansion will change the future for all FeLV+ cats. By nurturing FeLV+ cats with the best care, all in a cage-free, world-class environment, Tabbys Place will champion the value of their lives. In addition, Quinn's Corner provides a unique opportunity to understand the disease, improving treatment, care and outcomes for FeLV+ cats beyond the walls of Tabbys Place. Reaching out in love to FeLV+ felines has long been a dream at Tabbys Place. But its only becoming reality thanks to a courageous kitten named Quinn and her deeply generous mom. Found face-down in the snow as a kitten, Quinn came to Tabbys Place in the arms of a Good Samaritan in 2015. But devastating news lurked in the little ones blood: Quinn tested positive for FeLV. Unequipped to house FeLV+ cats, the sanctuary scrambled to create Quinn a private suite, where her fragile immune system would be protected, and other cats would not be exposed to the virus. One extraordinary day, a visitor arrived seeking to adopt a cat who needed hospice care, specifically requesting the neediest cat. In what felt like a miracle, Quinn had a home. But the miracle had only begun. Several months after Quinns adoption, bloodwork showed no trace of the feline leukemia virus. A growing team of veterinary specialists were mystified, as this just doesnt happen. Doctors cautioned that Quinn would likely test positive again in the near future. But, four years later, the once-fragile kitten is a robust, joyful, perfectly plump adult, free from FeLV. Quinns astonishing life inspired her adopter already a hero for embracing the neediest hospice kitten to seek to turn the world right-side-up for FeLV+ cats. She approached Tabbys Place with an extraordinary offer: to fund the creation of a haven for FeLV+ cats, all for the love of Quinn. The Community Foundation of New Jersey worked with Quinns adopter to fine-tune her goals, create a philanthropic fund to support the work, and ensure both steady funding and continued impact. Quinns adopter has funded the majority of the required construction and initial operational costs, but caring for FeLV+ cats is costly. Generous additional support is needed to make Quinns Corner sustainable. If cat lovers rally around Quinns Corner generously enough, the expansion will also include a world-class nursery for kittens, and several improvements for all the cats in Tabbys Places care. The Capital Campaign for Quinns Corner is a landmark moment for serious cat lovers. To be part of this unprecedented adventure, and to fund a flourishing future for FeLV+ cats, visit https://www.tabbysplace.org/expansion-announcement/. For additional information, please contact Tabbys Place Development Director Angela Hartley at ah@tabbysplace.org or 908-237-5300 ext 235. Supporters may also mail donations, made out to Tabbys Place, to 1100 US Highway 202, Ringoes, NJ, 08551. TEDxBocaRaton Its a thrill to bring Dr. Dave Bradley back to where it all began to share the rich heritage of BRIC and his pivotal place in history, said Erik Mintz, TEDxBocaRaton organizer and former IBM engineer. Ctrl + Alt + Delete is the invention essential to billions of personal computer users, worldwide, for nearly 40 years. Not only is its inventor, Dr. Dave Bradley, a question to a final Jeopardy answer in 2002, but he is also one of the original 12 who built the personal computer. These two legacies have propelled Bradley (or Dr. Dave as many IBMers affectionately call him), into a cultural icon of sorts. Its an honor to have Dr. Dave speak at our first TEDxBocaRatonSalon event at Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRIC), the place the original PC was born, said Erik Mintz, TEDxBocaRaton organizer and former IBM engineer. Its a thrill to bring him back to where it all began to share the rich heritage of BRIC and his pivotal place in history. Bradleys invention of the Ctrl + Alt + Delete key combination is also known as the three-finger salute. He came up with the command right here in Boca Raton at the BRIC campus in 1980 (IBMs campus at that time). Hundreds gathered to hear him speak in Boca Raton Tuesday, March 26th at 8am, as he reminisced with attendees, as well as former IBM colleagues. Bradleys presentation The History of the PC took a historic walk down memory lane that included rare video footage with Bill Gates! Bradley says hes always been surprised at his cult-like following over the years. He was simply an engineer like many others who came up with a solution to a problem. Retired from IBM since 2004, Bradley has received numerous engineering awards and will likely be immortalized as one of the Original 12 engineers responsible for building the IBM Personal Computer. This TEDxBocaRatonSalon was the first in a series of three Salons hosted at BRIC that will lead up to the main TEDxBocaRaton event at FAU on October 26, 2019. The main theme is Rethinking Relationships. Planner Info Who: David Bradley Inventor of Ctrl+ Alt + Delete When: March 26th 8am 9:30am Where: Boca Raton Innovation Campus 4920 Conference Way N, Boca Raton, FL 33431 What: Bradley presented The History of the PC at the Boca Raton Innovation Campus where his invention became a reality almost 40 years ago. About TEDxBocaRaton x = independently organized event. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.) For more information visit TEDxBocaRaton.com About TED TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or fewer) delivered by today's leading thinkers and doers. Many of these talks are given at TED's annual conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, and made available, free, on TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Sal Khan and Daniel Kahneman. TED's open and free initiatives for spreading ideas include TED.com, where new TED Talk videos are posted daily; the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as translations from thousands of volunteers worldwide; the educational initiative TED-Ed; the annual million-dollar TED Prize, which funds exceptional individuals with a "wish," or idea, to create change in the world; TEDx, which provides licenses to thousands of individuals and groups who host local, self-organized TED-style events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, which selects innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities. Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED or Instagram at https://instagram.com/ted. Moon at the Houston Museum of Natural Science Our future dreams began with Apollo. It all began on July 20, 1969, when the Apollo 11 astronauts became the first humans to see the Earth from the surface of another world. For the first time, humans defied gravity by escaping the Earth and landing on another world. Now 50 years later, the Moon is landing in Houston, and HMNS astronomers are unveiling a new planetarium adventure appropriately entitled To Defy Gravity. To highlight the lunar experience, the Museum is bringing Moon by UK artist Luke Jerram to its Alfred C. Glassell, Jr. Hall in conjunction with the new planetarium show opening on April 19. The Museums Apollo celebration focuses on the future When we see how much astronauts enjoyed being on the Moon, we know what it will be like to escape Earths gravity, explore the Moon and perhaps the whole solar system, said Dr. Carolyn Sumners, VP of Astronomy and Physics at HMNS. Our future dreams began with Apollo. Museum of the Moon Moon by Luke Jerram is a gigantic, spherical sculpture that will cover much of Glassell Halls spacious ceiling and hang just above visitors heads as they enter the permanent exhibit halls. Measuring an astounding 23 feet in diameter, Moon features detailed imagery of the lunar surface taken by NASAS Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Lunar craters, such as Tycho, the Apollo landing sites, and even the elusive far side of the moon are displayed in stunning resolution on this unique sculpture. At an approximate scale of 1:500,000, each inch of the internally lit sculpture represents 42 feet of the moons surface. The effect is a larger than life moon, hanging in space, just out of reach. Altogether, the Moon fuses lunar imagery, moonlight, and a surround sound composition created by BAFTA and Ivor Novello award winning composer Dan Jones. Moon (also named the Museum of the Moon) has toured all around the world from Dubai, to Beijing, Brussels, Melbourne, Mumbai and London. The Houston Museum of Natural Science is its first stop ever in the southern U.S. Moon by Luke Jerram will be included with regular admission to the permanent exhibit halls. An Even More Moon-mentous Celebration In tandem with the Moon installation, the Burke Baker Planetarium will also premier a new show created by HMNS astronomers, To Defy Gravitya journey that began with Apollo astronauts enjoying the low gravity moon and leading to future human adventures throughout the Solar System. This adventure begins aboard the 36-story Saturn V rocket, to Apollo 11s landing on the Sea of Tranquility, through the International Space Station, and on to the futures Gateway Space Station in lunar orbit. We land at a viable colony at the moons South Pole and capture the excitement first shared by the Apollo astronauts. To Defy Gravity then explores the other worlds in our solar system and discovers gravitys role in the energy from stars, the creation of black holes and the detection of gravity waves. To Defy Gravity opens April 19, and continues through the summer to commemorate the 24 Apollo astronauts who first defied Earths gravity. Additionally, surrounding the Moon visitors can actually touch stones of real meteorites, ejected from the moon by an impact. Below the moon, visitors can wear special goggles that immerse the viewer in a journey to the moon, including scenes of Apollo, a fly over of the International Space Station, and a futuristic lunar colony looking in all directions as the action continues. Each summer afternoon, visitors can also choose to join an Expedition Center mission to New Tranquility Base. This unique experience features a briefing, an assignment in Mission Control, and an action-packed lunar journey in the Legacy Space Simulator. Suddenly each visitor has a unique role to play in their lunar landing. On July 20, the evening of the Apollo 12 anniversary, space exploration scientist Dr. David Kring of the Lunar and Planetary Institute will give a talk using The Moon sculpture to point out the moons geologic formations, asteroid impacts and historic landing sites. The evening will conclude with a performance by WindSync, an award-winning wind quintet, who will play a piece composed by Marc Mellits to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. The Houston Museum of Natural Science begins all these lunar adventures with the April 19 installation of Moon by Luke Jerram at HMNS and the release of To Defy Gravity in the Burke Baker Planetarium. The Houston Museum of Natural Scienceone of the nations most heavily attended museumsis a centerpiece of the Houston Museum District. With four floors of permanent exhibit halls, and the Wortham Giant Screen Theatre, Cockrell Butterfly Center, Burke Baker Planetarium and George Observatory and as host to world-class and ever-changing touring exhibitions, the Museum has something to delight every age group. With such diverse and extraordinary offerings, a trip to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, located at 5555 Hermann Circle Drive in the heart of the Museum District, is always an adventure. Tyler Jack Harris has been accepted into Forbes Business Development Council, an invitation-only community for senior-level sales and business development executives. In 2014, Tyler found himself at rock bottom. After a failed marriage and failed business, he found himself broke and alone. Worst of all, he was playing the victim, ruled by fear. So, what changed? In a word- EVERYTHING. Tyler began a process he calls waging war on personal change, which started with taking ownership. He realized that he was exactly where he was supposed to be because of the actions and decisions he had made. He began attacking personal development, as he knew he would have to transform from the inside out. Some mentors came into his life around that time and gave him an opportunity to join their agency and sell life insurance. He put his head down and went to work. Over the next 3.5 years, Tyler sold over 8,000 life insurance policies, one on one, face to face. He spent over 200 nights per year in a hotel, working 16, 18, 20 hour days. Going from being completely broke to a millionaire in such a short time is where most rags to riches stories end. Tyler felt such a responsibility to pay it forward, for the blessings he had received and for having those mentors come into his life. He began documenting his life on social media in 2017, to be a light in a dark world and breathe life into others as his mentors had done for him. As with everything, Tyler went all in. He created two podcasts, a daily vlog and a weekly vlog, and created a motivational brand. He reached a weekly high reach of over 49 million people last year. With a videographer traveling with him 24/7 documenting every move, Tyler hopes to impact the lives of millions and never ask for anything in return. Tyler Jack Harris 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 Tyler Jack Harris into the community, said Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, the collective that includes Forbes Business Development Council. Our mission with Forbes Councils is to bring together proven leaders from every industry, creating a curated, social capital-driven network that helps every member grow professionally and make an even greater impact on the business world. As an accepted member of the Council, Tyler Jack Harris has access to a variety of exclusive opportunities designed to help him reach peak professional influence. He will connect and collaborate with other respected local leaders in a private forum. Tyler Jack Harris will also be invited to work with a professional editorial team to share his expert insights in original business articles on Forbes.com, and to contribute to published Q&A panels alongside other experts. Finally, Tyler Jack Harris will benefit from exclusive access to vetted business service partners, membership-branded marketing collateral, and the high-touch support of the Forbes Councils member concierge team. It is an honor and privilege for me to partner with such a pillar in the business community. My lifes mission is to make an impact on the lives of millions, and I know the Forbes Business Development Council will help me reach more and more people every month. - Tyler Jack Harris ABOUT FORBES COUNCILS Forbes Councils is a collective of invitation-only communities created in partnership with Forbes and the expert community builders who founded Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). In Forbes Councils, exceptional business owners and leaders come together with the people and resources that can help them thrive. For more information about Forbes Business Development Council, visit forbesbizdevcouncil.com. To learn more about Forbes Councils, visit forbescouncils.com. Tyler Jack Harris Media Team info(at)tylerjackharris.com http://www.tylerjackharris.com We are very excited to be in Weymouth and become a part of this vibrant community, said Greg Sawyer, Regional Manager for Henley Enterprises. As with all of our locations, we strive to be a good neighbor and do all we can to help out town residents and the business community." Henley Enterprises, Inc. celebrated the opening of its newest Valvoline Instant Oil Change location at 190 Main Street in Weymouth with a ribbon-cutting, held Thursday, April 4. The Weymouth location was a ground-up construction and marks Henley Enterprises 52nd store in New England, and 203rd store overall. This location is overseen by Store Manager Ricardo Jeannite, and currently employs eight technicians. The Weymouth store will also hold a grand opening celebration for customers on May 10 and 11, during which time all patrons will receive 50% off all oil changes, and 15% off other services. State Senator Patrick OConnor was among the guests who welcomed the Valvoline team to Weymouth. Senator OConnor read a proclamation issued by the Massachusetts State Senate, congratulating the franchisee on their newest location. Also present at the ribbon-cutting were Courtney Bjorgaard of the South Shore Chamber of Commerce and Bill Kingdon of the Weymouth Chamber of Commerce. Valvoline Instant Oil Change is known for providing a great service for busy people, with no appointment needed and 15-minute drive-through oil changes. In addition to full-service oil changes, Valvoline Instant Oil Change also offers transmission service, radiator service, headlight/taillight replacement, air filter replacement, and fuel system cleaning service. Henley Enterprises, Inc. is the largest Valvoline Instant Oil Change franchisee, and is celebrating its 30th year in business throughout 2019. We are very excited to be in Weymouth and become a part of this vibrant community, said Greg Sawyer, Regional Manager for Henley Enterprises. As with all of our locations, we strive to be a good neighbor and do all we can to help out town residents and the business community. The people of Weymouth and the South Shore have been so welcoming, and we look forward to building upon this foundation. Henley Enterprises plans to open its 53rd New England location later this spring in Falmouth. About Valvoline Instant Oil Change Valvoline, a leading supplier of premium branded lubricants and automotive services, has been serving American motorists for more than 150 years. Its operating segment, Valvoline Instant Oil Change, ranks as the #2 quick-lube chain by number of stores, with more than 1,070 company-owned and franchised locations in the U.S. Its industry-leading model delivers service you can see from experts you can trust. Visit http://www.vioc.com to learn more. Trademark, Valvoline or its subsidiaries, registered in various countries Service mark, Valvoline or its subsidiaries, registered in various countries About Henley Enterprises, Inc. Founded in 1989, Henley Enterprises, Inc. is the largest Valvoline Instant Oil Change franchisee. They operate over 190 service centers in 11 states including: California, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia. Vincodo, a leading digital agency located in Philadelphia, will be hosting a webinar, Deconstructing Facebook For ROI Success on April 11, 2019 to assist marketers on identifying best practice strategies to boost your ROI performance on Facebook and Instagram. Regardless of the buzz words, Facebook cannot change the reality that the algorithm is a publisher yield management tool which generates the highest effective CPM and most revenue for Facebook possible prioritizing Facebooks goals over that of Advertisers. According to David Waldman, VP, Client strategy & Development, In just under one hour, attendees will be provided 13 proven tactics and strategies that Vincodo has enacted on behalf of its clientele that can be implemented on any Facebook campaign...whether it be user engagement, lead generation or e-commerce sales. Like other media providers with RTB buying platforms, Facebook touts its algorithm as helping you achieve results with buzz words like: Automation, Machine Learning, AI and Optimization." Over the past three years, Advertisers have seen their CPMs soar on Facebook and Instagram. On average, CPMs have increased anywhere from 200% to 500%. This has placed increased pressure on Advertisers to find new strategies that produce improved engagement and action conversion, Tim Daly, CEO at Vincodo shares, "We are all feeling the pain of increasing CPMs on Facebook and Instagram. While Facebook has offered new functionalities to help support Advertisers to improve their ROI, more often than not these tools alone struggle to deliver the lift in performance needed to offset the increased CPM prices. Through our testing with our clients, we've uncovered numerous techniques to improve user interaction and pressure down the CPM increases." The webinar will discuss how the Facebook platform is constantly changing, how to leverage their algorithm and provide actionable tactics for changing your strategy to improve ROI performance. This event is a must attend for anyone looking to maximize their marketing potential on Facebook. This free webinar will be hosted on April 11, 2019 at 1pm EST. To register for the webinar, visit https://www.vincodo.com/about-us/news-events/webinar_041119/. About Vincodo Founded in 2010 by a group of marketing industry veterans and headquartered in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Vincodo is a boutique digital marketing strategy agency specializing in search engine marketing and optimization, lead generation & conversion (online and offline), programmatic display advertising, social media advertising, e-commerce and merchandise sales, and more. At Vincodo, senior-level experts work hands-on with businesses to develop customized plans that ensure marketing dollars are spent as effectively as possible for optimal return on investment. Their approach to sustainable growth is defined by super servicing and growing the volume of work for existing clients, rather than by constantly trying to generate new business. Vincodo works hard to not only deliver superior results every time, but also to educate their partners about the concept of multi-touch attribution and how it ensures that their marketing investments contribute to the growth of their business. Vincodo serves high profile clients nationwide. Learn more at https://www.vincodo.com/. VSee and Doctor.com Partner to Deliver Seamless Online Patient Journey VSee, a leading San Jose-based telehealth company, is partnering with Doctor.com, the leading web-wide listings management, reputation insights, universal online scheduling, and patient communications platform, to present unique new offerings for the healthcare industry. The partnership aims to create a seamless online patient journey, from search to a video telehealth visit, enabling providers to expand their practice reach. Doctor.coms platform currently serves more than 200K providers and leverages the only partner network in the industry of 50+ integrations, including Google, Bing, Yelp, Healthgrades, Vitals, YP, and other major consumer health destinations. VSee's telehealth platform offers: Rich group chatting for front desk and provider communications Virtual waiting room + patient-queuing and management Patient self-scheduling Online payments API for custom integrations Telehealth digital marketing Dr. Milton Chen, VSee CEO, says, "Currently its too much work to go from searching for a doctor to consulting with a doctor. VSee envisions a seamless experience where we can go directly from a Google or Bing search to live chatting with a doctor's front desk. From the search or live chat we can then book a telehealth appointment or do a walk-in video visit. VSee is excited about our partnership with Doctor.com to revolutionize and streamline the process of finding and seeing a doctor online." According to a Salesforce report[1], 60% of millennials support the use of telehealth visits as a replacement for in-person visits. Doctor.coms 2018 CX Trends in Healthcare report found that nearly 70% of consumers will choose one provider over another because of a strong online presence and an Accenture report found that 84% of patients use online reviews to choose a doctor. As millennials and digital natives become the dominant consumer group, telehealth will continue to grow in demand, and an online presence will become increasingly important for provider practices. VSee will be offering a Doctor.com promotion as part of its showcase at the American Telemedicine Association conference and expo[2], April 1416 in New Orleans, booth #727. About Doctor.com Doctor.com is the only complete platform built to help healthcare organizations deliver a better customer experience at every step of the patient journey. The company's industry-leading technology seamlessly integrates provider data warehousing, web-wide listings management, reputation insights, universal online scheduling, and patient communications. All of these services are enhanced by Doctor.com's integrations with the most prominent healthcare directories, search engines, social media platforms, and EHR/PM systems. As a result, thousands of healthcare organizations, including more than 200 of the countrys leading hospitals and health systems and over 30,000 private practices, have been empowered by the platform to enhance their digital presence and credibility, increase patient trust, and grow their business. About VSee VSee is the telehealth company behind NASA Space Station, Trinity, Ascension MDLIVE, and 1,200+ customers and the parent company of This American Doc medical group an Airbnb-like company for physician staffing. VSee empowers health organizations and practitioners to achieve better patient care and improved efficiency through simple, scalable telehealth. Its modular platform provides flexibility for fast customization to a wide range of workflows, from ER diversion to e-ICU to on-call specialist consults to chronic care management. Learn more at vsee.com. [1] https://www.medialogic.com/blog/healthcare-marketing/telemedicine-millennials-key-others-health/ [2] http://ata2019.org ...the TF100 has been incredibly popular with craft brewers. The compact size, the reliability of the machine, and the ability to consistently form sturdy, stackable trays make this machine a perfect match for the craft brewery market. Wexxar Bel and Roberts PolyPro, product brands of ProMach, will debut an integrated tray former and can handle applicator system at the Craft Brewers Conference 2019, April 9-11, Colorado Convention Center, Denver. The TF100 and TLHA240 work together to form trays and apply custom graphic handles that stand out on the retail shelf. The TF100 specializes in forming 4-corner trays, ideal for display in retail outlets and beer stores. With the use of servo technology for blank advancement and active compression technology, the TF100 forms up to 30 trays a minute with extreme precision and reliability, ensuring each tray is well formed to not only protect the product, but to also present and preserve the marketing and brand image when the product is presented in front of the customer. "IPAK has numerous tray formers in the beverage industry, and particularly, the TF100 has been incredibly popular with craft brewers. The compact size, the reliability of the machine, and the ability to consistently form sturdy, stackable trays make this machine a perfect match for the craft brewery market. The labor and space savings provided by the TF100 provides a quick return on investment, which is critical for smaller craft breweries," said Mike Parkinson, product manager for the IPAK tray former line at Wexxar Bel. The machine also includes many standard features important to breweries such as corrosion resistant and paint-free frame construction and safety features like interlocked guarding and outfeed tunnel guarding. Attendees will also be able to see an automatic can handle applicator, the Roberts PolyPro TLHA240, integrated with the tray former. The TLHA240 automatically picks and places can handle carriers onto beer cans, with the ability to operate continuously for almost 30 minutes before needing to replenish. The TLHA240 provides extreme flexibility with the ability to pick four 6-pack handles or six 4-pack handles and accommodate both 12oz or 16oz cans without the need for changeover. To discuss your craft brew packaging needs, see Wexxar Bel and Roberts PolyPro at the Craft Brewers Conference in Booth #8129. For more information on the TF100, visit http://www.wexxar.com. About Wexar Bel At Wexxar Bel, corrugated container packaging applications are limited only by the imagination. Our Wexxar case formers and case sealers have been installed in nearly 40 countries and consistently bring customers the lowest cost of ownership and the highest standards of safety. Wexxar also offers the BEL line of corrugated box sealers, tapers, and packing systems as well as the IPAK line of tray and bliss formers, stackers, and sealers systems. As part of the ProMach End of Line business line, Wexxar helps our packaging customers protect and grow the reputation and trust of their consumers. ProMach is performance, and the proof is in every package. Learn more about Wexxar Bel at http://www.Wexxar.com. About ProMach ProMach is a family of best-in-class packaging solution brands serving manufacturers of all sizes and geographies in the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, personal care, and household and industrial goods industries. ProMach brands operate across the entire packaging spectrum: filling and capping, flexibles, pharma, product handling, labeling and coding, and end of line. ProMach also provides Performance Services, including integrated solutions, design/build, engineering services, and productivity software to optimize packaging line design and deliver maximum uptime. ProMach designs, manufactures, integrates, and supports the most sophisticated and advanced packaging solutions in the global marketplace. Its diverse customer base, from Fortune 500 companies to smaller, privately held businesses worldwide, depends on reliable, flexible, technologically advanced equipment and integrated solutions. ProMach is headquartered near Cincinnati, Ohio, with manufacturing facilities and offices throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Europe, United Arab Emirates, and China. For more information about ProMach, visit http://www.ProMachBuilt.com. Aventura Commissioner Marc Narotsky, Aventura Commissioner Gladys Mezrahi, Prof. Yitshak Kreiss, Aventura Mayor Enid Weisman, and Michael Stern We aspire to have world impact, to heal the world, through humanitarianism and medical innovation. We are eliminating the borders of traditional hospitals through tele-medicine, and we are creating the hospital of the future Shebas internationally renowned director general Prof. Yitshak Kreiss came to Williams Island on March 27 to discuss the trailblazing innovations emanating out of Israels Sheba Medical Center and the hospitals relentless mission to advance healthcare across the globe, including in South Florida. Aventura Mayor Enid Weisman, Aventura Commissioner Gladys Mezrahi, Aventura Commissioner Marc Narotsky, and Deputy Consul-General of Israel to Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Puerto Rico Guy Gilady were among the local dignitaries who welcomed Prof. Kreiss to Williams Island. Kreiss visit took place just days after Newsweek announced Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer the largest and most comprehensive hospital in Israel and the Middle East - as one of the 10 best hospitals across the entire globe. According to Newsweek: "Sheba Medical Center-or Tel HaShomer Hospital-in Tel Aviv is a leader in medical science and biotechnical innovation, both in the Middle East and worldwide. The center's collaborations with international parties have advanced innovative medical practices, hospital systems and biotechnology. Kreiss Florida visit officially launched the opening of the American Friends of Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomers Florida office with an exclusive event to the Island Club on Williams Island, graciously hosted by Daphna Cramer and Lisa Pulver. American Friends of Sheba will help raise awareness in South Florida about Shebas incredible work around the world. Prof. Kreiss told a standing-room only crowd that the future of healthcare is limitless: We aspire to have world impact, to heal the world, through humanitarianism and medical innovation. We are eliminating the borders of traditional hospitals through tele-medicine, and we are creating the hospital of the future. Before becoming director general of Sheba, Prof. Kreiss served as Surgeon General of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) from 2011-2014. One of the qualities he's most renowned for is his expertise in crisis leadership. That expertise in crisis leadership has placed Sheba on the frontline of global humanitarian rescue missions. In fact, last week, a team of humanitarian medical experts and doctors from Sheba arrived in Beira, Mozambique to assess urgent medical and supply needs in the wake of the deadly cyclone. And just a few months ago, Sheba partnered with FAU to lead emergency management training sessions to prepare South Florida for worst-case scenarios. About Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer Born together with Israel in 1948, Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer is the largest and most comprehensive medical center in the Middle East. Sheba is the only medical center in Israel that combines an acute care hospital and a rehabilitation hospital on one campus, and it is at the forefront of medical treatments, patient care, research and education. As a university teaching hospital affiliated with the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel-Aviv University, it welcomes people from all over the world indiscriminately. For more information, visit: eng.sheba.co.il Were signing up partners throughout South America and other regions now as demand for this style of solution is growing in virtually all mining markets. Jose Eugenio Saravia, Wenco Regional Manager, Latin America Wenco International Mining Systems Ltd. (Wenco) is pleased to announce its Wencolite fleet management system (FMS) is now available to mines, quarries, and mining contractors throughout South America and around the world. Significant interest in low-overhead FMSs has prompted Wenco to make its Wencolite FMS available in Peru, Chile, Brazil, and other nations regionally and globally. Puna Operations Chinchillas project in Argentina has signed on for the first deployment of Wencolite in the region, which is currently underway. Puna Operations is a joint venture between SSR Mining and Golden Arrow Resources, formed to facilitate the development of Chinchillas and Pirquitas ore deposits. Estimated to contain over 100 million equivalent ounces of silver, the Chinchillas project resides in the Argentinian portion of the mineral-rich Bolivian tin belt. The mine currently processes 8,000 tonnes of ore per day via its open-pit operation 42 kilometres from the town of Mina Pirquitas in Jujuy Province, Argentina. To maximize efficiency and production of this ore, Chinchillas has purchased the Wencolite FMS. Long popular in Australia, this lightweight FMS delivers core mine fleet control and tracking functions production monitoring, data collection, reporting, and communication services without requiring an extensive radio network or dedicated dispatching support. This system streamlines standard mining processes, including equipment assignment and real-time data collection, giving mines the depth of control necessary to reduce operating costs, improve safety, and raise profitability. Yet, it accomplishes these tasks without needing the sometimes costly infrastructure associated with full-featured solutions. Were excited to offer the Wencolite platform here in South America as part of the global expansion of the platform, says Wenco Regional Manager, Latin America Jose Eugenio Saravia. The advantages of a system like Wencolite makes it an ideal solution for much of the mining market in South America, whether its a large-scale silver operation like Chinchillas or many of the smaller quarries we see in Brazil. Were signing up partners throughout South America and other regions now as demand for this style of solution is growing in virtually all mining markets. The low overhead associated with Wencolite FMS gives this solution flexibility to improve performance over a wide range of operating conditions like those seen throughout South America. This solution forms a key part of Wencos strategy as it expands throughout the continent, a priority territory for 2019. All sales and support for Wencolite in the region occur through Wencos office in Santiago, Chile, which has served the companys South American customers since 1997. Interested in learning more about Wencolite and other Wenco solutions? Join Saravia at MiningTech South America, running April 15 to 16, 2019, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Santiago. He is scheduled to speak on the importance of open standards for interoperability and autonomy in the future of mining, including those for low-overhead systems such as Wencolite. For more information about Wencolite and other solutions from Wenco in the meantime, please contact the following representatives: Jose Eugenio Saravia Wenco Regional Manager, Latin America info(at)wencomine.com | +56 2 3210 3811 About Wenco International Mining Systems For over 30 years, Wenco has developed technology solutions to help mining companies increase productivity. Wenco offers a suite of mine productivity solutions including Fleet Management, Asset Health, Proximity Detection, Mining Business Analytics & High Precision Machine Guidance Solutions. Wenco works closely with customers to enable them to extract unrealized value from their operations and strives to be recognized as the industry leader for reliable solutions in mine safety, productivity, and efficiency. A Hitachi company since 2009, Wenco is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi Construction Machinery, with headquarters in Vancouver, Canada. For more information, please visit http://www.wencomine.com. ### The new brand reflects the companys commitment to a unified strategy and were very bullish about the growth opportunities ahead. Vince Hodes, Chief Executive Officer of Midland Industries Midland Industries is a leading North American distributor and manufacturer of valves, fittings, hoses, couplings, and related products. We set out to build a dynamic, growth-oriented company by combining leading businesses in the industrial distribution space and leveraging best practices across the platform, said Vince Hodes, Chief Executive Officer of Midland Industries. The new name helps us better communicate our culture and broad set of capabilities to our customers. Were committed to providing a comprehensive product offering, world class service, and no-hassle ordering. Hodes added, The new brand reflects the companys commitment to a unified strategy and were very bullish about the growth opportunities ahead. About Midland Industries Midland Industries is a leading distributor and manufacturer of more than 25,000 SKUs comprises of fittings, couplings, valves, hoses, and related products. The company serves general industrial, hose, fluid power, plumbing, oil and gas, agriculture, water, truck and trailer, power transmission, original equipment manufacturers, and other end-markets. For more information, please visit: http://www.midlandindustries.com. About Wynnchurch Capital Wynnchurch Capital, LLC, headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois, with offices in California and Canada, was founded in 1999, and is a leading middle-market private equity investment firm. Wynnchurchs strategy is to partner with middle market companies in the United States and Canada that possess the potential for substantial growth and profit improvement. Wynnchurch Capital manages a number of private equity funds with $2.2 billion of committed capital under management and specializes in recapitalizations, growth capital, management buyouts, corporate carve-outs and restructurings. For more information, please visit: http://www.wynnchurch.com. For the past three weeks or so, authors published by Chicagos Curbside Splendor have taken to social media and spoken to PW to complain about the small literary presss failure to communicate with them in a timely fashion, pay them royalties, and honor contracts. The social storm began on March 21 when Chelsea Martin posted on Twitter, Curbside Splendor i.e. Victor Giron never paid my royalties for Mickey (2016). He didnt honor our contract and kept the money he was supposed to pay me. It was a complete nightmare and enormous waste of time trying to get paid and ultimately I failed and Ill be pissed about it forever. Martins tweet prompted others to tell similar stories of nonpayment of royalties, while some Curbside customers vowed to withdraw their support of the press. Book blogger Mandy Shunnarah-Reed tweeted, I go out of my way to support small presses, even buying direct from their website [because] I know that puts more [dollars] in their pockets. Im disappointed in Curbside Splendor [and] will never give them another dime of my money. Martin told PW that she never received an advance after signing with Curbside in 2015 for Mickey. She also confirmed that she has never received royalties, saying, Giron [Curbsides founding publisher] kept telling me he was sending checks but then wouldnt, Giron and Martin eventually agreed that she would receive all remaining hard copies of her book and that the contract was terminated. I dont feel I am owed anything else, she told PW last week, I spoke out about my experience because I was extremely upset at how I had been treated while trying to get what was contractually owed to me, and had talked to other authors under Curbside who had experienced the same treatment. I also wanted to let new or unpublished authors know about what I had learned from this situation. My hope now is that Victor will pay what is due to the other authors who have not been paid royalties. Another author, Tim Taranto said that hed been trying for many months to receive the royalties due him for his literary memoir, Ars Botanica (2017), as well as the return of any remaining hard copies of his book and the termination of his contract. The day he spoke to PW, hed just heard from his agent that the contract had been terminated and he would be receiving all remaining hard copies of Ars Botanica. My book sold really well and yet I didnt see a penny, he said, recalling that hed been contracted to receive a $500 advance as well as royalties. Curbside also set up a national tour, but he ended up driving to the bookstores since Curbside did not finance his travel. I drove from New York City to Portland, Ore., but had to cancel a few dates because I couldnt get there in time, he said, Thats when I started to realize something was wrong. As with Martin, Taranto says, he and Giron finally agreed to having the rights reverted to him as well as a termination of the contract in lieu of any royalties. I dont want the story of this book to be one of failure because it wasnt, he said. Books Pulled, Contracts Not Honored One author pulled her debut novel, How to Adjust to the Dark, which was scheduled for release this spring. Rebecca Van Laer says that when she signed a contract with Curbside in February 2018, she was thrilled, theyd published dozens of books by so many authors I admired that it never occurred to me that there might be an issue. But the press began losing staff, until Giron became her sole contact there. It was a difficult decision to leave, she says, but also the right one. Another author, Shannon McLeod, says that she won the Wild Onion Novella Contest in 2017, which included publication by Curbside as well as a cash prize. While Curbside never signed a formal contract with McLeod, she started working with its editors on edits. After asking Giron about a contract, she was sent an author questionnaire and informed the book would be published in spring 2019. After both editors she worked with left Curbside, she inquired again about a contract and was told by Giron that Curbside was experiencing cash flow problems. She says that Giron wrote in an email, At this point I'm not sure when your book will be able to come out with us. I'll get back to you as soon as I can. I never heard from him again." And she never did receive that cash prize. For his part, Giron says that publishing books is a very difficult business and that Curbside has been struggling financially for the past five years since he began running it less as a passionate hobby and more as a business. Citing the need to pay printers upfront as well as his employees, Giron explained that oftentimes, this left no funds to pay authors what they were due. Recalling that at its peak, the 10-year old press published 20 books each year, and has launched the careers of a number of critically-acclaimed authors, Giron says that he has downsized and is not publishing any books in 2019 although he is working on two projects scheduled for publication in 2020 and hopes to publish five-10 books each year after the dust settles. Giron now is Curbside's sole employee. I ran out of money. I lost my personal life savings, he said, I could have declared bankruptcy, but I am paying off royalties as I can and I am almost caught up. But I had to cancel a few contracts due to cash flow. Giron said that Curbsides bookstore, Curbside Books & Records, located in the National Buildings Revival Food Hall in Chicago's South Loop area, will remain open for business. Naomi Huffman, a Curbside employee for four years, who was editor-in-chief for two years until she left Curbside in 2017 to serve as senior digital marketing coordinator for FSGs MCD Books imprint, says that in 2016, a handful, four or five authors began emailing her, inquiring about their royalties.I demanded to know what his plans were to pay these people, she told PW, I assumed hed work out a payment plan. While, Giron's mismanagement adversely impacted so many authors, not to mention employees, Huffman maintained that Curbsides treatment of its authors and employees is not unique in the industry. Its not limited to Curbside, she said, This goes unchecked a lot and I hope it sparks a larger conversation about how writers, who are vulnerable, are treated in the literary sphere. I hope this is an opportunity to correct it. Literary agent Kent Wolf of the Friedrich Agency, who represents two Curbside authors although he himself did not broker either deal, can attest to the difficulties both have had trying to obtain their royalties in a timely fashion. Wolf said that he knows of at least one instance in which Giron was sent a cease-and-desist letter because Curbside continued to sell a title after a larger house had paid handsomely to buy out an existing contract. And in 2017, Wolf says, he unsuccessfully requested a termination of rights on behalf of one of his clients due to Curbside's repeated fiduciary failure. Wolf agreed with Huffmans take that while Curbsides business practices are particularly egregious, it is easy for indie presses to run into trouble. A lot of authors feel they shouldnt make waves when theyre offered a book deal and then accounting concerns rise. Theyre afraid if they speak up, they'll be blackballed, their careers ruined. That's why its so important to have an agent in this situation. Information and theories about the next generation make for regular headlinesfrom the spending habits of millennials to their politics and faith practicesand religion publishers are taking notice. New books are specifically targeting this younger demographic as well as their predecessors, Generation Z, while still more titles aim to equip churches and faith leaders with tools for engaging them. Faith Lives On Several studies in recent years suggest that millennials are leaving the church in greater numbers. Ever Ancient, Ever New: The Allure of Liturgy for the Next Generation by Winfield Bevins (Zondervan, out now), however, suggests a growing movement among younger Christians to return to ancient church practices, including what he calls New Monasticism, which focuses on intentional worship and communal living. According to editor Ryan Pazdur, Millennials are looking for a connection to others, and liturgy does that. They are eager to explore something that is rooted, ancient, and global. Intensional: Kingdom Ethnicity in a Divided World by millennial pastor, rapper, and theologian D.A. Horton (NavPress, Oct.) addresses tensions in the church over classism, sexism, and ethnic and theological divisions. Horton urges readers to combat hatred and seek racial reconciliation by embracing a Kingdom ethnicity, or an identity based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. There is as assumption in the millennial generation that the church is part of the problem, or at least not part of the solution, said NavPress editor David Zimmerman. Horton speaks to how diverse groups can talk to one another. Michael McAfee and his wife Lauren Green McAfee, daughter of Museum of the Bible founder Steve Green, address skeptical millennial readers in their exploration of what they call the controversial Bible and what it means for younger generations in Not What You Think: Why the Bible Might Be Nothing We Expected Yet Everything We Need (Zondervan, June). This book is an honest attempt by two millennials to tackle a controversial issue with sensitivity and kindness, they write in the book. A range of Christian living titles are being aimed squarely at millennial readers as well. Catholic publisher Ave Maria Press is offering Chasing Humility: 8 Ways to Shape a Christian Heart (out now) by Joel Stepanek, director of resource development at the Catholic youth ministry Life Teen. Addressing misconceptions he had while growing up, Stepanek explores the Christian teaching of humility and its potential for spiritual growth. Moody is publishing Walking with Jesus on Campus: How to Care for Your Soul During College by Stephen Kellough (July), while Zondervans How to Have Your Life Not Suck by Bianca Juarez Olthoff (Aug.) features career advice and reflections on faith based on the authors experiences as the founder of a nonprofit that serves younger generations. In Always On: Practicing Faith in a New Media Landscape (Baker Academic, May), Angela Williams Gorrell lays out ways to use online platforms wisely and responsibly, despite social media's tendency to "minimize the humanness of others," says Bob Hosack, executive editor at Baker Publishing. "I heard Angela speak to a group of youth ministry educators on this topic, [and] I was so impressed with her fresh insights on loving others well, even in cyberspace, that I invited her to write a book," Hosack tells PW. Finally, young adults between the ages of 18-25 are the largest demographic of abusers of prescription pain medication, and millennial author Timothy McMahan King is sharing his story in Addiction Nation: What the Opioid Crisis Reveals About Us (Herald, June). Opioids claim the lives of 115 people per day. One of them could have been me, King writes in the book, which includes an investigation of pharmaceutical companies and a history of the war on drugs. "We werent looking for a memoir, but for a sturdy theological and moral investigation of addiction along the lines of Gerald Mays classic Addiction and Grace," Valerie Weaver-Zercher, acquisitions editor for Herald, tells PW, noting Addiction Nation's journalistic qualities. "Many millennial readers are aware of the racialized nature of mass incarceration and media portrayals of the drug crisis, and they will be interested in this nuanced portrayal of opioids." Introducing the Next Generation Those looking for a deeper understanding of millennials and their faith may look to Twentysomething Soul: Understanding the Religious and Secular Lives of American Youth by Tim Clydesdale and Kathleen Garces-Foley (Oxford University Press, Aug.). It engages questions few other books do, [such as,] do people who claim they have no religion actually engage in spiritual practice? How do churches that have successfully drawn young people do it? said Theo Calderara, editor-in-chief, history and religion at OUP. OUP also published The Next Mormons: How Millennials are Changing the LDS Church by Religion News Service columnist Jana Riess (out now). The book explores the religious beliefs and behaviors of young adult Mormons, many of whom feel the pull between traditional family values and their generations support of same-sex couples and womens equality. OUPs sweet spot is books that take academic research on important topics and present it in a way that is accessible to a general audience, said Calderara. This is particularly true for books on young people and religion. Further drawing on recent studies, You Found Me: New Research on How Unchurched Nones, Millennials, and Irreligious are Surprisingly Open to Christian Faith by the director of the Billy Graham Center Institute Rick Richardson (IVP, June) argues that the nonreligious are still interested in conversations about faith and attending church. A popular narrative says that people are leaving Christianity in droves, especially young people, said Al Hsu, senior editor at IVP Books. But Richardsons book reveals a counternarrative. You Found Me unpacks why. Teaching the Future Other authors are identifying key issues with the goal of educating younger believers about them. Rings of Fire: Walking in Faith Through a Volcanic Future (NavPress, Nov.) by Len Sweet is what NavPresss Zimmerman calls a springboard book to get readers thinking about the future of the Christian faith. The book looks at questions a century ahead, Zimmerman said. Think of hot-button topics such as biotech, AI, gender politics, racial reconciliation, and changes to education, he said. Sweets premise is that the way we prepare the future church to live is how we shape the thinking of the millennials, Gen Z, and those who follow. Similarly, So the Next Generation Will Know: Training Young Christians for a Challenging World by Sean McDowell and J. Warner Wallace (David C Cook, May) provides strategies for parents, youth leaders, and teachers to educate Gen Zers on the Christian worldview. Each chapter includes interviews with apologists, teachers, or cultural leaders. In September, Baker Books will publish Faith for Exiles: 5 Ways for a New Generation to Follow Jesus in Digital Babylon by president of Barna Group David Kinnaman and PlanetWisdom student conference creator Mark Matlock. The pair draws on Barnas data to present five practices aimed at fostering a sense of faith in the next generations. Looking Ahead As the religious landscape continues to change and new data comes to light, publishers expect even more books for, about, and by millennials. At Herald, Weaver-Zercher is acquiring younger writers "as a strategy for reaching younger readers and because they are churning out such great work." "Millennial authors in the Christian world, in particular, are offering incisive critiques of a church spoiled by its allegiance to power, racism, and consumption, and they are offering prophetic messages out of their disillusionment," she says. Baker's Hosack says: "There are new kids on the block, and wise publishers will look to create resources that speak to and meet the needs of the emerging generations." Premium online access is only available tosubscribers. If you have an active subscription and need to set up or change your password, please click here New to PW? To set up immediate access, click here. NOTE: If you had a previous PW subscription, click here to reactivate your immediate access. PW site license members have access to PWs subscriber-only website content. If working at an office location and you are not "logged in", simply close and relaunch your preferred browser. For off-site access, click here. To find out more about PWs site license subscription options, please email Mike Popalardo at: mike@nextstepsmarketing.com. Injured woman still in critical condition : Man in custody for attempted murder Bonn After the brutal attack on a 33-year-old woman in Bonn-Holzlar, the woman is still in a life-threatening condition. Her ex-partner is now in custody on suspicion of attempted murder. It was not the first time that the 48-year-old became violent against her. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken The 33-year-old woman, who was attacked by her ex-partner on Monday morning, is still in a critical condition and currently in a hospital in Bonn. As Attorney General Robin Fabender also said on Tuesday, a magistrate issued an arrest warrant in the afternoon. The ex-boyfriend is under investigation for attempted murder. He had initially fled after the attack. About one hundred police officers from Bonn, the Rhein-Sieg district, and Cologne participated in the search operation. The man finally turned himself in at a police station on Monday noon. According to Fabender, he remained silent during the previous attempts to interrogate him. The Bonn police have formed a homicide squad to find out exactly what happened on Monday morning around 9 am in the district of Holzlar, which belongs to Beuel. The 48-year-old apparently ambushed his former partner according to the current state of affairs and, according to the General-Anzeiger, hit her with a car. This detail, however, was not confirmed by Fabender, nor by hints that the suspect had hit the victim with a stone. However, with reference to the ongoing investigations, Fabender spoke of a "violent impact with an object". The police announced in a press release: "According to initial findings, he first drove his car towards the 33-year-old woman when she left her house. Then, according to witnesses, he got out of the car and hit the woman." The 48-year-old has no previous convictions to the knowledge of the public prosecutor's office. According to Fabender, however, he had threatened his former partner with violence several times. In the autumn of last year, the police had been called to the house of the 33-year-old for domestic violence. Fabender confirmed that the police had subsequently issued a restraining order ban against him due to the recurrent aggression of the suspect. At an appointment before the local court in October, however, this ban was lifted by mutual agreement, police spokesman Frank Piontek said. Police regularly inspected the residential building Both had agreed on a so-called prohibition of access to certain areas. It applied until February without any further incidents and had therefore not been extended any further. According to Piontek, the police had also implemented "security measures at the house". Obviously, the officers estimated the danger that the ex-boyfriend would ignore the ban as so high that patrolmen regularly drove up to the Holzlar residential house to check on it. There had been police protective measures in front of the house until the end, police spokesman Robert Scholten explained. Over the weekend the police also reported three more cases of domestic violence in the districts of Beuel, Hardtberg and Bad Godesberg. Such crimes seem to be increasing in the Bonn police district. In their area of responsibility, the authority is responsible for the municipalities on the left bank of the Rhine as well as Konigswinter and Bad Honnef, the cases of the Bonn police increased by 95 in 2018 to a total of 965 cases. According to police statistics, there were 870 cases a year. In 2014 the police counted 893 cases, 901 cases in 2015 and 916 cases in 2016. According to Piontek, the police have the possibility in such cases to expel suspects from their homes and to prohibit their return for a maximum of ten days if there is a danger of further violence. Violations could be punished with a penalty payment. According to an amendment of the police law, aggressors could be taken into custody for up to ten days after judicial examination. In the past decade, salmon has shifted to the center of the plate as a healthy and desirable animal protein option. Amid growing demand, Chiles aquaculture frontrunner is taking steps to make the global salmon supply more sustainable. Demand for salmon has grown faster than any other aquaculture or animal protein. It has outpaced growth in pork, poultry, beef and wild-caught seafood, says a new RaboResearch report. Advanced aquaculture production, the fresh seafood value chain, and a dedicated and innovative processing industry have made salmon the affordable luxury seafood that is also a mainstream product, says report author, Seafood Analyst Beyhan de Jong. Both in the EU and in the US, salmon is currently in the top three of the most-consumed seafood categories and is growing in markets that are saturated with protein. More than a luxury protein Given its popularity, the report suggests shifting salmon away from its luxury status and repositioning it as a healthy and sustainable protein. Aquaculture is meeting demand in terms of volume, but price points and convenience are not the only factors for critical consumers. Salmon, which offers a great source of lean protein, has lunged forward for sustainability reasons, such as efficient feed conversion ratios, lower environmental impact, and fewer perceived animal welfare issues. The time is right to make the global salmon supply even more sustainable. And with access to crucial knowledge, networks and finance, one willing aquaculture superstar in Chile wants to do just that. Chilean protein giant Agrosuper wants to show the market its producing sustainable salmon. The answer? Certification. The proof is in the certification Western consumers and supermarkets dont just demand sustainably grown fish they require proof. To that end, Rabobank and the World Wildlife Fund have partnered with Chiles farmed salmon leaders to find a path to the retail shelf for sustainable, certified and traceable fish. The way to show the market that you produce sustainable salmon is by obtaining certification, explains Brenda de Swart, Head Sustainability, RaboFinance Chile. Several certifications each with their own requirements exist within the salmon sector. The gold standard for salmon aquaculture is ASC (Aquaculture Stewardship Council) certification, and in the biggest markets, like Europe, its necessary for reaching supermarket shelves. The ASC certification focuses on issues such as the environmental impact of farms, social aspects, and biodiversity. It is renowned for its chain of custody which ensures traceability, explains RaboResearch Seafood Analyst Gorjan Nikolik. ASC tracks the product all the way to the retail shop to guarantee the story of each fish on that shelf. Rabobank and WWF have taken steps to the accelerate certification in the Chilean salmon sector and promote ASC certification among our salmon customers in Chile, adds De Swart. ASC certification guarantees the story of each fish on the shelf - Gorjan Nikolik, RaboResearch Twitter Linkedin Mail Scaling up sustainability To the uninitiated, Chiles largest salmon producers prioritizing sustainability might appear like the ripples of a big fish in a small pond. In fact, it is a massive undertaking that could reshape the salmon market globally. Following a series of 2018 mergers and acquisitions among Chilean farmed salmon producers, protein giant Agrosuper is now the leading producer in Chile and the second largest salmon producer in the world. Agrosuper is preparing for ASC certification for all of its newly acquired salmon operations. To date, 31 of their salmon production centers are ASC certified. The company currently holds 7.2 percent of the global salmon market and is aiming for 100 percent ASC certification. The certification will offer a more transparent view of how a sustainable farm performs throughout the entire chain. Among its assessments, ASC looks at a farms potential impact on biodiversity and nearby ecosystems. For example, feed must also be sourced from sustainable fishing practices with no endangered or vulnerable species. Agrosuper will implement an aquaculture improvement program at its production centers. A green loan for greener salmon Over the past six years, Rabobank and WWF have promoted sustainable practices and ASC certification in the Chilean salmon sector. The collaboration has helped set sustainability goals that are objective, measurable and challenging for the entire aquaculture industry. In the most recent development, Rabobank provided Agrosuper with a Green Loan, with technical support and advice from WWF, to finance part of its recent acquisitions in the Chilean salmon industry. The loan the first of its kind in Chile is a seven-year agreement with several green conditions such as a commitment to reduce antibiotic use in salmon farming, increase the number of ASC certifications and implement an aquaculture improvement program for production centers. This agreement is a declaration between Rabobank and Agrosuper to work together prioritizing sustainability in the agri-food industry, says Luis Felipe Fuenzalida, Agrosupers Director of Admin and Financing. This agreement is a declaration to prioritize sustainability - Luis Felipe Fuenzalida, Agrosuper Twitter Linkedin Mail Environmental and social criteria As a leading conservation organization, WWF prioritized the incorporation of environmental and social criteria in the financial sectors risk assessment for salmon farming. WWF Chile also promotes best practices related to issues like antibiotic use and relationships with neighboring communities. The results obtained in this work are encouraging, and we can already see concrete signals, says Ricardo Bosshard, Director of WWF Chile. For example, the criteria established by RaboFinance in its loan to Agrosuper includes some of WWFs social policy guidelines, as well as indicators we have developed for the fulfilment of ASC certification requirements, and information about how we monitor the effects of this certification. An enduring commitment Remaining profitable and having sustainable production methods are the only way for farmed salmon to continue to meet global demand and reach the supermarket shelf. Agrosuper is committed to the future sustainability of our aquaculture business. What we have achieved and what we are working on is important to us, but also improves the quality and reputation for Chile's farmed salmon and the global seafood market, affirms Rafael Prieto, Head of Corporate Sustainability and Affairs at Agrosuper. By including environmental and social conditions in the loan structure we are supporting the client in the journey to produce in a more sustainable way, says De Swart. Agrosupers commitment contributes to Rabobanks objective to support the sustainable production of food for 9 billion people by the year 2050. Rantoul, IL (61866) Today Overcast skies and windy. High 62F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph.. Tonight Cloudy and windy with periods of rain after midnight. Low 47F. Winds SSW at 25 to 35 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. Winds could occasionally gust over 50 mph. In the survey, OpenX tapped The Harris Poll to survey 2,002 consumers to find that OTT is now totally mainstream with US consumers subscribing to an average of three streaming services, with half of consumers subscribing to at least one. The data showed that 61% of Americans own a smart TV and 52% use OTT services.All people spend more time watching OTT content than they do driving a car or talking to friends/family. Millennials who subscribe to at least one OTT service watch more than twice as much OTT content as they do live TV while fewer than two-fifths of OTT millennials plan to keep their existing cable package. In addition, 43% of those that are cutting the cord, feel that way because OTT services make traditional cable seem unnecessary. As many as two-thirds of cord-cutters say doing so has noticeably improved their lives.The average survey also revealed that OTT consumers own on average three devices that let them watch OTT content, and subscribe to three different OTT services. Not a single Netflix, Hulu or Amazon original is in the top 10 shows for consumers and whether it is with cable/OTT, consumers want about 15 channels, and were willing to pay around $100 in total.Yet OpenX found that his massive demand was not being properly monetised. It calculated that in 2018, US advertisers spent around $70 billion on TV ads, yet only $2.1 billion was spent on targeted, addressable ads, otherwise known as personalised, 1:1 advertising.The good news was that almost 70% of respondents would be willing to watch ads in exchange for either a cheaper or free version of Netflix. This makes sense given the streaming platform recently rose its prices. Three U.S. troops and 1 contractor were killed by an improvised explosive device Monday near Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced. In addition, three U.S. service members were wounded in the blast. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, adding that a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle near the NATO base in Bagram district, in Parwan province. The injured were evacuated and were receiving care, the Pentagon said. The names of those killed were being withheld for 24 hours until the notification of next of kin has been completed, as per Defense Department policy. As the U.S.-Taliban peace negotiations lurch forward in fits and starts, there is a fundamental question lingering in the minds of U.S. policymakers in Washingtonis there a way for the United States to withdraw the preponderance of its troops and extricate itself from an otherwise endless war while at the same time ensuring fundamental U.S. national security interests continue to be protected? You can forgive the Washington foreign policy community for thinking this is an altogether impossible mission, akin to pounding a square peg into a round hole. The headlines pouring out of Afghanistan are such as dreary today as they were last year, with Taliban militants continuing to ambush Afghan soldiers at remote checkpoints and laying siege to Afghan government compounds in remote corners of the country. The Afghan people first and foremost remain the primary victims of the violence. There is hardly a family in Afghanistan who hasn't experienced personal loss. The statistics bear this out; in February, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan documented 3,804 civilian fatalities in 2018, the highest number recorded since the figures were tracked. While the violence on the ground often makes Afghanistan appear like a bleak and downright hopeless place, the United States can still accomplish its primary national security objective at a far more sustainable cost. In other words, Washington can keep the American people safe from transnational terrorism emanating from Afghanistan without falling back on the same failed strategy of the last eighteen years. The U.S. may not have the ability to transform Afghanistan into a model democratic state in the heart of Central Asiaa fantastical objective that would only be remotely possible with an indefinite and extravagant nation-building campaign over a period of decades to the tune of tens of thousands of U.S. troops and trillions of dollars. What the U.S. does have, however, is the abilitywith the assistance of the Afghan governmentto prevent groups like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State from transforming Afghan soil into an epicenter of terrorism against the U.S. homeland and U.S. interests overseas. Fortunately, this objective can be achieved through the current Afghan peace process. By Ambassador Khalilzads own telling, U.S. negotiators have arrived at a draft agreement whereby the Taliban would officially denounce ties to Al-Qaeda and proactively collaborate with other stakeholders in pursuit of an independent Afghanistan unthreatening to the United States or any other country. If the draft agreement is finalized, it would be a historic achievement far different than the old days when the Taliban and Al-Qaeda enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship. Having experienced in 2001 and 2002 what can occur when terrorist groups can freely plan attacks overseas, the Taliban has an incentive to avoid making the same mistakes. Taliban dignitaries in Doha seem to have come to the realization that partnering with the likes of Al-Qaeda or refusing to combat terrorists who use Afghan territory as a base is extraordinarily counterproductive to the movement. Its not difficult to envision why the Taliban are now willing to discuss divorcing themselves from Al-Qaeda after years of resistance. Before the 9/11 attacks, the group was at the pinnacle of its power, ruling Kabul with an iron-fist and preparing a renewed offensive against the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan's northern mountains. The Taliban's dreams of establishing Islamic emirate under its control, however, collapsed as soon as Al-Qaeda hijackers crashed four passenger airliners in New York, the Pentagon, and a field in remote Pennsylvania. In just a few short months, the emirate the Taliban worked to construct was destroyed. Its fighters were ducking American bombs and running for their lives. Some were fortunate enough to escape to Pakistans tribal areas; the less fortunate were either bombarded by the most superior air force in history or captured, their lives forever ruined. Learning lessons the hard way, it is highly unlikely the Taliban would be stupid or reckless enough to emulate this experience again. There is always the possibility, of course, that the Taliban is not sincere in cutting its relationship with foreign terrorists in Afghanistan. Security assurances, therefore, are both prudent and necessarynot only to test the Talibans sincerity and monitor implementation but to elicit harsh punishment if the group violates its commitments. The fact that Al-Qaeda continues to view Afghanistan as a safe-haven and the Islamic State has accelerated the pace of its attacks against Afghan minorities means that the entire international community must guarantee any counterterrorism agreement with the Taliban. The U.S. military and our NATO Allies, which have been fighting and dying in Afghanistan for over 17 years at a considerable cost in blood and treasure, should no longer be asked to shoulder the substantial weight of the task on their own. Nor should the United States settle for token international assistance. Washingtons allies and partners, especially Afghanistans neighbors, must step up and take far more responsibility for what is ultimately a shared national security objectiveensuring Afghanistan does not descend back into an Al-Qaeda bastion. Before agreeing to a comprehensive settlement with the Taliban, the United States should insist on the deployment of a neutral, multinational, third-party task force in a post-conflict Afghanistan for the express purpose of assisting Afghan forces with the difficult challenge of containing the very terrorist groups that are a security danger to Americans, Afghans, Europeans, Pakistanis, and Iranians alike. While Taliban leaders have been staunchly opposed to the deployment of foreign troops on Afghan soil in the past, some evidence suggests that the group would not object to such a force if it brought into the process and treated as a partner. It's abundantly obvious that the American people want out of Afghanistan, an armed conflict that has lasted for nearly an entire generation. Americans are exhausted of expensive wars that grind on without resolution. Given the tens of thousands of casualties and trillions of dollars in expenditure over seventeen years and counting, this popular sentiment is entirely understandable. Fortunately, U.S. officials can finally put an end to an endless war. But it will require a willingness to invest wholeheartedly in the peace process; reinvest in the awesome power of America's diplomatic corps; exhibit the political courage to work with past enemies in the event of a peace accord, and internationalize rather than Americanize the Afghanistan counterterrorism portfolio. America's sons and daughters in uniform cannot and indeed should not be expected to take on this weighty burden alone. Brig Gen (USAF, Ret.) Francis X. Tailor is a former Under Secretary of Intelligence and Analysis at the Department of Homeland Security and a fellow the American College of National Security Leaders. The great power race to dominate advanced computing technologies cloud applications, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) is intensifying. China is seeking to replace the U.S. as the dominant player in these areas. The United States, in general, and the Department of Defense (DoD), in particular, are responding to these threats by increasing investments in advanced computing technologies. But time is of the essence, and any delays in moving forward on creating an enterprise-wide cloud for the Pentagon could put national security at risk. Both Russia and China have created national programs in these areas with the intent of pushing the United States out of first place. Understanding the commercial and national security significance of achieving preeminence in AI, the government of China has set a national goal of dominating this area by 2030. Russian President Putin recently announced a National AI Strategy intended to more closely coordinate private and public investment. Both countries are racing ahead to achieve a warfighting advantage in the application of some of the most critical technologies of the millennium. The Russian military sees AI and ML as their path to achieving an asymmetric advantage over the United States. Chinas military and defense industry see future battlefields as dominated by autonomous systems directed by advanced AI and netted together by cloud infrastructure. Unfortunately, the U.S. is in danger of falling behind in the race to apply advanced computing to the demands of 21st Century warfare. According to Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, accelerating DoDs adoption of cloud computing technologies is critical to maintaining our militarys technological advantage. Maintaining or defending the Pentagons military-technological lead is not just a matter of money. It is also a matter of pursuing the proper strategy and using the time available wisely. In particular, this means organizing and directing DoDs numerous programs in advanced computing technologies towards the right objectives. First and foremost, this means getting DoDs investments in cloud computing right. The Departments Chief Information Officer (CIO), Dana Deasy, stressed that the right cloud infrastructure is critical to the Pentagons ability to exploit AI and ML: A modern digital infrastructure is critical to support the warfighter, defend against cyberattacks and enable the department to leverage emerging technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence. The intensifying competition with Russia and China is a primary reason DoD is seeking to acquire an enterprise-wide cloud computing infrastructure. The key to this capability is the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) program. JEDI is envisioned as the general-purpose cloud, the base to which all other purpose-built clouds will be anchored. JEDI will provide the Department access to the latest in commercial security technologies, support the rapid development of new applications and capabilities, move DoD in the direction of software as a service, and leverage commercial cloud service to transform the way data is acquired, manipulated and disseminated. JEDI will help provide the warfighter with the advantages of effective military AI and ML. Time is not on our side in the race to gain military advantage in the new way of war empowered by advanced computing technologies. Given Russia and Chinas drive to achieve decisive military advantage through the exploitation of AI and ML, the Pentagon needs to pick up the pace of its efforts to implement its cloud strategy. Time is one reason that the Pentagon has been insisting that the JEDI contract be a single award. Not only would allowing multiple awards complicate and even undermine the goal of a seamless enterprise-wide cloud, but the resulting requirement to put out individual task orders for bids by multiple contractors would increase the time to get the desired work done. Unfortunately, the efforts to get the JEDI contract underway have been met with a series of challenges and delays. Both the Government Accountability Office and a Federal judge have sided with the Pentagon in a series of pre-award complaints from industry. Now the award is delayed by an internal investigation of a conflict of interest allegation by a single individual. These delays will have an impact on JEDI implementation. The Pentagon has said that its current investigation will delay the JEDI award by as much as three months. The Pentagon has been clear that it will take time to build out JEDI and to populate it with the desired applications. More time will be needed to familiarize DoD organizations and personnel with how JEDI works and what it can do. It is impossible to plan and organize military exercises involving JEDI. As the DoD CIO pointed out in recent testimony to Congress: "The longer we delay standing up a JEDI capability the military services are going to need to go solve for mission sets and they're going to continue to stand up in their own individual environments and I don't see that as being beneficial over the long term to the Department." Moreover, the delay in awarding JEDI means that additional resources are being spent on legacy applications and outdated cloud services. Nor can training begin on the new cloud or work begun on applications purpose-built to mesh with JEDI. All the competing contractors are having to keep their teams together awaiting an eventual award. DoD needs to move with speed to resolve the current legal issue regarding JEDI. Every day that the award is delayed, the risk to the Nations security increases. Dan Goure, Ph.D., is a vice president at the public-policy research think tank Lexington Institute. Goure has a background in the public sector and U.S. federal government, most recently serving as a member of the 2001 Department of Defense Transition Team. You can follow him on Twitter at @dgoure and the Lexington Institute @LexNextDC. Read his full bio here. Given this context, the new book by Ian F.W. Beckett, A British Profession of Arms: The Politics of Command in the Late Victorian Army, recently nominated for the Society for Army Historical Research Templer Medal, seems to have come at an opportune moment. But why, one might ask, is the late Victorian British army of any relevance to the U.S. military in 2019?[2] Simply put, many of the ideas and themes discussed by Beckett are of timeless interest to those concerned with the ways in which professions ought to, and actually do, function. In fact, there are a striking number of analogies between the British Empire during the late Victorian and Edwardian period and the current geopolitical situation of the United States. This point underscores the relevance of this book to a broader audience concerned with the ways in which militaries work and adapt in times of both persistent conflict, and significant transition. Beckett is one of the leading historians working today in the field of late Victorian and early twentieth-century British military history. A Professor Emeritus of Military History at the University of Kent, his career spans several decades of research and writing on various aspects of British military organization, culture, and operations during this period. This book, described on the cover by Edward Spiersanother of the leading British military historians of the periodas magisterial, could only be produced by someone of Becketts deep knowledge of, and immersion in, the field. His intimacy with the sources and with the officers he discusses in the book is remarkable; again, is only made possible through his intensive engagement in the field over a long and productive career. The main purpose of Becketts book is to demonstrate that some myths and gaps in our understanding of the military as a profession are just that. The notion, for example, that the military stands apart from other social institutions and ideally remains uninvolved in politics or concerns about personal gain or ambition, is not accurate. In fact, the military functions much like any of the other classic or higher professions, with members actions and beliefs shaped by many of the same influences and pressures, both internal and external, that act on the professional classes more generally: Soldiers were men like any others, and it would hardly be surprising if they did not have ambitions like other men. Notwithstanding the obvious boundaries between soldiers and civilians, what if we were to view the profession of arms simply as a profession like any other?[3] In this simple set of contentions, Beckett explicitly puts himself at odds with some of the now-accepted wisdom regarding the military profession that comes to us from authors and practitioners such as Samuel Huntington and David Hackett. Beckett states British officers in the late Victorian period were concerned with financial remuneration and expenses, awards and other recognition, promotion, and plum assignments, on operations or otherwise; maintained competing professional networks; were influenced by the press and popular opinion; and were concerned with royal approbation and political connections. According to Beckett, British military professionals were little different in these characteristics from their peers in the clergy, law, medicine, and in newer professions like engineeringa far cry from the Huntington-inspired model of the apolitical and disinterested military servant of the state, or more popularly, the warrior-monk. James Mattis (DoD Photo) The book is organized into two parts. The first deals specifically with the varying concerns and influences acting on British officers from the time of the Cardwell Reforms of the early 1870s until the next major set of reforms of the army under Secretary of State for War Richard Haldane during the decade prior to the First World War. Sections on some of the areas mentioned abovemoney and rewards, political and royal influence, the competing rings or professional networks of Lords Wolseley and Roberts, press, and popular opinioncome together to form Becketts central arguments about broader characteristics of the profession. The second section provides case studies in which debates and decisions about selection for higher commands and officers performance and prospects illustrate Becketts contentions. There are separate chapters on High Command, the Second Afghan War, the Anglo-Zulu War, and the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. Becketts analysis is based almost entirely on an exhaustive examination of officers letters, diaries, and memoirs. His deep familiarity with these men and their relationships to one another and to their civilian political leaders would be remarkable to anyone not acquainted with the body of Becketts work. It is, in fact, one of the few flaws of this otherwise excellent book that Beckett assumes in the reader a level of familiarity with his subjects that approaches his ownmany of the officers whose letters and other papers make up the basis of much of the book are not really introduced to the reader, and some are merely referred to in passing as though they are well-known. In that respect, the book really is for the specialist, and the detailed discussion of these men might be hard for the average reader to follow. Beyond the careful and detailed discussion of the Victorian British Army, in his re-assessment of the classic and widely accepted understanding of the military profession, Beckett provides an opening for further questions about how we see senior officers and the ways in which higher command is exercised. Beckett has, in his other work, presented in some detail the political pressures and considerations operating on senior commanders, especially Douglas Haig, during the First World War. The extension of the Somme and Passchendaele campaigns beyond culmination, for example, was driven by political pressures to support the French while simultaneously pushing back against the Prime Ministers efforts to reduce the authority and influence of the leadership of the British Expeditionary Force.[4] Haigs relationship to the King is another well-known factor in his longevity in command. In that respect, he was little different from his predecessors at the top of the greasy pole, Wolseley and Roberts. Haig, Kitchener, Robertson, Allenby, Hamilton, and their allied counterparts were decidedly not Huntingtonian military professionals, and neither were the Second World War leaders Eisenhower, Alanbrooke, MacArthur, Tedder, or Spaatz. These ideas are equally applicable to U.S. and other Western senior military leaders today. How can we, for example, see the current Joint Chiefs of Staff and Combatant Commanders as men not deeply influenced by pressures from competing interests in congress, the administration, the press, and the public? These kinds of influences are normal in the military institutions of a democratic state. This kind of pressure also manifests itself at lower levels, as the military struggles with concerns about social issues such as gender integration and sexual orientation, and even the political and military problems of military construction, force structure allocation, and modernization. Additionally, to say modern professional military officers are not concerned with promotion and pay, awards, recognition (both public and professional), and sponsorship or other kinds of patronage is to betray a serious lack of understanding of the contemporary American officer corps. One of the values of Becketts analysis is to show these characteristics are not new or are somehow alien to a healthy military professional ethic, allowing a reasoned discussion of how they can be managed and balanced to ensure that the military continues to be successful. "The Relief of Ladysmith, 1900" painted by John Henry Frederick Bacon (Wikimedia) An examination of the true nature of the military as a profession can help us understand ways in which modern armies respond in times of significant political turmoil, transition, and more or less continuous world-wide operations. Such an understanding is critical not only to the citizens and members of the political class whom the military serves, but especially to military professionals themselves. Becketts book provides a piercing window into an army in just such a time of transition and persistent global conflict and is therefore not only useful for specialists in Victorian British history, but to anyone interested in how military organizations navigate complex times. James D. Campbell is an Associate Professor at the Air Command and Staff College. He is a retired U.S. Army Brigadier General and is a historian of Britain and the British Empire. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the U.S. Air Force Air and Command Staff College, U.S. Air Force, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. This article appeared originally at Strategy Bridge. The meeting of 29 foreign ministers from member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), in Washington, DC, last week (April 34), marking the 70th anniversary of the North Atlantic Alliance, was not a joyful occasion for Russia. During the celebration, Russia was duly identified as the main disruptor of regional security. The allies asserted unity in deterring Moscows provocative behavior and confirmed their resolve to increase defense expenditures accordingly. In response, mainstream Russian commentators spared no sarcasm while questioning NATOs determination, and they magnified every symptom of ostensible crisis in transatlantic relations (Russiancouncil.ru, April 4). What caused particular outrage in the Kremlin was NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenbergs address to the United States Congress, in which he emphasized that freedom had enemies that could not be deterred by dialogue, specifically lumping together Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and the Islamic State (Kommersant, April 4). Moscows urge to spoil the hostile celebrations of NATOs lasting success was irresistible, but the readiness to directly challenge the security of the Alliances frontline states or even partners was clearly absent. Russia found a near-perfect place for an ambush in Libya, where the civil war had appeared deadlocked but was in fact in a precarious balance. NATO took on a key role in the defeat of the dictatorial Muammar Qaddafi regime in October 2011, but was not able to contribute to post-war reconstruction. Russian President Vladimir Putin accused NATO repeatedly of overstepping its mandate for establishing a no-fly zone, issued by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, and of deliberately targeting Qaddafi, who was ultimately killed by rebel forces (RBC, April 6). In the subsequent chaotic struggle for power in Libya, Russia put its stake on Khalifa Haftar, a veteran of the 1969 coup that had originally brought Qaddafi to power. In January 2017, this self-declared field marshal visited the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, which was sailing home after combat deployment in Syria. Haftar then made several visits to Moscow, the latest occurring last November (Newsru.com, April 5). A steady supply of Russian arms helped Haftar consolidate control over eastern Libya, around his stronghold in Benghazi; and the arrival of several hundred Russian mercenaries from the notorious Wagner Group empowered his motley army to capture oilfields in southern Libya a month ago (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, April 2). Haftars decision to march on Tripoli, which remains under control of the internationally recognized Government of National Accord, led by Fayez al-Sarraj, came as quite a shock (Kommersant, April 6). At the time, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was in Tripoli seeking to facilitate peace talks scheduled for mid-April; he had to leave in haste to attend a UN Security Council session that was ultimately only able to request that Haftar stop his offensive (RIA Novosti, April 5). The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied any involvement in the sudden escalation of hostilities and expressed support for a peaceful resolution (Rossiiskaya Gazeta, April 5). It is entirely unclear whether Haftars forces will be able to capture Tripoli. But it is rather improbable that he will be able to establish effective control over all of western Libya, even with backing from Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which he visited in late March (RBC, April 5). What matters most for the Kremlin in this crisis is confusion among NATO member states. Some of them, particularly Italy, are directly exposed to the fallout from the Libyan war. Moscow was quite alarmed by the reinforced NATO commitment in Washington to upgrade Alliance capabilities in the Black Sea area (Gazeta.ru, April 4). Russias attack on three Ukrainian naval boats near the Kerch Strait last November indeed signified an escalation of regional threats, and NATO has responded by strengthening its naval presence in this closed theater (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, April 3). Ukraine is a natural partner for the Alliance in addressing the strategic task of sustaining freedom of navigation in the Black and Azov Seas; and Moscow is anxious about plans to upgrade the NATO-Ukrainian partnership, for instance in the ongoing Sea Shield 2019 naval exercises (Kommersant, April 3). Russia has deployed plenty of air and air-defense assets in Crimea, seeking to achieve regional military dominance; but this position of power still does not translate into capacity to violate international law with impunity (Novaya Gazeta, April 6). Moscows best hope for avoiding a high-risk test of wills in these waters is to provoke deeper conflict between NATO and Turkey, centered on the latters deal to purchase the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system (RBC, April 3). The Kremlin does not know what impact the recent municipal elections in Turkey will have, but it surely cannot comprehend how Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoA?an could have allowed the opposition to score victories in Ankara and Istanbul (Carnegie.ru, March 28). Yet, seeking not to aggravate ErdoA?ans domestic situation further, Moscow is treading carefully in Syria with its offensive against rebel-controlled Idlib province, since Ankara insists on keeping Bashar al-Assads forces away from its security zone (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, April 2). The surprise attack by Haftars columns of armed Toyotas on Tripoli is probably driven by parochial incentives, but the coincidence with NATOs intention to show unity and resolve in the Black Sea area is highly convenient for Russia. Moscows main strategy for confronting NATO is to exploit disagreements inside the Alliance; however, this approach has recently suffered several setbacks on the southern flank. Russias abortive attempts to fuel the old quarrel between Greece and Macedonia ultimately failed to spoil their rapprochement. And the newly renamed Northern Macedonia is now set to become NATOs 30th member (RBC, February 6). Manipulation of the bitter conflict between Serbia and Kosovo is also failing, as both sides engage in pragmatic talks. Moscow is increasingly worried Kosovo could soon join NATO and Serbia will upgrade its partnership with the European Union (Carnegie.ru, April 4). Fomenting trouble in Libya cannot alter this big picture, but it can produce the impression that Russia is able to project power into NATOs vulnerable neighborhood. Upholding unity is always a work in progress, and NATO cannot rely on timeworn habits alone. The allies need to overcome doubts in the wisdom of leadership and reluctance to pay for collective security, which can easily be taken for granted. Putin and his subordinates, meanwhile, do not understand the bonds that bring so many different nations together, and they remain devoted believers in corruption and sabotage. Low-cost conflict manipulation by the Kremlin can deliver transient victories, but it invariably backfires, strengthening coalitions of the willing to deter such Russian mischief-making. Dr. Pavel K. Baev is a senior researcher at the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO). This article appeared originally at The Jamestown Foundation's Eurasia Daily Monitor. Youve probably never heard of Silas Dinsmoor. He was an Indian agent in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, at a time when Indian agents were viewed by Washington policymakers more as diplomats than as corrupt, racist bureaucrats. The early American presidents knew that the Native American nations surrounding their fragile republic posed an existential threat. In the early era of the republic, there were three competing factions when it came to the West (the Appalachian Mountains): the federal government; western colonists from Europe; and the Indians, who were usually further divided into pro- and anti-American factions. The aims and ends of these three factions are easy to predict. The federal government tended to fill its Indian agent positions with Ivy League graduates. Silas Dinsmoor was a Dartmouth man. Dinsmoor replaced a Princeton man. The man who replaced Dinsmoor in Cherokee country was also a Dartmouth man. The federal government wanted to acculturate the Natives who lived along the republics long western border into broader American society. The aim of acculturation was not charity. Acculturation was as much about Realpolitik as Andrew Jacksons ethnic cleansing campaign in the 1830s. Most of the the Native countries were allied with the United Kingdom or Spain. Many Natives had deep, centuries-long commercial ties with the French. The colonists advancing westward from Americas port cities wanted land and a government that would support their desires, so the leaders of the early republic had much to fret about. Dinsmoor first became involved with the Cherokee Nation when he was made an assistant to Benjamin Hawkins, who had been tasked by George Washington himself to oversee relations with Indians south of the Ohio. Hawkins, a former senator from North Carolina, was given such an immense task after his predecessor got sacked for corruption (he was making deals with the British for Indian land, and deals with the Cherokee for Shawnee and Creek land). Hawkins went to live with the Creek, Dinsmoor with the Cherokee. While an Indian agent, Dinsmoor labored to convince those deep in Cherokee territory of the superiority of agriculture, trade, and mechanized industry. Dinsmoor also pleaded with the Cherokee to establish a central government with limited, enumerated powers of some kind so as to better communicate with the federal government of the United States. A centralized power structure would also give law and order in Cherokee country a big boost (the frontier in the early republic era was a violent place). Dinsmoors diplomatic efforts in Cherokee country laid the foundation for the nations ability to adapt and acculturate to the American way of life. (In 1832, for example, the Cherokee successfully sued the state of Georgia in the famous Worcester v. Georgia case). Dinsmoor, Yankee Ivy Leaguer and civilizer of the Cherokee, was far from done with life, though. When his assignment to Cherokee ended in 1798, he begged off Indian diplomacy and joined a Navy expedition to the Mediterranean. Barbary pirates and sultans of Istanbul Exactly one year after leaving Cherokee country, Dinsmoor was on the first American warship to enter Mediterranean waters. Dinsmoors position on the historic warship was more modest than being an Indian agent. (He was a purser, which is basically the ships recordkeeper.) The purpose of the warships mission was to establish peace with the Barbary states of northern Africa. Upon arriving in Algiers, the capital city of one of the Barbary states, the governor of the city told the Americans to keep sailing east until they reached Istanbul, the great capital city of the powerful Ottoman Empire. The governor of Algiers loaded up the American warship with slaves and exotic animals and sent the expedition on its way. Dinsmoor was ecstatic, but he also referred to Istanbul as Constantinople, which was the old name of the great city, when it served as capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Yankee Ivy Leaguers were, in the late 18th century, still country bumpkins. It is unclear if the Dinsmoor expedition had any success in gaining the Sultans audience, though the Barbary War of 1801-05 suggests that not only did the Americans not reach the Sultans ear, but that the governor of Algiers had a sense of humor in addition to cunning and prowess. The Choctaw years, feud with Andrew Jackson Thomas Jefferson appointed Dinsmoor to be Indian agent to the Choctaw once he returned from the Mediterranean. Jefferson was more expansion minded than Washington, though, and while the republics third president encouraged Dinsmoor to do what he had done with the Cherokee, he also wanted Dinsmoor to push for more land purchases, which the Choctaw scoffed at. Jefferson reportedly grew exasperated with Dinsmoors inability to buy large chunks of Choctaw land away from the Indians, but Dinsmoor was somehow able to keep his job. His job as Indian agent to the Choctaw became much less secure when he became embroiled in a controversy surrounding the slave trade in the region. Dinsmoor began enforcing a law that required traveling slave owners to carry proof of their ownership. Andrew Jackson, for some reason, saw this as intolerable and threatened Dinsmoors life. (The future president also threatened to burn down the federal office that Dinsmoor worked in.) In 1813, Dinsmoor was unceremoniously dumped from his position as Indian agent, so he moved first to Mobile, Ala. before finally settling on a family farm in northern Kentucky now known as the Dinsmore Homestead. It is there that he is buried alongside his wife. Deep in the heart of alien worlds, crystals form under pressures up to 40 million times more intense than the atmospheric pressure on Earth, and as much as 10 times more intense than the pressure in our planet's core. Understanding them better could help us search for life elsewhere in our galaxy. Right now, scientists know almost nothing about these mysterious crystals. They don't know how and when they form, what they look like or how they behave. But the answers to those questions could have enormous implications for the surfaces of those worlds whether they are covered either in flowing magma or ice, or are bombarded with radiation from their host stars. The answer, in turn, could affect the possibility of these planets harboring life. The interiors of these exoplanets are mysterious to us because, in our solar system, planets tend to be either small and rocky, like Earth and Mars, or large and gassy, like Saturn and Jupiter. But in recent years, astronomers have found that so-called "super-Earths" giant rocky planets and "mini-Neptunes" smaller gas planets than exist in our solar system are more common in the rest of our galaxy. [9 Most Intriguing Earth-Like Planets] Because these planets can be seen only as faint flickers in the light coming from their host stars, much about them remains mysterious. Are they superdense or superwide? What are their surfaces made of? Do they have magnetic fields? The answers to those questions, it turns out, depend heavily on how the rock and iron in their ultrapressurized cores behave. The limits of current science Right now, our understanding of exoplanets is based mostly on scaling up or down what we know about planets in our own solar system, said Diana Valencia, a planetary scientist at the University of Toronto in Canada, who called at the March meeting of the American Physical Society (APS) for mineral physicists to explore these exotic exoplanetary materials. The problem with the scaling-up approach is you can't really understand how iron will behave at 10 times the pressure of Earth's core just by multiplying, she said. At those enormous pressures, the properties of chemicals fundamentally change. "We would expect to find crystals inside super-Earths that don't exist in Earth, or anywhere else in nature, for that matter," said Lars Stixrude, a theoretical mineral physicist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has done basic theoretical work to calculate the properties of these extreme materials. "These would be unique arrangements of the atoms that only exist at very high pressure." These different arrangements happen, he told Live Science, because enormous pressures fundamentally change how atoms bind together. On Earth's surface and even deep inside our planet, atoms link up using only the electrons in their outer shells. But at super-Earth pressures, electrons closer to the atomic nucleus get involved and completely change the shapes and properties of materials. And those chemical properties could affect the behavior of whole planets. For example, scientists know that super-Earths trap a lot of heat. But they don't know how much and the answer to that question has major implications for those planets' volcanoes and plate tectonics. At Earth's internal pressures, lighter elements get mixed in with the iron core, impacting the planet's magnetic field but that might not happen at higher pressures. Even the physical size of super-Earths depends on the crystal structure of compounds in their cores. But without planets of this sort to study up close in our own solar system, Valencia said, scientists have to turn to basic physical calculations and experiments to answer these sorts of questions. But those calculations often turn up open-ended answers, Stixrude said. As for the experiments? "Those pressures and temperatures are beyond the capability of most of the technology and experiments we have today," he said. Building a super-Earth on regular Earth On Earth, the most extreme pressure experiments involve crushing tiny samples between the sharpened points of two industrial diamonds. But those diamonds tend to shatter long before reaching super-Earth pressures, Stixrude said. To get around the limitations of diamonds, physicists are turning to dynamic-compression experiments, of the sort performed by the mineral physicist Tom Duffy and his team at Princeton University. These experiments produce more super-Earth-like pressures, but only for fractions of a second. "The idea is, you irradiate a sample with a very high-powered laser, and you rapidly heat the surface of that sample and you blow off a plasma," Duffy, who chaired the APS session where Valencia spoke, told Live Science. Bits of the sample, suddenly heated, blast off the surface, creating a pressure wave that moves through the sample. [The World's Most Extreme Laboratories] "It's really like a rocket ship effect," Duffy said. The samples involved are tiny nearly flat, and just about a millimeter square in surface area, he said. And the whole thing lasts a matter of nanoseconds. When the pressure wave reaches the back of the sample, the whole thing shatters. But through careful observations during those brief pulses, Duffy and his colleagues have figured out the densities and even the chemical structures of iron and other molecules under previously unheard-of pressures. There are still many unanswered questions, but the state of knowledge in the field is changing fast, Valencia said. For instance, the first paper on the structure of super-Earths (which Valencia published in Feb. 2007 in The Astrophysical Journal as a graduate student at Harvard) is outdated because physicists have obtained new information about the chemicals inside our own planet. Answering these questions is important, Duffy said, because they can tell us whether distant alien worlds have characteristics like plate tectonics, flowing magma and magnetic fields and therefore, whether they could support life. Interstellar Space Travel: 7 Futuristic Spacecraft to Explore the Cosmos What a View: Amazing Astronaut Images of Earth 10 Exoplanets That Could Host Alien Life Originally published on Live Science. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada. Search Real Estate By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 04/10/2019 ADVERTISEMENT Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. couple Nicole Nafziger and Azan Tefou will reportedly be tying the knot -- finally -- within the next several months.Nicole, 25, and Azan, 26, are planning to get married overseas this summer after previously calling off their wedding multiple times, RadarOnline reported "She's sticking around for her sister's wedding in June then going back to Morocco," a source close to Nicole told the website."Her intentions are to get married while she's over there."The source said this will be the first time Nicole has seen her fiance in person since the Florida native left Morocco in 2018.Nicole's visit to see Azan in Morocco was featured on Season 3 of : Happily Ever After?, which aired last summer."They Skype," the source told RadarOnline of how the couple is managing to stay together. "She wants to bring him back to America."Nicole will also reportedly take her young daughter, May, along for the ride, despite disapproval from her family.Nicole and Azan will be one of six couples starring on the upcoming fourth season of : Happily Ever After?, which premieres Sunday, April 28 at 8PM ET/PT.According to a trailer TLC recently released on the show's official Facebook page for the new season, friends will question Nicole about Azan's "shady" actions and alleged "infidelity."Nicole and Azan's : Happily Ever After? return had been expected as reports the couple had begun filming footage in November 2018 for Season 4 had surfaced last year.Nicole was 21 when she met Azan, who was 23 years old at the time and living in Agadir, Morocco, through a mobile dating app.Nicole decided to travel to Morocco for five weeks, leaving her toddler daughter at home.Nicole and Azan's wedding plans have been put on hold more than once, with the latest incident being in June 2018 due to financial constraints and Azan convincing Nicole to invest their money into a beauty store instead.Nicole expected at the time it would take two years for Azan to be able to move to her country since they didn't marry, but regardless of the waiting period, the couple chose to stay together and make it work.Azan, however, has been accused by Nicole's family of using her for money and getting wrapped up in get-rich-quick schemes.Prior to Happily Ever After?, Nicole and Azan also appeared on Season 4 and Season 5 of . , We're sorry, this article is not currently available By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 11/24/2021 ADVERTISEMENT FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS! Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! Which couples are still together and which MAFS couples have broken up and divorced? And where are they now? 's first twelve seasons featured 44 different couples getting married at first sight -- so which couples are still together, who has broken up and divorced, and where are they all now?Each season of -- which premiered in the United States seven years ago and is based on a Danish series -- features couples (previously three couples, but four couples on Seasons 8 and 9, and five couples beginning with Season 10) being matched together by relationship experts and agree to marry when they first meet.Complete strangers become husband and wife in a matter of minutes, and the couples' lives are then documented by TV cameras over the course of the next four to eight weeks (eight weeks, in the case of 's most recent seasons).The couples typically enjoy their first night together in a hotel after exchanging vows -- with some couples deciding to consummate their marriage immediately -- and then embark on a honeymoon, move in together, and simply attempt to deal with the struggles of daily life as man and wife.At the end of the extreme marriage experiment, each couple must decide whether they'd like to stay married or get a divorce on "Decision Day."has experienced very mixed results over the years. While a significant number of couples decide to stay together and continue their new marriage at the end of their season, the real world seems to hit them hard after the cameras leave, resulting in the couple splitting up only months later.Do cast members see a different side of their spouses once cameras are gone, or do the romances naturally fizzle over time?Some couples are still together to this day and are extremely happy. Jamie Otis and Doug Hehner from Season 1, for example, have had two children.Several other couples have also had children -- including Ashley Petta and Anthony D'Amico Shawniece Jackson and Jephte Pierre Danielle Bergman and Bobby Dodd Deonna McNeill and Greg Okotie , and Jessica Studer and Austin Hurd However, there are also relationships that ended badly. Jessica Castro from Season 2, for instance, accused Ryan De Nino of alleged death threats, and she went on to file a restraining order and lawsuit against him.Some couples have also never even made it to "Decision Day" and ended their marriage prematurely, including Season 4 couple Heather Seidel and Derek Schwartz as well as Season 6 couple Molly Duff and Jonathan Francetic Are the remaining couples now lovers, friends or enemies?! What about early season couples like Cortney Hendrix and Jason Carrion, Jaclyn Methuen and Ryan Ranellone, Vanessa Nelson and Tres Russell, Sonia Granados and Nick Pendergrast, and Lillian Vilchez and Tom Wilson?And how about more recent season couples like Danielle DeGroot and Cody Knapek Sheila Downs and Nate Duhon Jaclyn Schwartzberg and Ryan Buckley Dave Flaherty and Amber Martorana , and Tristan Thompson and Mia Bally Keith Dewar and Kristine Killingsworth , and AJ Vollmoeller and Stephanie Sersen Click thelink below to see photos of each couple and find out! BEGIN GALLERY >> Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. Porterville, CA (93257) Today Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High 49F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies early then becoming cloudy with periods of rain late. Low 39F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. A single mom of two, a book editor, a psychologist and an advocate for diversity, the talent management for faculty at Franklin College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Georgia does it all. Senior Associate Dean of Franklin College Kecia Thomas manages faculty affairs and works with graduate students. She supports departments in selecting the best faculty available while sharing opportunities with them for recognition and promotion. The University of Georgia chapter of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity found itself in controversy after a video showing four unidentified members egging on the use of racial slurs went viral on March 22. Four days later, more than 300 students gathered on campus for an open discussion on race. Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan has said he believes there may be a better chance of peace talks with India and settle the Kashmir issue if Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party -- the Bharatiya Janata Party -- wins the general elections. India will go to elections in seven phases beginning from Thursday. "Perhaps if the BJP wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached," Khan told a small group of foreign journalists in an interview. He said other parties would be afraid of right-wing backlash in case of settlement on the Kashmir issue. Khan said Kashmir was the central issue between the two countries. India maintains that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the country and Pakistan is in illegal occupation of a part of the state's territory. Tensions flared up between India and Pakistan after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel in Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14. Amid mounting outrage, the Indian Air Force carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured an IAF pilot, who was handed over to India on March 1. Khan has said that Pakistan was taking action against all terrorist groups including the JeM. Khan said that groups like the JeM were being disarmed under a serious drive to eliminate militancy from Pakistan. "We have taken the religious schools of these groups under state control. It is first serious effort to disarm the militant outfits, he said. Khan said action was taken because it was important for the future of Pakistan. He also rejected the impression that Pakistan was compelled by the world to taken such an action. A vote for Modi is a vote for Pakistan: Cong on Imran's remarks The Congress and other opposition parties said on Wednesday that a vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a vote for Pakistan as they seized on Imran Khan's remarks that there may be a better chance of Indo-Pak peace talks and settling of the Kashmir issue if the Bharatiya Janata Party is voted back to power. In a scathing attack, the Congress also said Pakistani premier Khan's remarks reflect that Pakistan has "officially allied" with Modi. Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala launched a blistering attack on Modi over Khan's comments. "Pak has officially allied with Modi! A vote for Modi is a vote for Pakistan!" Surjewala tweeted. "Modi ji, first there was love for Nawaz Sharif and now Imran Khan is your dear friend," he added in a tweet in Hindi. The truth is out in the open, Surjewala claimed. Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Sitaram Yechury lashed out at Prime Minister Modi over Khan's remarks, saying now it was known who Pakistan wants as PM. "Pakistan has been the only issue of Modi's election campaign, where he has scurrilously tried to link it to opposition. Now we know who Pakistan actually wants as PM, the only Indian PM to have invited Inter-Services Intelligence to a military base, and the only one who went to Pakistan uninvited," he said. "We have serious concerns about foreign governments influencing our democratic election process. Last year, it was reported that ISI wants Modi as PM. Now Pakistani PM says it," Yechury said. Aam Aadmi Party Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also seized on Khan's remarks, saying if Modi wins in the general election, crackers will be burst in Pakistan. "Why does Pakistan want Modi ji to win. Modi ji should tell the country how deep are his relations with Pakistan. All Indians should know that if Modi wins, crackers will be burst in Pakistan. The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have launched their theme songs for the election campaign, which naturally present a picture in contrast: while the BJP went with its Modi-versus-All pitch with more than a dash of hyper-nationalism, the Congress's anthem focused on political economy with basic minimum income and justice for all. -- INDIA VOTES As the election campaign heats up, here's how both the parties stack up -- musically. >> BJP With the tag line "Phir ek bar, Modi sarkar", the BJP unveiled its campaign highlights, which included the Modi government's "befitting" reply to terrorism by "hitting terrorists by entering enemy territory". The BJPs theme song, released by Union Minister Arun Jaitley, focusses on a decisive and majority government against chaos and mahamilavat (adulterated alliance, a term for the Opposition coined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi). The song centres on Modis five-year performance -- with a special thrust on national security, honesty, ability to take big decisions -- besides targeting the Opposition for its alleged lack of cohesiveness. Soon after its release, the 'Phir ek bar, Modi sarkar' song went viral on Twitter with it becoming a trending topic -- a clear sign of Modi's popularity among netizens. >> Congress Not to be left behind, the Congress's theme song -- 'Main hi toh Hindustan hoon' -- was released on Sunday, which is part of the party's 'Ab Hoga Nyay' campaign. The lyrics of the song have been penned by Javed Akhtar, while campaign film has been directed by Nikkhil Advani and the cinematography is by Tushar Kanti Ray, the concept and script were provided by Anuja Chauhan, and the music was composed by Arjunna Harjai. The song takes a dig at Modi's demonetisation scheme and the government's decision to rename cities such as Allahabad. It also talks about providing the youth with jobs -- an issue that the Congress has been slamming the BJP for. The Election Commission on Wednesday stalled the release of a film on Prime Minister Narendra Modi until the polls end, asserting that any biopic material with the potential to disturb the level-playing field during elections should not be displayed. IMAGE: A man looks at the poster of upcoming film "PM Narendra Modi" outside a theatre in Mumbai. Photograph: Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters The commission, in a separate order, also directed the producers "not to exhibit the film titled 'PM Narendra Modi' till further orders. The film was set to release on April 11. Acting on the complaints of political parties, including the Congress, the poll panel also said that any poster or publicity material concerning any such certified content, which either depicts a candidate (including prospective) for the furtherance (or purported to further) of electoral prospects, directly or indirectly, shall not be put on display in electronic media in the area where MCC is in force. Apart from the Congress, the Left had opposed the release of the film based on the life of Modi, saying it would disturb the level-playing field for other parties in the election and was in violation of the Model Code of Conduct. "Any biopic material in the nature of biography/hagiogmphy sub-serving the purposes of any political entity or any individual entity connected to it, which is intended to, or which has the potential to disturb the level playing field, timing the elections should not be displayed in electronic media including cinematograph during the operation of MCC," the EC ordered. In their order, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and Commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra also announced that the Commission will set up a committee, headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court or a retired chief justice of any high court. In any cinematograph material, certified by the appropriate authority, if there exists such a violation or on receipt of a complaint in this regard, the committee, will examine the same and suggest appropriate action, the EC added. The poll panel pointed out that so far, it has received complaints about certain films such as 'NTR Laxmi', 'PM Narendra Modi' and 'Udyam Simham', "which are claimed to either dimnish or advance the electoral prospects of a candidate or a political party in the garb of creative freedom". "It is claimed that such creative contents are kind of surrogate publicity by the candidate or the political party during the period of model code. Though the display materials claim to be part of creative content, it is contended that these have propensity and potentiality to affect the level playing field which is not in consonance with the provisions of the model code of conduct," the EC noted. The copy of the order was also sent to the Central Board of Film Certification chairman and Secretary, Information and Broadcasting ministry. The commission's order on the biopic came a day before it was to be released, coinciding with the first phase of Lok Sabha elections. The order specifically stated that in view of the admitted acts and material available on record, this film being a biopic on Narendra Modi, "prime minister and a political leader and a prospective candidate in the current general elections" can not be exhibited in view of Commission's order. The Modi biopic, starring Vivek Oberoi has been the most-talked about movie in this election season. Directed by Omung Kumar, it tells the story of PM Modi's rise to power from his humble beginnings. The Supreme Court Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by a Congress activist seeking a stay on the release of the biopic, and said the EC would be an "appropriate" place to seek the redressal. The Central Board of Film Certification also issued an advisory to the producers of the film, asking them to comply with the EC's direction. Journalist Kishorchandra Wangkhem, who was detained under the National Security Act allegedly for criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party and its leaders, was released on Wednesday after spending over four months in jail. The Manipur high court had Monday revoked his detention and ordered his immediate release. The 39-year-old television journalist was released from the central jail here this afternoon, Superintendent of Prison (Jail) Sokholal Touthang said. Wangkhem was detained under the NSA at the orders of the Imphal West district magistrate last November for allegedly criticising the BJP, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh. He was detained on sedition charges on November 21 and sent to jail for 12 months. Wangkhem, who was working in a local cable TV in the BJP-ruled Manipur, had on December 20 moved court against his detention. Facing criticism for closing down the national highway connecting Jammu with Srinagar, the Union home ministry on Wednesday cited statistics to claim the ban was for only 15 per cent of total weekly hours. IMAGE: A Central Reserve Police Force convoy moves on the national highway towards Kashmir, on the outskirts of Jammu. Photograph: PTI Photo Underlining that the ban became necessary in the backdrop of the Pulwama terror attack, it issued a statement on Wednesday and said the step has been taken for ensuring safe movement of forces till May 31. The statement comes at a time when the ministry has to file its reply to the Jammu and Kashmir high court which has directed it to respond by April 19 to a bunch of petitions challenging the decision. In its statement, the ministry gave statistics in its defence stating the total duration of prohibition is for 24 hours out of 168 hours in a week, which amounts to only 15 per cent of the time. Terming it "deliberate and mischievous disinformation" campaign about traffic restrictions on the national highway connecting Jammu with Kashmir Valley, the ministry said, "The state government...has already clarified in unambiguous terms, that out of seven days in a week, only reasonable restrictions have been imposed, that too for 12 hours, two days in a week. This has been done to ensure safe movement of forces and at the same time minimising the inconvenience to public." "While regulations for movement of civilian traffic were already in place during convoy movement, the state government has now come out with a planned movement of security forces on the national highway for a short duration -- up to May 31, 2019," the ministry statement read. Photograph: Umar Ganie/ Rediff.com IMAGE: An army convoy moves on the highway.. The regulations have been imposed "just" for a total 15 days keeping in view the convoy efficiency and security of the personnel, "particularly in the backdrop of Pulwama attack on February 14, 2019 and a similar unsuccessful attempt on March 31, 2019", it stated. The high court had on Monday issued a notice to the union ministries of home and defence and the state government to furnish a reply by April 19 to petitions challenging the traffic order as it was violation of fundamental rights of the people. Political parties held protests against the ban on April 7 as well as Wednesday. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah has termed this order as a reflection of a BJP-led mindset of turning Kashmir into a colony like British-era. The army has already stated that it is not going to follow the order of the state government as it will continue to run its convoys as per the need, officials said. Reacting to the assertions made by the ministry that alternative routes like old national highway were available and that such restrictions were imposed from time to time in other parts of the country for movement of the convoys of security forces, former chief minister Omar Abdullah said the statement of the home ministry was full of lies. Photograph: Umar Ganie/ Rediff.com IMAGE: Security personnel stop vehicles on the national highway. "This press release sets a new record for the number of untruths told in the same statement. I don't know where to start with the sheer lies being told by this unnamed 'senior MHA official' except to say there is hardly a word of truth in it," Omar tweeted. Later, he said, "I would really like to know when such an order was issued in the past and which part of the country faces such restrictions on highway and how to connect with the old highway between Jammu and Srinagar?" The purported picture of a person whose palm had been stamped by a government official of Anantnag to facilitate his travel on the highway appeared on social networking sites. "Certain vested interests are raking up this issue with utter disregard to the precious lives of security personnel that could be lost in Pulwama-like attacks and are sensationalising the issue without any consideration for the national security," the government statement read. "These planned restrictions, which came into force from April 3, have by and large stabilised and are being properly implemented by the state government without any inconvenience to the public at large," it added. Photograph: Umar Ganie/ Rediff.com IMAGE: Former J-K chief minister Omar Abdullah stages sit-in against Srinagar-Jammu highway ban. Omar Abdullah again led a protest march on Wednesday demanding revocation of the order. "We have been continuously asking the government to rethink on this order since the day this 'Tughlaqi farmaan' was issued. There is no need for such a ban," he told reporters. According to the order issued on April 3 by state Home Secretary Shaleen Kabra, no civilian traffic will be allowed to move from Baramulla in north Kashmir to Udhampur in Jammu region on Sundays and Wednesdays till May 31. The restrictions on civilian traffic on the 271-km highway will remain in force from 4 am to 5 pm, said the order, which follows the suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama. The highway passes through important towns such as Anantnag, Awantipora, Pampore, Srinagar, Pattan and Baramulla. According to Omar Abdullah, the Army has said they did not demand this ban. "Former Army chief Gen V P Malik has termed this order a dumb idea. So, this small protest is to tell the government that please revoke this order and allow free movement of people on the highway," he said. A Delhi court on Wednesday sent Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik to National Investigation Agency custody till April 22 after the agency sought his custodial interrogation in connection with a case related to funding of separatists and terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir. Malik was produced before special judge Rakesh Syal where the NIA arrested him inside the courtroom and sought 15-day custodial interrogation. The proceedings in the case were heard in-camera. He was shifted to Delhi's Tihar Jail on Tuesday after the NIA secured his production remand in connection with the terror funding case. Malik will be facing questions from the NIA related to funding of his organisation. The Jammu and Kashmir high court has reserved its judgment on a plea of the Central Bureau of Investigation for reopening three-decade-old cases in which Malik was an accused. The JKLF chief is facing charges of kidnapping and murder for being allegedly involved in abducting Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in 1989, and killing of four Indian Air Force personnel in the early part of 1990. NIA had approached a special court in Jammu, seeking Malik's remand for custodial interrogation in the terror-funding case. The NIA probe seeks to identify the chain of players behind the financing of terrorist activities, pelting of stones on security forces, burning down of schools and damaging of government establishments. The case also names Hafiz Saeed, the Pakistan-based chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawah, the front for the banned Lashker-e-Tayiba, as an accused. Besides, it names organisations such as Hurriyat Conference factions led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Dukhtaran-e-Millat. The JKLF was recently banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. This upcoming week in the United Kingdom, the fuel cell industry holds an annual confab whose scheduled lineup of speakers includes a senior FuelCell Energy expert providing an overview of large-scale applications of the technology. As for his own company, which has designed and built the largest fuel cells ever en route to its golden anniversary marked in mid-March at its Danbury headquarters? Elusive still is the alchemy to achieving profitability, in the same steady state that its machines generate electricity with no noxious emissions. Even as it marked 50 years in business on Thursday, FuelCell Energy reported last month it had crossed the $1 billion mark for the accumulated deficit it has amassed in its history as a public company if strung out over its full history, amounting to $20 million a year on average in good years and bad. In the 1990s selling both stationary fuel cell power plants and nickel-zinc batteries, FuelCell and ERC had a string of years in which it eked out profits ranging up to $500,000. In 1998, however, FuelCell embarked on its current run of annual losses that reached a trough of $97 million in 2008, while never getting above a $30 million loss in any one year. The two-decade run of earnings futility that raises an obvious question: will FuelCell ever be able to find a path to profitability to justify it continuing as an independent company? And if not, what are the long-term implications for the clean-energy innovator that employs more than 400 people in its home state today? A builder and an operator A FuelCell spokesperson did not did not answer Hearst Connecticut Media questions on that front, but in recent conference calls with investors the company has suggested the companys path to sustained profitability lies in operating the fuel cell power plants it builds, in addition to manufacturing fuel cells and modules for sale to other entities. Fuel cells produce streams of electricity by passing hydrogen through stacks of coated membranes that siphon off electrons chemically. The hydrogen is then combined with oxygen to produce water as the main emission, along with heat that can be channeled for facility needs. The Wales scientist Robert William Grove is credited as being the first to demonstrate the process in 1838, and after more than a century of additional research, General Electric hit on breakthroughs with membrane coatings to produce sufficient electricity for fuel cells to be used on NASAs Project Gemini space expeditions in the 1960s. Bernard Baker and Martin Klein created FuelCells predecessor company in March 1969 as Energy Research Corp., with Baker having been introduced to fuel cell technology while on a Fulbright fellowship at the University of Amsterdam. There, Dr. G.H.J. Broers was experimenting with molten carbonate fuel cell technology designed to generate efficiencies by operating at more than 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit, with Baker using that as the springboard to starting the company that would become FuelCell. FuelCell, Bloom Energy and Doosan Fuelcell in South Windsor remain the three biggest U.S. makers of stationary fuel cell power plants today. With its heritage long rooted in its original molten carbonate heritage, in the past few years FuelCell has been working to develop solid oxide platforms, the specialty of San Jose, Calif.-based Bloom Energy. Bloom Energy went public last July, with its shares down 16 percent, with FuelCell shares down more than 70 percent over the same interval. A when question In a 300-page Battelle Memorial Institute analysis of the cost of fuel cells conducted on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy, researchers identified what they determined to be the biggest driver of costs for the technology: insufficient demand to justify mass production, losing out on economies of scale that have benefited the solar panel and battery industries among others. Bottone suggested as much in a 2013 interview with the United Kingdom publication Quartz, quoted as saying its a when question, not an if question in his words to achieve profitability as FuelCell ramped up production. To do so, Bottone added at the time, FuelCell would have to have an annual production rate of systems producing 80 megawatts of electricity in any given year, with FuelCell manufacturing just 25 megawatts of systems in each of its two previous fiscal years ending in October. In January, an analyst with Cowen & Co. estimated that FuelCell spends between $5 million and $6 million today to manufacture and install its systems, as calculated on a per-megawatt basis, and that it sells them for between $6 million and $7 million a megawatt. But other costs apply, including future interest on loans FuelCell requires to finance the construction of a plant, and fuel cell modules become spent over time requiring new modules to be swapped in, at additional expense. FuelCell completed construction in 2014 of its largest single project to date, a facility in South Korea generating nearly 60 megawatts. Posco Energy assembled the fuel cells in South Korea under license from FuelCell, with the companies now in a legal spat over future sales rights in the region. The companys largest upcoming project is to produce fuel cells that will generate nearly 40 megawatts of electricity for the Long Island Power Authority, with installations to take place over multiple years. Hard to predict FuelCell has been in negotiations with Dominion Energy to buy back a 15-megawatt plant in had built in Bridgeport a megawatt provides power for the rough equivalent of 1,000 homes with the company also to operate a plant half that size in Groton on behalf of the U.S. Navy. With financial support from the U.S. government, FuelCell has spent the past few years exploring how its systems could operate in tandem with energy and industrial facilities that emit large amounts of carbon dioxide, which if captured and shunted into its systems could be rechanneled to generate electricity. The company has been working up a demonstration of the system with ExxonMobil, with one researcher at the energy giant describing the potential as a holy grail to helping it eliminate carbon dioxide emitted as exhaust at plants powered by natural gas. FuelCell has stepped up its patent activity the past several years, with about 40 applications currently before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office after producing less than half that number over a decade through 2016. Last year, the company filed multiple patent applications that envision fuel cells used as components in a system to store excess energy generated by renewable power systems. On Triangle Street in Danbury not far from its headquarters, FuelCell is experimenting with a new design that configures a systems modules to glean full utilization of the fuel needed to generate electricity. But the company has yet to reveal any exponential leaps in technology that would represent an emphatic pivot to sustained profitability. The ... new order cycle continues to be hard to predict, Bottone said in early March on a conference call with investment analysts. We are actively working on a number of projects and are encouraged by the growing appreciation for the energy solution our fuel cells provide. Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman 3 1 of 3 Contributed photo Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Contributed photo Show More Show Less 3 of 3 LAKEVILLE ShowTown has scheduled two very different events, following its debut production, the play Race, which was presented to nearly sold out audiences during three performances in March. The first show is Jazz at the White Hart at Salisburys famed White Hart Inn on Saturday, April 27 at 7 p.m. The performance will feature a quintet of world-class jazz musicians, some of whom have played at Jazz at Lincoln Center and other prestigious venues and major festivals in the US and abroad, and who have collectively recorded more than 100 CDs. TORRINGTON FuelCell Energy, which built its North American manufacturing plant in the city, is celebrating its 50th anniversary as the oldest, continually operating fuel cell manufacturer in the world. Michael Lisowski, the vice president of Global Operations for the company, recently received a proclamation from Mayor Elinor Carbone recognizing the companys success. This is an important business and there has been a tremendous growth in expanding the business, she said at a recent City Council meeting. You are changing the shape of Torrington, Carbone added, globally, going from a chemical company to a clean solutions, enterprise. More for you Danbury fuel cell maker deploys new technology Lisowski thanked the mayor and the city for the support and outreach weve received. We look forward to spending the next 50 years in Torrington. The proclamation, read by Carbone, noted that the city appreciates your dedication to your employees, your investment and support in our community and your innovation in shaping the future of clean energy around the globe. The company began its business in 1969 in Danbury as the Energy Research Corp. It builds, installs and operates fuel cell plants and offers solutions for the recovery and storage of energy. The corporate office remains in Danbury. The talent pool in Torrington is essential to our success, Lisowski told the council. Our (companys) past and present is dominated by employees and investors that are here because they want to be part of something special and meaningful and lead the way globally in clean, continuous energy production, CEO Chip Bottone wrote in a letter to FuelCell employees in 2018. TORRINGTON City firefighters had to call for a second alarm during a fire at a commercial dwelling Wednesday afternoon. Fire crews responded to an occupied commercial structure at 632 Main St., shortly before 3 p.m. for a report of a fire in the back of the business. Within three minutes, the first fire enging was on scene and reported heavy smoke from the back of the structure, near an alleyway. The fire was found to be in the walls between the first and second floor of the building, according to Deputy Fire Chief David Tripp. The fire was called in when a second-floor tenant smelled smoke. The Torrington Fire Marshals Office investigated the fire and ruled it to be accidental, Tripp said. Firefighters signaled for a second alarm because of the placement of the fire hidden, as Tripp referred to it and the type and age of the building. A quick attack on the fire from exposing the walls from the outside prevented further damage, Tripp said. There were no injuries reported as a result of this incident. One resident was put in contact with the American Red Cross for possible help, Tripp said. Off-duty firefighters provided city coverage while units worked to extinguished the blaze on Main Street. Editors note: This story has been corrected since it was first posted. The fire was not at Detail Unlimited and Cycle Addiction, it was at what the Fire Department described as an occupied commercial structure. WINSTED Plans for the renovation of the Mary P. Hinsdale School include a proposal to daylight the culvert that carries a brook underneath the two-story wing of the school. Architect Paul E. Jorgensen, an associate of Silver Petrucilli & Associates Inc., the project managers, told a group of about 25 residents on Tuesday that the firm looked at the drainage and flooding, of the site that sits below Spencer Hill. In a 100-year storm, the culvert can flood and effect the school site, Jorgensen said at a community meeting held at the Winsted Senior Center. The solution, which would alleviate the publics concern about mold and air quality in the school, Jorgensen said, is to remove the second story building near Hinsdale Avenue, along with the culvert below it, and uncover the brook, which will then flow naturally downhill toward the Mad River. The community meeting Tuesday was the second of three held by the Winchester School District to provide information about the financial impact of the project. The total cost of the project is $16.8 million, of which $6.9 million would be paid for through a state grant. While the reimbursable part of the project is listed as $9.9 million, the 70 percent reimbursable rate brings it to $6.9 million. The total expense to the town would be $9.9 million, Jorgensen said. The state will not only pay part of the cost for the renovation, it will also pay for the construction of 7,700 square feet of classroom space on the Williams Avenue side of the building, Jorgensen said. The new classroom building would offer about the same amount of square footage in the two-story building thats slated for demolition. Residents who attended the meeting at the Winsted Senior Center had questions for the project manager and the superintendent of schools. One man asked how much the tax rate would increase if the project were approved. Another wanted to know why Hinsdale was chosen over Batcheller School for renovation. Sara Guenther, whose children who are in kindergarten, asked about comparing the costs of a new school vs. a renovation. I found it would be a few million more for a new school, she said. Guenther added that she supports the project. Superintendent of Schools Melony Brady-Shanley noted that quite a few residents wonder why the district doesnt renovate Batcheller School. She said Hinsdale, which was built in the late 1940s, was chosen over Batcheller School because Hinsdale is more structurally sound. Hinsdale is also not occupied, so students would not have to moved to a swing space, or alternative location, Brady-Shanley said. If Batcheller were chosen, We would have to ship the students out of town for at least two years, she added.That created undue chaos for families. A more serious concern, Brady-Shanley said, is the location of Batcheller. There is only one entrance and one exit. If there were an emergency, there is no other way out. She also noted that the location is embedded in the woods and up a hill. It leaves a lot of space in which to hide. On the question of why the town doesnt build a new school instead of renovating one, Jorgensen said it would cost $20 million for a new building. He added that new buildings receive a lesser percent of the cost of construction from state grants. That does not include the cost of site acquisition which can cost millions. It makes no financial sense to build a new school, Brady-Shanley added. The renovated Hinsdale school would enroll students in pre-K through two years old, she said. Asked what the cost of borrowing the funds would equate to as increase in the tax rate, Finance Director Bruce Stratford deferred and instead discussed the expected growth of the grand list. He said An increase of 1 mill would generate (an extra) $720,000, for the grand list, which would help pay a portion of the debt service. A referendum on the whether to approve the renovation project is expected to be held this summer. If approved, the timeline for the project calls for the project managers to file the grant request with the state before June 30, to make sure its accepted before a new fiscal year begins on July 1. Construction would be under way from 2020 until 2021, according to the project documents, and be finished by the summer of 2021. Student would begin classes at Hinsdale that fall. The final community meeting on the proposed project will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Pearson School cafeteria, 2 Wetmore Ave. The information was revealed by Vietnamese Ambassador to the Netherlands Ngo Thi Hoa during an interview with the Vietnam News Agency ahead of the trip, which will be PM Ruttes second visit to the Southeast Asian nation after his first in 2014. She said the visit will be an important event marking a new stride in bilateral relations. It will be an occasion for the two countries leaders to discuss measures for enhancing ties in politics-diplomacy and trade-investment and strengthening existing cooperation mechanisms, especially strategic partnerships on climate change adaptation water management and on sustainable agriculture food security. The tour also aims to expand ties in high technology, circular economy, transport, aviation, energy and smart city building. As part of this trip, many important events will be held in Hanoi and other localities such as the seventh meeting of the Vietnam-Netherlands Inter-Governmental Committee on Climate Change Adaptation and Water Management; discussions on the water, aviation, agriculture and energy sectors; a business-to-business meeting; and the signing of business deals. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte meet each other on the sidelines of the 12th ASEM Summit in Brussels, Belgium, in October 2018 (Photo: VNA) Ambassador Hoa said the Vietnam-Netherlands friendship has been developing well. They have maintained regular high-ranking delegation exchanges and meetings. The latest visits to the European nation by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in July 2017 and National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan in March 2018 created new momentum for ties. Within multilateral frameworks, the two countries have cooperated and supported each others initiatives, especially at the United Nations, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and meetings between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the European Union (EU). The Netherlands has also supported Vietnam to enhance relations with the EU and shared the latters viewpoint on the settlement of disputes in the East Sea by international law. The diplomat noted the Netherlands has been an important economic partner of Vietnam for years. Bilateral trade doubled from USD3.77 billion in 2014 to reach some USD8 billion in 2018, making the Netherlands the biggest market of Vietnamese goods and the second biggest trade partner of Vietnam in the EU. Meanwhile, it ranks first among EU nations and 10th among the countries and territories investing in Vietnam, with more than 300 projects worth USD9.328 billion. She said both countries face major challenges in terms of climate change, water management and food security, which has prompted them to become key partners in many areas. Many projects under the strategic partnership on climate change adaptation and water management, set up in 2010, have been carried out effectively, especially the Mekong Delta Plan that has suggested recommendations for water management and climate change adaptation issues. Additionally, under the strategic partnership on sustainable agriculture and food security that was established in 2014, the Netherlands has become a big investor in Vietnams agriculture, helping the latter promote sustainable agriculture and the value of agricultural exports, Hoa noted. Regarding cooperation in education-training, the countries have also reaped numerous successes, she said, elaborating that they have implemented many cooperation programmes between their universities and in post high school education, granted scholarships and shared specialised knowledge. There are more than 1,000 Vietnamese undergraduates and postgraduates in the Netherlands at present. Besides this, ministries and sectors of the countries have also opened joint training programmes. In terms of locality-to-locality ties, the two sides have established partnerships between Hanoi and Amsterdam, Ho Chi Minh city and Rotterdam, Binh Duong province and Emmen and Eindhoven cities, Vinh Long and Gelderlands provinces, and An Giang province and Oss city. Relations between Vietnamese and Dutch localities are being fostered on the basis of their strengths, particularly urban planning, environment, water management, industrial and urban waste treatment, hi-tech agriculture development, smart city building, culture, education and tourism, Ambassador Hoa added./. Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong are repeatedly interrogating detained editor and labor activist Wei Zhili, his wife said following a recent visit by his lawyer to the detention center. Wei was initially detained in the provincial capital Guangzhou in January, while Wei and others were detained on . He is currently being held under criminal detention at the No. 2 Detention Center in Guangdong's Shenzhen city. His wife, the feminist activist Zheng Churan, told RFA on that Wei's meeting with his lawyer was monitored by police during the visit. "They met under police surveillance, with the police looking on and listening to everything they said," Zheng said. Editor-in-chief Yang Zhengjun and his colleagues Wei Zhili and Ke Chengbing, all worked for the Xinshengdai (New Generation) website at www.ilabour.net at the time of their detentions. All three had criticized life-threatening working conditions in some Chinese factories, via their website which focused on news affecting China's tens of millions of internal migrant workers. Zheng said Wei's mental state appears to be stable for the time being, though his head has been shaved like a prisoner, and he is forced to sleep on the floor. "He has to work longer hours in the warehouse because he is a new arrival, so he gets less sleep," she said. "He has also had a lot of interrogations." Forced confession fears During the interrogations, the questioning was mostly focused around Wei's efforts to help migrant workers with pneumoconiosis to pursue compensation claims. Interrogating officers had told me he was "stupid" to try to help the workers, Zheng said. "The police taunted him as dumb during his interrogations, saying that he clearly had a low IQ, and that that he wouldn't find it easy to get out again," she said. "Of course his parents are worried sick that he doesn't have enough clothes to wear, or that he is being bullied or beaten up so as to force a confession out of him," Zheng said. Wei's lawyer Fan Biaowen said Wei had undergone five interrogations at the time of their meeting. "They mostly asked him about the pneumoconiosis and his campaign for the workers' rights," Fan said. "I think his actions were very courageous, but they are charging him with hooliganism, which is a separate charge from picking quarrels and stirring up trouble." "Ke Chengbing is being charged with [picking quarrels and stirring up trouble], the same as the other guy [Yang Zhengjun]," he said. The London-based rights group Amnesty International has said Wei could be at risk of torture. Numerous disappeared activists Wei had helped several hundred pneumoconiosis sufferers from Hunan province to launch a compensation claim last November in Shenzhen after running out of money to spend on medical bills, his friend told RFA. The Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) last week called for the immediate release of Wei, Yang and Ke. Labor groups in neighboring Hong Kong also staged a protest outside the ruling Chinese Communist Party's representative office in the city, to call for the release of dozens of labor activists held by the Chinese government in recent months. Activists have also called for the release of more than 40 former workers at the Jasic Technology factory in Guangdong province and members of the Jasic Workers' Solidarity Group (JWSG), who were supporting them. At least 44 labor activists, students, and recent graduates of China's top universities have been "disappeared" or criminally detained since the nationwide crackdown on the Jasic labor movement, which started in July and continued with further waves of arrests and detentions in August, September, November, and January, the JWSG reported on its Github page. Among the "disappeared" are Yat-sen University graduate and Jasic movement spokeswoman Shen Mengyu and Peking University #MeToo campaigner Yue Xin. Shang Kaia former editor for the Maoist website Red Reference who was supporting the Jasic campaignwas released on "bail" under conditions preventing him from appearing in public. China holds the highest number of journalists in prison, with at least 60 currently behind bars, according to RSF. The country ranked 176 out of 180 in the 2018 RSF World Press Freedom Index. Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. A group of prominent academics has called on the ruling Chinese Communist Party to reinstate a professor at one of the country's top universities. Tsinghua University law professor Xu Zhangrun was recently notified by school authorities to cease performing any duties, and banned from teaching and counseling students. The move came after he published an article last July hitting out at the return of totalitarianism under the ruling Chinese Communist Party, including the abolition of presidential term limits and a cult of personality around Xi. He called for amendments nodded through by China's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), in 2018 to be revoked and for an end to massive international expenditure to boost China's influence overseas, as well as for legislation requiring officials to publish details of their assets and financial interests. Xu also published articles in November and January hitting out at "red" imperialism and calling for an upgrade to China's political system. But a group of scholars focusing on China wrote in an open letter to to Tsinghua University president Qiu Yong that the move had hurt the university's international reputation. "Tsinghua University, one of the most highly ranked universities in the world, has suffered severe damage to its academic reputation as a consequence of the universitys punishment of Professor Xu Zhangrun," said the letter, which was signed by hundreds of scholars including Geremie Barme of the Australian National University (ANU), Columbia University's Andrew Nathan, and Perry Link of the University of California, Riverside. "As members of the international academic community, we urge the university to restore Professor Xus normal status in the university, including his teaching and research duties, and to refrain from any further sanctions against him," said the letter, which was also signed by Ian Buruma of Bard College, Steven Levine of the University of Montana, and the Asia Society's Orville Schell. High political risk Former Tsinghua lecturer Wu Qiang said many of the Chinese signatories of the the letter were contemporaries who had graduated from Tsinghua several decades ago. He said younger alumni were likely too intimidated by the current ideological crackdown in China to add their names to the letter. "Younger people know very well that to come out in support of Xu Zhangrun in today's China carries too high a political risk," Wu said. "They are probably limited by their existing employers. There is a lot of fear among young people right now." "The only way the current regime has survived is through systemic controls on thought, as well as economic restraints [on people's freedom of expression]," he said. The concerns over the treatment of Xu came as social media platform Sina Weibo announced a ban on liberal scholar Yu Jianrong, who researches rural development at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Yu, who had more than seven million million followers on the platform, was banned alongside dozens of other big-name social media commentators. Sources said the bans were likely because the commentators hadn't been very effusive in their praise of President Xi Jinping. "Don't they need to specify my crime?" Yu wrote on a WeChat group after the ban was announced. In a separate comment, he said: "Don't ask me what it was I said; rather go away and think about what I didn't say." Yu didn't respond to messages from RFA requesting an interview on Tuesday. 'Nothing to be done' Fellow big-name social media commentator Cheng Lingxu said Sina is now being required to carry out censorship on behalf of the government. "I don't think Sina Weibo would have shut down these accounts willingly, but if it hadn't done so, the whole platform would have been shut down," Cheng told RFA. "They are shutting people down in batches, as less influential people become more influential when the influencers get banned," he said. "There's really nothing to be done about it." An employee who answered the phone at Sina Weibo's headquarters in China declined to comment when contacted by RFA on Tuesday. Reported by Gao Feng for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wong Lok-to for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. Four decades after the United States passed a law governing relations with Taiwan, which has since become a democracy, the island's president has called on Washington to aid its 23 million people in their bid to resist "coercion" from Beijing. In a video conference marking the 40th anniversary of the U.S.' Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), Tsai Ing-wen said the law has been crucial to preventing instability in the region. "In todays world of increasing complexity and challenge, this has been more necessary than ever before," she told the conference on Tuesday, calling for a collective response to attempts by China's ruling Communist Party to "coerce" Taiwan. She said the TRA had already supported Taiwans development of defense capabilities needed "in order to resist any form of coercion." "The United States and other countries with similar ideas are helping Taiwan because they clearly see that China is not only threatening a country or a form of governance, but also our sense of collective security and common values and interests," Tsai told the conference hosted at the Brookings Institution. Thousands of people took to the streets of Taiwan at the weekend in protest at China's proposal to govern the democratic island under the "one country, two systems" framework applied to Hong Kong. In a Jan. 2 speech titled "Letter to our Taiwan compatriots," Chinese President Xi Jinping insisted that Taiwan must be "unified" with China, and refused to rule out the use of military force to annex the island. Tsai replied at the time that Taiwan's 23 million people have no wish to give up their sovereignty, and that China should first move towards a democratic system. 'Can't trust China' Stephen Young, former director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) trade and cultural affairs office in Taipei, agreed. "I remember that when Deng Xiaoping, the former leader of the Chinese Communist Party, proposed 'one country, two systems' before, he also told Taiwan not to be too nervous about it," Young said. "But Beijing have already violated their commitment to Hong Kong," he said. "The lesson we have learned is not to trust the Chinese government." Bonnie Glaser, a senior adviser for Asia and the director of the China Power Project at CSIS, told RFA's Mandarin Service that China's attempts to "unify" with Taiwan have brought Taipei and Washington into even closer alignment. "This makes [the United States and Taiwan] think about how to cooperate more closely in the Asia-Pacific region, how to use international cooperation more effectively, and how to strengthen current security and defense relations between the two sides in order to protect Taiwan from [military] threat," Glaser said. Tsai also called for a trade agreement with the United States and other free-market countries to reduce Taiwan's dependency on the Chinese economy. She said national security concerns around the use of Huawei equipment in the next generation of 5G mobile networks have made it important for Taiwan and the U.S. to develop investment agreements. We need to reshape the supply chain to ensure that key technologies, infrastructure and related things do not fall into the wrong hands," Tsai told the conference. A recent opinion poll found that more than 80 percent of Taiwanese would reject Xi's offer to rule the island via the "one country, two systems" model used for the former colonies of Hong Kong and Macau. Transition to democracy Taiwan was ruled as a Japanese colony in the 50 years prior to the end of World War II, but was handed back to the 1911 Republic of China under the Kuomintang (KMT) government as part of Tokyo's post-war reparation deal. It has never been controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, nor formed part of the People's Republic of China. The island began a transition to democracy following the death of Chiang Kai-shek's son, President Chiang Ching-kuo, in January 1988, starting with direct elections to the legislature in the early 1990s and culminating in the first direct election of a president, Lee Teng-hui, in 1996. Washington cut off diplomatic ties with Taipei on Jan. 1, 1979, opting instead to recognize the People's Republic of China. The TRA was subsequently enacted to govern the future bilateral relationship, and empowers the U.S. government to maintain commercial, cultural, and other relationships between the American people and the people of Taiwan, and to promote U.S. foreign policy. Reported by Han Jie for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Pan Jiaqing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. A view of the entrance to the police battalion headquarters in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state, March 2019. The Myanmar military unleashed helicopter and jet strikes in response to the rebel Arakan Army's (AA) on-the-ground attacks on a police residential unit and battalion headquarters believed to contain heavy arms belonging to government troops in war-ravaged Rakhine states Mrauk-U township, with spokesmen for the two forces releasing competing, imprecise casualty counts. The AA began its armed assault around 10 p.m. Tuesday, starting with the police battalions family residential quarters, while around 400 Arakan fighters conducted a another attack on the police headquarters at about 3 a.m. Wednesday, said Myanmar military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun. Government forces used aerial strikes to counter the AAs massive offensives, he and local residents said. AA soldiers entered the police battalion headquarters after they seized the residential unit, but retreated at about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday when military reinforcements arrived and pushed them back, Zaw Min Tun said. Around 10:05 p.m. last night, they attacked three locations at the police battalion headquarters and the polices family residential quarters, he said. They stopped after we fired back. They launched a larger attack with around 400 [AA] members around 3 a.m., he said. They were attacking from the family quarters. After reinforcements arrived and counterattacked, they retreated around 5:30 a.m. Some Myanmar soldiers, members of the police force, and AA fighters were killed during the attack, he said, though he did not provide the exact number of deaths and said that details would be released later. Zaw Min Tun estimated that the number of Myanmar soldier fatalities could not be more than 10, though AA spokesman Khine Thukha said more than 20 Myanmar troops could have been killed during the clash. I would say the death toll from our side is less than 10, Zaw Min Tun said. We are now working on a clearance operation in the surrounding area for security, he said Arakan forces launched offensives on the police battalion headquarters because it houses a crew that operates the Myanmar militarys heavy artillery launchers, Khine Thukha said. They said the facility is the police battalion, but it is not, he said. It is the base for artillery launcher troops who have disguised themselves as part of the police facility. It is the base camp for the Myanmar militarys heavy artillery. Thats why we launched attacks on that location. Colonel Win Zaw Oo, spokesman for the militarys Western Command responsible for Rakhine state, denied the AAs claim. The Myanmar police force is responsible for the security of local civilians, so the security forces are stationed there for security purposes, he said. The claim that the battalion is harboring heavy artillery is just an excuse for the attack. Civilians killed, injured The battle in Chaung-thit village on Tuesday night also reportedly killed an unknown number of civilians and severely injured a toddler and the childs 25-year-old mother, who were hit by gunfire and are being treated in hospitals, a person helping the wounded villagers said. Kyaw Thein Tun, secretary of the Mrauk-U Gayunar Hlaing blood donors group, said the child was transferred to Sittwe Hospital in Rakhine's capital. Because of a dawn-to-dust curfew for residents, Kyaw Thein Tun said he and others had to wait until morning to reach the child and the woman from Mrauk-Us Chaung Thit village. The mother was hit on the right side of the chest, [and] the child was hit on the left side of the chest, he said. They were first sent to Mrauk-U hospital, [but] the child was later sent to Sittwe after he started bleeding in the lungs. RFA could not independently confirm the report that some civilians were killed during the attack. Khin Than, chairwoman of the group Mrauk-U Heritage Trust, expressed concern that the attacks may have further damaged historical structures in the ancient town because the clashes occurred inside an archeological zone. They were shooting all night, she said of both Arakan and Myanmar forces. I saw the planes arrive around 5:30 a.m. There are many ancient monuments in that area, she said. It is inside the archeological zone. The vibrations from the firing of heavy artillery could damage many ancient monuments. The police battalion is inside the Mrauk-U archeological zone. Fighting in Mrauk-U in March damaged some of the hundreds of ancient but well-preserved temples and pagodas that dot the hills of the township, where a powerful Rakhine empire existed from the 15th century to the late 18th century. Residents and archaeologists have said that the clashes have become an obstacle to efforts to have the zone listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2020. Rakhine state lawmakers meet with members of the Rakhine State Peace and Stability Supporting Committee to discuss measures for peace and stability in the troubled state, in Sittwe, western Myanmar's Rakhine state, April 10, 2019. Credit: RFA Helping IDPs Meanwhile, a government committee working to establishing peace and stability in Rakhine state met Wednesday with state government officials, the speaker of the state parliament, and Rakhine lawmakers in Sittwe to seek ideas for ending the conflict, though invited civil society organizations (CSOs) NGOs did not attend. The Rakhine State Peace and Stability Supporting Committee was formed by President Win Myint on March 14 to prevent provocations that could cause further instability in the violence-ridden state. On Monday, the panel began its work, conducting field studies on peace and stability in Rakhine, consulting with stakeholders, and offering suggestions on short-term and long-term projects to bring stability to the state. Committee chairman Aye Thar Aung, who is also deputy speaker of Myanmars upper house of parliament, pledged at the Wednesday meeting to provide humanitarian aid to civilians displaced by armed conflict in Rakhine, saying that the panel would supply relief mainly to IDPs [internally displaced persons] in Mrauk-U and Kyauktaw townships during upcoming visits, the official Global New Light of Myanmar said in a report. San Hla Kyaw, speaker of the Rakhine state parliament, told RFA that the parties agreed to help displaced civilians and proposed that the committee allow international and local NGOs to provide relief assistance to them. We are going to collaborate with the committee according to policy, but we will be watching what it is going to do, he said. Rakhine states Disaster Management Department has estimated that more than 31,000 villagers have been displaced by the clashes. But government officials have not permitted many relief groups to operate in the state, except for the International Committee of the Red Cross and the World Food Programme. We told them about our outlook that we want the committee to have a good relationship with the Rakhine people, said Win Myint, Rakhine states municipal affairs minister and government spokesman. We will work together with it to help the IDPs. Than Tun, leader of a group of Sittwe-based CSOs, said the organizations have refused to meet with the committee because some panel members are not working with the others. Two committee members Rakhine lawmaker Oo Hla Saw, who represents Mrauk-U in Myanmars lower house of parliament and is an ANP leader, and Htu May, a prominent female Rakhine politician and upper house lawmaker from Rakhine state constituency No. 11 said they would not participate in the meetings because they were assigned to them without their prior consent. Citing her decision, Htu May said that is not the job of a member of parliament to explain government policies to the people. Than Tun also said the CSOs did not attend the meeting because they do not believe that the committee can come up with a proper solution to address the IDPs or that it will be able to stop the fighting. The committee held its first meeting in Myanmars capital Naypyidaw on Monday and its second in Yangon on Tuesday. Reported by Kyaw Thu and Kyaw Lwin Oo for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung and Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. MINSK -- The bodies of the elderly woman and her 51-year-old son were found wrapped in blankets, decomposing in their home in southern Tehran. They had been stabbed to death, their corpses entombed in a closet sealed off with a makeshift wall, Iranian authorities say. The grisly discovery in the fall of 2012 ended the search for the pair. But it marked the beginning of a family member's fight to avoid forcible return to Iran, where he says he could face torture or even execution for a double murder he denies committing. Mehrdad Jamshidian, 52, who has lived in Belarus for more than two decades, has avoided extradition to Iran from his adopted country since 2012 to face charges of killing the two people found in the closet -- his mother and brother -- in an alleged dispute over his father's inheritance. But despite the case's murky details and opposition from a UN rights committee, Belarus now appears set to expel the father of three back to his homeland for an immigration infraction -- a move his supporters consider a "hidden extradition." Jamshidian has spent the past eight months locked up in a Minsk detention facility, awaiting deportation from the last country in Europe to retain the death penalty to another that has been accused of carrying out "arbitrary executions." Official documents have given conflicting timelines of the crime, including one that places Jamshidian in Belarus when his mother, Azam Naghash-Asl, and brother Ismail were said to have been killed. Jamshidian, meanwhile, claims he is being targeted due to his deceased brother's purported opposition to Iran's government, though an Interpol commission said it was unable to determine an overriding political motive in the case. Iran, which rights watchdogs have long accused of unfair trials and forced confessions, denies that Jamshidian faces political persecution, and says he has nothing to fear if he can demonstrate his innocence in court. The UN Human Rights Committee, however, concluded that Belarus would violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by expelling Jamshidian to Iran and exposing him to possible torture and arbitrary execution. Belarus appears to be shrugging off that November 2017 conclusion. The Interior Ministry last month ordered Jamshidian to be deported, citing his lack of valid identity documents after his Iranian passport expired in 2016. Jamshidian's family and rights groups are now fighting to prevent him from being handed over to Iran, where a UN report last year found a "pattern of physical or mental pressure applied upon prisoners to coerce confessions." In a new report, Amnesty International said on April 10 that while the number of known judicial executions in Iran fell dramatically in 2018 due to a change in its drug laws, capital punishment remained "rife" in the country and was often "carried out after unfair trials." "It is very disappointing for us that our homeland, Belarus, has sided with Iran in the matter of a man's fate and that of his family," Jamshidian's daughter Katsyaryna told RFE/RL's Belarus Service in March. Missing Assurances, Evidence Jamshidian's case highlights a question in cross-border law enforcement that arose more than three millennia ago: Under what circumstances can -- and should -- one government transfer individuals into the custody of another? Protections for international fugitives date back to the oldest known extradition treaty on record, codified around 1259 B.C. in a peace deal between ancient Egypt and the neighboring Hittite Empire in what is now Turkey. Men extradited under the agreement should not be killed, nor should their wives, children, or homes be "destroyed," according to the Treaty of Kadesh signed by Ramses II of Egypt and the Hittite king, Hattusilis III. As transnational crime has grown in recent decades, the issue of protections for extradited fugitives has taken on greater urgency, with the modern human rights movement pushing to prevent expulsions to states where transferred individuals could be subjected to political persecution, torture, and other abuses. In a landmark case, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled in 1989 that by extraditing a German man to face capital murder charges in the United States, Britain would breach his right not to subjected to "torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" due to the psychological distress he would likely face while on death row. Britain ultimately extradited the suspect, Jens Soering, after receiving U.S. assurances that he would not be executed. Soering was convicted of two murders and handed two life sentences. Belarus -- whose authoritarian president, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, last year described "political relations" with Tehran as "splendid" -- is not subject to ECHR jurisdiction. But its laws do forbid the deportation of foreigners to countries where "they face the threat of torture," unless the individuals in question are deemed a "threat to national security" of Belarus or have been convicted of "grave" crimes. When Iran sought Jamshidian's extradition following his December 2012 arrest in Belarus on an Interpol red notice, Minsk demanded assurances that Iran would not prosecute him for another crime or transfer him to a third country without approval from Minsk. In May 2013, Belarusian prosecutors rejected Iran's extradition request, citing Tehran's failure to provide these assurances and additional evidence of Jamshidian's alleged involvement in the murders, according to a copy of the rejection order seen by RFE/RL. In the document, prosecutors say they requested the additional documents because the initial evidence submitted by Iran "does not fully demonstrate the facts of the case." 'Hidden Extradition' The rejection of Iran's extradition bid, however, would provide little relief for Jamshidian, who moved to Belarus in 1993 and married his longtime partner and mother of his now adult children, Alena, in 2011. In the same May 2013 order, prosecutors declared Jamshidian's presence in Belarus a "threat to the rights and legal interests" of the country's citizens and ordered police to open a case into his possible deportation. While the authorities decided to deport Jamshidian the following December, the order was never carried out as he tried -- and failed -- to obtain political asylum in Belarus. He was released on humanitarian grounds in 2015 after his teenage son was diagnosed with brain cancer. But his Iranian passport expired the following year, and he was arrested again in June 2018, this time for being present in Belarus without a passport, residence permit, or refugee document. Nasta Loyka, an activist with the Minsk-based rights group Human Constanta, told RFE/RL's Belarus Service following his arrest last year that Jamshidian did not try to renew his Iranian passport due to the "difficulties" he might have faced at the Iranian Embassy in Minsk. Jamshidian has been incarcerated in a Minsk detention facility ever since, and on March 15, the Interior Ministry's citizenship and migration department ordered his deportation due to his illegal status -- a move his other daughter, Dyyana, called "a disaster." "People in the department sincerely sympathized but said they had to carry out the decision," Dyyana told RFE/RL's Belarus Service on the day of the order. "Now our last hope is the mercy of the Belarusian court. After all, Belarus is still a European country that should respect people's rights and not hand over a person to die." Five days later, a Minsk court rejected an appeal challenging the deportation, saying it had been filed too late. Enira Branitskaya, an activist with Human Constanta, told RFE/RL that his deportation would be tantamount to an extradition -- but without the guarantees and assurances of that process. "This is a hidden extradition," Branitskaya said. Murky Timeline The bodies of Jamshidian's mother and brother were discovered in the closet in their Tehran apartment on November 21, 2012, according to materials in his extradition case. How long they may have lay there remains unclear. Official documents related to the case provide conflicting accounts about when they were killed -- including one that would appear to give Jamshidian an unassailable alibi. In the May 2013 order rejecting Tehran's extradition request, Belarusian prosecutors say Iran accused Jamshidian of committing the murders "in September 2012." Travel records reviewed by RFE/RL, however, show that Jamshidian had left for Belarus on August 25 of that year after a four-month stay in Iran -- meaning he would have been out of the country at the time of the crime. Purportedly notarized statements from Jamshidian's niece -- the daughter of his late brother -- and another brother also said Tehran police and prosecutors determined that the killings occurred in September 2012, according to copies of the documents seen by RFE/RL. RFE/RL was unable to independently verify the authenticity of these letters, which purport to show that the niece and brother believe Jamshidian is innocent but that they would forgive him if he were found guilty. Under the Qisas law in Iran, a victim's family can offer forgiveness and spare the perpetrator from punishment. After a Belarusian opposition party noted that Tehran's timeline appeared to show Jamshidian was not in Iran when the victims died, the Iranian Embassy in Minsk said in an October 2016 letter that the accused or his lawyer should present "substantiated facts proving his alibi" to the "relevant court." Nearly two years later, an Interpol commission explained in a letter to Jamshidian's lawyer that, due to human rights concerns, it had rejected Tehran's request to issue a red notice for his client's arrest. The letter cited Iran as acknowledging that Jamshidian left the country on August 25, 2012 -- but indicating a different time frame for the crime: July 2012, when he was still in Iran. 'Inherent Right To Life' Despite Jamshidian's insistence that he had left Iran by the time his mother and brother died, the Commission for the Control of Interpol's Files -- which handles challenges to Interpol red notices and alerts -- found that Iran had provided "sufficient" information "highlighting the possible participation" of Jamshdian in the "alleged criminal acts." The Interpol commission nonetheless rejected Iran's request to publish a red notice for Jamshidian's arrest, concluding that his extradition to Iran would expose him to "torture and serious violations of fundamental human rights." The commission said evidence for Jamshidian's claim that the case against him is politically motivated was insufficient to outweigh the "ordinary-law elements" of the matter, though it called the "political context identified around this case" a "supplementary risk" for the fugitive. Jamshidian claims Iran is targeting him due to his slain brother's purported activism in the Green Movement, which organized protests against alleged fraud in the 2009 presidential election and was subjected to a violent crackdown by the Iranian authorities. Iran dismisses this claim and Jamshidian's contention that he will face persecution in Iran because he converted to Christianity in 2002. The Iranian Embassy in Minsk said in its 2016 letter that Jamshidian had freely visited Iran without incident in the years prior to the crime he is charged with. The Interpol commission's decision leaned heavily on a November 2017 conclusion by the UN Human Rights Committee that Belarus would violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights -- specifically, its guarantee of the "inherent right to life" and statement that "no one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" -- if it were to expel Jamshidian to Iran. 'A Political Decision' Jamshidian's family and Belarusian rights activists have held out hope that he might be deported somewhere other than his homeland. But Branitskaya of the Human Constanta rights group, which has advocated doggedly against Jamshidian's expulsion, said that Iran was the only country so far that has said it's willing to take him. In the meantime, Jamshidian spends most of his time in isolation at the Minsk detention center where he is being held, according to Leanid Kulakov, an opposition activist who was jailed in the same facility in late February after being arrested for participating in an unsanctioned rally. Kulakov told RFE/RL's Belarus Service that Jamshidian closely follows politics, was keen to get his hands on newspapers, and was "very happy" when the activist later managed to deliver some plastic silverware to him after Kulakov's release. During conversations between the two, Jamshidian continued to insist he had nothing to do with the deaths of his mother and brother, Kulakov said. Attempts to reach Jamshidian's family for comment have been unsuccessful in recent weeks. Branitskaya said the family had heard that both the Belarusian Foreign Ministry and Interior Ministry have submitted reports on Jamshidian's case to the administration of Lukashenka, the strongman president who has called for bolstering economic ties with Iran. Neither ministry responded to requests for comment from RFE/RL, nor did Lukashenka's administration. Vital Naumchik, deputy head of the Interior Ministry's department on citizenship and immigration, declined to comment on the matter when contacted by RFE/RL's Belarus Service. "He could be sent away at any moment. But there's an understanding now that it will be more of a political decision," Branitskaya said. Carl Schreck reported from Prague. Aleh Hruzdzilovich reported from Minsk. With additional reporting by Golnaz Esfandiari in Prague and Hannah Kaviani of RFE/RL's Radio Farda Another mock gravestone with the name Vladimir Putin on it has reportedly appeared in Russia's second-biggest city, St. Petersburg, which is the hometown of the Russian president. A group called Pyatnitsa (Friday) posted on the Telegram social network on April 9 a picture of the mock gravestone with Putin's picture on it and an inscription reading "A political corpse of the Russian Federation." It is not clear where exactly in St. Petersburg the mock gravestone was placed. In the picture, the mock gravestone has "1952-2019" written on it -- the former year a reference to Putin's birthdate. "It seems to become a tradition in Russia to express disappointment with the president this way. Limitless protest. St. Petersburg 2019," the group wrote on its Telegram post. On April 3, two activists of the Agit Russia group were detained in St. Petersburg over a similar mock Putin gravestone placed near the iconic St. Isaac's Cathedral. The cathedral is one of the most recognizable buildings in St. Petersburg. Similar political pranks were carried out in Moscow and the city of Naberezhnye Chelny, in Russia's Tatarstan region, over the past month. Two activists in Naberezhnye Chelny were sentenced to jail terms of 28 days and six days in March after they put up a mock Putin gravestone there. Belarus is the last country in Europe to have the death penalty. Since 1991, about 300 death sentences have been carried out in the country. The condemned prisoners are shot in the head. The body is not given to the family and the place of burial remains a state secret. TBILISI -- A man dubbed the "speedboat killer" by British media after a manslaughter conviction in London has been extradited to the United Kingdom from Georgia, where he fled last year ahead of his trial. Briton Jack Shepherd was put on a plane to London's Gatwick Airport that took off at 7:20 p.m. local time (1520 GMT/UTC) on April 10 after his extradition order was signed by Georgian Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani. On March 26, a court in Tbilisi decided that Shepherd will return to Britain, where he plans appeal his conviction and six-year prison sentence over the death of 24-year-old Charlotte Brown. Brown died in a speedboat crash on the River Thames in December 2015 while on a first date with Shepherd, whom she had met online. The extradition order was based on the manslaughter conviction and an assault charge relating to an incident in March 2018 in which Shepherd, 31, is accused of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. Shepherd disappeared shortly before his trial later in 2018 and turned up in Georgia, where he was jailed after he handed himself in to police following 10 months on the run -- mostly hiding in Tbilisi. During their date, British authorities say, Shepherd and Brown were thrown from the speedboat when it hit branches in the water at about midnight. Brown was found in the water unconscious and unresponsive, and Shepherd was clinging to the upturned motorboat. The situation is escalating in Libya, where more than 30 people have been killed since fighting broke out on April 4, when forces loyal to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive against the internationally recognized government in Tripoli. Amid accusations of Russian support for Haftar, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on April 8 urged all sides "to avoid any actions that could provoke bloodshed and the death of civilians." But Moscow has not condemned Haftar's military campaign. RFE/RL spoke with Tim Eaton, a research fellow with Chatham House's Middle East and North Africa program, about Russia's interests and actions in Libya. RFE/RL: What are Russia's interests in Libya? Tim Eaton: Well, what I think we've seen from Russia is it hasn't committed serious resources to Libya, but it's sought to capitalize on opportunities where it's found them. And I think sometimes Libya is viewed as a place where Russia can have some leverage, but without having to commit too much in order to exert that leverage. Prior to the revolution, Russia was a major arms supplier to the Qaddafi regime and it also had significant business interests in Libya. Following the revolution, it's lost those and I think what we've witnessed in recent years is Russia looking on a number of levels -- the security level, the diplomatic level -- to see how it might return to the fore. And for that reason, it's been talking to different sides, in different ways. RFE/RL: How does Russia view the current offensive on Tripoli by forces loyal to Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar? Eaton: Well, what I think we've seen from the Kremlin so far is that it's been unwilling to publicly name Haftar and criticize the [self-styled] Libyan National Army (LNA) for its offensive. It seems to be remaining in its position of somewhat neutrality, although by not naming Haftar, or not criticizing him directly, it will be perceived as tacit support. I think for the most part though, Russia isn't fully committed to a Haftar victory and does have connections with all sides of the political spectrum. In fact, different elements in the Russian system have been engaging with different elements of the Libyan system. So, I don't think that it's fully tied to the Haftar track, and it will be able to adapt to any developments we seen on the ground, particularly as it looks like Haftar's offensive is slowing and may not be successful. RFE/RL: After Syria, is Russia looking to Libya to further expand its footprint in the region? Eaton: It has been speculated that Russia is looking for a footprint in the Mediterranean and that maybe Libya can be the site of that footprint. I haven't personally seen evidence that that's likely to be the case. I think what is more likely is that Russia will look to improve business ties, investment ties, with Libya and also look to build its influence in the political spectrum. That's really what we've seen over recent years. And actually where Russia has been most influential in Libya in recent years is the printing of banknotes and the minting of coinage, which has been delivered to the east of the country, which is not technically recognized as legitimate currency by the recognized central bank in the west of Libya, but has nonetheless been a significant form of support provided to authorities in the east and, by extension, the Libyan National Army, and Khalifa Haftar. RFE/RL: Russia has called on all sides to cease hostilities, but rejected a UN bid to condemn Haftar for his advance on Tripoli. Why? Eaton: I think it's likely reflective of the fact that they're continuing to talk to all sides and not be seen to be overly aligned with one camp. I think sometimes in the international coverage of Libya it's presumed that Russia strongly supports Haftar, but actually it's received a lot of delegations from Misrata in the west, from Tripoli, and has quite open ties with a lot of groups and individuals within the Libyan system. At the same time, if you look at the UN Security Council statement which came out, it's also believed that the French were one of the driving forces behind not naming Haftar and not criticizing him. And, in fact, on Sunday [April 7], the U.S. did release a statement directly criticizing Haftar, but France has still not. It's perceived that France is in the driver's seat for this coverage of Haftar, if you like, through the statements and that it's clear they're not willing to criticize Haftar [like] the U.K. and U.S. are. And that has added to speculation about the amount of support that France is supplying Haftar behind closed doors. RFE/RL: What are Russia's ties to Haftar's forces? Is Russia providing troops, arms, training to them? Eaton: What's widely speculated is that a large number of small arms and ammunition is provided by the former Soviet republics to Haftar's forces. Of course, there was the very high-profile, visible visit of Khalifa Haftar to the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier [in January 2017]. That was seen as a major indication of strong ties between the Russian Ministry of Defense and Khalifa Haftar's forces. At the same time, there has been speculation in the U.K. press in what looked like a leaked story about much more heavy weaponry being supplied to Khalifa Haftar and his forces in the east. I have yet to see evidence that that is the case. In fact, when you're looking at the more sustained and the higher tech support for the LNA, it appears that that is coming from the United Arab Emirates, and indeed there have been UN reports providing evidence that that is the case. Iranian authorities have ordered residents of five districts of the southwestern city of Ahvaz to evacuate, as floodwaters entered Khuzestan Province's capital, local media report. Provincial Governor Gholamreza Shariati said on April 10 that the evacuation order was a "precautionary and preventive move to avert any danger," according to the semiofficial Tasnim news agency. The five districts have an estimated population of up to 70,000, said Shariati, who asked young men to "help us in building dykes and to assist in the evacuation of women, children, and the elderly." The state news agency IRNA said more than 200 villages were evacuated in the oil-producing province of Khuzestan, and that 46,000 people were housed in emergency shelters. With heavy rains drenching much of Iran since March 19, floods have swept through hundreds of towns and villages in many of the country's 31 provinces. The emergency services said that 70 people had been killed in the floods, which have prompted angry demonstrations by Iranians over the governments relief response to the crisis. Iran's hard-liners have also accused President Hassan Rohani's government of not doing enough to tackle the disaster. Based on reporting by AFP and Tasnim A Moscow court has ordered the continued detention of Philippe Delpal, a French national and a partner at the Russia-based private-equity group Baring Vostok. The Basmanny District Court on April 9 said it had ruled to extend the custody period to July 14 for Delpal, who has been charged with fraud. Delpal's lawyer, Levan Dzhioyev, had asked the court to reject a request by prosecutors to maintain the Frenchmans detention. Delpal, Baring Vostok founder and U.S. citizen Michael Calvey, and other executives and employees of the firm were detained in Moscow in February and charged with financial fraud. Calvey and the others, who are also being held in detention pending trial, deny any wrongdoing. If convicted, Calvey -- one of the most prominent foreign investors in Russia -- could face up to 10 years in prison. Baring Vostok is one of the largest private-equity firms in the former Soviet Union, according to its website. It manages more than $3.7 billion in assets, is particularly active in the technology sector, and owns a stake in the Yandex search engine. Based on reporting by Interfax and TASS Russian investigators have called for jailed U.S. investor Michael Calvey, whose detention stunned the business community in Moscow and clouded the investment climate, to be released from pretrial detention and placed under house arrest instead. The Investigative Committee sent Moscow's Basmanny District Court the request ahead of an April 11 hearing on whether Calvey should be held longer pending further investigation and trial, court spokeswoman Yunona Tsareva said. The request from the top investigative body suggests that President Vladimir Putin and his government want to limit the damage to Moscow's image, and the court is unlikely to deny it. Calvey, a prominent foreign investor who founded the Moscow-based private-equity firm Baring Vostok in 1994, was detained along with five colleagues in February and charged with financial fraud. They deny any wrongdoing, and their arrest and jailing has underscored the dangers of doing business in Russia and deepened Western concerns about the rule of law. Kremlin critics have called for the release of Calvey, 51, who has been confined to the Lefortovo jail in Moscow since shortly after his arrest. 'Excessive Measure' Baring Vostok welcomed the Investigative Committee's request for Calvey and a colleague, Aleksei Kordichev, to be transferred to house arrest and said it hopes for the same for the other four detainees. "We firmly believe that prison detention is an excessive measure in the context of this case, which at its core is an exclusively commercial dispute and should be considered within a legal arbitration framework," it said in a statement. Calvey's jailing has also rattled some Russian officials who fear that it has further harmed already severely strained ties with the West and hurt the chances of attracting investment at a time when the economy is struggling, Longtime former Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin, who is close to Putin, said in February that Calvey's jailing was an "emergency" for the Russian economy. Kudrin said the decision to keep him behind bars showed that Putin's statements that people accused of economic crimes should not necessarily be jailed was "clearly" not being implemented. Putin has frequently called for greater protections for entrepreneurs from baseless investigations and charges, and said in an annual state-of-the-nation address days after Calvey's arrest that "honest businesses" should not live in fear of prosecution. Critics accuse the Kremlin of turning a blind eye to the politically or economically motivated abuse of law enforcement powers. The charges against Calvey and his associates stem from allegations of embezzlement involving a Russian bank in which Baring Vostok has a controlling stake. Calvey's arrests shocked the Moscow business community, in part because he had avoided political controversy and was seen as instrumental in helping develop Russian tech companies. A French colleague of Calvey, Philippe Delpal, had his pretrial detention period prolonged until July 14 -- Bastille Day -- at a court hearing on April 9. Baring Vostok called that court decision "illegal and unjustified" and said it plans to appeal. "We are confident that the courts will establish the facts of this case and confirm that our colleagues are not guilty," it said in a statement. With reporting by Reuters, AP, TV Rain, Novaya Gazeta, Interfax, and TASS Russian authorities have lashed out at Lithuania, announcing a criminal investigation into judges at a Vilnius court that convicted dozens of former Soviet army personnel, mostly in absentia, of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during Moscow's deadly 1991 crackdown on the Baltic nation's independence movement. In a statement on April 10, the Russian Investigative Committee said that it had launched a probe targeting Vilnius Regional Court judges Ainora Maceviciene, Aiva Suvilene, Virginia Tamosiunaite, and Arturas Sumskas on suspicion of "delivering a deliberately wrongful sentence." The Russian investigation is unlikely to have any practical effect because the judges are in Lithuania, where it has no legal force. It serves as a display of derision over the Lithuanian trial that ended on March 27 with convictions of 67 defendants, including former Soviet Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov, who was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison. Other prominent defendants included former KGB officer Mikhail Golovatov, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison, and a former commander of the Soviet Army's 107th Motor Rifle Division, Uladzimer Uskhopchyk of Belarus, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Yazov, Golovatov, Uskhopchyk, and all but two of the other defendants were tried in absentia. The trial focused on the momentous events that unfolded in Vilnius in January 1991, when the Soviet Union's government tried to halt the country's collapse by cracking down on the first of its 15 republics to declare independence. Lithuanian prosecutors say Soviet paratroopers killed 14 demonstrators, who defended the state television headquarters and TV tower in Vilnius, which Soviet troops stormed. Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite praised the outcome of the trial, saying in a statement: "The guilty have been named for killings of people who peacefully protected freedom." In March 1990, Lithuania became the first of the 15 Soviet republics to declare independence. Lithuania joined the European Union and NATO in 2004, as did its Baltic neighbors Latvia and Estonia. The three Baltic states were independent until 1940, when they were occupied by the Soviet Union and annexed in an act never officially recognized by the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump has spoken with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a telephone call that the White House says focused on Riyadh's role in Middle East stability, maintaining pressure on Iran, and the importance of human rights issues. The White House said Trump and the crown prince discussed ways of "maintaining maximum pressure against Iran." Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition battling Iranian-backed Huthi fighters in Yemen. But Saudi Arabia is facing rising pressure over its handling of the war in Yemen and moves to quell political dissent, including the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the prosecution of women's rights activists. Both Republican and Democratic U.S. lawmakers have called on the White House to harden its stance toward Saudi Arabia after Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. U.S. intelligence officials have said they think the crown prince ordered Khashoggi's killing -- a claim that Saudi officials deny. Trump has said the U.S. partnership with Saudi Arabia is important for the U.S. economy and maintaining stability in the Middle East. The U.S. State Department on April 9 publicly designated 16 people for their role in Khashoggi's death and said they and their families would be barred from entering the United States. The list includes Saud al-Qahtani, a former aide to the crown prince, and Maher Mutreb, who was part of the crown prince's entourage on trips outside of Saudi Arabia. Washington on April 8 also designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a "foreign terrorist organization" in a move that drew an angry reaction from Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei the following day. Based on reporting by AP and Reuters U.S. President Donald Trump will continue to increase pressure on Iran, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has told the Senate. "I can assure the rest of the world that President Trump will continue to ratchet up the pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran so that their behavior will change," Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 10. But the top U.S. diplomat declined further comment on the possibility of waivers for countries that import Iranian oil. Trump has taken a hard line toward Iran by withdrawing from a landmark nuclear deal that world powers signed with Iran in 2015 and by reimposing tough economic sanctions. On April 8, Trump said he would designate Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a foreign terrorist organization, in an unprecedented step that drew Iranian condemnation and raised concerns about retaliatory attacks on U.S. forces. The action by Trump, who has, marked the first time the United States has formally labeled another nation's military a terrorist group. Meanwhile, Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hizballah group on April 10 floated the prospect of retaliation by Iran and its allies over the U.S. sanctions. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Shi'ite group, said that all options were on the table were Washington to take steps that "threaten our nation." "There are measures which, if taken by the Americans...who said they will remain without response?" Nasrallah said in a televised speech. Iran and its allies held "many strong cards," he added. Hizballah has long been designated as a terrorist group by the United States. Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP No media source currently available The URL has been copied to your clipboard The code has been copied to your clipboard. Supporters of rival candidates in Ukraine's presidential election clashed briefly in Kyiv on April 9. At least two people were detained. The United Nations' special envoy to Libya has hinted that next week's planned peace conference could be postponed amid ongoing fighting between rival militias for control of the capital, Tripoli. In a statement on April 9, Ghassan Salame expressed hope that the meeting will be convened as soon as conditions permit, saying: "We cannot ask people to take part in the conference during gunfire and air strikes." The UN had planned to hold a conference in the southwestern town of Ghadames from April 14 to April 16 to discuss a way out of the countrys eight-year conflict. Last week, militia commander Khalifa Haftars self-styled Libyan National Army launched an offensive against Tripoli, which is controlled by militias that support Libyas UN-recognized government. Haftar has since defied international calls to halt the advance that has killed dozens of people. Russia has been a key supporter of the militia commander, along with Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. The North African country has been torn by violence, political instability, and power struggles since longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi was overthrown and killed in 2011. Based on reporting by AFP, AFP, the BBC, and Reuters The United Nations, European Union, and local rights groups have expressed concerns about "hate speech" directed toward Armenia's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community following reports of death threats against a transgender woman who spoke in the country's National Assembly. The controversy could also represent the first major challenge to reform-minded Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's My Step alliance from nationalist and conservative groups in the South Caucasus country since popular street protests swept him to power last year. The latest incident stems from reported threats against Lilit Martirosian, a transgender woman who spoke during an April 5 parliamentary hearing on human rights attended by lawmakers, government officials, and representatives of nongovernmental organizations. Martirosian, representing the LGBT rights group Right Side, complained of widespread hostility and discrimination against sexual minorities in Armenia and identified herself as "a representation of a tortured, raped, kidnapped, physically assaulted, burned, stabbed, murdered, robbed, and unemployed Armenian transgender." Naira Zohrabian of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) parliamentary faction, who chaired the meeting, immediately challenged Martirosian's right to speak, saying the topic was not on the panel's agenda. "We had three issues today to discuss: judicial reform, the problems of disabled people, and children," Zohrabian said. "To take advantage of this opportunity to try to raise the question that we do not have on our agenda at this time, I consider disrespectful treatment first of all to me as the chairman of the commission, and disrespect toward the parliament." On April 8, more than 100 supporters of nationalist and conservative groups rallied in protest against Martirosian's appearance at the parliament, with riot police being called in to prevent them from entering the building. BHK officials immediately backed Zohrabian's position and hit out at the country's LGBT community. BHK leader Gagik Tsarukian described people's nontraditional sexual orientation as a "vice" that must not be allowed to "spread" in Armenia. BHK lawmaker Vartan Ghukasian said that all "perverts" must be expelled from the country. "Send them to Holland," Ghukasian told reporters. "We want...females to be females and males to be males. You can't mix female with male. It's shameful." Eduard Sharmazanov, a spokesman for the former ruling Republican Party (HHK), also took a swipe at Pashinian's My Step bloc. "Yes, something has changed in our country. Under the HHK, a transgender person would not have delivered a speech in the National Assembly," Sharmazanov said. International Concerns The fallout and reported threats against Martirosian from nationalist and conservative protesters brought condemnation from international organizations and rights groups. "No threat of violence, nor any form of discrimination against any group or individual, can be tolerated," the UN office in Yerevan said in a statement on April 10, adding that it "is concerned over recent hate speech and cases of violence against human rights and LGBTI activists." A day earlier, the European Union said in a statement that the bloc's member states were "gravely concerned with a number of recent cases where serious threats, including death threats, have been made against minorities and human rights defenders in Armenia." "Hate speech, including death threats directed at Ms. Lilit Martirosian, her colleagues, and the LGBTI community as a whole represent the latest in this worrying trend and amount to discrimination prohibited under the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms to which Armenia is party and which is reflected in the Constitution of Armenia." Daniel Ioannisian of the Yerevan-based Union of Informed Citizens demanded that the country's Investigative Committee initiate a criminal probe based on the statement of one of the protest participants. https://uicarmenia.org/en/ Ioannisian told RFE/RL that the protester had made a death threat and displayed a knife to cameras at the scene. "It's obvious that this person is threatening murder and takes out a knife to show the threat is real. We expect a criminal case to be filed and the person to be held accountable," he said. Pashinian, meanwhile, pointed out that Martirosian had legally changed her previous -- male -- first name, Vagharshak, and was issued a passport during the time the former ruling HHK party was in power. Rights groups have expressed concerns about the attacks on groups that defend LGBT rights in the former Soviet Union. Some activists in Armenia have cited continued systematic homophobia in Armenia even after former journalist Pashinian's rise to the premiership last May following weeks of nonviolent streets protests and his calls for human rights and a crackdown on corruption. The Foreign Ministry stated this week that the government was fully committed to the protection and promotion of human rights. "The nonviolent democratic revolution in Armenia is the best evidence that human rights are generally effective if they become part of a social consensus and are perceived as universal social and moral values," Foreign Ministry spokesman Anna Naghdalian said. With reporting by The Armenian Mirror Spectator Washington has stepped up the rhetoric against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, calling his Russia-backed government a threat to the United States and urging the world to recognize his opponent as the legitimate ruler of the oil-rich South American country. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on April 10 said the increased involvement of Russia, Iran, and Cuba in Venezuela made Maduro's government a "true" threat to the United States. "I don't think there is any doubt that...the Maduro regime presents a threat to the United States of America," Pompeo told a congressional hearing. "It is clearly...a true threat to the United States," added Pompeo, who is scheduled on April 11 to begin a four-day trip to trip to the region to visit U.S. allies Colombia, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru. Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence called on the UN Security Council to acknowledge self-declared interim President Juan Guaido as the legal ruler of Venezuela. "The time has come for the United Nations to recognize [Guaido] as the legitimate president of Venezuela and seat his representative in this body," Pence said. The United States and more than 50 other countries recognize Guaido as interim president. Russia, China, Iran, Syria, and Cuba are among those backing Maduro. The U.S. administration has told Moscow to withdraw some 100 Russian troops that arrived in the country last month and has accused Maduro of surrounding himself with Cuban security and intelligence officials. Iran, which along with China and Russia has flown supplies into Venezuela in support of Maduro, landed a delegation in the country this week to discuss beginning direct commercial flights between the two countries. Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters INDIANAPOLIS, April 09, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Duke Realty Corporation (NYSE: DRE) today announced that the company will release its first quarter operating results on Wednesday, April 24th, after the market close. The company will host its operating results conference call on Thursday, April 25th, at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The public may access the conference call through a live audio webcast available on the investor relations section of Duke Realtys website at www.dukerealty.com . Supplemental materials will be posted to the investor relations section of the Company's website prior to the conference call. Shortly after the conclusion of the conference call, investors can access a replay of the webcast on the Companys website. About Duke Realty Corporation Duke Realty Corporation owns and operates approximately 150 million rentable square feet of industrial assets in 20 major U.S. metropolitan areas. Duke Realty Corporation is publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol DRE and is listed on the S&P 500 Index. More information about Duke Realty Corporation is available at www.dukerealty.com . Contact Information: Investors: Ron Hubbard 317.808.6060 Media: Helen McCarthy 317.708.8010 English Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) SHANGHAI, China and ROCKVILLE, Md., April 09, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Innovative Cellular Therapeutics (ICT), a biotechnology company developing cellular immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, today announced it has successfully completed a pre-IND (Investigational New Drug) meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). At the meeting, the FDA provided feedback regarding ICTs planned initiation of clinical trials under a U.S. IND for its lead CAR-T candidate, ICTCAR014, for the treatment of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL). The positive feedback we received from the FDA during the pre-IND meeting was encouraging and aligns clearly with our plan to submit an IND for ICTCAR014 to the FDA in the second quarter of 2019, said Lei Xiao, Ph.D., ICTs Chief Executive Officer. We appreciate the FDAs support and guidance as we pursue our mission of bringing novel, targeted immunotherapies to the cancer patients that need them most. The FDA was supportive of our detailed plan for U.S. clinical studies and provided helpful feedback on our proposed quality assurance and comparability experiments, said Victor Lu, Senior Vice President and Head of Regulatory Affairs. In following these recommendations, we are ensuring our compliance with the FDAs established regulatory standards for gene modified cellular products. We have built a plan to address the FDAs comments and are moving forward with the IND application process on our original timeline. To facilitate the clinical development of ICTCAR014 in the U.S., ICT recently established a new headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. It is also working with an American Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization to manufacture CAR-T cell product for clinical trials that will occur in different locations across the country. In anticipation of the phase 3 pivotal clinical trials and the BLA submission to the FDA, ICT is also laying the groundwork for commercial manufacturing capabilities of CAR-T technology in the U.S. The Companys lead program, ICTCAR014, is a novel armored CAR therapeutic candidate that targets CD19 and PD1. It is currently in preclinical development for the treatment of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in the U.S. Research has shown that the inhibition of PD1 may enhance CAR-T cell function. About Innovative Cellular Therapeutics Innovative Cellular Therapeutics (ICT) is a biotechnology company focused on the development of cellular immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. ICT is a clinical stage biotechnology company and has achieved promising preclinical and clinical results in late-stage leukemia and lymphoma with novel CAR-T constructs. ICTs lead CAR-T candidate in the U.S., ICTCAR014, targets CD19 and PD1 for the treatment of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. ICTs lead CAR-T candidate in China, ICTCAR003, targets CD19 for the treatment of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The Company also has a broad pipeline of CAR-T candidates targeting other blood and liquid cancers and solid tumors. For more information, please visit www.ictbio.com . Thailand, April 09, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bangkok, TH Anantara Vacation Club, Asias premier vacation ownership programme, has partnered with China Southern Airlines, Asias largest airline in terms of fleet size, to enhance the travel opportunities available to its Club Points Ownership base. Elite Club Points Owners can now convert their points into China Southern Airlines Sky Pearl Club air miles, while Sky Pearl Club members will be able to earn miles when staying at select Anantara Vacation Club Resorts. This new partnership brings greater flexibility to Club Points Owners travelling to and from China, while providing increased earning opportunities for China Southern Airlines Sky Pearl Club members. China represents Anantara Vacation Clubs largest market, with a vast majority of Club Points Owners hailing from the nation. This new partnership allows Anantara Vacation Club to strengthen its presence in the region, while offering increased flexibility and travel opportunities to its Club Points Owners as they plan their future holidays. Anantara Vacation Club Points Owners will be offered the opportunity to convert their Club Points into China Southern Airlines Sky Pearl Club miles, providing them with access to over 223 destinations across 40 countries. With direct flights to Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Bali and Dubai being offered from China, this partnership makes it more convenient for our Ownership base to make use of their Anantara Vacation Club Points to fly to their preferred Club destinations said Maurizio Bisicky, Anantara Vacation Clubs Chief Operating Officer. Club Points Owners will be able to convert their Club Points at the rate of 1 Anantara Vacation Club Point to 3.5 China Southern Airlines Sky Pearl Club miles. About Anantara Vacation Club Anantara Vacation Club is Asias premier vacation ownership programme. It was launched in 2010 by Minor International PCL, the owner of Minor Hotels. The Club offers a portfolio of nine luxurious Club Resorts across Thailand, Indonesia, China and New Zealand and provides Club Points Owners and their guests with the opportunity to explore top holiday destinations. Club Points Owners travel opportunities are further enhanced through the use of the flexible Club Escapes and Global Traveller programmes, which provide access to hundreds of partner resorts and hotels internationally. For more information, please visit www.anantaravacationclub.com, or follow Anantara Vacation Clubs blog or social media channels on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Weibo. About Minor Hotels Minor Hotels is an international hotel owner, operator and investor with a portfolio of 549 hotels under the Anantara, AVANI, Oaks, Tivoli, NH Collection, NH, nhow, Elewana, Marriott, Four Seasons, St. Regis, Radisson Blu and Minor International brands in 55 countries across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Europe, South and North America. With dynamic plans to expand existing brands and explore strategic acquisitions throughout opportunistic markets, Minor Hotels pursues a vision of a more passionate and interconnected world. For more information, please visit www.minorhotels.com. Attachment Three arrested in Cancun for murder of Isla Mujeres officer Cancun, Q.R. A municipal police officer from Isla Mujeres was killed Tuesday morning in Puerto Juarez by gunmen who reportedly fled in a white car. The shooting occurred around 9:30 a.m. in front of the Ultramar maritime terminal on Jose Lopez Portillo Avenue at Puerto Juarez. According to witnesses, those responsible for the attack fled aboard a white car. The deceased officer has been identified as 40-year-old Sergio Leyva Cordoba who was a commander with la Policia Municipal de Isla Mujeres. He lived in Cancun and used the ferry crossing to get to work. Foto: Fiscalia del Estado Immediately after the shooting, la Fiscalia General del Estado released a statement saying At this time, the first interviews and the gathering of evidence are already being carried out. Vehicular traffic was shut down for more than an hour while police investigated and forensic personnel attended to the removal of the body. Shortly after the shooting, the State Attorney Generals Office reported that in collaboration with the State Public Security Secretariat and elements of the National Defense Secretariat, the arrest of three people involved in the murder of a commander of the municipal police of Isla Mujeres. Those arrested have been identified as Rogelio N, Israel N and Angel David N. A white car was also seized along with two firearms. Unofficial reports say that the commander had received threats against his life in the past year. TORONTO, April 09, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Changfeng Energy Inc., (TSXV: CFY) (Changfeng or the Company, together with its subsidiaries the Group), an energy provider in the Peoples Republic of China (the PRC), is pleased to announce the 2018 Annual Results Tele-Conference as follows: Tele-Conference Date: Friday, April 12, 2019 Time: 10:00 am (ET) Topic: Changfeng Energy Inc. 2018 Annual Results Dial-in: North America: (+1) 416 764 8609 North American Toll Free: (+1) 888 390 0605 About Changfeng Energy Inc. Changfeng Energy Inc. is a Canadian public company currently traded on the Toronto Venture Exchange (TSX-V) under the stock symbol CFY. It is an integrated energy provider and natural gas distribution company (or natural gas utility) in the PRC. Changfeng strives to combine leading clean energy technology with natural gas usage to provide sustainable energy to its customer base in the PRC. In 2009, Changfeng was recognized as being one of Chinas the Top Ten Most Influential Brands in the Natural Gas Industry and in 2019, is ranked amongst the 2019 TSX Venture 50 top performers on the TSX Venture Exchange for the 2018 year. CONTACT INFORMATION Corporate Investment Relations investor.relations@changfengenergy.cn Charles Wang Executive Assistant to CEO & Chair of the Board zhaoyu.wang@changfengenergy.cn Frederick Wong Director of the Board fred.wong@changfengenergy.cn Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, Forward-Looking Statements). All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included or incorporated by reference in this document are Forward-Looking Statements, including statements regarding activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates may occur in the future, including with respect to the timing and payment of dividends. These 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. No assurance can be given that the plans, intentions or expectations or assumptions upon which these Forward-Looking Statements are based will prove to be correct and such Forward-Looking Statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. 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. Such Forward-Looking Statements are not a guarantee of performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements or developments expressed or implied by such Forward-Looking Statements. These factors include, without limitation, no significant and continuing adverse changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets. Readers are cautioned that all Forward-Looking Statements involve risks and uncertainties, including those risks and uncertainties detailed in the Corporations filings with applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities, copies of which are available at www.sedar.com. The Company urges readers to carefully consider those factors. The Forward-Looking Statements included in this news release are made as of the date of this document and the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any Forward-Looking Statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation. 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 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. A MAN has gone on trial accused of sexually abusing a boy more than a decade ago. Daljet Singh (37), of Sandbeds Road, Walsall, is on trial at Sheffield Crown Court accused of nine sexual offences against a boy, including rape, in 2006 and 2007. The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, would have been ten and eleven-years-old at the time of the alleged offences, which are said to have taken place in Rotherham. Singh, who would have been in his mid-20s, denies four counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, two counts of causing or inciting sexual activity with a child and one count of voyeurism. The boy told a nurse when he was 18 that he had been raped multiple times when he was 11, prosecutor Mr Richard Thyne said. He did not want to make a formal complaint at that time, but, a year-and-a-half later he reported it to the police. The complainant said Singh had asked to kiss him on his cheek and then his lips, said Mr Thyne. The complainant thought at the time it was odd because he didnt even kiss his parents on the lips, said Mr Thyne. However, he couldnt really say no and so he went along with it. It is alleged Singh later made the boy perform a sexual act on him, telling him it would be fun. He then made the boy perform more sexual acts on him and, later, raped him multiple times, Mr Thyne said. The boy would see Singh taking videos and photos on his phone, the court heard. Singh was quizzed by police in June 2017 and denied committing any sexual acts on the boy or making him perform any sexual acts on him. He said there was one occasion when he had shared a double bed with the complainant but nothing had taken place, said Mr Thyne. Singh denies all of the offences. The trial is due to last a week. Former union minister Arun Shourie New Delhi, Apr 10: Former union minister Arun Shourie, one of the review petitioners in the Rafale case, Wednesday said he was delighted by the unanimous verdict of the Supreme Court dismissing Centre's "peculiar argument" on admissibility of privileged documents. The apex court on Wednesday dismissed preliminary objections raised by the Centre that documents on which claimed"privilege" cannot be relied upon to re-examine the verdict in the Rafale fighter jet deal with France. Arun Shourie delighted on SC verdict on Rafale Advertisement "We are delighted it is an unanimous verdict dismissing Central government's peculiar argument on admissibility of documents. Centre's argument meant no wrong can be done in the defence deal," he told PTI. Shourie is one of the review petitioners along with former union minister Yashwant Sinha and activist advocate Prashant Bhushan. Supreme Court New Delhi, Apr 10: The Supreme Court Wednesday dismissed the bail plea of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Ydav in multi-crore fodder scam cases. A bench headed by Chief Justice Rajan Gogoi said it is not inclined to enlarge Yadav on bail in the cases. The bench rejected Yadav's arguments that he has been in jail for 24 months, saying in comparison to the 14-year sentence awarded to him, 24 months was nothing. SC dismisses bail plea of Lalu Prasad Yadav Advertisement Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Yadav, said there were no recoveries and no demand and the only major offence under which he was convicted was conspiracy. The bench said merits of the case will be decided by the high court. "At present, we are only hearing the bail appeal," it said. The CBI had yesterday vehemently opposed in the apex court the bail plea of Yadav, saying the ailing leader suddenly claimed to be "fully fit" to undertake political activities in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh Chandigarh, April 10: Taking strong exception to Narendra Modis invocation of the success of the Indian armed forces and the recent martyrdom of security personnel, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday shot off a complaint letter to the Election Commission, seeking action against the prime minister for violation of the code of conduct. Terming Modis speech in Maharashtra, which has been widely reported by the media, as shockingly disgraceful, the Chief Minister said it was a clear case of violation of the code of conduct, which constitutes the bedrock of free and fair election and failure to check such instances suggested bias on the part of the Election Commission. In his letter to CEC Sunil Arora, Captain Amarinder strongly protested against the Prime Minister using the success of the Balakot air strikes by the Indian Air Force and the sacrifice of the martyrs of the Pulwama attacks to woo first-time voters. Advertisement Prime Minister Narendra Modi That a person of the stature of the Prime Minister should indulge in such shameful acts makes a mockery of the democratic process of election and undermines the independence of the Election Commission as well as the armed forces, who have always prided themselves on their secular character, the Chief Minister wrote. Captain Amarinder described as extremely unfortunate the fact that the Prime Minister was being allowed to engage in this kind of prejudicial behaviour, without the Election Commission taking any action to put a stop to such wilful violation of the code of conduct, for the past several weeks. That the Prime Minister has been allowed to continuously and brazenly resort to such gimmickry to woo voters raises suspicions of bias on the part of the Election Commission, with the impression going out that the poll body is not coming down hard enough on those violating its own code, he said. The Chief Minister pointed out that the Election Commission, while asking political parties not to use photographs of defence personnel in its campaign, had categorically stated: Advertisement CEC Sunil Arora The Armed Forces of a nation are the guardians of its frontiers, security and political system. They are apolitical and neutral stakeholders in a modern democracy. It is therefore necessary that political parties and leaders exercise great caution while making any reference to the armed forces in their political campaigns. In fact, it was to maintain their neutrality that the Father of the Indian Constitution had chosen to make the President of the country the supreme commander of the armed forces, he further noted. Despite the EC directive, however, the Prime Minister continues to malign the memories of the martyrs and exploit their sacrifices in a petty attempt to garner votes, said Captain Amarinder, lashing out at Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for audaciously using the Balakot air strikes and the martyrdom of the security forces to exploit the sentiments of the voters, particularly the new ones. Their television campaign ads were also playing this theme with total disregard to the code of conduct, in utter contempt of the due process of election, he added. Advertisement Election Commission Of India Captain Amarinder said if the Prime Minister was so concerned about the sacrifices of the security personnel, he should announce compensation of Rs 1 crore for the families of each of the martyrs instead of exploiting their martyrdom for promoting his vested interests. Given the gravity of the violation, which he said was seriously jeopardizing the election process and undermining the sanctity and integrity of the Election Commission, the Chief Minister requested the CECs urgent personal intervention to put an immediate end to such gross violations of the code of conduct by the ruling party and its leaders. Fair play and electoral propriety demands that such action be taken without further delay, in the larger interest of the nations democratic polity and to uphold the secular credentials of the security forces, he said in conclusion. UNITED NATIONS, New York, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global reproductive rights movement that began in the 1960s transformed the lives of hundreds of millions of women, empowering them to govern their own bodies and shape their own futures. But despite the gains made over the past 50 years, since the establishment of UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, the world still has a long way to go before rights and choices are claimed by all, according to the State of World Population 2019, released by UNFPA today. On the journey towards rights and choices, women and girls have faced social and economic barriers every step of the way. A coalition of civil society, activists, and organizations such as UNFPA have been helping tear down those barriers. The efforts of the reproductive rights movements have dramatically reduced the number of unintended pregnancies and maternal deaths, and have cleared the way for healthier, more productive lives for untold millions, the new UNFPA report says. The report traces advances in reproductive health on the anniversaries of two important milestones. It has been 50 years since UNFPA began operations in 1969 as the first United Nations agency to address population growth and reproductive health needs. It is also the 25th anniversary of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), where 179 governments called for all people to have access to comprehensive reproductive health care, including voluntary family planning, and safe pregnancy and childbirth services. Much has been achieved since 1969, says the report. The average number of births per woman was 4.8 then, compared to 2.9 in 1994 and 2.5 today; fertility rate in the least developed countries dropped from 6.8 in 1969, to 5.6 in 1994 and 3.9 in 2019; and the number of women who died from pregnancy-related causes has decreased from 369 per 100,000 live births in 1994, to 216 in 2015. In addition, 24 per cent of women used modern contraceptives in 1969, compared to 52 per cent in 1994 and 58 per cent in 2019. However, reproductive rights are still out of reach for too many women, including the more than 200 million women who want to prevent a pregnancy but cannot access modern contraceptive information and services. Despite the increasing availability of contraceptives over the years, hundreds of millions of women today still have no access to them, and to the reproductive choices that come with them, said UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem. Without access, they lack the power to make decisions about their own bodies, including whether or when to become pregnant. The lack of this powerwhich influences so many other facets of life, from education to income to safetyleaves women unable to shape their own futures, added Dr. Kanem. The report includes, for the first time, data on womens ability to make decisions over three key areas: sexual intercourse with their partner, contraception use and health care. Across the 51 countries where this information is available, only 57 per cent of women who are married or in a relationship are able to make their own choices over all three of these areas. I call on world leaders to re-commit to the promises made in Cairo 25 years ago to ensure sexual and reproductive health and rights for all, said Dr. Kanem. The world will have a historic opportunity to complete the unfinished business of the ICPD at the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 to be held in Kenya in November, where governments, activists and stakeholders will rally to protect the gains made so far, and fulfill the promise of the ICPD agenda, so that no one is left behind. The report also features 15 champions of change who have broken barriers in their own context and influenced the landscape of sexual and reproductive health and rights into what it is today. I salute these champions, said Dr. Kanem. We all have a role in pushing back against forces that would see us return to a time when women had little say in reproductive decisions or, for that matter, in any area of their lives, she added. The fight for rights and choices must continue until they are a reality for all. Facts and figures from the report: Number of deaths of women from pregnancy-related causes per 100,000 live births, worldwide: 369 in 1994; 216 in 2015. Global modern contraceptive prevalence rate: 24 in 1969; 52 in 1994; 58 in 2019. Global fertility rate, or average number of births per woman: 4.8 in 1969; 2.9 in 1994; 2.5 in 2019. The highest unmet needs for sexual and reproductive health services are among marginalized groups, including minority ethnic groups; young people; unmarried people; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people; people with disabilities; and the rural and urban poor. An estimated 800 million women alive today were married when they were children. Every day, more than 500 women and girls in countries with emergency settings die during pregnancy and childbirth. *** For more information, please contact: Omar Gharzeddine: Tel.: +1 212 297 5028; gharzeddine@unfpa.org Richard Kollodge: Tel.: +1 212 297 4992; kollodge@unfpa.org www.unfpa.org/swop Danish English Trygs Supervisory Board has today approved the interim report for Q1 2019. Premium growth of 19.2% (6.0% excluding Alka), technical result of DKK 626m (DKK 563m) driven by the first-time full quarterly inclusion of Alka and positive developments in our core business. Investment result of DKK 353m (DKK 9m) driven primarily by positive equity markets, pre-tax result of DKK 930m (DKK 553m). Quarterly dividend of DKK 1.70 per share, supporting TryghedsGruppens member bonus. Solvency ratio of 168. Financial highlights Q1 2019 Premium growth of 19.2% or 6.0% (2.2%) excluding Alka in local currencies Technical result of DKK 626m (DKK 563m), large claims of DKK 181m (DKK 44m) and Alka synergies of DKK 21m. Combined ratio of 88.0% (87.1%) Underlying claims ratio (Private and Group) improved by 0.5% and 0.5% when adjusting for Alka in Q1 2018 Expense ratio of 14.0 (14.0) Return on free investments portfolio of DKK 373m Total Investment return of DKK 353m (DKK 9m) Profit before tax of DKK 930m (DKK 553m) driven by a high investment return and the first full quarterly inclusion of Alka Q1 dividend of DKK 1.70 per share and solvency ratio of 168 Customer highlights Q1 2019 TNPS of 67 (62) Number of products per customer 3.8 (3.6) TryghedsGruppen will pay a bonus of 8% to its members for the fourth year in a row Statement by Group CEO Morten Hubbe: We deliver a technical result, which is more than 11% above the Q1 2018 result driven by positive developments in the core business, the inclusion of Alka and despite significantly higher large claims. Premium growth of 6.0% excluding Alka for the Group driven primarily by the Private & Commercial segments is particularly noteworthy. Our retention level is improving across all segments in Denmark and Norway, and it has reached the highest level in the last seven years in Private Denmark. We continue to intensify our focus on digitalisation, 60% of all customer enquiries are now digital. Furthermore, we continue to develop new innovative insurance solutions making it easier to be tryg, strengthen our core business and generate new sources of revenue. Finally, I am pleased that for the fourth year running, TryghedsGruppen has announced to pay out bonus not only for the customers in Tryg but also for the 380.000 customers in Alka. 1.3 million customers in Denmark will receive a bonus of 8% of the premiums paid in 2018 corresponding to every fourth citizen in Denmark. In total, TryghedsGruppen will pay out up to DKK 925m in customer bonus in this year. Conference call Tryg hosts a conference call today at 10:00 CET. CEO Morten Hubbe will present the results in brief followed by Q&As. The conference call will be held in English. An on-demand version will be available shortly after the conference call has ended. Conference call details: Danish participants: +45 35 44 55 83 UK participants: +44 (0) 203 194 0544 US participants: +1 855 269 2604 All Q1 material can be downloaded on tryg.com/en/investor shortly after the time of release. Attachment English French Atos recognized as Google Cloud Global Breakthrough Partner of the Year Paris, April 10, 2019 Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, today announced at Google Cloud Next 19 that it has received the 2018 Google Cloud Global Breakthrough Partner of the Year Award. This years award was presented at the Partner Summit at Next 19 in San Francisco, which showcases Google Cloud technologies and solutions for cloud, collaboration and artificial intelligence. Atos was recognized for its outstanding growth in its customer base over the last year to extend the reach of the Google Cloud ecosystem. Through Atoss expertise in cloud orchestration, migration and management, joint customers have been able to use the cloud to power transformation and innovation and respond faster to customer needs. Since the start of its official global partnership with Google Cloud in April last year, Atos has signed many major clients to Google Cloud including global companies in the industrial, pharmaceutical, telecommunications and broadcast sectors. This award is an exciting recognition of our growing partnership with Google Cloud said Eric Grall, Senior Executive Vice President and Head of Global Operations and Infrastructure & Data Management at Atos Were proud of the achievements weve made in the last year including becoming Google Cloud-first in just 6 months and enabling many businesses worldwide to realize the true value that the cloud can bring. Were thrilled to recognize Atos as the 2018 Google Cloud Global Breakthrough Partner of the Year, said Carolee Gearhart, Vice President, Worldwide Channel Sales at Google Cloud. Atos has proven their expertise in Google Cloud and has demonstrated their commitment to customer success over the past year. Were excited to keep building on our partnership with Atos as more and more customers look to our ecosystem to help them succeed in the cloud. *** About Atos Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with 120,000 employees in 73 countries and annual revenue of over 12 billion. European number one in Cloud, Cybersecurity and High-Performance Computing, the Group provides end-to-end Orchestrated Hybrid Cloud, Big Data, Business Applications and Digital Workplace solutions through its Digital Transformation Factory, as well as transactional services through Worldline, the European leader in the payment industry. With its cutting-edge technologies and industry knowledge, Atos supports the digital transformation of its clients across all business sectors. The Group is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and operates under the brands Atos, Atos Syntel, Unify and Worldline. Atos is listed on the CAC40 Paris stock index. Press contact: Laura Fau | laura.fau@atos.net | +33 6 73 64 04 18 | @laurajanefau Attachment Los Angeles has been anticipating a shock wave from schools Supt. Austin Beutner, who worked for months on a plan to reimagine the nations second-largest school system and confront its staggering challenges. Now Beutner says that he has settled on a significantly less radical shift than many expected. The emerging L.A. school district plan, he said, is to follow a model already in practice in the west San Fernando Valley. There, schools are grouped into units based on geography and feeder patterns. One group, for example, is Taft High School and the middle and elementary schools that feed into it. Other parts of the Los Angeles Unified School District organize schools by grade level. Under Beutners plan, the entire district would transition to the feeder structure. Each school group also would have a handful of new employees to coordinate academic and maintenance work. Advertisement These hires would be offset by reducing employees in the central office. Some who lose jobs there might transfer to the new positions. Overall, the effort should be cost-neutral, Beutner said, while bringing decisions as close as possible to the school level. We went through an exhaustive exercise, he said in an interview with The Times. We listened to suggestions and ideas, and we dismissed many of them that might have been tried elsewhere in the country. We wanted all the different ideas, as provocative as possible, on the table. The changes he envisions may appear to be more subtle, Beutner said, but they deserve to attract broad agreement from factions that often disagree. Best of all, he said, they will benefit students. His reorganization proposal, which has yet to be released, comes at a crucial moment for the district three months after a divisive teachers strike and as L.A. Unified faces projected budget deficits, declining enrollment and increasing competition from charter schools. The growth of charters, which take students away from traditional schools, is exacerbating the districts financial problems. Some observers expressed surprise that Beutners reorganization plan is not more extensive. Internal documents had suggested that he wanted to break up the district into semi-independent networks, enforce high-aiming performance targets on schools and close down campuses or networks that failed to meet them. UCLA education professor Tyrone Howard said he was encouraged that was not the case. School districts have to learn how to stay the course on some of what they know is working, and not just start from scratch every two to four years, Howard said. That does not help students. Consistent leadership that is moving in the right direction does. As far as the regrouping of schools, Howard said, the devil is in the details. Beutner did say that the feeder system would give teachers a direct role in coordinating instructional efforts across grade levels. And local managers, familiar with the campuses, would take care of such needs as maintaining air conditioners, fixing roofs and providing appropriate security. Going forward, officials are hoping groups that had been fractured during the strike will unite behind a June parcel tax to support schools. There is an emerging consensus that the money is needed to close a gaping budget deficit and pay for the contract settlement reached with teachers. Losing the parcel tax also would be a political setback for Beutner, who faces challenges on other fronts. During the strike, picketing teachers painted the superintendent as the enemy and won broad public support in their calls for smaller class sizes and better conditions at schools. The unions post-strike detente with Beutner is tenuous. Meanwhile, the front-runner to win a pivotal school board seat in a May 14 election is Jackie Goldberg, who is backed by the teachers union. She says she would not have hired Beutner, a businessman, because he lacks management experience in education. But Goldberg also says she would prefer to find a way to work with Beutner over the disruption of immediately replacing him. Goldbergs opponent, Heather Repenning, said she supports the goal of decentralization, but we need a lot more information about how this plan will impact our kids. I encourage the superintendent to share his plans with our community. Beutners current tack makes sense strategically, said UCLA education professor John Rogers. Leading up to the teachers strike, Mr. Beutner often took on an assertive and sometimes combative tone and articulated a broad and disruptive agenda for the future, Rogers said. In the wake of the strike, and experiencing declining power and public support, Mr. Beutner seems to have adopted a more cautious, conciliatory and collaborative approach. Moving forward over the next few weeks, the districts messaging must shift to focus the publics attention on the imperative need for the new parcel tax. Beutner talked about his plans this week after the release of documents to The Times and Chalkbeat, an online education publication. Chalkbeat posted the documents online. The documents consist of advice and analysis that consultants provided to L.A. Unified. Without context, Beutner said, the material could be misleading. Many of the documents reviewed by The Times described a district divided into 32 networks and that number still could apply to how many school groupings would be assembled. But the documents go further, suggesting in places that these networks could be led by outside groups. In other school systems, such networks have been used to spur the growth of charter schools or to set high-reaching achievement goals, along with job consequences for those who dont achieve them. It never was that, Beutner said. Its not going to be that. That assertion was greeted Wednesday with skepticism by Beutner critics, who asked to remain anonymous out of concern over sowing divisiveness during the parcel-tax campaign. But they expressed apprehension that Beutner would pursue more radical measures after this politically sensitive period noting that his hiring was applauded by philanthropists, including Eli Broad, who have funded the expansion of charter schools, which are are privately operated and mostly nonunion. Charters have proved popular with many families and serve about 1 in 5 district students. Teachers union President Alex Caputo-Pearl, who strongly supports the parcel tax, said the union would be tracking Beutners actions carefully. The district has stated that the reimagine program isnt around anymore, Caputo-Pearl said. Thats a good thing. School board member Nick Melvoin, a Beutner supporter, said, There were some unfounded fears about what were in these plans. He said Beutners plans reflected a developing understanding about how we bring along our partners in this work, especially the partners who are going to be critical to this success teachers and school leaders. Even in a tamer-than-expected form, the reorganization, if approved by the school board, will roll out gradually. Perhaps a third of the district will try it out in the fall, Beutner said. Employees and unions should embrace the effort, he added, because a key goal is to cut through bureaucratic logjams. Beutner said hes moving forward on other fronts as well, including a new online portal that allows parents to evaluate schools. But the parcel tax, called Measure EE, is the immediate priority. The tax, which L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti endorses, would assess structures on properties at an annual rate of 16 cents per square foot. A home of 1,500 square feet would generate an additional tax bill of $240. The tax would apply to residential and business owners alike. The tax would have to be approved by two-thirds of voters. Thats an especially tall order in a low-turnout election, which usually brings out a higher proportion of voters resistant to tax increases. An exemption for senior citizens could diminish some opposition. Some business leaders have launched a No on Measure EE committee and are looking to raise about $4 million to campaign against it. Groups including BizFed, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. argue that the ballot measure doesnt include reforms to address the districts long-term financial problems. They also criticize it for not guaranteeing that money raised would be restricted to use in classrooms. Beutner countered that the district already is taking steps to trim costs, including some anticipated layoffs within the central office. Money alone doesnt solve the issue, but many other districts have local funding, he said. This is an effort to catch up. Public education is foundation of our community and we need more funding. Times staff writer Dakota Smith contributed to this report. howard.blume@latimes.com @howardblume A homelessness task force is accusing the Orange County Board of Supervisors of restricting free speech at its meetings and violating California public records laws. The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California, on behalf of the Peoples Homeless Task Force, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Santa Ana Superior Court alleging that county supervisors limit access to public documents, destroy public documents and give officials preferential treatment over members of the public, in violation of residents 1st Amendment rights and the Brown Act. Participatory democracy, in which constituents are free to comment on the actions and views of elected officials, is one of the cornerstones of our nation, the ACLU said in a statement Tuesday. But not at the Orange County Board of Supervisors, where meetings are held in a manner more befitting a monarchy. Brendan Hamme, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Southern California, said the supervisors are among the least transparent and least accountable government bodies in the state of California, if not the country. Advertisement Molly Nichelson, the county public information manager, said officials had received the lawsuit. While we cannot comment on it in its entirety at this time, we do believe that our rules regarding public comment and public records comport with state and federal law, Nichelson said in a statement. According to the lawsuit, the board has denied the Peoples Homeless Task Force access to documents and video footage of meetings and destroyed documents that should have been kept for a minimum of two years under California law. The ACLU also alleges that supervisors are more lenient when giving county officials or leaders of certain groups time to speak at meetings while consistently silencing members of the Peoples Homeless Task Force, which advocates for homeless individuals and has criticized the boards actions on homelessness. In one instance, elected officials were allowed to talk for more than the two-minute limit they were given, which was already more time than what was allowed for other speakers, according to the lawsuit. When one speaker who was not an elected official exceeded her time limit, the Chair cut her off and scolded, You are not more important than other speakers. I know you think you are, the lawsuit states. In another instance, a speaker representing the Dana Point Harbor revitalization project and a speaker discussing workers compensation for the Sheriffs Department exceeded their time limit without being asked to stop. At the same meeting, a member of the homeless task force, Lou Noble, was held strictly to his speaking time limit, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit also alleges that, in an attempt to shield supervisors from criticism, members of the public are prohibited from addressing them directly without permission, though some are also given leniency on that front. Thats in addition to other restrictive rules practiced by the board, including moving the public comment section of the meeting to the end instead of the beginning of meetings and not allowing audience members to applaud during meetings, the lawsuit said. The ACLU said these practices actively attempted to silence the people, stifle debate and shield its members from criticism by erecting barriers to the peoples participation in board meetings. Its well past the time for the members of the board to realize that residents are constituents to be served, not obstacles to be avoided, Hamme said. The lawsuit asks the court to order the supervisors to be more transparent and change rules that restrict the publics participation, as well as cover any attorney fees incurred by the plaintiffs. alejandra.reyesvelarde@latimes.com Twitter: @r_valejandra Josiah Guzman-Lopez, 9, missed school Tuesday to ask California legislators to support a proposal for new state rules on police use of force because it just helps little kids lives, he said. His father was shot in the back by a San Jose State police officer five years ago. Grief, frustration and mistrust filled a packed hearing room as speakers from law enforcement groups and reform activists including dozens of family members of those killed by police voiced their thoughts on Assembly Bill 392 as it faced its first move through the Legislature. The bill passed its initial vote and will move forward to another committee. Yet hours of emotional testimony made public just how little common ground exists between law enforcement and communities of color, where black and Latino men have faced the brunt of deadly police violence. Both sides are passionate and have yet to find compromise making the bills future uncertain. Advertisement On both sides we are all traumatized and thats why its risen to this level, said Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), chair of the Assembly Committee on Public Safety, where the bill was debated. Advocates for law enforcement spoke of their own pain when faced with violence, cautioning that they believed the bill would place them in danger by forcing them to hesitate in volatile moments. Sacramento County Sheriffs Deputy Julie Robertson described the unexpected shootout that killed her partner in 2018 when an armed felon, Anton Lemon Paris, opened fire as they entered an auto parts store in a Sacramento suburb while responding to a routine call. Paris allegedly shot Robertsons partner, Mark Stasyuk, in the back of the head within moments of their arrival, then circled back to ambush Robertson. Sacramento County Sheriffs Deputy Julie Robertson testified at the Capitol in opposition to Assembly Bill 392, a bill curtailing police use of deadly force. (Anita Chabria / Los Angeles Times) At one point, during the firefight, the gunman began shooting with only his back exposed to me, Robertson said. I recall in that moment thinking that if I were to shoot him in the back, I would be the next officer in the news, being scrutinized for my actions. Though the author of AB 392, Assemblywoman Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), was clear that such in-the-moment situations would not be affected by the bill, Robinson expressed the mistrust and acrimony that AB 392 has evoked for many rank-and-file officers across the state. This bill makes me wonder if sacrificing everything is worth it, Robertson continued. By the sounds of it, the only options given to me if handed a similar set of circumstances are to die, be criminally charged or live with the blood of innocent people on my hands. Robertson said the shooting is often on her mind. Feelings of helplessness, loneliness and despair constantly flood my thoughts, she said. Josiah and other relatives of people killed by police echoed those sentiments, highlighting shared trauma despite polarized positions. Deep down inside, [I] feel bad, he said. But if you let it all out, you feel better. AB 392, though billed as the toughest use-of-force standard in the country if passed, would not attempt to change the federal standard for when police are justified in using lethal force. Instead, it would bring into the states criminal code provisions already in place on the civil side, allowing an examination of officers tactics leading up to the use of deadly force. Currently, most use-of-force investigations are constrained to the seconds around the lethal moment. By incorporating the idea that an officer could be criminally negligent in the lead-up to the use of lethal force, proponents of the bill say it will force district attorneys to expand their scope when investigating shootings, and thereby encourage departments to rethink their training and policies creating greater accountability in the rare cases of unjustified shootings. Law enforcement groups are proposing their own legislation, Senate Bill 230, which focuses on training and policy, including increased use of de-escalation. Police have been especially critical of a provision of AB 392 that would incorporate reasonable into the standard for when force is used, a bar that multiple speakers said would require superhuman judgment on the part of officers. There is one part of this bill I can never support. Its not negotiable, said Assemblyman Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale), a veteran of law enforcement. And that is the term reasonable. I want you to know that all public servants who swear a willingness to die in preserving peace are threatened by this very term. When AB 392 passed out of committee, cheers erupted in a hallway packed by people in T-shirts reading #LetUsLive. Among them was Stevante Clark, brother of Stephon Clark, who was shot last year in Sacramento after police mistook his cellphone for a gun. AB 392 was crafted in part because of that shooting. Its the first step out of the way, Stevante Clark said later, standing on the back steps of the Capitol with the families of others who had lost loved ones to police shootings. This is a club nobody wants to be a part of, but to see everybody come together and fight for something meaningful and lasting that will change the law, its powerful. Across California and other states, elected leaders and law enforcement are mired in debates about the authority of counties to monitor elected sheriffs. Some sheriffs argue that they are accountable only to the ballot box, and say acquiescence to any oversight by a local government is largely voluntary and limited. In Sacramento, the sheriff deactivated the key card of an appointed inspector general, effectively running him out of office after a critical analysis of a police shooting last year. In Los Angeles, the civilian oversight board is struggling to compel the sheriff to release information it needs to do its job. State lawmakers are now considering a proposal that makes it clear that that counties through their elected supervisors have the authority to both create oversight commissions for sheriffs departments and grant those commissions subpoena power. Assembly Bill 1185, which may be voted on by the Assembly this week, would not require counties to take any oversight actions. Instead, it highlights a desire among supporters of open government to see boards more readily use the powers they already have by dispelling any uncertainties. It is necessary, say proponents, because law enforcement has fought against strong civilian boards and especially subpoena powers despite existing case law allowing that supervision. Advertisement Weve seen more than one sheriff recently bristle at the idea of independent entities providing oversight, said Peter Bibring, director of police practices at the ACLU of California, which supports the bill. That kind of independent oversight is part of the system of checks and balances, and sheriffs departments should absolutely be no exception to that. The proposal would codify into state law a 1994 California Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the right of counties to create oversight boards with subpoena powers under the state Constitution, a case involving a San Diego taxpayer who sued the county to stop it from creating one such entity. Cory Salzillo, legislative director of the California State Sheriffs Assn., called the bill unnecessary because it is redundant to existing rules and said his organization opposes it. David Mastagni, a lawyer who works with law enforcement unions, added, It seems like they are passing a law just for the sake of passing a law. Critics of the measure also argue that a civilian board with the power to compel testimony and documents could cause chaos and conflict with ongoing investigations, such as that of an officer-involved shooting. Salzillo said AB 1185 could increase tension between supervisors and sheriffs because it creates this pressure [for county supervisors] to have this adversarial relationship with another county office. Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), the bills author, said lack of oversight can also create tension. Clearly its a sensitive issue, McCarty said. One of the big tenets of this are more transparency and more oversight. I know law enforcement thinks this brings more animosity, but I dont think so. I think it brings more sunshine. AB 1185, he said, is in response to an incident in Sacramento in which a sheriffs deputy shot a black man in the back as he fled, leading to a countywide crisis about oversight. The 2017 incident began when police were called after Mikel McIntyre fought with his mother, Brigett McIntyre, in a strip mall parking lot. She said her son was having a mental health crisis, and his family had earlier in the day called the police for help. When officers arrived, McIntyre hit a deputy in the head with a rock before fleeing to a nearby freeway underpass. He encountered a canine officer and threw another rock that hit the dog in the muzzle and the deputy in his leg. That deputy fired on McIntyre as he ran. The deputy hit McIntyre seven times from the rear, continuing to fire as McIntyre reached a distance of 100 feet. A second deputy, who recognized McIntyre from the earlier mental health call, fired 18 shots across a freeway, missing each time. Rick Braziel, the Sacramento County inspector general, deemed that the number of shots fired at McIntyre was excessive, unnecessary, and put the community at risk. Sacramento County Dist. Atty. Anne Marie Schubert ruled the shooting justified. Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones attacked Braziel as having political motivations and locked him out of the department. Despite community uproar and a call for tougher oversight, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors split on the issue, with some members expressing that they didnt believe they had the power to compel Jones to allow the inspector general access. The role of inspector general remains vacant, according to county spokeswoman Kim Nava. Los Angeles County supervisors have also seen heated debates over the issue and have even when forming oversight boards declined to give them subpoena powers. Three years ago, revelations about abuses in Los Angeles County jails and the increased national attention paid to law enforcements use of force prompted county leaders to craft a civilian oversight commission to increase accountability at the Sheriffs Department. Today, that panel remains legally unable to compel cooperation from the department in the most sensitive cases, such as those involving deputy cliques or Sheriff Alex Villanuevas controversial recent efforts to reinstate those fired for past misconduct. Its members sent a letter to Villanueva last week, accusing his department of dissembling and stonewalling in its transparency with records about internal policies on investigating and stopping deputy cliques linked to misconduct. The COC cannot fulfill its oversight mission in any meaningful manner without timely and complete access to all relevant information, the letter read. Robert Bonner, an attorney and member of the oversight commission, said he initially didnt support the idea of granting the panel subpoena power, especially if the department agreed to provide data to perform its mission. The departments handling of deputys cliques has changed his mind, he said. It is becoming clearer that subpoena power, although not a panacea, would be helpful to the oversight commission, he said. Last year, Los Angeles organizers collected more than 240,000 voter signatures to force the subpoena issue before voters in 2020. The Board of Supervisors voted to allow the measure on the ballot, rather than exercise its right to enact it into law based on the significant number of signatures. We understood that subpoena power is one tool in the toolbox to get us closer to transparency, said Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter and an activist pushing the measure under a coalition called Reform L.A. Jails. It doesnt rely on a single elected official to change or uphold the standard. We should be able to have that standard already. Ugandan police say they have arrested some people over the kidnapping last week of an American tourist who has since been freed. Police did not specify how many people were arrested but said they are actively investigating the kidnapping which took place on April 2 in a national park. The victims Kim Endicott of Costa Mesa, California, and local driver Jean-Paul Mirenge were freed Sunday. Police said the hunt for the kidnappers, including raids and extensive searches, is taking place in southwestern Uganda. Advertisement U.S. President Donald Trump has urged Ugandan authorities to find the perpetrators. The kidnappers had demanded a $500,000 ransom after abducting the two at gunpoint. Ugandan officials say no ransom was paid, but a tourism operator said that money was paid to secure Endicotts release. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. As if Brexit hadnt spooked Britain and the European Union enough over the past three years, the two sides agreed early Thursday to extend the deadline to Halloween. The new, Oct. 31 cutoff date averts a precipitous and potentially calamitous Brexit that had been scheduled for Friday. Please, do not waste this time, European Council President Donald Tusk pleaded. He said the EU was giving Britain six more months to find the best possible solution to its Brexit impasse. Like many things related to Brexit, the extension was a messy compromise. May came to an emergency summit in Brussels seeking to postpone Britains departure from the EU until June 30. Some European leaders favored a longer extension, while French President Emmanuel Macron was wary of anything but a very short delay. Advertisement Leaders of the 27 remaining EU member states met for more than six hours over a dinner of scallop and cod before settling on the end of October, with the possibility of an earlier Brexit if Britain ratifies a withdrawal agreement. May said the possibility of leaving before the deadline was a key request of hers. I continue to believe we need to leave the EU, with a deal, as soon as possible, she told reporters. She noted that if U.K. lawmakers back her Brexit deal, Britain could still leave by June 30 the Brexit deadline she had requested from the bloc and possibly as soon as May 22, which would release Britain from having to participate in elections for the European Parliament. May spoke to the 27 EU leaders for just over an hour, before they met for dinner without her to decide Britains fate. In contrast to some testy recent summits, there were signs of warmth, even humor. May and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were filmed laughing over a tablet bearing an image showing the two of them speaking to their respective Parliaments on Wednesday while wearing similar blue jackets. While many leaders said they were inclined to grant a Brexit delay, Macron expressed reservations, warning as he arrived at the summit that nothing is decided. Afterward, the French president said he was satisfied with the outcome. We did the best possible compromise to preserve the unity of the 27 (other EU members) because we have left the United Kingdom more time to deliver a deal, Macron said. Tusk said that during the extension Britain will continue its sincere cooperation as a full member state, with all its rights, and as a close friend and trusted ally in the future. Several months have passed since May and the EU struck a deal laying out the terms of Britains departure and the outline of future relations. All that was needed was ratification by the British and European Parliaments. But U.K. lawmakers rejected it three times. As Britains departure date of March 29 approached with no resolution in sight, the EU gave Britain until Friday to approve a withdrawal plan, change course and seek a further delay to Brexit, or crash out of the EU with no deal to cushion the shock. Economists and business leaders have warned that a no-deal Brexit would lead to huge disruptions in trade and travel, with tariffs and customs checks causing gridlock at British ports and possible shortages of goods. A disorderly Brexit would hurt EU nations, as well as Britain, and all want to avoid it but theres little agreement about how. Mays future, meanwhile, is uncertain. She has previously said that as prime minister she could not agree to let Britain stay in the EU beyond June 30, and she has also promised to step down once Brexit is delivered. Many Conservative Party lawmakers would like her to quit now and let a new leader take charge of the next stage of Brexit. But they cant force her out until the end of the year, after she survived a no-confidence vote in December. Every British initiative to get a deal has floundered so far. Several days of talks between Mays Conservative government and the main opposition Labour Party aimed at finding a compromise have failed to produce a breakthrough. Labour favors a softer Brexit than the government has proposed, and wants to retain a close economic relationship with the bloc. The two sides said they would resume their discussions Thursday. Now, the battle begins in Britain over what to do with the extra time. All options from a no-deal Brexit to a general election to no Brexit at all remain on the table. Pro-EU politicians said the next few months should be used to hold a new referendum on whether to leave the EU or remain. Labour lawmaker Mary Creagh tweeted that Parliament must move swiftly to break the Brexit deadlock with a confirmatory ballot on PMs deal. Pro-Brexit lawmakers said it was time to replace May with another Conservative leader preferably a hard-core Brexiteer. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said the time had come for Britain to decide what it wants. Were giving them a very long time to take a decision, he said. You know, the European Union is not a prison. Nobody has to stay but it is also a home and we are not going to kick anyone out. As to the symbolic end date? He said it was not on the minds of the EU leaders. As I learned this evening, Halloween is not a holiday widely celebrated across the European Union, Varadkar said. ____ Associated Press writers Mike Corder and Angela Charlton in Brussels, Danica Kirka in London and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Rose Marie Bentley was an avid swimmer, raised five kids, helped her husband run a feed store, and lived to the ripe age of 99. It was only after she died that medical students discovered that all her internal organs except for her heart were in the wrong place. The discovery of the rare condition, which was presented this week to a conference of anatomists, was astounding especially because Bentley had lived so long. People with the condition known as situs inversus with levocardia often have life-threatening cardiac ailments and other abnormalities, according to Oregon Health & Science University. Cameron Walkers class at the university in Portland was examining the heart of a cadaver last year when they noticed the blood vessels were different. When they opened the abdominal cavity, they saw that all the other organs were on the wrong side. The unusual blood vessels helped the heart compensate. In a telephone interview Tuesday, Walker described his reaction to the find as definitely a mix of curiosity, fascination and a sense of wanting to explore a little bit of a medical mystery a medical marvel really that was in front of us. Advertisement And I would say the students felt something very similar, Walker, an assistant professor of anatomy, told The Associated Press. Bentleys family had not known about the condition, which OHSU says occurs only once in every 22,000 births. Apparently Bentley didnt either. Bentley, who lived in Molalla, 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Portland, had led a normal life. Her only recurrent physical complaint was arthritis, her daughter Louise Allee remembered. But there were signs. When Bentley was in her 50s, she underwent a hysterectomy, and the doctor also wanted to remove the appendix but couldnt find it, Allee said in a phone interview. She said it was removed later. Oregon Health & Science University noted that Bentley had three organs removed during her life, but only the surgeon who removed her appendix recorded its unusual location. When Bentley had her gallbladder removed, it was on the opposite side of where it should have been, Allee said. No one said a thing, Allee said. I was surprised. This was before they did it with a scope, and she had a good-sized incision. Youd think they would have said something, but they didnt. Walker expressed his gratitude for Bentley agreeing to donate her body to OHSU, Oregons only academic health center. This is an important case that really gave us an opportunity to talk about the importance of future clinicians paying attention to subtle anatomic variations, not just large anatomic variations, in terms of addressing their future patients as individuals, Walker said. Dont judge a book by its cover, and always check and see what youve got before you talk about care. He has researched how long people with the condition have lived, and he found no documented cases in which a person lived beyond age 73. Bentley surpassed that by 26 years. Allee said her mother would have been delighted that the donation of her body led to a learning experience. She would have been tickled to know she could educate with something unusual, Allee said. Dad would have loved to know about it so he could tease her. Her husband, James, died about 15 years ago. ___ This story has been updated throughout to correct references to Bentley. ___ Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pistol Bay Mining Inc. (TSX-V - PST; Frankfurt - OQS2, OTC/Pink Sheet symbol SLTFF) (Pistol Bay or the Company) wishes to announce that it has acquired a Vanadium project totaling 980 acres in Clark County, Nevada. Pistol Bay Mining Inc. has signed an agreement with arm's-length third parties to acquire, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval, a 980 acre land package covering two properties known as the Vanadium Claims Group (VCG) project. The VCG project is located in Clark County, Nevada; a historical mining district with 34 reported occurrences of vanadium mineralization. Vanadium is a strategic mineral critical to steel strengthening and utility scale battery technology. The mining district was mapped by the USGS in the 1920s. The USGS report makes the following comment Vanadates are uncommonly widespread in the district and that significant concentrations of vanadium were shipped from the district in the form of mine concentrates and bulk shipments. The USGS report also mentions a number of other references to vanadium mineralization in the district: a) concentrates reported to contain 15% V2O5 b) 3.75% V205 over 2.3m c) 3m wide zone estimated to run up to 10% V2O5 The USGS described the styles of mineralization within the district and recorded a significant number of vanadium occurrences containing vanadinite, descloizite, cuprodescloizite, psittacinite and other unnamed vanadium minerals. The USGS reported that a number of outcrops from within the two areas covered by the VCG project contained vanadium mineralization and that shipments of vanadium mineralization were made from one of the areas now covered by the VCG project. Charles Desjardins, President & CEO of Pistol Bay, stated, We are excited to make this acquisition as it provides the Company exposure to the District Scale Potential of the area for high grade Vanadium mineralization, low cost exploration as well as potential for significant by-product credits ( lead, zinc, silver) from related mineralization in a district that not been systematically explored for vanadium. Vanadium Deposits and Target Grades The most important vanadium bearing minerals are vanadinite (19% V2O5), descloizite (22% V2O5), cuprodescloizite (17-22% V2O5), carnotite (20% V2O5), roscoelite (21-29% V2O5), and patronite (17-29% V2O5). The vanadium mineralization exposed within the VCG project belongs to the Exogenic type vanadium deposits characterized by typically higher grade (2-10% V2O5) mineralization; the vanadium minerals descloizite, cuprodescloizite and vanadinite and occur in oxidation zones of lead-zinc and copper mineralization. Details on the Vanadium Project Claims Group #1: Measures approximately 1.6 km by 1.0 km covering a number of reported vanadium showing exposed in outcrop and in old mine workings. The USGS report states: One mine (located within the claim group) however did ship 14 tons of material to the American Vanadium Company. Information on the vanadium content of the shipment is not available. Claims Group #2: Covers an area measuring approximately 1.6 km by 1.0 km with reported vanadium mineralization and a significant number of old workings. No exploration has been completed on the two groups. Terms of Acquisition 1. The Vendor hereby agrees to sell and that Pistol Bay Mining Inc. agrees to purchase the Claims free and clear of all liens, charges, and encumbrances for and in consideration of $15,000 USD plus the sum of $150,000 USD upon exchange approval, and 8,000,000 fully paid and non-assessable common shares of Pistol Bay Mining Inc. (the Purchase Price). 2. The Purchase Price is due and payable as follows: (a) A cash consideration of $15,000 USD paid on the date of execution of this Agreement. (b) $50,000 USD upon exchange approval. (c) $100,000 USD six months post exchange approval. (d) 8,000,000 fully paid and non-assessable shares of Pistol Bay Mining Inc. on the five days following the date this agreement is accepted for filing by the TSX Venture Exchange (the date of acceptance being the Effective Date); and (e) A 2% Net Milling Returns Royalty on the Properties (the Royalty); including the right of Pistol Bay Mining Inc. to purchase one and one half (1.5%) of the Royalty at any time for USD $1,000,000. The technical information in this news release was prepared and/or reviewed by Glen Macdonald, Ph.D., P.Geo., a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101. About Pistol Bay Mining Inc. Pistol Bay Mining Inc. is a diversified Junior Canadian Mineral Exploration Company with a focus on zinc and base metal properties in North America. The company is also actively pursuing the right opportunity in other resources to enhance shareholders value. For additional information please visit the Company website at www.pistolbaymininginc.com or contact Charles Desjardins at pistolbaymining@gmail.com . On Behalf of the Board of Directors PISTOL BAY MINING INC. " Charles Desjardins " Charles Desjardins, President and Director 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. Cautionary note: This report contains forward looking statements. Resource estimates, unless specifically noted, are considered speculative. Any and all other resource or reserve estimates are historical in nature and should not be relied upon. By their nature, forward looking statements involve risk and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on factors that will or may occur in the future. Actual results may vary depending upon exploration activities, industry production, commodity demand and pricing, currency exchange rates, and, but not limited to, general economic factors. Cautionary Note to US investors: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission specifically prohibits the use of certain terms, such as "reserves" unless such figures are based upon actual production or formation tests and can be shown to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions. Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. South Africa: Interfaith leaders commit to societal renewal Racism and intolerance, the abuse of women and girls and the absence of common decency are markers of a society that has strayed from its founding values. These were the words of President Cyril Ramaphosa as he addressed an interfaith meeting attended by religious leaders from a broad range of denominations and African traditional religion at the CSIR International Convention Centre on Wednesday. The meeting, convened by the President and supported by the Department of Social Development, seeks to develop a values-based initiative to engender social cohesion, nation-building and societal renewal. Interfaith leaders gathered at the meeting expressed their belief and support to the positive framing of South Africas national character, which they say is at the heart of South Africas growth and renewal. Addressing socio-economic ills such as unemployment, inequality, gender-based violence, crime and lawlessness and violence against foreign nationals will form the core of the initiative. Speaking to religious leaders cloaked in their various regalia, President Ramaphosa thanked the leaders for their support and urged them to lend a hand in rejuvenating the social fabric of the country. In being here today, you have responded to the call from your government to join us to bring healing to our nation. Let us forge ahead in the spirit of partnership and mutual understanding, for we share a common responsibility and a common goal: to realise a better South Africa for ourselves, for our children, and for the children of tomorrow, said the President. With concerns raised about the declaration during the meeting, the President, together with interfaith leaders, agreed to sign a statement of intent as opposed to a declaration. This will allow the parties to rework the declaration before signing. Once reworked, the President, together with interfaith leaders, will in six months time officially sign the declaration titled The Presidential Declaration for Societal Renewal. The declaration will be championed by the President of the Republic and led by the interfaith community. It will also be allocated the resources to implement the National Strategic Plan, in accordance with the Public Finance Management Act. The newly signed declaration will be translated into a National Strategic Plan with objectives, outcomes, responsible persons and timeframes. Government will monitor the implementation of the National Strategic Plan on a quarterly basis. - SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2019-04-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. She made the statement at her meeting with IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong in Doha, Qatar, on April 8th on the sidelines of the 140th IPU Assembly. She affirmed that by taking part in such activities, the Vietnamese NA learns from other parliaments experience, thus contributing to improving its operations, and expressed her satisfaction with the results of cooperation between the Vietnamese legislature, the IPU, and the United Nations in Vietnam towards realising parliamentary partnership. NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (R) meets IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong in Doha (Source: VNA) With the support of the IPU in general and the Secretary General in particular, the Vietnamese NA will continue activities to promote its role in the implementation of sustainable development goals, she added. The Vietnamese top legislator also spoke highly of the important role of the Secretary General to the IPU, especially in intensifying cooperation between the union and the UN, thus contributing to raising the roles and voices of parliaments and parliamentarians on international issues. Martin Chungong, in turn, confirmed that the IPU is willing to cooperate with Vietnam in the field of nutrition. He expressed high expectations for the continued promotion of the implementation of sustainable development goals in Vietnam. He appreciated Vietnams commitment to joining IPU activities at the highest level, hoping that the country will help improve the influence of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum in the time ahead./. Provides Vista Global with an industry-disrupting technology platform already with over two million downloads; Vista Global will apply sophisticated data science, machine learning and AI to deliver clients the best value globally; Vista Global becomes the first company to offer an end-to-end digital suite of flying solutions to private aviation customers with instant booking options to fly anywhere, anytime, at a moments notice; Wider fleet access and operational excellence will enhance the experience for JetSmarters existing customer base, who will now benefit from Vista Globals worldwide presence; Clearlake Capital, Jefferies Financial Group and other JetSmarter investors join Vista Global Shareholder family. DUBAI, UAE and FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vista Global, a world leader in business flight solutions, announces that it has entered into an agreement to acquire JetSmarter, creating the global On Demand digital marketplace. JetSmarters innovative marketplace technology will fulfil Vista Globals digitization strategy, providing all customers with an unmatched end-to-end service and seamless booking experience. The acquisition will enhance Vista Globals formidable position offering the largest suite of services and advanced technologies to every private aviation customer. Following JetSmarters successful digital partnership with XOJET, it will now bring its digital capabilities to the entire Vista Global group. JetSmarters industry-disrupting platform will therefore be integrated into the back-end technology of Vista Globals brands VistaJet, Vista Lease and XOJET. The integration will significantly improve the ease and speed of the booking process for the 150,000 passengers traveling with any of the Vista Global companies each year, building upon its impressive track record of offering customers the most technologically advanced solutions in the private aviation industry. Vista Globals Founder and Chairman Thomas Flohr said: Todays acquisition is an important milestone for Vista Global accelerating and executing our vision of digitizing the entire private aviation offering. Customers today want speed, reliability and value, which in todays world is only possible with technology. Vista Globals reach and infrastructure will take JetSmarter to the global stage to fully realize its potential. JetSmarters technology will digitalize Vista Globals market-leading customer offering to Program Members and On Demand customers. Since its founding in 2012, JetSmarter has become the preeminent provider of technology-enabled service to the business aviation market with two million downloads to date. Today, JetSmarters digital platform allows both Members and On Demand customers to book private or shared trips instantly. Following the acquisition, JetSmarters customers will benefit from the reach, resources and operational expertise of Vista Global group. Its growing customer base will have access to a wider fleet, wherever they are in the world, and enjoy the highest standards in private aviation as they join the Vista Global family. They will significantly benefit from the groups unparalleled customer service and an unmatched in-flight experience. Steven Langman, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Rhone Capital added: Vista Global is marking a new major milestone in its development. The acquisition of JetSmarter is fully in-line with the companys mission: to transform the nature of the business aviation sector and offer its growing customer base a fast and seamless access to its services through digital innovation. Behdad Eghbali, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Clearlake Capital Group stated: Vista Global is the undisputed market leader with unmatched vision to consolidate and digitally transform this fragmented industry. Vista Global's worldwide fleet access, unmatched end-to-end service experience, and world-class management team will combine with JetSmarter's digital technology leadership including digital bookings and On Demand crowdsourcing to further expand Vista Global's leadership. We are thrilled to partner with Thomas Flohr and the talented management team at Vista Global and believe that, combined with Vista Global, JetSmarter will flourish and revolutionize the industrys digital transformation." The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter, subject to customary closing conditions, including the expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. As part of the transaction, all JetSmarter investors, inclusive of Clearlake Capital and Jefferies Financial Group, will become investors in Vista Global, supporting its future growth. Jefferies LLC acted as financial advisor to JetSmarter. About Vista Global Holding Vista Global Holding is the world leader in business flight solutions. A global group headquartered at the DIFC in Dubai, Vista Global integrates a unique portfolio of companies offering asset lite solutions to cover all key aspects of business aviation: guaranteed and On Demand global flight coverage; aircraft leasing and finance; and cutting-edge aviation technology. Founded by Thomas Flohr, the groups mission is to further industrialize and consolidate the fragmented business aviation industry, and to lead the change to provide customers with the most advanced flying solutions and the very best value, anytime, anywhere around the globe. The group owns VistaJet, Vista Lease, XOJET (fleet & sales) and at the closing of the transaction described herein, JetSmarter. Vista Globals knowledge and understanding of all facets of the industry deliver the best end-to-end offering, service and technology to any business aviation customer or platform. Vista Global does not own or operate any aircraft. All flights are performed by FAA-licensed/DOT-registered EASA or U.S. certified Vista Global group direct air carriers and/or partner operators with a non-controlling minority stake held in XOJET Aviation LLC. For more information, visit www.vistaglobal.com About JetSmarter JetSmarter is a global community of fliers that prefer an elevated travel experience. Using technology and a sharing economy model, JetSmarter gives users the ability to create flights On Demand or book individual seats on flights created by fellow fliers, saving thousands compared to traditional private travel. JetSmarter offers a number of programs including Private Charters, for which JetSmarter acts solely as the authorized agent in arranging the flight, and Public Charters, for which JetSmarter acts as principal in buying and reselling the air transportation. JetSmarter does not own or operate any aircraft. All flights are performed by FAA-licensed and DOT-registered air carriers. For more information, visit www.jetsmarter.com Photos accompanying this announcement are available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/694d6b39-6bb4-4f37-8849-4c1def3639a2 http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b23cc41a-40c6-48b9-862e-539073fcd0da Scientists at UMass Medical School have developed a strategy for editing and repairing a particular type of genetic mutation associated with microduplications using CRISPR/Cas9 and a seldom-used DNA repair pathway. Described in Nature, this approach to programmable gene editing overcomes prior inefficiencies in gene correction. "It's like hitting the reset button," said Scot A. Wolfe, PhD, professor of molecular, cell & cancer biology. "We don't have to add any corrective genetic material, instead the cell stitches the DNA back together minus the duplication. It's a shortcut for gene correction with potential therapeutic appeal." Microduplications are changes in chromosomes where small segments of DNA are copied or duplicated. In certain genes, these duplications can lead to what are called "frameshift mutations," when the number of added nucleotides is not divisible by three. This alters the translation of gene into protein, causing a loss of function. Frameshift mutations resulting from microduplications cause as many as 143 different diseases, including limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome, and Tay-Sachs. Dr. Wolfe, a co-investigator of the Nature study, is an expert in CRISPR/Cas9 and other programmable nuclease-based methods of gene editing. Most of these techniques require both generating a break of the DNA strands at the defective gene and the introduction of corrective genetic material. The new sequence is inserted into the break and repaired by an innate DNA repair mechanism found in cells known as the homology-directed repair pathway. Though therapeutically promising, this method of correcting genes can be inefficient and has other technical challenges. Wolfe and co-investigator Charles P. Emerson Jr., PhD, professor of neurology, director of the Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Center at UMass Medical School, and an expert in skeletal muscle development and muscular dystrophies, believed that there might be a more direct approach to correct diseases caused by microduplications. They reasoned that if the microhomology-mediated end joining (MMEJ) pathway could be effectively harnessed, instead of the homology-directed repair pathway, it would remove the duplicated sequence and restore the gene's functional sequence. Less efficient and rarer than other cellular repair mechanisms, the MMEJ pathway often results in deletions on either side of the break and is responsible for performing a small percentage of DNA repairs -- less than 10 percent according to some estimates. Dr. Emerson had a promising disease target for evaluating the feasibility of this editing approach -- limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2G (LGMD2G) caused by a microduplication in the TCAP gene. The Emerson and Wolfe labs treated pluripotent stem cells generated from a LGMD2G patient with a Strepetococcus pyogenesCas9 (SpCas9) nuclease to target a DNA break near the center of the microduplication in the TCAPgene. As they predicted, the MMEJ repair mechanism deleted one copy of the microduplication -- effectively stitching the DNA back together again with remarkably high efficiency, leaving out the mutated genetic material and restoring the gene to enable normal TCAP protein to be produced. "The simplicity and efficiency of microduplication gene editing of the TCAP gene was a very exciting discovery moment, and presented a unique opportunity to develop a therapy for LGMD 2G, which currently is untreatable, and this has become our immediate goal," Emerson said. How many diseases are caused by microduplications that might be treated by MMEJ nuclease gene editing? Collaborating with Christian Mueller, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics, the team demonstrated that microduplications in the HPS1gene associated with Hermanksy-Pudlak syndrome type 1 could be corrected in patient cells. Oliver King, PhD, assistant professor of neurology, then developed computational tools to search human genome databases and remarkably identified 143 diseases associated microduplications that would be treatable using their Cas9-MMEJ approach. "From this modest beginning, we believe that the simplicity, reliability and efficacy of the MMEJ-based therapeutic strategy may permit development of nuclease-based gene correction therapies for many currently untreatable diseases," said Wolfe. English Icelandic The impact of the suspension of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft Icelandairs flight schedule has been updated based on the assumption that the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft will be suspended until 16 June 2019. The decision to add wet-leased aircraft to the fleet has reduced the impact of the suspension on Icelandairs flight schedule. As announced on 1 April, the Company entered into a leasing agreement regarding two Boeing 767 aircraft. Today, Icelandair has finalised a leasing agreement of the third aircraft, a 184-seat Boeing 757-200, which will be in operation from 15 May until the end of September 2019. During the period 1 April to 15 June 2019, Icelandair will reduce its frequency of flight trips by around 3.6%, which accounts for around 100 trips. In most cases, these are flights to destination where more than one flight is available on the same day. Despite these changes, the total seat capacity during the period will essentially remain the same since the Company will use Boeing 767 aircraft that are larger than the Boeing 737 MAX. Therefore, these changes will not have significant effects on the total number of passengers during the period. Furthermore, Icelandair has decided to cancel its flights to Cleveland in the US and Halifax in Canada this year. This is partly due to the suspension of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft but also because of a decision to focus on meeting increased demand for flights to and from Iceland by moving supply from destinations that focus on travel between North America and Europe via Iceland. The financial impact of the suspension of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft is uncertain at this time as the amount of compensation from the aircraft producer is still under review. Changes to Icelandairs flight schedule following changes in the competitive environment Because of changes in the competitive environment, Icelandair has decided to add flights to Southern Europe. Icelandair will offer three flights a week to Alicante in cooperation with Icelandair Groups subsidiary, VITA, a travel agency that organises trips from Iceland. Furthermore, Icelandair has started working towards adding aircraft to its fleet that will be fitted as economy only. These aircraft will have a larger number of seats than the Companys current aircraft, which lowers unit cost and therefore strengthens Icelandairs competitiveness in this market. These aircraft are better suited for certain destinations that are not part of Icelandairs core route network, such as Alicante and Tenerife, and therefore present opportunities for growth. Icelandair expects the first aircraft of this type to be in operation in the beginning of the year 2020. Further information: Iris Thorisdottir, Director Investor Relations Icelandair Group iris@icelandairgroup.is Bonita Springs, Florida, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sierra Pacific Mortgage Company, Inc., one of the nations top ten private mortgage lenders, is excited to announce that John Moore and the Moore Lending Group have joined the company to build out its retail lending platform in the state of Florida. Mr. Moore brings over 30 years of residential home loan experience and has an impressive track record of growing and building high performance retail sales organizations. Before starting the Moore Lending Group over ten years ago, John spent many years working at regional and national levels with Home Savings of America and Washington Mutual. The Moore Lending Group currently has offices in Naples, Bonita Springs, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and Tallahassee. John and his team plan to build out the rest of the state to become one of Floridas premier lenders. Sierra Pacific Mortgages commitment to growth in the Southeast requires us to have dynamic, hands on leadership. John Moores extensive background and history of building productive, profitable teams gives us an opportunity to accelerate our growth plans, and take advantage of the many opportunities out in the market place, said Jay Promisco, Sierra Pacific Mortgages Vice President of Retail Lending, Leadership is key to a successful venture, and we are exceptionally pleased to have John Moore leading the charge in Florida for us. John and his team chose Sierra Pacific Mortgage as their final destination because they believe in the companys direction, culture and leadership. They see the investment that Sierra has made in its technology, and the support and commitment the company has to its team members. On bringing his talents to Sierra Pacific Mortgage, John said, I chose Sierra Pacific Mortgage because of the strong leadership, and the culture the company provides. I had previously worked with Vice President of National Operations, Rick Bargioni, and knowing that he, along with Divisional Sales Leader, John Goulding, Vice President of Retail Lending, Jay Promisco, and President and CEO, Jim Coffrini, are leading the company, it made my decision simple. Floridas origination market is hot, and the growth opportunity for the company in the state is great. With Johns leadership, the Sierra Pacific Mortgage is confident Florida will become a top market for the company. On bringing John and the Moore Lending Group to Sierra Pacific Mortgage, Divisional Sales Leader, John Goulding said, Sierra Pacific Mortgage is thrilled to have a leader like John Moore building our Florida market and creating new opportunities. He has a history of manufacturing successful teams, which aligns well to our culture and vision today and in the future. With more than 30 years in business, Sierra Pacific is continuously focused on adding experienced team members across the country! If you are looking for an opportunity at Sierra Pacific Mortgage, please visit www.joinsierrapacificmortgage.com Attachment VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IONIC Brands Corp., formerly Zara Resources Inc. (CSE: IONC) (IONIC BRANDS or the Company) announces today that it has entered into a Letter of Intent (LOI) to acquire licensed cannabis volatile extraction and manufacturing assets of Kavry Management LLC (Kavry). IONIC BRANDS signed a LOI dated April 4, 2019 with Kavry subject to definitive documentation and for a purchase price of US$2,900,000 in cash and shares, with the shares valued based on the closing price of the Companys shares immediately preceding the date of closing. The Company will acquire the existing facility, all inventory and equipment of the current licensed cannabis volatile extraction in Adelanto, California. The volatile extraction is the most efficient and rapid way of extracting cannabis. To qualify as a volatile facility, businesses must meet a much stricter set of criteria. The extraction market is in its infancy with great potential to gain market share. The facility in Adelanto is 48,000 square feet of which IONIC Brands will have the option to purchase for 12 months for US$7,000,000. IONIC Brands will be taking 3,700 square feet immediately which includes a fully operational extraction facility. The licenses included are a type 7 volatile license and a Type 11 Distribution License. IONIC Brands has the option to take over an additional 12,000 square feet of space at the end of 2019. Additionally, 8,000 square feet along with a cultivation operation are available to IONIC Brands. The Company will make the determination whether to include this license as a part of the purchase for an additional US$1,600,000. The facility will have the capacity for the Company to fulfill all of its manufacturing needs for the State of California where is will be able to produce its Vape, Edible and other concentrate brands. Chairman and CEO John Gorst states, the licensed volatile extraction and manufacturing facility in California is a tremendous asset for Ionic Brands as it fits our strategic plan of vertical integration. Securing this facility is a great foundation for IONIC BRANDS in California to advance our current premium luxury Cannabinoid products. We also see substantial development potential of new revenue streams through manufacturing in California. About IONIC Brands Corp. IONIC BRANDS is a national cannabis holdings company based in Washington, led by a team of successful entrepreneurs. The company is focused on building a multi-state consumer-focused cannabis concentrate brand portfolio focusing on the premium and luxury segments. The cornerstone brand of the portfolio, IONIC, is an accomplished #1 vaporizer brand in Washington State. The Company has aggressively expanded throughout the west coast of the United States. IONIC is currently operating in Washington, Oregon and California. IONIC BRANDS strategy is to be the leader of the highest-value segments of the cannabis market and expand nationally. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS John Gorst John Gorst CEO and Director For inquiries, please visit www.ionicbrands.com , by email info@ionicbrands.com or call investor relations at 253-248-7920 (option 4). The CSE does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein 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. The risks are without limitations: the price for cannabis and related products will remain consistent and the consumer demand remains strong; availability of financing to the Company to develop the retail locations; retention of key employees and management; changes in State and/or municipal regulations of retail operations and changes in government regulations generally. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Companys expectations are disclosed in the Companys documents filed from time to time with the Canadian Securities Exchange, the British Columbia Securities Commission, the Ontario Securities Commission and the Alberta Securities Commission. Washington, D.C., April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Olympus, a global leader in designing and delivering innovative solutions for medical and surgical procedures, among other core businesses, will provide national nonprofit Colorectal Cancer Alliance (Alliance) with funding to raise awareness of colorectal cancer screening across the United States and provide low- to no-cost screenings to 100 at-risk individuals in 2019. To support the Alliances efforts to increase public awareness of life-saving colorectal cancer screenings, Olympus is also sponsoring the Alliances national Big Colon Tour. Screening is the critical first step to identify and treat colorectal cancer, which is 90 percent beatable if caught early. The Alliance, which seeks to end colorectal cancer within our lifetime, advocates for screening by colonoscopy or one of the other approved methods. Unfortunately, a third of eligible adults skip screening. Olympus support will allow the Big Colon Tour to make 20 stops throughout the United States in 2019. To help those facing a financial barrier to getting screened, Olympus is providing funding for 100 at-risk individuals to receive colonoscopies through the Alliances Blue Hope Prevention Awards program as a way to celebrate the companys 100th anniversary and improve access to colonoscopies. Anyone seeking a cancer screening should be able to get one, said Michael Sapienza, CEO of the Alliance. This generous funding opens up an avenue to life-saving screenings that Americans need, and it will save lives. Colonoscopy is a minimally invasive medical procedure that can identify precancerous polyps and cancer in the large intestine. Colonoscopies give doctors a chance to spot precancerous polyps that can be removed before becoming malignant. Funds provided by Olympus will support colonoscopy procedures for individuals who applied for one through the Alliances financial assistance website. As we celebrate the 100th year anniversary of Olympus, we are proud to continue our partnership with the Alliance in support of colorectal cancer screening awareness and outreach and to provide funding for colonoscopies to people who otherwise could not afford it, said Kurt Heine, Group Vice President for Endoscopy, Olympus America Inc. More than 15 million colonoscopies are performed in the U.S. annually, but still we know many more need to be performed to meet the national targets for CRC screening rates. Stops on the Alliances Big Colon Tour include: March 23 - St. Louis, Missouri March 31 - Washington, D.C. April 6 - Denver, Colorado May 17 - San Diego, California June 15 - Portland, Oregon June 22 - Denver, Colorado July 20 - Buffalo, New York August 10 - Sioux Falls, South Dakota August 11 - Indianapolis, Indiana September 7 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania September 28 - Cleveland, Ohio November 9 - Arlington, Texas An estimated 145,600 Americans will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer this year, and 51,020 will die. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S. and the third most common cancer impacting men and women, with about 90 percent of new cases occurring in individuals 50 and older. For most adults, the American Cancer Society recommends that screenings start at age 45. Individual risk factors, such as ethnicity, lifestyle, and family history, may require earlier screening. A doctor can provide more information about how and when screening should begin. About Colorectal Cancer Alliance The Colorectal Cancer Alliance is a national nonprofit committed to ending colorectal cancer. Working with our nation of passionate allies, we diligently support the needs of patients and families, caregivers, and survivors; eagerly raise awareness of preventative screening; and continually strive to fund critical research. As allies in the struggle, we are fiercely determined to end colorectal cancer within our lifetime. For more information, visit ccalliance.org. About Olympus Olympus is a global technology leader, crafting innovative optical and digital solutions in medical technologies; life sciences; industrial solutions; and cameras and audio products. Throughout our nearly 100-year history, Olympus has focused on being true to society and making peoples lives healthier, safer and more fulfilling every day. Visit www.olympusamerica.com. Attachments ST. JOHNS, Newfoundland, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kraken Robotics Inc. (TSX-V: PNG) (OTCQB: KRKNF) (Kraken or the Company) and Baltic Taucherei-und Bergungsbetrieb Rostock GmbH (Baltic Diver) are pleased to announce that they have finalized a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on a Strategic Alliance for maritime robotics technology, products, and services. In addition, Kraken and Baltic Diver will be jointly hosting a series of demonstrations in the Baltic region this summer on state-of-the-art 3D subsea digital inspection technology. Completion of Strategic Alliance MOU with Baltic Diver Kraken and Baltic Diver have signed a MOU for maritime robotics technology, products, and services. The MOU establishes a collaborative arrangement, pursuant to which Kraken will become a strategic alliance partner with Baltic Diver. This may include the future supply of additional sensors, components, software, and systems as well as R&D and innovation support in areas such as data analytics and machine learning. Over time, the companies may enter into a series of project-specific agreements to engage in innovative development and other commercialization activities. Advanced Subsea 3D Inspection Technology to be Demonstrated in the Baltic Sea Region As part of the strategic alliance, Kraken and Baltic Diver are planning to deploy 3D digital inspection capable assets in the Baltic Region this summer. These assets will consist of a support ship, a Seatronic Valor ROV and Kraken's award winning SeaVision 3D underwater laser imaging system. These assets provide cost-efficient access to new data, such as high-density 3D point cloud models and high-dynamic range photography, which is starting to revolutionize how subsea digital asset inspection can be performed. This alliance intends to continuously push the boundaries of AI-driven digital inspection and analytics to support the growth of the Baltic Sea Economic Region, especially the needs of the offshore wind industry for high volume recurring maintenance inspections. Karl Kenny, Kraken's President & CEO said, "Kraken's manufacturing facilities in Rostock designs, builds and sells pressure tolerant thrusters, batteries and electronics systems for the marine market. We are pleased to extend Kraken's presence in Rostock through our partnership with Baltic Diver, enabling us to offer our entire sensor and systems technology and product portfolio in the Baltic Sea Region. Baltic Diver is a world class company and we look forward to expanding revenue opportunities and market growth in their areas of underwater expertise. We are excited to partner with Kraken and be able to offer our customers leading edge technologies and products for subsea asset inspection, said Eyk-Uwe Pap, CEO of Baltic Diver. Presently, we are aligning our subsea services towards ROV based systems and we are glad to be able to test and evaluate new technology together with our partner Kraken. Our new ROV will be able to maintain its position (horizontal and vertical) in 2.5 knots current and will provide a perfect base for the testing of new equipment. Our team of experienced and highly motivated engineers, technicians, divers and backoffice staff at our quayside premises at Rostock with workshops, cranes, office and storage facilities is looking forward to a longterm cooperation with Kraken. We are especially pleased about the development of the official Offshore Test Area (OTC) close to the coast near Rostock which will grant extensive opportunities for testing new subsea technology together with Kraken. ABOUT KRAKEN ROBOTICS INC. Kraken Robotics Inc. (TSX.V:PNG) (OTCQB: KRKNF) is a marine technology company that is dedicated to the production and sale of software-centric sensors and underwater robotic systems. The company is headquartered in St. Johns, Newfoundland with offices in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia; Toronto, Ontario; Bremen and Rostock Germany; and Boston, Massachusetts. Kraken is ranked as a Top 100 marine technology company by Marine Technology Reporter. For more information, please visit www.krakenrobotics.com , www.krakenrobotik.de , www.krakenpower.de . Find us on social media on Twitter (@krakenrobotics), Facebook (@krakenroboticsinc) and LinkedIn. ABOUT BALTIC TAUCHEREI - UND BERGUNGSBETRIEB ROSTOCK GMBH Baltic Diver is a reputable maritime service provider with more than 25 years of experience with international and challenging offshore projects in 30 countries. Baltic Diver offers a wide range of services including: national and international commercial diving works; diving in contaminated waters; explosive ordnance disposal; salvage service, oil spill removal; hydraulic engineering and coastal protection; sea cable laying and recovery; vessel service and repair; personnel service, e.g. captains, rigger, rope access technicians, hydrographic surveyor; ROV and sonar operations. For more information, please visit baltic-taucher.com Certain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements. When used in this news release, the words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "seek", "propose", "estimate", "expect", and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements with respect to, among other things, business objectives, expected growth, results of operations, performance, business projects and opportunities and financial results. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events based on certain material factors and assumptions and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, changes in market, competition, governmental or regulatory developments, general economic conditions and other factors set out in the Company's public disclosure documents. Many factors could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to vary from those described in this news release, including without limitation those listed above. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in this news release and such forward-looking statements included in, or incorporated by reference in this news release, should not be unduly relied upon. Such statements speak only as of the date of this news release. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange Inc. nor its Regulation Services Provide (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release, and the OTCQB has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. For further information, please contact: Greg Reid, Chief Financial Officer (416) 818-9822 greid@krakenrobotics.com Sean Peasgood, Investor Relations (647) 955-1274 sean@sophiccapital.com Glenda Leyte, Marketing Manager (709) 757-5757 extension 288 gleyte@krakenrobotics.com Company Announcement Copenhagen, 10 April 2019 No. 06/2018 At the Annual General Meeting of ISS A/S (the Company) held today, the annual report for 2018 was adopted. In addition, the general meeting decided: to distribute a dividend of DKK 7.70 per share of nominally DKK 1; to grant discharge of liability to members of the Board of Directors and the Executive Group Management Board; to authorise the Board of Directors in the period until 30 April 2020 to approve the Companys acquisition of treasury shares, on one or more occasions, with a total nominal value of up to 10% of the share capital of the Company, subject to the Companys holding of treasury shares after such acquisition not exceeding 10% of the Companys share capital; to approve the remuneration to the Board of Directors for 2019 in accordance with the proposal by the Board of Directors; to re-elect Lord Allen of Kensington Kt CBE, Thomas Berglund, Claire Chiang, Henrik Poulsen, Ben Stevens and Cynthia Mary Trudell as members of the Board of Directors; and to re-elect Ernst & Young P/S as the Companys auditor in accordance with the recommendation from the Audit and Risk Committee. After the Annual General Meeting, the Board of Directors constituted itself by electing Lord Allen of Kensington Kt CBE as Chairman and Thomas Berglund as Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors. ISS A/S Lord Allen of Kensington Kt CBE Chairman For investor enquiries Martin Kjr Hansen, Head of Group Investor Relations, +45 3817 6431 Louisa Baruch Larsson, Senior Investor Relations Manager, +45 3817 6338 For media enquiries Rajiv Arvind, Senior Communications Manager, +45 38 17 62 11 About ISS ISS helps the world work better. In partnership with customers, ISS drives the engagement and well-being of people, minimises the impact on the environment, and protects and maintains property. ISS brings all of this to life through a unique combination of data, insight and service excellence at offices, factories, airports, hospitals and other locations across the globe. In 2018, ISS Groups global revenue amounted to DKK 73.6 billion. ISS has operations in more than 70 countries with 485,908 employees spread across Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas. For more information on the ISS Group, visit www.issworld.com ISS A/S, ISIN DK0060542181, ISIN US4651472056 ISS Global A/S, ISIN XS1145526585, ISIN XS1330300341, ISIN XS1145526825 Attachment Repairs to the fractured steel girders that hold up the Transbay Transit Center are moving faster than expected, officials said Wednesday, but they still have no projected date for reopening the transit hub, which has been closed for more than six months. The soonest the three-block-long center could reopen would be early June, when repairs are expected to be completed and approved, Christine Falvey, a Transbay spokeswoman, said during a media tour of the repair work Wednesday. But before a reopening can be announced, a comprehensive review of the structure needs to be completed and the building dusted off and put back in shape for public use. No one can commit to a reopening date, said Dennis Turchon, senior construction manager for the Transbay Joint Powers Authority. The agency is responsible for the construction and operation of the $2 billion transit hub, which includes retail space and a rooftop park. The center has been closed since Sept. 25, six weeks after it opened, when a construction worker installing ceiling panels noticed a crack in a girder. The structure was evacuated and shut down. Temporary supports were installed under the two cracked girders above Fremont Street and at First Street, where a pair of similar but undamaged beams span the street. Since then, engineers have searched for the cause of the fractures, devised repairs and inspected thousands of construction documents. Preliminary reports blame the cracks on problems in the fabrication process related to cutting welding-access holes in the beams. Repairs are well under way inside the white-shrouded structure off Mission Street. Four-inch thick steel plates to repair and reinforce the four beams have been delivered. Now Playing: Repairs of the broken girders at the Transbay Transit Center are moving ahead but no reopening date has been set. Video: San Francisco Chronicle Construction crews have drilled hundreds of 1-inch diameter holes in the plates and are making matching holes in the girders. The plates will be placed above and below the girders, sandwiching them, and the bolts will be inserted and tightened. Turchon said the plates are made of the strongest steel available, and categorized the repair design as conservative. Its designed to be the same or better than the original design, he said. But Id say its stronger. Work over Fremont Street is about two weeks ahead of First Street, Turchon said, and the bolstered girders could be completed in about two weeks. Construction crews will then release the hydraulic jacks supporting the structure and remove the temporary supports. Then theyll move on to First Street. Turchon expects the repairs to be completed by June 1 a couple of weeks ahead of the original schedule. But reviews of construction paperwork and photographs for the entire structure have to be completed and approved by an independent committee of engineers before the buses, passengers, shoppers and park visitors will be allowed to return. Thornton-Tomasetti, the Transbays structural engineer, has finished its paperwork review of all the connections made during construction, Turchon said. There are 47 different types of connections, each of which might have been used hundreds or thousands of times. Now the engineers are reviewing photos taken during construction to see if anything requires physical inspection or testing. To date theyve found nothing, he said. But they are continuing to ascertain whether further work is needed. An oversight committee, assembled by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission at the request of San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, must sign off on those reviews before the center can reopen. 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. John Goodwin, an MTC spokesman, said its not clear when that will happen. We feel quite confident that the June 1 date for completing repairs is eminently doable, he said, but theres a lot of other work to be done. That includes cleaning up the center, retesting things like fire alarms and communications equipment, and making sure the lights, video screens, signs, elevators and escalators are ready to go back into service, Falvey said. During the tour of the nearly empty station Wednesday, the video screens flickered with colorful ads for tech products and airlines interspersed with blank screens where transit information will be displayed. The bus deck, where most of the girder repair work is taking place, was covered in construction materials and detritus, and a light coat of dust obscured the once-shiny newness of the transit center. Theres the whole element of starting up a building again, Falvey said. How much this all will cost remains unknown, Turchon said, but the joint powers authority expects the contractor or subcontractors deemed responsible for the failure to eventually cover the costs. The agency has not yet deemed anyone responsible, though it has said the girders failed to meet construction codes. Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan Good morning, Bay Area. Its Wednesday, April 10, and as Californias only commercial tea farm rises from the ashes, a state ban on big soda goes down in flames. Heres what you need to know to start your day. Beyond the food court San Bruno resident Donna Lee Lim goes to Stonestown Galleria about twice a month, but not to shop. Its for the food, she said. In recent years, the 66-year-old mall along 19th Avenue has quickly and quietly become a top culinary destination in San Francisco, thanks to a flood of new restaurants that have crowds lining up for freshly made noodles, fruity boba tea and, most recently, Japanese souffle pancakes. As traditional retail struggles in the digital age, malls like Stonestown are turning more to food to get people off their laptops and through the doors. And while the buzz on a new opening eventually dies down, the lines dont which is good for the rest of the mall, reporter Janelle Bitker writes. Jessica Christian / The Chronicle Regional problem, regional solutions The Bay Area wont solve or even make a significant dent in homelessness until all nine counties work together on the issue, a new report by the business-oriented Bay Area Council says. The report estimates that more than 28,000 people are homeless in the Bay Area. Nationwide, only New York and Los Angeles have higher numbers of people living on the streets, in shelters or in their vehicles. And some 67% of the Bay Areas homeless are without any type of shelter, compared to about one-third nationally. One city, one county alone cannot solve homelessness, Micah Weinberg, president of the Bay Area Councils Economic Institute, said. But thats largely how weve been approaching it. It hasnt changed Jana Asenbrennerova/Special to The Chronicle Supporters rallied around a San Francisco measure that would close San Franciscos juvenile hall within three years, but the legislation, introduced Tuesday, has gotten pushback from a local civic leader. The Rev. Amos Brown, president of the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP, called the idea a knee-jerk political move, and criticized supervisors for not engaging more community members on the measure. Brown said juvenile hall isnt the harsh institution it once was and he fears that the county would have to send youth offenders to other counties or states if it is shut down. But Supervisor Shamann Walton, who spent time in juvenile hall as a child, disagreed. It hasnt changed, Walton said. Mentoring programs led me to success, not being behind bars. I dont need permission from Amos Brown to do my job, he added. My community is definitely behind this. New growth Russell Yip / The Chronicle Mike Fritts planted Californias first commercial tea farm it was both a hobby, a business and a cure after being forced to slow down after contracting Lyme disease. Sign up for Bay Briefing Like what you're reading? Subscribe to The Chronicle's Bay Briefing newsletter and get the Bay Area's best journalism in your inbox every weekday. See More Collapse Without knowing it, he settled on the most technically difficult style of tea to make, and his first oolongs were good enough to sell at a Michelin-starred restaurant. Then the fire destroyed everything. Or so he thought. Big gulped There will be no ban on Big Gulp-style sodas in California at least not this year. Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, pulled a bill to cap soda sizes from consideration, just hours before it was scheduled for its first committee vote. Another California legislator, Oaklands Buffy Wicks also delayed a hearing on her bill to ban the display of sugary drinks near the checkout counters of supermarkets and other stores. Wicks said she would try to find common ground with her colleagues and bring the measure back for consideration in the coming weeks. 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. Around the Bay Health alert: A person with measles may have exposed others to the infection at several locations around San Francisco including Muni and Caltrain over a three-day period last week, public health officials said Tuesday. Rethinking sanctuary politics: A womans slaying, allegedly by an undocumented immigrant, leads Santa Clara County to consider changing its policy. First round: The WNBA draft will have lots of Bay Area talent this year. $$$: Average gas prices in San Francisco are approaching $4 per gallon. $$$$: Can $21 cocktails be worth it? In this weeks Drink Up column, Maggie Hoffman investigates the drink menu at the new Niku. Dont bet on staying: Whats going on with the Giants outfield, exactly? More: A fansguide to watching the 2019 Giants and keeping sane. On hold: A bankruptcy judge on Tuesday put the brakes on PG&Es plan to pay $235 million or more in performance bonuses to 10,000 employees this year. More: Bankruptcy case could cost regulators $28 million. In The Studio Michael Short / Special to The Chronicle / Michael Short The Chronicles senior political writer Joe Garofoli has been interviewing presidential candidates for The Chronicles Its All Political podcast. Fortunately for him, there are a lot of presidential candidates. Heres who hes spoken to so far: Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Former Housing Secretary Julian Castro, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Andrew Yang, Gov. Jay Inslee, and Rep. Eric Swalwell. And as a bonus, the first candidate to enter and exit the 2020 presidential race: Richard Ojeda. Bay Briefing is written by Taylor Kate Brown and sent to readers email inboxes on weekday mornings. Sign up for the newsletter here and contact Brown at taylor.brown@sfchronicle.com San Francisco Mayor London Breeds recent decision to replace a longtime member of the citys Rent Board is causing concern among tenant advocacy groups. Breed quietly replaced Polly Marshall, an attorney and 35-year veteran of the Rent Board, at the end of March in favor Reese Isbell, a former aide to Mark Leno during his time in the Assembly and state Senate. Marshall was an advocate for tenants rights on the board, where she had served since her 1984 appointment by then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein. But she had scant ties to Breed or her administration compared with Isbell, who worked on Breeds transition team last year. Marshalls term expired in September, but she said she had anticipated being reappointed. She learned that she had been replaced on the board through an article in the Bay Area Reporter, which first reported the news. Isbell said the challenges he confronted firsthand as a renter in San Francisco particularly the difficulty of getting his husbands name on the lease for his rent-controlled apartment inspired him to seek an appointment on the Rent Board. Isbell isnt an attorney, but that doesnt mean I dont understand or cant work on the issues, he said. He added that hes well acquainted with complex policy issues from his time working in the Legislature. Hes also worked as a local government and community relations director with the California Life Sciences Association. The Rent Board is composed of pro-tenant, pro-landlord and neutral representatives, all of them appointed by the mayor. In addition to setting the annual allowable rent increases for rent-controlled apartments, the board hears appeals in tenant-landlord disputes. Representatives from organizations like the Tenants Union and the Housing Rights Committee dont doubt that Isbell would be supportive of tenants rights, but are much more concerned about Marshalls absence from the board, given her long-standing relationship with the citys tenant advocates. Before she stopped practicing in 2014, Marshall specialized in housing law. A seat on the Rent Board doesnt require you to be a tenants rights lawyer, but having that level of demonstrated expertise on tenants rights law and the ability to unpack dense legal concepts those interpretations are going to have impacts on tenants all over the city, said Brad Hirn, lead community organizer with the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco. In a statement, Breed said of Isbell, As a tenant who lives in a rent-controlled studio apartment in the Tenderloin with his husband, he knows firsthand the challenges and uncertainty people face in dealing with their landlords, and he will be a leader in advocating for strong protections for tenants on the Rent Board. Prior to Isbells appointment, the mayors office had questioned whether Marshall was actually a tenant in the Bernal Heights home she has shared with her partner, Mitchell Omerberg, since 1986. She pays rent to Omerberg, who owns the house, adding that she fits the technical definition of a tenant spelled out in the citys administrative code. There may also be a deeper political component to Marshalls ouster from the Rent Board. Omerberg and Marshall were founding members of the Affordable Housing Alliance, which endorses candidates and sends out slate mailers for political races. The organization endorsed Breeds opponents, Mark Leno and Jane Kim, in last years mayoral race. One mailer also attacked Breed for her tenants rights record. 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. This is the second messy Rent Board appointment for Breed. Landlord proponent J.J. Panzer withdrew from the board in December after it became clear his work as president of Real Management Co. presented a conflict of interest with his role as a commissioner. Real Management helps landlords maximize the money they can charge tenants for various expenses incurred on the property. Isbell attended his first meeting as a Rent Board commissioner on Tuesday. While the Board of Supervisors wasnt required to approve Isbells appointment, it may revoke it with a supermajority, eight-member vote. Supervisor Hillary Ronen has called for a Rules Committee hearing for April 15 to hear from Isbell and tenant advocates. His appointment feels both sloppy and disrespectful, Ronen said. I hope the mayor will heed the tenant communitys call to pull this nomination back. Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa Twenty-four seconds is not a lot of time to cross Van Ness Avenue, especially in high heels. Mayor London Breed found that out Wednesday. Thats how long you get before the light turns red, on Walk to Work Day or on any other day. Twenty-four seconds to cross broad Van Ness Avenue at the corner of Grove Street, even if youre the mayor. Some lights change so fast you cant get across the street, Breed had said a few minutes earlier as she set off on her walk from the Western Addition to City Hall, accompanied by the few dozen cops, aides, glad-handers, well-wishers and hangers-on who always seem to accompany mayors at such events. For her half-mile walk, the mayor chose a sensible pair of shiny, golden quasi-stiletto high heels. The rest of her entourage wore sneakers, mostly. With those shoes, the mayor is showing us whats possible, said Jodie Medeiros, executive director of Walk San Francisco, the outfit pushing all the bipedalism, even the uncomfortable kind. I couldnt walk a block in those high heels, said walker Shannon Dodge. Michael Santos was walking to work, too, a few paces behind the mayor. He was wearing flat shoes, and his dog, Max, wasnt wearing any shoes. I dont know how she does it, Santos said, pointing to the mayoral footwear. Its like what they said about Ginger Rogers. She did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in heels. And then the mayor got to Van Ness Avenue and the pedestrian signal said it was safe to proceed. Breed, being in front of the pack, proceeded as briskly as one can proceed considering what was strapped to her feet. Four seconds later, the 20-second red countdown clock started. When the signal turned green for cars on Van Ness Avenue, 23 members of her Walk to Work entourage were still in the middle of the intersection. The cars waited. In minutes, Breed arrived at City Hall. By then, though, the Walk to Work Day energizer station there had run out of free coffee and energy bars. Therein lies the difference between Bike to Work Day and Walk to Work Day. On Bike to Work Day, there are always plenty of free goodies because you need to be in possession of a bike to claim them. But on Walk to Work Day, there is no way to tell whether someone requesting a free energy bar and coffee actually walked all the way to work or merely walked from his parked car. On the steps of City Hall, Breed was joined by other two-footed city officials who had arrived earlier, while the energy bars were still plentiful, and had hung around waiting, which is what often happens at City Hall. It was the seventh annual Walk to Work Day, which means it is playing catchup to Bike to Work Day. There have been 24 of those. The idea behind both is to call attention to healthy, ecological ways of getting around and to remind motorists to share the pavement with those not in possession of an internal combustion engine. Medeiros said she hoped that Walk to Work Day would call attention to the public health crisis of pedestrian and cyclist fatalities. So far this year, six pedestrians and a cyclist have been killed in San Francisco in what Walk to Work leaders say are crashes, not accidents. 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. Better bike lanes, crosswalks and longer traffic light intervals on broad avenues like Van Ness are part of the infrastructure improvements that Medeiros said her group is pushing for. Were all pedestrians, she said. Every journey begins and ends with a walk. It being Walk to Work Day, the mayor did pass up two opportunities en route to City Hall to climb aboard passing 21-Hayes buses, which were nearly empty. But she did not fail to stop at a bakery on Octavia Street for a croissant, which tends to negate certain benefits of going on a half-mile walk. An aide paid for the croissant, since Breed was walking without her purse. The aide said he was pretty sure the mayor would pay him back. Wednesday was not also Walk to Home Day. It was not clear how many of the mornings walkers would become afternoon bus riders, ride bookers or taxi hailers for the return trip. Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Pacific Gas and Electric Co. could face criminal charges because of a grand jury investigation in Butte County, a Bay Area lawyer said Tuesday, signaling that the bankrupt utilitys legal problems may still worsen in the place where last years Camp Fire started. Dario de Ghetaldi, whose clients include victims of the Camp Fire, said during comments at PG&Es latest bankruptcy court hearing in San Francisco that a Butte County grand jury is investigating potential criminal actions by the utility. De Ghetaldi later told The Chronicle he could not elaborate on the details of the grand jury, when it was formed or why. Butte County District Attorney Michael Ramseys office said he could not confirm or deny the existence of a grand jury investigation due to the secrecy laws that apply to them. The Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history, killed 85 people and destroyed more than 18,800 structures in Butte County last year, essentially wiping out the town of Paradise. PG&E has admitted its equipment likely started the blaze, which was the driving force behind the companys decision to seek bankruptcy protection in January, citing liabilities from 2017 and 2018 fires that could top $30 billion. 2 1 of 2 Jessica Christian/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of 2 Jessica Christian / The Chronicle 2018 Show More Show Less PG&E also did not confirm or deny whether a grand jury was considering criminal charges against it after the Camp Fire. In an emailed statement, spokeswoman Lynsey Paulo said PG&E had been open and transparent since the Camp Fire occurred and have been proactive in supplying information about our infrastructure to state utility regulators, fire investigators and the Butte County District Attorney. PG&Es most important responsibility must always be public and employee safety, and we are committed to complying with all rules and regulations that apply to our work, while working together with our state and community partners and across all sectors and disciplines to develop comprehensive, long-term safety solutions for the future, she said in the email. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes State investigators previously found PG&E equipment responsible for a series of wildfires that burned through Wine Country in 2017 but not the Tubbs Fire that ravaged neighborhoods in and around Santa Rosa. Prosecutors in the four counties most affected by the October 2017 wildfires announced in March that they would not bring criminal charges against PG&E because they couldnt prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the utility acted with reckless disregard for human lives. San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Bob Egelko contributed to this report. J.D. Morris is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @thejdmorris English Lithuanian Correction: the rights accounting day shall be 15th May 2019 By the initiative and the decision of the Board of APB APRANGA the annual general meeting (hereinafter referred to as the Meeting) of APB APRANGA (legal entity code 121933274, registered at Ukmerges str. 362, Vilnius, hereinafter the Company) shareholders will be held on 30th April 2019 at 11:00 am. Registration starts at 10:00 am. on 30th April 2019. Meeting place is the Company's premises at Ukmerges g. 362, Vilnius. The accounting date for the shareholders is 23rd April 2019. The rights accounting day is 15th May 2019. Property rights shall be held by the persons who will be shareholders at the close of the tenth working day after the general shareholders' meeting having adopted the respective decision. Meeting agenda: 1. Consolidated annual report on the activities of the Company in 2018. 2. Auditor's report on the Companys financial statements and annual report. 3. Approval of the consolidated and Companys financial statements for the year 2018. 4. Company's profit (loss) allocation for the year 2018. 5. Election of firm of auditors and establishment of the terms of remuneration for audit services. 6. Amendments of Companys Articles of Association. The Company is not providing the possibility to attend and vote at the Meeting through electronic means of communication. Draft decisions on each Meeting agenda item, the documents to be submitted to the Meeting and information, which is related to the implementation of the shareholder rights, not later than 21 days prior to the Meeting will be available at the Companys website http://www.aprangagroup.lt under Investors. This information also will be available for the shareholders at the Company's premises at Ukmerges g. 362, Vilnius on working days from 9:00 am. to 16:00 pm. Information shall be provided by telephone: +370 5 2390 843. Shareholders holding shares that grant at least 1/20 of all votes shall have the right of proposing to supplement the agenda of the Meeting. Draft decisions on the proposed issues shall be submitted together with the proposal or, if the decisions are not needed to be approved, explanations on each proposed issue of the Meeting shall be presented. Proposal to supplement the agenda must be presented in writing sending it by a registered mail to the Company, address: Ukmerges g. 362, 14311 Vilnius. The agenda shall be supplemented if the proposal will be received not later than 14 days before the Meeting. Shareholders holding shares that grant at least 1/20 of all votes shall have the right of proposing draft resolutions on the issues already included or to be included in the agenda of the Meeting, additional candidates to members of the Company board, the audit company. The proposed draft decisions must be presented in writing sending them by a registered mail to the Company, address: Ukmerges g. 362, 14311 Vilnius. The shareholders shall also be entitled to propose draft resolutions on the Meeting agenda issues, additional candidates to members of the Company board, the audit company in writing at any time prior to the Meeting or during the Meeting. Shareholders have a right to submit in advance in written by registered mail to Company questions related with Meeting agenda by indicating shareholders personal identification code and consent to process personal data personal identification code. The Company must respond if the questions will be received not later than 3 working days before the Meeting. The Company shall not respond personally to shareholders questions if respective information is provided in Companys website http://www.aprangagroup.lt . The persons who are shareholders of the Company at the close of the accounting day of the Meeting (23rd April 2019) shall have the right to attend and vote at the Meeting in person or their authorized persons or persons with whom an agreement on the disposal of the voting right is concluded. The person attending the Meeting and having the right to vote must submit the document confirming persons identity. The person who is not a shareholder besides this document must submit document confirming the right to vote in the Meeting. Each shareholder has a right pursuant to the procedure established by laws to authorize other person to attend and vote on his/her behalf at the Meeting. Authorized person must present a proxy issued pursuant to the procedure established by laws. The proxy issued by private person must be notarized. The proxy issued abroad must be translated to Lithuanian and legalized pursuant to the procedure established by laws. The Company does not establish special form of proxy. The shareholder or its authorized person has a right to vote in advance in written by filling general ballot paper. Upon the shareholders written request the Company at least 10 days before the Meeting shall free of charge send the general ballot paper by registered mail or deliver it personally against acknowledgement of receipt. The filled-in general ballot paper and the document confirming the right to vote must be submitted to Company by sending it by registered mail to the address Ukmerges g. 362, 14311 Vilnius or by delivering it to the Company personally not later than on last working day before Meeting. The total number of the Companys shares and the number of shares granting voting rights during the Meeting is the same and amounts to 55 291 960. Rimantas Perveneckas Apranga Group Director General +370 5 2390801 Clean-energy advocates advanced legislation Wednesday that aims to make it easier for Californians to use solar power despite concerns about the possible impact on customers who remain fully reliant on the electric grid. The bill, authored jointly by state Sens. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, and Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber (Tehama County), is designed to enshrine in state law a right for homes, schools and businesses to take advantage of solar power without utilities putting up too many roadblocks. Dubbed the Solar Bill of Rights, SB288 is also intended to help customers quickly connect renewable energy projects on their sites to the grid and avoid fees that the legislations major supporters call discriminatory. The bill cleared the state Senates Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee on a unanimous vote, even as some lawmakers on the committee voiced sympathy with objections from the utility industry and ratepayer advocates. We are in a period of transition, Wiener said at the hearing. For people and homes and businesses and schools and affordable housing (projects) that want to do the right thing, we should not be putting barriers in their way. Numerous people from organizations that support solar power, along with farmers, homeowners and other individuals, spoke in favor of the bill. Gary Thiara, a Colusa County walnut farmer, told the committee that he started a solar-plant project in spring 2016. It was supposed to be finished by the end of that year but is still in limbo and has yet to be powered up, Thiara said. Had we known this prior to initiating the project ... how long it was gonna be and the interconnection challenges, we probably wouldnt have done the project, he said. Its very damaging to us and others like us. Representatives of all three of the states investor-owned utilities Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric and The Utility Reform Network consumer group were among those who spoke critically of the bill. One of their concerns was about potential negative consequences for people who dont use on-site solar power if the state is too financially friendly to customers clean-energy projects. TURN staff attorney Matthew Freedman said his group wants to make sure new legislation does not carve up the customer base so there are only so many customers who remain to pay the bill. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes The critique resonated with multiple lawmakers on the committee, including chairman Sen. Ben Hueso, D-Logan Heights (San Diego County). If we are not gonna discriminate against one customer, we should not discriminate against any, Hueso said. But Dave Rosenfeld, executive director of the Solar Rights Alliance, cast the debate as a showdown between a powerful, entrenched monopoly and ordinary people who want freedom from crushing and skyrocketing electricity costs. Ultimately, the bill had little problem moving forward, as Wiener said he had already agreed to several amendments and was open to continued conversations with legislative staff about the remaining concerns. J.D. Morris is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thejdmorris San Francisco has had a Japantown district for more than 100 years, but its shrunk. Between its birth in the weeks after the 1906 earthquake and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, the neighborhood thrived, Chronicle reporter Charles Burress wrote on the 100th anniversary of the enclave in 2006. Japantown used to be 20 to 30 square blocks, said Allen Okamoto, whose grandfather was among the Japanese immigrants who flocked to San Francisco in the late 19th century. Now, its down to four or 4 blocks. But within those four blocks a tradition has flourished every spring the weeklong Cherry Blossom Festival topped off with a parade. A dig through The Chronicles archive found photos of the first parade more than 50 years ago through the 25th anniversary celebrations. The first Cherry Blossom Festival Parade took place on Sunday, March 31, 1968, celebrating the opening of the new Japan Culture and Trade Center now known as Japan Center. Dig deep into Chronicle Vault Like what you're reading? Subscribe to the Chronicle Vault newsletter, and get classic archive stories in your in-box twice a week. Read hundreds of historical stories, see thousands of archive photos, and sort through 154 years of classic Chronicle front pages at SFChronicle.com/vault. See More Collapse Chronicle reporter Dick Halgren described the festivities as modest and pleasantly exotic affair that attracted such a swarm of onlookers that everything slowed down to a near standstill. (Halgren also didnt have seem to done much preparation, asking random passersbys about what the elements of the parade meant.) Police estimated the crowd of spectators at about 30,000, far more than expected. Among the grand marshals of the parade were Japans ambassador to the United States, Takeso Shimoda, Mayor Joseph Alioto, and then-Assemblyman Willie Brown. The first festival also included two traditions that continue today. Riding in the parade atop a Japan Air Lines float was Terry Yasuko Iwasake, a UC Berkeley student interested in judo, who was declared the first festivals queen. The second is the hoisting of the Taru Mikoshi. A Mikoshi is a portable Shinto shrine in which a god or deity is believed to reside, according to the festivals website. In early days, it was believed that carrying the Mikoshi would get rid of any curse that one might have and that shaking it would spread the benefit of the gods power. The Taru Mikoshi tradition is based on celebration dating back to the 19th century and the Meiji Restoration and is made of sake barrels. Todays Taru Mikoshi has double layers of four sake barrels, one barrel on top and a giant Hoh Oo (a phoenix), weighing more than 1,000 pounds about 150 people are needed to carry it. At its premiere in 1968, a smaller Taru Mikoshi was carried by about 25 people and was a big hit with festivalgoers and the parade judges it won first prize. Word of the festival grew quickly and by 1973, the mayor of Osaka, Yasushi Oshima served as grand marshal of the parade. By the 25th anniversary, the parade had grown to 150,000 spectators, featuring Hakata Dontaku festival dancers, sword dancers and taiko drum groups. The festival is a showcase for the best in traditional Japanese culture, Datebook reporter Marian Zailian wrote in 1992. Zailian shared the story of three generations of classical dancers onstage at once: Alice Kamiya, who took part in the first parade at 10 with her mother, was now training her young daughters in classical dance for the parade as well. They were in their diapers when they participated in their first parade, Kamiya said. This years Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival will run April 13 to 21, and the parade begins at 1 p.m. April 21. More from the Archive The Vault Home of the San Francisco Chronicle's archive and more than 150 years of journalism covering the Bay Area and beyond. Vince Maggiora / The Chronicle 1969 More from Chronicle Vault Locked up: Troubles, tensions for Japanese American internees in WWII. Bicentennial: The biggest Bay Area July Fourth bash in two centuries. Not Your Century: 1952 Big Steel accuses President Harry Truman of being in bed with the labor unions after he nationalizes the industry to ward off a strike by steelworkers. Mysterys end: Vertigo mansions fate was a San Francisco horror story. For the arts: Stunning snapshots of the Stern Grove Festival through the years. From the Archive is a weekly column by Bill Van Niekerken, the library director of The Chronicle, exploring the depths of the newspapers archive. Its part of Chronicle Vault, a twice-weekly newsletter highlighting more than 150 years of San Francisco stories. It is edited by Taylor Kate Brown, The Chronicles newsletter editor. Sign up for the newsletter here, and follow Chronicle Vault on Instagram. Contact Bill at bvanniekerken@sfchronicle.com and Taylor at taylor.brown@sfchronicle.com. Three Contra Costa County sheriffs deputies were cleared of excessive force allegations following a 2016 melee involving several members of a family in North Richmond including two juvenile boys according to an internal affairs report released Tuesday. The internal affairs investigation was launched after the family filed a lawsuit against the sheriffs office later settled for $50,000 in which they alleged false arrest and excessive force. Although the deputies were cleared of excessive force, investigators found that one deputy and a sergeant failed to thoroughly investigate the incident, a violation of procedure. The sheriffs office crime report detailed an incomplete investigation into the incident and failed to adequately document the facts surrounding the case and deputies actions, investigators wrote. The incident detailed in the report occurred on April 5, 2016 during a welfare check in North Richmond, where deputies responded to family dispute involving an 11-year-old boy with bipolar disorder. The situation devolved upon the arrival of the three deputies, identified in the report as Chad MacDonald, Kevin Eierman and Amy Foster. Upon arrival, MacDonald made contact with a 17-year-old boy, whom he described as agitated and confrontational, according to the report. MacDonald and Eierman attempted to take the boy to the ground and place him in handcuffs, the deputies reported. The commotion drew the family outside, according to the deputies report, and prompted one family member to yell you have the wrong son, to the deputies. Foster said she was forced to push the father out of the way to protect her partners from assault, the report states. Soon a crowd of family and neighbors formed around the unfolding chaos, and the boys 11-year-old brother jumped on his older brothers back while he was down in handcuffs, the deputies reported. MacDonald said he used his body weight to drive the younger boy to the ground and placed him in handcuffs as well. MacDonald said he cuffed the mother based on her inability to follow his commands and for interfering with his investigation, the report states. All three family members were released without being cited or charged. The lawsuit offers a different account of the incident. The family said they called for help because the 11-year-old was throwing a tantrum. The family denied that the 17-year-old was disobeying police, and that he had run out of the house to catch an escaped dog when the deputies responded with their guns drawn. The suit said the 17-year-old immediately complied with their orders, but a deputy without warning, tackled (the boy) from behind and proceeded to bash (his) face into the cement, fracturing his jaw. The family alleged false arrest and excessive force, and eventually settled the suit for $50,000, according to their attorney, John Burris. 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. Internal affairs investigators said MacDonalds report failed to include the identity of the 17-year-old. His supervisor, Sgt. Rudy Oest was found in violation of report review policies for signing off on the incomplete report. The deputies said the 17-year-old was released by an unknown deputy before being interviewed, but investigators said deputies should have done more to identify the boy in the follow-up probe. A spokesman with the department did not return requests for comment. The 200-page report was among the first released by the Sheriffs Office following the enactment of a new police transparency law that makes public certain personnel records related to use of force incidents and misconduct. The law, Senate Bill 1421, took effect Jan. 1. News outlets across the state, including The Chronicle, have joined in a collaborative called the California Reporting Project and filed hundreds of public records requests for these newly unsealed records. The Contra Costa County Deputy Sheriffs Association, along with police unions in Concord, Richmond, Antioch, Martinez and Walnut, had unsuccessfully sued their respective cities and county to block the release of any such records created before 2019. But the First District Court of Appeal last month ruled that all existing records must be released by the departments, no matter when they were created. Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy Federal prosecutors charged a former insurance claims investigator at Kaiser Foundation Health Plan in Oakland with fraud after he allegedly embezzled more than $7 million from the health care giant over more than a decade. Michael Albert Quinn, 48, faces one count of mail fraud a charge that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison in a scheme that took place over his 16-year career at the health care provider, the FBI wrote in a criminal complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Oakland. The charge is just the latest trouble for Quinn, who has a history of criminal convictions that started when he falsified evidence in court while in the police academy in the 1990s. A decade later, in 2004, Quinn pleaded guilty to felony embezzlement after being charged with stealing nearly $80,000 from a Nordstrom in Pleasanton. But the latest criminal charge is the most serious so far for the elusive Quinn, who appears to have kept his criminal past a secret from his bosses at Kaiser, where he was hired as a senior claims examiner in 1998. After discovering the alleged fraud, Kaiser fired Quinn in 2014, sued him in Alameda County civil court and referred the case to the FBI. Kaiser won a $18.5 million judgment in 2017 after Quinn failed to show up for any depositions or hearings. Quinn has not responded to messages, and the U.S. Attorneys Office said he has not been assigned counsel. The Chronicle first reported on Quinns problems with Kaiser in July 2016, and since then hes apparently attempted to bury the story online by creating numerous social media pages and blogs under the pseudonym Michael Quinn Kaiser, in which he claims to be a risk management consultant. The keywords affect search engine results by pushing down the older coverage of Quinns past crimes. His current case reveals startling shortcomings in Kaisers vetting process for employees, and how it monitored staffers. Quinn had the power to authorize charges up to $50,000 and wasnt exposed until Kaiser one of the countrys largest health systems with 12.4 million customers and an annual operating revenue of nearly $80 billion audited his work more than 15 years after he was hired, according to the FBIs affidavit. Kaiser officials on Wednesday said Quinn actively and skillfully concealed his criminal conduct from his supervisor and colleagues, and the company was unaware of the Nordstrom case at the time. Since Kaiser Permanente hired Mr. Quinn more than 20 years ago, we have continued to improve our hiring process, which, of course, now includes various background checks that may not have been commonly used by companies two decades ago, John Nelson, vice president of Kaiser Permanente, wrote in an email to The Chronicle. The FBI described Quinns alleged scheme as a multi-pronged fraud operation that started as early as 2002. Hes accused of paying private investigators, with whom he had close relationships, to conduct surveillance on claimants suspected of exaggerating the severity of an injury or disability. In many cases, though, Quinn had the private investigation firms hire and pay him to do the surveillance work, the FBI said. In addition to the conflict-of-interest kickbacks, the FBI said, Kaiser was billed for services that were never performed. The private investigation firms submitted entirely false and/or inflated invoices to Kaiser for reimbursement for work that was unnecessary or not done at all, FBI Special Agent William Leoni wrote in the affidavit. In many instances, the invoices were submitted at Quinns direction and/or with his knowledge of their fraudulent nature. While the FBI laid out its case in court documents, one of Quinns longtime former colleagues blasted the federal government and Kaiser in an interview. Ron Davis, a former private investigator who has not been charged but was identified by the FBI as co-conspirator, called the case totally misleading. The retired DEA agent who lives in Nevada said his years of investigations for Kaiser exposed hundreds of fraudulent insurance claims, saving the health care provider tens of millions of dollars. When they say no work was done, its not only incorrect, its perjurious, Davis said, adding that he has records to prove all his work was legit. He said he paid Quinn and filed all the proper paperwork with the IRS. The FBI, he added, never asked for his records and left exculpatory evidence behind when agents raided his Nevada home where his pregnant daughter was living with her two young children in 2015. If some of the work was a conflict of interest, Davis said, thats on Quinn, who was employed by Kaiser. Kaiser also sued Davis, but, unlike Quinn, he showed up for his depositions and eventually settled the case. Davis said hes bound by a non-disclosure agreement to not discuss the exact terms of the settlement. Two other private investigators were named in Kaisers civil suit, including Keith Barna and Davis daughter, Kelly Ryan. Neither have been criminally charged and they were only identified by their initials in federal court documents. They too settled their cases with Kaiser. 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. Barnas court-appointed federal public defender, Joyce Leavitt, would not comment on the case when contacted by The Chronicle. I dont talk to reporters, she said. Both the FBI affidavit and Kaisers civil case didnt mention Quinns previous criminal history, which began on his 24th birthday in 1994. At the time he was an aspiring police officer working as a security guard at Raleys in San Pablo. Guards at the supermarket nabbed 47-year-old Wilma Baxer as she pushed a shopping cart loaded with booze out of the store without paying. At trial, the prosecutor gave the jury a photo of a newspaper covering the bottles. The pictured, which Quinn provided, was crucial evidence to show intent, and refuted Baxters defense that she was drunk and confused. But while the jury deliberated, a sharp-eyed member of the panel noticed an unusually-low price on strawberries in an ad in the newspaper covering the alcohol. It turns out the ad was from six months after the theft when strawberries were cheaper and Quinn had falsified the evidence. Baxter was acquitted and later sued Raleys, winning a modest settlement. Quinn later pleaded guilty to a felony count of offering false evidence and a misdemeanor count of deceiving a witness. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and was kicked off the Pleasant Hill Police Department, where he had been hired after graduating from the police academy. His felony was dismissed in 1996 as part of a deal with prosecutors, and two years later he began working for Kaiser. During this time Quinn also worked in loss prevention at Nordstrom in Pleasanton, and in 2002 he was arrested and charged with embezzling $79,536 by cashing out store gift cards. He pleaded guilty in 2004 to felony embezzlement and was sentenced to three years probation. Meanwhile, he continued working for Kaiser. After getting fired by Kaiser in 2014, Quinn went to work at Save Mart Supermarkets as the director of risk management and loss prevention, but he quickly lost his job under circumstances the company refused to discuss. Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky LOS ANGELES, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Medicinal value of any herbal product increases its importance. As manuka honey is known for its powerful medicinal impact it has garnered a huge demand across the globe. The global manuka honey market was US$940 mn in 2018 and it is expected to reach US$2160 mn by 2025, surging at a robust CAGR of 12.5% during the forecast period of 2018 to 2025. The research team at QY Research has published its analytical study and the future possibility of the market in its latest report, titled Global Manuka Honey Market Report, History and Forecast 2014-2025, Breakdown Data by Manufacturers, Key Regions, Types and Application. Global Manuka Honey Market: Drivers Manuka honey is derived from manuka tree and is extensively used for making many medicines. This has opened up a plethora of opportunities for the global market. Manuka honey is best known for myriad health and skin benefits. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of manuka honey are best for the topical applications for treating eczema and acne. Additionally, the food and beverage industry, especially the confectionaries sector, is projected to dominate use of the global manuka honey market. Global Manuka Honey Market: Segment Analysis The global manuka honey market is segmented by type and application. In terms of type, the market is segmented into UMF 5+, UMF 10+, UMF 15+, and UMF 20+. In terms of use, the market is segmented as wound care and skincare products and digestion and inflammation treatment among others. Global Manuka Honey Market: Regional Analysis On the basis of region, the global manuka honey market is segmented into Latin America, North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa. Asia Pacific is the dominating region as New Zealand remains the key supplier of manuka honey. Europe and North America are also the leading segments of the global manuka honey market. Request Sample Report and Full Report TOC: https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/1068895/global-manuka-honey-market Global Manuka Honey Market: The Key Players The key players studied in the global manuka honey market are Watson & Son, Comvita, Manuka Health, Arataki Honey, Streamland, Pure Honey New Zealand, Ora Honey, Natures Way, and Capilano. These companies are focusing on product innovation, better extraction methods, and expanding to newer horizons to stay ahead of the competition. For instance, Manuka Health announced that the company has secured new ownership to back the significant growth strategy of the company, which is subject to Overseas Investment Office (OIO) approval. The new investment capital will support the Manuka Health business as it builds on its extensive New Zealand supply platform, to distribute high-quality natural health products to many markets around the world, such as Japan, Australia, China, Germany, and North America. Such attempts of the company always help them to stay ahead in the global competition. Global Manuka Honey Market Now, Report delivery time within 24 hours @ https://www.qyresearch.com/settlement/pre/46860b11ba4fd15c67c8a76538dab16f,0,1,Global%20Manuka%20Honey%20Market%20Report,%20History%20and%20Forecast%202014-2025,%20Breakdown%20Data%20by%20Manufacturers,%20Key%20Regions,%20Types%20and%20Application For Any Special Requirement and Discount Request @ https://www.qyresearch.com/customize-request/form/1068895/global-manuka-honey-market 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 LOS ANGELES, CA, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE Agritek Holdings, Inc. (OTC: AGTKD) www.AgritekHoldings.com , a fully integrated, active cannabis real estate investor and brand licensor for the cannabis sector in the United States and Canada, today announced that the filing of the Companys 10K annual report will be delayed beyond the required filing date of April 15, 2019. The extension of time is necessary due to unanticipated delays in compiling financial reports and other data that is necessary in preparing and completing the financial statements. These delays are related to the additional procedures and processes that the Company is undertaking to ensure that its financial statements are fairly and accurately presented after its recapitalization of the Company on March 26, 2019. We have every intention of filing our 10K Report to remain fully reporting in order to complete our uplisting on the OTCQB. Management is working diligently with our auditors to comply with filing regulations, clarifying debt instrument language intended for the sole benefit and sustainability of the Company to fund our new manufacturing facility in Puerto Rico, stated Suneil Singh Mundie, acting CEO of Agritek Holdings, Inc. The audit is substantially completed, but the auditor requires additional time to complete their final review procedures and deliver their audit opinion. The Company does not expect to disclose any material weaknesses with regard to 2018 when its 10-K is filed, further stated Mundie. About Agritek Holdings, Inc. Agritek Holdings, Inc. ( www.AgritekHoldings.com ), is a fully integrated, active investor and operator in the legal cannabis sector. Specifically, Agritek Holdings provides strategic capital and functional expertise to accelerate the commercialization of its diversified portfolio of cannabis related holdings. Currently, the Company is focused on three high-value segments of the cannabis market, including real estate investment, intellectual property/brands, and infrastructure, with operations in three U.S. States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Agritek Holdings, Inc. presently owns or manages property in Colorado, Puerto Rico and Canada and has licenses with permitted facilities in California approved for cultivation as well as manufacturing capabilities. The company owns several Hemp and cannabis brands for distribution including MD Vapes, "Hemp Pops", Hemp oil wellness products and "California Premiums". Agritek Holdings, Inc. does not directly grow, harvest, or distribute or sell cannabis or any substances that violate or contravene United States law or the Controlled Substances Act, nor does it intend to do so in the future. FORWARD-LOOKING DISCLAIMER: This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Agritek Holdings, Inc. to be materially different from the statements made herein. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "anticipate," "believe," "can," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," or "will" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology and include statements regarding expected timing of the filing of the Annual Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2018. These forward-looking statements are based on management's expectations and assumptions as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations and assumptions from those set forth or implied by any forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, among others, our ability to timely file our requisite filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, our ability to meet the continued listing requirements of the OTC Market, our ability to expand leadership activities in support of our sales, our ability to continue to grow, our ability to integrate the entities that we have acquired, our ability to strengthen our internal controls and the other risks outlined under "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for our fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 and our other filings with the SEC, including subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. The information in this release is provided only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release on account of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law. Gov. Gavin Newsom is spending his first international trip in El Salvador, exploring the reasons why Central American migrants are fleeing their home countries. California has the largest population of Salvadorans in the nation. Newsom is getting a crash course in El Salvadors recent history as well as learning the basics about why migrants are so determined to leave a country plagued by gang violence, climate change, and extortion. Hes also offering a clear counter to President Trumps ever-hostile immigration actions. The one area that California should do more is on immigration policy, Newsom said on the first day of his visit. We have a unique responsibility and an opportunity to advance a different conversation. That other conversation, meanwhile, is getting more heated. While Newsom has been in San Salvador, listening to the stories of students who fled because their families were in danger, Trump has been shaking up his Homeland Security department. Reportedly, he hopes to return to last years morally and legally discredited family separation policy. Theyre coming because its like a picnic, because Lets go to Disneyland, Trump said in the Oval Office on Tuesday. He was speaking of the Central American families who have been seeking asylum at the U.S. border with Mexico. Theres been a recent spike in the number of these arrivals. A reasonable policy maker might also explore the reasons why people might be coming, as Newsom is doing. A reasonable policy maker might also conclude that the Central American countries from which these migrants are fleeing need more support with which to battle their ills. But on March 31, Trump cut off $500 million in aid to the Central American region. Trump appears frustrated about the limits of his authority to prevent migration. But the limits are fortunate, real and etched in law. On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco said he would halt the practice of forcing migrants to wait in Mexico while their asylum cases are under consideration in the U.S. The Back in Mexico policy, instituted by Trumps former Homeland Security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, has resulted in hundreds of migrants sent back to Mexico since late January, and the judge said, accurately, that the policy failed to protect them from danger. (Migrants have reported being subjected to physical and verbal assaults since returning to Mexico while they await their asylum claims.) Nearly every major change the Trump administration has attempted to make to immigration policy has been put on hold by the courts, and this latest setback comes at a time when the Department of Homeland Security is already in upheaval. Trump needs to get the message that neither migration, nor the laws which govern it, can be bent to his will. This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters. Bay Area cities have struggled with homelessness for decades. Yet despite a record economic boom and the concerted efforts of many public officials, homelessness has spiraled out of control. A sobering, first-of-its-kind report from the Bay Area Council Economic Institute with analysis by McKinsey & Company lays bare the unacceptable state of homelessness in the nine-county region and calls for a bold, new direction. The Bay Area has the brains, the brawn, the heart and the resources to end the scourge of homelessness. But it will take all of us working together at a regional level to do it. Jessica Christian / The Chronicle For one of the wealthiest regions in the world, the statistics are deeply troubling. The Bay Area has the third-largest homeless population in the United States (28,200) and provides shelter to a smaller proportion of its homeless residents (33%) than any U.S. metropolitan area besides Los Angeles. The composition of the Bay Areas homeless population is also unique: 28% (second highest in the United States) are chronically homeless, a demographic at the highest risk for psychiatric disabilities and substance abuse. The result is a region rife with sprawling tent encampments in the shadow of some of the worlds most notable companies and landmarks. How did we get here? Our inability to build sufficient housing has inflated housing costs far beyond the means of lower-income residents to keep up. Well-intentioned state and federal grants for specific segments of the homeless population are expensive to administer. They also lack needed flexibility to combine various grant pools to fund projects and programs at scale. And, not implementing a humane replacement to the old asylum system put people who cant care for themselves on the streets. These and other factors going back decades helped create the current crisis. Now its up to all of us to solve it. Michael Macor / The Chronicle 2017 First, we must prevent homelessness by expanding existing diversion programs such as rental and emergency assistance programs, and by dramatically increasing the regions supply of housing for extremely low-income residents. Between 1999 and 2014, the Bay Area permitted construction of 61,000 fewer very-low-income affordable housing units than recommended by the state. Had those units been built, potentially thousands of those on our streets today would instead have roofs over their heads. Second, we need much greater levels of regional collaboration. Its astonishing, for example, that we dont know how homeless populations move across cities and counties within the Bay Area, despite countless anecdotes from caregivers that this occurs often, especially into urban cores. Even the best available data we have on the size of our homeless population is widely considered to significantly undercount the real number. By better understanding our homeless population and how these individuals move across the region, cities and counties can optimize existing resources to better match realities on the ground. Jessica Christian / The Chronicle Third, we must simplify and improve homeless services. Private and philanthropic dollars can be deployed in innovative ways, including testing new public-private partnerships that only provide funding based on successful and measurable outcomes. New technologies can help better coordinate services. For example, overhauling inflexible shelter reservation systems, which often force homeless residents to wait hours in line for a bed when that time could be spent more productively on job training or counseling. These solutions arent free, but neither is the status quo. Without shelter, people are more likely to get sick, and to become entangled in the criminal justice system. A 2015 study in Santa Clara County estimated that such indirect costs to homelessness amounted to more than $520 million annually. By choosing not to invest in homes and care, we are choosing instead to invest in jails and emergency rooms. Were finding cures for cancer and HIV and other deadly diseases, were developing incredible technologies that are changing the world and improving lives across the globe. We can also end homelessness. Bernard J. Tyson is chairman of the Bay Area Council and chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente. Kausik Rajgopal is chairman of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute and western managing partner of McKinsey & Co. Allegations that former Vice President Joe Biden has made women uncomfortable with unwanted touching havent hurt his presidential prospects in California, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University. Biden hasnt announced that he will seek the Democratic nomination to challenge President Trump in 2020, but California Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents have him as their top choice in the March primary with 26% support, the poll indicates. He is trailed by independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders with 18% and California Sen. Kamala Harris at 17%. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind., are tied at 7% each, with none of the many other Democratic hopefuls topping 4%. Those numbers dont differ dramatically from a national poll done by Quinnipiac in late March, which found Biden at 29%, Sanders at 19%, former Texas Rep. Beto ORourke at 12% and Harris at 8%. The biggest news for the 76-year-old Biden, however, is that he apparently hasnt taken a political hit from complaints from women who say his propensity to hug and touch them in public settings, while not sexual, has long made them uncomfortable. The complaints appear not to have hurt him at all in California, said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the poll. California voters have known Biden for decades and arent troubled by the accusations. Among all voters surveyed in California, nearly two-thirds say the issue of Biden touching women is not a serious one. That includes 67% of women surveyed and 71% of Democrats. While voters ages 18 to 34 have the most concerns, even 52 percent of that group say the touching is not a major problem. Nearly three-quarters of voters 50 and older, who traditionally are the most likely to cast ballots, say Bidens old-school political manner is not much to worry about. This is a new question that we havent asked in any of our polls before, Malloy said. There are still plenty of concerns about the issue among Democratic insiders, who worry both that the complaints could dog Biden throughout his anticipated campaign and that the former Delaware senator isnt taking the political danger seriously enough. Bidens lead in the state boils down to a few important factors, Malloy said. First, 31% of Democrats say Biden would be the best leader, compared with 18% for Sanders and 13% for Harris. Second, 35% of that group pick Biden as the person with the best chance to beat Trump, with 17% saying its Sanders and 9% choosing Harris. Sanders gets the nod as the candidate with the best policy ideas at 23%, followed by Biden and Warren at 13% and Harris at 11%. But when asked whether leadership or policy was more important, 48% of Democratic voters picked leadership versus 42% who pointed to policy. A February Quinnipiac poll found that 60% of California Democratic voters would be excited to see Biden in the presidential race, compared with 58% for Harris and 44% for Sanders and Warren. The latest poll contained some bad news for Buttigieg, who is gay. Nearly half the California voters surveyed say the country isnt ready to elect a gay man as president. Democrats split 49% to 43% in favor of a gay candidacy, while strong majorities of Republicans and independents disagree. Even in the Bay Area, the historical center of the gay rights and same-sex marriage movements, 54% of respondents say it isnt time for a gay president. Its early yet, but this shows that (the primary race) will be an uphill climb for Buttigieg, more so than he thought, Malloy said. While voters may be divided on which Democrat should challenge Trump, those surveyed overwhelmingly back a Democrat, any Democrat, against the president. Fifty-nine percent of all California voters, including 97% of Democrats and 74% of Bay Area residents, say they will definitely not vote for Trump in 2020. Voters also disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president by a 64%-30% margin. Thats the worst grade for Trump in any Quinnipiac state or national poll, Malloy said. The poll is based on a telephone survey of 1,005 California voters, including 482 Democrats and Democratic-leaners, that was taken April 3-8. The survey of all voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points, while the Democratic subset has a 5.9 percentage point margin of error. John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfwildermuth Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle The last regular-season game for the Warriors at Memphis is mostly meaningless, as theyve already secured the top seed in the Western Conference, but theyll be keenly interested in the outcomes of three other Wednesday games. Golden States first-round playoff opponent will be either the Thunder (48-33), Spurs (47-34) or Clippers (47-34). All three have secured a postseason berth, but the 6-7-8 seeds remain unsettled. Joseph James DeAngelo, the man suspected of being the terrifyingly prolific Golden State Killer, appeared in court Wednesday for the first time in four months. The Sacramento hearing lasted just about five minutes, and covered several pre-trial issues, the most noteworthy of which was when district attorneys from multiple counties announced they will seek the death penalty if DeAngelo is convicted. DeAngelo, who stood off in a metal caged area throughout the hearing, appeared gaunt. Lawyers from district attorney offices in Orange, Santa Barbara, Sacramento and Ventura all announced they would be pursuing the death penalty. Capital punishment was recently halted by Governor Gavin Newsom, who said he is pausing the death penalty for the duration of his administration. DeAngelo has been charged with 13 counts of murder, among other charges, and investigators believe the former police officer may have raped over 50 women from 1975-86. The crime spree, which spanned Sacramento, Contra Costa, Orange, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura counties, created panic in the Sacramento area as dozens of women were victimized. Gun sales rose dramatically and backyard lights were installed all over the county as locals tried to arm themselves against a suspect dubbed the East Area Rapist. Only later police realized the man's range wasn't confined to the eastern part of Sacramento; his prowling extended all over the state. MORE: Warrants in Golden State Killer case raise possibility of storage locker filled with 'trophies' The Golden State Killer was known for creating personal connections to victims, including telling one victim he had seen her at the lake. It's hard to know if the killer really had links to his victims, however. He broke into victims' homes before he attacked, giving him ample access to family photos, letters and other identifying details. The terror did not end with rape, however. In some cases, the rapist called his victims afterward. One victim, on the request of police, kept her phone number for years in the hopes the attacker would call and reveal identifying information. Investigators announced DeAngelo's arrest on April 25, 2018. DeAngelo is due back in court on Aug. 22. As part of Wednesday's hearing, cameras will be allowed in. DeAngelo's lawyers argued televising the proceedings would harm his right to a fair trial; the judge ruled cameras may continue to film inside the court room. MmeEmil/Getty Images Every Wednesday morning, SFGATE finds the biggest headlines in local (and sometimes national) beer. Check back here weekly for news, events, and information about special releases from your favorite local breweries. Missing a beer newsletter in your inbox every other week? SFGATE is bringing it back in a whole new format. And this time, it has a new title: The Mash. If you were previously signed up for the Taploid, you will receive the new newsletter; if not, you can sign up for it here. During his visit, the Dutch PM held talks with PM Phuc, paid a courtesy visit to Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong, and met with National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan. He attended a workshop with 70 leading businesses from the Netherlands and leaders of Vietnamese ministries and departments, and a sustainable fashion show held by the Hanoi municipal Peoples Committee and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Vietnam. On the occasion, the two sides issued a joint statement, agreeing on the importance of bilateral cooperation and elevation of Vietnam-Netherlands relations to comprehensive partnership in order to deepen their collaboration in all fields in the coming time. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte speaks at sustainable fashion show held by the Hanoi municipal Peoples Committee and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Vietnam (Photo: VNA) The two countries agreed to further increase high-level delegation exchanges within bilateral and multilateral frameworks in addition to improving the efficiency of specific cooperation mechanisms. They were unanimous to implement cooperation programmes based on the priorities and strengths of both countries such as cultivation, animal husbandry, food safety management, smart agriculture, climate change adaptation, and water resources. The two nations agreed to jointly develop smart agriculture areas and improve chains of products and Vietnamese farm produce as well as focus on technology transfer from Dutch partners to increase cooperation opportunities among businesses. The two sides shared a lot of common viewpoints on regional and international issues and expressed their support for the enhancement of effective multilateral cooperation, respect for international law, and trade liberalisation. They agreed to boost cooperation in the UN peacekeeping activities and supported the building of a strong and prosperous ASEAN community as well as enhance cooperation between the bloc and the European Union (EU) with a view to establishing strategic partnership in the future. While exchanging views about the significance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, the two sides reiterated their stance of resolving disputes via peaceful means in line with international law, including the UN 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). On the occasion, the two PMs signed a Memorandum of Understanding between Vietnam and the Netherlands on agricultural transformation cooperation in the Mekong Delta, and witnessed the signing of an agreement on mutual administrative support and cooperation in the field of customs, and other bilateral cooperation documents./. Ramsey, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta) and its IT Services Division, All Covered, today announced their gold sponsorship and participation in the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) 2019 Annual Conference & Expo in Grapevine, Texas, April 14-17. Konica Minolta is a long-time member of the ALA, whose mission is focused on the delivery of cutting-edge management and technology products and services to the global legal community. Through its gold sponsorship, Konica Minolta will showcase the following IT solutions to support the law firm of the future: Advanced Document Workflow Solution - A dynamic, award-winning automated document workflow solution, Dispatcher Phoenix, streamlines and automates common document processing tasks, maximizing productivity, and helping users increase their business efficiencies. IT Services - All Covered provides an extensive array of on-site and remote network IT management services specifically designed for law firms on a regularly scheduled or as-needed basis including: Integration of Legal Technologies Workflow Analysis and Legal Document Management Cybersecurity Consulting & Security as a Service VoiP Managed IT and Cloud Services The Lawyers Help Desk Workplace of the Future - Konica Minolta's Workplace of the Future innovative solutions allow staff to stay connected and work from anywhere. The offering includes Workplace Hub, the industrys first solution to unify systems and create a secure, all-in-one IT ecosystem that makes working safer, easier, and more productive. Marco Maggio, Vice President of Strategic Practices, All Covered, will also lead an educational track entitled Outsourcing IT Functions: Is It a Good Idea? The session will cover the evaluation and implementation process as well as the economics associated with outsourcing IT services. Our continued involvement with the ALA and its annual conference provides us with a unique opportunity to educate law firms on the evolution of technology within the legal industry, said Maggio. When leveraged by law practices, our industry-specific technologies allow our clients to stay focused on their core competencies. About Konica Minolta Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. is reshaping and revolutionizing the Workplace of the Future (www.reshapework.com) with its expansive smart office product portfolio from IT Services (All Covered), ECM, Managed Print Services and industrial and commercial print solutions. Konica Minolta has been recognized as the #1 Brand for Customer Loyalty in the MFP Office Copier Market by Brand Keys for 12 consecutive years, and is proud to be ranked on the Forbes 2017 America's Best Employers list. The World Technology Awards recently named the company a finalist in the IT Software category. Konica Minolta, Inc. has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for six consecutive years. It partners with its clients to give shape to ideas and work to bring value to our society. For more information, please visit: www.CountOnKonicaMinolta.com and follow Konica Minolta on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter. A year after buying startup Story, Macys is bringing the retail concept to life in 36 stores in 15 states, including three in the Bay Area. The concept, which stocks merchandise that is based on a theme and rotates every two months, comes at a time when department stores like Macys are trying to rethink how to better excite people who are doing more of their shopping online. Many stores and malls are experimenting with rotating merchandise that they hope will keep shoppers coming back. Macys first Story, called Color, opened Wednesday and is anchored by three big brands: MAC Cosmetics, crayon maker Crayola and jeans giant Levi Strauss & Co. But the shop, awash in bright colors, features items from roughly 70 small businesses like brightly colored T-shirts, books, colorful dishes, candles and candy. In addition to the flagship Macys store in New York Citys Herald Square, Story shops can be found in San Franciscos Union Square store, the Macys at Stoneridge mall in Pleasanton and the store at Westfield Valley Fair in Santa Clara. The typical Story shop carries about 400 items with an average price of about $20. Most of the items are impulse buys that shoppers dont need like a pizza cutter shaped like a bike or unicorn-themed socks. The Manhattan Story is about 7,500 square feet, while the other stores average about 1,500 square feet. The online kids wear brand Primary will have its store debut, and gourmet chocolate bars in flavors like coffee & dougnuts from Los Angeles company Compartes will be for sale in the Story shops. But Macys is also playing up the experience. Macys plans events including beauty classes and workshops that teach customers how to design custom patches for their denim jackets. At 30 Story concept shops, shoppers can create their own makeup palettes at MAC stations. Industry watchers are closely watching Macys partnership with Story, which was founded by Rachel Shechtman. Shechtman has nearly 300 employees now dedicated to the Story concept and is working on other projects that will help bring more innovation to Macys. In an interview Wednesday, Macys CEO Jeff Gennette said he hopes the Story concept will get existing customers to shop more frequently, while also attracting younger customers. But Gennette says that having Shechtman, who joined Macys in the new role of brand experience officer, is helping Macys broaden its thinking on what will please customers. Fortune magazine said the Story concept will bring needed fun to shopping at the department store. This is not going to change the trajectory of Macys, but it does change how we are perceived, Gennette said. Its helping us rethink how we can go much faster and more at the speed of the customer. Gennette declined to estimate sales for the Story shops, but he believes that the concept can be just as successful as Shechtmans store in lower Manhattan, which is closing with the opening of the Herald Square shop. The initial Color Story shops will be open through June 26. Chronicle staff contributed to this report. Anne DInnocenzio is an Associated Press writer. Kim Kardashian West wants to become an attorney, she revealed in a recent Vogue profile, and she's starting her journey in the halls of a San Francisco law firm. West apparently began the four-year apprenticeship last summer at an unspecified law firm. She says she plans to take the bar in 2022. Though Vogue doesn't name the firm where West is working, one can speculate attorney Jessica Jackson may have something to do with West's relocation. Per Vogue: "What you probably don't know is that Kim has been working with [CNN commentator Van] Jones and the attorney Jessica Jackson, cofounders of #cut50, a national bipartisan advocacy group on criminal-justice reform, for months, visiting prisons, petitioning governors, and attending meetings at the White House." ICYMI: Kanye West spotted at SF City Hall, San Mateo mall Jackson, who previously served as the mayor of Mill Valley, currently sits on the city council of the North Bay city, in addition to acting as the director of #cut50. West is allowed to take the California bar without a law school degree: The education requirement of the bar can be met by either attending a law school or performing four years of study under the supervision of a state judge or attorney, according to the State Bar of California's website. West's recent ventures into law and criminal reform have recently played out before a public that is incredibly skeptical of the reality television star. West knows this, but she's not absorbing critiques that say she's shallow or stupid. "I don't pay attention to that anymore," she told Vogue. "I love to be put in a situation where I can have a conversation with someone who might not be inclined to think much of me, because I can guarantee they will have a different opinion and understand what's important to me after they've met me." ALSO: Kim Kardashian spotted in SF wearing lace bodysuit West revealed her decision to pursue law was influenced by the role she played in the release of Alice Marie Johnson, a 63-year-old woman imprisoned since 1996 on nonviolent drug charges, last summer. "I would say what I had to say, about the human side and why this is so unfair," West said of her meeting with President Donald Trump. "But I had attorneys with me who could back that up with all the facts of the case...I've always known my role, but I just felt like I wanted to be able to fight for people who have paid their dues to society. I just felt like the system could be so different, and I wanted to fight to fix it, and if I knew more, I could do more." If you've been following the movements of West and her husband, Kanye West, the news that the celebrity is working in the Bay Area isn't surprising. The Wests have routinely been spotted around San Francisco -- from a South Bay mall to the Ritz Carlton in Nob Hill. If the next four years go as West plans, we'll likely be seeing more of the power couple traipsing about town. Read Michelle Robertson's latest stories and send her news tips at michelle.robertson@sfgate.com. Start receiving breaking news emails on wildfires, civil emergencies, riots, national breaking news, Amber Alerts, weather emergencies, and other critical events with the SFGATE breaking news email. Click here to make sure you get the news. Pune, India, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Smokeless Tobacco Market is estimated to reach a valuation of USD 23.20 Billion exhibiting a CAGR of 4.41% over the forecast period, according to Market Research Future (MRFR). The journey of tobacco and tobacco-related products stretches back to as far back as the 6,000 BC. Since then, the plant known as Nicotiana Tabacum has evolved strikingly; from being a necessity to being an essential commodity to being at the center of public controversy. Over the years, multiple tobacco variants have been introduced into the market, one among them being smokeless tobacco products. Smokeless Tobacco Market are tobacco products that are not burnt or lit up like cigarettes. The consumption of the product is done either orally or nasally and available in the market in various different forms or types. Most smokeless tobacco products are consumed by chewing or sniffing, or even by placing the tobacco in between the gum and teeth of ones mouth. As per the report published by MRFR, the global Smokeless Tobacco Market is slated to showcase a period of consistent growth in the forthcoming years due to various factors. The ban on cigarettes by government bodies has led to the increase in consumption for smokeless tobaccos. Additionally, the harmful smoke emitting out of cigarettes cause adverse effects on the environment as well as on non-smoking individuals through passive-smoking. Easy availability and the cheap cost of the product as compared to cigarettes also drives the growth of the market, particularly amongst the lower income consumer group. Key Players and Industry Buzz Smokeless Tobacco Market hosts a number of market players that are working towards further expanding the industry. Some of the leading players recognized in this market are Japan Tobacco, Inc. (Japan), British American Tobacco PLC (U.K), MacBaren Tobacco Company A/S (Denmark), Imperial Brands PLC (U.K), Swisher International Group, Inc. (U.S.), Altria Group, Inc. (U.S.), Dharampal Satyapal Limited (India), Swedish Match AB (Sweden), and others. With rising awareness concerning the adverse effects of cigarettes and the increasing consumption of tobacco products, market players are capitalizing on the trend to edge past their competition and cement their standing. Get Free Sample Now @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5959 Market Classification Smokeless Tobacco Market is segmented as per three key dynamics to grab a better understanding concerning the same. By type, the market is segmented into dissolvable tobacco, chewing tobacco, and dipping tobacco. The chewing tobacco segment is further broken down into plug, loose leaf, chew bags, twist, and others. While the dipping tobacco segment is narrowed down into dry snuff, moist snuff, and snus. The former holds the largest share of the market and is expected to reach a valuation figure of USD 9.96 Billion by 2023 at a CAGR of 4.30% during the forecast period. By form, the Smokeless Tobacco Market divides into dry and moist forms. The dry segment leads this market category and is anticipated to maintain its dominance at a projected growth rate of 4.46% throughout the forecast period. By route, the Smokeless Tobacco Market divides into nasal and oral. The oral segment holds the highest share of the market category and is expected to retain its standings in the forthcoming years between 2017 and 2023. By region, the Market covers North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World (RoW). Browse the market data and information spread across 100 pages with 80 data tables and 21 figures of the report Smokeless Tobacco Market Report - Forecast 2018-2023 in-depth alongside table of content (TOC) at: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/smokeless-tobacco-market-5959 Geographical Diversification The geographical segmentation of the Smokeless Tobacco Market identifies Asia Pacific as the most dominant region across the globe. The region is further expected to maintain its dominance over the forecast period by garnering a CAGR of 4.55% and reaching a projected valuation of USD 12.27 billion by 2023. The cheap pricing of Smokeless Tobacco Market acting as an alternative to the expensive nature of cigarettes and the existence of a large pool of low-income population group in developing nations like India is one of the key factors behind the dominance of the Asia Pacific region. Furthermore, the minimization of cigarette smokers in the region also stimulates the growth of the market herein. India is one of the prime destinations of smokeless tobacco and held over 70% of the market share in 2017 and the proliferating trend is slated to continue in the forthcoming years as well. Bangladesh is another key nation contributing significantly to the overall Asia Pacific regional market. The prevalence of consuming smokeless tobacco among the daily wage workers due to the low cost and high rate of tobacco production in Bangladesh is a key factor driving the growth in this nation. The North American region is projected to experience a decent growth rate of 4.46% during the assessment period. Increasing concerns about the environment due to smoke emission from cigarettes as well as the harmful effects of passive smoking have triggered the use of Smokeless Tobacco Market in the region. The Middle East and Africa region is expected to expand in terms of market value in the forthcoming years due to the preference of consuming nicotine without combustion. The market valuation is calculated to stand at USD 1365.9 million by the end of 2023. Make an Enquiry Before Buying this Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/5959 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), & 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. Prosecutors said a Seattle-area man allegedly led a woman to believe he was her Uber driver, then raped her while taking her home in the middle of the night in December. Israel Ramos-Islas, 34, was arrested last week in connection with a rape reported Dec. 16, 2018. He was charged Monday with first-degree rape. The alleged victim was at an office Christmas party on Dec. 15 in Ballard, then went to a bar afterward with coworkers where her friend ordered an Uber to take her home, probable cause documents said. Cars were lined out front and she went up to multiple drivers asking, "Are you my Uber?" One driver, later identified by the King County Sheriff's Office (KSCO) as Ramos-Islas, told her yes and handed her a bottle of water, a common thing rideshare drivers do, documents said. EARLIER: King County Sheriff seeks help in rape of woman by fake rideshare driver She told police her memory started fading in the car but she remembered the driver said, "I will take you home, but we are going to have some fun first." The next thing she remembered was the car stopped near a bus stop in White Center and Ramos-Islas on top of her. He then allegedly raped her before driving her the rest of the way home. Surveillance footage from her "Ring" doorbell released by KSCO showed the two walking up to her house at about 1:45 a.m. The video was motion activated so it only ran for 30 seconds, but before it shuts off Ramos-Islas takes her keys out of his pocket and tries to open the door. She said she remembered getting inside and going to bed. The next morning she went to Harborview Medical Center for a sexual assault examination after she pieced together the night before. A KCSO detective contacted the woman's coworker who said she ended up taking the Uber she ordered for the alleged victim. A search warrant to Uber didn't yield any drivers that matched the description of the suspect based on the date and location of the rape. On April 2, 2019, KCSO released the surveillance video. Ramos-Islas and his wife arrived at the Burien Police Department a couple of hours after the video's release in an effort to "clear his name." RELATED: 'Underresourced for years': Lawmakers push to speed up rape kit processing He told police he and his wife found the alleged victim and offered her a ride home, documents said. Later he told police a different story and claimed she came on to him in the car and that they had consensual sex. Police received a report on April 3 of similar events. One woman called and said Ramos-Islas picked her up on Aug. 4, 2018 after he claimed to be her Uber driver. When they got to her house, he attempted to force his way into her apartment. He left after he was unable get in, but a selfie she took with him led officers to suspect it was Ramos-Islas. A Reddit post linked to a story on the arrest on April 3 said Ramos-Islas attempted to lure her into his car, saying he was her rideshare driver as well. Detectives said they met with the Reddit user and she confirmed the statement. KSCO booked Ramos-Islas into jail Wednesday on $750,000 bail. He has an arraignment scheduled for April 22. SeattlePI reporter Alex Halverson can be reached at alex.halverson@seattlepi.com. Follow him on Twitter @AlexHalversonPI. Find more from Alex here. Emboldened by the new conservative majority on the Supreme Court, antiabortion lawmakers and activists in numerous states are pushing near-total bans on the procedure in a deliberate frontal attack on Roe v. Wade. Mississippi and Kentucky have passed laws that would ban most abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which means as early as six weeks, when many women dont even know theyre pregnant. Georgia could join them if Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signs a measure that has been sent to him. On Wednesday, North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum signed legislation that makes it a crime for a doctor performing a second-trimester abortion to use instruments such as clamps, scissors and forceps to remove the fetus from the womb. Also Wednesday, a bill banning abortions after a first fetal heartbeat won final approval in the Republican-controlled Ohio legislature; it now heads to GOP Gov. Mike DeWine, who said he will sign it. Similar bills have been filed in at least seven other states with anti-abortion GOP majorities in their legislatures. Alabama may go further, with legislation introduced last week to criminalize abortion at any stage unless the mothers health is in jeopardy. The chief sponsor of the Alabama bill, Rep. Terri Collins, acknowledged that the measure like the heartbeat bills is intended as a direct challenge to Roe, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. To me this is an issue the court simply got wrong years ago, said Collins, who hopes President Trumps appointments of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court lead to reconsideration of Roe. Staci Fox, Atlanta-based CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast, said these bans are blatantly unconstitutional and lawmakers know it they just dont care. The goal, she said, is to challenge access to safe, legal abortion nationally. The bans may face difficulties just reaching the high court, given that Roe established a clear right to an abortion during the first three months of pregnancy. Kentuckys heartbeat law has been blocked for now by a federal judge; abortion-rights lawyers are seeking a similar injunction in Mississippi before the law there takes effect July 1. Aside from Georgia and Ohio, other states where heartbeat bills have been filed include Tennessee, Missouri, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Louisiana and West Virginia. David Crary is an Associated Press writer. Andrew Harnik / Associated Press WASHINGTON Attorney General William Barr declared Wednesday he thinks spying did occur on Donald Trumps presidential campaign, suggesting the origins of the Russia investigation may have been mishandled and aligning himself with the president at a time when Barrs independence is under scrutiny. Barr, appearing before a Senate panel, did not say what spying had taken place but seemed likely to be alluding to a surveillance warrant the FBI obtained on a Trump associate. He later said he wasnt sure there had been improper surveillance but wanted to make sure proper procedures were followed. Still, his remarks give a boost to Trump and his supporters who insist his 2016 campaign was unfairly targeted by the FBI. CROSBY, Texas President Trump signed two executive orders on Wednesday that will accelerate the approval of energy infrastructure projects, while making it harder for states to scuttle pipelines and other energy projects based on concerns about their environmental impact on water quality. Trump signed the executive orders before applauding union workers at a training facility in Crosby, Texas. He said energy infrastructure is too often held back by government regulations. Pointing to Washington state and New York, Republican lawmakers have complained about states using the permitting process to stop energy projects. A senior administration official told reporters there are problems with the way some states are interpreting Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. Under that section, companies must obtain certification from the state before moving ahead with an energy project. Washington state blocked the building of a coal terminal. New York regulators stopped a natural gas pipeline when they determined it failed to meet standards to protect streams, wetlands and other water resources. The first executive order Trump signed calls for the Environmental Protection Agency to consult with states, tribes and relevant agencies and issue updated guidance for the states to follow to comply with the intent of the landmark water act. The order will also call on the Transportation Department to propose a rule that would allow liquefied natural gas to be shipped in approved rail tank cars. The second executive order streamlines the process for energy infrastructure that crosses international borders. Currently, the secretary of state has the authority to issue permits for cross-border infrastructure such as pipelines. The executive order clarifies that the president will make the decision on whether to issue such permits. The move follows Trumps decision last month to issue a new presidential permit for the long-stalled Keystone XL oil pipeline two years after he first approved it and more than a decade after it was first proposed. Trump signed both orders in-between campaign fundraisers in San Antonio and Houston. Darlene Superville and Kevin Freking are Associated Press writers. Pune, India, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Market Research Futures in-depth analysis of the key to disaster mitigation is based upon the ability of first responders, government authorities, disaster relief teams to communicate seamlessly. As a result, the demand for public safety LTE is growing considerably. The market is anticipated to expand with a CAGR of 22.07 % while earning incomes worth USD 3,246.5 Mn in the forecast period from 2018 to 2025. Since the level of threats to the general populace have increased in recent times, the coordination of procedures to restore stability have become that much more important. The amplified emphasis on public safety by government authorities globally is expected to encourage the progress of the public safety LTE market. The increased recurrence of large-scale emergency situations has raised the reliance on public safety LTE. The need for coordination between military, fire response, emergency services, and police has gained intensifying prominence leading to an enhanced implementation rate for public safety LTE globally. A marked level of improvement in the quality images and video due to network infrastructure development have contributed to the progress of the public safety LTE market. Also, the lessening of connectivity problems in networks is expected to raise the evolution of the public safety LTE market in the approaching years. Furthermore, the upsurge in government budgetary allocations and the penetration of the Internet of Things is forecasted to create a surge in the expansion of the public safety LTE market in the impending period. Get Free Sample @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/6997 Market Segmentation The segmental review of the public safety LTE market globally is based on application, product, and region. On the basis of product, the public safety LTE market is segmented into commercial LTE, private LTE, and hybrid LTE. The application-based segmentation of the public safety LTE market has been segmented into emergency medical services, law enforcement, and border control, firefighting services, and disaster management. The regions included in the public safety LTE market are North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the rest of the world. Public Safety LTE Market to Gain Market Share Owing to Decrease in Connectivity Issues By 2025 The regional analysis of the public safety LTE market includes regional segments such as Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, and the rest of the world. The European region is anticipated to control the highest share of the market and appear as the fastest rising regional market over the forecast period. The North American region is primed to secure the next spot in the Public Safety LTE Market in the progression of the forecast period. The region is expected to be beneficial to the markets development and is deduced to flourish at a solid CAGR of 23.99% in the future. Additionally, the Asia Pacific region is expected to display robust growth prospects and is set to expand at a healthy development rate. The market for public safety LTE in the region is estimated to achieve incomes of USD 502.6 Mn by the conclusion of 2025. China is predicted to develop into a major country-level market responsible for accelerating the development of the global market. The segment of the rest of the world is anticipated to control the smallest share of the public safety LTE market globally. It has been projected to flourish at a CAGR of 10.04% through the forecast period. The Middle East & Africa is projected to motivate the progress of the regional market in the forthcoming years. Key Players The notable competitors shaping the public safety LTE market globally are Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, AT&T Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., Bittium, Nokia Corporation, Motorola Solutions, Samsung Electronics, Cobham PLC, Airbus SE, and General Dynamics Corporation. Browse Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/public-safety-lte-market-6997 Key Updates Mar 2019 Sequans Communications recently declared that Lockheed Martin, a world leader in defense, security, aerospace, and other innovative technologies, is working with Sequans to advance new 4G LTE for satellite technologies for global deployment. In addition to the satellite, Sequans has modified its technology for projects in other markets, as well as aviation, public safety, transportation, and government. Mar 2019 Russia is planning to allot RUB 27 billion towards the development of its public safety LTE-450 network. The Russian government plans to use the LTE-450 network for the law enforcement bodies, military, and other special users. The network will be installed by the national operator Rostelecom, Tele2 Russia, the mobile operator and the state-owned broadcast operator RTRS. Related Reports Cellular Networks Market by technology (2G and 3G, 4G, 5G), by frequency (Edge, UMTS, LTE), by application (mobile phones, USB/power dongles, modem/router), by type of connection (post-paid, pre-paid). https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/cellular-networks-market-4654 5G Technology Market, By Usability (Enhanced Mobile Broadband, Massive Internet of Things), By Technology (Radio Access Technologies (RAT), Wi-Fi), By Application (Healthcare, Consumer Electronics, Retail) - Forecast 2023. https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/5g-technology-market-2988 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. PORT ROBERTS, Wash. and DELTA, British Columbia, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Investorideas.com , a leading investor news resource covering cannabis stocks, releases a snapshot looking at the many cannabis companies looking into the CBD beauty and wellness sector and why this sector is gaining such momentum. According to one report from the GlobalWellnessInstitute , a wellness mindset is starting to permeate the global consumer consciousness, affecting peoples daily decision-making whether food purchases, a focus on mental wellness and reducing stress, incorporating movement into daily life, environmental consciousness, or their yearning for connection and happiness, noted Katherine Johnston, senior research fellow, GWI. Wellness, for more people, is evolving from rarely to daily, from episodic to essential, from a luxury to a dominant lifestyle value. And that profound shift is driving powerful growth. This change in mindset combined with growing interest from large retailers, most recently CVS and Walgreens, is making many companies invest in beauty and wellness. The most notable is Canopy Growth Corporation ( TSX:WEED ) ( NYSE:CGC ) who, along with Sequential Brands Group, Inc., recently announced that Martha Stewart joined the Company in an advisory role to assist with developing and positioning a broad new line of product offerings across multiple categories including beauty and wellness. With several clinical trials underway, Canopy Growth will be leaning on Marthas vast knowledge of consumer products while exploring the effectiveness of CBD and other cannabinoids as they relate to improving the lives of both humans and animals. The Greater Cannabis Company Inc. ( OTC: GCAN ) , a market leader and innovator in the development and commercialization of cannabinoid delivery systems, just recently announced its expansion into the CBD beauty, cosmetics and self-care markets. In addition to its highly bioavailable, orally dissolving transmucosal patch, the Company is now formulating and commercializing a new line of products for CBD-infused cosmetics and skincare applications. Consumer demand for CBD-infused beauty products has prompted major retailers such as Walgreens, Sephora and CVS, and major cosmetic brands like Estee Lauder to move into this emerging sector, said Aitan Zacharin, Chief Executive Officer of The Greater Cannabis Company. Our unique and proven technology, coupled with the high stability of our product formulations well positions us to meet the markets demand for CBD-infused beauty and cosmetic products. CBD has a broad range of benefits in topical application, including antioxidants for anti-aging, anti-inflammatory for acne and more, added Zacharin. But bioavailability and stability are enormously important to its effectiveness, which is our significant competitive advantage. Outside the US, Khiron Life Sciences Corp. ( TSXV: KHRN ), ( OTCQB: KHRNF ) announced that it has signed multi-channel distribution agreements for its Kuida cosmeceutical brand with Fedco and Linio, two of the most prominent consumer distribution channels for wellness and beauty products in Colombia. In combination with the initial product launch through Farmatodo and Farmalisto, it is anticipated that the Kuida brand will now be made available in up to 78 retail locations and through the country's leading online portal for beauty products. Initially focused on distribution in Colombia, these agreements create potential for the Company to further expand distribution across other Latin America jurisdictions. Alvaro Torres, CEO and a Director of Khiron, comments: "These agreements with Fedco and Linio further deliver on our market strategy for Kuida and provide the flexibility to tap into cross-selling opportunities as consumers increasingly adopt CBD based cosmeceuticals into their skincare regimen. We look forward to working with some of the largest retailers in Colombia as the Kuida brand increases its presence in the marketplace and is positioned for future growth." Aphria Inc. ( TSX: APHA ) ( NYSE: APHA ) is looking into beauty and wellness Internationally, as through its subsidiary Aphria Deutschland GmbH, it recently launched the Company's first CBD-based nutraceutical, the first product in its CBD-based cosmetics line for the German market. Featuring CBD derived from hemp, the CannRelief brand of products are being produced in the European Union and distributed by the Company's subsidiary, CC Pharma, which has access to more than 13,000 pharmacies throughout Germany. CannRelief CBD oils are being sold in both a 5% and 10% CBD concentration and can be found in select stores across Germany. A range of skincare and other products, including creams, serums and masks will be introduced under the CannRelief brand in a phased rollout in 2019. More information about CannRelief products can be found at cannrelief.de. With the beauty and wellness market expected to have continued growth and consumer mindsets changing, we can expect more cannabis companies to diversify into this area as well as increased interest from large scale retailers, as seen recently from Walmart . For investors following cannabis stocks, Investor Ideas has created a stock directory of publicly traded CSE, TSX, TSXV, OTC, NASDAQ, NYSE, ASX Marijuana/Hemp Stocks . About Investorideas.com https://www.investorideas.com/About/ Cannabis Social Media https://www.facebook.com/Investorideaspotcasts/ https://twitter.com/MJInvestorIdeas https://www.instagram.com/potcasts_investorideas/ Disclaimer: Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investment involves risk and possible loss of investment. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Contact each company directly regarding content and press release questions. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. More disclaimer info: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp . Disclosure: this article featuring GCAN is a paid for service on Investorideas.com. Learn more about costs and services https://www.investorideas.com/News-Upload/ Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp Investor Ideas does not condone the use of cannabis except where permissible by law. Our site does not possess, distribute, or sell cannabis products. Contact Investorideas.com 800-665-0411 WASHINGTON Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont unveiled a revamped version of his Medicare for All plan on Wednesday, shaking up the 2020 presidential race by renewing his call for replacing job-based and private health insurance with a government plan that guarantees coverage for all. It is not a radical idea to say that in the United States, every American who goes to a doctor should be able to afford the prescription drug he or she needs, Sanders said. The latest edition of his Medicare for All adds coverage for long-term care in home and community settings, on top of its basic promise of comprehensive health coverage with no premiums, deductibles or co-pays. As with previous versions, Sanders did not include detailed proposals on how to pay for the plan. Health care is a human right, not a privilege, he declared. Four of Sanders fellow senators and rivals for the Democratic nomination have signed onto the updated single-payer health care proposal. The bills reintroduction promises to shine a light on Democrats disparate visions for the long-term future of American health care. Indeed, a co-sponsor of the previous version dropped off this time. New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said in a statement there are faster ways to reach universal coverage by building on the progress weve made through the Affordable Care Act. Under fire from President Trump and Republicans for the astronomical price tag of Medicare for All, some Democratic presidential candidates who support the plan also say it could be one of several ways to achieve more affordable coverage and lower the number of uninsured people. Others who dont back it are instead focusing on safeguarding popular provisions of the Obama-era ACA, such as the one that protects coverage of pre-existing conditions. Of course, our No. 1 goal should be to make sure we keep in place those protections so people dont get kicked off their insurance, said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat. Klobuchar supports a so-called public option, versions of which would allow Americans to buy into Medicare or Medicaid. Four other Democratic senators also running for president Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand back Sanders single-payer plan. But they also have signed onto at least one version of a public option. Elana Schor and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar are Associated Press writers. NEW YORK, NEW YORK, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Cancer Support Community (CSC) will honor the Barbara Bradley Baekgaard Family Foundation with the Founders Award for Spirit at its Spring Celebration slated for Tuesday, April 16 in New York City. This award recognizes leaders in the philanthropic community who make valued contributions in helping patients and their loved ones navigate a cancer diagnosis. In 2017, the foundation announced a transformational grant to CSC, a global nonprofit that provides more than $50 million in free support services to patients and their loved ones. In just two years, the Barbara Bradley Baekgaard Family Foundation has enabled CSC to provide free support groups, education workshops, and cutting-edge technology that identifies patients who are at high-risk for distress at locations in Colorado, Hawaii, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Washington. Of particular note, the grant to CSC also established a partnership with the Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation on the Navajo Nationwhich is the first full-time cancer care center on an American Indian Reservation. This collaboration has resulted in the development of a culturally-adapted cancer support and education program for the Navajo people. We are so proud that the Cancer Support Community is a chapter in the amazing story of Barbara Bradley Baekgaard and her family, said Jill Durovsik, Chair of CSCs Board of Director, who will present the award to Bradley Baekgaard. In less than two years, the family foundations grant is already delivering free, professionally-led services and resources on a national scale. Barbaras boundless energy and enterprising spirit, including the recent launch of the new Baekgaard USA premium luggage and accessories line for men, reflects the rare combination of business acumen with an unparalleled commitment to making a difference in peoples lives. The Cancer Support Community is a wonderful organization because you know where the money is going, Barbara Bradley Baekgaard said. It is about giving patients a menu of choices that fit their needs, whether support groups, yoga, nutrition classes, or more. I also want to credit my family, my children and grandchildren, for their leadership of this foundation. It is so rewarding to see three generations involved in what I call the joy of giving back. For more information about the Cancer Support Community, please visit www.CancerSupportCommunity.org. Were you at Johnny Doughnuts at 392 Fulton St. in Hayes Valley between 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 2? If you were, and you haven't been vaccinated for measles, keep an eye out for a strange rash on your body. You may have been exposed to a highly contagious virus in the doughnut shop. In the first week of April, an unnamed adult with contagious measles visited several locations in San Francisco, including Johnny Doughnuts, and the Department of Public Health is alerting the community. ALSO: More Bay Area measles cases here's where the disease has been reported While there isn't a measles outbreak in the city, the department warns people without immunity could develop the virus if they were exposed to this individual. The city has released a list of places the person visited, along with the timeline, to help people assess their risk. Monday, April 1 6.56 a.m. 8:13 a.m. | Caltrain train 319 northbound. First car of train (car 116). 8:45 a.m. 9:15 a.m. | Caltrain train 232 southbound. Last car of train (car 116). 8:15 a.m. 9:45 a.m. | SF Muni Bus #47 8 a.m. 10 a.m. | Hayes Valley Bakeworks at 525 Golden Gate Ave. 8:30 a.m. 7 p.m. | Federal Building at 450 Golden Gate Ave. Tuesday, April 2 8:00 a.m. 7:30 p.m. | Federal Building at 450 Golden Gate Ave. 8:00 a.m. 9:30 a.m. | Johnny Doughnuts at 392 Fulton St. 8 a.m. 10 a.m. | Hayes Valley Bakeworks at 525 Golden Gate Ave. 6:30 8 p.m. | Double Decker Restaurant at 465 Grove St. Wednesday, April 3 8 a.m. 10 a.m. | Hayes Valley Bakeworks at 525 Golden Gate Ave. 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. | Federal Building at 450 Golden Gate Ave. 3 p.m. 4:30 p.m. | Caltrain station, 700 4th St. 3:34 p.m. 5:10 p.m. | Caltrain train 258 southbound. Second car from the back (car 3861). 5:32 p.m. 6:15 p.m. | Caltrain train 279 northbound. Second car from the front (car 3861). Most San Francisco residents have received the measles vaccine ("MMR") as children and are immune. Still, public health officials warn that unvaccinated children, adults born in or before 1957, and those with severely weakened immune systems are especially vulnerable. Symptoms can develop between seven and 21 days after the date of exposure and can include fever, cough, runny nose, and red eyes, followed by a red rash starting at the head or face. If any of those symptoms develop, residents are advised to call their doctor right away. MMR vaccination is available through doctor's offices, clinics and pharmacies. For those without insurance or Medi-Cal, the vaccine is available at low or no cost through the San Francisco Department of Public Health. The Bay City News contributed to this report. New York, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- April 10, 2019 Dentsu Aegis Network has launched Sellwin Consulting, a strategic consultancy that helps clients grow their brand through Amazon. This new practice builds on proven expertise in media, commerce, data, search, and SEO across Dentsu Aegis Networks strong portfolio of companies and marks a significant investment in Amazon as a partner. Achieving success on Amazon requires diligence across numerous elements including retail discussions, inventory management, warehousing, branding, customer reviews, data analysis and advertising solutions. Sellwin Consulting was created to streamline navigating Amazon for clients by providing a single holistic point of view and recommendations across all facets of their engagement with Amazon, to drive efficiency and better results. Based in New York City and led by Travis Johnson, Sellwin will provide clients expert knowledge of how to grow their business on Amazon, coordinate the specialized skillsets from across the Dentsu Aegis Network, and source best-in-class outside resources to architect e-business solutions that drive better business results for clients. Sellwin consists of a team of e-commerce and marketing experts sourced from within the Dentsu Aegis Network family, along with recent external hires from Amazon, eBay and R/GA. Johnson, who previously held the title of Global CEO of Ansible at IPG, has more than 20 years of experience leading teams that innovate and transform brands through strategic marketing efforts. Nick Brien, CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network, Americas said: Sellwin provides marketers with an agile, multi-disciplinary consulting resource for navigating the complexities of Amazon. By aligning talent from Dentsu Aegis Networks specialist agencies and external hires, weve been able to create a dedicated business to imagine and execute successful, integrated Amazon business solutions for our clients. Johnson said: As Amazon continues to expand at a rapid pace, so do the opportunities for brands. By harnessing the individual agency skills across Dentsu Aegis Network - and adding new retail-focused skillsets - we offer clients something they havent had before: robust and comprehensive strategies that consider the full breadth of opportunities with Amazon, seamlessly plugging into overarching marketing plans, and meeting their business goals. For more information on Sellwin Consulting, visit http://www.sellwinconsulting.com and follow @Sellwin on Twitter. ENDS For further information, contact: Kenneth Hein, Chief Communications Officer, U.S. T: +347-501-2591 E: ken.hein@dentsuaegis.com Attachment OAKLAND (BCN) An annual trip to South Africa for students in and around Oakland was canceled abruptly last month when the trip organizer announced that she was unable to secure the necessary funding, leaving families scrambling for answers. The nearly two-week trip was planned for about 35 African American students and their adult chaperones, but was canceled at the last minute by organizer Kharyshi Wiginton, who said she was $30,000 short of the $60,000 total cost. The announcement left participants, many of them current and former students within the Oakland Unified School District, wondering how something like this could happen and if they would receive refunds for their $1,000 deposits. It also left school district officials vowing to re-think how they handle third-party organizations like Wiginton's Culture Keepers that work closely with Oakland's school community. "We will be reviewing our processes with Culture Keepers (and other similar organizations) to ensure this type of problem does not arise again," district spokesman John Sasaki said in an email. "We know that the last minute cancellation was a major letdown for our students, and we certainly intend to prevent the same thing from happening again in the future." The district sent out a news release on March 19, inviting reporters to the West Oakland BART station, where the group was scheduled to board trains to the San Francisco International Airport at about 11 p.m. Instead of heading off to their early morning flight, however, participants received an apologetic text message from Wiginton informing them that the trip had been postponed until June. She also said that she'd provide full refunds to people who wanted to opt out of the rescheduled trip. Several parents responded to the message with shock and disappointment. Tawny Pederson, a California State University East Bay student who was signed on to be a mentor for the trip, said she felt misled and disappointed about the cancellation. "She didn't lie, but she wasn't telling the whole truth," Pederson said. "It's just kind of upsetting and a lot of people have commitments in June. I have an internship, so I can't go in June, so I did all that (fundraising) for nothing." In addition to deposits, the group, which started meeting at McClymonds High School in September, was required to help with fundraising events leading up to the trip. Pederson, who has received a refund of her deposit but not yet for the money she solicited from donors during her fundraising efforts, said she was satisfied so far by Wiginton's response. This would have been the fourth time Wiginton was to shepherd a group of Oakland students to South Africa, a trip that in the past included safaris, a visit to the Soweto township, Nelson Mandela's home and the country's supreme court, Wiginton said. PERTH, Western Australia, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Perseus Mining Limited (Perseus or the Company) (TSX & ASX: PRU) wishes to advise that the Ivorian Government was expected to consider the grant of an Exploitation Permit (EP) to Perseuss Ivorian subsidiary, Perseus Yaoure SARL, at a cabinet meeting held on April 10th. Due to other more urgent government business, there was insufficient time for the EP application to be tabled for approval at that meeting. Perseus fully expects the EP to be granted in the near future, given that Cabinet meets each Wednesday to consider Government business. It is understood that Perseus Yaoure SARL has satisfied all requirements to enable the EP to be granted. Perseus looks forward to receiving the Yaoure EP and commencing development of the Yaoure Gold Mine. To discuss any aspect of this announcement, please contact: Managing Director: Jeff Quartermaine at telephone +61 8 6144 1700 or email jeff.quartermaine@perseusmining.com; General Manager BD & IR: Andrew Grove at telephone +61 8 6144 1700 or email andrew.grove@perseusmining.com Media Relations: Nathan Ryan at telephone +61 4 20 582 887 or email nathan.ryan@nwrcommunications.com.au (Melbourne) Caution Regarding Forward Looking Information: This report contains forward-looking information which is based on the assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management of the Company believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, but which may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions have been made by the Company regarding, among other things: the price of gold, continuing commercial production at the Edikan Gold Mine and the Sissingue Gold Mine without any major disruption, development of a mine at Yaoure, the receipt of required governmental approvals, the accuracy of capital and operating cost estimates, the ability of the Company to operate in a safe, efficient and effective manner and the ability of the Company to obtain financing as and when required and on reasonable terms. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive of all factors and assumptions which may have been used by the Company. Although management believes that the assumptions made by the Company and the expectations represented by such information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking information will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any anticipated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others, the actual market price of gold, the actual results of current exploration, the actual results of future exploration, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be evaluated, as well as those factors disclosed in the Company's publicly filed documents. The Company believes that the assumptions and expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, the Companys ability to carry on its exploration and development activities, the timely receipt of required approvals, the price of gold, the ability of the Company to operate in a safe, efficient and effective manner and the ability of the Company to obtain financing as and when required and on reasonable terms. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Perseus does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Walnut Creek police are asking for help locating a woman who went missing late Tuesday morning, police said. Nila Hurley, 78, is 5 feet tall, 110 pounds with black hair. Hurley left at 11 a.m. to go to downtown Walnut Creek and has not returned, police said. She is driving a black 2001 Volvo S80 sedan with California license plate No. NILA. Anyone with information that can help safely locate Hurley is asked to call police at (925) 935-6400. 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. PITTSBURG (BCN) Attorneys defending a man charged with murder for his role in the violent death of another man in Pittsburg last week said their client was rescuing his 12-year-old daughter from child sex traffickers and that police botched the investigation. Albert Lea Jr. was stabbed multiple times at a home on Hermosa Avenue around 9 p.m. Thursday. He was transported to a hospital but did not survive. Witnesses said the killer fled in a white sedan so investigators used Pittsburg's surveillance camera network and the Contra Costa County Freeway Security Network to track the vehicle to a home in Knightsen, where 48-year-old Jimmy Lee Biles was arrested on suspicion of murder. He's been charged with murder with special allegations that he has a prior conviction for carjacking and vehicular manslaughter dating back to 1997, for which he served more than 10 years in prison. Just before Biles' arraignment Wednesday afternoon, defense attorney Joseph Tully circulated a statement to local media claiming that Biles' daughter had been drugged and repeatedly sexually abused prior to Lea's death. "What is disturbing about this case is that there is evidence that Mr. Biles' 12-year-old daughter had been lured away from his home by a child sex trafficker," Tully said. Biles had notified Pittsburg police of the situation but had largely been ignored, and as a loving father he followed up on information about where his daughter was being held, according to his lawyer. "Had the Pittsburg police conducted a proper investigation, they would have found that the girl was provided drugs, had used condoms in her purse, as well as blood in the crotch area of her pants," Tully said. "This evidence is now most likely destroyed or unusable." Biles pleaded not guilty during his arraignment at the Arneson Justice Center Wednesday afternoon. He is scheduled to return to court for a preliminary hearing at 8:45 a.m. April 22. Meanwhile, he remains in custody on $2.1 million bail. 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) After being closed for seven months, repairs are underway at the Salesforce Transit Center in San Francisco -- where two cracked steel beams were discovered last September -- and engineers are hoping to finish the repairs by June. The steel plate material that will be used to reinforce the two areas where cracks were found, just above Fremont Street, arrived late last month from Pennsylvania via Stockton-based steel fabricator Herrick, according to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority overseeing the project at the regional transit hub. That same steel plate material will also be used to reinforce the area above First Street. Although no cracks were ever found above First Street, it's being reinforced because it's structurally similar to the Fremont Street area where the cracks were found. "The TJPA is very eager to get bus operations started again," the joint authority's senior construction manager Dennis Turchon said Wednesday. "We are making satisfactory progress, better than we hoped on the actual repair installation itself." Once the repairs and reinforcements are completed, the shoring that's currently holding up the areas above Fremont and First streets will be removed, Turchon said. Also, once the repairs and reinforcements are complete, an independent review conducted by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission will commence. "We have an independent review. There's been many eyes on this and we're very confident that this repair is a conservative repair," Turchon said. Although the repairs are underway, Turchon said engineers are continuing to routinely check the entire facility to make sure no more cracks are discovered. "To date we've found nothing else to be of concern. It's only been the cracks on Fremont Street," he said. TJPA officials said a date for the reopening of the transit center and its rooftop park has not been determined. A timeframe to reopen the transit center would be determined once the MTC's review is complete and engineers and the MTC determine that no other repairs need to be made. The $2.2 billion four-story Salesforce Transit Center -- stretching four city blocks and equipped with access to bus service, a 5.4-acre rooftop public park and space for retail shops, art displays and restaurants -- first opened in August. Just weeks later, however, the discovery of the cracked steel beams forced the center's closure. Turchon is expected to provide an update on the repairs at the TJPA's Board of Directors meeting on Thursday at City Hall. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. OAKLAND (BCN) A former inmate at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin testified on Tuesday that two Alameda County sheriff's deputies arranged for a fellow inmate to spray feces and urine on him in his cell in 2016. Taking the witness stand in the preliminary hearing for Justin Linn, 25, of Tracy, Erik McDermott, 28, of Concord, who no longer work for the department, Fernando Soria, 48, said they opened his cell door and allowed the other inmate, who is nicknamed "Preacher," to spray him with feces and urine, a practice known as "gassing." Soria said McDermott and Linn also wouldn't allow him to bathe or put on clean clothes for days afterward. He testified that he would be naked in his cell for several days at a time and "I was freezing." Soria also alleged that McDermott and Linn broke his arm. He said the attacks occurred when he was housed in an administrative segregation unit. Shane Woodcock, another former inmate, testified that McDermott and Linn facilitated "numerous" gassing attacks by the inmate known as "Preacher" on Soria and other inmates. Woodcock, who worked as a cleaner at the jail, said McDermott and Linn jokingly described the gassing attacks as "spreading the gospel" and "crapaccino." He also said McDermott and Linn gave Preacher special treatment by moving him to different units and by getting extra food and special clothes. In addition, Woodcock said McDermott and Linn told him to spread the word that one of their fellow inmates was a "snitch" but he refused to do so. Linn is charged with four counts of felony assault by a public officer, one count of dissuading a witness by force or threat and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. McDermott is charged with two counts of assault and one count each of dissuading a witness and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Their hearing will resume on Wednesday and is expected to last at least until next Monday. At the end of the hearing, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson will decide if prosecutors produced sufficient evidence against McDermott and Linn to have them stand trial. At the end of a short preliminary hearing for co-defendants Sarah Krause, 27, and Stephen Sarcos, 32, who face less serious allegations, Jacobson ordered them to stand trial on a single felony assault charge. Soria filed a lawsuit last October against Linn, McDermott, Sarcos and Krause for allegedly allowing "Preacher" to gas him. Soria testified on Tuesday that the experience of being gassed was "like a horror movie." He said, "I still am scared. I don't like sitting in court against deputy sheriffs." Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. The Santa Clara County Fire Department is partnering with law enforcement officials to host several community wildfire meetings to help residents prepare for the upcoming fire season. Starting Wednesday, a series of 11 community meetings will take place. The meetings will run until May 30 and will focus on steps residents can take to prepare. Fire officials urge residents to get ready by creating a defensible space to buffer it from flammable plants, making an action plan with their families, and evacuating early to avoid being caught in fire, smoke, or traffic. Wednesday's meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center at 14855 Oka Road in Los Gatos. For more information on the meetings and a full list of their dates and locations, people can visit www.sccfd.org/RSG. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. An emotional debate on Santa Clara County's immigration policy ended Tuesday with supervisors voting to study changing sanctuary laws to allow federal authorities to be notified of undocumented inmates who have been convicted of specific crimes. The county counsel will now determine whether the change is legal and staff will study how such a notification process could function. It will not affect the county's refusal to cooperate with detainer requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and hold inmates in jail longer, which is unconstitutional in California. Instead, it could allow police and sheriff's deputies to contact federal authorities with an inmate's release date, time and location if they are an undocumented person convicted of serious and violent crimes. ICE would then be responsible for taking the inmate into custody prior to their release. About 200 speakers during public comment overwhelmingly opposed changes to the county's sanctuary policy, which in 2011 paved the way for dozens of other counties in the state. They said an amendment would create a double standard for criminals in the county, entrap innocent victims of the criminal justice system and politicize a tragedy to scapegoat undocumented immigrants. Supervisors Dave Cortese and Mike Wasserman introduced the board referrals after the murder of South San Jose woman Bambi Larson on Feb. 28, and the arrest of 24-year-old Carlos Eduardo Arevalo Carranza, a suspect in the slaying. The undocumented man was allegedly under the influence of methamphetamine, had a long criminal history throughout California, had been arrested and released at least six times and was under a detainer request from ICE. He also suffered from mental illness, according to police. Amid swirling accusations of blame in Larson's death, the San Jose police chief, mayor, police officer's association, county district attorney and sheriff together demanded the county change its policy against communicating with ICE, a position that many of them advocated for during a similar discussion in 2015. Heads of each organization emphasized that they do not want to alienate law-abiding undocumented residents, but other speakers maintained that any collaboration with federal authorities would erode quality of life for all immigrants. "There is no need and no moral imperative to do ICE's work for it," county Public Defender Molly O'Neal said. "Their currency is fear and intimidation. This is the same ICE that has felt zero compunction about separating small children from their parents at the border... and is part and parcel of a federal administration determined to promote hatred and racism. We urge you to keep ICE out of our jails." Also, Francisco Ugarte, deputy public defender in San Francisco, cited a New York University and University of Chicago study of the federal "Secure Communities" policy in 2014, which found no meaningful relationship between increased deportations and crime rates. Those in the minority who spoke in favor of changing the policy said they were scared to sleep in their own beds at night. Rick Lock, Bambi Larson's cousin, said he was grappling with outrage and shock after his family member was violently taken away. "It occurred to me that this is a game of Russian roulette," he said. "We don't know, when we release one of these people, what's gonna happen." Another county resident said, "The people of Santa Clara County are decent, honest, welcoming and generous, but our generosity does not extend to the criminal element who would murder us in our own beds." Any amendments to the county's policy would fall under Senate Bill 54, which outlines a list of qualifying felonies. This includes murder, rape, arson, robbery, kidnapping, grand theft, carjacking and others, with the county ruling out misdemeanors. It would push for a warrant-based custody transfer system, and urge federal authorities to consistently file warrants in all transfers. "The individuals that prey on our community, not only impact our city as a whole but oftentimes their crimes are the very reason why some of our immigrants fled from native lands," Police Chief Eddie Garcia said. "Let's stand together and collectively say that we've done everything we could to keep our residents and our police officers safe." District Attorney Jeffrey Rosen called violent felons the "enemy of us all," and said between November 2014 and March 2019, about 600 undocumented criminals in the county who were released went on to commit additional violent offenses. He said a change in the notification policy would impact about 100 inmates a year. "My office will find justice for Bambi Larson, but this new policy is not for Bambi Larson," he said in a statement. (Immigrants) - and all their fellow county residents - deserve our assurance that we in these chambers are less concerned about political stances than their safety." As public comment pushed past four hours, speakers argued the changes would have a chilling effect on immigrant communities by making them even more reluctant to seek help from law enforcement, and said the amendment would tear families apart by deporting individuals instead of allowing them to serve their time and return home. "If we wanted to keep the community safe, would we keep incarcerated everyone who has committed a violent crime?" Rev. Anna Lange-Soto said. "If a brown guy commits a violent felony, then a white gal, they should have the same penalty -- not one deported and one let go." Groups on both sides of the debate argued their position would protect undocumented immigrants targeted by people in their own community, but immigrants who spoke at the podium opposed changes to the sanctuary policy. "We're a national model for preventing racial profiling and upholding equality under the law. If we give ICE an inch, they'll take a mile," said Maricela Gutierrez, executive director of Services, Immigrant Rights & Education Network. "President Trump loves to single out one part of somebody's identity as the reason for their actions. Please do not give into this racist logic. We need healing, not scapegoating." At about 4 p.m., supervisors began their discussion of the board referral. District 4 Supervisor Susan Ellenberg led with her intention to vote "no," saying notifications would not create a significant improvement in public safety while shattering the trust of over 100,000 undocumented immigrants in the county. She was the only supervisor to ultimately vote against the referral. Board President Joe Simitian said he didn't have confidence ICE would be a good faith actor, but was interested in furthering the conversation about addressing serious or violent felons. He also advocated for a limited list of eligible crimes. "We are living with an utterly dysfunctional immigration policy which is built on a foundation of fabrications and hypocrisies. It is not a policy that people follow or support in great numbers," Simitian said. Wasserman acknowledged staff members now face a "Herculean" task in crafting the proposed amendment. They will have to determine which county, state and federal databases allow ICE access to information about inmates and clarify how a notification system could function, but Cortese said the county has waded in ambiguity for years. "I think we're in a legislative crisis right now... trying to figure out - nine years after the fact, still, what this notification language really means," Cortese said. Staff and the county counsel will return with the study in one month. 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. Sonoma County Sheriff's Office SANTA ROSA (BCN) A Guerneville man was sentenced Wednesday to nine months in jail and three years' probation for making a criminal threat against a gay Starbucks barista at a Safeway store in Guerneville last year. A Sonoma County Superior Court jury convicted Vincent Joseph O'Sullivan Jr., 56, in March of making the criminal threat and an enhancement alleging the felony was a hate crime. O'Sullivan made a homophobic slur and used foul language on May 12 when he told the barista he was making pipe bombs to blow up the barista, the Safeway store and the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office's substation in Guerneville, according to the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office. The barista, Hank Dixon Myers, 62, told Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Peter Ottenweller the threat caused him fear, anxiety, nightmares and post-traumatic stress. He said O'Sullivan showed no remorse. "I wish the sentence was more but we'll take what we get. He still believes he's not guilty," Myers said after the sentencing. O'Sullivan previously was convicted in July of stealing a gay pride flag from the Veterans Memorial flag pole in Guerneville three days before he made the bomb threats. O'Sullivan said that flag was offensive and disgraceful and had no place on a pole dedicated to veterans, prosecutors said. Ottenweller said a state prison sentence for O'Sullivan is not appropriate because O'Sullivan's prior offenses before May were only for traffic citations. The judge said he is bewildered by O'Sullivan's behavior over the three-day period because of the discrimination O'Sullivan's Irish ancestors once experienced in the U.S. O'Sullivan's behavior over the three days also showed a lack of control, Ottenweller said. He ordered O'Sullivan to take 12 anger management classes. Defense attorney Martin Woods told the court O'Sullivan is remorseful. "There is a good person inside him," Woods said. He said O'Sullivan gave 40 hours of volunteer service after the floods in Guerneville this winter. O'Sullivan has already served 109 days in Sonoma County Jail that will be credited toward his nine-month sentence. 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. {}:S2 KEYWORD:WALK-TO-WORK 'WALK TO WORK DAY' == SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) San Franciscans will celebrate their city's seventh annual Walk to Work Day Wednesday, according to Walk San Francisco, an advocacy group for safe streets. Some city leaders will begin their walk to City Hall at 7:15 a.m. while Mayor London Breed will start at 8:40 from Hayes Valley with Supervisor Vallie Brown and Walk San Francisco executive director Jodie Medeiros. Anyone walking all or part of their commute is invited to stop at one of the five Walk to Work Day hubs in downtown from 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. for free goodies and coffee as well as a chance to win tickets to Hamilton, the San Francisco Giants and the Golden State Warriors. Walk SF will hold a rally at 9 a.m. on the steps of City Hall to call for safe streets for all pedestrians. 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. Paul Chinn/The Chronicle The Marin County coroner's office has identified a man who died Tuesday while clamming in Tomales Bay as Hai Li Zhou 29, of Sacramento. Zhou was among five people in a watercraft who became stranded near "Clam island" in Tomales Bay in adverse weather. Two people, including Zhou, tried to swim from the island to the shoreline in rough and frigid water, and three people were already on land when sheriff's deputies arrived, according to the sheriff's office. READ MORE: One person dead following distress call in Tomales Bay The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office's Henry-1 helicopter crew rescued one swimmer and brought him to shore before they were informed of another person who also was swimming to shore. The helicopter crew found a lifeless person identified as Zhou in the water midway between the island and shoreline and brought him to shore. The California Highway Patrol's helicopter medics immediately gave Zhou advanced life support and medical aid but he was pronounced dead at the scene, the Marin County Sheriff's Office said. A forensic exam is scheduled for Thursday. SAN JOSE (BCN) Southwest Airlines this week began nonstop service from Mineta San Jose International Airport and Long Beach Airport in Southern California. Southwest on Monday began four daily flights from San Jose to Long Beach-9:55 a.m., 1:50 p.m., 5:40 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. - and four flights coming to San Jose from the Southern California destination. "The Bay Area to Los Angeles Basin corridor is the U.S.'s busiest air travel market, and Southwest's four new daily flights give travelers more choices," the San Jose airport's director of aviation John Aitken said in a news release. JetBlue also offers two daily nonstop flights between San Jose and Long Beach, according to the airport. Southwest operates the most flights of any airline out of San Jose, with, as of this summer, 115 daily departures to 31 cities. 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. August of 2013 is when Bernardo Tapia and Sarah Meyer Tapia found love beneath the redwoods. They had been friends for a while, but both competed in the Race Thru the Redwoods that day, and after each of them won in their division, Meyer... San Franciscans will celebrate their city's seventh annual Walk to Work Day Wednesday, according to Walk San Francisco, an advocacy group for safe streets. Some city leaders will begin their walk to City Hall at 7:15 a.m. while Mayor London Breed will start at 8:40 from Hayes Valley with Supervisor Vallie Brown and Walk San Francisco executive director Jodie Medeiros. Anyone walking all or part of their commute is invited to stop at one of the five Walk to Work Day hubs in downtown from 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. for free goodies and coffee as well as a chance to win tickets to Hamilton, the San Francisco Giants and Golden State Warriors. Walk SF will hold a rally at 9 a.m. on the steps of City Hall to call for safe streets for all pedestrians. One person drowned early Tuesday afternoon near Toms Point in Marin County, according to the Marin County Sheriff's Office. Emergency personnel responded at about 1 p.m. to a report of persons in distress in Tomales Bay near Toms Point. The personnel pulled two people from the bay and attempted to save the life of one who was found lifeless in the water. The life-saving efforts failed. Sheriff's officials said the drowning is under investigation. An emotional debate on Santa Clara County's immigration policy ended Tuesday with supervisors voting to study changing sanctuary laws to allow federal authorities to be notified of undocumented inmates who have been convicted of specific crimes. The county counsel will now determine whether the change is legal and staff will study how such a notification process could function. It will not affect the county's refusal to cooperate with detainer requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and hold inmates in jail longer, which is unconstitutional in California. Instead, it could allow police and sheriff's deputies to contact federal authorities with an inmate's release date, time and location if they are an undocumented person convicted of serious and violent crimes. ICE would then be responsible for taking the inmate into custody prior to their release. About 200 speakers during public comment overwhelmingly opposed changes to the county's sanctuary policy, which in 2011 paved the way for dozens of other counties in the state. They said an amendment would create a double standard for criminals in the county, entrap innocent victims of the criminal justice system and politicize a tragedy to scapegoat undocumented immigrants. A former inmate at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin testified on Tuesday that two Alameda County sheriff's deputies arranged for a fellow inmate to spray feces and urine on him in his cell in 2016. Taking the witness stand in the preliminary hearing for Justin Linn, 25, of Tracy, Erik McDermott, 28, of Concord, who no longer work for the department, Fernando Soria, 48, said they opened his cell door and allowed the other inmate, who is nicknamed "Preacher," to spray him with feces and urine, a practice known as "gassing." Soria said McDermott and Linn also wouldn't allow him to bathe or put on clean clothes for days afterward. He testified that he would be naked in his cell for several days at a time and "I was freezing." Soria also alleged that McDermott and Linn broke his arm. He said the attacks occurred when he was housed in an administrative segregation unit. Several San Francisco supervisors are backing legislation that seeks to shutter the city's Juvenile Hall by the end of next year. The legislation, authored by Supervisors Shamann Walton, Hillary Ronen and Matt Haney, was introduced during Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting. The supervisors first announced their plans to put forth legislation to close the facility, located at 375 Woodside Ave., last month, citing a decline in crime youth that has resulted in the center being up to 75 percent empty on a regular basis. The legislation also seeks to use the funds that keep the facility open - more than $13 million annually -- to develop alternatives to juvenile incarceration as well as create a rehabilitative non-institutional center for the small minority of children who can't be released. Ahead of the meeting, hundreds of youth joined community groups, the supervisors and other city leaders to support the legislation. A stretch of state Highway 1 south of Gray Whale Cove State Beach reopened Tuesday evening after San Mateo County sheriff's deputies recovered a stolen car from the beach. As of 7:59 p.m., Highway 1 between Moss Beach and Pacifica had reopened. The vehicle had been reported stolen to Hayward police on Jan. 26 before being found on the beach, sheriff's officials said. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. An annual trip to South Africa for students in and around Oakland was canceled abruptly last month when the trip organizer announced that she was unable to secure the necessary funding, leaving families scrambling for answers. The nearly two-week trip was planned for about 35 African American students and their adult chaperones, but was canceled at the last minute by organizer Kharyshi Wiginton, who said she was $30,000 short of the $60,000 total cost. The announcement left participants, many of them current and former students within the Oakland Unified School District, wondering how something like this could happen and if they would receive refunds for their $1,000 deposits. It also left school district officials vowing to re-think how they handle third-party organizations like Wiginton's Culture Keepers that work closely with Oakland's school community. A majority of voters in Alameda's special election Tuesday decided to convert several vacant office buildings on McKay Avenue to senior housing and homeless services. The 3.65-acre parcel, which once belonged to the federal government, was the target of two competing measures on the ballot. Voters preferred Measure A, with 53.36 percent in favor, which calls for a $40 million project to convert the property near Robert Crown Memorial State Beach into 90 units of senior housing, a 50-bed respite center for homeless adults and a daytime resource center for seniors. Measure B, which would have converted the land to open space, failed with 56.39 percent of voters in opposition. A little over 29 percent of Alameda's 48,739 registered voters cast ballots in the election. Attorneys defending a man charged with murder for his role in the violent death of another man in Pittsburg last week said their client was rescuing his 12-year-old daughter from child sex traffickers and that police botched the investigation. Albert Lea Jr. was stabbed multiple times at a home on Hermosa Avenue around 9 p.m. Thursday. He was transported to a hospital but did not survive. Witnesses said the killer fled in a white sedan so investigators used Pittsburg's surveillance camera network and the Contra Costa County Freeway Security Network to track the vehicle to a home in Knightsen, where 48-year-old Jimmy Lee Biles was arrested on suspicion of murder. Just before Biles' arraignment Wednesday afternoon, defense attorney Joseph Tully circulated a statement to local media claiming that Biles' daughter had been drugged and repeatedly sexually abused prior to Lea's death. One person died and another is in stable condition after a shooting in East Oakland early Wednesday morning, police said. The shooting was reported at 12:18 a.m. in the 1600 block of Auseon Avenue. One male victim died and another was taken to a hospital. No arrest has been made in the shooting and no suspect information was immediately available from police. The Marin County coroner's office has identified a man who died Tuesday while clamming in Tomales Bay as Hai Li Zhou 29, of Sacramento. Zhou was among five people in a watercraft who became stranded near "Clam island" in Tomales Bay in adverse weather. A male victim was injured in a shooting near Interstate Highway 980 in Oakland on Tuesday evening, police said Wednesday. The shooting was reported at 6:33 p.m. in the 2300 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Way, just west of the highway. The victim was taken to a hospital and an update on his condition was not immediately available Wednesday morning. No arrest has been made and no suspect information was immediately available. An 18-year-old Carmel woman has pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter in a July 2018 DUI crash that killed her 16-year-old passenger, Monterey County prosecutors said Tuesday. Margot McNally was driving under the influence on Carmel Valley Road on July 12, 2018, when she crossed into oncoming traffic and hit a 1996 GMC Suburban, according to the California Highway Patrol. Anabelle Vanderbroucke was killed and McNally broke her tailbone after the vehicle caught on fire following the collision. The 69-year-old GMC driver was also seriously injured. CHP officers found McNally's blood-alcohol level may have been as high as .17 at the time of the crash, which is more than two times the legal limit, prosecutors said. The judge in the trial of Ghost Ship warehouse master tenant Derick Almena and creative director Max Harris said on Wednesday that 320 potential jurors have filled out questionnaires so far and another 160 will do so soon. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Trina Thompson said the first 320 potential jurors came to court on Monday and Tuesday and will be followed by an additional panel of 80 people on Thursday afternoon and one more panel of 80 people on April 18. Thompson said she possibly would call one last panel of 80 people after that "if it's absolutely necessary" to get enough qualified jurors for the highly publicized case. Almena, 48, and Harris, 29, are charged with 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter for the fire during a music party at the warehouse at 1309 31st Ave. on Dec. 2, 2016. Jury selection is scheduled to begin next Tuesday. After being closed for seven months, repairs are underway at the Salesforce Transit Center in San Francisco -- where two cracked steel beams were discovered last September -- and engineers are hoping to finish the repairs by June. The steel plate material that will be used to reinforce the two areas where cracks were found, just above Fremont Street, arrived late last month from Pennsylvania via Stockton-based steel fabricator Herrick, according to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority overseeing the project at the regional transit hub. That same steel plate material will also be used to reinforce the area above First Street. Although no cracks were ever found above First Street, it's being reinforced because it's structurally similar to the Fremont Street area where the cracks were found. A Guerneville man was sentenced Wednesday to nine months in jail and three years' probation for making a criminal threat against a gay Starbucks barista at a Safeway store in Guerneville last year. A Sonoma County Superior Court jury convicted Vincent Joseph O'Sullivan Jr., 56, in March of making the criminal threat and an enhancement alleging the felony was a hate crime. O'Sullivan made a homophobic slur and used foul language on May 12 when he told the barista he was making pipe bombs to blow up the barista, the Safeway store and the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office's substation in Guerneville, according to the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office. A fire at a home in Daly City displaced six people and a pet Tuesday night, according to the North County Fire Authority. The fire was reported at 10:05 p.m. in the 500 block of Skyline Drive and firefighters arrived to see smoke and flames coming from the roof and garage of the home. Fire crews were able to extinguish the blaze with no injuries reported. The displaced residents managed their own living arrangements following the fire, according to the fire authority. An evening fire at an apartment building displaced a senior veteran resident Tuesday. North County Fire Authority crews called to the building at 420 Old County Road around 7 p.m. saw heavy smoke coming from the front of one unit and forced open the front door to contain and extinguish the fire. The resident, who was uninjured, received housing assistance from the American Red Cross. Firefighters searched other units but found no other damage or residents needing assistance. Scientists with the Marine Mammal Center said Wednesday that the gray whale that washed up on the Rodeo shoreline in unincorporated Contra Costa County last week died of severe malnutrition, but due to decomposition they've been unable to pinpoint its underlying cause. The carcass was first observed floating near the Carquinez Bridge on April 2, but the following day it washed up on shore and scientists were quick to point out the concerning nature of the discovery, given that two other gray whale carcasses had been discovered in March. Benicia Middle School was temporarily locked down as a precaution Wednesday morning after threatening graffiti was found in a bathroom, Benicia police said. Police responded to the school at 1100 Southampton Road and determined the threat was not credible. The lockdown was lifted and students and school staff are safe, police 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. Description GIS - 10 April, 2019: The relations between Mauritius and Kenya date back when the respective countries were struggling for independence. The excellent relations have been enhanced over the years at bilateral level and consolidated by a series of high level meetings and visits during the past years. We look forward to deepening relations in the forthcoming years as we build on our political and economic ties for the benefit of the two nations. The relations between Mauritius and Kenya date back when the respective countries were struggling for independence. The excellent relations have been enhanced over the years at bilateral level and consolidated by a series of high level meetings and visits during the past years. We look forward to deepening relations in the forthcoming years as we build on our political and economic ties for the benefit of the two nations. The Prime Minister, Minister of Home Affairs, External Communications and National Development Unit, and Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, made this press statement this morning after a working session with the President of the Republic of Kenya, Mr Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, in Port-Louis. During the working session, six agreements that are the outcome of the deliberations of the first Joint Commission for Cooperation between Mauritius and Kenya were signed, namely : a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA); an Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (IPPA); a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation for Development of Special Economic Zones and Export Processing Zone in Kenya; a MoU in the field of Tourism; a MoU in the field of Higher Education and Scientific Research; and a MoU in the field of Arts and Culture. In his statement to the press, Prime Minister Jugnauth underlined that the visit of President Kenyatta is a testimony of the excellent relations that both countries share adding that they are both locked in a mutually beneficial partnership. He expressed gratitude to the Government of Kenya for its support in the countrys battle over the Chagos Archipelago sovereignty. He indicated that during the tete-a-tete and working session he had with the President, he had the opportunity to raise various issues of mutual interest and explore scope for both parties to further enhance their bilateral economic relations. Speaking about the agreements signed, Prime Minister Jugnauth pointed out that the DTAA and the IPPA are core instruments for the promotion of greater economic cooperation and protection of investments between the two countries. He added that the signature of the agreements on Special Economic Zone will lead to the setting up of a conducive framework towards developing centers that will enhance economic development and create employment opportunities. He further indicated that both parties have agreed to pursue consultations as regards the establishment of a MoU on Mutual Legal Assistance, an agreement on the transfer of prisoners, and an Extradition Treaty. Moreover, Mr Jugnauth underlined that Kenyas position as an economic powerhouse in the East Africa Region is one of the main trading partners of Mauritius, hence marking a new era as Mauritius seeks to work out strategies to tap into the full trade potential and develop joint agro-based industries. He highlighted that Mauritius will import more commodities from Kenya and improve collaboration and trade in different types of sugar. As regards regional issues, both countries are committed to combine their efforts to tackle internal security issues on matters relating to terrorism, maritime security, illegal fishing, illicit trafficking and drug trafficking, he stated. For his part, the President of the Republic of Kenya, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, said that this important and historical state visit will help strengthen the brotherly bilateral ties between the two countries that are essentially anchored in shared values and principles, similar aspirations of sustained growth and shared prosperity. Both countries, he added, are well-placed for championing development and through this enhanced collaboration, will have an opportunity to work together and build strategic cooperation and derive fruitful outcomes. President Kenyatta pointed out that during bilateral talks with Prime Minister Jugnauth, both parties discussed avenues to explore the opportunity for expansion of bilateral cooperation with the view of enhancing cordial relations between the two countries. Discussions focused on expanding opportunities of trade and investment in key sectors including culture, transport, agricultural, education and tourism. He also noted that Mauritius and Kenya are endowed with marine resources and highlighted the need of ensuring the sustainable use of these resources. He also emphasised the importance of enhancing partnership on maritime transport by linking Port-Louis to Port Mombasa as a catalyst for growing business and trade. According to the President, the six agreements signed between the two countries in critical areas will deepen the partnership between both countries. Kenya, he said, is encouraging more potential Mauritian investors to tap in business opportunities and in this regard, will make provision for facilities and services. He observed that Kenya takes cognizance of Mauritius strategic importance in the Indian Ocean to lead as chair of the Indian Ocean Rim Association, and its stand as regards the fight against money laundering, maritime piracy and drug trafficking. He expressed gratitude as regards the support of the Government of Mauritius given to Kenyas candidature for a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council 2021-2022, adding that Kenyas desire to be a member of the Council emanates from its aim to contribute to the maintenance of international peace and security. Speaking about Mauritiuss ongoing battle for the Chagos Archipelago sovereignty, the President reiterated Kenyas unflinching support, as it firmly believes in the fierce protection of sovereign and territorial integrity. Cafe Phins iced coconut coffee. Photo: Melissa Hom Vietnam is the worlds second-largest producer of coffee beans, with a caffeine culture thats as distinct as that of any other place in the world. It may not obsessed over by American coffee geeks like Italy with its precisely pulled espresso or Australia with its flat whites, but whatever: Its doing more than just fine by itself. Take the countrys coconut coffee. Served hot or cold, its a dreamy drink, the bitter, earthy beans mellowed out but also enhanced by the milks slightly sweet, lush flavor. A good one makes you wonder whats going wrong in all those American cafes where coconut milk has mostly served to convince customers it doesnt belong with coffee. Coconut coffee, on the other hand, is the sort of thing you can imagine gulping down when its sticky-hot and 90 degrees and with summer staring New York down, you just may. The distinct drink is now being served by Nguyen Coffee Supply at Cafe Phin, New Yorks first Vietnamese cafe from what is purported to be the countrys first specialty importer of Vietnamese coffee. There, the coconut milk is mixed with a little condensed milk for sweetness, and whole milk. Named for the French-style siphon with which Vietnamese coffee is traditionally made, the cafe occupies one of two bars at the Lower East Sides An Choi. Its a daytime-only operation, open bright and early Tuesday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon. (Its also cashless, a policy which has caused controversy at other businesses.) Both the cafe and the company are the brainchild of the multitalented and energetic Sahra Nguyen. A graceful talker, she bubbles over with excitement when she pulls the lid off a family-sized phin to check out whats brewing. Do you see it bloom? It looks like a brownie, she says. Owner Sahra Nguyen. Photo: Melissa Hom Nguyen came to coffee in a roundabout way; before launching NCS in November she self-published a book of poetry, ran a production company, created a web series for NBC News, and co-founded Lucys Vietnamese Kitchen. The coffee she imports from Vietnam, roasts in Brooklyn, and serves in Manhattan is the coffee that I as someone who likes medium roasts that arent overly acidic or burnt to bitterness had been looking for. (Yes, Im personally not a fan of really high-acidic coffee or citrus coffee, says Nguyen. That was a very big trend, its not for me.) All the coffee is brewed by phin here, and the family-sized ones are used to brew batches for specialty drinks. This brewing method gives the coffee a particular flavor as much as any other does. At Cafe Phin, both of the available blends are offered unadulterated and brewed using the phin, either black (ca phe en) or with condensed milk (ca phe sua, or ca phe sua a). Nguyen prefers and makes hers less sweet, with half an ounce of condensed milk. The ube iced latte being made. Melissa Hom. The ube iced latte being made. Melissa Hom. A well-made Vietnamese coffee is caramel-y and refreshing theres a reason people obsess over it. But the standard preparation is just the cusp of the coffee culture in Vietnam, where youll find youll find creative drinks like Hanois famous egg coffee, in which egg yolks are whipped with condensed milk; ca phe sua chua, or yogurt topped with coffee; and smoothies blended with tropical fruit. At Cafe Phin, theres a version of the frothy Italian shakerato, which Nguyen makes with sea salt and which she decided to put on the menu after visiting a cafe in Saigon that served a version of the drink. But Nguyens contribution to this canon of unique drinks is her ube iced latte, a strikingly photogenic dose of caffeine. Ube is a popular purple yam mostly in Filipino culture, but my family eats it a lot. I thought itd go really well with the robusta beans, because it has a sweet flavor and balances out the nutty profile, Nguyen says. The yam gives the drink which mixes ube extract, vanilla extract, simple syrup, and coconut milk its seductively purple color,. Its a thoroughly thought-out drink, just one that plays with coffee rather than exalts its traditions. Ive always been a huge coffee drinker. To be honest, I wasnt a very refined coffee drinker before I started researching and working on NCF, Nguyen admits. Cafe Phin at An Choi, 85 Orchard St., at Broome St. In recent days, the two countries suspended overlapping maritime claims to allow talks and Singapore halted the controversial landing procedures, ahead of a visit by Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to Malaysia on April 9th. Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (Photo: AFP/VNA) After holding talks in Malaysias administrative capital of Putrajaya, Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad and his Singaporean counterpart spoke highly of the moves to ease tensions. Mahathir announced in a press conference that the two sides agreed that the fundamental principle is to resolve issues of concern in a friendly and constructive manner. As close neighbours, Singapore and Malaysia must expect issues to arise from time to time but provided the countries can address them in a constructive spirit, side effects can be managed, Lee added. The countries leaders also announced talks on their maritime boundaries would begin in a month./. Fedoroffs roast pork sandwich. Photo: Melissa Hom There is no arguing that Philadelphias most famous sandwich although it remains uncertain how many people actually like it is the cheesesteak. (The cheesesteaks greatness remains one of Americas most hotly contested issues, along with the electoral college.) But its become a common refrain among sandwich-hounds that the true king of sandwiches in Philadelphia is the roast pork, that Italian-American combination of succulent meat, bitter broccoli rabe, sharp provolone, and ample use of pork drippings. I feel like the roast pork is the thing people from Philly are really proud of now. Its like, any asshole can make a cheesesteak, says Vulture writer Nate Jones, who spent his formative years munching on broccoli rabe in the Delaware Valley. Jones adds, I like them when they get really soggy. He is far from alone in letting his allegiance be known. Philly magazine called the sandwich Phillys best-kept secret, while Food & Wine declared it the citys best sandwich as did Bon Appetit. The chef Eli Kulp told the food website Tasting Table the roast pork is the true sandwich of Philly. Johns Roast Pork, an institution in the city, was named a James Beard Foundation Americas Classic in 2006; in 2014, it was reported that a man asked his family to bury him with one of Johns roast pork sandwiches. In other words, the secret is very much out. Its surprising, really, that the roast pork sandwich hasnt at least figured into a storyline on Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Tony Lukes. Photo: Scott Heins So, to recap: roast pork is the pride of Philly, and New York is a sandwich town. But until recently its been difficult to find one of the Philadelphia-style roast pork variety here. (It was served at Kulps Philadelphia import High Street on Hudson, but no longer.) That may soon be changing, however. New Yorks sandwich crew has been given some hope. The change began in 2016 with Fedoroffs, a narrow Williamsburg shop where the very messy roast pork sandwich is given prime billing. Since then a few more versions have popped up, including, most recently, one straight from Philadelphia. This month, the Philadelphia chain Tony Lukes opened the first of seven planned locations in and around New York City. Cheesesteaks may be given the star treatment, but the roast pork sandwiches take a lot of the attention away. In fact, New York critic Adam Platt could think of little else but the pork when Grub tasked him with assessing Lukes cheesesteak. And neither can Grub, which is why weve gone about cataloguing a handful of the roast pork sandwiches available around town for you. Fedoroffs How Much: $13 This Brooklyn spot promises South Philly Italian sandwiches, and delivers with a roast pork that, on one recent occasion, was seemingly dunked in pork drippings. Suffice to say, the side of pork jus wasnt exactly necessary. Messy doesnt quite capture it be careful about what clothes you wear. The meat is shredded, with crispy pieces hiding as little surprises, and theres ample, crunchy broccoli rabe and provolone that takes a backseat. Grub wouldnt advise you to eat the whole thing at once, though you may just want to let it sit around a little anyway: the bread does well soaking up all that meat juice. Tony Lukes How Much: $12 Order it Italian, and youll be bestowed pork thats properly sliced, soft, and perfumed with garlic. The bread is a real highlight, and this is simply a well-oiled meat delivery system. As Platt, who wolfed his half down, puts it, Like any great sandwich, it gets better as you eat it. It gets down to these nice little nubbins and greens. Some cheese. Very Italian-deli in all the right ways. Shortys How Much: $14 The people behind Shortys want you to know just how Philly they are (theres a whole page on their website on Authenticity) and their sandwich is by the book. The greens and meat mingle together with fully melted cheese. Carmentas version. Photo: Melissa Hom Carmentas How Much: $13 The bread is Italian (its from Parisi), the pork is roasted, the greens are broccoli rabe, the cheese is provolone and yet, co-owner Paul Cacici says it aint Philly. What gives? That was a super classic combination at old-school spots in [Bostons] North End, says the Massachusetts native of this holy trinity. Ive heard since that its a Philly thing; when we put it on [the menu], we got some customers who would come in and say, We had this all the time in Philly. Cacci does acknowledge his sandwiches Philadelphia connection, with distinguishing traits like their juiciness and sides of jus. At Carmentas, the pork shoulder is seasoned with orange zest, garlic confit, and fennel seed; roasted until caramelized; and braised with red wine and tomato sauce. Its shredded, but not too much, while the provolone is added in slices, the broccoli rabe in pieces, and the peppers sliced. The conclusion here? That the roast pork sandwich is universal. Calyer How Much: $11.75 The version served at this new Clinton Hill spot is better described as Philly-adjacent: its served on ciabatta with gasp banana peppers. But, look, theres still a healthy amount of sliced pork shoulder, which gets roasted for eight hours, reheated in jus, and paired with the usual greens and cheese. It helps that its a bit daintier than most, in case a craving strikes when youre not feeling ravenous. Job Archive July 2021 (524) June 2021 (681) May 2021 (698) April 2021 (659) March 2021 (688) February 2021 (615) January 2021 (700) December 2020 (714) November 2020 (671) October 2020 (631) September 2020 (690) August 2020 (713) July 2020 (713) June 2020 (690) May 2020 (713) April 2020 (690) March 2020 (713) February 2020 (667) January 2020 (713) December 2019 (713) November 2019 (687) October 2019 (711) September 2019 (689) August 2019 (711) July 2019 (707) June 2019 (688) May 2019 (2002) April 2019 (1979) March 2019 (2039) February 2019 (1689) January 2019 (2259) December 2018 (2111) November 2018 (1935) October 2018 (1993) September 2018 (1918) August 2018 (39) July 2018 (72) June 2018 (44) May 2018 (76) April 2018 (65) March 2018 (16) February 2018 (32) January 2018 (201) December 2017 (352) November 2017 (381) October 2017 (600) September 2017 (1211) August 2017 (1655) July 2017 (1590) June 2017 (1506) May 2017 (1903) April 2017 (1965) March 2017 (1417) February 2017 (1808) January 2017 (1807) December 2016 (1593) November 2016 (1377) October 2016 (1408) September 2016 (1317) August 2016 (1499) July 2016 (1505) June 2016 (1421) May 2016 (1392) April 2016 (1340) March 2016 (1476) February 2016 (1396) January 2016 (1474) December 2015 (1409) November 2015 (1367) October 2015 (1478) September 2015 (1443) August 2015 (1468) July 2015 (1465) June 2015 (1410) May 2015 (1058) April 2015 (1269) March 2015 (1133) February 2015 (1155) January 2015 (1154) December 2014 (1156) November 2014 (1268) October 2014 (81) Debney Productions and Costa Communications, in cooperation with Icon Productions, have announced the DVD/On-demand release of The Passion Oratorio: A Live Concert Event. The concert was filmed before an audience of over 6000 people at the world-renowned Mosque-Cathedral in Cordoba, Spain. It was the first orchestral concert performed in the mosque in over 40 years. The Passion Oratorio features the original concert work by The Passion of the Christ Oscar-nominated composer John Debney, the film's lyricist/vocalist/soloist Lisbeth Scott, the film's worldwind flute soloist Pedro Eustache, the Ziryab Choir, and the Cordoba Orchestra under the direction of Kevin Kaska. Other solo performers included tenor Juan Luque and soprano Maria Alonso. The Passion Oratorio will be available April 15 on-demand on iTunes, Amazon and Vudu, and Amazon. The release coincides with the 15th anniversary of The Passion of the Christ movie release. "I was so honored to have The Passion Oratorio performed in the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba where people of all faiths visit the mosque that was constructed over 1000 years ago," explains Debney. Director Mel Gibson praised the composer's concert work. "John Debney's musical score for The Passion of the Christ enhanced the film's images to an otherworldly realm," said Gibson. "In his Oratorio, John has gone a step further and expanded his inspiration to a work that transcends its orchestrations to speak straight to the heart and soul, like a prayer." John Debney has conducted several performances of The Passion Oratorio throughout the world, including the first concert in Rome, Italy. Following the performance, Archbishop Foley of the Vatican, who was in attendance, blessed Debney and the work. "As a composer, it was an experience that comes along once in a lifetime to be associated with a film that touched so many people's lives," said Debney. To date, The Passion of the Christ movie has made over $611 million worldwide. The Passion of the Christ movie score was nominated for an Oscar, and became a gold-selling album in 2004. The score was also honored with a Dove Award for Instrumental Album of the Year at the 36th Annual Gospel Music Awards. The Passion of the Christ score was composed by John Debney and produced by John Debney & Mel Gibson. Tags : the passion of the christ the passion of the christ anniversary The Passion Oratorio: A Live Concert Event Mel Gibson We've just closed the books on the first month of springand the beginning of the high season for home buyingand while the market slowed down in March compared with the same time last year, according to realtor.com data, an unexpected hot spot has emerged. Several markets in Ohio, which are some of the county's most affordable, are attracting lots of buyer interest, claiming three of the top 20 spots in our monthly ranking of the countrys hottest metros for real estate. Two more Ohio metros, while not in that top 20, chalked up the biggest improvement year over year. The state capital, Columbus, came in at No. 1 on the list, which reflects a combination of how fast homes take to sell (days on market) and the number of listing views racked up in each market. Both of these are an indicator of buyer demand. Akron and Canton came in at No. 16 and No. 19 respectively. Meanwhile, Cleveland and Cincinnati were the large metros with the most year-over-year improvement. That's a big change from the days (last year, even!) when the list was regularly topped by pricey California markets such as San Francisco and San Jose. (Each metropolitan area may also include smaller satellite cities.) While California continues to be the most-represented state in the top 20, its markets are also the most affected by the slowdown. Houses in Vallejo, Sacramento, and Santa Cruz saw a significant jump in days on market, with an increase of 11, nine, and nine days respectively. Overall, the data shows that current inventory is selling three days more slowly than last March. That drop-off remains unchanged from February, which was the first time since December 2014 that metros on the top 20 list experienced an increase in days spent on the market. The full analysis looked at the 300 largest metros in the U.S. According to realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale, the slowdown in big cities has indirectly benefited housing markets in the Midwest. "Historically there wasnt much demand in those areas," she says. "Now that home prices are higher across the board, people are looking to those [more wallet-friendly] areas to buy. Columbus is superaffordable, with a median $249,900 compared to the national listing price of $300,000, which attracts a lot of younger buyers." Watch: Our Economist's Answer to the 'Bubble' Question Real estate agent Lee Ritchie of Re/Max Metro Plus in Columbus says that the revitalization of the citys downtown drag is just one of many factors bringing more people to the area. Columbus has come a long way, she says. We have an amazing downtown area that has absolutely transformed over the last 10 years. You also have supercool housing from the brick cottages in German Village to the contemporary [high-rise] condos downtown to the old homes of Victorian Village. ... And then theres the sheer number of good restaurants [and] coffee shops. A good 80% of my business is working with first-time buyers in the millennial age group. Theyre out in full force, she adds. We [also] get calls from buyers from New York and California and Washington, DC. They know that its affordable ... but its also an easier way of life and, for many, a better quality of life. Its the best small big town." For Hale, how the market will fare for the rest of the year remains to be seen. "Mortgage rates have declined pretty notably from the start of the year to now, she says, noting that the opposite was true in 2018, when mortgage rates started off high before falling by the end of the year. Were waiting to see if that translates into hotter markets going forward. What people need to remember is that we can talk about national trendsbut if you are a buyer, a seller, or an agent, its important to understand whats going on in your local market. The hot list The post The Hottest Real Estate Markets in America for March 2019: Oh, Ohio?! appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com. TravelSkills on SFGate is brought to you by Visa United frequent flier Katherine Wenglikowski loathes the stinky smell of public bathrooms, but she was pleasantly surprised by what she found in the lavatory on a recent United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J. The aroma of grapefruit. She couldn't help but notice the same smell on the return flight too. "I'm largely scent challenged and find most overwhelming, but this grapefruit one is working for me," she said. In recent years, U.S. airlines have rolled out their own custom fragrances as part aromatherapy and part branding exercise. Big luxe-hotel chains, like Westin, Ritz-Carlton, and Shangri-La, have for decades scented their lobbies, gyms, and meeting rooms as a marketing mechanism. The use of scent to sell everything from airlines to shampoo has been around for years- remember Gee, Your Hair Smells Terrific shampoo? (It's still for sale.) In 2014, London Heathrow installed a "scent globe" allowing passengers to delight in the scent of various countries. A growing number of airlines believe coming up with an olfactory logo might help them too. That scent Wenglikowski caught a whiff of? United calls its own proprietary fragrance Landing. It's said to exude the aroma of orange peel, bergamot, cypress, black pepper, black tea, sandalwood, leather and more. Delta Air Lines led the way amongst U.S. carriers when in 2015, it debuted a signature scent called "Calm," a mixture of lavender and chamomile. Alaska Airlines rolled out its "West Coast-inspired" scent called Ocean Citron last year. The airline partnered with Seattle-based luxury fragrance company Antica Farmacista to come up with something that is described as "crisp citrus notes of California lemon and mandarin" and "a hint of earthy tea and cedarwood." Related: My 9 favorite travel smells Carriers are infusing their scents into hot towels, soaps, lotions, lavatory deodorizers, at gate areas, and in the lobbies of their respective airline lounges. All have said they're careful not to overdo it cognizant of fliers who are allergic to strong perfumes and colognes. At United's Polaris business class lounge locations, fliers checking in at the mood-lit lobby can pick up hints of its "Landing" fragrance wafting in the air. They'll also be serenaded with a playlist of music that was curated especially for the airline. Want to bring that scent home? From the United shop, you can buy a United Polaris Reed Diffuser for $41 or scented soap for $8. The sight, smell and sounds of checking into the lounge are designed to make for a full-on sensory experience, according to airline staff. Don't miss a shred of important travel news! Sign up for a FREE bi-weekly travel update emails! Brown University's Dr. Rachel Herz, who specializes in scent and psychology, told Travel+Leisure these custom scents can "incite loyalty and drive emotional connection and memories." Outside of the U.S., Air Canada, All Nippon Airways, Cathay Pacific, Turkish, and Virgin Atlantic are among the international carriers that have their own fragrances. Singapore Airlines has been famously perfuming its cabins for decades. Have you noticed? Many other carriers are planning to launch their own scents soon. "This latest scent that United is employing, for me, it made using the airplane ever so much more pleasant," Wenglikowski said. "Really not bad." What do you think of branded scents diffused by travel suppliers? What's your favorite? Or least favorite? Tell us 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. After months of dropping hints about flying to Europe, JetBlue made it official on Wednesday, announcing plans to begin service from both Boston and New York JFK but not until 2021. Bay Area residents won't be able to fly non-stop on JetBlue to London, but they will be able to connect at BOS or JFK and thus get access to its uber-popular Mint service all the way with one stop. The new service from an established and well-regarded low-fare player is bound to result in cheaper fares to London- not only on JetBlue, but its competitors as well. The airline said it will use new Airbus A321LR (long range) single-aisle planes for the London service, equipped with its nice Mint cabin in the front that offers lie-flat, business class-style seating and service. JetBlue has long maintained that it will be able to offer Mint fares to London that undercut existing business class fares on its big rivals, which will include Delta/Virgin Atlantic, American/British Airways, and United. In fact, it said on Wednesday that its Mint fares to London will be "a fraction" of existing premium fares. (We'll keep an eye on that! But we won't hear about fares for quite some time.) However, JetBlue doesn't have any A321LRs yet. It has a number of A321s on order, so it now plans to convert 13 of those orders to the LR version. Nor does it know yet which London airport it will serve it is still "evaluating" its airport options, the company said. The company did say that its transatlantic aircraft will have a "reimagined" version of Mint with more of the lie-flat seats than its domestic Mint-equipped Airbus planes have. "The success Mint has had on driving down the exorbitant airfares that our competitors were charging, stimulating new demand, and forcing the entrenched carriers to up their game, is a big reason we believe London is the next natural market for JetBlue to be successful and make a positive impact on consumers," said JetBlue President Joanna Geraghty. Here's an idea! On your way to London, layover at JFK's new TWA hotel! Details are still somewhat sketchy, but JetBlue did say it plans to offer "multiple daily flights" to London from both U.S. airports. The airline will have to hope that its fares are low enough to claw a piece of the market away from its rivals, which already offer substantial schedules to London, with more in the works e.g., just last week Delta and its joint venture partner Virgin Atlantic said they plan to introduce new daily service in 2020 to London Gatwick from Boston and New York JFK; they already have up to 16 flights a day to London Heathrow from the two cities. It's a tough, highly competitive market, so this will be interesting to watch. Don't miss a shred of important travel news! Sign up for our FREE bi-weekly email alerts British Airways and American are also joint venture partners with plenty of daily Heathrow flights in both markets, including up to a dozen a day from JFK. In February, the two carriers announced plans to co-locate their JFK-London operations in that airport's Terminal 8 starting in 2022 after a $344 million overhaul of the facility. United doesn't fly from Boston or JFK to London Heathrow, but it does have several daily flights from Newark. Besides bringing Mint to the market, JetBlue said it will also develop a transatlantic version of its "core" (i.e. main cabin) product. "The airline's customers in the Americas have long enjoyed spacious and comfortable seating, live television, high-speed Fly-Fi broadband internet, friendly service, and much more. JetBlue's transatlantic core offering will be designed for customers who already know and love the JetBlue experience as the airline remains committed to being an industry leader in comfort and service," the company said. And London likely will be just the first step in JetBlue;'s transatlantic ambitions. Amsterdam, Dublin and Paris are potential future European destinations for JetBlue, says Geraghty. Would you fly JetBlue on a one-stop flight to London, or stick with the nonstop options you have from the Bay Area or other cities? 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. BRUSSELS European Union leaders and Britain on Thursday agreed to a Brexit extension that will allow the United Kingdom to delay its EU departure date until Halloween. Leaders of the 27 remaining EU member states met for more than six hours before agreeing after midnight to postpone Brexit until Oct. 31. European Council President Donald Tusk presented the offer to May, who had asked for a delay only until June 30. Tusk said in a tweet that the British leader had agreed to the longer flexible extension, which means Britain can leave before October if it ratifies a withdrawal deal with the EU. This means additional six months for the UK to find the best possible solution, Tusk wrote. Just two days before Britain was due to leave the EU, its leaders spent a long dinner meeting wrangling over whether to save Britain from a precipitous and potentially calamitous Brexit, or to give the foot-dragging departing nation a shove over the edge. May pleaded with them at an emergency summit to delay Britains exit, due on Friday, for a couple of more months while the United Kingdom sorts out the mess that Brexit has become. May said a June 30 deadline was enough time for Britains Parliament to ratify a Brexit deal and pass the legislation needed for a smooth Brexit. But British lawmakers have rejected her divorce deal three times, and attempts to forge a compromise with her political opponents have yet to bear fruit. Jill Lawless and Raf Casert are Associated Press writers. NEW DELHI Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014 promising big-ticket economic reforms. But with unemployment rising and signature policies getting panned, Modis Bharatiya Janata Party has adopted a nationalist pitch ahead of a general election that begins this week. The last time the BJP sought a second term was 2004, when it spent millions on an ad blitz projecting India as an economic powerhouse. The voters didnt buy it. Election results showed that people voted according to their caste, an ancient hierarchy in India that is outlawed by the constitution but still vital in Indian politics. Hindus comprise about 80 percent of Indias 1.3 billion people, so the BJP is invoking its Hindu nationalist roots, with Modi at the forefront against the threat of Pakistan, Indias Muslim-majority archrival. Voting will take place in seven phases over six weeks beginning Thursday. Nearly 900 million people, including 15.9 million first-time voters, are eligible to cast ballots in the worlds largest democratic exercise. Around a million polling stations will be set up, and voters will choose 543 members of the Lower House of Parliament. Major election issues and factors include: Jobs: According to the Center for Monitoring the Indian Economy, unemployment reached 7.4 percent in December 2018, its highest rate in more than two years. Kashmir: A suicide attack in Kashmir killed 40 Indian paramilitary soldiers in February, helping the BJP hone its nationalist pitch. Analysts say Indian air strikes inside Pakistan in response to the attack gave Modi a pre-election boost. BJP leaders quickly made national security a central plank of their campaign. Caste: The BJP is mainly supported by upper-caste Hindus, while struggling to make headway with lower-caste voters and non-Hindus. Successive governments have sought to redress discrimination against those on the lower rungs by setting up quotas for government jobs and university spots. Giveaways: Giveaways are essential in Indian politics. Some 270 million people roughly 22 percent of the countrys population live in poverty, making giveaways particularly attractive to voters. In the past, farmworkers were offered cows and goats. Symbols: A ladder, hand pump, bicycle, bow and arrow, book, are just some of the many objects voters will see on their electronic ballots, symbols of the dozens of political parties and independent candidates. Since only about a fifth of Indias population could read or write at the time of the countrys first election in 1951, the symbols were introduced to help the unlettered cast their votes. Ashok Sharma is an Associated press writer. JERUSALEM Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared headed toward re-election early Wednesday, as close-to-complete unofficial results showed him pulling ahead of his main competitor in a tight race seen as a referendum on the long-serving leader. With a victory, Netanyahu would capture a fourth consecutive term and fifth overall, which this summer will make him Israels longest-ever serving leader. Re-election will give him an important boost as he braces for the likelihood of criminal charges in a series of corruption scandals. The election outcome affirmed Israels continued tilt to the right and further dimmed hopes of a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the final stretch of the campaign, Netanyahu had for the first time pledged to annex parts of the occupied West Bank in a desperate bid to rally his right-wing base. Annexation would snuff out the last flicker of hope for Palestinian statehood. Both Netanyahu and his challenger, former military chief Benny Gantz, leader of the rival Blue and White party, had declared victory in speeches to boisterous gatherings of supporters. But as the night went on, there were growing signs that Netanyahus Likud was pulling ahead. Its a night of tremendous victory, Netanyahu told supporters. I was very moved that the nation of Israel once again entrusted me for the fifth time, and with an even greater trust. He said he had already begun talking to fellow right wing and religious parties about forming a new coalition. I want to make it clear, it will be a right-wing government, but I intend to be the prime minister of all Israeli citizens, right or left, Jews and non-Jews alike, he said. The 69-year-old prime minister has been the dominant force in Israeli politics for the past two decades and its face to the world. His campaign has focused heavily on his friendship with President Donald Trump and his success in cultivating new allies, such as China, India and Brazil. But the corruption scandals created some voter fatigue. Along with two other former military chiefs on his ticket, Gantz was able to challenge Netanyahu on security issues, normally the prime ministers strong suit, while also taking aim at the prime ministers alleged ethical lapses. Israels attorney general has recommended charging Netanyahu with bribery, breach of trust and fraud. The telegenic Gantz, who has been vague on key policy issues, has presented himself as a clean, scandal-free alternative to Netanyahu. By Wednesday morning, with 97 percent of the votes counted, Likud and Blue and White had won 35 seats each. But Netanyahu was in a stronger position to form a coalition government with the anticipated support of right-wing and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, Likuds natural allies. Such a coalition could rest on 65 votes in the 120-member parliament. .By Josef Federman and Aron Heller are Associated Press writers. A man in Australia wanted to surprise his girlfriend by proposing to her on the beach during some acrobatic yoga, in this touching clip from last month (March 23). The couple Shaun Sullivan, 31, and Ashley Hockam, 30, travelled to Caves Beach in New South Wales to surf and relax, and when they tried out some acro-yoga on the beach, Sullivan took the opportunity to pop the question, totally surprising Hockam. Though she was balanced on Sullivan's legs, Hockam was moved to tears by the proposal and fell off. Sullivan commented: "I was wanting to propose to my girlfriend up at Caves Beach, NSW, Australia and the only way I could get it on film was to set up my phone because we sometimes film ourselves doing Acro to see how we can improve haha. "Wed just been surfing together and I was really keen to get it done before I would stuff the surprise because Im bad at keeping secrets. "She didnt even answer me she just fell off crying and never said 'Yes' until later, I wasnt even sure what to do after." We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. This includes cookies from third party social media websites and ad networks. Such third party cookies may track your use on Sharedots sites for better rendering. Our partners use cookies to ensure we show you advertising that is relevant to you. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on Sharedots website. However, you can change your cookie settings at any time. Learn more A dust storm warning has been issued for Clark County in southern Nevada with strong winds and very poor visibility in Primm on Tuesday (April 9). Drivers and the Nevada Department of Transportation reported limited visibility in the Primm area due to dust blows. The wind blowing this dust is now heading for Las Vegas. In the footage, strong wind and dust make it almost impossible to see the surroundings. The filmer told Newsflare that the dust "blocked out the sun, filled the hotel with dust and set off fire alarms in the casino due to how thick it was, you could taste the dust in the air." A high wind warning is in effect in Southern Nevada until Wednesday evening. Three beagles sit in a pushchair as they join tourists to view the beautiful cherry blossom in Japan. The adorable little dogs were loaded into the stroller by their owner at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo last month (March 31). The doggy brothers were seen excitedly looking out from the red buggy at the cherry blossom, also known as Sakura. They joined the throngs of tourists from around the world that travel to the city to take in the natural phenomenon each spring. The filmer said: ''The dogs looked like they were enjoying the atmosphere. "I think the owner wanted them to see the Sakura like everybody else.'' Page Content NASHVILLE, TENN.A panel of talent acquisition leaders from companies large and small gathered at the 2019 Society for Human Resource Management Talent Conference & Exposition to share their experiences dealing with some of the latest recruiting trends, practices and technologies. Here are a few of the most interesting observations. AI to the Rescue Over the last couple of years, the term AI (artificial intelligence) has been thrown around the way "ATS" (applicant tracking system) used to be, said Carol McDaniel, director of global talent acquisition at Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines. But how does a company like Deltawhich receives hundreds of thousands of applications for its flight attendant roles per yearactually use it? "We use AI to comb through a very large volume of applications [to find] the qualifications we know make a great flight attendant at Delta," McDaniel said. Delta uses HireVue's video interview assessments to screen applicants before recruiters take over to determine next steps with candidates who advance in the process. "The technology frees up our recruiters to work more with the candidates," she said. McDaniel knows that technologies like AI and machine learning left alone do not eliminate hiring bias. AI will pick up on the demographics of successful hires that make it through the process, which may curtail diversity. Since the airline needs a diverse group of people to serve in multiple global destinations, McDaniel and her team review the assessment data from HireVue and audit it to stop any bias that creeps into the algorithms. Paula Harvey, SHRM-SCP, vice president of human resources and safety for Schulte Building Systems, a midsize employer in Houston, commented that she realizes that there's a lot of benefits to using AI for recruiting but hopes that more offerings will be made available for small to medium-sized businesses. Ditching the Single-Vendor Suite Many companies are abandoning all-in-one suites of HR technologies for multi-vendor technology stacks which contain flexible, integrated solutions, said Tony Lee, SHRM's vice president of editorial. Single vendor systems are less effective and costlier, even for small businesses, he said. "Most of these cloud-based systems can be bought in parts," Harvey said. "You can buy a recruiting piece that is much better than what your main [human capital management] system provides. There are cheaper options out there that I think will be better than what my systemwhich is really good at timekeeping and payrolloffers." Schulte implemented an HR management system about three years ago that turned into "an epic fail," Harvey said. "We spent the last year speaking with and evaluating over a dozen vendors. Do your homework and evaluate what will work best with your industry, your company and your culture." McDaniel agrees that an all-in-one approach is not the best way forward. Delta just signed a contract with a leading vendor for an applicant tracking system, careers site and candidate relationship management platform. She noted that while "it's a bonus" that these talent acquisition technology modules integrate with your HRIS, it's crucial that those components also integrate with each other. Hiring for Future Fit Hiring for openings that don't yet exist is something staffing expert Scott Wintrip has been talking about for years, but the idea is still probably a bit out there for most companies. McDaniel said at Delta looks at the concept from a slightly different angle. "We evaluate a person's potential to grow in the organization. We utilize assessments to show where the person might fit well in the future. We look at the diversification of a person's experience when they are hired with future roles in mind." For example, a person may be hired in an operations role but also have a couple of years of experience in HR. The talent planning and talent management teams can partner up and identify employees with the potential to fill roles in other departments based on their skillsets and a career development plan. "It's not just replacement planning," Harvey said. "It's setting up a talent inventory and getting your high potentials the training they need." [SHRM members-only online discussion platform: SHRM Connect] Candidate Privacy Cannot Be Ignored "It's not a fun topic, but understanding and respecting candidate privacy is a critically important one," Lee said. The European Union's (EU's) data protection regulations went into effect last year. U.S. organizations that want to recruit workers living in the EU will need to understand how the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies to them. GDPR limits employers' outreach to applicants who have opted into the process and requires employers to purge candidate data. "In addition to GDPR, we're starting to hear talk about similar legislation in the U.S.," said Brett Bunce, director of field HR and talent acquisition at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, based in Lebanon, Tenn. "We're anticipating an increase in legislation that will continue to tip the balance of power to the candidate or employee versus the organization in how data is being used. That will affect how long you can keep candidate data in your ATS, what kinds of candidate notice you're going to have to give and refining the process about removing data." But Bunce said that while he realizes these types of disruptive regulations may create headaches at first, they can also be seen as improving candidate experience. "Speed-to-hire is everything," he said. "These rules will help us strip down our application as much as possible until we're only asking for the bare minimum information we need to move forward. Shortened applications lead to a better completion rate." [The SILive.com mobile app connects you with our top headlines, and push notifications for cant-miss stories. Heres how to get it.] STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- With concern already swirling around the children caught at the center of a grisly homicide case that spans two boroughs, law enforcement sources have revealed a new horrific detail. Following what police allege was the murder of Jeanine Cammarata, 37, by her estranged husband and his girlfriend, the couple packed up the kids along with the charred remains of the victim and drove to a storage facility in Arden Heights. Surveillance footage shows the couple accompanied by five children, who likely were oblivious to what was inside a plastic bin that investigators would find days later, along with air fresheners in an attempt to mask the smell, sources said. Two of the children, ages 3 and 7, belonged to Jeanine Cammarata, 37, and her husband, Michael Cammarata, 42. The other three belonged to Michaels live-in girlfriend, Ayisha Egea. All of the children were living with Michael and Egea in Queens. Following their mothers death and the incarceration of their father and his girlfriend, Jeanine and Michaels two children were in the custody of Michaels sister on Wednesday, sources said. Michaels sister declined to comment Wednesday. Facebook photos of the sister, who appears to be college educated and well traveled, show her with the children at different family events over the years, with loving comments by Jeanine. Though friends said Wednesday that Jeanines family in Alabama also is pursuing custody of the children. THE MURDER Police are fairly certain the first-grade teacher was killed in Queens, and are still awaiting a report from the medical examiner to determine the cause and manner of death. The massive Queens apartment complex where police say Michael Cammarata is seen carrying his wifes remains was bustling with residents Wednesday, but no one seemed to be aware the alleged killers lived there. The beachside property is a maze of multi-story buildings, located across the street from a large wooded area. A large security gate manned by a guard prevents outsiders from entering the property, and signs that read 24 hour surveillance are posted on the fence. Prior to her arrest, Egea told the Advance Jeanine showed up at the Queens apartment she shared with Michael late Saturday night to see her two children. She came very late and they were already sleeping, Egea said. She was saying crazy stuff and acting strange. (Talking) about her ex who passed away, and flipping out about her boyfriend now... In the hours following her disappearance, someone apparently was posing as Jeanine using her Facebook messenger account to converse with panicked loved ones. A lifelong friend of Jeanine Cammarata received a Facebook message from someone who-- if the NYPD's timeline is correct-- apparently was posing as the murdered Staten Island teacher. (Facebook) THE AFTERMATH Upon learning of his clients remains discovered Thursday morning on the South Shore, all I could think about was the kids and my heart broke, said divorce attorney Eric Gansberg. Both Jeanine and Michael had custody of their two children, but Michael -- an abusive husband, according to police sources and family friends -- had moved away from Staten Island with Egea and the children, making it increasingly difficult for Jeanine to see them, sources said. This guy was a controlling guy, and he controlled her by beating her, said former co-worker and confidant Jose Perez. He dictated what she did, because she was scared of him. Jeanine had filed for divorce, and was due in Family Court two days after the murder amid what was becoming a custody battle, according to Gansberg. Emotionally, when these kids grow up, how are they gonna deal with this? said Gansberg. Theyre going to need immediate counseling, and long-term counseling and care. CITY HALL -- New York City employers could soon be barred from testing prospective job candidates for marijuana as a condition of employment under a bill passed nearly unanimously by the City Council. The bill, introduced by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, however, would exempt safety, sensitive security jobs and those tied to a federal or state contract or grant from the policy. The legislation passed Tuesday comes as the city and state have both gotten behind legalizing marijuana for recreational use. Over the summer, de Blasio and Police Commissioner James ONeill announced the NYPD would issue criminal summonses instead of arrests to people caught smoking pot in public. They said the shift in marijuana enforcement would reduce the overall number of pot arrests by about 10,000 per year. We need to be creating more access points for employment, not less- and as we move toward legalization, it makes absolutely no sense that we're keeping people from finding jobs or advancing their careers because of marijuana use. This legislation, like the Fair Chance Act before it, is good for both employers and prospective employees. It expands the pool of applicants by preventing people from being shut out. I thank Speaker Corey Johnson and my colleagues for moving quickly to pass this bill, Williams said. MATTEO OPPOSES BILL, SAYS PRIVATE BUSINESSES HAVE RIGHT TO DECIDE Minority Leader Steven Matteo (R-Mid Island), and three other councilmen voted against the legislation. He argued that private businesses should have the right to decide whether test prospective candidates for drugs. "Private businesses should have the power to determine their own hiring practices - not just in deciding what skills and experience are relevant to certain positions, but also whether the use of a specific drug could have an adverse impact on a prospective employee's ability to perform, the Mid Island councilman said. The bill will still need to be signed into law by Mayor Bill de Blasio, who in a report released by his administration last year, started that the city would support barring public and private employers from denying people employment if they test positive for pot or because of prior marijuana arrest convictions. FOLLOW SYDNEY KASHIWAGI ON TWITTER. Correction: A previous version of this story stated Councilman Steven Matteo was the only councilman to vote against the bill, however, three other councilmen including Rueben Diaz Sr., Eric Ulrich and Kalman Yeger also voted against the bill. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- City Councilman Joe Borelli said Wednesday night that he has the backing of the citys Republican leaders for Public Advocate in the November election. Staten Island Republican Chairman Brendan Lantry confirmed the South Shore councilman had the partys backing. My only response is -- get ready, Borelli, 36, said in a brief phone conversation Wednesday night. Lantry said Borelli would make for a leader with intellect, a work ethic, and embodies conservative principles. Now more than ever, City Hall despeately needs a responsible watchdog to provide a check to the socialism permeating throughout our New York City Government, he said. Borellis likely to face off against current Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who won a February non-partisan special election against a crowded field of 16 candidates. Before the November general election, there will be June primaries that both men will need to take part in. In this Sept. 13, 2018, file photo, Jumaane Williams, delivers his New York Lt. Governor concession speech. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File) APAP The Public Advocate position, created in 1993, was meant to be a government official who champions the public and ensures government is responsive to their needs. The position holds little power, but has acted as a stepping stone for politicians in the past. No matter who holds this office the power of this position comes from the people, Williams said in his February victory speech. "I ran this campaign to be the voice of the people. Mayor Bill de Blasio, who previously held the position, congratulated Williams on his win. The Public Advocate holds our entire City government accountable and amplifies the voices of all New Yorkers, he said. "I look forward to working with Public Advocate Williams to continue making this the fairest big city in America. Borelli has served as the South Shore councilman since November 2015, and before that served as the Assemblyman for the 62nd District. He said he would be making a more formal announcement in the coming weeks as he assembles a team, and gets ready for the campaign. A previous version of this article said the primaries would take place in September. They will be in June. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Three former detectives will receive $700,000 as part of a settlement reached in a discrimination lawsuit brought against the NYPD, and two of their superiors. Retired Detectives Jon McCollum and Roland Stephens, along with the family of deceased Detective Theodore Coleman reached the settlement April 3 in Manhattan federal court, according to court records. One of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, Elizabeth Saylor, said that her clients were pleased with the settlement, but disappointed that the NYPD hadnt taken the necessary steps to change the processes that led to the discrimination against the detectives. A complaint filed in September 2017 claimed the detectives and other African Americans in the NYPDs Intelligence Division, which became the Intelligence Bureau in 2013., had been repeatedly passed over for promotion in favor of their less qualified white peers. For well over a decade, the NYPDs Intelligence Division has implemented a secretive and unstructured promotions policy, administered by white supervisors who refuse to promote deserving African-American detectives, the complaint read. In spite of their proven track records of achievement and strong recommendations from their direct supervisors, they were repeatedly passed up for promotion due to their race. Multiple supervisors told the men that if they were white they would have been promoted, according to the complaint. Deputy Commissioner David Cohen and Assistant Chief Thomas Galati are named in the suit as the two superiors responsible for the discrimination against African Americans. The complaint said the two men can offer no justification for their decision to employ a standard-less, highly subjective, and secretive promotions and assignments policy, that resulted in no Intelligence Division African Americans above the rank of sergeant in 2011. More recent stats were not available. A 2016 report issued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) backed up the claims made in the complaint. It supported the claim that black detectives did not receive fair treatment in the promotion process. The Department of Justice (DOJ) declined to take action as a result of the report. NYPD spokeswoman Sgt. Jessica McRorie noted that DOJ decision in a response that outlined the police departments own review that determined race was not part of the promotions process in the Intelligence Bureau. She said the city made a practical decision after it determined there was no wrongdoing on the part of the department, and that part of the settlement was a dismissal of the claims made against Cohen and Galati. The Intelligence Bureau is made up of a diverse group of men and women from all different ethnic and operational backgrounds, McRorie said. "Its members speak different languages, have an array of skill sets, range in tenure within the Department and the Bureau, and contribute to the Bureaus success in protecting a similarly diverse City from the threat of terror." CITY HALL -- As former Congressman Michael Grimm nears a decision on whether to run for Congress in 2020, he paid a visit to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to continue to test the waters. Grimm spokesman Joe Shikhman said the former congressman had a one-on-one meeting with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to talk to him about the 2020 New York 11 congressional race. Shikhman also said Grimm met with other Republican leaders like Minority Whip Steve Scalise, Rep. Jim Jordan, who chairs the Freedom Caucus, and other former congressional colleagues. He just wanted to catch up with some people and meet with the leader, Shikhman said. Grimms visit to Washington comes as he recently said he was 90 percent of the way there to announcing whether he plans to run for Congress. As majestic as ever! Great seeing some old friends. Dont get too comfortable, @MaxRose4NY! pic.twitter.com/w9cWTorC6R Michael Grimm (@RealMGrimm) April 10, 2019 Shikhman said Grimm was only visiting D.C. for the day and does not yet have any plans or timeline on a formal announcement for a 2020 run. Not just Grimm, but Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-East Shore), who has also announced a formal run for Congress and Councilman Joe Borelli (R-South Shore), have also paid recent visits to Washington. Malliotakis said she received encouragement from both President Donald Trump and McCarthy to run. The assemblywomans campaign also said McCarthys Leadership PAC donated the maximum of $10,000 her campaign. So far, Borelli has not yet made a formal announcement, but is actively considering a run. The Republican candidate who prevails in next years primary will be set to face Democratic Rep. Max Rose, who unseated Rep. Daniel Donovan last November in one of the most closely watched congressional races in the nation. Grimm served in Congress from 2011 until 2015, when he resigned after pleading guilty to tax fraud related to a Manhattan health food restaurant he co-owned before taking office. He had won re-election while under indictment in November 2014. After serving eight months in federal prison beginning in 2015, Grimm attempted a comeback last year when he challenged Donovan in a Republican primary where the two candidates were constantly jockeying to align themselves with President Trump. He lost on June 26 by nearly 30 points. FOLLOW SYDNEY KASHIWAGI ON TWITTER. [The SILive.com mobile app connects you with our top headlines, and push notifications for cant-miss stories. Heres how to get it.] STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A man suffered serious injuries Sunday morning in St. George when he was struck in a hit-and-run collision. Emergency personnel responded to the scene at around 5 a.m. and found the victim near the intersection of Central Avenue and Hyatt Street unconscious with visible injuries, a spokesman for the NYPD said Tuesday. The 56-year-old man, who cops said has a last-known address in Port Richmond, was transported to Richmond University Medical Center, according to the spokesman. A spokesman for the West Brighton hospital said the man remained in critical condition Tuesday night. Police arrested the alleged driver, Peter Noblecilla, Monday at around 2 p.m., according to online court records. The 27-year-old St. George resident was charged with one felony and one misdemeanor in relation to his alleged actions. Noblecilla is being held on $50,000 bail, cash or bond, according to online court records. His lawyer did not return a request for comment Tuesday night. The incident came to the Advances attention through a tip from a local resident. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- NASA announced it has officially accepted the challenge posed by President Donald Trump to land American astronauts -- including the first woman astronaut -- on the moon by 2024. The agency made the announcement Tuesday during the 35th Space Symposium -- saying it is working to accelerate a return to the moon by all means necessary. Weve been given an ambitious and exciting goal," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "History has proven when were given a task by the president, along with the resources and the tools, we can deliver. We are committed to making this happen. We have the people to achieve it. Now, we just need bipartisan support and the resources to get this done. The human lunar landing will be a public-private partnership in which NASA will work directly with American companies to expedite the journey to the moon, specifically to explore the South Pole. NASA said it will work in two phases. First, we are focused on speed to land the next man, and first woman, on the moon by 2024," said Bridenstine. Second, we will establish sustainable missions by 2028. To do that, we need our powerful Space Launch System to put the mass of reusable systems into deep space. The agency will establish a permanent American presence and infrastructure on and around the moon called the Gateway, which will be a lunar orbiting platform to host astronauts farther from Earth. Gateway will serve as a reusable command and service module in lunar orbit. It will have the ability to be positioned in a variety of orbits around the moon, which will allow access to the entire lunar surface. During lunar expeditions, NASA said a team of crew members will remain aboard the Gateway while a separate team will explore the surface of the moon. All crew members will ultimately board the Orion spacecraft for a return to Earth. Using the most advanced technologies, the campaign will allow future astronauts to stay longer on the surface of the moon, explore more of the moon and build a sustainable presence. NASA said a new class of power systems will support future human outposts on the moon and autonomous rovers and robots will move around the surface. The agency added it will print, manufacture and build as much as it can with materials found on the moon. FOLLOW ANNALISE KNUDSON ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Staten Islands district attorney and New York Citys special narcotics prosecutor (SNP) both say certain aspects of state-wide bail reform could hinder drug prosecutions. In a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, SNP Bridget Brennan argues that parts of the reform passed in the state budget on April 1 will jeopardize efforts to contain the opioid epidemic. Im very very very concerned, because thousands of New Yorkers died last year, Brennan said in an interview. If this thing stays the way it is, there are going to be 100s of drug defendants released, who are not low-level defendants. The bail-reform measures, which would eliminate judicial discretion when determining bail for people charged with most drug offenses, will go into effect in January 2020 if they are not changed. Judges will only have the option to issue bail for defendants charged under a statute meant for major drug traffickers that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Brennan said her office only brought that charge against four defendants in 2018. People are under the assumption that this is only going to apply to low-level dealers, Brennan said. When I explain to them what the impact is going to be, theyre shocked. Tyrone Stevens, a spokesman for Cuomos office, said the Governor had not yet received the letter, and Brennan said she hasnt gotten a response from any of the three politicians she sent her letter to. Stevens said the Cuomos office will review the letter when it is received. Were proud of the historic criminal justice reforms Governor Cuomo championed that were passed as part of this years budget and believe they will promote the most basic concept of justice: innocent until proven guilty, Stevens said in a statement. " We look forward to continuing to build on our groundbreaking work, and we will review the letter when we receive it. McMahon and Brennan both argued that the changes in the bail system would, along with changes to the forfeiture statute, create the risk of flight in certain defendants. She pointed to a recent bust of two men in Harlem, who were allegedly in possession of 77 pounds of fentanyl and heroin bricks embossed with images of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar valued between $10 and $20 million. She said the two men would be free, if the reforms were in place today. Their alleged ties to the international drug trade, and the $200,000 in cash seized from them, which could not have happened under changes to the forfeiture statute, make them serious flight risks, according to Brennan. I think its absolutely nuts what they have done with this legislation, McMahon said. This statute would totally hinder successful prosecution of very serious and very dangerous drug dealers. To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! Australian fast food chain Domino's Pizza is stretching its reach across Europe by buying the rights to operate the global brand in Denmark. The ASX-listed group said on Wednesday it had agreed to pay about 2.5 million ($4 million) to become the master franchise for Domino's in Denmark, after the previous operator went bankrupt early last month. Domino's said there was scope to open about 150 stores in Denmark. Credit:AAP The franchisor already has more than 1000 stores in Europe, across Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, in addition to operations in Japan, New Zealand and Australia. Domino's said it would start in Denmark by opening about 20 stores within the next year, and would use its "business know-how to carefully reinvigorate operations" in the country of 5.7 million people. "It was state of the art at the time, but that was 50 years ago," said Rick Ludtke, a former Boeing engineer who helped design the Max's cockpit. "It's not a good airplane for the current environment." The 737 has long been a reliable aircraft, flying for decades with relatively few issues. Gordon Johndroe, a Boeing spokesman, defended the development of the Max, saying that airlines wanted an updated 737 over a new single-aisle plane and that pilots were involved in its design. "Listening to pilots is an important aspect of our work. Their experienced input is front and center in our mind when we develop airplanes," he said in a statement. "We share a common priority safety and we listen carefully to their feedback." Boeing's chief executive, Dennis Muilenburg, said in a statement Friday that the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia appeared to have been caused by the Max's new anti-stall system. "We have the responsibility to eliminate this risk, and we know how to do it," he said. The birth of the 737 At a factory near Seattle on January 17, 1967, flight attendants christened the first Boeing 737, smashing sparkling wine bottles over its wing. Boeing pitched the plane as a smaller alternative to its larger jets, earning it the nickname the "Baby Boeing". Early on, sales lagged Boeing's biggest competitor, McDonnell Douglas. In 1972, Boeing had delivered just 14 of the jets, and it considered selling the program to a Japanese manufacturer, said Peter Morton, the 737 marketing manager in the early 1970s. "We had to decide if we were going to end it or invest in it," Morton said. Ultimately, Boeing invested. The 737 eventually began to sell, bolstered by airline deregulation in 1978. Six years later, Boeing updated the 737 with its "classic" series, followed by the "next generation" in 1997, and the Max in 2017. Now nearly one in every three domestic flights in the United States is on a 737, more than any other line of aircraft. Each of the three redesigns came with a new engine, updates to the cabin and other changes. But Boeing avoided overhauling the jet in order to appease airlines, according to current and former Boeing executives, pilots and engineers, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the open investigations. Airlines wanted new 737s to match their predecessors so pilots could skip expensive training in flight simulators and easily transition to new jets. Boeing chief Denis Muilenburg Credit:Bloomberg Boeing's strategy worked. The Federal Aviation Administration never required simulator training for pilots switching from one 737 to the next. 'If it's not broke, don't fix it' "Airlines don't want Boeing to give them a fancy new product if it requires them to retrain their pilots," said Matthew Menza, a former 737 Max test pilot for Boeing. "So you iterate off a design that's 50 years old. The old adage is: If it's not broke, don't fix it." It did require engineering ingenuity, to ensure a decades-old jet handled mostly the same. In doing so, some of the jet's one-time selling points became challenges. Loading For instance, in the early years of the 737, jet travel was rapidly expanding across the world. The plane's low-slung frame was a benefit for airlines and airports in developing countries. Workers there could load bags by hand without a conveyor belt and maintain the engines without a lift, Morton said. In the decades that followed, the low frame repeatedly complicated efforts to fit bigger engines under the wing. By 2011, Boeing executives were starting to question whether the 737 design had run its course. The company wanted to create an entirely new single-aisle jet. Then Boeing's rival Airbus added a new fuel-efficient engine to its line of single-aisle planes, the A320, and Boeing quickly decided to update the jet again. "We all rolled our eyes. The idea that, 'Here we go. The 737 again,'" said Ludtke, the former 737 Max cockpit designer who spent 19 years at Boeing. "Nobody was quite perhaps willing to say it was unsafe, but we really felt like the limits were being bumped up against," he added. Some engineers were frustrated they would have to again spend years updating the same jet, taking care to limit any changes, instead of starting fresh and incorporating significant technological advances, the current and former engineers and pilots said. The Max still has roughly the original layout of the cockpit and the hydraulic system of cables and pulleys to control the plane, which are not used in modern designs. The on-board computers have the processing power of 1990s home computers. A Boeing spokesman said the aircraft was designed with an appropriate level of technology to ensure safety. When engineers did make changes, it sometimes created knock-on effects for how the plane handled, forcing Boeing to get creative. The company added a new system that moves plates on the wing in part to reduce stress on the plane from its added weight. Boeing re-created the decades-old physical gauges on digital screens. As Boeing pushed its engineers to figure out how to accommodate bigger, more fuel-efficient engines, height was again an issue. Simply lengthening the landing gear to make the plane taller could have violated rules for exiting the plane in an emergency. Instead, engineers were able to add just a few inches to the front landing gear and shift the engines farther forward on the wing. The engines fit, but the Max sat at a slightly uneven angle when parked. While that design solved one problem, it created another. The larger size and new location of the engines gave the Max the tendency to tilt up during certain flight manoeuvres, potentially to a dangerous angle. The Boeing 737 MAX has been grounded worldwide in the wake of the Ethiopian Airlines tragedy. Credit:AP To compensate, Boeing engineers created the automated anti-stall system, called MCAS, that pushed the jet's nose down if it was lifting too high. The software was intended to operate in the background so that the Max flew just like its predecessor. Boeing did not mention the system in its training materials for the Max. Boeing also designed the system to rely on a single sensor a rarity in aviation, where redundancy is common. Several former Boeing engineers who were not directly involved in the system's design said their colleagues most likely opted for such an approach since relying on two sensors could still create issues. If one of two sensors malfunctioned, the system could struggle to know which was right. Airbus addressed this potential problem on some of its planes by installing three or more such sensors. Former Max engineers, including one who worked on the sensors, said adding a third sensor to the Max was a nonstarter. Previous 737s, they said, had used two, and managers wanted to limit changes. "They wanted to A, save money and B, to minimise the certification and flight-test costs," said Mike Renzelmann, an engineer who worked on the Max's flight controls. "Any changes are going to require recertification." Renzelmann was not involved in discussions about the sensors. The Max also lacked more modern safety features. Most new Boeing jets have electronic systems that take pilots through their pre-flight checklists, ensuring they do not skip a step and potentially miss a malfunctioning part. On the Max, pilots still complete those checklists manually in a book. A second electronic system found on other Boeing jets also alerts pilots to unusual or hazardous situations during flight and lays out recommended steps to resolve them. On 737s, a light typically indicates the problem and pilots have to flip through their paper manuals to find next steps. In the doomed Indonesia flight, as the Lion Air pilots struggled with MCAS for control, the pilots consulted the manual moments before the jet plummeted into the Java Sea, killing all 189 people aboard. "Meanwhile, I'm flying the jet," said Tajer, the American Airlines 737 captain. "Versus, pop, it's on your screen. It tells you: This is the problem, and here's the checklist that's recommended." Most new Boeing jets have electronic systems that take pilots through their preflight checklists, ensuring they do not skip a step and potentially miss a malfunctioning part. On the Max, pilots still complete those checklists manually in a book. Credit:Bloomberg Boeing decided against adding it to the Max because it could have prompted regulators to require new pilot training, according to two former Boeing employees involved in the decision. A complex web The Max also runs on a complex web of cables and pulleys that, when pilots pull back on the controls, transfer that movement to the tail. By comparison, Airbus jets and Boeing's more modern aircraft, such as the 777 and 787, are "fly-by-wire", meaning pilots' movement of the flight controls is fed to a computer that directs the plane. The design allows for far more automation, including systems that prevent the jet from entering dangerous situations, such as flying too fast or too low. Some 737 pilots said they preferred the cable-and-pulley system to fly-by-wire because they believed it gave them more control. Many Australians are expected to have a 10-day mini-break this year from Good Friday until the Monday after Anzac Day because it requires taking only three days of annual leave. And tens of thousands will have a sickie on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday around the public holidays. What will be the effect on small business? Im tipping a national epidemic of sore throats, migraines and sick children on days in between the holidays. Others will work from home during this period, probably eating Easter eggs and watching Netflix. Over the next week there could be many workers claiming to 'work from home' while firing up Netflix instead. Credit:Bloomberg Could the Friday after Anzac Day break records for sickies? This years Easter break looks like a sick-leave killer for small business. The clustering of public holidays will tempt more workers who did not ask for leave or were told they had to work, to sneak a sickie. Others will party so hard on the public holidays that a sickie is needed. President Donald Trump is sending a clear message to the economic policy makers gathering in Washington for the IMF and World Bank's spring meetings: My trade wars aren't finished yet and a weakening global economy will just have to deal with it. With his latest threat to impose tariffs on $US11 billion ($15.4 billion) in imports from the European Union -- from helicopters to Roquefort cheese -- the US president offered a vivid reminder that, even as he moves toward a deal with China to end their tariff wars, he has other relationships he's eager to rewrite. That's not encouraging for global growth, with the International Monetary Fund and others pointing to the uncertainty over Trump's assault on the global trading system as a damper on business investment and sentiment. Trump's trade wars continue, and the world will just have to deal with it. Credit:AP Should they materialise, the new tariffs will be in retaliation for what the US has long claimed are illegal subsidies to Airbus and cap a 14-year fight between Boeing and its European rival at the World Trade Organization. Regina Hall plays the perfectly named anti-heroine Jordan Sanders, the control freak founder of an Atlanta tech company, who learnt early on that the only way to protect yourself from bullies is to lash out first and whose polished ice queen exterior belies the anxious brainiac within. There are two major aspects to the premise, both familiar: the trending topic of a dedicated businesswoman who needs to chill out, and the enduring "body swap" fantasy found in pop classics such as Freaky Friday or Suddenly 30. For a bright and breezy commercial comedy, your present best bet is surely Little, directed by the relatively little-known Tina Gordon Chism with behind-the-scenes input from several key players, including co-writer Tracy Oliver, who brought us the hugely successful Girls Trip. Regina Hall as Jordan Sanders in Little, co-written and directed by Tina Gordon. Credit:Eli Joshua AdA/Universal Pictures Through a random bit of magic, the film in general is rather casual in its plotting, Jordan is physically transformed back into the awkward young teenager she was in the 1990s (now played by the remarkable Marsai Martin, the 14-year-old co-star of the sitcom Black-ish). Internally she remains as adult as ever, but to keep the company afloat she's forced to rely on her dogsbody assistant April (Issa Rae) who seizes the chance to gain the upper hand. Jordan's ordeal is meant to remind her what it's like to be an underdog, transforming her into a nicer and more authentic person. But the real thrill lies elsewhere in the fabulous vision of a petite, bespectacled young girl strutting around in a pink pant suit, blithely demanding alcoholic drinks, introducing herself at school as the "new alpha" and helping her geeky new friends to up their Instagram game. Underwriting this camp spectacle is a distinctly modern concept of identity, as an innate quality which reveals itself through practiced performance: the tone is set, obliquely, by an throwaway gag in which a four-year-old child is imagined as transitioning between genders. Chism and her team have a finely tuned sense of how much they can get away with, notably in having the seemingly pre-adolescent Jordan flirt brazenly with adult men: the whole game lies in gliding up to the edge of bad taste without toppling over. Blatantly precocious young performers have gone out of vogue in American entertainment, but in Martin's case the precocity isn't just a novelty: she delivers an uncannily assured and controlled comic performance, built on varying gradations of what is sometimes called "stink-eye". (Her sceptical "Mm-hm?" is also a thing of beauty). Forget a new cupola on the Vaucluse pile, the time is nigh for a bid on the work of some fine local artists and how they have delivered. Almost $2 million of Sidney Nolan's works never before sold on the market are on the auction block courtesy of the late Lady Mary Nolan, the artists third wife, come Junes Bonhams auction. Mary, sister to Arthur Boyd and married to Nolan until his death, won control of his works in 2004. Almost $2 million of never-been-sold Sidney Nolans will be put on the auction block next month. Illustration: John Shakespeare Credit: She was also the subject of a feud with Nobel Prize-winning author Patrick White, which broke out when White criticised Nolan in his memoir Flaws in the Glass for flinging himself on another woman's breast when the ashes were scarcely cold ..." after the passing of his second wife Cynthia. Just hours after detectives made a public appeal for information about a man's body that was found bound, gagged and dumped by the side of a major Sydney road, they received the most unlikely of telephone calls from the US. Californian man Alex Dion called police on June 20, 2018, to say he had seen their earlier appeal about the discovery of Wachira "Mario" Phetmang's body near Sydney Olympic Park a fortnight earlier. Thai national Wachira Phetmang was found dead near Sydney Olympic Park. Credit:NSW Police The body of the 33-year-old Starbucks worker, who lived in a highrise apartment in Hurstville with his partner and who had no criminal history, had been found by a passing truck driver. With more than 20 wounds to his head and multiple skull fractures, the Thai national's body was bound with white rope and then wrapped in a plastic mattress protector before being dumped by Homebush Bay Drive for up to a fortnight before it was found. ""People will be talking about religion - some badly, some against it, but that is good. It shows people are interested." Dr Billy Graham pictured at a press conference in Sydney on 10 April 1959. Credit:Staff photographer First published in the Sydney Morning Herald on April 12, 1959 Dr Billy Graham gave his first address in Sydney last night when he spoke to 10,000 Sydney Crusade officials at the Show-ground. The crowd of ushers, choir members and counsellors sat motionless in bleak conditions as Dr Graham preached for 40 minutes. A choir of 1,000 voices backed the stand directly behind Dr Graham's dais. It all started with the search for the perfect honey cake. Not any cake, but the one closest to Irris Makler's memory of her late grandmother Lea's inimitable recipe. As she searched, Ms Makler's idea for a book celebrating the stories of survival, wisdom and recipes of 20 Jewish grandmothers and grandfathers grew, and grew again. Eva Grinston's recipes are included in a new book by ABC foreign correspondent Irris Makler, Just Add Love, recipes from grandmothers who survived the Holocaust. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer "We realised nobody had written down Lea's recipes," said Makler, an Australian foreign correspondent who has been based in Jerusalem for 10 years. "I started this obsessive baking, as if I could preserve her memory with honey cake. I would be baking and discarding, and none of them would be right. I was almost on this life long mission." Her new book, Just Add Love: Holocaust Survivors Share Their Stories and Recipes, includes a honey cake recipe - featuring three teabags and Nescafe coffee - by grandmother Saba Feniger. It was "so close" to Makler's grandmother's cake that the journalist stopped looking. A woman has been charged with arson after a Gold Coast couple's house and cabin were destroyed by fire and their disabled daughter went missing for 4 hours on Tuesday. The fire broke out at the Tomewin Mountain Road residence in Currumbin Valley just after 4am, with seven fire crews responding to the blaze. The smouldering remnants of the Currumbin Valley house and cabin. Credit:Nine News The house and attached cabin were "well involved" upon arrival, according to a fire service spokeswoman. By 5.45am, the flames had been extinguished. The man and woman, both 61, who lived at the residence were accounted for immediately but their 29-year-old daughter, who has a disability, couldn't be found. Brisbane City Councils decision to knock back a retirement village development in Brisbanes bayside is being appealed in court. The Lota development was rejected last week, with the council saying the plan for more than 100 retirement units in Lota was not in keeping with the suburbs character. The proposed four-building development would have had more than 100 units for retirement living. The development application for Oceana Terrace was submitted mid last year by Saunders Havill Group, on behalf of The Village Retirement Group. Anglicare Southern Queensland operates the Lota Court retirement community, and Edwin Marsden Tooth Memorial Home at the site. Two children are in critical condition after the stolen minivan they were in with four others rolled at high speed in north Queensland, according to police. Emergency services were called to Ross River Road in the Townsville suburb of Cranbrook just before 7am on Wednesday after the Toyota Tarago flipped onto its roof. Four ambulance crews, including a critical care paramedic, attended the Cranbrook crash. Credit:AAP - Dave Hunt Queensland Ambulance Service senior operations supervisor Tony Kirkham described the incident as a "high-speed rollover". Two 10-year-old boys suffered serious head injuries and were taken in a critical condition to Townsville Hospital by ambulance. A Danish tourist has been rushed to hospital with severe head injuries after being hit by a car at the Gold Coast overnight. Emergency services raced to Ferny Avenue at Surfers Paradise just after 8pm after the 20-year-old woman was hit while crossing the road. Queensland Ambulance Service senior operations supervisor Jayson Hacker said the woman was rushed to Gold Coast University Hospital where doctors were waiting for her upon arrival. The 68-year-old female driver of the car was not physically injured. Forensic Crash Unit investigators were appealing for any witnesses or anyone with relevant dashcam vision to come forward. Distressed cancer patients and staff have been harassed by anti-assisted dying protesters who handed them pamphlets describing voluntary euthanasia as "patient killing by doctors". A group of protesters lobbied outside the hospital's Grattan Street entrance last week and distributed flyers describing voluntary euthanasia as "state sanctioned killing" purporting to be from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. The pamphlet that was handed to cancer patients outside Peter Mac Headlines on the pamphlet, branded with the Peter MacCallum name, seen by The Age, include "Peter Mac Recruits Suicide Facilitator" and "Assisted Dying is Not Medical Treatment". "For the new assisted suicide facilitator this catchphrase takes on a whole new meaning at Peter Mac as the extraordinary and unethical act of intentionally ending the life of a patient is normalised," the pamphlet reads. A driver is on the run after he stabbed another man in a brutal road rage incident that involved two cars repeatedly ramming each other in broad daylight in Hallam on Wednesday afternoon. Police said that a white Daewoo ute rammed a blue Mistubishi Pajero on Belgrave-Hallam Road in Hallam, near Narre Warren in Melbourne's south east, about 2.30pm on Wednesday. The drivers stepped out of their cars and started physically fighting near the Monash off-ramp. Once the fight had died down, the Mitsubishi driver began to leave the scene when the Daewoo rammed his car two more times. The Mitsubishi driver then emerged from his car and stabbed the Daewoo driver, who was taken to hospital. A Melbourne man killed his ex-wife because of an argument over the heating in their family home, then tried to flee to Queensland arguing that "what's been done has been done". Mehmed Solmaz, 62, beat his former bride Fatma, 61, with a table leg until she was unconscious then strangled her with an electrical cord knotted around her neck, prosecutors told the Supreme Court in a pre-sentence hearing on Wednesday. Mehmed Solmaz He pleaded guilty in August last year to murder, after confessing his crimes shortly after the killing, telling his sister and nephew within hours what he'd done in May 2017. "There's nothing to talk about. What's been done has been done," prosecutor Ray Gibson SC told the court, recounting Solmaz's conversation with his nephew that night. According to the article, one of the key goals for the bloc is a faster, efficient and paperless customs-transit system to facilitate trade and investment among the ten member countries. It said the ASEAN Single Window (ASW) is designed to cut logistics costs, make clearing and transiting border customs checkpoints easier and increase productivity in both the public and private sectors. The mechanism aims to use electronic means to facilitate more-convenient customs procedures, goods in transit, tax claims and licensing approval. Scene at the two-day meeting of ASEAN finance ministers and central bank governors in Chiang Rai last week (Photo: nationmultimedia.com) After a two-day meeting of ASEAN finance ministers and central bank governors in Chiang Rai last week, Thai Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong told reporters that five or six countries have developed their own national single window and are ready to link with other bloc members. He said Thailand expects all countries to participate in the ASW by the end of 2019, as quoted by the newspaper. According to him, Thailand and its neighbours also discussed combining the inspections of goods by both the exporting and importing country at border check points to save time and lower logistics costs. Currently, only Thailand and Laos have implemented joint inspections at the border. Meanwhile, regarding a payment connectivity initiative, ASEAN is making efforts to boost the digital revolution for deeper economic integration. Notably, Thailand is trying to persuade other countries to adopt the QR-code payment system, by which it ties bank accounts to phone numbers and allows people to use a mobile application for financial transactions. Cambodia, Indonesia and Laos are interested in the concept, said Apisak./. Thanks for following this morning! That's it from us. The election live blog is continuing over here, and theage.com.au will have more news on the May 18 poll throughout the day. For a rundown on everything you need to know, have a read of Judith Ireland's explainer. Australians are more worried about getting the everyday cost of living down than reducing the amount of tax they pay, new data shows. When offered a list of 18 potential issues of concern by surveyors from Roy Morgan over the last year, 53 per cent of Australians ranked "keeping day to day living costs down" in their top three, according to data released by the Australian Futures Project on Wednesday. By contrast, 14 per cent of people put "reducing the taxes you and your family pay" in their top three. Concern with improving health services and hospitals came in second place, with 32 per cent of Australians nominating it as a concern. Its been almost a year now since I quit Twitter and I cant say Ive had any regrets. My reasons for abandoning the popular microblogging website were twofold. The first concerned the disturbing amount of times I found myself checking my phone throughout the day for compulsive scrolling through Twitter and other sites. I am far from alone in this regard. Two thirds of Australians think they use their mobile device too much, according to a Deloitte Access Economics report Mobile Nation 2019 released on Monday. For Australians aged 18 to 24, its nearly three in four. Of these younger Australians, 61 per cent say they are trying to limit their phone use, but only 24 per cent think theyre doing so successfully. When asked how we feel about our phones, 66 per cent of us profess to find them helpful, but 13 per cent admit they're annoying". One third of us reckon smartphones are a force for connecting, but 40 per cent of us find them distracting. As for stress levels, 23 per cent reckon our phones can help reduce stress by assisting in an emergency, for example - but 32 per cent say they increase our stress levels. Vegan activists who target farmers' homes and lawful businesses could face a year in jail under proposed new laws to stop disruptive protests. If re-elected in May, Prime Minister Morrison plans to change the laws to prevent vegan activist organisation Aussie Farms from using private information about farmers to harass them. "They are being targeted in the most mercenary way by an organisation that can only think of itself and not think about the real damage that is being done to the livelihoods of these hard-working Australians," Mr Morrison told reporters in Launceston on Wednesday. He promised to introduce laws banning people from inciting criminal activity against farmers, with jail terms up to 12 months. The High Court has rejected a claim by anti-abortion advocates that they have a right to protest outside abortion clinics, in a decision that has been welcomed as upholding the validity of NSW's safe access zone laws. In a judgment handed down on Wednesday, the High Court unanimously dismissed two appeals to Victorian and Tasmanian laws which prescribe 150-metre "safe access zones" around abortion clinics. In doing so, a majority of the Court rejected the argument that Victoria's law unnecessarily burdened the implied freedom of political communication in the Constitution, while the seven Justices unanimously dismissed this argument in relation to Tasmania's law. Supporters of the safe access zones bill protesting outside NSW Parliament House ahead of the debate in Legislative Assembly in June 2018. Credit:AAP The decision reinforces the validity of NSW's safe access zones laws, which were enacted last year and closely modelled on the Victorian legislation. Approval or refusal of a groundwater management plan for Adani's Carmichael coal mine could be signed off within weeks. But Queensland Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch has been unable to say whether her department would make a decision before the looming federal election. Queenslands controversial Adani coal mine has been given the approval by federal Environment Minister Melissa Price. Credit:ninevms On Tuesday, federal Environment Minister Melissa Price announced she had granted federal approval to the controversial coal mine, while Ms Enoch insisted there were still "uncertainties" when considering environmental approvals. There are two outstanding management plans requiring approval from the Queensland government to allow Adani to start construction and mining. Yarraville residents who will have Transurbans West Gate Tunnel built beneath their properties could be eligible for compensation ranging from $60,000 up to $120,000. The government last year told about 100 home owners in Yarraville whose properties would have the $6.7 billion toll road built beneath them that they had not suffered any financial loss. These owners would get no compensation because, the government argued, other tunnelling projects in Melbourne including EastLink and CityLink had not resulted in long-term losses for those who owned property above them. Tunnel entrance in Yarraville going towards CityLink. Artist's impression. Source: Western Distributor Authority Supplied But law firm Slater and Gordon has now obtained reports by two of the city's top property valuation experts. They find that owners should be offered compensation. Kampala: Rival security forces clashed in Sudan on Tuesday as huge crowds of protesters kept up their vigil outside army headquarters to call for the overthrow of the country's longtime authoritarian president, Omar al-Bashir. Seven people were killed on Tuesday, said Sara Abdelgalil, a spokeswoman for the Sudanese Professionals Association, which is organising the protests. The eruption of violence between different armed government forces is a major development in the four-month-long protest movement against the president, said Magdi el-Gizouli, a fellow at the Rift Valley Institute, a think tank based in Kenya. "In a way, it has been turned into an internal dilemma between security forces," said el-Gizouli, who is Sudanese. "The worse-case scenario is that this military security establishment breaks down and they fail to resolve what is now becoming a conflict within," he added. New Delhi: As she patrols for cow smugglers, Sadhvi Kamal, a Hindu holy woman in a saffron robe, rides in a white SUV with a sticker on the rear window displaying a cow framed by swords and rifles. The words in the sticker's logo say, "The cow is the mother of the world". Kamal leads a vigilante force of thousands of volunteers, mostly young Hindu men. Such vigilante forces have emerged after several Indian states banned the slaughter of cows, sacred to Hindus, in recent years. Mobs have lynched three dozen Muslims, who traditionally run meat shops and slaughterhouses. Hindu holy woman Sadhvi Kamal, 40, talks on the phone with members of her vigilante network in front Indian muslim cattle traders on the outskirts of Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Credit:AP As India heads toward a general election that begins this week, taking up arms for "mother cow" is part of a broader campaign to impose ancient Hindu religious values across a multicultural country. As with similar movements across the world, Hindu nationalism, once fringe, has now taken a central place in India's politics. The movement is led by the party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who grew up chanting slogans and practising manoeuvres at nationalist training camps. Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party seek to retain power in the elections by promoting Hindutva a Hindu way of life instead of secular pluralism. Why should Australians care? Lots of reasons. Indonesia is one of our nearest neighbours. It is a key ally in the war on extremism, Islamist terrorism, drug smuggling and people smuggling. It is arguably the leading nation in the ASEAN grouping. Though imperfect, it's a thriving democracy in a region in which human rights and liberal values are in retreat. As Indonesia develops economically and this is especially so after the signing of a free trade deal with Australia this year the economic opportunities presented by a market of 260 million people on our doorstep are staggering. What exactly are Indonesians voting for? Both their president and Parliament and the votes are being held on the same day for the first time in the country's history. April 17 is the big day, with polls opening at 7am and closing at 1pm. Voting is not compulsory but election day has been declared a national holiday in a bid to maximise turnout. Prabowo greets supporters at a campaign rally in March. Credit:Bloomberg Who can vote? About 193 million Indonesians are eligible, including 80 million millennials. Members of the military and police don't vote, which is meant to ensure their neutrality, given Indonesias history of military-led authoritarian rule, says the Lowy Institute. The mode of voting, using a nail to punch a hole in the ballot paper, is also aimed at making manipulation harder. Votes are counted in public at each of the 800,000 polling booths there are more than 6 million election workers. There are also more than 20,000 local and national seats up for grabs and more than 245,000 candidates running, according to this handy Lowy Institute infographic. For the national House of Representatives, 575 seats are in play. What do the presidential candidates stand for? Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, 57,a former governor of Jakarta, is the incumbent and candidate for the PDI-P (the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle) and a coalition of other parties while his opponent, strongman Prabowo Subianto, 67, leads a coalition of parties including his own Gerindra (Greater Indonesia). Indonesian people cast their ballot for the Indonesia Presidential elections at a polling station on July 9, 2014. Credit:Alamy Both make much of their commitment to Pancasila, Indonesia's state ideology, which can be summed up as belief in one God, humanity, the unity of Indonesia, democracy and social justice. Jokowi, as he is widely known, has promised to keep up his huge infrastructure building program, which has seen thousands of kilometres of new highways opened as well as rail, an underground metro rail line in Jakarta, new airports and seaports. He also wants to improve the country's education system, which is chronically under-funded and over-crowded. Prabowo has promised to crack down on corruption, ensure that more of the money earned from Indonesia's natural resources stays in the country, reduce electricity prices, tackle stunting of children caused by malnourishment, creating more jobs and to make Indonesia great again (yes, really). Both men are appealing to conservative Muslim voters for support, though Prabowo more so than Jokowi. Prabowo Subianto campaigns in Bali. He wants to make Indonesia "great again". Credit:AP How does each candidate see relations with the region? Both men stress they want good relations with neighbouring countries. In the most recent presidential debate, Prabowo was sharply critical of the military budget, which he said was inadequate to Indonesia's needs a point that Jokowi disagreed with, arguing infrastructure investment was more urgent. Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Jokowi at the Belt Road Forum in 2017. Credit:AP Where do they stand on China? Both men are, broadly speaking, friendly with China if not also a little wary of the giant northern neighbour and trading partner. Although it has been slow to get on board, Joko's administration recently offered China the chance to invest in 28 projects worth $US127.5 billion as part of its region-wide Belt and Road Initiative. Up until now, Indonesia has held back from this huge initiative in a way that nearby neighbours such as Malaysia, for example, has not. Prabowo, for his part, has sugested he could review some BRI projects if elected and has also played the nationalism card in terms of local jobs, asking why Chinese workers have been brought in when Indonesians could do the job. Where do they stand on relations with Australia? The Coalition's decision to dump Malcolm Turnbull and switch to Scott Morrison annoyed Jokowi and directly damaged Australian-Indonesia relations. The relationship between the nations seems to be a permanent roller-coaster ride: think of the execution of two members of the Bali Nine, the interception of asylum-seeker boats, Australia attempting to listen in on former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's phone, and the suspension of the live cattle trade. The warmth between Jokowi and Turnbull was genuine and it helped ground the relationship; Turnbull's ousting, poorly explained, was a genuine setback. Morrison's subsequent proposal to move Australia's Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem effectively poured petrol on an already inflamed situation. Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem is central to Palestinian hopes for statehood, an issue that unites Indonesians like few others, and Morrison's proposal infuriated people of all political persuasions in Indonesia, as it was seen as a direct blow to Palestinian rights. Jokowi and then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2018. Credit:AP On the positive side, after umpteen delays, the free trade deal between Australia and Indonesia was finally signed this year, though not before Morrison backed away from his embassy plan. Prabowo, for all his nationalist stylings, handled the embassy issue in an orthodox fashion essentially, he said the location of Australia's embassy was a matter for Australia. Are there any wildcards here? Several. Polls can be fickle and misleading in Indonesia. Voting is not compulsory but turnout is generally strong it hovers between the 70 and 80 per cent mark and people are generally quite engaged in the contest. This time around, a campaign urging people to "golput" that is, to not vote in protest at the lack of quality candidates is under way. This could hurt both candidates, but more so Jokowi he rode to victory on a wave of popular sentiment last time around, as the first candidate for president not from the political or military elite. The shine has gone off the man some called Indonesia's Obama and if he can't get out the vote, the result will be closer than expected. Mistakes can also happen in campaigns, and knock a candidate with momentum off course. So who's likely to win? Jokowi enjoys big leads that stretch to double digits in some polls though Indonesian polls are not always reliable, and Jokowi had a big lead last time. Prabowo's camp has also recently released polling that it claims shows it will win on April 17. When will we know? Quick counts of the poll results will give a clear picture of who has won the presidential election by the end of the night. The Election Commission hopes to have the complete, official count done within five days. What will be the fallout for Australia? Ultimately, victory for either Prabowo or Jokowi will not be "good" or "bad" for Australia. It's far more complex than that. What matters, in this election, is the manner of the victory and what happens afterwards. To the Minister of Kingdom Relations and viceminister-president, Mrs Kajsa Ollongren, PO Box 20018 2500 EA The Hague, the Netherlands. Bonaire, April 9, 2019 Subject: Minister Kasja Ollongren first introduction to the island of Bonaire Honorable Minister Ollongren, As you landed in Bonaire and firsthand experienced a modernized version of a Dutch colony where the Bonaire peoples are governed in a status not of their choosing. An island where the Dutch government is blatantly continuing violating the Charter of the United Nations, international law and fundamental human, self-determination and democratic rights of the peoples. An unprecedented showoff of hypocrisy to pretend to the world that the Dutch stand in defense of human rights and democracy where your government does not respect the democratic voice and decision of the peoples that never choose to be annexed nor integrated and embedded under unequal rights as second class citizens in a colonial status and to be ruled by the Hague. A status that was overwhelming rejected with a No-vote of 66% in the last referendum of 2015 and the recent island council election where your government denied the people of St Eustatius democracy and could not vote, the people of Bonaire protested and boycotted this election as never before and continue showing their unhappiness towards a system a government which is against the wishes of the peoples. As never before I write this letter with a lot of positivism and hope for our peoples of Bonaire that you as the new minister of Kingdom Relations with your first working visit and introduction to our island will understand our situation and our struggle contrary to all your predecessor ministers of Kingdom relations. All prior ministers and your accompanying state-secretary Mr Knops and us could never reached an understanding or consensus on the most simple fundamental aspect of humanity that we 'all are born equal in rights and dignity' and we Bonerians have the same right to be as free and as equal and as human as them the European Dutch. I expect that you before coming to our island and as my previous letter to you in March 2018 kindly asked you to take note of my various previous letters to the Dutch government in which I am informing your Government that your dictatorial un-democratic course of actions infringes against your own agreed treaties and the international legislation. Your visit fuels us with reborn hope to be freed from this illegal colonial status imposed on us on October 10, 2010. The reason we put our hope back in a Dutch minister, in your honorable, is because of the compelling facts that you are completely different than your predecessors and you would be able to understand and feel our pain and help us: You studied and have an MA in history and have the capability to look into our common colonial history and understand this hidden dark truth where the Dutch being an insignificant fishing village became one of worlds richest nations through piracy, smuggling, and slave-trading. Your travel-partner Mr Knops publicly proclaimed to me during his first visit to Bonaire that he don't know nothing about our collective colonial past and treaties and human rights and this illegality does not seem to interest him either. However recently Mr. Knops admitted based on continues criticism of the Advisory Council of International Affairs (AIV) on violation of the Fundamental Human Rights in the Kingdom that your cabinet has decided to change course, and that Human Rights treaties will now apply not only in the European Netherlands but also in the Caribbean Netherlands. This good news increases our hopes. Our hope is now fully fixed at you as beside your capability to study and understand the history, what is more compelling, is that your father a Finnish-Swede was born in a Dutch colony, in Sumatra and lived and understood colonialism and that in the 21st century, anno 2019, that colonialism is a crime against humanity declared by the international community and United Nations. As all previous Dutch ministers and statesmen have shown no human-feelings towards us as they see us as-as not-equal and not-as-human as themselves and as colonized peoples this could be a deficiency either by mis-education of human values or could be transferred by Dutch-ancestral-DNA. Your ancestry that your are not Dutch but Finnish-Swedish could save us from the current course of systematic eradication, ethnic cleansing of the Bonerians. Above arguments that you may possess human compassion towards us contrary to your predecessors, we appeal on your humanity not to be accomplice with this crime against humanity and be at the wrong side of history and according to above recent proclamation that your cabinet will change its course and respect our Human Rights to start immediately by respecting and restoring the first and most fundamental human rights of self-determination and right to self-governance of the Bonaire and Statian peoples. Respectfully yours, James Finies, president FoundationNos Kier Boneiru Bek (We Want Bonaire back) ~ New Vehicles stolen and registered on the Dutch side, professional thieves now in custody. ~ PHILIPSBURG: --- A well-known Human Resource Manager for a thriving business on the Dutch side of the island is now in police custody for stealing several brand-new vehicles and reselling them. These vehicles are then registered on the Dutch side since the bill of sale and insurance documents were all forged but looked authentic. Amanda Rogers and her boyfriend Michael Cranston (MIKY) was arrested by police so said Police Spokesman Ricardo Henson in a press release on Tuesday. The release further states that police also seized six other vehicles at a residence in Cupe Coy. Police started the investigation when agents of a known car dealership found a truck that was stolen from them in Cupe Coy, at the same location police discovered the six other stolen vehicles. Police also found 22 other stolen vehicles in another location. Amanda Rogers was also involved in an embezzlement case a few years ago involving Soggy Dollar Bar, where she was once worked. Rogers is the Human Resource Manager at Rainforest Adventure. Ignition switch, door locks, ECU, immobilizer switched. According to information provided to SMN News the culprits would replace the ignition switch, the door locks the ECU and Immobilizer from a vehicle they already have in order to steal the new vehicles while the trucks are even easier. Stealing these brand-new vehicles have become so simple that the thieves just need to park up beside the vehicle they want to steal and replace certain parts to move the vehicles. While the investigation is ongoing police might end up finding much more stolen vehicles especially those that were registered on the French side and insurance companies paid out the owners that filed reports of stolen vehicles over a month ago. Insurance companies on the French side must pay out owners of stolen vehicles one month after it has been reported. Basically, the thieves remove the programmed parts from another similar vehicle, then go to a vehicle they want to steal and swap the parts from that vehicle with the programmed parts of another, so it works. VIN Numbers and Stickers reprinted. SMN News understands that the suspects now in custody are professional thieves as they have been reprinting the VIN number stickers on the inside doors of the vehicles and replace them which looked original. These brand-new vehicles or used vehicles are then resold and are being registered on the Dutch of the island since they pass inspection easily. The two suspects managed to forge and are reprinting VIN stickers, forging insurance and bill of sale documents, then registering them on the Dutch side. The bill of sales from dealerships on the island while the insurance documents are also forged so that the vehicles can pass inspection and registered. SMN News learned that not only the vehicles are stolen and resold, but insurance companies are being robbed since their letterheads were scanned and manipulated and given to buyers of the stolen vehicles. While the press release issued by Henson has limited information on the ongoing investigation SMN News understands that more arrests are likely since the buyers of the stolen vehicles are being tracked down. PHILIPSBURG:--- On World Water Day, March 22nd, 2016 the Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle embarked on a project to ensure that clean drinking water was made available to all children at school. It was found that some schools were lacking well-functioning coolers and some coolers were without filters, six schools participated in our Water for Schools Project in 2016, under Special Projects Director Quincy Lont. In 2017 Mid Isle did another inventory and found eighteen schools that did not have properly functioning water coolers. The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle looked for donations to cover expenses for the replacement and installation of new water coolers where necessary. In addition, as an extra precaution, water filter installation was mounted to treat the drinking water prior to distribution to the water cooler systems. The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle received an anonymous donation for the Water for Schools project in memory of Jane Buncamper in 2017. The Water for Schools project was officially launched on Monday, March, 20th 2017 at the Marie Genevieve de Weever School, in Hope Estate, whereby a new water filter installation was installed under the supervision of Rotarian Tony da Cunha and water filters were changed at other schools. Unfortunately, Hurricane Irma in September 2017 did a lot of damage to the water installations which caused a backlog in getting fresh drinking water into the schools during the course of 2018. Another inventory was done to see what water coolers needed repair or replacing etc. Finally, in March 2019 the Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle restarted the Water for Schools project by replacing the filters on the water coolers at the following primary schools: Marie Genevieve de Weever School, Sr. Borgia Primary School, and St. Joseph Primary School. In the same week, they also did inspections of the water cooler installations at Oranje School and Prins Willem Alexander School. From the inspections, they learned that they need to replace the filters for the water coolers more often, i.e. every 3 months. On World Water Day March 22, 2019, they officially presented a new water cooler to the Principal of St. Joseph Primary School, Mrs. Shaina Fernandes. This water cooler is an additional cooler which they had placed on their wish list for their school participating in the Scotiabank Rotary- Rotaract Spelling Bee 2018. Attending this presentation were the plumber, Mr. Raymond Alexander, The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid-Isle President Mrs. Denise Antrobus and the Rotarians responsible for the project Tony da Cunha and Quincy Lont. The Water for Schools project will be ongoing for replacing/repairing damaged or missing water coolers and regularly replacing the filters in the schools, to provide the students with fresh drinking water. The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle meets Tuesdays at 7pm at Pineapple Pete in Simpson Bay. For more information please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit our face book page Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle. Harbor and Causeway Bridge investigation on high. PHILIPSBURG:--- TBO Officers arrested Lionel Jermain Joseph a contractor that works with former MP Silvio Matser. The TBO team began searching homes and offices on Tuesday night as the DRACO investigation kicks off. That investigation involves former MP Silvio Matser, the former Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Directors of PJIAE Gary Matser who is also the accountant for his brother Silvio Matser and Lionel Jermain Joseph a contractor. SMN News learned that the TBO Team searched Silvio Matser home in Cupe Coy Tuesday night while they also searched Matsers homes in Romania. On Wednesday the team conducted searches at the offices of Gary Matser in Cole Bay. A press release from TBO Spokesman Roderick Gouverneur states the following:- In the Draco investigation, two house searches were conducted in Sint Maarten by the Anti-corruption Taskforce (TBO) on Tuesday, April 9 and Wednesday, April 10, 2019, under the supervision of the Examining Judge. The searches were conducted in a home in Cupecoy and at an accounting firm in Cole Bay. In the same investigation, bank accounts, vehicles, expensive jewelry, real estate, and firearms were seized simultaneously in Sint Maarten and in Romania. There were also two-house searches in Romania at the request of the Public Prosecutors Office. The Public Prosecutors Office and TBO have worked closely with the Public Prosecutors Office in Romania and the National Anti-Corruption Service (DNA) of that country. There is a suspicion that suspects in the Draco investigation have diverted criminal assets from Sint Maarten to Romania, among other things, by investing in real estate there. On 10 April 2019, L.J.J. (38, born in Sint Maarten) was also arrested in Sint Maarten. He is suspected of fraud, forgery and tax fraud. The arrested suspect has been detained and will be brought before the examining judge this week. Draco is the result of the Emerald investigation, which includes investigations into fraud of the Port of Sint Maarten by means of false invoices. This has caused the Port disadvantages of many millions of dollars. The Anti-corruption Taskforce (TBO)of the Special Police Taskforce (RST) specializes in tackling corruption and undermining financial-economic crime. Among other things, the team investigates fraud, forgery and money laundering. Prosecutor's Office Press Release. EnWave Signs Commercial License Agreement with Fresh Business Consulting and Receives Purchase Order for REVTM Machinery Posted by Publisher Internet EnWave Corporation (TSX-V:ENW | FSE:E4U) (?EnWave?, or the \Company\ http://www.commodity-tv.net/c/search_adv/?v=298830 ) reported today that it has signed a royalty-bearing commercial license agreement (the ?Agreement?) with Fresh Business Consulting S.L. (?Fresh Business?). Fresh Business is part of a diversified investment and consulting firm that has business interests in Spain (headquarters), the United Kingdom and Peru. Fresh Business also submitted a purchase order for a small-scale commercial Radiant Energy Vacuum (?REV??) machine to initiate commercial production in Peru. The Agreement grants Fresh Business the exclusive rights to produce a variety of premium food products in Peru. By processing in Peru, Fresh Business is well positioned to take advantage of the diverse, locally grown agricultural products while utilizing EnWave?s proprietary REV?? technology to create value-added products for export into western markets. REV? technology is a proven method to create healthy, premium fruit and vegetable products that can be sold as ingredients or as retail consumer products. This Agreement further validates the value proposition for EnWave?s technology to drive innovation in the global fruit and vegetable market vertical. Fresh Business must commit to purchasing a second EnWave machine of 100kW or greater in rated power before July 31, 2019 in order to retain its exclusivity under the Agreement. Fresh Business and EnWave have also agreed to a coordinated joint effort to secure additional commercial licenses for EnWave?s technology in Peru. The other terms of the Agreement remain confidential. About Fresh Business Consulting S.L. Fresh Business employs a business model where professionals with an advanced vision in the integration of creativity, marketing and innovation apply their know-how to improve their clients? business strategy.?Fresh Business is committed to uniquely generating new business ideas that are competitive in today?s marketplace. Fresh Business? positive and proactive attitude, their desire to excel and the constant search for new challenges, led them to expand their business, developing a new division,?Fresh Business Food & Nutrition Innovation,??focused on the agri-food industry. Fresh Business Food & Nutrition Innovation,??has its own approach to connect creativity, knowledge, technology and marketing to create, incubate and develop innovative food businesses with an international vocation.? For more information about Fresh Business Consulting S.L. please visit www.freshgroup.es and www.freshbusiness.es About EnWave EnWave Corporation, a Vancouver-based advanced technology company, has developed Radiant Energy Vacuum (?REV??) ? an innovative, proprietary method for the precise dehydration of organic materials. EnWave has further developed patent-pending methods for uniformly drying and decontaminating cannabis through the use of REV? technology, shortening the time from harvest to marketable cannabis products.? REV? technology?s commercial viability has been demonstrated and is growing rapidly across several market verticals in the food, and pharmaceutical sectors including legal cannabis. EnWave?s strategy is to sign royalty-bearing commercial licenses with industry leaders in multiple verticals for the use of REV? technology. The company has signed over twenty royalty-bearing licenses to date, opening up nine distinct market sectors for commercialization of new and innovative products. In addition to these licenses, EnWave has formed a Limited Liability Corporation, NutraDried Food Company, LLC, to develop, manufacture, market and sell all-natural cheese snack products in the United States under the Moon Cheese? brand.? EnWave has introduced REV? as the new dehydration standard in the food and biological material sectors: faster and cheaper than freeze drying, with better end product quality than air drying or spray drying. EnWave currently has three commercial REV? platforms: nutraREV? which is used in the food industry to dry food products quickly and at low-cost, while maintaining high levels of nutrition, taste, texture and colour; powderREV? which is used for the bulk dehydration of food cultures, probiotics and fine biochemicals such as enzymes below the freezing point, and quantaREV? which is used for continuous, high-volume low-temperature drying. An additional platform, freezeREV?, is being developed as a new method to stabilize and dehydrate biopharmaceuticals such as vaccines and antibodies. More information about EnWave is available at www.enwave.net. EnWave Corporation Mr. Brent Charleton, CFA President and CEO For further information: Brent Charleton, CFA , President and CEO at +1 (778) 378-9616 E-mail: bcharleton@enwave.net ????? John P.A. Budreski, Executive Chairman at +1 (416) 930-0914 E-mail: jbudreski@enwave.net ? Deborah Honig, Corporate Development at + 1 (647) 203-8793 E-mail: dhonig@enwave.net In Europe Swiss Resource Capital AG Jochen Staiger info@resource-capital.ch www.resource-capital.ch Safe Harbour for Forward-Looking Information Statements: This press release may contain forward-looking information based on management\-\-s expectations, estimates and projections. All statements that address expectations or projections about the future, including statements about the Company\-\-s strategy for growth, product development, market position, expected expenditures, and the expected synergies following the closing are forward-looking statements. All third party claims referred to in this release are not guaranteed to be accurate. All third party references to market information in this release are not guaranteed to be accurate as the Company did not conduct the original primary research. These statements are not a guarantee of future performance and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. 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. Firexpo West Africa 2019 Together with the co-located Securex West Africa and K-OSH, these three established industry events become the leading trade show in the region encompassing fire and rescue, commercial, homeland and cyber security. The 2018 edition brought together 2,344 industry professionals with 50 exhibitors showcasing the latest products and technology in the market. In 2019, we will see the eighth edition of Firexpo and it is set to be the largest edition to date with over 3,000 attendees and more than 80 of the industrys leading brands expected. The event is held in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria and indeed West Africa. It takes place at a purpose built exhibition venue, The Landmark Centre, on Victoria Island from the 16 17 April 2019. Alongside the exhibition a high level conference program will run with presentations, technical classes and panel discussions hosted by the leading minds in the sector from across the region and around the globe. The conference is being constructed in close collaboration with the leading Industry Associations, Commercial Partners and Ministries so that it focuses on the issues that are most pertinent for West Africa. The two other co-located exhibitions, Securex West Africa and K-OSH will be dedicated to the Safety, Homeland, Information, Commercial and Perimeter Security markets. Having all three of these events under one roof will make it an unmissable opportunity for business owners to explore crossover interests in fire, security and safety measurements. With sister shows in South Africa and Kenya, Firexpo promises to deliver an international trade platform for its visitors and exhibitors. Discover the prominent issues affecting security, hear industry experts and leading brands share insight and key knowledge to strengthen your security measures. Securex West Africa 2019 - Fire and Rescue, Commercial, Homeland, Perimeter and Cyber Security Exhibition Securex West Africa is the premier security exhibition in West Africa, encompassing fire and rescue, commercial, homeland and cyber security. The 2018 edition brought together 2,344 industry professionals with 50 exhibitors showcasing the latest products and technology in the market. In 2019, the eighth edition of Securex West Africa is set to be the largest edition to date with over 3,000 attendees and more than 80 of the industrys leading brands expected. The event is held in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria and West Africa. It takes place at a purpose-built exhibition venue, The Landmark Centre, on Victoria Island from the 16 17 April 2019. Alongside the exhibition, a high-level conference program will run with presentations, technical classes and panel discussions hosted by the leading minds in the sector from across the region and around the globe. The conference is being constructed in close collaboration with the leading Industry Associations, Commercial Partners and Ministries so that it focuses on the issues that are most pertinent for West Africa. As well as the more conventional conference program, 2019 will also see the return of the West African Cyber Security Summit (WACSS), a dedicated full-day conference for up to 300 cyber security professionals in the region. This high-level conference will focus on analysing the most effective methods of cyber protection from growing threats posed by the internet of things. Why cellular connectivity is the smart choice for CCTV deployments Businesses large and small rely on their CCTV systems to deter intruders and provide recorded evidence of security incidents. Overtime, CCTV has evolved to offer real-time intrusion detection and monitoring, and businesses now expect easy, secure and anytime access to cameras, and data. For that, they need connected CCTV systems. These modern installations can benefit from cellular connectivity, helping businesses protect their sites, while also supporting enhanced capabilities for CCTV to deliver more. Widespread use of CCTV systems So widespread is the use of CCTV cameras now that London, United Kingdom has over 600,000 cameras, according to Surfshark, while IHS Markit expects over a billion to be operating around the world, by the end of 2021. CCTV often sits at the heart of a business on-site security arrangements CCTV often sits at the heart of a business on-site security arrangements. Yet, despite this, traditional set-ups fail, to take advantage of the full capability, such physical security can provide. Real-time feeds with anytime access Nominated personnel must physically go to premises to access CCTV video, when it is recorded and kept only on-site. This causes loss of valuable time, when a potential crime must be reported and investigated. Whats more, it can put those who arrive first at the site at risk, if intruders are still present. Nowadays, CCTV installations can take full advantage of connected capabilities. They can provide real-time feeds, which authorised users can access securely from anywhere. That expands the security credentials of CCTV systems, beyond just recording. Detected intrusions can trigger alerts and provide a real-time visual of whats happening, so that required action can be taken. Of course, to realise these CCTV capabilities, systems must be connected and use the right type of connectivity at that. Connectivity must be resilient, so that it provides a continuous feed, even if a primary connection is lost, secure for authorised users, scalable and cost-effective. Traditionally, connectivity has come from wired connections and WiFi, but now cellular connectivity provides an attractive alternative. The benefits of cellular connectivity There are a number of reasons for this. To start with, fixed line connectivity isnt always available in all locations. If the infrastructure isnt there, particularly at remote sites, cables have to be laid. Thats expensive and takes time. CCTV towers in the construction and building industry, for example, require CCTV that can be rapidly deployed in areas that most likely dont have fixed line connectivity. A cellular connection can be quickly arranged to get a CCTV system up and running in the shortest possible time. Relying on third-party infrastructure, such as fixed line networks, can also be an issue for CCTV solution providers, because any policy changes can make integration difficult. Issues that may require changes from the third-party network administrator can take longer to resolve and if the fixed line network goes down, there is usually no backup. Cellular connectivity offers end-to-end control Cellular connectivity, delivered by a solution provider, gives end-to-end control of the connectivity Cellular connectivity, delivered by a solution provider, gives end-to-end control of the connectivity. In the rare event that something goes wrong, the solution provider can manage a resolution quickly. Where a number of sites are involved, cellular connectivity can provide a single solution, simplifying overall management of the complete installed CCTV system and reducing total cost of ownership for connectivity. Single connectivity management platform Through a single connectivity management platform, businesses can oversee an entire security installation, viewing and managing data usage, and using the information to assist decision making, as security needs evolve. This brings us to the fourth benefit - The ability to easily scale up. This might be because additional cameras are needed at a site or additional sites need to be catered for. It could even be because the CCTV installation is being enhanced to support additional capabilities. Simple plug-and-play to get cameras online securely Whatever the reason, being able to roll out connections rapidly, to a range of locations will be critical to existing and new installations. Ideally, connectivity should be possible within a matter of days and end users should be able to simply plug-and-play to get their cameras online securely. Resilience is the next factor to consider. Pre-configured routers, or embedded SIM cards in cameras, can reconnect to the most readily available alternative cellular network in the event of a network outage. In this way, cellular connectivity can form part of business continuity options. In some cases, it can work together with fixed line connections, as part of robust installations, which have mitigation built-in, should primary connections fail. Expanding CCTV capabilities 4G and now 5G too, allows for easy access and remote monitoring for CCTV applications 4G and now 5G too, allows for easy access and remote monitoring for CCTV applications. It can be deployed rapidly, supports an always on approach and can stream high volumes of data and imagery. Live video feeds can be viewed by authorised users on any device and they can receive alerts, and notifications direct to their mobiles too. The high speed, high bandwidth and lower latency of 5G connectivity also provides the opportunity for enhanced CCTV system capabilities, such as live feed analytics. This is ideal because it helps businesses build on the primary function of security with, for example, occupancy monitoring. This has very much come to the fore, over the past 18 months+, as businesses have had to concern themselves more than ever with occupancy levels in their buildings. ANPR in crime detection and traffic enforcement Retailers, meanwhile, have built on the real-time nature of CCTV technology, to monitor customer numbers in their stores, in line with social distancing guidelines. Another CCTV application can be found with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) in crime detection and traffic enforcement. Combined with software, the feed from CCTV cameras is used to help find and track vehicles for law enforcement or traffic monitoring. For most CCTV applications, the speed and functionality that comes from 4G is more than sufficient. However, it is likely 5G will drive new applications and ways to expand CCTV capabilities to the benefit of businesses. CCTV systems offer remote monitoring and high quality visuals Once a single application installation, CCTV use to provide only on-site recording capabilities. Now, CCTV systems can support remote monitoring and higher quality visuals. They can deliver alerts, and back them up with access to real-time video feeds, so that authorised users can assess a situation and take action rapidly. These additional capabilities support enhanced use cases for CCTV. The data that CCTV systems generate is valuable to businesses. Businesses that capture and analyse the data can fully capitalise on its potential. Cellular connectivity provides a resilient and scalable way of connecting single or multiple sites. Through a connectivity management platform, businesses can consolidate CCTV connectivity, managing connections across networks and deployments. Our universe is incredibly vast, mostly mysterious, and generally confusing. We're surrounded by perplexing questions on scales both great and small. We have some answers, for sure, like the Standard Model of particle physics, that help us (physicists, at least) understand fundamental subatomic interactions, and the Big Bang theory of how the universe began, which weaves together a cosmic story over the past 13.8 billion years. But despite the successes of these models, we still have plenty of work to do. For example, what in the world is dark energy, the name we give to the driving force behind the observed accelerated expansion of the universe? And on the opposite end of the scale, what exactly are neutrinos, those ghostly little particles that zip and zoom through the cosmos without hardly interacting with anything? [The 18 Biggest Unsolved Mysteries in Physics] At first glance, these two questions seem so radically different in terms of scale and nature and, well, everything that we might assume that we need to answer them. But it might be that a single experiment could reveal answers to both. A European Space Agency telescope is set to map the dark universe looking as far back in time, some 10 billion years, when dark energy is thought to have been raging. Let's dig in. Go big and go home To dig in, we need to look up. Way up. On scales much, much bigger than galaxies (we're talking billions of light-years here, folks), where our universe resembles a vast, glowing spider web. Except, this spider web isn't made of silk, but of galaxies. Long, thin tendrils of galaxies linking dense, clumpy nodes. Those nodes are the clusters, bustling cities of galaxies and hot, rich gas enormous, broad walls of thousands upon thousands of galaxies. And between these structures, taking up most of the volume in the universe, are the great cosmic voids, celestial deserts filled with nothing much at all. It's called the cosmic web, and it's the biggest thing in the universe. This cosmic web was slowly constructed over the course of billions of years by the weakest force in nature: gravity. Way back when the universe was the tiniest fraction of its current size, it was almost perfectly uniform. But the "almost" is important here: There were tiny variations in density from spot to spot, with some corners of the universe being a little bit more crowded than average and others a little less so. [The 12 Strangest Objects in the Universe] Galaxy clusters in the cosmic web. (Image credit: K. Dolag, Universitats-Sternwarte Munchen, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen, Germany) With time, gravity can do amazing things. In the case of our cosmic web, those slightly-higher-than-average dense regions had gravity that was a little bit stronger, attracting their surroundings to them, which made those clumps even more attractive, which attracted more neighbors, and so on and so on. Fast forward this process a billion years, and you've grown your very own cosmic web. A universal recipe That's the general picture: To make a cosmic web, you need some "stuff," and you need some gravity. But where it gets really interesting is in the details, especially the details of the stuff. Different kinds of matter will clump up and form structures differently. Some kinds of matter might tangle in on themselves, or need to remove excess heat before they can congeal, while others might readily join the nearest party. Certain types of matter move slowly enough that gravity can efficiently do its work, while other kinds of matter are so fleet and nimble that gravity can barely get its feeble hands on it. In short, if you change the ingredients of the universe, you get different-looking cosmic webs. In one scenario, there might be more rich clusters and fewer empty voids compared with another scenario, in which the voids totally dominate early in the history of the cosmos, with no clusters forming at all. [Big Bang to Civilization: 10 Amazing Origin Events] One particularly intriguing ingredient is the neutrino, the afore-mentioned ghostly particle. Since the neutrino is so light, it travels at nearly the speed of light. This has the effect of "smoothing out" structures in the universe: Gravity simply can't do its work and pull neutrinos into compact little balls. So, if you add too many neutrinos to the universe, things like entire galaxies end up not being able to form in the early universe. Tiny problems, big solutions This means that we can use the cosmic web itself as a giant laboratory of physics to study neutrinos. By examining the structure of the web and breaking it down into its various parts (clusters, voids and so on), we can get a surprisingly direct handle on neutrinos. Artist's impression of the Euclid spacecraft. (Image credit: ESA/ATG-medialab) There's just one niggling problem: Neutrinos aren't the only ingredient in the universe. One major confounding factor is the presence of dark energy, the mysterious force that's ripping our universe apart. And as you might have suspected, this affects the cosmic web in a major way. It's kind of hard to build big structures in a rapidly expanding universe, after all. And if you only look at one part of the cosmic web (say, for example, the galaxy clusters), then you might not have enough information to tell the difference between neutrino effects and dark energy effects both of which impede the clumping of "stuff." In a recent paper published online in the preprint journal arXiv, astronomers explained how upcoming galaxy surveys, like the European Space Agency's Euclid mission, will help uncover both neutrino and dark energy properties. The Euclid satellite will map the locations of millions of galaxies, painting a very broad portrait of the cosmic web. And within that structure lie hints to the history of our universe, a past that depends on its ingredients, like neutrinos and dark energy. By looking at a combination of the densest, busiest places in the universe (the galaxy clusters) and the loneliest, emptiest places in the cosmos (the voids), we might get answers to both the nature of dark energy (which will herald an era of brand-new physics knowledge) and the nature of neutrinos (which will do the exact same thing). We might learn, for example, that dark energy is getting worse, or getting better, or maybe even just being the same. And we might learn how massive neutrinos are or how many of them are flitting around the universe. But no matter what, it's hard to tell what we'll get until we actually look. Paul M. Sutter is an astrophysicist at The Ohio State University, host of Ask a Spaceman and Space Radio, and author of Your Place in the Universe. This image by the Event Horizon Telescope project shows the event horizon of the supermassive black hole at the heart of the M87 galaxy. Albert Einstein's towering genius is on display yet again. The first-ever images of a black hole , which the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project unveiled today (April 10), further bolster Einstein's century-old theory of general relativity, researchers said. "Today, general relativity has passed another crucial test, this one spanning from horizons to the stars," EHT team member Avery Broderick, of the University of Waterloo and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada, said during a news conference today at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Related: What Exactly Is a Black Hole Event Horizon (and What Happens There)? General relativity describes gravity as a consequence of the warping of space-time. Massive objects create a sort of dent or well in the cosmic fabric, which passing bodies fall into because they're following curved contours (not as a result of some mysterious force at a distance, which had been the prevailing view before Einstein came along). General relativity makes specific predictions about how this warping works. For example, the theory posits that black holes exist, and that each of these gravitational monsters has an event horizon a point of no return beyond which nothing, not even light, can escape. Further, the event horizon should be roughly circular and of a predictable size, which depends on the black hole's mass. And that's just what we see in the newly unveiled EHT images, which show the silhouette of the supermassive black hole at the heart of M87, a giant elliptical galaxy that lies 55 million light-years from Earth. "The shadow exists, is nearly circular and the inferred mass matches estimates due to the dynamics of stars 100,000 times farther away," Broderick said. That mass, by the way, is 6.5 billion times that of Earth's sun. That's huge even by supermassive-black-hole standards; for comparison, the behemoth at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy weighs in at a mere 4.3 million solar masses. As Broderick noted, this is not the first test that general relativity has passed; the theory has survived many challenges over the past 100 years. For example, general relativity predicts that massive, accelerating objects generate ripples in space-time called gravitational waves. In 2015, gravitational waves were confirmed directly by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), which detected the ripples created by a merger between two black holes. (These black holes weren't the supermassive type; combined, they contained just a few dozen solar masses.) So, it's not exactly a surprise that Einstein was right about event horizons as well. But confirming that general relativity holds in a hitherto unstudied realm has great value, EHT team members said. EHT's work "has verified Einstein's theories of gravity in this most extreme laboratory," EHT director Sheperd Doeleman, of Harvard University and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said during today's press conference. The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project is unveiling a major black hole discovery Wednesday morning (April 10), and you can watch the event live. The EHT, a global effort to capture the first-ever photo of a black hole's immediate environment , will announce its first results during a press conference Wednesday at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT). You can watch it live here at Space.com , courtesy of the U.S. National Science Foundation, or directly via the NSF . EHT team members haven't revealed what the result is, but an NSF media advisory described it as "groundbreaking." So it's not outlandish to speculate that the project may have succeeded in its chief goal, and that we may be treated to a spectacular image of a black hole's silhouette. Related: Images: Black Holes of the Universe Photographing the interior of a black hole is impossible, of course: Any light that strays too close to one of these gravitational monsters is lost forever. (This point of no return is known as the event horizon, which explains the project's name.) NSF director France Cordova will deliver remarks at tomorrow's press conference, which will be held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The following EHT team members will also speak: Project director Sheperd Doeleman, of Harvard University and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Daniel Marrone of the University of Arizona; Avery Broderick of the University of Waterloo and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics; Sera Markoff of the University of Amsterdam. The EHT links up multiple radio telescopes around the world, forming a virtual scope the size of Earth. The project has been peering at two supermassive black holes the one at the heart of our own Milky Way galaxy, and the one at the core of the galaxy M87. The new results are based on EHT's first observing run, which took place over the course of one week in April 2017. Scientists have been puzzling over the presence of methane on Mars for years. The gas has been detected previously on the Red Planet. Because much of the methane on Earth has a biological origin, scientists have been tantalized by the prospect that methane on Mars could come from living organisms, too. Now, the mystery deepens. Today (April 10), researchers reported the first results from the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), the spacecraft that's been circling the Red Planet sniffing for signs of life as part of the European-led ExoMars mission. To the surprise of scientists, TGO found barely any traces of methane in its early observations from April 2018 to August 2018. Related: Missions to Mars: A Robot Red Planet Invasion History (Infographic) First results from ExoMars' Trace Gas Orbiter. (Image credit: ESA/ATG medialab) "TGO is the most sensitive instrument to measure methane on Mars," said Oleg Korablev, who is the principal investigator for the Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) instrument on the TGO and a scientist with the Russian Academy of Sciences' Space Research Institute. "We only can report upper limits which are very, very low." The most precise upper limit Korablev and his colleagues found was just 0.012 parts per billion (ppb) that's several orders of magnitude below the rate scientists would have expected based on the methane detected at the surface by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity . (Curiosity had detected background levels of methane 0.41 ppb during the same season in previous years.) The discrepancy could mean methane is getting destroyed in the lower reaches of the Martian atmosphere. But scientists don't yet know how. The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter found an upper limit of methane 10-100 times less than any previous recorded detection. This is in contrast to surface observations by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, which saw seasonal variation in methane levels. (Image credit: ESA/ATG medialab/O. Korablev et al.) "We have two completely independent instruments analyzed by two totally independent teams and they come to the same results," Hakan Svedhem, a TGO project scientist with the European Space Agency, told reporters during a news conference today. In addition to ACS, TGO also has another gas-measuring instrument known as NOMAD (Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery). The researchers presented the results at the annual meeting of the European Geosciences Union in Vienna. Their findings were also published today in the journal Nature. The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter tracked the evolution of a massive dust storm on Mars' surface. (Image credit: ESA/ATG medialab/A-C Vandaele et al (2019)) Marco Giuranna, a scientist with the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica in Rome who was not involved in the research, said it's not surprising for a spacecraft like TGO not to detect methane, as the presence of this gas on Mars is likely characterized by transient emission spikes, rather than by a global presence. "Because methane is generally at very low concentrations in the atmosphere of Mars, methane spikes or pulses on Mars may only be detected occasionally when rovers, landers or orbiters happen to be at the right place at the right time," Giuranna, who is the principal investigator of the Mars Express' Planetary Fourier Spectrometer instrument, told Space.com in an email. "Consistently, in our new Mars Express study, we did not detect any methane aside from one single definite detection." (Earlier this month, in the journal Nature Geoscience, Giuranna published those results about a 2013 methane plume observed by the Mars Express orbiter .) Still, scientists had predicted that the concentrated plumes of methane should enter into global circulation around Mars, and that TGO should have detected some uniform distribution of the gas present in background levels. The authors of the new study said that to reconcile the lack of methane detection by TGO and the positive methane detection by Curiosity at the surface, there must be a mechanism that destroys the gas in the lower atmosphere a thousand times faster than predicted by conventional chemistry. "Methane on Mars seems to appear and disappear quickly, suggesting the presence of a destruction mechanism capable of efficiently removing this gas from the atmosphere," Giuranna said. The first map of shallow subsurface water distribution from the FREND neutron spectrometer on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, gathered by detecting the distribution of hydrogen in the top meter of Mars' surface. (Image credit: ESA/ATG medialab/I. Mitrofanov et al) Researchers have proposed some explanations for where the methane on Mars could be going that it could be sinking into the Martian rock and soil , or bonding chemically with eroded quartz grains , or being destroyed by reactive elements in shifting sand dunes but these hypotheses are largely based on computer simulations and lab experiments on Earth. Giuranna speculated that the weather on Mars could have influenced TGO's observations, as one of the strongest, planetary-encircling dust storms ever seen on Mars began in June 2018. "This might have an important impact on the results, as Martian dust storms represent a possible sink of atmospheric methane," Giuranna said. But the TGO researchers said they established stringent upper limits on methane before the storm, and Korablev told reporters: "We still do not see any methane after the dust storm." Key measurements of methane made at Mars. (Image credit: ESA) Other scientists haven't given up hope that TGO will eventually detect greater concentrations of methane. "We need to be more patient with TGO, because one thing we have learned is that the methane story is full of surprises, and there are surely more to come," Chris Webster, a senior scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, who also was not involved in the research, told Space.com in an email. "It would not surprise me if TGO detected methane sometime in the future." And even though the presence of methane on Mars has been seen as a potential biosignature, Svedhem said TGO's findings were not necessarily a blow to the prospect of finding life on Mars. "The speculations that were triggered by the first detections of methane stressed the connection between methane production on Earth and life on Earth," Svedhem told reporters. "But there are many other aspects of life that do not produce methane. So we definitely cannot say we have precluded that now." The Event Horizon Telescope, a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration, captured this image of the supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy M87 and its shadow. Black holes have finally been dragged out of the shadows. For the first time ever, humanity has photographed one of these elusive cosmic beasts, shining light on an exotic space-time realm that had long been beyond our ken. "We have seen what we thought was unseeable," Sheperd Doeleman, of Harvard University and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said today (April 10) during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Related: What Exactly Is a Black Hole Event Horizon (and What Happens There)? Doeleman directs the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project, which captured the epic imagery. These four photos, which were unveiled today at press events around the world and in a series of published papers, outline the contours of the monster black hole lurking at the heart of the elliptical galaxy M87. The imagery is mind-blowing enough in its own right. But even more significant is the trail the new results will likely blaze, researchers said. "There's really a new field to explore," Peter Galison, a professor of physics and the history of science at Harvard, said in an EHT talk last month at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas. "And that's ultimately what's so exciting about this." Galison, who co-founded Harvard's interdisciplinary Black Hole Initiative (BHI), compared the imagery's potential impact to that of the drawings made by English scientist Robert Hooke in the 1600s. These illustrations showed people what insects and plants look like through a microscope. "It opened a world," Galison said of Hooke's work. A telescope the size of Earth The EHT is a consortium of more than 200 scientists that has been in the works for about two decades. It's a truly international endeavor; funding over the years has come from the U.S. National Science Foundation and many other organizations in countries around the world. The project takes its name from a black hole's famed point of no return the boundary beyond which nothing, not even light, can escape the object's gravitational clutches. "The event horizon is the ultimate prison wall," BHI founding director Avi Loeb, the chair of Harvard's astronomy department, told Space.com. (Loeb is not part of the EHT team.) "Once you're in, you can never get out." It's therefore impossible to photograph the interior of a black hole, unless you somehow manage to get in there yourself. (You and your pictures couldn't make it back to the outside world, of course.) So, the EHT images the event horizon, mapping out the black hole's dark silhouette. (The disk of fast-moving gas swirling around and into black holes emits lots of radiation, so such silhouettes stand out.) "We're looking for the loss of photons," EHT science council member Dan Marrone, an associate professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona, told Space.com. The project has been scrutinizing two black holes the M87 behemoth, which harbors about 6.5 billion times the mass of Earth's sun, and our own Milky Way galaxy's central black hole, known as Sagittarius A*. This latter object, while still a supermassive black hole, is a runt compared to M87's beast, containing a mere 4.3 million solar masses. Both of these objects are tough targets because of their immense distance from Earth. Sagittarius A* lies about 26,000 light-years from us, and M87's black hole is a whopping 53.5 million light-years away. From our perspective, Sagittarius A*'s event horizon "is so small that it's the equivalent of seeing an orange on the moon or being able to read the newspaper in Los Angeles while you're sitting in New York City," Doeleman said during the SXSW event last month. No single telescope on Earth can make that observation, so Doeleman and the rest of the EHT team had to get creative. The researchers have linked up radio telescopes in Arizona, Spain, Mexico, Antarctica and other places around the world, forming a virtual instrument the size of Earth. Related: Images: Black Holes of the Universe So much data The EHT team has used this megascope to study the two supermassive black holes for two weeklong stretches to date once in April 2017 and again the following year. The new imagery comes from the first observing run. There are good reasons why it's taken two years for the project's first result to come out. For one thing, each night of observing generated about 1 petabyte of data, resulting in such a haul that the team has to move its information from place to place the old-fashioned way. "There's no way that we can transfer this data through the internet," EHT project scientist Dimitrios Psaltis, an astronomy professor at the University of Arizona, said at the SXSW event. "So, what we actually do is, we take our hard drives and we FedEx them from place to place. This is much faster than any cable that you can ever find." This slows and complicates analysis, of course. Data from the EHT scope near the South Pole, for example, couldn't get off Antarctica until December 2017, when it was warm enough for planes to go in and out, Marrone said. Correlating and calibrating the data was also tricky, he added. And the team took great care with this work, given the momentous nature of the find. "If you're going to come with a big claim of imaging a black hole, you have to have big evidence, very strong evidence," Doeleman said at the SXSW event (which served as an explainer of the EHT effort but did not announce any results). "And on our project, we often think that people like [Albert] Einstein, [Arthur] Eddington [and Karl] Schwarzschild are kind of looking over our shoulders," he added, referring to physicists who helped pioneer our understanding of black holes. "And when you have luminaries kind of virtually checking your work, you really want to get it right." Related: The Strangest Black Holes in the Universe A simulated image by the University of Arizona shows the turbulent plasma in the extreme environment around a supermassive black hole. (Image credit: University of Arizona) What it all means The EHT project has two main goals, Psaltis said: to image an event horizon for the first time ever and to help determine if Einstein's theory of general relativity needs any revisions. Before Einstein came along, gravity was generally regarded as a mysterious force at a distance. But general relativity describes it as the warping of space-time: Massive objects such as planets, stars and black holes create a sort of sag in space-time, much as a bowling ball would if placed on a trampoline. Nearby objects follow this curve and get funneled toward the central mass. General relativity has held up incredibly well over the century since its introduction, passing every test that scientists have thrown at it. But the EHT's observations provide another trial, in an extreme realm where predictions may not match reality. That's because astronomers can calculate the expected size and shape of an event horizon using general relativity, Psaltis explained. If the observed silhouette matches the theory-informed simulations, "then Einstein was 100% right," Psaltis said. "If the answer is no, then we have to tweak his theory in order to make it work with experiments. This is how science goes." And we learned today that no tweaks are needed, at least at the moment: EHT's M87 observations are consistent with general relativity, team members said. Namely, the event horizon is nearly circular and is the "right" size for a black hole of that immense mass. "I have to admit, I was a little stunned that it matched so closely the predictions that we had made," EHT team member Avery Broderick, of the University of Waterloo and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada, said during today's news conference. Such ground-truthing is vital to the scientific process, of course. Indeed, providing better information to feed into theories and simulations will likely be one of the EHT's biggest contributions, Loeb said. "Doing physics is a dialog with nature," he said. "We test our ideas by comparing them to experiments; experimental data is crucial." The new results should also help scientists get a better handle on black holes, he and other researchers said. For example, EHT imagery will likely shine significant light on how gas spirals down into a black hole's maw. This accretion process, which can lead to the generation of powerful jets of radiation, is poorly understood, Loeb said. In addition, the shape of an event horizon can reveal whether a black hole is spinning, said Fiona Harrison of the California Institute of Technology, the principal investigator of NASA's black-hole-studying Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission. "We've inferred the spin of black holes indirectly," Harrison, who's not part of the EHT team, told Space.com. EHT imagery provides "a direct test, which is very exciting," she added. EHT's data revealed the M87 black hole is spinning clockwise, team members said today. The project should also show how matter is distributed around a black hole, and EHT observations could eventually teach astronomers a great deal about how supermassive black holes shape the evolution of their host galaxies over long time scales, Harrison said. EHT's results also mesh well with those of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), which has detected the space-time ripples generated by mergers involving black holes just a few dozen times more massive than the sun. "Despite varying across a factor of billion in mass, known black holes are all consistent with a single description," Broderick said today. "Black holes big and small are analogous in important ways. What we learn from one [type] necessarily applies to the other." And in case you're wondering about Sagittarius A*: The EHT team hopes to get imagery of that supermassive black hole soon, Doeleman said today. The researchers looked at M87 first, and it's a bit easier to resolve than Sagittarius A* because it's less variable over short timescales, he explained. A new perspective? Then there's the broader appeal of the newly released imagery how it speaks to those of us who aren't astrophysicists. The contributions in this arena could be significant, EHT team members and outside scientists said. Photos can change the way we think about ourselves and our place in the universe, Marrone noted, citing the famous "Earthrise" photo taken by Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders in December 1968. This image, which gave the masses a glimpse of our planet as it really is a lonely outpost of life in an infinite sea of darkness is widely credited with helping to spur the environmental movement. Seeing a real-life black hole or its silhouette, anyway "is the stuff of science fiction," Harrison said. And we've seen just the project's first few photos, she added: "They're only going to get better." SpaceX withdrew a protest it filed in February over a contract NASA awarded to ULA for the Atlas 5 launch of the Lucy asteroid mission. WASHINGTON SpaceX has withdrawn its protest of a launch contract NASA awarded to United Launch Alliance earlier this year for a planetary science mission. SpaceX withdrew a protest April 4 that it had filed with the U.S. Government Accountability Office Feb. 11 regarding a NASA launch procurement formally known as RLSP-35. That covered a contract NASA awarded Jan. 31 to ULA for the launch of Lucy, a mission slated for launch in October 2021 to visit several Trojan asteroids in the same orbit around the sun as Jupiter. Related: NASA's Wild Lucy Idea to Send 1 Probe to 7 Different Asteroids SpaceX did not disclose the reason it withdrew the protest, and a company spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by SpaceNews about the withdrawal. According to GAO's website, SpaceX filed a separate protest over the same contract March 25, which was also withdrawn April 4. The company also declined to comment on the difference between the two protests. When it filed the protest in February, SpaceX argued it could perform the same mission for a "dramatically lower" price than the $148.3 million value of the ULA contract. "We believe the decision to pay vastly more to Boeing and Lockheed for the same mission was therefore not in the best interest of the agency or the American taxpayers," a company spokesperson said then. ULA is a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin. ULA said that it was selected in part because it offered schedule assurance for the mission. Lucy must launch during a 20-day window in October 2021 in order to carry out its complex trajectory of flybys of six Trojan asteroids and one in the main asteroid belt. Should the launch miss that window, the mission cannot be flown as currently planned. "This mission has a once-in-a-lifetime planetary launch window, and Atlas 5's world-leading schedule certainty, coupled with our reliability and performance provided the optimal vehicle for this mission," Tory Bruno, president and chief executive of ULA, said in the January statement announcing the launch contract. SpaceX's decision to withdraw the protest comes to a relief to many familiar with development of Lucy. They were concerned about potential additional costs to the mission and threats to its schedule if GAO upheld the protest and forced NASA to recompete the contract for the launch. That additional work, such as planning to be compatible with two different launch vehicles while the contract was recompeted, threatened to negate any launch vehicle savings. SpaceX, meanwhile, is moving ahead with preparations for its next launch, of the Arabsat-6A satellite on the second flight of the Falcon Heavy. The company said the launch was now scheduled for April 10 from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A after the rocket's three booster cores performed a static-fire test on the pad April 5. "This is first launch of Falcon Heavy Block 5, so we're being extra cautious. Launch date might move," SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk tweeted after the static-fire test. The plains of Lakshmi on Venus are made up of smooth lava flows. A tessera feature is located near the center. The abrupt edge of dark plains against it suggest that the tessera has been partially covered by lava. Additional blocks of tessera are located along the left hand edge of the image. Venus may have once been a water-rich, Earth-like world whose raging volcanism morphed it into the overheated planet it is today. But it didn't become a nightmarish planet overnight. The fingerprints of its gradual shift may be present in some of the oldest surface features, hidden in plain sight. To understand what happened on the neighboring world billions of years in the past, researchers are turning to tesserae, complex geologic features on the Venusian surface whose origins remain a mystery. Tesserae are broad plains where rocks have been folded and broken by geologic activity. "On Earth, such deformation of rocks does not usually occur at the surface instead, such deformation typically occurs at depth, many kilometers below the surface," Richard Ernst, a geologist at Carleton University in Canada, told Space.com by email. Related: What Would It Be Like to Live on Venus? Since the tesserae of Venus lie on rather than under the surface, they must have been unearthed, Ernst said. Surface rocks above them could have shattered apart, revealing the tesserae beneath. Alternatively, interior rocks could have lifted the tesserae to the surface. In both situations, erosion of the tesserae would have played a significant role, and that's what Ernst wants his fellow scientists to be on the lookout for. He presented his research in March at the Lunar and Planetary Sciences Conference in The Woodlands, Texas. According to Ernst, the tesserae likely formed during Venus' cooler period, when water running across the surface could have acted to erode the rocky formations. By hunting for signs of water erosion, Ernst thinks that it may be possible to track the warming of Venus over its lifetime, confirming the theory that the planet was once a more welcoming place. "The search for erosional features in tesserae terrains is a key test of a hyper-global warming climate change for Venus," Ernst said. (Image credit: NASA/Richard Ernst) A water-rich world Today, Venus is a hellish place, with temperatures reaching an average of 864 degrees Fahrenheit (462 degrees Celsius). But at least one recent model predicts that, in its past, Venus may have been an Earth-like planet, with water running across its surface. What changed the paradisical world into a sweltering hotbox? Extreme volcanism. Volcanoes dot the surface of Venus, and much of its surface is young. Previous studies have revealed signs of features that resembled enormous volcanic features on Earth known as large igneous provinces (LIPs). On Earth, LIPs result from enormous volcanic explosions with volumes of at least 24,000 cubic miles (100,000 cubic kilometers), enough to cover all of the United States to a depth of anywhere from 33 feet to 5 miles (10 meters to 8 kilometers). "LIPs on Earth are associated with the breakup of supercontinents, catastrophic climate change including mass extinctions, and also some major ore deposit types," Ernst said. Volcanic eruptions dump gases like carbon dioxide into the air. On Earth, plate tectonics work as part of the carbon cycle to help remove the gas from the atmosphere and trap it in rocks. Venus, however, doesn't have plate tectonics, so the carbon dioxide levels continue to rise, triggering a greenhouse effect that slowly warms the planet. Scientists have already identified a major phase of LIP-style eruptions that took place about 700 million years ago, kicking off the rise in temperatures. "We should expect the beginning of the major time of volcanism should be the beginning of global warming," Ernst said. Because the volcanism can take anywhere from 1 to 10 million years to heat the atmosphere, Ernst thinks that the resulting climate changes may have been preserved in the tesserae. He thinks Venus may host features suggestive of a water-rich past such as stream cuts, gravel deposits, mudslides, alluvial fans and deltas. If these features exist, why has no one spotted them yet? Ernst thinks that it's because no one was looking for them. "The idea of erosion on Venus has always been hard to imagine given the present-day superhot temperatures and the absence of free water," Ernst said. With the emergence of the new model predicting that Venus was once cooler and water-rich, erosion features become easier to envision. Ernst suspects that having a model in hand that allows water to have once flowed across the surface will lead to more researchers identifying erosional features. Enter tesserae . On a surface that was mostly recovered by volcanism, tesserae may provide some of the best links to the water-rich world of the past. They are among the oldest visible surface features and remain uncovered by the volcanic plains, Ernst said. The next step toward identifying signs of erosion is more detailed mapping of the features on Venus. Erosion features would support the idea that the planet was water-rich when young. Dating those features would allow scientists a glimpse of how the planet changed over time. "If we are able to identify erosion in the tesserae then we are essentially confirming the [recent] model that predicts that Venus had an Earth-like climate in the past," Ernst said. Optimization Are you frustrated with a slow pc or a hard disk not performing as it should? Try SLOW-PCfighter to speed up boot time on a slow PC, or try a free scan of FULL-DISKfighter to recover space on a full disk. The latest offering is DRIVERfighter to update your driver updater. Get complete PC optimization and extend the life of your PC with these must-have software tools. 6.15 - "Olivia Olson" Written by Jon Bokenkamp and Lukas Reiter Directed by Stephanie A. Marquardt Reviewed by KathM Red charges interest and sends the team after Olivia Olson (Blacklister No. 115). Oliva used to be the It Girl of hostile takeovers on Wall Street, then moved on to helping criminals grow their businesses by identifying and taking over other criminal organizations. She also works with Anna McMahan, but Red isnt sure what she does for her. Thats not his job, anyway; the Task Force gets to figure that out. Whats in it for Red? Well, Olivia is in many ways his competition, so it would help him out a bit to see her sidelined. However, when Liz and Ressler arrive at the location where Olivia is supposed to meet a new client, they find out the client is Red! He thought hed offer Olivia a job and see if shed be interested in sharing information about her work with Anna McMahan in the bargain. Olivia, via computer (she doesnt do in-person meetings), tells Red that she isnt interested, so he shuts her down by simply closing the lid of the laptop. Olivia immediately calls Anna and tells her everything. Liz and Ressler try to catch the person who is broadcasting the signal that Olivia is using to chat with Red, but dont have any luck. Hoping to cause trouble or prevent shenanigans resulting in her name popping up in Olivias files, Anna scurries over to the Post Office and demands to know what Cooper and the kids are doing. Red arrives minutes before her and sits down in a comfy chair in Harolds office to listen as Anna rants a little. Shes disappointed when Harold explains that he was just getting ready to call her about Reds newest intel after completing the numerous forms shes provided the Task Force to complete telling her just what he was going to call her about. Anna ignores Red (well, she refers to him as a sociopath), so he asks Anna whether she knows Olivia Olson, just to see what shell do. Unfortunately, Annas had time to compose herself in the car. Harold tells Anna that the best thing about arresting Olivia will be that theyll be able to access her files to find out who her clients are and what theyre doing. Then they can make loads of arrests of criminals and miscreants like you, Anna (unspoken)! Red and Harold are both hoping that Olivia will mess up in a way that will get her back on their radar. While Aram helps Liz and Ressler sort out the name of a company recently acquired that was most likely a front for her business, Anna meets virtually with her managing staff. Shes looking to discredit a contractor who looks ripe for acquisition. The problem is that he doesnt seem to have any vices she could capitalize on. However, he did just add a new sky deck on a fancy downtown hotel. Maybe if they sabotage it and make it look like he skimped on materials the contractor in question might be more amenable. And if people have to die then hey, thats just the cost of doing business. Meanwhile, out in the lobby, Liz, Ressler and a team get to Rain Cloud (a newish company Olivia bought as a cover) and start going though things and questioning people to find out where Olivia happens to be. Shes virtually upstairs, but her Assistant manages to get word to her about the FBI sniffing around. She cancels the meeting and deploys malware that will destroy all of her files so that the FBI wont be able to use them. They do manage to get some of the data, but there is only one man on the planet able to make sense of it all: Super Aram!! Where is he, anyway? Hes been a busy guy since getting up that morning, starting with embezzling $60 million dollars from Reds accounts. He doesnt want the money, he tells Red: just take him to Samar and hell give it all back. Red knows hes telling the truth and since he isnt interested in killing any of the Task Force this week, he and Dembe get in the plane with Aram and away they fly. Arams scenes with Red were great; he showed no fear and lets us see how much the character had grown. I think Red knew something like this might happen and was ready to help Aram when the time came. I dont think he counted on that $60 million, though. As the plant floated along Red kept gently telling Aram what a huge risk hed be taking by going on the run with Samar, how Samar wanted it this way because she loved him and wanted to spare him pain. Aram didnt want to hear it, but he needed to. And Red thought he was the only person who could get through to him. Red gave up everything to run away and become Raymond Reddington, and you no doubt have to let a lot of things go to succeed at that. I think what really got to Aram in the end was when Red took the call from Liz about the problems they were having on the case with the servers and there was no way to for Aram to help. Thats one of the worst things about being on the run, Red tells him, that you cant there for the ones you leave behind. But since the plane hadnt landed yet and the Mossad werent following him straight to Samar, he could still help. Aram sadly agrees and figures out in less than a minute what the data says, then tells Liz that the hotel is where they need to be. And then Aram quietly asks Red to turn the plane around and take them back to DC. Liz, Ressler and a team converge on the hotel, only to find out that theyre minutes too late. The explosion rocks the hotel and some lucky guests manage to get off the sky deck before it collapses, but not all of them are so lucky. Ressler improbably manages to save one women, though; with the strength of one arm he manages to lift her up while she's barely holding onto a piece of rebar. Yes, Ressler, you do curls as the gym. We get it. Outside they find Olivia's Assistant-in-Crime (not the one at Rain Cloud: this is a more of a Dembe-type assistant) who gives her up so easily my cat could get him to talk by just meowling at him, but maybe thats the plan. Liz and Ressler arrive shortly after Olivia gets away again, but her servers arent as lucky this time. They hadnt had time to cook yet and all of the information is intact. Harold proudly presents the data to Anna, who is pleased about how well they worked together and promises to get her people on the people in the files right away. Then she slinks off, thinking shes won. Which makes me really confused about how far she and her plan have managed to get. Because really, Anna, did you know think that Harold wouldnt copy the data and let Red know that there was one file she didnt turn over to be investigated? Its called the Third Estate, which translates loosely to the 99%. Whatever could that mean? Well, Episode 17 is called The Third Estate, so maybe well find out then. Im surprised Red didnt congratulate Aram on how he borrowed Reds money, it was a good trick. Wonder if Reds really going to make Aram pay the interest? Lizs manipulation of Ressler continues. Are you sure you dont want to know what happened to your mother? Yes, Im sure. Does anyone think that she really doesnt care and isnt trying to get Ressler to do her bidding? Because if so, Id like to hear about it. Loved the way Aram sat down in front of a MossadCam in his living room and telling them that hell never let them know where Samar is hiding. Teary moment! Still not sure whats wrong with Red but he continued to hide his illness from Liz. Aram saw that he was in some obvious pain on the plane, though. Wonder whether hell ask Liz about it. The Mayors Gallery in Stamford is hosting Squeegeed, Poured and More, an exhibit exploring the personal painting methods of artists Nat Connacher, Lisa Cuscuna and Lisa Hillman. The exhibit runs at the gallery Wednesday, May 1-Friday, June 28, with a reception Thursday, May 2, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Connachers art is the synthesis of his love for typography and an ability to simplify complex visual ideas with raw emotional marks on paper, the gallery said in a news release. He puts his whole body into his paint strokes to let the motion/action dictate the composition. Then he removes the medium with different degrees of force to reveal what has always been there, as a sculptor does with stone, the gallery said of Connacher, a graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and who holds a MFA in Graphic Design from Yale University. Over a span of 40 years, Cuscuna has explored the process of pouring thinned oil paint as part of her technique, the gallery said. Sometimes the liquid paint is used as a foundation while other times the entire canvas is made only with poured paint. The paint is poured and then manipulated by tilting and adjusting the surface of the canvas, the gallery said of Cuscuna, a member of the Greenwich Arts Council and also a member of the Arts & Culture Commission for the City of Stamford. She was President of the Loft Artists Association from 2009 to 2013, and is now a board member and Treasurer of the LAA. Hillmans choice of palette as a painting instrument drives the flow of her work, the gallery said. In this series she has harnessed the singular qualities of the palette knife, discovering the paints response to the blade, sweeping on layers of glazes or exploiting the paints inherent viscosity, the gallery said of Hillman, who teaches art programs and workshops in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Arizona. She maintains a studio at the Loft Artists Association in Stamford, where she serves on the Board of Directors and originated the annual spring Draw On event and Summer Art Workshop programs. Mayors Gallery, 888 Washington Blvd., 10th floor, Stamford. Weekdays 9 a.m.-4 p.m. 203-858-3082. We love you and your co-founder,but we want to meet the rest of the team." The speaker was a partner at an investment firm thinking about sinking money into the startup my co-founder and I ran. Related: First Meeting With an Investor? These 5 Guidelines Will Help "Specifically, we want to meet the engineers on board and understand how they think about the product, the partner told us. And, without even thinking twice, my co-founder and I promptly set up the meeting for the next afternoon. The meeting happened. The partner and his associate met with our entire engineering and product teams. We came out of the meeting in high spirits. Which is why were shocked to find out the next day that the firm had decided not to invest in us. We think you have a great thesis but the team is not really up to par to deliver on what the space needs, the investment company partner told us. We saw some serious deficiencies that would have to be filled later on, at significant cost. Lets talk at the next round once you have de-risked the company more. What investors expect Often, as part of due diligence, investors will ask for a variety of materials ranging from product plans and customer contracts to even user testimonials. And, as a founder, you can control how all of these materials are presented. But the one factor you cannot exercise complete control over is the most important one: human capital. Related: 4 Things Every Entrepreneur Should Do Before Meeting an Investor By interviewing your colleagues, employees and collaborators, investors often attempt to understand whether the team has the knowledge, willpower and grit to pursue the opportunity. Often these team interviews and meetings fall short of investors' expectations. Those individuals may believe that the team is not experienced enough to build out a complicated technical product and incapable of pivoting at the right moment to build the product the market needs. Additionally, investors may believe that the team just doesnt gel or isnt all in on the startups mission. These conclusions can come from things as simple as body language. Want to prevent this from occurring at your startup? Heres how to position your team a different way -- the right way. Let investors fill in the blanks as you describe your team to investors. Envision this scenario: You are in an investor meeting and the discussion starts to move toward your team. As founder, rather than offer to have the investor meet your team in person, you take another tack: You offer detailed descriptions of their skills and capabilities that clearly communicate your excitement. You accompany these descriptions with visualizations. Using your naturally infectious descriptions as a foundation, you prompt the investor to take what youve said about your team and fill in the blanks with details that his or her own experiences and imagination conjure. This tactic is nothing new. In fact, you are borrowing a popular filmmaking strategy. Lacking funds to build a mechanical shark while making Jaws, director Steven Spielberg used music and creative camera angles to create the feeling of a carnivorous creature on the hunt. Knowing that the audiences imagination would fill in the blanks, Spielberg purposely set up the film to be that much more terrifying -- and successful. In a similar way, if you describe your colleagues, especially those in technical roles, as extraordinarily talented and qualified, investors will fill in the blanks in their own minds and equate those colleagues to analogous rockstar people they've worked with in the past. In this way, you will successfully convince investors what you knew of all along: that your team is qualified. Pre-empt the ask: Bring your best colleague to the meeting. Again, lets go back to that investor meeting. Its smooth sailing as the meeting progresses toward the end and the investor seems copacetic. Yet, something is amiss. The investor didn't ask a single question about the team or its qualifications. Why? Youve brought along one of your most valuable colleagues to participate and answer the investors questions. In doing this, you are not alone. Many founders look to bring one colleague, usually a technical leader, who has a strong grasp of business fundamentals, can easily explain the solutions for complex technical challenges, and can convey a sense of commitment to the long-term success of the company. Remember, though: Bringing too many colleagues to the meeting could overpower the investor and make him or her feel ambushed. So, be judicious. Related: I Took 400 Meetings With Investors to Get My Startup Funded. Here's What I Learned. Know that, ultimately, its about getting to yes faster. The above tactics are about enabling you to close your round with less last-minute questions that could derail the entire process. Because what really matters to the long-term success of your business is not investor and team introduction strategy but rather working with your team to create a great product that customers love. Related: How to Introduce Investors to Your Team the Right Way Vusi Thembekwayo's 7 Rules of Pitching How to (Politely) Get Someone to Sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved A US investor which was going to help Sir Philip Greens Topshop to crack America has sold its stake back as the billionaire overhauls his retail empire, the Standard can reveal. Leonard Green & Partners, a private equity firm, bought a 25% stake in Topshop and Topman, part of Greens Arcadia group, for a reported 350 million in 2012, valuing the group at 2 billion. The deal was meant to help the fashion chain, considered the jewel in the crown of Greens now struggling empire, further its US expansion. The J Crew and Pure Gym backer sold its stake to Arcadia for an undisclosed sum. It said: The transfer simplifies the shareholding structure of Topshop Topman and enables the Arcadia board to focus on the restructuring options being considered. Leonard Green remains supportive of the business and has the opportunity to repurchase its stake in the future. Last week, two Leonard Green directors, Adam Levyn and Jonathan Sokoloff, resigned from Arcadias board. Arcadia, which also owns Wallis, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge brands, is planning to close a raft of stores overseas, it emerged. It has 1,170 shops in 36 countries, although the majority are concessions or franchises. Arcadias overseas sales dropped by just under a fifth to 241.5 million in 2017, while operating profits crashed 42% to 124 million in its most recent accounts. Green has been battling the fallout from his 1 sale of BHS and allegations of sexual harassment, which he denies. R olls-Royce will ramp up inspections on a popular jet engine used by more than a dozen airlines after discovering turbine blades were wearing out faster than expected. Checks on the Trent 1000 Ten engine, launched in November 2017, will increase over the next few months after signs too much flying at high thrust caused the blades to wear out prematurely. The move comes after Singapore Airlines grounded two jumbos fitted with the engines last week after identifying the issue. Rolls has suffered problems with vulnerable rotor blades before on two other versions of the Trent 1000. It took a 554 million charge last year on the issue. Costs will remain the same despite the new problem. This blade deterioration is a known issue but it is occurring faster than we expected on some engines, said Rolls civil aerospace president Chris Cholerton. We started development of an enhanced blade last year, which we are now testing. We expect to start incorporating enhanced blades into the Trent 1000 Ten fleet in early 2020. The European Aviation Safety Agency has approved Rolls inspection plan. It will issue an airworthiness directive today forcing airlines to comply with the checks. F light UK001 (destination: the future) takes to the skies and the captain starts his spiel on the tannoy. Welcome on board. Our flight time today will be infinite hours, the bar is fully stocked, and the weather en route has a few Brexit-shaped clouds that might bring a spot of turbulence, but its just temporary. So sit back, and enjoy the flight. Thats Britains listed airlines outlook for the future. After a blistering few years of fleet expansion and soaring passenger numbers, the guidance from airlines corporate cockpits is: were it not for Brexit, we would tell investors to expect more of the same. Falling profits are blamed on Brexit-fuelled rising currency costs; lower forward bookings are blamed on Brexit-triggered uncertainty; bust carrier FlyBMI even blamed Brexit for its demise. The big Brexit excuse is pervasive. When easyJet warned its expecting a hefty 275 million pre-tax loss for the first half, and reined in expectations for its vital summer season, chief executive Johan Lundgren blamed too many unanswered questions surrounding Brexit which are together driving weaker customer demand. Ditto Ryanair, and British Airways-owner IAG. No one would disagree with IAG boss Willie Walshs verdict that politicians lack of Brexit progress is quite shocking. But its not just Brexit thats dogging the aviation industry: its strategy. European airlines have added 275 million seats since the end of 2010, according to RDC Aviation, while the major budget airlines have rapidly expanded their fleets. Great news for passengers: its not only easier to find a flight for that mini-break, the surge in competition has also slashed prices. Weve seen a huge amount of capacity go into the market, confirms Chris Tarry, aviation analyst at Ctaira. And fares have come down to fill it. That was fine while fuel costs were falling but thats no longer the case. Labour, admin costs and airport fees are also rising, while inbound tourism figures are patchy. Airlines are offering more seats, more cheaply and earlier, sometimes because they really need cash. Its not a sign of industry health. Another cause of turbulence is aviations growing flight compensation bill: EU air passenger rights legislation cost the industry millions last year. Airlines now have to foot the bill for external challenges such as [air traffic control] delays and strikes, says aviation analyst John Strickland, who adds the cost hikes have been a factor in bankruptcies. Brexit is certainly having an impact: airlines have had to pay millions to deal with issues like ownership structure, and been hit by sterlings slide hiking dollar-priced fuel bills and aircraft leasing costs. But the UKs exit might not be the biggest hazard ahead for Britain and Irelands biggest airlines. Ryanair You cant run an airline without people to fly the planes. Ryanair is trying hard to recruit more pilots: when Wow collapsed this month, Ryanair recruiters almost immediately contacted its pilots to fill vacancies. But its still cancelling flights due to pilot shortages. And even the pilots Ryanair already employs have issues: about 100 went on strike over conditions last summer, causing disruption for tens of thousands of passengers. Several pilot unions have suspended talks over pay and conditions in protest at the threat of base closures. Ryanair needs to recruit, fast. easyJet Wheres the good news going to come from out of Luton? asks one aviation analyst, who reckons the Bedfordshire-headquartered airline could even fall out of the FTSE 100. Under previous boss Carolyn McCall, the budget carrier turned itself around by focusing on business travellers. But its business model is mature, says Tarry, and its performance over recent summers has been poor. Easyjet has spare aircraft, and had to cut prices after flying almost 15% more seats last half. A lot of that expansion was at Tegel airport after easyJet bought bust Air Berlins assets, but it faces stiff competition there. It might not be long before the biggest critic, founder and 34% shareholder Stelios Haji-Ioannou, begins to bellow for change. IAG Tensions have been high in the UK, with the BA owner cutting the aviation regulator out of crunch talks over charges at Heathrow and fretting over higher fares there after its expansion. Times should be good: for years, the super-rich Gulf airlines with their on-board showers had eaten into its long-haul stronghold. But Etihads suffering from its strategy of buying stakes in other airlines; Qatar is struggling with the fallout from its blockade by Arab countries; Emirates is facing competition from budget long-haul carriers. Meanwhile, BA has a new business-class cabin and A350 fleet arriving this summer. But what about growth? IAG is structured like an activist investor, so the question is, whats next? asks Tarry. IAG sniffed around budget transatlantic flier Norwegian Airways but walked away (for now). Another question is how long Walsh, a 14-year veteran of the company will stick around. Tui Its had to park a lot of pricey jets: Tui shares hit a record low after 15 of its Boeing 737 Max jets, which were involved in two fatal crashes, were grounded: thats 10% of its 150-strong fleet. If those planes are forced to stay on the tarmac until the end of the crucial summer season, Tui will lose up to a quarter of its anticipated full-year profit. Its likely, a City plane-watcher predicts, that Tui will roll the figures forward, say Boeing will have to pay up eventually, and claim the missing money is just financing, just a lag effect. But Tuis margins are also under threat from serious overcapacity in its bedrock, the Med. C ity regulators fired a warning shot at the insurance industry on Wednesday over fears that high commissions for middlemen are leading to rip-off prices. The Financial Conduct Authority warned it would clamp down on general insurers who failed to show how their products were value for money. The FCA said that in one example a 360 car insurance add-on sold by a motor dealer led to a 213 commission to the dealership with only 81 paid to the insurer as a premium a 60% commission rate. The FCAs Jonathan Davidson said there was a culture in some parts of general insurance which pays insufficient regard to customer outcomes. T he leading Brexiteers, and their supporters in the media, are exasperated with their provisional wing. Cant the likes of Mark Francois and Steve Baker see that by refusing to support Theresa Mays deal they are jeopardising the whole project? they wail. What they mean is: these dopes havent thought this through because theyre not clever enough. It takes one to know one. After all, were currently being treated to a succession of so-called mainstream Brexiteers conceding that leaving the EU is a lot more difficult than they had thought. The Attorney-General, Geoffrey Cox, is just the latest example: We have underestimated its complexity it needs a hard-headed understanding of realities, he told us in between quoting lines from T S Eliot. April has been the month when prominent Right-wing commentator Peter Oborne confronted this cruellest of realities: If we are honest, we Brexiteers have to admit that the economic arguments for Brexit have been destroyed by a series of shattering blows. So you can understand the wry smile on the faces of some of the 16 million who supported Remain when these Brexiteers now claim that their ultra wing are behaving illogically and havent given enough thought to what theyre doing. In any case, its not true. While far from the position advocated by the Evening Standard, the actions of the hardest of hard Brexiteers are perfectly logical. First, they have taken at their word the likes of Boris Johnson, David Davis and Dominic Raab when they said in the past that signing up to Mrs Mays deal would be substantially worse than staying in the EU. They were right even if they have now done a volte face and supported the deal over which they resigned from the Cabinet. Walking out of the councils of the EU but still signing up to its laws and regulations really is much worse than staying in the room and having some say on what those laws and regulations should be. The Brexiteer ultras are not being stupid when they point that out. Out of our hands Nor is the clean break they seek as unachievable as everyone assumes. Yvette Cooper and Oliver Letwin have achieved a constitutional miracle in passing through Parliament, against the wishes of the Government, a law that delays Brexit. They have done us all a huge service. But the Prime Ministers humiliating visits to Berlin and Paris yesterday remind us that our fate is now firmly in the hands of the Europeans. The triggering of Article 50, and the picking of March 29 as Brexit Day, was our unilateral decision. From now on, however, the choice of whether Britain can remain in the EU is in the hands of the European Council. They will almost certainly grant an extension tonight but it will be time-limited and only renewable with their consent and with evidence of good behaviour on our side. If we start threatening to use our veto or block the next European budget then the message from Brussels is: youre out. Congratulations, Brexit-committed Government: you have managed to achieve the biggest transfer of power from the UK to the EU in history, giving to the institution the power to expel one of its members if they dare to exercise their rights. The Brexit ultras now intend to provoke Brussels to exercise its newly-won control. Mr Francois says he and his group will ensure we are perfidious Albion on speed. Jacob Rees-Mogg, who flip-flops from hardliner to appeaser, promises to sabotage the EU budget and any treaty changes. For those who doubt the power of this hardline minority to frustrate the whole EU, remember that key decisions on things such as the budget and future treaty change require a majority in the Commons and these ultras have amply demonstrated their ability to prevent that majority forming. The Brexit ultras are also confident that the next Tory leader will only get elected this summer if they sign up to their impossible red lines ensuring from the start that the new Tory administration cannot comply with the terms of the probation that Brussels has set. Those who say the EU will never kick us out without a deal, and always allow us to delay our departure, assume that Brussels will be as indulgent of the behaviour of the Brexiteers as Westminster has been. Dont count on it. Theyre not that stupid. And nor are the ultras, pursuing their cunning plan. TODO: define component type apester A s the European Union decides our fate over dinner, we are left to consider what we might do with the extension to Article 50 that is all but certain to be granted at todays Brussels summit Our 27 EU partners have grasped correctly that Theresa May is extremely unlikely to seal a Brexit deal with Parliament before June 30 (her preferred new cut-off date). It follows, therefore, that she, and the rest of us, must be given more time. But to what end? Note, for starters, that Mays own party didnt even want her to seek an extension to the end of June. Last night, 97 Conservative MPs voted against this minimal delay, while another 80 including four Cabinet ministers (Andrea Leadsom, Liam Fox, Chris Grayling and Geoffrey Cox) chose to abstain, ignoring the whips instructions. Discipline has now broken down entirely in Conservative ranks, and the PM governs if that is the word in preposterous coalition with Labour MPs willing to lend her selective support in the Brexit process. Though the Tory Partys rules prohibit another formal vote of confidence by MPs in her leadership before December, there is growing pressure for another informal or indicative ballot as soon as possible. To watch the worryingly puce Brexiteer MP, Mark Francois, mixing metaphors, murdering the poetry of Tennyson, and demanding that the PM resign to preserve the existential future of our party and the destiny of our country is to see a once-proud party degenerate into a carnival of grotesque, flailing rage. Even before May headed to the continent to plead her case, Conservative strategists had more or less accepted that the UK would, after all, be taking part in the European Parliament elections on May 23. Quite reasonably, the public will ask why, three years after the referendum, they are being asked to cast a ballot at all and there is no answer to this question that is not embarrassing to the Government. Matthew d'Ancona Traditionally, European elections in this country have marked a national day of indifference. In 2014 when Ukip captured more seats than Labour or the Tories only 35.6 per cent of voters bothered to turn out. This was, it must be acknowledged, a small improvement on the 34.7 per cent that bothered to vote in 2009 and way ahead of the pitiful 24 per cent turnout in 1999. It is entirely possible that this years (unexpected) elections could be boycotted by voters, candidates, particular parties, or all three. This weeks Hansard Society report on political engagement disclosed a deeply alarming disaffection with the democratic process in general 42 per cent of respondents agreeing to the proposition that many national problems could be dealt with more efficiently if the government didnt have to worry so much about votes in [the Westminster] Parliament. In this particular context one of rancour, disenchantment, and political failure it is easy to imagine a swathe of the population seceding from the electoral process entirely. But this would reflect a new spirit of furious protest, rather than the traditional apathy spawned by European elections. Already, Nigel Farages Brexit Party is readying itself for battle: odious a figure as he is, Farage is an expert campaigner who will stoke the fires of resentment and work round the clock to ensure the Westminster class is sent an apoplectic message by the electorate. On the other side of the argument, the new Change UK party formerly The Independent Group of MPs is preparing to make the case for remaining in the EU, and claims to have hundreds of potential candidates ready to stand on May 23. The hazard is that the extension could become a battle zone of ill temper, recrimination and paralysis If the elections prompt a sense of public investment in the democratic process, that can only be welcome. The risk is that because these contests principally reflect the failure of the Brexit process they will generate more heat than light, an ugly pageant of emotional intensity and political antagonism that only deepens the rifts in the body politic. What matters most is that they are not treated as, de facto, a fresh referendum on Brexit; for they will be no such thing. The use of proportional representation and a party list system may be a reasonable way of electing MEPs, but it is a poor mechanism for testing public opinion on the wisdom of leaving the EU. The only reliable means of accomplishing that task is to hold a public vote on the least-worst Brexit deal that Parliament can ratify. The hazard, of course, is that the expected extension, granted as a breathing space and a final opportunity to pause for thought, will instead become a political battle zone of ill temper, recrimination and strategic paralysis. There will surely be a new prime minister installed in Downing Street before the elongated extension expires (which is why Brussels is so keen to Boris-proof the negotiating process before Mays departure). Given the apparently unbreakable parliamentary logjam and the total exhaustion of the Commons, it is also entirely possible that there will be a general election. The variables, in other words, are proliferating. The process is becoming more complex, rather than less so. The match is about to enter extra time, with no clarifying penalty shoot-out in sight only the deferred prospect of a terrible no-deal exit if, once again, we fail to reach an agreement. E ven amid a treasure house of sparkling wonders it stands out. Tomorrow the V&A unveils its latest acquisition: the stunning sapphire and diamond coronet which Prince Albert designed for Queen Victoria. In doing so it celebrates the 200th anniversary of the births of the museums founders and their profound contribution to modern Britain. As the centrepiece of our Bollinger Jewellery Gallery, the coronet tells the story of both the royal couples abiding love and the depths of Victorias depression in the aftermath of Alberts untimely death. For, as Daisy Goodwins ITV series Victoria has reminded us, the young queen was flesh and blood. My dearest dearest dear Albert sat on a footstool by my side, and his excessive love and affection gave me feelings of heavenly love and happiness I never could have hoped to have felt before, she wrote of their courtship. The coronet is an elegant and brilliantly executed testament to that ardour. Prince Albert based the design on the Saxon Rautenkranz, a stylised band of leaves which runs diagonally across the coat of arms of Saxony. In 1842, Victoria wore the newly completed coronet in a portrait by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. It carried the image of the young queen around the world through copies and engravings. The coronet was an integral part of the global, imperial visage of the queen. Of course the marriage had its moments, as the tensions of their husband and wife, sovereign and subject roles were played out in a series of letters. Victoria is too hasty and passionate for me to be able often to speak of my difficulties, complained Albert. Albert must tell me what he dislikes, and I will set about to remedy it, but he must also promise to listen to and believe me when (on the contrary) I am in a passion, replied Victoria. But when he died in 1861 her grief was unspeakable and the coronet became the jewel of the widowed queen. When she returned to state duties at the 1866 opening of Parliament, she wore the coronet in place of her crown. The coronet had been a joint project like the V&A itself. Three weeks after the opening of Parliament she paid a visit to the museum, this most flourishing, interesting and beautiful Institution, which was virtually my beloved ones creation. Over the coming months there will be multiple celebrations of Alberts modernising approach towards Anglo-German relations, engineering, education and the army. From the Great Exhibition to university reform, he was the impatient radical, determined to transform insular, self-satisfied Britain for the better. But our gallery also shows him to be a devoted husband, whose love for Victoria was expressed in a small, delicate work of profound beauty. The Victorians might have sought to build an empire but at its emotional core rested a coronet whose sparkle has never dimmed. Come see for yourself. A lastair McKays search for the cultural antecedents of Fleabag ["The dark night rises", April 8] turns up both predictable (Absolutely Fabulous) and unpredictable (Tracey Emin) names, but omits the most significant precursor. If anyone carved out the imaginative space for the new genre of comedy currently inhabited by the in-your-face Fleabag with an itch, surely it was Julia Davis as the off-the-scale awful, oestrogen-driven beautician Jill Tyrrell in her two series of Nighty Night (2004-05). Bleach-blonde but with a very dark side, Jill pushed her unforgivable behaviour to criminal limits. Fleabags arc goes in the other direction: her misdemeanours are gentler, perhaps truer but work the same space and deliver the same bold thrill of transgression. Olivier Alexis I hope Phoebe Waller-Bridge writes a third series or even a film. David Lodge EDITOR'S REPLY Dear Olivier Youre right to mention Julia Davis, and Nighty Night isnt given the credit that it deserves. Phoebe Waller-Bridge has admitted to being a huge fan, and auditioned for one of Daviss shows. Maybe the influence isnt obvious because Davis is more extreme, and less interested in making her characters likeable. Of course, once you start on influences its hard to stop. It has been pointed out to me that Mrs Browns Boys breaks the fourth wall, like Fleabag, but I dont think thats a big inspiration. When Fleabag first hit the Edinburgh Fringe, Waller-Bridge was called a dirty-talking younger cousin of Miranda Hart. Miranda breaks the fourth wall too, though in a different way to Fleabag. Maybe Nineties series This Life, following five twentysomething law graduates sharing a London house, was an influence. Daniela Nardinis Anna would get on fine in Fleabags world (though Waller-Bridge was 11 when it was on, so possibly thats optimistic). And Vogue called Waller-Bridge a renegade Woody Allen and a dark-haired Carole Lombard in one. All of which is a long way of saying shes a true original. Alastair McKay, Television Critic Mind the pay gap between Tube staff I once worked for London Underground and for Transport for London at blue-collar level. The one thing I could never understand was the gap in pay. What was a train operator doing differently to a railman that deserved any difference in salary? Look at what a customer service agent does for a living, compared with an automatic train operator (ATO). The latter opens and closes the train doors, similar to what guards once did, while the former make themselves available to address all passenger needs in any form of language thrown at them. Their body clocks are equally thrown out of kilter in line with the shift patterns. The rules and regulations in their contracts of employment are basically the same, so why the huge wage difference? During peak periods it is not the ATOs who are controlling the masses getting on and off the trains but the station staff on duty that day. Pat Hughes No will for no deal W ant to give your home a bit of Scandi-inspired chic but not sure where to start? Later this month, the duo behind hip interiors brand Att Pynta will be at Fora in Borough to share their tips on creating a stylish home. On 30th April, Kai Price and Amanda Nelson will be joined by Amira Hashish, Evening Standards Digital Executive Editor and design columnist, for an intimate interiors panel discussion, Q&A and drinks reception. Also on the panel will be Sylvana Young, Get Livings Chief Design Officer, alongside Michel Baumgart from BoConcept. Held at Fora a cool and innovative co-working space a stones throw from Borough Market How to make your home stylish will be the second in a trio of Evening Standard home events in partnership with Get Living. This particular session will focus on how to up your home style credentials. The event will be held at Fora, a co-working space near Borough Market As well as receiving a goody bag, each guest will be in with the chance of winning a prize. Attendees will be entered into a raffle, in which a 75 Att Pynta voucher, an original abstract oil painting from BoConcept worth 529, and a BoConcept Jersey side table worth 239 are up for grabs.* The event will kick off at 18:30 with a drinks reception, followed by an interview with Kai and Amanda, the friends who founded Att Pynta in 2014 after bonding over a shared love of the Scandi aesthetic. The London-based pair (whose Peckham-based studio is filled with Instagrammable home inspo and can be visited by appointment) both have links to Sweden: Kai is half-Swedish and Amanda was born and raised in Gothenburg. Noting an absence of affordable, contemporary interiors retailers that focused on Scandinavian style, Att Pynta was born. Five years on, theyre stocked in Liberty and the duo are also Evening Standards resident design columnists. Tickets to the event are free.* To find out more and book tickets, click here. THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT. Get Living is sponsoring the 'How to make your home...' events in partnership with the Evening Standard. As the largest operator in the UKs Build to Rent sector and with no deposits, no fees and longer tenancies, Get Living offers a better way of renting. Not only does Get Living build and manage the homes its residents live in, it also creates thriving neighbourhoods where residents have more freedom to paint and decorate their living spaces. For more information, head to getliving.com F lying cars could be greener than electric ones, according to a new study by the University of Michigan. Scientists looked at the environmental sustainability of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or VTOLs. VTOLs take off and land like helicopters but have efficient aerodynamic flight similar to a plane. Several companies around the world are currently developing them and they are set to be used in congested cities as part of a ride-sharing taxi service. To me, it was very surprising to see that VTOLs were competitive with regard to energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in certain scenarios, said Gregory Keoleian, senior author of the study from the University of Michigan. VTOLs with full occupancy could outperform ground-based cars for trips from San Francisco to San Jose or from Detroit to Cleveland, for example, he said. The study looked at energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and the time savings of VTOLs compared to ground-based passenger cars. Although VTOLs produce zero emissions during flight, their batteries require electricity generated at power plants. Scientists found that for shorter trips less than 22 miles, using an electric car was more efficient / Alamy Stock Photo Researchers found that for trips of 62 miles, a fully loaded VTOL carrying a pilot and three passengers had lower greenhouse gas emissions than ground-based cars with an average of 1.54 people inside. VTOL emissions were six percent lower than battery-electric cars. However, scientists found that for shorter trips less than 22 miles, using an electric car was more efficient, according to the paper published in British science journal Nature. With these VTOLs, there is an opportunity to mutually align the sustainability and business cases, said Akshat Kasliwal, first author of the study and a graduate student. Not only is high passenger occupancy better for emissions, it also favours the economics of flying cars. Further, consumers could be incentivized to share trips, given the significant time savings from flying versus driving. Review at a glance Y ou could be forgiven for thinking the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center had fielded a full team for Brahmss Piano Quartet No 1 in G minor perhaps even in Schoenbergs orchestration such was the power of their performance. It was, in fact, only four of the Societys evolving roster of artists, but the amplitude of their tone, combined with Brahmss breadth of conception, created a potent effect. The vigour of the gypsy-influenced finale was particularly arresting, but the richness of sound in the Andante was also impressive. The ensemble brought a new work by Brett Dean, Seven Signals, giving its UK premiere. As the title intimates, the piece is about non-verbal communication: a phenomenon for which music is especially well equipped, though the composer alludes to non-musical gestures too, such as Morse signals, evoking the distress calls of RMS Titanic, and telegraphy (executed by the string players making whipping motions with their bows). The sixth movement is an aural representation of the way prisoners mark up days of confinement with lines etched on a wall, making a link with Messiaens Quartet for the End of Time, composed and first performed in a German prison camp and scored, like Deans work, for clarinet, violin, cello and piano. The fine players in this engaging work were Tommaso Lonquich, Arnaud Sussmann, Nicholas Canellakis and Wu Qian. With the equally excellent viola player Yura Lee, Beethovens String Trio in D, op. 9 no 2, was delivered as an eloquent conversation between friends. Debussys Premiere Rhapsodie for clarinet and piano was written as a competition piece for the Paris Conservatoire. Its far more than a vehicle for virtuosity, however. As Lonquich and Qian showed, the challenge is to evoke a world of enchantment in the opening section a requirement they met with aplomb before seizing the opportunity to display the clarinettists technique. A prize-winning performance. Review at a glance I t is quite late on a Monday night my sister and I have been to see The White Crow, the recent film about Rudolph Nureyev and his defection to the West. I am not expecting Mourad Mazouz to be present at his recently reopened Momo in Heddon Street but, lithe as a dancer, there he is zipping round the newly beauteous space designed as an idealised glittering oasis. Mourad (I know him) brought Momo to the then backwater of Heddon Street 23 years ago. In the meantime, in 2003, he opened Sketch in Conduit Street with Michelin-three-starred French chef Pierre Gagnaire, with whom he shares a strange likeness. It is a similar spirit in them partly. At the time, the launch of The Lecture Room and Library at Sketch caused uproar in the press and furious accusations of it being the most expensive restaurant in Britain. Pearls before swine remarked the late A A Gill sagely. Herve Deville, who worked as executive head chef for Gagnaire at Sketch for seven years, is now in charge of the Momo menu. North African inspiration is honoured, sometimes astutely refined, but there is cohesion and an awareness of tradition that comes as a blessing and relief in the current flourishing of culinary gobbledegook. Definitely anchoring it is the soup harira, the hauntingly spiced lamb and lentil broth that traditionally closes the fast of Ramadan. Dates and confit lemon add what you could construe as a feminine touch. It is much appreciated by my chum David Hare who, by the way, wrote the delicate screenplay for The White Crow. Beetroot is a favoured component. Pieces as shiny as jelly, glowing like jewels, accompany curls of octopus tentacles encrusted with crunch but tender beneath. Heritage beetroot couscous, one of the main courses, has the grains stained ruby red scattered with vivid chips of green pistachio nuts. Back to Morocco: The lavishly decorated Momo in Mayfair / Daniel Hambury/@stellapicsltd Alongside is a bowl of rich chicken bouillon cluttered with al dente spring vegetables. Chicken livers embroidered with sesame seeds come with the green leaves of mulukhiyah, sometimes known as Arab mallow, and are flavoured with pomegranate molasses and Aleppo pepper. Ive said this before but chicken livers when well handled are under-appreciated chunks of protein. A roasted cauliflower and chickpea salad tricked out with almonds, confit lemon and a vinaigrette using kalamansi (Philippines lime) is a beguiling way of adding in more vegetables. Pastilla, a crisp pastry pie often made with pigeon, is here made with roasted quail, and in place of icing sugar sifted on top is a lid of nougatine on the circular filo base. Nicole Farhi, its appreciative recipient, later writes to say that it takes her back to Morocco, which she used to visit a lot with her best friend when they were in their twenties and thirties. Thats a nice story for a dish. The sweetness, however, is noticeably strident. Classic Momo Couscous comes with lamb cutlet, merguez sausage and chicken and pistachio kofta. The rippling grain itself is pale, feathery, seductive, a basic elevated to a high level of sophistication. A tagine seems in order. Lamb tagine with poached spiced pear, prunes and caramelised almonds arrives bubbling in the pot tucked into a raffia basket to keep the simmering going. We revel in it. So much food, and the Moroccan white wine Guerrouane, leave us with no appetite for dessert, but looking at the list I would another time climb Mount Atlas made with chestnut, meringue, blackcurrant compote, vanilla ice cream and Chantilly. Or maybe the crepes Berber Momo is one of those restaurants that is rarely mentioned without it being written that Naomi Campbell and Madonna went there or in fact that Campbell gave a party for Madonna there. Thats as maybe. I remember going years ago on my sisters birthday and every now and then the music would be turned up loud and the staff would shimmy and dance. And the customers too. Sometimes on the tables. It was more decorous last week, but staff are still attractively laid-back and keen to serve, but also smile mysteriously and glide away. The basement cocktail bar opening with the name of Kwant later this month led by Erik Lorincz, who took The Savoys American Bar to top spot in The Worlds 50 Best Bars Award will be a happy hunting ground for familiar faces I suspect, but for now, and in my view always, the food is what should star on social media. M iriam Margolyes has joked that her role as narrator in the Peter Rabbit West End show is her dream job because she does not have to go anywhere near its young audience. The actress, who recorded her part months ago, visited the Theatre Royal Haymarket to meet the cast of Where Is Peter Rabbit? but said she had no desire to swap roles with them. She said: I would hate it because I dont like children. I dont want to be around kids too much and its just been a fact of my life Ive been in some things that kids do like, like Harry Potter and Wicked. Its lovely to be a narrator because I get to be a part of something I admire but I dont have to actually be with kids. The show combines several of Beatrix Potters best-loved stories with songs co-written by playwright Alan Ayckbourn and uses puppets to bring its animal characters to life. Margolyes said the shows success was down to it being an adorable idea. The 77-year-old is set to return to the London stage properly later this year when she stars in Sydney & The Old Girl at the Park Theatre about a warring mother and son. Where Is Peter Rabbit? is at the Theatre Royal Haymarket In The Handmaids Tale, actress Elisabeth Moss plays Offred, a woman seeking to dismantle a dystopian patriarchal regime which has taken over America. Her portrayal of the character has earned her a Golden Globe, Critics Choice Award and Emmy. The show has also become an inspiration for feminist activists around the world, with women putting on the shows striking red 'Handmaid' costumes to protest. But Moss personal beliefs as a lifelong Scientologist have long proved problematic, with some drawing comparisons between The Handmaids Tales universe Gilead and the controversial religion. While Moss has previously been reluctant to comment on Scientology (barring a 2017 Twitter response in which she defended the religion), she has since given a rare interview about her beliefs. Speaking to The Daily Beast, Moss was asked if she had a response for fans critiquing her Scientology. Elisabeth Moss in The Handmaid's Tale alongside Alexis Bledel / Hulu She said, Listen, its a complicated thing because the things that I believe in, I can only speak to my personal experience and my personal beliefs. Moss continued, One of the things I believe in is freedom of speech. I believe we as humans should be able to critique things. I believe in freedom of the press. I believe in people being able to speak their own opinions. I dont ever want to take that away from anybody, because that actually is very important to me. At the same time, I should hope that people educate themselves and form their own opinion, as I have. She also clarified that she doesn't align with the churchs negative stance on LGBT rights, which has seen former Scientologist and gay activist Michelle LeClair allege the church applied their version of gay conversion therapy (a claim the Church of Scientology has denied) and Pink News claim founder L. Ron Hubbard called homosexuality an illness. Getty Images for Turner Moss said it was not where I stand and continued, Its like, its a lot to get into and unpack that I cant do. But that is not my bag. I am obviously a huge feminist and huge supporter of the LGBTQ community and believe so stronglyI cant even tell youin people being able to do what they want to do, to love who they want to love, to be the person that they want to bewhoever that is...Thats all I can say. She continued that she chooses to express her stance on politics and religion in my work and my art rather than in interviews, but added, I think people should be allowed to talk about what they want to talk about and believe what they want to believe and you cant take that awayand when you start to take that away, when you start to say you cant think that, you cant believe that, you cant say that, then you get into trouble. Then you get into Gilead. So whatever happens, Im never going to take away your right to talk about something or believe something, and you cant take away mine. Tom Cruise with his children Isabella and Connor / Eric Charbonneau/REX/Shutterstock Scientology has been in the news again recently following reports that Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidmans daughter Isabella Cruise has completed a Scientology internship to become an auditor for the church, an individual People describe as extensively trained to help other members through intense self-examination sessions with the help of an electronic device called the E-meter. Isabella reportedly shared her experience in a leaked email addressed to members of Scientology London and allegedly claimed WE ALL NEED TO DO THIS, continuing that it was what [she] had been searching for. The missing piece. The former couples other adopted child Connor Cruise has also reportedly banned his mother Nicole Kidman from attending his wedding, as a source claimed to Radar Online that she was considered a suppressive person by the church - an individual who seeks to suppress other people and seeks to upset, continuously undermine, spread bad news about and denigrate betterment activities. Members of the church are allegedly told not to speak to Suppressive People (also known as SPs) and to completely disconnect themselves from them. Getty Images Moss finished, I cant speak to what other people believe, I cant speak to what other peoples experiences have been. Thats where I stand and the only place I can speak from is my own. London-based jeweller Graff just unveiled the largest square emerald cut diamond in the world. The diamond was carved from the Lesedi La Rona, the third largest rough diamond ever discovered, along with 66 smaller diamonds. Found in the Lucara Karowe Mine in Botswana, the Lesedi La Rona - which was purchased by Graff for $53 million - is the largest rough gem the jeweller's gemologists have ever worked with. Weighing in at 1,109 carats, part of the Lesedi La Rona was cut to create the astonishing 302.37 carat emerald cut diamond. Graff Lesedi La Rona Square Emerald Cut Diamond (Graff) / Graff Lesedi La Rona The stone was so large, Graff had to purchase brand new software capable of analyzing a 1,109 carat gem. We had an immense duty to cut the very, very best diamond imaginable from this rough, Laurence Graff, the founder of Graff Diamonds, said in a press release. Laurence Graff (AP) / Donald Woodrow/Graff With the new software, the Graff gemologists discovered which paths around the 1,109 carat stones imperfections would cut diamonds of the highest quality. After 18 months of carving and perfecting, the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) officially weighed the finished product in at 302.37 carats. In addition to the record-breaking weight of this emerald-cut gem, the GIA says it is also a top 'D' grade. This means the Lesedi La Rona has the highest possible clarity, which makes it the largest diamond of this quality to ever be graded by the GIA. T his week I am writing from Sydney, Australia . I started my travels in Melbourne, which has such a vibrant food scene from street food to markets to sophisticated restaurants, it really is humming. Just an hour outside of the city is the Mornington Peninsula, an area covered in beautiful vineyards. I spent a day discovering the fantastic local chardonnays and pinot noirs in two of them, Panton and Polperro an unmissable experience if you are visiting the area. From Melbourne I travelled up to Sydney and straight to one of the citys famous fish restaurants, Catalina, which overlooks Rose Bay. I ate local oysters and lobster tail with saffron aioli both were fantastic and couldnt have been fresher. What I love most about the food here is that everything they cook with is in season, which means it is really fresh. This got me excited about the spring vegetables that are coming into season back in London and how I want to keep eating fresh and healthy food when I get back home. These two dips are so easy to whip up and both only take about 10 minutes to prepare. Serve them as I have here on a platter with lots of delicious seasonal vegetables. You could have them for breakfast alongside a poached egg or for lunch in a wholemeal pitta with some feta cheese and cucumber. They also create a perfect supper along with a piece of grilled fish. Spring pea guacamole Ingredients: 200g peas (fresh or frozen) 1 avocado, peeled 2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped teaspoon chilli flakes 1 tablespoon of creme fraiche 1 lime, juice and zest Red pepper & chickpea dip with smoked paprika Ingredients: 100ml extra virgin olive oil 2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced 400g cooked, canned chickpeas Juice of 1 lemon 2 roasted red or piqullo peppers 60g almonds, roasted 1 tablespoon of smoked paprika salt and fresh black pepper Method T he blessed month of Ramadan is here. Commemorated by Muslims all over the world, Ramadan is a time of reflection, contemplation and celebration. Ramadan is observed by Muslims as a month of fasting and takes place from mid-May to mid-June, although the exact dates depend on the sighting of the moon. Heres everything you need to know about Ramadan 2019: When did Ramadan start? As the Islamic calendar is based around the lunar cycle, Ramadan rotates by approximately ten days each year. When is Ramadan 2019 in the UK? This year Ramadan began on the evening of Sunday 5 May and ends on Tuesday 4 June. What is Ramadan? Ramadan fasting means only eating before sunrise and after sunset / Getty Images Ramadan is held during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is a time for spiritual reflection, acts of charity and spending time with loved ones. It is also a month when Muslims fast. This means they dont eat or drink between sunrise and sunset, which is important during Ramadan as it allows them to devote themselves further to their faith, ultimately becoming closer to Allah. What not to say to a Muslim during Ramadan The reason why Muslims fast is because it is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, the other pillars being faith, prayer, charity and making the pilgrimage to Mecca the Holy City. Before sunrise, they will have a meal (suhoor) and another meal (iftar) after sunset. The only people that do not have to fast during Ramadan are children, the elderly, pregnant women and those who are travelling or who are ill. When is Eid al Fitr 2019? Thai Muslims release hundreds of balloons after a morning prayer marking the start of the Islamic feat of Eid al-fitr / Getty Eid al-Fitr is a festival and celebration that marks the end of Ramadan. This year, it is set to begin at the first sight of the new moon on 4 June. What are the prayer times for Ramadan this year? Here are all the prayer times for Ramadan 2019, with the timetable courtesy of the East London Mosque: The Ramadan prayer times for 2019 / East London Mosque What is Eid ul Adha? When does it start? Beginning on 11 August and ending on 15 August, Eid ul Adha is also known as the Greater Eid and is regarded as the second most important festival in the Muslim calendar. Observed by Muslims around the world, it marks the culmination of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca and commemorates Abraham, who was willing to sacrifice his son in order to obey God but was stopped by God who provided him with an animal to sacrifice instead. W hen I arrive to meet Rosa Monckton at a cafe in Kensington, she is peering at her phone over jade green reading glasses. Shes just received a text saying that a stranger has donated 3,000 to her crowdfunding campaign. The money will go towards a case she has brought at the High Court which would change the law and give parents more rights to make decisions on behalf of their disabled children. Beaming in her yellow coat, she is amazed at the response it has received: It means there is quite a lot hanging on the case now. Moncktons daughter Domenica, 23, has Downs syndrome. She is named after her father, the journalist Dominic Lawson its a family tradition to christen daughters after their fathers: Domenicas aunt is Nigella Lawson, named after Nigel, the former chancellor of the exchequer. Domenicas godmother was Princess Diana and Monckton is driven by her friends belief that everybody needs to be valued and everyone has the potential to give something back. Monckton is an impressive advocate for disabled people and their families. She explains the case, which was heard last month, verdict pending. Her aim is to change the Mental Capacity Act of 2005. As the law stands, courts can overrule parents on decisions taken for people aged over 16 who lack the ability to do so themselves. Rosa with her daughter Domenica after being awarded an MBE in 2017 / PA The court says that only in the most difficult cases can parents apply to become a welfare deputy to make best-interest decisions for their family, says Monckton. We are trying to get that phrase removed. Of course there are parents who dont act in their childrens best interests and in those situations the state should step in, but otherwise it is parents who have the knowledge of their children. She tells me about Lucy Mottram, one of two other mothers with whom she is bringing the case. She called up the residential home where her autistic son lives and found out he had been moved without them telling her that is legal at the moment. Caroline Hopton, the third mother, took her autistic son to the dentist and they wanted to sedate him and take out all his teeth. Caroline knows that he goes berserk if he is sedated and his teeth are bad because his autism means he wont eat unless hes had a handful of jelly beans first, but the dentist could have overruled her. "Even when Diana was very busy, she would come with me to the hospital and hold my hand." As the law stands, Domenica is assumed to be capable of making decisions about where she lives and what she does, Monckton says. But she cant run a bath, she cant do up her shoes, there are so many things that she cant do she cant cross a road. Someone came round the other day and asked her what she wanted to do. She said sew. She has no fine motor skills, it was just because shed been watching the mice sew the dress in Cinderella. She cant sew. The one thing that keeps me awake at night is what will happen to her when I am dead. My older daughter is on the petition as well because I want it to be better for her. The judge was impossible to read. He was talking about them being adults but he did show an enormous amount of compassion to Caroline when she was talking about her son Oliver in the witness box she made a moving, strong statement about how she loved him and knew what he wanted. Monckton decided a change in the law was needed after she made three documentaries for the BBC on disability in 2012. After they aired I was inundated with emails. One of the themes was that parents have no say once the children become adults. The Mental Capacity Act was designed to protect people developing Alzheimers and nobody thought what impact it would have on people who have never had the capacity, like my daughter. Monckton found out her daughter had Downs when she was born. She was blue and floppy. We had lost a baby before. I am ashamed of how difficult I found it, I looked into prams. But what you are presented with is a baby who is vulnerable, as all babies are, and you just love your baby. Fairy godmother: Diana with Domenica at her christening / Mike Forster/Daily Mail/REX/Shutterstock Sorting out letters recently, Monckton found one from a woman in the Philippines who had seen a picture of Princess Diana carrying Domenica out of the church at her christening. That woman said, When the princess was carrying your daughter she was carrying every person in the world with a learning disability in her arms. It was true. Diana and Monckton were introduced by a mutual friend in 1991. My friend called me and said there is something very wrong going on [with the princess]; she needs someone. When you are in an extreme corner emotionally its nice to have somebody who hasnt got any agenda, hasnt been party to your journey. She just wanted someone to sit with. Theirs was an absolutely equal, proper friendship, says Monckton. When I lost my baby she was amazing. Even when Diana was very busy, even though she was going through her own stuff, she always made time to come and see Domenica. Shed invite us to lunch, come with me to various hospital appointments, hold my hand when things were difficult she had this extraordinary empathy and she would have been such a champion for everybody with learning difficulties. She did things through a look and a touch that is a huge gift. Monckton sees Diana in her sons, especially Harry. He has that natural ability to exclude everyone else and focus on the person that matters. It cuts across barriers of race and language. What does Monckton make of the way Meghan Markle is being criticised is it bullying? Yes, definitely. "Domenica is assumed to be capable of making decisions by the law but she cant tie her shoes, she cant cross a road by herself." In a previous life, Monckton was chief executive of Asprey the jeweller and is now a non-executive director of Watches of Switzerland. She wears a chunky emerald ring and mesmerising blue and gold dangly earrings, saying, it is important to keep a foot in another world. But most of her time is taken up with Team Domenica, the charity she started three years ago to help young adults with learning difficulties find and retain jobs. The hub is in Brighton, with a cafe where Domenica has learned to become a barista. Nationally only six per cent of people with learning disabilities are employed but more than 70 per cent of those on Team Domenicas Supported Internship Programme have moved into paid work. They support more than 50 young people and are hoping to open in Southwark next year, after parents there contacted Monckton asking for a Team Domenica centre. She would like to see a better network for people to talk about disabilities. Weve had families down to stay at our house in Sussex who we have never met before just to show them its all fine. When [actor] Sally Phillipss son was born with Downs and it was difficult for them, Harry Enfield put us in touch and they came to stay. Another turning point for her was a visit from genetics specialist Professor Brian Stratford when Domenica was a baby. Savannah our elder daughter opened the door to him and she was a beautiful two year old. Domenica was in the cot, tongue lolling. He looked at me, looked at Domenica and said, Well what did you expect, another designer child? It was such a shock. I thought my God, how much of your love is about transferring your ego? Monckton is against the screening tests that could eradicate Downs and says since they were proposed people have been told that their disabled children are a burden on the state which is completely unacceptable. Disabled people are discriminated against in this country, continues Monckton. It comes through ignorance, they are at the bottom of the food chain, they are an expensive minority, they cant fight for themselves. Surrey county council is stopping people with a disability pass getting on buses before 9.30am for free, making it hard for them to get to work, and Monckton identifies an attitude of how much do people cost rather than what do they need. Rosa Monckton / Matt Writtle Care mostly falls to mothers. We have a few dads but these mothers are Trojans. They are under strain one woman called me at 3am because she couldnt cope. She took her daughter to A & E and left her there. Shes blind, cant walk, has fits and they had been on a waiting list for a hoist and extra care for months. Brexit has exacerbated the difficulties. It is now more than three weeks since the disabilities minster [Sarah Newton] resigned to block no-deal, and she has not been replaced. Monckton would like a seperate minister for learning disabilities: They think its about putting in ramps and lowering surfaces weve done that and so they think it is all fine. But its not. G ame of Thrones is back! The much-anticipated final season was screened in the early hours of Monday and die-hard fans are going mad with theories of how the hit show will end. Much of what will happen over season eight is very hush-hush, but the filming locations might just reveal that little bit more of whats about to go down. From the ethereal coastlines of Croatia to the vast sweeping desolate landscapes of Iceland, heres where the cast filmed some of their closing GoT scenes: Spain Locations across Spain have been used to film GoT / Shutterstock Since season one began in 2011, the stunning coastlines and cities of Spain have served as the backdrop for some of GoTs most intense scenes. In and around the city of Seville has been reimagined as the country of Dorne and the nearby islet of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe has played the part of House Targaryens ancestral seat of Dragonstone since it first appeared in season one. A few miles north of Seville is the Italica Amphitheatre of Santiponce, AKA the Dragonpit of Kings Landing, which will likely appear as the stage for another major confirmation in season 8. Northern Ireland The GoT cast are regulars in Northern Island / Shutterstock From the bleak forests of Godswood to the fiery heart of the Dothrak, Northern Ireland has hosted all sorts of location shoots in the series. In the final season, most of the action will take place at the purpose-built Winterfell set in Moneyglass, just north-west of Belfast. Its here that the massive fight between the people of Westeros and the White Walkers is set to take place. Further up in Tollymore Forest Park in County Down, some eagle-eyed fans spotted members of the Stark family filming their Direwolf scenes. If you believe some of the theories for the upcoming season, its likely the tranquil park will be making another appearance as Bran, Arya and Sansa retrace their origins. Iceland The Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland has appeared in GoT / Shutterstock Anything you see on the show beyond the wall is filmed in the dramatic landscapes of Iceland. Locations all over the country have been used, including the cave in Grjotagja in the north-east where Jon and Ygritte shared a night of passion and Kirkjufell, the place immortalised in the battle scenes with the dragons in season seven. The Svinafellsjokull glacier and the otherworldly black sand beach at Reynisfjara, near Vik on the south coast have also had some dramatic cameos too. While its still uncertain whether any action will take place beyond the wall in season 8 (the last time it made an appearance was when the Night King was seen destroying it atop a now dead Viserion), the hope is that HBO will take us there one last time to drool over its icy magic. Croatia Things are set to get a lot chillier in Croatia / Getty With its pristine beaches and terracotta villages, nobody ever needs an excuse to visit Croatia. In Game of Thrones land, trendy Dubrovnik has stood in for the capital of Westeros, Kings Landing. All the exterior shots since season one have been filmed here, especially in and around the areas of the Old Town and up the coastline to the port town of Split and the mountain village of Vrsno. D etectives are investigating a second assault at a gay cruising spot in south-east London, with fears more people may have been attacked in the area. Erhan Barut, 52, spoke out after he was left bleeding from his face from being headbutted in a terrifying assault by three hooded men on Blackheath Common on January 12. He told how he was approached by a man asking for a cigarette before another member of the group, who had a scarf covering his face, asked him if he was cruising in the area, known as Blackheath Dip. Mr Barut said he replied with a question in a bid to divert their attention but was attacked within a split second. He told the Standard: I felt one of them headbutt me and I was thrown towards some thorn bushes. It was terrifying and I felt so intimidated. I ran without looking back. I was bleeding from my face and throat. He spoke out as police continue to hunt a gang who attacked a 36-year-old man on Vanbrugh Park Road on Sunday night. The victim was walking in the Blackheath Dip area when he was beaten and left unconscious in an unprovoked and targeted homophobic hate crime. He was dragged across the ground by his hood while the gang used homophobic language and then stole his car keys and drove off in his white Peugeot 208, which contained his mobile phone and wallet. Mr Barut said he saw the bloodied victim staggering away from the scene of Sundays attack at about 10.30pm. I saw this guy come from nowhere. He was totally disorientated, with blood dripping from him, he said. The attackers were just a few yards away looking at what they had done. He added: I have been left wondering about whether our rights as gay people will be protected. LGBT campaigners in the area said they had warned men to avoid Blackheath Dip because of the potential danger of being attacked there. K iller Jack Shepherd was being flown back to the UK this afternoon to finally face justice after being found guilty of the manslaughter of a woman he took on a speedboat date on the River Thames. Shepherd, 31, was released from prison in Georgia and flown back to Britain escorted by Scotland Yard officers. He was transferred out of prison in Tbilisi this afternoon after spending 10 months on the run after being found guilty of killing Charlotte Brown, 24. Photos released by the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia showed Shepherd in handcuffs and being led by uniformed officers into a secure cell in the back of a van. Shepherd is expected to appear before a judge at the Old Bailey on Thursday before he begins a six-year prison sentence. Web designer Shepherd, from Exeter, skipped bail for the crime last summer, and his surrender only came after repeated public appeals by Ms Browns family for him to face justice. Shepherd faces an Old Bailey judge once he is back in the country / Georgian Prison Service He last appeared at the court in November 2017 when he denied manslaughter. It emerged at the start of his trial last June that he would not attend court but was in regular contact with his defence team who carried on without him. The court heard that Shepherd and Ms Brown had been on a champagne-fuelled first date when they went for a late-night speedboat ride down the Thames in December 2015. The 14ft Fletcher Arrowflyte boat, which had a series of defects, was speeding when it was thought to have struck a submerged log near Wandsworth Bridge and overturned, throwing Ms Brown to her death in the water. Shepherd was previously found guilty of the manslaughter of 24-year-old Charlotte Brown / Georgian Prison Service Shepherd, who was plucked from the chilly water, was found guilty in his absence and sentenced to six years' in prison by Judge Richard Marks QC. In December, he was granted permission to appeal against the conviction and handed himself in to authorities in Tbilisi the following month. After his extradition was granted by a court last month, Ms Brown's family said he had a weak case and "no choice" but to return. Her father Graham Brown told ITV: "We are going to get justice for Charlotte. "We're hoping that he won't follow through with his appeal, which causes the family more anguish, but I guess that could be a forlorn hope." Speaking from Tbilisi last week, Shepherd apologised to Ms Brown's family but insisted her actions caused the fatal accident. He also faces a grievous bodily harm charge over an alleged assault in Devon on March 16 last year. A warrant for his arrest was issued by magistrates in Newton Abbot after he failed to attend the court. No date has been set for the appeal hearing. A man who plotted to bomb a Morden mosque after becoming fixated on the youngest victim of the Manchester Arena attack has been jailed for four years. Steven Bishop, 41, stockpiled fireworks and researched instructions on how to build explosives while researching other terror attacks. Mr Bishop, from Thornton Heath, had repeatedly searched for memorials to the youngest victim of the Manchester Arena attack - eight-year-old Saffie-Rose Roussos. He commented "god bless little Saffie" on a Facebook video called "Standing for Britain" which featured some of the victims of the Manchester attack, adding: "Don't worry something bad is going to happen soon mark my words." Mr Bishop had stashed fireworks in his home which had been tampered with / Metropolitan Police When police raided Mr Bishops sheltered accommodation, they found fireworks that had been tampered with, along with fuses, a remote control and igniter. It was raided by counter-terror police on October 29 last year after he showed his key worker images of objects he said he was collecting to make a bomb. A firing device was also delivered to his address two days after his arrest. Bishop was handed four years for possession of explosives, two years concurrent for possession of terrorist documents, plus one day concurrent for breach of a conditional discharge. Jailing him for four years on Wednesday at Kingston Crown Court, Judge Peter Lodder QC said: "The detonation of one or more of these fireworks at Morden mosque may have risked the lives of those nearby. File photo: He had become fixated on Saffie Rose Roussos, 8, who died in the attack The incendiary effect of one or more of these fireworks could have caused significant damage to the building and nearby infrastructure." "It is submitted that you are so far out of your depth that it is absurd and that the mosque was never truly in danger. "In that context you are contrasted with a determined and dedicated terrorist. But terrorist acts are not limited to those who do not have similar vulnerabilities to you. "I am satisfied that count one is properly deceived as connected to terrorism. "The seriousness of the offending is reduced by your medical history, but I do not find that your condition at the time of offending was substantially reduced by mental disorder or learning disability." Other items, including fuses and a remote control, were found at his home / Metropolitan Police A search of his phone uncovered two VPN apps, designed to disguise online activity, which were used to research explosive detonators and the Morden mosque. Following the search of his flat, Mr Bishop told officers he was "really upset" about the Manchester attack, adding: "All I was saying is I think it would be justice if someone did to them what they do to us." The court heard that Bishop's psychiatric disorders include paranoid schizophrenia, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, a possible learning difficulty and drug abuse. He has 18 previous convictions including for racially aggravated common assault. Timothy Forte, for Bishop, argued that his client's actions were driven by his fixation on Saffie-Rose and not by far-right ideology. Mr Forte described Bishop's plan to target Morden Mosque as an act of "transferred malice" by an "unstable drug addict". S peedboat killer Jack Shepherd is set to return to the UK today before he is jailed after 10 months on the run. Shepherd is due to arrive in the country late on Wednesday after flying back from Georgia escorted by Metropolitan Police officers. The 31-year-old skipped bail last summer and was found guilty of the manslaughter of 24-year-old Charlotte Brown in his absence. He will be brought before an Old Bailey judge on Thursday before he starts his six-year prison sentence. Jack Shepherd was found guilty in his absence of manslaughter by gross negligence of Charlotte Brown, 24, and was sentenced to six years in prison in Britain / EPA The web designer last appeared at the court in November 2017 when he denied manslaughter. It emerged at the start of his trial last June that he would not attend court but was in regular contact with his defence team. The court heard that Shepherd and Ms Brown had been on a champagne-fuelled first date when they went for a late-night speedboat ride down the Thames in December 2015. Tragic death: Charlotte Brown was killed in the crash / PA The 14ft Fletcher Arrowflyte boat, which had a series of defects, was speeding when it was thought to have struck a submerged log near Wandsworth Bridge and overturned, throwing Ms Brown to her death in the water. Shepherd, who was plucked from the chilly water, was found guilty in his absence and sentenced to six years' imprisonment by Judge Richard Marks QC. Shepherd is being extradited to the UK / AFP/Getty Images In December, he was granted permission to appeal against the conviction and handed himself in to authorities in Tbilisi the following month. His surrender came after repeated public appeals by Ms Brown's family for him to face justice for her death. After his extradition was granted by a court last month, her family said he had a weak case and "no choice" but to return. Her father Graham Brown told ITV: "We are going to get justice for Charlotte. "We're hoping that he won't follow through with his appeal, which causes the family more anguish, but I guess that could be a forlorn hope." Father of Charlotte Brown, Graham, giving a statement outside Portcullis House / Getty Images Speaking from Tbilisi last week, Shepherd apologised to Ms Brown's family but insisted her actions caused the fatal accident. He also faces a grievous bodily harm charge over an alleged assault in Devon on March 16 last year. A warrant for his arrest was issued by magistrates in Newton Abbot after he failed to attend the court. No date has been set for the appeal hearing. A n 11th-hour legal bid has been launched to prevent the demolition of a Latino market in north London. Traders at Seven Sisters indoor market, in Tottenham, want the High Court to quash a compulsory purchase order paving the way for its redevelopment alongside 196 flats and a shopping centre. They claim the character of the UKs only Latin village a hub for Central and South Americans in London would be destroyed. The battle to redevelop the rundown Wards Corner site, beside Seven Sisters station, dates from 2004. Planning permission was granted by Haringey council in 2012. The order was approved by the council in 2016 and ratified by Communities Secretary James Brokenshire this January. The Labour councils development partner, Grainger, was not required to include any affordable homes because of the 60 million cost of the project, though 39 per cent of homes in a linked development will be affordable. Transport for London owns a quarter of the site, which it will sell to Grainger. Mayor Sadiq Khan supports the regeneration, which is expected to create up to 290 jobs. The High Court claim lodged this week argues that Mr Brokenshires decision diminishes the traders prospect of survival as they face higher fees in a nearby temporary market and on relocation to the new market. He is also accused of failing to take account of their human rights, including private life, ethnic identity and possessions, according to the claim brought by lawyers Hodge Jones & Allen. One trader, Victoria Alvarez, 48, said: We will never give up and they will have to come and force us out. The market, dubbed Pueblito Paisa (Latin village), has about 60 units and employs around 160 people. Mirca Morera, whose father is a trader, said: This isnt just a market, its a place where the Latin American community in London and beyond rely on to be able to continue to celebrate their culture. P arliament is to blame for the European Union being in control of the Brexit process, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay has said. The Brexit minister pinned responsibility on the Commons when discussing the bloc having the upper hand in dictating terms on Britain's departure. It is expected the EU27 will approve a delay to the Article 50 process at an emergency summit on Wednesday but one which is much longer than Theresa May wants. She will ask for an extension until June 30 but European Council president Donald Tusk has suggested it be put off for a year. Speaking to Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Barclay said he does not want to see Brexit postponed for that length of time and any delay should be subject to an earlier exit if terms can be agreed. Stephen Barclay criticise Parliament when discussing the situation / EPA He said: "I don't want to see a delay for up to a year. "But, the key with any delay is we are able to terminate it once we ratify in order that we can then get on and get a deal through Parliament, ratify that agreement and leave the EU. "And I think that is what the EU leaders want, it is what the Prime Minister wants." He accused Parliament of "refusing to honour the result of the referendum" by failing to back Mrs May's deal or reach a majority on any alternative. His remarks echo a speech made by Mrs May in Downing Street that angered MPs when she suggested Parliament had done everything it could to avoid making a decision on Brexit. The EU must be unanimous on any extension decision, leaving Britain's fate squarely with the 27 other leaders. TODO: define component type apester Asked if the bloc is now in control, Mr Barclay said: "That is a consequence of Parliament, not the Government. "The Government has agreed a deal with the EU. It is Parliament that has forced this on the Government." Embattled: Prime Minister Theresa May / Jack Taylor/Getty Images As well as these comments on the extension, Mr Barclay gave further detail on what might happen should the cross party Tory and Labour talks not find a compromise. "If they fail, the Prime Minister has said that we will come back to Parliament and look at how we then get clarity on a vote," he said. "One of the challenges there will be is how we have a stable majority to pass the legislation that would follow that vote. "But, we would come back to Parliament and seek to get a consensus on the various options." He suggested these votes would be binding as opposed to the indicative votes previously held. His comments come ahead of Wednesday's crunch summit, where Mrs May will make her extension request and the EU leaders will have their say. T heresa May's own Brexit Secretary today admitted that the European Union was now in control of Britains departure from the bloc. The humiliation came as the Prime Minister prepared to fly to an emergency summit where she will be made to wait outside while EU leaders decide among themselves when and how the UK can leave. In a reversal of the Brexiteers claim to take back control, Mrs Mays request for a delay to June 30 is set to be rejected and replaced with a long postponement to December, or even next March. The long delay means Mrs May could quit Downing Street this summer having failed to take Britain out of the EU. Asked on BBC Radio 4s Today programme if the EU was now in control, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay confessed: They are. French President Emmanuel Macron was gaining backing for his demands for a series of tough conditions including a school-style good behaviour contract to be imposed on Britain. It also emerged that France wants the post of British European commissioner to be axed, depriving the UK of its seat at the top table in Brussels for the first time since 1973. Embattled: Prime Minister Theresa May / Jack Taylor/Getty Images Austrias foreign minister Karin Kneissl predicted agreement for a delay but that a lot of conditions might be attached. Mrs May will be kept outside tonight while the other 27 leaders discuss over a Brussels dinner what rules they wish to impose. The Premier may even be forced to put down in writing a pledge that Britain will not use its veto over EU budgets or senior appointments, or to frustrate further integration. German Chancellor Angela Merkel this afternoon declared that Mrs May was facing a longer delay to Brexit than she wanted but said there would be a break clause to allow Brexit very quickly if Westminster passed a deal. It may well be a longer extension than the one the British prime minister asked for, she told Germanys parliament. But we will shape this extension in such a way that whenever Britain has approved the withdrawal agreement, Britain can then complete its orderly withdrawal very shortly after. Emmanuel Macron greets Theresa May before a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris / AP Plunging Tory morale was in evidence at Prime Ministers Questions, with gaps on the normally-packed Conservative benches. Mrs May was greeted with only muted cheers when she took her seat. Within moments she was ambushed by Tory Brexit-backer Craig Tracey who accused her of overseeing a diluted Brexit. He said she must grab that opportunity to crash out on World Trade Organisation terms. Mrs May said Britain could make a success of any Brexit but that her plan for an orderly exit was best. Tory MP Henry Smith then attacked the delay, saying it would cost taxpayers 1 billion a month. That funding would be better spent on tackling crime, funding schools and even tax cuts, he said. Scottish National Party leader Ian Blackford said Mrs May could no longer tell between duty and delusion and asked if a second referendum had been offered during talks with Labour. Mrs May said it was up to MPs to vote on the referendum questions and scoffed that Scottish independence would mean taking Scotland out of the EU. A poll claimed that more than half of the public now backed a referendum on the Governments Brexit deal. Kantar found 51 per cent back a vote, with 32 per cent against and 17 per cent dont know. TODO: define component type apester Pierre Sellal, who served as Mr Macrons ambassador to the EU, told Radio 4s Today that any postponement should be conditional because such a decision is not harmless. Recalling claims made by Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg that Britain could be deliberately awkward, he said: It is not a French fantasy we noted some statements made by prominent British politicians saying... they considered that the UK has to behave as a difficult partner. To say the least, such statements do not encourage the 27 to grant a new delay. Britains former ambassador to Berlin and Washington, Sir Christopher Meyer, demanded on Twitter: How has it come to this that today every material decision on Brexit and the UKs future will be in the EU27s gift? Among the conditions that France is demanding in return for agreeing to Mrs May getting a further delay are a credible prospect of a solution to the British political deadlock. However, Labour sources said there was no sign of an agreement in the talks over a customs union between Jeremy Corbyns team and Downing Street. Mr Macron has also proposed that Britains behaviour be reviewed every three months during the delay period with the EU27 having an option to order the UK to leave without a deal if it is deemed to have misbehaved. Paris also wants a promise of no more delays. The longer the extension might be, the more guarantees are needed, a French official said. Mr Barclay twice ducked the question of whether he would resign if the Government accepted a 12-month delay. He told Today: I dont want to see a delay for up to a year. But, the key with any delay is we are able to terminate it once we ratify in order that we can then get on and get a deal through Parliament, ratify that agreement and leave the EU. And I think that is what the EU leaders want, it is what the Prime Minister wants. Asked if the EU was now in control of the situation, he agreed but blamed Parliament for rejecting the withdrawal agreement negotiated by Mrs May that would have allowed Brexit to take place by May 22. Its deeply frustrating for those of us who have consistently voted to leave, he said. Mrs Mays former Cabinet colleague Owen Paterson told BBC TV that her leadership was disappearing like a balloon deflating. How EU leaders have reacted to the extension EU leaders have also had their say on the Brexit extension. French President Emmanuel Macron said he had pushed against a long extension "for the collective good". "It is true that the majority was more in favour of a very long extension," he said. "But it was not logical in my view, and above all, it was neither good for us, nor for the British people." (AFP) He added: "I think we delivered the best possible compromise. First because it was the one to preserve the unity of the 27. "Second because we addressed the request from the UK to get more time to deliver a deal on the basis of the withdrawal agreement negotiated a few months ago. "And third because thanks to this agreement we preserve the well-functioning of the European Union." German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who backed a longer extension, said she supported the effort to secure an orderly Brexit. (REUTERS) She said: "In the face of the many problems the world is facing today, it means a lot to us. "And we talked about this tonight that we, as Europeans, send out a signal that even if such a difficult discussion comes up, we are nevertheless capable of ensuring that this withdrawal is an orderly one." She added: "In my eyes it's important now that the European Union does not exert pressure here on Great Britain. We have very clear demands and expectations. "We have to have ways and means to ensure that the withdrawal agreement is adhered to. It's not important whether it's that date or another one." (AP) Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the European Union "is not a prison (and) nobody has to stay, but it's also a home and we're not going to kick anybody out either". Asked if he thought the extension was long enough, he said: "I really hope so. The European Union is imperfect, we took several hours here to make a decision, there were different views, we had to bounce things around for five or six hours this evening but we did make a decision. "It's three years since the referendum now and we really think it's time for the United Kingdom to make a decision, so we're giving them a very long period of time now to make a decision." Mr Varadkar said there was "genuine concern" about the UK remaining in the EU for an extended period of time while it intends to leave in case it disrupts EU business. "Quite frankly that is already the case, with Ukip and (Nigel) Farage," he added. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned that a no-deal Brexit was not off the table. He tweeted: "EUCO does not want a disorderly exit, but it is true that it is not ruled out. "The ball is now in the court of the British Parliament." Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the delay gave time to overcome the "crisis" in the Commons. "We moved away the risk of no-deal Brexit for a several months," he tweeted. "It gives a chance to overcome the ratification crisis in UK. It is now up to UK to take this opportunity." Lars Lokke Rasmussen, prime minister of Denmark, said it was down to the UK to find solutions to the Brexit impasse. He tweeted: "One more chance for the UK. Managed to avoid a NoDealBrexit tonight. New deadline 31.10. Up to the UK to find solutions." Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila tweeted: "This mess has been going on for three years. Lets hope prime minister May and the opposition will find consensus." Malta's prime minister Joseph Muscat said the 31 October deadline was "sensible". E U leaders are poised to offer Theresa May a far longer extension to Brexit than she hoped as they meet for a crunch summit in Brussels. The Prime Minister is set to repeat her request to delay Britain's exit from the bloc until June 30, with the possibility of an earlier departure if the UK's withdrawal deal is ratified. But European Council president Donald Tusk suggested that EU leaders grant the UK a longer extension of up to one year when they meet later on Wednesday evening. Mr Tusk, in a letter to the heads of the 27 remaining member states, said there was "little reason to believe" that the ratification of Mrs May's beleaguered Brexit deal could be completed by the end of June. It came as Mrs May's leadership looked increasingly weakened as four of her own Cabinet minister's abstained from a vote to back her plan to ask for the June 30 extension. Most of her own MPs voted against the three-month extension and she only won on the back of support from Labour and other opposition parties. Delays: British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Union Council President Donald Tusk / EPA Mr Tusk called for the European Council to discuss an alternative, longer extension, such as a "flexible extension" lasting "as long as necessary and no longer than one year". Mr Tusk wrote: "The flexibility would allow to terminate the extension automatically, as soon as both sides have ratified the Withdrawal Agreement. "The UK would be free to leave whenever it is ready. And the EU27 would avoid repeated Brexit summits. Theresa May visits Paris for Brexit talks with Emmanuel Macron "Importantly, a long extension would provide more certainty and predictability by removing the threat of constantly shifting cliff-edge dates. "Furthermore, in the event of a continued stalemate, such a longer extension would allow the UK to rethink its Brexit strategy." Mr Tusk also warned that "neither side should be allowed to feel humiliated at any stage in this difficult process". Mrs May met Mr Macron ahead of an emergency EU summit on Wednesday / PA It follows Mrs May's whistle-stop tour on Tuesday of European capitals for talks with French president Emmanuel Macron in Paris and German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. DUP Westminster leader Nigel Dodds branded the talks "humiliating and embarrassing" for the UK, and claimed Britain was "effectively holding out a begging bowl to European leaders". TODO: define component type apester The unanimous agreement of all 27 remaining EU states is needed to avoid a no-deal Brexit on the scheduled date of Friday, April 12. On Tuesday evening MPs approved a Government motion for Mrs May to seek an extension to June 30 by 420 votes to 110, majority 310. Angela Merkel and Theresa May embrace as May departs following talks / Getty Images However, 97 Conservatives rebelled by opposing the plan - including former Brexit secretaries David Davis and Dominic Raab. Cabinet ministers Andrea Leadsom, Chris Grayling, Geoffrey Cox and Chris Grayling all abstained. Mrs May will face the Commons for Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday afternoon before she heads to Brussels where she is expected to meet Mr Tusk ahead of the summit. EU leaders will then gather for talks with European Parliament president Antonio Tajani, before hearing from Mrs May They will then meet for dinner without her to agree a response to the UK's extension request. A press conference with Mrs May is likely to be held after the summit, and the PM is expected to update MPs on Thursday. T heresa May was tonight awaiting her fate while EU leaders looked split over whether to offer the UK a lengthy delay to Brexit as they gathered for a crunch summit. European Council president Donald Tusk has recommended that leaders of the remaining 27 EU countries approve an extension of up to a year, with a break clause allowing the UK to leave as soon as it ratifies its Withdrawal Agreement. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that they "may well" go for an extension beyond the June 30 date requested by Mrs May. But French President Emmanuel Macron warned as he arrived at the summit that "nothing is settled, and in particular not a long extension". The debate rumbled on well into the night amid reports 17 of the 27 leaders had spoken out in favour of a longer delay. Theresa May arrives ahead of a European Council meeting / Getty Images As Mrs May awaited her fate nearby, EU leaders continued talks over dinner without her. Mr Macron had said he was "impatient" to hear what Mrs May had to say, adding: "We must understand today why this request, what is the political project which justifies it and what are the clear proposals?" As she arrived in Brussels, the Prime Minister was reminded that she had said she could not countenance a Brexit delay beyond June 30. She twice dodged a question from the BBC on whether she will consider her position if the UK has to remain in Europe beyond June 30. French President Emmanuel Macron warned as he arrived at the summit that "nothing is settled, and in particular not a long extension" / REUTERS The Prime Minister told MPs in March that "as Prime Minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30", sparking speculation that she could resign rather than wait longer for EU withdrawal. On her arrival, she instead insisted that her priority was to secure the right for the UK to leave once ratification is complete. Asked twice what she would do if the deadline offered by the EU27 was later than the end of June, Mrs May said: "I have asked for an extension to June 30, but what is important is that any extension enables us to leave at the point at which we ratify the Withdrawal Agreement, so we can leave on May 22 and start to build our brighter future." Donald Tusk arrives for the EU summit / AP In a swipe at the Brexit rebels who blocked her Withdrawal Agreement from passing through Parliament in time to leave on the scheduled date of March 29, Mrs May said: "I know many people are frustrated that the summit is taking place at all, because the UK should have left the EU by now. "I greatly regret the fact that Parliament hasn't been able to pass a deal that would have enabled us to leave in a smooth and orderly way. "But I and the Government continue to work to find a way forward. We have been talking with the opposition. There's been serious and constructive talks and they will continue tomorrow." In a pre-summit trip to Berlin and Paris on Tuesday, Mrs May made a last-ditch effort to win support from Mrs Merkel and Mr Macron for her proposal, which would allow the UK to leave on May 22 and avoid the need for elections to the European Parliament. But Mrs Merkel said that the EU27 "may well" go for a longer delay, although the UK would be allowed to leave "very quickly" if Parliament approves a withdrawal deal. "We will shape this extension in such a way that, whenever Britain has approved the Withdrawal Agreement, Britain can then complete its orderly withdrawal very shortly after," she told German MPs. Other leaders said that the main condition likely to be imposed in return for any extension was that Britain should prepare for European Parliament elections, though it need not actually vote if ratification is achieved earlier. Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite rejected suggestions that countries like hers now held Britain's fate in their hands. "It is only up to the UK to decide," she said. "Your country's future is only in your hands, nobody else. It's only up to you. "You decide your fate, not us. We would only like to help you make this decision." European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier / REUTERS Meanwhile, Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar indicated that he would be prepared to contemplate a role for the UK in helping decide EU trade policies if it remains in a customs union after Brexit. "It's also in our interest to have the UK to be in our bloc and I think we would be generous in understanding that the UK couldn't be a silent partner and would have to have a say in decisions being made" said Mr Varadkar The unanimous agreement of all 27 remaining EU states is needed to avoid a no-deal Brexit at 11pm on Friday, April 12. European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said Brussels was "fully prepared" to cope in the event of a no-deal Brexit. "This is not our desired outcome but we are not afraid of it. We are prepared," he said. The Prime Minister remains under intense pressure from Conservative MPs who oppose any further delay. At Prime Minister's Questions, Tory backbencher Craig Tracey said she should abandon her "diluted deal" and take Britain out on World Trade Organisation terms, while Henry Smith warned that an extension would cost the UK 1 billion a month. Mrs May however told MPs that Britain would already be outside the EU if they had been prepared to vote for her Withdrawal Agreement. "The best Brexit for the UK is for us to be able to leave in an orderly way, to be able to leave with a deal," she said. "We could actually have been outside the EU by now if we had managed to get the deal through." Pro-EU Justice Secretary David Gauke suggested Mrs May could carry on as PM until she has taken the country through the current phase of the negotiations and Britain has finally left the EU. "I don't think we should be rushing to change our leader when there is a big task to be done," he told BBC Radio 5 live. "If we are going through that process of trying to get Parliament to support a deal to find a way of breaking this deadlock, then Theresa May continues to be the right person to lead us through that process." The depth of the anger within the Tory ranks was underlined by a Commons vote on Tuesday, when 97 Tory MPs voted against a motion backing Mrs May's call for an extension which only passed with the support of opposition MPs. Meanwhile, veteran Tory Eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash has written to Mr Tusk warning that an extended delay was likely to face a legal challenge in the British courts, "thus further prolonging the uncertainty surrounding the UK's exit from the EU". In a letter to the leaders of the remaining EU27, Mr Tusk said there was "little reason to believe" that the ratification of Mrs May's beleaguered Brexit deal could be completed by the end of June. He called for the European Council to discuss an alternative, longer extension, such as a "flexible extension" lasting "as long as necessary and no longer than one year". EU leaders will gather for talks with European Parliament president Antonio Tajani on Wednesday evening, before hearing a presentation from Mrs May. T heresa May was urged by a former Conservative Party leader to stand down before conference if Britain enters a long Brexit extension. Iain Duncan Smith said the Prime Minister would lose a second vote of no confidence in her leadership if one was called and she should avoid humiliation. Mr Duncan Smith, who led the party between 2001 and 2003, told Sky News: My recommendation to the Prime Minister is, Dont go to second vote of confidence, because it is almost certain that will be lost and it would be a humiliation for her. He said if the EU grants a long extension Mrs May should leave office before the autumn party conference in Manchester. The EU could grant Theresa May a lengthy Brexit extension this week / PA The Prime Minister won a vote of confidence in her leadership last year. Under Tory rules MPs are not allowed to table another confidence vote until December. Staying in office risks a drift into a second confidence vote in her leadership, Mr Duncan Smith warned. TODO: define component type apester The former party leader was ousted by colleagues just weeks after the 2003 Tory conference and was replaced by Michael Howard. His warning came as speculation over Conservative leadership candidates intensified today. Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay admits that the EU has control of the Brexit process It was claimed former Cabinet minister Esther McVeys attempt to push blue collar Conservatism back to the fore of Tory politics is gaining ground among young backbenchers ahead of her expected leadership bid. The former TV presenter, who served as work and pensions secretary, is spearheading a revived bid to reach out to working-class voters in Labour heartlands. She has assembled a small team around her in Parliament, which is said to include International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and MPs John Stevenson and Philip Davies. Sources believe the group is set to be another faction within the party vying for influence ahead of Mrs Mays departure, alongside the centre-Right One Nation group and the hard-Brexit backing European Research Group. A source said: We need to get blue-collar values back. Thats something we are missing. That and small c conservatism. Even if she doesnt make it all the way its about getting those principles back on the agenda. Ms McVey has previously said she would stand if she had enough support from colleagues. G overnment advisor Roger Scruton has been sacked after using the language of white supremacists in an interview. Sir Scruton made controversial comments about George Soros, Chinese people and Islam in an interview with the New Statesman. He had been chairing the Ministry of Housing's Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission but was sacked by Secretary of State James Brokenshire on Tuesday. During the interview, he said: Anybody who doesnt think that theres a Soros empire in Hungary has not observed the facts. Strong views: Sir Roger Scruton co-wrote the Building More, Building Beautiful report / Getty Images The philosopher also said the Chinese were creating robots out of their own people each Chinese person is a kind of replica of the next one and that is a very frightening thing. The Government dismissed calls to fire the academic as a housing adviser last November after it emerged Sir Roger had said Islamophobia was a "propaganda word" and described homosexuality as "not normal". Sir Roger came under renewed criticism after commenting on the controversy. The New Statesman America quoted Sir Roger as repeating his claim that Islamophobia was a propaganda word "invented by the Muslim Brotherhood in order to stop discussion of a major issue". Sir Roger said it was "nonsense" for critics to accuse Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban of anti-Semitism or Islamophobia. He said: "The Hungarians were extremely alarmed by the sudden invasion of huge tribes of Muslims from the Middle East." Labours shadow Women and Equalities minister Dawn Butler said he should never have been appointed but should have been sacked when his horrific comments about rape, homosexuality, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism came to light. She added: "These comments are despicable and invoke the language of white supremacists." A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Community and Local Government said: Professor Sir Roger Scruton has been dismissed as Chairman of the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission with immediate effect, following his unacceptable comments. B ritain's economy grew modestly as firms stockpiled for last months long-planned Brexit Day, official figures reveal today. They showed GDP was up 0.2 per cent in February, lower than the 0.5 per cent rise the previous month but slightly above City expectations. Over the three months to February, GDP remained subdued, increasing by 0.3 per cent compared with the previous quarter, the Office for National Statistics said. The ONSs Rob Kent-Smith said: GDP growth remained modest in the latest three months. Services again drove the economy, with a continued strong performance in IT.Manufacturing also continued to recover after weakness at the end of last year, with the often-erratic pharmaceutical industry, chemicals and alcohol performing well in recent months. The statistics agency highlighted data showing a surge in manufacturing output was at least partly linked to manufacturers and firms hoarding goods in the run-up to what was supposed to be Brexit. Companies stepped up production to build inventories in advance of March 29, Britains original Brexit Day, before the Government asked the EU for a first extension. The manufacturing sector recorded 0.9 per cent growth in February, after 1.1 per cent the previous month. The rise pushed manufacturing output to its highest level since April 2008, driven by domestic demand. TODO: define component type apester The ONS highlighted external evidence that some manufacturing businesses have changed the timing of their activity as we approached the original planned date for the UKs departure. It added: Although the ONS does not routinely collect detailed data on the reasons behind the behaviour of businesses, as part of our survey validation we have found some qualitative evidence that supported this view but were unable to quantify its impact. The official data also showed the construction sector eked out 0.4 per cent growth, after plunging 2.5 per cent in December, while the giant services sector grew by just 0.1 per cent. A charity worker injured when she was picked up and dropped by a Cambridge University scientist has lost her 300,000 fight for compensation after a judge ruled a payout could be seen as health and safety gone mad. Sandra Shelbourne, 61, suffered back injuries during a Cancer Research UK Christmas party when she was manhandled on the dance floor by Robert Bielik. She told the High Court the visiting scientist was inebriated and an accident waiting to happen at the 2012 bash, and sued the charity for not stopping his antics. Mr Justice Lane said she deserved sympathy but while Mr Bielik was clearly liable for the incident it would go against common sense for the charity to be blamed. P olice officers in Sussex are facing disciplinary action after a teenager was murdered after being stalked by her former partner despite repeatedly asking for police protection. Shana Grices pleas for help and protection against her ex-boyfriend Michael Lane instead saw her fined 90 for wasting police time months before her murder in August 2016. The 19-year-old, of Portslade, near Brighton, had her throat slit by Lane after making five separate complaints against him between February and July 2016. Lane, who was convicted of her murder in 2017 and jailed for 25 years, had assaulted Ms Grice in the street, slashed her tyres and fitted a tracker to her car after she ended their relationship. He also stole a house key to sneak into her room while she slept and loitered outside her house. It later emerged 13 other women had reported him to police for stalking. Michael Lane arriving at Lewes Crown Court in 2017 / PA Archive/PA Images Channel 4 News has confirmed disciplinary action will be recommended by the police watchdog against six officers following an independent investigation into the handling of the stalking case that ended in murder. Two will face gross misconduct charges and out of the four other officers facing misconduct hearings, three have agreed to accept "management advice and further training". In addition, the Independent Office for Police Conducts report is understood to be recommending 18 new training measures for Sussex Police. In February 2016, Ms Grice first told Sussex Police that Lane was stalking her and that he had damaged her car, prompting police to warn Lane to stay away from the teenager. A month later, Ms Grice called police after Lane chased her down a street before snatching her phone and pulling her hair. However, police fined her 90 for wasting their time because when Lane was interviewed, he showed officers phone messages from her that he claimed proved they were in a relationship. Lane later slit her throat in her bedroom and tried to burn her body in August 2016. His trial the following year prompted widespread calls for action to ensure victims are taken seriously by police. In a statement ahead of the report being published, Assistant Chief Constable Nick May told Channel 4 News: We deeply regret the tragic death of Shana Grice in 2016 and are committed to constantly improving our understanding of stalking and our response to it. When we looked at the circumstances leading to Shanas murder, we felt we may not have done the very best we could and made a referral to the IOPC. Our then Deputy Chief Constable personally visited Shanas family to apologise on behalf of Sussex Police. "Since then we have undertaken all their recommendations, thoroughly reviewed all aspects of how we deal with cases of stalking and harassment and have significantly improved our service to victims." He added: We are recording the second highest number of reports anywhere in the UK after the Met, and are now advising and supporting more victims than ever. With better awareness and enhanced training, our approach is more robust in keeping people safe and feeling safe. We encourage victims to come forward with the knowledge that our officers and staff are better trained and that they will take all reports seriously. T he former husband of a woman detained in Dubai for calling his new wife a horse on Facebook had reported her for harassment to police in the UK nearly four years ago. Laleh Shahravesh, from Richmond, potentially faces jail after she appears in court in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday over allegations she insulted Samah Al Hammadi on Facebook. The 55-year-old was arrested after touching down in a Dubai airport with her 14-year-old daughter on March 10 and was reportedly held under the nation's controversial cybercrime laws. Officers have now confirmed that Ms Shahravesh's ex-husband, Pedro Correia Dos Santos, previously made an allegation about her to Scotland Yard. Ms Sharavesh called her ex-husband's new wife a 'horse' on Facebook / Laleh Sharavesh "In October 2015, police were contacted by a 48-year-old man living in Dubai concerning claims of harassment against a 52-year-old woman living in London, who was known to him," a statement from Scotland Yard said. Police spoke to both parties and the case was closed without any arrests. Ms Hammadi told the Daily Mail that they made a complaint to Dubai police after Ms Shahravesh refused to relent in her behaviour. "She has been abusing him, sending him emails, even to his boss in the bank, saying I am a b****, that I took him from her, that she doesn't have money. He sent emails asking her to stop. It did not stop," Ms Hammadi said. Campaign group Detained in Dubai has taken up Ms Shahravesh's case, with chief executive Radha Stirling saying Ms Hammadi had "stubbornly refused" to drop the complaint. Ms Shahravesh was married to Mr Correia Dos Santos for 18 years and they lived together in Dubai for eight months before she returned to the UK with their daughter. A few months later, in 2016, she received divorce papers and saw from photos on Facebook that Mr Correia Dos Santos had remarried. Samah al hammadi was insulted by her husbands ex In one later post, written in Farsi, she said: "I hope you go under the ground you idiot. Damn you. You left me for this horse." In March, Ms Shahravesh and daughter Paris travelled to Dubai for Mr Correia Dos Santos's funeral a week after his death from a heart attack. The mother was arrested and her passport was seized. Paris wrote to Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum pleading for her mother's release. Speaking to the Mail Online this week, Ms Shahravesh said: "Never in a million years did I think I would find myself in this situation over something that was written three years ago." Meanwhile, her teenage daughter Paris revealed she has been crying every day. Paris wrote to Dubai's ruler pleading for her mother's release / ITV She told ITV News: "I was beyond shocked. We only went to Dubai to say goodbye to my dad - that's all I wanted and it's as if I was asking too much. "Neither of us deserved this - we had to deal with losing my dad and all we wanted to do was go and say goodbye and we weren't even allowed to go to his funeral. I don't think that's asking too much. "It's incredibly difficult. Every day I come home and I just cry." Ms Shahravesh's sister, Ledan Perry, told ITV News the schoolgirl was unable to "grieve properly". Kang made the proposal while meeting ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock in Jakarta, on the sidelines of her visit to Indonesia to attend the third ministerial joint committee session with the Southeast Asian nation. RoK Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha (L) and ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock (Source: VNA) Both sides exchanged notes on intensifying collaboration to implement the RoKs New Southern Policy which aims to expand ties with ASEAN countries and on ensuring the success of the RoK-ASEAN special summit set to be held in the RoK later this year. The RoK plans to hold a special summit in the southern port city of Busan from November 25th-26th, followed by a separate Mekong summit with Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia the next day, she shared. Kang expressed hope for a leap in RoK-ASEAN relations through the implementation of the New Southern Policy. For his part, Lim Jock welcomed Seoul's hosting of the summit and vowed active support from his office for the success of the event./. N HS receptionists and housing officers are among hundreds of workers being trained to spot signs of radicalisation as an east London council embarks on a major roll-out of anti-terror training. Tower Hamlets has tutored its first round of Prevent Champions in how to identify potential threats. The first 37 who embarked on the course last month also included council staff and social workers. The scheme aims to teach those in ordinary jobs about Prevent the Governments anti-terror programme. It is expected to be the widest-reaching local authority training of its kind in the UK and aims to dispel a perception of secrecy about it. Tower Hamlets Prevent staff are also training police and local authorities across Europe in their anti-radicalisation methods. Delegations from Italy and Germany are expected in the coming months and officers have already travelled to Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia and Serbia. Tower Hamlets Prevent programme manager Simon Smith said: The reason there is mystery surrounding Prevent is because people dont talk about it. We dont have that communication. We dont engage with the public and we need to. This is a step in achieving that to a far greater degree. The Prevent programme aims to stop people being drawn into terrorism. Of the 7,318 people across the UK who were referred to the initiative in 2017-18, almost a quarter were from London. About 60 per cent of referrals were young people aged 20 or under. Figures for each individual borough were not released by the Government but east London sees a large amount of casework, Mr Smith said. Since Shamima Begum and two other schoolgirls left Bethnal Green in 2015 to become Islamic State brides in Syria, Tower Hamlets has more than doubled the size of its Prevent team. Mr Smith added: We were the first in the country to appoint an education officer, whose sole job it is to provide [anti-radicalisation] training in schools. All schools also have a designated safeguarding lead. There has been a huge investment in resources over the last four years, providing curricular material, training, support, guidance. Schools in Tower Hamlets are now very, very familiar with Prevent, what risk and threat looks like, and are able to assess it effectively and either deal with it or seek support. About 44 per cent of referrals to Prevent are in relation to Islamic radicalisation, while almost a quarter are over concerns about Right-wing extremism, according to government figures. A recent Home Office review of Tower Hamlets Prevent strategy found management was strong but there were challenges in public perception which was reflected in the attitudes of a significant proportion of council staff. A Macallan whisky advert showing a man throwing himself off a cliff-edge has been banned for promoting "very dangerous behaviour". The video advert for the Scottish whisky brand, showed the man hurtling towards the ground before sprouting wings and flying away. On-screen text then appeared saying: Would you risk falling for the chance to fly? UK regulator the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it received six complaints after the advert was broadcast on TV, video on demand and Instagram in December 2018. The ASA called the advert irresponsible and ruled that it must not be shown again in its current form. Best whisky for Burns Night 1 /9 Best whisky for Burns Night AnCnoc 18-year-old Proof, if it were needed, that smoke isnt flavour. This is really quite gorgeous; more than that, its priced the way whisky used to be before the market went AWOL. This non-chill filtered Highland whisky offers gentle sweetness, a gorgeous nose and lots of freshness. The best thing to do with this AnCnoc thats an-knock, by the way is let it sit in the glass before tucking in. A year in the cask, a minute in the glass has rarely been as true as it is here, and something about this charmingly complex dram starts to unfurl as the air skims its surface. To start, theres butterscotch, orange peel, a certain nuttiness thats also carrying a fruity sweetness. Take a sip and out comes something reminiscent of Jamacian ginger cake, with plenty of pepper and that nuttiness in the smell. This comes from its final ageing in Oloroso sherry casks: you taste what theyve done, but it doesnt overpower. It is smooth as anything, full of body, nicely fruity and plenty rich. Port Charlotte 10 Islay is known for its whisky, which is a clearer picture of the place than any postcard. Swirling inside most bottles distilled here are flavours of peat and smoke and salt from the sea, but the Bruichladdich boys differed from their neighbours for keeping their stuff unpeated. Then they put together a team for their Port Charlotte experiments, named for a pretty village of white-washed houses that stare out over the sea, with an aim to bottle a quintessential Islay dram. With their flagship 10-year-old, theyve done it. Smoke? Its like sitting beside the open fire in a cosy pub corner. Peat? Enough to almost chew it. But whereas some peaty single malts leave your mouth feeling slight charred, theres enough seaweed and sea air in this to level things out; drinking this excellent release feels like settling into the pub after a long walk out on the beach. It tastes similar too; sea air but sweeter, a little honey and vanilla, with some oak smoke in there. Highland Park Dragon Legend Lets skip swiftly over the name; the recent Game of Thrones whiskies put out by Diageo were bad enough (gentlemen, ladies, please: control your marketing department), but this sounds as if it were dreamt up for boys with board games in the basement. And still still! it makes this list as its frankly delicious and a bargain to boot. Highland Park, so called as its the most northerly distillery in Scotland, typically produces rich, indulgent drams, all cinnamon and coffee. Here, theyve gone smokier than normal, with something which tastes like fruitcake and smells like cut wood. Its got a little citrus in there, lemon peel, lots of earthy notes too, and the right level of peat. At 43.1 per cent ABV, the alcohol is quite upfront, but best left like that adding water dulls things. The finish is light, though the sweetness lasts. Perfect for a long, lingering drink late in the evening. Glen Moray Peated Speyside, where this is from, isnt known for its peated whiskies, so this is an unusual offering from Glen Moray. Moray often make these sorts of lists as they price so competitively; at around the mid-20s, and often less in supermarkets, this offers terrific value for money. Its not an especially subtle drink, with the smoke billowing through it from the off, but theres enough sweetness in there to keep things pleasingly drinkable. If neat scotch all evening feels like a bit much, mix this into a cocktail it would be beautiful in a Pencillin (scotch, lemon, honey, ginger), giving a great big kick of peat. Not so good alone on ice, though. That Boutique-y Whisky Company Bunnahabhain 11-Year-Old That Boutique-y Whisky Company are independent bottlers, rather than distillers themselves, and they certainly have a nose for the good stuff. This is a Bunnahabhain, from Islay, limited to 712 bottles, and is another of those whiskies that would be perfect out on the shoreline, wrapped up in a Barbour, nice and tired from a long stroll. It smells like the sea on rocks, with a little orange and hazlenut there too, but it opens into a the fierce warmth that might seem like smoke but really is red hot chili peppers. Theres dark chocolate in there, cloves too; this is drink to warm up winter. Its lovely, lively, and comes with quite a hit at 49.5 per cent ABV. The packaging matters, too; so much of whisky is in the ceremony, in taking out a lovely bottle and sharing it around, and taking it all. Thats where TB-yWC do so well: their labels are fun, they prompt a little conversation, and they make this a beautiful, distinctive gift. Macallan Sherry Oak 12-year-old A number shouldnt signify anything particularly, but the Macallan 12 means something; those with a long memory, or good friends with old collections, will know the Macallan 12s of the mid 90s were just gorgeous. Theyve had this back for a couple of years, aged in sherry wood as it should be, and recently seem to have found a consistency thats admirable. The drink tastes as it looks, standing upright and patrician in its bottle; it is utterly elegant, tasting just the way a very good, comforting Speyside should. It smells of dried fruit, sultanas and raisins, but the sherry is in there from the off, coming across like Calvados. To taste, its nicely sweet, and goes down easily, with lots of marmalade and oaky flavours. It is, perhaps, not the most complex drink in the world, but its not bottled to be. Its bottled to drink every now and then with a friend, to catch up over, to enjoy without having to think about it. It's bottled to be reliable. A touch pricey, but very lovely. Cotswold Single Malt For something different this Burns Night, dont do a single malt Scotch at all. Blasphemous, perhaps, but if youre not Scottish, wheres the harm? This, which holds the (perhaps unsurprising) distinction of being the first whisky distilled in the Cotswolds, has a beautiful colour to it, a rich amber thats all natural and lifted from the red wine barrels its finished in. Though the idea seems like a novelty, if not heresy English Scotch its won plaudits across the industry, with Jim Murray scoring it 95 points out of a hundred in his most recent Whisky Bible. It deserves every mark: from the off, it is full of honey, and the red wine notes are there too, but to taste its quickly followed by some nuttiness, some spice, and sweetness thats full of sugary citrus that seems to fade into something comforting, like treacle. If this makes it sound soporific, its not; a young whisky, its actually very lively. A surprise, and a treat. The regulator said the opening scene was "reminiscent of the extreme sport of base jumping", and that the act of jumping off a cliff was dangerous, potentially fatal and extremely risky. While the man is not shown consuming alcohol at any point in the clip, the final frame shows a glass of whisky, with the caption: The Macallan. Make the call The ASA concluded that the advert made a clear association between an alcoholic product and potentially very dangerous, daring behaviour. The brands owner, Edrington Distiller, argued that the campaign was a simply a "fantastical story" which did not link alcohol with "bravery, daring or toughness". However, the regulator said: "We noted that at that point in the ads, there was no suggestion that the male character had any super-human attributes or powers, or that he was part of a mythical world". It also noted that the man seemed to be clenching his fists as he peered over the edge of the cliff, which gave "the impression that he was nervous about jumping and was building up the courage to do so". TODO: define component type brightcove A spokesman for The Macallan said the company had cooperated fully with the ASA in response to "a small number of complaints about our brand's global awareness campaign". "In light of the ASA ruling, we have acted to address their concerns and removed the campaign film from relevant channels accessible by the UK audience, he announced. "As phase one of the campaign is now complete, we will take onboard the ruling as we plan for next phase of the campaign. "The overall theme of the global campaign is about bold decision-making and targeting a new generation of luxury consumers. S peedboat killer Jack Shepherd has touched down on UK soil where he will now face justice after 10 months on the run after being found guilty of the manslaughter of a woman he took on a date on the River Thames. He was flown back to the UK from Georgia tonight. He is due to be handed a jail term of six years at the Old Bailey tomorrow morning. The 31-year-old skipped bail last summer and was found guilty of the manslaughter of 24-year-old Charlotte Brown in his absence. Shepherd will appear in court on Thursday morning at around 9.30am. Jack Shepherd being taken from prison for extradition / Georgian Prison Service Angela Deal, head of extradition at the CPS said: "Jack Shepherd has returned to the UK to face justice following close co-operation between the CPS Extradition Unit, UK colleagues and the Georgian authorities, to ensure a successful extradition. "He will first appear at the Old Bailey to be sentenced for the gross negligence manslaughter conviction in connection with the death of Charlotte Brown, and then at a later date in the south west over the grievous bodily harm charge." Shepherd was previously found guilty of the manslaughter of 24-year-old Charlotte Brown / Georgian Prison Service The web designer last appeared at the court in November 2017 when he denied manslaughter. It emerged at the start of his trial last June that he would not attend court but was in regular contact with his defence team. Tragic death: Charlotte Brown was killed in the crash / PA The court heard that Shepherd and Ms Brown had been on a champagne-fuelled first date when they went for a late-night speedboat ride down the Thames in December 2015. S cientists will today reveal a groundbreaking picture allowing the world to see a real black hole for the first time. The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration is set to present the first images of a monster black hole from six simultaneous global press conferences. Eight radio telescopes have been pointed at two black holes and now, after two years of acquiring and processing the data, scientists will reveal their results. Announcements are being made in six different worldwide locations, including one in Brussels which will be in English, and all will be livestreamed for the public to watch. European Southern Observatory shows an image taken by an exquisitely sensitive Gravity instrument which has added further evidence to the long-standing assumption that a supermassive black hole lurks in the centre of the Milky Way. / AFP/Getty Images Here's how to watch the announcement online. The easiest way of watching the announcement is by watching one of the streams on YouTube. The Brussels conference will be streamed via the European Commissions's official YouTube channel, and it will be in English. Members of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, the European Southern Observatory and the European Research Council will be involved in the Brussels stream. If you want to watch the American stream, head over to the National Science Foundation channel and watch the stream there. A panel of scientists will be there for commentary and questions including Sheperd Doeleman, a Harvard University senior research fellow, and Sera Markoff from the University of Amsterdam. Head over to The Standard's blog for up-to-date commentary and a live stream of the announcement. When is the announcement being made? The press conferences are all due to start at the same time. In England, they will begin around 2pm BST. In America, the start time will be 9am EDT. Where are the press conferences being held? All over the world. Media have been told to gather for conferences in Brussels, Washington, Santiago, Shanghai, Taipei, Tokyo, and Lyngby in Denmark. What is a black hole? A Nasa artist's concept illustration shows a supermassive black hole with millions to billions times the mass of our sun. / REUTERS Black holes are regions where matter has been crushed by gravity to an infinitely small space where the normal laws of physics no longer apply. While nothing can escape the gravitational vortex of a black hole - not even light - gas and radiation rage in a swirling eddy around the brink of the abyss. It is this point-of-no-return precipice, called the Event Horizon, that astronomers have tried to observe for the first time. An artist's impression showing how a very distant quasar powered by a supermassive black hole may look close up. / PA Why are scientists interested in black holes? The project may help scientists struggling to marry together two apparently incompatible pillars of physics, Einstein's theory of general relativity and quantum mechanics. The first relates to laws of nature on cosmic scales, while the second governs the weird world of subatomic particles where it is possible to be in two places at once. Physicist and black hole expert Lia Medeiros, from the University of Arizona, US, told ScienceNews magazine: "If general relativity buckles at a black hole's boundary, it may point the way forward for theorists." The EHT's other target, M87, is notable for shooting out a fast jet of charged subatomic particles that stretches for some 5,000 light years. T he Dalai Lama has been rushed to hospital in India with a chest infection, his private aide has said. The 83-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader flew from Dharmsala on Tuesday for a consultation with his doctors and was hospitalised. He is likely to spend a day or two in hospital, Tenzin Taklha said. Mr Taklha added that the Dalai Lama is feeling better and has cut down on travel in the past year to take care of his health. The Dalai Lama has cut down on travelling to take care of his health. / AP The Nobel peace laureate usually spends several months a year travelling the world to teach Buddhism and highlight the Tibetans' struggle for greater freedom in China. "Long-distance travelling is tiresome. Generally, he is in very good health. But he is taking precautions," he told The Associated Press. The Dalai Lama addressed a conference of educators and students in New Delhi last week. Answering a question related to Tibet's future with China, he reiterated that he is not seeking independence for Tibet, but would prefer a "reunion" with China under mutually acceptable terms. The 83-year-old is said to be feeling better but will remain in hospital for one or two days. / AFP/Getty Images China took control of Tibet in 1950 and sees the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist. It is unclear and remains a contentious who will succeed the Dalai Lama when he dies. Who will succeed the Dalai Lama when he dies remains both unclear and contentious. T he first ever photo of a black hole has been revealed after years of research by an international team of scientists. After two years of acquiring and processing data, scientists at the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) programme presented their first results at news conferences across the world this afternoon. Journalists gathered in Brussels, Washington, Santiago, Shanghai, Taipei, Tokyo and Lyngby in Denmark. The results come after eight radio telescopes were pointed at two of the cosmic behemoths, one at the heart of our galaxy, the Milky Way, and another nearly 54 million light years away. The image shows the second black hole, which lies at the centre of Messier 87 (M87), a massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. "This is a huge day in astrophysics," US National Science Foundation director France Cordova said as the photo was revealed in Washington. "We're seeing the unseeable." Scientists have revealed the first ever photo of a black hole / @ehtelescope The fact that black holes do not allow light to escape makes viewing them difficult. Scientists look for a ring of light - disrupted matter and radiation circling at tremendous speed at the edge of an event horizon - around a region of darkness representing the actual black hole. An event horizon is the point-of-no-return precipice beyond which stars, planets, gas, dust and all forms of electromagnetic radiation get swallowed into oblivion. Scientists revealing the first ever image of a black hole at an Event Horizon Telescope press conference / PA The project's researchers obtained the first data in April 2017 using telescopes in Arizona and Hawaii as well as in Mexico, Chile, Spain and Antarctica. Since then, telescopes in France and Greenland have been added to the global network, essentially creating a planet-sized observational dish. Sheperd Doelman, from Harvard University, said: "We have seen and taken a picture of a black hole. "This is a remarkable achievement. We now have visual evidence of a black hole. This is the strongest evidence that we have to date of the existence of black holes." News conference to reveal the first photograph of a black hole / Getty Images While much around a black hole falls into a death spiral and is never to be seen again, the new image captures "lucky gas and dust" circling at just far enough to be safe, co-discoverer Jessica Dempsey said. Taken over four days when astronomers had "to have the perfect weather all across the world and literally all the stars had to align", the image helps confirm Einstein's general relativity theory, she added. Ms Dempsey said Einstein even predicted the symmetrical shape that scientists have found. Sheperd Doeleman reveals the first photograph of a black hole / Getty Images Black holes, which come in different sizes, are formed when very massive stars collapse at the end of their life cycle. Supermassive black holes are the largest kind, growing in mass as they devour matter and radiation and perhaps merging with other black holes. At one of the press conferences held at the National Press Club in Washington, scientists explained that SgrA was a "complex" object and the M87 black hole had been easier to image. A grieving dolphin has refused to leave its calfs side after it got tangled in a crab pot and died. Heart-breaking photos have shown the mother swimming next to its dead baby in Australia, after a member of the public alerted local environmentalists. A research group in Western Australia said they made the choice to leave the deceased calf in the water so its mother could grieve. Parks and Wildlife Western Australia said: Dolphins are highly intelligent creatures and are known to stay with their young for a period of time following a death. The calf, the group added, had died after getting tangled and stuck in a crab pot. It has since been freed, but its body remains in the water so mother, Moon, can mourn. The group said: We will continue to monitor the pair and remove the calf when appropriate to do so. We ask the public to stay well away from the dolphin and her dead calf during this time. V otes are being counted in India after the countrys mammoth general election. During an intense six weeks of voting, millions of Indians took to the polls to decide if the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu Nationalist Party will continue leading for another five years. To onlookers, the election is seen as a referendum on Modi, who is adored by some Indians but blamed by others for perpetuating stark divisions within the country. Whatever the result, this election was a historic one. Of Indias 1.3 billion population, around 900 million people are eligible to vote, a figure which represents around 10% of the worlds population. Whoever wins will take charge of a fast-developing country with an economy on track to surpass the UKs to become the worlds largest. Heres everything you need to know about the elections in India: When does voting take place? Voting commenced on April 11. Indians were able to cast their votes at one of the 1 million polling booths positioned across the country. Voting underway in 1st phase of Indian elections Who is running? India Elections: Rahul Ghandi is running for Prime Minister as leader of the Congress party / Getty Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be hoping for re-election. Modis main opposition party is the Congress, led by Rahul Ghandi. His grandmother Indira was Indias first female leader and his grandfather Jawarhlal Nehru was the countrys founding leader. His father Rajiv Gandhi also served as PM. How does India's electoral system work? Indian Elections: Indians will cast their votes at one of the 1 million polling stations positioned across the country / Getty Indias parliament has two houses: the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. In this election, the Lok Sabha is the important one. It has 543 elected seats and any party will need a minimum of 272 seats in order to form a government. Whichever party wins the majority of seats gets to choose the PM. Holi Festival 2019 - In pictures 1 /40 Holi Festival 2019 - In pictures A college girl takes part in the Holi festival celebrations in Bhopal, India, 19 March 2019. Holi is celebrated on the full moon day and marks the beginning of the spring season. Holi will be celebrated as the Hindu spring festival of colors across the country on 21 March EPA Nepalese youth dance while playing traditional instruments during Holi Festival celebrations in Kathmandu EPA Hindu priests use their mobile phones to take photographs as devotees are sprayed with colours on a temple premises during Holi celebrations in Ahmedabad, India REUTERS College girls pose for a photograph as they take part in the Holi festival celebrations in Bhopal, India EPA A child dressed as Hindu God Lord Krishna is carried by a devotee as people smeared in colors take part in Holi festival celebrations at Durgiana Temple in Amritsar, India EPA A college girl takes part in the Holi festival celebrations in Bhopal, India EPA College girls take part in the Holi festival celebrations in Bhopal, India Sanjheev Gupta/EPA A child dressed as the Hindu God Lord Krishna is carried by a devotee as people smeared in colors take part in Holi festival celebrations at Durgiana Temple in Amritsar, India EPA Hindu devotees pray as they are sprayed with colours by a priest on a temple premises during Holi celebrations in Ahmedabad, India Reuters A woman kisses her daughter as they take part in Holi festival celebrations at Durgiana Temple in Amritsar, India EPA People celebrate Holi, the Festival of Colours, in Kathmandu, Nepal Reuters College students take part in the Holi festival celebrations in Bhopal, Indiia EPA An Indian Vendor sells colored powder at a wholesale market ahead of Holi festival in New Delhi, India EPA Hindu devotees raise their hands daubed in colours as they pray on a temple premises during Holi celebrations in Ahmedabad, India Reuters Hindu devotees pray as they are sprayed with colours by a priest on a temple premises during Holi celebrations in Ahmedabad, India Reuters A girl puts powdered color on another girl during the Holi festival celebrations at Durgiana Temple in Amritsar, India EPA Hindu devotees pray as they are sprayed with colours by a priest on a temple premises during Holi celebrations in Ahmedabad, India Reuters Indian people smeared in colors take part in Holi festival celebrations at Durgiana Temple in Amritsar, India EPA Nepalese people painted with colored powder dance during Holi Festival celebrations in Kathmandu EPA A college girl takes part in the Holi festival celebrations in Bhopal, India, 19 March 2019. Holi is celebrated on the full moon day and marks the beginning of the spring season EPA College students take part in the Holi festival celebrations in Bhopal, India, 19 March 2019. Holi is celebrated on the full moon day and marks the beginning of the spring season. Holi will be celebrated as the Hindu spring festival of colors across the country on 21 March EPA Indian people stand next to a 'Holika Dahan' effigy of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar, ahead of the Hindu festival Holi in Mumbai, India, EPA A young girl smeared with powdered colors takes part in Holi festival celebrations at Durgiana Temple in Amritsar, India EPA Indian students have their faces smeared with powdered colors during the Holi festival celebrations at a college in Dharamsala, India EPA Hindu devotees pray as they are sprayed with colours by a priest on a temple premises during Holi celebrations in Ahmedabad, India Reuters Nepalese people painted with colored powder dance and fling water from bottles during Holi Festival celebrations in Kathmandu, Nepal EPA An Indian man has colored powder thrown on his face during celebrations marking Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, in Allahabad, India AP Nepalese people celebrate the Holi Festival in Kathmandu, Nepal, 20 March 2019. Holi, also known as the Festival of Colors, marks the beginning of spring and is celebrated all over Nepal and neighboring India EPA A female tourist is smeared with colored powder during Holi Festival celebrations in Kathmandu, Nepal EPA Women play with powdered colors as they take part in Holi festival celebrations at Durgiana Temple in Amritsar, India EPA Alternatively, a coalition can be formed if no one party wins a majority, as was the outcome of the 2004 elections. When will we know the results? Counting commenced at 08:00 local time (02:30GMT) on Thursday 23 May. Results will be released in phases by the Election commission, but it could be an additional several hours before the final result is confirmed. Who could win? Indian women show their support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a campaign rally (Getty ) / Getty Modi is currently leading in over 330 of the 542 seats, setting him on a clear path to victory. As early results were announced, Indias stock markets soared to record highs. Meanwhile, the opposition United Progressive Alliance (UPA) ran by the Indian National Congress (INC) alliance is leading in less than about 100 seats. Mr Modis going to be the next prime minister, we are very assured of that, said Meenakshi Lekhi, a member of Parliament running for re-election in New Delhi. Several polling agencies have reported a growth in public support for Modi following recent tensions with Pakistan after a military group based there killed 40 Indian policemen in Kashmir in February. Indian polling agency CVoter said in a statement: In todays India we have seen perhaps for the first time security issues competing with, and outdoing, a bread and butter issue like unemployment. Primarily, the BJP has been unable to sufficiently distinguish itself from Congress when it comes to making people feel the difference in terms of their livelihoods and economic interests. L eaders of Israel's Blue and White party have conceded defeat in the country's elections. They have promised to become a staunch opposition to Benjamin Netanyahu's rule. Mr Netanyahu has served as the country's prime minister since 2009. He previously held the position between 1996 and 1999. Yair Lapid, the Blue and White party's second in command, said that though his party "did not win in this round, I respect the voters". He said his party will "embitter" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's life from the opposition. The Blue and White party, headed by former army chief of staff Benny Gantz, drew even with Mr Netanyahu's Likud party, but the incumbent prime minister is poised to form a government with his larger bloc of religious and nationalist allies. I sraels general election looked too close to call with almost all votes counted this morning. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and the centrist Blue and White alliance were projected to each win 35 seats. With 97 percent of the votes counted, neither of the candidates' parties had captured a ruling majority. The outlook meant Mr Netanyahu was in a strong position to form a coalition government with other right-wing factions. Supporters of the Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) political alliance celebrate after watching a TV poll at the alliance headquarters / AFP/Getty Images The closely contested race was widely seen in Israel as a referendum on Mr Netanyahu's character in the face of corruption allegations. He faces possible indictment in three graft cases, and has denied wrongdoing in all of them. Benny Gantz, leader of Blue and White party, next to a voting booth / REUTERS The projected 35 seats for veteran right-wing leader's Likud party would mean a five-seat gain for Likud. "It is a night of colossal victory," the 69-year-old Netanyahu told cheering supporters in a late-night speech at Likud headquarters, while cautioning that a "long night and possibly day" lay ahead awaiting official results. Fireworks flared behind him as his wife Sara applauded and kissed him. "He's a magician," the crowd chanted. Final results were expected by Friday. Prime Minister and Chairman of the Likud Party Benjamin Netanyahu waves to supporters / EPA If he wins, Mr Netanyahu, 69, will be on track to be the longest-serving prime minister in Israel's 71-year history. Mr Netanyahu, in power consecutively since 2009, said he had already begun talks with prospective coalition allies. Rival Mr Gantz, 59, earlier had also claimed victory, citing preliminary exit polls that were published soon after voting ended on Tuesday showed his party had won more seats than Likud. "We are the victors," said Mr Gantz, a former military chief fighting his first election. "We want to thank Benjamin Netanyahu for his service to the nation." A Japanese stealth fighter plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean and there has been no sign of its pilot, according to the country's defence ministry. The air force F-35 jet plunged from the sky during a night training flight and parts of it have been recovered, the Air Self-Defence Force said. The pilot, a man aged in his 40s, is missing following the crash on Tuesday. The aircraft went missing about half an hour after taking off from the Misawa air base with three other F-35As. A Japan Air Self-Defense Force helicopter conducts rescue and search operation / REUTERS The cause of the crash was not immediately known, defence minister Takeshi Iwaya said. He said 12 other F-35s at the Misawa base would be grounded. Japan has been deploying the US-made F-35s since last year. This was part of its plan to bolster its defence spending and weapons capability in coming years, as a plan to counter potential threats from North Korea and China. Under guidelines approved in December, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government plans to buy 147 F-35s, including 105 F-35As. P rince Harry today announced plans to make a landmark TV series with Oprah Winfrey about mental health. The Duke of Sussex wants the documentary series, which will be screened worldwide on the new Apple TV+ online platform, to empower people who silently suffer with depression and other mental conditions to seek help. Harry, 34, has previously admitted he was very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions as he sought to cope with his mother Dianas death. He will co-create and co-produce the series with Ms Winfrey, who was a guest at the royal wedding last May when Harry married Meghan Markle in Windsor. They have been working on ideas for several months. The Duchess of Sussex is expected to give birth later this month / REUTERS The series will build on Harrys charitable work with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to tackle the stigma around mental health. Harry said today: I truly believe that good mental health - mental fitness - is the key to powerful leadership, productive communities and a purpose-driven self. "It is a huge responsibility to get this right as we bring you the facts, the science and the awareness of a subject that is so relevant during these times. "Our hope is that this series will be positive, enlightening and inclusive - sharing global stories of unparalleled human spirit fighting back from the darkest places, and the opportunity for us to understand ourselves and those around us better. "I am incredibly proud to be working alongside Oprah on this vital series which we have been developing together for several months. Oprah Winfrey at the Royal Wedding / IAN WEST/AFP/Getty Images There are plans for Harry to feature on camera though it has yet to be decided if he will be interviewed by former chatshow host Ms Winfrey, 65, now an influential movie and TV producer. There are no immediate plans for the Duchess of Sussex to be involved. Meghan, 37, is due to give birth within weeks after she and Harry this month moved into Frogmore Cottage, their new home on the Windsor estate. Harry, William and Kate launched the Heads Together charity in 2016 to help people in the UK and Commonwealth to access support. This overlaps with Harrys Invictus Games and the Endeavour Fund, which help serving and injured ex-service personnel. The young royals want to use digital technology to signpost the support available to people in crisis and improve the education around mental health. The multi-part series will be a highlight of the forthcoming launch of Apple TV+, the tech giants online service that will challenge Netflix, Amazon and HBO. It is due to launch this Autumn, with Harrys as yet untitled series expected to be broadcast in 2020. Ms Winfrey, outlining her partnership with Apple TV+ last month, said it offered a unique opportunity to tackle the daunting challenges of our time. She will also make a film investigating the toll of sexual harassment, assault and violation in the workplace. She said: What I know is, if we do our jobs right, were going to replace shame and were going to replace stigma with wisdom, with some compassion and with honesty. In 2017, Harry disclosed that he sought counselling after enduring two years of total chaos while still struggling in his late twenties to come to terms with the death of his mother in 1997. He said he shut down all his emotions for almost two decades, despite Prince William trying to persuade him to seek help. K im Kardashian has revealed she is studying to become a lawyer and plans on taking her bar exam in 2022. The reality star previously met with Donald Trump to fight for the pardon of 63-year-old Alice Marie Johnson, who was given a life sentence for a first-time drug offence. Kardashian, 38, has since told how she has undertaken a four-year apprenticeship, which she began last year, at a San Francisco law firm in order to get in her 18 hours a week of exam preparation. Speaking to Vogue, Kardashian admitted she had to think long and hard about the move and eventually decided to go ahead with it after seeing a really good result with Johnson, who was granted clemency last June. Inspired: Kardashian has her sights set on a career in law / Donald Trump/Twitter She explained: I never in a million years thought we would get to the point off getting laws passed. That was really a turning point for me. Kardashian said she felt a desire to pursue the career after she felt out of her depth during the case. She added: I would say what I had to say, about the human side and why this is so unfair. But I had attorneys with me who could back that up with all the facts of the case. Its never one person who gets things done, its always a collective of people. Ive always known my role, but I just felt like I wanted to be able to fight for people who have paid their dues to society. I just felt like the system could be so different, and I wanted to fight to fix it, and if I knew more, I could do more. Whilst the recent case of Johnson sparked a source of inspiration for Kardashian, she told the publication how she has always been interested in law as a result of her late father Robert Kardashian, who was an attorney. Speaking about her sisters new venture, Kourtney told how the move makes sense for Kim. She said: Its because she seems to have all the answers or something. Like she just kind of knows. Kim Kardashian answers all burning questions on 'Busy Tonight' Khloe and I can be a little argumentative with my mom but Kim knows what she needs to say so that my mother can hear it and she can get her point across. According to Vogue, Kardashian will take her baby bar exam and if she passes she will be given the go-ahead to continue with a further three years of studying. First year of law school, you have to cover three subjects: criminal law, torts, and contracts, she told the magazine. To me, torts is the most confusing, contracts the most boring, and crim law I can do in my sleep. Took my first test, I got a 100. Super easy for me. E amonn Holmes was condemned by This Morning viewers after he left Chris Hemsworth red-faced during an interview on new film Avengers: Endgame. Holmes, who is standing in alongside wife Ruth Langsford for Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield during the Easter break, couldnt resist embarrassing his other half with a crude joke during their chat with the Thor star. Hemsworth appeared via a video link, which disappointed Langsford who admitted she would have preferred it if he were in the studio. Holmes couldn't resist referencing Thor's iconic "hammer" as he asked: How are you in your lovely hotel down the road? Ruth was looking forward to seeing your hammer. Laughing awkwardly, Hemsworth replied: Its been destroyed, in the last movie! Viewers were quick to pull up the hosts on the cringe interview. One user wrote: "Oh f*** this is cringey already 'Ruth wanted to see your hammer.'" Thor's Hammer: The joke left views unimpressed / Walt Disney Studios/Marvel I couldnt cringe more #Timetoswitchoff, added another. Another tweeted: Jesus Christ this is so cringe and the delay makes it worse! #ThisMorning. Awkward: Viewers hit out at the presenter over the remark / This Morning/ITV The awkward interview is not the first time the show has been slammed this week. Jackie Simpson, 63, and her sister Julie Ramsey, 61, told Holmes and Langsford they had visited the African country 15 times in eight years to meet with younger men. The segment was met with backlash for being offensive and ignorant, while others accused them of fetishing black men. The show did not respond to the criticism. S amsungs new mid-range phone has kicked innovation out of the park, overcoming the notch issue with a pop-up rotating selfie camera on the new Samsung Galaxy A80. Revealing the device at Milan Design Week, the new phone also has a 3,700 mAH battery, Samsungs new super-fast charging, and a 48-megapixel main camera. Samsungs head of mobile, DJ Koh, said this device was about providing innovation for everyone. The Galaxy A Series provides a range of models so everyone can choose a device that fits their unique needs and enables them to pursue their passions. The Galaxy A80 offers premium features for digital natives who want to fully engage in the Era of Live, he said. Heres what you need to know about the Samsung A80. Samsung A80: All about the cameras Whilst the Samsung Galaxy S10+ and Google Pixel 3 XL feature two selfie cameras, the Samsung A80 goes further with a total of three cameras. Its able to house all this photography tech thanks to a slide-up back. This means the cameras double up as the rear cameras, and then when you slide up the back, the cameras rotate to face the front. The Samsung A80 comes in three colours: ghost white, angel gold, and phantom black / Samsung This is a different solution to the slide-up selfie camera that weve seen on the likes of Xiaomis Mi Mix 3 and does pose some questions around breakability how many times will you be able to slide and rotate the cameras until something goes wrong? In terms of that triple lens set up, theres a main 48-megapixel lens, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide lens and a 3D depth camera. Samsung A80: everything else When it comes to the screen, the Samsung A80 has a massive 6.7-inch full HD+ Super AMOLED screen with new infinity display. AMOLED screens are often of better quality and have more flexibility than OLED screens, so this puts this Samsung device above the new Huawei P30 range in this instance. The phone has a 3D glass and metal frame and will come in three colours: phantom black, angel gold and ghost white. The A80 also features an in-screen fingerprint scanner like the S10 range, and has 8GB RAM and 128GB of internal storage. A80 owners will also benefit from Samsungs AI capabilities, such as Bixby Routines, which learn your app usage patterns and help you to get more out of the device when you need it. Samsung A80: price and availability Pricing for the new phone hasnt been unveiled yet, but given this is mid-range, its likely it will come it between 500-600. What we do know is that the phone will be released on May 29. Why innovation isnt just about the flagship ranges anymore Samsung is starting to take more risks in its mid-range line. Last year, the company unveiled the A9 with a whopping four cameras on the back of the phone, a feature that wasnt picked up in its flagship S range until the Galaxy S10 5G version, which has only just been released in South Korea. At the time, Samsungs director of product, services and commercial strategy, Kate Beaumont, told the Standard: Were not restricting our innovation and development just to the flagship range. Were starting to bring technology and experiences right through the range of devices. This is a major signal that the features we see on the A range could make it to the next flagship range Samsung is going to announce, the Note 10, which could be coming in August. Its a savvy move, as the mid-range market is increasingly becoming the one to play for, thanks to the prevalence of Chinese brands such as Xiaomi, Oppo and OnePlus. S amsung kicked off the major 2019 smartphone release schedule earlier this year with the launch of the new Galaxy S10 range. Made up of three phones, the smaller S10e, standard sized S10, and the larger S10+, there was a lot to unpack at the phone launch, not least the arrival of the folding Samsung Galaxy Fold device. But, with the next-gen of folding phones set to cost over 2,000, were still going to be relying on our normal single-screen phones for the near future. Is the Samsung Galaxy S10+ the one to use until your dreams of a folding phone are realised? We put it to the test. Samsung Galaxy S10+: Design This is a really good looking phone. I tried the prism white version, the main device colour for the year, and it matches those new Galaxy Earbuds very well. The Galaxy S10+ has a 6.4-inch Dynamic AMOLED screen with Samsungs signature curve. Usually, Im not a fan of curved screens, devices like Huaweis Mate 20 Pro seem to take it too far, but on the S10+, Samsung has managed to achieve the right balance: enough curve to make the design dynamic, but not too much that you end up cutting content off the screen. The new Samsung Galaxy S10+ has a punch-hole design to house the front camera / Rob Le Mare There are other benefits to the curved screen too, like the hidden app drawer, but on a day-to-day basis, I never really used it. Also on the front of the phone, Samsung has gone with the punch-hole design that was first sported on the Honor View 20. Its a big design upgrade from last years S9 range which still featured a fairly noticeable bezel at the top. The S10+ version has two cameras on the front of the phone, like the Google Pixel 3 XL, but given that discreet punchhole, they hardly take up any space and you really get the benefit of that dynamic screen. Samsung Galaxy S10+: Camera The camera is usually always the best part of the Samsung S10 ranges and this phone is no exception. On the back of the device there are three cameras: a 12-megapixel telephoto lens, a 12-megapixel wide-angle lens and a 16-megapixel ultra-wide angle lens. The ultra-wide angle lens, in particular, is incredible. It means you can fit more into each shot, meaning that each image on your screen looks the way you see it in real life. In order to do this, you can switch between 1x zoom or 0.5x zoom, like the image below. The 0.5x zoom shoot means the phone captures the towering palm trees nicely. Loading.... Nifty features also include the scene optimiser, which recognises what is in the image, such as scenery, and adapts the camera to enhance the quality of the image. There is a specific dog-focused scene optimiser, but unfortunately, I didnt get to try it out. 'Shot suggestions' is also a handy addition you have to turn this feature on in settings, but an on-screen target essentially appears so you can line up the photo to capture the best image. When it comes to the dual selfie cameras, the images captured dont live up to the bar set by the Google Pixel 3 XL selfie portrait mode, but generally I capture more images using the main cameras and so this wasnt too much of an issue. Samsung Galaxy S10+: Software The Galaxy S10 range runs Android Pie, with Samsungs OneUI skin, its unique version of the Android OS, on top. One UI is brand new for the S10 range, and is better than anything the company has released before. Its all rounded corners, clean design and minimised options much easier to use than previous Samsung skins. Samsung has cleaned up its OneUI software for the Galaxy S10 range / AP The new interface includes features called viewing areas. In an app like Messages or Settings, the top-third of the screen comes up with the apps name, and then you can interact with the lower two-thirds. Its been designed this way to make it easier to use large-screen devices one-handed, and may take some getting used to it at first but it is a lot better in the long run. Other software features includes the addition of an in-screen fingerprint scanner. It creates a soothing ripple effect on the screen when you use it and though it can be touch and go at first, the trick is to add the same fingerprint twice to improve its functionality. That being said, the facial recognition is really fast on this device so I rarely used the fingerprint scanner, but it is a decent feature and one were coming to expect in our phones. Samsung Galaxy S10+: Performance The only major issue I found with the Samsung Galaxy S10+ was, unfortunately, the battery life. The device has a 4,100 mAH battery, compared to the Mate 20 Pros 4,200 mAH battery, but where you can easily get two days out of the Huawei, the Samsung device needed to be charged every night. Its a shame because it means you dont get the use out of flashier features like the reverse power charging, also available on the Mate 20 Pro. You can wirelessly charge the new Samsung earbuds on the back of the S10 and S10+ phones / Samsung This feature is supposed to offer an on-the-go power boost to other devices, like the new Samsung Galaxy Earbuds, but when youre trying to preserve as much power for the phone, you dont get to use it. Another thing the device gets extremely hot when using Bluetooth headphones and listening to podcasts or Spotify, which isnt a good sign. Samsung Galaxy S10+: Verdict The Samsung Galaxy S10+ is the best Samsung phone the company has made. It has a gorgeous design, outstanding camera, improved software and top of the range features like the in-screen fingerprint scanner. Aside from the battery performance which is not brilliant, and means you definitely need to carry a back-up charger on busy days, this is almost all you could possibly want in a flagship phone. Samsung Galaxy S10+: Where to buy You can buy the new Samsung Galaxy S10+ from the Carphone Warehouse with prices starting from 99 upfront and 44.99 a month. Countries & Areas Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe The Bucharest Court of Appeal compels the Prosecutor's Section with the Superior Council of Magistrates (CSM) to recognise former National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) head's appropriate level of seniority with the Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice (PICCJ). Read also: Rompetrol Rafinare moves to Industry 4.0, an investment estimated at 4mln US dollars In November 2018, Kovesi requested CSM to recognize her level of seniority corresponding to PICCJ, but her request was rejected, and the former chief prosecutor of DNA went on to sue CSM, winning the case. However, the decision of the Bucharest Court of Appeal is not final. Kovesi was revoked as Chief Prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate by a decree issued on 9 July 2018 by President Klaus Iohannis, who enforced a Constitutional Court ruling. After the revocation, the CSM Prosecutor's Section decided that Laura Codruta Kovesi should return to the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) Sibiu, where she worked before being appointed as Prosecutor General of Romania in 2006. Later on, Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar decided that Laura Codruta Kovesi be delegated to the General Prosecutor's Office - the Guidance and Control Service. On October 15, Justice Minister Tudorel Toader declared that Laura Codruta Kovesi should leave the General Prosecutor's Office if she does not have the appropriate level of seniority according to the new regulations introduced by the emergency ordinance amending the Justice laws. AGERPRES . The opposition National Liberal Party (PNL) has tabled with the Chamber of Deputies an unqualified motion called "SOS energy sector! PSD and ALDE lead Romania to darkness!" that reads the party's concern about the situation in this area, arguing that energy prices have increased, with the country's energy security being at risk mainly due to a lack of investment. "PNL is deeply worried about the situation of the energy sector. Energy prices have increased a lot in recent years, and the country's energy security is at risk, mainly because of the lack of investment in the sector. We want the 'SOS energy sector! PSD and ALDE lead Romania to darkness' motion to bring about a consistent debate in the Romanian Parliament over the situation of the energy sector, a strategic area for our country's economy," according to PNL. The unqualified motion will be debated in the Chamber of Deputies on Monday, and a final vote will be cast on Tuesday, according to the Standing Bureau. Students and graduates of higher education are invited to apply as of Wednesday, for the 200 seats available in the Government, ministries, institutions and authorities of the central public administration, during the 7th edition of the Official Internship Programme of the Executive. According to a Gov't release sent to AGERPRES, this year, within the programme, there are 200 seats allocated at 55 ministries, authorities and agencies of the central public administration. "The Official Internship Programme of Romania's Government aims to provide knowledge to the interns regarding the specifics of the Romanian Government's activity, by means of working experiences, designed to develop their practical and professional skills. The programme (...) will give youngsters the opportunity, for two months, during 8 hours / day, to learn how to operate and organise the public administration from experienced public servants. Moreover, the 200 interns will have the opportunity to participate in various information-documentation visits at the headquarters of the central public administration institutions, the associative environment that actively participate in the governing act and embassy representations, to learn more about the democratic and public policies processes adopted in Romania," reads the release. According to the Gov't, the interns will benefit from a monthly allowance worth 2,080 gross lei. Last year, each participant received a scholarship worth 1,000 lei. "Another novelty refers to the fact that the period of the internship programme is considered as seniority in the line of employment. At the end of the internship period, the interns will receive a certificate from the Romanian Government and, upon request, a letter of recommendation from the tutors,' the release said. The registrations are made online and the participation conditions, as well as the application form are available on www.internship.gov.ro. Students and high school pupils with great results will be able to get grants worth up to 4,000 euro per year, according to a measure meant to encourage performance, which is to be adopted on Wednesday by the Government, said Prime Minister Viorica Dancila. "Research and innovation are essential in ensuring sustainable and competitive economic growth, and supporting young researchers is a priority of the Romanian Government. Today, we will modify the grants programme for high school graduates with great results, winners of the national and international Olympiads, so that we can make it more attractive and easier to access," said Dancila. She added that, through individual grants of up to 4.000 euro, which will be granted for the entire period of university studies, including master and PhD studies, "we offer the youngsters with great results the possibility of continuing their research activities in upper education institutions accredited in Romania," including after completing the studies. "There is another modality by which we encourage performance and we keep the young people with great results in the country," said the PM. Dancila also announced the opening of the 7th edition of the governmental internship programme, to offer 200 interns spots. "We have increased the monthly scholarship for the interns, from 1,000 up to 2,000 lei, gross amount," said Dancila. Justice Minister Tudorel Toader said on Wednesday he prepared an answer to every single question in the opposition motion against him. "Can you picture me showing up unprepared? The motion will be read out by its sponsors, after which I, the object to which the motion refers, come up with ready-made answers to each and all question. I was prepared to speak for an hour or two about each point in the censure motion, to provide answers. (...) I thought about the worst," Toader said at the Parliament House. The simple motion "Justice, a sure victim in the hands of Toader," sponsored by the opposition National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Save Romania Union (USR), to be debated by the Senate, was postponed on Wednesday for the second time because of the lack of a quorum. Toader was present and waited for the senators for about 15 minutes. Also, a meeting on Wednesday of the Senate's Standing Bureau did not take place again for the lack of a quorum, as on Monday. President Klaus Iohannis, addressing on Wednesday the opening of the European Entrepreneurship Forum at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace, said that he has constantly urged government authorities to support the investment dimension and highlighted the role of entrepreneurship in developing strategic partnerships. Read also: Rompetrol Rafinare moves to Industry 4.0, an investment estimated at 4mln US dollars The "Bucharest Declaration on entrepreneurship" was signed in the opening of the event. "In Romania, I have constantly urged government authorities to support the investment dimension and create the necessary conditions for the development of industry 4.0 value chains, the circular economy, or opportunities for SMEs within the defense industry strategic chains. We should neither forget the role of entrepreneurship in developing strategic partnerships, such as the relationship with the United States of America," Iohannis said. "I want to point out on this occasion Romania's expertise and potential in the development of digital services, cyber security included. The number of IT companies in our country has risen sharply in the last decade, start-ups virtually doubled in the last 5-6 years, and the relevant market is growing at annual rates of 15 percent," the President said. Iohannis went on to remark that most of them are "small companies, many start-ups, equally based on Romanian and foreign capital, outward oriented, as three quarters of their activity volumes are bound for business partners in the single market and the United States." "We must encourage taking on 'creative risks' and stimulate investment in research and innovation. It is imperative to mobilize insufficiently valued and exploited resources, such as the creative energies of the younger generation or women's entrepreneurship," he added. The President said that "entrepreneurship and the development of small and medium-sized enterprises are pillars for Europe's prosperity and global competitiveness." "On May 9 I will host in Sibiu the Summit on the future of Europe. On this occasion, together with the leaders of the member states, we will reaffirm that a prosperous and sustainable Union is a Union that gives priority to the European economy and stimulating competitive economic actors," Iohannis concluded. AGERPRES . Romania is on leading position in the European Union in terms of equality of opportunity between women and men, with a pay gap of 3.5pct, while the EU average stands at 15.2 pct, Labor and Social Justice Minister Marius Budai said on Wednesday before the informal meeting of the Labor and Social Policy Ministers of the EU states. Read also: Romanian companies in IT, encouraged to invest on US market "I thank the member states for having responded to this organization of the informal meeting of Labor ministers and, in particular, to participate and to debate such an important topic for us, the equality of opportunity between men and women in Romania, where we are proud to say that Romania is at the forefront, as the gender pay gap in Romania is 3.5pct and the EU average stands at 15.2pct," said Marius Budai. He recalled that the main topic of the meeting is equality of opportunity between women and men. "Romania, as President of the Council of the European Union, is organizing for two days the informal meeting of Employment and Social Policy Ministers from all EU countries. The main topic for today is equality of opportunity between women and men. It is a a priority of Romania's presidency of the Council of the European Union," added the Romanian Minister of Labor. Marius Budai mentioned in context that in three months the Ministry of Labor has reached all four vital directions for the citizens of the European Union, namely ensuring better and safer working conditions for all citizens of the European Union, ensuring and facilitating the workforce mobility across the European Union, equality of opportunity between women and men and the balance between work and the private lives of EU citizens. The Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU is organizing the informal meeting of employment and social policy ministers in Bucharest on Wednesday and Thursday. The event is chaired by the Romanian Minister of Labor and Social Justice, Marius Budai. AGERPRES . Viorica Dancila said at the beginning of the government meeting, arguing that according to the official data, the net nominal average wage in February was by 17.9 percent higher compared to the same period last year. "Economic growth can also be seen in the Romanians' pockets. Official data shows that in February this year the average net nominal wage was 17.9 percent higher compared to the same period last year, reaching 2.933 lei. These figures prove the effectiveness of the measures taken by the PSD-ALDE government to increase the population's incomes and stimulate the business environment. This shows us that we are on the right track and that we must continue to implement the governing program," said the PM. The head of the government added that 2019 will be the year of investments for Romania's development, and transport infrastructure is a key area in this regard. "We are making strides in key projects we have also discussed with representatives of the business milieu, with investments in the Craiova and Pitesti areas," Dancila said. The Romania of tomorrow will be an entrepreneurial Romania, the country of the courageous and ambitious people, the country of free initiative, democracy and rule of law, President Klaus Iohannis stated at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace on Wednesday, in the opening of the European Entrepreneurship Forum. Read also: Rompetrol Rafinare moves to Industry 4.0, an investment estimated at 4mln US dollars "For small and medium-sized entrepreneurs in particular, the digitization of the administration is imperative for facilitating interaction with authorities so that SMEs can experience the benefits of simplifying bureaucracy. This goal should undoubtedly be a key concern for Romanian authorities as well," the president pointed out. Klaus Iohannis expressed his conviction that the "Bucharest Entrepreneurship Statement", to be signed within the forum, "will be the basis for the continuation of a useful roadmap for the work of the future European Commission and of the European states in the direction of a pragmatic policy to strengthen the economic competitiveness of the Union." President Iohannis stressed that the SMEs sector is "one of the segments most vulnerable to change". "Governmental decision-makers - and I am referring here to the situation in Romania - have the duty to ensure a stable, predictable and reasonable legal framework," Iohannis said. The president also spoke about populist trends that harm economic policies. "The responsibility in economic policies stands to suffer from populist temptations and decisions that do not help at all to solve the real problems our societies face. The difficulties facing many of our citizens need serious and sustainable solutions that will generate prosperity in the long term," Klaus Iohannis said. AGERPRES . A music and dance show dedicated to the Romanian soul, especially created by choreographer Wim Vandekezbus, or the "Dacia" exhibitions representing the beginnings of the history of the Romanian people, and the "Brancusi" exhibition, a unique event dedicated to the artist and his studio, are among Romania's proposals for the Europalia International Arts Festival, to take place in Brussels in October 2019-January 2020. "For the first time, Romania is a guest country at this biannual festival, on which occasion we will capitalize on both our fascinating history and impressive artistic scene. (...) The programme of the festival became more clear after the first selection from the more than 250 events to take place in Belgium and surrounding states," informed the Romanian Cultural Institute in a release to AGERPRES on Wednesday. The beginnings of the Romanian people's history will be presented in the "Dacia" exhibition (October 19 2019 - April 26 2020), with unique pieces, which also include some gold and silver treasures never seen before in the Belgian cultural space, which exhibition proposes a time travel and tells the story of the indigenous population and also of some defining events in the history of the Romanian people, such as the Roman conquests. Europalia will also bring Brancusi in Brussels for the first time this autumn (October 2, 2019 - January 12, 2020), the exhibition focusing on both directions of the artist's work (sculpture and photography). "This will be a unique event dedicated to the artist and his studio, which was visited by the famous artists of that time - Amadeo Modigliani, Fernand Leger, Man Ray. The project includes important works from museums and private collections around the world, including the "Sleeping Muse," "The Kiss" or "Leda." Besides Brancusi's iconic sculptures, extraordinary pictures and documents, there will also be exhibited works of his contemporaries, like Marcel Duchamp, Medardo Rosso or Auguste Rodin," specified ICR. For the Brancusi exhibition, the Europalia Festival will also collaborate with the ART BASICS for CHILDREN (ABC) centre in Brussels, which will offer a unique experience to visitors, as the ABC specialists will provide guided tours of the Brancusi exhibition to school groups, children and their parents. Romania's presence at the Festival is ensured by the Romanian Cultural Institute, in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and National Identity, the General Secretariat of the Government. As one of the most important international arts festivals in the world, Europalia is believed to be the most ample cultural manifestation in Belgium. The Festival is organised once every two years, under the patronage of the Royal House of Belgium, in Belgium and the neighbouring countries - France, The Netherlands and Germany or UK. The first edition of the International Arts Festival Europalia, which had a multi-discipline nature - visual arts, shows, music, film, literature, cultural education - took place in 1969. The Business Environment, Trade and Entrepreneurship Ministry (MMACA) will organize in June an economic mission in IT in San Francisco, on the sidelines of the SelectUSA Investment Summit, the Secretary of State Paula Pirvanescu announced at an event organized on Tuesday at the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIR), according to a press release of the MMACA sent to AGERPRES. Read also: Bucharest hosting 42nd meeting of EU civil protection directors-general "We want to capitalize on Romania's presence at SelectUSA this year too, and IT&C is one of the most competitive areas of the Romanian economy, and also highly in demand by business environment," the MMACA official told the participants in the meeting. According to the source, the SelectUSA Investment Summit will be held from June 10 to 12, 2019, in Washington DC, and it is the most important annual investment event in the US. The presence of Romania's delegation at SelectUSA was also discussed by Secretary of State Paula Pirvanescu during a meeting with Blake Murray, International Trade Specialist in the US Department of Commerce. The initiative represents "a follow-up of the Romanian participation" at the 2018 edition of the event, when the delegation of Romanian business people was the largest in Europe and the fifth largest in the world in size. "This mission will give participants the opportunity to explore foreign markets, to start successful partnerships with American companies and to facilitate the entry of Romanian products into new markets," the secretary of state in MMACA underlined at the event organized by CCIR in partnership with the Commercial Service of the US Embassy in Bucharest and Amcham Romania. AGERPRES . The President of the Senate, Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, on a visit to Washington, had a meeting with US Vice President Mike Pence, ex-officio President of the US Senate, and with the US Secretary of State, retired Lt. General Keith Kellogg, his national security advisor, a press release sent to AGERPRES on Wednesday reads. Read also: Senate Chairman Tariceanu meets Senator Ted Cruz in Washington, advocates boosting bilateral contacts According to the source, Calin Popescu-Tariceanu invited Mike Pence to visit Romania "to determine the strength of the transatlantic relationship as far as Romania is concerned and to gather information first-hand, in a country in the first line of the eastern flank of NATO, on the realities and the timeliness of the topics discussed." "The high Romanian dignitary has reaffirmed the importance of deepening the cooperation framework offered by the Romania-US Strategic Partnership which, in his view, is based on elements that go beyond the temporal aspects of the succession of the two states' political governments. He conveyed that the value of the Strategic partnership between Bucharest and Washington has been prominently demonstrated in the 22 years since its launch, notably through its joint commitment to a set of political and cultural values that continue to determine visionary decisions in the two capitals for the benefit of the citizens' prosperity and security," the release specifies. The Senate President also emphasized the important role that Romania has in adapting and implementing the defensive and deterrence measures on NATO's eastern flank and advocated for the diversification of the Romania-US political dialogue and the increase of US economic and strategic participation on the territory of Romania, both through economic projects and by the establishment of a permanent military presence. According to the cited source, Tariceanu stressed the importance of the immediate launch of US investments in the offshore energy sector in Romania's exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea, underlining the contribution that these resources will have to the energy security of Romania and other economies in the vicinity area, pursuing, as a strategic objective, the diversification of suppliers and transport routes. Regional issues such as Russian aggression in the Black Sea Basin, the importance for the future EU-US relations of Britain's withdrawal from the Treaty of Lisbon and the new tones acquired by the Romania-US Strategic Partnership have been reviewed in the new post-Brexit context, the press release further shows. AGERPRES . The Ministry of Justice on Wednesday published preliminary data indicating that over 1,535,000 voters equivalent to 36.1 of all eligible voters cast their vote during the early voting period between 3 and 9 April. WELL OVER A THIRD of Finnish voters voted in advance of the parliamentary elections held in Finland on Sunday, 14 April. The share represents a healthy increase from the parliamentary elections of 2015, when 32.3 per cent of voters took advantage of the early voting period. Early voting has ended, 36 per cent have voted. Were headed into the busiest parliamentary elections of the 2000s. Id consider it likely the voter turnout rises to as high as over 72 per cent, tweeted Kimmo Gronlund, a professor of political science at Abo Akademi University in Turku. Jukka Manninen, the research director at Ellun Kanat, similarly pointed out that the early voting period was 12.4 per cent busier than in the previous parliamentary elections. The number of advance votes could even rise marginally once the preliminary data has been reviewed, according to him. Manninen is not as optimistic about the total turnout as Gronlund, however. He reminded that an up-tick in the number of advance votes may not necessarily augur an up-tick in the total turnout, as the share of advance votes has increase steadily election after election. My guess for the total turnout is still 2.94 million (69.1%), he stated on Twitter. In Helsinki, the share of voters who voted in advance jumped from 30.5 per cent in 2015 to 35 per cent possibly due to the recent surge in popular support for the Finns Party and the candidacy of its chairperson, Jussi Halla-aho, according to Manninen. If you want to speculate, yes. The spike and surge in Helsinki may be partly about Halla-ahos followers heading to polling stations, he said. Official data on voter turnout will become available after all votes have been recounted on 17 April. Aleksi Teivainen HT Source: Uusi Suomi Only a small share of the 2,059 respondents, however, expressed their support for a ruling coalition including both the National Coalition and Social Democrats. THE NATIONAL COALITION and Social Democrats are the public favourites to lead the next government of Finland, indicates a survey conducted earlier this year by the Finnish Business and Policy Forum (EVA). The respondents were asked to nominate their favourite party to lead the next government and choose any number of coalition partners for it. EVA on Tuesday revealed that there appear to be two especially popular options for the composition of the next government: a coalition between left-wing and green parties, and one between right-wing parties. Supporters of the Social Democrats, it said, would prefer to form a ruling coalition with the Left Alliance (68%) and the Green League (64%). The Centre (56%) and the Swedish Peoples Party (50%), meanwhile, were the most popular coalition partners among supporters of the National Coalition. The Social Democratic Party was chosen as a coalition partner by no more than 16 per cent of supporters of the National Coalition, which in turn was chosen by no more than 20 per cent of supporters of the Social Democrats. Supporters of the Green League and Left Alliance, meanwhile, would prefer to form a coalition with the Social Democrats. The results show Finns would prefer to assemble a more ideologically cohesive ruling bloc either a right-wing or red-green government rather than a traditional coalition government, analysed Sami Metelinen, the managing editor at EVA. Aleksi Teivainen HT Source: Uusi Suomi Rebuking Zakaria and Goading Trump the Right Way Trump should be rightfully criticized for contradicting the not as aggressive foreign policy (when compared to the neocons and neolibs) which he supported during his presidential campaign. Fareed Zakarias comments in a March 28 Washington Post article and like-minded monologue on his CNN show GPS of March 31, drew criticism from Democratic Party Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (who is a 2020 US presidential candidate), Caitlan Johnstone and The Duran. Some additional thoughts on this matter come to mind. In line with Johnstone, Gabbard and The Duran, its not hyperbole to characterize Zakaria as carrying on like a geopolitical shock jock, for goading US President Donald Trump to confront Russia over Venezuela. That take from Zakaria concurs with CNNs geopolitically correct establishment approach over a balanced presentation. A recent CNN segment on Russias Arctic presence serves as one of numerous examples. The image is given of an aggressive Russia in an area where the US is comparatively limited. Never mind noting the overall greater global degree of US military prowess to Russia, with an acknowledgement that the Arctic is (on the whole) geographically more relevant to Russia than the US. Trump should be rightfully criticized for contradicting the not as aggressive foreign policy (when compared to the neocons and neolibs) which he supported during his presidential campaign. That position has been advocated by Gabbard and Republican Party Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. Venezuela is a problematical situation, involving an internationally recognized government and opposition with each having limited support. Omitting some key points, Zakaria exaggerates the Russian military support to the Venezuelan government, while portraying Russian President Vladimir Putin as a troublemaker, seeking to disrupt US interests. Therere several related points which (put mildly) second guess this spin. The US government has been militarily propping up the anti-Russian leaning Kiev regime with aid and advisers. Ukraine borders Russia. Venezuela doesnt border the US. If anything, the record shows that Putin has sought better relations with the US, only to face obstacles from the latter. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Russia ranks fourth in military spending behind the US, China and Saudi Arabia. In that category, SIPRI notes that the US spends more on its armed forces than the next seven highest spending countries combined as America faces challenges with its healthcare, infrastructure, environment and schools. Zakaria depicts Syria as another country where Russia (as suggested by Zakaria) has pretty much had its way with the US. On the flipside, some in Russia and elsewhere have said that the Russian government has been somewhat passive towards US action in Syria, against the preference of the internationally recognized Syrian government. With Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya in mind, Venezuela and Syria concern murky situations, which could get worse via adventurist regime change pursuits. On the matter of using military force abroad, the Russian government didnt seek the regime change route in the 2008 war in the Caucasus (initiated when Georgian forces attacked Russian military personnel and civilians in South Ossetia), as well as Crimeas 2014 reunification with Russia (following the coup against Ukraines democratically elected president) and the civil war in Donbass (whose rebel fighters are overwhelmingly from the territory of the former Ukrainian SSR). Zakaria is perfectly aware of these points (at least most of them). He exhibits a kind of Jekyll and Hyde approach, which can serve to cover all angles, while at the same time making him look (upon close scrutiny) as being a bit disingenuous. His CNN GPS show is top heavy with the likes of Bret Stephens, Tom Friedman, Richard Haas, Jane Harmon and Anne Marie Slaughter. The counter to such views dont get anywhere near as much air time on GPS and other CNN shows. Consider a March 31 aired GPS segment (taped on March 29) Zakaria did with Russian analyst Andrey Kortunov, who explained Russias relationship with Venezuela along the lines of whats noted in this essay. In this particular exchange, Zakaria doesnt offer any disagreement to what Kortunov said. As if that segment never existed, Zakaria, in his high profile GPS monologue and Washington Post article, resorts to the simplistic rant of a xenophobic, big power chauvinist. Just the kind of journalism typically not getting called out within US mass media. As of this writing, Fox News host Tucker Carlson hasnt responded to Zakaria goading Trump to confront Russia. Concerning Russia related issues, Carlson remains the most even handed among his 24/7 US cable TV news peers. On the Fox Business Network (a Fox News affiliate) Lou Dobbs April 5 segment with Jack Keane (at about the 26:35 mark of this video) has the facile inaccuracies which are frequently presented on CNN and MSNBC. The denuclearization negotiations are deadlocked, but not stalemated, with North Korea admitting that its nuclear weapons program is more important than anything else. The U.S. refused the North Korean offer of gradual denuclearization because North Korea has made it clear by its past behavior that gradual means we will get what we can from you and ultimately give you nothing. North Korea insists they were misunderstood in the past but the gradual scam is well documented and has been successful numerous times. The North Korean strategy is now to survive the debilitating impact of the sanctions while assembling a coalition of allies that can force the Americans to back off and accept a gradual scam and learn to live with a nuclear North Korea. To pull this off North Korea has to persuade South Korea and/or China to pressure the United States to surrender. North Korea has some supporters for their cause in South Korea, China and even the United States. Russia, which is waging an undeclared war against the United States, is willing to help as long as it is not too risky. Russia has Cyber War and Information War capabilities that are useful in this area. There are factions in South Korea, China and the United States who see some benefit in North Korea winning this struggle with the United States. North Korea has no real allies, not unless you count Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and maybe one or two African dictatorships. North Korea knows that the sanctions, and the current policies of their government, are making life difficult for most North Koreans. Hunger is more common rural areas (and some cities) and starvation deaths are occurring, if not always reported. This suffering has its greatest impact on South Korea but much less so in the United States and China. As long as China does not abandon the American sanctions and allow rampant smuggling activities with North Korea, the North Koreans are facing catastrophic privation. This would not be unique. A massive economic collapse in the 1990s after the Soviet Union collapsed and the Russian subsidies ended led to ten percent of North Koreans starving to death. China could have intervened but was not in a rush. China always saw North Korea as a Russian creation (which it was) and was still angry at Russia for persuading/coercing China to intervene in Korea when the 1950 Russian-ordered North Korean invasion of South Korea failed. Communist China was still in the midst of consolidating its victory and was really in no shape for another war, especially one against an official UN coalition led by the United States. China went in, lost half a million dead and much else besides and got little in the way of compensation from the Russians. The Chinese do not forget stuff like this. China does not want a nuclear North Korea and the North Korean leader has apparently been told this several times and politely ignored their patron. So China has joined the sanction alliance, as have South Korea and the Americans. These three nations, with the help of some of their allies (like Japan) are actively going after the North Korean efforts to raise money and smuggle in essential items. This is a shadow war that involves a lot of Cyber War (hacking banking systems to steal money via the international bank transfer system). North Korea also has an extensive network of criminal organizations that will, for a fee, assist in procuring and smuggling needed goods. The best example of this is the program whereby small North Korean tankers transfer refined products at sea and then deliver it to North Korea. This is a war that, so far, North Korea is slowly losing and time is not on their side. The current American leader is up for reelection in 2020 and North Korea holds out some hope that a new president might be elected that is more amenable to surrender. China does not have elections and the current leader has lifetime tenure. The current Chinese leader is not pleased with North Korea. South Korea is a democracy but so far a majority of the voters are more afraid of a nuclear North Korea than they are of seeing another round of mass suffering and starvation up there. This struggle wont go on forever because the North Korean economic and political (growing public anger and active resistance) situation is threatening the Kim dynasty hold on power. For the Kim family, this is a matter of victory or death, at least so far. The current situation is more perilous because the last two Kim rulers of North Korea thought they could take advantage of China and get away with it. That eventually turned Chinese popular opinion against North Korea. Shortly thereafter Chinese leaders agreed with that popular opinion, especially when it became clear that North Korea was abusing Chinese hospitality (allowing North Korean intelligence and Cyber War operatives to work in China). The North Korean agents were doing things they were told they should not do. Same with the Cyber War hackers who, it turned out, would sometimes go after Chinese targets. There were a growing number of these incidents of misbehavior. Chinese and their leaders agreed that a lesson must be administered for this rude behavior. When you are a small neighbor of China, the first rule of diplomacy is the little guy does not play China without eventually discovering that such bad behavior ultimately has disastrous consequences for the little guy. In this case, China also benefits from having the Americans, angry at being taken advantage of several times, willing to do most of the work required to discipline the ill-mannered North Korean leader. Revolting Behavior The increasing corruption among government officials has reached the point where the victims (most North Koreans with any cash) are becoming more reckless and public with their anger over the constant bribe requests from police and local officials. Until the last year growing anti-government anger and the visible dissent, it produced was still low level. No more. A growing number of North Koreans are becoming very public about how they feel. Anger and frustration about the growing shortages and corruption among local officials is the cause. The public anger, which police usually back away from rather than crack down hard and risk escalation, continues to be local but is more frequent and fearless. As yet there has been no organized opposition to the government. But the way these things work it is obvious that a revolution is in its early stages and these growing economic problems are fueling it. Police, soldiers and government officials are also feeling the shortages and attempting to solve that with the growing use of fines for the smallest infraction (real or imaginary). These fines are often imposed on people who are visibly thin from lack of food. That sort of we have nothing to lose anger has started revolutions. And when many of the hungry people are soldiers, and nearly all the male civilians are either former soldiers are soon to be conscripted, you have a very dangerous situation. The angry and hungry people are largely present outside the cities. The capital, Pyongyang, was always better fed and regularly supplied with electricity. Tourists and most other foreign visitors are kept away from areas where the hunger and privation is most obvious. In some rural areas, the security forces are visibly afraid of the growing public anger. Despite the efforts to hide the problem, there are still Chinese who do business in rural areas and regularly chat with a wide variety of North Koreans. So they know and pass that on when they return to China. Same with North Koreans who travel to China on business. Despite being warned to not talk about such embarrassing information, enough of these visitors do provide a regular and reliable stream of accurate information about what is actually going on inside North Korea. Since the 1990s Western intel organizations willing to pay can reliably verify details about many things in North Korea. Naturally, a number of Chinese entrepreneurs in northeast China have made a business of this. Although often a sideline, it is apparently lucrative enough to survive crackdowns by Chinese and North Korea officials. This information broker network can even take requests for specific information but it often takes a lot of time, and money, to responses out of North Korea. This is one reason why North Korea has been cracking down on people smugglers and information brokers moving people, data and other items back and forth across the China/North Korea border. So far the North Korean crackdown has caused smuggler fees and delivery times to go up. As with the ancient Great Wall of China, it does not stop unwelcome invaders, it just slows them down. Meanwhile, a senior defector can provide valuable updates on loyalty and effectiveness among the senior leadership in North Korea. This sort of information is crucial at a time like this, with growing signs of popular resistance to the Kim dictatorship and declining discipline among the few percent of North Koreans necessary to keep the Kim government going. The fact that more senior people are defecting is significant by itself. China has its own intel sources inside North Korea which are considered superior to what South Korea and the United States have. New senior defectors provide updates on what the Chinese situation is within North Korea. China will occasionally trade info with the Americans and South Koreans. After all, what goes on in North Korea is something of a mutual problem for the U.S., South Korea, China and Japan. Diplomats Reeducated In early 2019 it became widely known that Jo Song Gil, the acting North Korean ambassador to Italy, was officially missing, along with his wife. The two of them disappeared in early November 2018. All Italian officials could say was that the couple had probably arranged asylum with a Western country and were now under the protection of that country. It turned out to be Italy. The Italian government was protecting Jo until he could move to the United States, where he had applied for asylum. Such defections are usually kept very secret until the high-level defector has been debriefed and his ultimate refuge arranged. The last North Korean diplomat defection was in 2016 when one in Britain did so. After that North Korea increased security measures to prevent such defections and life for North Korean diplomats became more difficult. The new rules involved summoning most senior diplomats back to North Korea for consultations. This largely consists of more thorough investigations into their loyalty and that of their families. This is being done in secluded areas and the diplomats and their families are isolated until they have been cleared, which most of them appear to have. Not all of these diplomats have been sent back to their overseas posts yet. The investigations/interrogations began in early February and apparently take up to three months to complete. So a lot more results of these investigations should be known soon. It has been revealed that children of diplomats will no longer be allowed to accompany their parents overseas. April 8, 2019: In northern North Korea (Chagang Province), the new bridge between Jian in North Korea and Manpo in China has finally opened. The bridge was completed in 2016 but China delayed opening it because of the increased sanctions on North Korea. Now the bridge is opened, even though there is little traffic. This is a gesture to North Korea that will not help them economically but will remind them of how valuable good relations with China are. There are other problem bridges across the Yalu River. During late 2017 the main bridge (in northwest North Korea) connecting with the Chinese city of Dandong was closed temporarily for repairs. This Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge crosses the Yalu River and until recent sanctions carried about 70 percent of the North Korean imports and exports. The bridge was built by the Japanese and completed in 1943. It was heavily damaged a decade later during the Korean War and repairs were made. Since the 1980s repairs have been less frequent and thorough. A 2010 project to build a new bridge are stalled because of corruption and mismanagement, mainly by the North Koreans. In any event, Chinese exports to North Korea are down over 60 percent (compared to 2016) by 2017 and set to decline even more. April 5, 2019: American and South Korean intel agencies agree that the work underway on North Korean missile launch facilities is mainly to provide something that could be traded away in future negotiations. There is no supporting work to provide new long-range missiles to launch and North Korea has used this make something we can trade before. April 4, 2019: The ongoing crackdown on North Korean oil smuggling revealed that China has apparently stopped sending refined (into diesel and other fuels) oil to North Korea in 2017 and now North Korea has to smuggle in refined products while trying to refine the legal (per the sanctions) oil China still sells to North Korea. April 2, 2019: With the official North Korean announcement that peace negotiations failed and no economic relief was in sight, the government closed many factories that had been officially open but increasingly crippled by lack of raw materials or components with which to produce anything. This included a number of showcase factories in and around the well fed and lit national capital. March 31, 2019: North Koreans are being told that the recent (February 28) peace talks in Vietnam between North Korean and American leaders ended abruptly when the American told the North Koreas that the only acceptable deal was complete and verifiable denuclearization in return for the lifting of sanctions and sending foreign aid. This was not news to most North Koreans but now their government has made it official that North Korean policy puts nuclear weapons development before everything else. The government did not explain how the nukes are going to be used to solve the food, energy and many other shortages. Their portly leader Kim Jong Un obviously suffers no such shortages but, for the moment, he is the boss. And the boss doesnt want you to leave. That explains the recent addition to the new border fence and barbed wire, Broken glass has been collected and scattered under the barbed wire to make it even more difficult (or a least more painful) to get across the border and escape. March 30, 2019: In South Korea, a recent opinion poll showed that half of South Korean adults believed that the Americans would not get North Korea to surrender their nuclear weapons and allow it to be verified. Nearly 46 percent thought the Americans would eventually agree to a more customary gradual deal. The American leader insists that gradual deals are always used by North Korea to grab some goodies and never deliver. A month earlier only 38 percent believed the Americans would never get their denuclearize and verify demands met. These polls also reflect the South Korean tendency to play down North Korean bad behavior. After all, the northerners are fellow Koreans and are suffering. South Koreans also feel guilty because as they found out how much it would cost to rebuild the north if the country were reunited as a democracy, there was less enthusiasm for unification in the south. But there was a growth in guilt over it. March 28, 2019: China has apparently completed the security upgrades to its 1,700 kilometer long border with North Korea. The entire border is now covered by a fence. North Korea responded by upgrading its border barriers and now all of the North Korean side is covered by some kind of barrier. One thing both China and North Korea installed along their border were video cameras. The entire border is now covered by two sets of vidcams. All this is more of a hassle for North Koreans than Chinese. That is because the Chinese can more easily get past the barrier to the river bank (to fish, swim, or whatever) than can their North Korean counterparts. The dual camera systems also make it more difficult for North Koreas to get out and for smugglers from both sides to operate. March 24, 2019: In North Korea, the government ordered an investigation into the extent of bribery in determining which conscripts would serve in high-security facilities. This is considered a prime assignment because these troops are well taken care of and the work is not dangerous. But it was noticed that a growing number of new troops were not the most loyal and reliable (as the standards put it) but those with parents able to pay a large enough bribe to local officials who grade the recruits and thus determine what kind of military assignment they will receive. March 23, 2019: North Korea announced a new rewards program for citizens who provide information about the misbehavior of others. This was mainly about North Koreans who use illegal foreign phones to contact people or web sites outside North Korea. Informers can get up to $7 per useful tip. March 22, 2019: Commercial satellite photos have revealed a large number of ship or submarine components accumulating at the northeastern North Korea Sinpo shipyard. These components have arrived in the last few months. Back in mid-2018 aerial and satellite photos indicated that the Sinpo shipyard was experiencing some increased activity. Sinpo is where a North Korean SSB (diesel-electric submarine carrying ballistic missiles) is being built. This was confirmed in early 2015 when aerial photos clearly (despite a camouflage net) showed an SSB under construction. Based on what was known in 2015 it appeared that North Korea could have an operational SSB (carrying reliable missiles) by 2018 if they completed and successfully test the new 3,000 ton SSB under construction as well as complete development of the SLBM. But construction activity in Sinpo declined after 2016, apparently due to lack of resources. The current increase in activity indicates a major effort to complete the SSB soon. March 21, 2019: North Korea and South Korea are engaging in low-level diplomatic combat because of the growing sanctions. North Korea recently pulled out of the joint liaison office. This was a mechanism that made it easier for the two Koreas to deal with border incidents. What North Korea is really angry about is the energetic effort being made against their oil smuggling operations. Japanese, American and NATO warships and aircraft are operating more patrols and this year have documented (with pictures) over a hundred incidents of North Korea tankers receiving oil at sea from Chinese tankers. The U.S. finds out who owns the Chinese tankers and imposes sanctions on the companies and individuals involved. This is embarrassing for China and often a major financial hit for the Chinese shipping firms. March 15, 2019: The Free Joseon movement (until March 1 the CCD, or Cheollima Civil Defense group) admitted it was behind a February 22 raid on the North Korea embassy in Spain, which resulted in many documents and hard drives being taken. Free Joseon consists of Koreans living outside of North Korea who call for a free and united Korea and also seek to assist North Koreans trying to escape. Little is known about who the Free Joseon members are and the group has only been around for about two years. Free Joseon also took credit for a March 11 incident in Malaysia where Free Joseon wrote anti-North Korean government slogans on the outer wall of the North Korean embassy. North Korea later claimed that Free Joseon was created by the CIA and worked with the American FBI as well. Whatever the case Free Joseon personnel appear Korean and some are definitely North Korean. The February raid apparently obtained some useful documents, some of which were passed on to the Americans (who can do more with the documents than the Free Joseon crew). Free Joseon is the name these Korean activists want to call North Korea once it has been freed of the Kim dictatorship. March 13, 2019: One very visible after effect of the failed U.S./North Korean peace talks in Vietnam was China ordering North Koreans visiting China on a visa to stay no longer than a week. These visitors could return to North Korea and apply for another visa, which they might or might not get and it would allow for another stay of no more than a week. This initially caused a notable increase in the number of North Koreas returning home and many North Korea businesses in China, especially restaurants and other public facilities, shut down. Many of the returning North Koreans came laden with Chinese goods they had recently purchased. These returnees appeared to believe that long-term visas would not be available for a long time. In response, North Korea has been sending more workers into China for short work visits. This is not as profitable for North Korea as longer work visits but the North Koreans take the hit and keep moving. Both China and Russia have sent most of their North Korean workers home but not banned them entirely. China and Russia revealed that in 2018 alone they had sent over 60 percent of the 80,000 North Korean workers they employed home rather than allow them to renew their contracts. BRUSSELS, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met here Tuesday with High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini on the sidelines of the China-EU leaders' meeting. Wang said the high-level strategic dialogue held between him and Mogherini not long ago had made necessary preparation for the China-EU leaders' meeting. With concerted efforts, China and the EU have reached agreement on their joint statement issued Tuesday, he added. The statement, wide-ranging and fruitful, represents the high level of the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, the various consensus they have accumulated, the solidarity and cooperation between the two sides as well as the spirit of mutual benefits and win-win, he said. "We have designed the road map for future China-EU relations and clarified the development direction," Wang said. Expecting a successful EU-China leaders' meeting, Mogherini expressed appreciation for the work both teams had done for the joint statement. She said the EU is ready to work with China for further development of their ties. The two sides also had in-depth exchange of views on international and regional issues of common concern including Afghanistan, Venezuela, and the Korean Peninsula. [ Editor: Zhang Zhou ] Bay of Plenty You will be operating the Roller and also required to help out the team hands on. You will be working around Tauranga, for... View or Apply on GoodWork.co.nz The Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic have notched up a critical 53-42 victory over the Northern Stars at Pulman Arena on Monday night. Shocked by their 10-goal loss to the Northern Mystics the week before, the Magic came out dominant at both ends of the court, and never really relinquished control. Among the standouts for the Magic were circle defenders Kelly Jury and Casey Kopua with nine intercepts between them and shooters Kelsey McPhee and Monica Falkner celebrating her 23rd birthday with an almost perfect game, 15 from 16. It was another rough start for the Stars, for a second week in a row, from which they never recovered. It was the intense defence of Kopua and Jury the match MVP which put them under immediate pressure, and pushed the Magic out to an early 6-2 lead. The Stars halved the deficit, but with Stars shooters Maia Wilson and Ellen Halpenny and their feeders rattled, the Magic extended to five ahead and just kept on going. In contrast, McPhee and Falkner were in sparkling from, missing only one between them in the first quarter to lead 17-7 at the break. The Stars needed change, so brought on Storm Purvis at goal keep and Charlee Hodges at goal attack. They scored the next four goals, with the experienced Temepara Bailey, Kayla Cullen and Leana de Bruin ratcheting up the pace. But the Magic werent to be out-done, their defence contesting every pass, and Jury picking up two crunch intercepts to widen the gap once more. While de Bruin and Purvis stole a lot of ball from the Magic, it wasnt converted by their shooters and they found themselves lagging behind 26-17 at halftime. Still looking for more impetus, Stars coach Kiri Wills moved Bailey to wing attack, with Holly Fowler filling the centre role, and it appeared to pay off, with the Stars benefitting from Baileys vision into the circle. But McPhee and Falkner, fed smartly by Ariana Cable-Dixon, were unrelenting in the Magic shooting circle and kept the distance at double figures. In fact, the Magic looking relaxed and in control matched away with the quarter, 16-10, to lead 42-27 going into the final spell. With Cullen moving back into goal defence to try to quell Falkner, and while they managed to peg back a few more goals through the doggedness of Hodges, the Magic had already bolted. McPhee ended the game with a more than impressive 38 from 45. Official Results: Northern Stars: 42 Splice Construction Magic: 53 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 Farm Bureau member Laura Narjes tells Sidney school students about agriculture and how it affects their lives. Organization volunteers spoke to students across the county during the week. Members of the Cheyenne County Farm Bureau met with more than 380 students during the week of March 18-22 for an Ag in the Classroom program. The goal was to meet with as many PreK-2nd grade students in Cheyenne County (Sidney, Leyton, Potter-Dix) to discuss dairy, milk, and the agriculture industry. As part of the program, students were read a book called "Milk Comes From a Cow" by Dan Yunk, then asked questions related to cows or farms. The students also were able to discuss what their favorite flavors of milk are. The program closed with Farm Bureau members giving each of the student... A North Country man has admitted to possessing a large cache of weapons, including a machine gun, to further his methamphetamine trafficking operation. Victor Ehlers, 35, of Lyons Falls, pleaded guilty in federal court last week to having a machine gun, nine rifles, a revolver and shotgun. He admitted he had the guns because he was selling meth. State police uncovered the distribution ring and the weapons last year after a two-month investigation. Ehlers was the only person charged in federal court. Some of the guns in his possession were not registered. Because of a prior felony conviction, Ehlers was not allowed to have the guns. Ehlers was previously convicted of selling drugs. In this case, prosecutors said Ehlers sold between 500 milligrams and one gram of methamphetamine. Prosecutors said Ehlers was funding his own meth use, and used the drug nearly every day. Ehlers faces life in prison for the charges. Prosecutors agreed to recommend leniency at Ehlers sentence because he cooperated with investigators and accepted responsibility for his crimes. He is due back in court to be sentenced in August. Public Affairs Reporter Julie McMahon covers courts, government, education and other issues affecting taxpayers. She can be reached anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-412-1992 PHARSALIA, N.Y. -- A town supervisor in Chenango County is accused of stealing more than $123,000 from the town he was elected to run, according to New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. Pharsalia Town Supervisor Dennis O. Brown, 70, faces grand larceny and other charges, according to DiNapoli. Brown, of South Plymouth, is accused of using town money to pay credit card bills and pad his salary an additional $20,000 a year, DiNapoli said. Brown allegedly used the towns credit card to spend at least $123,273 to fund his personal lifestyle, including vacations in Myrtle Beach and New York City, fees for PayPal, Amazon and iTunes, and designer handbags, liquor and cooking classes. The investigation also revealed that Brown allegedly used town money to pay for his home telephone, internet and electric bills. Since 2010, Mr. Brown allegedly cheated his neighbors out of over a hundred thousand dollars by using public funds for his pleasure and daily expenses, DiNapoli said in a news release. Taxpayers cannot tolerate the theft of public monies and deserve better from their public officials." The comptrollers inquiry into Pharsalia began with an audit in 2018, which led to the criminal investigation. Brown was charged with second-degree grand larceny, scheme to defraud, defrauding the government, corrupting the government and public corruption, DiNapoli said. On April 3, 1994, Heidi Allen was kidnapped from a gas station in New Haven, N.Y. Twenty-five years later, the mystery of what happened to her continues. Ryan Zalduondo, a senior at SUNY Oswego, was driving to the North Country in December 2017 to do an assignment for the student newspaper. He passed the gas station in New Haven where Heidi Allen was last seen. His classmate, a peer who grew up in the area, told him the story of Allen and her disappearance as they drove along. Zalduondo, born three years after Allen was kidnapped, was surprised people were still talking about this story so many years later. A fan of true crime story podcasts, Zalduondo had the idea to dig more into the story of Allens kidnapping. In November of 2018, he began reaching out to sources and WRVO and writing the podcast episodes. There will be four episodes in total. I got lucky to get in touch with Lisa Peebles, Gary Thibodeaus lawyer. She and former syracuse.com reporter John OBrien set me up with a ton of information they had from all the court processes. From that I started to reach out to more people and got more interviews, Zalduondo said. Zalduondo said he was able to interview most of the central figures in the case of the kidnapping of Heidi Allen. While his research hasnt uncovered any new information, his goal was to put the story timeline together from beginning to end in a way he hadnt seen before. Every day I would uncover something that was surprising and unbelievable, Zalduondo said. Zalduondo said the most surprising part of making this podcast was discovering that the process wasnt favorable to anyone involved. Mark Lavonier, producer at WRVO, said the process has been interesting from a production stand-point. Having grown up in the area, Lavonier remembered when this happened. To have this story put together in a really concise way as a listener to the content has been super fascinating and really sad too, Lavonier said. Zalduondo went out into the field and did most of the interviews independently, but Lavonier helped with one interview in particular: talking with Allens sister, Lisa Buske. It was an intense time based on the nature of the story and what she had to say, depicting what she has been through, Lavonier said. As someone who had a peripheral knowledge of this story, Lavonier said he was still surprised at listening to the details of this case. Its information that has been in the public eye, but Lavonier was not aware of it until now. Unlike some other crime podcasts, Zalduondo is not trying to solve or prove the case with his research and retelling of the story. When Ryan came to us, he told us he wasnt trying to solve anything. He is doing it in the public radio style by simply laying out the facts, Lavonier said. Episodes of The Heidi Allen Case: Central New Yorks Most Enduring Mystery will be released every Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. on WRVO for the next three weeks. Episode one: The Disappearance and Episode two: The Trials are ready for listening. You can listen online, on any WRVO or NPR app, and on iTunes. UTICA, N.Y. -- A 49-year-old Oneida County man said winning $5 million on a New York Lottery scratch-off ticket is a chance to change his life. Its a dream come true," said Michael Shepard, of Utica. Shepard won the top prize on the 100X the Cash scratch-off ticket, which he purchased at the Price Chopper on Genesee Street. The ticket costs $20. New York Lotterys Yolanda Vega presented Shepard with a ceremonial check this morning at the Utica grocery store. Shepard purchased his jackpot winning ticket during a routine stop. I stop every Friday to cash my paycheck, Shepard said in a news release. While I was there I bought the ticket out of the vending machine. Shepard said it didnt immediately sink in at first that he won. I think my friends were more excited than I was," he said. Shepard said he called his financial adviser for advice before taking the ticket to the lottery office to claim the prize. The $5 million prize will be paid in a one-time lump sum payment. Shepard will receive a net check totaling $3,359,000 after required withholdings, according to the lottery. Shepard said he plans to listen to his investment adviser and be smart with his newfound riches, but he does have plans for some of the money. I do plan to take a vacation somewhere warm in the near future, he said. According to the latest game report from the New York State Lottery, the 100X the Cash scratch-off ticket still has four unclaimed top prize tickets. There are also 34 unclaimed second-prize tickets worth $25,000 each. HOUSTON -- Astronaut Jeanette Epps, a Syracuse native, was guiding two astronauts at the International Space Station through a spacewalk from NASAs mission control in Houston when there was a problem, according to a report. A panel on the space station would not open, so Epps suggested using a pry bar, Space.com reported. Her suggestion worked, and despite the stubborn panel the spacewalking mission was successfully completed. Epps, a Corcoran High School and Le Moyne College graduate, was supposed to go to the International Space Station as part of the Expedition 56/57 crew. She would have been the first African-American to live at the station. Fourteen African-Americans have gone to space and several have visited the station without staying. Epps was supposed to live there for about six months in 2018. Epps, an aerospace engineer and former CIA analyst, joined the astronaut corps in 2009. NASA announced in January 2018 that Epps was removed from the crew, sparking speculation about why. NASA did not give a reason for her removal. When she was pulled from the mission, Epps said everyone thought it was for health reasons, but that wasnt the case, she said in October 2018. Regardless of why, Epps said it was really a bad thing that happened. On Monday, Epps was in Houston guiding two spacewalking astronauts step-by-step through a mission to complete several repairs and upgrade tasks on the space station when Internet cable work caused some problems, Space.com reported. NASA astronaut Anne McClain and Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques had to remove a micrometeroid orbital debris shield to access some cabling to upgrade connectivity for experiments on the space station, the website reported. One of the fasteners on the shield refused to loosen and eventually Epps suggested that Saint-Jacques grab a pry bar. He carefully inserted it under the panel, verifying first that he was in the right position before pushing. I feel some movement, Saint-Jacques told Space.com. The two astronauts carefully jimmied the pry bar back and forth underneath the shield, eventually pulling the panel loose. Got it Saint-Jacques said. He and McClain exchanged a quick high-five before finishing the installation. The panel, unfortunately, then refused to go back in, forcing the astronauts to remove and reinstall a nearby handlebar to squeeze the panel into position. With that task finished, McClain secured the panel with long-duration tie-down tethers before the astronauts moved on to their next task, the website reported. JOHNSON CITY, N.Y. -- Bessie P. Williams stopped by a Binghamton-area hotel in the fall of 1983 to pick up her paycheck. It was the last time anyone saw her alive. Williams was 19 when she disappeared. Her skeletal remains were found over a year later in a patch of woods in Broome County. And over 35 years later, the identity of her killer remains a mystery. The New York State Police in Binghamton have asked the public for help solving Williams homicide and identifying a suspect in her death. Troopers released a statement about the case on Tuesday. Several interviews of potential witnesses have been completed over the years, troopers said. However, this homicide has never been solved. Williams picked up her paycheck from the Quality Inn Lodge and Convention Center in Endwell around 1:15 p.m. on Nov. 4, 1983, troopers said. She had worked as a dishwasher at the inn for a month, reported the Press & Sun-Bulletin, and was considered a reliable worker. After grabbing her paycheck, Williams was expected to take a bus back to her Main Street apartment in Johnson City, reported the Press & Sun-Bulletin. But when she failed to come home that evening, she was reported missing to the Johnson City Police Department, troopers said. Investigators believe Williams skipped the bus and instead got into a car with an unknown person, according to the Press & Sun-Bulletin. Troopers are attempting to identify the suspect pictured in this sketch. The man's car was towed from a field that bordered the wooded area where Williams' remains were found.New York State Police Over a year after Williams disappeared, her remains were found. Williams skeleton was found on April 11, 1985, in a wooded area off of King Street in Barker -- a town over 20 minutes north of her Johnson City home. Troopers said her death was a homicide but did not say how Williams was killed. Troopers have spent decades trying to find a suspect who was spotted in Barker around the time Williams went missing in the fall of 1983. Residents towed a drunken mans car out of a field that bordered the woods where Williams remains were eventually found, troopers said. A black and white sketch of the man has repeatedly been released. Troopers said the suspect, a white man, was about 25 to 30 years old and had a noticeable potbelly. He was between 5 feet 7 inches and 5 feet 10 inches tall and wore work boots, jeans and a blue windbreaker. The man was driving a white, late 1970s-style hatchback car that may have been a Ford, troopers said. The car had New York license plates, a reddish-brown interior and a stick shift. Troopers asked anyone with information about the suspect or Williams homicide to call (607) 561-7400. SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Mayor Ben Walshs proposed tax increase would mean Syracuse taxpayers wouldnt get a STAR tax credit this year, which could more than triple the total impact of the tax hike for many homeowners. Asked about the loss of the tax credit Monday, Walsh called it a relatively small amount. City Assessor David Clifford told syracuse.com this week that the relief checks are typically around $25, -- an amount repeated later by a city spokesman. For the average homeowner, however, the checks are worth 10 times that much. The average property tax relief check to a Syracuse homeowner in 2018 was $220, according to the state tax department. Last year, 14,400 homeowners in Syracuse received and cashed those checks -- a total of $3.17 million in property tax relief. When told those numbers Wednesday morning, city spokesman Greg Loh questioned whether the average credit was really that high and asked for time to confirm them with the state. Later Wednesday he confirmed the average was correct. That tax credit would go away if the Common Council approves Walshs budget, which calls for a 3.5% tax hike, breaking the states 2% cap. If a municipality breaks the tax cap, the state takes away the credit. Syracuse would be the largest city in Upstate New York to break the cap. The loss of that tax credit could triple or quadruple the impact of the proposed tax increase on an many Syracuse homeowners. The increase in taxes and a water rate increase will cost a Syracuse homeowner with an $85,000 house about $92 more per year. Assuming that homeowner gets an average relief check, the total increase in that persons tax burden would be $312 per year. Loh said the tax hike decision was made using information from the state tax department, which outlined a range of credits in Syracuse from $30 to $260. For some people, the property tax relief credit is more than a small amount, he said Wednesday afternoon. Thats why the mayor said relatively. We kept the tax and water increase as low as we thought was responsible, because we understood there are other impacts, including the loss of the property tax credit relief. The state uses the property tax relief credits as a carrot to encourage municipalities to keep within the property tax cap. In upstate, Utica busted the tax cap in 2012 when taxes increased 17%. Oswego raised taxes a whopping 43% in 2013 to balance its budget. Yonkers, located on the Hudson River just north of New York City, exceeded the tax cap last year when it raised taxes 6.2% to avoid 200 layoffs. It is the largest city in the state to exceed the cap. A household is eligible for the credit if the adjusted gross income is less than $275,000, the homeowner is enrolled in STAR and if it is within a tax-cap-compliant school district. The credit is based on your income and the total amount of your STAR rebate. The more you make, the less the tax credit. Breaking the cap requires a vote of 60% or more of the Common Council. That would mean at least six of the nine Syracuse councilors would need to approve it. To be clear, homeowners in Syracuse will still receive their STAR tax exemption -- a reduction in the total property tax bill owed. If youve owned your house since before August, 2015, that STAR exemption comes off your tax bill. If you purchased it after Aug. 1, 2015, you receive that exemption as a rebate check in the mail for the full amount of your STAR exemption. Those checks will still be delivered in Syracuse. Breaking the tax cap would eliminate the property tax relief credit, which is a separate check most homeowners receive in the mail once a year. The amount of that check (sometimes also referred to as a STAR rebate) is calculated as a percentage of your total STAR exemption, and is partly based on income. The tax increase in Walshs budget would help lower the citys projected deficit to its lowest level in nearly a decade. The budget also proposes a 4% water rate increase to fund maintenance and repairs of the citys pipelines and other infrastructure. The New York State Parks Department claims to be a leader in snowmobile (safety) education. The numbers tell a different story. Fewer people are actually taking safety courses. Numbers have dropped from about 6,500 in 2005-2006 to about 2,000 in 2017-2018, according to the state Parks Snowmobile Unit annual reports. New York led the country this winter with 21 snowmobile fatalities. That updated number (it was originally reported there were 20) puts the Empire State ahead of Wisconsin (20) and Michigan (19) - two states with more registered sledders than New York. New York does not require a snowmobile safety course for all who enjoy the popular winter recreational activity. Snowmobilers ages 10-17 are required to take and pass a free, snowmobile classroom safety course taught by qualified volunteers. Those who successfully complete the course are given a snowmobile safety certificate, which is acceptable in other states. However, adult snowmobilers dont have to take the course, though its recommended. State Parks officials have discussed offering an online course, but its not available yet. Of the 2,000 snowmobilers who took New Yorks snowmobile safety course last year, 75 percent were minors. The victims in all 21 fatals in New York this winter were age 18 or older and all were New York residents. Its not clear at this point how many, if any, of the victims took snowmobile safety courses. New Yorks snowmobile safety course, which includes a free online study guide that can be looked at beforehand, is taught by qualified volunteers and offers the following, according to state Parks: A general overview of the history of the sport and the snowmobiling industry; maintenance and law mechanicals of the machine; rules and regulations specific to New York State; ride preparation; safe operation including loading, unloading, and starting, riding positions, understanding snow and trail conditions, night riding, ice safety, riding with a passenger, group rides, and sharing the trail with other riders and recreational users; trail emergencies; and rider ethics. The courses are a minimum of eight hours and taught in a classroom setting. Some instructors optionally bring a demonstration snowmobile to illustrate mechanicals. Would requiring all New York snowmobilers to take a safety course inject more common sense into the snowmobiling crowd and possibly prevent at least some fatalities? Its debatable. However, it would not be unprecedented when it comes to the state trying to reduce fatalities and accidents in an outdoors activity. New York requires, for example, that all hunters must take a hunter safety course a law that the state Department of Environmental Conservation repeatedly touts as the main reason shooting-related fatalities and accidents have gone down in recent years. Trappers are also required to take a safety course. And theres the law concerning driving a power boat. In 2013, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation requiring the operators of all power boats to pass an eight-hour safety course in the wake of fatal boating accidents the year before on Long Island and Upstate New York. All individuals born on or after May 1, 1996 must complete an approved course in boater education in order to operate a motorboat. New York, with roughly 112,000 snowmobile registrations, ranks fourth in the country when it comes to numbers of registered snowmobilers in recent years. This year Michigan with 280,047 led the pack, followed by Wisconsin at 224,000 and Minnesota at 191,681, according to the most recent figures provided from officials in those states. Unlike New York, those three states give periodic updates throughout the winter months on snowmobile fatalities, listing a reason for the accident, age and sex of the snowmobiler, whether he or she was wearing a helmet, whether alcohol was involved (Wisconsin lists the blood alcohol level if available) and whether the person who died was safety certified (whether he or she had taken a snowmobile safety course). Of those three top states, Minnesota, which reported 10 fatal accidents this winter, has the strictest safety course requirements. In Minnesota, all snowmobile operators who are at least 12 years old or born after Dec. 31, 1976, are required to take a snowmobile safety course and obtain a safety certificate before riding on public lands. Both regular and online courses are offered. Cost to take a regular classroom course is up to $5, depending on the instructor and his costs. Cost to take the online course is $24.95. Both methods require an additional $5 fee to obtain ones safety certificate from the states Department of Natural Resources. The safety certificate must be in ones possession while snowmobiling. Failure to present ones safety certificate on demand is a ticketable offense. The states fatal accident summary noted that of the 10 who died, one did not have a safety certificate and that it was unknown in three other incidents. A card is given to those who complete Wisconsin's online snowmobile safety course. Riders must carry it with them when they ride. In Wisconsin, those born on or after Jan. 1, 1985, and are at least age 12, must complete a safety certification course to operate a snowmobile on the states public trails and areas. Regular classroom courses are offered, costing $10. Cost to take the online course is $24.50. Those who are safety certified, receive a card from the state Department of Natural Resources. By law, the card must be in ones possession while snowmobiling. Failure to present ones safety certificate on demand is a ticketable offense. Of the 20 fatalities reported this winter, 10 of the victims were not safety certified, according to a summary of the accidents reported by the states Department of Natural Resources, with three accidents listed as unknown. Michigan is similar to New York in that only minors are required to take a safety course. The states fatal accident summary from this winter noted that only one of the 19 victims was safety certified. Four victims were not safety certified and the rest were not known. Those individuals classified as not known were out-of-state residents, according to John Pepin, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. David Newman, president of the Association of Wisconsin Snowmobile Clubs, said 20 fatalities in his state this year is 20 too many, but the reality is that these are powerful machines with risks involved. Many are capable of speeds of up to 100 mph. The safety courses and repeated public service announcements have had an impact on keeping fatalities and accidents down over the years, he noted. He added, though, that the number of fatalities each year go up and down annually depending on the weather, with typically more occurring during years with more snow. Safety courses alone are not going to eliminate fatalities, he said. He noted, however, that every year we see more fatalities involving older people who have not taken the safety course. Theres some tie-in there. Each year the New York State Parks Snowmobile Unit puts out an annual report that offers a review of states snowmobile scene, along with a section on accidents and fatalities. That report is due out later this spring. Apart from that, the Snowmobile Unit puts out a separate Accident Summary report with a deeper analysis of accidents and fatalities. The most recent summary came out following the 2016-17 season, during which 24 snowmobilers were killed. In that summary, a number of factors were looked at. The report noted, though, that there was a dramatic drop in accidents that winter compared to the previous four involving young snowmobilers (who are required to take the safety course), and corresponding increases in accidents involving those ages 31 to 60 (who are not required). However, because education status is unknown in 25 percent of all cases, it is difficult to draw a conclusion. It is possible that shifting ridership demographics in general is a factor as well, the report said. WASHINGTON U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer on Wednesday asked the federal Department of Labor to investigate the abrupt closing of 23 Friendlys restaurants, including 14 in Upstate New York, this past weekend. Schumer, D-N.Y., said it appears that Friendlys either ignored or found a loophole to skirt federal laws that require employees to be given at least 60 days notice in advance of large-scale layoffs. As a major corporation, Friendlys must adhere to federal laws that provide their employees with necessary updates when their employment is in imminent danger, but it doesnt look like that happened here, Schumer said. His office found no evidence that the company provided legal notice to employees, nor are any such filings listed on state and federal government websites. Schumer said Friendlys did not respond to inquiries from his office. The senator said its possible Friendlys found a way around the federal WARN Act, which applies to businesses with 100 or more employees that lay off 50 or more employees at an individual location. Friendlys may have skirted the requirement because its individual restaurants employed fewer than 50 employees, Schumer said. In a letter Wednesday to U.S. Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, Schumer asked for an investigation to determine if Friendlys violated the WARN Act or took advantage of loopholes in the law. Friendlys has said it will offer employees at the closed restaurants opportunities at other locations or severance payments and other assistance. The WARN Act allows employers to give workers 60 days pay in lieu of the notice. A Friendlys spokeswoman told Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard that the company was not subject to the WARN Act requirements. Friendlys has fully complied with all federal and state employee notice requirements, said Hannah Arnold, speaking for the company. Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, told Acosta he would work in Congress to make any necessary changes to strengthen the law and close loopholes. When a worker takes a job, they are often mandated to provide a two-week notice upon quitting, Schumer said. Friendlys should have to live by that same kind of standard. Anything less is both unfair and irresponsible. Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751 Syracuse.coms real estate lookup has details on more than 2,000 sales so far in 2019. The search is updated each week with the latest residential and commercial real estate sales in Cayuga, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego counties. Search sales from 2016 to 2019 in Syracuse.coms real estate database The highest-priced sale so far this year is the $19 million sale of a medical building at the corner of East Genesee Street and Crouse Avenue, records show. Commercial real estate sales also include valuable parking lots and even billboards. A parking lot at 216-18 Washington St., Syracuse sold for $1.1 million, records show. Readers can also keep an eye on new developments that intersect with government agencies. The Oswego County Industrial Development Agency sold a warehouse to Connextgen LLC for $750,000. Its at 120 St. Paul St., Oswego. The most expensive residential real estate sale listed so far is an Oneida Lake home. 5871 Bartel Circle, Cicero sold for $950,000 in January. Its a 4,800-square-foot house on 2 acres with 268 feet of shoreline, according to Realtor.com. The home was featured as a House of the Week on Syracuse.com. Syracuse.com updates a search of real estate sales every week. Readers can search properties by place, price, school district or the names of the buyers and sellers for the last 3 years. The records come from the New York State Office of Real Property Tax Services. If you have a news tip about a sale, email reporter Michelle Breidenbach at mbreidenbach@syracuse.com. . Former West Genesee Superintendent Christopher Brown. Former West Genesee superintendent Christopher Brown, who resigned from his post after allegations of an affair with an employee he supervised, has a new job. Brown has been selected as superintendent of the Marcus Whitman Central School District. He will start his new job July 1, according to the school districts website. The school district is in Rushville, which is mainly in Yates County in western New York. The district operates four schools: Marcus Whitman High School, Marcus Whitman Middle School, Gorham Elementary School, and Middlesex Valley Elementary School. The Marcus Whitman school board said Brown was appointed at the April 8 meeting pending contract negotiations. The Whitman Board of Education President Sheila Brown said the experience and skills Dr. Brown brings to the district will support and continue to grow our tradition of fostering innovation and supporting diverse life-long learners who positively impact the world community." The West Genesee school board and Brown reached a separation agreement in January - Brown was paid $120,000 as part of that agreement. Brown had been under fire amid allegations he had an affair with a subordinate. The districts lawyers were investigating the allegations made on social media when Brown announced he was leaving the district. ALBANY New York lawmakers say there is a new urgency to approve pro-vaccination legislation in the wake of measles outbreaks in the Hudson Valley and Brooklyn. One proposal would end exemptions for childhood vaccinations based on nonmedical often religious reasons. Another would allow minors who are 14 years and older to get vaccinated without the need for parental approval. Backers said measles has spread because of disinformation about vaccines and exploitation of a provision in state law that allows people to forgo vaccinations for religious reasons. We kind of had measles eradicated. Now its back, said Sen. Kevin Thomas (D-Levittown), co-sponsor of the bill to end nonmedical exceptions. People are abusing this religious exemption Anyone who has a philosophical difference (regarding vaccinations) can use it to refuse to vaccinate their children. It is unclear, however, whether the pro-vaccination bills will win approval before the state legislative session ends in June. On Tuesday, New York City declared a public health emergency over a measles outbreak that has affected an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyns Williamsburg section. Mayor Bill de Blasio took the unusual step of ordering mandatory vaccinations in the neighborhood where there are 285 confirmed cases of measles dating back to October. Officials blamed the outbreak on "anti-vaxxers" spreading false information. Two weeks ago, Rockland County officials declared a similar health emergency where there have been more than 150 confirmed cases. Earlier in March, a federal judge banned 50 unvaccinated students from attending school for three weeks. Legislation intended to raise the vaccination rate has stalled in the state Assembly and Senate over the last four years. But the measles outbreaks should create momentum to act, some lawmakers said. I think this should wake up everyone to the fact that lower vaccine rates can lead to these diseases being more easily spread, said Assemb. Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx), primary sponsor in the Assembly of the bill to end religious exemptions for vaccinations. He said anti-vaxxers have spread outright lies about vaccinations causing autism, among other things. He said vaccines have save millions of lives over the years. He said his bill effectively would block unvaccinated children from attending school. We dont have the right to force anyone to vaccinate. But we do have the right to determine who goes to school, Dinowitz said. While parents have the right to make choices for their kids, what I believe they dont have the right to do is expose other kids." About 96 percent of students in grades K-12 are completely immunized, according to the state Health Department. That said, in a few districts more than 40 percent of students have claimed a religious exemption in refusing to vaccinate, according to statistics provided by the agency. Exemptions are granted by school districts, not local or state health departments. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, in a radio interview Tuesday, didnt say whether he would support or oppose the legislation. Instead, he said the issue raises constitutional issues. Look, its a serious public health concern, but its also a serious First Amendment issue. It is going to be a constitutional-legal question, Cuomo said on WAMC, an Albany-based public radio network. At the same time, two Long Island senators are backing a separate bill that would continue the religious exemption but standardize the process for making such claims. The process differs from school district to school district now, said Sen. Phil Boyle (R-Bay Shore), who sponsors the bill with Sen. Monica Martinez (D-Brentwood). "I strongly believe that parents should have their children vaccinated and our students need to be protected," Boyle said in an email. "But the state Legislature should not be eliminating the nonmedical exemptions through a law." Separately, another bill would allow minors who are 14 years and older to get vaccinated without the need for parental approval. In March, Ethan Lindenberger, an 18-year-old Ohio resident, made headlines by testifying before Congress about getting his shots over the objections of his anti-vaxx mother. Legislators said older teens should have the same choice. Older teenagers, in consultation with their health care providers, should have the freedom to make their own decisions about whether or not to protect themselves from long-term health risks by getting vaccinated, Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) said when introducing the bill in the Senate. -- By Yancey Roy, Newsday Apr. 10--State forest rangers and local firefighters battled 22 wildfires across the state this past week, including three that burned nearly 30 acres in the Capital Region and another that killed a man in the Mohawk Valley, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said Tuesday. High temperatures, low humidity and strong winds in the states southern and eastern regions made for favorable wildfire conditions, the DEC said. A total of 72.6 acres were burned. Nine of the fires were sparked by strong winds downing power lines, which ignited dry grass. Two wildfires were started when house fires spread to nearby woods. And eight others were the result of residents burning debris, in violation of the statewide burn ban, the DEC said. The agency did not give a cause for the remaining three fires. The states burn ban remains in effect until May 14. The agency said the open burning of debris is historically the largest single cause of spring wildfires in New York. Saratoga, Washington county wildfires burns 12 acres Saratoga County dispatchers asked for forest rangers help at 2:50 p.m. Wednesday, April 3, with a wildfire on Route 4 in Schuylerville. The fire was burning a six-acre grass field near Lock 5 on the Hudson River and threatening one building, the DEC said. Lt. John Solan and Ranger Michael Bodnar arrived and worked with local volunteer firefighters to put out the fire. The blaze was contained by 6 p.m. and the forest rangers rushed to another fast-moving wildfire on East Lake Road in Cossayuna, Washington County. Solan and Bodnar, as well as rangers Logan Quinn and Nancy Ganswindt, worked with local volunteer firefighters to contain the six-acre Cossayuna blaze. There was a high concentration of dry debris, and a home was nearby, DEC said. Rangers Joseph Hess and Anthony Goetke monitored the fire overnight, and it was extinguished entirely in the morning. Schoharie County wildfire burns nearly 18 acres Schoharie County 911 dispatchers called the DEC at 4:20 p.m. Wednesday, April 3, and asked if forest rangers could help with a wildfire in Blenheim. The fire had started in an abandoned building on Cole Hollow Road, spread to a second building and then moved into the adjoining woods, the DEC said. Seven local fire departments -- Blenheim, West Fulton, Jefferson, Middleburgh, Conesville, Cobleskill, and Grand Gorge -- fought the blaze with four forest rangers. State Fire, the Schoharie County search-and-rescue team, Middleburgh EMS, State Police and the Schoharie County Sheriffs Office were also on scene. The fire got within 10 feet of a third building but crews were able to save the structure. Local firefighters secured a perimeter around the 17.5-acre fire, while forest rangers put out hot spots until 10 p.m. The fire was declared extinguished the next day, the DEC said. 94-year-old man dies in Mohawk Valley fire A forest ranger out on patrol at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 3, spotted smoke in Trenton, Oneida County. Flames had engulfed a building and spread to adjacent fields south of Route 365. The ranger and three volunteer fire departments battled the six-acre wildfire, with other fire crews worked to extinguish the flames inside the building amid strong winds. The blaze destroyed a house, barn and several outbuildings. The 94-year-old homeowner was rescued from the home but died, the DEC said. The agency said investigators believe the fire was sparked by an outdoor wood boiler. By Emily Masters Times Union, Albany, N.Y. Laurie Kellogg is a free woman after serving over 26 years in state prison for the murder of her husband. Kellogg, now 54, was convicted in the 1991 murder of 43-year-old Malcolm Bruce Kellogg at the couples cottage on Cayuga Lake, according to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. A parole board ordered her release in March. She had been serving a sentence of 25 years to life, according to WHEC in Rochester. Bruce Kellogg was shot to death at the Seneca County home in June 1991. Kellogg, then 26, and four teens who were neighbors of the cottage were charged in the killing days later. One of the teens, Denver A. McDowell, pleaded guilty to shooting Bruce Kellogg and testified that Laurie Kellogg seduced him into killing her husband. Kellogg said her husband abused her. Kellogg said she did not expect McDowell to actually kill her husband. McDowell was sentenced to 25 years to life and remains in state prison. The case inspired a made-for-TV movie in 1994 called "Lies of the Heart: The Laurie Kellogg Story." Jennie Garth and Gregory Harrison starred. Kellogg was released Monday, according to WHAM in Rochester. She was at prisoner at Taconic Correctional Facility, a medium security prison in Westchester County. Kellogg plans to live downstate in Rockland County and will be supervised there, WHAM said. The parole board said it granted Kellogg's release because of her seemingly sincere remorse, generally good behavior in prison and lack of other criminal record. The board also found Kellogg did well in rehabilitation programs. Kellogg married her husband when she was still a teen. A judge ordered Kelloggs release in 2017, but the move was halted after the state appealed. Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-282-8598 ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) State lawmakers in New York proposed new rules Tuesday for regulating home-sharing platforms such as Airbnb that would replace regulations that cracked down on short-term rentals in New York City. The legislation introduced in Albany would ban short-term rentals in affordable housing or rent-stabilized units and limit city residents to listing a single property on home-sharing sites. It would also require Airbnb, HomeAway and other similar platforms would register the names of hosts with the state and collect occupancy taxes on behalf of the city and state. It would replace current rules, under which people who rent out their entire home for fewer than 30 days can face hefty fines though Airbnb's opponents in New York say the rules are only intended to go after unscrupulous building owners who use home-sharing sites to operate de facto hotels. The fight over regulating Airbnb has played out over several years in Albany as the San Francisco-based company and its hosts have pushed back against rules supported by a hotel worker union and critics who say short-term rentals reduce the availability of affordable housing. The current rules treat New York City differently from other municipalities, creating a patchwork of rules that has made enforcement difficult. The two Democrats sponsoring the bill Sen. James Skoufis and Assemblyman Joseph Lentol say it balances the need for regulations with the reality that Airbnb is here to stay. "We live in 2019," said Skoufis, of Woodbury. "It's foolish for anyone to put up invisible walls." Airbnb supports the new proposal, according to Chris LeHane, the company's head of policy and communications, who joined lawmakers at Tuesday's bill announcement. Critics say they'll continue to fight against efforts to water down the current rules, which they say are essential to preventing a further loss of affordable units in the nation's largest city. We stand against this bill and will fight tooth and nail to protect our communities from predatory companies like Airbnb, said Jonathan Westin, director of the group New York Communities for Change, which advocates for low- and moderate-income New York City residents. Michigan rock band, Pop Evil, is headed to the New York State Fair this summer. The band will play at 7 p.m. on Sunday, August 25 at the New York Experience Stage. They were last seen in Syracuse opening for Poison and Cheap Trick in 2018. This is also the first time they have performed at the New York State Fair since 2014. A mixture of hard rock songs with good melodies and loud guitars with propulsive metal rhythms, Pop Evil is the fourth band to be announced for the 2019 Experience Stage. At the 2019 New York Experience Stage: The 2019 Chevy Court lineup at the New York State Fair: The 2019 New York State Fair runs from Aug. 21 to Sept. 2. by Cait Bladt Donald Trumps lack of transparency with regards to his tax returns has long been a point of contention. The president claims he cannot release his returns because he is under audit, despite the fact that legally, he is still allowed to release them. Democrats are now taking two new steps in an attempt to see Trumps tax returns, both on a national and state level. Trump and his surrogates though argue the public does not care about the returns and Democrats are merely playing politics. What do you think? As the president has refused to allow lawmakers or the public to see his tax returns, many lawmakers are becoming more creative in their methods. New York State is considering legislation which would allow the state to release tax returns for specific and legitimate legislative purpose based on requests from the heads of three congressional committees. On a national level, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Richard Neal formally requested six years of Trump's tax returns based on a provision of the tax code which allows the chairman of the committee to request such information from the IRS. While Neal has claimed the request is completely straightforward, many say the code has never been used to request tax information from anyone as high profile as the president. As the LA Times reports, the president and his surrogates immediately took to the defensive, saying Democrats were overreaching. [Mick] Mulvaney took a far more aggressive stance, accusing the Democrats of taking part in a political hit job with no legal or legislative basis. Speaking on Fox News Sunday, the chief of staff said of a handover of the returns: That is not going to happen, and they know it. ...Mulvaney also argued, as other Trump aides have done on this issue and others, that the tax-return question was already litigated in the 2016 campaign and settled by Trump winning. Mulvaney was joined by several other members of the Trump administration to voice concerns about the legitimacy of the requests. Per Politico: Late last week, a Virginia-based lawyer working for Trump urged Treasurys general counsel to deny Neals request on the basis that there was neither a legislative purpose nor a legitimate committee purpose for seeking the presidents returns. It would be a gross abuse of power for the majority party to use tax returns as a weapon to attack, harass, and intimidate their political opponent, attorney William Consovoy said. And on Sunday, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and Trump attorney Jay Sekulow also pushed back on the demand. ...Sekulow, meanwhile, asserted that Democrats stood the chance of setting a dangerous precedent of weaponizing the IRS for political purposes. Others, including Dean Obeidallah at CNN claimed the American public had a right to know what was in the tax returns. Not only that, but the administrations insistence on dodging requests raised more red flags. You don't have to be a detective on "CSI" to get a sense that there's a reason Trump doesn't want America to see his tax returns. I don't want to engage in rank speculation as to the why, but the fact is that Trump was the first major party presidential candidate since Watergate to fail to release his tax returns. ...Trump has now taken his opposition to the release of his tax returns to desperate heights, in light of Rep. Neal's formal request for six years of his personal and corporate returns. As CNN recently reported, Trump and his legal team are so opposed to releasing the returns that they "are willing to fight the House Democratic request all the way to the Supreme Court." As one Trump official added, "This is a hill and people would be willing to die on it." People are willing to "die" to keep Trump's tax returns from going public?! Wow, so much for Trump being happy to release his returns after the audit was completed. In a January 2017 New York Times op-ed, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden argued without the information included in the presidents tax returns, there is no way for the American public to fully trust the president. Without these returns, Americans cannot know whether he is using the presidency to enrich himself and his family. Americans wont know whether a policy he proposes primarily benefits steelworkers in Pennsylvania or lines his own pocket. They will also be unable to tell whether Mr. Trump is telling the truth when he claims to have no connections to Russia, contradicting public evidence and statements by his own son. His stated excuse about being under audit doesnt pass the smell test. Previous presidents and nominees have released their returns under the same circumstances. That sentiment has not waned in the intervening months. According to a Washington Post/ABC poll in January 2019, 60% of Americans still wanted to see the presidents tax returns. The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, wed love to hear what you have to say. As featured in: Today Microsoft is shipping the first Dev and Canary channel builds of the next version of Microsoft Edge, based on the Chromium open-source project. "Were excited to be sharing this work at such an early stage in our development process. We invite you to try out the preview today on your devices, and we look forward to working together with the Microsoft Edge Insider community to make browsing the best experience possible for everyone." Making the web a better place for everyone Back in December, we announced our intention to adopt the Chromium open source project in the development of Microsoft Edge on the desktop to create better web compatibility for our customers, and less fragmentation of the web for all web developers. Now we're ready to show you what we've been working on, and invite you to come along on our journey. Investing in open source We've also started making contributions back to Chromium in areas like accessibility, touch, ARM64 and others. Our plan is to continue working in Chromium rather than creating a parallel project. Were working directly with the teams at Google, and we're looking forward to working even more with the open source community. To learn more about our contributions, see our Microsoft Edge Explainers on GitHub and check out our source code release. We're listening! The Microsoft Edge team wants to hear from you. In December we asked visitors to this site if you could change one thing about the web, what would it be?. Weve read your answers and have some thoughts to share. Head over to the Microsoft Edge Insider Forum to see what the community is saying about this and other topics. What's New: Fixed various bugs & performance issues. Feature updates Users can easily get to Internet Explorer mode on Microsoft Edge. Starting with Microsoft Edge version 92, users can reload a site in Internet Explorer mode on Microsoft Edge instead of relying on the standalone IE 11 application while waiting for a site to be configured in the Enterprise Mode Site List. Users will be prompted to add the site to their local site list such that navigating to the same page in Microsoft Edge will automatically render in IE mode for the next 30 days. You can use the InternetExplorerIntegrationReloadInIEModeAllowed policy to configure this experience and allow access to the IE mode entry points as well as the ability to add sites to the local site list. You can use the InternetExplorerIntegrationLocalSiteListExpirationDays policy to adjust the number of days to keep sites on the local site list. Note that KB5003698 or later is required for Windows 10, version 1909; or KB5003690 or later is required for Windows 10, version 2004, Windows 10, version 20H2, or Windows 10, version 21H1 for the end-to-end experience. MHTML files will default to opening in Internet Explorer mode. Starting in Microsoft Edge version 92 Stable, MHTML file types will automatically open in Internet Explorer mode on Microsoft Edge instead of the Internet Explorer (IE11) application. This is most commonly observed while trying to view Outlook emails in a browser. This change will occur only if IE11 is the default handler for this file type. If you'd prefer to change this, you can do so prior to installing the Stable version 92 update using this guidance. "Disable developer mode extensions" warning can be permanently dismissed. Beginning with Microsoft Edge version 92, you can turn off the warning "Disable developer mode extensions" by clicking on the 'Don't show this again' option. Manage your extensions right from the toolbar. The all-new extensions menu on the toolbar will allow you to hide/pin extensions easily. The quick links to manage extensions and find new extensions will make it easy for you to find new extensions and manage your existing ones. Default for autoplay will be set to Limited. To help you maintain your focus online, we have changed the default for autoplaying media to Limit from Allow, beginning with Microsoft Edge version 92. Payment instruments are now synced across devices. Beginning with Microsoft Edge version 92, you have the option to synchronize your payment information across your signed in devices. Please note: this is a Controlled Feature Rollout. If you dont see this feature, please check back shortly as we continue our rollout. Currently this feature is available only in the US and only for MSA users (not AAD) Improvements to font rendering. Improvements have been made to the rendering of text to improve clarity and reduce blurriness. Please note: this is a Controlled Feature Rollout. If you dont see this feature, please check back shortly as we continue our rollout. Toolbar button features like Favorites and Collections will remember the user's choice to pin them to the side of the window. Now enabled by default, if the user chooses to pin a toolbar button, it will always open in the pinned state until they decide to unpin. Users can now manage the 'Allow single sign-on for work or school sites using this profile' option via group policy. 'Allow single sign-on for work or school sites using this profile' allows non-AAD profiles to be able to use single sign-on for work or school sites using work or school credentials present on the machine. This option shows up for end-users as a toggle in Settings -> Profiles -> Profile Preferences for non-AAD profiles only. You can use the AADWebSiteSSOUsingThisProfileEnabled policy to configure the behavior. Password health Its important to use strong, unique passwords across different accounts to stay safe online. However, that's easier said than done and most users exhibit poor password habits like using weak passwords that are easy to guess, or reuse the same strong passwords across accounts. With this latest version of Microsoft Edge, your task of using strong and unique passwords becomes a little bit easier! Microsoft Edge will now tell you whether saved passwords are strong enough and also indicate whether theyve been used across multiple sites, helping you stay safer online. You can find your password health information in your list of saved passwords in the edge://settings/passwords page. Added privacy for your saved passwords If you are using a device you share with others or have left your computer unlocked for whatever reason, you can now opt for a second verification using your device password to avoid others getting access to your website passwords. Simple! Outlook extension. Stay on top of your Microsoft Outlook inbox, calendar, tasks and more without having to open a new browser window. You can get the new Outlook extension here: Microsoft Outlook - Microsoft Edge Addons New Policies In brief: Netflix is reportedly in preliminary talks to acquire its first brick and mortar movie theater. The deal is rumored to be valued at many tens of millions of dollars but sources caution that too much shouldnt be read into the matter. The theater in question is the historic Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California. As Deadline outlines, the acquisition would put Netflix in good standing with the local motion picture community and help preserve a Hollywood landmark. Think of it as more of a partnership in which both Netflix and the American Cinematheque, which owns the Egyptian Theatre, benefit. Netflix would show its films on weekday nights while the American Cinematheque would get to use the facility on the weekends for screenings, festivals and lectures. The publication said an acquisition wouldnt impact Netflixs relationship with independent theater chains like Landmark and IPIC Theaters that currently show its films. This isnt the first time Netflix has expressed interest in hopping into the theater business. Nearly a year ago, the streaming giant was said to be exploring the possibility of buying theaters in New York and Los Angeles to screen its original programming. Amazon is also reportedly interested in doing the same. Logistics surrounding real estate and city permits will have to be resolved before Netflix can finalize its first acquisition, were told. Lead image courtesy Alex Milauer via Shutterstock Japan is serious about landing on the moon that it's already planning how to set up a lunar base with the help of a technology it knows best: robots. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is working with the United States and Russia in building a new space station that will orbit the moon. If everything goes well, it should be operational in the 2020s. JAXA, however, is also busy trying to launch a moon base with machines that are autonomous or have remote control functionalities. They also won't need a lot of human intervention and supervision. Project Lunar Base The project has been going on for three years now and involves four more unlikely partners. One of these is Kajima Corporation, a construction company. The rest are schools, namely, Kyoto University, the University of Electro-Communications, and Shibaura Institute of Technology. The current plan comprised of four steps. The first phase involves the preparation of the site for modules suitable for human living. The second step is to excavate the sites up to the required depth. Once this is completed, the project enters into the third phase, which is module installation. The last objective is to develop a shield for the lunar base using regolith or moon dust. It will protect the modules and humans from the effects of radiation and meteoroids. If the meteoroids, which are high-speed space rocks, hit the base, it would result in an oxygen leak, threatening people's lives. Testing The Technology Much of the automation or remote control will be based on a technology developed by Kajima called A4CSEL. To have a proof of concept, the team decided to simulate the operations in one of the Kajima sites. In there is a 7-ton class earth mover modified with a control console that can operate automatically. It also features onboard survey instruments that allow the machine to measure both direction and position by itself. In situations where it may need human intervention, users may do so through remote control. The backhoe further comes with operational support to compensate for a possible few seconds' delays in communication. Instructions from Earth usually travel to the moon within 2 seconds. This functionality will allow the equipment to work without issues even if the delay takes up to 8 seconds. Since building a lunar base means using many machines, the technology will help synchronize their operations by avoiding interference. So far, the outcome of the simulation is encouraging. "Various commands have been executed the routine operation is repeated, driving over specified distances is automated, and operations requiring fine tuning are controlled remotely. The operational process has shown feasibility of the unmanned technologies to build a lunar base," said JAXA. Big Dreams This isn't the only plan Japan has once it reaches the moon. Toyota is already thinking of launching a six-wheel moon rover powered by water-emitting fuel cells in 2029. It can travel more than 6,000 miles, carry up to four passengers, and may even serve as a 13-square-meter housing unit. Other companies such as Japan Airlines and Tokyo Broadcasting Holdings are financing a mission that may be able to display advertising platforms or billboards in the lunar surface. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. An inmate sued a California state prison for not acting promptly to repair broken ceilings that caused maggots and mice falling into the dining hall. State officials were aware of the problem, and California has allotted $260 million to repair leaking roofs and clean molds for a period of four years. The cost of overdue maintenance for more than two dozen state prisons is estimated to be more than $1 billion. Stomach-Churning Conditions Plaintiff Robert Escareno told the court that bird feces are scattered in the walls of the dining hall at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran. He also claimed that molds and other contaminants made his allergies worse. Another inmate, Marvin Dominguez, said that mice fell twice onto the dining table before running into the dishwashing area in April 2018. He also said a maggot dropped onto his food in October of the same year. Authorities said they are fixing the broken roofs as fast as they can, but they also blame the inmates for attracting pests. Associate Warden Jason Collins said inmates had been hiding "pruno," a type of alcoholic beverage made from fermented leftover fruit with a little bread. "We all know that prison is not supposed to be comfortable," Escareno told the judge. "But at the same time, it's not designed for me to have to go and eat in a place, where I'm feet away from what I know to be bird feces." Don Specter, director of the nonprofit Prison Law Office, who represents Escareno, said the situation at the SATF is a symptom of a bigger problem. Similar conditions were reported in other detention centers in Brooklyn in New York, which include lack of heat, poor medical services, and leaking roofs short out electrical systems. State Of California Prisons Problems in California prisons have become systemic. In a study published in Federal Sentencing Reporter, Specter said overcrowding in prisons makes it impossible to run a safe prison system. Federal detention cells in the state house approximately 155,500 men and women, which is more than half of the designed capacity. Experts said that overcrowding of this level is causing serious and at times fatal harm to inmates, prison staff, and the public. "These risks are not theoretical. In one instance, a dormitory was so crowded that prison staff did not learn about a prisoner's death for hours, much less provide emergency care," Specter cited in the study. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The number of children who visited an emergency room due to suicidal thoughts or suicide attempts nearly doubled in the past 10 years. Researchers reported that between 2007 and 2015, the annual visits among children from ages 5 to 18 years increased from 580,000 to 1.12 million. Moreover, they warned that nearly half of the visits were children between the ages of 5 and 11. "These numbers are very alarming," stated Brett Burstein, a physician at the Montreal Children's Hospital of the McGill University Health Center and an author of the study, to The Huffington Post. "Not only was there doubling over the study period; we also found in this broad, nationally representative sample that there is a high proportion more than had been previously identified that are presenting at a very young age group." A Worrying Trend The study published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics used publicly available data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey which is administered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study found that the average age of children who were diagnosed with suicidal ideation or suicide attempt was 13. Meanwhile, 43 percent of the visits were children from ages 5 to 11. The findings are alarming, but it does not surprise child psychiatrists. The rate of depression and suicide among the younger population has been increasing over the years. In fact, the National Institute has identified suicide as a major public health concern. Leading Cause Of Death In the United States, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death. It is the second leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10 and 34 years old and fourth among individuals between the ages of 34 and 54. The study, however, has its own limitations. The researchers admitted that the data might have incorrectly included cases of self-harm as a suicide attempt. Because of the nature of the data, the study also could not identify the common causes of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. Gene Beresin, executive director of The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds in Massachusetts and a professor of psychiatry in Harvard Medical School, suggested that one reason for the increase in suicidal behavior could be stress. "Kids are feeling more pressure to achieve, more pressure in school, and are more worried about making a living than in previous years," he told CNN. Another possible reason he identified is social media and cyberbullying. Parents getting better at recognizing the signs of depression and getting their children the help they needed is also a possible contributor to the increase. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Poetic justice may have just been served as rhino poacher suffers a tragic death in Kruger National Park. The poacher is believed to have been killed by elephants and his remains eaten by lions. Rangers from the said South African park, together with Komatipoort and Skukuza SAPS, aided the bereaved family find closure by looking for their relative's remains. Search Operation The family recalls that on April 2, they received a call from their relative's colleagues, informing them of the man's passing due to an elephant attack. They then contacted Don English, a Skukuza Regional Ranger, for assistance. English organized a search operation and assured the family that he would do his best to recover the man's remains. That night, rangers and members of the KNP Airwing flew over the location described but was unsuccessful in finding the remains due to the gradually fading sunlight. With more information garnered from the four colleagues who have been arrested as well as a boost in field rangers, the team was able to finally find the remains on April 4 at the crocodile bridge section. The site suggested that lions had eaten the remains of the poacher. In fact, the only things left on site were a pair of pants and a human skull. The rangers notified the police department of Skukuza immediately. At the moment, the police are still conducting further investigations. Illegal Entry Not Worth The Danger Glenn Phillips, managing executive of KNP reminds the public that entering national parks with wild animals is highly dangerous. "Entering Kruger National Park illegally and on foot is not wise, it holds many dangers and this incident is evidence of that," says Phillips. The four colleagues of the deceased are currently in custody and will appear in court in due time. Phillips also extends his sympathy to the bereaved family. He said it is sorrowful to see daughters mourning for the loss of their father and, worse, seeing very little of his remains. Lastly, he praises the rangers for helping out and bringing the closure that the family deserves. Animals, even in their natural environment, can sometimes show aggression in the presence of tourists. People should be more aware of the negative impacts they bring to animals to avoid so-called poetic justice, such as what happened to that rhino poacher. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. California has launched few government projects with higher stakes than its ambitious 2018 program for registering millions of new voters at the Department of Motor Vehicles, an effort with the potential to shape elections for years to come.Yet six days before the scheduled launch of the DMV's new "motor voter" system last April, state computer security officials noticed something ominous: The department's computer network was trying to connect to internet servers in Croatia."This is pretty typical of a compromised device phoning home," a California Department of Technology official wrote in an April 10, 2018, email obtained by. "My Latin is a bit rusty, but I think Croatia translates to Hacker Heaven."Although the email described the incident as the DMV system attempting "communication with foreign nations," a department spokesperson later insisted voter information wasn't at risk.The apparent hacking incident was the most glaring of several unexpected problems never disclosed to the public in rolling out a project that cost taxpayers close to $15 million.Theconducted a four-month review of nearly 1,300 pages of documents and interviewed state employees and other individuals who worked on the project, most of whom declined to be identified for fear of reprisal. Neither the emails nor the interviews made clear who was ultimately responsible for the botched rollout, though an independent audit is expected to be released in the coming days.The emails present a picture of a project bogged down by personnel clashes, technological hurdles and a persistent belief among those involved that top officials were demanding they make the "motor voter" program operational before the June 5 primary, so that it could boost the number of ballots cast."Not meeting the deadline was not an option," said a project staffer who asked to remain anonymous.Some of the mistakes popped up within hours of the system going live: frozen or blank DMV computer screens; private information remaining on touchscreen devices between appointments; selections sometimes flipping from what a customer had chosen.Three weeks later, mistaken records showed up at local election offices, upward of 100,000 inaccurate documents by the fall. Party preferences were wrong. Some noncitizens were mistakenly added to the voter rolls. Other DMV customers didn't know they'd been registered.Staffers from a trio of state offices were involved led by Chief Information Officer Amy Tong, Secretary of State Alex Padilla and former DMV Director Jean Shiomoto. But none seemingly had ultimate authority over the beleaguered project. Emails show that advisors to former Gov. Jerry Brown also closely monitored the work.Some on the team building the system sounded those alarms, but to no avail."If we want to avoid an international incident and major security and launch failures on the scale of recent news stories about Facebook, IRS or the Office of Personnel Management we need state executives to understand the serious nature of the current high-pressure rush to launch," a senior programmer wrote in an email the day before the system went live.Building California's automated voter registration system wasn't going to be easy.Programmers had to create a workaround for the DMVs outdated computer system that could transmit thousands of daily registrations to state elections officials. Even a small mistake could result in a voter with the wrong ballot, or no ballot at all.For the DMV, the timing was particularly tough. Its employees were already behind on technology needs to implement the federal Real ID program a separate task that a recent audit said contributed to long lines at department offices last summer.Across all the agencies involved, the pressure was intense. Some programmers worked 30 hours straight without sleep in the final days, taking short naps on conference room floors."I wouldn't argue with anyone who would say give us more time," said Amy Tong, who is both chief information officer and director of the California Department of Technology. "Of course, I wanted more time."Time or lack of it was a consistent problem. The Department of Technology was enlisted to join the effort almost 19 months after the original law was signed. Tong said the Brown administration wanted it in place before the June 5 statewide primary. And at a May 2017 meeting, according to an email reviewed by the Times, a momentous decision was made: Move the project's launch date from July to April.It was an aggressive decision, programmers involved in the effort and others with extensive knowledge of government information technology said. But any worries expressed weren't widely shared."We were told, yeah, sure, shaving off 90 days, that seems very doable," Secretary of State Alex Padilla said. "Nobody raised a significant concern."The "new motor voter" program, as it was known to state officials, was born with great promise.After more than two decades of complaints and a 2017 lawsuit over how California's DMV handled voter registration, the new system was promised to be a solution. Democrats, too, were happy seeing it as a way to boost voter turnout across California, likely helping their party's chances on Election Day.The 2015 law required every citizen receiving a new or updated drivers license be registered to vote unless opting out. Seven million eligible Californians were unregistered to vote at the time of the laws enactment.Implementation was slow. A database of all registered California voters, a key requirement and itself a decade overdue, wasn't completed until the fall of 2016. From there, another eight months passed without substantive discussions on the automated voter registration system.Wesley Goo, a DMV deputy director, said officials needed final regulations and state budget funding. "Our timeline to implement this project hadn't really started yet" before the late spring of 2017, he said in an interview.Tong said engineers struggled with the DMV's outdated, cumbersome computer system. "You go in and you kind of open up the hood of the car, so to speak, and you're like, 'Wow, OK, this is kind of how all of these are cobbled together,' " she said. "And we kind of tried to untangle all of that."The partnership wasn't easy. DMV staffers weren't prepared, Goo said, for the work plan imposed by the Department of Technology. Several people who worked for Tong, on the other hand, told thethey found DMV officials reluctant to fully cooperate."They had a thousand ways of saying no," said one former project employee about the DMV, who asked not to be identified.The Technology Department's team had its own internal problems. In mid-February, two months before the launch, a top programmer emailed Tong that the project was "spinning out of control," insisting that a "documented project plan still does not exist" and noting that a highly regarded private contractor, John O'Duinn, had abruptly quit after disagreements about how to prioritize the work. O'Duinn declined to comment on the project."The window for success in April is narrowing fast," the programmer wrote.In an interview, Tong denied such problems affected the project's ultimate success. "Those were raised and we mitigated and had a very open dialogue about it," she said.Still, documents and interviews reveal clashes that consumed valuable time needed to build the computer system, including additional testing before introducing it to the public.As the launch drew near, various technical glitches appeared some difficult to diagnose and fix in the push to launch the system early.A project timeline written in late 2017 shows that three months for testing key elements were condensed to six weeks. In other areas, design and testing would have to be done simultaneously.Emails frequently cited concern about the lack of time for testing."I hope everyone appreciates that proper testing remains a significant long-term project risk," an outside consultant, Michael Wiederhold, wrote in an April 7, 2018, email. "Consider, for a moment, the pressures we will face supporting these systems after go-live should something go wrong in production."Three days later, a portion of the voter registration system tried to contact computers in Croatia."Much of the traffic is highly suspicious," a state official, Marc Hanson, wrote in an email a few hours after the incident.Others had expressed concerns about whether the system was fully secure. One engineer, who declined to be identified, said the incident was aided by the "back door" of the voter system being left "unlocked." Technology Department officials said the incident was not the reason for the program launching one week later than originally expected.Carlos Ramos, California's technology director from 2011 to 2016, said a hacking attempt on a major project should always merit more than a quick check. "I would dig into that and find out what's going on," Ramos said.Tong downplayed its significance in an interview with the"We were constantly monitoring, and this was brought to everybody's attention," she said. "And it was addressed immediately."If the project dodged a bullet with what staff members called "the Croatia incident," other problems appeared in the hours leading up to and the actual day of the new motor voter system's April 23 launch.Touchscreen devices at DMV offices seemingly changed customer selections from registering to vote to "I do not want to register to vote or update my information." When discovered, two state engineers told the Times, some files were manually "corrected" even though questions lingered about the customer's intent.Touchscreen problems were also the source of frantic emails among top DMV officials regarding the potential for identity theft the screens weren't clearing personal data between customer appointments. Here again, physical testing of the devices was limited to a single four-hour session the day before launch, probably insufficient to catch potential shortcomings.Officials later discovered a problem with incorrect county information, thus sending a voters new or updated registration to the wrong location. The mistake was brought to the attention of Padilla, told by a top advisor to Gov. Brown in an April 28 email that there would be a remedy for this issue as quickly as possible.Problems arose, too, after DMV officials turned on the system's second phase: internet registration and change-of-address functions. On May 1, a DMV official wrote that there were "defects," including "errors in reporting eligibility information."Technology officials hurriedly brought in new outside programmers who had worked on healthcare.gov and other national projects and were considered to be crisis experts. Contracts totaling $250,000 were awarded to the two companies involved, Layer Aleph and Open Lattice. Neither is still working on the voter registration project.In the first two days of operations, the DMV sent more than 35,000 voter records to state elections officials. By the end of the first month, the total was more than 313,000.Mistakes by DMV field office employees were later cited as the cause of some 23,000 registration errors. But other mistakes may be attributable to the fact that multiple state government teams were involved with no clear leadership structure. Technology officials said it was the DMV's job to train its employees, for example, but the physical equipment needed for that training was developed by the Department of Technology.Nor was there consistent oversight about data security. In August, a Technology Department employee mistakenly deleted official online voter and license data while using his laptop. A department spokesperson told thethe mistake was quickly fixed and that rules were subsequently changed to ensure that employees could only read not actually delete the original information.Through February, the new motor voter system had been used for more than 6.7 million transactions. The majority were either people updating their voter registration or opting out of the process. About 1 million new voters were registered.Padilla, one of the system's most visible supporters, admitted to frustrations with the program which led him last year to withdraw his support for Jean Shiomoto, then the director of the DMV."To this day, I believe California motor voter has been an overwhelming success," he said. "Perfect, flawless rollout? No." Walmart will add pickup towers to a store in Lafayette and another in New Iberia and make improvements at others, including two remodels, store officials announced Wednesday. Walmart will add towers to the store at 2428 W. Pinhook Road and the New Iberia store at 1205 E. Admiral Doyle Drive, install robot floor scrubbers at five stores and an automated unloading system for getting products off trucks at three others. Its part of $73 million the company is investing in improvements in its Louisiana stores. Remodels are planned in Jennings and Mansura. We cant wait for Louisiana customers to experience the new and innovative ways Walmart is enhancing the retail experience, said James Winchester, Walmart regional manager for Louisiana. Walmart is continuously developing new technology that will enhance convenience and save customers time and money. The towers allow customers to order items online and receive them in the tower like a vending machine. It allows customers to avoid waits at the customer service desk, spokeswoman Anne Hatfield said. The robot floor scrubbers will be used at the two Lafayette stores and the Supercenters in New Iberia, Opelousas and Abbeville. The scrubbers operate at the same speed as the manned scrubbers and allows associates to do other tasks. Inside info on doing business in Acadiana We'll keep you posted on the Acadiana economy. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The FAST Unloader system will be added to stores in Crowley, Opelousas and Jennings. It will automatically scan and sort items based on priority and department when they coming off a truck. The crews that unload trucks have the highest turnover rate of any department at a Walmart, according to one report. Our Walmart U.S. CEO Greg Foran said it best at the recent analyst meeting, Hatfield said. Our roadmap to automate in-store tasks is focused in part on tasks frankly that we struggle to find associates to do consistently like unloading trucks. Plans for the remodels in Jennings and Mansura are not finalized, Hatfield said. Walmart, which closed its Evangeline Thruway store March 29 that employed 291 people, has 138 stores in Louisiana that employ 34,830 associates. Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin is intervening Wednesday in a lawsuit against Lafayette Consolidated Government over the proper way to correct precinct errors associated with a December home rule charter amendment. "The Secretary of State has decided to intervene in the case and has requested the Attorney General's office represent him in the matter," Jacques Ambers, special assistant to Attorney General Jeff Landry, wrote in an email to The Acadiana Advocate on Tuesday. "AG Landry has agreed to do so." Tyler Brey, spokesman for Ardoin's office, said the Secretary's Office "is not trying to subvert the will of the people and undo the results of the election in December." Businessman files lawsuit over Lafayette charter precincts issues, wants a new vote A Lafayette businessman filed a lawsuit Friday over an ordinance the City-Parish Council approved in March to fix voter precinct problems crea The secretary, he said, is trying to make sure everyone has a precinct in which to vote. The April 5 lawsuit by Lafayette businessman Keith Kishbaugh asks that the March 26 ordinance allowing the city-parish Council to correct errors in precincts created in a Dec. 8 vote be thrown out, but it does not provide the clarity needed by the Secretary's Office to hold elections, Brey said. "We would still be left without council districts for about 330 people," he said. "We need an answer to that. That's why the Secretary of State is intervening." A hearing is set for 10 a.m. Thursday on the lawsuit by Kishbaugh before 15th Judicial District Court Judge John Trahan in Lafayette, according to the Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court's Office. AG Landry fires back at Lafayette council, attorney over charter issue Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry fired back Thursday at the Lafayette City-Parish Council and its attorneys over whether precinct errors Lafayette Parish voters, in a low-turnout election Dec. 8, approved a home rule charter amendment that splits the current nine-person council into two councils a five-person city council and five-person parish council for the first time since the two were consolidated in 1996. Elections are scheduled Oct. 12 to fill those seats. Problems were discovered after the election with precinct descriptions, including one city precinct that was omitted when the council approved an ordinance calling for the election. Until the errors are corrected, there can be no election to fill the new council seats. In February, Ardoin said he believed a new election is needed but the decision is a local one and he has no authority to force a new election. He said he would take legal action or involve the Attorney General's Office if the problem is not corrected in time for potential candidates to qualify for the fall elections. Qualifying is Aug. 6-8. Last week, Brey said Ardoin believed from the beginning that a new election amending Lafayette's home rule charter "is the best way and potentially the only way to fix the errors. He still stands by that. That was his opinion then and he still believes that." Top stories in Acadiana in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Lafayette council snubs AG opinion, adopts ordinance to fix precincts The Lafayette City-Parish Council took the advice of its attorneys over that of the Louisiana Attorney General's Office on Tuesday in approvin In March, the council voted 5-4 to make the precinct corrections by council ordinance, which is what a legal team of four city-parish attorneys recommended in an 11-page memo. The Louisiana Attorney General's Office disagreed, saying in a two-page opinion that a new vote of residents is needed. City-Parish attorney Paul Escott said the attorney general's opinion is just another legal opinion with no more weight than the city-parish legal team's opinion. Kishbaugh's lawsuit seeks an injunction to stop officials from correcting the precinct errors with a council ordinance. He argues through Lafayette attorney Lane Roy that a charter amendment is required to correct the precincts and the only way to amend the charter is with a vote of the public. Kishbaugh, who plans to run for the new parish council, said he ultimately wants a re-vote on the Dec. 8 charter amendment splitting the councils. He said he wants the single council to remain in place. "I think a lot of the folks fighting this thing are people who didn't want this to pass and are looking for a way to undermine the will of voters," said Kevin Blanchard, of Fix the Charter. "There's no other logical conclusion." Is a vote of the people required for changes to Lafayette districts, voter precincts? AG to advise A state senator has asked for a Louisiana Attorney General opinion on whether the Lafayette City-Parish Council can change new city and parish Qualifying for the new city and parish council seats begins Aug. 6. The precincts and council districts must be defined properly by that time so candidates can qualify in the proper districts. If that deadline is missed or if a judge rules that the charter amendment must return to the ballot, the new city and parish council elections most likely would be postponed until 2020. If the judge orders the charter amendment returned to the ballot, it doesn't appear that can happen until after Dec. 8, 2019, because the home rule charter prohibits the same measure from returning to voters for a full year. In that case, council elections would be pushed back to 2020 and the current council terms likely would be extended until a new council or councils are elected and seated. Blanchard, an attorney, said he doesn't think the judge will throw out results of the Dec. 8 election. "At the end of the day," he said, "voters have already spoken, and we don't live in a country that throws out election results based on frivolous" claims. Voter turnout for the Dec. 8 election was about 22 percent. The vote was 53 percent in favor of the amendment and 47 percent against. After months of blocking state revenue forecasts, Louisiana House Speaker Taylor Barras finally agreed Wednesday to recognize additional dollars, resolving one of the most significant disputes of the Legislative session and allowing lawmakers to formally craft a budget. Barras, R-New Iberia, joined the other three members of the Revenue Estimating Conference in voting to recognize an additional $110 million in state general fund dollars for the current fiscal year, and another $119 million for next fiscal year's budget, which begins July 1. All four members of the REC must unanimously approve the amount of money the state has available to spend. The vote came after Barras and House Republicans spent months blocking the panel from recognizing additional revenue, citing uncertainty over how much the state would collect in taxes. Barras, who had met with Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards a day before the vote, said he still had reservations about the estimates, but was worried the Legislature would not have enough time to pass a budget before the session ends June 6 if he did not vote to approve the revenue figures. Now, lawmakers will decide how exactly to spend that $119 million, in an election year during which legislators and the governor appear poised to give school teachers a pay raise. The House Appropriations Committee, where the state budget must start in the legislative process, has been holding budget hearings based on last years revenue estimates, in the absence of an updated forecast. The $119 million is expected to be added into House Bill 105, the spending measure proposed by Appropriations Committee Chairman Cameron Henry, R-Metairie. The $119 million represents a slightly smaller funding increase than Gov. John Bel Edwards budget proposal, which fully funded TOPS, added money to higher education and gave more money to the Department of Children and Family Services. Barras said he hopes lawmakers will not spend all of the increased revenue. Still, the states fiscal picture going into the budget process looks dramatically different from previous years, when the Legislature was routinely faced with potentially devastating cuts to state services. Youre talking about a $19 million difference, Edwards said in an interview after rallying with several hundred college students on the front lawn of the State Capitol. That is extremely manageable. Weve been talking about fiscal cliffs and budget deficits in the hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. Edwards said he plans to protect the increased funding in higher education, as well as the popular TOPS tuition program, as the budget works its way through the Capitol. The Taylor Opportunity Program for Students program has a slightly larger gap in funding, $12.3 million, than originally anticipated, something the governor said he is working to fill. A raise for school teachers appears likely to survive the process. The governor and lawmakers from both parties have backed it, and Henry included it in his budget proposal even before the Revenue Estimating Conference recognized new money. After the Revenue Estimating Conference vote, Barras said he still had reservations about the forecasts because the state doesn't yet know how much personal and corporate income tax will be collected. "Ive been accused of ignoring the economists views and I dont want to do that unnecessarily," Barras said. "These are as close as we can get ... I've pushed for the more conservative number all along and I'm going to ask we do it again today." If lawmakers had created a budget without an official revenue forecast, it could have created a "constitutional problem," said Senate President John Alario, the Westwego Republican who chairs the Revenue Estimating Conference. The scoop on state politics in your inbox Get the Louisiana politics insider details once a week from us. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up "Holding the revenue estimates this long was not good for planning overall in the state budget," Alario said. "Hopefully we'll get back on track." The Appropriations Committee has been holding budget hearings for Henry's House Bill 105 based on last years revenue estimates. Asked where hed like to see the money spent, Henry mentioned TOPS but said it will be up to the House and Senate to decide. Obviously theres an amendment process ... The bill always goes to conference, Henry said. So well have more than enough time to work with members, see where their priorities are and make things fit. Henry also suggested the state should use the additional money on one-time expenses instead of recurring expenses, in an effort to prepare for when part of the state sales tax falls off the books in several years. Edwards dismissed that idea, saying the economy is performing better than economists previously predicted, so that is exactly the time when you make net new investments in critical priorities. Lawmakers must also decide how to use the $110 million it now has in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30 something that will happen in a supplemental budget legislation. The estimate adopted by the REC actually included a larger increase in tax collections than the alternative forecast, but funneled less money into the state general fund because more was directed to areas of the budget that are protected by law, called statutory dedications. Barras said he thought it was a the more prudent option because dedicated funding doesn't create a deficit situation if estimates come in lower than anticipated. Alario, Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne and LSU economist James Richardson have for months tried to vote to recognize more revenue. Dardenne said funding teacher pay raises and putting additional money toward education is still at the top of the priority list, though he didnt say exactly where the rest of the administrations priorities rank with the new revenue figures. "Obviously, the top priority is what we put in there for teacher pay raise and (K-12 education)," Dardenne said. "That was the big new money addition that was in the budget. Were still focusing on making that happen. Two economists, one who works for the governor's administration and another who works for the Legislature, present revenue forecasts to the panel, which must agree unanimously to change revenue estimates. Both economists said the state's economy has grown, but that growth is expected to be "very modest," according to the Legislative Fiscal Office. LFO economist Greg Albrechts projections are the ones the REC adopted Wednesday. The administrations economist, Manfred Dix, said, The Louisiana economy is not completely firing off all cylinders, but it is increasing. The storm that hit the St. Amant area Sunday night, damaging homes, cars, boats and an above-ground swimming pool, was a light-to-moderate tornado with winds up to 90 mph, the National Weather Service determined Tuesday. Elsewhere, the Sunday evening storm front spun off two other light to moderate tornadoes, one in the New Orleans area and another in southwestern Mississippi just over the Louisiana state line, lead Weather Service forecaster Robert Ricks said. Weather Service field teams made the preliminary determination Tuesday about the tornado in St. Amant after touring damage sites from the line of severe thunderstorms that raked across southeast Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi and sparked a string of tornado warnings. The spring storms dropped several inches of rain and brought high winds that stripped roofs, downed trees and power lines, and smashed a mobile home. Phil Grigsby, a meteorologist with the NWS's Slidell office, said the tornado that hit St. Amant in the area of Rogers A, B and C roads off La. 22 was a low-level EF-1 twister, with winds ranging 70 to 90 mph. The Enhanced Fujita scale is the way meteorologists measure the strength of a tornado. Based on wind speed, the scale rates the strongest tornado as an EF-5, with winds of more than 200 mph. The St. Amant tornado's wind speeds are on the cusp of the EF-1 category, which the scale rates a moderate tornado. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up St. Amant firefighters said at least five homes were damaged by the tornado, which had a 1.8-mile-long, 50-yard-wide path through the southern Ascension community. The tornado passed between 7:44 and 7:47 p.m. Sunday, Ricks said. But other destruction along a damage path from Lemannville on the west bank of the Mississippi River in Ascension Parish to White Hall west of Lake Maurepas in Livingston Parish wasn't due to a tornado as originally suspected, but to powerful straight-line winds. The winds ranged from 60 to 70 mph, enough to knock down trees along their path. The storms also sparked a "downburst" of high winds south of Montpelier in St. Helena Parish about 8 p.m. Sunday. Moving across a path of about 350 yards, the winds reached up 85 mph and caused a broad area of damage along La. 441, uprooting trees, snapping power lines and causing roof damage to older mobile homes, the Weather Service said. With peak winds of 70 mph, an EF-0 twister snapped trees and took out power across a 2.6-mile path outside New Orleans shortly after 8:19 p.m Sunday. The tornado went through the west bank community of Avondale and then onto to the east bank through River Ridge and Mike Miley Playground in the Metairie-Kenner area. An EF-1 tornado hit a portion of Wilkinson County, Mississippi, south of Centreville, packing peak winds of 105 mph. The tornado tore across a 1.75-mile path shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday, wrapping a mobile home around a tree. No one was inside, a Weather Service report says. New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell, a Democrat, secretly slipped out of the city last week with 35 of her closest friends and headed to Cuba, ostensibly in an attempt to learn more about how communists do their thing in the small island nation. Cantrells not the first Louisiana politician to travel to Cuba while in office. Her predecessors, Ray Nagin, and Mitch Landrieu, both Democrats, visited Cuba while in office as mayor. So did former Gov. Kathleen Blanco, and current Gov. John Bel Edwards, also Democrats. Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture Mike Strain, a Republican, has also traveled to Cuba while in office. Cantrell does seem to be the first Louisiana politician traveling to Cuba hoping to implement some of the policies adopted by the communist country. She told Miami television station WPLG, she was in Cuba to learn more about health care issues and education. Our maternity mortality rates are up, and so we want and we know that we can learn directly from you [Cuba] as you activated community health care on the ground, the mayor said. +2 From Cuba, LaToya Cantrell talks about long-planned trip; here are details, background A long-planned trip aimed at strengthening the city's ties with Cuba has pulled New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell out of town this week. But does Cuba really have low maternity mortality rates? Its a communist country without a free press. Leaders can say just about anything and get away with it. Florida medical researcher Dr. Juan Felipe Garcia recently interviewed several doctors who defected from Cuba. He discovered the communist government pressured them to lie about the ages of the children who died. The official Cuban infant-mortality figure is a farce. Cuban pediatricians constantly falsify figures for the regime. If an infant dies during its first year, the doctors often report he was older. Otherwise, such lapses could cost him severe penalties and even his job, wrote Garcia. And what would Cantrell possibly hope to learn about education from communist Cuba, where teachers are underpaid and operate in dilapidated schools? The communist nation has had slower progress with education than most Latin American countries in the past 60 years, according to a recent United Nations committee report on education and science. The starry-eyed view Cantrell seems to have of communist Cuba requires she ignore the nations cruel, shameless and unapologetic suppression of free speech. Human Rights Watch reports the Cuban government continues to punish dissent and public criticism using repressive tactics such as beatings, imprisonment, public shaming, travel restrictions and termination of employment. Luis Almagro, secretary-general of the Organization of American States, describes communist Cuba as a country with total control of public and private life by a totalitarian and corrupt state. The Castro revolution in its six decades has never allowed Cuban men and women to think, choose, and decide freely. The most basic individual freedom is nonexistent on the island," said Almagro. And according to the U.S. State Department, communist Cuba is responsible for much of the suffering currently in Venezuela. "Cuba is the true imperialist power in Venezuela," said U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. "No nation has done more to sustain the death and daily misery of ordinary Venezuelans, including Venezuela's military and their families than the communists in Havana," said Pompeo. This is the country Cantrell hopes to learn from? The mayor says she hopes to see firsthand how (Cubas) history has produced unique opportunities and challenges in the areas of economic development, trade, health care, and education and other quality of life issues. +2 Dan Fagan: Why not teach the Bible in Denham Springs High literature class? There is no book more influential in American culture than the Bible. Its by far the worlds all-time bestselling book. Close to 4 billion co New Orleans attorney George Fowler was 9 years old when Fidel Castro established his brutal communist regime in Cuba. Castros government would end up murdering more than 4,000 political dissidents over the years. Fortunately for Fowler, his family escaped to America. The notion that Cantrell is going to learn something in Cuba about economics is beyond absurd. Its totally ridiculous. Theres absolutely no reason to go to Cuba, Fowler told WWL-TV. If Cantrell wants to learn about Cuba, then she should travel to south Florida, where approximately 1.5 million Cuban exiles live after escaping communism. Most of the Cuban refugees are passionately anti-communist and, not surprisingly, typically vote Republican. Cantrell would have heard a very different story from Cuban exiles in south Florida than the spin she got this past week from the communist tyrants controlling Havana. Email Dan Fagan at faganshow@gmail.com. Twitter: @DanFaganShow. Im a small-government guy. The way that Ralph Abraham, physician and pilot from north Louisiana, drawled out that statement, it sounded lik The advisory board of the Louisiana Center for Women in Government and Business met March 20 at Dooky Chase restaurant to finalize plans for the Louisiana Girls Leadership Academy. "Light the Torch and Lead," for girls entering grades nine through 12, will be June 9-12 at Nicholls State University, with emphasis on communication, building relationships and public service. For information, visit www.louisianawomen.org or call (985) 448-4770. The corporate watchdog is investigating ASX listed finance provider FlexiGroup over its role in an alleged TV financing scam targeting small businesses. The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) referred FlexiGroup to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) under its obligation to report systemic and serious contraventions of financial services laws following an investigation by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. ASIC is investigating FlexiGroup. Credit:Jim Rice Thousands of small businesses around Australia have been caught up in the alleged scam which involved paying $430 to Viewble Media and its associated business, the Shoppers Network, for a television set which was to display advertising of other small businesses for which payment would be provided. However, many small businesses have received no payment for the advertising. Treasury and the Reserve Bank have warned falling house prices are "sagging" the economy, as languid household consumption forms the sharpest domestic threat just days out from the start of the federal election campaign. Both parties will enter the election promising to provide relief from cost-of-living pressures through billions of dollars in tax cuts and offsets. Scott Morrison begins the federal election campaign facing economic challenges. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Buoyed by the prospect of tax relief, consumers have picked up their confidence, delivering a budget bounce to the Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index on Wednesday. It rose by 1.9 per cent to 100.7 in April, which means optimists marginally outnumber pessimists. "Sentiment over the course of the week showed a clear boost, with sentiment amongst those surveyed post-budget 7.7 per cent higher than sentiment amongst those surveyed pre-budget," said Westpac economist Bill Evans. A politically-engaged Gen Zer who has marched against Brexit has landed one of the most highly-anticipated roles in Netflix's hit show, The Crown. Emma Corrin, an up-and-coming actor with just over 2700 Instagram followers at time of writing, is set to play Lady Diana Spencer, the future Princess of Wales, in season four of the award-winning drama. Filming kicks off later this year, with Corrin playing the iconic royal from the age of 18 to 22. The announcement means the major roles for the next two instalments of The Crown - which holds the title as one of the most expensive television shows ever made, with a budget of around $17.5 million per episode for the first two seasons - are now locked in. Seasons one and two, starring Claire Foy and Matt Smith, explored the life of Queen Elizabeth II from her 1947 wedding until the 1960s. There was trouble at my daughters day care. An app, which allows parents access to photos and updates of their children throughout the day, had a bug. There would need to be a new app. The length of time between apps could be days, even weeks. Panic quickly spread through the centre. The carers were anxious about the app gap, sending out email reminders, admonishing parents like me, I confess for not signing the permission slip for the new app on the due date. (I was late because my son had just started school, which was its own circus: over an hour of homework every night, the emails, and, of course, his own app.) The joys, but also the heavy weight of responsibility, now often falls upon parents alone. Credit:Shutterstock The New York Times labels it the relentlessness of modern parenting; the idea that raising a child is now more intense, more time-consuming, and therefore more draining than its ever been. Credit:Matt Golding Forget a new cupola and columns for the St Georges Road pile, the time is nigh for a bid on some fine local artisans and how they have delivered. More than $1.5 million of Sidney Nolans, never before seen, are on the auction block courtesy of the late Lady Mary Nolan, the artists third wife, come June and a mammoth Bonhams auction. Mary Nolan, who was sister to artist Arthur Boyd, was married to Nolan until his death in 1992, and won control of his artworks in 2004. She also happened to be the subject of the artists feud with Nobel Prize winning author Patrick White, which broke out when White criticised Nolan in his memoir Flaws in the Glass for wasting no time when his second wife Cynthia passed away. A ghost hunter who abused and threatened Virgin airline workers over the phone has used medical complications associated with his weight to avoid time behind bars. Paranormal investigator Kade Jones, 49, pleaded guilty in the Brisbane District Court on Wednesday to two counts of using a carriage service to harass. Self-confessed paranormal investigator Kade Jones. Credit:Facebook/Kade Jones In June 2017, he abused and threatened staff at the airline, leaving them feeling scared, belittled, upset and degraded. Commonwealth prosecutor Sam Hill told the court Jones taunted a call service operator from Manilla in the Philippines and threatened a Brisbane operator with legal action after he was transferred through to her. Queensland Healths director-general has stepped in to overturn a directive from a hospital south of Brisbane to turn away patients due to overcrowding. A memo was issued to staff at Logan Hosptials emergency department as well as ambulance officers instructing them to wait outside the hospital if all nine of the allocated waiting bays were full. Queensland Health boss Michael Walsh has overturned a directive for ambulances to hold patients outside Logan Hospital until they can be admitted to the emergency department Credit:Facebook That practice is called ramping and has been the focus of major criticism from both sides of politics in recent years, leading to a move away from using the method. Queensland Health boss Michael Walsh said he stepped in and overturned the memo when it was brought to his attention on Wednesday. John became enthusiastically involved in the establishment of several scientific and professional organisations that examined the interaction between dentistry and the law, including the International Association for Craniofacial Identification (IACI), the International Dental Ethics and Law Society (IDEALS), and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. He held the inaugural chair for forensic odontology at the University of Melbourne since 1999 and was former deputy head of the dental school. John was a highly successful and productive research scientist, conducting interdisciplinary and innovative research, often with collaborators from all over the world. The research database "Web of Science" shows nearly 250 contributions from John and his co-workers to the scientific literature, and he also wrote many academic books and book chapters throughout his career. The topics of his research ranged from forensics and victim identification, to anthropology, human rights and hard tissue biology. John was a passionate and considerate mentor and teacher, and he used his position to support promising researchers. In particular, he advocated for women and those from overseas in the academic environment during a time when they were few and often excluded from opportunities granted to others. His vast network of friends and collaborators fortified his lifelong curiosity about the world and enabled him to travel far and wide. John was a great traveller, but he held a particular fondness for the Australian outback and Japan. He made many long and close friendships during a 30-year working relationship with associates in Japan, first at the Tsurumi University School of Dental Medicine (TUSDM) and the National Research Institute of Police Science (NRIPS), the Japanese national centre for training and research in forensic science. John found the opportunity to visit Arnhem Land and forge a connection with the Ngukurr community through a contact at his daughter's school, Simon Normand. He was a great lover of the outdoors and camping with a real desire and ability to connect with people. John's first big trip "up north" happened in 2002. During this two-month adventure, John spent time in Ngukurr and surrounds along with his wife and youngest daughter. His connection to the community was strong, and his warmth and compassion were reciprocated with Maureen Thompson, a local respected elder of the Alawa and Mara tribes, giving him a skin name and "adopting" him as her grandson. When Maria was still an adolescent her father died of typhoid. Despite being separated from her mother for stretches of time, somehow both mother and daughter survived the war. Maria was 11 when World War II came to Poland. Her father, who had read Mein Kampf, realised that life as they knew it in Lodz would no longer be possible, so the family left Poland and travelled progressively further into the Soviet Union. Maria would recall that as a teenager living in the Soviet Union, towards the end of the war she heard an announcement about the German Army's practice of putting people in trucks with their exhausts turned inward. Later, she would say: 'It never occurred to me that this might be my family." After the war, Maria and her mother returned to Poland to see if any of their relatives had survived. Her mother had been one of seven siblings, her youngest brother who had been imprisoned in Auschwitz, was the only sibling to survive the war. The only other surviving family member on her mother's side was a nephew who had been in Soviet camps for much of the war, and who credited his survival to the food parcels that Maria's mother had sent him. Maria studied medicine in Lodz and specialised in paediatrics. She met Ignacy, who was a filmmaker in Lodz, and they married in 1954. Their daughter, June, was born in 1956. Realising that antisemitism was still rife in Poland, they decided to leave, ultimately arriving in Melbourne by boat in 1958. Their second daughter, Ann, was born in Melbourne in 1959. In the early 1960s Maria re-trained for her medical degree at the University of Melbourne and became a GP. Her medical practice mainly served the immigrant community. In 1964, Ignacy, or Jack as he was now known, died suddenly of a heart attack and Maria's life was once again thrown into turmoil. Maria redoubled her focus on her medical practice. Despite facing discrimination on the basis of her gender, she was an old-school family doctor. She had an unflinching work ethic and her compassionate nature meant that she would never have considered the contemporary practice of timed consultations. She worked seven days a week and attended numerous house calls most evenings. Maria had no administrative help other than from her immediate family. Her proficiency in Polish and Russian meant that she was an essential support to many, especially when the wave of Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union came to Melbourne in the 1970s. Daniel Andrews talks to the media before the Change the Rules union rally. Credit:Justin McManus Premier Daniel Andrews says the objectives of Wednesday's massive union rally in Melbourne's CBD are more important than any disruption caused by the huge march. The Labor leader joined roughly 100,000 people for the 'Change the Rules' demonstration, which began outside Trades Hall in Carlton about 10am and shut down several streets and caused significant disruptions to traffic, trams and buses. More than 100,000 people turned up to the march. Credit:Justin McManus Mr Andrews said he expected some criticism of his presence at the march but he was proud to campaign for a better deal for workers. Melbournes Holocaust museum and a childrens specialist education school will receive federal government funding boosts, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has announced. The Jewish Holocaust Centre in Elsternwick, in the city's south-east, will get $10 million to enhance its current exhibition of 1300 local survivor testimonies and 20,000 artefacts. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has announced funding boosts for two Melbourne institutions. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen About 23,000 Victorian school students visit the museum the first of its kind in Australia - annually, and museum director Jayne Josem said the funding would put towards doubling the number of students that can be hosted. We will be able to develop new resources for teachers to help them meet the challenges around this daunting subject, ensuring it is taught both accurately and safely, said Ms Josem. Hmm, don't the polls point to Labor winning? The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald-Ispsos poll has had Labor ahead in every survey taken since the 2016 election. But as politicians like to remind us, the "only poll that matters is on election day". The general election will also tease out different issues and contests, depending on the region and even the electorate. Where is the election likely to be won and lost? There will be plenty of attention given to Queensland where there are five seats held on a margin of one per cent or less, and many other seats in play. This includes Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton's Brisbane seat of Dickson, held on 1.7 per cent. The Townsville-based seat of Herbert is one that the Coalition is hopeful of winning back from Labor and where the battle is expected to be fierce. The Brisbane seat of Ryan (held by the LNP on a margin of 9 per cent) could see an upset for the LNP. In NSW, Labor is considered a strong chance of picking up Robertson on the Central Coast (held by the Coalition on 1.1 per cent), Gilmore on the South Coast (0.7 per cent) and Reid in western Sydney (4.7 per cent). The Liberals think they have a shot at taking Lindsay off Labor (held on 1.1 per cent and where sitting MP Emma Husar is not recontesting in controversial circumstances) and there is also talk about the Central Coast seat of Dobell (4.8 per cent). But the headline contests will be in Sydney's Warringah where Tony Abbott is being challenged by independent Zali Steggall, and Wentworth, where there will be a rematch between independent Kerryn Phelps and Liberal candidate Dave Sharma. Loading Liberals have been particularly nervous about Victoria after a disastrous showing for the party in the 2018 state election. Coalition MPs feeling the pressure include frontbencher Sarah Henderson whose marginal seat of Corangamite is now nominally a Labor seat (on 0.03 per cent), thanks to a redistribution. Former Liberal MP-turned- independent Julia Banks will challenge Health Minister Greg Hunt in Flinders and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg faces challenges from the Greens and independent Oliver Yates in Kooyong. Outside of Melbourne, there will be interest in Indi. With Cathy McGowan retiring and lesser known local Helen Haines seeking to take her place as the local independent, the Nationals see an opportunity. In South Australia, the Adelaide seat of Boothby is the main game for Labor, where Liberal MP Nicolle Flint has a margin of just 2.7 per cent. In Mayo, Liberal candidate Georgina Downer is having another crack at the seat her father Alexander once held. Centre Alliance's Rebekha Sharkie is the sitting member and will have other ideas. The last-minute retirement of Defence Minister Christopher Pyne in Sturt makes this inner-metropolitan seat, held by the Liberals on 5.4 per cent, much more interesting. In Western Australia, minister and first lower house Indigenous MP Ken Wyatt is in trouble in Hasluck, which he holds on 2.1 per cent. Labor is also seen as a chance to pick up Attorney-General Christian Porter's seat of Pearce (3.6 per cent), retiring frontbencher Michael Keenan's seat of Stirling (6.1 per cent), high-profile conservative Andrew Hastie's seat of Canning (6.8 per cent) and backbencher Steve Irons' seat of Swan (3.6 per cent). In Tasmania, Labor and independent Andrew Wilkie currently hold all five of the state's lower house seats but there can be no complacency for the ALP here. The Liberal Party is seen as a chance in Bass (5.4 per cent), Braddon (1.7 per cent) and Lyons (3.8 per cent). What's going to happen with the Senate? A poll of more than 2000 people by the Australia Institute in March suggested Labor and the Greens would come out of the election with as many as 38 upper house seats. This would be enough to block legislation but short of the 39 votes needed to pass it. The Coalition is predicted to secure between 30 and 32 seats. The new Senate will begin from July 1, 2019. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The polling also suggests One Nation is a chance to pick up extra senators in NSW, Queensland and Western Australia. In Tasmania, independent Jacqui Lambie may get another ticket to the Senate where Tasmanian independent, fisherman Craig Garland is also a chance. In South Australia a tough fight between the Centre Alliance's Skye Kakoschke-Moore, the Greens' Sarah Hanson-Young, One Nation and the Liberal Party for the final spots is predicted. What issues will politicians be talking about? The Coalition plans to springboard from the budget into the election campaign, so expect lots of talk about economic management, including attacks on Labor's plans to overhaul negative gearing and franking credits. The Prime Minister's enthusiastic chat about "congestion busting" also suggests that infrastructure will figure prominently. Labor is expected to argue its proposed tax changes will boost fairness, while campaigning on an increase to the minimum wage and talking up its action on climate change. It will also focus on its plans to cut the costs of cancer treatment. What do voters care about? It depends a bit on where they are. In regional Queensland, for example, amid concerns about jobs, there is strong support for the Adani mine to go ahead. In metropolitan Brisbane, there is concern about climate change and opposition to coal-fired power. The axing of Malcolm Turnbull and the influence of the right wing within the Liberal Party is predicted to hurt the government in inner metropolitan seats in Sydney and Melbourne, but the leadership change to Scott Morrison is also seen to be helping the LNP in Queensland. Western Australian Liberal voters are understood to be annoyed that Julie Bishop was passed over for prime minister, while regional Nationals voters are angry about water management in the middle of a drought. As one political analyst recently observed of the diversity of issues in play in 2019: "Every election is special but some are more special". What's at stake for Morrison and Shorten? For Bill Shorten, it is the Lodge or bust. He has been opposition leader for more than five years now and this will be his second election as Labor leader. If the ALP loses the election, there will be an automatic leadership ballot. Expect deputy leader Tanya Plibersek, Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen to be putting up their hands in this scenario. Scott Morrison's fate is slightly less clear. If the Coalition loses but the loss is close (and not as devastating as some polls have predicted) he may be able to hang on to the Liberal leadership. He could reasonably argue he had not been in the job long. But if Morrison is strongly implicated in a Coalition loss, then Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, Peter Dutton and Tony Abbott would all have hopes to succeed him (provided they win their seats, of course). Who's is charge of the country now? After the Prime Minister calls an election, the Governor-General needs to issue the "writ" for the House of Representatives. This is the authority for an election to be held and sets out the date when it will happen. The state governors issue the writs for Senate elections in each state. The government then enters "caretaker period", which is a convention that means no major policy decisions will be made until the election is held and a new prime minister is sworn in. He said the Liberal Party had changed its leadership rules, just as Labor had done to ensure no change in the Prime Minister in mid-term. "So it is crystal clear, at this election, it is a choice between me as prime minister and Bill Shorten as prime minister. You vote for me, you'll get me. You vote for Bill Shorten and you'll get Bill Shorten," Mr Morrison said. Schools, hospitals, medicines and roads would be "guaranteed" by a stronger economy under the Coalition without increasing taxes, the Prime Minister said at the press conference that also reprised one of the Liberal Party's most effective election rallying cries. "The choice to be made by Australians on 18 May is like it always is at every election, and that is: who do you trust to deliver that strong economy which your essential services rely on?" he said, in an argument also put by former prime minister John Howard when he called the 2004 election. Prime Minister Scott Morrison departs Government House after meeting with Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove to ask for Parliament to be dissolved and the writs issued for an election. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen "Who do you trust to deliver the strong economy and the budget management that these services can be funded, that the business that you work for will be there in three years, in five years, in ten years?" Mr Morrison repeatedly emphasised the contrast between the government and Labor on taxes, given Mr Shorten goes to the election with more than $200 billion in higher taxes over a decade because of his negative gearing, dividend imputation and family trust policies as well as his rejection of the government's personal income tax cuts. "You will have a choice between a government that is lowering taxes, for all Australians, or Bill Shorten's Labor Party that will impose higher taxes that will weigh down our economy," Mr Morrison said. "It's taken us more than five years to turn around Labor's budget mess. Now is not the time to turn back." Loading Mr Shorten sought to tap into voter discontent with the division within the Coalition including the removal of Malcolm Turnbull last August. "If you are dissatisfied with the last six years, if you want better than the last six years, if you want a fair go for all Australians, if you want a government who is united and not constantly trying to tear each other down, then vote Labor on May 18," he said. Mr Shorten said the "case to vote Labor" was founded on its plans to deliver more jobs, better health and better education policies, as well as action on climate change and measures to drive energy prices down. "We'll get on top of cost of living burdens and we'll get wages moving again in this country," he said. "We can manage the economy in the interests of working and middle class people." The five-week campaign began soon after Mr Morrison visited Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove in Canberra just before 7am on Thursday to set the polling date and seek the dissolution of Parliament. The decision gives Australians about one week to enrol to vote or update their enrolments at the Australian Electoral Commission if they need to do so. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has urged voters to remove the government after six years of instability - including three prime ministers. The Coalition goes into the campaign behind Labor in the opinion polls and the betting markets after two terms in office under Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Mr Morrison. Prime Minister Scott Morrison leaves Government House on Thursday morning. Credit:AAP Labor has held a lead over the Coalition in the polls for more than two and a half years, with this weeks Ipsos survey putting it ahead by 53 to 47 per cent in two-party terms. While the government won 76 seats at the last election and held a narrow majority through much of the last term, it lost the seat of Wentworth after Mr Turnbull resigned and lost another member when Julia Banks quit the Liberals to sit as an independent. ABC election analyst Antony Green estimates the government goes to the election with 73 seats following a redistribution in Victoria. Mr Green estimates Labor has 72 seats as a result of the redistribution, a significant gain on the 69 seats it won at the last election. There are six independents seeking re-election. The House of Representatives has been increased from 150 to 151 seats since the last election. Australians are likely to have about one week to enrol to vote or update their enrolments. Early voting opens about two weeks after the writs are issued. Loading A Labor government would attempt to force its tax agenda, including a plan to hit high-income earners with a new deficit repair levy, through Parliament before a potentially hostile new Senate is installed in July. Putting itself on a possible collision course with the current Senate, shadow treasurer Chris Bowen has confirmed a series of start dates for Labor's ambitious tax agenda, with many proposals due to kick in from July 1 just six weeks after the expected election on May 18. Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer The deficit repair levy on Australians earning more than $180,000 a year, a minimum 30 per cent tax rate on distributions from discretionary trusts, and an overhaul of franking credits are among the tax proposals needing parliamentary approval. Changes to the low and middle-income tax offset announced in last week's budget also need to be made law before the end of the financial year, with the Australian Taxation Office confirming the laws need to be in place as soon as practicable if people are to receive the $1080 rebate from July 1. The National Tertiary Education Union has launched a legal bid to prevent the University of Wollongong's deal with the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation going ahead after it was fast-tracked by the vice-chancellor. The union lodged a claim in the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking to overturn the university's approval of a controversial bachelor of arts in Western civilisation, arguing the process was invalid. Ramsay Centre chief executive Simon Haines and University of Wollongong vice-chancellor Professor Paul Wellings. In December, UOW vice-chancellor Paul Wellings bypassed the university's academic senate, which ordinarily approves new degrees, to fast-track approval of the Ramsay deal. The vice-chancellor has the power to fast-track programs in certain circumstances but the procedure has not previously been used with an entirely new degree. They included organic, gluten-free and eco-friendly products, namely organic rice, rice vermicelli, rice noodles, and rice paper, along with straws made from rice flour, cocoa powder, cocoa vinegar, raw cashew nuts, Minh Long ceramics, wooden toys, and decorations made of coconut shells and cinnamon bark. It was the second time the Embassy of Vietnam in New Zealand has set up a booth at the event, in cooperation with Integrity Plus Limited, which distributes Vietnamese products via the Foodstuffs North Island retail chain of New Zealand. As many as seven organic rice varieties of Vietnam have been put up for sale in the retail chain. On the occasion, the Vietnamese Embassy and Integrity Plus Limited held a workshop entitled Doing Business with Vietnam to promote investment in the Southeast Asian country. The US sent a fighter-jet-carrying warship to join drills near the disputed Scarborough Shoal for the first time, sending a pointed message to China as tensions simmer over territorial claims in the region. The flight deck crew secures an F-35B Lighting II aircraft aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp. Credit:US NAVY The USS Wasp -- an amphibious assault ship outfitted last year with F-35B jets -- joined the annual Exercise Balikatan with the Philippines this month. A ship matching the USS Wasp's description was spotted in waters "near the Scarborough Shoal," a feature occupied by China since a tense standoff in seven years ago, the Philippines' ABS-CBN News reported Tuesday. The USS Wasp didn't pass within 25 nautical miles of the shoal, according to a US defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The figure suggests that the ship wasn't conducting a so-called freedom of navigation operation, a practice criticised by China that the US uses to assert international sailing rights within 12 nautical miles of disputed features. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a briefing in Beijing on Wednesday that he hopes "non-regional forces don't stir up troubles in the South China Sea." Williamstown Select Board Makes Advisory Votes on Town Meeting Articles Jeffrey Thomas and Anne O'Connor participate in Monday's Select Board meeting. WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. The Select Board on Monday recommended passage of all but one of the articles on the warrant for May's annual town meeting. And the lone exception was an idea about which the board members expressed sympathy and an article whose author agreed likely needs amendment before it goes to a vote. The board unanimously voted in favor of all the town and school spending articles, which have been reviewed and approved by the town's Finance Committee throughout the winter and spring. The bottom line of the budget shows an estimated property tax increase of 44 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, a rise of 2.45 percent, Town Manager Jason Hoch told the board on Monday. That includes a 34.4 percent bump in the town's assessment from the Northern Berkshire Vocational Regional School District. That increase of just less than $83,000, to $323,311,reflects a 33 percent increase in enrollment of town residents at McCann Tech, from 15 last year to 20 in the 2019-20 academic year. Williamstown voters also will be asked at the May 21 town meeting to approve a 2.6 percent increase in the town's assessment f rom the Mount Greylock Regional School District from $11.8 million in fiscal 2019 to $12.1 million for FY20. Much of that is because of the state funding formula, which this year changed the relative positions of Williamstown and Lanesborough with regard to each town's minimum local contribution to the middle-high school. In addition to its unanimous votes on the town and school spending items, the Select Board voted 5-0 what promises to be one of most contentious items to go to town residents at May's meeting: a Planning Board proposal to amend the zoning bylaw with respect to detached accessory dwelling units. Monday's advisory votes came after the Select Board heard two more appeals from residents who have been consistent critics of the Planning Board's draft bylaw. Dante Birch, who is running for Planning Board in the May 14 town election, told the Select Board that any new detached ADUs should be allowed only by special permit. Birch said that review by the Zoning Board of Appeals is a right for neighbors to potential projects who do not want to see the character of their neighborhood changed. Roger Lawrence told the Select Board that the absence of an "owner-occupied" provision in the detached ADU bylaw is a "deal breaker" that should and would prevent the proposed bylaw from getting the two-thirds supermajority it needs to pass at town meeting. Lawrence implied that the Planning Board had turned a deaf ear to residents like himself who repeatedly argued from the floor of board meetings about the need to require owner occupation for anyone looking to add a second or third dwelling unit on a residential property. "That's the one thing the audience was pretty universal about throughout the entire winter," Lawrence said. "They don't want outside investors to have the right to come to Williamstown and convert one-family dwellings to three-family dwellings." A handful of proponents of the "owner-occupied" clause have been the loudest and most consistent contributors from the floor of the Planning Board's meetings; and the issue drove one member of the five-person board to vote against recommending the proposal to town meeting. But at a January, information session at Williamstown Elementary School that drew the largest crowd the planners saw this year, the room was more split with several residents expressing support for the bylaw as drafted. Select Board member Jeffrey Thomas asked Lawrence whether he thought homeowners are more important to the community than renters. "What's the problem with more rental units?" Thomas asked. "I think it's a good thing to have mix of owners and renters. "Agreed," Lawrence replied. "I'd like us to add renters and not lose full-time homeowners so we get both. I think we can have both of them." Lawrence also criticized a compromise measure the Planning Board added to the bylaw at its last meeting. Responding to fears expressed by some about "outsiders" tripling the number of dwelling units on a lot, the Planning Board amended its proposal to allow one ADU (internal to the existing home or detached) and a second ADU (i.e., a third dwelling unit) only after five years have passed since the first ADU is created. "So if one year you made a duplex, you'd have to wait five years to do the detached or vice versa," Planning Board member Stephanie Boyd said. Lawrence later said that while his first response to the five-year moratorium was positive, he later decided the "11th hour" change likely will be rejected by the Attorney General's Office (which reviews all bylaws passed town meetings) because Lawrence can't find a precedent for it. Hoch advised the Select Board that there is no reason to assume the five-year provision won't pass muster. "Unless Mr. Lawrence has a pipeline to the attorney general that we're not aware of, these [bylaws] have all been vetted by town counsel," Hoch said. "I don't think it's fair to make this assertion unless there is specific knowledge from the speaker having talked to the Attorney General's Office." Select Board Chair Anne O'Connor used the discussion on the zoning bylaw proposals to remind the audience and anyone watching on the town's community access television station, Willinet, that Town Moderator Adam Filson request that any planned amendments to town meeting articles be submitted in writing, preferably before the meeting begins. Hoch offered any residents with ideas for amendments to bring them to town hall well before the May 21 meeting so they can be reviewed by staff and town counsel. "Even if I disagree with the proposed amendment," Hoch said. "There's nothing worse than writing on the fly [at town meeting] and having town counsel sitting there trying to review it. On any article you're thinking to amend, talk to us in advance. We're here to help you with that. "Even if your article is to get rid of the town manager," Hoch joked. "I may be against it. Or I may be grateful for it." The other zoning bylaw on the warrant would allow more homeowners to convert single-family homes to two-family homes, eliminating a quirk in the bylaw that allows anyone to buy an existing home, tear it down and build a new duplex by right but prohibits subdivision of the same existing home if the proposed second unit is more than 900 square feet. That article, which precedes the detached ADU article on the warrant, has the unanimous support of the Planning Board and received a 5-0 advisory vote from the Select Board on Monday. The Select Board split on several of the warrant articles related to expenditures of Community Preservation Act funds. Thomas opened the discussion of nine CPA proposals by expressing a general objection to the process, specifically calling out a requests related to the town's Affordable Housing Trust, which is seeking $75,000 to support its own efforts and supporting a $70,000 ask from Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity to build two homes on a Cole Avenue parcel the Trust previously purchased with CPA funds. "I was disappointed the [Community Preservation Committee] recommended everything that was proposed to it," Thomas said. "I'd like to vote in a way to encourage some examination and consideration of how we use CPA monies. "I'm a huge supporter of affordable housing. I think there are ways to achieve it, some better than others. I think [the AHT's] Mortgage Assistance Program I like the spirit of the idea. On the other hand it's forced philanthropy. And I'm not comfortable with it. Also, it's not increasing the affordable housing stock." Thomas ended up abstaining on the AHT and Habitat for Humanity articles and a request for funds to repair and preserve the 1753 House on Field Park. Thomas voted against two articles: a request from the Williamstown Historical Museum for funds to preserve historic documents from the late 18th Century and a request from Hoch to preserve an architectural rendering of a proposed town facility from the 1920s. The WHM article passed, 4-1. Select Board member Andy Hogeland joined Thomas in voting against the architectural rendering restoration. Thomas joined his colleagues on unanimous votes in favor of a $200,000 ask from Berkshire Housing Development Corp. to support the creation of affordable housing at 330 Cole Ave. (the former Photech site) and asks from the Friends of Linear Park to support the installation of playground equipment at the park off Water Street and the Hoosic River Watershed Association to support the creation of a trail to link both ends of Linear Park. Thomas joined in a 4-0-1 vote in favor of a request from the Sand Springs Recreation Center for $34,800 to install a lift that will make the second floor of the center's building handicapped accessible. The center had been awarded funds for the same project at a previous town meeting but did not end up using the appropriation because the amount it asked for was insufficient to complete the project. This year, Sand Springs came back with a firmer estimate of the cost. O'Connor expressed misgivings about the request for the capital improvement at Sand Springs and abstained from the ultimate vote. Patton, formerly a member of the Sand Springs board and currently a member of the CPC, defended the request. She argued that opening up the space on the second floor will help make Sand Springs more economically viable. "Imagine a scenario where you want to book a child's party, and it's really horrible, rainy weather," Patton said. "It's impossible [now] to offer folks a guaranteed contingency plan on that site if that turns out to be the case. "If we don't want nonprofits to come back to the well and have forced philanthropy' and all those things, this is an effort to shore this place up and create a scenario where they can bring in more revenue. This, along with everything else, is designed to create more opportunities for revenue to enable them to come back to the town as infrequently as possible." The Select Board decided Monday not to take an advisory vote on one article on the town meeting warrant: a proposal initiated by citizen's petition to have the select board create an exploratory committee to look at instituting ranked choice voting in the town. The progressive electoral scheme is seen as a way to encourage more civil dialogue and less partisanship in society, and there is a movement afoot on Beacon Hill to follow Maine's example by implementing the procedure statewide. One of the article's authors, Alexander Davis, appeared before the board Monday to discuss the issue, and he admitted that the article as written has issues, principally that it calls for the exploratory committee to be made up of people "disposed toward" to the very thing they're supposed to study. Members of the Select Board expressed support for the idea of looking at ranked choice voting, but given the article's current state and past expressions by some board members that the body shouldn't make advisory votes on any citizen's petition warrant articles no vote was taken on Monday. Lt. Jason Wood being sworn in as a permanent lieutenant earlier this year. Wood has been selected as the new police chief. Veteran City Officer Selected as New North Adams Police Chief NORTH ADAMS, Mass. A 16-year veteran of the police force and city native has been named as the new chief of police. Lt. Jason R. Wood was selected out of 40 candidates following a national search to replace retiring Police Chief Michael Cozzaglio. He will be the city's first new "police chief" in 38 years following the elimination of the public safety commissioner post. Mayor Thomas Bernard made his selection known early Wednesday morning. He said in a statement announcing his choice that he was looking for a leader with significant experience who understood collaboration and "a willingness to build and strengthen relationships with key community partners." "In Lieutenant Wood, the City of North Adams has a veteran officer who understands these challenges, and who is prepared to lead the department in addressing them," he wrote. "In speaking with him, the search committee and I found someone who is ready to lead and to innovate." Wood is a graduate of Drury High School and earned an associate's degree in criminal justice from Berkshire Community College. He joined the department in 2003 following completion of the Municipal Police Training Council academy. He has been a school resource officer and also created and managed the city's first Police K-9 division. He was appointed acting lieutenant in 2017, and was formally appointed to the role earlier this year. He also is a certified field training officer and a U.S. Department of Homeland Security-trained active shooter instructor. He has received crisis intervention training from NAMI of Berkshire County, earned multiple Incident Command System (ICS) certifications, participated in leadership training programs through Endicott College and the Municipal Police Institute, and attended sessions of the Advancing 21st Century Policing task force in Washington, D.C. Locally, Wood co-founded the Running With the Law youth fitness program in North Adams, and also served as a facilitator with the Northern Berkshire ROPES (Respecting Other People, Encouraging Self-esteem) program. He was one of three finalists who was interviewed by the mayor and a search committee two weeks and spoke with community members at a forum held at the UNO Center. Also under consideration had been Wayland Det. Sgt. Jamie D. Berger and Ridgefield, Conn., Capt. Bryan N. Terzian. "I am honored and humbled at the opportunity to lead the North Adams Police Department into the future. I look forward to building new connections throughout the community, as well as to strengthening already established relationships," Wood said in the statement. "I believe the North Adams Police Department and its staff have the potential to further their roles as agents of positive change within the community by deepening our existing practices and commitment while implementing proven new practices based on the best standards of our profession." Wood will succeed Cozzaglio who retired in February 2019 after more than 32 years of police service. He will be officially sworn in as police chief on May 1, 2019, with a public ceremony to follow on Friday, May 3. Story will be updated after a press avail this afternoon ... Abortion Clinic Buffer Zones Valid: Court The High Court has ruled safety buffer zones protecting women from harassment outside abortion clinics in Victoria and Tasmania are valid. Two anti-abortion activists asked the High Court whether laws creating a 150-metre buffer zone outside abortion clinics infringed on free speech after they were convicted and fined for protesting too close to clinics in Melbourne and Hobart. However, the court unanimously rejected their challenges to the laws on Wednesday. One of the activists, Kathleen Clubb, a mother of 13, was convicted of breaching Victorian law in 2016 and fined $5,000 after handing a pamphlet to a couple outside the East Melbourne clinic, within the safe access zone. The other, Queenslander John Preston, was convicted of three breaches of Tasmanian law in 2014 and 2015 and fined $3,000. The activists asked the court to review their convictions, arguing the safety zone laws breached the implied freedom of political communication in the Australian constitution. Prohibited behaviour inside a zone includes harassment and intimidation, communicating in a way that is reasonably likely to cause distress or anxiety, and filming without consent. The states say the laws are designed to protect the privacy, safety, dignity, and wellbeing of patients and staff. The Australian Christian Lobby branded the outcome disappointing for freedom of speech. The decision means that a simple act of communicationhanding a piece of paper to someoneis met with an extreme penalty. A criminal conviction is an outrageous punishment for such a simple and harmless act, the lobbys Martyn Iles said. Victoria introduced safe access zone laws in 2016, while Tasmania introduced them as part decriminalising abortion in 2013. NSW, the ACT, the Northern Territory, and Queensland also have safe access zone laws. By Melissa Iaria The first ever photograph of a black hole, released on April 10, 2019. (Event Horizon Telescope collaboration et al) Astronomers Release First Ever Photograph of Black Hole Astronomers have released the first ever photograph of a black hole. Scientists used a network of eight telescopes around the world to capture the image of a vast black hole located in a far-flung galaxy. Measuring 25 billion miles in diameter, the black hole is larger than our entire solar system. The much-anticipated breakthrough was announced March 10, in a series of six papers published in a special issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters. This is a huge day in astrophysics, said National Science Foundation Director France Cordova in a statement. Were seeing the unseeable. Black holes have sparked imaginations for decades. They have exotic properties and are mysterious to us. Yet with more observations like this one, they are yielding their secrets. The black hole is 55 million light-years from Earth and has a mass 6.5 billion times that of the sun. The image reveals the black hole at the center of Messier 87 [1], a massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster, said a statement from Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), the organization behind the project. Black holes are formed by the collapse of particularly massive stars, which generate a gravitational pull so strong that not even light can escape. This, combined with the fact that black holes are usually relatively small, makes viewing them very difficult. In the past, astrophysicists would infer their existence from the movement of other stars or planets. Rather than looking for the black hole itself, scientists looked for the telltale ring they produce. If immersed in a bright region, like a disc of glowing gas, we expect a black hole to create a dark region similar to a shadowsomething predicted by Einsteins general relativity that weve never seen before, explained EHT Science Council Chairman Heino Falcke of Radboud University, the Netherlands. This shadow, caused by the gravitational bending and capture of light by the event horizon, reveals a lot about the nature of these fascinating objects and allowed us to measure the enormous mass of M87s black hole. The ring-like structure in the image follows the predictions made by current theoretical understandings of black holes. Many of the features of the observed image match our theoretical understanding surprisingly well, remarked Paul T.P. Ho, EHT Board member and director of the East Asian Observatory. This makes us confident about the interpretation of our observations, including our estimation of the black holes mass. The project is named after the boundary of a black hole past which not even light can escapethe event horizon. One of the challenges the team had was to find a black hole large enough to be seen. Although black holes are formed from stars at least four times larger than our sun, once they collapse, they are tiny in comparison to most objects in space. The smallest known black hole is just 15 miles in diameter. The professor who proposed the experiment, Heino Falcke of Radboud University in the Netherlands, told BBC News that the black hole they selected was one of the heaviest black holes known to scientists. It is an absolute monster, the heavyweight champion of black holes in the Universe. The powerful nuclear reactions occurring inside stars keeps them from collapsing under their own gravitational pull. When that nuclear fuel runs out, they collapse in on themselves, which increases their density, and in turn, increases the gravitational force of the collapse. Attorney General Barr Says Trump Campaign Was Spied On Attorney General William Barr testified to Congress that he believes the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump was spied on. While there have been plenty of indicators that the Trump campaign was under surveillance, Barrs comments appear to be the closest to an official acknowledgment yet. During the April 10 hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Barr was asked about his intent to form a team to probe potential surveillance abuses against the Trump campaign. As I said in my confirmation hearing, I am going to be reviewing both the genesis and the conduct of intelligence activities directed at the Trump campaign during 2016. A lot of this has already been investigated, a substantial portion of it has been investigated and is being investigated by the Office of the Inspector General at the department, he said. But one of the things I want to do is pull together all the information from the various investigations that have gone on, including on the [Capitol] Hill and in the [Justice] Department, and see if there are any remaining questions to be addressed. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) responded, And can you share with us why you feel a need to do that? I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal, its a big deal, Barr said. The generation I grew up in, which is the Vietnam War period, people were all concerned about spying on anti-war people and so forth by the government and there were a lot of rules put in place to make sure that theres an adequate basis before our law enforcement agencies get involved in political surveillance. Im not suggesting that those rules were violated, but I think its important to look at that. And Im not talking about the FBI necessarily, but intelligence agencies more broadly. Shaheen continued, So youre not suggesting, though, that spying occurred? I think spying did occur. Yes, I think spying did occur, Barr said, followed by a moment of silence in the room. The question is whether it was predicated, adequately predicated, he continued. And Im not suggesting it wasnt adequately predicated, but I need to explore that. I think its my obligation. Later in the hearing, Barr elaborated, saying, I believe there is a basis for my concern, but Im not going to discuss the basis. Spygate Trump has long accused the administration of his predecessor, President Barack Obama, of spying on his campaign. Various FBI and Justice Department officials involved have resisted that characterization, saying that the counterintelligence probe, officially launched by the FBI on July 31, 2016, was only aimed at four Americans who were connected to the campaign. Barrs characterization appears to confirm that the campaign was indeed spied upon. The allegation that the surveillance was illegitimate, or at least politically motivated, is part of a broader set of allegations that have collectively come to be known as Spygate. Among indicators underlying the allegation is the fact that the FBI used the now-infamous Steele dossiera collection of unsubstantiated opposition research claiming Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 presidential electionto obtain a spying warrant on Trump campaign aide Carter Page. The dossier was paid for by the Democratic National Committee and the campaign of Trumps opponent in the election, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Moreover, Trump campaign aides including Page and George Papadopoulos were targeted by a series of meetings involving intelligence assets, such as de facto outed FBI informant Stefan Halper. Barr said potential spying violations can possibly result in prosecutions, but there can be abuses that may not rise to the level of a crime. He pushed against any characterizations of his efforts as targeting the FBI. This is not launching an investigation of the FBI, he said. To the extent there were any issues at the FBI, I do not view it as a problem thats endemic to the FBI. I think there was probably a failure among a group of leaders there at the upper echelons. Bipartisan House Bill Seeks to Stop Flow of Chinas Synthetic Opioids into US WASHINGTONReps. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) and Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) introduced the Fentanyl Sanctions Act on April 10, a bipartisan measure intended to force China to stem the flow of deadly, synthetic opioids being trafficked into the United States. Fentanyl, which is chemically similar to heroin but 50 times more powerful, is the main substance the measure targets because it was associated with more than 28,000 opioid overdose deaths in 2017, 40 percent of the 70,000-plus overdose deaths recorded that year. An estimated 80 percent of the drug that comes into the United States originates from China, according to a joint statement issued by Buchanan and Moulton. Chinese officials agreed on April 1 to clamp down on fentanyl trafficking. While China is the major source of fentanyl trafficking into the United States, significant amounts also come from Mexico and other countries. Fentanyl and other opioids have ravaged Florida communities and torn apart many families and lives, Buchanan said. While I welcome Chinas announcement that it will ban all forms of fentanyl, we must ensure that their words are followed through with meaningful action. I urge my colleagues to immediately approve this bipartisan bill to deliver another resource that could help combat the flow of opioids across our borders. Moulton added that [fentanyl] has become the leading illegal drug in the opioid crisis in our country, and its time we attack the source. While Chinas ban on producing fentanyl is a promising start, Congress should hold China to its word. This bill will target the fentanyl producers worldwide who profit from the overdose deaths happening in communities across our country, including Massachusetts, where fentanyl is the leading cause of opioid-overdose deaths. Congress must act quickly. Provisions of the measure include: Impose sanctions on China-based drug manufacturers that knowingly send synthetic opioids to drug traffickers and other criminal operations. Authorize $600 million in funding for law enforcement to combat the trafficking of opioids across the globe. Create a new federal commission to combat synthetic opioid trafficking that will include the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency and the secretaries of the departments of Homeland Security, Defense, Treasury, and State. Buchanan and Moulton are acutely aware of the seriousness of the fentanyl problem in their respective states, according to the joint statement. Synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, were responsible for the greatest increase in opioid deaths in Florida between 2012 and 2017. Its many spinoffs can be even more powerful, especially the elephant tranquilizer carfentanil, and they led to more deaths in Manatee County than any other county in Florida in 2016. Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, the opioid-overdose related death rate has tripled in four years from 691 to 1,990, and Fentanyl has overtaken prescription drugs and heroin as the leading cause of opioid-overdose deaths. A companion bill to the Buchanan/Moulton proposal was introduced on April 4 in the Senate, also with a bipartisan group of sponsors that includes Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). The flow of illicit fentanyl largely from China into the U.S. poses serious threats to our families, public health, economic vitality, and national security, Rubio said. With Florida suffering thousands of opioid-related deaths per year, we must do all we can to stop the opioid crisis sweeping across America and devastating our communities. This bipartisan effort to impose targeted sanctions on foreign illicit fentanyl manufacturers and traffickers makes clear that the U.S. will hold the Communist Chinese Government and other nations fully accountable when they turn a blind eye to international fentanyl trafficking. Boy Feels a Needle After Eating Burger, Undergoes Surgery to Remove Wire Brush Bristle The content is not available due to expiration. An anti-Brexit activist demonstrates near the Houses of Parliament in central London on March 27, 2019. (Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images) Brexit Fog Worse Than No-deal Risk: Belgian Port Chief ZEEBRUGGE, BelgiumUncertainty over Britains departure from the European Union is worse than the prospect of a no deal Brexit just days away, according to the head of the port of Zeebrugge. The Belgian port, half of whose cargo exports head to Britain, has hired more than 140 new customs officers and paved more than 500 new parking spots for trucks to ready itself a Britains crash out of the European Union, which could happen on April 12. The worst case scenario is already today, that we dont know what happens. It is always better to know what will happen when than not to know, Joachim Coens, the ports president, told Reuters, as fog shrouded ship movements around the docks. EU leaders will meet in Brussels on April 10 to discuss British Prime Minister Theresa Mays request for a Brexit extension until the end of June. Coens said the port had set up an online database to allow exporters to notify terminal operators of the arrival of their cargo in the port. Under a no deal exit, Britain would become a third country outside the European Union, requiring every product to be declared. The port has sent multiple warnings to companies trading with Britain via Zeebrugge, instructing them to have the necessary documents and comply with rules governing trade with third countries. However, this is a six-step process that can take more than 90 days to complete, so exporters due to ship after April 12 should have applied at the start of January to ensure their products move without delay. The port, north of the city of Bruges, plans to block exports without the correct documents. In the case of truck drivers, it will either tell them to park until the certification comes through or merely send them away. Coens said he was not sure many companies were prepared for a no-deal Brexit, but that he did not expect major chaos at the port if Britain crashes out. Many exporters would be forced to delay shipments until appropriate papers came through. The port chief said he expected 10-20 percent of planned exports arriving at the port would have problems in the case of a no-deal Brexit. Zeebrugge also handles around 1.1 million passengers per year, from cruise liners and a ferry to the English port of Hull. Belgium, with a small open economy and close ties to Britain, is expected to be among the EU members hardest hit by Brexit. Leuven University has estimated that a no-deal Brexit could lead to 28,000 job losses in Belgium in the country. By Clare Roth A British Airways airplane flies from the Toulouse-Blagnac airport, near Toulouse, France on Oct. 19, 2017. A recent British Airways flight from Singapore to London accidentally deployed oxygen masks mid-flight. (Pascal Pavani/AFP/Getty Images) British Airways Apologizes After Oxygen Masks Accidentally Deploy Mid-Flight British Airways representatives issued an apology after passengers panicked during one of its flights, during which oxygen masks were accidentally dropped mid-flight with an announcement that said it was not a drill. On Sunday, flight BA16 was traveling from Singapore to London when, two hours into the flight, oxygen masks dropped. Mitchell Webb, a passenger on the flight, told The Sun Online Travel about the ordeal and that, during the flight, they were never given an explanation for what happened. The media screens and lights turned off, followed by the masks falling down and an automated announcement telling us to put on our masks for oxygen, he said of the event. About 2-3 minutes after this, the cabin crew started to ignore the message, it was due to a technical error and they were in the process of a step by step reboot of systems. One cabin crew member made a particularly striking reassurance of well make itgreat to hearand even after all this panic, we had no apology or even an explanation from the captain to reassure us, even before we came into land. Webb says that, during the rest of the flight, there was no explanation from the captain on what had happened. We received no communications on the incident itself from them, and we only heard again from the pilot 45 minutes before landing (around ten hours later) to give us the usual update on weather at the landing location, etc.with not a single mention or apology regarding the incident that occurred, Webb told USA Today. He also told the Evening Standard that an automated message guiding passengers on how to use the oxygen masks said that it was not a drill, and that even after it was over, he was concerned for the rest of the flight. It was very scaryeven after we were told it was all fine I still wondered what else could go wrong thereafter, given we were only a couple of hours into the flight when it happened, he said. According to The Sun, Webb received an emailed statement from the airline, saying: We would like to apologize for the inadvertent oxygen mask deployment on your flight from Singapore and any distress or concern this may have caused. We would like to reassure you that safety is always our main priority and this was not compromised on this occasion. We trust that our flight and cabin crew dealt with this situation in a professional manner you would expect from us. A British Airways spokesperson told Sun Online Travel, Our flight and cabin crew reassured customers after oxygen masks were deployed accidentally. We are sorry for the distress this may have caused, and are investigating how it happened. Oxygen Masks Pre-flight announcements and aircraft safety cards include a message warning passengers that, if cabin pressure drops, oxygen masks will deploy. Airplanes are pressurized to maintain a comfortable pressure inside the cabin of less than 10,000 feet, even though many commercial planes often fly at much higher altitudes. If that cabin pressure is lost, people may suffer from hypoxiaoxygen starvation. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says that hypoxia is painless and the signs and symptoms vary from person to person. According to SKYbrary, symptoms of hypoxia can include breathlessness, excessive yawning, tiredness, fatigue, euphoria, impairment of mental tasks, and possible loss of consciousness. SKYbrary is an online aviation safety repository first initiated by Eurocontrol, an international organization for air traffic management across Europe. When that occurs, oxygen masks drop down for people to use. Passenger oxygen masks do not deliver enough oxygen for constant use at high altitudes, so the plane will drop lower to under 10,000 feet, as was the case for travel writer Nomadic Matt, whos United flight deployed oxygen masks and dropped quickly in altitude in 2013. The FAA says the most common causes of hypoxia in aviation are flying non-pressurized aircraft above 10,000 feet without supplemental oxygen, rapid decompression during flight, pressurization system malfunction, or oxygen system malfunction. Flying with a pressurized plane or flying at an altitude where supplemental oxygen is not required helps prevent hypoxia. In 2018, a Jet Airways flight took off from Mumbai, only to return in less than an hour after takeoff because the cabin crew forgot to turn on a key switch, which resulted in a drop in cabin pressure and caused passengers headaches and bleeding noses and ears, reported Hindustan Times. Oxygen masks were deployed and 30 out of 166 passengers were rushed to a hospital for treatment. Burglars Hit Vets Home 3 Times as He Fights for His Life in Hospital A military veteran fighting for his life in a Massachusetts hospital has had his home ransacked three times while hes been in a coma, according to a report. Gene Rano, 68, of Marlborough, has been at the Massachusetts General Hospital since suffering severe burns on April 2, WCVB5 reported. Meanwhile, brazen thieves have targeted the elderly mans house three times, and it was all caught on surveillance cameras. At 11: Home of Marlborough man who lost his legs in a devastating fire last week has been burglarized 3 times while hes been in the hospital, family says. #WCVB pic.twitter.com/HRSKHjYqXu John Atwater (@AtwaterWCVB) April 10, 2019 Rescued From Fire Rano, a veteran of the Vietnam War with mobility issues, was burning brush and other debris at his property last week, CBS reported, when he accidentally fell into the fire. A neighbor heard his cries for help and jumped to the rescue. I pulled him out of the fire and it was kind of burning my hand because his jacket was on fire. His leg was all nude already peeling off, said Fernando Teodoro, according to the report. Teodoro added, I really saved that guy. If I took 2-3 minutes to get there, he wouldve been gone. Rano suffered burns to around 40 percent of his body. He was airlifted to the hospital, where his legs had to be amputated There was nothing they could do about the legs, Nicholas Rano, the mans son, told WCVB5. They were so severely burned with third-degree burns, that in itself would kill him, so they had to be removed. Nicholas said his father remains in a medically-induced coma, unable to talk, fighting for his life. Hes breathing on his own, Nicholas told the station. Hes still living, and thats enough for me. Brazen Break-ins Since Rano was admitted to hospital, burglars have targeted his home on three separate occasions. To prey on someone thats elderly and in a hospital, literally on their deathbed, it just raises the bar for the level of disgusting and inhumane people who are like this, Nicholas told the news outlet. Surveillance video showed thieves casually pulling into the yard, kicking down the front door, and then carrying a TV set down a wheelchair ramp. Footage from inside showed burglars rummaging through Ranos house, looking for items to steal. Thieves pilfer an elderly, disabled veterans home in Marlboro 3 times in a week & in broad daylight. Gene Rano lost both of his legs in a fire last week and is hospitalized. His son Nicholas says he is disgusted, calling the thieves lower than low. pic.twitter.com/xNo62PaGe3 Kim Tunnicliffe (@KimWBZ) April 10, 2019 See Something, Say Something Investigators are now making progress on identifying the burglars, according to WCVB5. The Charlton Police Department, located about a half hours drive from Marlborough, urged the public to help catch the thieves by sharing any additional information they might have. In a post on Facebook, Charlton PD said, security cameras do help ruin everything. After the media broadcasted Mr. Rano was in the hospital due to a tragic accident, these criminals decided to break into his home and steal from him. Lets all vow to band together and watch out for our neighbors, Charlton PD stated. As for these particular less than upstanding individuals, please contact the Marlborough Police Department if you have any information to assist in their investigation. Netizen Reactions The Charlton PD post drew strong reactions from netizens. Rob Kenyon wrote: When these folks are caught their community service should be to do this poor mans landscaping, house maintenance and other chores that he wont be able to do. Michael McGrath replied: Rob, they should be made to do landscaping, house maintenance and other chores at the prison in which they are incarcerated. Others called the perpetrators total scumbags and despicable human beings. According to Crime Reports, the Marlborough area saw 122 criminal incidents reported between March 27 and April 10, 2019. Chinese student Lu Wanzhen (C) was kidnapped in Canada. He has several luxury cars, and his father is a Taoist leader in China. (Taoist Association of China, York Regional Police, Twitter/Epoch Times composite) Wealthy Lifestyle of Chinese Student Kidnapped in Canada Draws Attention to Case The case of a young Chinese student who was recently kidnapped in Canada has attracted much attention within China. The students extravagant lifestyle shocked many, especially after Canadian media learned that his father is a Taoist leader inside China. Traditional Taoism emphasizes living in harmony with the way and pursuing a simple life. How a Taoist leader was able to accumulate such wealth to support his childs luxurious lifestyle became a highly debated topic. Student Escapes Kidnappers Lu Wanzhen, 22, is a Chinese international student enrolled at the private Yorkville University in Toronto. Lu lives a sumptuous life in Canada. According to Ontario government property records, Lu bought a condo in the town of Markham, near Toronto, on Dec. 14, 2018. He paid $582,800 in Canadian dollars ($436,230) in cash. On Lus Instagram account, the young student flaunts the seven luxury cars he says he owns. Police who handled Lus kidnapping case later told local media that Lu owns four cars: a Rolls Royce Wraith (valued at $320,500), Ferrari 488 GTB ($234,400), Lamborghini Huracan ($203,674), and Land Rover Velar ($49,950). According to the Canadian Press, Lu returned to his condo after shopping with his girlfriend at around 6 p.m. on March 23. Surveillance video revealed that as Lu was parking his Land Rover at a parking lot, three men jumped out of a Dodge Caravan minivan while a driver remained inside. They abducted Lu, and shocked him multiple times with a stun gun when he tried to escape. Lus girlfriend was traumatized but not injured. The suspects didnt take Lus car or his wallet, but asked for ransom after they kidnapped him. Police havent disclosed the ransom amount, who it was made to, or whether it was paid. From the photo of Lu that York Regional Police posted on Facebook, one could see Lus wealthy lifestyle. He was wearing a black Gucci hooded sweatshirt that retails for about $1,500 and Givenchy sneakers valued at about $490. As police searched for Lu and his abductors, Canadian resident Dave Wynn discovered Lu, with his hands duct-taped together, on March 26 in front of his home in the Gravenhurst neighborhood. Local media YorkRegion.com reported that Lu was transported northward after being kidnapped. At some point along the way, he was moved to another vehicle. Lu managed to jump out of the captors moving car and escaped by hiding in nearby bushes. He eventually wandered into Wynns yard. Lu went to the hospital and was released after receiving treatment for some injuries. His Family Background After Lu escaped, he deleted all his photos and posts on Twitter and Instagram. But that didnt stop people from questioning the source of his wealth. YorkRegion.com, citing anonymous police sources, reported that Lus father is the head of an organization responsible for building temples and churches in China, and that Lus mothers side of the family was even wealthier. Hong Kong-based media Singtao reported on April 4 that Lus father is Lu Wenrong, vice chairman of the Taoist Association of China, a Beijing-sanctioned religious organization that serves the purpose of ensuring all Chinese Taoist practitioners support the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) policies. Lu is also a local representative in Hainan Province to the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference, a CCP political advisory body. In addition, hes director of the Yuchan Palace, one of the most famous Taoist temples in China. The temple is part of a popular tourist attraction named the Wenbi Mountain Cultural Tourism Zone, which welcomes millions of visitors yearly. Chinese netizens wondered if Lu gained his wealth from the tourist site entry fees. So far, Canadian police have arrested two of the four kidnappers: Abdullahi Adan, 37, a Toronto resident who surrendered to police on April 2, after a nationwide warrant was issued for his arrest. Adan was charged with kidnapping, forcible confinement, assault with a weapon, and assault. Hashim Abdullahi, 33, was arrested April 3. A third suspect, Muzamil Addow, 28, is wanted for kidnapping. Toronto City News cited police as saying that Addow is considered armed and dangerous. Police havent released any information about the fourth suspect. Faces of The Fellowship: Andrii and Halyna The Fellowship | April 10, 2019 Andrii and Halyna are a young couple who just arrived in Israel from Ukraine with the help of The Fellowship. They cant wait to start their new lives in their biblical homeland, and are especially grateful that their 1-year-old son has a chance to receive better medical care. Our son Oleksandr has a terrible diagnosis cerebral palsy, says Andrii. In Ukraine, they spent most of their earnings on their sons medical bills, which had a huge impact on their finances. They believe that Israels health care system will offer better treatments and that Oleksandr will have a better life. Many of their relatives have already made aliyah (immigrated to Israel) and they are excited to reunite with them. Fellowship representatives have demonstrated an extremely devoted and personal approach to their work helping us feel comfortable and confident [in the aliyah process], Andrii adds. For the first six months in Israel, the family knows they can rely on The Fellowshipfor the resources and financial support necessary to begin a new and successful life there. The family is very grateful to The Fellowship and our donors for all the help theyre receiving. A woman works online in her cubicle at an office in Beijing on February 4, 2010. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images) China Develops AI Fake News Detector Seen by Experts as Likely Censorship Tool Chinese tech giant Alibaba officially announced April 1 that it has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to combat the spread of fake news online. Named the Rumor Shredder, the company claims that the tool is capable of verifying the authenticity of internet information, with an accuracy rate of 81 percent. According to a March 1 report from Chinese media Qianjiang Evening News, the algorithm of this AI tool was developed by a group of researchers at Alibabas research and development lab for cutting-edge technology, DAMO Academy (Academy for Discovery, Adventure, Momentum, and Outlook). Li Quanzhi, the chief scientist at DAMO who developed the project, told Qianjiang Evening News that the Rumor Shredder first traces the original post or the source of the information to make an initial judgment about the authenticity of the original publisher: whether it was a media outlet or an individual; what the publisher has circulated before; and whether the publisher has a record of spreading fake news. It also will look at the trustworthiness of the platform where the news was first published. For example, the Rumor Shredder considers the state-run media Xinhua and other government platforms as trustworthy sources. Then, the algorithm identifies key elements from the news article, and compares them to its database of already collected news articleschecking to see if the news appears logical and well-grounded. If the news appears to not be based on authoritative information, the authenticity score will be reduced. This AI rumor shredder is expected to help reduce the workload for social-media auditors, according to Si Luo, chief scientist at DAMO Academy. Such auditors are hired by Chinese social-media platforms and the Chinese regimes internet censors to monitor and screen out content that the regime deems inappropriate. Li Yuanhua, formerly an assistant professor of history at China Capital Normal University who now resides in Sydney, told the Chinese-language Epoch Times in an April 5 interview that the AI tool will likely be used by the Chinese regime as a tool of suppression. Any pure scientific research, when in the hands of the Chinese communist regime, will be transformed into a tool to suppress dissident voices, and will eventually serve an evil purpose. Li pointed out that Alibaba researchers defined Xinhua as a credible website, when it is, in fact, part of the Chinese regimes propaganda apparatus. If a base of lies is defined as a trustworthy source, any further analysis is meaningless, he said. Independent China observer Gu He also believed checking for plagiarism is an excuse to mask the AI tools internet police function. This will help the Chinese government suppress the so-called rumor spreaders, Gu said in an April 5 interview with the Chinese-language Epoch Times. The term is often used by authorities to charge dissidents critical of the Chinese regime. With the use of the rumor shredder, the Chinese government can not only save manpower, but also crack down even harder on dissidents. Alibabas tool also drew the attention of Chinese netizens. Looking forward to using this product to evaluate China Central Television [state broadcaster], Peoples Daily, and the Global Times [both state-run newspapers], one netizen wrote in the comments section of a news article about the new tool. Another netizen wrote: The Chinese communist regime always claims that it is serving the Chinese people. Hope this AI can test if that is true. One netizen mentioned a taboo topic, the Tiananmen Square Massacre that occurred 30 years ago: Can this AI tell us whether tanks crushed protesters dead during the 1989 Tiananmen student democracy movement? Rep. Dan Crenshaw called out Rep. Ilhan Omar for her comments about 9/11. (Ethan Miller/ Getty Images and Alex Wong/Getty Images) Dan Crenshaw Condemns Ilhan Omar for Describing 9/11 as Some People Did Something Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) has once again come under fire for her remarks, this time for trivializing one of the deadliest terrorist attacks on American soil, after she described the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks simply by saying some people did something. Part of a speech she made last month at a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) fundraiser, during which she said the radical Muslim group was founded after the terror attacks, surfaced on social media earlier this week. Ilhan Omar mentions 9/11 and does not consider it a terrorist attack on the USA by terrorists, instead she refers to it as Some people did something, then she goes on to justify the establishment of a terrorist organization (CAIR) on US soil. pic.twitter.com/ixP3BJfqxS Imam Mohamad Tawhidi (@Imamofpeace) April 9, 2019 CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties, Omar said. CAIR describes itself as a non-profit, grassroots membership organization established to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America, but allegedly has ties to several extremist Islamic groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2007, CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in funding the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, as revealed in the case against Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. The United Arab Emirates designated CAIR a terrorist organization in 2014. Omar immediately received backlash for her comments, with commentators and political figures, such as Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), expressing disbelief. First Member of Congress to ever describe terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11 as some people who did something,' Crenshaw wrote on social media on April 9. Unbelievable. First Member of Congress to ever describe terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11 as some people who did something. Unbelievable. https://t.co/IKtoZWWmIT Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) April 9, 2019 Similarly, the chair of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel, called her comments a brazen display of disrespect. Ilhan Omar isnt just anti-Semiticshes anti-American. Nearly 3,000 Americans lost their lives to Islamic terrorists on 9/11, yet Omar diminishes it as: Some people did something. Democrat leaders need to condemn her brazen display of disrespect, McDaniel wrote on Twitter. Ilhan Omar isnt just anti-Semitic shes anti-American. Nearly 3,000 Americans lost their lives to Islamic terrorists on 9/11, yet Omar diminishes it as: Some people did something. Democrat leaders need to condemn her brazen display of disrespect.pic.twitter.com/k3meEbUOAk Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) April 9, 2019 Paul Sacca, associate editor of BroBible, also called out the freshman Democrat for minimizing the terror attacks. Some people did something sounds like a bake sale, but it does not really sound like a terrorist attack that killed 3,000 people and altered the NYC skyline forever, Sacca wrote. Some people did something sounds like a bake sale, but it does not really sound like a terrorist attack that killed 3,000 people and altered the NYC skyline forever https://t.co/ti45h1vRqx Paul Sacca (@Paul_Sacca) April 9, 2019 Omar has repeatedly been embroiled in controversy for a series of anti-semitic comments she made on social media in the past several months. In February, she implied a prominent pro-Israel lobby group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), paid off lawmakers for their support of Israel. Her comments received bipartisan condemnation and the congresswoman subsequently apologized for her comments. She then sparked more outrage later that month when she accused some politicians in Washington who supported Israel as having dual loyalty. Most recently, she drew strong criticism from political figures, members of the press, and even President Donald Trump for calling White House adviser Stephen Miller, who is Jewish, a white nationalist. Dead fish float in the Darling Rive near Menindee, Australia, on Jan. 28, 2019. (Rob Gregory/AP) Darling Gets $70 Million to Prevent Fish Deaths The federal government has committed $70 million to improve the health of the Darling River and prevent further mass fish kills. Two massive fish kills in December and January prompted the government to commission an independent assessment, with the final report released on April 10. What were doing is giving our water managers the tools to be able to prevent them, to use the best technology and science, Agriculture and Water Resources Minister David Littleproud told ABC News. To make sure were equipped to prevent the event and even the scale of the event. The government accepts all 27 recommendations of the report, but Littleproud concedes another mass fish kill is likely. A much better understanding of climate change by 2026? Seriously? How about applying what we know now? Pathetichttps://t.co/8nxrLcFucW Richard Beasley SC (@RichardCBeasley) April 9, 2019 Theres been over 600 of these events in the last 34 years, he said. The funding includes $5 million for cameras to live-stream river flows to the internet, $25 million to subsidise the cost of updating meters in the northern basin and $20 million for research to improve water management. It also includes $10 million for native fish hatcheries and $5 million for infrastructure, including knocking down dam walls and building fish ladders. The new Water Minister has used her first few days in the job touring parts of the state hardest hit by drought. @melindapaveyMP took over the portfolio after her predecessor quit following those mass fish kills in the Darling River. #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/2wOG30UQUS 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) April 7, 2019 The independent assessment was carried out by a panel of distinguished water scientists led by Rob Vertessy. He says a lack of flow in the river prompted by extreme climate conditions was the primary cause of the mass fish deaths. If you get a turnover of those deoxygenated waters, then the fish are done, Professor Vertessy told ABC radio. We cant have the Darling and the lower Darling reducing to a set of stagnant pools, there must be periodic flushing of it. The drought conditions are exceptional in the northern basis and I think theyre the main explanatory variable here. The water sharing plan is too flexible and there should be restrictions on when irrigators can take water, he added. Were not saying lets reduce the amount of water irrigators can take, were just saying dont take it at the very low flow extremes, he said. Littleproud says scrapping the basin plan isnt an option. The reality is that it is not a perfect plan, I get that. And my own communities have hurt from it, he said. But Ive got to be honest, this is the best plan to get and theyll get a worse plan if we reopen it. The Murray Darling Basin Authority has welcomed the push to accelerate the basin plan. We are currently working with NSW and Qld to make sure the plans they prepare have an adequate focus on whole-of-system connectivity, protection of low flows and have had sufficient community involvement, MDBA chief Phillip Glyde said. I recognise how important it is for the Australian community to have confidence that the right things are being looked at when it comes to assessing the outcomes the basin plan is achieving. By Rebecca Gredley Asylum seekers wait for their turn to request asylum to US authorities outside El Chaparral port of entry in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, on April 9, 2019. (Guillermo Arias/AFP/Getty Images) District Court Judge Bars Having Asylum-Seekers Wait in Mexico A federal judge this week temporarily halted the Trump administrations program forcing asylum-seekers at the southern border to wait in Mexico while their claims are processed. San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, on April 8 ordered that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policies known as the Migrant Protection Protocols be suspended as of April 12 at 5 p.m. Pacific time. The policies are aimed, among other things, at slowing the flow of Central American caravans and the migrants who accompany them into the United States. In mid-March, The Washington Post reported that as many as 240 would-be asylees had shown up at the U.S. border and been returned to Mexico since the policy began to be enforced at the beginning of the year. A group of 11 plaintiffs who attempted to enter the country at the San Ysidro crossing in California sued to halt the asylum claim-processing practice. Since the suit was filed, the government extended the policy to the points of entry in Calexico, California, and El Paso, Texas, and planned to extend it to other border crossings as well. The official overseeing the policy, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, resigned April 7. The White House blasted Judge Seeborgs ruling, vowing that President Donald Trump will do whatever it takes to protect Americans. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wrote on Twitter that a liberal activist judge in San Francisco ruled the United States and Mexico cant work together to address asylum issues at the border. Sanders also said it was sad that Mexico was now doing more to secure the border than Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Seeborg issued what is called a non-party, or nationwide injunction (sometimes called a universal injunction) that reaches beyond the confines of the case before the court. Critics say such sweeping restraining orders allow unelected judges to function as lawmakers and, in effect, veto presidential directives. In the court case, known as Innovation Law Lab v. Nielsen, Seeborg acknowledged there is a growing uncertainty about the propriety of universal injunctions and that the government had asked that any injunction be limited in geographical scope. But the judge refused to exercise such judicial restraint, reasoning that federal district courts such as his have the authority to enjoin unlawful policies on a universal basis, and there was a need for uniformity in immigration policy. Seeborg also wrote that a nationwide injunction was necessary to give Plaintiffs a full expression of their rights. Although issues sometimes arise when a ruling in a single judicial district is applied nationwide, defendants have not shown the injunction in this case can be limited geographically. Seeborg denied the Trump administrations request to stay his order pending appeal to a higher court, but indicated it wouldnt become effective until the close of business April 12 [t]o permit defendants to exercise their right to seek a stay from the Court of Appeal[.] The government will still have the power to detain any of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit at the border for admission pending adjudication of his or her admission application, the judge wrote. Judge Seeborg has caused other problems for the Trump administration. In March, he ruled that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross insertion of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census violated the Administrative Procedure Act and was unconstitutional. Other judges have ruled against the question and later this month, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in an expedited review of a New York judges ruling blocking the Trump administrations decision to include the question. Census results are important because they are used to allocate federal dollars and determine representation in Congress, among other things. Because time is of the essencethe census questionnaires need to be printed in coming monthsthe Supreme Court allowed the administration to skip the normal judicial appeal route and permitted a direct appeal. The lawsuit was initiated by 18 states, 15 cities, and civil-rights groups including the American Civil Liberties Union. They claim the administration wants to add the citizenship question to intimidate Latinos and illegal aliens into not completing the form, and that this would disproportionately affect congressional representation for Democratic-leaning states with large illegal alien populations. According to one estimate, non-citizens make up about 7 percent of those who reside in the United States. Another Obama-appointed San Francisco judge, U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick III, entered a permanent nationwide injunction against President Donald Trumps Executive Order 13768, which would have withheld federal funding from so-called sanctuary jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. That injunction remains in force. Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborgs name. The Epoch Times regrets the error. File photo showing bees at an apiary in the Gaza Strip, on April 19, 2010. (Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images) Doctors Probe Womans Eye to Find Sweat Bees Feeding on Her Tears A woman in Taiwan who checked into a hospital complaining of intense eye pain was found to have four live bees inside her eye, feeding off the salt and water in her tears. CTS News reported on April 3 that a woman identified only by her surnameHewas treated at Fooyin University Hospital in Taiwan. An eye doctor who examined He discovered there were four small sweat bees wriggling around on the inside of her eyelid. The hospitals head of ophthalmology, Dr. Hong Chi Ting, told the BBC he was shocked to find four live insects in the patients eye socket. I saw something that looked like insect legs, so I pulled them out under a microscope slowly, and one at a time without damaging their bodies, Hong said, according to Business Insider Singapore. The story keeps giving.. Look at the TV pics from Taiwan.. these are not small bees. https://t.co/BvFzsjMjFy pic.twitter.com/maaKUCC9uq Rafael Epstein (@Raf_Epstein) 10 kwietnia 2019 The doctor told a news conference that the bees had been feeding off the womans tears. Hong was cited by the BBC as saying the bees were about 4 mm (5/32 inch) in size. Weeding a Grave The woman had reportedly been out pulling out weeds from around the graves of relatives as part of the Chinese Qing Ming tomb-cleaning festival. I was visiting and tidying a relatives grave with my family, He told reporters, The Washington Post reported. I was squatting down and pulling out weeds. She told reporters a gust of wind blew something into her eyes, and she thought it was dirt. She flushed the area with water, she said, and out of fear she might damage her contact lenses, the woman avoided rubbing her eyes. Hong told the BBC she was lucky not to have rubbed her eyes because that may have caused the bees to release venom, leading to blindness. She was wearing contact lenses so she didnt dare to rub her eyes in case she broke the lens. If she did she could have induced the bees to produce venom she could have gone blind, Hong said, according to the report. Hours after the insects flew into Hes eyes, discomfort turned to pain. The following day it became so intense, she sought medical attention. She couldnt completely close her eyes. I looked into the gap with a microscope and saw something black that looked like an insect leg, Hong told the BBC. I grabbed the leg and very slowly took one out, then I saw another one, and another and another. They were still intact and all alive. Close-up images of the bees embedded in the womans eyes were shown on Taiwanese TV. First Case Ever? Hong told the BBC he believes this is the first case in Taiwan of sweat bees infesting someones eye socket. Matan Shelomi, an associate professor of entomology at National Taiwan University, told The Washington Post that this may, in fact, be the first time in recorded history such an incident has ever occurred. To my knowledge, this is the first case of a bee or a wasp getting caught in a part of a persons anatomy, as far as I know, he said, The Post reported. Im sure the sweat bees got by the eye and got squished between the eye and eyelid. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was discharged and is expected to make a full recovery, KRON-TV reported. Tiny Spark versus Walking Over Flaming Charcoal According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, sweat bees are not aggressive. To humans, one of the most noticeable traits of sweat bees is their attraction to perspiration, the department states, adding that sweat offers them precious moisture and salt. According to the Schmidt Pain Index, which tries to give an indication of which sting hurts the worst, a sweat bee comes in at a 1.0 on a 4-point scale: Light, ephemeral, almost fruity. A tiny spark has singed a single hair on your arm. A bullet ant, ranked at the highest pain threshold of 4.0+, is said to cause pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail in your heel. A yellowjacket wasp, which alongside bees and hornets cause the most deaths of any animals in the U.S. each year, according to CDC data, has a sting right around the middle point of the pain scale. Hot and smoky, almost irreverent, the pain index states. Imagine WC Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue. (L-R) Jared Kushner, Van Jones, and John Koufos at White House summit on Prison Reform in the White House in Washington on May 18, 2018. (Courtesy John Koufos) Former Prisoner Helps Prepare Released Felons for Freedom A convicted drunk driver who spent time in prison and lost his license to practice law is now dedicating his life to helping to reform the complex system that ex-cons face when reentering society. John Koufos, 42, was a criminal lawyer who became a criminal. Hes now the national director of re-entry initiatives at Right on Crime, a project of the Austin-based Texas Public Policy Foundation. Koufos, whose father was a fugitive, began drinking at age 15 and became an alcoholic. Despite his alcoholism, Koufos managed to become a prominent trial lawyer. He was previously certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a criminal trial attorney, trying complex jury trials and receiving several professional achievement awards and accolades along the way. In June 2011, he hit a young man while driving drunk, and fled the scene. The victim suffered a concussion and a broken femur and ribs, but eventually recovered. Koufos said that whenever the young man is readyand that time hasnt yet comehe will meet with him and apologize for his transgressions face-to-face. Koufos said he counts his blessings every day that he didnt kill anyone. During his processing through the criminal justice system, Koufos was released on $150,000 bail. On March 15, 2012, he was sentenced to six years in prison. Koufos was released on parole in late 2013 and disbarred. Before his conviction, he was on the left side of the political spectrum and used to represent groups such as the NAACP in court. (Interestingly, Koufos is still allowed to teach continuing legal education to lawyers, which doesnt require a law license.) Reentering Society When Koufos was released from prison in southern New Jersey, he said he was directed to report that same day to his parole officer in northern New Jersey, but not given any transportation to get there. As failure to report would jeopardize his parole, Koufos asked a friend to pick him up and drive him straight there, arriving just before the office closed. A prisoner without Koufoss resources might have failed to make the appointment. As he navigated what he called a patchwork quilt of what he considered to be rigid, needlessly punitive, and seemingly contradictory rules upon regaining his freedom, Koufos decided to dedicate his life to helping formerly incarcerated individuals cope with living outside prison walls. One of the particularly vexing situations, as he tells it, involved a halfway house resident who was working two jobs to help his family. In a perplexing catch-22, the authorities eventually sent the man back to prison for not spending enough time at the halfway house. In 2014, Koufos helped to create the New Jersey Reentry Corp., which describes itself as a non-profit agency with a social mission to remove all barriers to employment for citizens returning from jail or prison. As NJRCs executive director, Koufos worked with then-Gov. Chris Christie and five former governors to reform reentry services. Koufos is credited with expanding the nonprofit organization from a single location, to about 60 employees spread out over nine sites. He designed NJRCs legal program that uses staff attorneys and about 70 outside, pro bono attorneys to help individuals reentering society deal with the problems that typically plague new parolees. The recently deinstitutionalized arent properly prepared for freedom, Koufos said. Such people face a minefield of legal and other issues that accumulate while they are on the inside. For instance, when prisoners are incarcerated, they generally arent informed of various minor legal citations, tickets, demands to appear in court, and fines that come up, he said. These matters accumulate and prisoners behind bars are unaware they need to respond to the legal documents, which turn into bench warrants. Parolees often find themselves in legal hot water soon after release, and in addition to being counterproductive, this makes it much more difficult for parolees to reacclimate themselves to the outside world, Koufos said. All these rules that make it difficult for ex-prisoners to get on with their lives come out of the official penological culture, Koufos suggested. That culture is fragmented among different stake holders. I think part of it is mission identification, in the sense that prosecutors view their job in one way, the Department of Corrections will view their job as safety and security, and legislators often pick these principles of general deterrence, he said. What happens is you have these other governmental systems that are necessary for this population, which is traditionally poor, and they often work at cross-purposes, he said. Workforce development programs, for example, arent geared toward released prisoners. You almost have everyone speaking almost the same language but a different dialect. so you almost understand what theyre saying but not enough to do it right. Were seeing those things change I think slowly, slowly as departments of corrections are embracing that reentry is their mission, he said. I was locked up with a lot of people who deserved a second chance just like I did, and I was locked up with a good amount of people who wouldnt have taken a second chance if it were given to them. I think we all agree, if youre on probation or parole and you commit a new crime, you probably need to go back to prison or you need to face some sort of severe sanction. But if you cant appear at your probation office because you were working until 4 oclock in the morning and the buses ended at 3:15, thats a technical violation that gives us a false positive on recidivism, so theres technical violations that are sending people back to prison, for things that we know are no public safety threat, so addressing that issue is a really big part of what we do. Its important to help parolees clear the hurdles they face upon release so they can obtain drivers licenses, which is a requirement in many cases for former prisoners to obtain jobs, he added. Koufos compared the thrill parolees get when they get their drivers license to how he felt when he got his law degree. They know that license can lead to a job. It might lead to a commercial drivers license and membership in a union. And with a job, they can afford child support and can reconnect with their children. Koufos praised the Supreme Courts February ruling in Timbs v. Indiana, a case that benefited offenders subject to asset forfeiture; critics said the practice was long abused by prosecutors, resulting in what amounts to disproportionately harsh punishment. In that ruling, the court unanimously held that a constitutional ban on excessive fines that Indiana had argued applies only to the federal government applies to all U.S. states. Todays ruling should go a long way to curtailing what is often called policing for profitwhere police and prosecutors employ forfeiture to take someones property then sell it, and keep the profits to fund their departments, Wesley Hottot, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice who argued the case, said at the time. The decision overturned a ruling by the Indiana Supreme Court that the state was entitled to keep a 2012 Land Rover LR2, valued at $42,000, that was confiscated from Tyson Timbs. Timbs used the vehicle when selling a total of $385 worth of heroin to undercover police, a crime for which he was convicted. He entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to a year of house arrest and five years of probation, but no prison time. The First Step Act The First Step Act, the bipartisan measure approved by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump late last year, reformed the criminal justice system to an extent and made it easier for the courts to reduce penalties for nonviolent drug offenders. Right on Crime spearheaded the measure, which is now being copied at the state level all over the nation. Its important that sentences are just so you dont have people on theft offenses on probation for 15 years, Koufos said. Thats a diminishing return on investment, both for the state and for the person. Around the country right now, activists on both the right and left are working on fines and fees in various states, he said. Michigan dismissed hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, while the Supreme Court of New Jersey recently dismissed 789,000 old tickets that had led to old warrants. These are big, big things that really offer no return on investment and taxes, so we have to get those things out of the way. If we have people tripped up with the low-hanging fruit, how are we ever going to optimize the more sophisticated systems? Koufos said. Although bail reform isnt a reentry issue, it is an important issue just the same, he said. Currently, most states have a completely risk-based system, which is a problem, because you shouldnt be held in prison because youre poor, and likewise, if youre a danger to the public safety, you shouldnt be able to get out because youre rich. Some conservatives have been critical of both the First Step Act and of Right on Crimes willingness to work with activists such as Van Jones, a self-described communist who worked as President Barack Obamas green jobs czar, and who now works at CNN. Doing whats right is more important than left versus right, Koufos said. Anytime you can find something where the people all the way on one side and the people all the way on the other side can agree on something, that issue is right, he said. The beauty of it is no one can argue with public safety. We have to figure out, are we protecting public safety, No. 1, Koufos said. Are we saving the taxpayer money? Are we healing people? [If] we do those things, were already 90 percent of the way there. Trump doesnt get the credit he deserves for moving forward with criminal justice reform, Koufos said. I think that, candidly, that [Jones] is a victim of some of the rhetoric surrounding the fact that there appears to me to be a large reluctance to give the president what could be perceived as a win on this issue. That bothers any of us whove been to prison, that bothers those of us who have devoted our life to this work as Right on Crime has devoted their life to this work, he said. If someones motivated by, Are we going to give a particular political person or party a win? theyre already the problem in this debate. Its shocking that people dont give the president credit for things like first-term clemency and pardons they dont talk about the courage that takes. Defendant Jennifer W. (L) hides her face behind a folder and walks next to her lawyer Ali Aydin (R) as she arrives at court for the opening of her trial on April 9, 2019 in Munich, southern Germany. (Peter Kneffel/AFP/Getty Images) German ISIS Woman Goes on Trial After Letting 5-Year-Old Slave Girl Die of Thirst A German woman who joined the terrorist group ISIS went on trial accused of letting a Yazidi girl she and her husband kept as a slave die of thirst. This case is reportedly the first in the world for international crimes committed by ISIS members against the minority group. Jennifer W. appeared in Munichs court on April 9 where her trial is initially scheduled until Sept. 30. The 27-year-old could face life in prison if she is convicted of murder, murder as a war crime, obtaining membership in a terrorist organization, and other violations of the German War Weapons Control Act, according to AFP. She allegedly confessed to the childs death to an undercover FBI agent in a bugged car, according to German media Der Spiegel. In 2015, Jennifer and her husband, Taha Sabah Noori Al-J., allegedly bought the 5-year-old girl and her motherwho is a co-plaintiff in the trialas household slaves when the couple was living in then ISIS-occupied Mosul, Iraq, reported the news wire. Prosecutors said after the girl fell ill and wet her bed the husband allegedly chained the girl outside where she died of dehydration in the summer heat. The federal prosecutor accuses the defendant of not intervening although it would have been possible to avoid the death of this fiveyearold girl, Munich courts spokesman Florian Glitzky said. In January 2016, after the girls death, Jennifer went to the German Embassy in Ankara to renew her identity papers. After leaving the mission, she was arrested and extradited to Germany several days later. But due to a lack of evidence, she was allowed to return to her German home and she quickly sought to return to the ISIS territory, the news wire reported. Preliminary proceedings started in 2018 when the defendant tried to travel to the territory of the so-called Islamic State [ISIS] in Syria again, along with her two-yearold daughter. Thats what started the investigation in the first place, which then led to information about the crimes of the defendant, Senior Public Prosecutor Claudia Gorf told reporters on April 9. According to Der Spiegel, Jennifer was arrested again after an undercover police informant in a bugged car offered to take her back to the ISIS caliphate. Authorities, who were following behind, were listening into the conversation where she allegedly confessed and arrested her at a highway stop en route to Turkey. High profile London-based human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, the wife of Hollywood actor George Clooney, is also involved in the case after participating in a campaign to raise awareness about ISIS crimes against the Yazidi minority group. She is now on the team representing the young girls mother. I hope that this will be the first of many trials that will finally bring ISIS to justice in line with international law, she said in a statement, reported AFP. German ISIS woman in court accused of letting Yazidi slave girl die of thirst https://t.co/Pf0y3eISmW pic.twitter.com/ImjX3qYCel The Straits Times (@STcom) April 9, 2019 Jennifer reportedly left school in 2013 when she was in eighth grade and converted to Islam. Then in mid-2014, she traveled from her home via Turkey to Syria and then Iraq where she joined ISIS. She was recruited in mid-2015 to be part of the anti-vice squad or morality police where she patrolled city parks in ISIS-occupied Fallujah and Mosul with an AK-47 assault rifle, a pistol, and an explosives vest. Her role was to ensure that ISISs strict dress code, public behavior, and bans on alcohol and tobacco were enforced. Reuters contributed to this report. Human-Trafficking Crisis at the BorderTurning Point USAs Paulina Human trafficking is a major crisis in America. Every year, tens of thousands are smuggled across our borders into the United States as human slaves. On this episode of American Thought Leaders, Epoch Times senior editor Jan Jekielek talks with Anna Paulina, an anti-trafficking advocate, who is also director of Hispanic engagement for Turning Point USA. They discuss the realities of this horrific human trafficking crisis as well as possible solutions. They also talk about the crisis on the border and why the number of illegal immigrants entering the United States has skyrocketed this year. Jan Jekielek: You were telling me the other day about how you were at the border recently, working on a documentary with Turning Point USA. And Im wondering if you could tell me a bit about what you experienced there. Anna Paulina: Right now, with this whole immigration debate, were seeing a lot of people mention this human trafficking word, but theres not a lot of information, I think, for your everyday person, that really compiles the stats, and shows you the stories as to really whats happening down there. What I basically did is: I sat down one day and I wrote down the episodes. I went down to the border, got people who are dealing directly with this problem of human trafficking, the illegal immigration, the drugsranging from law enforcement to Border Patrol agents to people that are actually working with these counter-trafficking agencies that are going in and literally taking kids out of these situationsto sit down and tell their stories. Its going to be a 13-part episode, basically, that we will be streaming on all of our digital media platforms, so that people who might not have access to cable television or might not be able to subscribe to certain channels, that theyll be able to have information. Theyre going to be able to see directly whats happening down there. Mr. Jekielek: You mentioned human trafficking, and I know thats something thats very close to your heart. Youve been involved with an organization that focuses specifically on thisa veterans organization. Ms. Paulina: Yes. Mr. Jekielek: Can you tell me a little bit about what youve done with that group, and then well explore the human-trafficking piece. Ms. Paulina: Veterans for Child Rescue is the organization that, really, I like to tell people, lifted my blindfold as to what was really happening in this country, specifically, at the border. I got with the organization probably two years ago in December, before you saw the media shift into really focusing on this immigration debate and topic. And what I realized with this organization, through just looking at the footage and then doing my own digging is that, yes, there is a crisis, this is modern-day slavery. But whats horrifying about this is that you have the exploitation of children. And for me, as adults, people can be really bad sometimes, right? Like, sometimes, when we see other adults suffering, it might to a lot of people not really come across as that big of a problem, right? But when you have children, and you go down there and youre talking to agents or you see footage of trees that literally have or like bushes, that have underwear on them, or youre hearing the stories of what these agents are talking aboutabout how they come across the raped kids. That, to me thats the point at which I say No, this needs to stop, and that this is not a partisan issue. This is an issue that we know is happening. This has been happening for a long time. And its almost by Gods grace that now were being forced to deal with this because this has been something that if we dont deal with it now, when is it going to stop? You know, we are leading out this nation. We are setting an example to the rest of the world, and we do not allow slavery in this country. So, why is it now that this is becoming politicized and being used as propaganda to keep Hispanics in this mindset of If you dont want to support the border that youre apparently betraying your race and really turn us into single-issue voters. Mr. Jekielek: Fascinating. So I understand there are about 18,000 women Ms. Paulina: Annually. Mr. Jekielek: documented that were trafficked in 2018. Ms. Paulina: Its the 2018 human-trafficking report that the State Department put out. It says that 18,000 women annually are trafficked along the U.S.Mexico border. Mr. Jekielek: What are the numbers for children. Im not aware of that. Ms. Paulina: UNICEF did a piece on it, and I dont know if you guys will be posting that information, but you can find it on my Twitter. Sixteen thousand children, estimated, have been victims of human trafficking. These are just the children that theyve been able to come across. These are very rough numbers. One of the most horrific stories that I heard of personally was from a Border Patrol agent. And this will be in the documentary, where hes telling us a story about how he came across a group of men that were being forced to run drugs across the border. So, a lot of times, what people dont understand is when theyre coming across these big groups of people, whether or not theyre moving loads of drugs, theyre not being given an option. A lot of times, theyll hold their family members, and basically say If you dont do this were going to kill these people. This happens on a regular basis. So he came across Mr. Jekielek: These are the cartels? Ms. Paulina: Yes, this is the organized crimethe cartels that are literally just right on the other side of the border. He was telling us how he had come across this group and he realized that the men and women were separate. And when he sat down, he was talking to the women. He was kind of asking them what happened, found out that they had been separated. Toward the end, he noticed one of the women in particular was really upset. She was crying, and in Spanish, she says, Wheres my child? And he says, What are you talking about? We havent found any kids. What they found out is that they had separated the men from the women from the children, and that they relocated the men and the women, but they took the children. And they still havent been able to find them to this day. That happens on a regular basis. And now its happening, which is in my opinion, horrifying is, you have these families being kept together. We dont know if theyre even biologically related. This is a correlated issue with trafficking. This happens on a regular basis. And so knowing these stories, knowing that we have this now catch-and-release program to where they come in, they have a kid with them, it may or may not be their child, and then theyre released. We dont know whats happening to that child; they might not show up to their court dates. And so, yes, it is an issue. And, yes, we should be taking a strong stance on it because if we dont, people on both sides are going to continue to get hurt, especially the children. Mr. Jekielek: So the children are basically being used as pawns to facilitate this legal loophole. Thats what youre alluding to here, right? Ms. Paulina: Yes, to facilitate the legal loophole. And then on top of that, theyre sold. I mean the difference between a human and drugs is that you can sell a human time and time again. And I remember I was telling you about Karla? Forty-three thousand times she was raped in a four-year period. It totaled to 36 men a day, seven days a week, no time off. You hear her story. She actually went and addressed Congress on C-SPAN. You can watch all this stuff. This is not a made-up number. But when you hear the way that these people are treatedto know that a child is raped, murdered, exploited, wherever it might bethat is horrifying. And we need to take a moral stance against this and say, You might do that in your country, but it is not accepted here. And we are not going to facilitate or allow this to continue happening. If we have to make changes in government, we will make sure thats not happening any further from this point forward. Mr. Jekielek: In terms of the numbers of people coming across, were hearing numbers of 100,000 people in the last month. Ms. Paulina: According to Border Patrol, March was the highest month of apprehensions for illegal crossings in over a decade. One hundred thousand people were caught trying to come across the border. I believe the number is up 143 percent from last year. And that absolutely has to do with whats happening in the media with focusing on this. And I, personally, hold legislators accountable for that, because you have Hispanic legislators that are race-baiting, turning this immigration thing into a race issue. It has nothing to do with race. It has nothing to do with someones national origin and everything to do with 1) realizing that without borders we arent a country; 2) that there are correlated issues, and 3) we have the right to ensure that there is no slavery in this country, and to secure that and enforce those policies in any way, shape, or form we choose. Mr. Jekielek: So some people might say well, with all these people coming across human trafficking, such a small part have you heard this argument? Ms. Paulina: So my first television interview ever was on Fox News, and I was on [with] Jesse Watters. And I was talking to a woman who is a self-proclaimed feminist, and she had the nerve to tell me that human-trafficking numbers are at an all-time low under this administration because the administration, surprise-surprise, is actually doing their job. To me, 18,000 women is not an all-time low. Mr. Jekielek: When was this? Ms. Paulina: This was my very first time on Fox, so this was probably, I want to say, back in maybe August? Mr. Jekielek: OK. Ms. Paulina: Around that time frame. And that is not an all-time low. Even if it were 200 people, thats too many. For people to really diminish this, to take that number and say Oh, well its not high enough. I mean, whats high enough? Whats the value of one human life? Then to realize that these people arent even treated like human beings, theyre treated a lot of times less than animals. You, at that point in time, have the decision to makeeither you go along with what the mainstream is saying is socially acceptable and is OK, or you say no, I dont believe in this. I believe that we have we should be standing up [to say] that this is the right thing to do. And then you tell people, and it does get hard because you come up against a lot of scrutiny because a lot of people like you said, theyre just not aware of whats happening down there. And then you have people politicizing this. You have to do whats right, and thats why Im here today talking to you. Mr. Jekielek: Can you tell me more about Karla? This terrible case study. And Unidos vs. Trata, the organization that shes working with now. Ms. Paulina: This is exactly the type of story that people need to hear. This is an organization that is in Mexico, and they also work in the United States, to get women out of these horrific situations. What a lot of people dont realize, and when Im talking to people about this, I will bring up the fact that CNN actually wrote an article on Karla. This is how big of an issue that this is. And so what they will do is theyll take these women, they help get them on their feet. Theres also a lot of emotional trauma that goes along with this. So theyre Mr. Jekielek: Unimaginable, frankly. I dont even know what to say or think with that situation. Ms. Paulina: Its so inspiring knowing that these women are coming out of these situations, and that someone like Karla is now an activist for this, and that she speaks out for them. So after everything thats happened for her, shes now working with this organization to help other women. But they do also help these women secure T visas, which a lot of people arent aware is something that the State Department has in place for if you are a victim of trafficking or slave labor; you can actually apply for these and then, you essentially have the right to stay in the United States. That is something that I think a lot of people dont realize. There are people in government that care. These programs are set up in place to really take these people out of these horrific situations and help them in the future. But this organization, if we can really have a sit-down with Turning Point and allow them to get us the stories of these women, I think that that is what transcends politics, right? The stories of these women who have been brought into this country, those are the stories that people need to hear. Mr. Jekielek: Clearly, we can see the reasons behind your passion to deal with this human-trafficking issue. Irrespective, some people might be surprised that as a Latina, youre basically supporting border security, and youre so serious about it. Do you get that kind of response? What do people say? Ms. Paulina: Initially, when I first came out, basically, as a conservative, and I really started talking about the issues that were near and dear to my heartso the trafficking. Thats really above anything political, Ive always been working with this. At first, I got a lot of negative responses. In fact, I had a lot of comments about the color of my skin, that Im biracial, whatever it might be. But then I realized that the more I spoke out about it, the more I saw like little platforms start to pop up on social media, saying I want you to know that Im also a Latino or Latina and I support you and that this is an issue and that we care about these people. But if its not done the correct way, people get hurt in the process. And I think that when you have someone out there willing to set an example, it inspires other people to really speak up and hold true to their values. So, initially, it was negative. Now, its a lot of positive response. Weve actually been able to, essentially, realize that going into 2020, the Hispanic vote is going to be very important, especially for this. You have this shift to, all of a sudden in the last two years, they are now really focusing on the Hispanic demographic. Theyre saying that this is a race issue. Its an issue of keeping Hispanics out, because, you know, our president and our government is xenophobic, which is farthest from the truth. Its in my opinion when I heard President Trump talking about shutting down the border absolutely shut it down, take a hard stance against it because it needs to be dealt with. And when I saw peopleit sounds kind of funnycomplaining that they wouldnt be able to get avocados, to me that was horrifying because youre focused on avocados, and there are children and women and LGBT and even sometimes men that are being forced into sexual rape? And you are focused on getting your guacamole at Chipotle? That, I could not understand. So this is why I really hope that the president takes a hard stance and does force the hands of people in Congress and in the Senate to deal with this. Mr. Jekielek: You know, human trafficking is one issue at the border. Drug trafficking, obviously, is another massive issue fueling the opioid crisis. Immigration isnt the only issue. I dont even know if its the biggest issue. Ms. Paulina: Immigration is so tied into everything else thats taking place. People like to say its an easy topic. Its not, because you do have the aspect of it directly impacting all communities across the border, whether theyre black, white, or Hispanic with the drug problem. The drugs come into these communities [and] fuel these vicious cycles that tie into the welfare programs, that tie into the violence, and tie into keeping these communities impoverished, and really result in a lot of heartache to Americans across the board. When people are coming here, if theyre coming here illegally, they will never be able to attain the American dream. So what do they resort to? Sometimes, they do resort to selling drugs because thats how they support their family. And even then, it still might, in their opinion, be better than living somewhere like Mexico or South America. But thats not OK here. When youre talking to people and youre saying, Well, its not just a simple fix. This is the problem that we have. Heres a really big solution that we know will help stop a lot of these bad things that are happening now. It might not 100 percent ever get rid of the fact that were going to have people still trying to bring in drugs. But, guess what? When you have a physical barrier there, youre going to prevent and deter a lot of people from trying to do it in the first place. Mr. Jekielek: So you actually have family on both sides of the border, and youre saying youre OK with closing the border. Ms. Paulina: Yeah, Im OK with that. And Im OK with it because I realize that if its not done now, if we dont deal with this right, its just going to continue to happen. Breitbart did an article on this where they literally showed photos from a journalist who risked their life to get Breitbart the photos of this. Because, if you come out in Mexico and you are a journalist reporting on the cartels, they will kill you. And there are photos of decapitated and dismembered bodies that were dropped along the highway pretty close to our border. And thats whats happening on a regular basis. You have places like Juarez that has feminicide. They will literally brutally rape and then dismember, torture these women, and take photos of it. And this is all intimidation tactics. This is something thats happening right in our back yard, and it is absolutely related to our policies. Just like we see the surge in illegal immigration right now, because of how the medias covering it: its inappropriate and irresponsible reporting, in my opinion. Because of that were seeing this big influx, and were seeing people that are convicted offenders trying to gain access again, because they know if they can come right now, they are going to have the backing of the left of the DNC to say Yes, come here illegally. We dont want borders. That is such an irresponsible ideology and mindset to have. And its in my opinion that the people that are in politics doing this right now, theyre doing it so they can get re-elected. They dont care about helping Hispanics, but then to those Hispanics that are there theyre race-baiting, and theyre doing it on purpose. Because they know that if you were to have a conservative white male come up against a female Latino in Congress thats on the opposite side, shes going to say Im being attacked because of my race and Im a woman and I feel threatened. And thats wrong. Thats exactly why we need stronger people with Hispanic voices to speak out against this. Thats exactly why Im doing what Im doing right now. Mr. Jekielek: So youve also encountered border security and ICE agents and so forth in your travels? Ms. Paulina: Ive worked with Border Patrol and law enforcement, and that does tie into these other agencies like ICE. But whats crazy to me is when you have elected officials calling for abolishing ICE. I like to put up the Top 10 most wanted in the United States for human trafficking: five of the 10 were illegals coming from Mexico that were bringing in girls and women and children into this country. And so you have ICE directly dealing with the issue of human trafficking. And you have people saying that theyre racist and we need to abolish it? So what are you really trying to abolish? Human slavery? Thats my response. I dont know if these people are just choosing to ignore the facts or that they are doing it on purpose, because if you see these numbers, you know that these are not fudged numbers and that this is not fake reporting. Why would you not choose to back an organization like that? Mr. Jekielek: It sounds to me like you think the politicized nature of the commentary basically saying that having a barrier is a racist thing, using ICE as a racist thing, and the people coming across knowing that they have a support of a significant portion of the populationthats actually fueling the increase in the numbers? Ms. Paulina: Whats happening is people in Mexico, people in South America, theyre not down there watching our news. They know that right now they can come to the United States. You see whats happening. I think Kamala Harris posted a picture of the tents underneath an overpass and she [says] this is a humanitarian issue. Absolutely right, Kamala. But you know why? Its because youre sitting here saying that we need to have an open border and that these people deserve to come here. So theyre coming, and we have no idea who these people are, who they are exploiting, and what theyre bringing in the process. Thats exactly my response to all of these people that are doing this. This argument should not be an argument. This is the right of a president of a nation to secure its borders. We are a nation with borders. Without them, we are nothing. Aside from that, knowing that theres this correlated issue with the drugs, knowing that Americans are affected, knowing that people are dying on both sides, and then you have the rape and murder and torture of children, were supposed to be OK with that? And because Im American and I happen to be Hispanic, then Im only allowed to talk on it? Why is it now that its turned into an issue of: if you are not Hispanic and you talk about it, all of a sudden youre a racist? They have taken the value away from that word. That is not racist to want to protect your people on both sides. Mr. Jekielek: So what is the next step? What would you like to see happen in the next two to three months? Ms. Paulina: Id like the president to shut down the border I dont care if you have to do it through the National Guard. I dont care if he has to do it from, basically, forcing the hand of Congress to deal with this. But Id absolutely like to see immigration reform. Id like to see them bring in work visas for people that are just trying to come here seasonally. Id like to see the courts backed up with more judges and attorneys to help with this immigration issue. And we absolutely need a zero-tolerance stance on illegal immigrationmeaning if you come here, were going to send you back because, by us allowing people to stay, were only encouraging more to come and more people are going to be exploited in the process. Aside from that, I think that there needs to be an aspect of judicial reform to be that if you are trafficking, if you are caught bringing someone over, if you are caught buying someone, if you are caught exploiting a child, you need to go to jail and they need to throw away the key. In my opinion, if you are raping a child, you need the death penalty. Mr. Jekielek: There are also the asylum caseslegitimate asylum casesso, presumably, youre open to having those people heard, right? Ms. Paulina: Absolutely. Look whats happening in Venezuela, but they dont want to talk about that, right? If they say that Maduro is a bad idea then there goes the whole democratic socialism platform. Yes, people like that should be given precedence for these asylum claims. And Im sure that there are people that are fearing for their lives trying to escape that country, but they cant because they dont have a Second Amendment and have no way out. So, absolutely, those people need to be given priority. And thats exactly why we need to not be making a joke of this whole asylum process. You have one in 10 people now coming to this country because theyre claiming asylum claims, because you dont like the gang violence taking place in your countrythat is not a legit claim for asylum status. OK. Because you dont like whats happening your economythats not a legit claim. If you are in fear from your government, and youre going to be persecuted? Thats an asylum claim. But to have a joke and a mockery made of it because you want to come here and you want to cut the line? Too bad. There are 4 million people waiting to come here. You need to wait your turn. Mr. Jekielek: We were talking a little bit earlier about, you know, it seems like youre telling me there are more people speaking up in the Hispanic community about their more conservative perspective. Thats not something thats typically associated. I think I heard that there are hundreds of groups even in Washington alone. Ms. Paulina: I think the number is around 200 Hispanic conservative groups. The thing is is that, doing what Im doing, especially with Turning Point being outreach, I havent really seen a movement. I havent heard anything of these groups working together. It would be ideal in the near future to have these groups come together and then all work to show face, to show representation, to say, Hey, were here. Were conservative first and foremost. We are Hispanic and we support immigration policies because of X, Y, and Z issues. But thats something that were working on in the near future. I will actually be back in D.C. at the beginning of May with an organization called Bienvenido thats basically changing the outreach message to conservative Hispanics to say, Hey, look, were here for you, were here to show fair representation, and to make sure that D.C. listens to you and listens to your needs and wants. Because immigration for many Hispanics is close to the home, its [that], you know, our families are over there. But the problem is is people dont realize that if you dont have fair representation, that people arent going to fix the issue, because it turns people into voters and voters equals power. But aside from that that we have to hold them accountable, because if we dont, this issue is never gonna get fixed. So the organization called Bienvenido that Im working with now is going to hopefully bring together the entire conservative Hispanic base and make sure that D.C. is carrying through with what theyre saying to work on issues of immigration. Mr. Jekielek: This is actually curious to me. Hispanics have a lot of what you would consider conservative values, but they dont seem to vote that way. Ms. Paulina: They dont vote that way because, unfortunately, in the media, in Telemundo Univision, you have really leftist-leaning mentalities. So, when youre trying to break through to these people and youre like look, were Catholic or Christian, were not pro-abortion. We care about our families. But this is the issue with immigration, a lot of it is for the people that are newly here, for first-gen. Sometimes, it can be a language issue and barrier, but thats exactly why you need people within those communities to go and talk to them because we are a loyal community [but] were also distrusting of politics, and for good reason. A lot of people, if youre smart, youre not going to go into politics just trusting anyone. But whats happening now is you have over 50 percent of Hispanics supporting the president. Aside from that, were really realizing Hey, look, were not all dumb here, we can think on our own. And you have multiple people on many platforms that are now reaching out back into the community and saying, Hey, were here we want representation, come on. And thats whats happening now. Mr. Jekielek: And so this group thats bringing together all these organizations, is it just in D.C. or national? Ms. Paulina: Its national. We actually have I dont even want to call them Instagram influencers. I hate that term. Theyre activists. We have activists in Florida, Texas, California, [and] Arizona. And what were doing is, were basically bringing people on board. You know, this is a message for everyone. Its not just one persons fight to save the nation. And whats incredible about that is when you empower other people to use their platforms, they take that personally and they run with it. And they have that passion, and so were hoping to unite the base. Were going to be here in D.C., addressing Congress on issues of national security, immigration, and education. So what were hoping to see is, once that takes place, if we can get the blessing of the White House to say, Hey, we recognize that theres a conservative Hispanic basewhich there absolutely isyou watch what happens in 2020 and leading out to the future. Because now, according to www.pewhispanic.org, we are the largest voting minority, and we will continue to grow. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. American Thought Leaders is a new Epoch Times show available on Facebook and YouTube. Indiana School Turns Unused Food Into Take-Home Weekend Meals for Needy Students The content is not available due to expiration. Confetti falls as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara stand on stage after Netanyahu spoke following the announcement of exit polls in Israel's parliamentary election at the party headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel on April 10, 2019. (Ronen Zvulun/Reuters) Israels Netanyahu Wins Re-election, Main Challenger Concedes Defeat JERUSALEMIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a clear path to re-election on Wednesday, April 10, with parties on the right set to hand him a parliamentary majority and his main challenger conceding defeat. With more than 99 percent of votes countedballots cast by soldiers at military bases will be tallied over the next two daysNetanyahus conservative Likud party looked likely to muster enough support to control 65 of the Knessets 120 seats and be named to head the next coalition government. It would be Netanyahus record fifth term as premier. President Donald Trump, who Netanyahu featured on campaign billboards to highlight their close relationship, phoned to congratulate him on his re-election, the Israeli leader said, adding that he thanked his American ally for tremendous support for Israel. Netanyahu tweeted that Trump had called him from Air Force One. The president was on a flight to Texas. US President @realDonaldTrump called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, from Air Force One, to congratulate him on his election victory. The President warmly congratulated the Prime Minister and the people of Israel. pic.twitter.com/PJQqY3EcnY PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) April 10, 2019 Trump told reporters at the White House that Netanyahus re-election improved the chances of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Hes been a great ally and hes a friend. Id like to congratulate him on a well-thought-out race. A team led by Trumps adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner has been working on an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, but it has not disclosed details. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said on Twitter he would begin meeting next week with political parties that won parliamentary seats to hear who they support for prime minister. I met head of the Central Elections Committee, Judge Hanan Melcer, at the @KnessetIL today. We agreed that consultations with the different factions ahead of forming #Israels next government will start next week at Beit HaNasi. #IsraelElections2019 pic.twitter.com/IXkVtfiJ2g Reuven Rivlin (@PresidentRuvi) April 10, 2019 At the sessions, which Rivlin said would be broadcast live to ensure transparency, he will then pick a party leader to try to form a coalition, giving the candidate 28 days to do so, with a two-week extension if needed. In addition, I have ordered that the meetings with the political parties will be broadcast live on all platforms to ensure transparency for #Israels citizens #IsraelElections2019 Reuven Rivlin (@PresidentRuvi) April 10, 2019 The close and often vitriolic contest was widely seen in Israel as a referendum on Netanyahus character and record in the face of corruption allegations. He faces possible indictment in three graft cases, and has denied wrongdoing in all of them. Despite that, Netanyahu gained four seats compared to his outgoing coalition government, according to a spreadsheet published by the Central Elections Committee of parties that garnered enough votes to enter the next parliament. It is a night of colossal victory, the 69-year-old Netanyahu told cheering supporters in a late-night speech at Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv after Tuesdays vote. Hes a magician! the crowd chanted as fireworks flared and Netanyahu kissed his wife Sara. Earlier that night, Gantz had claimed victory. Tel Aviv Stock Exchange main indexes were up nearly 1 percent in late trading on Wednesday, displaying confidence in a veteran prime minister who has overseen a humming economy and blunted various security threats, including from Syria. Netanyahu was now poised to become, in July, the longest-serving Israeli prime minister, overtaking the countrys founding father, David Ben-Gurion. Closer U.S.-Israel Ties Netanyahu highlighted his close relationship with President Donald Trump, who delighted Israelis and angered Palestinians by recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital in 2017 and moving the U.S. Embassy to the holy city last May. Two weeks before the election, Trump signed a proclamation, with Netanyahu at his side at the White House, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. In a rare turn during the race toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Netanyahu further alarmed Palestinians by pledging to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if re-elected. Palestinians seek a state there and in the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. The last round of U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed in 2014. Trump is expected to release his administrations long-awaited Middle East peace plan after the election. By Jeffrey Heller Confetti falls as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara stand on stage after Netanyahu spoke following the announcement of exit polls in Israel's parliamentary election at the party headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel, on April 10, 2019. (Ronen Zvulun/Reuters) Israels Netanyahu Wins Re-election With Parliamentary Majority: Tally JERUSALEMIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a clear path to re-election on Wednesday, April 10, with parties on the right set to hand him a parliamentary majority, despite a close contest against his main centrist challenger, a vote tally showed. With more than 97 percent of votes counted, Netanyahus conservative Likud party looked likely to muster enough support to control 65 of the Knessets 120 seats and be named to head the next coalition government. It would be his record fifth term as premier. President Reuven Rivlin said on Twitter he would begin meeting next week with political parties that won parliamentary seats to hear who they support for prime minister. At the sessions, which Rivlin said would be broadcast live to ensure transparency, he will then pick a party leader to try to form a coalition, giving the candidate 28 days to do so, with a two-week extension if needed. The close and often vitriolic contest was widely seen in Israel as a referendum on Netanyahus character and record in the face of corruption allegations. He faces possible indictment in three graft cases, and has denied wrongdoing in all of them. Despite that, Netanyahu gained four seats compared to his outgoing coalition government, according to a spreadsheet published by the Central Elections Committee of parties that garnered enough votes to enter the next parliament. It is a night of colossal victory, the 69-year-old Netanyahu told cheering supporters in a late-night speech at Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv after Tuesdays vote. Hes a magician! the crowd chanted as fireworks flared and Netanyahu kissed his wife Sara. Tel Aviv Stock Exchange main indexes were up nearly 1 percent in late trading on Wednesday, displaying confidence in a veteran prime minister who has overseen a humming economy and blunted various security threats, including from Syria. His challenger, the new Blue and White party of ex-army chief Benny Gantz, claimed a more modest victory after winning a 35-seat tie with Likud. Unless he reverses on campaign pledges to shun Netanyahu, and joins him in a broad coalition, Gantz looked destined to lead a center-left parliamentary opposition. The skies may look overcastbut they cannot conceal the sun of hope that we have brought to the Israeli people and society, Gantz, 59, wrote in an open letter to supporters. Should Netanyahu retain the helm, he will become the longest-serving Israeli prime minister in July, overtaking the countrys founding father, David Ben-Gurion. That could be scuppered if criminal charges are filed and force his removal. Closer U.S.-Israel Ties Netanyahu highlighted his close relationship with President Donald Trump, who delighted Israelis and angered Palestinians by recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital in 2017 and moving the U.S. Embassy to the holy city last May. Two weeks before the election, Trump signed a proclamation, with Netanyahu at his side at the White House, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. In a rare turn during the race toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Netanyahu further alarmed Palestinians by pledging to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if re-elected. Palestinians seek a state there and in the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. The last round of U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed in 2014. Trump is expected to release his administrations long-awaited Middle East peace plan after the election. By Jeffrey Heller and Maayan Lubell JetBlue CEO Collected Garbage, Awarded Random Passengers Free Tickets in Economy Class Flight JetBlue CEO, Robin Hayes was spotted collecting garbage on an economy class flight on April 5 in an act that won him many admirers. The airline executive also took to the intercom to award random passengers free tickets. It was a fun experience for everyone on the flight, JetBlue passenger Joe Chase told Fox News. Unfortunately I didnt win a free ticket but I gained a new respect for JetBlue and will definitely be flying them again! Hayes was on a flight between Washington and Boston and a JetBlue representative told FoxNews that it was not the first time for the CEO to do such a thing and that it was a common occurrence. Chase who works with Lake Street Advisors shared a picture of Hayes at the intercom on his LinkedIn with a caption that said, CEO Robin Hayes got on the mic on my flight today to give away a couple (of) tickets to random passengers by playing seat bingo. When returning to his seat (flying economy) he walked down the aisle of the plane collecting trash from passengers. No job is below the CEO! LinkedIn users applauded Hayes for his leadership and for putting himself in his guests shoes. Being humble is (an) important part of being CEO. He is also putting himself in his Guest Shoes and his Customers shoes at the same time. Great way to figure out how his business is doing, commented Khalil Harazin. Now, thats true leadership. Not asking your employees to do something you wouldnt do yourself, said LinkedIn user, Chris Shea. A commenter talked about meeting Hayes personally. I had the opportunity to meet Robin personally and I can confirm he is a really exceptional leader with a great personality. People minded, taking care about passengers, flight an cabin crews! A JetBlue representative said that its nice to see customers recognizing the crews efforts. When any of JetBlues leaders travel, they often look for the opportunity to connect with customers and help our crewmembers wherever theyre able, said the representative. Hayes talked about inspiring humanity in an earlier interview with WCBS Newsradio 880. Inspiring Humanity, more than anything else really resonates. How important it is to just treat others with respect, he said. When it comes to company culture, @JetBlue knows how to get it right with employees and customers. Joining Deidre & JG on @GutwiZdom this week is CEO Robin Hayes whos filled with wiZdoms to learn and live by! Tune in tomorrow at 7 p.m. pic.twitter.com/dy6wIbmlyw WCBS Newsradio 880 (@wcbs880) November 10, 2017 JetBlue is known as a discount carrier because of its low priced tickets and is the seventh largest airlines in the United States. The company was founded in 2000 and is based in Queens, New York. The airlines flew 42 million people last year and took them to 100 cities, reported the USA Today. It has over 22,000 employees and 1,000 flights every day. Hayes has been working with the company since Feb. 16, 2015. Preparing to depart for Cuba on NYS Trade Mission with @JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes. #GlobalNY pic.twitter.com/azVHz8qUbt Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) April 20, 2015 Jilted Girlfriend Smashes 12 Luxury Cars, Forgets Which is Boyfriends A woman was detained after allegedly smashing up 12 luxury cars in China. She had intended on damaging only her boyfriends car as punishment for not returning her calls, but forgot which vehicle was his, according to several mainland Chinese media reports. The woman, last name Li, allegedly damaged the bodies and windows of several luxury cars parked a garage in the early morning of March 28 in southwest Chinas Chongqing City. According to reports, the list included cars made by Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Bentley, BWM, and Audi. Luxury Lost Li told the police that she suspected her boyfriend was intentionally ignoring her after she lent him 100,000 yuan ($15,000). The boyfriend then disappeared, and stopped contacting and responding to Li, local police said in a statement on their official Weibo account. Weibo is the Chinese version of Twitter. Li suspected that her boyfriend was ignoring her because he didnt want to return the money, so she contacted his close friends, and warned them that if her boyfriend kept ignoring her, she would smash his expensive car. However, Li told police that she only knew that her boyfriend had an expensive car, but she didnt know which one. She couldnt remember the license plate, or even the brand. In a fit of anger, she attacked and damaged a car that she believed was her boyfriends car, the statement said. She repeated the process on 11 other luxury cars, according to multiple online Chinese media outlets. Video footage was caught allegedly showing Li in the garage where the cars were parked. She was walking with a long object in her right hand, and a phone in her left hand. She can be seen striking the back of a black car in the video. After the owners discovered what had happened to their cars, Li was detained by the police. Since many of the cars are both imported and expensive, there are no places in Chongqing to repair them, a police official told the Qing Feng Xia news, an online media outlet in China. The cars will have to be exported to receive repairs. The police said the financial penalties cant be calculated at this time. The boyfriend has still not contacted Li, and the police have not been able to find him, the police official said. Maldives former President Mohamed Nasheed speaks during a news conference ahead of the Maldives presidential election, in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Sept. 21, 2018. (Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters) Maldives Ruling Party Pledges Probe Into Chinese Deals After Landslide Win MALE, MaldivesMaldives former President Mohamed Nasheed, whose party won a landslide in the archipelagos parliamentary election, on April 9 pledged to conduct a thorough probe into deals with China. Nasheeds Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) is set to secure 65 seats in the 87-member parliament, giving it a clear majority to push for reforms including imposing the countrys first income tax and instituting a minimum wage for the first time. President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who is also from the MDP and unseated pro-China leader Abdulla Yameen in September 2018, had urged voters to back his call for an investigation the scale of debts to China, which the party fears could run as high as $3 billion and risks sinking the economy. The Indian Ocean island chain has been caught in a battle for influence between India and China, which invested millions of dollars during Yameens rule as part of its One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, designed to improve Beijings global trade reach. The OBOR initiative is aimed at building a vast network of infrastructure connecting China to Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and beyond, much like the ancient Silk Road. Yameen denies any wrongdoing in relation to the Chinese debt. Nasheed, the countrys first democratically elected leader between 2008 and 2011 before being forced to step down in a police mutiny, said the result was a clear mandate to implement the partys pledges. Some of the first bills that the new parliament must consider is the pending legislation to fully empower the presidential commission on stolen assets, and deaths and disappearances, MDP leader Nasheed told Reuters in the capital, Male. The government continues to scrutinize the deals signed by the previous government, many of which, we fear, were subject to large scale corruption. We must allow the government to examine these deals with forensic detail. Final provisional results for the election will officially be confirmed on Wednesday, an Elections Commission official told Reuters. The MDP is just one seat shy of the three-quarters quorum required to amend the constitution in the People Majlis or Parliament. This is the first time a party has had such a majority since the first multi-party elections in 2008. The MDP previously ruled in coalition. The new Parliament is expected to be inaugurated in May. Yameen recently spent more than a month in police custody over a graft scandal aimed at siphoning money from the islands tourism board. He was released on bail on March 28 in time for the last week of campaigning, and denies the charges. The Maldives, a string of palm-fringed islands and atolls lying 325 miles southwest of the southern tip of India, is best known as a luxury holiday destination. China has helped build an extension to the international airport in the Maldives, and a bridge linking it Male. The Chinese investment in Maldives is seen as part of its String of Pearls strategy, developing a network of friendly ports in the region from Sri Lanka to Pakistan. India and Western nations have worried that the strategy ultimately aims to help Chinas military extend its reach. By Mohamed Junayd A logo outside the Huawei booth at the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona, Spain on Feb. 26, 2019. (David Ramos/Getty Images) MIT Ends its Collaboration with Chinese Telecom Companies Huawei and ZTE Indiana University closes the Confucius Institute at its Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus A major U.S. university has announced it is taking a step back from partnering with Chinese telecom companies, a move influenced by current federal legislation. Meanwhile, another university has closed the Confucius Institute at one of its campuses. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced April 3 that it will not be renewing or pursuing partnerships with major Chinese telecom companies Huawei Technologies and ZTE, or their respective subsidiaries. In the announcement, MIT says they review any possible risks with any international project or collaboration they engage in, and recently identified that engagements with certain countries, namely China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, warranted an enhanced review. Special attention will be paid to risks related to intellectual property, export controls, data security and access, economic competitiveness, national security, and political, civil, and human rights, as well as potential impacts on the MIT community, consistency with MITs core values, and alignment with MITs academic mission, the announcement says. The Institute cites ongoing federal investigations regarding violations of sanction restrictions as the reason for ending their collaboration with Huawei and ZTE specifically. The two Chinese telecom companies face separate charges of violating U.S. sanctions against Iran. Last year, the U.S. government banned sales by American companies to ZTE after the company made false statements during an investigation into sales of its equipment to Iran. Early this year, U.S. officials charged Huawei with financial fraud, alleging the company had violated sanctions against Iran when Huawei made false statements to banks about the companys relationship with Skycom, a Hong-Kong based company that does business with Iran. Huawei says the two are separate companies, but U.S. prosecutors allege that Huawei runs Skycom. On the same day as MITs announcement, Indiana University also closed its Confucius Institute (CI) at its Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus. University spokesperson Chuck Carney told the Washington Post it had to do with federal changes. This decision ensures ongoing operations of some programs within IU impacted by federal changes surrounding Chinese-language programs, Carney said. The move is in response to legislation recently passed by Congress, which prohibits the use of Department of Defense (DOD) funding to go toward Chinese-language instruction through a Confucius Institute or to support a Chinese-language program at a university that has a Confucius Institute. Confucius Institutes are Chinese language and culture institutions that are owned by the Chinese regime and are part of their United Front overseas work. The institutes often attract scrutiny because of their close ties with Beijing, and critics say the institutions work to present China only in a positive light and that they restrict intellectual freedom because the institutes adhere to Chinese law, including limited freedom of speech. There are 1579 Confucius Institutes and classrooms worldwide, and over 100 active CIs in the United States, according to a report by the National Association of Scholars, which recommends that all universities close their Confucius Institutes. A U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commissions report says the institutes are used to advance Beijings preferred narrative and subvert academic principles. The report also says CIs are funded by the Chinese Communist Partys Propaganda Department. Such concerns over CIs have prompted some universities to end or review their relationships with the program. For example, in December 2018, the University of Michigan announced it would not renew its contract with its Confucius Institute, reports The University Record, the universitys news outlet. This transition is driven by a desire to more broadly include the work of exploring and studying Chinese visual and performing arts within U-Ms regular academic and cultural units, James Holloway, vice provost for global engagement and interdisciplinary academic affairs, told The University Record. Confucius Institutes exist around the world, including in Canada. There are currently 10 Canadian universities and a few public school boards that have partnerships with CIs. These include the University of Waterloo, Brock University, University of Saskatchewan, British Columbia Institute of Technology, Seneca College, Dawson College, Carleton University, the University of Windsor, Saint Marys University, and the University of Regina. McMaster University closed its Confucius Institute after a human rights complaint by an instructor who alleged the institutes hiring practices discriminated against Falun Gong adherents, while the University of Manitoba reportedly rejected a Confucius Institute over political censorship. The University of Sherbrooke also closed its Confucius Institute. Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders poses with a A220-300 Airbus replica during the company's annual news conference on 2018 full-year results in Blagnac, near Toulouse, France, Feb.14, 2019. (Regis Duvignau/Reuters) More Than 100 Dismissed in Airbus Compliance Crackdown: Sources PARISAirbus dismissed more than 100 people and issued more than 300 warnings for ethics or compliance reasons in 2018, two people familiar with the company data said, as it conducts a wide-ranging internal crackdown and deals with outside fraud probes. The aerospace group is being investigated by UK and French authorities over suspected corruption dating back over a decade and is in the fifth year of a sweeping internal probe designed to improve its chances of winning favorable settlements. An Airbus spokesman declined to comment on the figures or give annual comparisons. The dismissals coincided with a sharp increase in the use of an internal whistleblower system, providing a guide to the trend on compliance issues. Complaints handled by the system almost doubled last year and mostly involved matters covered by ordinary employment law. The service also handled close to 40 allegations of fraud and half a dozen accusations of bribery. More than 10 of the reported cases involved suspected breaches of export controls, the two people said. Airbus declined to comment. The company, which employs around 130,000 people worldwide, is under investigation in the United States over suspected violations of export controls and U.S. officials have also kept a close watch on the European bribery probes. The figures emerged on the eve of a shareholder meeting as some investors worry about Airbuss exposure to potential fines, which analysts say could run to several billion dollars. Airbus shareholders are still waiting for full disclosure on the allegations of bribery and corruption cases of the past. For the future, Airbus (has) enhanced compliance standards to prevent further incidents and the company seems to be on the right track, Frankfurt-based fund manager DWS said. Chief Executive Tom Enders has said Airbus has had to handle management turnover at the same time as a wave of scheduled retirements and acknowledged 2018 had been tough. I am today much more optimistic about the company managing these difficult issues than frankly, I would have been a year ago, he told a Feb. 14 news conference. Lawyer Fees Airbus is spending more than 100 million euros ($113 million) a year on lawyers to investigate staff to help win a prosecution settlement in Britain and France over the fraud allegations resulting from a system of middlemen it says it abandoned in 2014. It was not clear how many of the dismissals resulted from this drive. A British judge said in 2017 that companies must present a radically new face and significant co-operation in rooting out their own violations to win a settlement and avoid charges. The internal probe has led to growing complaints among staff of a witch hunt, people who deal with the company say. Help lines handled around 80 cases of alleged moral harassment, the company data shows. Industry sources say the internal probe has had a dampening effect on Airbus sales, which slumped last year. Several executives are expected to join a wave of senior departures despite not facing specific accusations, the people said. Airbus declined to comment. Staff malaise turned to anger when it was reported last week that Enders retires on April 10 with a total retirement package of almost 40 million euros over 20 years. Enders and other individuals are under investigation over the sale of fighters to Austria and has denied wrongdoing. The Airbus spokesman defended the pension package, which is expected to be raised at an annual meeting on April 10. There is no golden, silver or bronze parachute. These are contractual obligations that were agreed many years ago. Enders is credited with unifying a once fragmented company and improving governance but leaves amid disagreement over his strategy for handling the compliance campaign. By Tim Hepher Murder Trial Begins Against Florida Man Accused of Killing Wife Whose Body Was Found By Son in Backyard A murder trial has begun against a Florida man accused of killing his wife, whose skeletal remains were found years after the alleged crime buried in the backyard of the family home. The murder trial against Michael Haim, who stands accused of murdering his wife in 1993, began on Monday, April 10, in a Florida court, WJXT reported. Haim maintains he played no part in Bonnie Haims death. The couples son, Aaron Haim, who was three years old at the time his mother died, is expected to testify. Aaron, who was adopted after Bonnie vanished, made statements at the time that implicated his father in his mothers alleged murder. Aaron also stated that, Daddy shot Mommy and, My daddy could not wake her up, a 2015 arrest affidavit stated, according to WJXT. A Gruesome Find Aaron excavated the back yard of his childhood home in 2014 and made a gruesome discoveryhuman remains. They were the skull and bones of his mother. The find led prosecutors to charge Michael Haim with second-degree murder. The truth was always out there, buried in their backyard, Assistant State Attorney Alan Mizrahi said in opening statements in the murder trial on Tuesday, according to WJXT. From what Aaron told us that day, my only conclusion was that there had been a domestic fight and that Michael Haim had killed his wife and had removed her, and that their three-and-a-half-year-old son Aaron Haim had witnessed this, said Jacksonville Sheriffs Department Detective Robert Hinson, speaking on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, according to The Washington Post. The validity of Aarons statements to investigators is certain to be challenged by Michael Haims defense team. The credibility of a child is something that you have to judge in perspective, said Bonnies father, Robert Pasciuto, according to The Post. Hes said a couple of things that we know were not true. Moms car is in the lake. We know her car wasnt there. Haims defense attorney Janis Warren argued in the trials opening remarks that there was insufficient evidence to find her client guilty of murder. We agree shes dead. We agree thats her body in the backyard. But they have to prove to you that he did it, she said, WJXT reported. When you listen to the evidence, ladies and gentlemen, and when youre finished, youre gonna see the lack of evidence in this case far outweighs any evidence they brought you. A Mother Vanishes Bonnie Haim went missing in January 1993. Her then-husband gave an interview shortly after she vanished. Basically she just wasnt happy and she wanted to leave, and I couldnt stop her from leaving, he told WJXT. According to Unsolved Mysteries, the couple would frequently get into fights. One day they got into an argument in the car park, Michaels aunt, Eveann Haim, told the show, according to The Post. And she came in crying and he had slammed her hand in the door and her nails were broke and she was very upset at that point. Bonnie reportedly planned to leave the relationship and take their son with her. Then on Jan. 7 she failed to show up for work. Suspicion soon fell on Michael in light of incriminating statements Aaron made, such as when he said Daddy hurt her, according to the Flordia Times-Union. Investigators failed to turn up physical evidence linking Micheal to the crime. Also, there was no body. It wasnt until 2014 that Aaron, while renovating the family home, discovered the skull and bones of his late mother. A .22 caliber shell casing was found with the remains, the Times-Union reported. Michael reportedly owned a rifle of the same caliber. Aarons father was officially charged with his Bonnies murder in August 2015. Bonnies family members posted a copy of a court document on Jan. 22 on a Facebook page dedicated to her memory. They wrote, Hopefully this will be the final Order Setting Jury Trial issued in this case. April just cant come soon enough. Hopefully this will be the final "Order Setting Jury Trial" issued in this case. April just can't come soon enough. Posted by Bonnie Pasciuto Haim on Tuesday, January 22, 2019 Next month is going to hurt, the family wrote on the Facebook page. It is going to rip off bandages and expose us to things we had long ago pushed to the back of our memories. But sometimes we have to rip off bandages to really begin to heal. The trial continues. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference following his meeting with Lithuania's Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis at the government's headquarters in Vilnius, Lithuania, Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018. (AP/Mindaugas Kulbis) Netanyahu, Main Rival Gantz, Claim Victory in Israeli Election JERUSALEMBoth Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main challenger Benny Gantz claimed victory in Israels election on Tuesday, with several exit polls giving the veteran right-wing leader an advantage in forming a coalition government. Netanyahu, in power consecutively since 2009, is fighting for his political survival. He faces possible indictment in three corruption cases, in which the right-wing Likud party leader has denied any wrongdoing. If he wins, Netanyahu, 69, will become the longest-serving prime minister in Israels 71-year history this summer. Exit polls on two of Israels three main TV channels showed that main challenger Benny Gantzs Blue and White Party won slightly more seats that Likud in the 120-member parliament, while a third survey forecast a tie. Though neither party captured a ruling majority in the Knesset, according to the exit polls, the surveys put Netanyahu in a stronger position to form a coalition government with the help of right-wing factions. Some political analysts, however, cautioned it was too early to determine the outcome, with many hours to go before a final tally is in. Channel 13 forecast Netanyahu could piece together a ruling bloc controlling 66 seats compared with 54 for a Blue and White-led coalition of center-left and left-wing parties. Public TV Kan put the ratio at 64 to 56 in Likuds favor, while Channel 12 predicted a tie, at 60 seats each. The rightist bloc led by Likud has won a clear victory, Netanyahu said in a statement. I will begin forming a right-wing government with our natural partner this very night. A spokesman for Gantzs party declared: We won. The Israeli public has had their say. Ofer Zalzberg, senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said Likud and Blue and White would have to learn the fate of smaller parties to know whether they had garnered enough support for a coalition. Netanyahu is more likely to establish another right-wing government, but we will have to wait and see, he said. During the campaign, the rival parties accused each other of corruption, fostering bigotry and being soft on security. Netanyahu highlighted his close relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, who delighted Israelis and angered Palestinians by recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital in 2017 and moving the American Embassy to the holy city last May. Coalition-Building A close result in the election would put smaller parties in a powerful position, even turning marginal political figures into kingmakers. Once the votes are tallied, President Reuven Rivlin will ask parties that have won parliamentary seats who they support for prime minister. He will then pick a party leader to try to form a coalition, giving the candidate 28 days to do so, with a two-week extension if needed. Voting in Tel Aviv, businessman Dedi Cohen, 44, said he supported Gantz. I considered voting for Bibi (Netanyahu). Life isnt bad: Ive been around the world and seen that Israel is a good place in terms of the economy and security. But still, a change is in order. After 13 years, its time for some ventilation up top, added Cohen. Backing Netanyahu, Avi Gur, 65, a lecturer at Ariel University in a settlement in the West Bank, said he was very excited. I hope that rightism will win, he said. By Jeffrey Heller Parents Arrested After Newborn Found Dead in Plastic Bag Police have arrested the parents of a newborn who was found dead in a tied plastic bag at Marshfield hospital in Wisconsin, according to reports. Marylinn Feher, 22, and Allen Rice, 19, were arrested on tentative charges of child neglect resulting in death after allegedly leaving their newbornwho they thought had diedwrapped in a towel inside a tied plastic garbage bag at the rear cargo of their Jeep. They had driven to the hospital to seek treatment for Feher, who was bleeding heavily, reported Wisconsin Rapid Tribune, citing court documents. Police arrested the mother and the reported father on suspicion of child neglect causing death. Posted by Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune on Wednesday, April 10, 2019 A social worker from the Marshfield Medical Center reported the infant missing on Saturday, April 6, at around 10 a.m., according to court documents. During treatment, Feher allegedly lied to doctors about giving birth as late as 4 p.m. on the same day, the news website reported. After receiving the missing report from the hospital, deputies went to a home in Milladore to learn the type of vehicle the couple had been using. Eventually, they found the vehiclea 2000 Jeep Cherokeeat the hospitals parking lot, where they also found the child before rushing him into the emergency room. Emergency staff managed to revive the baby boy, but he later succumbed to his injuries at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, authorities said. According to court records, the baby was born between midnight and 12:30 a.m. after Feher returned home from her job on Friday when she began experiencing cramps. She delivered the baby boy while sitting on the toilet, which the baby fell into. The babys father Rice had to pull him out. Rice told investigators that he tried to perform CPR to revive the baby without success. That was when he wrapped the baby up in a towel, placed him in a bag, and brought it out to his jeep. The couple did not try to seek medical attention for the infant, authorities said, reported Fox News. At one point he told investigators he had tripped and dropped the infant on the ground. Feher said she then cleaned herself and asked Rice to drive her to the hospital, according to Wisconsin Rapid Tribune, citing court records. This is when they left the baby boy in the Jeep. Rice told authorities that they tried to revive the infant three times when he was in the car but did not seek help from the hospital as he thought the baby was dead and he was scared. An autopsy showed that the baby boy was born alive and had several injuries around his neck, which did not originate from the birth, the records said. The mother said she had placed her hands around the infants neck at one point during the delivery. Medical examiners have yet to determine the exact cause of death, reported the news website. Feher also told police that she did not believe she was pregnant even though as many as three doctors told her that she was. She said a doctor told her in 2015 that she couldnt get pregnant, the court documents said. Formal charges have not been filed against the two as of the afternoon of April 10. Sheriff Shawn Becker said they are planning to also recommend a homicide charge against the mother, reported Channel 3000, adding that the investigation is still ongoing. Fehers bond was set at $250,000, while Rices bond set at $35,000. They are scheduled to appear in court on April 22. The U.S.Mexico border where the fence ends at the side of a rocky mountain in the desert near Yuma, Ariz., on May 25, 2018. The U.S. is on the right side of the fence. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times) Pentagon Awards $976 Million in Border Wall Contracts The Department of Defense awarded two contracts worth nearly $1 billion on April 9 for the construction of border walls in New Mexico and Arizona. The department awarded $789 million to SLSCO Ltd., a builder based in Galveston, Texas, to replace a border wall in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. The department also awarded $187 million to Barnard Construction Co. Inc., a builder based in Bozeman, Montana, to replace pedestrian barriers in Yuma, Arizona. Both projects should be completed by October 2020. According to a statement from the Pentagon, both contracts will be paid with Army funds. The statement didnt specify whether the funds came from the $1.4 billion approved by Congress, the $3.1 billion shifted from other departments, or the $3.6 billion allocated for border wall construction via the emergency declaration by President Donald Trump. The Pentagon didnt immediately respond to a request for clarification. Santa Teresa, where the $789 million section of wall will be built, is part of the El Paso border sector, which has seen the sharpest increase in crossings. From October to March, apprehensions of illegal aliens in the El Paso sector grew 1,670 percent for family units, 333 percent for unaccompanied minors, and 60 percent for single adults, compared to the same period in 2018, according to the Border Patrol. Agents working the El Paso sector apprehended 35,898 unaccompanied alien minors, 53,565 migrants traveling as families, and 9,933 single alien adults in the six months before March 31. The Yuma border sector, where the $187 million border wall will be built, has experienced a 273 percent increase in illegal border crossings by migrants traveling as families from October to March compared to the same period a year earlier. Border Patrol agents in the Yuma sector apprehended 3,679 unaccompanied alien children, 24,194 aliens traveling with a family member, and 3,520 single alien adults in the six months before the end of March. During his campaign, Trump promised to build a wall on the border with Mexico. Despite staunch opposition from Democrats in Congress, he has secured more than $8 billion for wall construction this year. Virtually all construction is occurring in sections of the border where older walls no longer meet Border Patrols operational requirements. Weve built a lot of wall. A lot of wall. And its new wall, Trump told reporters at the White House on April 10. You know, when we rip down an old wall and then replace it, its called a new wall. And thats what weve done. A lot of wall is going up. And every place we build the wall, its less and less, the president added, referring to the decline in illegal border crossings in sections where walls have gone up. The White House is in the midst of reshuffling the senior leadership of its immigration agencies. The leadership changes are part of Trumps plan for a tougher approach to immigration. The president said on April 10 that migrants are drawn to the United States because of the great economy and loopholes in the immigration system. The sharp increase in family units illegally crossing the border is largely attributed to a patchwork of policies which force immigration authorities to release family units into the interior of the country before their asylum claims are adjudicated. Plea Deal Puts Felicity Huffmans Career at Pivotal Point LOS ANGELESFelicity Huffman is an Emmy-winning actress and has several buzzy upcoming projects, but her career faces a pivotal moment because of her real-life role in the college admissions bribery scandal. Huffman may be sent to prison after agreeing Monday, April 8, to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy and fraud for paying a consultant $15,000 disguised as a charitable donation to boost her daughters SAT score. Prosecutors are seeking four to 10 months of confinement, and experts differ on whether the plea, and Huffmans subsequent apology taking full responsibility for her actions , will leave her with an acting career. I think she did the right thing in the tone of how she came clean, accepted guilt and taken the plea deal, said Laura Ries, co-founder at the advertising firm Ries & Ries. I think people want to give others a second chance, especially if you ask for forgiveness and show repentance that youre moving forward. Her next role might not come in two weeks or two months, but maybe in a year or two. I think if money was exchanged, she should do jail time, said Jodi Gomes, director of One Child Left Behind: The Untold Atlanta Cheating Scandal, an upcoming documentary focusing on a group of educators convicted of boosting test scores to try to advance students. In doing jail time, that would kill her career. No matter what Huffmans fate is, she wont immediately disappear from viewers screens. She will play a prosecutor in the Ava DuVernay-directed When They See Us, a limited series on the Central Park Five case that will be released May 31. But Netflix officials said Monday another film starring Huffman, Otherhood, will not be released as planned on April 26 and a new date will be determined. The romantic comedy also stars Patricia Arquette and Angela Bassett. Huffman, 56, was among the stars of the popular ABC series Desperate Housewives, which won her an Emmy Award in 2005. The following year she was nominated for an Oscar for playing a transgender woman in the movie Transamerica. Her credits include the TV series Sports Night and America Crime, for which she received three Emmy nominations. Also charged in the admissions bribery scheme is Full House star Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli. Both were hit with new charges Tuesday . Huffman is scheduled to enter her guilty plea on May 24. The Hallmark Chanel already cut ties with Loughlin , but Ries believes Huffman wont endure the same fate. Certainly this isnt going to help her career, Ries said. But I dont think its going to end her career. I think its going to perhaps put a pause on it. While Huffmans career could be put on hold, Gomes said the actress could redeem herself by using her celebrity platform to advocate underrepresented students. She should use her platform to advocate for others, she said. Im tired of people getting away with bad behavior and then going on an apology tour and hoping that everythings OK. I think Felicity Huffman is getting kid gloves, because of who she is. If she gets kid gloves, at least she can do in redeeming herself is to use her platform to help others. Eden Gillott, president of Gillott Communications, said Huffmans next steps should eventually help fix a broken and inequitable college admissions system. I think this needs to be a long commitment, because otherwise she will look opportunistic, she said. I think that working with an organization thats already in existence to elevate their mission and gain awareness to rid the admissions system of allowing the privilege to pay-to-play is probably her best bet. By Jonathan Landrum Jr. Police Say Bodies Found in Dominican Republic Likely Belong to Missing New York Couple Police in the Dominican Republic believe two bodies linked to a car accident belong to a missing New York couple. Orlando Moore, 43, and his girlfriend, Portia Ravenelle, 32, were reported missing after they suddenly disappeared during a romantic getaway in the Caribbean and have not been heard from for more than two weeks, according to NBC4. And now, Dominican Republic National Police Col. Frank Felix Duran Mejia was cited in a Pix11 report as saying that two bodies that have been found likely belong to the missing couple. An unconscious woman fitting Ravenelles description was found on March 27 near a road leading to the airport, and transported to an area hospital, Duran Mejia said, according to the report. The woman, who had no identification, died at the Doctor Dario Contreras Hospital on April 4. An autopsy is still pending, as is a final confirmation of identity, according to the report. Duran Mejia was reported as saying that the body of a man fitting Moores description was found on March 31 in an advanced state of decomposition. The body was discovered at sea near Port Sans Souci, according to the report. Official confirmation regarding the identity of the second body is still pending. Car Accident? The Dominican newspaper Diario Libre reported that police believe the couple may have gotten into a car accident on their way to the airport. Police officials said on April 9 that local fishermen found a car in the water near where the couple would have been driving on their way to the airport back from their vacation getaway in the northeast part of the country, according to the Diario Libre report. Police have not been able to recover the vehicle due to weather conditions, reported NBC. The body of a man was found near the vehicle, according to the Pix11 report. Divers have been unable to make a positive identification of the car due to rough seas, according to Fox8. Authorities believe the couple was heading to the airport on March 27 when, for an unknown reason, their car plunged into the ocean. They Didnt Make Their Flight Moore and Ravenelle were supposed to return to New York on March 27, after a four-day vacation in the Dominican Republic. Their families have been unable to reach them for more than 15 days. Their phones are off, their car still parked at the airport, and officials say there are no records of them returning to the United States. According to earlier reports, authorities said the couple had checked out of their hotel in Samana but vanished en route to the airport. Moores sister, Lashay Turner, told NBC4 that she has contacted the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic and also filed a police report. Weve been calling DR and they said they didnt make their flight, Turner told the news station. We also spoke to someone in U.S. Customs and they said my brother did not make his flight back here. Turner said that the pair had a rental car in the Dominican Republic and the vehicle is also missing. A frantic search is underway for a New York couple who took a vacation to the Caribbean, and suddenly vanished, with no sign of them for more than a week. Posted by NBC New York on Monday, April 8, 2019 The U.S. State Department told the news station that they were working with local authorities to search for the couple. When a U.S. citizen is missing, we work closely with local authorities as they carry out their search efforts and share information with families however we can, a department official told the news station in a statement. The welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad is one of the highest priorities of the Department of State. We stand ready to provide appropriate assistance to U.S. citizens in need and to their families, they added. Turner said her brother is not the type of person who would just run off on a hiatus, adding that he has a daughter. She said, hes gonna let someone know where he is. Other family members and friends have been using social media to raise awareness about their disappearance. PLEASE SHARE AND REPOST UNTIL THEY COME HOME. THEY WERE LAST SEEN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. THERE IS FOUL PLAY Posted by Samuel L. Rivers on Friday, April 5, 2019 The Mount Vernon couple flew out of Newark Liberty International Airport on March 23, NBC reported. Family and friends expected the couple to return home on March 27. Epoch Times reporter Janita Kan contributed to this article. A teenager breaks an egg on the head of Senator Fraser Anning while he holds a press conference, in Melbourne on March 16, 2019. (AP Photo/File) Police Wont Charge Australian Teen or Senator Over Egg Spat SYDNEYPolice say they will not charge an Australian teenager or a senator for a spat in which the boy cracked an egg on the politicians head and the man retaliated. Victoria state police said in a statement Tuesday, April 9, that after reviewing footage and interviewing both participants, they had issued an official caution only to 17-year-old Will Connolly. They said they concluded Sen. Fraser Anning had acted in self-defense when he twice struck the teen afterward. Connolly gained fame as Egg Boy for egging Anning in Melbourne last month, after the senator controversially blamed the Christchurch mosque massacre on Muslim immigration. Connolly said in an interview with Ten networks The Project that he was disgusted by the senators comments but understood his actions were wrong. I understand what I did was not the right thing to do. I can understand why some people would react the way they did, he said. There is no reason to physically attack anyone. Police said they were still trying to identify a man who allegedly kicked Connolly while the teen was restrained on the floor by Annings supporters. Annings colleagues in Australias Parliament passed a censure motion against him last week for divisive comments seeking to attribute blame to victims of a horrific crime and to vilify people on the basis of religion, which do not reflect the opinions of the Australian Senate or the Australian people. Someone has just slapped an egg on the back of Australian Senator Fraser Annings head, who immediately turned around and punched him in the face. @politicsabc @abcnews pic.twitter.com/HkDZe2rn0X Henry Belot (@Henry_Belot) 16 maart 2019 Anning sits as an independent lawmaker and had dismissed the censure motion as an attack on free speech. Last month he also defended striking Connolly, saying: He got a slap across the face, which is what his mother should have given him long ago, because hes been misbehaving badly. Last year Anning was in the news for calling for a final solution to end Muslim immigration. He was widely condemned for calling for a return to the European Christian immigration system and for a ban on Muslim immigration to Australia, reported The Conservatives. We as a nation are entitled to insist that those who are allowed to come here predominantly reflect the historic European-Christian composition of Australian society. Those who come here need to assimilate and integrate, he said. Australian lawmaker calls for final solution to end Muslim immigration https://t.co/uhqb5DAckG pic.twitter.com/REHOmpn1Ze The Hill (@thehill) 15 augustus 2018 He had said that the migrants should embrace Australian values and English language and that cultural diversity erodes social cohesion. He had said that the Muslim community consistently shown itself to be the least able to assimilate and integrate. By Trevor Marshallsea Epoch Times reporter Venus Upadhayaya contributed to this report. The sign over the west entrance of the New York Times building at 620 Eighth Ave. in New York. on April 28, 2016. (DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images) Poll: Confidence In Media Drops Among Democrats Democrats are less likely to believe the media than they were at this time last year, according to a new poll released by the Morning Consult on April 9. The poll, which was conducted among 2,201 U.S. adults from March 28 through April 2, asked respondents which of the nine most popular news outlets they find credible: ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and NPR. The Morning Consult has done this survey for each of the last four years. The average credibility for Democrats in this 2019 poll was 69% with The NYT, CNN, ABC, and NBC all finishing above that percentage. Every outlet except NPR had a drop from last year to this year. Fox News Channels credibility is the lowest of any of the media outlets among Democrats, with its approval rating hovering consistently below 50%. Conversely, FNC stands out as the only outlet whos rating was above 70% among Republicans. According to a different part of the survey, both Democrats and Republicans view of newspapers and television news have dropped from July 2018 to December 2018. This declining trust in the media comes less than a month after the conclusion of special counsel Muellers probe into whether or not the Trump administration colluded with Russia. The media spent two years since Muellers appointment speculating and questioning what could be for it to have not come to fruition. MSNBCs Rachel Maddow specifically saw a dramatic drop in ratings since then. The week following Muellers submission of his report, Maddow brought in her smallest audience of the year. Follow Mike on Twitter Firefighters work at the site of a mudslide after a heavy rain at the Babilonia slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 9, 2019. (Reuters/Pilar Olivares) Powerful, Abnormal Rains Lash Rio de Janeiro, at Least 6 Dead RIO DE JANEIROTorrential rains doused Rio de Janeiro on April 9, killing at least six people and sowing chaos in Brazils second largest city, which declared a state of emergency after a storm that the mayor described as absolutely abnormal. A woman and her 7-year-old granddaughter were buried in a mudslide as they rode in a taxi, and the drivers body was also found inside the vehicle, police detective Valeria Aragao told O Globo newspaper. Two adult sisters died when their home in a slum was buried in a mudslide, while a man drowned in another part of the city, the mayors office said in a statement. The rains began late April 8 and had not let up by midday April 9, with a heavy downpour forecast through the end of the day. More than 34 cm (13 inches) of rain fell on parts of the city in the last 24 hours, according to the mayors office. Videos on local news showed normally calm residential streets turned into raging torrents that dragged people and cars. A coastal bike path meant to be a legacy of the 2016 Olympics that had been weakened by previous storms suffered more damage, with chunks of the path falling into the sea. These rains are absolutely abnormal for this time of year; none of us expected so much rain at this time, Mayor Marcelo Crivella told an early morning news conference. The mayors office declared a state of emergency late on April 9. Major roads were closed, and the mayors office said 785 places were without power. Emergency services acted to rescue people trapped in cars and on the streets. TV images on April 9 showed divers examining a car submerged in a flooded underpass. Rios streets were quieter than usual on April 9, as nearly all schools shut and people worked from home to avoid the risk of being trapped at work. It was the second major storm in two months to batter Rio. A violent tempest that hit the city in February killed at least seven people. By Pedro Fonseca & Rodrigo Viga Gaier Pregnant Woman Hit by Car in Suspected DUI, Forced to Give Birth A suspected drunken driver careened into a pregnant womans car as she got out, forcing her to give birth after she was rushed to a California hospital, where the family said she and her newborn son are fighting for their lives. Ciara Villegas, six months pregnant, was sent flying by the Chevy Impala she was standing next to, when it was struck by a jeep on April 8, according to the California Highway Patrol, reported CBS. According to the family, she was still getting out of her car when it was hit. The driver of the jeep was detained at the scene by witnesses and later identified as Ronny Ward. Ward was arrested and jailed on charges of driving with a suspended license and DUI causing injury or death, according to jail records. One eyewitness said that had been performing donuts before he lost control and hit Villegas outside a liquor store on M Street. Villegas, 31, was rushed to hospital, where she gave birth to her premature son, Ricky. According to an online crowdfunding campaign for the mother and premature baby, they are both in critical condition. Relatives told KCRA that she was picking up milk for her little sister when the crash happened. The car came from behind her and hit the car and hit her, sister Natalie Strianese said. I saw her and I just started crying. A driver was arrested at the scene of the crash, CHP said. Posted by KCRA 3 on Tuesday, April 9, 2019 I ran outside and I saw her laying on the ground, Linda Thompson, who lives by the crash scene, told KCRA. She was trying to get up and I was trying to calm her down and keep her on the ground. She had a big laceration on her arm. I had somebody give me their shirt to put on her arm. #UPDATE: Family members have confirmed 31-year-old Ciara Villegas was six months pregnant when she was struck by a suspected DUI driver in Rio Linda last night.Villegas sustained major injuries. Posted by CBS13 CBS Sacramento on Tuesday, April 9, 2019 I was standing right here and then I heard a loud noise, Hamid Mohammadi who works at Archway Market, told Fox News. When I heard the noise everybody looked to the outside. Everybody running, everybody outside, and saw the lady on the ground. One witness told Fox News he rushed over to the scene and stopped Ward from leaving. He was doing donuts and he hit a car. And then he knocked her all way to the corner and then ran over a telephone pole, he said. He was drunk, said the witness, who did not wish to give his name, according to Fox. Cause I went over to his truck and there was all kinds of beer cans in it and he couldnt stand up. According to the local media outlet RioLindaOnline, Ward was dragged out of his jeep and pummelled on the street by one of Villegass relatives. Villegas was taken to intensive care, according to the news outlet, with severe facial injuries and internal bleeding. Her liver was described as shredded, according to the news outlet. A GoFundMe page was set up by a family friend, Justin Rich. She was 6 months pregnant and looking forward to the amazing future that was to come, said a statement on the funding site. Unfortunately this tragic senseless accident has changed everything. Ciara and her beautiful baby boy Ricky are now in the fight for their lives. If little Ricky is anything like his mom, which Im sure he is, hes going to be stubborn Rich told KCRA. Hes not going to give up. Theyre both going to fight. An undated photo of missing Najah Ferrell, 30, with her two children in Avon, Ind. (Courtesy of Avon Indiana Police Department) Remains Found in Pond Could Be Missing Mom Najah Ferrell, Say Police Authorities may have found what is left of an Indiana mother who went missing on March 15. Avon Police Department officers found human remains on March 28 at Crown Point, 50 miles southeast of Chicago, Illinois. Deputy Chief Brian Nugent said local police received a report from a fisherman who caught what appeared to be a human foot. Responding officers confirmed that the remains were human and Nugent said while police could not confirm whether the remains actually belong to Najah Ferrell, 30, a preliminary investigation found the remains are likely to belong to her. The mother of two had last been seen about 3:00 a.m. local time at her home near Dan Jones Road and County Road 100 South. Police described her as five feet four inches tall, 180 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Ferrells family members claim she left for work early the morning and never arrived. Mother Paula Gholson said she hoped police bring closure to them and help prevent another tragedy from happening. I dont want any, any of the mothers to ever, ever have to deal with anything like what happened to this young family because I miss her and she could be here with the boys, Gholson said at a press conference. Join together and do whatever it is that you can to help us because we are all one family. Posted by Avon Indiana Police Department on Thursday, March 28, 2019 Police found Ferrells vehicle abandoned in Indianapolis on March 26. Some of her belongings were also recovered along a local interstate. That vehicle was located by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and that vehicle was sealed and transported to Avon Police Department where our investigators have since conducted a thorough search of the vehicle while being assisted by crime scene investigators and the Hendricks County Sheriffs Office, Nugent said. **NAJAH FERRELL**REMAINS MISSING**As reported through local news stations yesterday, Najah Ferrell's vehicle has been Posted by Avon Indiana Police Department on Wednesday, March 27, 2019 On social media concerned citizens expressed their shock and horror to learn the remains may belong to Ferrell. [Police] found a piece of her remains in Crown Point Indiana in a pound, this is so sad, Shawna Ziegler Douglas said. Prayers for her family. I was wondering yesterday if she had been found, Im so sad to hear this update, Tiffany Dillard Godsey said. Sending prayers. So sad I hate all this bad news, breaks my heart, Kristena Dailey said. We'll be going live at 1:00pm today with coverage of our press conference addressing Najah Ferrell's disappearance and the status of her case. Posted by Avon Indiana Police Department on Thursday, March 28, 2019 Another person thanked police for all their hard work in finding Ferrell. Avon police have worked around the clock on this. The family has been lucky to have such devoted investigators on this case, Jacqueline L Thompson said. **MISSING PERSON/MOTHER**PLEASE SHARE**Our agency is looking for any assistance from the public in locating Najah Posted by Avon Indiana Police Department on Tuesday, March 19, 2019 Police said the case is still under investigation, and they are appealing for anyone with information to contact the Hendricks County Communications Center by phoning 317 839 8700 or Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317 262 8477. Somebody knows something, Nugent said. If you are that somebody who thinks they may know something we are still in desperate need of information [and] we need you to come forward. Sydney Woman Accused of Possessing Slaves A Sydney woman accused of possessing two Thai slaves told the women when they arrived in Australia they each owed her $45,000 and would pay it off through sex work, a jury has heard. Rungnapha Kanbut, 57, is on trial in the NSW District Court after pleading not guilty to six charges including intentionally possessing a slave and dealing with the proceeds of crime. Prosecutor Peter Neil SC in his opening address on April 9, said both of the women had been sex workers in Asia when they agreedin 2004 and 2005to travel to Australia for sex work. The prosecutor said the jury would hear that when they arrived in Sydney they were taken to live with Kanbut, who told them they each had a $45,000 debt to pay off. Neil said the first woman, who arrived in 2004 on a visitor visa and couldnt speak English, was told to give Kanbut her passport for safe keeping. She was also told shed be given four days off a month but that didnt happen and she worked long days in brothels across Sydney. At times when (the woman) had her period she was still required to work and, to conceal her menstruation from clients, she placed a sponge in her vagina, the prosecutor said. He said she was left in no doubt that she had to pay off her debt before she had money for herselfwith the exception of tips. Neil told the jury that in Australia the concept of slavery was not the same as what many people in our community may consider slavery to be. He said the offence relevant to Kanbuts charges was fundamentally concerned with the power of control she exercised while each woman was paying off her $45,000 debt. The fact they came to Australia voluntarily for sex work didnt prevent jurors from finding that either or both of them was possessedthat is usedby the respondent akin to her owning them, the prosecutor said. But defence lawyer Jeffrey Clarke in his opening address told the jury there were two sides to the story and clearly there are some issues in this case upon which the sides differ. He said there were issues with some of the womens allegations but overall the real issue here is whether or not what is being described by these witnesses amounts to slavery. You wont be surprised to know that the defence doesnt totally agree with the Crown position as to what amounts to slavery, Clarke said. The trial continues. People stand next to a logo of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei at the Syntrend Creative Park in Taipei on Feb. 9, 2019. (Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty Images) Taiwan, Pakistan Raise Security Concerns About Huawei Wi-Fi Equipment TAIPEI, TaiwanWi-Fi cards made by Chinese tech giant Huawei have come under scrutiny in Taiwan and Pakistan after experts noted potential security vulnerabilities. Zhinan Bus Co., a bus operator in New Taipei City and Taipei City, recently disclosed that 20 of its vehicles were equipped with 4G Wi-Fi cards made by Huawei. Together with routers made by Latvian internet equipment provider MikroTik, they provide free wireless internet service to bus riders, according to Taiwanese media. The bus operator began offering the free internet connection in September 2017. Wi-Fi on Taiwan Buses The public acknowledgment was made by company General Manager Lee Chien-wen, after local media began reporting about the companys alleged use of Huawei products. Lee explained that the company began using the Huawei Wi-Fi cards about six months ago, and the purchases were made in accordance with Taiwan laws. The National Communication Commission, Taiwans telecom and broadcasting regulator, began banning Huawei base stations in 2013, according to Taiwanese media. Since then, Taiwans central government, including the presidential office, legislature, defense ministry, and chief intelligence agency, has put in place bans against any Chinese-made telecom equipment. However, local governments dont yet have restrictions. The Taiwanese government shares similar security concerns to many other countries around the world, including Australia and the United States, which have restricted their market access to Huawei, owing to its close ties to Beijing. Under Chinas National Intelligence Law, enacted in 2017, all Chinese companies are required to supply intelligence information to Beijing, if requested. Lin Ying-dar, a professor specializing in wireless communications and network security at Taiwans National Chiao Tung University, warned that Huawei equipment and gadgets, including smartphones, Wi-Fi cards, internet base stations, and core networks, are all likely to have built-in backdoors. That would put users at risk of being spied on or having their communications intercepted, he said in an interview with Taiwanese daily newspaper Liberty Times, about the Wi-Fi cards used by Zhinan Bus Co. Meanwhile, Shen Pao-yang, assistant professor at the Graduate School of Criminology of National Taipei University, said in an interview with the Asia-Pacific branch of New York-based broadcaster NTD that public transportation services should be proactive about disclosing any equipment they use that is made by Chinese companies. Shen called on the Taiwanese government to pass a law that would prevent the use of any equipment made by countries that are considered adversaries to Taiwan, if the equipment could be illegally used to collect information in Taiwan. Taiwans national defense is built on fending off military attacks from China, because the Beijing regime considers the island part of its territory and has threatened to unite it with the mainland, with military force if necessary. Things may soon change, as an executive order about mainland Chinese-made IT products used by government agencies is slated to be issued later this week, according to an April 10 report by local English-language daily Taipei Times. The executive order is expected to extend the telecom ban to local government agencies, in addition to expanding the breadth of prohibited China-made products to mobile devices, security cameras, and server components made by Huawei, Chinese tech giant ZTE, and Chinese video surveillance equipment maker Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, according to Taipei Times. The full list of prohibited items is expected to be finalized when the executive order is issued. Like Huawei, ZTE has ties to Chinas military. Hikvision is a key supplier of technology for Beijings massive surveillance network to monitor citizens and track dissidents, including in the Xinjiang region, where Uyghur Muslims are heavily persecuted. A similar Wi-Fi concern was raised in March, after revelations at a legislative hearing that a Taiwanese contractor that provides free 4G Wi-Fi for some of Taiwans metro, railway, and high-speed railway, could, in fact, be controlled by a Chinese telecom company. Pakistan Security Cameras Huawei has marketed its package of IT solutions, surveillance systems, and internet networks, under the concept of smart city, around the world. According to Huaweis website, the German city of Gelsenkirchen and the South African city of Ekurhuleni already have employed the companys smart city technology. In the Pakistani city of Lahore, the Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA), an autonomous government body focused on public safety, signed a deal with Huawei to use its smart city surveillance camera system in 2016. But recently, the PSCA told BBC that it discovered Wi-Fi transmitting cards within the infrastructure of its Huawei-made surveillance systemthat werent supposed to be there. Upon discovery in 2017, PSCA had asked Huawei to remove the cards due to the potential for misuse; the company complied. According to the BBC, a Huawei representative told PSCA at the time that the cards were placed into 1,800 CCTV cabinets around Lahore, so Huawei engineers could easily access them remotely for troubleshooting. However, two unnamed people involved with the Lahore smart city project told BBC that remote access to the cabinets was already possible through a main network, without the cards. If you put a Wi-Fi card in, then youre potentially giving someone some other form of remote access to it. You might say its done for one purpose, but as soon as you do that, its got the potential to be misused, cybersecurity expert Alan Woodward told BBC. One of the sources told BBC that the cards were removed before there was a chance to test whether they could be exploited. According to a May 2016 article by Pakistani English-language newspaper The Express Tribune, the PSCA contract with Huawei was for the installation of about 10,000 surveillance cameras in Lahore, including in key infrastructure sites, public institutions, and markets. Huawei was awarded the project after a successful bid of 12 billion Pakistani rupees (about $84.7 billion). PSCA wrote on its website that many of these surveillance cameras are equipped with facial-recognition software. The dangers of Huawei exporting smart city technology abroad were explained by the U.S. think tank Jamestown Foundation, in an article published in June 2018. While the smart cities of the future could be better, more efficient cities, they could also provide authoritarian regimes with previously undreamt of tools of surveillance and control, the foundation warned. Additionally, when used in democratic countries, Huawei equipment may act as a conduit for [Beijings] intelligence gathering. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue speaks to dairy farmers at Trinity Valley Dairy in Cortland, New York, U.S. on Aug. 23, 2018. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters) Talks With China to Cut Ethanol Tariffs Positive: US Agriculture Secretary WASHINGTONU.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on April 9 that talks with China about reducing Beijings tariff on U.S. ethanol products were positive, but cautioned the discussions were not over. There have been conversations with China on reducing that tariff on ethanol, which would obviously be good for our domestic corn industry, he told reporters. While things look positive, its never over till its over with the Chinese. The United States and China have been embroiled in a tit-for-tat tariff battle since July 2018. Beijing imposed retaliatory tariffs last summer of up to 70 percent on U.S. ethanol shipments, which made exports to the key market uneconomical. U.S. officials are pressing China to make changes to address long-standing concerns over industrial subsidies, technology transfer and intellectual property rights. The two sides wrapped up the latest round of talks in Washington late last week and will be resuming discussions this week remotely. The biofuels piece, especially ethanol, have been a bright spot to the trade negotiations, a source briefed on the talks said. I wouldnt want to put any guarantees on anything. But as far as the current talks China is willing to go toward that 5 percent number, the source said, in reference to the tariff level. He added that Beijing was also willing to buy imported ethanol to support a push to use a 10 percent ethanol blend in fuels. But structural issues between the two countries are yet to be ironed out. Perdue said topics around non-tariff barriers were still a point of contention. I think China will have to reform some of its protocols over approving biotech products there. We need dependability and consistency as well as enforceability of agreements, he said. Beijing has taken years to approve new strains of genetically modified crops, which U.S. companies and farmers have complained stalls trade by restricting the sales of new products from companies. Two sources with knowledge of the talks said last week the issue remained a sticking point in talks. By Humeyra Pamuk & Chris Prentice Daniel Flyer, far right, started a program to teach underprivileged children robotics at the Woman's Opportunity Rehabilitation Center in Hempstead, N.Y. (Photo by Karen Flyer) Teen Teaches Robotics to At-Risk Teens Daniel Flyer, a junior at Roslyn High School, teaches robotics to at-risk teens at the Womans Opportunity Rehabilitation Center in Hempstead, New York, a community correction project that offers an alternative to incarceration programs for female offenders in and around Nassau County. Flyers interest in technology and video games inspired the Roslyn teen to learn about robotics. Now he is trying to share that interest with others. Growing up, I played a lot of video games, and those were the main ways I spent my free time, Flyer said. The 16-year-old often played Minecraft, an immersive game that lets kids create their own worlds and other games by placing blocks and going on adventures. He played video games so often, Flyer wanted a bigger gaming computer. So he brought some hardware, including a processor and motherboard, and built one. That was the thing that got me into building parts and putting it together, he said. It was something that I was really passionate about. Later, he decided to take an engineering and robotics class at school. He went on to help found and become the treasurer of Roslyn High School Robotics Club. Educating Children Flyer knew the experience he had with robotics was something other teens could benefit from so he began teaching other teens robotic construction and coding techniques using VEX IQ robotics kits. He did this through a class he designed to expose students to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fundamentals through building a robot at the rehabilitation center. Its such a great opportunity that I know a lot of people dont have, he said. I wanted to bring that amazing opportunity that I had to these kids. More than 10 students participated in the program. I could see they were excited to learn things that they didnt have the opportunity to learn, Flyer said. There were a few kids there who didnt sign up, who were really interested, and they wanted to get involved. Flyer showed participants simple tasks, such as lifting a paper and traveling around an obstacle. Students made progress with their build each week, learning to work with the motors and sensors that let the robot move around on a lego frame with wheels. After more than eight sessions, they put together a final robot at the end of the semester. Their hard work paid off with second place at the VEX Robotics Competition hosted by Adelphi University. For Flyer, it was a rewarding experience. I was definitely grateful that they were learning what I was teaching. They got something out of the program and it was a good feeling. Texas School Agrees to Stop Using Race in Admissions, First in Nation A medical school in Texas will no longer consider race in its admissions decisionsthe first in the nationas the Trump administration seeks to roll back affirmative-action practices put into place by the Obama administration. The move is part of an agreement between the U.S. Department of Education and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) in Lubbock. The schools civil rights office reached the deal in February, ending a 14-year investigation into its admission practices. Scott Lacefield, the schools senior communications director, told The Epoch Times that they are working with the Education Department to ensure the school provides diverse cultures, lifestyles, personal beliefs and ideas of all those we serve. [TTUHSC] is committed to a diverse and inclusive medical education and experience while working collaboratively with the U.S. Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights, he said via email on April 10. Lacefield also noted that Texas Techs School of Medicine department was recently ranked No. 8 in the country among Top Minority Producers of Health Degrees. He said the medical school was committed to holistic alternatives to enhancing diversity. The agreement is the first time that the Trump administration has requested a school to end its affirmative-action practices, according to the Wall Street Journal. Under Secretary Betsy DeVos, the education department last summer rescinded guidelines put in place under President Barack Obama that said colleges and universities could consider race in admissions decisions as a way of promoting diversity. A resolution agreement letter in February from the school to the Education Department obtained by The Epoch Times outlined the schools current plan. [TTUHSC] is committed to exploring race-neutral alternatives to enhancing diversity and fully and completely evaluating its current admissions policies and practices to ensure it is appropriately and lawfully considering an applicants race and/or national origin in its admissions process, the letter stated. The Education Departments Office for Civil Rights said in a complaint that the schools racial discrimination was one of many factors in their admissions process that was in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The act outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Investigations The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a series of cases that universities may use affirmative action to increase minority enrollment on their campuses. Conservatives have argued that such programs can hurt those who are academically qualified, but dont fit the race profile stipulated at the time under affirmative-action guidelines, arguing that other kinds of diversity, such as socioeconomic status, should also be considered. A federal judge is weighing a lawsuit that accuses Harvard University of discriminating against Asian-American applicants. Legal experts believe the case could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court and have far-reaching implications regarding affirmative action. Meanwhile, Harvard and Yale University are under investigation by the Justice Department over claims of discrimination against Asian-Americans. Both schools have denied the allegations. Reuters contributed to this report. Ukrainian member of parliament Serhiy Leshchenko holds pages showing allegedly signings of payments to Paul Manafort from an illegal shadow accounting book of the party of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, in Kyiv on Aug. 19, 2016. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images) Ties to Ukrainian National a Unifying Theme in Early Attacks on Trump While special counsel Robert Mueller has concluded there was no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, some of the key people in creating the Russia-collusion narrative themselves have ties to a foreign nation. Both the Democratic National Committee as well as Fusion GPSthe company hired by the DNC and the Clinton campaign to research the Trump campaignwere using Ukrainian sources in their efforts to discredit Trump. Serhiy Leshchenko, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, was a common thread involved in Democratic opposition research efforts into former Trump campaign Chairman Paul Manafort. Leshchenko, along with Artem Sytnyk, the director of Ukraines National Anti-Corruption Bureau, was responsible for publicly disclosing the contents of the Ukrainian black ledger, which implicated Manafort, to the media. Leshchenko also served as a source for various individuals, including journalist Michael Isikoff and DNC operative Alexandra Chalupa. In addition, Leshchenko served as a direct source of information for Fusion GPSand their hired researcherformer CIA contractor Nellie Ohr. Leshchenko: A Source for Fusion Ohr told congressional investigators on Oct. 19, 2018, that while she was working for Fusion, she was sometimes given leads from both Jake Berkowitz, her direct supervisor, and Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson. When asked if any Fusion research was based off sources of theirs, Nellie answered affirmatively but said the information that came from the sources wasnt in relation to the Trump family. Former CIA and Fusion GPS contractor Nellie Ohr. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) When pressed, Nellie said she recalled them mentioning someone named Serhiy Leshchenko, a Ukrainian. She later admitted she knew of Leshchenko prior to her time at Fusion as he was a very well-known, Ukrainian, anti-corruption activist and said she had followed him in the press. Leshchenko revealed the existence in 2016 of the so-called Ukrainian black ledger, which allegedly contained a list of secret payments made by Ukraines pro-Russian Party of Regions to Manafort among many others. Leshchenko had adopted a strong anti-Trump stance, telling the Financial Times in August 2016 that a Trump presidency would change the pro-Ukrainian agenda in American foreign policy and that it was important to show not only the corruption aspect, but that he is [a] pro-Russian candidate who can break the geopolitical balance in the world. Leschenko noted that the majority of Ukrainian politicians were on Hillary Clintons side. Nellie Ohr said she wasnt aware how the connection between Leshchenko and Fusion was established, or if they were doing work for him, but she did agree that Leshchenko was a source of information and acknowledged that she then used that information in following up and formulating her opposition research. Later in Ohrs testimony, Leshchenko was briefly mentioned once again. She appeared to be very careful with her choice of wordingespecially when Manaforts name came up: Ms. Sachsman Grooms: You mentioned that, at some point, somebody from Fusion GPS told you that they were giving you a tip that was based off of a source that was a Ukrainian source, Serhiy Leshchenko. Is that right? Ms. Ohr: Yes. That they werethat they were giving me some information that had originated with him in some way. Ms. Sachsman Grooms: Do you recall whether that information related to Mr. Manafort? Ms. Ohr: What Ill say is that at the timeat the same meeting, if I recall correctly, that his name came up, this piece of paper that lists Mr. Manaforts flights was given to me, and Im notI dont recall exactly right now whether they said this particular piece of paper comes from Mr. Leshchenko or not. At this point, the questioning abruptly moved on and no further questions involving either Manafort or Leshchenko were put forth. Ohr was never asked if she had ever met with Leshchenko directly. The Party of Regions Email In 2010, Nellie Ohr was listed as a participant in a June 2010 National Institute of Justice report, Expert Working Group Report on International Organized Crime. Listed on the same page were husband Bruce Ohr and Simpson, who was, at the time, a Senior Fellow, International Assessment and Strategy Center. Another participant at the conference was DOJ official Lisa Holtyn, who was listed as a senior intelligence adviser at the DOJ Criminal Divisions Organized Crime and Racketeering Section. Notably, Holtyn is the same DOJ official Nellie Ohr included on many of her emails to her husband that contained her Russia-related research. Also present at the conference was Mark Galeotti, academic chair for the Center for Global Affairs at New York University, and Tom Kellerman, vice president of security awareness and strategic partnerships at Core Security Technologies. Ukrainian member of Parliament Serhiy Leshchenko points to a monitor displaying allegedly a page of an illegal shadow accounting book of the party of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, in Kyiv, on Aug. 19, 2016. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images) Nellie Ohr, while working for Fusion GPS, would later send emails to Bruce Ohr and Holtyn with Russia-related articles that contained quotes from both Galeotti and Kellerman, with Galeotti being more frequently referenced, but she made no mention of their mutual association from the conference in her emails. On May 30, 2016, Nellie Ohr sent an email to Bruce Ohr, Holtyn, Ivana Nizich, and Joe Wheatleythen both trial attorneys in the DOJs Organized Crime and Gang Section. Nizich had previously worked for Bruce Ohr. The email held a subject line that read Reported Trove of Documents on Ukrainian Party of Regions Black Cashbox. Within the email was the text from an article penned the day before by Nikolai Holmov, a blogger at Odessatalk, with the title bolded and enlarged. It also contained a link to the underlying article. Documentation regarding that Party of Regions chyornaya kasse has now seemingly found its way to NABU, the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau, the article stated. The article contained a tweet that led to another article, in Russian, from May 28, 2016, providing further details on the chyornaya kasse or black box ledger: On Saturday, published in the Weekly Mirror, Ukraine, an interview was made public with the former First Deputy Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Viktor Trepak, who claims that he handed over documents confirming illegal payments of cash by the Party of Regions to a number of former and current senior officials. According to him, we are talking about the so-called black bookkeeping of the Party of Regions with total payments of about $2 billion. Trepak reportedly claimed his information regarding the more than $2 billion fund implicated officials of the highest level, ministers and heads of departments, peoples deputies, famous politicians, public figures, representatives of international organizations, judges, including the highest judicial instances. Interestingly, when one goes to Holmovs Twitter feed, the last retweet sent (as of publication of this article) was on Jan. 11, 2019. It is a retweet of an announcement from Mark Galeotti that he was joining the pre-eminent security think tank @RUSI_org as a Senior Associate Fellow. Galeotti, as previously mentioned, had been referenced with some frequency in Ohrs emails. In addition to being the author of numerous articles, Galeotti penned an article for Tablet Magazine, titled, The Trump Dossier, or How Russia Helped America Break Itself. Some questions raised in Holmovs article would later prove prescient. Have copies of these documents made their way to other, perhaps foreign security services? To what end? he asked. If there are foreign personalities involved, are those relevant documents to be shared with those nationsand when? Holmov addressed the motivations of the person responsible for disclosing the ledger, noting, Not all informants are informants for cash rewardthere are other (and perhaps more dangerous) motivators. He also wondered about the timing, observing that the documents had not just appeared from nowhere. Somebody has kept it, knowing it to be what it is, for quite some time. Thus why now has it come to light and been given to the authorities? Interestingly, Holmov noted that no names or specifics have been made public for now as any such disclosure could very well impede subsequent investigations by NABU. A Ukrainian court later determined that a NABU official played a role in the leaking of documents to The New York Times. Nellies May 30, 2016, email would prove prophetic. It alerted officials within the Justice Department of a discovery that would have far-reaching implications for Manafortand the Trump campaignmonths before the news reached a national level. Leshchenko Leak Takes Down Manafort Manafort, the former campaign chairman for Donald Trump, would be famously implicated in the Black Box ledger scandal two months later and it would lead to his resignation from the Trump campaign. Manaforts work in Ukraine was highlighted in late July, and on Aug. 14, 2016, The New York Times reported that payments to Manafort had been uncovered from the Party of Regents black box: Handwritten ledgers show $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments designated for Mr. Manafort from Mr. Yanukovychs pro-Russian political party from 2007 to 2012, according to Ukraines newly formed National Anti-Corruption Bureau. Investigators assert that the disbursements were part of an illegal off-the-books system whose recipients also included election officials. Manaforts name was reportedly listed in the 400-page ledger 22 times, although his actual signature wasnt authenticated and any payments made to him remain unverified. The documents implicating Manafort had been released by Serhiy Leshchenko. On March 20, 2017, Leshchenko released another set of documents, this time alleging to show that Manafort took steps to hide payments related to his work for former Ukrainian President Viktor F. Yanukovych. Leshchenkos documents included an invoice that appeared to show $750,000 funneled through an offshore account and disguised as payment for computers. Paul Manafort talks to reporters on the floor of the Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on July 17, 2016. (Matt Rourke/AP Photo) In a strange twist, it was reported by Politico in late February 2017 that a hack of the phone belonging to one of Manaforts daughters revealed a text containing a blackmail threat that Manafort has attributed to Leshchenko. Its not known with any certainty who actually sent the text, which contains an attachment that references the Yanukovych accounting book and lists an email address for Leshchenko. Leshchenko became the subject of an investigation in Ukraine and in December 2018, a Kyiv court ruled that Leshchenko, along with NABU Director Artem Sytnyk acted illegally when they revealed that Manaforts surname and signature were found in the so-called black ledger of ousted President Viktor Yanukovychs Party of Regions, the Kyiv Post reported on Dec. 12, 2018. The court noted the material was part of a pre-trial investigation and its release led to interference in the electoral processes of the United States in 2016 and harmed the interests of Ukraine as a state. The Hill recently reported that Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko stated that he was opening a probe into alleged attempts by Ukrainians to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Surprisingly, the report, which focuses on Sytnyk, makes no mention of Leshchenkoor of the December court ruling which determined that both Leshchenko and Sytnyk violated Ukrainian law. Alexandra Chalupas Ukrainian Ties According to a Jan. 11, 2017, investigative article by Politico, headlined Ukrainian Efforts to Sabotage Trump Backfire, Democratic operative Alexandra Chalupa had been investigating Manafort and his work in Ukraine since 2014. According to an Oct 16, 2018, report in the Kyiv Post, Chalupa said she first came across Manafort after she organized a meeting with then-U.S. President Barack Obamas National Security Council and leaders of Ukrainian-American organizations in January 2014, to brief the White House about the Euromaidan Revolution that drove President Viktor Yanukovych from power on Feb. 22, 2014. In late 2015, Chalupa expanded her research into Manafort to include the Trump campaign and possible ties to Russia. In January 2016, Chalupa informed an unknown senior DNC official that she believed there was a Russian connection with the Trump campaign. Notably, this theme would be picked up by the Clinton campaign in the summer of 2016. Chalupa also told the official to expect Manaforts involvement in the Trump campaign. Chalupas forecast proved prescient, as Manafort reached out to the Trump campaign shortly after, on Feb. 29, 2016, through a mutual acquaintance, Thomas J. Barrack Jr. According to Manafort, he and Trump hadnt been in communication for years until the Trump campaign responded to Manaforts offer. On March 28, 2016, Manafort was hired by the Trump campaign. He was reportedly initially hired to lead the Trump campaigns delegate effort, but was soon promoted, and on May 19, 2016, Manafort became Trumps campaign chairman and chief strategist. Just days prior to Manaforts hiring, on March 24, 2016, Chalupa spoke with the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Valeriy Chaly, and told him of concerns she had regarding Manafort. Reportedly, her concerns were initially rebuffed as Chaly didnt think Trump had a real chance of winning the presidency. According to Politico, the day after Manaforts hiring, Chalupa provided a briefing on Manafort, Trump and their ties to Russia to the DNCs communications staff. Notably, with the DNCs encouragement, Chalupa asked the Ukrainian Embassy staff to attempt to arrange an interview with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko and have him discuss Manaforts ties to former Ukrainian President Yanukovych. The Ukrainian Embassy reportedly declined the request but, according to Chalupa, did begin working with reporters who were researching Trump. Andrii Telizhenko, who worked in the Ukrainian Embassy under one of Chalys top aides, Oksana Shulyar, has repeatedly stated that Chalupa was working closely with the Ukrainian Embassy to obtain information on Trump. In an interview with the Gateway Pundit, Telizhenko said he met Chalupa in the spring of 2016 at the Ukrainian Embassy, where Chalupa told him she was a DNC operative working for the DNC and the Clinton campaign. Telizhenko continued, noting that Chalupa said she was collecting any dirt or background information on Manafort, presidential candidate Trump or any other campaign official from the Trump campaign and was looking for connections to Russia or the FSB or Russian mob, or Ukrainian mob, etc. According to Telizhenko, Chalupa said the information would be used for committee hearings in Congress under a congresswoman. Telizhenko didnt disclose the identity of the congresswoman, noting, I dont want to mention her name on record. In January 2017, Telizhenko told Politico that Chalupa said, If we can get enough information on Paul [Manafort] or Trumps involvement with Russia, she can get a hearing in Congress by September. In a recent tweet, Telizhenko summed the situation succinctly, noting The Clinton campaign had a Democratic operative working with Ukraines embassy in Washington to research Trumps Russia ties, as well as a Ukrainian lawmaker feeding information to Fusion GPS. The Democratic operative refers to Chalupa, while the Ukrainian lawmaker refers to Leshchenko. Isikoff Collaborates With Chalupa On April 26, 2016, Yahoo News investigative reporter Michael Isikoff published a story about Paul Manaforts business dealings with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. The Isikoff article referenced an investment fund, Pericles Emerging Markets, which was started by Manafort and several partners in 2007. According to The New York Times, Deripaska was the financial backer of the fund and agreed to commit as much as $100 million, although he apparently only invested $18.9 million in 2008 to finance the purchase of Black Sea Cable, a Ukrainian telecommunications company. Pericles is now defunct, and Deripaska sued Manafort in a Cayman Islands court, seeking to recover his investment. This same transaction would later be referenced in the Aug. 14, 2016, New York Times article that reported the alleged payments to Manafort from the Party of Regents black box. On April 28, 2016, Chalupa appeared on a panel to discuss her research on Manafort with a group of 68 Ukrainian investigative journalists gathered at the Library of Congress, for a program sponsored by a U.S. congressional agency called the Open World Leadership Center. Appearing with her was Isikoff, with whom she was apparently working and whom she had invited, according to a May 3, 2016, email that Chalupa sent to Luis Miranda, communications director of the DNC, and was published by Wikileaks: I spoke to a delegation of 68 investigative journalists from Ukraine last Wednesday at the Library of Congressthe Open World Societys forumthey put me on the program to speak specifically about Paul Manafort and I invited Michael Isikoff, whom Ive been working with for the past few weeks and connected him to the Ukrainians. Isikoff is the same reporter who published an article about Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page on Sept. 23, 2016. The article, headlined U.S. Intel Officials Probe Ties Between Trump Adviser and Kremlin, was based on an interview with Christopher Steele. Isikoffs article would later be used as corroborating information by the FBI in the FISA warrant application on Page. Chalupas email closed with a reference to something larger that would become public in the coming weeks: More offline tomorrow since there is a big Trump component you and Lauren need to be aware of that will hit in next few weeks and something Im working on you should be aware of. In late July, according to the Politico article, Chalupa left the DNC to work full-time on her research into Manafort. Around the same time, on Aug. 4, 2016, Chaly, the Ukrainian ambassador, wrote an op-ed in The Hill against candidate Trump, noting that recent comments by Republican nominee Donald Trump about the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimeaoccupied by Russia since March 2014have raised serious concerns in Kyiv and beyond Ukraine. Leshchenkos Ties to Chalupa On Aug. 14, 2016, The New York Times broke their blockbuster story alleging that payments to Manafort had been uncovered from the Party of Regents black boxthe 400-page handwritten ledger released by Leshchenko. The article proved to be a fatal blow for Manafort, who resigned from the Trump campaign just days later. On Aug. 19, 2016, Isikoff wrote a follow-up article, claiming that Ukrainian anti-corruption investigators were seeking to question Manafort, who had resigned from the Trump campaign that same day. The source for Isikoff was Leshchenko, who told him that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine have to interrogate him. This has to happen. Leshchenko held a press conference in Kyiv that same day, where he provided further details from the Party of Regions ledger. Leshchenko also provided details directly to Isikoff, telling Yahoo News that ledgers in the book include 22 separate entries for Manafortmost of them for fees under his contract as a political consultant to the party, but others for exit polls, computers, international observers and other expenses. Mentioned in the same article was Chalupa, with whom Isikoff had been working: Im ecstatic that Paul Manafort resigned from the Trump campaign, Chalupa told Yahoo News. Mr. Manafort is someone who spent the last decades working against our nations foreign policy interests overseas, as most recently demonstrated in Ukraine when he worked for Putins former puppet president, Viktor Yanukovych. Besides Isikoff, it appears Leshchenko had also been in contact with Chalupa. According to a March 20, 2017, report from Fox News, Leshchenko had spoken with Chalupa sometime in 2016: Leshchenko said he discussed Manaforts role in Ukrainian politics with Chalupa, the Democratic consultant, last year. Leshchenko said Manafort kept his eyes blind to all the corruption by the Ukrainian politicians he was advising years ago. On July 24, 2017, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein regarding Chalupa, noting that her actions appear to show that she was simultaneously working on behalf of a foreign government, Ukraine, and on behalf of the DNC and Clinton campaign, in an effort to influence not only the U.S. voting population but U.S. government officials. Grassley asked why the DOJ hadnt required Chalupa to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act and also asked if the DOJ was investigating links and coordination between the Ukrainian government and individuals associated with the campaign of Hillary Clinton or the Democratic National Committee? If not, why not? Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a Security Council meeting about the situation in Venezuela at the United Nations in New York, on April 10, 2019. (JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images) US Calls on UN to Revoke Credentials of Maduros Regime The Trump administration on April 10 called on the United Nations to revoke the U.N. credentials of illegitimate dictator Nicolas Maduros socialist regime and to instead recognize the internationally recognized interim president, Juan Guaido. Vice President Mike Pence, as part of the administrations latest effort to pressure the embattled dictator to step down, said that the United States has drafted a U.N. resolution and called on all states to support it. The time has come for the United Nations to recognize interim President Juan Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela and seat his representative in this body, Pence told the U.N. Security Council. In February, both the United States and Russia failed in rival bids to get the Security Council to adopt resolutions on Venezuela. The United States was the first country to recognize Guaido as Venezuelas rightful leader. Guaido also has the support of more than 50 nations internationally. When asked if the United States thought it had enough backing to oust Maduros government at the United Nations, Pence said: I think the momentum is on the side of freedom. Russia and China have, for years, fed billions of dollars to Maduros regime through loans and energy deals. Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the United States of provoking an artificial crisis to oust Maduro and replace him with their own pawn, actions he described as a lawless, thuggish violation of international law. We call on the United States to once again recognize that the Venezuelan people and other peoples have the right to determine their own future, Nebenzia said. If you want to make America great againand we are all sincerely interested in seeing thatstop interfering in the affairs of other states. Like Russia, Maduro also has dismissed Guaido as a U.S. puppet. The United States had called the meeting to discuss the humanitarian situation. U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock told the council that there is a very real humanitarian problem in Venezuela. The scale of need is significant and growing. The United Nations is working in Venezuela to expand the provision of humanitarian assistance, Lowcock said. We can do more to relieve the suffering of the people of Venezuela if we get more help and support from all stakeholders. He briefed the council on a recent U.N. report on the situation that estimates that about a quarter of Venezuelans are in need of humanitarian assistance, painting a dire picture of millions of people lacking food and basic services. Some 3.4 million Venezuelans have left the country, with the United Nations predicting that number will rise to some 5 million by the end of the year. Days ago, the U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions on 34 vessels owned or operated by Venezuelan state-run oil company PDVSA that carry oil to customers outside the region. It also sanctioned two shipping operators and a vessel that delivered oil to Cuba in February and March. The department reiterated that the United States continues to push for a transition to democracy in Venezuela. Reuters contributed to this report Huawei mobile phones are displayed at a telecoms service shop in Hong Kong, China on March 29, 2019. (Kin Cheung/AP) US Praises German 5G Standards, Could Shut Out Chinas Huawei LONDONThe top U.S. diplomat for cybersecurity policy on April 10 praised Germanys draft security standards for next generation mobile networks, which he said could effectively shut out Chinas Huawei. The standards published last month were a positive step, said Rob Strayer, whos leading the U.S. campaign to persuade its allies to stop using the Chinese tech giants network gear. The German standards, which are subject to feedback from the industry, call for mobile providers to use trustworthy telecom equipment suppliers that comply with national security regulations covering communications secrecy and data protection. The United States has been lobbying European allies to ban Huawei from new 5G networks over concerns Chinas communist leaders could force the company to use its equipment for cyber espionage. Huawei, the worlds biggest maker of telecom network gear, has consistently denied the U.S. allegations. While no European countries have issued blanket bans, Strayer said a risk-based approach to evaluating telecom suppliers, including their relationship with their national government, would lead inevitably to banning Huawei. At this point were looking for governments to adopt security standards like were seeing in Germany, Strayer told reporters on a conference call. The German requirements are incompatible with Chinas national intelligence law, which compels companies to cooperate with intelligence requests, so its hard to see how Chinese technology would meet that standard, Strayer said. The United States is concerned that intelligence sharing or other forms of cooperation with its allies could be hurt if those countries use unsecured equipment from untrusted countries in their 5G networks, Strayer said. The battle over Huawei has intensified in recent months as countries in Europe and elsewhere prepare to deploy 5G networks, starting with the auction of frequencies this year. The quake hit at around 7:11 a.m. west of Florence, Oregon, with a depth of 6.2 miles. (USGS) USGS: 4.7 Magnitude Earthquake Hits West of Oregon Coast A moderate-sized, 4.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Oregon, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The quake hit at around 7:11 a.m. on April 10, more than 200 miles west of Florence, Oregon, with a depth of 6.2 miles, the agency said. It was located about 230 miles west of Coos Bay. OregonLive reported that some people could feel the tremor. No tsunami warning was issued. The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network says that earthquakes with a magnitude of 4 or higher are felt by humans and might cause damage or injuries. All amplitude-based magnitudes rely on a base-10 logarithm of the peak amplitude measured by a seismograph. This is because there are many factors of 10 difference between the smallest and largest amplitudes of observed ground motions. An earthquake that measures 5.0 on the Richter scale has a shaking amplitude 10 times larger and corresponds to an energy release of 31.6 times greater than one that measures 4.0, the network says. More Earthquakes Last year, five earthquakes hit off the coast of Oregon in a 24-hour period, and the largest was a 4.5 on the Richter scale. Before that, hundreds of miles to the north, three strong earthquakes hit off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. The tremors were centered in the Pacific Ocean. Geophysicist Amy Vaughan told The Associated Press at the time that there may have been some other aftershocks. Vaughan says the quakes were felt onshore. No injuries were reported, she said at the time. The Big One Last year, a report said that a 9.0 earthquake could hit off the West Coast of Canada, which could kill thousands of people and trigger massive tsunami waves around the West Coast of North America. Whats more, the waves could even make it to Japan. Its only a matter of time, they suggested. Its difficult to predict when it will happen again. We do know its occurred about 20 times in the past 10,000 years, Dr. John Clague, an earth sciences professor at Simon Fraser University, told GlobalNews Canada. The report made reference to a 9.0 magnitude earthquake that hit close to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, in the year 1700. The quake caused a tsunami that affected the east coast of Japan, and several Native American tribes in the region have oral traditions that speak about a giant earthquake as well as a tsunami-like flooding event along the West Coast. This geologically active region, the Cascadia Subduction Zone, not only hosts erupting volcanoes but also produces megathrust earthquakes capable of generating devastating, ocean-crossing tsunamis. By comparing the tree rings of dead trees with those still living they could tell when the last of these great earthquakes struck the region. The trees all died in the winter of 1699-1700 when the coasts of northern California, Oregon, and Washington suddenly dropped 1-2 m (3-6 feet), flooding them with seawater, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center wrote. Victorian Teenager Died During Childbirth A distraught Victorian mother has revealed the anguish of hopelessly watching her teenage daughter die while giving birth. Mooroopna woman Sommer Warren, 18, died at Sheppartons Goulburn Valley Health in October 2014, nine days past the date she was due to give birth. Evidence presented to the Coroners Court of Victoria on Tuesday found Warren had no pulse for up to three minutes before hospital staff began CPR. A panel of doctors concluded she died from a hypertensive crisis, causing a seizure which led to cardiac arrest. Warrens mother Leisa Scammell told the inquest her life has fallen apart since losing her first-born child five years ago. Sommer Warren died during labour at a hospital in Shepparton. An inquest has heard the hospital failed to induce her five days before her death, despite urgent calls from a local doctor. Posted by ABC Melbourne on Tuesday, April 9, 2019 She lambasted the Shepparton hospital for its treatment of her daughter during the pregnancy, and after she was admitted to give birth. Scammell has refused to go back to the hospital since, opting for her other two daughters to seek medical treatment elsewhere. Sommer put her trust in medical professionals and they simply werent listening to her fears, Scammell told the inquest. I watched on hopelessly as Sommer deteriorated while in labour. My last memory of my daughter is seeing her eyes roll back in her head and going into a seizure. Ive become obsessed with finding answers why Sommer died. Scammell said her grandson Lincolns birthday would always be remembered as a day he lost his mum. At no stage did I contemplate losing my girl or that she wouldnt be holding her baby son, she said. The inquest was told Warren experienced high blood pressure after being induced into labour on October 6, 2014. Coroners Court delay leaves mother waiting for answers four years after her daughter's death. Story: https://t.co/YTA1hTZXyI More tonight on #abc730. @L_Day pic.twitter.com/LyrN2VyVEM abc730 (@abc730) October 24, 2018 She became drowsy and her eyelids started flickering, but there was a significant delay in attempts to revive her when she had no pulse. Expert doctors were split on whether Warren suffered the serious condition pre-eclampsia, which could have categorised her pregnancy as high-risk. Dr. Forbes McGain told the court that the real trouble is on the final day, referring to the time anaesthetist Jayakumar Rangaswami administered an epidural. In a written statement, Dr. Rangaswami said Warren was distressed before being given the epidural but he put that discomfort down to labour pain. The inquest before coroner Audrey Jamieson will resume on May 20. By Oliver Caffrey U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in the Oval Office of the White House, on April 9, 2019. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) White House Considers Restricting Remittances to Mexico to Stop Illegal Migration The White House is considering a plan to curb payments sent to Mexico and Central American countries in order to stem a surge of illegal aliens pouring into the United States. A senior administration official told reporters on April 10 the plan would restrict remittances from the United States in order to discourage migrants. The move is part of a broader plan targeting migrants who cross the border illegally to claim asylum. The vast majority of asylum claims are rejected, but loopholes in the immigration laws result in many of the migrants being released into the interior with work permits, as they await adjudication of their claims. Many never show up to be deported and continue working in the United States and sending money to relatives in their home countries. According to the World Bank, $33.7 billion in remittances was sent to Mexico in 2018, an increase of 21 percent from 2016. The outflow to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras grew to $19.7 billion in 2018, a 25 percent increase from 2016. A significant portion of the payments goes to human trafficking cartels that charge at least $5,000 per person to help the migrants travel and enter into the United States. In an April 9 interview with Breitbart, Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach floated a plan to threaten to end remittances to Mexico entirely. The threat can be used to force Mexico to enact a ban on Central Americans traveling through the country to the United States. Mexico already has a robust asylum system and could demand that migrants seek asylum in the first country they arrive in. The threat I propose is one that actually helps us if we follow through on it. That is the threat of ending remittances from the majority of people in the United States from Mexico who are here illegally, Kobach told Breitbart. That is a threat that we could carry through on that actually helps our economy because the money is not sent home, it stays in circulation in the U.S. economy and helps rev up our economy. Its actually a good thing if we follow through, he said. They dont want to risk losing that massive flow of foreign capital. In most years, its their second biggest source of foreign capital, he added. Kobach is one of several people rumored to be under consideration to replace Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who resigned from her post on April 7. Nielsens resignation is part of a reshuffling at the top of the immigration agencies as President Donald Trump shifts toward a more aggressive approach to immigration enforcement. Two days after Nielsen announced her departure, a senior administration official said others at DHS werent doing enough to enact Trumps immigration agenda. DHS acting Deputy Secretary Claire Grady offered her resignation to Trump, effective April 10, after a 28-year career at the departments of Defense and Homeland Security. The U.S. Secret Service said on April 8 that its chief, Randolph Tex Alles, would depart his job next month. Days earlier, Trump withdrew the nomination of Ronald Vitiello to serve as director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Several other DHS officials could be forced out soon, said an official familiar with the matter. Among them were the departments general counsel, John Mitnick, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Francis Cissna, the source said. Trump denied that he was overhauling DHS and said his administration was fighting bad laws on immigration and a court system that never ever rules for us. Nobody ever said I was cleaning house, Trump told reporters at the White House. DHS said it arrested or denied entry to more than 103,000 people along the border last month, more than double the March 2018 figure. Immigration authorities have released more than 120,000 migrants traveling as families into the interior so far this year. Reuters contributed to this report. President Donald Trump speaks to the press prior to departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House on April 10, 2019. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images) White House Mulls Major Steps to Tackle Migrant Crisis Amid a leadership shakeup in the top ranks of its immigration agencies, the White House is considering several major changes to immigration policies meant to stem the flow of illegal aliens into the country across the southwest border. According to a senior administration official, the White House is weighing steps that would force changes to the current asylum system, which President Donald Trump and Republicans say are fundamentally flawed. The Trump administration is also reviewing the possibility of restricting remittances to Mexico and South America to remove some financial incentives to migration. One policy on deck would offer a binary choice for illegal alien family units who claim asylum, the official said. The adults in the family unit would be given a choice to either go into long-term detention as a family until their asylum claim is adjudicated or to send their children to government shelters while the case is being decided. The families who choose to stay together would surrender their rights to a limited 20-day detention period mandated by the decades-old Flores court settlement. The 20-day limit is the cause of the so-called catch-and-release loophole, which forces immigration authorities to release illegal aliens claiming asylum into the interior before their claims are adjudicated. The vast majority of asylum claims are rejected but the migrants, once inside the United States, rarely show up for deportation proceedings and avoid capture by fleeing to sanctuary states. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have released more than 120,000 into the interior so far this year. An estimated 1 million illegal aliens with final deportation orders currently reside in the United States. I think that the whole asylum rules, laws, and regulations have been taken advantage of by people that are very bad people, in many cases, Trump said when asked about the binary choice policy for asylum seekers. These are the people running the cartels. Theyre gaming the system; they have been for years. The only difference is our economy is now so strong that more people come up, the president added. The binary choice policy would shift the responsibility for family separations onto the illegal aliens themselves since each family would be offered a choice to stay together or be separated. The Trump administration faced fierce blowback in 2018 when Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered that all aliens who break the law by crossing the border illegally be prosecuted for the crime. The zero-tolerance policy resulted in adults being prosecuted and separated from their children, the same procedure law enforcement follows when arresting and prosecuting U.S. citizens. Democrats, aided by media outlets explicitly opposed to Trump, used the family separations as political ammunition to hammer the president. Trump was eventually forced to end the practice. On April 9, he said he would not reinstate the policy, but lamented not having the option, since migrants are coming to exploit the loophole. Once you dont have it, thats why you see many more people coming. Theyre coming like its a picnic because lets go to Disneyland, Trump said. The White House is also considering a legal strategy to trigger a court challenge by simply detaining minors for longer than the 20-day maximum established in the court ruling. The senior administration official said the move would spur a legal battle that may eventually lead to the overturning of the Flores settlement. A senior administration official told reporters that the ongoing leadership reshuffle was triggered in part because officials were slow in bringing about this extended detention regulation. The administration also is considering restricting remittance payments to Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. An estimated $53.4 billion in remittances flowed to the four countries in 2018, a major boost to the impoverished nations, according to the World Bank. Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, one of several people rumored to be under consideration to fill the leadership vacuum amid the shakeup, proposed eliminating the remittances entirely. Kobach told Breitbart on April 9 that the mere threat may force Mexico to stop the flow of Central American migrants across its territory. Kobach is under consideration to replace Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who resigned April 7. The next day, Randolph Tex Alles, the chief of the Secret Service, also resigned. The day after that, DHS acting Deputy Secretary Claire Grady offered her resignation. One official with knowledge of the matter said more officials may be on their way out, including the general counsel of DHS, John Mitnick, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Lee Francis Cissna. A senior administration official said the DHS has been too slow in drafting new rules that would tighten immigration. The official singled out USCIS, saying it had not moved quickly enough to tighten H-1B visas for skilled workers and has granted an astronomical number of asylum claims. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan is due to take Nielsens place on a temporary basis, starting April 10. Asked whether he was considering nominating McAleenan as his permanent secretary, Trump said it could happen. We have others, but right now hes the man, the president added. Trump has interviewed several candidates for the top job during the past week and a half, including former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, and former acting head of ICE Thomas Homan. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Congress needed to set aside its differences to overhaul immigration laws, which it has repeatedly failed to do over the past 15 years. The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. WASHINGTON Rep. Jahana Hayes, a former National Teacher of the Year, Wednesday had her first chance to question Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, resulting in a heated exchange over the use of federal money to arm teachers. Hayes, D-5th District, took DeVos to task for her handling of a request last year from a school superintendent in Oklahoma who asked President Donald Trump if he could use money from a certain program, known as Title 4a, to help arm the teachers in his schools. The White House sent the schools superintendent Charles McMahans request to the U.S. Department of Education. Hayes asked DeVos if her office had given McMahan any guidance and asked for a yes or no answer. Congresswoman, thats not a yes or no question, DeVos said. Hayes retorted No, Im not going to let you do this, and continued to press for an answer from the secretary - who had dodged dozens of questions from Democratic lawmakers during the hearing. Ultimately, yes, DeVos finally responded. DeVos has maintained she did not have the authority to say whether money from the Title 4a program could be used to arm teachers, that it was up to Congress to interpret the law that established those grants. But her department did tell McMahan that the Title 4 program allowed wide discretion in the use of its grant money. Still, DeVos told Hayes, we have not advocated for or against the use of federal education money to arm and train teachers. Your silence is a decision, Hayes shot back. DeVos continued to say she did not have the authority to say whether federal funds could be used, or not used, to arm teachers. Thats when Hayes, who represents Newtown, site of the massacre of 26 children and school faculty, had her gotcha moment. She waived an internal Department of Education memo dated July 16 of last year that was obtained through a Freedom of Information request. It said the Departments Office of General Counsel has advised that the Secretary has discretion to interpret the broad language of the statute as to its permissiveness regarding the purchase of firearms and the use of firearms. You have the authority, Hayes told DeVos. Read the memo. DeVos also told members of the House Education and Labor Committee Wednesday that she is not familiar with Obama-era affirmative action guidance for schools that the Trump administration rescinded last summer. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, who like Hayes sits on the panel, questioned DeVos about an inspector generals report that said her department was doing a bad job of policing student lenders and about her decision to stop sharing information about companies that participate in the federal student loan program with states like Connecticut. Twenty-one attorneys general, including Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, say they need this information to prosecute shady lenders and have demanded the Department of Education resume sharing the data with them. Under your leadership, the department has undermined state enforcement of student borrower protections, Courtney told DeVos. He also had an internal Department of Education memo to submit to the committee. It was sent to student loan companies last year advising them against sharing information with state law enforcement officials. DeVos was unruffled. She indicated states have no role in policing lenders. Federal student loans are federal policy, she said. HARTFORD A bill that would erase criminal records to eventually give those convicted of crimes a better chance at landing jobs and finding places to live following completion of their sentences passed the Judiciary Committee 21-19 Tuesday. The so-called clean slate legislation now heads to the Senate. The original bill was amended to ensure those convicted of sexual and domestic abuse and that those convicted of a felony have the burden of proving to the Board of Pardons and Paroles that they deserve to have their records expunged. Sen. Dennis Bradley, D-Bridgeport, said while he strongly supported the bill, in reality its not going far enough I wish it would go further. Bradley said the law will help minorities, who he said represent a large percentage of the people in the court system something he said he knows well as a lawyer who has spent much time in the Bridgeport court system. What we dont want to see, because you are a person of color and because you are poor, that a conviction follows you forever, Bradley said. Sen. Gary Winfield, D-New Haven, added: We hope this allows people to come back to society and participate fully, without fear of their past records hurting them in seeking employment or other aspects, such as finding housing. But the issue isnt as cut and dried for some members of the committee. Rep. Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield said there are a plethora of crimes that would be wiped away under the bill. He listed criminally negligent homicide and assault as crimes that would be automatically expunged. No input from the victim just wiped away, no consequences, nothing, Harding said. Rep. Maria Horn, D-Salisbury, a former prosecutor who supported the bill, pointed out that the automatic expungement only occurs years after someone completes their sentence. To have something thats automatic is pretty scary, Horn said. But these are already people who have served their time as determined by a court, by a jury with input from victims and all appropriate safeguards. We are talking about what happens to people after they have served their legitimate criminal terms. Rep. Craig Fishbein, R-Wallingford, said he could see himself getting behind the bill if the expunging came after 10 years, but not three or five. The Judiciary Committee also approved a bill that would ban the use of solitary confinement in state prisons. The bill banning the use of solitary confinement received bipartisan support from lawmakers who said that the practice, especially on the youngest inmates, hurts public safety more than it helps it. Sixteen, 17- and 18-year-olds confined 23 hours at a time I believe that is outrageous, Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield, said. The Correction Department has continued to put youthful offenders in solitary confinement in adult prisons in Connecticut despite the passage of legislation prohibiting the practice in 2017, Child Advocate Sarah Eagan told the Judiciary Committee during a public hearing on the bill. Rep. Robyn Porter, D-New Haven, said while many are focused on the issue of solitary confinement being used on young people, she believes it bad practice for people of any age. If we did to animals what we did to people you would be facing prison time for animal cruelty, Porter said. In other action, the committee also passed a bill that requires the Chief States Attorneys Office to annually provide all arrest and sentencing data for public view. The bill also would allow defendants to have legal representation during parole revocation hearings. Current Chief States Attorney Kevin Kane testified previously that he supports a revised version of the bill that was crafted with input from the Judicial Branch, the Office of Policy and Management, the Office of the Chief Public Defender, and the Connecticut American Civil Liberties Union. The first part of the bill would require the Division of Criminal Justice to gather all information on arrests and sentencings including the demographics of the defendants, the number of continuances and pre-trial proceedings, information on plea agreements, and the number of trials. The second would provide legal counsel through the states public defender system to all sentenced defendants who are facing parole revocation. The bill now also goes to the Senate. Another bill headed for the Senate is one proposed by the Connecticut Innocence Project that would limit the testimony of jailhouse witnesses by requiring prosecutors to demonstrate that the evidence provided is reliable. The bill, which also is supported by the Connecticut ACLU and the Chief Public Defender, would allow defense attorneys to seek a hearing on the reliability of the testimony of jailhouse witnesses who would testify at a trial. Prosecutors would be required to provide detailed information on the witness criminal background, including any pending cases, any other cases during which they testified and what benefits they received for testifying within 45 days of a defense attorneys request. The bill relates to only murder and sexual assault cases that are slated to go to trial, said Michelle Feldman, State Campaigns Director for the Innocence Project. A review of the testimony and evidence, including whether it could have been obtained by means other than from the defendant, would also undergo the scrutiny of a judge. The prosecutor would have to show by a preponderance of the evidence, that the jailhouse witness testimony was reliable or a judge would not allow the testimony to be admitted. The purpose of the legislation is to protect against wrongful convictions and help the state maintain rightful convictions, Feldman said. HARTFORD A bill that will increase the minimum age to purchase tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, from 18 to 21, received a strong lobbying push from supporters at the state Capitol Wednesday. Over 100 advocates from across Connecticut including cancer survivors, lawmakers, medical professionals, local youth and their families held a press conference to rally support for the legislations passage as part of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) and American Heart Association (AHA) annual lobby day. The bill passed, by a 20-1 vote, out of the Public Health Committee and is now awaiting action from the full House. The feeling of optimism Wednesday that Connecticut was ready to join other states was impossible to miss. This is the year to raise the age of tobacco products to 21, Senate President Martin Looney, D-New Haven said to a cheering crowd. Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, had a similar message, telling proponents: You have wide, bipartisan support for this bill. He encouraged the advocates to work the halls of the legislature on Wednesday to lobby for the bill, telling them hes certain a few weeks down the road that well celebrate when the governor signs this bill. When and if the state passes legislation raising the age it will be catching up with a number of Connecticut towns - including Hartford, Bridgeport, South Windsor, Southington, Wallingford, Trumbull and Milford - that have already passed legislation on their own. Roughly 95 percent of adult smokers begin smoking before they turn 21, Bryte Johnson, director of government relations for ACS CAN, said. We can save countless lives and healthcare dollars if we tackle this problem by increasing the legal sale age of all tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes, across Connecticut. One recently released report has given advocates added momentum - a Department of Public Health 2017 Youth Tobacco Survey indicates e-cigarette use has more than doubled by Connecticut high school students from 7.2 percent use in 2015 to 14.7 percent use in 2017. Electronic cigarette use is creating a new generation of Connecticut children who will suffer from a deadly, lifelong addiction to nicotine and tobacco products, Johnson said. An increase in the legal sale age of tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes, can be a critical component of a comprehensive approach tobacco control, and a powerful tool in the fight against cancer. Gov. Ned Lamont proposed raising the age as part of his two-year budget. He estimates Connecticut will lose $5.8 million in revenue in the first year and $5.5 million in the second year of the budget. Secondly, Lamont is also proposing a 75 percent wholesale tax on electronic cigarette liquids. Two of those speaking at Wednesdays press conference were Roger Levesque, a nearly three decade smoker until he quit after his father-in-law, a smoker, died from lung cancer, and Levesques 16-year-old daughter, Evelyn. Gary was a smoker, its probably what brought on the lung cancer, Roger Levesque, of Newington, said. I was hooked for 28 years. Until losing Gary scared me to quit. Now, Roger Levesque said, he worries about his 14-year-old son who is about to start high school and the peer pressure he will face from others to smoke. Referring to her father kicking the habit, Evelyn Levesque told the crowd: Thank God my dad quit or todays speech may have been about him. Although she isnt a smoker, Donna Rogers of Higganum is a breast cancer survivor who said she was at the press conference because this is such a preventable cancer. She said her husband smoked for 50 years before he kicked the habit and her two sons, who started smoking in high school are continually trying and struggling to this day to kick this damn habit. One of the few arguing against the bill during the public hearing phase was Jake Butcher, state affairs manager of Vaper Technology Association, a national trade association representing manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, small business owners, and entrepreneurs who have developed innovative and quality vapor products. Butcher, in written testimony argued raising the age to 21 for vaping will only increase teen smoking rates. This is due to the fact that where there are not alternatives to combustible cigarettes, youth continue to experiment with and get addicted to combustible cigarettes, Butcher said. He also said that any ban or limitation on access to vapor products directly jeopardizes the businesses that Connecticut taxpayers have built and are still building, not to mention the consumers who are reliant upon vapor products as an alternative to combustible cigarettes. WESTPORT Greenwich billionaire Ray Dalio gave viewers a rare look inside the Westport offices of his company Bridgewater Associates in an interview that aired on CBSs show 60 Minutes Sunday. Walking through Bridgewaters property at Westports Nyala Farms center, a 53-acre campus in the Greens Farms section of town, Dalio told 60 Minutes Correspondent Bill Whitaker that wealth inequality in America is a national emergency. It may be surprising to hear Dalio, founder of one of the worlds largest hedge funds, say the American Dream is lost because of the wealth gap. But Dalio, whose firm manages $160 billion, said American capitalism is not sustainable without a reallocation of resources through increased taxation on wealthy people like himself. Capitalism needs to be reformed. It doesnt need to be abandoned. So, like anything, like a car, like anything, a plan, a school system, anything, it needs to be reformed in order to work better, Dalio told Whitaker. Dalios 60 Minutes interview came two days after he announced a five-year $100 million commitment to the state of Connecticut. The funds which will be matched by $100 million from the state and $100 million from other philanthropists and business leaders will be used to benefit students in under-resourced communities with a specific focus on communities where there is both a high poverty rate and a high concentration of young people who are showing signs of disengagement or disconnection from high school. It is the largest known philanthropic donation to benefit the state in Connecticuts history. Includes reporting by Kaitlyn Krasselt svaughan@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2638; @SophieCVaughan1 A Canadian familys trip to Florida ended tragically after an 87-year-old man died of an apparent heart attack during the drive home. Fernand Drapeaus wife and 60-year-old son had decided to continue driving with his body back to Canada to avoid costly fees from the U.S. health care system, the Vancouver Sun reported. This years book festival will take place at Vietnam National Library on April 19, as part of the activities to celebrate Vietnam Book Day (April 21) and World Book and Copyright Day (April 23). As part of the festival, an exhibition will feature documents introducing the process of the formation and development of knowledge. According to the organisers, participants will have an opportunity to meet and exchange with the author - painter Trang Thanh Hien and Professor, Dr. Thai Kim Lan. In addition, a series of activities, such as a painting competition with the book "Hanoi - City For Peace", a story telling contest in books in Vietnamese and English and receiving donor books from organisations and individuals to support libraries in difficult regions. The new Democratic House majority has a lot on its plate including high priority items like protecting the Mueller investigation and getting the federal government reopened. But even in the crisis-a-day atmosphere of the Trump era, Democrats must also make room for the more mundane, but equally vital, work of legislative policymaking. Given the realities of divided government, there wont be too many opportunities for progressives to enact their priorities into law. On items like climate change, voting rights and health care, for example, it is likely that the new majority will be limited to making a record and developing proposals they can move on during the next Democratic administration. That makes it especially important to act aggressively in the few areas where bipartisan agreement is possible and at the top of that list should be net neutrality regulation for the internet. Net neutrality is the idea that all internet traffic should be treated equally and that no company should be allowed to block access to lawful websites, manipulate data for anticompetitive purposes, or censor or discriminate against anyone online. Its like a Bill of Rights for internet users, keeping cyberspace open and free for all and protecting diverse voices and communities online. Progressives have been fighting for net neutrality for years. Liberal lion Henry Waxman pushed for legislation on the subject almost a decade ago, but couldnt persuade Republicans to come to the table. President Obamas first FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski passed regulations implementing net neutrality in 2010, only to see them struck down by the courts that questioned the FCCs legal power to enact these rules. In response, President Obamas second FCC chair, Tom Wheeler, tried a more controversial, hybrid approach, marrying net neutrality with a broader regulatory superstructure called Title II that was designed to address the courts jurisdictional objection. The problem is, both Title II and a companion provision called General Conduct Regulation included in the Wheeler rules radically expanded the FCCs reach into the internet ecosystem and undermined support for the core net neutrality protections to which they were married. Title II and the General Conduct rule divided Democrats by going far beyond the traditional open internet protections and potentially harming rural areas and communities of color by slowing new deployment and upgrades for broadband. The Communications Workers of America and the NAACP questioned the effect on jobs and working people who depend on broadband. At the same time, such a far reaching and unpredictable regulatory approach eliminated any possibility of Republican support. Thus, it is no surprise that immediately after the 2016 elections, the Trump administration seized on these divisions and revoked the Wheeler rules. Amid all this back and forth, however, something critical happened a new bipartisan and cross-industry industry consensus formed to support the core provisions of net neutrality, including a ban on blocking websites, throttling traffic, or anticompetitive paid prioritization. Republicans and even industry players who once resisted net neutrality now recognize the need for basic legislation to ensure everyone has full and open access to the internet, and they reject the uncertainty and neck-snapping policy shifts that trying to solve the problem at the FCC has delivered. For Democrats, this creates a major opportunity, a chance to prove that government can work and that progressive ideas can cross over into the mainstream and win bipartisan support. That would send a clarion message to voters that the new majority is capable, responsible and effective that it can deliver where recent tea party Congresses repeatedly failed. To get this done, however, will require smart, focused legislating by the new majority, which unfortunately is no sure thing. While there is a clear bipartisan support for the core, progressive version of net neutrality the no blocking, no throttling, no prioritization rules championed by Henry Waxman and Julius Genachowski that consensus falls apart when it comes to fringe add-ons like Title II public utility regulation or vague general conduct standards. As a result, House leaders stand at the crossroads on net neutrality. They can pass a fringe, Christmas tree bill that lashes net neutrality to far more extreme ideas like Title II and general conduct regulation, staking out an extreme-pro-regulation position with a message bill that will be DOA in the Senate. Or they can pass a strong clean net neutrality bill featuring the core protections progressives have championed since the original Waxman legislation a narrower but powerful bill that could win bipartisan support in both the House and Senate and serve as a landmark win validating the power and effectiveness of the new majority for all to see. Some choices are difficult, but this one is both a political and policy no-brainer. It would bring a long-running issue to a successful conclusion for Democrats protecting internet users and strengthening competition in the digital economy while delivering on a campaign promise despite the obstacle of divided government. Democrats should move quickly on clean net neutrality at once. Patricia Ford is a former executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union. She wrote this for InsideSources.com. Christians the world over observe, rather than celebrate, Good Friday. One can celebrate joyful holy days such as Christmas and Easter, but the scourging, crowning with thorns and agonizingly slow death by crucifixion endured by Jesus on Good Friday are hardly a cause for celebration. As a child, I asked my Catholic school teachers what was good about Good Friday, since Jesus was killed on that day. I was told that I asked too many questions, which probably meant that the nuns didnt know, either. Research I conducted as an adult introduced me to a variety of theories, such as Good Friday being an abbreviation of Gods Friday. Others believe that, in this context, good should be regarded as a synonym for holy. I recall the Good Fridays of my childhood growing up in Alton as solemn and joyless. Making any kind of loud noise was forbidden. One was even expected to speak in a hushed tone. Any kind of levity, even among boisterous children, brought a swift reprimand. Jesus had died for our sins on Good Friday, we were told, and the least we could do was show our appreciation by behaving like proper little penitents. My exit from Catholicism as a teenager meant that Good Friday lost much of its meaning for me. My two decades as a Unitarian Universalist didnt restore its significance. Jesus dying for our sins is absent from the theology of that denomination. Some years ago, however, I discovered a poem by Thomas Hardy titled Unkept Good Fridays, which placed Good Friday in an entirely new light for me. The poem in no way denigrates this holy days significance. Indeed, it serves to enhance it. The New Testament bears grim witness to the ordeal endured by Jesus on Good Friday. The poem notes, however: There are many more Good Fridays Than this, if we but knew The names, and could relate them. Hardy challenges us to think about all who have run afoul of the powers-that-be over the centuries and suffered persecution even death. Harding calls them nameless Christs, but not to suggest they possessed divinity. Rather, like Jesus, their virtues wrought their end. They were put to death not for crimes they had committed but for virtues they possessed. Jesus made enemies when he denounced the Pharisees and Sadducees for their hypocrisy. Matthew 23:27 records Jesus characterizing members of those two religious factions as whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead mens bones and of all uncleanness. Jesus words surely enraged the Pharisees and Sadducees. Numbers 19:16 states that anyone who touches a dead body, or the bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean for seven days. Jesus accused them of being like tombs full of bones. Speaking truth to power is always fraught with danger. Perhaps the nameless Christs to whom Hardy alluded also challenged abuses by the religious establishments of their nations. Nameless Christs through the ages have denounced oppression perpetrated by the regimes that governed their nations as well. And they undoubtedly suffered for their candor. In Unkept Good Fridays, Hardy wrote that these nameless Christs bore days of bonds and burning/ With no man to their friend. Hardy observed that the suffering of these men whom rulers slew are unpenned and, therefore, lost to history. No evangelist recorded their anguish. No historian recounted their courage. But their cries for justice werent in vain. An act of courage is never futile. A demonstration of defiance is never pointless. No day of remembrance commemorates the deaths of the nameless Christs. Why not honor them on Good Friday? The God who hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree (Luke 1:52) would surely be pleased. John J. Dunphys latest book, Unsung Heroes of the Dachau Trials, includes interviews with men who served in the U.S. Army 7708 War Crimes Group. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Chen Chen Lee and Lau Xin Yi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 10, 2019 12:35 980 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87323241d 3 Opinion palm-oil,European-Union,environment,environmental-issues,Asia,sustainability,#environment Free Relations between the European Union and Malaysia and Indonesia hit an obstacle when Malaysias Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Indonesias Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan recently threatened to boycott EUs products if the bloc issues a ban on palm oil as a biofuel. As the largest buyer of certified sustainable palm oil, the European Commission recently concluded that palm oil cultivation has led to excessive deforestation. Consequently, palm oil will no longer qualify to be considered toward the EU renewable transportation targets for national governments. This presents a major setback for the industry as nearly half (48 percent) of all EUs palm oil imports in 2016 were channeled to biofuels. In a December commentary on the EUs Renewable Energy Directive (RED II), the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) cautioned against outright bans and singling out key exports such as palm oil from developing countries. While protecting national interests is important, any attempt to engage in trade retaliation in reality would do little to offer a long-term, win-win solution. A more constructive and lasting approach is to examine how countries, especially in Asia, can drive sustainable consumption. For a long time, the demand for sustainable consumption mainly stemmed from the West, with Asia often perceived to be lagging behind. In the palm oil industry, for instance, many Asian markets continue to be price-sensitive and the publics level of awareness of sustainability remains low. There is also a larger emphasis on meeting basic needs as well as food safety. Consumers including in major markets like China and India are also less likely to make their purchasing decisions based on environmental or social certifications. However, the EUs move is noteworthy because it sends a negative signal to other consumer markets regarding the use of palm oil. Where consumers lack an informed perspective regarding sustainable production, the world may be in danger of heading towards no palm oil rather than sustainable palm oil. In the longer term, this could result in higher demand for other vegetable oils, which are in fact, less efficient and require more land for cultivation. Therefore, it is time for Asia to consider how it can drive a higher demand for sustainable consumption, and reward the sustainable business practices that stem from the same region. Without a higher demand, Asia may be at risk of losing the momentum to continue to clean up its agroforestry supply chains and strive for higher sustainability standards. Mainstreaming sustainable consumption will involve the collective efforts of governments, the private sector and civil society. Governments play a critical role in this process not only because they are major buyers of agricultural products but more importantly, a top-down approach is often most effective in inspiring significant changes in Asian societies. For instance, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games has adopted a sustainable sourcing code which covers timber, agricultural products, livestock products, fishery products, paper and sustainable palm oil. At the same time, the industry needs to do more to improve and deepen engagements with consumers. Some of the major plantation companies and consumer goods giants have already made 2020 No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation (NDPE) policy commitments. This means that the company will refrain from deforestation, avoid development on peat which could become flammable during the dry season without careful water management, and result in dense and acrid haze pollution. The company will also ensure that there is no exploitation of anyone who is affected by the companys operations. Achieving the NDPE commitments will mean that companies have to be more transparent regarding their suppliers as well as meet growing expectations to address non-compliance in a timely manner. But meeting these commitments may be insufficient without consumers recognizing the impacts achieved and understanding how their purchasing decisions can promote environmental and social good. This may require the industry especially consumer-facing downstream companies to work together to showcase positive stories and the resulting benefits of sustainable production. Similarly, financial institutions which came under scrutiny during the 2015 haze episode would benefit from being more transparent about their sustainable financing policies and disclosing how they have engaged with errant companies. This is because as companies and consumers become more environmentally- and socially-conscious, they may also be more discerning in the financial institutions they associate with, both for risk and reputation reasons. In addition, non-governmental organizations can play an important role to raise awareness and encourage constructive discussion within the industry. In fact, the SIIA organizes the annual Singapore Dialogue on Sustainable World Resources to showcase progressive measures and highlight best practices in Southeast Asias plantation sector. *** Chen Chen Lee is director (policy program) and Lau Xin Yi senior policy research analyst (sustainability) at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Endy Bayuni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 10, 2019 16:51 980 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87323d6af 1 Opinion #commentary,volunteers,polling-stations,#2019GeneralElections,2019-elections,2019-general-election,#2019PresidentialElection,2019-legislative-election,2019-presidential-election,KPU Free General elections are almost always about candidates, political parties and their supporters, voters and the electoral officers. Rarely do people talk about the volunteers, ordinary citizens who devote their time and energy to make this important national political event a success. These volunteers are almost invisible, but for the 2019 election on April 17 billed as the biggest one-day election in the world they exceed 7.2 million in number. They are the people who will be running the more than 800,000 polling stations across the nation. The General Elections Commission (KPU) has recruited nine people from local neighborhoods to manage each polling station, administer the votes and count the ballots. Voting and the subsequent counting would not be possible without the help of these volunteers. A contrast can be made with India, which started its general elections this week. It will last the whole month, moving from state to state, and is conducted largely by civil servants. Being on the front lines and facing voters directly, they face the consequences when things go wrong. Even before they begin their work, they have been accused of being biased or being on the payroll of political parties or candidates. Many have expressed their doubts over the competence of volunteers in running polling stations. This has become politicians favorite strategy: attacking the credibility of the KPU and its volunteers by questioning the legitimacy of the electoral process and results. Former Jakarta governor Basuki TJP Tjahaja Purnama blamed his failed bid for reelection in 2017 on alleged cheating led by polling stations volunteers. For the upcoming election, a team representing one of the presidential candidates has allegedly instructed supporters to refuse results at polling stations that dont go their way, to demand a recount and even create chaos. This will be the second time that I will be volunteering to run a polling station in my neighborhood, the first one being the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election. I find these accusations against volunteers unfair; they are typically made by sore losers and reflects an ignorance of how we work. For one, the volunteers running the polling stations have sworn to remain impartial. Secondly, the mechanism for voting and vote counting are very open and transparent. Each polling station is monitored by an electoral officer and witnesses sent by candidates and political parties. Rigging at polling stations is simply impossible. These accusations are unappreciative of the time and energy we put in. We have to make sure that the people with the right to vote can do so, and that the vote counting afterward is done meticulously and openly. Every ballot cast unused, spoilt and ruined must be accounted for. And then there is the requirement to produce various reports, more than 70 copies, accurately. And we are talking about five ballot boxes to count. Unlike in 2014, when the presidential election was held three months after the legislative election, this year the two are held simultaneously. Voters will cast five ballots: one for president and vice president, for a member of the House of Representatives, a member of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), a member of the provincial level council and a member of the regency/city-level council. In Jakarta, there is only a provincial-level council. The KPU has made the job of volunteers easier by limiting the number of voters to no more than 300 for each polling station. Yet, a recent simulation conducted by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) found that in many areas, vote counting could not be completed in one day. The Constitutional Court (MK) has extended the deadline for polling stations to return ballot boxes and submit their reports to the election committee in their district to midday the next day. Volunteers are bracing not only for a long day but possibly a long night too. The work for volunteers began weeks before April 17. Some were already involved in registering voters as far back as a year ago. Recruiting volunteers was quite a job in itself, with most people refusing to take part in this thankless job. There are meetings, including technical meetings, volunteers have to attend. Most volunteers have full-time jobs, so many struggled to attend these meetings. Each polling station has to make its own logistic preparations, from renting a tent, chairs and tables, big boards, to preparing the food and drinks for election workers on April 17. We are given a budget which, unless you have a friend who owns a tent, hardly covers the costs of opening a decent polling station. We were told to dig into our own pockets to cover the difference. Yes, each volunteer receives Rp 500,000 (US$35.30), but even motorcycle taxi drivers will tell you they make that for far fewer hours of work. So, why are volunteers doing this? The short right answer is: For the honor of carrying out a state duty. The longer answer is: Because someone has to do it and there is no one else. It is not a difficult and complex job some people are making it out to be, but it is a job that requires dedication and one that has to be executed meticulously. The election results, and thus Indonesias democracy to a large extent, hinges on the work of these volunteers. A little appreciation would be nice. The writer is a polling station volunteer in South Jakarta. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Otto Gusti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 10, 2019 14:24 980 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87322e9a1 3 Opinion #2019PresidentialElection,#2019GeneralElections,2019-presidential-election,politics,populism Free That the appointment of Indonesian Ulema Council chief Maruf Amin as the running mate of Joko Jokowi Widodo cannot be separated from the incumbent Presidents strategy to protect himself from the Islamic card being played against him by his opponent Prabowo Subiantos camp obviously illustrates the return of religion to Indonesian politics. The return of identity politics is a global phenomenon and is exemplified through the global threat of populism. Some populist politicians have already taken over power, with Donald Trumps election as the United States president celebrated as a win for populism at the global level. In the Indonesian context the issue of populism has become an important part of political discourses since the last presidential election in 2014. According to Vedi. R. Hadiz and Richard Robinson in 2017, the emergence of populist leaders in Indonesia reflects the protest against the systematic social injustice that has remained unaddressed in the past two decades. The gap between rich and poor has reached an alarming level. Populism generally expresses the conflict between the majority of the people who are out of power and the small but powerful elites. Hence, populism can be described as a social and political protest of the citizens against the failures of elitist and pro-establishment representative democracy. Populism represents the voice of the marginalized people against the small powerful, corrupt and immoral elites. On the other hand, the people are generally described as a monolithic, homogenous, victimized and marginalized group. Hence, populism can be regarded as a critique to the representative democratic system that fails to generate social justice and true representatives for the people. Besides being anti-elitism, populism is also characterized by its antipluralistic attitude. The populistic slogans such as We are the only group capable of representing the true will of the people expresses the antipluralistic tendency of populism. Furthermore, populism avoids establishing political discourses to find alternative solutions to the public problems. Such a refusal also typifies liberal democracy dominated by technocracy. In this context, people talk about policy without politics, which means public policy is created based on considerations of expertise without involving people in a democratic process. The practices of liberal democracy based on technocracy is a phenomenon of a crisis facing democracy because the people as the original purpose of democracy are left behind. While rejecting political discourse, both populism and technocracy regard their own positions as absolute truths. In such an antipolitical attitude, populism and technocracy come to light as fundamentalism and radicalism in politics. This kind of fundamentalism opposes the logic of democracy that works according to the principle of trial and error. In the democratic system one has the possibility and freedom to make mistakes and to improve. The ability to learn from mistakes is the most important strength of democracy compared to totalitarian systems. According to Chantal Mouffe in 2015, the pathology of liberal democracy expressed in a rejection of critical discourse to search for alternative solutions in politics is a model of neoliberal democracy as a consensual machine that stimulates the birth of populism. Instead of understanding democracy as conflict, the neoliberal democracy avoids political debate and tries to provide the citizens a rational policy or political consensus that must be accepted by the people. Through the idea of the third way or the formation of social democratic parties, Mouffe argues, liberal democracy succeeds in domesticating the conflictual dimension of democracy and the antagonism between right-wing populism and left-wing populism. The dissensual democracy emphasizes the unlimited conflictual dimension of the democratic discourse. From the point of view of the dissensual democracy, populism can appear as a social transformative force that brings democracy back to its original meaning as an expression of the peoples sovereignty. However, this can only be realized in a pluralistic milieu and populism can be transformed into an antagonistic democracy. The practices of populism in Indonesia fail to be an alternative and antagonistic power to the practices of Indonesian democracy that have been coopted by a predatory oligarchy. The reason is that the populist leaders, including Jokowi, fail to transform the populist ideas into new democratic institutions independent of the dominating oligarchic political parties inherited from the New Order regime. The threat of oligarchic power in Indonesia can be shown through the terrible injustices and the gulf between rich and power. The assets of the 40 richest in Indonesia are valued 580,000 times the per capita income of the country, according to Arif Budimanta in 2018. This social discrepancy can shake our unity as a nation if politics cannot find the best solution to establish social justice and welfare for all. Otherwise, the social gap keeps strengthening identity politics and right-wing populism. Unlike in Latin America, where populism emerged as an antagonistic power to the oligarchy, populism in Indonesia cannot fight oligarchy because of the absence of either liberalism (a struggle for civil and political rights) or a leftist movement (a struggle for social justice and fairness) in its democratic traditions. In this situation, populism creates a war of identity politics steered by the oligarchs. Therefore, populism does not have an emancipatory force, but is instrumentalized to perpetuate oligarchic power. *** The writer teaches philosophy at the Catholic Institute of Philosophy in Ledalero, Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, and obtained his PhD from the Hochschule fuer Philosophie in Munich, Germany. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Josa Lukman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 10, 2019 A group exhibition in Jakarta featuring four artists showcases their respective take on the issue of artistic autonomy. In modern society, there is the archetype of an artist whose mind reacts to the world around them differently to that of most people. While one could argue and debate over the truth behind the archetype, a group exhibition titled "Challenging Autonomy" aims to provide a context to this perception. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Jessicha Valentina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 10, 2019 18:30 980 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8732415fa 1 Entertainment Avengers,Avengers-Endgame,Avengers-Infinity-War,Marvel-Cinematic-Universe,Marvel-Studios,film,superheroes Free Unless youve been living under a rock, you may have heard that the highly anticipated superhero movie Avengers: Endgame is set to hit local cinemas on April 24. Prior to the premiere, Marvel Studios have been toying with our hearts by releasing a clip and character posters that remind us of the heartbreaking ending of Avengers: Infinity War. At a recent press conference, the US motion picture studio even showed empty chairs on stage as a tribute to the fallen heroes. After watching 21 movies, it's safe to say that we can hardly wait for the grand conclusion of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). If you happen to be a devoted follower of MCU like us, you may want to get closer to the Avengers cast by watching the following clips. Avengers: Endgame cast interview on Jimmy Kimmy Live Some members of the cast of Avengers: Endgame, namely Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man), sat down with American television host Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday, discussing the final installment of the series. In the 17-minute video, you can learn more about the cast's favorite lines, how they got matching tattoos, except one actor, and how long the film will be. Avengers cast reads new Thanos children's book Upon realizing the dramatic ending of Avengers: Infinity War, Kimmel asks some of the Avengers cast, namely Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Hemsworth, Johansson, Chris Evans (Captain America), Don Cheadle (War Machine) and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), to read the kid-friendly version of the story. Titled Twas the Mad Titan Thanos, the story has a less depressing plot by featuring interesting rhymes and, of course, a friendlier Thanos. Read also: Avengers: Endgame press conference pays tribute to fallen heroes in unusual manner Chris Hemsworths hidden talents In addition to appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the cast have also shared a bit of themselves on Instagram. Hemsworth recently showcased his hidden drawing talent on Instagram. He wrote on a caption, Helping out some fellow Avengers with new fresh looks. I can now add makeup artist to my powers. Avengers stars sing Hey Jude Meanwhile, Downey posted a video of him, along with Hemsworth, Ruffalo and Evans, singing Hey Jude. Featuring decent choreography, the video showed the off-screen chemistry between the stars. (kes) New York, Apr 10 (IBNS): Further details have emerged of an attack on a school in the Yemeni capital Sanaa at the weekend which killed 14 youngsters and critically injured 16 others. Echoing condemnation of the attack, the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday reiterated its warning that a child dies every 10 minutes from preventable causes in the war-shattered country. On Sunday, a blast in Sanaa killed a total of 14 children who were in school - one aged just four - and injured 16, "most under the age of nine, UNICEF spokesperson Christophe Boulierac told journalists in Geneva. More than 400 children (have been) killed and seriously injured since the beginning of 2019, he added, noting that many of those injured in the latest attack on the Houthi opposition stronghold are fighting for their lives in hospital, while one girl died yesterday after succumbing to her injuries. Also on Tuesday, UN Special Envoy for YemenMartin Griffiths, said that he was deeply saddened to hear of the tragic deaths of civilians, the majority of whom were young female students attending school in Saewan area in Sanaa, on 7 April. Repeating his appeal to the belligerents to make every possible effort to end civilian suffering and allow young Yemenis to grown up in peace and safety by securing a politically negotiated end to the conflict, the UN negotiator highlighted that it was civilians across the country who continue to suffer the devastating impacts of the conflict. 'Students were in class' at lunchtime Asked about the deadly incident in Sanaa, the UNICEF spokesperson said that it happened near two schools at almost lunchtime and students were in class. The blast shattered windows, unleashing a burst of shrapnel and broken glass into classrooms, he added. On whether the schools were located close to potentially legitimate military targets, Mr. Boulierac replied that he was not informed if there is a military or any kind of potential target or potential military or official building near the two schools. Although the UNICEF spokesperson was unable to provide further details about the exact nature of the attack, he said that it came in the context of other strikes on civilians, including one in Hajjah, north of Hudaydah on 9 March, in which 12 children died. Since fighting escalated in Yemen in March 2015 between supporters of Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and Houthi opposition groups, thousands of civilians are believed to have died. 2,642 children killed in just under four years According to UNICEF, from 26 March 2015, to 15 December 2018, 2,672 children have been killed in Yemen and 4,371 youngsters have been injured. Highlighting the ongoing violence in Yemen and the grave violation of childrens rights, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Geert Cappelaere, said in a statement that one in five schools can no longer be used as a direct result of the conflict. Some have come under direct attack while others are being used for military purposes, he said, meaning that for more than two million children in Yemen, going to school is a faraway dream. Over and above the threat from deadly violence, Yemen is the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. The biggest killers are food insecurity and preventable diseases. Nearly 80 per cent of the total population, 24.1 million people, requires some form of humanitarian assistance and protection, according to UN humanitarians. Ten million people are a step away from famine and starvation and 7 million people are malnourished. Children are also dying from disease, not only from hunger in Yemen, Boulierac said. A child dies every 10 minutes of preventable causes", including cholera, he added. Giles Clarke/UN OCHA Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Arsi Agnitasari (The Jakarta Post) San Francisco, United States Wed, April 10, 2019 14:25 980 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873231aff 1 Science & Tech Google,Google-Cloud,jakarta,technology,#technology,service,cloud-service Free Tech giant Google is set to launch its cloud-computing business in Jakarta in the first half of 2020. The announcement was made during the Google Cloud NEXT '19 conference in San Francisco, the United States, on Tuesday. The three-day event is slated to run until Thursday. According to a statement, the Google Cloud Region is expected to tap into the Indonesian market, particularly startups and enterprises that boast low latency and high performance cloud-based data and workload. Among the companies that are currently running their workload on Google Cloud are Go-Jek, Tokopedia, Tiket.com, Traveloka, Bluebird, CT Corp, Cineplex 21 and Samudera. Some of the companies, namely Go-Jek and Tokopedia, are expected to participate as speakers at the conference. Read also: Google to build hub for cloud services in Indonesia "Indonesia is the center of digital power and one of the fastest growing markets of Google Cloud in Southeast Asia," said Google Clouds head for Southeast Asia, Tim Synan, in a statement on Tuesday. "We've seen significant business momentum and customers in Indonesia in the past six to 12 months, and we are positive that a new cloud region in Jakarta will open more opportunities for many start-ups and enterprises. They can also take advantage of various tools in Google Cloud on a bigger scale, higher revenue and cost efficiency." Visitors at the 2019 Google Cloud NEXT '19 (JP/Arsi Agnitasari) In the past three years, Google Cloud has opened 15 new regions and 45 zones across 13 countries. During the conference, the company unveiled two new Google Cloud regions in its global infrastructure, namely Seoul in South Korea and Salt Lake City in Utah, bringing the total number of global regions to 23 in 2020. It is said the Seoul region will be available to customers in early 2020, followed by the Salt Lake City region shortly afterwards. Prior to the aforementioned regions, Google is slated to open its Osaka region in Japan to customers in the coming weeks. The year 2020 is expected to be a battle of cloud services for Indonesian customers as Alibaba Cloud already has a footprint in the country. Meanwhile, Amazon Web Services is set to compete in the business sometime in late 2021 or early 2022. As a cloud region, Google provides data storage as well as networking services. (dev/kes) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Josa Lukman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 10, 2019 15:13 980 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873236579 1 Art & Culture I-La-Galigo,Performance,Ciputra-Artpreneur-Museum,art,Bugis,Bugis-bissu Free Fourteen years after first being staged in Jakarta, the celebrated musical theater work I La Galigo will make a return to the capital this July with the support of more local talents on its production team. Directed by award-winning American theatre director Robert Wilson, the two-hour play is inspired by the 6,000-page mythological epic poem Sureq Galigo, also known as La Galigo, of the indigenous Bugis people of South Sulawesi. I La Galigo was first performed in Singapore in 2004 and went on to be performed in various theatres around the world before returning to its homeland in Makassar, South Sulawesi, in 2011. Last year, I La Galigo was staged in Bali as part of the IMF World Bank annual meeting. The musical theater show was first performed in Jakarta at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah in 2005 and will make a return at the Ciputra Artpreneur Theater, South Jakarta, from July 4 to 7. I La Galigo co-producer and artistic director Restu Imansari Kusumaningrum noted that the show had come a long way since its first Jakarta performance 14 years ago, with more Indonesians taking part in the production. When Im asked about my hopes about I La Galigo returning to Jakarta, for me, this is an example of the fine work done by Indonesians through the transfer of technology, Restu said recently. The lighting designers are no longer Americans, the lights are no longer flown in from Germany, as we did back in 2005, and we also have three containers of costumes designed by Obin, she said, referring to esteemed Indonesian designer Josephine Obin Werratie Komara. Based on the 18th century manuscript of La Galigo, the two-hour play tells the story of Sawerigading, a young prince and descendant of a deity, and his search for true love. World-class act: I La Galigo premiered in 2004 and has toured scores of prestigious venues across the globe, including Singapores Esplanade and New Yorks Lincoln Center Festival. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama) His first love, his twin sister We Tenriabeng, is an impossible union, as it would spell doom for the kingdom. The prince later falls in love with a Chinese princess called We Cudaiq, with whom he has a son named La Galigo. The boy grows into a spoiled rascal who wanders from island to island stealing other mens wives. According to American director and writer Rhoda Grauer, what set La Galigo apart from other classics was the fact that it was a serious work while also having parts that were comedic in nature. It started as an oral tradition, and speakers would be commissioned to chant at ceremonies. In order to hold the attention of the audience, very often they would make the story longer and put in funny parts. So there are some scenes in I La Galigo on stage that are very funny. It has very broad [content], from pre-Islamic religious ceremonies to slapstick. Cheer up!: American director and writer Rhoda Grauer, who was responsible for the adaptation of the text and dramaturgy, says the epics combination of serious and comedic elements sets La Galigo apart from other classics. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama) The play came into being when Grauer was introduced to the Bissu priests of the Bugis tribe while researching a movie on South Sulawesis wooden two-masted phinisi boats. While researching the Bissu, which is considered one of the five genders recognized in Bugis society, Grauer was advised by scholars to research the Bugis creation epic to understand more about the priests. As a foreigner, initially I thought Why doesnt anyone here know about La Galigo? Its their story. But then I realized, very often its someone from outside who hears about something and is taken with it, Grauer said. Grauer discovered that the manuscript for Sureq Galigo was 6,000 pages long and written in the Bugis language, but at that point she was determined to find out more about the epic. I was fortunate to meet a number of Galigo scholars from Makassar and the Netherlands, where many of the books of La Galigo are in the museums and libraries. Some of the scholars suggested that Grauer should turn La Galigo into a movie, as she is a filmmaker by trade. However, Grauer felt that the source material was too big for a film. But then I though that it could work in theatre format. At that point, I went to my friend [producer Restu]. We had both worked with Wilson, and I thought it was perfect for him. Restu agreed, and then we started seriously working. Restu noted that La Galigo was culturally significant as it represented Indonesias rich cultural diversity. In one of the most populous countries in Asia with more than 700 ethnic languages, I see I La Galigo as not owned by a particular group, but rather part of the nation of Indonesia, Restu said. Tickets for the Jakarta performance of I La Galigo can be purchased at www.ciputraartpreneur.com, with prices ranging from Rp 475,000 (US$33.66) to Rp 1.85 million. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anne Beade (Agence France-Presse) Shima, Japan Thu, April 11, 2019 03:07 979 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87324b05d 2 Art & Culture Japan,pearl,culture,agriculture,Mikimoto,Sakaguchi,jewelry,jeweler Free In Japan's picturesque Ago Bay, a couple sits in a little hut picking out oysters from a net, cleaning them carefully one-by-one before replacing them gently back in the water. Their hope: in several months, these oysters will produce a glistening white pearl from a cultured farming technique invented in Japan that is in decline as experts die out in the ageing country. Cultured pearl farming was first commercialized in Ago Bay and spread throughout the world. There are still dozens of farms plying the trade there, which look from the sky like a series of rafts floating between the steep coast and a string of tiny islets. In 1893, an Ago Bay local called Kokichi Mikimoto became worried the oyster pearls avidly sought in his waters were becoming extinct. So he began introducing artificial foreign bodies into the oysters in a bid to replicate the natural process in which they secrete thousands of layers of nacre when a grain of sand or shell finds its way inside the pearl pocket. After several setbacks -- including a bacterial virus that decimated his crop -- Mikimoto finally hit the jackpot: one day in July 1893 a semi-spherical pearl appeared, clinging to the oyster. A decade or so later, he had refined his method to produce a perfectly round specimen and immediately patented his technique -- the cultured pearl. Success was not immediate -- several viewed the cultured pearl as a vulgar replica of the "natural" variety -- but eventually Mikimoto built a global empire and Japan became the reference for the small pearls known as "Akoya". Around the same time, two other Japanese, Tatsuhei Mise and Tokichi Nishikawa, applied for a patent. Read also: World's largest freshwater pearl goes for 320,000 euros Top five percent The Sakaguchi family has been crafting these valuable pearls between three and 10 millimeters in diameter for three generations. Kasuhiro, 73, and Misayo, 68, are now supported by daughter Ruriko. "Our job is to look after the oysters as well as we can for three to four years," explained the energetic 43-year-old Ruriko, sporting an apron and headscarf. "From harvesting the young oysters, introducing the graft, right up to extracting the pearl," she added, as she dragged oysters from the net for inspection. The whole delicate operation rests of the insertion of a nucleus -- a small round polished ball made out of shellfish -- and the "graft", a piece of donor mantle tissue from another oyster. Over a period of several months, the oyster reacts to the foreign bodies by secreting thousands of layers of nacre which form the pearl. The pearls are harvested in December, when the water is around 15 degrees, said Ruriko. "Below this, the pearl will lack strength. Above that, it will lack shine," she explained. It is a thankless task. Of the 100,000 oysters harvested annually, half die immediately after the operation. The vast majority produce either mediocre pearls or nothing at all. Only around five percent of the oysters harvested will result in pearls of sufficient quality to adorn the windows of chic jewelers far away in Tokyo. Read also: Home to South Sea pearls, Lombok encouraged to sell educational tourism 'Family heirloom' The Sakaguchis are lucky to have Ruriko take up the family trade, which is suffering -- like many other traditional Japanese crafts -- from an ageing population and a flight from the country to booming cities. The number of specialized pearl farmers has dropped from 3,760 in the 1960s to just 680 in 2013, according to the most recent data from the Fisheries Agency. But despite this, Japan still dominates the global market, accounting for around 30 percent in terms of value -- helped by concentrating on the best quality pearls. Japan has produced around 20 tonnes of farmed pearls annually over the past 10 years, bringing in around 16.6 billion yen, and is aiming to reach 20 billion yen by 2027. But even that would be a far cry from the heady days of the late 1980s when Japan produced around 70 tons with a value of 88 billion yen. So what sets Japanese cultured pearls apart from competitors in Tahiti, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines or Australia? Aside from centuries of know-how, Japan is helped by its climate, said Yuichi Nakamura, vice-chairman of the Mie Pearl promotion council. "The key is the winter season in Japan. It gives the pearls a better shine and sets them apart from the rest of world," Nakamura told AFP. Rivals from China at one point looked set to threaten Japan's dominance but "they focused in quantity... whereas we concentrated on quality to stay in the race." That quality is on glittering display at the luxurious, multistory flagship store of Mikimoto, in the plush Tokyo district of Ginza. Here a mannequin wears a priceless pearl necklace but pearls can range from a few hundred to a million dollars. "For the Japanese, pearls are a family heirloom. We give them as necklaces to women about to marry or as earrings or rings," said Mikimoto boss Hiroshi Yoshida. They then wear them at grand occasions for the rest of their lives. But perhaps an indication of a shift in the global economy: more than half of Mikimoto's customers are Chinese. After them come Americans, other Asians such as Singaporeans, and then Europeans. Topics : Japan pearl culture agriculture Mikimoto Sakaguchi jewelry jeweler A meeting of young Balinese women from various creative backgrounds, yet with similar visions, set out to create a cross-disciplinary platform to support and encourage womens art activities and visual discourse in 2017. With motivating question like: Why arent there many established women artists in Bali? the gathering set the foundation for a new art collective called Futuwonder. In July last year, Futuwonder announced its arrival on the Indonesian art scene by conducting a Wikilatih (Wikipedia article writing) workshop and uploading 18 new articles online on female artists from Bali. Puan Empu Seni: Edit-a-thon was part of a national drive, held in conjunction with Wikimedia Indonesia, to increase the amount of data on Indonesian female artists available on the internets most go-to source of information: Wikipedia. Following on from their first exhibition, Masa Subur: Efek Samping, held late last year in Ubud, Futuwonder presented the two-week Tanda Seru! (Exclamation Mark), which runs until April 13 at Uma Seminyak, Bali. Officiated by Indonesias prominent woman contemporary artist, Arahmaiani, and showcasing diverse contemporary works by eight woman artists, the exhibition commemorated International Womens Day on March 8 and Kartini Day on April 21. Also referred to as Womens Emancipation Day and established in 1964 by Indonesias founding president, Sukarno, Kartini Day is a national holiday celebrating the life of Raden Ajeng Kartini (1879-1904), Indonesias first feminist activist. Bali is a very patriarchal society with few women being represented in the art scene, especially in museums and galleries, said Ruth Onduko, one of the founding members of Futuwonder, along with emerging artist Citra Sasmita and graphic designer Ni Putu Sridiniari. We intentionally invited talented young women to exhibit in Tanda Seru! especially those who make art but do not label themselves as artists, Ruth explains. Due to the narrow scope of todays contemporary art world women are marginalized and few get the opportunity to exhibit their work within the fine art gallery system as their work may not follow current market trends, or may lack the necessary commercial elements. Through Tanda Seru! we examine and question issues related to gender, patriarchy and sexuality -- making statements about the female body, womens roles, and our capabilities as equals with men, Ruth said. We chose the exhibition's title to emphasize the importance of these issues, while showing the art world, especially in Bali, that there is a lot of highly skilled female artists that are worthy to be considered as part of the larger art world. Dan Bunga Berkata (And the Flower Speaks) is inspired by Aria Gita Indiras investigation into data released by Statistics Indonesia in 2017, which revealed that one in three Indonesian women aged between 15 to 64 have experienced violence and/or sexual violence in their lives. Indira presents three small still life compositions of flower arrangements on black backgrounds, some of the flowers, however, are embroidered in cotton. The cotton patches are metaphors, symbolic icons for all female victims of domestic violence. Journalists often use the names of flowers when referring to domestic violence survivors in their reports. The crude, yet confrontational pieces The World In Between Her Legs, 2019 and Are We There Yet by Santi Permana feature womens underwear attached to brightly colored canvases. Statements to encourage strength and enthusiasm, such as forced prostitution, sexual harassment, girls are strong and empowered women complete the compositions. Questioning the patriarchal reconstruction of the body of a woman who is menstruating, worshiping, in the workplace, and in marriage, Happy to Bleed #1,2&3 by Cristine Mandasari presents circular compositions with restrictive statements written upon sanitary napkins. The artist poses the question: With all the restrictions, can women actualize themselves as human beings who are free and equal to men? Communicating about the objectification of women, layers of transparent acrylic sheets frame a collage of digital images featuring mannequins, flowers and hands in the eye-catching Mannekin, 2019, by Intan Kirana Sari, who was born in Denpasar, Bali, in 1999. Delicate brightly colored pieces of paper are arranged into collage on a blue background in Male Reproductive System, 2019 by Irene Febry. She imagines what the human reproductive system might look like if it was found within the body of a man. Citra Sasmita is renowned for her descriptive paintings depicting the exploration of the female body through the suffering and pain of the wounds inflicted upon them. Portrait of the Other, #1 & #2 contrasts and balances tragedy with an unusual sense of beauty, creating strong and distinct compositions. Few Balinese artists express themselves through the medium of printmaking, Sealing the Body and Tutur Tinular by Ni Luh Pangestu Widya Sari -- who was born in Denpasar, Bali, in 1991 -- are a departure in artistic techniques and aesthetics from the other works in the show, adding to the overall strength of Tanda Seru! A pair of long silver legs protrudes from a square mirror, centrally positioned between the legs of another mirror, round and convex. Upon inspecting Res Publica: Security Mirrors for Genitalia, by Ni Putu Sridiniari, the observer immediately comes face-to-face with their own image. The highlight of Tanda Seru! the work is both engaging and confronting, provoking thoughts, experiences and reflections about gender identity. People are obsessed with private matters and sexuality. The law and the public, however, control women's freedoms and perpetuate gender inequality, said Sridiniari, a freelance graphic designer, who rarely exhibits her work. I believe contemporary art is important to negotiate politics and sociocultural issues -- discourses that highlight personal narratives and cultural identity in a larger context: the family, community and the state. I've always wanted to work with mirrors and body parts to create an installation, so I decided to work with legs for Res Publica, because everybody is curious about sexuality, especially in this case with the direct reference to female genitals, she explained. In Res Publica, female genitalia is a treasure, yet remains a hidden mystery, that is watched by the public eye. (kes) __________ Tanda Seru! Date: Open March 31 to April 13 Place: Uma Seminyak, Jl. Kayi Cendana 1, Oberoi, Seminyak, Bali Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Gisela Swaragita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 10, 2019 Legal and education experts have called on the authorities to use noncustodial punishments for the alleged teen bullies who assaulted a 15-year-old girl in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, but netizens have taken the law into their own hands by doxing the alleged perpetrators and have even hacked one alleged perpetrators Instagram account. The Indonesian Commission of Child Protection (KPAI) urged the police to conduct a thorough investigation into the case using the 2012 Juvenile Law in relation to the alleged perpetrators, who are minors. The 2012 law stipulates the principle of restorative justice, whereby underage offenders are rehabilitated through noncustodial punishments. KPAI commissioner Retno Listyarti said in her statement on Tuesday that she would contact the Pontianak Health Agency to ensure the victim received proper medical treatment and psychological counseling. Retno said the alleged perpetrators would also need psychological counseling so that they would not reoffend. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Sudibyo M. Wiradji (The Jakarta Post) Wed, April 10 2019 The majority of parents expect their children to be born with normal physical traits. It is therefore unsurprising that most parents felt saddened, frustrated, desperate and even embarrassed upon learning that their newborn son or daughter were diagnosed with Down syndrome (DS). I cried and cried when doctor told me that my infant has Down syndrome. I could not believe it, Sofie Ningsih says, recalling the birth of her daughter Michelle Laurentia in 2001. She did not believe it until a test blood confirmed the diagnosis. She has shared her personal story on caring for a Down syndrome child on the Indonesia Down Syndrome Society (ISDI) website. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Norman Harsono (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 10, 2019 12:58 980 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87322d56a 1 Business online-trade-consultancy-service,ASEAN,reintroduction Free The ASEAN Secretariat reintroduced on Tuesday its ASEAN Solutions for Investments, Services and Trade (ASSIST) program, which manifests as a website where companies can submit questions and complaints related to intra-regional trade. Paolo Vergano, trade facilitation expert at the ASEAN Secretariat, told reporters and businesspeople in Jakarta that the reintroduction was necessary as the website had only received six cases since its launch four years ago. ASSIST is free. Its much cheaper than hiring a lawyer in the disputed country and accessing its government, he said. The program, which was initiated by ASEAN and funded by the European Union, is designed to be a one-stop hub for all companies registered within an ASEAN member state. All registered Indonesian companies can use the ASSIST website to resolve uncertainty or seek solutions related to trade with other Southeast Asian countries. Such companies can expect to wait a maximum of three months between submitting a question and receiving a response, as the questions are relayed directly to governments. Vergano stressed that unlike the World Trade Organization dispute settlement mechanism, ASSIST is not about deciding who is right and who is wrong but it is for issues more consultative in nature. In that sense, ASSIST neither has the authority to change member states trade regulations nor improve their trade management. Nevertheless, Iskandar Panjaitan, who represented the Trade Ministry at Tuesdays event, welcomed ASSIST, saying that it would be beneficial to support the continued growth of intra-regional trade, particularly for the trade of services. [Indonesias] research and development (R&D) sector, for example, is not that productive yet so it would be better to import R&D services to support our industries. Especially as we enter Industry 4.0, he told reporters. (bbn) TheJakartaPost Please Update your browser Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below. Just click on the icons to get to the download page. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Thiruvananthapuram, India Wed, April 10, 2019 09:39 980 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873223eef 2 World #India,#SexAssault,bishop,charged,rape,nun Free Police on Tuesday charged an Indian bishop with repeatedly raping a nun at a rural convent in a case that has cast a new shadow on the Roman Catholic church's global sex abuse crisis. Franco Mulakkal was charged with raping the nun several times between 2014 and 2016, K. Subash, police deputy superintendent in the district of the southern state of Kerala where the investigation was carried out, told AFP. The bishop also faces charges of unlawful detention, unnatural sex and abuse of authority. Mulakkal -- who faces a maximum punishment of life imprisonment -- has vociferously denied the allegations. The police report backing the charges ran to more than 100 pages and contained statements from nuns, priests and other bishops, media reports said. The victim filed a complaint in June last year, but police only started formal questioning in September as fury over the case mounted. In a rare public show of dissent within the church five nuns staged days of protests with dozens of supporters to force authorities to take the allegations seriously. Mulakkal was arrested in October before being released on bail. Senior members of the church in the southern state have supported the 55-year-old bishop, however, and he was cheered when he returned to his diocese. - Truth the only weapon - Sexual abuse by clergy and the failure to take action has mired the Roman Catholic Church in scandal across the world in recent years. In February, Pope Francis publicly addressed the sexual abuse of nuns by clerics for the first time, insisting the Vatican takes seriously reports of sexual abuse and the "sexual slavery" of nuns. Mulakkal is accused of repeatedly assaulting the nun from the Missionaries of Jesus order at the St Francis Mission in Kerala. The bishop was the head of the order. Speaking to AFP, Sister Anupama Kelamangalath, one of the five nuns who protested outside Kerala's High Court, said they had sought to draw attention to Church authorities who were misusing positions of power. The sister, from the Jalandhar diocese in the state, said she was relieved and delighted at the charges. "We were able to achieve this despite stiff opposition from all sides. We had no-one on our side to fight for us, but Christ." She insisted the protests were not against the church but aimed "at certain figures who misused the holy powers vested in them," she added. "Other than truth as our weapon, we never had anything else on our side." She told how repeated approaches to senior church officials were ignored. "When they realised that we wouldn't back down, they had us transferred and then made false cases against our families," she said. These included allegations they had made death threats against the accused bishop. "We were then left with no option but to approach the police and register a case against the bishop. What else could we do?" Police say they are looking into other cases of abuse of nuns and allegations that four Kerala priests blackmailed women during confession to force them to have sex. Christians -- overwhelmingly Catholic -- are the third-largest religious group in India. Around 80 percent of the country's 1.3 billion population is Hindu, followed by a sizeable Muslim minority. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Riska Rahman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 10, 2019 16:57 980 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87323e259 1 Business ASEAN,Local-Currency-Settlement,bank-indonesia,proposal Free Bank Indonesia (BI) has proposed the use of local currencies for internal trade transactions within ASEAN countries to reduce dependency on the US dollar. Currently, Indonesia is cooperating with three ASEAN countries -- Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia -- on the Local Currency Settlement (LCS) to use local currencies for bilateral trade transactions. The expansion of local currencies use within ASEAN was outlined in a draft of the ASEAN Guiding Principles on the LCS framework that was prepared by BI, which will be discussed in the Working Committee on Capital Account Liberalization later this year. If we use local currencies, the transactions in the region will have no significant impact if there is capital outflow from ASEAN countries, said BIs international department director, Wahyu Pratomo, in Jakarta on Tuesday. He added that BI had submitted the draft at the recent ASEAN finance ministers and central bank governors meetings in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Wahyu said if the 10 ASEAN member countries agreed to the draft later this year, it could be approved during a meeting of governors of ASEAN central banks in Vietnam in April next year. Indonesia could act as the LCS leader in the region. Currently, the use of local currencies in ASEAN countries is still insignificant. The use of the Thai baht for trade transactions between Indonesia and Thailand, for example, was recorded only at US$13 million in the first quarter of 2019 or only 0.01 percent of the total trade between the two countries, which was $2.46 billion in January and February. Meanwhile, the use of the ringgit in bilateral trade between Indonesia and Malaysia was recorded at $70 million or 0.03 percent of the total trade between both countries, which was recorded at $2.12 billion in January and February. (bbn) Wikimedia Commons Washington, Apr 10 (Sputnik/UNI) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during congressional testimony said he is very concerned about the implementation of the Stockholm Agreement between Yemens government and Houthi rebels but hopes the truce can still be realized. "I am very worried about the Stockholm agreement. I spoke with the UN envoy, it has been three days ago now. There is still hope," Pompeo said on Tuesday. "It is not hopeless to think that it will still be implemented." Pompeo said the members of the Houthi movement had disagreed on certain parts related to withdrawing from Yemens port of Al Hudaydah. Last December, the warring parties attended long-awaited UN-brokered peace talks in Sweden. As a result of the meeting, the rebels and the government agreed to a ceasefire in the Yemeni port city of Al Hudaydah, an exchange of prisoners and the establishment of humanitarian corridors. The civil conflict in Yemen between the internationally recognized government, led by President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi, and Houthi rebels, who have occupied vast lands in the country's northwest, began in 2015. The Saudi-led coalition is helping out the government forces with airstrikes, which have inflicted numerous civilian casualties. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Surakarta, Central Java Wed, April 10, 2019 15:45 980 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8732377a8 1 Politics #2019PresidentialElection,#president,Jokowi,Central-Java,Prabowo Free The incumbent intends to repeat his 2014 performance in cities and regencies across Central Java to secure at least 70 percent of all votes in the province, which is widely regarded as his stronghold. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo addressed thousands of his supporters on Tuesday at Sriwedari Stadium in Surakarta, his hometown. Donning his trademark white shirt, Jokowi greeted those gathered at the rally in Javanese, which prompted loud cheers, expressing his delight at being back in the city where I started my career in government. Jokowi served for seven years as the Surakarta mayor after he was elected in 2005, which contributed to his astronomical rise through national politics in successive years. In the 2014 presidential election, Jokowi won a majority vote in Central Java, gaining 66.65 percent of votes against rival Prabowo Subiantos 33.35 percent. Seeing the enthusiasm at [this rally], I no longer want to gain a mere 66 percent of votes, Jokowi told his supporters, referring to the election on April 17. We need to gain at least 70 percent of the vote or [more], whether it is 75 percent, 80 percent or 85 percent. Recalling the 2014 election, Jokowi said that he and then-running mate Jusuf Kalla won 84 percent of the Surakarta vote. I come from here, so we should not get the same result [this year] as we did in 2014," he said. "How about 90 percent? Jokowi, who is running for reelection this year alongside running mate Maruf Amin, went on to say that he hoped to achieve similar results in other cities and regencies in the province, including Sragen, Karanganyar, Wonogiri, Sukoharjo, Klaten and Boyolali. Central Java is a stronghold of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the ruling party backing Jokowi's reelection bid that also supported his successful presidential bid in 2014. PDI-P patron and chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri also attended Tuesdays rally, along with her daughter and party executive Puan Maharani. With only eight days remaining from Tuesday until voting day, Jokowi called on his supporters, coalition party members and campaign volunteers to work hard in a consolidated effort to ensure victory for the Jokowi-Ma'ruf camp. He also stressed that Central Java will be very crucial in determining whether or not we will win, and that the province's votes could make up for any potential losses in other regions. Prabowo, who is again challenging Jokowi this year in a repeat of the 2014 two-horse race, is scheduled to hold a rally on Wednesday at Sriwedari Stadium as part of the Prabowo-Sandiaga Uno camp's Central Java campaign tour. (jun) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Jeffrey Heller and Maayan Lubell (Reuters) Jerusalem Wed, April 10, 2019 21:09 980 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873247b69 2 World #Israel,#election,BenjaminNetanyahu,victory,parliamentary-election Free Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a clear path to re-election on Wednesday, with religious-rightist parties set to hand him a parliamentary majority despite a close contest against his main centrist challenger, a vote tally showed. With more than 97 percent of votes counted, Netanyahu's conservative Likud party looked likely to muster enough support to control 65 of the Knesset's 120 seats and be named to head the next coalition government. It would be his record fifth term as premier. President Reuven Rivlin said on Twitter he would begin meeting next week with political parties that won parliamentary seats to hear who they support for prime minister. At the sessions, which Rivlin said would be broadcast live "to ensure transparency", he will then pick a party leader to try to form a coalition, giving the candidate 28 days to do so, with a two-week extension if needed. The close and often vitriolic contest was widely seen in Israel as a referendum on Netanyahu's character and record in the face of corruption allegations. He faces possible indictment in three graft cases, and has denied wrongdoing in all of them. Despite that, Netanyahu gained four seats compared to his outgoing coalition government, according to a spreadsheet published by the Central Elections Committee of parties that garnered enough votes to enter the next parliament. "It is a night of colossal victory," the 69-year-old Netanyahu told cheering supporters in a late-night speech at Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv after Tuesday's vote. "He's a magician!" the crowd chanted as fireworks flared and Netanyahu kissed his wife Sara. Tel Aviv Stock Exchange main indexes were up nearly 1 percent in late trading on Wednesday, displaying confidence in a veteran prime minister who has overseen a humming economy and blunted various security threats, including from Syria. His challenger, the new Blue and White party of ex-army chief Benny Gantz, claimed a more modest victory after winning a 35-seat tie with Likud. Unless he reverses on campaign pledges to shun Netanyahu, and joins him in a broad coalition, Gantz looked destined to lead a centre-left parliamentary opposition. "The skies may look overcast...but they cannot conceal the sun of hope that we have brought to the Israeli people and society," Gantz, 59, wrote in an open letter to supporters. Should Netanyahu retain the helm, he will become the longest-serving Israeli prime minister in July, overtaking the country's founding father, David Ben-Gurion. That could be scuppered if criminal charges are filed and force his removal. IMMUNITY? An indictment decision would follow a review hearing where Netanyahu can be expected to argue he should be spared in the national interest. Some analysts predict he may try to pass a law granting himself immunity, as a sitting leader, from trial. During the campaign, the rival parties accused each other of corruption, fostering bigotry and being soft on security. Netanyahu highlighted his close relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, who delighted Israelis and angered Palestinians by recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2017 and moving the U.S. Embassy to the holy city last May. Two weeks before the election, Trump signed a proclamation, with Netanyahu at his side at the White House, recognising Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. In a rare turn during the race towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Netanyahu further alarmed Palestinians by pledging to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if re-elected. Palestinians seek a state there and in the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. This pre-election promise from Netanyahu was widely seen as an attempt to draw right-wing votes rather than a change of policy. But with Trumps moves on Jerusalem and the Golan, the prime minister may feel emboldened to advocate annexation. Commenting on the election, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said: "Israelis have voted to preserve the status quo. They have said no to peace and yes to the occupation". The last round of U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed in 2014. Trump is expected to release his administration's long-awaited Middle East peace plan after the election. If it includes Israeli concessions to the Palestinians, Netanyahus probable far-right coalition allies will likely object. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ghina Ghaliya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 10, 2019 15:55 980 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873238d1a 1 Politics 2019-general-election,2019-presidential-election,2019GeneralElections,electability,election-campaign,election,pollsters,polling-booths,Jokowi,Prabowo Free The electoral gap between Prabowo Subianto and Joko Jokowi Widodo has narrowed amid a large number of undecided voters, a recent poll shows. According to a survey by Jakarta-based Voxpol Center Research and Consulting published on Tuesday, Jokowi and Maruf Amin have an electability rating of 48.8 percent, while Prabowo and Sandiaga Uno 43.3 percent, giving the incumbent president a 5.5 percent lead. The survey, which polled 1,600 people between March 18 and April 1 with a 2.45 percent margin of error, found that 7.9 percent of them were still undecided. Voxpol executive director Pangi Syarwi Chaniago said undecided voters would be the "electoral God" in the 2019 presidential election because they could change the political scene in the future. However, undecided voters preference was likely to be split equally between Jokowi and Prabowo. Both candidate pairs and their teams must work hard to seize the opportunity," Pangi said on Tuesday. Pangi said the Bradley effect could occur in the election. The theory is named after former Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley, an African-American who lost the 1982 California governor's race despite being ahead in voter polls going into the election. He lost because many white people did not want to be considered racist during the survey. Respondents were dishonest during the survey, he said. According to the survey, 27.9 of the undecided voters said they would make a decision on who they would vote for once in the voting booth . While the rest said they would either make a decision after the last debate , on election day or wait for money or gifts from the candidates ahead of the election. Both candidates must be able to manage several issues and approach clerics or community leaders, he said. The survey also found that 54.7 percent of Indonesians were satisfied with Jokowi's government, mainly its infrastructure projects. However, Pangi said, the figure did not mean Jokowi was safe. There is a theory that is recognized by pollsters that if the satisfaction level is below 70 percent and electability is below 60 percent, it is difficult for the incumbent to be reelected. There must be a breakthrough in boosting votes, Pangi said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ghina Ghaliya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 10, 2019 19:58 980 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873245322 1 Politics KPU,Prabowo-Subianto-Sandiaga-Uno,election,Election-Commission,election-dispute,2019GeneralElections,2019-general-election,2019-legislative-election,2019-presidential-election Free Several public figures went to the General Elections Commission (KPU) building in Central Jakarta to encourage them following threats made by the Prabowo Subianto camp suggesting that they would take to the streets and mobilize people power should they find proof of fraud in the upcoming general election. The statement was made by senior National Mandate Party (PAN) politician and Prabowo-Sandiaga Uno campaign adviser Amien Rais, during a rally held in front of the KPU office on March 31. The figures identified themselves as Gerakan Suluh Kebangsaan (National Enlightenment Movement), chaired by former Constitutional Court chief justice and renowned Muslim figure Mahfud MD. Mahfud went with former first lady Sinta Nuriyah Abdurrahman Wahid, noted sociologist Imam Prasodjo, economist Rhenald Kasali and Muslim academic and intellectual Komaruddin Hidayat. We support the KPU [stating] that legal means are the best way to resolve all disputes. If there were any fraud, it would need a legal settlement procedure. It's improper to use ones own way," Mahfud said on Wednesday. Mahfud said there should be no reason to mistrust the KPU as any systemic fraud would be impossible. "There are more than 800,000 polling stations. How could structured fraud be carried out?" Mahfud said. Our votes will be counted manually [...] Such accusation is nonsense and an attempt to delegitimize the election," he added. Mahfud said that besides moral support, the figures were ready to give legal assistance to the KPU. "We're ready to give advocacy if people accuse them, as long as the KPU is right. If they were wrong, we would let the court settle it, he said. Mahfud highlighted that besides the KPU, Indonesia had other institutions in charge of preventing electoral violations, namely the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu), the Election Organization Ethics Council (DKPP), Bawaslus Integrated Law Enforcement (Gakkumdu) team, the Constitutional Court and the public itself. Imam Prasodjo noted that no matter how high the integrity of the KPU, it could be disrupted by hoaxes so they needed to be careful. He hoped that after the election, no KPU members would resign and become public officials or party members. The public could get the wrong idea if that happened. Please reject any offer, for example, to be a minister. I hope that no members will be tempted by such offers, "Imam said. Shinta Wahid said the KPU needed to prepare itself for a bigger challenge from now on. "We support what the KPU has done. They have to be prepared to deal with and anticipate the worse accusation, she said. KPU chairman Arief Budiman said the support from those public figures was energy for the institution. "We dont want people to remember us as a bunch of people who dont have integrity in this countrys election history. So we will stick with existing standards and regulations," Arief said.(iwa) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Gemma Holliani Cahya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 10, 2019 13:31 980 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87322eeb0 1 National fishing-boat,Malaysia,Vietnam,arrest,Natuna-sea,Malacca-Strait Free Foreign fishing vessels have appeared once again in Indonesian waters, with authorities detaining on Tuesday six vessels in the North Natuna Sea and Malacca Strait. Two patrol boats of the Maritime Affairs Ministry detained two Malaysian-flagged fishing vessels and four from Vietnam. The ministrys acting director general for marine and fisheries resources monitoring, Agus Suherman, said the vessels crew members were arrested for trespassing on Indonesian waters without a proper license from the government. They were also using a trawl to catch fish, which is considered an unsustainable fishing method and has been banned in Indonesia. The ministry patrol boat KP Hiu 011, which was commanded by Capt. Samson, detained the four Vietnamese vessels, V 4939 TS, BV 5156 TS, BV 93817 TS and BV 93816 TS, at around 8:00 a.m. They arrested 24 Vietnamese crew members from the vessels, Agus said in a statement. The vessels were escorted to the Pontianak Marine and Fisheries Resources Monitoring Base in West Kalimantan for legal proceedings. Meanwhile, Capt. Ilman Rustam of KM Hiu Macan Tutul 002, led the arrest of nine crew members of two Malaysian vessels, KM. PKFA 8888 and PKF 7878, in the Malacca Strait at around 3:00 p.m. The crew members were citizens of Myanmar. The two vessels were then brought to the Batam Marine and Fisheries Resources Monitoring Base in Riau islands for further legal proceedings. All six vessels allegedly violated Law No. 31/2004 on fisheries, and the crew could face a maximum sentence of six years' imprisonment and a Rp 20 billion (US$1.4 million) fine. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Fadli (The Jakarta Post) Batam Wed, April 10, 2019 17:52 980 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87323f745 1 National Batam,oil-spill,tourism Free Beaches near Nongsa resorts in Batam, Riau Islands, have been covered with a thick film of stinky, black oil since Tuesday, forcing foreign tourists staying at the resorts along the beaches to check out earlier than planned or cancel their stay. Similar incidents occurred three times in 2018, resort management company PT Citramas Group spokesperson Nara Dewa told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. The resorts affected by the black oil are Nongsa Point Marina, Nongsa Village and Turi Beach Resort. Foreign tourists staying in Nongsa want to enjoy the beach or play in the water. [If the beach] is covered with black oil, they cannot enjoy their stay, Nara said. From the resorts, the film of black oil was seen covering the shore and changing the color of the coral. The black oil allegedly originated from tanker ships in the Strait of Malacca, which had dumped their waste into the sea. Nara said the resort management had reported the incident to the Sea Space Management Directorate General of the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry. The black oil will go away naturally, but it takes time. We want the government to recognize this problem, because it occurs every year without solution, Nara said. Residents of local fisherman community, Kampong Tua, also said the black oil incident disrupted their activities. Rizki, a local fisherman, said they would have to stop fishing for a week if black oil waste was spreading. Also, there would be no fish in the area. This incident has been reported again and again but there has never been any ultimate solution, Rizki said. Batam Environment Agency head Herman Rozi said he had not yet received such reports. We will check the location later, Herman said. (swd) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ditas Lopez (Bloomberg) Manila Wed, April 10, 2019 12:05 980 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87322bafc 2 World US,China,warship,South-China-Sea,Philippine-Navy,Rodrigo-Duterte Free The US sent a fighter-jet-carrying warship to join drills near the disputed Scarborough Shoal for the first time, sending a pointed message to China as tensions simmer over territorial claims in the region. The USS Wasp -- an amphibious assault ship outfitted last year with F-35B jets -- joined the annual Exercise Balikatan with the Philippines this month. A ship matching the USS Wasps description was spotted in waters near the Scarborough Shoal, a feature occupied by China since a tense standoff in seven years ago, the Philippines ABS-CBN News reported Tuesday. The USS Wasp didnt pass within 25 nautical miles of the shoal, according to a US defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The figure suggests that the ship wasnt conducting a so-called freedom of navigation operation, a practice criticized by China that the US uses to assert international sailing rights within 12 nautical miles of disputed features. Free and Open The moves come as officials in Manila escalate protests over the presence of more than 200 Chinese ships near the Philippine-occupied South China Sea feature of Thitu. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has urged China to lay off the feature, saying he would order a military action. The US has been seeking to firm up its treaty alliance with the strategically located Southeast Asian nation ever since Duterte was elected in 2016 and announced his separation from Washington in favor of Beijing. In March, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo assured local officials during a visit to Manila that their treaty would apply to Philippine vessels or planes attacked in disputed waters. Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin said earlier this week that the US would remain the countrys only military ally. More than 7,000 soldiers from the Philippines and the US are participating in Exercise Balikatan, according to General Benjamin Madrigal Jr., the Philippine military chief. The combined information bureau for the joint military drills said Tuesday that the USS Wasp has been training with Philippine Navy ships in Subic Bay and international waters of the South China Sea as part of the Exercise Balikatan for several days. The training is focused on maritime security and amphibious capabilities, as well as multinational interoperability through military exchanges, the bureau said. This years joint exercise was the first to incorporate the USS Wasp with the US Marines Corps F-35B Lighting II aircraft. Together they represent an increase in military capability committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific, the bureau said. Participating in Balikatan demonstrates their ability to forward deploy in support of an ally should a crisis or natural disaster occur. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 10 2019 People living in North Jakarta have noticed an unlikely business thriving in their neighborhood trading in household waste for gold. Does this sound too good to be true? The neighborhood of Wijaya Kusuma is enjoying the gold rush. Resident Sulistiyowati Soepomo has embraced a new adage: The more recyclable items like plastic bottles, paper and metal you collect, the more gold awaits you. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Otto Gusti (The Jakarta Post) Ledalero, East Nusa Tenggara Wed, April 10 2019 That the appointment of Indonesian Ulema Council chief Maruf Amin as the running mate of Joko Jokowi Widodo cannot be separated from the incumbent Presidents strategy to protect himself from the Islamic card being played against him by his opponent Prabowo Subiantos camp obviously illustrates the return of religion to Indonesian politics. The return of identity politics is a global phenomenon and is exemplified through the global threat of populism. Some populist politicians have already taken over power, with Donald Trumps election as the United States president celebrated as a win for populism at the global level. In the Indonesian context the issue of populism has become an important part of political discourses since the last presidential election in 2014. According to Vedi. R. Hadiz and Richard Robinson in 2017, the emergence of populist leaders in Indonesia reflects the protest against the systematic social injustice that has remained unaddressed in the past two decades. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Tim Kelly (Reuters) Tokyo, Japan Wed, April 10, 2019 10:10 980 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873224cba 2 World #Japan,#PlaneCrash,F-35-jet,Crash,Lockheed-Martin Free Search and rescue teams found wreckage belonging to a Japanese Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter that disappeared on Tuesday over the Pacific Ocean close to northern Japan, a military spokesman said on Wednesday. "We recovered the wreckage and determined it was from the F-35," a spokesman for the Air Self Defense Force (ASDF) said, adding that the pilot of the aircraft was still missing. The advanced, single-seat jet was flying about 135 km (84 miles) east of the Misawa air base in Aomori Prefecture at about 7:27 p.m. (1027 GMT) on Tuesday, when it disappeared from radar, the Air Self Defense Force said. The aircraft was less than a year old and was delivered to the ASDF in May last year, the spokesman said. Japan's first squadron of F-35s has just become operational at Misawa and the government plans to buy 87 of the stealth fighters to modernise its air defences as China's military power grows. The crash marks only the second time an F-35 has gone down since the plane began flying almost two decades ago. It was also the first crash of an A version of the fifth-generation fighter, which is designed to penetrate enemy defences by evading radar detection. Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the aircraft, said it was standing by to support the Japanese Air Self Defense Force as needed. The Pentagon said it was monitoring the situation. A US military short take off and landing (STOVL) F-35B crashed near the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina in September prompting a temporary grounding of the aircraft. Lockheed Martin also makes a C version of the fighter designed to operate off carriers. Japan's new F-35s will include 18 short take off and vertical landing (STOVL) B variants that planners want to deploy on its islands along the edge of the East China Sea. The F-35s are shipped to Japan by Lockheed Martin and assembled by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd at a plant near Nagoya in central Japan. Each costs around $100 million, slightly more than the cost of buying a fully assembled plane. A representative for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said the company had no immediate comment. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Abhay Regi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, April 11 2019 The flight from Chennai in southern India to Surabaya, Indonesia, might as well have been a domestic route. The similarities between the two cities are many: from their seemingly-lawless motorcyclists to the abundant street-side vendors selling better food than most five-star restaurants. They share a history that has pushed the two giants, India and Indonesia, far past their colonial histories to a period of multicultural state building, an economic plenitude for their new middle-classes and a perhaps deeply troubling political present. What sealed the deal for me when I visited Indonesia recently was that politics was on the tip of everybodys tongue. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Sausan Atika (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, April 11 2019 Kemang has long been known as an upscale neighborhood in South Jakarta, a favorite area for locals and expatriates alike with many trendy cafes, clubs, shops and art galleries. However, frequent visitors and residents know that walking around the neighborhood, infamous for traffic congestion and floods during the rainy season, can be difficult. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 10, 2019 16:32 980 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87323b632 1 News awards,TripAdvisor,TripAdvisor-Travellers-Choice-Awards,Garuda-Indonesia,Airlines,travel Free National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia was recently named Best Regional Business Class in Asia and Best Airline in Indonesia by independent travel site TripAdvisors Traveler Choice Airline Awards. The airline was also included in the awards' Major Airlines list. Announced on April 2, the awards were based on a worldwide survey of travelers. Garuda Indonesia service director Nicodemus P. Lampe thanked the Indonesian public and customers from all over the world for their constant support and feedback. Read also: Garuda Indonesia booked US$809,846 profit in 2018 We are very proud of this achievement. These awards also fuel our spirit to keep improving our customer services, Nicodemus said in a statement. This year marks the third consecutive year Garuda Indonesia has been acknowledged by TripAdvisor. The airline was first ranked among the top 10 airlines worldwide by the site in 2017. (rfa/kes) By Marjorie Cohn April 09, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - The United States is taking illegal and dangerous actions to execute regime change in Venezuela. In January, Juan Guaido declared himself interim president, in a strategy orchestrated by the United States to seize power from President Nicolas Maduro. In March, Guaido announced that Operation Freedom, an organization established to overthrow the Maduro government, would take certain tactical actions beginning on April 6. Part of the plan anticipates that the Venezuelan military will turn against Maduro. This strategy is detailed in a 75-page regime change manual prepared by the U.S. Global Development Lab, a branch of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The manual advocates the creation of rapid expeditionary development teams to partner with the CIA and U.S. Special Forces to conduct a mix of offensive, defensive, and stability operations [in] in extremis conditions. Some of these actions will, in all likelihood, involve combat operations. A USAID official said, Anybody who doesnt think we need to be working in combat elements or working with SF [special forces] groups is just naive. The manual was written by members of Frontier Design Group (FDG), a national security contractor whose work has focused on the wicked and sometimes overlapping problem sets of fragility, violent extremism, terrorism, civil war, and insurgency, according to its mission statement. FDG was the sole contractor that USAID hired to write a new counterinsurgency doctrine for the Trump administration, Tim Shorrock wrote at Washington Babylon. Guaido is funded by USAIDs sister organization, the National Endowment for Democracy, which is notorious for meddling in other countries and putting a good face on the CIAs dirty business, as the late journalist William Blum explained. Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter Writing in Salon, Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies cited Blums statement that the United States generally opts for low-intensity conflict over full-scale wars. They noted that low-intensity conflict involves four tools of regime change: sanctions or economic warfare; propaganda or information warfare; covert and proxy war; and aerial bombardment. In Venezuela, they added, the U.S. has used the first and second, with the third and fourth now on the table since the first two have created chaos but so far not toppled the government. Indeed, a combination of punishing sanctions imposed by the United States and blackouts exploited if not engineered by the U.S. have been unsuccessful in removing Maduro and installing Guaido. U.S. Sanctions Intensify Suffering of Venezuelan People The Venezuelan economy was in dire straits before the Trump administration imposed harsher sanctions in January. Crude oil production in Venezuela fell by 142,000 barrels a day in February, according to OPEC. This shows that the sanctions imposed by the Trump administration in January had an immediate, very harsh impact on Venezuelas economy, and on the general population, which depends on the export revenue from oil for essential imports including medicine, food, medical equipment, and other life-saving necessities, Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, stated. If this drop in oil production continues at the same rate, Venezuela stands to lose more than $2.5 billion in oil revenues during the next year. The U.S.-imposed sanctions will speed that decline. On April 4, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Human Rights Watch issued a 71-page report documenting food and medicine shortages and sharp increases in disease throughout Venezuela. They characterize the situation as a humanitarian emergency and recommend a full-scale response by the United Nations secretary general. U.S. Misuses Humanitarian Aid as a Political Weapon Guaidos opposition plans to use aid as their chief political weapon, according to The New York Times. Although in February, the United States tried to deliver humanitarian assistance to Venezuela though Colombia, Maduro refused to accept it. The U.S. misuse of humanitarian assistance as a cover for smuggling weapons and other non humanitarian items also has a long history in Latin American countries, Alfred De Zayas, former UN special rapporteur in Venezuela, said in an interview with AntiDiplomatico. De Zayas called out the United States for its hypocritical policy: It is not possible to be a major cause of the economic crisis having imposed sanctions, financial blockades and economic war and then mutating into a good Samaritan. The U.S. governments cynical strategy is to increase the suffering of the Venezuelan people, in hopes they will rise up against Maduro. This flawed approach was used by the Eisenhower administration after the 1959 Cuban Revolution. It was based on a State Department memo that proposed a line of action that makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and the overthrow of the [Fidel Castro] government. The U.S. economic blockade against Cuba continues to hurt the people but they have not overthrown their government. At the end of March, the Venezuelan government and the opposition agreed that the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies would establish a global relief campaign for humanitarian aid. Venezuela has asked for and received assistance from the United Nations, Russia, China, Turkey, India and Cuba, De Zayas reported, but that was humanitarian and offered in good faith and without strings attached. U.S. aid is the fruit of the poison tree. On April 3, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), who has helped lead the charge for regime change in Venezuela, introduced a 76-page bill in the Senate that would approve $400 million in assistance to Venezuela and take steps to facilitate regime change. It would assess the declining cohesion inside the Venezuelan military and security forces and the Maduro regime, and describe the factors that would accelerate the decision making of individuals to break with the Maduro regime and recognize Guaido as interim president of Venezuela. The Rubio bill would also require briefing on the full extent of cooperation by Russia, China, Cuba and Iran with the Maduro government. U.S. Opposes Russia-Venezuela Cooperation At the end of March, the Russian government sent 100 troops to Venezuela. Russias Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, Russian specialists arrived in accordance with the clauses of a bilateral agreement on technical-military cooperation. In early April, Russia announced plans to install a training facility for military helicopters in Venezuela. The Trump administration is rattling its sabers at Russia. U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton warned that the United States considers the presence of military forces from outside the Western Hemisphere a direct threat to international peace and security in the region. Russia, however, denies that its military presence in Venezuela poses a military threat. The Russian side did not violate anything: neither the international agreements nor Venezuelan laws, according to Zakharova. Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza cited the hypocrisy of U.S. policy. He said it is such cynicism that a country with more than 800 military bases around the world, much of them in Latin America, and a growing military budget of more than US$700 billion, intends to interfere with the military-technical cooperation program between Russia and Venezuela. In late March, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill called the Russian-Venezuelan Threat Mitigation Act to gauge Russias influence in Venezuela. It aims to devise a strategy to counter threats from Russian-Venezuelan cooperation. The bill also requires assessment of national security risks posed by potential Russian acquisition of CITGOs United States energy infrastructure holdings. Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, an organization of former intelligence officers and other national security practitioners, wrote in a memo to Donald Trump, Your Administrations policies regarding Venezuela appear to be on a slippery slope that could take us toward war in Venezuela and military confrontation with Russia. The U.S. government has also threatened Cuba for its support of Venezuela. Vice President Mike Pence said the Trump administration would take strong action not only to isolate Venezuela but also were looking at strong action against Cuba. On April 5, Pence announced that the United States is imposing sanctions on two companies that deliver Venezuelan crude oil to Cuba. And, egged on by Rubio, Trump is considering extending the economic blockade against Cuba. Forcible Regime Change Is Illegal The United Nations Charter prohibits the use or threat of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of another nation. Likewise, the Charter of the Organization of American States forbids any country from intervening in the external affairs of another nation. And the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantees the right to self-determination. Idriss Jazairy, the UN Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of sanctions, said, Coercion, whether military or economic, must never be used to seek a change in government in a sovereign state. In mid-March, nearly 40 organizations, including CODEPINK, American Friends Service Committee, Peace Action, Just Foreign Policy and VoteVets, sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, urging support for the bipartisan measure, H.R. 1004 Prohibiting Unauthorized Military Action in Venezuela Act. The groups called it a critical safeguard against unconstitutional U.S. military action. H.R. 1004 prohibits funds made available to federal departments or agencies from being used to introduce the Armed Forces of the United States into hostilities with Venezuela, except pursuant to (1) a declaration of war, (2) a specific statutory authorization that meets the requirements of the War Powers Resolution and is enacted after the enactment of this bill, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States or the Armed Forces. It is imperative that Congress invoke the War Powers Resolution, passed in the wake of the Vietnam War, to prevent the president from escalating the dangerous U.S. economic and military aggression against Venezuela. On April 4, for the first time since its enactment, Congress used the War Powers Resolution to end unauthorized U.S. military involvement in Yemen. Marjorie Cohn is professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, former president of the National Lawyers Guild, deputy secretary general of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and a member of the advisory board of Veterans for Peace. Her most recent book is This article was originally published by " Truthout " - Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here ==See Also== Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy Why Is Trump Designating Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps As Foreign Terrorist Organization? By Moon Of Alabama April 09, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - The United States is expected to designate Irans elite Revolutionary Guards Corps a foreign terrorist organisation, three U.S. officials told Reuters, marking the first time Washington has formally labelled another countrys military a terrorist group. The White House just issued the designation . The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is a part of the general Iranian military. It was founded after the 1979 revolution in Iran to protect the state from a coup by the regular Iranian army that served under the Shah. With some 125,000 men during peacetime the IRGC is only about a third the size of Iran's regular military. It has a similar structure with a groundforce, a navy and an aerospace branch. The IRCG has two additional small branches that are of foreign policy interest. One is the missile force which controls Iran's medium range missiles. The other is the Quds Force, a brigade size unit with some 4,000 men trained for special operations abroad. The IRGC size during wartime is about triple its peacetime size. Like Iran's regular army its personal is made up of professionals, conscripts and reservists. Attached to the IRGC is the voluntary Basji force, local paramilitaries that can be called up for internal security issues. There are several endowments and charitable trusts (bonyads) with strong relations to the IRGC. They own commerical enterprises but their profits are distributed to IRGC veterans and to widows and orphans of deceased soldiers. Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter In 2007 the U.S. Treasury already designated the Quds Force for its "support of terrorism". It also sanctioned several enterprises that are connected to the IRGC. It is totally unclear what the designation of the IRCG as a whole is supposed to achieve. It could be a symbolic move or, as some assume, a step towards a war on Iran: Former Under-Secretary of State and lead Iran negotiator, Wendy Sherman, said she worried about implications for U.S. forces. One might even suggest, since its hard to see why this is in our interest, if the president isnt looking for a basis for a conflict, said Sherman, who is director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. The IRGC is already fully sanctioned and this escalation absolutely endangers our troops in the region. Mohammad al Shabani lists additional reasons: Mohammad Ali Shabani @mashabani - 14:36 utc - 8 Apr 2019 THREAD. Usual suspects pushed Trump to designate #IRGC as FTO. Why? - Constrain Trumps deal-making instincts - Box in next US president on Iran (Dems say will rejoin JCPOA) - Force Lebanon/Iraq into picking between Iran/US - Force Europe to further cut whatever meager outreach - provoke Iran to scrap JCPOA - and, ideally, initiate military confrontation Colonel Pat Lang likewise presumes that the move is an attempt to provoke a war: The AUMF on terrorism has been used far and wide as a hunting license to attack any armed group that could even distantly be thought a terrorist enemy. The anti-terrorism AUMF makes such attacks legal under US law. The Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) is a law passed after the 9/11 attack that allows the president: to use all "necessary and appropriate force" against those whom he determined "planned, authorized, committed or aided" the September 11th attacks, or who harbored said persons or groups. In an October 2017 speech President Trump accused Iran of having supported and harbored al-Qaeda: Iranian proxies provided training to operatives who were later involved in al Qaedas bombing of the American embassies in Kenya, Tanzania, and two years later, killing 224 people, and wounding more than 4,000 others. The regime harbored high-level terrorists in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, including Osama bin Ladens son. In Iraq and Afghanistan, groups supported by Iran have killed hundreds of American military personnel. Trump's accusations against Iran are false. Iran had nothing to do with the bombing in Kenya. After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan some family members of al-Qaeda leaders fled to Iran. They were put under house arrests and were held as hostages to prevent al-Qaeda operations against Iran. But the facts will not matter. The designation of the IRGC as "foreign terrorist" will likely make the AUMF relevant, at least under U.S. law. Pat Lang continues: The official designation as "terrorist" of the IRGC which is a 125000 man army with its own navy and air force makes it legal for the US Armed Forces to attack the IRGC and its people wherever they are found and under any circumstances that may occur. It is a declaration of war. The neocon nitwits (Pompeo, Bolton, Hannah, etc.) may think that Iran's reaction to this declaration of war will be submission to their will but IMO that is very unlikely. IMO it is more likely that the IRGC will absorb the new reality and will prepare for war with the US. Iran and its military have long prepared for war with the United States. There will be no change in anything that its military will do. The first and probably only retaliatory step Iran will take is to designate the U.S. military as a terrorist entity: "If the Revolutionary Guards are placed on America's list of terrorist groups, we will put that country's military on the terror blacklist next to Daesh (Islamic State)," Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, head of parliament's national security committee, said on Twitter. Iran has so far shown restraint whenever the U.S. tried to goad it into a fight. It has left U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq untouched even while the U.S. and Israel attacked Iranian elements. It will not react militarily to Trump's latest provocation. The designation of the IRGC and the counterdesignation of the U.S. military might have some tricky legal consequences. Will sailors of a U.S. Navy ship that unintentionally enters Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf and gets caught be held as terrorists? Will former conscripts of the IRGC who want to travel to the States receive a visa? Should the U.S. attack IRGC forces abroad, Iran will likely respond by asking its foreign proxy forces, like the Hashd al-Shahbi militias in Iraq, to attack U.S. forces abroad. Should the U.S. attack IRGC forces within Iran's borders then all bets are off. There are plenty of U.S. bases and installations in the Middle East that can be reached by Iranian missiles. This article was originally published by " Moon Of Alabama " - Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here ==See Also== U.S. Designates Iran's Revolutionary Guard As A Foreign Terrorist Group Netanyahu says Trump designated Iran Guards a terror group at his request: PM takes credit for dramatic US move to further isolate Tehran, announced a day before Israelis go to the polls Iran puts US forces in West Asia region on its terror blacklist Foreign backed terrorism in Iran: US/Israeli backed Salafists in Iran Trump Org May Have Financial Link to Iranian Military Group Designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization Flood-hit Iran getting no financial aid from abroad due to U.S. sanctions -statement 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 By Chris Hedges April 09, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Donald Trumps ascendancy to the presidency, as Max Blumenthal points out in his insightful book The Management of Savagery: How Americas National Security State Fueled the Rise of Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Donald Trump, was made possible not only by massive social inequality and concentration of wealth and political power in the hands of the oligarchic elites but by the national security states disastrous and prolonged military interventions overseas. From the CIAs funneling of over a billion dollars to Islamic militants in the 1970s war in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union to the billion dollars spent on training and equipping the radical jihadists currently fighting in Syria, the United States has repeatedly empowered extremists who have filled the vacuums of failed states it created. The extremists have turned with a vengeance on their sponsors. Washingtons fueling of these conflicts was directly responsible for the rise of figures such as Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden and ultimately laid the groundwork for the 9/11 attacks. It also spawned the rabid Islamophobia in Europe and the United States that defines Trumps racist worldview and has been successfully used to justify the eradication of basic civil liberties and democratic rights. The misguided interventions by the national security apparatus have resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths, over 5 million desperate refugees fleeing to Europe, the destruction of entire cities, the squandering of some $5 trillion of U.S. taxpayer money, rampant corruption and criminality. The mandarins of national security, rather than blunt the rise of radical jihadism, have ensured its spread across the globe. The architects of this imperial folly have a symbiotic relationship with those they profess to hate. The two radical extremesthe interventionists in the national security apparatus and the radical jihadistsplay off of each other to countenance ever-greater acts of savagery. The more perfidious your enemy, the more your own extremism is justified. We are locked in a macabre dance with the killers we created and empowered, matching war crime for war crime, torture for torture and murder for murder. This unrestrained violence has a dark momentum that escapes management and control. It exacerbates the very insecurity it claims to be attempting to eliminate by constantly creating legions of new enemies. Drone strikes take out a few bad guys to be sure, but they also kill a large number of innocent civilians, Nabeel Khoury, a former U.S. deputy chief of mission in Yemen, argues. Given Yemens tribal structure, the U.S. generates roughly forty to sixty new enemies for every AQAP [al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula] operative killed by drones. Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter The binary view of the world imagined by right-wing ideologues such as Richard Pipes during the Cold War, defined as a battle to the death against godless communism, has been reimagined by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and American neocons such as Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, Fred Fleitz, Robert Kagan, Steve Bannon, William Kristol, Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld and leaders of the Christian right including Gary Bauer and William Bennett to become a battle to the death between the barbarity of Islam and the civilized ethic of the Judeo-Christian West. It is a rebranding of the Cold War, so useful to the retrograde forces of capitalism in crushing popular dissent and so profitable to the arms industry. Its most prominent voices are a bizarre collection of neofascist ideologues and quack conspiracy theorists such as Bannon, Sean Hannity, Stephen Miller and Pam Geller, who claims that Barack Obama is the love child of Malcolm X. This ideology, like the ideology of anti-communism, erases not only history but context. Those who oppose us are removed from the realm of the rational. They are seen as incomprehensible. Their hate has no justification. They are human embodiments of evil that must be eradicated. They despise us for our values or because they are driven by a perverted form of Islam. The failure, as Blumenthal writes, to place these conflicts in context, to examine our own complicity in fueling a justifiable anger, even rage, dooms us to perpetual misunderstanding and perpetual warfare. Our response is to employ greater and greater levels of violence that only expand the extremism at home and abroad. This demented project, as Blumenthal writes, collapses the fragile space where multi-confessional societies survive. It bifurcates political space into competing forms of extremism between the jihadists and the counter-jihadists. It creates a strange and even comforting mutually reinforcing symbiosis that depends on a constantly escalating sense of antagonism. The methods used on a wary public by the national security state, especially the FBI and the intelligence agencies, to justify and advance these wars are increasingly unsavory. Muslims, many suffering from emotional and mental disabilities, are baited by law enforcement into terrorist plots that few of them could have conceived or organized on their own. The highly publicized arrests and quashing of these nascent terrorist plots exaggerate the presence of radical jihadists within the country. They keep fear at a fever pitch among the U.S. population. Trevor Aaronson, the author of Terror Factory: Inside the FBIs Manufactured War on Terror, found that nearly half of all terror prosecutions between Sept. 11, 2001, and 2010 involved informants, including some with criminal backgrounds who were paid as much as $100,000 by the FBI. Aaronson noted that during the last year of the George W. Bush administration the government did not prosecute anyone arrested in a terrorist sting. But such stings exploded under Barack Obama, a tactic that Blumenthal writes was designed to cast his administration as just as tough on terror as any Republicanthe Obama administration announced an arrest resulting from a terrorism sting every sixty days. This suggested, Aaronson writes, that there are a lot of ineffective terrorists in the United States, or that the FBI has become effective at creating the very enemy it is hunting. The longer and more confusing the war on terror becomes, nearly two decades on, the more irrational our national discourse becomes. The paranoid and racist narratives of the far right have poisoned the mainstream dialogue. These racist tropes are repeated by the White House, members of Congress and the press. Islamophobia had become the language of a wounded empire, the guttural roar of its malevolent violence turned back from the sands of Iraq and the mountain passes of Afghanistan, and leveled against the mosque down the turnpike, the hijabi in the checkout line, the Sikh behind the cash registerthe neighbors who looked like The Enemy, Blumenthal writes. Far-right parties are riding this rampant Islamophobia, fueled by the catastrophic failures in the Middle East, to power in Germany, Italy, France, Britain, Sweden, Poland and Hungary. This toxic hatred is also a central theme of the Trump administration, which demonizes Muslims, especially Muslim refugees, and seeks to bar them from entering the United States. The arrival of millions of Muslim refugees in Europe from states such as Libya, Syria (which alone has produced a million refugees in Europe), Iraq and Afghanistan has dramatically bolstered the appeal of European neofascists. Nearly 73 percent of Britons who voted for their nation to leave the European Union cited the arrival of immigrants as their most important reason for supporting the referendum. The radical jihadists have long expressed a desire to extinguish democratic space in the West. They are aware that the curtailment of civil liberties, evisceration of democratic institutions, especially the judicial system, and overt hatred of Muslims push Muslims in the West into their arms. Such conditions also increase the military blunders of the United States and its allies abroad, providing jihadists with a steady supply of new recruits and failed states from which they can operate. The jihadist strategy is working. In the year before the 2016 presidential election, violence against Muslims in the United States soared, including shootings and arson attacks on mosques. Public disapproval of Muslims, according to opinion polls, is at a record high. The Democratic Party, signing on to the forever crusade by the national security state in the name of humanitarian intervention, is as complicit. The Obama administration not only accelerated the sting operations in the United States against supposed terrorists but, in its foreign operations, increased the use of militarized drones, sent more troops to Afghanistan and foolishly toppled the regime of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya, creating yet another failed state and safe haven for jihadists. The radical jihadists, in an irony not lost on Blumenthal, are often deliberately armed and empowered by the U.S. national security apparatus, along with Israel, as a way to pressure or remove regimes deemed antagonistic to Israel and the United States. Obamas secretary of state, John Kerry, in audio leaked from a closed meeting with Syrian opposition activists, admitted that the U.S. had used Islamic State as a tool for pressuring the Syrian government. He also acknowledged that Washingtons complicity in the growth of IS in Syria was the major cause for Russian intervention there. In a 2016 op-ed titled The Destruction of Islamic State Is a Strategic Mistake, Efraim Inbar, the director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, argued that [t]he West should seek the further weakening of Islamic State, but not its destruction. He said the West should exploit IS as a useful tool in the fight against Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah. A weak IS is, counterintuitively, preferable to a destroyed IS, Inbar concluded. He went on to argue for prolonging the conflict in Syria, saying that extended sectarian bloodshed would produce positive change. Earlier in 2016, Israels former Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon had said similarly, In Syria, if the choice is between Iran and the Islamic State, I choose the Islamic State. Israel seeks to create buffer zones between itself and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. It sees its neighbor Syria, because of its alliance with Iran, as a mortal enemy. The solution has been to cripple these traditional enemies by temporarily empowering radical Sunni jihadists and al-Qaida. There are numerous reports of Israel, along with the United States, using its aircraft and military in Syria to aid the very jihadists Washington and Jerusalem claim to want to wipe from the face of the earth. This intractable morass, Blumenthal argues, led directly to the demonization of Russia. Trumps anti-interventionist rhetoric, however disingenuous, triggered what Blumenthal calls a wild hysteria among the foreign policy elites. Trump calls the invasion of Iraq a mistake. He questions the arming of Syrian jihadists and deployment of U.S. forces in Syria. He is critical of NATO. At the same time, he has called for better relations with Russia. Joining with the dead-enders of Hillary Clintons campaign, who were desperate to deflect from their crushing loss, the mandarins of the national security state worked their media contacts to generate the narrative of Trump-Russia collusion, Blumenthal writes. Out of the postelection despair of liberals and national security elites, the furor of Russiagate was born. This national outrage substituted Russia for ISIS as the countrys new folk devil and painted Trump as Russian president Vladimir Putins Manchurian candidate. Almost overnight, hundreds of thousands of liberals were showing up at postelection rallies with placards depicting Trump in Russian garb and surrounded by Soviet hammer-and-sickle symbols, Blumenthal writes. The FBI and the intelligence community, organizations that have long spied upon and harassed the left and often liberals, became folk heroes. NATO, which was the instrument used to destabilize the Middle East and heighten tensions with Russia because of its expansion in Eastern Europe, became sacrosanct. In its obsession with Moscows supposed meddling, the Democratic Party elite eagerly rehabilitated the Bush-era neoconservatives, welcoming PNAC [Project for the New American Century] founder William Kristol and axis of evil author David Frum into the ranks of the so-called resistance, Blumenthal writes. The Center for American Progress, the semiofficial think tank of the Democratic Party, consolidated the liberal-neocon alliance by forging a formal working partnership with the American Enterprise Institute, the nest of the Iraq war neocons, to stand up to Russia. Those in the alternative media who question the Russia narrative and chronical the imperial disasters are in this new version of the Cold War branded as agents of a foreign power and hit with algorithms from Google, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to deflect viewers from reading or listening to their critiques. Politicians, such as Bernie Sanders and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who push back against the war lust are smeared with the same nefarious charge. It is, as Blumenthal writes, a desperate bid by the war industry and the interventionists to mask the greatest strategic blunder in American history, one that signals the end of American hegemony. In the face of their own failure, Americas national security elites had successfully engineered a new Cold War, wagering that the reignited conflict would preserve their management of savagery abroad and postpone the terrible reckoning they deserved at home, Blumenthal concludes. The corporate state, its legitimacy in tatters, seeks to make us afraid in order to maintain its control over the economic, political and military institutions. It needs mortal enemies, manufactured or real, at home or abroad, to justify its existence and mask its mismanagement and corruption. This narrative of fear is what Antonio Gramsci called a legitimation doctrine. It is not about making us safeindeed the policies the state pursues make us less securebut about getting us to surrender to the will of the elites. The more inequality and injustice grow, the more the legitimation doctrine will be used to keep us cowed and compliant. The doctrine means that the enemies of the United States will never be destroyed, but will mutate and expand; they are too useful to be allowed to disappear. It means that the primary language of the state will be fear. The longer the national security state plays this game, the more a fascist America is assured. Lets set aside politics for a moment and pose a philosophical question: Does or should partisanship have a limit? Loyalty, indeed, is a commendable quality but when the target of that loyalty engages in questionable behavior, should loyalists abandon that fealty? That somewhat Socratic question is never more apt than now given the presidency of Donald Trump who, arguably, is one of the most if not the most morally, ethically, and legally compromised officials ever to hold public office. While we have suffered through more than two years of scandals, and a year of an ugly campaign, his so-called base, has not moved. They love their man. But they never answer the question posed above. Is there any violation for which they would hold him accountable? What would it take? How do they explain their abandonment of morals, ethics and excuses for fraud to their children and grandchildren? How do they justify supporting Trump who is approaching a record of telling 10,000 provable lies while in the White House? (I use the qualifier provable because he probably has made many other statements that were false but cant be proven.) How do they support a man who mimicked a disabled person, bragged about assaulting women, criticized parents who lost a son in Iraq, talked about wanting to date his daughter and discussed her in sexual terms with radio host, Howard Stern, committed tax fraud, and so, so much more. It is endless. When confronted with these questions, most Trumpites reply all politicians are guilty of wrongdoing and lie. That is partially true: all politicians lie to some extent to minimize mistakes and enhance accomplishments. Indeed, we you and I all do that. When we have an accident that was our fault, we come up with excuses that may not be entirely truthful. We exaggerate our accomplishments and resumes when looking for a job. But we have never had anyone in the public arena who has been so blatant about moral, ethical and legal lapses and paid no price. As I have written previously: In 1988, Gary Hart, the Democratic front-runner for the presidential nomination, had to abandon his ambitions when caught having an alleged consensual extra-marital affair; Dan Quayle, a former Republican vice president, ruined his entire career when he misspelled potato in 1992; former Michigan Gov. George Romney lost out when he used the word brainwashed; and Howard Dean, a Democratic presidential candidate, had to bow out after the Dean Scream in which he shouted Yeaaaaa in trying to mobilize his supporters after a primary loss in Iowa. Countless local, state and national politicians were held accountable throughout the years for what, in hindsight, appear to be minor offenses. Also, as a parent, I have always rejected arguments from my children which included the following, Well, Johnnie did that and he wasnt punished. My response: I dont care about Johnnie or his parents. In my house There is also the implication it is never stated outright that Trump is doing such a fantastic job that supporters will forgo moral, ethical and legal concerns in exchange for his policies. They dont, of course, want to admit that they are comprising their values, compromises they would never condone in their private lives. For the sake of this column, lets accept this scenario. (Much can be said about the alleged effectiveness of Trumps policies.) I know a teacher who implied as much. So I asked her: What if you had a student in your class who received an A, but he assaulted all the girls, lied all the time, broke into lockers, and stole everything in sight. Would you tell his parents how wonderful this student was because of the A? Needless to say, my Trumpite friend did not respond; indeed, she walked away. So we are left with the question that I posed at the beginning of the column. In the millions of words written about Trump, I have not read much, if anything, about this conundrum. One of my political junkie friends advised me that political partisanship/loyalty was never prone to compromise. I am not sure thats accurate; through the years I knew many people who changed their views on candidates and even issues. But it has not been true with Trump. So lets give Trump some credit. During the campaign, in January 2016, he proclaimed: I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue [New York] and shoot somebody and I wouldnt lose any voters. That is one of his rare truthful statements with which he displayed unusual and surprising insight. The question he did not answer that no one has been able to answer is why? Veteran Journalist and Author Berl Falbaums latest book, Recollections and Reflections, may be ordered with an email to sdbooksllc@yahoo.com. By Peter Koenig April 09, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - On 4th of April 2019 NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) celebrated the 70th Anniversary of its murderous existence. This horror organization was born sort of as a Rosemarys Baby, signed into life in Washington DC, as the North Atlantic Treaty. Its creation was absolutely unethical but also absolutely legal meaning what we, the west, have made the law, a man-made law for war, was applied by the Washington-Pentagon driven NATO. Estimates have it, that NATO and its allies, cronies, proxies and mercenaries killed more than 20 million people since NATOs existence, basically since the end of WWII. Compare this with about 70 to 80 million killed in WWII. The 70 years of NATO are considered Peace Time were they really a period of Peace? This is a call on all NATO members to exit NATO to opt for Peace and to exit NATO! To stop fighting wars to liberate yourselves from the shackles of NATO. Was the artificially and under totally false pretenses, as we know today, Cold War, which started immediately after WWII and lasted until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 a period of Peace? Or was it rather a period of constant intimidation for war, a period of armament of the west, a period of maximizing profits for the mainly US military industrial complex a period, to destroy any chance the Soviet Union may have had to economically advance, as the arms race made it impossible for the USSR, the country that won WII, to concentrate on economic development at home after having lost 25 million lives and her basic production infrastructure. And yes, it was the Soviet Union not the allies (US, UK, and France) that liberated the world at the time from the German Nazi dominance. And yes, western history books tell you a different story. Western history books are never to be trusted. The entirely Pentagon-run NATO has today 29 member countries (see NATO member states), 26 of which are in Europe, and one, Turkey, in Eurasia. Plus, there are a number of associated or wannabe members, like Ukraine, Israel and in recent months, would you believe! Colombia in South America joined NATO through a so-called Cooperation Agreement, dating back to 2013 and Brazil is perhaps the next candidate. The US want to control again their backyard, by applying again their Monroe Doctrine (no foreign power, other than the US, in Latin America) except, that the backyard has learned its lesson. Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter While Venezuela and her hydrocarbon and other mineral riches is the main target right now for NATOs presence in Colombia and perhaps soon in Brazil, the most democratically elected government in the western world, is not just buckling under, as Washington is used to from the past. No. Venezuela has a solid strategic, economic and MILITARY alliance with Russia and China. Despite all the infamous Trump-Pompeo-Bolton saber-rattling, its Russia and China who are drawing the red line. So much for the Monroe Doctrine. Times ara changing. The US/NATO all ruled by the Pentagon have about 800 and according to some estimates more than 1,000 military bases in about 100 countries. Not all are known to the public. The funds used to arm and maintain the bases are your tax-payers moneys. While producing weapons for the NATO killing bulldozer, these moneys are not available for much needed, education and health care, let alone basic infrastructure in poor countries, precisely those countries that are being colonized by the US / NATO military bases. It has, of course, never been a priority for the western elite those financial-military-petrol and lie-propaganda giants that dark shady neofascist state that pretends to manipulates the rest of the world, to care for peoples health, and, of course even less so, for peoples education. Educated people are dangerous for these nefarious lecherous, greedy kingpins. Take note! People around the world, your education is not wanted. Instead the money YOUR MONEY your government is supposed spend to give you a decent education so you can earn a decent living and understand the ropes of this ever more complex globe these funds YOUR FUNDS are spent for arming to the teeth the NATO bases, to colonize you and your countries, to enslave you to a One World Order under a western dollar dominated financial hegemony. They have already all the instruments in place, IMF, World Bank, World Trade Organization (WTO); they are subordinates to NATO. Get out of them too. They are the elites (for lack of a better term) tool to suffocate you with debt so you will be at their mercy and sell them your resources for a pittance. Create your own economy, outside of the realm of GLOBALIZATION, of globalized neoliberalism, bordering already today on neofascism. Get out of NATO and the rest will follow. Because thats what Europe has become: A US-NATO-Pentagon colony. European Nations you think since you are a member of NATO, you have a say in NATO decisions? Better think again. You know, you have no say in NATO. It couldnt be more obvious that the Pentagon is calling the shots. Trump and his minions, on behalf of the Pentagon and, of course, on behalf of the military industrial oligarchs, is threatening you you European members, better pay up to NATO, or else Whatever else means, its supposed to scare you. You know, you leaders (sic) of so-called EU members, you have been coopted to obey. Your non-elected European Commission (EC) that calls the shots on European legislation yes, not the EU Parliament has also been bought by Washington. The EU is nothing but a puppet of Washington and run by NATO. But, then, what can you expect, the European Union was never an idea of Europeans. It was an idea born by the CIA already during WWII then transplanted to some willing Europeans, with the promise of NATO protection from the evil Soviets. And, bingo, the red scaredid it. It was the US Senator Joseph McCarthyera. The Red Scare. And today, we live in the entire wester era Russia Scare, then the China Scare, scares no-end they keep NATO in place keep NATO in Europe and gradually moving around the world South China Sea, Latin America; the scares keep NATO ravaging and killing millions around the globe. All the while there is a real danger of a nuclear war People, wake up! The Masters of WAR, NATO, are just waiting for the moment to provoke that infamous Red Button. People of this Universe, dont you realize if that happens, we are all doomed; mankind is doomed. Mother Earth may recover, but humans self-destruct. People! Before that happens, kill the killing machine; kill NATO in its roots. Exit NATO! Contribute no penny anymore to the NATO budget. Withdraw from NATO, get out of NATO. Kick NATO out of your sovereign countries. Regain your NATO-stolen sovereignty. And you will see the feeling of Peace enhances your wellbeing, while the constant fear of war destroys your soul. Getting out of NATO is actually easy, its also legally possible. As per Article 13 of the NATO charter, all of you members are eligible to exit NATO and to opt for PEACE: There most likely may be multiple attempts to coopt (buy) your leaders again, under the false pretenses of security. Dont fall for it. There is no danger from the East. In fact, neither Russia or China have an expansionist history. They have a different philosophy. They are seeking a multipolar world, by connecting to what is most logical the so-called European Continent, which is geographically just the western most part of the huge contiguous Continent of Eurasia, even including the Middle East. Trading with friendly nations within this huge land mass is not only logical, it had been done in the past for thousands of years. Chinese Its time for a new era of Peace. Seventy years of NATO, of killing for dominance and greed is passe. Stop NATO. Exit NATO. Abolish NATO. Peter Koenig Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here ==See Also== Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy Phukets sacred water tribute for Royal Coronation to arrive in Bangkok PHUKET: Phuket Governor Phakaphong Tavipatana is to arrive at the Ministry of Interior headquarters in Bangkok today (Apr 10) with the sacred water tribute from Phuket to be used for the Royal Coronation cermonies next month. culture By The Phuket News Wednesday 10 April 2019, 01:11PM Phuket Governor Phakaphong Tavipatana joins the blessing ceremonies at Wat Prathong in Thalang yesterday (Apr 9). Photo: PR Dept Governor Phakaphong is carrying the Kan Tor royal ceramic urn containing the sacred water, which was drawn from the well at Wat Chalong last Saturday (Apr 6). The water was then carried to Wat Prathong in Thalang for two days of ritual blessing ceremonies. (See story here.) The water is to be handed over in Bangkok to join the collection of sacred water tributes gathered from 108 locations throughout the country, all to be used in the blessing ceremonies for the Royal Coronation of His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun to be held May 4-6. Governor Phakaphong and his police escort departed Phuket by motorcade at 12:30pm yesterday, Komart Pankeard, Chief of Phuket office of the Ministry of Culture, told The Phuket News. He stopped at Chumphon province to stay overnight, and left there at 8am today, he said. He will arrive at the Ministry of Interior today, Mr Komart said. After that, he (Gov Phakaphong) will take a break in Samut Songkhram province. Mr Komart added. Thailand in worst 14 for tuberculosis BANGKOK: The government and health advocates are struggling to deal with tuberculosis as Thailand still has a high global ranking among TB-plagued countries. healthdeath By Bangkok Post Wednesday 10 April 2019, 09:18AM A man looks at an exhibit in a fair to campaign against tuberculosis at the Hua Lamphong train station in Bangkok last year. Photo: Bangkok Post We are one of the 14 worst countries hit by this severely infectious disease which has spread across 200 countries, Arth Nana, executive committee chairman of the Anti-TB Association of Thailand, said on Tuesday (Apr 9). We must improve the situation in order to do away with TB by 2021, he insisted, referring to a goal put in place by the Disease Control Department. In 2017, the department set its five-year plan to control the disease and reduce the number of patients. But two years in, its goals remain far from complete. In Bangkok alone, new TB cases are on the rise, attributed to the influx of migrant workers, the most vulnerable group. The number of foreign workers who were registered for treatment increased from 853 in 2017 to 1,123 last year. It is expected there will be up to 13,000 new patients, including those seeking repeat treatment. Dr Wongwat Lewlak, deputy chief of City Halls Health Department, blamed hectic and stressful lifestyles in the crowded city for making people neglect their health. The need to earn a living means many patients are too busy to remember those [appointments with doctors] or they decide to stop taking the drugs as soon as they start to feel better, said Dr Wongwat. The hospitals say they cannot provide sufficient treatment. State-run hospitals are overloaded with so much work that they cannot adopt a mentoring system, under which medical staff work as mentors to ensure patients strictly follow their instructions, Dr Wongwat said. TB treatment demands patients comply with such medical guidance and meet doctors regularly. Patients need to take their medicine for six consecutive months. Failure to follow the practice will cause the disease to re-emerge and the patients will develop a resistance to the drugs. The high number of drug-resistant cases was among the factors that put Thailand in the pool of 14 worst-hit countries for TB ranked by the World Health Organisation. The WHO aims to reduce the number of TB patients to fewer than 10 in 100,000 by 2035. In Thailand, according to the WHOs estimate, the ratio was 156:100,000 last year. The number of new patients and those who are drug resistant is expected to be over 100,000 a year. Tuberculosis is spread when a person with active TB disease in their lungs coughs or sneezes and someone else inhales the expelled droplets, which contain TB bacteria. Although TB is spread in a similar way to a cold or the flu, it isnt as contagious. One would have to spend prolonged periods (several hours) in close contact with an infected person to catch the infection. In most healthy people, the immune system is able to destroy the bacteria that cause TB. But in some cases, the bacteria infect the body but dont cause any symptoms (latent TB), or the infection begins to cause symptoms within weeks, months or even years (active TB). A quarter of the worlds population is infected with latent TB. Common symptoms of the active infection include a lack of appetite and weight loss, a high temperature (fever), night sweats, extreme tiredness and a persistent cough that lasts more than three weeks and usually brings up phlegm. In 2017, there were 1.3 million TB-related deaths worldwide. Read original story here. Director of nutrition services resigns after complaints about school meals The Watertown School Board has accepted the resignation of the food service director. The district has received complaints regarding the food program. Speaking at the event, Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Nguyen Duc Chung said Hanoi city always considers Dutch firms as important partners in the fields of education-training, environment, planning, urban infrastructure, construction materials, investment, trade and tourism. He added that Hanoi has become a friendly destination for foreign tourists, including those from the Netherlands. Last year, Dutch tourist arrival to Vietnam hit 73,000, up 10 percent annually, ranking 15th out of top 20 markets. Chung suggested further enhancing exchanges and trade and tourism promotion activities between the European country and Vietnam as well as Hanoi in particular. The fashion show, co-hosted by the municipal Peoples Committee and the Dutch embassy, aims to introduce Dutch fashion styles towards sustainable fashion to the public, thus contributing to achieving sustainable development goals, he said. The Hanoi leader added that the event not only raises mutual understanding but also offers visitors an insight into joint work in the fields of culture, fashion and environment. Rutte, for his part, lauded textile and garment as one of Vietnams key economic sectors, which he said, has generated jobs to many people, including women. According to him, innovations will help reduce wastes and save water in the industry. He stressed the need to fully grasp the process in the fashion supply chain from plants in Ho Chi Minh City to Amsterdam shops. He said the event will help step up responsible business behaviours in the apparel industry. This months Image-Maker in Residence is PhD researcher, mother and carer Kirsten Baird-Bate. Drawing on her own experiences as the mother and carer of a son on the autism spectrum, Kirsten uses her photographic journal to capture the many sides, ups and downs of life as a mother and carer, while ushering in a new perspective on wellbeing. Although her work is very personal, Kirsten is able to highlight and comment on broader issues in society, including exclusive education, unconscious bias and mental health. Were thrilled to place a spotlight on Kirstens journal and accompanying 21-day photography research project. Barrick Gold Corp. could find itself partially liable for $600 million (U.S.) in additional debt if some Newmont Mining Corp. bondholders have their way. The creditors are trying to block an amendment Newmont is seeking for a large tranche of notes associated with its operations in Nevada, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The change would prevent liability for those bonds from shifting to Barrick after the companies recently announced joint venture in the state is completed. A majority of holders of Newmonts $600 million of bonds due 2035 have organized and submitted their rejection to the proposed change, the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private. The JV with Barrick is not contingent upon Newmont bondholders agreeing to the amendment, Newmont said in a statement last week. But if bondholders succeed, the JV would likely be the new guarantor of the securities, according to CreditSights analysts, putting Barrick on the hook to assume some of the liability. Nevada Assets The 2035 bonds are guaranteed by Newmont USA Ltd., which includes the three Nevada gold mines set to become part of the JV with Barrick. Those assets accounted for about 88 per cent of the guarantors proven and probable reserves within North America at the end of last year, and the proposed JV would constitute a sale of all or substantially all of the guarantors assets in Nevada, per the bond prospectus. That would make the JV liable for the 2035 notes, which isnt necessarily what Barrick signed up for when announcing the deal last month. Its not clear whether Barrick asked for the changes. Read more: Barricks deal-making chairman awarded $12.9 million in 2018 Goldcorp shareholders vote in favour of takeover by Newmont Mining Newmont offers biggest payout in 32 years to coax investors The relationship between Newmont and Barrick, the worlds two largest gold miners, has been fraught for years. Merger talks between the two companies have failed in the past, as have attempts to increase cooperation in Nevada. The joint venture agreement was only reached after Barrick launched, and agreed to withdraw, a hostile bid for Newmont. Consent Fee Newmont is required to bring its assets into the joint venture free and clear of any third party debt, and Barrick is not planning to guarantee any Newmont obligations, nor is the joint venture, a spokeswoman for Barrick said. Barrick expects that Newmont will address any joint venture related issues that it may have with its creditors in a manner that would accommodate the completion of the joint venture arrangements within the time frame contemplated by the parties. Newmont couldnt be reached for comment. Newmont has offered holders $1 per every $1,000 to accept the changes, and consents are due by 5 p.m. New York time Thursday. The company had informed holders of the offer through a statement issued on April 4 at 4:05 p.m., giving them less than a week to respond, but on Wednesday afternoon Newmont extended the deadline by just less than 24 hours. Worth More The guarantor language in the merger covenant is worth more than 10 basis points in our view and we believe bondholders should push for a higher consent fee, CreditSights analysts Wen Li and Will Benedict said in an April 7 report. The expiration date comes on the same day that Credit Roundtable, a bondholder industry advocacy group, gathers for its semiannual meeting in Washington. The meeting started at 8:30 a.m. and Newmont had come up in conversation within minutes, according to David Knutson, co-leader of the group. Bottom line this consent was launched in a way that obscured the potential impact to certain bondholders, Knutson said. Last month Newmont was forced to promise shareholders the largest dividend in 32 years to woo support for its $10 billion merger with Goldcorp Inc. Major equity investors, including Paulson & Co. and VanEck, had argued that the price tag did not reflect the value of Newmonts joint venture with Barrick, which was negotiated after the Goldcorp deal was struck. The dividend could induce Newmont shareholders to vote for the Goldcorp deal on April 11 by rewarding them in advance for $4.7 billion in synergies that Barrick expects the JV will create. Read more about: CALGARY - The Ontario Securities Commission says it will hear an application on Friday in Toronto by activist U.S. investors who want to delay the annual meeting of power utility TransAlta Corp. and impose a transaction vote. The regulator says its proceeding will consider the application of Mangrove Partners, which with entities affiliated with Bluescape Energy Partners owns 10 per cent of TransAltas shares, to delay the meeting from April 26 until at least June 1. The American shareholders also want the regulator to force TransAlta to hold a vote on its proposed deal with Brookfield Renewable Partners, under which $750 million would be invested in the companys hydroelectric assets. The arrangement is now conditional on shareholders voting for two director nominees from Brookfield at the annual meeting but the U.S. firms want a vote on the deal itself by shareholders not having an interest in the transaction. The U.S. investors say the Brookfield deal was rushed and prevents TransAlta from looking at potential better options. Analyst Jeremy Rosenfield of Industrial Alliance Securities says in a report Wednesday that he doesnt see better options for TransAlta but adds there are merits to a slower and more transparent conversation on its strategic initiatives. Companies in this story: (TSX:TA, TSX:BEP.UN) When Amin Nasser met investors at the palatial St. Regis hotel in midtown Manhattan last week, the chief executive officer of the worlds biggest oil company had one clear message: were in a league of our own. After a bruising two years of being buffeted by delays to an initial public offering, investor skepticism over the valuation and profound change within Saudi Arabia, the CEO was here to set Wall Street straight: Saudi Aramco is no ordinary oil company, the 60-year-old petroleum engineer told his audience, according to a person who was present. A week later, its clear the bankers believed him. Aramco sold $12 billion (U.S.) of bonds yesterday in what was one of the most oversubscribed offerings in history. In an incredibly rare turn, demand was so high that the company was able to borrow at a lower yield than its sovereign parent. More importantly, the sale demonstrated Saudi Arabias return to the global capitalist fold after being ostracized over the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi last year. For Nasser, the bond sale is the apotheosis of his career, all the more remarkable because the revelations it brought would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. After decades of secrecy, Aramco has in quick succession revealed its balance sheet, the status of oilfields and the financial relationship with the government, its only shareholder. Strong reputation Aramco executives have a strong reputation, they are straight shooters, said Jim Krane, an energy research fellow at the Baker Institute at Rice University in Houston. If they say they are going to do something, they do it. Aramco, which pumps about one in every 10 oil barrels globally, isnt just the worlds most profitable company, easily outpacing American titans such as Apple Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., its also the cash cow sustaining the entire kingdom. Read more: Rare glimpse into Saudi Aramco shows $111 billion net profit Even with that track record, the task of selling debt was daunting. For the first time in four decades, the company would be answerable to someone other than the government. While Aramco was already regarded as a well-run company, comparable to any international competitor, the search for bond investors required a whole new public vocabulary as officials for the first time answered questions on balance sheets and cash flows. To accomplish the transition, Nasser surrounded himself with a small team of executives, all of whom went from anonymity to Wall Street A-list within a week. Global roadshow Among them was Khalid Dabbagh, who became chief financial officer only a year ago, and Motassim al-MaAshouq, the treasurer who led the preparations for Aramcos now delayed IPO. Both handled most of the global road show, according to people familiar with the presentations, who asked not to be identified because the meetings were private. Other senior managers such as Yasser Mufti, the head of strategy, also pitched in. Collectively, they delivered what Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman presumably wanted: a blockbuster deal, attracting almost $100 billion in orders, that was so sought after it actually reduced overall borrowing costs for the kingdom. The companys profile combined with investors hunt for yield in emerging markets made the bond offering irresistible for many, said Jason Bordoff, the director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University in New York. In an era of diminishing or negative yields, Aramcos longest-dated bonds received the strongest demand. Global community Those seeking to use the sale as a gauge of Saudi Arabias rehabilitation into the global community should take that into account, said Karen Young, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington and a specialist in the political economy of the Middle East. The success of the Aramco bond debut says more about global investor appetite, she said. Aramco has also deployed an army of investor relations specialists over the past two years, initially focused on the planned IPO and then the bond sale. Fergus MacLeod, formerly head of investors relations at BP Plc, led the effort with Louise Hough, a 25-year veteran at Credit Suisse Group AG, and Ruban Chandran, another BP alumni. Bond roadshow The success of the bond road show was in contrast to their efforts on the IPO, where most investors balked at the suggested valuation of $2 trillion. While equity investors were anxious about oil prices and dividends, the bond traders cared more about yields and a pristine balance sheet. Aramco was able to deliver on both. Talks with bond investors accelerated earlier this year as Nasser embarked on several days of back-to-back meetings on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. By then, the focus was on the debt sale rather than the IPO. Both would be able to generate the funds needed for the crown princes agenda of economic and social reform. For Nasser, perhaps more at ease with Saudi geology than Wall Street finances, the deal is the culmination of a 37-year career that began in the vast oilfields of the desert kingdom. He wound up as the companys chief petroleum engineer before his elevation to the CEO role in 2015. His predecessor, Khalid Al-Falih, is the current energy minister. As Aramco priced the bonds in New York on Tuesday evening, Nasser was back in the kingdom for a dinner with the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Abdullah Jumah, who ran the company from 1995 to 2009, welcomed him back home as the $100 billion man. Read more about: CALGARYPolice are asking for help finding a 11-year-old girl who never returned from an overseas trip to Egypt last summer and may now be in Iraq. Zahraa Al Aazawi flew from Calgary to Egypt with her father on June 16, 2018, according to a Calgary Police Service statement Wednesday. Police said a travel agreement between her parents stipulated her return to Calgary by Sept. 5, 2018. However, police said she never arrived back in Calgary even though Zahraa was in limited contact with her mother while out of the country. It is believed that Zahraa is now in Iraq, possibly with her fathers family, read the statement. Investigators are asking for the publics help to learn where Zahraa is located so that she can be returned to her mother. Ali Al Aazawi, 38, was arrested at Torontos Pearson International Airport on April 4 after he returned to Canada alone. He is facing one count of parental child abduction. Anyone with information on Zahraas whereabouts, particularly those in Calgarys Iraqi community, are asked to contact police. Correction April 11, 2019: This article was edited from a previous version that misstated the age of the missing girl as 12. In fact, she is 11. Incorrect information was provided by the Calgary police. Read more about: MONTREALWhen Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques exited the International Space Station this week for his first spacewalk, it was dark out and he couldnt really see Earth. But the sun was about to rise, he told reporters Wednesday through a live video link from the space station, two days after he became the fourth Canadian to complete a spacewalk. Saint-Jacques was second out of the station, behind NASA astronaut Anne McClain. He said he began to see the line of the sunrise emerge, turning blue, red and orange. He saw the curvature of Earth. And then I saw Annes big smile, and she winked at me, he said. And I understood I had arrived. We were in space. Saint-Jacques is on his first posting to the space station, which began Dec. 3. He said Wednesday it will likely take him years to fully appreciate the experience of walking outside the spacecraft. Astronauts are busy during a spacewalk, he said, adding each moment outside the ship is choreographed in advance. There are no blocks of time for philosophizing, he said. But we take the time to look around, and we try and absorb it. He called the entire experience pure joy. Read more: Astronaut David Saint-Jacques is first Canadian to perform spacewalk in over a decade Spacewalking astronauts tackle battery, cable work Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques to make first spacewalk next Monday Astronauts train for years to walk in space. And Saint-Jacques first venture outside the station lasted about six-and-a-half hours. He and McClain, whom he called a veteran because she had one prior spacewalk, conducted a series of tasks outside the space station. Those included upgrading the spacecrafts wireless communication system and connecting jumper cables to give the Canadarm2 an alternative power source. Canadarm2 is a type of robotic hand attached to the space station that was created by Canadian engineers. It is used for a variety of maintenance tasks and to catch unpiloted cargo ships launched from Earth. As of last March 26, Canadarm2 had helped catch a total of 33 cargo ships containing food, supplies and scientific experiments. One of Saint-Jacques next tasks will be to operate the Canadarm2 on April 25 to catch a Dragon supply spacecraft that will be launched by the company SpaceX with a Falcon 9 rocket. He said its the dream of every Canadian astronaut to operate the Canadarm2. Using that machine to capture cargo vehicles is an amazing feat he said, because the machinery wasnt created to do that. It was a challenge from NASA, he said. Our engineers rolled up their sleeves and figured out a way. The spacewalk was physically and psychologically gruelling, he said, comparing it to running a marathon. But Saint-Jacques said he was so full of adrenaline when he returned inside the space station he had trouble sleeping that night. Saint-Jacques, McClain and Russian astronaut Oleg Kononenko are scheduled to return to Earth in June. And while he marvels at the ingenuity that has allowed him to travel into space, Saint-Jacques said humans havent really explored anything. Its kind of like we are practising going camping in our backyard, he said. We havent really dared to go into the forest or the mountains. Travel to Mars is decades away, he explained, but he said he has no doubt humans will get there. The first astronauts who will travel to this new destination are born, he said. They are kids now, but they are born. And the dream is in their head. Read more about: OTTAWAConservative Leader Andrew Scheer is signalling that hes open to discussing regulations for social media and tech giants. Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould told reporters at a press conference Monday that self-regulation of internet giants like Facebook, Twitter and Google has failed. In a press conference outside the House of Commons Wednesday, Scheer said he looks forward to seeing what the Liberal government will propose to bring the ubiquitous social media platforms under more stringent rules. We do have concerns when we look at the actions of Justin Trudeau and his government in the past using, imposing certain things like the attestation on the summer jobs file, Scheer said, referring to the Liberals requiring groups hiring summer students with federal grants attest they uphold Charter rights. But we look forward to having a conversation to make sure all levels of society, whether theyre social media platforms or institutions, are doing their part to ensure that people who promote racist ideologies and violent extremism arent given a platform. Read more: Bots, hackers and trolls: How the digital misinformation war is being waged ahead of the federal election Opinion | Susan Delacourt: For foreign hackers, political parties are our weakest link After Facebook banned Faith Goldy and white nationalist groups, accounts and ads in their name remained Scheer, who has made free speech a central issue since his bid to lead the party, said theres an important difference between free speech and hate speech such as the kind social media companies have been criticized for allowing to spread across their platforms. We have to be very careful that we find that proper balance, Scheer said. A spokesperson for Scheer clarified that the Conservative leader is open to the idea of regulations, but wont pronounce on any until the Liberal government makes clear what theyre proposing. In an interview with the Star on Monday, Gould said that all options were on the table when it comes to regulating things like hate speech, extremist content, and foreign electoral meddling through social platforms. They see themselves as actors operating on a different level than other companies operating in our society. And I think that is not fair to citizens and to Canadians, Gould said. I think that one thing that we need to do, partly government but its partly civil society, is to have a much more robust conversation about how these companies operate, what they do with our data, and what the consequences are of that for us as individuals but also collectively. Read more about: VICTORIAA rare disease that kills feral rabbits has returned to parts of Vancouver Island, prompting British Columbias chief veterinary officer to recommend owners vaccinate pet and domestic rabbits. Jane Pritchard said Wednesday tests confirmed four rabbits in the Parksville area, about 150 kilometres northeast of Victoria, died from a highly infectious virus. The tests confirm the presence of rabbit hemorrhagic disease, which is caused by a calicivirus that only affects rabbits, she said. The virus, which causes death within 36 hours, killed hundreds of rabbits last year across much of Vancouver Island and in Delta near Vancouver. Pritchard said the provincial government sounded the alarm as soon as it was able to confirm the disease. She said the dead rabbits are all from the same place in Parksville, but the disease can spread rapidly. Were much more confident in the diagnosis, hitting it the second time around, Pritchard said. The first time around when you first see a disease thats never been there before, you really need to confirm it and make sure thats it. This time there was no doubt. Agriculture Minister Lana Popham said the source of the virus is unknown and provincial veterinarians in her ministry are monitoring the highly infectious and deadly disease. Read more: Deadly rabbit disease causes Vancouver Island group to cancel annual show Vancouver zoo quarantines rabbits to protect them from deadly virus Its a hemorrhagic disease and unfortunately it can transfer to domestic rabbits and pet rabbits, but there is a vaccine available through your vet. Pritchard said the best precaution against the disease for pet owners and commercial rabbit breeders is to vaccinate their animals. The virus only affects European rabbits and is not known to affect native North American breeds, she said. It also does not affect dogs, cats, other pets or humans, said Pritchard. Thousands and thousands of doses of vaccine were brought into the province last year, she said. Veterinarians have been vaccinating their clients rabbits since April of last year. Pritchard said rabbit owners should keep their pet areas clean and ensure they do not expose their animals to materials from areas where feral rabbits may have been. They should monitor their rabbits daily for signs of illness and contact a veterinarian with any concerns. She urged people who see a dead rabbit or notice population declines of rabbit colonies to report to conservation officers who can help Pritchard and her team monitor the potential spread of the virus. Read more about: RED DEER, ALTA.A former central Alberta teacher accused of child sex-related offences faces new charges. Norman Howes, who is 60, is no longer employed by Red Deer Public Schools. The new charges include counts of sexual assault, sexual contact with a minor, sexual counsel of a child, sexual exploitation and child pornography offences. He was earlier charged with sexual counsel of a child, sexual exploitation, luring a child under 18 years, making child pornography and sexual contact with a child. Carolyn Ayre from the specialized prosecutions branch in Calgary will handle the Crowns case. Howes, who taught for more than 30 years in Red Deer schools, is to return to court on May 1. Read more about: OTTAWAAndrew Scheer condemned anyone who promotes racist ideology after a Conservative senator questioned whether white supremacy was a significant threat to Canadian communities. Scheer told reporters Wednesday that he 100 per cent denounces anyone who promotes white nationalism, promotes any type of extremism. I do believe its a threat in Canada because we have seen, tragically, people lose their lives because of people who subscribe to these views, Scheer said. I understand that the senator has issued a clarification And I absolutely do believe that these types of threats are important for governments of all levels to protect Canadians. Scheer was responding to a question about Quebec Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos, who suggested Tuesday that white supremacy is not a significant threat to our way of life, to our communities, to our democracy. Read more: Conservatives look forward to debate on social media regulation, Scheer says Police investigate after white-nationalism posters pop up at Newmarket school Opinion | Emma Teitel: Andrew Scheer cant be tough on crime if he is soft on hate In a question to Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland at the Senates Foreign Affairs Committee, Housakos asked Freeland to clarify her position that white supremacy is a significant risk to western democracies. With all due respect minister, I think that flies in the face of reality over the last two decades. I think over the last two decades western liberal democracies around the world would tell you that the biggest threats weve faced are extremist fundamentalism, Housakos said. I cant identify a single country in the world where governments are supporting white supremacist movements. I cant identify governments around the world, democratic governments around the world, that are supporting that type of behaviour, certainly not in Canada. I absolutely do think white supremacists and white supremacists movements are a very real, very grave threat to western liberal democracy. I think they are a grave and real threat here in Canada, Freeland responded. The shooting in the Quebec City mosque is a tragic Canadian example of the same threat that we face here at home. So I absolutely believe we need to name that, we need to be aware of it, and we need to work hard to find ways to protect our societies and our people from it. In question period Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau demanded Scheer denounce white supremacy, which the opposition leader had publicly done only hours before in a press conference. But the exchange makes clear that white nationalism and far-right extremism once a fringe issue in Canadas political debate will likely remain front and centre in the lead-up to the 2019 election. In March, Trudeau accused unnamed politicians of exploiting racism for political gain. In a statement on Twitter Wednesday, Scheer shot back. Racism and white supremacy are threats in Canada and I condemn them unequivocally, Scheers statement read. It is pathetic and disgusting that Liberals are inflaming these threats to divide Canadians and score cheap points. An aide for Housakos declined the Stars request for an interview Wednesday afternoon, pointing to the senators comments on Twitter. No western, democratic politician condones extremism of any kind, including white supremacy, he wrote Wednesday after Freeland released a video of their exchange. Extremism in all forms is a threat to our way of life, not just one (form) or the other. Read more about: OTTAWAPrime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday became the latest politician to call out a suburban Montreal mayor who compared Quebecs recently tabled secularism bill to ethnic cleansing. Speaking to reporters in Ottawa, Trudeau repeated his opposition to Bill 21 but said Hampstead Mayor William Steinbergs comments were unacceptable and that the mayor needs to apologize. We dont need to go to extremes, Trudeau said. We can debate the bill without going too far. There are people who are extremely worried by this bill, and I understand them. But we shouldnt use words like that. Bill 21 would prohibit public servants in positions of authority including teachers from wearing religious symbols. Steinberg, whose suburb has a population of about 7,000, drew the wrath of Quebecs political class last Friday when he said Bill 21 is ethnic cleansing, not with a gun but with a law. On Tuesday Steinberg rejected multiple demands for an apology, including from Quebec Premier Francois Legault. He said people were twisting his words and that he was referring to peaceful ethnic cleansing. He said he fears an apology would detract from his criticism that the bill will cause religious minorities to leave the province. Read more: Montreal-area mayor under fire for equating secularism bill to ethnic cleansing Thousands march in Montreal to denounce Quebec governments secularism bill Immigrants, visible minorities say Quebec government targeting them with bills Conservative MP Alain Rayes told reporters Steinberg should apologize as fast as possible. The MP from Quebec said he supports Bill 21. He said Quebecs legitimate government was elected on a promise to table a secularism bill. In Quebec City, the Liberals and governing Coalition Avenir Quebec accused each other of prompting Steinbergs remarks. For sure, what the CAQ is doing in Quebec generally invites this sort of excess, interim Liberal leader Pierre Arcand said. There are bills that are divisive, and obviously that often leads to excesses. Legault responded that the Liberals failed while they were in power to address Quebecers unease around religious symbols in the public service. That certainly allows people to become divided, he said. Read more about: Toronto police have arrested a man accused of firing at a car filled with people sitting in a school parking lot in a brazen daylight shooting last week. A man approached a group of males and females sitting inside a parked vehicle in a school parking lot in the Grandravine Dr. and Jane St. area on April 4 at around 2 p.m., police said. He fired multiple shots into the vehicle before fleeing on foot, police alleged Tuesday in a news release. A 16-year-old girl in the vehicle suffered a non-life threatening gunshot wound to her leg and was taken to a nearby hospital where she received treatment, police said. The accused was identified after members of the West Command Gun Violence Suppression Unit responded to the call and began their investigation, police said. Jae Quonne Hamilton, 18, of Toronto was arrested Sunday. He was charged with four counts of attempted murder, possession of a loaded regulated firearm, carrying a concealed weapon, aggravated assault, two counts of assault with intent to resist arrest, possessing a restricted or prohibited firearm without holding a licence and registration certificate and knowingly possessing the firearm despite not having a license for it. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-3100. The Ontario government should form a working group to examine the processes involved in the live performance industry, including the construction of temporary stages like the one that fatally crushed a drum technician before a Radiohead show nearly seven years ago, a lawyer told a coroners inquest Tuesday. Lawyers made their closing submissions at the inquest into the death of Scott Johnson, with the coroners counsel laying out a list of 25 proposed recommendations for jurors to consider including in their verdict. Among them are recommendations for the provincial and federal governments, the engineering industry and various members of the entertainment industry, including promoters and venue operators. They include creating a permanent working group to address the concerns raised during the inquest, such as the need for consistent design drawings, the need to have a trained supervisor on site at all times during construction and for a prohibition on having people on stage while work is happening overhead unless safety measures are in place. The group should involve experts from the live entertainment and staging industries as well as Johnsons father, Ken Johnson, who is also a scaffolding expert in the United Kingdom, coroners counsel Prabhu Rajan said in his submissions. Scotts death was preventable, and the inquest provides an opportunity to improve conditions for others in the industry, Rajan said. Read more: Engineer didn't check for right materials on Radiohead stage that collapsed, inquest hears Inquest into fatal Radiohead stage collapse set to get underway in Toronto Ontario coroner to hold inquest into fatal Radiohead stage collapse in Toronto Jurors are not required to adopt the proposed recommendations or make any recommendations at all as part of their verdict, said the presiding coroner, Dr. David Cameron. They are also not to assign blame for Scott Johnsons death but, rather, examine the circumstances that led to it. Johnson was killed when the stage roof came crashing down hours before Radiohead was set to play at Torontos Downsview Park on June 16, 2012. Charges were laid under the Occupational Health and Safety Act against the shows promoter, Live Nation, contractor Optex Staging and Domenic Cugliari, the engineer who signed off on the stage plans. They were later stayed because the matter took too long to get to trial. Johnsons family and friends have expressed disappointment and frustration with the justice system over the outcome of the case, as has Radiohead. They have decried the lack of accountability in the incident that claimed the life of the promising music professional. Were hopeful that this proceeding has given you some answers, Rajan said in his closing arguments. The lawyer representing Live Nation said more has been revealed about what caused the collapse through the inquest than in the roughly nine weeks of court proceedings, likely because witnesses are being more forthcoming without charges hanging over everybodys head. You might just ensure that another Scott Johnson lives to a ripe old age, Jack Siegel told the jury. The inquest has heard the plans for the stage were riddled with mistakes, the wrong building components were used in key areas and the construction was running behind schedule. Cugliari, the engineer, testified he did not check the right parts were being used because he trusted the contractor. There was also no independent oversight of the construction plans or process because the show was to take place on federal land, meaning there was no requirement to apply for a building permit, the inquest has heard. Other recommendations proposed by the coroners counsel include changes to the building code as it relates to temporary stages and amendments to occupational health and safety laws that would require such structures to be inspected by an engineer. An engineer should also be present throughout the construction process, the proposal said. The association representing the provinces engineers, Professional Engineers Ontario, should also ensure its guidelines specify the need for clear and consistent design plans, a checklist of components to be used and a joint review of whats to be done before construction begins, according to the proposal. A lawyer representing the association said, given the organizations governance structure, it could not guarantee the adoption of any particular recommendations made by the inquest jury. The provincial government is planning to shelve existing plans for the relief line subway and replace it with a lighter rail service that would span Ontario Place to the Ontario Science Centre and it claims it can build the much longer line years earlier than the current plan. The replacement for the relief line, which the province has dubbed the Ontario Line, formed what Premier Doug Ford described as the crown jewel of an expansive $28.5-billion transit plan he announced Wednesday that was met with both cautious optimism and grave concern at city hall. In addition to the Ontario Line, which the government estimates would cost $10.9 billion, the province also plans to build the Yonge North subway extension, estimated at $5.6 billion, a three-stop Scarborough subway extension at $5.5 billion, and an underground extension of the Eglinton Crosstown to Pearson Airport at $4.7 billion. Our government is investing in transportation to bring relief and new opportunities to transit users and commuters, Ford said in a prepared statement issued ahead of his announcement at GO Transits Willowbrook Yard in South Etobicoke. He told assembled reporters and elected officials that the province was committed to building a transit plan for the 21st Century that would have subways at its core. For the first time ever the Ontario government is taking the lead in building new subways in this province. Because the people of Ontario have waited long enough. Read more: Toronto mayor warns Ford government against transit delays as report finds SmartTrack, Scarborough link in jeopardy Toronto has spent $200 million on the four transit projects the Ford government wants to revamp How Fords transit plans could impact Toronto While earlier this week the premier billed the plan as a $28.5-billion investment, the government clarified that Ontario would contribute $11.2 billion. The federal government, Toronto, and York Region would be asked to make up the rest. However, Ford wouldnt rule out Ontario paying for the entire plan if other governments dont pay up. If need be well backstop it ourselves, he said. Share your thoughts: Toronto Mayor John Tory declined to attend the premiers announcement, telling reporters the day before that he still hadnt been briefed on the provinces plans. But at a city hall press conference Wednesday, he reacted to Fords plan with guarded positivity, saying he needs many more details but so far likes what he sees including a provincial commitment to Torontos transit priorities. It is important to see the province of Ontario making long-term, multibillion-dollar investment in building transit in Toronto and the GTA, said Tory, whose office was briefed on the plan Tuesday evening, calling the money a significant win for the city. On his concern that modifying some of Torontos transit plans could delay construction, Tory said: With the Ontario relief line it appears as if we might be able to get it done faster, while the opposite may be true in the case of the Scarborough subway. Others at city hall werent as enthusiastic. Councillor Gord Perks (Ward 4, Parkdale-High Park) called the provinces plans ill-informed and destructive and predicted they would ensure nothing will be built for years. We have a number of highly developed transit studies that show us what could be practically built and this erases all of that and replaces it with something drawn on the back of a napkin. Its a huge setback, he said. Map of Ontario government's new proposed subway plans View document on Scribd The relief line, which would connect the eastern end of the TTCs Line 2 to Line 1 downtown, has been discussed at city hall for years. The project would take pressure off the increasingly crowded Line 1 and is considered by many experts to be Torontos most pressing transit priority. The 15-kilometre Ontario Line would be roughly double the length than existing plans for the relief line. The provinces version would run from Ontario Place to Osgoode and Queen stations on the TTCs Line 1, cross the Don River, turn north to connect to Pape station on Line 2, and extend to the Ontario Science Centre station on the Eglinton Crosstown. The citys version would only run between Osgoode and Pape. The Progressive Conservatives are claiming they can build the Ontario Line by 2027, two years earlier than the city had targeted for its shorter version, which has already undergone years of study and roughly $22 million of planning work. The province said it would attempt to build on existing work done for the relief line but its unclear how much of those plans could be repurposed. The Ontario Line would use trains smaller than TTC subways, could be driverless, and would run on elevated tracks on parts of the route. Provincial officials compared the train technology to that operated on the Docklands Light Railway in London, U.K. The government said the line could carry 400,000 people per day and would have similar peak capacity as the TTCs existing Line 1 subway as automated trains could be run close together. The TTC has raised operational concerns about building a new line with trains that arent compatible with the rest of the system, but the province argues a line using smaller trains would be easier to build, and eliminating tunnelling on parts of the route would enable cheaper and faster construction. The province also says the Ontario Line could be accelerated by using a public-private partnership (P3) to procure the project, committing funding for it up front, and not specifying it be operated using existing TTC technology. Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency, estimates procuring the Ontario Line would take two and a half years, followed by about five years of construction. By contrast, the 19-kilometre Eglinton Crosstown will have taken 10 years to construct if it opens on schedule in 2021. That project was also procured using a P3, was fully funded by the province and will use vehicles lighter than TTC subways. Metrolinx acknowledged the provinces proposed time lines for the new project are tough schedules but maintained they are realistic. Steven Farber, an associate professor of Human Geography at U of T Scarborough, called the schedule for the Ontario Line very optimistic. Smaller, automated trains could potentially speed up construction and reduce costs somewhat but its hard to know without more details, he said. He stated one of his biggest concerns with Fords transit plans was the mismatch in extending heavy underground subways into low-density suburbs while using light rail lower-capacity technology in the downtown core, where the most people live. It boggles me, he said. As a regional transportation plan it largely continues to make some fundamental miscalculations. Farber added he was happy to see the extension to the Ontario Science Centre because that could give low-income, high-density neighbourhoods such as Flemingdon Park access to rapid transit. But he said he has seen no analysis showing the rationale for extending the line to Ontario Place. Meanwhile, although the province says it could build the Ontario Line quickly, its transit plans looks likely to delay the completion of a subway extension to Scarborough. The city is currently pursuing a one-stop extension to Scarborough Town Centre, with a planned opening date of late 2026. Thats when the existing Scarborough RT is expected to reach the end of its service life. The provinces plan to revert to a previous three-stop extension with stations at Lawrence East and Sheppard Ave. would increase the cost by $1.6 billion, and mean the extension would open some time before 2030. The result could leave todays Scarborough RT riders stuck on the bus for years. Tory said hes concerned about the projects magnitude of the delay. Councillor Cynthia Lai (Ward 23, Scarborough North) downplayed those concerns and said Ford was doing the right thing by adding stops back to the plan. Everything is about downtown, downtown ... Only Doug knows how we feel up there. Fords pledge to pursue the Yonge North extension to Richmond Hill was met by shouts of joy from officials from north of Toronto who attended the announcement. Among them was Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti, who said, weve always asked for consistent, reliable funding of transit projects and we finally got that today. Theres no more guessing about whats going to be built in the GTA. Scarpitti was not prepared to say how much his municipality would pony up for Fords plan. The province committed to opening the Yonge extension only after the Ontario Line is complete. The city and TTC have warned completing the Yonge North extension before a relief line would be dangerous as it would add passengers to the already crowded Line 1. Under the provinces plan, the Eglinton West LRT would be built underground between Royal York and Martin Grove Rds. The city had previously explored burying the line but found it would be expensive and the benefits wouldnt outweigh the costs. The province proposes advancing its transit vision by uploading Torontos subway network, saying the province has greater financial and regulatory powers that will lead to speedier construction. The government clarified its plan Wednesday, saying it intends to introduce legislation this spring to take ownership of new projects only. Legislation to take over the existing network wouldnt come until 2020. Im deeply concerned about this governments plan to upload the subway, whether they do it tomorrow or they do it a few months from now. The end result is Toronto will have less say over what transit is built, said Ontario NDP MPP and transit critic Jessica Bell (University-Rosedale). With files from Rob Ferguson, David Rider and Francine Kopun. Ben Spurr is a Toronto-based reporter covering transportation. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @BenSpurr Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robferguson1 Read more about: Toronto bylaw enforcement officers are ramping up their efforts to smoke out remaining illegal pot shops across the city. Armed with enhanced provincial powers under the new Cannabis Control Act, officers closed one location along Eglinton Ave. W. on Monday night before shifting attention to the Finch Ave. W. and Weston Rd. area, where a dispensary dubbed the Green Apple was closed Tuesday. This weeks blitz comes on the heels of four stores being closed last week, as officers beef up their enforcement several weeks into a crackdown that started on March 1. Were doing a number of these every week and we will continue, said Mark Sraga, the director of investigation services for municipal licensing and standards. There are roughly 27 illegal stores still operating in Toronto, down from an estimated 90 close to two years ago, city officials say. There were a few operators that continued to reopen after being closed, Sraga said. Mayor John Tory blasted people who are consciously and deliberately breaking the law. He said its a public safety issue and he hopes the courts bring down the hammer on such people. The law is very clear, he said. As of April 1, the people who are supposed to be selling marijuana are people who are licensed to do so. He said city staff have done a good job of lowering the number of illegal shops. Its a very significant challenge, because as fast as they close them down they open up again, he said. The city has approved the hiring and training of up to six additional bylaw officers to close the remaining stores. At the Green Apple, city bylaw enforcement officers seized a large quantity of dried cannabis, thousands of dollars in cash, a large quantity of edibles and other types of cannabis products, Sraga said. Two people were charged and now face potentially stiff penalties up to a maximum fine of $250,000 and two years in jail. Any corporation charged could face a minimum fine of $25,000 or a maximum penalty of up to $1 million. They could also face jail time, he said. We will be charging the landlord, Sraga added. With new provincial rules taking effect the city opted to allow bylaw officers to spearhead the enforcement. It gives us more enforcement powers, Sraga said of the Cannabis Control Act. The bylaw officers received designation from the province. That then allows more effective use of police resources and ours. Instead of having six police officers doing enforcement, we can have two police officers and we can supplement that with our officers doing the bulk of the work. He said enforcement officers are taking a zero tolerance approach to landlords previously warned about illegal pot shops. We will charge the landlord, because they have been given an opportunity to stop the selling illegally, he said. Landlords should be checking and seeing what their tenants are up to. Ontario has issued 25 licences for retail pot stores, with five of those locations designated for Toronto, but only two have opened to date. The Hunny Pot, located on Queen St. W. and Ameri in Yorkville are the only two legally permitted dispensaries operating in the city. Water gushed through a burst ceiling pipe, flooding the hallway floor at Emery C.I. As students looked on, shivering in their winter coats, they couldnt help but feel left out in the cold again. It was during an extreme cold weather alert, Grade 12 student Eloghosa Ogiesoba said of the February incident. We had to wait in the -20 C weather. Someone could have been seriously injured. The North York high school, near Weston Rd. and Finch Ave. W., has always appeared worn down, students say. The Toronto District School Boards website lists several repairs, including piping, roof and ceiling repairs, on urgent priority for the school as the board faces a school repair backlog of $3.7 billion. Sad thing is that beautiful schools, like Earl Haig, exist in the same city, Ogiesoba said. How is cutting funding to education going to help us? Read more: He wants resilience? Well show him resilience: Teen organizers of Ontarios student walkout on why theyre fighting Fords education cuts Ontario students walk out of class to protest Fords education cuts and the premier says theyre being used as pawns Opinion | Dont be distracted by the class size debate, its about programs Last Thursday, about 150 Emery students joined an Ontario-wide walkout to protest Premier Doug Fords changes to education, including larger class sizes, 3,475 fewer teaching jobs in four years and mandatory e-learning in high school. The new Progressive Conservative government already cut a $100-million school repair fund in July. With all the media attention, politicians showing up and supporters honking as they drove by, it was a rare moment that outsiders were finally listening to what students had to say. It also gave them an opening to highlight ongoing issues their school has been grappling with. Ogiesoba, who has struggled financially growing up in a single-parent household, said the stereotype of being young, Black and from near Jane and Finch makes it even harder for many students at Emery to be heard. Theres a stigma that they dont care about their education, Ogiesoba said, but that couldnt be more wrong. We care. We care so much. Our immigrant families started with nothing, not one dollar. Its why the faces in the factories arent particularly white, not unless you own it, he said. Its not that were lazy or dont care. Its the opposite. During the #StudentsSayNo protest, the teens walked up Weston Rd. and were joined by their local NDP MPP, Tom Rakocevic, and Councillor Anthony Perruzza (Ward 7, Humber River-Black Creek). Emery has not been heard before in that way. It really empowers us. It just allows us to say, well, you know what, we do have a voice, said Grade 12 student Yavuz Selim Topbas, who helped organize the walkout with Grade 11 students Sarah Rahim and Hannah McIntyre. They started planning just two days before the protest, with Topbas reaching out to the politicians, and Rahim and McIntyre creating the @emery_saysno Instagram account and sticking up posters around the school to get the word out. It was inspiring to see these other students that felt as strongly as I did, Rahim said. I felt really proud. Emery students will especially feel the sting of the education cuts, Topbas said, because many come from working class backgrounds, and go through financial and other personal struggles that they find reprieve from at school. We need more than a teacher, we need a teacher-student relationship, because school is a safe space for us, Topbas said. The school is a place where we forget about our financial problems, we forget about our father being jobless, we forget about our mother being disabled. If a classroom is overcrowded as a result of class sizes jumping to an average of 28 students from 22, those student-teacher relationships will suffer, Topbas said. Every extra student lowers the amount of time an individual can have specific help from their teacher, he said. This might not affect students at the top, students who are already well off. But the students that need a helping hand; the teachers cant help everyone. Ogiesoba added, If you arent close with the teacher at Emery, or any school, its hard to excel, because the best teaching comes from one-on-one teaching, and people dont necessarily have the time or money for a tutor. For her part, principal Maria Palermo said in an email to the Star, At Emery C.I., we are committed to ensuring that every student can identify at least one caring adult on staff that they can connect with when they need support. She said initiatives like the Caring Adult Program, mentorship initiatives and a variety of staff and student team-building events will continue but, as in all schools, the key connections between staff and students are the ones that happen in classrooms every day. Regardless of any possible cuts, we will be there for our students and support them to the best of our abilities, Palermo said. But classroom sizes werent the only education changes sending Emery students to the streets. The median annual household income in Humber River-Black Creek was $53,518 in the 2016 census, compared to a $74,287 median for all Ontario residents. That reality coupled with Fords changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program has some Emery students re-evaluating their post-secondary goals, said McIntyre. Though tuition fees are set to drop by 10 per cent, the OSAP reforms would eliminate free tuition for lower-income students as well as the six-month grace period before interest is charged on loans after a student finishes a degree. McIntyre said shes already planning to look for part-time jobs so she can start saving up for university in 2020. If I started looking for a job right now, I wouldnt be 100 per cent focused on school, she said. It stresses me out a little bit because I do want high marks, but I also need to prepare for university. Zenitha Temenu, in Grade 12, said, Doug Ford finished high school, but he dropped out of college. How can somebody and I say this in the most respectful way who dropped out of college make policies for students that are in post-secondary? Its not fair. And hes also privileged so he doesnt understand. I think hes unqualified to make decisions like this, Temenu said. According to the Ministry of Education, there were more than 72,000 engagements during consultations on changes. Anyone in Ontario was able to participate through an online survey, open submission form, email submission or a telephone town hall. Kayla Iafelice, a spokesperson for Education Minister Lisa Thompson, said in a statement to the Star that the changes to OSAP are part of the governments plans to restore trust and accountability in Ontarios finances. We have refocused the Ontario Student Assistance Program to make it sustainable for generations to come, Iafelice said. In fact, without any changes OSAPs cost would have ballooned to $2.7 billion by 2023. That is more than double the expenses from 2017. OSAP was also brought up in a poignant letter written by an anonymous student that Rahim saw on Instagram. Dear Doug Ford, the letter read. My parents are abusive and I have recently gotten out of this abuse because OSAP gave me the option of controlling my own future. Now, I may have to get them to help me pay for university, which will then put them back in control of my finances and schooling. Rahim chose to read that letter aloud at her schools rally because she thought it might resonate with some students at Emery. Honestly, a lot of teenagers face a lot of issues, like abusive parents, even maybe homelessness. Just like simple things that adults think dont affect us that much, she said. Thats why it disappointed her so much when she heard the premier say students were being used by unions as a bunch of pawns. I felt belittled, Rahim said. Everyone I talked to was really passionate about these issues on their own terms and I think (Ford) needs to recognize that age has nothing to do with knowledge. Read more about: Cibo Wine Bar, an upscale Italian restaurant on King St. W, has been closed by Toronto Public Health after DineSafe inspectors flagged 22 health infractions. The restaurant, which is one of several chain locations throughout Toronto and Miami, first received a conditional pass in December 2018 when nine infractions were flagged. These included failure to protect against breeding of pests and failure to keep food protected from contamination. After an April 3 inspection, the restaurant received seven more infractions, including for employee hygiene and pest control. A second visit the following day tacked on four more infractions. A third visit on Monday ended with the restaurants forced closure with two more infractions relating to pest control and Food premise maintained in manner permitting health hazard (Insects). Nick Di Donato, president and CEO of Cibos parent company, Liberty Entertainment Group, attributed the closure to an unfortunate set of circumstances and said the restaurant maintains a biweekly pest fumigation schedule. I run a very clean restaurant and consider health and safety the most important thing on our agenda, he said. We are a multi-tenanted building. The building is connected over blocks and blocks, he said, adding pests could enter the building through deliveries. Cibos King St. location boasts several awards on its website, including Wine Spectators Award of Excellence and OpenTables Diners Choice Award. Aside from the first conditional pass in December, which was changed to a pass after an inspection the following day, this latest round of inspections marks the locations first closure. Late last month, one of Cibos locations in Miami, Fla. was temporarily closed with cockroach activity cited as a high priority infraction. That location has since reopened. With files from Premila DSa. The province is overhauling plans for the long-awaited downtown relief line, replacing the current version with the Ontario Line which will travel farther than the citys vision and be completed two years sooner, Premier Doug Ford announced Wednesday. Ford promised the crown jewel of a $28.5-billion transit announcement would use lighter rail technology and be completed by 2027. But what exactly is it and what does this mean for riders already crammed morning commute? The Star breaks down some the biggest questions on Wednesdays transit news. What is the Ontario Line? The 15-kilometre line would run all the way from the Ontario Science Centre station on the Eglinton Crosstown in the north to Ontario Place/Exhibition in the southwest, hooking up with Queen and Osgoode stations on the TTCs Line 1, and Pape on Line 2. This replaces and roughly doubles the proposed relief line, which was planned by the city to take pressure off the packed Line 1 subway and was to run, in its first phase, from Pape to Osgoode station. Read more: Ford promises $10.9-billion Ontario Line will be built by 2027 leaving experts, politicians looking for details How Doug Fords $28.5-billion transit overhaul compares with Torontos existing plans Editorial | Doug Fords transit map looks nice; getting there is another matter How is the technology different from what was proposed for the citys relief line? According to the province, the Ontario Line wouldnt be a conventional TTC subway line, as the relief line would have been. The cars will be smaller and automated, and they will run on elevated tracks for some stretches of the route, such as across the Don River. Fords government says that even though the cars would be smaller, they would have similar peak capacity as the existing Line 1 subway and could move 400,000 passengers per weekday, delivering relief for riders of that line. Matti Siemiatycki, the interim director of U of Ts School of Cities, says the cars could potentially be run closer together, if automated, which could address concerns about less capacity on smaller cars. Have your say How does this plan compare to other Toronto transit projects? The Eglinton Crosstown, which will have taken 10 years to complete if it opens on schedule in 2021, was procured using a public-private-partnership which the province says could also be used for the Ontario Line as a way to accelerate the project and uses lighter vehicles than subway trains. The 19-kilometre light rail line will run along Eglinton Ave. between Mount Dennis (Weston Rd.) and Kennedy station, both underground and at surface level, and was fully funded by the province. Its owned by Metrolinx and will be operated by the TTC. Is this type of technology used anywhere else? Yes, for example, on Vancouvers Canada Line, part of that citys SkyTrain transit system, which runs mostly underground. And for the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) in London, U.K., an automated light-rail system that serves the redeveloped Docklands area in the east end of that city. But Steven Farber, an associate professor of Human Geography at U of T Scarborough, says hes concerned about a mismatch of technology in the provinces overall transit plan, which brings lower capacity light rail to the most dense area downtown and traditional underground subways to lower density suburbs such as Richmond Hill and Scarborough. When would it be built? Fords government says it can build the new Ontario Line by 2027, which would be two years earlier than the timeline the city had slated for the shorter relief line. The province argues a line using smaller trains would be easier to build, and eliminating tunnelling on parts of the route would enable cheaper and faster construction, as would using a public-private partnership for procurement that doesnt require it to be operated using TTC technology and committing funding for it up front. Farber says smaller trains could potentially shave some time, but he would need to see more details. Siemiatycki says there are some ways to speed things up, such as compelling utilities, which Ford mentioned during the announcement. That basically means leveraging provincial power to get the sewer and utility line work thats needed before digging can start done faster. But, I think in general, unless theres really a revolutionary technology out there, that tunnelling is going to take as long as its going to take, Siemiatycki says. The provincial transit agency Metrolinx estimates procuring the Ontario Line would take two and a half years, and building it about five. How much would it cost? The province estimates the Ontario Line would cost $10.9 billion. It also plans to build the Yonge North subway extension for $5.6 billion, a three-stop Scarborough subway extension for $5.5 billion, and an underground extension of the Eglinton Crosstown to Pearson Airport for $4.7 billion. The premier had earlier this week billed his transit plan as a $28.5-billion investment, but the province clarified Wednesday that its only contributing $11.2 billion, which leaves the federal government, Toronto, and York Region to make up the rest. Siemiatycki cautions these mega projects tend to cost more than initially predicted. The money is the big question, he says. What about the work and money thats already gone toward the old relief line? Siemiatycki says some of the citys plans could be built on, depending on if the Ontario Line follows the same route as the relief line, which is not clear at the moment. There had already been years of study and planning work on the citys relief line plan and the city has said construction for the shaft for the tunnel boring machines required to build the line could start late next year. Theres been a lot of debate about the relief lines route and weve spent a lot of money trying to decide, he says. If the province is using the same route, then some of that work can be reused or maybe even a lot of it. How many stations would there be? It appears there are seven stops on the map the province released Wednesday but the province says its not finalized. Both Siemiatycki and Farber said the fact the line would extend north to Ontario Science Centre is positive, as that could give subway access to underserved communities such as Flemingdon Park and Thorncliffe Park, which they wouldnt have had until Phase 2 of the relief line. But its not clear if those communities would have nearby stations. Read more about: BANGKOK - Western diplomatic missions responded Wednesday to charges from Thailands foreign ministry that they violated protocol by observing a Thai politician being charged by police with sedition, calling their action standard diplomatic practice. They were responding to Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, who said Tuesday that foreign countries are barred from closely observing such internal procedures not only by etiquette, but also by rules and regulations that the whole world abides by. His ministry on Wednesday accused the diplomats of intervening in Thai politics. Thirteen foreign diplomats were present Saturday at a Bangkok police station where Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, leader of a popular new political party, acknowledged charges of sedition and other crimes. Thanathorn says the charges are politically motivated. Thanathorns Future Forward Party ran a strong third in last months general election and positions itself as being opposed to political interference by Thailands powerful military. Several criminal complaints and protests to election authorities have already been lodged against Thanathorn and his party. The election results are to be certified by May 9, and the contending parties are manoeuvring to establishing alliances or have opponents disqualified. The Thai foreign minister on Tuesday had complained informally, but his ministry on Wednesday issued a diplomatic note to register our displeasure and concern. It charged that the diplomats action violated an article in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations that says diplomats have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of the nation in which they are stationed. It said their presence at the police station with such a visibility and the publicity it generated were clearly an act of political significance, seen by the Thai public largely as a show of moral support to Mr. Thanathorn. In other words, it was a political act or a political statement on the part of the Embassies, it said. It clearly amounted to the Embassies choosing to be a player in Thai domestic politics, at least by having taken side in the countrys political landscape. U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Jillian Bonnardeaux said U.S. Charge dAffaires Peter Haymond met Wednesday with a senior foreign ministry official at the ministrys request. The U.S. Embassy regularly attends court proceedings in high profile cases around the world in order to observe fair trial guarantees and respect for rule of law, she said in an emailed statement. This is a standard diplomatic practice. The U.S. interest in this case, as in many other cases, is to observe the judicial process and obtain first-hand information about the handling of the case. A statement from the European Union delegation to Thailand made a similar point, saying, Observation of hearings and trials is standard diplomatic practice worldwide. Its purpose is to enhance understanding of adherence to international standards such as human rights and due process. Such observations are in no way indications of political preference or support for specific actors, it said. The EU statement thanked the Thai police for their co-operation in facilitating the observation and for offering to brief the diplomats present. WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALANDLess than a month after 50 Muslim worshippers in the city of Christchurch were fatally shot in terrorist attacks on two mosques, New Zealand passed a law banning most semi-automatic weapons on Wednesday a measure supported by all but one of Parliaments 120 lawmakers. The passage of the bill means temporary restrictions imposed by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern six days after the massacre, to prevent New Zealanders from stockpiling guns before the law went into effect, will now be permanent. The swift action by lawmakers stands in stark contrast to similar efforts in the United States, where nationwide gun control proposals have stalled despite a series of mass shootings in recent years. New Zealand stands apart in its widespread availability of weapons of such destructive nature and force, Ardern told Parliament on Wednesday. Today that anomaly ends. She said she could not have faced the surviving victims of the Christchurch attack hand on heart and told them our system and our laws allow these guns to be available and that is OK. It is not. The law outlaws military-style semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles, and violators face five years in prison. Some semi-automatic guns will still be allowed, including .22-calibre rifles with magazines holding less than 10 rounds, and shotguns with internal magazines that hold no more than five rounds. All of the weapons used by the Christchurch gunman will be banned, as well as parts and magazines that can convert lower-powered guns to higher-powered versions. Read more: New Zealand will ban military-style weapons in response to mosque shootings, prime minister says A closer look at New Zealands new weapons ban New Zealand just banned military-style firearms. Heres why the U.S. cant In her speech, Ardern, who leads the center-left Labour Party, choked up when she talked about visiting surviving victims at Christchurch Hospital. In addition to those killed, 50 people were injured in the attack. None of them had one gunshot wound. In every case they spoke of multiple injuries, Ardern said. They will carry disabilities for a lifetime, and thats before you even consider the psychological impact. Similar laws had been recommended to New Zealands Parliament several times before, but each time they had failed to gain support from lawmakers including after the mass shooting that had previously been New Zealands largest, in which a gunman killed 13 people in 1990. This time, the bill quickly sailed through Parliament. Usually in New Zealand, new laws can take around six months to pass after they are introduced. More than 13,000 people submitted opinions to the government 60 per cent in support of the ban and some were invited to speak to lawmakers in a single day of public hearings. But while sports shooters and farmers were among those who pleaded for exemptions to the restrictions, lawmakers allowed just two: for commercial pest-control businesses and for licensed collectors of guns, or those who want to keep particular guns as heirlooms or mementos. Collectors will be required to remove a part, making the weapons non-operational, and store that part at a different location. Arderns center-right opponents used their speeches on Wednesday to praise her leadership since the March 15 attacks and voice their support for the changes. Just one, David Seymour, the leader of the libertarian ACT Party, voted against the law. Seymour said he was not opposed to more restrictive gun laws but believed that Parliament had rushed the process. It is not an attempt to improve public safety, it is an exercise in political theatre, said Seymour, who argued that there was a risk of a growing black market in banned weapons. Ardern had dismissed concerns that Parliament was moving too fast. My question here is simple: You either believe that in New Zealand these weapons have a place or you do not. And if you do not, you should be able to agree that we can move swiftly, she said. My view is that an argument about process is an argument to do nothing. Many commentators welcomed the new measures but said work remained to be done to ensure that gun regulations were properly enforced. The government said more measures, including a requirement to register individual firearms, would be in place by the end of the year. We really need to have a system where we understand where all the firearms in New Zealand are, said Chris Cahill, president of the Police Association, a national union for police officers. He added that gun owners should be forced to justify wanting to own large numbers of guns, something he said hadnt been challenged enough in the past. New Zealands Muslim leaders agreed that the new law should be just a starting point for more regulation. This is a law that should have been passed many years ago, said Mustafa Farouk, the president of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand. Speaking of the families of the victims, he said, Passing that law is part of justice for them. Because Britains Queen Elizabeth II is technically New Zealands head of state, her representative, New Zealands governor-general, will now give the final approval to pass the bill into law. This is considered a formality, and is due to happen Thursday. The government has also established a gun buyback plan, which will run for six months for legal owners of the weapons now banned. John Hart, a sheep and beef farmer from Masterton on New Zealands North Island, said he had already turned in one weapon which he had owned for 10 years to the police, because after the attacks he felt uncomfortable in possession of it. In the weeks or months or years before Friday the 15th, I hadnt thought about it. It was just a tool, he said, adding that after the shootings he realized that in the wrong hands it was a terrible weapon. CANBERRA, Australia - If Australian opposition leader Bill Shorten becomes prime minister and visits the U.S., he can expect questions about a radio interview he gave three years ago in which he said some of then-presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trumps views were barking mad. Trump seemed a long shot for the White House when Shorten gave the interview on May 27, 2016, during Australias last election campaign. And Shorten, who leads the centre-left Labor Party, seemed a long shot to become Australias prime minister. He was trying to become the first Australian opposition leader to oust a prime minister after a single three-year term since 1931, when the Great Depression helped scuttle a Labor government. But Shorten came closer than many had expected. Conservative Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull scraped back into power with a single-seat majority in the House of Representatives, where parties need a majority of seats to form a government. Turnbulls conservative coalition had lost 14 lawmakers. Turnbull pounced on Shortens swipe at Trump as evidence that the Labor leader wasnt fit to lead Australia. Turnbull accused Shorten of potentially offending Australias most important strategic ally by breaking a long-standing Australian convention of avoiding taking sides in U.S. political contests. Shorten had told a Darwin radio station that a Trump administration was among the sort of scenarios you hope dont emerge. I think Donald Trumps views are just barking mad on some issues, Shorten said. Americas a great friend of Australia; whoever they dish up well work with, but wow, Trumps sort of its sort of the ultimate victory of celebrity politics, he said. Shorten described Trumps popularity as the ultimate protest vote, and warned that Australia should pursue policies of fairness and equality. The political landscapes in Australia and the United States have transformed since 2016. Shortens party goes into the 2019 election campaign as a firm favourite. His party has led the conservative coalition in most opinion polls in the last three years. Turnbull was replaced by senior minister Scott Morrison in a revolt by ruling Liberal Party lawmakers at least partly because of the governments poor performance in opinion polls. The government lost two lawmakers and its majority in continuing blood-letting from the leadership change. Despite Labors dominance in the polls, Shortens personal popularity has remained relatively low. But Australias system of compulsory voting means Shortens lack of charisma is not the political handicap it might be in U.S politics. Because failing to vote is punished with a fine, voter turnout in Australia is always high even when the choices are not particularly attractive. While there are Labor lawmakers who are more popular with the Australian public, Shorten is a powerbroker who has enjoyed strong support within his party for the past six years of his leadership. The government had depicted Shorten as a puppet of the labour unions that donate to Labors campaign war chest. The government has also portrayed Shorten as being reckless with policies that would harm the Australian economy. Energy policy is as contentious as any in Australia, which is the worlds biggest exporter of coal and liquid natural gas. Labour wants to cut Australias greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. Australia committed in the Paris Agreement on climate change to reduce its emissions by 26 or 28 per cent by 2030. Shorten, 51, was first elected to Parliament in the same 2007 election that swept Labor to power for the first time in more than 11 years. Morrison entered Parliament in the same election. Shorten has deep labour union roots. His father was a waterside labourer and union official, and his mother was a lawyer and university academic. He became involved in Labor politics as a student and was soon touted as a potential prime minister. He worked for less than two years as a lawyer before becoming a union official. Shorten first came to national attention as national secretary of the Australian Workers Union in 2006 when the Beaconsfield gold mine collapse in Tasmania state killed one miner and left two trapped underground for two weeks. His regular news conferences on behalf of the union representing the miners created a national profile before he entered Parliament the following year. But as a party power broker, Shorten played a key role in deposing two prime ministers through internal government leadership ballots in the face of poor opinion polling during Labors chaotic six years in office. His history of fickle loyalty in ousting leaders he once supported may come back to haunt him as he seeks to lead the country. TBILISI, Georgia - A British man wanted for the manslaughter of a woman who died when his speedboat crashed while they were on a date in London has been extradited from Georgia. Jack Shepherd, 31, jumped bail before his trial, where he was found guilty of killing 24-year-old Charlotte Brown in the crash on the River Thames in London in 2015. He was tried in absentia last year and sentenced to six years. The web designer showed up at a police station in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, in January to turn himself in. He was put on a flight to London Wednesday following a Georgian courts ruling last month to extradite him. BERLIN - The U.N. population agency chief said Wednesday she regrets the U.S. governments decision to cut funding for programs that help ensure safe pregnancies worldwide. The United States used to provide about $70 million per year toward UNFPA programs to protect the health and lives of women and girls in developing countries. More than half of those funds were used for life-saving humanitarian programs, said Dr. Natalia Kanem, the agencys executive director. The Trump administration announced in 2017 it was cutting all funding to the agency. The move was seen as a gesture to American conservatives and anti-abortion activists, though UNFPA doesnt provide abortions. We do regret the decision of the United States to deny funding to UNFPA as we saved so many lives of women and girls together, Kanem told reporters in Berlin at the launch of the agencys annual report . She cited the agencys work in parts of the world wracked by unrest, where medical care for pregnant women is often not available. Even in a place like Venezuela UNFPA is at work every day trying to supply hospitals with desperately needed supplies for safe birth, to train the few doctors that remain on how to deliver babies safely and also to provide contraception to women who do not wish to become pregnant under such circumstances, Kanem said. UNFPAs report reviews progress made in the half-century since its founding. In 1969, only a quarter of married women worldwide were able to decide whether and when to become pregnant, the agency said. Now, three in five have that choice. Availability of contraception, improved education and efforts to end child marriage also mean that whereas the average woman had five children throughout her lifetime 50 years ago, now the figure is half that. Still, populations in poor countries particularly in Africa continue to grow at a rapid rate. Kanem said more family planning options could help mothers in places like Niger, where fertility stands at 7.1 children per woman, have smaller families. Germanys development minister, Gerd Mueller, linked cutting the number of unwanted pregnancies in poor countries to efforts to tackle climate change and hunger. ROME - A restaurant owner in northern Italy has cancelled an event that would have brought together the great-grandson of Italys long-time fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and a neo-Nazi group under special observation by authorities, following protests. Mauro Rosa, owner of the restaurant Rosa, near Padua, said he cancelled the presentation of a new release of the 1932 Doctrine of Fascism, co-authored by Mussolini, after receiving many insults online. He said staff booked the event without being aware of its nature. The Italian dictators great-grandson, Caio Giulio Cesare Mussolini, a European election candidate for the far-right Brothers of Italy, was invited to attend, along with a leader of the Veneto Fronte Skinheads, an extreme right group that is under special observation by authorities after storming a migrant associations venue in 2017. EL-ARISH, Egypt - Egyptian security officials say two separate attacks overnight have killed three police conscripts and an officer in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula. The officials said Wednesday that the first attack took place in the city of el-Arish when an explosive device targeted an armoured vehicle, killing a police officer and two conscripts. Another explosive device hit an armoured vehicle in the town of Rafah, killing a conscript and wounding four others. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State group. The attacks came a day after an IS suicide bomber killed four policemen and three civilians, including a child, in the northern Sinai town of Sheikh Zuweid. ABU ZENIMA, Egypt - Amid a stunning vista of desert mountains, a Bedouin woman, Umm Yasser, paused to point out a local plant, and she began to explain how it was used in medicine to the group of foreign tourists she was guiding. Umm Yasser is breaking new ground among the deeply conservative Bedouin of Egypts Sinai Peninsula. Women among the Bedouin almost never work outside the home, and even more rarely do they interact with outsiders. But Umm Yasser is one of four women from the community who for the first time are working as tour guides. It is against our culture, but women need jobs, the 47-year-old Umm Yasser said. People will make fun of us, but I dont care. Im a strong woman. They are part of Sinai Trail, a unique project in which local Bedouin tribes came together aiming to develop their own tourism. Founded in 2015, the project has set up a 550-kilometre (330-mile) trail through the remote mountains of the peninsula, a42-day trek through the lands of eight different tribes, each of which contributes guides. The project has been successful in bringing some income to the tribes, who often complain of being left out of the major tourism development of the southern Sinai, home to beach resorts and desert safaris. Until now, all the projects guides were men. Ben Hoffler, the British co-founder of the Sinai Trail, felt it was not enough. How can we be credible calling this the Sinai Trail if the women arent involved? But even after years of trying by Hoffler, almost all the tribes still reject women guides. Only one of the smallest, oldest and poorest tribes, the Hamada, accepted the idea. There are some conditions. The tourists can only be women, and the tours cant go overnight. Each day before the sun sets, the group returns to the Hamadas home village in Wadi Sahu, a narrow desert valley. The organizers also urge the tourists to photograph the guides only when they are wearing a full veil over the face that covers even the eyes with mesh. Umm Yasser was the first to join. She said she started hiking when she was a child and knows the mountains and the valley by heart. She convinced the families of three other women to allow them to work as guides. Their tribe is a poor one, living in small concrete houses strung along the Wadi Sahu. Electricity runs no more than five hours a night and there is no running water. It is isolated deep in the mountains of south Sinai, far from the tourism centres in Sinai along the Red Sea coast or near the famed Saint Catherines Monastery. The men often leave the village to find work, either at resorts or in mines further south. We need money to help support our families for basic necessities, Umm Yasser said. We need blankets, clothes for the children, washing machines, fridges, books for school. The Sinai Trail came together in some of the hardest years for tourism. It was launched as an Islamic State group-linked insurgency intensified in the northern part of Sinai and a year after a Russian passenger plane crashed, killing all 224 passengers on board in a likely militant bombing. The violence has stayed far from southern Sinai, where tourist resorts are located but the industry has had to push hard to win tourists back. On a recent tour joined by the Associated Press, 16 female tourists from Korea, New Zealand, Europe, Lebanon and Egypt were led by Umm Yasser and the other three women guides, Umm Soliman, Aicha, and Selima, through the rugged landscape in and around Wadi Sahu. I think south Sinai is safe especially when you are in the care of Bedouins. ... This is where I feel at home. Every corner there is scenery and another beautiful view, said Marion Salwegter, a 68-year-old Dutch woman who travels to southern Sinai every year alone to escape the winters in Holland. During the two-day tour, the group hiked across an endlessly broad landscape of mountain peaks and valleys of dry riverbeds. While male Bedouin guides range far from home, the women tend to move closer, with an exceptionally rich knowledge of the surrounding mountains. The guides talked about the local plants and herbs, the history and legends of the area and pointed out the borders of the areas tribes. In the evening, the group returned to the Hamada tribes village. The women sat on the floor of Umm Yassers home and the tourists asked the guide about life in the village, marriage and divorce. Umm Yasser is skeptical other Bedouin women will join her as a guide or in working in general any time soon. But, she said, There is no shame in working. This is what I believe in, and it makes me strong. Some attitudes are changing. Mohammed Salman, an elderly man from the Aligat tribe, said he thought the guides project was a great step for women. If a woman wants to work, she should be able to have the right to, he said. Many men say no, a womans place is at home. But Im sick of this ideology. Shes a human being. Younger Bedouin girls tagged along with the group and talked about wanting to be female guides in the future. This trip is going down in history and will be talked about, said Julie Paterson, a facilitator for Sinai Trail who often works with Bedouin women. It might also go into Bedouin oral history. AMMAN, Jordan - Jordan says four of its nationals held in Syrian prisons have been released following contacts between the two governments. Sufian Qudah, spokesman for the Jordanian Foreign Ministry, said Wednesday one person remains in the Syrian capital Damascus where his family lives and the others have either arrived or are on their way to Jordan. Qudah said Jordan continues to follow up on the cases of four others expected to be covered by the release order. It was not clear why the Jordanians were detained. Jordans relations with neighbouring Syria have been strained since 2011 when the civil war there began, displacing and killing hundreds of thousands. A thaw followed the reopening of the border crossing between the two countries last year. The crossing closed in 2015 when it fell into rebel hands. ALEXANDRIA, Egypt - Libyas Parliament speaker in the east said Wednesday no peace deal can be reached right now between rival factions in his country because the capital, Tripoli, has been kidnapped by armed groups. Aguila Saleh, speaker of the Tobruk-based House of Representatives, told The Associated Press in the Egyptian city of Alexandria that the self-styled Libyan National Army led by Khalifa Hifter has stepped in to liberate Tripoli. Hours later, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a cease-fire, saying there is still time to avoid the worst which would be a dramatic bloody battle for Tripoli. The U.N. chief, who visited Libya on Friday, said after briefing the Security Council behind closed doors that the situation is very dangerous and stressed that there is no military solution. It is very clear for me that we need to restart a serious political dialogue and a serious political negotiation, but it is obvious that that cannot take place without fully stop of the hostilities, Guterres said. Germanys U.N. ambassador, Christoph Heusgen, the current Security Council president, said the secretary-generals call for a cease-fire was echoed by council members who also urged talks and a return to the political track. Libya slid into chaos after a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and later killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Elections were held shortly after Gadhafis demise, but failed to bring stability. The oil-rich North African country is now governed by rival administrations a U.N.-backed government in Tripoli and the west and Hifter and his supporters in the east. Libya has also become a haven for armed groups, including several from neighbouring countries and a major conduit for African migrants hoping to reach Europe. Hifters Libyan National Army forces launched a major military offensive earlier this month aimed at capturing Tripoli, clashing with rival militias that support the U.N.-backed government there. The escalation has threatened to plunge the fractured nation deeper into chaos and ignite civil war on the scale of the 2011 uprising that toppled Gadhafi. The capital has been kidnapped.... the military (LNA) has stepped in with only one goal, which is to root such groups out of the capital, Parliament speaker Saleh said. He said it would be impossible to hold next weeks U.N.-planned peace conference, given the current conditions. A U.N-supported national conference set for mid-April was to forge a political roadmap that would restore order in Libya, where lawlessness has fed Islamic militancy, human trafficking and instability in the wider region. Moving toward parliamentary and presidential elections was a key goal of conference. U.N. envoy Ghasan Salame announced Tuesday that the National Conference scheduled for April 14-16 is being postponed because it cant be held against the backdrop of artillery bombardment and air raids. The International Organization for Migration said, meanwhile, that the escalation in violence in and around Tripoli has resulted in the displacement of more than 5,800 people who have fled their homes. Germanys Heusgen said Security Council members expressed concern at the plight of displaced people and refugees, the humanitarian situation, and the need to respect human rights. ___ Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in position to win a fourth consecutive term on Wednesday, with nearly all of the votes counted. But the race was extremely tight, and his main rival, Benny Gantz, had also claimed victory, though he later tempered expectations. When the ballots are fully counted, it will be up to President Reuven Rivlin to choose the party leader he believes has the best chance of assembling a parliamentary majority. Netanyahus Likud party and Gantzs Blue and White alliance were running neck and neck, but a count of the broader blocs supporting each party gave Likud a clear advantage in being able to form a governing coalition. Regardless of the final result, the election appeared to be a grave scare for Netanyahu, 69, who has led Israel for a decade of relative security and prosperity. More than 1 million Israelis voted for Blue and White, a record for a new party, placing it in the position of being the main alternative to Israels right wing, a spot once held by the Labor Party. Gantz acknowledges odds not in our favour Having claimed victory after the first wave of exit polls, only to see later results appear to hand the election to Netanyahu, Gantz, 59, wrote to supporters on Wednesday morning sounding at once less bullish but still hopeful. Reports tell an unfinished story, he said in a midmorning message. Yes, odds may not seem in our favour but two things are missing: The first is certainty, as there is still a possibility of electoral shifts that will allow us to engage in various political endeavours. The second is, without doubt, recognition of the great hope we delivered to the Israeli people and society, he continued. Our voters asked for hope and we gave it to them. They wanted a different path and we carved it out for them. We will not stand down from our civil duty to represent over a million citizens who searched for an alternative. We have a historic achievement under our belt. We have a reason to be proud, and so we will. Gantz, a retired lieutenant general and former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, had reached out for allies across the political spectrum and sought to make Netanyahus expected indictment on corruption charges the main issue in the race. The tight nature of the race meant many Israelis went to bed on Tuesday suspended in a post-ballot twilight zone: The exit polls of the three main television channels were sufficiently disparate that both sides claimed victory. This is a night of tremendous victory, Netanyahu said just after 2 a.m., at a celebration where a crowd cheered him and chanted, Bibi, king of Israel. I believe that the Lord and history have given the people of Israel another opportunity, a golden opportunity to turn our country into a strong nation, among the strongest nations of the world. DAVID M. HAL Parties on the right line up behind Netanyahu Four right-wing and religious parties had publicly pledged by Wednesday morning to support Netanyahu in his bid to form Israels next governing coalition, commitments that, if they hold, leave him just one seat short of a parliamentary majority and a fourth consecutive term in office. The four parties Kulanu, the Union of Right Wing Parties, and the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism are projected to win a combined 25 seats, with the vast majority of votes counted. Together with the 35 seats that Netanyahus conservative Likud party is projected to win, such a coalition would have 60 seats in the 120-seat Parliament. Also among what Netanyahu terms his natural partners is the hard-line Yisrael Beiteinu party, led by Avigdor Lieberman, which is projected to take five seats. The party has joined coalition governments led by Netanyahu in the past, but Lieberman was holding out on Wednesday, saying he was waiting for the final tally of votes, including the ballots of soldiers, prisoners and hospital patients that are to be counted later this week. Lieberman served as foreign affairs minister and then defence minister under Netanyahu, but resigned from the government in November, complaining of a soft policy toward Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza. A spokesman for Yisrael Beiteinu, Aryeh Vishenski, reiterated the partys campaign message that it would only join a coalition that would allow a proper fight against terrorism in the south, enact a law to draft ultra-Orthodox males into the military and introduce pension reform particularly to help elderly immigrants, one of its core constituencies. ISABEL KERSHNER Palestinian leaders call the vote an endorsement of oppression Palestinian leaders said the election results endorsed an indefinite Israeli occupation of the West Bank, human rights abuses there, and growing encroachment on Palestinian lands. In an appeal to voters on the far right, Netanyahu, who has backed Jewish settlements in the West Bank that much of the world considers illegal, vowed on Saturday to go a step further, annexing them and possibly other territory into Israel. Israelis have voted no to peace and yes to apartheid, Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organizations Executive Council, said in a statement Wednesday. Regrettably, Israelis overwhelmingly voted for candidates that are unequivocally committed to entrenching the status quo of oppression, occupation, annexation and dispossession in Palestine and escalating the assault on Palestinian national and human rights. Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian peace negotiator, wrote on Twitter that Israelis have said no to peace and yes to the occupation. Palestinians and independent analysts say Israeli encroachment into the occupied territory has dimmed hopes for creation of Palestinian state alongside Israel. And in Israeli politics, there is little remaining support for a two-state solution. RICHARD PEREZ-PENA When will we get official results? Likud and Blue and White appeared to have won at least 35 seats each in the 120-seat Parliament, and by Wednesday morning, the Central Elections Committee should release close-to-final results based on 99 per cent of the polls. The action will then shift to the official residence of President Reuven Rivlin. He will receive a parade of party representatives over the next few days who will lobby for their choices for the next prime minister. Rivlin will then ask the candidate he thinks has the best chance of forming a government to do so. That candidate will have 42 days to try to forge a coalition with the support of at least 61 seats in the 120-seat Parliament. That is likely to be Netanyahu. The right-wing and religious parties were on track to win a potential majority of at least 65 seats, leaving the center-left bloc with 55. For the first time in Israels history the presidents role may be more than symbolic, and he may have to exercise judgment in choosing who will form the next government, Yohnan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, wrote on Twitter. That prospect has alarmed Netanyahu, whose relationship with Rivlin, a Likud veteran, has long been one of deep, mutual loathing. Legally, Rivlin can give the task of forming the government to whoever he wants, said Abraham Diskin, a professor emeritus of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In most cases, the party with the largest number of seats is given the first crack at forming a government. In 2009, Tzipi Livnis Kadima Party won the most votes but failed to build a viable coalition. Netanyahu, whose Likud party came in second, was tasked with forming the government. DAVID M. HALBFINGER Arab vote headed for historic low Early analysis showed a historically low turnout among Arab citizens of Israel, many of whom boycotted the vote out of disillusionment with Israeli politics and with their own politicians. By nightfall Arab leaders were frantically trying to rally their supporters, mosques were broadcasting appeals from minaret loudspeakers, and a last-minute surge of participation seemed to materialize in some predominantly Arab towns, though that was not captured in exit polls. Among Arab voters, where a boycott movement appeared to be having a strong effect, the haranguing was especially intense. The right is planning to crush the Arab parties, it wants to erase us off the political arena, Mtanes Shehadeh, a spokesman for the struggling Ram-Balad party, wrote in a WhatsApp message to supporters. This is Netanyahus dream. DAVID M. HALBFINGER Read more about: JERUSALEM - The Latest on the outcome of Israeli elections (all times local): 8:10 p.m. Israels Blue and White party leaders are conceding defeat in Israels election, saying they will work against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the opposition. Yair Lapid, the partys No. 2 figure, told a press conference Wednesday that though his party did not win in this round, I respect the voters. He said his party will embitter Netanyahus life from the opposition. The Blue and White party, headed by former army chief of staff Benny Gantz, drew even with Netanyahus Likud party, but the incumbent prime minister is poised to form a government with his larger bloc of religious and nationalist allies. Gantz says his party has founded a true alternative rule to Netanyahu. ___ 6:40 p.m. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says President Donald Trump has called to congratulate him on his election win from Air Force One. Netanyahus office issued a statement Wednesday saying Trump warmly congratulated Netanyahu, who thanked the president for his great support for Israel, including the White Houses recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital and Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Earlier, Trump tweeted a photo of Trump flags being waived at the Bibi @netanyahu VICTORY celebration last night! Nearly all votes have been tallied after Israels parliamentary elections on Tuesday. Netanyahu holds a slim lead over rival Benny Gantz and is likely to be able to form the next government. Netanyahu campaigned on his foreign policy victories and close relations with world leaders Trump in particular. ___ 4:10 p.m. President Donald Trump is congratulating Benjamin Netanyahu as he appears to be headed for a fifth term as prime minister of Israel. Speaking with reporters in Washington on Wednesday, Trump acknowledged that it might be a bit premature to declare Netanyahus victory, but said hes hearing that hes won. Unofficial election results seem to give a solid majority in parliament to Netanyahus right-wing Likud and other nationalist and religious parties. The outcome would affirm Israels continued shift to the right and further dim hopes of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians have severed ties with the Trump administration. Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has been working on a Mideast peace plan. Few if any details have emerged, but Trump says there will be some pretty good action on the plan soon. ___ 3:05 p.m. Israels president says his talks with political parties are to begin next week, in the run-up to picking the leader he thinks has the best chance of forming a stable governing coalition. Reuven Rivlin added Wednesday that, for the first time, his meetings with party leaders would be broadcast on live television in the name of transparency. Although the president acts largely in a ceremonial capacity, he is charged with choosing a candidate for prime minister after hearing recommendations from the heads of all factions. He will then task the leading candidate with forming a government within 42 days. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears poised to be the presidents choice, with close-to-complete unofficial election results giving his right-wing Likud and other nationalist and religious parties a solid majority in parliament. ___ 2:50 p.m. Germany says it will work closely with any new Israeli government and stressed the two countries cordial ties despite recent differences on Israels settlement policies. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Wednesday that Berlin was waiting for the official result of Tuesdays parliamentary elections. The Likud party of right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears set to win the election, setting up his Likud party to forge a governing coalition. Seibert told reporters that Israel lies in a region with enormous challenges, which is why its important to form a government quickly. He declined to comment on Netanyahus possible re-election to a fifth term but said the German government will work closely, cordially and faithfully with the new Israeli government. Foreign Ministry spokesman Rainer Breul said Israel is already fully aware of Germanys concerns about Jewish settlements on occupied territory. ___ 2:30 p.m. Benny Gantz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus chief rival, says nothing is over, we are making our moves, despite election results that appear to hand Netanyahu a clear mandate for a fifth term. Gantz told reporters Wednesday that the broad support for his centrist Blue and White party proves the people want a different way and we are going to deliver it. But the former army chiefs subdued tone differed starkly from his victory speech late Tuesday, when exit polls showed the rivals in a dead heat. With Netanyahus Likud poised to forge a coalition with its ultra-Orthodox and nationalist allies, Gantz advised the public to see what the day brings, without elaborating. Gantz also hailed his partys competitive performance as a historic achievement, saying never before has such a big and significant party been formed ... in such a short time. ___ 1:50 p.m. A senior Hamas leader is dismissing the outcome of Israels election as irrelevant, saying all parties are faces of one coin, the coin of occupation. Khalil al-Hayya said Wednesday that there is no difference between the Israeli parties, and pledged that Gazas militant Hamas rulers would continue seeking to end the occupation and achieve our national goals. He spoke as right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared poised to win a historic fifth term and cobble together a governing coalition of ultra-Orthodox and nationalist allies. The Palestinian issue and prospects for peace negotiations were notably absent from political debate this election. In a last-ditch effort to rile his base, Netanyahu made a weekend vow to annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which would extinguish hope for a Palestinian state. ___ 1 p.m. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is urging Israel to abandon strong rhetoric and populism now that the elections are over. Cavusoglus comments were in an apparent reference to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus recent pledge to annex Jewish settlements in the West Bank if he wins the election. The minister told Turkeys NTV news channel on Wednesday that Israel must put aside the populism and the rhetoric, it must abandon its aggressive stance. Cavusoglu also called on the United States to be an honest broker in the Mideast dispute, saying a U.S. peace plan for the region must be fair and objective toward Palestinians. ___ 9:50 a.m. An aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says the outcome of Israels election raises Palestinian fears about an Israeli annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank. Close-to-complete unofficial results indicated on Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is headed to a fifth term, with the expected support of nationalist and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties. In the final stretch of the campaign, Netanyahu pledged he would annex Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move that would destroy remaining hopes for Palestinian statehood. Abbas aide Ahmed Majdalani says that Palestinians will seek the help of the international community to try to block any annexation plans. He said that the outcome of the election means a boost for what he called the extreme right-wing camp in Israeli politics. ___ 8:20 a.m. Benjamin Netanyahu appears headed toward a historic fifth term as Israels prime minister, with close-to-complete unofficial election results giving his right-wing Likud and other nationalist and religious parties a solid majority in parliament. The outcome affirmed Israels continued tilt to the right and further dimmed hopes of a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Re-election will give Netanyahu an important boost as he braces for the likelihood of criminal charges in a series of corruption scandals. With 97.4% of the vote counted Wednesday, Likud and its natural political allies commanded a 65-55 majority in parliament. However, the country now faces what could be weeks of political negotiations over the composition of a ruling coalition. Netanyahu had fought a tight race against centrist ex-army chief Benny Gantz. LOS ANGELES - Authorities have identified an American suspect in the killing of a Thai national whose battered body was found bound, gagged and wrapped in plastic on the side of a road in a high-profile case in Australia, according to a federal search warrant obtained Tuesday. Australian authorities issued an arrest warrant for Alex Dion in the killing of 33-year-old Wachira Mario Phetmang, whose body was found on the side of a freeway in the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park in June. The arrest warrant for Dion was issued in September while he already was in custody on a domestic violence charge in San Diego, according to the federal search warrant filed by the FBI on Friday. The warrant, which marks the first time a suspect has been publicly named in Phetmangs killing, was first obtained by Seamus Hughes, a terrorism researcher at George Washington University who mines federal court databases. Dion, 38, was set to be extradited from San Diego to Australia this coming Friday, according to the warrant. Its unclear whether he has an attorney. Phetmang, a Thai national who lived in Australia for a decade, was last seen alive on May 25 at a gas station in the Sydney suburb of South Hurstville. An autopsy found that he suffered more than 20 wounds to his head and had multiple skull fractures. The day he died, Phetmang told his partner he was going to pick up methamphetamine and later met Dion at the gas station, according to surveillance footage, the search warrant said. Phetmang and Dion left the gas station together in Dions car, according to the surveillance footage, and that was the last anyone saw of Phetmang. Dion flew back to the U.S. two days after Phetmangs death but before the body was found on June 6, according to the search warrant. A boot police believe belonged to Dion was found with Phetmangs body, and the matching boot was later found in Dions apartment, the search warrant said. Police also believe Dion used a high-pressure washer to scrub the inside of his car, and dumped both his and Phetmangs clothing, two tire irons and a metal bar inside a water-retention tank where he used to work. When Australian police held a news conference seeking the publics help in the case, Dion called them and tried to blame an associate for Phetmangs killing, while also acknowledging that he had Phetmangs credit cards and cellphones with him in San Diego, according to the search warrant. Dion told police that he had met Phetmang at the gas station to buy meth but that he left when their associate showed up, a story police say is contradicted by surveillance footage. The New South Wales Police Force in Australia said in a news release that detectives travelled to San Diego this week to co-ordinate the extradition and that no further information was available. SALEM, Ore. - A Republican state senator from Oregon said on Tuesday that the designation of slaves as three-fifths of a person was not racist, drawing condemnation from at least two black lawmakers. Sen. Dennis Linthicum, from Klamath Falls in southern Oregon, said during floor debate that the intent of the Three-Fifths Compromise, which classified a slave as three-fifths of a person in the U.S. Constitution, was a way to prevent slave states from gaining too much power in Congress. The three-fifths vote was actually to eliminate the overwhelming influence the slave states would have in representative government, he said, adding that the move wasnt because the founders thought three-fifths was an appropriate measure of a man. Linthicum referred to the compromise while speaking against a measure to add Oregon to the National Vote Interstate Compact, an agreement between states to pledge all electoral votes to the candidate who wins the national popular vote. Its a way to bypass the Electoral College, which opponents say is a form of voter disenfranchisement that has its roots in the countrys founding. The 1789 constitutional Convention determined that slaves would be considered three-fifths of a person when apportioning taxes and states representatives in Congress. Historians largely agree that the compromise gave slave holding states inordinate power over choosing the president and in the Continental Congress. That political stronghold, however, eventually faded when population in northern states began to rapidly increase. At least two black senators personally confronted Linthicum following the hearing. Democrat Sen. James Manning, of Eugene, told reporters that Linthicum provided an offensive mischaracterization of events, and that his comments were an example of people trying to rewrite history. It diminishes how we are going to move forward, he said. If you dont recognize and accept the events of the past then we cant move forward because then we live in a fantasy world. Linthicum called slavery a stain on our nation, and added that his conversations with Manning and with Sen. Lew Frederick, a Democrat from Portland, helped him see the racist legacy that the Three-Fifths Compromise left behind. But he still maintains that doesnt negate that the intent of the move was to strip power from slave states. Sen. Sara Gelser, a Democrat from Corvallis who has previously spoken out against a perceived hostile culture in the capitol, publicly criticized Linthicum on the floor. Lets not compromise the humanity of our people, she said. This is not an appropriate compromise. It was never an appropriate compromise. -- Follow Sarah Zimmerman on Twitter at @sarahzimm95 WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday questioned Attorney General William Barrs independence from President Donald Trump, arguing Barrs pursuit of Trumps claims about spying during the 2016 campaign undermines his position as the nations top law enforcement officer. In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, the California Democrat said she was very concerned about Barrs handling of special counsel Robert Muellers report on Russian meddling in the campaign and accused Barr of doing Trumps political bidding in his testimony at a Senate hearing. He is not the attorney general of Donald Trump. He is the attorney general of the United States, Pelosi told AP. I dont trust Barr, I trust Mueller. Pressure is mounting on the attorney general in the days before his release of a version of Muellers nearly 400-page report, and Pelosi amplified the demands from Capitol Hill to see the full document. Barr said Wednesday he expects to release a redacted version within a week. Pelosi said its only a matter of time before the full report is made public. We will see it, she said. During Pelosis 30-minute interview in her Capitol Hill office, she took stock of the Democrats first 100 days as the House majority in the new Congress. And despite harsh words for Trump and his advisers, she still spoke hopefully of working with him on key issues including lowering prescription drug prices where the two share common goals. At the same time, Pelosi vowed to keep up relentless Democratic oversight of the administration. And she did not fully close the door on impeachment proceedings, despite having recently dismissed efforts by liberal colleagues by saying Trumps not worth it. My view is that impeachment is very divisive in the country, and when we see what we need to see it may be imperative that he be impeached. But up until then, hes not worth it, Pelosi said. Much will hinge on Muellers findings, putting the attorney generals credibility increasingly on the line. Barr testified Wednesday before a Senate panel that he believes spying did occur on Trumps 2016 presidential campaign, aligning himself more closely with the presidents views on the origins of the Russia investigation. Trump and other critics of the Russia probe claim that the precursor to Muellers investigation was launched during the Obama administration by officials abusing their surveillance power. Mueller was appointed special counsel by Trumps Justice Department. Barr didnt present evidence to support the assertion and later in his testimony appeared to backtrack, saying he wasnt certain that any wrongdoing occurred and was only interested in ensuring proper procedures were followed. Pelosi said Barrs comments undermine the Constitution and his role in the Justice Department. Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec declined to comment. As House Democrats pursue oversight of the Trump administration beyond the Mueller probe, Trump has complained that Democrats will never be satisfied. He and his allies call it presidential harassment. Asked what would satisfy Democrats, Pelosi said: Ill be satisfied when we have a new president of the United States who is a Democrat. As for the Mueller report, Barrs four-page summary of its main conclusions said the president was not exonerated by the special counsel. Mueller left open the question of whether Trump obstructed justice during the two-year probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Barr and his team at the Justice Department made their own decision to clear the president of criminal wrongdoing. Pelosi said anew on Wednesday, Let us see the report. The fact is the president has engaged in activities that are unethical, un-American. ... In every way he is unfit to be the president of the United States, she said. Is that an impeachable offence? Well it depends on what we see in the report. I set a very high bar for impeachment because I think its very divisive in the country and one of our purposes is to unify, as our founders gave us guidance, e pluribus unum, from many one. Republicans say Pelosi is under great pressure from her liberal flank, including young colleagues such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but the speaker who has represented San Francisco for 30 years scoffed. I am from the left, she said. Im a progressive Democrat from San Francisco ... and Im proud of who I am. As the new Congress rounds out its 100-days milestone, the speaker said Democrats are doing far more than conducting oversight of the White House, even though she said thats their constitutional responsibility as an equal branch of government. Though female candidates and voters helped usher Democrats to the majority, Pelosi said shes not insisting on having a woman -- or two women -- on the partys 2020 presidential ticket. Would I like to see one? Yes, she said. But it doesnt mean that if there isnt one ... that its not a ticket that we should all get behind. She said she prefers to keep the House focused on pocketbook issues for everyday Americans -- lowering health care costs and investing in infrastructure and new ethics rules, not on Trump. We are not just focusing on him, she said. Were focused on what we said we would do. ___ Follow Lisa Mascaro on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lisamascaro NEW YORK - President Donald Trumps former spokeswoman Hope Hicks and former bodyguard Keith Schiller were interviewed by federal prosecutors last spring during their investigation of payments made to two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump. A person familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press the interviews were done as part of the probe of Trumps former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty last summer to co-ordinating payments to Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels in the weeks before the presidential election. The person, who was not authorized to discuss the probe and spoke on condition of anonymity, wouldnt say what was learned from the interviews but described it as routine questioning that did not have a large impact on the case at the time or going forward. Neither Hicks nor Schiller were mentioned in court filings in which prosecutors laid out their case against Cohen, and neither has been accused of any wrongdoing. Prosecutors said Cohen, acting at Trumps direction, had been involved in helping the parent company of the National Enquirer, American Media Inc., buy McDougals story for $150,000 and ensure it was never published. Cohen himself paid $130,000 to Daniels to buy her silence. Prosecutors said those payments amounted to illegal campaign contributions. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that federal investigators spoke with Schiller because they learned he had made calls to American Medias chief executive, David Pecker. The newspaper said investigators also asked Hicks, the former White House communications director, about her interactions with Pecker. Hicks, now at Fox, referred questions to her lawyer, Robert Trout, who declined to comment. Messages seeking comment were left for Schiller, who had the title of director of Oval Office operations, and a lawyer who has represented him. Pecker ultimately co-operated with the investigation. Prosecutors later revealed that by September, in exchange for that co-operation, the U.S. attorneys office in Manhattan had agreed not to prosecute American Media. Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg also co-operated with the investigation, doing so under a limited immunity agreement that prevents prosecutors from using any truthful statements against him in court. Cohen, who is set to report to prison May 6, has complained publicly about being the only person to face charges over the payments to McDougal and Daniels. He has testified before Congress that Trump had knowledge of both payments and signed off on checks intended to reimburse him. Trump has said the payments were a private matter unrelated to the campaign. As he was leaving the White House on Wednesday for a trip to Texas, Trump was asked whether he was aware of reports that investigators had spoken to Schiller and Hicks. I have no idea, he said. WASHINGTON - Attorney General William Barr declared Wednesday he thinks spying did occur against Donald Trumps presidential campaign, suggesting the origins of the Russia investigation may have been mishandled in remarks that aligned him with the president at a time when Barrs independence is under scrutiny. Barr, appearing before a Senate panel, did not say what spying may have taken place but seemed to be alluding to a surveillance warrant the FBI obtained on a former Trump associate. He later said he wasnt sure there had been improper surveillance but wanted to make sure proper procedures were followed. Still, his remarks give a boost to Trump and his supporters who insist his 2016 campaign was unfairly targeted by the FBI. Barr was testifying for a second day at congressional budget hearings that were dominated by questions about special counsel Robert Muellers Trump-Russia investigation. His statements further inflamed Democrats already frustrated by Barrs handling of the Mueller report, including his release of a four-page summary letter last month that they say paints the special counsels findings in an overly favourable way for the president. The attorney general said he expects to release a redacted version of Muellers report on Russian interference in the campaign next week. In an interview with The Associated Press , House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she didnt trust Barr and suggested his statements undermined his credibility as Americas chief law enforcement officer. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York tweeted that Barrs comments directly contradict what the Justice Department previously has said. And intelligence committee Chairman Adam Schiff of California said Barrs comments were sure to please Trump, but strike another destructive blow to our democratic institutions. Republicans, meanwhile, praised Barrs testimony. North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, a Trump confidant who has raised concerns about Justice Department conduct, tweeted that Barrs willingness to step in is massive. The attorney general said he would investigate the origins and conduct of the early days of the Russia investigation, a probe separate from an existing inspector general inquiry. At the Capitol hearing, senators appeared taken aback by his use of the word spying. Asked by Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz if he wanted to rephrase his language, Barr suggested he intended no nefarious connotations but simply wanted to make sure there was no unauthorized surveillance. Is that more appropriate in your mind? he asked Schatz. Barr is an experienced public figure who chooses his words carefully, and its not clear if he realized what a political storm hed create in using the word spying. While it could be used to describe lawful and necessary intelligence collection activities, for Trump and his supporters the word has an inherently negative meaning, and Barrs use of it tapped into a White House narrative of law enforcement misconduct. White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said on Fox Business Network that people were wiretapped. People were looked into and spied upon. That should be a serious question that the American people should demand answers for and quite frankly so should Congress. Trump himself, who has repeatedly called the investigation of his campaign a witch hunt, said on Wednesday, It was started illegally. Everything about it was crooked. Every single thing about it. There were dirty cops. Though Barr said at his January confirmation hearing that he didnt believe Mueller would be involved in a witch hunt, he struck a different tone Wednesday and said it depends on where youre sitting. If you are somebody whos being falsely accused of something, you would tend to view the investigation as a witch hunt, he said. The spying discussion started when Barr was asked by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, about his plans to review his departments actions in investigating Trump. Barr explained that he considered spying on a political campaign to be a big deal, invoking the surveillance of anti-war protesters during the Vietnam War. Asked by Shaheen if he was suggesting spying had occurred, Barr replied spying did occur. Yes, I think spying did occur. The question is whether it was predicated, adequately predicated, meaning whether it was legally justified. Barr later said that although he did not have specific evidence of wrongdoing, I do have questions about it. I feel I have an obligation to make sure that government power was not abused, he said. Asked again about spying at the end of the hearing, Barr tempered his tone. I am not saying improper surveillance occurred. I am saying I am concerned about it, and I am looking into it, he said. Barr may have been referring to a surveillance warrant the FBI obtained in the fall of 2016 to monitor the communications of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing. The warrant was obtained after Page had left the campaign and was renewed several times. Critics of the Russia investigation have seized on the fact that the warrant application cited Democratic-funded opposition research, done by a former British spy, into the Trump campaigns ties to Russia. Barrs statement that he expected to release a redacted version of Muellers nearly 400-page report next week marked a slight change from the estimate he gave Tuesday, when he said the release would be within a week. Though he said the document will be redacted to withhold negative information about peripheral figures in the investigation, he said that would not apply to Trump, an officeholder and someone central to the probe. Meanwhile, Trump falsely claimed again Wednesday that the Mueller report had found no obstruction. While Barrs letter said the special counsel did not find a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump associates during the 2016 election, it also said Mueller had presented evidence on both sides of the obstruction question and ultimately did not reach a conclusion on it. Barr said he did not believe Muellers evidence was sufficient to prove that Trump had obstructed justice. ___ Associated Press writers Jonathan Lemire and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report. ___ This story has been corrected to show that Barr said he wanted to make sure there was no unauthorized surveillance, not no authorized surveillance. MINNEAPOLIS - A woman who was shot by a Minneapolis police officer responding to her 911 call about a possible sexual assault near her home lost so much blood from her single wound that she might not have been saved even if she had gotten quicker medical help, a medical examiner testified Wednesday. Justine Ruszczyk Damond was hit in the iliac artery, a key artery in the abdomen, by the single shot from Mohamed Noor, now on trial on murder and manslaughter charges in the July 2017 death of the dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia. Hennepin County assistant medical examiner Lorren Jackson said 1.6 litres of blood were found in Damonds abdominal cavity. Noor and his partner tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate Damond right after the shooting. With that kind of blood loss, even very quick help might not be enough, Jackson testified. Noor shot Damond in an alley behind her home in July 2017 when Damond unarmed, barefoot and wearing pyjamas approached the police SUV where he and his partner were seated. Noors attorneys say he was protecting his partner and himself from what he perceived to be a possible ambush. Attorneys for Noor, who was fired after being charged and has never talked to investigators about what happened, argued during opening statements Monday that he used reasonable force to defend himself and his partner from a perceived threat. Noors partner that night, Matthew Harrity, told investigators he heard a thump right before the shooting that startled him. But prosecutors say there is no evidence he faced a threat that justified deadly force. Tuesdays testimony included the display of the pyjamas Damond was wearing. Prosecutor Patrick Lofton displayed her pink T-shirt stained with blood and cut by emergency workers rendering aid. Prosecutors plans to introduce body camera video showing the aftermath of the shooting were stalled when Plunkett moved to exclude the footage, arguing it would be prejudicial to his client. The footage doesnt capture the shooting itself because officers turned them on only afterward. It shows the officers attempts to save Damond. Judge Kathryn Quaintance agreed to hold off on the footage until she has time to review case law. Damond, 40, was a life coach who was engaged to be married the month after her death. Noor, 33, is a Somali American whose arrival on the force just a couple of years earlier had been trumpeted by city leaders working to diversify the police force. Noors attorneys have not said whether he will testify. ___ Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/amyforliti ___ Check out the APs complete coverage of Mohamed Noors trial. Boston Childrens Hospital has sued a Saudi prince for $3.5 million it says it is owed for the care of a child he agreed to pay for. The lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Boston says Prince Abdelilah bin Abdelaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Faisal Al Saud offered to pay for care after learning about the child in Saudi media reports. The hospital says he made an initial payment of $750,000 but then stopped. The 2-year-old child has type 1 spinal muscular atrophy, a disease affecting muscle strength and movement. The medicine used to treat the condition is not available in Saudi Arabia. The child has been treated at Childrens since November 2017 and is still there. No attorney for the prince was listed in court records. MINNEAPOLIS - A timeline of key moments in the July 15, 2017, fatal shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, an unarmed woman who had called 911 to report a possible crime, and the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Mohamed Noor: July 15, 2017 Damond calls 911 to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home. Officers Matthew Harrity and Mohamed Noor respond and, finding nothing, they prepare to leave when Harrity is startled by a loud noise near the squad car. Noor, in the passenger seat, shoots past Harrity, striking Damond through the drivers side window. July 16 Hundreds gather in Damonds southwest Minneapolis neighbourhood to mourn. Mayor Betsy Hodges says she is heartsick and deeply disturbed by the shooting. State investigators say officers had not turned on their body cameras and that squad car video didnt capture the shooting. July 17 An autopsy shows that Damond, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia, died of a gunshot to the abdomen. The officer who shot her is identified as Mohamed Noor, a Somali American with less than two years of experience who became an officer after working in property management. July 18 State investigators say Noor declined to be interviewed. July 20 Police Chief Janee Harteau makes her first remarks on the shooting, saying it should not have happened but defending Noors training. She says the city is reviewing its policy on body cameras and wants them to be used more often. July 21 Harteau resigns at Hodges request after the mayor says she no longer has confidence in the chief. Hodges names Assistant Chief Medaria Arradondo to take over. At a news conference to discuss the change, Hodges is shouted down by protesters who say she should resign, too. July 26 Arradondo announces changes to the Minneapolis Police Departments body camera policy that will require officers to turn them on when responding to all calls and whenever they initiate traffic stops or take other actions. Sept. 12 The state Bureau of Criminal Investigation hands its findings to Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freemans office. Nov. 18 City Councilman Jacob Frey defeats Hodges in an election that was influenced in part by police-community relations. Dec. 13 Freeman is captured on video saying he doesnt have enough evidence to charge Noor, blaming investigators who havent done their job. Dec. 28 Freeman says hell miss a self-imposed deadline for deciding on charges by the years end because he needs more time. He soon convenes a grand jury and subpoenas other officers to compel them to tell what they know, but says he still intends to make his own decision on charges. March 20, 2018 Noor is charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter and is fired. A count of second-degree intentional murder is added later. July 23 The Damond family files a $50 million lawsuit against Noor and the city. That case is later put on hold while the criminal case proceeds. March 1, 2019 Noor pleads not guilty. April 8 Jury of 12 men, four women seated on sixth day of jury selection. Twelve will decide the case while four will be alternates. April 9 Opening statements heard. Defence attorney Peter Wold says Noor was reacting to a loud noise and feared an ambush when he fatally shot Damond. Wold says the ex-officer used reasonable force to protect himself and his partner. A prosecutor questioned a key part of one officers account. April 25 Noor takes the stand , making his first public statements since Damonds death. Noor says he saw fear in his partners eyes, then saw a woman in a pink shirt with blond hair appear at the partners window and raise her right arm before he fired his gun to stop the threat. April 29 Closing arguments delivered. Defence attorney Thomas Plunkett argues that Noor fatally shot Damond because he was caught up in a perfect storm of events but acted as he was trained. Prosecutors counter that Noor was responsible for a tragic event of his own making and they urged jurors to find Noor guilty on all counts. The jurors deciding Noors fate 10 men and two women get the case after three weeks of testimony. They are sequestered until reaching a verdict. They deliberate about five hours. April 30 Jurors deliberat e six hours on their second day with the case. They convict Noor of third-degree murder and manslaughter, and acquit him on the more serious charge of second-degree intentional murder. ___ Check out the APs complete coverage of Mohamed Noors trial. LINCOLN, Neb. - A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against Nebraska prison officials by an inmate who was held in solitary confinement for more than two years. U.S. District Court records show Dylan Landers asked in his October 2017 lawsuit that the officials be ordered to put him back in the general prison population. He alleged his segregated confinement was ordered without due process and that it amounted to cruel and particularly unusual punishment in violation of his constitutional rights. Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf disagreed. Kopf said in his ruling issued Monday that to establish such violations by officials, a prisoner must show that the alleged deprivation is objectively, sufficiently serious, resulting in the denial of the minimal civilized measure of lifes necessities, and that prison officials were deliberately indifferent to an excessive risk to inmate health or safety. Here, plaintiff has failed to provide any evidence even approaching this exacting standard, Kopf wrote. Landers has been serving time for theft, burglary and other crimes. The Lincoln Journal Star reported that he was placed in solitary confinement at the Tecumseh prison in May 2015, while being investigated for involvement in that years Mothers Day riot. He remained in solitary confinement until February 2017, when he was transferred to the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln. A month later he was again put in solitary confinement pending an investigation of a serious act of violent behaviour during the 2015 rioting, according to his lawsuit. State court records dont show that he has been charged with any crime connected to the 2015 rioting, in which two inmates were slain by other inmates. State prisons spokeswoman Laura Strimple said Landers current confinement status is confidential information she cant provide. The federal court records show that Landers acted as his own attorney. New York Citys effort to halt a measles outbreak by ordering mandatory vaccinations in one Brooklyn neighbourhood is facing opposition, with lawyers for parents opposed to vaccinations promising to file a lawsuit challenging the order by Friday. But city health officials say they have they have struck the right balance with the unusual order, and they hope a mixture of outreach and prodding will overcome resistance to vaccines in a slice of the predominantly Orthodox Jewish community hardest hit by the disease. The measles vaccine is highly effective, Dr. Herminia Palacio, the citys deputy mayor for health and human services, said Wednesday. Measles is highly contagious. That combination means this is the right time for this measure. Palacio spoke a day after she joined Mayor Bill de Blasio and other officials in announcing the vaccine order affecting four ZIP codes in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn and threatening possible fines of up to $1,000 for noncompliance. Civil rights attorney Michael Sussman called the order an overreach of authority and said a lawsuit challenging it will be filed this week. Sussman also represented a group of parents in suburban Rockland County who challenged the county executives order barring unvaccinated children from indoor public spaces. A state judge sided with the parents and issued a preliminary injunction against the emergency order last week. New York City and Rockland County are both struggling to contain a measles outbreak that has mainly affected Orthodox Jewish families. Some 285 measles cases have been identified in New York City since last fall, compared with two in all of 2017. There have been 168 cases reported in Rockland since the fall. De Blasio said Tuesday that he was confident New York Citys vaccination order would survive any legal challenge. This is a public health emergency, the Democratic mayor said. And the reason the city government is empowered in a public health emergency is to save lives. Authorities will carry out the order by interviewing Williamsburg residents who have been diagnosed with measles and then interviewing everyone who those people have come in contact with. These are skills that we practice every day, Palacio said. Its not just that they know what questions to ask. They actually do know how to work with people. They have experience gaining peoples trust. The health officials will try to persuade any unvaccinated person who has been exposed to measles to get the vaccine. People who refuse the vaccine or who refuse to get their children vaccinated could be fined, though de Blasio said he hoped to avoid levying any fines. Our goal is not to fine anyone, de Blasio said. Our goal is to get people vaccinated. But were also trying to help everyone understand there is urgency here. The city believes an estimated 1,800 children in Williamsburg were not immunized as of December. Health officials have made robocalls urging vaccination to more than 30,000 Williamsburg households and have stocked health care providers in the community with an ample supply of vaccine, Palacio said. Officials said their efforts have paid off with 8,000 additional vaccinations in affected neighbourhoods compared with the prior year. But they said they were taking additional steps to control the outbreak in advance of Passover, when some families may travel overseas to areas in Israel or Europe that are experiencing measles outbreaks. Doctors who practice in Brooklyns Orthodox Jewish communities say only a small number of people refuse inoculations outright because they believe erroneously that vaccines are harmful or that they violate Jewish law, but factors including large families may have helped the outbreak spread. There is an element of anti-vaccine supporters and sympathizers who do not want to get shots. Its a very small minority, said Dr. Jay Begun, a pediatrician in Williamsburg. But Begun said a larger number may delay the first measles-mumps-rubella vaccine until 2 years of age instead of the recommended 1 year, vastly increasing the number of unvaccinated children who can be infected. Once you delay it a few months, you exponentially increase the vector for infection, said Begun, who said families of eight to 10 children are typical in his practice. You have a larger pool of babies. The delay it is whats fueling this outbreak. Begun said he believes the citys vaccination order will be effective. I think it will help in getting the community covered, he said. Meanwhile on Wednesday, officials in Westchester County just north of New York City announced that measles has been confirmed in eight children who were apparently exposed to the highly contagious virus while visiting Rockland County or Brooklyn. Six of the children are siblings. WASHINGTONIn President Donald Trumps latest blow-up over immigration, senior adviser Stephen Miller hovered omnipresent in the background goading him in his threats to close the border, warning him of the dangers of looking weak and encouraging the presidents sudden purge of his Homeland Security team. Another top adviser who has Trumps ear on immigration, son-in-law Jared Kushner, maintained a lower profile during the uproar. Shortly before joining Trump on a trip to the southern border where the president railed that the country is full Kushner met privately with the Mexican ambassador to discuss a more collaborative approach. The contrast highlights the good cop-bad cop roles on immigration that Kushner, 38, and Miller, 33, now inhabit in Trumps West Wing, with the latter ascendant as he pushes a frustrated president to champion draconian border policies and rhetoric. The two political survivors from Trumps 2016 campaign have emerged as all but untouchable because of their close relationship and, in Kushners case, familial ties with the president. But if Miller represents Trumps id reaffirming his hard-line immigration impulses Kushner attempts to channel the presidents desire to be seen as a consummate dealmaker. The differences put the two advisers on a potential collision course adding to the swirl of confusion over how Trump intends to cope with a surge of migrants at the border, according to interviews with 21 White House aides, administration officials, lawmakers, Republican operatives and Trump confidants, many of whom requested anonymity to reveal private discussions. So far, though, White House officials say the two have maintained a friendly working relationship, focused on divergent but complementary imperatives. Read more: Nielsen exit comes amid larger shake-up at Homeland Security White House official cites problems in security clearances Trump considering naming an immigration czar Following Trumps border trip, for example, both flew back to Washington on Air Force One, landing Saturday shortly after 8 p.m. About an hour later, they were together again at the Kalorama home of Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, for a private dinner with a handful of other West Wing aides and their partners a previously-planned gathering that one White House official described as illustrating the rapport between the two men. Any suggestion that Jared Kushner and Stephen Miller have anything but a cordial and professional relationship would be misplaced, said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N. C., a strong ally of President Donald Trump. Over and over, Ive seen them work together on policy issues and deep deliberations that have the potential for being contentious, but there is mutual respect. Yet the emerging fault lines between the two are evident as the cracks have widened under Trumps border policies. Kushner a self-styled pragmatist has pushed for a broader immigration deal, viewing Congress and a bipartisan agreement as necessary to finding a solution amid divided government. Miller a fiery ideologue has repeatedly advocated cutting legal immigration, rethinking the countrys asylum policies and implementing harsh measures to the secure the southern border. He views executive power and assertiveness as Trumps best tools, including the moves in recent days to purge Kirstjen Nielsen, head of the Department of Homeland Security, and other top DHS officials. During this years government shutdown, Trump specifically asked Kushner to take on a portion of the administrations immigration portfolio, in part because of relationships he developed with some Mexican leaders during NAFTA renegotiation talks. More recently, Trump told Miller during an Oval Office meeting that he was in charge of overseeing all immigration and border issues, according to officials familiar with the meeting. It remains unclear whose immigration philosophy will ultimately be embraced by Trump, who faces a looming reelection bid and complaints from his political base and conservative media personalities that his administration is not doing enough to solve the central dilemma of his presidency. One White House official said Kushner understands more than Miller the sort of deal that could pass muster with Congress and public opinion. But, this person added, Kushner may not find much enthusiasm for such a plan from Trump or Miller. Some critics of the administrations immigration policies fault both of the advisers, painting a portrait of a villain (Miller) and a naif (Kushner). If the White House were a Star Wars set, Miller would play the role of Darth Vader, said Kevin Appleby, a longtime immigrant advocate. His main goal is to keep Trump on the immigration dark side. But, Appleby added, for Kushner to think he can come in and negotiate an immigration deal which Congress has failed to do for 20 years without Millers support is politically naive, at best. He would not get out of the starting gate. Miller has told White House aides that many in the government are opposed to Trumps immigration agenda, that few can be trusted and that DHS needed major changes at the top, officials said. He also has begun assessing officials at specific agencies to decide if he thinks they are loyal to the president, these officials added. On a policy level, Miller is pushing for new asylum rules that would give fewer people the chance to come into the country by citing credible fear; seeking to cut down the number of countries from which migrants can seek asylum; and pressing for ways to speed up deportations. While Millers broad purview is as a speech writer and senior adviser, aides say he focuses almost exclusively on immigration. Millers relationship with Kushner improved after the departure in 2017 of Trumps former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, who clashed with Miller despite their shared hard-line immigration views. Officials said Miller made clear to Kushner that unlike Bannon he was not interesting in trying to undermine the presidents son-in-law, who is firmly entrenched in the White House. Kushner, for his part, has defended Miller in private conversations, saying he may have strong ideas but is misunderstood and unfairly caricatured, several people familiar with Kushners comments said. Kushner is aiming for a broader immigration deal, and is currently focused on border security and a merit-based legal immigration system, one White House official said. Many who refuse to work with Miller Mexican officials and congressional Democrats, for instance view Kushner as a more reasonable conduit to the administration. In recent months, Kushner has been meeting with senators to pitch a possible plan on legal immigration, border security and interior enforcement, a senior White House official said. Kushner has also held roughly 50 listening sessions, largely with conservative groups, to better understand what sort of immigration deal they could support, another White House official said. But Miller has at times been an impediment to Kushners ambitions. While Kushner has encouraged the president to make bigger deals with Democrats, Miller has worked with conservative House Freedom Caucus members to scuttle such compromises, in part by working around legislative affairs staffers, White House and legislative aides said. Former and current senior Republican aides who interacted with Miller said he would often contradict what they had heard from DHS officials, particularly on visas and asylum rules. The aides said they never hear from Miller on any issue other than immigration, while Kushner has met with them about trade, criminal justice issues and health care. Kushner, who worked with Democrats like Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin on bipartisan criminal justice legislation, believes he can do the same on immigration. Miller, by contrast, has frustrated Democrats with his abrasive positions and rhetoric. Last year, for instance, Miller began chatting with Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., in the West Wing lobby and told the two centrists that if they worked to limit immigrants, the black unemployment rate would go down in their state, according to one person familiar with his comments. Both senators found the comments jarring and off-putting, this person said. During the 35-day government shutdown, Kushner worked to strike a compromise to reopen the government, at one point floating an option that would have included permanent protection for illegal immigrants brought to the country as children colloquially known as Dreamers in exchange for $25 billion in border funding. Domingo Garcia, the president of LULAC, a Latino advocacy organization, met with Kushner at the time and said he seemed sincere. But Kushners attempts to negotiate an end to the shutdown ended in failure, and some Trump aides said he tends to ignore that experience and talk only about his success on the criminal justice law. Mark Krikorian, an immigration restrictionist and executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, said Kushner felt he was able to pull off prison reform by bring left and right together. He hoped he could replicate that. For now, Trump has sided firmly with Miller focused on pursing what he views as a tough immigration approach that will both solve the border crisis and excite the core supporters he needs to carry him to victory in 2020. Trump allies, however, say they believe Kushner has the ability to persuade the president to give real consideration to a bipartisan immigration deal if one emerges, rather than be outmanoeuvred by Miller and other hard-liners. Look, Kushner is the son-in-law, Krikorian said. If push comes to shove, Id bet on Jared. But it may never get to that. Read more about: KANSAS CITY, Kan. - More than 75 years after Nicholas J. Gojmerac was last seen alive dragging a wounded comrade to safety during a World War II battle, his remains are back home in Kansas. A Marine Corps honour guard was on the tarmac of Kansas City International Airport Tuesday as Gojmeracs remains were returned to his family, the Kansas City Star reported . His remains are now at Leavenworth National Cemetery. Gojmerac was in the Marine Corps Reserve when he was wounded during a battle on the Solomon Islands in 1943. The 29-year-old from Kansas City, Kansas, became one the multitude of U.S. service members listed as missing in action during World War II. He was officially declared dead on July 21, 1944. It wasnt until last September that relatives learned Gojmeracs remains had been identified through dental and anthropological analysis. We just never knew what happened to him, said Therese Moeller, a niece, who lives in Overland Park, Kansas. When he went missing, it affected the whole family because they all lived in the house or close to the house where he grew up, Moeller said. Im sure there was much grief there on Strawberry Hill and because everybody who settled there was from Croatia, they were very close. Gojmerac was a member of Company Q, 4th Raider Battalion, 1st Marine Raider Regiment. According to his service record, Gojmerac and his unit went into battle with a Japanese stronghold on July 20, 1943. Upon hearing a wounded comrade in the front lines cry out for help, PFC Gojmerac crawled out to him through extremely heavy rifle fire, machine-gun and mortar fire, administered first aid and dragged him to safety, his record states. While assisting his wounded comrade, Gojmerac himself was seriously wounded. Following this engagement with the enemy, it was discovered Gojmerac was missing. According to his obituary, his remains have been interred since 1949 at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii. ___ Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com SALT LAKE CITY - The president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will make another global trip next month to Australia, New Zealand and several other countries. The Utah-based faith announced Wednesday that Russell M. Nelson will travel with his wife and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles member Gerrit Gong and his wife on the nine-day trip. They will leave Salt Lake City on May 16 and make a first stop in Hawaii. Nelson is scheduled to visit church members in Samoa, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga and Tahiti. Nelson has already visited 15 foreign countries since taking over the religions top spot in January 2018. Nelson has made several big changes so far, including repealing rules directed at same-sex couples and their children. ROCKVILLE, Md. - A wealthy stock trader sacrificed safety for secrecy before a fire killed a man who was helping him dig a network of tunnels for a nuclear bunker beneath his Maryland home, a prosecutor said Wednesday at the start of the millionaires murder trial. But a defence attorney for 27-year-old Daniel Beckwitt told jurors the deadly fire that killed his clients friend was an accident, not a crime. Secrecy does not equate to lack of safety, Beckwitts lawyer, Robert Bonsib, said during the trials opening statements. Beckwitt is charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the September 2017 death of 21-year-old Askia Khafra. The two men met online, and Beckwitt had invested money in a company Khafra was trying to launch as he helped Beckwitt dig the tunnels. Firefighters found Khafras charred, naked body in the basement when they entered the home in Bethesda, a suburb of Washington, D.C. A hole in the basement floor led them to the tunnels where Khafra worked for days at a time. Montgomery County prosecutor Marybeth Ayres said Beckwitt created a death trap in his familys home, with mounds of trash blocking Khafras escape. The hoarding conditions in the house were so extreme that trash and clutter mostly covered the floors and nearly reached the ceiling in spots, Ayres said. You had to hike over this garbage to get out, she told jurors. Bonsib said Khafra was a willing participant in the project. He showed jurors a selfie photograph that Khafra posted on social media, showing him in the tunnels. He was proud of what he was doing, and he was promoting it to his friends, Bonsib said. Prosecutors have described Beckwitt as a skilled computer hacker who had a paranoid fixation on a possible nuclear attack by North Korea. In 2016, Beckwitt spoke at a hacker convention using the alias 3AlarmLampscooter and wearing a fire-resistant suit and visor that obscured his face. Another prosecutor, Doug Wink, has said Beckwitt was teaching his audience how to make thermite bombs to destroy computer data in order to get away with hacking. Beckwitt had been digging the tunnels for years and took extraordinary measures to keep his project a secret. He tried to trick Khafra into thinking they were digging the tunnels in Virginia instead of Maryland by having him don blackout glasses before taking him on a long drive. Beckwitt also used internet spoofing to make it appear they were digging in Virginia. A hole in the concrete basement floor led to a shaft that dropped down 20 feet (6 metres) into tunnels that branched out roughly 200 feet (60 metres) in length. The tunnels had lights, an air circulation system and a heater. Khafra slept and ate in the tunnels. He urinated and defecated into a bucket Beckwitt lowered into the tunnels. He used wet wipes to clean himself because he didnt have access to a shower. Yes, he agreed to go because he was a dreamer, he was a little bit naive and he ignored red flags, Ayres said. Hours before the fire broke out in the basement, Khafra texted Beckwitt to warn him it smelled like smoke in the tunnels. Ayres said Beckwitt didnt respond for more than six hours before telling Khfra that there had been a major electrical failure. Instead of getting Khafra out of the tunnels, Beckwitt told him that he just switched it all over to another circuit, the prosecutor added. The theme of this case is secrecy over safety at all costs, Ayres said. Bonsib said Beckwitt screamed for help from neighbours after the fire broke out and risked his own safety in a failed attempt to rescue his friend from the blaze. The defence attorney also noted that Beckwitts father owned the house, and he said his clients parents had created the hoarding conditions. He was the functional equivalent of a tenant, Bonsib said. Bonsib told jurors they will hear testimony from another man who had helped Beckwitt dig tunnels before Khafra. Bonsib said the witness will give a far more positive description of living conditions in the tunnels than prosecutors have provided. LOS ANGELES - Rob Reiner and Nora Ephrons classic relationship comedy When Harry Met Sally... is turning 30 this summer, and what better way to celebrate than with a splashy screening to kick off the 10th annual TCM Classic Film Festival ? Reiner and stars Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan will join forces at the event Thursday evening in the heart of Hollywood as ticket-holders prepare for four days of classic film fun, with screenings, panels and parties. Although many things have changed in Hollywood since When Harry Met Sally... came out in 1989, and Ephron and Carrie Fisher are among those involved who have died, it is incredible how its lines and truths have stood the test of time. The Associated Press caught up with Reiner to talk about the film and the simple secret to making a good romantic comedy. Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity. ___ AP: Some of your beloved films have already turned 30 (This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, Stand by Me), so this isnt a new landmark for you, but does it make you reflect at all? REINER: It makes me old. Thats all it makes me. AP: Is it surreal that its opening up the TCM Classic Film Festival? REINER: Its really cool. You make a film and you dont know if its going to stand the test of time or people are going to still like it. Whenever youve done something that people still enjoy its a pretty cool thing. AP: Why do you think this one still resonates? REINER: All I can ever do is I look into myself and try to figure out, How do I think as a man? There are certain universal things that men experience and the fact that I was working with Nora Ephron, she brought the female perspective to the mix, and we made it a part of the creative process to say what actually happens between men and women. You know, its not about the cute meet or putting some obstacles between the lovers so that they get together, but what actually happens with men and women. That was really the motivation for me. Because I was married for 10 years and had been single for 10 years and I was making a mess of my dating life. I kept saying, how does this work? How do a man and woman get together? I started thinking about that and I talked to Nora and she liked the idea and we started working on it. I think people see some basic truths about men and women when they watch that movie. AP: I think you just described why so many romantic comedies dont work. REINER: To me the best ones are the ones that are extensions of the filmmakers. AP: It is interesting that none of your films have been remade. Im sure people have tried. REINER: Theyve asked me on this one, they say why dont you make a sequel? Wherere Harry and Sally now? Theyve asked me that about Spinal Tap, about Princess Bride and things. But to me its like, I did that already. My mind is in a different place now so whatever Im thinking about now I try to express. AP: When Harry Met Sally... helped kick off a whole rom-com renaissance. Why do you think the form went out of style for a bit? REINER: I dont know why. To me the dance that happens between men and women is forever. That is the mating dance. Thats what we do. The studios are making a certain kind of film and basically theyre big event, franchise type pictures with lots of CGI and action and all that stuff. And theyre not really focused on human dramas or romantic comedies or courtroom dramas. The only people who were making these kinds of things would be independent filmmakers and its very tough to make an honest film about what happens. You could do it now. Right now if you were a young filmmaker and you wanted to make a romantic film, comedy, whatever, theres a lot of gender fluidity and sexual fluidity and all of those elements would be part of it, it would seem to me, to somebody interested in wanting to do it. But you cant get them made at studios. They dont make those kinds of films. The only comedy, sort of romantic, theyre R-rated. They dont make just relationship movies. AP: Are you and Billy and Meg going to get together to catch up around the event? REINER: Were going to be at the screening. And Billy called me and was saying theyre going to give him the hands and feet at Graumans (now TCL) Chinese Theater the next day and he asked me to come and speak. My dad and I had that done a while ago and Billy came. So thatll be nice. ___ Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr WASHINGTON - President Donald Trumps nominee for deputy attorney general defended his qualifications for the post at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, as lawmakers raised questions about his lack of criminal law experience. But the tensest moments of Jeffrey Rosens confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee came when he refused to firmly commit to making special counsel Robert Muellers report on the Russia probe public. The most heated exchange came during questioning from Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D- Conn., who asked for Rosens commitment to support the disclosure of special counsel Robert Muellers report to Congress without any redactions. Rosen repeatedly said he was not involved in the special counsels investigation and did not directly answer the question. I will vote against you if you fail to commit that you will respect the institutional authority and obligation of the United States Congress to review that report, Blumenthal shot back. Mueller submitted a nearly 400-page confidential report to Attorney General William Barr last month and Barr sent a four-page letter to Congress of Muellers principal conclusions two days later. Barrs letter said that Mueller did not find a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump associates around the time of the 2016 election and that Barr did not believe the evidence in the report was sufficient to prove the president had obstructed justice. Rosen would succeed the current deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller and oversaw his work. If confirmed, Rosen would almost certainly be directly involved in the Justice Departments response to inquiries from Congress about the Mueller investigation and cases that were spun off to federal prosecutors. Rosen suggested that he was willing to rebuff political pressure from the White House, if necessary. He told the legislators that he would expect that all criminal investigations proceed on the facts and the law and that he believes prosecutions should be free of improper political influences. If the appropriate answer is to say no to somebody, then I will say no, he said. Much of Wednesdays hearing focused on Rosens experience and whether he would be in a position to handle the Justice Departments day-to-day operations without any criminal law experience. The deputy attorney general oversees major prosecutions, the departments criminal and national security divisions, and U.S. attorneys offices across the nation. The longtime litigator currently serves as the deputy transportation secretary in the Trump administration and had also worked in private practice and as general counsel in the Office of Management and Budget. The committees top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, cautioned Rosen that a deputy attorney general must be able to withstand pressure, which she said is even more important in light of President Trumps repeated calls to investigate his political rivals, including Hillary Clinton. Trump has decried special counsel Robert Muellers investigation, which officially concluded last month, as a witch hunt. He has also said the Justice Department should be investigating Democrats, including Clinton, and chants of lock her up have become a rallying cry at Trumps campaign events. During his opening remarks, Rosen pointed to his management experience at the Transportation Department, where he said he acts as the chief operating officer of the agency that has a budget exceeding $80 billion and more than 55,000 employees. He also highlighted his legal experience and told the lawmakers he has argued cases in federal and state courts across the nation. Rosen spent nearly 30 years at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, the same law firm as Barr, in a variety of management roles, including the co-head of the firms Washington office. Rosen said that if he were confirmed, he would not be the first person to become deputy attorney general without having experience in the Justice Department and would surround himself with veteran prosecutors. He also said he has had many, many dealings with the Justice Department and its component agencies. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The Latest on eastern New Mexico grass fire near Portales (all times local): 7 p.m. Authorities say a grass fire in eastern New Mexico now is contained after charring an estimated 1,000 acres (1.5 square miles) and burning four structures near Portales including two homes. They say the fire broke out around 1 p.m. Wednesday and its cause isnt immediately known. Portales Fire Department crews battled flames and wind gusts up to 50 mph before getting the blaze under control around 6 p.m. People near Portales were evacuated from their homes for several hours as a precaution. Additional crews from Roosevelt County, Clovis, Texico, Melrose, Cannon Air Force Base and Chaves County helped fight the wind-whipped fire. ___ 4:25 p.m. Firefighters in eastern New Mexico are dealing with strong winds as they battle a grass fire that has prompted some evacuations. Officials with the nearby city of Portales say two shelters have been set up as residents in rural areas west of the community have been encouraged to evacuate. There was no immediate word about the cause of the fire. Forecasters with the National Weather Service reported top gusts in the area of 75 mph (121 kph), saying smoke from the fire was making for hazy conditions as far away as Amarillo, Texas. ___ 11:20 a.m. Warnings for winds that forecasters say are expected to be dangerous for travel blanketed most of New Mexico on Wednesday. The National Weather Service says the winds will make travel very difficult on north-south oriented roads such as Interstate 25, particularly for high-profile vehicles, and cause loose objects to become airborne. Forecasters also say the winds of up to 45 mph (72.42 kph) and gusts of up to 75 mph (121 kph) will combine with low humidity and an unstable atmosphere to create critical fire conditions. Albuquerque officials issued a health alert because of blowing dust and said people with respiratory conditions should limit outdoor activity. In southern New Mexico, the White Sands Missile Range was closed because of high winds, with only essential personnel told to report to work. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Latest on an Arkansas bill that would ban sanctuary cities in the state (all times local): 3:30 p.m. Arkansas Republican governor says he will sign a bill cutting off funding to sanctuary cities that dont co-operate with federal immigration authorities despite his objections that the measure could open the door to racial profiling. Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Wednesday hell sign the bill approved by the majority-Republican Legislature. The measure also prohibits cities from preventing local law enforcement from asking about a persons citizenship or immigration status. Hutchinson had asked lawmakers to change the bill after he said he was concerned it would open the door to racial profiling. But the bills sponsors rebuffed the request and lawmakers gave the bill final approval Wednesday. The Arkansas Municipal League, which opposes the measure, says it doesnt know of any cities in the state with sanctuary policies. ___ 11 a.m. Arkansas lawmakers have sent Gov. Asa Hutchinson legislation Wednesday cutting off funding to sanctuary cities that dont co-operate with federal immigration authorities over the Republicans objections that the measure could open the door to racial profiling. The House vote was 71-24 in favour of the measure, which would also prevent cities from blocking local law enforcement from asking about a persons citizenship or immigration status. Any cities found to be in violation would be ineligible to receive discretionary funds administered by the state. Hutchinson, a former federal Homeland Security official who oversaw border security efforts, had asked lawmakers to change the measure, but the bills sponsors rebuffed his request. Hutchinson has said hes generally supportive of the bill, but hasnt said what he would do if it reached him without that amendment. ___ Follow Andrew DeMillo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ademillo WASHINGTON - The Latest on the Trump administration and immigration (all times local): 3:15 p.m. Outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is welcoming employees to their new campus on her last day on the job. The guests included some officials who have recently been pushed out by the Trump administration, including the head of Secret Service, acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and acting deputy secretary for Homeland Security. They all gathered in the sunshine outside the new headquarters on Wednesday on the site of a former psychiatric hospital. Kevin McAleenan, the head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection who is taking over as acting DHS secretary, also attended, shaking hands with employees and giving Nielsen a standing ovation. Transportation and Security Administrator David Pekoske, who has been tapped as acting DHS deputy secretary, was also on hand. Nielsen welcomed everyone to the new campus, joking that the construction took so long she wasnt sure shed still be secretary when it opened. She just made it, she quipped. She said serving in the post has been the honour of a lifetime. __ 10:38 a.m. President Donald Trump says theres only one person in charge of his immigration policy: Him. Trump was asked as he was leaving the White House Wednesday whether he had ever considering tapping his influential aide, Stephen Miller, to lead the department in the wake of Kirstjen Nielsens departure. Trump says Miller is an excellent guy and a brilliant man, but said, Frankly, theres only one person thats running it: You know who that is? Its me. Trump has picked United States Customs and Border Protection commissioner Kevin McAleenan to serve as acting secretary. Asked whether he might keep him on permanently, Trump said he likes McAleenan a lot and that it could happen. He adds that, right now McAleenan is the man. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The Latest on the school shootings in Parkland, Fla. (all times local): 1:15 p.m. Families of the slain victims of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, told a state commission they were notified their loved ones had been killed in ways that were often confusing and lacking in sympathy or empathy. The families of four victims on Wednesday told a state commission investigating the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School they waited hours before being told about the death of their spouse or child. Others said no one appeared to be in charge of the family notifications. Debbie Hixon says she first learned of her husbands death from text messages offering condolences. Authorities say former student Nikolas Cruz fatally shot 17 people at the school on Valentines Day in 2018. ___ 11:55 a.m. Families of the slain victims and survivors of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida say they initially had no plans to sue the school board or sheriffs office, since those agencies had promised to reach a financial settlement with them. They said Wednesday they changed their minds after discovering the sheriffs office and school board were working behind the scenes to prevent any settlement from being approved by the Florida Legislature. The families and survivors filed 22 lawsuits against those agencies, a deputy and a school monitor, claiming their negligence allowed the massacre to happen. Also named was a mental health facility that had treated suspect Nikolas Cruz, who is accused of fatally shooting 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentines Day in 2018. ___ 10:05 a.m. Survivors and family members of the slain victims of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, are suing the school district, the sheriffs office, a deputy and a school monitor, claiming their negligence allowed the massacre to happen. The lawsuits will be filed in state court in South Florida on Wednesday morning, following a news conference. Authorities say former student Nikolas Cruz fatally shot 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentines Day in 2018. The lawsuits name as defendants the School Board of Broward County; the Broward Sheriffs Office; former deputy Scott Peterson, who was a school resource officer; Andrew Medina, who was a school security monitor; and Henderson Behavioral Health Clinic, a mental health facility where Cruz was treated. WASHINGTON - The Latest on the Attorney General William Barrs testimony to Congress and the Russia probe (all times local): 4:20 p.m. Attorney General William Barr says he thinks spying did occur on Donald Trumps presidential campaign, suggesting the origins of the Russia investigation may have been mishandled. He did not say what spying had taken place but seemed likely to be alluding to a surveillance warrant the FBI obtained on a Trump associate. He later said he wasnt sure there had been improper surveillance but wanted to make sure proper procedures were followed. Still, his remarks give a boost to Trump and his supporters who insist his 2016 campaign was unfairly targeted by the FBI. Barr was testifying at a Senate budget hearing Wednesday that was dominated by questions about special counsel Robert Muellers Trump-Russia investigation. __ 11:45 a.m. Attorney General William Barr says he doesnt know if Robert Mueller supported his conclusion that the special counsels report had insufficient evidence to establish that President Donald Trump obstructed justice. The comment came as Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen asked Barr whether he agreed with Muellers assessment that there were difficult issues of law and fact concerning whether obstruction happened. Barr summarized that assessment in a letter to Congress March 24. Barr refused to answer Van Hollens question several times, saying he would say more when the report was out. Barr said in the summary letter that Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether the president obstructed justice, instead presenting evidence on both sides of the question. Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein decided that the evidence was insufficient to establish obstruction. __ 11:05 a.m. Attorney General William Barr says a redacted version of special counsel Robert Muellers Russia report is coming hopefully next week. The timeline mentioned by Barr at a Senate hearing on his departments budget is a tweak from comments he made a day earlier. Barr said at a House hearing Tuesday that the report was coming within a week. Barr made the comments as senators questioned him on the specifics of the report and what he would be redacting. Democrats have said they wont accept redactions and will fight to get the full report. __ 11:05 a.m. Special counsel Robert Mueller didnt say he wanted Congress to decide whether President Donald Trump committed obstruction of justice. But he didnt say Attorney General William Barr should decide either. Thats what Barr is telling Congress during his testimony before a Senate subcommittee hearing. Mueller found evidence on both sides of the question of whether Trump obstructed justice in the Russia investigation, according to Barrs earlier letter to Congress about Muellers investigation. Barr is defending his decision to then step in and determine there wasnt sufficient evidence to establish that the president violated the law. Barr says it was his responsibility as attorney general to make the call. He says hes looking forward to explaining his reasoning after he releases a redacted version of Muellers 400-page report in the coming days. __ 10:45 a.m. Attorney General William Barr says he wont withhold any derogatory information about President Donald Trump contained in special counsel Robert Muellers report. Barr tells Congress that concerns about protecting the reputations of people not criminally charged in the Russia probe dont apply to office holders such as the president. That was one of four criteria Barr has said he is using to redact Muellers nearly 400-page report. Barr has said he expects to release a redacted document within a week. He is facing questions about his handling of the report during a Senate subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill. __ 10:44 a.m. Attorney General William Barr says he plans to review the origins of the FBIs investigation between Russia and the Trump campaign. Barr told senators on Wednesday that he believed the Trump campaign had been spied on, but the question is whether it was adequately predicated. He says he believes that spying on a political campaign is a big deal. The Justice Departments inspector general has already been investigating the early days of the FBIs Russia probe. Barr says he wants to pull together the different reviews underway within the Justice Department and see if there are remaining questions that need to be addressed. A person familiar with the process said Barr is forming a team to review the origins of the FBI investigation. By Eric Tucker. __ 10:00 a.m. President Donald Trump is declaring that he wants an investigation into the origins of the federal probe into ties between his campaign and Russia. Trump, speaking to reporters Wednesday at the White House, decreed it an illegal investigation conducted by dirty cops. The president did not name them but has previously blamed Justice Department officials and former FBI Director James Comey. Attorney General William Barr has a team reviewing the origins of the FBIs counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia, according to a person familiar with the situation who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal discussions.. Trump also stated that I dont care about the report from special counsel Robert Mueller that Barr says he will release in the coming days in redacted form. Despite that declaration, the president has repeatedly tweeted about the report in recent days. Mueller didnt find a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump. He did not rule on obstruction of justice, though Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein ruled Trump did not. __ 12:12 a.m. Attorney General William Barr is returning to Capitol Hill for a second time this week as lawmakers, the White House and the American public anxiously await his release of special counsel Robert Muellers report on potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign. Barr will speak to a Senate appropriations subcommittee Wednesday about his departments budget. But like members of the House on Tuesday, senators are expected to be more interested in the nearly 400-page Mueller report than budget details. Barr told the House lawmakers that he expects to release a redacted version within a week. Justice Department officials are scouring the report to remove grand jury information and details relating to pending investigations, among other materials. Democrats say they will not accept redactions and want the full reports release. WASHINGTON - The Trump administration on Wednesday appealed recent rulings in a closely watched case involving health care for the poor, after a federal judge blocked work requirements for some low-income people on Medicaid. The rulings last month by Judge James Boasberg in Washington D.C. blocked requirements for able bodied adults in Arkansas and Kentucky under which Medicaid recipients either had to work, study, volunteer or perform other community engagement activities. The Justice Department filed notice appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Arkansas also appealed. The Arkansas requirements were already in effect, while in Kentucky theyre a top priority for Republican Gov. Matt Bevin. The work requirements apply to hundreds of thousands of low-income people in both states who gained health insurance under the Affordable Care Acts Medicaid expansion. Boasberg had ruled that the Trump administrations approval of work requirements created numerous obstacles for poor people trying to get health care, which federal and state officials failed to evaluate or resolve adequately. He questioned whether the state programs were fulfilling Medicaids core mission of providing medical assistance. The administration argues that work promotes health, and officials have said theyll keep approving such requests from states. President Donald Trump supports work requirements for public programs across the government. Last year, he signed an executive order directing Cabinet agencies to add or strengthen work requirements for programs including subsidized housing, food stamps and cash welfare. WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump will travel to Minnesota on Monday, the April 15 tax filing deadline. Trump is hoping to win Minnesota in the next election and has been citing tax cuts and his work on trade deals as positives that will help Republicans win in 2020. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed the trip to reporters travelling with the president Wednesday in Texas. The Federal Aviation Administration has sent an advisory to pilots saying Trump would travel to the Minneapolis area. Trump lost Minnesota to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016 by 1.5 percentage points. Minnesota has not voted for a Republican for president since Richard Nixon in 1972. RUTLAND, Vt. - A Vermont public school board has voted to fly the Black Lives Matter flag at a high school. The Rutland Herald reports that the Rutland City Public Schools Board of Commissioners reaffirmed the plan during a vote Tuesday. Board member Kam Johnston says he moved to rescind the boards previous decision to raise the flag to allow for more student input and address concerns. Students at Rutland High School had initiated the effort to raise the flag and brought it to the board. The Black Lives Matter flag will fly at the school for 400 days starting April 12 to mark 400 years since the British slave trade started in the Americas. People opposed to flying the flag say the board shouldnt be taking a political stance and that the flag may be divisive. ___ Information from: Rutland Herald, http://www.rutlandherald.com/ If anythings certain about Ontario Premier Doug Ford, its that he likes to go big. So his version of upending years of Toronto transit planning is essentially to put all the lines on steroids. Under Fords plan, the downtown relief line rebranded the Ontario Line will be twice as long, running from the Ontario Science Centre to Pape station along to Queen and Osgoode stations and continuing out to Ontario Place. The Eglinton Crosstown LRT will go underground for a distance, like a subway, and extend all the way to Pearson Airport in Mississauga. The Scarborough subway goes from one stop to three. And the Yonge subway extension to Richmond Hill will be fast-tracked to open just after the Ontario Line. Ford was so excited to unveil this grand $28.5-billion, 12-year plan on Wednesday that he said he couldnt sleep the night before. And indeed he did look like a kid thrilled to finally open his birthday present. Perhaps not feeling the same level of enthusiasm from his audience, he urged them on. Guys, lets be positive. This is the largest project, $28.5 billion, you should be doing cartwheels, Ford said. This is a great project, fabulous, best ever in North America. Its amazing. Those are words that people typically save until a project is built or, at the very least, underway. Thats because unveiling a shiny new subway map with more coloured lines doesnt actually mean those lines will get built at all, let alone on time and on budget. Transit riders in Toronto know that more than most. And who exactly will be paying for all this? Even that wasnt clear. As announced, the province intends to pay just $11.2 billion, presumably leaving Ottawa and municipalities, primarily Toronto, to pick up the remaining $17.3 billion. To Fords credit, the provincial contribution is substantial and more than double the $5 billion he promised in last years election campaign. But his plan still amounts to spending a great deal of other governments money. That strikes a particularly odd note given that Ford made his announcement without Toronto Mayor John Tory or Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at his side. Ford brushed away questions about that, saying he was confident the other leaders will love it. And if they dont? No worries; hell pay for it all. Its certainly not going to be as simple as that. For one, the timelines in Fords plan span three provincial elections, not to mention several federal and municipal ones, too. And the delay in building transit in Toronto is not due to municipal incompetence, as Ford likes to suggest. It stems from a lack of funding and changing governments, including those at Queens Park, and the premiers own brother, the late Toronto mayor Rob Ford. Beyond that, it must be said that the timelines themselves and the budget figures are highly suspect. Ford can claim that were going to do it faster, better, cheaper, all he wants. That doesnt make it true. The lack of detail how will the driver-less trains for the Ontario line mesh with the rest of the system, for example is typical for a Ford government announcement. Mayor Tory optimistically suggested that the lack of detail might be because Ontario is waiting for city input. Well, theres got to be a first for everything. The truth is that if all of what Ford announced came to pass, on the stated timelines and budgets, most people would be delighted. The trouble is theres no evidence to suggest thats possible and quite a bit of evidence that its not. And by the time everything gets sorted out it will most likely mean more of what transit riders have already experienced far too much of: delays and less transit than needed. Ford may like to talk about this plan as though its already built. Sadly, the rest of us know how far from that we really are. Read more about: Its being called the hottest event in Toronto these days, with tickets costing as much as scalpers are charging for Toronto Maple Leaf playoff tickets. The event is a debate between Jordan Peterson, the University of Toronto psychology professor, who has become the darling of the far right, and Slavoj Zizek, a famous Slovenian philosopher. Tickets for the April 19 event went on sale in March for the 3,100-seat Sony Centre venue and instantly sold out. Online ticket resellers are now charging up to $950 for a seat. So popular is the debate that Peterson and Zizek are live-streaming it around the world at a cost of $14.95 per view. Its another in a long line of sold-out shows for Peterson, who shot to fame in 2016 when he criticized legislation aimed at protecting gender identity and openly refused to use peoples preferred pronouns. Overnight, Peterson became an international hero for those who believe political correctness has gone too far, especially young white men who feel the world is stacked against them these days. In interviews, podcasts and YouTube videos he has railed against such topics as the radical left, socialism, Justin Trudeau, feminism and the idea that women have been oppressed throughout history. Read more: Opinion | I was Jordan Petersons strongest supporter. Now I think hes dangerous Jordan Petersons superfans say theyre not who you think they are Jordan Peterson is trying to make sense of the world including his own strange journey Peterson has also become insanely rich touting what some critics have called half-baked ideas and the greatest scam of our time. He has 1.16 million followers on Twitter, 1.5 million YouTube subscribers and nearly 3 million copies have been sold of his book, 12 Rules of Life. But Peterson may finally have gone too far. For years, he has insisted hes done nothing to promote racism, misogyny, Islamophobia or a stream of other issues that stoke the fires of the far right. That may be true in a strict sense. Troubling, though, is the fact Peterson has done little if anything to distance himself from white supremacists, racists and bigots. Nor has he done anything to silence those who spread their hate on social media and who cite his writings and lectures as proof that they are on the right path. The worst example of this is a photo taken in New Zealand a few weeks before a white nationalist murdered 50 Muslims in terrorist attack last month on two Christchurch mosques. The photo shows Peterson with his arm around the shoulder of a man wearing a T-shirt with the words Im a Proud ISLAMAPHOBE on the front. Petersons apologists say it was just one of thousands of photos taken each year with fans. They also say Peterson now insists on measures to avoid such photos from happening again. But did Peterson speak out against the man wearing the T-shirt? Did he denounce Islamophobia? Not at all. Instead, Peterson ranted about how unfairly he was treated when a New Zealand chain of booksellers temporarily pulled copies of his book from its shelves in protest and when Cambridge University withdrew its offer of a visiting fellowship. Cambridge vice-chancellor Stephen Toope said the New Zealand photo was a casual endorsement by association of Islamophobia and the message was antithetical to the work of the Faculty of Divinity, which made the fellowship offer. Outraged, Peterson accused the school of signalling their solidarity with the diversity-inclusivity-equity mob, adding it was kowtowing to an ill-informed, ignorant and ideologically addled mob. Such fury! No wonder Peterson has been called the patron saint of those perpetually angry. Never one to criticize his cultlike followers on the far right, Peterson insists the suggestion he is appealing to disaffected, angry young white men is false. In an article he wrote in February for The Australian, Peterson says of his speeches, people are not attending for political reasons just as I am not speaking for political purposes. If thats true, then what was the guy in the T-shirt doing at the Peterson event in New Zealand? At next weeks debate Peterson has an opportunity to stand up straight with his shoulders back his Rule No. 1 and denounce and shut down the haters and far-right thugs who have turned him into their idol. He should do it before their hatred and violence goes any further. In 2004, hotel heiress Paris Hilton appeared on The O.C. as a fictional version of herself with a twist. In the episode in question, Hiltons character, Kate, attends a party where she reveals to the nerdy Seth Cohen that she is not, contrary to popular opinion, a clueless rich girl. Shes a learned one. Im so exhausted, Hilton says. Ive been up all night working on my thesis: Magical Realism in American Literature. Are you familiar with the work of Thomas Pynchon? Of course he is. But hes also stunned. Dont tell anyone Im in grad school, she says. This bit from 2004 has come to life in 2019. But the seemingly clueless rich girl at its heart is not Paris Hilton, but her old friend: Kim Kardashian West, the Queen of Selfies. However, unlike Hiltons fictional Kate, Kardashian West is not afraid to let the world in on the secret that shes intelligent not in the business and marketing sense (something many of us were already aware of) but in an area far more surprising. According to this months cover story in Vogue Magazine by Jonathan Van Meter, Kardashian West is studying to become a lawyer. Van Meter writes about visiting the reality stars famously minimalist home: In a house that is nearly devoid of stuff, at long last we come upon something that sparks not joy exactly: a pile of big, fat books on tort law. Just when you think youve kinda sorta maybe figured out who this unusual creature is, think again. That unusual creature is currently reading the law, as opposed to attending law school. (Van Meter notes that California is one of four states where a person can apprentice with a practising lawyer or judge instead of going to law school). Kardashian West tells Van Meter that she learned a lot about the law watching her dad in action, a.k.a. the late Robert Kardashian, the attorney who defended O.J. Simpson. However, it isnt memories of the past pushing her into the field, but injustices of the present. Kardashian West is, and has been for some time, deeply involved, with #Cut50, an American advocacy group working toward criminal justice reform. Last year she was instrumental in the release of Alice Marie Johnson, a 63-year-old woman imprisoned since the mid-90s on a non-violent drug charge. Kardashian West even visited the Trump White House to advocate for Johnson. It was last summer, writes Van Meter, that Kardashian West decided to begin a four-year apprenticeship with a law firm in San Francisco, with the goal of taking the bar in 2022. Needless to say the reaction to this news on the internet the place where Kardashian West made her name is outsized. If she broke the internet posing nearly nude on the cover of Paper Magazine in 2014, she annihilated the web this week with news of her bookish bent. Of course, many of the reality stars devoted fans weighed in with comments of support (though theyd probably congratulate her if she laid siege to a small country). But so did a lot of unkind people: mostly men tickled by the news that a woman who takes suggestive selfies thinks she has what it takes to practise law. And its these people I hope Kardashian West proves wrong in spectacular fashion, because their attitude isnt only indicative of a dislike for the star herself, but of any smart woman who doesnt present as a respectable professional. I went to high school with a lot of girls like this: girls who wore heavy makeup in gym class and revealing clothing in the hallways, and who appeared in every way vapid but who were also whip smart. In fact, there were a few girls like this in my high school law class (I remember they really excelled in mock trial). But I always got the impression that as with Paris Hiltons character on The O.C., everyone, teacher included, was shocked by their brainpower. I admit, so was I. What were they playing at? If they were so smart, why did they dress that way? Why all the makeup? Kardashian Wests foray into the law provides the only acceptable answer to these questions: why the hell not? Being modest is not a prerequisite to attaining knowledge or success. Some have compared Kardashian West to Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, but Elle Woods is a goody-two-shoes. She never made a sex tape. KW is in a league of her own, and I have a strong feeling she will continue to surprise and disappoint those who underestimate her. That said, if a career in criminal justice reform doesnt pan out for the star, Im sure shell have no trouble combining her law chops with her reality TV chops. Note that Judge Mathis is 59 and Judge Judy is 76. Who will the homemakers of tomorrow turn to for their daily dose of televised justice? All rise for the Honourable Judge Kim. Read more about: Im as curious as the next person about the Mueller report, Donald Trumps tax returns and Jody Wilson-Rayboulds inner thoughts, but is there really no room amidst all the media chatter for the news that the chances of nuclear war are higher than theyve been in generations. That was the frightening assessment the United Nations Security Council received last week from UN disarmament chief Izumi Nakamitsu, and it made barely a ripple in the media. For that matter, Trumps decision in February to withdraw from a key nuclear treaty, signed amid great hope 32 years ago by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, was deemed worthy of about 24 hours of news coverage. Even as climate change is finally penetrating the mainstream news cycle, the media has all but lost interest in nuclear war. Commentators rarely find time to remind us that all-out war between the U.S. and Russia, the two most heavily armed nuclear combatants, would be 100,000 times more destructive than Hiroshima. Billions of people would die in raging fires and from radioactive fallout, with the rest of humanity freezing or starving to death in the ensuing nuclear winter. Unlike the climate change battle, where a worldwide movement is managing to push the issue onto the political agenda, the fight to rid the world of nuclear weapons has become widely regarded as hopeless, a genie that cant be re-bottled. This sense of hopelessness promoted by the arms industry is misplaced. While its true that theres no way to un-invent nuclear weapons, the most dangerous threat they pose could be eliminated. Indeed, such a goal is within reach. Thats the conclusion of a number of experts, including former military analyst Daniel Ellsberg. Best known for leaking the Pentagon papers in the 1970s, Ellsberg also worked as a nuclear war planner for the Kennedy administration. In his recent book, The Doomsday Machine, Ellsberg argues that probably the greatest nuclear threat today is accidental nuclear war that is, a false electronic alarm triggering a pre-emptive strike by either the U.S. or Russia. Over the years, thereve been a number of chillingly close calls. This mind-bending concept the end of human civilization due to a computer error is made possible by the continuing presence in the two countries of hundreds of land-based missiles kept on hair-trigger alert, ready to launch on warning. If warning data indicate a nuclear attack may be underway, a process kicks in with incomprehensibly-tight timelines. The U.S. Strategic Commands top officer would have time to provide only a 30-second briefing to the president, who would then have 12 minutes (or less) to weigh the options, according to Bruce Blair, a nuclear security expert at Princeton University. These timelines render impossible a meaningful decision by even the most astute, high-functioning human being, let alone Donald Trump. While disarmament experts agree the ultimate goal is eliminating all nuclear weapons, Ellsberg and others insist that a more immediate goal of removing this exceptionally dangerous, hair-trigger situation could be accomplished, bilaterally or even unilaterally while still maintaining nuclear deterrence against an enemy first strike. Indeed, along with a number of high-ranking ex-generals, both George W. Bush and Barack Obama argued during their presidential bids for dramatically reducing hair-trigger status in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, although both men failed to follow through in office. Trump is now heading in the opposite direction, embarking on a massive modernization of U.S. nuclear weapons, urged on by his ultrahawkish national security adviser John Bolton, a long-time proponent of nuclear buildup. Yet there is stunningly little pushback as the Trump administration proposes to increase the vastly over-bloated U.S. military budget from $720 billion last year to $750 billion this year. The Democrats are largely acquiescent, agreeing to $736 billion. All this leaves Americans and the rest of the world less safe. As the popular science writer Carl Sagan once noted: The nuclear arms race is like two sworn enemies standing waist deep in gasoline, one with three matches, the other with five. Taking away all the matches is the ultimate goal. Meanwhile, it would be gratifying to see a vigorous popular movement aimed at preventing a lit match from accidentally dropping into the gasoline. Read more about: OTTAWAOpposition parties are protesting the Liberal governments decision to give $12 million to one of Canadas largest grocery chains to help make its refrigerators better for the environment. The announcement sparked ridicule and outrage on Parliament Hill, where MPs from both sides of the political spectrum cast the funding agreement with the Loblaws chain as another example of how the Trudeau government favours big corporations and the rich. Niki Ashton, a New Democrat from northern Manitoba, said the company is owned by one of the wealthiest families in Canada, and that the federal government should direct funding for green initiatives to First Nations and other communities with a greater need for support. Ashton called the funding announcement peak Liberal in light of the recent SNC-Lavalin controversy, where the government is accused of pressuring the former attorney general to intervene in a criminal case to favour the Montreal-based global engineering giant. Its frankly obscene to see the government doing favours for Loblaws when so many others could and are desperate to put those funds to good use, she told the Star on Tuesday. Here they are using climate change as an excuse to give their rich friends money they dont need. Conservative MPs also raised the issue in the House of Commons on Tuesday. During question period, British Columbia MP Ed Fast said the Loblaw company chalked up billions of dollars in profit last year revenue totalled $11.2 billion, according to their latest earnings report in February and quipped that the House Speaker may be able to tell him how many Canadians can walk into the Prime Ministers Office and ask them to pay for a new fridge? Why is it always the wealthy and well-connected that get handouts from these Liberals? Fast asked. Environment Minister Catherine McKenna defended the move, announced Monday, which sees Ottawa contribute a quarter of the funding Loblaw says it will dedicate to retrofitting fridges in its 370 stores over the next three years so they use less energy. She said the chain is receiving federal support because they can get the most significant emissions reductions through this program the equivalent of taking 50,000 cars off the road each year. Lets be clear, this project actually is going to make a difference, McKenna said as she left the Liberal cabinet meeting Tuesday. Its really unfortunate that you have the leaders of the opposition politicizing serious climate action across the board. The environment minister also disagreed with opposition claims the Liberals only support corporations in the fight against climate change. She pointed to the carbon tax rebates being sent to people in provinces where the levy was imposed this month, which the government says will outweigh the expected extra costs of gasoline and other products for 80 per cent of residents. In Ontario, where the Progressive Conservative government has railed against what it calls a job-killing carbon tax, a household of four will get a $307 carbon tax rebate this year. Have your say Loblaw is also one of 54 recipients chosen by officials at the environment department for the federal governments low carbon economy challenge. The initiative includes $450 million for businesses, municipalities, Indigenous groups, not-for-profits and provinces and territories that apply for federal help with climate change initiatives. The idea is to leverage federal support with initiatives that reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. We want to create incentives for people to do more, not less, McKenna said. Were going to continue to move forward on a plan that is going seriously reduce our emissions, doing it in an effective and affordable way. In an emailed statement, Loblaw Companies Ltd. spokesperson Catherine Thomas said the grocery chain plans to spend $36 million to reduce emissions from its fridges, and repeated McKennas claim that this will be akin to taking 50,000 cars off the road. Our range of carbon-reduction investments is over $100 million as we work to reduce our carbon footprint by 30 [per cent] by 2030, she wrote. The NDP and Conservatives have criticized the Liberals climate change plan for favouring corporations before. Leaders from both parties have focused on how the carbon price applies to heavy industries like cement production, where firms are effectively exempt from paying the price for a portion of their emissions. The government has justified this as necessary to protect sectors that cant easily change their systems of production to reduce emissions, and those that compete with firms in other countries where a carbon tax doesnt exist. The NDP has also accused the Liberals of stalling on a commitment to eliminate at least some federal subsidies to oil and gas companies, which a 2018 report from an environmental organization pegged at $3.3 billion per year. Neither major opposition party has released the full details of their plans to fight climate change ahead of the federal election this fall. Canada has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to 30 per cent below their 2005 level by 2030 a target that most environmentalists deem inadequate given the stark warnings from the United Nations and federal government scientists about the possible consequences of climate change in the coming decades. Canada is also on track to miss its reduction target, according to the governments own projections, though McKenna has argued future advances in green technology will make up for the projected shortfall. Last week, federal scientists published a report that concluded Canada has warmed twice as fast as the world average because of climate change, and that efforts to reduce emissions can only now mitigate how much damage will be done. Among the consequences cited in their report was the ongoing disappearance of Arctic sea ice, rising sea levels, and an expectation that summertime water shortages and extreme weather like floods and forest fires will be more likely to occur because of climate change. Read more about: Vancouver businessman David Sidoo faces an additional charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering for his alleged role in a college admissions scandal in the United States. In a new indictment from the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts on Tuesday, Sidoo is accused of wiring about $100,000 in January 2013 from an account in Canada to an account in California. The indictment says the money was in the name of college-prep company The Key, and meant to be in exchange for admissions consultant William (Rick) Singers facilitation of a SAT cheating scheme for Sidoos younger son. An assistant for Sidoos lawyer, Richard Schonfeld, said the attorney was declining comment on Tuesday. Sidoo is among 19 parents, including actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Gianulli, who are facing the money-laundering charge in the new indictment. The new charges come a day after Desperate Housewives actress Felicity Huffman, 12 other parents and a coach agreed to plead guilty. The parents in the sweeping case, the largest such scheme ever prosecuted by the Justice Department, are accused of paying Singer to cheat on their childrens college entrance exams and get their children admitted as athletic recruits at elite schools. Sidoo, 59-year-old former Canadian Football League player and well-known philanthropist, has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with the scandal. He entered the plea last month and was released by the federal court in Boston on a secured bond of $1.5 million and his travel was restricted to Canada and the United States. An indictment in March alleged Sidoo paid $200,000 in total for someone to take the SAT on behalf of both his sons, and that he also paid an undisclosed amount for someone to fly to Vancouver and take a high school graduation exam on behalf of his older son. The new indictment alleges that the person who took the SATs and the high school test is Mark Riddell, a Florida prep-school administrator who has also been charged in the case. The indictment alleges Sidoo sent Singer information about his sons for the purpose of creating falsified identification cards for Riddell so he could take the tests in their place. Riddell allegedly wrote the exams in December 2011, June 2012 and December 2012. Singer paid Riddell approximately $5,000 plus travel expenses for each of the three exams Riddell took in place of Sidoos sons, the indictment says. It says the SAT score Riddell obtained on behalf of Sidoos older son was sent to an administrator at Chapman University, a private university in California, while the SAT score he obtained on behalf of Sidoos younger son were submitted as part of his applications to colleges including Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The Justice Department says charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Read more about: VANCOUVEREfforts to undermine the Canadian political process are virtually unstoppable in the murky, borderless digital world, say experts who study the spread of disinformation. And Canada, which faces a federal election this fall, is struggling to contain hackers and disinformation campaigns, said Marcus Kolga, a senior fellow at the Macdonald Laurier Institutes Centre for Advancing Canadas Interests Abroad. Unfortunately, were getting to this a little bit late, said Kolga, an expert on the foreign policy applications of media. We really should have been already talking about this two or three years ago, so its a huge uphill battle to get Canadians to start paying attention. The warning comes on the heels of a report this week from the federal governments Communication Security Establishment that showed Canadian political parties, candidates and staff have already been the target of at least one state-sponsored hacking campaign ahead of the federal election. The report warned the same cyber interference used by hackers to target countries like the United States are likely being mobilized in Canada. They include using hacked data to target a candidates campaign to try to sway voters by amplifying divisive issues or promoting one party over another. Read more: Opinion | Susan Delacourt: For foreign hackers, political parties are our weakest link After Facebook banned Faith Goldy and white nationalist groups, accounts and ads in their name remained Canadian political parties already targeted by foreign hacking, electronic spy agency says These so-called wedge campaigns are driven by different players, said Samantha Bradshaw, a doctoral candidate at the Oxford Internet Institute and senior fellow at the Canadian International Council. We know there are all kinds of actors who are motivated for both political reasons but also economic reasons, Bradshaw said. Countries like Russia, China and Iran all use conspiracy-theory websites, proxy organizations and internet trolls who act on behalf of foreign governments to help destabilize Western democracies. They also include populist movements like the extreme wings of right and left parties who want to get their ideas on the agenda, or want to get more people talking and discussing their ideologies, she added. Some people are motivated purely by profit, she noted, pointing to the oft-cited example of Macedonian teenagers, some of whom earned $50,000 a month in advertising revenue by driving traffic to false news websites during the 2016 U.S presidential election. The line between foreign attacks and legitimate public opinion is not easy to identify. State-backed agents use proxy organizations such as local embassies as well as former diplomats, media professionals and academics people Kolga said are often termed useful idiots to promote agendas. You cant stop a Canadian who might be affiliated with one of these organizations and who might share the views of the Kremlin or Beijing on these issues from going and spending a hundred dollars of their own money on promoting specific stories, he said. And if the government tried to censor them, its a slippery slope that could threaten freedom of speech, which is at the very core of democracy, he noted. Bots such as automated Twitter accounts which like, follow, tweet, retweet or direct message other accounts are also used to amplify divisive issues. An analysis of some of the nearly 10 million tweets from thousands of banned accounts the vast majority originating in Russia released in recent months by Twitter shows the Canadian issues targeted by bots include the anti-vaccine and anti-pipeline movements, and anti-LGBTQ and anti-immigration narratives. Bots also drive engagement by gaming the algorithms of platforms like Google, Facebook and Twitter through the relentless repetition of keywords, phrases and web addresses, Bradshaw said. The reason why bots will often do that is to generate more organic engagement. Its part of the Search Engine Optimization strategy, she said. The more key words or URLs are shared, the more likely it is that users will encounter them online. As more people engage with the information, it organically appears higher up in places such as Google News, YouTubes recommendation feed or on Twitter or Facebook. All the platforms are based on virality and popularity and relevance. Thats part of the reason why some bots just amplify the same messages and key words. Sometimes the tweets dont even make sense. Theyre just a bunch of key words because its all part of that strategy, Bradshaw explained. But trying to uncover who is behind the bots is nearly impossible. While Bill C-76 which seeks to promote transparency in social-media advertising is a step in the right direction, Kolga said foreign powers know how to cover their trails. Theyre not going to start using the Kremlin credit card when theyre buying the advertisement to try to shift opinion, he said. Both Kolga and Bradshaw said promoting media literacy is one way Canadians can build defences against foreign influence. But they said the government needs to take more action. Kolga thinks major political parties should share what they know about disinformation campaigns, or sign a code of conduct pledging not to spread misinformation even if it gives them a political advantage. Bradshaw suggested the government should regulate the design of social-media algorithms and oversee companies rules around misinformation. According to Canadas Minister of Democratic Institutions, all options are on the table when it comes to addressing electoral meddling. Karina Gould said the government is currently looking at several models used by like-minded countries. Australia has a stringent law which requires social-media companies to remove violent content or face fines, while executives can go to jail. And a U.K. Parliamentary committee suggested social-media companies should be fined over online harms and overseen by an independent regulator tasked with protecting users and administering penalties. Gould said Canada is also considering regulations for online platforms, including Google and Facebook, and is looking at a code of conduct to require them to report regularly to the government ahead of elections on how they are fighting misinformation and inauthentic behaviour, and shut down known bot accounts or sites used by foreign actors to manipulate opinion. Im not satisfied with the directions of those conversations, she said, adding that the discussions are far from over. On Tuesday, Canadas national security and intelligence committee announced an investigation into foreign interference and espionage in Canada. The committee chair said its results will be released before the fall federal election. But disinformation will never be extinguished until Canadian society deals with divisive issues that marginalize some people and bestow privilege on others, said Bradshaw. Polarization is not new, same with distrust in our media, she said. If we want to address disinformation and polarization, we need to target those problems, which might not necessarily be a social-media response. With files from Alex Boutilier and Marco Chown Oved Read more about: VANCOUVERThe vacancy at the top of Canadas diplomatic mission in China is likely to remain unfilled so long as tensions between the two countries continue to simmer, say former Canadian ambassadors. Canadas December arrest of Huawei CFO at the behest of the United States enraged Beijing, which quickly moved to detain a pair of Canadians diplomat-on-leave Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor in what observers have called a retaliatory hostage-taking. A third man, Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, was sentenced to death in January following a one-day retrial in a Chinese court for drug offences for which hed already been tried and sentenced to 15 years in prison. This series of events along with Beijings more recent moves to block key Canadian canola-seed shipments indicate an atmosphere in which obtaining Beijings approval for a new Canadian head of mission is unlikely in the extreme, Guy St. Jacques, Canadas ambassador to China between 2012 and 2016, told The Star Vancouver. If we look forward, we will still be faced with the problem of having Ms. Meng here during summer, Saint-Jacques, now a Senior Fellow at the China Institute of the University of Alberta, said of the likelihood tensions would resolve in the near future. Im afraid this will drag on for a while. The thorough domestic vetting process for Canadian ambassadors means even at the best of times, finalizing a new head of mission can take months, Saint-Jacques said. Candidates must be approved at multiple levels of government all the way up to the Privy Council Office. Read more: Espionage claims against Canadians are retaliation for Huawei execs extradition moving forward, say analysts Rebuke of China from Canadas allies clearest and best diplomatic path forward, say experts What we know and dont know about Robert Schellenbergs death sentence in China But even after Ottawa's approval, an ambassador's assignment is not formally recognized until the Chinese government agrees to an envoy's appointment. After their arrival, Ambassadors must also present their "letters of credence" to the president of the state alongside other diplomats in an official ceremony. It took three weeks for the Chinese government to agree to Saint-Jacques' own assignment, which he said was a "pretty fast" turnaround. And because he narrowly missed an opportunity to present his letters of credence, it took a full two months before his formal recognition was finalized. Saint-Jacques said his successor, John McCallum, was able to present his letters the day after his arrival in Beijing, as a ceremony with other Ambassadors was already scheduled. But if history is any indication, he added, no further presentations will be permitted while Meng remains in Canadian custody. He pointed to friction between China and Norway in 2010 over the decision to award a Nobel Peace Prize to imprisoned democracy advocate Liu Xiaobo. Aside from a stalled trade deal between the countries and Beijings move to largely block Norwegian salmon exports over the Peace Prize dispute, Norways ambassador to China, Svein O. Sther, remained in his post for more than twice the typical four-year tenure over fears Beijing would refuse to confirm a replacement. Since McCallum was forced to resign in January, Canadas embassy in Beijing has been led by Charge dAffaires Jim Nickel a career foreign service officer and deputy head of mission in Beijing since August 2018. Following McCallums resignation, former diplomats spoke critically of the practice of appointing politicians to ambassadorial positions, suggesting such individuals may lack the skills necessary to navigate an environment as nuanced and complex as a diplomatic mission in China. McCallum, who was a Liberal member of parliament for more than a decade-and-a-half, was the only Canadian ambassador to China to have previously held elected office since a Canadian embassy was opened in Beijing in 1971. But an ambassadorial posting isnt purely about governmental relations, Saint-Jacques said. A head of mission to Beijing oversees administrative affairs for roughly 300 employees in addition to being responsible for building connections in foreign communities including the business, academic and media sectors. There is also the challenge of dealing with the parallel structure of the Chinese Communist Party, from within which the real decision-making power emerges, Saint-Jacques said. To my knowledge, no ambassador has accessed the inner circle of (Communist Party leadership), he said. Saint-Jacques said there are currently several candidates whose experience and skill set, including being a Mandarin-speaker, would qualify them for consideration to succeed McCallum. But David Mulroney, who served as Canadian ambassador to China between 2009 and 2012, said there may be larger, systemic issues which could make finding a replacement for McCallum a challenge. It takes a lot of time to find the right person, he told The Star Vancouver in an email. Not everybody can suddenly pull up stakes and move to Beijing. We have some exceptional people, but the pool is not deep, which makes it even harder. Were paying for years of underinvesting in China competence. Yet despite the absence of a formally recognized head of mission in Beijing, Saint-Jacques said Canadas diplomatic options are not yet exhausted. The goal right now is to restore dialogue, he said, adding Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland might weigh in with a formal letter to her counterpart in China requesting that this national security and rule of law dialogue be convened, he suggested. A missive from an official as senior as Freeland could help pull relations back from their current deep freeze, he said, as well as serve to warn Beijing that continued punitive measures against Canada will force us to take our own measures. Correction - April 12, 2019: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly conflated the order in which the processes of "agrement" the formal "presentation of letters of credence" occurred for Guy Saint-Jacques in Beijing. As well, Saint-Jacques initially told StarMetro that John McCallum's presentation of letters the day after his arrival in Beijing signalled the Chinese government "welcomed his nomination." He has since learned that, the official ceremony during which McCallum's presentation of letters occurred may have only coincidentally been scheduled for the day after his arrival in Beijing. As well, David Mulroney suggested that Chrystia Freeland might send a formal letter requesting that the national security and rule of law dialogue be convened, not, contained. Read more about: Opinion Policies Editorials are longer opinion pieces that are written by a group of community members recruited across campus who address relevant issues on a local, national and international level. Editorials are research-based. The purpose of the Editorial Board is to promote discussion concerning relevant issues in the community while advising on possible solutions. Topics are chosen via relevancy and interests of the members, which are then discussed by the Editorial Board in order to reach a general consensus concerning the topic or issue. Feedback policy If you have a grievance concerning the content or argument of the Editorial Board, please contact either Opinion Editor Peyton Hamel (peyton.hamel@iowastatedaily.com) or the Editorial Board as a whole (editorialboard@iowastatedaily.com). Those wanting to respond to editorials can also submit a letter to the editor through the Iowa State Daily website or by emailing the letter to Opinion Editor Peyton Hamel (peyton.hamel@iowastatedaily.com) or Editor-in-Chief Sage Smith (sage.smith@iowastatedaily.com). Column Policy Columns are hyper-specific to opinion and are written by only columnists employed by the Iowa State Daily. Columnists are unique because they have a specific writing day and only publish on those writing days. Each column undergoes a thorough editing process ensuring the integrity of the writer, and their claim is maintained while remaining research-based and respectful. Columns may be submitted from community members. These are labelled as Guest Columns. These contain similar research-based content and need to be at least 400 words in length. The following requirements should be met: first and last name, email and relation or position to Iowa State. Emails must be tied to the submitted guest column or it will not be accepted or published. Pseudonyms are prohibited and the writer will be banned from submissions. Read our full Opinion Policies here. Updated on 10/7/2020 Lost and Wanted: A Novel By Nell Freudenberger Knopf. 315 pp. $26.95 --- The opening of Nell Freudenberger's new novel, "Lost and Wanted," echoes a classic"Twilight Zone" episode. In "Night Call," a phone rings and an elderly woman answers only to hear weird indecipherable sounds. The calls continue until they're traced to a nearby cemetery, where a downed wire rests on the grave belonging to the woman's deceased fiancee. In "Lost and Wanted," our narrator, Helen Clapp, looks at her ringing cellphone one morning and - thanks to the modern miracle of called ID - sees the name Charlie come up. The problem is that Charlie, Helen's best friend from college, died the night before. Out of this creepy premise, Freudenberger has crafted a gorgeous literary novel about loss and human limitations. Over the months that follow Charlie's death (officially, from complications of lupus), Helen grapples with grief, midlife regrets and the disruptive possibility of life after death. Because she's a distinguished professor of physics at MIT, Helen is well equipped - or so she believes - to argue rationally against the latter. But even after learning that Charlie's cellphone went missing immediately after her death and that the postmortem calls and texts she's still receiving are probably from a cruel prankster, Helen is unnerved. Whoever is contacting her is privy to personal information only Charlie would know. In her other books - the superb 2003 short story collection, "Lucky Girls," and the richly imagined novels that followed, "The Dissident" and "The Newlyweds" - Freudenberger concerned herself with the clash of cultures: What would happen, for instance, if a performance artist from China or a bride from Bangladesh transplanted to Los Angeles or Rochester, N.Y.? Here, the clash of cultures theme is more muted but still significant. As we learn in Helen's retrospective narration, she and Charlie met in their first year at Harvard: "In our era at Harvard, there were various, distinct types: the international students; the children of immigrants; the scattering of anonymous valedictorians from all across the country, like me, the only ones from their high school. ... I would have said then that Charlie and I - an upper-middle-class black girl from Brookline and a work-study white science nerd from Pasadena - didn't fit into any category, and that's why we were eventually drawn to each other." But these boxes, Helen continues, "were nothing more than comforting fictions, like Bohr's atomic model, which is so pretty and so sensible - its particles orbiting the nucleus like a miniature sun and planets - that it's still the definitive representation. This is in spite of its incompatibility with everything we now know about the very tiniest pieces into which the world can be broken." That passage is a miniature model of Freudenberger's dazzling writing style in "Lost and Wanted": Helen's thoughts will often meander from a wry social observation to a digression on physics (generally accessible to the layperson) to a heart-rending epiphany. Charlie's death is all the more painful to Helen because the two friends had been out of touch for a while, partly because of geographical distance. At a memorial service held in Boston, where Charlie's parents live, Helen is reunited with them, as well as with Charlie's husband, Terrence, and her wise-child daughter, Simmi, who's about a year older than Helen's own 8-year-old son. Terrence and Simmi have moved in with Charlie's parents, but the arrangement is fraught. After a few months, Helen, who's a single mom, agrees to let the two rent the ground floor apartment in her house. That this plot twist doesn't feel contrived or melt into a gooey resolution further demonstrates Freudenberger's penetrating imagination. Freudenberger was hailed as a literary wunderkind when she published her first story in the New Yorker at the age of 26. Now 43, she dramatizes, through Helen, both the dawning awareness that life doesn't always allow for second chances and the great midlife consolation prize: a greater appreciation for those chances - and people - one has been given. In another tour-de-force passage, Helen implicitly likens Charlie to the Higgs boson, a fundamental particle of matter that "creates a field, producing profound effects on the particles around it, while remaining invisible itself; for that reason, it has sometimes been called the 'God particle'- a designation most physicists dislike." "Lost and Wanted" ends with its own ingenious version of a "big bang" that leaves the Helen, our dedicated woman of science, a bit more open to the tantalizing promise of that theological designation. --- Corrigan, who teaches literature at Georgetown University, is the book critic for the NPR program, "Fresh Air." If reading books is fun, and it certainly is, shouldn't reading books about books be twice as much fun? While that logic may seem a bit sketchy, it's still true that anyone who loves books is likely to enjoy learning about other people's libraries and collections. Consider, for instance, these six recent titles. --- "The Lost Gutenberg: The Astounding Story of One Book's Five-Hundred Year Odyssey," by Margaret Leslie Davis (Tarcher) You don't need to be a bibliophile to relish this history of how one particular copy of the Gutenberg Bible - known as No. 45 - passed from owner to owner in the 19th and 20th centuries, before being acquired by Estelle Doheny, the widow of an oil tycoon (who nearly lost his fortune and his freedom during the Teapot Dome scandal, and probably should have). Margaret Leslie Davis not only explains how Gutenberg printed his Bible, but also details its afterlife in various private libraries and sale rooms. Among the key figures in her story are that sociable litterateur Sydney Cockerell and the high-rolling book dealers A.S.W. Rosenbach and David Randall. Though one of America's pre-eminent collectors, Doheny still needed three chances before she was able to acquire her own Gutenberg. When she finally did in 1950, she was virtually blind. Being a devout Catholic, Doheny eventually willed her fabulous library to St. John's Seminary, where it was to be kept intact for 25 years. In 1987, though, the seminary - wanting money to train priests - sold No. 45 at auction to Maruzen Co. Ltd, of Tokyo for $5.4 million. The new owners eventually digitized every page and then either gave - or quietly sold - the Bible to Keio University, where today it remains locked away in a vault and never exhibited. --- "The Role of the Scroll: An Illustrated Introduction to Scrolls in the Middle Ages," by Thomas Forrest Kelly (Norton) Scrolls may seem an antiquated system of information preservation and retrieval - until we remember that we scroll up and down all day on our computers. In this exceptionally elegant study, Kelly - a professor of music at Harvard - explores why people in the Middle Ages still created scrolls when the codex book was already in use. He gives several reasons. For instance, if you're making a list, scrolls can be easily lengthened to accommodate additional items. They also remain unrivaled for imbuing gravitas to ceremonies of pomp and circumstance: What would graduation be without a diploma? Beautifully illustrated, "The Role of the Scroll" arrives with the enthusiastic recommendation of Christopher de Hamel, author of the prize-winning "Meetings With Remarkable Manuscripts." --- "Indispensable Reading: 1,001 Books from 'The Arabian Nights' to Zola," by Wm. Roger Louis (I.B. Tauris) In his introduction, Wm. Roger Louis - Kerr Professor of English History and Culture at the University of Texas in Austin - explains that "Indispensable Books" got its start from a UT faculty-generated list of "150 books for students to read or at least be aware of before they graduate." That phrase "at least be aware of" strikes a rather pathetic note, as if the good professors recognized the hopelessness of their task. Sigh. In any event, to that 150-book core Louis has added 851 others to create this humanistic canon. Though understandably heavy with late 20th-century titles, the result is an intelligent, reliable guide, and you won't go wrong in following its annotated recommendations. Organization is by category (History, Literature, Philosophy, etc.), then by author, alphabetically. With a kind of false economy, Louis restricts each entry to a single title, no matter how voluminous or varied the author's oeuvre. Thus the entry on J.G. Ballard points only to "Empire of the Sun," his marvelous, semi-autobiographical novel (which should have won the Booker). Yet Ballard's lasting importance really lies in his extraordinary short stories, about which Louis says nothing. It also seems perverse to recommend Beatrix Potter's "The Tailor of Gloucester," which is admittedly her most ambitious work, while passing over that immortal lullaby-in-prose, "The Tale of Peter Rabbit." And why does the Saul Bellow entry, which briefly discusses "Herzog," reproduce the paperback cover of the unmentioned "Seize the Day"? Picky, picky, as my mother would say. Still, lists of recommended reading should provoke reaction and feedback. So let me re-emphasize that "Indispensable Books" is well worth owning and arguing with. --- "Hermann Zapf and the World He Designed," by Jerry Kelly (Grolier Club); "A Matter of Size: Miniature Bindings and Texts From the Collection of Patricia J. Pistner," curated by Patricia J. Pistner and Jan Storm van Leeuwe (Grolier Club) If you stop by New York's Morgan Library this spring for the Tolkien exhibition, be sure to swing by the Grolier Club as well. Both the above books are linked to concurrent exhibitions there, the Hermann Zapf running through April 27 and the Pfister miniatures through May 18. Jerry Kelly's biography of Zapf tracks the career of this great 20th century type designer, who was also - to quote calligrapher Julian Waters - "the major influence in letter form design and calligraphy since World War II." Showing a nicely judged sense of humor, the annotated catalog of Pistner's collection of Lilliputian-sized books is a gorgeous, Brobdingnagian tome - and sure to become a standard reference for connoisseurs of miniature bindings and texts. --- "Chicago by the Book: 101 Publications That Shaped the City and Its Image" (The Caxton Club) Like the Grolier, Chicago's bibliophilic Caxton Club occasionally issues titles of it own, such as this collection of essays - by Neil Harris, Rosanna Warren, Sara Paretsky, Alex Kotlowitz and others - honoring printed works closely identified with the Windy City. So, besides Carl Sandburg's poetry and James T. Farrell's "Studs Lonigan," one finds discussions here of such Chicago-based enterprises as Weird Tales, Esquire and Playboy magazines, as well as the famous Lakeside Press, Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" and Mortimer J. Adler's iconic set, "The Great Books of the Western World." The revered writer-director Mike Leigh is best known for his naturalistic portraits of contemporary British society, slices of working-class life that manage to be modest and monumental at the same time. Once or twice, with such films as "Topsy-Turvy," about the composing duo Gilbert and Sullivan, and "Mr. Turner," about the eponymous painter, Leigh has chosen to revisit the 19th century, with utterly glorious results. "Peterloo," about an 1819 massacre of working people peacefully demonstrating for their political rights, marks an exceedingly rare instance when Leigh's powers of observation and propulsive storytelling fail him. This horrific chapter of English history - little known in the United States - possesses all of the components of Leigh's best work, which has been informed by equal parts outrage on behalf of and deep respect and compassion for the poor and disenfranchised. But rather than a fine-tuned excavation, "Peterloo" unfurls like a grandiose pageant, in which Leigh's usual gifts for illuminating human behavior at its most intimate and universal are sacrificed to expository set pieces and long, windy speeches. So many speeches. Set a few years after the Napoleonic Wars, we're treated to parliamentary speeches extolling the heroism of the Duke of Wellington, suggesting he be honored with a 750-pound reward. We hear mini-speeches about the "rampant insurrection" and "seditious activity" that is stirring the mill city of Manchester and its environs, where exploitative industrialists pay their workers a pittance, where bread is unaffordable due to punitive wheat taxes, and where pitiless magistrates sentence citizens to death, whipping or deportation to Australia for the unforgivable crime of being poor and powerless. And we hear the speeches of the ones fighting back, radicals and reformers who are whipping their dispossessed brethren into a righteous fury of resistance. The most gifted orator in this noble endeavor is Henry Hunt (Rory Kinnear), who agrees to come to Manchester to speak at an outdoor venue called St. Peter's Field. Tens of thousands of working-class and feminist activists descend on the semi-enclosed space, where they're met by soldiers and yeomanry being directed by the magistrates who watch the proceedings from a disdainful distance. All of this unfolds with a dreadful sense of impending doom in "Peterloo," which has been photographed with characteristic care and artfulness by the great Dick Pope. (Leigh's collaboration with Pope is one of the enduring visual pleasures of present-day cinema.) Filmed almost entirely on a sound stage, the film has a handsome, composed quality that lends the story an attractive stateliness but also seems to keep it at arm's length. A subplot involving a traumatized young war veteran named Joe (David Moorst) feels opportunistic and shoehorned-in, although Rachel Finnegan delivers a scene-stealing turn as the boy's skeptical, astringently funny mother. But most of "Peterloo" has to do with men fulminating, whether it's the obese, heavily rouged Prince Regent tut-tutting about the unruly proles up north or Hunt and his acolytes outdoing each other in empurpling their declamatory prose. The end result is a movie that feels oddly detached, especially considering the raw intimacy of Leigh's previous films. Still, "Peterloo" chimes with distressingly familiar echoes of today, from an early example of "fake news" to the depredations of inhumane wealth inequality and militarized law enforcement. "Peterloo" might be a page from the past, but it's from a book that we seem still to be writing - over and over again. --- One and one-half stars. Rated PG-13. Contains a sequence of violence and chaos. 152 minutes. This film is distributed by Amazon Studios. Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post. Ratings Guide: Four stars masterpiece, three stars very good, two stars OK, one star poor, no stars waste of time. The musician Samuel "Blitz" Bazawule makes a stunning feature directorial debut with "The Burial of Kojo," a visionary fable drenched with vibrancy and lyricism. Set in Ghana against a literally and figuratively changing landscape, what begins as a fairy tale or childlike fable takes on unexpected heft, as Bazawule's simple, arrestingly composed frames accumulate into something transcendent and deeply affecting. Narrated by Esi (played as a young girl by newcomer Cynthia Dankwa), "The Burial of Kojo" tells the story of an idyllic childhood spent with her father - a fisherman named Kojo (Joseph Otsiman) - and her more distant mother, Ama (Mamley Djangmah). Living in a small shack within a village entirely surrounded by water, Esi is poor, but content with the days she spends with her father in his canoe, surrounded by bird song and gently lapping waves. Evoked by Bazawule by way of exquisite images and moments of startling magical realism, Esi's world is one of enchantment, full of auguries, symbols and stark metaphors. As often as not, those omens have to do with water, fire and birds, which come into play with increasingly metaphorical power throughout "The Burial of Kojo." When Esi's uncle Kwabena (Kobina Amissah-Sam) visits and convinces Kojo to move the family to the "big city," an existence once in tune with the rhythms of nature turns into an edgier quest for economic survival, one that will introduce Kojo to the cutthroat world of black-market gold mining and the presence of Chinese big business. What's more, he will be forced to confront a long-standing conflict he's had with Kwabena, a family feud that is not-so-subtly echoed in the Spanish telenovelas Esi watches on TV with her grandmother. Bazawule, who is on a mission to create a thriving, self- sustaining film industry in Ghana, infuses "The Burial of Kojo" with color and invention, not hesitating to turn the film upside down, run it in reverse or speed up his edits to create a desired effect. Set to music he wrote himself - drawing on Afropop as well as more classical sounds - his movie fairly bursts with beauty, wonder and light. As grounded in reality as it is informed by outright fantasy, "The Burial of Kojo" is deceptively simple, unfolding in the soothing, singsong manner of a child's fragmentary dream, but containing within it myriad truths about an Africa where economic exploitation and colonialism have taken on new forms and accents. Primarily, though, "The Burial of Kojo" tells a touching story of the love between a father and his daughter, an enduring devotion that is expressed in the film's lovely final scene. Bazawule might portray Kojo as a man burdened by vision and all that it portends. As for the filmmaker himself, it's nothing but a gift. --- Three and one-half stars. Unrated. Contains some adult themes. In Fante, Twi and English with subtitles. 80 minutes. Ratings Guide: Four stars masterpiece, three stars very good, two stars OK, one star poor, no stars waste of time. In March, Apple officially unveiled Apple News+, a brand new subscription service built upon digital magazine spines (and some digital newspapers). To build that service, Apple needed to acquire the Netflix of magazines, Texture. A new report aims to shed some light on just how much that acquisition last year cost Apple. Texture recently confirmed that it was shutting down its services soon. For iOS users thats not a huge loss, because Texture already cost $9.99 per month and thats what Apple News+ costs. However, 30% of Textures users were on Android (and Windows), and those users wont be able to access Apple News+ (unless they get an iOS device). That leaves them out in the cold for a subscription service with access to hundreds of magazines. Now, The New York Post has put together a report that breaks down how the money situation worked behind-the-scenes. According to the publication, Apples acquisition worked out to be a total of $485 million, but its not just one lump sum of that size. To start, Apple reportedly paid $100 million upfront to companies Conde Nast, Rogers Media, Meredith, and Hearst all of which are publishers. Next, guaranteed payouts for those publishers upwards of $145 million for the first year. In the second and third years, Apple then guaranteed the companies an additional $240 million. Putting it all together, Apples acquisition of Texture is upwards of $485 million if all these numbers are the real deal. Which means Apple sees a lot of potential with News+, but needs to see a return on that. According to a recent report, Apple News+ saw a total of 200,000 people sign up for the subscription service within its first 48 hours of availability. However, News+ comes with a 30-day free trial period (before it switches to $9.99 per month). Will all of those customers stick with the service? That remains to be seen. Have you tried out Apple News+ yet? [via 9to5Mac The golden promises of the air fryer were just too tempting to ignore. Browned and crisp French fries, craggy chicken wings coated in hot sauce, breaded calamari that crunches audibly when you bite down all without the unctuous mess, wafting odor and calorie count of deep-frying. Home cooks celebrated the appliance not just for its faux-frying capabilities, but also for its ability to cook small amounts of food (potato wedges, broccoli spears, chicken) much faster than their regular ovens. Could air fryers really be the best kitchen innovation since my beloved electric pressure cooker, or is it all just too good to be true? After extensive testing, my colleagues at Wirecutter, a product review site owned by The New York Times Co., panned the appliance as overhyped and overpriced. The Kitchn, a home-cooking website, firmly agreed with that assessment, while Cooking Light magazine reported uneven results. The only way Id find out if an air fryer was worth my precious counter space would be to try it for myself. An air fryer is basically a shrunken countertop convection oven. Some models are smallish and egg-shaped, with a footprint similar to that of a coffee maker. Others resemble large toaster ovens, boasting a bevy of functions roast, convection bake, toast, dehydrate, proof in addition to air frying. Like convection ovens, every model is equipped with high-speed fans to circulate hot air around your food. But air fryers blow air more forcefully and at hotter temperatures than regular convection, in an attempt to mimic the browning of deep-frying, using teaspoons of oil rather than cups. If it sounds too good to be true, well, maybe it is. Air fryers have been one of the fastest-growing items in the category of small home appliances since they were introduced in Europe in 2010. According to Joe Derochowski, home-industry adviser at the NPD Group, a market research firm, nearly 10 million air fryers were sold in the United States from late May 2017 to mid-March 2019. He likened their growth to that of multicookers like the Instant Pot, of which about 13 million were sold in the same time period. And growth is accelerating over the past 12 months: Air fryer sales increased 69 percent, year over year, in 2018. These numbers account only for stand-alone air fryers, and not countertop convection ovens with air-frying functions, like the Breville Smart Oven and the Cuisinart AirFryer Toaster Oven. For my own testing, I chose a small (2.75-quart) free-standing model by Philips, the one recommended by Wirecutter, which wouldnt require as much valuable counter space as some of the other models. Then I set some parameters. I wanted to determine what the machine did best, not everything it was capable of, so I nixed the entire category of baking recipes. I also skipped frozen prepared products like French fries, breaded fish sticks and chicken nuggets: Since I was testing to see if the machine warranted a spot on my counter, I stuck to foods I wanted to eat. That definitely does, however, include French fries made from fresh potatoes. Ill happily devour a plate of extra-crisp, darkly browned fries as my dinner, along with a salad. Deep-frying French fries in the standard way is particularly messy, though, because you need to fry them at least twice for maximum crispness. After air frying nearly a dozen batches using different techniques, I found that cooking them in stages at two different temperatures (350 degrees, then 400) yielded a solid A-minus batch of fries: not as good as deep-fried, but better than my oven-baked fries, and easy enough for a Tuesday at home when the craving struck. Next, I moved on to chicken wings, turning to Ben Mims cookbook Air Fry Every Day (Clarkson Potter, 2018) for guidance. Using a trick he picked up from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, of the website Serious Eats, Mims coats the chicken skin with baking powder before air frying. The baking powder expands in the heat and causes the skin to bubble up and turn supremely crisp, he explained. It worked perfectly, yielding ultra-crunchy, golden wings that soaked up the sweet and spicy butter sauce I tossed them in when they were done. I also made the same wings in my regular oven using the convection setting, and they were almost as crisp-skinned, although they took longer. Neither version was as good as regular, deep-fried wings, but they were pretty darn close and good enough to get devoured in minutes. People think they can just replace their FryDaddys with air fryers and get healthier versions of the fatty food they love, he said, referring to the countertop deep fryer. But air-fried chicken is never going to taste as good as oil-fried. Agreed. The Southern-fried chicken legs I made in the air fryer were some of the worst of my experiments burned yet soggy and thoroughly rubbery. Slightly more successful but still not worth eating were breaded shrimp and calamari, doughnuts and jalapeno poppers, all of which cooked unevenly and failed to brown and crisp to a satisfying degree. Pizza was also a bust. So I asked Mims, other than chicken wings and French fries, what were the best things I could make in my air fryer? Vegetables! he said before Id even finished the question. Especially the soggy ones. The air fryer fan wicks away excess moisture, almost dehydrating food, so its really great for notoriously soggy vegetables like zucchini, summer squash, eggplant and okra, he continued. The pieces get dried and crunchy on the outside and tender within. I tried his suggestions, tossing the vegetables with a tiny bit of oil and air frying until the pieces were burnished, glistening and tender-crisp. They were all a bit better than if Id run them under my broiler, and far easier and less messy than frying. Brussels sprouts and eggplant were especially compelling because they were able to retain the most oil, either by absorbing it, as in the case of the eggplant, or by being trapped within the layers of the Brussels sprout. This extra oil in turn made the vegetables fantastically crisp. (With other vegetables, the fans force caused the oil to slide right off.) The air fryer also did a very good job cooking small amounts of food, like a couple of salmon fillets or skin-on, boneless chicken thighs, which look and taste as if youd roasted them, but get there more quickly and evenly than in my regular oven. This is in part because of the hot air flow from convection, and in part because the small chamber of the machine doesnt require much, if any, preheating. For many households, this speediness is even more important than being able to cook favorite foods with far less fat. People come to air fryers thinking theyre going to do fried chicken, chicken wings and French fries all the time, but then they end up using them more for weeknight meals, said Dean Brindle, vice president of category strategy and product development at DeLonghi NA, a home-appliance manufacturer based in Italy, which unveiled its version of the air fryer in 2015. Theres been an evolution in what consumers want, he said. There are the slow-cooker dump recipes, the sheet-pan recipes, and now those same folks are turning to air fryers for speed and convenience. Once they learn how to use the machines, he continued, they are experimenting with different flavors and ingredients, looking for variety that goes beyond the American comfort foods usually associated with the appliance. Urvashi Pitre, also known as the butter chicken lady, has written cookbooks for both the Instant Pot and more recently, the air fryer (Every Day Easy Air Fryer, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018). She loves her air fryer for making crisp-edged foods like beef kebabs, lamb kibbe and tandoori chicken. When I published the book, I was a little worried because it wasnt just mainstream American recipes, but it did extremely well nonetheless, she said, adding that between the Instant Pot and the air fryer, I havent turned on my full-sized oven in years. Heres the thing I realized about the air fryer: Frying is the thing it does worst of all. If youre in the market for a tiny, speedy countertop oven, youll probably be happy. But I already have a big oven that I dont mind using on a daily basis. And while the air fryer was brilliant with Brussels sprouts and eggplant, the results from my broiler were very close behind. But what was even worse was that all that air-fried food only made me crave real fried food, aggravating the itch rather than scratching it. With just a little sadness, I gave my air fryer to a friend, who uses it to make meatballs and sweet potatoes for her 5-year-old. And Im glad to have my countertop back, which leaves me plenty of room to wield my sheet pans without knocking into my Instant Pot. 6 tips for using your air fryer The air fryer the latest it kitchen appliance is a wildly popular countertop convection oven that uses circulating hot air to cook food quickly. I put one through its paces to see if it could really mimic the taste of deep-fried foods without all the fat. I also picked up a few tips along the way, which Im passing on to you. Dont overcrowd If you stuff the air fryer basket or rack, your food will steam rather than crisp. For a smaller model, this could mean cooking food in many, many batches. (If you are routinely cooking for more than two or three people, consider buying a larger-capacity model.) Dont overcook Take care not to cook food too long: The fan may dry things out, turning ingredients from crisp to hard and leathery. Use dry breading Dry coating works much better than a wet batter, so cloak ingredients in flour, egg and breadcrumbs, in that order, for added crunch, and to help ensure that the breading sticks. (Air fryer fans are very powerful, and if an ingredient is not well-coated, the breading could fly right off.) You could also try pressing down on the crumbs so they adhere. Add a little oil Unless a food is inherently fatty (such as bacon, skin-on chicken or a batch of meatballs made from beef that isnt too lean) always add at least a little oil, which encourages browning. Otherwise, the fan could dry out the food before it browns. Prevent smoking If youre cooking really greasy food like bacon, put a tablespoon of water or a piece of bread in the bottom of the air fryer to catch the grease and keep it from potentially smoking. Give it a shake Always turn your food or shake the basket to ensure even cooking. Air-Fryer Spicy Chicken Wings Total time: 25 minutes, plus resting Yield: 3 to 4 servings 1 pound chicken wings, cut in half through the joint into wingettes and drumettes 1 teaspoons baking powder teaspoon kosher salt teaspoon ground black pepper 1 Tablespoon melted unsalted butter 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice teaspoon honey, preferably dark teaspoon Tabasco sauce teaspoon Sriracha or other Asian chile sauce In a large bowl, toss chicken with baking powder, salt and pepper until the pieces are thoroughly coated. Spread the pieces out on a rack placed on a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 1 hour and up to overnight. (The longer, the better.) Heat the air fryer to 400 degrees, if preheating is necessary. Arrange chicken on air fryer rack so all of the pieces are standing up against the edges of the basket, with as much space around each one as possible. Fry until golden brown and crispy, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together butter, lemon zest and juice, honey, Tabasco and sriracha. Immediately transfer the fried chicken wings to the bowl with the honey-chile sauce and toss well. Serve at once. Air-Fryer French Fries Total time: 25 minutes, plus soaking and drying Yield: 2 servings 1 large russet potato (about 8 ounces), cut into -inch-thick sticks 1 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 teaspoons kosher salt, more as needed cup mayonnaise 2 Tablespoons sour cream or plain whole-milk Greek yogurt 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard teaspoon smoked paprika Put potatoes in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Soak for at least 30 minutes (or up to overnight, stored in the refrigerator), then drain and pat very dry. Heat the air fryer to 350 degrees, if preheating is necessary. Line a rimmed baking sheet with paper towels. In a dry bowl, toss potatoes with 1 Tablespoon oil and 1 teaspoons salt. Transfer to air fryer and fry at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, tossing halfway. Transfer the potatoes to the baking sheet, spreading them in an even layer, and let cool to room temperature, at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours. (This step is optional; it gives the fries a slightly crispier exterior. If you want to skip it, keep the potatoes in the fryer and proceed to the next step.) Turn the air fryer heat up to 400 degrees. Arrange potatoes in the fryer if youve taken them out, and drizzle with Tablespoon oil. Cook until golden and crisp, about 8 to 10 minutes, tossing or stirring halfway through. Transfer immediately to a serving platter and sprinkle with more salt. While the fries are cooking, make the sauce: In a small bowl, stir together mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard and paprika. Serve alongside the fries for dipping. Air-Fryer Brussels Sprouts with Garlic, Balsamic and Soy Total time: 20 minutes Yield: 3 to 4 servings 1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved through the stems (cut larger ones in quarters) 3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil teaspoon kosher salt 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced cup balsamic vinegar 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice, plus more for serving teaspoon soy sauce Heat air fryer to 400 degrees, if preheating is necessary. Place Brussels sprouts in the air fryer basket; drizzle with 1 Tablespoon oil and the salt. Fry for 15 minutes, shaking basket or stirring the sprouts halfway through. Sprinkle sprouts with garlic. Continue to fry until the garlic is golden brown, another 2 to 4 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring balsamic vinegar to a simmer. Continue to simmer until thickened and starting to look syrupy, adjusting heat as necessary to prevent burning, from 2 to 3 minutes. (Keep a close eye on it; it will go from reduced to burned very quickly.) Remove from heat and whisk in 2 Tablespoons oil, the lime juice and the soy sauce. Transfer Brussels sprouts to a serving platter and drizzle with balsamic dressing. Squeeze more lime juice on top to taste. The following is the full text of the Joint Statement. At the invitation of H.E Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, H.E. Mr. Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, paid an official visit to Vietnam on 9 April 2019. During the visit, Prime Minister Mark Rutte held official talks with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, met with General Secretary, State President Nguyen Phu Trong and President of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan. The official talks were held in an atmosphere of friendship, mutual trust and understanding. During the talks, the two leaders updated each other of developments in their respective countries, discussed ways and means to further advance the bilateral relations, and exchanged views on international and regional issues of mutual interests and concerns. Both sides expressed satisfaction over the successive steps forward in the bilateral cooperation in a wide range of areas from politics, diplomacy, economy, development cooperation, transport, logistics, agriculture, climate change adaptation, management and use of natural resources to education and training, and cultural exchange. Acknowledging the significance of the bilateral cooperation to both Vietnam and the Netherlands, both sides decided to upgrade their relationship to a comprehensive partnership, with a view to effectively harnessing their cooperation potentials, enabling the bilateral ties to expand and deepen with greater dynamism in all dimensions in the years to come. Both sides recognised the importance of the high-level mutual visits, including Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucs official visit to the Netherlands in 2017 and this official visit to Vietnam by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, as well as regular exchanges between their ministries, agencies and localities to the promotion of the bilateral relations. The two Prime Ministers agreed to hold further high level meetings under bilateral and multilateral frameworks, while enhancing the effectiveness of their various mechanisms of sectoral cooperation. Both sides welcomed the Agreement on Customs Cooperation and other agreements concluded as well as the results reached at the Vietnam - Netherlands Business Round Table held in Hanoi on the sidelines of the visit. They also welcomed the successful conclusion of the negotiations on the Agreement on the Gainful employment of family members of members of a diplomatic mission and/or consular post, which will be signed soon after the visit. Both sides emphasised their shared commitment to inclusive and sustainable development as reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda. Both sides reaffirm that this shared commitment towards inclusive, sustainable development is the main pillar of the Comprehensive Vietnam - Netherlands Partnership and welcome the contribution of responsible businesses, knowledge institutes, associations and NGOs and the people of the two countries to the achievement of the SDGs. Both sides reaffirmed that the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement and Investment Protection Agreement are important frameworks for further strengthening the economic, trade and investment relations in a sustainable and inclusive way between Vietnam and the EU as well as those between Vietnam and the Netherlands, meeting the interests of all parties and contributing to promotion of international trade liberalisation and the Sustainable Development Goals. Both sides also stressed the need of and expressed strong support for the signing and ratification of the Agreements in the coming months as well as their swift implementation, in line with the procedural requirements, for the materialization of their benefits. Both sides reaffirmed that their Strategic Partnerships on Climate Change Adaptation and Water Management, and on Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security had been productive and would remain pillars of their Comprehensive Partnership. They welcomed the outcomes of the 7th Session of the Inter-Governmental Committee on Climate Change adaptation and Water Management and the directions of their cooperation, especially regarding the sustainable development of the Mekong Delta, and agreed to collaborate on the coordination and implementation of Resolution 120, the design of the Development Fund for the Mekong Delta and on land subsidence. Other support and cooperation programmes, including the joint efforts to find possible solutions for coastal erosion in Hoi An, Quang Nam and flood prevention in Ho Chi Minh City, were welcomed and will be supported. Both parties expressed their political support for the Global Commission on Adaptation. Both sides also agreed to maximise the achievements of the Strategic Partnership for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security and welcomed the outcomes of the 3rd Ministerial Meeting on implementation of the Strategic Partnership held on the occasion of the visit. They also agreed to implement cooperation programs, on the basis of their priorities and strengths, in such areas as plantation, animal farming, food safety management, smart agriculture, climate change adaptation, water quality etc. including cooperation in the development of smart agricultural areas and improvement of value chains for Vietnamese agricultural produce with emphasis on technology transfer and assistance from Dutch partners to stimulate mutual business opportunities. Sustainable and circular agriculture will be further taken into account in the cooperation programmes. The two parties specifically agreed on further cooperation on land consolidation and cooperatives. They also expressed their appreciation that the Netherlands had been invited as the Guest of Honour at the Ho Chi Minh City Food Expo which was held from November 14 to 17, 2018. Both sides welcomed the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Cooperation on the Agricultural Transition in the Mekong River Delta between the two Governments including first class knowledge and expertise from amongst others the Wageningen University & Research to provide high quality technical assistance and to start several projects on value chain development. They underlined the link between water availability, water quality and the agricultural transition and welcomed the cooperation on the basis of the two Strategic Partnership Arrangements to deal with this challenge. Both sides expressed their satisfaction that Vietnam and the Netherlands have always been each others important trading and investment partner and underlined the immense potentials and demands for continued cooperation in many other areas using a multi stakeholder approach, particularly in circular economy and agriculture, renewable energy, environmental protection, urban development and building of smart cities, ocean economy, sea transport, shipbuilding logistics, management of sea ports and airports, aviation, training and research and education. They will work together and continue to share experiences in order to create favourable conditions for investment and business activities between their companies and partners. Both sides noted with satisfaction the cooperation between and among their municipal authorities in recent years, and welcomed the linkages and exchanges between Hanoi and Amsterdam, Ho Chi Minh City and Rotterdam as well as between their other municipal authorities. Both sides valued their cultural and artistic exchanges, particularly those in 2018 in celebration of the 45th anniversary of their diplomatic relations that contributed to better mutual understanding between the two peoples. They also noted with delight the bilateral cooperation programs in environmental conservation and preservation. Both sides underlined their shared views on international and regional issues as well as their support for strengthening effective multilateral cooperation, respect for international rule of law and trade liberalisation. They also expressed their commitment to further enhance their collaboration on addressing global issues, including on the promotion of the UNs central role for peace, international security, on sustainable development and on the implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Both countries reaffirmed their commitments made in Paris to put forward their best efforts through Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and to strengthen these efforts in the years ahead. Furthermore, they expressed their willingness to strengthen bilateral cooperation, by exchanges of experience and support to each other in the transfer of technology for climate adaptation and reduction of greenhouse gases, in accessing funds for climate. They will enhance the cooperation for the participating in UN peacekeeping operations. Both sides acknowledged the importance of the promotion of the rule of law and human rights, both of which, taking into account characteristics of each country, are essential for sustainable development, security and stability. They highlighted their exchanges on the promotion of gender equality and the implementation of the UN Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Prime Minister Mark Rutte looks forward to future cooperation between two sides in the field of equal rights for Lesbian, Gays, Transgender, Bisexual and Intersex (LGBTI) persons. Both sides expressed their support to efforts to build a strong and prosperous ASEAN Community and further step up the ASEAN-EU cooperation towards a future strategic partnership. Cooperation between the two most successful regional organizations sends a strong signal in favour of effective multilateralism and international rule of law, also when dealing with global issues. Both sides reaffirmed the importance of peace, security, and stability in the South China Sea, and respect for the maritime order based on international law, as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), including freedoms of navigation and overflight. Both sides expressed support for the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and the ongoing efforts by ASEAN countries and China towards the early conclusion of an effective Code of Conduct for the South China Sea that would be fully consistent with international law in the maritime domain, as reflected in UNCLOS. All sides shall settle disputes by peaceful means, refrain from threat or use of force, and abstain from any actions that may increase tensions or complicate the disputes. The two sides aim to strengthen cooperation in training and education, exchanges of experts and research institutes of the two countries in the fields of international law, especially the Law of the Sea. SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) The co-founder of a group that has cleared a dozen people wrongfully convicted of crimes said Tuesday that the Illinois attorney general should create a conviction integrity unit to investigate innocence claims. Bill Clutter, a private investigator who helped create the Illinois Innocence Project in 2001 and now does similar work from Louisville, Kentucky, said he proposed the idea in a letter to Attorney General Kwame Raoul . Illinois has a history of wrongful convictions. Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge was accused of torturing more than 200 criminal suspects into forced confessions in the 1980s. Former Gov. George Ryan labeled the states system of capital punishment haunted by the demon of error when he halted executions in 2000. By the time Illinois abolished the Death Penalty in 2011, wrongful death sentences imposed on 20 people had been reversed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center . Conviction integrity units have sprung up recently in major metropolitan jurisdictions such as Dallas, New York, and Chicago. But a statewide team in Illinois would be a first nationally. Clutter said that an independent, statewide team of detectives and lawyers to review convicts claims of innocence would be more effective than a nonprofit organization with limited resources and limited power. He used the example of Karen Slover of Decatur, whose ex-husband and in-laws are serving 60-year sentences for her 1996 murder. Seeking to clear them, Clutter sought an analysis of an unknown fingerprint in the victims blood at the crime scene, but was rebuffed. With a conviction integrity unit, you have a prosecutor who has the authority, who wants to know the answer to the question, Who left that fingerprint in blood at the crime scene? Clutter said at a state Capitol news conference. Theyd have a badge and they could work cooperatively with innocence projects within the state to unlock this evidence. The plan got a cool reception from Raoul, a Democrat who took office in January. Ensuring the integrity of a conviction by evaluating new evidence, eyewitness testimony or an appellate court decision is the responsibility of every prosecutor, spokeswoman Annie Thompson said. Clutter agrees, but he said its human nature for a prosecutor to be defensive of suspected errors or omissions. Former Cook County States Attorney Anita Alvarez created a conviction integrity unit in 2012. Under successor Kim Foxx, its become an independent unit of the office with publicized policies and standards, spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said. The office receives about 150 applications annually from those convicted of felonies, but many do not meet criteria for review. Since 2017, just after Foxx took office, 70 convictions have been reversed, Simonton said. Staffing the office are a director, supervisor, four assistant states attorneys who conduct investigations, one who specializes in forensic work, a part-time forensic scientist and an administrative assistant. Clearly, only a jurisdiction the size of Cook County can afford such an outlay, said Clutter, who is currently seeking exoneration for Thomas McMillen in the 1989 abduction and murder of Melissa Koontz of Springfield. Even in Sangamon County, where Springfield is the county seat, it would be a financial burden for this office to have a truly independent staff of at least one investigator and one attorney to review the claims, and there are not enough claims like this in a county like Sangamon to warrant those resources, Clutter said. But on a state level, it makes sense to have it housed in the attorney generals office. Former secretary of state John Kerry responded in disbelief when a Republican congressman challenged his credentials on climate change, prompting the veteran politician to ask, "This is really happening here?" Kerry, who helped broker the 2015 Paris climate accords that President Donald Trump pulled out of, returned to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to serve as a witness for a House Oversight Committee hearing on the need for leadership to combat climate change. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who has an engineering degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, began his line of questioning attempting to undermine Kerry's authority on the issue by asking him about his "science degree" from Yale. Kerry explained it was actually a bachelor of arts in political science. "How do you get a bachelor of arts in a science?" Massie asked. "Well, it's liberal arts education . . . " Kerry replied. "So, it's not really science," Massie said. "I think it's somewhat appropriate that someone with a pseudoscience degree is here pushing pseudoscience in front of our committee today." "Are you serious?" Kerry said. "Is this really serious, this is really happening here?" It went on like this for several more minutes with Massie continuing to conflate natural sciences with social sciences. Kerry, who served in the Senate for 28 years and was the Democrats' presidential nominee in 2004, sat through four hours Republicans trying to poke holes in scientific evidence that climate change is real. Massie, during his bizarre back and forth with Kerry, asked why carbon dioxide was higher on Earth millions of years ago than they are today, to which Kerry responded, "But there weren't human beings; that was a different world, folks." "Did geology stop when we got on the planet?" Massie asked. An exasperated Kerry replied, "This is just not a serious conversation." Other Republicans used the platform to attack the Green New Deal, a sweeping set of policy goals championed by the left to deal with climate change and economic inequality. When Kerry was asked how the country would pay for such a plan, most commonly associated with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Kerry took a shot. "Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez has in fact offered more leadership in one day or one week than President Trump has in his lifetime on this subject," Kerry said. "And my question is, where is your proposal? Did you have any hearings on it in the last few years? Mostly on Benghazi if I recall." ALTON Two men testified Tuesday they saw murder defendant Cameron D. Matlock just before and just after authorities say he robbed and shot Derrance G. Taylor and left him dying in the middle of the 900 block of Union Street. Romell Robinson and Dewan Bean both said they were together with Matlock, 29, of Alton, in the pre-dawn hours of May 14, 2017, at the former Midtown Restaurant at Central Avenue and Seventh Street when Matlock got out of Robinsons car. Robinson and Bean both said they drove around until they heard gunshots coming from the Union Street area. They then re-united and saw the defendant with a $50 bill in his hand. Robinson testified that, inside the club, he directed another man to Matlock concerning a possible robbery. Bean testified that he told police that he saw Matlock with a handgun. After they heard the shots, and Matlock got back into the car, Matlock allegedly seemed upset and said he tried to rob someone, and his gun jammed. Both men testified they did not see Matlock shoot Taylor. They also admitted Matlock could have had the money before the shooting and robbery occurred. They also admitted they, at first, gave conflicting statements to police but insisted they were telling the truth in court. Matlock was charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon. The unlawful possession charge was separated from the murder and robbery charges. In her opening statement, Assistant States Attorney Tara Steele said that, after robbing Taylor, Matlock shot the victim twice in the back. The bullets went through the victims body and pierced two arteries in his heart, Steele said. She said police developed Matlock as a suspect early in the investigation, but the suspect went missing for 10 days until the U.S. Marshalls service found him. Defense attorney Cleveland Tyson Jr. of Chicago said in his opening statement that no one saw his client shoot Taylor. He said there were no empty cartridges found in connection with the case. Patrol officer Zachary Dellamano said he was at the Midtown, responding to a disturbance call, when he heard two shots. He drove to Union street, where he saw the victim laying in the street. He said police found no empty cartridges but they did find a loaded .45-caliber handgun on Ridge Street, but that weapon was ruled out as the murder weapon. Nearly two months after a gunman opened fire in an Aurora warehouse, Illinois lawmakers are proposing changes to the states gun licensing laws intended to make it harder for people barred from owning firearms to get guns. Among the changes proposed are requiring fingerprints as part of gun license applications and background checks on all gun purchases. The proposal also seeks to strengthen efforts to remove firearms from people whose firearm owners identification cards have been revoked, supporters said Tuesday. Illinois gun license laws have become a flashpoint in the nearly two months since the Aurora shooting. The proposal, unveiled at a news conference Tuesday at the Thompson Center in Chicago, is intended to address what advocates called loopholes in the states gun license laws. It seeks to address issues prevalent in the Aurora warehouse shooting, a November shooting at Chicagos Mercy Hospital where a gunman killed two hospital employees and a police officer, and other gun violence, advocates said. Gun violence in Illinois is a public health crisis, said Kathleen Sances, president of the Gun Violence Prevention PAC, which is sponsoring the proposal. It happens in the city, it happens in the suburbs and we need to fix it now. Among the proposed changes are required background checks for all gun sales, including those by a private seller, reducing the length of a valid gun license from 10 years to five and allowing Illinois State Police to deny a concealed carry license if it deems the applicant poses a significant danger of causing bodily injury to himself, herself or another person in the near future by possessing a concealed firearm. The legislation would require applicants for a gun license to apply in-person with the state police and submit fingerprints as part of their application. If a person whose firearm owner ID card has been revoked fails to turn over their guns to local law enforcement and complete the required paperwork, the proposal would require the state police to seek a search warrant to retrieve the weapons. State Rep. Kathleen Willis, the Northlake Democrat who sponsored the measure, said the proposal arose out of a conversation about the ways the Aurora warehouse gunman was able to get and keep the gun he used to kill five fellow Henry Pratt Co. employees and wound five Aurora police officers. Aurora Democrat Barbara Hernandez is also among the measures supporters. The Aurora gunmans criminal background should have prevented him from purchasing the gun used in the shooting, but he was issued a gun license in 2014 after a background check using five federal databases failed to show a mid-1990s felony conviction for aggravated assault in Mississippi. He did not submit fingerprints as part of his FOID application but chose to submit them later that year to expedite his application for a concealed carry license. Those fingerprints flagged his prior conviction. State police denied his concealed carry license and sent him a letter informing him his gun license had been revoked. He should have turned over his gun and provided a written account of his firearms to local law enforcement, but instead kept the gun for five years until he opened fire in February inside Henry Pratt. Willis said the fingerprint requirement in her proposal is intended to safeguard against applicants who might lie about their criminal history on an application, as state police have said the Aurora shooter did, and make sure an applicants criminal record shows up no matter the name it is listed under. The proposal to require gun license applicants to apply in-person is also intended to safeguard against lying, she said. Willis said additional costs to get a gun license are intended to help provide funding for law officers to enforce gun license revocations. She is working with state authorities on additional ways to make it more manageable for them to enforce FOID card revocations, she said. Key to the proposal, she said, are background checks on all gun sales. If we can have better checks at the front end, thats a few thousand people that wouldnt even get a FOID card, so thats a revocation we dont have to do down the line, she said. Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research and one of the authors of a recent report on Illinois gun violence, called Illinois gun license laws one of perhaps the weakest systems. The gun license proposals in particular, the requirement that applicants go in-person and provide fingerprints could keep guns out of the hands of criminals, he said. In states that have the most rigorous systems for licensing those who purchase firearms, particularly handguns, we see remarkable consistency in reductions in diversions of guns for criminal use through things such as straw purchases, he said. Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, blasted the proposal, calling it a crazy bill. The costs for various parts of the application process and the requirement to apply in-person with the state police for a gun license would be prohibitive to many, he said. The state police shouldnt have the authority to determine if a person is a danger to themselves or others, and not everyone who has their FOID card revoked is a violent offender who deserves to have their door kicked in by authorities who have gotten a search warrant if they fail to turn in their guns within 48 hours, he said. This has to be the worst bill I have ever seen in my entire life, Pearson said. The proposal was met with support from some law enforcement officials, including Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson. Johnson said background checks for private gun sales would help the Chicago Police Department better track illegal gun purchases, which he called a primary contributor to Chicago gun violence. Universal background checks and giving the Illinois State Police the resources to enforce FOID card revocations will likely help ensure people turn over their weapons when they lose their gun licenses, he said. Lake County Sheriff John Idleburg said in a statement the Aurora shooting exposed weaknesses in the states gun license laws, and he supported efforts to close those loopholes. I respect the constitutional right of being able to bear arms, he said. But to reduce the likelihood of tragedy, we must keep guns out of the hands of violent felons or those suffering a mental health crisis. People don't call Benjamin Netanyahu "the magician" for nothing. The attorney general had already served notice that he plans to indict the Israeli prime minister on multiple counts of bribery and fraud. A popular former military chief with a reputation for integrity had convinced many in Israel that their leader had to go. But the scandals weren't enough to sink Netanyahu's bid to become Israel's longest-serving prime minister. His nationalist base rallied to his aid, cushioning him against likely charges, and if current trends hold, he'll have led Likud to one of its best showings ever in Tuesday's closely fought elections. Israel's shekel was virtually unchanged by early evening. Retired general Benny Gantz's Blue and White bloc conceded defeat Wednesday evening, but his colleague Yair Lapid told media they were already preparing for the next political battle. "We didn't win this round," Lapid said. "We're not just going into the opposition, we're going to get ready for the next round." With almost all the votes counted, Blue and White and Likud are each set to win 35 seats. But Netanyahu has the clearer path to forming a governing coalition with right-wing and religious parties that would occupy 65 of the 120 seats in the parliament, or Knesset. "People say: I don't care if he is corrupt or not, I don't care if he took a few cigars or presents, the main thing is that from my point of view, the economy is growing and there is security," said Erez Cohen, a senior lecturer at Ariel University. The election result could ripple across a volatile region. Peacemaking with the Palestinians has stalled under Netanyahu's watch; instead he opted to improve Israel's ties with Gulf Arab states by leveraging a shared distrust of Iran. A U.S. peace plan, which the Trump administration says will present new solutions to break the impasse, is expected to be unveiled shortly after the election. "We've been in the preparatory stages to getting it ready and I think we're going to see that coming out in the very near future," National Security Adviser John Bolton said of the plan. Just ahead of polling, Netanyahu pitched for right-wing voters who might be tempted to back other nationalist factions, suggesting he could annex Jewish settlements in the West Bank, an area that Palestinians want for the heartland of a future state. Hanan Ashrawi, a veteran official from the Palestine Liberation Organization, said Israelis had chosen racism and permanent conflict. "They have chosen an overwhelmingly right-wing, xenophobic and anti-Palestinian parliament to represent them," she said. "Israelis chose to entrench and expand apartheid." The final tally is unlikely to be announced before Thursday, as about 200,000 votes cast by Israeli soldiers could take longer to filter through -- and could yet produce some last-minute surprises. President Reuven Rivlin said consultations will begin next week with party representatives, to hear who they recommend to build the next coalition. After declaring victory early in the night, Blue and White watched as the numbers turned against them in a knife-edge vote. By morning, Gantz, a 38-year military veteran who entered politics in late December, admitted that the odds were not in his favor. The contest was the political fight of Netanyahu's life. If his victory is confirmed, the man widely known as Bibi will surpass in July Israel's founding father David Ben Gurion as the country's longest-serving prime minister. He faced a tough challenge from Gantz, who offered the security credentials prized by Israelis and a clean-hands image, but lacked the political experience the prime minister accrued in a combined 13 years in office. In large part, the campaign was a referendum on Netanyahu's character, as Attorney General Avihai Mandelblit has said he intends to charge the 69-year-old in three graft cases. Netanyahu has said he is innocent and will only stand down if convicted. With intensive negotiations to form a ruling coalition now underway, he's likely to demand that his future partners in government stand by him as he fights his way through the courts. Allies could even try to enact legislation protecting Netanyahu from prosecution as a sitting leader. Netanyahu "will very likely demand from his coalition partners not to topple the coalition if he is indicted and this might be very much the case," Tel Aviv University lecturer Emmanuel Navon said on a conference call. For his backers, Netanyahu has offered strong leadership in a combustible region. He enjoys warm relations with President Donald Trump, who's delivered him jackpots like withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights captured from Syria in 1967. Taking a lead from Trump, Netanyahu in his speech said he'd triumphed despite the best efforts of an antagonistic media, while "Make America Great Again" flags were waved by members of the audience. Israel's economy grew nearly 75 percent during Netanyahu's decade in power, expanding even during the global recession, though the gains haven't done much to close the gap between rich and poor. "They look at the bottom line," said Cohen, the Ariel University lecturer. "If the system is good for me, or at least better than the alternative, I'm willing to shut my eyes to any corruption." - - - Bloomberg's Gwen Ackerman, Fadwa Hodali, Mark Williams and Michael S. Arnold contributed. Russia's Investigative Committee has requested that Baring Vostok Capital Partners founder Michael Calvey be moved to house arrest after two months in a Moscow jail in a closely watched case that has shocked investors. Calvey's next hearing is scheduled for Thursday in Moscow, when the Investigative Committee's petition will be presented, court spokeswoman Yunona Tsareva said. Three other defendants linked to the case, including two Baring Vostok executives, saw their detentions extended by three months in court Wednesday, she said. The fund welcomed investigators' motion on Calvey's detention and said it hoped "the court will give due consideration" to the request. It called the rulings on the other defendants "illegal and unjustified" and said they would be appealed. The arrest of Calvey, a U.S. citizen who runs one of the biggest private equity funds in Russia, has alarmed foreign investors and prompted a wave of calls from prominent officials and state-company executives for his release. He and several of his colleagues have been held since February on charges of overvaluing assets Baring Vostok contributed to Bank Vostochny, a lender the fund controls. They deny wrongdoing and blame the prosecution on a corporate conflict with the other large shareholders in Vostochny. The Investigative Committee's action emerged a day after a Moscow court extended the detention of Philippe Delpal, a Baring Vostok partner, by three months. Later Wednesday, the court ordered another fund partner Vagan Abgaryan, its investment director Ivan Zyuzin, and First Collection Bureau head Maxim Vladimirov held until July 14. Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, said in a statement that he welcomed the Investigation Committee's request to move Calvey to house arrest while reiterating that other Baring Vostok employees should also have the terms of their detention eased. The Prosecutor General's Office said it would consider an appeal by Russia's business ombudsman Boris Titov to soften Calvey's detention, the Interfax news service reported Tuesday. While Russian and foreign business representatives have raised concerns about the case, President Vladimir Putin defended the decision to prosecute Calvey at a closed-door meeting in February when he was asked about damage to the investment climate. Putin said investigators' suspicions that Calvey and his associates had stolen 2.5 billion rubles ($39 million) couldn't be ignored. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said later the president was simply stating facts, not his personal position. A team of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Pharmacy students have returned from an immersive clinical and cultural experience in Antigua, Guatemala, feeling excited about and prepared for the mission ahead of them as doctors of pharmacy. Five students participated in a five-week Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) from mid-February to mid-March, including David Felts, of Belleville, Nikolina Golob, of St. Louis, Ashley Riley, of St. Charles, Mo., Abbey Rodeghiero, of Morton, and capstone student Carlos Pardo, of St. Louis. The APPE experience involved participation in ambulatory care clinics. In addition to clinical practice, students gained experience in cultural competence, proficiency in medical Spanish, health literacy and health disparities. My favorite part of the APPE was the hands-on impact we made by presenting on health topics, completing clinical pre-consultations, and hosting pop-up clinics at schools and other local settings, said Felts. We were able to flex our physical assessment muscles, practicing blood pressure readings, blood glucose screenings and counseling patients, all the while speaking and taking medical notes in Spanish. The people of Antigua were incredibly nice, and grateful to be receiving medical care and information, added Golob. My Spanish was conversational before this rotation, but this experience greatly enhanced my medical terminology. Being bilingual or trilingual would be helpful in any medical setting, as you can better communicate and troubleshoot the problems presented. While in Guatemala, the team saw more than 905 patients for pre-consultations. They conducted nearly 500 blood pressure screenings and more than 380 blood glucose screenings. The students also hosted presentations on such health topics as depression, stress, hypertension, sleep hygiene and diabetes. Guiding the students during the APPE were the SIUE School of Pharmacys Misty Gonzalez, PharmD, and Carrie Vogler, PharmD, both clinical associate professors in the Department of Pharmacy Practice. I was extremely impressed with the care our students provided to all of the patients they saw, Vogler commented. It was great to watch them work, and to share these enlightening experiences with them. Gonzalez and Vogler received a Global Education Grant to support their participation and purchase of clinic supplies. A significant amount of the APPEs success was due to a partnership with Lissette Ortega, of Antigua, who facilitated medical Spanish tutoring through Spanish 2tor, and organized clinical activities with local Guatemalan partners. The School of Pharmacys APPE Elective in Antigua was implemented in 2015. This was the first year the students conducted depression (PHQ-9) screenings during clinic. This addition was part of Pardos capstone work. When we were doing the PHQ-9s, patients were incredibly grateful that we were even talking about depression, explained Pardo. A lot of people said that often depression symptoms are just labeled as stress. The appreciation they showed was heartwarming. The students travels were also filled with weekend excursions that brought them to the amazing Guatemalan sites of Lake Atitlan, the ancient Mayan city of Tikal, and to the active complex volcano Pacaya. Other cultural immersion experiences had them picking, sorting and roasting coffee beans, learning the art of making fans using reeds, and making tortillas. WASHINGTON - Republicans led by Sen. Ted Cruz on Wednesday pilloried Facebook, Google and Twitter over allegations they censor conservative users and news sites online, threatening federal regulation in response to claims that Democrats long have described as a hoax. The tensions played out early at a Senate hearing where Cruz, the leader of the Judiciary Committee's constitution-focused panel, said that Silicon Valley's largest companies had deployed their "power to silence voices with which they disagree." "Not only does big tech have the power to silence voices with which they disagree, but big tech likewise has the power to collate a person's feed so they only receive the news that comports with their own political agenda," the Texas senator said. But Democrats sharply rebuked Cruz and his GOP allies for convening the hearing in the first place, arguing that they had ignored the real ills of social media - including the rise of hate speech and disinformation online. "For decades, Republicans have bashed the supposedly liberal mainstream media in an effort to work the refs," said Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, the panel's top Democrat. "Now that two-thirds of Americans get their news from social media, Republicans have a new boogeyman to target - big tech." Conservatives long have claimed that major social-media sites exhibit political bias, pointing to Silicon Valley's liberal leanings and regular contributions to Democrats. Beyond that, however, experts have said there is no evidence that Facebook, Google and Twitter have deliberately sought to limit the reach of Republicans, a message that tech giants in attendance Wednesday plan to emphasize. But tech executives' continued pledges to treat all political content equally have failed to sway the country's most prominent Republicans, including President Donald Trump, who repeatedly has claimed that Facebook, Google and Twitter are biased against the party. In March, Trump accused the industry of harboring "hatred" for a "certain group of people that happen to be in power, that happen to have won the election." As an example, Trump pointed to his follower count on Twitter, which he said tends to fluctuate - a fact Twitter long has attributed to its efforts to shut down spam accounts on the platform. Still, Trump reiterated his threat for further scrutiny, telling reporters the government has to "do something about it." Opening the Wednesday hearing, Cruz on detailed a series of potential regulatory steps Congress could consider, including rethinking a longstanding federal law that spares companies from being held liable for content posted by their users. While Cruz said lawmakers didn't seek to serve as "government speech police," he then raised the potential for further antitrust scrutiny of the tech industry. "By almost any measure the giant tech companies today are larger, and more powerful, than Standard Oil was when it was broken up," Cruz said. "And if we have tech companies using the powers of monopoly to censor political speech, I think that raises real antitrust issues." Absent from the Wednesday hearing is Google. The search giant, which owns YouTube, had been invited to testify, but Cruz rejected the company's witness. The GOP senator said he plans to hold a hearing, specifically focused on Google, in the coming weeks. The Trump administration on Wednesday appealed a ruling that blocks federally approved programs in two states that compel some able-bodied people to work to qualify for Medicaid. The appeals, in cases challenging Medicaid work requirements in Kentucky and Arkansas, come two weeks after a federal judge in Washington issued opinions that President Donald Trump's top health aides had been "arbitrary and capricious" in allowing the new rules and did not consider their effect on vulnerable residents' access to health insurance. For Kentucky's program, which was to have started April 1, the opinion marked the second time U.S. District Judge James Boasberg had ruled against the "community engagement" rules and sent the state's plan back to the Department of Health and Human Services to reevaluate. After the initial ruling, the HHS did another review, as the court directed, and reapproved, with no changes, the plan it had given Kentucky permission to begin. The appeals, in a single paragraph that does not lay out the administration's arguments, signify that, rather than going through that process again, Trump's aides are hoping that a higher court will let the requirements go forward. The appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit were filed by Justice Department attorneys on behalf of senior administration health officials who are named in the lawsuits: Alex Azar, the HHS secretary, and Seema Verma, administrator of the HHS's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the branch of the department that approved the two states' programs. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the decision to appeal. The appeals are part of a series of attempts by the administration to persist with policy changes - largely involving health care, the environment and immigration - that federal courts have blocked. In January 2018, Verma announced that the administration was receptive to states that wanted to require able-bodied people on Medicaid to work, prepare for work, or do volunteer work for a specified number of hours per month. This idea had floated around a few conservative states years earlier - and was consistently rejected by the Obama administration. A day after her announcement, her agency approved Kentucky's plan. It was to have begun last summer, but it was blocked by Boasberg's first ruling. In June, Arkansas Works, that state's plan for the part of Medicaid it expanded under the Affordable Care Act, became the first to take effect. The first recipients were cut off in September after three months of not complying with the rules or submitting proof to the state that they were meeting the requirements. By December, about 18,000 people participating in Arkansas Works had lost coverage. In January, young adults in the Arkansas Works program were phased in, and the first of them to miss three months were to have been cut off about now. The day after the judge's March 27 rulings, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, said the state would halt the work requirements and urged the Trump administration to appeal. WASHINGTON - Welcoming Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi at the White House on Tuesday, President Donald Trump delivered a diatribe against what he called "bad laws" and a legal system that "never, ever rules for us," venting over a recent appeals court decision that scuttled his attempt to stem the flow of migrants into the country. While Trump's complaints about federal courts and the constitutional checks on presidential power are not new, they appeared discordant as he sat next to Sissi, a former military chief who has presided over an authoritarian consolidation of power and attacks on the judiciary. Since taking power following a 2013 military coup, Sissi has jailed opponents and allegedly sanctioned their torture, muzzled the press and silenced critics as he expanded the power of the security forces. A 2017 Human Rights Watch report estimated that there were as many as 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt. Sissi's second White House visit was aimed at strengthening military and counterterrorism ties and securing at least tacit U.S. backing for his planned remake of the Egyptian constitution. A compliant Parliament already has approved a rewrite that would allow Sissi to remain in power until 2034, and a national referendum is expected within weeks. Trump, asked about what human rights groups call a blatant power grab in Egypt, said he was unaware of it. "I think he's doing a great job," Trump said amid the din of reporters shouting questions in the Oval Office. "I don't know about the effort. I can just tell you he's doing a great job. Great president." Trump's embrace of Sissi and public indifference to concerns raised about how the Egyptian is leading his country underscore the extent to which the administration is closely aligning itself with strongman leaders it believes can further U.S. interests regardless of concerns about human rights abuses or authoritarian tendencies. Sissi praised Trump and said "relations have not been better" between Egypt and Washington, but he remained silent as Trump complained about legal and congressional checks on his border and immigration policies. "We are building a lot of wall, and we are being very strong on the border," Trump said. "But we are bucking a court system that never ever rules for us, and we are bucking really bad things with the Democrats in Congress not willing to act." Trump singled out the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which he had said in a Monday tweet is "OUT OF CONTROL" after a lower-court ruling against his policy that requires asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases make their way through the U.S. immigration court system. "Nobody can believe these decisions we're getting from the 9th Circuit," Trump said as Sissi smiled beside him. "It's a disgrace." Sissi has had his own problems with judges, and rights groups say he is now taking aim at Egypt's once-independent judiciary. Mohamed Soltan, a human rights advocate jailed under Sissi and later freed, said Sissi is seeking cover from Trump for further constraints on an already compromised judiciary. "We have stood idly by and watched the basic tenets of democracy erode in a nation we consider to be an ally and partner," Soltan wrote in The Washington Post ahead of Sissi's visit. "Surely, we cannot hold the final nail in the coffin as Sissi hammers away." Trump did not mention human rights concerns during the two leaders' brief appearance before news cameras, and U.S. officials did not list human rights among top agenda items for the session. But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was challenged by Democratic senators about the administration support of Sissi during a hearing Tuesday. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., pressed Pompeo to call Sissi a "tyrant," noting that he has been willing to criticize authoritarian leaders in Venezuela and Iran. "Not every one of these leaders is the same," said Pompeo. He went on to praise Sissi as a competent counterterrorism partner and a leader who is "remarkably good with respect to religious freedom." Several prominent Egypt experts have countered that Sissi's government has treated members of minority faiths as "second-class citizens." Sissi has sought out Trump from the start, calling him one day after the 2016 election to seek a reboot of what had become a tense relationship with the White House, marked by Obama administration criticism of Sissi and a temporary hold on U.S. military equipment shipments to Egypt. Egypt receives more than $1 billion in U.S. military aid annually, a figure Trump has not reduced despite his proposed slashing of the foreign aid budget. Trump invited Sissi to stay at Blair House, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, an honor usually reserved for close allies and partners. But Trump was not attending a gala dinner for Sissi on Tuesday, organized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which scaled back the event and rescinded some invitations on short notice last week. A White House fact sheet about the visit stressed Egypt's role in promoting "Middle East stability," noting cooperation in conflicts in Libya, Syria, and Yemen and in combating terrorism. Egypt, the first Arab state to make peace with Israel, is also seen as a key to a still-secret Israeli-Palestinian proposal drafted by Trump adviser Jared Kushner. "The United States encourages the Egyptian government to preserve space for civil society and to protect human rights," the White House summary said. Sissi met with Pompeo on Monday, and he was seeing a few congressional leaders during three days in Washington. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said Pompeo raised "cases concerning U.S. citizens in Egypt," a delicately worded reference to several Americans jailed in Egypt under Sissi. Trump is credited with procuring the release of at least one American jailed in Egypt, in 2017, but he has not commented publicly on other cases including that of Moustafa Kassem, a New York taxi driver and dual citizen jailed since 2013. Vice President Mike Pence raised Kassem's case and one other when he met with Sissi in Cairo in January 2018. Kassem wrote to Pence and Trump months later, pleading for help before beginning a hunger strike, ABC News reported. In an interview in January with CBS News, Sissi denied that there are political prisoners in Egypt. On Tuesday, there was little public evidence of tension between the two leaders. "It's a great honor to be with President el-Sissi, a friend - a great friend - of Egypt," Trump said as he welcomed Sissi for their sixth face-to-face meeting. "We have very special things happening. Our relationship has never been stronger. And we're working with Egypt on many different fronts, including military and trade." Sissi agreed. "All the credit goes to you, Mr. President," he said, as Trump smiled. - - - The Washington Post's John Hudson contributed to this report. Elizabeth Warren and her husband reported total family income of $905,742 on their 2018 federal tax return, with $324,687 of that coming from her work as an author and $402,897 from Harvard. The Massachusetts senator, one of 17 declared candidates for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, released her 2018 tax returns on Wednesday following up on her release in August of the 10 previous years. "I've put out 11 years of my tax returns because no one should ever have to guess who their elected officials are working for," Warren said in a statement. "Doing this should be law." Warren and her husband, Bruce Mann, reported an adjusted gross income of $846,394 that included $176,280 from her Senate salary. Mann is a Harvard Law School professor. The couple paid $230,965 in taxes and reported donating $50,128 to charity. They claimed a $13,936 tax credit for "solar electric property costs," making use of that option before it is phased out. Their deduction for state and local taxes, often referred to as SALT, was capped at $10,000, as is required under the new federal tax law. But because of the couple's level of gifts to charity they were still able to itemize rather than take the standard deduction. The biggest source of investment income on the 2018 return came from $3,897 in interest paid by First National Bank of Omaha. The only ordinary dividends listed -- $1,351 -- are from the "Vanguard Marketing Coporation," which includes a typo on the final word for the listing of the mutual fund giant's name. Democrats in Congress and the presidential race are pushing for the release of President Donald Trump's tax returns, but have been stymied so far. The president has long said that his returns are under audit and he has no plans of releasing them. "I would love to give them but I'm not going to do it while I'm under audit," he told reporters at the White House Wednesday. "I got elected last time, the same exact issue, with the same intensity, which wasn't very much because frankly the people don't care." Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who leads in polls of declared candidates, has said he will release 10 years of his tax returns by Monday, the deadline for filing 2018 returns. Several other candidates in the Democratic race, including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, have already released at least 10 years of tax returns. "It's an obligation for Democrats to release their tax returns," said Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist in Washington. "If they want to go after Trump for not releasing his, they have to release their returns." Warren has proposed increasing taxes on the richest households in the U.S. She has a plan that would impose a 2 percent wealth tax on individuals with more than $50 million in assets. The tax would increase to 3 percent on wealth above $1 billion. Please submit a Wordformatted letter of interest, resume (maximum 3 pages), names and contactinformation for three references to applications@ug.peacecorps.gov. Pleaseclearly indicate your name and the position applied for on the subject line ofthe cover email as well as on all the attachments: For example AkelloRitah_Driver for the Driver Position. Do not write any other words in thesubject line of your mail. Submitted documents become the property of the PeaceCorps. Westerly, RI (02891) Today A mix of clouds and sun this morning followed by mostly cloudy skies and a few showers this afternoon. High 48F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.. Tonight Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Low 47F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%. This week I'd like to raise a large glass of bubbly to scam-fighting superstar, Donald Wilby. It is solely down to this taxi driver's quick-thinking that an 87-year-old woman was spared the heartbreak of losing her life savings to crooks. The saga began last week when a man with a foreign accent called a taxi firm in North Somerset to book a car for 'his mother'. Taxi driver Donald Wilby's quick-thinking that an 87-year-old woman was spared the heartbreak of losing her life savings to crooks The man asked for someone to pick her up from her home in Nailsea and take her to the NatWest in Clevedon, Somerset. Her appointed driver, Donald, struck up a conversation, and it came out that she'd had a call out of the blue claiming her account had been accessed by crooks. She had been told she needed to go to the bank to draw out all her money so it would be safe. Immediately, Donald, a driver for Nailsea Backwell Taxis, knew something was wrong. As fate would have it, he had picked up another woman in the same situation 18 months before and knew it had been a scam. Donald explained this to the lady but she remained convinced the call had been genuine. So he decided to go into the bank when they arrived and alert staff, who quickly froze her account and called the police. It then became clear the woman was a victim of so-called 'courier fraud' where a caller claims to be from the police or bank and encourages them to withdraw large sums of cash. Typically they say there is a problem with the victim's account or it has been targeted by fraudsters. Had the woman withdrawn her savings, the crooks would then have sent a taxi or courier to collect the cash, which she'd never have seen again. Detective Sergeant Marc Milliner, of the Avon and Somerset Police's Complex Crime Unit, praised Donald for his quick-thinking and urged other taxi companies to take note. He says: 'We hope other taxi drivers and those providing a courier collection service will take this on board and alert us if they are asked to take elderly and vulnerable people to withdraw cash from their banks or are asked to collect packages from people on behalf of police officers or a bank official.' But even if you aren't a taxi driver, you can still do your bit by keeping an eye on vulnerable neighbours and relatives. In the meantime, Money Mail will keep you up-to-date with the latest scams in this section each week. Hidden costs As we report, flight comparison sites such as Skyscanner used to be a brilliant bargain-hunting tool. You just popped in when and where you wanted to go and a list of the fares would appear in price order. But trying to book flights to the U.S. last month nearly sent me into a tailspin. At first I was excited by how cheap the fares seemed. Flight comparison sites such as Skyscanner used to be a brilliant bargain-hunting tool, but be sure to read the fine print But dreams of upgrading to Premium Economy quickly faded when I realised I hadn't heard of half the travel firms advertising these cheap deals. Uneasy, I looked at booking direct with airlines where I found flights cost hundreds of pounds more. Then came the hidden fees. Foolishly, I had assumed that as I was travelling long-haul, flagship carriers such as Virgin Atlantic and British Airways would include hold luggage in their advertised price. But checking in a bag for two people cost as much as 200 extra. Very disappointing. Lender agenda While we're on poor behaviour, what's that, you say, dear credit card provider? You want to raise my credit limit by 2,000 even though I didn't ask for it? This is exactly the type of worrying behaviour fuelling Britain's debt crisis. Bumping up borrowers' credit limits just increases the temptation for customers to spend more than they need. And while I was at least informed that I can opt out of future limit increases surely this should be the default approach unless I contact them? Given we are barely a decade on from the financial crisis, lenders should know better. v.bischoff@dailymail.co.uk For many, comparison websites and online travel agents are the go-to place to find cheap flights. The sites claim to compare the prices of hundreds of airlines based on your destination and dates in order to offer you the best deals. More holidaymakers are putting their trust in websites such as Skyscanner, TravelSupermarket, Momondo and Kayak, to find bargain fares. You can book with airlines directly, but many are now offering flights from a whole host of 'middle-men' at lower prices. These firms, which are often based abroad, take your money then secure the seats with the airline if they are still available. Many comparison websites and online travel agents claim to compare the prices of hundreds of airlines based on your destination and dates in order to offer you the best deals But experts warn that booking sites often fail to make it clear whom you are booking with and where to complain when things go wrong. Prices can also go up before and after you have paid, and you may lose vital protections you get from booking direct. Today Money Mail reveals the tricks used by flight comparison sites that could stop you getting the best deal. YOU MUST BOOK IN 10 MINUTES Many websites use pressure tactics to hurry customers into handing over their card details. Some claim that flights are in limited supply and you will miss out if you do not book there and then. When Money Mail looked at flights from London to Malaga in May, one site, Opodo, flashed up warnings in red that read 'last flight' and 'only five tickets left'. Another, called eDreams, claimed there were 'just nine seats left' on a flight from Manchester to New York in May. Booking sites have a certain number of tickets at a set price they can sell on. So while that website may only have a few fares left, there may be more seats available at other prices or if you booked direct with the airline. Opodo and eDreams say that the ticket availability warnings are accurate for the fare selected but does not represent the full plane availability. This means that while you may not get that advertised fare, you should still be able to get a seat on the flight even if you wait. After selecting a flight from the results page, some websites then also try to rush customers into completing their booking. eDreams, for example, warns customers that they have just ten minutes to fill in their details. If they wait any longer the screen will refresh which means prices could change. Momondo says its flights must be paid for within 20 minutes and shows a countdown clock after which prices may reset. TravelSupermarket tells its customers they are unlikely to find a better deal by waiting. When searching for flights from London to Malaga in May, a white box appeared on our screen which read: 'Our advice: Buy now. Prices are unlikely to decrease within seven days'. Kayak, which manages TravelSupermarket, says its advice is based on past and current prices, but admits it is not guaranteed that prices won't fall. Last year watchdog the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) warned hotel booking websites against similar pressure selling. Momondo, also run by Kayak, says it does not consider the countdown clock pressure selling with flight searches as the deals are very short lived. THE TOP DEALS CAN COST MORE Many holidaymakers believe the flight that appears at the top of the results list is the cheapest. But some airlines pay sites a commission to be promoted as the best option even if there are better deals available. TravelSupermarket, for example, does not automatically list deals in order of price. For example, when we searched for London to Malaga flights, the top result was a sponsored deal from Jet2 costing 160. Underneath was an option costing just 82 with rival site Kayak and a 150 deal with BA. Yet the lowest price available was just 78, also with Kayak. If you want to view the results in order of price you need to click a drop-down box then select 'cheapest'. Opodo puts its 'best' and 'genius deals' first. You need to click the 'cheapest' options at the top of the results page to sort by price. It says it provides a recommendation based on many factors including travel time, stopovers and luggage allowance. Kayak also presents its 'best flights' first. The top result for flights from Birmingham to Dubai in May was 349 from Emirates. The second deal on the list cost 334 with two different airlines. Kayak says it decides what flights to recommend based on duration, price, number of stops and airline, and adds that firms do not pay for this spot. The Emirates flight was considered 'best' because it was several hours quicker but only 5 per cent more expensive than other flights, a spokesman said. We're still waiting for our money back after ticket blunders we couldn't fix Dental nurse Lorna Golebiewski had to spend 1,100 on a new flight when lastminute.com refused to change the name on her ticket. She realised she had booked flights to South Africa in her married name which did not match her passport. Lorna, 25, noticed the mistake more than a week before she was due to travel to Durban with husband Seth and friend Chloe for a wedding. She had already paid almost 500 for ticket, which included a stopover in Johannesburg. Lastminute.com requested her marriage certificate and a copy of her passport, which she sent. She says it reassured her it would to sort it out. Cost: Changing a name on your plane ticket can mean having to buy a new ticket But Lorna, who lives in Devon, says she had to keep chasing the company, calling up to three times a day just to explain her situation again. Each time she was told she would have an answer within 24 hours and was promised calls back that never came. Lorna says she had time to get a new passport, which would be cheaper than a new flight, but was advised this would not be necessary. The day before she was due to travel lastminute.com emailed Lorna saying it would not amend her ticket. It explained she could not change the name because of the airline's terms and conditions. Yet on BA's website it says it will do so for free. Lorna contacted BA which told her lastminute.com was responsible for the tickets so it could not help. Another seat on the same flight would cost 3,500 so she found another ticket costing 1,100 on a plane leaving three hours later. Lorna says: 'Had I booked with the airline direct this would not have happened. There was a mistake on my part but I tried to sort it out in good time. I put trust in lastminute.com which assured me it would solve the problem.' Lastminute.com claims it was unable to change the booking due to the airline's 'rules and policies' and so could only reimburse the unused taxes and a 50 goodwill gesture. Murray Harkin is still trying to get his money back five months after searching for flights with TravelSupermarket. The PR director used the firm last July to compare the cost of flights from Athens to London for a September holiday. The cheapest option cost 152 with Cobalt Air if he booked through Gotogate, which he had never heard of. After paying he received an email with his booking confirmation. Straight away, Murray noticed a silly error with his name. It had 'email' added to the end. But after asking Gotogate for his name to be corrected, he was told he would have to buy another ticket, which had since risen to 270. Murray, 53, refused and booked a ticket for 191 using another website, putting his experience down to bad luck. But when he arrived at the airport, staff told him they would have let him on the plane regardless because the mistake was so obvious. When Murray, of Hastings, East Sussex, complained to Gotogate he was told to contact the airline. Five months later he is still 152 out of pocket. He says: 'I am just going to use websites and airlines I know from now on.' Gotogate says that because Murray booked non-refundable tickets, it could not give him his money back for the ticket he could not use. It says it tried to apply for a refund to Cobalt on September 17, but the airline did not reply then filed for bankruptcy a month later. It has now apologised and offered to refund Murray as a gesture of goodwill. HIDDEN FEES FOR TAKING A BAG It can be frustrating to find that cheap fares often only include a seat on a plane. So if you need to check in a bag or want to guarantee that your family sits together, the total cost can jump significantly. This can make it very difficult to compare like-for-like deals. Even more confusingly, fees and charges can vary dramatically depending on which firm you use to book your flights. For example, if you search using Skyscanner for flights from Manchester to New York in May the cheapest option is 325 with Netflights on Virgin. With Travel Trolley you will pay 326. However, if you want to add a bag Netflights will charge 88, whereas Travel Trolley adds 70. It means that overall it works out 17 cheaper to book with Travel Trolley at 396 compared to 413 with Netflights. These differing costs apply to the same airline. Netflights says the costs are pulled directly from the airline and driven by a number of variable factors over which it has no control. Experts warn that booking sites often fail to make it clear whom you are booking with and where to complain when things go wrong Comparison site Kayak is one of the few that allows you to filter results depending on extras. Even if you book directly, most major airlines, including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, charge extra to check in bags on flights even long-haul. FARES CAN RISE AFTER YOU BOOK The fare advertised by online booking and comparison sites is rarely guaranteed. So when you come to pay, you may find the cost suddenly soars. For example, when consumer group Which? searched for a return flight from London to San Francisco in May it found a deal for 399 with Gotogate on Momondo. But after clicking through to its website the price rose to 476. Momondo says it receives prices from third-party providers, which can change depending on availability. But it says it will investigate. Rory Boland, of Which? Travel, says this example is not unique as he regularly sees firms advertising cheap prices that are not available. He says: 'It is a complete waste of customers' time. 'Flight comparison sites are supposed to make it easier, not harder to get a good deal.' Some firms could try to charge you more after you have paid. For example, if you book with Gotogate or Mytrip, their websites say: 'Prices for the flight, as well as seat availability, are directly inserted by the applicable airline. 'For airline price changes outside our control occurring after submission of the booking request, but before the contract with the airline has become binding, the contract will not enter into force and your payment will be refunded in full. 'We may contact you and offer you the option to accept the changed price during ordinary opening hours.' It means that even after you pay and are sent a confirmation email, your fare is not guaranteed until you get a second email with your ticket details and seat number. Booking sites have a certain number of tickets at a set price they can sell on. So while that website may only have a few fares left, there may be more seats available at other prices CUSTOMER SERVICE COSTS MORE It used to be the case that when you searched for flights on comparison sites such as Skyscanner and TravelSupermarket, you were offered a list of options you could book direct with airlines. Now you are typically presented with dozens of deals with new and unknown firms that are often based outside of the UK. Martyn James, from complaints site Resolver, says many flight and holiday comparison sites are part of the same group. For example Gotogate and Mytrip, which appear on all major comparison sites, are both owned by Etraveli Group. Both firms are often seen to be offering the cheapest prices. Comparison sites eDreams and Opodo are part of eDreams ODIGEO. Momondo and TravelSupermarket are run by Kayak. But with sites selling the same seats at different prices at different times it is impossible for customers to get the best deal, adds Mr James. One of the largest sites, Expedia, belongs to the Expedia Group, which includes holiday search sites such as eBookers, CheapTickets, Travelocity and Hotwire, as well as hotel comparison sites Trivago and Hotels.com, and car rental firms. Mr James says the risk is that brands under the same umbrella group could push their own services across a number of websites with no transparency. A quick online search reveals a plethora of complaints about lesser-known websites. On review site Trustpilot, Gotogate gets a one star rating. Customers report how refunds fail to appear and flights are changed or cancelled without explanation. Expedia also has a one star rating. Customers say it is difficult to get their money back and described responses to complaints as slow. Expedia says it takes customer feedback seriously. Some companies were even found to be charging for customer service or 'support packages'. Gotogate, for example, offers a choice of basic, premium or platinum levels of support. The premium package costs 19.80 and entitles customers to a 'quick response time' to queries. The platinum deal costs 39.80 and means you will be able to get 'a quick refund' if you need one. Wedoflights was rated two stars with numerous complaints about a 25 'after sales service' which you must pay if you need to speak to a member of staff. The company claims the bad reviews are misleading and made by 'unreasonable' customers who make mistakes during the booking process and cannot accept that they must abide by the airline's terms and conditions. NO RIGHT TO A REFUND If you use your credit card to book flights over 100 you are covered by Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act and can get your money back if things go wrong. But this only works if you buy direct from the seller the airline in this case. There must be a direct link between you, your credit card provider and the firm providing goods or services. So if you book tickets through a third party you may lose this extra protection. It may also work out cheaper to book direct with the airline rather than through a comparison site. For example, the cheapest return tickets from Birmingham to Faro, Portugal, found on Opodo cost 99.85 from Ryanair. When we checked the same flights on Ryanair's website we found them for 94.37. Booking direct means you also know who to complain to when things go wrong. Mr James says it gets confusing when multiple firms are involved. Many of the 'middle-men' are not based in the UK and can be difficult to contact. Travel expert Frank Brehany says these firms may appear to be travel agents, but are not. He says: 'They are merely facilitators and have little or no responsibility to you.' Complaints should be directed to whoever took the money. Or, if you have a complaint about the initial pricing shown on the comparison site, you should raise a complaint with that firm. The Civil Aviation Authority says it has already taken action against a number of businesses for breaches of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. This includes in relation to misleading practices and hidden charges. A spokesman says: 'We are determined that consumers should be able to make informed choices based on access to clear and concise information provided by airlines, tour operators and travel agents.' a.murray@dailymail.co.uk The boss of security firm G4S pocketed 2.9million last year. This was down from the 3.8million he took home in 2017, as he failed to meet financial targets to qualify for most of his bonus. The South African joined British Gas in 1993 before moving to BG Group in 2002. He replaced former chief executive Nick Buckles in June 2013. G4S shares are down a quarter from this time last year, at around 185p. The companys 2018 revenues were 7.3billion, below estimates of 7.4billion. Cheddar, Stilton and smoked salmon exports to the US could be hit with higher tariffs as Donald Trump launches a new trade war with Europe. The US president is planning to slap extra levies on 8.4billion of exports from the European Union, in a row over subsidies to aircraft maker Airbus. Products being targeted include British delicacies such as salmon and cheese. Duty on wine is being hiked, and olive oil and seafood will also be hit. US president Donald Trump is planning to slap extra levies on 8.4bn of exports from the European Union, in a row over subsidies to aircraft maker Airbus Trump announced the tariffs on Twitter following a 14-year dispute between the US and EU over state support for aerospace companies Boeing and Airbus. He said: 'The WTO finds that the European Union subsidies to Airbus has adversely impacted the United States. 'The EU has taken advantage of the US on trade for many years. It will soon stop!' As well as food including 40 types of cheese non-military aircraft, ceramics and clothes also face tariffs. The EU is expected to fight back with its own tariffs, and has already taken aim at Harley-Davidson and Levi's. Neil Wilson, of trading firm Markets, said: 'There is a real risk of a tit-for-tat trade battle between the EU and US.' But US trade representative Robert Lighthizer said he hoped for a settlement. As crunch time approaches for Sirius Minerals, the fertiliser company boring a massive tunnel underneath the North York Moors, investors have been eagerly snapping up its shares. Sirius is trying to thrash out a financing agreement worth more than 2.5billion with an unnamed major financial institution, which should secure the construction of its Yorkshire polyhalite mine. Though the firm is unlikely to announce any progress on whether it has secured a deal with the new lender before the end of April, the market is already getting excited. Sirius Minerals is trying to thrash out a financing agreement worth more than 2.5billion with an unnamed major financial institution to fund its North Yorkshire fertiliser mine The new cash should allow Sirius, which is a favourite with retail investors, the opportunity to turn its hole in the ground into a functional fertiliser mine and remove most of the risk from the project. Shares shot up 5.5 per cent, or 1.22p, to 23.3p yesterday, even as US conglomerate The Capital Group Companies, a major shareholder, revealed it had sold down a stake worth around 22million on Friday. Such a large sale would usually flood the market, pushing down their price, but instead the stock has been eagerly snapped up. The FTSE 100 ended the day in the red down 0.35 per cent, or 26.32 points, at 7425.57 as little news came from Theresa Mays talks in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Packaging heavyweight Smurfit Kappa pulled the FTSE 100 down, falling 3.9 per cent, or 91p, to 2275p. Stock Watch -Shearwater Cyber security company Shearwater staged a mini recovery as it announced a deal to acquire assets from rival Secarma for 7.4million. The new units will focus on testing how attackers can exploit businesses online operations, analysing and monitoring threats, and deliberately hacking systems to find weaknesses. Chairman David Williams said Shearwater had seen rising demand for these particular types of services. Shares rose 14.6 per cent, or 0.2p, to 1.57p. Travel company Tui was close behind, just days after it released a profit warning prompted by the grounding of Boeings 737 Max planes, dipping again by 3.1 per cent, or 23p, to 715.8p. Investors in drugs giant Glaxosmithkline were largely unmoved by US medical regulators approval of a new HIV treatment, created by GSK and Pfizer. The drug, Dovato, is the first ever once-daily single tablet containing two drugs, rather than three, to help treat HIV. GSKs shares edged down 0.4 per cent, or 6p, to 1582.2p, suggesting investors were largely expecting the approval. Fund manager Neil Woodford was able to provide investors with some cheer, as Reneuron a company which he owns 35.5 per cent of shot up by 29.8 per cent, or 51p, to 222p. The firm is developing new types of stem cell treatments for diseases such as blindness-causing retinitis pigmentosa, and revealed it was licensing the rights to some of its programmes to Chinese pharmaceutical giant Fosun. In return, it will be paid up to 80million if all milestones are met. Though Reneuron accounts for 0.9 per cent of the stock market-listed Woodford Patient Capital Trust, the trusts shares slipped 0.4 per cent, or 0.3p, to 82.3p. Meanwhile N4 Pharma, another specialist pharmaceutical company which is developing a new way to deliver vaccines and cancer treatments to patients, crashed 43.1 per cent, or 3.45p, to 4.55p. The results of its tests with the University of Adelaide have so far not been positive and its Nuvec treatment has not been effective on living organisms. Model train company Hornby, which has been trying to put issues surrounding late orders and lack of stock behind it for over a year, came further off the rails as it conceded revenue for the year ending March 2019 was still lower than the previous 12 months. The company said it was progressing with its turnaround, but the shares fell 4.1 per cent, or 1.5p, to 34.8p. There was little fun to be had among the stock markets gaming companies. Video games developer Sumo Group fell 4.2 per cent, or 6p, to 137p, despite growing revenues and profitability. Meanwhile Stride Gaming, which develops online bingo and fruit machine games, slumped 8.9 per cent, or 11.5p, to 117p, as it warned regulatory changes would push revenues down 5 per cent. Bosses at banknote maker De La Rue are fighting for their jobs after a leading investor branded the floundering company's performance 'unacceptable'. In an update to its own investors yesterday, activist fund Crystal Amber said the company's management must start making changes to boost the value of its shares. Crystal Amber has a 5.5 per cent stake in De La Rue worth 24million. In an update to its own investors yesterday, activist fund Crystal Amber said De La Rue's management must start making changes to boost the value of its shares Since De La Rue lost the contract to make Britain's post-Brexit blue passports to Franco-Dutch rival Gemalto last year, its stock has tumbled by 28 per cent. Crystal Amber, run by City veteran Richard Bernstein, said it had engaged extensively with the banknote and ID manufacturer and made 'constructive suggestions and specific proposals' as to how De La Rue could move on after the humiliating passport defeat. But it criticised chief executive Martin Sutherland and chairman Philip Rogerson for failing to put these ideas into action, and said it wants to see signs of improvement by De La Rue's full year results announcement at the end of May. Criticism: De La Rue chief exec Martin Sutherland In the update, Bernstein dismissed 'management-speak of a growth strategy' and added: 'De La Rue's financial performance has been unacceptable. The Fund hopes and expects that De La Rue's management will now effect the change that is required.' Crystal Amber is understood to have introduced De La Rue to companies it may wish to buy. But though De La Rue's chief technology officer Selva Selvaratnam revealed to the Daily Mail late last year that the company had been exploring at least two deal opportunities, no progress has yet been revealed to the market. De La Rue is still understood to be open to any 'opportunistic' acquisitions, but if there is still no update by May's results announcement then disgruntled investors may push for a vote on the future of Sutherland and Rogerson. Since Sutherland took the reins as boss in October 2014, shortly after a separate profit warning, De La Rue's shares have slid by 13 per cent. Yesterday they rose slightly, closing up 0.6 per cent, or 2.5p, at 430p. But with the shares currently near rock-bottom, Bernstein has raised concerns that the banknote maker once a star member of Britain's FTSE 250 stock market index could be snapped up by a foreign competitor for a bargain-basement price. De La Rue's recent troubles began in March last year, when the company lost its chief finance officer, issued a profit warning, lost the British passport contract and then embarked on a short-lived and ill-fated attempt to challenge the Government over the contract loss. In a long-awaited strategy update in November, De La Rue announced it was moving away from producing entire passports and would instead focus on manufacturing individual components of identity documents, like high-tech plastics and technology features. It declined to comment on whether it had any deal plans in the pipeline. The parent company of currency exchange firm Travelex is plotting a stock market float in London. United Arab Emirates-based Finablr, a financial technology business run by Indian billionaire Bavaguthu Shetty, could be valued at around 2.3billion. It's hoping to raise 153million which it would use to fund expansion and cut debts. Float plan: Travelex owner Finablr, a financial technology business run by Indian billionaire Bavaguthu Shetty, could be valued at around 2.3bin The firm bought a controlling stake in Travelex, worth around 1billion at the time, five years ago. Shetty, who has an estimated 2.1billion fortune, said: 'This is the right time to consider the future growth of Finablr and whether the business would benefit from becoming a listed company.' Finablr is also behind the brands UAE Exchange, Unimoni, Xpress Money and Remit2India. Last year it processed more than 150m transactions worth nearly 88billion. Barclays, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are among the banks brought in to help with the plans. Travelex was founded in 1976 by British entrepreneur Sir Lloyd Dorfman, who started it from a shop in Holborn. He retained a small share in the 2014 sale. Shetty's other major asset is London-listed NMC Health, a UAE private healthcare provider, of which he owns 19.2 per cent. Former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn claims he is a victim of a conspiracy and backstabbing by former colleagues. In a seven-minute video released by his legal team, the 65-year-old blamed his arrest for financial misconduct in Japan on a plot against him. 'This is not about greed. This is not about dictatorship,' he said. In a seven-minute video released by his legal team, former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn blamed his arrest for financial misconduct in Japan on a plot against him 'This is about a plot, this is about conspiracy, this is about backstabbing that's what we are talking about.' The French-Brazilian businessman, who is credited with turning around the Japanese car maker in the late 1990s and 2000s, was arrested for the fourth time last week. Ghosn faces trial on charges of financial misconduct and breach of trust. He used the video, which was recorded before his latest arrest, to deny all the charges against him. He said the plot stemmed from fears inside Nissan that his plans for a closer alliance with French partner Renault posed a threat to the Japanese firm. Ghosn had masterminded an alliance between Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi. 'There was a fear that the next step of the alliance would in a certain way threaten some people or eventually threaten the autonomy of Nissan,' he said. In a response to Ghosn's video, Nissan said: 'Aside from any criminal matters, Nissan's internal investigation has uncovered substantial evidence of blatantly unethical conduct.' It added: 'Further discoveries related to Ghosn's misconduct continue to emerge'. Standard Chartered let a customer open a bank account using a suitcase stuffed with 500,000 in cash in a shocking money laundering breach. Another client of the London-based lender was allowed to export products with military uses to more than 75 countries without proper checks, including two where wars were raging. The errors were revealed in a damning report by the Financial Conduct Authority, as the bank was fined 828million following long-running claims it busted sanctions in Iran. Apology: Standard Chartered chief executive Bill Winters, pictured, said the breaches were 'completely unacceptable' Standard Chartered chief executive Bill Winters, pictured, said the breaches were 'completely unacceptable'. The bank's Dubai branch handled hundreds of millions of pounds between 2008 and 2014 on behalf of clients in Iran and other countries blacklisted by the US. Iran was hit with sanctions meant to cut it off from global markets due to US fears the country is funding terrorism. Standard Chartered blamed many of the problems on two junior staff members who knew customers were connected to Iran, and conspired with them to break the law. The bank will pay 726million to US authorities and another 102million to the FCA. It is the watchdog's second-biggest money laundering fine ever. Standard Chartered was guilty of a long list of breaches, the FCA said including allowing a customer to open an account in 2011 using 500,000 stuffed in a suitcase. The FCA said: 'The customer file contained little evidence that the source of these funds had been investigated.' The bank also worked for a customer who exported what the FCA called 'a commercial product which could, potentially, have a military application'. Items with dual applications include guns, vehicles and toxic chemicals. Standard Chartered has signed a two-year deferred prosecution agreement in the US, meaning if it puts a foot wrong it faces criminal penalties and could be stripped of its right to handle dollars. A former employee has admitted fraud in the US, and investigators have charged a 49-year-old Iranian, Mahmoud Reza Elyassi, with setting up fake companies in the UAE to transfer money to Iran. An estimated 184million was handled by Standard Chartered on his behalf, they said. Assistant attorney general Brian Benczkowski said: 'If you circumvent US sanctions against rogue states like Iran or assist those who do you will pay a steep price.' Standard Chartered, set aside 689million in February to cover expected costs. Shares rose 0.3 per cent, or 1.8p, to 647.4p. Around 1.75 million low-paid or part-time workers could be missing out on vital tax relief on their pension contributions. Anyone earning more than 10,000 is automatically enrolled into their company's pension scheme. From April 6, employees now have to pay in 5 per cent of their earnings, while employers make a 3 per cent contribution. Changes: As of April 1, employees now have to pay in 5 per cent of their earnings, while employers make a 3 per cent contribution Non-taxpayers and basic-rate taxpayers get tax relief on these pension contributions at 20 per cent, while higher-rate taxpayers can claim 40 per cent. But not all non-taxpayers are treated the same. If your company has chosen a 'relief at source' scheme, you will automatically receive the tax relief. But those enrolled in most trust-based pension schemes and public service schemes will miss out because of the way the schemes are set up. It had been thought 1.22 million low-paid workers 75 per cent of whom are women were losing out. But a Freedom of Information request by insurer Royal London revealed the problem is much bigger, with 1.75 million non-tax-payers forecast to miss out on 60 million of tax relief, or 35 each a year, in 2019/20 a year. If you are unsure which type of scheme you are in, your employer can tell you. Critics are demanding action over the tax flaw - dubbed a 'scandal' and a 'lottery by pension experts. But City Minister John Glen said last week that those missing out were losing on average 35 a year, and this was 'a challenge' that no one has proposed an efficient way to sort out. 'I would love to be able to do something about it. I don't know how to do it in a way that is cost effective,' he told the Work and Pensions Committee. A Government spokesperson said: 'We want people to be able to keep more of their hard-earned cash, and thats why weve increased the personal allowance, benefiting millions of people. 'From this month, everyone contributing to a pension at the minimum automatic enrolment rates should see an increase in their overall pay plus pension savings.' 'The Government continues to look at the current differences arising from the two processes for paying pensions tax relief and how it can best balance simplicity, fairness and practicality in the way pensions operate.' s.partington@dailymail.co.uk Aggreko Plc supplies modular, mobile power, heating, cooling, and related services in North America, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, Eurasia, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates in three segments: Rental Solutions, Power Solutions Industrial, and Power Solutions Utility. It offers power generation products, including diesel generators, G3+ generators, and gas generators, as well as heavy fuel oil and hybrid power plants; cooling systems, such as cooling towers, chillers, heat exchangers, and air handlers and conditioners; and desiccant and refrigerated dehumidifiers to prevent metal corrosion, aid processes, preserve equipment on cold stacked offshore rigs, reduce mold and mildew growth during production processes, and dry out water-damaged buildings, as well as to reduce drying times for concrete, insulation, and fireproofing. The company also provides electric heaters, indirect fired heaters, and heat exchangers; and load banks that are used to test generators and turbines, uninterrupted power systems, electrical distribution panels and systems, data center power systems, combined heat and power systems, and simulation of heat loads. In addition, it offers battery storage solutions; and power to national utility customers. The company operates 182 sales and service centers. It serves the agriculture, construction, contracting, data centers, event power, facilities management, food and beverage, government, manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, petrochemical and refining, pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, shipping, telecommunications, and utility power sectors. Aggreko Plc was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Glasgow, the United Kingdom. Read More North American Construction Group Ltd. provides mining and heavy construction services to the resource development and industrial construction sectors in Canada and the United States The company's Heavy Construction & Mining division offers constructability reviews, budgetary cost estimates, design-build construction, project management, contract mining, pre-stripping/pit pioneering, overburden removal and stockpile, muskeg removal and stockpile, site preparation, air strip construction, site dewatering/perimeter ditching, tailings and process pipelines, haulage and access road construction, tailings dam construction and densification, mechanically stabilized earth walls, dyke construction, and reclamation services. Its Equipment Maintenance Services division provides fuel and lube servicing, portable steaming, equipment inspections, parts and component supply, major overhauls and equipment refurbishment, onsite haul truck brake testing, onsite maintenance support, under carriage rebuild, machining, hose manufacturing, and technical support services, as well as welding, fabrication/repairs, weld certification, and inspection services. As of December 31, 2020, the company had a heavy equipment fleet of 626 units. The company was formerly known as North American Energy Partners Inc. and changed its name to North American Construction Group Ltd. in April 2018. The company was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Acheson, Canada. Read More iShares MSCI Japan ETF shares reverse split on the morning of Monday, November 7th 2016. The 1-4 reverse split was announced on Friday, October 14th 2016. The number of shares owned by shareholders was adjusted after the closing bell on Friday, November 4th 2016. An investor that had 100 shares of iShares MSCI Japan ETF stock prior to the reverse split would have 25 shares after the split. BlackRock New York Municipal Income Quality Trust is a close ended fixed income mutual fund launched by BlackRock, Inc. The fund is managed by BlackRock Advisors, LLC. It invests in the fixed income markets of United States. The fund primarily invests in investment grade municipal obligations exempt from federal income taxes and New York State and New York City personal income taxes. It was formerly known as BlackRock New York Insured Municipal Income Trust. BlackRock New York Municipal Income Quality Trust was formed in October 28, 2002 and is domiciled in United States. Read More